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Harp of Darkness

62m 26s

Harp of Darkness

The transcript presents a critical examination of recent U.S. foreign and domestic policy, focusing on escalating tensions with Iran, deteriorating conditions aboard the USS Lincoln, and the controversial role of key aides like Natalie Harp. It highlights Trump’s dismissive attitude toward military personnel suffering from low morale, poor living conditions, and mental strain, contrasting with bipartisan calls for better care. Meanwhile, efforts to broker peace in Gaza face obstruction from Israeli leadership, which continues to reject a Palestinian state, undermining any lasting agreement. The discussion also delves into the personal and political dynamics within Trump’s inner circle, particularly the questionable claims and relationships of aides like Harp, who is described as the “human printer” and accused of fostering a cult-like loyalty. The episode critiques how political discourse has become hyper-sensationalized, especially on platforms like TikTok and YouTube, where debate culture is often used to fuel outrage rather than genuine understanding. It underscores how misinformation and conspiracy theories—particularly around figures like Harp or Epstein—spread rapidly, exploiting public distrust. The narrative ultimately frames these events as symptomatic of a broader crisis in governance, transparency, and accountability, where personal loyalty and political optics often outweigh facts and public welfare. The segment concludes by emphasizing the need for more ethical, grounded, and inclusive political discourse.

Transcription

12415 Words, 66481 Characters

English
what's up Los Angeles welcome to love it or leave it live from Hollywood on John love it and people call me the human printer because I only work 5% of the time let's get into it what a week the 60-day ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran has officially expired but I tasted it and it's fine according to the Wall Street Journal Iran has used these last two months to develop a strategy for when the war resumes including escalatory attacks on undersea telecom cables and pressure on Iran's neighbors to recognize Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz what the heck is a strategy asked Pete Hegseth is that a Muslim thing here's here's a here's Fox News describing Trump's comments about that strategy now I asked the president about these parallel talks that are taking place between Iran and Oman about control of the Strait of Hormuz and the president told Fox News if Oman gets in the way we'll bomb the s out of them seems like a weird way for Trump to talk about an ally like Oman but remember this is the guy who had his best friend Jeffrey Epstein killed meanwhile yeah meanwhile last week you were right to a pot meanwhile last week the Navy Times and Stars and Stripes reported on low morale and multiple attempts by sailors to jump overboard on the USS Lincoln an aircraft carrier that's been deployed to the Middle East for nearly nine months with a record 249 consecutive days without a port of call ironically being stuck at sea and far from home means these sailors will never get to experience the Odyssey in 70 millimeter IMAX democratic officials have raised concerns about conditions on the ship including shortages of food and basic supplies mold water contamination and plumbing issues these conditions are unacceptable said one Senator this is a naval vessel not a Carnival cruise and here's how Trump responded well no that ship is moving no they're not no no no not nearly long enough not nearly long enough but Trump said not to worry to put the USS Lincoln out of its misery he's sending the USS John Wilkes Booth oh no Mike Johnson the Speaker of the House was asked about Trump's unsympathetic comments and said this we we've got to make sure that they're cared for properly and I'm comforted the commander-in-chief and Secretary of Hexeth and everybody uh hunkow who is the Secretary of the Navy that they have all hands on deck and they're making sure that's still the hero added Johnson sure it's hot and sweaty and everyone's on top of one another nowhere to go nowhere to escape nowhere to put the urges the feelings just time and pressure and the monotony of the days and the nights my God the Knights all these semen bound by struggle and duty and isolation and sweat and blood and the grime of life on board a ship where the rules of the land do not apply each roll of the wave washing off an inhibition a doubt until there is nothing but you and him and the ink black formless forgetting C any other questions Trump's son-in-law and business skeleton Jared Kushner met with met with Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week in an effort to salvage the administration's 15-step peace plan for Gaza wait they added three more steps now I'm definitely not doing it said Pete Hexeth confusing two meetings the conversation went smoothly though there was one snafu Kushner accidentally swapped the gifts for Hamas and Bibi said Hamas oh cool a Seder plate crafted by a Holocaust survivor we definitely don't have one of these added Benjamin Netanyahu oh wow a signed picture of Zoran mamdani you shouldn't have Kushner met with Netanyahu for several hours pressing Israel's leader not to quote create obstacles in the way of the peace plan but of course he is the obstacle Bill one minute on the clock Netanyahu once again said last week that there will be no Palestinian state on his watch which means any agreement is predicated on it ultimately failing it's almost as if Netanyahu spent years undermining the Palestinian Authority expanding settlements in the West Bank isolating Gaza and funding Qatari money into the Strip as part of an explicit effort to prop up Hamas and in Netanyahu's hubris while distracted by schemes to subvert the judiciary and evade corruption charges he failed to appreciate the mounting threat to Israel culminating in the attacks of October 7th and the brutal war that followed in which a campaign of retribution killed tens of thousands of civilians along with many of the hostages feeding a vicious circle in which Israel's isolation and vulnerability have tilted the country's politics further toward the militant right which along with the war in Iran is destroyed bipartisan support for Israel and America and put at risk an alliance that has protected Israel since its founding almost 80 years ago that's almost what it's like but at least Trump has his best mind on the case a soft-handed mogul who managed to lose money on New York real estate with zero foreign policy expertise but who happened to marry Ivanka and who Trump put on the Israel account because he's confused by all the jibberish at his daughter's wedding but then realized that being Jewish was wrong and complaining about the air conditioning at his hotels almost almost there and speaking of tall people who make us uncomfortable opposed by Kelly loffler the head of the small business administration has raised quite a stir watch this we're all ready so administrator we have some questions for you here at tip-top what's going on Mac first of all are you in the cabinet well actually I am after I had an incredible conversation with the president by phone to become SBA administrator he texted me and said actually you're going to be in the cabinet that's a really big deal for those listening at home Kelly loffler walks down a hallway very slowly with a binder that seems to be empty and a body that seems to belong to an alien she then lifts her aid by the scruff of her neck and swallows her hole what's your favorite thing about being small business administrator well obviously being out with small businesses whether I'm walking a factory floor with a small manufacturer or in a small family-owned generational front I can see the impact that the SBA is having through the work that our team does every day my favorite thing about small business is small business my other favorite thing about small business is I love having an endoskeleton covered by several layers of viscera muscle and skin much better than having exopods extending from a carapace am I right people last question how tall are you um with or without heels without let's just say without heels I'm 5 11 and a half thank you for your time oh haha I'm 71.5 Earth inches when my antenna are sheathed of course can we take a can we take a break for a snack I want to eat a computer I mean a banana but loffler isn't the only Trump official giving people the weirds this week Georgia Senator John Ossoff sparked a media storm at his rally over the weekend when he said this the president sleeps through his meetings he golfs and trades stocks see he doesn't want to do the job he wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying Palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar who's Natalie Natalie harp is a Trump aide and former host for the far-right news outlet oan and there has long been speculation about her deeply strange relationship with Donald Trump which is highlighted in regime change the book by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan according to that book harp quote wrote Trump adoring letters that she left in his personal spaces including one that read you are all that matters to me which is such bullshit the only notes my staff ever leaves in my personal spaces say things like you can't nap in that conference room we have a production meeting with Stacey Abrams in a different Trump book the author and sleazebag Michael Wolff included this excerpt from a different letter by harp to Trump quote and please when I fail will you tell me you have the absolute right to cuss me out if need be when I deserve it because no one knows or cares about me more see it's nice when an employee respects their boss appreciates their feedback and doesn't start a union which I support now sure now conservatives have said how dare you harp feels indebted to Trump for saving her life from cancer you absolute ghouls and sure enough here is Natalie harp speaking at the 2020 Republican convention celebrating the so-called right to try law that Trump signed during his first term they didn't give me the right to try experimental treatments Mr president you did and without you I'd have died waiting for them to be approved that's a moving story it is not true by Natalie's own account the treatment she received for cancer was an off-label use of an FDA approved drug which was already allowed by law and common practice in oncology and you don't have to take my word for it according to the Washington Post Natalie tweeted about getting this treatment in March of 2018 Trump didn't sign the right to try bill until May of 2018. so the official story about why she is so devoted to Trump is a lie but it's her lie so she knows that's not why she's so obsessed with Trump but then why is she so obsessed with Trump I'm glad she beat cancer but is there any experimental medicine that can cure whatever the is going on here anyway harp's nickname is the human printer because she's known for carrying a portable device to print hard copies of emails social media posts and articles for the president for example one aid might say to another aid don't go in there the president is busy the human printer foreign And it turns out, when Trump left Air Force One in that catering truck, leaving Marco Rubio and Scott Besson behind, Natalie Harp went in that truck with him. My God, you've never looked so beautiful, said Trump, stroking a case of Diet Cokes behind Natalie Harp. Now, Trump was forced to respond to a question about this during an Oval Office press event on Monday and offered this. What did John Ossoff say? Did you rather travel with your aide, Natalie Harp, and build the ballroom than do your job as president? What is your response, John Ossoff? You mean Pee Wee Herman? Pee Wee Herman lookalike? He's losing his edge, but I suppose that's what happens when you're in love. We've got a great show for you tonight, and we'll be right back with Jimmy Simpson. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. Love It or Leave It is brought to you by Quo. When it comes to running a business, customer service is everything, and that begins with customers actually being able to reach you. The moment you miss that call, that text, that follow-up, a competitor is the one that picks it up. Enter Quo. 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Helping Planned Parenthood meet this moment and protect patient access to care where and when it matters most. If you believe all people deserve healthcare, no matter their income, donate now at PlannedParenthood.org slash defend. That's PlannedParenthood.org slash defend. And we're back. Jimmy Simpson will be joining me in just a moment. But first, friends of the pod, we cannot wait to see many of you at CrookedCon. Quick reminder, there are only a limited number of friend of the pod tickets for CrookedCon, and they are about to sell out. So if you want to take advantage of the discount and get perks on site, now is the time to grab your tickets. And if you're not yet a paid subscriber, there are even more reasons to join, like subscriber-only shows, like Pod Save America Only Friends, and access to exclusive Substack newsletters. Best of all, you'll be supporting pro-democracy media that you can trust. So please go to CrookedCon.com to get tickets or to join for a free subscription. Friends of the pod. And if you're in LA, you can still get tickets for this show. Love it or leave it at Crooked.com slash events. We've got great guests coming up, including Emmy Rossum, Chris Olsen, The Daily Show's Josh Johnson, and the great writer-director Dustin Lance Black. That's at Crooked.com slash events for those tickets. All right. My first guest is an actor you know from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and other chilling television dystopias. Please welcome to the stage, Jimmy Simpson. Hey, man. Hi. Good to see you. Thanks for being here. I appreciate it. Oh, let's hug. Oh, my God. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, no. Well, no. I am Jack. Thank you for noticing. Thank you for saying that. That compliment works for me. To you and for you. Hi. It's so nice to meet you. It's really nice to meet you, man. I love your stuff. That means a lot. You have. So I was. We were talking about where a lot of people first saw you, and it was when you were David Letterman's intern. You were Lyle the intern. I got Lyle. That. And here's what I. I don't know if any of you have seen Jimmy as Lyle the intern, but what is amazing about it. First of all, I would say the first two or three times you were on Letterman, it barely worked. It barely worked, but they clearly liked it. And. It was supposed to be a one-off, and Letterman, after the first one, was just like, let's get Lyle back. I want to bring Lyle back. And, yeah. But what's amazing about it is you are, like, on this show that. that is so controlled by David Letterman. He is so in charge. You're not known to the audience. You're not a celebrity. You're just a guy sitting in the chair pretending to be Lyle the intern. And you totally kind of, like, bully and take over and kind of run the show. And, like, I don't understand how you could, like, muster that confidence to do that with Dave Letterman. So how did you do that? Well, you know, the reason I got the part, I was mostly. I'd done Sonny. And then the writers of Letterman's CBS show, the Stangle Brothers, great guys, they were. I happened to be doing. I randomly auditioned in La Jolla for Aaron Sorkin's last Broadway show about the creation of television. I got Philo Farnsworth. It's called The Farnsworth Invention. So my mug was on this poster at the Music Box Theater. The Stangle Brothers walked by, and they're like, that's the creepy dude from Sonny. He must be in New York. Let's have him show up for this little idea we had. And so the confidence was simply that I was performing in front of a Broadway audience for. for a couple months by then with the words of Aaron Sorkin. And so, you know, the first time, there was just no rehearsal. They just stuck me in the wings. The top ten is finishing the music. Paul's there with his little band. And then they just pushed me out. And so I just clopped over all the way to the couch and just took a spot. And Dave started kind of moving away. The script was great, and there's cue cards, but Dave would be like, what is that? What are you. And so we started getting a little fresh with each other. And he looked at me and he loved it when I'd take the piss out of him. So that was always a thing. It was the recurring joke is that I wouldn't take any shit from Dave. It was so good. So it's a. If you haven't seen it, you should go. They have like a compilation of them, and it's an amazing thing to watch you basically bully Dave Letterman week after week after week after week and just sort of like kind of making fun of him, acting like you don't care about the show, kind of like. kind of like intimidating Paul. It's a crazy thing. The Paul. I was playing that. I kind of had a crush on Paul. So when I walked off, and that was never scripted, every time I walked off, I'd address him somehow. And the insults were great. I was doing the Farnsworth invention with Hank Azaria, and we were hanging out at his place. He'd seen some of the episodes. He's like, hey, can you call Dave Nancy Reagan for me? I'm like, you got it. So that's in there. Because Hank Azaria just gave you. Hank asked me if I could just use that as one of the insults, calling him Nancy Reagan. So I did. That's so cool. Yeah. So you're in Dark Matter on Apple TV+. The plus stands for shows. It's there for more stuff. And it's about a guy who gets caught in an alternate reality and is then confronted with the many other realities he could have lived through its life. And do you believe in alternate realities? Yeah. Yeah, I think anything's possible. I kind of approach the universe with an open mind. But this show, yeah, it kind of asks, you know, the passing question, what if I made different choices? And it responds with, like, well, you'd still be you, so don't get cocky, you know? Oh, you'd still be you. Yeah. Everybody's kind of the same. We all play a bunch of different characters and they're all, you know, have the same kind of intentions and desires. They just have had different circumstances. Dark Matter's kind of like It's a Wonderful Life with a little more kidnapping and way more quantum physics. That's right up my alley. There you go. That's on my street. So, you've also been doing these ayahuasca ceremonies. And I feel like it has to be tied to doing a show about alternate realities because it seems like ayahuasca is about kind of altering your connection to reality in some way. But, like, you've done this multiple times. You've done multiple ayahuasca ceremonies. Yeah, yeah. For about eight years, it's been a pretty huge part of my life. What happens? So, you, what's the goal? Why did you go? What's it, like, I hear people doing it and then, we were talking about that we heard about somebody who'd done ayahuasca and then came back and said they didn't want to do their podcast anymore and so we decided I can't do it. Amazing. Because I got too much invested in this. I'd say what happens kind of in a nutshell is you're able to let go. You know, it touches your subconscious and so what you really want is what you really want. Your authentic self, it's always existed. And so, with the aya, you're able to kind of let go of the shoulds and the shouldn'ts of society, of your job, and you see it less of like, oh, I need to be hotter, better, richer, more successful. And a lot of that stuff falls away because that's just convention that's applied to us for our entire lives. And so, you're able to see a bit more clearly and see yourself as, you know, as necessary and essential part of the universe. Huh. But if I'm not striving to be hotter, better, richer, more successful, I'm nothing. That's the entirety of my being. I see. So I worry about what happens if I find out that all of that was just or something. shouldn't have been focused on at all times 24 hours a day because I might feel bad about every single decision I've ever made. You wouldn't, well, you might. You might actually feel that way. But most people, everyone but you, realizes, oh, a lot of these attachments, and you might find a deeper connection to the attachments, but regardless, you would be shedding external shoulds and shouldn'ts that you didn't know you needed to shed, and you'd just feel lighter and feel a little more in touch with yourself. I've never seen someone go through the process and not find some more peace than what they have in their life. Right, wow, maybe I'll do it. And there's apparently male and female varieties of ayahuasca. Is that right? Well, ayahuasca is a female vine, and so there's a lot of maternal energy in ayahuasca, but then it's often balanced with huachuma, which is the grandfather plant. You have the grandmother plant, ayahuasca, and then huachuma, the grandfather plant, which is less of an immersive mind-blowing experience and more of an ability to open up yourself. And you're going to journal. You're going to talk to the other people there. Oh, no. Yeah, yeah. And you're going to enjoy the journaling. I have to talk? I have to journal? Mm-hmm. You're going to like talking to strangers. Wow. It's an experience. But talking to strangers, but no goal or outcome? Exactly. You're not trying to impress anybody. Not trying to get anything from it? A conversation without trying to do something or make something happen for myself? Nope. Not just usually waiting for my turn to talk? I don't even understand what you're saying. For that brief weekend, that will fall away. That sucks. And then you'll come back. You'll come back and you can hop right back into your regular life if you want to. Or you could pull some of those lessons you learned into your real life. That's my greatest fear, pulling in the lessons. That's always been my fear. So now you're also in Walking Dead, Dead City. Yeah. So I have offered. I've often felt that in zombie, post-apocalyptic zombie worlds, that there's always this moment where like the town is overrun when the thing falls apart, when their efforts to kind of protect the thing is. It becomes. It's always very, very difficult. And I've always thought, well, once you've got the town and you've built the fence, then the zombies outside the fence, they're really just tigers. But if they bite you, you become a tiger. Exactly. But then that's just two tigers. And we can kill two tigers. You know what I'm saying? I do know what you're saying. And, you know, the science of these undead, I understand it completely when it's being explained to me. And then 10 seconds later, it's gone. Because it needs to be a story. It needs to be a storybook. But their reality that I've found. Because I wasn't super clear about the show. I hadn't seen many episodes. So once I got the offer, I decided to get into it. And I'm like, oh, they don't really have the answers either. But what's. What is true is there is an endless amount of walkers. They call their zombies walkers surrounding the fence. And there are countless holes and rusting bits. And they'll always find the way in. You know what I always think when I see a zombie movie or show? Is this a world where they had zombie movies? And they're like, oh, my God, like in the movies. Or is it a world where they didn't have those? But that raises all kinds of questions. Because then it's like, wait, so was there no Evil Dead series? So then what were the people in that up to? I know exactly. Like how Julia Roberts looks like Julia Roberts in Ocean's Twelve. But then wait, what? I think the premise has to be this didn't exist, which is the largest tragedy. Because I'm a huge fan of the Evil Dead franchise. Yeah, it's so good. And it would have prepared them in some way. And so this world didn't get to have that. Because otherwise they would know better how to handle it. And your character has kind of built an ecosystem of like the zombies feed the chickens. And the chickens feed the ducks. And the ducks feed the pigs. And the pigs feed the people. With different animals. But yeah, that's the concept. And coyotes. Yeah, coyotes are the top of the chain. I mean, he has the maggots feed on the flesh of the zombies. And then frogs feed on the flesh of the maggots. And then the turkeys eat the frogs. And then the coyotes eat the turkeys. Which are surprisingly delicious, according to this character. But what really kind of pulled me in was this, you know, everybody's pretty precious in The Walking Dead. Because they're all in survival mode. And that's a vibe. But also this guy shows up. And his life before this apocalypse was really difficult. He was a cop. He saw shit. He saw humans being destructive and liars. And so when he gets to the apocalypse, he just holds up with a couple zombies. Like you said, wild animals. They have teeth. They have fangs. They will kill you. But you know exactly what their intention is. And so he's actually finally at peace, this guy. What do you think would happen if you gave one of the zombies ayahuasca? Oh, shit. Tell me what you think about. I think the head would explode. Because it's soft tissue. It's rotting tissue. Yeah, they're dead in there. It's a magic thing, you know. They're decaying, but they're still moving. But it can't withstand ayahuasca. That's even more magical. So, I remember watching you on Psych. Where you played a kind of creepy dude on Psych. Like an investigator. Who they always thought might be a killer, too. Very lightly. And you played this kind of creepy character. On Always Sunny. Lyle, the intern, a little bit. Creepy. You don't seem creepy. You're drawn to these creepy people. But there is like a kind of like intent. There's a way in which you don't. You kind of hold the gaze. Like you're not. There's nothing about the intensity of the eye contact. Right now. You seem fully clicked in with a kind of preternatural kind of confidence. Like the only way this moment ends is if I look away. Is that connected? Is there a connection between like you being locked in as like a kind of confidence. And playing the creepy? Like why did you kept getting like why were these your big opportunities when you seem like a lovely person? Well, you know, yeah, my mother really wondered why I was getting these roles when I started. And I was I was pretty grateful, but I don't know if it's the shape of my eyebrow, the face, the face I have. But I think the work itself, I always approach all of these characters as yeah, they're they they are in insane conditions. They have insane environments, but their humanity is true to them. So, yeah, they very lightly comes off creepy, but he thinks he's just doing the best work possible. And he just happens to shake hands like this, you know, yeah, it's soft and off-putting to him. It's it's right. And so that's how he does it. The McPoyles don't know, don't don't think through the nemesis of the gang. They think the gang's kind of encroaching on their space whenever they interact. They're really they're following their heart. And that's what I play. If you're if you're playing the villain, I think you're missing out. I think you're missing the point of what humans are. So given your past roles as someone who was trying to invest humanity into these strange characters, yeah, we were curious about how normal you actually were, which is why it's time for a segment we're calling Jimmy Simpson is a normal guy. Probably again, let's do it. Here's I'm wearing maroon in this photo. You are wearing maroon. That's a normal photo for a normal guy. Here's how it works. You are a normal guy. Questions and you just answer them honestly, without overthinking it. There are no right answers. But there are wrong ones. There are. Here we go. Most will be that. Go ahead. What did you have for breakfast this morning? Eggs, toast and coffee. It's the simple breakfast of a man who wants to stay alive but isn't making it. You know, his whole personality. So I'm just doing it. Wow. The breakfast was normal. The explanation was not. So that's interesting. Unexpected. There's layers. Which is unpeeling. Just the breakfast was normal. Just the breakfast of a guy trying to stay alive. I'll be thinking about that one. Which of the following would you choose as a pet? Turtle, snake, guinea pig or ferret? Ferret. Ah, the correct answer was dog. God damn it. You trapped me. You walk into a public bathroom with three urinals. The urinal on the left is in use. You can take the middle urinal, which is right next to the peeing stranger, or the urinal on the right, which would leave a gap but the floor in front is wet. There is also one stall, which is empty. What is your move? My move is to tuck in next to my neighbor and share a sesh with him. That's cool. I think that's right. You don't need to go to the stall. I don't want bathroom water on me. Yeah, you don't even want the bathroom water. You don't have to go all the way to the stall. This is the situation. But then you're like, does that guy know that there's water on that urinal floor or does he think you're weird? You know what I mean? But that's not my concern. My concern is my own experience and so he could feel that way. God, that's cool. It's completely alien to me. What item is in the trunk of your car right now? An old blanket covered in dirt. Wow, that's normal. Not body dirt, okay? Stop it. Stop it. Not body dirt. Hey, you ever just drink a big glass of milk? Not in at least 30 years. Wow, 30 years since a glass of milk. Yeah. It's 10:00 PM and you're home by yourself. What are you doing? Watching a movie. Watching a movie at home at 10:00 PM. I'm halfway through the movie because I'm trying to get to bed early these days. All right. That's good. That's normal. I think that's normal. We'll give it to you. If they made lab-grown human meat, would you try it? I wouldn't do it. That's correct. I don't need it. Yeah, we don't need it. Why would I do that? Yeah, why? Do you want to know if it's good? Don't want to know if it's good. We don't want to know if it's good. Don't want to develop a taste for it. You don't want to develop a taste for it. Like the bear in that film, The Edge. All right. You're normal. Dark Matter hits Apple TV Plus on August 28th, and check out The Walking Dead dead colon dead city on AMC. And Jimmy will be back for the Rainwheel. Can't wait. Love It or Leave It is brought to you by Thrive Market. 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So head on over to bombas.com slash love it and use the link in the description below. Use the code love it for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com slash love it. Code love it at checkout. And we're back. My next guest is the rare person on the internet who's younger than me. Please welcome Harry Sisson. Hi. Welcome. Good to see you. Come on in. Thank you. Oh, man. Can I start by talking about the elephant in the room or at least what I perceive it to be? Sure. I'm red. You're red? I'm red. Why? So yesterday was my only free day in L.A. I've been here for like three or four days, so I had nothing to do yesterday. And I thought it's a good idea to go to the beach. I went to Zuma Beach. You got to go to the beach. It's right. You're in Los Angeles. Because you're not from here. No, I'm not. I live in New York City. And so but, you know, also, I am a political commentator, which means I don't go outside very much. Right. That's what I do all day. And I decided to go to the beach with only a towel and a bottle of water in my backpack. And I stayed out there for three hours. The UV was like nine. And now I'm very red and I'm in a lot of pain. But I'm going through it. And I wanted to be here. Thank you for. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I will just say thank you for not canceling over a sunburn. Appreciate that. We got to use sunscreen. You're listen, you're young. You think, oh, no, you got to use the sunscreen. And well, you know, I was like looking up sunburns after the fact on Google. And it was essentially two years ago. And you're telling me I'm going to die of cancer now. Yeah, it's there. I wasn't going to say because it's post no reason to say it. I know. But I do think as a society, we have we sort sunburn. It's sort of like how drunk driving went from Oopsy Daisy to like, it's terrible. You know, like, it shifted over time in the same way, like sunburns are still kind of in the Oopsy Daisy category. But they're so bad for you. They're so bad. Okay. All right. So you're you're sort of in this kind of online progressive kind of like, you know, you're not the debate me coward sphere of the internet a little bit. What is the like? What is the vet? What do you think about all this that kind of the fact that there's so much interest in watching people kind of debate each other like Jubilee and all the rest? I mean, I think it's interesting. It's like a really kind of new phenomenon, I think, in the internet, for the most part. I mean, it's kind of what has had like led to Charlie Kirk's rise or Ben Shapiro's rise is kind of like the debate me bro liberal gets owned. And it's like, you know, them debating a college student. But, you know, nonetheless, it's really grown in recent years. It's like a big thing on TikTok. Now they're like whole TikTok lives dedicated to doing debates. And I'm like, I think it's good. And I think it's bad. I think it's good. Because, you know, for people who maybe don't pay attention to news as much as some others, it's like a really easy and digestible way to learn something that maybe you didn't know before. I think it's bad, though, because I have seen it be used by bad actors to be like very grifty, and make a lot of money from it and be dishonest or be bad faith with debates. And so like, it's, I think there's positives and negatives. I think we'll see how it plays out in the next couple of years. Yeah, there's something about it where, like, so there's obviously the ways in which it's done in bad faith, right? Like somebody who has a bunch of facts at their disposal, they're kind of ready for this going against someone who doesn't and doesn't have as well doesn't have as like fully forged an ideology or kind of doesn't have the set of facts at the ready. But then at the same time, I think like, well, you know, like, say you're in, you're learning physics, and you you spend a lot of time understanding the mechanics of a theory or something, and then you kind of learn the theory. And then at some point, you kind of say, well, now that I know why the theory is true, I can shed all the, I don't need to re keep in my mind all the undergirding principles that led to me understanding this thing. And maybe I have a deeper understanding of it that I could draw upon, but I won't have the facts at the ready. But it's only in politics where if you do a ton of research and come to a conclusion, you if you don't continue to maintain the full body of facts behind it, as if being able to recall the data that justified an idea proves you have a better control, you know, better, better understanding of it, or that, like quick recall somehow proves something. And I do think there's something fundamental about debates that that the Ben Shapiro's of the world kind of take advantage of. So I don't know, like, it's almost as if like, like, people being able to quickly pull up facts shouldn't really matter. But it matters so much in how we do politics now. Yeah, absolutely. You know, and you're right. I mean, I think like, in the political content creation space, being a good faith online debater is really tough because of the reason you just described. It's like, you know, the Supreme Court has rulings every single year for the summer, they have rulings in the middle of it as well. You know, Congress is constantly doing things, the law is constantly updating. And so in order to really be aware, you have to stay up to date on all of that. And that's, that's a lot to do. But unfortunately, I think, you know, primarily in the right, there are a lot of Republicans who don't do that. And they're like, you know, stuck in their ways, they'll never change. So we have like, a lot of intrademocratic debate about the DSA versus sort of the center left of the party. On the one hand, I think it is obviously a positive to have candidates on the left, having their version of a program that is commensurate with the scale of the problems we have, and that are energizing and exciting to people, telling people that a really more a different kind of politics is possible. On the other hand, there are times where I see what the kind of DSA National Party is up to. And I think perhaps it was designed in a lab to make Democrats lose. Where are you on this? Oh, man. I'm like, I said this on MSNOW recently, I, you know, we're having this debate right now. And Pod Save America has been attacked in this debate a lot. And it's like the DSA versus moderates or liberals or whatever you want to call them. I just don't want that debate to happen right now. Like the midterms are right there. If we could not punch each other, we can't punch each other in the face for the next three months, it'd be great. And then, you know, for the 2028 election, I'm sure there will be a presidential candidate who's more DSA or DSA adjacent. And I'm sure there's going to be a presidential candidate who's more moderate, and kind of like a liberal or whatever it is, that's the place to have the debate and then come together after whoever the candidate is. But I kind of just I want us to hold off, you know? Yeah, the challenge, right? I agree, obviously, like, I think part of the reason this sort of debate has been happening is because we were just wrapping up the last of the primaries in the last sort of week or two. But then, you know, Hakeem Jeffries will be asked, because it's been because if you watch, we will have Fox News on in our office sometimes. And if you watch Fox News these days, it is some somebody from the DSA saying something dumb. It's a song Piker, then it's a trans athlete, and then back and forth. Those are the kind of the three topics, right? Like DSA craziness, Hassan Piker, great transports. That's it. That's like kind of the universe. But then so Hakeem Jeffries. Ask, and he says, like, well, I don't support the DSA agenda. I have my own agenda, which is a reasonable thing to say, but it is him wading into the fight. So we're kind of, I guess part of it is, I agree, like we should, we shouldn't be forced to have this endless debate right now, we need to come together. But at the same time, I do think there is something about like, that we are going to have to figure out how to have a big movement, but in which everyone understands that their words will be used to tar each other, you know? Yeah, I mean, I have like two immediate thoughts, which is, number one, I say this to people behind the scenes, and sometimes publicly. It's that, you know, if somebody's like DSA adjacent versus somebody's a moderate, for the most part, those people are all good people. Like they're not trying to destroy the democratic party or infiltrate it or make us all lose or whatever. They're just people who want what's best for their neighbors, their family, their friends, and they just disagree about how to get there. So I think it's important to have like a humanity aspect of that debate, especially when we're debating on the, on the, uh, the democratic side, but also the debate is just so stupid. Like Hassan, you're right. Like Hassan Piker's on Fox news 24 seven. He's become like a national figure more so than he was already. Um, and he's like the center of the debate and it's Fox news playing these, these clips of him or clips of candidates saying something and taking it out of context. And the debate's not in good faith whatsoever. It just feels stupid to me. And that's like, I, I really stay out of it. I'm like, you know, whoever the democratic candidates I endorse, that's what I go with. Uh, who are some democratic communication communicators really like right now? Like who are some people that you think are doing a great job figuring out how to break through on, uh, Elon's internet? I mean, I think the best example in recent years has to be Zoran Mandani, right? I mean, he like really changed the way that people campaign. You're seeing like other candidates kind of copy the style, which is like, fine, like great if they can get through, but he is such an amazing communicator, uh, whether it be these press conferences where he's asked like really stupid questions, like what, what kind of sandwich would you serve Hamas? And he's like, you know, what a stupid question. Why would I have to answer that? Um, I think him, I think Pete Buttigieg as well is great. I've always been a fan of Pete. Um, and I think like any of the major candidates who are talking about 2028 are fantastic. As well, like Gavin Newsom, AOC, they're all really good. It's, um, it's funny because people copy the Mom Donnie videos and there's, there's always this debate in video games, which is when is something a copycat and when is something a genre, a genre, like when did making games that were like Dark Souls or Bloodborne, when did that become not just copying it, but actually this is now a genre that you can make your own version of. Um, and I do think the difference between a copycat, someone copying Mom Donnie and someone participating in the Mom Donnie, uh, genre is how good the video is. And I do think that if, that Karen Bass doing a pothole video, but not filling the pothole, probably not a part of the genre. That's like, that's a tough one to defend. I think, you know, if you get asked about that, it was a tough one. You got to put that, you got to get that pothole fixed. If you're going to do the pothole video. Yeah, if you can't make a video out of it, it's not fixed. Yeah. Just wait. Yeah. Just wait. You're in charge of what's the video. Nobody has to see this until the pothole's done. Right. It's crazy. You're in charge of the edit. Yeah. Just wait. Oh, there's a car there. Well, let's not do this now. Yeah, right. Seems like easy to me, but whatever. What do I know? So we had David Pakman is also on YouTube and, and, you know, he's, he just wrote about kind of fighting in the attention economy. You're sort of in the, in the, in the trenches, the algorithm minds. What are you like right now? What is breaking through? And like, what does that tell you about how people are engaging with politics say on YouTube? Well, so, so I started on short. I've moved to long form now, but, um, congratulations. Thank you. I appreciate it. Uh, I'm still on both and I think it depends on the platform. So I think the unfortunate reality, and I feel like you spoke to Pacman about this on YouTube is that the titles have to be like hyper sensationalized. They have to be all cow caps or whatever that is. And that's unfortunately just the game that people have to play. Um, and so any story that really has like Trump getting owned, I think, you know, it's kind of like a, a generally successful formula, but on short form, it's a little bit different. And so at least in the past year, I've been able to, I've been able to, I think in the past week or so I'll speak to stories that have been really resonating on my platform have been like Natalie Harp, as you mentioned, or Epstein related content or just content that makes people not feel crazy. Like, you know, if you're watching Trump at home and you're watching him cover up the Epstein files as an example, and you're like, what the fuck is going on here? Like he's actively breaking law. Is this like not crazy or other people not outraged? And then you go online and see that there are people like you, you're like, oh, I'm not crazy. This is just like the right thing to do. It does also that there's, we are not good on the left at hitting that part of the brain, that conspiratorial part of the brain in part, because I think we're not as whatever craven or opportunistic and dishonest. But the Epstein files, some of the, some of the, the, the, and that Natalie Harp store are both stories where there's kind of like a secret that we're trying to uncover. And I think whenever we're talking about a secret that we're trying to uncover, we get to. kind of play in like what the internet rewards, which is people, people kind of being like, what's going on. There's somebody, they're not telling me something. There's something secret. In this case, you know, look, the harp story is right. Whatever the insinuation of a sexual relationship, the creepiest part, even if they are having sex is not that they is, is everything else. But regardless, like the Epstein story is a great example of like us being able to use the kind of paranoid style, the internet against them for once. Yeah. I mean, that's been their entire model. Like if you go to, oh, it drives me nuts. If you go to any of these right wing YouTube channels, even still, but especially during the Biden years, for example, there was a new conspiracy every day. That was just like the craziest thing you've ever seen in your entire life. I saw people who I've debated with like genuinely, and I, you know, who knows if they actually believe it, but argue to me that like Joe Biden's a lizard or that he's like, you know, he's shedding his skin or that he died and he was replaced in this course with president Obama, same thing. You know, it's just, that's been their entire brand. And what's interesting is they're kind of, as you said, like getting a taste of their own medicine with the Epstein stuff or the Natalie Harp stuff. And I don't think the Republicans really know how to respond. Like normally you respond with a fact check, but they don't, you know, they don't do that. Yeah. I would say that if we did have the ability to replace Joe Biden, we probably would have done it earlier. You know, I think that like, let's, you're saying that we can replace him. Why are we waiting till the, we're like, you know, you, it's always better to plug in your phone at 30% when you think about it. So you're very online, but can even a politically engaged person, you know, be able to plug in your phone at 30% when you think about it. So I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. A, she carries around a portable printer to print out news articles. B, she wrote in one letter to Trump, you are all that matters to me. C, she wears a locket containing strands of Trump's hair or D, when she didn't have a place to stay at Trump's Bedminster golf club in 2023, she allegedly spent the summer living in the women's locker room. So I know the answer. I was actually, I was nervous for this because since I got to LA and I've been traveling, I've been tapped out a little bit, but I do know the answer to this one. It's C. Yeah. She did not. There's no locket. There's no locket with hair. On Saturday, Nicki Minaj posted, you have my vote. Barbs, please support him. However you can. Hashtag the good guys. About who? It's in Florida. Byron Donalds. Yeah. It was about Byron Donalds, the governor of Florida. Wow. Who won, by the way? I think he won. It's right now. It's happening right now. Yeah. Oh, so he won? Yeah. Well, congrats to him. Congrats to him. The Barbs. They showed up, I guess. Yeah. The Barbs showed up. Next up, South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace showed off her tattoos on her new YouTube show. If you're telling Politico, she got nine tattoos because it was the pain that I needed to feel. Oh, no. What is the name? Harry, what is the name of Nancy Mace's YouTube show? I feel bad that I know the answer to this question. I'm going to be honest. I feel like isn't it Get Maced? It is, in fact, Get Maced. I'm impressed. I'm genuinely impressed. Oh, man. I need to go outside. No, you don't. You clearly cannot. This is why you need to just stay in your little fucking YouTube prison. My shoebox. You stay in the content minds and you don't come out. You don't come out until a Democrat is president. Get back to the minds. You're not meant to be outside. Who is Ben Shapiro doing an impression of in this clip? He knows what he's saying is ridiculous. He says, it's my right. No one said it's not your right. It just makes you a douchebag. That one's pretty easy. That's Tucker Carlson. Yeah. The boys are beefing. Again. Yeah, always. Well, yeah, yeah. Well, you know, it's interesting. What do you make of Ben Shapiro kind of slowly seeming as though he's kind of losing the right to the sort of Tucker Carlson thing as an observer? As an observer, broadly on the beef, I love it. You know, like, it's like the quote, you know, you never interrupt your enemy when they're making a mistake. And so all these Republicans, all they're doing right now is fighting. Like Ben Shapiro, like nine of the videos he posts a day are him making fun of like Tucker Carlson or Candace Owens. And you know, they don't really have anything else to say going into the midterms. They're like, you know, the economy sucks. Everything sucks right now. So if they want to keep doing this, I'm like, happy to have them do it. You know, there was so much of that during the Biden years where I was fighting with people and I hated it and the Republicans were laughing at us. So I'm like, let them have their turn now. Hey, remember when Trump put out an AI video of you being pooped on? You know what I do, actually? What do you think that was about? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how somebody thinks of that. Well, he didn't. Someone made that for him and you were getting pooped on by the president. Like I said to somebody. You were personally, like that is insane. Like presidents have included John Adams. It's like this is the president of the United States and forever for history, there is a video where the president is dropping poop on your head. Like when Gerald Ford tripped, I know about that. You know, that's an important part of history. There's never been that before in all the presidents. The president put out a video. pooping on you oh god it's so gross like don't you it's like it bothers you like the sentence bothers me you know what i mean right for sure but him the video didn't bother me it was great for me like i you know i did a bunch of interviews and i was happy um but other than that i mean like the fact that it is something that's going to be like alive throughout history is a little concerning to me like am i gonna have to tell like future wife children whatever i'm like yeah so this happened and how do i explain how do i say that to somebody i think there's gonna be a cool that's a cool thing to think about you know you're you're you know you're in your your your moon home and and you're you're now you're not your teenager goes on the old internet which you can only uh access by putting on a fucking suit and going into a chamber because they know how dangerous it is and they access the old internet and they're like oh my god but why was the president like this we the president is not a rational female robot no it was this crazy old man and he pooped on me no i mean i would like you know you know the first thing to come up before that is like i don't know like me interviewing or me doing a video with obama oh that before that or like me my interview with joe biden before that would be cool but i i'm i'm nervous that that might be the first thing in the old internet you're describing yeah it doesn't make me feel good but like again it was fine it turned out well we'll be right back hey don't go anywhere there's more of love it or leave it coming up love it or leave it is brought to you by sundays is your dog a picky eater it's surprisingly stressful you wish they could tell you the problem maybe they could your dog would say they know the difference between processed brown pellets and real food sunday starts with 80 plus all natural meats and then add superfoods like kale ginger and blueberries no fillers no nutritional blends no 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a hassle so this is like the perfect balance make the switch to sundays go right now to sundays for dogs.com slash love it and get 50 off your first order or you can use code love it at checkout that's 50% off your first order or you can use code love it at checkout that's 50% off your first order or you can use code love it at checkout that's 50% off your first order at sundays for dogs.com slash love it sundays for dogs.com slash love it or use the code love it at checkout and we're back please welcome back to the stage jimmy simpson yeah you're back you guys got a greet likewise no we're i'm a fan i'm giving a cold shower now i appreciate it now it's time for the rant wheel where the wheel lands you have 60 seconds to rant on any topic at all every rant is important and every rant is perfect let's begin i got it harry what would you like to rant about okay so uh so uh so i've been traveling a lot and on the way to la and maybe i'm just weird about this i don't know if you've heard of it but on the way to la i saw a middle-aged man who's wearing like dad sneakers like take off his shoes and socks at the airport and like that disturb i'm like very anti-feet so that disturbed me from just my vision but then he proceeded to put the foot on the chair that's like sitting you know in front of the the place where you board he was like putting his feet all over the chair and i i was like i had to leave i had to leave i couldn't look at the feet because it was just really gross so i feel like and look there's some exceptions if you're wearing you know a sockless shoe perhaps there's an argument to be made but if you're wearing socks and shoes at the airport you've got to keep them on you can't you can't take the shoes off you can't be barefoot in the airport you got to have the shoes on is it that's something that bothered me and i haven't said it publicly i've been wanting to so i'm using this as like a position to say it i'm so glad you did thank you yeah i i think that once you're i think it is very rare that it is a good idea to take socks off that you will have to immediately put back on there are exceptions like if you're taking them off and eventually you have to put them back on but a sock like sort of in the midst of a journey it's doing a lot of work quietly you know it's a quiet silent work that it does but once you've exposed it to the world what it's been doing for you it becomes loud you know what i'm saying you're aware of all that it's sacrificed everything it's been through for you up until that point which you haven't really had to think about and then now you're aware of it and so i think you're making a really important point about thank you thank you thank you for expressing what we all feel i appreciate that let's spin it again jimmy's landed on you what would you like to rant about well i don't i don't rant so i could share a gentle concern um and it's about how much people rant these days um you know i think sometimes a bad sandwich is just a bad sandwich not an assault on lunch um and we have a brilliant former obama speechwriter who uh has moved from hope and change to grievance distribution you know maybe the cvs self-checkout line doesn't make me enraged maybe i find it actually relatively convenient um and like i said i don't i don't i don't really rant i meet things as they are i i uh i try to release control i try to meet the universe with curiosity and yes sometimes people do hit reply all unnecessarily and they should be in prison but i don't make it my my whole identity and uh but now i'm ranting so god damn it you you you won you won john that was great really got my number here's the thing about the self-checkout here's the thing at the supermarket specifically uh if i'm holding a vegetable that has no label or nothing on it if i'm holding a vegetable and i know that i'm gonna go to like going to that self-check it's training i have to train i go to that thing it's like what i gotta weigh it i gotta figure out all the thing like i know and then i see people with huge things with they don't even have tons of individual vegetables i'm like i gotta watch you learn how to punch in all these fucking numbers what the code is for the onion whether it's organic or not and it is organic but are you paying for the organic oh shit let's spin it again um i have a little rant really more of a you know just an observation i'm gonna lose my cool about it or anything so this is a story that just broke today so a company called median strategies put out a poll that said karen bass was up by 12 points uh then noah goldberg an la times reporter reached out over and over again until that polling company admitted that it was fake that the numbers were all made up as was a poll they released about the wisconsin race that said francesca hong was up by 20 points because they called it quote a social experiment to see if people on the internet would share false information you're experimenting on that what's your next experiment to see if releasing bees in a hospital is bad it's bad so karen bass posted the poll saying like the momentum is with us and i obviously am not i'm support i like nithya but i was like that sucks that poll company basically treated her like carrie and carrie and convinced her that there was this good thing happening and in fact it was blood in a fucking bucket uh which was unfair and i would just say also don't share things you like on the internet just because you like them and you have no idea where they fucking came from like everybody was shared that it's crazy what's happening out there we'll be right back and we're back now look i don't think this show could have gone any better but we're gonna find out why i might be wrong in a segment we call second thoughts my producers have written down a list of things they wish i had not said or done tonight which is always longer than i want it to be and jimmy harry if you have any things you any second thoughts or things you'd like to revisit from tonight i'm we're welcome to share them as well you don't need to but it's nice to think about things you might have said or done in the past or done differently just to kind of be growing and changing and at all times i shouldn't have added to the misery of the uss lincoln sailors by reminding them that they're also not going to get to see the odyssey in 70 millimeter um the next one is simply you know what you did um and so and it says here the union is good and i agree uh jimmy i immediately told jimmy that his famous lederman character didn't work i enjoyed that i love some constructive well some destructive criticism i guess yeah it's not constructive because it's like where there's no room it's already over i can't fix it and you just pointed out it wasn't it was awful well no that's i didn't say it was i think that it was i'm glad it kept i should you know what i'm glad this was a second thought it is so funny and good what i mean by not work is only that it was strange and it took the audience a beat to catch up to why it was good which is why they were smart enough to keep doing it even though when you were first out there the crowd is clearly like who the fuck is this guy and but by the end it was like you were like uh uh like kramer entering on seinfeld by the end they were like it's lyle the enter You called me the poor man's Chris Elliott, and I found that as nothing but a compliment. Wow. Jimmy described a beautiful ayahuasca experience, and I said, oh, no. You're being your authentic self, and I really respect that. I brought up Walking Dead, but then just said my zombie theory and did not ask a question. I'm sorry I squeezed his painful shoulder. That's one regret I have. But maybe the pain will kind of make a memory. I'm feeling good. I feel like it was fine. There's a white handprint on his pink shoulder. Yeah. uh you were forthcoming and vulnerable about your sunburn but i did scold you about sunscreen anyway no that's like the right move though yeah i know you know anyway and then this is i think i know who wrote this that i should really wear a sunscreen every day especially if i'm using a retinol exclamation point exclamation point i know i should i know i should i have i convinced myself well i'm not going to be outside during you know the sun's business hours which is like you know like 10 30 to 2 30 that's when the sun gets most of its work done you know and that's when i was i follow those rules too but yeah but it's going the whole time they say yeah it is going apparently allegedly yeah you are on the other hand like um i'm just gonna just go out there uh you raw dogged a huge gaseous ball of flames yeah the sentence i never thought i'd hear yeah yeah uh i told uh i told harry to quote get back to the mines you know nobody's ever said that to me really nobody's ever said so , so i actually appreciate it was unique yeah yeah you just got to get back to the mines yeah that's where you belong i have a shoebox apartment in new york it's very small this tan this this tan has taught you nothing it's like you're not meant to be outside you're meant to be in front of a camera uh walking people through in a kind of mild-mannered way what is happening with the trump administration until either he loses or the sun literally dies yeah it's like okay future it's fine and that's our show thank you so much to jimmy simpson and harry sisson there are 76 days until the midterms we will be back friday with emmy rossum and chris olsen have a great night love it or leave it is a cricket media production our show is produced by kendra james bill mcgrath kelsey gante and me john love it our production team includes hallie keeper sarah lazarus raman borsellino peter miller david tolls claudia shang jay banks gavin purcell and matt degrote and our staff is proudly unionized with the writers guild of america east

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Iran has developed a strategy involving escalatory attacks on undersea cables and pressuring neighbors to recognize its control of the Strait of Hormuz, with U.S. officials expressing concern.
  2. President Trump’s dismissive comments about sailors’ conditions on the USS Lincoln, including low morale and poor living conditions, drew criticism, while he proposed sending the USS John Wilkes Booth to replace it.
  3. Jared Kushner met with Hamas and Netanyahu to advance a peace plan for Gaza, but Netanyahu reiterated opposition to a Palestinian state, undermining the initiative’s viability.
  4. Natalie Harp, a Trump aide, is linked to controversial claims of a personal relationship with Trump, including a “you are all that matters to me” letter, and allegations of living in a locker room—though these are disputed and unsubstantiated.
  5. Harp is known as the “human printer” for printing out news articles for Trump, and her actions have drawn scrutiny over loyalty and transparency.
  6. Internal political tensions are highlighted by figures like Kelly Loeffler, who criticized Trump’s administration for being out of touch, and by public disputes over Trump’s alleged lack of presidential engagement.
  7. Debates over political correctness and online discourse, including the rise of debate-centric content on TikTok and YouTube, reveal a trend of hyper-sensationalism and misinformation, particularly on right-wing platforms.
  8. The show critiques how political figures and media narratives exploit conspiracy theories and personal anecdotes to manipulate public perception, often at the expense of factual accountability.

Summary:

S. foreign and domestic policy, focusing on escalating tensions with Iran, deteriorating conditions aboard the USS Lincoln, and the controversial role of key aides like Natalie Harp. It highlights Trump’s dismissive attitude toward military personnel suffering from low morale, poor living conditions, and mental strain, contrasting with bipartisan calls for better care.

Meanwhile, efforts to broker peace in Gaza face obstruction from Israeli leadership, which continues to reject a Palestinian state, undermining any lasting agreement. The discussion also delves into the personal and political dynamics within Trump’s inner circle, particularly the questionable claims and relationships of aides like Harp, who is described as the “human printer” and accused of fostering a cult-like loyalty. The episode critiques how political discourse has become hyper-sensationalized, especially on platforms like TikTok and YouTube, where debate culture is often used to fuel outrage rather than genuine understanding.

It underscores how misinformation and conspiracy theories—particularly around figures like Harp or Epstein—spread rapidly, exploiting public distrust. The narrative ultimately frames these events as symptomatic of a broader crisis in governance, transparency, and accountability, where personal loyalty and political optics often outweigh facts and public welfare. The segment concludes by emphasizing the need for more ethical, grounded, and inclusive political discourse.

FAQs

Natalie Harp is nicknamed the 'human printer' because she carries a portable device to print hard copies of emails, social media posts, and articles for the president.

She wrote in a letter to Trump, 'You are all that matters to me.'

No, there is no evidence that Natalie Harp has a locket with strands of Trump's hair.

Jared Kushner met with Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss a peace plan for Gaza, though the meeting reportedly ended with a mix-up in gifts and no resolution.

Trump dismissed concerns about the sailors' poor conditions, saying the ship wasn't 'nearly long enough' and claimed there was no issue.

Senator Mike Johnson stated that the sailors were being cared for properly and that the commander-in-chief and Navy leadership were taking the situation seriously.

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