Ring of Fire is a podcast hosted by Farron Cousins that began as a radio show in 2004 by Mike Papantonio. The show focuses on exposing corporate fat cats, polluters and media spinmeisters.

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  • Episode 737: Trump and Our Two-Tiered Justice System
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    29:39

    This week on Ring of Fire!

    As expected, Donald Trump manages to escape justice, yet again. The appeals court decided at the last minute on Monday to not only reduce his bond from $464 million to $175 million, but they also gave him an extra 10 days to pay it. There was no reason at all for the extension or the reduction, but this is the kind of thing that always happens with Donald Trump.

    While speaking to reporters on Monday, Donald Trump suggested that being a convicted felon might actually help him in this year's election. He was referring to the New York hush money case that is heading to trial on April 15th, where he will face an already-angry judge and a jury that likely won't be fond of him. But he's delusional if he thinks a conviction will help him, as every single poll that's asked the question shows that a conviction would cause him to lose.

    President Biden has spent the past few weeks (and days) going hard against Donald Trump, and it is being reflected in the latest rounds of polling. Biden has now surged in 5 swing states while Trump has fallen in nearly all of them over the past month. If the election were held today and followed the polls, Biden would easily cruise to an electoral victory. But he has to maintain this aggressive campaign to be successful.

    Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna went on Fox News this week to talk about the mass exodus of Republican lawmakers from the House, and she accused her Party of a plot to "cripple" themselves. She was referring to the fact that Republicans will now only have a one vote majority, and her anger was directed at those who have resigned this year. But she needs to actually be angry at the extremists in her Party that are pushing everyone out.

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

  • Episode 736: Cash Seems to Be Hard to Come By for Trump; Will Pence Bend the Knee; Update on Document Case
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    36:24

    This week on Ring of Fire!

    Donald Trump's lawyers were finally forced to admit in a court filing on Monday that he does not have the cash available to pay the $464 million bond for the fraud judgement against him in order to appeal the verdict. The lawyers are asking for the judge to simply postpone the posting of the bond until after the appeal, but that's not how things work. Due to the fact that he was rejected by at least 30 underwriters, it is apparent that Trump is a risk for paying at all.

    During a recent speech, Donald Trump referred to the imprisoned Capitol Rioters "hostages," echoing a claim that he's made before and one that has been made by lawmakers like Marjorie Taylor Greene for years. Trump also admitted that he'll pardon these people, and these two statements were the breaking point for Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence. In an interview on Fox News, Pence not only trashed Trump for calling these people "hostages," but said that he will not be endorsing Trump.

    During a podcast interview this week, Trump lawyer Alina Habba said that she is confident that she will get the $464 million fraud verdict against Donald Trump dismissed upon appeal. Ironically, this interview was conducted BEFORE Trump's lawyers had to tell the court that he's not able to pay the bond, which means that the appeal might not even be able to happen. There's a good chance that Trump could see his properties be taken away from him, all while the arrogant Habba swears everything will be ok.

    And Judge Aileen Cannon delivered an absolutely insane ruling on Monday evening as part of her jury instructions to both federal prosecutors and Trump's legal team. The ruling says that members of the jury have to be given access to the highly sensitive classified documents that were uncovered at Mar-a-Lago - and if Jack Smith doesn't allow that, then they jury will be instructed to assume that they were all personal documents that rightfully belonged to Donald Trump.

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

  • Episode 735: The Return of George Santos? Kellyanne the Tik Tok Lobbyist? Trump to Cut Social Security and Medicare?
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    34:14

    This week on Ring of Fire!

    George Santos isn't worried about the prospect of spending the next few decades in prison, and he's already making plans for the next few years. Santos announced just a few days ago that he is once again running for Congress, this time trying to unseat Republican Represenative Nick LaLota for New York's First Congressional district seat. Santos has more important things to worry about, but he would rather get media attention than fret over his upcoming criminal trial.

    Kellyanne Conway is taking a break from her role of teaching Republicans how to talk about women's issues to take on a new task: Preventing the government from banning TikTok. And her conservative peers are furious about her new crusade. Fox News host Mark Levin lashed out at Conway over the weekend, saying that it wasn't just "appalling" that she's being paid to protect TikTok, but also that it was "shocking." For once, Conway might be on the correct side of an issue, and that's making conservatives very angry.

    During an interview on CNBC this week, Donald Trump decided to torpedo his presidential campaign by saying that there are lots of things you can do in terms of cutting "entitlement" programs, which means Social Security and Medicare. If this is what Trump is going to campaign on, he is going to lose the largest voting demographic for Republicans, which happens to be people on Social Security and Medicare.

    Donald Trump's cronies that are now in charge of the Republican National Committee have begun purging employees, with dozens let go so far this week. These people are being let go because the new leadership wants to make sure that they have people who are loyal only to Trump, and that's not going to end well for the Party.

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

  • Episode 734: SCOTUS Disappoints in Trump Ruling; Ted Cruz in Trouble in Texas; Boebert's Family Drama Continues
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    33:41

    This week on Ring of Fire!

    The United States Supreme Court handed down their predictable ruling on Monday that allows Donald Trump to stay on the ballot this year. This is what was widely expected, but it certainly flies in the face of the language of the Constitution. However, their unanimous ruling did leave the door open for potential challenges in the future.

    The latest polling out of the state of Texas has some horrific news for Ted Cruz. The poll shows that Cruz is in a dead heat with his Democratic opponent Colin Allred, with both men recording 41% of the vote right now. While these numbers are bad for Cruz, they do leave a LOT of room for undecided voters to give one candidate an edge to win in a landslide, and there's a good chance many of these voters break for Cruz by election day.

    According to reports, Lauren Boebert had to skip a recent campaign event - instead sending her campaign manager to speak - as she was busy dealing with more family drama. The reports say that Boebert's ex husband had been threatening to throw all of her belongings into a pond, so Boebert had to skip the event to make sure this didn't happen. Is this really what the people in Colorado want to have to deal with with their elected officials?

    And Donald Trump's lawyers begged Judge Lewis Kaplan for a third time to postpone the due date of the $83 million judgement against Trump for another 30 days, but Kaplan doesn't appear to be ready to give Trump any kind of extension. The former President is freaking out, and his panicked motions to the judge are all the proof that we need of that fact. If the judge doesn't grant the delay, E. Jean Carroll's lawyers might move to start seizing his properties next week.

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

  • Episode 733: RNC Now Under Trump Rule; Haley In or Out? Is Shut Down Inevitable
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    37:17

    This week on Ring of Fire!

    Donald Trump is getting everything that he wanted from the Republican Party with Ronna McDaniel announcing her retirement on Monday. McDaniel had played coy about media reports saying she was retiring after the South Carolina primary for weeks, but ultimately did exactly what was predicted. Now Trump will have the ability to completely take over the Party, and that could be the beginning of the end of the GOP forever.

    On Monday, Donald Trump's lawyers filed a notice of appeal for the ruling against him in the New York fraud trial. However, in order to actually appeal the ruling, the defendant - Trump - has to put a sizable portion of the judgement against him into an escrow account for the court, and reports do not mention that this has been one. If Trump doesn't put up the money, the appeal cannot actually begin.

    Donald Trump may have beaten Nikki Haley in the South Carolina primary this past weekend, but that doesn't mean that things are going well for his campaign. In fact, things are going worse than ever behind the scenes. Not only is his campaign being drained of cash because of his legal fees, but he's also suffering from a severe lack of enthusiasm as the crowds showing up to his rallies continue to get smaller.

    And hard-line Republican extremists in the House are pushing the US towards a government shutdown this Friday if their terrorist-like demands aren't met. With a deadline of Friday, March 1st, quickly approaching, negotiations for a budget deal have once again stalled because the extremist GOP members in the House want to gut Biden's climate initiatives, cut the salaries of cabinet officials, and enact a slew of anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion measures.

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