 It's Wednesday. It's 11 o'clock. That means only one thing. Trump week. Many years ago, March 30th, 1981, the day that Ronald Reagan was shot, the Secretary of State, General Al Haig, came to the podium and declared the following. As of now, I'm in control here in the White House. General Al Haig mistakenly assumed that he was now in control of the government. He forgot the fact that the Constitution had a succession of the Vice President and the Speaker of the House would be in control if the President was incapacitated. We had an Al Haig moment here two days ago, where Donald Trump basically said, I'm in control. My authority is absolute as to when the economies of each state will open up. And he basically said that I call the shots. We're going to talk about this moment in the Task Force press briefing with Winston Welch and Stephanie Dalton. Welcome, Winston. Stephanie, how are you? Hello, hot damn. And Winston. Well, we had the meltdown in the press room and what a meltdown it was. So we'll talk about that and some other things that took place. But let's talk about Donald Trump's, if you will, his run up to the borderline of his authority as President of the United States, completely putting disregard to the Constitution of the United States. Anyone have any opinions about what we saw two days ago? Well, I was just going to say as National Correspondents have mentioned, it doesn't appear that he knows the Constitution much less, has read the Constitution closely and understands the scope of work that he has. And neither does he understand the demeanor that goes along in that scope of work description. So I think this peeks out every now and then and this is where it just thrust its head right out through the whole of his misunderstanding that he has that kind of control. Okay, let me let me tack onto that for a second, Stephanie, because isn't there someone on his staff that knows what he's going to say or has a rough outline of what he's going to say before he goes in front of, you know, to the world in front of many, many cameras and microphones of what he's going to say and how he's going to say it. Didn't someone say, Mr. President, you do not have ultimate authority over 50 states when it comes to lifting the stay at home orders or opening businesses up for the economy? Well, I would just say that that's an excellent question and certainly one that should be disturbing all of us in the citizenry. But I think the evidence shows us that these chiefs of staff have walked out the doors and other advisors who were competent and experienced. So it raises the question as to whether he's listening to any of that, much less taking that advice and going with it. So your question is good and and it's probable answer is very worrisome as to his advice and guidance. Winston, what do you think? You know, 85% of the people that have come in that administration are gone. Is there anyone here who would really think there's anybody who's active in giving him advice, he's listening to maybe me, like hopefully Ivanka or Ivano would say, Daddy, don't press the nuke button because that, you know, you'd be new in France or England. You know, who knows when he gets in a fit, but there's no one there that's putting on breaks. Of course, you have people that say, oh, you can say this, take the authority, we've read the constitution, this is our interpretation of it. And the reality is most Americans have it, because we are in our leaders and not to abuse this idea. So it's really scary times when someone who is saying that he has total authority, read the constitution, I have total authority. So, you know, the reality is he's done this many times when saying, you know, shoot anyone up to the avenue and no harm he admonishers. He was his people would, you know, about it, and like, or jump up to salute him like Kim Jong-il was Kim Jong-un's people, North Koreans, or he likes the president for life scheme. It's scarier to have an American president saying this stuff. It's horrifying. Yeah. Well, let's look at the walk back yesterday. He still couldn't accept the fact that he didn't have ultimate authority over all the governors in 50 states. He had to try to mask it by saying, I'm going to give my authority that it's up to them to do their job. I mean, what an embarrassment. What an embarrassment to the world. What an embarrassment to all, you know, all the people that live in this country of the president who doesn't even know his civics 101 lesson. And then when he's caught red handed not knowing what he's talking about, he still tries to walk it back, given the impression that he still has the authority over all these. I don't know what to say. My jaw dropped two days ago when he took the authority and then my jaw dropped to the ground when he tried to cover it up that he didn't have the authority. You know, Stephanie, tell me this is embarrassing. Tell me is that's not my perception that this is a worldwide international embarrassment. And it's also terrifying. I think that he is having it making every effort to have it both ways. And depending on his his talent for spinning and renaration to bring it around that way. But I think that he's come up against something that notice he hasn't much attacked it. But it's like Governor Cuomo, with his promise over the television to not fight back, but to be a leader. And what he's doing is presenting a model of leadership for his state and then for his region. So what's happening is he's presenting to the American people the competence of a governor and a governor who is truly a leader showing how our real leader, our presidential leader is not up to that that model at all. So hopefully there might be you ordinarily that might be a learning curve for a president to look and see and learn from other his colleagues. But I don't know that that's going to happen. But at least it shows us that we're right when we we see something that doesn't quite meet the mark of our expectations because there's others out there who do. And we can look at that and see what's the discrepancy and where he's not filling the bill. Right. You know, Winston, our Republican friends, our Senator friends, they seem to be pretty quiet about this embarrassment of Donald Trump's brash and bold attempt to usurp his authority over 50 states. We haven't heard much from them. Why do you think that is? Yeah, Tim, it's a good question. I don't know where the Democratic leadership has been. It's like I said, the Republican leadership has been absent. There is no Republican leadership anymore, except to do the bidding of Donald Trump. But I don't know why. I don't know where Nancy Pelosi is or Joe Biden. And maybe they're just letting things stand on these statements. The media has been excellent in calling it out. I think people are realizing it for what it is. You know, actually, we did see even Senator Rubio got up and said, actually, these are not powers that the president has. You had Lynn Cheney standing up. So maybe the Democrats are just letting a couple of Republican outliers who still have a vested interest in the future of the country after Donald Trump is gone, standing up and saying something. And the Democrats didn't have to when the Republicans are standing up and saying something. They probably do. I mean, you have people saying things, but the Democratic leadership has been remarkably quiet on a lot of stuff lately. So I'm not sure what to make of it. 100%. Well, I know something's shifting because some of my neighbors are very steadfast Trump supporters and they wear their mega hats quite often around here, around by where I live. And this subject came up and the one of my neighbors said, no, I'm here in Honolulu with you, you would think. And so the bottom line is I heard the comment Donald Trump was a day late and a dollar short. So for me to hear that come from this individual, that says a lot to me because it's like I said, he's pretty steadfast in his support for Donald Trump. Let's go back to that press conference and let's talk about his attempt to revise history with that video. Quite a shocker to see him basically hijack the Task Force press briefing and turn it into his own propaganda spin. Any observations from that whole debacle? Well, I was just, well, I just thought to say that even the Republicans are criticizing him for the way he's using that precious time. He's turned it into a two hour rant and I think not all of it is appreciated even by his party members. So I think at one level people have backed off with responding or getting feedback because his punishment is so huge and he'll select to go with that attack and consequences for those who question him or criticize him. So I think people are backing off doing that in order to spare all the rest of us and themselves the time that he would put into that kind of a counter attack. So I think that he would be well too to be reflective about the feedback he's getting from his own party members about what he's doing with those statements and what kind of import those statements have for the people and the people are those that are going to bring him back if he wants to try and get back. Winston. When you have Lynn Cheney and Marco Rubio saying things, it's important that they don't speak up often. You hear very little, but like Stephanie says, when you go against this fellow, you are beaten down and there's not a lot of people that will come to your rescue, especially inside of the Republican Party. I mean, look what happened to Mitt Romney recently. It's astounding to see this happen in our nation where we have what I have thought are really great leaders. We don't have to agree with them on all the policies, but to step up for a basic institution of democracy and reigning in a person that has shown zero ability to want to control his impulses, power, megalomania. It's scary. We need many voices to come up if they're going to come up at all. This is the time and they did. Then he backs down. He goes right up to the edge, sees how far he can push it and then comes back down. It's a pattern that we've seen over the many years that he's been in office and it is frightening. It's frightening that everyone's joining him, but I was happy to see the reporters not letting up, not relenting. Sadly, I think what we're going to see is a very diminished White House over time in the future. They're going to have to put in new strictures that never allow this to happen again because of the abuses that we've seen over the last four years. Speaking of the bright glimmer of these task force press briefings is Dr. Fauci. It upset me when Donald Trump sent a tweet. He retweeted basically a call to fire Dr. Fauci. I'm not sure why he did that. Maybe this is Donald Trump's signature of trying to saber rattle and try to intimidate people that don't say what he wants to say when he wants to say it, but on Monday he was asked by a reporter what was behind him retweeting the message that Dr. Fauci should be fired. Donald Trump brushed it off and said, well, it's just an opinion and what's the big deal of why I put it up there or not? Dr. Fauci is the only stabilization of this administration when it comes to the COVID-19 response. If he goes, where are we going to be? Any thoughts about Donald Trump's saber rattling about firing Dr. Fauci and what happens if Dr. Fauci were to leave the administration? Well, I would suggest that Dr. Fauci beware because I think that there will be consequences. All of the previous behavior, the pattern is there are consequences. If not firing Dr. Fauci, something else is going to happen. The NIH budget is going to be cut or his institute at the NIH is going to find itself bereft of a leader or budget. Something is going to happen and I think that we ought to be aware, take a look at that, do some monitoring of our own because that is his pattern and we value what this expert has to guide the nation's policy. So we should be responsible and take a look at that and be on the alert to be able to respond in whatever meager ways we have. But as a larger group doing it, it might be helpful. But there will be a response. There will be consequences for Dr. Fauci because he has spoken on the facts and the data and that is not anything that Mr. Trump is going to approve of. He only wants to hear his own opinion slash policy reflected back to him. So I would say Dr. Fauci's in jeopardy. Wow. Okay. Winston, what do you think? I think he's trying to get fired when he says he walked it back. It was a bad choice of words. But you know, then he followed it up. So I just thought, you know what would it is is there is no he everybody here's administration has had to walk on tiptoes or or fill in the blanks when he says we're going to, you know, quit NATO or whatever, whatever bizarre proclamation is made. Then they said, well, actually, we're not quitting. We're, we're just going to reassess things or whatever. So they do, you know, the question is, is it better to be on the inside and try and mitigate the harm and save as many people as you can standing behind Donald Trump or is it better to just say, I can't do this anymore. I have, you know, it's very hard for these people. I have sympathy for them, for the people that are actually really sticking in it for this. But who knows if he quits, write the tell all book, and he may be the advisor then to the new, you know, sub grouping of states in the northeast quarter in California for their quasi, you know, federal response to the virus, because that's what it looks like where we're going to. Yeah, your comment about whether it's more effective to stay on the inside and help out as best you can is been repeated. I probably called General Mattis, that was his exact rationale of why he hung in there as long as he did, just because he thought he could do more on the inside than watch the train wreck from the outside. So we'll see what happens with Dr. Fauci. It's, I think from a, from the nation standpoint, we want to make sure where we all hope that he stays and is able to try to talk sense to the president before the president goes off on the microphone in front of the cameras with something that's completely erroneous about the COVID-19 virus. So, okay, well, let's leave this one for a minute. I want to talk about the checks, the money, the money that's being deposited in millions of Americans accounts right now, the $1,200 or the $2,400 of paying on, if you're a couple or you're a single individual, but for those poor people that don't have automatic deposit, they're going to get a physical check. And they probably need it more than anybody else because they don't even have a bank account for it to be automatically deposited. Isn't it something that Donald Trump insists that his name must be printed on an IRS check before it is sent out? And how many days does that delay it? And to what extra hardship does Donald Trump put these poor individuals in a position because his name has to be on the check, and this reminds me just while I'm on a roll, reminds me of going into the Trump Hotel a couple years ago, three years ago, and in the bathroom on the toilet paper rolls, Trump's name is embossed on every new toilet paper roll, a gold embossed name Trump on his toilet paper. So, via toilet paper or IRS checks, his name has to be on it. What do you guys think? Campaign stunt. It's a campaign stunt. But I'm glad you brought up the fact that most people have direct deposits, so won't really see the check itself. The people who do have to see it are the most in the most dreadful circumstances and then have to carry it around and get to the bank or do whatever they're going to do to get the money. So, if this is an outreach to the most affected, is that any sign that there's some empathy or anything? I find it, it's really extropal. I can't even think of the word to describe such a campaign stunt that will affect those people that are most needy and will have to physically handle that check and actually deal with that. So, if we look at it from the positive side, that then maybe, you know, they'll think that he is trying to do something for the most needy. I mean, I think that with the people who stay in the administration in order to work from within rather than stand outside and decry it, within there's a chance that maybe another day goes by that those people who are going to be most affected by his policies, like this World Health Organization funding, I mean, all the people that will go without food and livelihoods and be able to survive by staying in, if you can postpone that in any way, maybe that's another way of thinking about it, that it saves some suffering, in this case in the world, with the checks we're talking about, the national situation, but it's deplorable. Hey, Winston, do you think this is a campaign stunt or is this just another stroke for Donald Trump's ego? Oh, it's both. Stephanie has a charitable interpretation, and I'm often charitable, but you think about this. This is the same man that sent the other day, Donald Trump's message about the coronavirus, who has the history of just the coronavirus is and the failings and the missteps. And then he sends out a letter to everybody saying this is what you're supposed to do when he's going to maybe try and force the economy open early so that his re-election chances are better at the risk of health. I mean, it's so, it's really just insulting that he couldn't just have whoever the Secretary of the Treasury is probably acting interim temporary Secretary of the Treasury as everybody else's administration, but couldn't they sign it? Couldn't the CDC, or that even the Surgeon General sign that, like Sierra Cooper did with the AIDS pamphlet that came out under Ronald Reagan's term, it's just this sort of megalomaniac that you have to, like when you mention the toilet paper thing, you're just thinking, who would want their name embossed on toilet paper unless it's Georgia Pacific, or the maker of it, and even then. It's down to the end of the day. Well, that's a rhetorical question. We all know who wants to have their name embossed on toilet paper. Well, you know, I was, what was I going to say, hear that he's in the memo line, so the appropriate officials are signing on the real line. Is that what it is? Memo, but the funny thing about that is, is that cartoon or one of the comedians talked about when you see his signature, it looks like an EKG that is going completely out of control. Up and down and up and down and dark. So I think that there may be some mirth for these people that have to carry around these checks. All right, let's go to the hard question. We're almost out of time. And let's go to the hard question. What happens if this economy is open up too early? What happens if people are going back to work too early and there's a second wave of the COVID-19? And to what degree will Donald Trump take responsibility by trying to open things up too early? And do you buy his argument that it's going to be up to all 50 governors versus him trying to exert his pressure and influence on those governors? Start with you, Winston. You know, he won't take your new responsibility. That that's that question is like, it's a non-starter for anything. He will never accept the responsibility of the blame. He just wants all the power and the glory. But as far as responsibility goes, he wants to get credit for for getting the economy back on track. I get it, people are hurting right now. The economy needs to come up in the best most logical way that it can, but it has to be science-based because this is a science-based issue here. Yes, there's a lot of pain. It's emotional. But at the end of the day, you open it up too soon, you're going to end up where Singapore or China or Taiwan are. So these have to be, these are locally created decisions. You still have some states that just barely have shut down that are right in the center of the country, you know, the Iowa and the Missouri. So I would say it has to be local. If he tries to blackmail the states and say, I'm going to cut off your funding, or you won't get money for highways or whatever it is, stimulus funds, that will backfire tremendously. So I think on this one, he did come back and say, well, I have all the authority, but I'm going to, the governors can, we can talk about it. And so it's his way of saying that, you know, he realizes it's not going to happen. That's my, that would be my guess. Okay, Stephanie. I believe this is a crime or the hugest example of his self-interest and his placement of self-interest above the health and the survival of the people of this nation. If he is not using the data and the information from the scientists and the experts, he is reckless. And he's reckless with our lives, because as he would open us up early and we are in any way subject to reinfection or a resurgence or a surgeons, the second surgeons, we are in dreadful circumstances that will not be ameliorated because until that immunization is ready, that will give us another year of death and destruction. So I think it's, it's a very, we're facing a cataclysmic situation here. And if this is, so we all need to be attentive and respond as best we can and hope that those who are in positions of influence can exert some somehow on him to pay attention to the data, the expertise, the information, the facts. Well, that's what Donald Trump said he was going to do. He's going to, you know, listen to the experts. He said, I'm going to listen to a bunch of people. I listened to 35 different people, he said a couple of days ago. So, but a part of listening to people is looking at the data. And again, the virus doesn't care about the economy opening up. And so if they're looking at the data, who's on Donald Trump's shoulders whispering in his ear? We know that Dr. Fauci is one of those on his shoulder whispering in his ear, but who on the other side is trying to force him to open this economy up too fast? Is it, is it Treasurer and Mutant, excuse me, Lawrence Kudlow or, you know, who is it on the other side that's trying to push things forward? I, you know, do you have any sense of that? That Council of Economic Advisers is an interesting one, isn't it? That's opening up. It's Mnuchin and President Boeing are united and the kids are in there too, although that was walked back. I'm not sure what that is. So, there's vested interest here that want to get things going that maybe you're putting the dollar before health, but we'll see where that goes. I'm imagining that the states are going to vote with their feet and corporations will vote with their feet too, unless they are absolutely blackmailed. People are not going to be sending people out anytime soon when you've got literally thousands of people dying still right now. Yeah, I think Winston, that is the operative point. That is the operative point Winston that the consumer will ultimately decide when this economy is going to take back on its feet again and move forward. And all the political wishful thinking in the world isn't going to make a difference. Stephanie, you wanted to say something? I did just want to say, I'm glad Winston brought up the Council that President Trump has put together. I have seen that there's a statement that there's no one with any expertise on that Council having to do with the case, the case of the virus. There's no one on that Council that can look to the issues of science and the disease itself. And it's likely trajectory from there. So that's very unnerving again for the same reasons of putting us all in mortal danger. So I think we need to watch it as we go. And if there's any influence and then to all of these 35 advisors, yes, everybody can yammer on and talk to this person, but he has to do something internally. He has to do some critical thinking and he has to do some dressing, a changing of the way he's thinking about things. And I don't see there's any evidence that anything ever happens that way. There's influence on him, but he is not changing. So he listens and then he doesn't change. He goes ahead and does what he's doing. It looks like that because he's got the best influence in the world. And I get to see that he's employed it and or applied it. So well, Stephanie, Stephanie, you mentioned critical thinking and Donald Trump in the same sentence. In my world, that's an oxymoron. So okay, we've run out of time. We've run out of time. I promised you this week was going to be a wild week. It wasn't disappointing. It was a wild week. So count on next week to be even as wild or more wild. And I want to thank you, Winston, for appearing on the show. And Stephanie, thank you very much for appearing. And we'll see you next week on Trump week. Aloha.