The Great America Show - February 19, 2025


Wednesday Headlines: February 19, 2025


Episode Stats

Length

5 minutes

Words per Minute

175.02359

Word Count

989

Sentence Count

56

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

1


Summary

Trump threatens to revoke federal approval of New York City's congestion tolls, a federal judge blocks the CIA from firing 11 intel employees, and Elon Musk announces a plan to give back to the American people in the form of a dividend.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hello everybody, I'm John Fawcett with this Great America Show midday update for Wednesday, February 19th.
00:00:05.540 Happy Wednesday, folks. We're halfway through the week, which means the weekend is right around the corner.
00:00:11.420 Donald Trump proving to be uniter-in-chief.
00:00:14.900 Once again, President Trump intends to revoke the federal approval of New York City's congestion pricing program,
00:00:21.960 fulfilling a campaign promise to reverse the policy that tolls drivers who enter Manhattan's busiest streets
00:00:27.420 to finance repairs to mass transit.
00:00:30.600 In a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul on Wednesday, the President's Transportation Secretary outlined
00:00:34.760 Mr. Trump's objections to the program, the first in its kind in the United States,
00:00:38.680 and said that federal officials would contact the state to discuss an orderly secession of the toll operation.
00:00:44.680 Now, the letter didn't indicate a specific date by the federal government in which they intend to end the program,
00:00:49.480 but the decision will almost certainly be challenged in court.
00:00:52.640 Imagine that, folks. Donald Trump fighting for the folks of New York, who overwhelmingly did not support him,
00:00:59.680 did not vote for him, and that's thanks to New York City,
00:01:02.360 and going up against the witch of a governor, Kathy Hochul, who lied all along,
00:01:07.880 said the congestion pricing was going to be delayed until further notice.
00:01:11.200 As soon as the elections were over, she backstabbed each and every American that drives through New York City
00:01:17.120 and imposed this toll as if it's not expensive enough to drive into New York City
00:01:22.180 through one of the $10 or $15 tolls, and the gas prices wasn't enough.
00:01:27.840 No, you've got to add a little bit more of a burden to the American people
00:01:31.560 who are just trying to make a living and trying to make ends meet.
00:01:34.340 Go figure.
00:01:35.540 And President Trump has had it over his head with Vladimir Zelensky, it seems, of Ukraine.
00:01:41.600 I mean, Zelensky sort of disrespecting Trump over the last few days
00:01:46.360 because he's realized his slush fund is drying up.
00:01:49.580 America's tired.
00:01:50.840 $350 billion sent to them, $200 billion more than Europe has sent,
00:01:56.580 and Zelensky saying that almost half the money that we've sent is, quote, missing.
00:02:01.940 Imagine that, folks.
00:02:02.940 I can understand missing, like, $2 in your pocket or losing a $20 bill or a $100 bill even.
00:02:08.500 Imagine losing over $100 billion.
00:02:12.660 I don't, you know, I don't think that happens every day.
00:02:15.000 I don't think it's that easy to do.
00:02:17.500 President Trump taking to Twitter and Truth Social to let Zelensky know
00:02:22.160 that the slush fund is coming to an end, saying, quote,
00:02:26.840 we are successfully negotiating an end to the war with Russia,
00:02:29.660 something we can admit only Trump and the Trump administration can do.
00:02:33.400 Biden never tried.
00:02:34.940 Europe has failed to bring peace,
00:02:36.200 and Zelensky probably wants to keep the, quote, gravy train going.
00:02:39.820 I love Ukraine, but Zelensky has done a terrible job.
00:02:42.660 His country is shattered and millions have unnecessarily died.
00:02:46.240 And so it continues.
00:02:47.960 President Trump couldn't have put it any better.
00:02:50.780 Enough is enough.
00:02:52.300 It's time to put an end to this war, this unnecessary war.
00:02:56.400 And the fact that Zelensky seemingly doesn't want the war to end,
00:03:00.380 I think it tells you everything you need to know about where Zelensky's mind's at
00:03:05.500 and what his intentions are with this war,
00:03:08.740 because it doesn't seem like now all of a sudden he doesn't want this war to end.
00:03:13.020 Not entirely sure why, but we can make our best guesses on why he doesn't want to.
00:03:21.060 And Elon Musk, who's the head of the Doge Committee, making headlines, it seems, every single day,
00:03:27.520 is making a proposal to President Trump on giving back to the American people in the sort of form of a dividend.
00:03:35.580 Musk says he's going to check with the president about an idea to issue refund checks from the Doge savings.
00:03:41.160 Checks could be as much as $5,000 per household if his department hits the $2 trillion savings goal.
00:03:47.440 Now, it's going to have to pass Congress, of course, first,
00:03:50.360 but Congress has had no problem sending that $350 billion to Ukraine and funding wars and DEI.
00:03:57.860 They should have no problem putting a few bucks back in the American people's pocket, right?
00:04:01.680 Wouldn't you say?
00:04:03.040 I guess we're going to have to wait and see.
00:04:05.240 A federal judge, or as I like to call them, federal dictators,
00:04:09.180 has halted the firing of intel agencies' personnel involved with DEI.
00:04:13.620 Federal judges temporarily blocked the CIA and the ONDI from firing 11 people whose jobs were eliminated
00:04:20.100 to comply with President Donald Trump's executive order seeking to end the federal DEI programs.
00:04:26.200 U.S. District Judge Anthony Tranga issued an order Tuesday,
00:04:30.020 pausing the firings after a hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, in response to a lawsuit
00:04:34.580 filed by those intel officers who said their dismissal violated their constitutional rights and federal law.
00:04:41.120 Well, this judge is an appointee of none other than President George W. Bush
00:04:45.000 issued an administrative stay directing the agencies to keep the employees on administrative leave
00:04:50.980 while barring any efforts to cut away their pay or to fire them.
00:04:55.060 Folks, these federal judges are the only thing standing between Donald Trump and making America great again.
00:05:00.720 Folks, please be sure to join us for today's episode of The Great America Show.
00:05:03.740 We have a special one lined up for you.
00:05:05.480 We're joined by former Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich.
00:05:10.480 We get his full story, the attacks on him from Barack Hussein Obama.
00:05:15.920 And what was it that landed him in jail with a 14-year sentence?
00:05:20.000 We also talk about President Trump and how he saved him.
00:05:23.620 He saved his life commuting his sentence.
00:05:25.680 And just last week, issuing him a full unconditional pardon, letting him restart his life.
00:05:32.040 So join us for that today only on The Great America Show, folks.
00:05:35.980 I'm Jon Fossil with this midday update.
00:05:38.120 Have a great day, everybody.