This week on Ring of Fire!

Donald Trump's lawyers have so far done a horrible job of convincing the jury that he didn't do anything wrong. In their opening statements this week, the lawyers claimed that Trump is "innocent," and then proceeded to claim that even if he did it, it still isn't a crime. His lawyers appear to be less focused on proving his innocence than they are on convincing the jury that the crimes aren't actually illegal. That's never a winning strategy in court.

Presidential polling is still all over the place, with some polls showing President Biden easily beating Trump, while others are still showing a tight race with Trump one or two points ahead. But these numbers change dramatically when all other candidates are included, and more and more these polls are showing that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is peeling more support away from Trump than he is from Biden. In fact, when Kennedy is included, Trump now loses, even in polls where he was ahead in a two-way matchup.

One of the major concerns and most common questions about putting Donald Trump in jail if he is convicted is how to handle his Secret Service protection. Trump is guaranteed that protection for the rest of his life, and it would be difficult to force protection agents to sit in jail all day with him. Luckily, Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson has a way to fix that problem, and he's now put forth legislation that would strip Secret Service protection from anyone with a felony conviction.

Steve Bannon is pushing Donald Trump to skip out on his daily court appearances just to "see where the chips fall." The judge has already made it clear to Trump that he WILL put him in jail if he doesn't show up for court, and Bannon is well aware of this. Bannon seems to believe that Trump being thrown in jail for a period of time will somehow help the former President in his campaign, but really it would have the opposite effect.

All that, and much more, on this week's Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire!

Now that Donald Trump's first criminal trial has officially begun, questions are swirling all over the media about what could happen if he gets a felony conviction. The odds of Trump losing this trial are great, but there is still a possibility the charges could be reduced in a way that avoids felony convictions. But if that doesn't happen, it opens up a whole new world of legal problems for the United States.

Even before jury selection began on Monday, Donald Trump had already racked up a string of losses at the hands of Judge Juan Merchan. First, the judge denied Trump's motion requesting that the judge recuse himself from the case. That was soon followed by the judge refusing to grant Trump's latest attempt to delay the trial. Trump told the judge that it was unfair for him to be in trial while he's trying to campaign, and the judge reminded him that he still has plenty of time to campaign on their off days.

A state auditor has finally released the long-awaited report on Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders' purchase of a $19,000 lectern, and things are looking bad for the first term governor. The auditor has referred the matter over to prosecutors to conduct a criminal investigation, as the auditor believes that there are too many discrepancies with the purchase. Specifically, it is believed that the money wasn't actually for the podium, but was instead used as a cover to spend the money elsewhere, which is a form of embezzlement.

And Republican Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida is at his wit's end, and he knows that the fate of the Republican Party hinges on the outcome of Donald Trump's hush money trial. So during an appearance on Newsmax this week, the Florida congressman begged the people of New York - which means the potential jurors in the trial - to find Trump not guilty so the Party can move on. This could actually be seen as a form of jury tampering.

All that, and much more, on this week's Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire!

At his fundraiser this past weekend, Donald Trump promised the crowd of wealthy supporters that he would fight to keep their taxes low if he gets back into office. This was part of his sales pitch to ensure that they give him money for his campaign. The wealthy class doesn't care about his coup attempt or his criminal charges or the threat he poses to the country - all they care about is saving a few million dollars a year on their taxes.

The company that is backing Donald Trump's fraud trial bond has come under fire from prosecutors, and Judge Arthur Engoron has even scheduled a hearing with the company to determine if they can even afford to post it. And now new reports have found some serious discrepancies with the actual contract that the company produced for the bond that could result in it being completely thrown out.

Lindsey Graham wasn't happy with Donald Trump's recent comments about letting states decide what rights women are allowed to have (Lindsey wants the federal government to take those rights away,) and this prompted Trump to go nuclear against his former friend. But it didn't end there. Later in the day, Trump decided to finish off Graham for good, and Trump said that he takes the blame for Graham existing in the Senate because his endorsement is what saved his career. It is safe to say that, for now, this relationship appears to be over.

A federal judge has taken the unusual step of sending a letter to the "friends and allies" of a convicted Capitol Rioter, warning them to stop saying that the man did "nothing wrong" and to stop condoning and downplaying political violence. While the letter was supposedly meant for the convict's inner circle, it read more like a warning to the Republican Party itself that continues to downplay what happened on January 6th.

All that, and much more, on this week's Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire!

According to recent financial filings, Donald Trump's Truth Social - which was just merged with Digital World Acquisition when they acquired the Trump Media and Technology Group - lost WAY more money last year than previously thought. Previous estimates assumed the company lost about $30 million, but the real amount was actually a loss of more than $50 million last year. So how can a completely worthless company that is hemorrhaging money be worth $8 billion in the stock market?

The group of creditors that are trying to get their money from the now-bankrupt Rudy Giuliani have been asking a judge to look into Giuliani's multi-million dollar condo in Florida and possibly sell it to settle his debts. But Giuliani is now trying to convince the judge overseeing the bankruptcy to leave the condo alone because, as Giuliani told him, he needs it to continue his podcasting. That's not a valid reason to avoid paying your debts.

Eleven Republican-controlled states have filed a federal lawsuit against the Biden administration over the latest attempts to cancel student loan debt for certain borrowers. The states claim that President Biden doesn't have the authority to do this, but what they are really trying to prevent is a political win for the Biden administration. Cancelling the debt hurts no one, so the states have had to come up with an absurd legal argument to claim that they have been damaged.

Donald Trump's first criminal trial is starting in just under two weeks, and he is running out of options to delay it. But, there could be a chance for him to buy some more time, but only if he goes scorched earth on his own legal team. A former prosecutor has pointed out that his only chance of getting a significant delay would be to fire his entire team of lawyers, which would give him the ability to argue that his new team needs time to prepare and learn the case.

All that, and much more, on this week's Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire!

As expected, Donald Trump manages to escape justice, yet again. The appeals court decided at the last minute on Monday to not only reduce his bond from $464 million to $175 million, but they also gave him an extra 10 days to pay it. There was no reason at all for the extension or the reduction, but this is the kind of thing that always happens with Donald Trump.

While speaking to reporters on Monday, Donald Trump suggested that being a convicted felon might actually help him in this year's election. He was referring to the New York hush money case that is heading to trial on April 15th, where he will face an already-angry judge and a jury that likely won't be fond of him. But he's delusional if he thinks a conviction will help him, as every single poll that's asked the question shows that a conviction would cause him to lose.

President Biden has spent the past few weeks (and days) going hard against Donald Trump, and it is being reflected in the latest rounds of polling. Biden has now surged in 5 swing states while Trump has fallen in nearly all of them over the past month. If the election were held today and followed the polls, Biden would easily cruise to an electoral victory. But he has to maintain this aggressive campaign to be successful.

Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna went on Fox News this week to talk about the mass exodus of Republican lawmakers from the House, and she accused her Party of a plot to "cripple" themselves. She was referring to the fact that Republicans will now only have a one vote majority, and her anger was directed at those who have resigned this year. But she needs to actually be angry at the extremists in her Party that are pushing everyone out.

All that, and much more, on this week's Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire!

Donald Trump's lawyers were finally forced to admit in a court filing on Monday that he does not have the cash available to pay the $464 million bond for the fraud judgement against him in order to appeal the verdict. The lawyers are asking for the judge to simply postpone the posting of the bond until after the appeal, but that's not how things work. Due to the fact that he was rejected by at least 30 underwriters, it is apparent that Trump is a risk for paying at all.

During a recent speech, Donald Trump referred to the imprisoned Capitol Rioters "hostages," echoing a claim that he's made before and one that has been made by lawmakers like Marjorie Taylor Greene for years. Trump also admitted that he'll pardon these people, and these two statements were the breaking point for Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence. In an interview on Fox News, Pence not only trashed Trump for calling these people "hostages," but said that he will not be endorsing Trump.

During a podcast interview this week, Trump lawyer Alina Habba said that she is confident that she will get the $464 million fraud verdict against Donald Trump dismissed upon appeal. Ironically, this interview was conducted BEFORE Trump's lawyers had to tell the court that he's not able to pay the bond, which means that the appeal might not even be able to happen. There's a good chance that Trump could see his properties be taken away from him, all while the arrogant Habba swears everything will be ok.

And Judge Aileen Cannon delivered an absolutely insane ruling on Monday evening as part of her jury instructions to both federal prosecutors and Trump's legal team. The ruling says that members of the jury have to be given access to the highly sensitive classified documents that were uncovered at Mar-a-Lago - and if Jack Smith doesn't allow that, then they jury will be instructed to assume that they were all personal documents that rightfully belonged to Donald Trump.

All that, and much more, on this week's Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire!

George Santos isn't worried about the prospect of spending the next few decades in prison, and he's already making plans for the next few years. Santos announced just a few days ago that he is once again running for Congress, this time trying to unseat Republican Represenative Nick LaLota for New York's First Congressional district seat. Santos has more important things to worry about, but he would rather get media attention than fret over his upcoming criminal trial.

Kellyanne Conway is taking a break from her role of teaching Republicans how to talk about women's issues to take on a new task: Preventing the government from banning TikTok. And her conservative peers are furious about her new crusade. Fox News host Mark Levin lashed out at Conway over the weekend, saying that it wasn't just "appalling" that she's being paid to protect TikTok, but also that it was "shocking." For once, Conway might be on the correct side of an issue, and that's making conservatives very angry.

During an interview on CNBC this week, Donald Trump decided to torpedo his presidential campaign by saying that there are lots of things you can do in terms of cutting "entitlement" programs, which means Social Security and Medicare. If this is what Trump is going to campaign on, he is going to lose the largest voting demographic for Republicans, which happens to be people on Social Security and Medicare.

Donald Trump's cronies that are now in charge of the Republican National Committee have begun purging employees, with dozens let go so far this week. These people are being let go because the new leadership wants to make sure that they have people who are loyal only to Trump, and that's not going to end well for the Party.

All that, and much more, on this week's Ring of Fire!

This week on Ring of Fire!

The United States Supreme Court handed down their predictable ruling on Monday that allows Donald Trump to stay on the ballot this year. This is what was widely expected, but it certainly flies in the face of the language of the Constitution. However, their unanimous ruling did leave the door open for potential challenges in the future.

The latest polling out of the state of Texas has some horrific news for Ted Cruz. The poll shows that Cruz is in a dead heat with his Democratic opponent Colin Allred, with both men recording 41% of the vote right now. While these numbers are bad for Cruz, they do leave a LOT of room for undecided voters to give one candidate an edge to win in a landslide, and there's a good chance many of these voters break for Cruz by election day.

According to reports, Lauren Boebert had to skip a recent campaign event - instead sending her campaign manager to speak - as she was busy dealing with more family drama. The reports say that Boebert's ex husband had been threatening to throw all of her belongings into a pond, so Boebert had to skip the event to make sure this didn't happen. Is this really what the people in Colorado want to have to deal with with their elected officials?

And Donald Trump's lawyers begged Judge Lewis Kaplan for a third time to postpone the due date of the $83 million judgement against Trump for another 30 days, but Kaplan doesn't appear to be ready to give Trump any kind of extension. The former President is freaking out, and his panicked motions to the judge are all the proof that we need of that fact. If the judge doesn't grant the delay, E. Jean Carroll's lawyers might move to start seizing his properties next week.

All that, and much more, on this week's Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire!

Donald Trump is getting everything that he wanted from the Republican Party with Ronna McDaniel announcing her retirement on Monday. McDaniel had played coy about media reports saying she was retiring after the South Carolina primary for weeks, but ultimately did exactly what was predicted. Now Trump will have the ability to completely take over the Party, and that could be the beginning of the end of the GOP forever.

On Monday, Donald Trump's lawyers filed a notice of appeal for the ruling against him in the New York fraud trial. However, in order to actually appeal the ruling, the defendant - Trump - has to put a sizable portion of the judgement against him into an escrow account for the court, and reports do not mention that this has been one. If Trump doesn't put up the money, the appeal cannot actually begin.

Donald Trump may have beaten Nikki Haley in the South Carolina primary this past weekend, but that doesn't mean that things are going well for his campaign. In fact, things are going worse than ever behind the scenes. Not only is his campaign being drained of cash because of his legal fees, but he's also suffering from a severe lack of enthusiasm as the crowds showing up to his rallies continue to get smaller.

And hard-line Republican extremists in the House are pushing the US towards a government shutdown this Friday if their terrorist-like demands aren't met. With a deadline of Friday, March 1st, quickly approaching, negotiations for a budget deal have once again stalled because the extremist GOP members in the House want to gut Biden's climate initiatives, cut the salaries of cabinet officials, and enact a slew of anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion measures.

All that, and much more, on this week's Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire!

During a rally last week, Donald Trump attacked the media for reporting on all of his mental gaffes, and then he told the cult-like audience that he's actually doing all of those things (making constant mistakes) on purpose. This man is incapable of telling the truth, and his followers are incapable of believing the truth, so this really is a match made in heaven for Trump. But for those of us in reality, this claim is just another lie that Trump tells to make himself feel better.

Conservative commentator Charlie Sykes quipped last week that Donald Trump may end up picking one of his sons to be his running mate due to his penchant for nepotism. While the comment was meant to be humorous, it also presents a very real possibility for Trump. If he wants to create a political dynasty with staying power, he'll have to get his idiot sons into the game - and he knows that they can't succeed on their own.

Donald Trump has been successful in getting Judge Aileen Cannon to delay his documents trial, and he's hoping that she will continue to delay it indefinitely so that he doesn't have to face the music before the election. But this could come back to bite him, as it could clear the calendar in a way that allows Judge Tanya Chutkan to move his January 6th trial up, causing that conclusion to be reached before the election. Cannon's continued interference is now on track to hurt the man she's trying to protect.

The judge overseeing Rudy Giuliani's bankruptcy proceeding has ordered the former New York City mayor to reveal every one of his donors that is paying his legal fees. Giuliani will also have to reveal how the money is being disbursed and what it is being used for in an itemized list. This is not good news for Rudy, as it could shame his donors to the point where they no longer wish to fund his legal problems, leaving him with no lawyers for the cases that he still faces.

Republicans in the House successfully impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last week, but that was the easy part. They now have to hold a trial in the Senate in order to convict and remove him from office, and that's not going to happen. In fact, there's a good chance that the articles of impeachment are dismissed straight away without a trial being held. Ted Cruz is begging Mitch McConnell to prevent that from happening, but dismissing the charges will save Republicans a LOT of embarrassment during an election year.

All that, and much more, on this week's Ring of Fire!

This week on Ring of Fire!

The RNC is about to get a leadership makeover, and somehow it looks like it'll be even worse than the leadership they have today. Donald Trump has put forth a list of people that he wants to run the Party, and he'll almost certainly get his way. One of the people is his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who Trump has endorsed as being the co-chair of the Party. When this happens, it'll solidify Trump's hold over the entire Party and that could be the beginning of the end.

Most Americans with either a brain or a conscience were shocked at Donald Trump's comments over the weekend when he suggested that he would encourage Russia to attack our allies in NATO if they were "delinquent" in paying their dues. One CNN host, Christiane Amanpour, went as far as to say that the comments were "literally insane." But Trump's allies in Washington, D.C. thought nothing of it, and some actually suggested it was a great idea.

Republicans in the House of Representatives seem to have a humiliation kink, as they continue to get embarrassed by the witnesses that they are calling in the Hunter Biden and President Biden impeachment investigations. This week, they called the CEO of a lobbying group to talk about President Biden's connection to Burisma, but their fishing expedition was quickly ended when the witness told them that the former Vice President never got any kickbacks nor did he do Burisma any favors while in office. So far, every single witness has said the same thing, leaving Republicans with absolutely nothing.

Donald Trump has officially asked the Supreme Court to bail him out once again. Last week he was begging the court to NOT allow him to be kicked off ballots, and this week his legal team sent a filing to SCOTUS asking them to both stay the lower court's decision in order to postpone the trial, as well as to take up the overall immunity issue. The court has several options for what they could do here, and most of them are not good for the country.

All that, and much more, on this week's Ring of Fire Podcast!