The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 6.10 Meg The Stallion Sex Tape “Leak”, Prank Shooting Turns Into Real Shooting, YouTuber Facing 10 Years

Episode Date: June 10, 2024

Use code “PHIL” for $20 OFF your first SeatGeek order & returning buyers use code “PDS” for $10 off AND your chance at weekly $500 prizes! https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/PHIL  Daily Dip newsletter subscribers can double their entries for the chance to win up to $1,000 in SeatGeek credit so make sure you’re subscribed: https://www.dailydip.co/ New 3-Packs & Cyber Lime Collections NOW LIVE @ https://BeautifulBastard.com ==== ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩- – 00:00 - Kansas Man Accused of Attacking Teen Amid ‘Senior Assassin’ Prank 01:58 - Alex Choi Arrested, Glen Powell “Human Lotion” Story Goes Viral, Shark Attacks in Fl 05:27 - Megan Thee Stallion Becomes Latest Victim of NSFW AI 07:22 - TJ Maxx, Marshalls, & Home Goods Put Body Cams on Retail Workers 10:54 - Sponsored by SeatGeek 11:53 - Martha’s Vineyard to Run Out of Cannabis, Leaving Medical Users Stranded 14:05 - Nearly 300 Palestinians Killed in Israel’s Rescue of Four Hostages 18:37 - Far-Right Fossil Fuel Allies Launch Campaign to Pressure SCOTUS to Protect Big Oil  21:28 - France’s Macron Dissolves Parliament, Calls Snap Legislative Election  ——————————   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, Jared Paolino ———————————— #DeFranco #Hasanabi #MeganTheeStallion ———————————— 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. I hope you had a fantastic weekend. We've just got so much news we have to talk about today, so I'm just going to jump into it and we're going to start with this prank gone wrong news, because holy shit. I don't even know if prank gone wrong is the right descriptor here. I mean, that's what people are saying, but there was like there was a prank and then just a lot of wrong. So I don't know if you're familiar with Senior Assassin, but I'll explain. Right, it's this game where high school seniors target their classmates with water guns or gel bead guns,

and they post the videos on social media. Right, it's usually harmless fun, though we do see things like last week, it scared two Long Island schools into a lockdown after police alerted them to a possible active shooter. But that is nothing compared to what happened one afternoon last month in Kansas. Right, because there you had three teens,

age 16, 17, 18, doing a drive-by shooting on another teen girl and her boyfriend with a gel bead gun as the pair entered a Walmart, with one of the passengers yelling, "'I'm your senior assassin'," with a couple running inside to escape the hail of water-filled polymer beads.

And then, while inside, the girl calls her dad and tells him what happened. Later, as the couple's leaving the store, they confront the teenagers, one of whom allegedly challenges the boyfriend to meet him out back. So then the dad drives to the Walmart. His daughter points out the teens getting into their car and he walks over to stop them, with him allegedly trying to

open the front door, but they start then driving away. With then this dad deciding, hey, the right thing to do here is to pull out a nine millimeter Smith & Wesson handgun from his waistband, with him then firing a single round into the vehicle. With this then learning of the car pulled ahead, turned and sped into a metal shipping container. At which point one of the teenagers, 18 year old Anakin Zaring realizes he can't feel his legs. That's because reportedly the bullet tore through his back, liver, kidney, and spinal cord paralyzing him from the waist down. With him then having to spend three weeks in the hospital, undergo four surgeries, and go to a rehab center where he's going to need physical therapy, occupational therapy, and nursing care. Of course that's

without mentioning the travel expenses for his family to come see him, as well as adaptive equipment and home modifications when he returns, all of which has resulted in the family setting up a GoFundMe to pay for all this. As far as the dad who shot him, he has since been charged with first degree attempted murder and released on bond. And then let's talk about some requested quickie stories, starting with the news around YouTuber Alex Choi. And that because he was just arrested on a federal complaint over a video titled destroying a Lamborghini with fireworks. You know, you hear the title of that video, you're like, okay, I could see how maybe someone might get arrested for that. But it's even crazier than what you might be imagining. Because in that video,

which was initially posted on YouTube, but has since been deleted, a helicopter is seen just unleashing fireworks down onto a Lambo in the desert, like straight out of an action movie. And according to a release from the US Attorney's Office in the Central District of California, Alex was charged with one count of causing the placement of an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft. While you can see a lot of different people involved in all the chaos, the release claimed that Alex was the coordinator of all of it. And noting, he even refers to himself as being in charge. The credits also listing him as the director. The authorities saying they believe the video was shot in the El Mirage dry lake bed in San Bernardino County, California around June of

2023, as well as claiming that he didn't have a permit to film using fireworks on a helicopter and alleging that he even bought the fireworks in Nevada because they were illegal in California. And if he's convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison. Then we had Glenn Powell in the news. One, because his new movie Hitman on Netflix is actually really fantastic. You should watch it. Glenn Powell, the leading man, he is here. Two, Glenn's also in the news because he told a story that has gone very viral. He talks about his sister's friend while on Jake Shane's podcast. They're saying this girl went on a date with a guy who was super charming.

She goes back to his place. And then there were some red flags. He's like, hey, can I give you a massage? And then as she got back to his apartment, she just started getting like weird vibes. She's like, something feels off. He's like, can I give you a massage? She's like, sure. So she starts massaging your shoulders.

But saying she gets this gut feeling that she needs to get out of there. The guy then tries to get her to stay, but she ends up leaving. And then the next day, her skin's just itching like crazy. And so she goes to the doctor. They run tests and the results are, it's not the first thing you'd guess it would be. It turns out that it's a, it's a, like a black market lotion that breaks down skin for human consumption. This man was rubbing lotion on her body to eat her. And then saying the police went to his house

and that there were girls bodies there. And so as you'd expect, that story has gone viral, just blowing up people, just sharing reactions. But here's a big thing. It may feel like you've heard that story before or something very similar to it. And that's because that story is kind of an urban legend. It's apparently existed for a while. A BuzzFeed writer noting they've heard it before, but it took place in a Vegas hotel. One of the people on my team saying they heard it seven years ago, but it was specifically about a girl on her last night of studying abroad in Europe. And actually with this, Snopes saying stories like this have existed for decades.

Of course, with this, you know, Glenn didn't give any specific details to like identify anyone in this story to verify it at all. And very probably he wasn't trying to tell a potentially false story, but of course it's still gone incredibly viral, which is why you have a number of outlets saying, hey, based on the math,

this might just be an urban myth here. What's not a myth is you should watch Hitman. It's a fun one. Also, I'm on the Glenn Powell train. I'm excited for him and twisters. And also, I will say separately, hopefully his story is actually false. Women already have enough to worry about. Being eaten is probably not another fun thing to add.

On the note of almost getting eaten, not entertainment news, just something I don't even know if I should share this. Be careful if you go into the ocean. Sharks are demonized, often in a way that is not relative to their threat level. But also should be noted, last Friday there were three people attacked by sharks in three separate incidents. I'm going to be honest, I looked at the temperatures for Florida. I'm still going in that ocean. I'm sweating just thinking about y'all's temperatures. And then, so if you or someone you know think that you just saw the Meg the Stallion leaked porn, no you didn't. Because as it turns out, Meg the Stallion is now just the latest victim of viral AI porn. Or with this latest

just being the continuation of this disturbing and growing trend. With this one blowing up so much on its own and then also sparking a lot of discussion that Meg Thee Stallion herself even got involved. With the writing over the weekend, it's really sick how y'all go out of the way to hurt me when you see me winning. Y'all going too far, fake ass shit. Just know today was your last day playing with me and I mean it. People also note that she appeared to get choked up at one of her shows over the weekend, though she of course didn't say if it was this situation or another aspect of performing live that made her so emotional in that moment. You know, you had some connecting into the video, wondering if it might be related. You know, in general, we're largely seeing two reactions. Technically there's three,

because there is a third smaller group that are like loving this and being vocal about it, but that's more rare. And instead it's more divided with people going like, this sucks. We really hate it. But you know, you already see people kind of being desensitized to it. It feels like this is becoming more and more of the norm. And then of course the biggest group here are people that are just disturbed by it all. And among those you have people arguing this is a form of sexual assault, some hoping that legal action's taking, others just noting that it is a troubling pattern. Noting all the other women this has been done to, Taylor Swift of course being the most high profile, with some also noting that this latest instance

just so happens to be as X officially updated his policy to allow for adult content. Though that, I would say, is not a direct one-to-one. While not safe-for-work content has kind of always been allowed unofficially on the platform, and now they've kind of just made it official, X is that it prohibits exploitation, non-consensual works, or content that harms minors. And so while it does include AI-generated content in its definition of adult content, and so it doesn't ban AI porn, right, the non-consensual aspect would override that. Though, of course, as we've seen on X and on other platforms, it's like playing a game of whack-a-mole. Once it's out there,

it's out there to a certain degree. And we've known that this is going to be a problem. I mean, you look back to there being a 2019 study that found that 96% of all deepfake images were non-consensual sexual deepfakes. And I mean, really the only thing that's changed since then are the deepfakes have gotten more and more realistic. And then when I talk about body cams on this show, understandably you're like, oh, we're talking about cops. But actually, moving forward, it may be stories involving employees at TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods. Because we're now getting the news that they'll be wearing body cameras in an effort to crack down on growing retail crime and violence against workers. The CFO of parent company TJX saying that the basic

idea is that people are less likely to do something when they're being videotaped. While they've obviously never met your mother after three Mai Tais, you also had a TJX saying that the basic idea is that people are less likely to do something when they're being videotaped. While they've obviously never met your mother after three Mai Tais, you also had a TJX spokesperson telling the Washington Post that employees wearing the cameras will go through thorough training, as well as confirming the body camera footage will only be shared upon request from law enforcement or in response to a subpoena. However, they also haven't shared specifics like how many stores across the country will have employees wearing body cams. And so with all this, you know, there are real questions that people are posing about whether this is actually going to be effective in dealing with the so-called shoplifting crisis that retailers are facing. And then even more than that, there are also questions about whether there is even a shoplifting crisis at all.

And so to start looking at that, you have the National Retail Federation reporting last year that retail crime, violence and theft continue to impact the retail industry at unprecedented levels. With Target, Walmart, another large change citing rising crime and violence as a reason for store closures. With the Federation saying this is fueled by organized retail crime rings that steal items and illegally resell them through online marketplaces. And actually with that, in a survey conducted last year, more than 100 brands said that organized retail crime offenders had gotten more violent, and several dozens saying they were researching body cams. As well as there being other efforts to address the issue, including eliminating or limiting self-checkout, locking products in cabinets,

banning large bags and backpacks, and limiting stores to one exit to better catch thieves trying to escape. And in fact, with the whole body cam situation, brands in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK are already trying it. Very notably there, a report from the British Retail Consortium

found that retail crime still soared despite heavy investment in body cams and conventional CCTV cams. And along with that, though it's only been a few months since TJX began slowly rolling out body cams in stores, it's reportedly still unclear whether it's actually reduced theft. You know, all of that doesn't even mention that customers have very different opinions on all this. It just seems a little like militaristic to like have people in the stores at body cams. Yeah. I mean, you're already on security camera when you go in any store. What's one more? I think that there's already security cameras in there,

and I think that should be enough. I think it's probably best for their safety, and I don't see why that would bother anybody. Right, and so wherever you land on that, the other big piece of this question is, how bad is it really? Because in the past couple of years, this is something that's been talked about more and more. You've got tabloids like the New York Post talking about a shoplifting epidemic, and then you've got more mainstream media like CNN talking about surging shoplifting, having dangerous and costly consequences. And with that, scary videos of flash mob robberies and after hours break-ins. And while there may be very real concerns here, the truth might actually be a little more complicated. Because as it turns out, more than half of the unaccounted inventory losses, right, the numbers that are often used as evidence of the shoplifting surge they can be explained by

employee theft and operational and processing errors actually with that there's not much evidence that organized retail crime is having a significantly greater impact on retailers than in years past plus you have some industry analysts saying that the bigger reason for companies making less money is that consumers are cutting spending and they're looking for cheaper alternatives to deal with inflation with some even raising the possibility that some retailers are hiding poor performance behind the excuse of crime, which may or may not be connected to news coming out with places like Target slashing prices on so many products in recent weeks. You know, all of that is to say, at the very least, it is unclear how much worse retail theft has really

become or if it really is any worse at all. But this also is the consequences of the panic around this have been real. They're seeing lawmakers pushing for tougher penalties for low level and nonviolent crimes. So we'll wait to see how all this is going to play out. I got to pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? And then I've said it before, and I will say it again. You guys have such an eclectic taste in entertainment. Like for Megan Thee Stallion to Disney on Ice, our weekly SeatGeek $500 giveaway lives on and you beautiful bastards are crushing it. Also for the uninitiated, right? SeatGeek is the number one rated live event ticketing app with over 28 million downloads and access to a wide array of entertainment to get you and a loved one out of the house. And my team work with SeatGeek to extend the $500 weekly giveaway.

And if you haven't entered yet, just do it. Next week's winner could be you. You simply add code PDS to your SeatGeek account. You get $10 off and you can be one of our lucky weekly winners. That's $500 in credit towards any of SeatGeek's 70,000 events. Also, if you're new to SeatGeek, you can add code Phil for $20 off your first purchase. But again, even if you've used it, right? SeatGeek vets, you can add code PDS, which gets you $10 off any purchase and you'll be entered for a chance at the $500 SeatGeek credit. No purchase necessary. Plus, if you're interested in a chance to win a $1,000 SeatKey credit, Daily Dip newsletter subscribers can earn double entry and double winning. So I'll link to that and everything down below,

but keep up with the PDS in your inbox and subscribe right now. And then, in weird, the devil's in the details law news, let's talk about Massachusetts and more specifically, Martha's Vineyard. And that's because the entire island's actually on the brink of completely running out of marijuana. Which, if you live in Massachusetts, you're probably like, how? It's been legal here for over seven years. But here's the thing. The state's Cannabis Control Commission, they believe that transporting the drug over the ocean, whether by boat or plane, it risks breaking federal law. So even though the island is Massachusetts, because you have to cross a body of water, their policy is essentially

tough titties. Effectively cutting off supply to Martha's Vineyard. In fact, with this, we saw the Island Time dispensary closing its doors a month ago because it literally had nothing left to sell. And the only other dispensary on the island, Fine Fetal, they're expected to sell the last of their inventory by September at the latest, which of course, yes,

could leave thousands of recreational users stranded with nothing to make, though the YouTube videos they watch at dinnertime more interesting. But more importantly, it would fuck over the more than 230 medical users there who need cannabis for an array of health issues. So with that, you know, some might say, why don't the island's residents just grow their own pot? Isn't that what they've been doing for

the past several years anyway? But last year, Fine Fetal, a Connecticut-based company that grows all the island's weed, they decided to stop growing there and just close its store when supply ran out. With the company executive telling the Associated Press, the business there just became unfeasible as the cost of employing testers on the island rose. And this as cannabis products got cheaper on the mainland with people starting to bring them over on the ferry. But for medical users like this 81-year-old woman with back pain and insomnia, they can't just take the ferry over Woods Hole and Uber back and forth to the nearest dispensary anytime they need. It's just too expensive both in time and money. And for Island Time dispensary owner Jeff Rose and his five employees, his livelihood's on the line, which

is actually why we saw him sue the commission last month. It's actually an Nantucket Islands Green Lady dispensary joining the lawsuit because it's also facing the same problem, that they've been able to grow some of their own supply. And they also argue that it is possible to reach Martha's Vineyard in Nantucket solely through state territorial waters. But the commission just never wrote regulations for transporting weed via boat, so the plaintiffs want an emergency rule allowing it. And the thing is, it's not like this is a new problem. It's not like they're going through, pun intended, going through uncharted waters. States have already learned to deal with this problem, like Hawaii, California, and New York. And I mean, let's be honest, this just needs to be figured out because people are going to get

it. All that's going to happen is that the black market is going to fill the unmet demand. Of course, the primary issue with that is that you're talking about unregulated product. It opens the door for drugs laced with opiates or fucking God knows what. And then let's talk about the four Israeli hostages that got rescued from Gaza over the weekend, because while you have a lot of people cheering, you also have a lot of controversy and backlash. And that's because as part of the operation to rescue these four, allegedly 274 Palestinians were killed. Though we're also hearing different numbers from different places. But to start with what we know, these four hostages were originally captured from the desert raid where Hamas killed and captured most of its victims on October 7th.

And ever since then, they were held in various apartments before then being moved to a refugee camp apartment. With reportedly Israeli intelligence eventually getting wind of their whereabouts and special forces practicing for weeks on two-scale replicas of the buildings before carrying out the raid on Saturday. Though it actually ended up being two operations because Hamas had split the female hostage from the group into a separate building 200 meters away. And while her rescue was reportedly fairly smooth, the three men's rescue went off the rails. With reports indicating that there was heavy gunfire that turned into explosives used by both sides. Hamas reportedly used RPGs on the rescue teams and their vehicles while the Israelis called in air and artillery strikes to the location to cover their evacuation to the coast. With then nearby hospitals being hit with waves of injured and dying people. Because you had the Gaza health ministry saying that in addition to the 274 dead, there were over 700 injured. Meanwhile, you had

the IDF claiming that it was under 100, and they weren't sure how many were actually civilians. And so with all this, as expected, we've seen tons of different reactions. As you'd expect, there were a lot of people happy that you had hostages rescued, but also you had a lot of people, especially internationally, having big questions about the cost of human life here. You know, online, one of the biggest and high-profile critics was Hasan Piker, who, you know, does want the hostages released, but through a ceasefire and adding, The most revealing aspect of all of this is something that many of you already knew in this community,

which is that Israel does not think Palestinians are human beings. There is no clearer indication of this reality than the reception. It is not seen as an insanely bloody, murderous rampage and instead seen as a simple, successful hostage extraction mission. People just don't give a shit. You have a lot of people saying that he's right, that there are officials and outlets that downplayed the death toll and hyped up the operation. Are people pointing to the Wall Street Journal's headline of how Israel saved a hostage rescue mission that nearly failed? And Secretary of State Antony Blinken's statement when he never mentioned a single Palestinian death and just said,

We welcome the rescue of four hostages who, after eight months of captivity, have finally been reunited with their families in Israel. The only thing standing in the way of achieving this ceasefire is Hamas. Do all of this at the same time as you had other people and outlets pointing to the extreme cost of the rescue operation. You had the EU's top diplomat calling the events a massacre, while outlets like the Associated Press ran headlines like how an Israeli raid freed four hostages and killed at least 274 Palestinians in Gaza. CNN writing an Israeli operation rescues four hostages and kills scores of Palestinians. One of the big things here is that all of this is kind of just the tip of the iceberg with everything that's going on. One of the other big pieces of news is that Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced his resignation.

Gantz is a center-right figure there. He's been a longtime rival of Netanyahu. While they've worked together for months, he's had issues with how the war against Gaza is being run. Among other things, he's angry at the far-right section of the government has a massive amount of power, despite being relatively small, because without them, Netanyahu's government collapses. Which has also led to widespread accusations and speculation that Netanyahu has repeatedly blocked any ceasefires and hostage swaps over concerns that would anger the right-wingers.

So seemingly the straw that broke the camel's back for Gantz was the lack of a post-war plan for Gaza. I mean, it got to a point where three weeks ago, he issued an ultimatum, show a plan. But that never happened, so yesterday he announced that he was out and he blasted the prime minister during a speech by saying, Netanyahu is preventing us from reaching real victory. And also saying that elections should be held by fall at the latest. Now this

resignation, it's likely not going to lead to the fall of Netanyahu's government, but it does force the prime minister to rely ever more on his far right partners. And that could be risky for him because that's become increasingly unpopular. I mean, it's at a point where polls show that Gantz would likely beat Netanyahu. You know, while all of that is happening there, closer to home, we're still seeing massive protests at college campuses. Although we are seeing courts starting to crack down, such as in California, where UC faculty was largely ordered to stop attending anti-Israel protests because it was interfering with their work. With apparently this being an especially busy time for the schools, and before they were being semi-lenient

about teachers going to protests. But now they're pointing to no strike clauses in their union contracts, and the courts, they're agreeing, forcing them to go back. And then on the political front, the Biden administration is still struggling to toe the line of being pro-Israel while trying to get Israel to stop its attacks. But the main thrust of that right now being efforts to get global support behind a multi-phase ceasefire deal that would see all the hostages released in return for Israel leaving Gaza. But then that brings us back to the issue with the far-right wingers in the Israeli government, because it looks like they will never agree to that, no matter the international pressure. But ultimately, we're going to have to wait to see. And in the meantime, of course,

I'd love to know your thoughts here, whether it be about the situation in general or specifically with this hostage rescue. And then, so we know right now that big oil companies could be on the hook for billions of dollars for harming the public. But now we also know that far-right fossil fuel allies have launched what's been described as a stunning and unprecedented campaign to pressure the Supreme Court to block that potential payout. And to get specific here, we're talking about a case involving Honolulu, which is one of the 40 cities and states that have sued big oil companies, alleging that they lied for decades about the dangers of burning fossil fuels.

With these lawsuits seeking to hold the companies financially accountable for billions and billions of dollars under consumer protection and public nuisance laws. And we saw late last year the Hawaii Supreme Court giving Honolulu and climate advocates a big win. Ruling that the case could move forward toward a trial. But then a few months later, a group of big oil companies, including Exxon and Chevron, appealed to the Supreme Court. Asking them to overturn the Hawaii Court's ruling and arguing that climate change policy is a federal issue and thus should be heard in federal courts. Which a key thing here is that the oil industry thinks that federal courts will be more likely to rule in their favor. But also, if the now ultra-conservative Supreme Court rules in favor of the oil companies, that decision could

have a huge impact that goes way beyond Hawaii. I mean, it could have a spillover effect that could totally gut the dozens of similar accountability suits across the country that together would cause big oil billions and billions of dollars. But then on the other side of this, right, if the justices decide to not hear this case, all these other challenges will be allowed to continue to make their way through lower courts. So clearly there is a huge incentive here for big oil to try and kill this. But this, as legal experts say, this isn't the kind of case that the Supreme Court would normally weigh in on. For example, one explaining the court would probably not think this request is important unless someone told them it was very important. And that is exactly

what far right fossil fuel allies are doing. With numerous groups launching a full-blown political influence campaign on a scale that legal scholars say they have never, ever seen. And a key thing here is that many of the groups and the people behind this effort, they have ties to the infamous judicial activist and conservative billionaire, Leonard Leo. Right, and he's been widely credited with leading the charge to push the court to the right. Not only by helping select Trump's three SCOTUS nominees, but also by cozying up to conservative justices and pumping gobs of money into the conservative legal movement. With the

same things like last year, Politico finding that most conservative briefs in high profile cases, they have links to a small number of activists aligned with Leonard Leo. And in recent weeks, we've seen conservative voices, many with ties to Leo, publishing opinion pieces in numerous outlets, including Bloomberg, The Hill, The Wall Street Journal, and The National Review, with all of them demanding that the Supreme Court rule in favor of big oil. What's more, another non-profit tied to Leo called the Alliance for Consumers has also reportedly begun running social media ads pushing a similar narrative. And all of this is last month, Republican attorneys general in 19 different states took the very unusual step of filing

friend of the court briefs, also asking the Supreme Court to rule in favor of big oil. And very notably here, all of those state AGs were members of the Republican Attorneys General Association, which is funded in part by another one of Leo's groups. Seemingly wild and concerning shit over how Leo might have so much power over the Supreme Court. And in fact, we're learning that this campaign might be working. Because literally, as I was recording this, we got the news that instead of refusing to hear the case,

the Supreme Court has officially asked the Biden administration to weigh in on the matter. A move that will delay whether the justices ultimately hear the case, but Supreme Court has officially asked the Biden administration to weigh in on the matter, a move that will delay whether the justices ultimately hear the case, but signals that they're at least open to. And then? So it turns out French President Emmanuel Macron is a bit of a gambler,

because this weekend he shocked everyone by dissolving the country's parliament and calling for a risky snap election that could hand legislative power to his rivals. And actually, the reason for this snap election is because another election just happened, or the election for European Parliament. An election that has seen far-right parties surge, especially in France as well as in Germany.

Also, if you're not familiar with European Parliament, it plays a key role in adopting legislation that affects the 27 members of the European Union. With elections taking place every five years, and they're actually the biggest democratic vote in the world after India. And even though they're often seen as less important than national elections, they can have huge consequences. Right now, I mean, that's more true than ever. I mean, the EU just spent the last five years passing clean energy laws to hit its 2030 emissions reductions targets. But now, and it's just one example, this rightward shift in the election,

it could slow down the bloc's efforts to deal with climate change. And you know, similarly, even though foreign policy and defense are primarily handled by individual states, there are fears now that this shift could undermine Ukraine's war effort. Which I mean, to that point, up till now, the EU is actually the single largest donor of non-military aid to Ukraine. And on top of that, I mean, something that I'm gonna dive into much deeper on a different show,

the EU has started trying to build up a European-wide defense industry that some say is very necessary to deter further Russian aggression, which is also a move that's opposed by many far-right politicians, and that actually brings us back to France. Right, because Macron is absolutely one of the most vocal pro-Europe, pro-Ukraine European leaders. But his

Renaissance party, right, they just got less than half the number of votes of the far-right national rallier, RN party. A party that, like a lot of other far-right parties in Europe, is far more skeptical about European integration and is deeply wary of additional EU support for Ukraine. So with that, you've got Macron now saying, I have heard your message, your concerns, and I will not leave them unanswered. France needs a clear majority to act in serenity and harmony. And the surprise election is sort of a way for him to try and reclaim an electoral mandate and stop the far right in its tracks. But it is very, very risky. A poll conducted just a couple of months ago suggested that the RN could go from just 88 seats to as many as 305, which notably would just give them an outright majority in parliament. Which I mean, Macron's party doesn't even have now, though with 169 seats total, his party

currently does have almost double what the RN has right now. Because all of this just shows how fast and how much the far right is gaining strength in France. Which is why you have the country's finance minister telling French radio, this will be the most consequential parliamentary election for France and for the French in the history of the Fifth Republic. Now, the first round of voting is set to take place on June 30th and the second to be held July 7th. So we'll have to wait to see if the far right's performance in the European Parliament elections translates to success in this upcoming election in France. But also, you know, in general, we'll have to see what the impact is at the European level and whether it affects those

things that we mentioned, like climate change and the war in Ukraine. But that's where I'm ending it, and I'll see you tomorrow.