The Philip DeFranco Show - The Truth About Trump’s Joe Rogan Problem

Starting point is 00:00:00 So Trump's war in Minnesota, it looks far from over, but the people that live there, they just landed a heavy blow to Trump's stormtroopers. Starting with the fact that yesterday, they waved goodbye to a whole lot of federal troopers. I have announced effective immediately. We will draw down 700 people affected today. That, of course, as Trump's Borders are, Tom Homan, and as for the reason, he's pulling those guys out, I'll let his boss explain. Did that come from you?

Starting point is 00:00:22 Yes, it did. But it didn't come from me because I just wanted to do it. We are waiting for them to release prisoners. give us the murderers that they're holding, and all of the bad people, drug dealers, all of the bad people. But we've gotten a lot of them out. So crime now in Minnesota, crime now in Minneapolis is down. Crime in all cities is down.

Starting point is 00:00:43 Now, while it's true that crime is down nationwide, it didn't just start plummeting everywhere that Trump sent his secret police. But crime's actually been going down for several years now, and in Minneapolis in particular, the records kind of mix. You've got certain things like homicide, burglary, breaking and entering, and destruction of property declining from last year, but other violent crimes like assault offenses, sex,

Starting point is 00:01:00 offenses and motor vehicle theft, they've gone up. Plus, you also have to consider the many ways that the federal surge has impeded regular law enforcement by causing civil unrest, overloading 911 dispatchers, and clogged up the federal courts and jails. How, even the Minnesota fraud case that kicked this whole shit storm off there, it's been thrown into disarray by Trump's chaos regime, right? Because CBS reports that the four prosecutors who are leading it, they won't be in court at the next trial because they've all left the U.S. attorney's office in Minnesota.

Starting point is 00:01:22 And you've got sources citing a number of reasons for their departure, including caseload management, structural issues with the office, the Trump administration's influence on the office, and concerns related to Operation Metro Surge. So whereas the office had 70 assistant US attorneys under Biden, now under Trump, it's only got as few as 17. And so Trump's DOJ, they tried to fill the ranks with prosecutors from neighboring districts, even from Michigan, as well as from DHS and the military,

Starting point is 00:01:42 but even some of those people, they're not happy with their new assignments. Which is then how you get that lawyer who told a judge on Tuesday, quote, this job sucks and then asked to be held in contempt so she could just get some sleep. But of course, you know, the facts be damned, Trump has still declared victory in Minnesota, just like he declared victory in DC. And just like the National Guard are still in the Capitol,

Starting point is 00:01:58 some 2,300 federal agents will remain in the Minneapolis area after these 700 leave, compared to the measly 80 who were there before December. Also, I'll say notably with all this, when you had NBC's Tom Yamis asking Trump what he learned for Minneapolis, his answer was ambiguous. Maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch, but you still have to be tough. These are criminals. We're dealing with really hard criminals. But you also had Trump seeming to suggest that going forward, if mayors or governors don't want his goons in their state, he won't actually send them there.

Starting point is 00:02:25 I say, they have to ask and they have to say, please. I don't want to go and force ourselves into a city, even if their numbers are terrible. Which cities are you headed to next? We have five cities that we're looking at very strongly, but we want to be invited. Now, of course, that is Donald Trump. And with Trump, his words worth about as much as the pumpkin-colored makeup on his skin, but I will say this shift in tone, it does match some of the reporting that we've seen most notably about what may be a riff between him and Stephen Miller. Because you have White House officials telling the Wall Street Journal that Stephen Miller has been an architect

Starting point is 00:02:55 in almost every boundary-pushing effort in Trump's second term. The boat strikes in the Caribbean. Miller, the enlistment of the FBI and immigration enforcement. Miller, having the State Department pressure other countries to accept migrants. Miller, the whole policy of going into democratic cities and indiscriminately rounding up people regardless of their criminal records. Miller, the target of 3,000 arrests per day, the $50,000 bonuses for new recruits, the raids at day labor response like Home Depot.

Starting point is 00:03:18 Miller, Miller, Miller. I mean, according to the journal, he personally drafted or edited every executive order that the president has signed. Right, he pushed to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to deport people to El Salvador. He pushed to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minneapolis and then you have sources claiming he was the one who actually started the whole Renee Good as a domestic terrorist assassin narrative even though he blames border patrol for feeding him bad information And actually after the shooting a senior officials debated whether to even continue the crackdown in Minneapolis Miller was right there reportedly arguing that Trump should deploy even more agents not less

Starting point is 00:03:46 Now with all that I'll say one in no way does this absolve Donald Trump for anything He's the president he's the person who ultimately gets to decide things and also with that too I I'm not even saying that Trump's deeply emotionally bothered by the response to Good or Predi's murders. In fact, this is what he had to say to Yamas about them. Well, look, I'm not happy with the two incidents. He was not an angel and she was not an angel. You know, you look at some tapes from back, but still, I'm not happy with what happened there, but I'm going to always be with our great people of law enforcement. You mentioned Renee Good and not Alex Pretti's not being angels.

Starting point is 00:04:20 Do you think any of that justified what happened to them, though? No, I don't. it should have not happened. You know who feels worse about it than anybody? The people of ice. You know, with all this, if we believe the journal sources, Trump is aware of how bad the shootings look, that he is aware of the polling. So they say that he's told advisors that he wasn't comfortable with how far Miller has gone on some fronts and that business officials are calling and complaining to him about long-time workers being thrown out of the country. Also, of course, a big thing that people have been talking about are a few high-profile manosphere bros kind of wincing at the optics

Starting point is 00:04:48 of these immigration policies. Or with that including most recently, Andrew Schultz, who we talked about, though, the one that Yamas asked Trump about was Joe Rogan. You don't want militarized people in the streets just roaming around, snatching people up, many of which turn out to actually be U.S. citizens that just don't have their papers on them? Are we really going to be the Gestapo? Where's your papers? What's your response to him? Look, first of all, he's a great guy. We had a tremendous success before the election. I think it was his biggest interview ever, and over 300 million people. It was very good.

Starting point is 00:05:17 I spoke to him three days ago. We had a great conversation. Just had a good conversation. he's a great guy. I think he likes me too. So you know, not really an actual answer to the question that was asked. So actually, if anything I'll say with that answer, it kind of shows that maybe he's scared of these audiences turning on him. Because whether Don and Joe, they're still buddy-buddy, and my belief is that, you know, these guys, these podcasters, they'll kiss the ring if the polling goes the other way. The polling right now, it does not look good for Trump, right? A new Merris survey just came out, and it is brutal. You had 56% of people disapproving of his job performance

Starting point is 00:05:45 overall, including 51% who strongly disapprove, while just 39% approve. And on immigration specifically, right, which in the election cycle was his winning issue, two-thirds of Americans say ice has gone too far in an 11-point increase since last summer. But Trump's response to all this, it's been the same as it's always been. Well, I don't believe the polls, for one thing. The polls are almost dishonest, almost as dishonest as some of the reporters themselves. No, with that, I will say, although the polls are definitely not fake, they can be a little misleading if you only look at the broad overall numbers. Because when you narrow it down to just Republicans, their support it remains fucking ironclad, despite everything that's happened over the past year. 85% of them

Starting point is 00:06:19 approve of Trump's performance in general and roughly 80% approve of how he's handled the economy and foreign policy. And then on things like immigration, almost three quarters think that ICE is doing a good job and 77% say that ICE is making Americans safer. But all of that said, a big key thing is that Trump has lost support among younger people, Latinos and independence, and these are demographics that helped push him over the line in 2024. In fact, with every single question that was asked there, independence aligned with Democrats often overwhelmingly. But then with all that, to the extent that Donald Trump does believe these numbers are real, he doesn't blame anything that he's actually done. Instead, he insisted over and over and this interview that objectively, his policies are amazing and they're perfect. And if people saw them objectively, he'd be pulling it 100%. So this problem can't be his policies. It must be his messaging.

Starting point is 00:06:59 I think we do a phenomenal job, but I don't think we're good at public relations. What does that mean? You've said that a couple times now. What do you mean by that? We don't sell the great job that we're doing. We don't do a good public relations job. That's why I'm doing the interview with you today. We appreciate it. I'm trying to help my people, you know, PR, public relations. Going back to the murders of Renee Good, now it's Freddie, he thinks that's just bad. PR. Two people, it's bad. I hate it. I hate even talking about it. Two people out of tens of thousands, okay? And you get bad publicity. Nobody talks about all of the murderers that were taken out of our country. Each boat that we knock out, we save 25,000 American lives. And then even on the

Starting point is 00:07:39 economy and inflation, Trump says that's just bad PR too. Hold on the economy aren't they're not great. They should be great. They should be. So why aren't they if you believe that? I don't know. I Are people's expectations too high, or is it just too expensive to live in America? I just, again, don't think we're selling it properly. We've done a great job. You know, whatever Trump says right now, it looks like Americans just aren't buying whatever the fuck it is he's selling. And with that, you should expect that when they and you, you make yourselves clear at the ballot box this November, it seems very likely that Trump is going to give those results the same label that he's given the polls.

Starting point is 00:08:09 Fake. Take a look at Detroit. Take a look at Philadelphia. Take a look at Atlanta. There are some areas that are unbelievably corrupt. I could give you plenty of more, too. I say that we cannot have corrupt elections. If they don't want voter ID, that means they want to cheat.

Starting point is 00:08:26 We can't allow cheating in elections. Now, if we need to put in federal controls as opposed to state controls, remember this. They're really an agent. Will you trust the results of the midterms if Republicans lose control of Congress? I will, if the elections are honest. But also with that, the possibility that Republicans lose control of Congress, it became even more likely with the Supreme Court now making a ruling that haves the way for California's new congressional map

Starting point is 00:08:50 that could give Democrats five more house seats. Right because yesterday the Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal that the California Republican Party had filed in an attempt to block the map from taking effect. A map that California voters overwhelmingly approved to counter Trump's undemocratic efforts to make red states redistrict to give Republicans more seats. And it was a map that almost immediately

Starting point is 00:09:05 California Republicans filed a lawsuit against, arguing that the map was unconstitutional because the state had engaged in illegal racial gerrymandering to redraw lines that favored Latinos over other groups of voters. But then last month, you saw federal court rejecting the Republicans attempt to block the voter approved from taking a fact. The three-judge panel ruling that there wasn't enough evidence to approve

Starting point is 00:09:20 Democrats had drawn the map with racial intent. Arguing that the ballot measure was explicitly presented to voters as a political gerrymander designed to flip five Republican-held seats and claiming that voters were clearly motivated by political partisanship, not race. And so then, after taking that L, you had the California GOP asking the Supreme Court to block the lower court's ruling and reinstate the old congressional maps while the merits of the case played out, effectively trying to reverse the explicit will of millions of voters. You know, the fact that the Supreme Court has rejected that appeal is incredibly significant because California is one of the few blue states that has redrawn its congressional maps in the gerrymandering arms race that Trump kicked off.

Starting point is 00:09:50 At the Virginia state legislature, they also passed a very similar bill that would let residents vote on a ballot initiative to redraw congressional maps and give Democrats a better shot at another four seats. But last week, what you saw is that a federal judge blocked that map from going to voters, ruling in favor of a Republican challenge, alleging that Democrats failed to follow the correct procedure. And actually, while the fate of that map is in the hands of the Virginia Supreme Court, a very different battle is playing out in Maryland, which is the only other blue state that's weighted into the gerrymandering battle. And there, just this week, you had the Statehouse approving a new map that could add one more blue representative, though Democrats in the Senate, they widely oppose the

Starting point is 00:10:19 measure, arguing that it could backfire and actually end up costing them another seat. And then, of course, with this, it's important to remember the Republicans are still busy. Four red states have already redrawn their maps to give Republicans an edge, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just announced that he was kicking off a similar effort to meet Trump's demands. And then actually, while we're talking about Trump again, we should talk about the part that he's playing in the search for Nancy Guthrie in a different piece of news, right? The missing mom of today's show anchor Savannah Guthr. Because Savannah's 84-year-old mom went missing from her home near Tucson, Arizona. five days ago and the local authorities say that it looks like she was taken by force.

Starting point is 00:10:49 She was last seen Saturday night around 9.30 p.m. and after she didn't show up at church the following morning, her family called 911. And then when the authorities, they found Nancy's personal belongings like her car, phone, and wallet still at her house, as well as there being a trail of blood outside, they began to suspect foul play. Especially because it's believed to be unlikely that she wandered away on her own. Nancy Guthrie reportedly was sharp mentally, but she had some mobility issues that left her unable to walk more than 50 yards on assistant.

Starting point is 00:11:10 So that's why you're seeing the local sheriff reiterating that this is not a dementia-related incident. Though still, you had search and rescue teams working all day and night following Nancy's disappearance to make sure that this wasn't a case of an elderly person walking off on their own. Right, and then you had investigators canvassing the neighborhood and asking people in the area to review doorbell cameras and any other possible recordings for potential sightings. And all of this, leading to the local sheriff's office saying yesterday, detectives believe Mrs. Guthrie was taken against her will, possibly during the overnight hours. But then adding that there is currently no evidence to suggest that this was targeted. So the authorities began working to find out key details

Starting point is 00:11:38 that could lead to Nancy or a kidnapper. Or to things like what she was wearing when she was taken, and whether she was put in a vehicle and how many suspects might have been involved. And then yesterday on the fourth day after Nancy disappeared, Savannah Guthrie shared a video where she sat alongside her siblings addressing the reports of an unverified ransom note

Starting point is 00:11:53 as well as pleading with her mother's kidnappers to release her or at least prove that she's still alive. She's 84 years old. Her health, her heart is fragile. She lives in constant pain. She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive. She needs it.

Starting point is 00:12:12 not to suffer. We too have heard the reports about a ransom letter in the media. As a family, we are doing everything that we can. We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. We need to know, without a doubt, that she is alive and and that you have her. Now, currently, there are reportedly no suspects. Though there was a brief rumor that Nancy's son-in-law could have been involved, but that was then quickly shot down

Starting point is 00:12:52 by the local sheriff's department. While you have investigators thinking that she is still likely alive, with her health issues, we don't know how long that will remain the case. In fact, you even saw the sheriff saying, time is not on our side, and that was already two days ago.

Starting point is 00:13:03 You know, as these days have drug on and on with no answers, Nancy's disappearance, it's getting more and more national attention. Or even at Trump, chiming in yesterday on truth social saying, I spoke with Savannah Guthrie and let her know that I am directing all federal law enforcement

Starting point is 00:13:14 to be at the families and local law enforcement's complete disposal immediately. We are deploying all resources to get her mother home safely. That was also a sentiment echoed by FBI Director Cash Patel, who, according to sources for Axios, is directing, quote, all resources possible to help and is prepared to go if the situation warrants. So there, it's important to note that Arizona officials are still leading the investigation,

Starting point is 00:13:32 and the FBI at this point is only playing a supporting role. Right with Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has reportedly known Savannah Guthrie for a very long time, saying that she's receiving constant updates after speaking with Savannah on the phone yesterday. And so ultimately at this point, it ends up being kind of a waiting game see what happens with the investigators as they do their job. And while we wait for answers,

Starting point is 00:13:47 obviously, our hearts and our well wishes go out to Savannah and her siblings. And we hope that her mom's found and brought home safely. And then there's more that we've got to dive into in just a minute, but first let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, fact, VPNs are crucial when it comes to your cybersecurity, whether you like it or not. Yet another great example, a billing platform recently exposed nearly 180,000 personal records, names, emails, phone numbers, even tax IDs, just sitting in an unsecured database. Great. And most of the people affected, they'll never even know happened. That's exactly why today's sponsor, NordVPN, is something that I actually use and care about. NordVPN encrypts everything you do online, even when a website, app, or service drops the ball.

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Starting point is 00:14:53 money-back guarantee. So scan that QR code or go to NordVPN.com slash fill and lock things down before the next oops headline drops. But then diving back into the news, there's two really big things we need to talk about, starting with the Washington Post just announcing absolutely massive layoffs. When I say massive, I mean like over a third of the post's overall staff's been cut. We're talking more than 300 of the roughly 800 journalists in that newsroom. Even laid off a reporter who's in the middle of a war zone, who's in Ukraine covering the war with Russia. Because yesterday morning in a newsroom call, you had executive editor Matt Murray announcing the layoffs, which he described as a strategic reset that was overdue in light of what he called

Starting point is 00:15:27 difficult and even disappointing realities. I'm saying the Washington Post has been losing too much money for too long while also failing to meet the needs of readers. While they didn't provide the public with basic information about its newsrooms, subscriptions, or other financial data, you had Murray saying that the paper would be making a number of enormous cuts. major overhauls across numerous departments and some functions will be just shuttered all together, including the entire sports desk. But there, some reporters will stay on to write feature stories. Also similar, the book section will be shut down and the newspaper's signature daily news podcast, post reports has been canceled. Also beyond that, the post international desk will be shrunk down

Starting point is 00:15:57 dramatically, and while some foreign bureaus will remain open, others are shuddering entirely. With the Cairo Bureau chief, for example, announcing on X that all the Middle East correspondents and editors have been laid off. But also, some of the steepest cuts were made to the Metro desk, which covers D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. With Murray describing the move as restructuring, though you had an anonymous metro staffer who lost their job telling NPR that only around a dozen of the 40 people employed at the desk weren't fired. And very notably, we've seen multiple reports that all staff photographers were cut as well. And so with all these changes, it looks like the Post could be trying to set itself up to primarily be a federal paper that focuses on the U.S. government and American politics rather than a holistic legacy media outlet. And you have multiple former editors telling NPR that it looks like the paper's trying to compete more with specialized publications like Politico and Punch Bowl News instead of the New York Times.

Starting point is 00:16:38 Also, I think a big thing we have to touch on is while these layoffs and restructuring, they're absolutely huge, it's also not entirely unexpected. Where the paper, it's been seriously struggling over the last few years, both culturally and economically. So, you know, we saw things like in late 2023, Jeff Bezos, who owns the paper hired British media executive Will Lewis, as publisher and CEO to help the post become more profitable amid falling audiences and subscriptions. But Lewis's tenure, it's been plagued with controversies, and he has consistently been at odds with his own newsroom, which he has increasingly distanced himself from, avoiding major meetings and announcements, even the one yesterday. And you know, despite a series of experimental changes, including a big focus on AI, Lewis has failed to come up with a cohesive strategy for the paper's future, and the outlets just continue to struggle. And so over the last two years, there have been numerous rounds of layoffs, and many staffers have taken buyouts that Lewis pushed, encouraging employees to take the offer if they do not feel aligned with the company's plan.

Starting point is 00:17:23 And so all of that, it already gutted the paper that Bezos's unfathomable amount of money once revitalized with the Washington Post Guild saying that its workforce has shrunk by roughly 400 people in the last three years. And then of course you can't forget the moves that Bezos has made in recent years that have really alienated a lot of the audience. Right, last year, for example, he changed the paper's once esteemed opinion section to have a much more conservative tilt. And then of course, there was his decision that killed a paper's planned endorsement of Kamala Harris in 2024, which is a move that resulted in mass cancellations of subscribers. So that's also a lot of people blaming Bezos himself for the layoffs, arguing that he is literally one of the richest men in the world with an estimated $260 billion and so he could easily prevent this if he really wanted to. You know, Bezos, for his part, he just remained silent through this whole thing. He has actively refused to respond to letters for multiple reporting teams pleading against the cuts, and he wasn't even on the call announcing these huge layoffs and historic changes.

Starting point is 00:18:09 And so that's only prompted even more outrage and allegations that Bezos is abandoning the Post after driving it into the ground. So you have the Post Guild saying in a statement that if Bezos is no longer willing to invest in the mission that has defined this paper for generations and serve the millions of people who depend on post journalism, the Post deserves a steward that will. That was also echoed by former executive editor Marty Barron, who accused Bezos of exacerbating the newspaper's troubles through ill-conceived decisions. Suggesting that Bezos's pro-Trump pivot is what drove away readers and subscribers in the first place, also claiming that the layoffs were just part of Bezos's sickening effort to curry favor with Trump, and arguing that these firings are just going to backfire it and results in even more canceled subscriptions. Personally, I'll say I'm inclined to believe that a lot of the bad that we're seeing right now,

Starting point is 00:18:48 it's Bezos, yeah, he's getting on his knees, he's breaking out those knee pads. This man, in addition to having companies that have government contracts, which is a huge thing, also just released his propaganda piece, Malania movie that they paid tens of millions of dollars for that many are just calling a bribe. Within the same week that a third of his newspapers journalists were fired, Bezos didn't luck into his success. He knows what he's doing. You know, I think this is all happening at a time

Starting point is 00:19:10 where it's more important than ever to invest in trusted sources and fact-based reporting to combat the constant growing flow of misinformation. And then actually on the note of countering misinformation, another big piece of news we've got to talk about, prediction markets like Kalshi and Polly Market, they're spreading fake and misleading news, potentially impacting betting markets and also raising serious concerns about American democracy.

Starting point is 00:19:27 Right, because if you're not familiar, prediction markets, they allow people to bet on the outcome of news events. So we're talking about everything from election results and sports to when Jesus will come back and exactly how long Caroline Levitt's press conference will last. And these markets specifically, Kalshi and Poly market, they've exploded over the last year or so gaining widespread mainstream popularity and they're handling billions of dollars in weekly trading. And a part of that enormous success is because these platforms have marketed themselves as legitimate responsible financial institutions and truth machines driven by hard data. They claim that they cut through the noise of the news,

Starting point is 00:19:55 providing more accurate information about the state of the world and estimations of future events because their data gauges what ordinary people think will happen. And specifically, supporters arguing that the pooled wisdom of the people is a more reliable source for forecasting than traditional media, polling, commentators, and experts which carry their own biases. They also say that people who bet money are incentivized to filter out emotional bias and look for objective data because they have skin in the game. And so the financial stakes here, they add a level of accountability that those other sources lack. But then you also have many critics heading back, arguing that there is no reason to think that these metrics are a better

Starting point is 00:20:24 predictor of the future. Saying one, the platforms represent a very small subset of the public, people who are willing and wealthy enough to place bets. Also, research has shown that these sites are dominated by young men who have higher risk appetites and are prone to gambling. And as places like Better Markets explains, the data from these platforms don't offer any kind of ultimate truth because absent inside information, the users on these sites are no more likely to know whether a candidate will win an election or a team will win a game than anyone else. Right, unless people using these markets are insider trading, which is a very real concern, but that's also a separate deep dive, but they don't have any special knowledge of And so separate from the concern of insider trading, we're talking about people that are making bets off of their own information, which they presumably got from the same experts, commentators, and outlets that prediction market supporters claim are bias. But then also beyond that, these markets are incredibly susceptible to manipulation. A well-funded person or group, they could easily make a bet so big that it skews the odds of a prediction market. Then they could turn that around and try to use that shift as proof that the event they bet on is becoming much more likely. And the implications there, they're alarming for a number of reasons, but they become especially alarming when it comes to elections. Let's say, for example, a bad actor places a huge bet in an election that artificially

Starting point is 00:21:25 sways the odds to make it look like a certain candidate has increased support or is more likely to win than their opponent. If we all of a sudden take that as a real indication of who's going to win an election, which these markets say we should, it creates a bandwagon effect. Very quickly, you have even legacy media outlets reporting about the spike, which gives it even more credibility and creates momentum for that candidate, which then gives them a higher profile and attracts more supporters. And then all of that manipulation, it could prompt donors to flock to a candidate or pull funds from someone and it further advances different campaigns. But then some voters deciding to vote a certain way because all of a sudden they want a monetary gain and others maybe actually just not even voting because it looks like the election's a foregone conclusion. But it can basically create a self-fulfilling prophecy where a candidate can win an election just because one person bet so big on their victory that it skewed the odds. And so more and more, it looks like these are incredibly powerful tools for political influence.

Starting point is 00:22:08 And that's especially true because you have experts also saying that the very structure of these markets actively incentivizes the spread of misinformation. For one, it gives people a motive to spread unverified claims so that they can manipulate the odds and then directly profit from how the markets react to their manipulation, right, things like shorting a market and then spreading negative rumors to drive prices down. And that same logic can be applied to political interference. A bad actor, either domestic or foreign, could similarly profit from spreading misinformation by betting against a candidate and then attacking them with deepbakes or fake newsbots to crash their market odds. And that becomes especially alarming given the fact that Kalshi and Polly Market have both actively been caught spreading false claims that could influence their own markets on numerous occasions. Right, despite their claim that prediction markets are more reliable than news media, both platforms have increasingly been wading into the newswaters using their social media accounts to pump out

Starting point is 00:22:50 tons of content, effectively becoming viral news sources with posts that spread faster and further than verified reporting. And I mean, these accounts have been accused of prioritizing engagement over factual accuracy. As you had a recent Axios report noting, these platforms design content that sparks outrage, big reactions, and rapid sharing, even if that content turns out to be false or misleading. So you have things like a few weeks ago, Polymarket randomly claimed on X that Jeff Bezos told aspiring Gen Z entrepreneurs to start at real world jobs like McDonald's or Palantir before starting a business. A post, by the way, that is still up, even though it received a community note after Bezos issued a statement rejecting the advice and accusing

Starting point is 00:23:22 Polymarket's Twitter account also posted and then deleted a false claim that Trump had deported so many people from Minnesota that the state was going to lose a congressional seat after the census. That account also incorrectly reported that Iran's regime had lost control at Iran during a nationwide communications blackout, which was a time when independent reporting on the protest was essentially impossible. And I mean, also amid the chaos over Trump's Greenland threats, Kalshi falsely claimed that the U.S. and Denmark were in technical talks to buy the island. Right, and these platforms, they've also made the fake news problem even worse by giving affiliate badges to influencers who spread false or satirical news. And again, these are just some of the examples.

Starting point is 00:23:54 We've also seen Polymarket repeatedly targeting big MAGA ops like Zoran Mumdani and Representative Ilhan Omar with what Axios described as false misleading or trollish claims. And that's also a very big thing because both of these platforms have deep ties to Trump world. Donald Trump Jr. is a paid investor to Cali as well as an investor in and an unpaid advisor to Polymark. Now that said, there is not any direct evidence right now that Polymarket or Calci is intentionally spreading false information to benefit certain betters, but we are also talking about a whole market with almost zero oversight, regulation, and transparency. And separate from that, the fact that these platforms have repeatedly spread misinformation and kept so much of it up, it also shows that they are okay with fostering

Starting point is 00:24:29 an environment where false information can flourish. And again, that's even when misinformation influences prediction markets that these platforms claim are sources of the ultimate truth. But the next step from that, before we get into our final thing today, I just want to quickly give a congratulations to Matthew E. Because Matt is Seatgeek's latest weekly winner who just scored $500 in tickets and is going to go see later. And for the rest of y'all, that's right. Seekek is still given away $500 in tickets, and you should definitely enter today if you haven't already.

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Starting point is 00:26:08 and that is American boots are on the ground in Nigeria. Right? And that is the same African nation where Trump has amplified allegations of Christian genocide, which led him to authorize strikes against extremists in the country on Christmas Day. And that was the United States. States is getting even more involved, we've got to talk about what Trump's getting wrong about the situation in Nigeria and how the country's latest massacre is just one example of that. The really where we need to start is how we got here in the first place. So one of the biggest

Starting point is 00:26:29 things you need to know is that certain Christian activists, they've spent years pushing for American intervention in Nigeria. Though I will say more recently, American lawmakers and even celebrities, they've taken up the cause. Right, going back to Trump's first term, you had him designating Nigeria as what's known as a country of particular concern. And that's a label meant for countries where religious freedoms threaten, basically putting them on a short list for sanctions, but then you had the Biden administration lifting Nigeria's designation in 2021. There, you had the State Department's Religious Freedom Report, noting that mass killings in the country were indiscriminate, affecting both Christians and Muslims. And that determination, it stayed

Starting point is 00:26:58 pretty much the same for the remainder of Biden's presidency. But then you had Trump returning to the White House, and this seemingly provided those activists with another opening. And in fact, you had the New York Times reporting that two dozen activists from groups dedicated to exposing Christian persecution around the world, they pursued various Trump officials as well as Republicans in Congress. So in March, for example, you had a Nigerian bishop speaking to the House subcommittee on Africa, with him telling its members that the experience of the Nigerian Christians today can be summed up as that of a church under Islamist extermination. Right, and what happened in the country in July, it seemed like proof. It was one of the most horrific massacres that the country has seen

Starting point is 00:27:28 in years. Attackers shot to death, hacked to pieces, and burnt alive at least a hundred civilians in a village in Nigeria's north-central region. It was a mostly Christian village and the perpetrators. They were believed to have been bandits belonging to one of the country's predominantly Muslim ethnic groups. So these religious organizations on Capitol Hill, they shared stories about the attack and an effort to get the lawmakers' attention. One that really struck record with them, reportedly was published by the Free Press, which is that outlet that was founded by media executive Barry Weiss, who has more recently come under repeated fire for changes that she's making as the new editor-in-chief of CBS News. But in any case, right, that article, it

Starting point is 00:27:57 emphasized that Christians had been killed by Muslims, and then it slammed mainstream media for not paying more attention. It also pointed a figure as given by religious groups to argue that violence specifically targeting Nigerian Christians or their faith is widespread, and the issue it quickly picked up steam on Capitol Hill. Where you first had Virginia representative Riley Moore citing the attack when he introduced a House resolution condemning the persecution of Christians and Muslim majority countries. He then had Texas Senator Ted Cruz introducing a measure calling for sanctions against Nigeria, and finally, you were these groups actually securing a meeting with Trump officials

Starting point is 00:28:22 near the White House in late October. It was then only just a couple of days later that Trump took to Truth Social to announce that he had officially re-designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern. And he then followed that up by writing, if the Nigerian government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria and may very well go into the now-discraised country, guns ablazing to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists

Starting point is 00:28:43 who are committing these horrible atrocities. And then adding, I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our cherished Christians. Warning, the Nigerian government better move fast. From there, even had Nikki Minaj posting about the issue on social media, with her actually being invited to speak about the alleged Christian persecution in Nigeria at the United Nations. You also had that same bishop testifying to Congress again telling the committee, church alone cannot stop the killings that requires coordinated political, military, and humanitarian intervention.

Starting point is 00:29:11 You even had dozens of current and retired NFL players signing an open letter calling on Trump to do more to confront religious persecution in Nigeria. Right, and in the background, the U.S. military began assessing strike options and conducting intelligence gathering surveillance flights over large parts of the country. And then on Christmas Day, which was reportedly a deliberate choice by Trump, it launched an attack involving more than a dozen Tamaha cruise missiles on what it said were Islamic State targets. With Trump, then, writing on Druid Social, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS terrorist scum in northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously

Starting point is 00:29:38 killing primarily innocent Christians at levels not seen for many years and even centuries. And doubting, I have previously warned these terrorists that if they do, did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight there was. May God bless our military and Merry Christmas to all, including the dead terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues. Now with that, you notably had a spokesperson for Nigeria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirming that the strikes had been carried out in cooperation with his government, but you also had a madding. Terrorist violence in any form, whether directed at Christians, Muslims, or other communities, remains an

Starting point is 00:30:07 affront to Nigeria's values and to international peace and security. Right in that, as the Nigerian government has consistently denied any systematic persecution of Christians. But they've also kind of stopped arguing with the Trump administration while they're under pressure with the country's national security advisors saying after the strikes, we are not going to get bogged down on narratives. So we've actually seen tension subsiding and increased cooperation. And so last month, high-ranking American officials went to Nigeria to announce increased military cooperation between the two nations. And just this week, we had the US military deploying a small military team to Nigeria, the first acknowledgment of boots on the ground. Or with an unnamed former US official telling Reuters that the US team appear to be heavily involved in intelligence gathering to help go after terrorist groups. But also, you know, a big thing is if they're only a big thing is, if they're only a

Starting point is 00:30:45 trying to protect Christians, they're going to be leaving a lot of people left to die because there is no real solid evidence that Christians are being killed more frequently than any other religious group. All that's really clear is that a lot of people are being killed. Nigeria isn't technically at war, but more people are killed there than many war-torn countries. In 2025, it's been reported that more than 12,000 people were killed by various violent groups. And the victims, they include large numbers of both Christians and Muslims, and there are many different reasons for that violence. There's been what's been described as a jihadist insurgency, mostly in the northeast and northwest, which is where most of the people and most of the victims of armed, groups are Muslim. But with that, you have at least two main groups operating there that are affiliated with the Islamic State. In the Northwest, you have the Islamic State West Africa Province, which is an offshoot of Boko Haram. Then in the Northeast, you have the lesser known Islamic States Sahel Province. And then on top of all that, also in the Northwest, as well as the North Central regions, you have armed groups, often described as bandits, looting, and kidnapping for ransom. In the North Central region, you also have a lot more violence between predominantly

Starting point is 00:31:37 Christian farming communities and mostly Muslim groups of nomadic herders. And you have experts saying that these clashes, they're rooted in competition over land and water, but they are exacerbated by religious and ethnic differences. And similarly, kidnappings targeting priests, for instance, it may seem like an obvious example of religious targeting, but you have many analysts reportedly seeing this as really being more driven by money than religious hatred. And that's apparently because priests are viewed as influential figures whose worshippers or organizations can quickly mobilize funds. And then ultimately with all this, right, data collected by the armed conflict location and event data program, it shows that there were nearly 12,000 attacks against civilians in Nigeria

Starting point is 00:32:09 from 2020 until September or last year. And you had 385 of those attacks results again 317 deaths being described as targeted events against Christians where Christian identity of the victim was a reported factor, and he also had 196 attacks resulting in 417 deaths similarly being described as targeting Muslims. And then of course I have to mention, you know, this data, it's far from perfect. You know, stats relied on for advancing claims of Christian persecution, they're sometimes incredibly dubious. Right, Ted Cruz and Riley Moore, for example, they have cited the work of a Nigerian man who claims to have documented 125,000 Christian deaths in Nigeria since 2009. But his reporting, it's often not double-checked, and it's almost entirely based on secondary sources such as Christian interest

Starting point is 00:32:43 groups and Google searches. He also reportedly called for what would likely be considered the ethnic cleansing of a Muslim majority group in the country. And then even his own flawed methodology, it said that there were at least 60,000 deaths in that same time period among those he described as moderate Muslims. In the most recent violence, it's only gone to show how it affects everyone. Right, this last Tuesday, gunman believed to be with one of the Islamic State-affiliated groups, they killed more than 160 people in two villages in north-central Nigeria. You got up local politicians saying the attackers had rounded up residents, bounded their hands behind their backs, and killed them as well as burned down homes and shops. Residents also telling Reuters at the

Starting point is 00:33:13 the gunmen were jihadists who often preached in the village, and they demanded that the locals ditched their allegiance to the Nigerian state and switched to Sharia law. And when the villagers pushed back, they said that the militants opened fire. Or in at least one X account with more than 200,000 followers connected the attack to recent kidnappings at a Catholic school and churches, saying they executed 170 Christians for refusing Sharia law. But we've also seen reports that this was a mostly Muslim community,

Starting point is 00:33:34 with Nigeria's president saying in a statement, it is commendable that community members, even though Muslims refuse to be conscripted into a belief that promotes violence over peace. But yeah, ultimately, that is where we are, right? now it is a horrifying, horrible situation. Something does need to be done. But also with that, I think it's important that people realize that it is very complicated and there are a number of people pushing narratives that are not exactly accurate or their outright lies depending on who's talking. Ah, but that, my friends, is where we're going to end today's Thursday, Philip DeFranco

Starting point is 00:34:00 Show. Thank you so much for being a part of another daily dive into the news, though. I will also say there is more to watch from here, whether that's last night's Philip DeFranco show that you might not have seen or the newest crashing out podcast I put out that YouTube was so awesome to suppress this morning. I don't even know if they'll let me do an on-screen link. So if it's not there, I got links in the description. Whatever the case may be, I love yo faces and I'll see you right back here next time.

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