Transcript

LIVE: Trump Midterm RIGGING THREAT is BLOWN WIDE OPEN | The Weekend Show

From MeidasTouch · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 2 min · 10,947 words · 134 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "LIVE: Trump Midterm RIGGING THREAT is BLOWN WIDE OPEN | The Weekend Show", an episode of MeidasTouch published February 9, 2026 (1 h 2 min, about 10,947 words). It mentions 20 people, works and ideas, including Donald Trump, Michael Popo, Supreme Court, Department of Justice, Attorney General Pam Bondi.

What this episode is about

The discussion centers on the growing concerns of election subversion in the U.S. as evidenced by Donald Trump's calls for nationalizing elections, which raises alarms about authoritarianism and threats to democracy amidst ongoing legal challenges and political unrest. Guest Sir Michael Popo, a trial lawyer and legal commentator, examines the implications of these developments, drawing parallels to historical dictatorships.

Key takeaways

  • Dictatorships thrive on 'elections' that aren't really elections—US teeters on similar ground.
  • Trump's election subversion tactics face a weary judiciary; judges now emboldened against prior intimidation.
  • State control of elections was designed to prevent federal overreach, yet Trump pushes for nationalization.
  • Historic distrust of Washington shapes today's electoral landscape, revealing foundational fears still resonate.
  • February isn't just for valentines; it's the countdown for midterms—ballot prep is in full swing.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Donald Trump, Department of Justice, Supreme Court, Legal AF
  2. – 20:00: Donald Trump, Governor Gavin Newsom, Supreme Court, California
  3. – 30:00: Department of Justice, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Donald Trump, Supreme Court
  4. – 40:00: Shopify, Department of Justice, Supreme Court, Georgia
  5. – 50:00: Supreme Court, Donald Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Department of Justice
  6. – 1:00:00: Supreme Court, Legal AF, Governor Gavin Newsom, Donald Trump
  7. – 1:01:33: Legal AF, Midas Touch Network, Substack

Notable quotes from "LIVE: Trump Midterm RIGGING THREAT is BLOWN WIDE OPEN | The Weekend Show"

  • Well, last time we spoke it was about a week after the inauguration of Donald Trump. so we kind of maybe we were enjoying a false sense of security at the time. obviously things have gone.
    about Donald Trump · at
  • And the good news about it is I just interviewed and it's up on Legal AF YouTube channel now yesterday J. Michael Ludik, Judge Ludik, who for people who don't know helped save our democracy,.
    about Legal AF · at
  • Take over elections and it probably will not impact the midterms because we're already in February. But if Pam Bondi is involved now and if we use you know if we use…
    about Attorney General Pam Bondi · at
  • Off his palm card and he says 15 states, that sort of matches the amount of states that the Department of Justice's civil rights division has sued to try to get their voter data.
    about Department of Justice · at
  • Congressional maps and they have effectively blessed 90 California's plus five Democrat redrawn maps to be used for this midterm. Now, it should not be a surprise that it was…
    about California · at
  • And even the Supreme Court under this doctrine that they made up called the Purcell Doctrine says the closer you get to an actual election, the less likely we as a Supreme Court are going to.
    about Supreme Court · at
  • This Georgia Fulton County Georgia raid to take 680 boxes away from Georgia related to 2020 election including ballots, voter roles, voter information.
    about Georgia · at
  • As I built the legal a YouTube channel and as we saw in the first year which parallel I mean I formed it 3 months before the election I mean it stands on the shoulders of legal…
    about Midas Touch Network · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Donald Trump — Person · Primary referenced political figure (subject of critique) · 16 mentions · first at
    Central figure discussed as driving alleged election subversion, DOJ politicization, and authoritarian governance; nearly every major topic is framed as a response to his actions and administration.
  • Michael Popo — Person · Main guest · 1 mention · first at
    Guest legal analyst and trial lawyer providing detailed commentary on election law, DOJ/ICE practices, constitutional litigation strategy, and Democratic political strategy; also announces a new collaboration with the host.
    Legal AF channel. You can hear him on the Intersection podcast, all on the Midas Touch Network, Sir Michael Popo.
  • Attorney General Pam Bondi — Person · Referenced government official (Attorney General) tied to key allegations · 7 mentions · first at
    Presented as a pivotal actor in DOJ involvement with voter-roll demands and election-related actions; discussed as emblematic of DOJ politicization and executive-DOJ entanglement.
  • Vladimir Putin — Person · Referenced foreign leader (comparative authoritarian figure) · 3 mentions · first at
    Used as the key comparison point for election manipulation/authoritarian durability and as part of the discussion about Trump’s alleged alignment with Russian interests and global destabilization.
    Kind of hobbies and that is election subversion. And this is part of the reason why Vladimir Putin's been kind of reigning supreme for 23 or 24 years now is that you can have…
  • Governor Gavin Newsom — Person · Referenced political leader (Democratic counter-move figure) · 5 mentions · first at
    Cited as an example of Democratic leadership willing to aggressively respond (via redistricting strategy) to Republican maneuvers; discussed as potentially presidential-caliber opposition leadership.
    Gavin Newsome was the one who kind of fought back against Texas and made the point very early that if they're going to play those games, then we're going to play those these games, too.

Companies & orgs

  • Supreme Court — Company · Case study · 16 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in the context of its rulings and its role in the current political climate.
  • Department of Justice — Company · Case study · 14 mentions · first at
    Discussed in the context of its actions under the Trump administration and its role in election subversion.
  • Legal AF — Company · Business focus · 6 mentions · first at
    Co-founded by the guest, Michael Popok, and mentioned as part of his professional activities.
  • FBI — Company · Case study · 4 mentions
    Discussed in the context of its actions under the Trump administration and its role in election subversion.
    Donald Trump is challenging. So when he trolls the American people, let's say going on Dan Bonino, formerly the totally FBI director, the totally not experienced, not woefully prepared deputy director of the FBI now back being a.
  • ACLU — Company · Case study · 4 mentions
    Mentioned as one of the public interest groups litigating against the Trump administration's policies.
    Confidence. But I want to give our I want to give our public our audience some confidence that these are all going to have to be litigated through public interest groups, the…
  • Midas Touch Network — Company · Business focus · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as the network hosting the Legal AF channel and the Intersection podcast.
  • Dominion — Company · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of election-related conspiracy theories.
    Going back to the Venezuelan businessman man along with Venezuela created software with Dominion and Smartmatic to flip votes. We're going back there again barely.
  • Smartmatic — Company · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of election-related conspiracy theories.
    Going back to the Venezuelan businessman man along with Venezuela created software with Dominion and Smartmatic to flip votes. We're going back there again barely.

Products & tech

  • Substack — Product · Recommendation · 3 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as a platform where the host writes about current events.
    Right? Because there is a national anxiety at the moment and people are feeling it. And I've written on Substack about this sense of grief and loss we have for the democracy…

Places & events

  • Georgia — Place · Setting · 4 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in the context of election-related activities and investigations.
  • California — Place · Setting · 4 mentions · first at
    Discussed in the context of its political actions and its role in the midterm elections.
  • Texas — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    Discussed in the context of its political actions and its role in the midterm elections.
    And brown and white, as long as it's not racial, if it's partisan. and he expressly said Texas and California is plain and simple partisan map drawing.

Media & podcasts

  • Intersection podcast — Media · Business focus · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as one of the podcasts where the guest, Michael Popok, can be heard.
    News. Our guest today is a 35-year trial lawyer, co-founder of Legal AF and the Legal AF channel. You can hear him on the Intersection podcast, all on the Midas Touch Network, Sir Michael Popo.
  • Mother Jones — Media · Referenced work · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as the source of an article about Donald Trump's global ambitions.
    He doesn't want to stop at the United States. He really feels that he deserves world domination. And in fact, Mother Jones wrote an article a couple of days ago entitled…

Sponsors

  • Shopify — Product · Sponsor · 5 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as a sponsor of the podcast.
    Lot when you don't have to figure everything out on your own. That's where Shopify comes in. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and…

Full transcript with timestamps

It's Sunday, February 8, 2026. I'm Anthony Davis. Welcome to the Weekend Show, where we make the time to consider the news of the week. You can support my work and independent journalism at patreon.com/5minut news. Our guest today is a 35-year trial lawyer, co-founder of Legal AF and the Legal AF channel. You can hear him on the Intersection podcast, all on the Midas Touch Network, Sir Michael Popo. Welcome back to the Weekend Show.

I just got kned. Yes, you did. Uh, and it's hard to believe. Uh, thank you, Anthony, for having me on and and to brief your audience on the things we're going to talk about. And it's hard to believe you told me before I got on, it's been a year and a day or whatever since I was last on considering how much you and I talk and talk about doing things together, right? It's I've been remissed. I'm glad you had me back.

Well, last time we spoke it was about a week after the inauguration of Donald Trump. Uh so we kind of maybe we were enjoying a false sense of security at the time. Uh, obviously things have gone from bad to worse since then and we're now living literally under a dictatorship and this is what it feels like and I think we have more empathy for dictatorships from history as we as we recognize what what's going on in the US. I I want to start though with one of the authoritarian figures favorite uh kind of hobbies and that is election subversion. And this is part of the reason why Vladimir Putin's been kind of reigning supreme for 23 or 24 years now is that you can have elections and they can feel like they're elections but they might not actually be elections. Do you think that's where we're headed with the midterms? Because we're starting to hear the Department of Justice getting involved with voter roles and goodness

knows what else. And even the very sentence from Donald Trump saying that that the states should not be running these elections and actually it it should be nationalized.

[snorts] Well, look, we're we're going to be running into just how strong our constitutional protections are as enforced by federal judges. We're going to this this is going to be given a major major test. Donald Trump had a dress rehearsal for this in his first term. He's going to try to employ it now. He's going to do everything to try to take away people's voting. He's going to scare them into not voting. He's going to challenge their right to vote. He's going to put up barriers to their ability to vote easily. Like he'll try to eliminate early voting. He'll try to eliminate dropbox voting. He'll try to eliminate mail-in and absentee voting. But all those things have to run their course through lawsuits in federal court. And the good news is we're sort of running out of time. Yeah. Yeah, at least at least at least under on the Supreme Court's clock to make these changes in time for the midterm election because

while it feels like February in election offices, they're starting to print up ballots. There's people have to declare what congressional district they are running in. So Donald Trump's efforts to change the rules of the constitution which puts states not the and for a reason not the federal government in charge of all elections including federal elections. The reason for that historically right just so we know how we got here is because the founding fathers and the framers did not want so disconnected the control of the elections and leave that in Washington because people didn't trust the federal government. Boy, this sounds this sounds uh uh sounds so true today. Didn't trust Washington to make the decisions and wanted the decision-making about the time, means, manner, and method of voting to be in the hands of the people through their elected representatives in the state. It's the foundation of our

federalism. So Donald, that's what Donald Trump is challenging. So when he trolls the American people, let's say going on Dan Bonino, formerly the totally FBI director, the totally the totally not not experienced, not uh woefully woefully um prepared deputy director of the FBI now back being a podcaster and says, "We're looking into 15 states that we're going to nationalize the elections."

He is going to run into federal judges. And the good news about it is I just interviewed and it's up on on Legal AF YouTube channel now yesterday J. Michael Ludik, Judge Ludik, who for people who don't know helped save our democracy, right, by giving Mike Pence the backbone to certify the election. He's a he used to be a right-winger. He was he almost was the chief justice of the United States instead of John Roberts. And we would have been a lot better off had that happened. But he has now said all the voting has to go in favor of the Democrats. He's working hard to do that.

But he said federal judges in the last six months and he's spoken to many of them are [clears throat] now no longer as fearful as they used to be about the Trump administration because of the public outcry and outrage and globally outrage against Trump is giving them the courage they need to hold Trump accountable in a way they didn't even do in the first year of the first of the second term. So that gives me a lot of confidence. But I want to give our I want to give our public our audience some confidence that these are all going to have to be litigated through public interest groups, the ACLU, the democracy forwards, the attorneys general, especially the attorneys general about [clears throat] this this attempt to take over elections and it probably will not impact the midterms because we're already in February. But if Pam Bondi is involved now and if we use um you know if if we use Minneapolis as an example,

you know, we we'll take the ice out of Minneapolis if you give us your voter roles. That came from Pam Bondi, the attorney general. Like that is an unprecedented kind of crossing of the streams, isn't it? So, so if it's that high already, if she's already doing his bidding and and and that's before we talk about, you know, the FBI doing their their investigations and everything else, um, uh, in in Georgia, surely litigating it at a at a level that sit sits below the attorney general I is going to be stalled or in some way compromised.

Well, they're going to I'm not saying they're not going to try. I mean, when Donald Trump says 15, you know, reading off his palm card and he says 15 states, that sort of matches the amount of states that the Department of Justice's civil rights division has sued to try to get their voter data.

Yeah. Most of those states, all of the blue ones, have told the Trump administration to go pound sand. It has ended up already. We already have several rulings, including Judge Carter, who famously was the first one to call Donald Trump a criminal during the um insurrection litigation over John Eastman and his emails. Now he's back. And about a month or so ago, he said, "I'm dismissing the lawsuit by the Department of Justice because they have no role and have no say in in how states run their elections." dismissed, denied and I'm not even sure that's up on appeal. So a lot of time this is a lot of performative stuff by the Trump administration to scare the crap out of people.

But that's what I wanted to ask you. Knowing they can't win, right? Because there is a national anxiety at the moment and and people are feeling it. And I've written on Substack about this sense of grief and loss we have for for the democracy and obviously the rest of the world is looking on and is thinking you know America sneezes, the world catches a cold. This is a disaster going forward. aside from the economics of this of this story line, but that there is an anxiety about the fact that that the justice system is not holding together. So any reassurance you can give at this stage is very helpful.

Yeah. Look, I I think that we just had a ruling yesterday by the United States Supreme Court. Let's start there about congressional maps and they have effectively blessed 90 California's plus five Democrat redrawn maps to be used for this midterm. Now, it should not be a surprise that that it was 90 in a oneline order. This was brought by the California Republicans, but really brought by the head of our civil rights division, Har Dylan's law firm, Ethical Conflict. anyone. The Dylan firm representing the Republicans joined by Harme Dylan in a role as Department of Justice civil rights head brought an emergency injunction to the United States Supreme Court begging them to overturn that map and make them go back to the map before. Remember this was a call in response between California and Texas. Texas, you know, uh, infamously added five rep red seats.

California responded and neutralized it. Yeah. And that was under instruction from the president. He literally said, "Yeah, create these extra seats."

But in early December, in a case involving a challenge to the Texas maps in his concurrence, joined by Gorsuch and Thomas of all people, Alo said, "We're okay with partisan map drawing, blue and red, as long as it's not black and brown and white, as long as it's not racial, if it's partisan." and he and he expressly said Texas and California is plain and simple partisan map drawing. That was in December. So I was not shocked yesterday when there was no disscent 90 California, you do you. And that will have a trickle down effect or a cascading effect on other states who were sort of waiting around to see what they would do. We are in February.

California on February 9, you have to declare that you're running or not in a congressional district. So, you have to know what the congressional district is. Okay? So, people think, "Oh, the midterms are so far away." They're not far away for election officials because they're printing ballots and people are committing and people are raising money. And even the Supreme Court under this doctrine that they made up called the Purcell Doctrine says the closer you get to an actual election, the less likely we as a Supreme Court are going to interfere with it. We'll take it up later, but we're not going to interfere with it this election. We're getting awfully close. I say by March game is up. No more changes to the rules related to this midterm election.

Gavin Newsome was the one who kind of fought back against Texas and and made the point very early that if they're going to play those games, then we're going to play those these games, too. That was very much out of character for the Democrats. You know, the Democrats are more kind of softly softly or even not at all. and and do you think that that kind of leadership that kind of leads to litigation is the right way for Democrats to play it? Because, you know, we often talk about this vacuum o of leadership on the Democratic side and and and Newsome obviously seems to be one of the few who is not scared of Donald Trump.

Yeah. Look, there's an old there's an old uh saying that always makes me laugh, but is is true. You know, you know those things about how you can divide the world into one or two or three different parts. And the one that I've always liked is there's three types of people. You either watch things happen, you make things happen, or you say, "What the heck just happened?"

And the Democrats had always been in the third camp, at least against Donald Trump. Like, what what just happened? We're always a day late and a dollar short. We don't we don't have that luxury any longer. the the the one thing you can say about MAGA and Donald Trump is the discipline of message and and of action is breathtaking and something that we're a little bit envious of. Now we don't like any part of the policy,

the depravity, the immorality, the because there's no conscience though the difference.

Well, that that 1,000%. I've said America will tolerate a lot in the political dialogue, but a heartless president and party doesn't seem to be one of them. And I'm and I'm I'm uh encouraged by that. But but the Democrats and our audience no longer has the luxury of being the silent majority or on the fence. This is I mean people think we say this because we're trying to sell something. We're not. This is the most important election as will 2028 be in my 50 plus year lifetime. Right. And and there's a reason for that because as you framed it at the top of your show, the the our constitutional republic, its existence is is at stake, hangs in the balance.

And if that doesn't motivate the Democrats to come up with their own playbook, like I've heard they're going to do a contract with America, but I heard about that three uh four weeks ago. Where is the contract with America that they can run on, that they can promote, that Hakee Jeff and others will leave? They should have already launched it. They need to launch it now and have that rigor and that discipline. But you're absolutely right about Gavin Newsome. You know, you can count on half a hand, the Democratic leaders uh and probably on one finger who are every day making it their business to challenge and push back against a lawless presidency. And Gavin Newsome is leading. Does that make him the leading candidate for the presidency? He certainly is has to be at the top of the conversation

right now. I mean, that's the what you're saying is what the the media would do. They'd be like, "Oh, Gavin Newsome's just trying to run for president." And it's completely irrelevant at this stage when democracy is hanging in in the balance. Um the talk about the Democrats and these kind of plans. You know, we often have our opinions about what Democrats should be doing in in this moment. how how much of their success relies on litigation behind the scenes that that voters don't really get to hear about or aren't engaged with versus getting up on on a platform and and coming up with a you know a contract for America or whatever it may be.

I think it's both. I think from the the litigation tool bag, as the ACLU has recently said, you got to delay, dilute, and defeat, right? You got to slow bad things down from happening. Overturn the ones that are unconstitutional, illegal, and do that with the I mean, we're up to we're going to hit my mark. I said 4,000 lawsuits will be filed against the Trump administration before it's over. We we already went over a thousand. And it's

He boasted about that the other day. He said, "I am the most litigated against president in history." Like it was a badge of honor.

And you can double the number if you add habius corpus petitions being raised by people who are in detention and otherwise. So So what what is the purpose of that? Well, they're defeating Donald Trump. Even the handful of cases that we care about at the United States Supreme Court that go Donald Trump's way, at least procedurally, justice is generally done at the lower court level. And hundreds of billions of dollars of state funding has been salvaged and saved by these lawsuits. Many times the Trump administration completely walks away after having gotten sued or filing their suit. they walk away and the billions of dollars flow to the red states and the blue states as a result.

So that's one to his most most of what he tries to do, especially on the criminal side like going after his his uh his opponents. He knows he's never going to prevail, but he doesn't care. He wants the pound of flesh. He wants the headline. He wants to make their life miserable. And he doesn't care about the political or legal ramifications after that. He gets bored anyway. He's bored by his We all know he's bored by his job. doesn't want to do the hard work of governing properly. So, he lurches from one constitutional crisis and one social media post to the next. I I I'll leave this part on this note. Even when he's got something big to announce, talk, let's just talk about his mental and physical decline, like when he went in the early January to announce the capture of Maduro and the and the Venezuelan oil fields. He had the energy level of somebody at three o'clock in the morning ordering from a

McDonald's drive-thru. Yeah. I mean, he was leaning. Oh, he captured Maduro to I'd like an egg McMuffin please.

He He He can't even get up for his own job. He He's half dead. Sure. Agreed. But he's also being um I refer to it as elder abuse. You know, the the people he is being abused by the people around him. And this is a serious thing. And it's a it's a thing that does go on. you take advantage of the person who controls the purse strings or who you know ultimately gets the final say because you're saying sign this sign this and he's doing it

grandma grandma sign this this amendment to the will grandma here's your hand right and and so this is a real problem because uh I mean you know Ben made a video about this uh a couple of days ago showing his cognitive decline which always includes clips of him saying, "I aced the cognitive test like no other president

and right and and this is a real problem because the the the deterioration is so apparent and just in the last 2 months, I'm sure you have, but I recognize a massive decline where he goes off on a tangent and starts talking about we've we're great with the waters and the interviewer is like what? Oh, with the waters, you know, when we hit the boat in the waters." So, he's not able to talk about the boat first. He has to talk about the waters first

or Melania's panties or Melania's panties. Why is he talking about Melania's underwear?

Yeah. But but you know, I I don't know about your parent situation. I lost both my parents, but I had one parent that did not suffer from dementia and my father. And I had another parent who did who had frontal lobe dementia. I'm not a clinician. I'm not here to, you know, I [clears throat] don't get paid to diagnose, but I have eyes. uh and I can watch um and if you just watch videos as you've said not only from first term to second term in the last six months in the last two months the physical decline the mental decline and I agree with you he's being taken advantage of by people like Steven Miller like people like Russ vote I don't even think he knows what Russ vote the office of management and budget does every day right besides destroying America

most of the responsibility and and yet these individuals are very dangerous, unelected, chosen by Trump in the outset, but have a playbook all of their own. And and

absolutely th this is the danger for America. Trump is not really the danger. He is the Trojan horse in this case.

He wrote, you just have to look at his postings. Yeah. I mean, whether he's writing them for himself or somebody's writing them, I mean, they're just incoherent ramblings of a madman. Suddenly yesterday he woke up to go after Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society again

you know because and again but there is there is genius in the madness whether it's being as you said somebody else is controlling him because they have found a way New York Times did a good study of this right after at the new year to to dominate the micro news cycle every day and if the if it's a slow news day or a bad news day more likely for They find a way through a lawsuit. Okay, we're having a really bad news week. Let's sue Jamie Diamond at JP Morgan Chase. Oh, we're having a really bad week. Let's let's Melania will sue Michael Wolf, the journalism, for defamation. So, they have this other thing which is this distracting personal lawsuit thing that they file on a bi-weekly basis for billions of dollars so that you and I, we don't take the bait, but that's so you and I or other journalists will talk about it, you know. um this poor story about Savannah Guthy's mother being kidnapped.

Yeah. But Donald Trump, you know, who doesn't give a crap about law and order or justice or how the FBI's he he has he sees the story, so he's got to jump on and be the consoler chief. I'm putting all the resources of the FBI and the Department of Justice. I'd like the I'd like the lady to come back, but what about all now you're law and order? What about all the average Americans on the streets that are being abused, beaten, kidnapped, tortured by your security forces? What about them?

But it also goes further where he would kidnap a foreign head of state to distract from the Epstein files news cycle that week.

And and that is, you know, beyond the the the point of no return as I see it because it makes anything and everything fair game.

Yeah. I mean, but that that he's been a master of that. His rapid response team and all of it and he and and they know they know how how the ma mainstream media especially will take the bait.

Yeah. And and get them off of a news cycle. And then Donald Trump also subscribes to the theory that any any news is good news. You know, he's having a bad Oh, let's try to overturn my conviction through the sec. Oh, the hearing didn't go well. Oh, it doesn't matter. At least they were talking about the conviction and overturning it. But we we had in the UK obviously the the t the tabloid newspapers have huge sway with voters and and we've always had prime ministers kind of colluding with the newspapers and and and you would you know you would see these kind of meetings going on and so it was almost done the other way round whereas they would the newspaper editors would collude with the with the prime minister's office and they would plan what the headlines were going to be in the next days. It's starting to get like that here with media ownership changing and with the likes of of CNN just shifting turning on its axis but

done slowly like you know turning a ship so that you don't you don't really notice it in real time but then suddenly the whole agenda has changed.

Yeah. I miss the days where you know Nixon would be caught on tape saying that son of a Ben Bradley over the Washington Post that that mfer you know Jew over at New York Times. I miss those days because that means that the papers were doing their job that they were doing the hard work of the fourth

but now they are complicit. Now it's like oh Jeff Bezos you own you you have contracts with the federal government for cloud computing and you gave Melania $40 million and you own the Washington Post

which you're now choosing to effectively shut down. I mean that's the other thing. you know, the the the the firing of thousands of people at the Washington Post is part of the deconstruction of the media. That is why it was bought in the first place. That's why Elon Musk bought Twitter. I mean, this is the long game, isn't it?

Yeah, it is. I mean, we never saw, we never anticipated, we should have that when corporations, public companies, um, bought assets in in media like newspapers and and TV stations and broadcast stations, uh, and cable that it could they could be there there could be this major conflict with their journalistic integrity because we were used to back in the days in the 70s and 80s where There was a wall between editorial and publishing. The publisher didn't come down and tell the editor-inchief what to do. I mean, you know, New York Times still has that. But but those day, forget it. Those days are over. It's just an asset on a balance sheet underneath amusement parks and right and uh they're staking Bitcoin.

Oh, what's this one? ABC News. I mean, look at CBS. If you would have told me as a child where the most chilling words used to be, and they had a whole documentary about it, it's Mike Wallace at the door from 60 Minutes. If you would have told me that 60 Minutes and the Tiffany Network and CBS News would be completely propaganda and compromised, that you could not trust a word that they said, I would say, you're kidding. How did that happen?

Yeah, it's happened. we we are watching the kind of deconstruction of American institutions in real time, not just the media landscape, but also the civic landscape as well. And so, let's just talk about this relationship between the the the DOJ and the executive because, you know, this argument that, oh well, Merrick Garland should have done more and faster and could have done more and Biden should have told him to. The Democrats don't subscribe to that kind of unwritten rule, do they? They're like, "These are separate departments. They have nothing to do with one another." Is it a problem that the president chooses the attorney general? Because that's for me as an outsider. The weird thing was, okay, so you choose that person, but then you have nothing to do with them. Well, why can't it be independent? Because Pam Bondi, who was his former personal lawyer, is now continuing to be his

personal lawyer. and her deputy was his personal lawyer and continues to be. We've always had this strange defect in the constitution and and and globally, you know, well, you and I'll talk about global things in a minute, but globally, I know people that are from another place like in Europe and and I start talking about the three branches of government. If you don't know any better, you would you would think that the prosecutors are in the judicial branch.

Yeah. Doing their job over there. Yeah. And then when you learn that the prosecutors and the department of justice is just an executive agency under the under the executive branch which has now been given Leviathan like powers by the Supreme Court that there's only one member of the executive branch despite the fact that they it talks about administration and other other things um and that that's the president of the United States. But fortunately after Nixon where we had a corrupt attorney general who went to jail and we may have that again uh in the last criminal presidency and that which made the Trump 2.0 look like a bunch of pikers like kindergarten what Nixon did.

Yeah. But even then after that there was bipartisan support to both because of her because of Jay Edgar Hoover and the in the FBI who had a close personal relationship with most presidents and also blackmailed them um and then the Department of Justice being captured that we saw that that was not a good thing and that even though technically that could happen and under the way the Constitution was written, we didn't want it to happen. So, and then every president bought into that until Trump, which is that we have an independent Department of Justice, an independent FBI, if you will, working for the Department of Justice, even though it was under the banner of the executive branch. Trump who feels he got screwed by that and his series of uh attorney generals who who believed in that ethos like Sessions and bar and all the ones towards the end. Uh he said I'm never going to ever I'm never going to

let that happen again. And so he was taught by the federalists and the rest that he could just completely capture and remove the independence of the department of justice and c and bring and bring them in house effectively literally he meets with them regularly to talk about cases and he if he doesn't do it then JD Vance does it or Steven Miller does it and Pam Bondi is a willing complicit in all of this willingly complicit FBI as well. So, this is what we're watching. A completely I'll I'll brand it. You've said it. The most corrupt Department of Justice we have ever had in our history is currently on full display. Led by Pam Bondi, who has made millions and millions of dollars working for Donald Trump, invested with Donald Trump in the past,

who was tried to hide it, though. I mean they they Nixon did try and hide their scheme

and and but here there doesn't seem to be much in the way of you know an effort to kind of keep this below ground. I mean that text message that he sent to Pam Bondi that everybody thought was accidentally sent publicly when he thought it was a DM.

I never thought that was a DM. I thought this is literally how open they are because they just know that there is no one coming after them. the Supreme Court is on their team and and most of the prosecutors are on their team and they're they're you know they are they have no line manager. That's how I like to put it.

They subscri I like that phrase. They subscribe to the theory that the sometimes the cover up is worse than the crime

and they they feel like and I think some of the American people were believing this. If they're saying it out loud, it it might not be that bad.

Yeah. because they're ad we're the most transparent administration telling us they're transparent.

They keep telling us they're transparent. Yeah. Um Trump on Thursday offered a new and shifting account of why Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence was present last week at an FBI raid on that election center in Georgia saying that she went at the urging of the attorney general Pam Bondi. And let me quote Trump. He said she took a lot of heat 2 days ago because she went in at Pam's insistence um and uh she went in and she looked at votes that wanted to be checked out from Georgia. You know,

is that a direct quote? That's a direct quote. Yeah. The vote the votes wanted to be checked.

She went in and she looked at votes that wanted to be checked out from Georgia.

Okay. Well, there's a number of problems with that. mainly I just did a hot the grammar is a good place to

the grammar grammar and syntax. Yeah, he seems to be allergic to. Yeah. The other is Todd Blanch was asked on Sunday morning talk shows why was Tulsi Gabbard in Georgia

and he said I not only did he say I have no idea. He said effectively implying that the Department of Justice did not send her there including Pam Bondi who who he either works for her or Pam Bondi works for him. I I get confused. Um, I think that confusion will be solved before this next year is over. I think Pam's out. That's my prediction. I think Todd Blanch will be the next attorney general. But, uh, he said, "I don't know why she was there." Uh, he said, "She wasn't there at our behest and she's not involved with the investigation." And then at the end, he gave this kind of curious because he figured out that might not go over well when he got back home. So, he said, "But, you know, one of her jobs is uh, election integrity."

Like, what? What are you even talking about right now? So now we're back to and at the same time Ed Martin who got fired apparently as the head of the weaponization committee for the Department of Justice but keeps his jobs keeps his job as the pardon the pardon attorney. His fingerprints are all over this. Yes.

This Georgia Fulton County Georgia raid to take 680 boxes away from from Georgia related to 2020 election including ballots, voter roles, voter information. that was that's being prosecuted out of Missouri where Ed Martin had a close relationship with the US attorney there MAGA Maga and but then when he posted a photo because he likes to troll the American people Ed Martin of on the day of the raid of him along with Cydney Powell almost like rehabilitating Cydney Powell who by the way is a convicted felon

yes for being invol [snorts] what now we're going back to the Venezuelan businessman man

along with Venezuela created software with Dominion and Smartmatic to flip votes. We're going back there again

barely. Um let me I'll just quote Tulsi Gabbard from the day before Trump's quote. She said, "My presence was requested by the president and executed under my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security." um she is it's widely alleged that she is compromised anyway and is a Russian asset. Right. So I mean and and and we've also heard in the last kind of 72 hours that Jeffrey Epstein may have been working for the Russians as well and and and coordinating these kind of not just you know child sex trafficking but also you know he he was kind of pushing political agendas too.

They are all I mean as we've discovered all crooks, all criminals and all on get-richqu schemes with no conscience.

Yeah. The amount of the hundreds of millions of dollars of Russian money that has gone through the Trump organization is breathtaking. U it's the it's the ex they say it out loud. You know, Eric Trump saying, "Oh, we don't have to worry about banks. We have Russian money." Don Jr. saying, "We have a tremendous amount of Russian money coming through the Trump Organization. We've never had an American president that has cozied up with our sworn enemy the way that you FDR. There was a secret bank account where he was taking money from the Russians or or at the time from the Germans. How about from the Germans that like right a Hitler bank account with with FDR? It's almost the equivalent. And yet um and yet how else to explain what appears to be a Russian Trojan horse occupying the White House.

There's literally Anthony a photo of Putin and Trump hanging in the White House at Trump's direction. Yeah. Right. He's letting him have his way in Ukraine killing innocent Ukrainians. Uh I'm talking about uh uh Putin. He says he he believes Putin over his own intelligence community.

Yeah. Right. Uh he's burnt oper undercover operatives like told the Russians about people working against them

in the Oval Office. In the Oval Office. And on and on top of it, he revealed on the way into the uh this time around that he had 20 secret phone calls with Putin, you know, from the White House. I don't know if they were recorded or not. And and this is Trump has been Putin's wet dream, right? Any

he is putting Americans at each other's throats. He's using American security forces and military against other Americans, right? He's going after elections. He's attacked European allies. He's attacked the United Nations and undermined it with funding. This is this is everything on Putin's checklist. So, he may not be a Russian asset, but the Russians think he is.

Yeah. We have to take a quick break, but I want to come back and ask you about how ICE are able to enter people's homes without a warrant. This is obviously a bone of contention at the moment, and people are not really sure where the law stands. And we're also going to look at Trump's plan to take over the world. Maybe America is just not enough for him. We'll do that next on the Weekend Show. Starting something new isn't just hard, it's terrifying. There's that moment right before you hit publish or launch when all the doubt rushes in. What if this doesn't work? What if no one listens or buys anything? I remember feeling that exact way when I started this podcast. I had the idea. I had the passion. But I definitely didn't have all the answers. Still, taking that leap ended up being one of the best decisions I've ever made. And honestly, it helps a lot when you don't have to figure everything out on your own. That's where

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no bouncing between platforms. And that iconic purple shop pay button. That's why Shopify has the best converting checkout on the planet, helping you turn more carts into actual sales. It's time to turn those whatifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com/weend. Go to shopify.com/weend. That's shopify.com/we. We're back on the weekend show with Michael Popok. I'm Anthony Davis. Michael, let's look at these uh abductions and and and this abuse from uh ICE agents, not just kidnapping people, but executing them on the streets of America. We we're saying it like it's normal. We never should do that. But unfortunately, that is what Trump wants. He wants to create this chaos. He said that he was more upset about Renee Good than Alex Prey because he heard that her mother was a Trump supporter and somehow managed to make the uh murder of of that woman all about

him. Um I just want to talk to you about the the the significance of the law when it comes to these ICE raids because agents in Oregon now must stop arresting people without warrants unless there is a likelihood of escape. This is according to a federal judge ruling on Wednesday. The judge issued a preliminary injunction in a proposed class action lawsuit targeting the Department of Homeland Security's practice of arresting immigrants that they happened to come across while conducting ramped up enforcement operations, which critics have described as arrest first, justify later. We know that the Supreme Court have given ICE the uh ability to racially profile people, but but this goes further.

entering people's homes um without a warrant. Just explain what the law actually says on this.

Yeah. So, you start with the Fourth Amendment, which the United States Supreme Court has said, and this is this is going on for a couple hundred years. The Fourth Amendment is the most important. If you only had one amendment out of the Bill of Rights to the Supreme Court, it would be the Fourth Amendment. Um it it's it is it's the one that is actually closest to what was happening during the American Revolution with with British officers uh breaking into homes and commandeering them. Um and many many things flow from a fourth amendment analysis you know um which is to stop illegal search and seizure of people's papers and homes and property. and it says people, not citizens. And until May of this year, every um administration and its Department of Justice and its officers recognized fourth amendment princ uh precedent by the Supreme Court, which is that to break the line of someone's home, their

castle, their their castle keep, you needed a unprobable cause, a federal court article 3 judge, neutral judge to issue magistrate or or district court judge to issue a warrant, an arrest warrant

just as the FBI had when they went into Mara Lago. We should maybe use that as an example.

Yes. A search warrant that was issued by a magistrate judge in Florida. Yeah. Coordinated actually with the president and his lawyers while he was up in New Jersey.

So it wasn't a raid. No, it wasn't a raid. This was a raid. And so now what we find out, we were watching ICE break down doors with what's called an administrative warrant, which is a um technically an I205, which comes from a Trump judge, an immigration judge, not article 3, works for the Department of Justice and Pam Bondi and Donald Trump. Okay? which has only been used for picking up somebody in public, but never to break down a door and go into their home because the fourth amendment and fourth amendment case law says you can't. And then Todd Lions writes a memo or has one written for him probably by Steven Miller that tells ICE, hey, that fourth amendment principle that we Yeah, you administrative warrants enough. Burst through the door. Okay, so what's going to happen now? Uh first of all, two whistleblowers came forward and revealed it. Thank you to the whistleblowers.

Now we have challenges in court and in Congress to that policy and to get it rescended and to get it enjoined from happening. So fourth amendment whether you call the fourth amendment or the first amendment the two most important rights that we have of of the 10 in the bill of rights many things flow through the fourth amendment and you are being safe in your in your person in your papers even reproductive rights. There's fourth amendment implications on reproductive rights, on civil liberties, many, many things. There's a Fourth Amendment analysis, not just the one we see where they're bursting through the door with a battering ram. And now you have judges in Minnesota, in Oregon, in Chicago, in in LA, and other places struggling to control in advance through an injunction, which stops future behavior based on past performance.

uh struggling to re reign in in the Trump administration. And I I applaud the Oregon judge. Uh I'm not sure who it was. I was it wasn't Imrat again, was it? No, I'll find out.

Yeah. No, it was um just it was Mustapa um Bahigh. But it it'll go up to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. And the problem the appellet courts are having whenever a lower court judge tries to step in and police the police. Yeah.

And force them not to do certain things. Just just comply with the Constitution. Just don't do that illegal stop and search. The the the appellet courts have are have consistently been troubled by it. And they've told lower court judges not to do it. Whether it's Judge Ellis in Chicago. Yeah.

Or Judge Menendez in Minnesota or maybe even this judge in the future. Now, this all has to end up back at the United States Supreme Court. that has not yet been heard on the issue of whether a federal judge has the power with their injunction power to stop federal agents from doing bad things before they happen. I mean, the seventh circuit when it chastised Judge Ellis said your job is to provide a remedy and relief after bad things happen, not try to stop them before. So, I've used the analogy. It's like you're out and you know the light is out and so you run out into the middle of the street as a judge to stop the car from colliding with the other car and the court says, "No, that's not your role. Your role is to let the accident happen and then meet out justice after." And that we don't like that. I mean, I'm not we're not talking about uh Minority Report, you know, where we're trying to stop crime

before it happens. Yeah. But bad things on the streets, why can't a federal judge use the the power of injunction to make them stop doing illegal things? But I will, just to not blow smoke or sunshine here, which I think is my brand, uh, appellet courts don't like federal judges trying to stop bad things happening before they happen, especially when it's law enforcement. And and they they it just don't. And it's going to have to get to the Supreme Court. Good news when we get to the Supreme Court is that even this right-wing MAGA Supreme Court when it comes to Fourth Amendment is very protective over the Fourth Amendment.

Now, they haven't been they haven't had an opportunity yet to be heard about the Trump policies in the Fourth Amendment, but it is rapidly happening. It will be a 2020 first half of 2026 event. I assure you that with an emergency appeal up to the Supreme Court about the Fourth Amendment abuse by the Trump administration. My only fear, and I think you and I came to blows about this the last time we spoke over a year ago, is that when you're dealing with an authoritarian dictatorship, which we now have, I mean, there is no denying the days of the constitutional crisis are over. We we're now into a full-blown dictatorship, is that Trump has said out loud, "I am the law." And you know, aside from his mental state being compromised and being taken advantage of by people like Steven Miller, who have a much more extreme view of how this country needs to change and and to whitewash it effectively, to to

ethnically cleanse it, that it it means that they don't care for the law. The law to them is irrelevant. They're going to do it anyway. And that's what we're seeing. And so, you know, for all of the Tom Holman saying, "Oh, we're going to pull back or we're going to," you know, and all all that rhetoric, nothing has changed in Minneapolis, nothing has changed in Portland, they are still treating American citizens, aside from immigrants, as if they are criminals. And the whole kind of innocent until proven guilty, that that kind of died out many months ago.

I agree with you. And I just interviewed the legal director for the ACLU in Minnesota and I asked her, I said, "Is it any better?" She said, "Nope."

Yeah. It's the same on the streets. See, there's this split screen that the Trump administration tries to take advantage of.

Yes. Where they do the theatrics and the Kabuki theater and the optics of, "Oh, we got rid of Bavino. Oh, we're pulling back people. Oh, body cams." But the reality is in your and my potential interaction with ICE, it's just in Border Patrol as American citizens, it's just as deadly as it was a month ago. Uh because this is all just political fodder. But the in real life on the ground is just as dire because these ICE and Border Patrol agents have been so turbocharged to do bad things uh that they didn't they didn't get the memo about not breaking the back window of a brain damaged uh person in a car, yanking them out of the window and dragging them down the street and calling them a body or uh or an epithet or something else because as s as um Senator Blubthol told me during the interview that I did with him today, this organization is so bankrupt and so corrupt that it needs to be completely reformed with new leadership

and new guidelines and operating procedures and training. Uh we this is a bad cop writ large.

Yes. And um the Democrats are doing what they can, whether it's funding or calling for the head of Christy Gnome or doing these oversight hearings to embarrass the Republicans into doing the right thing and and and the Republicans that are still scared and stuck in place who won't do the I'm talking about the senators and the and the Congress people. They're at the same time with one eye like peripheral vision watching the polling numbers for this president go off a cliff. I made another prediction. I'll come back on your show if I'm right.

I don't think his approval numbers will have a three in it for much longer at the beginning. I think he's going to crash below 30%.

I mean, how does he even have 30% now considering what's going on? I mean, that makes no sense to me. Um, and and the economy is going to be the thing that changes it because he's been lying about jobs numbers, lying about GDP, lying about investment into the US. None of it is true. We're hearing about revised numbers again this week. uh revising things down to the point that the economy is getting so close to recession and and that will have ramifications around the world.

Yeah, absolutely. Let's talk about the world for just a moment because I mean I've been writing on Substack the last couple of weeks about this board of peace that he announced at Davos, big fanfair and and really, you know, my fear has been that he doesn't want to stop at the United States. He really feels that he deserves world domination. And in fact, Mother Jones wrote an article a couple of days ago entitled, "Donald Trump's plan to be king of the world. His board of peace is essentially a global slush fund run by him and him alone." The plan surely is to undermine the United Nations and NATO and even I mean he he's the chairman of this thing that he's created, right? He can he can never be fired. He chooses his successor. Uh he can veto any decision that's made by the board. The board consists of probably the worst autocrats and and despots in the world currently. None of the kind of

democratic countries have agreed to sign on to this. And and that suits Trump perfectly, doesn't it? I mean, he's even invited Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu. Th this is problematic because outside of the US, Trump sees his reign lasting indefinitely and having greater power than just through the the boundaries of America. Yeah, this board of peace thing. You should run on one of your shows, we should too, a counter of how many people have died in the countries that he's claiming that he's bringing peace to, whether it's Gaza or it's Ukraine. I mean, this board of peace made up of, I mean, just to be pop culture for a minute, you're old enough. It reminds me of that Star Trek, the first round of Star Trek show where where they were on that in that in that place where it was like Abraham Lincoln. Yes.

And all right. And all the the true patriot leaders against like Genghask Khan and and all these terrible his peace board. It's it would be like Hitler, Mussolini, you know, uh you know, Melasovich. I mean, on the peace board and and as you rightly point out, a billion dollar entry fee with him controlling all of the money. um you know the scarring of the world and of America. The question I have and I know you've been writing about it is how do we heal it after he's gone? You know the tear down of the Kennedy Center that's imminent, the tear the the scarring of the White House, the scarring of our global relationships.

Can we heal this? What do you think? Can we when he's gone and he will eventually be gone and there won't be there won't be another person. you see the people around him

who who who have the cult of personality that even can control the amount of people that he does the JD Vance not going to do it. Marco Rubio is not going to do it. Um so when he's gone and off the world stage and it will happen whether chronologically or or politically,

right? Um what do we do? How do we fix the world and can we fix the world and put it back? I mean, Biden spent a considerable amount of time fixing after Trump won global relationships and was reasonably successful in doing that. Yeah. With a with a a proper president who reinstates diplomacy,

uh, uh, international funding for international crises, uh, state department funding and kind of reinvigorates these. It'll take a while. It'll take two terms to do it, but do you think it'll be a success?

No. Why not? I mean, I'll give you a longer answer. I think it's done now. I think it's done. America is too volatile for the rest of the world.

Yeah. Canada is joining forces with the Europeans. Uh, you know, India, which is one of the kind of largest markets now, has chosen its side too, and it's not the US. Uh, China's basically been given a bit of a blank check by America. and and and so I don't think that even if you were to get Gavin Newsome hypothetically who is an excellent diplomat and a great kind of speaker I think that the institutions now are just not to be trusted and the the very constitution that that I was going to say you people you people keep always referring to the constitution this constitution that is fundamentally flawed and has been proven so by the rise of Donald Trump and the the the the the collapse of the guard rails that were supposed to prevent something like this.

It's not the Constitution. [clears throat] It's the Supreme Court's interpretation of aspects of it that even our framers never foresaw that there be a corrupted Supreme Court in collaboration with a with an imperial president. the the things that drive you and me baddy and question the exist question the constitutional republic and the constitution were doctrines that were never present during the time the constitution was created

this this um exe this exe unitary executive model that okay that wasn't people were like when did that was that in the 1780s no that was in the 1980s with a guy named Robert

Bour forc carried forward by a guy named Anthony Scalia and forward and forward. It was such a fringe theory that if you look at Supreme Court case law for the 1980s and 1990s and people like Sandra Day Okconor on the Supreme Court, they were like that's a fringe radical theory. But that is what we have now. We have a we have a unitary government and Steven Miller of course said it out loud on TV and stopped himself and pretended that the line had gone down. But my point is, it's not the Constitution that's defective, right? It's these prisms that are being used to interpret it that are corrupted by a Supreme Court. We got to fix the Supreme Court.

Meaning, I'll be frank, we got to pack it. Yeah. We need like five for for Yeah. But we don't have the luxury anymore just to have an academic

exercise like a tabletop exercise. Like, wouldn't this be interesting if we had 15 people on the Supreme Court? No, we need 15 people on the Supreme Court and we have to add we have to add five or six more that are by Democratic presidents. And people are like, well, what's going to happen if there's a Republican in there? Well, we just got to hope that generationally this will this will be the thing.

It's still political, Michael. This is the thing. And and a a high court in other countries is not it is not done politically. And that I think that's the reason in answer to your first question as to how the rest of the world views America and can the US recover from this. I just don't believe it's possible. It is generationally but it might take 25 years.

How in Lond in in the UK? How how does the high court judge chosen? I it's done by um an independent committee effectively.

Makes sense. Yeah. the the politicians might nominate people and and make suggestions, but it's it's an independent judicial committee that make that make that decision.

Yeah, we're going to I I I'm not I'm not Look, I I agree with you that there are permanent re reconfiguration of important relationships around the world that won't be easily turned back because of where money the trust and the way the money is now flowing. Yeah. Yeah,

it's very hard to to stop a river of money that's now redirected to bring it back. And for what purpose? There is a breach of trust that NATO has, understandably European Union has, and our quote unquote allies have. And it's, you're right, it's not going to easily be resolved by eight years of a Gavin Newsome or a Democrat. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

100%. And you know what I love about the US is its resolve. And I think we're seeing the people power now. They recognize that maybe the Democrats are kind of they've gone missing. You know, not all of them, but the the the majority have seem to are missing in action. And so people are stepping up. And I think that the the the younger movement of more energized future politicians is is very gives me great confidence. Um we have to finish but before we do I I I want to talk about the fact that you and I over the last few years have met you know in this format together um in a in a in a kind of lightly branded model called uh global AF where we uh talk about the the world's problems and where the US kind of fits in with that. Uh never has there been a more important time to go a little deeper with our with our analysis of international affairs. And so with that, um, I'm pleased to announce that

I'm going to be joining you on on the Legal AF channel with a new strand called Global AF every week where we, uh, both you and I, but also me on my own, analyze the the the situation across the world and how other countries are are handling not just Trump, but America and its future.

Yeah. Every day, I think, not just every week. I'll do my best for you. But yeah, but let me let me from from your audience perspective and there's an overlap also with our audience

as I built the legal a YouTube channel and as we saw in the first year which parallel I mean I formed it 3 months before the election I mean it stands on the shoulders of legal a podcast which is 5 years old but the channel itself and and the curating of it once we saw that Trump's ambition went beyond ruining America

trying to take the show on the road, you know, it's like a shitty restaurant that got closed down by the health department. It's like, let's go global. Yeah. Why? Uh but once we saw that and to meet the moment you and I dusted off this concept and I remember and I'll tell an insider story here. I remember you and I talked to somebody over at Midas about doing the show and at the time just be right around the time of the election. It was like well that's sort of far a field from

we were ahead of our time. We were ahead of our time and we were getting a lot of push back like well how are you going to do it? It's going to be covering global things like no we're going to cover US interacting globally uh anticipating that Trump would do something that way and we were sort of shot down. I was like we'll do it another time. But that same person went out and does daily videos about the glo the global reaction to the Trump administration. And I want to take some credit for you and me about

for seeding a great idea. Right. So now the thing that I've known is missing the hole in the swing

at and I'm trying to fill that at at Legal AF YouTube channel where I've added the American Civil Liberties Union for regular contribution. Democracy Forward in a playlist, you know, all rise news with Adam Classfell to talk about what's going on in the American courts from him being in the American court system. The thing that's missing is the voice of reason and analysis that can be trusted about global affairs. And so I reached out to you and said, "Hey,

you know what would be great? Yeah, if you came and led that effort over on Legal AF, now would be a great time." I've talked to some other people. I got this this amazing lawyer in Miami, Christy Figureroa, who who works every day in immigration and criminal immigration issues on behalf of clients and has a really good sense of what's happening in America and related to Latin America. and she's come on and done some, but I can't think of anybody better and more trusted to come on under the legal AF umbrella to do kind of regular reporting in that area. So, I'm so pleased to have you come on there and I'll join you. We'll do some together.

You you'll do a lot on your own and uh and then I feel like all right, I I patched that hole. I can move on to the next one.

I'm so pleased. Mars, I guess, is the next planet to to look at. Interstellar analysis.

Yeah, exactly. I'm I'm so grateful to you always for your for your expertise and and your explanations and um I look forward to talking with you more regularly. But for now, Michael Popock, thank you for joining the Weekend Show.

My pleasure. I'm Anthony Davis. Don't forget to support me and independent journalism at patreon.com/5minut news on my Substack, TheAnthony Davis, or by joining the 5minute news YouTube channel. I'll come back next Sunday with a brand new special guest and more factual news to discuss on the 5-minute news weekend show with Midas Touch.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "LIVE: Trump Midterm RIGGING THREAT is BLOWN WIDE OPEN | The Weekend Show"?

Anthony Davis (Host), Michael Popok (Host).

What is "LIVE: Trump Midterm RIGGING THREAT is BLOWN WIDE OPEN | The Weekend Show" about?

The discussion centers on the growing concerns of election subversion in the U.S. as evidenced by Donald Trump's calls for nationalizing elections, which raises alarms about authoritarianism and threats to democracy amidst ongoing legal challenges and political unrest. Guest Sir Michael Popo, a trial lawyer and legal commentator, examines the implications of these developments, drawing parallels…

What is mentioned in this MeidasTouch episode?

20 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Donald Trump, Michael Popo, Supreme Court, Department of Justice, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Legal AF. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "LIVE: Trump Midterm RIGGING THREAT is BLOWN WIDE OPEN | The Weekend Show"?

The episode runs 1 h 2 min; the transcript is about 10,947 words in 134 timestamped sections.

More from MeidasTouch

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated February 9, 2026.