Good morning. I’m Thom Hartmann, and you’re watching Raw America. The American legal and political system appears to be unraveling before our very eyes. A Georgia judge just gave Republicans bad news in the must-win swing state. Canada is pivoting away from their long-standing relationship with the US to make deals elsewhere. Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirators are still being shielded by the Justice Department. This isn’t a horror movie, this is America in 2026. And the stakes for our democracy couldn’t be higher.
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Georgia Judge Sounds the Alarm Over FBI’s Raid
Let’s start in Georgia, where Fulton County Superior Court Judge C.I. McBurney just dismissed a lawsuit challenging the 2020 election results in Georgia’s biggest county. The Republican-appointed judge tossed out the case filed by conservative activist Garland Favorito, who’s been pushing election fraud conspiracies for years. Then something unprecedented happened: Trump’s FBI seized the very ballots at the center of the case.
Suddenly, Judge McBurney found himself in a legal twilight zone. The ballots were no longer in his jurisdiction. McBurney wrote that Americans are now “left to hope that the bureau and the Department of Justice handle the ballots and related records with the care required.” Hope. That’s what the legal system has been reduced to. Hope that a DOJ packed with far-right partisan loyalists will properly handle evidence in a case about federal election integrity. McBurney noted the warrant came from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, meaning Georgia’s ballots might be sitting in Missouri right now. This is what happens when the normal legal process gets bulldozed by federal power. Evidence disappears. Courts lose jurisdiction. And the American people lose their right to transparency.
CBS News Boss Incurs Trump’s Wrath
Meanwhile, CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss is learning the hard way what happens when you tarnish a celebrated brand by making it a regime mouthpiece. Weiss became the target of the Trump administration’s wrath after promoting a CBS report showing that less than 14 percent of immigrants arrested by ICE had violent criminal records. The White House’s “Rapid Response 47” account lashed out, calling CBS “fake news” — this despite the right wings own Cato Institute finding that 65 percent of all ICE arrestees had no criminal records whatsoever, and 93 percent had no violent criminal convictions.
It’s worth stressing that Weiss was installed at CBS precisely to make coverage more favorable to the right wing. The White House called CBS “fake news” even after Weiss personally killed a 60 Minutes segment exposing harsh conditions in El Salvador’s mega-prison. This is the difference between journalism and propaganda. And even the propagandists get slapped down the moment they look sideways at the regime.
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Trump Throws Childish Tantrum Directed at Canada
Trump has turned his attention northward, making demands that would be laughable if they weren’t coming from the President of the United States. In a Truth Social post, Trump threatened to block the opening of the new Gordie Howe Bridge connecting Windsor to Detroit unless Canada handed over partial ownership. The $5.7 billion bridge was funded entirely by Canadian taxpayers, who will recoup costs through tolls. Trump also claimed that Xi Jinping would “terminate ALL Ice Hockey being played in Canada” if Prime Minister Mark Carney made a trade deal with China. Canada’s former environment minister Catherine McKenna responded simply: “It’s all a grift.”
Economist Dean Baker summed it up perfectly: Trump negates trade pacts with Canada and then gets upset when Canada looks elsewhere for partnerships. Kick your allies in the teeth, then complain when they find a better deal.
Trump DOJ Continues to Protect Epstein’s Co-Conspirators
Back in Washington, Representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie spent Monday reviewing heavily redacted Epstein documents at the DOJ. Massie is now dropping hints about what those redactions are hiding. He noted that four of eighteen redacted names on one document are men born before 1970, and referenced documents about “a well known retired CEO” from Ohio, almost certainly Les Wexner, the former Victoria’s Secret CEO who appears in over a thousand Epstein documents. Most disturbing was Massie’s revelation about an email where Epstein wrote “I loved the torture video.” Massie identified Dubai’s Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem as the sender and demanded the DOJ make it public. Deputy AG Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, told Massie to stop grandstanding. Massie fired back, correctly noting that the Epstein Files Transparency Act requires redacting victim names — not perpetrators.
These are powerful men with resources and connections, and the Trump administration is keeping their names hidden. Victims and the American public deserve to know the full truth.
This is where America stands today. Courts losing jurisdiction over election evidence. A president demanding ownership of foreign infrastructure. Epstein co-conspirators shielded by government redactions. And partisan media figures bending over backwards for a regime that calls them fake anyway. The system isn’t bending. It’s breaking.
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Thanks for watching. I’m Thom Hartmann, and this is Raw America. Keep fighting. We’ll see you next time.
