The Daily Zeitgeist - MnuchTrend Wants To Buy TikTok 3/14: TikTok Ban, Trader Joe's Tote Bags, St. Patrick's Day, Baby Folding

Episode Date: March 14, 2024

In this edition of MnuchTrend Wants To Buy TikTok, Jack and Miles discuss America's desperate attempts to ban/buy TikTok (feat. Sinophobia, perceptual control, and capitalist ghouls), Trader Joe's new mini tote bag (for hypebeasts only), Biden hosting an Irish Taoiseach for St. Patrick's Day, and parents 'folding' their babies (not what you think)!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me for I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and Shekinah Church. Listen to Forgive Me for I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese.

Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have

changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hey, I'm Gianna Pardenti

and I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation,

then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, the internet, and welcome to this episode of Manooch Trend wants to buy TikTok.

Oh, man. Forgot. Steve Manooch Trend? Ugh. I still just think about when his wife dressed like Cruella DeVille that shit was wild man like when they were printing the new bills evil aesthetic

with like the long gloves wasn't she wearing like were they both wearing gloves holding the dollars unsmilingly elbow high like leather sleeves like LeBron or something like that. Yeah. So anyways,

uh, we're just getting more information on the tick tock, uh, you know, the, the bill that passed the house to force the sale of tick tock or to ban tick tock. Um,

one thing we got new information on is just you know, on the one hand it was like, wait, so Trump reversed and is now opposing the ban on TikTok that I had assumed that was like him just being a populist

and recognizing that this was an absolute loser. But it turns out it's also aligned with his business interests because he was the first person to try to ban TikTok. And that was because one of his biggest donors at the time was the Oracle CEO, who benefited from pressure being put on TikTok. And TikTok ultimately used Oracle as their primary cloud provider in the US and now

one of his biggest donors has a big ownership stake in TikTok's parent company. This would be almost so predictable as to be not worth mentioning but for the fact that it ties into the larger concerns about Trump's desperation

for cash at this point like i feel like that's going to be a continuing story i'm sure journalists are like keeping tabs on all the money going into his campaign um you know his saudi relationships uh i feel like it's going to be weird it's gonna it's gonna get weird i mean yeah it's it's already weird it's yeah and it just it's just more like out in the open but it's interesting though too because despite despite uh papa trump saying like i'm i'm against it yeah like the republicans are like nah sorry that uh this one's already out so we're we're voting for it and like many people were like, Oh,

that's interesting. Like maybe they thought him coming out would maybe change how the votes came in, but they didn't. So I don't know. There's just, maybe there's a bit of, there's clearly a difference in opinion there that maybe he can't, even Trump can't overcome the,

the fear of, of China as, as sort of painting that as the threat um rather because at the end of the day like as we were saying in the episode that came out today it's like the owner the donor part is one of it and the other is like he also doesn't want any world where mark zuckerberg could also own it too right so yeah there's many so many angles here so many angles so many angles it is just interesting that he has gone from you know when he launched his original political career his central claim was i'm so rich i don't need any

donations and that's how you know i'm not bought yeah and now he may be the most vulnerable to wealthy donors that we've ever had like oh yeah in politics let alone like running for president as a major party candidate well and at least in this part right where like the money is conditioned on him saying something out loud because once he's in office i doubt he's gonna be like no you're right i told you i would do that so i owe you i owe you my loyalty yeah um and then just more broadly uh the evil of TikTok does not extend to what people who want to buy it might think of it. Yeah. Because, yeah, they, you know, Steve Mnuchin has announced that he's interested in buying it.

He is the former treasury secretary. And he told an interviewer that he's putting together an investor group to to buy tiktok um yeah which yeah you know like jason said on today's show it's highly unlikely that a ban could be easily enacted like this is just so transparent like yeah like they vote on this and then the next day all these like capitalistic, like predators are just like circling the blood in the water and being like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. We'll buy it. Yeah.

We'll buy it. Real nice. I'll have the kids saying they want a six day work week. Watch how easy I can make it. That's how TikTok works, right? It's just, you put it in there and then it makes the kids say a thing. Yeah. I want that.

Uh-huh. It's just, you put it in there and then it makes the kids say a thing. Yeah. I want that. It's that easy. So you have no idea how people that are younger than Gen X are experiencing the earth and how they, and how they perceive what their own values are. It's the TikToks. And if you want someone to buy up the app that people have security concerns over, who better than Steve Mnuchin, a guy who headed up a bank that was accused of widespread misconduct that included illegally backdating documents in order to game foreclosure auctions.

Um, he seems like the right guy. He's the guy for the job. Also throwing his hat in the ring. Shark tanks. Kevin O'Leary. Oh, shut up.

Also said he would buy tick tock. Uh, Mr. Wonderful. Mr. Incredible. Yeah. Mr. Wonderful. Um, Incredible? Yeah, Mr. Wonderful. Mr. Wonderful. Promising that he

will, quote, close the Chinese back doors in the code. Quick reminder, this man is not a computer scientist, but he is one of the dumbest people to ever attempt to play Jeopardy. So, demonstrably.

That is true. His just less than sub-zero score at the end and some of the answers where you're like, usually when someone answers something in Jeopardy, I know how they thought they were, how they were approaching the question, but your answers, my man, are. Honestly, the Sinophobia that is coming out of like dc it's just so constant

it's like guys shut up like this figure out a new way to create some other like uh creator of all that ails you rather than actually looking at like it's this it's the country you're running right now it's not the apps and it's so much easier to then just be like, well, you know, it's China. It's those companies that are different. And we even said this in the episode today. It's like, well, if you're concerned about privacy, what about all the American fucking companies?

That's right. It's horse shit. But anyway, here they are. Here they are. Mr. Wonderful. To save the day. Shooting off at the mouth there is a canadian yeah he's canadian as fuck bro and he's like it'll be an american company

it's like dude just just go away go away go away dude so canadian he commits vehicular homicide on lakes with boats um allegedly um no all right hype luxury culture um you know me mr hype beast uh mister up on the latest trends i mean you were in your little medellin sunset threes you know i mean i do love those shoes that's the one place that i do pay attention to uh the latest What's on your feet. And greatest. But just writ large, we talked about the Stanley Cups, and now there are Trader Joe's tote bags, which I'm very familiar with.

I believe I have one. Mostly the navy blue one. Yeah, the navy blue straps. But now we got them going on like being sold for 100 to 500 on the internet this isn't the tote bag this is the mini tote okay what you have is the regular regular so it's regular tote but smaller it's a tiny tote bag so less functional more sure i don't know i think it's more baller because it costs 100 bucks or between 100 and 500 on the internet i mean that doesn't mean people are paying for it just

means people think people will pay 500 for it this shit retails for three dollars but has completely like apparently there is nowhere to be found um i'm gonna go maybe'm going to go stop by to see if I can grab a couple. And maybe they'll just laugh at me. They're like, you fucking loser. You think you're a fucking TJMT right now? TJ Minitote? Get the fuck out of here. But yeah, it is like the new thing.

And I'm just like... As we keep seeing these viral trends with the most like mundane objects, you know, like steel cup or canvas bag. Yeah. I'm like, what? I'm like,

I get that clearly it's the internet, right? Cause like that's accelerating these cycles where people are like, Oh my God, this is a new thing. And then it kind of dies off. But like, as we get away from like luxury items,

I wonder it's just, if it's truly because like the thing that about stanley cups or these trader joe's bags is that they're merely just more actually attainable you know what i mean like most people can't get their hands on a fucking birkin or take a private jet to the seychelles but many people can cop an insulated vacuum vacuum cup or whatever the technology is for that thing for the stanley cup or canvas bag and so we're just i think maybe it's like a rejection of sort of like these luxury brands and luxury items and then we're now just being like no it's the that's attainable now is

what's hot because right that other stuff that like i'm not gonna pay seven thousand dollars right right exactly yeah exactly it's like because like this thing should be attainable i've seen them before in this case i have one that's just a like a bigger version of the thing that everybody wants to get um the kids will laugh at you full if you pull up with a fucking oh my god an uh a fst full-size tote full-size tote full-size Trader Joe's tote but like with little tiny sunglasses on and like you can tell from my energy that I think I've got like a cool thing on me you're like holding it like this on your forearm you're like yeah it was good yeah anyway y'all want to smoke cigarettes later they're like what got my way but yeah I don't know I mean like this

is uh I don't know I feel like this is uh i don't know i feel like at this tick like at this rate we're going the next must-have item is probably going to be like a pen or a pencil yeah i mean i don't mind that like snap bracelet you know this is pog snap bracelets like just all dumb shit that like that's what i'm saying 90s it was toys right and then when we got the last 20 years though have been just dominated by like hyped brand goods you know what I mean and luxury and like that was the shit that you had to have like could you did you have

like I remember in the early days of like uh you know after the bling bling era of hip hop in the 90s and getting more into like the Pharrell Kanye West sort of fashion thing people like oh you got Louis belt you got this other thing or whatever um and now or it's supreme or other shit like that and now we're just like you got that and maybe it's just it's something peculiar to our specific age cohort and as we get older like

where we've just moved on to the wackest shit possible. Trader Joe's tote bags. Yeah. I mean, like the Stanley cups are definitely a younger, a younger man's game. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean,

I think at the end of the day, it's just, it's just like what it costs is probably the biggest thing. Cause more people now are just sort of like less and less impressed by being like, Oh cool. You have a $70,000 whatever. But I will get in

line for a $3 piece of canvas, which I also was reading, even though they're marketed to us as sustainable, they're actually becoming an environmental issue because there's such a proliferation of canvas totes. I think so.

Anyway, so we'll see, man. But but let us know what's the new hip thing is it a pen is it a honestly i don't even know like a kind of notebook hey guy who took over as ceo of stanley after being the ceo of croc or the cmo of crocs uh let us know what the next thing is that you're going to take over and make viral so that we can buy up. Sharpies. We know you're probably Zyte Gang, so just hit us up real quick.

Or could you imagine, it's like bygone thing. It's like, yo, these are like those old school AOL CD ROMs that you used to do to install AOL on your computer or like net zero when they had it. All right, let's take a quick break. We'll be right back.

I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series, Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me For I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and LA-based Shekinah Church, an alleged cult that has impacted members for over two decades. Jessica and I will delve into the hidden truths between high-control groups and interview dancers, church members, and others whose lives and careers have been impacted, just like mine. Through powerful, in-depth interviews with former members and new, chilling first-hand accounts, the series will illuminate untold and extremely necessary perspectives. Forgive Me For I Have Followed will be more than an exploration.

It's a vital revelation aimed at ensuring these types of abuses never happen again. Listen to Forgive Me For I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradente. And I'm Jemay Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline, a new podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts.

When you're just starting out in your career, you have a lot of questions. Like, how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed? Or, can I negotiate a higher salary if this is my first real job? Girl, yes. Each week, we answer your unfiltered work questions. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do.

Like resume specialist Morgan Saner. The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job and the person who gets the job is usually who applies. Yeah, I think a lot about that quote. What is it like you miss 100% of the shots you never take? Yeah, rejection is scary, but it's better than you rejecting yourself. Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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

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This is Lucha Libre Behind behind the mask listen to lucha libre behind the mask as part of my cultura podcast network on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you stream podcasts and we're back and this weekend is st patty's day yeah st patty's day on a weekend rip to the city of chicago and the city of new york um i've never been in those either of those municipalities on the glorious day i mean i know i've heard tell of how it green it is green yes the river at least in chicago yeah it's drunk it's very drunk but it's also going to be very v green at the white house um because joe biden uh has made his irish heritage a big part of his identity uh he's repeatedly touted his irish ancestors and even quoted the great irish poet bono in his speeches which i didn't realize he did that that gives me douche chills but um his celebrations of the white house

uh are a tradition and they haven't always gone well. In 2010, he was the vice president, obviously. And he suggested that the Irish prime minister's mother was dead before realizing that she wasn't. These days, he usually likes to bring people back from the dead. But back then, he was pre-killing people. And that was back when he was a sprightly 68 years old. This year, Biden will host Ireland's Taoiseach Leo

Varadkar. I looked up the pronunciation of Taoiseach and I am nailing it, but did not look up Leo's last name's pronunciation. Not bad.

So we're going to call him. You're Irish Jack. You should know. I know I'm fucking it up. Tap into your Irish roots, man. Go. Hey man,

why don't you go listen to some Irish poet Bono real quick and come back. Um, but yeah. Oh, so, so, so, so,

so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so,

so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so,

so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so,

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so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, dos, tres, quatorze. Quatorze. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So international. So they'll have an Oval Office meeting followed by a St. Paddy's Day celebration. Unfortunately, for this going real smoothly for Joey B, Ireland is one of the few outliers in the West that is actually critical of Israel and concerned for the lives of palestinians yeah yeah i mean what are they thinking i mean there was even like the at the ic at the icj um one of the

like lawyers uh was from ireland who gave like really like moving uh not testimony or whatever like when they were speaking uh at the trial and yeah i mean like there's been sanctions that the irish government has put on uh the israeli government they've said like the u.s cannot use irish airspace to fly like weapons there they've tried to do whatever they could to make it clear like where they stand um and yeah you know they've actually like a ceasefire not like one of those ones that just goes for six weeks or six days or six hours. A pause fire.

Um, yeah. Yeah. Irish politicians has specifically been calling out Biden for his role in aiding Israel. One lawmaker addressing the European parliament referred to him as butcher Biden. addressing the european parliament referred to him as butcher biden and yeah i mean they've been pretty consistent including varadkar uh you know just a week after october 7th specifically um you know became one of few european officials saying israel doesn't have the right to do wrong just because a horrible wrong had been done to them. And people,

uh, what are the Irish? What are the Irish know about occupation or colonialism? I've not read their history, but I don't, I maybe there's nothing there that would, that would create some kind of synergy. Um,

but yeah, the only Irish history I know is that they're mainly the only irish history i know is that they're mainly a tax shelter for cool companies like apple so i feel like they should just be cool and friendly and keep collecting that money and those cool relationships with apple yeah we will see how joe biden i mean like you know that apparently there'll be talks of a ceasefire at least to lobby for one while he's talking to joe biden i mean like you know that apparently there'll be talks of a ceasefire at least to lobby for one while he's talking to joe biden but like now i mean like now chuck schumer is even saying like it's it's starting to get more mainstream that now they're doing

the thing that's like it's not that like we disagree with what israel is doing it's just that netanyahu's bad well that does seem to be like a missed opportunity like they do have a far right government in power like that that would seem to be a way to get people like the sort of like center left like mainstream democrats message it to them is like they have a fucking far right government in power like but i think but that just but that just shows like the what the sway is of like lobbying efforts from like the israeli government has on the discourse here it's not it will never be that the israeli government as a whole or as a nation or whatever that there's there's wrongdoing it's like okay let's try and go for the micro and it's true i

mean obviously netanyahu is the one at the wheel and his coalition government is the one that's making all of this possible um but like now it's like interesting they went from not saying anything to now being like okay yeah he's actually bad for regional peace he's actually also bad for the peace that if israel wants any kind of security in the region he's also bad for that um but still falling short of calling for an actual ceasefire but hey it's we are calling for a ceasefire for at least six months eventually eventually have they tried just saying it under a cough though i feel like that because joe biden does cough pretty frequently or like clear his throat so i feel like it would just be more it might go more smoothly i'm sure his consultants

have like suggested that but you know try and hide the qualifying statement under like something fun like a cough that people will you know expect from you because you seem to be dissolving before our very eyes. Yeah. It's interesting to hear people from the Northern Ireland party isn't sending any representatives to meet Biden because one of them said, quote, I could not rub shoulders, drink Guinness, and have the crack while the horrifying impacts of the brutal war in Gaza continue. It would be the very opposite of solidarity with people on the brink of destruction yep finally um parents are folding their babies i um i wasn't sure what this meant i'm like wait are they fist fight like they got their folding up like you got folded up

like a fucking well yeah i mean we did like my uh seven-year-old's home from school sick today and kept making noise and you did tell me to go fold that motherfucker up yeah so you'll fold his ass but not like that i meant to put in a car seat apparently this is like there's some viral tiktok video about people like you gotta fold your babies and i'm like what the fuck is that as someone with a baby and it's apparently it's just about like anyone who's trying to put overhead storage bin on the airplane right exactly but like for anyone who's trying to put a baby in a car seat there's like a moment where they realize in a car seat and they just flatten their body out like in protest like i don't want to be in a car seat um and so what they're saying is the trick here isn't to lay your kid in like just to flop them

in it's to sort of get get a little bit bend, get those knees to the chest a little bit, and then put that pre-folded child in the car seat to make the, I guess, securing of the car seat easier. Yeah. I find an arm bar is really helpful to just, like, get them to go where you want them to go. Yes, exactly. This feels weird, doesn't it? Doesn't it feel like you're putting your baby in a wrestling hold? bar is really helpful to just like get them to go where you want to go want them to go yeah um yes this feels weird doesn't it doesn't it feel like you're putting your baby in a wrestling hold um this idea like when you when you actually look at like the picture it just it just makes more sense you're just basically being like just emphasize the body shape when you put them in

it's like you're like i gotta fold this fucker in half type shit it's just more like just enter the put the child in at an angle that is more conducive i guess it makes sense yeah i also saw a recent parenting hack that was like don't play with your children because then they're just gonna keep coming back and asking you to play with them i have a life today because i've consistently always let them know i'm not the one to play with which wow you know you know uh that that's not misunderstood that one too huh i ain't the one to play with look man i took that as never play with my kids yeah no uh that's that's that's that's a i don't know but i mean you know so they're like and that allows me to be rested when it comes to the things that i do like to do with

and for my child so i think all things i don't think there's one size fits all but if there is a one size fits all situation make sure to fold them to avoid wrinkles when. When's Easter? When's Easter? Yeah. I was just thinking about that. A couple weeks, I think. When's Easter? Oh, the 31st. Okay.

Wow. Yeah. A couple weeks. A couple weeks. Wow. All right. Well, those are... Just like ask that completely out of nowhere. I don't know why.

I'm like, what's Easter? What the fuck? All right. Well, those are some of the things that are trending on this Thursday, March 14th. We are back tomorrow with a whole ass episode of the show. Yeah. Until then, be kind to each other. Be kind to yourself.

Yes. Get the vaccine. Get your flu shot. Don't do nothing about white supremacy. And we will talk to y'all tomorrow. Bye. Bye. Don't do nothing about white supremacy And we will talk to y'all tomorrow Bye Bye I'm Jess Casavetto

Executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series Dancing for the Devil The 7M TikTok cult And I'm Clea Gray Former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me For I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and Shekinah Church. Listen to Forgive Me For I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports.

Listen to the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti. And I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadsden.

We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer,

we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.