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Watch Me PREDICT the FUTURE on CNN | Luke Thomas Gets Political · Luke Thomas Gets Political (LTGP)

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  Recently, I was on CNN. I was part of a
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  panel that was discussing two of the
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  Republican senators that are on the
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  judiciary committee. That would be Tom
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  Tillis of North Carolina and then John
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  Cornin of Texas. The reason we were
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  discussing these two guys is for various
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  different reasons and at various
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  different times, they've been having
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  some friction with Trump and eventually
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  Tom Tillis's career came to an end by
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  virtue of getting sideways with Trump.
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  Cornin has also getting sideways with
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  Trump in various different ways, but was
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  still looking for an endorsement in the
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  most recent election to run against
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  James Telerico and instead Trump gave it
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  to Ken Paxton, which also effectively
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  ended Cornin's career, at least as a
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  politician, of course. So, why is this
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  important? Well, Todd Blanch is the
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  acting attorney general. Since Pam Bondi
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  stepped down, he's looking to get the
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  full-on confirmation. He has to get to a
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  floor vote to do that. But to get to a
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  floor vote, it has to get out of
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  committee. And both Cornin and Tillis
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  have been kind of agitating that they're
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  uncomfortable with the idea of Blanch
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  moving forward. In fact, Cornin demanded
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  that he meet with some of the Epstein
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  survivors and he did reluctantly. But I
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  guess that satisfied ultimately the
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  concerns of Cornin and both Cornin and
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  Tillis had kind of identified this Jan 6
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  fund, this $1.8 8 billion fund that
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  Trump is trying to set up to both give
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  himself lifetime tax immunity as well as
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  to give basically $1.8 billion to the
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  folks who committed the January 6
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  crimes. And in order to get around this,
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  they basically had to give a series of
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  assurances to Tom Tillis and to John
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  Cornin to let assuage their concerns
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  that Trump would move forward with this.
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  Here is what I predicted on CNN a couple
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  of weeks ago.
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  >> Yeah, but then don't you get to turn the
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  Save Act and the election stuff into a
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  voting issue for your base to say kind
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  of like what Democrats would say with
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  abortion to say like look here's what's
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  at stake, the Senate. And the Senate is
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  getting in the way of this thing that's
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  really important to us.
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  >> Uh I don't know what the polling on that
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  kind of bears out at the present moment.
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  I just feel like I I agree with with her
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  that this is ultimately something that
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  they're going to cave on. I mean, look
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  at the case of with acting AG Blanch
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  where Tilla says you have to meet with
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  Epstein victims as this is some kind of
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  hurdle and he does it however much
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  however much friction there may have
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  been. My only point being is this is a
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  small hurdle to put in front of a guy
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  who is manifestly unqualified for this.
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  And if you really had genuine antipathy
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  for the president's agenda in any kind
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  of real way, that's not a real hurdle.
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  and him clearing it wouldn't mean
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  anything to begin with. So, I'm of the
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  belief that ultimately they're going to
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  fold.
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  >> Well, well, well. Wouldn't you know it
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  from the Washington Post today. Ready
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  for this? The Senate Judiciary Committee
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  is expected to vote Tuesday to advance
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  Todd Blanch's bid to become the next
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  attorney general. A day after two
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  Republican holdouts said they were now
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  willing to back the president's nominee.
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  For days, Cornin of Texas and Telus of
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  North Carolina held up Blanch's
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  nomination, citing concerns over the
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  controversial legal settlement the
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  Justice Department brokered this spring
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  between Trump and the IRS. A no vote
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  from either senator would have killed
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  the nomination there. But Cornin and
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  Telus announced Monday that they had
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  reached an agreement with Blanch that
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  they were now prepared to support him in
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  the committee vote scheduled to take
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  place during a 9:00 a.m. hearing. The
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  agreement marked a day tant following a
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  rare standoff that two of the excuse me
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  that saw two prominent GOP lawmakers
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  buckle president unaccustomed to
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  defiance blah blah blah. Now as part of
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  his agreement with corn and blanch late
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  Sunday issued an order rescending in
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  writing plans to implement a key
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  provision of Trump's deal which resolved
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  his lawsuit over the the leak of his tax
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  returns. Its proposed nearly $1.8 8
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  billion fund to compensate people who
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  they claim have been victims of
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  politicized prosecutions, which of
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  course would be the Jan 6 one. The
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  acting attorney general also clarified
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  another aspect of that deal, one that
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  shields Trump and his sons and their
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  businesses from past tax claims. Blanch
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  said Sunday those protections apply
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  quote only retroactively end quote and
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  would not bar the IRS from auditing
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  Trump's moving forward. Blanch's
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  directives enshrined in writing the
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  essentially the verbal assurances he had
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  been giving for months that the fund was
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  off the table. And while his statements
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  Sunday did not alter the underlying
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  legal agreement between Trump and the
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  IRS that had called for the fund's
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  creation, they appear to satisfy
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  concerns of Cornin and Tillis.
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  Guys,
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  pay attention to what it says right
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  there. And while his statement Sunday
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  did not alter the underlying legal
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  agreement between Trump and the IRS, it
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  satisfied ultimately whatever concerns
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  they had. Here's the problem. Not much
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  of anything has actually changed.
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  >> Hey everybody, Tom Tillis and John
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  Cornin announced today that they are
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  going to vote to confirm Todd Blanch.
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  They are claiming they got some
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  important concessions from him on the
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  settlement agreement with Donald Trump.
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  But that is actual nonsense. The fact of
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  the matter is they just caved. And now
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  things are even worse than they were
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  before Tillison Cornin got involved. Let
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  me explain. I'm Liz Oyer, the former
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  pardon attorney for the Department of
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  Justice. Yesterday Blanch signed a memo
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  claiming that the $1.8 billion slush
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  fund is dead. But here's the problem.
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  The document he signed has no legal
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  force. Blanch does not have the power to
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  kill the fund without the consent of
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  Donald Trump. This is a very basic
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  matter of contract law. The fund was
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  created by a legally binding settlement
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  agreement between Trump and the Justice
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  Department. A settlement agreement is a
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  contract. One party cannot just walk
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  away from a contract without the consent
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  of the other party. And in fact, that is
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  written right into this agreement which
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  states that it can only be modified with
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  the written agreement of the parties.
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  Trump has not agreed to modify it, nor
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  will he. So, it's not dead. In fact, on
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  Friday, Trump's lawyers appealed a court
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  decision finding that the fund is
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  illegal, meaning that Trump is actively
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  fighting to keep it alive. And lucky for
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  him, there is now literally nothing that
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  prevents Blanch from reviving the fund
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  after he gets confirmed. Here's the
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  other giant problem. Blanch's memo says
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  nothing about the immunity part of the
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  settlement, which gives Trump total
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  immunity from all tax audits and other
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  government investigations. This part of
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  the deal is worth hundreds of millions
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  of dollars to Trump. Last year, Trump
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  made over $2 billion. The settlement
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  effectively allows him to pocket that
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  money without paying taxes. If he does
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  not pay the taxes he owes, there is
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  literally nothing the government can do
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  about it. DOJ issued a press release
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  which Blanch did not sign trying to
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  minimize the importance of the immunity
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  deal. It says it applies only
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  retroactively and that DOJ's
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  interpretation is that it extends only
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  to the parties to the agreement, meaning
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  Trump, Don Jr., Eric, and the Trump
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  Organization. So basically, it just
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  confirms that Trump and his sons are
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  getting a massive windfall at our
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  expense. Tillis and Cornin have now
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  blessed this totally corrupt agreement
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  by saying they are satisfied. And it's
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  even worse than that. They are now
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  thanking Blanch even though he is the
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  one who made this corrupt deal possible
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  in the first place. It's not over yet.
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  Blanch will be voted out of committee on
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  Tuesday, but then he still needs to be
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  confirmed by the full Senate. In theory,
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  he could fail, but Tillis and Cornin
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  have effectively paved the way for other
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  Republicans who are on the fence to
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  support Blanch. So, basically, this is
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  just a really crushing disappointment.
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  >> And then today, John Cornin was asked
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  about this, and here's what he said.
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  >> Was saying as recently as yesterday, he
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  likes [clears throat] the idea of this
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  fund, that he wants to find some way to
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  pay these people. Does that concern you
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  as someone who's tried to fight against
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  getting this anti-weaponization fund in
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  place? Well, there's nothing we could do
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  to to uh to reign in the president when
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  he said he likes the fund and he wishes
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  still exists, but the fact of the matter
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  it's dead and uh that's all we could do
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  under these circumstances. Seal.
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  >> Thank you.
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  >> I know today as I make this video, it's
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  primary day for a lot of elections,
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  including some contentious ones on the
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  left between insurgent dems and the sort
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  of standard corporate side of the
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  political party. And this has caused a
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  lot of friction about like dominating
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  the other side and who's actually going
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  to speak for the left and who's going to
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  speak for the Democratic party. And
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  those are important battles to be had.
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  But if this is just any kind of a
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  reminder about like why we're trying to
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  fight these battles, it is to defeat
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  this. This is not Trumpism as such, but
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  this is the laying down of for Trumpism.
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  John Cornin and Tom Tillis are going out
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  like on their hands and knees.
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  They are part of the very problem of not
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  having a co-equal branch of government
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  do anything to rein in the excesses of
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  the other one and in fact to supercharge
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  it and make it worse in every possible
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  way. Even in cases where both Tillis and
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  Cornin are not pursuing office after
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  this in part because they can't. But
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  either way they don't have another
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  election. They don't have a future
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  they're looking for. It's the end and
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  they are absolutely still doing this.
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  I've mentioned that the V-Dem study out
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  of Sweden that looks into all of the
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  worldwide democracies at all times and
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  looking at their health. One of the
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  things they pointed to that explained
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  the precipitous decline in the US's
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  Democratic score is because co-equal
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  branches of government, less so the
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  judiciary, although part of that too,
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  but 100% the legislature doing nothing,
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  doing absolutely nothing to reign in
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  Trump, not on his tariffs, not on uh you
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  know giving into his insane demands on
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  uh forms of military or ICE funding or
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  you know again just ballooning the
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  deficit, cutting Medicare, cutting
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  Medicaid doing everything possible to
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  take away the programs that actually
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  service a human need and to put money
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  into the kind of programs that just
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  enable state authoritarian violence
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  andor surveillance control among other
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  problems as well. Look at what they're
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  doing on their way out the door when
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  they have literally nothing left to
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  lose. They are still traitors to this
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  country. They are still putting in
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  office a guy who is manifestly
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  for Trump's former personal attorney.
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  They're now making the attorney general
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  of the United States, as bad as it has
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  been already. It can only get worse from
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  here. To be honest with you, because it
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  shows that even in cases where the
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  Republican party has literally nothing
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  left to lose, they're going to make sure
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  that we leave as losers.
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  That's all they believe in. They don't
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  believe in any kind of principled stand.
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  They don't believe in any kind of
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  positive vision. They don't have any
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  kind of vision. And even if they did,
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  they would never have the courage of
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  their own convictions to see it through.
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  This is the evil that has to be
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  defeated. This is the rot that has to
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  get taken out. This is the problem, not
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  merely with our modern politics, but
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  with combating the MAGA project. This is
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  why we need the best fighters that we
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  can put into office. This is why a focus
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  on getting the question right of who we
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  sent to Washington, should that even
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  still matter anymore, is critical. It is
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  critical because there is no partner on
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  the other end waiting for us to go back
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  to some era of bipartisanship.
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  Even two guys who got railroaded by
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  Trump for getting sideways with him in
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  the the most minor of ways
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  with nothing left to lose will do
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  nothing about it. This is why you can't
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  send centrist Dems who wish for a day
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  where we could go back to the time of
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  John Corn and being a principled leader
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  in his party and we can work across the
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  aisle to make things happen. Ladies and
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  gentlemen, those days they are over. You
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  cannot reason with this malicious
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  political force. You can only defeat it.
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  And you need the best fighters to be
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  able to do that. I hope that whatever
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  happens in today's election, we get one
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  step closer to getting the kinds of
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  people in office who are going to do
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  something about these kinds of people.