The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 4.25 ELON MUSK BOUGHT TWITTER, NOW WHAT? I got COVID, Joe Rogan, France, Supreme Court, & More

Starting point is 00:00:00 Y'all, it happened. We're pregnant with COVID. We're pregnant with COVID. I'm pregnant with COVID. Ah, my two and a half year game of hide and seek with COVID officially come to an end. Tested positive last night. The good news is so far,

Starting point is 00:00:12 it feels like I just have allergies, but I'm also in kind of day one, day two. So we'll see. As long as I have a voice though, you're not getting rid of me this week. So buckle up, hit that like button if you want me to punch you in the throat and let's just jump into it.

Starting point is 00:00:22 At first up today, let's talk about the massive update in the will they won't they saga of Elon Musk and Twitter, because it's now official, it's happening. Because according to sources who spoke to the New York Times after a meeting yesterday, Twitter's board continued negotiations with Musk into the early hours of Monday, less than two weeks

Starting point is 00:00:36 after his unsolicited offer to buy the company. With reports later coming out that mid-day today that Twitter has now agreed to be bought out by Musk for roughly $44 billion, and what experts have said is the biggest deal to take a company private in at least two decades. And this is huge news, because initially, Twitter seemed to reject Musk's bid to buy the platform at $54.20 a share, with the news breaking after that that Twitter put in place what's known as a poison pill that would make it more expensive and difficult for Musk to buy more stock if he reached a certain threshold. But then, Elon said he had gotten $46.5 billion in financing,

Starting point is 00:01:03 and the stock market responded accordingly. But there is a big question of what will or would happen if Musk did take over Twitter. Musk, of course, has talked extensively about free speech on the platform and his belief that there is too much content moderation. And in a recent TED Talk, Musk argued that while the company would have to obey the laws of the nations it operated in, he would want to err on the side of less regulation, saying, if in doubt, let the speech exist. If it's a gray area, I would say let the tweet exist. Also detailing plans to make Twitter's algorithm open source so users can see how posts come up on their feed, critique the process, and suggest changes. Right, and Musk himself largely hit on all those points in a

Starting point is 00:01:31 press release announcing the move. Also, very notably here, while Twitter's CEO is quoted in the release, saying a vague statement about how he's proud of the company, a lot of people are wondering if he's going to keep his position once the deal is finalized. Though personally, I would be shocked if he was kept in that position. Right, in his filing proposing the takeover, Musk took aim at the company's management. So it seems unlikely he would keep it in place, which is another reason this takeover has reportedly raised concerns among employees about their future at the company. While there are a ton of other questions, one of the biggest ones is whether Musk would allow people who have been banned in the past from Twitter to be reinstated. This, of course, including Donald Trump. Which,

Starting point is 00:01:59 I mean, when you make a prediction, there's a good chance that you could be wrong, but I think there's very little doubt that he would reinstate Donaldald trump though to that point just ahead of twitter's official announcement we saw trump tell pox news that while he hoped musk bought the company he would not go back and instead stay on the platform he created but to that i would say this is trump we're talking about i would take all the money i have to my name and put it on a bet that when slash if musk offers to reinstate him he will a thousand percent take him up on that offer because twitter is twitter and truth Social is what? But for now, we're gonna have to wait and see.

Starting point is 00:02:28 And with this, I do want to pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts about Elon Musk buying Twitter? Are you excited? Are you terrified? Why? Why not? I'd love to hear from you. And then, in the least shocking entertainment news that's in headlines right now, it turns out controversies are often a good thing.

Starting point is 00:02:39 Asterisk, unless it involves like a crime. And even then, sometimes it works out. And the reason we're seeing headlines around this right now is because of joe rogan of course even before his controversies had the biggest or one of the biggest podcasts in the world some controversies connected to his more recent coveted remarks including that whole ivermectin cnn feud as well as people then digging up him saying the n-word in the past and if you wondered how those controversies impacted him during a recent podcast with british political commentator douglas murray we saw this exchange you have been put through the ring yeah I definitely got put through

Starting point is 00:03:07 the ringer since we last met yeah I mean yeah you they did a number on you they did Wow it's interesting Wow but my subscriptions went up massively that's what's crazy they're in the height of it all I gained 2 million subscribers I'm so pleased for you I just I'm pleased for everyone, actually. When I watched what they were doing to you, I just thought, as long as you survive this, something's going to be okay in this world. It's fortunate that the people that went for it were CNN, and they're just so untrustworthy. And people know how biased they are, and they know how socially weird their fucking anchors are. Now, Spotify doesn't actually release its subscriber numbers for Rogan's podcast,

Starting point is 00:03:55 but according to The Hollywood Reporter, sources clarify the show has consistently been growing since the podcaster joined, also saying that the show hasn't spiked due to any particular event or controversy. Yeah, I mean, to me, this is the least surprising news we could have seen about this topic. Controversy without there being, like, a crime or charges is almost 100% a good thing. It's like a million other comics have said before. You're gonna have big reactions from a lot of angry people, many of who don't watch the actual show. Then you're gonna have a lot of existing fans emboldened, wanting to back Rogan even more

Starting point is 00:04:16 because of the public controversies. And then millions upon millions of people who were not listening to the podcast are aware of it because of all of the free, like there's millions and millions of dollars of free press that's coming from these controversies. Like I've known people who work for other creators

Starting point is 00:04:28 that literally put their quote unquote offensive content in front of people that will find it offensive with the hopes that they'll do some sort of press release or have a big negative reaction so that people go, wait, what's happening? But from that, I wanna take a second to thank the fantastic sponsor of today's show, Seed. You know, everything I thought I knew

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Starting point is 00:05:30 DS01 Symbiotic Plus free shipping. And then last week, we talked about the case of Melissa Lucio, where she was scheduled to be put to death on Wednesday for the death of her two-year-old daughter. But now, following her lawyer's pointing to new evidence, and there being this absolutely massive campaign to save Lucio's life, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals today halted the execution. What this means, according to reports, the case is being sent down to a lower court to decide the merits of Lucio's innocence claims. Her lawyer is also asking the state's pardons and parole board to recommend Governor Greg Abbott grant Lucio clemency. That's where we are now. We're gonna have to wait to see what happens next. And then, in definitely not gonna be divisive news, let's talk about religion and school. That's

Starting point is 00:06:03 because there's this major case surrounding religious expression going in front of the Supreme Court today. The case in question concerns Joseph Kennedy, a former football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington State. He was hired in 2008, and for years, he would kneel at the 50-yard line and pray after the end of the public school's football games. You'd see Kennedy joined by his players, and over the years, some players and coaches from the opposing teams. And that reportedly eventually alerted the school district, which asked him to stop over concerns that it appeared to be endorsing specific religious viewpoints. But Kennedy refused, instead hiring a lawyer and doing media rounds where he proclaimed his plans to keep praying while also inviting journalists and lawmakers to come watch.

Starting point is 00:06:32 With all that culminating in a homecoming game where a much larger than usual crowd mobbed the field despite added security presence, reportedly knocking over members of the band and cheerleading squad to join Kennedy in prayer. After that, Kennedy was put on paid administrative leave and didn't apply for a new contract the next year. Instead, suing the district, arguing that it violated his First Amendment rights. But the school district's lawyers argued that the football team and others would feel pressured to join in because they looked up to Kennedy, and if public school kids felt coerced into religious activities, the school would be open to lawsuits, arguing this to especially be true because his displays were so public and performative, adding that he insisted

Starting point is 00:07:00 that the prayers take place with students on the 50-yard line at the center of attention and traditional place for post-game speeches. The lawyers also arguing that the prayers take place with students on the 50-yard line at the center of attention and traditional place for post-game speeches. The lawyers also arguing that the school had tried to work out a solution to accommodate Kennedy's rights, offering him the ability to pray privately before or after the game, this also including on the field after students left. But Kennedy refused, with the district's attorneys arguing that he instead opted to draw even more attention to his already public display. And what we saw is lower courts agree that because Kennedy had chosen to say his prayers at the center of such a public place, he was acting as a public employee, and as a result, his actions were not protected by the First Amendment.

Starting point is 00:07:28 With those courts citing past Supreme Court rulings, it's stated public employees acting in their official capacities are speaking more for the government than themselves. And so with this, Kennedy's lawyers urged the Supreme Court to take up the matter, arguing that Kennedy was not working as a mouthpiece for the school district, and adding, Schools cannot define the job duties of teachers and coaches to be so all encompassing as to deny them all rights to individual expression on school grounds. Now very notably here, the high court declined to hear this case back in 2019, although four justices did express sympathy for Kennedy and were critical of the lower court's

Starting point is 00:07:55 decisions, but now the case has reached the Supreme Court for the second time and this court's new makeup has agreed to hear it. And this is gonna be a very big case, especially as the Supreme Court has recently been very protective of religious rights, offering the justices the ability to essentially alter decades of jurisprudence on the promotion of prayer in public schools. And to that point, just this afternoon, we saw reports that the court's conservative majority seemed to indicate they would rule in favor of Kennedy. For now, we're going to have to wait to see what that ruling reportedly expected to come down before they leave for summer recess.

Starting point is 00:08:19 And so with this story, I do want to pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? Do you see Kennedy being in the rights here, or do you think the lower courts had it right the first time around? And then, France has chosen its president for the next five years with huge implications for the rest of the world. And the interesting thing is,

Starting point is 00:08:31 nobody seems to know how to feel about it. Right, so the election was between centrist incumbent Emmanuel Macron and the far right outsider Marine Le Pen, whose rivalry goes back years. With most recently Le Pen running for president in 2017 and losing to Macron, though she secured 34% of the vote, and at the time, many feared the results signaled the rise of right-wing populism in France.

Starting point is 00:08:47 Or because her party, the National Front, has a history of racism, anti-semitism, and Nazi nostalgia with Le Pen herself using nationalistic, anti-immigrant, and anti-Muslim rhetoric. Like when she proposed a ban on hijabs for Muslim women following similar attempts in prior years to abolish face covering, some of which have been successful. And that hits at a tension at the heart of French society, which on the one hand has held secularism to be an essential part of its identity, and on the other hand is home to the largest Muslim population in Western Europe, making many voters, especially white Christian ones, feel like their national identity is under attack. And others arguing back that the whole point of secularism is to tolerate any and all religions and not suppress them. In the same vein, Le Pen proposed a plan that would put French nationals ahead of immigrants for jobs, benefits, and social services. And her views on foreign

Starting point is 00:09:24 policy have caused controversy with her wanting to weaken NATO and other allies, preferring a more France-first approach, kind of like the America-first sentiment here. Not to mention her friendly relationship with the far-right authoritarian leader in Hungary, Viktor Orban, a notorious anti-Semite, as well as other far-right European parties. And that warmth may even extend to Putin, whom Le Pen infamously met in person last election year. And although she has condemned the Russian invasion, she has suggested she might not send weapons to Ukraine and opposes sanctions against Russia. Which looks even worse, considering that her party is paying back around $13 million to a Moscow-based military contractor for a loan taken out years ago. Which is why,

Starting point is 00:09:55 in the lead-up to the election and televised debate last week, Yud McCron slamming her for all of this, even saying her headscarf ban would cause civil war. But you've got Le Pen trying to distance herself from the more extreme right, focusing more on basic economic issues like inflation caused by the Ukraine war. Plus even more extreme right-wing presidential candidate, Eric Zamora, who's been convicted three times for inciting racial or religious hatred, has made Le Pen look comparatively moderate.

Starting point is 00:10:16 And going into the election, even if voters were turned off by her politics, many were also not super fond of Macron either. With the yellow vest protests in 2018 making his approval rating plummet, though he's regained some popularity since then. Though many have dubbed him the president of the rich, arguing that he's arrogant and out of touch with regular people, with him easing rules to hire and fire workers and restricted unemployment benefits. But all that took us to the first

Starting point is 00:10:36 round of voting beginning on April 10. And soon after, in the runoff vote, we saw Emmanuel Macron win, taking 58.5% of the vote, leaving Le Pen with 41.5%. Notably, making him the first president to win a second term in 20 years, also prompting celebration by supporters who believe that France just narrowly avoided political catastrophe. With the Associated Press writing, "'In short, France escaped a political, social,

Starting point is 00:10:54 "'and economic electroshock by not voting in Le Pen.'" But there are also very key things to consider here. This election had the lowest voter turnout in 20 years, which speaks to why many are calling this a half victory, half loss. Because even though Le Pen lost the election, you can call this a landslide. She has arguably launched the country's far right more and more into the mainstream. It took five years, but Le Pen going up 7.5% in the final vote, that's huge. Now, as far as what happens next, a lot of this

Starting point is 00:11:16 is probably going to be business as usual, with Macron maintaining power. But the parliamentary elections are scheduled for June 12th and 19th, which is where we'll see whether Macron's party wins a majority of the legislature. But that is where that story and today's show ends. As always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 4.25 ELON MUSK BOUGHT TWITTER, NOW WHAT? I got COVID, Joe Rogan, France, Supreme Court, & More

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