Sentencing in President-elect Trump’s hush money case indefinitely postponed | The Excerpt

On Sunday’s episode (first released on November 23, 2024) of The Excerpt podcast: President-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing in his New York hush money case is indefinitely on hold and the judge will weigh tossing it completely. Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is Trump’s pick for ambassador to Israel – a big win for Christian Zionists. Liam Adams, who covers religion for The Tennessean explains. Students in Texas will be taught with reading lesson materials that prominently include stories from the Bible. Trump has vowed to reverse what he calls Joe Biden’s “woke takeover” of Washington. USA Today Senior Reporter Jessica Guynn explains how diversity, equity and inclusion will change. And finally, people are turning to Reddit for real estate advice. And it’s pretty uplifting to see.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it.  This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Sara Ganim:

Good morning. I'm Sarah Ganim filling in for Taylor Wilson. Today is Saturday, November 23rd, 2024. This is The Excerpt today sentencing in President elect Donald Trump's New York hush money case is indefinitely on hold. Plus Mike Huckabee will be Trump's Ambassador to Israel. Why Christian Nationalists are happy about it. And can Reddit make buying a home a little more pleasant?

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President-elect Donald Trump was set to be sentenced next Tuesday in his New York hush money case, but in the wake of his reelection, the court date has been canceled. A one page order from the judge directed Trump to file his formal motion to have the case dismissed. Trump's attorneys have said they plan to ask for the entire case to be thrown out in order to facilitate the transfer of presidential power. A spokesperson for Trump called this "decisive win". However, there's still a lot at play. The judge has to consider Trump's request to throw out the case weighing a recent Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity. And then if any charges still stand, the judge will set a sentencing date likely after Trump has left office.

Trump was convicted in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Daniels has alleged that she and Trump had a sexual encounter back in 2006. Trump has denied her claim.

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Earlier this week, president elect Donald Trump picked Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to be his ambassador to Israel in Christian Zionist circles, this is very good news. Here to discuss why I'm joined by religion reporter Liam Adams, who works with the Tennessean part of the Paste BN Network. Thanks for joining me, Liam.

Liam Adams:

Thanks for having me.

Sara Ganim:

Let's start with a little background on Mike Huckabee. Who is he and what was his relationship with Trump during the first term?

Liam Adams:

Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, he ran for president in 2008 and in 2016 against Trump, and their relationship has grown from there. Huckabee is also a southern Baptist pastor, former Fox News host, and he's currently a host of a show on the faith-based Trinity Broadcasting Network. His daughter Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who's currently the Arkansas governor, served as White House Press Secretary during Trump's first term.

Sara Ganim:

You write that Huckabee's nomination is a win for Christian Zionism. Why is that?

Liam Adams:

So Christian Zionism refers to this concerted effort among conservative evangelical Christians supporting Israel based on a view of how sort of a modern state of Israel fits into conservative Protestant theology. This movement has been growing and you could say reached a zenith of its influence because of its ties with Trump's administration in his first term, and that then shaped some of the policies toward Israel. So a couple examples are Trump's ambassador to Israel in his first term, David Friedman is a close ally of Christian Zionists and also the U.S Embassy in Israel moving from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was also a big win for Christian Zionists. And so the Huckabee nomination signals that the same sort of influence that the Christian Zionists had in Trump's first term will continue in his second.

Sara Ganim:

Pro-Israel evangelicals played a big role in electing Trump both in the first term and then again this time around. What are the expectations from them this time around?

Liam Adams:

Just to back up really quick, Christian Zionism has become an important figure and player in Republican politics. One of the historians I spoke to for this story says, if you're a serious candidate for president in the Republican Party, you need to make a speech at Christians United for Israel at some point laying out your bona fides for why you're going to support Israel. Christians United for Israel is one of the leading groups within the Christian Zionist movement. And the expectations for the movement in a second Trump term is really to continue some of the same policies and elevate some of the same attitudes toward Israel that were present in the first term. And so with Mike Huckabee for example, he has a very sort of hardline approach about Israel's rights to defend itself and about the Palestinian statehood and Israeli settlements in the West Bank. And so the expectation is that Trump will be elevating those sort of perspectives.

Sara Ganim:

And what about Huckabee's critics? What do they say?

Liam Adams:

They say that Huckabee's positions on Israel and Palestine are dangerous and worrisome. Huckabee, for example, has supported the resettlement and eventual annexation of the West Bank by Israel, and he has also said that there is no such thing as a Palestinian. And so these positions are worrisome to those who are already critical of U.S. support for Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

Sara Ganim:

Liam Adams is the religion reporter for the Tennessean part of the Paste BN Network. Liam, thank you so much for coming on.

Liam Adams:

Thanks for having me.

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Sara Ganim:

The Texas Board of Education yesterday narrowly approved controversial elementary education reading lesson materials that prominently include stories from the Bible. This comes after months of pushback from opponents who said the lessons are proselytizing and more suited for Sunday school. Supporters of the teaching material, which is called Blue Bonnet say it fills a need for high-quality resources for overworked teachers, and that including Christian stories enriches cultural literacy. This is part of a larger trend. In Oklahoma, the top education official ordered public schools to teach the Bible and in Louisiana leaders directed schools to display the 10 Commandments in classrooms. Although a federal judge has recently ruled that unconstitutional, civil rights advocates pushing back on this say that these mandates violate students' rights and the First Amendment, which says that the federal government cannot make laws governing the establishment of religion.

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With Republicans about to control all aspects of the federal government, President-elect, Donald Trump is positioned to deliver on his campaign promise to reverse what he calls Joe Biden's woke takeover of Washington. Here to explain what we know about Trump's plans to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion is Paste BN, senior reporter, Jessica Guynn. Jessica, welcome back to The Excerpt.

Jessica Guynn:

Thanks so much for having me.

Sara Ganim:

What actions has Trump taken in the past to limit diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the federal government and in the private sector?

Jessica Guynn:

In his first term, Trump used executive power to bar the federal government and government contractors from conducting racially divisive and un-American diversity training is how he put it. He also started a tip line for whistleblowers to turn in their employers, and all of this had an immediate chilling effect on workplace diversity training programs. Joe Biden did rescind that order shortly after he took office. Trump's labor department also questioned if diversity initiatives to increase the ranks of Black executives at Microsoft and Wells Fargo violated federal laws barring race discrimination. And at the time, it was just months after the murder of George Floyd, there was pretty considerable pushback against these policy shifts from the Trump administration from corporations and civil rights groups.

Sara Ganim:

And does he plan to re-implement those same actions?

Jessica Guynn:

President-elect Trump has signaled that he will reinstate the policies of his first term and that he intends to go further. While he's been out of office right wing foundations, think tanks, political operatives, they've all picked up the mantle agitating against DEI, and they've drafted wish lists and executive orders they hope the Trump administration will consider. Project 2025, for example, laid out an agenda where you would just delete terms like DEI from every federal rule, agency regulation contract, grant regulation, piece of legislation that exists. Other proposals involve having the Justice Department investigate programs to boost diversity, halt the collection of workforce data based on gender, race, and ethnicity, abolish Biden-era rules that bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, that kind of thing. And Trump has been really amplifying a lot of this on the campaign trail. He's signaled that his administration would be very interested in cracking down on DEI. He spoke frequently about what he says is an anti-white feeling in the country and about what he says are the harmful effects of DEI programs in government, education and the private sector.

Sara Ganim:

Who are some of the key figures Trump is appointing to his administration to help implement these anti-DEI agenda items?

Jessica Guynn:

Well, some people refer to them as the anti-DEI brigade or squad, and some may be familiar faces from the first Trump term. Russell Vought who led the White House Office of Management and Budget and wrote the Trump DEI Executive order during the first term is being considered for a post. Trump's picks for the Pentagon, the Commerce department expressed anti-DEI views, vice President-elect, JD Vance, another hawk on DEI co-sponsored legislation as an Ohio Senator to eliminate all federal DEI programs. And then there's Stephen Miller, one of Trump's longtime aides who will be formulating policy for the new administration. And over the last four years at America First Legal, he filed dozens of legal actions against what he called woke corporations.

Sara Ganim:

Which businesses are affected and is there any indication that some will back off of their DEI commitments?

Jessica Guynn:

Any organization that wants to do business with the federal government is affected and arguably even those who don't. By and large, most people I spoke with said corporations don't plan to make any wholesale changes to their DEI commitments. They spent the last year or so shoring up their policies and programs to make them less vulnerable to legal attacks and public criticism, but they say they remain committed to building a diverse workforce and a welcoming corporate culture, and they say that's just because it's good business. That's not to say that they're not nervous because they are. Over 60% of corporate executives recently surveyed by the conference board viewed the current political climate for corporate DEI as very or extremely challenging, and most of them expect continued or even escalating pushback. But fewer than 10% of those organizations said they plan to scale back their DEI commitments over the next three years.

Sara Ganim:

Jessica Guynn is a senior reporter for Paste BN. Thanks so much, Jessica.

Jessica Guynn:

Thanks so much for having me.

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Sara Ganim:

We're going to end the week with something uplifting. When you think of Reddit, you might think of viral memes or maybe true crime. Ask me anythings or cute animal pics. You probably don't think about getting real estate advice, but a subreddit or sub as they call them, called first time homebuyer, is lighting up with posts that hit all the fields in a time when so much online content is antagonistic. This is a thoughtful refuge with actual humans giving advice. No artificial intelligence, no disinformation bots. People are sharing pictures of their newly obtained house keys, of their first mortgage statements, or pizza boxes on the floor after a long hard day of moving. There are also some tales of disappointment like termites that were found during inspection tanking a sale or a seller who simply would not accept a generous offer. But the overall vibe is celebratory, hopeful and encouraging. As one Reddit user put it, got the keys. Thank you to this sub for getting me through it. You can find a link to this and every other story we mentioned in today's show notes.

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When people talk about the crime of sex trafficking, they often think of girls and women, but there are male victims of sex trafficking too. The recent arrest, an indictment of former Abercrombie and Fitch CEO, Michael Jeffries on charges of international sex trafficking and interstate prostitution could bring dozens of men out of the shadows to talk about their trauma. Steven Procopio, a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in men's sexual abuse and sex trafficking, joins The Excerpt to talk about this often overlooked community of survivors. You can find that episode right here beginning at 5 A.M. Eastern tomorrow.

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Thanks as always for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Sarah Ganim filling in for Taylor Wilson, who will be back on Monday with more of The Excerpt from Paste BN.