A recent New York Times article has provided more insight into George Santos’ schemes to try to make himself rich and fast. He allegedly brokered deals for yachts, charged outrageous fees to other Republicans, solicited donors to help a Polish gentleman buy crypto, and worked for an alleged Ponzi scheme.
My other videos mentioned in this video:
America’s Top Liar Arrested: George Santos
Other videos mentioned in this video:
Resources mentioned in this video:
- New York Times Article about George Santos’ schemes
- Dominick Sartorio donating to Santos
- New York Times coverage of Blue Flame Medical
- Coverage of Tina Forte
- Coverage of George Santos and WinRed
- George Santos Semafor Interview
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“Loping Sting” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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00:00:00:00 - 00:00:07:14 Bennett Tomlin Hello, everyone, and welcome back to my personal channel where we remember that the rules are made up and that the rich and powerful are to blame. 00:00:07:14 - 00:00:15:01 Bennett Tomlin We've talked about George Santos on this channel before and we are talking about him again because he just cannot help himself and neither can I. 00:00:15:01 - 00:00:26:27 Bennett Tomlin The New York Times ran a piece entitled How George Santos Used Political Connections to Fuel Get Rich Schemes, which describe some of the schemes we've talked about before, but also some new schemes and include some additional details. 00:00:26:27 - 00:00:32:08 Bennett Tomlin Let's start with the scheme. That sounds like an email your great grandpa might fall for. 00:00:32:08 - 00:00:36:01 Music [clown-like musical sting] 00:00:36:01 - 00:00:38:16 Bennett Tomlin The first scheme they described was classic. 00:00:38:16 - 00:00:54:14 Bennett Tomlin You see our friend George Anthony Devolder Santos partnered up with Michael LePetrie, a former state representative in New York, as well as Dominic Sartorio a GOP donor who had supported Santos for Congress. They reached out to another wealthy donor with an alluring opportunity. 00:00:54:16 - 00:01:15:20 Bennett Tomlin They knew of a very wealthy Polish citizen who needed to buy cryptocurrency. But unfortunately for this wealthy Polish gentleman, all of his liquid wealth had been frozen in his account. But if these gentlemen sent some funds to a new LLC they had set up, then somehow it would allow the funds to be unfrozen and the cryptocurrency to be purchased. 00:01:15:20 - 00:01:47:03 Bennett Tomlin It's a little bit unclear, but the scheme this donor described to the New York Times is basically a classic Nigerian prince email scheme or an advance fee scheme. And they did not fall for this scheme that others are already trying to distance themselves from. Our new friend Michael LePetrie has already said that he was not involved “in detail”, but was instead just helping connect Santos to Bryant Park Associates, who were representing the unnamed Polish gentleman. 00:01:47:03 - 00:01:54:18 Bennett Tomlin This was not the only example the New York Times had. They described another scheme involving a company called Blue Flame Medical. 00:01:54:18 - 00:01:58:11 Music [clown-like musical sting] 00:01:58:11 - 00:02:16:05 Bennett Tomlin The New York Times details how George Santos was connected with Blue Flame Medical, a company run by GOP fundraiser Michael Gula, and GOP political consultant John Thomas that sold medical supplies like testing kits, masks and ventilators from a partner company in China into the United States. 00:02:16:08 - 00:02:21:28 Bennett Tomlin The problem with this companies that a bunch of people started reporting that they never received their orders from this company. 00:02:21:28 - 00:02:27:10 Bennett Tomlin It was investigated by federal authorities, but so far has not been charged with any crimes. 00:02:27:10 - 00:02:34:07 Bennett Tomlin George Santos apparently had a deal with this firm where he would get 10% of any deals he was able to organize for them. 00:02:34:12 - 00:02:54:15 Bennett Tomlin His lawyer has claimed that he did not successfully bring in any deals. I don't know if that speaks to George Santos’ ability as a salesman or his lawyer's ability to lie, or this company's ability to do what they're supposed to. Regardless, the current stance of George Santos and his lawyer said he made no money from this because he couldn't find any deals 00:02:54:15 - 00:02:55:05 Bennett Tomlin this, 00:02:55:05 - 00:03:00:24 Bennett Tomlin George Santos, as we talked about in a previous video, was involved with an alleged Ponzi scheme. 00:03:00:24 - 00:03:04:17 Music [clown-like musical sting] 00:03:04:17 - 00:03:08:10 Bennett Tomlin We've discussed it on this channel before. So we're focusing on a quick summary here. 00:03:08:10 - 00:03:13:15 Bennett Tomlin George Santos worked at a firm called Harbor City Capital and claimed he was one of their top guys. 00:03:13:15 - 00:03:17:09 Ian Walsh Reilly now, right before you decided to go into politics, what were you doing? 00:03:17:11 - 00:03:45:21 George Santos Well, I still actually up until August 1st, when I initiated my leave of absence, I'm the regional director for Harbor City Capital, we’re a fixed income shop we are top where within the Fortune 500 private equity firms globally, I manage all of our fixed income assets with arbitrage here in New York. I am actually Harbor City Capital head guy for New York City. 00:03:45:21 - 00:03:50:22 Bennett Tomlin Harbor City Capital was sued by the SEC, who alleged that it was a Ponzi scheme. 00:03:50:22 - 00:04:13:14 Bennett Tomlin after he left this alleged Ponzi scheme, Santos took the opportunity to poach most of the executives, including the chief financial officer, who presumably knew it was a Ponzi scheme. Many of them, like Devaughn Dames, the former chief financial officer, came to work at the Devolder Organization, which is George Santos’ company that paid him hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars, that he can't provide an explanation of where they came from. 00:04:13:18 - 00:04:22:12 Bennett Tomlin The other scheme, The New York Times, discusses this one we have also discussed on this channel before, But they have some new numbers that help us really see how the scheme was working. 00:04:22:12 - 00:04:26:05 Music [clown-like musical sting] 00:04:26:05 - 00:04:28:23 Bennett Tomlin After the alleged Ponzi scheme collapsed. 00:04:28:26 - 00:04:36:11 Bennett Tomlin George Santos poached most of those executives to come work for some of his companies, including one called Red Strategies USA. 00:04:36:11 - 00:04:50:15 Bennett Tomlin This firm promised to be a one stop shop for the next generation of right wing dipshits. And among their clients was Tina Forte, a QAnon conspiracy theorist who stormed the capital on January 6th in an attempt to interfere with the peaceful transition of democratic power. 00:04:50:15 - 00:05:02:29 Bennett Tomlin Tina Forte wanted to run against AOC and went to Red Strategies USA to get the help she would need. But in her version of events, Red Strategies USA did everything they could to take money from her campaign. 00:05:02:29 - 00:05:18:24 Bennett Tomlin Apparently, her agreement with Red Strategies USA let them take 80% of what they raised on her behalf and seemed to use a variety of suspicious expenses to vendors in order to try to hide this fact and increase the amount they were able to take. 00:05:18:26 - 00:05:42:00 Bennett Tomlin The New York Times details how the July 2021 campaign filing for Forte's ill fated campaign reported raising $42,000. However, $35,000 of that went to Republican fundraising platform, Winred. Winred is supposed to charge about 4% in fees, but apparently Red Strategies initially told Forte that they were charging her over 80%. 00:05:42:00 - 00:05:49:27 Bennett Tomlin This pattern continued with the subsequent filing, where $86,000 was raised, but 51,000 in fees went to Winred. 00:05:50:01 - 00:05:59:18 Bennett Tomlin Compounding the financial strangeness, apparently Red Strategies failed to share account and bank statements with Forte and were months late in giving Forte her own payments. 00:05:59:18 - 00:06:04:20 Bennett Tomlin Santos's campaign had a similar strangeness with Winred, where they had previously 00:06:04:20 - 00:06:09:13 Bennett Tomlin filed, showing they had raised roughly $800,000 from the platform, 00:06:09:13 - 00:06:19:01 Bennett Tomlin which should have resulted in 33 grand in fees, but instead resulted in 200 k in fees clearly benefiting Winred. 00:06:19:01 - 00:06:42:21 Bennett Tomlin Santos and Forte both pin the blame for these problems on Santos campaign treasurer and member of Red Strategies USA, Nancy Marks, George Santos's lawyer, told the New York Times that she was responsible for these discrepancies and said that George was “unaware of her negligence and in hindsight, regrets having worked, hired and partnered with Ms. Marks in every capacity.” 00:06:42:25 - 00:06:49:06 Bennett Tomlin So certainly seems like Red Strategies was up to some nonsense before it was dissolved in September 2022. 00:06:49:06 - 00:06:51:12 Bennett Tomlin There is, of course, more 00:06:51:12 - 00:06:55:05 Music [clown-like musical sting] 00:06:55:05 - 00:07:10:09 Bennett Tomlin in an interview with Semafor after the alleged Ponzi scheme he was a part of collapsed. Santos started describing some of the other work that he was using his network to do, including how he would sometimes connect people who may want to sell a yacht or a plane. 00:07:10:12 - 00:07:25:08 Bennett Tomlin During the course of this interview, Santos explained he can make between 200 K and 400 K from one referral on a $20 million yacht, and also told Semafor that he had landed a couple of these large multi-million dollar deal. 00:07:25:08 - 00:07:30:03 Bennett Tomlin The New York Times says that among the deals he tried to broker was a deal between two Republican donors. 00:07:30:10 - 00:07:35:05 Bennett Tomlin Mayra Ruiz and Raymond Tantillo for a 141 foot yacht. 00:07:35:05 - 00:07:41:15 Bennett Tomlin His lawyer, of course, claims George did not act as a broker for this or any other transaction. 00:07:41:15 - 00:07:45:08 Music [clown-like musical sting] 00:07:45:08 - 00:07:58:07 Bennett Tomlin George Santos has tried to participate in many of the classic scams, including a alleged Ponzi scheme, an advance fee scheme, a political donation misdirection scheme. And I'm sure there will be more. 00:07:58:10 - 00:08:07:18 Bennett Tomlin There are still quite a few unanswered questions, including the massive loan to his own campaign and where the income he was earning from the Devolder Organization came from. 00:08:07:18 - 00:08:13:03 Bennett Tomlin Hopefully, as his prosecution goes on, we will gain more perspective on some of these issues. 00:08:13:03 - 00:08:26:20 Bennett Tomlin The real reason that George Santos's behavior is so enlightening is because it demonstrates how much of the GOP fundraising and consultancy apparatus is effectively regularly a part of this type of scheme. 00:08:26:22 - 00:08:37:14 Bennett Tomlin There's a lot of similar schemes going on, but we are finding out about Santos because he is unique in the brazenness, the scale and the sloppiness of his schemes. 00:08:37:14 - 00:08:47:17 Bennett Tomlin George Santos is not the root of the problem here. He is the most visible side effect of the complete moral vacuum in the heart of the GOP. 00:08:47:17 - 00:08:53:19 Bennett Tomlin If you enjoyed this video, make sure to check out my last video on George Santos and thank you for tuning in. 00:00:06:21 - 00:00:27:07 Bennett Tomlin Welcome back to my personal channel. We remember that the rules are made up in the rich and powerful are to blame. Today, we're reminding Donald Trump about his first presidential run, a run that focus and anti-immigrant sentiment, fears of China and North Korea rising as a threat to the United States and a large wealth tax. But you weren't expecting the wealth tax, were you? 00:00:27:14 - 00:00:34:04 Bennett Tomlin Trump probably doesn't remember it either, because what Trump calls his first presidential run was not his first presidential run. 00:00:34:04 - 00:00:43:04 Bennett Tomlin you see, Trump often says that the first time he decided to run for president, he ended up winning. But this, like most things that Trump says is a lie. 00:00:43:04 - 00:00:52:04 Bennett Tomlin Donald Trump ran for the presidency in the Reform Party in the year 2000 at the urging of his friend Roger Stone. 00:00:52:07 - 00:01:12:17 Bennett Tomlin This was a campaign that was declared, and in the first few states where Trump was on the ballot for the Reform Party primary, he won. Now, he would eventually drop out for reasons we'll get into. But what I'm more interested in is what Trump said the first time, how it set the groundwork for 2016 and 2020 and the places where it diverged. 00:01:12:17 - 00:01:29:05 Bennett Tomlin We're going to watch some clips from some interviews he did in this period. But we're also going to take a deep look at something that was created for this campaign to help launch this campaign. He wrote a book. And of course, by that I mean he hired a ghostwriter to write the book and he put his name on that. 00:01:29:07 - 00:01:50:03 Bennett Tomlin Now, it will actually commend Trump for allowing his ghostwriter to have their name in the book, even if it wasn't on the cover. It was listed at the end or actual writer looks as though it is. Dave Shiflett He would end up writing a few other books which give you some impression of where he was at. These include Christianity on Trial and Exodus. 00:01:50:03 - 00:02:08:16 Bennett Tomlin Why Americans Are Fleeing Liberal Churches for Conservative Christianity. The book for Donald Trump's campaign, The America We Deserve, is a fascinating historical document that none of you should read. It does show us, though, some of the political and personal relationships that Donald Trump thought could make him president. 00:02:08:16 - 00:02:15:07 Bennett Tomlin Quick note before we get into this. I'm going to use AI to recreate Donald Trump's voice to read certain segments from the book. 00:02:15:10 - 00:02:33:07 Bennett Tomlin There will be a note on screen when I'm doing that, and I will show the actual text from the book. But I want to be very explicit that these are not recordings of him. They are AI generated segments of his book. There will also be video clips from some of his interviews. Those are real. You'll be able to tell because you'll see a video of him saying the things in the interview. 00:02:33:07 - 00:02:37:14 Bennett Tomlin Now that we have that clear, let's jump into the America we deserve, 00:02:42:14 - 00:03:04:11 Bennett Tomlin The book opens with acknowledgments, and in most books there's nothing particularly noteworthy in the acknowledgments. You thank the people who helped you get it across the finish line. And this has some of those people we would expect. Norma Foerder, Trump's personal assistant, Nicholas Ribis, who was running Trump's casinos. However, there are a couple of other names that I think are more notable. 00:03:04:13 - 00:03:22:02 Bennett Tomlin The first is professional wrestler and then Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura. Jesse Ventura is probably the only person whose Wikipedia page opens with is an American statesman actor and retired professional wrestler. This doesn't even mention that he used to be a bodyguard for the Rolling Stones. 00:03:22:02 - 00:03:37:28 Bennett Tomlin Jesse Ventura retired from wrestling in 1986, and in 1991, he entered the race for mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, and won. He held this position until 1995 and then ran for Minnesota governor as part of the Reform Party. 00:03:37:28 - 00:03:48:16 Bennett Tomlin For the presumably large percentage of my viewers who do not know what the Reform Party is. It was the political party started for Ross Perot's 1992 presidential election run. 00:03:48:16 - 00:04:08:24 Bennett Tomlin This run was a historical run because Perot ended up receiving about 19% of the popular vote, the highest share of the popular vote won by a third party candidate since 1912. When Teddy Roosevelt started the Bull Moose Party. However, it is important to note that unlike Teddy, who received 88 Electoral College votes, Perot received zero. 00:04:08:24 - 00:04:25:14 Bennett Tomlin This Reform Party run gave many people a hope that it may actually be possible to break the party duopoly in America. However, this resurgence, like every third party surge in America, was doomed to be short lived and would fail to accumulate meaningful power. 00:04:25:14 - 00:04:55:02 Bennett Tomlin By 1996, Perot’s share of the vote had fallen to 8.4%, and he still failed to get a single Electoral College vote. However, despite this disappointing 1996 performance, there was a glimmer of hope. In 1998, popular retired wrestler Jesse Ventura ran for Minnesota governor and won with a grassroots campaign that spent far less than his opponents. It was a narrow victory, but represented a serious victory for what was starting to become the also ran Reform Party. 00:04:55:02 - 00:05:06:08 Bennett Tomlin Trump would say in this book that Jesse strongly encouraged him to run and that he thinks Jesse's mixture of basically common sense principles and straight talk was what the country needed in the White House. 00:05:06:08 - 00:05:13:27 Bennett Tomlin During the course of his single term as governor, Jesse would actually end up leaving the Reform Party to join the Independence Party of Minnesota. 00:05:13:27 - 00:05:19:09 Bennett Tomlin For reasons we will touch on when we get into what happened when Donald's campaign faltered. 00:05:19:09 - 00:05:32:00 Bennett Tomlin So from the names mentioned, we have his personal assistant, the executive who ran his casinos, the governor of Minnesota, who told him to run for office. Some of the staff of his publisher. And finally, we have the most important name in these couple sentences. 00:05:32:03 - 00:05:33:04 Bennett Tomlin Roger Stone. 00:05:33:04 - 00:05:47:12 Bennett Tomlin Yep. Roger Stone is right here. In the acknowledgments for his 2000 run, Trump actually describes Stone as my friend and associate the tough and tireless Roger Stone, who has done so much to oversee its production. 00:05:47:12 - 00:05:52:05 Bennett Tomlin That's right. This book we were discussing today is a Roger Stone production. 00:05:52:05 - 00:05:55:26 Bennett Tomlin Why does this matter? Well, because of what a little rat fuck Roger Stone is. 00:05:56:03 - 00:06:06:22 Bennett Tomlin Stone got his start politically volunteering for Barry Goldwater, but really found his first deepest love when he finally got the chance to work on Nixon's 1972 presidential campaign. 00:06:06:22 - 00:06:25:23 Bennett Tomlin When I say Stone loves Nixon, I am not exaggerating. He literally has dedicated his entire back to a tattoo of Nixon. Stone's role was to do as many dirty tricks as he possibly could, planting stories in the news, hiring people to spy on other campaigns, and whatever else he could think of. 00:06:25:26 - 00:06:50:20 Bennett Tomlin However, here's where we run into the problem with Roger Stone, which is that he loves when people talk about him in a way that makes him seem super powerful and influential. And to accomplish this, he sometimes takes credit for things. It's not clear that he did. For example, those things they said he did. That was all basically by his own recollection, he said he was a scheduler. 00:06:50:20 - 00:06:56:10 Bennett Tomlin But by night, I'm trafficking in the dark arts. Nixon's people were obsessed with intelligence. 00:06:56:10 - 00:07:06:18 Bennett Tomlin However, the official stance of the Richard Nixon Foundation is that Stone was just a junior scheduler and that Stone's characterizations of his contributions were a gross misstatement. 00:07:06:20 - 00:07:14:23 Bennett Tomlin So was Roger doing dirty stuff? Was the dirty stuff at the request of Nixon, or just based on Roger Stone's general desire to be dirty? 00:07:14:23 - 00:07:26:00 Bennett Tomlin The exact details there will probably never be fully parsed out. But ever since that Nixon campaign, Stone has been flitting around the conservative movement and is often there when dirty shit was happening. 00:07:26:00 - 00:07:34:22 Bennett Tomlin Many of you may remember him from his role in Trump's 2016 campaign, which eventually led to him being indicted as part of the Mueller investigation into Donald Trump. 00:07:34:22 - 00:07:39:16 Bennett Tomlin He was eventually convicted of obstruction, making false statement and witness tampering. 00:07:39:16 - 00:07:47:07 Bennett Tomlin He did not spend any time in prison, though, because after the U.S. attorney announced they believe he should spend 7 to 9 years in prison. 00:07:47:10 - 00:07:48:11 Bennett Tomlin Trump said that it 00:07:48:11 - 00:07:53:15 Donald Trump This is a horrible and very unfair situation. The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. 00:07:53:15 - 00:07:55:16 Donald Trump Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice! 00:07:55:16 - 00:08:15:13 Bennett Tomlin After Trump intervened in this way, the DOJ issued a revised sentencing recommendation which led to all the U.S. attorney generals leaving the case and one of them even chose to resign because of this intervention. 2,000 former employees of the Department of Justice ended up calling on Barr to resign because of this political intervention. 00:08:15:13 - 00:08:34:23 Bennett Tomlin Stone was eventually sentenced to a reduced 40 months in federal prison in February 2020, but repeated delays meant that his surrender date was eventually moved to July 14th and July 10th. Donald Trump commuted Roger Stone sentence, meaning that he never saw a day in prison. 00:08:34:23 - 00:08:41:05 Bennett Tomlin Why am I belaboring these 2016 to 2020 events when we are nominally discussing 2000? 00:08:41:08 - 00:08:53:00 Bennett Tomlin Because Roger Stone is the awful through line for much of this bullshit and is even today responsible for post-Trump bullshit like Robert F Kennedy Jr. Though we will get back to that. 00:08:53:00 - 00:09:02:02 Bennett Tomlin So before we've even gotten into the introduction to this book, we have a dirty political operative, an entertainer who became a politician and Trump's business associates. 00:09:02:02 - 00:09:14:08 Bennett Tomlin And the impression you get if you know who Roger Stone is before you even get to the first word of chapter one is that this is a campaign run by assholes. But what happens when we do get into the actual words? 00:09:14:10 - 00:09:18:22 Bennett Tomlin How did Trump imagine his presidency would look back in 2000 00:09:23:22 - 00:09:27:09 Bennett Tomlin The introduction to this book is entitled The Serious Side of Trump. 00:09:27:09 - 00:09:34:09 Bennett Tomlin That title suggests to me that Trump hoped this campaign would show people that he was not just a philandering real estate and casino playboy. 00:09:34:11 - 00:09:53:01 Bennett Tomlin He was a serious thinker who could not only achieve massive financial success after starting in third base, thanks to Fred Trump's existing wealth, he could also anticipate foreign policy problems, fix tax policy, and save America from impending doom. This is not only my interpretation, 00:09:53:01 - 00:10:04:13 Bennett Tomlin by the way, Dan Rather interviewed Donald Trump on 60 Minutes II after he announced he was considered running, and he also interviewed Jack Trout, a marketing expert who ran then notable Trout and partners, marketing firm. 00:10:04:15 - 00:10:14:02 Bennett Tomlin Jack felt this was all to sell Trump the brand and Trump the ego, and that, moreover, it allowed him to be treated at a higher level 00:10:14:02 - 00:10:26:23 Jack Trout Well, I think in his own mind, beyond feeding his ego, he see I think he sees it as a help to his business because there's also Trump the brand as so as well as Trump the ego. And he has his name on everything. 00:10:26:23 - 00:10:30:17 Jack Trout He's getting what he really wants, which is to be treated at a higher level. 00:10:30:17 - 00:10:45:11 Bennett Tomlin contemporaneously with Trump starting this campaign. People thought it was all about trying to further legitimize the brand of Trump, and even the title of the introduction seems to tell us that moving past the title of the introduction, it opens with. 00:10:45:11 - 00:11:09:01 Donald Trump Let's cut to the chase. Yes. I am considering a run for the presidency of the United States. The reason has nothing to do with vanity, as some have suggested, or merely to block the advancement of other candidates. I will run if I become convinced I can win. Two things are certain at this point. However, I believe non politicans represent the wave of the future and if elected I would make the kind of president America needs in the new millennium. 00:11:09:01 - 00:11:23:02 Bennett Tomlin Let's go through the claims he makes here. It's not about vanity, which I think is a lie for similar reasons to what Jack Trout said, that it's not to block other candidates, which is another claim we will need to assess, especially with our friend Roger Stone involved, 00:11:23:02 - 00:11:33:25 Bennett Tomlin that if he runs, it's because he thinks he can win, which is important because he did run, which means he thought he could win, which means this was his first real presidential campaign. 00:11:33:25 - 00:11:44:26 Bennett Tomlin Finally, we see Trump start to center himself on the same message that worked effectively in 2016. I know politicians. I can see through them, and that's why you should support 00:11:44:26 - 00:11:54:16 Bennett Tomlin Immediately after this opening here we are thrown back into Trump's ego. We get another mention of another one of our 2016 to 2020 friends when he says, 00:11:54:16 - 00:12:15:25 Donald Trump You can see a long way from the top of Trump Tower. If you stand here beside me and look one direction, the view is outstanding. Economic growth is hitting 6%. New York is the hottest city on the planet, hotter than Hong Kong and hotter than Shanghai, which had a crane on every corner in the early 1990s. Our crime rate is way down thanks to Rudy Giuliani, our great mayor. 00:12:15:27 - 00:12:22:11 Donald Trump I'm having more fun than I've ever had in this terrific economic climate. I'm making great deals. 00:12:22:11 - 00:12:25:09 Bennett Tomlin That's right, Rudy Giuliani makes his first appearance. 00:12:25:11 - 00:12:45:12 Bennett Tomlin He was mayor at this point, having previously served as a Southern District of New York prosecutor who went after the five families Mafia groups. It's important for us to mention Rudy here because he ended up being such an important figure in the later Trump attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which seems as though it may result in him being disbarred. 00:12:45:12 - 00:13:01:14 Bennett Tomlin Isn't it kind of fun, though, that Rudy Giuliani and Roger Stone both make their appearances like before we even really get into this book? We're in the introduction, and yet we've already seen both of these figures from the attempted autogolpe in 2020. Fun, how they all stick around, isn't it? 00:13:01:14 - 00:13:07:04 Bennett Tomlin Moving further on in the introduction, we get into Trump doing what Trump does best, which is to say attacking people. 00:13:07:04 - 00:13:30:19 Bennett Tomlin What made this particularly notable, though, is that Trump was going to be running as part of the Reform Party, which had an internal rule against attacking other Reform Party candidates, presumably because an effective third party would eventually need all members to fall into line behind the chosen candidate. For that candidate to have any chance to get meaningful power, however, is those who have seen Trump talk before. 00:13:30:24 - 00:13:35:09 Bennett Tomlin You can immediately see how that rule would be impossible for him to follow. 00:13:35:09 - 00:13:43:16 Dan Rather he then ignored the Reform Party position not to attack fellow candidates like Pat Buchanan and his new ally, Lenora Fulani. 00:13:43:18 - 00:13:51:06 Donald Trump So you have an ultra right and a communist together. This is the partnership. You can have that partnership 00:13:51:06 - 00:13:59:03 Bennett Tomlin He could not stop himself at events from attacking Pat Buchanan, who is one of the other Reform Party candidates in the introduction, he states. 00:13:59:03 - 00:14:21:02 Donald Trump One candidate, Pat Buchanan, believes we should reduce our commitments abroad. And I agree. But his startling view that the Western allies should not have stopped Hitler is repugnant. When he said that, he totally lost it. Hitler was a monster and it was essential for the Allies to crush Nazism. To say that Hitler had no malignant intentions toward the United States is beyond belief. 00:14:21:05 - 00:14:46:25 Donald Trump 20 years ago, Buchanan was less cautious. He called Hitler an individual of great courage a soldier’s soldier, a leader steeped in the history of Europe, and talked about his other extraordinary gifts. My grandfather was German, but I am proud of the vital role that the United States played in defeating the Third Reich. Buchanan denigrates the memory of those Americans who in the Second World War gave their lives in the effort to stop Hitler. 00:14:46:27 - 00:14:57:14 Donald Trump Moreover, his remarks about Hitler suggest Buchanan would adopt a foreign policy today that is absolutely guaranteed to encourage the most oppressive anti-American dictators. In our own times. 00:14:57:14 - 00:15:20:22 Bennett Tomlin those are some serious claims. Let's take a look at them real quick before we take Trump at his word, before we get into the Nazi specific stuff, I do want to touch on Pat's important role in establishing the issues the GOP now focuses on. In 1992, at the Republican Convention, he delivered what is now known as the Culture War speech, where he said there is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America. 00:15:20:25 - 00:15:27:20 Bennett Tomlin It is a cultural war as critical to the kind of nation we will see one day, as was the Cold War itself. 00:15:27:20 - 00:15:51:24 Bennett Tomlin During the course of this speech, he raised several issues and criticisms, including environmentalists, feminism, abortion, on demand, homosexual rights, religious schools, women in combat. And a month later, he expanded the culture war to even more issues that still distract the Republican Party today, including the Confederate flag, the war on Christmas and government funded art. 00:15:51:26 - 00:15:57:12 Bennett Tomlin It's eerie to read because every single one of these criticisms could be coming out of the DeSantis campaign today, 00:15:57:12 - 00:16:00:16 Bennett Tomlin actually, literally, some of these still are. 00:16:00:16 - 00:16:08:08 Bennett Tomlin DeSantis recently said that he wants to restore the names of forts and other things to the previous treasonous Confederate names that they had. 00:16:08:08 - 00:16:15:16 Ron DeSantis And I also look forward to as president, restoring the name of Fort Bragg to our great military. 00:16:15:16 - 00:16:32:03 Ron DeSantis Base in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and thank the people that have served there. And they're proud of their service there. And it's an iconic name and an iconic base. And we're not going to let political correctness run amuck in North Carolina. 00:16:32:03 - 00:16:53:26 Bennett Tomlin The other issues are still foundational issues for the Republican Party, often literally planks in their platform. If we take a look at the 2020 platform for the Republican Party, which actually quick note in the 2020 platform, it's actually the 2016 platform that they copied into 2020 with an addendum that basically says all the stuff we said before, plus whatever Trump says. 00:16:53:28 - 00:17:03:17 Bennett Tomlin More specifically, it says Resolved that the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President's America First agenda. 00:17:03:17 - 00:17:09:18 Bennett Tomlin But this platform touches on several of these same issues that Pat Buchanan made fundamental to the Republican Party. 00:17:09:18 - 00:17:36:26 Bennett Tomlin It discusses trying to roll back protections for gay marriage and adoption for gay couples. It wants to end protection for abortion. It trashes radical environmentalists. It suggests every child should have a married mom and dad. And even talks about religious schools saying We encourage state legislatures to offer the Bible in a literature curriculum. It rails against Title IX which added protections for people from being discriminated against for their sex. 00:17:36:29 - 00:17:44:21 Bennett Tomlin Literally, the Republican Party is hitting the exact same issues they were hitting in 1992 when Pat made the speech. 00:17:44:21 - 00:17:56:10 Bennett Tomlin Also, some of you may not have realized how explicitly regressive the planks of the GOP platform are. Now you do. That's a good thing to remember when someone says they’re Republican. 00:17:56:10 - 00:18:02:02 Bennett Tomlin Pat Buchanan helped establish the tone of the GOP for the next 30 years. 00:18:02:04 - 00:18:08:09 Bennett Tomlin Oh, and on those Nazi claims, Trump was right. Buchanan was fucking awful. 00:18:08:09 - 00:18:16:07 Bennett Tomlin the Anti-Defamation League described him as a bigot, who repeatedly demonizes Jews and minorities and openly affiliates with white supremacists. 00:18:16:07 - 00:18:45:04 Bennett Tomlin He defended Nazi war criminals who committed mass murder, tried to stop deportation of Nazi war criminals from the Eastern Bloc and denied the deaths of people in Nazi gas chambers. When Ronald Reagan was going to visit a German military cemetery where SS members were buried, there was a great deal of controversy. Elie Weisel, A Holocaust survivor who was attending meetings at the White House to express opposition to the trip, described Pat Buchanan's conduct in these meetings as the only one. 00:18:45:04 - 00:18:52:02 Bennett Tomlin Really defending the trip was Pat Buchanan, who is saying, We cannot give the perception of the president being subjected to Jewish pressure. 00:18:52:02 - 00:19:07:25 Bennett Tomlin Buchanan is a truly atrocious bigot, and he is responsible for mainlining and establishing many of the issues that would be important for the Republican Party today. Trump was absolutely right that Buchanan never should have been allowed anywhere close to power. 00:19:07:27 - 00:19:15:10 Bennett Tomlin What is most fascinating to me, though, is how the GOP has fully embraced the culture war fight of this bigot and Nazi sympathizer. 00:19:15:10 - 00:19:24:25 Bennett Tomlin Quick note that we will get back to when we revisit the end of Trump's campaign. The Reform Party did end up nominating this well-documented anti-Semite for the 2000 election. 00:19:24:25 - 00:19:34:00 Bennett Tomlin I also need to mention that in a 1990 interview, Trump's then wife, Ivana, said that he kept a collection of Adolf Hitler speeches on his bedside table. 00:19:34:00 - 00:19:48:29 Bennett Tomlin Donald Trump would insist that the book he actually kept on his bedside table was Mein Kampf, and also insisted that he would never read Hitler's speeches, even if he did own them, and then further claim that the person who gave him Mein Kampf was Jewish and they were not. 00:19:48:29 - 00:19:57:25 Bennett Tomlin Michael Bender, in his book about Donald Trump, said that Donald Trump said Hitler did a lot of good things in 2018 to his then chief of staff, John Kelly. 00:19:57:25 - 00:20:05:14 Bennett Tomlin Trump denies he said this. Just wanted to make sure we had the full details on Trump's personal relationship with Hitler before we moved on. 00:20:05:14 - 00:20:14:04 Bennett Tomlin Continue in this introduction. And yes, I know it's absurd that we have not made it to the first chapter yet, but the introduction is the most important chapter here. 00:20:14:10 - 00:20:38:11 Bennett Tomlin And reading it, you can tell the expected that most people would never read past it. So we must continue. After accurately calling out Buchanan's bigotry. Trump moves to quickly insult every other candidate he could. He says that Al Gore is an able, underrated man who seems confused, then calls Bill Bradley a disaster. In his interview on 60 minute II, he says of George Bush that he doesn't seem like Albert Einstein. 00:20:38:11 - 00:20:45:11 Donald Trump Well, so far, I've been very, very saddened by the fact that he certainly doesn't seem like Albert Einstein. 00:20:45:14 - 00:20:54:06 Bennett Tomlin In another interview with Larry King, he makes the claim that George W Bush's previous struggles with addiction are disqualifying because he could relapse 00:20:54:06 - 00:20:56:14 Donald Trump it. I think he owes even the alcoholism because. 00:20:54:06 - 00:21:28:05 Larry King true alcoholic always says: “I'm an alcoholic” right? I mean, only alcohol in the true out they know which says I'm an alcoholic. 00:20:56:14 - 00:20:57:28 Larry King Alcohol is discussed that. 00:20:58:01 - 00:21:12:05 Donald Trump Well, alcohol is is something that does recur. It can recur under stress and under pressure. And I guess probably the American people are really going to perhaps they'll learn or perhaps they won't. But if he suffered from problems with. 00:21:12:05 - 00:21:12:18 Larry King I don't know. 00:21:12:18 - 00:21:13:12 Donald Trump Perhaps. 00:21:13:15 - 00:21:14:05 Larry King He might have had we. 00:21:14:05 - 00:21:17:24 Donald Trump Don't know. But we had a problem. And perhaps we should know that problem. 00:21:17:26 - 00:21:19:25 Larry King Because of the fear that could go back to it. 00:21:19:27 - 00:21:25:10 Donald Trump Because of the fear that people go back. I mean, this is perhaps not politically correct, but who the hell cares? 00:21:28:07 - 00:21:35:05 Donald Trump Every day, right? So I think when somebody is running, if there is a potential problem with alcohol or with drugs, I think the people have to know about it. 00:21:35:05 - 00:21:43:23 Bennett Tomlin back on 60 Minutes. He first pulled out the line that he would use again in 2016 about John McCain. Does being captured make you a hero? 00:21:43:28 - 00:21:46:17 Donald Trump Being captured make you a hero? I don't know. I'm not sure. 00:21:46:17 - 00:21:54:14 Bennett Tomlin I want to remind everyone that Donald Trump's very serious bone spurs prevented him from serving in the military. Saving him from that risk of capture. 00:21:54:14 - 00:21:59:15 Bennett Tomlin Later in this book, Trump would suggest that John McCain could be his secretary of defense. 00:21:59:15 - 00:22:12:20 Bennett Tomlin After trying to insult anyone who might win against him, he heads into trying to make it clear that he's going to win by pointing out that he polls well in the small polls for Reform Party candidates and then says that other polls show that he would run better than Buchanan. 00:22:12:20 - 00:22:23:00 Bennett Tomlin After believing he has convinced you that the polls show he definitely can win, we start to see a version of the message that you can imagine him saying in his 2016 or 2020 00:22:23:00 - 00:22:44:22 Donald Trump I'm definitely a different look. I'm not prepackaged, I'm not plastic, I'm not scripted and I'm not handled. I tell you what, I think it's quite a departure from the usual office seeking pols. Maybe the voters would find it refreshing. I guarantee you one thing. They'd find it interesting. After two years of George W Bush, John McCain, Al Gore, and Bill Bradley running for president, the voters will be bored to death. 00:22:44:22 - 00:22:51:19 Donald Trump They'll be looking for a candidate who is straight talking, straight shooting, beholden to no one, and has proven that he can actually get things done. 00:22:51:19 - 00:23:02:25 Bennett Tomlin This message is basically identical to what he would run on almost two decades later. He shoots from the hip and tells you what he thinks. And that's such a contrast to the people who have been politicians. 00:23:02:25 - 00:23:18:00 Bennett Tomlin Still concerned you may not believe him when he says that he can win. He starts talking about Jesse Ventura again, pointing out that he showed people want a straight talking non-politician, though, again, before he ran for governor, Jesse was mayor and before he considered running for president. 00:23:18:01 - 00:23:21:03 Bennett Tomlin Jesse was a governor and a mayor. But Trump said 00:23:21:03 - 00:23:39:01 Donald Trump He was elected governor of Minnesota, knocking off a couple of old time political pros because he talks straight. Non-politicians like Ventura are the wave of the future, and it's going to be a lot easier for non-politicians to get elected to high office from here on out. Jesse may be the exception today, but straight shooters like him will be the rule tomorrow. 00:23:39:02 - 00:23:48:14 Donald Trump Voters are going to look to the worlds of business, entertainment, professional sports and maybe the military, not to career politicians for our next generation of political leadership. 00:23:48:14 - 00:23:56:02 Bennett Tomlin And after using these polls and references to other candidates to try to convince you that he can actually win, Donald Trump decided to launch in December 00:23:56:02 - 00:23:57:23 Bennett Tomlin of his policy positions. 00:23:57:23 - 00:24:16:03 Bennett Tomlin we'll get to most of these in their individual chapters. But to summarize, economic disaster is coming. Terrorism is coming. We need to crack down on North Korea because they're going to get nukes. We need to pull out of Europe and use that money to fix the schools. Schools are safe and we need charter schools. Crime is a problem and we need to put more people to death. 00:24:16:03 - 00:24:24:26 Bennett Tomlin People have accused me of being a racist, but I'm not. That's not really a policy position, but it is in this section for some reason. And yet she followed that by saying, 00:24:24:26 - 00:24:29:09 Donald Trump My long time involvement in promoting some of the biggest boxing events in history 00:24:29:09 - 00:24:33:05 Donald Trump has allowed me to become friends with men like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. 00:24:33:05 - 00:24:38:16 Donald Trump Through them and through more recent friendships with Puffy Combs, Sammy Sosa and others. 00:24:38:16 - 00:24:42:29 Donald Trump I've had the chance to learn firsthand about the diversity of American culture, 00:24:42:29 - 00:24:47:12 Donald Trump and it has left me with little appetite for those who hate or preach intolerance. 00:24:47:12 - 00:25:02:06 Bennett Tomlin not sure that's the proof I would have relied on. But nonetheless, getting back to his platform, he wanted to take steps to increase tolerance for diversity and even talked about how a hate crime against a gay man was evidence of the type of problem he wanted to solve 00:25:02:06 - 00:25:10:16 Bennett Tomlin After giving you this whirlwind tour of his political positions, he then comes back to trying to convince you he is qualified because his family does some charity. 00:25:10:16 - 00:25:31:00 Donald Trump Some people are going to say, who is Donald Trump to talk about these big issues? What's his background? It's true that in my family we talked about real estate, not politics, but volunteering talents. Being a good citizen has always been important to the Trump family. The charity work of my father, brother and sister in law, and the judicial work of my sister all point to that. 00:25:31:02 - 00:25:38:27 Donald Trump We've benefited from the American dream and we feel the duty to give back to the community. Those who don't are nothing more than parasites. 00:25:38:27 - 00:25:45:14 Donald Trump When you look at who gives the largest proportion of their earnings to charity, it's often people at the lower end of the economic ladder. 00:25:45:14 - 00:25:50:28 Donald Trump They've got a lesson to teach all of us. They're keeping the American dream alive, and we're going to need them in the tough times. 00:25:50:28 - 00:25:57:16 Bennett Tomlin He then chooses to summarize how he came up with his political agenda, which was talking to people and using his intuition. 00:25:57:16 - 00:26:01:10 Donald Trump I've taken the same approach and refining my political agendas and the writing of this book. 00:26:01:10 - 00:26:20:18 Donald Trump I've talked to people who seem to have the right talent, energy and ideas. I've read widely until I found authors who saw problems the way I do and propose solutions that make sense. I've based my political programs on this research and these conversations, but I'm also bringing a perspective to politics that most politicians don't have. 00:26:20:18 - 00:26:33:20 Donald Trump I built a multibillion dollar empire by using my intuition. Here, I'm letting my instincts tell me how we have to work together to build the America we deserve. What I stand for is quality of work. I stand for getting things done. 00:26:33:20 - 00:26:43:23 Bennett Tomlin That's right, intuition and talking to people. Now we get into perhaps the weirdest part of this introduction, which is where he talks about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. 00:26:43:25 - 00:26:44:18 Bennett Tomlin He says, 00:26:44:18 - 00:27:01:12 Donald Trump When confronted with the Lewinsky matter, Clinton should have stoutly refused to discuss his private life. He should also have declined to answer rather than perjure himself. If the Clinton affair proves anything, it is that the American people don't care about the private lives and personal of our political leaders so long as they are doing the job. 00:27:01:12 - 00:27:15:27 Bennett Tomlin Yeah, so he's ignoring that Clinton abused his position of power. Not surprising, interviewing Donald Trump, but also insisting he should have just refused to discuss it, which is quintessentially Donald Trump advice. 00:27:15:27 - 00:27:31:23 Bennett Tomlin Quick interjection from the editing bay here. One thing that I forgot to mention in this section is that this book came out in 2000, and as we already mentioned, it was a Roger Stone production. What I forgot to mention in this part about the Clinton Lewinsky affair 00:27:31:23 - 00:27:48:00 Bennett Tomlin is that in 1996, Roger Stone was forced to the periphery of the Republican Party because the National Enquirer published information about swinger ads Roger Stone in his then wife had posted. 00:27:48:00 - 00:28:10:28 Bennett Tomlin so this whole thing about avoiding talking about this kind of thing may have part come directly from Roger Stone. We can, of course, point to Trump's infidelities and indiscretions, but I think there's a chance this is also about Roger Stone's own recent experience being pushed out of the party because of their beliefs about certain sexual conduct. 00:28:11:01 - 00:28:17:27 Bennett Tomlin Just wanted to add that in before we jump right back into what else Trump said about this type of thing. 00:28:17:27 - 00:28:21:26 Bennett Tomlin He then doubles down in seems to flirt blackmail and says, 00:28:21:26 - 00:28:44:08 Donald Trump I got a chuckle out of all the more or less in Congress and in the media who expressed public outrage at the president's immoral behavior. I happen to know that one U.S. senator leading the pack of attackers spent more than a few nights with his 20 something girlfriend at a hotel I owned. There's also a conservative columnist married who was particularly rough on Clinton in this regard. 00:28:44:10 - 00:28:49:12 Donald Trump He also brought his girlfriend to my resorts for the weekend. Their hypocrisy is amazing. 00:28:49:12 - 00:28:53:28 Bennett Tomlin Yeah, kind of seems to me like he's telling those people that he can out them if he needs to. 00:28:53:28 - 00:29:04:09 Bennett Tomlin Finally, super deep into this video, we approach the end of this introduction that is supposed to introduce us to the serious side of Trump, and he once again summarizes his pitch. 00:29:04:09 - 00:29:26:15 Donald Trump I'm not worried about whether or not the intellectual slash, journalistic slash political establishment thinks I've got the stuff to talk about saving the American dream. I believe in the American dream. My business experience shows me that it works. And I want to do everything possible to see that regular Americans can enjoy the same opportunity for success and security that I have had. 00:29:26:18 - 00:29:45:12 Donald Trump That means the American dream, unencumbered by bureaucratic ineptitude, government regulation, confiscatory tax policies, racism, discrimination against women, or discrimination against people based on sexual orientation. We must all have equal access to the American dream. It's a dream we deserve and a dream worth fighting for. 00:29:45:12 - 00:29:52:28 Bennett Tomlin So we've seen this serious side of Trump, and it's a mixed bag of different opinions and positions that seem to have been picked out of everywhere and nowhere. 00:29:53:01 - 00:30:21:01 Bennett Tomlin It favors some of the populist language he would use later, but also endorses positions that he would avoid in 2016 and 2020, including advocating for diversity. During the course of this section, he did accurately predict the Internet value was, in part a bubble, and in this introduction in the policies feel a lot like his 2016 and 2020 policies, which is to say whatever sense they exist in their buzzwords and soundbites, they're not serious policy. 00:30:26:01 - 00:30:43:03 Bennett Tomlin The first chapter is called The Business of America is Business and is primarily meant to demonstrate that Trump will be pro-business and that this will help America. But it does include some strange comments, including a comment which seems awfully prescient in this pre 911 book, where he says that 00:30:43:03 - 00:31:05:23 Donald Trump First off, as I said, I really am convinced we're in danger of the sort of terrorist attacks that will make the bombing of the Trade Center look like kids playing with firecrackers. No sensible analyst rejects this possibility, and plenty of them, like me are not wondering if but when it will happen. Nor is there any doubt that when people are under attack or fear societal mayhem of any type, their priorities are not on investing. 00:31:05:23 - 00:31:12:02 Donald Trump Their minds are going to be on digging in and surviving, and this attitude will have major economic consequences. 00:31:12:02 - 00:31:13:26 Bennett Tomlin This did end up being accurate. 00:31:13:26 - 00:31:20:29 Bennett Tomlin The politically running against terrorism is generally easy because no one is pro terrorism, and terrorism can be whatever you need it to be. 00:31:20:29 - 00:31:27:28 Bennett Tomlin He also repeatedly tries to show how he's going to walk the line between the parties while discussing economic surpluses. He says this. 00:31:27:28 - 00:31:51:22 Donald Trump Consider the current budget surplus. The Democrats want to spend all of it using some of it to pay down the national debt. The Republicans want to give it all back in the form of deep tax cuts. They're both wrong and right. Now, in a period of prosperity is the time to hedge against the economic hard times ahead. Both debt reduction and tax reduction are key and necessary. 00:31:51:25 - 00:32:11:11 Donald Trump I'd rather have the people spend their money than have the government spend it. But typical of the polarized politics of Washington, both parties demand all or nothing. The proper course is to use a portion of the surplus and still provide meaningful tax cuts for working families, not for the guys in my bracket. That is the art of compromise. 00:32:11:12 - 00:32:29:11 Donald Trump This course of action now will prepare us for the economic downturn ahead by reducing the government's interest payments and by allowing families to save more in preparation for the lean times ahead. But you don't hear compromise and deal making from Washington. Maybe it's time we had a president who was a dealmaker. 00:32:29:11 - 00:32:40:14 Bennett Tomlin There's several interesting details to highlight here. The tax cuts he describes here are explicitly meant to not benefit the rich, which is different than what he did when he actually passed tax cuts in 2016 (*2017). 00:32:40:16 - 00:32:48:05 Bennett Tomlin That package gave tax cuts and corporate profits, investment income and significantly benefited those who were in Trump's tax bracket. 00:32:48:05 - 00:32:54:16 Bennett Tomlin Trump also talks about the importance of debt reduction, but when he was president, he increased both the deficit and the national debt. 00:32:54:16 - 00:33:02:21 Bennett Tomlin He references his strength as a deal maker, A core part of his brand that was essential to his later runs and is referenced repeatedly throughout the book. 00:33:02:21 - 00:33:13:29 Bennett Tomlin After this, he hits many of the generic points about how the government needs to get out of the way in most projects, but should be involved in some things like transportation, public works and safety. 00:33:13:29 - 00:33:16:20 Bennett Tomlin When discussing regulations and they go too far, 00:33:16:20 - 00:33:18:15 Bennett Tomlin He gets really mad at the ADA. 00:33:18:15 - 00:33:23:13 Bennett Tomlin Before we move out, protection for workers are good. Employers can fire people for basically any reason. 00:33:23:13 - 00:33:38:01 Bennett Tomlin Having a law that prevents employers from discriminating against the disabled and requires them to provide reasonable accommodation is a very good thing. We should actively give the EEOC more funding so they can pursue cases of discrimination against the disabled. 00:33:38:01 - 00:33:44:25 Bennett Tomlin Trump really hates the ADA apparently, and I wonder if it's because he's been sued at least eight times for violating it anyways. 00:33:44:25 - 00:34:02:16 Bennett Tomlin That broadly is how this book opens, focusing on vague promises to create new economic activity by ending regulations and his strength as a businessman. When 2016 eventually rolled around, we once again saw him run on a similar platform of ending regulations to unlock business. 00:34:07:16 - 00:34:15:10 Bennett Tomlin Chapter two is entitled Competition Saving Our Schools the American Way, and is all about Donald Trump's stances on education. 00:34:15:10 - 00:34:31:24 Bennett Tomlin It hits many points and education, which are part and parcel of the Republican platform. It opens with him ranting about crime and suggesting that schools are some super dangerous place. Then he starts to discuss how he thinks schools are getting worse and they're not teaching what they need to, and they're not teaching it how it should be taught. 00:34:31:27 - 00:34:40:21 Bennett Tomlin Real boomer complaints about schools if I've ever heard them. So what types of things does Trump not like? Estimating for one. Complaining about an exercise where 00:34:40:21 - 00:34:51:17 Donald Trump Two times two equals somewhere between three and six, estimating they call it. When I was in school, they called an answer like that something else wrong? They had a solution back to the flashcards. 00:34:51:17 - 00:35:05:08 Bennett Tomlin Donald Trump mathematical genius wants us all to know that the best way to learn math is rote memorization of your times tables. Just keep doing those flashcards. Kids. Kids more practically, is someone who has taken far more math classes than Trump. 00:35:05:11 - 00:35:23:18 Bennett Tomlin Developing the type of intuition targeted by the estimates answer is better because it helps students start to understand why the answer is for instead of just racing to do as many questions as possible in 60 seconds. And listen, I loved those little times tables, quizzes. My friends and I were racing to see who could do them the fastest. 00:35:23:25 - 00:35:29:22 Bennett Tomlin And I had a lot of fun doing that because I was a massive nerd. But that was not when I was learning the most math 00:35:29:22 - 00:35:45:03 Bennett Tomlin I was in high school and taking calculus, I finally was provided with some of the information that underpins much of the math. We learned before. The same time I was taking physics and could clearly see the value of being able to estimate and come up with orders of magnitude answers. 00:35:45:06 - 00:35:54:11 Bennett Tomlin And this was a period where my level of understanding surrounding these things skyrocketed, and it was all rooted in the type of thinking that Donald decries. 00:35:54:11 - 00:35:59:14 Bennett Tomlin But anyways, Donald, if you're watching this, I'll do a public times table challenge against you anytime you want. 00:35:59:14 - 00:36:02:24 Bennett Tomlin Let's see if those teachers telling you hit the flashcards helped you out. 00:36:02:24 - 00:36:14:13 Bennett Tomlin After Trump suggests that rote memorization is the best way to learn this type of things, he claims that educators ignored this obvious truth because they're obligated to be concerned about the students self-esteem. 00:36:14:13 - 00:36:41:15 Donald Trump But the people running our public schools, like people at the upper echelons of a lot of segments in our society, don't want to damage a student's self-esteem. They're concerned about empowerment. They're worried kids will feel bad if they get a problem wrong or flunk a spelling test. It's better these people think, to pat a kid on the head and praise his creative spelling than point out that there is a traditional name for people with poor spelling skills. 00:36:41:17 - 00:36:43:01 Donald Trump We call them illiterates. 00:36:43:01 - 00:37:02:16 Bennett Tomlin Yup, that's right. Trump is just like your grumpy uncle complaining about participation trophies. First, let's address the most clear cut point Teaching students how to do estimation of multiplication has absolutely no relationship to working on their self-esteem, except insofar as both of those practices have changed and Trump likes to do post hoc ergo propter hoc. 00:37:02:16 - 00:37:05:10 Bennett Tomlin Like if you pull up that graph about Nicolas Cage and drowning. 00:37:05:10 - 00:37:08:15 Bennett Tomlin Yeah, that's one of the it's called a spurious correlation, if you prefer. 00:37:08:15 - 00:37:17:28 Bennett Tomlin Furthermore, I want to highlight the casual cruelty in trying to damage students self-esteem to make them feel disempowered and to imply that students are illiterate if they cannot spell. 00:37:17:28 - 00:37:22:25 Bennett Tomlin Speaking of illiteracy, Trump does not read books, briefings or anything else, according to reporting. 00:37:22:25 - 00:37:28:22 Bennett Tomlin Trump then continues in his crusade against estimation by saying, If you estimate in other places, you get in trouble. 00:37:28:22 - 00:37:31:05 Bennett Tomlin Specifically, he says that if you try to be. 00:37:31:05 - 00:37:37:05 Donald Trump In the neighborhood of on your tax returns. And you may end up in a place where there's a very definite number stamped on the back of your shirt. 00:37:37:05 - 00:37:41:02 Bennett Tomlin Now, that's a really funny thing for him to say because of all the headlines I'm putting up on the screen 00:37:41:02 - 00:37:48:29 Bennett Tomlin Like it would be embarrassing if you estimated one number in the tax returns and different number elsewhere for the values of different things. When in it Donald 00:37:48:29 - 00:38:03:19 Bennett Tomlin Donald moves off the curriculum to jump back to spending where he suggests that the increase in public school spending has been wasted because SAT scores got worse from 1960 to 1991. Donald decided to point out that over those three decades, the scores dropped 60 points. 00:38:03:19 - 00:38:05:00 Bennett Tomlin Despite all this spending. 00:38:05:00 - 00:38:26:29 Bennett Tomlin Let's talk about that drop. In 1961, about 800,000 S.A.T. tests were taken between 1961 to 1977. The number of tests taken per year doubled. And there was fear about falling scores during this period. An analysis in a study commissioned by the College Board suggested that 75% in scores from the sixties came from changes in who was taking the test. 00:38:27:01 - 00:38:41:16 Bennett Tomlin But only about 25% of the seventies decline could be similarly explained. Interesting how Trump didn't mention that that part was explained, though he also didn't raise any questions about the College Board's equating process between different versions of the test. 00:38:41:16 - 00:38:46:10 Bennett Tomlin There's also the fact that during this period would be when usage of leaded gasoline was peaking. 00:38:46:10 - 00:38:51:12 Bennett Tomlin And studies have shown that this widespread presence of lead contributed to immeasurable IQ drop. 00:38:51:12 - 00:38:57:24 Bennett Tomlin Now, IQ is a very problematic test, but it does suggest that perhaps it was these environmental things 00:38:57:24 - 00:39:07:12 Bennett Tomlin that last one that especially seems like the type of thing that regulations help with. But Trump already said there's too many regulations, so he would have missed that solution to the problem. 00:39:07:12 - 00:39:11:11 Bennett Tomlin He's talking about. Isn't that interesting? I think that's interesting. 00:39:11:11 - 00:39:23:06 Bennett Tomlin There's several pages of additional ranting and self-esteem and then some really bad advice. You see, he specifically suggests that schools stop trying to prevent students from dropping out. And even 00:39:23:06 - 00:39:34:28 Donald Trump The policy in every high school, including the inner city high schools with traditionally high dropout rates should be that students have to be studious in order to receive the public subsidy involved in a high school education. 00:39:34:28 - 00:39:40:26 Bennett Tomlin Rather than try to provide additional support for students at risk of dropping out, Trump thinks they should just drop out. 00:39:40:26 - 00:39:45:09 Bennett Tomlin I can buy into the argument that American schools could benefit from being competitive, 00:39:45:09 - 00:40:01:13 Bennett Tomlin And I even think there's additional value in moving away from the expected matriculation between years of school. But if you're going to implement a system like that, then you need to combine it with more resources so that you can provide supports to try to get those students who are currently falling short to the appropriate level. 00:40:01:13 - 00:40:06:28 Bennett Tomlin You don't just abandon them. The point of our public education system is to educate the public. 00:40:06:28 - 00:40:14:05 Bennett Tomlin But really, this is all just laying the groundwork for what he really wants, which can broadly be described as trying to gut the public education system. 00:40:14:05 - 00:40:21:03 Bennett Tomlin You see, he starts in a very Republican way by targeting the teachers unions and say they fail to help workers in education. 00:40:21:05 - 00:40:36:03 Bennett Tomlin This is when he transitions into his school choice argument. School choice is a Republican hobbyhorse. They hope to come up with a system that takes tax dollars away from the public school system and directs it towards private schools, often including explicitly religious schools. 00:40:36:03 - 00:40:41:09 Bennett Tomlin They revisit this one every few years. And Trump hits many of the key points that you still hear today. 00:40:41:11 - 00:41:09:11 Bennett Tomlin It's actually about parent choice. It's about competition. It's about giving the people opportunities. Fundamentally, though, it is almost always about reducing resources to school, which can actually lead to a negative cycle where struggling school loses students and funding, resulting in a falling ability to provide education for the students who remain. Remember, costs for education at a school don't scale linearly with students they skills sub linearly, meaning the more students you lose, the more compounded the effect becomes. 00:41:09:11 - 00:41:22:26 Bennett Tomlin At the very end of this chapter, he provides a summary of his stances with three bullet points. The first point is that parents should get to choose their school immediately hitting the school choice point. The second is competition, which is just school choice again. The third here is 00:41:22:26 - 00:41:25:25 Bennett Tomlin interesting because it says, know your school board candidates. 00:41:25:25 - 00:41:28:06 Bennett Tomlin Why do I find this particularly notable? 00:41:28:09 - 00:41:43:20 Bennett Tomlin Because the GOP and especially provocateurs like those who orbit Roger Stone, have emphasized school boards as part of their broader attack. Chris Rufo, Matt Walsh and right wing organizations have targeted school boards as part of their current crusade against rights and recognition for the LGBT community. 00:41:43:20 - 00:41:50:18 Bennett Tomlin Roger Stone, who of course was very instrumental in this book, may have already had this on his mind all the way back in 2000. 00:41:55:18 - 00:42:07:15 Bennett Tomlin Chapter three is all about how Donald J. Trump, who is now indicted on multiple charges, is going to stop crime first. Shocking. No one. Trump wants harsher sentences, saying about soft criminal sentences. 00:42:07:15 - 00:42:30:20 Donald Trump Soft criminal sentences are based on the proposition that criminals are the victims of society. A lot of people in high places really do believe that criminals are victims and they don't like the methods that have proved successful in crime control. As I write this book, there are protests here in my hometown against Mayor Giuliani's tough and successful anti-crime policies. 00:42:30:22 - 00:42:44:23 Donald Trump I count some of my friends among the protesters, but they're singing a siren song. They basically want us to disarm ourselves when we should be preparing for what My favorite crime expert, James Q Wilson warns, will be an explosion of violent crime. 00:42:44:23 - 00:42:56:24 Bennett Tomlin I guess that stance on soft sentences doesn't matter when it's Roger Stone who's indicted. But nonetheless. So why was Trump convinced crime was about to skyrocket? Boys, 00:42:56:24 - 00:43:01:06 Donald Trump We've heard the good news about how crime rates have dropped. But hold the champagne. 00:43:01:06 - 00:43:14:14 Donald Trump As I said before, what government and the press don't like to say is that most serious crime experts believe rates will skyrocket early in 2000 because there will be more adolescent boys around. And adolescent boys are especially dangerous. 00:43:14:14 - 00:43:20:24 Bennett Tomlin Nothing more dangerous than a bunch of children. He then blames the problem with the boys on the fact that they have single mothers. 00:43:20:24 - 00:43:37:21 Donald Trump A lot of these boys don't have fathers. All they've got is a mother. And that mother might well be a teenager herself. As anybody knows, a single mother is going to have a hard time controlling a normal boy, especially when he hits strutting age. She can say, Son, you stay home tonight and do your math, But he won't hear her. 00:43:37:21 - 00:43:40:15 Bennett Tomlin Now, about that predicted explosion of violent crime. 00:43:40:15 - 00:43:44:27 Bennett Tomlin Yes. So Trump and James. Q Wilson were wrong about that. Look at that. 00:43:44:27 - 00:43:55:14 Bennett Tomlin One of my biggest frustrations with law and order candidates is they actually don't respect the law. They have little interest in fair trials and often advocate for violation of the Fourth Amendment. 00:43:55:14 - 00:44:01:14 Bennett Tomlin At one point in this chapter, Trump tells a story about his mother being mugged. He told the story like this 00:44:01:14 - 00:44:23:27 Donald Trump A few years ago, my mother was mugged. She'd gone to the bakery to buy a crumb cake, something my father especially enjoyed on the sidewalk outside. Her purse was snatched. It was done in a violent and shocking way. Mom was thrown to the ground on her face. The thief was not only brutal, but also stupid. He committed the crime the day he turned 21. 00:44:23:29 - 00:44:25:17 Donald Trump He would be tried as an adult. 00:44:25:17 - 00:44:37:04 Bennett Tomlin It is very unfortunate that Donald's mother experienced this, and I imagine it was a scary or challenging time for her. After telling this story, Donald talks about how other families might handle something like this. 00:44:37:04 - 00:44:48:24 Donald Trump After similar misfortune, many families might react by holding up just staying at home with the injured family member and perhaps even seeking grief counseling. And those are all good ideas. 00:44:48:24 - 00:44:52:29 Bennett Tomlin Those things were not the priority for the Trumps, though they had a different goal. 00:44:52:29 - 00:45:08:23 Donald Trump But in my family, we believe in going the extra mile. My brother Robert, who works in Queens, contacted the judge, train the thief. He made a point of being in the courtroom during the trial so the family presence would be felt. The Trumps believe in getting even. 00:45:08:23 - 00:45:15:20 Bennett Tomlin That's right. The Trumps believe in getting even and made sure to reach out to the judge trying the case. 00:45:15:20 - 00:45:21:12 Bennett Tomlin That's not the only example in this chapter of Trump showing brazen disregard for the process of justice. 00:45:21:12 - 00:45:25:21 Bennett Tomlin There was a woman who was assaulted in Central Park an April 19th, 1989. 00:45:25:21 - 00:45:42:19 Bennett Tomlin This was the famous Central Park five case where five black and Latino teenagers were arrested by the police and interrogated for hours before four of them confessed. They all recanted their confessions. Over the coming weeks, claiming they had been intimidated and lied to by the police to get those confessions. 00:45:42:19 - 00:45:52:04 Bennett Tomlin During this case, Donald Trump purchased a full page ad in four New York newspapers where he called to bring back the death penalty for murder and included the phrase 00:45:52:04 - 00:46:02:11 Donald Trump Mayor Coke has stated that hate and rancor should be removed from our hearts. I do not think so. I want to hate these muggers and murderers. They should be forced to suffer. 00:46:02:11 - 00:46:03:09 Bennett Tomlin He continues. 00:46:03:09 - 00:46:08:05 Donald Trump Criminals must be told that their civil liberties end when an attack on our safety begins. 00:46:08:05 - 00:46:11:10 Bennett Tomlin describes this in the book and says 00:46:11:10 - 00:46:32:08 Donald Trump I took a full page ad in the New York Times to object and to state my belief that capital punishment would be the proper way to deal with the young men if the woman died. I was amazed by the number of politicians who called to express sympathy but who refused to take a similar position publicly. They were afraid of offending some of their constituents. 00:46:32:08 - 00:46:38:24 Bennett Tomlin was not a fringe position in the Reform Party at the time either. With Pat Buchanan also calling for the death penalty. 00:46:38:24 - 00:46:56:09 Bennett Tomlin The problem here? Those convicted were innocent. All of their convictions were eventually vacated. Each of these individuals spent years in prison for crime they did not commit, and Trump believed they did not deserve civil liberties and was still willing to brag about it. 00:46:56:12 - 00:47:04:27 Bennett Tomlin Years after the fact, he may claim to be law and order, but even here he hates the law and so's disorder. 00:47:04:27 - 00:47:09:10 Bennett Tomlin The final line I want to highlight from this chapter near the end, when Trump says, 00:47:09:10 - 00:47:12:23 Speaker 1 It's time for the real underdogs, you and me, to get up on our hind legs. 00:47:12:23 - 00:47:19:12 Bennett Tomlin Yeah, the guy born a millionaire is definitely an underdog in life and needs to stand up on his hind legs, I guess is a new thing. 00:47:19:12 - 00:47:30:25 Bennett Tomlin He's trying because he needs to defeat these over dogs. I'm not quite sure what the metaphor is supposed to be, but what we can all agree is that Trump is an underdog who needs to learn to stand on his hind legs. 00:47:35:25 - 00:47:38:18 Bennett Tomlin Chapter four is all about his foreign policy. 00:47:38:18 - 00:47:42:27 Bennett Tomlin much of this chapter sounds very similar to what you would have heard from Trump in 16. 00:47:43:00 - 00:47:48:27 Bennett Tomlin He thought signing nuclear nonproliferation treaties was a bad idea because he thought we were the only ones who would follow it. 00:47:48:27 - 00:47:51:16 Bennett Tomlin He wanted our allies to pay money to us, saying 00:47:51:16 - 00:48:11:21 Donald Trump Americans look into the mirror and see big hearted citizens of the world's only superpower. We've got a lot to brag about. We protect other nations when they're in trouble. We lead the world in foreign aid, where everyone's favorite trading partner. We take in refugees and immigrants at a million or so a year. We bail out insolvent governments and prop up weak ones. 00:48:11:21 - 00:48:22:14 Donald Trump We mediate intractable disputes. We have standing armies and jet fighter squadrons and fleets the world over. We do it all. A lot of the time we don't even bother to send a bill. 00:48:22:14 - 00:48:27:07 Bennett Tomlin and before this book came out, he hit very similar points when he was interviewed on Larry King's show. 00:48:27:07 - 00:48:41:06 Donald Trump The the fact is that the world is ripping off this country. Germany is ripping us off bigly. Saudi Arabia is ripping us off bigly. France. I mean, they're the worst team player I've ever seen in my life. You look at what's happened Japan for years. I mean, we're like a whipping post for Japan. 00:48:41:11 - 00:48:46:01 Bennett Tomlin thought China was our largest one term threat and specifically highlighted how 00:48:46:01 - 00:48:48:21 Donald Trump The Chinese people still have few political rights to speak 00:48:48:21 - 00:48:53:01 Bennett Tomlin he also had very Donald Trump's solutions to North Korea developing nuclear weapons. 00:48:53:01 - 00:49:14:26 Donald Trump Am I ready to bomb this reactor? You're damned right. When the Israelis bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor, they were condemned by the world community. But they did what they had to do to survive. The Korean nuclear capability is a direct threat to the United States. As an experienced negotiator, I can tell you that negotiation with these madmen will be fruitless. 00:49:14:28 - 00:49:29:03 Donald Trump Once they have the ability to lob a nuclear missile into Chicago, Los Angeles or New York, I don't advocate a thermonuclear war. But if negotiations fail, I advocate a surgical strike against these outlaws before they pose a real threat. 00:49:29:03 - 00:49:38:04 Bennett Tomlin Yana not surprising. Jake He would just bomb the problem, though it is a little different than the way he described love letters from Kim Jong Un when he was actually president. 00:49:38:04 - 00:49:46:12 Bennett Tomlin in another bizarre section. In the book, he suggests that dictator Pinochet should not be extradited because Fidel Castro was not extradited. 00:49:46:12 - 00:50:01:20 Donald Trump I have noted with interest the efforts of the Spanish to extradite former right wing Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet to stand trial for murder and terrorism. Pinochet is no angel, but his crimes pale in comparison to the reign of terror unleashed by Castro. 00:50:01:20 - 00:50:09:11 Donald Trump In my book, What's good for right wing dictators is good for left wing dictators. But you don't hear the human rights type screaming for Castro's extradition. 00:50:09:13 - 00:50:16:02 Bennett Tomlin This was a similar message to something he made sure to say at the Cuban-American National Foundation in November 1999. 00:50:16:02 - 00:50:49:29 Donald Trump I've had a lot of offers and sadly, it's all been very recently. To go into Cuba on deals, business deals, real estate and other deals. And I've rejected them on the basis that I will go when Cuba's free, as you know, and the people in this room know better than anyone putting money and investing money in Cuba right now doesn't go to the people of Cuba. 00:50:50:01 - 00:51:21:01 Donald Trump It goes into the pockets of Fidel Castro. He's a murderer. He's a killer. He's a bad guy in every respect. And frankly, the embargo against Cuba must stand if for no other reason than if it does stand. He will come down, he will tumble down and it will finally happen. 00:51:21:01 - 00:51:28:10 Bennett Tomlin It is important to talk briefly about Trump's appeals to Cuban-Americans, because some believe that their vote was the deciding factor in the 2000 Florida election. 00:51:28:10 - 00:51:41:14 Bennett Tomlin After the election, William Schneider in the Atlantic, as well as others, suggested that Cuban-Americans shifted in favor of the Republican Party in large part because of a case involving Elian Gonzalez, who was taken into custody by federal authorities. 00:51:41:16 - 00:51:51:19 Bennett Tomlin Elian had originally been picked up by fishermen who handed him over to the Coast Guard after the boat had been escaping Cuba sank in a storm, dooming many of the refugees seeking asylum. 00:51:51:19 - 00:52:01:13 Bennett Tomlin Immigration and Naturalization Service temporarily deferred his inspection and released him to family in Miami. His Cuban father, working with Fidel Castro, insisted on his return to Cuba. 00:52:01:20 - 00:52:04:08 Bennett Tomlin And after the raid, he did eventually return to Cuba. 00:52:04:08 - 00:52:23:14 Bennett Tomlin Well, Gore broke from Clinton on this case and thought that the case should have been handled in family court. This position ended up hurting Gore among the many people who agreed with Clinton's stance and lost Gore critical ground among Cuban-Americans in the key swing state of Florida, in large part because Roger Stone made sure that this issue stayed central throughout the entire election. 00:52:23:14 - 00:52:30:15 Bennett Tomlin Donald Trump during this campaign is helping keep the issue of Cuba front and center, in this case, potentially harming Gore. 00:52:30:15 - 00:52:36:20 Bennett Tomlin After this focus on Cuba. He returns to anti-immigration message that he would echo again in 2016, saying 00:52:36:20 - 00:52:55:11 Donald Trump America is experiencing serious social and economic difficulty with illegal immigrants who are flooding across our borders. 5 million illegals live in this country. 2 million of them live in California. 700,000 undocumented immigrants live in Texas. We simply cannot absorb them. It is a scandal when America cannot control its own borders. 00:52:55:11 - 00:52:57:03 Bennett Tomlin some things don't change. 00:52:57:03 - 00:53:03:08 Bennett Tomlin Trump also echoed his 2016 messages that he would fix trade deficits and make things more fair, saying 00:53:03:08 - 00:53:14:11 Donald Trump If President Trump does the negotiating, we'll get a better deal for American workers and their families. And our economy will not be as vulnerable to global pressures as it is today. Watch our trade deficit dwindle. 00:53:14:11 - 00:53:18:07 Bennett Tomlin had a clever way here to give himself extra influence over the process. 00:53:18:07 - 00:53:31:18 Doanld Trump What I would do if elected president would be to appoint myself U.S. trade representative. My lawyers have checked and the president has this authority. I would take personal charge of negotiations with the Japanese, the French, the Germans and the Saudis. 00:53:31:18 - 00:53:38:02 Doanld Trump Our trading partners would have to sit across the table from Donald Trump. And I guarantee you, the rip off of the United States would end. 00:53:38:05 - 00:53:47:12 Doanld Trump The American people would benefit in two ways. I'd lower our trade deficits and I'd save the salary of our U.S. trade representative because I wouldn't accept it. 00:53:47:12 - 00:53:55:10 Bennett Tomlin Now, by the time he actually would be president in 2017, he had apparently been convinced that appointing himself trade representative was a bad idea. 00:53:55:10 - 00:54:01:00 Bennett Tomlin that's not the only thing that turned out different than he imagined, as when he did start trying to make his own trade arrangement. 00:54:01:06 - 00:54:07:16 Bennett Tomlin It resulted in an increase in our trade deficits. Now, that's what I call the art of the deal. 00:54:07:16 - 00:54:21:27 Bennett Tomlin Broadly, his foreign policy is the part of his beliefs which seem to stay the most similar, at least in rhetoric. For 2016, though, when he became president, he didn't seem as worried about Chinese human rights. North Korean nuclear developments or reducing trade deficits. 00:54:26:27 - 00:54:38:13 Bennett Tomlin Chapter five is entitled Freedom from Terrorism, which is incredible for a pre 911 book. Even more incredible, Trump was accurately worried about lone wolf terrorists, including white supremacists. 00:54:38:13 - 00:54:51:19 Bennett Tomlin We’ll breeze through most of the chapter because running and terrorism is almost entirely about creating a boogeyman. Amplify yourself. The specific terror threats he envisions are less important here than his imagined solution, which is a lottery. 00:54:51:19 - 00:55:12:00 Donald Trump There's no doubt in my mind that once the American people are awakened to this threat, they'll be willing to pay for any reasonable means of defense. In fact, I bet if I started a national defense lottery with money earmarked for preventing terrorism against US cities, we would take in enough money to hire and train every spy on earth and still have money to spare. 00:55:12:03 - 00:55:25:22 Donald Trump Imagine this for a second. The Trump National Security Lottery would sell tickets just like in a Powerball lottery, but dedicate every cent to funding an anti-terrorism campaign. Talk about a good reason to buy a lottery ticket 00:55:25:22 - 00:55:37:20 Bennett Tomlin not even just a lottery. A lottery that he went into name after himself. A Powerball lottery for all the nation with the proceeds funding anti-terror efforts. That's a solution to terrorism that only a casino magnate would think of. 00:55:37:20 - 00:55:45:01 Bennett Tomlin Briefly, Trump mentions that if we started a lottery like this, we would be able to hire and pay every spy on Earth and have money to spare. 00:55:45:01 - 00:56:11:09 Bennett Tomlin Currently, the Powerball and Mega millions are multi-state lotteries, including 45 states, as well as D.C., U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. It's not a national lottery and does not benefit the federal government, but does perhaps give us some additional information about potential revenue. U.S. Census Bureau numbers and state financial numbers analyzed by statistic research suggest that in 2020, about 30.2 billion in revenue was raised for the state, thanks to the lottery. 00:56:11:09 - 00:56:21:25 Bennett Tomlin The office of the Director of National Intelligence says that spending on intelligence in 2021 was $84.1 billion, approximately 269% of the lottery revenue. 00:56:21:25 - 00:56:36:19 Bennett Tomlin The math does not seem to support Trump's contention that a lottery would raise enough money to hire and train every spy on earth. And it would be very politically contentious to take that type of revenue away from the states by starting your own competing national lottery. 00:56:41:19 - 00:56:49:04 Bennett Tomlin Chapter six is all about taxes, a shockingly different set of taxes than he would actually implement. He was president, he says. 00:56:49:04 - 00:57:01:26 Donald Trump I would impose a one time 14.25% tax on individuals and trusts with a net worth over $10 million. For individuals, net worth would be calculated minus the value of their principal residence. 00:57:01:26 - 00:57:20:29 Bennett Tomlin Trump claims this one time tax would raise 5.7 trillion. This number seems suspect to me. Economists Emanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman analyzed Warren's wealth tax plan. Her plan was somewhat different imposing a 2% tax on those worth more than 50 million and a 3% tax on those worth over 1 billion. 00:57:21:01 - 00:57:36:22 Bennett Tomlin They estimate that over ten years it would raise $3 trillion. That's a lower rate than Trump's plan. Yes, but it also is analyzed over ten years and still ends up half of Trump's number. I think Trump was significantly overestimating how much his tax would raise. 00:57:36:22 - 00:57:47:04 Bennett Tomlin Trump hoped that this tax would be able to be used to pay off the entire national debt, and that after that they would be able to eliminate the estate tax and to cut income taxes for others. 00:57:47:04 - 00:57:51:23 Bennett Tomlin A portion of the remaining money would be used to help fund the Social Security trust fund. 00:57:51:23 - 00:57:57:25 Bennett Tomlin Now, Trump also helpfully lists many of the problems that first came to my mind with this tax, namely, 00:57:57:25 - 00:58:06:25 Donald Trump The pundits and editorial board writers will warn of dire consequences resulting from my proposal. A stock market crash, a depression, unemployment and so on. 00:58:06:25 - 00:58:13:19 Bennett Tomlin these are many of the things I was thinking about, I must admit, especially a stock market crash. But luckily, Trump has an answer to that. 00:58:13:19 - 00:58:17:05 Donald Trump It is nonsense to say my plan would bring about a stock market crash 00:58:17:05 - 00:58:18:25 Donald Trump when we pay off the national debt. 00:58:18:25 - 00:58:29:19 Donald Trump We would retire all government bonds. People would be able to invest in free enterprise instead of investing in government. This would free up enormous capital that would rush into the stock market. 00:58:29:19 - 00:58:37:05 Donald Trump People would invest in America's great companies General Electric, General Motors, IBM and Conseco. 00:58:37:07 - 00:58:41:18 Donald Trump Capital would also flood into private equities. Our economy would be zooming. 00:58:41:18 - 00:58:42:29 Bennett Tomlin Zooming in, 00:58:42:29 - 00:58:49:26 Bennett Tomlin this fundamentally misunderstands what people use. U.S. debt for, which is a guaranteed debt issued by the country with the global reserve currency. 00:58:49:26 - 00:58:58:20 Bennett Tomlin The demand for our debt is evidence of the strength of America's currency and economy. And Trump wants to entirely and immediately eliminate this entire global source of liquidity. 00:58:58:20 - 00:59:00:28 Bennett Tomlin Meanwhile, well, this is being drained from the system. 00:59:00:28 - 00:59:19:27 Bennett Tomlin He wants those with capital to liquid enough to pay 14.5% of their net worth, which is a problem because there's just not going to be enough liquidity for this. This is part of why the scale of a wealth tax is really important to try to minimize collateral damage, especially with the financial system built up around certain types of debt. 00:59:19:29 - 00:59:24:29 Bennett Tomlin Trump, however, disagrees with my assessment and thinks that the end result would obviously be a boom. 00:59:24:29 - 00:59:31:29 Donald Trump Paying off our debt and cutting taxes would cause such an economic boom that no one smart would walk away from the opportunities. 00:59:31:29 - 00:59:36:15 Donald Trump Interest rates would be low. Capital would be plentiful, and opportunities would be everywhere. 00:59:36:15 - 00:59:43:13 Bennett Tomlin I think Trump's tax is a bad idea. But it's interesting to hear Donald Trump advocate for a meaningful redistribution of wealth. 00:59:43:13 - 00:59:55:08 Bennett Tomlin Now we need to be clear that when he was actually president, as we mentioned before, he did reduce the estate tax, though not eliminate it, did not perform any wealth tax and increased the national debt. 00:59:55:08 - 01:00:03:12 Bennett Tomlin I know we keep coming back to this point, but I think it's valuable to highlight some of the differences between what Trump says and what he does when he has power. 01:00:08:12 - 01:00:16:00 Bennett Tomlin Chapter seven is about Social Security, in which he opens by inaccurately comparing it to a Ponzi scheme, which is one of my pet peeves 01:00:16:00 - 01:00:24:09 Bennett Tomlin one of his solutions is something you have to imagine a real estate developer would love, which is a Social Security should be invested specifically, it should be invested. 01:00:24:09 - 01:00:30:10 Donald Trump Social Security money could be invested in or its real estate portfolios run by professional managers. 01:00:30:10 - 01:00:43:04 Bennett Tomlin All I really have to say here is the Social Security trust is an accounting fiction. We can continue to pay it in fear mongering about it is basically always a political maneuver. The details beyond that are tweaking specific parameters. 01:00:43:04 - 01:00:48:07 Bennett Tomlin Broadly, we should absolutely focus on making sure that we have strong social safety nets for people. 01:00:53:07 - 01:01:03:09 Bennett Tomlin Chapter eight is all about health care, and it seems he wants Obamacare. He wants an insurance marketplace and an incentive for people to purchase individual insurance. 01:01:03:09 - 01:01:10:24 Bennett Tomlin And it's not even surprising he would support something like this at the point because he was paying service to believing in universal access to health care. 01:01:10:24 - 01:01:18:03 Donald Trump So I'm very liberal when it comes to health care. I believe in universal health care. I believe in whatever it takes to make people well and better. 01:01:18:03 - 01:01:26:16 Bennett Tomlin Unfortunately, just like his 2017 to 2021 term, there are few concrete details on what his plan would end up looking like. 01:01:26:19 - 01:01:30:21 Bennett Tomlin Just kind of some vague ideas and complaints about things he thinks are bad. 01:01:35:21 - 01:01:38:02 Bennett Tomlin Chapter nine is about campaign finance. 01:01:38:02 - 01:01:41:12 Bennett Tomlin Unsurprisingly, Trump has opinions on campaign finance. 01:01:41:12 - 01:02:03:21 Donald Trump Campaign finance doesn't need to be made stricter. All the regulations so far have failed to address the problem. Political contributors don't corrupt the system by giving too much. They corrupt the system by being able to act in secret. If a strip mining company gives $1,000,000 to Senator X and hopes he'll vote against a sweeping environmental protection law, nobody will be surprised. 01:02:03:24 - 01:02:11:20 Donald Trump That company ought to have the right to do whatever it can to improve business. If you limit the strip miner to a tiny donation, he'll find some way around the law. 01:02:11:20 - 01:02:27:23 Bennett Tomlin Perhaps not surprising, the millionaire wants unlimited political giving. He wanted this coupled with an online registry that showed these donations. Everyone would know when it happened. This does kind of exist nowadays with websites like Open Secrets doing their best to make the FEC filings legible. 01:02:27:29 - 01:02:30:24 Bennett Tomlin But I do not believe it's quite as real time as Trump imagined. 01:02:30:24 - 01:02:42:29 Bennett Tomlin this chapter also contains some discussion about limiting soft money because Trump seems concerned that unions political giving was bad for the process. In this type of political spending was really exploding around this time. 01:02:42:29 - 01:02:48:23 Bennett Tomlin Broadly, I do not believe that giving people the ability to pay politicians as much as they want would improve anything. 01:02:49:00 - 01:02:51:19 Bennett Tomlin But it does not surprise me that Trump believes this, 01:02:51:19 - 01:02:59:08 Bennett Tomlin and especially in a post-Citizens United world, it does seem to be a plausible stance for those who believe that political giving is a form of protected speech. 01:03:04:08 - 01:03:14:25 Bennett Tomlin Chapter ten is about volunteering and charity, and it's what you expect from a campaign book. Too much taxes reduced charity and also, of course, contains Donald bragging about the good things he does. That's about it. 01:03:19:25 - 01:03:23:04 Bennett Tomlin Chapter 11 is the final chapter, and it is entitled Should I Run? 01:03:23:04 - 01:03:28:00 Bennett Tomlin This chapter gives us some interesting insight into the structures around Trump for this campaign. 01:03:28:03 - 01:03:30:10 Bennett Tomlin Many of which came back in 2016. 01:03:30:10 - 01:03:34:23 Bennett Tomlin he discusses how he has a pretty thick skin and could easily handle jokes at his expense. 01:03:34:23 - 01:03:48:15 Bennett Tomlin This isn't my recollection of his campaign, but whatever. At one point in this chapter, Trump again discusses Poles and specifically talks about a poll from the National Enquirer, which showed him in second place in a three way race with Bush and Gore at 01:03:48:15 - 01:03:49:17 Bennett Tomlin the National Enquirer. 01:03:49:17 - 01:04:00:15 Bennett Tomlin And Trump have a history. During his 2016 presidential campaign, they engaged in a Catch and kill campaign, where they attempted to buy and kill stories about Trump that be harmful to his campaign. 01:04:00:15 - 01:04:07:19 Bennett Tomlin Specifically, they had a safe where they stored documents about Trump's hush payments and documents related to those stories they had to kill. 01:04:07:19 - 01:04:12:04 Bennett Tomlin These would be the hush payments that Trump fixer Michael Cohen went to prison for. 01:04:12:04 - 01:04:16:03 Bennett Tomlin Kind of interesting that the National Enquirer had the scoop all about Trump, isn't it? 01:04:16:03 - 01:04:18:20 Bennett Tomlin Later in the chapter, he describes Roger Stone, 01:04:18:20 - 01:04:48:02 Donald Trump In considering a presidential run, I turn to a friend of longstanding who has represented me for 18 years in Washington, D.C.. Roger Stone is a veteran of eight national presidential campaigns and is largely credited with the public rehabilitation of President Richard Nixon from his resignation in 1974 until his death. I met Roger in 1979 when he was organizing the Northeastern United States for Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign. 01:04:48:05 - 01:05:04:12 Donald Trump We were introduced by Roy Cohn, the flamboyant attorney who sometimes represented me. Cohn told me Stone was the single toughest guy he knew. That was quite a comment coming from Roy, who was No Pussycat. I asked Stone to assess what a bid for the Reform Party presidential nomination would cost 01:05:04:12 - 01:05:08:25 Donald Trump and to figure out the logistics, timing and mechanism necessary to win. 01:05:08:28 - 01:05:18:05 Donald Trump I'm convinced that I can decide whether to run in early 2000 and still have time to take all comers for the Reform Party. Not the party will choose its nominee in August of 2000. 01:05:18:05 - 01:05:26:18 Bennett Tomlin Roy Cohn, for those who don't know, was Joseph McCarthy's counsel during McCarthyism when McCarthy was invested Communists. 01:05:26:18 - 01:05:36:14 Bennett Tomlin also represented several Mafia bosses, including Fat Tony Salerno of the Genovese family, Carmine Galante of the Bonanno family, and John Gotti of the Gambino family. 01:05:36:17 - 01:05:44:19 Bennett Tomlin It's hilarious to me that two Trump associates were active with the Mafia in this period. Rudy Giuliani trying to prosecute them and Roy Cohn trying to defend them. 01:05:44:19 - 01:05:59:17 Bennett Tomlin the introduction to Roger Stone isn't the only time that Roy Cohn helped out Donald Trump. When Trump Tower was being built. The Teamsters strike kept Trump from getting concrete. During this period, these unions were significantly influenced or explicitly controlled by the Mafia. 01:05:59:17 - 01:06:07:20 Bennett Tomlin Roy was allegedly able to reach out to John. He was linked to mob boss Paul Castellano, the Gambino family, and was able to get Trump his concrete 01:06:07:20 - 01:06:16:13 Bennett Tomlin Cohn and Roger Stone had previously worked together to get a spoiler candidate on the New York ballot in order to try to split the opposition to Ronald Reagan, which we'll get back to. 01:06:16:13 - 01:06:24:13 Bennett Tomlin Broadly, Cohn was a very well-connected political fixer, having phone calls with former CIA Director William Casey, sending Christmas presents to J. 01:06:24:14 - 01:06:27:22 Bennett Tomlin Edgar Hoover and regularly talking to Nancy Reagan. 01:06:27:22 - 01:06:34:22 Bennett Tomlin Roy Cohn was eventually disbarred a few weeks before he died of AIDS, having defrauded a dying client to try to steal his fortune. 01:06:34:22 - 01:06:46:25 Bennett Tomlin That would be who introduced Donald Trump to his friend of longstanding Roger Stone. And this is why this campaign was so important. We see Donald Trump building up these connections, which ended up important later. 01:06:46:25 - 01:06:58:09 Bennett Tomlin Besides this nod to many of these corrupt individuals. We also to see Donald Trump further refining his populist message in a way that sounds very close to something he could have said later. 01:06:58:09 - 01:07:03:27 Donald Trump I don't hear anyone speaking for the working men and women in the center. There is very little contact between 01:07:03:27 - 01:07:08:06 Donald Trump the concerns and interests of ordinary people and the agendas of politicians. 01:07:08:06 - 01:07:16:22 Donald Trump It was my observation of this gap between Americans and their leaders that led me to leave the Republican Party and join the Reform Party. 01:07:16:22 - 01:07:20:15 Donald Trump The Reform Party carries a lot less baggage than the major parties. 01:07:20:15 - 01:07:26:26 Donald Trump It has an opportunity to truly overhaul our political system in service of the American dream. 01:07:26:26 - 01:07:36:14 Bennett Tomlin Trump would often act as though he was appealing to this same center throughout 2016. There's also some comments that are hilarious in retrospect, including that. 01:07:36:14 - 01:07:59:29 Donald Trump Some people think it would be a bad idea to have a president who has been in the casino gaming business. But the casino business is the most tightly regulated business in America. The New Jersey Casino Control Commission rigorously investigates everyone seeking to hold a casino license to ensure their honesty, integrity, financial stability, and to guarantee that they have no links, however tenuous, to organized crime. 01:08:00:02 - 01:08:09:22 Donald Trump One thing you can say about Trump as the holder of a casino gaming license is that I'm 100% clean. Something you can't say with certainty about our current group of presidential candidates. 01:08:09:22 - 01:08:23:11 Bennett Tomlin Yep, that's right. Every casino magnate in Atlantic City is guaranteed to be 100% clean, and that's a Trump guarantee which is only slightly less valuable than a Trump University degree. He also cannot help but brag about his success, saying 01:08:23:11 - 01:08:42:21 Donald Trump Just the same. Politics and gambling don't mix. My gaming company in Atlantic City has new records for operating cash flow. I have turned down numerous generous offers to buy out my interest in Trump hotels and casino resorts. If I decide to run for president, I'd be prepared to divest myself of my gaming industry holdings or put them in a blind trust. 01:08:42:21 - 01:08:52:21 Bennett Tomlin kind of funny that once he was actually president, he refused to put his holdings in a true blind trust, instead reportedly influencing the Trump Organization and well in office. 01:08:52:21 - 01:08:59:15 Bennett Tomlin There's an epilog to this book where he again suggests Oprah Winfrey may be his running mate, a topic he mentioned on Larry King as well. 01:08:59:15 - 01:09:02:10 Larry King Do you have a vice presidential candidate in mind? 01:09:02:12 - 01:09:04:25 Donald Trump Well, I really haven't gotten quite there yet. 01:09:04:27 - 01:09:06:16 Larry King I guess it's just Oprah. 01:09:06:17 - 01:09:11:13 Donald Trump I love Oprah. Oprah would always be my first choice. Oprah, Oprah, you're competitor, right? 01:09:11:13 - 01:09:12:20 Larry King Yeah. 01:09:12:23 - 01:09:17:19 Donald Trump You know what? She's she's really a great woman. She is a terrific woman. She is. She's somebody that's very special. 01:09:17:19 - 01:09:24:15 Bennett Tomlin Broadly, though, it shows that Trump is still trying to convince everyone that he is a legitimate person who should be considered for this position. 01:09:24:15 - 01:09:28:06 Bennett Tomlin Which leads us to the question, what happened when he ran 01:09:33:06 - 01:09:37:02 Bennett Tomlin now that we've finished this book, let's talk about how the campaign actually went. 01:09:37:02 - 01:09:41:11 Bennett Tomlin He did travel to California and pretended an event was for him when it wasn't. 01:09:41:11 - 01:10:01:15 Dan Rather remember those 21,000 people Trump said were waiting for him. It turns out they were there for motivational speaker Tony Robbins. Trump was the paid entertainment, He says. His fee was $100,000. His message appeared less high minded than mean spirited. 01:10:01:18 - 01:10:02:16 Donald Trump Get even 01:10:02:16 - 01:10:05:11 Bennett Tomlin He also met with party members who had great opinions of him. 01:10:05:11 - 01:10:14:13 First Party Member I was disappointed because I felt that he I thought he was very attacking of other members of the party, which I thought was very disrespectful. 01:10:14:16 - 01:10:18:20 Second Party Member I think he came. I think you heard what he had to say. And we're excited. 01:10:18:23 - 01:10:26:28 Third Party Member I think he's a con man and ought to go back to New York. Why? Because he's coming out here just trying to destroy our party. That's the way I look at it. 01:10:26:28 - 01:10:35:27 Bennett Tomlin exit the race and Valentine's Day saying so. The Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. Buchanan, and a communist. Ms.. Fulani. 01:10:35:27 - 01:10:38:04 Bennett Tomlin this is not a company I wish to keep. 01:10:38:04 - 01:10:42:24 Bennett Tomlin Apparently back in 2000, he knew who David Duke was and was willing to condemn him. 01:10:42:24 - 01:11:01:13 Jake Tapper you to publicly condemn unequivocally the racism of former KKK grand wizard David Duke, who recently said that voting against you at this point would be treason to your heritage. Will you unequivocally condemn David Duke and say that you don't want his vote or that of other white supremacists in this election? 01:11:01:16 - 01:11:19:29 Donald Trump Well, just so you understand, I don't know anything about David Duke, okay? I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So I don't know. I mean, I don't know. Did he endorsed me or what's going on? Because, you know, I know nothing about David Duke. I know nothing about white supremacists. 01:11:20:01 - 01:11:25:04 Donald Trump And so you're asking me a question that I'm supposed to be talking about people that I know nothing about. 01:11:25:06 - 01:11:39:25 Jake Tapper But I guess the question from the from the Anti-Defamation League is, even if you don't know about their endorsement, there are these groups and individuals endorsing you. Would you just say unequivocally you condemn them and you don't want their support? 01:11:39:27 - 01:11:53:26 Donald Trump Well, I have to look at the group. I mean, I don't know what group you're talking about. You wouldn't want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. I have to. Look, if you would send me a list of the groups, I will do research on them. And certainly I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong. 01:11:53:28 - 01:11:59:18 Donald Trump But you can't question their that a totally fine and it would be very unfair. So give me a list of the groups and I'll let you know. 01:11:59:18 - 01:12:03:08 Jake Tapper Okay. I mean, I'm just talking about David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan here, but. 01:12:03:10 - 01:12:09:25 Donald Trump I don't know, honestly, I don't know David Duke. I don't believe I've ever met him. I'm pretty sure I didn't meet them. And I just don't know anything about them. 01:12:09:25 - 01:12:22:27 Bennett Tomlin There were two primaries that he qualified for, both of which occurred after he dropped out of the race in Michigan and California. In both, he won. Shortly after this, Donald Trump changed his party registration to Democrat. 01:12:22:27 - 01:12:28:10 Bennett Tomlin This lasted until Obama was elected when Trump changed his registration back to Republican. 01:12:28:10 - 01:12:33:22 Bennett Tomlin all leaves us asking perhaps, why does this matter in 2023? 01:12:38:22 - 01:12:44:26 Bennett Tomlin Why did we spend so much time discussing this bad book? And it is very bad. From the year 2000. 01:12:44:26 - 01:12:56:16 Bennett Tomlin When I started, I was mostly curious about how Trump's stated positions had changed. I hope to be able to make a nice, clean, 30 minute video where I go this is what he said in 2000. This is what he said in 2016. 01:12:56:23 - 01:12:58:28 Bennett Tomlin Ha ha ha ha. He cannot keep it straight. 01:12:58:28 - 01:13:07:09 Bennett Tomlin this is obviously not that in large part because Trump's stated positions at any time have very little relationship to what he believes or what he does. 01:13:07:15 - 01:13:11:29 Bennett Tomlin But I still hoped there'd be some insights. A couple of fun quotes, a nice short video. 01:13:11:29 - 01:13:28:13 Bennett Tomlin However, as I started this research process way back on February 12th, I realized that the more important takeaway was the people who stuck around for his later runs, the Roger Stone of it all, if you please. As I've alluded to several times during this. 01:13:28:15 - 01:13:41:19 Bennett Tomlin Roger Stone lives to fuck things up. He describes himself as an agent provocateur and often tries to shift elections in the way he wants. And he's willing to do just about anything to achieve that. 01:13:41:19 - 01:13:50:19 Bennett Tomlin We already talked about how he claims he was doing a bunch of hiring spies and similar stuff for Nixon through the Nixon Foundation claims that's nonsense. 01:13:50:22 - 01:13:59:28 Bennett Tomlin After leaving Nixon's campaign, he briefly worked for Bob Dole before an article in The Washington Post described him as one of Watergate's tricksters. 01:13:59:28 - 01:14:18:15 Bennett Tomlin This article also described the biggest problem with trying to cover Roger Stone. Paul Weyrich describes him by saying his reputation vastly exceeds his ability, and this is part of the Stone mythos. He wants people to believe he can do anything, that he always has a master plan and that these matter. 01:14:18:18 - 01:14:46:29 Bennett Tomlin He's definitely scheming, don't get me wrong, but I think it's less of a master plan. Roger Stone exists in the current moment and does his very best in those moments to nudge whatever apparatuses he currently has access to, to bend whatever he can towards his overall vision of what the world should be. There's themes that pop up between these events, but imagining them all is some sort of master plan can give him far too much credit. 01:14:47:02 - 01:14:50:28 Bennett Tomlin Whatever plan exists is emergent, not created beforehand. 01:14:50:28 - 01:14:58:05 Bennett Tomlin I want to talk through an example of how Roger Stone operates from a story I covered which obliquely involved a Roger Stone cut 01:14:58:05 - 01:15:08:03 Bennett Tomlin Superfans of my work may know of some of the previous work I've done covering organic fresh coin, a scam cryptocurrency run by key Republican political consultant in Florida. 01:15:08:03 - 01:15:29:26 Bennett Tomlin These folks were deeply connected to the Seminole County tax collector, one Joel Greenberg. Joel Greenberg used his position in the office for a variety of corrupt transactions, including taking loans from the office to buy cryptocurrencies, hiring his friends on contracts with no evidence of work done accidentally starting a fire in an office due to an illegitimate Bitcoin mining operation. 01:15:30:03 - 01:15:40:23 Bennett Tomlin And he eventually pled guilty to charges including stalking, wire fraud, identity theft, producing a fake ID card, conspiracy to defraud the government and underage sex trafficking. 01:15:40:23 - 01:15:46:28 Bennett Tomlin Joel is good friends with Matt Gaetz, who's also accused of sex trafficking and is currently cooperating in that investigation. 01:15:46:28 - 01:16:08:23 Bennett Tomlin The stalking charge here relates to when he was running in 2020 for the tax Collectors office. He was running against local teacher and fellow Republican Brian Beute. Joel ran an incredibly dirty campaign where he sent letters to Brian’s school, falsely accusing him of sexual misconduct and created fake social media accounts under Brian's in an attempt to make him look racist. 01:16:08:23 - 01:16:11:18 Bennett Tomlin Joel was aided in this effort by Jacob Engels. 01:16:11:18 - 01:16:21:06 Bennett Tomlin Engels first worked with Stone in 2013, and unlike Stone's Nixon Tattoo, he instead favors genocidal asshole Andrew Jackson for his tattoo. 01:16:21:06 - 01:16:34:05 Bennett Tomlin Stone had previously described Engels as one of the very best young political consultants working in Florida today, and Engels described Stone as ruthless and cunning. But he's also a deeply compassionate and caring man. 01:16:34:05 - 01:16:44:05 Bennett Tomlin We can more directly point to a connection because while Roger Stone was under oath as part of his criminal trial, he said that Engels had access to Stone's phone and Instagram account. 01:16:44:05 - 01:16:55:26 Bennett Tomlin Engels also appears to be a proud boy, though he claims he was only wearing the uniform and saying we when referring to them because he was embedded with them as part of his journalism. 01:16:55:26 - 01:17:06:15 Bennett Tomlin Roger Stone similarly has often been mentioned as an honorary proud boy and uses the Proud Boys as his personal security and is close to Enrique Tarrio, head of the Proud Boys. 01:17:06:15 - 01:17:29:19 Bennett Tomlin Those of you who watched my Organic Fresh Coin video may be remembering the importance of the Proud Boys in Enrique Tarrio to some of the figures from that scheme and broadly for much of the footage, GOP. Samuel Arms, a friend and contracted worker with Joel Greenberg, was responsible for part of the 1776 Returns Insurrection Plan, which was passed along to Enrique Tarrio, 01:17:29:19 - 01:17:31:06 Bennett Tomlin returning to Jacob Engels. 01:17:31:08 - 01:17:51:14 Bennett Tomlin He joined in Greenberg's attacks on Brian, sending emails to the school, insinuating inaccurately that Brian supported racial segregation. And then he created a series of videos which attacked him across eventually deleted propaganda accounts on Facebook. These accounts were deleted when Facebook attempted to purge accounts connected to Roger Stone. 01:17:51:14 - 01:17:55:18 Bennett Tomlin Well, Greenberg was insinuating that Brian had participated in sexual misconduct. 01:17:55:18 - 01:18:05:05 Bennett Tomlin Remember, Greenberg is now guilty of underage sex trafficking. Jacob was involved in trying to obtain a personnel file of Brian from the school. 01:18:05:05 - 01:18:19:21 Bennett Tomlin The reason I'm talking about this is because it's a good example of how Stone works. The tricks are dirty. Many are done via surrogates to provide him plausible deniability and after the fact, it is difficult to parse out the full goal and the full effect 01:18:19:21 - 01:18:25:11 Bennett Tomlin I think to really appreciate Roger storming any to summarize some of his illustrious career, 01:18:25:11 - 01:18:40:29 Bennett Tomlin getting back to Roger Stone's political work in the late seventies, he started working with Paul Manafort. Yes, the exact same Paul Manafort, who was Trump's campaign manager and, had an apartment in Trump Towers who eventually pled guilty to bank fraud, tax fraud, conspiracy and hiding a foreign bank account. 01:18:41:01 - 01:18:47:28 Bennett Tomlin Unlike Stone, he actually did spend time in prison about two years, before he was released to house arrest and then pardoned by Donald Trump. 01:18:47:28 - 01:18:56:01 Bennett Tomlin Back in the seventies, one of the first things Manafort and Stone did together was to get Roger Stone elected as the president of the Young Republicans. 01:18:56:01 - 01:19:05:00 Bennett Tomlin In order to pull this off. They created dossiers on each of the 800 delegates and used that to aid their campaign to get stone elected. 01:19:05:00 - 01:19:16:12 Bennett Tomlin After this, Roger bounces from campaign to campaign, followed by morally dubious election tactics. In Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign. Roger has told a wild story about what he did. 01:19:16:12 - 01:19:29:17 Bennett Tomlin You see, Stone claims that he suggested to Roy Cohn. Yes, the same who introduced Trump to Stone, that if John Anderson was the Liberal Party nominee in New York, then it might pull away from the Carter vote to help provide Reagan a path to winning. 01:19:29:19 - 01:19:51:06 Bennett Tomlin Roy then apparently told Stone to ask how much cash another lawyer would need to make that happen. That lawyer apparently told Stone that he needed $125,000, and Roy Cohn gave Stone a briefcase and told him not to open it. Stone was told to drop this briefcase off at the offices of that lawyer. John Anderson was the nominee for the Liberal Party. 01:19:51:08 - 01:19:53:06 Bennett Tomlin And then Reagan won New York 01:19:53:06 - 01:20:03:24 Bennett Tomlin after this totally legitimate political transaction. Stone in Manafort go into business together with Charlie Black during the notorious black Manafort and Stone political consulting business, 01:20:03:24 - 01:20:09:28 Bennett Tomlin this firm started working with dictators immediately. Rupert Murdoch almost immediately, and Donald Trump, too. 01:20:09:28 - 01:20:15:03 Bennett Tomlin Stone's career would hit a road bump in 1996 when another company in this saga appears again. 01:20:15:05 - 01:20:21:19 Bennett Tomlin The National Enquirer, who reported on swinger ads involving Stone, which forced him off Bob Dole's campaign. 01:20:21:19 - 01:20:26:09 Bennett Tomlin This sets up 2000 and Stones involvement in Donald Trump's first campaign. 01:20:26:09 - 01:20:30:15 Bennett Tomlin we already talked about how this book itself gives significant recognition to Roger Stone. 01:20:30:15 - 01:20:33:02 Bennett Tomlin but why did Stone want Trump to enter the race? 01:20:33:02 - 01:20:52:05 Bennett Tomlin Well, do you remember that story about John Anderson in the Liberal Party? John Anderson would be what is described as a spoiler candidate or candidate who, by their presence, primarily draws votes from someone else, potentially spoiling their campaign. John Anderson pulled more votes from Carter than Reagan. And so in New York, he helped provide a path for Reagan to win the state. 01:20:52:05 - 01:21:11:02 Bennett Tomlin Going back to Florida in 2022 a representative by the name of Stephanie Murphy was considering challenging Marco Rubio for his Senate seat. Gail Suburban and an open source intelligence researcher highlighted a message from one of Roger Stone's groups where he claimed that Jacob Engels was responsible for driving her to eventually drop out. 01:21:11:02 - 01:21:22:03 Bennett Tomlin After hearing this, I did a little more digging and realized that Jacob Engels registered a website that had a domain that looked as though it was her campaign website, but that actually forwarded to one of his posts about. Her. 01:21:22:03 - 01:21:31:23 Bennett Tomlin So yeah, Stone has a history of getting involved with weird spoiler candidates and dirty tricks to drive people out of races, But it's not immediately clear how Trump would work as a spoiler. 01:21:32:00 - 01:21:35:09 Bennett Tomlin Trump himself basically identified as a Republican at this time, 01:21:35:09 - 01:21:37:05 Donald Trump I'm a registered Republican. I'm 01:21:37:05 - 01:21:45:07 Bennett Tomlin so it seems like another Republican entering the race would end up hurting the actual Republican candidate, which seems contrary to Roger's goals 01:21:45:07 - 01:21:57:09 Bennett Tomlin during his interview with Larry King before this book came out, when Trump was talking about the upcoming election, he even recommended that Gore himself needed to get a spoiler candidate in the race if he wanted to have a chance in the primary. 01:21:57:09 - 01:22:06:11 Donald Trump Well, I mean, if he were really on his game, he'd get one of his senator friends to go and run against Bradley and him so that you could divide up the anti-Clinton slash Gore vote and he'd get in or. 01:22:06:11 - 01:22:07:11 Larry King Even get somebody at. 01:22:07:11 - 01:22:08:23 Donald Trump Least he'd get the nomination. 01:22:08:23 - 01:22:30:28 Bennett Tomlin A little later in that same interview, Trump even suggests that if Buchanan is the Reform Party candidate, that he would end up pulling votes from Bush and creating a clear path for the Democrats to win the election. Giving voice to the anxiety Republicans had, especially since Buchanan had run reasonably well against Bush's father, H.W., in his 1992 primary campaign 01:22:30:28 - 01:22:49:12 Donald Trump Bush will lose the election if Pat Buchanan becomes the Reform Party candidate, Bradley or Gore, in my opinion, will become the next president, because almost all of those votes are going to come from the Republican Party. Now, the people that would vote for Buchanan, probably their second choice would be Bush. So all they're doing is losing a vote for Bush, and he'll probably lose president, because almost all of those votes are going to come from the Republican Party. Now, the people that would vote for Buchanan, probably their second choice would be Bush. So all they're doing is losing a vote for Bush, and he'll probably lose 01:22:49:12 - 01:22:53:27 Bennett Tomlin so Republicans were concerned about a Buchanan run that would potentially split their vote. 01:22:54:04 - 01:23:25:06 Bennett Tomlin So neutering the party might win under helps make sure that's no longer a threat. One version of these events is that Stone convinced Buchanan to run for the Reform Party, then convinced Donald Trump to enter the race and use Donald Trump to effectively trash Buchanan and destroy the Reform Party. When considering the series of events and whether or not it's plausible, I think it's interesting to remember how effective Trump was at centering Buchanan's bigotry as disqualifying and simultaneously messing with the normal Reform Party governance. 01:23:25:08 - 01:24:01:14 Bennett Tomlin The primaries that Trump ended up winning were all after he dropped out, leaving Buchanan in a political position where he had little legitimate claim to the mandate of the party unable to defeat a candidate who was not even running the eventual Reform Party convention for 2000. And it didn't exactly the type of chaos that benefited Bush. Buchanan no longer had the support of Ross Perot, who had founded the party in the Perot faction of the party, attempted to hold their own counter convention and claimed that John Hagelin, the leader of the transcendental Meditation movement, was the true Reform Party candidate. 01:24:01:16 - 01:24:27:11 Bennett Tomlin Eventually, the FEC ruled in rule in favor of Buchanan, who had clearly lost the mandate of his own party and accurately been accused of bigotry that limited his appeal. He received a vanishingly small portion of the general election vote only 0.42% of the popular vote, allowing Bush to very nearly win the election. Well, Bush did win, but first, he very nearly won at that point. 01:24:27:11 - 01:24:38:23 Bennett Tomlin Roger Stone is recruited by the Bush campaign to help with the Florida recount effort. Nominally, his role was public relations, but it's hard to figure out just how involved he was. 01:24:38:23 - 01:24:52:07 Bennett Tomlin After Roger Stone gets involved, we end up with the Brooks Brothers riot. Where a bunch of Republican staffers protested election canvassers in Miami-Dade County with the goal of stopping the recount to ensure that Bush is chosen. 01:24:52:09 - 01:25:12:02 Bennett Tomlin Remember earlier, we talked about Trump's overtures to the Cuban-American community in Florida leading up to the riot? Roger Stone claims that he had the idea to use Cuban radio to attract protesters by claiming it was a left wing power grab by Gore, the same way Fidel did in Cuba. We were very explicitly drawing that analogy. 01:25:12:02 - 01:25:20:00 Bennett Tomlin Stone further claims that he was running the entire riot from a nearby Winnebago and used walkie talkies to talk to people in the building. 01:25:20:02 - 01:25:26:22 Bennett Tomlin Stone himself says explicitly that our idea was to shut the recount down. 01:25:26:22 - 01:25:38:08 Bennett Tomlin I need to note here, though, that Brad Blakeman, who's another Republican consultant, claims that Stone was not there and that Brad was responsible for running the riot and for using Cuban radio to attract protesters. 01:25:38:08 - 01:25:43:28 Bennett Tomlin Like I said, it's never exactly clear what Roger is doing and what Roger is taking credit for, 01:25:43:28 - 01:25:48:12 Bennett Tomlin but it should be becoming more clear why it's important to talk about 2000. 01:25:48:14 - 01:25:52:19 Bennett Tomlin To understand 2016, 2020 and 2024. 01:25:52:19 - 01:26:09:07 Bennett Tomlin It was a testbed for many techniques they would use later, including attempting to influence election officials and otherwise interfere in vote counting efforts. It also makes it abundantly clear that Stone is not a good actor and we should be concerned wherever he's involved. 01:26:09:07 - 01:26:16:08 Bennett Tomlin so let's talk briefly about some of the things that Stone got up to in 2016, 2015 with The Donald. 01:26:16:11 - 01:26:26:16 Bennett Tomlin The National Enquirer makes another appearance here at one point running a story that only quoted Roger on the record claiming that Ted Cruz had a series of extramarital affairs. 01:26:26:16 - 01:26:45:20 Bennett Tomlin This was not the most important thing he got up to, though, leading up to the Republican National Convention. Roger Stone started ‘Stop the Steal’ and started claiming that Ted Cruz had committed voter frauds in states he had won and threatened to publish the room numbers of delegates who did not vote for Trump at the RNC. 01:26:45:20 - 01:26:49:04 Bennett Tomlin It's important to remember these attempts to deny election results 01:26:49:04 - 01:27:06:00 Bennett Tomlin because Trump would use similar lines in 2016 to suggest he may not accept the results if they found that Hillary Clinton won. And then in 2020, Donald Trump would incite an insurrection in an attempt to interfere with the orderly counting of votes, an effort which would again featured the Proud Boys. 01:27:06:00 - 01:27:30:27 Bennett Tomlin Stone during 2020 was going on Infowars and any other place which was still willing to have him and claiming that the president should invoke martial law to seize ballots. These tactics are classic Roger Stone tactics, and Stone was doing them for Bush in 2000 and Trump in 2016 and 2020. There's far more dirty tricks in stone we could get into, and there's great documentaries that have done that. 01:27:30:28 - 01:27:38:29 Bennett Tomlin Like Get Me Roger Stone And maybe I'll eventually make videos and more of those tricks. But I want to talk about what he is doing now. 01:27:43:29 - 01:27:50:24 Bennett Tomlin Robert F Kennedy Jr. Is an anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist pretending he is running for the Democratic nominee for president. 01:27:50:24 - 01:28:06:24 Bennett Tomlin He's not a normal Democrat, though, having reportedly been asked by Trump to spread misinformation about vaccines. Back when Trump was first elected. But eventually this would fall through with several Trump advisers supposedly informing him that RFK was too toxic for this. 01:28:06:24 - 01:28:24:09 Bennett Tomlin Roger Stone has already tried to suggest that Trump Kennedy ticket would be a dream ticket, despite again, the fact that Kennedy is nominally a Democrat. He also said that he would donate his campaign and thinks that RFK could successfully soften Joe Biden up. 01:28:24:09 - 01:28:43:25 Bennett Tomlin joined in his support for rfk jr by friend, fellow trump campaign member and similar rat fucker Steve Bannon who said that he received a standing ovation for floating that exact same ticket. Reporting from Robert Costa has claimed that Bannon has been encouraging Kennedy to run for months before he eventually declared. 01:28:43:25 - 01:28:48:02 Bennett Tomlin Bannon is course a dirty tricks operative in the same vein as Roger Stone. 01:28:48:05 - 01:28:52:26 Bennett Tomlin Now, before we get any further, RFK insists that Bannon has nothing to do with his campaign, 01:28:52:26 - 01:28:57:06 Bennett Tomlin That's not to say there is no familiarity between Kennedy and some of these figures, for example. 01:28:57:08 - 01:29:09:25 Bennett Tomlin Here's a picture of him posing with Michael Flynn, former Trump national security adviser for 22 days before he resigned and one of the top candidates for cue and Roger Stone, along with another anti-vaxxer, Charlene Bollinger. 01:29:09:25 - 01:29:16:06 Bennett Tomlin This appears to be from the Reawaken American event, which featured all four of these speakers, as well as other idiots like Andrew Wakefield. 01:29:16:06 - 01:29:30:07 Bennett Tomlin There's also financial links, including that his new super PAC, Heal the Divide, which Rolling Stone has reported, was not set up by Democrats, as you might expect. No one said it was set up Republicans. The PAC was set up by Jason Lee Bowles. 01:29:30:07 - 01:29:51:18 Bennett Tomlin He works for a company called RTA Strategy. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is featured as a side character in a couple videos now on this channel in her PAC, Save America Stop Socialism paid him several hundred thousand dollars for her 2022 campaign. This wasn't the only person paying this firm. Others included Herschel Walker and 01:29:51:18 - 01:30:02:23 Bennett Tomlin Most notable to me and not highlighted by Rolling Stone is that the firm was paid by Brock from Vermont. This would be Brock Pearce, the founder of Tether a stablecoin I've covered extensively and a star of the Mighty Ducks. 01:30:02:25 - 01:30:24:28 Bennett Tomlin His campaign was, believe it or not, also a Steve Bannon special. Brock Pierce and Steve Bannon and worked together previously at IGE. Fun fact Brock Pearce's ill fated 2020 presidential run was endorsed by Jesse Ventura. Yep. The Wrestler and Governor who told Trump to run? Small World. Getting back to our friend Jason, he has since decided to step up as treasurer for George Santos. 01:30:25:05 - 01:30:50:05 Bennett Tomlin Yeah, the one who lied about everything, including the Ponzi scheme. He was a part of fund connections here. Why am I highlighting all this? Because some feel they are obligated to take RFK Jr seriously and behave as though he is a legitimate Democratic candidate. I feel it is far better to treat RFK as what he is. Either a recruited rat fuck or it useful idiot helping the fascists consolidate their influence. 01:30:55:05 - 01:31:14:06 Bennett Tomlin So what does Donald Trump's first presidential campaign teach us? First, it reminds us that politicians books are bad and you should not read them. They basically never actually write them, and they very rarely contain actual insane. This broadly fits in the category, even if they cannot help themselves from including some classic Donald outbursts in it. 01:31:14:06 - 01:31:18:08 Bennett Tomlin It also teaches us that politicians change their positions over 16 to 20 years. 01:31:18:15 - 01:31:30:13 Bennett Tomlin A shocking revelation, of course, that surprised all of you. Most importantly, though, it illustrates that Donald Trump's campaign seemed perfectly tuned to do necessary damage to make sure Bush won. 01:31:30:13 - 01:31:45:06 Bennett Tomlin This makes me believe that Trump was filling one of two roles intentional spoiler or useful idiot. I'm inclined to favor that useful explanation, in part because Donald Trump did not hesitate from going after Bush in the campaign. 01:31:45:06 - 01:31:52:06 Donald Trump Well, so far, I've been very, very saddened by the fact that he certainly doesn't seem like Albert Einstein. 01:31:52:09 - 01:31:58:26 Bennett Tomlin Plus, as we know, Trump has an ego that could probably be pretty easily convinced that he legitimately could win. 01:31:58:28 - 01:32:10:02 Donald Trump I think you have to have you know, I don't consider myself to have a big ego. The fact is, I've never, however, met a person who's successful, who didn't have an ego or a fairly substantial there's nothing wrong. 01:32:10:04 - 01:32:11:13 Larry King You express it alot let’s say. 01:32:11:16 - 01:32:29:16 Donald Trump I don't even express it. I mean, I put my name on buildings because it sells better. I don't do it because I need that. I mean, I get more per square foot in New York than anybody else by far. I get if you build a building here and I build a building there and not to use you, but I will get substantially more per square foot in that building than the person building the building across the street 01:32:29:16 - 01:32:44:14 Bennett Tomlin Plus, even if he wasn't going to win, this was still helping him. As we discussed way back at the beginning of this video, this helped make Trump seem more serious, helped him sell more books, and fundamentally helped him sell his name. 01:32:44:14 - 01:32:52:19 Dan Rather Part of what Donald Trump is about is selling the name and how better to sell the name than to run for president. Am I wrong about that? 01:32:52:20 - 01:33:06:25 Donald Trump I can understand it Dan and I'm not holding it againstyou. I haven't changed my opinion of you at all by you saying that. But the fact is that I'm very serious about it. I'm looking at it very seriously, and I wouldn't be surprised if I said yes. 01:33:06:25 - 01:33:15:14 Bennett Tomlin Losing was a totally acceptable outcome for Trump because it helped him profit and it helped people around him like Roger Stone achieve their goals. 01:33:15:14 - 01:33:27:11 Bennett Tomlin We also see Roger Stone test his control of media during this period and practice his attempts to challenge vote counting and election legitimacy techniques which have become part of the fascistic attempt to control the country. 01:33:27:17 - 01:33:30:10 Bennett Tomlin In both 2016 and 2020. 01:33:30:10 - 01:33:54:12 Bennett Tomlin It's important to highlight this because these attempts to disrupt elections will continue. It is very likely that RFK Jr is currently part of one, even if he's just a useful idiot who does not realize it. You should realize it and you should realize that people who are trying to treat him as something more than that are likely just as foolish as people who thought that Trump was legitimately going to win in 2000. 01:33:54:15 - 01:34:16:21 Bennett Tomlin There are people actively working to destroy democracy, and many of those people were there in 2000, were there in 2016, were there in 2020 and are already hard at work for 2024. We need to stop allowing them to maintain this type of power in society, but that requires a level of collective action. We have not demonstrated we're ready for yet. 01:34:16:21 - 01:34:29:18 Bennett Tomlin If you enjoyed this video, then make sure to check out my other videos. Recommend this one that talks about George Santos and this one that mentions Trump and MTG. Thank you for watching what is the longest video I have ever made.
