Showdown
Showdown Episode 70 5-28-24
(upbeat music) - Welcome to Showdown, I'm Mark Casein. And this is the 28th of May. So, here we are with closing comments, the summation today. And I can tell you that much is happening. A great deal. Certainly, a lot happened over the weekend too, because with the trial headed in the direction that it has been, Donald, probably out of complete panic, has been out here saying things that no one would say, certainly no one with any sense, no one hoping to be present in the United States. As an example, I mean, the best thing that he said over the weekend, just to show you where this man is, he was out here describing everybody who opposes him as human scum. Now, if you think it's not true, 'cause there'll be people who say, "Oh, it never happened." Well, go, pull up the video, go to YouTube, and you can hear it all, because that's his problem. He just can't control himself. He just says things that are not just outrageous. They're really horrific. He encourages people to be violent. You know there's a new Trump-related ad out that was created by the Biden people, and this one does the same thing that I'm basically telling you right now. He says that if he's not elected, there will be a bloodbath. Now, is that what you wanna say? If you're running for President of the United States, is that how you want to argue your case? I mean, I understand that there are some people who are grabbing onto this and thinking somehow that this is a reasonable way to behave, but I can tell you right now that it's wholly unreasonable, and many people in this country understand how unreasonable it is, and I'll give you an example of how you know. Everybody probably knows, or should, that the Libertarian Party has a lot of connections with the Republican Party. There's a convergence of beliefs having to do with the government staying out of your business. So there are definitely libertarians who follow the Libertarian Party by itself, but there are also libertarians who are Republicans who believe that the government should be less involved in our lives and who share this view with the Libertarian Party. So, it's not like the Libertarian Party is at odds with the Republican Party, not really. There's just a lot of ideology that is connected between the two. So here is the problem with this. Donald goes to the Libertarian Convention this weekend asking for the Libertarians to pick him as their candidate. But you see, all of this bad behavior comes back on you, and what happened is that this convention didn't just turn him down. They booed him. Now again, don't believe it, go pull it up. It's on YouTube, you can watch it. The Libertarian Convention booed Donald Trump, not just a little, not just here and there. I mean, there was widespread booing of Trump, and then Trump's response to them was about as ridiculous as you can possibly be, because he came back and said, no, you're right. You shouldn't have me on your ticket, because really, you all wanna lose. And as long as you wanna lose, you don't want me. You just want your regular three or four percent that you get every year. So just go and get that and forget Donald Trump, because the only way you want Donald Trump is if you can win, because you know without me, you're nothing but a bunch of losers. I'm sure that went over really well with the people who were booing him. But that's the kind of person that he is. Now, a lot of people will say, well, we knew that. We knew all these things about Trump. He's crass, for sure. But you know what? There are a lot of people in this country, and I'm talking about millions who are just tired of this nonsense. They went through it for four years and maybe they've almost forgotten it. Forgotten it because you've had normalcy in the White House for four years and it almost leads you to think, well, gee, was it that much different? And of course, we know the answer. It was incredibly different. Every day, fighting, arguing, bullying, lying. So let's talk about the lying part. Right now, as we're on the air, the final summation is being completed by the prosecution. And they have really brilliantly put together the final words for this trial and specifically with regard to the lying, the lying by Michael Cohen, because there is no question. Michael Cohen lied, but it's worse than that. Michael Cohen was hired to lie. His job in the White House before the White House, actually, he wasn't in the White House. His job before the White House in trying to get Donald Trump to the White House, his job was to lie. He lied for Donald Trump. Donald Trump didn't bring him in and then suddenly find out that Michael Cohen was a liar. Donald Trump is a liar who wanted somebody working for him who could promote his lies. So if anybody wants on the defense side to say, well, look at this liar, Michael Cohen, he's a liar, well, okay. And he was brought to the White House, I'm sorry, to Donald Trump before the White House, he was brought there to lie. It was his job. He was Donald Trump's liar. Donald Trump wanted somebody who could lie and he brought in Michael Cohen and Michael Cohen lied for him. Nobody disputes that. Everybody knows it. And here you've got a trial today where the defense is hammering all of the lies that Michael Cohen has been involved in that have been highlighted in this case. And the fact is the lies were for Donald and that's the whole case. That's the whole point. He was hired to lie for Donald and he lied for Donald. And that's the case that's being put in front of the jury. Now, it's true that there's tremendous evidence beyond Michael Cohen's lying that shows that Donald broke the law as suggested by the prosecution. And you know, I have said from the very first day that the trial started and even before that, that Donald Trump would be convicted. And I think that we're well on our way to Donald Trump's conviction. What's going to happen, of course, is that the summation by the prosecution will end this afternoon. That will be the end of it. And by the way, there's a perfect example of Donald Trump lying. I mean, it never ends. Donald Trump is out telling people that the fact that the defense spoke first and that the prosecution had the final word in the case that this was being done to rig the case against Trump. Again, go pull it up. It's all over the place. This is what Donald is telling people. And it's absolutely a lie because everybody knows, especially the people who are lawyers in the state of New York, that this is exactly the way criminal prosecutions take place in New York courts. The defense speaks first in criminal trials and the prosecution has the last word. Now, the reason that the prosecution is the last word is pretty simple. The prosecution has the last word because they have the burden of proof. They have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the criminal has committed the crime. And so in the state of New York, they are given the final word in every instance, not just because it's Donald Trump, but in every instance. So again, Donald's lying and you know he's lying and you know that he had this information. This isn't something he just made up out of his head. He checked with his lawyers. He found out what was the situation and then he just stepped up and lied. This was Michael Cohen's job to tell these lies. These days, Donald just tells the lies himself. Is it effective? Well, it is with maybe 30 to 35% of the population can you win with 30 to 35% supporting you? And I'm going to say that the answer is no. Now, I understand that Donald's hero actually won with 35%. Donald's hero won. Yeah, Michael says the man's deranged and he is deranged. Yeah, yeah, because that is the procedure and he lies about it. But, but look, Donald's in far worse shape than just that. Far worse than just that. He just, he lies about everything and he does things that are clearly not allowed, just not allowed. For example, his attorneys who everybody says, his attorneys are really excellent. But they do put on a case in the way that Donald wants it to be perceived by the public. Because that is part of this. It's the public perception because I guess Donald thinks, you know, if he loses, that he still wants to win the presidency. And I think that'll be an interesting situation in itself because the next question is, where will Donald be? I've said he'll go to jail. Donald's attorneys, excellent attorneys, people that everybody, I mean, everybody says, these are fine people when it comes to the law. They really know their business. But they're doing what Donald says and that's always problematic. And in the courtroom today, Todd Blanche did something he should not have done and he absolutely knew that he was not allowed to do it. He said in front of the jury during the summation that the jury should be recognizing that they do not want to put Donald Trump in jail, that they should, that that's the key, that they should recognize that they don't want to put him in jail. Well, first of all, he's not allowed to talk about the potential punishment of Trump, of the defendant. He's not allowed to bring it up. It's just part of the rules. Blanche knows it's part of the rules. He did it anyway and he got his butt kicked for doing it. He's not supposed to do it. If you ask me, this is all evidence of the whole bunch of them being desperate. I think they know where this is headed and I think they're extremely fearful. Recognizing, as Blanche correctly explained, that the jury could be putting Donald in jail, definitely could be. Not supposed to say it. In fact, you're not allowed to say it, but they said it anyway because they don't care. And I think that takes us back to really where I started and that's the libertarians, because let me say this about the libertarians. They don't want the government to be in your life, but they never said that they're for anarchy. They never said that they're nihilists. They never said that their hero, that the party's hero is Nietzsche. I mean, that's not what this is about. The libertarians simply believe that the government needs to stay as low profile in our lives as possible while doing the job that the government was intended to do in the Constitution. They still believe in the Constitution. They just have some limits on how far they think the government ought to go. And clearly, liberals believe that the government should take an act of rule in trying to make things better in the country. And so that's the balance here. But the problem is that Donald is way beyond any of this. And that's why he was booed. So emphatically by the Libertarian Convention, it wasn't a little boo. It wasn't a here and there boo. It was, this guy was booed. The convention wanted him out of there. And you know, here's where they ended up. This is pretty amazing. So Donald Trump wanted to be picked by the libertarians as their candidate. And so did Bobby Kennedy Jr. RFK Jr. also wanted to be picked and asked the convention to do that. And how did it end up? Donald got 1%, almost one, almost one. RFK Jr. got 2%. Neither one of them was acceptable to the convention. But only Donald was emphatically booed. And again, sure, he stood on the stage, no problem whatsoever. Boo me, you bunch of losers. And not to mention the fact he'd already explained to anybody who opposes him is human scum. Now it's pretty interesting calling all these people human scum on Memorial Day. Not that you can't do that. There's nothing wrong about saying something bad on Memorial Day, but here's the thing. Donald has already made it clear. He said it repeatedly. First, he doesn't know why anybody would risk their life for the United States. What's in it for them, he has asked. What's in it for them? So that's the first thing. And the second thing is that he has said that he considers people who get caught in war like John McCain, to be losers, not heroes, losers. Now, I'm always trying to be honest. So let me say it this way. Of course, I was very much against the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War. When I was 18 years old in 1969, of course I was. I was against it for a number of reasons. First of all, I didn't want to go and fight in Vietnam. But I didn't want that just because I didn't wanna fight. I mean, I don't know that anybody wants to fight, but I didn't wanna fight, but that's not the point. The point was the government was lying. We knew the government was lying. Maybe we went to what they called sit-ins, teach-ins, all these different places where these things were being discussed by top scholars. And we knew the government was lying and we knew that the domino theory was bizarre. I mean, we're sitting here saying that we're gonna go to war because if South Vietnam becomes communist, all of Asia will turn communist. It just didn't make any sense. And so many people looked at it all. And then on top of that, recognize, for example, when DM, which I mentioned last week, DM who we put in power in South Vietnam, after we put him in power, we didn't like what he was doing in the CIA murdered him. And we knew right away that the CIA murdered him. So there were so many things that were very unsettling at the time. And it just got to the point where kids looked at what was going on and said, "You wanna kill us for what?" I mean, this wasn't going to war against Hitler. This was going to war against, well, we didn't know who. Ho Chi Minh, the hero of North Vietnam, of all of Vietnam. That there was a time where Eisenhower, who had been, of course, the president before Kennedy, said clearly, secretly of course, but later came out to everyone, that had there been an election in Vietnam, a free and fair election, that the winner across the entire country, would have been Ho Chi Minh. He was the country's hero. And so we wanted to go and fight against that. Okay, so fast forward, the end of the war comes, and all of these people who fought in the military, they came back and many were mistreated by protesters here in the United States. I can tell you this, I did everything to fight against it, the war, and everything to resist the draft, and was prepared to go to Canada, if necessary. But I can tell you that when the war was over, and the veterans now came back, I mean, I was strongly against anybody mistreating these people, they weren't the ones who developed foreign policy, they weren't the ones who said, let's all go and kill somebody. In fact, many of them didn't wanna go to fight, but did anyway, because the country asked them to. So you could certainly respect the decisions that they made. And I can tell you right now, that one of the people who was really out front in terms of trying to protect these returning fighters, one of them was John Kerry, who later was beat up by everybody, claims of hating the war while he did, hating the fighters, no, he didn't. And so there's been an argument over that, which that argument's gone on for decades. I know people right now who are very quick to jump against John Kerry to claim that he was a traitor. Well, okay, so there are all those things said. I understand, but now let's go to Donald. This is way beyond that. This is not even close. Number one, what's in it for anybody to go to war, to fight for the country? What's in it for you? So that's one question. And the second question is, why? Why would you hate somebody who is caught by the enemy? And then especially in the case of somebody like John McCain, who was caught by the enemy. And then when given the opportunity to come back to the United States, separately from his other colleagues, people, fighters, he refused to come back without them. He said, no, I'm not going to be special. If they can't come back, I'm not coming back. That's what was said. That's how it ended for McCain. And everybody knows how McCain was beat to hell and couldn't raise his arms over his head because of the manner in which he had been beaten by the Vietnamese. So here's a man with real heroism who really cared about the people that he served with. And Donald Trump called him every name imaginable. So here on Memorial Day, you've got Trump screaming about people who oppose him as being human scum. Why do you think the libertarians booed this guy? Why do you think the libertarians rejected him to the point where he got less than half of the support that Bobby Kennedy Jr. got and Kennedy got almost nothing. And Trump got 1% almost, 1%. Now let's get back to the trial because I want to talk about the lying. So Michael Cohen's a liar. He is a liar. Michael Cohen has lied and he has told everybody that he lied and he has said because of the lying, he went to jail. But again, the prosecution pointed out in the summation today that that lying was actually on behalf of Donald Trump. He was lying for Trump until the last minute when he flipped. And of course, before he flipped, Donald said, this is my guy. I love Michael Cohen. Michael Cohen's on our team. Michael Cohen's a good person. Michael Cohen's my attorney. And then suddenly Michael Cohen flipped because Donald really left Cohen and when he did and Cohen saw where this was headed for him, he decided he better do something to protect himself at least to some degree, not enough to keep him out of jail, but his family, he wanted to protect his family. He didn't want his family going down the drain as he did. And so he told the truth because that was the deal he was given. If you tell the truth, this will be easier on everybody if you tell the truth. So is Michael Cohen lying or not? Hard to say because we know that he is a liar. He's a liar. He was not only convicted of perjury. I mean, he played guilty to perjury. He perjured himself. He lied. And that was his job. His job was to lie for Donald. Now here's the deal. The jurors are going to be sitting in a room all together, all 12, and they're going to have to hash this out. And I don't know how many of you have seen the movie, 12 Angry Man, I've probably seen it 500 times because I show it to kids. And you can show it to yourself. You can go hop on Amazon and watch it. And if you've watched it before, that's okay. Watch it again. I want you to see what happens in the jury room. I want you to see the pressures. I want you to see the interaction between these jurors. I want you to see how people think through problems and how others influence the final result. It's not a question of that it's got to end up like that, that suddenly you'll go through this process and 12 people will be on the side of the prosecution. I'm not saying that. I'm saying that there will be a lot of pressure on everybody to respond appropriately to the evidence. It's not going to be easy for somebody to get in that room and jump off in a different direction and start talking about crazy Donald Trump talking points, which I wouldn't even imagine that that would happen among these people anyway. But I just think it's important to realize that believing that these people are going to come in there and their conclusion is going to be completely separated from the reality of the trial, don't count on it because it's not how it works. People talk to each other and it can get heated, but it's certainly difficult to go too far away from common sense and reality. It's just difficult. And that's the only reason I recommend you watch it again because I want you to see how difficult it is to separate yourself from reality. I know in the country it's been very easy for people to do that. I think you're going to find in that jury room it's going to be very difficult to do that. And that's one of the reasons that I've said from the beginning of this that I am sure that Donald Trump will be found guilty. Now remember there are 34 counts. The 34 counts are all essentially the same. So the chances of being found guilty on one and not on 33 is pretty slim. Although again, it only takes one count. One count, four years in jail. I have said maybe the judge will cut it to two. I don't think there's a chance. The judge Mershan has gone through this entire mess attacked by Trump, Trump bringing surrogates into the, to the area of the court, not into the courtroom, but into the area of the court where they've said things that were absolutely counter to the gag order under the instructions of Trump wearing those idiotic blue suits and red ties just totally embarrassing. Obsequious is the word. I've said that before. Believe me, go look it up. There's just no better way to describe the way these people act around Trump. Obsequious, it is excellent. It describes it perfectly. Okay. So here's the deal. Okay. Michael Cohen is a potential negative for the prosecution, although there's a ton of evidence that corroborates everything that Michael Cohen has said. Now it is true that there are some things that Michael Cohen said for which there is no corroboration. But as many of the attorneys have pointed out, some of this evidence, evidence that is actually circumstantial is logical. I mean, there's nobody that's going to look at this and say, that doesn't make sense. Now they're going to say everything makes total sense and fits together as the attorneys are saying, like a jigsaw puzzle fits together nicely. And then you try to figure out where those last couple of pieces go and you can just see where they go. It's right in front of you. It won't leave any doubt. I don't believe, I don't think it'll leave any doubt for these jurors. I think they're going to know right away which way they have to go on this. And as I've just said a moment ago, if they say guilty on two counts and innocent, or not innocent, but I don't know, hung jury on 32, I don't know, maybe that might be possible. Nobody's going to acquit this guy. There's no way. It just, that's just not even a possibility. There is no acquittal that is going to take place in this courtroom after the deliberations are completed. And the deliberations will begin probably tomorrow after the jury instructions, which are all about the law. And again, the judge said, I talk about the law and you all can talk about the facts, but I make the decision on the law. And again, the Trump lawyers came close. Close to the line and angered the judge. And what they think they're accomplishing by angering the judge, I don't know, because if they lose this case at all, and they've got a judge who's sitting here looking at all of this and saying, should I give him probation? Now why would you give a guy probation? You might if you thought that the person had thought about the problems that they had caused and might be reforming or rehabilitating or anything like that. I mean, if you thought that the person had some remorse, you thought the person was contrite. You might consider probation. If this guy is getting in your face night and day, acting like a fool and doing exactly the same things that got him into the courtroom in the first place, what do you think the chances are that the judge is going to say, yeah, I'll give him a break. I'll give the guy a break who's been jumping all over my family and all over the court and all over the witnesses and all over the jurors. Yeah, that's not going to happen. Donald better hope that there's a 100% hung jury because if there's one count for which he's found guilty, I don't think there's any question that Judge Mershan is going to give him some jail time. I've said, let's think about two years instead of four. Four is the max. Maybe two, it's all you need. Two years would be enough to settle all of this for the coming election. We are not, I promise you, we are not going to elect a convicted felon we won't. So first, I'm saying he's going to be found guilty as I've said all along. And secondly, I'm telling you, Donald Trump will not be elected if he's a convicted felon and there's even a chance that they may yank him off the ticket, but that's another story. But first, let's think about dinner and then we can go on and finish all of this. And I want to start with wenties because wenties is at 18,000 Chesterfield Airport Road and they have great food. Everybody loves the wings, that goes without saying, they love the wings. It's amazing to me how people love the wings, but they do, they love them. I'm not saying it wenties, I'm saying anywhere. But people love wings, it's just not my thing. People love the smoke meats, that's good. People love the hamburgers, the cheeseburgers, the patty melts, the pizza, all good food, great stuff at a great place to go eat. But for me, it's still the baby back ribs and the onion rings. That's what I go for, that's what I vote for every time. And again, that's at wenties. Wenties is at 18,000 Chesterfield Airport Road and don't forget, now also available, same great food, same great wenties in Defiance, Missouri. That's wenties, our good friend Ben at wenties, he'll love to see you there and you'll love to eat at wenties. Now, I also want to talk to you about jewelry at 4506 Hampton in St. Louis. And of course, that's jewels on Hampton. And you can't eat the jewels, no, but you can buy and sell them, along with coins. And a lot of people love jewelry and the place to go is jewels on Hampton. Al and his son AJ are exceptional. They've got a great jewelry store. They design jewelry, they do it creatively. They'll do whatever you want if you ask for it to be your way. They'll buy and sell at great prices. It's just a great store. And with Al and AJ, the owners, you just got the people there that you need to be talking to in order to figure out what it is you want to do. They'll also fix your watches if you've got a great watch that needs to be properly repaired. Again, it's jewels on Hampton. They're outstanding jewelers, 4506 Hampton in St. Louis, Al and AJ jewels on Hampton. Now, the suits. And here I am today again. I can't tell you the color of what I'm wearing. I really can't. I look at it and I see a little purple in it. I know my tie has a little purple in it. I know that. I know because I've asked and I've been told. I'm color blind, that's a fact. But I will say that this is this microfiber sport coat. I really, I've really liked it. I got that a couple of years ago at the St. Louis suit company in Clayton. And, you know, I love the ties. I've got so many ties. I've got more ties than anybody because at $5 a tie, give me a break. And they're beautiful ties. Everybody thinks my ties are extraordinarily expensive, but no, they're $5. And they're silk and they're nice. You can get overcoats for the wintertime. You can get them right now at a bargain price last year's overcoats, but they're overcoats. They're good, they're nice. So go check that out. And don't forget if you're thinking about getting married or you're going to a wedding, the St. Louis suit company will help you with that as well. There are four-cythons central in Clayton that is with Jay and Nick, Jay's the dad, Nick's the son. Go see them at the St. Louis suit company. Okay, so today is the day of human scum. Last week, it was the unified Reich. Now it's human scum. You think this stuff adds up? I think it adds up to a whole bunch of libertarians booing Donald Trump. I hope you'll check this out. I hope you'll listen to what went on at that convention this weekend if you need any example of why Donald Trump does not have superpowers. He antagonizes millions of people in this country. And if you're not watching Fox night and day where you get a weather report instead of hard news, then you might believe some of that Trump mess. On the other hand, if you're watching MSNBC, if you're listening to the top legal analysts, people who were former prosecutors, top prosecutors, all over the country who come together and all say the same thing about what's happening in this trial and I'll grant you. They're cautious compared to me. Now I'm telling you, this guy's gonna lose. They're saying you never know in a trial. You just don't know what a jury is going to think. And I think that's true, you don't know. But I really believe that it's impossible to ignore what Donald Trump has done to the country. And I think that if you hear the evidence in this trial, which is extraordinarily strong, very tough evidence against Trump. If you hear it all and you use your head and look at even the small part of the circumstantial evidence, which is not all perfectly corroborated, but it's close. I think there's an additional factor here where people recognize what's going on. I mean, they've been through the country's mess. They know what's happened. I think if you see it all together, I think it's impossible to separate it. And I think people should do everything they can to separate it. I've talked about here, and this is important 'cause this is our system. And I don't remember the lady's name. Many of you probably do, but there was a lady in Florida and she killed her children and they were stuffed in the trunk of her car. And she went to trial and she was found not guilty. And everybody said, I'm talking about the jurors now, that they believed that she did it. They thought she did it, but that there was some slight doubt as to whether they were 100% right 'cause you're supposed to be 100%. So as a result, even though they thought she did it, they found her not guilty. So I'm sure that's what Donald Trump's hoping for right now. I'm sure that he is thinking to himself, all I need is one, and that's true, just one juror who says, "I'm not exactly positive of this. "I think it's true, I believe it, "but I'm not convinced totally." That's his hope. That's his hope. Again, everybody thought that that woman murdered her kids and stuffed them in the trunk. But the jurors just weren't 100% positive. And that's the law and that's what you're supposed to do. So we'll see. Now, there's another point though that's often made that I've heard repeatedly, now this is not federal court, but it's similar. This is presently United States on trial for an election violation that's it's definitely dealing with a federal election. But anyway, in federal court, they say that the prosecution wins 95% of the time. I don't know what the number is in the New York courts, but I'm sure it's way up there with that number. So you can be pretty sure that that's where this is headed. I think this is going to be exactly what it looks like. They're going to argue over whether Michael Cohen was a liar, but I think that the prosecution has made the point that he was hired to be a liar. This was not a witness who was picked up by the prosecution to speak out randomly about this case. This was Donald Trump's liar who came into the court as a convicted liar. It's that simple. Now, in talking about this trial, I'm going to end the trial part of this with what Ken Burns did at Brandeis University over the weekend, again, all widely available. You can go pull this up on YouTube. Ken Burns is a phenomenal filmmaker, historian. And as he pointed out, he has spent his life as a historian, as a documentary producer, trying to provide the evidence of what it is that he's arguing in his film. He wants to make a case, and he wants you to see the evidence on both sides, or not always both sides, but often there is two sides to it. And he just wants to be fair. He wants to be fair in producing information that can then be viewed by the public. The key is fairness. And then after all of that talk about fairness and historians, obligations to the people that they're writing for and that they're showing their films and so forth, he then said, "Look, I hesitate to do this, but I'm going to do it this time because it's a requirement." He told the Brandeis audience, in the case of Donald Trump, he said, "I can't hold it back." He said, "What this man has done is so horrific for our culture, for our legal system, for our country." He said, "I just have to tell you that we as a country have a responsibility to stop this guy in his tracks. Right here, he cannot be the president of the United States again. We can't allow it. We can't do this. We have to vote. We have to be active. We have to be assertive. We have to let other people know everything that they saw and everything this guy has done and we have to let everybody know why they have to resist Donald Trump at this point in American history. I think you should listen to it. I think you should hear what he had to say. I mean, maybe you could listen and you're on the other side, you're a Trump guy and you listen and you say, "You know, I don't buy it. Okay, fine, you don't have to." But I'm just recommending you listen because I think you need to hear it and I realize that people don't wanna hear what's being said on MSNBC. They don't wanna know about Madeleine Albright's book about authoritarianism. Don't wanna know about any of these top scholars, Timothy Snyder, very important historian from Yale who talks about the dangers of dictatorship. I mean, all of this, I realize people don't wanna listen. They put their hands over their ears and they go, "La, la, la, la, la, la, I can't hear you. I get it." But if you would take a minute and listen to what some of these very well-reasoned people are saying, not hysterical, not threatening the human scum, not talking about the country going into a bloodbath, none of that, but certainly worrying about the state of democracy in America. Worrying what direction it goes if Donald Trump takes over with his idea that a bloodbath is where we ought to be if he's not elected. And then again, remember this. I mean, we're gonna get to this election and you know what's gonna happen. It's very simple. Donald Trump is going to say if he loses. It was rigged. They did it to me. It was the kangaroo courts. It was all the lies against me. I mean, he's gonna blame everybody and he'll point the finger in every direction and you know, he's already said, bloodbath, bloodbath, you can't find another American president, not one, not one who has talked about the consequences of his losing being a bloodbath. Nobody. So you can pretend he's not saying it, but he is. See, you definitely wanna check that out. With a couple of minutes left, I just wanna point out a couple of things on the economic side. There's some important economic information coming out on Friday. And that's something called the PCE, which is a price measurement that the Federal Reserve really likes a lot. And we've seen some of the price measurements already and they've been slightly better than what some people expected for this month or if not slightly better, maybe the same. And so here comes on Friday, one more measurement of inflation and everybody's watching it very closely and everybody's thinking that this could be good news and that the Federal Reserve could then in June begin to lower interest rates. But I will say this, today, and I mentioned this last week, today in the actual trading of bonds, interest rates spiked up. Now they spiked up last week and then they quieted down for a day or two and now today they've spiked up again. Now they're not out of control, it's nothing like that. But they keep spiking up and all that says is that the market itself is not as confident as a lot of the so-called prognosticators. And one thing about the markets that I've always loved, people can say whatever they want and they do. They say crazy things. But in the end, the numbers tell you the truth. You can't deny the numbers. I say you can't deny the numbers, but I remind you that over half the people in the United States say that the stock market is going down even though the stock market has been going up. I'm not talking about predictions. They're not saying it's going to go down, they're saying that it is going down, that it has been declining, but we all know that it has been rising. But that's one thing about the market. Those numbers don't lie. You can lie about them if you like, but the numbers don't lie. Anyway, PCE coming out on Friday, want to keep an eye on that. Don't forget, Wendy's, Jules on Hampton, the St. Louis suit company in Clayton. I'm Mark Case and this is Showdown.