Tuesday was a very good day for Democrats. For a change. At ballot boxes in both Wisconsin and Florida, and in the U.S. Senate. We enjoy while we can on today's BradCast, while trying to make sense of everything else we have time for in the bargain. [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

Republicans won both U.S. House Special Elections for vacant seats in Florida's 1st and 6th Congressional Districts on Tuesday. You'd think the GOP would be celebrating today, but not so much. Last November, in each of those very "red" Districts, their candidates won by more than 30 points. On Tuesday, however, GOPers were still victorious, but the vote swung some 15 points or more toward the Democratic candidates in both contests. If that were to happen across the country during next year's mid-term elections it would become an absolute wipe-out for the Republican Party in the House.

In Wisconsin, even worse news for Republicans, Donald Trump, and his co-President Elon Musk. The state went to Trump just over five months ago by less than a point. But on Tuesday, the Democratic-backed candidate for WI's state Supreme Court, Susan Crawford, appears to have crushed GOP-backed MAGA candidate Brad Schimel by ten points. That's virtually unheard of in modern times in the notoriously narrowly-divided Badger State. That, after Musk dumped more than $25 million of his own money into the race --- even giving away million dollar checks to voters (unlawfully) in the bargain --- in what became the most expensive state court election in U.S. history. Liberals will now retain majority control of WI's high court for at least the next three years. Their majority could grow larger still as rightwing Justices face re-election bids over those years. Key issues likely to be decided by the high court during that time include abortion, voting and collective bargaining rights and challenges to GOP gerrymandering of Congressional districts. All of that is why Musk was so happy to set so many millions of his own dollars on fire, to no avail.

All of that happened on Tuesday, as New Jersey's Democratic U.S. Senator Cory Booker was wrapping up his marathon, record-breaking, 25-hour and 6-minute, non-stop "good trouble" speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate, injecting a bit of hope into a few moribund Democrats across the nation and in the halls of Congress after ten long weeks of Trump and Musk's brutal destruction of the federal government and Constitutional order. It doesn't hurt that Booker, an African-American, also smashed the long-held Senate filibuster record set in 1957 by notorious segregationist Strom Thurmond, during his then successful blockade of civil rights legislation.

We're joined today to discuss all of that and much more by two of our longtime O.G. blogger friends, HEATHER DIGBY PARTON, award-winning columnist at Salon and proprietor of Digby's Hullabaloo blog, and the notorious 'DRIFTGLASS', eponymous blogger and co-host of the weekly Professional Left Podcast.

In addition to Tuesday's elections and what they may portend for Trump and Musk, as well as Booker's Senate 'filibuster' and what it may --- or should --- portend for Democratic leadership in Congress, we also discuss Trump's economy- and job-crushing new tariffs, his ill-considered and ever-increasing DOGE slashing of the federal government, and much more!

"He can bully everybody. He can't bully reality," observes Driftglass today, regarding Trump and one or more of the topics mentioned above. Says Digby about Republicans: "I think that they are seeing the writing on the wall, that there is a very, very large backlash."

Tune in for a very lively "Liberation Day" edition of The BradCast! Cheers!...

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The amount of news we need to catch up with today before getting to some callers at the back end of the show is ridiculous, even by BradCast standards! [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

Natural disasters, lots of court rulings and some important election news out of several states on today's program. Here are summaries and links to just some of those stories...

• More than 2,000 are dead in Myanmar following a 7.7 Magnitude earthquake over the weekend. The death toll is expected to rise sharply, thousands of building have reportedly collapsed, health officials are said to be "overwhelmed" and, though Trump vowed to send help, apparently U.S. aid workers are nowhere to be found as they have been in the past. Aid workers from China, Russia and India are on the scene, however. Also, victims received little help or critical information from Radio Free Asia either, in the wake of Trump having shut down the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the parent agency for RFA, Voice of America and its international sister networks.

• But there was a lot of good news out of federal district courts since we last spoke, including for Voice of America and, presumably, Radio Free Asia. A judge issued a temporary restraining order to prevent Trump from violating federal law by shuttering the USAGM and the networks it oversees. The U.S. District Court judge ordered about 1,200 journalists, engineers and other staffers back to work, for now, after they were placed on leave or fired after Trump's seemingly unlawful order to shut it all down two weeks ago.

• More good news late last week from the U.S. District court for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). A judge on Friday ordered that it too be reopened and its workers rehired, after Trump/Musk attempted to gut the only federal agency that fights for consumer rights against fraud and deceptive practices by big banks, insurance companies and sleazy payday lenders.

• Another U.S. District Court on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump Administration from deporting migrants to countries from which they did not originally come without allowing a court challenge first.

• Over the weekend, two different federal judges --- both appointed by Republican President George W. Bush --- blocked the key parts of Trump's outrageous Executive Orders unconstitutionally targeting two major law firms he doesn't like (because they represented former Republican FBI Director Robert Mueller, who was tapped to investigate interference by Russia in our 2016 election during Trump's first term.)

• In Election News, Republicans took a pounding over the weekend in Louisiana's Saturday elections. All four constitutional Amendments placed on the ballot by the state's Trump-lovin' GOP Governor, Jeff Landry, went down in flames. Each lost resoundingly, with nearly two-thirds of voters rejecting each ballot issue, as turnout nearly doubled what state election officials had been expecting. For some reason, voters --- even in Republican-leaning states --- seem to be very angry of late. At Republicans. Landry tried to blame a billionaire who had nothing to do with Saturday's referendum for his embarrassing shutout, while ignoring the Republican billionaires who fruitlessly dumped billions in support of Landry's four losing amendments.

• Speaking of...it's Election Day on Tuesday in Florida and Wisconsin (and a number of other states), with two vacant U.S. House seats up for grabs in traditionally very red districts in the Sunshine State and ideological control of the state Supreme Court on the line in the Badger State. Republicans seem very concerned about all of those contests, with the President's billionaire top-funder, Elon Musk, generously spreading his "free speech" around in the form of $100 checks to Wisconsinites who signed his petition against "activist judges" and two $1 million checks given away to two lucky voters/signers-of-his-petition who showed up to his rally in Green Bay on Sunday. The richest-man-in-the-world stumped for the very Trumpy Republican state Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel, who is running against Judge Susan Crawford. She is supported by the state's Democrats. For reasons discussed on today's show, that election could hardly be more important --- to the nation, in fact. The House contests down in Florida, meanwhile, may also prove to be bellwethers for GOP electoral chances in upcoming off-year and mid-year elections under a very unpopular President.

• That's just some of what we covered today before opening up the phone lines to listeners to discuss all of that and whatever else happened to be on their minds today...

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On today's BradCast: The Trump Administration may have chosen the wrong group of Americans to launch a "war" against, including taking jobs, benefits and health care from them. But that's just one of the reasons Republicans now seem to be running scared of their own voters in upcoming special elections. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

On Thursday, the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced plans to lay off 10,000 employees. Along with cuts at departments within HHS, such as the FDA, CDC, NIH and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, some 20,000 federal jobs are earmarked for slashing. The Dept. of Defense has already fired thousands of probationary workers (though a federal judge found the firings unlawful), and the IRS has been ordered to cut 6,700 workers. That alone will cost the U.S. hundreds of billions in lost revenue.

But, so far, no other federal agency has set their sites on firing as many workers as the Dept. of Veterans Affairs which, according to an internal memo at the beginning of the month, is planning to slash an astounding 80,000+ jobs, many of them held by veterans themselves. And they are pushing back.

We're joined today by former Congressman MAX ROSE (D-NY), a decorated former U.S. Army platoon leader and combat veteran who now serves as senior advisor to VoteVets.org, the nation's largest progressive nonprofit veterans organization. Last week, the group launched a six-figure, multimedia ad campaign in the districts of five different Republican veteran members of Congress, calling them out "for being complicit and dodging their constituents as Elon Musk's DOGE aimlessly fires Veterans across the country."

Given Rose's background, before discussing the VoteVets campaign, thousands of vets already fired from federal jobs, and GOP cuts to a series of hard-won services and benefits, I had to ask for his thoughts on the ongoing Signal scandal and what might have happened to him, as a platoon leader in Afghanistan (or to any other rank-and-file member of the military), had they used a commercially available texting app to discuss specific times, locations and methods of upcoming planned attacks as it was revealed this week the Administration's top NatSec and Defense cabinet officials did.

"Any level of the military would have been fired for that," Rose tells me. "But I think there's a deeper point here. Which is everyone likes the notion of disruption and innovation, and that is how this administration sold themselves. But the truth of the matter is that what we're seeing is recklessness, destruction, and a disregard for everything that was actually effective."

He offers thoughts on whether Trump's high level cabinet officials, such as National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Sec. of Defense Pete Hegseth should be fired, and whether the specific details shared in the group text --- with a journalist present --- was classified or not. "They are just openly talking about extraordinary events that are set to occur later on that day, that have geopolitical, strategic national security ramifications," he says. "It is beyond stunning. And it's exactly the opposite of what they sold themselves as. It's amateur hour."

As to the benefit cuts and firings that many veterans are already facing, thanks to the "recklessness" of the Trump Administration --- some of which are discussed by veterans themselves in VoteVets' new video ad --- the Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient is even more disappointed.

"Let's talk about the great tragedy of firing these veterans, who have served in uniform. Many of them served in harm's way, and they made an extraordinarily heroic and consequential decision to continue their service --- not just to our great country, but in service to their fellow veterans --- by dedicating this next portion of their career to the VA. Donald Trump ran on how much he loved veterans, how much he was grateful for their service, and now he's turned around in the early days of his Presidency and has decided to fire tens of thousands of them."

"The truth of the matter," Rose continues, "is that what they want to do --- the VA being the second-largest federal government department --- is they want to destroy it. They want to privatize it. They claim it's because the VA is an underperformer. But the stats tell exactly the opposite story. The statistics say that the VA consistently records higher quality metrics compared to peer institutions and higher ratings of patient satisfaction. That's why the veteran community is almost universally aligned in support, in not just preserving the VA but building upon it."

"This Administration's war on veterans," doesn't end there, he argues. "They decided to cut the PACT Act in the last Continuing Resolution, the budget deal, which was a monumental bipartisan piece of legislation to make sure that services are provided to veterans suffering the consequences of manning burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. They decided to cut the Small Business Administration, negatively impacting veterans ability to access small business loans. They decided to cut HUD and grants related to services for homeless veterans. So the list goes on and on."

As to how all of this may affect the political and electoral landscape moving forward, including among veterans, 6 out of 10 of whom voted for Trump in 2024? Tune in for the former Congressman's thoughts on that. But, as Rose asserts: "People should be digging deep. They should know there is hope for Democrats to bounce back. They should know there are extraordinary candidates raising their hands across the country, reaffirming their commitment to service, many of them being veterans."

AND, SPEAKING OF UPCOMING ELECTIONS... Republicans seem to be getting really nervous about next week's Special Elections in Florida to fill the vacated seats of former Reps. Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz, even though both are in deep red districts where Trump and both former Congressmembers easily won their elections just five months ago. Latest evidence of their concern? Today, Trump withdrew his nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik for U.N. Ambassador, to make sure her seat in a Trump +15 district in upstate in New York doesn't get flipped in an upcoming Special Election, given the razor-thin majority Republicans currently hold in the U.S. House. She is really bummed. Sad!

AND, FINALLY... Record, unprecedented, climate change-fueled wildfires are raging in South Korea. The blazes have already killed 27 and destroyed more than 300 structures, some of them historic, including a 7th century temple complex. As if that's not bad enough, Desi Doyen is also here with our latest Green News Report, as the Trump Administration has simply omitted climate change from their newly released U.S. National Threat Assessment Report; the EPA's rollbacks to air and water pollution rules are set to cost hundreds of thousands of American lives; and as the corrupted U.S. Supreme Court gives yet another offering to the fossil fuel industry responsible for so much of this deadly mess...

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Today on The BradCast: Things get worse for the Trump Administration and the buffoonish Republicans who love him on Capitol Hill, following another embarrassing round of disclosures from 'Signal Gate', while Dems take back control of a state House and flip a very "red" state Senate seat in Special Elections yesterday in a key battleground state. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

That's hardly all we've got for you in yet another too big show today...

'NOBODY WAS TEXTING WAR PLANS,' EH?: Capitol Hill continued to roil on Wednesday, after The Atlantic's Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg published the full message thread from the Signal group chat that he was invited to join, for some still-unexplained reason, last week, by Donald Trump's National Security Advisor Mike Waltz in advance of a U.S. attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen. The small group consisted of high-level Trump National Security and Defense officials, from the Vice President to the Sec. of Defense, Sec. of State, CIA Director, Director of National Intelligence and more. The newly published text messages from the Signal conversation on the unsecured commercial mobile app, reveal very specific times, places and methods of attack, just as Goldberg originally asserted in his original blockbuster report on Monday.

In response to the original report, SecDef doofus Pete Hegseth falsely told reporters, "Nobody was texting war plans." Today's Atlantic report reveals that he very much did. The new details also appear to counter claims from Trump's CIA Director John Ratcliffe and his wildly unqualified Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, when they both asserted that no classified information was shared with the Signal group. They were both members of that group. Donald Trump also made that same false claim on Tuesday. If very specific attack plans posted to Signal by Hegseth weren't "classified" details, they certainly should have been. But, even if not, they were definitely National Defense Information, which means members of the group chat may have violated the Espionage Act. The messages set to disappear after a number of weeks by Walz, would also be in violation of the Presidential Records and Federal Records Acts, according to legal experts.

Even a number of rightwing columnists are calling for accountability and the removal of Hegseth and Waltz. A few Republican U.S. Senators are calling for full investigations. And, of course, Democrats have already been demanding accountability, both at yesterday's Senate Intel hearing and in another one today in the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, which also featured laughable testimony from Ratcliffe and Gabbard. Desi Doyen has details for us on today's program.

PA VOTERS PUSH BACK: While things are falling apart politically for Trump and his incompetent aides and Congressional sycophants in D.C., voters are already ringing in with their dissatisfaction at the polls. In Special Elections in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, a Democratic win in the state House has resulted in the party regaining their slim majority in the Legislature's lower chamber. But that was to be expected from a very Democratic district. Bigger news for Dems came in the Special Election for the state Senate, where the Democratic candidate managed to flip a seat in a very red district that Trump won by 15 points last November. James Malone narrowly defeated his Republican opponent by running against Trump's madness and Elon Musk's DOGE Bro efforts to dismantle Social Security, Medicaid and the rest of the federal government. It was a huge upset victory for the Democrats, as they won this particular area of Republican-leaning suburbs and farming communities for the first time in 136 years! (Tuesday's win echoes another last month when Dems flipped a state Senate seat in a special election held in a deep red, Trump +21 district in Iowa.)

MORE ELECTIONS NEXT TUESDAY: Another round of critical elections are underway right now, with Election Day next week (April 1) in Wisconsin and Florida. The battle for majority control of WI's Supreme Court is underway (as we discussed recently with the Badger State's John Nichols of The Nation), as the world's richest man, Elon Musk, has thrown some $18 million into the race to support far-right Trump Republican Brad Schimel, in hopes of defeating liberal candidate Susan Crawford.

In Florida, there are two special elections Tuesday for the U.S. House, though both are in very red districts. The CD-1 race will fill the seat vacated by alleged child sex trafficker Matt Gaetz, the other, in CD-6, is to fill the seat vacated by Trump's incompetent National Security Advisor and Signal chat enthusiast Mike Waltz. Democratic candidates Gay Valimont and Josh Weil, respectively, are waging uphill battles to flip those very "red" U.S. House districts to "blue". Each have, reportedly, outraised their Republican opponents. Though Musk has now also reportedly jumped into those races with his billions as well, at the very last minute. A victory for Democrats in either of those seats (or anything close to it), will be seen as a political earthquake next week.

TRUMP ATTEMPTS ELECTION POWER GRAB: Finally, you may have heard about the Executive Order that Donald Trump issued last night, purporting to mandate proof of citizenship when registering to vote. That said, Presidents DO NOT HAVE THE POWER to issue such mandates. Election law is largely the legislative domain of States, Counties and occasionally via laws adopted by Congress. Trump's largely performative EO (which also includes a number of other voting and election mandates that are similarly beyond his powers as President) will face huge legal challenges. As Election Law professor Rick Hasen noted in his initial response to Trump's "dangerous Executive Order" last night, the measure is an attempted "executive power grab" that, if successful, would "disenfranchise millions of voters."

Ya know...Just another dull day in these United States...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Impacts of climate change are reshaping U.S. real estate markets; Trump Administration hiring freeze halts hiring of seasonal firefighters; Climate change made L.A. Fires significantly more likely; PLUS: Here we go again --- Trump rolls back water and energy efficiency appliance standards that save you money... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): DOGE lands at EPA; How Trump’s EPA threatens efforts to clean up areas affected most by dangerous air pollution; Will Trump cut the oil industry's favorite climate subsidies?; Chevron set to lay off 20% of its global workforce; Why clearing the brush around Los Angeles won't reduce the wildfire danger; Transformer supply bottleneck threatens power system stability... PLUS: The US smashed clean energy records last year. Can it keep up the pace?... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Unprecedented blizzard warning and record snowstorm shuts down the South; New wildfire and evacuations in L.A. County; Donald Trump spews delusional lies about California's water; PLUS: Last year, the U.S. saw 27 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Fossil fuel companies use Twitter/X social media to block climate progress; Analysis: How Trump-proof is Biden’s environmental legacy?; Illegal turn: Will Trump's 'energy emergency' work?; Trump's end to "EV mandate" could weaken automakers against China; Not even sea life is safe from the L.A. fires... PLUS: L.A. fires: the incarcerated firefighters battling blazes... and much, MUCH more! ...

We do our best to avoid being Pollyanna-ish on The BradCast. But not everything that happened on Tuesday (or since) has been terrible. Just a lot of it. But, in fact, some of it was quite good and worth taking notice! [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

Among our many stories today...both good, bad and otherwise...

• A quickly moving wildfire exploded northwest of Los Angeles on Wednesday, fueled by dry brush and wind gusts up to 80mph. As of Thursday afternoon it had scorched some 14,000 acres, burned through several homes, mansions, ranches and agricultural areas and threatens another 3,500 other structures in the suburban community. 10,000 residents have been evacuated. The so-called "Mountain Fire" was 0% contained at air time. "It's like trying to put out a blowtorch with a squirt gun," said a Ventura County Fire Dept. official in a climate changed wildfire season that has, so far, burned three times as much land as last year at this time.

• Speaking of California and climate, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday called an emergency special state legislative session beginning next month "to protect our state against any unlawful actions by the incoming Trump Administration." He declared on Twitter that "California is ready to fight. Whether it be our fundamental civil rights, reproductive freedom, or climate action --- we refuse to turn back the clock and allow our values and laws to be attacked."

• AP announced late this afternoon that carpet-bagging hedge-fund billionaire and Pennsylvania's Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick had defeated three-term Democratic Sen. Bob Casey on Tuesday, adding yet another pick up for Republicans in next year's U.S. Senate, where they are already set to take back majority control. (After we got off air, however, Democratic election attorney Marc Elias countered, "The Pennsylvania Senate race is not over," citing a statement from PA's Republican Sec. of the Commonwealth estimating another 100,000 ballots remain to be adjudicated in the race where McCormick currently leads by a reported 32,000 votes over Casey.)

• This morning, President Joe Biden took to the Rose Garden to offer his first public remarks since Election Day, following Kamala Harris' apparent loss to the lawless former President, noting, "You can't love your country only when you win,". By way of contrast to Trump, Biden vowed a peaceful transfer of power, lauded Harris' run, discussed the importance of democracy (even when ya lose) and offered encouragement to staffers and supporters by telling them that "setbacks are unavoidable, giving up is unforgivable." We share his brief remarks today in full.

• Protecting and/or expanding reproductive freedoms was on the ballot in 10 different states on Tuesday. Abortion rights won in seven of them, including Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and New York. In fact, otherwise "deep red" MO became the first state in the union, since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, to reverse a near-total abortion ban and enshrine reproductive rights into the state's constitution!

  Similar initiatives failed, however, in three states: Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota and for various reasons in each, which we discuss today. Most notably, in FL, the measure to restore freedoms and repeal the state's Big Government six-week ban was supported by a healthy 57% to 43% majority of voters. But the state mandates a 60% supermajority for adoption of Constitutional ballot amendments and, at the same time, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis applied state muscle and seemingly unlawful measures to prevent passage.

  Politico's longtime Capitol Hill heath care reporter ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN joins us today to break down what happened in each state, and where the never-ending battle for and against reproductive freedoms goes from here.

• In other good ballot measure news, voters in Washington state overwhelmingly rejected an attempt to repeal the state's landmark climate law, adopted two years ago under outgoing Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee. The new law slashes dangerous carbon emissions by charging fossil fuel polluters for their pollution. The law has already brought in some $4 billion for habitat restoration and hardening the state against the worsening ravages of climate change. Voters reportedly voted by a 24-point margin to keep the law in place!

• Finally, Desi Doyen is here with our first post-election Green News Report, with details on the troubling worldwide implications for climate under the incoming Trump Administration, as environmental groups vow to press forward. Also, details on both the wildfires in Los Angeles and the rare, late-season Hurricane Rafael which has knocked out power to Cuba (again) and is making its way into record warm Gulf of Mexico waters...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Record heat and drought fuel wildfires in the Northeast; U.S. Senate majority and future of climate action hang in the balance of this year's election; PLUS: Biden Administration investing in innovation, and racing the clock to allocate climate and infrastructure funding... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The climate stakes of the Harris-Trump election; Trump withheld wildfire disaster aid from WA State; EPA imposes stricter standards to protect children from exposure to lead paint; Florida's taxpayer-backed insurance fund denied 77% of hurricane damage claims; Russia amplified hurricane disinformation to drive Americans apart, researchers find; Feds OK rules for U.S. to begin electric air taxi service... PLUS: Biden Admin puts $428M into new manufacturing projects in coal communities... and much, MUCH more! ...

We've got a helluva BradCast for you today, on two different topics, both of hugely critical importance to American democracy and this year's elections. [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

FIRST UP... On Tuesday, two different major media outlets offered alarming new reports on, among other things, Donald Trump's long-time admiration for Adolf Hitler. Both detailed stories are based in part or full on new interviews with Trump's longest-serving White House Chief of Staff, General John Kelly, who also served as Trump's Dept. of Homeland Security chief before being brought over to head up his White House.

The very conservative Kelly explains in his on-the-record, recorded conversations with the New York Times' Michael Schmidt (free link!) that he had been reluctant, as a longtime, high-ranking member of the military, to speak out publicly about his old boss, given his belief that the military should largely stay out of public politics. But Trump's recent, repeated comments about "the enemy within", in reference to the former President's personal domestic political opponents, and his remarks about unleashing the U.S. military against them, changed his mind.

As of late this afternoon, Fox "News" reportedly still hasn't found time in its 24/7 schedule to play any of the disturbing, freely available audio from Schmidt's three conversations with Kelly, as published yesterday. So we figured we'd go ahead and do so ourselves on today's program. You're welcome!

In short, Kelly's remarks detail how Trump...

• meets the very "definition of fascist", is "certainly an authoritarian", "admires people who are dictators" and "prefers the dictator approach to government;
• repeatedly praised Hitler during Kelly's time in the White House and insisted the German dictator "did some good things";
• doesn't understand either history or the U.S. Constitution, though frequently insisted he knew more about the President's Constitutional authority than the lawyers in the White House Counsel's office did;
• looked down on those who were disabled or killed on the battlefield, confirming that Trump would often described them as "losers and suckers";
• and that, never mind his policies, many of which Kelly might agree with, the man simply doesn’t have the character to serve as President of the United States, which is far more important than any particular partisan policy positions.

That, of course, is the quickest of summaries. Tune in for more. And for a really harrowing report on Trump's disturbing views of the military ("only suckers went to Vietnam"), the Constitution, rule of law, and extraordinary lack of character, see Jeffrey Goldberg's article yesterday at The Atlantic, headlined "Trump: I Need the Kind of Generals Hitler Had". It includes more from Kelly and opens with the story of a murdered woman in the military whose family was told by Trump at the White House that he would personally pay for her funeral. Then, when the bill arrived, he was reportedly furious, refused to pay it, and declared "It doesn't cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican!"

NEXT UP... In a sharp, if perhaps welcome, turn, we're joined today by CHRIS MELODY FIELDS FIGUEREDO, the Executive Director of the nonprofit Ballot Initiative Strategy Center.

The record 11 different abortion rights related referendums on the ballot in 10 different states this year, in the wake of SCOTUS overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, have received a fair bit of attention from the media. But, in fact, there are more than 150 ballot measures on the ballot this year across 41 states right now, on everything from how elections are run, to how redistricting should happen, to who gets paid sick leave, to raising the minimum wage, to stuff like banning trophy hunting and cracking down on retail theft. All of which has the potential to reshape state policy on key issues nationwide for years to come.

In a very lively conversation today with Fields Figueredo, we discuss much of the above and more, including the explosion of the use of citizen ballot initiatives (and reasons for it); ongoing efforts in Republican-controlled states to make such citizen referenda harder to get onto the ballot and more difficult for voters to adopt; why very progressive initiatives are frequently adopted in otherwise very "red" states; how a number of critical initiatives this year could radically change politics as we know it in states like Ohio; whether there is a real correlation between initiatives on the ballot and partisan turnout; some of the sneaky initiatives on ballots in some states this year; and where progressives can go to get advice on how best to vote on often deceptive or confusing referendums. (I've got twenty of them on my ballot here in Los Angeles this year!)

"Ballot guides are my favorite thing," she tells me, admitting that she's a huge "nerd". "There are a number of organizations in your state that may be producing ballot guides that give you information in plain language," Fields Figueredo advises. "Go to organizations that you trust. Also a great resources is the League of Women Voters. Their ballot guides put it in simple language. We also have a Ballot Measure Hub. It's not going to have every single ballot measure in the country, but I would go to trusted news sources or local organizations that are going to try to put these issues into plain language."

Yup, it's another five pound BradCast in a one pound bag today! Enjoy!...

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We've got a number of encouraging news items on today's BradCast regarding both this year's elections in battleground Georgia and accountability for still more of those who lied about the 2020 contest there on behalf of the disgraced former President. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among our stories today...

• The Biden-Harris economy continues to fire on all pistons, far outpacing that of Donald Trump when he was in the White House, no matter how little those facts seem able to break out above the noise of his increasingly authoritarian threats and related madness. Moreover, many major financial firms and experts have determined that Kamala Harris' economic plans will result in far more growth (higher GDP), lower inflation, more job creation and much lower government deficits and national debt than Trump's economic proposals. All of that is true no matter how little attention it receives from our corporate mainstream media. But we try to give that at least a bit of attention today, with some help from Rachel Maddow, as voting is now underway across the country and Election Day just three weeks away.

• Given all the attention Donald Trump is, paradoxically, enjoying for so many of his outrageous lies and threats of late --- not only against migrants in the country, but now to American citizens that the disgraced former President regards as "the enemy within" --- it's about time that the Harris Campaign (via ads) and Harris herself (during rallies) is calling him out for it. Especially now that he has begun vowing to unleash the National Guard and U.S. military against Americans if he is allowed back into the Oval Office.

• The parade of former top aides from the Trump White House speaking out against him and endorsing Kamala Harris this year continues to grow. On Monday, Trump's former Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews joined several of her former colleagues in endorsing the Democratic Vice President in order to help "ensure that Donald Trump never steps foot in the Oval Office again." She joins Trump's former Comms Director and Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, his former White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssa Farah Griffin, and Cassidy Hutchinson, the top aide to Trump's former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, among others, in putting country over party to sound the alarm about the dangers of a second Trump term.

• Donald Trump's longtime buddy and former Fox 'News' reporter Geraldo Rivera has also now joined other previous pals and supporters of the former President, like billionaire Mark Cuban, to endorse Kamala Harris this year. Rivera charged, in a detailed Twitter post on Monday night, that Trump is a "sore loser" and that if you are a Republican who believes in his "Big Lie" that the 2020 election was stolen from him, "Donald Trump has made a liar of you."

• As noted, we've got several seemingly good pieces of news out of Georgia, where today's first day of Early Voting is, according to the Sec. of State's office, breaking 2020's record. The same officials also stated that absentee ballots have gone out in good order and were not adversely impacted by the recent hurricanes. That is good news for voters smart enough to take advantage of the ability to cast a verifiable hand-marked absentee paper ballot in the battleground Peach State. Those who vote at the polls, unfortunately, will still be forced to vote on the state's insecure, 100% unverifiable touchscreen voting system. But please don't let that stop you from voting, no matter what, if it's your only option!

• A state judge in Fulton County, Georgia on Tuesday issued a no-uncertain-terms ruling [PDF] that county election officials must certify results before the deadline set by state law, which is at 5pm on the Monday following the Tuesday election. Certification, the judge made clear, is a ministerial duty, not a discretionary option. It is required even if a County election official may have concerns about fraud or error in the tally, or has not received certain public records which they may seek prior to certification. Questions about such results are to be adjudicated in open court after certification, not via private deliberations of county election officials. The unequivocal ruling comes in the wake of a number of new rules recently instituted by the newly-seated MAGA majority on the Georgia State Election Board that have alarmed a number of Democrats who worry the new rules may be used as a pretext by MAGA election officials at the county level to block the certification of results they don't like this year in the critical battleground state. Presuming the judge's very clear ruling today is not overturned by a higher court, it should put some of those concerns to rest, even as there is still much to be concerned about when it comes to GA's elections this year.

• The fallout from Georgia's 2020 election, when Donald Trump tried but failed to steal it from Joe Biden, continues. In good news out of a St. Louis, Missouri court last week, Fulton County, GA election workers Shaye Moss and her mom Ruby Freeman have struck a deal with the rightwing propaganda website called Gateway Pundit, its dopey, dishonest owner Jim Hoft and his dopey, dishonest brother Joe Hoft. The Hoft brothers had tried to avoid accountability for their defamatory lies about Freeman and Moss --- echoed by both Trump and his sleazy, disgraced attorney Rudy Giuliani --- that the women had committed fraud during the tabulation of ballots in 2020 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Despite all related claims about them being quickly debunked by state officials, Gateway Pundit identified the two women by name and continued to lie about them for months and years after, resulting in death threats and the need for them to relocate from their homes. In July, an attempt by Gateway Pundit and the Hofts to shield themselves from the defamation lawsuit filed by Freeman and Moss by declaring bankruptcy was rejected by the judge in the lawsuit. The terms of the deal announced last week by the attorneys for both parties have not yet been disclosed. Freeman and Moss previously won a $148 million lawsuit against Giuliani and struck an undisclosed settlement with rightwing media outlet One America News which they had similarly sued for defamation.

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, with the ongoing aftermaths of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, and some much better news about the long-overdue death of Old King Coal in the U.K....

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hurricane Milton is gone, but Florida is still grappling with its toxic aftermath; Trump's lies about FEMA disrupt disaster aid to North Carolina; PLUS: The U.K. ditches coal for good... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): 'Crazy busy' Atlantic hurricane season is far from over; US meteorologists face death threats as hurricane conspiracies surge; Insurance 'nightmare' unfolds for Florida homeowners after two hurricanes; Hundreds dead, more than 1 million displaced due to Niger floods; The fate of thousands of U.S. rural dams hangs in the balance; Wisconsin estimates around 40 percent of private wells contain pesticides; Alabama slowly bringing sanitation equity back to rural black communities... PLUS: The U.S. gets a new national marine sanctuary, the first led by a Native American tribe... and much, MUCH more! ...

When it rains, it pours on today's BradCast. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among the muck we wade through today...

• Hurricane Milton walloped much of central Florida after coming ashore as a Cat 3 om Wednesday night, just south of a worst-case-scenario direct hit on Tampa Bay. But, as we've learned since covering Hurricane Katrina way back in 2005, it's best never to say "they dodged a bullet" too early.

• Just in case your favorite media outlets featuring wall-to-wall wind-whipped reporters foolishly risking their lives by standing outside in multi-colored rain slickers to fulfill your disaster porn needs forgot to tell you that man-made climate change exacerbated Milton's awesome destructive power and signals an even grimmer future for us all, Desi Doyen has you covered today.

• While Donald Trump has been lying to you about FEMA and the Biden-Harris Administration's response to both Hurricane Milton this week and Hurricane Helene last --- and putting his own brain-poisoned supporters at grave risk in the bargain --- three points worth noting today: 1) Everything out of Trump's mouth on these subjects is a lie. (But you knew that, right?) 2) All of the Republican Governors in all of the effected states have lauded the response from FEMA and Joe Biden. 3) Since they're all on the ballot this year, it's worth noting that a whole bunch of Republican Congressmembers from Florida voted against funding FEMA at all this year just DAYS before Helene made landfall, even as many of them are now demanding more money for FEMA. As you or someone you know may be voting in the Sunshine State soon, you should know the names of those hypocrites. They are: Reps. Aaron Bean, Gus Bilirakis, Kat Cammack, Byron Donalds, Matt Gaetz, Laurel Lee, Anna Paulina Luna, Cory Mills, Bill Posey, Mike Waltz, and Daniel Webster.

• As Donald Trump continues to line his pockets (his own, not his campaign's!) in a seemingly desperate, hopefully Going Out of Business sale --- Shitty golden sneakers! Cheap silver coins! Worthless NFTs! $100,000 diamond-encrusted watches! (They make a perfect off-the-books Christmas bribe from your favorite foreign autocrat!) --- his $59.99 Trump-endorsed, Lee Greenwood-branded "God Bless the USA" faux-leather bound bibles may be his sleaziest scheme yet. But that hasn't prevented Ryan Walters, the MAGA Superintendent of Public Schools in Oklahoma, from trying to force state tax-payers into buying 50,000 of them to place in every classroom, even while all but ignoring a year-old, already-funded state mandate to purchase emergency asthma inhalers for schools. (He'll get to it, okay? He's busy with the Trump Bible thing right now! Never mind that child who died at school for lack of one!) Oh, and as long as we're on the topic, AP did some digging this week to find that Trump's "God Bless the USA" bibles are actually "printed in a country that the former president has repeatedly accused of stealing American jobs and engaging in unfair trade practices --- China." In reality, AP discovered, they actually cost less than $3 a piece to print. But, don't worry, while Bible experts say it's crap, you can still buy a version hand-signed (or so the website says?) by Trump himself for the low-low price of just $1,000 if you act now!

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us to help mop things up with our latest Green News Report on Milton's landfall, Republican disinfo on FEMA and its funding shortages, and President Biden's landmark rule that will now, officially, finally replace every toxic lead water in America! (Sure, but does he have overpriced, crappy, Chinese-made bibles to sell?)

All that before I close the show with an offer you can't refuse! God bless the USA!...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hurricane Milton pummels Florida; FEMA grapples with Republican disinformation and funding shortages from back-to-back climate change-fueled disasters; PLUS: Biden EPA issues landmark rule to replace every lead water pipe in America... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Helene recovery: How to navigate FEMA, flood cleanup, disaster fraud, and more; Here’s what a shocking new number on wildlife declines really means; NC water repairs could take weeks; Helene spotlights differences between Harris and Trump on disaster relief; Earth's 'vital signs' show humanity's future in the balance, climate experts say; Fossil fuel interests take over hometown newspaper to kill solar in Ohio county... PLUS: Carbon removal is no solution if world overshoots warming target, scientists say... and much, MUCH more! ...

As we go to air on today's BradCast, we're girding for the monster Hurricane Milton's direct impact on Florida's central Gulf Coast over the next several hours, even as millions in that state and five others struggle to recover from devastation following Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago --- and as all of us prepare for November 5th and whatever may come thereafter. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

This week, amid Helene recovery in North Carolina, the state Board of Elections, in a unanimous, bipartisan vote, approved a list of emergency measures for voters in the state's hardest hit counties. Naturally, Trump Republicans on social media are already lying and spreading disinformation about those measures and, of course, Fox "News" is playing along. That said, with the Trump Campaign itself calling for measures to expand access for voters in Republican areas of the state following Helene, it seems like Team Trump is also preparing to have legal (and political) complaints ready to go after the election --- if they lose.

That strategy, however, is not new for them. Even before Helene, the RNC says they are involved in scores of lawsuits across dozens of states. Many of them have been filed by groups like the American First Legal Foundation, founded by far-right Trump adviser Stephen Miller. One such novel suit filed by the group seeks a ruling in Arizona that judges may toss out election results over "failures or irregularities" by local officials. America First Legal is currently seeking such a ruling, however, only in counties where Kamala Harris is believed to be narrowly ahead of Trump.

Similar efforts are also underway by Republicans in other battleground states such as Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania, even if they don't think they will actually win the suits. The strategy, according to election law experts, appears to be to have these complaints in place before the election so they can be cited afterward, and used by election officials at the state and federal level to try and overturn results --- only in the event that Trump loses, of course.

At the same time, the Government Accountability Project, a longtime whistleblower support organization, founded in 1977 in the wake of Daniel Ellsberg's release of the Pentagon Papers, has published a new guide meant to support election officials and poll workers who may have legitimate reason to blow the whistle this year, particularly in battle grounds states. The 37-page booklet [PDF], entitled "On the Front Lines of Democracy: A Guide to Speaking Up for Election Officials & Workers," offers specific legal advice for those may have seen something and want to say something about it, but don't know exactly how to do so while protecting themselves in the bargain.

We're joined today by DANA GOLD, GAP's Senior Director of Advocacy & Strategy and the Director of the group's Democracy Protection Initiative, which was formed in advance of the 2020 election, "in anticipation of a highly partisan environment" when they were "very concerned about foreign and insider threat of illegal election interference," she explains today.

"We didn't have a lot of whistleblowers, though," says Gold. "We had a fire extinguisher ready. But, as we know, the 2020 election ended up being actually quite secure, fair and free, and administered safely." That said, as we discuss today, "the threat landscape has changed in 2024."

Gold outlines a number of "primary threats to elections" as identified by research in "this very hyper-partisan environment." She says foreign interference remains a concern, but also "the risk of disinformation being spread widely, which can have the result of suppression, delay, eroding confidence in the election results. And potential insider threats. People who are essentially election deniers who believe that the 2020 election was stolen despite every piece of evidence showing that the election was free and fair."

"This is a really volatile environment and election officials and workers are on the front lines, and may be in the best position to see efforts to suppress the vote. They may see insider threats. There are opportunities for election officials and workers who may see problems, and feel very scared and not clear about how to raise that concern, especially if the threat is their supervisor, someone in a position of power."

Given my own long history of reporting on election whistleblowers over the past two decades --- usually related to voting systems and their vendors --- the question of how to determine who are legitimate whistleblowers in this atmosphere, and who are not (but may even think they are) is a rich topic of discussion. Also, given that heroic whistleblowers like Reality Winner --- a national security official who exposed the fact that Russian intelligence operatives had actually infiltrated voter registration systems in several states before the 2016 election --- ultimately received a five-year prison sentence for having done so, Gold grapples with how to best encourage whistleblowers to come forward, while still protecting their legal and civil rights.

"That's why this is really important for us, in terms of a strategy of trying to disseminate this guide, to make election officials and workers, and any employee, aware of their rights, and their risks and options."

"Document everything," she advises those who may believe they have witnessed an election-related violation of law. "Write it down contemporaneously. Make sure that's secure. Check for allies in their co-workers. Note witnesses. Date things. There are ways to shore up the verification piece, which will be critical to both insulate them and make a difference." She adds, of course (citing Mesa County, Colorado's former MAGA County Clerk, Tina Peters, who just received a nine year prison sentence for tampering with voting systems, even as she uncovered nothing!), "they should not break the law to do so."

"Whistleblowers are such an important piece of democracy itself," Gold asserts. "The information provided by a whistleblower fuels those mechanisms of accountability that are our representative democracy. Very important tools in our collective efforts to ensure free and fair elections." To that end, she tells me, the group provides "legal and strategic support and advocacy, so we can protect them, in this environment particularly."

There is much more of note in our fascinating and lively conversation today. Please tune in!...

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Apparently, it's Disaster Month on The BradCast. And while they are, so far, nominally, "natural disasters", they are all made worse, more ferocious, more expensive and more deadly thanks to the global warming caused by the man-made burning of fossil fuels and the lawmakers who have, for decades, ignored and/or lied about both the science and the warnings. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Millions are (hopefully) fleeing Florida today as Category 5 Hurricane Milton bears down on its central Gulf Coast, with an "eye" toward landfall on Wednesday night in or near Tampa. A direct hit there could result in unspeakable damage. And it all comes just over a week since Hurricane Helene slammed the state before moving on to five others in the U.S. Southeast, leaving a trail of destruction and at least 230 dead in its wake.

The National Weather Service's warning about Milton today is terrifying, describing "potential impacts" of the storm surge, wind, and rainfall flooding as anywhere from "Devastating to Catastrophic" in several cities along the state's central West Coast. Yesterday, Tampa's Mayor Jane Castor was blunt when she warned residents: "If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re going to die."

Like last week's Hurricane Helene, Milton experienced rapid intensification, spinning up from a Cat 1 to a Cat 5 in less than a day as it traversed record hot waters in the Gulf of Mexico, thanks to anthropogenic climate change. The monster system's sudden drop in pressure over the Gulf yesterday momentarily choked up NBC Miami's Chief Meteorologist, Jim Morales, as he described the " incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane," seemingly taking in what he was seeing, what it meant for millions in peril in the Sunshine State, and for everyone around the world who will now being seeing similar and worse in the years ahead. "I apologize. This is just horrific," he added as he composed himself.

We're joined today by "Climate Guy" GUY WALTON, a 30-year Weather Channel veteran who now tracks daily weather and climate extremes at his Guy on Climate website. He is also the author of "World of Thermo" children's book series on climate change.

"I think on top of this hurricane, [Morales] was thinking about hurricanes of the future, and how warm the water temperatures are getting around the planet. It's going to become the norm," Walton tells me. He predicts that the cost of a direct hit on the densely populated Tampa region --- which has not seen a direct landfall in more than 100 years --- could top historic storms such as 2005's Katrina. "It's going to be taking a path that could lead to being the most destructive hurricane, dollar-wise, in the US."

"Milton is going to bisect Florida in one of the most heavily populated areas, from Tampa to Orlando. We haven't seen a storm like this go right through Tampa since 1921. The destruction of this thing is going to be awful," warns Walton.

We discuss why rapid intensification of so many of these storms is now happening all over the world, and why it can be so dangerous. We discuss who's to blame for it. ("It's all our fault.") We discuss what Project 2025's threat to privatize the National Weather Service would mean to meteorologists like him, and how the one-two punch of Helene and Milton might affect this year's Presidential election.

"After Milton and Helene, which are both going to be attributed to being so bad because of global warming or climate change, I'm hoping that Democrats really pounce on the destruction and really point a finger at just about every Republican."

IN RELATED NEWS TODAY...

• Why Project 2025's scheme to privatize FEMA and it's federal flood insurance program --- along with other agencies at DHS --- to "shift the majority of preparedness and response costs to states and localities instead of the federal government" (page 135), is both insane and anti-American.

• How years of Republican lawmakers in North Carolina over-riding vetoes of the state's Democratic Governor to massively weaken building codes on behalf of the construction industry --- amid increasing threats of a changing climate --- made Hurricane Helene far worse, far more expensive and more deadly for their own constituents than it needed to be.

• And, finally, Desi Doyen joins us for, you guessed it, our latest, very hurricaney, Green News Report...

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