The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 2.24 The Trump Elon Musk Problem Just Got Worse, Patel & Gabbard Say IGNORE MUSK, & Blake Lively Updates

Episode Date: February 24, 2025

Don't miss out on your https://BeautifulBastard.com Feb Feelings Drop! 7 New Tees & Hoodies Go to https://hensonshaving.com/DEFRANCO and enter DEFRANCO at checkout to get a free pack of 100 blades with your purchase. (Note: you must add both the blades and the razor for the discount to apply.) Subscribe for New shows every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday @ 6pm ET/3pm PST & watch more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_2ioUApEzQ&list=PLHcsGizlfLMWpSg7i0b9wnUyEZWI-25N3&index=1  – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - AI Video of Trump Kissing Musk’s Feet Plays on HUD Office TVs 02:57 - Musk Orders 2.3M Federal Workers to Detail What They Did Last Week  10:07 - Blake Lively Calls The Hollywood Reporter Cover Artwork “Sexist” 13:36 - Sponsored by Henson 14:49 - Psychiatric Hospital Sued for Involuntarily Committing People Unnecessarily 19:11 - German Elections See Conservatives Win Big and Far-Right AfD Makes Huge Gains 23:47 - Comment Commentary ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino  ———————————— For more Philip DeFranco: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2V Twitter:   https://x.com/PhillyD Instagram:   https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco Newsletter: https://www.dailydip.co TikTok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@philipdefranco?lang=en ———————————— #DeFranco #ElonMusk #DonaldTrump ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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neutral's ingredients. Vodka. Soda. Natural flavors. So, what should we talk about? No sugar added? Neutral. Refreshingly simple. A Trump kissing Elon's bear feet to set off alarm and investigations. Trump's own Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel are telling their teams to ignore Elon Musk's justify your job or resign email as agencies scramble to understand what is real and legal or not. You've got more Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni updates

that have the internet divided. We're talking about all that and much more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show. You daily dive into the news, how it's being covered and how people are reacting to it. But first, I've got an awesome, but ultimately self-serving announcement for you. That is, right now, your Beautiful Bastard February feelings drop just went live over at beautifulbastard.com. And it's the perfect blend of new releases and unvaulted classics.

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we have a lot to talk about today, starting with this. I am genuinely so sorry that I have to do this to you. Because if you haven't seen, there is this utterly cursed AI video of Trump kissing Elon Musk's feet. When I say kissing, I mean Trump just going to town on those little piggies, which are also two left feet. With that being just one of numerous indicators that this is AI, but it has the text, "'Long live the real king.'" And while AI slop like this gets made all the time,

the reason this is in the news is you might notice that this video is being played on a monitor in what looks to be an office hallway. And now, according to multiple reports, those are the halls of the Washington DC headquarters for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. With a reporter from the Washington Post saying that she was sent the clip from multiple people

inside the building and learning that it was played on screens throughout the headquarters. But then also an independent journalist posting on Blue Sky that sources told her that the clip played on loop for five minutes and quote, "'Building staff couldn't figure out how to turn it off and so sent people to every floor to unplug TVs.'" Right, and with all this, you had a number of people noting

that the long live the real King text seemed to be a reference to a truth social post that Trump made about himself last week. Or with also the official White House account posting a fake magazine cover of Trump in a crown with the phrase, long live the King. You know, with all this, when asked to respond to this apparent hack,

you had a spokesperson for HUD telling the Daily Beast, another waste of taxpayer dollars and resources. Appropriate action will be taken for all involved. But as far as, you know, who got that video to play on those screens, right now it's unclear and really any guesses or speculation. But you also had outlets like New York Magazine noting that Housing and Urban Development HQ probably has quite a few angry people in it. And Rolling Stone even calling the action an apparent digital protest. Right in that, because over the weekend it was reported that the Trump administration and Musk's Department of Government Efficiency are looking to reduce HUD's employees by about half.

With the Associated Press then getting into specifics, reporting that this could impact those who support disaster recovery, rental subsidies, discrimination investigations, and more. You know, that could make for someone somewhere in this world to be mad at Trump and Musk. But that's also not the only thing Elon's done to piss off government workers.

And now, Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, and numerous other Trump-appointed agency leaders are telling their employees to ignore him. And specifically, what we're talking about here is an absolutely wild directive that Musk made on Saturday with him posting on X. Consistent with President Trump's instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. With him adding, failure to respond will be taken as a resignation. With that seeming to be in response to a post that Trump made on Truth Social earlier that day, where he wrote,

Elon is doing a great job, but I would like to see him get more aggressive. And adding, remember, we have a country to save, but ultimately to make greater than ever before, MAGA. And true to his word, federal workers started getting emails directing them to do just that. And according to copies of the email that were obtained by media outlets and screenshots

that have been circulating online, the message was sent from the HR arm of the Office of Personnel Management with the heading, "'What did you do last week?' And like Musk said, it directed employees to reply with approximately five bullets of what you accomplished last week and CC your manager. With the message also instructing workers

to not send any classified information, links, or attachments and giving them a deadline of Monday at 1159 PM Eastern Standard Time to respond. Though very notably here, a key thing really, the email didn't make any mention of Musk's threat that failure to reply would be taken as resignation. So unsurprisingly, this curt email and Musk's separate threat,

it sent the federal workforce spiraling into absolute chaos as agency employees and leaders alike struggled to determine the legal and logistical implications for the 2.3 million workers. I mean, first of all, it's unclear if this is actually mandatory because the official email said nothing about Musk's threat.

A threat that, by the way, also appears to explicitly contradict an assessment from the OPM earlier this month, stating that any responses to government-wide emails must be explicitly voluntary. With legal experts also arguing that it would be illegal for the government to take a lack of responses of resignation because under federal law,

government employees resignations must be voluntary. Also, despite Elon's repeated insistence on X that this will be an easy project that should only take a few minutes, that just simply isn't the case for many workers. For one, some federal employees aren't allowed to reveal information about their work to third parties without getting specific approvals first.

Then, there are plenty of people who just can't check their emails and aren't able to respond in the roughly 48 hour timeframe. But you have, for example, defense department employees who are on duty tours and remote locations. That's also now in addition to the many, many workers who have been put on administrative leave

and can't log into government devices or emails. And then beyond all that, the email also says not to include any confidential information. But for many people who work in roles that deal with intelligence, defense, national security, and other similar issues, most, if not all of their work is confidential or top secret.

And even just revealing the non-confidential elements, it could still be a problem with one active duty military officer, for example, telling the Washington Post. Even if people didn't send classified information, the aggregation of all this information in one place would become classified information, which is a national security violation. With them adding, the military cannot function without the DOD federal workforce. This is a national security issue to treat the workforce this way. And so now, as a result, we've seen many agencies and divisions issuing their own directives to employees, explicitly

telling them to not comply. And like I mentioned at the top of this, that includes Tulsi Gabbard, the director of the Office of National Intelligence. With her writing a message reviewed by the New York Times where she ordered all intelligence community officers not to respond to the email, citing the inherently sensitive and classified nature of our work. With the Times then also reporting that similar instructions were given to employees of the Departments of State, Energy, Health, and Human Services, and Homeland Security. And this is according to the New York Post, the directives not to respond to the email also extended to the departments of Education and Commerce. But then also in all the confusion and chaos,

numerous federal employees across different agencies received contradictory messages. With for example, on Saturday, the Washington Post reporting that the Justice Department told all managers that their employees should be instructed to submit responses by the deadline. But then the next day, Kash Patel, now the director of the FBI, which is part of the DOJ, wrote a letter to all agency employees telling them to pause any responses and explain it. The

FBI, through the office of the director, is in charge of all our review processes and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures. And this is health and human services employees were also allegedly given one instruction and then told later to pause and wait for guidance. Workers at agencies under DHS, including the Secret Service and the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency, they were instructed to reply before the department sent a note telling everyone to do the exact opposite. I mean, some agencies didn't even think that the email was real at first, with leaders at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration initially sending a message to some staff saying, it is possible that this new message sent outside of normal business hours was sent in error

"'and or is a phishing attempt.'" Right, instructing them to not respond until the message could be verified as authentic. And as if this could not get any more confusing, it's also been reported that the email made its way into the inboxes of people who weren't supposed to get it at all. This email was just meant for the executive branch,

but sources told the Washington Post that some judges and judiciary staff, they received it as well, despite the fact that they literally work in the judicial branch. And so unsurprisingly, Musk's post and the OPM email, they've generated a ton of backlash. Where you had unions that represent federal workers and Democrats slamming the move, echoing the widely held legal consensus that Musk's threat is illegal and urging more departments to tell their employees not to respond.

With one of the most notable responses coming from Senator Tina Smith, who got into a heated back and forth with Musk after tweeting, This is the ultimate dick boss move from Musk, except he isn't even the boss. He's just a dick. And adding, I'm on the side of the workers, not the billionaire asshole bosses. But this also is very significantly here. We even saw some Republicans chiming in. With, for example, Senator Lisa Murkowski calling the request absurd and defending government employees writing on X. If Elon Musk truly wants to understand what federal workers accomplished over the past week, he should get to know each department and agency and learn about the jobs he's trying to cut.

And beyond that, you also had at least one Republican lawmaker questioning the legality with Representative Michael Lawler telling reporters, "'I don't know how that's necessarily feasible. "'Obviously, a lot of federal employees "'are under union contract.'" Right, and to that point, just this morning, we saw unions representing federal employees

bringing a lawsuit against Musk's resignation threat, with him arguing that it violated procedural requirements under the Administrative Procedure Act. But still, throughout all of this, Musk has continued to double down, continually making posts reaffirming his support for the initial threat. And as far as how Donald Trump has responded to all this,

he initially indicated his support with a SpongeBob meme making fun of the outrage, which I know it's 2025, but what a fucking cursed sentence. But you also had Trump taking a firmer non-meme stance during a press conference with French president Emmanuel Macron this afternoon. I thought it was great because we have people that don't show up to work and nobody even knows

if they work for the government. So by asking the question, tell us what you did this week, what he's doing is saying, are you actually working? And then if you don't answer, like you're sort of semi-fired or you're fired, because a lot of people are not answering because they don't even exist. So I think it was actually, there was a lot of genius in sending it. We're trying to find out if people are working. And so we're sending a letter to people, please tell us what you did last week.

If people don't respond, it's very possible that there is no such person or they're not working. But there, you had a reporter following up by noting that some agencies instructed their employees not to respond despite Musk's threat, asking Trump whether he has concerns about the disconnect there. But then Trump, responding by falsely claiming that only agencies concerned with confidential matters

of security had taken those steps and added. And they don't mean that in any way combatively with Elon. They're just saying there are some people that you don't wanna really have them tell you what they're working on last week. But other than that, I think everyone thought it was a pretty ingenious idea.

And so yeah, that is ultimately where we are for now, but we're also gonna have to wait to see how this plays out with the lawsuit and also whether actions will actually be taken against people who don't respond. And of course, like with all the news we cover, in the meantime, I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments down below. But then next up in huge legal and entertainment news,

Blake Lively is now accusing the Hollywood reporter of sexism in the midst of the ongoing legal battle between her and it ends with his co-star and director, Justin Baldoni. And this stemming from a cover that the outlet recently published about the ongoing legal battle. And I wanna preface what we're gonna talk about by saying,

this is a very deep, deep rabbit hole of a story. So I'm gonna give you kind of the quickest of TLDRs on it, but understand it is a surface level, kind of normie breakdown. Because in December, Blake filed a complaint accusing Justin of conducting a public smear campaign against her after she reported alleged inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment on the set of the film.

And that complaint ended up being the precursor to a lawsuit that she filed just about two weeks later. And Justin then countersued both Blake and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for $400 million, accusing them of defamation and extortion and alleging that they tried to gain creative control over the film that he was directing. With Justin then also suing the New York Times

as the outlet broke the story about Blake's initial complaint. And there's just been an avalanche of updates on their claims since, tons of comments from both parties. And there are people in either camp, right? Team Blake or team Justin. With then everything leading to the Hollywood Reporter just running a cover story about it

with artwork depicting Blake coming at Justin from behind with a slingshot, aiming what appears to be a cell phone at him. With that, then getting the outlet a ton of backlash from people who felt that the image trivialized Blake's accusations of sexual harassment. With some writing things like, "'Weird ass cover to make about a case

"'that literally involves a man sexually harassing "'a woman in the workplace. "'The way this cover seems to imply "'Bl attacking Justin? Disgusting. As well as less than 10 years ago, the Hollywood trades were regularly exposing decades of sexual abuse in all areas of the industry, and now they print AI-generated covers mocking even very powerful, famous, and wealthy victims of sexual harassment. Though there, while it is not the main thing that matters here, it is worth noting that while several posts accused the Hollywood Reporter of using AI to make the cover,

the artist behind it denied using AI. But regarding the main aspect of this news, the biggest name to condemn the cover was Blake herself, because over the weekend, a spokesperson for her told E! News, the Hollywood Reporter should be ashamed of itself, saying the framing in this picture is outrageously insulting as it plays into every sexist trope about women who dare file a workplace complaint,

turning them into the aggressor and suggesting they deserve the retaliation that comes their way. And as far as what is actually in the article itself, it ends up spending most of the time questioning if this rift has less to do with gender equity and power dynamics and actually stems from a religious clash.

With the diving into Justin's belief in the Baha'i religion, noting that many higher ups at his Wayfarer production company are part of the same faith. With them also reporting that they bring their faith into industry meetings and claiming that they made their religion very present on set as well. With the story at the end then questioning if both Blake and Justin could be right in their individual fights and perspectives on the situation. Right in there,

Blake's rep said that it was offensive to suggest that Blake's complaints merely stemmed from cultural misunderstandings. But then also with this, I want to note that while people on Blake's side saw the cover story as an attack on her, you then also had some people on Justin's side seeing it the other way, viewing it as a religious hit piece or at least a general attempt to boost Blake's image. But we also saw some on Justin's side applauding the cover, seeing it as a Hollywood institution

turning on a Hollywood power cup. But I will say none of this is surprising because like with every single update that we've seen with this story, there are just tons of different takes for both sides, depending on where you go on the internet. Or with both teams generally viewing each headline as their side being maliciously and unfairly attacked,

or as proof that their side has been right the whole time. But they're really assuming like people are pretty firmly on one side or the other, right? Again, team Justin or team Blake. And The Cut even just did a report noting that you can see that a lot of tabloids are even appearing to take sides of their own in their coverage.

We're seeing some are faster report what Justin's team saying or what Justin's feeling and others about Blake's side of the story. And so with this likely being far from the last time that we hear about this case, I really would love to know what your thoughts are here. Whether it be about the cover story today and the reactions today,

or just the whole situation in general, I'd love to hear from you. And then we'll get to more news in just a moment. But first, you know, if you were born after 1970, there's a good chance your first razor was a multi-blade. And notably since then, two thirds of men expect irritation when shaving, which yeah, just means that we've accepted face burn.

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A well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door. A well-marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Then, next up today, we have news that begs the question, what do you do when the very people who are supposed to care for you instead imprison you, gaslight you, and exploit you for money? But with that, apparently one of the main answers is sue them into oblivion. Because that is exactly what's happening to the Psychiatric Institute of Washington, which notably is the only for-profit psych hospital in D.C. And while this whole situation involves a lot of huge allegations,

this lawsuit specifically focuses on one particular plaintiff, simply known as Jane Doe. With it stating that last April, Jane Doe got into an argument with her soon-to-be ex-husband and then went for a walk to calm down. But then with that, her husband reportedly told the police that she was suicidal and had borderline personality disorder. In this, even though according to the lawsuit,

neither claim was true. But still, the cops reportedly surrounded her, handcuffed her, and took her to the city's 24-hour behavioral health crisis center. A center where a physician reportedly spoke with her for less than five minutes, and then after telling her she needed to spend time with her emotions, involuntarily committed her for the night. Now with that, reportedly around 9 p.m., a nurse observed that Doe is calm and denied suicidal ideations. But then, that same night, a different doctor, who she reportedly had never met, transferred her to the psych hospital for a seven day involuntary commitment,

leaving her stunned and terrified. And so off she goes, reportedly restrained in an ambulance. And when she gets there, she meets a resident psychiatrist. With that doctor then reportedly describing her as calm, cooperative and engaged in conversation. With them notably adding that she was very future oriented and had a strong desire to live. And they actually also noted

that she didn't have any psychiatric history except for a diagnosis of adjustment disorder that she said stemmed from stress. And in fact, the doctor's assessment of her was glowing, with him observing a linear and logical thought process, no delusions elicited, denial of suicide, no hallucinations, alert and oriented to person, place, and situation, above average intelligence, good judgment, and good awareness. But that doctor? They reportedly lacked the authority to discharge her, and the hospital just kept Doe committed. With them, despite that previous assessment, determining that she had a severe disturbance of effect, behavior, thought process, or judgment. And so that day and the next, the suit alleges that she received no therapeutic treatment whatsoever,

not that she would have needed it if her account is true. Also, on the note of trying to get some help, Doe said that she actually asked to call an attorney, but was told that her unit didn't have a word in telephone. But then later, a doctor reportedly writing a progress note that claimed that she was disheveled and paranoid delusions had impaired short-term memory and showed poor judgment due to noncompliance with treatment, as well as poor insight based on unawareness of the extent of her illness.

But then, just as kind of the cherry on top, saying that there was currently suicidal, homicidal ideation with intent, realistic plan, and or available means. But then on her fourth day there, the lawsuit says that Doe used her own ingenuity and effort to obtain access to a hospital worker's phone and make an unsanctioned call to a public defender,

with the judge almost immediately ordering the hospital to end her commitment. Meanwhile, that same doctor who reported all those symptoms just a day earlier, now reported that the suicidal ideation had completely disappeared, according to the suit, with the lawsuit also alleging that that doctor falsified the time on the report to make it look like it was written before the judge's order.

But then, as a final goodbye, the hospital reportedly writing in a discharge summary that Doe is offered therapy, daily treatment meetings, exercise, and healthy food, as well as outdoor access. But notably, the lawsuit disputes all of that, saying that she got zero time outdoors, had broken sinks, was uncomfortably cold, and received a grand total of 30 minutes of therapy

over four days. But this also, as she says, she's not the only one in that hospital being abused. And in fact, her lawyers claim it wasn't the only hospital with these kinds of practices. Right, and that because they say that it was acquired by Universal Health Services, right? The largest operator of private for-profit hospitals

in the country in 2014. With more than 400 facilities in the United States and UK, the company allegedly lures in patients and involuntarily commits them regardless of whether it is medically necessary just to squeeze insurance payments out of them. With the lawsuit also citing a 2023 earnings call here in which United's chief financial officer reportedly said that, quote, increasing occupancy is the most significant opportunity we see in our behavioral business. As well as referencing another call in which he reportedly acknowledged a corporate

strategy of simply admitting patients whose insurance will pay us more. And for some additional context here, these allegations aren't even new. I mean, in 2020, the company and one of its facilities in Georgia agreed to pay $122 million to settle very similar claims, including that they billed for medically unnecessary inpatient behavioral health services, billed for services that were not delivered, and paid kickbacks to federal health care beneficiaries. And so now with all this, you have D.C.'s deputy mayor for health and human services telling the Washington Post that in less than five months, the city has reviewed 600 cases or

nearly every involuntary admission to the hospital. And this newest lawsuit, it is trying to open thousands of former patients who are involuntarily committed as part of a class action against United. And so if that happens, we may or may not see a lot more stories like Jane Doe's coming out in the future. But then next up in big international news, we need to talk about Germany and their election. Because it's very big news, but depending on where you go, it is being explained in a wildly different manner as far as what this means.

And where I'll start here is that Germans woke up this morning to a very, very different political landscape after parties on the right won big in yesterday's elections. With us seeing Friedrich Merz's conservative CDU winning nearly 29% of the legislative seats while the ruling SPD, which had scored almost 26% of the seats in 2021, is looking like they might get just barely 16%.

And so that means Merz is expected to be the next chancellor of Germany, marking a return to power for the CDU, which had long ruled under Angela Merkel. But also possibly the biggest winner from the election were the far right AFD. Right in the 2021 elections, they got just under 13% and they even lost throughout the eastern part of the country, where they're the most popular to the left-wing SPD. But this time, they scored an outstanding

20.8%, making them the second biggest party in the legislature, and it is the single biggest win for a far-right German party since the Nazis. So their rise, it doesn't come as a complete shock, as they've had success in local state elections recently. Or like last September when they became the first far right party to win control of a German state since the war. And so with all that, if you're an outsider looking in, you might go, oh, okay, two parties on the right winning big, it seems like an easy coalition.

Not really or exactly right. The CDU is far more centrist than the AFD and CDU leaders promised that they would not form a coalition with the AFD. With Merz instead saying, we have received a clear governing mandate and we accept it. Looking at the Bundestag seat distribution, we are in a position to form a coalition with the AFD. With Merckx instead saying, "'We have received a clear governing mandate "'and we accept it.'" Looking at the Bundestag seat distribution,

we are in a position to form a black-red coalition and that is precisely what we intend to do. Right in the black-red reference there, those are the colors the CDU and SPD use, which is a centrist coalition that ruled for a long time under Merkel. For the people looking at this going, "'Well, isn't the right the right?'

It doesn't really touch on why the CDU is so anti-AFD. But to see that, you need to understand just how fundamentally they differ on key issues like immigration. With the AFD, they're well known for being extremely anti-immigrant and in particular, anti-Muslim. The CDU, they actually have a much more optimistic view

of immigration and diversity within Germany. Though there, nothing's really locked in stone, right? Even the CDU has started to get more hardline on immigration to the point that it broke a promise to never work with the AFD to work on an anti-asylum bill. Also another massive difference are their views on the economy. Right, if it was the AFD's choice,

there'd be no government regulation and little taxes. Whereas the CDU has a more traditional right-wing view of the economy that sees some regulation. And then it's also important to note that the CDU is more pro-EU where the AFD wants to leave. And then on social issues, it's kind of much the same. The CDU doesn't want to change pro-LGBTQ legislation while the AFD wants to leave. And then on social issues, it's kind of much the same. The CDU doesn't want to change pro LGBTQ legislation while the AFD wants traditional gender roles

and restrictions on LGBTQ plus rights. And in hearing all this, if it sounds like the AFD sounds a lot like the turn the Republican party has made under President Donald Trump, it's because they're big fans. With one AFD leader even saying that Trump and Vance and Musk and others in the Trump team stand for a fight against wokeism and for a fight for the freedom of speech.

And these are things we can also agree on. And this is folks like Elon Musk were not shy about showing their support for the AFD. But if you've opened up Twitter over the past weeks and months, I mean, you've probably seen, he's made a ton of posts on X pushing for Germans to vote for the AFD. Also with his election, I think another interesting thing

to touch on are the demographics of the vote. With the short version being the CDU didn't really do that well with young people. And instead we saw them largely going for either the AFD or the left party, with the left party actually performing better in that demo, even though they underperformed everywhere else. Also the vote highlighted how differences

stemming from the Cold War are still around. We saw the AFD winning every state in Eastern Germany minus Berlin, which itself was split between East and West. And it's also mimicking differences in things like religion. You know, one of the biggest questions from here is, well, what happens next? You know, in the long term, there are beliefs now that this could show

that the AFD is going to score huge in the 2029 elections, which led to Mertz saying, "'This election might be our last chance "'to restore public trust.'" But as far as the here and now, right, in the short term, Mertz is likely gonna be chancellor, and he hopes that a power sharing agreement with the SPD will be made by Easter.

But also, possibly one of the biggest shakeups from this election will be what happens internationally. Because if you hopped online, Trump seemed to be very pleased by the results. Saying, looks like the conservative party in Germany has won the very big and highly anticipated election. Saying, much like the USA, the people of Germany got tired of the no common sense agenda. But the thing I'll say there is that the conservative party there and specifically Merz, they don't seem to like Trump very much. I mean, following his victory, he came out and bashed the Trump administration for being so blatant about its support for the AFD. And on top of that, Trump has shaken Mertz's former belief in NATO with the likely chancellor pushing for independent European defense

capabilities. And that feeling that there needs to be a stronger EU was probably reinforced this weekend after Trump and Musk spent it bashing Ukraine with claims that it started the war and that Zelensky was a dictator. Something that Germany disagrees with so much so that they're looking to increase their support for Ukraine, which requires more weapons manufacturing capabilities. And so all of this has led some to claim that between Germany's push for a strong EU and Trump's anti-NATO rhetoric,

we might be seeing the end of the post-war world. But then finally today, let's talk about your comments on the last show in some comment commentary. Right in there, you're kind of focused on two different things, Luigi Mangione and Donald Trump, and kind of in connection to that, Bernie Sanders.

With some of y'all just saying things like, "'A huge thank you for providing accurate, "'unbiased Luigi Mangione coverage,' "'saying thank you for discussing the charges "'as things he's accused of instead of talking about him "'as if he's already been found guilty, "'and thank you for providing context and updates "'without any of the reactionary BS

"'and condescending scolding "'that so many media outlets do. "'It's unfortunately extremely rare to see coverage of this case that respects his right to the presumption of innocence in a fair trial. Right, and with that, let me say something. It's kind of two things, but it's all kind of the one thing. I cannot control how people perceive the words

that I put out there or the things that I put out there. Right, and that stands for everyone. Regardless of anyone's intent, you can't fully control how people receive your words. And so with that, I'll say too, the words that I use on this show are very much meant to, yes, explain the reality of the situation,

but also talking about it in the terms of what is legally correct. So in certain circumstances, I may have a personal opinion that someone is just outright lying about something, but that's why I might opt to say they said something that was untrue. Well, no one is gonna bat a thousand.

I try to not be super loose with my language. And so then to bring it back to Luigi, Luigi Mangione is technically accused of a crime. Right at this specific moment, that's the case and that's how I'm gonna talk about it. Though separate from that, you know, a big part of the conversation around Luigi was, you know, how are they gonna find someone

that isn't aware of this situation? Though with jury selection, I think it's gonna be more focused on do you think you can be unbiased? And there we have people saying things like, what's gonna be hard for the prosecution for Luigi might be finding a juror that hasn't been screwed by a health insurance company.

So there we saw some replying saying, it's worse than that. Nobody in my family has been screwed by an insurance company, but I'd still side with them. But then, like I said, there was a lot of conversation around Donald Trump, right? Cause he had just done the King Instagram post and he called Zelensky a dictator.

But the top comment on that video reading, "'Having your president even jokingly say long live the King should not be taken kindly in the US.'" Of course that wasn't without some pushback, with some replying, "'The King of Trolls making Dems crazy is hilarious.'" Or which touches on the classic back and forth we've seen all over social media.

One side saying, "'When he says it, believe him. He starts by joking and then he does.'" Whereas many of his supporters argue, no, he's just trolling to make people crazy. Though there, as we saw at CPAC, there is a growing number of people that literally want him to run for a third term.

Then moving on to the Russia-Ukraine of it all, you had some saying, Bernie Sanders just loudly called out everything around Russia and Ukraine on the Senate floor in a way I very much hope gets heard by many on both sides of the aisle. Which I will say, I mean, I think Democrats would be smart to look to Bernie Sanders and go like, oh, maybe that is a potentially winning strategy.

He's out there speaking, talking to real people that feel fucked by this administration, but really trying to grab onto some of the energy there. Meanwhile, a lot of congressional Dems are just polling horrifically. A lot of their own supporters thinking they're acting in kind of this weak, limp-dick manner. Now there, we've seen the likes of Hakeem Jeffries saying, you know, I can't swing at every pitch that's coming our way. There's too many things happening. We have to, you know, really just focus on the big stuff. But I don't know. I mean, so far it seems like a losing strategy. But who knows? Maybe we're just in the middle of the Democrats pulling off some 5D chess, a rope-a-dope bullshit. But no, it just feels like they're

getting punched in the back of the head. But then the rest on this topic is really focused on Zelensky. With y'all saying things like calling Zelensky a dictator and saying Ukraine started the war while also in the same breath saying we paid the most to them and excluded them from peace talks is wild. As well as Zelensky is more of a leader of the free world than Trump will ever be. Saying UK stands by Ukraine, Slava Ukraine.

As well as I am Russian and I audibly gasped when I heard the absolute lunacy Trump was spewing. But then finally to bring everything back around and just tie this section off with a bow, it's Silver saying great job, Trump. You just made the perfect case for why Luigi Mangione can be eligible to run for president in 2028. With that, seeming to reference Trump saying, he who protects his country commits no crimes. But that, my friends, is the end of your Monday evening, Tuesday morning dive into the news. And I'll just ask you to remember two things. One, remember to

snag yourself some awesome tees and hoodies over at beautifulbastard.com with our February feelings drop. And two, remember, I've got a brand new show for you every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. Thank you for watching. I love your faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.