Ring of Fire Radio with Farron Cousins

This week on Ring of Fire! The ongoing probe into the Pentagon’s shoddy communications has taken a truly bizarre turn. According to new reports, there may or may not have been an illegal wiretap used on some of Defense Secretary’s Pete Hegseth’s staffers in order to find out who to fire. If true, which the Pentagon can’t seem to give a clear answer on, this would be a massive violation of the Constitutional rights of the employees and could result in criminal charges. Disgraced former Republican Congressman George Santos claimed in a pathetic social media post that he is DONE asking Donald Trump for a pardon and has accepted that he will be spending the next 7 years of his life in prison. In the post, Santos lashed out at his “so-called friends” who said that they could get him a pardon, admitting that the entire thing was fruitless. Donald Trump shared on a post on Truth Social calling a cancer patient at “decrepit corpse.” That cancer patient happens to be former President Joe Biden, and the post originally came from a MAGA influencer but was shared by the President on Monday. The post contained a number of lies and conspiracies about the former administration, showing that Trump refuses to move on from his imagined sleights. And MAGA voters in red states that have been decimated by natural disasters have lost their patience with Donald Trump and his entire administration. These voters say that they haven’t seen a single federal worker on the ground as they attempt to pick up the pieces of their lives – quite literally. This is what happens when you buy into decades’ worth of anti-government propaganda from the people vying to run the government. All that, and much more, on this week’s Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire! Donald Trump has made many lofty promises about what his trade war tariffs would do for Americans, and so far not one of them has come true. He promised that Americans wouldn’t see higher prices; He promised that we’d be richer than ever to the point where tariffs could eliminate most of our income taxes; He promised that other countries would pay the price; And now he’s promising that the slight reduction in gas prices will make up the difference for the increasing cost of goods. None of this is going to happen. Even though he’s only been in office for 4 months, Donald Trump has already received an unprecedented number of “gifts” from foreign countries, not even counting the trash plane he wants to take from Qatar. But the truth is that none of these things are actually “gifts” – describing them as bribes would be far more accurate. And now former White House ethics lawyers are warning that Trump is being bought off by just about everyone with money to spare. As Elon Musk slowly slinks away from The White House to return to his failing Tesla business, Republican strategists are proclaiming that the Party is DONE with Musk and the toxicity that he has brough with him. A new report highlighted several prominent Republican strategists and pollsters who talking about how Musk has cost the Party far more than he’s worth, including costing them some very winnable elections this year alone. All that, and much more, on this week’s Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire! Donald Trump is getting attacked from all sides of the aisle over his acceptance of a $400 million “flying palace” airplane from the country of Qatar, that far exceeds the legal limits of what a president can accept as a gift. A new poll shows that a staggering number of Americans are opposed to the move, and less than a third are ok with it. But polls don’t matter – laws do, and the law is very clear that this is way beyond illegal. During a speech at Georgetown, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts warned that the rule of law in America is “endangered” due to the attacks on the court from a certain someone that Roberts was too scared to mention by name. It was clear that he was referring to Donald Trump even without uttering his name, and he’s not wrong about the rule of law being endangered. What he failed to mention, however, is that his own court (Alito and Thomas) are a BIG part of the reason why the rule of law no longer matters. Democratic Representative Jared Moskowitz went on Fox News this week and decided to go after his own Party instead of the criminals that are running the country. Moskowitz trashed the Progressive wing of the Party, suggesting that they were too extreme to win in the midterms and suggested a more “moderate” approach. That is EXACTLY why Democrats keep losing to the most corrupt Party in American history, and Moskowitz is now part of that problem. All that, and much more, on this week’s Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire! Donald Trump threw a late-night temper tantrum on Truth Social after receiving mild criticism from longtime Republican strategist Karl Rove. Rove had called Trump out for his Pope image as well as his tone-deaf statements about people needing to spend less, and that was enough to send Trump into a frenzy. He got on his social media platform and blasted Rove as a “total loser” who is “wrong about everything,” apparently forgetting that he made a desperate plea to Rove to save his dying campaign in the 2020 election. In a fiery social media post, Marjorie Taylor Greene announced that she will no longer just blindly give her votes to Donald Trump, and that she is going to stand firm in her horrible principles. She said that she had voted to continue funding the government last year because Trump asked her to, but made it clear that this will “never” happen again just because Trump asks. She then listed a series of issues that she plans to vote against, including many that are directly supported and proposed by Trump. Polls show that fewer and fewer Americans are buying Donald Trump’s lies that President Biden is to blame for the economy, and a majority now place the blame squarely on Trump’s shoulders. In spite of his failing message, he continues to repeat it in hopes that people will somehow start to believe it once again, even though Biden has been out of office for four months now. All that, and much more, on this week’s Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire! Donald Trump was humiliated on the global stage this past weekend for both his behavior at Pope Francis’ funeral, as well as his policies that were attacked during the Homily. Trump was called out for breaking the dress code by wearing a blue suit, for chewing gum during the service, and for playing on his phone. But the real attack came during the Homily, when the world was reminded that the Pope always encouraged people to “build bridges, not walls,” which was a direct line of attack to Trump’s “build the wall” pledge. The Trump administration has hit a new level of lawlessness after they proudly announced that they had arrested a judge in Wisconsin for allegedly obstructing the arrest of an undocumented person. The man was appearing in court for domestic battery charges. The administration sent plainclothes officers to arrest him, and when the judge confronted the agents and told them that they didn’t have the proper warrant, she directed the defendant and his lawyer to a separate area of the courthouse. The Trump administration has taken the unprecedented move of dismissing ALL of the voting rights cases that the DOJ was actively pursuing against cities, states, or municipalities that may have violated sections of the Voting Rights Act and violated people’s rights in the process. They then took things a step further by firing all of the investigators in the voting rights division of the DOJ. This gives states a green light to suppress and violate voting rights across the country. All that, and much more, on this week’s Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire! Following reports over the weekend that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had another Signal chat with his wife and brother where he shared sensitive information, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt went on Fox News and basically admitted that the entire Pentagon HATES Hegseth. She said that leaks like this are what happens when the “entire Pentagon is working against you,” but they wouldn’t be working against him if they didn’t want him gone. And none of that is a viable excuse for what Hegseth has done. Democratic Party vice chair David Hogg is working on transforming the Party from the inside, and his moves are sending Democrats into a complete panic. Hogg recently suggested that the DNC could start funding primary challengers against spineless, ineffective Democratic lawmakers, and that didn’t sit well with the Party establishment. But this type of bold action is absolutely needed inside the DNC, and Hogg is doing a great job with both his force and his ideas. Donald Trump let the Supreme Court know this week that he is furious with them for allegedly blocking his every move, which isn’t even close to being true. Trump is angry that the Court has ordered him to retrieve the wrongfully deported man from El Salvador and also that they temporarily blocked him from using the Alien Enemies Act to deny people due process. Trump has made it clear that he’s going to continue to defy the Court, which he claims is now being manipulated by liberals. According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, the stock market is on track to have its worst April since 1932 when the US was in the grips of the Great Depression. Investors have lost faith in the markets thanks solely to Donald Trump’s policies, and the dollar is experiencing a dangerous drop in value as a result. All of this could spell economic disaster for the United States in a record amount of time. All that, and much more, on this week’s Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire! A series of polls came out this week with the worst news that Trump has gotten during his second term. Not only has his approval on the economy tanked, but now a majority of voters squarely blame him for the state of the economy instead of Biden. On top of that, even the conservative pollsters are showing their worst numbers ever for Trump. Things have gone from bad to worse for Trump in a record amount of time. Donald Trump might be on the receiving end of another serious investigation launched by New York Attorney General Letitia James. James’ office announced this week that they were “reviewing” possible insider trading allegations against the administration for their stock market boasts and gains after Trump “paused” tariffs last week (which was preceded by Trump saying on Truth Social that now is a “great time to buy.”) There are some interesting aspects of this situation. And the Trump administration has triggered a major Constitutional crisis by openly defying an order by the US Supreme Court, while Trump himself acts like he is powerless in the face of the President of El Salvador. Trump has shown us what a weak coward he truly is, but he’s a weak coward that wants to be a dictator. All that, and much more, on this week’s Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire! Donald Trump proudly proclaimed victory this week as the stock market continued to nosedive. Trump claimed on Truth Social that everything was going great and that prices for consumers were all dropping, which is the complete opposite of what’s actually happening across the country. It is obvious that he is attempting to do damage control, but it isn’t working. The Trump administration has maintained that the people they’ve deported to the El Salvadorian prison were all violent criminals that were so dangerous that they had to be sent away immediately. But a 60 Minutes investigation found that at least 75% of the people deported have NO criminal records, completely blowing up the talking points of the administration. Russian state media is laughing at the United States after Donald Trump tanked the economy and destroyed global trust in the US’ economic system. In fact, they went as far as to say that there should be statues built of Trump for the damage that he’s done to our country. This is a country that clearly hates us and thinks Trump is a fool, but that hasn’t stopped Trump from giving them everything they’ve ever wanted. And Elon Musk is continuing to escalate his feud with top Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro, saying that he is a “moron” who is “dumber than a sack of bricks.” Elon also called out Navarro for inventing a fictional “expert” to justify his obsession with tariffs. Musk isn’t wrong about those parts, but he’s also being dishonest with people about the true nature of Tesla vehicles and the impact of the tariffs on his businesses. All that, and much more, on this week’s Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire! In an interview published late last week by Jewish Insider, SEVEN Republican Senators went after Vice President JD Vance for trying to block Donald Trump’s military attack in Yemen, which was revealed during the Signal chat saga. One Republican Senator went as far as to say that Trump likely has buyer’s remorse about picking Vance as his running mate and as the heir apparent to the MAGA movement. Current and former pilots from the US military are speaking out about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his reckless behavior exposed through the Signalgate scandal. These pilots say that Hegseth’s recklessness could get pilots (and other members of the military) killed, and they say that there’s no place in the military for negligence of this caliber. A new poll shows that nearly three-quarters of Americans believe that the Signal Gate Controversy is a big deal. What makes the poll more interesting is that even a majority of Republicans believe that it is a big deal, and a larger share of Americans think this is a problem compared to those who thought Hillary Clinton’s “email scandal” was a problem. This is now a major problem for Donald Trump and Republicans, and it is up to Democrats to make sure that the public doesn’t forget and that those responsible are held accountable. All that, and so much more, on this week’s Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire! The White House is in full panic mode after a reporter for The Atlantic was included on a private group chat that laid out war plans for last week’s attack in Yemen. The controversial move, and the possibly illegal decision to use a private messaging app for confidential information, has left many calling for mass firings or resignations on top of investigations, which has sent the Trump administration into a tailspin as the attempt to defend the indefensible. Vice President JD Vance could have some big problems ahead of him after it was revealed that he tried to block Donald Trump’s attack in Yemen last week. This information was apparently not known by Trump, as he wasn’t included on the text message chain that was accidentally sent to a reporter. But now the truth is out that Vance tried to undermine his boss, which was actually a GOOD thing. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that her department was going to begin the process of eliminating FEMA, as Donald Trump has suggested multiple times. It is impossible to believe that they don’t know how devastating this is going to be for Red States, as the top three recipients of FEMA aide are all deep red, Republican-controlled areas. But the administration is moving forward anyway, and as usual, their own voters will suffer the most. All that, and so much more, on this week’s Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire! Democrats in Congress have decided to go on a nationwide blitz of town halls in districts controlled by Republicans, since Republicans are refusing to talk to their constituents. And the move couldn’t come at a better time for Democrats, as the latest polls show that the Democrats have a lower approval rating than at any other point in history. Both parties are getting hammered in polls, and Democrats have a chance to get the upper hand with these town halls. Sympathy is in short supply today for angry and upset Trump voters that are getting exactly what he said he was going to do. The very same farmers that overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump in the last 3 elections are now crying about how his tariffs are destroying their businesses, and some are even saying “we didn’t vote for this.” YES, you did, and we all tried to warn you. But their pains get spread around the entire country, so they aren’t as easy to dismiss. A very confused Alina Habba said that it was “unthinkable” that a judge could overrule Donald Trump’s executive orders. During an appearance on Fox News this week, the alleged lawyer claimed that Trump has the authority to basically do whatever he wants via executive order, specifically with regards to invoking the Alien Enemies Act, and said that judges shouldn’t even be allowed to disagree with him. All that, and so much more, on this week’s Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire! Donald Trump is putting his own reputation on the line with his latest defense and plea to help Elon Musk. After Tesla suffered major losses in the market early this week, Trump got on Truth Social to beg Republicans to help Elon in any way they can (probably by purchasing Tesla vehicles or stock,) and then he claimed that “The Left” is engaging in “illegal” boycotts of Musk’s products. Boycotts are in no way illegal, and Musk is suffering from his own arrogance. Donald Trump appeared to suffer another mental breakdown on Tuesday morning as he announced that he would be implementing an additional 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum products coming from Canada, while then suggesting that the tariffs could be increased to as much as 50%. He THEN said that all of this would go away if Canada would just agree to become the 51st state of the United States, something that isn’t even possible. Fox News is desperate to spin the stock market crash from Monday in any way they can, so they decided to tell America that this was actually a GOOD thing, with one host going as far as to say that he’s actually glad that this happened. There is no positive from this, and it isn’t just the market “correcting itself” – it was a massive crash caused by statements that Trump made over the weekend about a possible recession. All that, and much more, on this week’s Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire! Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced immediate retaliatory tariffs against the United States following the tariffs that Trump put in place on Tuesday of this week. The Canadian tariffs will cover roughly $155 billion worth of goods coming from our country, and that’s just the beginning. Canada also has the ability to completely cut off most of our oil supply as well as the ability to cut power to millions of homes in the United States, which they are also threatening to do. Donald Trump has now cancelled the 1st Amendment on college campuses across the country by proclaiming on Truth Social that the government would immediately stop funding any university that allowed an “illegal protest” to take place, and the students would be expelled and possibly deported if they participated in one of these “illegal” events. Protests in this country are absolutely not illegal, thanks to the 1stAmendment, and Trump is setting up a Constitutional showdown that could severely destroy Freedom of Speech in this country. Minnesota Governor, and former Vice Presidential candidate, Tim Walz has told constituents in his state that if their Republican Representatives aren’t brave enough to talk to them, then he will be more than happy to come and talk. The NRCC has officially told Republicans to STOP doing town hall events, leaving voters with no way to air their grievances about the Party’s decisions. Walz is showing what leadership looks like, and this is EXACTLY what the entire Democratic Party needs to be doing right now. All that, and much more, on this week’s Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire! Donald Trump has picked conspiracy-peddling podcaster Dan Bongino to serve as the Deputy Director of the FBI immediately under Kash Patel. Bongino has no FBI experience, but he has plenty of experience trying to “own the libs” on social media while also spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and COVID. His COVID lies were so bad that he was actually banned from YouTube several years ago, and now he brings his “I hate the left” mentality to the top law enforcement agency in the country. A federal court ordered Donald Trump to immediately pause his pause on federal funding, but that order doesn’t appear to have had any impact on Trump’s decisions. The administration has continued to halt funding for National Institute of Health’s medical research development, meaning that new, potentially life-saving treatments are no longer being funded. This decision along could cost countless lives across the globe. A hunting pal of Donald Trump, Jr. has been installed as the acting deputy commissioner for human foods at the FDA. The man, Kyle Diamantas, has been a hunting partner of Junior for years, and his friendship is being rewarded with a position that he is grossly unqualified to hold. Diamantas is also a lawyer who has spent his career representing major food companies – the same companies he’ll now be “trusted” to regulate. Donald Trump appeared to lose his mind this week in a post on Truth Social where he threatened to start suing people who write mean books about him. He then went a step further and suggested that he may start suing any writer or commentator that talks bad about him, and THEN went on to suggest that maybe he’ll change libel laws to make that easier to do. This is fascism at work. All that, and much more, on this week’s Ring of Fire Podcast!

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!