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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Thrilling Threads. I am. I'm honestly

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just vibrating with energy for this one. You know how,

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sometimes we pull on a thread and well it just breaks,

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or maybe it just leads to a big old knot.

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Speaker 2: It happens part of the process. Sometimes research is just

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a dead end.

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Speaker 1: But today, oh, today's different. Today we are pulling on

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a thread that feels like it's attached to I don't know,

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a stick of dynamite. We are looking at a story

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that completely upends the usual political map.

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Speaker 2: It really does.

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Speaker 1: It's a story about loyalty, it's about potential betrayal, and

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it's about a secret so dark that it has become

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the defining shadow of our time.

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Speaker 2: It's a fascinating case study. I mean, usually when we

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analyze political conflict, it's so binary. It's team A versus

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Team B, it's left versus right, pretty straightforward.

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Speaker 1: And you know the players exactly.

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Speaker 2: But what we are looking at today is a fracture

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inside one of those teams. It's a crack right down

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the middle of a movement.

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Speaker 1: It's a collision between like the promise of a movement

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and the the star creality of its leadership. It's really something.

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Speaker 2: It's a perfect way to put it exactly.

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Speaker 1: And for everyone listening, I want you to just settle

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in for a minute. Maybe you're driving, maybe you're at

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the gym, maybe you're just you know, dooing scrolling. Put

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the phone down for a second. You really need to

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visualize this, Okay. I want to set the stage with

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a scenario that and I'm not kidding. If I pitched

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it as a fictional screenplay, you would tell me it's

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two on the nose, too unrealistic.

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Speaker 2: Right laid out for us, I'm intrigued, Okay.

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Speaker 1: Imagine a political leader, a titan, a man who has

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built not just a voter base, but like a fan base,

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a whole movement, and he positions himself as the ultimate outsider, right.

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Speaker 2: The populist archetype, the man of the people, the.

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Speaker 1: Wrecking ball, the guy who's going to smash the corrupt elites.

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That's the entire brand, got it right? Now, Imagine his

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most loyal soldier, and I'm talking about the person who

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is the absolute tip of the spear, the one who

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is on TV every single night defending him no.

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Speaker 2: Matter what, the true believer.

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Speaker 1: The one whose entire political identity. Their whole brand is

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wrapped up one hundred percent in being his shield.

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Speaker 2: Okay, the rider die, the praetorian guard.

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Speaker 1: I'm with you, Yes, exactly. Now imagine that person, the

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one you would expect to, you know, take a bullet

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for him, suddenly turning around, looking right into a camera

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and saying, he is stopping the truth from coming out.

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Speaker 2: Wow, and not just any truth, I'm guessing.

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Speaker 1: No, that's the dynamite. She's accusing him of suppressing the

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one thing that his base seems to care about most.

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She's accusing him of protecting the very rich, powerful elites

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that he swore an oath to destroy.

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Speaker 2: That creates a massive amount of cognitive dissonance, doesn't it.

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I mean, it's like finding out that I don't know

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Batman is secretly funding the Joker. It just doesn't compute

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with the narrative we've all been sold. It breaks the

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story and.

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Speaker 1: The subject matter. Here adds this whole other layer of intensity.

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We aren't talking about a budget dispute. We aren't talking

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about you know, zoning laws or trade tariffs, so we

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will get to some of that later.

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Speaker 2: No, this is the big one.

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Speaker 1: We are talking about the Jeffrey Epstein files.

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Speaker 2: The third rail of American culture right now, maybe global culture.

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Speaker 1: It really is. I mean, for the last decade, the

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name Epstein has become shorthand for the ultimate evil. For

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a lot of people, it represents the deep state.

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Speaker 2: It represents this idea that there is a predatory class

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of billionaires and powerful people who can abuse anyone, even children,

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and just get away with.

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Speaker 1: It because they have friends in high places.

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Speaker 2: Right and for a huge part of the electra, specifically

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the Maggie Basse, exposing those files is like the Holy Grail.

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It's not just a policy point, it's a crusade.

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Speaker 1: It is the mechanism by which they believe the swamp

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will finally be drained. They believe that once those names

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are out, the whole corrupt system just comes crashing down.

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Speaker 2: It's the key that unlocks everything.

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Speaker 1: So when you have an allegation that the leader of

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the drain the Swamp movement, it's actually the one standing

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on the drain holding the plug in place. Well, that

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is a thread we absolutely have to pull on.

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Speaker 2: It forces us to reevaluate everything. It makes you ask

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is the movement really about justice or is it about

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protecting a certain group of people to help.

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Speaker 1: Us navigate this, this whole maze. We are diving into

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a really fascinating piece of source material. We're looking at

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a video from the YouTube channel Brian Tyler Cohen. The

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video is titled Breaking Marjorie Taylor Green exposes Trump Epstein Update.

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Speaker 2: And this is a great source for what we do

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here because it gives us two distinct layers of information

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to work with.

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Speaker 1: Right, first, you have the primary source material itself. We've

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got these video clips of Representative Marjorie Taylor Green MTG

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speaking in her own words. Yeah, and let me tell you,

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she is speaking candidly.

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Speaker 2: It doesn't feel scripted at all, not at all.

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Speaker 1: This is in some polished press release written by a

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comms team. This sounds like a person who is genuinely frustrated,

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maybe a little confused, and honestly, maybe a little bit

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heartbroken by what she's found.

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Speaker 2: It sounds raw. You can almost hear the disci illusionment

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in her voice.

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Speaker 1: And then the second layer is the analysis from Brian

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Tyler Cohen. He takes those raw clips and he contextualizes them.

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He connects the dots between what MTG is admitting and

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the broader political strategy he sees at play.

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Speaker 2: He builds an argument that what we're seeing isn't an accident,

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it's actually a feature of the system, not a bug.

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Speaker 1: So our mission today here on Thrilling Threads is to

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unspool this narrative. We're going to walk through the timeline.

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We need to understand the mechanics of this discharge petition

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she talks about. We need to get into the psychology

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of the pressure campaign she describes, and we have.

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Speaker 2: To talk about that phone call, that exclusive phone call

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in September.

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Speaker 1: Oh, we're definitely going to break that down. And wait

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until you hear the key quote. It is a genuine

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jaw dropper. And then we're going to analyze the con

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man argument that Cohen presents. Who is actually being protected

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here and why?

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Speaker 2: And just a quick disclaimer before we really jump into

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the deep end. Here, we are reporting on the content

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of this video. We're discussing the claims made by Marjorie

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Taylor Green and the analysis provided by Brian Tyler Cohen.

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Speaker 1: That's right.

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Speaker 2: We aren't here to endorse a political party. We aren't

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here to tell you how to vote. We're simply here

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to look at the arguments being made to examine the

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evidence presented in the source and to see where this

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particular and very thrilling thread leads us.

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Speaker 1: We are the detectives in this scenario, just looking at

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the clues on the board. So let's start at the

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very beginning. Let's talk about this setup. Segment one, the

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discharge petition.

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Speaker 2: This is where the procedural drama begins. And it's more

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interesting than it sounds.

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Speaker 1: No discharge petition sounds like something you'd see a doctor for,

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but in Congress, it's actually a really dramatic, almost revolutionary tool.

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Can you break down what this actually is because most

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people think Congress just, you know, votes on things. But

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it's not that simple, is it not at all.

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Speaker 2: It's actually incredibly difficult to get a vote on anything

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in the House of Representatives. Usually the Speaker of the

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House has, for all intents and purposes, total control. The

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speaker is the gatekeeper.

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Speaker 1: So nothing gets to the floor without their blessing.

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Speaker 2: Pretty much, if the Speaker doesn't want a bill to

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see the light of day, they just bury it in committee.

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It sits in a pile of paper and gathers dust forever.

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It's a quiet death for legislation.

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Speaker 1: So it's a way to kill something without ever having

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to publicly vote no on it. Yeah, you just never

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let the vote happen exactly.

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Speaker 2: It's a pocket veto by leadership. But the rules of

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the House have this kind of emergency escape patch. It's

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called a discharge petition, and it is essentially a mutiny maneuver.

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Speaker 1: A mutiny. I like that it.

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Speaker 2: Allows the rank and file members, the regular congress people,

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to bypass the speaker entirely.

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Speaker 1: It's like going over your boss's head straight to the CEO.

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Speaker 2: Precisely, if they can get a majority of signatures that's

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two hundred and eighteen members to sign a physical petition,

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they can force a bill out of that committee grave

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and onto the floor for an immediate vote.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 2: It's a way of saying, we don't care what leadership wants.

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The majority of us demand this happens now.

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Speaker 1: So it's a rebellion. It's a very public, very aggressive move,

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specially if you're doing it against your own party's leadership.

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Speaker 2: It is. It's very rare because it burns a lot

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of bridges. You don't do it unless you feel it's

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absolutely necessary, and in.

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Speaker 1: This case, the rebellion was about releasing the Epstein files.

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That was the bill. Simple release the files. Now, you

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would think, given the rhetoric we hear every single day

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from that side of the aisle, that everyone will be

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rushing to sign this thing.

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Speaker 2: You would absolutely think so if you just listen to

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the speeches, if you read the tweets, fighting the state

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and exposing Epstein is supposed to be the number one priority.

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Speaker 1: But here is the first major shocker from the source video.

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MTG claims that there were only four four Republicans who

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signed this petition.

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Speaker 2: Just four. It's a shockingly small number.

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Speaker 1: Four people out of the entire Republican conference, out of

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all the people who go on TV and scream about

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corruption and the swamp, only four we're willing to put

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their pen to paper.

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Speaker 2: That is a staggering statistic. It highlights this huge gap

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between let's call it perform politics and actual legislative action.

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Speaker 1: She lists them out, the rebel squad. I guess we

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can call them. There's Marjorie Taylor Green obviously, Thomas Massey,

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Lauren Bobert, and Nancy Mace.

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Speaker 2: It's a very specific subset of the party, isn't it.

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You have the sort of libertarian wing with Massy and

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then the Magia firebrands with Green and Bober. Mace is

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a bit of a maverick herself.

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Speaker 1: And MTG is just baffled by this. You can hear

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it in the clip. She says something like, we're like,

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why this is the Epstein Files. This is the ultimate promise.

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Speaker 2: She calls it the ultimate way to take it to

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the deep State, And I think we need to pause

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on that phrasing for a second. Take it to the

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deep State?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what does that represent for her? For them?

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Speaker 2: I think it represents the fulfillment of the entire mission

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for her. The deep State isn't just a bureaucracy. It's

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an active criminal enterprise. She describes it as a criminal

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cabal of rich, powerful elites that control everything.

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Speaker 1: And then she drops this line that I swear it

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gave me chills. She says, and guess what come to

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find out? They do?

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Speaker 2: Come to find out they do.

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Speaker 1: That is the sound of someone hitting a brick wall

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at one hundred miles an hour. She went to Washington

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to fight the cabal, thinking she could win, and she

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is essentially admitting I found them and they are stronger

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than I ever thought. They actually do control everything.

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Speaker 2: Because they stopped her. They didn't just ignore this little

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petition from four members. They actively worked to crush it.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about that crushing. She describes a pressure campaign.

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This wasn't just you know, people ghosting your text. This

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was active, hostile suppression from the very top.

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Speaker 2: She says. It was going on in the background for months,

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constant pressure, pressure from the White House, pressure from the

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Speaker's office, and.

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Speaker 1: The message was consistent. She phrases it a little weirdly

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in the video, right, she says the directive was do

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not take your name off this discharge petition.

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Speaker 2: Right. It's a bit of a slip of the tongue.

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You can tell she's speaking off the cuff. The context

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makes it perfectly clear. She means they were being pressured

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to take their names off, to abandon the effort exactly.

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Speaker 1: The message was stop this, kill this petition, back down now.

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Speaker 2: And the tactics they allegedly used, I mean, this sounds

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like something out of a spy thriller, not c SPAN.

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Speaker 1: Let's start with Lauren Bobert. This is wild.

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Speaker 2: The SCIF incident.

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Speaker 1: Yes, MTG says Bobert was taken into an SCIF for

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our listeners who might not know. Can you describe what

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an SCIF is. It's not just a regular meeting room, no,

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not at all.

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Speaker 2: SCI is a sensitive compartmented information facility. It's a room

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or a series of rooms, built to the most stringent

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government standards to prevent any kind of espionage. We're talking

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soundproof walls, electronic shielding, no cell phones, no smart watches.

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You leave your entire digital life at the door.

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Speaker 1: It's a bubble of total secrecy.

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Speaker 2: It is designed for one thing, and one thing only,

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discussing the nation's most dangerous secrets.

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Speaker 1: You don't take someone into a SCI to tell them

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their parking pass has expired.

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Speaker 2: Now you take them there to show them satellite imagery

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of a hidden nuclear site, or to discuss the names

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of undercover agents in hostile territory. It's for life or

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death national security level information.

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Speaker 1: So MTG says Bobert is taken into this room regarding

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the Epstein petition, and then MPTG says, I don't even

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know what they said to her in there.

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Speaker 2: And that mystery is just terrifying, isn't it. What could

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they possibly have told her in a place like that.

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The implication is that they use the entire weight and

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veil of national security to intimidate her into silence.

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Speaker 1: What could it be. Did they say, if you release this,

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innocent people die. Did they say if you release this,

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the global economy collapses? Or was it something more personal,

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more threatening.

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Speaker 2: We just don't know. But the fact that they would

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use the apparatus of the intelligence state, the SCIF to

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stop a petition about a convicted sex trafficker, I mean

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that is profoundly suspicious.

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Speaker 1: It suggests that the contents of those files, whatever they are,

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are being treated as a matter of national security rather

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than a matter of criminal justice, which are two very

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different things.

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Speaker 2: Very different. And it wasn't just Bobert. The pressure was widespread,

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mentions Thomas Massey facing NonStop attacks. She says, Nancy Mace

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was getting pressured directly from the White.

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Speaker 1: House, so it shows a coordinated effort from the top down.

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This wasn't just one rogue staffer getting nervous. This was,

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according to her, the Speaker, the White House, the entire

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party leadership mobilizing to protect these files from seeing the

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light of day.

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Speaker 2: Which brings us to the obvious multi billion dollar question,

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why if the public narrative is that the bad guys.

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You know, the Democrats, the Hollywood elites are the ones

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in the files. Why would a Republican white house fight

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so hard to hide them.

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Speaker 1: That is the friction point, That is the contradiction that

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breaks the entire model. It makes no sense unless the

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model is.

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Speaker 2: Wrong, and that leads us directly to the absolute climax

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of MTG story. This is really the hard of it.

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Segment two, the phone call, the confrontation. This is so cinematic.

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I really want you to picture the scene as she

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lays it out. It's September. NTG has been dealing with

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all this pressure for months. Her phone rings and it's

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the big man himself. It's Donald Trump.

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Speaker 1: And he is not calling to catch up or see

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how she's doing.

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Speaker 2: No, she describes him as being so mad. She says

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he is yelling at her, chewing her out.

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Speaker 1: Now, she does note that he started off being mad

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about something else. Yeah, I think it was her support

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for Rampaul Junior, some other legislative squabble. But the conversation pivots,

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and it pivots hard.

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Speaker 2: It steers right into the Epstein files.

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Speaker 1: He is angry that she signed the petition. He is

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angry that she is pushing for transparency on this issue.

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Speaker 2: Now you have to think about MTG's mindset here. She is,

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by her own admission, one of his biggest supporters. She

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has defended him through impeachments, through indictments, through literally everything

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in her mind. She believes, in her heart of hearts,

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that he is the good guy in.

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Speaker 1: This story, and she tries to reason with him on

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the call. She recounts exactly what she said to him.

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She says, mister President, they say you did nothing wrong.

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This needs to come out.

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Speaker 2: This is so crucial. She is operating on the belief

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that the Aisles exonerate him. She even mentions in another

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part of the clip that the attorney says President Trump

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is the only one that helped us. She talks about

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how he supposedly reported Jeffrey Epstein.

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Speaker 1: So she thinks she is handing him a massive political win.

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Speaker 2: She's like, boss, let me help you. Let's show the

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whole world you're the hero they think you are.

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Speaker 1: I'm on your side here.

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Speaker 2: She thinks she's the loyal soldier bringing the ammunition to

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win the final battle.

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Speaker 1: And instead of him saying, you know what, Marjorie, you're right,

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Let's do it. Let's blow this thing wide open. What

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does he say? What is the one line that stops

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everything dead in its tracks.

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Speaker 2: He says, Marjorie, my friends will get hurt.

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Speaker 1: Marjorie, my friends will get hurt.

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Speaker 2: I just want to let that hang in the air

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for a second. Let that sink in.

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Speaker 1: It's such a simple sentence, just five words, but it

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changes the entire universe of this story. It's like a

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record scratch that stops the whole party.

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Speaker 2: It completely destroys the national security excuse they might have

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used in the scif gon. It destroys the we can't

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interfere with an ongoing investigation excuse.

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Speaker 1: All of the plausible deniability just evaporates with that one

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word friends.

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Speaker 2: It personalizes it. It admits that the people in those files,

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the people who are associating with the most prolific sex

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traffickers in modern history, are not targets to him. They

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are not criminals to him. They are friends.

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Speaker 1: And it implies that their safety, their reputation, their comfort

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is more important to him than the truth coming out, And.

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Speaker 2: Let's be clear, more important than the victims.

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Speaker 1: Yes, let's not forget the victims in all of this.

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There are real people who were abused, who have been

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waiting for some semblance of justice for decades, and the

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president's response, according to this account, is I don't want

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my buddies to look bad.

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Speaker 2: It's a stunning admission, and Brian Tyler Cohen in the video,

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he jumps right on this. He points out that MTG

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interprets this in a very specific, devastating way.

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Speaker 1: She realizes in that moment that the administration isn't just

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failing to keep a campaign promise.

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Speaker 2: No, they are fighting for the express opposite.

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Speaker 1: They're actively fighting to ensure the files are never.

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Speaker 2: Released because if they're released, the friends get hurt.

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Speaker 1: It flips the entire script. The promise was justice for

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the forgotten man and woman. The reality she's implying is

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protection for my powerful friends.

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Speaker 2: And this is where we have to pivot to the analysis,

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because this isn't just a story about a phone call.

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It's a story about the entire nature of the political

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movement itself. And this brings us to segment three, the

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con Man argument.

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Speaker 1: This is where Brian Tyler Cohen really starts to dissect

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the situation, but before he even gets into the economics

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and the policy, he addresses the credibility issue, because let's

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be honest, Marjorie Taylor Green is an extremely polarizing figure.

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A lot of people listening might be saying, well, she

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says crazy stuff all the time. Why on earth should

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I believe this?

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Speaker 2: Which is a completely fair question, and Cohen addresses it

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head on. He says point blank that he is no

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fan of MTG. He makes that very very clear.

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Speaker 1: He's not on our team, not at all.

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Speaker 2: But he argues that in this specific instance, she is

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the most credible witness you could possibly ask for.

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Speaker 1: Why is that.

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Speaker 2: Because of a legal concept called an admission against interest?

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Speaker 1: Okay, break that down for us.

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Speaker 2: Basically, the idea is that if someone tells a lie,

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they usually do it to benefit themselves, to make themselves

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look better, or to help their side, their team. You know,

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if a fisherman lies, he says the fish was huge,

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he doesn't say I didn't catch anything and I fell

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in the lake.

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Speaker 1: Right, you lie in your own favor exactly.

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Speaker 2: Now, think about MTG's brand, Her entire brand is Trump

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is the savior, her political career, her fundraising, her media profile.

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It all depends on that narrative for her to come

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out and tell a story that paints him as protecting

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associates of a pedophile. That hurts her. It hurts her brand,

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it undermines her entire political project.

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Speaker 1: So she has no incentive to invent this story. In fact,

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she has every incentive to keep it quiet.

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Speaker 2: Precisely, Cohen says, she has no reason to lie here.

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It goes against her own political self interest. If she

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is saying this, he argues, it's likely because the cogn

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of dissonance became too much for her to bear. She

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was so shocked, so disillusioned by the truth that she

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just blurted it out.

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Speaker 1: It's the cry of a broken heart in a very

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strange political way.

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Speaker 2: It really is.

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Speaker 1: So if we accept the premise for a moment, that

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the phone call happened as she described and the friends

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quote is real, Cohen then uses that as a key

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to unlock and dismantle the entire populist image of Trump.

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Speaker 2: He calls it the Trump con and he says that

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Trump costplays as a populist.

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Speaker 1: Cost plays as a populist. That is such a sticky phrase,

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isn't it. It just brings up this perfect image of

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a billionaire putting on a hard hat for a photo

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op and then wiping his hands with a silk handkerchief

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to second the cameras.

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Speaker 2: Are off, and Cohen's argument is that Trump pretends to

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be a champion for the working class, but his actual

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record and actions prove that, in Cohen's words, he doesn't

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give a flying a f about the working class.

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Speaker 1: And he doesn't just throw out insults. He brings the receipts.

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The source video lists a whole string of economic policies

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to back this up. Because Cohen's core point is this,

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this protection of Epstein's friends isn't an anomaly. It's perfectly

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consistent with everything else the administration did.

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Speaker 2: Right, It's a pattern. So let's look at the data

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he presents in the video. He starts with the big one,

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the tax.

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Speaker 1: Cuts, the signature legislative achievement of the administration.

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Speaker 2: And who did they benefit, massive permanent tax cuts for

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corporations and the ultra wealthy. Cohen basically argues, this is

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the friends getting paid. This is the kickback.

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Speaker 1: Then he pivots to the cuts that hurt the very

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base that supports him. He mentions the cuts to.

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Speaker 2: Medicaid affecting seventeen million low income Americans. Just think about that, number.

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For a second, seventeen million people, that's more than the

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population of many European countries, all potentially losing access to

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healthcare support.

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Speaker 1: He brings up cuts to the Affordable Care Act subsidies.

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Speaker 2: Impacting twenty four million people, again huge numbers, and food assistants.

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Speaker 1: This one is brutal. He mentions, it proposed one hundred

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and eighty six billion dollars cut to food assistance programs.

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Speaker 2: That is visceral, isn't it. That is literally taking food

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off the table for struggling families, for children, for the elderly.

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Speaker 1: And then there's the trade war. We were all told

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it would bring jobs back, that it would punish China,

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but Cohen argues it just sent costs surging for everyday Americans. Food, clothing, housing, materials,

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everything got more expensive for the regular guy.

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Speaker 2: And he points out that despite all the political attacks

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on the current economy, when you look at the actual

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data on inflation and wages, he argues, the previous administration

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was effectively waging a war against the working class.

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Speaker 1: So Cohen connects all these dots. He says, look, if

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his entire economic policy is take from the poor and

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give to the rich, why are you so surprised that

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his legal policy regarding Epstein is protect the rich at

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the expense of justice.

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Speaker 2: It's a consistent philosophy. It's class solidarity. The rich protect

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the rich. It's not about left versus right. It's about

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up versus down.

473
00:21:56,039 --> 00:21:57,799
Speaker 1: Protection for the pals exactly.

474
00:21:58,039 --> 00:22:01,160
Speaker 2: Cohen puts it very bluntly. He says, those are his friends.

475
00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:04,400
They are his pals. They funded his campaign, they're in

476
00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:05,319
his tax bracket.

477
00:22:05,519 --> 00:22:08,480
Speaker 1: And he asks this rhetorical question, you think he's going

478
00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:10,400
to give those people up so that he can pander

479
00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:12,640
to the suckers who believed his populist stick.

480
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:16,359
Speaker 2: It's a really harsh assessment. He calls the voters suckers

481
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:18,839
for believing the Khan. But if you look at the

482
00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:22,279
actions versus the words as presented in the source, the

483
00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:24,920
argument holds a certain kind of cold logic.

484
00:22:25,039 --> 00:22:27,559
Speaker 1: It's the difference between the sales pitch and the actual product,

485
00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,319
isn't it. The sales pitch is I am your voice.

486
00:22:30,599 --> 00:22:33,519
The product, he argues, is I am their shield. So

487
00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:37,720
let's talk about those pals. Let's get more specific. Segment four,

488
00:22:38,559 --> 00:22:41,359
The friends and the cover up. Who are we actually

489
00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:42,160
talking about here?

490
00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:44,440
Speaker 2: The source video does drop a few names, and we

491
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:46,920
have to be very careful here. We're reporting what the

492
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:50,079
source material says. These are people mentioned in the context

493
00:22:50,079 --> 00:22:53,160
of the files or being in Epstein's social circle.

494
00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:55,200
Speaker 1: Right, and these are not small names. These are titans

495
00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:56,519
of industry and finance.

496
00:22:56,759 --> 00:23:01,359
Speaker 2: He mentions Howard Lutnik, Kevin Worsh, a doctor Roz and the.

497
00:23:01,319 --> 00:23:03,119
Speaker 1: Really big one, the one that makes everyone sit up

498
00:23:03,119 --> 00:23:04,920
and pay attention, Elon Musk.

499
00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:08,319
Speaker 2: Yes, the source specifically mentions Musk in the context of

500
00:23:08,599 --> 00:23:10,880
launching at his island and planning vacations.

501
00:23:11,039 --> 00:23:15,240
Speaker 1: Now, this is so significant because of where these people,

502
00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:20,000
especially Musk, sit in the current power structure. Elon Musk

503
00:23:20,079 --> 00:23:22,640
isn't just the CEO of a guard company anymore. He

504
00:23:22,759 --> 00:23:26,160
is deeply, deeply integrated into the political sphere. He owns

505
00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:28,400
a major social media platform, he's.

506
00:23:28,279 --> 00:23:31,759
Speaker 2: A major donor, a major cultural voice. He has immense power.

507
00:23:32,079 --> 00:23:36,799
Speaker 1: So if the Epstein files contain potentially damaging information about

508
00:23:36,839 --> 00:23:39,640
someone like Elon Musk, and again this is the fear

509
00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:43,519
expressed in the source, then protecting Musk isn't just about friendship.

510
00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:45,680
It becomes about political survival.

511
00:23:45,799 --> 00:23:47,000
Speaker 2: It's about leverage.

512
00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:50,759
Speaker 1: Exactly. If you burn your biggest ally, your biggest megaphone,

513
00:23:50,799 --> 00:23:53,920
your biggest funder. You lose a massive amount of power.

514
00:23:54,119 --> 00:23:58,400
Speaker 2: It creates this kind of dark web of mutual assured destruction.

515
00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:01,160
I know your secrets, you know my. We all protect

516
00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:02,759
each other or we all go down together.

517
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:06,440
Speaker 1: It's the mafia code, oh meerta, the code of silence.

518
00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:09,519
Speaker 2: And to enforce that code you need a mechanism. You

519
00:24:09,519 --> 00:24:11,359
can't just wish the files a way. You need the

520
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:14,960
institutional power of the government, specifically the Department of Justice,

521
00:24:15,279 --> 00:24:16,079
to bury them.

522
00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:19,119
Speaker 1: This is where Cohen brings up the figure of Pam Bondi.

523
00:24:19,039 --> 00:24:20,839
Speaker 2: The potential future Attorney General.

524
00:24:21,039 --> 00:24:23,440
Speaker 1: Cohen's theory, and this is a really critical part of

525
00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:26,319
his analysis, is that she would not be chosen for

526
00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:28,599
her legal prowess or her independence.

527
00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:31,079
Speaker 2: No, he calls her an arm of Trump, a political

528
00:24:31,119 --> 00:24:32,720
operative in the AG's office.

529
00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:37,119
Speaker 1: He says her specific job, her mandate would not be

530
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:40,839
to expose the co conspirators in the Epstein case. It

531
00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:42,359
would be to protect them.

532
00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:45,920
Speaker 2: And why because, as Cohen argues, and this is the

533
00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,480
core of his theory, Trump himself is implicated in the files.

534
00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:52,799
Speaker 1: That is the fundamental argument. If the leader himself is

535
00:24:52,839 --> 00:24:55,680
in the files. Then the leader can never ever allow

536
00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:58,480
the files to be released. It's pure self preservation.

537
00:24:58,759 --> 00:25:02,039
Speaker 2: So the Attorney General becomes the goalkeeper. Her job is

538
00:25:02,079 --> 00:25:04,400
to block any in every shot that comes at the net,

539
00:25:04,559 --> 00:25:08,079
to shut down investigations, to slow walks of poenas to

540
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:09,480
classified documents.

541
00:25:09,519 --> 00:25:12,319
Speaker 1: Coen defines this as a government wide cover up. He

542
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,319
uses a very powerful and disturbing phrase here. He says,

543
00:25:15,319 --> 00:25:18,480
it's people in power working to protect the perpetrators while

544
00:25:18,559 --> 00:25:20,160
leaving the victims twisting in the wind.

545
00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:22,680
Speaker 2: Twisting in the wind. That image really stuck with me

546
00:25:22,759 --> 00:25:26,319
because while we sit here talking about billionaires and SCIFs

547
00:25:26,319 --> 00:25:29,759
and discharge petitions, the reality is that there are human beings,

548
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:32,400
women who were girls at the time, who were trafficked,

549
00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:33,920
who were abused, and.

550
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:36,279
Speaker 1: They are watching the most powerful government on the face

551
00:25:36,319 --> 00:25:39,480
of the earth allegedly work overtime to make sure their

552
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:42,200
abusers are never named, never face justice.

553
00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:45,240
Speaker 2: It is a profound moral failure. It sends the clearest

554
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,119
possible message that if you have enough money and enough power,

555
00:25:48,519 --> 00:25:50,720
the law simply does not apply to you.

556
00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:53,839
Speaker 1: It's infuriating to even think about, and it brings up

557
00:25:53,839 --> 00:25:57,599
the deep cynicism of the whole political strategy, which leads

558
00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:00,480
us to segment five, the hypocrisy of the platform.

559
00:26:00,559 --> 00:26:03,079
Speaker 2: Yeah, Cohen brooks down what he calls the Magga gop

560
00:26:03,279 --> 00:26:06,799
strategy into a predictable cycle, and once he lays it out,

561
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:08,200
you start to see it everywhere.

562
00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:09,400
Speaker 1: Take a four step process.

563
00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:09,640
Speaker 2: Right.

564
00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:12,720
Speaker 1: Step one, talk endlessly about the issue.

565
00:26:12,799 --> 00:26:16,440
Speaker 2: Right, use the outrage. Scream about Epstein, scream about the

566
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:18,920
deep state. It works. It gets people fired up, It

567
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:22,400
gets clicks, donations, engagement, it builds an audience.

568
00:26:22,559 --> 00:26:25,319
Speaker 1: Step two, make money off it. You build the brand,

569
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:26,920
You sell the hats, you sell the merch.

570
00:26:27,039 --> 00:26:30,400
Speaker 2: Step three, get elected. You ride that wave of righteous

571
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:32,039
anger all the way into office.

572
00:26:32,079 --> 00:26:35,839
Speaker 1: And then step four the great betrayal. Once you actually

573
00:26:35,839 --> 00:26:38,480
have the power to do something about it, you abandon

574
00:26:38,519 --> 00:26:39,720
the issue entirely.

575
00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:44,759
Speaker 2: Or worse, you actively suppress it blind deference to the criminals.

576
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:47,359
That is the exact phrase Cohen uses.

577
00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:50,519
Speaker 1: He says, say whatever you have to say to get elected,

578
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:53,680
and the minute you have power, abandon them.

579
00:26:53,759 --> 00:26:57,039
Speaker 2: It's the ultimate political bait and switch. You campaign as

580
00:26:57,079 --> 00:26:59,160
the sheriff coming to clean up the town, and then

581
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:01,200
you become the ghetto for the bank.

582
00:27:01,079 --> 00:27:04,440
Speaker 1: Robbers that is the perfect analogy. The sheriff becomes the

583
00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:05,200
getaway driver.

584
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:07,759
Speaker 2: And what is so fascinating to me is that MTG

585
00:27:08,079 --> 00:27:11,079
in these clips seems to be realizing this in real time.

586
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:14,119
She's not just talking about theory. She talks about seeing

587
00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:15,200
the actual evidence.

588
00:27:15,319 --> 00:27:17,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a key detail she let slip. She

589
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:20,440
says she has read things on an FBI.

590
00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:23,440
Speaker 2: Form, She has physically seen it. And she asks this question,

591
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:25,559
and you can just hear the frustration in her voice.

592
00:27:25,559 --> 00:27:28,039
She says, how can we read these things with our

593
00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:30,240
own eyes and read them on an FBI form? But

594
00:27:30,319 --> 00:27:33,200
yet the FBI and the Department of Justice in the administration,

595
00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:36,359
and even the President himself is unwilling to take it seriously.

596
00:27:36,759 --> 00:27:40,079
Speaker 1: She is holding the smoking gun in her hand. She

597
00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:43,200
has seen the paper with the official letterhead, and the

598
00:27:43,319 --> 00:27:46,400
entire government is gaslighting her. They're telling her, no, you

599
00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:48,160
didn't see what you saw. That doesn't matter.

600
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:51,759
Speaker 2: She then asks the central moral question, why is the

601
00:27:51,799 --> 00:27:55,400
FBI protecting the world's foremost predator. She calls him the

602
00:27:55,559 --> 00:27:59,839
largest scale pedoist six in human history. It's an incredible claim.

603
00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:03,440
Speaker 1: Her conclusion, after all this, it's not incompetence, it's not

604
00:28:03,519 --> 00:28:04,880
some bureaucratic snaffoo.

605
00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:09,400
Speaker 2: Now, her conclusion is chillingly simple. She says, it's simple

606
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:11,119
protection of who's on that list.

607
00:28:11,279 --> 00:28:12,680
Speaker 1: Who is on that list.

608
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:15,799
Speaker 2: People who are too powerful to jail friends.

609
00:28:16,079 --> 00:28:17,960
Speaker 1: It implies that we are living in a country with

610
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,960
two justice systems. There's one for you and me. If

611
00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:23,240
we commit a crime, we go to jail instantly.

612
00:28:23,599 --> 00:28:25,359
Speaker 2: The system is very efficient for us.

613
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:28,279
Speaker 1: But if you are a friend, if you are on

614
00:28:28,279 --> 00:28:31,680
that list, you get the President screaming at congresswomen to

615
00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:34,799
protect you. You get the Attorney General running interference, you

616
00:28:34,839 --> 00:28:37,079
get the whole system working to keep your name a secret.

617
00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:40,640
Speaker 2: It is a chilling realization for anyone to have, especially

618
00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:43,240
for someone who's so deeply believed in the system's leader.

619
00:28:43,559 --> 00:28:46,200
Speaker 1: And finally, there's this kind of meta layer to this

620
00:28:46,319 --> 00:28:50,799
whole story. This is segment six the media Landscape, because

621
00:28:50,799 --> 00:28:53,160
this isn't just about the files anymore. It's about how

622
00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:55,039
we even get to hear about the files in the

623
00:28:55,039 --> 00:28:55,559
first place.

624
00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:58,880
Speaker 2: Right towards the end of the video, Cohen pivots. He

625
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,759
zooms out and talks about the medium itself. He talks

626
00:29:01,759 --> 00:29:03,559
about YouTube, about social media.

627
00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:06,559
Speaker 1: He talks about the threat to independent media. He warns

628
00:29:06,599 --> 00:29:10,359
that a future administration can, in his words, lean on

629
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:12,920
these social media platforms to control the narrative.

630
00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:15,000
Speaker 2: And this connects right back to the friends. If the

631
00:29:15,039 --> 00:29:18,400
people who own the social media platforms, which are basically

632
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:21,279
the town squares of the twenty first century, are the

633
00:29:21,319 --> 00:29:24,279
same people who are friends with the administration.

634
00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:26,559
Speaker 1: And the fix is in, the game is rigged.

635
00:29:26,799 --> 00:29:30,359
Speaker 2: Cohen argues that these tech billionaires are willing, even eager

636
00:29:30,559 --> 00:29:34,000
to cater to a friendly administration to suppress critical voices.

637
00:29:34,119 --> 00:29:36,799
Speaker 1: I mean, if Elon Musk owns the platform and Elon

638
00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:40,839
Musk is a friend who allegedly needs protection, well you

639
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:43,000
can do the math on what happens to posts and

640
00:29:43,079 --> 00:29:45,880
videos that are critical of the administration or that talk

641
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:47,039
about the Epstein files.

642
00:29:47,279 --> 00:29:50,240
Speaker 2: They get downranked, they get shadow banded, their reach is throttled.

643
00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:52,079
They just sort of disappear from the conversation.

644
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:56,440
Speaker 1: Cohen explicitly says that his channel's longevity is in the

645
00:29:56,519 --> 00:30:01,440
hands of a few tech billionaires. It's a stark admission.

646
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:04,599
He encourages people to sign up for his newsletter to

647
00:30:04,759 --> 00:30:08,680
establish direct connections that can't be censored by an algorithm.

648
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:12,720
Speaker 2: He is basically preparing for information war. He knows that

649
00:30:12,799 --> 00:30:16,079
the only way to bypass the censorship of the powerful

650
00:30:16,119 --> 00:30:18,559
friends is to go direct to the people.

651
00:30:18,799 --> 00:30:22,039
Speaker 1: It's a really sobering thought that the deep state isn't

652
00:30:22,079 --> 00:30:24,519
just some shadowy guys in a basement somewhere. It's the

653
00:30:24,559 --> 00:30:27,519
guys running the servers. It's the guys writing the algorithms

654
00:30:27,519 --> 00:30:29,000
that decide what you see every day.

655
00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:31,079
Speaker 2: And according to this theory, they are all at the

656
00:30:31,079 --> 00:30:33,720
same dinner parties, protecting each other's interests.

657
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:37,240
Speaker 1: So here we are. We've unspooled this entire thread.

658
00:30:37,359 --> 00:30:39,559
Speaker 2: It's a tangled, ugly mess, isn't it.

659
00:30:39,559 --> 00:30:43,000
Speaker 1: It really is. We started with a simple discharge petition

660
00:30:43,119 --> 00:30:46,039
signed by four rebels. We went through a secret meeting

661
00:30:46,079 --> 00:30:50,920
in an scif where Lauren Bobert was allegedly intimidated. We

662
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,680
listened in on a screaming phone call where the President

663
00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:56,599
of the United States shouted, my friends will get hurt.

664
00:30:56,920 --> 00:30:59,680
Speaker 2: We analyze the economic data presented by the source that

665
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:03,519
sit just a con man strategy of fake populism. We

666
00:31:03,599 --> 00:31:05,720
looked at the names of some of those specific friends

667
00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:08,279
musk Lutnik worsh and.

668
00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:11,319
Speaker 1: We ended with realization that the entire drain the swamp

669
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:14,480
narrative might just be a story, a very effective story

670
00:31:14,519 --> 00:31:17,039
told to get votes, while the swamp creatures throw a

671
00:31:17,039 --> 00:31:19,440
party in the back room, protected by the very man

672
00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:20,759
who promised to get rid of them.

673
00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:24,279
Speaker 2: It is a profoundly dark narrative. But what makes this

674
00:31:24,359 --> 00:31:27,559
specific thread so compelling, so unique, is that this story

675
00:31:27,599 --> 00:31:29,839
is being told not just by the critics on the outside,

676
00:31:30,039 --> 00:31:32,039
but by the true believers on the inside.

677
00:31:32,079 --> 00:31:34,400
Speaker 1: The call is coming from inside the house literally.

678
00:31:34,559 --> 00:31:37,480
Speaker 2: In this telling, MTG is the one blowing the whistle,

679
00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:39,079
whether she intended to or not.

680
00:31:39,519 --> 00:31:42,319
Speaker 1: And that leads us to our final provocative thought for you,

681
00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:43,359
our listeners.

682
00:31:43,799 --> 00:31:46,400
Speaker 2: This is the big takeaway, the thing to really chew

683
00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:47,359
on after all of this.

684
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:51,000
Speaker 1: If the source is correct, If this account is true,

685
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:55,920
and even the most loyal brand ambassadors like MTG are

686
00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:58,799
admitting that the swamp is being actively protected from the

687
00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:02,319
very top down, what does that mean for the concept

688
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:03,720
of political loyalty?

689
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:07,079
Speaker 2: At what point does the truth outweigh the team.

690
00:32:07,279 --> 00:32:09,440
Speaker 1: At what point do you stop cheering for the jersey

691
00:32:09,519 --> 00:32:11,799
and start looking at the player wearing it. At what

692
00:32:11,839 --> 00:32:14,160
point do you realize that the person you are fighting

693
00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:17,240
for might actually be fighting against your interests.

694
00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:19,119
Speaker 2: And if the friends are more important than the people,

695
00:32:19,319 --> 00:32:23,680
are you really part of a political movement or are

696
00:32:23,759 --> 00:32:26,440
you just serving as a human shield for someone else's privilege.

697
00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:28,559
Speaker 1: That is the question, it really is. So it's called

698
00:32:28,559 --> 00:32:30,440
to action time. We want to hear from you, and

699
00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:33,400
we're serious about this is a heavy, complicated topic and

700
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:35,279
I know people have very strong feelings about it.

701
00:32:35,359 --> 00:32:37,880
Speaker 2: So what is your stand on this? Do you believe,

702
00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:41,759
like the source argues, that political figures just use these

703
00:32:41,799 --> 00:32:44,880
scandals for votes and headlines with no real intention of

704
00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:46,000
ever solving them.

705
00:32:46,119 --> 00:32:48,839
Speaker 1: Is it all just political theater or do you think

706
00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:51,920
there's another layer to this protection of friends? Do you

707
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:55,559
think MPG is misunderstanding the situation or is this the

708
00:32:55,559 --> 00:32:57,200
smoking gun she presents it as.

709
00:32:57,519 --> 00:32:59,319
Speaker 2: Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

710
00:32:59,839 --> 00:33:02,920
Get this conversation going because it's an important.

711
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:05,200
Speaker 1: One, absolutely, because at the end of the day, the

712
00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:07,160
only way to get to the truth is to keep

713
00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:08,039
pulling the strength.

714
00:33:08,079 --> 00:33:08,960
Speaker 2: Couldn't agree more.

715
00:33:09,119 --> 00:33:11,519
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us on thrilling Threads. We'll see you

716
00:33:11,599 --> 00:33:11,960
next time.

717
00:33:12,039 --> 00:33:12,480
Speaker 2: Take care,