Get Out There And Vote!

0:00It's time for Justice Matters, with former federal prosecutor and legal analyst, Glenn Kerschmitt. Glenn talks about some recent legal developments that's coming up next on Justice Matters. These are difficult times, and if you believe in justice, progress, and democracy, the news you read and listen to can be pretty depressing. And that's why there's a podcast called Good News for Lefties and America. Every day it features positive news stories for progressive listeners, because no matter how disturbing the headlines might be, there's always hope we can build on for a better tomorrow. Good news for lefties and America. Listen on this platform at GoodNewsForLefties.com or wherever podcasts are heard. A few legal developments, and one is more insane than the next. I guess none of it is really insane because of what we experience every day.

1:03But first of all, Donald Trump is actually now threatening that if he can't have his name on the Kennedy Center, he's just going to knock down the damn building. It's beyond juvenile. It's beyond ego maniacal. It's beyond malignant narcissism. It's just, I don't know how to describe it. If I can't have my name on the building, I'm going to knock it down. And fortunately, Judge Cooper, Judge Christopher Cooper, Casey Cooper, has put an order in place saying, no, sport, you didn't call him sport. I call him sport. No sport. You're not going to knock it down. You're not going to make any changes or engage in any demolition unless you give the court 30 days advance notice so that we can take it up as an emergency matter if need be. And I got a kick out of some of the photos that I saw posted while I was on vacation

2:10of some debris, some dirt dust debris that they alleged was falling from the ceiling and I think the big open space in the Kennedy Center. Now these are the same Trump flunkies that he put in place to do his dirty bidding at the Kennedy Center who arranged to have all of those beautiful grand weeping willow trees like just chop down. And then they, well, they were all diseased so they had to be, I'm not believing these people. I don't believe anything they say. So they sprinkle some debris on the ground and say, oh, look, the sky is falling inside the Kennedy Center. I'm not tending to credit them. But now when the court ruled that no Donald Trump's name can't be on the Kennedy Center, you know, even if it's just saying renovated by Donald Trump because that violates federal law.

3:11He had his minions, his flunkies, his lapdogs, his sick offenses, yes, men and women that he installed on the board or governing body of the Kennedy Center, vote to close it down. Boy, we've got to close it down for two years for renovations. And here's the thing, friends, you know, this would make George Orwell of 1980 for blush. Trump is actually saying the only thing that can save it is if I put my name on the building. Now, first of all, the reason that the Kennedy Center is in a financial free fall according to the reporting is because Donald Trump put his name on the building and all sorts of acts that were scheduled to perform there pulled out. You know, it's the power of the arts right there. I love the power of the arts. And I don't think we often realize just how much power the arts have in so many ways

4:12the Maclamore thing is another variation on that. But when Donald Trump said, just think about this, when Donald Trump says the only way to save the Kennedy Center financially is if I get to put my name on it, let's put that to the test. I actually posted something about this a few days ago. What happens when Trump puts his name on buildings or endeavors or services, right? Well, let's see. Trump, Taj Mahal, bankrupt, Trump, castle, bankrupt, Trump, Plaza Hotel and Casino, bankrupt, Plaza Hotel in New York that was a Trump endeavor, bankrupt, Trump hotels and casino resorts, bankrupt, Trump entertainment resorts, bankrupt. What about these failed Trump endeavors? Trump stakes at a business. Trump vodka and gone. Trump mortgage.

5:14Gone. Trump University put out of business and had to pay $25 million to get out of being sued for fraud, dissed all of fraud lawsuit. Trump Airlines at a business. Go Trump.com at a business. Trump magazine at a business, the Trump network, nope, Trump water, nope, Trump the game. And that is a non exhaustive list of things he put his name on that failed, that imploded. Many of them never really even got off the ground. That went bankrupt, you know? I mean, the man is the biggest loser. The man is the single most accomplished failure. Maybe in the history of American business, maybe.

6:17But the only thing that can save the Kennedy Center is if he puts his name on it, really. It's like saying that the only thing that can save a person is shooting them through the head. No, no, and I'm sorry to be graphic about that. So we will see what happens in the coming weeks if he's going to, you know, try to bring the wrecking ball in and start tearing down the Kennedy Center. I mean, it will be interesting to see if this thing finally ripens into a situation where federal courts are ordering that he can't demolish it. And he's actually got the wrecking crews moving into the Kennedy Plaza there and bringing the big wrecking balls in. And what happens? Right? We all have heard that the courts don't have, you know, armies. They don't really have law enforcement agencies with this exception. They have the United States Marshal Service.

7:21And I worked with them for decades. And when, you know, you hear that saying they always get their man or woman, they really do. They are a crack outfit in my experience. And they are required by law to execute all federal court orders. They shall mandatory language in the statute, execute all federal court orders. So if Judge Cooper orders the executive branch not to demolish the Kennedy Center, we'll see how that plays out. All right. I already took longer on that first legal story than I had intended. Another interesting development, Judge Emmett Sullivan whom I hold in very high regard, having handled cases in front of him when I was a prosecutor, basically lays down the law to attorney general Todd Blanche and says, I'm going to paraphrase here.

8:22This is your last shot sport. No, he didn't call them sport. But you know, that's my favorite derogatory term for Trump and his flunkies. Last warning, sport. You've got until September 24th to give me the handwritten notes of the victim who was interviewed four times by the FBI notes that you have been unlawfully concealing in violation of the Epstein files transparency act by September 24th, or we're going to be looking at contempt. This is the second warning. First warning I was in court when Judge Emmett Sullivan gave a lecture to the hack the DOJ lawyers that were in there when they were declining to abide by his orders. He explained to them how he has held the DOJ lawyers in contempt previously and he said, you know, this is not a threat that I'm making to you. This is a promise.

9:22Don't sleep, Judge Emmett Sullivan, and don't try his patience and don't ever confuse kindness with weakness. Not with Emmett Sullivan on the bench. So I won't spend more time talking about that. We'll know more by the September 24 deadline. Up next, Glenn talks about the recent vote by mail case. This is Justice Maddox. When Donald Trump was inaugurated like all presidents he swore an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. Instead, Donald Trump has decided to swerve, deflect, and upend the Constitution and treat it like a terms and conditions page. I'm Professor Cory Brechneider. And I'm deeply unqualified comedian John Fiegelstein. We'd like to invite you to listen to the Oath in the Office podcast where every week we interpret the Constitution and hold Trump accountable to his oath.

10:24It's a podcast that offers real insight on how to take action against tyranny and mayhem because despair is not a strategy. Well, hold him to his pledge despite his threats to democracy and the law itself. It's a podcast that's all about hope for what a real democracy should look like from an esteemed respected constitutional scholar and a deeply neurotic comedian who thought the emoluments clause was a breakfast item. Subscribe to the Oath in the Office where every week we talk about how citizens can preserve our democracy and fight back against the threat to democracy. Subscribe to the Oath in the Office on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast.

11:25And there's an encouraging piece of that story. And that is only two justices, the two kind of conflicted compromised justices conflicted because in my opinion based on the reporting they violated financial disclosure laws when they hid all this money in these kind contributions, these mobile homes and home renovations and lavish trips and college tuition for high-sour private school tuition for a de facto son of Clarence Thomas. They declined or failed to disclose all of that on their financial disclosure reports that I was required to file every year. I was a fed for 30 years, Bayon of our existence, but we have to do it and we take it deadly seriously. It was only those two Clarence Thomas and Sammy the Bull Alito who voted that, no, let Trump

12:30interfere with mail in voting by mail. Who cares? And Kavanaugh kind of half-step to being the weasel that he is. And so, well, I think there's a fair possibility, fair likelihood that the government might succeed in their attempts to interfere in voting by mail. Again, this is my interpretation of what he said. But there were really only two. So even if that issue resurfaces at the Supreme Court and it might, apologies to weasels by the way if I compared them to Brett Kavanaugh because weasels can actually serve a purpose. And they're probably more honorable and true or to their word than Brett Kavanaugh. So if this issue bubbles up again before the Supreme Court and it might, I don't think Trump

13:33is going to find enough votes to carry the day. And here's the thing that's been lurking in the back of my mind. After the mid, you know, Trump cares deeply about the midterms. Why? Not because he cares about the Republican agenda, but because he doesn't want to be impeached. He doesn't want to have 100 investigations launched. That's the, you know, it'll be the Congress that launched a thousand ships and each ship is a probe into wrongdoing by Trump and company and his family members. He doesn't want all of that to visit him if the Dems take control of the House, most directly and possibly the Senate too. That's why he cares about the results of the midterms because of the impact it will have on him personally and care about the Republican agenda. However, come the general election.

14:33I wonder if Trump's appetite for interfering in the election will be as robust as it is right now when he has a lot riding on. He personally has a lot riding on the results of the midterms because of how it might come back to haunt him if the Dems take control. Whereas in the general in 2028, it's not going to mean anything to him, right? He's going to be out of office. He knows that. And so he might be like, well, I'm done interfering in elections because it's no longer about me so I don't care. The only reason I say that is because this, you know, attempt to interfere in voting by mail, that issue may not resurface as we head into the 2028 general because Trump won't really care at that point because it won't directly implicate him.

15:37It's just an observation. And here's what I love. Todd Blanche. I mean, he's just so obviously the consul, airy, the dirty lawyer to Trump's mob boss figure. He said, well, the Supreme court wouldn't do it, right? They wouldn't let Trump interfere in the upcoming midterm elections by attacking mail, mean, voting by mail. But the Department of Justice will still be hard at work on it, on interfering in the elections, mind you. That's not what he said. They'll still be hard at work on election integrity. No, sport election interference because you just announced that the Supreme Court won't let Trump do it. So we, the Department of Justice will find ways to continue, you know, with dear leaders desire to interfere in the upcoming election. And for anybody to say that anything Donald Trump does has anything to do with election

16:40integrity. When the man at the pretend midterm Republican convention made his supporters take an oath, he swore he made them swear and oath of allegiance to him. And part of that oath was that you will cheat like hell. That's a quote. You will cheat like hell in the upcoming elections. You will try to vote whether you're registered or not. But it's election integrity that Trump and by extension Todd Blanche are working, you know, working hard at its election interference. He made them pledge that they would cheat like hell in the upcoming election. Or last time he told his supporters to fight like hell or you won't have a country anymore.

17:43Now go to the Capitol and stop the certification of the election. Stop the steal has a familiar ring to it, doesn't it? You know, the Supreme Court, you know, has to stop sort of divorcing everything it does from reality. And the reality is Donald Trump is doing everything he can to kill our free and fair elections. Now I want to turn to something that I'm really excited about. And that is, I think it's three states have early voting beginning here in Virginia. I think it's South Dakota and Minnesota maybe. And then on a rolling basis later in September, early October, many other states, do you know that 47 states have early in person voting?

18:49So, you know, I'm excited about it. As I said tomorrow morning, I'll be out in one of our local parks here in Northern Virginia. And we have a rally, a roll to the polls rally in support of tomorrow's early voting that opens here in Virginia. And you know, think about this. Trump has tried to interfere in voting by mail unsuccessfully at the moment. Now even though the courts told him he can't do it, there's no telling what he's going to have DHS and USPS, the US Postal Service do anyway. Let's hope nothing, but you know, it's Trump. But you know what he can't do. And you know, he's also threatened to maybe send ice to the polls or the FBI or the polls or maybe even the military to the polls, even though that would violate federal law, right? No troops to the polls.

19:50That's a federal law. It's actually troops to the polls. It says, but no military members and no armed agents, federal agents can are permitted by law to be at the polls. It doesn't mean he won't try to do it anyway because what is the law to Donald Trump? It's barely a speed bump. It's not even a suggestion. It's a nuisance that he largely ignores. But you know what he can't do? Not by trying to interfere in voting by mail and not by sending anybody to the polls on election day. He can't stop us from swarming the polls during early voting periods like tomorrow in Virginia, in South Dakota, in Minnesota, and then in other states, 47 states in all. Everybody in person voting.

20:51How about? So you know my better three quarters, Nilu. You know what she does? She harasses, and I use that word, advisedly, all of our son's friends who are in their early 20s, harasses them in the best possible way and for the best possible reason, making sure they're all registered, making sure they all get out and vote. And she wears them out until they vote just to get her, you know, off their backs. You know what I would urge everybody to do. I mean, yes, we're all pleased with ourselves. I went to the polls. I voted. Well, I think we should challenge each other to see how many people we can bring to the polls. How many people we can convince to get out and vote early or otherwise, but particularly

21:56early? Let's have voting parties, right? All right. Hey, every Tuesday, it's going to be, you know, we're going to go around the neighborhood, we're going to, you know, find folks that maybe aren't inclined to vote or aren't interested or aren't engaged. They're not paying attention. They're not motivated every Tuesday. And then we need to have Wednesday night get together. And Thursday night get together. And, you know, let's rotate and let's, you know, go to your local supermarket, go to your local civic center, your local church, your local, you know, Jim, whatever. You know, you may go, you may congregate. Local dog parks go and I mean, literally if we all do things that we don't ordinarily do, we don't ordinarily have to do because I think by and large, we always kind of felt like, okay, we have free and fair elections. Now we have always suffered from a very low voter turnout rate for, you know, reasons

23:03that are, there's no good reason not to vote. None. And when you, I don't care, you know, how does it impact me? It doesn't really make a difference. They're all crooked. And, you know, you know, gone are the days when those BS explanations hold any water. So we wouldn't ordinarily have to do this. But how about we do it this time? How about we find ways, creative ways, fun ways to flood the polls and to bring people, you know, drag people figuratively. Just get them to the polls. You know, you come up with creative ways to reach out to your friends and your neighbors to the, you know, members of various communities that, or civic organizations that, you know, we're all kind of involved in in one way or another.

24:04I mean, you know, stand outside to Costco with a sign. I mean, something, anything. But let's all get creative and get people to the polls. Do things we haven't had to do before. Because if we overwhelm the polls starting here in Virginia tomorrow, it's going to make his efforts to ultimately fuck with the results of the elections far more difficult and far less likely to succeed. So, you know, let's get our voting on. You can watch Glenn on his YouTube channel. Also find him on Substack, Luski, Instagram, and Patreon. This is Justice Matters.