Breaking News from Pod Save America - These Are The Most Insane Political TikToks We've Ever Seen

Episode Date: August 29, 2026

Trump tries (and fails) to insert himself into the 9/11 memorial, then gets roasted by viral TikTok videos featuring AI cast members from The Office. Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor break down the latest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Going on vacation? We're here for it. With kids who turned the backseat into a courtroom drama over whose tablet is louder, whose charger is faster, and while watching the same cartoon for the hundredth time is a human right? Yep, we totally have vehicles to handle that, because whether it's a road trip or a business trip, where your flight's delayed, your phone's at 2%

and your dinner is whatever is open? Yeah, here for that too. Enterprise, we're here for it. John, 20 minutes before we were supposed to record, Elijah sent me something that led me to totally rewrite and reorder the run of show for this episode. Let's watch. Trump hit Canada with 50% tariffs, so Canada matched them dollar for dollar. And he posted a map renaming Lake Ontario, Lake America. Oh, my God. Renaming Lake Ontario is not stealing their culture.

Canadians can still call it whatever they call water in Canadian. Crossing out words has always been the final stage of Trump's diplomacy. It's like, you exist, but not in my world. You rename the water first, then the fish need passports. That is how they got Luxembourg. Trump says America needs nothing from Canada. Correct. Except oil, aluminum, electricity, and a northern shield against geese.

It's okay. Holy shit. Yeah, man. We are fucked. That is from a TikTok account called Did I Stutter? It tells you about the news or reacts to the nudes using characters from the office. The quality is scary good. Oh my God.

Genius idea, illegal idea? I mean, both? Yeah. I think this is going to get. I mean, when I see shit like that, everyone's like, well, this is now and this is some random person doing this. Like, this is only going to get, like, worse. Sam Altman just did a big interview. with Time Magazine, the CEO of OpenAI.

He said that by the end of this year, which is basically now, end of 2026, they will have something that you would consider AGI or artificial general intelligence internally, and that their head of research said they're 80% towards AGI now. So we're getting exponentially better. We also haven't had a chance on any of our shows to talk about, like, Bill Gates wrote this op-ed and did some interviews this week where he said it's time to, like, hit the panic button on AI. Yeah, great. He said this is going to be like economic catastrophe.

And he's like, why isn't it? He's like, I feel like I'm a crazy person that no one, that I'm the only one who's like this worried about it. And then there's Bill Gates. And then there's other people you see that are like, this is all marketing. This is a fraud. This is technology being forced on this. And you're like, I don't know.

I'm just stuck in the middle here. But you can, you know, in the meantime, you can hear Jim and Pam and Kevin and Stanley talk about the national debt. Well, those are like, use your common sense. Like if that, that was pretty good. And now imagine how different people could use that in different. ways and suddenly you see an entertainment industry that's like I mean I do think all of those at some point like all of these actors and the people who have the IP to these shows are gonna have legal claim to like like John Krasinski is gonna be like oh you just make me say something in a video that I've never said that's crazy what about this clip about the death of Lindsey Graham oh boy oh boy

Trump announced Lindsay Graham is dead with an exclamation point even grief sounds like one of his casino openings. Netanyahu said America lost a patriot. Weird. Because Israel lost the employee. He returns from Kiev suddenly dies and Washington says brief illness. That is not a cause. That is a classified folder name. That man already sent my taxes to Israel so he can go to hell. Stanley was good. I will say Dwight there sounded like Claude or sounded like an LLM. That's not a this, it's a that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a work in progress, but pretty impressive work. Fuck. Yeah, here we are. And by the way, John, if you want spicy political takes that don't look like characters from the office

but are still fun and interesting to listen to, please subscribe to Potta of America here on YouTube. We're trying to build a progressive counterweight to all the right-wing crap for sure are on this network. So please, when you see. subscribe, it really helps. Also in the news today, John, President Trump is not going to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks in Manhattan this year. I assume it's because

of a serious threat to a safety from Iran or some critical national security meeting. Is that your understanding? No, it's not Tommy. Why? Why is he not going to know? Because he is a pathological narcissist and was told that he can't speak at the event because presidents don't speak at the New York 9-11 event. Right. Oh, you're right. The New York Times says, Trump wanted to deliver remarks, but the event doesn't allow speakers to speak because it's supposed to be a memorial to the victims. And never has. Like Obama would speak on 9-11, but he would speak either at the Pentagon or in other places or at the White House.

That's what presidents do. And then they all go together to show some unity to New York. And it is a very quiet ceremony. That is always the case. No, no, no. It's supposed to be a good time. It's supposed to be a rally speech. It's supposed to be a place for the weave.

Yeah, so this is from the Times. The president's interest in speaking on September 11th was conveyed to memorial planners in recent weeks. Three people with knowledge said, but since 2012, politicians have been barred from speaking at the site. The National September 11th Memorial Museum, which oversees the site, has worked rigorously to keep the venue nonpartisan and focused on the solemnity of the day. Well, I mean, but here's the thing. If you make an exception for Trump, you know that he's going to give a speech that's very respectful and unifying and not go off script and not make anyone feel. Well, the reason we know that is because President Trump did give this emotional response to the 9-11 attacks. Back in 2001, this was an interview he did with a New Jersey TV station just after the Twin Towers had collapsed.

Let's watch. Donald, you have one of the landmark buildings down in the Financial District, 40 Wall Street. Did you have any damage or did you know, what's happened down there? Well, it was an amazing phone call. I made. Forty Wall Street actually was the second tallest building in downtown Manhattan. And it was actually before the World Trade Center was the tallest. And then when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second tallest,

and now it's the tallest. And I just spoke to my people. And they said it's the most unbelievable sight. So I just, when we talk about Donald Trump's losing it, and why doesn't the press cover his age like they did with Biden and he's declining? He's the same guy. Pathological narcissist. That was 2001.

By the way, he's wrong. There was another dollar builder. The building still. You and I think this week just did his, when you talk to Glenn back about Dolly Parton, and the first thing he could say is like, well, she loves me. You see he posted a true social post that was an AI image of him and Dolly Parton, like arm in arm together? I did not see that.

Did you hear Vin Diesel covered a Dolly Parton song on his Instagram? I didn't know that Vin Diesel is a musician. I didn't know he's an artist. You should listen to this song. He covered, I will always love. love you. You might still think he's not a munitionition or not irsept you listen to it. It's good. So it sounds like J.D. Vance is going to go to New York for the Ground Zero ceremony. Trump is going to go to the Pentagon. Do you think they're going to let him speak at the Pentagon?

I think so. I mean, Heggsat's not going to. Yeah. They're doing all kinds of stuff at the Pentagon that they probably shouldn't be doing. Yeah, we're going to get into little of that in a bit. Do you remember the time in 2019 when Trump wanted to invite the Taliban's leadership to Camp David, like right around the 9-11 anniversary? I do remember that. I do remember that. It's one of those things where it's like, how did that not end his career? How does no one remember that as care? You know, he's Trump and he's a Republican. And if a Democratic president ever did that, it would be Fox News all day long.

Yeah, all they cover is Hassan Piker. The other thing that's funny about him demanding to speak at this event is he will just have had the midterm convention events. Oh, right. Aren't you going to get enough FaceTime there, buddy? That's in the night before, late night. He'll probably still be speaking on September 11th. Yes, he'll 100 will. The convention. You 100% well. Incredible down in Dallas.

Pod Save America Breaking News is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. With everyday interactions becoming increasingly impersonal, someone going just one extra step can be huge. Like when my doctor takes the time to call me with test results instead of sending them electronically. They came back positive for gay. It makes me feel like a human being again. If you're hiring, great candidates can also go the extra step and tell you why they're interested in your job on ZipRecruiter as a way to stand out from others in the pool. ZipRecruiter has a new feature showing you the most interested qualified candidates first, so you can meet the right people faster.

ZipRecruiter's powerful matching technology finds qualified candidates quickly. Candidates can tell you in their own words why they're interested in your job. So try ZipRecruiter and meet great candidates who will go the extra step for your job. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Try it for free today at ZipRecruiter.com slash crooked. That's zipRecruiter.com slash crooked. ZipRecruiter, meet your match on ZipRecruiter. All right, another headline I thought you would like, John.

So this is from the Wall Street Journal. Corporate America cuts big checks to Trump. Now CEOs fear sub-sapenas are coming. The sub-headline is tech firms are courting Democrats and hiring advisors to prepare potential investigations if Republicans lose control of the House. Hey, guys, before you hire a lobbyist, free advice for you, don't bribe him anymore. Don't have bribed him in the first place. Trump and his family are going to get the legal immunity in the pardons.

You are not, Mark Zuckerberg. I love it. I love this story. I hope they're fucking so nervous. Quaking in their boots. You know what? I hope Democrats just string them along and keep them nervous. Don't even send the subpoenas yet. Just continue to to like vaguely threaten them. Just keep them on their toes. Keep them not sleeping at night. That's what I'd like. This is from the story. Washington-based lawyers and lobbyists say that their clients are asking what are our vulnerabilities? I don't know. The bribes? The bribes might be the vulnerability. The bribes. Yeah. Anything that was out of the ordinary course of business, that you did to curry favor with an administration that you thought was going to be an authoritarian threat. And so you decided to try to kiss the quasi-dictators ass. META is apparently writing big checks, the Democrats ahead of the midterms.

Other companies from the story, other companies including Paramount Skydance and Kalshi are hiring former Democratic aides to bolster their government relations efforts. You said the story, it was earlier this week, about how Donald Trump Jr. was speaking to a bunch of state AGs, and he told them to back off regular. on prediction markets like Polymarket or Calci, which by the way, both of them pay him. Right. I'm sorry, Donald Trump Jr.

gets to tell state AGs what laws to enforce. Yeah, he does. Okay. And because, you know, he knows that they're all scared of his dad. And so he's using his position as his, I mean, for all the fucking shit

that they criticized Hunter Biden for, this is, you know, Don Jr., a thousand times worse. Yeah. Also, for all the appeals to like the manosphere year and their work they did with young men, they sure do support policies that hurt them, like allowing casinos in your pocket. There was one law firm that brought Republican Congressman Jim Comer to an event to discuss

how companies should respond to congressional subpoenas from Democrats. Really shows a, demonstrates a respect for the institution and the job there, huh? These fuckers. Unbelievable. The journal got an amazing video of one of these big tech executives meeting with his lobbyists. Let's watch a little bit of that. That's the short summary of my post or my view on the project. It just keeps going.

Something with like the Doc Ock podcast, arms in the middle really makes me laugh at it. Did you see the news that little tidbit? You know who officiated his wedding? No. Ross Delfit. No, come on. Swear to God. That's a hedge fund manager.

Leopold Aschen Brenner. He was the guy who ran the AI-focused hedge fund that nearly collapsed because a bunch of stocks went down, had to get bailed out by, I forget it was like Citadel or one of the big, or Paula, one of those big hedge funds. They also, I think, we didn't mention this when we talked about this a couple weeks back. Apparently they had like AI breakout sessions at the wedding. What? What do you mean AI? I don't even know what an AI breakout session is. Who breaks out and where do they go?

Do they break up and talk about policy? The guests, the guests, both the bride and the groom both work at like big, one was in this hedge fund, the focus on AI, one I think worked at Open AI. And the guests were all like AI employee. It's just a bunch of agents. It's just Ross, the two of them, and a bunch of agents. It's a virtual wedding. Hey, we have to get to hugging face after this. Oh, man, I needed that laugh.

For what it's worth, like that story about the CEO is trying to bribe Democrats now. It is why I think people, myself included, like freaked out and probably overreacted to to Hakeem Jeffree, meeting with Jared Kushner, because you just, you know all this, this lobbying and this money is coming. And, like, Democrats are in a tough place because they all watch, you know, the crypto business with industry, for example, dump $40, 60 million onto Sherrod Brown's head in Ohio. And, you know, they see the pain they can inflict on you politically. But I still think we've got to be tough here.

We've got to stay strong. But also it's like, and I want Democrats. to have the room to be strategic and who they are sending subpoenas to and what hearings they're holding. And if you don't seem, if you don't have like a, like at least say that you're going to be tough on everyone, then when you decide not to maybe hold some hearing or send a subpoena to some company based on, you know, the strategic decision that there's not much you can get out of them or that hearing's not important or we have more important things to do, everyone's going to think that you're pussies for doing it because of shit like what we've seen with Hakeem. and others. Yeah, we just got to be tough guys. And like there's just, Hocking Jeffrey

has put out a video statement to respond saying like no one of the Trump family. I couldn't see past the hat. Couldn't see past that. But, you know, it's good. I actually think it's good for people to overreact to things and sort of keep the pressure on them to be tough. And, you know, especially when it comes to Trump family members, we need oversight. Before we go on to the CIA director's secret ship to Russia, I just want to get your take on a new political ad that caught my eye this morning. Let's watch a bit of this one. I'll do whatever it takes to get things done.

I stood up to both sides to get salt back and make things more affordable. I had to take on the left and the right. This is the Mike Lawler Camel Toad. Why are his close so tight? It's like everywhere, like your eyes get no relief. The only thing you can think of. The bottom's tight, the middle's tight, the top's tight. I have no idea how many people are in that family, what they look like.

all I could see is he said something about salt and then he's got tight pants. They're so tight. No one on his staff was like, sir, why are you wearing a wetsuit? Is he going body surfing? What is that? Unappealing. By the way, Michael Oller is part of the-Ka-Konley. Crooked dozen.

Yeah. He's a great, Democratic, strong Democratic opponent, Kate Conley. Go to Votesaveamerica.com to learn more about her, learn about how to defeat Lawler and 11 other terrible Republicans again Vote Save America.com. Also think about your wardrobe before you film those ads. Jesus Christ, man. Look, I know it's a tough job. You know, you're a congressman

in a targeted district. You have a family. There's not always time to work out. Neat right, but there's just make a Brooks Brothers run before you record that thing. Yeah, and have staff. And more importantly, have staff and consultants that are going to say, hey boss, Cameltoe. Yeah. Moose knuckle.

We are we are slowly learning more about why CIA director John Ratcliffe made a surprise trip to Moscow this week. The New York Times says there was a multi-part meeting. The goal was to share the U.S.'s bleak assessment of the war to urge Russians to cut a deal before their military and economic situation gets worse. Some other reports suggest that he was asking them for help with Iran to get their strato Hormuz reopened. The theory is like Putin's a KGB guy.

Maybe he listens more to CIA officials. Did Radcliffe meet with Putin? No, he met with the fucking SVR head as like counterpart, which is what sort of undercuts that whole pitch. So I consider me skeptical on the front. I guess no bad ideas in a brainstorm. I guess my question is, does this mean that Trump now thinks the Ukrainians are winning two? Maybe. Because that would be good.

Yeah. I'm sure that they just, well, I'm sure from Trump's perspective, he's like, I got to win one of these wars. Because they keep saying that I'm going with them on. They're all over the place. I've got to settle these things. I do, I think helping us, helping us with Iran, I do think could be, that seems most believable to me. Because he's like, okay, you're going to fly over there what's in it from me. Right.

Right. You know, and it's like, we end to the war, sir? Yeah, I'd be surprised if it was just a, just to help out the Ukrainians and end the war because they're so, you know, they have such sympathy for the Ukrainians and what they've gone through. That doesn't really seem like them. No, Ukraine's also, I mean, Ukraine has some momentum. They're also about to go into winter. They have very limited missile defense. And the problem every winter is like, how do we keep the heat and energy infrastructure

up and running? And that's going to be tough without Patriot batteries. Also, there was a story this week that was so dystopian. I don't know if you saw this about basically fully AI powered drones that sort of like take the kill decision out of the hands of a human being and just like use AI training to finish the targeting decision at the very end and blow stuff up. Fucking terrifying. Yeah.

The other thing I heard is that Ratcliffe, he wanted to send the message like do not attack NATO states. Yes, I forgot to include that. I don't know why. Yeah, there's a bunch of intelligence and reports about intelligence that Ukraine sees how weak we are because we are bogged down in the Middle East again in the war with Iran. And they might do something to attack a country NATO either with a cyber operation or some sort of like, I don't know. It would probably be below the line of rolling tanks into the Balkans.

But it could be like, what they usually do is their agents go on telegram. They recruit a bunch of random people and all these NATO. countries and they say we'll give you two grand if you take this package that we'll send to you and place it at this location and then film it and then a train station blows up or something like that so you do it to Germany or Moldova or all these places so that's a fun one a fun light one yeah I could see that being a big reason for going over there yeah you might want to say don't do that also maybe Trump could just call Putin and say hey don't do it maybe a little leader-to-leader contact would be good I'm sure they get along yeah they're buds finally John the question is will

summer over the bulwark flagged this is a Pentagon employee building a database to track American citizens by political affiliation. This is a kind of like a MAGA favorite journalist who came onto my radar screen earlier this week. What's her name? It's a gab. Data Republican. We're putting the tweet up on the screen. She created a quote, she tweeted this out. This is not a secret. She was a secret Pentagon contractor. We learned that this week because she accused someone in the Trump state Department of trying to set her up and get her arrested by leaking her classified information to leak. And it was all just...

That's a famously collegial workplace in the Trump administration. Data Republic and just didn't know what she was talking about. But she tweeted that she created a, quote, interactive map of the Democratic Socialists of America and the wider anti-imperialist solidarity network. The map is based on over a year worth of the research that's collected within my setup. Just one of those moments where it's nice to see that the Alex Jones fever dream is coming to life under the Trump administration that he supported. Also, so now there's someone working with the Pentagon that's tracking random Americans?

And are they using Pentagon resources? Because that would be a real problem. Have you looked through the list? Are we on that list? I don't know. We should go through that. I know we're not DSA, but I hope that we're part of the larger anti-imperialist or pro-imperialist. I can't tell you.

I'm personally anti. I am too, but I thought that the Trump administration was pro-imperialist. They definitely are, you're right. What with all the Greenland, Alaska. Greenland, Canada stuff. How are we defining solidarity here? Is it just like statements in support? Probably.

Is it just like a warehouse on Piker? Is it any given moment? Or Soros. We are Soros-backed. So we probably are anti-imperialist solidarityists. Yeah, I made a note to myself to check out the database. See if there's any names I recognize. Note to itself.

It's a great way to find friends wherever you happen to live. If you go to a new city, you're like, oh, who's in the database? What if you're really funny if the DSA just used this to organize really well? It's meetup. It's just meet up for anti-imperialist solidarity network supporters. Anyway, thanks for watching this episode of Pots of America here on YouTube. Don't forget to subscribe. Subscribe, please.

It's free. We'll talk to you guys soon.