J James, you're a bit distracted.
>> Well, Mark, I'm watching Hibs are
playing in Europe against Leia Warsaw.
They were winning. It got to four
minutes injury time. Leia equalized and
we're into extra time. Are you You're a
hips fan. Yeah,
>> I'm not. You know that. You know that,
James. You know, I'm not. No, no, no.
You always show me up when it comes to
uh soccer.
>> Trust me, you're not missing anything.
>> Swinden Town is my is my uh my team.
>> How come? because it's close to where
the family is in the UK.
>> I respect that.
>> Wet to see them uh the other day. Great
fun.
>> Local team, access to the players for
the kids. It's great.
>> Oh, well done you. Proper football,
proper fan.
>> I'm Mark Stone
>> and I am James Matthews. On today's
episode, it's a Trump 100 Sky News Daily
special. That's because Trump is getting
back to his old apprentice days. Donald
Trump, you're fired. And you and you and
you you get the idea. We'll be asking
why.
>> Yes. And I've been out on the streets of
Washington DC. We've talked a fair bit
about the National Guard on the streets
of the nation's capital. But what have
they been up to and what is it hiding
about the other stuff that's going on?
Immigration raids, they have been
happening here, and I've seen it up
close. James, before we get into the ICE
raids, uh this week is a week where the
flags have been at half mast across the
country after yet another uh mass
shooting in the United States at a
church in Minneapolis. Primary school
age children shot in their first week of
the school year while they were
attending morning mass. Two died. Uh
many others were injured. The mayor of
Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, uh justifiably
horrified.
>> These were Minneapolis families. These
were American families
and the amount of pain that they are
suffering right now is extraordinary.
And don't just say this is about
thoughts and prayers right now. These
kids were literally praying. It was the
first week of school. They were in a
church.
And so again, James, uh the debate over
gun ownership in the United States. You
and I, we've reported on on many mass
shootings, haven't we? It never gets any
easier.
>> Uh sure. It never does. And you know
what, Mark, I've actually happily not
covered many mass shootings. The one
that I definitely did was in Dunla,
1996.
I remember being in bed, a day off, got
a call to say one person might have been
shot in Dunla. By the time I got to the
phone, 12 people had been killed and of
course the death count rose to 17. Um,
we've had other mass shooting events in
the UK since then, but they are
thankfully a rare occurrence because the
country has banned handguns and
semi-automatic
weapons. I'm struck, I don't know about
you, but the coverage of this particular
shooting. All the discussion I've heard
has been about avoidance, about spotting
warning signs. Very little talk about
weapons themselves, this business of
restricting access to guns. It's almost
as if that's not part of the
conversation anymore, which to me is
depressing.
>> Yeah. But it never is. It's all It's all
about mental illness. It's about the
person, not the gun, and not the fact
that the person can get the gun uh very
easily. You mentioned Dun Blaine. Um
often, uh people who are pro- gun
ownership in the United States will say,
well, look, you have mass shootings here
in the Europe. You have them all the
time. We have mass shootings very, very
rarely uh in Europe. They happen so
often here. There's an organization
called the Gun Violence Archive. Every
time there's a mass shooting, I head to
their website just to remind myself of
the extraordinary, extraordinary
numbers, and they are horrific. Uh this,
as of this week, including uh what
happened in Minneapolis, there have been
834
American children and teenagers killed
in the United States. 834. A further
2,237
children and teenagers have been injured
by gunfire in the United States,
>> which is fewer than this time last year.
Uh so better or at least less bad this
year than last year, but of course it's
all relative.
>> Yeah, it's very depressing. Very
depressing. Anyway, from from that to uh
the mean streets of DC and and they you
know, some would say that they are
pretty mean at the moment.
>> Uh yeah, there's a lot going on, Mark.
Look around the city, you see people in
uniform, military vehicles, national
guard, and you've also got these ICE
agents, immigrations, and customs
enforcement. You were out Mount
Pleasant, was it yesterday morning, what
7:00 a.m.?
>> Yeah, I was. So, so the the background
to to the drive that that I had to get
out uh and see what was going on is the
very visual sign across uh DC uh that
we've talked about on the podcast uh
previously of the National Guard on the
streets. This is all part of of Donald
Trump's uh drive uh to sort out crime,
law and order uh and immigration uh in
in the country. And part of it is about
crime, but the other part, as I say, is
about trying to deal with with the the
clear problem of immigration in the
United States. He's kind of
intentionally conflating it all. But
there there are quite distinct things
going on. The National Guard are on the
face of it there as a show of force, a
show of power for the president in order
to show that he is getting a grip of the
crime problem in DC, which I think he
it's a problem, but he exaggerates it.
Separately, what we have seen in DC is
ICE agents. This is the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement Agency out on the
streets of DC in a way that we have seen
them in other cities across the country
since Trump uh came to power. And what
they have been doing is rounding people
up who they believe to be illegal uh and
detaining them and then they hope
deporting them. What we wanted to see
was this happening firsthand. 7:00 a.m.
Tuesday morning. We set out. Uh we drove
for about 5 minutes, two blocks, and
suddenly in front of us uh in Mount
Pleasant, it was all unfolding.
>> So, we just ran into a um local guy here
who's who's had a tip off that there is
a raid happening a couple of blocks over
here. So, we're just going to see. Yeah,
this you can see the flashing lights
down here.
>> You did not train to do this.
>> So, we turned off I think it was 17th
Street onto onto a side street. This is
a residential kind of leafy community,
multicultural, multi-income as well,
which is kind of unusual in DC because
as you know DC is as a city of bubbles
in lots of parts of the city. People
kind of exist in their own bubbles.
There are wealthy neighborhoods. There
are very poor neighborhoods. I think
Mount Pleasant is kind of a bit
different. It's a it's a kind of nice
mix, I think. And what we saw in front
of us were four vehicles uh unmarked
cars, but they had flashing lights uh on
them. They were stopping a construction
truck. In the construction truck were
four Latino uh men.
>> Three of them were pulled out uh and
were taken to these unmarked cars, put
in the cars uh and then driven off. But
what we saw around us was the visceral
reaction of the community, deeply upset
uh by what was going on.
>> Who do you do?
traitor.
[Music]
>> How you feeling, ma'am?
>> I'm sick. This is not this country. It's
not what we're about. We're a quiet
community. Great.
>> You have family I can call.
>> You don't need to do this.
You're not keeping people safe. You're
tearing families apart.
>> Mask could stop them.
>> Ouch.
>> Get out of here.
>> Yeah. Get out of here.
>> Quite a scene, Mark. And clearly having
an impact on well, everybody, residents,
the neighborhood at large.
>> Yeah. Yeah, I mean it's worth saying
that that that Washington is a a a
deeply democratic uh part of the
country. Uh so naturally uh these people
um would be very much against what was
happening. But as they see it uh they
believe that this is kind of the
beginning of of a sort of police state
that and and I should say that we do not
know why specifically uh these people uh
were detained. They were in a
construction truck. They were on their
way to a job. The driver um later
explained to us that he had his papers
as he put it. Uh the other three in the
car did not have their papers. Now what
we don't know is if they didn't have
their papers by that I mean that their
you know their visas or whatever it is
that allows them legally to be in the
country. Either they didn't have them on
them at that point or they're here
illegally. We don't know the answer to
that. We've we've contacted ICE to try
and find out, you know, why they
arrested these people. But what appears
to be happening and there are examples
of it right across the country is that
speculatively uh these ICE agents are
just pulling over vehicles where they
see frankly people with brown skin and
then they are asking them what their
legal right is to be in the country and
if they can't provide that legal right
there and there and evidence of it then
they are taken away and that for the
people of Mount Pleasant and for people
who who worry about Donald Trump and his
agenda is deeply deeply disturbing.
Yeah. 7:00 a.m. people going to work,
the rush hour, kids starting school.
>> Yeah. I mean, and that was the other
thing that it was uh just as as as kids
were getting ready for what would be
their their second uh week at school.
So, there were children there who were
watching this unfold, they too were were
very upset, children in tears and and
one of the mothers said to me, "Look, I
and actually shouted at the police
officers as well." Well, and I say
police officers side point, but they say
police on, but they're wearing jeans.
They're kind of they look almost like
some sort of a militia rather than an
official law enforcement. They don't ex
they don't um sort of display precisely
which units they're from. They're not
from the DC Metropolitan Police. So So
that that that's an issue as well. But
the mother said to me, she said, "Look,
we we teach our children to trust the
police force. Now we are having to tell
our children do not trust uh the police.
>> I've lived here for 47 years and I've
never seen anything like this. Um they
are occupying the city and our
neighborhoods. They are brutalizing
people. Uh they are taking people for no
reason. Um we don't want them here. This
is a Donald Trump dominance performance.
Get out of our city
>> that for for these people is is you know
it's worrying indeed.
>> Muriel Bowser the Democrat mayor of
Washington DC she has given a news
conference. Um she said that there had
been a break in trust between police and
the community and that people were
living in this state of anxiety but
interestingly did acknowledge this. She
said the surge of federal law
enforcement had brought crime down and I
think that reflects the the difficulty
that Democrats have. You know this whole
thing has politics threaded through it
and Trump will think that he has his
opponents in a in a snooker. He's
hammering crime as an issue. And who
doesn't want crime to come down? How do
you argue against it when it does come
down? You know, people's focus is the
figures, not necessarily the arguments
beyond that, the cost, the notion of the
president with increased control over a
military, you know, without the
appropriate checks and balances. And
that of course is the the bigger
discussion.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Trump's law, order, and
control sweep is, I think, as I said, an
intentional conflation of different
problems. Violent crime does appear to
be down over the past few weeks in the
city. Good news, of course, although
that's not down to the National Guard,
who have not been mainly deployed in the
crime challenged areas. Indeed, they
were spotted picking up litter uh near
the White House this week, kind of
amusingly wearing their car key, but
also high viz jackets as as well. that
there are fewer homeless camps in the
city because Donald Trump has ordered
the camps to be uh to be cleared. It's
not as though those people have been
housed. They have simply been moved on.
And then of course there is the
immigrant thing, the roundup speculative
detentions based on color. Uh it's
happening in plain sight while everyone
appears to be focusing instead on the
soldiers on the streets. You know, it
begs the question, is it the beginning
of a police state or is it just some
sort of temporary Trumpian grip to show
that he is in control?
>> Yeah, if you take the view that Trump is
an aspiring autocrat and many do then
you know he is doing little to
discourage that notion. I think look
around the city the look the feel there
is a feel of creeping authoritarianism.
I think we see the the furniture being
put in place piece by piece, you know,
which will desensitize people to the
presence of armed military on the
streets. The National Guards out, you
know, and Trump, he has signed an order
creating specially trained units to be
mobilized in this city and elsewhere to
ensure public safety and order. Critics
are saying this is a move to create a a
private army out of the National Guard.
And those same critics say part of the
plan is to create an antagonism, create
protest, bring about a state of
emergency that merits him sending in
armed troops. And of course, who knows
where that takes us. As hysterical as it
sounds, you know, people do talk about
martial law. That's a that's a view
being articulated amongst opponents
certainly. And I do wonder what happens
when there is dispute as there surely
will be around the midterms next year.
The law I suspect will be tested in the
courts. How the law is enforced could
well be tested too. And you know that
has the potential to get messy.
>> Couldn't agree more. Uh the military and
militi looking law enforcement on the
streets under the president's control in
an election cycle. That uh James I think
is the crunch point.
>> Mark, speaking of authoritarianism,
dictators and all of that, did you did
you see the cabinet meeting this week?
>> I did. It was the longest ever. In fact,
the longest uh period of time that Trump
has spent on camera uh in one continuous
period since he took office. 3 hours and
20 minutes, James. 3 hours 20 minutes.
Absolutely extraordinary. and you know
it it kind of felt unbecoming. Um have a
listen.
>> Thank you for your leadership, for your
boldness, for your clarity, for common
sense.
>> Mr. President, um working for this
government for you is the greatest honor
of my life.
>> You have brought us back from the edge.
>> The country just feels different.
>> Mr. President, I invite you to see your
big, beautiful face on a banner in front
of the Department of Labor because you
are really the transformational
president of the American worker.
>> And there's only one thing I wish for
that that Noble Committee finally gets
its act together and realizes that you
are the single finest candidate since
the Noble piece, this Noble Award was
ever talked about to receive that
reward. Yeah, Mark, I just want to say
thanks for your friendship, journalism,
professionalism, and for your big,
beautiful face.
>> So, if that if if those clips were were
part of a sort of, you know, end ofterm
goodbye Donald Trump, he's retiring,
he's moving on, he's stepping down, you
might kind of,
>> it would still be sick.
>> Of course, it would, but you could kind
of understand it's, you know, swan song,
end of end of end of a end of a moment.
But it's not. This was just a a regular
Tuesday cabinet meeting.
>> Yeah. I mean, it's Kim Jong-un stuff,
isn't it? Saddam Hussein queuing up to
to kiss the ring. We certainly have seen
the swagger of Donald Trump in recent
days, haven't we? He's a man very
comfortable and confident, I think, in
his own skin and status in a way that he
wasn't first time round. you know, when
he had internal disscent. Did you see
the he was in the Oval Office a few days
ago when the World Cup trophy was there,
open neck shirt, baseball cap with the
words Trump was right about everything
on it, you know, riffing on everything,
all the subjects of the day. It was like
the granddad you'd taken to the seaside,
you I mean that baseball cap for
goodness sake. Kiss me quick, squeeze me
slow. You know, he's a president
enjoying a power that he didn't have
first time round. Unencumbered by
disscent, fawned over by all around him.
The kind of behavior, dare I say it,
bestowed on dictators. And it's not just
me that using that word, he used it
himself.
>> So the line is that I'm a dictator, but
I stop crime. So, a lot of people say,
you know, if that's the case, I'd rather
have a dictator, but I'm not a dictator.
I just know how to stop crime.
>> Yeah. I mean, you have to ask what it
says about him uh that he not only
clearly enjoys uh all this sick fancy.
Uh but but he he doesn't stop it, you
know? He he is encouraging it. I mean,
what what does that say about about his
insecurities? Uh maybe I just don't
know. Look, speculative observation
alert, but it is for me, as I say, just
also unbecoming of the office. the
president is there to serve the people.
The sicopantic theater of the cabinet um
was kind of remarkable. There was one
exception I thought and I'm watching
this particular gentleman uh closely uh
and he is Marco Rubio, Secretary of
State, National Security Adviser as
well. In fact, I think he holds four
jobs. Um he always appears to look
decidedly uncomfortable in these
settings. Is that just his kind of
resting face? Uh or or is it um is it
something else? Uh I think um he's one
to watch. I I think he will be running
in 2028 for sure.
>> Yeah. If Donald Trump listens to this
podcast, Mark, I think you've just
signed his his death warrant. I I think
what you have is the court of King
Donald, don't you? uh which I think will
alarm anybody who trusts in government
as a robust democratic process of of
getting the best for the country and its
people. Everyone around that table has a
responsibility to represent the public
interest that will necessarily bring
them into conflict with fellow cabinet
members, sure, but also with the man at
the top.
Who amongst that lot has the courage of
their convictions to argue their case to
engage in debate disagreement with a
view you know to obtaining securing a
shared consensus that benefits the
greater good. I think the answer to that
is nobody. It's all about pleasing one
man and doing what he wants. That's
unhealthy and it's not how democracy
should operate. You know, cartoon stuff.
>> Yeah. The last voice you heard in our
little uh compile there of sickans, the
compile of praise was Steve Wickoff,
Donald Trump's Middle East envoy and of
course the the sort of envoy to to
Ukraine, Russia as well. You are, he
said, the finest single candidate for
the Nobel Peace Prize. Uh and yet put
that statement against the fact that the
Ukraine war worse and worse, Gaza worse
and worse. the other wars that Trump
says he has solved. Some of them, yes,
resolved, some somewhat resolved. Some
of them they weren't actually actively
fighting. Anyway, look, just take
Ukraine for example. Two weeks ago,
Trump was with Putin. You were there,
James, in Alaska. I bet that feels like
a long time ago now.
>> Yeah, it certainly does.
>> Yeah. Then the Europeans came to town
here to DC. I was there for that. There
was genuine momentum. There was movement
on Trump's, you know, claim that he was
going to provide security guarantees.
But look where we all now. Where we are
now. It's all for now. Apparently, uh,
you know, so much over the past few
months, James, I've tried to see Trump's
strategy to give him the benefit benefit
of the doubt, to wonder whether his
unorthodox methods uh might just yield
results. It's our job to be skeptical,
and that includes being skeptical of the
skeptics, those who say that Trump was
always a hopeless conman. I my job our
job I think is to take that but look
look for perhaps uh the avenues where
maybe he can and will make a difference
but you know I'll remain skeptical of
everything. Right now though observing
this administration uh they have yet to
come anywhere close to persuading me
that they're doing anything other than
making all this up as they go along.
>> Yeah. I'm not sure the latest episode
with the CDC will change your mind, will
it?
>> Well, he's firing everyone now, isn't
he?
>> Uh well, yeah. CDC stands for the US
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Currently, it stands for
bitter struggle, where politics meets
the health of the nation. Not
necessarily in a good way. The AY's
boss, one Robert Kennedy Jr., the health
secretary, nephew of JFK, RFK Jr.,
antivaxer, conspiracy theorist. He has
called the CDC in the past a cesspool of
corruption. So, there is history. But
this week on Wednesday night, he decided
to fire its boss, a woman by the name of
Susan Manares.
>> Strong leadership that will go in there
and that will be able to execute on
President Trump's broad ambitions. The
agency is in trouble and we need to fix
it and we are fixing it and it may be
that some people should not be working
there anymore. Now, Susan Manarez, she's
resisted RFK stance on vaccines, is
currently refusing to leave her role.
She's accused RFK Jr. of weaponizing
public health and has said she won't
rubber stamp unscientific, reckless
directives. So, the whole issue has
prompted upheaval at the top of the CDC,
has prompted the resignation of four
other senior figures at the
organization. And so it's a big deal and
a big concern for people. You know,
you're talking about scientists whose
expertise is keeping the nation healthy
being browbeaten by this man, the
antiaxer and conspiracy theorist.
>> Yeah. There's also the fact that the
order to fire her came from above, from
the Oval Office. Donald Trump's
opponents see another stage in the
effort to deconstruct the administrative
state. This is Donald Trump meddling in
institutions he has no power to control.
they say exerting power well beyond his
jurisdiction. It's not the first time
that it's happened this week. On
Thursday, uh a Federal Reserve governor,
Lisa Cook, sued Trump, saying that he
had fired her illegally. She's also
refusing to leave. She is a Democrat
appointee to the board and sacking her
would give Trump the power to appoint a
conservative economist uh instead. It is
a power grab, say skeptics, for the
president to have more control over
things like interest rates as he
continues to try and get rid of the Fed
chair Jerome Pow Powell. Uh look, James,
I don't think we can avoid the
conclusion that this is a president uh
determined to have more. He has said as
much, more power, more overreach, more
relevance, and even more gold in the
Oval Office. It's certainly looking
gaudier by the day. His supporters would
have it no other way. His critics, well,
they're shuddering.
>> Yeah. President hellbent on more power.
That's the certainty. The big
uncertainty is who's going to stop him.
>> Anyway, that is it uh for this week,
Labor Day this weekend. James, any
plans?
>> Uh to do as little labor as I can. Mark,
what about you?
>> Well, you won't be looking at the hip
score, I shouldn't think.
>> Well, I'm staring at it now. 3-3 on the
night. Uh but on aggregate, it's 54.
Tigia Warsaw the hibs got beat again I'm
sorry to say story of my life. Come on
Swinden turn though. Anyway, you know
the email address trumps sky.uk
uh on socials as well. Leave a comment.
We'll find them and we will respond uh
if we can. But that is it for this week.
Bye-bye for now.
>> All the best.