Today in Politics, Bulletin 242. 11/3/25
… Trump’s interview with the new CBS’s 60 Minutes aired last night. We learned that the full interview was 73 minutes long, and the network aired 28 of those minutes. Somewhat ironic considering that Trump sued CBS because they did the same thing to Kamala Harris’s interview last year. CBS settled the case, paying Trump a $16 million bribe since they wanted govt approval of their pending merger with Skydance, which they got after the settlement.
… Here is one of the parts that was edited out: “60 Minutes paid me a lot money. And you don’t have to put this on, because I don’t want to embarrass you. You have a great new leader (Bari Weiss), frankly, cause the young woman that’s leading your whole enterprise is a great—from what I know, I don’t know her but I hear she’s a great person—but 60 Minutes was forced to pay me a lot of money.”
… These were some key parts from the interview:
Q - Why did you pardon Changpeng Zhao? Trump: Are you ready? I don’t know who he is. Q - His crypto exchange Binance helped facilitate a $2 billion purchase of World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin (Trump’s crypto company). And then you pardoned him. Trump: Here’s the thing - I know nothing about it.
He needed to be pinned down here. Who pushed for him to be pardoned. Did he ever talk to his sons about Zhao. Did he know Zhao got UAE to buy $2 billion of Trump’s crypto. Who approved the sale of AI chips to UAE after that purchase? What did he know about Zhao’s case before he signed the pardon?
I watched a show this morning where a very well-known Democrat Congressman was fighting like hell for men playing in women’s sports. Q - Who was that? Trump: I don’t want to tell you. You’ll be able to check it. Just check your local TV.
Like all is stories, whenever he is asked to name a person who supposedly said something he can’t do it.
Q - What do you hope to accomplish in the next three years? Trump: I hope I can have the same year that we just had.
Odd since his Treasury Secretary, Commerce Secretary, and Economic Advisor have been going on all the Sunday shows saying this year was bad because of Biden but sometime next year things will turn around.
Q - Are we going to war against Venezuela? Trump: I doubt it. But they’ve been treating up very badly. They emptied their mental institutions and insane asylums into the US.
Q - Are Maduro’s days as president numbered? Trump: I would say yeah.
Again, dumb questions because they were so poorly worded. The number of people he claims came from Venezuela aren’t even close to the number of people they had in institutions. Also needed more specifics on the military buildup, why he let people go who survived strikes, and why he won’t present any proof of their guilt to congress.
Q - You rolled out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Trump: Well, I roll out the red carpet for everybody.
He didn’t for Zelensky, or Carney, or EU leaders. Nope. Just Putin. No pushback again on this.
Q - Did you instruct the DOJ to go after your political opponents? Trump: No, not in any way, shape, or form. Reporter: Is this retribution on your part? Trump: No, it’s the opposite. I think I’ve been very mild—mannered.
He demanded in a Truth Social post for Pam Bondi to indict and arrest them. It was supposed to be a DM to her that he mistakenly posted for everyone to see. Maybe show this to him when you know he’s going to lie? Put it up on a screen for him? Nope, that would be impolite.
Q - Some people have compared Mamdani to a left-wing version of you. Charismatic, breaking the old rules? Trump: I think I’m a much better looking person than him, right? It’s gonna be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to NY, because if you have a communist running NY, all you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there.”
The follow up here is - why does it make any sense for Schumer and Dems to vote for the CR when you are threatening to withhold funds from states who elect people you don’t like?
Q - Americans have been watching videos of ICE tackling a young mother, tear gas being used in a Chicago neighborhood, and the smashing of car windows. Have some of these raids gone too far? Trump: I think they haven’t gone far enough.
Q - You promised you were going to deport the worst of the worst—violent criminals. A lot of the people your admin has arrested aren’t violent criminals. Landscapers, nannies. Trump: Landscapers who are criminals.
The vast majority of people detained and deported have no criminal records. Show the specific numbers. Don’t just give anecdotes.
Q - When you say you are going to send in more than just the National Guard to cities, what do you mean? Trump: Well, if you had to send in the Army or the Marines, I’d do that in a heartbeat. We have a thing called the Insurrection Act. I could use that immediately and no judge can even challenge you on that. If I wanted to I could.
There is judicial review over the Insurrection Act. There is very specific criteria that must be met. Ask him what that criteria is, and whether there is a current city that has risen to the level of insurrection to justify invoking the act.
Q - (After Trump insisted the economy is great because the stock market is up) The stock market doesn’t affect everybody. Not everybody is invested in the stock market. Trump: It does. Q - But grocery prices are up. Trump: No. You’re wrong. And people have 401ks.
I’ve always wanted someone to follow up by asking him how much on average 4-5 things cost just to get his answer since he has no idea: A gallon of milk. A pound of hamburger. A pound of bacon. A dozen eggs. A jar of peanut butter. The answers would be comical if he tried to give them.
Also ask him what percentage of working Americans have 401Ks (it is 42%) and what are the penalties and taxes if they take money out of them to pay their bills.
Q - (After he claimed that the US will resume nuke testing because several other countries are). The only country that’s testing nuclear weapons is North Korea. Trump: No. Russia is testing nuclear weapons. And China is testing them too, you just don’t know about it. Q - That would certainly be very newsworthy.
Trump doesn’t understand the difference between testing missiles and detonating nuclear weapons. Ask him if China and Russia have actually detonated nuclear weapons in the last decade.
Q - You’ll put forward a healthcare plan? Trump: No. Q - Since 2015 you’ve said you were going to fix it. Trump: We almost did it. We need to fix it. I will work with Democrats. All they have to do is reopen the govt and I will sit down with them.
Mike Johnson says they have a health care plan ready. But Trump said he will sit down and discuss coming up with a new plan with Democrats, which means he wants their help to come up with an alternate plan since Republicans can’t come up with a consensus on their own.
Why can’t they? Johnson is right, they have lot of ideas - most of which involve big privatization and big profits for their cronies. The reason why they have never put one out is that they can’t get their own people to agree on any one plan. There are about a dozen different factions with very different ideas. Trump has no ideas.
… Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA): “Don’t worry, America. When you’re in line at the grocery store and the cashier is ringing you up, and your food costs an extra 50 bucks because of Trump’s tariffs, just tell them ‘no, you’re wrong.’ That should do the trick.”
… Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA): “ICE hasn’t gone far enough?? Any further and ICE will be deporting Melania!”
… CNN’s Manu Raju asked Mike Johnson about Trump’s statement in the interview about Zhao’s pardon: Q - “Last week, you were very critical of Biden, you said he didn’t even know who he was pardoning. On 60 Minutes, Trump admitted not knowing he pardoned a crypto billionaire guilty of money laundering. Johnson: I don’t know anything about it.”
… He never knows anything about any of the Trump controversies. Maybe he doesn’t watch or read the news.
… Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA): “Why does the President have zero clue about one of the most corrupt pardons he’s made so far? Trump is a crook.”
… Mehdi Hasan: “He’s now just parodying himself, after the Daily Show did an entire video mocking him for constantly saying he doesn’t know anything about what’s happening in the news or regarding Trump.”
… Democratic congressional candidate (MO) Fred Wellman: “All that is old is new again. The Republicans in Congress are back to not hearing things Trump says. We know you know. We know you don’t care. They are all cowards.”
… CNBC: “Microsoft said it has secured export licenses to ship Nvidia chips to UAE in a move that could accelerate the Gulf’s lofty AI ambitions. The tech giant said it is the first company under Trump’s admin to secure such licenses from the Commerce Dept. The licenses enable the firm to ship the equivalent of 60,400 additional A100 chips, involving tech darling Nvidia’s more advanced GB300 GPUs. Nvidia shares were up 1.97% in premarket trade on Monday.”
… Microsoft statement: “While the chips are powerful and the numbers are large, more important is their positive impact across the UAE. We’re using these GPUs to provide access to advanced AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic, open-source providers, and Microsoft itself.”
… Mamdani was asked by a reporter today about Trump’s statement that he is better looking than him. He laughed and said: “My focus is on the cost of living crisis right now.”
… Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) on an ad Mamdani cut for Arabic-speaking voters: “Just a couple decades after 9/11, the leading candidate for NYC mayor is campaigning in Arabic. The humiliation is the point.”
… AOC responded: “Over 100 languages are spoken in our great city and it’s actually a pretty amazing part of being an American. If you are humiliated by America and the diversity that powers our nation’s Nobel Prizes, Olympic Gold Medals, and breakthrough innovations and culture, that’s on you.”
… NY Post: “House Republicans are exploring ways to prevent Zohran Mamdani from ever being sworn in as mayor even if he prevails in Tuesday’s election by using the Constitution’s ‘insurrection clause’. The NY Young Repub Club is pushing to prevent Mamdani from taking the oath of office Jan. 1. It cites language in the post-Civil War 14th Amend barring from office anyone who ‘engaged in insurrection or rebellion’ or who has ‘given aid or comfort to the enemies.’ The group argues that Mamdani’s statements calling to resist ICE could violate the prohibition.”
… “Republican lawmakers are keyed in on the idea and are considering rolling out legislation on it once the govt shutdown ends. It’s the same provision Colorado used to try to kick Trump off the ballot last year, only to get slapped down by the Supreme Court. The high court ruled that it was up to Congress to enforce the amendment, giving majority Republicans a chance to test their authority.”
… “Proponents would like to see a congressional vote on declaring Mamdani ineligible, although that would mean getting it through the narrow 219-213 Republican House majority and overcoming a Senate filibuster should leaders decide to put it on the floor. It would also have to survive any court challenge to removing a popularly elected official.”
… Mamdani trolled Andrew Cuomo last night after Trump urged voters in NYC to vote for Cuomo instead of Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. He posted a meme of Trump and Cuomo together with Trump’s endorsement quote: “Congratulations, Andrew Cuomo . I know how hard you worked for this.”
… Trump is so unpopular in NYC that Cuomo didn’t want the endorsement at all, which is why Mamdani decided to have a little fun with it.
… Cuomo was asked about it on the Ebro In The Morning show in NYC today. Ebro: “Your boy was just on 60 Minutes, Cuomo, saying that you’re his guy! Cuomo: No. Ebro: Trump said you’re his candidate. Cuomo: (Hangs up). Co-host: I heard a click. Wow. OK. Oh well.”
… Hilarious. What a way to end one of the worst campaigns in American political history.
… Trump was asked on AF1 on his way to DC from Palm Beach about Prince Andrew being stripped of his royal titles and privileges because of the Epstein stuff: “I feel very badly. I mean, it’s a terrible thing that’s happened to the family. That’s been a tragic situation. And it’s too bad. I feel badly for the family.”
… So far on Epstein he has expressed sympathy for Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew. None for the survivors of their abuse.
… Trump also said US troops could be invading Nigeria soon: “They’re killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria. Other countries also in that part of the world. Very bad. They’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We’re not gonna allow that to happen.”
Big elections in CA, NJ, VA and a few other places tomorrow. Our first real chance to send a powerful message to Republican cowards in Congress that they will be next and rattle Trump in the process. And this comes right after the massive No Kings protests. Everyone who knows anyone in those states needs to get them to the polls!
If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.
… NBC: “The Trump admin has begun detailed planning for a new mission to send US troops and intelligence officers into Mexico to target drug cartels. The early stages of training for the potential mission, which would include ground operations inside Mexico, has already begun. Discussions about the scope of the mission are ongoing, and a final decision has not been made.
… “A US mission using American forces to hit drug cartel targets inside Mexico would open a new front in Trump’s military campaign against drug cartels in the Western