 Good morning. I'm Tim Appachella. I'm filling in for Jay Fidel. It's 11 o'clock. It's Friday. That means only one thing. It's Trump week. And with me is our co-host, Cynthia Lee Sinclair. Good morning. Good morning. How are you? I'm good. Thank you. It's nice to be here. It is nice to be here. I'm glad to be here. As always, regarding this topic of Trump week, we've got more things coming out on the news than we know it to shake a stick at. Oh, my gosh, yes. I was standing at the television going, I have to leave. I have to leave. I'll be late if I don't leave, but there was so much going on. Yeah, you're going to watch TV at the last second to find out what's going on. So it is still official 35 days since the government shutdown, but as we were watching just before we came in the studio, President Trump announced that he is going to suspend this stalemate, if you will. And he's going to open up the government for until February the 15th, but one of the most important things is, well, maybe not for him or the Republicans, that there was no additional monies assigned to the wall or the border security. That's a big hit for him. It's a big hit, which we're going to talk about. Yeah. Nancy Pelosi prevailed both in the state of the union address stuff that went on and then also now because he has come to, I think it was mainly the TSA and the FAA that are the ones who really put the pressure on him that he cannot keep this going. Well, if you're flying in a plane this weekend, you're thinking, you know, what are my chances of something going wrong? Oh, my goodness. And I think given the number of flights we have every day in this country, that's a lot of concern of passengers. Oh, goodness, yes. So I think that the TSA and, of course, the aviation issue is probably what really pushed this thing over. I would think so, too, because, you know, there was a bunch of just recently in the last couple of days anyway, there was a lot of airports that grounded the planes because they couldn't take off. LaGuardia did it today. LaGuardia, Newark, there's, I can't remember all the names of all the ones, but there was five or six of them that they mentioned this morning that had grounded the planes because too many of the air traffic controllers called in sick, they couldn't make it. Well, in political terms, they call this who blink first, and I think it's pretty apparent. But you know what? It doesn't matter who blink first because we have 800,000 employees that don't care who blink first. They just want their money. Exactly. They want their paycheck. They want to work. They want their money. They want to pay their bills. They need to feed their families. We'll talk about later in the show some of the, you know, some of the horror stories that we've seen. Oh my goodness. Yes. You know, I have a quote from his little announcement this morning, from Trump's announcement this morning, and this really struck me. So that's why I wrote this part down is he says, as everyone knows, I had a very powerful alternative, but I didn't want to use it at this time. So then he went on to talk about the fact that on the 15th, if nothing has come about, he still has that in his back pocket to use. And of course he's referring to declaring a state of national emergency. And if he declares a state of emergency, that's just one very small step away from martial law. And that is, gives him all power. Well what could very well happen between now and then is a recognition and acknowledgement that there are several facets of government that can be opened up and operating other than TSA and national, you know. Right. Yes. And so I think there would be on both sides a willingness to try to get these other departments, the IRS, Department of Agriculture, you know, all these other very important agencies. The FDA so we don't all get poisoned by our bad meat or something. So if this really is over just, you know, TSA, Border Security, there are a couple agencies that can be dedicated to that and maybe they don't open up. I think if this continues and we don't make any progress by February 15th, you're going to see a different type of government shutdown. You're not going to see something that we've just witnessed for the last 35 days. I agree. And the Trump was threatening another shutdown or using these very powerful alternatives. Let me ask you something. Don't you think, I mean, since, you know, he really has blinked first, don't you think he would have used national emergency already? Rather than have to come to the podium in the Rose Garden and basically, this is the most contrite I've ever seen the President of the United States, very contrite as he's announcing the reopening of government. Don't you think he would have used it by now? Well, I think he knows that it is a last ditch effort kind of thing. And he has to have all the pieces in place. There isn't a national emergency happening right now. So he can't use it right this minute. But then he also made a comment that there are 8,000 people already assembled and on their way to our border. There's been no evidence of that anywhere. There's no reporting that, you know, bears that out. So who knows, right? Maybe he's waiting for that to be there. If you remember the discussion that many points were made, A, is there even the legal possibility that this could be pulled off without being challenged? But two is the obvious is how much is coming across the border between Canada and the United States. Why is it just the southern border as the national emergency? I mean, there are so many holes into this proclamation of alternative. Right. Power, yes, that he has such great alternative. Everyone knows. Very powerful alternative. But he didn't want to use it. So it's like he's trying to trump himself up to see what a great guy I am. I could have done this, but I didn't. Because he has to stand up and admit that he is sort of. But here we are 35 days later. Lincoln first. We're 35 years later. 35 days. And we're right back to where we started with no difference, no $5.7 billion given from the Democrats to President Trump's desire to build a wall or border security, whatever you want to call it. See, that is a difference, though. Yeah, the definition. The definition, the semantics have changed into just. A ballard wall versus a wall. Right, exactly. A big difference between a ballard wall and a barrier. And now he says, well, I never said concrete. Well, I never said that. I mean, it's just amazing how we have shifting. Shifting of what he said, what he meant versus what he now means and what he now says. Oh my gosh. Now I have a bunch of those things here that I printed out because there's a fact checking. It's called AP fact check. And you can really check what it is that he has said. So Trump, on the number of immigrants living in the US illegally, I used to hear 11 million all the time. It would always stay right at 11. I said, does it ever increase or go down? Nope, it's 11. Well, it's nowhere close to 30 million or 35 million, according to his own Homeland Security Secretary, as well as other independent estimates. So all of these things, the coyotes are using children to gain access to this country. The comments of yesterday and today really strike me. Being all about empowering women and protecting women's rights and victim services. To hear him talk in graphic detail about how women are being duct taped and thrown in the back seat, sometimes five or six of them. And they can't come across the border. Well, wait a minute. They're not coming across the border. They're coming in through tunnels and through different ways. They're going on boats. There's all sorts of different ways. They're being duct taped and bound and gagged and thrown in the back seat of a car, coming into the desert areas rather than points of history. They just drive along and make a right. Or a left. Or a left. So here's what I kind of thought was odd about his compassionate plea about the victimization of women and children. He no sooner said that this morning. And my attention went right to, well, what about the victimization of the zero tolerance policy where the children are taken from the moms? What about that victimization? What about that victimization? So why is that a one-sided victimization versus looking at victimization on a more global approach? And where are those 1,000 kids that were separated? They did not put them all back. Do we really know where they are? No, we don't. We don't know how they've been reunified with their parents. Absolutely don't. No, and we know that they have not been because there are parents still clamoring for their children. People that have been deported back and then are coming back up to the border to say, I want my child. And that's what's striking to me. Same thing like you said, yeah. Again, I'm very, very pleased to hear this announcement. Because we'll talk about some of the horror stories that have played out in the last 35 days. And there are so many. 800,000 of them. So I am really, really pleased to hear this announcement. But at the same time, I'm just thinking, how can we have this antithesis or these messages of dichotomy where we just hear one thing and then on the next two sentences, it just seems to contradict the previous statement. I think one of the things that we should look at now is very similar to what happened 35 days ago, where remember, the President of the United States agreed to pass the House and Senate Bill to avoid a shutdown. And he said, I will pass it. And then, guess who he talked to? He talked to Rush Limbaugh and Coulter. And all of a sudden- Or did he talk to them or did he just hear what they had to say? Probably just heard what they had to say. Could be on Fox and Friends, who knows. But the bottom line is that message somehow got through and he reversed 100, you know, 180. He reversed himself. He said, I'll do it and then he says, nope, not gonna do it. He's not gonna do it. You're amazing. Yeah, where we are today. Where we are today. What's gonna be said by Rush Limbaugh and Coulter and Company? Fox and Friends. I don't know where he's getting all his juicy tidbits of where he's in trouble with his base or not, but we'll see what they say and we'll see if this shifts again. Right, cause it might. Maisie Harono, that's another quote that I got cause it's our own Maisie Harono, right? And she stands up to him on a regular basis, which is one of the reasons why I love her so much. She speaks the truth. She is a truth teller. And she says, we've seen this before with DACA. Right, the White House says yes. Then changes his mind and says no. He agreed to a path for citizenship for DACA and then he rescinds it and says, no, I'll give you three years. What is that? They've already got that from the courts anyway. You know, remember that, that the Democrats committed to 25 billion. Yes, in the beginning of 25 billion with the DACA provisions. So now we're at 5.6, what a negotiator. As he's going down, and he said yes. How do you go from 25 in the pocket to 5.7? Not in the pocket. I don't understand it either. I think it has to do with his ego. All jumbled up inside his head with what he thinks he should do and then hears it from someone else. He's so... Well, this is what I had to tell some people. It's not ready, aim, fire, it's, I mean, it is ready, aim, fire, it's not ready, fire, aim, okay? So, we see that, we see that a lot, ready, fire, aim, and I think he does a lot of that. And I think his staff and those in Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan at the time were saying, whoa, wait a minute, you got too far ahead of us on some of your things that you've agreed to. You didn't talk to us about it. And I think that's where we were 35 days ago. And I think that's potentially where we could be again today. I don't think he's gonna backtrack on this one. I don't think he can. I don't think he can either. So, that's good news, because that means people are going back to work. I mean, yeah, he set up in the Rose Garden and he told everybody they're going back to work, right? So that's, I think, the important part. I don't think he's gonna go back on this one. And like you said, I don't think he can. I hold Mitch McConnell pretty responsible in some of this too, because they had bipartisan bills that had been passed by the House and passed in the Senate in December. It's not like it was done six months ago. This is last month. They all agreed across the board in the House and the Senate. And then Mitch McConnell refused to let it come to the floor for a vote. Yeah, I mean, that really did change the nature of what the Constitution has defined Congress for as equal balances. Exactly. We can't do it unless the President says it's okay. I mean, of all the things that shocked me is Mitch McConnell's basically toutowing to the President of the United States and forgetting his duty. His duty. To the American people. To the Constitution. And to the Constitution. I hate to say that, but I mean, that doesn't usually happen. So let's just take a quick step back on, you know, what transpired before today? And I think one of the bigger ones was the last Senate vote. Right. Here you had six senators of the Republican Party. I got the numbers. Well, I like to say the party of Trump. You got all the numbers, I got two. Yeah, I reluctant and hesitant to say the Republican Party anymore because I think it's the party of Trump. I think the Republican Party, as we knew it, as we know it, that's been put in the closet somewhere. It's on temporary hiatus. But let's talk about those senators that crossed the aisle to get this government opened up. That would be Lamar Alexander from Tennessee, Susan Collins from Maine, Corey Gardner from Colorado, Mitt Romney from Utah, Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, and Johnny Ilson from Georgia. And Tennessee and Georgia, those are two really big ones because they have never gone over. They have not really, you know, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, you know, they kind of, they seem to be more moderates. But those two, Tennessee and Georgia, those guys are pretty extreme, you know, right. So that's pretty telling. Well, this goes back to also, you know, the effects of the shutdown, this didn't hit the pocketbooks of federal employees, it hit the pocketbooks of all the ancillary services, mom and pop grocery stores and coffee shops, and everything that services federal employees and relies on them, their revenue, so it becomes my revenue, and guess what, that got shut down. And there's a lot of states that are Republican states that had a lot of, you know, federal workers in those states. Absolutely, I agree with that one. And then here he's telling, Trump is telling the people, yes, this is yesterday, that they should just be able to go to their bank and get along. Well, we're gonna talk about some of these obtuse comments. Yes, okay. When we come back from this break, which we're gonna take, we're gonna talk about exactly that. Okay. I'm Tim Apachella, here with Cynthia, Lisa and Claire, this is Trump Week and we'll be right back. Hi, I'm Rusty Komori, host of Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. My show is based on my book, also titled Beyond the Lines, and it's about creating a superior culture of excellence, leadership, and finding greatness. I interview guests who are successful in business, sports, and life, which is sure to inspire you in finding your greatness. Join me every Monday as we go Beyond the Lines at 11 a.m. Aloha. Aloha, I am Howard Wigg. I am the proud host of Cold Green for Think Tech Hawaii. I appear every other Monday at three, and I have really, really exciting guests on the exciting topic of energy efficiency. Hope to see you there. We're back. It's Trump Week. We were just talking about the shutdown, and we're gonna talk about a little bit more because that's the topic of the day. So Cynthia, you had mentioned during the break about, we were talking about the Republicans that actually voted to open up the government. Now it's for the Democratic bill. They came across for the Democratic bill. That's correct. But Trump's bill, one of the Democrats actually voted for it. And who's that? That was Senator Manchin. Okay. Well, I can guess why. Okay. He's basically Senator in a very, very dark purple red state. Yes. So you will see him often if the vote is not gonna sway one way or the other. They didn't have their 60 votes on this. Not even close. So anytime there's a chance where he can vote Republican, he will do so. Unless it's a tie break type of situation, then he will vote the way he's gonna vote. But the bottom line is you'll see him do that often. Oh, okay. And so. So it was for the Trump bill, it was 50 Republicans to 47 Democrats. And for the Democratic bill, it was 52 Republicans and 44 Democrats. Yeah. And so there were six Republicans involved in that 44 vote. Right. It was pretty amazing. So it's, you know, you can see the cracks forming in this last 35 days. The cracks slowly were getting wider and wider and wider. But I think one of the things that really pushed it over, not only on, you know, the flight safety risks, you know, going to all the airports and getting in the air. Well, just rounding the planes. Right, rounding the planes. He can't fly now. I think, and then you see the Senator starting to drift away from, you know, a solid block of vote. Or it's only six. Who knows what's next. What we started to see was what I call the, because we don't help, you know, they're not holding press conference anymore. When was the last time you saw a press conference? A long time ago, right? Right. So that means all these agency heads are starting to speak about the topic. Well, guess what? Some of them have no business getting in front of a camera. And so what we start seeing is, people making these horribly insensitive comments about those who are been laid off. Right. And I'll just go through a couple of them. Just go get a loan. Go to the grocery store. Yeah. Trump's saying that. You know, even before the shutdown, when President Trump went to the Rose Garden, I'll distinctly remember this. A reporter said, Mr. President, what about the safety net for these employees? If they, you know, if they're furloughed or they're not gonna get a paycheck. And President Trump looked at the reporter and said, you mean the safety net? The wall? That safety? Because, you know, we're making America safe again. And so here was the reporter talking about a safety net to take care of the families. Right. And, you know, the fact that they don't have a paycheck to pay their bills. And Donald Trump took that opportunity to say, the wall is their safety. Right. And he tied it back into the wall, completely dismissing what's going to happen and did happen in the forthcoming 35 days. Right. So there's the opening self of kind of an obtuse look at the impact to these federal employees. Always do out when he says things like, just go to your bank and get a loan. Well, that was... They're going along. He said that banks are going along. The grocery stores are going along. Yeah. That's where his exact words. And I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. And landlords will go along. Don't worry about landlords. Yeah, the landlords are going along. They're all going along. Everybody's going along because everybody's behind this wall. Not so much. Not so much. Just really not true at all. And then we had Wilbur Ross, you know, talk about statements of lack of empathy. He said, you know, if you watch the statements, I don't really understand why they're going to food banks. Yeah. Oh my gosh. You know, and then he started, you know, going on to, well, they can get a loan like a 30 day payday loan. Right. I can't think. God knows what the interest rates are at those, 45%, 50%. Look at it, they're so horrible. It's ridiculous. They should be illegal, as far as I'm concerned. I agree. A 30 day payday loan should be illegal. So here's Wilbur Ross going, well, first off, I don't know why they're going to food banks. I have no idea why they would do that. And then what's the big deal? They could just go get a 30 day, you know, you didn't say 30 day payday loan, but you say they can get, you know, basically a loan, a short-term loan based off their paycheck. Right. I mean, how obtuse is that? Crazy. That's obtuse. There were lines down the streets for the food banks in Washington, DC. And they were linking it to what it was like in Russia back in the day when everyone would have to stand in the food lines, you know, and it's like, this is America, there's no excuse for this. Yeah. And then later, you had Larry Kudlow, you know, he's the director of economic council. He was talking about, you know, how everyone's chipping in to, you know, because they support the president and that they're basically volunteering. You know, they're volunteering. And then the reporter said, well, you can't be a volunteer when you're forced to work and get no pay. That's not volunteering. And he just said, you know, I'm not going there. I'm not going there. But so you're seeing examples of high-level officials being so blind to the plight of these federal workers. And of course, you know, like I said before, it's not just the federal workers, but it's all the businesses that support the federal workers. Oh, goodness, yes. You had Laura. Oh my gosh, I saw that Laura that came on and said all that Laura Trump came on and said that. They'll just suffer for a little while. And they don't mind. And it's worth it. It's for the good of the country. It's the good of the country. Well, you know, this is being, you know, you've seen it being parlayed to let them eat cake. Kind of attitude. Yeah, oh my goodness, yes. And it's just, I think, so that's another element of why we are where we're at right now, where Trump has blinked because it's a combination. It's never one thing, you know. It's always something else. And so you're just seeing one thing after another, after another kind of pile up. And then of course, you're seeing the polls. The polls are supposed to be 12. And he keeps a close eye on those polls, right? Yes, he does. That's what we've been told anyway, so. So when you look at this, you say, okay, how did, you know, how did we actually get to the 35 days? And now why is he backing down? Why did he blink? Well, I think it's, you're seeing a pyramid of things built on one another and that's what's going on here. Right, and here Trump is still calling it an invasion of our country. It's not an invasion. He then went on to say this was yesterday, not today, not this morning's press release, but yesterday, and he says, I know more about technology than anybody. When one of the reporters asked him about that, and I thought, of course he does. Well, he no sooner said, I know more about technology than anyone. First, I'd like to invite him here on Think Tech Hawaii to see if that's really true. Oh yes, please, come on, dude. We've got a lot of really savvy tech people here. We could test them, but I thought it was interesting to have that no sooner coming out of his mouth, because we have cameras on the wall. Yes. Okay, so cameras is the latest and greatest in the technology, I suppose, and I think there's more to it than that. Yeah, there's quite a bit more that they could do. Quite a bit more they could do. So how do you think Nancy Pelosi came out of this whole thing? Doing very well. She stuck to her guns. She made a line in the sand and she didn't erase it. And working with domestic violence victims, and I know this is a little different, but not really. When you stand up your abuser, you draw a line in the sand. If you erase that line even once, then they will never, ever respect that line again. And I think that's what she established with all of this, was she drew a line in the sand and she refused to erase it. Well, one of the memorable lines was they were talking about what did the down payment mean? What was in the context? Yeah, what is it down there? And she said, as she's walking down the hallway, I'm not sure he knows what he's talking about. And you see these little vignettes, these little moments that are priceless, but unfortunately, they all, again, they all kind of add up and it makes him look not so great. So I think that's, again, another reason why he knows he's not winning the public relations war on this and that's why he's backing down. So okay, well, we need to move on because we gotta talk about two very important developments. Like Roger Stone? Roger Stone, the arrest and indictment of Roger Stone. Yes, one more. And how many are there now? Let's see, I think I wrote it down, right? We've got 13, right, that have either pled guilty and are sentenced or have been indicted. One, two have been sentenced, Manafort guilty on eight counts. So there's 13 Trump team that have been indicted. So in this big witch hunt, it seems to me they've caught a few witches. Yes, they have caught a bunch of witches, they have. And that's a lot, those numbers you just read, that's a significant number. That is a lot, is right. So we'll see now because the Robert Mueller does depend a lot on what Roger Stone knows and that connection to WikiLeaks. Well, he said today he will not say one word. He says, I am, Stone Arrest has nothing, oh, this was, sorry, that was Sarah Sanders. She says the Stone Arrest has nothing to do with Trump and nothing to do with the White House. I was her official statement this morning. It's like, okay. As they're prerogative to say, essay as such, that's a prerogative. One of the things that really struck me when Stone came out and finally gave his little speech about what he thought about all this, of course he professes innocence, that I'm not guilty. I will never say anything against the president. He's one of my oldest friends. And then he goes on to say that he will not lie to make his position more better, more attendable, excuse me, better. And anyway, so when he said this, he was a very, not very thinly veiled, obviously pointing to Cohen and the fact that they're all trying to claim that he's lying to try to save himself. Well, he may not be getting out then anytime soon, would he? No. Well, I'm sure he'll post bail, so. Okay, so we have- Well wait, who's posting bail? Because he already posted bail. As far as, are you talking about Stone? Stone. Stone has already posted bail, $250,000 for bail, and he's already posted it, he's already out. He's already out. He's already out. So then we, just before our last few seconds here of the show, we also just have to briefly mention Michael Cohen and the subpoena for him to testify. And how he's being threatened and his father-in-law, and they're all saying, oh, I haven't threatened anybody. But Trump, with his own mouth, said to, and I can't remember the judge, whatever her name is, on Fox News, and you can hear Trump say that he, that his father, you know, you really should be looking into his father-in-law because he's the one that's the criminal. That's the one that everybody really wants to look at. He's the money of the family. With his own mouth, he said- So you'll see the timing of this kind of sync up. Yeah, oh yeah. February 15th, that deadline for this reopening. Right. And Michael Cohen being subpoenaed and will testify before he goes to jail in early March. So we'll see how we see a distraction of the distraction take place. Distractions of the distractions. I've been thinking about that all week since you said that last week. So we'll see how those start to play out with each other. We're out of time. Cynthia, thank you so much for coming. Thank you, Tim. Nice to see you. Have a great weekend. Thank you. I'm Tim Apachella here with Cynthia, Lisa and Claire. This is Trump week and we'll see you next Friday.