 Can't you get any of that that music that they would use in either drag net or you know some You know bulletin from the 50s or something. Okay, I'll put that in Late-breaking news Donald Trump revealed highly classified intelligence information to Russia with us as Howard Klein Reporting to us from Los Angeles. How are you there? I'm doing okay. How about you? Actually, you're in Los Feliz Los Feliz is part of Los Angeles. It's just not part of Hollywood, right? I'm gonna play devil's advocate. I was Visiting my mother and my sister and we were having a nice Mother's Day, and they were going on and on about Trump and Just everybody. Yes, and just to keep the conversation going. I said so what I could just kept saying so what and This late-breaking news about highly classified intelligence Let me just play devil's advocate. We're just learning that Trump met with Sergei Lavrov the Russian Foreign Minister in the White House last week and He revealed highly classified intelligence about some ISIS plot Right. So not just I mean Lavrov which which according to the White House pictures that were released It was only Lavrov But when the Russians released the pictures, you notice there was this big fat guy who was even fatter than Trump And that turned out that was the spy master For the Kremlin for all of the Western Hemisphere and that is the ambassador to Washington Kiss Leop. I mean he he or whose name everyone has probably heard because he's the one that meant literally met with every Trump campaign Person that ever existed including Jared Kushner So he's the spy master for for the Kremlin for the Western Hemisphere He's the main guy and he was in this meeting too and Trump tried to hide that if you'll remember they didn't allow any Western journalists and they allowed Russian journalists in and The Russian journalists then released a picture of Trump with kids. Yeah Kiss life is the guy Flynn met with Everybody met with him right Flynn met with him As I said Christian in law met with him What's his name Carter Page met with him Manafort met with him Everybody met with him there. I mean it was almost like he was like telling Trump who he could and couldn't hire He's the head Russian spy for all of the Western Hemisphere and and Trump goes and tells him and Lavrov Very very very highly classified information which was described by the the reporter for the New York Post who broke the story as The kind of information that you need you need a secret code to even read the information that's how highly classified it is and Basically the reason for that was because it came from an American ally Who was not interested in Russia knowing that they were passing this information along for whatever reason it could be very serious reasons and By Trump revealing it He potentially put that ally in great danger and that is a complete no-no and what not allowed on any level at all Who is there and is who's the freak out everywhere among American intelligence services But also among foreign intelligence services to the point where the Israelis are now saying you know Trump is coming over there and they have to be careful of anything They say to him going back to the Russians and then on to the Iranians or some other enemy of Israel's because I'm trying to get in the mind of a Trump supporter and it's not that hard to get inside the mind of a Trump supporter since it's so empty I'm gonna say isn't Russia our ally Half the time in Syria isn't Russia our ally fighting ISIS no Russia has its own national interests and they are mostly divergent with American national interests they have some There are occasionally certainly not half the time and not or close to that they the interests of the two countries will Intersect but that that's rare and and and and certainly in Syria I would say that that isn't even like you know two percent of the time There the two countries are at odds with each other in Syria and in terms of fighting ISIS I from what I can see Russia It's all with Russia. It's all All talk and no action. I don't see them helping the United States fighting ISIS in any way shape or form So the answers you and okay my opinion. No, okay the news coming over the transom is that Trump Disclose something to the Russians that as you just said one of our allies had this information about an ISIS plot and He violated espionage etiquette by doing this Donald Trump did well. It's more than etiquette, but okay Are we overreacting isn't the entire intelligence community in the weeds waiting for the slightest mistake and Just pouncing on Trump. Yes I don't think this was a slight mistake though. This was this was a more major mistake than that You know, they what the fear is is that since he doesn't read his intelligent briefing And so so they give you know a normal president gets very detailed intelligence briefings He doesn't want them. He wants basically charts and pictures and like a couple of paragraphs He doesn't want big intelligence briefings and and he will he has made it clear that anything over one page will be thrown directly into the garbage so basically he gets these one page summaries that have to have a trot or a picture and then Kushner comes in and reads it to him and while he's playing on his computer his his iphone Whatever uses and and he's not paying attention and intelligence Officials are saying that he doesn't understand the difference between classified highly classified You know top secret. He doesn't understand these things and to him It's it's none of the stuff that they give him is any different from what he hears Sean had to be saying on Fox It's all the same to him and he just blabs it and runs his mouth as though it doesn't make any difference And there are no consequences and they're they're all freaking out about it And I don't think it's a little thing. I think it's a very big thing You think it's a big thing. Okay, United States who can get his hands on any piece of information and can do anything he wants with it It is a 70 year old senile freak like Donald Trump Obviously, he's a mortal threat to the planet. I happen to sometimes think America is not being threatened by anybody that we juice up the threats So the defense contractors can get all their money That's not untrue that what you're saying isn't untrue But the two things shouldn't negate each other and there are threats on one level or another to the United States and You know what just as an example I mean several adversaries of America including Russia have long advocated the international training community ditch the dollar and go to another currency Or another means of of of Selling up bills that would be You know course the United States Trillions of dollars So that so is that an adversary is that a is that a threat to the United States? Yes, and it's one of dozens and dozens of dozens that are different from You know nuclear bombs dropping on an American city Would you say that maybe we don't need to be worrying as much as They want us to about Isis and Al Qaeda and Russia that Russia Crimea notwithstanding that Russia is not as big a threat to our safety as Well, it is a threat, but I mean not necessarily a threat in terms of bombing us There's other kinds of threats like I just tried to yeah, but so if you have this crowd if I don't I don't even consider Crimea Personally, I don't consider Crimea like the kind of threat that it's been painted to be because in reality Crimea really was part of Russia not and they just sort of made a bureaucratic transfer to to make the Ukrainians happy at one point in the 90s 1960s or something and The people of Crimea from all I could tell Are just perfectly happy being part of Russia prefer and prefer it to being part of Ukraine four years from now is it conceivable that They installed a complete idiot Into the Oval Office Who nobody trusts? Therefore he can't lead us into war. He's an isolationist. He's so irresponsible the minute He tries to send troops somewhere Everybody McMaster Madis everybody. It's good. No, we're not going to war Did you read? Barbara Tuckman's classic book the guns of August I Skimmed it it was a little too hard for me to read but I know that Kennedy Handed that out to all his advisors It was it. It's a brilliant book and we're a very well Well worth reading it. It's not a complicated book or a difficult reader anything. It's very enjoyable as a matter of fact You might try it because you you know, you're in a state now where you probably Get more pleasure out of it than whenever you just skimmed it In any case, there was one of the major points of it was that these heads of government don't Try to start a war that that's not that's not what they that they don't set out to have a war They blunder into it with no with no intention of doing it and she's talking about World War one The most disastrous war in the history of mankind and and no one wanted that war No one thought it was gonna happen But just one boob after another just you know made foolish mistakes And that is more the kind of a threat that Trump would be in terms of a war than him plotting a war because you're right No one is gonna let Trump get away with Starting a war. He's not his people around him would stop that the real danger is because he's such an imbecile that he'll just you know stumble into one and People won't be around to to clean up his mess fast enough before something disastrous happens with you know North Korea or or Russia or China or or any or any kind of adversary And and that's that's a danger. I mean, you know Trump Is you know, there's a lot of scuttle butt that says that that Trump has kind of Accepted the fact that he's not really In the chain of command as long as he can make believe he is he doesn't have to really be part of the chain chain of command So that if that's really true, I mean, I I feel a little bit better about that But I don't feel great about it. I would rather have a you know, there's a reason that we have civilians running the military Yeah I'm just thinking yeah, I'm just thinking about God's joke I mean things are bad. There's no question and this is terrifying and We're on the precipice of fascism although. I don't think he's smart enough Well, how smart was Mussolini and how smart was Hitler? They weren't that bright and it has a lot to do not just with them But also with people around them and Trump does have very dangerous people around him Although, you know, there's all sorts of rumors that he's gonna fire Bannon But Bannon is certainly capable of Leading the country into a state of fascism, which I'm sure is his is what he wants to do Going back to Russia Mother's Day, I asked my sister asked my mother Yes, it's bad. But what did Russia do that's so wrong? They they hacked The DNC and they released some files and embarrassed Hillary. Is that Really that bad and out of you know, they was only the tip of the iceberg. They did a lot more than that Well, they colluded maybe with Trump's campaign to do Opposition research. Is that a possibility? Is that how I mean, I think that they spent many millions of dollars on setting up operations to To deceive Low IQ American voters with all of this fake news through, you know hundreds of thousands of of fake Twitter accounts and websites and then news news reporting Operations that don't exist and they and they and you know, that doesn't work On people with three-digit IQs not that that means someone is brilliant But you know when you look at the Trump voters, just look at them talk to one I mean it works on them, right? So whose fault is that that's more our fault than it is Russia's Well, it may be I mean, you know getting rid of civics classes from I mean when I was a kid We had civic classes. They don't anymore You know and and downgrading Downgrading education. I mean, you know the Republicans at every opportunity They do everything they can to downgrade education because they know very well that Their party depends on a poorly educated electorate that has no capacity for critical thinking if Putin gave money to some of the candidates That would be obviously Illegal about using the money on behalf of some of the candidates. I Mean, you know in France where he could get away with giving money I don't I guess there's no law against it. They gave I think a 10 10 million dollars to lipend in this country Theoretically you can't do that although there are ways to launder money to candidates Which apparently has happened and that's part of an investigation. That's why we need a nonpartisan Independent investigation that can't be controlled by Paul Ryan or by Mitch McConnell or by the Justice Department It's got to be an independent investigation and one of the things that everyone is trying to get to is Trump is Trump's business dealings with the Russians, you know a member of Congress last night called me and was telling me that the way he thinks from what He's read that they did it Was by overpaying on real estate So in other words if a piece of real estate is worth two million dollars and they give 20 million dollars That's a way to funnel money into Trump And and he said that that's but that has happened many many times Right in Florida. There was a mansion that Trump that's one that was that was one he was This guy was talking specifically about New York real estate. Hmm We'll go back to shredding the safety net. I know you brought up the giving money. I mean that I Want Trump impeached I want him gone. What's the difference between impeached and gone? Well, he's not going to get okay. He's not going to get impeached It's going to get gone. I don't think he's going to get gone. I think they're going to keep him Isn't he servicing the people who put him there by creating this clown show? They certainly not going to get impeached while the Republicans are in control of Congress. That's for sure So if there's any kind of impeachment, we're talking about You know after the after you know 2019 After the elect in the midterms other than the fact that you despise Trump how bad is this? Is it truly a constitutional crisis or do we just hate him? You know so much that we're creating things to get upset about well Can you accept that the two things can exist at the same time? Yeah You know, I would say that that's probably the case If he gets caught, what do you think it's going to be the money the Russian money following that money? Yes That is what I think okay speaking of money We have a budget that's being negotiated and you write that they're going to be shredding the social safety net Is there even a social safety net left to shred? It's not much left, but there is some left so remember Trump plans on on massive tax cuts for the for the very wealthy like really massive just as an example getting rid of the estate tax for you know the estate tax If you're if you leave if you die and you have six million dollars The tax the federal taxes on that is zero nothing nothing But if you have six billion dollars then there's some real taxes on that they're getting they want to get rid of that That's a big deal So so so how do you fill in the gaps in the budget which the Republicans in Congress are insisting on Trump? Of course doesn't care as far as he's concerned He he would run up, you know the most red ink in the history of the universe He doesn't matter to him, but the Republicans feel that they can't do that They say if you're going to You know they'll do it to some extent, but they don't want to do it to the kind of extent that Trump wants So aside from the cutting taxes for the rich which he plans to do in a very major way and cutting corporate taxes He also plans to so in other words reducing revenues. He also plans to spend giant amounts of money You know on the military He he really wants to build up the military in a very big way Even though the military the American military is bigger than the next six countries combined Who cares he still wants to build it up and he wants to build that silly wall which is You know estimates range certainly the average is around a trillion dollars Although it could even be much more than a trillion dollars to build the wall and to put that into the budget I'm sorry. Do you say it's a trillion dollars to the wall? Sorry, you said it's a trillion dollars to build the wall Well, the average is it could be much more. I mean some people say it's three trillion dollars Some people say it's more like, you know a hundred billion dollars So, you know you I don't know what it's gonna cost But but I'm just saying the average is around a trillion dollars. Okay, or I actually I think I read the average was one point three trillion dollars Jesus You know no one knows exactly what the wall is going to be and where it's gonna go And is it going to cover this area or they're gonna leave it out or they're gonna leave that area out I mean so people don't know for sure, but you know they did an estimate based on you know per I don't know if it was per it wasn't per mile. It was a smaller amount of Per it was smaller than a mile and it was some it was it was atrocious The millions of dollars just for it. I mean it and and well forget about the fact that it's ineffective But you know the point is that they think I spend a lot of money on foolish things and and they the Republicans have agreed now That they are going to put these things into the budget They're angry that the Democrats made fun of them for signing the The continuing resolution that didn't include any of Trump's priorities. So now they're gonna include all of Trump's priorities So the question then comes where do they get the money for this stuff and since Trump has Said he does well, but what he said is that he would have no cuts to Social Security no cuts to Medicare and no cuts to Medicaid. They've already cut 880 billion dollars out of Medicaid over 10 years so But he's apparently holding firm on no cuts to Social Security and Medicare at least for now So then you say to yourself where do you get the money? Where is he gonna get the money to pay for the silly wall for the arms build up and for the other priorities that he wants and The answer to that question is there is no place else to get it from except for cutting spending for poor people Social safety net as you refer to it that and that's that's what the Republicans are up to now So I did a post about it this morning That includes some interesting reactions from a guy You know labor union activists in Paul Ryan's district who's likely to run against Paul Ryan a guy named Randy Bryce He's likely to be the Democratic candidate against Ryan now the D triple C the Democratic Congressional campaign committee doesn't want to run anybody against Paul Ryan. They've never have they've never run anybody they've sabotaged every Democrat who's tried to run against Paul Ryan and They are very very nervous now because this guy is a grassroots kind of hero He's when you think about Paul Ryan's district it went it went for Clinton I mean it went for Trump against Clinton and and Randy Bryce is like the exact opposite of Clinton Every every reason that anyone in that district had to vote against Hillary Clinton Will make them embrace Randy Bryce. This is a an iron worker with a huge handlebar mustache and You know he's a he's the kind of guy that you meet in the bar having a drink and then he goes home to his wife and kids a Great guy and he's gonna take on Ryan now and the D triple C is flipping out over it But anyway, he was one of the people when you say flipping at we say flipping out there. They're angry that he They don't want someone running against Ryan. It's it's a it's against their policy. They they oppose people running against Paul Ryan their perspective is it's gonna take a lot of energy and we're not gonna win anyway and They don't want the resources going in that direction And they don't want people to have false hopes that we could beat Ryan when we can't the fact of the matter is Is they're going after much more difficult districts than Paul Ryan's district Paul Ryan I mean Obama won Paul Ryan's district in his first run. He beat him. He beat McCain there. I'm not saying it's easy race It's not it's a hard race, but if you don't do it and you don't try you never find out And that's and you know now, you know, Hillary won all these districts In Texas that the D triple C has never ever tried to win now They're trying to win all of them, but it's the first time they've even worked in these districts So you don't win the first time. So, you know, you know, if you try One time and you don't win you learn how to do it better the next time then you could try it again the next time But it has to be a first time and and the D triple C doesn't believe in first times Do you think Pelosi cut a deal with Ryan over something and said, okay, if you give me this We won't run anybody against you It was long before Ryan when they wouldn't run anybody against John Boehner They sabotage every candidate who tried to run against John Boehner. I mean we we at Blue America We work very closely with this guy again a labor union Activists named Justin Cossouli and Justin ran a great campaign But the D triple C did everything they could to sabotage him over and over and over again And they do that with Republican leaders. They all Republican leaders They always try to protect them and it's the darndest thing because the Republicans don't return the favor True, they don't go after after Pelosi, but you know, I mean look What do you think the percentage was that Trump got in Pelosi's district? I mean, I'm just want to show you how blue that district is Well, I know it's in Francisco. It's I think that seven percent. Wow That's how that that was what Trump's total wasn't in San Francisco seven percent. So, you know So we don't really need the Republicans not to pursue Nancy Pelosi Paul Ryan is in a 50-50 district Pelosi is in a 90-10 district They don't go after Steny Hoyer, but he's in a completely blue district. So I don't know what the deal is I don't I don't know why they're I don't know why there is a deal And certainly the Democrats don't go after Republican committee leaders, but the Republicans I mean the Democrats don't go after Republican committee chairman But the Republicans go after Democratic committee chairman and occasionally defeat them So so if there is a deal the Democrats are getting a very very poor end of that deal Healthcare They're saying now that it's going to get killed in the Senate But a month ago no one is really saying it's going to get killed They're just saying that they're hoping that the Senate is going to change it and make it less unpalatable and You know, but the question then becomes if they send something back that's less unpalatable Will the freedom caucus then say no, we won't vote for it I mean how unpalatable can they make it before they lose freedom caucus? So for example to two senators? At least two two Republican senators have said they're not going to vote for a Bill that defunds Planned Parenthood So both Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska Susan Collins from Maine They both say if that's in there, they're not going to vote for it. Okay Well, let's say they're being honest and they're not going to what happens then because if that bill goes back if the health care bill goes back to the house with a With with that taken out with that provision to defund Planned Parenthood out then then the freedom caucus has already said they're not going to vote for it So so that so that is something that I don't I don't know how it gets worked out I don't know how that can can happen But you know, there are a lot of Republicans that are determined to make it happen somehow. I don't know how Before you go, what are the races we should be watching? Well, there are there are two races coming up very very quickly in the next couple of weeks First of all, there is the Montana at-large House seat Because Ryan Zinke the congressman from Montana was named as a Trump's interior secretary so his seat is open and That is people think well Montana is so red. Well, it's not really so red Yes, Trump did very very well against Hillary Clinton But Hillary Clinton is exactly the wrong kind of candidate for Montana if you had to say, you know Create a candidate that will have no chance in Montana whatsoever. You create Hillary Clinton That's that's what that's that the Democrats couldn't advance for someone better than her But on that same day that Trump Flooded her in Montana the Democratic governor beat the guy who's running for Congress right now in that district. He won Bernie Sanders did really well in Montana. He of course he beat Clinton by a lot And I think he'd be Clinton in almost every county if she wanted a couple but but but Bernie really cleaned her clock so the candidate who's running now for the Democrats of this guy named Rob Quist who is a you know a kind of a I don't want to say a folk singer, but he's a folksy really well-known singer a professional and he's gone to every little town in in in that state and Been playing for years and years and years. He's really well liked and really well known and he's he's a Democratic candidate and Bernie is going to be Born storming the state with him on this coming Saturday and Sunday So we'll see he's been right right rising in the polls. He's still behind the Republican They're spending God awful amount of money the D triple C doesn't want to spend money in there But they've been they've been forced into spending a little and then the other race in June That's really really important is them is the one in Georgia Georgia 6 to replace Tom Price who's now the secretary of health and human services and that that pits John Ossoff kind of a you know kind of a moderate to liberal Democrat Against a far-right Republican Trump shill named Karen Handel just a complete point of Trump's and The polling shows them neck and neck. I mean the newest poll that came out yesterday had him leading her by two points Is Trump gonna drag them down because Trump is at record level The idea is yes. I mean I mean yeah, I mean that Trump will Trump drag them down So maybe he but he went to Atlanta She she refused to allow herself to be photographed with him So there are no pictures anywhere of Handel and Trump But Paul Ryan went also and he's there again this week and there were pictures of her with him and and remember Paul Ryan is very very toxic right now You know all the polling is showing that Paul Ryan is one of the most hated politicians in America His his approval rating is is in the gutter and no one likes him. In fact in his own district. I didn't mention this They there was a poll that came out by PP P That showed that 51% of the people in the district think they would not vote for him again And only 44% of the people in the district say he deserves another term So and that's his own district where they know him and kind of like him But around the rest of the country they might not know that much about him but they do know that he wrote the health care bill or that it's his bill basically the Trump care certainly wasn't written by Trump it was under the direction of Paul Ryan and You're depending on which poll you read that Trump care is is liked by either 17% of the people or 23% of the people but You know 23% of the people the high number is pretty bad and that's what people know about Trump care So or about Paul Ryan and he's he's in Karen handles district campaigning with her I don't think that's gonna help her. I mean it helps with donors. They love Paul Ryan, but I don't think it helps with human beings Great how he Klein is the founder and treasurer of the Blue America pack and he writes the down with tyranny blog Thank you, sir Thank you. Talk to you next week. Okay. Thank you. Great job. Thank you so much. Bye. Bye