Lovett or Leave It - Look What You Made Him Do

Episode Date: August 26, 2017

Trump pardons Arpaio, trans service members face a ban, North Korea launches missiles, Gorka is out, and Taylor Swift gets the crowd riled up. Jon is joined by Michaela Watkins, Alice Wetterlund, Andrew Ti, Tommy Vietor and Ira Madison III to break down the week including a bunch of late-breaking Friday news. And no GOT spoilers, OK? 

Please welcome your host, John Lovett. Hi guys. Okay. So, we got a lot to get to. I don't know if you guys have been checking your phones in the last half an hour. But things are happening. How's everybody doing?

Thanks for coming out to the improv. As always, I remind everyone listening at home, including baby boomers, who again have made their voices heard, to subscribe and rate the show positively. Also, we're going to be at the Now Hear This Festival on September 8th, and you can still get tickets for that. Thus ends the housekeeping. still get tickets for that. Thus ends the housekeeping. So, so much happened today and there was so much to break down that, and you know, there's a lot of crazy shit domestically, but also internationally, which are the two kinds of things that can happen. So I wanted to split it in half. And so I wanted to start tonight by bringing up the co-host of Pod

Save America and the host of Pod Save the World. I heard some yeses from the front row, which is exactly right. Give it up for Tommy Vitor. Hi, Thomas. Yeah, we shake hands now. This is the Vitor detour. Hi, John. Hi, Thomas. Yeah, we shake hands now. This is the VTOR detour. Hi, John. Hi, Tommy.

I took notes because it was a fucked up afternoon. Yep. Okay, so today Trump signed an executive order initiating a transgender military ban. This comes after Trump tweeted about a ban on July 26, citing the need for a military focused on decisive and overwhelming victory. And that was a mess because it went against the Pentagon Protocol and nobody knew what he meant. The White House official who briefed reporters on the memo on Friday evening declined to say whether current transgender troops would be allowed to remain in the military under these policy guidelines? What do we know about this order tonight?

So apparently he has banned transgender people from joining the military, and he's deferred to Secretary Mattis whether individuals currently serving in the military will be kicked out or be allowed to serve. So a lot of these arguments on the so-called merits... Well, stepping back for a second, just remember that transgender people are twice as likely as a regular population to say, yeah, I want to get shot at, and I want to live in fucking Afghanistan or Iraq and serve my country. So these are the people we're, you know,

kicking dirt on for no reason. The argument usually relies around something called readiness, which is essentially like, do our troops have the stuff they need? Bullets, equipment, underwear. Are they trained? Is the morale right? And so it's always a question of readiness, which is this nebulous term. And this is the same argument made against integrating the military,

allowing gays and lesbians in the military, allowing women in the military in combat roles. And as far as I can tell, we still have the baddest, best military on the planet. So, so far, so good. So it's a totally specious bullshit argument. And the real threat to readiness would be yanking thousands of transgender individuals out of their jobs, training new people, finding them, and then putting them back in there.

So it's just like, it's a completely bullshit argument. Okay, well, I'd like to do a follow-up, but I just don't. I have a follow-up. The other argument they make is that somehow this is expensive, which is fucking bullshit. Apparently it will cost 0.04% to 0.1% of the medical budget. I sat down with Eric Fanning, who is the first gay service secretary. He was the secretary of the army. And he said, this was like the most lud secretary, he was the secretary of the army, and he said this was like the most ludicrous thing you heard. He would go out into the field and meet with people,

and they all could care less if gays and lesbians or if transgender people served alongside of them. There was no cost issue. There will be legal challenges left and right to this decision. So this is a naked political play for the hard, hard right base. John McCain is fine with this. A number of members of Congress who are Republicans came out and said they didn't understand this. They didn't think it made sense from a military perspective. So this is a pathetic, vindictive political decision. I don't even know who it's for. It's just such a strange thing to go out of your way.

There's not a giant constituency of even right-wing conservatives clamoring for this. It's such a narrow band of people that this is supposed to please or pay back for something. It's crazy. Yeah. I mean, the defining characteristic of his first term in office is he has no policy agenda. So he opposes everything Obama did. And he is the most vindictive, bullying, cruel person he can possibly be. So here we are. So let's go to the second most vindictive person in North Korea. So North Korea launched several short-range missiles off its coast, flying about 155 miles to the northeast before falling into the sea. This comes after Trump threatened to rain down fire and fury on North Korea if the country did not stand down after testing missiles last month. Pretty cool. Good news. Yeah, I mean, what, this seems like more

of the same. Is this an escalation? Why is this happening now? Where is, where are the negotiations? Is there, is this just, is this just more saber-rattling of the same kind of thing? So in some ways, this is the least surprising. There have been a growing number of these missile launches and tests over the last year. These were medium range missiles. It's not good. It's a U.S. Security Council violation. Apparently they failed, but it's not like ICBM. It's not a threat to hitting the U.S. homeland. It happened because we're in the middle of a biannual military exercise with the South Koreans that, you know, one could sort of reasonably argue

looks like practicing for an invasion. So they hate it. By the way, the Chinese hate it. So this is him lashing out. The problem is that Trump has backed himself into a corner with this rhetoric talking about fire and fury, hell to pay, like all these stupid things he's said. And now Kim Jong-un is just going to test him

and test him and test him and see what that actually means. Terrific. Guys, give it up for Tommy Vitor. Thanks. This has been the Vitor Detour. I love coming up here. You guys can catch Tommy on Pod Save the World or a Tommy John underwear advertisement

probably during this show. Guys, give it up for an awesome panel. She is the co-host of the Internet's premier feminist Star Trek podcast, Treks and the City. Give it up for Alice Wetterlund. Thank you. Can we hug?

I don't know what to do. Hey. All right, great. Here, you sit there. All right. He is a writer and host of the podcast Yo! Is This Racist? Andrew T. Woo! Woo!

Oh. I shook Tommy's hand and it felt wrong. You can't. The Hollywood hug is sexist, man. You gotta hug everyone. I don't. I don't. I wanna hug no one.

She's an actress starring in Hulu's Casual and the new film Brigsby Bear, which is in theaters now. Welcome back to the show, Michaela Watkins. Hi. Hi. Hi, John. Yeah, reversing it, shaking hands now. Doesn't that feel much more progressive?

I think that the hug spread because nobody knows what to do anymore and is afraid to be rude. Let's just mash bodies together. I think it's a culmination of cultural decline. Oh, okay. Hugs. Make America give a really stiff handshake again. Absolutely.

You look them in the eyes, you shake hands, then you don't talk about anything real. Yeah. Until you die. That's how it was done. And that's the new democratic slogan. That is. It's a market improvement.

What was the last one that got floated? I can't get into a better deal again. I can't. Alright guys, let's get into it. What a day. What a day. Tommy and I just went through this transgender troop ban and these North Korean missiles, but that's

just the beginning. Let's start with something that happened just a few hours ago. Donald Trump pardoned racist former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio. You guys are on the fence. He was convicted of civil contempt. He was found in civil contempt for his failure to back down from these racist and unconstitutional roundups of people along with several other violations.

There's Fourth Amendment violations and others. He was then found in criminal contempt. So this is two separate judges finding him in contempt. And this is somebody who has built these tent cities to hold people, many of whom have not been convicted of anything. He had been having his guys go around rounding up Latinos and scaring Latinos and then throwing them into cells, even if they hadn't been convicted of punishing people because they didn't speak English, of holding people in tent cities that were so hot their shoes melted. Every time you say something

I lose four years of my life. I just, like, my lifespan just got shorter and shorter because my body started eating itself. But please carry on. You know what that reminds me of? What diet is that? We'll talk after. There was this study that found that Oscar winners

live longer than Oscar nominees who don't win. And I've often thought that that's sort of fine because you're disappointed, but it won't last that long. Remember when that was the study and poll people were doing? When our life was so simple that we were like, if you were nominated for an Oscar, how long will you live? So. Remember? Remember? I do remember. When our life was so simple that we were like, if you were nominated for an Oscar, how long will you live? So... Remember? I do remember. Those are fun times.

Mikhail, I do remember. I remember a simpler time. I remember when Barack Obama put his feet on the Oval Office desk, and that was a story. I remember when Mitt Romney misspelled the word America in an ad. Yeah. People lost their minds. Yeah. I miss their minds. Yeah.

I miss Sarah Palin. Honestly, it's like... Like, so much. Why do we even do this show anymore? I mean, what are we going to do, guys? I think you just have to do it twice a week. I don't know. Or just like a nonstop fever dream that's just broadcast.

Well, I just, last week, we were talking about how crazy it was that Donald Trump had failed to properly respond to Charlottesville and was apologizing for white supremacists. And I remember saying, is next week just going to be a new bag of crazy things? Like, when does this show go on hiatus? Right? Because I need a fucking break. Is he on vacation technically still? Or did that end? No, he's back. They finished the

White House renovations. Hell yeah. And he's back in the Oval. He really kicked back. It was cool. Now he's at Camp David. So he went to Camp David to watch the hurricane on TV. He really kicked back. jealous of a hurricane and all the attention that it was getting. God forbid anything should happen with this hurricane, but he'll be like, he'll be the victim. He'll be like, I can't believe, I mean, I know we lost, you know, supply lines and thousands, God forbid, are displaced, but can you believe how mean the media was to me that I didn't

appoint anybody to any kind of FEMA position? Well, David Clark tweeted something like, David Clark said, The sheriff? He tweeted... The other evil sheriff in the news? Yeah, the other evil sheriff that will be pardoned after he commits a crime.

Democrats and live media are no doubt hoping for Hurricane Harvey to make a direct hit on Texas so they can blame real Donald Trump. Bastards. And then I just did it. And on the other... Hi, I just got mad about something I made up

in the same tweet. Like, what? You're going to make the straw man and then kill it in one tweet. You can do it. He's so upset. Yeah, you're picking fights with hypotheticals. Best regards, Texas.

Does he know how many Nazis are in Texas? You're sleep tweeting again, David. Let's stay on our pile for a second. All right, sorry. This is going to be a loose show, guys. Does he know how many Nazis are in Texas? You're sleep tweeting again, David. Let's stay on Arpaio for a second. All right. Sorry. This is going to be a loose show, guys. I'm in a mood. I don't really...

I don't know what to do anymore. We'll get Arpaio. Then we're going to get to the Committee to Save America. We're going to get to Gary Cohn. We're going to get to it. Arpaio. So, now, one thing we learned is that DOJ did not approve this pardon. It didn't go through the normal process. It was also not something that

Republicans on the Hill were clamoring for. If anything, it puts them in a bad position. They're going to have to talk about the fact that this is a crazy pardon, one of the craziest that's ever been issued. Republicans are going to do their whataboutism. They're going to start talking about things like Mark Rich, but put aside what bad comparisons to other bad pardons in the past, and there are many. This is a unique thing. Noah Feldman, I believe, wrote in Bloomberg about just how much this undermines the rule of law, because this isn't somebody getting clemency for or wrongly convicted. This is somebody specifically convicted for violations of the Bill

of Rights and not by a jury by the way. Convicted because held in contempt by judges for not following judges orders and that's like a very serious thing. I guess do we think there will be any ramifications for this? Do we think that he

will pay any price? Do we think that this is going to send a message to other people that it's okay to do these kinds of things? I mean, what do you guys think is the consequence of Donald Trump pardoning a racist sheriff who was unapologetically breaking the law? Well, I think he still did those things and he was still held in contempt and he was still convicted of those crimes, which he's going to have that stain on his reputation and now he has the additional stain on his reputation of being pardoned by the worst person in the universe which is not going to be something

that people will be proud of eventually. That's true. I guess I had a question from like the most cynical version of this which was... What concentration camp will he run? You know, he called his desert camps concentration camps. He was proud of it.

He's a cool guy. He seems like a cool guy. No, here's my question, though, is that it's hard to get a sheriff on anything. So that was super extraordinary, and this is a counter super extraordinary thing. But there are racist sheriffs like everywhere in the United States who are doing all kinds of shit

like this. Like, I guess optics aside, I don't know, like, like racist sheriffs are still going to be doing racist shit. Yeah. And does it really change that? I don't know. Well, the one thing that's frightening to me is I think this sends a message to two kinds of people. One, it sends a message to law enforcement officials, go crazy, right? You can go further than you did before because I've got your back. So if you want to commit violations, if you want to pull people over for being Latino, if you want to bust some heads, I'll get your back. But the other group of people this sends a message to is all of Trump's criminal co-conspirators who are right now under investigation.

Because one thing this makes very clear is Donald Trump doesn't care what people think about how he's going to use this pardon power. So racists and criminals are going to, this is a boon. It's just adding to the pile of boon for racists and criminals. He's been saying, go crazy, cops, for a while. Sorry, that was the darkly cynical, but also hopeful that we're just regressing towards a shitty status quo. I can take it downtown.

I can get real dark over here. Welcome to my brain, guys. I have a question, because you know everything, John. Isn't there some sort of... Isn't this sort of an impeachable offense to kind of pardon somebody when you're supposed to be holding up some version of a court

or... Yeah, you know, impeachable offense is whatever we want it to be. High crimes and misdemeanors have no definition. An impeachable offense is anything that a majority of Congress, a majority of the House and a two-thirds majority of the Senate deem impeachment worthy. What is a high crime?

I think obstructing justice is a high crime. I think inciting racial hatred and animus and violence as well as inciting violence against the press is an impeachable offense. I think abusing the pardon power to send a message that the Bill of Rights doesn't apply to people as long as they're attacking the right groups. I mean, I think you can, all of these things can be impeachable offenses.

It's just so weird because like he spent his whole Phoenix rally talking about how he's not racist. Like he was just in the longest version of a way. And then it's almost like a TV show that's like, if you're joining us this week, he's of a way. And then it's almost like a TV show that's like, if you're joining us this week, he's still a racist. It's like, if you're just joining now, we have to make sure we feed who this character is

because you might have forgotten from last week. His character is wildly inconsistent, I feel like. Like the Trump writers. He's not going to be impeached by this Congress because they're beholden to him because he has the voting base that he has. And he has to keep the voting base

by continuously committing impeachable offenses. So there's like a snake eating its tail effect. That's kind of their core issue is like, he got to do impeachable shit. He can't not do that.

That's what they love. They told me not to do this, so I'm doing it. And they're like, yeah! And Paul Ryan's like, giggity-giggity. That is fascinating. He commits impeachable offenses to maintain his base.

The base makes the members of Congress afraid of him so that they can't impeach him for impeachable offenses. This is like a beautiful mind. Which is why he has to commit impeachable offenses. mind. Which is why he has to commit impeachable offenses. It's the Uriburos of the biggest mistake America's ever made.

Anyway, this Arpaio shit is nuts. And once again, just to point out, the so-called Committee to Save America trying to stop all this bad stuff behind the scenes, your Dina Powells, your Gary Cohns, your Ivankas, your Jarrods. Nowhere. Nowhere.

Gary Cohn today did a round of press about just how close he came to resigning and how... Guys, I don't know if you guys heard this, but Gary Cohn was not able to go to his house in the Hamptons

because he had to go talk to the president about just how upset he was. Watch what? So these are the sacrifices these people are making, and I think it's unfair of you guys to lack the understanding of just what they're giving for this country every single day. It is a sacrifice.

Thank you for pointing that out. That is a sacrifice. Pardon me, but Ivanka is very busy reading letters from children. She's got 10 or 12 letters. That's a week, guys. She's got to be reading those. In the morning,

she makes them. And then in the afternoon, she takes the picture with them. She's got a split personality. Young Ivanka writes in. All right. Well, guys, meanwhile,

Robert Mueller is still doing his thing. Some stories broke also tonight during my pre-show nap that... Should I talk about that? Who cares? I woke up and I had a WhatsApp from Tommy saying, tonight's show's going to be interesting.

I was like, what happened? What do you do in that? Because I usually take my show a few days out, and I did one before Charlottesville happened, and then sort of in the intervening days. And I just had to be like, yeah, I don't know. I recorded a little thing that was just like, I'm sorry, but this is fucking crazy. Like, are you just freaking out all the time, man?

Like, how does that work in your head? Well, you know, we were going to move Love It or Leave It to Thursday nights and then release it on Saturday morning. But that's not possible because every Friday is a fucking news explosion. So Mueller is looking into what role former national security advisor and just fantastic fantastic character Michael Flynn played in an effort to get Hillary Clinton's emails from Russian hackers. Also

six PR firms with ties to Paul Manafort who's famous for both being Donald Trump's campaign chairman and also having his name appear in the Ukrainian Black Ledger, the most sinister sounding thing that is as sinister as it sounds. So six firms with ties to Manafort

have received subpoenas. Manafort has come under scrutiny for lobbying work he did on behalf of the government in Ukraine, hence his name appearing in the Black Ledger. This Russia stuff is ongoing, guys. You know what else is going, you know what else is hard to talk about here? Yeah, the Russia stuff is still happening.

What else is there to say? Mueller, hurry the fuck up! There should be an episode that you do that's just dedicated to, by the way, this is still happening. By the way, Jared Kushner still has clearance. By the way, this is still happening. Like, by the way, Jared Kushner still has clearance. Like, by the way. By the way, he's also still in charge of Middle East peace.

To be fair, that's going fine today. By the way, Eric Trump is giving speeches at Republican committee meetings, even though he's supposed to have a Chinese wall between him and... I just call that a wall. I'm with you, dog. I'm with you, man. That's the wall, right?

I don't know anything about politics. It's the original wall. That's the main wall. It's the original wall that Mexico didn't pay for. Correct. So I think Mueller has people working for him. Like, it's not just him. But every time I think about him dealing with this,

I just think of him being so busy that he doesn't notice anything else going on. Like, Trump could, like, walk into his office and, like, unzip a skin suit, and it's Putin underneath, and then unzip, and it's Trump again, and Mueller's just, like, like, shuffling papers furiously.

There's too much. That's what I think about. I enjoyed that thoroughly. But as you were speaking, I was reminded of a comparison. I was just thinking about how Jared Kushner, who is completely unqualified, is in charge of Middle East peace,

the opioid crisis, and government reorganization and modernization. And it actually occurred to me that you do a podcast on Star Trek. And it made me think of the fact that the Starship Enterprise has one engineer. And Geordi knows literally every single thing from like how to fix the kitchen to the engines to the shields. Well, he is qualified though. Right. So it's okay.

Like, Geordi is the only person working in engineering because everybody else who tries to work in engineering, he's like, just get out. Like, I don't know what you're even asking me. Leave. He just hates questions because he just knows. So that... But what do you think about that comparison?

I feel really good about my comparison. I was just thinking about Star Trek I know you do but you are right Jordy is Jared Kushner is as if Jordy LaForge

had never done anything to learn about engineering before he started Jordy Jared Kushner is something that Jordy LaForge

would like study on the holodeck like how did this person get so much power? And how do I harness it for our warp drive? Now you're blowing my mind because it's now occurring to me that Star Trek takes place in a better future. However, it's a future based on our real world,

which means it's a future in which Donald Trump was president, which means it is possible that Jean-Luc Picard can call up Donald Trump in the holodeck and ask him how the Great War started. It was a great war.

It was a great war. The best. That's what he'd say. It was the best war. Everybody liked it. I feel like they played celebrity, but with, you know, world issues. And whatever, you know, paper you pulled out of the hat,

he's like, ha, that's what you're taking care of. And then there was, except for, like, maybe Israel, he was like, Jew, you got this. Because everybody was like, no, no, no, I don't want it. I peeked at it. I don't want it. It is, like, funny how he just, because he had to sprinkle in a handful of tokens. And he was just like,

that's your job, dog. You're the Jew around here. You have to do this. Say, in urban development. You know what I'm talking about. Right, right. And he got Gary Cohn for the money stuff. Donald Trump likes Jewish lawyers, doctors, and money stuff. Donald Trump likes Jewish lawyers,

doctors, and money people because he operates like a New York Post cover from 1985. If the New York Post in 1985 became a person

then watch Fox News for a decade But we'll throw them all under the bus if it means neo-Nazis will vote for him. Oh yeah. Yeah.

Well, it's a delicate balance. I mean, it must be tough. Your daughter and son-in-law are Jewish. Your financial, your economic advisor is Jewish. Your lunatic doctor is Jewish. Your bad lawyer is Jewish. And yet, I don't feel sorry for him. Oh, no.

We should not. I'm just saying that he has to walk a delicate balance. No, I know. I mean, he just can't appease the neo-Nazis in that meeting. It's hard. Although Gary Cohn was in Trump Tower standing there kind of like, oh, shit. I mean, didn't Kushner and Bannon have to sit together at the same table and whatnot? How's that work?

It's probably a long table like in Batman. Oh, cool. at the same table and whatnot? Like, how's that work? You know... It's probably a long table like in Batman. Oh, cool. They're at like really far ends of it. It's like if we were closer, shit would be on, but I get it. That's the Nazi table, okay. Steve, could you pass the salt?

What? What? All right. Okay. You got it I see you you're on top of things in the front row

and it's great president of the front row and it's good to see you and you're having fun and I think you're noshing on something so it's a whole night you know you're eating

and you're drinking and you're also yelling and it's fun but it's the perfect amount it's the perfect amount I like you I like your energy I am glad you don't

have a mic. All right. All right. Let's move on, I guess. Who cares? All right, guys. This one is just, this one's unalloyed fun.

Gorka is out. Yes. Oopsie doopsie, I was fired while on vacation and then quickly wrote a resignation letter to make it seem less embarrassing. So, Sebastian Gorka, Fox News

personality, Vitenzi Rent member, executive office building, denison, job description, not having person. I lost the thread. Who cares? Anyway, Gorka's out. Gorka released the following

resignation statement. On Sandals Resort Stationery. It does. It does say this. It says, sandals, dash, dash. Given recent events, it is clear to me that forces that do not support the MAGA promise are for now a sent...

I should do this in the accent. Speak it wrong, too. You know, that is a testimony to how easy a white guy can succeed with mediocre impressions. It's too easy. It's too easy. I can't even remember.

I don't even remember what it is. He fell out of the news. Given recent events, it is clear to me that forces that do not support the MAGA promise are for now ascendant within the White House. As a result, the best and most effective way I can support you, Mr. President, is from outside the people's house. Oopsie doopsie.

So bad. Anyway, Gorka's out. He was fired because he was on vacation and then quickly ran to his, you know, his Pentium 5 and typed you can't fire me. I quit. Here's all the reasons I quit then

release it and then the White House put out an anonymous statement saying uh Sebastian Gorka uh did not resign but he no longer works at the White House so uh somebody on Twitter called it his personal night of the long knives and I like that I don't know what there is to say about Gorka either he never really had a job. Trump liked him because he was on TV. He was an anti-Muslim bigot. He was way too comfortable in a Hungarian fascist uniform. Right.

He was not to like, look, we don't need to play who's the worst Nazi, but he was like the most like old school Nazi, right? Yeah. Yeah. He was the most Nazi Nazi. He was a classic Nazi. Yeah school Nazi, right? Yeah. He was the most Nazi Nazi. He was a classic Nazi. Yeah, yeah. Nazi classic.

He seemed kind of like a foppish Nazi. Like he was like, ooh, like a kerchief would come out of his... Yeah. And he would present his calf. You won't see him in an Abercrombie polo. Right, right, right, right. No. And he had a good broche game going on. And look, we will always cherish the photo of Seb Gorka

in front of his Ford Mustang with Art War on the license plate because all the coolest adults talk about Sun Tzu a lot. That's what the coolest, smartest people do. Machiavelli too. He can go into... Machiavelli 2. He can go into voiceover. He could do like a Gilligan's Island, Thurston Howell III reboot animated series. Oh, yeah.

They got to get like Breitbart Entertainment going. No. No, no more sharks in the tank. Stop it. Stop it. They'll hear this. I'd work... We would do stuff with Fox. Entertainment.

It's the same shit. I'll do it in a heartbeat. All right. End of segment. When we come back, a segment we call Keep It. And we're back. We're back. And we're back!

So, some other stuff happened this week. Alright? Some of it less dire and world historic, but no less interesting and important, I suppose. Guys, give it up for Ira Madison. She is a writer for the Daily Beast. And Ira is going to help us break down

a little bit of news this week about someone who loves to trash their exes, blame the media, never take accountability, who is constantly saying that other people are treating them unfairly, and who's made a little bit of a career of attacking their black competition,

Taylor Swift. Ira. You loved that joke. You know, that's unfair. I thought it was okay, but I never found the exact right way to say it without feeling uncomfortable as I did it. And I don't think I ever landed on it, but I'm found the exact right way to say it without feeling uncomfortable as I did it. And I don't think I ever landed on it, but I'm going to leave it in.

I'm going to let people see how it all comes together. So, Ira, what do we think of Taylor this week? What do we think of this song? What do we think of Reputation? Well, let me tell you, Breitbart loves it. Did you not see that? No. Breitbart today, all of their news stories,

they tweeted the lyrics to Taylor's song. Instead of writing what the story was, all day they tweeted her lyrics. What does it mean? She's white and blonde, and they love her, and she didn't say who she voted for. Am I crazy to say that there's something

a little Trump-like about an album cover that's just her name in headlines, her reappropriating the snake, which of course was something she was called for lying vis-a-vis her one of her many feuds.

You're up on it. No, it was certainly weird to be like, this is the time for me to call the media fake. This is... This political climate is perfectly the time for me to lash out at the media for writing about me and my fake relationship with Tom Hiddleston. Wait, what?

And being carried out of an apartment in a box, maybe? Everything you're saying to me is new. There was a box? Allegedly, she was hiding in a box that was carried out of her apartment building. Why? She wanted people to think she was in it. There's some fury in the front row.

She's mad. I mean, this is the same woman who walked her cat on a leash in New York. Just so the paparazzi would take photos. That's dope. Now, Ira, I also want to say something

else. I love this song. And we played it at Crooked Media HQ today, and Elisa and I were really enjoying it. And Elijah did not comment. You know, it's not bad. It's not bad. It's not bad.

It's kind of nice. Well, I mean, it does sample Right Said Fred and Peaches. Which is great. Huh? Yeah, so... Which is funny because that Peaches song is in Mean Girls. I'm sorry. Hold on one sec.

You're very animated, and you're wearing a friend of the pod, and you have so many opinions from the front row and no microphone. Let it out, honey. Put it in the book. You can go. Are you ready? He said put it in the book. Are you ready?

Are you ready? Just say what you want about the song, about this album. Where's your head at? You are shaking your head. You have 10 seconds. She's just a victim, and she's not. And she just, she's just, just stop. She just needs to stop.

Oh, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Hold on. I wasn't sure I wasn't sure where this was going because she's not a victim she's a horrible nightmare and

oh man hold hold on I don't know okay guys guys this is the most animated the house has ever gotten

hold on a second now listen listen this is a show this is about a this company is about a no bullshit conversation about

Taylor Swift is there someone here on the other side of this argument who is very pro-Taylor? I would like to say something as a middle-aged woman I don't mean she is a victim, I mean she plays the victim and she's not

okay Michaela okay She plays the victim and she's not. Okay. Michaela? Okay. As a woman who doesn't give two shits about pop culture, I only know about her lawsuit, right, where she sued a guy for a buck, countersued him for sexual harassment.

That's kind of badass. That was badass. That was really badass. Are you on Taylor's side? I want somebody who's going to defend Taylor. Come up. We're just doing this. The news is that you're going to come,

and then you come up. The person who said they would support Taylor, come on, come on, come on. I don't know if this is going to edit well. Okay. Now you're just standing on the stage in a straight shooter shirt with your own microphone.

I don't even know how the hell you pulled that off. Love it. I am fucking coming for you. Okay. I'll tell you what. All right, do it.

Okay, so the... Here's the thing. We can acknowledge that she took the suit to get justice for the fact that she was sexually assaulted. However,

she is super problematic. She plays the victim, especially when it comes to men of color. And so you can acknowledge the good that she did with the suit while also acknowledging that she is hella problematic. All right. All right. Okay, that's good. They brought the suit against her.

She didn't file a suit against him, by the way. The guy was suing her. And she countersued. It was a countersuit. Either way, it was badass. What was your name? Because I want you on the record. I'm Haley. It she countersued. Either way, it was badass. What was your name? Because I want you on the record. I'm Haley.

It's Haley. She crushed it. That's right. That's Haley. Here's the thing. I'm so glad we did this. I think. I can admit that I really enjoyed that time Trump fired four people on The Apprentice.

It was good TV. I watched that episode three times. Now I know he's evil. But you can still acknowledge he made good TV. I think that if Taylor had come out with this sort of powerful song about what had happened to her, people would perceive it differently. But the lyrics are very much directed at Kanye again.

And last year she literally Instagrammed that she wanted to be excluded from that narrative. And then she ignored it. Yeah. That's victimizing herself again. And it's like, Taylor, stop appealing to your bass. And that's the thing.

That's the other thing about her. She went on this whole, you know, like, feminist power tour for 1989 where she brought every single woman in media onto her stage. Every, like, skinny model woman. She brought a lot of women on stage at her concerts. The people who were in her squad. She brought Harriet Tubman up. She was

very supportive of women. Whose most recent album was Lackluster. You know what? She's doing a lot of good work and people should know about it. You know I love you. Don't. We're okay. You were okay. We're okay. Guys, I want you to know something. I do not understand why Taylor Swift

brings out this level of emotion from people. It is fascinating. It is something to dive into. I think it connects back to the way Hillary Clinton was treated in the election. Oh, now you're uncomfortable. Does it? A little bit. A little bit. It's partly because she rode this feminist wave,

and then she remained largely silent during the election about Donald Trump as someone who feels so strongly about sexual assault, didn't speak out against a president who bragged about it. And it's because she knows that a lot of her base are, Breitbart loves her. KKK white people watching Dukes of Hazzard Dux Dynasty

you know Ina Garten. Actually I love her. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. But like Barefoot Contessa. Wait till the Ina Garten segment later on the show. I can't tell these white women apart. But she ignored all of that,

and now she's just sort of basking in not doing anything. Well, it's pop feminism, right? Yeah. That's what pop feminism is. But every other pop feminist said, fuck Donald Trump. Go out and vote. Yeah. That's what pop feminism is. But every other pop feminist said, fuck Donald Trump. Go out and vote. Yeah.

I mean, Katy Perry gets more people to come to a Hillary Clinton rally than she could people to go to her concerts. That's true. Even Miley Cyrus. I'm not going to have that. I'm not going to have that on the stage. Miley Cyrus was out there.

I will not have that kind of talk on this stage. Go on. Miley Cyrus was out there, too. And her dad's Billy Ray Cyrus. There's like no reason for Miley Cyrus to be campaigning for Hillary and she was like

out there like I'm high or whatever she was doing. Look, I think I'll I want to wrap this up simply by saying that Trump came in

like a wrecking ball. But all he did was wreck us. Do you know the lyrics? And all he did was build us. Do you know the lyrics? And all he did was build a wall. Listen, listen, listen. We can disagree about a lot of things. Wrecking Ball is one of the best

pop songs of the decade. Guys, give it up for Ira Madison. Thank you. That was Keep It. Ira's going to keep it. That was interesting and unexpected. Can you come here for one second? Come up here for one second. What's your name? Goldmar. Goldmar? Goldmar, yeah.

Okay. So here's the beef that I have with it. I feel like we're very right or wrong. And I feel like there's so much nuance in it. Taylor Swift, to me, we give a lot of guys permission to be ridiculous. Where we don't give Taylor permission to be ridiculous. R. Kelly is currently doing a show in Atlanta where he literally had a sex cult and he held women captive and people are just

going to see R. Kelly. Taylor's like 14. I also think we just slow roll the resistance. People who fall out from Trump. What's his name from American Idol? If we all come out and blow our wad at the beginning that we hate him and everything, then it doesn't mean anything later because they, like, what's his name from American Idol? Like, you know what I mean? Because if we all come out and blow our wad

at the beginning that we hate him and everything, then it doesn't mean anything later because they're like, oh, you're just Hollywood elite or singers or artists, you hate him. But if we take a couple and they just like, you know, rig the gun, and then like at a time where they're like, Taylor Swift doesn't like Trump, I'm out.

Yeah, that's a good idea. We need like a press conference with, it's got to be Paul Ryan, Dina Powell, and Taylor Swift together. It's really great. And they hold hands and run into the abyss. When we come back, I think, OK Stop!

OK Stop! Alright guys, we're going to play okay stop uh here's the thing uh donald trump uh uh 2 000 years ago on tuesday uh gave a speech in phoenix that was absolutely crazy uh it was 76 minutes uh he implied that night that he would pardon Joe Arpaio even though everybody knew he wasn't crazy enough to do it and he went after

protesters, he criticized John McCain though not by name and a whole bunch of other crazy shit, okay stop we watch a clip, as we go we stop it to comment, simple as that, let's roll the clip loyalty to our nation requires Okay, stop. We watch a clip. As we go, we stop it to comment. Simple as that. Let's roll the clip. Loyalty to our nation requires loyalty to each other. We all share the same home, the same dreams, and the same hopes for a better future. A wound inflicted upon one member of our community is a wound inflicted upon us all. Okay, stop.

I just wanted to include that to note that even when he's trying to do kind of unifying language, it's just because Stephen Miller is a C-plus Santa Monica fascist, it just sounds like an authoritarian goon applied to be a writer on late-season West Wing and did not get it. I feel like, is Trump ruining the words, like, us and together?

Like, because, like, he says us with an asterisk that means, you know who I'm talking about. I think we might need to cede that to the racists. I can't. Why has loyalty found its way into this speech like 60,000 times? Yeah, it's creepy as hell. Creepy as hell.

You know what? I had this... And same with the Boy Scouts. Didn't he loyalty his face off in that one? Well, I feel like loyalty's part of their That's kind of a Boy Scout jam. Oh, maybe he's got some mileage on there. Maybe he learned the word at the Boy Scouts. I'm gonna recall... It's a guy who said loyalty more than anybody

who's ever not owned a dog. It's really weird. Trump has never walked a dog. Kicked one, but not walked a dog. I's really weird. Trump has never walked a dog. Think about that. I was thinking about it too because these are the speeches where Trump's awful speechwriter really stretches out and it just made me think that

fascism is just what a really shitty person thinks is patriotism. Yes. He's like, I'm going to really, you know what, I'm going to really write some pretty great rhetoric, some presidential American shit.

Which is so bad and so pathetic, and their ratings are going down. Right? Steven Suss! Steven Suss! Steven Suss! Steven Suss! And I say it, and you know, we're all pros.

We're all, like, we have a service. Okay, stop. Did he just say we're all pros? Yeah, we're all pros here in Arizona. Not everybody there is a pro. We're all in the business. We all know what's going on here. Do you know who the biggest pro there is?

What does he call himself? Michael the Black? He is a joke. My dude. As a black person, you are not invited to the cookout. All right. So I appreciate the passion.

Just so, I'm just going to quote for the people at home who are listening, because again, I remind none of you have mics, and that is a choice we made. Which is fine. But anyway, what you said is as a black person, I can say he's not invited to the cookout. And I just wanted to quote that so

the people at home heard it like we all did. Thank you. He said that Oprah was the devil. So, I mean, I can see why. She wanted people to join a book club. That makes sense. So he's like 50-50. We're smart people. These are truly dishonest people. And not all of them. Not all of them. You have some very good reporters. You have some very fair journalists. But for the most part, honestly, these are really, really dishonest people. And they're bad people. And I really think they don't like our country. I really believe that.

So I just would point out that the speech began by saying, we are united, we all come together. And by the way, CNN sucks, reporters hate America. He's the president now. He is the president and he is pointing at a group of people and you know Anna Marie Cox talked about this with John and Dan and me on Thursday's

Pod Save America because I showed up early to do the ads and then just started being on the show and that's what I do on Thursdays sometimes. But she said she was in this reporter pen for one of these moments where Donald Trump just turns an arena full of people on this small gathering of reporters. And she said it was terrifying. And of course it is. And he's playing with fire because he doesn't understand and doesn't care. But it's really serious. It's really serious for

the president to say that reporters don't love this country and that it's really serious. It's really serious for the president to say that reporters don't love this country and that they're bad people. It is a message. It's a message not to listen to them, but also it is a message to crazy people. And journalists are being killed all over the world and it can happen here and there's no good there. That's it.

He keeps saying they're bad people, which a mother to a child likes when they say a bad person, it's not somebody who went to college and learned to write and tried to tell the truth about the country. That's not bad

people. When you read a story to a child, you're like, it was a bad person. It's not a guy with a pencil and a notebook or a gal with a tape person. It's not a guy with a pencil and a notebook or a gal with a tape recorder. But the people that support Trump are like, they see him as daddy

and they're the baby. But also he's the baby and they're the daddy. It's both. You are so right about this. In fact, this whole nightmare of a rally is literally like if your drunk roommate came home after he is. This is what it is.

Okay, he's like if your drunk roommate came home and you heard from someone, they're like Pete just punched a girl in the face. And he came home and he was like for 45 minutes was like, wait, wait. home and he was like, for 45 minutes, was like, wait, wait, can I just read you some of my journal of what I wrote about Stephanie? And then you're supposed to sit there

and be like, yeah, you're right, man. She was a total bitch. Yeah, but then if you're the supporter, you're drunk too and you're like, oh my God, Stephanie, I'm going to punch her. Let's all punch Stephanie. Fuck Stephanie. She's all punch Stephanie. Fuck Stephanie. She's a bad person. Stephanie can't be trusted with an email server.

Stephanie's my sister's name. I feel like I get it. Let's finish the clip. Also, my parents are here. Give it up for my parents. If you want to discover the source of the division in our country, look no further than the fake news

and the crooked media. I get plenty of bad on Fox, too. But at least it's within reason. And Hannity, how good is Hannity, he said. How good is Hannity? It is ice cold that CNN just has to play... Okay, stop. Play how great is Hannity on their air.

I mean, are we at the point where CNN will just put, like, hey, we're crook... CNN's doing a new show called CNN Sucks. Yeah. They're so fucking spotless. Don't air this. Right? Am I crazy? I don't know. You know, CNN... CNN sucks. Yeah. They're so fucking spotless. Don't air this. It's just like, right, am I crazy?

I don't know, you know, CNN, I don't, I do not want us to then be in the position where because Trump makes CNN a villain,

like, we all have to defend Trump all day because like, you know, there could be a story without heroes, but,

but, I will say this, CNN, I think, made it the same category error that a lot of news outlets did, that a lot of people did, myself included, which is to treat Trump's victory as so unlikely as to make the spectacle itself worth covering and treated it as such. And I think that after Trump's win, I think a lot of things such. And I think it's, I think that after Trump's win, I think a lot of things changed, but I think CNN has in a lot of ways stepped up. I think covering Trump's rallies when he was a primary candidate wall to wall while, you know, basically sucking the air out of the race for the rest of the candidates was reprehensible, but he's the

president and he's making a crazy speech and it's news and I have no problem with them covering it, and that's it. I mean, like, I just... It's not CNN's fault. I mean, it's... Well... There's nothing CNN can do right now about the fact that Donald Trump is president. And because he is, and he's on television saying insane things, it's not their job

to keep that from us. Okay, here's my pitch to CNN. You can't see this on the podcast, but in the room, I think you should just let the chyron start being a rebuttal and let it go to three, four, five lines until it covers his face

if he lies enough. That's a great idea. Rebut, rebut, rebut, rebut to the top of the screen. That's a great idea. That is a good idea. And they have done rebuttal chyrons that are like,

Trump claims X, Prince is not true. But I'm saying, just have it keep rising up until his face just is surrounded by chyrons. I think you could even train him by doing that to lie less frequently if each lie added up. You're not going to change Donald Trump. You know what you need is a... I think he's like a little dog.

I can change him. I can change him. You need to put? I think he's like a little dog. I can change him. I can change him. You sound like an abused spouse. No, I know, but he's really, I can change him. He loves me.

We need a real-time Pinocchio filter that as he's speaking, there's someone whose job it is on like a graphic thing to kind of slowly extend his nose

so that when you tune in you have an automatic way of knowing just how deceptive he's being in the moment. I feel like we should start treating the people who support Trump like we treat Trump. They're not going to change. He has this corner of the base. They're not going to believe anything. He said he could shoot somebody in the face

in Fifth Avenue and nobody people would still support him. It's totally true. He's going to keep doing impeachable offenses. They're going to keep supporting him. CNN I think there's this the mainstream media has this like feeling that if they go too far in calling him out or don't have this like

false equivalency all the time they'll be seen as the liberal media. But it doesn't matter what they do they'll be seen as the liberal media. I will say this. After Trump spoke here there was like a shot of the CNN panel, and it looked like they had just watched a puppy fall out of a window.

John's got an incredible what-the-fuck-is-happening face going on. He's now hands to brows, hands over mouth. He's an honest guy. And Fox and Friends in the Morning is the best show, and it's the absolute an honest guy. Sean Hannigan. And Fox and Friends in the morning is the best show and it's the absolute

most honest show. And it's the show I watch. It's the show he watches, guys. It's the most honest show. It's fantastic. He loves Fox and Friends. Fox and Friends is the stupidest, most deceptive, disgusting thing that Fox puts on

every day. I heard Kelly is actually having it animated for him before it airs. And the nose from CNN just starts to creep into Fox because it went all the way across the bottom. End of segment. So, that's okay, stop. Guys, there's been a lot going on it's very dark out there but uh there was there was a bit of a a lighter moment on monday on monday louise linton the

wife of treasury secretary stephen mnookin uh posted an Instagram photo of herself exiting a military jet with the following caption. Great hashtag day trip to hashtag Kentucky. I'm just going to skip some of the hashtags. Put them in. Nicest. People. Beautiful. Countryside. Roland Marais

pants. Is that a brand that I don't know? I'm too salt of the earth to know the brand. Is it Roland Marais? Is that right? Did I say it? Oh, whatever. Roland Marais. Roland Marais pants, Tom Ford, Sunnies. Tom Ford.

Oh, sunglasses. Ugh. Hermes scarf. You know what? It's fun to get them wrong. I don't get Swiss on my sandwich. Yeah, but this isn't any brand. This is Hermes.

Hermes scarf, Valentino Rockstud heels, hashtag Valentino, hashtag USA. In an Instagram comment on the photo, Jenny Miller, a mother of three from Oregon, commented, glad we could pay for your little getaway. Hashtag deplorable. We don't hate Jenny, guys. Louise responded to Jenny Miller

with quite a tirade. So we are now introducing a new segment. It is called A Reading by Michaela Watkins. She will now read Louise Linton's response to this mother of three from Oregon. Michaela, take it away. Forgive me, because I don't normally

like to attack other fellow women performers. But now that I've seen that you destroyed Taylor Swift like a snossage at a Rottweiler fight, who cares, right? But feminism is really

calling out people for being an asshole. So forgive me if this is not a good impression. Here we go. This is the response. Cute! With a kiss emoji. Aww. Did you think this was a personal trip? Adorable!

Do you think... the U.S. government paid for our honeymoon or personal travel? LOLOLOL! our honeymoon or personal travel? LOL, LOL, LOL. Have you given more to the economy than me and my husband? Either as an individual earner in taxes or in self-sacrifice to your country? I'm pretty sure we paid more taxes toward our day quote-unquote trip than you did.

By the way, it was a trip, right? She went to go see the eclipse. They went to go see the eclipse at Fort fucking Knox. Okay. Which is way too on the nose. In an airplane that said United States of America.

Pretty sure the amount we sacrifice per year is a lot more than you'd be willing to sacrifice if the choice was yours. Strong arm emoji, kiss emoji. You're adorably out of touch. Hard eyes emoji. Thanks for the passive-aggressive nasty comment. Because this whole thing isn't passive-aggressive. I can't. Sorry. Your kids look very cute.

Your life looks cute. I know you're mad, but deep down, you're really nice. And so am I. Sending me passive-aggressive Instagram comments isn't going to make life feel better. Maybe a nice message, one filled with wisdom and humanity would get more traction. Have a pleasant evening. Go chill out and watch the Game of Thrones. It's fab.

Same. Give it up for Michaela Watkins with a fantastic reading. I have to say, your life looks cute is one of the most passive-aggressive things. And she grew up in a Scottish castle. Like, you can't throw stones. You can't throw stones when you grow up in a Scottish castle.

They bounce right off. That shit is like... You can't throw stones. You can't throw stones when you grow up in a Scottish castle. They bounce right off. That shit is like... Wait, but also, isn't your kids look cute what, like, a fucking serial killer says before they kill your kids? And she's like, your comment will get more traction. How much more traction can a comment fucking get than her responding with a paragraph?

And what does a cute life look like? It's so insulting. Look at your little life. It's so adorable. We don't like it. When we come back, a new segment called Old News. And we're back.

Now for a segment called Old News. It's a new game that we're going to be playing. Guys, beneath your chairs, you guys each have a question to ask a member of our audience. I see a great many friends of the pod. I see a straight shooter or two. Hey, Lisa, can you find somebody who might be interested in playing the game Old News? There's somebody over there.

They've got to be in merch, though. Oh, there. This person's raising her hand. Oh. Hello, what's your name? Nicole. Hi, Nicole. I'd like to say I used to work for Sheriff Joe.

You worked for Sheriff Joe? Whoa. Don't boo me. Don't say your last name. I won't. Can you give us one shocking fact about your time there? Just one? Just one.

Well, he's like my height. He's not as tall as he looks. Okay, that's okay, but I wanted something a little bit more exciting. That's okay, Nicole. Thank you for sharing that information anyway. Are you ready to play the game Old News? Have you been paying attention to the news since Donald

Trump was inaugurated as president? So much has happened this year. I want to see if you've been paying attention. I'm going to run through a few of the minor skirmishes that have happened that we have seemingly forgotten about because so much other crazy shit has happened.

We each are going to ask you a question. You're going to be playing for a parachute gift card. Question number one. It is multiple choice. Back in May, Trump released a budget with a serious math error. By how much did he miscalculate? Was he wrong by $2 million, $20 billion, or $2 trillion? Trillion. $2 trillion

is correct. And they said that they did it on purpose. Alice, you're up with question number two for Nicole. Alright, you got this. During a Black History Month speech, Trump alluded to which historical figure as still being

alive? He said, blank, is an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more. I noticed. Frederick Douglass. That's correct.

Rushing it, Nicole. Andrew, question number three. All right. This is a good one. I would have gotten this wrong. How many times has Trump tweeted about Hillary Clinton since the inauguration?

Option A. You have options. You have options. I'm not going to have you know the number. Option A, 585. Option B, 97. And option C, 1012. I like it.

What? No, not all of the above. How like it. What? No, not all of the above. How could it be all of the above? How could that be? That can be an answer in a multiple choice, but not when there's three numbers. It would be adding them all together, I think is what she's saying.

Oh, well that would have just been a trick question. Yeah, we wouldn't do that to you. That's your M.O. That is my M.O. Nicole, I'm sorry to put you on the spot, but you did raise your hand. Is it 585, 97, or 1,012? 585. Oh, hell yeah.

You're about to be caffeinated. Michaela is up to read Nicole her fourth and final question. She is three for three. True or false? Donald Trump held a nuclear strategy session in the public dining room of his Florida resort. True. It's true.

It's true. It's true. That did happen. Four for four. That did happen. Guys, Nicole went four for four. Give it up for Nicole. Nicole, you've won the parachute gift card Now for the rant wheel We've got a lot on the rant wheel today Alright Here's where it could land

It could land on Robert Lee An ESPN announcer Who didn't call a game because his name sounded sort of like Robert E. Lee. We have the Arizona GOP using Margaret Cho's sitcom family photo to represent Asians. We have more people tweeting about how there's a new President Trump. We have the neo-Nazis hiding behind the First Amendment when they get banned from Twitter and PayPal and other services. We have the Game of Thrones finale. We have people visiting the ER after the eclipse.

We have Trump already campaigning for election, for re-election in 2017. And we have Facebook's suggested friends. Let's spin the wheel. Okay. So ESPN pulled a guy named Robert Lee off of a... He was calling a Virginia game. Calling a Virginia game.

Yeah. And he was pulled up because his name... Robert motherfucking Lee. It's not because his middle name was motherfucking. Yeah. And he was pulled up because his name... Robert motherfucking Lee. It's not because his middle name was motherfucking. No, that part is like... He should have been pulled long ago. He lived with that, yeah. I don't know if you guys have any strong

feelings about this. I think this whole thing got blown out of proportion. It's the kind of thing where somebody, once somebody asks that, that question never should have been asked, right? Can somebody named Robert Lee call a game in Virginia during all of this but then somebody asks well now that you've asked

I guess you gotta be better safe than sorry yeah it got leaked though is the problem because I think this shit is like relatively routine if I may my small rant on this is directed at probably a tiny bit of your listenership, but Asian parents,

just fucking crack a history book before you name your kid. Because it is like, I know, and it's like, I'm the only one that's saying this, and you guys don't say this, but just seriously, what a fucking bummer. His name isn't Robert.

I would get it maybe if the guy's name was Robert-y. Because that's a weird name. And that would be a little messed up. But he's not even a white guy. I don't understand. And it's obvious that I feel like it was just leaked and then made a big deal out of it.

Like, oh look what it does. The PC police came in and now a guy can't work his job. Yeah, it feels like a prank from Republicans. It's a troll. Let's turn PC on its face and make them have to defend it, okay? I think it's like the best kind of troll too because it's like a vague political cartoon

where you can read any point of view into this action and to the reaction and to the re-re-reaction. It's just like, it is probably pointless, but like, Jesus Christ. Our culture is dumb. Let's spin it again. Yay!

It has landed on the Game of Thrones finale. I'm so happy. And what's funny is this was put on the rant wheel by others and just assumed I'd have something to yell about. I guess either about either the quality of how the season has gone, people not being quiet during the episode. Michaela, where's your head at? There's not enough tits, man.

No, I have a couple of things, but every time, my husband doesn't watch Game of Thrones, and I do, and every time I talk about it with people, he goes, when you talk about Game of Thrones, you sound so dumb.

And I know what he means, because I'm like, wait a minute, so what is... Okay, so here's what I'm going to do. Here's what I'm going to do, Michaela. We're going to make a note, and we're going to beep that when we put

it out. Okay. Keep going. Well, I do have, I mean, I don't know. I have to talk about things that have happened in past episodes this season, but it would be a spoiler for somebody who is, say, listening to this from France and couldn't get HBO Go. Is anybody in this room worried

about being spoiled? Oh, a couple people raised their hands, but not enough. I can talk about it without spoiling. No, do it. Don't do it. I have an evergreen rant about getting spoiled. Yeah, I can talk about it without spoiling. No, do it. Don't do it. I have an evergreen rant about Game of Thrones. Yeah, I can talk about it without spoiling. Mine is not as good as yours, I can already tell.

That's not, you have no way of knowing. Okay, here's my problem with Game of Thrones is that the only consistent thing so far about the show has been it does feel like they are trying to soften everyone's stance on incest. Like, they're really doing a lot of work, and

that's the only arc that has been entirely consistent throughout. It's like, incest is bad, and then it's like, is it though? Is it though? I shouldn't ship that. It's insane.

It's like the only thing, characters bounce all over the place, everyone's motivations, fucking whatever. They really are on the track to being like, incest. Good. That's so much better than what I was going to say there's like no way

all I was going to say is that the ravens fly too fast that's true too though but like every time anybody sends a raven like four seconds later

somebody's like oh cool like it's like the cell phone of Game of Thrones you send a raven out and it goes bloop

and then five seconds later bloop yeah except bloop bloop and it's like oh are you guys going to be out later send me a raven out and it goes bloop and then five seconds later it goes bloop. Yeah, except bloop, bloop and it's like, oh, are you guys going to be out later? Okay, send me a raven if you're out.

Okay, cool. I feel like this season is sort of emblematic of our administration where so much has happened. Incest is fun. That. Boo!

That. Oh, no. We're doing the Arsenio thing. Michaela. That is very true. But also, that so much is happening that when something big happens, they're a little bit like, don't worry about it. We have such bigger fish to fry right now. Like, don't worry about how...

Don't worry about it. You don't know what she's referring to. You're good. And we're going to beep this in the recording. We're going to bleep this, like you said, some words. And you don't know how it turns out. You don't know how anything happens. Let's spin it again before I get in more trouble

with people yelling at me for spoiling Game of Thrones. Okay. It has landed on a new President Trump. The reason it was there is because, once again, Donald Trump gave a speech, I believe, on Monday night in which he did not, you know, fall down. He read the teleprompter successfully. He announced his Afghanistan policy, even though he really didn't explain what it was. And of course, once again, reporters start talking about

how this is a new President Trump. Philip Rucker, who is a good reporter, tweeted, tonight is a new President Trump, acknowledging a flip-flop and talking about the gravity of the office, history, and substance. And I thought Brian Boitler of the New Republic made a good point about this. He said, it's fair to ask anyone who's tweeted anything like this in the past two years why they haven't learned or what upside they see in playing games. And I think

that's really fair because it is so crazy to approach Donald Trump reading from a teleprompter and doing his best impression of someone who isn't the guy on the day before or the day after can't stop it. It's who he's always going to be. And that's it. And so looking for, you know, looking for big conclusions, looking for some kind of sweeping change, looking for a pivot, it is never going to be happening and never going to happen. I think part of the problem is reporting the same thing over and over again is boring. And also, by the way, not being nuanced gets pretty boring. You know, we, we're all dealing with this completely black and white situation every day and it doesn't change. And so there's nothing

new to say about it. Yeah, he read from the thing. It wasn't a total disaster. He's still going to be a racist tomorrow. Nothing is going to change. The only thing that will change is when he leaves. And everything else is false nuance and bullshit. That's it. That's all I had to say about it.

And I guess we should leave it there. Good place to leave it. I don't really have anything else to say. I mean, what else is there to say? I mean, this week, today was fucking nuts. I'm really looking through the rest of these cards to see if there's anything else to cover. I think we hit it all.

While we were recording this, Trump went in front of Trump Tower and grabbed 10 pussies on CNN Live. Please rate and subscribe the show. But let's also send all our love and warm and well wishes out to Texas. That's true, too. Yes, there's a hurricane coming to Texas.

If you're listening to this in Texas, you know, it's scary. Give it up for our panel. Alice Wetterlin, you know, it's scary. Give it up for our panel. Alice Wetterlin, Andrew T, Michaela Watkins, Tommy Vitor, Ira Madison. Thank you guys so much. Thank you.