9/23/26: Trump Threatens To Annihilate Iran, Diesel Export Ban, Trump Praises Zohran, Newsom Sells Out Hollywood

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Lisa, tell them about our new show. We have a new podcast. It's called Don't Lie To Me. I'm Lexi Juanio, we're two best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart. And I'm Lisa de Julio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions, and at this point in my food days, I've lived it all. Now in my 30s, being the founder of new shoes, good taste is my business. Listen on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Lacey Mosley, author, actor, stand-up comedian, creator, and host of Scam Goddess Podcast. The True Crime Comedy Podcast, all about robbery, fraud, and those who practice it. Each week I bring on an amazing guest. Ooh, I scammed them. What? I could talk to you for an hour. You're a generational yapper, like me. That's why I had to make yapping a job. And now you can catch full episodes of my show on YouTube. Start listening to Scam Goddess on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Scam Goddess! Hi, this is Kylie breakman, Angel Jaretana, Jeremy Colhane, Patrick McDonald, and we're the hosts of the artists on artists on artists on artists podcast. The improvised character comedy podcast, where each week a new panel of artists discuss their craft. Join us for a panel of Eurovision participants. And we do a little Halloween sometimes. Does the Pope dress up? He, he winks on Halloween. It's right up next to the microphone. I hear you get the elbows here. The eyelashes hate each other. You never seen Italy so quiet as when the Pope gets up to wink on Halloween. Listen to artists on artists on artists on artists every Thursday on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, guys. Ready or not? 2024 is here. And we, here at Breaking Points, are already thinking of ways we can up our game for this critical election. We rely on our premium subs to expand coverage, upgrade the studio, add staff, give you guys the best independent coverage that is possible. If you like what we're all about, it just means the absolute world to have your support. But enough with that, let's get to the show. All right, good morning and welcome to Breaking Points. It is September 23rd, 2026. There have been many false starts, but today is truly liberation day. We put up a zero on the screen. Congratulations to the bar last ditch in Massachusetts, which has officially relaxed its masking policy. All hell has indeed broken loose, but victory is freedom is untidy as they say, but in honor of the victory there at last ditch. We're tossing it here. And we are also to celebrate liberation day offering one month free to Breaking Points. If you go to breakingpoints.com and sign up for the membership, you will get your first month free. It's something to talk about at last ditch, the Western Massachusetts lesbian bar. Emily is joining us from the road. She is actually in Massachusetts. This is how seriously she takes the reporting that we require here at Breaking Points. We're talking boots on the ground. Leather boots, lovely boots, incredible boots, all kinds of boots on the ground to the ladies over at last ditch, bottoms up. Well, no, Ryan, this was actually because I knew you would be taking the mask off. And I needed to get about as far as I possibly could from you. Social distancing of six states. Excellent. It felt dangerous, but you know, that's not just a premium monthly membership to Breaking Points. You're free trial. That's also a free month of the comedic stylings of Ryan Grimm, which never failed to surprise. Even me, after all of these years, I saw in the shot Ryan put his mask on as we were going to error and I knew what was coming. And it did not disappoint. There you go. Well, unfortunately none of the rest of this show is going to be funny. Donald Trump embarrassing the entire nation in front of the world going before the United Nations threatening to annihilate Iran. And once again, we'll discuss that and everything else going on at UN General Assembly Week in New York. Trump floating a ban of exporting diesel. We'll talk about and what the effects of that would be. He also met with his best friend, Mayor Zoran Mamdani, in New York while he was there. We're going to be talking as well to former FTC commissioner Avaro Badoya about the dramatic last minute news where a judge is stepping in and stopping the settlement. The paramount merger settlement saying that they do not believe that well, that they don't believe that the settlement is necessarily up to snuff. So we'll see there is still hope that Tinseltown could live. Wendy's is closing more than 300 locations. We're going to talk about why that is. New poll out of Texas has Talarico hitting 50% Ken Paxson all the way down at 44. And then we've got a lot of interesting news coming out of Maine, particularly the FBI was circling Susan Collins in a bribery investigation. Before the Trump administration gutted the public integrity unit at the DOJ and also Washington has pulled off a coup and effectively taken over the Troy Jackson campaign instructing him to walk back his rhetoric around Medicare for all and back home. What's going on in Gaza genocide will get into that as well. But first Emily, let's start with the UN President Donald Trump. Here he is during his 35 minute rant in front of the United Nations. But I have a big decision to make. Will the deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before? Maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world. Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations? But I believe we'll make a deal right after the election. Then at any point, by far, since the conflict began and again, a big portion of what we've done, maybe 99% of it is to make sure that Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon, those sites have been blown up. We may have to blow up another one, pickaxe mountain. We're not seeing a lot of activity there, but if we do, we'll blow it up immediately. This is like, you remember when Gaddafi would give speeches in front of the UN and everybody would laugh. How amusing this dictator is out here saying crazy things. Trump is Gaddafi, basically. He's Gaddafi with nuclear weapons. And Gaddafi, may he rest in peace, certainly wishes that he actually had pursued and kept his nuclear profile because the second he gave it up, the West moved on him and ended up satanizing him to death. The difference, Trump does have nuclear weapons. Trump has said that if Iran had nuclear weapons, he would be much nicer to them. Instead, he, quote, "bombs the hell out of them." And like he has said outright that if that was the case, that's what he would do. And I don't think there's any other way to read this, right, than as a threat of nuclear war against Iran. That, I can see no other meaning behind the words. There will be no future generations in Iran. I understand why this isn't a bigger story that Trump is threatening again, nuclear annihilation. But it does feel like there's some dereliction of duty among the press to not be making as big a deal as possible out of these continuing threats. He does actually carry it out, which hopefully in the chain of command people will say, wait a minute, hasn't the Congress voted to make this war illegal multiple times? Like, I don't think we can launch a nuclear attack here. God help us if he does, though. Well, that's what also makes it kind of pathetic is that the press is, to some extent, correctly reading into this, he's doing his typical negotiating in public or the deal nonsense, and he's doing it in front of the whole world, and it's intentional, and it's a negotiating strategy. But again, that's what also makes it kind of Gaddafi-esque. Yes, Trump has nuclear weapons. Yes, that means it's 1,000 percent more serious every time he says something like annihilate, no future generations, etc. At the same time, I don't think anybody looks at him and sees this as a man who is winning. He's on a, like, tear, he is a conqueror. So it comes across as honestly really pathetic. Right. You know, you say a modest insult about another country, and they walk out of the UN. The Iranian representative kind of just sat there. You're going to end our civilization. Sure. It's heard that one before. It's Monday. Now, when he, talking about Venezuela, he was pretty openly bragging about taking the spoils. Let's roll A2. And the numbers are absolutely incredible. When you add the United States and Venezuela together, we have more than 60 percent of the oil in the world. So it's perhaps the biggest deal. It was a war, but it's perhaps the biggest deal ever made to the victor, along the spoils you've all heard. heard that our actions in Venezuela are proof that the United States will no longer permit threats to America to gain a foothold anywhere in the western hemisphere. And if necessary, we will use our unmatched military might to secure the vital national interests of the United States. As you know, Venezuela had the finest equipment in the world from other countries, and guess what? It didn't work. It didn't even come close to working. Emily, there was a recent report that the Trump administration is continuing to Stonewall investigators from the government accountability office who were asking, "Where are these spoils?" Like, there are billions of dollars that have been paid to Venezuelan-linked oil companies for this oil that has gone into American-controlled coffers, but nobody knows where those billions of dollars are. And government watchdogs so far can't find out. How concerned should we be that this money is just going to be taken? Well, he's openly referring to it as "spoils," which is another thing that you're kind of numb to with Trump using phrases like, "To the victor go the spoils," but that's how spoil systems work, actually. And I think that's playing out pretty much as you would expect it to, under a Trump administration takeover of another country's oil, is that right now what appears to happen is you have a tangle of business interests, some domestic, some foreign, trying to literally a portion of the spoils. So, not particularly surprising, but it also strikes me that he's given some weird UN speeches before, but he's also given one or two that a lot of people on the right looked at and said, "These are historic moments because what you have is Trump, post Obama, reasserting Americangemony," and he was reading the lines that whatever speech writer put in front of him. And he looked at this and he's just doing his greatest hits riffing about Iran and riffing about Venezuela in ways that, to your point, don't actually even make a lot of sense. And I didn't see much from people yesterday being like, "Wow, what a people on the right that is to say, wow, what a fantastic speech, what a historic speech for the Republican Party there really is none of that, not surprisingly I suppose, but actually kind of surprisingly because it used to be the case that whatever he said would be like, "Oh, not even trying anymore." Yeah. So, King Abdullah of Jordan gave, I thought, a rather interesting speech and we can talk about why, but let's we forget the inspiration for this disastrous war that has driven the economy over the cliff, came from Israel. King Abdullah, the neighbor of Israel, addressing his neighbor and the world's relationship to his neighbor here. This Israeli government's expansionist appetite is now a regional threat. And today, Syria is the warning, the international community is choosing not to see. It incursions, creeping territorial expansion, new facts imposed on the ground, including around vital water resources, step by calculated step, Israel is testing how far it can go. And every time the international community looks away, Israel learns that it can go even further across borderlines and legal limits. Of course, Jordan houses a lot of American personnel, American bases and every time that Iran has fired at Israel during the war, Jordan has very aggressively tried to defend Israel. Is this just for his own domestic consumption? Would you make of this kind of odd speech complaining about the aggression of the neighbor that he constantly defends? I don't know about you. I look at that and it seems almost like a plea to the Trump administration. I'm kind of curious what you think, but to me, it sounds like you have a platform at the UN General Assembly to kind of make that case really what's the best way to put it? You can kind of craft an argument with the UNGA speeches and you have the attention of the world on you. And I kind of wonder if that was it for President Trump and for the American diplomats. I think that could also be for that as well. Israeli ambassador and Netanyahu both, by the way, live it about insults from Mamdani. Let's roll a little bit of, this is Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Dunon. And partly we just roll this because we kind of just love this guy's voice, so let's roll Dunon. We have a very exciting weekend ahead of us, and fortunately, Mayo Mamdani is continuing to inside against Prime Minister Netanyahu, maybe even as a role criminal, it will not help him. The Prime Minister will come for a very quick visit. He will stay on the ground for a few hours, but he would speak in the General Assembly. He will address the United Nations, and I would advise Mayo Mamdani to focus on the problem with the theory of chaos and stop with promoting anti-exemitism, stop promoting command and stop engaging with the Iranian regime. You should say that Mayo, that we will stop the Prime Minister from coming to the UN this week. I'll swear to known suggested Mamdani should be arrested, but more importantly, is that like a French accent? Is that what's going on there? You know, I couldn't tell if it was French and British, times Israeli, maybe it's all three of them at the same, in the same dose at tone. Yes. Well, meanwhile, Philadelphia area, high school graduate Netanyahu was back in the country also upset about Mamdani, let's roll A5. Shame on you, Mr. Mamdani. Shame on you for supporting the Hamas, terrorists, monsters who butchered our people. Shame on you for inciting riots against New York Jews. I'm coming to the UN. I'm going to tell the truth about our heroic soldiers and I'm going to tell the truth about you. Well, he'll be speaking tomorrow before the United Nations. He's just over a month away from election. So everything that's going on here is going to be, you know, for his own domestic, you know, political consumption. Maybe that was also the Jordan Prime Minister's speech, maybe that was also factoring in. Although, that, you know, any criticism he gets, Netanyahu gets around the world. He kind of likes it because it kind of helps going into Israeli elections because then he's the one that's defending the Israeli people against the anti-Semites from around the world who want Israel's destruction and so on. So Trump was also asked about the Ukraine war. Let's roll A6. The President of the Lensky told us one that he's ready to come to Miami for a G20 summit and sit down with you and Vladimir Putin. If you extend this invitation to Vladimir Putin, will he respect it? Will he join you? Well, I don't know. I know that he will meet and we've had a meeting already in Alaska. I think he'll do another one. I don't know about Miami. We have a big thing happening in Miami very soon, but no, he'll meet, he's willing to meet. He'd like to see the war with both you and President Trump. I think Trump want to see the war at the meetings with this time. A lot of people being killed and they don't want that. I think they both want to see the war. Emily, Trump had urged Zalensky and we're going to talk about the potential diesel export pan in the next segment. Trump had urged Zalensky to stop firing and stop targeting Russian oil infrastructure. Zalensky initially suggested that he would, but then later said that he felt like he was a good idea, but that he's only going to stop if Russia stops attacking Ukraine as well. You've continued to have this week just extraordinary destruction of oil infrastructure in both countries. How harmful is it to Trump going into the midterms that it seems that he cannot even get Zalensky to do basic things, like just pause on blowing up diesel plants for a week. I know. You and I probably both know that people aren't going to the polls and voting based on that. Obviously, we're going to cover in just a moment gas prices and diesel prices. It actually harkens back to the days of the Biden administration in many ways, where you have Biden basically blaming Putin and blaming greed flation for high prices and Republicans at the time. We're basically making fun of it and saying that's ridiculous, so much of this is in your control and in your power, you're allowing Ukraine to just completely get thrown into this meat grinder and there's little leadership on controlling the war on top of that you're allowing. Then the Biden administration would be going after the CEO's, which is for price gouging, which is what the Trump administration is doing now as well. I don't think it's ever helpful when you have campaign promises on the table, ending the war within a day that have proven obviously impossible to deliver on and then on top of that, you haven't been able to deal with. This is why he's frustrated in trying to find different ways. We're going to talk about it in just a moment, so I don't want to jump ahead too much, but trying to find different creative ways to bring down gas prices really quickly is because he's realized that there's nothing he can do right now to broker peace between Zelensky and Putin. We started this saying with some jokes, wanted to finish. with a little bit of joke and so for that we're going to go to a great comedians two great comedians of our time bookending the segment to al-Qaeda's Ahmed al-Shara who is now the president of Syria he was in he was at the United Nations He had actually a really good one where it was his version of woke one was crazy Where he was he was asked about his time in al-Qaeda and he was like that it's 25 years ago I was a different guy is a different time not really appropriate to discuss that right now Woke one was crazy. It's a 181 was crazy. He was also he also then told this story about how he confronted Donald Trump after Trump gave the goal on heights to Israel he said it's not yours to give why don't you give New Jersey to Israel? Let's roll Ahmed al-Shara here a President Trump astute to the side of Syria supported Syria and He should historic resolution or decision to lift sanctions off Syria and have a very unique relationship with him But once when I visited him in the White House, I was I meet the joke with him and when he said about The Golden House that it is has a sovereignty of Israel I said why don't you give New Jersey to the Israelis? You don't own your landites to give it to them, but you own New Jersey And I believe that New Jersey is full of Democrats and they are not voting for a Trump So it will be good to give it to the Israelis So at least this is something that you own, but this President Trump doesn't own the Golden House, so regardless of this joke the Golden House It is owned by its own people, so it's neither the Syrian President or the American President or any other Be a person to abandon them or to give them up to others As funny as that is close watchers of it picked up on the very end where he said In the people of the Golden House kind of own the Golden Heights, which people read as another kind of capitulation actually to Israel Could be because you're kind of opening up ground there for well, it's who's to say who who actually owns the Golden Heights? The people of the Golden Heights own the Golden Heights, which is if you're Israel Like well, maybe they'll take New Jersey, but More pressingly they want You know formal legal control over Goal on Ice and they hear that and like it doesn't sound like he's that actually oppositional to us on it I think that's a really good point and you'd lest we forget there are probably more buildings and roads with Trump's name on them in the Golden Heights And there are a New Jersey at this point, but Point about him saying the people of the Golden Heights is actually Pretty interesting. I had him picked up on that until you said others were picking up on that rain But I don't know why else you would phrase it that way to be honest. That's that seems very intentional in particular Yeah, a lot of Cubans in New Jersey too. I wonder how they would feel about that But in any event, let's move on to Diesel Lisa we should tell them about our new show. Oh my god Lexi We have a new podcast. I'm Lexi You want to wear two best friends 22 years apart, but so close at heart And I'm Lisa Julio the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions and at this point in my 50s I've lived it all. I'm not gonna get any worse than fighting. That is wild. I learned that about you today Now in my 30s being the founder of new shoes good taste is my business and I've Always got something to say If man were just honest about this, there would be so much more peace in the world We're gonna talk about dating relationships beauty getting older and a little wiser We're best friends, but we don't always agree Because you told us how accommodating you are obviously I would do what I think I could do to fight the fight But there's only so much fight I can fight don't lie to me don't lie to me don't lie to me don't lie to me Don't lie to me don't lie to me liar listen on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I don't really care Hi, this is highly breakman Angel Jaretana Jeremy Colhane Cash McDonald and we're the hosts of the artists on artists on artists on artists Podcast the improvised character comedy podcast where each week a new panel of artists discuss their craft Join us for a panel of wellness influencers what I try to do is Phone journal. I don't know. I think I sort of photo journaling. Yeah, it's reading. It's called reading you so you're so we don't like to use that word anymore Okay, a panel of New Yorker cartoonists. Have you guys done Terry Gross's Peloton class? No, I've been dying too. I'm so sorry. I'm I'm seeing a reading of Sadako in the pounds and a thousand paper cranes by Audra McDonald's at the Wonderland bookstore Crazy I went to the Wonderland bookstore yesterday and I heard nor Jones do a reading of zero dark 30. No way Last bookstore though Kim Katrol is reading the guitar tabs of yesterday A panel of Eurovision participants and we do a little Halloween sometimes does the Pope dress up. Hi, he he winks on Halloween It's right up next to the microphone I hear you get the elbows here the eyelashes hate each other. You've never seen it least so quiet as when the Pope gets up to wink on Halloween Listen to artists on artists on artists on the I heard radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get Your podcasts. I'm Lacey Mosley author actor stand-up comedian creator and host of scam goddess podcasts the true crime comedy podcast all about Robbery fraud and those who practice it each week I bring on incredible guests like Conan O'Brien Iowa Debris Lamor Morris and Nicole buyer. Oh, I scammed them. What? You're a generational yapper like me That's why I had to make yapping a job and the scams run the gamut I'm talking about scams from the 1800s all the way up to today I also warn you and keep you safe against scammers call your grandparents tell your parents to stop clicking on links Please and now you can catch full episodes of my show on YouTube if there's a scam I'm here to protect you and I'm also here to laugh with you So if you like fun if you like comedy and you like learning and protecting yourself from criminals Start listening to scam goddess on the iHeart radio app Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast President Trump is supporting a ban on exporting diesel We can put this first headline up on the screen. This is from Axios reporting Trump backs ban on diesel exports President Trump said Tuesday that he is called for ban on US diesel exports while treasurer secretaries got best and confirmed The administration is examining whether a full or partial ban is feasible So Trump got a question on this on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly just yesterday Let's take a listen here to how he responded. This is B - President Senator Solomon today is called for a ban on diesel exports and temporary ban What okay on diesel exports chocolate is called for the same thing My brother is called for the same thing is that I'm in New York considering you so well I love for that - I've said let's not send out the diesel we make a lot of diesel That could have a little bit of an effect on Regular automobile gasoline because when you do that, you know, it's sort of a flow. It's a balance But no, I call for it. I fall for it within my people I've been talking about Well as you heard in the questioner, this does have the support of Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley also John Thuney, who's from South Dakota Senate majority leader said that he would be quote-a-quote open to it other Other Republicans in places like Iowa Ashley Henson included have agreed with Grassley on this Meanwhile, let's also take a listen here to an Iowa farmer talking to MS now about diesel prices He's high diesel fuel prices couldn't have come in a worse time. Probably any farmers have fuel on hand for this fall The last time I bought diesel fuel was in 2025 a year ago for the crop And that was $2 and 29 cents. I hope this is not the long-term New level of diesel fuel prices. I'm Iowa is quote tricky for Republicans this cycle and GOP candidates They know it late last week JD Vance made a visit to the state and got a high-profile snub the GOP Senate candidate Ashley Henson skipping his event today Henson trying to further distance herself from Trump calling for an end to the Iran war despite previously voting to let Trump continue the war six times So right access is reporting that Trump does technically have emergency powers that would allow him to do this Congress could do it as well But there's an enormous amount of potential economic implications to break down here And I know you've been following this pretty closely because it's suddenly extremely interesting I mean, it's it's generally interesting but suddenly right now because you have so many people taking a serious look at it It's very interesting what from your estimation would the immediate effect of this big? Yeah, you and I were doing you're doing our homework on this to try to figure out what would actually happen if they if they did this And what Trump is alluding to in his comment there is a is a very real problem and what he said there was a You actually might have gas prices go up and there's a good reason for that and so right now if if you're actually Henson It's not actually great for you if he doesn't export ban because the Midwest has its own refineries as is Operating at effectively maximum capacity and the Midwest serves the Midwest the Midwest refineries do not export diesel so an export so it's not increasing supply there The refineries that do export diesel are down in the Gulf and so they make a lot more diesel there than they can use in Texas and Louisiana and Alabama and Mississippi, they export it basically to Europe and Latin America. And so the pipelines that run from the Gulf up to the Midwest are basically full already. So it isn't as if you refine more that you could then ship it up to the or that you didn't refine more, but you have more because you can't sell it. You're not going to be able to ship it to the Midwest. You could potentially put it on boats if you give a Jones Act waiver, Jones Act says you have to, you can only ship along the coast with American ships and American crew. So you do a waiver for that, let foreign ships pick up the diesel and take it up to say New England. Okay, maybe you could do that. But New England gets most of its diesel imported. So all you're doing is trying to fill the gap that you've now killed because if you are not exporting the countries that are exporting to New England and to the east coast, though they're going to stop exporting. Obviously, they're going to send it to Latin America and elsewhere where the price is now going way up. So you're not going to have a change in the Midwest. You'd have a kind of a crash in prices immediately in, say, Texas and Louisiana. But what that does is the refiners are then going to make less diesel. Quite, quite simple, supply and demand is less man. Now, the problem is when you take a barrel of oil and you refine it, we're all learning way more than we want to know about this stupid industry. So you get a barrel of oil. When you refine it, you get gas. I don't know, I watch Landman, so I'm already pretty. There you go. You're already, you're up to speed. So you get gasoline, you get diesel, and then you get all these other refined petroleum products along with it. And so if you want to reduce the amount of diesel you make, you have to refine fewer barrels. You can't just target diesel and say we want less diesel because now we can't export it. So you're going to get less diesel, fewer refined products across the board, and less gasoline. What's less gasoline mean? Higher gasoline prices. So in order to bring down diesel from where it is by whatever dimes that he can bring it down, you're going to push gas prices up. Now, if you don't do this, he's going to look like he's not doing something that he could be doing to help the American people. So he's really in a box here because if he does it, he will be screwing an enormous number of people. Got only knows what kind of global crisis, you know, he's going to, Brad Erickson in a text to me said that he called it Russian roulette. Like, it's going to be bad, but it might actually like blow your head off. Like you, at some point, there's going to be a bolt in the chamber and this entire thing unravels. And he said that across the board, oil energy people are just praying that like he doesn't actually go through with this because of what a calamity it would be. Now, maybe it pushes diesel down in Texas, but then also pushes gas prices up in Texas. So I don't know what, what, what, as a trumpologist, like does he go through with this because he seemed to know from that clip that it would push gas prices up. Like, so he's been briefed, all his, oh, and the energy secretary and the ag secretary have assured everybody that this will not happen. So it's going to make them look like total losers. So what I think this goes. And not only that, but I was just going to say, actually, Doug Bergham agrees with basically everything you just outlined. Doug Bergham said last week that this would be a good option if it actually would lower prices. And his quote is, but that's not the case. So he just made the ringer argument, which it seems, I mean, this gets the politics of why Chuck Grassley and Ashley Henson would float this is it to keep Iowa Republicans above water and kind of sacrifice trump. The MS now clip that we watched mentioned, Henson not wanting to campaign with Vance when he was in Iowa. So are they trying to make it look like they have an innovative idea that could help with this and they're doing something they're proactive. And then it helps them because people aren't really voting for Trump on the ballot. He's literally not on the ballot even though he's told Republicans to pretend like he is on the ballot. And that way they're able to kind of scrape by look like they had an idea. It's not their fault if the White House doesn't do it. So is this all actually even a political maneuver? The fact that they're talking about it, a way to give Ag State Republicans a lifeline and say, this is what we want to do. This is what we think we should do and it allows them to have a talking point and it allows them to have something they say could work and they're pushing for it. They're pushing for it, but they can't force the White House's hand. But I don't think Trump would actually do it Ryan. The only thing that scares me is what you mentioned about the Jones Act because when you combine the old school Republican obsession with waving the Jones Act with Trump, that is a powerful force. You get all of the former Heritage Foundation staffers in the Trump administration now just itching, Jonesing to do this Jones Act waiver. That's the thing that makes it most likely is they get an opportunity to wave the Jones Act. Because it would make shipping a little bit cheaper for them, right? Where is it that they have a waiver for the Jones Act right now? Yeah, well they're trumpeting how it proves the point about the Jones Act. They've been doing that for like the last six months. So anyway, that was a little bit of a joke. But in all seriousness, if you get an opportunity to wave the Jones Act, there are a whole lot of people that will be eager to latch onto the policy. I don't think that it's going to happen in this case because when you have even the Interior Secretary saying it's not going to lower prices, that's what Trump is hearing behind closed doors too. You know it is. So why would you do that? Yeah, in the last two days, we had polls showing Iowa Senator Ashley Hinson down substantially to Torek in Iowa. So she came out against the war. You had a poll with finding mic Rogers down by seven to Abdull outside in Michigan. So you had him now coming out against the war and you now have a poll in Texas. We can put up B4. This one really turning a lot of heads because I don't think. So James, if you're just listening to this on podcast, James Talleriko, 50 Ken Paxton, 44. This is a Marist poll. And so I don't think that Beto during his entire run ever really hit 50% in a poll. No. In fact, it was dim and close. Yeah. And so that's always a key thing that people watch for. It's one thing if you're showing leads of like 44 to 41, 45 to 42. You're up 46, 43. It gets Democrats excited because they're winning and technically you're supposed to win. You know, we just have more than the other guy. But if you get less than 50% in those polls, the big concern is that as the race gets closer to the finish line, all of those undecided people, they're all just coming home to what they always do, which is vote Republican. And so the poll number that you see Democrats getting in Texas, that number ends up becoming their final number. And for Republicans, they get everybody else. And so Ted Cruz kind of jumped over Beto O'Rourke and ends up beating him. To have Talleriko hitting that 50% threshold is pretty huge. What are you hearing from Republicans? Because we don't have much joy in this world. At least we can get a little little shot and Freud out of their reactions to like just this absolute tsunami of polls from everywhere, from Kansas to Iowa, Michigan to Texas, to Florida, showing them there was a Texas internal, was a House race or state Senate race, where Trump won by 17 and and Talleriko's up by like 11. Just to disaster stuff across the board. So what what are you hearing from Republicans out there? Well, I think people are starting to come to terms with the fact that there isn't going to be some type of like DSA saving grace, meaning you're not going to prevent the 2018 blue tsunami as Harry Anton called it at the time appropriately, just because there are DSA candidates nominated that you can tie up to elsewhere to or James Talleriko to. I think that's what Republicans are coming to terms with now. And you can see it by the fact that actually just to tie this all together, you have people like Ashley Henson floating this policy maneuver that I don't think anybody really truly believes would have would provide much relief for people over the course of the next couple months before election day or go at 41 days until election day. So that alone feels like last ditch kind of desperate talking point, but I'm looking here at the polls that real clear politics indexed going into Cruz versus Beto in 2018, not a single poll, not a single poll had Beto at 50 percent. One Emerson poll in late October had him at 47 percent and the Quinnipiac poll at the same time had him at 46 percent. That is actually in and of itself significantly different. And just we've been hammering it over and over Beto never ever led in the real clear politics average, never once in that race. He ended up coming within about two points, a little over two points of Ted Cruz. So the polls in that race underestimated Beto will work. That's another important thing to notice Talleriko. This has been flipped. He has been leading in every single poll that RCP has indexed every single one of them since August. And it looks like the gap is getting bigger when you have polls like this heading into October showing a 50 percent number for Talleriko. It is the first for since a Texas public policy. policy foundation poll in late August that had 50% for Tallarico. That poll also had 50% for Paxton, but no other poll has had either of them at 50%. So that is, I agree with you a very significant benchmark to see. And it's very, I think clear when you compare this race to 2018 Beto Rourk, which is a pretty good comparison because you have a donor-friendly high profile opponent to, I guess, one difference is Cruz was an incumbent and Paxton's not an incumbent, but this is just absolutely brutal. Yeah, and we'll finish with some good news for Trump. The Saudi Arabia's east-west pipeline, which some people thought might be out of commission for months, they have got it pumping some oil. And Saudi Arabia, apparently a Ramco is telling some Asian buyers that they can expect deliveries again very soon, and that they're starting to pump again from these major ports that the war continues, though, and a pipeline remains, I don't have to tell anybody this, they're rather vulnerable target. But let's move on to the weirdest and most interesting, most fun bromance in American politics. Trump is kind of a one-way bromance. Lisa, we should tell them about our new show. Oh my God, Lexi, we have a new podcast. I'm Lexi Iwanyu, where two best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart. And I'm Lisa Julio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions, and at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all. I'm not going to get any into it, I'm fighting. That is wild. I learned that about you today. And I've always got something to say, if men were just honest about this, there would be so much more peace in the world. We're going to talk about dating, relationships, beauty, getting older, and a little wiser. We're best friends, but we don't always agree. Because you told us how accommodating you are. Obviously, I would do what I think I could do to fight the fight. But there's only so much fight I can fight. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Lie. Listen on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I don't really care. Hi, this is Kylie breakman, Angel Jaretana, Jeremy Colhane Cash McDonald. And we're the hosts of the artists on artists on artists podcast. The improvised character comedy podcast where each week a new panel of artists discuss their craft. Join us for a panel of wellness influencers. What I try to do is faux journal. I don't know. I think I sort of faux journaling. Yeah, it's reading. It's called reading. So you're so we don't like to use that word anymore. Okay. A panel of New Yorker cartoonists. I'm so sorry. I'm seeing a reading of Sudacco in the thousands of paper cranes by Audrey McDonald's at the Wonderland bookstore 14. That's crazy. I went to the Wonderland bookstore yesterday and I heard Nora Jones do a reading of zero dark 30. No way. After the last bookstore, though, Kim control is reading the guitar tabs of yesterday. A panel of Eurovision participants. He, he winks on a low end. I hear he'll get bubbles here. You've never seen Italy so quiet as when the Pope gets up to wink on Halloween. Listen to artists on artists on artists on artists on the I heard radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Lacey Mosley, author, actor, stand up comedian creator and host of scam goddess podcast, the true crime comedy podcast, all about robbery fraud and those who practice it each week. I bring on incredible guests like Conan O'Brien, Iowa, Debris, Lamon Morris, and the cold buyer. Oh, I scammed them. What? I could talk to you for hour. Your generational yapper like me. And the scams run the gamut. I'm talking about scams from the 1800s, all the way up to today. I also warn you and keep you safe against scammers. Call your grandparents, tell your parents to stop clicking on links. Please. If there's a scam, I'm here to protect you. And I'm also here to laugh with you. So if you like fun, if you like comedy and you like learning and protecting yourself from criminals, start listening to scam goddess on the I heart radio app Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. While he was in New York, President Donald Trump went to Gracie Mansion to meet with New York City's mayor. Let's roll a little bit of this. No, I certainly hope he will be a great mayor. You have to understand I want what's good for New York. I want what's good for the country. So if I had a choice of having him be a bad mayor or horrible mayor, I don't want that. I want him to be a great mayor. And he certainly got potential, got great potential. Thank you so much. That's all the time we have. So you hear that mom Donnie aid trying to end the thing. But Trump's like, no, we can keep going. We can do this. Got time. Yeah, apparently you put up C, C2 here. This has Republicans and some weirdly, some centrist or Senate right Democrats like near Terran and Tannen and Sarah Longwell, like melting down. But mostly it's Republicans melting down. So it's GOP rank and file hope to turn mom Donnie into the midterm bogeyman. Instead, as mom Donnie's time to brief the press came, he asked Trump on the spot to join him and the president agreed according to a person familiar with the meeting. During the press, or mom Donnie called on MS now CNN and Politico, the three outlets, Trump banned from the White House last week. Emily, let's just finally put up C3 here. So there's also a little bit of lip reading that that somebody did because this wasn't on camera. Trump apparently told mom Donnie, I'll look after you, you look after the New Yorkers and we can both make it work. I want to support you. Help me come with me to the White House. See how I work. This is just talking to Melania. Yeah, this is too much like I can't. It's embarrassing. Like what is going what is going on here? I mean, the crash out on this has been something, something else. Playbook had incredibly funny Republican strategist quotes. So this is quote, I don't think from playbook on yesterday, I don't think people really want to see you toasting the Chinese premier or Republican close to the White House said you're hosting this glamour state and our time when people are like, are you focused on me? And this was also a strategist saying, he's, oh, yeah, here's the person says, this is Barrett Marston, Arizona based GOP strategist, the in your face arguments from the Republicans, the selection cycles that Democrats want to bring socialism or communism to America. This is the quote, I was like, here's the next line, Trump, warmly embracing two of the most outspoken leaders of those ideologies makes it that much harder for the message to resonate with voters. But I read this yesterday, I almost did a spit take, you're in the same breath, comparing Xi Jinping and so on. And you understand what they're, you understand what they're saying, which is that these are Trump has been campaigning against communism and socialism relentlessly. And then he's hanging out with Xi Jinping and open socialists. It's our mom, Donnie, but just the equating of both of them as though this is an apples to apples, political events that he would have a state dinner for Xi Jinping and go to Gracie, made sure it was our mom, Donnie, incredible crash out vibes from Republicans on this. Did you see Laura Loomer's tweets? Oh my god, you Laura Loomer, I almost feel bad for her. She can't, she can't handle it. Well, she's saying we've been working so hard like this is I'm paraphrasing her, but she's basically saying we've been working so hard and to see Trump then cosy up to socialist mom, Donnie. Now, I will say, Ryan, you can tell Trump is freelancing this stuff that he has absolutely no concerns about the big picture election question at all, because if he did, it's very obvious that when you're trying to tie Republican candidates around the country in red states or swing states to zone on mom, Donnie in particular and say these Democrats are too radical for voters, then Trump lavishing mom, Donnie in praise is when he's saying pretend that I'm on the ballot. Basically, you're voting for me if you're voting for Republican. And that Republican is running against mom, Donnie as a paper. It makes absolutely no sense. So you can tell that he's clearly freelancing this and that it's not at all tethered to like his political operation. But what did Republican strategists expect from him? Seriously. Yeah. And so yes, exactly. Chairman Xi will be here tomorrow. Chairman Xi, though, is here now. Let's see, though, what he's been able to accomplish. So in 2020, when he first ran for assembly, actually gig companies, put a whole bunch of money into the race to try to stop him from becoming an assembly member, he beat them. In 2024, DoorDash put a million dollars behind Cuomo to try to elect Cuomo. Well, this is a nice like, you know, how, you know, how it started, how it's going. Let's put up C4 here. I wish we had the sad music to play here. DoorDash statement, since 2023, more than 200,000 dashers in New York city were underpaid or paid late under the city's delivery worker pay rules. These errors were unintentional, who hasn't made 200,000 unintentional errors. But that doesn't make them acceptable. Dashers should be paid in full on time every time. full responsibility and we're deeply sorry. We've reached a $131.5 million settlement with the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. Every impacted dasher will receive the amount they are owed and they'll be contacted directly with payment details. We understand the impact and even one missed of even one missed or late payment. We've addressed the issue that caused these errors and made changes to prevent them from happening again. So when people see that a company like DoorDash is spending a million dollars to back Andrew Cuomo, somebody like Andrew Cuomo, they think, wow, that is an enormous amount of money to spend an election. But when they see why they're spending it, they get it. They were trying to spend $1 million to prevent having to pay $131.5 million that they had stolen from New Yorkers. And so when people ask what you get, if you elect somebody who is not on the payroll of major companies, what do workers get for it? Well, this is one example of what they get for it. Well, and I'm sure there'll be a close eye-capped on how DoorDash rewards its top executives in the next year or so as well. Because the argument is, Zoran is going to threaten all these companies to do what's right by workers, follow these laws, and then prices are going to go up for absolutely everyone. But if you're also increasing executive compensation and raising prices at the same time, I'm sure Mayor Mamdoni, as you call him, Chairman Z, is going to have his eye on that. And producer Mack, by the way, says it's not a bromance, the correction from the control room. It is non-consensual lustfulness or a problem. It is somewhat unrequited. It's tragic, it's truly tragic. - Well, you know, but on the other hand, Mamdoni, this is going to face Janice Lewis George in Washington DC. In fact, already, is facing Janice Lewis George in coming to Democratic Socialist Mayor of Washington DC. She's posturing in a way that suggests a disinterest or a lack of willingness to take Mamdoni's tack here in Washington, or, well, I'm not in Washington right now, I shouldn't say here in Worcester, but in DC. And from Mamdoni, it's not entirely unrequited. We might be assuming internally it's unrequited, but he's also reciprocating in a way that is probably helping New York at this point. That's a raging debate, I know, but it seems like the results are clear. - And as DC residents, maybe let us put in a plea here with Mamdoni, start a group chat, you Trump and Janice, and maybe that'll help, you know, thaw things between Trump and Janice and he won't like actively, intentionally, deliberately destroy the city for no reason other than just, like, spite. - Political strategist, Ryan Graham. - Let's see. - Reporting live. - All right, up next, the Paramount merger is on hold. - Lisa, we should tell them about our new show. - Oh my God, Lexi, we have a new podcast. I'm Lexi Iwanyu, we're two best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart. - And I'm Lisa de Julio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions, and at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all. - I'm not gonna get any worse than fighting. - That is wild. - Now in my 30s, being the founder of New Shoes, good taste is my business, and I've always got something to say. - If men were just honest about this, there would be so much more peace in the world. - We're gonna talk about dating, relationships, beauty, getting older, and a little wiser. - We're best friends, but we don't always agree. - Because you told us how accommodating you are. - Obviously I would do what I think I could do to fight the fight, but there's only so much fight I can fight. - Don't lie to me. - Don't lie to me. - Don't lie to me. - Lie. - Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I don't really care. - Hi, this is Kylie Breikman. - Angela Jaretana. - Jeremy Colhane, Patrick McDonnell. - And we're the hosts of the artist on artist on artist podcast. - The improvised character comedy podcast were each week a new panel of artists discuss their craft. - Join us for a panel of wellness influencers. - What I try to do is foe journal. I don't know, I think I sort of foe journaling. - Yeah, it's reading, it's called reading. - So you're, so we don't like to use that word anymore. - Okay. - A panel of New Yorker cartoonists. - Have you guys done Terry Gross's Peloton class? - No! - I've been dying too. - I'm so sorry, I'm seeing a reading of Sadako in the Thousand Paper Cranes by Audrey McDonald at the Wonderland Bookstore, 14. - That's crazy, I went to the Wonderland Bookstore yesterday and I heard Nora Jones do a reading of zero dark 30. - No way. - Patrick of the last bookstore though, Kim Katrol is reading the guitar tabs of yesterday. - A panel of Eurovision participants. - And we do a little Halloween sometimes. - Does the Pope dress up? - He, he winks on Halloween. - It's right up next to the microphone. - I hear, he'll get the elbows here. - You've never seen Italy so quiet, as when the Pope gets up to wink on Halloween. - Listen to artists on artists on artists, on the I heard radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. - I'm Lacey Mosley, author, actor, stand-up comedian, creator and host of SCAM Goddess Podcast. - For each week I bring on incredible guests, like Conan O'Brien, Iowa Debris, Lamon Morris, and Nicole Byer. - Ooh, I scammed them. - What? - I could talk to you for an hour. - You're a generational yapper, like me. - And the scams run the gamut. Call your grandparents, tell your parents to stop clicking on links, please. So if you like fun, if you like comedy, and you like learning and protecting yourself from criminals, start listening to Scam Goddess on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. - Scam Goddess. - Well, the Paramount Warner Brothers merger that everybody thought was a done deal is on hold at least for now. The judge can put this element up on screen. The judge overseeing the antitrust litigation has canceled Thursday's hearing on Paramount's bond request, but scheduled a new one to address outstanding questions about the proposed consent decree. She has not yet approved the settlement. So joining us now is former FTC Commissioner Alvaro Padoya to walk us through everything that's going on with this merger. So first of all, all week long we're getting this news that the AGs have capitulated to basically the threat that the company would leave Los Angeles and not do the filmmaking in Nashville instead of not doing any filmmaking in Los Angeles. And so under that pressure, they came up with a deal where they would create an independent board that would oversee CNN and then people look closer and they're like, oh, David Elleton would appoint the members of this independent board and that they would agree to make a certain amount of movies and people looked closer, including yourself. And we're like, actually, I'm not sure they've actually agreed to do anything at all. So first of all, what do you understand from this judicial order pausing this situation? Is there any hope here or should we just assume we're gonna get publics and get rolled over eventually anyway? - So there have been so many curveballs with this thing that I wanna do zero-pregnosticating, but what is at stake are three things? - Like JP Morgan's oil analysts. - Is that right? - Yeah. They announced last week they're done. - Yeah, is that right? - Yeah. - We don't have any ideas. - So look, this is a judge who is a serious judge, is a confident judge. There's three things she's gonna be looking at. Is this fair, adequate, and reasonable? Is this in the public interest and does this violate the underlying law that the lawsuit was filed under? And so, you know, you might be able to say, a couple things about this bizarre independent oversight board. You know, you might say, wait, this was an antitrust case, this is like a speech thing, what's that about? You might also say that a independent oversight board that is supposed to be independent of the Ellicins, that is named by the Ellicins, that reports by the Ellicins is not in the public interest. So it's hard to say how this plays out. There are a lot of unhappy people with the settlement. So there is a world where they try to intervene or try to file an amicus and hit some of these points. It would be unusual for this thing to be turned over, you know, to be completely shot down by the judge at this stage, but it is also unusual for an attorney general to sing to the high heavens that is red line as divestments, and then win zero divestments. - What do you mean by divestments for people not start in this? - So this isn't just like a deal between one streamer and another streamer. This is a one media conglomerate with another media conglomerate. So you have two of the five legacy studios, TV and film studios becoming one. You have two of the five biggest owners of cable channels becoming one. You have two of the five biggest streamers becoming one. [BLANK_AUDIO] And so the unusual thing that the Attorney General California Robonta did was go out there and just say, I'm not interested, bro, you know, with these little weak settlement offers until you come to the table and want to talk about structural remedies, which means unless you're ready to sell off your stuff, don't come talk to me. And the actors, the filmmakers, the crews who signed this massive petition to stop this merger, they listened to him and they took him seriously. They thought, hey, this thing actually might stop. And so when he goes into that room and wins zero sell-offs, divestment, structural remedies, it was a total shock to the system. Right. And so the counterargument that I've seen is there's not a strong case here because you've got these big streamers like Netflix that are gobbling everything up. And the only way for the studios to survive is by teaming up together. And it's not about competition. Between studios, it's actually about competition between this legacy industry and the industry of the future. And if they're going to survive and then pivot to the future, they need this strength in numbers. Yeah. Maybe there's some circumstances that is true. This entity would have been so, sorry, would have been, will be so massively bogged down by debt that there's an open question what the heck they'll be able to do. So already there is so much debt on this deal that paramount has junk status for its credit. They are going to have to fire thousands upon thousands of people and yet somehow let's put up D1. Go ahead. Yeah. Make more movies, make more TV shows that are better and more competitive. It doesn't math out. And so yeah, there's certain circumstances where combining with another company makes you stronger. But what we saw at the FTC when we were in is we would hear this song and dance. He would block the merger. And then six months, 12 months later, like with Nvidia aren't, right, this massive chipmaker, ecosystem deal. Oh, this is going to be critical to the industry. They need this to compete. Turns out they actually compete better when they're on them. Is there a world in which this is actually just kind of a vulture situation where the investors here are just going to loot the thing and we'll, we'll look at the end of it. So, hopefully not, I am for the people working in film and television, right? A lot of people think this is a, this is a rich person's industry. No, this is a blue collar industry and it's a national industry. I was fully against this merger. I still hate it. But I hope the company, I hope for the sake of the people working there that they survive. There is a world though where when you're loaded down with $80 billion in debt, it turns out to be more profitable to sell different parts off of it. So that is a, that is a world we could be looking at down the road. I, I hope it doesn't get there. Isn't that what the AG though? They wanted from the AG. Look, what's the difference between these fire sales down the road in bankruptcy versus spinning it off now? I think you said it. I think it's a fire sale. It's one thing to see the asset fully degraded and then say, hey, sell it for the IP. Yeah. It's another thing to say, you know, we're going to break off these studios that have this great IP and they're doing well, you know, but it's just not part of the business model. And, you know, it's a difference between selling a viable competitor and selling a loser. And so, California's AG, Rob Bonta, didn't even, didn't even necessarily keep the company in Los Angeles. Let's, let's listen to this. There, there is a commitment in the, in the deal, the consent decree that we're filing that they keep their lots here through the term of the deal. So they're not moving them. They can't sell them. They need to lease them for the similar purpose that they're, you know, for making movies and TV shows. So the lots are in the agreement. Is that the same, is that the same as having their headquarters remain in California? It is. And I believe that will be the case that they will have their headquarters in California for the foreseeable future. You believe that it's more in the future? It's not part of the deal. It's not. The body language there, Alvaro, towards the end, he kind of like shrinks into a non-existent being in front of our faces when asked that final question. So what, what do you gather from this inability to get into the deal that they will stay in Los Angeles? Or what they get? Honestly, it makes me sad to say it, but, but he got played. He got played. The pressure that was put on him was to keep this thing in California, but as even he himself admits, he got a guarantee that the lot would stay operating under either them or someone else in the film and TV industry. And like so many other parts of this deal, it is unfortunately, and again, it pains me to say it, the opposite of what it purports to be, you know, they say there's an independence board actually controlled by the Alison's. They say this is about keeping, you know, Paramount headquarters in California doesn't say that. They say this is about making 30 films a year. Actually, no. It only promises that they'll make, in other words, produce 15 films a year. And there's few guarantees about the remaining films. They could be something they buy on the cheap and put no marketing dollars behind, and anyone in Hollywood will tell you, if you make a film and you have zero marketing budget, it's like a tree falling in the woods. No one sees it. What do you make of this report from the Hollywood Reporter and put up D4 with David Ellison basically saying, I would never leave Los Angeles. I love it. I have so many feelings about this, but let me just say the move of, I'm going to take my, you know, capital ball and go home. This is a established move in the oligarch playbook. Larry Ellison did this, I believe, with Oracle. Obviously, Elon Musk did it with Tesla, and I don't know what it is as to why it keeps on working, but it does keep on working. And the unfortunate fact is, if you look at the actual numbers, there's going to be massive layoffs at these companies. And so they're trading away this vague guarantee of, they're taking this vague guarantee of we're going to keep the headquarters in the state. Even though they're giving up the fact that they're will as a matter of fact be massive layoffs in the state. And that's the other very strange aspect of this deal is that they secured in theory $1.5 billion over five years of more domestic spend and production and look, this industry is hurting, and so I, you know, okay, that's, that's okay, but AG Bond has said, this is about California jobs. There's no earmark for that within California. Last year, according to a report issued by the LA Economic Development Commission of the 19 films that Warner Brothers and Paramount made, one of them was made in California. It wasn't even in Los Angeles. It was in Eureka. It was one battle after another. So, you know, doesn't guarantee California jobs, doesn't guarantee California headquarters, doesn't guarantee independence, doesn't guarantee 30 films. This is, it's really hard to square it with the position that they were in before. I've heard people say that if this deal goes through, it's basically the end of Hollywood. Like why are people saying that why is it so much worse for workers and the industry at writ large if it goes through? Yeah. So, I think people need to understand how bad things are for film and TV workers. So, one thing we did at the American Economic Liberties Project to go to the writer's guild, we did these town halls in independent theaters on the writer's guild in New York. So, Los Angeles at Lanta, New York. I think people need to understand that you can go to Atlanta, meet someone, let's say, in the art department. Look at their IMDB and you can tell they're a master crafts person. I worked on Stranger Things. I worked on the Walking Dead. I worked in Atlanta, you know, going back even further than that. And they'll sit there and tell you, I haven't had a job since 2024. I don't have health insurance because I can't find work. And again, let's stay focused on Atlanta because people get it in their heads. This is about Hollywood, the people in Atlanta have gone through more mergers and they can count. Because you'll remember, these are the Ted Turner properties, all right? So, it was bought by AT&T, it was bought by AOL, it was bought by David's Oslob in discovery. Now, it's getting bought by David Ellison. Every single one of those mergers, they shed thousands of jobs. And so, they know the reason some people say this is the end of the industry is that they know this will only mean more layoffs and already these guys can't pay their rent. They can't qualify for health insurance under their guilds, right? Because a lot of these guys are 10.99s. I do think there is a measure of hope here if it's okay to share a hopeful note. The film and TV industry in this country is very special because it is one of the few places where we actually have a blueprint for what it looks like to have a level playing field where the small players can survive. Rewind 30, 40 years ago, we had these things called Finson rules. We had the paramount decrees that said, hey, if you make movies or if you make TV shows, you can't also own the distribution of them, whether it's TV, the broadcast channels or the movie theaters. We had limits on how many broadcast affiliates any one of these media conglomerates could own. We have done away with all of those things and, in fact, the Chief Council for Paramount undid one of those things which were the paramount decrees and then he went to work for Paramount. But the power here is that we know we can return to that world because we live in that world. We know we can expand in that world because the blueprints are already there. And so there's sectoral bargaining for film and TV in a way that you actually don't have an almost any other industry in this country. And so my hope is that this is a galvanizing and honestly radicalizing moment because this was one of the rare circumstances where there's a huge outpouring of people in the industry. Usually, whether it's an ag merger or something else, people are terrified. People weren't terrified. They came close to winning this thing even though DOJ, the political is basically sidelined it. And they almost got there and yet they just swept in and kicked out the legs from one of them. I want to ask you about Gavin Newsom's role in all of this. We can put up D5 here where he says, "We are grateful to Attorney General Bonta and his fellow AGs as well as the WGA for engaging in good faith to find a path forward to a resolution that serves all parties and to Governor Newsom for his support throughout this process." And then you can put up D4 which you have Newsom out expressing concerns about this entry trust suit. Why, if you're Gavin Newsom, do you really want to be getting thanked for a deal that everybody says is destroying the most important or at least culturally, the most important industry in your state? What's going on here? I think this is deeply shameful. I think people today want champions who aren't scared of billionaire bullies. And the thing about Gavin Newsom, and frankly, I'm grateful that the mask is fully off here because he talks this big game online. He is this culture warrior online with his tweets. And yet when he's going head to head with one of the president's greatest allies in a deal that will eviscerate this industry, he can't handle the heat for more than two minutes. And look, I am very critical of AG Rob Bonta, but this thing started with Gavin Newsom. It would not happen. I am confident, but for Gavin Newsom throwing in his support in with the Ellisons. But this is something I think everyone needs to watch work. I'm sure you've seen it. You saw it with Seth Moulton right before he lost to Ed Markey. He's an economic populist today. Anyone on the left certainly who's planning on winning is going to be out there with a song and dance saying, oh, yeah, I'm with the people against the oligarchs. Is that right? All right. Let's see if you can handle this heat. And Newsom didn't. Neither did Javier Bissera, and they're doing a huge disservice to their people because of it. All right. Well, maybe this judge, Martinez O'Goon. O'Goon? Yeah. O'Goon? Maybe she'll be the hero. That's what that means. If not, we've got the mask. There we go. Gavin Newsom's mask is off. Shout out to last stitch bar and what's from Massachusetts. All right. Alvaro Badoia, former FTC commissioner. Really helpful. Thanks for walking us through this anytime. I'm Lexi Juanu, where two best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart. And I'm Lisa de Julio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions. And at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all. Ooh, I scammed them. What? You're a generational yapper. Like me. You're listening to Scam Goddess on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, this is Kylie Breikman, Angel Jaretana, Jeremy Cole, Hayne Cash McDonald, and we're the hosts of the artists on artists on artists on artists podcast. The improvised character comedy podcast were each week a new panel of artists discuss their craft. You never seen it least so quiet as when the Pope gets up to wink on Halloween. Listen to artists on artists on artists on artists every Thursday on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.