Title
Trying to Do a Crime!
Good morning! It’s Tuesday, October 20th
National Share the Warmth Day
Great. Nice. Please, I beg you… do not share it with Southern California.
And now, the news.
Correction: Canada
-via ABC News
First, a quick correction. For the literal first time ever, in my entire life and the life of this podcast… I was wrong about something.
The deadly Canadian fire that started on the military base has killed four people, with another 39 injured.
I said seven in yesterday’s episode, based on early reporting. But I was wrong, the number, while still horrific, is different. It’s four.
Sorry about that.
Update: France
-via AP News
After a weekend of protests that led to the arrest of about 2,400 people in France, it appears that the unrest, the worst the country has seen in years, may not be over yet as student organizations are already calling for more demonstrations on Thursday and Saturday.
Meanwhile, President Macron has ordered an investigation into intelligence gathering and planning, which may have led to an underestimate in just how big the protests would be and what violence it had the potential to bring.
In one city, a 19th century city hall was almost burned to the ground.
Local officials in various cities are implementing a curfew.
Pay to Cheat
-via Axios
Ric Grenell, a top Trump advisor, offered a Turkish billionaire access to Trump and other officials, as well as access to VIP events, in exchange for a donation to the Kennedy Center.
In a May 2025 text, he literally said: "Once the money comes to the company here, I will arrange the donation to Kennedy Centre, and you'll be joining the VIP events and get close with the administration, even with POTUS.”
It’s so funny because it’s such a pay-for-play situation. It couldn’t be worse if he’d added “PS, this is a crime but it’s totally cool.”
And why did he even need the access? He’s married to another Trump advisor, Alina Habba, the former U.S. attorney for Jersey.
And she knew about this too because on October 9th she told Trump that her husband was “hoodwinked” into making a donation to the Kennedy Center via Grenell, and then that donation never made it out of made it out of Grenell’s bank account.
Again, so funny.
So bad! So indicative of this entire administration.
She’s like – hey! My husband is trying to do a crime and buy access he already has!
And Grenell’s like – okay well I’m trying to do a different kind of crime!
And now Trump’s investigating it, even though he’s already doing a TON of other crimes.
Good stuff.
Hey, we should probably vote and take away his power because this dude is super shady and surrounds himself not only with criminals but real dumb ones.
Another Hospitalized via ICE
-via NY Times
In the LBC (that’s Long Beach, California), a US citizen was hospitalized after an interaction with ICE officials left a man tased and pinned to the ground, according to his daughter.
The man, Ricardo Gonzalez, was riding an e-bike when he was struck by an unmarked vehicle, and can be seen in videos during his encounter with ICE saying, “My arm is broken, stop!”
According to the police, ICE called for backup, saying there were reports of cars being vandalized and that there was someone “in need of medical attention.”
No one has clarified what actually happened to cause there to be an interaction with ICE at all (except, of course, that his name was Ricardo Gonzalez and they were like “yeah, that’s good enough.”)
It sounds like (and again, it was a chaotic moment and of course DHS isn’t giving any information) his wife, also a citizen, was taken away in handcuffs.
It’s unclear whether anyone was charged.
Voters Arrested
-via AP News
And here in California, more than two dozen, a total of twenty-eight whole people, were arrested in a sweep of people that the federal government says is targeting people who illegally registered or voted in US elections.
Geez. 24! That’s wild!
That’s like… .0-0-0-0-0-1% percent of registered voters in California!
In fact, it’s an epidemic. On Monday the DOJ said they’ve arrested 113 people in 20 states in the last seven weeks.
With 227 million registered voters in America, that’s .0-0-0-0-0-0-5% of all registered voters.
It’s a good thing people are spending so much time and money on this!
Look, obviously we don’t want people cheating in elections. Obviously.
But .0-0-0-0-0-0-5% isn’t anything! And this is them really trying!
The real cheating that’s happening is that Trump knows he’s going to lose the election if people turn out to vote, that’s just a fact. And so instead of thinking “hey, I wonder what I can do to help people and earn some votes” they pulling this stuff.
Arresting people for what is, statistically speaking, likely a mistake. It happens – people get accidentally registered or they accidentally register themselves. It’s unclear how many of those whole .0-0-0-0-0-0-5% of registered voters actually cast a ballot. That number is almost certainly much lower because fraud by voters is rare.
So don’t let these headlines scare you. Let them motivate you.
We can do this. We can win. They know it. Make sure you know it too.
New America
-via The Hill
Speaking of things that the president is doing instead of trying to make life better for people…
“New Mexico should immediately change its name to New America. We are not Mexico, we are the United States of America! The name would add great value and prestige to the State! Home Values and Incomes would rise, and you would be even prouder while saluting our beautiful American Flag! Maybe even the Crooked Elections, that New Mexico is known for, would become honest again!
President DONALD J. TRUMP”
This is so stupid. I can’t believe I even have to talk about it.
He’s so… like, he’s not a smart man.
Home values and incomes would rise? How? How’s that gonna happen?
Also “Maybe even the Crooked Elections, that New Mexico is known for, would become honest again!”
Yeah, you know New Mexico, known far and wide for those EIGHT cases of fraud by voters since 1982.
EIGHT.
In that same amount of time, the state has cast at least 17 million ballots.
New Mexico, pull yourself together with your .0-0-0-0-0-0-4% rate of fraud!
Change your name?
In moments like this, I think about the movie Office Space. Because, to loosely quote it – Why should New Mexico have to change their name? He’s the one who sucks.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
Hey, we’re fourteen days, literally two weeks, away from the midterms. I can already feel two things: how much my stomach is going to hurt and how great it’s going to feel when we take back the House and Senate.
Cause we can. And we will.
Know that. Believe that.
I’m proud of you.