The Daily Zeitgeist - Ken Grifty Jr, Do We Live In A Pizza Bubble? 8.9.18

Episode Date: August 10, 2018

In episode 208, Jack and Miles are joined by comedian Jamie Loftus to discuss more Papa John awkwardness, a survey for the best full-service restaurants, leaked audio of Devin Nunes from a private fundraiser, Omarosa's tapes, GOP's corrupt members Rep. Chris Collins and Wilbur Ross, free speech arguments about Alex Jones, Trump's following, how Jack would fix the Oscars, and more! FOOTNOTES:1. TAKEAWAYS FROM PAPA JOHN'S AWWWWKWARD EARNINGS REPORT2. Top fast-food, full-service restaurants for customer satisfaction named in new ACSI survey3. In leaked audio from a private fundraiser, Nunes concedes that that if candidate exploited stolen emails that were given to them by a foreign government, "then that's criminal."4. At another point, Nunes suggests that Republicans would more aggressively pursue impeaching Rod Rosenstein, but if they did, "the Senate would have to drop everything they're doing, and then take the risk of not getting Kavanaugh confirmed... it's a matter of time."5. NUNES explicitly links midterm elections w/GOP's ongoing efforts to aid Trump's coverup: "If Sessions won't unrecuse & Mueller won't clear the president, we're the only ones. Which is really the danger...we have to keep these seats. If we don't keep majority, all this goes away."6. Omarosa Secretly Recorded Trump and Played the Audio to Others, Sources Say7. Why Rep. Chris Collins’s insider trading arrest is a huge deal — and also totally unsurprising8. New Details About Wilbur Ross’ Business Point To Pattern Of Grifting9. Free Speech Scholars to Alex Jones: You’re Not Protected10. Will Kicking Alex Jones Off Of Social Media Backfire?!? Nope.11. Giuliani: This Case Isn't Going To Fizzle, It's Going To Blow Up On Mueller12. For Most Trump Voters, ‘Very Warm’ Feelings for Him Endured13. Trump's core support remains solid, but a significant minority of Republicans have soured, study finds14. WATCH: DOWN WITH THE SICKNESS KAROKE15. WATCH: Washed Out - It All Feels Right Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You might recognize us from our first show, Locatora Radio. Listen to Señora Sex Ed on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, the internet, and welcome to season 43, episode 4 of Dead Daily Zeitgeist for Thursday, August 9th, 2018. My name's Jack O'Brien, aka Jack O'Brien, walking down the street. Jack O'Brien, his hot takes can't be beat.

Jack O'Brien, I can't be beat. Jack O'Brien. I don't believe you. Ah, that was courtesy of Matt Burlingham. And I'm thrilled to be joined, as always, by my co-host, Mr. Miles Gray! All I can say is that Miles' life is pretty

great. I like watching the Zeitgeist every day. All right. So, yeah, that's fine, Helen. From Taylor Lang at T underscore JB underscore L. Both impressionist AKs today. Yes, yes, yes. And we are thrilled to be joined in our third seat by...

Who dat? The number one position on the Mount Zeitgeist. Mount Zeitmore, I mean. She is Jamie Loftus, a.k.a. Jamie Nine Loft Balloons-us. Ooh, I like that. A.k.a. Lil Zam, a.k Zam. A.K.A. Yamalofto. Yamalofto. Yamalofto.

Oh, wah, ah, ah, ah. Jamie, we're going to get to know you even better somehow. But first, we're going to take our listeners through what we're going to be talking about today. We're going to be talking about Papa John's. Still not doing great. We just like to check in with them every once in a while. Papa John's, still not doing great. We just like to check in with them every once in a while.

And a survey about restaurants that is the news story that has made me most skeptical that a blue wave is coming. I'll explain why that is. We're going to talk about the tape that was recorded of Debbie Nunez talking that garbage. Just giving up the goods on tape. We're going to talk about the GOP Swamp Boys. Swamp Boys. Swamp Boys. We're going to check in with what people are thinking on the right.

The free speech argument around Alex Jones. Rudy is reporting that this whole thing is about to blow, man. You guys are going to hear some crazy stuff, QAnon and stuff. And why Trump's course to loves him. And then I'm going to fix the Oscars. But first, Jamie. Just one man to fix the Oscars. I'm doing

my backlash to the backlash we had yesterday against this new Oscars idea. Because everyone's against it. But I have figured out how to make it work. The counter-counter. The counter-counter factual The counter-counter. The counter-counter factual. Which means you're agreeing in the end, right?

Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So at the end of the day, a company man. Oh, yeah, yeah. But first, Jamie, what is something from your search history? Ooh. Lawrence Wright Young. My most recent addition to the crush roster of men who are practically dead is Lawrence Wright.

He wrote Going Clear. I saw Three Identical Strangers yesterday and saw him and I was like, you know, he's a great writer. I'm not going to objectify him, which was something mentioned in the Bechdel cast reviews very frequently. Objectifies men. A lot of MRAs hit the iTunes, and they were like, Objectifies men, one star. But I wanted to see what he looked like young,

because I was like, hmm, looks like he'd be handsome. And I was right. Also, Oscar Isaac wife height. Got tall ass wife. How tall is she? She's like over six feet tall. And is he a tall man or a small man?

He is 5'9", but seeing pics of them together, you're like, wait, what's happening? He's like an average height man. It's like she's a looming tower over him. Ooh. Lawrence Wright joke. I call him Larry because I'm so familiar.

There he is. Boom, boom. Checked in. Throw all my right heads out there. Jamie, what is something that's overrated? Heterosexuals earnestly trying to make each other cum done boring

it's 2018 let's cut it out ironically try to make each other cum now no no like earnestly like I can't think of anything less hot right now I'm wondering what the alternative is though oh oh yeah

ironically put on an invader zim and then Right, now I'm wondering what the alternative is, though. Oh, yeah, ironically. Put on an invader's M-Head and then try to make your hetero partner cum. No, I think just abstain and give money to charity. Stop fucking. That's how I get my nut off now. Give it back. Yeah, when I donate to the AZLU,

I cum so freaking hard. It's crazy. It's bread. Yeah. And, when I donate to the ACLU, I come so freaking hard. It's crazy. It's bread. Yeah. And what is something that's underrated? Oh, blood orange Mike's Harder lemonade. Okay. Yes.

Now, you are a Mike's head, Mike's hard head. I mean, you have a weird relationship with Mike's. And that also applies to my life because my dad's name is Mike. But I have just a strange relationship with every Mike I've ever encountered. But Mike's of the harder persuasion. Yeah, you know, he's got some good flavors and he's got some stinkers. I tried black cherry and it literally is cough syrup that gets you more fucked up than cough syrup. Oh, shit. Really?

It's really bad. Because promethazine is too expensive for me. It's really, really bad. But Blood Orange is the closest you're going to get to a palatable Mike's flavor. Wait, what is the... Because you're also blocked by them on Twitter, right? They did block me on Twitter. Okay, I just want to get that out there.

Because before people go, we're like, what, she's shilling for them? Like, yo, you have a weird relationship. You fuck with them so heavy, they're like, please leave us alone. I'm trying to shill for them and they were like you know you're really just not sending a message you're really fucking up our brain which is crazy but i i would also argue that mike's harder and if you this is going to make it very clear i'm not working for them i would say they're probably like the number one beverage of like teenage incels yeah yeah right where they have this i've been really weathering the cross promotion of Mike's Harder

and Deadpool 2 because it is a match made in marketing heaven. Wait, are they officially linked or you just think they should be? Deadpool's on literally every can of Mike's Hard Lemonade right now.

Get the fuck out of here. It's killing me. Wait, so is harder thing, is harder mean more alcohol than the hard? Uh, yeah. Oh, shit. 8%.

Bro. Oh, so there's malt. It's like a malt liquor, basically. Or an IPA. Malt beverage. Mike's Harder will get you fricked. It's pretty wild. Get your fricks right up.

Freaking, sorry. When I crackle Mike's Harder and then I pop in my pirated copy of Deadpool 2, I get so fricked up. It's pretty freaking crazy. Getting fricked off the realness. But if you got to do it, if you have $2 and a desire to get fricked, Blood Orange would be the way to go. The thing I like about Deadpool is he just doesn't give a fuck, you know?

No. He's so, like, he doesn't care. He's like the guy I know I'm supposed to be. Right, right, right. Like, we've all got a little bit of Deadpool. We've all got a little DP in us. That means a lot that you said that. What is a myth?

What's something that people think is true that you know to be false? Oh, that you should visit your Republican relatives. Yeah, that you should visit your Republican. I visited my very old great uncle over the weekend, and there were hints in the group text before I got there. They're like, oh, you know, he's not as Massachusetts as he used to be, which I interpreted to mean perhaps he is a Republican now. But it sucked because it's like you want to have that conversation

and be like, what the fuck is wrong with you? You're selfish and bad. But the asterisk was that he is 89 years old and they were like, if you make him upset, you could literally kill him. So you're navigating a minefield. It sucked. I got into an argument with my not Uncle Mike, who is my great uncle's childless son, who kept trying to get me to call him Uncle Mike, and I wouldn't. And he was like, hey, do you want a mixtape of my band? And I took it, and it really was the worst music I've ever heard.

Oh, no. My not Uncle Mike's Republican band is really bad. Not Uncle Mike is a huge zeitgeist, so this is really going to hurt him. Oh, I had to explain to him what a podcast was. Oh, okay. so this is really gonna hurt him. Oh, I had to explain to him what a podcast was. Oh, okay.

But yeah, so it was like spending the weekend with my uncle Dick, cool name. Totally. That, yeah, he's prone to heart attacks because he is 89, and so he has like a heart attack a week. I don't know. I don't mean to laugh, but it is like he has heart attacks.

He doesn't even leave the house when he has heart attacks anymore because he has so many. And so I just had to sit through him being like, I think Donald Trump's handsome. What do you think? I'm like, I can't say anything or you'll literally die. Right. I can't say anything. Come on.

Say something. Say he's hot. I know something's going on in there. Say he's hot. Is he hot? Is he hot? So he's a real question. He? Is he hot? That's the answer, right? That's the real question. He's a recent convert to Fox?

Yeah. He voted for Obama twice and the whole bit. And I don't know. It's weird. He lives in Silicon Valley, so hacker zone. Yeah. He's living among the hackers, but he's 89. And having a productive conversation with him could literally kill him,

which is an interesting metaphor for all baby boomers. And just all fragile conservatives and libertarians. Yeah. All those snowflakes. Call Donald Trump handsome or Uncle Dick will pass away. He will die. Please, my existence hangs on your opinion of his looks. I couldn't bear to live another moment

if you thought our president was ugly. Long weekend, tough weekend, and I'm still, I'm like, I don't know if I handled it correctly, but myth that you should even bother. I mean, should you bother if they are not teetering on the verge of their 70th

heart attack? I think so. Okay. Yeah. You should upload your Uncle Mike's harder mixtape. I lent it to someone to bring on tour to bother people with, but I have it. I'll play some of it because he's like,

you know, we don't really abide by a genre. Oh, shit. Oh, yes. It is if Frank Zappa was sharding for literally two hours. Sharding. It's really. He's like, we don't really have a name. And we were in Seattle for 12 years. And, you know, like, I'm your uncle.

And he wrote Uncle Mike on the CD. It was very upsetting. Wow. He's addicted to Donald Trump. And he creates the worst music I've ever heard in my entire life. I now understand your complicated relationship to the name Mike.

A little bit better. Another Mike. Another Mike. Well, another name is John. Hot transition. Wow. You see that little post pivot right there? Another name is John and Papa is one of the johns

all of this was written out ahead of time papa johns is not doing well guys no they aren't they just uh of course they're not because you have a fucking wacky avatar owner or founder who refuses to go away and blame everyone but himself. And they just reported their earnings fell by another 6% this last quarter because, yeah, Mr. John Schnatter or whatever, he's getting too messy out here in the streets. So they have a new plan, which is to spend $50 million and hire an army of, quote, advertisers and consultants to basically scrub old Papa John's existence entirely from, like, their marketing universe.

Right. It's so wild. And be like, we are this whole other thing. I mean, unless you fucking change your name to just, like, not fucking Papa John's, I don't know how you're going to distance yourself from this thing. You should change it to Lil John's. Lil John's, yeah.

What? Yeah, these pizzas will have – this pizza is okay. Not that good. But, yeah, so right now their current CEO is sort of saying like their whole strategy is like, you know, millennials and Gen Zers, they've left us for actually good pizza or just not eating as much pizza. So their whole thing is to try and bring the youngins back in and they can avoid total destruction. And they're even talking about pivoting to sort of like a more, quote, purpose-driven model, like Chipotle is talking about.

So I don't know if that means like. What is Chipotle doing that has purpose besides? They have like short stories on their bags, I think. Oh yeah, I remember one of the first times I went to Chipotle, there was like a George Saunders quote. But it just made me concerned for George Saunders. I'm like, does he need money? Is he poor?

Yeah, there's like a Neil Gaiman, or whatever the fuck that guy's name is. I know there's like a short story on there. Gaiman. Gaiman. Gaiman. I guess their purpose driven thing with Chipotleotle is being like Toms or something. I'm not sure.

I'm excited for Instagram influencers to start shilling for Papa John's. Yeah, yeah. Of a really hot 17-year-old just eating a slice and being like, it's not your mom's John. Right. It's not your papa's John. Yeah, that makes sense. The way Chipotle is talked about, they say they've demonstrated a little bit of our personality and our sense of humor.

And they said the commercials, they feature close-ups of their fresh ingredients and quippy voiceover. And the CEO wants customers to see Chipotle is a purpose-driven lifestyle brand to help people think. It's more than just a place to eat. But is it? A place to have yeah so but is it a place to have diarrhea right right to have frank zappa's sharts sharts yeah i mean we we go to chipotle occasionally but i've i've definitely fallen off that bandwagon there's a while when like my blood type was chipotle but when we do go to chipotle it's because we identify with their quippy voice over exactly i've always said that as a millennial.

I'm like, where's the quippy VO at? I honestly am like, I lost my library card. Where can I go to get some literary stuff? I'm like, oh, I'll just go to Chipotle and take a giant dump while reading the bags. That is nice that one of the poopiest restaurants in the entire world provides you with reading material while it exits you. I don't know. I say don't sleep on the other Papa, sweet little Gino. Do you ever go to Papa Gino's?

No. It's an East Coast pizza chain. Yeah. Don't sleep on Gino's. I hope that Gino is – I used to date the assistant manager of Papa Gino's not to freak anyone out. Okay, full disclosure. Thank you. I haven't eaten at Papa Gino's, not to freak anyone out. Okay, full disclosure, thank you. I haven't been at Papa Gino's,

or I did in the late 2000s. So I think that Gino's takes this opportunity to be like, there's a vacant Papa throne. Right. And he's like, okay, so here, and so Gino's is a cutie pie. He's a little cartoon who looks like the drummer in the Chuck E. Cheese band,

aka Pasquale. There you go. Yeah. And this is basically a mainly Massachusetts-based pizza brand because when you think of pizza, you think Massachusetts. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Give me the Papagino. I mean, they could change their name to fucking Papa Smurfs

and I think it would be better. Even Papa Doc. Papa Doc. Yeah. I mean, fucking Papa Shango. I don't know anything but fucking Papa John's. Yeah. Well, Papa himself, John Schnatterly, whatever the fuck his name is.

Schnatterth. Okay. He was saying that the reason their stock is actually down is that they're chasing these millennials and they changed their colors. And the color change is what has them down now. Yeah, it's not blaming people protesting police brutality. All these people under 30 don't understand the colors. Right.

And so because of that, interesting of him to make a color-based argument to a fucking idiot. Yeah. So the thing that, interesting of him to make a color-based argument. What a fucking idiot. Yeah. So the thing that people don't understand is the thing people want with their pizza is the same colors as before and right-wing politics. That's what you want to associate with your pizza-eating experience. This brings me to the story that has made me the most skeptical that there is a blue wave or, you know, that any rational thing will happen in the future of America. We hack a spy. So there was a USA Today survey that was based on 22,500 customers in America.

22,500 customers in America. They were asked about the quality of products, services, and satisfaction with more than 380 companies and 46 industries. And the limited service restaurants list, I'm going to give them to you in order. This is fast food? Yes. A limited service is fast food. Right. What a euphemistic term.

Right. A limited service restaurant. Top of the list, Chick-fil-A. I'm okay with that. I mean, politically, not great. No. They're very polite. I understand where they're coming from, and their food is satisfying.

Panera bread is confusing to me. Oh, I like Panera. Yeah, it's nice that they just let you chill there. Chill there for hours while you eat. Yeah, I used to always eat the Asiago roast beef sandwich when I was in college. I was the broccoli cheddar in a bread bowl if I could afford it.

Oh, wow. In college. All right, money bags, loftas over here. That's where all the moms go to gossip. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you want to find out? That is the hot mom gossip. Right, it's always like a Panera Nira, like a

gym or yoga studio. Next door to a nail salon. Like, yeah, fully the mom's, it's Panera's last stop. So Panera makes sense because that's where we're going to have our town hall meetings going forward. Like that is the town center. All meaningful discourse will take place at a Papa John's. Number three, Papa John's. Number three?

The highest rated pizza restaurant. The third highest rated fast food restaurant. Before Domino's? Way before Domino's. Next one is Pizza Hut somehow. What? And then Subway. Subway, no.

Subway, they fucking suck. I love the cookies. I occasionally eat the sandwich. But the people at the Subways I occasionally eat the sandwich. But, yo, the people at the Subways I go to, they act like I'm fucking bothering them every time I ask for just anything. I'm like, oh, can I get a little more of this?

I've had some good discourse at Subway. Really? Yeah. Because I always ask where the seafood sensation is at. When they bring back the seafood sensation and they're like, oh, it's good that they took it away. It was really bad. Right.

Was that a seafood salad? Like a mayonnaise seafood salad? It was a jar of mayonnaise with some imitation crab inside of it. And it cost like $10. Like a shrimp tail? It was really bad. I used to love the Seafood Sensation as a young buck.

Wait, and weren't you also the tuna fish eater at Dunkin' Donuts? I was young tuna. Yeah, so you't you also the tuna fish eater at Dunkin' Donuts? I was young tuna. Yeah, so you just fuck with the fast seafood shit. I like the gnarliest, mayonnaise-iest, most dangerous food. Honoring your Bostonian roots, just embracing the sea. Just mayo-based meat dishes, yeah. Is Long John Silver's even a thing anymore?

Do you know what that is? Yeah, but I feel like they just crop up occasionally at malls. Fast food. Yeah. Are they doing like combination Pizza Hut Long John Silver type thing? Are they a gum brand? Oh, it is like a combo one. They're their own company.

Oh. In eighth grade, when you won the award for being the student of the month in your grade in Lexington, Kentucky at the public school I attended. The reward was going to Long John Silver's corporate headquarters and getting a tour. Oh, right, because they're based in Louisville. Yeah. Was it cool?

It was so cool. Really? We got to go in their test kitchen and eat really gross food. Congrats on student of the month, by the way. Thank you. No one had mentioned that. I'm really sorry about that.

All around about way. Letting you know in eighth grade, I was a kiss ass. And you've been to the LJSHQ. Right, exactly. Good on you. Been looking for a way to drop that. Yeah, Domino's, they should be up there a little bit more. Yeah.

Domino's is way the fuck down there. I mean, we came for Domino's. Little Caesars is down there Domino's is way the fuck down there. I mean, we came for Domino's. Little Caesars is down there. Wendy's is way down there. Wendy's and McDonald's and Taco Bell are way down. Insulting. I don't know, but it's confusing to me. I don't know a single person who likes Papa John's.

So it suggests to me that there is- Well, you're in a pizza bubble, bro. Yeah, are we in a bubble? Are we in a completely different reality? Yes. Like, have I not been to real America since I was a child going to little- If you grew up eating fast food pizza-

Right. And you've never had, like, a good pizza, of course Papa John's is the shit. Much in the same way when I first encountered Papa John's, I was like, yo, do you have fucking garlic sauce and like a pepper in there? I was like, this is next level service or whatever the fuck. But then as you expand your horizon a bit and you're exposed to different kinds of pizza, I'm like, wait, this fucking sucks.

Is this a good time to say I've never been to a Papa John's in my entire life? No, it isn't a good time. And let's edit this out. I'm sorry. You're right. Wow. Now everything you said has no weight. I grew up Genos.

I grew up Genos. I grew up Papa Genos. PG. I grew up PG-13. I grew up PG-13. I think people know that they should respect your food opinions since you shared that you like Subway Fas- Yes.

Subway Fas- Subway Sensation. And Mike's harder blood orange. All right, we're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back.

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Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. One session. 24 hours. BPM 110. 120. She's terrified.

Should we wake her up? Absolutely not. What was that? You didn't figure it out? I think I need to hear you say it. That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. This machine is approved and everything? You're allowed to be doing this?

We passed the review board a year ago. We're not hurting people. There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. They're just dreams. Hi, I'm Eva Longoria. Hi, I'm Maite Gomez-Rejon. Our podcast, Hungry for History, is back. Season two. Season two. Are we recording? Are we good? Oh, we push record, right?

Okay. And this season, we're taking an even bigger bite out of the most delicious food and its history. Saying that the most popular cocktail is the margarita, followed by the mojito from Cuba, and the piña colada from Puerto Rico. So all of these, we have, we thank Latin culture. There's a mention of blood sausage in Homer's Odyssey that dates back to the 9th century B.C.

B.C.? I didn't realize how old the hot dog was. Listen to Hungry for History as part of the My Cultura podcast network. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, everyone. It's me, Katie Couric. Have you heard about my newsletter called Body and Soul? It has everything you need to know about your physical and mental health.

Personally, I'm overwhelmed by the wellness industry. I mean, there's so much information out there about lifting weights, pelvic floors, cold plunges, anti-aging. So I launched Body and Soul to share doctor-approved insights about all of that and more. We're tackling everything. Serums to use through menopause, exercises that improve your brain health, and how to naturally lower your blood pressure and cholesterol. Oh, and if you're as sore as I am from pickleball, we'll help you with that too. Most importantly, it's information you can trust. Everything is vetted by experts at the

top of their field, and you can write into them directly to have your questions answered. So sign up for Body and Soul at katiecouric.com slash body and soul. Taking better care of yourself is just a click away. When you think of Mexican culture, you think of avocado, mariachi, delicious cuisine, and of course, lucha libre. It doesn't get more Mexican than this. Lucha libre is known globally because it is much more than just a sport and much more than just entertainment. Lucha Libre is a type of storytelling. It's a dance. It's tradition.

It's culture. This is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, a 12-episode podcast in both English and Spanish about the history and cultural richness of Lucha Libre. And I'm your host, Santos Escobar, the emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar. Santos! Santos! Join me as we learn more about the history behind this spectacular sport from its inception in the United States to how it became a global symbol of Mexican culture.

We'll learn more about some of the most iconic heroes in the ring. This is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask. Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask as part of My Cultura Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts. And we're back. And another male name is Devin. Miles, take it away. Wow. Whoa. Crushing it. Thanks for that,

Brian Shaw. Shaquille O'Neal, throw it down, my man. So, yes, a boy named Devin. He spoke at a fundraiser in Washington State for Kathy McMorris Rogers, who is the number

four Republican in the House. So very up there. So she's the pizza hut of the Republican House. She's the pizza hut, yes. We will be relating everything back to that. Exactly. If Paul Ryan is Chick-fil-A, she is the pizza hut. So the event was meant to be like a private fundraiser, meaning like no press, just only wealthy Republicans who are all the homies.

So you can talk loose in there because ain't nobody listening. Right. And we can just tell our secrets because we're all paying so much money to be there. But Fuse Washington, which is like a progressive sort of watchdog organization, they basically had somebody pay them, pay the price to get in here and just record the shit to hear how what they were talking about. And so we all know about, you know about Devin Nunes and his love for Trump and how he'll fucking do anything

to gum up the whole investigation, whether it's the Mueller investigation or the House Intel investigation or fucking Investigation Discovery Channel, whatever it is. He's a little creep. Yeah, he's just a fucking, you know, he's a lackey.

He's the guy who hopped out of his black car in the middle of traffic to go visit with the president when he got a message from him. I would love to call him a loser to his face. I think it would really hurt. It would really hurt. Yeah, it would be devastating.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It would be devastating. And if you saw the photo of him in high school, he's got the sickest mullet. It's pretty chill. He's got like a turtleneck sweater mullet combo that only someone from the central valley could rock so seamlessly yeah but anyway so suffice to say he is totally all in for trump and will do what anything anything it takes including uh completely sacrificing his own morals and just giving up his ability to feel shame uh so during this recording he said a few things that were very

interesting uh one of the first things that like they were, this is all on Rachel Maddow because she exclusively got the tape and aired it last night. Uh, one of the first comments was pretty standard stuff, like not totally surprising where he was sort of saying like, you know, the, the president tweets some good stuff sometimes and sometimes like makes you want to cringe and blah, blah, blah, which is a little interesting because normally in his eyes, Trump can do no wrong. Uh, and also Devin Nunes has repeatedly been on like the nicer end of Trump's Twitter more than once because he's always been like, all right, good boy. Thank you for doing what I need.

And so then he got he got a little bit more and more honest and some more points came out that are unsettling, but make sense given his behavior. So one of the first things he says basically admits that if like in a hypothetical world, if you received something from a foreign government and used it in an election that was hacked material, that would be criminal. So listen to this recording of him sort of basically admits that he knows better about what collusion is. Now, if somebody thinks that my campaign or Kathy's campaign is colluding with the Chinese or uniting the country, it could happen. It would be a very bad thing if Kathy was getting secrets from the Portuguese that say, just because I'm Portuguese, not bad.

So if Kathy was getting secret information from the Portuguese, you know, well, you know, maybe not the original, but ultimately that said the Portuguese came and brought her some stolen email. She decided to release those. Okay, now we have a problem, right? Somebody stole the email, made for Kathy,

and released it. Well, if that's the case, then that's criminal. So he basically is describing what is happening right now. Did he not know he was doing that? I don't know. I mean, he did a lot of work to not say Russia. He was like, maybe it's the Chinese or Portuguese,

because I'm Portuguese. If they gave her hacked emails and she released them, that would be criminal. Okay. He sounds like a high schooler trying to impress his friends by like all but saying it just in case it gets leaked hacks zeros ones but you know it's like when you're at the lunch table you're like guys you know like you know we're talking it's like no you're a dork shut up i like that you can hear in that sound clip you can hear all the tinkling of

forks and knives right and people being, it sounds like people who have, are like, have like really impaired motor skills are using silverware. Cause it's so loud. People, for example, yeah. If you told them Donald Trump wasn't handsome,

they die in front of you. Right. But it is nice that they, that subway catered it with all seafood. So yeah, it's again, it just shows you how, how blatant he is in his actions, where he knows what is he is basically trying to obscure criminal behavior by hamstringing the investigation in any way he can.

But we knew that, you know, like obviously he knows better. And but and then he just shows everybody. Yes, I know that if you received hacked information and you used it from another, and it came from a foreign government, that is criminal. Thank you for putting on your hacker glasses, Jamie. I just, on behalf of the community. Yeah, thank you. We, of course, are out there hacking. Stamp it.

We've always been hacking zeros, ones, clicking, delete. Thank you. Take my glasses off. You're in. Now, then he moved on to talking about Rod Rosenstein and essentially how, you know, it's not that they, you know, like I think someone asked in the in the fundraiser, like, oh, what's going on with that? And he was sort of framing it sort of like, well, it's not because we don't want to. It's just like it's more of a timing thing.

So in this, he's going to speak a little bit about why, you know, impeaching Rod Rosenstein would interfere with confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. And so they can't confirm him and tear down our democracy at the same time, guys, is sort of what he's saying. And so listen to him explain sort of how he sees the sequence happening if they're going to impeach Rod Rosenstein. So if we actually vote to impeach, what that does, that triggers the Senate that has to take it up. Well, you have to decide what you want right now because the Senate only has so much time. You want them to drop everything and not confirm the Supreme Court justice, the new Supreme Court justice. So that's part of why I don't think you have, you're not getting from, like I've said publicly, Rosenstein deserves to be impeached.

I mean, so I don't think you're going to get any argument from most of our colleagues The question is the timing of it right before the election The Senate would have to start the Senate have to drop everything they're doing and Start to start with impeachment in Rosenstein and then you take the risk of not getting Kavanaugh in court. So it's not a matter of the tape of slight Rosenstein. It's a matter of time.

Okay, wow. Did you hear someone choke to death on their seafood sensation in the middle of that? It's tough when your audience is entirely tobacco executives. So it's just like, oh, oh, oh, oh, harum, harum, pom, pom, pom. So yeah, when you hear that one, you're like, oh shit, okay. Clearly he still has his plan or agenda to try and impeach Rod Rosenstein.

Again, if you don't know who Rod Rosenstein is, he's the deputy attorney general of the Department of Justice. the deputy attorney general of the Department of Justice. And he is in charge of the Mueller investigation because Jeff Sessions recused himself, as he should have because he has conflicting interests when it comes to this investigation. So their whole thing is, well, if the Mueller investigation starts getting too hot, we can impeach Rod Rosenstein and then put someone else in there that will basically either end the Mueller investigation or just kneecap the thing so it can't really do functionally anything. So when you listen to it, I was having we're kind of talking about like what's going on here, because on one hand, you have people like Paul

Ryan and other top Republicans being like, there's no reason to impeach Rod Rosenstein or whatever. Like, it doesn't make sense. It's just not going to work. So on one hand, I was like, well, maybe he's telling these donors he's trying to protect his ego about like, oh, I didn't really take that L like that. It's not like they don't back me. It's just a timing thing. We're going to get around to it. That makes sense to me.

Which makes sense. But also, when you listen to the next thing he says, I can imagine a world where a lot of leadership in the Republican Party is secretly on board with that because their endgame is sort of becoming a little bit clearer. So this is now Nunes sort of basically admitting that if the government functions properly and the Department of Justice does what it does, which is, you know, make sure there's no laws being broken, then Trump's presidency would effectively end. And that's why they have to fuck around so much to keep the president in. So this is him sort of showing his hand in terms of what the endgame could be. If Sessions won't unrecuse and Mueller won't serve the president, we're the only one.

I mean, we have to keep all these seats. We have to keep the majority. If we do not keep the majority, all of this goes away. So those are the stakes of the midterm election. Yeah. So again, he says, quote, if Sessions won't unrecuse and Mueller won't clear the president, we are the only ones, which is really the danger. That's why I keep, and thank you for saying it, by the way, I mean, we have to keep all these seats. We have to keep the majority. If we do not keep the majority, all of this goes away.

So they know that if they lose the majority, that means Democrats are in power. And now they can really set the agenda of like what what Trump's future is going to look like. And that's why they're like, well, see, that's why, you know, if we hopefully we keep the majority so we don't have to fully burn the fucking house down and impeach Rod Rosenstein and tear the DOJ down and like in that sense to keep the heat off the president. So there are some, you know, that that's why we have to do this, guys, because it's just us now. Right. It's just us. It's just our thin majority. and put this all in context. So they're basically saying our last option is to use the Republican-controlled Congress to shut the investigation down because the Trump-appointed Deputy Attorney General

won't shut it down, and they can't get any other way to shut it down. So this is what it's come down to. And he's like one person left who still wants to shut it down. I hate to bring it back to the forks, but I can't hear anything on that tape other than forks.

So as that tape goes on, you'll notice the fork sounds diminish. And it does remind me of something else that sounds a lot like my not- not Uncle Mike's terrible Republican band, which is the Jonestown tape, where it gets quiet as the tape goes on. And that is kind of what the whole Nunez dinner is from. Slowly winding down, expiring at the table.

So the hacker news on this is that the seafood sensation everyone was eating was poison. Oh, wow. So as Devin Nunez is talking, everyone is slowly dying. And so a bunch of tobacco gods are dead now. Well, the other thing to notice is Kathy McMorris-Rogers, so she had a primary in Washington, and she barely eeked God out of there alive. Because they also have a jungle primary in California where the top two vote-getters face off in the midterm election in November.

Right. She barely got in. Okay. And for being that high up in the party— So she came in second? I think she was first, but not in a way that an incumbent should normally win. Right. Yeah, which I think is another indication, too, because this was before the primaries happened,

that she was clearly feeling the heat already. And they were kind of in this thing where like, yo, even the number four Republican, it's closing in on them, too. People are just sort of getting a little bit weary of their fuckery. Who'd she almost get beat by? Was it a Democrat or or a further right Republican? No, it's a Democrat. Wow.

Oh, that's great. Hell yeah. Yeah, no, in her primary, she had a lead of a little more than 500 votes. Oh, wow. Yeah. In other tape news, Omarosa was apparently taping the president

during her time in the White House. We don't know what is going to be on that tape. I'd imagine it won't be much good, but who the White House. We don't know what is going to be on that tape. I'd imagine it won't be much good, but who the fuck knows. I read an article where someone was saying after speaking with people who had heard the recordings, it wasn't really that great. It was like, oh, you recorded

him. But I don't know. Maybe Omarosa isn't... She's only letting people know, like, I have tapes, but I haven't showed you the bangers on this album. Right. Right, right, right. Shout out to the album Bangers by Miley Cyrus. By Miley Cyrus.

One of the greats. Yeah. And her book might have, like, some Fire and Fury style funsies that we can get out of it. Yeah, I mean. We'll see. Also, I mean, like, what a blatant cash grab, too. Like, if Sean Spicer's book wasn't enough't enough, hers is just called Unhinged. I think all caps.

I do love that title. Oh, it's great. I just wish it was someone whose book I'd want to buy called Unhinged. It might as well just be like, ah! Ah, real monsters! I go back to that Big Brother tape often in my mind. Oh, man.

Of her just being like, it's not good. It's bad. It's so bad. So bad. Which is exactly what I think everybody was assuming. But to see somebody who was previously a big supporter of his be that terrified is still scary. Still a little scary. Hey, you want to hop in my fan boat and take a trip down to the swamp?

Hell yeah. That's how you do a fucking trip. Let's check in with the swamp boys. Man, this week the Republicans, some people in the cabinet, his supporters are getting in some big fucking trouble. First, the big news I think yesterday was Chris Collins from New York, who was I think the first Republican to be like, I support Donald Trump in the election. Yeah. Was arrested by the fucking FBI for insider trading. Now, the condensed version of the story is he sits on the board of directors for this pharmaceutical company in Australia.

And the clinical he found out that like one of the clinical drug trials was like a fucking failure for like their main drug. Right. It's like. So he told his son like called him in a panic numerous times was like sell sell this shit because when this shit comes out we're going to fucking take a bath. Superduper Superduper Nick stuff like to say. Yeah. Like a total fucking loss on this. And so now Collins, his son, and his son's soon-to-be father-in-law, his fiance's dad, were all arrested for insider trading because they avoided major losses.

And now the reason, obviously, if you don't understand what insider trading is, it's because Chris Collins, this fucking congressman, he is a member of the board. So he's privy to non-public information. Right. And when you leak that to the public for profit, that's when you're getting charged with shit like securities fraud, wire fraud, and stuff like that, because you're defrauding the market, essentially,

by getting the jump, because you have information that other people, the general public, doesn't have, and you're manipulating the market. It's like any athlete gambling on their own game. Yeah, right, exactly. You have influence over this, so you can't bet on it. Yep, yep. So that was, yeah, that begins to make sense.

Because also, I mean, the second he's been in trouble, I think he was investigated by the Ethics Committee even last year. Mike Pence went and fundraised for him right after. So he's in really good with the president. So I don't know if that means pardon city down the road or whatever but i'm sure it does but what a what a delight to see him getting arrested well what's what's really wild is so i think it was either like in buffalo or actually and at the capital in dc is where this journalist overheard it and like even tweeted about it like as it happens like just heard Just heard Chris Collins say this on his phone.

And then now we find this out. Do you know how much money I made with crimes? Yeah, essentially. Such a cartoon cackling villain thing. And now, that's just exhibition. For my next crime. That's just bad writing. And now for my next crime.

Another really great crime, though, and real scam god, is Wilbur Ross. This is just unbelievable. Yeah, who looks like, I don't even know. Oh, I love this. I call him Commerce Smeagol because he's clearly, the greed has destroyed him on the inside. So this whole story starts off with him lying to Forbes years ago to get on the Forbes 400 list because he's like, oh, I'm a billionaire. I'm a billionaire. Total lie. My peepee is so big. Yeah, please to get on the Forbes 400 list because it's like, oh, I'm a billionaire. I'm a billionaire. It's like my peepee is so big.

Yeah, please get me on the peepee list. And so they believed him. They threw him a freaking bone here and he got on the Forbes 400 list. And so that basically opened the door for him to talk to other wealthy people and point to him being on that list to sort of bring their guards down and swindle them out of more money to the point that he probably did actually get to a billion uh but then once he accepted the job as commerce secretary you know you have to start disclosing all your financial information and at one point like he claimed like he had two billion that he gave to his kids but they're like there's

actually no real evidence that you even had this two billion he's He's like, oh, well, I don't know. He had to walk it back in a really odd way. And then, so this basically put him on Forbes' shit list because they don't like when you lie about how big your financial dick is. That's an original sin. I'm sort of okay with people scamming Forbes and being like, no, me have a lot of money. Please put my picky in your thing and but but also i don't know well so because of that uh one of their writers has been like on top of

wilbur ross like a hawk like every single like calling every single fucking thing he's doing wrong like whether sitting on stock and like like turning a profit when he should have got rid of it it's like or where his his his accounts are held Like this guy's just been airing him out. So now after a little bit of digging, they find out that he's basically, as they say, grifted about $120 million from people he's worked with over the years and decided to settle all kinds of suits out of court and things like that. And so there's this one paragraph that is just really, really hard.

I just, it warms my heart. It says, it's difficult to imagine, this is from the Forbes article, the possibility that a man like Ross, who Forbes estimates is worth some 700 million, might steal a few million from one of his business partners. Unless you have heard enough stories about Ross. Two former W.L. Ross colleagues remember the commerce secretary taking handfuls of sweet and low packets from a nearby restaurant so he didn't have to go out and buy some for himself. One says workers at his house in the Hamptons used to call the office claiming Ross had not paid them for their work.

Another two people said once Ross pledged $1 million to their charity, then never paid. And there are other people who go out of their way to be like, yeah, he's basically what I would call, I'd call him a pathological liar. So makes perfect sense. The swamp is rich with these creatures. Yeah. I mean, it seems coincidental that these people who have been, they have supporting roles in the movie about the Trump presidency.

You know, Wilbur Ross came out here and was like the one dude supporting his tariffs and shit. Right. And it's it seems coincidental that all these people then keep getting exposed as complete criminal con men, but it's not really. It's self-selecting. These are the people who recognize that a corrupt criminal had become president,

and rather than running away and being like, oh, he's going to light everything on fire that touches him, they were like, game recognized game. Yeah, yeah recognized game yeah yeah exactly exactly how i got here wasn't trump lying to forbes too about his worth so everyone's lying to forbes cut from the literal same like it's the same origins they're like yo you let you lied to forbes too to get this cool cool yeah all right all right gang gang uh i mean the the sweet and Low packets detail is gorgeous. Right. Like, that is some- True old man shit, too.

Like, Sweet- That's great Aunt Mary shit, you know? Yeah. Are you still using Sweet and Low? Come on, man. There's better Sweeteners out there. I don't know why I'm mad at the selection of it. I'm like, sir, was there not Splenda there?

It is 2018. Sweet and Low does stuff. I mean, that anecdote could be from the fucking 70s or 80s, though, too. Right, that's true. Because the guy's, I'm pretty sure, like, 9,900,000 years old. Right. Yes. Of course, he is immortal.

I like also that Forbes estimates he's worth $700 million because they're just not going to give him a billion. Yeah, they're like, fuck you. Right. No. No. Fake ass. Billy.

Sorry. All right. Let's take a quick break. I've been thinking about you. I want you back in my life. It's too late for that. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project.

All you need to do is record everything like you always do. One session. 24 hours bpm 110 120 she's terrified should we wake her up absolutely not what was that you didn't figure it out i think i need to hear you say it that was live audio of a woman's nightmare. This machine is approved and everything? You're allowed to be doing this? We passed the review board a year ago. We're not hurting people.

There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It was December 2019 when the story blew up. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, former Packers star Kabir Bajabiamila caught up in a bizarre situation. KGB explaining what he believes

led to the arrest of his friends at a children's Christmas play. A family man, former NFL player, devout Christian, now cut off from his family and connected to a strange arrest. I am going to share my journey of how I went from Christianity to now a Hebrew Israelite. I got swept up in Kabir's journey. But this was only the beginning. a Hebrew Israelite. I got swept up in Kabir's journey, but this was only the beginning.

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but worse, if that's possible. Listen to Spiraled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In a galaxy far, far away. No, babe, that's taken. We're in our own world, remember? Right. In our own world, we're two space cadets and totally normal humans. Sure, totally normal humans. Embark on a journey across the stars, discovering the wonders of the universe one episode at a time. We'll talk about life, love, laughter,

and why you should never argue with your co-pilot. Especially when she's always right. Right, and if we hit turbulence, just blame it on Mercury retrograde. Or Emily's questionable space piloting skills. Hey, join us on In Our Own World for cosmic conversations, stellar laughs, and super corny dad jokes. Listen to In Our Own World as a part of the My Cultura podcast network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And don't worry, we promise to avoid any black holes most of the time. Hi, everyone. It's me, Katie Couric. Have you heard about my newsletter called

Body and Soul? It has everything you need to know about your physical and mental health. Personally, I'm overwhelmed by the wellness industry. I mean, there's so much information out there about lifting weights, pelvic floors, cold plunges, anti-aging. So I launched Body and Soul to share doctor-approved insights about all of that and more. We're tackling everything. Serums to use through menopause, exercises that improve your brain health, and how to naturally lower your blood pressure and cholesterol. Oh, and if you're as sore as I am from pickleball, we'll help you Thank you. body and soul at katiecouric.com slash body and soul taking better care of yourself is just a click away and we're back and uh i just wanted to check in briefly with uh the alternate universe where uh papa john's is the third best restaurant in the universe. That's the reality, homie.

Yeah. And yeah, so meanwhile, on the right right now, the top headline on Drudge is Rudy, quote, it's about to blow with a picture of the Capitol building. And basically- Of Trump on a toilet. Right. Basically, they're just quoting from an interview that Giuliani did on Hannity where they're just like, the Mueller investigation is just so clearly a setup and the only illegal thing

that's been done is Hillary Clinton paying for that dossier. Switch. And both Giuliani and Hannity know more about it, and they just can't say it yet. But, oh, man, when people find out what they know, they're, like, going to blow their stack because they're reliably pretty, like, tactful people who play it pretty close to the vest. So they probably know some really good shit. So that is the number one story on Drudge right now. Fucking fantasy world. That's how you know it's bad, though.

They're not even talking about real shit now. It's just like, yeah, this thing's a setup, right? Like, wow, you don't even have anything rhetorically relevant that could possibly be seen as something that isn't a total fantasy to be like... It's completely stale. I'm not shaking.

The free speech argument around Alex Jones is probably the biggest story of the week. Yeah. On the right. Yeah. So. I mean, there's a lot of, there are a lot of think pieces out there that like, there's going to be a backlash.

And even like at the ACLU, one of the people over there was like, oh, I don't know, there could be a backlash. You know, just by getting him off of there, it's just going to rile up his supporters and things like that. It really bothers me, but it's not surprising at all. I don't know. Stuff like this is so cyclical that, of course, any social media,

where Mark Zuckerberg earlier this year essentially lies on the stand he's full of shit all these silicon valley bros are of course going to ultimately side with the people who have money and the people like it's just it's so frustrating but i'm also not surprised at all also jack from twitter kicked my ass off for tweeting about figure skating right and then he's like but naz Nazis are chill. Yeah. But you pantomiming shooting Robert Mueller, V chill.

Unfucking real. But yeah, I don't know. The idea of the backlash is a little, I think it's people just playing out their paranoid, their paranoia to the nth degree. It's like, well, then that will make the enemy stronger now. We will have to deal with this. It will strengthen their resolve. But one of the articles I was reading on Wonkhead about it brings up a good point and brought brings up Jack's beloved coal gas study.

What's this now? Yes, we're carbon monoxide gas. We're in England. They removed that from the gas. So you couldn't it wasn't coming out of your oven. So you couldn't kill yourself in that sense and that way. And that actually led to a reduction in people taking their lives. And, you know, call it means reduction.

And so everyone check your bingo cards. And like when you look at Miles said it. I guess. Fucking word. Don't have to take a drink if you're playing along with the DZ drinking game. But yeah, with in terms of Alex Jones, I mean, Super Producer Nick Stumpf was pointing out how his app is number three in the app store and things like that is maybe pointing

to this added motivation. But I think, honestly, the people who are really about the Alex Jones life, they're always going to find his shit no matter what. It's the people who are casually around it and being exposed to it and just it's around. Those are the people who like if you cut that off if they weren't really feeling it or they were just kind of

like oh yeah that's kind of interesting. I think there's a benefit to that because what he's saying is so fucking bad. Someone on the fence isn't going to download an app. That's just human app behavior. If you got to put in your password to do it you got to really fucking want to do it. Yeah. People

don't use apps that they're not used to using anymore. I don't know. We're through with new apps. I mean, I have the Kylie Jenner app on my phone still. Yeah, I said apps that we aren't already using. Obviously, we are all using the Kylie Jenner app on a daily basis. By the way, I'm going to make you guys sign up for CoStar, which is the astrology app, to see if we can all be friends.

Oh, shit. I'll hack it. You can't hack the stars. You can't hack the stars. This is our ultimate hack-off. The next movie, yeah. I'll hack the stars. The stars.

But yeah, I mean, in addition to the coal gas study, my experience at Cracked was that- Another drink. Another drink. Facebook started tilting its algorithm just a little bit towards people who actually paid for traffic, people who advertised with them, essentially.

And that destroyed us, essentially, because it's just like so much of your traffic comes through Facebook. And it's not just that people will find another way. It's like people use Facebook as if it's the internet. And it's the only thing that they use. Right, right, right. So no matter what people say, and despite the fact that his app is third on the App Store. Well, that just means

for in the meantime that's really the only place you can get it like whether you're streaming it directly from info wars or through the app that's the only way you're gonna get the content so i can see why there'd be a bump in that for just right now for people who still need their info wars high they're gonna get it through the app right but you know the the free speech thing is these are this is a platform. It's a private. It's not a fucking public utility. So people being like, well, this is infringing on his free speech. No, if he was arrested and like for saying all kinds of crazy stuff, then maybe you can levy this argument of like, oh, what about his rights or whatever?

There is an agreement. Like when you use these, you check the box that you agree to followed by their terms and conditions of how to use their platform. And, you know, every place has it. So when you violate it, sorry, you broke the rules. You got to go. Yeah, it comes down to like the values of the company itself. Essentially, yeah. And so the company, as with most social media companies, showed its fucking hand.

And they're like, yeah, our values, this doesn't cross our values. And so it just like reflects poorly on that company but it's also so not surprising because which social media platform owner isn't fully chaotic like lawful evil right awful just yeah i don't know this is the whole story just like double down on stuff i feel like we already know right but if you even look like like milo yiannopoulos right he was was a way bigger name until he got kicked off Twitter. And then he's like an afterthought now. Breitbart, similar thing happened.

And he's not on Breitbart anymore. So I think people who are his followers, they're going to stick around all the time. But clearly, his popularity has completely waned because of people being like, yo, you're a straight-up Nazi, my guy. Well, now that you say that, yeah. It's like if Alex Jones, in theory, was taken off of Twitter, if the president was taken off of Twitter, they would have such a reduced presence in the media too

because that's half the way that they get people's attention. It's like shit everyone can see. And then if you disagree with it, you're going to write your take on it and that just like spreads the you know the insane rhetoric that he has so i i mean i'm sure milo's saying as crazy shit but just like we aren't seeing it yeah because his platform is completely diminished yeah yeah like people i guess make reducing it so that people who disagree with you won't see it unless they go way the fuck out of their way. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah.

Milo's world has like totally crumbled. There was a really interesting article about him. I forget what magazine it was in, but it was like he was planning this big right wing demonstration at Berkeley. And it turned out like he didn't have any of the people that he claimed he was going to have. Like he said that like Laura Ingraham was going to be there. And it was just all made up. And Berkeley, like Berkeley was working with him because they were like, we don't want

to block your free speech or whatever. And then as it got closer, they were like, oh, this isn't going to happen. He's just like delusional. And it was really intensely pathetic. And I think, yeah, totally underlines what you guys are talking about, that it's just you need the access or else you kind of just go away. There is a Pew research study that says that Drudge is focusing on that says that Trump's core still loves him. Eight out of 10 still rate him as 80 on average, as an 80 on the handsomeness scale.

One to 10, he's an 80. But there's also an interesting detail that I found surprising because I assumed that he just had his followers and they were sticking with him. Wait, is this eight out of 10 people that voted for him? That voted for Trump. Approve of him. Yeah. That like fucking love him. Yes.

Got you. Okay. Then there's 10% or actually over 10% that were people who didn't like him during the primary. Eventually, when he became the Republican nominee, were like, okay, I guess I'm going to come around. But now they're down to a 33%, or they rate him on average a 33%. They're just like, fuck this guy.

I assumed those people were out there, but you just don't hear about them very often. And then there are the stans who have liked him from the beginning. And this is, I think, 6% of Trump voters who, you know, they basically interviewed these people during the primaries about Trump, during the general, and then now they're interviewing them again. And this 6% liked him during primaries, liked him during the election, liked him right after

the election and now they're just like completely out on him so there is like a small but significant portion of his supporters that's encouraging at least 6% 6% yeah right we'll take it

we'll see anyway just fucking vote y'all just fucking vote you hear motherfuckers on tape like devin nunez basically telling you how they're gonna fuck the country up systematically to just to fucking protect this criminal that's the president uh and you know that's the power that we have in the just right now aside from getting out there and demonstrating things like that but functionally yeah, yeah. Just come on, man. Let's make the wave happen. And finally, and most importantly, I have thoughts on the new Oscars idea of creating a popular movie category. So yesterday we were like, fuck this.

That's so stupid. How do you think fuck this? Well, this is step, like in my mind, it's like, this is how Bad Baby, The Cash Me Outside, How About That Girl ends up winning a Pulitzer down the road. We slowly begin introducing just popular things into these award shows. But I also get- I don't hate it.

I also get that it will allow movies that are normally just completely disregarded because they aren't the highest form of art into the thing. But I still need to know. I'm still skeptical because I don't know how they're going to measure it. Yeah, I think people hear, oh, there's a best popular movie category, and they suddenly imagine that fucking Batman versus Superman would have gotten an award. The hangover wins. Right.

So I was just doing like a hypothetical, okay, what if your cutoff is just, you have to make $100 million domestic box office, and that qualifies you as a popular movie or sell a certain number of tickets. The other thing that I think would be interesting message-wise is if rather than creating a new lesser category that was best popular movie,

that was still best picture was the popular movies, and then you had like best art house movie or best most slept on movie, something that was under $100 million. MTV? Yeah. Most slept on. Hosted by Carson Daly. But, you know, something that is basically whatever fucking euphemism you want to use.

It's those movies that didn't make $100 million and probably weren't aiming to make $100 million. Like last year, The Shape of Water would have won this like best art house award or let's call it best movie versus best film. So Get Out would have won best movie. Shape of Water would have won best film. 2016 Arrival, La La Land, Moana, Zootopia all made over a hundred million dollars. So they would be nominated for best movie. Moonlight nominated for Best Film.

And if you have the two awards and you don't treat one as lesser, I think it's still, those arthouse movies still get a lot of attention. You're pointing to them as a thing that more people should see. So they're getting additional interest. You're also validating them on the terms

that they were aiming to be validated on. The Shape of Water wasn't looking to be a massive box office hit. It was focused on the entertainment value or the artistic value. And the mystery of the pee-pee. The pee-pee and then the butt of the fish. Right.

People go out to see that. Don't you think inherently that would diminish one? Because if people be like, well, film is better than movie. Right. And that sort of introduces an intellectual battle, too, where they're like, movies are this. Or I guess greatest artistic achievement in cinema. Right.

And best picture. I don't really understand why people are freaking out about this. I think it's kind of dumb, but there's categories that would artistically make more sense to add. I'm still blown that there's no voice acting category or stuff like that where it's artistically that would make more sense. I guess that this just seems like kind of a lame-o, like the Oscars are like,

we gotta make people think about us in the summer. Like it just, I'm sure it's a bad idea. Yeah, apparently ABC went to them because they had all-time low ratings last year and they were like, you need to do something because you are irrelevant, which is funny that a network would call somebody else irrelevant.

Well, yeah, that's why I guess they're cutting down the time, too. Because I think that's the other thing, too, is to make it a little more palatable for international audiences. Which could be the other thing, too, is like, well, maybe we can get the Asian market, China specifically, because they consume a lot of films. And then if you have the popular film category, then more films that they're more familiar with will be in there and then that'll drive more viewers. I don't know. Yeah. I think there's a way to do this that you're more capturing the zeitgeist. I'm a believer that popular movies are important because they capture some aspect of what people care about at the time.

Right. When you actually look back at years, like the last 10 years, the movies that would be nominated in an over $100 million category tend to be the movies that you think of when you think of that year, like Dark Knight and WALL-E. WALL-E, huh? Yeah. I like that European pronunciation.

WALL-E. WALL-E. Yeah, I just, Inception, Toy Story 3, Bridesmaids, Rango. Rango? Super 8. Whoa, I found out that Jack's a Rango head. Rango. But yeah, I guess when you think about the Lincoln lawyers in that same year, and I'm like, nah, I remember Bridesmaids more than Lincoln Lawyers.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, it's fine that the Lincoln Lawyer gets a shout out. And I think movies that win that award still deserve to be seen more. I guess that's where the problem is. that de-incentivized studios developing these films that are a little bit deeper and a little more refined because in the chase for awards, you're like, well, if we get that other picture. You know what I mean? Well, I think you – I would argue that you are almost incentivizing two tracks so you could go more artistic with the ones that you're not even worried about making a hundred million dollars

with you're just interested in like making the most artistically interesting movie there's a category for that and then the ones that are aimed at a hundred million dollars worth of the audience you would have an award that you could be aiming at maybe you would make like more interesting blockbuster movies because there's the best Picture award is actually going to consider you. I think, yeah, it will be interesting to see how major releases will start Oscar-bathing themselves out because they've never had to. Where it's like a Mission Impossible-style movie never is going to be, in theory, is never going to be nominated for an oscar so why add elements of it that would get it nominated for an oscar but now it's like and i don't even know if this is a good thing or not because oscar bait is so fucking lame right but

it it'll be interesting to now that they this like qualifies as a track of like will will blockbusters uh oscar bait themselves and if they don't does the did the oscars just become like more like even less relevant than they already or do you make it like a wild card where like two films like if you reach the 100 million threshold then like two of films that achieve that do have to essentially get into the reckoning for best picture what do you mean like so that a movie like so it's not just like the shape like you could have the shape of water i mean like i mean get out was nominated anyway but like let's for another year for example let's say uh like like was mad max fury road did

that get nominated for best picture yes it did so that's like i mean so in a way that made sense where it wasn't a traditionally like oh wow like wow, like this is this is I mean, it was a really beautifully executed film. But, you know, that rather than having two categories, well then we should also be able to consider this film or at least the voting members could nominate it or have it be nominated. I don't know. I mean, like 2011, yeah, just going back to Bridesmaids, that year the artist won.

The fucking artist. Like that movie. Jeez. So lame. Nobody thinks about that movie at all anymore. I think that this will be good for animation. I agree. As well.

Well, it gives you more movies to nominate also. It just like expands the number of movies. I just feel real shitty if like a dumb fucking like an actually dumb, stupid movie that was just popular like wins an Academy Award just because a lot of people liked the marketing of it and went to see it. But they're not rewarding most money made, right? They're rewarding artistic achievement by a popular movie, hopefully. We, like, granted, I'm arguing on behalf of a group that I can guarantee is going to fuck this up.

Like, almost definitely. Walt Disney Corporation, who you're working for, yes. They will fuck it up, but it is, I don't know. I like the suggestion that popular movies can also be seen as pieces of art. Yeah. Because they can be, and like you were saying, Jack, of like the movies that we remember certain years by

are almost never the Oscar winners or very rarely. So I don't know. Let's see. They're going to fuck it up, but let's see what happens. Like it would be weird if like blockers won an Academy Award. And I'd be like, yo,

that movie was tight. Blockers were good. Game night? Yeah. Right. And then you're like, but Academy Award, I guess then now it forces us to shift our even perception of the Academy

Awards more than anything. Right. And I feel like comedies would, like breakout comedies that are actually really good would maybe be considered now instead of being just fucking. Right, like Girls Trip or something like that. Girls Trip.

Yeah, Bridesmaids. Like I feel like that's a good example of like something that totally captured the zeitgeist was a artistic success and just didn't because it wasn't serious and because it had a scene where everybody shit themselves because what if women poopy

as well yeah so brave okay we'll put Broad City on the air right he's a moron Jamie it's been a pleasure having you

oh it's great to be here always always I sleep under the desk I know what uh where can people find you

and what's a tweet you've been enjoying uh tweeting enjoy is by I'm pretty sure former guest Demi Adigie Bay

at Electro Lemon he made a great tweet the other day. He said, I like Beach House because it's trap drums mixed with the background music of an 80s after school special set at the aquarium. I love that tweet and Demi's the best. I'm on Twitter.com unless I get booted again

at Jamie Loftus Help. And my new show on Super Deluxe comes out next week and it's called Robot Takeover. Hell yeah. French a dog.

A fake dog. All of Jamie's work is incredible. She has a series on Comedy Central that you should be watching. What's that called?

That's called Irrational Fears. And the Bechdel cast. And the Bechdel cast is incredible. Doi. Doi. Wally cast. And the Bechtel cast is incredible. Duh-ee. Duh-ee. Wah-ee.

Wah-ah-ah-ah. Ah. Thank you for our next point. Yeah, Miles, what's something you've been enjoying? Oh, well, speaking of Demi, shout out to Kirsten over at the Late Late Show. I know you'd be listening every day, Zyke gang out here. But rather than a tweet, I don't know if you noticed today when I started the show, I didn't do the

usual yeah. I went yeah. Because there's a song by Disturbed called Down With The Sickness. And in it, right before the real heavy guitars drop in, you hear the dude go oh. Okay, everybody might know that if you were alive in the 90s. Now, I have to share with you

one of my favorite YouTube clips because I forget why Jamie was just doing it this morning. I'm like, have you seen the clip of the dude doing it at karaoke and absolutely fucking it up? So rather than a tweet, I want to share with you a YouTube clip called Down With The Sickness Karaoke. Now, again, the original, the lead singer just crushes it with the wah. Now, listen to this little bit from a man at karaoke.

And, you know, he just basically nails it. So here we go. Oh, shit. Get ready. Hit me with it. Get ready. There's so many things I love about that. One more time.

It slows down. Wait, does he do it twice in the video? No, in the video, they just edit it to be with the actual song just so you can hear how awful that was. But yeah, good for you, Mr. Down with the Sickness. I have so much karaoke anxiety. And Demi does karaoke

all the time very well and I will never go because I get too scared and it's because I would be that person. Yeah, well, he was that person. And if you're looking for more ooh-wah-ah-ah from me, you can find me on Twitter and Instagram at MilesOfGrey. You can find

me at Jack underscore O'Brien on Twitter and some tweets I've been enjoying. Pixelated Boat tweeted, finally, and screen-capped a headline that he wrote, obviously, that said, Academy Awards add new category. Best film where a guy jumps a motorbike through a window,

then says, bike to see you. And then Dan Gurwitch commented on a real headline. The headline was, Luigi dies in new Nintendo Super Mario Smash Brothers trailer, but this is why it doesn't matter. My favorite type of internet headline. And he wrote, is it because it's a video game? Which is good. He writes for John Oliver, doesn't he?

I think he does. Yes, he does. Yeah. And you can follow us on Twitter at Daily Zeitgeist. We're at The Daily Zeitgeist on Instagram. We have a Facebook fan page and a website, DailyZeitgeist. We're at The Daily Zeitgeist on Instagram. We have a Facebook fan page and a website, dailyzeitgeist.com. We have a merch store where you can get what I think we're calling Zeitgear? Zeitgear?

Oh, I like that. Zeitgear? Garb? Anything. Whatever you want to call it. I love the Zeitgang shirt so much. Oh, yeah. I'm wearing it right now.

Yeah. And... You like me. Yeah. So go check that out. It's on TeePublic. Just search daily zeitgeist on t public i guess what is it uh t public.com slash the daily zeitgeist there you go boom check it out and you will find our footnotes in the description of this episode where we link off to the information

in today's episode as well as the song that we ride out on. Miles, what's that going to be? Oh, today, let's ride out on a song by Washed Out from his album Paracosm, and it's called It All Feels Right, because that just sums up the mood right now. It all feels right, doesn't it? I'm down with the sickness, personally. You are down with the sickness, and I knew that, and so thank you for that. But yeah, it's It All Feels Right by Washed Out. All right, we're going, and I knew that. And so thank you for that. But yeah, it all feels right by Washed Out.

All right. We're going to ride out on that. We will be back tomorrow because it is a daily podcast. Talk to you guys then. Bye. Bye. Thank you. guitar solo We've been at it this time Weekends are almost in line It's getting warm outside

It all feels right Call your friends, I'll call mine They are for a long ride The sun is coming up It all seems right Oh, love, who's that? Oh, think about's all the love To feel the rainbow To love Cymru, Cymru, Cymru We'll be over tonight

We are with little cries Music's way too loud It all feels right is I'm so alone Feeling in the sun Thank you. Come up here and document my project. Kay hasn't heard from her sister in seven years. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. What was that?

That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. Can Kay trust her sister, or is history repeating itself? There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Curious about queer sexuality, cruising, and expanding your horizons? Hit play on the sex-positive and deeply entertaining podcast

Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Join hosts Gabe Gonzalez and Chris Patterson Rosso as they explore queer sex, cruising, relationships, and culture in the new iHeart podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Sniffy's Cruising Confessions will broaden minds and help you pursue your true goals. You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions, sponsored by Gilead, now on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday.

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