Confirmation hearings are a joke. Trump wants to revisit 2020

Some political stories make you shake your head. Others make you wonder if anyone in Washington is even pretending anymore.

This week, I take on confirmation hearings that increasingly feel like political theater, where everyone already knows how the vote will end before the first question is even asked. At what point does the performance become more important than the process?

Then there’s a White House leak investigation that reportedly reached the point where officials were asked to hand over their phones. That’s not just another Washington story. It’s a window into what happens when panic starts competing with trust.

And just when you think the country might finally move on, Trump pulls the conversation right back to 2020. While the next election gets closer, he’s still trying to relitigate the last one.

Maybe none of these stories surprise you anymore. Maybe that’s the biggest story of all. If confirmation hearings have become a formality, if panic is replacing trust behind closed doors, and if Washington keeps relitigating yesterday instead of dealing with tomorrow, then we’ve lowered the bar far more than we realize.

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Transcript

Cold Open And Show Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is a bad boy.

unknown 0:04

This is a bad boy.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

From Studio 19, I'm Jeff Fallon Wolf, and this is definitely a world gone bad. Here we go.

Whitehouse Targets Todd Blanche

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Senator Whitehouse urges Republicans to reject rotten Todd Blanche ahead of his confirmation hearing. Whitehouse blasted Blanche and his history of terrible behavior before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Now the Rhode Island Democrat urges Republican colleagues to vote down President Trump's pick to leave the Justice Department, arguing Blanche's confirmation gives the Republican Party extra baggage going into the midterms. His word is not credible with me, White House said, ahead of the start of the confirmation hearing. Now, White House said Blanche has created a sense of real uncertainty, even horror, at the DOJ. If you look at his track record to date, there's an enormous amount of reason for fear and anxiety that he's going to continue to do disgraceful things, he added. Now, when Senator White House was asked if any of the Republicans on the committee remained persuadable to reject the president's nomination, Whitehouse said his colleagues across the aisle have had real trouble finding their spines when it comes to opposing Blanche on principle or the merits.

Why Confirmation Hearings Feel Rigged

SPEAKER_01 1:34

So what does this all mean in the end? Republicans will confirm Blanche. You know this is the outcome. Why should we pretend otherwise? Republicans could be shown someone who has a criminal record and other bad behavior behavioral patterns, and Republicans would still confirm that person. I don't even react anymore to these stupid hearings because we just need to fast forward to the outcome. It needs to be said at the start of every confirmational hearing. Ladies and gentlemen of Congress, this man or woman is up for confirmation. Yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada yada. Let's take a vote. All those who are stupid, say aye. And along party lines, overwhelmingly the nominee will be confirmed. Simple, done, outcome resolved. What a frigging joke this is, Wolfpeck. I would love to be completely wrong. I would love to tune into a confirmation hearing and be shocked where people say this person is a scumbag. This person has no business being in this position of DOJ or whatever position they're running for. That has as much chance of happening as Donald Trump ever apologizing for anything he's done or of him releasing his tax returns.

White House Leak Panic And Phones

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Okay, moving from stupidity to insanity, what do Chief of Justice Susie Wiles and FBI Director Cash Patel have in common? Let's find out, Jeff says sarcastically. The White House is reportedly asking officials to hand over their phones as part of an intensifying leak investigation. Now let that sit there for a second, okay? Imagine walking into your work, grabbing your coffee, saying good morning to your coworkers, and somebody says from management, by the way, we're gonna need your phone. That's not a staff meeting. That's the opening scene of a political movie thriller where everyone suddenly remembers every text you've ever sent. Somewhere every group chat in the building just develops selective amnesia. According to CNN Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and FBI director Cash Patel have reportedly been leading an aggressive effort to find whoever leaked information about the Qatari jet being converted into a future Air Force One. Officials were reportedly asked to voluntarily turn over their phones while investigators look for the source. Now, voluntarily, that's you know one of those Washington words that always deserves air quotes. It's right up there with temporary, routine, and my favorite, this meeting shouldn't take long. If your boss has to remind you something is voluntary, chances are it doesn't exactly feel like yoga class. Let's stop pretending this is about phones. It isn't. Phones are just little rectangles full of receipts. The phone isn't the story. The story is the level of panic that makes somebody think collecting everyone's phones is the logical next step. When your solution to leaks starts sounding like airport security crossed with a middle school principal confiscating iPhones, you've taken a wrong turn somewhere. At some point, somebody actually said, I've got it, let's collect everyone's phones in the White House. And apparently nobody in the room replied, uh, you know how insane that sounds, right? Every conversation suddenly feels like somebody's wearing a wire. Every group chat turns into a ghost town. Somebody sends a thumbs up emoji, and five people start wondering if it's evidence. Forget office morale. At that point, you're not building a team. You're creating the only workplace where typing L-O-L probably requires clearance from legal. Imagine proofreading a text message, like it's a Supreme Court brief. Should I use one exclamation point? Or is that too suspicious? Washington leaks, it always has. Republicans leak, Democrats leak. Administrations leak so often you'd think the Capitol was sponsored by FlexEal. Which, judging by this story, apparently it isn't. But asking officials to hand over their phones, that's a different picture. You don't do that because everything's humming along just fine. You do it because somebody thinks the leak is spreading faster than they can contain it. And that's the moment where your dog's ears prick up. The leak may have started the fire, but now the people running around with the fire extinguishers are getting all the attention. Here's where this whole thing goes completely off the rails. The leak got everybody's attention. Asking people for their phones is what turned this into the headline. In Washington, secrets have a shorter shelf life than milk left in the Arizona driveway. Somebody always talks, somebody always writes the book, somebody always becomes an anonymous source six months after insisting they'd never discuss internal deliberations. That's practically a retirement plan in Washington. So every administration promises to stop the leaks. Very few get to the point where the solution starts with, everybody, empty your pockets. That's the kind of idea that only sounds normal after everybody in the room has convinced themselves that normal left the building an hour ago. Because once you've reported, or you're reportedly asking people to hand over their phones, you've moved away beyond plugging a leak. You're sending a message to everyone in that building that trust has officially left the chat. Forget the politics for a second. Picture the scene. Adults living inside the White House, looking around the room and deciding the next logical step was everybody line up. Let me see what's in your pockets. That's not an image you expect from the most powerful office in the world. It's an image you expect from a company where somebody stole lunches out of the break room refrigerator. You know, CompuSA Best Buy, Target, etc. If that's where things are now, I'd like to see what happens the next time somebody whispers to a reporter over lunch.

Trump Revives Election Security Claims

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Donald Trump is set to deliver a primetime address focused on voting machine security and alleged foreign influence in U.S. elections. He's also expected to release declassified intelligence documents related to those topics, including material connected to Georgia's 2020 election and the January 2021 Senate runoffs, which means, congratulations, America! We're apparently renewing season six of election 2020. At this point, 2020 isn't an election anymore. It's that relative who keeps saying they're leaving the party while standing in your doorway 45 minutes later. We have another election approaching, yet politically we're still watching the director's commentary from the last one. Georgia Senator John Asof says there's that's no coincidence. In an interview with uh Jen Saki on MSNow, Asof argued the president is obsessed with Georgia because, in his view, black voters and black political power played a decisive role in Trump's 2020 defeat there. Asof also said he believes the president is laying the groundwork for what he described as a possible unconstitutional use of federal power to interfere with the upcoming midterm elections. What a shock. Those are Asif's allegations, and they've not been established as fact yet, but it is amazing what's happened to Georgia. It used to be famous for peaches, Coca-Cola, and the Masters Golf Tournament. Now it's apparently the center of the American political solar system. Somewhere Florida is looking around thinking, wait, we're not today's headline? One report surrounding Thursday's speech from Trump says Trump could question the legitimacy of Ossoff and fellow Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock. Ossoff dismissed that possibility, saying the president has no constitutional authority to declare them illegitimate. He added that while he believes the president lacks that power, he does have the ability to try to intimidate people. It's incredible we've reached a point where the Constitution sometimes feels less like the rule book and more like customer service. Everybody wants to speak to the manager because they didn't like the answer they got. Ossoff

Ossoff Warns Of Midterm Interference

SPEAKER_01 11:12

went even further, arguing that Trump's planned search, or speech rather, could serve as a foundation for challenging the midterm election results if they don't go Trump's way. Ossoff said he believes Trump's address could become a pretext for attempts to use federal power in ways he considers unconstitutional or to provide political cover for allies at all levels. Those are Ossoff's predictions about what he believes could happen. But here's the part that makes my head hurt. Trump's speech hasn't happened yet. The midterm election hasn't happened. Yet we're already debating what might happen after something that hasn't happened. Somewhere, back to the futures, Doc Brown is screaming, oh great Scott! Stop messing with the timeline. You can already feel Washington making its annual migration from governing to campaigning. Except it isn't annual anymore. Campaign has become a full-time profession. Governing is the side hustle they squeeze in between fundraisers and cable interviews. Congress should probably update LinkedIn under special skills and just put professional candidate. Asaf also framed the president's renewed focus on election issues as a political calculation. He argued that public frustration over issues including war, tariffs, healthcare cuts, and the cost of living is creating pressure on the administration. And he suggested the return to election-related claims represents a shift in emphasis as the November midterm approaches. Maybe that's true, maybe it isn't. Voters will decide that. But if your groceries cost more, your insurance bill due to zone payment plan, your electric bill arrives looking like a ransom note, and your rent keeps climbing. I can understand wondering why Washington keeps rebooting old storylines instead of writing a new season. We already know exactly what's going to happen after Trump's speech. Some people will decide it was historic before Trump finishes his second paragraph. Others will declare it a constitutional crisis before he reaches the first period. Cable news will split into 16 little boxes where everyone talks and nobody listens. Social media will instantly discover another thousand constitutional experts who, oddly enough, were reviewing air fryers last week. Then all the shouting will finally burn itself out, and we're still left with the same old-fashioned question that somehow never goes out of style. Those released, declassified intelligence documents that Trump wants related to these topics, including material connected to Georgia's 2020 election and the January 2021 Senate runoffs. What do the documents actually show? It's definitely a world gone mad, Wolfpack.

What The Declassified Docs Show

SPEAKER_01 14:29

If you've enjoyed the podcast, found it informative, maybe got a laugh or two, then please contribute to keeping this podcast around. There is a link in the episode description below if you care to help. I'm Jeff Allen Wolf. I'll be back Friday. Until then, I urge you the Wolfpack. Remain skeptical,

Support The Show And Sign Off

SPEAKER_01 14:49

question everything, please don't lose hope, and most of all, stay alert.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

There is chaos in the world. And we need to stand up and freezer our democracy. This is a land.