The organized lawfare operation against Trump's executive orders (02-13-2025--Hour2)

[00:00:04] What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to 3 on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to thepetekalendershow.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:29] At the end of the last hour, I talked a little bit about some of the litigation going on over Trump's executive orders. There was a piece at the Daily Signal by Fred Lucas, who is the chief news correspondent and manager of the investigative reporting project for the Daily Signal. He is the author of The Myth of Voter Suppression, The Left's Assault on Clean Elections. Again, his name is Fred Lucas. And he says,

[00:01:24] He has temporarily blocked Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship to delay a federal employee buyout and to halt the shuttering of the USAID. Civil service strong. You may want to sit down for this. It is a project of democracy forward. So they've combined their two, you know, their two call slogans there into one democracy forward.

[00:01:54] This is what you know. Do you know who's involved? Again, are you sitting down for this? You know, who's involved, who's leading this effort? Mark Elias. Exactly. The super liar for the Democrats. Also, the middleman for the Steele dossier. Part of the Hillary Clinton DNC operation to smear Donald Trump with the fake intelligence report from Christopher Steele.

[00:02:22] Elias has been known primarily for election related litigation, right? Because he's also sued North Carolina probably like a dozen times over redistricting. He works as the hatchet man's hatchet man. Eric Holder, Obama's hatchet man. And Holder set up that redistricting political action group. And so Elias sues with them for them. And.

[00:02:51] He has been known primarily for the election related litigation and for his role in initiating the discredited Russia collusion investigation during President Donald Trump's first term. Democracy forward posted on X, formerly Twitter. Boasting of filing nine lawsuits against the Trump administration and winning four court orders. Well, because that's how you get the money, obviously. Right.

[00:03:15] This is this is Mark Elias's brand and his M.O. It's to file litigation in front of activist judges that agree with him. And they they then can claim a victory. Look at us. We got this thing done. Now, by the way, as far as a strategy on all of this stuff goes. Right now, Democrats are burning a lot of time and political capital and cash.

[00:03:41] You know, funding these lawsuits and litigation, trying to mobilize against these executive orders. But there is a thing coming and it's coming very soon. And it was it was the thing that got put off before the election. And it was the spending. Right. Remember this fight? Oh, my gosh, we're going to government's going to shut down. We're going to run out of spending. And then Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House, did the cram nibus and then got smacked around and then came back with a stripped down version.

[00:04:10] And they they pushed that thing through. But it wasn't a long term fix because, you know, God forbid. We go back to regular order where you have the 12 appropriations bills that actually get marked up in the committees and debated and then go through that process through the the north, the regular order where then be voted on by the House. And then over to the Senate, they hammer out differences in a conference committee and then they end up with a final budget. Right. They don't do that anymore.

[00:04:38] They haven't done that in I don't even know how long it's been like it's been more than a decade. It's just nuts. So they keep they keep governing by continuing resolution and omnibus bills, which are basically. Massive bills with all sorts of different funding priorities and programs and everything else just like crammed into this one bill. And then they're like, you got to vote on it by tomorrow.

[00:05:06] I know it's seven thousand pages, but you got to vote by tomorrow or the government shuts down. Right. And they they put these deadlines on the lawmakers and then don't let them actually go through these things. So it's a terrible way of governing, terrible way of budgeting. And both parties have been doing it. But the last time it got done before the election, they kicked the can down the road, as you always do with these continuing resolutions.

[00:05:30] And they're going to now be taking up, you know, another CR. Well. You can actually do what the Democrats did when they passed a lot of these spending bills.

[00:05:49] And what they did, because they did not have large enough majorities to do so, was they did reconciliation, which is a it's a move in the in the Congress. Where if it's like a budget related bill, you can do a reconciliation process. And that then allows you to just get a simple majority of the Senate vote. So 51 votes.

[00:06:17] Well, 50 because J.D. Vance would cast the deciding vote. But Republicans have a 53 vote majority. So you could do what Trump wants done in his executive orders. You can take all of those EOs, put them into the omnibus, put them into a bill, into the continuing resolution, whatever. And ram it through as part of a reconciliation process. And so all this litigation doesn't even matter.

[00:06:45] It takes it out of the courts because now Congress did it. I'm not sure they're aware of that. All right. Let me go over to the phones here and talk with Don. Hello, Don. Welcome to the show. How are you doing? Hey, I'm good. I haven't been out of I've been working and I haven't heard of Trump has put forth the information that his buddy must had about all the corruption and all the money and the people get backs and all that stuff.

[00:07:14] Let me just ask this. First thing is, Elon Musk has made absolute billions of dollars by getting credits to his Tesla company for not producing gaseous emissions. There are two stuff like that. And he sells those to the companies who actually have some production of fossil fuel engines and makes millions out of it.

[00:07:45] Why is a firm that does not end the process of producing gas powered machines get credits to begin with? That's the first question I got. I don't know the details of what you're describing. I've not followed Elon Musk's various business enterprises and how they all work.

[00:08:08] But it sounds like what you're describing is the carbon credits where, you know, if you are a green company, then you get a certain amount of credits. And then you can sell them on this like carbon credit marketplace to entities that emit more carbon emissions. But it makes no sense. That's like giving not drinking bonuses to people in the Baptist church.

[00:08:37] I mean, that's where they're not going to drink anyway. So why give them something not to do something they're not going to do anyway? That's the first thing. The second thing is, I think Trump has been running for office now for years and years. Until he put a tariff on South Africa, have you ever heard him speak the word South Africa? Not that I can recall offhand.

[00:09:06] That's the first thing. The second thing. No, that's the second thing. So wait, wait, what is the supposed importance of that? Well, the importance of that is that Trump is just weaning as he goes. He's what? He's talking about his weaning. He doesn't really put it on. Don, your phone signal has completely gone to garbage. I don't know what's going on. Can you hear me now? Yeah. Hang on, Don. I'm going to put you on hold. I've got to take a break.

[00:09:36] I've got to take a break. I'm trying to process what the point of the South Africa thing was. All right. If you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events. And I know you do, too. And you've probably heard me say, get your news from multiple sources. Why? Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with Ground News. It's an app and it's a website and it combines news from around the world in one place. So you can compare coverage and verify information.

[00:10:04] You can check it out at check.ground.news slash Pete. I put the link in the podcast description, too. I started using Ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The Blind Spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself. Check.ground.news slash Pete.

[00:10:30] Subscribe through that link and you'll get 15% off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports Ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. All right. So before the break, we were talking with Don. We'll see if he's still there. Hello, Don. Are you still there? Yes, I'm still here. OK, so you had asked something about South Africa. And so I did during the break.

[00:10:59] I went and looked up and apparently you're referring to comments that Donald Trump made about funding. That's going U.S. funding that is going to South Africa that he said he would suspend because of what he calls a human rights violation, which is based on a new law that was passed that allows the government to expropriate land, to take land from people.

[00:11:28] And the South African government says, oh, Trump doesn't understand what this law does. And so because Elon Musk is from South Africa originally, he's an American citizen now, but he he has made claims that that the government has been seizing white farmers lands. And so I guess is that what you're referencing? Well, yes.

[00:11:52] The point I'm making here is that he he's doing things now in government that I don't think the American people realized that he was going to do. It's one thing to say that certain agencies are doing it wrongly, but they they have a general purpose that'd be good for America. If you just come in and fire everybody, which is what Trump, which what Musk has done in every place he's ever been. Musk can't fire anybody. Musk hasn't fired anybody. Musk has no power to fire anybody.

[00:12:23] Well, he lays them off. He doesn't know he's not laying anybody. Nobody. He's not. Elon Musk has no power to do that. He hasn't done that. Well, he does if he tells Trump to do it. And they've gone down. OK. People are looking for jobs out of the USAID. How many people are looking for jobs out of the USAID? The point is, the point is, when Trump took over what was formerly whatever it was with X, he fired everybody. Yeah, he fired 80 percent. Mm-hmm.

[00:12:52] Fired everybody without regard to whether they were good employees or did what they were supposed to do. You don't know that. He just fired them. No, you don't know that. How do you know? I bet you he can't name anybody that he fired. Most presidents of companies that large can't. Do you think the people that own corporate radio stations, do you think they know? Do you think the people at the top of my radio company know my name? No, they don't know my name. Like, nobody does. I bet they don't.

[00:13:21] I can guarantee you they don't. What I'm saying is, there is no... What I'm saying is, nothing that I've seen so far, the kinds of people that Trump has appointed to run these agencies, do you really believe that all these people are competent to run their agencies? And don't tell me Congress is a proven, because Republicans would approve of you if he was... In comparison to what? And to whom? See, because you can't just...

[00:13:51] Well, look at our Secretary of Defense. Okay. You're all over... Don, you're all over the place. So this call is becoming of very little value, because you're all over the place, because you throw it... Don, hang on a second, Don. What you're doing is, you're throwing out little chunks of information and accusations about various people and agencies, and then you're not allowing any kind of an actual discourse to occur on that particular accusation.

[00:14:20] So as I'm trying to address that, now you want to shift over to DOD. I have spent almost two weeks doing deep dives on the USAID expenditures. I'm perfectly comfortable talking to you about what's going on there. I've outlined this very clearly. It's very clear what's been going on at USAID. What may have started off with good intentions and what may also include good programs that are being funded in USAID has been corrupted.

[00:14:50] It is no longer serving solely that role. It is now doing a lot of other things. That's the problem. Well, I think... I agree with you. They all do away with the problems, but what I'm saying is, I don't have any faith that Elon Musk is going to do anything that doesn't benefit him. That's fine. So who are these angels among us that do all of these things that just benefit somebody other than themselves? Who are these people?

[00:15:18] When you're in the government at public trust, nobody's elected him. His popularity ratings... Nobody's elected the bureaucrats that have been running these agencies for decades either. Congress has approved them. That doesn't... But those people have... The president hired him. Right? So that doesn't matter. Being unelected doesn't automatically make somebody deficient. Because if that's the case, then every single person that works for the government is deficient. He doesn't answer to anybody.

[00:15:48] He answers to the president. He doesn't answer to an electorate. He answers to the president. The president does what he says. I guarantee you... So wait, who's calling the shots? Is it Trump or Musk? Musk. So Donald Trump is answering to Elon Musk? Well, he gave him a quarter of a billion dollars to get elected. What do you think? He doesn't need him anymore. Trump is already... He's already... Yeah, okay. He doesn't need Elon Musk anymore. So he got the money.

[00:16:16] So why bother paying him off now? Right? Why... Because that was the agreement. So wait, you think Donald Trump's ego would allow him to be subservient to Elon Musk? You think Trump's ego would allow that? Well, see, Trump always said he was the smartest and the richest man there. He's not when he deals with Musk. So... I mean... So Trump now knows that he's not the smartest and the richest, so he's deferring to Elon Musk?

[00:16:46] Yeah. He has... Just like he... I don't know why he defers to Putin. He just... Oh my gosh. Don. Don. Don. You're not living... Don. Yeah. Don, you're making up stuff. I don't know if you're aware of this. I'm making up anybody. No, yeah. Oh, no. You absolutely are. Don. You have... Don, you have somehow or another gotten it into your head that you also know how and what other people are thinking at all times. That is not saying... You've watched me for eight years. No, I...

[00:17:15] Don, I have as well. Don, I have as well. I have as well. And what you're... What you're outlining is the way... All right, Don, we're done. We're done because I'm way late for news. But I appreciate the call, Don. But like what you have constructed, these tales, these fables in your mind, right? They're not true in all cases. Now, you can have theories and hypotheses and stuff, but you speak as if you know something is true and you do not. You do not know that to be true.

[00:17:42] And your logic is also completely irreparably faulty. All right. I hope you had a happy holiday season, but tell me if something like this happened at your house. Your family and friends are gathered around. Maybe y'all are in the living room. You're laughing, swapping stories, reminiscing, and then somebody says, Hey, Dad, remember those old VHS tapes? Did you ever get them transferred? And then the room gets all quiet. All eyes are on Dad who says, Oh, you know, well, I've been meaning to, but I just haven't gotten around to it.

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[00:18:41] Talk about a memorable gift. So do what I did. Trust the experts at Create A Video, conveniently located in Mint Hill, right off I-485, and online at createavideo.com. And let me jump over here and talk to Lloyd. Hello, Lloyd. Hey there. How are you? Hey, I'm good. What's going on? I wanted to share your frustration with that last caller and tell you that, I mean, it points

[00:19:06] out dramatically again the opportunity that we have in this country to start teaching debate again. I mean, people need to understand that facts still matter. Opinions are wonderful, but facts still matter. And so many conversations that I get involved in are like these with this gentleman you were speaking to, where it's just this hyperbole and these broad statements that really have no, there's no gravity to them.

[00:19:35] They're simply being stated in a way that they look to be facts, but there's no facts involved. Right. I became aware of this when I was up in Asheville. We had a sister station that was a progressive talk station, which, by the way, made no money. We actually supported them. So like the money we made actually kept them on the air, which is very much on brand for a progressive outfit.

[00:20:02] But anyway, so I would hear in certain debates with the host, the afternoon host over there, and he would do what Don did. And I think it was because he was actually like a, he was a playwright. He wrote plays as his main job. And then he just did this, you know, this show for giggles or whatever.

[00:20:25] But that was the, that was the way he constructed his show and his line of thinking on things, which was to fill in gaps of unknowns with his biases, with what, what he thinks is actually happening behind the scenes. And he's like pretending that he knows the thoughts of these strangers to him, which is a bizarre thing. And I don't understand why people do that.

[00:20:53] That it's like this projection, I guess. I don't know. But it doesn't comport with what they've been saying about Donald Trump and what we know about Donald Trump. Like, do you think like he's answering, do you think Donald Trump would, you know, act in a subservient way to anybody, let alone Elon Musk? No. Like that's a, they recognize it as a partnership, it seems like, but Trump is still in charge. I agree.

[00:21:18] And the point, though, is that regardless of what your position, you still should be able to state it in a factual matter where you can actually have a conversation so that maybe your opinion might be changed. And that would be okay. But we no longer hold debate in any high regard. And we need to be teaching it. And I'm talking about at the elementary level, straight through school, where people are understanding

[00:21:46] that you need to be able to have a rational decision with logic and facts involved, rather than these broad, all-encompassing statements that are based on literally nothing. And there's no even truth in them. You know, the beautiful thing about truth is that truth will stand and it ultimately does not need your permission. Right. And you can make your argument, like if you want to assert a premise, then okay, what's

[00:22:15] the evidence to support the premise? And then we can weigh that against any, you know, counter evidence and try to come to a conclusion about what we believe may be true. Um, but this, uh, but the, the, the, the tactic that I identified with Don is, you know, this, this scattershot approach of bouncing between different assertions in order to never get to a substantive discussion about the assertion.

[00:22:45] And that's what I get frustrated on if you, and also he never talked about the thing that he actually told my call screener he wanted to talk about. He, he went off on all these other things first. And that kind of, that ticks me off a little bit because you're lying to my call screener. Now people sometimes just, you know, they get, they get nervous and then they don't get to what they want to talk about. So I give people, uh, leeway on that sort of stuff. But if you want to call in and have a discussion about, you know, whether USAID funds were appropriately spent, then I'm happy to have that discussion.

[00:23:13] But as soon as you start talking about that and then I respond, and then you're talking about Pete Hegg, Seth, like, okay, this is not a good faith argument. Lloyd, I appreciate the call, buddy. Yes. All right. Keep the faith. All right, man. Thanks. I appreciate it. That's Lloyd. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in Western North Carolina, just a quick drive up the mountain? And Cabins of Asheville is your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable

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[00:24:34] Or check out all there is to offer at cabinsofashville.com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. Got a message from Russ who says, the Don-like arguments take broad assumptions like the wealthy, especially Trump and Elon, the wealthy are bad and have selfish motives. Whenever pushed for facts and examples, they fill in the gaps with their own personal fantasy opinions.

[00:24:58] Yeah, they inject their bias into the argument that they're trying to craft. So, like, this argument that, you know, Elon Musk is doing this for himself. Okay? Is that a net positive or net negative? Because if he's doing it for himself, but he finds a trillion dollars in savings to me and the American taxpayers, and that helps to reduce the deficit, would that be a net benefit

[00:25:26] to all of us as well? Well, and also, always think in terms of in comparison to what? Because are there other billionaires that are out there that are not doing things in their own interest? Right? This is the entire premise of, you know, a free market that people do things in their own self-interest because that is our human nature.

[00:25:52] And when you try to go against human nature, a la Marxism, you end up having to kill a whole bunch of people, which is, by the way, in the interest of the ruling elite that do all the murdering under Marxism because that's in their interest. See? You cannot get around human nature. All right. So, let's see what Tony has to say about all of this. Hello, Tony. Welcome to the show. Hey, what's going on, Pete? Oh, you said... You tell me.

[00:26:22] Yeah. Poor Lloyd. Lloyd, the caller that you just had, he... Lloyd wants rationality. Rational. Man, you know, to me, when you voted for a felon, who would have ever thought America would vote a felon into office? That's not rational. Rationality in America is done. That's over with. And, and, Donald Trump, if you've seen a news conference with him and that other dude,

[00:26:51] Elon Musk, with his child in there with him, the way that was... Man, Elon just kind of took over. Just kind of like, Donald Trump just shut his mouth. You know, when Elon started talking about something, he's like, excuse me, and the reporter went right to him. That's on YouTube. You can look at it. I have. I've watched it twice, as a matter of fact. Have you watched the entire thing? But Donald Trump... Have you... Tony, Tony, have you watched the entire thing? As far as the news conference? Yeah. No, I...

[00:27:21] So you didn't watch the entire thing. So you're, so you're basing, so you're basing your opinion on, right? I'm not being rational. All right. So you're, you're basing your opinion on having seen a clip or a portion of a roughly 30 to 40 minute press availability. No, I didn't. I didn't base that on that at all. I'm just giving an example of Donald Trump bowing down to Elon Musk. Donald Trump was sitting at the Resolute desk. He opened up the news conference. He tossed it over to Elon Musk.

[00:27:50] Elon Musk made a statement and then said, anybody have any questions? And people then asked Elon Musk questions about the work that he was doing, which he would know firsthand. So Donald Trump obviously defers to Musk on that. But then Donald Trump would come in and he would add his comments to what Elon would say. And then they would both go back and forth. There wasn't any kind of bowing down. You're like that. Dude, you're projecting something into that. Listen, listen, Pete. Listen, I know you don't want to, I know you don't want to believe that.

[00:28:19] I get it, man. You don't want to see there again. You're doing Tony. You're doing, you're doing the exact same thing again. Now with me, you're projecting knowledge of my thoughts and you have no freaking idea what I'm thinking and why I think the way I think. If you want to know, I can tell you. Okay. Can I tell you, can I tell you? You cannot tell me anything that I'm thinking. No, stop doing that. Stop projecting other people's brain waves. I'm going to, this is not something that's incredible, Pete. Let me just school you on something.

[00:28:49] Again, how do you know that I don't know the thing you're about to say? You're doing it again. Tony, are you able to have a discussion without projecting something into somebody else's head? Why don't you start from... I'm so upset. Well, I'm not... Once again, Tony does it again. You literally cannot form an argument unless you're projecting some thought process into your opponent. You keep interrupting me. Because you're full of crap, Tony.

[00:29:18] Tony, because you're full of crap and you're making up stuff and you're using it to straw man. And I'm not going to let you do it. I'm not on Ritalin, Tony. There again, there's another one. And once again, you're projecting onto me something that you don't know to be true. I'm only going by your actions, Pete. You're not, Tony. You're not. I'm looking at... You're a liar as well. Tony, you are now lying. You are now lying. You're out of control, Pete.

[00:29:46] I am completely within my control. Listen, listen. Calm down for a minute. You calm down, Tony. You seem very upset. You should take some Ritalin. Listen, it's kind of hilarious to me, but I didn't... I agree. You are hilarious. Not for the reason you think. Okay, let me just tell you... Let me just tell you why I say that he's bowing down to Elon Musk. I mean, have you ever seen... That's not telling me. You're asking me. No, no. Start...

[00:30:14] Stated as a statement, don't ask me what. Don't ask me why. Don't ask me a question. You said you were going to tell me why. Tell me why. Don't ask me something. Tell me. It has no dignity. It has nothing to do with... You didn't even see it all. No, no. What I've seen was enough. I don't have to see it all. And you know that because you didn't see it. It's a traffic. Listen, I already know we have a liar in the White House.

[00:30:43] What am I going to sit there and listen to a liar for? In comparison to who? In comparison to what we have now. What do you mean? In comparison to the lie. So Donald Trump is a liar. Fine. So fine. I see that point. In comparison now to who? Can you name another president that has not lied? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I didn't say they didn't lie. I said he's a liar. Yeah. So what's the difference between, say, Joe Biden lying? Is he a liar?

[00:31:11] Joe Biden is not in office. Yeah, but when he was in office, was he a liar? Obama is not in office. I said Joe Biden. I didn't say Obama. I asked whether... I asked whether... I asked whether... You're not talking about who was. I asked... I know you don't want to... See, now, see, this is the problem when you make assertions rather than pose your arguments in the form of a question in order to try to dodge any kind of responsibility for saying stupid stuff. But, Tony, Joe Biden was a liar, too. Barack Obama was a liar, too.

[00:31:38] Everybody that has occupied that office, I am sure, at some point, lied. See, so you trying to make an argument that all these things are true because Donald Trump's a liar. Well, if that's the consistent standard, then the same standard would be applied to all other presidents. And I can name several Biden lies. Hell, Obama won the lie of the year from The Washington Post. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening.

[00:32:06] I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them, too, and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecalendorshow.com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone. Thank you.