Letters from an American - July 26, 2024

Episode Date: July 27, 2024

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July 26th, 2024. Yesterday, U.S. officials arrested Ishmael Zambada-Garcia, or El Mayo, co-founder of the violent and powerful drug trafficking organization the Sinaloa Cartel, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of its other co-founder. That other co-founder, Joaquin Guzman Loera, or El Chapo, is already incarcerated in the U.S., as are another of El Chapo's sons, alleged cartel leader Ovidio Guzman Lopez, and the cartel leader Ovidio Guzman Lopez and the cartel's alleged lead hitman, Nestor Isidro Perez Salas, or El Nini. In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said, fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Justice Department will

not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable. El Mayo has been charged with drug trafficking and money laundering. U.S. officials exploited rifts in the cartel to get Guzman Lopez to bring El Mayo in. The successful and peaceful capture of the two Sinaloa cartel leaders contrasts with Trump's insistence that the U.S. must bomb or invade Mexico to damage the cartels, a position echoed by Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance and increasingly popular in the Republican Party. Mexico, which is America's biggest trade partner, staunchly opposes such an intervention. Opponents note that such military action would do nothing

to decrease demand for illegal drugs in the U.S. and would increase the numbers of asylum seekers at the border as their land became a battleground. Trump seems to think that governance is about dominance, but that approach often runs afoul of the law. Today, the Justice Department reached a $2 million settlement with former FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who became the butt of Trump's attacks after their work on the FBI investigation into the ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russian operatives. Trump's Department of Justice released text messages between the two to journalists. Today's settlement appears to reflect that the release likely violated the Privacy Act act which bars the government from disclosing personal

information tonight speaking to christians at the turning point action believers summit in west palm beach florida trump made his plans to become a strong man clear get out and vote just this time you won't have to do it anymore four more years years. You know what? It'll be fixed. It'll be fine. You won't have to vote anymore. My beautiful Christians, get out. You've got to get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again.

We'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote. This chilling statement comes after Trump praised autocratic Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in his speech at the Republican National Convention last week, and then publicly praised China's President Xi Jinping for being brilliant because he controls 1.4 billion people with an iron fist. It should also be read against the backdrop of the Supreme Court's decision in Donald J. Trump v. United States that a president cannot be prosecuted for crimes committed as part of his official duties. The Harris campaign reacted to Trump's dark statements by ridiculing them and him.

Tonight, Donald Trump couldn't pronounce words. He mispronounced landslide as landslade, insulted the faith of Jewish and Catholic Americans, lied about the election again, lied about other stuff, bragged about repealing Roe, proposed cutting billions in education funding, announced he would appoint more extremist judges, revealed he planned to fill a second Trump term with more criminals like himself, attacked lawful voting, went on and on and on, and generally sounded like someone you wouldn't want to sit near at a restaurant, let alone be president of the United States. America can do better than the bitter, bizarre, and backward-looking delusions of criminal Donald Trump.

Vice President Kamala Harris offers a vision for America's future focused on freedom, opportunity, and security. Harris continually refers to Trump as a criminal in her speeches, but her campaign has taken the approach of referring to him and J.D. Vance as weirdos. On Tuesday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said, These guys are just weird. Senators Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Brian Schatz of Hawaii recorded a video together about Vance's super weird, bananas, and offensive idea that people with children should be assigned additional votes

for each child, making their wishes count more than people without children. As J.D. Vance continues to step on rakes, the weird label seems correctly to label the Magas as outside the mainstream of American thought. Today, Vance doubled down on his denigration of women who have not given birth as childless cat ladies but assured voters he has nothing against cats in addition a video surfaced of vance calling for the federal government to stop women in republican-dominated states from crossing state lines to obtain abortions. Michael Schnell of The Hill reported today that while MAGA Republican lawmakers like Vance, a number of House Republicans are bashing his selection as the vice presidential candidate.

He was the worst choice of all the options, one said. It was so bad, I didn't even think it was possible. The prevailing sentiment is, if Trump loses, it's because of this pick, another said. A sentiment that suggests Vance will be a scapegoat if Trump loses. Considering what happened to Trump's last vice president after Trump blamed him for an election loss, Vance might have reason to be concerned. Last night's answer the call Zoom has now raised more than $8.5 million for Harris. The organizers thanked Win With Black Women for showing us how it's done. Today, the Future Forward PAC, which had threatened to hold back $90 million in spending if Biden stayed at the head of the ticket, began large advertising purchases in swing states for Harris. Carl Quintanilla of CNBC reported that a week ago,

those on a phone call of more than 400 people from Bank of America's federal government relations team believed that a Trump victory was a foregone conclusion. Now that conviction is gone. There's been a palpable sentiment reversal. The Harris campaign announced that it will launch 2,600 more volunteers into its ground game in Florida, a state where abortion rights will be on the ballot this fall, likely turning out voters for the Democratic ticket. The volunteers will write postcards, make phone calls, and knock on doors. Today, Vice President Kamala Harris filled out the paperwork, officially declaring her candidacy for President of the United States. of the United States.

Letters from an American was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dedham, Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.