LIVE: ICE Goons Invading Minnesota Has Been A Disaster w/ David Rothkopf

David Rothkco, so good to see you. Last. time I saw you, you were attacking the. Swiss art of fondue. You're being. extremely rude about Davos. >> I apologize. You know, and some of your. listeners were like, "No, fondue is. great." Here's the problem with fondue, besides the goopiness of it and the fact. that it'll kill you, is that it's got. this terrible German wine in it. And so.

it takes perfectly good cheese and it. makes it taste like, you know, Gortum. meter or some kind of horrible wine and. I'm just not for it. I'm from New. Jersey. Cheese belongs on a submarine. sandwich. >> Cheese belongs with a little bit of. German wine. I like a very dry reling. I'm I'm really uncovering those at the. moment. However, the point is we've all. forgotten Davos. We've forgotten. Venezuela. We've forgotten we've.

forgotten Greenland and Iceland and all. of it. And we've forgotten the Epstein. files, which we must not forget. So, we'll come back to that. But I want you. to explain to us what the hell is. happening in Minneapolis right now. A. lot of damage control, right? But what. is actually going on? Well, what's. actually going on in Minneapolis is. happening in Washington, which is that. Trump wants to get the money for DHS. because he has this big gigantic budget. for DHS, which if it were a military.

budget would make DHS like the third or. fourth biggest army in the world. So, it's it's really a ridiculously large. amount of money. And what has happened. is, you know, we have seen that ICE and. and and and Customs and Border Patrol. are just a bunch of goons who are. murdering Americans. And that has. produced a backlash. And it has produced. such a backlash that even the usually. kind of. softsped Democratic leadership has said,

"No, we're not going to fund DHS. This. scares the crap out of Trump." And so. he's like, "Okay, let's let's pull it. back a little bit. We'll send Greg. Bevino back to his Dar Sturmer group. meetings in California and uh we'll send. Tom Holman in because who gets more. confidence from Tom Holman, right?". [laughter] The who I have seen referred. to online as the bagman, right? This. corrupt, >> right? The bagman referring to his. alleged uh taking of cash.

>> Well, it's not that alleged, right? I. mean, we it's on video anyway. So, he's. sending him in and he's he's sending a. message to people saying, "Oh, we're. going to pull back." That I think the. message overnight was they're going to. relax uh what they're doing a little. bit. U But of course, that's all a lie. What they're trying to do is say, "Go. on, pass our budget. Pass our budget and. let us get back to our business.". Because they're planning to go into. Philadelphia. They're going into Maine. They're going into other cities. this.

idea of occupying American cities, it's. not just a casual thing. They've been. thinking about this since the the BLM. um uh demonstrations back in 2020. And. and they want to do it because it'll. produce confrontation, which will let. them do the insurrection act, which will. allow them to send troops into the. cities just in time to [ __ ] with the. elections. And that's basically what. it's about.

Right. So, does this give the Democrats. the opportunity to do a shutdown? >> It I it does, and I think that's what's. going to happen is there'll be some kind. of a partial shutdown. The Democrats. will approve the parts of the bill. except for the DHS parts of the bill. And I think there's going to be a. standoff. And I think part of it's going. to have to do with a messaging war. Who. doesn't love a messaging war, right? The. messaging war from the Republicans will. be see the Democrats are soft on.

immigration, but of course they're like. two years behind this because the world. has shifted away from their view on. immigration. The the message from the. Democrats is as it should be. The. Republicans are shutting down the. government so that they can continue to. occupy our cities and trample on the. rights of individual Americans. And you. know depending on how that plays out you. know that'll depend you know that'll. influence whether Trump and company come. to the table and say okay we'll wear.

body cams or okay we won't go beyond the. 100mile border radius that CBP is. supposed to operate in or okay we'll. cooperate with local investigations. uh whatever the terms are, they'll try. to come up with something that will. allow them to say, "Well, this is better. than it used to be." Uh the problem is. unless you get rid of Trump and Miller, none of this is going to change. >> Well, I was just I was going to ask you.

I in the list of people whose heads. should roll after two deaths of, you. know, utterly unthreatening protesters. in Minneapolis. What what's the. hierarchy of people who should be fired? Let's assume that Trump is not going to. be fired. But but what about Miller? What about Gnome? What about Landowski? I mean, Bevino's been moved over, as you. say, back to his bunker in California. >> Well, I of the policy.

>> First, first of all, with respect, let me push back on the. premise a little, right? >> Because it's not just two people who are. shot. A dozen people have been shot. People have been uh uh strangled to. death in these places. Little kids have. died. A little girl who needed cickle. cell treatment died in these places. Thousands of people have been. maltreated. A thousand people reportedly. are missing who were sent to Alligator. Alley. So there are rife human rights.

abuses here. So that goes to answering. the question by saying, yeah, all of. them. >> Well, Coleman should go. Bovino should, you know, go to his retirement. Gnome. should go. And you even have two. Republican senators, Tom Tillis and Lisa. Marowski, saying, >> "We need to we we need to have Gnome. go." And of course, then what does that. produce? Well, it produces that great. thing that we see in Washington a lot,

but that you also saw in the movie. Nuremberg and in, you know, the, you. know, postNazi Germany where, you know, Kirsty Gnome's response is, I was just. following orders, >> right? >> Orders, >> Trump and Stephen. I was just doing what. Trump and Stephen said to me to do. So, yeah. So, you know, you can you can just. imagine Corey Luwendowski whispering in. her ear, "Look, the only way to save.

yourself is to make sure that they know. you'll take them down." Um, and you. know, that's where it gets complicated. But if I was going to say one person. would be a sign that Trump was serious. about change, it's Miller. Because. Miller is the master architect. He's the. guy everybody in the White House calls. the prime minister. He is a malevolent. character from a horror movie who has no. redeeming qualities. Unless he goes, this stuff is going to.

continue. >> So, do you think it's possible he would. go? I mean, the one thing this is doing. in the most cynical view of all is it's. keeping attention away from the Epstein. files, which we know is the thing that. unnerves Donald Trump perhaps more than. anything else, even more than watching. two people shot and repeatedly played on. a loop on television all weekend, which. is why he finally roused himself to try. and do something about this.

>> Yeah. or somebody roused him maybe with. those kind of paddles or whatever it is. they used to get him up out of bed in. the morning. [laughter] Um, but. >> Melania, maybe it was Melania because. she needed him out of bed and in his. black tie for the Saturday night. >> Well, wasn't that disgusting? >> Well, I mean, >> somebody is gunned down, murdered in the. street by two officers who shot this guy. in the back on videotape. And Trump and. Melania's response is, "Well, let's do a. black tie screening of this horrible.

vanity movie that we've made about this. horrible woman." And they did it. And. you know, Tim Cook of Apple. >> Tim Cook of Apple. What What a shame. that is. >> It is. They showed up. They had ordurves. and they said, "Oh, you're so wonderful, Melania." Well, this guy's body lied on. a lay on a slab in the morg in. Minneapolis. And what's so fascinating. about the video is you see the other. members of ICE after the shooting starts.

running away because they know it's bad. They know. >> they counted first they counted the. holes they made in him. >> you know and then they ran away. These. people you know. these people are awful people who for. whom no normal employment is available. you know, these are the people who are. hired for the qualities that you. normally try to keep people out of. society for. Uh, and I think that's.

becoming readily apparent. And frankly, some of the people who committed these. crimes, who did these shots, these were. well-trained CBP officers, the training. now for ICE and CBP is like down to six. weeks. and and they're taking people off. the street who are, you know, proud boys. and members of other militias and have. criminal records and. >> well, and the fact they're masked as. well means that you just know they're up. to no good. Why do you need to wear a.

mask if you're doing something? >> Well, did you see this video? There's. this video the other day um uh you know. you know in in which this this guy is. threatening this person and saying you. know either you know erase the video or. I will erase you. >> GH. >> I mean so. >> I suppose we can console ourselves with. the fact that Tim Cook makes some of the. phones that were being used to record. this. He put out a statement actually. that the Wall Street Journal carried.

saying that, you know, he um he was very. upset by what happened in Minneapolis, but clearly not upset enough. >> [ __ ]. >> No, I mean, he's clearly responding to, >> you know, first of all, he was running. the, you know, slavun factories in China. where the phones are made in the first. place. Secondly, what does he do by. showing up to the and and celebrating. the Trumps in the wake of this murder in. the street? He's saying it's okay. And. the whole, you know, this this sort of.

establishment of these tech bros and the. billionaires around Trump, that's what. they're saying. They're saying, "It's. okay, buddy. Kill whoever you want. We'll still have your back so long as. you do the deals we want you to do. De. have deals." This is how immoral. political leaders get and maintain power. because the people who write the checks. keep writing the checks and saying, "Hey, I love it." You know, we saw that. the head of Open AI gave $25 million to.

Trump this past year, even as he could. see what he was doing, you know. So, you. know, you know, we got to get rid of. Miller and and Trump and stuff, but I I. gotta tell you, unless the American. people hold the tech bros and the. finance bros and the other people who. are writing these checks and making MAGA. possible and validating MAGA and.

excusing what MAGA did, unless they hold. them accountable, unless there is a big. business penalty for them, um this is. going to go on and on long past the day. that you know Trump is mouldering in the. grave. >> Trump is mouldering in the grave. >> Like that's from an American. Oh, John. John Brown's body. >> I know. John Brown's body lay mouldering. in the grave. We used to sing that in. the UK too when I was. >> um so David, what are your plans for of.

course the big event, the big cultural. event this week taking place at the at. the Kennedy Center, the opening of the. Melania the documentary? We mentioned. that she had a black tie screening on. Saturday night. Did we mention that it. was attended by Tim Cook, the CEO of. Apple? I think we did. Uh, and then. >> did we mention that they can't sell. tickets for it? So, like in the UK, they're like doing showings and I think. they sold one ticket for it. >> They've already started showing it, have. they? I thought it didn't open worldwide.

until Friday. Global. >> there's advanced ticket sales or. something and there's just no demand. I. don't have to do it. You know why I. don't have to go? >> Beside the fact that it would make me. throw up that is is is that I can listen. to your Melania impression. >> You can listen to my Melania impression. We must unify unify in these times these. times that her husband has put together. >> Yeah. But I love that. I you know first. of all you're great at that and but. secondly thank you. Um no no it's.

unify. Unify. We must unify. But but. think about that. This. >> dim woman who, you know, has made her. way through life through God knows how. We're not allowed to talk about that. But this dim woman thought, well, I will. intervene. I will offer my views to. America and say, let's have unity. let's. come together as though the person that.

she is supporting sleeping with and who. is supporting her, you know, um, uh, financially wasn't the one responsible. for it. They're not two sides to this. There's a bad guy doing bad things to. the American people and she is Well, she's not sleeping with him every night. In fact, >> I don't think she's living at the White. House anymore, is she? >> I I don't think she is. You have a whole. other podcast on that. I would. >> We do, actually. I was going to say we. have been covering her fairly doggedly. actually and it does appear that she's. not actually living in the White House.

and when she turns up at the White House. the staff treat her as if she's a guest. but she's a guest that cannot be annoyed. and according to my other podcast. co-host uh Michael Wolf. She is furious. this week because she has been. overshadowed. This was supposed to be. Melania's week. It's the big global roll. out of her movie for which she got paid. $40 million and 70% of the back end. This is Jeff Bezos's enormous, how can I.

put this? Suckup to Donald Trump. And. it's not going as much. It's not going. as well as they'd hoped. >> But it's not a suckup. It's corruption. It's a payoff. It is a $40 million. bag, like a cava bag full of money that. Tom Holman received. It's it's a $40. million bag full of money that was given. for no reason at all to the president. and his wife. >> Well, I think I think there was a.

reason, wasn't there? >> No, the re Yeah. Is to buy favor is to. is to get contracts for his company. is. to is to you know is to be seen as a. powerful person in America. He's buying. influence, you know, and if this. happened in some other, you know, distant corner of the world and some guy. walked in with a briefcase full of cash. and handed it to the leader, we'd go, "That's corruption." But here, that's. capitalism. It's. >> okay, I'm just I'm just interrupting you.

because I've finally got to see some of. the comments people are leaving. And. this brilliant one here by Alexandra. Sete Miller reminds me of the child. snatcher from Tritty Chitty Bang Bang. Do you remember that movie? The child. catcher in Titty Chitty Bang Bang is one. of the most frightening things. It was a. little guy that would go lollipops, lollipops. And he had a little cage and. then the minute the child jumped into. the cage. The the signs for the. lollipops fell away and you realized. he'd been caught, it was the most. sinister, frightening thing that haunted.

my early childhood. >> Well, that I mean, you should have. focused on truly scrumptious. You should. have focused on scrumptious. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. And people more. people will show up for these Daily. Beast lives if we do more, you know, singing. But. >> I'm sure they will. But there's also a. good point here from someone whose name. is asynchronicity saying ICE is domestic. terrorism. I. >> that is that you're exactly right.

asynchronicity or misynchronicity or. misynchronicity. >> Yeah. Uh but but you're exactly right. You know, Trump and Miller said, "Well, these people in the streets are domestic. terrorists. Those people are heroes that. we, you know, we we owe them a lot. because the terrorists. are the federal forces who are trying to. scare Americans into giving up their. rights and remaining silent and not. criticizing the government. And what the.

people in Minneapolis have done, nobody. has done in the the the whole history of. Trump and Trumpism is they've stood up. and they said, 'N no, we're going to. defend our rights and we are going to do. it even at peril of death. And you know, Alex. >> Pretty. >> went to a memorial service for Renee. Nicole Good. He knew that these people. were going were were were potentially. going to kill the watchers like him and.

he showed up anyway and he stood up to. them anyway. He knew the risk and the. message that the people of Minneapolis. and by the way Bruce Springsteen just. put out a song today that he wrote last. night apparently uh it called the. streets of Minneapolis which. >> Really? Wow. Wow. Um and uh and uh the. the the reality is that the song that. you know you put the song out because.

these people have realized that this is. what it takes. >> Frankly, the world has started to. realize it. Europe, Mark Carney of. Canada, they said, "No, we're standing. up. We're not going to be bullied. anymore." Right? >> And the people of Minneapolis said, "No, you can't threaten us. Your guns won't. threaten us. Your threat of jail won't. threaten us. Your bullying tactus won't. threaten us. This is no longer about. abstractions like constitutional law. This is about our rights. This is about.

our communities. This is about our. lives. And we're going to fight back. And and all of a sudden we discover we. were reminded that in the US system of. government, the president's not the. boss. People are the boss. >> Well, in theory, the people are the. boss. Uh and the people vote in. Congress, right? And Congress has. disappeared on us. I mean now. >> I mean the f first of all the. Republicans in Congress are complicit. Okay. So they're they they haven't.

disappeared. They're there. They are. helping them. Um but the Democrats have. been a little somn up until now. But you. know there are some signs you know like. twothirds or threequarters of the. Democrats in the House have said that. they want to impeach Christine No. the. Republican margin in the House is only. two people. So the the reality is um. that you know it's not impossible that. you could get if they keep pushing this. to the point where Christy Gnome gets.

impeached by the House. >> You would still have to have the Senate. ratify that. >> Yeah. But but look, we we know that the. Senate is unlikely to do that. Although. Tom Tillis and Lisa Marcowski and Ran. Paul have all been Republicans who've. said no Marowski must know must go. But. but an uh you know as we know an. impeachment then requires investigation. and articles of impeachment are drawn up. and this will put a lot of focus on. Trump that he doesn't want to have uh.

and particularly in an election year. where it's going to reveal that this. administration has actually decided to. invade America to attack American. cities. That's that's that's the. punchline here. In fact, you know, a lot of people who are. following this may not have noticed, but. in the past few days, the administration. released their national defense. strategy. And their national defense. strategy, normally this is something.

that focuses on foreign enemies and so. forth. But they have said, you know, no, we're going to shift our assets of our. military to deal with threats closer to. home. But what what is that? That is. them saying that they are preparing to. use the US military in the streets of. the United States. And the only reason. the only reason that you know Department. of War can you know this this this this. bro that they have put in charge of this.

massive bureaucracy and the most. powerful military in the world. The only. reason Hexath is there is to say, "Yes, boss. You may send troops into into. American cities. I'll help make it. happen." And and we know it's true. because right after Alex Brady was shot, Hexath, who has nothing to do with this. stuff, offered his opinion that, you. know, these people need to stand down. >> American boy doll because of all his. accessories. That's what I call him. because he's got his Stars and Stripes.

pocket handkerchief, his stars and. stripes socks. He's just a very. >> he's a he's a he's a ridiculous figure. who has no business running the. Department of Defense. >> Well, I think he knows that too. actually, which is why he pulls in all. the generals, the four three and four. star generals, and hectors them on being. overweight and then, you know, slurps. from his coffee as he's talking to them. Uh, remarkable character. But but um ICE. is about to go into Portland, Maine,

having been kicked out by a judge of. Portland, Oregon, and also into Philly. How do you think uh local politicians, governors are going to deal with this? So, you've got Janet Mills, who's. exiting the governorship of Maine. because she's running for Senate at the. end of her term. Um, and you've got. Philadelphia, you've got Josh Shapiro, right? >> Well, you do, but you also, for example, you have a a statement that's being put.

out today by a bunch of DAs because, of. course, when federal officials break the. law at the state and local level, they. can be prosecuted. This this notion that. JD Vance and others have put out that. they have something called absolute. immunity is ridiculous. and they will be. prosecuted and those people will make a. difference. But I also think, you know, the the spirit of Minneapolis, I don't. mean to overstate it, but I think the. spirit of Minneapolis is going to spread.

across the country and you're going to. have community groups going out. videotaping ICE, videotaping CBP, pushing back, saying that they should. leave, standing up. And if you take that. and then you've got strong mayors and. strong DAs and strong governors pushing. back, I I you know, I think we're going. to reach a point of uh standoff. Now, the question is, what does what does. Trump what does Miller do then? Do they. declare the insurrection act? Do they.

use that as their excuse for intervening. in the cities and disrupting the. elections? Is this what they want? Well, you know, some people to get to Governor. Walls has said, "Well, that's why we. shouldn't, you know, you know, do you. know, don't don't do too much in the. streets." That's wrong. That's that's. just wrong. People need to show that we. are not going to tolerate this anymore. Even if it means them sending troops. into the city, even even if that. happens. >> Um, okay. Interesting. Is it time for a.

march on Washington? I mean, I know that. I know that uh no kings protests are. happening all over the country, but is. it time for a large demonstration on DC. so Trump can understand the scale of. this? >> Yeah. Or a national strike, I think, is. another idea. That is a good a good. idea, I think. >> Well, you can't go on strike. I'm not. letting you go on strike, David. We're. not going on strike. >> No, no. I I would with the beast will.

never go on strike. I certainly could. not afford frankly without my salary. But [laughter] but but but but the but. but but I think from the point of view. of the country. what we need to see and this is going to. really be key is that the momentum to. push back grows that the support for. pushing back grows. that Trump can't, you know, weasle his way out of this by. getting rid of Boino or doing some other.

little thing. Uh, and that there has to. be pressure on this front. Uh, just like. you got to keep pressure on the Epstein. front, just like you got to keep. pressure on um on the corruption front. You you know the pe the people of the. United States have a job this year. It's. a job they they failed to do in 2024. And the job is to say no more. We've. seen what this will do. We've seen the. damage that this will do. We are.

standing up for ourselves. And uh it's. going to require more, not just because. of protests, but also because there is. going to be a massive effort by the. government. Today, apparently the FBI. went into the election records of Fulton. County, Georgia. Right. We're going to. see a lot of messing with our electoral. system. >> and people who want to vote are going to. have to plan to vote, have their papers. in orders, show up early, help organize. other voters. So, there's there's a lot.

of work. It's this is going to be. probably. the um the the the the year that being. an American citizen. requires. the most of us of any year that we've. experienced in our lives. >> Wow. A chill just went down my spine. when you said that. Do you think that. this is also an opportunity for. Democrats and they are failing to seize. it right now? Uh well, I mean I first of all, you.

know, I I I don't like to characterize. stopping the killing or the human rights. abuses as an opportunity. I think it's. an obligation of Democrats to stand up. and to resist this. And I think too many. Democrats have viewed this as a. continuation of politics as usual. >> uh and and have just sort of said, "Well, we'll negotiate. we'll get a. little of this and a little of that. But, you know, I wrote a piece on my.

substack yesterday about this in which I. said sometimes what we're dealing with. is not politics. It's just evil. And. what the Trump administration is doing, whether it's this or whether it's. withholding medicine from kids around. the world. 600,000 people have died in. the past year because we cut back an. aid, because Doge wanted to cut back an. aid. 400,000 were kids. 14 million. people are estimated to die because of. that. Thousands will die because of.

cutbacks to cancer research and cutbacks. to uh environmental programs and so on. and so forth. And so the point is there. is something going on here that's evil. You can't negotiate with evil. If you. say, "Well, I'll meet you halfway.". That's a victory for evil. This is one. of those moments where you have to stop. it and you have to hold those people. accountable. And I think the penny is. dropping. I think some Democrats, even. those who've been reluctant to to step.

up, are showing signs. I'm I'm hopeful. Showing signs that they may be taking. this with a new degree of seriousness. >> Dead dead people in the street will do. that to you. >> Yeah. I mean, it it is extraordinary. And props to Elan Omar yesterday for. going after the guy that shot whatever, >> man. absolutely right. >> Incredible the way she she leapt after. him. And then I saw a report today that. he was firing um apple cider vinegar at.

her. The new. >> this was just some mega [ __ ] right? Um. but the thing, you know, people are. revealed in these instances, you know. Um and her immediate instinct was not to. hide behind the electric. It was to go. straight at the guy. I mean, she was. like, I'm gonna go hit this guy in the. face. And and I was like, "Oh, man. I. love that. She is not afraid of.

anything. This woman is a real hero. She. must be getting countless death threats. from these people. The president of the. United States has said, "I'm going to. investigate. She's doing all these.". She's not. She's just a member of. Congress doing their job, but she's got. guts. And that is the spirit of. Minneapolis. That is and that was her. point after this guy was dragged away is. that they were strong. They they were. Minnesota strong. >> Minnesota strong. Well, David, there are. lots of people saying how much they love.

hearing you. The Karen White says, "I. love when David Rothkco is on. He's fun. and I get his personality." I'm glad she. does because I've still You don't. >> understand it. Um Yeah. But David, it's. always good to have your wisdom, your. experience from being the editor of. Foreign Policy magazine, your experience. working for the Commerce Department. under Clinton. I'd love to have you back. and discuss whether or not the Clintons. should appear before the oversight. committee on the. >> It will be a short discussion. >> Short discuss.

>> They should they should they should they. should get it. >> Stop distracting. Get you know that. don't fall for the gimmick. Go testify. Be done with it. Move on. The Epstein. story is about the victims. The Epstein. story is about the men who are. protected. It is not about the Clintons. and it shouldn't be about it. >> All right. Well, David, thank you for. joining us for a YouTube live. Thank you. to everybody for your comments. I'm. still trying to get the tech and I'm. still trying to get the skill of talking.

to someone else and reading people's. comments. a lot of comments saying ICE. is state terrorism, ICE is domestic. terrorism and how much they love David. Rothkco. Someone who calls themselves. she who must be obeyed one love Rothkco. so insightful and wise. >> that uh thank you um Ms. is she who must. be obeyed. Um and uh uh I couldn't agree. with you more. >> David, we will see you back on the daily. podcast soon. If you have been, thank.

you for joining us and you can watch us. later when we put this up for other. people who were at work and unable to. watch.