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Transcript

Dodgers Defy ICE, Donald Two Weeks, and Happy Juneteenth!

Today’s Top Political News with Mary Trump

[Transcript edit for readability]

Earlier, I was reading the news, as I often do, and I was trying to think of something I want to talk about tonight, and I honestly blanked. Because sometimes—you may be able to relate to this—sometimes it feels like the news is just bad, right?

Now, I understand that corporate and traditional media are primed to give us only the bad news. And that's always been a huge problem. Humanity has not evolved beyond clickbait, it seems. Good news doesn't sell.

However, we try to ignore that impulse, quite frankly, because it is so important—so important—that we remember that there are a lot of good things happening in this world, and there are a lot of people doing great work. That can coexist with the other truth: that a lot of the news is bad, and it's serious, and it's consequential.

Whatever the news is, it shouldn't short-circuit my brain so that I can't think of any of the good stuff, right?

So just before we started, I wanted to remind myself as much as you that there is so much good. There are so many people continuing to fight the good fight. So many of us are on the right side of history.

I've talked to you guys about my friend E. Jean Carroll's new book coming out, her court victories. I had the great privilege of having a couple of conversations with her today. And her case embodies a couple of things. One, the fact that it is possible. It is possible. If you have the truth on your side and you have a community in place that is willing to fight for you and you have the guts to, you can prevail over somebody as horrific and criminal and depraved as Donald Trump.

What E. Jean also reminds me is that there are people like her in the world. She has been through it in ways you can't even imagine. And she is literally the most upbeat, optimistic, positive person I have ever known. She's an example to all of us.

And then, of course, at the community level, we have people—friends, neighbors, coworkers, bosses—showing up in numbers to protect the people in their communities ICE is trying to come in and illegally detain and perhaps disappear.

I truly do think that we are reaching a point of critical mass in this country.

Now, of course, we need to pay attention to all of the things that are weakening America—all of the dangers that are posed by the Trump regime, obviously—because that's all still going on, and that is what we are fighting against in part.

But I do think we must remind ourselves to take a moment now and then to think about not just what we're fighting against, but how many of us there are fighting for it. Because that's everything.

And we're making a difference. We don't have to wait for anybody to do that work for us. Because as we continue to see, as people keep showing up, as people keep protesting and marching and celebrating—despite the potential risks—we know that we're enough.

Let’s dive in.

Hi, everybody. Welcome to tonight’s episode of Mary Trump Live. It is wonderful to be here with you.

So, as Donald continues to use ICE to ramp up and implement his deportation agenda, the fight between the Trump regime and the resistance movement continues.

Today, in California, tensions rose as ICE tried to gain entry to Dodger Stadium. Let’s take a look at the scene today as reported by KTLA-5 Los Angeles:

“Those federal agents were right here behind us at the entrance to Gate E here. They've now been escorted on the other side. Want to take you right up to Sky Five, keeping an eye on those federal immigration agents leaving Dodger Stadium here. At this point, we know they've been here for several hours.

This group here, where we're located, told them to get out of the area. We are hearing reports, according to the LA Times and people here on the ground, that these agents reportedly attempted to enter the stadium property, but were told they could not stay here. While this parking lot is adjacent to Dodger Stadium, it is owned by the team's former owner, billionaire Frank McCourt.

Again, those ICE agents now being told they cannot be here. Back out here live on the ground, we can tell you that this group here—they say they want these agents gone.”

Yes. So do we all.

The scene was chaos as ICE agents, protesters, and media gathered outside of the team parking lot. The purpose of the ICE operation remains unclear, because agents declined to answer questions posed to them by outlets like the Los Angeles Times.

So we don’t really have any information about what operation they were ostensibly conducting.

Luckily, the Dodgers were having none of it. And they released a tweet clearly rebuking Donald’s deportation agenda. It reads:

“This morning, ICE agents came to Dodger Stadium and requested permission to access the parking lots. They were denied entry to the grounds by the organization. Tonight’s game will be played as scheduled.”

Straightforward and to the point. This is exactly what we need—powerful organizations like the Dodgers standing up for what’s right.

So what did ICE do in response?

They turned around and they left.

These guys are cowards. These are the guys who are really tough when they’re going after thirty-year-old grad students while wearing masks. But when confronted with enough people speaking truth to power—and when rebuked by a powerful organization like the Los Angeles Dodgers—they run away.

That is what can happen if we refuse to roll over for Donald of all people, and the sycophants and enablers in his orbit.

Another major player in holding Donald accountable is—and should be—the media.

Now, this has not always been the case. Even though there has long been a feud between Donald and the media—or I should say, let me put it this way: Donald has been attacking the media and members of it for years now. But it looks like things are getting personal.

A journalist was detained by ICE while covering the No Kings parades this weekend.

The journalist is Mario Guevara. He's from El Salvador but has been in the United States for over twenty years and is not a legal permanent resident or citizen. But he has a valid work permit and a Social Security number.

Luckily, Guevara and his lawyers are fighting back. Guevara’s legal team plans to challenge his detention and to try to find him a path to legal status—along with the backing of his family, who is fighting tooth and nail to get to the bottom of why this happened in the first place.

But thanks to new limits imposed by the Department of Homeland Security, it may be harder than ever for us to get answers about those who are kidnapped and illegally detained.

The Department of Homeland Security is setting new limits on visits by members of Congress and their staff to immigration enforcement facilities, asserting that ICE has broad power to:

“Deny a request or otherwise cancel, reschedule, or terminate a tour or visit by lawmakers or their staff, under a number of circumstances, including operational concerns, or if facility management or other officials deem it appropriate to do so.”

Here’s the thing though: under existing federal law, members of Congress can make unannounced oversight visits to immigration facilities that, quote, “detain or otherwise house aliens.”

But the new policy specifies that ICE field offices are not subject to those requirements, despite the fact that detained immigrants have been held in some of those offices for days, waiting for officials to process their cases.

So to be clear: the Department of Homeland Security is now guiding ICE to break the law and ban congressional access. And they’re doing this simply by reclassifying the facilities that, before now, members of Congress did have access to.

So if our most powerful politicians can’t get access to these facilities—who can?

But that’s the point. These people—these people who are terrorizing American citizens, people who are here legally, or maybe people who don’t have the appropriate paperwork yet but are here to work, to become citizens, to make their lives better, to make the lives of their children better...

Yeah. They’re real tough guys.

As I said before, when they’re going after the most vulnerable among us and wearing masks so they can’t be identified.

But that’s the thing: they don’t want anybody to see what’s really going on behind the scenes—or behind the masks.

So you need to keep an eye on this, because this should not be allowed to stand. Denying members of Congress access to these facilities in order for them to find out what is really going on and make decisions based on that information is unconscionable.

Okay, so as Donald’s troubles here are seeming to get worse, so are his troubles overseas—because he’s Donald.

He has unleashed threats toward Iran, leaving Americans uncertain as to whether or not we will soon be plunged into war by the least competent, least qualified Commander-in-Chief in American history.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt held a press conference in order to answer questions about Iran—or actually, I’m not really sure why she held a press conference, because it seems like the last thing she was prepared to do was answer questions about Iran.

When asked directly about Donald’s timeline for taking action against a country that has not attacked us, Leavitt gave this very vague response:

“I have a message directly from the president, and I quote, ‘Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.’ That’s a quote directly from the president for all of you today.”

Wow. A quote directly from him. That’s like the only direct thing about that whole statement.

Seriously, what is happening here? Are we going to war with Iran or not?

I mean, think about this: in that statement, Donald basically said, “Negotiations that may or may not happen.” He’s basically—what does that even mean?

He’s been threatening war for days. I’m pretty sure that suggests that it’s a serious, serious situation. But apparently—hey, we’ll get back to you in two weeks.

This isn’t—we’re not like tracking a package that has been sent to us from some international address. We’re talking about war.

Let me rephrase. He’s been talking about war. We’ve just been waiting to find out what the hell is in his head, because he claims to know, but he also claims that nobody else does.

But, of course, as soon as Leavitt said it, I had this sense of déjà vu.

I mean, where have we heard “this will happen in two weeks” before, right?

Donald does have this obsession with certain increments—certain numbers. Like, he’s always suing somebody for $100 million or something.

So... we have heard this before, right?

TikTok ban. War with Iran. It’s all the same.

Two weeks. “Get back to you.”

By the way, you know what happens almost every single time?

Two weeks pass—and either everybody forgets about it, or he gives himself another two-week extension.

I think we need to consider the possibility that all of this is just a way for Donald to keep people guessing.

Who’s going to get the rose, right? (If you know that reference—congratulations.)

It’s just a way to change the subject, to keep himself in the headlines, to keep the cameras trained on him, waiting for his every word, hanging on his every decision.

Meanwhile, he doesn’t know at all what he’s going to do.

So what is the future—what is in store for us and our relations with Iran?

I don’t know. Because Donald cannot stick to his word. And he certainly has a serious problem with deadlines—because he can’t make decisions.

It’s very difficult to make decisions when you know nothing.

So while the Trump regime is scrambling, Americans across the United States are celebrating something legitimate today.

This is an important national holiday. It took way too long for it to become a national holiday. So I want to wrap up the news today by wishing everybody a Happy Juneteenth.

Every single American should celebrate this holiday, because this marks the time—back in 1866—that U.S. Army troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to inform some of the last enslaved Americans that they were finally, at long last—after eight generations of having their people enslaved—free.

Enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation, which President Abraham Lincoln had issued more than two years earlier, on January 1st, 1863.

Today is considered a liberation day for Black Americans across the country and was recently made a national holiday by President Biden—which, I mean, took a little too long, didn’t it?

I’ll leave it to you to figure out which political party stood in the way.

Events like Opal’s Walk for Freedom, an annual celebration, took place in Fort Worth, Texas this afternoon. And here’s more on that from CBS News:

“It is Juneteenth, and that means Opal’s Walk for Freedom took place in Fort Worth, Texas. The annual two-and-a-half mile walk symbolizes the two and a half years it took for freedom news to reach enslaved people in Texas.

The 98-year-old educator and activist behind it—often referred to as the grandmother of Juneteenth—was unable to take part this year, so she asked her granddaughter to lead the walk in her place.

Although Juneteenth is an African-American holiday, it is not just for African-Americans. It’s not just for Texans. It is a national holiday that allows people to find themselves in the Juneteenth story.”

She says she and her grandmother are working to expand the walk to one city in all fifty states—including a walk in the nation’s capital next year.

These events are critical in celebrating our history—especially now, while the fascist Republicans are trying to erase it.

Celebrations just like Opal’s work are happening across the country, despite overcoming some challenges—which, given the current climate, isn’t surprising, even if it’s disappointing.

Kenneth Adams, the organizer of Juneteenth celebrations in Bend, Oregon said:

“Given the nationwide climate, we’re heavily about making sure that people are safe.”

But despite fear surrounding large gatherings—thanks to Donald’s use of police violence and encouragement of police violence against American citizens—today is said to be a celebration across the country of the liberation, finally at long last, of enslaved Black Americans.

There’s another thing that’s keeping celebrations smaller than they might otherwise be—and that is the fact that many American corporations, because of the Trump regime’s hideous DEI policies, are no longer funding Juneteenth celebrations in many, many towns.

So they’re either being canceled entirely or they’re much smaller than they would otherwise be.

I just want to make some—I want to echo what was said in that last clip.

This is not an African-American holiday. This is an American holiday.

Every single person in this country should be grateful that slavery was finally ended. It’s an opportunity for us—especially those of us, whether we know it or not, whether we admit it or not, whether we like it or not—who benefited from the system that kept Black people enslaved, and then repressed, and then terrorized, and then marginalized.

We have a lot of work to do in this country. And we are not going to be able to do any of it unless and until we embrace the fact that there is no separate Black history. Black history is American history.

And nothing is going to change unless and until those of us who continue to benefit from a system that has not recognized the grievous harms done to the Black community over the centuries—unless we acknowledge that—we’re going to keep getting people in office like Donald Trump.

So let’s celebrate. But while we’re celebrating, let’s also do a little soul-searching.

Okay. Happy Juneteenth.

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