Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics, where we discussed the top political headlines with some of today's best minds. And Donald Trump has withdrawn Canada's invite to the Board of Peace. They are saving a billion dollars. We have so to a great Joe for you today. Emmas Now's own step Rule talks to us about Trump's reckless behavior at Davos and how the world is reacting.
Then we'll talk to former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau row hit Chopra about Donald Trump's odd rhetoric on credit card interest rates.
But first the news, Mike, We're three weeks into twenty twenty six. I already think there's been two of the most powerful pictures of the Trump administration just in the last week. There's this first, there is this picture of over a half a dozen ICE agents pulling guns at a woman in her scrubs. And now we have this picture of a five year old boy taken by ICE in Minneapolis.
Yeah, and what about the photos of the guy not wearing a shirt.
It seems easy to capture horrifying images because ICE is giving so much material to these photographers.
It's kind of amazing that Trump brother is so obsessed with thinking these images will somehow help them, you know, Like what they're thinking is kind of strange, right, Like they think it'll help them, but in fact it just won't. It's a really bad look.
It feels like a very bad reading of the room, is what I would say.
Yeah, really really bad reading the room. He's a preschooler, Liam Kogius Ramos removed from the family's car. The boy and the family are from Ecuador. They presented themselves at the border in Texas to apply for asylum. The family's lawyer said they are not illegal aliens. They came properly, They came legally. They were pursuing a legal pathway and the sun was used as bait, as is the way in the Trump administration. None of it should be surprising, but it is all still completely appalling.
And this bag technique is very commid. It's what they're using at twenty six Federal Plaza in New York. Why we see all that the immigration courts are just filled with ice at all times because they wait for immigrants to go there for a trial and then they grab them up. Yeah yeah, so let's get even more craven. Many people who are critical of this stuff and smart on it. Field, the White Houses really crossed the line. The White House posted a deep fake image of an arrested ice protester crying.
Yeah. I mean, I know that Trump world loves to do fake stuff, but I don't totally get what the story is with this, Like why they want to put tears in this woman's face. I mean, I don't get it, but.
Well, owning the whips, right, But what's.
So brainwashed about all this stuff? Is there? Like, Okay, yeah, put tears, that'll make it even more owning the lips, but it actually makes you feel just worse for the person. So I don't get it, but it is deep fake. Daniel Dale. The White House is confirmed its official ex account has posted a fake image of a woman. Again. There is no legislation that prevents any fake stuff from being anywhere, So if they want to do fake AI porn of women candidates, there's nothing stopping any of that.
None of it's illegal. It's all legal, and so you know, the fact that they don't do this stuff every day is kind of shocking. If you don't make it illegal, people in the Trump administration will do it. So Christy NOME is out there. They're charging the people who protested the church. I'm sure a lot of listeners this podcast know it, but just to remind everyone, they're being charged under the eighteen seventy one Klukux Klan Act, which makes
it illegal any conspiracy to press, threatened, or intimidate. This is not what the klu kooks Klan did, right, They kill people, They hung them. That's not what's happening here. These are people protesting in church. But the point is, right, what's the point. The point is, use legislation that was meant to protect people to hurt people. Use legislation that was meant to protect people from things like the KKK. Do that in order to hurt people, because that's what this administration does.
Yeah. Ironically, the man who brought us fake news loves fake AI slop and posting it every day because every accusation is an admission and a projection.
Yeah.
And also because they really don't care.
Yeah. So yesterday, many people, myself included, were fored by Jack Smith's testimony. It seemed very very powerful and a very extreme indictment of Judge Aileen Kennon. No relation, thank god.
Yes, so Jack Smith testified on Thursday, it was was it a blockbuster? I don't know there was a blockbuster. It wasn't anything we didn't already know. But because we're in such a like insane post truth moment, just having him say stuff that we already know ultimately was I think important and useful if that makes sense. Like, you know, Trump world has been such liars about all of this that to just have somebody say, like, yes, they did
in fact storm the government, Yes they did. You know, January sixth was in fact January sixth, It was in fact meaningful. So I did think it was good. Again, like you know, the question of whether or not people follow the law, whether or not you know what the legal jeopardy the Trump world is in that, I don't know. But I did think it was good. And what he did was he reminded us. He said that you know you had by the way you had Jim Jordan just
completely was interesting. The Republicans tried to push back by saying that Jacksmith had lost a lot of cases when he was at the Public Integrity Section of the DOJ, which is true, but that's not necessarily an indictment of him losing cases. But you know, their thinking was, you know, if he had lost cases, that he would lose this case. But it never came to that, So it didn't totally make a lot of sense. But I was glad to see them reminding us of what happened and what's true
and what's not true. I don't think any Republicans' minds and hearts were changed one hundred percent.
They were not. But as much as I'm not the biggest fan of a firmly word and statement in this day and age, there's something about when somebody really points it all out in a succinct way. So here's that category of news where we knew this was happening, but now we haven't confirmed. Cash Tellow senior FBI agents linked to Trump probes.
Yeah, Cash Battel, Thank god for Cash Battel. If you were really working, we'd all we'd all be in the camps. You know. It was really good reporting from New York Times this week about how he just wants to go to parties, he wants to jet ski, he wants to go to sporting events. Cash Battel is like the Paris Hilton of the FBI discuss.
I really really like that analogy. I have no other comments aside from the thumbs up. Actually, Molly, you know, we can't say that Paris went to Washington this week and did really good work out of the Important.
Act, and that with mich Lawler.
Yes, that's true too.
He's PURBs the Bureau of Senior Ranks, forcing out pretty much anyone who knows what they're doing. Six agents in Miami, anyone who might have had anything to do with hurting his man and King Donald is out, Arctic Frost, you know, anyone who's ever known and Pete Straw. Basically, they are just clearing the decks. It's a good thing we don't need the FBI for stuff, because, man, if we did, we've been at it out of trouble. Steph Rule is the host of MS now's The Eleventh Hour Dephanie Roll.
Davos matters. Davos matters now in a way that it didn't what happened this weekend.
It's so funny. It's so funny. I've been to Davos, I don't know, seven or eight times, and for a long time it really was sort of this elite elite, just business people. There were world leaders, but kind of like more obscure ones with a very big focus on philanthropy.
And there still is the irony is Davos mattered so much this year because so many people influence went, But even though they went, what the World Economic Forum has always claimed that that Davos was about is, you know, creating the integrated collaborative you know, world of the future, the sustainable world of the future. Flies in the face of exactly where we are today, right the fact, yeah, that President Trump flew the well, actually, I'm gonna back
it up. I watched Stephen A. Smith this week dunk on Gavin Newsom just trash him, saying, how dare Gavin Newsom on European Soil go to Davos and say anything negative about our president? You know, almost like the you know, my Catholic family, almost like my Catholic family. You know, we can crush each other inside the house, but as soon as we open the front door, we have to
have united front. And I'm kind of like you could dog on Gavin Newsom for criticizing the president or by the same token, the President went to Davos and on European soil, insulted every thing, and everyone practically.
Declared war on Martin Jarney.
While so many business leaders and world leaders where there scratching their heads saying, have we just redefined the world order? I actually think on some level it's a comfort when they hear from other government leaders from the United States saying no, no, no, no, no, no no, Like, yeah, we don't feel that way. We still are committed to the NATO Alliance. Right. So, even if we backed off our threats against Greenland, if you're any of these countries, do you believe it?
Right?
Like, I don't think that Donald Trump truly changed his view on what we should do about Greenland. He just got a drastically negative response. Much like Liberation Day last year when the bond market said, uhh, this isn't gonna work, Donnie. The same thing happened this week.
So I want to go to this precedent because of this new world order idea. Mark Karney, the PM of Canada, gave this amazing speech and yeah.
Let me just be clear, I don't know if you know I know Mark Karney. He's a fantastic He's a smart guy. Mark Carney has never been this exciting in his whole entire life.
Right, explain why that is? Because he's not a normal politician, right, No.
Oh my goodness, he's an Ivy league educated. He came from the banking world. He's a true highly educated centrist that had it not been for the right wing pendulum swing, you know, for the pendulum swinging so far to the right, suddenly Canada was like, oh hey, like like like, we're got to stop getting cute with like big changes and aspirations and we need to just put a grown up who's going to say, let's lower the temperature. And that's what Mark Karney is doing.
Mark Carney gives the speech because you're going because I just want to, like Narrate gives this speech. It's an amazing speech. It's like very sort of the kind of speech gifted or it or gives. And it does not ever mentioned the United States by name.
Go no, it does not ever mention the United States name, unlike Donald Trump, who the next day was trying to say Greenland by name, but not LANs, not twas, but I absolutely think four times called it Iceland, and then his press secretary tried to say that we were incorrect, and no, Press Secretary Lovett, there's a video he called it Iceland. I've got two times. My colleague said four. In Donald Trump's first term, one of his he was
oftentimes very frustrated. You know, people used to joke he's in his bed with a diet Coca and a cheeseburger watching TV angry. He's not angry angry because he had the likes of Gary Khne or Steve Manuchin or hr McMaster, Rex Tillerson, take your pick. Even Bill Barr saying no, sir, I get that's what you want to do, but that's not what we can do. Right. We have to follow the rule of law. That's not how government works. Well. Now, in Trump two point zero, it's shangri la, right, It's funny.
Trump is a salesman who will sell you anything at a whim. But he is surrounded by true maga zelots who are like three equal branches of government. Be damned, you know, we're here for Trump Nation. And so no one inside that White House has said to him there's no reason for us to acquire Greenland. They will even the notion of like, we've got the framework of a deal, what's in it? You could have had whatever you wanted. Right, Basically, we have whatever we want already from Greenland, and if
we want more, they're going to say yes. So this entire exercise, while I'm sure it pleased Vladimir Putin, who would love to shake NATO. Like you always have to remember, go back in time. Ukraine would like to be a member of NATO. Russia is not a member of NATO, and so Vladimir Putin loves to see NATO getting rocked or disturbed in any way. Now, you do have to give Donald Trump some credit on the NATO front. Things
get sleepy in these organizations. And had Donald Trump not shaken the cage and said, hey, you sleepy countries, you got to pay up, and we saw more countries do so. Right, we do have significantly more power than our European allies like But I just think when Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth say they can't touch our military mite, they're right.
But if all of those countries, and if all of those investors, and if investors around the world say, you know what, we're just gonna dump all of our positions in US treasuries. We don't think you're the biggest safest bet anymore, that would be.
Very bad, right, and it'll make money much more expensive and it'll it'll change the way our whole country works. But I want you to talk. I want to go back, just for another second, on the new world order. So Donald Trump comes in, he says, you know, we're gonna go to war with Greenland. We're gonna do this. We're gonna do that. Carney says, we are going The small countries need to band together because if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. Is it a new world order coming out of Davos.
I don't know that it's a new world order because Donald Trump can change his tune at any moment. And the truth is all of these countries don't want the world order changed, right. They're really unhappy with what Trump is doing. But as much as Mark Karney could say, we got to get together and do this on our own, boys and girls, they'll do it if they have to, they'll do it if Trump's threats are real. But they
don't want to, right. Like again, let's beak, it's expensive these European most of these European leaders, they're not very popular. Like they're dealing with the same political divides in their countries that we are. They've got slower economic growth, than we do. Right, take tourism out. A lot of those countries are suffering. So could they band together and figure out how they're going to do this? They could, but they don't want to, right, And I think that's a really good point.
And it's also it's expensive. It's a problem. You know, there's all sorts of weird problems. I do want to ask you though, like it does feel like America is more isolated, especially coming into Davos to have Canada make this deal with China for evs Mark Carney, like, Ben, you have Canadians protesting not visiting America, Like, how much do you think this actually affects our economy?
Listen? All of it is affecting our economy, right. Donald Trump's number one economic policy has been the tariffs. Okay, and what even happened last year? We saw ninety or even more than ninety percent of the costs and curved within the tariffs were from American businesses and American consumers. Right, that way is on our economy. We're going to be bringing back manufacturing jobs. We lost sixty eight thousand manufacturing jobs. Now what you can say, yeah, but now the economic
outlook looks better. This year, the economic outlook looks better thanks to AI. What we really have is this divided economy, and other people have talked about it, this K economy, and to me, coming out of last year going into twenty twenty six, that K economy is only getting more exaggerated.
The KAY economy means that the big part of that K is the twenty percent or ten percent of the richest. Explain that, can you explain this?
It's the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer. Right, So, now the average age of a first time home buyer is forty years old. If you're someone who owns the home, if you're someone who owns assets, who owns stocks, the value of all of those things went up and up and up. But if you're not, if you do not own a home, if you're somebody who got out of college and you're saddled to college
debt and there's no jobs for you, you're suffering. If you're somebody in America who inflation is truly making your day to day to life more difficult, it's a problem. This is how the spirit, this is, This is why the same spirit elects Donald Trump in twenty sixteen and Zaramumdani in twenty twenty five. Right, wildly different men. But who are speaking to people saying are you left out? And are you sick of this? The government doesn't work for you?
Now?
The difference is that twenty twenty six Donald Trump, I don't even think he attempts to speak to or deliver for his base. Donald Trump is not running again. He is making right. New York Times, you know, reported that in the last year he made one point four billion dollars personally. I would venture a guest the number is significantly higher than that. Yeah, And he is surrounded by really what have become American oligarchs, how wealthy the wealthiest
ring of people have become. And what Donald Trump isn't addressing or talking about, right? Is he saying anything to us truly about healthcare? No, he's not. No, inflation is cooling, but it's but we're not in good shape. All of these issues that affect the American people the root of maga. Let's stop focusing on the outside and start focusing on the inside. We're not doing that, and so it's going to be so interesting to see, like true maga zealots
love all things Donald Trump love his brand. But people who voted for him, who were just sick of the system, he's not keeping them. And then there's that one other group. You know, last weekend, I was driving in upstate New York and there was some sort of Trump nation flags and then you know further ones, you know, just like free speech. Now, I just keep thinking about free speech. Now, one thing that came out of Davos, what are business
leaders doing self censoring? Davos is the one place where they love to get on the stage voice their opinions about anything. Everything. They're you know, blah blah blah. They're quiet as a church mouse, right because these business leaders know they're in a tricky position, right, they need to serve their customers, they need to serve their shareholders. And if you say anything against the president, he's coming for you.
And we saw this in Cold Blood Diamond. So Jamie Diamond, who is the lead who's far, far, far far from woke, right far from woke. In fact, I even said he liked Trump's stuff on immigration.
Right.
Yes, this time last year, he spoke in Davos and basically compared the far right to the far left and said the far left needs to stop talking so crazy and people were super upset about him. But this week he spoke some plain truths and set about ice right about saying he liked that Donald Trump was closing the border, and lots of people do, but he said, watching five grown men tackle a woman on her way to work, I don't think so, right, So he spoke out against that.
Then one of Donald Trump's, you know, sort of new ideas on affordability is to cap credit card rates. Okay, so you're not going to pay high interest rates, and Jamie Diamond said, great, that will lead to economic disaster because if they cap credit card rates, credit card companies say, okay, fine, but then they're just not going to extend credit the lots and lots of Americans. Right if you have a lower credit rating, they're going to say, sorry, it's too
risky for me to lend to you. And then the third thing that Jamie Diamond did was when all of the companies, my parent company included, ponied up ten twenty thirty million dollars for the East Wing ballroom, Jamie Diamond said no. He said no, because whomever the next administration is, if they're not Republicans, they're gonna come and see all of us that this is some kind of crooked bribery, right,
And what ifid Trump do? He goes and sues the biggest, baddest CEO out there, and I guarantee lots of other business leaders are like, shit, shoot, you know, Jamie Diamond's getting sued for five billion dollars, like there are there's few CEOs out there that sort of have the kahonas the power Jamie Diamond does. So loads of others are looking from the wings saying, I'm going to keep my
mouth shut, in my head down. And that's really scary when people don't stand up for the truth, when they don't stand up for democracy, they don't say things are whack. Do you remember how outspoken Jeff Bezos was about saying Joe Biden didn't understand inflation. As Jeff Bezos said about Donald Trump's understanding of the economy, because we just heard from Amazon that we're going to start to see the impact of tariffs on their prices, where are you, Jeff Bezos?
Yeah, it's a good question. And remember Amazon had wanted to have a little tariff calculator and then Trump had said no.
Remember they said forget and forget it, We're not going to do it.
I think it's so interesting when you're talking about like these billionaires not being brave, being scared. Earlier today I did Morning Joe. When I was talking to Senator Richard Blumithal, I'm saying, you know, does anyone stand up to him in the Senate And he was saying no. But then he said tothing which I thought was really interesting, which was he said, you know, they said Greenland doesn't know, like there are certain things that they were like, you can't do that.
So when Greenland was like really on the table this week, I was speed dialing all my sources in the headsphone community. They wrapped themselves in pretzels to defend fending Trump. Yeah, and let me tell you, I was dialing up one eight hundred Greenland like hey, and nobody, and people are avoiding my calls. They're dogging at their homework. Nobody wanted to, I mean, because they just know it makes absolutely no sense.
And even while if you make the argument, well they have these rare earth minerals, we can still get them like it just and so I think Trump more than blanked. He was embarrassed. They sure Stephen Miller's wife could make a post that shows, oh my gosh, what if we had this country in this country and what would that map look like? And Donald Trump, can you know, have a picture of you know, American flag on Canada, American
flag on Greenland, American flag on Venezuela. And then the business community is saying, what why would we need to do that. We're already getting everything we want, and forget the business community, Marda, go back to to you know, the original Marjorie Taylor green Maga wasn't the whole idea. We wanted to cut off usaid because we didn't care about other countries, right, right, we don't care about other countries. We don't care about wars and other countries. We wouldn't
care about eight in other countries. It's America. It's America first. And you could not make a kojun argument around why Greenland made sense. But to the point about silenced billionaires, think about how different the world is, right. Donald Trump even said in his remarks at the White House the day before he left Davos, he was half joking about the Gulf of Mexico and he said, well, it's Golf of America. I actually wanted to be the Gulf of Trump.
But you know I would have gotten killed for that. This is how far he's come and how quiet and accepting we have become. Trump one point zero, you had apartment buildings in New York City.
Stripping his name.
Yeah, people who lived who pulling down the Trump taking his name off at links because they didn't want to be there. And now it's like, well, let Trump be Trump. Just pull up the Gulf of Trump. I mean, call it the Gulf of America.
But I believe, and I could be wrong, but from looking at the polling and looking at this sort of pushback that we're seeing in places like Minnesota, I actually think what we have here is an elite that is willing to go along to get along, billionaires who are happy to do it, politicians who are pathetic, sick of fans, but that actually the American people are not happy.
Okay.
And then there's another group. I think you're one hundred percent right, And I'm gonna go to those billionaires first for a second, even though so many of them know better those that are truly in that circle. Molly, these people are making so much money.
Yep, it's the taxes it's more.
It's more than the taxes. It's the taxes. It's a it's a hype dealer. I mean, I was talking to a business guy I knew for years who's like, well, I'm focused really in Baku now, and I'm like where you know, Oh, I'm working with wit Coffin work with There are so many right, the John Coptions of the world are making so much money Russia style that they're all in Okay, Cantor Fitzgerald has Howard Lutnox firm has never made as much money as that. I mean, when you joked, I would not to hear.
Wouldn't you love Thomas New York Sorry, go on, wouldn't you.
Love to know who had inside information, who had early information on what Trump was going to announce about Greenland this week? I would churel like to know. So there's that group. But I actually think the group and they don't want to admit it, that really is in a tricky seat. Our corporate leaders, yeah, right, are our law firms because they do watch polling, they do take the pulse, so so they need to figure out So they need
to figure out how do I not alienate Trump? But how do I get how do I get with where the future is going? Because again, most CEOs, what their political views are are for the most part kept private. They have three things they need to do right. They need their customers to keep buying their products. They need their employees not to quit, and they need their shareholders smiling. And they don't want to weigh in on politics. It's
gotten so difficult. They're forced too. But now things are tricky because you have a president who is demanding money and loyalty and public praise, and he's falling further and further. I mean, what's his approval rating right now, thirty two thirty five.
It's the lowest. I mean, it's pretty much it's a race to the bottom. Step roll. That was really fun. You're the best.
I'll see you later.
Row Hit Chopra is the former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Welcome to Bass.
Politics, Rowhead, Thanks so much for having me.
Everything is bad, but let's talk about Trump is laser focused on affordability, and he's going to cap credit card rates at ten percent, even though that's not something you can really do by executive order. Talk us through what the hell is happening.
Well, here's what's going on. I think Trump and the White House are seeing that the walls are closing in on them on almost every indicator. Prices are going up for people, debt is going up on employment has been ticking up, and I think they're scrambling to say anything that will make people think that they are actually focused on people's paychecks and day to day living. So here's
what we heard. We heard this on the campaign too, by the way, that Donald Trump was going to cap credit card interest rates at ten percent, a one year emergency cap. Here's what people are dealing with. Every year, people are paying one hundred and sixty billion dollars in interest. For you, that's four hundred million dollars a day. In reality, though Trump has not really been caring so much about
people's credit card debts. He's essentially shut down the agency eye led the CFPB no more oversight over the credit card companies. He's rubber stamped mergers between credit card giants, and even rescinded rules that covered credit card companies that would stop them from harvesting illegal fees. So we have to really look at the talk and the action, and the action does not suggest that they're doing much to lower costs for people.
Yeah, so let's do more on that subject, because there are all sorts of consumer protections that Trump has taken away, right, talk us through that.
Well, we have laws on the books that really stop people from getting gouged on certain types of goods like insurance and financial products. But the Trump administration has essentially put all of the law enforcement agencies that police these companies into a coma. We have seen, for example, not a single meaningful action from the CFPB before they were collecting billions of dollars in refunds and taking banks and big financial companies to court. The FTC led by Lena
Kahn before is doing nothing. We are seeing instead just so many ways in which prices are going up, junk fees are going up, ripoffs are going up, and I think companies are seeing there will be no consequences if they break the law.
Right, So, yeah, this is a sort of post to law America, right, post legal Trump is you know. Trump also made some overtures towards Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. He talked on the phone to her about affordability. What do you think is happening here? You think this is just a like a dumb Floyd because he knows his numbers are underwater, or you think there's some sense in which he feels that there's some reason to pivot.
Well, I think he sees the numbers. He sees what is happening. His economic program isn't really working. The tariffs haven't brought back, all sorts of manufacturing costs have not conned down. I don't know what his calculus is, to be honest, if he wants to support this great I think he probably knows that Republicans in Congress will block it. Many of these politicians will just go with whatever some
of these big companies want. So the record though, on what he does have control over what those agencies are doing, what his DOJ is doing. They are mostly engaged in corporate pardons. They are ripping up settlements from years past. They are blocking investment negations, they are censoring the attorneys who were doing the work. So it seems like a ploy to me. If they really want to be able to do something, maybe they should actually pass something. But
they haven't done any of that yet. He also came out in favor of blocking big private equity investors from buying up homes it's actually a worthy point of discussion about whether those investors should be able to be vultures and buy up all the housing. But the reality is is that he's not actually going to block that. So I think maybe people are seeing that he'll say it, but his actions don't match his words.
You have really spent a lot of time working on this kind of thing. When you were at CFPD, you rang the alarm about why industrial banks are so risky to the financial system, explained, I mean to us what that is, because we're in a really interesting moment when it comes to banks and the banks versus crypto, etc. So this is interesting.
Yeah, So here's what we heard yesterday the Trump administration, the fdi C they greenlit these new types of banks known as industrial banks. Its banks owned by conglomerates. In this case, GM and Ford are now getting banks. We know the history with GM, when it gambled like a
Wall Street player. Not only did they become less focused on producing automobiles, they engage in extremely risky financial practices that ended up being caught up in a financial crisis, and ultimately a lot of those big financial firms were bailed out by all of us. So we are starting to see how they are bring back some of the basic safeguards to make sure that these financial companies don't
blow up and instead pumping up short term profits. And here's what I worry, Molly, is that when they do go down, they're going to expect all of us to pay for the cleanup. That's exactly what happened in two thousand and eight. That's exactly what has exacerbated wealth inequality, and frankly, that's exactly what has created more power by some of these big financial players in our political system.
So let's talk about there's so little oversight happening in Trump's post legal America. It seems like besides these banks, you also have this crypto story, which is a real problem. How worried are you about that and the lack of regulation there.
Well, here's what we're seeing is a fundamental shift away from how we think about banks and finance in America. Here's how we used to think about it. We used to think that banks and financial companies there's opposed to lend to small businesses, to people who want to buy homes.
What we're seeing is instead more and more capital moving towards pure speculation, dumping money into hedge funds to be able to gamble with it in some of these crypto investment vehicles, pure speculation, and what we're seeing is that they want to bring more of that so that it's
guaranteed by all of us. So I think we got to watch this carefully because we're also seeing signs that some of the president's family are in directly have financial interests in some of these financial companies, crypto coin issuers and others. And Molly, I'm really worried that part of the story about Trump's attempt to take over the Federal Reserve is also so that he will have the power for the Fed to buy up assets and bail his friends out when things go bust.
But how would he do that if there are all these different governors in the bad Well.
Here's what's happened now here right now, there are a few that he has already appointed. Many believe that they are already signaling loyalty toward him. He's trying to remove Lisa Cook, He's launched a criminal investigation against j Powell. The markets do see that he will get it, will likely get a majority of that board. Once he has a majority of that board, and he recently said he essentially is expecting loyalty from them. They will have an
enormous amount of power. Many of these economists focus a lot on how they can control interest rates, but they really get to set the price and supply of money. They get to choose who's in the banking system. They're supposed to oversee money laundering and sanctions, so they really can turn a blind eye to some they can debank their enemies, they can rubber stamp approval for their friends. And this is something that we all have to pay attention to.
What can we do as just besides paying attention to it.
Well, ultimately we'd like to see an opposition fight some of the confirmations of those who are essentially going to be loyalists and minions to the president. We also probably need a meaningful reform plan so that these institutions cannot have so much power that the president can weaponize it. But also, Molly, I have to tell you a lot of these companies are just going along with it. They're donating to a ballroom, They're making sure that that they
are in good graces with the president. Apple gave the president I think a golden iPhone. There has to be consequences for some of this, and I think that people need to signal now that this type of wrongdoing is not just going to come with no consequences later.
That's a real question. Do you think Democrats are prepared for what happens if they win elections and take back power.
Well, I think here's what many Republicans are counting on the fact that they might assume the Democrats will chicken out. But I think people are going to demand that when Trump is out and a new president is in, they cannot simply dance around and pretend like this didn't happen. There is going to need to be some accountability for companies that participated in corrupt practices or assisted in some
of this mouthfeasance. And I think it's a big open question because many people wondered whether the you know, the Justice Department under the last administration energetically use the law. And I think a lot of people there, Yeah.
I mean MARYK. Garland was a complete coward. I mean he didn't do anything. He didn't even do the law the way that a Republican I mean the way that a Bob Dole might And I mean We've seen Democrats be quite cowardly, be behind the idea that you know, they want to just protect norms and they don't really care and we should just let by gums be gone. So how would you even get a party that is so mired in their own weirdness to get involved in this.
I mean, they just voted to prove that the appropriation which gives money to ICE.
I'm pretty confident we're going to have a lot of new players. People are going to see that they're sick and tired of the same. I really worry about this Mali, which is you can't just spend the next four years. Let's say if Democrats win rebuilding the government and living in a fairy tale that everything will go back to normal. Things are permanently different. If there is now a sense that you can, yeah, let's hire up people at USAID, it can all be shattered again. So there needs to
be a different governing plan. In my view, one of the things we need to do is not have federal law enforcement have a monopoly over policing some of these companies. We need to put more power in the hands of state attorneys general, more power in the hands of private citizens,
to be able to take people to court. We are going to need the Democrats to have a real point of view and a plan on how they are going to make sure that the courts are not being weaponized against consumers and workers and patients and everyone one else. We are not going to be able to do this with just trimming on the edges. We will need a fundamentally different way of governing in my.
View, Yeah, I'm sure that's true. When you look at like the work you guys have done with accountability, do you think we'll be able to get back? I mean, like we've gone so far to the other side with Trump World, right, things are illegal, They don't even care. People are being added to signal chats. We had national security advisors on signal. There's no accountability in Trump World for doing things that are illegal or that are problems for national security. I mean, how would you even start
to walk that back? How would you start to become a country of laws?
Again, I recognize that it's much worse right now than it has been, but I don't think that this problem is new. I've served in several governments and I have seen firsthand how when it come to politically connected large companies that they can get law enforcement to turn a blind eye. The Department of Justice has been known to enter into agreements called non prosecution agreements or settlements that
are a huge giveaway. So I really think the laws exist on the books today to actually aggressively prosecute crimes that harm the public, especially when it comes to their pocketbook. But we have not seen a political will to put people in those positions who will actually do it.
Have we not seen a political will or have we seen people who are scared to do it? Because I think voters want it.
I think you have two things. You have a huge amount of corporate influence in both parties. You have a terrible revolving door between regulated companies, law firms, and the prosecutors. And then on top of that, you really have a bunch of people who enter into government assuming that it is all some sort of Kumbai yah, when in reality it has to be about some degree of conflict when you're taking on actors that are screwing people over.
Yeah, that's a really good point. Thank you so much, Rohed.
Of course, thanks for having me, Molly.
No moment, Jesse Cannon.
We did not get to cover because of the literal just barrage of news all week that DOJE did some real, real fuckery with personal data and potential voter suppression. Today we have a report that there is even more ways DOZE access since the personal data.
Yeah, you'll be shocked to hear staffers who were part of the Department of Government Efficiency and properly accessed and shared sensitive data millions of Americans. Trump administration hasn't been able to answer how much data is at risk, and quite frankly, probably if you email them, they'll send you
back a poop emoji. These questions deepen last week when the Social Security Administration said it discovered that DOGE employees at the agency secretly and improperly shared sensitive data your social Security number in Elon's computers my favorite part, but again cannot verify the extent of the violations. The admission comes in a court filing last Friday, January sixteenth, made
numerous corrections the testimony given. Just be glad that there's not someone running around with your social Security number right now. That's it for this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday to hear the best minds and politics make sense of all this chaos. If you enjoy this podcast, please send it to a friend and keep the conversation going. Thanks for listening.