Up next in 10
Simon Marks returns for his American Week. And it was a busy one for Donald Trump, who managed to annoy the Cubans, the Iranians and the American press... while still finding time to glad-hand the Brits and the Chinese.
00:00 Some perspective: The midterms are just *38 days* away.
02:12 President Trump doubles down on his war with Iran.
03:39 A crackdown on freedom of the press?
07:01 China's President Xi arrives for a state visit.
07:35 Trump's flyover wince gets edited out in his Truth Social post.
08:30 The President shows off his toys.
09:17 'One of the most globally humiliating moments in modern American presidential history'.
09:49 Trump goes off script...
10:36 What impression would Andy Burnham have gotten from his face-to-face?
Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp
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0:00
As we dig into another weekly serving of American Crazy
0:03
I think it's important to start with a bit of perspective. The country is going to the polls in 38 days
0:11
Donald Trump's date with destiny is November the 3rd. It's right around the corner
0:16
with early voting already underway in many places as Americans participate in midterm elections
0:22
despite the president's endless efforts, most of them halted by the courts now
0:27
to try and rig their outcome. And this week, amid yet more polling data showing that there is no flaw for his cratering approval ratings
0:36
the president did absolutely nothing to help himself, nor the growing number of Republican candidates out there who realize their goose is cooked
0:46
Michigan families are struggling with the price of everyday life. Groceries cost too much. We have to bring prices down
0:53
The war with Iran needs to end and end quickly. Mike Rogers, up until this week, a pro-Trump foreign policy voice among Republicans
1:01
now battling to win a Senate seat in Michigan. He knows his campaign is in deep trouble because of Trump's war on Iran
1:09
and the affordability crisis that the president denies it has created. In that campaign advertisement, filmed in a supermarket like several other Republicans across the country
1:20
he almost begs the White House to take action over the country's soaring price of fuel
1:26
Until this war is over, I'm calling for a temporary embargo on American diesel exports
1:32
Keep more American diesel here at home. Increase the supply available to our farmers, our truckers, and put downward pressure on diesel prices
1:41
Because lowering the cost of moving and producing our food can help bring down the everyday costs families see right here at the grocery store
1:50
Would the White House give him what he wants as he battles to help Trump retain control of the US Senate
1:56
Would they hell? Trump's energy secretary branded the idea of an embargo on diesel exports a blunt hammer
2:04
which, of course, is exactly why Republican candidates want it used. But the proposal is going nowhere
2:10
And at the United Nations in New York, far from taking any major steps to resolve the conflict in Iran
2:16
President Trump, toxic at America's polls, was doubling down. But I have a big decision to make
2:24
Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before
2:35
Maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world
2:38
Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations
2:58
But I believe we'll make a deal right after the election. Oh, right after the election
3:05
What a comfort the old Dr Evil routine must have been for his fellow Republicans
3:09
staring annihilation at the polls in the face. And let's briefly pause to reflect on the fact that from the UN podium, the president who fumes about the fact that he has never been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize was once again there casually threatening to commit war crimes that would wipe an entire nation off the earth
3:29
The president's speech at the UN on Tuesday was not carried live, on air or online by any of the country's major television networks
3:38
because it came in the midst of the president's most brazen attempt yet to crack down on freedom of the press
3:46
Last Friday, out of nowhere, he announced he was banning CNN, Politico and left-leaning MS Now TV from the White House
3:54
revoking the credentials and passes that the three outlets employees used every day
4:00
to enter the White House compound. They purposely write negative news and they do that
4:05
because they want to try and diminish the Republicans and a Republican administration
4:12
I don't want them in my office. I don't want them here. I would say the ban would go as far as you can
4:17
The president's move is flatly illegal. The First Amendment to the American Constitution guarantees freedom of the press
4:24
and no branch of the government is permitted to do anything that might abridge that freedom from being exercised
4:31
Nonetheless, the performing seals within his inner circle lined up to back him, Vice President J.D. Vance
4:38
He's not banning media outlets. What he's doing is saying, we're not going to give you special access to the White House
4:43
if you engage in what is effectively propaganda. We have to remember those three outlets account
4:48
about 92% of the stories that they have on the President of the United States
4:52
on the administration are negative. That's not representative of the American people
4:56
It's not representative of public opinion. So if you're going to engage in what is effectively far-left propaganda
5:02
why would a Republican White House give you special access? So to hear the president and his servile deputy tell it
5:08
CNN, MS Now and Politico were banned because they're far-left propagandists spreading fake news
5:15
But the administration could not keep its own story straight as the three organizations launched a lawsuit to get the ban overturned
5:23
appearing without a hint of irony on CNN. America's ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz
5:30
who used to be Trump's national security adviser, said the outlet reporters had been shown the door not because they were propagandists but because they were simply too good at their jobs When we have outlets that are relying on anonymous sources and talking about
5:45
the levels of ammunition we have in the middle of conflict, when we're talking about
5:50
vulnerabilities that the United States have, when in fact we're talking about deployment orders
5:56
for our soldiers, our Navy, our Air Force that are highly classified, that's absolutely
6:03
a national security threat and should be investigated and prosecuted. Now, just a fast reminder, when he was national security advisor back in March of last year
6:12
he's the bloke who inadvertently added a journalist to a group chat on the messaging app Signal
6:18
in which top members of the Trump administration were openly discussing plans to launch airstrikes
6:25
on Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. So much for national security threats. In a preliminary ruling, the Trump-appointed judge overseeing the news organisation's lawsuit
6:35
scoffed at the idea that there was any national security basis for the ban
6:41
and ordered the 78 reporters, producers and broadcast technicians to be allowed back into the White House immediately while the legal action continues
6:51
The White House at first ignored the ruling, but then, after the judge threatened consequences
6:57
is finally the banned outlets were allowed back in. By then, President Xi Jinping of China was already in town for a state visit
7:09
his arrival marked by the Marine Corps band playing the Chinese national anthem
7:14
at Andrews Air Force Base on Wednesday afternoon. There was a 21-gun salute and an Air Force flypast
7:21
just the first in a series of dramatic efforts by the Trump administration
7:26
to flatter the president's guest. The sound of the jets flying low over the base was so intense
7:39
it led President Trump to grimace. The Chinese leader, by contrast, did not flinch
7:45
None of those images was captured by the network TV poll, which, in an unprecedented move
7:50
downed tools to protest at the president's media ban. And later in the day, when Trump posted a video on his social media account of the arrival ceremony
8:00
he altered the footage to remove the grimace. Just one indication of his determination now to sanitise all media coverage of him
8:10
which also gave rise this week to the launch of Trump TV
8:14
a 24-hour web-based channel that the White House says will provide Americans with direct access
8:20
to the administration biggest moments and must highlights No pesky journalists involved in its creation On Thursday at the White House the US and Chinese leaders had no shortage of major issues to discuss
8:36
Trade, tariffs, the nascent and belated efforts to safeguard AI were all topping the bill
8:42
But in moves that must have baffled the Chinese, President Trump spent most of his time
8:47
trying to impress his guests with the various renovations that he is making to the complex
8:54
President Xi was dragged to the new helipad and invited to clamber aboard Marine One
8:59
the chopper that conveys Trump to and from the White House. Trump beamed with pride as he showed China's leader
9:06
what is almost certainly not the first caked-out military helicopter President Xi has ever been in
9:13
And then, as President Trump was asked by reporters how the talks were going
9:17
one of the most globally humiliating moments in modern American presidential history
9:23
He likes granite. He's an expert on stone, aside from many other things
9:28
And he loves good granite. Thank you very much. And they discussed Taiwan or the provision of satellite imagery to Iran
9:34
by Chinese companies that may have helped the regime in Tehran target and perhaps even kill American service members in the war
9:43
We have no idea. Hours later at the state dinner, more abject nonsense
9:48
If I could go off script just for a second, I just want to say I had to do it. I had to do it
9:56
I have to do it. I have to do it. I have to do it. I have to do it. I have to do it
9:58
I have to do it. I have to do it. I have to do it. But as a special treat in honor of President Xi and Madam Peng, I'd like to invite everyone in the room to visit through that beautiful curtain in the back
10:13
The door is all lit up and looks beautiful. It's one year away from completion, the new ballroom that you've heard about
10:21
and you will see something that I think you will really love
10:25
Now, you do not have to be a psychiatrist to conclude there is something very wrong with him
10:30
And certainly that is the message that President Xi will have taken away from Washington
10:34
as he headed back to China. Who knows whether Andy Burnham reached the same conclusion
10:39
after his first face-to-face meeting with Trump this week, at which suddenly the Chagos Islands deal
10:46
once welcomed by his administration as a monumental achievement, was once again publicly shredded by the president
10:54
Literally nothing that Trump did this week in any way derailed the imminent drubbing at the polls that Republicans face
11:02
and the loss of the House of Representatives and quite possibly the Senate
11:06
that the president is about to cause his own party. Once it happens, he's going to be absolutely enraged
11:14
and he will have no-one to blame but himself
#news