What A Day - Pleading The 25th

Episode Date: January 8, 2021

After Trump incited an attack on the nation’s Capitol, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi want Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the President, and a second impeachment of Trump by Democrats is also on the table.Resignations abound in Trump-world right now. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned yesterday, along with others responsible for security at the Capitol building.Plus, writer and comedian Grace Parra joins us for headlines: Elon Musk becomes the richest man on Earth, no booze on American Airlines flights from DC, and the legend of Denmark’s John Dillerman.

It's Friday, January 8th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick. And this is What A Day, where we are utterly stunned to be wrapping up the first week of 2021. Yeah. How is it somehow March 2020 and November 2020 still, and also 2022, because it's been the longest week of my life? Yeah, I'm tired of Christopher Nolan's time tricks and his ability to reach beyond the silver screen into my life. Exactly. We don't want to be tenants of Tenet. On today's show, Biden is officially certified as president-elect and calls for Trump's removal grow.

Then some headlines. But first, the latest. The whole number of electors appointed to vote for president of the United States is 538. Within that whole number, a majority is 270. The votes for president of the United States are as follows. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of the state of Delaware has received 306 votes. Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 232 votes. Aw. Anyway, that was the final word on the matter from Vice President Mike Pence,

who oversaw the Electoral College tally in Congress, saying what we've known for literally months now, that Joe Biden is going to be taking over at the White House in less than two weeks. The certification process in Congress went into the early hours of the morning yesterday following a day of destruction and chaos caused by a pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol, resulting in the deaths of at least four people. And even after the day's events, a handful of Republican senators and over 100 Republican House members still voted to reject the election results. Honestly, throw them all out. Other than that, there have been a lot of developments over the last 24 hours. So let's start with what Democratic leadership is now saying because it got a lot more heated. Yes, it certainly did. So yesterday,

both soon to be Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Pence should invoke the 25th Amendment, which basically allows for the VP to take over from Trump, who they say is unfit for office even for just the last 13 days. In calling for this seditious act, President has committed an unspeakable assault on our nation and our people. I joined the Senate Democratic leader in calling on the vice president to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th amendment. If the vice president and cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. Right. And as Pelosi said there, Democrats are saying that they are prepared to impeach Trump for a second time if the other route doesn't work.

So definitely saying a lot of stuff here. So here's where things stand on the 25th Amendment. Schumer has said that he and Pelosi tried to call Pence to discuss it with him, but that his staff informed them that he wasn't available while they were trying to reach him. Yeah, maybe they were just hiding under his desk or just like wearing a paper bag over his head walking down the street in D.C. Right, just muttering, I am certainly not Mike Pence over and over to distract everyone. But even while a few Republicans said that they were in agreement that Trump was too dangerous to keep in office until January 20th when Biden gets sworn in, invoking the 25th Amendment is a little bit trickier than it sounds. So first, Pence would have to be on board with it. And then it would require a majority of cabinet officials to agree in order for him to take power from Trump. And then if Trump were to dispute it, which of course, they would need

two thirds of Congress to be in favor of it, which is kind of unlikely, given that a lot of Republicans in the House and Senate, like we said, were the ones egging all this madness on. Yeah, I can't imagine they're going to grow a spine now. But there's also the impeachment 2.0 route, which seems like a lot to get done in less than two weeks. Yeah, that's right. I mean, especially given some uncertainty on the exact timing of when Senators-elect Warnock and Ossoff would get to work. That makes it a little bit more complicated. But there has certainly been a much more vocal push in the last day for either of these options. Yeah, and it's not just me screaming it.

I think it's everybody. And then on top of that, there's other potential legal trouble for Trump and others involved in the attack. So what else do we even know there? Well, for one thing, we heard from acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin that Trump's comments spurring on that march to the Capitol could actually be the subject of a federal investigation. Part of what he said was, quote, if the evidence fits the element of a crime, they are going to be charged, end quote. Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that Trump has talked about pardoning himself in recent weeks. There seemed like there were a lot of other reasons before. I guess this might be another one.

I don't know. And then The Post noted that the federal investigation could also target the star of Borat 2, that's Rudy Giuliani, who told that same Trump crowd at one point, quote, let's have trial by combat. Not super advisable to say. Yeah, you hate to be on the record saying that. On many videos. Many videos, a lot of audio, not good. But then for the actual mob, the DOJ reportedly said that at least 55 people have already been charged, including an individual who is near the Capitol with a semi-automatic rifle and 11 Molotov cocktails. Wow.

According to NPR, the DOJ also talked about other potential charges to come related to rioting, insurrection, and seditious conspiracy. Then, hilariously as well, the executive order Trump signed last year, which was basically meant to protect Confederate monuments, directs the DOJ to prosecute people who vandalize government property for a maximum sentence of 10 years for just that act alone, which some might note is exactly what happened here. Yeah, the Capitol is a Confederate monument. You know, you hate to see it, but happy to see justice, you know, and schadenfreude, I guess. It is. I think that's the definitional phrase right there.

So Sherwin also cited the fact that items that were stolen from congressional offices actually could impact national security. That's another thing they have to figure out. And he faulted Capitol Police in all of this for letting people just walk right out of the building, which he said means that investigators are relying on video footage and cell phone records, among other things. Then the Capitol Police chief actually announced his resignation in light of all of this. And that was just one of the many resignations we saw yesterday. So let's talk about the others that are in Trump world. Yeah, with nowhere left to run, the complicit rats are jumping ship. It's too little too late from the Republicans who have emboldened and enabled Trump, but they are still trying to save face. Maybe the cutest example is Senate Minority

Leader Mitch McConnell's wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. Oh, you're putting in your two weeks notice and two weeks before your job ends? Radical, Elaine, really great. Even if you're not like politically in bed with the worst person in recent history, you're still literally in bed with the second worst. And just because I'm done pulling punches, can anyone point to one transportation win from this person over the last four years? Like, was it the Boeing plane crashes? Was it the super-spreaded cruise ships, maybe? The infrastructure week that never happened? I mean, if you figure it out, let me know. As far as I'm concerned, I don't think that any of the administration officials in the cabinet at least did much of anything. Like I don't even remember most of their roles and names.

In addition to that, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos just resigned before we started recording. And this could all throw another wrench into the whole 25th Amendment cabinet thing, perhaps something that they're trying to avoid. But in addition to Chow and DeVos, there is more. Yeah, a lot. So Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley are still showing their dumb faces for some reason. But several Trump aides and advisorsVos, there is more. Yeah, a lot. So Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley are still showing their dumb faces for some reason, but several Trump aides and advisors have bounced, including former chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and Melania's chief of staff, who I'm assuming felt like she had nothing

left to do after the Christmas stuff no one quote gives a fuck about. Also, the house sergeant at arms resigned. So if you're not familiar with that position, he was the chief law enforcement and protocol officer of the House of Representatives and was responsible for maintaining order in the House side of the United States Capitol complex. So based on that job description, I can't imagine the argument he could have made to even stay in the Senate. Sergeant at Arms also resigned at the request of Mitch McConnell. So TLDR, a whole bunch of people quit. I've honestly lost count. But these are just the first names that have come up with more resignations and firings expected. Woof. Okay. And then last thing,

we have to talk about the Trump Facebook ban and the other deplatforming that went on. Right. So Trump's been put on a temporary timeout from Facebook and Instagram with people close to the company saying it may be a very long, more permanent form of temporary. And Twitter had locked Trump's account for 12 hours on Wednesday, but last night he posted a gaslighting video that we won't play here, attempting to downplay his role in the events. But it's too late for Trump. It's also too late for these poorly run social media platforms that prove just how quickly they could take action if they actually gave a shit. And the fact that it wasn't children in cages or Trump at rallies telling his cult to beat up other people or the firebombing of peaceful protesters for a

photo op or the Muslim ban or his anti-Semitic dog whistles or retweeting white supremacists and conspiracy theorists and spreading misinformation about the coronavirus and masks that got him kicked from all the platforms. Nope. Apparently, the leadership at these companies needed actual people to die in a coup attempt that threatened the lives of our elected officials before they could give a shit. I hope when the new administration officially takes power, they break all of them up and regulate them and then tear them to shreds again. They are absolutely complicit in this. And I want to be clear that the reason it's so frustrating is that deplatforming works.

Just ask Milo Yiannopoulos, who is currently begging for change on Parler, how much deplatforming works. If you're asking, who is Milo Yiannopoulos? That is even further proof. The only place Trump is allowed to post is definitely MySpace. Yeah, Venmo, cash request, maybe. Maybe. Write something in there. On good behavior only. Lost in the shuffle of this all too dense news cycle have been updates regarding Biden's transition team and cabinet appointments. Yeah. So, I mean, I think everyone feels like the day's been running together. But yesterday, Biden announced Merrick Garland for AG. Garland, you'll remember, was President Obama's pick to replace Scalia on the Supreme Court when some of those complicit Republican senators blocked it. But one fun tidbit on this appointment is that Merrick Garland has long prosecuted domestic terrorists. He was the prosecutor against the Oklahoma City bomber

and also the prosecutor against the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bomber. What do they have in common? They were white supremacists. No shock there. You could have guessed, and I'm sure you would have gotten it right. But as far as prosecuting Trump, the jury, pun intentional, is still out. Biden has said that he's reluctant to prosecute a former president because of the idea that it would be seen as too political. He's also said that it's not his decision, but up to law enforcement and the DOJ. At the announcement yesterday, Biden didn't take questions on the matter, but he did say the president is not above the law. For the white supremacists who stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, it seems like they picked a really, really bad time. We'll have to wait and see how it all shakes out.

Tish James in New York, I'm looking at you. But that's the latest for now. And we will be back with a special Headlines guest after some ads. Let's wrap up with some Headlines. Headlines. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. So we've got a special guest with us today. I'm so excited.

We have writer and comedian, fellow Crooked podcaster, friend of mine, Grace Parra. What's up, Grace? How you doing? What's up, guys? It is a GD pleasure to be here today with you guys. I was thinking that the name of this pod, What A Day, is the most apt name for a pod out there. The only other pod that could have a name that, you know, it was a pod that was like Da Fuck.

It was just called Da Fuck. That's exactly right. Yeah. This week especially has been a perfect one-a-day day. Yeah. And week. We predicted all of this when we were naming it, you know, and now it's been borne out, so.

And then when they break the windows of the Capitol building, everyone will say. Everyone will say. Well, I will kick us off. We're doing headlines. Let's jump into it. So there's only one thing worse than sharing a flight with a loud baby. It's sharing a flight with a loud man who head-butted through a window at the nation's capital hours earlier. Amid concerns that flights out of D.C. will be filled with Trump-aligned domestic terrorists,

a union representing 50,000 flight attendants across 17 different airlines has called for riders to be banned from flights. Taking a more incremental approach, American Airlines issued new precautionary measures that include a ban on alcohol on flights to and from D.C. Could limit bad behavior, but it could also mean that good-hearted normal people will be stuck on flights with 50 Confederate Army cosplayers and no access to little bottles of Bombay Sapphire. Sad. All this comes after several instances of pro-Trump passengers physically or verbally abusing crew or other passengers on their flights to D.C. There were videos of Trump supporters yelling at people on board, being removed from the plane, and even heckling Senator Mitt Romney at the airport and on a flight. Honestly, the most surprising part of this to me is that Mitt can still get on a commercial

flight without having some kind of allergic reaction. Okay, first of all, Mitt Romney is definitely allergic to peanuts and gluten, right? Easily, easily. It has to be. Public restrooms is number two on that list. Public restrooms, for sure. Also, how do you think the guy with the Viking helmet carried that on a plane? Did he?

Was it checked? I mean, I'm did he right was it i mean i'm assuming he just wore it he was like he used it as a mask he like had it tied the other way he was like this is my protection this is my protection is that larger than like the duffel bag that can fit into the overhead like was there some yeah has to be right has to be didn't go in the overhead bin no matter what i know that for sure. That would have been impossible. The most impossible thing of the whole situation. Of the entire yesterday. Well, while America goes to war with itself,

Denmark is also wrestling with a question at the core of its national identity. Should public TV air a kid's show about a man with an extremely long penis. This is real. I'm thoroughly obsessed with this story. So Danish broadcasting company's John Dillerman follows an animated character in a striped red jumpsuit whose large prehensile groin

often gets him in trouble by stealing ice cream, pushing one group of kids into the water, and defending another group of kids from a lion. This, by the way, is exactly what conservatives said would come after socialized medicine. It's Blue's Clues, but, you know, all the clues point to arresting Steve. So the show premiered last weekend and has already been met with criticism. One author told The Guardian it sends the wrong message while Denmark is in the midst of its Me Too movement,

while a Danish professor said it normalizes male locker room culture. My only criticism is that I don't think the schlong is long enough. Exactly. More hijinks. More schlong. More schlong. Viewership, though, people are watching this shit with one Danish broadcasting spokesperson saying, quote, in Denmark, it is now a huge success, and the children are watching it in big numbers.

I don't know what accent that was. I apologize to all of our friends from Denmark. Also, by the way, seems relevant how many of these kids are throwing up and or crying inconsolably. FYI, in Danish, John Dillerman does translate to John Penis Man. Oh, man. And they got their show made? I just feel like the whole plot is a big dick.

The whole plot's a big dick. Is that where we've been going wrong this whole time? There aren't enough big dickhead gentlemen in our shows? Yes, we need them pushing children into the water, I suppose. I like that all of Denmark is just sitting back and being like, this is the most wonderful thing I've ever watched.'re like new content it's hard to come by the pandemic and we're grateful yeah there's like we're grateful for they don't have vpns for like the english netflix so like this is the other option um i don't know that's great uh shout out

to europe and denmark um tesla founder and edgelord entrepreneur Elon Musk is now the richest person on earth. His net worth surpassed that of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos yesterday by $1.5 billion. So Musk now has $186 billion to his name, thanks to an almost 5% bump in Tesla stock. We'll see if he has enough money now to buy letters for his child's name instead of having to settle for punctuation. How is the child's name set? I still do not know. John Dillerman? Yes, his child, John Dillerman. Analysts say the Tesla spike was a consequence of the runoff in Georgia with investors betting on the new majority Democrat Senate to pass green tax credits for electric cars, which is exactly what Warnock and Ossoff were thinking when they set out on their Senate bids. When Musk was asked a

few years ago what he plans to do with his huge fortune, he tweeted that he wants to use half of his fortune to, quote, help problems on Earth and the other half to create a city on Mars in case, quote, the Earth gets hit by a meteor like the dinosaurs or World War Three happens and we destroy ourselves. More evidence that wealth flows to the very smartest people in our society. Wow. You know, I'm just glad that an African-American is in play. Yes, yes. Richest person on the Earth.

We're claiming it for this. For any of the other things he's done, no. I also, I talk about this on Hysteria all the time, but there are just too many damn people on the planet. Yeah. It's just, we gotta weed some on hysteria all the time, but there are just too many damn people on the planet. Yeah. It's just, we gotta weed some out. Just, you know, take a pass. Take him to Mars. Take him to Mars.

You can afford it. Take him to Mars. If you can pay your way, go to Mars, Musk. Bring your friends. Okay, there's more drama, guys. You ready for more drama? This is this week's coin drama coming out of England. Okay, so Britain's Royal Mint unveiled its design for a special commemorative coin to celebrate the work of author H.G. Wells.

Love it. Okay, love the concept. But people, many people in the big nerd community have objected. Now, big nerd community, I love y'all. Stan you till the day I die. I will always defend and uphold your right to get furious at coins. So here's a little bit of a reason why they're going ham. Okay, so at issue specifically is the way that the two-pound coins depict Wells' most famous creations.

So there's his iconic tripod machines, the 100-foot-tall Martian ships that came to Earth in the War of the Worlds. And they are shown on the coin with four legs instead of three. My goodness. Try is in the name. Of course, normally having an extra leg is awesome, as

our friend John Dillerman can tell us all about. I'm going to be thinking about John all night, guys. But in this case, critics are upset because they think it shows, quote, an incredible lack of familiarity with Wells' writing. They had another complaint, too, maybe a little bit less sympathetic. The invisible man is shown on the coin wearing a top hat. And Wells fans say his real hat was, quote, wide brimmed.

Look, I mean, we're over here trying to save off coups, but the real drama is happening in England. This is true. I mean, I think personally that getting worked up about kind of, you know, hats is not going to bring back our friend HG Wells. And for all we know, by the way, the Invisible Man might be trying a new look. You know, he's self-conscious, trying to do whatever he can to, you know, feel handsome. And I think if he's on his eat, pray, love, invisible man, you go get it because we all got to do to feel good about ourselves. That's right. That's exactly right. Who cares about the hat? We should care about the man.

Exactly. It's what's underneath the hat that counts. That's right. Oh my gosh. Grace, this has been an absolute delight in an absolute hellfire of a week. It has been so lovely to have you here. So obviously we know that people love you on Hysteria. They can listen to you there. But do you have anything else you'd like to plug here and now? Well, you know, I thank you so much. Obviously Hysteria every week. I'm a huge fan of that.

I'm so grateful to be on it. And I am writing on a new show called Solar Opposites on Hulu. First season is out right now. Second season drops on March 26th. And then third season season the show that i'm writing for currently will debut sometime in 2022 so if you like uh raunchy alien comedy this is the show for you i highly recommend it's excellent departure from the world around us raunchy alien comedy yeah seriously i was gonna say it's like a combination of all the headlines

we just read so that is perfect yes a dream and those are the headlines we just read. It kind of is, actually. That is perfect. Yes, a dream. And those are the headlines. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, enjoy a little tiny bottle of Bombay Sapphire, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading, and not just the works of H.G. Wells,

as they were meant to be read like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And have some decency, John Dillerman. Seriously,

sir. Put it away. Yeah, it's, I've had enough. I've had enough. I saw it once and I've had enough. You don't have to swing it around.

What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tan is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein and our executive producers are Katie Long, Akilah Hughes, and me. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.