The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 5.12 Amouranth Situation is Crazy, Trump's "Corruption Tour" Even Has Allies Weirded Out, & Today's News

Episode Date: May 12, 2025

Here we go again… PDS Debt is offering a free debt analysis. It only takes thirty seconds. Get yours at https://PDSDebt.com/defranco    https://BeautifulBastard.com Get 50% OFF a Mystery shirt while supplies last! Subscribe for New shows every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday @ 6pm ET/3pm PT & watch more here:  https://youtu.be/ZxbgWRLBGqM?si=K8a1gN7oT_Z8CeE0&list=PLHcsGizlfLMWpSg7i0b9wnUyEZWI-25N3&index=1  – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Police Respond After Amouranth and Husband Argue on Livestream 05:15 - Trump Signs Executive Order to Lower Drug Prices 08:47 - U.S. and China Reach Deal to Temporarily Pause Tariffs for 90 Days 12:25 - Sponsored by PDS Debt 13:31 - Republicans Propose Medicaid Cuts 17:41 - Zelensky Challenges Putin to In-Person Meeting 19:26 - India and Pakistan Both Claim Victory After Ceasefire is Declared 21:41 - Kurdish Militants PKK to Disarm After Decades of Attacks Against Turkey 24:10 - Trump's "Corruption Tour" Even Has Allies Weirded Out ——————————   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 #Amouranth #DonaldTrump ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show, your daily dive into the news. My name is Philip DeFranco, and we have a lot to talk about today, starting with this. Let's talk about one of the most requested stories over on the text line today, and that is this disturbing Amaranth situation.

If you don't know her, she's one of the bigger and more controversial streamers out there on the internet. She made a name for herself on Twitch, doing hot tub streams, cosplay, adult content on platforms like OnlyFans. She's built a massive following, a multi-million dollar brand, all while making headlines for pushing the boundaries of online content. Now she's back in the news today because police showed up to her home after she and her husband were in an hours-long screaming match over on Kik. With all this playing out over a long, long time,

most of it being streamed, and I'm'm only gonna touch on the most viral moments. You know, during this, they talked about so much and they often discuss the potential of a divorce and the logistics around that. With at one point, her husband accusing her of cheating. Can we talk about you kissing black men while we're married? That is not even true. I was- Were you-

Oh my God. Oh, we don't wanna talk about that. We can talk about that, sure. Okay, let's talk about that. You had me go on Tinder dates that I didn't want to go on. And then you started calling me while we were at the karaoke bar a lot. And then you asked me if you could have an open relationship.

That is, no. So, you know, she denies it. He continues to say she hooked up with someone and that he caught them. And then at other points, they argued about the fact that the fight was happening on the stream. With then Amaranth saying that he knew that she was on stream when this all started.

So it should be on him to get out, not on her to stop streaming. I'm telling you, I don't want to be streamed. I am telling you, I don't want to be streamed. And you are streaming. So that is literally me. And you're sitting here saying it's consensual because you're here.

I can stream my own house. You don't have to be here. You don't have to sing. I literally am a member of this household as well. Yeah, well, you don't have to be in this room. I'm not okay with being observed. Okay, great. I'm okay with you pointing the camera. Well then leave. I'm not going to follow you. Then a quick cut or pause in the stream with it, then picking up from a new angle where we see this. Talk about problems. Hey, what the is

wrong with you, bro? Leave, you can move. You can go away. I wasn't in camera view. You moved the camera view. The f***, bro? What is wrong with you? You've got some problems, man. The two then continue arguing, and then all of a sudden we hear a knock at the door. I'll see it in time. Who is it?

Right. I don't know. It's not alarming to you that it's okay? No, because we have police as our security guards and Chris is coming along this time, so I don't know. Guys, this is the police! Come on! It's then pretty hard to hear what the officers are saying as they stay in the background, but they eventually

do call over Amaranth to talk as well, seemingly asking, you know, are you okay? What's happening? But again, most of it's pretty hard to hear since they're removed from the camera setup. But that's also not where the talk of police ended, because at another point, she accused her husband of doxing her. What's up? What are you doing?

Calling the police. Why? Because you're doxing at this point. What? You have reached the Houston University 7-9-1-1. All call takers are busy at this time. Your call will be answered

by the next available call taker. All right, here we go. Houston, 911, you need medical, police, or fire? Oh, police. The rest of the 911 call then gets muted after the operator asked her for her address and the stream stayed mute for a few minutes. But then also another clip that's been making the rounds

is one where you have the husband complaining about their financial situation, with them noting that her content creation is making less than it used to in prior years. Though, I will say once you hear what the monthly take home is, you may lose sympathy. We have a kit contract and we still do OnlyFans. She does, right?

The amount of money we make with both, with the exception of the last two months, has always been less than what OnlyFans alone used to make in 2022 and 2023. 2022 and 2023 and 2021. Back then, OnlyFans often hit a monthly of $2 million. Currently, last month we did over two, but this month and every other month under the Kik contract, Kik Plus on the fans

did about 1.2, 1.3, sometimes 1.5. Right, and so the reactions to all of this, they're all over the place, especially depending on which platform you're seeing the clip, and also what specific clip people are reacting to. You know, some noting that a few years ago, Amaranth had accused her husband of emotional abuse,

which makes them more concerned about this live streamed argument. People saying things like, "'Kit genuinely not intervening "'with the whole Amaranth situation "'should be the final nail in the coffin "'for them to be honest. "'If it's rage bait or not,

"'how are you going to continue to allow a channel "'that has an active DV case unfolding "'while people watch, ban the account, shut it down?' So this also has you at some thinking, all of this is staged for clicks. There being this general feeling that when it comes to adult content creators and OF pages in general, like any attention is good attention,

even if it seems bad. Though then all of that, as you had others thinking that if this fight was real, it points to greater issues in our culture. Saying things like, it's incredibly weird when you and your significant other are airing your personal business for hours at a time because you know it's great content

and ultimately don't care about yourselves or your wellbeing. And again, you know, this isn't everything. There were over 10 hours of this being live streamed. But in the meantime, as we wait to see if anything comes from this, I kind of pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here?

But then next up, we should talk about the big news that Donald Trump wants to make drugs way, way cheaper for Americans and way more expensive for everyone else. With the president today announcing an executive order that's meant to bring pharmaceutical prices down in the States. But starting today, the United States will no longer subsidize the healthcare of foreign countries and will no longer tolerate profiteering and price gouging from Big Pharma. But again, it was really the countries that forced Big Pharma to do things that,

frankly, I'm not sure they really felt comfortable doing, but they've gotten away with it. But to the order, it does a few different things, starting with a directive to HHS to set targets for drug price reductions for publicly insured health programs in private markets in the United States within 30 days, which should kick off a round of negotiations between the federal government

and drug makers. Next, the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission are directed to stop anti-competitive practices. And finally, HHS will facilitate direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical sales at most favored nation prices. With Trump also notably continuing Biden's policy of negotiating lower drug prices for Medicare, which is something that Trump criticized in the briefing, though he didn't say what he would do differently. But anyways, right, the numbers that he promised, they are huge, though you have some saying take it with a grain of salt because it's Donald Trump.

60, 70, 80, 90%, but actually more than that if you think about it in the way mathematically. Now with all this, you might be surprised to hear that pharmaceutical stock prices actually rose after this announcement. With the belief that the apparent reason for that is that the industry was expecting something much harsher from the administration, such as congressional legislation

or regulations changing how the government pays for certain drugs. And that is, you also had Trump claiming that this will actually increase revenue for the industry because it'll raise prices abroad. So for example, the order directs the U.S. trade representative and the Commerce Department to take action against what it called unreasonable and discriminatory policies in other countries that keep their own prices lower. With officials saying they'll focus on lowering prices for drugs with the highest cost disparities between the U.S. and other developed nations whose government-run healthcare systems Trump doesn't like. This means American patients were effectively subsidizing socialist healthcare systems in Germany, in all parts of the

European Union. They were the toughest of all. They were nasty. Right now, it's unclear how much leverage the U.S. actually has over other countries, since they're already locked into contracts with American drug makers, and they can decline to cover the drugs at all if prices go up. You know, in response to this, while there's been some criticism that the move doesn't go far enough, or it's not the right kind of action, or that U.S. patients get quicker access to drugs because of the higher prices, the general reaction seems to be mostly positive. Which, you know,, isn't surprising because lowering drug prices is one of the issues that's popular among both Democrats and Republicans, or at least Republican voters.

And so one of the examples you had out there was Mark Cuban, a Democrat just firing off praise on social media for the move saying, "'Gotta be honest, the Trump EO on healthcare "'and in particular drug pricing "'could save hundreds of billions.'" But then then, listen, a ton of different ways that the Trump administration could get drug prices down,

notably by regulating the industry and targeting pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs. And we've talked about them before. They're basically middlemen who negotiate between insurance companies and pharmacies, and critics argue they profit off artificially inflating prices. And so you have Cuban claiming that the level of opacity

that the big PBMs create is why the price of drug brands are outrageous. But then then, also taking the opportunity to promote Cost Plus Drug, which is the company that he founded a few years ago to offer lower price generics by cutting out the PBMs. You know, with all that said, of course, this is breaking news.

We've got to see what comes from the executive order, whether it's actually effective and whether it's followed by any durable legislation, especially because the other big bit of healthcare news right now is that the House Republicans' budget plan would cut hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid, throwing millions of Americans off their insurance,

and it contains nothing about lowering drug prices. Then, next up today in huge economic news, the US and China have now reached a deal to temporarily slash tariffs for 90 days. Over the world, two largest economies working to deescalate a trade war that has potential to cause a global recession. And in an announcement today,

following weekend negotiations in Geneva, US officials said that American tariffs on Chinese goods would be reduced from 145% to 30%. With then Beijing saying it would cut its tariffs on US products from 125% to 10%. The one, it's not immediate, right? These reductions are set to take effect this Wednesday. And two, some key trade restrictions will remain in place.

With those including the 20% tariff that Trump issued back in February over what he claims was China's failure to stop the trafficking of chemicals used to make fentanyl to the U.S. As well as the 10% baseline tariff that he imposed on nearly every U.S. trading partner. And so as a result, China will also keep its tariffs on U.S. agricultural products, which it imposed in retaliation for Trump's fentanyl-related duties. We also saw Beijing agreeing to suspend or cancel some non-tariff retaliatory measures, which included things like certain export restrictions and the practice of blacklisting dozens of U.S. companies. In a joint statement released by the White House and China's Ministry of Commerce,

the two governments said that they had agreed on the 90-day pause, quote, in the spirit of mutual opening, continued communication, cooperation, and mutual respect, and in order to recognize, quote, the importance of their bilateral economic and trade relationship to both countries and the global economy. With a statement saying that this pause will remain in place as the two sides continue trade talks to resolve their differences.

You know, that optimism, it was being displayed by top officials on both sides. For example, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant saying that the mutual tariffs would have amounted to a near total blockade of goods from both countries, which neither side wants, and arguing, we do want trade,

we want more balanced trade, and I think both sides are committed to achieving that. With him adding that the administration will push for China to open up more to US goods, which would help narrow the US trade deficit with China. And this is he also told reporters that the two countries had substantive discussions regarding American demands that China cracked down

on fentanyl-related chemicals entering the US. With him claiming that the Chinese government understood the magnitude of the fentanyl crisis in the US and asserting that there is a positive path forward. And all of this as you had China's Ministry of Commerce saying that the talks this weekend were an important first step to resolving differences and urging the U.S. to, quote,

completely rectify the mistake of unilateral tariffs and work together to inject more certainty and stability into the global economy. You know, one of the big key takeaways here is that this is a massive deal. As you have outlets like the Washington Post explaining, the agreement marks the first tangible move to deescalate tensions that have been rising

since Trump took office in January. But there's also, as you have experts saying, that despite the substantial deescalation, this is by no means a permanent solution. This is good news, but it is just a starting place. There's still major underlying issues and this temporary agreement, it does little to actually change

the deteriorating relationships between the two economic superpowers. And this is, you have folks like Harvard economist, Danny Rodrik, noting that while the countries have taken a step back from a needless trade war, the US tariffs in China are still high and will mainly hurt US consumer. With Rodrik adding that Trump has obtained

absolutely nothing from China for all the chaos he generated, zilch. You know, we've seen many echoing that, saying that Donald Trump essentially was saying, "'Hey, we're gonna drive this car off the cliff,' and then he turned the wheel at the last second and now wants to be awarded for it. Then on the other side of this,

you have others including right-leaning media outlets portraying the talks as a massive win for the US and Trump's tariff policies, highlighting the positive response from the stock market, which notably did see massive rallies following the announcement, with the S&P 500 opening almost 3% higher, the Dow Jones jumping 2.5%,

and NASDAQ soaring up nearly 4% as trading opening this morning. And it wasn't just the US market, international markets, especially in Asia, also rose significantly in anticipation of the deal. But as far as whether there will be long-term lasting impacts, we're just gonna have to wait to see

and see if a more permanent solution can be reached in the next 90 days or so. Or if this is just another stop on the on-again, off-again chaos that continues to rattle global markets in the US economy. And then I've got more news for you in just 60 seconds. But first, you know, it usually starts off pretty chill.

A bill you forget about, or you just can't swing this month. No biggie, right? Until there's another and another, and suddenly your mailbox looks like a horror movie. Final notice, pay now, legal action pending. Your phone's blowing up. Like you've suddenly become super popular, except spoiler alert, it's not your friends.

It's debt collectors. And unfortunately, they're not calling for anything fun. And that is exactly why I wish today's sponsor, PDS Debt, existed back in the day when I was in need. Their approach isn't one size fits all. They actually look at your specific situation with credit cards, personal loans, collections, or those medical bills that we bury in the sock drawer.

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are available to you. That's pdsdebt.com slash DeFranco. What's better than a well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? 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 And next up in the news, we need to talk about how Republicans now want to pay for Trump's big, beautiful bill by making cuts to Medicaid that will cause millions of poor Americans to lose their health insurance and force millions more to face higher healthcare costs.

Because Trump has asked Republicans in Congress to pass much of his domestic agenda in one massive sweeping bill. And one of the centerpieces of that bill is $4.5 trillion in tax breaks. With much of that going to finance an extension of tax cuts that Trump put in place during his first term, but that are now set to expire this year. And so to pay for that, House Republicans are working to slash at least $1.5 trillion in other spending areas

and directing 11 different committees to come up with cuts. In the panel that was asked to make the biggest cuts by far is the Energy and Commerce Committee, which was directed to find at least $880 billion to slash. So as a result, it was widely expected that the committee would be proposing cuts to Medicaid and or Medicare, which make up the vast majority of the spending that the panel oversees.

And yesterday, what you saw was the committee rolling out a proposal that would cut an estimated $912 billion over the decade, with most of the cuts, $715 billion coming from changes to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. And among other things, the legislation would add a work requirement to Medicaid for poor childless adults, requiring that they prove that they're working 80 hours every month to stay enrolled. Require Medicaid beneficiaries

who earn more than the federal poverty limit, about $15,650 for a single person, to pay higher fees for doctor visits. Impose stricter eligibility verification and paperwork requirements by allowing states to check the income and residency of enrollees more often and terminate coverage for those who don't respond in time, freeze attacks that some states impose on providers to obtain more federal funding and pay for large portions of their Medicaid programs, as well as make a number of smaller changes that touch on hot-button social issues like barring coverage for gender-affirming care for trans minors, purging roles of ineligible immigrants, and reducing federal funding for providers that also offer abortion services.

So notably, no federal funds go towards providing abortion specifically. So that move would just cut funding for other essential services provided by places like Planned Parenthood, like contraceptive access, cancer screenings, and more. And Republicans who have long pushed for many of these measures unsuccessfully,

they argue that they are necessary to generate savings and root out waste, fraud, and abuse. But this is on the other side, you have Democrats saying these efforts are going to hurt millions of the most vulnerable Americans. But among other things, the party circulating an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that estimated that this move, it would cost 8.6 million people their health insurance over a decade. And beyond that, Democrats have argued that this proposal will increase premiums for at-risk folks, force hospitals to shut down, and prevent seniors from accessing care. Though also, very notably here, it's not just Democrats who have

opposed this effort. We've also seen some Republicans voicing opposition to the move, including Senator Josh Hawley, who wrote a New York Times op-ed literally titled, Don't Cut Medicaid, where he argued, if Congress cuts funding for Medicaid benefits, Missouri workers and their children will lose their health care and hospitals will close. It's that simple. And that pattern will replicate in states across the country. And that is also significant because the proposed cuts are already a pared-down version of what many hard-right Republicans were initially pushing for. Because the ultra-conservative flank of the party, they called for deeper structural changes. But then, many moderate Republicans in vulnerable or swing districts, they pushed against deep Medicaid cuts.

And they argued that it could endanger their seats in the House and thus the GOP's razor-thin majority. But even with a more limited approach, it's unclear if Republican leadership will get enough members on board to pass these proposed cuts. For example, the Associated Press now reporting that more than a dozen House Republicans have told leadership they will not support cuts

to healthcare safety net programs. And all of this playing out as Trump has given some very contradictory and conflicting messages here. He has repeatedly promised that he will not let Congress cut Medicare or Medicaid. I mean, he even went as far as to chastise the media for continuing to ask him about it a few months ago. The bill that passed last night aims to cut $2 trillion. Can you guarantee that Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security will not be touched?

Yeah, I mean, I have said it so many times, you shouldn't be asking me that question. Okay, this will not be read my lips, you shouldn't be asking me that question, okay? This will not be read my lips. It won't be read my lips anymore. We're not gonna touch it. Now, we are gonna look for fraud. But then you also have the Times reporting that he has endorsed the Republican proposal,

even as he has remained adamant that he did not want to do anything that could be characterized as a Medicaid cut. You know, with that said, as we wait to get more details, which we hopefully will have soon, it is currently unclear how this is gonna move forward as all of this takes shape. So in the meantime,

I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments. But then next up today, we've got Zelensky dropping the mic and walking away telling Vladimir Putin he'll be waiting for him in Turkey to start direct talks on ending the war in Ukraine. Right in that, after Donald Trump seemingly pulled the rug out from underneath the country and its allies

by abandoning a demand that had endorsed less than 24 hours earlier. Because you that, after Donald Trump seemingly pulled the rug out from underneath the country and its allies by abandoning a demand that had endorsed less than 24 hours earlier. Because you see on Saturday, you had leaders from the UK, France, Germany, and Poland meeting with Zelensky and Keith, demanding that Putin accept a 30 day unconditional ceasefire as a first step to full peace talks aimed at a long lasting peace and also threatening to step up sanctions against Russia's banking

and energy sectors if the country refused. With these European leaders also claiming that their proposal had the backing of Donald Trump and the United States, which, you know, seemed to be confirmed by the Trump administration's own envoy to Russia and Ukraine, a guy by the name of Keith Kellogg, who reposted a picture of all these European leaders apparently on a call with Trump and adding, quote, a comprehensive air, land, sea, infrastructure ceasefire for 30 days will start the process for ending the largest and longest war in Europe since World War II."

And then with that, he also actually shared and commented on posts from the French president and the prime minister of New Zealand, expressing support for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire. But then, less than 24 hours later, you had Trump instead backing Putin's counterproposal, which was to start direct talks in Istanbul next week without any ceasefire in place.

With Trump writing, "'President Putin of Russia doesn't want to have a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday in Turkey to negotiate a possible end to the bloodbath. Ukraine should agree to this immediately. Which of course, he had Kellogg then sharing and claiming, President Trump has been consistently clear

the killing needs to stop now. Then with all that, you had Zelensky quickly responding and reiterating his call for a ceasefire, but then also adding, I will be waiting for Putin in Turkey on Thursday, "'personally. "'I hope that this time "'the Russians will not look for excuses.'"

And so now with all that, given the doubts about how serious Russia is about making a deal, some wondering if Putin will actually follow it through and have described this whole situation as Zelensky calling his bluff. But ultimately, we're gonna have to wait to see how that plays out,

though I will say it's not the only big international news we've got, because it seems like we may have avoided a full-blown war of two nuclear powers, at least for now. Because I'm talking about India and Pakistan, which are now both claiming victory after agreeing to a US-brokered ceasefire. This coming after the closest they've been to an all-out conflict in decades.

Because, you know, tensions, they're always high between the two, largely because both claim ownership over the area known as Kashmir. With the latest flare-up in violence being triggered by a horrific attack late last month on the Indian side of the territory in which militants killed 25 Hindu tourists in a tour guide. With India blaming the attack on groups that it said were receiving support from Pakistan, which Pakistan denied,

but Indian PM Modi still vowed retaliation. And you saw that play out last Wednesday when missiles struck nine sites in Pakistan that India claimed were terrorist infrastructure and terrorist training camps, reportedly killing 31 people. With also a big key thing being that last week's airstrikes hit deeper into mainland Pakistan

than India has done in at least half a century. With Pakistan, of course, launching counterattacks, but then out of nowhere on Saturday night, you had Trump announcing that the two countries had agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire, which was then later confirmed by Indian and Pakistani officials, and which was reportedly brokered

by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President J.D. Vance, as well as direct involvement from Trump himself. This also notably after Vance had initially said that the US would not get involved because it was none of our business. Then according to sources, the administration's attitude shifted after concerns

were raised by US intelligence that the conflict posed a risk of escalating into a full nuclear threat. And then with all this, within hours of the announcement, there were fears that it had already fallen apart after firing restarted along the border in Kashmir. But now a couple of days in, even as we're seeing both sides accusing the other of violations,

the truce, it appears to be holding with both sides trying to play it off as a win. Right in India, for example, minutes after the ceasefire went into effect, you had TV channels reportedly describing it as Pakistan surrendering. And that is on the other side, you had crowds gathering in the streets of the Capitol

to celebrate the prime minister describing it as military history being achieved by the country's brave army in a spectacular fashion. But in reality, based off of everything that we're seeing, there appears to be no clear winner. Right at best, the situation is returning to a status quo that was already not all that great. And hitting on that, you had one resident living close

to the border telling the Guardian, "'The core issue remains unresolved. "'Soldiers still face each other with weapons and tanks. "'Today it was one dispute, tomorrow it will be another, and the guns will roar again, trapping civilians like me in the crossfire. You know, for now, I will say it is definitely good news that this has not spiraled into a full-on war.

But that is not where the big international news ends, because a militant group that has waged a deadly decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state is now laying down its arms and disbanding. And so to fully understand this, you need to know that the Kurdistan Workers' Party, better known as the PKK, it started out as a group aiming to create

an independent state for Turkey's Kurdish minority, but has increasingly shifted towards simply seeking greater rights for Kurds inside Turkey. And in doing so, it has employed tactics, including bombings, assassinations, and attacks on civilian, government, and military targets, which is partly why the group is classified as a terrorist group in Turkey, the EU, the UK, and US.

So notably, that label, especially over the past few years, as the group has evolved, it's been heavily in dispute. But whatever the case may be, since 1984, the conflict is estimated to have killed at least 40,000 people, including more than 7,000 since 2015, and most of them PKK militants. Then, just a few months ago, you had the group's imprisoned leader urging his followers

to just disarm and disband, with them arguing that the group's armed struggle had outlived its initial purpose and that continued progress in the fight for Kurdish rights could be won through politics. And so now, what you're seeing is the PKK echoing his words, saying in a statement that it had carried the Kurdish issue to a level where it can be solved by democratic politics

and that the group completed its mission in that sense. With the group then arguing that its leader should be in charge of the process of disarming and also calling on Turkey's parliament to take part. There, I will say it's not clear how this is actually going to play out. Because like I said, the PKK's leader, he's in prison and has been since 1999. And this is PKK and pro-Kurdish politicians have long been calling for his release. So we're going to have to wait to see if everything today will change anything, right? Because as far as the government, they have not said anything about this so far,

but you did have a spokesperson for the ruling party welcoming the news in general and saying, "'If the latest PKK decision is fully implemented, "'shutting down all of its branches and structures, "'it will be a turning point.'" And with that, you also reportedly have many Kurds in Turkey hoping that all of this means that there will be efforts to expand Kurdish cultural and educational rights.

But again, as of now, we haven't seen anything like that. Though even without that, this could be a huge win for Turkish president Erdogan. But it might help him drum up support among Kurds, which many analysts reportedly suspect could help him change the constitution to seek a third presidential term. And then beyond that,

this could have major implications throughout the region. Because besides the PKK, there are all sorts of other groups in militia representing the 40 million ethnic Kurds spread across not only Turkey, but Syria, Iran, and Iran. They were promised their own nation by world powers after World War I, but they never got it.

Into nearly every country where they live, they face state-sponsored suppression of their language and culture. So that's gonna be another thing to watch, right? If what's happening with the PKK affects what happens with any of these other groups across the region. But then, next step for you in the news today,

we've gotta talk about Donald Trump now embarking on what some are calling his corruption tour of the Middle East. Or with the president flying to the Persian Gulf for a four-day trip today for his first major international trip since being elected again. Outside of last month, he made that impromptu overnight trip

to Italy for the funeral of Pope Francis. But now this trip, it's timely, given all that's happening in the region from the war in Gaza to the advancing of the Iranian nuclear program. Which, on that note, the White House has been trying to negotiate a deal with Iran to stop its uranium enrichment program, which is something they already did before Trump tore up the nuclear deal that Obama signed. But also, according to White House aides, those issues are not the focus of this trip to the Middle East.

In fact, Trump's not even set to visit Israel, which is something that many have seen as a snub to Netanyahu. Instead, he's going to three Gulf monarchies, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. This notably after his son Eric visited Qatar and the UAE recently to hash out deals between the Trump organization and partners in those countries. With those said to include six pending deals with a majority Saudi owned real estate firm, a cryptocurrency deal with an affiliate of the Emirati government, a large hotel in Dubai, and a new golf and luxury villa project overseen by the government of Qatar. And that, even though a big thing is that

the Trump organization had pledged not to enter into any new agreements with foreign governments while Trump was in office. But all of that, I mean, it's really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Trump family's financial stake in the Persian Gulf. Because I mean, for example, you have things like the Saudi sovereign wealth fund putting $2 billion

into Jared Kushner's investment firm, making itself the biggest investor by far. And at the same time, that same sovereign wealth fund started to live golf, spent millions of dollars poaching top PGA golfers, and then held tournaments at Trump's golf courses for four straight years. And reportedly when Donald Trump was inaugurated, the Saudi crown prince promised to invest

at least $600 billion into the US over the next four years. But then Trump reportedly countering that if they just round out that promise to a trillion, then he would make Saudi Arabia his first foreign stop as president. And similarly, the UAE has pledged to invest $1.4 trillion in the US over 10 years. So I have to add that many doubt

whether those huge numbers will actually pan out. So reportedly, Trump's hoping to walk away from this week's tour with deals on paper worth more than a trillion dollars. And all of this as he's expected to be treated like a king there. But you know what we generally see is that when he visits traditional American allies,

he's greeted by protesters, but when he visits Gulf monarchies, they literally roll out the red carpet. I mean, when Trump flew to Riyadh during his first term, the Saudis literally projected a multi-story image of his face onto a Ritz-Carlton hotel. They raised American flags along the highways. They organized a Toby Keith concert

and performed a traditional sword dance all for the president. So he's expected to get a similar reception this time around. And while he's at a summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council, American business executives will be at a Saudi US investment forum. And those in attendance will include

the White House crypto czar, David Sachs, and the chief executives of huge firms like BlackRock, Citigroup, and IBM. And so with all that, you have the president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations who are marking to the Washington Post. It's revealing about this administration that it's the first administration in the modern era to approach the world largely in economic and business terms rather than strategic or

diplomatic terms. So there's also, as you had Senator Chris Murphy putting it, into somewhat harsher terms. This is President Trump's corruption tour of the Middle East. He is going to the Gulf in order to collect tribute. What the president is doing is giving countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE what they want for Saudi Arabia. It's a civilian nuclear deal with the United States for the UAE. It is taking some of the restrictions off of the way that semiconductors flow into that country. He's asking for cash payments. UAE is giving him that through this deal on cryptocurrency. And of course we just found out this weekend

that Qatar is going to be giving Donald Trump a plane. Right, and what Senator Murphy is referring to there are the reports that the White House and the Qatari government are talking about Trump potentially accepting a gift of a luxury Boeing 747 to be used for Air Force One. Which if that does happen would be one of the biggest gifts, if not the biggest gift ever received by the US government., to be clear, it would not go straight into Trump's

personal possession. Rather, the jet would reportedly be donated to the Department of Defense and then to Trump's presidential library when he leaves office. So then that also means that he would just continue flying in it even as a private citizen. So critics argue it may as well be a gift to him personally. But with that, we saw Trump himself lashing out at that allegation on Truth Social writing. So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a gift to him personally. Though with that, we saw Trump himself lashing out at that allegation on Truth Social writing. So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a gift free of charge of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40-year-old Air Force One temporarily

in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the crooked Democrats that they insist we pay top dollar for the plane. Anybody can do that. The Dems are world-class losers. But one, you had many pushing back on Trump here, and two, that again included Senator Murphy, who shot back on X saying,

"'This isn't a good idea, "'even if the plane was being donated to the US government. "'But Trump gets to keep the plane? "'It's simply a cash payment to Trump "'in exchange for favors, just wildly illegal.'" With Murphy then adding, "'Normally, arms sales go forward without a vote, "'but any senator can object

"'and force a full debate and Senate vote. "'I will do that for any military deal "'with a nation that is paying off Trump personally. We can't act like this is normal foreign policy. You know, it's not surprising that Murphy's speaking up here. He's been very vocal, not shy about call-outs, talking about corruption.

I mean, just last week he was on the show talking about Trump's meme coin. And actually we have an update to that story because what many have called just an auction to buy face-to-face time with the president, it just wrapped up today. Because for context, Trump announced last month that the biggest investors in his cryptocurrency would get a private dinner with him and a tour of the White House. A move that has reportedly made

him, his family, and his allies a lot of money, drawn business people looking for political influence, and elicited accusations of blatant corruption. For you, former regulators arguing that it almost certainly violates federal securities laws, but then also adding that Trump probably won't be held accountable. Because, you know, remember, Trump himself halted crypto enforcement at both the SEC and the DOJ. But with all that, you had the White House press secretary assuring us on Friday that all of this

is completely within the bounds of the law. I think it's frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit. He left a life of luxury and a life of running a very successful real estate empire for public service. This is a president who has actually lost money for being president of the United States. Yeah, well, we wait to see how all this plays out. Let me know your thoughts in those comments down below.

But that, my friends, is the end of your Monday evening, Tuesday morning dive into the news. Thank you for watching. I love yo faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow because I got a brand new show for you every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific.