This week on Ring of Fire!

Over the past few days, Elon Musk – a man that was neither elected to serve in the government nor confirmed by a governing body – has made sweeping changes to the federal government, consolidating it under his control. He has locked civil servants out of their computer systems at some departments; the NTSB has announced that they will only be using Musk’s platform to make official announcements; And he has gained access to personal information, including pay, from the Treasury. This is both completely unprecedented and wildly dangerous.

The Trump Administration authorized the release of billions of gallons of water onto California from several dams in order to fight the fires that have already bee declared “100% contained.” This decision was not only dangerous for the state – one official said that it nearly flooded them – but it also screws over farmers. That water was meant for summer crops, and now it is gone, which is going to wreak havoc on food availability and prices in just a few months.

Donald Trump’s response to the deadly plane crash in Washington, D.C. last week is all the proof you need to know that he is insane. He blamed people with disabilities, “diversity” hires, people with missing limbs, and even “dwarfism” for the disaster, none of which played a role in what happened. But this type of response cannot be tolerated, normalized, or ignored. The man is mentally unwell.

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

This week on Ring of Fire!

According to award-winning economist and columnist Paul Krugman, Donald Trump is creating a massive economic disaster for himself that he has no idea how to handle. Specifically, Krugman is warning about the looming economic crisis from Trump’s mass deportations which will likely send inflation and consumer prices back up. On top of that, we’re already seeing labor shortages spring up from the moves, so the economic impacts are already upon us.

Following the late-evening confirmation of Pete Hegseth this past Friday, Donald Trump took to Truth Social to rehash one of his “greatest hits” by declaring certain media outlets to be “the enemy of the people.” But this time he took things a step further, and specifically mentioned MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow by name. Every time Trump does this, he puts a target on someone’s back, and we’ve seen his crazed supporters attempt violence from these “enemy of the people” comments in the past.

Tom Homan, Donald Trump’s new “border czar,” says that he is considering conducting immigrants raids at schools in order to round up students and deport them. Homan had the audacity to say that these because these people “broke the law”, they shouldn’t be allowed in at all. This is coming from a man that is working for a convicted felon.

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

This week on Ring of Fire!

Donald Trump and his Republican allies have been trashing Bishop Mariann Budde all week after she called out his anti-Christian immigration policies at a Prayer Breakfast on Tuesday, and now a whole new group of Bishops is jumping in to pile on Trump’s plans. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a letter criticizing Trump’s deportation plans and called for mercy and compassion, just like the Bible calls for.

Even when Republicans win, Steve Bannon can’t stop spreading conspiracy theories. As Donald Trump was set to be sworn in on Monday, Steve Bannon was on the scene spreading conspiracies about why the inauguration was moved indoors. According to Bannon, it wasn’t because the weather was too harsh to safely conduct the ceremony outside – instead, it was part of a plot to “nullify” Trump, which he didn’t elaborate on at all.

In a post on Truth Social this week, Donald Trump said that MSNBC (or MSDNC, as he calls it) “shouldn’t even have a right to broadcast” in the United States, suggesting he could take their license away. This is the man that conservatives are heralding as the guy who is “saving free speech” and “doing away with censorship,” as The New York Post suggested this week.

And Donald Trump spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, marking his first international appearance as the new President of the United States. And to absolutely no one’s surprise, he made a complete fool of himself and the country. He made countless false claims that were immediately called out by both US media and international outlets, which obviously is going to set the tone for the next 4 years.

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

This week on Ring of Fire!

Marjorie Taylor Greene is back at it with her weather manipulation conspiracies, this time suggesting that the government should simply create rain by “cloud seeding” and then the problem of the California fires would be solved. It isn’t just that she’s crazy, it’s that she is so arrogant in her insanity to say something so crazy and yet so matter-of-factly.

Republican politicians in both the House and Senate are threatening to withhold disaster aid to the victims of the California fires unless they agree to “certain concessions.” This is absolutely reprehensible, and it isn’t something that would ever happen to red states during disasters, regardless of which Party controlled the government. But this is how things work when a Blue State needs help.

MAGA faithful are finding out very quickly that they are part of the actual club. Elon Musk continues to censor and silence his conservative critics on Twitter (X), and the MAGA crowd is furious that the “free speech absolutist” turned out to be a big fat liar on the issue of censorship. But there is little they can do about it since he owns the platform and can make the rules himself – just like conservatives do with politics.

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

This week on Ring of Fire!

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson announced on Fox News this past weekend that he and his fellow Republicans in the House are aiming to push through a single bill that contains ALL of Donald Trump’s legislative priorities by Memorial Day, instead of passing multiple separate bills. This seems like an unusual move for someone like Johnson, and that’s because it isn’t his idea at all – It all came from Trump who is demanding that Republicans do it this way. This is a stupid plan that is destined to fail.

President Biden now has less than 2 weeks in office, and he’s spent the past few days signing legislation and orders designed to help protect Americans from Donald Trump. One of the biggest achievements was the signing of legislation to increase Social Security payments to more than 3 million recipients, and that was followed by an order that forbids oil drilling along the coasts of the country.

Trump ally Steve Bannon celebrated the anniversary of the Capitol Riot on Monday by proudly proclaiming “we almost pulled it off!” Bannon’s comments make it clear that there is absolutely no remorse for what happened that day – including the deaths – and that they would gladly do it again if they ever felt the need.

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

This week on Ring of Fire!

Donald Trump has filed a brief with the Supreme Court calling for a stop to the banning of TikTok, but legal experts can’t seem to make sense of what he filed. In fact, the filing is so incomprehensible that they aren’t even sure what kind of filing it is supposed to be. One attorney compared it to the movie “Legally Blonde,” while also pointing out that the filing is nothing more than Trump bragging about winning the election.

Steve Bannon has been one of the loudest voices in the ongoing MAGA civil war, but he insisted this week that there isn’t actually a civil war happening with Trump’s allies and supporters because the other side (Elon Musk) isn’t “tough enough” to actually fight back. As evidence, Bannon pointed to the fact that Musk has already backed down on his vow to “go to war” on the issue of the H-1B visas by now saying that maybe they should be reformed. Musk is a lot of things, but a fighter isn’t one of them.

A Republican state lawmaker named Danielle Gallant from Nevada told a reporter this week that Elon Musk has now made it “cool” to be a Republican, going as far as claiming that it is now “punk rock” to be in the GOP. These people have absolutely no clue what it means to be counterculture as they suck up to the richest man on the planet – who also happens to be the biggest dork in the world.

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

This week on Ring of Fire!

As he prepares to leave the Senate, and possibly American politics as a whole, Republican Senator Mitt Romney offered a warning to America: You don’t get to complain if Trump does what he said he will do. There is a lot of apprehension around the country right now as people reel from the thought of Trump’s economic policies, but Romney reminded us that Trump was very clear about what he was going to do, so we have no rooms to complain.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders urged President Biden to seriously consider issuing some preemptive pardons to the people that Donald Trump is threatening to go after once he returns to office. Sanders made the comments during an appearance on CNN this past Sunday, while adding that Trump’s rhetoric is making him sound like a “tinpot dictator.” Preemptive pardons could be risky, but it may be a risk worth taking.

Judge Juan Merchan this week made the decision that Presidential immunity does NOT cover the crimes for which Donald Trump was convicted in New York. The day after the decision, Trump got on Truth Social and had the meltdown of all meltdowns, ranting that the judge was “psychotic” and throwing a massive tantrum. But Merchan made the right call on this matter.

Marjorie Taylor Greene managed to unite both the Right and the Left this week when they joined forces to ridicule her relentlessly after she went full anti-vaxxer on Twitter. Greene proclaimed that she fully believes that vaccines cause autism in spite of the mountain of evidence that has not once found a single link between the two. She even earned a massive fact check from Twitter (X) itself on top of the ridicule that she experienced.

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

This week on Ring of Fire!

Donald Trump has finally announced where his failed attorney Alina Habba is going to land in his new administration, and she will be serving as the new Counselor to the President. This position was previously held by Kellyanne Conway, meaning that Habba has officially become the new Kellyanne. Her job, just like Conway’s, will be to give Trump advice but most importantly to go out and do interviews about how awesome he is.

During his interview with Meet The Press on Sunday, Donald Trump served up an incomprehensible word salad where he appeared to imply that he invented the word “groceries.” He was asked about prices and inflation, and instead of giving a coherent answer, he went on a long rant about “groceries” and then pivoted to how amazing tariffs are – but he still wouldn’t say that consumers will NOT pay higher prices under his policies.

All hell broke loose during a recent city council meeting in the small town of Middleton, Ohio, when JD Vance’s mother demanded that the city honor her son and recognize the “role” that he played in Donald Trump’s reelection. The city plans to honor him, but they don’t want to rush to any conclusions just yet because he hasn’t even been sworn in. This is now the second time in as many weeks that a Republican had his mommy go out and advocate on his behalf.

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

This week on Ring of Fire!

A new piece from The New Yorker has revealed some shocking allegations about Donald Trump’s pick for Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth. The report, which was based on a whistleblower’s report from Hegseth’s time in the military, claims that Hegseth was frequently intoxicated, made comments like “kill all Muslims,” and had complaints about misogynistic behavior. If these allegations are true, Senators need to make it clear right now that they won’t vote to confirm him.

Donald Trump has issued a strong statement AGAINST President Biden’s pardon for his son, Hunter, even though Trump said that he was open to giving Biden’s son a pardon just a few months ago. The media played right into Trump’s “disgust,” and they are going to be the ones that weaponize the pardon long before Trump even has the chance to do so.

Republican Congressman James Comer has spent the past 2 years investigating Hunter Biden to no avail, and now he’s apoplectic that Hunter has received a pardon from his father. Comer posted a scathing message on social media, accusing the President of lying for years about pardoning his son. The rest of the MAGA world is also furious, but it doesn’t matter. This whole thing is only a shock to people who have their fingers far removed from the pulse of American politics.

Ted Cruz has emerged as one of the biggest butt-kissers of Donald Trump, and he’s apparently refusing to let anyone else take that mantle away from him. During an interview this week, the irony-proof Cruz actually criticized the Morning Joe crew on MSNBC for not just kissing up to Trump, but “kissing even lower” than anyone else. But the crude sexual innuendo completely ignores Cruz’s own history.

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

This week on Ring of Fire!

It’s Thanksgiving week, so we’re doing another Ring of Fire Q&A session featuring questions from our YouTube Community members.

Will Trump make it to the end of his term?

How did Harris lose to Trump?

Why won’t Farron run for public office?

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