Let Them Eat Cheesecake

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On today's show, we got Barack Obama hitting the trail for Democrats, Cheesecake Factory discourse, more ass play from Trump, more anti-Muslim bigotry from Trump, more election meddling from Trump, this time in Alaska. The return of Jeffrey Epstein as a political issue, and the president's longest truth social post ever

Was it?

about his breakup with Bill Maher.

Was it really the longest ever? CNN counted, according Wow.

to CNN. Now they are fake news, I mean, I wouldn't so

know. It's been Daniel Dale on this one.

So we got lots to talk about today, but first, uh, Crooked Con's coming up right after the midterms, November fifth through seventh. You're gonna wanna be there, cause everyone else is going, and you you just don't wanna miss out on what happens. There's gonna be a lot going on. Our Pod Save America live show is sold out, but there are still a few tickets left for Love It or Leave It and Strict Scrutiny on Friday night.

Uh, we also just published the official schedule for Saturday, November seventh at CrookedCon dot com. There are more than twenty five different conversations planned. Uh, I'm hosting one on the future of the Democratic brand that includes Chris Van Hollen, Sarah McBride, and MiLak Kiru. Uh, what about you guys?

Uh, so I'm doing two panels. I'm doing one with Jerusalem Demsis and Derek Thompson and, uh, Fash Akir. We're gonna talk about why liberalism has become cringe, whether or not it can be saved, whether the challenge from the left means it should be, uh, uh, replaced. And we're gonna have we're gonna lib out, we're gonna pivot left, it's gonna be a fun time. And I'm gonna do a panel with a bunch of strategists who are on the 2026 campaigns right now about what worked, what didn't work, what was exciting in those races, what annoyed the fuck out of them in those races.

It's gonna be great.

Nice. Ben and I are gonna do a little, uh, pod save the world action. Get ready for that with a focus on what Democrats should do in terms of oversight if we, uh, win back Congress. Knock on wood, everyone, knock on wood. And then I'm gonna host a debate about U.S. policy towards Israel, specifically what the Democrats should be saying and doing. So, uh,

Something light.

no trip wires there, guys. Yeah, I'm sure everyone will walk away from that one happy.

We also added to our our list of attendees who are coming, uh, Wes Moore and Mark Kelly. Uh, so we're na adding names every day. So check it out, crookedcon dot com, get your tickets today, and we will see you in DC. Uh, all right, let's get to the news. The midterms are just seven days away. Around 30 million ballots have already been cast. How about that? Uh, and the campaigns are in full get out the vote mode, which means it's time for rallies with the best closer you've got.

For the Democrats, that's this guy.

We have never seen a president excel in straight up grifting on your dime like this. A as as Abdul mentioned, the guy's become billions of dollars wealthier in office. Nobody disputes this. How do you do that when you're supposed to be looking out for you? I don't know if you've noticed, but he is very focused on home renovation. And then there is just gold everywhere. What's what's up with the gold? And then he's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake factory.

It's it's just gold everywhere.

I'll tell you, when I saw that line, I loved it. I like, I thought that was great. Just instantly reposted it. That is great. It didn't even occur to me that there would be a backlash or a fake backlash. It didn't occur to me. It didn't occur to me.

You know, in the back of my mind, I kinda I was like, there will be a few. I I didn't think it would go as far as it did. I thought it would be like now. So the for those who don't know what we're talking about, cause you don't spend all your life on Twitter, uh, the Cheesecake Factory uh line there ignited a discourse uh on Elon Musk's platform. Uh, it started with just a handful of, like, some of the most insufferable MAGA types.

Your Scott Jennings, uh, Megyn Kelly's producer, uh, and they tried to argue that, uh, Obama was being elitist and condescending to real Americans who apparently believe that the White House should match the aesthetic of their favorite chain restaurant if it were designed, uh, by the deceased Iraqi dictator. Um, and of course, then because of the algorithm and every it just snowballs, and now it's on Fox News. And then, of course, Donald Trump got a question about it, uh, today, uh, on Monday afternoon.

Let's hear what he said.

For you to say it's a cheesecake factory, that just shows why you were a lousy president, right?

I love that one.

I thought he was talking directly to Obama in the camera.

Well, I I he it really hurt his It did, it feelings. It really did. he got He's also just like, he caused that pause. He was really hurt.

it hurt. That was a response.

This is like, why I'm surprised why didn't he take it as a compliment that it was compared to the Cheesecake Factory? Because I thought that's what real that's the top aesthetic

One of the greats.

for for real Americans.

I'll I'll tell you why it didn't occur to me that it would become one of these, because I don't, you know, a lot of these, like the the MAGA people are saying, like, Oh, it's an insult to real Americans and the rest of the country and the heartland that love Cheesecake Factory. But I have associated since my childhood the Cheesecake Factory as the fanciest chain restaurant in the fanciest mall in Yes, always. town. It's Same. the fancy one.

Burlington Mall, that's where I'd go You to the Cheesecake would go, That's the Factory and the Cheesecake Factory. aesthetic. you you You know,

get. It's an event. You get your you get your buzzer, and you walk around the mall till your buzzer buzzes.

and I get the bang bang chicken and shrimp since I was in high school.

Crust the chicken Romano extra sauce, pasta's a little dry otherwise.

Can I tell you guys something?

What?

Uh, as a surprise, I wanted to order Cheesecake Factory to have a bunch of apps here.

Come on.

I did it on DoorDash, and then it's right outside the fucking delivery zone, which is crazy cause it's at the Grove, which is not that far from us.

Again, fancy mall. Well, again, yes, Rick

Caruso's The Grove. That's where that's that's the closest Cheesecake yeah, that's Factory to me.

McFly over our country. Yeah, it's close The the girl enough. It's the Americana.

close enough to my house. But when I Oh, that would made the delivery

be great.

zone, the office, it was, Ugh, I know, so pissed. And now I really now I need to go, cause we've been talking about it for two days.

I know, I know. And then we were we were posting about it, and I was I made a joke at my own expense that sort of hurt my own feelings, which I refer to.

I know I was gonna respond with another joke. I'm like, he made the joke about himself.

I said that my my I was gonna order Cheesecake Factory to my home, which looks like a gay Saddam Hussein designed a Soho house. And I was like, Oh my god, I really, I genuinely wrote that, and I was like, Oh, John,

I thought the Soho House thing was worse.

that's mean. I was really mean to myself. I was real I was like, Jesus, you worked hard to make this place look nice.

Did you see? Did you guys see? They sent Scott Bessent to Cheesecake today? For Obama? Your your hundred millionaire, uh, hedge fund manager, like pissy cadaver treasury secretary, is yep, the like, out, choosing least relatable this? oh, also,

guy on earth.

did you see the clip? Because the the tweet from Bessent says, Oh, bar Barack Obama, I recommend the um, uh, the cheeseburger spring rolls. But in the in the

Good?

answer, Scott Bessent doesn't say anything about any of the food at the Cheesecake Factory. Because clearly Ch Scott Bessent has never been to the fucking Cheesecake Factory. And his staff was like, Oh, that's what we're gonna put in the tweet because he didn't say it in the in the

True heroes of the Cheesecake Factory know that you order the egg roll sampler and you don't know which one is which, and you never find out. And you and there's four sauces and there's four spring rolls, and you dip with wild abandon.

oh so the Buffalo Bites so good.

I like, I was surprised they ran this play because they seem like such humorless scolds. It's just really, it's just really lame. And like everyone knows, Trump has shifted the Overton window when it comes to politics and when it comes to what you can say at events. We're gonna talk about another version of it in a minute. But, like Trump literally said, Affordability is a hoax perpetrated by the Democrats. They had a great Gatsby themed costume party at Mar-a-Lago during the government shutdown.

I think on the day SNAP benefits were suspended. Like, the list goes on and on and on.

But it's like you you don't even have to get past the fact that it's like he wasn't. He specifically wasn't making fun of the Cheesecake Factory, let alone people who go to the Cheesecake Factory. He was saying that the aesthetic of the Cheesecake Factory, which as those who go to the Cheesecake Factory know, and the people who've designed the Cheesecake Factory have said in interviews, is purposely over the top and gaudy. That's the whole joke.

That's why I didn't understand

And and the the the idea that most people who love the Cheesecake Factory would then say, I want my White House to look like that. I want the people, I want the president to spend time making the White House look like that if Saddam Hussein decided to design it.

when you go to the Cheesecake Factory. And I s and I I I pointed this out on on social media. I'm I am a member of Cheesecake Rewards, and I'm a part of the family. Uh, when you go to Cheesecake Factory, one of the things you do is you sit down and you look around and you go, boy, this place is fucking nuts. Look how crazy it is. Look how big these stupid columns are. It's like you're inside of a of an Egyptian cake.

That's the That's the whole a That's awesome about point. It's awesome.

that's the aesthetic.

I love Las Vegas. I like going to casinos. I like the aesthetics of casinos. I like casinos. Don't pretend they're anything other than what they are. There's no irony in the design of a casino. But I don't want the White House to look like a casino. I want the White House to look like a nice place where foreign leaders will come and boy scouts and so on.

Did you see that, uh, Byron Tao, who's a reporter now at ProPublica, said that his first job in D.C. was a waiter at Cheesecake? And he said he used to see Sasha and Malia Obama there Of course, all the time in the Chevy Chase one. I mean, it's, uh, By the way, if it's I'm going to a mall, I'm getting Panda Express. You get those little meats on a stick, it's way better. Or Bertucci's if you're in Boston.

oh, of course Bertucci's Oh, wow, scale it a little Jesus,

it is.

bit. I I think, going bankrupt. Now that's fancy. Now Bertu- my dad I we're talking when I was Unlimited about, let's, sorry, growth RIP.

there was a line that my father once said when we were driving by the Bertucci's on Long Island, which I've actually, it's, uh, come to mind many times in my life. He said, Ugh, no one ever goes to Bertucci's. There's always a line. You know, It is I think about that with how prices is like, you know,

My my favorite thing about this is just like, clearly none of these fucking, like, rich pundits, uh, on the coast know what the fuck they're talking about or have been to a cheesecake factory. Like, Martha McCallum was on Fox. She, like, she couldn't even put her heart, she didn't even know what she was talking about. She's like, and one thing about the cheesecake factory thing, it's another clinging to guns and religion moment. enough And this is about this, why they lost the working class.

enough about this basket of deplorables. How about this basket of shrimp?

All these same Fox hosts are at least like gaudy Mar-a-Lago parties every weekend, like Sean Hannity's wedding was just there. Like, it's ridiculous.

There's no Cheesecake Factory on the island of Manhattan, and it shows.

I didn't know that.

Right before we started recording, I noticed a tweet from, Uh, I'm just gonna read what the person said about Barack Obama in the speech. I wouldn't dismiss what Barack Obama is doing there. Barack Obama may be the most effective Democrat politician of our lifetime. His ability to communicate is really powerful and really dangerous. If we didn't have the twenty second Amendment, it wouldn't surprise me if Obama spent the rest of his life in the White House.

hm, I like, I wanna say it's someone in the Tucker world or like a Marjorie Taylor Greene type. Ted Cruz on Whoa,

his podcast today. Yeah, it's so wild. What? Why? whoa, I know I was like, Is this right? I like, had to I would listen to the whole

do that.

thing. I don't know. Ted

I don't know. Cruz. There you It's just a weird go. day in politics, I guess.

It's a it's a very it's funny weird day.

cause it's cause Ted is starting to figure out how to run against Vance, and so he's starting to find his way Well, he's to

saying he's like, and Obama previewed in that speech what the Democrats are gonna do, how what the plays they're gonna run in 2028. Corruption, not Cheesecake Factory, but, like, corruption and all this kind of stuff. And so he's he's really, like, studying it, which is well, yes, interesting.

Ted, we are.

Hm. Yeah, so you mean the most obvious case against the worst president in history, right? Yeah, like the oh well, the the millions in bill shattering corruption. crypto Yeah,

in the land of the blind, you know? Uh, it's not just the cheesecake.

woke jail for you. Keep going.

Oh yeah, I was just gonna say, Yeah, come at me, come at me. Uh, it's not just the Cheesecake Factory litmus test where Trump is proving he's a man of the people. Uh, he's barnstorming battleground states like Mississippi, Texas, Iowa, Ohio, and Florida this week. That's it. That's the final week, uh, with his famed I'm one of you message. Uh, here's how it went over this last weekend.

We're making hundreds and hundreds of billions, trillions of dollars. But my people said, please don't mention that, sir, because people are paying a little higher. We're making money like this country has never made before. So I said, let me say it very gingerly, very softly. You just see the fake headlines. President Trump is talking about all the money they're making while people are suffering at the pump. That'll be the headline. But I said, I don't give a damn, I'm gonna say it.

We're making a freaking fortune. By the way, I looked at one hell of a beautiful ass before Nicki Minaj. I've been living with this whole thing about the ass. And believe me, it's of no interest to me other than to say John Eustis is one hell of an athlete, okay? So I'm willing to sacrifice. I'd say that about your ass too, Mike, if it gets you a guaranteed

I've been living with this whole thing about the ass. Uh, honestly, One of the one of his best he's doing lines.

it's the the funny thing about like, have you seen JD trying to riff on ass now? He's he's been he's been doing. He's been it's so like, I won't good. talk about John Houston's ass. I won't talk about it. Not like Trump will. He can't pull it off in the same way that Trump. Look, I don't think Trump should be talking about Nikki Minaj's ass. But could you imagine if JD Vance said a word about Nicki Minaj's ass?

I think he would walk out.

Yeah. Also, his voice, oof, sounds like kinda like a fat St Domino doing Blueberry Hill thing there. I don't like it. But, um, yeah, look, I g- the the risk of being on my fainting couch. I think we're all used to Trump being a little politically incorrect. I think that's kind of the appeal for a lot of people. Him saying, Um, uh, this one surprised me a little bit. I think that him saying to Nikki Minaj, by the way, I looked at one hell of a beautiful ass before.

That's hard to miss. And then, Get up, Nikki. That's a weird thing to do.

Well, I mean, there's reports now that she may be the next White House press secretary, Great. that that's a real rumor. And so, if I mean, if you're gonna have your White House press secretary, you've gotta you've gotta check out their Berate her, social media. Yeah, yeah, you don't you gotta, yeah,

become White House press secretary you in this administration without walking the oval and doing three sixty.

yeah, you can't be you can't be getting that job without having your ass inspected by the president.

Well, John Huston's gonna need a job too.

I will, that's funny. I will say that. I will say, uh, he did set himself up. If there was ever gonna be a time that Donald Trump could say, uh, uh, Nikki Minaj, I enjoy looking at your butt. Uh, boy, he's done all the legwork. It's as if it It was was all a it was a you know what I mean?

was the long play. Lock Like, I the look.

it's it's actually it's like, well, he has Man. been talking. It's like you, like, you step back and you're like, I mean, it's strange to see a president just outright complimenting a a a celebrity's ass and asking her to show the ass to the arena. But then again, it's kind of what he's been doing with all the men. Yeah, in a way, So

it was misogynist to not be mentioning a woman this whole

That's fair. time. He's only What is there to build?

talking about men's asses the whole time.

building to a a a pretty epic no homo there.

With with Houston, it's all the way of being like, and this guy played football and he was good. And he thinks that's like good politics and manly and like, can effective in Ohio. And Trump's whole, like, version of politics is like strength versus weakness, right? He's always doing things strongly, like using it as an adverb where it doesn't make sense,

It's sort of like fascist aesthetic kind calling of thing. Yeah,

very strongly to my counterpart, that kind of stuff. But, yeah, anyway,

uh, on the gas prices thing, uh, Trump's obviously been saying shit like this for months. Uh, I don't give a damn. We're making a freaking fortune. Does seem like the worst version to be closing with, um, though, maybe the political damage from high gas prices can't get any worse for Trump at this point. All baked in. What do you think?

I, yeah, I I think it's the gas prices versus him claiming we're making a fortune on on Venezuelan oil. But also then you're like, well, he's also personally making money, right? Like he's talking about the country, he's clearly in that moment talking about the country making money, of course. And Nobody's there's this feels

separate story today. We didn't say that that, um, that Trump's, uh, his stocks, uh, in oil and gas, have been making quite a bit of money.

oh, good for him.

so, uh, you know, I

Way to pick em.

chalk it up to I think it's a pretty braced like, uh, nobody's feeling like the country's making lots of money. But I just chalk it up to Trump usual kind of bragging about the economy. Uh, I think it's more the part where he goes, Oh, the gas prices are up just a little. When it's actually like hurting a lot of people, including, uh, uh, you know, the one of these events you'll see, like truckers for Trump back there, and like, those are the people just absolutely getting fucking reamed because of this.

Well, also, just the way he's doing it in, like, a mocking voice there, you know, yeah, that's the like, yes, oh, problem. oh, struggling at the pump. Which, of course, they're not offended by because they're so upset that the White House doesn't that Barack Obama thinks that the White House shouldn't look like the Cheesecake Factory, that they're not even thinking about the the price of gas.

Yeah, the price of gas issue is probably pretty baked in. But I do think, like, you when you're two weeks out, I think things that happen are like exponentially more important than things that happen two months out. And so there will be people who are late deciders who will hear this and be like, What the fuck, man, this this sucks. Or there will be candidates who'll be doing local TV interviews and they'll get asked about those comments.

They'll so have to do the Trump dance and kind of, like, half defend what he said, but not offend their voters. So I like, it's not, it's not a helpful closing message. I'd be really pissed if I was the person campaigning with him.

Right, like, I presumably, like, they've they've now picked a fight over whether or not the White House has been turned into a cheesecake factory and whether or not the country's making a lot of money, even though gas prices are high. Like, I would say Donald Trump being a corrupt, distracted buffoon and the fact that the economy is is hurting are probably, like, the two things they should be talking about the least. If I were to pick the two things, maybe the Iran Iran Iran war, one one more, one more notch up.

remember that th- there was a a f- a thought, like, a couple months ago, that maybe gas prices would like inch down by the election. I mean, we're a week away now. That's it. It's not happening.

People are voting, it's not All the moves, weird.

all the things he did, all the, you know, releasing the oil reserves, the Venezuela stuff, the Russian D, the Russian diesel deal, none of it, none The big of it did.

the interestingly, the main reason prices didn't spike more than they did was the Chinese drastically cut back their purchases of oil. No one really knows why, probably cause they didn't want the global economy to collapse because they export all their stuff. But, um, then they stopped doing that, and they started importing more oil. And I think, frankly, I think the Iranians and the Houthis kinda made a play to spike oil prices before the midterms. Well, they It's my guess.

they nailed it.

Like Brent Crude is at like one fifteen today.

Well, and I I wonder if

Fucking Brent.

part, I wonder if part of that is Getting remade When Brent

Brent, Brent, fricking Brent. And Netanyahu's, like, apparently in a giant fight with the chief of staff of the IDF over whether or not to bomb the Iranians again. And they're all everyone assumes it's gonna happen after the election.

Yeah, I was sort of wondering if that's what was causing Brent Today it to spike

was, for sure. again. Yeah, Yeah,

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on a darker note, there's a there's a darker note than, uh, more war after the midterms. Uh, Trump's also decided to ramp up the anti-Muslim bigotry in the home stretch, uh, in a way that's just stunningly grotesque, even for him. Uh, in the middle of his Michigan event for Mike Rogers, Trump invited to the stage the father of someone who died on nine eleven. Uh, one of the people who was on Flight ninety three. Um, and this guy then compared the election to the horrific terrorist attack on nine eleven.

He said, quote, What's different this time is the enemy has not come from abroad. The enemy is right here among us, local terrorists. And then he said, Mike Rogers is an American. Abdul has a birth certificate. A birth certificate doesn't make you an American. Trump decided to be even less subtle about this in his remarks.

I'm here to keep a jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United States senator. Any Jewish person that support this guy should be ashamed of themselves. I'll tell you what. If Abdul and the Democrats win, they will open the floodgates and invite hordes of jihadists to our shores, creating a nightmare of violence and terror until you cannot even have a Christmas. Anyone with that record of support for jihadists would be screened and unable to get a seat on an airplane.

He would be the only senator that will have to go through a metal detector before he's allowed to go into the Senate. I want him to have a metal detector.

Jesus. Mike Rogers was, uh, said nothing at the rally, of course, but was finally forced to answer for this on Meet the Press this weekend. Here's what he said. Do you agree It's simply not with calling him true. You know a violent

what he did? He said.

terrorist?

The guy said, Are you gonna answer the question? Hold on, Congressman. Do you agree with

Will you disavow? And he calling him said, Yeah, absolutely, a violent I'll answer the question. He never terrorist? Is answered the question.

that up to your standard of calling

No, I don't. I've never

people?

called him a terrorist. I've never called him a terrorist. This this election is about me versus Abdul.

That's a lie, by the way. Did Dave Portnoy tweeted a clip of Abdul making a joke about Michigan football and said, This guy really is a terrorist, and Mike Rogers quote tweeted it and said, Portnoy is exactly right. Oh, yeah, I forgot That is calling him a about terrorist, buddy. Like, you can't deny that. I like what Trump is doing there. It's racist, it's bigoted, but I also think it's like genuinely putting Abdul's safety and life at risk.

Because he

That's what I was worried calls him an enemy, about. My bad.

he calls him a jihadist. He does an event with Todd Beamer, right, who is the hero of nine eleven. But, um, the the suggestion is that Abdul is like a nine eleven hijacker, that Abdul is Al-Qaeda. And

In 2015, and Trump said, Twenty five years later, Michigan needs to stand up and fight just like Todd did to stop a jihadist. So kill them. And, like, it's an overt call for violence. And U.S. presidents, they kill enemies. U.S. presidents killed jihadists. Um, nothing about that is acceptable or backed up by the facts. And, like, uh, like all the Republicans who blamed the Democratic Party, uh, and the rhetoric from Democrats after the assassination attempts on Trump, and who blamed Democrats for Charlie Kirk's assassination, are silent on this.

Just silent.

So Donald Trump say says there that any Jew would be ashamed to vote for Abdul, and there's a debate among Jews in Michigan about whether to vote for Abdul. I just wanna be very clear. Jews in Michigan have a moral obligation to support Abdu Abdul. They should do it to protect themselves from anti-Semitism and rising hatred in America. And if that sounds confusing to you at all, uh, you should imagine two s futures. One in which there is a debate inside the Democratic Party about America's relationship to Israel, military aid for Israel, and anti-Semitism on the left, which is real.

That is a big and important debate we could have to try to find places of agreement, a grace, a places of consensus. There can be persuasion and argument and hard feelings, but there can be democracy. On the other, you have this kind of politics on the right, where it is about dominance and hatreds and and othering of people. It starts with Muslims, he does it for trans people, he does it for immigrants, he does it for Haitians eating the dogs and the cats.

If you think that that doesn't end with Jews, you are out of your fucking minds. A country where this kind of politics is rewarded is a country where Jews are less safe. And anyone who has allowed their own uh uh uh concerns and legitimate concerns about Abdul to cloud that ultimate larger point is missing the the the big picture here. For Jews in America, our safety is based around the idea that there's a society in which we can have arguments and disagreements, but we respect those differences.

Trump does not believe in that. And we need to have a check on Donald Trump in a Democratic Senate. And maybe Abdul is not your cup of tea. Maybe Abdul is is not, uh, is gonna be a reliable vote against Israel. Fine, we can handle that, but we cannot handle a continued slide to this hateful, authoritarian right. It will be dangerous for us.

Yeah. I will just add that, like, um, you know, people will say, well, it's not because he's Muslim, it's because of all these ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, blah, blah, blah. The latest thing is like, apparently, Abdul signed this this open letter to the new Egyptian president. This was after the Arab Spring, after Hosni Mubarak, uh, was overthrown, the dictator there. And this is somehow now evidence, according to Mike Rogers, not Donald Trump, because Donald Trump doesn't know anything.

He's just like, Hm, he's a terrorist. But Mike Rogers is trying to do the whole connection thing, and this is what people are hanging on. I've heard this from a few people, like, what about what about this letter? What about the mother? I hear that he won't answer questions about the Muslim Brotherhood. Like, I've heard this from people who are, you know, very engaged, smart people who are just like asking questions about this.

yeah, and and I don't know if we're gonna play that clip, but Mike Rogers gets asked about comments he made about the Muslim Brotherhood, which is basically about trying to find moderating forces within the Muslim Brotherhood that the U.S. could work with. Which, a again, like, ironically, like, neither Abdul nor Rogers are saying things that are all that radical at the time. Cause, uh, the the chronology, as you said, it's like, uh, we're the beginning of the Arab Spring, Mubarak gets tossed in February of 2011.

There's parliamentary elections, the Muslim Brotherhood does really well, and then the presidential election is in 2012. Mohamed Morsi is the democratically elected president of Egypt. It's a big deal. Um, interestingly, he's an engineer who went to USC for a bit and then taught at Cal State Northridge for a year for years. So the West is like, okay, maybe we can work with this guy. Um, he brokered, he Morsi helped broker a ceasefire in Gaza in 2012.

I don't know if you remember that. Um, so he was, like, immediately seen as this helpful actor on the world stage, but then he made this big power grab. Uh, the economy collapsed, he's deposed in a brutal coup, and the military's been in charge ever since. So the the letter Abdul signed was like, Purge the media, purge the police of the Mubarak regime loyalists, because everyone thought that they were gonna stage a coup, and that ultimately is what happened.

And the quote that Rogers, uh, gets read by Welker that he said in, like, 2012, is, again, trying to find someone in Morsi's government to work with to kinda maintain the U.S. Egypt relationship. Um, so both of them are being, like, eminently reasonable given the context and the politics of the time. I think Rogers is ultimately probably thrilled to see a military coup happen because then the people of Egypt have no say in their political future anymore.

And all the, like, intel and security officials, um, you know, that the intel community knew are back in charge. But it's all just like it's very specious, it's all guilt by association. And then there's Abdul's mom, who may or may not have been in the MB at one point, but, like, they didn't really have a relationship.

No, and was doing, like, charity work for orphans, um, when she was part of this organization, you know, back in Missouri. And again, he never, like, lived. It just the idea that we are, like, family members that Abdul didn't live with that aren't Abdul, we're now, like, he he has to, like, answer for everything they've ever done or said, every tweet they've ever done, every letter he's ever signed. Even though it says the same thing that most members of Congress were saying at the time as well, Democrats and Republicans.

It's so fucking absurd, and it is designed just to be like, if you're someone who wants an excuse and someone's like, don't be anti-Muslim, uh, anti-Muslim bigot, don't be Islamophobic. And you say, well, no, no, no, I'm not. It's not because he's Muslim, it's because he's tied to this organization. And so you throw out little crumbs, right, of like, well, there is this connection. And then you just hope that people aren't g- don't know enough about the history that they're or aren't gonna research it, that they just say, eh, I don't know.

He seems extreme. Yeah, it's, That's it, that's that's the wha- what the whole thing is based on.

yeah, and and all Italians are mobbed up, and all, uh, uh, Catholics have dual loyalties. Like, this is all very old, that that Jews can't be trusted, they're not really Americans, right? This idea that, oh, sure, Abdul has a birth certificate, but he's not a real American. Like, that is the exact same kind of shit that has been directed at, uh, Jews and other minority groups for a very, very long time. And, uh, people really need to wake up for it.

Whatever your whatever your concerns are with Abdul, you can talk about them, you can debate them, you can try to pers- persuade him. You can, uh, accept or not accept the apologies he's given for statements that I think were wrong and stupid and bad. Uh, but to pretend that what this is isn't the greater threat is, I think, to have your head in the sand and to allow your, uh, bad feeling and kind of to become a kind of privilege.

Um, in that same interview with Meet the Press, uh, Rogers also had to defend an association that might end up being a lot more politically damaging than any, uh, ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Let's listen.

Do you consider yourself to be a MAGA Republican?

Listen, I'm gonna tell you, this is I I I get you guys, uh, on the national press, but this is a little bit disgusting to me. Building Congressman, can around is all you you answer all want to do

my question?

is talk about something else

No, you're campaigning.

on the ground. Are you a MAGA I I've I've already answered the

Republican?

question, Kristen. That's just what I Uh,

wanna know. Do you consider I yourself to be a MAGA Republican?

no. Kristen, let me I I'm gonna go right back through this.

Is a vote for you a vote for the Trump agenda?

I'm apologizing. I'm having some difficulty in my earpiece, but I I is a vote for you. I'm not sure. I I'll tell you what a vote for me is. It's a great day for the state of Michigan.

Uh, the question I heard is, is Abdul and the Muslim Brotherhood? Great question, Kristen. it's so easy to

answer that and not be like a petulant baby. Like, I'm a Mike Rogers Republican.

So easy.

you know what I mean? Like, are you gonna vote for I'm gonna I'm gonna vote for the agenda that's gonna help the people of Michigan? Like, you don't have to be a petulant little baby.

Yeah, but here's the thing, like, he's having Trump. He needs the MAGA people to show up and think he's part of the team. He's really isn't a buy. The guy's

but they're not watching Meet the Press. Just like,

the typical viral.

don't be a baby about it.

Yeah, well, they don't. He doesn't want Mr. Trump to hear.

Yeah, right. Bad for Mr. Trump to hear, bad for the clip to go around. Pod Save America is brought to you by Nutrafol. Sometimes upgrading your wellness routine doesn't require a full overhaul. It's just about narrowing it to one thing you can gradually and sustainably improve. If hair health is something you've been meaning to pay more attention to, now is a great time to make it part of your routine. That's where Nutrafol comes in. Nutrafol is the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand, and it's the number one hair growth supplement brand personally used by dermatologists.

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So Abdul and his campaign have been obviously pushing back on these anti-Muslim attacks for most of the campaign. Uh, he did get some help from Obama during the event in Michigan. Let's listen.

We have seen this movie before. I star in it. I I've I've got a a long form birth certificate to prove it. This stuff didn't work on me, not in Michigan. It's not gonna work on Abdul. Imagine the power duo of Abdul and Alyssa. You've got a a Muslim man, you got a Jewish woman fighting for you in the United States Senate. That's something Michigan you can be proud of.

So I thought that was a a a good way of handling it from Obama. Like Abdul's campaign, this is the challenge here. Like, obviously they wanna focus closing message on cost of living issues. Rogers being tied to, you know, uh, Donald Trump, MAGA, who's gonna be Trump's vote in the Senate? To what extent do you think they also have to deal with these attacks? Cause this is the tension every day in the campaign. You're like, we don't wanna have another day on this.

But also they're they're we're hearing things from P you know, it's like you gotta take

it head on. I I I think you can't just do this is a distraction. I think you sound like you're ducking it. I think

we learned this the hard way with Obama. I mean, there was a period of time when their the birther stuff, the questions about whether or not he'd been born in the United States was like email forwards and seen as this subterranean smear campaign. And we had to take it head on. We, like, built a, it seems sort of hokey now, but we built a website, stop the smears dot com to, like, fully take on these charges.

And I think Abdul has to speak directly to these attacks. I think, uh, Republicans have made the election about Abdul. He would rather it be about Trump and the MAGA agenda and Mike Rogers being a rubber stamp for that. But voters in Michigan are getting inundated with ads and articles and, you know, clips about, you know, Mother's Motherhood or whatever it might be. And he needs to speak to it because the late deciders are getting this information now and they're paying attention now.

And so, um, it's unfair and it's bigoted, but I think that was an effective way to push back from Obama. I think part of it is Abdul, like growing out and talking about football and talking about going to Michigan. But Obama's saying, They tried this shit on me, you know, they're gonna try to do it to him, but there's nothing radical about, you know, universal healthcare. Like, it's a good pivot.

Yeah, clearly, like, Obama spent a lot of that speech trying to do the consolidation work, right? He's trying to make an argument to get, uh, whatever is that subset of Black voters in Michigan, uh, some Haley Stevens voters, some Jewish voters, whoever that just don't feel totally comfortable yet with Abdul to come on board and to make their best. To tell the best story about why they should and why they should see themselves as people that should be excited to be part of that, even if right now they're not.

And I think what Rogers is doing right, this fear-mongering does two things for him. One, it is about trying to get some maybe disaffected or unenthusiastic Republicans to show up and to keep some of those Democrats or potential Democratic voters to stay home. So he gets to do one thing, and that one thing does both of the things that he needs to do. And so Abdul has a bit of a harder job, uh, because it's re it requires kind of making two different cases.

Yeah, and I think I, you know, I I saw there's an ad from Abdul, uh, over the last couple weeks, where it's just an ad about his faith. And, um, and I. It's a little broader than, like, answering the specific charges. But I think you're right, Tommy, like they just i in the final week when people are looking for information, as they're about to go into the into the voting booth, you kinda need to knock down the specific.

Stuff's breaking through. I mean, you gotta speak to it, you just can't let it go.

Yeah, uh, one more thing on Michigan, you know, ton of state Democrats are out there campaigning for Abdul, but there are some notable exceptions. Uh, here's his primary opponent, Haley Stevens, on CNN this weekend.

You're still fully behind Abdul El-Sayed.

look, I'm I'm on the Democratic ticket, you know,

I I can't say that I agree with everything that's gone on. I'm not looking to be front and center right now. I'm looking to be on the team to support, you know, my next governor, Jocelyn Benson. And, frankly, these great Democrats who are working their tails off, who are gonna make Hakeem Jeffries the first, uh, Black Speaker of the House. You didn't mention Abdul El-Sayed in that last answer. Well, look, I I would just say you had asked me if I'm still on the team, I'm on the team.

So Stevens did endorse Abdul, of course, as soon as the pri- like right as the primary ended, she said at the time, you know, the time for the disunity is over. She made a strong case against Mi Mike Rogers. I remember, like, we were all saying right after that primary was over, like, Wow, very gracious of Haley Stevens. That's like exactly, uh, you know, really, like stepping up there. Um, this was kind of a confusing, uh, shift in tone from her, like, I I I didn't quite get it.

What'd you guys make of it?

Yeah, it's strange, right? Because she's already endorsed, so, uh, a statement like this doesn't make you less for him, it just makes you less helpful, right? Like, okay, you're on the team, but you're just not interested in being very good as a teammate, right? You're just you're you're I'm on the team, but I'm not, like, super committed to helping my team win or anything, right? So I I like, find it strange because if she thinks that's gonna like, if she, if there's some specific thing she wants from Abdul in order to become a a better endorser, the time for that has long since passed, right?

So there's no, uh, strategic benefit to doing this in the week before the campaign. Like, she's registering some dissatisfaction with some specific thing she'd like him to do differently. Uh, instead, it's just kind of feeding this idea that there's democratic disunity. Uh, and uh, uh, no matter what happens, she will still in the future be very much tagged with being associated with Abdul if that's her concern. So I just it's of no value and only harm to me,

Yeah, I just don't, I don't understand why. Like, I if you don't have, if if you knew that, if you don't wanna be out there saying, Of course, I support Abdul, and just cause I'm not on the campaign trail doesn't mean I don't support him 100%. Don't do interviews.

right? Do you want him to lose? Cause if you Run the ad.

cause if you're gonna do an interview,

Can I get a?

yes, and le- unless that was the intention to to knowing that you were gonna be asked to say that, in which case, that's not great,

Do you wanna seem like you want him to win, but actually you want him to lose?

She was on CBS and she was asked, Are you gonna campaign side by side with Abdul? And she said, Whatever he wants me to do. It's like, did something, I wonder if something changed? Yeah, that's what I Like, was there some falling out? Did they not do their politics well enough on the outside campaign? Like, I I don't know, it was odd.

yeah. But I would like, you know, just

That seemed like the worst of all worlds for her politically.

yeah. And to echo what you Disappeared. said, love it. Like, we, we're in the final week here, and it's like, you know, whatever reservations people have about Abdul, I think we just if you're a Democrat or an independent, or anyone who finds what Trump, uh, said there odious and what Rogers has been doing odious, then, like, you know, I would, I would urge you to lock in just for the final week and help. Because I think that whatever reservations you may have, what they're doing is far, far worse.

And I'll be cynical for one second. I don't think what I was saying before was cynical. I sincerely believe it. Let's be cynical. You wanna you wanna either help him lose or not be needed to help him win. Great, that's helpful.

Yeah, I think there's also some people who are like, Well, I think we could win the Senate and just lose Michigan, you know, that's no no. Like, it is very all the possible outcomes. There's a very possible outcome where we come Michi one Michigan Senate seat short of losing the Senate. And then will you feel like happy that you left the it blank for Senate, you know, that you didn't vote for Rogers, but you left it blank because you had, like, I don't Yeah, you wanna think you.

I don't have your think you'll feel good about that. When we're, like, you know, nominating a replacement for, uh, uh, when Trump is nominating a replacement for, uh, fucking Sam Alito in the spring.

have your Senate and eat it too, huh?

Um, all right, as we get closer to election day, Trump is also trying to use every lever of power at his disposal to, uh, screw with the outcome. Uh, just before we recorded this on Monday afternoon, Trump posted that he's offering 1 million dollar reward for anybody reporting voter fraud in the past elections or the upcoming 2026 midterm election, payable when the person behind the fraud is convicted. First of all, does anyone think they're getting that money?

What's the process for submitting these claims to you that was think?

So now we're doing citizens arrests. What are we doing? Where? do. You email Who's email? Todd

Todd Blanche directly? Blanche? Uh, who's Uh,

gonna vet these things? How do I get paid out?

How do you know what?

Cause I'm gonna start submitting some ideas. If This is there's a million this is like vigilante bucks on the table for me,

shit. We're just tell asking neighbors to go rip like, like, report on your neighbor who you don't like, send a tip in to to the DOJ that they might be an illegal voter.

Can I tell you I've had a theory about this, which I'll share here? Uh, so I I. There was a point during, um, the rise of, uh, fascism in Germany, where at some point the um, Ooh, okay, yep, that's an analogy. Just everybody fucking deal with it. We're all adults, all right, uh, where, um, the Gestapo had to tell people, Hey, we're getting way too many reports on our neighbors. Uh, we can't follow up on all these leads.

You all hate all your neighbors, they're all being disloyal. Uh, can you please be more discerning because you're all ratting on each other a little too much, and we just don't have the bandwidth to follow up on all these fucking fucking reports? And I was thinking about just like, clearly there is this. They they really want people to be reporting on undocumented people on reporting on their neighbors. And, uh, maybe it's happening more than it's than it's being reported.

But so far, they just haven't had that kind of groundswell, right? Like, we're just not seeing that as driving deportations. It's not a big part of the story, right? And I sometimes wonder if the kind of social media policing of each other, tattletaling, videoing each other at fucking sweet greens and and pink berries. And my, they were mean to me at the airport, all this filming. It's a strange little release valve for whatever that impulse is in our society right now, whatever that feeling is that things are so unfair.

And I must have justice all the time and report on people. I'm the only one following the rules. And so they try to find this sort of energy, but it's actually being spent with what they would call cancel culture. Or kind of like each other, policing each other with our phones, and so they don't get the they don't get the juice from it. That's just my little theory about it.

it's so weird. I mean, maybe, or they could just be trying to. It's just voter suppression. They want people who think they might be seen as, you know, fraudulently elected because they're a person of color or a recent immigrant or whatever. Just to stay home and not risk it, cause no one wants to get sent to, you know,

C-Cot or whatever. yeah, and there's also and and I'll the

tell you from the you can't really tell a lot about the early vote in terms of, like, who who's voting for who. But the, uh, Latino turnout, uh, is is breaking some records in Texas already. So I do I do not think this is necessarily working so far.

they also just came out with a bunch of people that they're charging for voting illegally as as non-citizens, right? They're just they're also just looking for the even if it's just a few. It's an ex examples that proves their point that there's rampant fraud.

Pod Save America is brought to you by the Stateside podcast from The Guardian. Listeners of the show know by now that we're headed to the second annual Crooked Con, November fifth through seventh, at Washington, D.C. We have lots of amazing talent joining us, including folks from The Guardian, like Kai Wright and Carter Sherman, will be telling us about their new podcast, Stateside with Kai and Carter. The Guardian has an incredible legacy of journalistic talent and big thinkers from all over the world.

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another thing they're doing is in Alaska, uh, the Justice Department has filed a lawsuit there to prevent the election from being certified. If, and I'm quoting from the lawsuit here, one, Senator Dan Sullivan does not win the election, and two, had all votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan been cast instead for Senator Sullivan and Alaska's ranked choice process played out accordingly, Senator Sullivan would have won the election. So, just to catch everyone up who needs it on this, someone with Senator Dan Sullivan's name, named Daniel J.

Sullivan, will be on the ballot as one of the top four primary vote getters, along with Democrat Mary Peltola. DOJ is arguing that if Senator Dan Sullivan loses because of the votes that may mistakenly go to other Dan Sullivan, the election should not be certified. Uh, and if you're wondering whether the lawsuit is the result of elections experts at DOJ simply following the facts as they see them, uh, here's your answer.

Have you thought about the Alaska lawsuit that's been filed in Well, I'm the Alaska?

I'm the one that said, do it. At least let him use the name Senator Dan Sullivan as opposed to incumbent, cause a lot of people don't know what incumbent means.

I I know you say it's not fair with his name being on the ballot, but how is it illegal?

I think it's illegal because it's unfair. If it's unfair, you know, d you want you want fairness in voting.

Honestly, so insightful from him. It is how he thinks. Hm, hm. Well, so if if things that I think are unfair, of course, are legal, and if I think it's fair, it's

It's illegal.

legal. That's it. There's no laws.

I here's I'll make a deal right now. If they can say that votes for the wrong Dan Sullivan don't count, then we get to go back and count all those fucking Pat Buchanan votes from 2,000, uh, by those those old Rewind the timeline Jews from the Aldakakas in Palm Beach.

and we get to install Al Gore immediately.

That's right, we get to we reverse all of us, we all get to go back, we go back. Uh, yeah, the I I'm not, uh, I don't think this is I don't think this is the the best legal work of, uh, the the Trump administration. That we're gonna cancel the votes of the Dan Sullivan we don't like without it being able to know who voted for who and for and for what reason after the fact, because we don't like the outcome.

If they would like to get Dan's the wrong their their wrong Dan Sullivan removed, they had their chance to do that. It didn't work.

Yeah, I think that's the, um, that's the the the legal challenge that they face here is that state litigation already addressed the second El Sullivan's eligibility. Uh, and the ballot, as as Trump referenced, does identify Dan Sullivan as the incumbent and Daniel J. Sullivan as not the incumbent.

Which is a word a lot of people know more and more these days. I think know what that word means.

So there's as many who know that that dumb is spelled D-U-M-B.

Yeah, the Alaska Supreme Court did rule that he could be on the ballot.

it's I will. There's a it's funny, too, cause he could just be kinda out there saying, Don't forget to vote for the right Dan Sullivan. This is Donald Trump reminding you to vote for the right Dan Sullivan. And again, this is in a way, uh uh, getting get that out there a little bit, but what, what a uh, uh, what do you what do you call when it bounces off the backboard? Ricochet. Oh, Back, backboard a Bank shot bank shot.

bank shot, it's a bank shot.

There you go. Bank shot.

That's what that's what that is. Yeah,

yeah, big shot. nice, hell yeah, Uh, some good news, bad news for the Comey family today. Good news, good thorns and roses. Uh, good news. Uh, the court found that Maureen Comey's termination, uh, James Comey's daughter, was unlawful, uh, from a termination from the DOJ, uh, and it violated her rights under the Civil Service Reform Act, and they, uh, granted reinstatement and back pay. I'm sure she wants to take that job. Uh, the bad news, uh, James Comey facing indictment in DC.

for alleged disclosure of classified information. That is not a repeat headline. You are not hearing an old episode. This is now the third time, apparently, they have tried to, uh, they're indicting James Comey.

That's just it's so fucked up.

So fucked up.

Is it the same underlying substance, or are they saying he disclosed something else that was also classified?

Was the first? Well, no, the first one was perjury, uh, in the was was, uh, false statements

I thought that was the memo to during the Clinton his buddy or whatever.

interview. The second one was the seashell threat.

Oh, I'm sorry, you're right. I forgot about the big seashell Sea. Yeah, I threat. Yeah, yeah,

think, yeah, John Bolton was the classified info,

yeah, sorry.

right? And then this now one now they finally got him on classified info, apparently.

Cause they're claiming he corrected a journalist, or that they, like, reached out in Yeah, I didn't some way and see and kind of conveyed something which may have been classified information. Uh,

unfucking believable.

yeah, and again, I'll I, I, um, I obviously think this is wrong and pernicious and, uh, you know, terrible to have the politicization of the Justice Department. Um, but I also think James Comey should die in prison, so

I don't.

that's just my feeling.

I think I think people should only go to prison if they've broken laws, and I usually they should serve,

agree with that.

then they should serve the exact sentence

Yeah, no, I know.

that is commensurate with their

No, I know that that's crime. right. I'm ta- I know, So I that's what your don't mind says, but in your heart, in your heart, I don't mean it. I don't mean it. I think it's wrong. I'm just kidding. I think what's happening to James Comey is horrible and what he deserves. I'm just I don't.

they're our producers are laughing.

I could hear it through the walls. Yeah,

I can hear Austin laughing. Uh, speaking of Think about D

James Comey lying in that cell with his feet dangling off the edge of the cot.

it's so tall.

He's it's a cell for him is worse than it is for the rest of us, cause he's so big and tall. Disavow,

disavow, disavow. disavow. Speaking of DOJ, funny business, uh, the department's sloppy cover-up of the Epstein file debacle has returned as a midterm issue in the final week. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee released an unsigned staff report on Monday that quote demonstrates that Trump was a quote active participant in Epstein's abuse in the nineties, including new details on a rape allegation. Uh, and they also called for a special counsel to investigate Trump's Epstein connection. They also called for a special counsel to investigate Trump's Epstein connection.

Uh, according to analysis pieces in both the Washington Post and Politico, uh, Democrats have also spent north of $30 million on Epstein-related ads in battleground states. Kind of a sleeper there, cause I like I I I knew there was a few Epstein ads here and there, but there's

I think it's a lot of mentions, though.

a lot of mentions.

Yeah, I I look, I don't know. Like, the details in that congressional report are very troubling and should be run down and investigated. I think calling it the Epstein election is a touch overstated, is my guess. Um,

That's what playbook, uh, I should have said. That's what playbook called it.

yeah, yeah, I mean, the the Epstein, I I think it's mentioning Jeffrey Epstein is useful because it's shorthand for how rigged the system is and how elites get protected in Donald Trump's America. Uh, it is also shorthand for Trump breaking his promises. It's responsible for a huge rupture between Trump and Republicans and also the kind of Joe Rogan podcast cohort. Um, so Democrats should keep mentioning it. We should keep doing these oversight hearings. But also, I think, like, D Trump promised to get to the bottom of what happened and punish the abusers.

He lied. Like, this would be a good opportunity for Democrats to deliver on a promise to really follow up on this one. I think it's important.

Daily had a good episode on this today. Well, they had an episode on just ads, all the ads that were being run, and, uh, Shane Goldmark was on. And it's interesting that a lot of these Epstein ads are running in, uh, red states, um, with in some of these, like, yeah, very Trumpier districts, as a way to, kind of, um, depress turnout a little bit. Just to, like, if you're not gonna vote for Democrat, at least, like, aren't you upset with the broken promises of Republicans who's promised they would clean up corruption, promised they would do something about Jeffrey Epstein's, uh, the Epstein files, and then absolutely broke that promise.

Yeah, it's it's as if he's methodically, it's as if he, like, had a board that had the different coalitions that he assembled to become president and wanted to go through and cross them off, right? Like the the the America First crowd he got with the, uh, Iran war, the people genuinely concerned about prices he got with sort of tariffs and the gas prices and failing to address this. Uh, I mean, the one group of people he's kept are the kind of old school Paul Ryan STA type conservatives, cause he did do a fair amount of deregulation and tax cutting.

He's managed to keep them. And with Epstein, Epstein, there's this sort of conspiratorial part of the right, uh, that, uh, was relying on him to kind of expose the deep state. I I don't like it is one of many conspiracy theories that theories that are important in that world. I think I think RFK Jr. is a part of it too, like kind of a an amorphous group of people that believe the government is lying to them all the time.

And he was gonna expose it, and he just, uh, played them for fools. Is why Dan Bongino was like, in this difficult position of having been someone who said that the conspiracy theories were real and then, uh, couldn't justify it once he was inside the government. So, uh, I don't know how much of a difference maker it is, but I think it is one of the reasons he lost people in a way that makes it hard to get them back.

Last thing before we go, uh, on Sunday night, when most of us were savoring the last few moments of the weekend, Donald Trump posted a dense, 1,300 word essay to Truth Social, again, record-breaking, uh, on a subject of vital importance to all of us, talk show host Bill Maher. Trump trashed Maher and his show, said Maher's visits to the White House, which he called a quote, very seductive and beautiful place, were no fun. And that Maher was stoned and drunk, and he defended Caroline Levitt's performance on Maher's show last week, which I'm guessing is where this all came from.

Has to be right, uh, among many other tangents, um, Trump added at the end, Bill, don't call anymore.

That was my that was my favorite part. Bill, don't call anymore.

What were your favorite parts, guys? That was w- wild.

Do you think he dictated it to Natalie? Did she have to write down all of that as he, like, sort of read it aloud?

I mean, I'll just I I'm not gonna read the whole thing, but can I just read a sentence? 'Cause I don't I don't know how Natalie could have faithfully just written this down or typed this out. Uh, this was all one sentence. CNN did another poll at who was the most unpopular person in the history of the Republican Party, and I won that too, with me being at 53%, Ronald Reagan being at 18%, and Abraham Lincoln being at 8%, and these are CNN polls, people not exactly in love with me.

So, Bill Maher lied, but he lies about everything, and I believe he lied to me when I asked him with all the applause and laughter he gets after almost everything he says about things that aren't funny or even any good, What laughter machine does he use?

That was the line that jumped out at me, the laughter Laughter machine. He Machine. Mentioned said that he The laughter

Invented later.

Machine 3 times.

Yeah, turn your laugh machine off. It's a joke when they laugh uncontrollably even when you say nothing funny. So he's watching Mar every Friday. Now, it's what's going He looked like hell On?

This time. Bill was drunk and had alcohol in his hand as he walked through the White House. Overall, I thought it was a good meeting. It didn't last 4 hours. It lasted 2 hours, maybe less. Everybody was happy. We have the timestamps. I learned nothing. Felt it was a waste of time.

I learned nothing.

I learned nothing.

After the first dinner, Bill Maher was friendly, I guess everyone walked away pleased. He gave me a good first show with lots of laughing machine laughter, which is a real term, but it is what it is, and then reverted back to his former self and his old ways. Like

It's translation I had the dinner, he was nice to me for 1 episode, then he was mean again, and I'm gonna complain about it. But, uh, talk I'm a baby.

About your like, the the Natalie could not have done I mean, there was no proofreading. You would've cleaned it up a little bit?

I don't think she cleans it up, man. I think she wants Just To save her own ass. Pure uncut pure Yeah, I think that's what she Uncut. Thinks the gig is. Certainly, no one's

So long.

Gonna accuse AI of writing His stuff. This Not. Is 100%.

It's just not the Hunter Biden chronicles. This is raw, uncut, real 1,300 Typing. Words. And it was Yeah.

Like when I first heard about this, I'm like, Oh, how much do you have that ha- you have that much to say about Bill Maher? But, really, Bill Maher is just like the the the delivery vehicle for this. Like like, he's he's tangentially part of it, But most of it is just a long ram- there's a thing about The Apprentice and why it was a great show and how we would've won anyway even without The Apprentice.

It sounds like dictation. It does sound like dictation. It sounds like someone's saying something out loud that someone else is typing. 'Cause he's not typing Sounds All this. He Like he's lost Doesn't type

I don't.

His fucking mind, is what it Sounds like, which, you Know,

It's good stuff. It's great stuff, Yeah. I mean, It's a There was a Great closing There Message. Put it There was, uh

In an ad.

The end of, uh, in one of in in Abdul's speech, he talked about Trump bragging about the, uh, the neurology test and then sort of which was great, just like, you know, he's bragging about taking this test. You only give these people the test when people uh, he's a doctor. And only give tests when people are in trouble and something's wrong, and they've given it to him multiple times. And then he then my and saying, Well, Mike Rogers knows that this is ridiculous, and he stands by the guy, which I I was the first time I heard somebody tie directly the fact that he's doing the cognitive test with the fact that everyone's pretending he's not losing his mind.

Yeah, and he's proud of identifying the giraffe, which is a tough one to identify, I guess.

Is it?

Maybe the least tough. It's got the really It was the least

Long neck.

Challenging animal to identify.

I think it's a big horse. Just Oh, I would think it was. Yeah. Just a sort A long Of a long

Neck gives it away. A long-necked I'm just, uh Horse, like that I'm no

Like that SBA manager.

I'm no genius.

Who's that SBA person? What's her name? Uh, what's her name again?

Uh, Kelly Loeffler.

Oh Kelly Loeffler. Yeah, the rapper Yeah, yeah.

She ran for she ran in Georgia. That's right. That's Yeah, Ooh, yeah. Runner Right. 'Cause Kelly And, uh

Loeffler and Dr. Oz are ro- uh, ro- they've but actually evolved separately.

You see those TikTok memes of her and Susan Dell And then the, um, Yes, they're very The other Mean. Woman? Uh, Barbara Yeah, yeah.

Thornhill. Barbara Thornhill. Barbara Barbara Misspelled Thornhill.

They're AI, and they're doing some TikTok thing. It's great. It's great. Anyway, that's our show for today. Uh, if you're itching for updates during this election week, reminder, it's a great time to follow us on YouTube, uh, or you can just search Breaking News from Pod Save America on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, uh, where we post the audio version of these, uh, quick conversations between shows. We're doing all kinds of, uh, reactions to the news in between

That's right.

These shows. You gotta check 'em out on YouTube. Uh, we got a lot of content coming, uh, this last week before the election, so check it out. And of course, uh, Dan and I will be back with a new show on Friday. Pod Save America is a crooked media production. Our show is produced by Austin Fisher, Saul Rubin, McKenna Roberts, and Michael Goldsmith, with Reed Tarling, Elijah Cohn, and Adrian Hill. Our team includes Matt Decroo, Ben Hefco, Jordan Cantor, Charlotte Landis, Kenny Moffett, Adam Lippert, Joseph Dutra, Desmond Taylor, Dan Farrell, David Tols, Mia Kelman, Ryan Young, and Naomi Single.

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