 This is Think Tech Hawaii, Community Matters here. Okay, we're back. We're live. It's Trump week. It's a reunion of the three of us, Tim Appichella and Cynthia Sinclair and me. And it's 11 o'clock on a given Friday, our favorite time. And I was having a conversation with one of our other guests a minute ago, and I want to bring that to your attention, you guys. We have a lot of ground to cover. We haven't been together as a threes in a long time. You know, you got all these great guys on CNN and MSNBC telling us it's like getting an information transfusion, you know, like every weekday. And what happens is they dwell and they repeat. I have to say, they repeat the news over and over again, and they put the headlines down on the little lower third thing. And they don't have enough time, nor does their format allow for them to really cover everything that's going on. So what we are getting is the raw meat, which is, you know, worth knowing about, of course. But we're not getting the implications. We're not really connecting the dots. And one of our objectives on this show is to connect the dots. And I wanted your comments about that. I mean, A, am I right? Is he right, his fellow I talked to? And B, what can be done about it? We're actually having a show with the School of Journalism next Tuesday about this very subject. So the question is, is the press missing out here? Is the press able in this time? Are we able to absorb all the information we need to know about to follow the mischievous? That means craziness in this administration. Thoughts? Yeah, I have one. And the fact is that the media does follow the bright, shiny object that Donald Trump waves in front of the media. And it, you know, manipulation. And that's what I talked about. We've talked about previous shows that there's a distraction on the distraction. And of course, what is the major thing he's trying to distract from? We all know it's the Mueller investigation. So, but his distractions are far and many. So the media can only cover so many of these. And then the proper analyze and connect the dots is something that really isn't quite getting done. But you can't cover all this stuff. You just can't. If you had your druthers, you know, if we here at Think Tech would create a format that would cover this and try to do better, what would you do? How would you handle that? Not easy, right? No, not easy at all. If they go from so many different sources, I think is the only way to do it. So when I'm trying to, you know, research one of the stories they're putting out there and see, is there really any credibility to this? I just go to the Washington Post, the New York Times, I go to all the, you know, main newspapers. And, and they're a little different. And they put a different spin on things than just watching the news on TV divided up to kind of the way we like to do on Think Tech. And you say for X minutes, we're going to cover the shiny objects. For Y minutes, we're going to cover the implications of that. For next, you know, the public reaction on both sides of the aisle and so forth. And just divided up as a disciplined matter. I think that's what PBS does. They'll they'll they'll dedicate 15 minutes to one news story, and then they'll hit some of the the other less important, well, equally important, but less publicized news stories of the day. Yeah, well, how do we do it? However, anyone does it. I think we can't be distracted, as you said, by the shiny object. Right. We can't be manipulated by him because that's what he does. And he, I mean, it's really all the work of a dictator, really. But after two years, I think they're catching on. I think the readers are catching on the viewers are catching on and certainly the those journalists that are covering the media, they're recognizing an obvious shiny object and they're calling it out as a shiny. Nancy Pelosi is catching on too. Well, I think it all changed to with this shutdown. I think there was a real big, you know, paradigm shift in people's thinking about how he's past tense. Well, we may have one in two weeks time. Actually, two weeks from today, I think. It's coming fast. And and yesterday, yesterday, he disabused himself of the of the Joint Appropriations Committee. And so I don't care what you do. If you're not going to put a wall in, I'm not going to listen to any of it. This is a horrendous statement. It is. And we're going to be back to where we were, or are you going to try this national emergency gambling? Well, Nancy, that's the thing that scares me the very most. Because, you know, the National Emergency Act was put into effect in what 1978, I think it was. And and it's not very specific. And it gives broad scoping power to to the president and completely negates Congress. It gives like 120 some odd laws that he is in control of. That's a lot of it's going to be different things. It's in and I well now and then that was my next thing is and now look what the Supreme Court but that's what he wants. Exactly. That's what he wants because his Supreme Court will probably support him. They're all in favor of not even that. I don't believe it's even that if you look at this chess game. Remember, two weeks ago, last week, three weeks ago, I said, he really doesn't want to resolve the wall issue because that's where he gets his support. That's the emotional issue that Donald Trump was elected on. One of the reasons and that's where he jins up his support and he knows he can gin them up. So why would I want to solve that? So he doesn't want to solve it. But what he's going to do in my opinion in my my theory is that he's going to pull a national emergency. It's going to go immediately to the court. It's going to get tied up. He's going to step back and go, see, I'm trying to protect America. But here's the ninth circuit. Once again, trying to get in way of me protecting America and all Americans. And he's going to go on and on and on how he was to his base and those that follow on top of the base, how he was the defender of safety and keeping those people out of the country. And so he's we're playing right into this chess game of his. It's gruesome. And the fellow I talked to earlier, which had a very good point on this, is that if you had Vladimir Putin running for president in 2016, and he had won in this country, the difference in policy would be minimal. Because what's happening is Trump is doing everything that Putin would do that he's creating disturbances and disruptions, right, bringing people apart, making, making every all the groups hate each other, right, wrecking NATO, confusing people on the fact disinformation getting rid of our allies, you're making them angry anyway, so they don't want anything to do with us anymore. Yeah, all of those. So separating our intelligence agencies. I mean, that's the biggest one. Let's dwell on that for a minute. He said he didn't agree with the intelligence agencies that it was fake news. It wasn't just they did before. And so the question I put to you, you're gonna love this question is, what is he basing that on? Does he have other intelligence agencies that he listens to? Does he have some advisors there? I don't know who they are in the White House. They tell him about intelligence matters that are that those that they're more credible than all the intelligence agencies. No, I don't think so. Or is he got a pipeline, a stove pipe as Rachel Maddow says, a stove pipe to Moscow to Putin? Where is he getting the information on which he can deny the conclusions of all of our intelligence agencies? I believe that once Donald Trump has something in his brain, and it doesn't matter if it's five years ago, 10 years ago, two decades ago, it never changes. It's stuck. That's called ignorance. Ignorance. Yes, by choice. Yeah, so what are the implications of that? If you don't listen to your intelligence agencies, and you hear another drummer, another drummer somewhere else, maybe far away, you've compromised every single one of our FBI agents that's out there in the field, you undermine their credibility here. I hope people don't believe in them anymore, all of those things. So the relations between those agencies and agencies that they collaborate with in other countries, right? It's part of intelligence now. Yes, I think our standard allies are strongest allies will recognize that Donald Trump is not the go to person for credibility reports. They'll know our agencies and the work they've done and the dedicated professionals that do that work. And so when those, those individuals are interacting with other, you know, other agencies, be it in Britain, or France or wherever, they're going to know that what we say at, you know, behind closed doors will be credible. I don't think he's going to compromise those strong allies we have, maybe the less, you know, the lesser close allies that we have, maybe they will be suspect of anything that's said from us from here on in, I don't know. Well, you know, there's, there's this thing about third party observers. Yes, they laughed at him at the UN when he made a stupid statement. He said, I've done a better job than any president. The best one ever. Yeah. Really, I would have thought he made it was the worst president, but that's just me. But then, you know, you have so they laugh at him. But at the same time, and I have to wrestle with this at the same time, we elected him, we the country, we the process, we the great democracy, the great hope of the 20th and 21st century, we the ones who set the world order after World War Two, we elected this guy. We have to be judged by the person we elected. So while they laugh, we also lose credibility as a world leader. And it's very sad, because our destiny is linked, however you put it, to him. And so the question, and this is a good segue, actually, the question is, when you say that they're laughing at him, and they don't treat him as the real deal, everyone in that, in that analysis is assuming that he's gone soon enough in 2020. They do assume that I think my hope and my prayer is that he's impeached long before then, but yes, but he's gone in any event by 2020. And the question I put to you is how likely is it that he will be gone? Is that a foregone conclusion? He will not feel about that. Not at all. This will be a tough, hard slog. It is not a gimme. It is not a no brainer. The Democrats are going to be on have to be on their best game to actually put up enough quality candidates to be the nominee for the Democratic Party to actually take him on. So you don't think there'll be any Republicans taking him on? I hope so. I hope I like leg is definitely been getting himself ready. I hope John case it comes to the table. There you go. of Ohio. What about the young upstarts? I think this is an introduction to future campaigns. I think this is a way to get name recognition for the 2024 2028, you know, presidential campaigns. I think it's a great way to get your name out there and have you know, I don't not to win. Not to win. I think you know what to go back a little bit about what you were saying, how it reflects on the whole country and it does. But I also think that the more evidence that comes out about Russians involvement in, you know, stealing our election basically, I think that people are starting to realize, well, maybe it's not all of America that is behind this guy, right? And then they can also look at the fact that maybe the Americans that did vote for him were not actually looking at him. They were sort of under this false pretense that had been shoved down their throats through that big disinformation campaign while it was going on. Donald Trump is President of the United States, largely because it was a protest vote, a protest vote because of the establishment wasn't getting anything done, a protest vote that the government, whether it be Bush, Bush administration or Clinton administration was ignoring a large part of this country called the flyover states, the Midwest, the plight of those people who are barely making it, who have been displaced either through unemployment or just ignored. So they came out in this 2006, you know, they came out during the election. Because he said, I will help you. Yes. And he appealed as part of his whole campaign. He still appeals to a lot of people. To appeal to that since he does, you know, maybe there's a method into madness. I mean, he's, I just come come to mind, you know, Afghanistan, he's trying to negotiate a settlement of that. And the diplomats tell us that the way he's doing is completely wrong, because he's cut out the Afghanistan government. So at the end of the day, when he, you know, when he makes a deal with the Taliban, that's not going to be a deal that binds the Afghanistan government. I mean, they'll be back in chaos immediately. So there's no benefit there. But he is trying that. What else? Oh, he's, he dropped the nonproliferation, nuclear agreement today, I guess. Is it today? Yes, today. Is that a distraction, Jay? Oh, that's it. That's I think sorry, I'm going to answer this too. Because I think it's more than just a distraction. I think it is a distraction, but I think it's more than that too. He's got to say, look, I'm tough on Russia. Remember, I told everybody I'm tough on Russia. And so he's, and he's catching all this flak for the sanctions with their PASCA and all this stuff. So that now, I think it's more than just a distraction. I think he's trying to say, look at me, really, I really am tough on Russia. You can't say I like Putin, because look what I'm doing. Well, it's very interesting, because I'm, does it play to his base? I remember I told you guys about a gun show in the south, of which there are many, where the reporter walked around and said, what do you think of Russia? These are people who, you know, thought that communists were filthy pinko a few years ago. That's right. Okay. And now they say, oh, we like Russia. And we should make friends with Russia. And Trump is right. Now Trump is complaining that Russia did not abide by the nuclear nonproliferation agreement. And for that reason, he's pulling out of it. So what are the people of the gun show say now? Trump is right again. He flipped 180. Now he's right. Still, whatever he does is right. Basically, just remember, though, the NRA represents a lot of these people. And now there's, you know, there's news reports about NRA and their connection of, you know, this Russian Bettina Bettina, thank you. I can't remember her name. I can't remember her first name. So, you know, the NRA now is kind of scurrying behind closed doors or under the couch or under the chair going 30 million and they are losing a lot of revenue right now. They're losing a lot of revenue. People aren't supporting them. That's correct. Yeah. But meanwhile, we haven't seen any legislation. It stops it. And we see in the paper, I would say almost every day, if not every day, there's there's rampant gunfire in various places in the country for any number of reasons. And the message is so clear. There are too many damn guns. And I think that's a big reason why they're losing revenue. This is going to I can't support this financially anymore. Right. Well, you know, they're having their first Congress is having their first, what do you call it, a meeting session. It's not really called a meeting though, right? Where that committee is going to come together and talk about gun violence. There's never been one in all this time. There hasn't been one since Sandy Hook and they they listed, I can't even remember how many mass shootings there must have been 15 of them that they put on the screen. And this is now the very first one they're going to have. Well, so when we get back from this break, I would like to talk to you something you mentioned a little while ago, Tim, about whether the Republicans are showing showing fractures here. Because what they have been doing is a violation of the of the law and spirit of the Constitution. And query, are they going to be able to, you know, get back to get back to the right approach? We'll be right back after this break. You're gonna see. 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'm Dave Stevens, host of the Cyber Underground. This is where we discuss everything that relates to computers that's just kind of scare you out of your mind. So come join us every week here on ThinkTechHawaii.com 1 p.m. on Friday afternoons. And then you can go see all our episodes on YouTube. Just look up the Cyber Underground on YouTube. All our shows will show up and please follow us. We're always giving you current relevant information to protect you. Keep the news safe. Aloha. Yeah, and that was standing the bright, you know, the bright shiny objects that we see on weekday television. But it's all the secondary things that we don't see. I mean, pulling the wings out of the EPA, pulling the wings out of social programs, really horrendous things. You know, sort of stopping and, you know, your point about about having another shutdown. I mean, he doesn't want government. He wants to be him running everything. Every making, you know, making pronouncements on tariffs and everything else without process, without Congress. He's marginalizing Congress. Right. This is not what the founders intended at all. Supposed to have checks and balances. And so he's neutralized or arguably we'll see what happens to Supreme Court. He's completely neutralized Congress. Right. Because really, those guys shouldn't be able to sleep at night, the Republicans. I don't know how they do. And the Constitution is in a state of crisis. And so the hope, you know, I mean, I don't know if we can be optimistic about, but the hope is that the Republicans will see the era of their ways, that McConnell will see the horrendous era of his ways. And there will be fissures and fractures and cracks among them where they realize that it's not all about following McConnell and Trump, that they actually have a duty through the country. So what are your thoughts about that? Are we seeing? We're seeing evidence already. Let's talk about it. Okay. Let's talk about that evidence. And that is, remember, the last shutdown, Mitch McConnell would not let a bill to reopen on the Senate floor. Well, the Senate is right now already looking at bills to pass that's going to address the wall and the funding of the wall and to avoid a government shutdown. So I agree. I'm very concerned on Mitch McConnell's previous statements that he's not putting anything on the floor until President Trump says it's okay to do so. And he did advocate his responsibility not only to the Constitution, but to the oath to the Constitution that he took. But I think I'm starting to see cracks in that veneer. And I think you're going to see the House and the Senate pass bills. And I think they are going to go to the President's desk and we may be in an override of a veto. So we'll see. I don't think Republicans need to see one more story after story of the plight of federal workers and the fact that they can't pay anything other bills. And I just don't think they need that. And particularly with those Republican centers that are coming up for re-election in 2020. Right. I think so, too. I agree with you. You think that, this is a silly question we're going to ask in any way, you think that Nancy Pelosi should give them part of the wall? Well, you know, he claims all the time that they're already building the wall for the last three days. That's what he's been saying. We're already doing it. He wants $5.6 what, $7 billion for the wall? No, he's not going to. No. Well, the question is, should she? And I think, I think the answer is, you know, you don't want to appear like Donald Trump that you've painted yourself in the corner. Who looks like the statesman here, Nancy Pelosi? So if you're going to look like a statesman and a negotiator and who make great deals with Donald Trump obviously is not making, throw him a bone. That's what I was thinking. Give him some. And say, we'll do a ballard wall, but we're not doing a brick wall, you know? And since Donald Trump is going back, he's retracting onto what a wall is defined as. It's a barrier now. Call it whatever you want. Well, no, he's going back to it's a wall. It's a wall. Call it peaches if you want. You know, actually a wall in some cases does make sense. But particularly in big cities where there is, you know, crossover, you can't, if you're not there to, you know, see them come across the border, they integrate into the city very quickly. So in some cases, a barrier may make sense for immigration control. May, I said may make sense. And the whole thing is, is that the Democrats have been saying, I mean, there's been money that's been allocated to walls. They've talked about it in the past. They've already funded it. Yeah, before, long before Trump ever came around. So it's not like they're against it completely. Is it really a functioning, you know, structure or is it just a symbolic thing about him and his, you know, narcissism, him and winning, him showing his, his base. Of course it is. And the combination of the two. Because it doesn't seem to have evidence-based value. Of course it is. It's exactly that. So my problem with it, I'll tell you, is that if you, you know, as in people with pathological problems, if you give them an inch, they will take a mile. Right. And if you give him, you know, one farthing, she must see it the same way. If you give him one farthing for this wall, he'll be back. He'll want something else next time. Next time he can shut the government down. Next time he wants to stamp his feet, he'll be back on this. But I think the other part of it is you have 800,000 people out of work. You have the government not functioning, you're losing billions in terms of the gross national product and all that. Meanwhile, he's pulling the wings out of the EPA. He's pulling the wings out of social programs and medicine. He's doing terrible, terrible awful things to immigrants. Terrible things. And he's capitulating to Putin every time he gets a chance. Right. So, and he's trying to shut down Mueller. I mean, all of these are horrendous negative things. And, you know, query, how important is the wall? I suggest to you the wall is a shiny object. Yes. Well, I said, yes. It was a mnemonic, right? For him to remember to talk about immigration during the campaign. That's right. During the campaign. So it wasn't even like a real thing that started or did anything. But he didn't have to write it on his hand. But he needed, he did something to remember what he needed to talk about immigration. Right. Yeah. And that's how it started. That's how it started. So, you know, maybe it has something to do with the fact that, yes, and people are upset about immigration. Democrats alike want to reform, have, you know, immigration reform. We do need to get tougher on our southern border. And everyone agrees about that. So, you know, it was one of the things that I'm sure is campaign people said, do this, because this is the number one thing that people are thinking about. And that was the first thing he said off the escalator in his campaign. That's the first thing he came out with. Yeah. Right. Well, you know, the amount of damage that he's doing has done and is doing daily as we speak to this country and its position in the world is incalculable. His remark this week about Gia, what are you guys talking about global warming? It's really cold in Chicago. Oh, my gosh. If he speaks of ignorance of a huge situation. Come back soon or something like that. He has to global warming. He doesn't know. He doesn't know. Would you like to hear the quote very quickly? Yes, please. In the beautiful Midwest, wind chill temperatures are reaching 60 degrees. The coldest ever recorded in coming days. 60 degrees minus. Yes, minus 60 degrees. Yes. In coming days expect to get colder. People can't last outside for a few minutes. What the hell is going on with global warming? Please come back fast. We need you. Oh, my gosh. Now, there is an intelligent statement if I've ever heard one. In Australia, he's forgetting about the fact that Australia is having a record heat right now. He just doesn't get it. I'm sorry. He doesn't get it. But the, you know, the implications. He's the president. If he was just running the apprentice, I wouldn't care. I didn't care when he would have the apprentice, but he's the president. He has all this power to power to do things and the power not to do things. And, you know, the world order to go back to that point that was established about what America represents, the Statue of Liberty. Give me your tired, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free. Gee whiz, it hurts me in my heart to even say that. Because we're so far off that we have forgotten that. We have abandoned it in favor of this kind of isolationist nationalism. I agree. Skinhead white supremacy shit, excuse me. That's okay. When I was in Washington and I went to the Lincoln Memorial and I started to read the Gettysburg Address, I couldn't make it through it. All I could think of was how much Lincoln must just be rolling over in his grave and that every single thing in the Gettysburg Address, he has just done the opposite. We're getting to a point in this administration where logic doesn't win the day. Rational thinking doesn't win the day. I have to say about religion and appeals to raw base emotions is winning the day and the Democrats aren't fighting back efficiently on that point. Sarah Sanders, remember, she just recently said to CBN, the Christian Broadcast Network that Donald Trump is appointed by God to be President of the United States. The quote is, I think God caused all of us to fill roles at different times and I think that he wanted Donald Trump to become president and that's why he's here. Oh my God. So I'm just saying they're winning some of the 30%, 35%, 40%, not based on policy, not based on rational, based on gut emotional issues and religion, believe me, is one of them. And that's how they're winning the day and Democrats have to get smart, look at the chess game, look at the chess moves and start planning ahead on this. They're not doing it. But you're still talking about stroke for stroke. You're still talking about the news every day. Yes. What about an impeachment girls? It's almost time. Did you just say girls? Come on girls, did you just call a girl? Wait a minute. That would be me. You don't look anything like a girl. Well, we're getting closer. I mean, unfortunately, Mueller needs more time. He needs more time for to get this fire hose of evidence. I was disappointed to find out that Stone was going to get more time before a trial. But I was encouraged to find that it wasn't going to be years, it was going to be maybe six months because of the, what, complex and complex. All the information they got. Then I suspect that's probably a true statement that it is complex. Two terabytes. Yeah, there's a lot inside. This is think tech away. Most people who watch think tech away have a broad base idea of how much a terabyte is. It's a lot of material. It's a lot of material. And I don't think that Mueller is kidding when he says he wants to look at it. Yeah. Because in there, connect the dots and you're going to find A, that Stone was really bad and B, that he was really connected to Trump. And Trump should be concerned about that. Now, I suppose I would ask you here, we're running out of time, how ideally, optimistically, I mean, if you don't like Trump, how is this going to unfold if it did all? I think the Democrats in the House have all, I mean, the Intelligence Committee, the Ways and Means Committee, we got all kinds of people meeting and that's what they're meeting about. I mean, Adam Schiff was just on TV last night talking about how they are subpoena, all the witnesses that came through that they didn't get to really talk about or talk to. They did not get to question them like they wanted to. And then the Republicans wouldn't allow all kinds of stuff to happen. And now it's going to happen. According to Adam Schiff, it's going to happen now. So that's one of the things, I think. So it's not just all are doing the investigating now. We've got Congress doing some investigation also. Hope so. Well, hope so. We need to know that the American public gets access to this information because if they don't become outraged and engaged and then start calling their senators, the Republican ones, and saying, do something about this. It's going to be business as usual. And the word impeachment will not occur. And as you said, it shows a go. You know, there's nothing worse than an impeachment, but a failed impeachment. And so unless the American public gets engaged, how do they get engaged? The journalists have to bring that information to the American public. Right. Right. They do. Not just the shiny objects. Right. Rachel Maddow is really good about not just reporting on the shiny objects. She goes in that. And they have to beat that Trump. Yes. We all have to beat that Trump. We all have to beat the Trump. And we have to be, you know, analytical in dealing with all the email. I don't know about you guys. I get all this email all day about sign here and give me $5 there and figure out how we can really help. We here in Hawaii, how we can really help. Some people in Hawaii go to the mainland to participate in campaigns in the mainland. Some people, you know, write columns for mainland newspapers. Who knows what? You know, but we all have to, the whole country has to, and maybe the Republicans will see the era of their ways. Maybe we'll have that fracture in the Republican Party. I think it's happening, Jim. I hope so. And I think we still need to be kind of diplomatic about all of it too, as far as how we talk to people. Well, you have to remember to be smart about it, because Trump is going to fight like hell. Oh, yes he is. He's going to fight in every minute. And the Sergants are going to fight like hell. And the Sergants are going to fight like hell. Sergants and the base and all that. Exactly. So it's a long, it's a long operation through impeachment. But I think that has to be the mission. I think so too. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Want to come back and do this again next week? Sure. Absolutely. All right. I knew you'd say that. I'll bring my quotes and my notes next time. Jim Epichella, Cynthia Sinclair. Thank you so much. Thank you for having Trump week. Wow. Thanks, Jim. Well, it's no problem. Thanks, Dave. We'll do this. Yeah.