Latest / Surviving-ISH Podcast / Trump’s Double Standard: Ghislaine Maxwell vs. The U.S. Military

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Trump’s Double Standard: Ghislaine Maxwell vs. The U.S. Military · Surviving-ISH Podcast

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: The former president said that's not true.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: He was everything.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_03: Under Trump, we will have no more wars.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna keep you out of wars.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_03: I kept you out of wars.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I'm not gonna start war, I'm gonna stop wars.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: We don't need the wars.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Are we really taking his word for it?
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to surviving politics-ish.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: And today I want us to talk about a very specific technique in political survival, and that's the art of a double standard.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: So if you've paid any attention to the news lately, you've probably noticed that depending on who you are in Donald Trump's world, the definition of empathy or even basic human decency changes wildly.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: So to me, it seems like if you're an international felon, a convicted sex offender, or someone facing serious criminal indictments, the empathy pumps are running at 100%.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: You get warm public wishes, cozy housing upgrades, and endless benefit of the doubts.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're a Gold Star family, an American service member who gave literally an arm and or a leg in combat, or if you're even just an everyday working person like me and you, just trying to fill up our gas tank without having to take out a fucking personal loan, well then we're told to toughen up.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're told to suck it up and accept that sacrifices must be made.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: So today I wanted to put those two standards side by side.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to look at how Donald Trump treats actual convicted villains versus how he treats the military 9-11 victims.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so to start out, I want to talk about Glaine Maxwell.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for her central role in Jeffrey Epstein's horrific sex trafficking network targeting underage girls.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Normally, when a public official or you know politician is asked about a convicted child sex trafficker, the playbook is simple brief, cold, and legally sanitized.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: They say things like we support the victim, justice was served.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Next question.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, but not Donald Trump.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you'll remember back in 2020, during a White House press briefing, in the middle of a global pandemic, mind you, a reporter asked him about Maxwell's arrest.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: And here is the direct quote on live television.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_04: I'm wondering, uh, do you feel that she's going to turn in powerful men?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_04: How do you see that working out?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: I haven't really been following it too much.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: I just wish her well, frankly.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I've met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach, and I guess they lived in Palm Beach.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but I wish her well.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: I wish her well.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And he didn't just stumble on that once.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Later on, he was uh in an interview with Jonathan Swan, I think he was with um Axios, Axis, I think, something like that.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Trump doubled down.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: He literally said, I wish her well.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not looking for anything bad for her.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine sitting at home as one of Epstein and Maxwell's victims and hearing the president of the United States say, Hey, best of luck in jail.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Fingers crossed for you, Maxwell.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: So now I want to fast forward through her incarceration.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: And some of this I am going to be reading because I want to make sure I get it correct.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: So this says Maxwell was initially held at FCI Tallahassee, and this was a low security facility.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: But after private meetings, high-level advocacy, and Bureau of Prison Reviews, she got transferred to FCI Bryan in Texas.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And this is a minimum security prison camp that people in legal circles call quote unquote club fed.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, okay, I want to look at the perks at the FCI Bryan.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it looks like it, I mean, it's practically a wellness retreat with fences around it.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Reports show at this camp, inmates get public access to athletic fields, outdoor sunbathing areas, vocational training, custom meals, and a service dog program.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Glenn Maxwell gets a pet service dog.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: She gets to do outdoor recreation on grass fields and eat better food.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: She's living out of cozy redemption.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: This uh facility is minimum security while serving time for sex trafficking.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so now let's compare that with the VIP treatment with how Trump talks about the women and men wearing the uniforms in the United States military.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: And to me, this gap is staggering.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Remember when he went on record talking about how uh late Senator John McCain, who spent five years being brutally tortured as a prisoner of war, and here's Trump's direct quote from 2015.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_03: He hit me.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_03: He's not a war hero.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_03: He's a war hero.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_02: He is a war hero.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: Five and a half years ago.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: He's a war hero because he was captured.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: I like people that weren't captured, okay?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: I hate to tell you.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: And y'all, that wasn't a slip of the tongue.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's a core philosophy of his.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you suffer, if you get caught, if you sacrifice, you're a loser in his book.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And guys, it didn't end there.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: There were multiple officials, including the chief of staff at the time, they confirmed that Trump canceled a visit to the American cemetery near Paris where um the American Marines who died in battle were buried.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Why didn't he go?
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_03: And according to them, he said, quote, I'm standing there with generals and military people in a cemetery, and I look at them, I say, these people are suckers and losers.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: In separate conversations on that exact same trip, he referred to 1800 Marines who lost their lives in that horrific battle as suckers for getting killed.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: So let's look at the math here.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: We have Glene Maxwell, convicted predator, he wishes her well, gets minimum security, dog programs, outdoor wreck, and food better than probably what we get.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have the American soldiers, they give their lives defending democracy, and they are called losers and suckers.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: So when soldiers die in combat, his message to military families has been they knew what they had signed up for.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: That was his actual line to a widow to fallen soldier Johnson, her fallen troops.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, tough luck.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: You signed up for it.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: For Golene Maxwell, sending positive vibes your way.
• 5:54
  unknown: What the fuck?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: So this brings me to another classic example of political ego.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: I want to talk about September 11th.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: We're close to the anniversary date.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Normally, 9-11 anniversary is when everyone's calendar seems to get stripped from the political circus.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Ground zero in New York City is treated as sacred ground.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: So why wouldn't Donald Trump, a native New Yorker, who constantly talks about his New York City roots, why wouldn't he attend the national September 11th memorial ceremony at Ground Zero?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Is it security?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: A scheduling conflict?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's much, much simpler.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: They won't let him give a speech.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: They won't let him stand up and talk about the war that we're in, how great he is, how we're winning the war, how low gas prices are.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: They won't allow him to do that.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to review the actual rules so there's no confusion.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so um I'll be reading some of this, so bear with me.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: So since 2012, the National September 11th Memorial and Museum has maintained a strict policy, no political speeches.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Presidents, governors, mayors, it doesn't matter who you are or what party you belong to, the ceremony is reserved exclusively for family members of the victims to read the names of nearly 3,000 people who died.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: It is solemn, nonpartisan, and entirely about the victims.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: When Trump's team pushed for him to have a microphone and deliver remarks, organizers pointed out that the rule applies equally to everyone.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And because he couldn't be the center of attention, because there was no microphone for him to use for himself, he pulled out.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: He chose to skip ground zero entirely and head to the Pentagon instead.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because at the Pentagon military event, he is allowed to stand at the podium and give a speech.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I might be repeating myself, but let's be completely honest about what happens when he gets to that podium.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Is the speech strictly about the structural engineers, um, the heroic flight crews, the uh firefighters running up the stairs, or the grief of the survivors' families?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: We've all seen this playbook.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Within minutes, the narrative will shift from the tragedy of 9-11 to his poll numbers, the crowd sizes, and how unfairly the media treats him and how great he thinks his administration is.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: If he isn't the main character of this event, guys, he simply loses interest.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember something about his reaction to 9-11 2001, the actual day the towers fell.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: He called a news station in New York.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: And instead of focusing on relief efforts on national grief, do you know what he brought up?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: He falsely claimed that 40 Wall Street, the building he owned, was now the tallest building in Lower Manhattan.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thousands of Americans were in the process of dying, and he was taking a victory lap over real estate height rankings?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: That tells you everything you need to know, how he views this American tragedy.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's background scenery for his personal brand.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: So now I want us to talk about the everyday economic survival.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's one thing to see how he treats prisoners versus war heroes, but how does he view regular people trying to just pay their bills?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: This brings us to his comments on gas prices.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: As gas prices hovered over$4, and reporters asked Trump about the economic strain this puts on working families across the country.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't express concern.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't lay out a detailed economic plan.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: He declared he would never apologize.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: He would never apologize for gas prices.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: He blatantly stated that his supporters and working people are fine with it and willing to pay it.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: My people are fine paying$4 a gallon, he says.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Who exactly is quote unquote fine with paying four to five dollars a gallon for gas?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: We have single parents driving to two jobs.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's not fine.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Small business owners uh running delivery vehicles.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's not okay.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: And we have commuters sitting in traffic every morning.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: This is absolutely not fine.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: But he lives in a world of private jets and golf clubs.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Four and five dollars a gallon is just a rowing air for him.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: He has previously suggested that you need a photo ID to buy a loaf of bread and that milk costs$20.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: He has no concept of what$4 a gallon of gas does to a household budget.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's the exact same logic as his military comments.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you will die.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: But that's the sacrifice I'm willing to make.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Or in this case, some of you will go broke at the pump.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: But hey, you're fine with it because you support me.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Alright.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: So here's what we got, guys.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: We have elite criminals and sex traffickers that get warm wishes, prison perks, and soft landings.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: We have the military and fallen soldiers that are called suckers and losers, and their grieving surviving family is told that the fallen soldiers knew what they had signed up for.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: We have the 9-11 memorials, and if there's no microphone for Donald Trump for his political speech, it's going to be about him, then he's not going to bother going.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's working consumers, and Donald Trump says that his people are fine paying$4 a gallon for gas.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because we're all just background extras in Donald Trump's show.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a foreign dictator or a Glaine Maxwell, you get a VIP package.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a voter, a veteran, or a commuter, you get told to toughen up.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: All right, guys, that's gonna do it for this week's mini episode of Surviving Politics-Ih.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed this breakdown, please make sure that you subscribe, leave a five-star review.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: That would be great.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: And share this episode with someone currently staring at the pop screen, watching their total past$50.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Stay sharp, stay informed, keep surviving, and we'll catch you next time.