The Philip DeFranco Show - Trump’s DC Takeover is Crazier Than Everyone Realizes & The WNBA Scandal Exposes A BIGGER Problem

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

I sat down to try to make sense of this news. Here’s what I found. 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 NEW https://BeautifulBastard.com DROP IS LIVE!  ASK ME A QUESTION Got a question? Serious, silly, personal, or newsy — bring the good stuff. Send yours here: https://www.speakpipe.com/PDS  LISTEN TO THE SHOW iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2V  JOIN OUR COMMUNITY 📸Instagram: https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco  🐦Twitter: https://twitter.com/phillyd  🎵TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philipdefranco  TODAY’S STORIES 00:00 - Trump Begins Federal Takeover of D.C. 09:34 - It’s Raining Dildos at WNBA Games 13:39 - Sponsored by PDS Debt 14:32 - Is RFK Jr. Responsible for Deadly CDC Shooting in Atlanta? 17:49 - Trump Is Shaking Down Big Tech 20:33 - Fake AI Friends Are Mining Your Account for Propaganda 24:06 - Putin Is Playing Trump 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  #DonaldTrump #WashingtonDC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trump's DC takeovers being justified by lies is worse than even critics expected and might soon spread to a city near you, why RFK Jr. is now being blamed for the deadly CDC shooting in Atlanta, the WNBA Dildo problems exposing the problem with new betting markets, and how you may already be getting manipulated by Chinese AI. We're talking about all of that and even more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show you daily dive into the news, starting with this. Donald Trump is Liberating America. Again, this is Liberation Day in D.C., and we're going to take our capital back.

We're taking it back. We're taking it back. First, Liberation Day was with the tariffs, and now Donald Trump is promising to make our Capitol great again by making what he called crime, savagery, filth, and scum disappear. With Trump holding what he called the press conference on crime and beautification today, and we'll start with crime. Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless people, and we're not going to let it happen anymore.

We're not going to take it. Today we're formally declaring a public safety emergency. This is an emergency. This is a tragic emergency. Under the authorities vested in me as the President of the United States, I'm officially invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. You know what that is? And placing the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control.

Rancy at Trump announcing that Attorney General Pam Bondi, who still hasn't released the Epstein files, assuming command of the of the Metro Police. And the Defense Department, they'll activate some 800 National Guard personnel who will deploy to the streets of DC, which notably is something that Trump has more authority to do, since unlike the state of California,

the District of Columbia doesn't control its own National Guard. Also on top of that, Trump reportedly plans to temporarily reassign some 120 FBI agents to nighttime patrol duties in DC. And as for both the National Guard and FBI in general, it's currently unclear exactly what they'll be doing. Right, in that in part because over the weekend, you had sources telling reporters

that they probably won't have arrest authorities. Instead, it would be this show of force and they'd support local police doing stuff like drugging around the city and running license plates for stolen vehicles and warrants. But then today, Trump said, They'll immediately begin massive enforcement operations targeting known gangs, drug dealers in criminal networks. And this notably comes after the weekend when Trump reportedly sent up to 450 federal agents to D.C.

already. With Trump's latest move, you had him arguing. We will bring in the military if needed. People say, oh, that's so terrible. He's going to bring in, it's been, it's been too many times over the years. And you have critics arguing that using the military for domestic law enforcement is illegal, but Trump already deployed Marines to L.A., and he's shown himself willing to ignore the courts on many occasions. And with all that said, before we get ahead of ourselves, as far as, you know, what started this whole DC subplot,

you know, obviously you have people saying that he's doing anything and everything to distract from Jeffrey Epstein. And also, there was an attempted carjacking and assault of a former Doge staffer known as Big Balls last week. And since then, Trump and his allies have turned this into a story about the supposedly out-of-control crime that's plaguing D.C. and other Democratic cities. Murders in 2023 reached the highest rate, probably ever. They say 25 years, but they don't know what that means because it just goes back 25 years. But it's actually very telling that he picked 2023 there. Rick's crime, it definitely was especially bad that year, but it's also come down significantly since then. In fact, violent crimes in 2024 reportedly hit a 30-year low, and it's still dropping,

reportedly down 26% this year from the same period last year as property crime's also down 5%. and overall crime, that's down 7%. And so then, you know, what's Donald Trump's response to that data? Fake news. We don't want to show the real numbers. Let me do numbers so it looks like it's going down, not going down. And in fact, Trump claimed that DC is literally the number one murder capital of the world. 41 per 100,000, number one that we can find anywhere in the world.

Baghdad is, we doubled up on Baghdad, Panama City, Brasilia, San Jose, Costa Rica, Bogota, Colombia, heavy drugs. Mexico City, I've mentioned, Lima, Peru, all double and triple. But again, that's just not true. DC's homicide rate last year was actually 27.3 per 100,000 people, which is far lower than the world's 10 most dangerous cities, according to an analysis. The thing is, it's not just DC. Crime's been falling all over the country. You've got reports saying that homicides nationwide are down 30%.

But that said, of course, crime, was only one half of the equation. There's also the beauty. And I guess channeling his inner wordsworth, Trump delivered this miracle of grammar. We're the most beautiful potentially capital in the world we always had. So like the real estate developer that he is, he wants to make that potential a reality, and he's got lots of ideas. We're going to clean up the trash and the graffiti and the grime and the dirt and the broken marble panels. We're going to replace the medians that are falling down all over the roads.

We're going to replace the potholes. We're going to put a nice new coat of of asphalt over the top. But those things notably are not the only way that he's planning to clean up the city because he also wants to push out the homeless. We're moving the encampments away, trying to take care of people, getting rid of the people from underpasses

and public spaces from all over the city. There are many places that they can go. With that being an addition to yesterday where he truths, the homeless have to move out immediately. We will give you places to stay, but far from the capital. The criminals you don't have to move out, we're going to put you in jail where you belong.

It's all going to happen very fast, just like the border. Now, with that as far as the numbers, DC has a total population of about 700,000 and a local org told Reuters that nearly 3,800 people are homeless on any given night. And most of them, they stay in public housing or emergency shelters, though 800 are considered to be on the street. So it's currently unclear where Trump intends

to put those people, and it's also unclear what he meant by this vague comment about getting rid of the slums. I know it's not politically correct. You'll say, oh, so terrible. No, we're getting rid of the slums where they live, Right, as far as what else he might do with federal command over the Capitol, we're gonna have to wait to see. Though, we did get some hints today.

And that, because he talked about at least three things that, according to him, are responsible for the condition of D.C. and other Democrat-run cities. This whole thing with cashless bail is a disaster. This city will no longer be a sanctuary for illegal alien criminals. You'll send people that shouldn't be there. They got in there because of woke. And so seemingly, if that's his diagnosis, his cure would be to bring back cash bail, enforce immigration laws, and quash whatever, woke. he thinks has infected the DC Metro PD. And then you had Trump going on this tough on crime rant,

but it also ended with trans people. See, they fight back until you knock the hell out of them because it's the only language they understand. And then they start spitting in their face. And I said, you tell them, you spit and we hit. And they can hit real hard. And they're told, don't do anything under any search or this, and you can see they want to get out of it.

The Democrats are weak on crime. because they have no idea what they're doing. That's why they want men playing in women's sports. That's why they want transgender for everybody, everybody transgender. And you know, all of this is in his press conference, Trump didn't just go after D.C. He gave a warning to other major cities. But then I'm going to look at New York in a little while. Let's do this.

Let's do this together. And if we need to, we're going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster. We have a mayor there who's totally incompetent. And I look at L.A., but hopefully L.A., But hopefully L.A. is watching. That mayor also. Now, in response to all this, you had the Democratic Mayors Association putting out a statement saying, if Trump actually cared about reducing crime, he wouldn't have made unprecedented cuts to public safety programs, it actually worked, saying if Trump actually cared about our communities, he would be working with our cities,

not against them. But the truth is Trump doesn't care. He only wants to create yet another political charade to serve his own interests and distract Americans from his failures. With D.C. Mayor Bowser saying in her own press conference this afternoon, We know that access to our democracy is tenuous. That is why you have heard me and many, many Washingtonians before me, advocate for full statehood for the District of Columbia. We are American citizens. Our families go to war.

We pay taxes and we uphold the responsibilities of citizenship. And while this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can't say that given some of the rhetoric of the past, that we're totally surprised. If people are concerned about the president being able to move the National Guard into our city, the time to do that would have been when the Congress had a bill that it could have given control of the D.C. National Guard to D.C. And notably, she's been relatively deferential to Trump so far during his second term. During his first term, she was much more defiant with her painting Black Lives Matter on a street in front of the White House during the 2020.

test, for example. Whereas in March of this year, she ordered the Black Lives Matter Plaza mural removed after Republicans threatened to withhold federal funding. And as recently as last week, she actually expressed her eagerness to work with federal authorities on reducing crime in the district, though, at the same time denying Trump's claims that crime was out of control. And with all that, you had a source telling CNN that Bowser sees a little upside in creating riffs with agencies by opposing Trump's deployment of federal officers. But in the meantime, it's far from obvious that the residents of D.C. are as welcoming of federal intervention. For example, a survey from last April, early May, finding that 71% felt that Trump was

getting too involved in local DC issues while just 11% said he wasn't getting involved enough. And so for now, while things are looking pretty heated in the Capitol and we're going to have to keep our eyes on this, whether you live there or not, I'd really love to know your thoughts and reactions to this news. Especially as you have Trump trying to make it pretty clear that while DC may be used to make an example, it would not be limited to DC in the future. And then next up in the news, it's raining dildos at WNBA games. And while that bizarre sentence is where the story starts, it somehow gets even weirder from there. Because all of this, it began on July 29th when someone threw a green dildo at a game between the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries.

And there, you had the person accused of throwing the toy since being arrested and one-player telling reporters... I mean, first of all, it was super dangerous and then when we find out what it was, I guess we just started laughing, never seen anything like that. But since then, the WNBA has only seen more and more dildos, where with similar incidents happening at games in Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and New York, with sex toys, sometimes reaching the court and sometimes just hitting people in the crowds. I mean, in New York, the sex toy hit a 12-year-old girl in the leg with the NYPD saying that they're looking at this dude in a Beavis and Butthead shirt as a suspect. And while some, you know, initially laughed and rolled with it. The more that this has been happening, the less funny that at the very least, players have found it. With, for example, the Indiana fever Sophie Cunningham, writing, stop throwing dildos on the court, you're going to hurt one of us.

And Elizabeth Williams of the Chicago Sky also saying, It's super disrespectful. I don't really get the point of it. It's really immature. whoever was doing it as I see to grow up. You also had the WNBA releasing a statement after it happened the second time, saying the safety and well-being

of everyone in our arenas is a top priority for our league. Objects of any kind thrown onto the court or in the seating area can pose a safety risk for players, game officials, and fans. And adding in line with the WNBA

arena security standards, any fan who intentionally throws an object onto the court will be immediately ejected and face a minimum one-year ban in addition to being subject to arrest and prosecution by local authorities. And in addition to the arrest

And after the first incident in Georgia, you had an 18-year-old man being arrested for throwing a dildo in Phoenix. With the report saying with a sex toy there, hit a man in the crowd, and possibly his niece as well. And so, you know, with this, you may be wondering questions like, who is behind it? Is there a serial dildo throwing group at WNBA games out there? And well, at the very least, I'll say there's a person who claimed to be behind the spree of events, speaking to multiple outlets on Thursday and Friday and saying that this is actually part of a crypto promo. Well, you have many seeing this as simply a sexist-pring targeting female athletes. You had that person telling USA Today, we didn't do this.

this because like we dislike women's sports or like some of the narratives that are trending right now are ridiculous. Creating disruption at games is like it happens in every single sport, right? You've seen it in the NFL, we've seen it in hockey, you know, fans doing random things to more or less create attention. That person then going as far as to call it a protest against the toxic nature of the crypto world being dominated by influencers and scammers. With there being a coin, reportedly called the green dildo coin in that source while not revealing their identity, simply going by the name Lieutenant Daldow Rain. As far as that coin, it apparently started trading on July 28. which is the day before the first dildo was thrown with that source telling ESPN,

it was more or less like an opportunistic approach to, you know, what is already trending. Where is there already controversy and how do we intercept some of that? There, while he said that the second person arrested was in fact affiliated with the group, he said that the first person arrested was not and did not throw the sex toy. We then also didn't say who did throw it. But then the final aspect or maybe even twist to this story involves not investing in crypto, but betting. Right, and that because there are places out there like polymarket that are letting you bet on

whether or not dildos are going to be thrown at upcoming WNBA games. And as of this morning, there's over half a million dollars in betting volume, with people thinking there's a 7% chance it happens tonight and 14% saying that it happens tomorrow. Right, and all of that is notably the person who claims to be behind this saying they were going to be switching their stunts up and moving away from WNBA games. So that's potentially why the odds are so low. But just the fact that this is happening has people noting that this seems ripe for abuse. Right, this isn't, I think Travis Kelsey is going to get over or under seven catches.

You and I, we can't really have an impact on that. But what stop at a person from betting that a dildo is going to be thrown and then either doing it themselves or having someone else they know doing? And it's not like I'm the first person to say something like that. Last week you had someone saying this is precisely what polymarket and other prediction markets should not be doing. Saying these markets are designed to be self-fulfilling prophecies. Cost of a WNBA ticket plus dildo is less than $50, penalties if caught are a few days in jail and $1,000 fine. Do the math on market volumes. And this is an irresponsible market that directly leads to anti-social behavior.

But with all that said, we'll see what happens. And in the meantime, I'd love to know your thoughts. whether it be on the betting aspect or just the fact that this is happening at all. And then I've got more news you need to know in a minute, but you know what's wild? You miss one credit card payment and suddenly your public enemy number one. But banks raking billions off late fees like it's a game. And you know what, it is a game. It's one that's rigged from the jump and the house always wins and lest you flip the board. And that is where today's sponsor PDS debt comes in offering a way out of the trap.

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That's PDS.com slash DeFranco when the QR codes on screen, so scan that thing and take the first step. And then next step, we've got to talk about how this debt. Finally shooting at the CDC has staff demanding action not only on security, but on the lies that they say are fueling the violence. Right, because over the weekend, there was a shooting at the Atlanta headquarters for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At around 5 p.m. on Friday, you had police in Atlanta receiving a 911 call about an active shooter at the CBS across the street from the CDC office. Dozens of bullets reportedly hitting the exterior of at least four CDC buildings, damaging the windows and walls. We know that the shooter initially tried getting into the CDC buildings, but was then turned away by security before going across the street. And among the first wave of police response to the shooting was former.

Marine and rookie officer David Rose of the DeKalb County Police Department who was shot on the scene and rushed when nearby hospital where he died. And as far as a shooter, he was then discovered dead himself on the second floor of the CBS, though it's unclear whether he died by his own hand or shots fired by the police. And all in all, there were no other reported injuries besides those two. Now, with all that, you ended up saying the responses that you would expect from this. A CDC director, Susan Menares, sending a message to CDC employees saying, the active shooter incident near our campus today has understandably brought fear, anger, and worry to all of us. I want to express my deep appreciation for your professionalism and resilience during this time. You then had Health Secretary R. F.K. Jr. saying in a statement, we know how shaken our public health colleagues feel today.

No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others. We are actively supporting CDC staff on the ground and across the agency. Public health workers show up every day with purpose, even in moments of grief and uncertainty. With also Atlanta's CDC employees being informed that they'd be working remotely today while a security assessment was conducted. Though there, you had the American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing CDC workers, pushing for the walls and windows to be repaired before they're sent back to the office, saying, forcing a return under these conditions risks re-traumatizing staff by exposing them to the reminders of the horrific shooting they endure. And as far as the shooter behind that shooting,

he was identified as 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White, a man who lived with his parents in Kennesaw, Georgia, and his neighbors described him as a quiet man who often picked up odd jobs like trimming hedges or walking dogs. Though he also reportedly recently became unsettled and fixated on vaccines with his father saying that he'd recently taken serious issue with the COVID-19 vaccine specifically. With White reportedly believing that the vaccine had made him depressed and suicidal, with one of his neighbors even saying that White would bring up vaccines unprompted and an unrelated conversation saying, he very deeply believed that vaccines hurt him and were hurting other people. I had no idea he thought he would take it out on the CDC. And that sentiment actually brings us to the

latest update to this story, which is that the American Federation of government employees is calling for a statement from the federal government condemning vaccine misinformation. With the union saying that Friday's attack, it wasn't random and, quote, compounds months of mistreatment, neglect, and vilification that CDC staff have endured. The union arguing that a statement from the government is needed in order to protect CDC staff and scientists from the violence and adding. Their leadership is critical in reinforcing public trust and ensuring that accurate science-based information prevails. And with all that, there are some including a group of laid-off CDC employees that have organized under the banner fired but fighting laying the blame for the vilification of the CDC and their staff on RFK Jr. Saying in a statement, Kennedy is directly responsible for the villainization of CDC's workforce through his continuous lies about science and vaccine safety which have fueled a climate of hostility and mistrust. Saying, we don't need thoughts and prayers. We need an administration that doesn't villainize federal workers

who are just trying to do their job. We need a HHS secretary who does not promote misinformation about science and vaccines. Though there, you have many saying, given what we've seen from this government and what we've seen specifically from RFK Jr., it's best probably to not hold your breath. And then, in other news,

this Nvidia-AMD situation is a game-changer. But depending on where you go online, it's being framed very differently. Right, some saying this is Trump shaking down one of the world's biggest tech companies for a share, their profits. And you have others saying Trump just made a deal to arm China's AI, and you have national security officials furious. But as far as the core thing that they're talking about,

it's the news that NVIDIA and AMD have agreed to pay the U.S. government 15% of the money that they make from selling certain advanced computer chips in China. And yeah, you do have experts warning that the deal sparks national security concerns. Because the United States previously banned the sale of several powerful chips to China under export controls that are usually related to national security concern. And in April, you had the Trump White House restricting the sale of NVIDIA's H-T chip and AMD's MIA. But then last month, you had Trump saying that he might ease restrictions on selling chips to China if Beijing agreed to speed up the export of rare earths. And wouldn't you know it a few days later, the Trump administration reversed course on Nvidia's H20 chips, saying that the company would be able to sell them to China. Though notably there, it didn't actually issue the licenses allowing those sales to move forward. That is, until now, its sources telling the New York Times at the Commerce Department began granting licenses for AI chip sales two days after Nvidia CEO met with Trump at the White House and agreed to the 15%. Though even before that, you had security experts, including some who served during Trump's first term, writing to the administration expressing deep concern that

NVIDIA's age 20 chip was a potent accelerator of China's AI capabilities. With them acknowledging that, yes, the biggest buyers in China would be civilian companies, but they expected that the chips would also be used by the military. With them then going on to write, chips optimized for AI inference will not simply power consumer products or factory logistics. They will enable autonomous weapons systems, intelligence surveillance platforms, and rapid advances in battlefield decision making. And now, right, after the news of this deal broke, you have one of the people who signed that letter, someone who served on the National Security Council under both Trump and Biden, again, speaking out, saying that this is going to incentivize China to push for more

concessions and pressure companies to make similar deals, saying you're selling our national security for corporate profits. And then beyond that, as far as other reactions, you have some investors calling the deal a shakedown, others saying that this agreement is a tax on exports, which has long been considered illegal in the United States. So the thing is, well, this deal might be highly unusual overall. It's also kind of the thing that we've come to expect from Trump. Because, well, not a direct one-to-one, you have things like back in June, for instance, he allowed a Japanese steel company to effectively take over U.S. steel in exchange for the U.S. government getting a stake in the business. And then, when it comes to China, he's been kind of back and forth on. I mean, we're seeing this news here, but there's also stuff like last week we talked about Trump calling for the resignation of the CEO over his alleged ties to China.

But now we're seeing this news, and we've learned that Trump's actually bringing Intel CEO to the White House for a conversation. Or with many wondering, one, what's happening there? We're going to see a big announcement there, but also two, kind of part of the larger conversation. In addition to people saying this is unusual or saying it's illegal, people wondering if Trump is taking short-term wins, but effectively giving China the future. And then next up in the news, China may already be using AI to infiltrate your feed, your group chats, and your mind. I know that sounds wild, but let me explain. It's a two professors at Vanderbilt University Institute of National Security named Brett Goldstein and Brett Benson recently published an op-ed in the New York Times on the subject. What they said is they recently uncovered a bunch of documents that show a Chinese company called Golixie is at the head of a technologically advanced state-aligned.

influence campaign to use human-like bot networks and psychological profiling to target individuals. With a big thing here being the killer combination of generative AI and mountains of personal data on you. And according to the brets, the documents say that Golexi's systems work by continually mining social media platforms to build dynamic psychological profiles and then customizing content to a person's values, beliefs, emotional tendencies, and vulnerabilities. And from there, AI personas can engage users in what appears to be an authentic conversation that adapts in real time to avoid detection. We're talking like in posts, leaving comments, and pushing targeted content just like a real person. With him saying, the result is a highly efficient propaganda engine that's

designed to be nearly indistinguishable from legitimate online interaction delivered instantaneously at a scale never before achieved. Right in that, as you had outlets like Axios explaining, the threat of smarter, more realistic, fake friends transcends malicious actors trying to warp your sense of politics or reality. It hits your most personal inner thoughts and struggles. And in fact, you have the brets going on to say that Golixie has already deployed this technology in Hong Kong and they say the document suggests plans to do the same in the United States. And while they don't provide any examples of the conversations, they say that this attack was used to minimize opposition to a 2020 national security law that cracked down on

political dissent in Hong Kong. And then they say it was deployed again in the lead-up to the 2024 Taiwanese election, with a Brett saying that during that campaign, Golixi suggested ways to undermine Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party, which opposes China's claim over the island. And the company gathered and likely supplied information on trends in Taiwanese debate and recommended the deployment of bot networks to exploit political divisions between the parties. Now, with all that said, you had Golixi denying providing any tech support for activities in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Along with that, you had a rep from the company saying that Golixi is focused on business intelligence and they deny the accusations in the op-ed as well as claiming that they're not under the authority of any government agency or organization. But with that, you had the op-ed claiming, there are just several connections that are too glaring to ignore.

Things including their operation within China's national security priorities, their founding happening back in 2010 at the state-controlled Chinese Academy of Sciences along with their continued work with top intelligence, party, and military bodies. Not to mention that in 2021, it started receiving funding from a Beijing-based supercomputing firm that the Pentagon had previously flagged as a Chinese military affiliate. And there's a noted risk here because, as a Harvard Business Review study from earlier this year, pointed out, the number one use for chat-based generative AI is therapy and companionship, which as reports noted, lines up with what the big AI companies are finding. People are turning to AI in search of buddies and shrinks. And with that, it comes with an avalanche of issues, namely being more vulnerable to tech, like with what the brats are warning about. Which is then also why in their op-ed, they close it out by encouraging the United States. to take action on all fronts.

It's saying that researchers need to map how artificial intelligence, open source intelligence, and online influence campaigns converge to serve hostile state objectives. The private sector needs to ramp up AI detection tools and the federal government needs to work on identifying and countering false profiles like this while also disrupting the infrastructure behind the operations.

And then, you know, as far as the individual level, you as a person and a user, you need to be vigilant and thoughtful when it comes to who you're friends with or who you're conversing with or even just what you're sharing online. Because so much of what we're putting out there, it's being put into AI-made handbooks on how to best manipulate us. And remember, all of this is happening at a time where this is the worst that AI will ever be from here on out. It's going to become more effective. It's going to be harder to detect and become more widely used. And then next up in big international news, is Vladimir Putin manipulating Donald Trump to get out of new sanctions and tariffs while continuing his war in Ukraine?

It seems almost definitely, but the question is, will Trump fall for it? Because the two of them, they're set to meet in Alaska on Friday. Putin reportedly telling the White House he'll stop the fighting if he can just keep all the territory he's taken, plus a little extra, knowing damn well that Ukraine is all but certain to reject that offer. Putin, perhaps hoping he can get Trump back to thinking that it's actually Zelensky and not him that's standing in the way of peace, and in doing so, he gets to keep waging the war that he really started over a decade ago. Because understandably, while we've focused on the here and now, Russia invaded an annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. And then in 2022, a few months after invading again, you had Putin announcing the annexation of Denez,

Luhansk, Heresan, and Zaporizia, despite not actually having conquered all of them. And in fact, after more than three years of war, he still hasn't. The Russia has taken control of around a fifth of Ukraine, including all of Luhansk and most of Dinesk, which together makes up the area known as Donbass, where with Russia then taking large parts and small parts of other regions. Now, with that, you also notably had Ukraine seizing around 500 square miles of Russian territory and a shock offensive launch last year, hoping to use that land as a bargaining chip and potential peace talks.

But now, as of today, they're only hanging on to about four square miles of that, which On the note of what's been happening, I mean, since Trump returned to the White House, Putin's only ramped up his attacks on Ukraine. In fact, Russia has more than doubled the number of missiles and drones that it's fired monthly into Ukraine since January. Many wondering where it's going to go from here. And actually, last week, you had Putin meeting with Trump envoy Steve Whitkoff and telling him that Russia would agree to a complete ceasefire if Ukraine agreed to withdraw all its forces from the Danesk region. A move that would leave Russia in control of Donbass, and it's not entirely clear what would happen in the other regions where Russia controls territory. With that, you had Whitkoff reportedly telling European officials that the Russian proposal, including, two phases. The first would involve not only Ukraine's withdrawal from Donetsk, but also the freezing of front lines. And then the second phase would involve Putin and Trump agreeing on a final peace plan that would later be negotiated with Zelensky. With one U.S. officially been telling the Wall Street Journal that Putin would negotiate land swamps with Ukraine and aim to take full control over the four regions that it said it annexed in 2022. With it not clear there, which territory Ukraine would receive in return. All while, the proposal reportedly didn't directly address Ukraine's demand for security guarantees. You just had Putin saying that his government would pass legislation pledging to not attack Ukraine or Europe, which

really isn't that reassuring coming from Putin. I mean, it's Vladimir Putin that we're talking about here. But either way, right, the territory that Putin's asking for, it kind of makes the deal dead in the water. Because Ukrainian and European officials have repeatedly rejected the idea of giving up more territory or recognizing Russia control over the territory that it seized. And in fact, Ukraine's constitution prohibits Zelensky from unilaterally authorizing territorial changes. Which is something that Zelensky himself pointed out in a series of Post-on X over the weekend,

where he argued that Ukraine must be part of any negotiation to end the war, writing any decisions that are without Ukraine or at the same time decisions against peace. They will not achieve anything. And saying the answer to the Ukrainian territorial question already is in the constitution of Ukraine. No one will deviate from this and no one will be able to. Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier. But notably, with all this, you had Trump not only set to meet with Putin alone on Friday, he's already said that, quote, there will be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both.

With him specifically saying today, he'll try to get back territory for Ukraine, but at the same time expressing frustration with Zelensky saying he disagrees with what he's done and that, quote, this is a war that should have never happened. And while you have J.D. Vans saying that the U.S. is working to set up a three-way meeting that also includes Zelensky, we've not really seen any sign from Putin that he is real interest in that. And all the while, you have Europeans pushing to be consulted here and they're worrying that Putin is just playing Trump. Right, because notably last Friday, it was actually the deadline Trump set for Putin to either make a ceasefire deal or face sanctions targeting the Russian economy, including possible secondary

sanctions on countries that do business with Russia. And while you had Trump imposing 50% tariffs on Indian goods, largely due to India being a major importer of Russian oil, it seems that Putin's offer and willingness to meet have delayed the deadline. So now Putin, he may have a chance to try and drive a wedge between the U.S. and Ukraine by making demands that he knows that Ukraine just cannot accept, and then casting Zelensky is the obstacle to peace. And so what you saw is in another series of posts over the weekend, you had Zelensky trying to tell Trump that while also trying not to piss Trump off. Writing, I have not heard any partners express doubts about America's ability to ensure that the war ends. The President of the United States has the levers and the determination. Ukraine has supported all of President Trump's proposals starting back in February, and adding, everyone clearly sees Putin's tactics.

He fears sanctions and is doing everything to bail on that. He wants to exchange a pause in the war and the killings for the legalization of the occupation of our land. He wants to get territorial spoils for the second time. Zelensky also sang in his evening address to the nation last night. We understand the Russians' intention to try to deceive America. We will not allow this. I greatly appreciate the determination of President Trump to stop the deaths in war. The only root cause of these killings is Putin's desire to fight and manipulate everyone

he comes into contact with. But for now, with this summit just days away, we'll have to see if Zelensky's words fall on deaf ears or not, and if anything changes in the lead-up to this. But then, my friend, you beautiful bastard is where today's show is going to end. If you're new here, definitely subscribe for daily dives into the news. Whether you are or not, definitely hit that like button. But hey, no matter what, I'll see you right back here tomorrow for another dive into the news. Stay sane out there. Stay safe out there, and I'll see you then.