WEBVTT - Executive Disorder: White House Weekly #8 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:09.799 Also media, Oh Lord, that the Coming has begun. 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:14.040 The Coming has begun. This is it could happen here. 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:18.439 Executive Disorder, our weekly newscast covering what's happening in the 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:20.760 White House, the crumbling world, and what it means for you. 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:23.480 I'm Garrison Davis. I'm joined by Mia Wong, James Stout, 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:24.400 and Robert Evans. 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:28.720 Yes, and as James Stout just noted, the Coming has begun, 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:31.240 so we're going to also begin. 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:34.520 This episode we are covering the week of March twelve 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:37.840 to March nineteen. Obviously, the most important piece of news 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:44.080 right now is that Minnesota Republican state Senator Justin aich Lord, 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:46.960 who just last week sponsored or co sponsored a bill 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:50.280 that that legally recognizes Trump Derangement syndrome as a mental 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:54.400 illness which disqualifies you from possessing firearms, was literally that 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:58.160 same day rested in a sting operation for trying to 0:00:58.200 --> 0:00:59.760 meet up with and have sex with. 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:05.360 A like like literally he was like, had to have 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:08.479 been texting this. He thought what he thought was a kid, 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.520 but what was really a federal agent. While he was 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:13.760 finalizing the language. 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:19.360 It's it's it's truly phenomenal. Pedal Club theory never fails. Anyway, 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:23.280 let's move on to the actual important stress, which is 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:25.440 mostly bad. This has been a pretty rough week. 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:26.680 Yeah, it's been a pretty rough week. 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:27.319 It sucked. 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:30.800 Yes, So I guess I'll turn to James Stout. 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:34.160 Mehi, everyone, Well the day you're listening, it's it's Neuro's 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:39.000 Nero's piros babe. Yeah, yeah, British listeners. So I want 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:42.880 to talk today about rendition. This has been reported his deportation. Like, 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:46.480 I guess it technically falls within deportation. But what's happening 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:49.960 here is that the Trump administration has begun renditioning people 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:53.640 who it accuses of being members of trender Ragua, which 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:57.760 is a Venezuelan gang, and the La Mara Saba, the 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:01.240 MS thirteen as they known here right. It has done 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:06.120 this based on something called the Alien Enemies Act. The 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:08.639 way it's able to use the Alien Enemies Act is 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:12.520 that it has designated these gangs as foreign terrorist organizations 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:16.680 rather than as like international crime organizations, and it's usually 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:20.040 Alien Enemies Act to expedite their removal. We spoke about 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:22.560 the Alien Enemies Act in a podcast that I made 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:26.359 last November with Robin Sophe about parts of the lord 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:29.200 that Trump administration might use for its mass deportation agenda. 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:32.840 They're now using this one, and very briefly, it's a 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:34.799 two hundred and twenty six year old piece of legislation 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:37.280 that hasn't been used since World War Two, when it 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:40.280 was used to justifying tournament camps, which were a bad thing. 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:44.480 These people aren't being deported back to Venezuela, right, The 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:48.040 US doesn't have relations with the Moduro regime, although it 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:51.040 has to port people back to Venezuela on an airline 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:54.000 that was previously sanctioned, which could now land in the 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:57.640 US for the express purpose of deportations, which is great. Instead, 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:01.080 they're being sent to Al Salvador, sent there with no 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:05.320 trial or hearing or seemingly right to appeal. When they 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:07.560 get to El Salvador, they've been parade in front of 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:11.880 video cameras. Very degrading treatment. Right. Their hair is being shaved, 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:15.399 sort of being walked with their heads forced down. They're 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:17.720 being filmed on their knees while all their hair and 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:21.040 facial hair is removed, and then they're being sent to 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.639 second If you're not familiar with this, it was the 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:28.280 subject of State Department Human Rights reports very recently and 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:31.000 now we are sending people there. It's a mega prison 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:34.840 in El Salvador. It roughly translates terrorism confinement or terrorism 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:39.440 detention center. I guess it's been very recently built by Bukel, 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:41.760 who's the president of El Salvador, and it's part of 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:46.240 his Supermanodoro like Iron Fist. Super Iron Fist would be 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:50.280 the way you were translated. I guess. It is routinely 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:53.160 criticized by human rights organizations for the disgusting conditions of 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:57.080 people are kept in right, the United States government intended 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:00.840 to send three hundred people there and in return it 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:03.720 paid six million dollars to El Salvador for the cost 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:06.680 of their detention. At the time that I wrote this, 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:09.320 two hundred and thirty eight people who were accused of 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:11.960 being part of trend our Work was sent there, and 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:15.160 then twenty three who accused of being part of MS thirty. 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:20.680 They were removed on flights the Trump administrations, claiming they 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:23.520 were removed before a district court judge in DC blocked 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:26.640 the removals. But there are a series of timelines that 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:28.200 you can see online, some of which will be linked 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:29.720 in the source of this episode would suggest that they 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:33.320 were in the air when he blocked their removals. Nonetheless, 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:37.440 the judge very explicitly said, I'm quoting here. Any plane 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:39.360 containing these folks that is going to take off or 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:40.839 is in the air needs to be returned to the 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:43.640 United States. This is something that you need to make 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.560 sure is complied with immediately. This did not happen. The 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:50.520 planes continued traveling to Olsalvadoid, stopped in Honduras, and then 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:53.600 these people were paraded before the cameras, right, and they're 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:56.200 now presumably being detained in this prison, which doesn't mean 0:04:56.279 --> 0:05:00.839 basic sender of human rights. The government has given various 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:05.600 reasons for ignoring this ruling from the judge. Press Sexuary 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:08.000 Caroline leave It claimed that there was quote no lawful 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:11.760 basis for it. Obviously, that the process here is, if 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:14.480 you don't believe then judicial ruling is correct, you stop 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:16.719 doing the thing and appeal it. You don't just keep 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:19.000 doing the thing and say like, oh, well, I don't 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.760 believe you. It's not true. Obviously, this only matters in 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:24.480 so far as the judge can enforce his decision. They 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:26.800 also claimed in court that the verbal order that the judge 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.160 gave is not the same as a written one, and 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:31.800 they claim that because the flights were ever international waters, 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:34.520 this was a foreign policy matter, and that the judge 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:37.120 could intervene in a foreign policy matter. That's a power 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:38.400 of this reserve to the executive. 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:41.560 I mean, like all of these justifications are really like 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:44.400 freaky in terms of constitutional power and stuff. 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:46.839 Yeah, this is there are fringes on the flag, so 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:48.480 admiralty court apply is kind of done. 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:51.960 Yeah, But specifically that last one being like it doesn't 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:56.719 count because we're over international waters is like, yeah, super 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:59.479 frightening in terms of like human rights abuses. 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.520 That's not the way anything works, especially since it was 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:03.720 like a US airline. 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:07.560 Yeah. Yeah, and in terms of yeah, you basically don't 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:11.000 have human rights because really, look, it's they're forcing a 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:13.760 loophole that doesn't exist in the same way that George W. 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:16.919 Bush did in the in the early two thousands with 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:19.560 Guantanamo Bay. He was never stopped from doing it. 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:22.360 Yeah yeah, well, I I honestly, I think I think 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:25.599 the thing that this is closer to is the other things. 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:27.719 So I think Guantanamo Bay is the one that gets remembered. 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.120 But the other part of the CIA torture program was 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:34.120 the US would just ship people off to places like Syria. 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:42.200 Yeah, yeah, Syria, Egypt, Syria and the Egypt biggest. 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:43.960 Yeah maybe yeah yeah, we did ANASA. 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:47.960 To Syria's torture program had largely been cobbled together by 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:50.080 a former SS guy. It's all. It's very good. 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:50.680 Yeah. 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:54.200 I also want to read a line from the legal 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:56.640 argument that Trump's lawyers made before this judge, because it 0:06:56.720 --> 0:07:01.160 is fucking horrifying. Quote, enemy Allians are not entitled to 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:03.960 seek any relief or protection in the country that has 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:07.840 designated them enemies, absent dispensation by the President c Citizens 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:11.880 Protection League. And then in parentheses noting common law ruling 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:15.120 that alien enemies have no rights, no privileges, unless by 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:18.600 the King's special favor. So every single part that is horrifying. 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:20.560 Also horrifying is the fact that if you actually look 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:23.160 up the common lawal citation, the next words after King's 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:25.000 special favor is in a time of war. 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:26.000 Yeah. 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:29.560 So yeah, that's the idea here, right, that we're a 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:32.560 war with these foreign terrorist organizations and these people are 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:34.120 like essentially like spies. 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:36.360 Yeah, and this is this is this thing We're like, well, no, 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:38.000 obviously we're not like that. We don't have there's no 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:39.800 state of war, Like, no state of wars have ever 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:41.280 been declared. But because of the way the War on 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.280 Terror sort of functioned, they're they're they're trying to claim 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:45.920 these things. And then again like the fact that they're 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:48.760 saying that anyone they declare an alien has literally no 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:52.760 protections at all in the country, no rights at all 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:54.960 can be anything can be done to them. It's unless 0:07:55.000 --> 0:08:01.160 specifically the president decides that they have rights. Is unbelievably hideous. 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:05.600 It is pure, pure state of exception, total fascism. Shit, 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:07.080 it's fucking horrifying. 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:11.680 Yeah, and it's entirely unconstitutional, right, Like you have to 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:15.320 be a radically left person to believe that humans have rights. Yeah, 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:18.400 I want to really briefly, like one of the criteria 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:20.800 that was used here so so ice criteria. So they 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:23.120 have to have two identifying signs to be classified as 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.960 a gang member. One of them that has been used 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:29.239 very heavily here is tattoos. We know from court filings 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:33.000 that one man, Barrios, he has a football tattoo, right, 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:34.480 like a tattoo of a football with a crown on 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:37.679 it is this diocelic god underneath. It was supposed to 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:39.640 be I guess similar like a play on the logo 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:43.120 of Al Madrid. But they've used this to claim that 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:46.120 its evidence he's a member of a gang. Gangs like 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:49.880 tender Agua don't have like gang signed tattoos, right, Yeah, 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.439 they're smarter than that, Like they've seen what's happened to 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:57.120 gangs like MS thirteen, because who do Like Madras, Central 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:59.160 American gangs have have had these things like as part 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:00.880 of their tradition for a while, and they've been used 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:05.400 heavily by law enforcement. I remember Christmas Eve twenty twenty three. 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:07.600 I was in the desert with my friends and a 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:10.520 large number of my joints Across that day, I remember 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:13.040 meeting a Venezuela man who was like covered in tattoos. 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:15.720 They head to toe, very heavy tattooed. And that dude 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:19.079 spent the entire day building a shelter for someone else's 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:22.640 sick kid and then slept by himself in the freezing 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:25.640 cold outside. And like, I don't know, I've been thinking 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:28.720 about that guy a lot because under this ruling, right, 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:31.199 like just his appearance of having tattoos would have him 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:36.680 classified as a terrorist. And like when thousands of Americans 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:39.240 living within an hour of that place did nothing, and 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.520 that little girl who was sick had nowhere to sleep, 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:43.360 Like this guy took it upon himself to help, even 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:48.120 when he himself was in a difficult place. And it 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:50.640 just really makes me kind of sick. I think that 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:51.760 this is where we're at now. 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:56.679 Yeah, no, I mean it's it's it's a damning indictment 0:09:56.880 --> 0:10:01.080 of the character of people who are the voter base 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:03.920 in this country. And it's a damning indictment of like 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:08.960 what particularly liberals in the left failed to stop because 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:10.959 this was this was a train that we could see 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:15.080 coming for a while, like the propaganda campaign against these folks, yeah, 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:19.040 and a necessary ingredient, and the Republicans getting their way 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:24.320 on this was democratic politicians and you know, to be 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:27.760 entirely fair, quite a few prominent thought leaders on the 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:32.640 left absolutely folding and not just not just failing to 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:36.199 like counterpoint this stuff, but like diving in on it 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:39.199 because they they either had prejudice of their own or 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:41.560 they saw it as like an opportunity. But like, you know, 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:46.760 the whole nativist deal is is just disgusting. Yeah, yeah, 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:48.600 I don't know what else to say. I can't just 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:49.720 keep yelling about it. 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:52.040 Yeah, it's not all a slippery slope. And I'm not 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:53.680 saying that they're both as bad as each other, because 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.559 what's happening now is much worse than anything that happened previously. 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:59.760 But like, yes, when we could detain people, including little 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:02.760 chill outside and we could leave them there in the snow, 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:06.320 and like little babies could be shivering, and I could 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:09.120 be giving away my own coat almost every day I 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:10.880 was out there because I was worried someone's baby was 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:14.200 going to die of hypothermia, we kind of conceded that 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:17.360 these people didn't have rights, right and the Democratic Party 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:19.440 let that happen, and people on the left let that happen. 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:23.480 And that is a stepping stone on the pathway to 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:24.240 where we're at now. 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:29.439 Yep, just as like with all the shit that's that's 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:32.439 happening right now, like in terms of like the disappearing 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:35.440 of political opponents and whatnot, Like you can draw a 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.840 line from that from like the Patriot Act, you know, 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:43.640 from Obama targeting a US citizen in think Afghanistan, Like 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:46.840 there's all of these are Like obviously things were not 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:51.040 nearly as bad as they are right now in those administrations, 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:53.800 but like they're not unrelated. You know, this kind of 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:57.800 unitary executive theory is a through line through the last 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:01.440 several administrations, and if anyone had pushed back prior to 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:03.480 this point, Trump wouldn't be able to do a lot 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:04.160 of what he's doing. 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:09.040 Yep. Now what we are doing is pivoting to ads. Yeah, 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:09.840 right now. 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:27.559 We're back and we're talking Ukraine Ukraine. I'm sorry that 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:31.199 I shouldn't Ukraine if you want to, Yeah, I don't 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:34.440 know why I did anyway. So, if you've been kind 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:37.720 of paying attention over the last month or so, we've 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:43.400 had a little odyssey in terms of US Russia Ukraine relations, 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:46.760 and the gist of it is that everybody claims to 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:49.440 want an end to the fighting. You know, at least 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:51.560 off and On. Putin has kind of like made some 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:54.600 motions to that has absolutely not acted as if this 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:58.440 is something he particularly cares about. Trump clearly does want 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:00.600 a ceasefire because he wants to be able to take 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:05.240 credit for it, and Zelensky also clearly once a ceasefire. 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:09.320 But there's been some kind of some pretty significant like 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:12.800 hold ups. One of them has been around Ukrainian minerals, 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:18.800 and you know, in February, you had the administration talking 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:20.560 a lot about how the US was going to gain 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:23.280 control of Ukraine's minerals in order to pay us back 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:28.160 for our support of their war effort, and Zelensky drew 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:30.720 a very firm line, as he often does, like no, 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:33.360 I'm not going to You're not just going to get 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:36.520 all of this, all of our country's minerals. And I 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:39.120 should note here that like this is a fairly significant 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:42.720 issue in global terms. It's estimated that Ukraine has about 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:47.439 five percent of the planet's critical raw materials, including massive 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:50.320 reserves of graphite. They're somewhere in like the top five 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:54.680 countries in terms of proven graphite reserves, which among other things, 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:58.600 is a critical ingredient for batteries in electric vehicles. They 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:02.040 supply about seven percent of Europe's titanium. They're home to 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:05.480 a third of European lithium deposits. This is not an 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:08.800 exhaustive list, that's just kind of, you know, to start 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:13.120 things off. And initially, when there was this kind of 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:15.400 pushback from Zelenski saying like no, you're not just going 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:17.800 to get all that, putin came in and was like, well, hey, 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:20.240 you know, we've occupied a bunch of Ukrainian land that 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:23.000 has raw minerals on it, will give those to you, right, 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:27.120 And so this went back and forth, and eventually Zolensky 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:31.240 and Trump's people put together like a deal that they 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:34.480 were supposed to sign earlier this month that was like 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:39.440 at actual like bilateral agreement on the use of Ukrainian minerals. 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:42.840 And essentially what it would have done is the deal 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:45.400 did call for Ukraine to use its mineral resources to 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:47.760 repay the United States to the tune of about half 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:52.400 a trillion dollars, but not in a manner like where 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:56.160 they were just handing us their minerals. Essentially, Ukraine would 0:14:56.200 --> 0:15:00.280 contribute fifty percent of revenues earned from the future monetizationation 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:05.040 of government owned mineral resources and other natural resources. But 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:10.920 these were critically revenues earned from those resources like future modernization, right, 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:15.600 So new mines, new oil and gas plants not included 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:19.200 in this were like current reserves like actively being exploited 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:22.600 for profit. So kind of the key to this is that, 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:26.400 like mining is not something that you can turn around 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:30.080 on a dime. Generally, once you have actually proven you 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:32.960 know that you have sort of the reserves in an 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:36.800 area it takes about twenty years to actually get like 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:40.400 mines up and running, and you know, this is an 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:44.120 extremely expensive process. So one of the reasons why Ukraine 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.120 considered this a good deal for them is that we're 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.400 essentially putting a lot of those revenues in the hands 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:53.280 of the US. But it was revenues from minerals that 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.680 Ukraine was not currently exploiting and that the US would 0:15:56.680 --> 0:16:00.680 help and provide funding to exploit. It was not just 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:04.200 paying back the US. It was something that would allow 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:08.320 the rebuilding of the Ukrainian economy post war. There were 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:10.640 some issues with this, including the fact that mining is 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:14.320 an extremely energy intensive task in Ukraine is in the 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:17.840 middle of an energy crisis at the minute. But among 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:20.720 other things, it would have brought the US in and 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:24.360 given them a financial stake and continued peace in the region, 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:27.080 which was seen as positive. That all blew up at 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.320 a White House meeting a couple of weeks ago, where, 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:34.360 if you remember, JD. Vance and Trump basically had a 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:40.600 little wwees SmackDown with Zelensky. It was a pretty ugly meeting, 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:44.400 and after that kind of talk of the bilateral mineral 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:49.600 deal faded significantly. Now, what's interesting is that just today 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:53.320 it's come out that Zelensky and Trump have had further 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:57.440 conversations and there's a new deal apparently on the table, 0:16:57.960 --> 0:16:59.720 or at least the White House claimed that there was 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:02.320 a new deal on the table. Both the White House 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:05.320 and Zelensky's office said that it was a very positive, 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:09.160 productive meeting. There's some evidence that Zelensky, after that big 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:11.840 blow up, has been kind of doing the thing you've 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:14.120 got to do with Trump, which is like massage him 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:17.080 and say nice things to him so that he'll like 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:20.000 you more, and that Trump has gotten kind of frustrated 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:23.520 with the fact that Russia clearly has not been overly 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:26.600 motivated to move towards the ceasefire. But then, in the 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:28.919 middle of this meeting that everyone seems to agree went 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.359 really well, the White House comes out and says, and 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:33.840 we're working on an agreement where the US will control 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:38.320 all of Ukraine's nuclear reactors, and Ukraine came out and said, no, 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:41.680 we're not. Absolutely we did not say that that was 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:44.520 a deal. So I don't know what's actually going to 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:49.439 happen here. Ukraine is a massive like nuclear energy state, 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:52.840 in fact, the only European country that competes with them 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:55.560 or that is like on the same level as they 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:58.880 are in Europe in terms of nuclear industry is France, 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:04.040 they've got four nuclear power plants with fifteen reactors in total. 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:09.160 Now obviously like the Zapharizia plant is still under Russian control, 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:11.840 which is a significant chunk. It's like six of the 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:14.840 fifteen reactors in the country, and Ukraine is in the 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:18.840 process of building more. They've actively added capacity since the 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:21.600 end of the Soviet Union, and so one of the 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:26.000 promises for sort of future Ukrainian economic stability is that 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:28.679 they will be able to export nuclear energy to the 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:32.480 rest of Europe, which is also going through an energy crisis. 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:36.320 So it's unclear what's going to happen. There's definitely evidence 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:39.879 again that Zelensky has kind of figured out how to 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:42.879 massage Trump a little bit. There's a quote from an 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:46.240 article in The Conversation that I found very interesting here. 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:49.840 While Trump still leans towards putin, his relationship with Zelensky 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:52.520 seems to have improved. Ukrainian president appears to have learned 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:54.600 that Trump doesn't have a long memory and that flattery 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:56.800 goes a long way with the US president. Trump meanwhile, 0:18:56.880 --> 0:18:59.360 is no longer calling Zelenski a dictator, and yet there 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:02.160 is no mention of halting US military aid or intelligence 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:04.720 to Ukraine. There's the opposite, in fact, as the US 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:07.040 has said it will assist in finding more patriot missile 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:10.400 defense systems after Zelenski mentioned they were sorely needed. By 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:13.440 giving Trump credit for the ceasefire initiative, Zelensky is putting 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:15.800 the ball in Russia's court, and his apparent receptiveness to 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:19.240 Trump's idea about the US taking over Ukraine's nuclear power 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:22.560 plants will appeal to Trump's transactional instincts in addition to 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:26.239 offering Trump business deals. And I don't fully know what 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:29.720 the conversation is saying here because Ukraine or Zelenski's office 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:32.920 has stated like we're not considering handing the US control. 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:35.000 I think this may be something like what happened with 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:39.040 the energy deal, where essentially what they talked about was 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:43.080 the US having a financial interest in the rebuilding an 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:46.199 expansion of the Ukrainian nuclear power grid, which would be 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:51.600 an extension of existing programs because Ukraine's nuclear power grid 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:55.600 is already very reliant on a US nuclear energy company, Westinghouse, 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:59.040 that provides both the raw fuel for nuclear reactors to 0:19:59.160 --> 0:20:03.200 Ukraine and also provides a lot of like actual technology 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:07.520 for different kind of systems in the reactors. So I 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:11.120 kind of think that what's happening here is that basically 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:13.800 it was floated like, well, we can extend and expand 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:16.360 this deal, so the US will have a financial interest 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:21.119 in this potentially very large Ukrainian industry, and then Trump 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:23.359 and his people kind of took that and said to 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:25.280 everyone else, Yeah, the US is going to be in 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:29.720 charge of Ukraine's nuclear power. That's my best guess for 0:20:29.800 --> 0:20:30.600 what happened here. 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:33.080 It really seems like we're relearning one of the last 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:35.080 lessons in the administration, which is if you can be 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:37.800 the last person in the room with Trump, you can 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:39.280 put what he does. 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:43.280 Hey, yeah, I Mia, do you want to do a 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:44.040 tariff talk? 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:48.600 Wait? Wait, did you say tariffs, Garrison or did you 0:20:48.640 --> 0:21:05.400 say rocking, rocking jaspot Sorry, locking jas locking jaspot Ah. 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:08.280 God feels good every time. Okay, miya, sorry, you can 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:10.439 talk about the actual news. Now, let's do this. 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:13.160 So the news we have today is that effectively every 0:21:13.160 --> 0:21:15.639 single thing I have talked about on tariff talk before 0:21:15.680 --> 0:21:18.600 this is just the fucking prelude you know, and though 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:21.080 those have been very very extreme tariffs, but these are 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:25.560 effectively going to be looked back on as the opening 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:29.840 series of skirmishes and sort of probing defenses. On April seconds, 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:32.879 Trump is going to crash the entire world economy. He 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:36.840 is calling this Liberation Day. On April second, he is 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:41.240 planning to impose reciprocal tariffs on every single country on Earth. 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:45.480 Finally, you know what, I'm completely on board. As long 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:49.920 as we're finally sticking it to those snotty fucks in Oman, 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:54.359 you know, then everything's good. It's about goddamn time. 0:21:55.040 --> 0:21:57.160 Now I'm gonna take a fucking victory lap here because 0:21:57.200 --> 0:21:58.800 I have been talking about this for a very very 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:00.520 long time. I talked about this last year. I talked 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:02.040 about this the beginning of last year, talked about this 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:03.639