Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump NUMBER 1 Advisor GOES PUBLIC Against Trump

Episode Date: October 29, 2024

Trump’s favorite general and his longest-serving White House chief of staff has just declared Trump a fascist dictator who admires Hitler, and who needs to be stopped from re-entering the Oval Offic...e. Michael Popok reports on the new jaw dropping interview of General John Kelly to try to stop Trump. Thanks to Liquid I.V.: Get 20% off when you go to https://liquidiv.com and use code LEGALAF at checkout! Join the LegalAF Patreon: https://Patreon.com/legalAF Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown Lights On with Jessica Denson: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/lights-on-with-jessica-denson On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Well, I'm looking at the definition of fascism. It's a far-right authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized hypocrisy, militarism, possible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy. So certainly, in experience those are the types of things that will work better in terms of running America. You just heard General John Kelly, former Marine General, former Director of Homeland Security, the longest serving Chief of Staff for Donald Trump just say that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, shouldn't get anywhere near the White House and Is a fascist those were his words that let off this hot take not mine John Kelly who?
Starting point is 00:00:54 served this country honorably and with valor both in the Marines as the Secretary of Homeland Security and as the Secretary of Homeland Security and trying hard while he was the Chief of Staff from 2017 to 2019 for Donald Trump having taken over from Rance Priebus. He tried hard to not enable Donald Trump's darkest fascist dictator tendencies and have this country spiral into some sort of totalitarian state led by Donald Trump. He finally had to leave. Donald Trump says that he fired John Kelly. That's not true. John Kelly left of his own devices well before Jan 6th. I sort of hope that John Kelly would have lasted that long. I'm not sure Jan 6th would have gone exactly as it did if instead of Mark Meadows, we had John Kelly, General
Starting point is 00:01:46 John Kelly next to Donald Trump, but he just couldn't take it any longer. And now you hear that he's coming out less than two weeks before the election with a series of interviews in which he says that Donald Trump frequently said that he admired Adolf Hitler and that he called veterans, and this is a comment to those in my own town who say that they are veterans for Trump John Kelly who is more of a veteran than any of you and at the highest level of the military and service to his country said that on more than one occasion Donald Trump called veterans disabled the wounded in battle, suckers and losers, consistent with how he
Starting point is 00:02:28 approached things like John McCain and the valor of John McCain, trying to steal John McCain's own valor. Now, that's not the only interview clip that we have here. I'm going to play the clip next of John Kelly talking about whether he believed that Donald Trump would actually govern like a dictator if he got back into power. Now, to be clear, John Kelly has made it clear that he agreed with some of the policies that Donald Trump had or was trying to impose or implement while he was the chief of staff. But that for him, as with 200 other members of the national security and national
Starting point is 00:03:07 intelligence community, most of them Republicans have all come out against Donald Trump and for Kamala Harris because they see him as a threat to the rule of law and to our constitutional republic. John Kelly too believes that Donald Trump is a threat that even if you don't, you may agree with some of his policies, but you can't let this type of person who wants to be a dictator anywhere near the Oval Office ever again. So let's play the clip of the question, would Trump govern like a dictator from the New York Times interview? If he was left to his own devices, would he be a dictator if he didn't have people around him? Oh, I think he'd love to be. I think he'd love to be just like he was in business. He could tell people to do things and they would do it and not really bother too much about what the legalities were and what not.
Starting point is 00:04:02 But again, I didn't know him before, so I can't believe. what the legalities were and whatnot. But again, I didn't know him before, so I can't believe. And so you heard it there. The other thing that has been very troubling, of course, to John Kelly as a former military man, now retired, a general, is the recent comments by Donald Trump, obviously given to him for some sort of dictators and constitutional law
Starting point is 00:04:22 for dummies by people like Stephen Miller, and particularly gave him comments about how he should use the Insurrection Act, the Alien Enemies Act, martial law against the American people to use our own military and the power of the military against American citizens in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act that's been on the books since our reconstruction period after the Civil War. We never use, don't mistake the use of National Guard, which are usually at the state level where there's a national emergency or some sort of real riot that needs to be addressed.
Starting point is 00:05:04 Donald Trump is threatening, as is people around him, like Cash Patel, who could be the next CIA director, and a number of people who are in the running to be the Attorney General of the United States have talked about suppressing First Amendment expression and dissent of American citizens using the US military. And that concerns John Kelly as well. Let's run the clip of his interview with the New York Times about using, his fear about using the military inside the United States.
Starting point is 00:05:32 And I think this issue of using the military to go after American citizens is one of those things I think is a very, very bad thing. Even to say it for political purposes to get elected, I think it's a very, very bad thing, let alone actually doing it. So you're saying when you saw him say that recently, and as he said on the campaign trail,
Starting point is 00:05:59 that was something that really concerns you to the point that you thought, as you sat there trying to figure out what to do, you thought maybe it's worth answering some questions about this. Yeah, it is, and I go back to George Washington and how he set up, before there was an America, how he set it up so that the military would stay out of,
Starting point is 00:06:27 would not be used in the United States or in domestically, and that the way forward was for military officers not to be involved in politics. You heard him say it. I think the issue of using the military to go after American citizens is one of those things I think is a very, very bad thing. Even to say it, right? Even to say it out loud. And he's not the only one. JD Vance has said the same thing. Then in the subsequent interview,
Starting point is 00:07:02 he said he believed Trump stood alone in his lack of understanding of history and the Constitution, that he doesn't understand American values. Can you imagine this? And one of the closest observers of the conduct and behavior and knowledge and mental state of Donald Trump four years ago, now worse, says that he doesn't understand, Donald Trump doesn't understand the basic American values. We're talking about somebody,
Starting point is 00:07:28 the only guy running for president. Let's run the clip of the Trump does not understand American values. I mean, is he the biggest threat to the country that you've seen in your life out of all the threats, like post 9-11, all these different things? Well, I think, no, I think he's certainly the only president that has all but rejected what America is all about and what makes America America in terms of our Constitution, in terms of our
Starting point is 00:07:56 values, you know, the way we look at everything to include family and government. He's certainly the only president that I know of that was certainly in my lifetime that was like that. And so I want to end it with the Hitler comment. That was the kind of the grabber of the beginning. The fact that Donald Trump would say that he admires Hitler shouldn't surprise anybody. He says he admires and mentioned
Starting point is 00:08:23 and did a shout out during the debate, a fanboy moment of Viktor Orban, the dictator of Hungary. He regularly shouts out to Putin. We know there's new reporting that Donald Trump has had at least seven phone calls since he's left office, including in 2023 and 2024 with Putin, where he's tried to help Putin, guide Putin. Putin's tried to help him with his own campaign,
Starting point is 00:08:44 acting like a campaign manager. Another dictator who crushes dissent. As we approach fall, I'm looking forward to getting back into some of my favorite rituals. Evening walks in the cooler weather, football season, and as always, spending time with my family. But there's one new ritual I've added that's become essential.
Starting point is 00:09:04 Daily hydration and energy from Liquid IV. You just tear open a stick, pour it into 16 ounces of water, and give it a quick stir. The new peach-blackberry flavor is fantastic. I've found Liquid IV to be a game changer during those long nights prepping for the podcast and hot takes, and with our newborn up all night or when I'm traveling. It's more than just the drink. It's a science-backed way to hydrate better.
Starting point is 00:09:31 Powered by LIV HydroScience, Liquid IV turns ordinary water into extraordinary hydration. It has three times the electrolytes of the leading sports drink and eight essential vitamins and nutrients. For our listeners who often burn the midnight oil following breaking legal and political news, the hydration multiplier plus energy delivers about 100 milligrams of natural caffeine. That's comparable to one to two cups of coffee, but with the added benefit of superior hydration.
Starting point is 00:10:02 One stick plus 16 ounces of water hydrates better than water alone. It's always non-GMO, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, and soy-free. Start a new fall ritual with Liquid IV. Get 20% off your first order of Liquid IV when you go to liquidiv.com and use code Legal AF at checkout. That's 20% off your first order when you shop better hydration today using promo code LegalAF at LiquidIV.com. You think Donald Trump doesn't sit with, we watch things like the Chinese government repressing freedom of speech or lack of freedom of speech in China, in Tiananmen Square running tanks over students. It'll be worse under Donald Trump and that really concerns John Kelly. I can't imagine being a fly on the wall when Donald Trump started spouting off about his
Starting point is 00:10:55 love and admiration for Adolf Hitler to John Kelly. And put that in your pipe and smoke it. People of my faith in the Jewish community that are supporting Donald Trump. There's enough Republicans out there that are Nazi memorabilia collectors, like the heir to the Trammell Crowe fortune that supports Clarence Thomas.
Starting point is 00:11:20 And now this moment of adulation by Donald Trump about Adolf Hitler let's play that clip. was all about, it'd be pretty hard to make an argument that he did anything good. So what would you say when he said to you that Hitler did a lot of good things? Well, I tell him that. I said, you know, sir, if you... First of all, you should never say that. But if you knew what Hitler was all about from the beginning to the end, everything he did was in support of his racist, fascist life philosophy, so that nothing he did, you could argue, was good.
Starting point is 00:12:15 It was certainly not done for the right reason. But he would occasionally say that. What would he say when you would lay that out to him? Eh, he'd just, you know, at the end of the conversation usually. So the takeaway from this hot take is that we got to do everything in our power and not rest and I've stopped sleeping. Let me just, for those who are saying, Popeyes needs more rest, I've just given up on sleeping. I've got a four month old daughter
Starting point is 00:12:45 and I've got an election to help win. And that's how I feel about it. I feel like I'm doing, yes, I'm doing my part. We're speaking to an audience of 40, 50 million people a month here on the Midas Touch Network and on our new channel, Legal AF. But you, everybody in our audience, energizes me to every day think how to push the rock
Starting point is 00:13:04 one inch forward to help Kamala Harris win the presidency and just as importantly to keep Donald Trump, his fascist dictator Hitler loving tendencies, as far away from the Oval Office and the nuclear button as possible. Because I'm gonna leave it all on the field, are you? I'm gonna leave it all on the field as Coach Wall says in his campaign stops. When my pillow hits the bed at 11 o'clock or beyond on November the 5th, I'm going to know that I did everything in my power to motivate people to register to vote, to knock on doors, to vote. On election day, I'm going to be at a poll as a poll watcher, watching the election
Starting point is 00:13:42 results and watching voting to make sure there are nothing that goes badly, that there's no corruption, that there's no attempt to suppress the vote and rip away your right to vote. And you got to do the same thing. I told the story recently, I ran into a friend of mine at a high school reunion and he lives in New Jersey, which is going to go blue, hopefully. But he said, I want to work in the battleground states. So listening to Midas Touch and Legal AF, he signed up. And he was assigned to a virtual phone banking into Georgia to help get out the vote there. You don't have to be registered in a state to work on registration, door knocking,
Starting point is 00:14:20 telephone canvassing, and banking. You don't. You just can't vote in a place where you're not registered. Everything else is your First Amendment expression and you're right. So, and if you have a little time and a little money, fly down, volunteer to be a pair of hands and a pair of feet for Kamala Harris
Starting point is 00:14:41 in the battleground states. You know, take that couple of days off that you have in PTO, okay? And go fly down to North Carolina, to Pennsylvania and help. That's where we're at. That's when I hear about John Kelly coming out, right? It's fun to watch some of the celebrities come out for Donald Trump. It was fun to watch, you know, Barack Obama rap into M&M the other day when he was introduced at a Detroit rally. But the ones that keep me up at night, that motivate me, that animate me, and it should you too, are people like John Kelly, American patriots that have come
Starting point is 00:15:17 out and said to the world, I have seen the true Donald Trump. He's a fascist, Hitler loving dictator and don't let him get re-elected. And all those people fly in the veterans for Trump flags. What are you going to make of John Kelly? I mean, look, you can say, well, this guy was a rhino and this guy was a crackpot and this guy didn't get along and this guy's trying to sell a book. But you have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of senior Republican leaders who have given their life to their party and their cause and their country, who have come out in the military, in the Defense Department, in the intelligence community, in the national security community, who worked in the White House, who worked as White House lawyers,
Starting point is 00:16:05 who are federal or former federal judges. They're all telling you the same thing with big Rs on their chest because they're Republicans. Don't listen to me, okay? I'm just a guy with a microphone and a laptop. Listen to them. Listen to John Kelly and the John Kelly's of the world who are like, you know, for me, they're like Paul Revere.
Starting point is 00:16:31 You know, I live in the mid-Atlantic state, so I'm always into sort of revolutionary war issues. I live in a community that was part of the American Revolution. Washington literally rode through my county, through my area. There's houses where Washington stopped and rested. Washington slept here, you know, that kind of thing. The Battle of Monmouth right near where I live now. I kind of grew up in that environment in this area.
Starting point is 00:16:55 And so Paul Revere, with his horse going through the streets and the towns saying, the British are coming, the British are coming. Wake up. wake up. Wake up, grab a pitchfork, grab a musket. I'm not asking for people to do the violent part, but wake up and listen. And if you're still on the fence, get off the fence. You're two weeks less than two weeks away from a cataclysmic result if Donald Trump gets back into office.
Starting point is 00:17:32 You know? Now if all of our efforts are unsuccessful, then we fought the good fight, then we're on the right side of history and the arc of history. But if because you didn't knock on one more door, you didn't get one more person to the polls, not just you, you times five, you times 10. That's how I got Barack Obama elected. That's how, literally, I got Barack Obama elected. That's what I think. I got him elected because I know I was responsible for at least 10 people voting for Barack Obama
Starting point is 00:17:58 because of my conversation with them. I know it. My family, outside my family, and then I worked inside the polls to make sure that votes counted, that votes counted. They didn't end up in the provisional ballot and then dumped in the trash. They got counted that day in the ballot box because I made sure the rules were properly applied. We got to be ruthless about rules and about applying them. We got to be brass knuckled in defense of democracy.
Starting point is 00:18:27 That's the one problem with my party. We do a lot of hand-wringing. We do a lot of ugh. What do we do now? I know what to do now. Okay. You do too. I'm glad you're here with us. We built the network with our bare hands. We're building another channel, Legal AF, on YouTube with our bare hands and with your help. And we appreciate it. Remember, democracy is a participatory sport. It's a contact sport, and you can't do it
Starting point is 00:18:55 from the comfort of your couch or living room. You gotta get up, you gotta go out, virtually or otherwise, and help the campaign. So until my next hot take, this is Michael Popock and I'm reporting. In collaboration with the Midas Touch Network, we just launched the Legal AF YouTube channel. Help us build this pro-democracy channel
Starting point is 00:19:15 where I'll be curating the top stories, the intersection of law and politics. Go to YouTube now and free subscribe at Legal AF MTN. That's at Legal AF MTN that's at Legal AF MTN

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.