Episode Details

Donald Trump just told Marines poisoned at Camp Lejeune that they get their money only if Republicans win in November. His exact words:

If we don't win, there's no money. If we do win, you're getting it.

Ransom notes used to be cut out of magazines. Now they come with a teleprompter and a Lee Greenwood song.

From 1953 to 1987, the Marine Corps served its own people a tap water cocktail of dry cleaning solvent, degreaser and benzene. In 1982, one system tested at 280 times the EPA limit. The base is a Superfund site. They just put drinking fountains on it. About a million people were exposed. The VA links it to leukemia, kidney and bladder cancer, and Parkinson's. Marine Jerry Ensminger buried his 9-year-old daughter Janey in 1985. Leukemia.

Congress passed a law in 2022 to finally pay these families. More than 408,000 claims. As of August, less than 1% paid. The VFW says one law firm had nearly 10% of its roughly 2,000 clients die in the last two years. So the Justice Department has a plan for clearing the backlog. It's called waiting.

Congress has nothing to do with this. Settling these claims is a Justice Department call. He said so himself: "If we win the House and the Senate, I am directing the Department of Justice to settle all remaining legitimate claims." My dude. You run the Justice Department. You can direct them right now. You don't need the House to make a phone call. You barely need the phone.

Jill Steen Dilgard lost her father, an uncle and two cousins who all served at Lejeune. She filed in 2022. Still waiting. She asked: "If he has all the authority he says he does to make this happen, why didn't he do the right thing from the get-go?" Because the get-go wasn't two weeks before an election, Jill.

Same rally, Trump also said: "We will never abandon the heroes who served America." Never abandon! Just put them on layaway until November.

Then he blamed the lawyers: "We don't want to give any to the trial lawyers." The Justice Department capped lawyers' fees at 20 to 25% in 2023, so the money he's sitting on belongs to sick veterans and families. Wrong villain, Donald. Try a mirror.

Marines aren't the only ones in the program. In Kansas, he promised corn farmers year-round sales of E15, the ethanol gas made from their corn, unless the Democrat wins: "But if Adam Hamilton is in, I'm not doing it." In North Carolina, on hurricane aid and his Senate pick: "Now if Michael loses, I'm not sending it. No, I'm only kidding." Vote red, rack up points, redeem them for chemo.

Meanwhile, federal judges ordered the Justice Department to come up with a mass settlement plan by October 30th, and the first trial starts October 26th. Both before the election. Ensminger and fellow victim Mike Partain: "Justice is not tied to political allegiance! The court trials start next week and will speak for us." So now we find out who his Justice Department ignores first, a federal judge or a dying Marine. My money's on both.

Semper Fi means always faithful. Not always faithful, pending results.

Sources:

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2026/10/21/trump-helene-camp-lejeune-water

https://ncnewsline.com/2026/10/21/trump-ties-nc-camp-lejeune-settlements-to-gop-win-angering-survivors/

https://www.wunc.org/2026-10-19/federal-court-rejects-camp-lejeune-settlement-calculation-challenge-as-documentation-backlog-grows

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