Kristi Noem Did What? With Guest John Rothmann

John Rothmann, host of Around The Political World and The Voice of San Francisco, joins us to discuss Trumpdates and Kristi Noem shooting a 14-month old dog and humble-bragging about it.

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Episode Transcript

(00:10):
Face paulm America. Welcome, ladiesand gentlemen. Facepalmamerica dot com is where
you can get more information about whatwe do here and listen to past episodes,
and connect with us on social media, all sorts of good stuff.
There is so much going on inthe world of politics, most particularly in
the world of Donald Trump. Hehas a very busy world. You know,

(00:34):
you don't have to even look atthe whole world of politics. Go
around the political world, so tospeak, to get abundant information and developments,
because goodness, one trial is goingon for Donald Trump. The Supreme
Court is looking at different things regardinghis multiple different cases and multiple different indictments.

(00:59):
And here to speak with us aboutit is John Rothman, the host
of Around the Political World with JohnRothman, also the host of The Voice
of San Francisco, which is anew podcast that you should check out.
John, Welcome back to Face PaulAmerica. Thank you for being here.
May I say it's always a highhonor and great personal privilege. You know,

(01:19):
I'm trying to remember you probably rememberthe name of the gentleman who back
in the day, you know,I think it was on the Senate side,
not the house side. So I'mprobably thinking of the wrong person.
But the sergeant at arms, fishbit Miller, fishbeat Miller. That was
it. Yes, it was thehouse side. Okay, it was the
house side. Good. I knewthere was an interesting name and an interesting

(01:41):
character. He wrote a wonderful memoir, yes, way, filled with all
sorts of anecdotal information. I lovedthe He dedicated a certain section Robert Carrow
did in his biography of LBJ totalking about fish bait, and I was
desperately trying to recall the name.Thank you so much for having it on

(02:05):
the tip of your mind. Alwaysa pleasure to be able to answer these
minute trivia questions about America. SoDonald Trump, he had quite a week.
His trial got started in earnest lastweek. They had on the stand.
The first witness was David Pecker,who was the former head of the

(02:28):
National Inquirer, who described in detailsomething that we kind of knew already,
but it's now on the legal record, his pattern of behavior on behalf of
Donald Trump to capture difficult news storiesthat might interfere with his presidential aspirations.
What did we hear from mister Pecker? Well, the one thing we now

(02:52):
know in the most clear and concisefashion is Donald Trump is a sleez quite
indeed, no question about it.More interesting to me, look, in
the end, there's no doubt hepaid off Stormy Daniels. Michael Cohen is
going to go on the stand.I can't wait to hear Michael Cohen,
who has certainly been preparing for this. Yes, the simple truth is,

(03:15):
how can we elect a Donald Trump? You remember all the Republican criticism of
Bill Clinton? Remember all that?Yes, I know, slick slick Willie.
Oh you know he's involved with thisperson. It's it's it's terrible,
it's it's vulgar. And yet forthe same kind of behavior, for worse
behavior. Frankly, uh we wewe see nothing but praise, nothing but

(03:38):
a desire for immunity, nothing butuh, you know, pictures of an
enhanced Donald Trump, you know,astride. You see all these strange memes
online Donald Trumps astride a dinosaur orsomething like that. It's very odd.
Let me talk about the immunity caseplease. It appears that the five conservative

(04:00):
leaning justices are going to make surethat the Donald Trump trial doesn't take place
until after the election. Now,if that happens. Donald Trump could exercise
his pardon power if he's president,but if he isn't elected president, all
bets are off. And I'm suggestingto you that if you want to see

(04:23):
high drama, just wait for DonaldTrump to lose the election. And I'm
convinced he will lose the election.You know the best, Jill, I
don't know. And if the WashingtonCorrespondence dinner was when Joe Biden said,
my vice president supports me, pointingout that Donald Trump's vice president does not
support him. Yes, there's somany ironies here and so many ins and

(04:49):
outs, but the bottom line isthat that Donald Trump is really, what
I said, a sleez. Heis. He's a sleeze and clearly a
good portion of the American people youhave, thirty or forty percent, apparently
have a huge blind spot when itcomes to that. And can I make

(05:09):
a comment about yes, Richard Nixon, I guess Richard Nixon came up,
Richard Nixon, would you would haveloved immunity? By the way, Well,
here's the whole point. Nixon claimedexecutive privilege, and the Supreme Court
said a president has the right toexecutive privilege, but not in a potentially
criminal manner. And in the UnitedStates versus Richard Nixon, the vote was

(05:31):
eight to nothing. My old friendBill Rehnquest was the accused himself on that
one because he knew everybody right,which was the proper thing to do.
Yeah, well, Clarence Thomas willnever do it. But you know,
that's another question. The thing isthat Donald Trump literally has committed acts which

(05:54):
should go to trial, and hiswhole goal is to prevent a trial from
taking place. And there are fivejust this is on the court who evidently
are going to ensure that there isnot a trial before the election. That's
a shame. The American people shouldhave a definitive answer, did in fact
Donald Trump help with insurrection? Anddid he in fact commit sedition? And

(06:15):
of course we're not going to havethe answers, and so in the end,
the American people will have to makethe decision on November fifth. Yeah,
well, I hope that they makethe correct decision at that point,
and think about four years of allthe things we're going to have to talk
about. Yes, I will tellyou that is the that is the last

(06:39):
refuge of a talk show host.Yes, the ability to talk about interesting
things in spite of the fact thatthey might be horrific. But yes,
you know that that is quite trific. Would you shoot your dog? Oh?
My god, Christy nom oh whatthe no? I thinking? Of
course she isn't you? Do youremember the huge deal that was made out

(07:00):
of Mitt Romney and probably right inhis dog is right exactly like that that
they carried him on the dog ona cage when the when the family was
young, and he was like thedog relieved of himself and he just like
took a hose. And I meanI think he was rightly criticized for that,
Christy know him for goodness sakes,like you read through this like the

(07:21):
dog misbehaved while she was hunting,and she decided that she had to kill
the dog. My god, howI that's that's just mind boggling today,
so inhumane home was a candidate forNationals. I would suggest to you,
I do not regret in the least. By the way, you know that
in her own home state, shehas been banned from certain Native American areas

(07:45):
because well, I mean, isridiculous, but it brings us into focus.
Who will Donald Trump choose as hisrunning mate? Yes, and that's
going to be very interesting because alot of people are talking about about a
number of key members of the USSenate, including Senator Vance of Ohio,

(08:09):
which shocks me. We're also talkingabout the number three Republican in the House
of Representatives at last Staphonic, sheis high on the list. Evidently Lake
of Arizona is not high on thelist right now because of her rhetorical flourishes.

(08:30):
But it'll be interesting. The onething that really intrigued me, you
may have heard Mitch McConnelly yesterday takingout after Tucker Carlson. Tucker Carlson had
been a great He defended Putin andessentially said, Ukraine can go that way.
Look kind how wonderful the stories arehere in Moscow. It's fantastic,

(08:50):
so much better the liberal San Francisco. My god. Aorting thing to me
is that McConnell, who is endorsingthe man who will be the republic nominee
for president. He says we'll supportthe ticket, has also said he will
take a stand in the United StatesSenate against cutting aid to Ukraine. And
what does Donald Trump say He's goingto do the minute he's president. He's
going to cut aid to Ukraine,and he said that will solve the problem.

(09:13):
And that was from a direct quoteadministered by the President of Hungary after
his conversation with Trump. I mean, there are things that happen here that
are just ridiculous. So I alsohave to make a comment very quickly about
the whole question of the demonstrations takingplace on college campuses. You may have

(09:35):
heard that one of the leaders ofthe demonstration at Columbia said, and I'm
quoting directly, Zionists don't deserve tolive. I feel very comfortable calling for
those people to die. Unbelievable.And then he went on to say Zionists,
their Nazis, their fascists, theirsupporters of genocide. And I'm thinking
to myself, that's the problem thatwe now face in the campus world.

(09:58):
I do not belie a majority ofstudents on campuses are out there protesting.
It's a small I don't believe amajority of people who are protesting, like
believe that at all. In fact, there are many There are many Jewish
people who are protesting this as well. And I think that we have to
one like, look against extremism.Obviously, you know, attitudes like that

(10:22):
endanger all of US. But it'salso true that people have a right to
protest and a right to make theirvoices heard in the face of the many
people being harmed. Yesterday, onFarid Zakari's a GPS on CNN, a
professor from Columbia University had the audacitythe what's but to say, from the

(10:43):
river to the sea, it doesn'thave to do with eliminating Israel or Jews.
And you wonder what it would taketo clarify for this individual the expression,
because the river is the Jordan River, and the sea is the Mediterranean
Sea, and what's in the middleis Israel. And these excuses for extreme

(11:03):
rhetoric just astound me. And when, by the way, someone attacks Zionists
and say they ought to die,I'm a Zionist. I've been a Zionist
for years. I believe that Israelhas a right to exist as a nation
state. So does he want tokill me? I mean, this is
the kind of thing that is causingsuch distress in the Jewish community. And
three cheers for Joe Biden who hasstood up and said that jew hatred has

(11:28):
no place in American politics. AndI wish Donald Trump would say the same
thing. Yeah, I wouldn't lookfor Donald Trump to say anything but what
he views is in his most immediateself interest. But I would say that,

(11:52):
you know, many people are concernedabout what is going on and the
deaths that are happening. And Iunderstand that. You know, Israel was
attacked by Hamas and they have aright to defend themselves. However, I
think they have legitimate questions about howthis is being carried it out. And

(12:15):
you carry it out when you havean enemy, and that's what CAMAS is
betting themselves in civilian areas and youwant to root them out. I don't
have an answer. No one isrejoicing at the death of Palestinians, and
no one should be rejoicing at thedeath of Israelis. I regret to say
that on the campuses you have notheard a single cry for the release of
the hostages, condemnation of CAMAS,and that that's what bothers me. Will

(12:41):
it be a major issue in thecampaign. The latest poll out of Michigan
shows Biden carrying Michigan not by allowalthough I did I did see. I
pay pretty close attention to the RCPpolling averages. The real clear politics,
which average the last few polls,and where as last week Biden had been

(13:01):
ahead by I think half a percentagepoint. I guess some new pulling data
came out and I think Trump wasahead at this point. So it is
it is very close, and allthose battleground states are definitely within the margin
of error. And I think byI think that that Biden like ignores these

(13:24):
protests at his peril because I thinkwe will have an impact on the presidential
election. And I think we bothrealize. I think we all realize that
it is democracy that is at stakethis time around, and we and well,
I have no question about it.I think that the best answer was

(13:46):
given by Rocanna, the progressive Democratwho represents the area on the Peninsula,
who is now campaigning in Michigan forJoe Biden. And he's saying, look,
you may not agree with them onall his policies relative to the middle
least, but do you agree withTrump? And then he went on to
say, and take a look allthe other policies where Biden is exceptional.

(14:09):
And I think that's the choice.I really believe that in the end Biden
will win, primarily because Trump isgoing to lose. I think that's the
key. I hope you were correct. It was. I thought it was
interesting that that Trump was reaching out, apparently for donor network reasons, to

(14:30):
Ron DeSantis, who has fallen offthe map since he ended. They're a
meeting in mar A, Lanco.Can you imagine. Yeah, I don't
think that he is being seriously consideredas a vice presidential contender. I think
there's remember Trump lives in Florida,That's where he votes. Yeah, you
cannot have a candidate for president andvice president from the same state. Simply

(14:52):
doesn't work that way, and youcan read it in the Constitution. Is
that that's still I know that wasthe case originally. Is that still currently
the case? Yes? One,Okay, I will defer to you.
Your knowledge is best. Give youthe best historical example. Dick Cheney was
a registered voter in Texas. WhatI knew he was going to be vice
president, and he went up toand changed his voter registration to Wyoming.

(15:16):
And that's when it became clear thathe would be the nominee because you can't
have a nominee from the same statefor president and vice president. Yes.
By the way, so who isthe senator from Florida, so you cannot
have two Floridians running. So that'san interesting one. I always remember in
nineteen sixty sixty eight, Richard Nixonwas a resident of New York, so

(15:43):
he considered Bob Finch, who wasthen a lieutenant governor of California, and
he could have done it. Youcan't have two people from the same state.
Interesting, very interesting some of theobscure rules but critical ones that we
carried down from the Constitution. Ialso noticed that Florida is run by DeSantis,
is also taking healthcare from thousands andthousands of children. It's just you

(16:10):
believe it's so disgusting. Well,look at his secretary for health in Florida.
Oh yes, yes, I'm oneof the most disgraceful figures on the
American political scene. Yeah, it'sit's just astounding that the complete anti vaxxer,
someone who is has falsely stated thatthat people have been killed by the

(16:30):
vaccine. Just just a very someonewho is full of misinformation and is abusing
the responsibilities of the office that theyhold. It it's very hot, I
need really, so we'll see inFlorida, by the way, is now
a swing state as well. Polesare showing it very competitive between Biden and

(16:51):
Trump, and I think that alsois a revelation. You know, the
fact that you carry a state inone presidential election doesn't mean you're going to
carry in the next one. Andso both Trump and Biden have to depend
to defend the states that they carriedand in order to ensure victory. So
I listen, you know what I'mlooking forward to election night? Oh yes,

(17:15):
I mean I can't wait. Ofcourse, you got the campaign,
Nason Totoma. No man will sleepon election night, certainly not John Rothman,
and probably not my nightmare. Mynight would be to die on election
day. Oh, nome of theelection. Oh my goodness. I'll tell
you. Like in twenty I was, I was still in like conservative political

(17:41):
you know, certainly not in termsof my own political views, but I
had a client I was working for, and on election night in twenty sixteen,
I was, I was in Phoenix, Arizona, working for these folks,
and my god, it was itwas not it was. It was
such a depressing evolution. I onlyhope that we do not see a repeat

(18:06):
of that. But regardless, weshall be there, John, and most
particularly you will be there as youalways are expounding and investigating the contingencies and
the eventualities that come forth from ourpolitical system. John Rossland talking with Face
Palm, America's one and only Aleof Rockland. Thank you so much,

(18:29):
John, As always, it isa pleasure. Before we go, I
would love an update on what isgoing on with the Voice of San Francisco.
I hope that is continuing a pace, and tell our listeners about that
and how they can find out aboutit. You can go to the Voice
of San Francisco or the Voice ofSF go to podcasts. I do about

(18:53):
ten minutes every day on a localissue or issues that I think are important,
and it's doing very very well.It's just started and we're already taking
off and having an impact, Ithink, on the city of San Francisco.
So it's a lot of fun anda way to have an outlet because
remember, there is no talk radiostation in San Francisco. It doesn't exist,

(19:17):
and so that's why what you're doing, what the Voice of San Francisco
is doing, what I do onaround the political world with John Rothman and
other outlets. In terms of media, Mark Thompson's show and so forth,
makes such a huge difference, soI'm grateful for the opportunity. I hope
people will tune in around the politicalworld with John Rothman ten minutes Monday through

(19:40):
Friday every day and the voice ofSan Francisco. Just go to the podcast
marker on your page and you willbe able to listen to me expound on
San Francisco, which is always greatfun, excellent John, Thanks so much
for being with us on Faceball inAmerica as always good see you next week.
Thank you so much for listening toFace Paul America today. It is

(20:03):
a production of two Squared Media Productions. You can check us out at two
Squaredmediaproductions dot com. Ace Elson andRoosevelt Hine are the producers of the show.
And until next time, enjoy theday.