This week on Ring of Fire!

Donald Trump, and most of his allies, have insisted that his legal problems are going to make him MORE popular with voters this year. But according to a new analysis, that's not even close to happening. In addition to all the polls showing that a conviction will hurt him, even without a conviction he's seeing voters turn against him as the current trial continues. This is a bad trend for Trump who has seen his poll numbers continually shrink since the start of the year.

Kari Lake spent much of the year 2023 hanging around Mar-a-Lago with Donald Trump to the point where reports last summer claimed that she had basically "moved in" to the resort. But a new report says that the relationship between Lake and Trump began to sour late last year after Trump started getting sick of her and her election lies. Trump believes that Lake is blowing her chance to win the Arizona senate seat, and essentially booted her out of Mar-a-Lago.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem was widely seen to be at the top of Donald Trump's short list of potential VP picks up until Friday. On Friday, The Guardian published an excerpt of Noem's new book where she actually boasted about killing her family's dog that she says she "hated." The story immediately went viral, and people on the Left and Right both condemned Noem for her account of what happened - which Noem said in the book proves that she can make the tough decisions.

And the only threat to Matt Gaetz's seat in Congress comes from within his own Party, as his district is firmly Republican. And that's why Gaetz went absolutely ballistic when a primary challenger emerged against him at the last minute. Right before the filing deadline, a Republican filed to challenge him in his primary, and Gaetz thinks this is a conspiracy set up against him by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

All that, and much more, on this week's Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire!

Donald Trump's lawyers have so far done a horrible job of convincing the jury that he didn't do anything wrong. In their opening statements this week, the lawyers claimed that Trump is "innocent," and then proceeded to claim that even if he did it, it still isn't a crime. His lawyers appear to be less focused on proving his innocence than they are on convincing the jury that the crimes aren't actually illegal. That's never a winning strategy in court.

Presidential polling is still all over the place, with some polls showing President Biden easily beating Trump, while others are still showing a tight race with Trump one or two points ahead. But these numbers change dramatically when all other candidates are included, and more and more these polls are showing that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is peeling more support away from Trump than he is from Biden. In fact, when Kennedy is included, Trump now loses, even in polls where he was ahead in a two-way matchup.

One of the major concerns and most common questions about putting Donald Trump in jail if he is convicted is how to handle his Secret Service protection. Trump is guaranteed that protection for the rest of his life, and it would be difficult to force protection agents to sit in jail all day with him. Luckily, Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson has a way to fix that problem, and he's now put forth legislation that would strip Secret Service protection from anyone with a felony conviction.

Steve Bannon is pushing Donald Trump to skip out on his daily court appearances just to "see where the chips fall." The judge has already made it clear to Trump that he WILL put him in jail if he doesn't show up for court, and Bannon is well aware of this. Bannon seems to believe that Trump being thrown in jail for a period of time will somehow help the former President in his campaign, but really it would have the opposite effect.

All that, and much more, on this week's Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire!

Now that Donald Trump's first criminal trial has officially begun, questions are swirling all over the media about what could happen if he gets a felony conviction. The odds of Trump losing this trial are great, but there is still a possibility the charges could be reduced in a way that avoids felony convictions. But if that doesn't happen, it opens up a whole new world of legal problems for the United States.

Even before jury selection began on Monday, Donald Trump had already racked up a string of losses at the hands of Judge Juan Merchan. First, the judge denied Trump's motion requesting that the judge recuse himself from the case. That was soon followed by the judge refusing to grant Trump's latest attempt to delay the trial. Trump told the judge that it was unfair for him to be in trial while he's trying to campaign, and the judge reminded him that he still has plenty of time to campaign on their off days.

A state auditor has finally released the long-awaited report on Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders' purchase of a $19,000 lectern, and things are looking bad for the first term governor. The auditor has referred the matter over to prosecutors to conduct a criminal investigation, as the auditor believes that there are too many discrepancies with the purchase. Specifically, it is believed that the money wasn't actually for the podium, but was instead used as a cover to spend the money elsewhere, which is a form of embezzlement.

And Republican Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida is at his wit's end, and he knows that the fate of the Republican Party hinges on the outcome of Donald Trump's hush money trial. So during an appearance on Newsmax this week, the Florida congressman begged the people of New York - which means the potential jurors in the trial - to find Trump not guilty so the Party can move on. This could actually be seen as a form of jury tampering.

All that, and much more, on this week's Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire!

At his fundraiser this past weekend, Donald Trump promised the crowd of wealthy supporters that he would fight to keep their taxes low if he gets back into office. This was part of his sales pitch to ensure that they give him money for his campaign. The wealthy class doesn't care about his coup attempt or his criminal charges or the threat he poses to the country - all they care about is saving a few million dollars a year on their taxes.

The company that is backing Donald Trump's fraud trial bond has come under fire from prosecutors, and Judge Arthur Engoron has even scheduled a hearing with the company to determine if they can even afford to post it. And now new reports have found some serious discrepancies with the actual contract that the company produced for the bond that could result in it being completely thrown out.

Lindsey Graham wasn't happy with Donald Trump's recent comments about letting states decide what rights women are allowed to have (Lindsey wants the federal government to take those rights away,) and this prompted Trump to go nuclear against his former friend. But it didn't end there. Later in the day, Trump decided to finish off Graham for good, and Trump said that he takes the blame for Graham existing in the Senate because his endorsement is what saved his career. It is safe to say that, for now, this relationship appears to be over.

A federal judge has taken the unusual step of sending a letter to the "friends and allies" of a convicted Capitol Rioter, warning them to stop saying that the man did "nothing wrong" and to stop condoning and downplaying political violence. While the letter was supposedly meant for the convict's inner circle, it read more like a warning to the Republican Party itself that continues to downplay what happened on January 6th.

All that, and much more, on this week's Ring of Fire Podcast!

This week on Ring of Fire!

According to recent financial filings, Donald Trump's Truth Social - which was just merged with Digital World Acquisition when they acquired the Trump Media and Technology Group - lost WAY more money last year than previously thought. Previous estimates assumed the company lost about $30 million, but the real amount was actually a loss of more than $50 million last year. So how can a completely worthless company that is hemorrhaging money be worth $8 billion in the stock market?

The group of creditors that are trying to get their money from the now-bankrupt Rudy Giuliani have been asking a judge to look into Giuliani's multi-million dollar condo in Florida and possibly sell it to settle his debts. But Giuliani is now trying to convince the judge overseeing the bankruptcy to leave the condo alone because, as Giuliani told him, he needs it to continue his podcasting. That's not a valid reason to avoid paying your debts.

Eleven Republican-controlled states have filed a federal lawsuit against the Biden administration over the latest attempts to cancel student loan debt for certain borrowers. The states claim that President Biden doesn't have the authority to do this, but what they are really trying to prevent is a political win for the Biden administration. Cancelling the debt hurts no one, so the states have had to come up with an absurd legal argument to claim that they have been damaged.

Donald Trump's first criminal trial is starting in just under two weeks, and he is running out of options to delay it. But, there could be a chance for him to buy some more time, but only if he goes scorched earth on his own legal team. A former prosecutor has pointed out that his only chance of getting a significant delay would be to fire his entire team of lawyers, which would give him the ability to argue that his new team needs time to prepare and learn the case.

All that, and much more, on this week's Ring of Fire Podcast!