The Philip DeFranco Show - Trump’s Epstein Birthday Book Problem Is Worse Than You Think & 19 Killed in Gen Z Protests

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

The Full 238 Epstein Pages Exposed SeatGeek: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/PHIL use code “PHIL” for $20 OFF your first order. “PDS” for $10  on returning buyers. Get an exclusive NordVPN deal at https://nordvpn.com/phil  Risk free with Nord's 30-day money back guarantee!  https://BeautifulBastard.com Grab your new Tees, crewnecks, and tanks rn! 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 MY NEW PODCAST w/ Ari Cohn Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2CePXwDrvdQTes844wflKp?si=55a6b6049c4841ed Youtube: https://youtube.com/acw?sub_confirmation=1 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  Use code “PHIL” for $20 OFF your first SeatGeek order & returning buyers use code “PDS” for $10 off AND your chance at weekly $500 prizes! https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/PHIL TODAY’S STORIES 00:00 - Epstein’s Book Exposes the Letter Trump Claimed Didn’t Exist 07:56 - Sponsored by Seatgeek 09:03 - This is How Cops Drink, Drive, and Avoid Arrest 12:06 - Supreme Court Greenlights Racial Profiling in LA 16:48 - Sponsored by NordVPN 17:56 - The Crazy Gen Z Gender Divide 20:49 - Appeals Court Upholds E. Jean Carroll's $83M Defamation Win Against Trump 22:10 - Israel Launches Strike on Qatar Capital 24:24 - 19 Killed in Gen Z Protests 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 #EpsteinFiles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trump's Epstein problem just got way worse, with the now-panicked Trump White House making denials as the Epstein birthday book ended up exposing even more than expected, more information is expected soon, and Massey and Kana should have the votes for the Epstein files by the end of the month. Also, Israel just struck Qatar in an attempt to assassinate Hamas leaders as top leaders gathered to discuss Trump ceasefire proposal. If you've got at least 19 protesters dead, parliament on fire, and the prime minister resigning as the Gen Z protest rage in Nepal. We're talking about all of that and even more on today's brand new Philippines.

to Franco's show you daily dive into the news, starting with this. We've got to talk about the now infamous Epstein birthday book because it's been released and it's actually way worse than we previously thought. Because back in July, you had the Wall Street Journal reporting, though not publishing the actual thing, that Trump had contributed a letter to Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday book in 2003. With it said, that it contained a drawing of a naked woman whose pubic hair is Trump's signature as well as an imaginary dialogue between Trump and Epstein, something that was very weird and creepy sounding.

Trump's supposedly writing that they have a lot in common and then adding enigmas never age. Have you noticed that? And ending, a pal is a wonderful thing. Happy birthday. And may every day be another wonderful secret. Right. And in response, you had Trump calling the whole thing fake and then suing the journal's reporters, its publisher and its parent company, News Corp for defamation.

And you had many, including J.D. Van, so I think he asked it rhetorically, asking, where is this letter? And, well, now letters here, along with the rest of the 238-page birthday book, because the House Oversight Committee got it from Epstein. and released it last night. And so now we know this letter, it very, very much exists, but still you had Trump allies denying that it's authentic. Are you in press secretary Caroline Levitt saying,

as I have said all along, it's very clear President Trump did not draw this picture and he did not sign it. President Trump's legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation and adding, this is fake news to perpetuate the Democrat Epstein hoax. You then also had the likes of Charlie Kirk, Benny Johnson, and the White House Deputy Chief of Staff posting other example of Trump's signature, claiming that they look different. But as many have pointed out,

out the signature in the letter, it bears many hallmarks of Trump's actual signature, the bold serif lettering, the loopier cursive, the long tail at the end and the final D. There are even some side-by-side examples of known signatures from Trump, as well as this one from the birthday book. The one, you have Trump defenders using examples of his signature where he doesn't do the long tail. Until you've got folks like Republican Representative Tim Burchick claiming that, you know, this could just be an outright forgery. I mean, anybody can do a signature. We've seen the auto pin has been used quite a bit with the Biden administration, so I've never known Trump to be much of an artist either.

I just don't buy it. So you think really someone might have just forged this somehow and sent this to the... Somehow, it's so easy to do. I just don't buy any of it. But then with all that, you had people pushing back saying it would be very strange and weird and seemingly unnecessary for Epstein's own estate and therefore Epstein himself when he was alive to have a fake letter from Trump in his birthday book. And of course, you've also had Trump attacking the credibility of the lewd drawing with him

saying in July... I don't do drawings. I'm not a drawing person. I don't do drawings of women that I can tell you. And then, his son, Eric, reiterating that claim yesterday. I can tell you my father does not sketch out cartoon drawings. But as his public knowledge and as others have pointed out, Trump did draw pictures around that same time, which he actually auctioned off for charity and their style is remarkably similar to the one in the letter.

And once again, here they are side by side for comparison. But that's also not where it ends, even seemingly where he refers to himself in the third person in the letter's imaginary dialogue, it resembles his speeches and social media posts. He thought he would be tougher on ISIS than Donald Trump. If Putin likes Donald Trump. You wouldn't even be hearing about the word immigration if it wasn't for Donald Trump.

Trump was able to get him to give something. I don't know what the hell it was, but it doesn't matter. Than Donald Trump. Donald Trump. Trump. And then there's stuff like his distinctive vocab, right? You had people out there going, ah, the president would never use the word enigma.

In fact, he used it to describe Don King, Mike Tyson, and Dan Rather in his books. And then you have things like the letters phrase, a wonderful thing, it's something that Trump uses frequently. It's going to be a wonderful thing. It's going to be wonderful for the Middle East. And it was a wonderful thing. It's been a wonderful thing.

But also, a thing that I think should be focused on all this is the stuff outside of just Trump's letter. What we're seeing is that the birthday book contains much, much more that is very revealed. Or something you've seen more and more people honing in on is this one from a businessman and longtime Mar-a-Lago member, Joel Peshkow. Because the show, Zepstein, receiving an oversized check for $22,500,000 with Trump's name on it with the caption. Jeffrey's showing early talents with money and women and then-cells fully depreciated,

redacted name to Donald Trump. And according to the journal, that redacted name belongs to a real person, a wealthy European woman then in her 20. So the drawing apparently is meant to show Trump purchasing a woman from Epstein. The sources also saying that she was courted by both Trump and Epstein in the 1990s, but then when she ultimately went for Trump, Epstein felt bitter. Though I will say the woman's lawyer claimed she had no romantic relationship with either man severed ties with Epstein in 1997 and doesn't know Pashkow and has no knowledge

of the birthday letter. But then also, there are dozens of other letters in this book. And though most don't mention Trump outside of a brief comment. that he was one of the many famous people that they met through Epstein. They do demonstrate in the words of the New York Times that Epstein's lewd and lecherous behavior with young women was both widely known and widely celebrated by people who described themselves as his closest friends and associates. So you've got things like a cartoon drawing of Epstein lying in a beach chair getting what appears to be a nude

massage at least from four topless women. There's also another comparing him to the fisherman from a Hemingway story except instead of catching fish he catches women blonde red or brunette. He then had another lamenting so many girls so little time about Epstein. He also had one that reminisced about how in a farm town in Iowa where it was hard to tell the difference between the girls and the hogs, Epstein somehow managed to find a spectacular tall blonde, he'll be later invited back with him to New York. Then another letter where the person said they agonized long and hard about what to write

and then simply put photos of lions and zebras having sex and adding that they seemed more appropriate than anything I could put in words. And next, you have a letter alluding to how in the mid-1970s, Epstein first discovered the Maxwell teenage daughter. And then finally, you had one letter marveling at the fact that somehow at the age, of 50, Epstein has avoided the penitentiary. So y'all can draw your own conclusions from all that, but arguably these letters show that even three years before his first arrest, Epstein's reputation for being at least a womanizer

and at worst, a sex pest with a fixation on very young girls, it was widely known among his friends. As far as Trump's take on this, when NBC got him on the phone this morning, he reportedly said, I don't comment on something that's a dead issue. I gave all comments to the staff, it's a dead issue. And you had JD Van saying much of the same, posting on X, Democrats don't care about Epstein. They don't even care about his victims. That's why they were silent about it for years. The only thing they care about is concocting another fake scandal like Russiagate to smear President Trump with lies. No one is falling for this BS.

But also, and maybe unfortunately for Trump, this appears to be only the beginning, right? Because the House Oversight Committee got more than just the birthday book from Epstein's estate. We also now have his will, his 2007 non-prosecution agreement, right? That sweetheart plea deal that he got and almost 30 years of entries in his personal address book. With that, I will note that the state's lawyers told the committee, we are not aware of the existence of a list of clients involved in sex, sex acts, or sex trafficking facilitated by Mr. Jeffrey Epstein. And so for now, we're going to have to see, you know, what we have to work with here and wait to see if the House obtains more evidence. Which, actually, we need to mention this.

The committee still hasn't received a second batch of documents from Trump's DOJ, despite the deadline to comply with its subpoena for the full Epstein files coming and going weeks ago. And all of this is, you know, despite having several of Epstein's victims coming to Capitol Hill last week and demanding that Trump release the files, no more Republicans have signed on to Rokana and Thomas Massey's discharge petition. So there's still just two lawmakers short at getting it passed in the House, with Massey himself, Nancy Mace, Marjorie Taylor Green, and Lauren Bober being the only ones to join Democrats. But also, I'll add there, that the votes in the House are very likely going to change soon. Because the Democrats have vacant seats because their politicians died

and those seats are going to be filled soon. That also doesn't mean it's a dumb deal. The White House might be able to work with or pressure one of the Republicans who says they will vote for it and maybe they change their mind. Something we often see in Congress is people feeling like, oh, I can vote against this because they know it's not going to actually have an impact. But soon, when the reality on the ground changes, maybe their vote does as well. For now, we'll have to wait to see. And it really does look like Mike Johnson and Trump might be in a bind tier.

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Hey, scan that QR code or click the link below and use code Phil and code PDS and go make some memories. But then next up in the news, we're going to talk about how apparently the best way to avoid getting punished for drinking and driving is just be a cop. You know, that or, you know, not drinking and driving. Because what we're seeing from this investigation from the New York Times and the non-profit newsroom, New York focus, it is shocking. Over the past two years, they got over 10,000 previously confidential disciplinary files detailing misconduct at roughly half the state's law enforcement agencies. What they found is that some New York police departments have caught officers drinking

and driving and then they protected them from the punishments that you or I would face. Right, because if you're not a cop and you're caught driving while intoxicated in New York, I mean, you're looking at like losing your license for at least six months, you'll face nearly $1,000 in fines, and you could even go to jail up to a year. And that's for a first time offense. You know, all that said, I'm imagining you're hearing this, and you're going, well, it's not a surprise

that officers give their brothers and blue special treatment. I mean, they even had a former police chief saying, on the record, if I go 85 on the freeway, I'm not going to get a ticket and saying, have I let people go occasionally? Of course, we all have. But that guy, as well as other former police chiefs and officers were reportedly surprised that even officers responsible for crashes

had avoided arrest. Right, according to this investigation, officers have collided with guardrails, parked cars, and even a moving police car with its lights on it, and then some have fled the scenes of accidents. Some have even shown up to work under the influence, one to a police station, another to a fire, a third to a crime scene. Officer Vincent Del Forte, for example, admitted to having nine drinks before attending a basketball game, then a few more beers during the game, more drinks at two bars on the way home, and three more at his house before going to bed. And then he drove to work the next morning and tested above the legal limit, but was never charged. he just got suspended for three days and breath tested every shift for six months. And then this guy, Ronald Wilson, 11 p.m. on a Saturday night, he crashes his BMW into a Jeep with the responding officer noting that Wilson's speech was slurred and he was off balance,

his eyes were glassy, and he reeked of alcohol. But then Wilson showed ID proving that he was an investigator with the state police and the officer just never gave him a sobriety test. Wilson even admitted in an affidavit that he had been behind the wheel and later admitted that he had six cocktails in a shot that night, but all he ended up getting was a traffic ticket for following behind another car too closely and he got suspended without pay for 35 days. And just the damn cherry on top of this situation? The cop who responded to the scene of this crash, Andrew Kowalski, in June, he won the Erie County's DWI Enforcement Award. Right, and overall,

this investigation found numerous cases of just cops not taking even the most basic steps to confirm if their fellow officers had driven drunk despite significant indications that they had. And then, even with the few exceptions, those who had been caught all returned to the job following short suspensions. Right, and a big thing that I want to end on is the problem. Some is very likely much bigger than even what we know here. We've got some experts saying that the documented cases were very likely in undercount, suggesting that many drunk driving incidents were never internally investigated. Though I will say, to be fair, on the flip side of this, not every department failed to criminally

investigate incidents of drunk and driving and officers who seriously injured themselves or others they usually face prosecution. That's said, that feels like an incredibly fucking low bar. It's something even the most flexible of us couldn't limbo under, and it's still incredibly alarming that officers can put other people's lives at risk in this way and avoid any real consequences. Not to mention, it raises the question of what other types of misconduct are just being swept under the rug every single day. But then next up, in the news from that, we've got to talk about how the Supreme Court just gave the green light for racial profiling. Because the case in question here, it centered around the aggressive immigration enforcement efforts in L.A. that have been a key part of Trump's crackdown.

And at this point, you've probably seen at least some of the countless videos circulating the Internet in recent months, showing armed federal agents rounding up Hispanic people in L.A. and even those were U.S. citizens. But with many, saying that these agents are just acting as rove bans amassed officers routinely violating the Constitution, though, you have supporters arguing that this is a part of Trump's administration's vigorous but entirely legal campaign to enforce immigration laws. But regardless of your opinion here or what you call it, the situation led to civil rights groups and several individuals filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration. We're describing what was happening as indiscriminate immigration operations and saying that when they had swept up thousands of day laborers, carwash workers, farm workers, caregivers, and more, the administration was violating these people's Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Saying, quote, individuals with brown skin are approached and pulled aside by unidentified federal agents, suddenly,

and with a show of force and made to answer questions about who they are and where they are from. And so then what you saw in response to the suit was a U.S. District Court judge from Central California placing some hefty restrictions on immigration agents. Ordering them to not rely on factors including race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or accents at English, presence at a particular location like a day laborer site or an agriculture site or performing a particular type of work. With a judge saying that these factors shouldn't be used alone or actually in any combination in deciding who to stop within her jurisdiction, though the Trump administration took the issue to the Supreme Court. And they argued that the restrictions were hurting their ability to handle the illegal immigration problem,

and they said that the stops made by federal agents were lawful. What we saw yesterday is that the Supreme Court agreed, ruling six to three along party lines. And so they lifted those restrictions and offered really no explanation, with really the only one providing any sort of context or thought behind the court's judgment being Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote in a separate concurring opinion that those four factors that the lower court judge excluded can play a role in determining who they need to stop. But Kavanaugh is saying that while apparent ethnicity itself is not a reason to stop someone, and that combined with other factors can be a relevant consideration.

And he also went on to defend the L.A. immigration crackdown in general. Writing about 10% of the people in the Los Angeles region are illegally in the United States, meaning about 2 million illegal immigrants out of a total population of 20 million. But then, on the other side, you had Justice Sonia Sotomayor and the two other liberal justices dissenting, with Sotomayor saying that with this ruling, the court in the administration, quote, all but declared that all Latinos, U.S. citizens are not who work low-wage jobs, or fair game to be seized at any time, taken away from work, and held until they provide proof of their legal status to the agents's satisfaction.

And adding, countless people in the Los Angeles area have been grabbed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffs simply because of their looks, their accents, and the fact that they make a living by doing manual labor. Today, the court needlessly subjects countless more to these exact same indignities. And saying, rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent. And as you can imagine, this ruling has prompted a lot of reactions, including some grave warnings from experts.

Where you've got people like Armando Goudino, the executive director of the Los Angeles Worker Center Network nonprofit, who echo Justice Sotomayor in an interview with The Guardian and said, they have effectively legalized racial profiling and, by extension, racial discrimination. And others adding that this ruling sends a specific message to Latino Americans and non-citizens, saying, our Constitution is very clear in that it applies to all persons living in the United States as being entitled to civil rights. Unless you decide we are not people, you are saying we don't have rights in this country, citizen, or non-citizen. And also had the likes of Gavin Newsom saying Trump's handpick Supreme Court majority just became the Grand Marshal for a parade of racial terror in Los Angeles. And then L.A. Mayor, Karen Bass, agreeing with Sotomayor and saying that L.A. is just the beginning, saying that her city is being used as, quote, a test case for total dominance and unchecked power by the federal government.

Of course, as you have all of that, you also have many others celebrating, including a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, who called the Supreme Court decision, quote, a win for the safety of Californians and the rule of law. And to adding, law enforcement will not be slowed down and will continue to arrest and remove the murderers, rapists, gang members, and other criminal illegal aliens that Karen Bass continues to give safe harbor. And then also a big thing is, we're going to have to wait to see what the repercussions of all this is going to be, because the lack of explanation offered from the court in their ruling, it makes it hard to know where this applies exactly. it just LA or is it nationwide? Or because this has become a recurring issue with the Supreme Court's emergency rulings recently and, you know, we talked about it more in depth last week, but regardless, this is not the last time we're going to see this case. It's actually still pending before a federal appeals court. It may make its way back up to the Supreme Court, right, because yesterday's ruling was just about the restraining order, lifting the restraints

on agents while the case is being argued. Though that said, you know, this order is will absolutely emboldened team Trump, both on the immigration issue and with their request to the Supreme Court in general. And in fact, the Trump administration just asked the Supreme Court to allow it to freeze billions of dollars in foreign aid, which could set up the biggest task for his bid to exert his authority over federal spending. But then, in a quick one minute break that helps keep the show free for you,

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Please play responsibly. The next step from that today, we've got to talk about this crazy Gen Z gender defied. Right? Because, well, obviously, you know, men and women have always had some differences in what they value, what they prioritize, career versus family, stability. versus status, blah, blah, blah. This recent polling we're seeing, it is more divided than ever, and it's pulled even wider because of politics. And actually, on the note of politics, that's where we'll start with the approval ratings around President Trump, around specific topics.

Right, so for this age group, 18 to 29-year-olds, 47% of these men said that they somewhat are strongly approved of the president's job performance. So for women, it was only 26%. For border security and immigration, you had 46% of men, 24% of women. for deportations and immigration, 45% of men, 21% of women. On trade, 42% of men, 23% of women, and inflation and cost to living, 41% of men and 21% of women. Then regarding anxiety, you know, we've heard things about Gen Z being a very anxious generation, but the numbers here are wild.

When asked in general, how often do you feel anxious or worried about the future? 19% of men and 33% of women said almost all the time, followed by 27% of men and 33% of women saying most of the time. And then you had 39% of men and 28% of women. women saying sometimes they feel anxious or worried and for rarely and never, very small numbers. But then, I'd say the most interesting information we got here was when all of these people were asked, which of the following is important to your personal definition of success. And they gave them these 13 options, which you can pause on screen if you want to read

every single one of them. And then from all those answers, they provided a ranking of what was important, not just split by men and women, split by men and women and who they voted for, Harris for Trump. The gap here is wild. For men who voted for Trump, the number one thing, they said, is pivotal to their personal definition of success, is having children. But for the women who voted for Harris, it was number 12 out of 13. And even for women who voted for Trump, it was number six. But then also, when connected this as far as the ranking for being married, for men who voted for Trump, that was number four.

But for women, it came in 11th for Harris voters and 9th for Trump voters, which is actually where it also came in for men who voted for Harris. So a lot of huge gaps, though, I will say also interesting. Interestingly, there were a number of things that did seem to line up. For having a job or career you find fulfilling, that took a lot of the top spots across the board. Having enough money to do the things that you want to do. Also, achieving financial independence. There's a lot of money anxiety here. Again, we do see certain partisan things pop up like emotional stability.

It was much higher for Harris voters than it was for Trump voters. You know, all of this, it leaves you wondering if this divide is going to continue on and on. It also makes you wonder what relationships or the lack of them are going to look like moving forward. And so actually a question I'll connect to this, if you fit into this age range or you border it 18 to 29 years old, what's the relationship dating situation like right now? Are you finding it hard to meet like-minded people? Or I guess also are you not interested in that because it ranks pretty low, at least as far as getting married and having kids in that part of her relationship, you know, for a lot of people. But I don't know, I'm just interested. But the next step, we also have to talk about how a federal appeals score just ruled that Trump has to pay $83 million for defamation.

Right, if that number, it sounds familiar, it's because this case centers around E. Gene Carroll. she publicly accused Trump of sexually assaulting her two decades earlier, and Trump, for his part, repeatedly denied the claims and criticized Carol. You had Trump continually attacking her on social media during news conferences and in other public forums, and in response, he had Carroll filing two lawsuits against Trump, alleging both defamation and sexual assault. And in 2023, he saw a jury finding him liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carol, awarding her $5 million in damages, and that was a decision that notably was upheld by

a different appeals court, though Trump's lawyers have indicated that they intend to take it all the way to the Supreme Court. Then, the second case, which is the one that we're talking about today, that just focused on the defamation allegations. With that, last year, you had a separate jury ruling that Trump must pay Carol $83.3 million for his defamatory remarks, which is a decision that he appealed, and the judge panel on the second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, unanimously rejected his appeal. They upheld the jury's ruling, and the judges wrote that the jury's award was fair and reasonable in adding that there was ample evidence that Trump was recklessly indifferent to Carroll's health and safety. And very notably here, the court also rejected Trump's argument that, presidential immunity protected him from being liable for defamation. Because you had Trump, citing a Supreme Court decision last year that granted president sweeping immunity from prosecution for official acts.

But the appeals court said that's a no-go here. But then next up today in international news, we've got to talk about Israel now launching a strike on the capital of Qatar. With a strike reportedly aimed at senior leaders of Hamas and a spokesperson for the Qatari foreign ministry saying on X that the attack targeted residential buildings housing several members of Hamas. And then also the Israeli defense forces confirming that they had launched strikes directed at senior Hamas. leadership, though, it didn't explicitly mention Qatar. Now, with that said, at least as I'm recording this, the exact number of casualties is unclear, but in a statement, Hamas claimed that the attack had failed to take out any of its top leaders, though it did say that at least six people had been killed. But also, regardless of the potential body count, this move, it's massive for a few

reasons. Starting with the fact that Qatar has played a major role as a mediator in talks between Israel and Hamas since October 7th, and as a result, Qatar has widely been viewed as neutral grounds. Where they keep in contact with the Israeli government, with senior officials repeatedly traveling to the country for talks. Katari officials said that in the past. They agreed to host an office for Hamas because the U.S. requested it. And in fact, sources from both Hamas and Israel have said that the attack came as Hamas negotiators were gathering in the Qatari capital to consider President Trump's latest ceasefire proposal.

And with that, you had Hamas, Palestinian politicians, officials involved in the talks and foreign leaders, all arguing that the strike appear to be explicitly designed to sink the negotiations. But in an address today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to paint this as a peacemaking action, arguing that the strikes can open the door to the end of the war in Gaza and claiming that Israel had accepted Trump's proposal to end the war. But then, you had many others pushing back on that and saying that an attack on Qatar's soil during ceasefire talks marks a dramatic escalation, not a step toward peace. And so you had Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson, calling it a criminal assault that constitutes a blatant violation of all international laws and norms. And that was something that was also echoed by other international leaders, including the UN Secretary General, who also slammed the move as a violation of Qatar's sovereignty. Though to that point, you had the White House spokeswoman telling reporters that President Trump believes this unfortunate incident could serve as an opportunity for peace.

But still, very notably here, she also kind of criticized the strike saying, quote, unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the United States that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker peace, does not advance Israel or America's goals. But then also going on to add that eliminating Hamas was a worthy goal. And so obviously we're going to have to wait to see what comes from this, what else we learn, but it is very likely that this is going to hurt Trump's latest efforts to negotiate. a ceasefire and end the war. That is also not where the international news ends because at least 19 protesters have been killed, government buildings are burning,

and the prime minister has now resigned in Nepal. And all of this, it stems from late last week when the government moved to ban 26 social media platforms in the country, including Facebook, X, and YouTube. Right, you know, with the government, claiming that the companies had failed to register and submit to government oversight. But that ban, it was widely seen as a tool for censorship

and something that would allow the government to punish those who voiced their dissent online. And so what you saw is that it sparked what's been described as Nepal's Gen Z protest, though, I will say very notably, this has been about a hell of a lot more than social media from the very beginning. But it's also about unemployment, economic inequality, and corruption, and all of that, it's encapsulated in the anger that we've seen directed at the country's so-called nepo kids. Because I think most people are familiar with the term nepo babies, but in this specific context, the term pretty specifically

refers to the children of political leaders who have been seen enjoying lavish lifestyles on social media in the eyes of many, thanks to the ill-gotten gains of their corrupt parents. And all while, most other young people, they struggle to even just find work. I mean, youth unemployment there, it stood at around 20% last year. And the Nepali government actually estimates that more than 2,000 young people leave the country every single day to find work in the Middle East or Southeast Asia. And so with all of that now in your mind, it was then on Monday morning that tens of thousands of people gathered in Kathmandu and surrounded the parliament building. You then had police responding by deploying tear gas, water cannons, and rubber bullets. And at least at one point,

according to reports, they opened fire with live ammunition, ultimately killing 19 people. Right. And then, the government responding by the prime minister saying that compensation would be given to the families of those killed and those who were wounded or received free treatment. He also announced that he would form an investigating committee that would submit a report on the shooting in 15 days. The government also lifted the social media ban and early this afternoon, the prime minister actually resigned. But what we're seeing is that none of that has satisfied the protesters, right? You had tens of thousands remaining on the streets today with some attacking government buildings and the residences of top political leaders. And specifically what you had is the presidential palace, the prime minister's official residence, the, the building, housing, the offices of the prime minister and several ministries, they got torched along with

the private homes of some politicians. And in fact, in videos being shared online, you had protesters were really being seen beating up the head of the country's largest party, who has also been prime ministers several times, along with his wife, who's the current foreign minister. You've got helicopters airlifting some ministers out of the city, and with most senior politicians running for cover, there's seemingly no one left in charge. You had the heads in Nepal's main security agencies, including the army chief issuing a joint statement, appealing for restraint and calling on political parties to find a peaceful way out of the crisis. Then, as far as a president who really has more of a ceremonial role in Nepal, he's urged demonstrators to cooperate for a peaceful resolution and

called on protesters to come to talk and saying in a statement, in a democracy, the demands raised by the citizens can be resolved through talks and dialogue, including through the participation of representatives of the Gen Z. Though with everything that we've seen so far, we're going to have to wait to see if that can actually happen and end that way. And all of this is notably, like, this is not the first country in the region where we're seeing something like this play out. With the images that we saw out of Bangladesh last year, they weren't so different when deadly protests ended with a resignation and exile of that country's prime minister. And actually, three years ago, we saw similar events playing out in Sri Lanka. So a lot changing, a lot happening, and we're going to have to keep our eye on this.

But that, my friend, is the end of at least today's show. Because remember, you can check out the latest episode of my new podcast right here. You can click or tap that or right here, you got the newest Philip DeFranco show. If you even got links to both in the description down below so you can get filled in on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever it feels best. I came out weird. whatever, we're rolling with it. Thank you for watching. I love yo faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.