The Philip DeFranco Show - The Trump Mail-In Voting Problem Should Terrify You BUT What Everyone is Getting Wrong About It

Episode Date: August 25, 2026

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And then there's more we gotta dive into in just a minute, but first let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, August is a great time for a reset before fall gets chaotic and my closet, it could use some adult supervision. That's where today's sponsor, Quince comes in. Quince makes fewer better pieces from premium materials, the things you'll reach for constantly. And I really like their staples like organic cotton teas and Mongolian cashmere sweaters at work all day and into the evening. Or basically, clothes that make you look put together without looking like you spend an hour planning it. Their denim and Taylor Chino start at 60 bucks with a fit, structure, and quality that you'd expect from a luxury designer brand. And then you've got things like the cotton silk short sleeve crew neck sweater.

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So hey, upgrade your everyday by scanning that QR code or going to quince.com slash defranco for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. And they're now available in Canada and the UK as well. So that's QU-I-N-C-E dot com slash DeFranco. Quince.com slash DeFranco. So the Supreme Court just gave Trump the green light to reshape mail-in boating in his image, but there's also more to the story. Jesse Waters and Abdul-El Sayed devolved into a shouting match on Fox News about dinglings while there's also this Asan Piker controversy. A real-life Spider-Man who started beating up on far-right provocateurs, which just just unmasked. Target just got caught trying to sell a Jim Crow style kids costume, and I can't wait to see a bunch of y'all in Boston and Philadelphia this Friday and Saturday. We're talking about all of that and even more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco's show you daily dive into the news,

starting with this. If you just take a look at social media right now, you will see literally dozens of Democratic governors and congressmen flipping their shit about the same thing, calling it illegal, unconstitutional, undemocratic an attempt to rig the election for Republicans. Because in a six to three decision along partisan lines, the Supreme Court just gave Donald Trump the green light to clamp down on mail-in voting, at least for now. And that's because the ruling that we just got is not the final word,

and we'll get into exactly why and who's fighting back, but first, we gotta do a quick refresher on the executive order that created this entire mess. Because you had Trump, signing it back in March, and it did three big things. First, it told the Department of Homeland Security to start compiling lists of US citizens in each state. Second, it directed federal officials

to send those lists to state officials, presumably so that they could purge their voter rolls. And third, it prohibited the US Postal Service from delivering mail ballots from anyone not on those lists. And Trump's so-called justification for all this is that, needs to stop Democrats from rigging elections with massive voter fraud. Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating. I call it mail-in cheating. But key thing, pretty much every credible expert and reasonable person was like,

yeah, that's definitely not a thing. You are delusional and we're not going to let you get away with it. And so more than 20 Democratic State Attorneys General sued to block the executive order, and in late June, a federal judge granted their request, saying that the Postal Service does not have the authority to decide who votes and who does it. In fact, neither does the president. With the writing, the Constitution does not grant the president any specific powers over elections, and she even underlined the words, does not just for extra emphasis. Within an appeals court, agreeing, and at that point, Trump's team got desperate.

And so seemingly, they went to the Supreme Court, they got on their knees with tears and their eyes, and they said, pretty please, will you give us an emergency ruling? And while that's how we got to this latest decision, it is also very, very important to clarify exactly what it does, because a lot of people do seem confused about this. The Supreme Court did not rule that Trump's executive order was lawful. Right, that question, it's gonna have to be taken up later,

probably pretty soon since the midterms are right around the corner. What the court actually said is that the lawsuit challenging the order, wasn't valid, so Trump could go ahead with enforcing it. But then also, here's where things get a little weird, because the same federal judge who originally blocked the order didn't just block it once, she did it twice. Right, first, in the case brought by the blue states that just got overturned, and a second time,

in a different case that the Supreme Court has not touched. So in a fact, Trump is still blocked from doing what he wants, but not as much as he was before. Right, so now, while his USPS cannot refuse to deliver ballots, his DHS can start compiling those voter lists, and his DOJ can prosecute people who give ballots to anyone ineligible to vote, which definitely does matter, because you have critics arguing that when you put those two things together,

it looks an awful lot like he's saying, hey, if you send ballots to anyone not on my list, I'll send the DOJ after you. But now you also have Trump wanting to get rid of that last remaining block on his order. And you have his team threatening to take it to an appeals court if the judge doesn't walk it back by 5.30 p.m. Eastern time today. Though I'm also not sure how much of a difference I would actually make, given that a dozen red states have already appealed it.

And so now with the Supreme Court's latest decision loosening the cuffs on Trump, you have many Democratic states vowing to put up a fight in the courtroom. And actually, speaking for the court's three liberal justices, you have Katanji Brown Jackson, warning that the ruling needlessly injects chaos and uncertainty into the upcoming midterm elections. In adding, it also lets another shoe drop in the Kafkaesque nightmare that our precedents have been steadily creating for certain plaintiffs who seek to bring election-related challenges. But the conservative majority was like, look, the plaintiffs just brought this lawsuit too early. Arguing the harms that they're suing over, they just haven't happened yet, saying they're conjectural or hypothetical.

So which you then have critics saying, okay, two things. First of all, of course the harms haven't happened yet. We are suing to prevent that, but also some of them have started to become real. Where you had the federal judge pointing out that Connecticut had already begun shifting election workers away from other duties to prepare for the order to go into effect and Several more states had already purchased ballot envelopes that wouldn't be in compliance with the order But then also while the court's majority didn't believe the states had suffered real harm It did agree that the Trump administration was quote likely to suffer irreparable harm To which critics were like yeah, we know what harm that is Trump himself told us It'll guarantee the midterms. It'll guarantee the midterms

If you don't get it big trouble And in the meantime as it's waiting for a final decision from the Supreme Court, Trump's Postal Service just released its final draft of the new rules that it would enforce to comply with his executive order. And so first off, it would refuse to deliver mail ballots in states that don't share voter data with the federal government. Second, it would refuse to deliver ballots or people not on its approved list. And finally, it would require states to put unique trackable bar codes on every ballot envelope so that it could verify that it's approved. And while with this, they argue that there's already a precedent for the USPS putting barcodes

on certain types of mail such as fake bombs and cremated remains, you had the Democratic election lawyer Mark Elias just mocking the hell out of that reasoning. They say, quote, although ballot mail does not present precisely the same operational issues as cremated remains or replica explosives, it is unquestionably sensitive mail that raises unique operational considerations. To say that pieces of paper in an envelope do not present precisely the same operation issues as cremated remains or fake explosives, seems to be a bit of an understatement. It doesn't present anything similar. Have these people lost their minds? And so yeah, we're going to have to see if any of this fully comes to fruition, but understand,

the clock is ticking. Election Day is just or is still a couple of months away, depending on how you're viewing time, but some states, they're about to start sending out mail ballots as early as next week. And then actually, as we have our eyes on that and we wait to see how that plays out, we should also talk about how in another sitcom moment from real political news, we've got to talk about Abdul El-Sayed and Jesse Waters yelling about dinglings on primetime TV. Because you're the Michigan Senate candidate doing an interview with Fox's resident smart ass, and they initially agreed to have a wholesome conversation about real issues. Of course, this is Fox News, and so the interview just devolved into complete chaos because that's more Waters style.

And while you had them clashing on issues like immigration, the Iran war, and taxing the rich, by far the most buzzworthy moment was when they got on the topic of gender affirming surgery for minors. So, Abdul, you're a doctor, right? I am. So you think it's okay for a parent to slap you? Believe me, so just go out Columbia University. You think that's okay? I mean, do you...

So, do you really want to have this conversation? Are you circumcised? Yeah, yeah, but I mean, that's a personal question, okay, doctor. So you probably should want to move on. You probably should want to move on. And circumcision's different than castration. I think it's a problem that you think that you get to decide

what happens between a parent, a doctor, and a patient. And I'm just saying that, yes, circumcision is surgery. on a kid's dingling. So if you really want to bring that up, you can. I just think you guys are really selective about how you want to talk about these things. Abdul, Michigan's not going for that. That is sick stuff.

Like, Jesse, you have not asked me one time about the issues that people actually care about in Michigan. You don't want to talk about gas prices. You don't want to talk about groceries. You don't want to talk about health care. You don't want to talk about the stupid trade war that's about the destroying Michigan's economy. We don't want to talk about the actual war.

That's destroying, that is destroying our own military. You don't seem to want to talk about any of those things. You want to bring up all this culture war. that, you know, I'm not here to fight a culture war. We talked about the war, we talked about gas. Right, and all of that, it's kind of like what we've talked about before. You've got a lot of these right-wing politicians and right-wing pundits like Waters, loving to fixate on this particular culture war issue, right?

It's something that either is not happening or is very rarely happening. All instead of talking about the more boring everyday issues that affect everyone. And so with El-Sayed, you see that he's not advocating for gender-referming care for minors, he's just arguing that it is a personal issue for families and their medical providers to figure out. And you've got him pointing out that Waters is using that topic, to avoid talking about a variety of very pressing issue. With Waters then looking uncomfortable, scrambling, raising his voice, and resorting to his favorite adjectives, wacky and sick.

But that is also not to say that stoking the culture war fires is not effective on especially right-wingers, but also independence. And while El-Sayed, yes, was able to beat Haley Stevens in the primary, even though she was outspending him like crazy, you now have El-Syed campaigning for the general election, which is going to be a very real test. Right, and this is Michigan, which not only is a swing state, but one of the most important swing states. And it's a state that Trump won in 2016, lost in 2020, but then,

again in 2024. Because you've got El-Sayed to figure out how to earn the votes of the whole Democratic base there, not just the progressive winner. And so with that, you're already seeing him adjusting his campaign strategy to hopefully make that happen, with him sharing his message on unfriendly platforms like Fox so he can reach swing voters. And also very recently, you saw him distancing himself from some of the most famous progressives in the part. For example, at a new CNN segment, Dana Bash showed how El-Said recently edited his ads

to exclude Bernie Sanders. We noticed something really telling about Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Syad's new ads. He's recycling some from the Democratic primary, but with a really big change. Check this one out. This is featuring his grandparents from the Democratic primary. He knows what things cost. Now he's running around with Bernie Sanders

trying to change politics. We love him and so will you. Now, of course, he's running in the general election against Republican Mike Rogers. The same ad was released, no mention of Bernie Sanders. He knows what things cost. He learned his Michigan values in our small town. Take it from us.

We love him, and so will you. He's also been distancing himself from Hassan Piker, who in addition to being one of Fox News' favorite boogeyman, has also been in the center of a lot of debates regarding the Democratic Party. With El-Said, specifically, you saw him distancing himself after Piker said that American Jewish support for Israel could lead someone to take action against Jews in the U.S.

Right, and for a little context there, Piker was talking about Michigan State Senator Jeremy Moss, refusing to back El-Syad, and he was actually expressing concern about rising anti-Semitism. Right, in the full clip, he was emphasizing the danger of tying all American and Jewish people to Israel right now. And so you've also seen him now defending himself

against people he says are trying to twist his words. And so you had El-Sayed saying, my commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own daughters, saying anti-Semitism is a scourge and we need to address it in all its forms and I stand against any rhetoric that puts the community at risk. But adding, I wanna be crystal clear,

nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople. And while politicians and pundits try to make this race about a Twitch streamer, we're gonna be talking about gas, groceries, good schools, and healthcare. And so again, trying to steer the focus away from divisive drama

and towards fundamental issues that affect everyone. And generally, his whole strategy looks something like saying yes to tough interviews, always bringing the conversation back to issues of affordability and health care, denouncing anti-Semitism without compromising his own views or criticisms of the Israeli government and having a viral social media moment here and there. But he's essentially taken a page or two out of the Zoran Mamdani playbook. And in fact, scourge, that is the same word that Mamdani is repeatedly used to describe anti-Semitism. And the comparisons also don't end there because, while Piker supported Mamdani's campaign,

Maldani also had to distance himself from the streamer, calling his pass remarks about 9-11, objectionable and reprehensible. And so one of the questions in the being is, Abdul-Said, is he like Mamdani in that he'll be very skilled at always bringing the focus of the conversation back to affordability. Read his messaging about freezing the rent, offering fast and free buses, providing accessible childcare. It's resonated with a lot of voters in New York City, and it's easy to remember. And now Sayyed's own similar campaign slogan is getting money out of politics, putting money in your pocket and passing Medicare for all. But of course, Michigan has a very different electorate than New York City, so we're gonna have to wait a very different electorate than New York City, so we're gonna have to to see, you know, does he court the Dems? Does he get the swing voters?

Can he beat Mike Rogers in November? And it's incredibly important, right? If he does not win that seat, it's gonna be so much harder for the Dems to take control of the Senate. And then we've got some huge news we've gotta dive into, but first, two quick things. One, if you were even remotely near Boston

or Philadelphia this Friday and Saturday, I wanna see a beautiful face. Because I'm doing a live tour across the country right now. Last weekend, I was in Seattle and Portland, amazing people, amazing shows. And this weekend we'll be performing and doing a live show

at the Wilbur and the Fillmore. Within these other eight, city soon after. And you should grab your tickets at crashingouttore.com. I got a link in the top of the description as well as the top comment. And then also too, I'll be right back after a quick word from our sponsor. I want to give a shout out to all you beautiful bastards that entered our weekly $500 Seekeekeek giveaways. Right, because today's sponsor, Seekek has doled out nearly $60,000 to you guys to get you off the couch and into the comedy club, the stadium or the concert hall since 2024 and it's been awesome. And so I got to say, if you haven't done this yet, do it.

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with the disease. Or with the New York Times saying this represents an occupational safety hazard with little comparison in the American workplace. And as far as the specifics of this study, it was just published today in the medical journal BMJ and it started by looking at over 1,700 former NFL players who died between 2008 and 2021. Right. And because CTE can only be diagnosed by analyzing the brain after death that meant that researchers depend on donated brains to study the disease. And so they specifically narrowed in on the deaths between 2016 and 2021, which had the highest rates of brain donors, 235 out of 878. And so then, among all deaths in those five years, 215 had confirmed cases of CTE, which is 24.5%. But again, 643 brains were not examined and some of those may have had CTE, too,

which is then why the study's lead author saying that 25% is on the low end, where the maximum was at 97% but the author says that the true rate is somewhere in the middle, right, which at the very least sounds right because CTE is a former brain damage caused by repeated head injuries, even injuries that may not have been severe enough to initially cause concussions. And the symptoms include memory loss, problems with concentration, mood disturbances like aggression and depression, suicidal thoughts, and more. And while it often impacts any athletes who play any sport with tackling and head trauma as well as combat vets, it's really becomes synonymous with football players. And so one of the reasons this is such a major

study is that because in most cases of CTE, they're not publicly disclosed. Most NFL players, they don't end up getting their brains examined. So we actually know very little about how many cases there truly are within the sport. And it's really eye-opening the actual players. Are you at the times, for example, speaking to former Tampa Bay Buccaneers player Randy Grimes, who played with several athletes who were later diagnosed with CTE and he currently runs a non-profit, counseling retired players. And regarding this, he said, I bet the real number is a lot bigger. But even knowing this, he said the idea of CTE kind of remains an unspoken horror among football players, right? They don't really discuss it. Saying it's not something that's brought up. It's not something that players want to talk about. And saying, we could probably move forward fast. in our research if we did talk more about it. But players don't want to do it. They don't want to think they have it. They don't want to think they're seeing it. And adding deep down, we all know that probably

the majority of us are going to have some form of CTE. And as sobering and as upsetting as that is, it's also not that surprising, considering the NFL has repeatedly been accused of ignoring and downplaying the risk of CTE. And actually, for their part, they responded to this study by saying, the NFL continuously strives to make the game of football safer, including by implementing strategies to reduce concussions and head impacts.

Saying the NFL remains committed to ensuring that the NFL community has access to a robust and expanding set of resources to enhance their physical and mental well-being. And so actually with that, there's been a debate on whether or not today's study actually reflects today's NFL. Because if this focused on players who died between 2016 and 2021, that means their careers likely took place in the decades prior, with many likely playing before 2005 when the first case of CTE was diagnosed in an NFL player and prompted initial waves.

But you have others in the field saying, hey, whatever the NFL's done, we have no proof that rates of CTE are actually decreasing. Right, just last month, for example, we learned that former Cowboys player Marshawn Neeland, who died just 24 from suicide, And in a release of his diagnosis, the CEO of the Concussion and CTE Foundation noted, Mr. Neeland played in the modern era of concussion protocols and better helmets, and yet he still developed CTE, saying we have no reason to believe the current generation is at a lower risk of CTE than previous generation. Concussion protocols do not prevent CTE because CTE is

caused by repeated head impacts, not just concussions. And regarding this study, he also added, And I'm sure there are going to be people who believe that this is a historical study of how we used to play. But here's my thoughts on that. There are some rule-changed to prevent intentional head-to-head hits and helmets might be a little bit better. But offsetting that, players are bigger, stronger, and faster than they've ever been before. They're starting younger than they did 50 years ago and seasons are longer. So we don't know how to extrapolate this study of that population to the modern game, but future studies will explore that.

One thing the researchers do seem to agree on is that CTE is preventable, right? With the studies lead author explaining to the times, we know it's causing it. It's a neurodegenerative disease where, we know and have complete control over the risk. And because the biggest predictor of CTE is the cumulative force of hits over a whole lifetime, including ones that happen before a player ever makes it to the NFL, he says,

we can change that cumulative force without changing the game of football. It's saying that you can reduce risk by having children, refraining from playing tackle football, or having all teams at all levels, eliminate hits during practices. Or with the thinking being that removing any instances where someone might take a hit, it can lower risk.

And then you're also seeing that there are efforts to try to diagnose all this among living people. And you've got some former NFL players participating in studies that could bring answers on that front. But also one of the things there is those answers are not going to come overnight. And while we're going to have to wait to see what happens from there, another place where we saw essentially a massive change and scandal and outrage stemming from something that happened overnight is with Stars and Stripes. Right because Stars and Stripes, it's a military newspaper that's largely funded by the Department of Defense, but it's always enjoyed editorial independence until now. Right, because you just saw three major figures within the Stars and Stripe staff getting the acts after daring to suggest that Trump DoD could possibly be overreaching into their publication. And hitting on what a big deal this is, like we have to go back a little. If you don't know, Stars and Stripes was first published back in the Civil War

and it was revived during World War I. It's a newspaper specifically for American military service members and their families with articles about new tactics involving drone, service members, facing food insecurity, and even recent coverage about the apparent suicide attempts from those aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. It reportedly averages over a million viewers per day, even releasing print editions overseas or service members in more remote locations. And like I told you, to this point, it had enjoyed walking that tightrope of having both governmental funding and editorial independence. But in recent months, you've had that balance being put to the test. Back in January, you had Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell,

saying that Stars and Stripes needs to, quote, refocus its content away from woke distractions, which ended up kind of just being the beginning about a line of collapsing dominoes. And in March, you had a memo coming down from the DoD called Modernization of Stars and Stripes operations, which did appear to reaffirm the paper's independence, but followed it up with a mandate

that all content be consistent with good order and discipline, which is a very vague phrase, typically used in military justice. And then you had the papers' embudsman, Jacqueline Smith, getting fired. And it was her job to save the paper's editorial independence and upon learning about the total prohibition on anything from the AP appearing in their paper She wrote a column that opened with Pete Hegset doesn't want you to see cartoons in this newspaper anymore And two weeks after that she was out of a job saying she knew that she was poking the bear

But she didn't expect that kind of retaliation and then she added by having a government agency say you cannot print this It's the beginning of saying more you cannot print that or you must print this it's editorial control and actually one of the biggest outlets to bring attention to all these issues was CBS Sunday morning They interviewed some of the paper's leadership last month including the editor and she Eric Slavin, who was asked where the line was between his loyalty to the paper and his loyalty to the Pentagon. Do you have red lines in your mind? Yes, I do. Give me a red line. Well, don't run a perfectly accurate story.

Run this instead. Here it is written by the Pentagon. That would be a red line. We need to be able to provide independent news to service members. If we can't do that, if we were turned into something other than that, if we were public relations, yeah, that's the foxhole. And that was also echoed by Laura Cortzi, a Middle East correspondent based in Germany. I'm working for Stars and Stripes, not for the Pentagon, not for any administration,

not for any policymaker, I'm here to cover the military community. But apparently those comments were too much with both Corti and Slavin getting termination notices last week. And he with the official reason, reportedly being insubordination connected to the CBS Sunday news appearance. And it wasn't even just them.

There's also Max Lederer Jr., the longtime publisher who announced his retirement days before all this happened. And you had him citing conflict with the top brass and saying it has, quote, become clear that my philosophy of leadership and my understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes differ in fundamental ways from the direction the leadership of the Department of Defense has for the organization. So with these three firings or effective firings, you saw them making headlines, especially as they started talking about it with different outlets. Are you at Slavin going on BBC to outline just how muddled things are gone between the military and Stars and Stripes and just the military

communication with the public in general? They say they are transparent, but at the same time, from what I've seen of many people in public affairs, essentially the military's public relations arm here, is that they're less and less inclined to speak on the record. And so that lack of information, particularly at such a critical time, where you see combat in Iran, where there are tensions in the Asia Pacific,

where the Ukraine war continues, this is a time where we really need to hear what's happening. And if journalists aren't able to have, frank conversations with the Pentagon that, uh, I don't think that's a great sign. He also mentioned stars and stripes violating their own rules and bringing on an active duty Navy captain named William Urban as a deputy publisher without consulting anyone, saying for years the paper's been disconnected from the military chain of command and he's not sure what the future looks like from there and then adding, I certainly hope stars and stripes can remain independent

in some way. I'm doubting, I haven't given up on that, but time will tell and I think there needs to be a reckoning. You then also had Corti speaking with CNN about how her own pink slip caught her completely off guard. As you said, I feel like my comments were exactly in line with historic precedent and also the Pentagon's own recent statement, reaffirming our editorial independence. And so to me, that was simply stating a matter of fact and a matter of common knowledge. But they're also going on Twitter to say that her termination and the reason they gave is, quote, to shame for the institution and service members who swore to defend the Constitution and deserve the right to a free and independent press. And then as far as the paper's response to all of this, you had the chair of the Stars and Stripes Publishers advisory board saying that they are, quote,

deeply concerned that these actions further threatened to interrupt the editorial independence that is essential to stars and stripes credibility and its ability to serve the military community with trusted independent journalism. Though with all this, you then have William Urban, that Navy captain that the Pentagon placed as a deputy publisher telling a very different story. Are you with him saying that the top brass, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth's office, are, quote, committed to the editorial independence of Stripes and adding, it is time to take them at their word and get on with the business of reporting. But as far as what that reporting is going to look like, right, whether it goes full DOD propaganda or does maintain independence completely or some independence that remains to be seen. But personally, I would add, given what we've seen from this administration, but also specifically from Pete Hegsef, I'm not confident. There'd be Hegset Trump, a number of these top officials who have been planted

in there, they seem to not like any voices that are not repeating what they are saying. And they've used every lever to bury anyone that is not seen as a complete ally. And then actually from that, I'm going to cram in some more news you need to know. But first, a quick word from our sponsor. I'll feel completely on top of my money until I actually check and realize three different things renewed that week. But thankfully, today's sponsor, Rocket Money, it makes it so much easier for me to stay on top of everything. It helps me keep track all the financial stuff that's easy to lose sight of. I think due dates, credit card balances, free trials, subscriptions, that random annual charge that you forgot was coming. And Rocket Money helps take a lot of that

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and unlock even more features when you sign up for premium. But then, diving back into the news for your final block today, let's cram in some more news you need to know quickly. Starting with the fact that your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, he didn't keep it so friendly when Jake Lang showed up in Minneapolis last Saturday. Because that is when Lang, who's a J-6er, was set to lead a rally outside of their city hall. And he came as he normally does with outrageously racist protest signs, missing off the crowd a counter-protesters as much as he could. And while that crowd wasn't allowed to have their cars on the street where it was all happening, when Lang came, his crew drove him not just on the street, but on the sidewalk in front of city hall with MPD surrounding them.

With police officials saying that was only because everything happened so fast that they didn't have time to redirect them. But whatever the case, in that moment, all of it made for a recipe for a recipe, for disaster. You would counter protesters throwing all kinds of stuff at Lang and his crew, water balloons, glitter, even spraying what looks like silly string at one point. And it wasn't long after things heated up that you saw someone dressed as Spider-Man hopped on Lang's trunk and immediately going to work, throw him blow after blow. With someone then bringing out the pepper spray to break it up, and from there, after giving police a slip a few times, the guy was eventually in cuffs. Right, and since then, those videos have gone viral with people naming the whole thing, Spider-Man, a brand-new

fade. And the man behind the mask has also become the internet's favorite mask vigilante, though we now know exactly who he is, William Nicholas Love. And that's because he was one of the 11 people arrested in the chaos of it all and he's facing assault charges. It's also his Lang himself got locked up with officials accusing him of starting a riot, though now officials are saying that charge didn't stick. As far as love, he's out and there is some go-fund me set up to support it. Though I also want to note that for a number of people, this was bigger than, you know, just Jake Lang. Some people claiming Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey, and the police department defended

white supremacy that day. And adding, it's not just standing up against Jake Lang, we're standing up against him, Mayor Frey and the Minneapolis Police Department. Then also in the news, you just had Target pull a costume that it was selling on its website, and I promise you, there is not, There's no world where you are prepared for what you are about to see. Or you've got this kid's glows under blacklight circus clown Halloween costume, or, if you have eyes, it is a literal blackface-inspired Halloween costume.

It's complete with the kid in the picture or post like a Jim Crow painting. And Target didn't even try to save face here. As soon as this listing went viral, they took it down and issued an apology. Saying as a company, we know we got this wrong and we are deeply sorry. The costume is offensive and should never have been a part of our assortment. Saying we know this is especially hurtful for our black guests, team members, and partners. And adding removing the costume is an important first step and the company's looking closely at how this happened and what needs to change to ensure this won't happen again. But in no way did that take the heat off of

Because one, you have people asking how the hell did this costume even get approved on the site? Especially because the line this was seemingly sold under Hyde and Eek is reportedly a target-owned line. It's not some third-party seller and two Target's already on the outs with a lot of its old base for rolling back its DEI initiatives last year with many still boycotting and I doubt this convinces them to go back. Some even saying that those DEI initiatives might have actually helped them here. You also have the news and we should talk about the latest in the U.S. trade war with Canada, where because last weekend, Trump dropped 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian good. And with that, Canadian officials have already cranked up tariffs on some products. Now they're really fighting fire with fire. Right, because they just announced that they're going to match his tariffs dollar for

dollar and it all starts on September 8th. So similar to Trump's tariffs, this will hit around $20 billion worth of American imports, around 700 different products. And they'll be collecting the tariffs on a sliding scale of 50, 25 and 15% depending on the product. And American steel, aluminum, furniture, clothes, those are going to be in the 50% bracket. All while opinion polls show that most Canadians are in support of this type of response. Though I'll also say you have economists warning that there is a chance that they may not work out as expected.

Some saying that Canada's economy is about 112th the size of the U.S. economy, so its retaliatory tariffs will have the effect of a pea-shooter in a gun battle. You've got some experts worried that this move may actually hurt Canadian businesses in the long run. But there, you have Canadian officials also announcing a $7.5 billion relief package to help businesses affected by all this. And that includes an additional $1.5 billion

available through the regional tariff response initiative. They're helping businesses manage liquidity pressures and get more access to financing, among other things. And so it seems like they're trying to keep Canadian companies in mind while also understanding, even if they are one-twelfth the size of America, you have to fight back. And while we're going to have to wait to see how this plays out, this does represent a new low for U.S. trade relations with Canada. And now one of the main questions is if they'll keep going tit for tat. I mean, for example, Canada's automobile industry, it's already been hanging in the balance here. And just yesterday, Trump threatened to double his tariffs there to 50%, which would be detrimental to their car plans.

And he's now apparently considering renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America, which, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has said could bring more retaliatory measures. But for now, we'll wait to see how things play out, whether it be the sliding scale of pissing off our partners and also what it does to our economies. But that, my friend, you beautiful bastard, is the end of your Tuesday show. Thank you for watching. Thank you to be in a part of this community, whether it's two days or two decades. And also, thank you in advance to everyone coming out to crashing outtore.com. This last week, it honestly made me wish that all the shows were live shows. But hey, no matter what you do, I love yo faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.

Thank you.