November 20, 2025 • 15 mins
BEST OF - President Trump orders the full release of the Epstein files as Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormack is indicted for allegedly stealing FEMA overpayments to fund her campaign. Trump’s proposed $2,000 tariff rebate checks are now stalled in the Senate, and we look at this year’s Thanksgiving dinner costs. National Correspondent Rory O’Neill updates Trump’s proposal to end the Ukraine-Russia war, along with new data on the economy and the housing market. Plus, Ryan shares his take on the media narrative claiming Trump is losing control of the GOP.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
In a truth social post, President Trump announced he has
signed the measure that was passed by both the House
and Senate forcing the Department of Justice to release the
Epstein files within thirty days. So just a quick recap,
the measure he signed orders the release of unclassified records
tied to Jeffrey Epstein, Galaine Maxwell, any government officials tied
(00:23):
to them, financial networks, and Epstein's death. And the DOJ
can't block material just because it might embarrass public figures
or causing political blowback for Democrats or Republicans. And the
dj has to list what it releases, what it withholds,
and explain every redaction. The order covers everything from FBI
(00:44):
documents to US Attorney communications, and it's supposed to be
in a searchable, downloadable format. But the DOJ can redact
anything tied to active investigations, classified information, victims identities, medical records,
or graphic materials. And the two things that are key
there classified information. How much can they just go and
(01:08):
they're classified?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Right?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
And then the active investigations part, because you have the
president who basically ordered the Attorney General Pam Bondy to
open an investigation into Bill Clinton and Larry Summers and
a few other people she agreed to do it. That
could be used to stall or prevent at least some
of the files from being released. Bondy indicated yesterday it might.
(01:32):
We'll get to that a little bit later in the show.
But there's a lot of pressure to release everything. I mean,
you had an almost unanimous vote in the House, only
one person voted against it, unanimous consent in the Senate,
and every poll. I saw a new poll yesterday from
a reputable source, like eighty percent of Americans want the files.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
To be really Oh yeah, absolutely. You know what I
also find interesting about this, and I'm not surprised by it,
but usually when Trump signed something like this, he would
have this whole big to do in the ovalop. Right,
we have the photo with all the victims standing.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
There, right, all the influencers who were at the White House.
He didn't get the files they thought they were getting. Yeah,
that's a good point. And then the other story I
want to mention real quick. Federal prosecutors indicted South Florida
Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Scherflus McCormick, accusing her of stealing five
million dollars in FEMA over payments tied to her family's
(02:23):
healthcare company. Prosecutors say the money was laundered, with a
large share allegedly rooted into her twenty twenty one congressional
campaign to replace the late Congressman Elsie Hastings. Now she's
denied any wrongdoing, but faces up to fifty three years
in prison if she's convicted on all charges. We always
see that kind of headline with these stories. I mean,
she wouldn't get fifty three years in prison if she
(02:44):
was convicted, But this was obviously a big breaking story
last night. And if she did do what she's accused
of doing, I mean, that is so egregious, especially in
a racket, especially in a state where those FEMA dollars.
Think about what they've got on for, you know, people
dealing with hurricanes and you know, natural disasters needed that money.
(03:06):
She's using it for campaign funds. Senate Republicans are brushing
off President Trump's pitch to send Americans two thousand dollars
tariff rebate checks. Many argued plan needs congressional approval, they
don't seem to want to give it. Leadership figures, including
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, say tariff revenue should go
towards paying down the debt, not new payments to voters.
(03:29):
But that wasn't the only reason for some of the pushback.
There was also a question about overheating the economy and
causing inflation. So if the economy is roaring along like
the Trump administration has said it will be next year,
sending out two thousand dollars checks could lead to higher
demands and higher prices, and Treasury Secretary Scott Besson was
(03:49):
asked about that, and he said that families should save
the two thousand dollars instead.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, right, Like, we all make some financial decisions. Plus
I think for a lot of families, they can't afford
to save that money. They've already spent it and have
death they need to pay off.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Right. This is like if you're walking down the street
and you see one hundred dollars bill, you're not picking
that up and putting it in the bank. Okay, you're
getting a free two thousand dollars. I's not free, but
you know that's what it feels like. You're getting a
free two thousand bucks. You're gonna have some fun with it.
Oh yeah, I could blow two thousand dollars on Amazon
in like five minutes. I mean, if that and the
(04:30):
coverage of the two thousand dollars checks, I think it's
time to let this go because if this war to happen,
it wouldn't happen until, you know, next year. And it
feels like remember when they kept asking the media of
Trump whether or not he's gonna run for a third term.
Oh yeah, it's like enough already. Yeah, you keep asking
about two They're not happening anytime soon, So let's just
(04:53):
try there's other things to focus on.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
They're not gonna happen at all, exactly.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
So there have been a gazillion reports on how much
Thanksgiving is going to cost this year, and I've got
another one for you. The American Farm Bureau put out
some stats and they say the average cost of a
classic holiday feast for ten is going to be fifty
five dollars and eighteen cents this year. It's about five
(05:19):
dollars and fifty two cents per person, so a bit
more than like what Walmart or some of just a
lot of them had more of like an average of
like four dollars a person. Yeah, yeah, And that number
from the American Farm Bureau will be about a five
percent drop from last year, and cheaper turkey is the
main driver of the drop. Sixteen pound frozen bird averaging
about twenty one dollars and fifty cents. That's down more
(05:42):
than sixteen percent. But their breakdown, I don't know what
kind of crap Thanksgiving they go to their breakdown here.
Some of the things they highlight peas, No, who eat pea?
We eat peas on Thanksgiving? They've got rolls, you know,
sometimes like a role with you know, you take the
mashed potatoes. Yeah, yeah, and the gravy and all that,
(06:04):
a veggie plate?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
No, who does that?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Where are they going for Thanksgiving?
Speaker 1 (06:08):
I have no idea. Cranberry's not a huge fan, but
I get it. They're part of it. Sweet potatoes. They
highlight stuffing, pumpkin pie and then turkey, But like, where
are the mashed potatoes? Whereas the gravy, the marshmallows to
go with the sweet potato, all that kind of stuff.
A lot of people, I'm not a big fan of this.
(06:29):
Mac and cheese is a big thing for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Onions.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, so I saw that. I'm like, Thanksgiving dinner is that? Yeah?
That's just an awful meal. It sounds like how many
people are going to go to that Thanksgiving dinner right now.
Let's bring in our national correspondent, Rory O'Neil, who supports
brought to you by Mark Spain Real Estate. So, Rory,
you've got President Trump and his team re engaging in
(06:56):
negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end that war. What's
the latest on this twenty eight point plan.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Yeah, we'll see how far it goes, because many have
criticized the plan as really being a pro Russia plan
that would see the Dombas region to Russia entirely. Even
though Russia forces control about eighty five percent of the
Dombass it would give it and another fifteen percent over
to Russia, creating a partial demilitarized zone. Other points, though,
(07:30):
would require that Ukraine get rid of half of its military,
that they don't have any long range weapons, that they
recognize Russia as an official government language, stuff like that.
So far it seems to be going over poorly. But
President Zelenski doesn't really have a lot of options here.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yeah, So, I guess the view from the White House
is that if the war continues, Ukraine is likely going
to lose that territory anyway. I guess my question would be,
you've had Ukraine, They've been willing to negotiate for quite
some time now. It's been Vladimir Putin who has thumbed
his nose at President Trump's efforts to end this war.
(08:10):
What exactly is Russia given up here? Because that's the
right so far? Nothing in fact, they get the hold
on Bass?
Speaker 3 (08:17):
And are they paying to rebuild Ukraine what they blew up?
Are they paying for anything? And is there any way
that Putin is learning his lesson here? It doesn't look
like it in these twenty eight points.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Yeah. And I don't want any promises from Vladimir Putin
because you could take those and you could just flush
them down the toilet. And then I think the question
also is what exactly are these security guarantees that are
going to be given? What does that mean the devil's
going to be in the details?
Speaker 3 (08:46):
So American boots on the ground or just sort of
where we are again here? Does it mean European nations
are really doing the heavy lifting? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Lots of questions, right, And is this something that that
Vladimir Putin would even go for, because you know, President
has floated a number of deals to him time and
time again, he's just shot them down.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
So we'll see he's been shooting everything else. Does ye well,
because President Trump says, oh, I think Putin is ready
for peace, you know, And then you see what happened
last night. Yeah, four hundred and fifty some odd drones,
one hundred people injured, at least twenty dead. Like wait
a minute, Yeah, this is continuing, and this seems to
be rewarding bad behavior.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Right, we do have. I thought there was some movement
I saw on Lindsey Graham's sanction bill against Russia, which
would really continue to crack down on Russia. There's only
so much you can do through sanctions, but I think
you got to continue to, you know, put as much
pressure on them as possible to get them to agree
to something. And also, it was interesting yesterday President Trump
(09:44):
came out and was pushing for an effort to get
things under control in Sudan. That's one of those situations.
I was listening to a podcast it must have been
a couple of months ago, about what's been going on
in Sudan, and you hear the deep this is something
that most people don't know much about. You know, we've
got a lot going on in our lives day in
(10:06):
and day out. We're not concerned or worried or thinking
about what's happening in Sudan. But when you look at
what's going on there, it is horrifying, horrifying.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
So it was and this is where you had the
Prince sort of soliciting the US, trying to get more
US involvement in Sudan.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Right, So it was good to see the President, you know,
acknowledge what's going on there, take an interest in it.
And doesn't mean that that we have to all of
a sudden do a bunch of heavy lifting. But sometimes
just Trump, you know, highlighting something and putting pressure on
different entities who could bring an end to a conflict
that could help. So we'll see where that goes. We're
joined by our national correspondent, Rory O'Neil. So yesterday we
(10:44):
didn't get to these different economic reports that you had.
What are some of the headlines. What are we seeing
broadly speaking from the economy right now?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Well, we saw a Redfin report talking about the October
real estate sales numbers showing things essentially stock the word
they use that we're not seeing a big increase in inventory,
We're not seeing a whole lot of movement in new sales. Essentially,
the six and a quarter point mortgages just leave everyone
sort of meh and not really taking any action to
(11:13):
either sell what they've got or to try to buy
something new. So the housing market continues to be stuck,
especially with the median price, meaning that's the price half
or sold above half below is four hundred and forty
thousand dollars crazy, and that's just leaving a lot of
Americans frozen out of the market. The other thing was
a wallet hub survey that was part of that looking
at what holiday budgets should be. Essentially, they looked at
(11:35):
every city or you know, six hundred cities. You know,
what's the average income, what's the average debt load, what's
the average savings for retirement, what's their debt to income ratio,
And they ran the numbers about what households should be
saving and rather should be budgeting for the holidays. For Tampa,
the proposed budget by wallet hub was about sixteen hundred
and twenty dollars and sec.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
That means like your average person in Tampa whis been
sixteen hundred dollars on the holidays.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yeah, well it makes sense. So but if you've got
if you've got kids and multiple family members to buy for, Yeah,
that sounds about right. I mean between like I.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Have glad I'm single, and don't case I know, no
you are.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I mean my son wants a gaming computer that costs
like one thousand dollars. And then usually my daughter, you know,
she's twenty one, she just wants gift cards and stuff
like that. Thankfully I don't have a husband anymore to
buy a gift for. But then that also means nobody's
getting anything for me either.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
True.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, I mean my dad and stepmom will give me something.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
But yeah, I guess it. Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
It at that's up really quickly. Oh yeah, there have
been years long. I don't budget. I don't even keep
tracked because if I looked at how much Iceman, I
would lose it. Yeah. I just put on a credit
garden pay it off later.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Well, yeah, one new phone under the tree is a
grand right, they are right there. And yeah, by the way,
for Miami, that number is thirteen hundred bucks, Miami Beach
seventeen hundred dollars. If you want to go across the
water Miami Gardens is eight hundred and thirty two.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Yeah, Fisher Islands like a one hundred thousand dollars show
Mania crazy All right. Rory O'Neil, our national correspondent with
US this morning. Rory, thanks so much. We'll talk you tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Thanks. Guys.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Is President Trump losing his grip on MAGA. A lot
of pundits have weighed in over the past few days
and their answer is yes'm I'm not so sure about that.
So the rush to begin calling Trump a lame duck
began with the Democratic wins on November fourth, but it
became more like a stampede with Trump's reversal on releasing
(13:35):
the Epstein files once he saw that he kind of
lost control of the narrative and Congress was going to
demand the release of the records from the Department of
Justice with or without his backing. He clearly backed down,
and some are also pointing to Trump's failure to get
the Senate to kill the filibuster that was his preferred
method for ending the shutdown, but that was never going
to happen. Republican senators know when they become the minority
(13:59):
party again, and it's when, not if, the filibusters the
only weapon that the minority party has. So sure, you've
got a few signs that maybe Trump's influence might have
been slipping just a bit, but what they're ignoring are
these other indicators that I think make it clear this
is Trump's party. Still the only people coming to Marjorie
(14:23):
Taylor Green's defense after Trump dumpter and called her a
trader or Democrats uh maga not rushing to her defense.
The base also continues to back Trump all the way
when it comes to foreign policy, and honestly, not just
the base supporting Trump on that issue. CNN's data analyst
Harry Enton. He said that Trump's foreign policy approval has
(14:45):
climbed from thirty five percent in his first term to
forty three percent, now outperforming George W. Bush and Barack
Obama at the same point in their second terms. Plus
you got the America First ground. They're not really putting
up much of a fight against Trump's tough tactics aimed
at venezuel And when Trump announced the other day he'd
sell F thirty five to Saudi Arabia, no blowback despite
(15:05):
the fact, I mean, for years Republicans have been dead
set against doing something like that, knowing the technology could
be shared with the Chinese government, and then domestically, the
party is fully behind him on immigration, tackling crime, even tariffs.
So rather than some major shift in Republican Party dynamics,
(15:26):
it feels more like another attempt to make Trump appear
weaker than he really is. And I'll point this out too.
Last point, Even if he loses control of Congress in
the midterms, he's still not going to be a lame
duck like you typically expect, because he has shown time
and time again he's going to max out usage of
(15:47):
executive power. So don't think, whether you like him or don't,
don't think the Trump train is slowing down anytime soon.
In a truth social post, President Trump announced he has
signed the measure that was passed by both the House
and Senate forcing the Department of Justice to release the
Epstein files within thirty days. So just a quick recap,
the measure he signed orders the release of unclassified records
tied to Jeffrey Epstein, Galaine Maxwell, any government officials tied
(00:23):
to them, financial networks, and Epstein's death. And the DOJ
can't block material just because it might embarrass public figures
or causing political blowback for Democrats or Republicans. And the
dj has to list what it releases, what it withholds,
and explain every redaction. The order covers everything from FBI
(00:44):
documents to US Attorney communications, and it's supposed to be
in a searchable, downloadable format. But the DOJ can redact
anything tied to active investigations, classified information, victims identities, medical records,
or graphic materials. And the two things that are key
there classified information. How much can they just go and
(01:08):
they're classified?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Right?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
And then the active investigations part, because you have the
president who basically ordered the Attorney General Pam Bondy to
open an investigation into Bill Clinton and Larry Summers and
a few other people she agreed to do it. That
could be used to stall or prevent at least some
of the files from being released. Bondy indicated yesterday it might.
(01:32):
We'll get to that a little bit later in the show.
But there's a lot of pressure to release everything. I mean,
you had an almost unanimous vote in the House, only
one person voted against it, unanimous consent in the Senate,
and every poll. I saw a new poll yesterday from
a reputable source, like eighty percent of Americans want the files.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
To be really Oh yeah, absolutely. You know what I
also find interesting about this, and I'm not surprised by it,
but usually when Trump signed something like this, he would
have this whole big to do in the ovalop. Right,
we have the photo with all the victims standing.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
There, right, all the influencers who were at the White House.
He didn't get the files they thought they were getting. Yeah,
that's a good point. And then the other story I
want to mention real quick. Federal prosecutors indicted South Florida
Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Scherflus McCormick, accusing her of stealing five
million dollars in FEMA over payments tied to her family's
(02:23):
healthcare company. Prosecutors say the money was laundered, with a
large share allegedly rooted into her twenty twenty one congressional
campaign to replace the late Congressman Elsie Hastings. Now she's
denied any wrongdoing, but faces up to fifty three years
in prison if she's convicted on all charges. We always
see that kind of headline with these stories. I mean,
she wouldn't get fifty three years in prison if she
(02:44):
was convicted, But this was obviously a big breaking story
last night. And if she did do what she's accused
of doing, I mean, that is so egregious, especially in
a racket, especially in a state where those FEMA dollars.
Think about what they've got on for, you know, people
dealing with hurricanes and you know, natural disasters needed that money.
(03:06):
She's using it for campaign funds. Senate Republicans are brushing
off President Trump's pitch to send Americans two thousand dollars
tariff rebate checks. Many argued plan needs congressional approval, they
don't seem to want to give it. Leadership figures, including
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, say tariff revenue should go
towards paying down the debt, not new payments to voters.
(03:29):
But that wasn't the only reason for some of the pushback.
There was also a question about overheating the economy and
causing inflation. So if the economy is roaring along like
the Trump administration has said it will be next year,
sending out two thousand dollars checks could lead to higher
demands and higher prices, and Treasury Secretary Scott Besson was
(03:49):
asked about that, and he said that families should save
the two thousand dollars instead.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, right, Like, we all make some financial decisions. Plus
I think for a lot of families, they can't afford
to save that money. They've already spent it and have
death they need to pay off.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Right. This is like if you're walking down the street
and you see one hundred dollars bill, you're not picking
that up and putting it in the bank. Okay, you're
getting a free two thousand dollars. I's not free, but
you know that's what it feels like. You're getting a
free two thousand bucks. You're gonna have some fun with it.
Oh yeah, I could blow two thousand dollars on Amazon
in like five minutes. I mean, if that and the
(04:30):
coverage of the two thousand dollars checks, I think it's
time to let this go because if this war to happen,
it wouldn't happen until, you know, next year. And it
feels like remember when they kept asking the media of
Trump whether or not he's gonna run for a third term.
Oh yeah, it's like enough already. Yeah, you keep asking
about two They're not happening anytime soon, So let's just
(04:53):
try there's other things to focus on.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
They're not gonna happen at all, exactly.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
So there have been a gazillion reports on how much
Thanksgiving is going to cost this year, and I've got
another one for you. The American Farm Bureau put out
some stats and they say the average cost of a
classic holiday feast for ten is going to be fifty
five dollars and eighteen cents this year. It's about five
(05:19):
dollars and fifty two cents per person, so a bit
more than like what Walmart or some of just a
lot of them had more of like an average of
like four dollars a person. Yeah, yeah, And that number
from the American Farm Bureau will be about a five
percent drop from last year, and cheaper turkey is the
main driver of the drop. Sixteen pound frozen bird averaging
about twenty one dollars and fifty cents. That's down more
(05:42):
than sixteen percent. But their breakdown, I don't know what
kind of crap Thanksgiving they go to their breakdown here.
Some of the things they highlight peas, No, who eat pea?
We eat peas on Thanksgiving? They've got rolls, you know,
sometimes like a role with you know, you take the
mashed potatoes. Yeah, yeah, and the gravy and all that,
(06:04):
a veggie plate?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
No, who does that?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Where are they going for Thanksgiving?
Speaker 1 (06:08):
I have no idea. Cranberry's not a huge fan, but
I get it. They're part of it. Sweet potatoes. They
highlight stuffing, pumpkin pie and then turkey, But like, where
are the mashed potatoes? Whereas the gravy, the marshmallows to
go with the sweet potato, all that kind of stuff.
A lot of people, I'm not a big fan of this.
(06:29):
Mac and cheese is a big thing for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Onions.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, so I saw that. I'm like, Thanksgiving dinner is that? Yeah?
That's just an awful meal. It sounds like how many
people are going to go to that Thanksgiving dinner right now.
Let's bring in our national correspondent, Rory O'Neil, who supports
brought to you by Mark Spain Real Estate. So, Rory,
you've got President Trump and his team re engaging in
(06:56):
negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end that war. What's
the latest on this twenty eight point plan.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Yeah, we'll see how far it goes, because many have
criticized the plan as really being a pro Russia plan
that would see the Dombas region to Russia entirely. Even
though Russia forces control about eighty five percent of the
Dombass it would give it and another fifteen percent over
to Russia, creating a partial demilitarized zone. Other points, though,
(07:30):
would require that Ukraine get rid of half of its military,
that they don't have any long range weapons, that they
recognize Russia as an official government language, stuff like that.
So far it seems to be going over poorly. But
President Zelenski doesn't really have a lot of options here.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yeah, So, I guess the view from the White House
is that if the war continues, Ukraine is likely going
to lose that territory anyway. I guess my question would be,
you've had Ukraine, They've been willing to negotiate for quite
some time now. It's been Vladimir Putin who has thumbed
his nose at President Trump's efforts to end this war.
(08:10):
What exactly is Russia given up here? Because that's the
right so far? Nothing in fact, they get the hold
on Bass?
Speaker 3 (08:17):
And are they paying to rebuild Ukraine what they blew up?
Are they paying for anything? And is there any way
that Putin is learning his lesson here? It doesn't look
like it in these twenty eight points.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Yeah. And I don't want any promises from Vladimir Putin
because you could take those and you could just flush
them down the toilet. And then I think the question
also is what exactly are these security guarantees that are
going to be given? What does that mean the devil's
going to be in the details?
Speaker 3 (08:46):
So American boots on the ground or just sort of
where we are again here? Does it mean European nations
are really doing the heavy lifting? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Lots of questions, right, And is this something that that
Vladimir Putin would even go for, because you know, President
has floated a number of deals to him time and
time again, he's just shot them down.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
So we'll see he's been shooting everything else. Does ye well,
because President Trump says, oh, I think Putin is ready
for peace, you know, And then you see what happened
last night. Yeah, four hundred and fifty some odd drones,
one hundred people injured, at least twenty dead. Like wait
a minute, Yeah, this is continuing, and this seems to
be rewarding bad behavior.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Right, we do have. I thought there was some movement
I saw on Lindsey Graham's sanction bill against Russia, which
would really continue to crack down on Russia. There's only
so much you can do through sanctions, but I think
you got to continue to, you know, put as much
pressure on them as possible to get them to agree
to something. And also, it was interesting yesterday President Trump
(09:44):
came out and was pushing for an effort to get
things under control in Sudan. That's one of those situations.
I was listening to a podcast it must have been
a couple of months ago, about what's been going on
in Sudan, and you hear the deep this is something
that most people don't know much about. You know, we've
got a lot going on in our lives day in
(10:06):
and day out. We're not concerned or worried or thinking
about what's happening in Sudan. But when you look at
what's going on there, it is horrifying, horrifying.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
So it was and this is where you had the
Prince sort of soliciting the US, trying to get more
US involvement in Sudan.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Right, So it was good to see the President, you know,
acknowledge what's going on there, take an interest in it.
And doesn't mean that that we have to all of
a sudden do a bunch of heavy lifting. But sometimes
just Trump, you know, highlighting something and putting pressure on
different entities who could bring an end to a conflict
that could help. So we'll see where that goes. We're
joined by our national correspondent, Rory O'Neil. So yesterday we
(10:44):
didn't get to these different economic reports that you had.
What are some of the headlines. What are we seeing
broadly speaking from the economy right now?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Well, we saw a Redfin report talking about the October
real estate sales numbers showing things essentially stock the word
they use that we're not seeing a big increase in inventory,
We're not seeing a whole lot of movement in new sales. Essentially,
the six and a quarter point mortgages just leave everyone
sort of meh and not really taking any action to
(11:13):
either sell what they've got or to try to buy
something new. So the housing market continues to be stuck,
especially with the median price, meaning that's the price half
or sold above half below is four hundred and forty
thousand dollars crazy, and that's just leaving a lot of
Americans frozen out of the market. The other thing was
a wallet hub survey that was part of that looking
at what holiday budgets should be. Essentially, they looked at
(11:35):
every city or you know, six hundred cities. You know,
what's the average income, what's the average debt load, what's
the average savings for retirement, what's their debt to income ratio,
And they ran the numbers about what households should be
saving and rather should be budgeting for the holidays. For Tampa,
the proposed budget by wallet hub was about sixteen hundred
and twenty dollars and sec.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
That means like your average person in Tampa whis been
sixteen hundred dollars on the holidays.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yeah, well it makes sense. So but if you've got
if you've got kids and multiple family members to buy for, Yeah,
that sounds about right. I mean between like I.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Have glad I'm single, and don't case I know, no
you are.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I mean my son wants a gaming computer that costs
like one thousand dollars. And then usually my daughter, you know,
she's twenty one, she just wants gift cards and stuff
like that. Thankfully I don't have a husband anymore to
buy a gift for. But then that also means nobody's
getting anything for me either.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
True.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, I mean my dad and stepmom will give me something.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
But yeah, I guess it. Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
It at that's up really quickly. Oh yeah, there have
been years long. I don't budget. I don't even keep
tracked because if I looked at how much Iceman, I
would lose it. Yeah. I just put on a credit
garden pay it off later.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Well, yeah, one new phone under the tree is a
grand right, they are right there. And yeah, by the way,
for Miami, that number is thirteen hundred bucks, Miami Beach
seventeen hundred dollars. If you want to go across the
water Miami Gardens is eight hundred and thirty two.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Yeah, Fisher Islands like a one hundred thousand dollars show
Mania crazy All right. Rory O'Neil, our national correspondent with
US this morning. Rory, thanks so much. We'll talk you tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Thanks. Guys.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Is President Trump losing his grip on MAGA. A lot
of pundits have weighed in over the past few days
and their answer is yes'm I'm not so sure about that.
So the rush to begin calling Trump a lame duck
began with the Democratic wins on November fourth, but it
became more like a stampede with Trump's reversal on releasing
(13:35):
the Epstein files once he saw that he kind of
lost control of the narrative and Congress was going to
demand the release of the records from the Department of
Justice with or without his backing. He clearly backed down,
and some are also pointing to Trump's failure to get
the Senate to kill the filibuster that was his preferred
method for ending the shutdown, but that was never going
to happen. Republican senators know when they become the minority
(13:59):
party again, and it's when, not if, the filibusters the
only weapon that the minority party has. So sure, you've
got a few signs that maybe Trump's influence might have
been slipping just a bit, but what they're ignoring are
these other indicators that I think make it clear this
is Trump's party. Still the only people coming to Marjorie
(14:23):
Taylor Green's defense after Trump dumpter and called her a
trader or Democrats uh maga not rushing to her defense.
The base also continues to back Trump all the way
when it comes to foreign policy, and honestly, not just
the base supporting Trump on that issue. CNN's data analyst
Harry Enton. He said that Trump's foreign policy approval has
(14:45):
climbed from thirty five percent in his first term to
forty three percent, now outperforming George W. Bush and Barack
Obama at the same point in their second terms. Plus
you got the America First ground. They're not really putting
up much of a fight against Trump's tough tactics aimed
at venezuel And when Trump announced the other day he'd
sell F thirty five to Saudi Arabia, no blowback despite
(15:05):
the fact, I mean, for years Republicans have been dead
set against doing something like that, knowing the technology could
be shared with the Chinese government, and then domestically, the
party is fully behind him on immigration, tackling crime, even tariffs.
So rather than some major shift in Republican Party dynamics,
(15:26):
it feels more like another attempt to make Trump appear
weaker than he really is. And I'll point this out too.
Last point, Even if he loses control of Congress in
the midterms, he's still not going to be a lame
duck like you typically expect, because he has shown time
and time again he's going to max out usage of
(15:47):
executive power. So don't think, whether you like him or don't,
don't think the Trump train is slowing down anytime soon.
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