[00:00:04] Broadcasting live from atop the Rocky Mountains, the crossroads of the West, you are listening to the Liberty Roundtable Radio Talk Show. All right, we ought to go get an RC and a moon pie. Happy to have you along, my fellow Americans. I'm Sam Bushman. Southern Poverty Law Center Scandals. Yeah, an event like you've never seen before at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
[00:00:32] Trump says negotiations with Iran are going great, except we might go back to war. White House signals that Congress will look at this thing. The United States and G7 allies are meeting. The Supreme Court's rejected Carter Page's bid. Fox announced plans to purchase Roku. A new analysis finds that Americans could face the highest summer electricity bills ever. We're just getting started.
[00:00:59] Happy to have you along, my fellow Americans. I'm Sam Bushman. I've got my dear friend James Edwards with me, talk show host in his own right, ThePoliticalCesspool.org, every Saturday night, live or on demand at ThePoliticalCesspool.org. He's the author of a book called Racism, Schmachism, and a well-known commentator. He used to be on CNN, but he's graduated to Liberty Roundtable Live. Welcome back, sir.
[00:01:21] It's great to be back with you, Sam. CNN could never compile a collection of news stories like you can, my friend, every single day here, and it's hard to know where even to begin. You've set the table well a lot to talk about this hour. Well, you see, you need to have an RC and a moon pie, I'm thinking. Maybe not a moon pie. Moon pie is a very southern thing. That's right. Yes, it is. And by the way, the reason you've got to have an RC is because moon pies are dry.
[00:01:53] But they're good, and they're a staple, and they're everywhere across the South. But, you know, McDonald's had their own pie. They're just apple pie, not moon pie. And McDonald's announces the return of the iconic fried apple pie to U.S. locations starting June 23rd in celebration of America's 250, James.
[00:02:16] They say they originally introduced this pie back in 1968, a year after I was born, by a Tennessee franchisee. What's this guy's name? Lytton Cochran? And I guess the apple pie from McDonald's was just iconic ever since. It was discontinued in 1992 in favor of a baked version, which nobody really likes, comparatively speaking.
[00:02:45] Nevertheless, they didn't care. But this whole release or return of the, quote, McDonald's fried apple pie is basically iconic to celebrate 250. And they're actually installing a 35-foot apple pie sculpture on Route 66 near Chicago until my birthday, July the 4th.
[00:03:09] This nostalgic reintroduction, they say, will help customers kind of remember McDonald's from their childhood. James, did you eat the apple pies, buddy, or just the moon pies? Just the moon pies, actually, because that apple has fruit in it. Those apple pies. You don't eat fruit either? Fruit and vegetables. Well, bananas. You know, we'll do bananas. But this. No apples? Well, no, no apples. Wow. James, come on now.
[00:03:38] Even an apple pie laden with sugar and fried like they do with apple pie. Come on now. That definitely helps its odds, but still not quite enough. You know, if it's a chocolate pie or something, we can talk. But the whole thing, you know, how does this tie into America's 250th? Well, you've heard the idiom. It's as American as motherhood and apple pie. This is something that represents, you know, core values and universal truths and feel-good platitudes that are widely considered good and virtually impossible to oppose.
[00:04:08] The interesting thing about McDonald's, if anybody doesn't know the history of McDonald's, there's a great movie. I mean, a really good movie starring Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc, who came to acquire the McDonald's name from the McDonald brothers who originally founded it. Just a fascinating story there. And one of the things that these franchises were doing that he put an end to was when he would franchise these McDonald's locations out across the country.
[00:04:35] I mean, he was responsible, Ray Kroc was responsible for expanding McDonald's into the universal conglomerate that it is today. But some of these franchisees would introduce different things on the menu like fried chicken and green beans and all kinds of stuff. And he put an end to that and made it a little more uniform. But an interesting story behind McDonald's. But it is the 250th. Is it a movie called The Founder, James? Yeah, the movie is called The Founder starring Michael Keaton of Batman fame, the 1989 version with Jack Nicholson. And Michael Keaton, big actor.
[00:05:05] But it is a good movie. I do like it. It's interesting if you don't know the back story there. I guess Ray Kroc would kind of be the villain in that story. He sort of swindled the McDonald's name from the original founders and just used the name because he said the name is what was going to sell the product. It's an all-American name. So now you're talking about bringing the all-American apple pie back for the 250th anniversary. It's hard to believe that it's only two weeks now left, two or three weeks left until Independence Day.
[00:05:32] And we've been teasing it for a while on Saturday night on my program. But we're going to do a big three-hour show on where America stands a quarter of a millennium into its existence, which still by nationhood standards is very much in its infancy compared to something like Rome or some of these other nations. It's Italy, Rome, of course, being the eternal city.
[00:05:55] And there's just not – Sam, it doesn't seem to me that there is a lot of enthusiasm for what should be a pretty big event in a nation's history, 250. You go back 50 years to the last time – Yeah, go ahead. I think I can tell that. That's a big part of it. I mean, there's no doubt about it. People are hurting. It's hard to get excited when you're being pinched like this. And that is undeniably a fundamental part of why I think it just doesn't seem like there's much buildup.
[00:06:23] The last time you had a big milestone like this, the 200th anniversary back in, what, 1976, there's a little more enthusiasm. But right now, I mean, in addition to everybody hurting, there's just – when you have a society like this that is comprised of so many different nationalities and cultures, you just don't have – you know, what does it even mean to be an American anymore? There's just not – people that have a lot of connection to the historic nation.
[00:06:50] And, you know, of course, a lot of people that have been brought in regard our history as offensive and racist and even evil. And meanwhile, a lot of traditional Americans, you know, European Americans, especially those who are young, are, as you say, disillusioned with this entire project, especially when they have to go buy gas or try to buy a house or health insurance or anything like that. Well, and then you put your hopes on Donald Trump and the team. You give them a chance in 2016. They do pretty well. And you think, man, they got kind of punked by the deep state.
[00:07:20] They were in over their head. They didn't quite realize. But look, give them round two. They'll do better. And they've done some great things, no doubt about it. But at the same time, you're kind of going, wow, now the Democrats are gaining steam. We're about to lose the midterms, which means we didn't do near as well as we had hoped to do. We warned them and told them they only had six months to a year, maybe a year and a half at best, to get some significant things under their belt that they could tout and promote. And, you know, the economy was key.
[00:07:46] And we know war and peace and backing away from war and bringing our troops home and all these different awesome things, abolishing the education department and getting, you know, a lot of these things done. People really had a lot of hope. And now basically the hope has turned into hopium. It's not even real. And the sad part is people know it. Now, Trump's done a great job on many, many, many fronts. People are attacking me because they say that I am not kind or fair to Trump. That's wrong. I think Trump's done a lot of good.
[00:08:13] I think he's crossed the boundaries of constitutionality. And when he does that, I complain. Nevertheless, I think he's the best president in our lifetime. I think he's done more for pro-life than any other president. I think he's really done his best to change the culture from being a promote gay and lesbian, bisexual, transgender, perversion culture to more of a traditional male and female created he them culture. He talks about God more than any other president in my lifetime. He really wants to, you know, get out of wars.
[00:08:43] I do believe that even though he's been drug into war by the war hawks, etc. And so I'm not here to trash Donald. I think that pretty much Congress has undermined President Trump. And of all the deep state entities that could take Trump's true America first agenda, strong borders, America first, this kind of stuff is Congress. I mean, you know, Mike Johnson, in my opinion, has really basically opposed Congress or opposed President Trump at every single turn. And that to me is very, very sad.
[00:09:12] And I think Trump needs to realize that some of these people aren't his friends. They publicly praise him and talk the talk. But when it comes to walking the walk or getting anything done, nothing happens. Tariffs is the best example I can give you, too. When it comes to tariffs, hey, Trump's done a great job at saying tariffs are the key. Let's crank up the external IRS. Let's deal with countries the way they deal with us. In other words, let's have a little bit more kind of a mirroring of what's going on. If they want to play the game economically, supply and demand and free markets, by all means, let's partner and trade and do great.
[00:09:41] But the more they dump on the dump products on society, the more they play these manipulative games, the more they use the trade imbalances for war, etc. The more we're going to go against them. Trump's right on that 100 percent. But Congress has done nothing to back Trump really on the border, on tariffs. We need to get rid of the internal IRS. Trump has talked about that. Congress has done nothing to put some bills in place.
[00:10:06] They should have had a bunch of bills in place right when Trump started talking before he even took office the second time to deliver. But at the end of the day, I don't think Congress, we've got the biggest do-nothing Congress we've seen in our whole lifetimes while we're supposed to be cranking out the Trump America first agenda. Now Trump then gets stuck, so he crosses the line. Is it right? No. Is it constitutionally a problem? Yes. Do I blame him? No. No. When we get back, I want to know what James thinks of that analysis.
[00:10:35] Then I want to tell you this return of the apple pie is huge. And the McDonald's movie is called The Founder. You've got to watch that. And then we'll talk about the scandal at the Southern Poverty Law Center because that's no shortage of news either. I'm Sam Bushman. You're watching the one and only Liberty Roundtable Live. What does it mean to be an American?
[00:11:00] 250 years ago, our founders pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor in pursuit of liberty and self-government. Now, on America's 250th anniversary, you're invited to join fellow citizens in Philadelphia for a historic gathering dedicated to renewing that spirit. 1776 to 2026, a pledge renewed. This is more than a convention. It's a call to courageous citizenship.
[00:11:27] Join Americans from every background and walk of life as we learn to listen better, engage respectfully, build trust across differences, and strengthen the bonds that hold our nation together. Together, we'll explore how ordinary citizens can help build a stronger, freer, and more united America. June 25 through June 28, 2026, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Register today at BraverAngels.org. Join the conversation. Renew the pledge. Help shape America's next 250 years.
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[00:12:21] So purchase your delicious raw honey today at LocalHoneyMan.com. All right, back with you live, ladies and gentlemen, James Edwards, Sam Bushman. We're talking about McDonald's. The movie's called The Founder, created in 2016. You've got to check it out. Quite educational, to say the least. And believe it or not, speaking of the economy stupid, there is what's called the Big Mac Index. I don't know how many people know about this, but back in the day, they said, hey, man, you've got buns.
[00:12:51] That's bread. You've got cheese. That's milk, dairy, all that kind of stuff. You've got meat. You've got onions. And so you've got vegetables and lettuce, and you've got the secret sauce for the Big Mac, and that covers it. So you can do a Big Mac Index, and believe it or not, over the years, it's been proven incredibly accurate. It's strange how that works. But we've got to dig in and see how much the average cost of a Big Mac is. Then you can see how the economy is doing. But there you have that, James. I just thought I'd kind of bring that to your attention.
[00:13:19] But it's really the economy that matters here, I think, for the midterms, for everything. I mean, we don't want to be at war. We wish we could get a lot of things accomplished. Trump has talked about. But really, the economy is at the core of it. What do you think of my assessment, though? I think overall, you're on point there. Of course, Trump going to war against his own allies. He does have this cult of personality. And basically, MAGA is whoever will fillet him.
[00:13:44] And if you're somebody who's standing on principle like Marjorie Taylor Greene, then all of a sudden you may not be MAGA, even though people like her were the ones who agreed with his stated vision through the campaigns. So, you know, when you're talking about the deficiencies of Congress, some of that may be his own doing. But it's interesting. I just had talking about the midterms coming up and the overall vibe of where we stand now.
[00:14:14] I just did an interview with our good friend Lou Moore. He hosts his hour of decision on this network. Ron Paul is former campaign manager. Spent six years in D.C. as a congressional chief of staff. He's on our side, but he knows how the system works. And he knows politics as well as anybody. I mean, he is a political professional and a savant.
[00:14:35] And just did a big interview with him for the American Free Press newspaper, just sort of assessing the situation here post-Massey and still a few months prior to November. And he's saying, you know, certainly it doesn't look good. And he goes into a lot of reasons. It also reminds me of how fast a year can change.
[00:14:54] Had another friend on the program last Saturday who, like you, Sam, spoke at our Will to Power conference in South Carolina, which was a year ago this month. So that conference wrapped up on June the 1st of last year.
[00:15:16] And it was hastily put together, hastily in so much as the idea to do a conference to sort of tap into the momentum that we were seeing in the early days and weeks after Trump was reelected. You remember that flurry of executive orders, you know, the freeing of the J6 prisoners. A lot was going on those first few weeks of 2025 when he first reassumed office that it created a lot of energy and a lot of momentum.
[00:15:44] And so collectively, you'll, of course, recall that we had this idea to put together this huge conference that featured a collection of people that I can't remember having been assembled before. You had current and former congressmen, U.S. House representatives. You had members of parliament from Europe there. You had sitting senators, sitting and former high-level elected officials and aspiring candidates all there talking about the issues.
[00:16:14] And there was so much energy and so much hope about what we'd be able to do over the course of the next couple of years and four years into Trump's second term. And 12 days later, you had the first bombing of Iran. And a lot of that energy just dissipated. And we had a gentleman on who spoke at that conference last Saturday talking about how much has changed from June of 25 to June of 26.
[00:16:36] And going back to talking with Lou Moore, who was also a speaker of that conference, by the way, there's still time for things to change again. I mean, from June to November is still an eternity in politics. Things can change. But right now it is not tracking well. And you just sort of feel it right now. You feel it in the atmosphere, in the final days running up to the 250th birthday of the country. You feel it if you're a conservative.
[00:17:03] You feel it if you have to buy anything in this economy. Just not a good feel, Sam, right now, which is 100% heel turn to where we were a little more than a year ago when there was so much. You're right about that. And again, I think the economy is at the core of it. I think going to war is at the core of it. I think a lot of promises that were made, they overpromised and underdelivered. That never, ever, ever, as far as I can tell, goes well.
[00:17:31] And I think there's a couple of simple things they could do to solve that. If Trump really comes out with an agreement on Friday like he's saying he's going to, right now the problem is he's talked big that there's this incredible agreement. And world leaders are praising Trump over it. You know, he's taking a hard line and getting her done. And, you know, Iran saying we agree with it and everything else. But, you know, what's the real truth? And what does the agreement look like? And the answer is nobody knows is the problem. Nobody knows. So we'll see on Friday how serious it is. He said he was going to sign it last Sunday and he didn't.
[00:18:01] And so he keeps making these promises that just, you know, continue to get pushed back, pushed back, pushed back. You know, the promise that, hey, we're going to get to the bottom of vote fraud. Now we see a little bit of stuff in California about vote fraud, local elections. We see a few things. We haven't seen mass arrests and mass vote fraud documentation and evidence coming out and prosecutions and all this kind of stuff. And so, you know, it makes you want to just go back and eat a RC and a moon pie. I'm in an apple pie.
[00:18:28] Go ahead and have a Big Mac and say, man, well, the index sucks, but at least I can eat a Big Mac still. And, you know, people are kind of to that level right now. And I think what you need to do to turn it around is create peace so we're out of the war. Start working on the economy. And the only way to really improve the economy is to decrease expenses at government. It would build confidence. And the way you do that is you need to abolish the income tax and give the American people a relief. You've already cranked up the revenue side.
[00:18:55] Now give us relief because if you crank up the revenue side on the external side but not on the internal side, you've just created more taxes, not less. People know that intuitively, whether they can articulate it economically speaking or not, James. They know. Don't be fooled. They know. Your thoughts? You know, I tell you, you might have found the silver bullet, the ultimate elixir to turn everything around for Trump.
[00:19:20] I will guarantee you that even if it's something that he couldn't deliver on, and as you say, you want to be the guy that under-promises and over-delivers and not the inverse, which is unfortunately where we've been on some things. On some things he's done well, and I mean, again, we've been debating that for the last 11 years, the pros and the cons. But I still maintain he's done incredibly well. He's just been undermined by everybody on his own team. Well, and he's certainly fallen on his own grenades. He's fallen on his own grenades a few times, too. But I would say this.
[00:19:49] Yeah, but you wonder if he had a team backing him, though, if there'd be a lot less grenades and a lot more unity going on. But when you've got the fighting from the other side, plus in your own party, in your own ranks, no wonder he's firing grenades everywhere. It's hard to blame him, really, for that. If he came out, even with an idle promise of saying, we're going to get rid of the income tax, you put us back, you put the Republicans back in power in the midterms,
[00:20:15] you let us maintain our advantages, we're going to work to get rid of the income tax. That would be enough to do it, I think. Now, of course, as smart as we are, there has to be somebody who's probably considered that. If it was just as easy as doing it, maybe somebody would have done it before. But imagine being a Democrat trying to oppose something like that, as fantastical as it may sound. But all you've got to have is sound bites to win elections, you know, give people a little hopium. And they'll go with it.
[00:20:42] But, I mean, something like that would, if it's something that's going to benefit, number one, it's going to benefit a person's bottom line, they'll forgive a lot if it's going to help them at home and help them put food on the table and give them some hope for the future with regards to this economy. Now, how do you supplement that income? You got that right, James. I did figure it out. How much do you think the cost of a Big Mac is on the average across the United States and worldwide right now, buddy?
[00:21:09] If you level all the world's currencies to the United States, to the dollar and everything else, how much does a Big Mac cost? Are you talking about the combo that comes with the fries and the drink? Nope, just the Big Mac, buddy. So if you go there and you order just the Big Mac entree, no sides, no combo. Hello, sir. What can I get for your order? I'd like one Big Mac, please. No fries, no drink. No, I'm going to go just for the hamburger, five bucks.
[00:21:39] Six bucks, buddy. Six. That was my second choice. Okay. Now, I don't mean to be rude, but when you look at fast food and you say, hey, man, a burger like a Big Mac is six bucks. And if I go to five guys or something else, it's more like eight, nine, ten bucks for just the hamburger. But number one, the hamburger is bigger at, say, five guys. You know, they do like one third pound burgers and stuff like that. It's bigger than a Big Mac is.
[00:22:07] A Big Mac is smaller than a quarter pounder. Factually speaking, it just seems big because it's got those three buns. Right. But at the end of the day, a Big Mac isn't that much meat necessarily. I'd have to look it up, but I think it's less than a quarter pounder even or whatever. And so I'm just saying other people are beating McDonald's even at their own game. Fast food isn't fast food anymore is the problem, right? I mean, it's so expensive. I'd rather spend a little bit more and get real food and sit down at a quality place.
[00:22:35] When I go to McDonald's half the time, my order's wrong and everything else, right? Well, of course, McDonald's is the economic option. I don't want to say necessarily the bottom of the barrel as far as fast food chains go. But, yeah, you're talking $10 a person for their most basic combo. And so you're talking $40 or $50 for a family to eat at McDonald's now. I mean, that is absolutely untenable. That is the cheapest, most affordable option for most families anywhere in the world.
[00:23:06] All right. So there's two patties on a Big Mac, James. There's two patties. They're very thin. They're very thin. And together, they're 3.2 ounces of meat. You know, the only one that's... So not even a quarter pounder, buddy. You know, when you're talking about small meat packages, although it is so good, it tastes so good. But it's about a millimeter of meat. You know what I'm talking about? It's about a millimeter of actual meat. That's right. I'm talking about the Crystal Burger. You know Crystals down here in the South? They're White Castle.
[00:23:35] They call them in other places and parts of the country. Yeah, I know about White Castle and Crystal, and they do some good burgers for sure. There's Brahms or whatever it is. Brahms? Is that what it's called? Brahms? Yeah, Brahms. Yeah, yeah. They got a bag of burgers that's like $8.50 with cheese or whatever else. You get five burgers. Their burgers are actually pretty dang good. I'm not saying it don't taste good. They put all the chemicals in it to make you addicted to it. You know, my wife was watching. Yeah, stop all that. Give me real meat. Get her done. Give me a real burger.
[00:24:02] Five guys and some of those other people are beating everybody to the punch. And some of these other companies, they better get a clue. Or else nobody will be... It's $100 to take your family to five guys. Yeah, and it's almost that to go to McDonald's. All right. Anyway, there you have it. The Big Mac Index tells the tale. It's the economy. Stupid Donald Trump abolished the IRS for my birthday. I'm looking forward to $250, baby, and I want to see something significant. Let's get her done, Congress. We're counting on you people. Otherwise, we ought to elect a whole new team. What do you think of that? I'm Sam Bushman. I'm with James Edwards.
[00:24:32] Thepoliticalcesspool.org is his website. Mine is LibertyRoundTable.com. We're available everywhere. YouTube, Rumble, X, spread the word, truth social, share the love, and God save the Republic of the United States of America.