Lovett or Leave It - What a Weekday: If You're In Line To Be President, Stay In Line

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

SoftBank goes hard for oligarchy. Big Tech kisses the ring. Biden quiet quits and commutes the unforgivable. And Trump will see you in court. Plus we hand out our End Of Year Awards to the biggest, oldest, weirdest, and most dead squirrel moments of 2024.

Oh, I do recommend seeing stuff at the W.J. Theater, though. Oh, yeah. So relaxing, just everyone knows how to behave during a movie. That's great. They got big chairs. What do they got there? Right. Like nice. It's plush. They're not like they're not like they're reclining once. They're just like nice velvet seats.

I simply only I'm like you must recline. I must recline. Like if I'm going to the movies, I want to I want to press. I want to recline. I don't like to recline in public. I like reclining. That's for home. If he didn't reclining is for home. Reclining is Seattle, I don't like to recline in public. That's for home. Reclining is for home. Reclining is for, you don't have to be done in public?

Unless you're at the dentist? What if you were at the dentist in public? Well that's the only way to get the dentist. You leave your seat all the way up on the airplane? Yeah. I also don't recline. That's so rude to the person behind you. No, no, no, no.

If you're an economy, how dare you? I don't think I would crush my computer. Every time I go and leave my computer, how dare I? No. I'll say bolt upright. I'll say bolt upright right now in solidarity. I don't like thinking about all the people back there.

Yeah, that tracks. Yeah, yeah, that'll add to it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Welcome to Whatta Weekday. I'm Jon Lovett joined as always by Kendra James, Hallie Kiefer and Sarah Lazarus. However, this is the final episode of Whatta Weekday, at least for the time being. But not to worry dear listeners,

Crooked has already greenlit our prequel, Young Whatta Weekday. It's mostly about the family surrounding What A Weekday. It's just all of us as babies. It's all of us as babies. I'm Marci Martin. Let's get into it. One last time in 2024, What A Weekday.

As the saying goes, America only has one president at a time. And get this, that president is already Donald Trump. On Monday, Trump held his first post-election press conference joined by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi San to announce that SoftBank will invest $100 billion in the United States. This was a strange event for three reasons. A, Donald Trump is not currently the president. B, SoftBank doesn't have $100 billion. And C, we had moments like this. 200, he'll make it.

200 million investments. He is a great negotiator. Oh. Oh. So basically this guy gets up there and says, Donald Trump is great and I'm doing this because of Donald Trump and then Trump's like make it 200 billion and then kind of does his sort of alpha male arm

grip thing where he demonstrates dominance over this guy whose height Trump definitely enjoys because the South Bank CEO is a short king as it were. I will just point out so we don't forget what it was like to live in a nation of laws and not of men that traditionally the private sector figures would praise the country and not the president that no, a major company isn't being harangued into making an investment but sees the value in betting on the country itself, which meant betting on the people that traditionally when you even doing events like this, which are always a little bit uncomfortable, right? Because it's the private sector and the public sector

they would they would make it about the the American economy and the ingenuity and skill of the American people but no this is an event where Donald Trump is calling it so that this guy can go and praise Donald Trump who basically this guy explicitly says because Trump won America is gonna do better and and I'm going to invest because of Donald Trump and sure that's a Quaint and old-fashioned critique now but there's an old saying by William F Buckley and it goes a conservative is someone who stands with word history yelling stop at a time when no one is inclined to do so or to have much patience with those who so urge it and On stuff like this

I think that's just gonna have to be us for a while and it's not gonna be good politics all the time then it may Not be practical and it may not be what we run on and maybe tiresome and but on several fronts That's just gonna be us because this shit is terrible and embarrassing and un-american and it turns out not a lot of people care about that and it's very dispiriting, but it doesn't make it less true. And that's it. He just palmed that guy like a basketball.

He just grabbed him like a baby. I know, I know. It's gross. Also, Softbank is a bad name for a bank. Terrible. I want my bank. Yeah, I like my banks. Rock hard. Like, I like my mattress and my back. I like yeah, I mean I like my banks rock hard like I like my mattress

and my dudes boo What a year it's been the president-elect told reporters that he would consider pardoning New York City Mayor Eric Adams He's convicted on federal corruption charges Yeah, I would yeah, I think that he was treated pretty unfairly now I haven't seen the gravity of it all, but it seems, you know, like being upgraded in an airplane many years ago. I know probably everybody here has been upgraded. They see you're all stars. Yeah, yeah. But in my case, it was because I have a lot of Delta miles, not because I've

done favors for the Turkish government. But for a flight over six hours, I would do favors for the Turkish government. Talk about reclining, go hours, I would do favors for the Turkish government. Talk about reclining, go all the way back. Go all the way back. It's a 360. Yeah. What would I could do for the Turkish government? What could I do that would be useful to them?

Rates of hilarious one-liners. Yeah, it's all Greek to me. Not Constantinople. Hey, there's more where that came from, Turkey. Yeah. Let's get in touch. Huh? I'll tell you, this Eurocentrism, it's for the birds.

Turkey. What were we talking about? Trump said this about Tim Cook and other CEOs traveling to meet with him. The first term, everybody was fighting me. In this term, everybody wants to be my friend. I don't know. My personality changed or something. People always say that when they know perfectly well it's just because they got incredibly

hot. He honestly looks okay. I don't know whether it's filler or whatever. He did get something done. I feel like you often say this. Well he just looks so different from week to week. It's almost like I see it. I guess this is a good week on.

I think lighting is a good week on. I think lighting is a huge component. Yeah, absolutely. I think he's well lit. His hair is translucent, but his face looks okay. He also is, he's not been traveling. Yeah. He's chilling out at Mar-a-Lago.

Also like a chip has fallen off his shoulder. Yeah, that's true. It just passed. Doesn't mean he's not gonna be less of a menace. Doesn't mean he's not gonna be less extreme. Doesn't mean if there's any kind of crisis or protest, he's not gonna do something evil and illegal, he's going to be a terrible president.

But a chip has fought, like the popular vote win, combined with the fact that the legal threat has basically come off of him, has like, think about how tired you would look if you were facing dozens of felony indictments. And then think about how good you'd feel the next day when that all went away. Think about how good that would be for the skin.

Talk about a vitamin, you know, here are the things that we know work on the skin. Vitamin C, retinol, sunscreen, moisturizer, and having 92 felony indictments dropped. That is great for the complexion. Got data behind it. Yeah, you could take that to the bank. It's correlation, not causation.

Take that to the soft bank. Hey, take that. In response to a question about the potential TikTok ban, Trump said this. We'll take a look at TikTok. I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points. And there are those that say that

TikTok has something to do with that. First of all, no, Donald Trump didn't win youth by 34 points. He only won old people. That's the group that he wins. And sure, you think you're just going to take a look at TikTok and then suddenly it's five hours later, you're smearing beef tallow on your face while wondering what's going to happen on Molly Rudder's next first date. Oh, I'm waiting for part six of CO2 Felon right now. I'm really invested in a woman who got manipulated by one of her prisoners.

And is, like, now under indictment, but her fiance doesn't know. It's very, it's, there's a lot going on. Well, then if it's, it's on TikTok, doesn't the fiance find out? Well, this is, she's telling a story. Oh, it's a long, on. Well then, if it's on TikTok, doesn't the fiance find out? She's telling a story. Oh, it's a long off. She's been to jail and out.

Every once in a while, there'll be like one of those 30 part stories that you just dig in. Let's go, let's go on a journey. I'm in, I'm in. Also on Monday, Trump said of RFK Jr. that he'll be much less radical than people think and said, you're not going to lose the polio vaccine,

but also cited a debunked connection between vaccines and autism, adding there's something wrong and we're going to find out about it. Trump keeps saying this about the polio vaccine as if it's reassuring, but it's not. Like, yeah, man, we didn't think that was on the table. It's like you're about to go into knee surgery and as the anesthesiologist brings the mask down, he says, don't worry, we won't touch your kidneys well I wasn't but what else is going on in here is that reassuring what else are you gonna take don't worry we won't touch the polio vaccine well great man there's a bunch of other ones you shouldn't no one was talking about that one what about the other ones Mitch

McConnell had polio also this weekend Trump and JD Vance attended the Army Navy game and invited recently acquitted Marine Corps vet Daniel Penny as their guest. Either you hate the male loneliness epidemic or you hate this, but you can't hate both. These are men finding community. Penny was found not guilty last week of criminally negligent homicide after he put homeless men Jordan Neely in a chokehold on the New York subway last year. Explained a spokesperson for Trump and Vance. Inviting Penny to the game was just our way of saying thanks for he put homeless man Jordan Neely in a chokehold on the New York subway last year, explained a spokesperson for Trump in Vance, inviting Penny to the game was just

our way of saying thanks for putting a homeless man in a chokehold on the New York subway last year. The trio were also joined at the game by Trump pick to head up national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and his prospective defense secretary Pete Hegseth and Ron DeSantis, who is allegedly in the running to replace Hegseth if Trump rescinds the nomination of the former Fox News anchor. The competition between Hegseth and DeSinds the nomination of the former Fox News anchor. The competition between Hegseth and DeSantis to win Trump's favor has been dubbed the Smarmy Navy game. And as is our new custom, America's oligarchs are finding new ways to pay tribute to our leader.

After Mark Zuckerberg's meta donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund last week, other tech giants have rushed to do the same. Jeff Bezos' Amazon reportedly plans to donate $1 million to the fund and will stream Trump's inauguration on prime come Monday, January. What? January, just leave it. It is the Monday of the year.

You gotta be careful though. All right, Amazon also has a bunch of knockoff Trump imbarguations and they will fall apart the first time you put them in a dryer. Too many vowels. All those fake brands on Amazon. It's not good. You just look up anything, it's like, well, this is just going to burst into flames when

it gets here. Yeah. OpenAI told NPR that CEO Sam Altman intends to make a personal $1 million donation to the fund and not to be outdone to settle a ridiculous lawsuit. ABC News capitulated to Trump's lawyers and will donate $15 million to Trump's presidential library and pay an additional $1 million for Trump's legal fees. The Trump presidential library, oops, I'll gift shop. This was a lawsuit over an interview in which George Stephanopoulos asserted that Trump

was found liable for rape when he was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation in a case where the judge said that the term rate as commonly understood would apply but not according to a narrow specific legal definition in New York State law. Disney of course has the resources to fight this kind of lawsuit whereas many critics threatened with legal action by Trump to intimidate and silence them do not. It's a healthy reminder corporations will not save us from Trump they will only make us happy. That's what they do. They're just here to make us happy.

And boy do they make us happy. We love them. Thank you corporations. And Trump's studs are not idle. Disney's pathetic capitulation comes as Trump pursues costly legal fights against his various enemies in October. Trump sued CBS News, accusing 60 Minutes of editing a clip of Kamala Harris in such a way as to assist her candidacy.

Meanwhile, I will be suing 60 Minutes for not doing that well enough." Said the suit to paper over Kamala's word-salid weakness. CBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to cross the line from the exercise of judgment in reporting to deceitful, deceptive manipulation of news. Yeah, because of 60 Minutes, nobody ever got the sense that Kamala responds to questions about politically-fraught topics with a string of bromide said slowly and with great conviction. Just before the election, Trump sued the New York Times alleging three stories on him were deceptive, malicious, intentional, defamatory, disparaging, distorted, fabricated, false, and misleading.

The Times stood by its reporting. That's great writing. It sounds like a Tom Lehrer song. Yeah, beautiful. It's interesting. Yeah, it sounds like Gilbert and Sullivan. Yeah. And on Monday, Trump sued the Des Moines Register for publishing that Anselzer poll that showed layer song. Yeah, beautiful. It's interesting. Yeah, it sounds like Gilbert and Sullivan. And on Monday, Trump sued the Des Moines Register for publishing that Ann Selzer poll that showed him down in Iowa. I'm going to be bringing one against the people in Iowa, their newspaper, which had a very, very good bolster who got me right all the time.

And then just before the election, she said I was going to lose by three or four points and it became the biggest story all over the world because I was going to win Iowa by 20 points. The farmers love me and I love the farmers. As with the 60 minutes lawsuit, Trump is attempting a novel legal argument, this time under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, claiming the poll constituted consumer fraud. As a law professor told NBC News, the odds of success here are slim to none, but winning in court is not likely the real goal of the lawsuit. The true motivation is to intimidate

the press and journalists. And that's disgusting. The only thing that should intimidate journalists are first dates, dancing, anything athletic, and social functions where it would be weird to bring a backpack. Fucking nerds. I just have to say, like, getting sued

for getting some math wrong has unlocked a new high school, like, fear for me. Oh, yeah. No, I think more kids should go to get sued for how bad their math. Maybe that would shake some sense in them. I don't feel like finding a new staff that isn't in jail. Trump riding high and threatening all of these lawsuits, fine. It's the combination of these ridiculous, frivolous lawsuits against 60 Minutes, against Des Moines Register, combined with the fact that ABC News, one of the biggest and most

well-resourced legal departments, Disney, have capitulated to Donald Trump on this. What is the Des Moines Register supposed to do? What's Olivia Troy supposed to do? These are just individuals or smaller organizations that are going to basically be, uh, uh, uh, uh, potentially bankrupted by the cost of defending themselves against this and like Disney has Disney. It's Disney famously has great lawyers, famously's Disney. Famously has great lawyers. Famously has a big legal department.

Remember when this was very sad, somebody died of an allergic reaction at a restaurant in Disneyland or Disney World, I don't remember. And as part of that lawsuit, they withdrew it after an outcry, but at first they said that they had no right to sue because they had Disney Plus.

Because inside of the Disney Plus, terms and conditions, they had, I guess, indemnified or whatever the correct term is, they had indemnified Disney in some way. They withdrew that part of the complaint because there was such a public outcry over it. But like these are lawyers that know how to fight. People in the world understand what's happened when you misuse Disney's copyright. They know how to defend their people. And it used to be, and look, like, maybe there's some email somewhere where somebody told George Stephanopoulos don't use

the word right. Maybe there's some like small beat of evidence that could kind of go to the argument Trump is making. But like every step of it, right? Uh, did George Stephanopoulos do it maliciously? Of course not. Is what he said inaccurate? I don't actually think it is. Like, I mean, look, I think you could, there's an Right? Did George Stephanopoulos do it maliciously? Of course not. Is what he said inaccurate?

I don't actually think it is. Like, I mean, look, I think you could, there's an argument, right, that he was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, not technically for rape. But the judge said that the public understanding of the term would apply. And he's not a judge. He's describing something. He is free to describe it the way he sees it and if he personally sees it as being found

liable for rape even though the technical New York State definition is different that's completely defensible. And then you have to prove that it was malicious which it wasn't so it's maybe not even inaccurate, certainly not malicious, and then you have to prove that there was some kind of damage done to Donald Trump's reputation because of the difference between being the legal definition of rape in New York State and the judge describing it as colloquially a sexual assault that rises to the definition of rape. None of that is something a normal newsroom wouldn't want to defend their people against.

And he got elected, so where's the damage? Yeah. Right. Yeah. Also tell me the person who can make that separation and isn't just using the word rape. It's just, it's, and so like, it was so shocking to see that they had settled it, right? And then you think, well, why? Like, okay, maybe there's some bit of email or something somewhere, fine. Or then you think, well, it's $15 million as a donation, so they get to write a portion of that off. There'd be a bunch of costs associated with fighting it publicly, and so they

just view it as something they can make go away. But they're like, they're also supposed to be defending their people. They're also supposed to be having the backs of the journalists that work for them. Because by the way, let's say it was inaccurate. People are allowed to make mistakes without being destroyed by it. We want journalists to be able to do an interview without being terrified in the moment that if they make a mistake, they will be sued into oblivion and that their corporate parent will abandon them. That's why you have these lawyers.

They're supposed to defend you. I remember when Ronan was working on the Weinstein stories at NBC? And there were all kinds of threats being bandied about and I may get the details wrong because it's years ago now. But I remember having this feeling while he was doing it that there was a missing voice at NBC to say, but that's why we're here. Yeah, no, there are threats. And yes, it's obviously deeply sensitive.

And yes, it's a big story. And yes, it will create controversy. But that's why we're here. And it is like, there are so many places where there were, that Donald Trump has exposed these weaknesses. And this is yet another example that because these important news institutions that developed their prestige and habits and standards and reputations before the modern conglomerate era,

they continue to exist, but they've now been absorbed into these big companies, whether it's a Comcast or a Disney or a Viacom or whatever it may be. And it seems like there's no longer that figure in a place of power who's in it because they believe in the news who says, that's why we're here. So we're just going to keep fighting because that's, yeah, I understand that there's a business reason to settle. Yeah, I understand it'd be better to make it go away. But that's why we're here here in Sorkin.

Help us. I know I was about to say that's why you wrote on the newsroom. But also like this is the natural endgame of capitalism. Like it's like, yeah, these are these are capitalist. Like at the end of the day, Disney made a someone made a spreadsheet of like, it's let's just give them 50 million dollars because we don't want to deal with the cost. And that's just what it's going to be. Like we remember the January 6 hearings. It was a bunch of individuals, Republicans, who were like,

I don't think we could do this. I can't allow this to happen. Those people are all gone, much like probably a lot of people who are in charge of these newspapers, those people are gone too. And whoever is making the decision are not the people who are like, this is a newspaper. We have to be defending these people.

And unfortunately, he is the ultimate capitalist. And he knows that. He knows that he can exhaust people because we're all exhausted already. So the next four years is gonna be him and Cash Mattel and all the rest of these guys just threatening everybody and assuming that we are also exhausted that like even those people who still want to stand up

are gonna say, this one's not worth it. We'll wait till the next one. And then the next one doesn't come because it's all not worth it, you know? Yeah. not worth it, you know? Yeah. It's, uh, I, like, this moment of all these wealthy guys, uh, supplicating and, and, uh, genuflecting for Trump, disgusting, ABC News capitulating this way, I'm sure inside of

ABC people are furious. I'm sure there of ABC people are furious. There are great journalists there. There is an ethic that's in the DNA of these places and that continues. I am sure people inside are absolutely furious that they have been allowed to be maligned in this way. I think, Hallie, you're right. It's just like I want to think about, okay, like how do we stop this? Like, how do we find that backbone and who's gonna have it and who's gonna show it? And it may not be these big corporations, but it has to come from somewhere else. Well, I was gonna say it has to come from,

with someone like the Des Moines Register, it kind of has to come from our capitalists. You have to hope that unfortunately that like a Mark Cuban, if a suit really shows up at their doorstep and they really need to defend themselves, you kind of have to hope that like a Mark Cuban steps up and says, here's your legal defense. Yeah, it's true. I think that's part of it. We do need, you know, they like,

I remember when it came out that it was Peter Thiel funding the lawsuit against Gawker. Yeah. And I like, at the time, I remember feeling like, wow, like it's amazing how many people are ready to dance on Gawker's grave. And Gawker was fucking terrible in a lot of ways, terrible in a lot of ways.

But that was a harbinger of things to come. And they took the lesson there that they really can use the legal system to destroy outlets they don't like if they find the opening. And it's just we have your I do think it's going to take big money to get behind protecting these institutions, investigate these institutions and, and, but I don't think there's any way to avoid the fact that like, already there are I'm sure right now there are stories that journalists are saying it's not worth it. I'm not going to do it. It's just not worth it. And it's December of the year before he's sworn in. Happy holidays. Happy holidays.

Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. Of course, Donald Trump isn't the president right now. Technically, get this, it's a man named Joe Biden. And fun fact about him, he was born on the same day as Elvis Presley, which isn't true. I made that up, but that's how old Joe Biden seems to us. Biden's last hurrah should have been the 1500 people he pardoned or commuted in one day. However, people have started to comb through that list and there are some unfortunate and strange picks.

For example, Biden wrote down the lady from Anatomy of a Fall, even though she had been acquitted. Didn't even make it to the end of the movie. He must have fallen asleep. The president commuted the sentence of former Pennsylvania judge Michael Conahan, who was convicted in 2011 of the Kids for Cash scheme, where he accepted kickbacks in exchange for wrongfully sentencing children to for-profit juvenile detention facilities.

He took money to fill the jails with children. Some of those kids were so wrecked by the experience, they ultimately took their own lives. It's a disgusting, cartoonishly evil scandal. Like a 30 Rock style joke fucking scandal. And that sentence was commuted because President Biden commuted all the sentences of people that were released into home confinement during the pandemic at the request of certain outside groups apparently not going through and

checking them uh, so That's a bit of a botch though. I will say it's interesting to see people that advocate for Uh abolition or just a general complete overhaul of the justice system people that advocate for abolition, or just a general complete overhaul of the justice system, seeing a person like this judge who is an older person and is very unlikely to re-offend,

given that it's hard for him to become a corrupt judge again, being angry. I feel like there's two pieces to it, one of which is the thing is completely fair, which is like, this is somebody who exploited the very system we despise to destroy lives, that it is in stark relief a kind of cartoon hyperbolic version of what the justice system does every day, which is destroys people and sends them to these for-profit institutions, and you're going to show this person mercy in a system in which so few people get mercy.

And I totally respect that. There's another part of it, which is people being like, yeah, I'm for prison abolition, but I want this guy to fucking pay. But these people were on home confinement, yes? This person was on home confinement, yes. Yeah, that's not like, that part I can like get behind. Home confinement, yes, our parole and probation systems need to be fixed. Those two things are not the same thing. And there are definitely inequalities and injustices

in those. But home confinement is a much, much better option than the for-profit and also frankly like the federal jail and prison systems. Sure. Yeah, I wouldn't have mind this guy rot in jail. He was already out of prison. Like to commute a sentence of somebody who's already like at home, you know what I mean? Like it's not even like. Yeah, and he was apparently gonna be up

in a couple of years anyway. And so they're like, they just sort of wiped everybody including the people that would have been up in the next couple of years. But I do think it was like it's interesting just to see how negative the reaction has been because like I felt the same thing it's like I remember that scandal. It was outrageous. It was outrageous and I do think there's like a kind of, why does this guy get mercy?

Can we make sure his home sucks a little bit? Can we get his dishwasher? I mean, I like, it's also just like, will people shout at him at restaurants? I hope so. If you've ever found yourself involved in any endeavor that could be potentially described as cash for kids, you shouldn't get the clemency treatment, you should get the final destination treatment.

He also pardoned Rita Crundwell. Her name is Crundwell, a villain name, former Illinois Comptroller who pleaded guilty to a $54 million embezzlement scheme. Crundwell is better known by her street alias corn pop. Biden, well, it does like this story too. It had this sort of, it fed in, it's feeding into the narrative of like, Joe Biden is just quiet quitting because it's like, well, the group submitted all these names.

Like, well, didn't anybody go through it? Did Joe Biden have any questions? Did anybody, we don't know, we're not getting insight. Like maybe, but we're just not't know. We're not getting insight. Maybe, but we're just not seeing it. We're not getting any sense of it. You think somebody political would flag the cash for kids judge, be like, hey, let's get that guy off the list.

Why is that? Why are we putting that guy? Why is that guy jumping to the front of the line? Is everyone seeing it as cash for kids? Two Ks? Oh, like the commercial? Yeah, I am. Okay.

I am, for sure. For sure. In Sky News, the drone mania in New Jersey continues, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told This Week. We have not seen any foreign, we know of no, foreign involvement with respect to the sightings in the Northeast.

And we are vigilant in investigating this matter, the Department of Homeland Security, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the lead. In other words, this is the work of some kind of local kingpin who's operating out of New Jersey, a droney soprano, if you will. As for why people are suddenly seeing so many drones at once in 2024, Mayorkas actually had an explanation. And in September of 2023,

the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, changed the rules so that drones could fly at night. And that may be one of the reasons why now people are seeing more drones than they did before, especially from dawn to dusk. My theory is that these things are like the forest clowns people were seeing in 2016. And just as with the clowns, the sightings should die down once Trump takes office.

They're just omens. Nothing to worry about. Just terrifying omens. Forgot about the clowns? When asked about the mysterious drones flying over Jersey on Monday, Trump, of course, knew his job was to calm frayed nerves and avoid feeding into a frenzy of speculation and fear. The government knows what is happening. Our military knows and our president knows.

And for some reason they want to keep people in suspense. I can't imagine it's the enemy because it was the enemy that blasted out even if they were late that blasted. Something strange is going on for some reason they don't want to tell the people. That's right. The president sees a story like this and thinks I bet I can make people even crazier. That's his instinct. That is his instinct. His instinct is like, I think I can really spin this up. He's basically Frank from Always Sunny. It's like my middle school principal who told us that the Sears Tower had been attacked on 9-11. Wow.

My principal used to wear a belt and suspenders. That's the one thing I remember about him. What do you do? He'd wear a belt and suspenders. It's like you don't need both. No. The beauty of the suspenders is you get the loosey goosey feeling of the belt.

I want to bring suspenders back. I want a loosey goosey way. Yeah. You don't wear like actual pants though. Yeah, I will wear pants. Well, like a trouser. Yeah, with a zipper. With a jean. Yeah, I will wear pants. Well, like a trouser. Yeah, with a zipper. With a jean.

Yeah, I'm not gonna attach it to my sweatpants. Yeah, well, I will see what next year brings. Who knows what mental state we'll all be in. And you know what that sound means? The jing that's been reinforced several times because of the heart out, I know we have Charlotte. It's the end of the year, and it is for the time being the end of what a weekday,

and an end to me having excuses why I can't go to my regularly scheduled therapy appointment that just happened to coincide with this recording. Maybe therapy is back in 2025. I hope so. I hope so. So we wanted to mark the biggest and best moments of the last 365 days. We have several categories and I will present you with the nominees and Sarah Halle Kendra, you will choose the winner. First off, we have 2024's biggest scam here the nominees Australia sent breakdancer Reagan to Paris Olympics in August despite the fact that she dances like this. Next up we have the Willy Wonka experience or Willy's chocolate

experience offered through an unlicensed trip through Roald Dahl's world of pure imagination in a Glasgow warehouse this March. It was a total fucking dump. Remember that. Just a bunch of AI images, and there was a new character called The Shadow. The unknown. The unknown. The unknown. Yeah.

To terrify the children. Just an absolute scam. I think you got one little chocolate if you were there earlier. And like a half a cup of Sprite. You got like two jelly beans. You got two jelly beans and a Sprite. And finally, this year alone, Donald Trump released gold sneakers, guitars, branded Bibles, $100,000 watch and a signature set named what? Fight, fight, fight. What is the biggest scam?

Was it Ray Gun? Was it Glasgow? Or was it the Trump financial operation? I mean, I assume the Trump products are gonna show up at your house. They're like, they're gonna show up. Something's gonna show up. Yeah. Right. That's a good point. So in that sense, it's really the price is a scam.

Yeah. You have a grift. It's a grift, not a scam. Okay, so then do you think Ray Gun or Glasgow? I gotta go Willy Wonka. I'm going Ray Gun. I go Ray Gun, I think just cause like, they had the world stage. And for all of us to see it, the exact moment,

go, oh, this woman can't break dance. There was something about that moment. A collective realization. Yeah. Willy Wonka is very special to me because just writing that up for the show, every hour a new detail would come out, it was the best day of my life.

I think that that Glasgow was like the biggest fire. Like if you call it like a fire fest, it's a specific kind of scam, which is a group of people. It's like, it only tilt into scam because they fail so hard. Like they didn't intend to fail so spectacularly. They just, they both like kind of- They're in over their heads. Yes, it's a combination of arrogance and stupidity

and a little bit of malice. And then it all, like it's, it's the incompetence and a little bit of malice. And then it all, like it's, it's the incompetence leads to a kind of malice. That was also scamming children, which is funny. Yes, there were a lot of sad kids. Reagan takes it. Next up, oldest Joe Biden moment. Joe Biden bit several babies

on Halloween at the White House. God, that's old. Commander Biden was off that day. Next up, in February, Biden paused mid-ice cream cone to say that he hopes Israel and Hamas will reach a ceasefire. Can you give us a sense of when you think that ceasefire will start?

Sure. God damn it. Well, I hope by the end of the weekend. I mean, the end of the weekend. He hoped there'd be a ceasefire at the end of the weekend. That was in February of 2024. Ice cream surely melted. Next up, during the presidential debate in June,

Biden said this. We finally beat Medicare. Thank you President Biden, President Trump. And just last month, Biden appeared to wander off into the Amazon rainforest after finishing his speech. For the benefit of all humanity, thank you very, very much. The sunglasses, the aviators, add a youth that otherwise wouldn't be there. I have to go still with the debate. I think ice cream cone.

I think ice cream cone. I think ice cream cone. I think it's the baby, just because it was already after everything had happened. And it was like, it was like, all right, well, you know, we've switched out to Kabbalah. And it was like literally the next week. It was like, all right, he's out here biting babies. But he would bite that baby at any age. No, and I want to be clear. That's that's a fair point.

I think it's just the baby's expression. It just the passing out of the next generation. What do you think of this? I'm gonna break the time to say ice cream. I agree with Lazarus. I think it's just something ancient about it. It is very old. The pause, terrifically old.

Yeah. Looks good though. Next up, we have the most unhinged promotional tour moment. On June 18th, Justin Timberlake was arrested and later pled guilty to driving while ability impaired. According to page six, the singer told the police officer his arrest was going to ruin the tour.

The officer asked, what tour? Timberlake replied, the world tour. I was gonna say also that world tour started yesterday. It did eventually happen, so he is on tour now. In case you want to see Justin Timberlake, I guess. Next up, while promoting it ends with us, Blake Lively revealed this to E. Though the iconic rooftop scene in this movie,

my husband actually wrote it. Nobody knows that, but you now. This was a surprise considering Ryan Reynolds had no role in the making of the film whatsoever. And they apparently asked the screenwriter afterwards. She's like, I don't know anything about that. But I guess they did do like she's like, I thought they were improvising. So they may have improvised a scene that he wrote. No, I wrote it during the strike.

I think something I look, I'm not saying I don't know. I think there's something about there's a few moments where. So there's another point where she was in some interview and she said that she doesn't like writing from a blank page, but she loves writing off of something that's already written. And it's like, oh, you like editing. Yeah, yeah. Editing. There was a few moments where it's like, oh, man, you got to keep a few people around you that don't say yes to everything you say.

Yeah. Gotta keep your feet on the ground like lively. Both of them have kind of overplayed their hand recently, I think. It's like you gotta scale back and maybe disappear for a year and then come back. Yeah, rooting for you guys. I like some of your work, you know?

In Rolling Stone interview in April ahead of the release of her album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, Billie Eilish said about masturbating, everybody should be jerking it, man. Well, that's just true. And Dakota Johnson repeatedly went viral for her deadpan Madame Webb interviews, or Madame Webb, if you're nasty, like this one.

Why did that go viral? I think it went viral because out of context, people were just like, what does this mean? Did you catch that at all? No, somebody brought this up and I have no idea what it's about. There were lots of means because I think people were like what is, just out of the context of it,

it was just a very. But isn't any sentence out of context, out of context? Yeah. And this interview from Wicked in November, the one we've all been talking about, it deserves to be part of the conversation. I've seen this week people are taking the lyrics of Defying Gravity and really holding space with that. I can't hear it again.

We got to stop. I just can't hear it anymore. I love it, but I can't hear anymore. All right. What do we think? I mean, it is recency bias, but do you think the Wicked moment is unbeatable? Blake and Ryan went on for so long. And also there was the Justin Baldoni of it all.

There was so much going on there. Also that movie is about domestic violence and they had like cutouts you could take photos of like in the AMC as if it was Wicked. It's like, why would you take a photo of this? I will say- She kept trying to sell her shampoo too. Yeah. I think what's funny about the Billie Eilish is like, that's where we're at. Like? I will say- Yeah, she kept trying to sell her shampoo too. Yeah.

I think what's funny about the Billie Eilish is like, that's where we're at. Like, I feel like society's become so prudish. The like, 15 years ago, a rock star who's like 23, she'd be like, I'm out here fucking. And the fact that she's like, yeah, everyone should masturbate. It's like, yeah, girl, you gotta get out of the house.

You know? I don't know about Wicked though. It's iconic. This interview. Let's give it to Wicked. I think that Dakota Johnson deserves a honorary mention because I think she was just out there figuring it out and she Oh, they let they hug them out to drag Well, I also did like she was in a godforsaken movie and she came away looking even better

Which is an amazing achievement She went on a press tour promoted the movie never insulted the movie and came out looking better Even though the movie was a big steaming pile of shit. It's for her. And finally, best animal news, we got mood dang. Next up, we've got a leaky pyrohydrant that birthed the bed-stuy fish pond. We've got 43 monkeys that got loose from the Alpha Genesis Research Resort in South Carolina. All but four monkeys have been recovered.

There are still monkeys on the loose. And finally, TikTok squirrel, Peanut. Who is dead? So what do you got? We got the loose monkeys, we got Moodang, we got the pond and we got Peanut. I didn't give it to Peanut posthumously for making it into the election discourse.

Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Peanut made a difference. But Peanut died and I feel like, so it can't be the best animal news because it ended with their tragic execution by the state. But he did rise above his station. And isn't that the most American story? Alright, let's keep it to Peanut.

Peanut, Peanut, Peanut. So those are our awards. Congrats to the winners, Peanut, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, Joe Biden and Reagan. You've done it. You've won our awards. Before we go, everybody, and Cynthia Revo, Joe Biden, and Reagan. You've done it, you've won our awards. Before we go, everybody, exciting news in 2025,

Love It or Leave It is gonna be back. We have a bunch of live shows in Los Angeles, come through, you can see what we cut from the unhinged material that doesn't make it into the video or the podcast. It's a new season of the show that dared guests from Danny DeVito to Amy Klobuchar to ask, what is this?

Where am I? Each week we will break down the biggest and dumbest stories and politics to help you keep up with and laugh along with the news. And this season, stay tuned. We have some big guests and surprising conversations you won't find anywhere else. In our first episodes, I'll be joined by Rachel Bloom,

followed by Joel McHale and some other big guests to come. Don't miss out. I'd love to leave it in real life. So head to crooked.com slash events. You can get the show dates and grab those tickets. Also we had a bunch of amazing limited series this year that you should check out. Go to crooked.com slash limiteds.

You can listen to our podcast called Empire City, which is the true story of the NYPD. You can listen to Dissonant at the Doorstep, which is an amazing true story about a Chinese dissident that came to the US and went MAGA and a bunch of other amazing shows. Really proud of the Limiteds we've made, the Limited series we've made, these amazing, incredibly engaging, riveting documentaries, which we're really proud of. So go to crooked.com slash limiteds to check them out. That's our show. aging, like riveting documentaries, which we're really proud of. So go to Quikate.com slash limited to check them out. That's our show.

Thank you to everybody that has listened to Whatta Weekday. Thank you to everybody who has mad at us for ending Whatta Weekday. We've loved doing that, but we've loved doing it. But certainly at the start of next year, we really want to focus and concentrate on the Saturday show and how we can make that show even better and how it can continue to change and adapt. I'm really proud of how this show has only gotten better over the years and how even though we've now, we're heading into year nine, it never feels rotted, it always feels

like we're trying to make something new and interesting every single week and I want to make sure we keep doing that. And as we head into another Trump era, I want to make sure you know that you can count on us to give you the best understanding of what happened that week in a way that keeps you engaged and interested and hopeful where at all possible. So we will see you all next year. Thank you so much for listening. Have a great break. Thank you to Sarah. Thank you to Hallie. Thank you to Kendra. Thank you to the whole team behind Love and Relieve It here in the studio. And we will see you sluts in 2025. Living or living is living or living It's great that you're on both sides Living or living is living or living

Straight, straight, tight Living or living is living or living It's great that you're on both sides Love It or Leave It is a Crooked Media Production. It is written and produced by me, John Lovett and Lee Eisenberg. Kendra James is our Executive Producer, Chris Lord is our producer, and Kennedy Hill is our associate producer. Hallie Kiefer is our head writer, Sarah Lazarus and Jocelyn Kaufman, Peter Miller, Alan Pierre, Will Miles,

and Mahana Del Shiki are our writers. Evan Sutton is our editor, Kyle Seglen and Charlotte Landis provide audio support. Stephen Colon is our audio engineer, and Milo Kim is our videographer. Our theme song is written and performed by Shure Shure. Thanks to our designer, Bernardo Serna, for creating and running all of our visuals, which you can't see because

this is a podcast, and to our digital producers David Tolles, Claudia Shang, Mia Kelman, and Matt DeGroote for filming and editing video each week so you can. We can't reignite the reclining seat debate, but all the seats are designed to recline. Everybody gets to recline. The issue is not my going back. The issue is that we're back on the airplane now. We're back on the airplane now. For airplanes?

Back on airplanes. I want to be on my computer and when you recline it like squishes that space and I can't have my laptop off. That's why I don't like it. But the thing is, that's not, that is not my fault to fix or to not use. That is the airline's fault to fix. Well I think we have two people for two people against and I feel fine about being on the against side. Yeah, no, it's definitely the the airline their plane makers fault that the seats are so close together and bad

But I still have responsibility as a person to make the best fit for everyone around me No, you all collectively but we all everybody wants to recline a little bit and everybody on the plane Recognizes is this much space behind each seat that we share I can recline into it and you can recline into the space behind you. That's your space. And now you don't have to use it if you don't want to, but you can donate it to the person behind you. But it's your space to use. It's immoral or unethical about using it.

The issue is not the space behind, the issue is the space in front. I feel very secure about this. But you have no control over what the person ahead of you does because that's not your space. And I wish that we all collectively agree that we were reclining. Because when someone in front of you reclines,

you lose this space. Yes. And even if I recline, I don't get that back. Yeah. No, we are. But that's not your space. What he's saying is that's not your space to begin with because the chair.

That's where we disagree. And that's where we disagree. Because I need that space. Yeah. But it's just the... My eyes are in the front of my head. I want what's in front of me. Right, but that's not the chair. That's where we disagree. And that's where we disagree. Because I need that space. Yeah. But it's just the the eyes are in the front of my head. I want what's in front of me. Right. But that's where I feel oriented species. But that's and that's true on spirit and on spirit airline.

You get to keep and I am flying spirit to Columbus and I am really upset. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,