The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 8.19 MrBeast Apologizes After "Torture" Controversy, Taylor Swift Trump AI Endorsement & I'm at the DNC

Episode Date: August 19, 2024

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Sup, you beautiful bastards! Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show, your daily dive into the news, and we have a lot to talk about. So hey, let's just jump into it. This is a news show. Starting with, in requested internet drama update news, let's talk about Mr. Beast.

Right, because for a quick recap, almost two weeks ago, YouTuber and former Mr. Beast employee Dogpack404 put out a video interviewing another former Mr. Beast employee by the name of Jake Weddle. And in that video, Jake detailed his experience on the set of a MrBeast 100 days in solitary confinement video attempt, right? Talking about how it was and in a word saying it was traumatizing. With two of the big things that he noted being that they never shut the lights off and they made him run a marathon on a treadmill. And you know, we dug deeper into that interview in a previous video, so you can definitely check that out. You know,

since that last update, one of the big things that people have been waiting for is Mr. Beast himself to respond. And there, we almost sort of got an update. Because over the weekend, Jake released a video sharing the personal response that he got from Jimmy regarding his situation. He said, Hey, I wanted to reach out and say I didn't mean to cause you mental stress with that video, and I apologize. Clearly, it had an effect on you. You mentioned you'd like to be paid out the rest of the prize money, the other $190,000. And I'd love to make things right with you. I have zero expectation of you mentioning me sending you this money publicly or taking down any videos.

This is just me wanting to help you out and make sure you're good. For me, the personal apology, the person-to-person thing, there was no lawyers around. It wasn't a spectacle. There was no camera in my face. I respected that. That's how I would have wanted it to go down. But I couldn't take it. I couldn't take $100,000. I just couldn't take it. Because it's still a mechanism of the game. It's still like the rest of the prize money. And that's not what it was about. He then does a quick reenactment of the phone conversation he had with Jimmy. And a lot of the meat is the same as the message.

By saying Jimmy apologized and offered the other $190,000, Jake would have gotten from the challenge with no expectations of any sort of post about it or that Jake take down his videos. With Jake then saying

he isn't comfortable taking the money, but does desperately need the money to pull himself out of debt. And so with that, he said he counter-offered asking only for a fraction of the $190,000 and saying,

Counter-offer. 50. You save $140,000. You just give me 50. That's going to cover all my debts, some medical bills that I have. I have taxes on the back burner from last year because I'm freelance and that'll get me back to zero. And I get to keep saying whatever the hell I want. I get to keep being honest. I get to keep being authentic. I'm not going to worry about you guys coming after me for being myself.

To which he says, Jimmy replied, Yeah, great. Bank info's still the same? Though with that, he also later specified that he had not received the money as of recording his video. And also at the end of his video, Jake talked a little bit about the next installment of Dogpacks Expose series. So you still have people waiting for that, which is expected to be one of the biggest videos. You know, with this,

as we're waiting to see more allegations come out, what the reaction to all that's gonna be, I gotta pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here with the updates that we're seeing? And then, so as you can likely tell, I am not in my regular filming spot. And that is because I'm in Chicago

for the Democratic National Convention, something that just weeks ago I was not going to do. I wasn't going to do the RNC or the DNC. And then we got three weeks of insane political news. And I figured, let's go out there. Let's see what happens. So I was able to get credentialed. I have access. We're going to be doing some interviews this week. Flew in on Sunday. Almost didn't make that flight because I had a motorbike accident the day prior. To which you might look at me and go, Phil, you don't seem like a guy that rides dirt bikes. And my response to that is, yeah, no, you're right. But luckily, given how stupid my crash was, the cut wasn't too deep. And so I'm here to see what pops off. And so since we're gonna be talking about a lot of this stuff this week, it feels like the right place to start is to talk about the Democrats

actually releasing an official party platform. Because it just got released before the convention started. But you know, technically, it still needs to be voted on at the DNC, but that'll just kind of be a rubber stamp procedure. But this entire plan, it's 90 pages, so that also means I'm not gonna get into every little detail here. But the titles of the nine chapters,

they give you a good idea of what's on their mind. Remember, we're talking about the economy, tax cuts, fighting rising prices, energy, gun crime, voting and civil rights, the border, international leadership, and also a section about some of the particular projects that they want to finish that Biden started. And that is a quirk of the platform, right?

It was finalized by a committee back in July, days before he dropped out of the race. Of course, with that, they really wanted to hammer in his achievements and policies that he's taken a special interest in. And looking into the specifics a little bit more, you can see there's a big emphasis on prices for everyday Americans.

The document is very critical of price gouging by industries like oil and pharma, which seems to feed perfectly into remarks Harris made this weekend about fighting price gouging on things like food. Also, in another angle of attack for this issue, the party wants a push for a $15 an hour minimum wage. The platform also really emphasizes home prices,

with it on one hand claiming that more people own homes today than did before the pandemic, and we're seeing fewer foreclosures than at any time in decades. So there, there's a question about what data they're using, because foreclosures seem to have gone up 136% since 2021, according to the real estate firm, Adam. Notably there, that is still lower than pre-pandemic levels.

But then on the other hand, it also highlights that more needs to be done, with the party saying it wants to cut red tape to help more home builders get federal financing as well as proposing a $10,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers. With the same time, you have Harris just announcing that she actually wants it to be over double that. It also wants to tackle housing for renters.

It's one of the proposed ways being limiting how much a corporate landlord can raise rents year over year. And so the plan would make it so that they can either cap rent increases at 5% per year or lose a big incentive they currently have. Also another thing that'll probably resonate with a lot of voters are the proposed tax cuts. Right with these meant to target lower

and middle income households, which is the vast majority of the country. And there, the chapter on this starts with a hedge fund manager or CEO should never pay a lower tax rate than a teacher or firefighter. A company with billions of dollars in profits should not pay zero dollars in taxes.

It also goes on to say the trickle-down economics doesn't work and has never worked. So to that end, it highlights all the times the Democrats have tried to lower taxes only for Republicans to block them, such as when Republicans blocked the renewal of a pandemic-era child tax credit that saved about 40 million families up to $3,600 per child per year, or how they want to defund the IRS's free tax filing tool, which was successfully piloted this year, without saving a lot of people a ton on fees, cutting out annoying companies like TurboTax, which only exists because of lobbying against the IRS

having its own system. Also, to offset the tax cuts for most Americans, the party wants larger tax burdens for the wealthiest Americans and corporations. Stuff like a minimum 25% tax rate on billionaires and an end on capital gains for millionaires, so they pay the same rate on investment income as on wages. And there are a ton of other numbers to throw around here, but something that's been highlighted that really stood out was that corporations are seeing record margins, but their share of federal taxes has fallen below 10%, down from 30% in the 1950s. But also, none of that tax policy should be surprising, since it's like Democratic Policy 101. Paid leave also stood out, with the party wanting a program that would

give Americans 12 weeks paid leave to deal with the birth of a child, to take care of an ill family member, or many other circumstances. It also noted that America is the world's only advanced economy not to guarantee paid leave, and saying that the vast majority of employers don't offer it, and nearly three-quarters of private sector employees don't have paid family leave through their jobs. And then the last thing on businesses is that the document goes really hard on blaming them for the huge increase in prices lately. Like, obviously, inflation played a role, but the party is emphasizing that while profit margins continued to rise for companies, they also took the opportunity to hike up the prices.

Also other big policy pushes include shifting energy jobs away from things like coal and oil and towards clean energy, which has been a mission of the party for over a decade now. Education also is a huge segment dedicated to it, including the emphasis on making sure young kids have access to preschool. With that and allowing parents to work more, and so the party sees it as a win-win. The Dems also really push that a post-secondary education is a major policy point, and notably there, they're not saying that you need to go to college, especially with the rising costs, but even going to a trade school would be sufficient to propel most people well into the middle class. And there, at the same time, it wants to lower the loan burden on professions like teachers, which are already severely underpaid. Now, with all that said, and while understanding I'm not hitting every

single policy point, because again, 90 pages, one thing that the entire agenda was silent on was an arms embargo Regarding Israel with it just in general saying that it supports Israel while at the same time pushing for a ceasefire Which is probably not what the pro-palestinian protesters out here at the DNC are going to want to see right now Which on that note is gonna be one of the things to keep our eyes peeled for with reports saying that it's expected that there Will be tens of thousands of protesters across at least six major protests. But for now, we're gonna have to wait to see how today and just really this whole week is gonna play out. And then, for those of you looking to kickstart a business, showcase homemade crafts, start a personal blogger, maybe even sell merch, I got a great solution for you. Because any business, hobby, or side hustle, it needs an

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squarespace.com slash phil. And just remember when you're ready to launch to use offer code phil for 10% off your first purchase. That's squarespace.com slash phil or just scan the QR code on screen. And then we've got to talk about Swifties for Trump, which may sound insane when it hits your ears, but I mean, it was trending all over the weekend. Right, a major part of the conversation of Taylor Swift fans supporting Donald Trump for president stemmed from this viral TikTok,

with the creators saying that a number of Swifties are now backing Donald Trump after three of Taylor's shows were canceled in Vienna because of an alleged terror threat. And a lot of them are just saying, you know, if Trump was in office, this would have never, ever happened. Right, and that video has gotten hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok, but it also quickly made its way over to X, where it's been shared countless times by Trump supporters. Although this,

as many on the other side have claimed the whole thing, doesn't make any sense, saying things like, how I sleep knowing the Swifties for Trump motherfuckers aren't actually Swifties and have never once genuinely sat down and listened to Taylor Swift speak about her opinions on Trump. And there, many pointing to when Taylor very openly spoke out against Trump back in 2020 and threw her support behind Biden and Kamala Harris. But as this idea spread online, more and more AI-generated and fake images have popped up depicting Swifties and even Taylor herself backing Trump's campaign, with Trump himself even reposting several of them on Truth Social, including this propaganda-style poster of Taylor dressed up as Uncle Sam.

And among the pictures was a headline claiming that Swifties are turning to Trump after the Vienna shows got canceled. And it is worth noting here that the original post clearly labeled that headline as satire, a label that is also clearly visible in the screenshot Trump shared. But that also didn't stop him from saying, quote,

"'I accept' on his post." Notably, not everything is fake. Right among the AI-generated images is one real picture, for example, of 19-year-old Jenna wearing a homemade Swifties for Trump t-shirt, with her reportedly confirming that the image is genuine and it was taken at a Wisconsin Trump rally back in June.

And we've also seen an unofficial Swifties for Trump page on X with a little under 4,000 followers. But there's also, as there's a Swifties for Kamala page that was made back in July with over 60,000 followers. And reportedly, Kamala's campaign has even been in contact with that group's founders to ask how they can support the initiative. And while that's said, in July with over 60,000 followers. And reportedly, Kamala's campaign has even been in contact with that group's founders to ask how they can support the initiative. And while that's said, as far as Taylor herself,

she has not openly endorsed either candidate for the 2024 election. Though you have many saying, considering her previous support for Biden and Harris and opinions about Trump, it seems unlikely that she'd move to the MAGA camp. And this is you have people saying, it's weird that Donald Trump is reposting AI-generated

images of people supporting him. One, in general, but two, especially considering the accusations he hurled at the Kamala Harris campaign last week, saying that she used AI to fill out crowd shots, which is just not true. But for now, we'll have to wait to see if Taylor Swift or her team, they respond in any way,

whether with a statement or actual endorsement, or I mean, a lawsuit. But in the meantime, it's all in the court of public opinion, so I gotta pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? And then, so did you know that you could get hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars

by ratting out your boss? Right, all you need is actionable intel that they're evading their taxes and boom, you can actually get a cut of what they owe the IRS. With that, all thanks to the agency's whistleblower office. Though notably, they only accept liabilities of $2 million or more. So maybe this asshole you work for underreports their income, maybe they claim false deductions, credits, or exemptions, or maybe they just don't file their return. Either way, you tip off the IRS, they review the claim, and if it's worth pursuing, they throw it to their auditors. And then, when it's all said and done,

you get anywhere from 15 to 30% of the whole. Which again, if you're talking about many millions or tens of millions of unpaid taxes, that could be a big payday. And in fact, since its creation in 2006, the program has raked in $7 billion in total, with $1.2 billion of that going to the whistleblowers. And when you look at the data,

you see that 2018 was actually the best year for the program by far, with the IRS collecting nearly $1.5 billion, and over $300 million of which went to whistleblowers. But then, those numbers fell off a cliff the following year, and they've slowly declined ever since. So there's this question of, well, why is that? Why is the program struggling?

And well, as it turns out, the answer is actually several answers, starting with problems inside the IRS itself. Right, the agency's budget and staff have shrunk over the past decade and a half, so it's got fewer resources to deal with a growing workload. So for example, if you're a whistleblower,

you currently have to mail your claim to an office in Utah, which is why the program's head, John Hinman, has told the Washington Post that there will be an online portal next year and that he wants to purchase software to keep track of the claims. With Amit then keeping a list of 78 total ideas he would like to implement. And he actually might be able to do it thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act beefing up his office and budget. Right through that extra

manpower, it'll be easier to sift through that mountain of dead end or extremely dense claims. Whether it be people trying to get back at their exes or corporate insiders who insist on strict secrecy in their complicated briefs. But no matter how much money you throw at the IRS, there are just some issues with the process that some argue make it unsalvageable. Right, first off, just completing the initial audit and sending the taxpayer a bill could take years. And even then, the taxpayer can challenge the finding in court, which could take several more years. During which time, the taxpayers' lawyers have time and money on their side, and they can run circles around the underfunded and understaffed agency lawyers. And then, even if the IRS wins, collecting that debt can actually

take another decade. And even then, there's a two-year waiting period to ensure that the taxpayer doesn't try to claim the money back in a refund. So on average, it actually takes more than 11 years for the whistleblower to get paid, though it can reach up to two decades. And ironically, after all that, a chunk of the reward gets taken out in taxes. So even though the payouts can be huge, it's argued that the process just takes too long for it to actually be worth the whistleblower and their attorney's time. With one person even telling the Post, the waiting and the lack of communication and the uncertainty really weigh on you, which is why agency officials and lawmakers are debating how to streamline the process,

but even if we fix this, it's only one small device for collecting unpaid taxes, right? The so-called tax gap, which is the difference between taxes owed and taxes paid on time, it reached $688 billion in 2021, and the agency was only able to narrow that gap by $63 billion through enforcement efforts and retrieval of late payments. So in short, there is a lot of work to do. But even regular people can play a part in being whistleblowers. Then, you know, while it feels like it, there's a lot more happening in politics than just the DNC this week. Because another big thing is that the Republican-led Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways

and Means committees in the House have released a nearly 300-page report accusing Joe Biden of, quote, impeachable conduct. In fact, you have James Comer, the chairman of the Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees in the House have released a nearly 300-page report accusing Joe Biden of, quote, impeachable conduct. In fact, you have James Comer, the chairman of the Oversight Committee, arguing that this is the strongest case for impeachment of a sitting president the House of Representatives has ever investigated. And with that, the report is claiming that the totality of the corrupt conduct uncovered is egregious. With it summing up Biden's alleged offenses by saying he conspired to commit influence peddling and griff. And that, quote, in doing so, he abused his office and by repeatedly lying about his abuse of office, defrauded the United States to enrich his family. But in reality, while Republicans are trying to pass the whole thing off as a home run,

it's not clear to anyone else that they're even getting the walk to first. I mean, despite all this purported evidence, they actually stopped short of alleging any criminal wrongdoing by the president. And they didn't actually make any formal recommendation for the House to move forward with impeachment. But also, and this is the big one, they're playing fast and loose with the word evidence. In fact, according to the New York Times, the whole case relies entirely on circumstantial evidence and inference to make a case against the President. And to make it clear why they're saying that, we've got to look a little more closely at the accusations being made.

One, they say as Vice President, Joe knowingly used his influence to make money for himself and his family, with this largely being tied to his son Hunter's business dealings. And two, they're claiming as president, he and his administration obstructed the House's impeachment inquiry and the criminal investigation of Hunter. And to start with the second one, I should say that Republicans actually admit they have no direct evidence that Joe ordered any interference into the DOJ investigation into Hunter Biden, or the investigation into Hunter was launched under Trump and led by a Trump-appointed attorney. And then the Biden team kept that guy on the case precisely to counteract accusations of political interference. And so with that, A.G. Merrick Garland has insisted

that no one at the White House directed him or anyone else on how to handle the Hunter Biden investigation. And notably, of course, that investigation has also resulted in a conviction, with another trial coming soon related to the charges of tax evasion. But then that brings us to the first accusation

about selling, influencing, getting rich. Right, because Hunter, along with Joe's brother James, are at the center of this whole thing, with a report claiming their entire business centered around hinting at, alluding to, or outright promising what Joe Biden's power could do for certain foreign interests. And with that, they allegedly received tens of millions of dollars by leading people to believe that such payments would provide them access to and influence with the vice president. Hunter, for example, reportedly received two diamonds from Chinese companies and

a $142,000 sports car from a Kazakh businessman. And then another Chinese company reportedly gave James' wife a credit card to use for personal expenses. But there, you have people saying whether we like it or not, it is not against the law for the families of powerful people to profit from who they're related to.

With a number of people there then pointing to Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who received hundreds of millions of dollars from Persian Gulf nations. And in fact, House Democrats have tracked at least $7.8 million from 20 foreign governments that Trump's own businesses received during his presidency. And so while Hunter and James may have taken advantage of that, the key question is whether Joe Biden knew about it and

was involved. And that is actually where the case really sort of falls apart. One key witness was Hunter's former business partner, Devin Archer, with him being mentioned in the report 165 times. And he told lawmakers that Hunter Biden put his father on speakerphone to talk while in meetings with his business partners, and even saying that Joe Biden stopped by dinners with him sometimes. And notably, he did say that these tactics sent a signal that Hunter Biden had access to his father. But Archer also said that Joe was never involved in conversations about business. And in a part of his testimony that was omitted from the report, he said he had no knowledge of any wrongdoing by Biden. But on the other hand, one former Biden family business associate did actually testify that quote Joe Biden was more than a participant in And a beneficiary of his family's business He was an enabler despite being buffered by a complex scheme to maintain plausible deniability with that you have people saying that is one guy That is not hard evidence and notably it is also the opposite of what a whole list of other Associates have said that Joe Biden as a private citizen and as vice president was never involved in any of his family's foreign business

Dealing and so with all, you have a White House spokesperson releasing a statement saying, After wasting nearly two years and millions of taxpayer dollars, House Republicans have finally given up on their wild goose chase. This failed stunt will only be remembered for how it became an embarrassment that their own members distanced themselves from, as they only managed to turn up evidence that refuted their false and baseless conspiracy theories. But notably there, some Republicans are not done yet. Right with Biden no longer running for office, we've already seen how they're trying to turn this on Kamala.

With one example being the report now making more than 20 mentions of the Biden-Harris administration. But in previous releases from the committees, it typically only made direct reference to Joe. And then this, as you have folks like Matt Gaetz tweeting, "'We have much more work to do to assess "'how much Kamala Harris and other senior officials knew "'when they knew it and what role they took

"'in covering up for the empty suit in the Oval Office. With the likes of MTG trying the same thing, writing, Kamala Harris is virtually an accomplice at this point. So, you know, we're gonna have to wait to see how all this develops. You know, will this finally be the end of the accusations against Biden?

And with Harris getting the official nomination this week, what happens next? But that, my friends, is where your Monday evening, Tuesday morning dive into the news is gonna end. I'll let you know, I can already tell, tomorrow is gonna be a big show. We'll also have Governor Josh Shapiro on with us. With that said, I love yo faces,

and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.