The Philip DeFranco Show - The Trump Putin Problem Is Getting Worse & The Trump Zelensky Meeting Exposed A Lot...

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

The Trump Zelensky, Trump Putin, & Trump NATO Meetings Exposed a lot that we have to break down... You’re 30 seconds away from being debt free with PDS Debt. Get your free assessment and find the best option for you at https://PDSDebt.com/defranco LISTEN TO THE SHOW iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2V WATCH/LISTEN TO THE DR. MIKE PODCAST Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2CePXwDrvdQTes844wflKp?si=55a6b6049c4841ed Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCwzBkn59HQ iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-good-faith-with-philip-defranco/id1827016835 JOIN OUR COMMUNITY 📸Instagram: https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco 🐦Twitter: https://twitter.com/phillyd 🎵TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philipdefranco TODAY’S STORIES 00:00 - Zelenskyy and Other European Leaders Meet with Trump 7:27 - Trump Says He Will Introduce Effort to Get Rid of Mail-In Voting 12:45 - Sponsored by PDS Debt 13:38 - Texas Democrats End Walkout & Return to State 19:00 - U.S. Blocks Kids in Gaza From Coming to the Country for Medical Care 25:38 - Florida Launches “Deportation Depot” & Other News You Need to Know THE TEAM Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino ———————————— #DeFranco #TrumpZelensky #TrumpPutin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Trump, Russia, Ukraine situation, it's crazy. And while this may feel like just another run-of-the-mill Monday to you, it may actually be one of the most consequential days in recent memory. Because you've got NATO and Ukraine meeting with Trump at the White House to discuss Russia's war, and even that is a fairly impromptu gathering that was hastily thrown together following Trump's controversial meeting with Putin in Alaska on Friday. Well, initially, today's meeting was supposed to be just Trump and Zelensky, you had European leaders not wanting to risk a repeat of what happened last time,

right when JD Vans decided that Zelensky wasn't grateful enough and he threw the whole thing off the rails. So this was already a big deal made all that much bigger, thanks to the leaders of Germany, France, the UK, Italy, and Finland, all deciding they needed to be there as well as the General Secretary of NATO and the European Commission President. And this is a key thing is that the leaders and attendants have a wide range of political views. Right on one end of the spectrum, you have UK Prime Minister Kier Starrmer, who's from the left-leaning Labor Party, and then on the other end, there's Italian Prime Minister Georgia Maloney, who's ideologically similar to Trump on many issues. And there's a lot at stake here, as Russia kindly reminded everyone by launching strikes on Ukraine this morning that killed at least 10. An attack that Zelensky responded to by saying, this was a demonstrative and cynical Russian strike. They are aware that a meeting is taking place today in Washington that will address the end of the war. But to be fair, there, Ukraine launched their own strikes into Russia when Putin was in Alaska.

That said, as far as the meeting, as far as the negotiations, one of the big questions is, well, what exactly is on the bargaining table? And, well, based on Trump's meeting with Putin on Friday, a lot. And so notably here, Trump and Putin emerged from this meeting earlier than expected and without a formal deal. The two, then holding a super awkward press conference where Trump seemed intensely motion. and defeated. And then, shortly after, Trump made the surprise announcement that he was dropping his demand that Russia and Ukraine reach a sea spy. Saying the two countries should start negotiating a peace deal instead and telling Zelensky that Russia had demanded that the remainder of Ukraine's Donbass region be handed over as a condition for ending the war. With Trump then also indicating

that he intends to pressure Zelensky into agreeing to Putin's terms, with him writing in a post-un-truth social late last night. President Zelensky of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately if he wants to or he can continue to fight. With him then adding, quote, remember how it started, no getting back Obama given Crimea 12 years ago without a shop being fired, and no going into NATO by Ukraine. Some things never change. But Trump's wishes will likely be a tall order. Because in Putin's version of a peace plan, Russia would get not only all of the Donbass, but also the Ukrainian land that it currently holds, meaning that Ukraine would need to give up even more land. But you have many saying, that's just a non-starter for today's talks, because Zelensky's long claim that Ukraine would not give up land to Russia and reward it for its aggression.

And that's without mentioning the massive problem that Zelensky cannot even legally agree to a deal that gives up land. Because Ukraine's constitution actually flat out bans territorial concessions unless there's a nationwide referendum. And according to local pollsters, 78% of Ukrainians are against it. But either way, the world's hoping for some answers coming out of this meeting, and even before things got underway, we had a teaser. And that, because before the meeting with the European delegation, he met with Zelensky for a quick talk with the press, which had a sense a deja vu, with some exceptions. Or Ukrainian lawmakers joke that at least there wasn't a yelling match this time? Zelensky also made his own jokes to light in the mood, such as when the reporter

who called him out for not wearing a suit last time, complimented Zelensky's outfit today. President Zelensky. In the same suit. You see, I changed you. The things I'm getting more serious with questions like whether Ukraine would hold elections after a peace deal, and he had Zelensky assuring that it would happen

as long as there were good security guarantees. Right, and that was a central theme to these questions. What exactly does Ukraine want as guarantees and what would Trump be willing to give? And Trump, for his part, was vague on the matter when asked multiple times. Like, for example, when directly asked if those guarantees would involve U.S. troops, Trump said,

We'll let you know that maybe later today. We're meeting with seven great leaders of great countries also, and we'll be talking about that. They'll all be involved, but there'll be a lot of help. When it comes to security, there's going to be a lot of help. Trump then going on to say that Europe would be the first line of defense, since they're local, but that the U.S. would, quote, be involved. And when Zelensky was asked what type of guarantees would be needed to form a peace deal,

his response was everything. Now, with all of that, one big thing that's been discussed a lot since Putin met with Trump, in Alaska is the possibility of an Article 5 like pact for Ukraine. Because NATO's Article 5 is the meat of the alliance, and it states that an attack on one nation is treated as an attack on all of them. In Ukraine, obviously, they want those protections, but Russia has made it very, very clear that it will not accept Ukraine joining NATO, except maybe not.

Right, because yesterday, White House Special Envoy Steve Whitkoff claimed that Russia was open to the U.S. and its allies offering Article 5 like protections to Ukraine. So it sounds almost essentially like joining NATO, and right now, as of recording, it's unclear what exactly that means. And in this meeting, you had Zelensky and Trump largely dodging responding to questions about. Instead, they said that they would talk about it behind closed doors with the other European leaders. But the meeting did reveal something, and that is Trump is very much pushing for a trilateral meeting with Russia and Ukraine.

If everything works out well today, we'll have a trilat. And I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that. And it appeared that Zelensky was excited for that, which makes sense as his country has said that, there cannot be a peace deal without Ukraine at the table. And then, with all this, because it's one of those days, you know, as I was getting ready to wrap up today's show, you had Trump, Zelensky, and the European leaders all coming out to quickly speak to the press. And it was a bit of, I think, the technical term, is circle jerk with everyone thinking everyone else for being there, but also there was some consistent messaging.

One honorable mention was the push to have Ukrainian children returned to their homes. Thousands have been displaced and some forcibly removed to Russia, and they weren't the only ones worried about the kids. I mean, multiple times today, you had Zelensky praising First Lady Melania Trump for a letter that she sent to Putin asking for him to end the war in order to protect the children, which is something that the president of the European commissions echoed when she spoke. And then in addition to that, there were three big demands that almost everyone made. First off, security guarantees. At least in broad strokes, it seems just about every European leader,

and maybe even Trump are open to Article 5 like protections for Ukraine. Though there, I'm sure the devil will be in the details. Then the next major thing was a ceasefire during any peace talks. And with that, you saw things like the German chancellor when he was speaking, he mentioned that there'll be a lot of complicated negotiations coming up. But that... To be honest, we all would like to see a ceasefire, the latest from the next meeting on. I can't imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire.

So let's work on that and let's try to put pressure on Russia because the credibility of these efforts we are undertaking today are depending on at least a ceasefire from the beginning of the serious negotiations. You also had similar sentiments being echoed by others, although this was something that Trump has pushed back against after his Alaska rendezvous with Putin. Because like I mentioned after the meeting, he said that he understood that for strategic reasons,

either side may not want a ceasefire as it gives the other time to rearm and build without any guarantees of a peace. But Trump, he thinks it's a minor speed bump and claimed. In the six wars that I've settled, I haven't had a ceasefire. We just got into negotiations and they, uh, one of the wars was, as you know, and the Congo was 30 years, 31 years long. Another one that we settled last week with two great countries was 35 years going on and we had no ceasefires. So pretty much he was giving himself a backdoor to continue peace. talks if a ceasefire never materializes. And then the last major thing that everyone brought up was the need for trilateral talks. And really, the entire press conference was possibly a win

for Trump because he was widely praised by those at the table for jump-starting negotiations with Russian, even if it was extremely controversial to do so in the way that he did. But either way, that's where we are with these things right now, especially because as I'm recording, the leaders are behind closed doors. Right. And then, once that's done, Trump said that everyone will go home and you'll have a phone call with Putin. And in generally, hopes that the ball will get rolling pretty fast here and said, in a certain period of time, not very far from now, a week or two weeks, we're going to know whether or not we're going to solve this, or is this horrible fighting going to continue?

And so we're going to have to wait to see how that plays out. But we also need to focus on a very important topic that was reportedly discussed during Trump and Putin's meeting, and that is U.S. elections. And I say reportedly because afterwards, you had Trump doing an exclusive interview on Fox with Sean Hannity, where he said this. Vladimir Putin said something. One of the most interesting things, he said your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting. He said mail-in voting, every election.

He said, no country has mail-in voting. It's impossible to have mail-in voting and have honest elections. And he said that to me. It was very interesting because we talked about 2020. He said, you won that election by so much. And that's how he got it. He said, and if you would have won, we wouldn't have had a war. You'd have all these millions of people alive now instead of dead.

And he said, and you lost it because of mail-in voting. It was a rigged election. With Trump then going on to claim with no evidence that some people get between five and seven ballots and deading. Vladimir Putin, smart guy, said you can't have an honest election with mail-in voting. And he said, there's not a country in the world that uses it now. So, a lot to unpack here. First of all, it feels like it should go without saying that Trump has still provided zero actual evidence for his claims of fraud in the 2020 elections.

And studies have shown that mail-in voting fraud is rare because there are indeed safeguards in place. Hell, even Trump himself literally embraced it during the 2024 election, encouraging his voters to cast their ballots by mail. A move that very likely helped him win. With an official government report by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, finding that mail-in ballots accounted for a third of all ballots cast in the 2024 election. And while there was certainly less than the 43% that they were in the 2020 election, it's still well above pre-pandemic levels. So if Putin really did say, as Trump claimed, that the 2020 election was rigged because it had mail-in voting

and that it's impossible to have mail-in voting and have honest elections, then by that logic, Trump's 2024 election would also be illegitimate. But then also, to that point, it would be absolutely fucking. while to be taking advice about democratic elections from Vladimir Putin. A man who has collectively served as the president of his country for around 20 of the last 25 years, a man who himself has won multiple elections that observers have said were marred by fraud, coercion, intimidation, suppression, and plenty of other non-democratic actions. But the U.S. State Department under Biden, also finding that Putin's 2024 election was neither free nor fair, saying that it occurred in an

environment of intense political repression that has marginalized or completely silenced all independent voices. But then even beyond all that, it's impossible right now to verify what exactly Putin said to Trump here, because we don't have any footage or transcripts from that part of the meeting. Well, it's definitely possible it happened. This is all stuff that Trump is claiming that Putin said, and there's no way to know if he actually said these things, or if Trump is, let's call it, embellishing. And this is, you have experts noting that it would be kind of nuts if Putin really did say some of the things that Trump attributed to him. For example, Fiona Hill, a former top Trump advisor explaining. And President Trump asserted in his Fox News interview that there are no countries in the

world that allow mail-in voting. Well, Russia allows mail-in voting. And if everybody wants to go out and look, they can look for themselves in 2020. President Vladimir Putin signed into law Russians being able to vote by mail and also on the internet. And more than 30 other countries also allow some forms of mail-in voting. So it's just not true that other countries, including Russia, don't use this. But she did also indicate that she does believe that Putin and Trump did have some kind of conversation about mail-in ballots. Well, look, this. This is Vladimir Putin, as usual, trying to manipulate U.S. domestic politics. I've seen him do this over and over again.

And Putin wants to sow chaos in the American electoral system ahead of the midterms. So of course, he's laid into this whole issue of mail-in voting. And if that is Putin's goal, he's already achieving it. Just this morning, you would Trump making a lengthy post on truth social where he announced that he was, quote, going to lead a movement to get rid of mail-in ballots and adding that while we're at it, he would also get rid of voting machines that he described is highly inaccurate, very expensive, and seriously controversial. With Trump, then going on to falsely claim, again, that the U.S. is the only country in the world

that still uses mail-in ballots, incorrectly asserting that, quote, all others gave it up because of the massive voter fraud encounter. And alleging with no evidence that Democrats cheat at levels never before seen and arguing that they are virtually unelectable without using this completely disproven mail-in scam. And as far as how Trump hopes to achieve this, he said in his post that he'll sign an executive order ahead of the 2026 midterms. Well, he didn't provide any more information about exactly what the order would do. do, he said, remember, the states are merely an agent for the federal government in counting

and tabulating the votes. They must do what the federal government as represented by the president of the United States tells them for the good of our country to do. The key thing is you have experts arguing that is not what the Constitution actually says. Instead, it gives states the power to set their own election policies unless Congress passes a law preempting them. And even beyond that, the Constitution doesn't just give the president the authority to unilaterally tell states what to do regarding the administration of their elections. And during the presser with Zelensky ahead of their meeting, Trump was asked to expand on his truth social post. And he basically just responded by going on a long rant where he made the same exact points. And while Trump didn't

provide any specific information about his plans, he did make it clear that his vague executive order is just the beginning. And we as a Republican Party are going to do everything possible that we get rid of mail-in ballots. We're going to start with an executive order that's being written right now by the best lawyers in the country to end mail-in ballots because they're corrupt. So as a result, you have experts saying that this is just another part of a strategy to so distrust in our elections and prevent voters from holding him accountable. And then I've got more to dive into here with you on this, but first, I need to take a second to thank a sponsor for making our show possible and say, you know, debt, it feels like a trap, right? You juggling bills trying to make ends meet and then, oh my god, another late fee or high interest charge. And guess what? That's not a mistake. That's how they keep you stuck.

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Get your free assessment and find the best option for you now at PDSDet.com slash DeFranco or scan the QR code. It's PDSDet.com slash DeFranco. QR codes on screens to scan that thing and take the first step. Back to the news and specifically the situation around erosion of voting rights and trust in our systems. I mean, we have to talk about the huge updates in this national gerrymandering war. Starting with the news that the Texas Democrats have returned home. With him announcing this morning that they'd arrived back in, Austin giving Republicans the quorum they need to pass their new congressional map. Right because, as you likely remember, the state's GOP, answer Trump's call to create five more Republican seats in the House.

And doing so by orchestrating an openly partisan mid-decade redistricting plan that would deliver him exactly that. But then, you had over 50 Democrats leaving the state, which prevented the Republicans from voting on the map. and in the two weeks since then? The Republicans, they've applied pressure every way they can to force them back. The legislature got civil arrest warrants for them. They threatened nearly $400,000 in fines. Attorney General Ken Paxton sued to remove them from office. Senator John Cornyn had the FBI help track them down, and Governor Greg Abbott accused them of holding up a vote on aid for flood victims. But through all that, you saw the Democrats persisting saying they would return home if, one, the special session in Texas ended, and two, California proposed its own

congressional map to counter Texas. And he ended up seeing both of those things happening on Friday. So despite the reality that they're effectively buckling, the Democrats spun this as a win, with their State House caucus chair, Gene Wu saying, we killed the corrupt special session, withstood unprecedented surveillance and intimidation, and rallied Democrats nationwide to join this existential fight for fair representation, reshaping the entire 2026 landscape. And adding, we're returning to Texas more dangerous to Republicans' plans than when we left. Our return allows us to build the legal record necessary to defeat this racist map in court, take our message to communities across the state and country, and inspire how to fight these

undemocratic redistricting schemes in their own state houses. But also, the fact remains that Abbott simply called another special session right after the first one ended, and he promised to keep calling them one after another until the Democrats gave up. And so it's really hard to dispute with the statement from the New York Times, it said. The walkout did not change the raw political dynamics in Republican-dominated Texas, and Democrats remained in the situation they were in before they left, powerless, to permanently stop the new map from being adopted. But also, I will say they are correct in that they put a glaring spotlight on Texas.

And in doing that, they provoked a national response, blue states, especially California. And speaking of California, you had Democrats unveiling their proposed map, which would give them five more seats, effectively canceling out the GOP's gains in Texas. And if in 2026, all five seats flip, Republicans would only have four seats left in the state, leaving Democrats with 48. But also, some things have to happen to get there. First, the state's legislature has to actually get the map passed and they're set to consider it this week. Then if two-thirds of lawmakers approve it, the voters themselves will have to approve it as well in a ballot measure on November 4th. And then notably, if that map passes, it'll be effective for

2026, 2028, and 2030. At which point, California would go back to letting its independent redistricting commission draw its maps. But also, even if California's plan works, that still might not be enough to stop Republicans. Right. And that, because more states, including Florida, Indiana, Missouri, and Ohio are reportedly considering their own redistricting plans as well. And so then, New York and Illinois, they've suggested they might follow California's lead. But there, it's doubtful whether Illinois can actually squeeze out any more seats. In New York, they won't be able to do it in time for 2026. And all of this, as you have both sides claiming, they're just reacting to the other. With Democrats here, of course, responding to what was started in Texas, and Republicans countering that Texas itself was actually responding to already gerrymandered blue states.

Right in their argument is that if you look at the gap between how many voters each party has and how many representatives they have, California is way more gerrymandered than Texas. For the blue state has a 20-point gap while the red one is only eight points. But as many, including experts have pointed out, there are a few problems with this line of argument. First of all, just comparing those two numbers, it doesn't tell you whether there was actually gerrymandering. Because other factors could explain the disparity. Things like, for example, Republican voters are more spread out across California. California living in disconnected rural areas or tiny red pockets within blue bubbles. And so when a nonpartisan commission, which California has, but Texas does not, sets out to draw a fair map, it's much harder to do. And for this decade's map in particular, there were many tight races, but Democrats happened to win most of them. I mean, there were seven candidates who won just 51% of the combined vote in their districts, but they ended up grabbing 100% of the seats because we have a winner-takes-all system. And then also, if you use other shorthand metrics of gerrymandering, Texas actually ranks above California. So for example, if you look at the gap between the average vote shares across all of the districts and the vote share in the median district, Texas is one of the worst states in the country.

Right, and with that, the Princeton gerrymandering project, which simulates thousands of potential maps and grades each state based on several criteria, they gave California a B and Texas and F. And then also, if you zoom out to the country as a whole, it's generally recognize that over the past 15 years, it's Republicans that have gerrymandered more successfully than Democrats. With, for example, the Brennan Center concluding that Republicans enjoyed a 16-seat advantage this decade purely thanks to gerrymandering. In fact, the movement to create many of these nonpartisan redistricting commissions came in response to the Republican's aggressive gerrymandering after the 2010 census. But now, with those very commissions backfiring on

Democrats by making things fair and tying their hands in the fight against Trump, attitudes are changing. Now, even groups that have long opposed gerrymandering, like common cause, have said that it wouldn't automatically condemn Democrats for attempting to even the playing field. And so what we're seeing, especially as voters demand bolder actions from their representatives, is that certain Democrats are strategically posturing themselves as the anti-Trump. A dynamic that advantages governors in solidly blue states who can afford to be. be aggressively partisan. We're talking people like Illinois's J.B. Pritzker, California's Gavin Newsom, and New York's Kathy Hochel. Though it's disadvantaging Democratic governors who reside

over-divided or even Republican state legislators and can't afford to stick their necks out too much. Think Pennsylvania is Josh Shapiro, Minnesota's Tim Walls, and Kentucky's Andy Bashir. And so then with that, as we think that some of these people have presidential ambitions, I'm looking at you, Gavin Newsom. This is shaping up not only to be something that decides the 2026 election, but also a reputation-building opportunity as we go into the 28 election. That's also not where the controversy ends today, because when we look at U.S.-Israel-Gaza news, the Trump White House is halting visas for all people from Gaza, seemingly in direct response to far-right outrage over injured children getting medical treatment here. Right, and that is we also have to talk about how the number of kids at Israel's killing, it just keeps going up.

You've got a leaked recording serving as new evidence of the government's alleged genocidal intent, and finally, the mass protests calling for the war to end. But starting with the U.S., what you need to know is that various charities have been organizing medical flights here for children from Gaza for well over a year now. And while it's not clear exactly how many have already come, what we do know is, according to the State Department's own statistics, almost 4,000 B1 and B2 visas have been issued this year alone for individuals with Palestinian Authority travel documents. But with those both being non-immigrant, visitor visas,

and the B2 being the one that covers medical treatment. And a few weeks ago, at a Ohio-based nonprofit by the name Heel Palestine, began organizing what they called the largest single medical evacuation of injured children from Gaza to the US. A campaign, which unfortunately drew the attention of Laura Lumer. A woman who's been described by some as a real-life version of a caricature of how you would describe a hateful far-right extremist and hardcore Islamophote.

And that is, she's also a man who seems to have a shocking amount of influence over the Trump administration, where they're playing off her discovery of this completely unconcealed information as an exclusive scoop. Sharing videos posted by Heel Palestine showing injured children arriving in the country

and accusing the group of importing Gazans into the country. Right, and that is also claiming without evidence that the nonprofit's work was connected to Hamas and calling it a national security threat. And with that, she also alleged that someone at the State Department must be working with what she called Hamas-aligned NGOs, is saying, the State Department has an obligation to tell us all who is responsible for allowing

dangerous Gazans into our country and no more Gazans can ever be allowed to enter the U.S. And again, like, she's not some random internet mouthpiece. You actually have Republican lawmakers tagged in her post responding and promising to take action. With Lumer also saying that she spoke to Secretary of State Marco Rubio herself on Friday night to alert him to the flights and what she called the threat of an Islamic invasion. And not long after that, you're the State Department announcing that all visitor visas from individuals from Gaza are being stopped while it conducts a full and thorough review. With Lumer, then, responding by saying, God only knows how many lives I personally saved today by blowing the whistle

on rogue actors at State Department giving visas to Ghazan families. But that is on the flip side, you had Heel Palestine responding with a statement saying, it's distressed by the State Department's decision and explaining that it's an American humanitarian nonprofit organization delivering urgent aid and medical care to children in Palestine, including sponsoring and bringing severely injured children to the U.S. on temporary visas for essential medical treatment not available at home. And adding, after their treatment is complete, the children and any accompanying family members returned to the Middle East and saying this is a medical treatment program not a refugee resettlement program right and that is the grim reality is that the number of children in need for medical attention if they're not already being killed is rising every day and it may actually get even worse especially as earlier this month Israel approved a plan to launch a new offensive to seize control of Gaza city the largest population center in the territory and now it's launching strikes there and across the territory and starting to for evacuate the city's roughly one million inhabitants from combat zones to southern Gaza. With them saying that they're doing this for those people's own protection and this is you know at least 1.9 million people in Gaza or about 90% of the population have already been displaced at least once. And as for the idea of you know this being for their protection, you have people noting, well, there notably have been designated safe zones that have repeatedly been bombed during the war. In fact, reportedly on Saturday you had an Israeli air strike in Gaza killing a baby girl in her parents in their tent in an area of southern Gaza previously designated as a humanitarian zone by Israel. And similarly, the aid distribution

sites, those haven't exactly been safe either. In fact, just yesterday, Israeli forces killed at least 17 aid seekers, according to reports, adding to at least 1,760 people who have been killed while seeking aid between the end of May and last Wednesday, according to the UN. Right. And that is the overall number reported killed is recently climbed above 60,000, though the actual Gaza death toll is believed to be much higher. And that's even before factoring in starvation, disease, or other so-called indirect causes. Although, of course, Israel has played a direct role in creating these conditions with today, for example, Amnesty International accusing government of enacting a deliberate policy of starvation in Gaza. And adding to that, Israeli leaders continue to openly talk about mass

relocation of people from Gaza, which much of the international community say would amount to ethnic cleansing or the forcible transfer of a population in violation of international law. Because there's nothing voluntary about leaving your home with no idea if you'll be able to return after an occupying power has made most a bit uninhabitable. And that is, going further, Israeli officials and other public figures have also in several cases made statements that have been described as evidence of the Israeli government's genocidal intent, which actually brings us to that leaked recording that I mentioned at the beginning. Israel's Channel 12 TV station, they released shocking audio with a guy who served as the IDF's

Military Intelligence Directorate for the first six months of Israel's assault on Gaza. And you had him specifically saying that he believed that 50 Palestinians must die for every person killed that day, and it does not matter now if they are children. He also said that the death toll in Gaza, which he put at more than 50,000, was necessary as a message to future generations of Palestinians, and then finally adding, they need a national. Nakba every now and then to feel the price, where with him referring there to the brutal and violent mass expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homes and lands after the creation of Israel in 1948. But notably, even with all that, this guy's comments? They reportedly

didn't make headlines in most mainstream Israeli outlets, which instead focused on comments that he made criticizing Netanyahu or the government, which ends up just highlighting how different the war is received and talked about inside of Israel compared to a lot of other places. And there's often, you know, a lot of discussion about, well, what is the opinion outside of Israel and inside of Israel and then with certain groups. And well, with that, we saw a poll conducted late last month by the Israel Democracy Institute and they found that 79% of Jewish Israelis said they were either not very troubled or not troubled at all by reports of famine and suffering among Gaza's Palestinian population. And so then with that you have

experts arguing that at least part of the reason for that may be because they've never actually seen reports of famine and suffering in Gaza. For example, the head of freedom of the press at the Union of Journalists in Israel saying, until a couple of weeks ago, you could count only a handful of reports from Gaza not filtered by the IDF. And adding, all the other mainstream media completely ignored what's going on the Palestinian side, the human casualties there, the numbers of children killed in this war. The Israeli audience simply did not see that at all. And while now, you know, there are some signs that that's changing, mass opposition to the war still seems to be largely driven almost entirely by the belief that

it's endangering the lives of the remaining hostages. With that, you had hundreds of thousands of protesters showing up in Tel Aviv over the weekend to call for a ceasefire. In fact, it was actually one of the biggest days of demonstrations in Israel since October 7, 2023. With protesters gathering at dozens of places, including outside politicians, homes, military facilities, and on major highways. But then, Israeli police blasting crowds with water cannons and making dozens of arrests. So as far as Netanyahu, he has criticized the protests and shown no sign of letting up. And with that, you're seeing things like a former Israeli diplomat in New York telling Al Jazeera. Most prime ministers would have resigned after October 7th.

He is not just another prime minister. He cares only about his survival. He's driven by some messianic delusions of redrawing the Middle East. But then, finally and quickly today and some more news you should know about, you first got Florida's GOP trying to launch Deport Depot merch for a new migrant detention center, that is until Home Depot shut it down, where with Governor Ron DeSantis announcing a plan to convert an underused prison into a 1,300-bed migrant detention center calling a deportation depotation depot.

So that, as you have many out there saying that this and other facilities that have been popping up, they're just concentration camps. But as far as the facility, it could open in two to three weeks, staffed by Florida's National Guard. DeSantis saying it's about processing and deporting migrants quickly, not indefinite detention. And then you had Florida's GOP rolling out Deport Depot gear, talking shirts, mugs, hats, copying Home Depot's orange logo. The rock in the tagline where Florida gets more done. But within days, Home Depot objected, saying that the party used its branding without permission and the merchant ended up getting deleted from X and the GOP's website.

And while you have Democratic state legislator Anna Eskamani flagging the branding to Home Depot, prompting the takedown, she said that the bigger issue is Florida's anti-immigrant agenda, not just the merch. Right, all of this is Florida's first detention center, alligator Alcatraz, faces lawsuits over inhumane conditions and could be shut down. And another news, you have five former Wisconsin basketball players suing their ex-com. coach, accusing her of psychological abuse and discrimination. Or with Marissa Mosley, the head coach from 2021 to 2024, resigning earlier this year, citing personal reasons. Now, she in the Wisconsin Board of Regions are being sued by 5x players. And as far as the allegations, the lawsuit

claims that Mosley inflicted psychological abuse and retaliation, discriminated against players with disabilities, threatened scholarship, and playing time to control players' personal lives. Players said that Mosley interfered with their mental health treatment, even forcing herself into therapy sessions. One plaintiff Tessa Towers says that she was threatened with removal from the team if she spoke about suicidal thoughts in therapy and she was reportedly put on 11 new medications in one year after disclosing ADHD. And this is you had teammates saying that mostly bullied players while ignoring their escalating crises and the university was accused of turning a blind eye and even coercing players to release medical records to stay on the team.

And another news is you have some people, including some NFL fans losing their minds because the Minnesota Vikings added two male cheerleaders. Or with the Vikings announcing Blaze and Louis joining the squad, with the backlash and growing since then and exploding during the preseason game against the Patriots. With angry people posting things like I need, a new team, just stop, and nobody wants to watch this. With some going further, using slurs, including ex-NFO player Antonio Brown, some suggesting throwing objects at them. Some fans even threatened to cancel season tickets, though the Vikings denied any cancellations.

Though this also, as you had people pointing out, the male cheerleaders are in fact not new, about one-third of NFL teams already have them. You also had the Vikings releasing a statement defending the squad, saying that everyone went through the same rigorous audition process and our ambassadors for the team. And that is, Blaze and Louis themselves, clapped back online, joking, wait, did someone say our name and posting TikTok's mocking the outrage. Within their comment sections, getting filled with supportive fans hyping them up.

But depending on where you go, very, very different reactions. And then the final bit of news is that former FBI director, James Comey just said that Taylor Swift might be the key to defeating Donald Trump. Because in a new substandact video, Comey revealed that he is a massive Swift, praising her music and character.

With him then using Swift as a political example, saying the Democrat should stand up to Trump without adopting his cruelty, saying, quote, nobody should have that power over us. Thank you, Taylor Swift, keep the fate. And he contrasted Trump mocking Swift online with her living her best, life making great music and not giving jerks power.

But with that, Comey got mocked online, especially from the right for turning Swift fandom into a political point. We framed it as a strategy saying, fight bullies without becoming them. And that is you have experts are noting that Democrats have been struggling to find an anti-Trump strategy.

Pete Buttigieg recently said that Dems are too attached to a status quo that's failing us. Corey Booker warned that the party is rolling over for Trump while others like Newsome push for a more aggressive fight. Though honestly, it feels like Comey is telling people to shake it off in the midst of a street fight. And it appears that there is a reason that many Democrats, they may have issues with Gavin Newsom are kind of loving what is coming from him and his team right now

when it comes to fighting Trump. But that is where we're going to end things for now, my friend, at least for this episode. Tap or click right here to watch your latest episode of my podcast or here for the most recent Philip DeFranco Show. I've even got links in the description so you can get it easy on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you best enjoy getting filled in. Thank you for watching. I love yo faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow for more news you need to know.