Wednesday Headlines: February 19, 2025
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
175.02359
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.
00:00:14.900
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
00:00:30.600
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.
00:01:35.540
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.
00:01:50.840
$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.
00:02:02.940
I can understand missing, like, $2 in your pocket or losing a $20 bill or a $100 bill even.
00:02:12.660
I don't, you know, I don't think that happens every day.
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.
00:02:36.200
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.
00:02:47.960
President Trump couldn't have put it any better.
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
00:03:08.740
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?
00:04:05.240
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.
00:05:05.480
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.
00:05:25.680
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.