It was a very busy news day, and Bill analyzed it all on today’s podcast.
Obamacare Repeal Effort in the Senate
Bill began the broadcast with the breaking news that the Senate narrowly voted to begin debating on a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. The vote was 51-50, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking the tie.
Bill downplayed the significance of the vote. “Nothing’s been repealed, nothing’s been replaced,” Bill said.
All 48 Democrats voted against moving forward on the healthcare measure, as did Republican senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Bill said he does not even consider Ms. Collins a member of the GOP at this point.
“She’s not a Republican,” Bill said. “She should switch over to the Democratic Party. As for Ms. Murkowski, Bill said she committed “political suicide” given the high percentage of Republicans in her home state.
Bill said he remains pessimistic that Congress will actually do anything to get rid of Obamacare.
“Will anything ever get done?” Bill asked. “Probably not, probably not. But anyways, that’s where it is.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions on the Hot Seat
Bill next discussed President Trump’s recent criticisms of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
According to Bill, Mr. Trump is upset at Sessions for three reasons:
1) Sessions recused himself from the Russian investigation.
2) The Justice Department is not thoroughly investigating Hillary Clinton’s ties to Russia.
3) The DOJ apparently isn’t doing enough to investigate leakers.
Bill noted that he did not know everything about the president’s relationship with his attorney general, but in his view, it would be a mistake to fire Sessions.
Sessions is popular with conservatives, and has been tough on illegal immigration, sanctuary cities, and drug crimes.
“Sessions is a conservative man who is using the Justice Department to clamp down on anarchy,” Bill said. “And conservatives like that.”
Bill argued that firing Sessions would also make the Trump administration look weak and would cause a political crisis.
“It’s almost inconceivable that the president would fire Sessions, put a new AG and the new attorney general would fire [Special Counsel Robert] Muller,” Bill said. “You’re building into a constitutional crisis then, alright just like Nixon did. Do you really want to do that?”
Bill also said firing Sessions would again put the Trump administration on the defensive.
“Firing Sessions …. pandemonium for at least two weeks,” Bill said.
Bernard McGuirk Joins the Podcast
Bill then brought radio talk show host Bernard McGuirk on the program.
McGuirk has been one of the biggest Trump supporters from the beginning of his presidential run, and Bill asked him if anything had changed his mind about his backing given how Trump has governed.
McGuirk said nothing had changed his mind, and was thrilled how President Trump dealt with the press.
“He almost single handily killed CNN,” McGuirk said.
McGuirk was also pleased with the Trump administration’s accomplishments: “Gorsuch, withdrawing from the suicidal Paris accords, unemployment is down, Wall Street is up, the alliance he’s building in the Middle East, the speech in Riyadh, the speech in Warsaw, the G20 stuff … aside from this Russia distraction, things are going pretty well,” McGuirk said.
Bill asked McGuirk how he would react if Trump fired Attorney General Sessions.
McGuirk said he would feel sorry for Sessions, but he would understand given he hasn’t aggressively investigated Hillary Clinton.
But Bill pointed out how damaging the Sessions firing would be, and that President Trump shouldn’t be worried about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation if he didn’t do anything wrong.
Despite the fact that some Democratic donors are on Mueller’s staff, Bill reminded everyone that Mueller needs hard evidence before he can blame President Trump fro anything.
“It’s gotta be in stone, this is what happened,” Bill said. “Whether or not he can lay it on Trump’s door step or not, we don’t know, but it can’t be speculation.”
Bill ended the conversations with some jokes about how unlikely that Trump’s senior advisor Jared Kushner, with his boyish looks, was the ringleader of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Chicago Gun Crime
Bill said one of the things that angers him most is when he is called a racist for calling for pointing out problems in the African-American community and proposing solutions.
“I want America to be a place where every single kid can have a decent shot,” Bill said.
Bill said the best example of racism in America is Chicago’s appalling murder rate. Bill argued that if such crimes were happening in white neighborhoods, there would be a solution. But because the shootings are happening in black neighborhoods, it never gets any better.
“There is a solution, the solution is to put the National Guard in these neighborhoods, to stabilize, alright,” Bill said. “The gangbangers aren’t going to come out with guns if the National Guard is there.”
WWII News
Bill next reported that this month marked the 73rd anniversary of First Lieutenant Scott Cole winning the Silver Star for taking out German machine gun crews in France during World War II.
“We need more Scott Coles now today in this country,” Bill said.
Bill then shared a picture from his personal collection featuring Harry Truman and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, which President Truman autographed.
Premium Member Emails
As his tradition, Bill ended the program by responding to emails from Premium Members.
Here are the highlights:
- Bill defended bringing on Fordham Professor Paul Levinson on the program because he wanted to have a discussion with someone who does not believe there is fake news in the mainstream media.
- Bill gave his review on the new WWII movie Dunkirk. Bill said it’s a pretty good movie, but that it’s short on history.
- Bill said he believes Trump advisor Jared Kushner is telling the truth in his denials of collusion with the Russians.
- Bill said the podcast will continue in some form beyond September, and it’s just a matter of what other platforms on which you’ll be able to find Bill.
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