May 28, 2025

Trump Pardons 'Chrisley Knows Best' Stars, Offers Canada a 'Deal,' and Takes on Harvard

Show Notes
Transcript

President Trump steps in to pardon Todd and Julie Chrisley, reality TV stars convicted of tax evasion and fraud. The White House calls it a second chance for "unfairly targeted" Americans, but critics aren't so sure. Meanwhile, Trump stirs the pot with Canada, offering them free missile defense protection if they become the U.S.'s 51st state—though Canada’s prime minister is having none of it. Lastly, Trump’s ongoing battle with Harvard has sparked conspiracy theories, as he freezes their funding and demands conditions, all while his son-in-law Jared Kushner benefited from the school's admission process.

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Callaroga Shark media from Washington, DC. We're stealing thirty million dollars.

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Isn't that big a deal? This is ballot, that's right.

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Some smiley looking folks, oops, need some money. Let's free them.

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So President Trump just announced he's pardoning Todd and Julie Chrisley,

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the reality TV stars who were serving time for tax

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evasion and bank fraud. You know, the couple from Chrisly

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Knows Best, which, in retrospect, maybe they should have called

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it Chrisly knows best how to hide money. Trump made

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the announcement during a phone call with their daughter Savannah,

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telling her, your parents are going to be free and clean. Clean.

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That's an interesting word choice for people convicted of financial crimes.

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But hey, nothing says presidential priorities like a reality TV intervention. Now.

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Todd was sentenced to twelve years and Julie got seven

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years for conspiring to do frauds banks out of thirty

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six million dollars in loans. Thirty six million, that's not oops,

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I forgot to carry the one money. That's let's buy

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a small country money. The White House says this is

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about giving well deserving Americans a second chance who were

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unfairly targeted by an unjust justice system, which is a

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fascinating way to describe people who were convicted by a

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jury of their peers for stealing millions of dollars. But

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I suppose when you're used to calling every prosecution a

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witch hunt, eventually everyone starts looking like they're being burned

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at the stake. Savannah Chrisley had been lobbying for this pardon,

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even speaking at the Republican National Convention about it. She

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had lunch at the White House in February, which must

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have been awkward. Passed the salt, and also, could you

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maybe spring my parents from federal prison? The family's attorney says,

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this corrects a deep injustice, A deep injustice. You know

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what's a deep injustice when regular people can't get loans

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because banks are busy getting scam by reality TV stars.

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But sure, let's focus on the real victims here. So

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President Trump is now claiming that Canada is considering becoming

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the fifty first state in exchange for free access to

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his Golden Dome missile defense system, which, of course they're not.

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Trump posted on truth Social that he told Canada they

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could get the Golden Dome protection for zero dollars if

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they become our cherished fifty first state, But it'll cost

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them sixty one billion dollars if they stay independent. That's

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quite the sales pitch. Hey, Canada, you can either pay

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US sixty one billion dollars or just give up your

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entire national identity. Your choice. My question for Trump is

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if Canada becomes one big, gigantic state, or will each

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province become a state which would add twenty senators and

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siphon off a lot of representatives from the lower forty eight. Actually,

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if we connect the forty eight and Alaska via Canada,

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do we just have the fifty and that other state

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out there in the Pacific. We're going to need some

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new language around all this now. Canadian Prime Minister Mark

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Carney has repeatedly said that Canada is not for sale ever,

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but Trump's response was essentially never say never, which sounds

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less like diplomacy and more like something you'd hear from

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a guy trying to sell you a used car with

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questionable mileage. The timing here is perfect because King Charles

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the Third just visited Canada and gave a speech to

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Parliament basically telling them to stay Canadian. When the King

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of England is having to remind Canada not to sell

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itself to America. You know, we've entered some truly bizarre territory.

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Trump's Golden Dome system is supposed to cost one hundred

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and seventy five billion dollars to build and be fully

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operational within three years, which, given the government's track record

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on large projects, means it'll probably cost three hundred billion

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dollars and be ready sometime around twenty thirty five. The

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whole thing reads like Trump saw Canada's universal health care

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and thought, you know what, I bet I can get

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them to trade that for some satellites. It's the international

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equivalent of offering to trade your lunch money for someone's

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entire lunch. But sure, Canada's totally considering it, right after

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they finished considering changing their national anthem to Sweet Caroline

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and replacing maple syrup with ranch dressing. So the rumor

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mill has been working overtime with conspiracy theories about why

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President Trump is going after Harvard University, the theory that

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his son Baron got rejected and now Daddy's getting revenge.

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But Milania Trump's people came out swinging saying Baron never

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even applied to Harvard in the first place. But here's

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what actually happened. Baron Trump, who's nineteen and just finished

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his freshman year at NYU's Business School, apparently had his

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pick of colleges. His father said. He got accepted to

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a lot of schools, but chose not to follow in

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dad's footsteps at Wharton. Meanwhile, Trump's administration has been treating

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Harvard like it owes them money, freezing their funding and

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revoking their ability to enroll international students unless they meet

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a list of White House demands. Harvard, by the way,

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has a fifty billion dollar endowment and only accepts four

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percent of applicants. They're not exactly hurting for students or cash.

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The irony here is that while none of Trump's kids

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went to Harvard, his son in law Jared Kushner did attend.

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Of course, it probably didn't hurt that Jared's father made

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a two and a half million dollar donation that year.

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Nothing says merit based admission like a multimillion dollar check

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with your application. Portions of today's show were made with

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the help of AI the Golden Dome and definitely not

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Harvard