Are you here? Whether you know it or not, you’re tuned in to The Paul Leslie Hour.
Joining us for his second exclusive appearance is political analyst and commentator, columnist and author Jeffrey Lord, who’s been telling it like it is for a long time. Jeffrey Lord has tons of insight into the times we’re in – the unprecedented indictment of a United States President! Plus, his predictions on what 2024 has in store.
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The Official Transcript of the Jeffrey Lord Interview
JEFFREY LORD: You know, this has just been a crazy day starting at about seven this morning when I had to be on Houston radio show. And it’s just gone that way all day. At one point I was supposed to be on a Chinese TV thing, that’s the opposition to the CCCP. And they called at the last minute and had to postpone it until next week. And you know, and there was Newsmax and on. It just seems everything’s crowding him together here probably because the holiday is here. And you know, people like me will be vanishing as of tomorrow. Off to a little vacation. So…
Paul Leslie: Well, the last time we spoke, it was Christmas time and you were just about to to venture out on holiday.
Exactly. Eastern Long Island. My mother and dad were born and raised in Riverhead, Long Island, which is right where Long Island splits. It’s right there. It’s the county seat of Suffolk County. And so while they’re long gone, I have a zillion point 2 billion cousins out there, which I always appreciate because I get to stay somewhere where somebody has a place at the beach. And as I always said to my parents, I’m so glad you weren’t born in Kansas.
That’s pretty good. Well, thank you so much for making time to talk with us. We’re certainly in unprecedented times.
Yeah.
No doubt. Yeah, I’m sure, I should ask, did you watch the remarks from Donald Trump last night at Mar-A-Lago?
I certainly did. Absolutely. This is, I think, an extremely serious moment in American history. If we are going to get to the point where we are going to prosecute people because of political differences. Wow! I have a column that I’ve just finished that will run on Friday for the American Spectator, and which I basically say: “Okay, if this is the way this is going to be done, I went through the problems with the Bidens, the Pelosis, the Clintons, AOC and Chuck Schumer, and found specific examples where they have all been accused of violating the law, campaign finance law, or using the Clinton Foundation to raise money, using the State Department to do it. In the Clinton case. For what was labeled, Bill, Inc. Bill Incorporated.
And then Paul and Nancy Pelosi and insider stock stuff, and then their son, Paul, Jr. and his problems. If that’s the road, they want to go down, then, you know, and I understand that Congressman, Jim Comer from Kentucky, the Republican who was now head of the House Oversight Committee, says that he has been actually been contacted by some local prosecutors in different states suggesting that they might indict. You know, a target one of these people: target the Bidens, for example, and trying and indict.
In other words, the same format here, a local prosecutor goes after a national figure for violating A, B or C and, you know, demands that they be arrested, and, you know, indicted arraigned, and all that kind of thing. I mean, this is this is the stuff of banana republics, you know, and, it’s bad stuff.
How do you see the independent voters, the people who don’t consider themselves R or D, how do you think they’re going to interpret this?
Well, I think that’s very interesting. That’s a great question, Paul, because I think that what this has done is wake up all kinds of people to the abuse of power here, that that this implies, and that even people that don’t like Donald Trump are coming to his defense, because they think it’s a massive abuse of power. I mean, inside the Republican Party, you’ve got people like Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush, standing up for him. Well, that’s pretty amazing. Right there, but I think that this is going to have an effect on an independents. And even Republicans that may not like him.
I mean, his poll numbers are soaring, you know, 30 points. And not to mention the telltale in American politics is always the money. You know, decades ago, the 1960s, there was a very powerful California Democrat Speaker of the State House. His name was Jesse Unruh. And he was a big machine politician. And his famous saying was “money is the mother’s milk of politics.” And ol’ Jesse was right about that.
And then, I see in the last couple days that Trump’s donations have soared by $7 million in like two or three days. That’s incredible! That is truly incredible. That’s a lot of mother’s milk there. And it’s happening for one reason that people are really angry about this. So there you go.
I read your column in The American Spectator, and everybody out there can check this out. The title is “D.A Bragg, New York Judge would Rig 2024 Election by Silencing Trump.” Do you think that what it all basically boils down, is an attempt to silence?
Yes, I do. And as a matter of fact, the judge finally decided not to do that after I’d written the column decided not to do that. But what is also going on here, is when is this trial being set for? January. Anything going on in January folks, in relation to the 2024 Presidential Election? I mean, it is so egregiously obvious, what’s being done here. I mean, I mean, this is April, surely they could have a trial in what? May, June, July, August, September, but they’re pushing all the way to January. So that, you know, while the Iowa caucuses are ongoing, And the New Hampshire primary and all the rest of these things.
And, you know, I think that there might be some Machiavellian stuff going on here, that there are Democrats out there that really think they they want Donald Trump to be the nominee because they can defeat him. And so they’re doing their sly best to help him get nominated. I suppose that’s always a possibility. I don’t know. But this is just seriously bad for the American system of government.
And, you know, I worry because you, you’re look at people like China and Vladimir Putin. And, you know, they want to change the world and get rid of the United States of America and our influence in the world and freedom and democracy and all that kind of thing. And they’re looking at this and chuckling, I’m sure, and doing anything they can to urge it on in whatever way that might be.
I’m trying to remember who said this, it might have been Michael Knowles, but he was saying that basically anything that seems like a public relations nightmare: somehow, some way, Donald Trump finds a way to make it a plus. I wanted to get your thoughts on that.
Well, you know, the thing that I think has been an immeasurable help to him and is sort of at the core of his appeal is he hasn’t spent his life in politics. You know, this is the first office he ever held and that he ever ran for. And he spent this entire career building this business. And he told me himself, that when he was starting out, you know, his father was very big in real estate and construction and all that, but it was in Queens. And his father said to him, “Don’t go into Manhattan. We’re Queens people.” And that’s, you know, major league stuff, don’t do it.
So of course, Donald did it. And he told me, he hired a hotel. He rented a hotel room, created a business cards that said, “The Trump Organization,” and he was the only person in it. And then went from there to build what we now know is this mammoth, global straddling empire.
To do that, you have to be incredibly creative, and smart. And I think that all of that has carried over into exactly everything he does. I mean, he, he takes a look at a situation, and he doesn’t see it the way most people do. And so he looks at this situation and says, “How do I turn this to my advantage?” And I think he’s in the process of doing that.
Hmm. Interesting stuff. I really want to get your take on the other Republican candidates. Do you think that they have done a strong enough job of standing up for the former President in this, you know, witch hunt?
Yeah. And I can tell you here just this weekend, this past week, and I live in suburban Harrisburg. Harrisburg being the state capitol. Every year, at this time, I belong to a group known as the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference. And it’s a group of, I think we had 900 people there, this weekend at a massive ballroom, the hotel just up the road from me. And it is, as I describe it, the functional Pennsylvania equivalent of CPAC, with all these conservative activists from all over Pennsylvania coming to this. So it’s a big deal.
And our our major speaker was Governor DeSantis, from Florida. And I can tell you, I had a front row seat. And yeah, he talked about this. He didn’t mention Trump by name. But he went after Alvin Bragg, for sure. And said, you know, if we weaponize the government like this, we’re getting at the very foundations of American government. And then I realized that when he was done there, he went on to an event online and and said the same thing even more so. So he certainly, I can tell you from firsthand has been out there going after Alvin Bragg and attacking all of this and I think, all the others have now with the possible exception of Asa Hutchinson. Who I don’t think is going to get anywhere anyway.
But yeah, Nikki Haley said something and Vivek Ramaswamy. As a matter of fact, in Vivek’s case, I think he even had a TV commercial cut that I saw in which he speaks out on this. So I, you know, I have never in my life in politics seen anything that so has united the Republican Party as this. I mean, it’s a very odd, strange thing. But wow!
You know, when I again when I went to this event this weekend, I was on a panel and I said at one point, you know, “Today, Donald Trump, tomorrow could be anybody in this room.” Well, the applause. I wasn’t doing it for an applause line. I just was, you know, I’m in a panel situation, and I said it to make a point.
All of a sudden, the whole place just absolutely erupted in thunderous applause. I mean, people get it. They really get it. And I think they are. I mean, certainly where I was, they were livid about this. Absolutely livid. And I think that that’s what’s going on all across the Republican base here and Trump supporters are not. It’s a fairly remarkable thing to see.
Well, you bring up an interesting point. And it makes me wonder, you know, with everybody, so many people uniting around the 45th. President, how will somebody who wishes to get the nomination, these other people like Nikki Haley, how could they possibly attack Trump? At any point? Like, will they? You know, what I mean?
Yeah!
it’s gonna be very, very tough considering that he’s being attacked so hard.
Yes, if this had not happened, I mean, arguably, I think he was probably on his road to victory anyway. But now that this has happened. This just I think makes it almost impossible for any of these people when he’s leading. I mean, the strongest among them is is DeSantis. And when I see these polls in the last few days, that he’s leading DeSantis by 30 points, 26 points, whatever. I just think that tells you everything you need to know.
Now, the one caveat I put on this is these are national polls. And of course, we don’t, in the beginning, elect a president or nominate president that wa. So does this affect Iowa? Does this affect New Hampshire? South Carolina? You know, going through it state by state, I think that’s probably still out to be decided, but certainly in the national polls, he’s just clobbering these people. So, we will see.
I wanted to get your take on this also. I’ve never seen the name “George Soros” mentioned so much in the news. You know, all of this evidence coming out about, well, not even evidence, it’s been verified that Soros had financially backed this Alvin Bragg.
Yeah. He gave money to a group. I think it’s called The Color of Change. And then they in turn, gave money to Alvin Bragg. So yes, in essence, whether it’s indirectly or not, his money has wound up in the Bragg campaign situation. And you know, I think more and more people are focusing on what he’s been about with these district attorneys and all this. I live here in Pennsylvania, I’m about two hours west of Philadelphia. And this is burgeoning there as an issue because one of his DA types, Larry Krasner, by name, is there running the show, and the murder rate is going up, and all that kind of thing.
Although, you know, I’m very interested, not that this has anything to do with Soros per se. But this Mayor’s race in Chicago. They’ve got all these problems and the murder rates. I think I saw today that the murder rate in Chicago had increased in the last four years. It was up by 59%. And, you know, similar figures for robberies, and all this kind of thing. And yet, the good people of Chicago have elected a guy who sounds to me not unlike Lori Lightfoot, when it comes to all this and, you know, I just wonder at what point people become so fed up with whatever. And you know, there’s plenty of precedent for this kind of thing in American politics.
I think of, I sit in my library here with books on all the Presidents from, from Washington to Biden, and you get into the section on Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt there in 1928, Secretary of Commerce Hoover, who was a very, very popular figure from World War I when he was appointed by Woodrow Wilson to head a thing that fed and closed Europeans, sort of an early Marshall Plan as it were after the war. And he gained quite a lot of reputation out of that, then became Secretary of Commerce from Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge. Gets overwhelmingly nominated for President in 1928. Overwhelmingly elected, and then the Great Depression hits, and four years later, he was thunderously defeated.
And to me, the lesson of that is that, you know, people want what they want, until suddenly they find they don’t want it anymore, because it’s been bad for them. And I imagine Chicago will at some point, and these other cities will reach that breaking point and walk away from from this, but it says to me, the people of Chicago haven’t reached that point yet. So what can I say?
What do you think of this very controversial figure: George Soros?
Oh, I think he’s just a far leftist with a lot of money is basically what it boils down to. And he’s come up with a plan to disrupt America and American society and all of this to suit his leftist ends. I think the one thing that is way off base and I saw Joe Scarborough, of all people trying to accuse Governor DeSantis of being antisemitic because he goes after Soros.
I mean, nobody cares that George Soros is Jewish, People care about things, because he’s leftist. And a far leftist at that. That’s what it is. It wouldn’t make any difference if he were a Congregationalist. They’d still go after him. I understand why they do that they play. It’s just like playing the race card. But I think it’s a bunch of hokum. I mean, I just think this guy is a very, very committed leftist. I don’t know the full details of his departure from Hungary. But it sounds to me like he’s not in good favor there either. And, became an American citizen and and then started doing all this, this Open Society, business and all of this. And that’s just who he is.
What do you think Biden is to do? I mean, here he is, he’s 80 years old. Next year, he’s got to, or probably by this summer, he has to somehow give an indication of what direction he’s going to go. With such appalling approval numbers, what’s he going to do?
Well, I think that’s the quandary for the Democratic Party, because when you’ve got people in your own party, suggesting ever so politely, you shouldn’t run again. That says something about his his ability, but nonetheless, he is the incumbent President of the United States. And in our political system, if you are in that position, it gives you immense power over your political party, if nothing else. And it certainly sounds to me, like he’s going to run again. And you know, there’s an old joke that the only way to kill political ambition is to, you know, drop it in the Potomac. And drown it. Because other than that, people are just going to keep going and going and going. And I think Joe Biden fits that definition entirely.
I mean, remembering, I mean, not to not to date myself, but quite literally, I was in the beginning of my senior year, or the early stages of my senior year at college, when he was elected to the United States Senate. That would be 1972. He was 29 years old, he would turn 30, in time to be sworn in. And he’s been there ever since. He is a true creature of the swamp. And this is where he’s always wanted to be. There he is. And I don’t think he’s just going to walk away from this. And, you know, it’s not like and, it’s kind of interesting to look back.
I remember, in 1964, LBJ won in a landslide. And four years later, deeply mired in the Vietnam War. And there were some race riots and all this kind of thing. He draws opposition on the anti-war side from Eugene McCarthy, the Senator from Minnesota. And then the wildly popular Robert Kennedy finally decides that he too will make the challenge and he declares on, I’ll never forget this. It was March 16th or 17th. It was either the day of or the day before St. Patrick’s Day of 1968, and he being the Senator from New York, you know, he, he was off to march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York. Well, we get to March 30th, and LBJ comes on television screens to report on the Vietnam War and progress and all that. And he goes through the whole thing, and then out of the blue says that what he’s doing is so important, so that I will not seek, nor will I accept the nomination of my party as your President. Wow.
Everybody, everybody was just totally astonished at this. They didn’t see it coming. And it changed everything dramatically. And suddenly, the whole situation with McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy, became a big deal. And then Vice President Hubert Humphrey carrying the LBJ flag jumped in. And then of course, Senator Kennedy was assassinated, and they wound up with Hubert Humphrey.
My point being, that this kind of stuff can change, if you’re an incumbent President it can change if you’re anybody, but if you’re an incumbent President, and you lose control of your party, and particularly when you’ve gone from an all powerful position, like LBJ did, where he was, “Landslide, Lyndon,” as they jokingly called him in 1948. But where he really had won a landslide for President no less. And then the whole thing dissolves. They have a hard time coping with that. And I just don’t think it’s in Joe Biden’s genes to say, “I’m gonna walk away from this,” after spending a lifetime trying to get there. And not to put too fine a point on this, but I don’t think Dr. Jill wants to walk away from it either.
Yeah, I feel the same way.
And, you know, Paul, maybe I’ve said this to you before, but you know, the Woodrow Wilson tale, where he he’s President during World War I. And in 1919, goes over to Paris to negotiate the Treaty of Versailles, and gets the League of Nations put in there. Then he comes back and the League of Nations is unpopular with Republicans in the Senate. So he decides, Wilson decides to go do a cross country train trip to campaign for the League of Nations.
He gets to Boulder, Colorado, it’s late at night. He says he doesn’t feel good. They stop the train, take him off the train. They’re in a farmer’s field, they walk him around to get fresh air, put him back on the train. He goes to bed gets up in the morning, he’s supposed to give another speech in Kansas City or someplace. His wife takes one look at him and says, “You’re not doing this. We’re going back to Washington.” They turn the train around. They tell the press that the President is suffering from exhaustion. They get home to the White House two days later, she gets up in the morning and goes into the bathroom and he’s on the floor, unconscious blood streaming from his head. He had a stroke. And what they were seeing in Colorado was the sort of warning signs. They didn’t realize it at the time, but the warning signs that he was on the verge of having a stroke. So he has it and he’s unconscious.
They tell the cabinet, the cabinet says we want a statement of disability. They refuse to do it. They meaning the wife, his Doctor and his longtime private sector. They said, “Woodrow Wilson has been too good to us. We’re not signing a statement of disability.” So the doctor says to Mrs. Wilson, as he sort of comes to, as Wilson comes to: “You can’t bring him any decisions to make because it could so disturb him that he could have another stroke, and it could kill him.” So, Mrs. Wilson makes the decisions, unbeknownst to the American public.
So in other words, Paul, we’ve already had our first woman president. Her name was Edith Bolling Galt Wilson. And I you know, I look at what’s going on in that White House. And I say to myself, somebody other than Joe Biden is seriously involved with this. Now whether that’s Dr. Jill, whether that Susan Rice, whether I can’t even tell you the name of the current Chief of Staff. But I think we may be all gone from this planet when some historian finds out what the real story was going on here.
But looking like whether spouse-inspired, or whatever: we are headed for a rematch.
Yes, I think so. Absolutely. Absolutely. Oh, what fun!
So any positive words you can leave us with on this episode?
Well, 2024 has begun. And historically this began to happen with the Kennedys. JFK got nominated. He didn’t win, but he was nominated for Vice President at the 1956 convention and that’s where he sort of burst on the national scene. And he lost the nomination to Estes Kefauver, on the convention floor. When the election was over Adlai Stevenson, the nominee and Kefauver over last. Well, Kennedy is so revved that they figure out, they start sending old Jack all across America to meet every local party Democrat that there was to be. So by the time 1960 came around, and he announces, I mean, all the Washington wizards thought Lyndon Johnson, the all powerful Senate Leader, the Chuck Schumer of the day was going to be the nominee. Wrong. He hadn’t been out there doing all the homework.
So now, I just think Donald Trump is doing that. And I think he will be the nominee because of that. And I think Joe Biden is using his White House to do exactly that. So, I think we’re scheduled for a rematch, and, you know, all this business that Trump can’t win. Again, drawing on history, when Richard Nixon lost that very, very close election in 1960 to JFK. And by 1968, he’s really revived himself and he’s running again. And, of course, that was the argument that his opponents use, “well, Nixon can’t win.” He’s a proven loser. Well, he won. He got interestingly, he got 43% of the vote in 1968. By 1972, he was close to 60.
So things change, is my point. And we are still very much in flux. And, while I think I know what’s going on. I have long since learned never to project. One last historical thing I’ll tell you, when I was in the seventh grade, I was a political geek, and I used to read the polls and all the political gossip. And I went off to seventh grade junior high one fine morning in November of 1963. And the political gossip was, “Who was the better Republican to take on JFK, Nelson Rockefeller, the Governor of New York? Or Barry Goldwater, the Senator from Arizona?
By the time I came out of school, that afternoon, we learned that JFK had been assassinated, which turned the entire political scene upside down and inside out, and the lesson I learned is: “Don’t think.” You know, you don’t even know what’s going to happen tomorrow, let alone what’s going to happen, you know, a year from now, and you know, we’ve just been refreshed in this episode with who knew Russia was going to invade Ukraine, right? And then you wake up and it’s a fait accompli. So with that caveat, I think it’s going to be Trump and Biden. But hey, we will see.
Well ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us. We have had a great pleasure, yet again welcoming the affable, the knowledgeable Jeffrey Lord. Thank you so much.
You bet Paul, anytime.
All right, enjoy your dinner
Yeah I’ve got to go out to a local political gig. County Commissioners. You know there are elections other than Presidents.
