The Philip DeFranco Show - "HE'S IN THE FILES" Trump Epstein Scandal Is Getting Crazier, Chronic Venous Insufficiency, &

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

The Trump Epstein Scandal Just Got Worse As Trump’s Ex-Chief Of Staff drops a bombshell... Go to https://sundaysfordogs.com/phil to get 50% off your first order of Sundays for Dogs!  Go to http://vessi.com/pds for 15% off your first order. ASK ME A QUESTION Got a question? Serious, silly, personal, or newsy — bring the good stuff. Send yours here: https://www.speakpipe.com/PDS  LISTEN TO THE SHOW iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2V  JOIN OUR COMMUNITY :camera_with_flash: Instagram: https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco  :bird: Twitter: https://twitter.com/phillyd  :musical_note: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philipdefranco   – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Trump Just Fired the Woman Who Prosecuted Epstein 07:42 - Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency 09:48 - Congress Surrenders Its Own Power to Trump 14:29 - Donald Trump Is Coming for Your Home 17:10 - Study Concludes Diet Is More Important than Exercise 21:50 - A Paralyzed Pianist Is Changing Accessibility in Music ——————————   THE TEAM Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino ———————————— #DeFranco #JeffreyEpstein #TheoVon ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stop. Do you know how fast you were going? I'm gonna have to write you a ticket to my new movie, The Naked Gun. Liam Neeson. Buy your tickets now and get a free chili dog. Chili dog not included. The Naked Gun. Tickets on sale now. August 1st. Introducing Taco Bell's $5 steak burritos. From the zesty Chipotle Ranch to the decadent cheesy melts, we'd call them rich, but they're just five bucks. New $5 steak burritos, only at Taco Bell. This episode is brought to you by Adidas. When the frustration grows and the doubts start to creep in,

we all need someone who has our back. To tell us we'll be okay, to remind us of our ability, to believe, because their belief in us transfers to self-belief and reminds us of all that we're capable of. We all need someone to make us believe. Hashtag you got this. Trump's Epstein file scandals just got bigger after Trump's

DOJ fired Maureen Comey who prosecuted both Jeffrey Epstein and Colleen Maxwell. Theo Von joins the anti-Trump MAGA backlash as Trump's former chief of staff says he's in the files. What's really going on with Trump's cankles and hand bruises and his bombshell diet versus exercise studies is gonna make some people angry. We're talking about all of that and even more

on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show, you daily dive into the news starting with this. Trump's justice department just fired Maureen Comey, a federal prosecutor in Manhattan who one, just so happens to be the daughter of former FBI director James Comey and two federal prosecutor in Manhattan, who one, just so happens to be the daughter of former FBI director, James Comey, and two, prosecuted cases against Diddy, and another guy, you may have heard of him,

I don't know, Jeffrey Epstein. With this appearing to be yet another nothing to see here moment from the Trump administration as the backlash to its handling of the Epstein case has just been getting louder and louder. And as far as why Maureen Comey was ousted, the reason for her dismissal wasn't made clear, though she reportedly learned of her firing

via a letter that cited Article Two of the Constitution, which outlines the powers of the president. With sources also telling CNN that her being a Comey was just untenable under this administration, given the, we'll call it beef, but it's so much more than that, between Trump and her dad. Right, I mean, among other things,

you had Trump firing James Comey in 2017, and an investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russia. So a bit of a father father, like daughter moment here. And that is you've had people on the MAGA right for a while now having called for her removal because of her father. And I mean, the FBI has now even recently launched

an investigation into James Comey. A man who Trump has also tried to blame amid the Epstein fallout with him claiming that he, Obama, Biden and others actually wrote the Epstein files that people have been demanding. Though Trump's panicky finger pointing there has done very little to satisfy his MAGA base. Also with this, as far as what Marine's role was

in prosecuting Epstein, she was one of the Manhattan prosecutors who charged him back in 2019 for sex trafficking, though of course he died in prison while awaiting trial. And that is, Marine also prosecuted Epstein's associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison, though Maxwell is appealing that.

And actually, because that case has an appeal, last year you had Marine Comey asking a judge to decline the public release of Epstein-related records, arguing that it could interfere with a possible retrial. And then again, as it wasn't the only high profile case that she was involved in, as she was also the lead prosecutor in the Diddy case, which ended in him getting convicted,

but only of smaller charges and acquitted on the more serious ones. Still, at least prior to the Trump administration, firing prosecutors in her position, it was a pretty rare move. And so with that, you actually had the New York Times noting that Maureen's firing. It raises the possibility that Ms. Comey is being set up

as a scapegoat as the administration fights to move past the scandal. And all of this is on the other side, right? As far as Comey, while she has not publicly addressed her firing, Politico did obtain a letter that she sent to her colleagues addressing the news, which said,

yesterday was unexpectedly my last day in office. Every person lucky enough to work in this office constantly hears four words to describe our ethos. Without fear or favor, do the right thing, the right way for the right reasons, without fear of retribution, and without favor to the powerful. And adding, we have entered a new phase

where without fear may be the challenge. If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not let that happen. Fear is the tool of a tyrant wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place.

A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power, of commitment to seek justice for victims, of dedication to truth above all else. And so with all this, you have many questioning the Trump administration's decision here, thinking that it just makes him look more and more guilty. With for example, the likes of Senator Adam Schiff saying on MSNBC.

Either she was fired because she's James Comey's daughter, which would be totally inappropriate and a wrongful termination, or she was fired because she was prosecuting Epstein and his accomplices, and why would they fire her over that? And why would they fire her now? None of it as a good or innocent explanation to it,

which is why they're just continuing to founder over this. Right, and all of this, it comes as Mick Mulvaney, Trump's former chief of staff, just did an interview with Al Jazeera where he was asked about Trump. Regarding Trump and the Epstein files, he said, I imagine that Donald Trump's name is in the file someplace.

That they were, there's photographs of them together. My guess is, and it's just a guess, is that it's particularly damning of very important people on both sides of the political aisle, which is why Trump doesn't wanna release it and why Biden didn't release it either. If it was just about Trump, it would have come out. So you have Mulvaney largely believing

that it's because the files touch on so many people. With them also kind of downplaying the fact that Trump's likely named in the files by noting that tons of people are named and arguing that if there was something bad, Biden would have shared it. But even that, it doesn't fully help Trump in the court of public opinion

because there are a lot of people think that he's not releasing it because he's protecting others. And a big part of the concern around Epstein and the Epstein files is that the government has been protecting elites. You know, Mulvaney's comments are just some of the latest that either implicate or put extra pressure on the Trump administration to release more information.

I mean, you've got senators from both sides of the aisle making moves here with Republican Tom Tillis going on a radio show to join the chorus of people calling for the files to be released. And then this morning you had Democrats, Chris Van Hollen and Dick Durbin sending a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi asking for the files to be released,

claiming, we must ensure that the American people can have confidence in a justice system that operates without secrecy or undue influence. And all of this, it's playing out as you had a Reuters poll finding that 69% of Americans believe that the government is hiding details about Epstein's clients with that, including 62% of Republicans,

which is something that Elon Musk also touched on during a posting spree last night where he called Trump's actions a coverup and demanded more documents be made. Publican asked Grok about details of the case and wrote things like, over 1,000 confirmed young victims is a shockingly large and tragic number.

In order for the government to confirm that the girls were victimized, they would have had to name or at least describe who raped them. This would necessarily mean that the government must have the list of rapists, AKA the Epstein client list, in their possession right now.

And all of this has been playing out as clips of Trump and his allies from before the election had them saying, yeah, let's get this list released. With one of them getting, I think, maybe the most attention being JD Vance on Theo Von's podcast. Release the list. Seriously, we need to release the F scene list.

That is an important thing. And actually one of the people who reshared that clip was Theo Von himself who posted it alongside the caption, "'Yeah, what changed?' With Theo just being the latest in the group of podcasters who had Trump and or Vance on the podcast in the lead up to the election going, "'What the hell's going on?' And so we're just at this point

where it seems that every single hour, there's a new person knocking on the Epstein door, hoping that it's gonna finally open up. Today, all we've seen so far is press secretary Caroline Levitt claiming to her knowledge Trump doesn't even know what's in the files. Whether then also shutting down reports that Trump might appoint a special prosecutor.

But as for how Trump and his administration navigate out of the situation from here, that remains to be seen. Because you have to imagine at this point, looking at the reactions, looking at the polling, that they realize this is a losing strategy. Promising his base something and then attacking them

because he has not delivered. Calling them worthless, calling them stupid, calling them past supporters because they dared question him. And all of that, it brings us back to Maureen Comey, who some are concerned they're going to try to turn into the fall guy in some way to take the heat off of Donald Trump.

Though again, and we can't forget this, this is a controversy of Donald Trump and his allies own making. They pushed the conspiracies around this. They said, give us the power to expose the elites that are being protected by the government. Let's get and release the Epstein files. And then they got the power and then Donald Trump said,

actually it's the Epstein hoax. There's both nothing there and it was made by Hillary Clinton, Biden, Obama and Comey. And even though I was destroying them in the election, they did not release the thing that they just made up. And then they left it there for me to do with as we please. You know, we'll have to wait to see what happens. There's already been a divide in the base of people

that are supporting Trump and they're believing everything he's saying and those who have questioned this Epstein situation. And then of those who are questioning the Epstein situation and not happy with what Trump has done so far, there appears to be at least based off of the comments being made on social media that there is a divide there of some who are truly questioning this

and saying this is very sketchy. He's being very weird about this. And some seemingly just wanting the president to come up with a story where he is not the bad guy. And all the while you got Alex Jones crying in his car over it. But for now, as we wait to see how this plays out, I gotta pass the question off to you.

What are your continued thoughts and reactions to the news and updates here? And then next up in the news, if you've seen any photos of Donald Trump over the past few days, you may have noticed something strange. Namely a pair of oddly swollen ankles and two noticeably bruised hands.

Which then led to some speculating is the guy about bruised hands. Which then led to some speculating, is the guy about to drop dead? Which then led to today where you had White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt coming out and offering a less sensational explanation. The reading from a doctor's note that apparently blamed the swollen ankles on a condition called chronic venous insufficiency.

A benign and common condition, particularly in individuals over the age of 70. It's basically, it's when the veins in your legs struggle to pump blood back up to the heart. You know, sounds bad, but according to medical experts, it's relatively benign and common, especially in older adults. And then as for the bruising on his hands, the White House said, oh, that's actually just from handshaking and aspirin. This is a well-known and benign side effect of aspirin therapy,

and the president remains in excellent health. Within all of that, leading to reactions online like, they're so desperate to escape the Epstein news cycle that Levitt is willingly talking to the press about Trump's big cankles. So for others, it just served as yet another reminder that Donald Trump is the oldest person to ever be inaugurated as US president.

And if he makes it to the end of his four years here, he will be the oldest person to ever be US president. With many speculating what health troubles he might have over the next few years. And then I've got more news for you in just a minute, but first let me say, have you ever read the ingredients in your dog's food? What a transition, I know, but I ask because, you know,

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That's half off for food that your dog will actually get excited about, and for real this time. And then next up in the news, Senate Republicans just voted to surrender their own power to Trump. Because early this morning, you had the Senate narrowly passing a bill

that would rescind $9 billion in funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting that Congress itself approved in a bipartisan agreement just a few months ago. And this coming at the request of President Trump, who went through the formal process of submitting what's known as a rescission's bill to claw back funds that Congress has already greenlit. And I feel like I can't emphasize enough

how incredibly significant this is. Where rescissions bills are incredibly rare and usually unsuccessful because Congress doesn't wanna give up its power over federal spending. In fact, this is the first time in decades that this has happened, which is why you have experts saying this just shows how willing Republicans are to bend to Trump's will as he works to exert control

over federal spending, even if it means giving up their own constitutional powers. And just further underscoring how controversial this process is, we saw two Republicans, Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, joining Democrats to vote against the bill, though it ultimately passed 51 to 48. You had Murkowski urging Congress

to assert its constitutional authorities over federal spending, and both Murkowski and Collins arguing that the Trump administration had failed to provide enough information about exactly which programs would be impacted by the cuts in the legislation. A very notable year that was also echoed by several other members, including senators,

Tom Tillis, Mitch McConnell, and Roger Wicker. Tillis even going as far as to say, if we find out that some of these programs that we've communicated should be out of bounds, that advisors to the president decide that they're gonna cut anyway, then there will be a reckoning for that. I suspect we're gonna find out there are some things

that we're gonna regret, some second and third order effects. And I suspect that when we do, we'll have to come back and fix it. But then all three of those senators voting for the measure anyway, despite seemingly admitting that they don't know what the bill is going to actually do. Which again, just further emphasizes how much power Trump wields over the party.

Right, not only will Republicans give up their power of the purse for him, they'll do so without even knowing how exactly he's gonna use the power. Now with that said, while many of the details are unclear, we do know the broad strokes of what the rescissions bill will do. But the vast majority of the money is gonna claw back about $8 billion, which was previously allocated

to fund foreign aid programs that the Trump administration says are wasteful. With the New York Times reporting there that the vote codified a number of executive actions the administration advanced earlier this year to gut foreign aid programs, many first undertaken by Doge. With that, including many of the programs

that were previously administered by USAID before Trump and Elon Musk effectively eliminated the agency. So you're looking at things like emergency and disaster relief, food aid, public health, and much, much more. Though notably here, it's been reported that certain food and global health programs were spared from the cuts. The Republicans stripping the bill of a request

that Trump made to cut $400 million to the global AIDS fighting program PEPFAR, which is estimated to have saved 26 million lives since George W. Bush started in 2003. So that, you know, it made up the bulk of the cuts, but the remaining $1.1 billion in funds that the Senate voted to rescind was allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

or CPB, which funds NPR and PBS. Or with Trump and his Republican allies arguing that the public broadcasters spread so-called woke propaganda and are biased against conservatives. And like the foreign aid cuts, the slashing of public media just codifies executive actions that Trump has already taken.

And then with all this, as far as the Democrats, they have condemned the rescissions bill and they kind of hit many of the same arguments that they made with these cuts for months. It's saying that slashing foreign aid is gonna result in the loss of millions of lives that they made with these cuts for months. It's saying that slashing foreign aid is gonna result in the loss of millions of lives and weaken American soft power around the globe.

Blaming that the cuts to public broadcasting is gonna disproportionately hurt local public radio stations rather than NPR and PBS. Right now, because those two broadcasters actually just received a small percentage of their funding from the federal government. It'll matter, but for many local stations, they get more than half their budgets from the CPB.

So those cuts, they could pose an existential threat to many rural stations and risk shutting them down entirely. And that is you have experts saying that in addition to providing important news and educational services, those broadcasters are vital during emergencies and natural disasters, providing essential life-saving information. Which is why then you have Democrats saying that

these cuts will totally destroy many vital services that don't even cost the government that much money in the grand scheme of things. And that is Democrats have also said that this undermines democracy. Right, arguing that Democrats and Republicans, they agreed to a bipartisan budget bill this spring to fund the government,

a move that required 60 votes in the Senate. Now you have Republicans using a tactic that just requires 50 votes in the upper chamber to totally undermine the bipartisan agreement, with that being something that Senator Chris Murphy hit on and he added. Why would Democrats ever again negotiate a bipartisan budget with Republicans

if Republicans two months later can just pass a partisan bill that keeps the spending that Republicans like and cuts the spending that Democrats supported in the bipartisan process? So this isn't just really bad policy. This is just another way that Republicans are corroding the rule of law, the institutional norms that have held together our democracy for decades. You know, now as far as what happens in Texas, Bill is headed to the House,

which has to pass it by Friday under the rules that govern rescissions. Though I will say they are widely expected to pass the measure in time. And then next up today, we should talk about how first they came for social security, then they came for Medicaid, and now it appears to come in for your home.

Right, and that because Donald Trump's proposed budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development would impose a two-year time limit on public housing and rental assistance. Meaning if you're on section eight or you live in housing that's subsidized by HUD, you'd have two years to either get yourself out or get kicked out.

Now currently we know very little about how this would be implemented, how it would be enforced when the clock starts and how the exemptions would be defined. Though, according to sources, elderly and the disabled would be exempted. But still there are millions of people who until now believe that they could stay in their homes

as long as they were poor enough to qualify. And we're starting to get some idea of how many people might get impacted thanks to this new report from New York University. With it estimating that if families were cut off after two years, 1.4 million American households could lose their vouchers and public housing subsidies. And without assistance, many of those people

would no longer be able to pay their rent, so they'd be evicted. And you have the report noting that this would largely punish families with children who are working, but earning far below their area's median income. Now that said, as far as supporters of the time limits, they argue that far from impoverishing people, this would actually encourage them to pull themselves up

by their bootstraps and become self-sufficient. But that, as many, including the NYU limits, they argue that far from impoverishing people, this would actually encourage them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and become self-sufficient. But that is many, including the NYU report, counters that time limits are largely untested and most housing authorities to try it have abandoned it. Plus you have critics arguing that housing isn't something you get as a reward for working, it's the source of stability you need to start working in the first place. And if anything, they argue that housing subsidies

actually need to expand, not contract. And that actually in part because experts estimate that just one in four low-income households eligible for rental assistance actually get it. Especially as you have the United States right now at the height of an affordable housing crisis. I mean, homelessness is through the roof. But as far as what's gonna happen from here,

we're gonna have to wait to see. Especially because to be clear, the time limit is only in Trump's proposed budget. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's guaranteed to happen. But there's no doubt that this administration is gonna try to do it. And it obviously is consistent with the work requirement approach to Medicaid.

And then I've got more news for you in a minute, but first, have you ever stepped in a puddle and suddenly your whole day, it feels like a soggy crime scene? Nothing humbles you faster than wet socks and squishy regrets. And that is why you need our long time sponsor, Vessi, the waterproof sneaker that said no to foot misery.

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Coors Light, the Chill Choice. Celebrate responsibly, must be legal drinking age. So you said this would be the summer of you. But then you remembered, you have kids, and now you spend every sunny day at water parks and petting zoos. So be it.

We do the prep so you can get your you time back with freshly prepared ready for you dishes from Sobeys. And then next up in the news, I gotta start working out. Those are the famous words uttered by untold millions of people throughout the years who wanna lose some weight, diet or exercise. That's a question that health experts trying to solve the obesity epidemic have debated furiously for decades now.

Because for a long time, the prevailing wisdom has been, well, both are important. But the thinking being that dieting decreases the calories you consume and exercising increases the calories you burn. And if you burn more than you consume, then you lose weight. But one, experts have disagreed about which one plays a bigger role.

And now two, this groundbreaking study points overwhelmingly in one direction. Great, and what they did was compare more than 4,000 adults from 34 populations across six continents in a wide range of lifestyles and economies. From business executives in the United States and Europe, to subsistence farmers in Asia, to hunter-gatherers in Africa. And the study's 80 plus authors analyzed the data

from all of those people's pee, which allowed them to precisely measure each person's body fat, metabolism, and energy expenditure. Now with that, of course, people in wealthier countries have more body fat, so there was no surprise there. But also, heavier people tend to burn more calories by default since bigger bodies

just have more cells doing more work. And so the researchers, they controlled for body size to isolate the variable that they're interested in, physical activity. And going into this, I think you'd have a lot of people expecting that these Hadza hunter-gatherers in Tanzania, they burn more calories through their activity than your average American desk worker.

But actually, when the data came back, the results were shocking, because across all the population study, regardless of lifestyle, location, economic status, they burned pretty much the same number of calories. I mean, there was a little difference, but only enough to explain roughly a 10th of the difference in body fat and BMI between groups.

Otherwise, they were remarkably similar. And in case you're wondering, no, one, Americans weren't secretly doing pushups under their desk and two, herder farmers are not lazier than they seem. But those people in less developed countries, they do move around more, they are more active. It just turns out, at least according to the study, that physical activity may not matter very much

for the number of calories that you burn. And as far as why that is, you're that senior author of the study offering up a theory to explain it that's known as the constrained total energy expenditure model, where with the name kind of explaining itself, the idea is that your body constrains your total energy expenditure,

or the total calories burned within a narrow range. So if you work out really hard, you do burn calories, but in theory, your body compensates by slowing down or shutting off other biological activities, which would mean that if you're trying to lose weight, exercising more isn't the best way to do it. In fact, the study's authors wrote, "'Our analysis suggests that increased energy intake,

that is eating more food, has been roughly 10 times more important than declining total energy expenditure, that is exercising less and driving the modern obesity crisis.' With an important note being, it's not just about how much you eat, but it's the kind of food that you're eating

that matters as well. With a study finding that ultra processed foods in particular correlate strongly with high body fat. And this likely because one, they're hyper palatability, energy density, nutrient composition, and appearance encourage over consumption. And two, food processing has actually been shown to increase the percentage of calories

that are absorbed into the body rather than excreted. But also with this, please do not learn the wrong lesson. Right before you cancel your gym membership, you go, well, I'm not gonna do anything ever. Let me be clear, exercise is still very important because even if it doesn't do that much for weight loss, it still does a bunch of other stuff. And of course, keeping your weight within healthy bounds,

it's only one part of being an overall healthy person, which is also why the study's author is noting, daily physical activity has a broad range of well-documented health benefits from reducing all cause in cardiovascular mortality to improving mental health and is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle. And in fact, they guess that those benefits of exercise

actually come from not burning calories. Right, because the adjustments that your body makes to cancel out the calorie burn, such as reducing inflammation and stress reactivity, it may be a big part of why exercise is so good for us. So, you know, for you as an individual, do with this information what you will, but also from a research and public policy perspective,

the next steps are very clear. First, we need to identify precisely what makes food in the developed world so damn bad. And then we need to figure out how to mitigate that bad shit while preserving the good shit. Because as the study notes, despite its negative impact on obesity, the modern global food system has a lot of benefits

that we probably wanna keep. Things like making food taste good, making food last long, making food affordable and making food accessible good, making food last long, making food affordable, and making food accessible to nearly every population on earth. Though fixing the global food system is way, way easier said than done. But for now, just something to keep in mind,

especially cause, you know, obesity, it kills over 4 million people a year. And then closer to home, at least as of 2023, about 40% of the American population is obese. You know, the final thing that I'll touch on here as someone that lost around 100 pounds over the last four years, I will say to you, I think both physical activity

and a better diet together are very important, right? Like I acknowledge that calorie consumption, that is like the king of everything, but I really wasn't able to get my eating under control until I started going on walks and then hikes and running and then weightlifting. For me, all that physical activity, it really helped with my depression.

And then what I found was when I was less depressed, I didn't just start eating to feel something. Now keep in mind, that was my personal situation. That's not gonna be applicable to everyone. But yeah, main point, very interesting study and do with this information what you will. And then to shift gears as I begin to wind down today's show for you,

I wanna talk to you about Riccardo Baldini. Cause you see, he's been playing piano his entire life. He started playing at five years old. And he says that he remembers learning how to read music before words. With Ricardo saying music has been with me all my life. I grew up with it. I was always practicing. It's just a way for me to connect

to these great human beings of the past. I like to say that music is my first language. And he grew up to be a concert pianist in Italy before moving to Edmonton in Canada to continue performing and begin teaching. But then in 2019, everything changed. Already woke up one morning and suddenly he was paralyzed and unable to move his legs.

Ricardo describing the injury in that day saying, quote, bleeding inside my spinal cord that caused my spinal cord to stop working. So emergency surgery that night. And from that day, I'm in a chair. Being paralyzed, it wasn't gonna keep him from performing. He worked to recover enough core strength to play again, except not being able to move his legs.

It meant that he couldn't use the foot pedals, which are used to change the piano's resonance while playing. With Ricardo explaining for classical music, which is what I do, 80% of the music requires the damper pedal, the right pedal of the piano, and obviously I couldn't use it. So I was really sad,

and it was just suddenly limiting all my functions. And you know, he hunted for something, anything that could help impress the pedals without the use of his legs, but nothing ended up working the way that he needed it. And so instead, he ended up designing a new tool himself with an engineer friend from Edmonton, a device that allows you to activate the pedal

through a mouth splinter. So Ricardo could all of a sudden just bite down to change the piano's resonance instead of using the pedals. And with that explaining, it's so much bigger than him saying it's a huge win for music and it's a huge win for accessibility music and equality of opportunity. Now people with disabilities have the potential

for performing on stage and on a professional level which is something that has never been done before. So they named the device Resonate and using it, Ricardo was actually recently able to perform with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. With him playing in three concert performances for anime and concert over two days and saying, "'It's been a dream come true for me to be able to perform

with a full symphony orchestra on stage after my injury in my wheelchair. I had an incredible feeling. It went really well.'" The audience responded not as at a classical concert where the audience is more composed, which made the energy coming from the audience amazing. But again, a big key thing here is that Resonate isn't exclusive to Ricardo.

He has now reportedly received inquiries from all over the world from people just like him and others with disabilities interested in learning the piano. And in fact, they've already done presales and they're moving into the manufacturing phase for the first production run. With Ricardo explaining there,

the stories that come with each individual are so unique and it really warms my heart every time because I understand. When I first got injured and looked out there and there was nothing that would have helped me to go back and play the piano and nobody was doing it, it really crushed me. And very interestingly,

they're taking this piece of hope beyond just the piano. Reportedly, they're planning on adapting the design for other instruments like drums and even things outside of the music space like sewing machines and pottery Wheels, so Ricardo you and everyone working on this you are our bamf of the day Not only because of what you were able to overcome yourself But for making the solution available to so many others

Thank you for being a bright light and what otherwise feels like a dark dumpster fire But that my friends it brings us to the end of today's show with that I'll say there's been a lot this week that you should definitely know about. So if you have missed any of the episodes, definitely check them out. You can start with last night's show if you missed it, or our deep dive into Trump and Epstein with Tim Miller. But hey, no matter what, I'll see you right back here on Monday.

Cause of course, remember I got a brand new show for you every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. Stay safe out there, stay sane out there, and I'll see you then.