Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here we go. Hello, Mike Nellis. It's Don Lemon here with Mr. Mike Nellis. Mike, I mean, look at you. New year, new studio, fancy setup. What's going on?
I mean, so thanks to all our paid subscribers, we were able to buy the studio space. And so it's 550 steps from the front door of my house. It's super nice. I'm still getting my lay of the land. Like the lights are here and the camera and all that. And now I have to really up my skincare game because, you know, you set it off screen, but the iPhone filter was doing a lot of work there for me.
iPhones are amazing, sir. Let's see. Are you looking into the camera? Yes. No, maybe so.
Yeah. Looking at the camera right now. I have a, I have a screen behind me where I can see your face.
Yeah. Okay. Now you're looking at the camera, looking at the camera, not at me.
Okay.
There you go. See, I can see the difference. I can tell. See, this is, this is your friends. You're giving me live tips. I fucking love this. So let's look, you know, who needs live tips? This freaking Trump administration, what is going on? So now it is it was Venezuela, obviously, you know, Maduro's here. He's got another court date, but it's not for a while. And his wife.
And then now we've got Greenland. And although I do, I believe these things are reversible. I think it's frustrating still in the least. Do you think it is reversible? What do you think is happening here?
Yeah, well, I think that they don't have a coherent foreign policy and really know what they're doing. And Venezuela is the perfect example of that because they immediately abandoned their talking points. Like they removed Maduro and attacked Venezuela, which is an act of war. And I have no sympathy for Maduro.
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Chapter 2: What are the implications of Trump's handling of the Epstein files?
I got to ask you, and this is very blunt. What's wrong with your people? What's wrong with your people? My people?
Yeah. I could spend all day talking about what's wrong with my people.
No, I'm serious. Like, you know, it's part of the same attitude where you think, I'm going to come over, we're going to discover America, even though it's already here, and we're just going to take it. You mean white people? Yes. I thought you meant Democrats.
No, what the fuck is wrong? We've talked about this before. I'm Italian, so I'm barely white. But still, like what?
What is happening? I mean, the nerve. Can you imagine Barack Obama doing this? Oh, my God, we need to power and federal that guy and get him out of the White House. He's not worthy of being. I mean, come on.
I will say with Obama, though, like some of the challenge that we're in right now is we gave so much power to the executive. after 9-11 under George W. Bush for Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Chapter 3: What are the consequences of a lack of coherent foreign policy?
And then Obama extended that to Yemen and other places with drone strikes. And it's the same justification that Trump uses to blow up boats in the Caribbean. And I think we need Congress to step in and reassert its war powers and its authority here.
Because if Donald Trump can just remove a foreign leader in Venezuela without even telling Congress about it, that's too powerful of an executive, period. And so what's wrong with white people? I don't know. I love them. I'm one of them. I'm among them. But I don't know. I'll tell you a funny story.
When my wife and I got pregnant seven years ago with our son and we got the test back saying he was a boy and we were joking about how we were trying to raise a white man. We were like, oh shit, what are we going to do? We got to raise this white boy, make him good. So I'm going to try to just make him not be somebody that would invade a foreign country on a whim.
Yeah. So look, RP2112 says, I knew you meant white people. And I'm being serious. I don't get it. I would never think that I could just go in and invade somebody's country or go and just take whatever I want. And look, I think that is not only hubris, it's entitlement, it's privilege. It's all of those. It's all the things.
I mean, it's just, yeah, it's entitlement. And I think if you look at the bravado from Lindsey Graham and Trump and Rubio and all these others afterwards where they're like, you know, Colombia, you better watch out or we're going to do this to you. Cuba, where Cuba's next. Like, what are they doing? Like, I just, I don't understand anything. why this is in our best interest.
And again, like 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Tens of millions of Americans have their healthcare premiums double or triple. Trump's not doing anything about that. He's not doing anything about grocery prices, housing prices. So maybe it's a big distraction, a wag the dog situation. I'm not convinced of that, but it seems really ill-timed and poorly executed.
And the vast majority of Americans don't want this. They don't understand why we're doing it.
Well, I am convinced that it is... that a lot of this is a distraction. I think it's, you know, he's obviously worried about the Epstein files. Let's not get people talking about the Epstein files is why the rollout is so chaotic. They don't want a roadmap, right? So they're putting it and they're making people try to put the pieces together like a puzzle. And then if we get all the information,
I don't know if that will ever happen. But I think it is a distraction from the Epstein files. It's a distraction from his flagging poll numbers. It's a distraction from how terrible he's doing with the economy and many other things. And that people aren't even with him. His own people are not with him on immigration because they screwed up this whole deportation thing so royally.
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Chapter 4: Why does Trump have an obsession with Greenland?
So, you know, I go back to... What's wrong with white people? Because everyone in this administration pretty much seems to have that attitude. And that is an attitude that I have not really seen among people of color. I'm just being honest. You know, I just haven't.
I mean, I don't know, but I can tell you that even though my dad's a three-time Trump voter, I was not raised this way and would never treat anyone the way that they treat people. I would never execute an operation where I'm going to steal Venezuelan oil for big oil companies. I just wouldn't do that. So I don't know.
But again, if you look at Trump's polling numbers, there's data out this morning, I think it was from Semaphore, um, you know, about Trump's numbers with young men, like they are abandoning him in droves right now. And they are a big part of the reason that he won this last election was because he made such inroads with them, but they're pissed because they felt like everything's too expensive.
I don't believe in the American dream. I don't know how I'm going to, I'm going to buy a house and, you know, find a, find a spouse and a partner and start a family. And he promised to help them with that. And, and, and he's not. So, um, I think you're going to see in this election a lot of people turn back.
And, you know, if Democrats play their cards right and run good candidates and actually talk and engage with people, I think they can win a lot of these folks back.
One more thing before we talk about politics, because I do want to talk about that, is what if, I mean elections rather, what if Keir Starmer, Said, you know what? That guy, Trump, tried to overturn a free and fair election. He is a convicted criminal. He should be. And he is was found liable of assaulting a woman in a civil court. All of those things. He is a bad person. He tried to.
influence American politics with his phone call to Zelensky back in the day, which he was impeached for. This guy should not be. He is invading sovereign countries without the permission or the approval of his own government. And of our own agreement as allies. He needs to be taken care of. We're going to go take. And also the accusations of war crime with Venezuela.
What if someone came and got Donald Trump or Pete Hegseth or Pam Bondi or any of those people? What would we say? What would our defense be? We have none because we've just done that. Right.
Yeah, I mean, we've lost the high ground here. And more importantly, we've completely scared the shit out of and alienated our allies. Like, America is isolated and on its own in a way that's never been before on the tariffs. What would we do? You want, like, okay, a tariff war? I'll just give you an example of this. So on a tariff war, you can win a tariff war, but you need allies for that.
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Chapter 5: What does the conversation reveal about accountability in politics?
No, I didn't, and I'm glad that I didn't. I hate when Democrats do stuff like that. It's very performative, and I have zero tolerance for performative politics. I just hate it. Like, I want to honor it. I think having the hearings yesterday was a good idea, highlighting that. Like, I had Michael Fanone on my show yesterday. It was January 6th. He was a police officer on January 6th.
And I think doing stuff like that is good, but this performative crap pisses me off. And I think it's what a lot of the current generation of Democratic leadership likes to do when there's big moments like that. I think we've got to move past it. We need some real action. We've got to elevate candidates. Like, I really like James Tallarico in Texas. I really like Mallory McMorrow in Michigan.
Mm-hmm. There's a bunch of others. I really like Paige Cognetti, who's running for mayor. She's the mayor of Scranton. She's running for Congress in the area right now. I like those candidates because I think they're younger. They understand this moment. They're ready to fight. And I think we've got a lot more people like that that are going to win.
OK, I have some breaking news as we're on that we're both going to learn about as we are as we are now live. And some of you will see this on tape. This is the news. A witness to Wednesday's. So this is in Minneapolis is live updates. Officials confirm ice involved shooting in south Minneapolis. You knew it was going to happen.
A witness to Wednesday's shooting in South Minneapolis told NPR News, and NPR News is, I guess it must be Minneapolis Press or something like that. Emily Heller... Anyways, a witness has told NPR News that she saw a federal agent shoot a woman several times.
And this woman who lives near where it was said she said she saw a car blocking traffic on Portland Avenue appeared to be part of a protest against federal law enforcement operations. And then she said she heard ICE agents telling the driver a woman to get out of here. She was trying to turn around.
And then the ICE agent was in front of her and he pulled out a gun and put it right in like his midriff was on her bumper. And he reached across the hood of the car and shot her in the face like three or four times, Heller said.
uh the one that's her name said it appeared that the woman then accelerated and then traveled about 100 feet before striking utility pole and some other vehicles she could be seen slumping over inside of the car jesus i mean we there was a similar situation in chicago where they shot a woman um like that then they lied about it so i i would encourage anybody um whatever the uh
whatever that spokeswoman for ice, um, Tricia, so Tricia McLaughlin, is that her name? Whatever she says, um, don't believe it. Like whatever the first version of events they give you is it's going to be horse shit. Cause they lie all the time. So, um, hopefully there's video. Hopefully, you know, we find out what actually happened. Uh, I don't know, but it's horrible. And So I don't know.
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Chapter 6: What should Democrats focus on as the midterms approach?
Come up with a name. Shoot me some names that we're going to do for our show.
I've sent you the names. I'll send them to you again. You have to send me again. I'm a busy guy, as you know. I know. I work a lot. I know you do. You're hustling harder than anybody else I know. Look at my eyes. Are they bloodshot? A little bit. I mean, last time we talked, you were literally filming while you were eating breakfast with your husband. So that was right before the holiday break.
Oh, that's right.
You were like from your kitchen. You're like, is it okay if I do it in the kitchen? And I was like, yeah, I don't care.
That was good. Right.
But I mean, you still have your tree up though. You still, everybody, is it too long? Is it too late to have the tree up still? No.
What's the rule for that? Usually it's like the first weekend and sometimes, and I'm from Louisiana. So don't be surprised if that tree becomes a Mardi Gras tree and where there, no, there's purple, green, gold, um, ornaments on it because that's the, that's the Mardi Gras colors. But,
That'd be sweet. I love Mardi Gras. I love New Orleans. I know you're from New Orleans. Like, I love that. I'm from Baton Rouge. I love that. Oh, you're from Baton Rouge? Oh, I thought you were from New Orleans.
It's just their neighbors. It's just right there. It's kind of all the same thing.
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Chapter 7: How can Democrats effectively engage with voters?
I'm a Notre Dame fan. So that we could get Marcus Freeman much better. Let's hope. Good luck to Lane Kiffin.
Let's hope that they are doing. Let's hope they do well under Kelly. I hope. All right. See you. Happy Mardi Gras to you. Talk to you soon. Happy Mardi Gras. Thanks so much for watching everybody. Your support means the world to us. Don't forget to hit that like button and subscribe so you never miss a show.
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