Top story tonight, a nation is in shock after witnessing
what is supposed to happen, actually happen.
A guy who committed crimes got arrested.
The former president pled not guilty to 34 charges related
to hush money payments that he's converted into a massive fundraising haul
marking the first time a Trump investment actually made a profit.
After returning home to his pissed off wife and bedbugs.
Trump said this:
And this is where we are right now.
I have a Trump hating judge with a Trump hating wife
and family whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris.
Trump there laying the groundwork for his insanity
plea by openly threatening the judge and his family.
Meanwhile, Republicans are not contesting Trump's guilt,
despite the wholly unrealistic premise that Trump is comfortable
removing his clothes
and instead downplaying the charges as politically motivated.
People view this as a political persecution, purely politically
motivated political tyranny, part of.
Tyranny, disgust, political.
Hit job, political vengeance.
Political persecution, political prisoner, political persecution.
This is just political, political witch hunt.
Yes, Republicans are right
wielding the law against an individual for political gain is an outrage,
but it's totally chill when you do it against millions of people.
Republicans in Florida are looking to restrict voter
access. After voters approved an amendment restoring voting rights to most felons,
State Republicans enacted new restrictions.
Labor unions are being undercut in Iowa.
We've seen right to work
bills passed in Kentucky and Missouri, and New Hampshire's coming next.
In their defense, at least all those people who suffer
generational trauma from that weaponization
didn't have to share a three hour flight with Eric Trump.
Joining me now to drive it convertible, the headlines valley drink red facts
at a truth vineyard and get in a blowout fight
when Sarah drunkenly admits she slept with your ex scoop,
is Democratic strategist who has a recurring nightmare
where Pete Buttigieg points out a typo on her resume.
Lydia Parker.
Good evening.
Chief Washington bureau chief and sneezy guy at the orgy,
Jonathan Keene.
Hello.
Chief field correspondent who music teachers instinctively
handed the triangle.
James Smartwood, Jr.
Hey dad.
And New York Times columnist and Tooning Out contributor
who is the existential opposite of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Charles Blow. Thank you for being here, Charles.
Thank you for having me.
Charles, please tell us the tale of the time when dragons and griffins
roamed the earth and the law was not used as a political weapon.
Well, you know, it's very interesting to hear everyone
screaming now about whether or not this is political prosecution, You know,
policies, politicians and the law are completely intertwined in all of this.
So it's impossible to do kind of extricate the two or separate
the two from each other.
If President Trump regains the presidency,
God forbid, he would then be in charge of a Justice Department
of Justice to run a political campaign,
to get the office that he now holds that allows him to do this.
So that is separate
from the fact of whether or not this man committed crimes or not.
And all of the people who are defending him are saying
that this case is slim or that it is used
a novel approach to this particular charge.
None of them are saying that
he didn't do these things, which are crimes in New York.
It's fair for MAGA Republicans to compare Trump's
political persecution to that of Nelson Mandela.
Long Walk to Freedom was about how he cheated on his wife, Melania Mandela.
Well, if this is how it's going to go,
I guess there's no point in mind becoming a billionaire.
So forget it.
Yeah, I was going to do it.
You know, Trump's followers once chanted, lock her up,
and now their guy might actually get locked up.
The irony is delicious.
Not to
belabor this, but how delicious is the irony?
It's fine, I guess.
I mean, it's. Well, why can't you admit it's delicious?
Why are you withholding?
What do you keep?
What do you need me to say for you to stop doing this?
I need you to say the irony is delicious.
And what if I don't?
You know, James, if you could just reach out and taste
some of this irony and tell me whether you think it's delicious.
Just a truism. It's not even.
He's in the Mar a Lago right now.
It's not even this.
He's not even locked up, but.
Worthy to be locked up.
Right. Delicious.
Just say it. It's not worth all this.
Pretend it's a sandwich and say it's delicious.
The irony is delicious.
There you. Go.
All right. Yes.
No, I take it back after that celebration. Dammit.
Now, Charles, you blew your shot at a Trump cabinet appointment
when you wrote in The New York Times about the Trump case.
That prompted the former president to retreat to his study,
gather his thoughts, then vomit on to his white supremacist beehive Truth Social
Charles Trump's voters are ferocious consumers of the New York Times
op ed page.
Are you concerned this will hurt your readership?
Not at all.
I'm not concerned with his whiteness as it relates to this particular charge.
I'm concerned with his wrongness as it relates to this charge.
And if he has committed a crime, he deserves
to be prosecuted just like any other person would.
America has a chance.
That's it right now to live up to the ideals it has crafted for itself.
You can live up to them or you can fall short of them.
And this is a test for the country.
We have to see if America is willing to or able to pass that test.
Don't take it personally, Charles.
I'm certain Trump saw the blowhard nickname Opportunity
and worked his way backward to reading the op ed from there.
Certainly possible.
Now for more on how the Trump indictment affects the race for the 2024
Republican nomination, let's go to Junior, who is at Mar a Lago.
Junior, what can you report?
My ears popped on the flight down here, so.
Oh, okay.
Sorry to hear that. But what can you report on
how other candidates are reacting to this indictment?
Despite running against him, they are all coming to his defense.
I'm Nikki Haley is offering to serve any possible sentence
undergoing facial reconstruction surgery to look more like Donald Trump.
Wow. Looks uncanny there.
Now, how about Mike Pence?
Pence is claiming
it was actually him, not Trump, who had an affair with Stormy Daniels,
insisting his sex drive is insatiable and proudly wearing a codpiece.
Karen cannot be happy about that. Quite the contrary.
Now, DeSantis and Trump have become rivals.
Is Florida's governor coming to Trump's defense?
Well, he sure is.
He's distracting authorities keeping an eye on Trump by hijacking an 18
wheeler and running down goofy.
Okay, I'm cheering for Goofy in that one.