"You Guys are F*CKING TRAITORS!” Combat Veteran Sounds Off on ICE Status Coup News Oct 4, 2025 #antifa #veterans #protests
Status Coup’s video journalist Jon Farina interviewed U.S. Combat combat veteran Rig Madden, who served in Cuba, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He is now one of a group of veterans peacefully protesting and fighting against President Trump’s rising authoritarianism and crackdown on protesters, immigrants, and political opponents. Status Coup is the ONLY INDEPENDENT OUTLET consistently ON THE GROUND with the people.
Transcript
Out of everybody I despise the most, I said capitalists right now. You guys are [ __ ] traitors, man. You want to see what real independent journalism funded by the people for the people looks like? You ever heard a story like this in America? You're looking at it. Congratulations for always being somewhere where mainstream media is not. Flint, Michigan. See you in Nevada. Thanks to people like you, we could get the truth. Corporate media, we they've been lying to us for years. You going straight to the people. You are the man. I'm glad you're here. Let us go. For as low as 16 cents a day, you'll keep us on the ground covering the important stories the corporate media covers up. Um, I did five tours of duty. My first one was Operation Sea Signal in Cuba. Um, Operation Joint Endeavor in Bosnia 1996, Cuba was 95. I did a Operation Joint Guard uh which was Kosovo in 1999. I did Operation Iraqi Freedom in uh 2008 in Iraq and my final tour was in Afghanistan uh Operation Endurance Freedom in 2013. And I got to go see um the best president in history, Barack Obama, give out the Medal of Honor at the White House in 2014 and I retired under him in 2016. Do you think we actually have a real democracy to save? Here's the big problem, guys. It's the fact that America was so [ __ ] corrupt and let his ass back in there. This is so much bigger than Donald Trump. It's the fact that you got somebody that is openly corrupt, openly racist as Trump and they still bent the knee. That let you know it wasn't about Trump. He's just the avatar. The country has always been white supremacist. This is the country I grew up with. I remember these white people losing their mind when I first moved in in our apartment building in California. You know, called me the horror yard, said I was bringing down the property value. That hatred has always been there. Uh I couldn't leave base in Fort Leonardwood because of the racism, you know. Uh they wouldn't want to they didn't want to rent to me in Indiana because of the racism after I did [ __ ] Ford tours for the country. And so now I'm like, you know what? [ __ ] it, right? Let that [ __ ] burn. I don't think someone um as corrupt as Trump and his administration are giving up power. I just don't believe that at all because they the moment he gives up power, his people go to jail. Steven Miller is going to prison. Everyone who's been doing all that, the the uh Navy guys who killed those Venezuelans, them are [ __ ] war crimes. They will hang for that [ __ ] They will spend the rest of their [ __ ] life in prison for killing these people. And so they're they're going to fight to try to hold on to power. and everyone one of us need to be ready to bring that fight to him when the time comes. Was there something from your childhood or growing up uh that inspired you to to want to serve your country? The army honestly was always my backup plan right when I was young I wanted to be an astronaut. I loved sci-fi. I love science itself. I was obsessed with like space travel um believe it or not. But uh really uh when I started going to like different schools, my my junior high school was heavily white. So dealt with a lot of open racism, a lot of fights. Uh but but really I joined the army because of LA riots. I was just tired of the violence, tired of getting shot at for free. Um just tired of I just I honestly believe that I had a better life expectancy as a soldier than I did in my own neighborhood. And so I just left. I think I probably was a recruiter's dream. I walked in said I'm ready to go. One last question. What would be your message to current soldiers, ICE agents, and National Guard that are being ordered to do illegal, non-constitutional things on a daily basis? You don't participate, right? Weaponize competence. You walk out here, you look good, you be a prop for the government, help people with their luggage, but absolutely do not raise your weapon. At a citizen, don't participate anything you know is illegal. You tell them demons whatever they want to hear up front but in the streets and especially I'm talking to NCO corps because the NCO corps is really what holds the military together that makes us unique in all armies. The NCO core I believe the non-commission core officers will hold fast to the constitution. We knew how to play the [ __ ] game. We've had bad commanders before. We let them do their thing, man. But out here in the in the real world, especially if they're not the type of commander that leave from the front, they're not going to know what's happening from the field. you you send they ass some [ __ ] report and by all means stay the [ __ ] quiet. Do not expose yourself. If you got a grievance, bring it to the veterans. We can we can talk [ __ ] without being subject to the uniform code of military justice. But we need you there. Somebody with a [ __ ] conscience got to still be here to hold the line. And I understand that it's terrible for you. It's terrible to see people. It's terrible to see democracy burn around you. But you really are a last line of defense. And for you kidnappers known as ICE agents, understand this. You will never be [ __ ] forgiven for your crimes ever. The soldiers, I can understand. They took an oath. They're duty bound to be there. They can't just quit. You could [ __ ] reclass tomorrow and go work for FEMA or do something else. If you choose to put a mask on, if you choose to send people to concentration camps, if you choose to do that [ __ ] you will be a mortal [ __ ] enemy forever. When that [ __ ] demon is gone from the White House, you will be hunted just like you hunted them. You will be hunted. You will never have a [ __ ] moment of peace. Period. Out of everybody I despise the most, ICE at the top of the list right now. You guys are [ __ ] traitors, man. And the fact that you let Proud Boys and Oathke keepers and all these [ __ ] insurrectionists on the team that let you know, man. Listen, I'mma tell you something too to you Proud Boys. I don't give a [ __ ] if that fell anoints you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We not going to recognize that [ __ ] in these streets. Understand that [ __ ] So when you come out here, be ready for those one-way missions. All right? It's all fun and games until you deal with heavily armed veterans who are willing to match and see your energy. Hell will flash trees over before I let anybody in my family be taken. Period. I don't give a [ __ ] And you could tag that fake ass god of war himself. [ __ ] him, too. Right. I don't give a damn about any of these demons, man. Ice is an absolute scourge. You should you should hold your head in shame forever for the [ __ ] you doing. You will never be forgiven for that [ __ ] If you had a shred of dignity, you would reclass tomorrow. Sorry, guys. That [ __ ] just pisses me off, man. Can't stand these [ __ ] demons, man. It's got to come from the heart. Yeah, I can't I cannot I cannot stand these guys, man. I watched, you know, people out here running for their [ __ ] life, man. That lady in Walmart running for like hours, man. Hiding and notice they going after people who working. Yeah. Right. They sat here. Immigration itself is really about white supremacy. Let's just cut to the chase. Immigration has always served to keep America white. They tell you whatever [ __ ] lie from operation wet back. This is goes back in history. So we know now you really see what America is about. They put white supremacy over everything over the rule of law, over the separation of powers. And now they want to fund ICE at a higher rate than they fund the Marine Corps. That is the danger. That means they're going to use these people to stay in power. Right? They're using them right now. If you see, they desensitize the military already to kill people, right? They're telling you it's okay to kill drug dealers and kill because they're they're moving drugs. You can kill them now. Right? So, they're going to continue to decentize these people before they turn the guns on us. We need to be ready before that moment happens. Got a good night's sleep. And I tell you, whether it takes 10 months or 10 years, we must be absolutely relentless in our fight against white supremacy. All right. You good? Is there anything else you want to get off your chest? No, I think I said it all, guys. Listen, I'm pretty sure I've earned my way on any list, any watch list. So, and that's all right. I'll be proud to be on that [ __ ] You're inspiring.
The president is unhinged’: Trump’s online behavior grows increasingly odd By Adam Gabbatt in New York The Guardian Sun 5 Oct 2025 10.00 EDT
The US president’s recent behavior is strange to many, from reposting a false AI video of himself to confusing comments during press conferences
[X] Donald Trump in the Oval Office in September. Photograph: Ken Cedeno/Reuters
To many observers, both in the US and abroad, Donald Trump has been behaving strangely recently. Especially online.
As a government shutdown loomed in the US last week, the president posted an AI video which depicted Hakeem Jeffries, the first Black House minority leader, wearing a sombrero and exaggerated moustache, with mariachi music playing in the background.
Hispanic groups criticized Trump’s posts as “racist”, “dangerous” and “reprehensible”, but Trump doubled down, posting a new video which showed himself wearing a sombrero and playing the guitar behind a rendering of Jeffries.
It wasn’t the only situation where Trump’s behavior has seemed unusual. Last weekend Trump reposted to Truth Social an AI-generated fake video which promoted “med bed hospitals”. Trump has reposted AI content before, but the difference was that this video showed an AI version of himself speaking.
“Every American will soon receive their own med bed card,” the AI rendering of Trump, apparently seated in the Oval Office, said. “With it, you’ll have guaranteed access to our new hospitals led by the top doctors in the nation, equipped with the most advanced technology in the world.”
Setting aside the fact that the idea of “med beds” is a rightwing conspiracy theory – one version of the theory posits that the government and/or a group of wealthy Americans have access to medical bed-like devices that can cure almost every illness, but are withholding the technology – Trump’s post prompted a number of questions.
Did Trump, 79, believe that the video really showed him announcing med bed hospitals? Does the president think he gave a speech about med beds at the White House? Does he believe that his government is about to send “med bed cards” to every US citizen?
The post was ultimately deleted, but it remains baffling, and the White House’s response did little to allay the confusion.
“I think the president saw the video and posted it, and then took it down,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said when asked about the video on Wednesday.
“And he has the right to do that. It’s his social media. He’s incredibly transparent, as you all know. You hear from him directly on social media. He likes to share memes, he likes to share videos, he likes to repost things that he sees other people post on social media as well and I think it’s quite refreshing that we have a president who is so open and honest.”
Leavitt’s words did little to explain Trump’s thinking as to why he might have posted the fake video. But, in truth, it was only the most recent example of increasingly odd behavior from Trump, who has – like his predecessor Joe Biden – been subject to questions over his mental acuity in recent months.
In a recent speech at the White House where Trump claimed – against most existing evidence – that Tylenol could contribute to autism if women take it during pregnancy, Trump confusingly spoke of “certain elements of genius that can be given to a baby”.
Announcing that 13 grants would be awarded to investigate autism, Trump added: “They have to move quickly. They, they – when the alternative is that nothing bad can happen, let’s do it now. I was just saying to Bobby [health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr] and the group, let’s do it now. Nothing bad can happen, it can only good happen.”
A week earlier, during a press conference with British prime minister Keir Starmer, Trump confused Albania with Armenia when discussing a peace deal struck between Armenia and Azerbaijan – a mistake Trump also made during an appearance on Fox News.
Back in the social media world, on Sunday Trump wrote on Truth Social that he had “been briefed” on a shooting at a Mormon church in Michigan which killed four people. “The Trump Administration will keep the Public posted, as we always do,” Trump wrote.
He did indeed post again. But it was not an update on the still unfolding tragedy in Michigan. Instead, three hours later, he shared a video which showed an array of gold fixtures and fittings.
“Some of the highest quality 24 Karat Gold used in the Oval Office and Cabinet Room of the White House. Foreign Leaders, and everyone else, ‘freak out’ when they see the quality and beauty. Best Oval Office ever, in terms of success and look!!! President DJT,” he wrote.
He did not comment again that day on the Michigan shooting, although he did complain about the new NFL kickoff rule.
Setting aside Trump’s confusing online behavior, the president’s in-person appearances have also become odd.
On Tuesday, Trump summoned the country’s top military commanders to a meeting in Virginia. Addressing the top military brass, Trump, sounding drained, touted his alleged successes and lauded the US bombing of an Iran nuclear facility – something which may have violated international law – before saying:
“America is respected again as a country. We were not respected with Biden. They looked at him falling down stairs every day. Every day, the guy’s falling down stairs.”
Trump continued: “I said: ‘It’s not our president. We can’t have it.’ I’m very careful, you know, when I walk downstairs for – like I’m on stairs, like these stairs, I’m very – I walk very slowly. Nobody has to set a record, just try not to fall because it doesn’t work out well. A few of our presidents have fallen and it became a part of their legacy.
“We don’t want that. Need to walk nice and easy. You not have – you don’t have to set any record. Be cool, be cool when you walk down, but don’t, don’t bop down the stairs. That’s the one thing with Obama, I had zero respect for him as a president, but he would bop down those stairs, I’ve never seen – da da da da da da, bop, bop, bop, he’d go down the stairs, wouldn’t hold on. I said, it’s great, I don’t want to do it. I guess I could do it, but eventually bad things are going to happen and it only takes once, but he did a lousy job as president.”
In the same speech, Trump claimed that cities including San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles are “very unsafe places and we’re going to straighten them out one by one”. The president then casually mentioned that he had told Pete Hegseth, the newly-annointed secretary of war, that “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military”.
The address prompted immediate concern, including from former military members. Barry McCaffrey, a retired general, told MSNBC that Trump’s performance was “one of the most bizarre, unsettling events I’ve ever encountered”.
“The president sounded incoherent, exhausted, rabidly partisan, at times stupid, meandering, couldn’t hold a thought together,” McCaffrey said.
Trump’s speech was enough for Madeleine Dean, a Democratic congresswoman from Pennsylvania, to confront the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, in Washington on Wednesday, although Johnson appeared unconcerned.
“The president is unhinged. He is unwell,” Dean told Johnson, in an encounter filmed by journalists.
“Well a lot of folks on your side are too,” Johnson responded.
On the ground with Northern Gaza's Trail of Tears The Grayzone Sep 30, 2025 #TheGrayzone
The Grayzone takes a look at the forced exodus of refugees from northern Gaza as Israel's military deliberately destroys their homes to force them south in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. We hear from those on the move with all they can carry, fleeing for their lives from the nightly bombardments and shelling.
Edited and written by Oscar Leon Camera by Mohamed Elsaife Translated by Hekmat Aboukhater Produced by Max Blumenthal
Тrumр FLЕЕЅ ТО МАR-А-LАGО аnd ЅUDDЕΝLΥ gеtѕ а ΝАЅТΥ ЅURРRІЅЕ Ѕundау nіght! The People's Majority Oct 5, 2025
Тrumр FLЕЕЅ ТО МАR-А-LАGО аnd ЅUDDЕΝLΥ gеtѕ а ΝАЅТΥ ЅURРRІЅЕ Ѕundау nіght!Тrumр FLЕЕЅ ТО МАR-А-LАGО аnd ЅUDDЕΝLΥ gеtѕ а ΝАЅТΥ ЅURРRІЅЕ Ѕundау nіght!Тrumр FLЕЕЅ ТО МАR-А-LАGО аnd ЅUDDЕΝLΥ gеtѕ а ΝАЅТΥ ЅURРRІЅЕ Ѕundау nіght!Тrumр FLЕЕЅ ТО МАR-А-LАGО аnd ЅUDDЕΝLΥ gеtѕ а ΝАЅТΥ ЅURРRІЅЕ Ѕundау nіght!Тrumр FLЕЕЅ ТО МАR-А-LАGО аnd ЅUDDЕΝLΥ gеtѕ а ΝАЅТΥ ЅURРRІЅЕ Ѕundау nіght!Тrumр FLЕЕЅ ТО МАR-А-LАGО аnd ЅUDDЕΝLΥ gеtѕ а ΝАЅТΥ ЅURРRІЅЕ Ѕundау nіght!Тrumр FLЕЕЅ ТО МАR-А-LАGО аnd ЅUDDЕΝLΥ gеtѕ а ΝАЅТΥ ЅURРRІЅЕ Ѕundау nіght!Тrumр FLЕЕЅ ТО МАR-А-LАGО аnd ЅUDDЕΝLΥ gеtѕ а ΝАЅТΥ ЅURРRІЅЕ Ѕundау nіght!Тrumр FLЕЕЅ ТО МАR-А-LАGО аnd ЅUDDЕΝLΥ gеtѕ а ΝАЅТΥ ЅURРRІЅЕ Ѕundау nіght!Тrumр FLЕЕЅ ТО МАR-А-LАGО аnd ЅUDDЕΝLΥ gеtѕ а ΝАЅТΥ ЅURРRІЅЕ Ѕundау nіght!Тrumр FLЕЕЅ ТО МАR-А-LАGО аnd ЅUDDЕΝLΥ gеtѕ а ΝАЅТΥ ЅURРRІЅЕ Ѕundау nіght!
Transcript
We have more breaking news at this hour. In fact, Governor Gavin Newsome posted just a short time ago, President Trump is sending hundreds of California National Guard to Oregon and he is ready to fight it. MSNBC Pentagon correspondent Pria Shrether who is standing by for us at the Norfolk Naval Station where the president is a uh attending a ship ceremony for the 250th anniversary of the Navy. You're joining us now to talk about this. So, um, first let's talk about what Trump spoke about earlier relative to Portland Priya. What did he say and what more do we know about that deployment? Our next demonstration. Yeah, that's right, Alex. Well, we know that the Trump administration has already appealed that federal judge in Oregon's decision to essentially halt the deployment of 200 Oregon National Guardsmen for a period of 14 days to the 9inth Circuit Court. We also know, as you mentioned, that according to Governor Nuome, uh, the Trump administration has actually decided to federalize 300 California National Guardsmen and send them to Oregon. I'm going to read the tweet that he just posted online. He said, "After a federal court blocked his attempt to federalize the Oregon National Guard, Donald Trump is deploying 300 California National Guard personnel into Oregon. They are on their way there now. We're taking this fight back to court. The public cannot stay silent in the face of such reckless and authoritarian conduct by the president of the United States. And the president did address that Portland judge's decision at the recent gaggle on the south lawn, saying that this is a judge that he appointed himself and that they should be uh ashamed of their decision. Take a listen to a little bit more about what he had to say about what's going on in Portland. Portland is burning to the ground. It's uh insurrectionists all over the place. It's Antifa. And yet the politicians who are petrified. Look, the politicians are afraid for their lives. That's the only reason that they say like there's nothing happening. And you've seen it. The place is burning down and they pretend like there's nothing happening. The approach has been aborted. Now, just last week, President Trump and the Secretary of Defense Pete Hexath addressed a host of senior military leaders who flew in from all over the world to Marine Corps Base Quantico. And there, President Trump said that the United States military should use dangerous American cities as a training ground. And that's exactly what he's doing with these different National Guard deployments in places like Memphis, Portland, Chicago, Washington DC, and Los Angeles. He claims that he was able to clean up the crime in Washington DC in a matter of 12 days. And that's what he's hoping to do in these other cities too. As far as what exactly those 300 National Guardsmen from California are actually going to do, that remains unknown. We what the president is saying, he's lying. Speaker Johnson's lying. They're lying to the American people. It's shameful. Um period, full stop. Uh they know that. I mean they they can't even hide that fact. You can see their physiology and almost a smile on their face uh when they suggest that. So I reject the premise of their assertions. Period. Full stop. Can you explain how it's different for medical states have the ability to do what states do independent of the federal u uh contributions and uh so they're completely I mean what they're I guess they're trying to connect their displeasure with what California and many other states do with state resources in this space. Um and that is a very separate conversation. It's a separate topic. It has nothing to do with their assertions in relationship to the government shutdown. Governor, you've seen it across the board. People are scared to death of this guy. And it's it's the appalling silence. It's the complicity. You're seeing the most successful, wealthiest people scared to death of this guy. It It makes me sick. Is it is it worth it to you to watch this 249 years just vanish in real time? She asked about the Supreme Court. It's part of that. I'm old enough to remember in the history books this notion of the enduring values of our founding fathers, the best of the Roman Republic, Greek democracy, popular sovereignty. It's trying to rig the elections. This notion of co-equal branches of government. I said supine Congress, supine Supreme Court rolling over to this guy. It's no longer the rule of law. It's increasingly the rule of dawn. It is a serious moment in world history and we're losing our moral authority by the hour as he continues to exercise his formal authority by the minute. M breaking news with more reaction to the White House deploying 300 California National Guard troops to Oregon and that state's Democratic Governor Tina Cotek says some arrived last night and more are expected today. California Governor Gavin Newsome said he's going to fight Trump's move in court. And joining me now is California Congressman Jimmy Gomez. He is a member of the Ways and Means Committee. And Congressman, I welcome you back to the show. And I'm curious, sir, your response to the president sending troops from your state to handle an alleged crime problem in another. And your response to Trump telling top military leaders that US cities should be used as training grounds to fight the quote enemy within. Well, first, this is something that we knew Trump would do. He would continuously abuse his power and the power to deploy and uh federalize National Guard all over the country. And that's what he's done in California and across uh the nation. The move to send California National Guard is a I think a violation of the spirit of the judgment that was ruled by one of his own appointees that the conditions to deploy the National Guard or the military to Portland do not exist. There's no insurrection going on. So what he's done is ignored a court order uh violating the spirit of the law. And if he continues to do it, he's gonna do it again and again and again. And when it comes to when he had that, I would say just disgusting display. Um addressing the our leaders, our military leaders from all over the globe. Uh it was just an abuse of power, but also says that we're not serious. And then trying to say that the enemy is the American people itself, US citizens. That is dangerous. And what I think he's doing is he's trying to normalize having troops on the ground. He's trying to normalize saying that the enemy within should be um attacked. It should be uh contained even though there's no such enemy and he's going to use the military to do it. I'm proud that the military they were obeying orders. They were there to listen to the speech, but at least they didn't react because they know what he's doing is wrong and is not what America or the military stands for. H let's go from there to the government shutdown because besides restoring health care subsidies, the shutdown fight is Democrats response to critics who say they're not doing enough to oppose President Trump's agenda. Is the party's message strong enough to convince voters that this fight is worth all the pain caused by this shutdown? And how long can Democrats stay united as this shutdown drags on? It is now day five of the government shutdown with congressional leaders doubling down, blaming the other party for what could be a lengthy stalemate. The Democratic House minority leader today saying the White House and Republicans are refusing negotiations to reopen the government, while the House Speaker claimed the shutdown is just a Democratic ploy to help Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's re-election bid. Take a listen. The last time there was a conversation with Republican leadership was in the White House meeting last Monday. And unfortunately since that point in time, Republicans, including Donald Trump, have gone radio silent. And what we've seen is negotiation through deep fake videos, the House cancelling votes, uh, and of course, President Trump spending yesterday on the golf course. That's not responsible behavior. They're not serious. This is not a serious negotiation. And they're doing this to get political cover because Chuck Schumer is afraid that he won't win his next re-election bid to the Senate because he's going to be challenged by a Marxist in New York because that's the new popular thing out there. Joining us now is the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, Congressman Robert Garcia of California. He is a member of the Oversight and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees. Welcome back to the broadcast. So, let's look at the recent polls which show Americans are blaming President Trump and Republicans for the shutdown, but a significant share of voters aren't sure who's responsible. Democrats position isn't just about extending ACA tax credits. It's about showing voters they are fighting back against the Trump agenda. Why is the shutdown fight the right tactic? Can Democrats still win the messaging battle if they don't get their healthcare concessions? People need to be very clear about what's about to happen and why we're in this fight. Over the next few months, folks are going to start receiving letters in the mail. They're going to be notified by their insurance companies, by their healthcare providers that their premiums are about to skyrocket. In some cases, they're going to double or even further than that, their costs are going to go up. And so at a moment where people are struggling to pay for housing, to pay for groceries, the last thing that the American public, working-class families need is for their health care costs to go up. Which is why we are so adamant at this moment that Donald Trump and Republicans do not allow these Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire. That is why we are willing to take on Donald Trump to stand firm and stand tall. And Senate Democrats shouldn't give Donald Trump one single vote to pass his budget that not only takes away and harms health care, but gives more to billionaires and large corporations in this country, which is exactly why we've got to stand tall in this moment. It was suggested earlier on the broadcast that we've got about 3 weeks or so until people start getting those notices and open them up and go, "What?" Which means Democrats have to hang on at least that long. Is that a fair assessment? Look, personally, I'm I'm hanging on as long as possible here. We We have to We have to stand tall. Donald Trump has been all about terrorizing communities, sending the National Guard and the military into American cities, kidnapping people off of our streets, taking rights away. He He is using the government to weaponize and fight his own citizens in this country. And so, right now, enough. I mean, Democrats need to have and match the energy of the people on the ground. They're demanding folks to stand up and fight Donald Trump. And so, I think right now, this healthc care fight is a righteous one and one that we've got to be in. And look, I just I obviously just heard Mike Johnson's comments uh that that you played. I mean, Mike Johnson now apparently likes to lie as much as as Donald Trump. I mean, give me a break. Donald Trump is playing golf while he should be negotiating a safe landing for healthcare in this country. He could care less that millions of people in this country are about to see their health care costs explode. He could care less that 17 million people will likely see their Medicaid taken away or dramatically reduce over the course of the next few years. And so these are all because Donald Trump wants to continue to give massive tax breaks to billionaires. That's what this is all about. And so we've got to stand tall and and I know it's tough. Government shutdowns are hard. People do get impacted. Government workers need our support. But these same government workers and working families are telling me to stand tall and to ensure that healthcare costs don't go up. Newsome isn't my favorite on an ideological basis. If I was making a list of the people that I would support or I would recommend you guys support in 2028, he would not be at the top of the list. I'd probably put at least three, four, five people ahead of him. I'd probably put Pritsker ahead. I'd put Oaf ahead. I would put AOC at the top probably, you know, like I'd have a list of people, but he's been undeniably much better than most at generating buzz and interest in getting under Trump's skin, getting under his skin in a lot of ways that angers Trump and that exposes him. You've seen Trump change a little bit on social media after Newsome mocked him. Remember how Newsome, he's still doing it, but remember how a few weeks ago, a couple months ago, for the last couple months, he he started tweeting in all caps and started sharing ridiculous memes and started calling himself like grandiose things and everyone knew it was like it was him mimicking and mocking Donald Trump, copying him, right? And Trump almost chilled for a little bit because I think he realized he's like, "Is this what I'm really like?" even even no awareness Donnie was like this is a bit much and I think Newsome by continuing to fight in this regard by balancing we're going to take Trump on because he's serious and we got to deal with this serious harm he's causing but also mocking him for being the buffoon that he is. This is important and you're seeing other California Democrats, including California members of of the federal uh representatives, you know, federal representatives rather than state level, say much of the same things. I don't know guys whether you think Nuome should be president or not, you should definitely listen to him when it comes to triggering MAGA. Go.
Trump’s Federal Agents Just RAN FOR THEIR LIVES In CHICAGO Occupy Democrats and The Michael Fanone Show Oct 5, 2025
Donald Trump‘s masked federal agents just fled for their lives in Chicago! Well done, Chicago!
Transcript
In today's breaking story, Trump's federal agents just ran for their lives in Chicago. That's right, Donald Trump's chaos continues to get more and more out of control. How's it going everybody? Hunter Avalone here with Occupy Democrats. Welcome back to another video. Now, Donald Trump continues putting his federal agents in a bunch of Democrat cities because he is buttth hurt. He's scorned. And that's pretty much all there is to it. But now things might be getting even worse. Been doing uh the Department of War has been deploying National Guardsmen to dangerous downtowns throughout this country. Uh if a young man or woman signs up today, are they more likely to deploy in their career to the Middle East or to the Midwest? Well, I'll tell you this. The era of sort of reckless adventurism around the globe is over. uh we're introducing President Trump is clear missions, clear end states. I mean, even the renaming of the department from the Department of Defense to the Department of War is about clarity. We're not interested in endless unclear missions. You go to war, you go to war decisively with a clear mission to win it and then come home. So, you're not going to see nation building abroad. In that sense, they're less likely. And things are not going well for Donald Trump's agents. For one, Christine Gnome recently complained that her agents can barely even use the restroom. Being as these officers are arresting these bad criminals, and out of the 12 that we arrested during the short period of time I was there, six of them had criminal records in their backgrounds that the state had arrested them and just turned them loose on the street again for assault, for weapons possession, for robbery. Those individuals now are be off the streets thanks to President Trump, not thanks to that mayor who's delusional at best. So, do you tie a direct line between the rhetoric from people like Mayor Johnson and other Democrats to the actual increase in assaults and the threat of violence? Oh, absolutely. He's giving them air cover. He's giving them air cover so they can go out and keep committing crimes. Uh it's wrong. Uh there should be consequences for that and for leaders that stand up and knowingly lie about the situation on the ground. This is a war zone. his city is a war zone and he's lying so that criminals can go in there and destroy people's lives. Uh you know those individuals that live there are waking up to it. They understand that where we have gone uh we've made it much more free. People are much safer. We've got a thousand criminals that are off the streets of Chicago just because we've been there not because of his help. Uh and in fact they don't even let our ICE officers and our border patrol officers use restrooms in facilities. Those men and women were telling us that they have to figure out even where they can go sit down for 5 minutes to have lunch or to use a restroom throughout their shift and their break. So, they've made it a very uh difficult situation. But what I was so encouraged by was these officers love their jobs. And now Trump's federal agents just ran for their lives in Chicago. That's right. Take a look at today's top story. [Music] Are you migra? [Music] Let him go. [Music] Dirty ass mother. [Applause] Now, shocking scenes out of Chicago show President Trump's own Department of Homeland Security agents literally running for their lives. Viral videos posted online capture two masked federal agents attempting to arrest a man in the middle of a busy street. Within seconds, horns blare, crowds gather, and protesters swarm. The agents struggle, eventually releasing the man before scrambling back into an unmarked vehicle and fleeing the scene. But what is even more stunning is what happened next. According to multiple reports, the Chicago Police Department was explicitly ordered not to assist. Fox News correspondent Bill Malugan confirmed that the city's chief of patrol instructed officers to ignore calls for backup when border patrol agents were surrounded during another clash involving a ramming incident and the shooting of an armed woman. This marks a new level of chaos. Federal agents already on edge from violent confrontations now find themselves abandoned by local police departments that refuse to shield them. And the political fallout is just beginning. Homeland Security Secretary Christy Gnome went on Fox News Sunday blasting Chicago as a war zone where her agents are not even welcome to use restrooms. What we are witnessing is unprecedented. the breakdown of cooperation between federal and local law enforcement, leaving Trump's DHS agents isolated, outnumbered, and vulnerable on city streets. Thanks so much for watching. Please click that like button and subscribe to Occupy Democrats so that you can stay informed and help us stop Donald Trump.
Maddow Just EXPOSED Trump With An UNDERCOVER VIDEO Occupy Democrats Sep 30, 2025
Rachel Maddow just dropped bombshell undercover footage on Donald Trump!
Transcript
In today's breaking story, Rachel Maddow just exposed Donald Trump with undercover footage. That's right. Anytime the camera is left rolling, it spells trouble for Donald Trump. How's it going everybody? Hunter Avalone here with Occupy Democrats. Welcome back to another video. Now, scandal after scandal continues to haunt the Trump administration. Four sources familiar with the investigation and a government document reviewed by MSNBC say Homeman was not entrapped by undercover FBI agents as Levit suggested, but rather that those agents were repeatedly steered to Homeman by one of his own associates. Julian Jace Caldera, a former US immigration official who worked under Homeman in the Obama administration, allegedly proposed to the agents who were posing as businessmen that Homeman could help them win lucrative federal contracts if Donald Trump became president again in exchange for $1 million. Calderas first allegedly proposed the scheme in May 2023 and continued to do so for more than a year until that September 2024 meeting in Dallas where agents allegedly recorded Homeman accepting $50,000 in cash. Instead of immediately moving to file charges th those agents waited to see what would happen after Homeman joined the Trump administration as the nation's top immigration official. But when Donald Trump won, his DOJ shut the whole investigation down. And still, Democrats continue to stand up to Donald Trump's antics. If the government does shut down, traditionally workers are furled and then when the government reopens, they they come back and they get paid. The president is suggesting, well, actually, we may just permanently fire a lot of them. Yeah. I would just simply say House Democrats are not going to be intimidated by his threats. I understand that the president and House Republicans have forgotten that Congress is a co-equal branch of our government. House Democrats have not. And at the end of the day, we don't work for Donald Trump. We work for the American people. And I also just think this discussion, this debate that we're having can't be considered in a vacuum. You have to consider the context of what the president of the United States has been doing to the federal government for the last nine months. He has dismantled agencies by executive fiat. He's purging the federal government of civil servants at land management agencies like the Forest Service and elsewhere, ignoring congressional appropriations, pursuing his political enemies, politicizing the Department of Justice, indicting them. It's ridiculous. And at the end of the day, to expect that Democrats would endorse this kind of activity and support a Republican budget bill that exacerbates the cost of living crisis that they have created in which they have made everything more expensive for Americans and for Coloradoatans that I represent is ridiculous. That that is not there's no credible argument that could be made. They know that as I said, these are not serious people. And now Rachel Maddo just exposed Donald Trump with undercover footage. That's right. Take a look at today's top story. Well, thanks to body cam footage released by a federal court just this afternoon, we now know that the mayor of Newark was right when he said that that arrest did not arise organically from anything that happened on the ground at that ICE facility. He said at the time that his arrest appeared to have been ordered specifically by top Trump officials in Washington. Well, now today we can see with our own eyes that that appears to be true. No, no, I got it. I got it. We're taking him right now. All right, let me just let me wait an hour. Okay. No, I'm I'm going to take him right now. [Music] Okay. You're kidding. Okay. Even though we stepped out, I'm going to put him in for over an hour and we have the right to be in. All right. I'm coughing him right now. All right, guys. Listen to me. We're going to walk out of the gates. I'm going to place the mayor in handcuffs. Okay? We are arresting the mayor right now. Per the deputy attorney general of the United States. Anyone that gets in their way, I need you guys to give me a perimeter so I can cuff them and get them on there. If you have body cams, turn them on. Okay. His security clearly has a is on and went for his weapon while we were engaging. So, please let you take a minute. Welcome back. Okay. Okay. I already told him on camera that he was under arrest. We're going to place him under arrest. All right, guys. Stay with us. Be careful. Yeah, let's do one. I'll bring it. [Music] Don't hurt me. Don't touch me. Don't touch me. Don't touch me. Don't touch me, brother. Just calm down. Don't touch me. Don't touch me. Don't touch me, brother. [Music] Lock up. Don't touch us. Don't touch us. Don't touch us. I got you. I got you. [Music] I got you. I got you. Back up. Can you do this? Get in my tongue. Get over her. Chaos. Total total chaos. This is the chaos they created again outside of this facility beyond the closed gates which they opened to walk outside the facility to create that chaos. These officers appear to have no idea what they are doing. They've been told, apparently from Washington, to make sure they put handcuffs on the mayor of the largest city of New Jersey. And they approach that task the way a group of six-year-olds on an uncoached soccer team might approach kickoff. Just run in there and scream and push and see what happens. Thanks so much for watching. Please click that like button and subscribe to Occupy Democrats so that you can stay informed and help us stop Donald Trump.
Gaza Ceasefire Talks Begin in Egypt Today Oct 06, 2025
Negotiations are set to begin in Egypt today after Hamas and Israel agreed to parts of President Trump’s 20-point plan for a Gaza ceasefire. On Friday, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly!” Trump made the comment after Hamas issued a response to Trump’s plan without accepting all of the conditions. The deal calls for a swap of all remaining hostages in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, as well as an eventual Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza. But major questions remain over what both Israel and Hamas will agree to.
Israel Kills Seven Palestinians in Gaza Today Oct 06, 2025
Despite Trump’s call for Israel to stop bombing Gaza, the death toll continues to rise. On Sunday, Israeli forces killed at least 24 Palestinians. Another seven have been killed so far today. Displaced Palestinians in Gaza City expressed hope that a deal to end the two-year war could be reached.
Mahmoud Rihan: “We urge the negotiators, we urge the United States president, Donald Trump, even the state of Israel, the state of Palestine, all states of the world and the Arab states, to end this suffering we are living in completely and to start the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. We are displaced in the streets. We are living in the streets. Women are humiliated. Our children are humiliated. There are no schools. There is no life.”
Tens of Thousands Rally in Tel Aviv in Support of Hostage Deal Oct 06, 2025
In Israel, tens of thousands rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday to support a deal to free the hostages. On Sunday, hostage families set up a protest tent outside the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
Federal Judge Blocks Trump from Deploying National Guard Troops to Oregon Oct 06, 2025
For the second time in two days, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Oregon has blocked the president from sending National Guard troops to the state, saying his claims about unrest in Portland were “untethered to facts.” In a ruling on Sunday night, Judge Karin Immergut blocked Trump from sending the California National Guard to Portland. Oregon Governor Tina Kotek praised the ruling, saying, “This is not just about Oregon or a handful of states anymore — it’s about the integrity of our democracy.”
White House adviser Stephen Miller has accused the judge of engaging in a “legal insurrection” by blocking the deployment of the National Guard. Miller’s comment comes as the White House considers a plan to send the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division to Portland.
Trump Admin Plans to Send Hundreds of National Guard Troops to Chicago Oct 06, 2025
New court filings show the Trump administration plans to send hundreds of National Guard troops from Illinois and Texas to Chicago. On Sunday, Governor JB Pritzker said, “We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion.”
This comes as federal immigration agents expand their violent crackdown in Chicago amid growing protests. On Saturday, federal agents shot a woman in Chicago allegedly after a group of cars boxed in patrolling officers. The woman is now facing numerous charges. Chicago Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez denounced the federal response.
Byron Sigcho-Lopez: “We’re in Brighton Park in Chicago on 39th and Kedzie. There was a shooting earlier, an ICE-involved shooting. We want to demand an investigation because they are escalating violence. They are escalating violence in the city. This is not making anyone safer. These raids, I mean, you saw that the raids they just did a few days ago, they were innocent people. They have not — they have not shown the need to go and terrorize families in the middle of the night, zip-locking kids, getting people naked in the middle of the street. Is that public safety? Is this public safety, ended up with a shooting, some being chased and now wrecked in a few blocks away from here? This is not keeping nobody safe, and they know that.”
Trump Uses Shutdown to Withhold Federal Funding from Democratic-Led Cities and States Oct 06, 2025
The government shutdown has entered its sixth day. President Trump is using the shutdown to withhold federal funding from Democratic-led cities and states. Russell Vought, the White House budget director, announced that the administration would pause $2.1 billion in funding for Chicago’s infrastructure projects, writing on social media that the move is to “ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting.” It follows a similar announcement last week, when the administration halted $18 billion in infrastructure funding for New York.
WaPo: Trump Admin Looking to Change Age Requirements for Social Security Disability Payments Oct 06, 2025
The Washington Post is reporting that the Trump administration is working on a plan to change age requirements for Americans to qualify for Social Security disability payments by raising the qualifying age to 60 or eliminating age as a factor entirely. The Post cited a paper showing that 750,000 fewer people would receive benefits in the next decade if the proposed rule change goes into effect.
U.S. Forces Bomb Another Boat Off the Coast of Venezuela, Killing Four People Oct 06, 2025
U.S. forces have bombed another boat off the coast of Venezuela, killing four people. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed the boat was transporting drugs, but offered no evidence. President Trump recently declared the U.S. to be in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, in a move to give the president extraordinary power to launch attacks in Latin America. On Sunday, Trump spoke at a celebration of the Navy’s 250th anniversary and threatened to begin launching attacks on Latin America.
President Donald Trump: “Well, they’re not coming in by sea anymore, so now we’ll have to start looking about the land, because they’ll be forced to go by land. And let me tell you right now: That’s not going to work out well for them, either.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro denounced the U.S. attacks in Latin America.
President Gustavo Petro: “Why did they fire missiles? That’s called murder. And it’s the murder of young people who should have other opportunities, which we must give them.”
Russia Fires More Than 50 Missiles and Nearly 500 Drones at Ukraine Oct 06, 2025
Ukraine says Russia fired more than 50 missiles and nearly 500 drones in an overnight attack on Sunday, killing five people, including a 15-year-old girl. The attacks also left tens of thousands of Ukrainians without power. Meanwhile, Poland deployed fighter jets to secure its airspace.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu Resigns Less Than a Day After Forming His Cabinet Oct 06, 2025
France’s Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu resigned on Monday, less than a day after forming his Cabinet and less than a month since being appointed as prime minister. That leaves French President Emmanuel Macron to decide on whether to dissolve Parliament and call another snap election. It comes as tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in recent demonstrations led by trade unions denouncing budget cuts.
Global Sumud Flotilla Activists Allege Mistreatment by Israel in Detention Oct 06, 2025
Israel is facing accusations of mistreating international activists who were detained when Israeli forces raided a flotilla of Gaza-bound aid boats, detaining over 435 passengers last week. Several activists who have been deported say they witnessed Israeli officers mistreating the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. One Turkish journalist who was deported from Israel said Israeli authorities “dragged little Greta by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others.” Thunberg is expected to be deported today.
On Sunday, the Spanish activist Rafael Borrego spoke in Madrid after being deported from Israel.
Rafael Borrego: “At any time that any of us called a police officer in prison, we risked that seven or more fully armed people would enter our cell, as they did on mine, pointing us with weapons at our heads, with dogs ready to attack us, and being dragged on the floor. This happened on a daily basis. … They didn’t let us speak to our lawyers at any time. They impeded consular assistance. They didn’t let us call our families — all of this under a very humiliating treatment.”
In other flotilla news, CBS is reporting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly approved military operations on two vessels from the flotilla while it was in Tunisia last month. Two U.S. intelligence officials told CBS that Israeli forces launched drones from a submarine and dropped incendiary devices on the boats.
Major Pro-Palestinian Protests Erupt All Over the World Oct 06, 2025
Hundreds of thousands of protesters took part in pro-Palestinian rallies this weekend across the globe. In the Netherlands, about 250,000 marched in Amsterdam. Major protests were also held in Istanbul, Paris, Rabat and other cities.
In London, police arrested over 440 protesters for supporting Palestine Action, a group that was designated as a terror organization in July, making it illegal for anyone to show support for the group. This is the longtime British peace activist Angie Zelter.
Angie Zelter: “I’m disgusted by the police, actually. They shouldn’t be arresting nonviolent protesters here. We have a right to protest, and Palestine Action is not a violent organization, should never have been proscribed in the first place. They should be arresting the real criminals, OK, which is the people colluding with the genocide, which includes our government, unfortunately.”
Here in the United States, about 100 activists blocked the main entrance to Port Elizabeth in New Jersey to protest the shipment of weapons to Israel. This is Jim Keady, director of Educating for Justice.
Jim Keady: “As you can see, this is a peaceful, nonviolent demonstration. Yes, it is inconvenient for the people that are in these trucks and in the cars that are in front of me here, but, as you can see, there are people that are just exercising their First Amendment rights to free speech. … This slaughter, this genocide needs to stop. Our elected officials have done nothing to stop the flow of weapons to Israel. In fact, they’ve increased the weapons flow over the course of two years. They have given Israel billions of dollars of our tax money, and they have given them the moral and political cover to commit a genocide that we are seeing in high def on our phones every day.”
NYT: Trump Set to Lower Refugee Admissions, Supporting Mostly White South Africans Oct 06, 2025
The New York Times is reporting that President Trump is expected to lower refugee admissions to 7,500 people, a sharp reduction from the cap of 125,000 set by the Biden administration last year. The new limit would support mostly white South Africans. Speaking to the Times, Mark Hetfield, the president of HIAS, a Jewish resettlement agency, said, “Such a low refugee ceiling would break America’s promise to people who played by the rules. Trump isn’t just putting the Afrikaners to the front of the line. He is kicking years-long-waiting refugees out of the line.”
Journalist Mario Guevara Deported to El Salvador After Being Detained by ICE for Over 100 Days Oct 06, 2025
Journalist Mario Guevara was deported to El Salvador on Friday after being detained by ICE for over 100 days. Guevara, who founded the outlet MG News, where he received awards for his coverage on immigration, has lived in the United States for nearly 20 years. He was arrested and jailed in June for live-streaming an anti-Trump “No Kings” demonstration near Atlanta. Guevara spoke to reporters in El Salvador.
Mario Guevara: “Maybe I made a mistake, but I did it for my family. I did it because I held on, because I had hope. I trusted in the United States justice system, because it had always been fair to me. I trusted the United States, right? One of its slogans in the pledge to the flag is 'liberty and justice for all.' That no longer exists. Liberty and justice is only for American citizens. … Journalists who are American citizens can do the work. A journalist like me who is an immigrant with a work permit, no. That’s the new reality in the United States.”
Authorities Probing Alleged Arson Attack at Home of South Carolina Judge Criticized by Trump Admin Oct 06, 2025
Authorities in South Carolina have launched an investigation after the home of South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Diane Goodstein was set on fire. The judge was not home at the time, but three members of her family have been hospitalized, including her husband, a former Democratic state senator. Judge Goodstein had received death threats recently after President Trump’s Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon criticized the judge for temporarily blocking the state’s election commission from releasing its voter files to the Department of Justice.
Scott Ritter : NATO Collapsing. Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom Streamed live 4 hours ago
Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Monday, October 6, 2025. Scott Ritter will be here with us in just a moment on NATO collapsing and on all these other things that we're watching as well. But first, this. Why do so many financial experts call silver the most undervalued asset today? Because silver is essential to the future. From solar tech and electric vehicles to the explosive growth of artificial intelligence, demand is rising fast. And yet, silver is still trading at a bargain. With billions pouring into AI, silver prices have only one place to go, up. Robert Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, says silver may be the most overlooked opportunity on the market and could double or triple by 2026. I believe in hard assets like this bar of silver. You can hold it in your hand or put it in your 401k or IRA. That's why I urge you to call my friends at Lear Capital and get their free report, the AI revolution, and see why silver prices are set to soar. Call 800511-4620. 800511-4620 or go to leerjudsnap.com. Don't wait. The government can print dollars, but it can't print silver. Scott Ritter, welcome here. Uh my dear friend, before we get into uh NATO collapsing and its relationship to Ukraine, the Gaza, neoc colonial, Steve Witkov, Tony Blair, Jared Kushner uh development deal, whatever you want to call it. Why would anybody trust the United States and Israel to negotiate with? They murder the people that negotiate with Israel. Yeah. No. Um You're 100% correct. Uh why would anybody enter a negotiation of this nature? One, I think it's imperative that Hamas um keep Israel on its back foot. And Israel is on its back foot. Understand this, there would be no Trump deal if Israel thought it was winning this conflict. Uh this deal is only possible by the fact that Hamas's resistance is ongoing, sustained, and unbeatable at this juncture. Um, you know, Israel, again, when they started this ground offensive, this was the final offensive. No more deals, no nothing. We're coming in, we're killing everybody. And yet now they're stalled. They're losing, you know, two two or more tank crews a day. Uh, other guys are getting knocked off with snipers. It It's Hamas is unconquerable. Um, and so Israel has no choice but to go forward. But we know that Israel doesn't negotiate in good faith. the guys that are negotiating on behalf of Hamas were the ones Israel tried to kill in Qatar uh the other day, you know. So, you know, but it's it's imperative for Hamas not to allow Israel to paint Hamas into a corner. Um Hamas must be seen as being willing to do that which is necessary to achieve a peace deal. Uh and so they will. Um I I hope and pray that it works. I mean, if it if if we can get a ceasefire, if we can have the Gazan people stay in their homes, if we can get the Arab world to rebuild Gaza, if we can get Israel to withdraw, if we can move towards a Palestinian state, I mean, these are all, you know, the objectives that Hamas set out when when they began this um crisis back on October 7th. Um but history shows that Israel is incapable of living up to any deal. Uh Israel doesn't want peace. Israel needs war. Netanyahu needs war. His peace is his enemy. If if there is peace, Netanyahu will be kicked out of office, arrested, and put in jail for the rest of his life. So, this is a man who's looking for war. Uh but he also recognizes that Israel is in a very, very bad position right now. Um not only is its military not succeeding, but its economy is floundering. And more importantly for Netanyahu, he's losing the support of the United States. It's slipping away. I mean, it's like, you know, melting like hot wax. Um, you know, Trump has noted that, you know, the iron grip that Israel wants to join on the US Congress isn't there anymore. And we saw with the whole Charlie Kirk thing, you know, Christian evangelicals, Christian Zionists are starting to question, you know, if you're an American, how can you support Israel? And Netanyahu is in an absolute panic. So, there's a there's there's a possibility for peace here. But again, as you said, I don't trust Israel and I certainly don't trust the United States. Why would Hamas give up the hostages and give up their weapons? That's the two are their only um negotiating points. Well, the hostages I think at this juncture have served their purpose. Um I mean the purpose of taking the hostages to begin with was twofold. One, to lure Israel into Gaza and let Israel be Israel, which Israel has done. um committing genocide and alienating the world. If people don't recognize the strategic victory Hamas has achieved here, then they're ignorant of the reality of the Middle East. Israel today is a reviled nation around the world. Nations are kicking Israeli diplomats out of their countries. Other nations are recognizing Palestine. Everybody except the United States recognizes Israel as a practitioner of genocide. Um and and this is a huge victory, a huge victory for Hamas. And that was achievable only by the taking of hostages. Um and then the you know the the the the second thing was to use it to get Palestinians released. Uh people need to remember that the Israelis are holding thousands of Palestinians hostage as we speak. These are people who haven't been charged with anything. These are women. These are children. They're being held by the Israelis, tortured by the Israelis, raped by the Israelis. And um you know Hamas wants them free. And so we're at the juncture now where, you know, Israel has done what Israel is going to do. The world knows what Israel is, and Israel is not going to be able to shake that off. And, you know, right now, the the release of up to, I think, 1,200 plus uh Palestinians who are held hostage by the Israelis, held prisoner, uh, are going to be exchanged. I I think the utility of these hostages has run out. at this point to keep them longer. Um, Hamas runs the risk of being, you know, painted as the bad guys. And, um, you know, already around the world, you know, Hamas is tainted by the United States and Israel as a terrorist organization. Uh, but much of the world recognizes Hamas as a legitimate resistance movement, freedom fighters. Um, and Hamas wants to keep it that way. And I I think at this juncture, from a humanitarian standpoint, there's just nothing further to be gained by holding on to these hostages. Why would Donald Trump have said to Benjamin Netanyahu, uh, stop the bombing in Gaza? And Netanyahu, having figuratively thumbmed his nose at him and accelerated the bombing in Gaza because Israel operates according to Israel. Again, I just want to reiterate to everybody, Israel is not a friend of the United States. Um, you know, Israel does what Israel is going to do and they use America as a tool. But yeah, and and we and we saw this. I I mean, look, there might be a military argument here. I I I struggle to make it, but you know, many of these operations are intelligence-based, planned in advance, um, and they have an execution timetable, and it may have been, um, impossible or very difficult to pull the plug on missions that are already underway. We don't know the complexity of the operation on the ground. Were there ground controllers? were their intelligence uh assets uh things of that nature. So I don't know I you know the I'm just trying to be kind here. Um but the bottom line is I understand that you're trying to be kind. I'm sorry. Go ahead please Scott. The bottom line is Israel's going to do what Israel is going to do. Um well what about the West Bank? Trump says they'll never enex it. They already annexed it. I mean if Trump's going to say you're never going to enex it, then Trump needs to pass a law. get Congress to pass a law that criminalizes the theft of uh Palestinian land and makes any American uh who steals Palestinian land subject to criminal prosecution when they return to the United would never pass a Congress bought and paid for by Apac wouldn't pass a Congress bought and paid for by Apac. But as the president has noted, that Congress may not exist much longer. Um, and when the reality of what these sellers have done, many Americans live in blissful ignorance about the horrific reality of these people, these I don't, you know, this is not an anti-semitic statement, it's an accurate statement. These are Brooklyn Jews who have become radicalized uh, and they go to Israel for the sole purpose of stealing Palestinian land, murdering Palestinians, kicking them out of their homes, and then they settle there. They don't work. These are not gainfully employed people. They sit there and they receive a stipen from the Israeli government courtesy of the American taxpayer. Their healthcare's paid for, their pensions are paid for. Their job is just to steal land and declare it as part of greater Israel. And they're doing that. If the president's serious about not permitting this, then he needs to hold these people criminally liable for what they're doing. Switching over to uh Ukraine, what is the current state of the special military operation? The Russians have made it clear that they're carrying out a war of attrition and their job is to kill Ukrainians and they business is good. The Ukrainians are dying by the bushelful every day in every sector. There's over a battalion worth of Ukrainians being killed. Um the Russians, you know, are not losing anywhere near the casualties that Trump and Kellogg and Woodoff and others are are claiming. Um it is a a bloody war, highintensity war. There are occasions when the Ukrainians do launch localized counterattacks where they achieve temporary drone superiority over a a sector of the battlefield. And when you have drone drone superiority, it's a bad day for anybody underneath. The Russians tend to enjoy jo drone superiority, drone supremacy, but every once the Ukraine are able to surge forward and get it and you kill some Russians. Um the Russians have never denied that they're not taking casualties. But the Russians say that we can handle this. We've got this under control. our casualties are far less than what the Ukrainians are. And Putin made a point of this in his Valdai statement. He said, you know, we're focused on one thing. The army that doesn't have manpower can't fight. And the Ukrainian army is rapidly reaching that point. The Russians are in the business of killing Ukrainians. And they are doing it by the bushelof. And um that's where we are. The Russians advance where they can advance. Every day they're taking, you know, several more uh towns and villages. Um, but their job right now is basically to deplete the Ukrainian military of manpower and they're doing that in a in a very efficient, bloody, horrible way. Is there uh disenchantment amongst Russian elites with the pace of the special military operation? Is there any pressure on President Putin, whether it's some elites or academics or politicians or military personnel or intelligence personnel to um bring about an end to this? Short answer is no. The long answer is look there are some residual elites um you know before the special military operation um you know kicked in there were political and economic elites who had ties back to um the the golden age of western economic and political intervention the 1990s and uh they maintained a certain level of um influence throughout Putin's you know formative years as president and And they've been a problem for Putin because, you know, they represent a linkage to the West that isn't necessarily to the benefit of Russia, but politically Putin, you know, couldn't delink them because there are consequences at the polls. Yes, Vladimir Putin is not a dictator. He is a democratically elected president and if you piss off enough Russians, you don't win the vote. Um but because of the special military operation um the west divorced Russia and these political elites became disenfranchised. Um many of them fled but many of them stayed. So I would say that there might be residual resentment amongst some of these elites but they are so far removed from the center of power it's not even funny. I know what you're talking about and I'm not going to denigrate the person put forward this theory so far off base. That person needs to go to Russia. That person needs to meet with the elites he's talking about. Not look at Russia long distance through Russian television programs. Sit down with Russians, meet with the Russians, see the reality of Russia and see the reality of the the broad spectrum of support that President Putin enjoys amongst the Russian people, elites and non- elites alike. Uh the president Putin's under no pressure from anybody. This man is as pressure free as he could be. Well, I agree with you. You and I have been there. We will both be there very soon. But the person uh we're talking about actually used the unthinkable word coup as o naming names that person was a respected individual used that word. I mean, I got a lot of push back from our friends in Russia over that. I don't subscribe to it. You don't subscribe to it. But he does. Well, I mean, everybody's The beauty of living in a free world is that you have freedom of speech and you get to say what you want to say, but you need to be held accountable for it as well. Uh there is no evidence whatsoever that there's anything remotely resembling the cword taking place in Russia today. Uh just the opposite. Um, you know, the the the big C-word that exists in Russia is corruption. And there is, you know, residual corruption from the time when Putin became president back in 2000 when he was first elected, uh, up through, you know, the mobilization in 2022 when, you know, troops were sent to the mobilization centers only to find that the people managing them had taken the money that was supposed to be used to buy uniforms and maintain weapons and everything and put it in their pockets, bought new cars and new houses. and um the the the Russian that was a big wakeup call. Uh and to this day you see generals, senior generals, senior bureaucrats being arrested for corruption. Um this is a problem, but Putin is cleaning it up. The Russians are cleaning it up. Um sometimes there's overreach and I think my friend Alexander Zeranov was caught up in uh in overreach. Um, but by and large the the the big boogeyman hanging around, you know, Vladimir Putin's presidency was corruption. And that's being cleaned up. And the more he cleans up corruption, the the stronger his hold on power is. Remember, this is not a dictator. This is a man who rules because the Russian people love him. And the last time I saw a coup take place in a nation where the people supported their president democratically by over 80, you know, 80%, it for you've never seen a coup take place. It doesn't happen. Listen, I like and I respect the person who made these uh allegations. He just looks at things differently than uh than the rest of us do. And I from talking to you and other people in Russia, in Moscow, people you and I will be with shortly. not a centilla of evidence for this. Um, is NATO collapsing? Well, NATO's been collapsing for a while. I mean, NATO the collapse of NATO, one could say, began at its birth when uh when it was created for no reason. you know, to to artificially um you know, sustain a crisis environment that uh could keep the United States in, keep the Russians out, keep the Germans down. That was what Lord uh Lord Isme said when one of the first secretary general of NATO. Um but you know NATO's heyday was during the Cold War uh during the 1970s and 80s when you know it became sort of the premier defensive alliance in the military alliance the world has ever seen. But with the collapse of the Soviet Union um that the the justification for this alliance went away. NATO has been struggling ever since. And through that struggle it's primarily a political struggle economic struggle. Um it's not a military struggle because NATO didn't have any real enemies. And so the NATO military atrophied over that time and they became addicted to American weapons. And American weapons just aren't as good as everybody thinks they are. Um and and so now we have NATO, you know, with with militaries that can't fight, can't get out of the barracks, addicted to an American um weapons, you know, supply chain, which has now been proven to be unreliable. Because what happens when America's ally Israel starts banging off weapons and needs it? uh the weapons get taken from other allies, the ones in the Pacific and the ones in Europe. Um it's done and then NATO itself, you know, has is part of a European elite that has committed economic suicide by dellinking Europe from, you know, Russian energy and uh the economic consequences are are horrific. So as is as Europe collapses, NATO collapses and they're both collapsing right now. Does NATO have weapons uh funded or produced by the United States or does the US military in Europe have these weapons? I mean there is no NATO ar there's a commanding general of NATO but there's no NATO army is there. Well actually I mean there is NATO forces. There's forces every every NATO member has a has a military structure and um some of these units are earmarked for NATO. So they're, you know, they have NATO missions, NATO assignments, and other units. Are there US Army and Marines in Europe not subject to American generals, but subject to NATO generals? Well, no. NATO generals are American generals. Uh, the United States isn't subjected to anybody but the president of the United States. That's just the way it works. There's not going to be a foreign general that orders American troops to do jack. Uh, that's just the reality. the commander of ground forces in Europe today is an American fourstar General Christopher Donahghue. Um, and it will always be an American. Um, because we're just not going to allow foreigners to order Americanh troops into combat. That it doesn't work that way. If there's going to be a war in Europe that involves American troops, the president of the United States is going to make the decision to make that happen. Not the secretary general, not the military committee of NATO, nobody. Um, that's that's just a reality. they're, you know, I I think the biggest um, you know, where you see America's influence the largest is in air power because air power has been where uh NATO has been investing a lot of money. You see the F-35s and again it's done, you know, for financial reasons. It's done to help Lohee Martin or whoever the hell makes that aircraft make them a lot of money. Um, you know, we we we sell the F-35s, we sold the F-16s, um, and and and such, but you know, we also sold Patriot missiles, we sold artillery systems, but what they're finding is that the United States has strings attached to everything. And sometimes those strings are attached to uh, you know, walls that get pulled in place to shut down um, the supply of weapons. Patriots, uh, Europe isn't going to see any more patriots. Um, those patriots are going to go to Israel. They're going to go to the United States, both in terms of replenishing what we need in Europe because now we're waking up to the fact that if there is or is a shooting war with Russia, we need a heck of a lot more missiles than we have. And also, if there's going to be a shooting war with China, we need missiles and we're we just don't have them. And so, the United States is basically saying, "We're um we're we're we're shutting down that pipeline for you."
Is Ukraine going to get tomahawks from the United States?
No. Well, first of all, they'd never get them directly from the United States. The discussion that appears to be taking place is that the Netherlands, and if you saw -- the Netherlands' prime minister was just in Ukraine today, doing a solemn march with Zelinsky, you know, celebrating or being sorrowful about the losses, and all this. And the Dutch have been big talkers about how they're going to support. And the Dutch, in 2023, said they wanted to buy the Tomahawk. The Tomahawk sales were approved in 2025. Money has been allocated. It's been tested on Dutch ships. And in 2028, the Tomahawks will begin to be delivered to the Dutch. As the president has said, we will sell weapons to NATO, and then NATO can decide to do what they want. So, the route for the Tomahawk to come to Ukraine, if it does, will be through the Netherlands. But that decision hasn't been made yet. Because the Dutch would have to commit military resources to assist the Ukrainians. The Ukrainians aren't trained up on this. They don't know how to use them. And then the Dutch would have to also make an argument for accelerated delivery of the Tomahawk, because waiting until 2028 for the Tomahawks to come to the Dutch, and then for the Dutch to deliver them to Ukraine -- there won't be Ukraine then. Ukraine is desperate now, right now. If they were ever going to have the need for a long range strike in a hope and a prayer of getting the Russians to come to the negotiating table, it's now. Now it's a feudal thing. If they had used the nuclear tomahawks, it would be a nuclear war, and we'd all be dead.
But the vector wouldn't be from the United States to Ukraine, the vector would be through a NATO country. And right now, the only NATO country that is in the procurement process, is the Netherlands.
Here's the hothead to whom you referred earlier. We've seen this clip, but we'll play it again. General Donahue saying how easy it would be for his troops to take over Kaliningrad.
[Gen. Christopher Donahue] If you look at Kaliningrad, you know, you can argue back and forth, but it's about 47 miles wide, surrounded by NATO on all sides, there's absolutely no reason why that A2AD bubble, to deter Russia, we cannot take that down from the ground in a time frame that is unheard of, and faster than we've ever been able to do. We've already planned that. We've already developed it.
[Judge Napolitano] "Never apologize. Never withdrawing." Why the hell would he have said something like that? That's this past summer. That's just three months ago.
[Scott Ritter] I think he said it because he came into office realizing that NATO was very weak, very weak. And his job is to project an aura of strength. And so I think he was ordered to say this. You know, Chris is smart enough to know that he just can't get ahead of, you know, NATO planning, and what America's willing to support. So, you know, he was ordered to, you know, "We seek peace through strength." And the idea is to appear strong, and make Russia feel vulnerable by projecting a potential threat to Kaliningrad, the hope being that Russia would divert resources to Kaliningrad that otherwise might go to Ukraine, or go up to St. Petersburg, where Russia's putting in a new military district opposite of Finland. And I think that's the purpose. But the bottom line is he just doesn't -- I can't say he doesn't know what he's talking about, but the words he says doesn't reflect the ref, surrounded by NATO. Does he realize that NATO that surrounds Kaliningrad is the Baltics, and Poland, and that neither one of them possess the kind of offensive strike capacity that Donahue is speaking of? If any of these nations tried to crack the Kaliningrad nut, they'd be slaughtered in a heartbeat.
Moreover, Donahue needs to understand that Kaliningrad's not some sort of throwaway territory. It is the Russian Federation. It is mother Russia. And if you go after Kaliningrad, it's like going after Moscow, and you're going to die. And that's what I said to Chris Donahue when he made that statement is, "You just committed suicide," because there is an Iskander-S -- that's a new missile -- or there's an Oreshnik, that has your name on it. You won't live. You're the "command and control" of this operation, this insanity. And if you gave the orders to execute operation Reduce Kaliningrad Bubble, you die, almost immediately, because Russia will take you out with weapons you can't defend yourself against. This is the stupidity of statements like that. I know why he made it, and I have enough respect for Chris Donahue to recognize that he was put in a very difficult situation, and he doesn't believe a word of what he said.
Here's President Putin last week, very articulate, very knowledgeable, talking about tomahawks. Chris number six.
[Pres. Putin] It's dangerous. As for the tomahawks, it's a powerful arm. Perhaps not the most modernized, but it's powerful. It poses serious threat. This will not change in any way the balance of powers on the battlefield, the fundamental issues of the armed forces of Ukraine. No matter how many UAVs they get, and no matter how many lines they create with those UAVs, without the personnel, there will be no one to lead those battles. They have to change the tactics. Will this pose damage to our relations? Will we see light at the end of the tunnel? Of course. Of course. Using tomahawks without direct involvement of the US officers is impossible. Which means a brand new stage of escalation even between the relations between Russia and the US.
[Judge Napolitano] Do we even have them to give?
[Scott Ritter] Oh, we have tomahawks. We could give them, but we're not going to. Like I said, we're not going to give anything to Ukraine. That's not how this works. NATO has to buy the Tomahawks, and then a political decision has to be made by both NATO, by the NATO country involved. And again, I mentioned Netherlands being the only candidate for this, and the United States. So, we have to give the Netherlands re-export authority --
[Judge Napolitano] When he says that they can't be operated without the personnel, he must mean without American personnel, because of the top secret information needed to operate them.
[Scott Ritter] Yes. I mean, the ones that we use, the ones we gave to the Brits, they have all this. Yeah, we're selling Tomahawks to Japan, and we're going to sell Tomahawks to the Dutch. And the question is, "Do these variants have the same linkage? Do they require an American footprint on both? And I think the answer is no. And so this export version of the Tomahawk could in theory be made available to Ukraine without American hands. It wouldn't be as effective. You know, the targeting would have to be derived from NATO sources, and things of that nature. You wouldn't have to have the Americans doing the crypto; they would use their own crypto, but in theory you could come up with an export version that doesn't require American troops. But if anything happened today, would they suddenly forget? Yeah, it could only be with American.
And this is the danger that people need to understand. Putin opened the door to a one-year moratorium on New START, which is going to expire tragically on February 5th of next year. The treaty's gone. And unless we keep that cap in place of 1,550 warheads, we're going to go into a nuclear strategic nuclear arms race that's going to see the number of warheads quadruple almost overnight. And ultimately, we'll have this, arms race where new weapons are being deployed. Very dangerous situation.
Putin has said he'd like a one-year moratorium, so the United States and Russia could talk about what's next, and how to keep this under control. But as he pointed out, that will not happen if the United States facilitates the transfer of Tomahawk missiles. And again, you know, the Russians have been very good about acting on reality, not on intent. They're very calm. They don't go off on rumors. No one's been successful in provoking them into any major escalation. But when we're talking about a nuclear capable missile being provided to Ukraine, that violates every facet of Russia's nuclear doctrine, which says, by the way, just so people understand, if a nuclear power provides a non-nuclear power with the means to attack Russia, Russia will treat the attack as if coming from the nuclear power, and it will prompt a nuclear response. So no matter how you spin this thing, providing Ukraine with tomahawk missiles makes the United States the enemy, and it clears Russia to use nuclear weapons, which is the last thing we want.
So we need to stop this talk. This needs to be nipped in the bud. You know, last December, President Trump gave an interview to Time magazine about Biden signing off on the Attackums missile, and providing the intelligence for that. You know, it's the exact parallel of what they're talking about here. Giving the tomahawks to Ukraine, giving the intelligence to do deep strike. And at that time, Trump said, "This is insanity. This could lead to a war." And it could have. He said, "I will never support this." And at that time, Congress, the members of Congress, Republicans, put forward a House resolution designed to prohibit President Biden from going forward with the Attackums, and providing the intelligence. Congress needs to do the same thing now. They need to be consistent. Because what the President's administration is talking about today is the exact parallel of what Biden was talking about back in December, but worse. It's an escalation. And Congress needs to step in right now and say, not just "no," but "hell no! You're not allowed to sell the the tomahawk to anybody, and you're not allowed to provide intelligence information that would facilitate the use of weapons into Russia, because that is literally an act of war.
[Judge Napolitano] If some Russian intel officials, or military lieutenants, are looking at a radar screen, and they see tomahawks in the sky coming to Moscow, can they tell if they're nuclear-armed?
[Scott Ritter] No. I mean, there might some be some other intelligence indicators if they know exactly where it was launched from. I think the bottom line is if Tomahawks are on the way to Moscow, you have to assume they're nuclear, and that's going to trigger something.
I mean, I can't speak for the Russians. They've shown historically to be very responsible, and very mature. We've avoided global annihilation on several occasions because of the reticence of Russian officers to you know, pull the nuclear trigger. So I'd like to believe that the Russians will continue to be mature, but Tomahawks to Moscow? Come on, Judge. What if I sent an Oreshnik to Washington DC? How how would you expect Congress to respond? How would you expect the President to respond? How are the American people supposed to respond? "Oh, it's okay. It's just an Oreshnik. It only took out the Capitol. It only took out the Pentagon. Don't worry about it. The Lincoln Memorial gone. Don't worry about it. It's just an Oreshnik."
You send a Tomahawk to Moscow, you're hitting one of the most historic cities in the world. You're hitting the capital of Russia. I mean, what are the Russians supposed to be willing to give up? The Kremlin, St. Basil, the Bolshoy. You hit anything in Moscow with a weapon of that nature and all hell is going to be broken loose, just like f somebody hit Washington DC with a missile of the same level. People need to put on their thinking caps real quick, because this thing's getting --
[Judge Napolitano] Then General Kellogg should stop talking about President Trump authorizing Tomahawks.
[Scott Ritter] He should be fired on the spot. You know, he actually had to walk that statement back the next day. He was in a meeting, a security meeting in Warsaw, and he had to say, "Oh, no, no, it's just speculation, and I can't speak for any deliberations taking place in Washington DC."
Then why did you? He's grossly irresponsible. I mean, this is a man who was literally decorated by Zelinski as a hero of Ukraine for the work he does for Ukraine. And you know, and we need to recognize who he works for. He doesn't work for the United States. He works for Ukraine, and Ukrainian interests. And the proof is in the fact that he ran his mouth in such a grossly irresponsible way. He should have been fired on the spot. People have been fired for far less.
You know, back in the leadup to the Gulf War, the Secretary of the Air Force made a statement about the upcoming air campaign, speaking about what we were planning on doing to the Iraqis in Desert Storm. And he was fired on the spot. He doesn't get to talk like that. Keith Kellogg is speaking literally on behalf of the President. He should be fired on the spot. He is grossly irresponsible.
[Judge Napolitano] Scotty, thank you very much, my dear friend. Great conversation all across the board. Much appreciated. I will see you soon, and we look forward to seeing you next week.
[Scott Ritter] Thank you.
[Judge Naposlitano] Coming up, one more today at 4:00 on all of this, but mainly on Israel and Gaza, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, address judging freedom. [Music]
Alastair Crooke : Order, Prudence, Rules are GONE! Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom Streamed live 13 hours ago Alastair Crooke : Order, Prudence, Rules are GONE!
Transcript
Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Monday, October 6th, 2025. Alastair Crooke will be here with us in a minute on prudence, order, rules internationally gone. Alastair Crooke, welcome here, my dear friend. Uh before we get to uh order prudence, rules are gone. In the past several hours, the French government collapsed yet again. Uh, I don't even know how long this prime minister was in office. Maybe a month. What's your read on this? Well, it was expected. We knew he was going it was going to collapse and we don't know who um can possibly um fill in. Uh for the moment, it doesn't look like Macron is going to um leave. He may try and stay on, appoint another prime minister, wait until he can feel there's a chance of doing a snap election or something, but even that will not solve his problems because he will lose it. No, this is part of the serious uh crisis. I mean uh here in Italy last Friday, I mean the whole country closed down completely closed down ostensibly in support of the Palestinian and that was real supporting the Palestinian flotilla but also it was about the state of the country and there were argue in the papers and the newspapers they were talking about you know we can't go on when people are broke by the third week in the month which is the case here. So, I mean, you know, and everything was shut. There were no trains, no buses, nothing. And nationwide, I'm sure you haven't seen it in any of your newscasts or anything, but the same is happening in other parts of of Europe, too. I mean, the the protests are taking place much more widely. We saw Chris is running a clip now. Uh, we saw large demonstrations in Milan, but I did not know it was nationwide. Uh, are are is it your view that the push for um a ceasefire in Gaza or a Palestinian state, I guess they're pretty much the same, is the pretext for a general uh cultural uh economic uh disenchantment with life in Western Europe today? Well, they've sort of fused together. I mean, you know, the what's happening in Palestine is symptomatic for for many people of the failure of the leadership o of the elites in in Europe. So, it's not they're not any more separated. And yes, I mean, it was very violent. They took over the railway station and there was bitter fighting in Milan when this was happening. This last one has been quite different and the government and all the newspapers were very clear and said you know this is new. We've had protests and we've had you know individual and trade unions of protest. It's been bigger than anything. Everything everything shut down. Everything was on strike. Uh huge protests um this week. Uh will will the establishment in Brussels pay attention? Will they do anything or change anything? No, they won't. Will the Italian government will the Italian government fall as the French government has just fallen? It's possible because Melania is um not very she's more supporting Israel. She has been a big supporter of Israel and as you're showing the clips um the mood of the country has turned sharply against it very sharply. I mean, this is a a Europewide thing that they've turned against um the careful passing of the European Union and saying, "Well, yes, we're in in support of a two-state solution, but in in the end, you know, they send naval vessels to guard um the flatillaa." And then the Italian government said, "Oh, oh, but they'll have to withdraw at 150 nautical miles because we wouldn't like a dispute with Israel." I mean, so people are angry and as a result, uh, the Israeli Navy abboarded these ships as if they were pirates because it was in international waters, uh, and kidnapped unarmed people, a good number of them Americans, some of the Americans veterans of the US military, who are just attempting to bring food, water, medical supplies, and clothing to the starving uh, bleaguered, tortured people of Gaza and Bengier came to see these people from the flatillaa and he very publicly announced to the uh guards that were surrounding them they were all sitting like prisoners on the floor and he said you're going to be treated as terrorists. Oh boy. What what conceivable crime against the state of Israel could they have been committing in international waters by attempting to deliver uh food? But there's no there's no reasoning uh with these people as long as Trump and the American government support whatever they do. They're going to keep they're going to keep doing it. Why why is the West in general as you have written becoming meaner, rougher, and less tolerant? Uh well, I was um really orientating this much more to um the United States in the second Trump term. um the various uh strands of the leadership and I'm talking about the tech brothers uh from Silicon Valley um the uh the Israeli leadership there the Jewish oligarchy and the Trump team have changed completely the political doctrine the old doctrine you know the rules-based order is gone because they're not obeying the rules they're actually telling tearing up the rules-based order. They are ignoring law. They're are ignoring actually moral precepts, norms of if you like um how to handle um prisoners or how to handle war. All of this is being torn up, thrown in the air in order to try and bring about if you like um a new dominance of the United States across the Middle East and also in South America in Venezuela. So everything is being thrown in the air and law is ignored, norms are ured and this is a new doctrine uh that is being pursued in order to pro um if you like bluster the way to dominance or ultimately to use military force uh to create um submission because dominance is about submission and that's what Israel is insisting on and which the Trump team like Barak, Steve Barak said quite clearly, Tom Barak said very clearly, look this is, you know, the other side of the coin to Israeli dominance, which is what they are imposing on the region. Of course, it's submission. You either submit or you're going to suffer military consequences. This is the new this is the new doctrine uh geopolitical doctrine uh that is being enforced at the moment to try and get dominance and it is as I've said many times ultimately this is about trying to find a way of increasing the United States revenues into its capital account uh to cover um what is happening which is if you like and that they are being overwhelmed by deficits. The deficits just grow and grow and the United States is overwhelmed by them and overwhelmed by debt that has to be refinanced in the next few months through to the midterms. So, how do you do this? And they want, if you like, the dominance to insist that people have to provide investment into the United States. And you can call it tribute. You can call it a tax, you can call it a tariff, or you can call it a sanction. It amounts to the same thing. It's about changing the financial order, the global financial order. And to do that um through a new policy structure of if you like threat and if you like bluster and dominance um to achieve it. Here's uh here's an example of bluster and dominance which we'll play in a minute. The president's uh deputy chief of staff who is paid by the federal government but is not confirmed uh by the Senate. So he's not actually an officer of the government. He's an adviser of the president, but he whispers in the president's ear continuously. Uh Steven Miller. But before we get to that, just to show you the breakdown of law and order here, the president announced he was going to send troops to Portland, Oregon, because he didn't like the politics articulated by people demonstrating against ICE. Uh the governor of Oregon brought an action before a federal judge. a federal judge appointed by Donald Trump. She wrote a 31page opinion enjoining the use of the Oregon National Guard, National Guard for the federalizing the origin Oregon Oregon National Guard and bringing them into Portland. She said, "We held a trial. The no demonstration was larger than 30 people and they were all peaceful. I'm not going to let you have troops staring them down, intimidating their First Amendment rights. No Oregon National Guardsmen are to be federalized. Over the weekend, the president federalized California and Texas National Guard and announced that they were going to go to Oregon because he felt they were outside the purview of her order. She held a trial and a hearing on Sunday afternoon accused the president of directly defying her order and prohibited the federalization of any National Guard showing up in Oregon. just to give you an example of where they are. Now, he's sending the National Guard to Memphis, Tennessee. And here's why. Cut number nine. We are about to provide you with a level of support you cannot even imagine. This isn't just a task force. This is a all of government unlimited support operation. ATF, DEA, FBI, ICE, Department of War, every resource we have. We are sending in real cops with guns and badges to go out with you on the street every single night making arrests. I pledge to you, we will liberate this city from the criminal element that has plagued it for generations. The idea that there is a square inch of block in this city where a citizen doesn't feel safe is unacceptable. This is Memphis. This is the United States of America and all that is done. It's over. It's finished. Like Berlin in 1933. It's very dark. Um but it is as I said this is the new doctrine in this case applied to the United States not just to the Middle East. Uh so it is a it it's it's it's a a very much a new era. We can kiss goodbye the old rulesbased order that's gone. This is the new order that we are seeing. uh one where you get dominance and if you can't get dominance by just bluster and threatening financially uh then you send in the troops and that's what look the whole the whole globe is on fire at the moment there's tensions everywhere in Europe there's tensions but also across the Middle East it's not confined just to Gaza it's tensions at the moment just as we're talking Israel is bombing Lebanon again it is going to bomb from Syria. I mean, we are in a period of everything is is is is igniting uh altogether all at the same time. And you know what's going on in Gaza at the moment is essentially Trump trying to tamp down, I suspect trying to tamp down uh the Gaza element because he does not want that exploding if they intend or plan to attack Iran because that would not be uh it would be not good to have both these things going on simultaneously. So he's pursuing this and all this theater that is coming out, the theater that oh yes, you know, I've told Netanyahu he's got to stop the bombing and he's got to let the hostages be released. We've been there before. We've seen this movie before. And then ultimately, and what's happened actually Netanyahu increased the bombing after he made that statement and is increasing it still. When you argue, as you do so persuasively in your most uh recent piece, that we now have a war without rules, can an argument be made that Donald Trump is following Benjamin Netanyahu's lead? I mean, Netanyahu is waging a war against civilians and old ladies and children and babies. That's war without rules. Donald Trump is blowing up. It's now four four boats, speedboats uh in the Caribbean with no uh due process whatsoever. Where does this go from here, Alistair? Well, well, that's a $64,000 question where exactly it's going to go from here. Uh but you're quite right. I mean, you know, he admires what, you know, forget the propaganda. He admires Netanyahu. He is under Netanyahu's thumb. He will do what Netanyahu wants and he's taking his lead from Netanyahu and and this is also because as I have written before um there is a real sense that there is an internal war in America that um Netanyahu is engaged. I called it the eighth front which is to take control of the media and my goodness that's happening. the um Israeli orientated oligarchs u in America um Larry Ellison and his son and others are taking control of the media and now they're paying people um the influencers playing influences something like $7,000 um for a post but they're recruiting young American um American mostly conservatives to try and push the line of absolute support for Israel. And they're spending lots and lots of money paying people to write posts on Instagram and Tik Tok and other sites um pushing the Israeli agenda. So you have you know this war too in in the US and these different factions have come together and the problem is and why ne why I think Trump is finding it so difficult and why he between Iraq and a in a hard place is I do think that Trump understands that this is costing him and America reputation. Um the mood has turned strongly against Israel. I mean right across Europe. Just look what's happening in Europe. Um and it's the same in America. And he knows that this will have an impact at the midterms. He can see that. Yet he cannot do anything except a little bit of theater. Oh, I'm going to be so tough and Netanyahu and tell him, you know, he's too negative. He's got to do this. They've got to accept what's happening. Um, but we know this, we've seen this before. At the end of the day, um, the United States will and is supporting Israel completely. Um, aircraft are traveling to the Middle East. Arms are traveling to the Middle East. large quantities of money and arms are traveling to the Middle East in preparation for a war on Iran, which seems inevitable because I don't know how many of your views have understood where we are on Iran because essentially the snapback process came in on the if it was I think the 28th of August. 30 days after that it automatically starts um which is I think around uh any time now or it's already started um and then uh what you have and this is important to understand the JCPOA ends on the 18th of October. It's over. So where does everything go with Iran? There will be no JCPOA. Well, with no JC with no JC JCPOA, will the will there still be the snapback sanctions, which as I understand, you can describe it better than I, are draconian? No, the snapback sanctions are not draconian because largely most of them have been in place for a long time done unilaterally rather than through through the UN thing. Um but um it will it is of course I mean the snapback is also other sanctions and other parts of it come into effect about um being able to import weapons and other things. But in a few days time what are we today 6th of October 18th of October the whole JCPOA structure comes to an end. And what's significant about this is that at the moment the United States is trying to if you like impose sanctions and Russia and China are saying no we will not allow that to happen. We will not allow the committee to meet that will impose sanctions on Iran. We won't accept even the committee to meet. And what's more from the first of this month uh Russia is president of the council and can block it and will block it. So it's clear that this structure that has been put in place by Trump channels funnels Iran down to a single point. Either it has to accept the ultimatum o of the United States. No, zero enrichment, no missiles, no foreign policy or else it'll be military attack. I mean because all the bridges to negotiations thea ended with snapback and then the JCPA itself ends in a few days time. So I mean where else is it going to go except towards this endless sort of funnel towards some sort of conflict as a resolution because there's no diplomatic structures then left after the 80s. Here's uh Prime Minister Netanyahu pretty happy that his buddies have taken over Tik Tok. Cut cut cut number five. We're going to have to use the tools of battle. You know, the the weapons change over time. You can't fight today with swords. That doesn't work very well. Okay? And you can't fight with fight with cavalry. That doesn't work very well. And you have these new things, you know, like drones, things like that. I won't get into that. But we have to fight with the weapons that apply to the battlefields in which we're engaged. And the most important ones are social media. And the most important purchase that is going on right now is class followers. Tik Tok. Tik Tok. Number one. Number one. And I hope it goes through because it's uh it can be consequential. And the other one, what's the other one that's most important? X. X. Very good. So they his his friend Larry Ellison, the billionaire Zionist oligarch who now runs at Paramount and CBS uh has taken over Tik Tok. And I guess they're going to try and take X, formerly Twitter from Elon Musk. Good luck uh with that. But and there's going to be and this is what is going to make it so difficult in the United States and I'm saying this as an outsider but the push back that is a real shift taking place if you look at what is going on by the people who have influence with the MAGA group and with young Americans both conservative and democratic. there is a strong shift away from support for Israel and more than just away from Israel, antagonism uh to the idea that America has got to be led um in in Israel to these things such as Gaza or an attack on Iran. And it's going to get I think quite bitter because the Zionist leaders are and you Steve Miller and um also Kellogg and all the others are very tough and saying you know they they've got to support Israel. Got to support Israel. If they don't there will be consequences. You know I wrote a book about this called Constitutional Chaos. What happens when the government breaks its own laws. The book is 10 years old, but it's as relevant today as uh as when I wrote it. These are very dark times uh in which we live. One last question. Don't you think the Americans and the Israelis realize how punishing the Iranian response will be on Israel if and when the US and Israel uh attack Iran. far more punishing than when Prime Minister Netanyahu cried uncle back in June. Uh there's was there is a a quite a famous Goldman who was the editor of Asia Times and and not so long ago well a little while ago he went to one of these secret closed door meetings with American politicians, intelligence chiefs and um military and and it was talking about Russia and Ukraine and they all produced these ridiculous statistics about how Russia Russia is about to collapse and is losing, you know, a million men. And he said to them, you know, this is all BS. This isn't true at all. You know it. And he said, the stark fact was, of course, they knew it. They still said it because they just not could not come to accept that America would no longer be given the orders in the world. And they couldn't accept that. So they went on saying the things that they know were untrue. And I think that's what we're seeing about Iran. They're saying, "Oh, it'll collapse. It'll be easy." They know that there are going to be problems. I'm sure there are Israelis that understand that, but they can't say it. You're not allowed to say that. That is like treachery to say that um what? that America and Israel acting together is not strong enough to completely obliterate Iran. How could you say that? That's unacceptable. So, they don't say it. Alistair, thank you very much, my dear friend. It's a pleasure to chat with you, even if the subject matter is uh is so gloomy. Thank you for your ideas, for your intellect, and your and your beautiful analysis. All the best. We'll look forward to seeing you next week. Thank you very much, Judge. Thank you. All the best to you, too. How are you feeling? Better. Yes. Thank you. Uh, and coming up later today at 10:00 this morning, Ray McGovern at 11:30, Larry Johnson. A full day for you. At 2:00 this afternoon, Max Blumenthal at 3:00 this afternoon, Scott Ritter at 4:00 this afternoon. Professor Jeffrey Saxs, judge Npalitano for Judging Freedom. [Music]
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF OREGON STATE OF OREGON and the CITY OF PORTLAND, Plaintiffs, v. DONALD TRUMP, in his official capacity as President of the United States; PETE HEGSETH, in his official capacity as Secretary of Defense; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE; KRISTI NOEM, in her official capacity as Secretary of Homeland Security; and U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, Defendants. Case No. 3:25-cv-1756-IM
OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER
Dan Rayfield, Oregon Attorney General; Benjamin Gutman, Oregon Solicitor General; Dustin Buehler, Special Counsel; Scott Kennedy, Brian Simmonds Marshall, Thomas Castelli, Ian Van Loh, and Rachel Sowray, Senior Assistant Attorneys General; and Alexander C. Jones and Derek Olson, Assistant Attorneys General, OREGON DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, 100 SW Market Street, Portland, OR 97201. Attorneys for Plaintiff State of Oregon. Robert Taylor, Portland City Attorney; Caroline Turco, Senior Deputy City Attorney; and Naomi Sheffield, Chief Deputy City Attorney, OFFICE OF THE PORTLAND CITY ATTORNEY, 1221 SW Fourth Avenue, Room 430, Portland, OR 97204. Attorneys for Plaintiff City of Portland. Brett A. Shumate, Assistant Attorney General; Eric J. Hamilton, Deputy Assistant Attorney General; Alexander K. Haas, Branch Director, Federal Programs Branch; Jean Lin, Special Litigation Counsel, Federal Programs Branch; Christopher D. Edelman, Senior Counsel; and Benjamin S. Kurland, Trial Attorney, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, CIVIL DIVISION, FEDERAL PROGRAMS BRANCH, 1100 L Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005. Attorneys for Defendants. Case 3:25-cv-01756-IM Document 56 Filed 10/04/25 Page 1 of 31 PAGE 2 – OPINION AND ORDER IMMERGUT, District Judge. This case involves the intersection of three of the most fundamental principles in our constitutional democracy. The first concerns the relationship between the federal government and the states. The second concerns the relationship between the United States armed forces and domestic law enforcement. The third concerns the proper role of the judicial branch in ensuring that the executive branch complies with the laws and limitations imposed by the legislative branch. Whether we choose to follow what the Constitution mandates with respect to these three relationships goes to the heart of what it means to live under the rule of law in the United States. On June 7, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued a Memorandum broadly authorizing the federalization of National Guard service members under 10 U.S.C. § 12406, without specifying a designated location or duration. This Memorandum authorized federalized troops to temporarily protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) and other federal employees “who are performing Federal functions, including the enforcement of Federal law, and to protect Federal property, at locations where protests against these functions are occurring or are likely to occur based on current threat assessments and planned operations.” Declaration of Major General Timothy L. Rieger (“Rieger Decl.”), Ex. D, ECF 37 at 20. In the wake of this June 7, 2025 Memorandum, protests ensued at the ICE facility in Portland. From June 11th to June 25th, these protests included violent behavior and required an increased law enforcement presence by both the Portland Police Bureau (“PPB”) and federal law enforcement agencies. After June 25, 2025, however, the protests were generally peaceful in nature with only sporadic incidents of violence and disruptive behavior. By late September, these protests typically involved twenty or fewer people. Case 3:25-cv-01756-IM Document 56 Filed 10/04/25 Page 2 of 31 PAGE 3 – OPINION AND ORDER On September 27, 2025, President Trump posted a message on his Truth Social account stating that he was directing Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of War, to provide troops to protect “War ravaged Portland” from “Antifa, and other domestic terrorists” and authorizing “Full Force, if necessary.” Declaration of Assistant Attorney General Brian Marshall (“Marshall Decl.”), Ex. 12, ECF 9-12 at 2. In response, on September 28th, Secretary Hegseth issued a memorandum authorizing the deployment and federalization of 200 of Oregon National Guard service members, over the objection of Oregon’s Governor, Tina Kotek. That same day, the State of Oregon and the City of Portland (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) brought this lawsuit against President Trump, Secretary Hegseth, the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and the U.S. Departments of Defense and Homeland Security (collectively, “Defendants”). Plaintiffs allege that Defendants’ actions are ultra vires1 and therefore unlawful because they violate 10 U.S.C. § 12406, the Posse Comitatus Act, and 10 U.S.C. § 175 by federalizing Oregon’s National Guard. Plaintiffs also allege that Defendants’ conduct violates the Tenth Amendment and the separation of powers doctrine by infringing on Oregon’s state sovereignty and police powers. Finally, Plaintiffs assert that Secretary Hegseth’s Memorandum violates the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) because it is not in accordance with the law, is in excess of statutory jurisdiction, authority, or limitations, and is arbitrary and capricious. Plaintiffs move for a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) and stay of Defendants’ September 28, 2025, Memorandum ordering the federalization and deployment of Oregon 1 Ultra vires actions allow courts to adjudicate “constitutional challenges to presidential acts” and “actions by subordinate Executive Branch officials that extend beyond delegated statutory authority.” Murphy Co. v. Biden, 65 F.4th 1122, 1128–29 (9th Cir. 2023) (first citing Franklin v. Massachusetts, 505 U.S. 788, 790–91 (1992); then citing Larson v. Domestic & Foreign Com. Corp. 337 U.S. 682, 689–90 (1949)). Case 3:25-cv-01756-IM Document 56 Filed 10/04/25 Page 3 of 31 PAGE 4 – OPINION AND ORDER National Guard service members to Portland. Defendants respond that this Court may not second guess the President’s determination that conditions in Portland warranted a federal military response. Defendants also contend that their conduct did not violate the U.S. Constitution or any statutory provision or exceed their statutory authority. This Court has considered the briefing and declarations submitted in this case, the submission of amici, and the presentation of the parties at the hearing on Plaintiffs’ TRO on October 3, 2025. For the foregoing reasons, this Court finds that Plaintiffs have met their burden at this stage of the litigation and GRANTS Plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order.