Welcome to the Megan Kelley Show live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at New East. Hey everyone, I'm Megan Kelley, welcome to the Megan Kelley Show and happy Monday, lots of news to get to today, including what in the world happened at the MTV Video Music Awards last night. Literally nobody cares about the MTV Video Music Awards, I realize this, but it made its way into my feed, and therefore we must discuss Madonna's very strange ass, which had laser shooting out of it, as well as her lips and what she's doing. I'm just gonna tell you upfront, I have bigger goals for myself when eventually, in many years, I hit age 68. I desperately hope that I have more self confidence and endless needy of other people's approval. I've kind of felt like I got there when I hit my fifties, I'm not sure what's happening there when she's almost in her seventies, but I have secondhand embarrassment. Also over the weekend, a touching moment, this is the moment of the week, as a baseball legend wraps up a hall of fame career, you know, I know nothing about sports and I certainly don't know anything about baseball and I didn't know who this guy was, but I do know he's married to Kate Upton, found that out last night, the, you know, moral. She was from the Carl's junior ad and she was, you know, this stunning model and then you kind of didn't hear from her anymore. And I think it's because she married a major league baseball player who's probably breaking in the box. She became a mom of two and I don't care about any of that. What I care about is that sweet moment that happened from the pitcher's mound over the weekend, which I don't care how cold-hearted you may be. Like a cynical newswoman as yours truly, it's, it's going to make you feel something. I know, I'm a new fan of this guy, Verlander, just as he leaves MLB. But first, our pal Mark Halpern is here and he is in the news himself. What did he do? He offered some hard truths for Republicans in advance of the midterms. And let's be honest, it was about time someone did it. I mean, I've been hearing nothing, nothing but nay saying from all the Republicans I know and trust me. I know a lot of them, but the co-campaign chairman of Trump's prior campaign, Chris Las Savita posted on X that Halpern is, quote, full of shit. He did not like the reports where we don't expect team Trump to like them. The question is, did Mark report truthfully, well, Mark always does. He is not somebody known for having TDS at all. He's done many, many reports that are very, very optimistic for Republicans. But not right now because that's not what he's hearing from his well placed Republican sources. First he dropped a report in the Daily Mail that Republicans' private polling is showing the midterms are starting to look like President Trump's quote worst nightmare imaginable. While that piece went completely viral, Halpern later posted on X that 17 additional Republican strategists later confirmed to him that his reporting is accurate and that they were seeing the same thing. While Mark has continued his reporting and he is here to share what exactly he's seeing. All right, we are 36 days out and might as well know the truth because it's coming. It's coming for us like freight train just over a month away. Mark is the host of Next Up with Mark Halpern right here on the MK Media Podcast Network go and subscribe now on YouTube and all podcast platforms. We are just over a month out, but the midterms are fast approaching and make no mistake. If the House flips, it's a big deal for our economy. What if the House and the Senate flip? This uncertainty is one of the reasons to consider diversifying with gold from Birch Gold Group. In the three months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, the price of gold jumped over 12% by its a hedge against uncertainty. If you do not own gold, consider talking with Birch Gold. They will discuss your goals and explain how precious metals can fit into your savings. They can even help you convert an existing IRA or 401k into an IRA and gold for no additional money out of pocket. Text the letters MK to the number 989898 and get a free info kit and some solid info. The midterms are going to be here before you know it. Mark, welcome back. So, did you expect to unleash such a torrent of upset with your first column? I really didn't because, as you said, anyone who's got any sources in Republican politics knows that this is the state of play right now. It's not a prediction. It's not a guess. It's not based on looking at public polls, which are mostly junk. People are right to be suspicious of them, asking almost any Republican Stragists. Chris Lasavita may be an exception. And they'll tell you right now, things are very grim. Their races that they weren't thinking would be in play that are now in play. And ever since I wrote it and ever since Chris posted what he posted, I've said, if you're a Republican Stragist and you agree with Chris Lasavita and you disagree with my reporting and you're working on any races, contact me. I'm up to 45 now and all 45 has said one of two things either my reporting is spot on Republicans aren't facing a tough situation or about half of those 45 have said you've actually understated the case. The problems bigger than your sources so far have described it. Oh my lord. I'm not Christmas. Yeah. All right. Give it to a straight. How bad is it? Well, look, there's still Republicans have a money advantage. They have an operational advantage with James Blair, the president's political lieutenant. The president could could start driving messages that are helpful as opposed to unhelpful messages like I love data centers and I love AI. If that happens, maybe things will change. But right now I'd say Democrats would pick up at least 25 have seats net and at least six sentence seats net today based on talking to campaigns could be bigger. Oh, I mean, that that will get you called full shit every time by Chris Lasavita because this is our awful numbers. And now you're talking about that's more than a blue wave. That's a word title wave. We're looking at the New Jersey coastline after this three day nor Easter kind of situation. Yeah. And now again, there are a lot of races that are close. The good news for Republicans besides their money advantage is these democratic party brand is crap. Democrats have a lot of inexperienced candidates. They've not played at this level. Republicans have a plan to define them and the negative ads are just coming out. But when you're talking about South Carolina and Mississippi as potentially in Kansas as being in play, you know, there's a problem. And again, for people who want to say, well, he's just going on the fake polls. I almost never read the public polls because I agree with most of the public that they're mostly not that valuable. But I'm talking to Republican campaigns to consultants and candidates involved in contested races. And they say the worry is any close race they'll lose because they've lost a lot of support from independence. And you need to inspire your base, but you need independence. And right now, independence are just in a move to send a message to the Republican Party. And most places, not every place that they want to change. They want the war to end. They want gas prices to be lower than they want some consideration given to checking AI and data centers. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I'm an independent. I can relate to those things. Um, I wouldn't be voting Democrat, but I'm feeling what everyone's feeling, which is like, what happened? How do we get bogged down in an Iranian war that no one supports? Why is the White House trying so hard to turn AI into a red versus blue issue rather than actually considering whether people have legitimate fears and concerns around it? You know, like every other week, there's a story about how much money the Trump family's making, but the American people are suffering, mightily, as a result of this economy and inflation and in particular, high gas prices. And God forbid you come anywhere near needing diesel gasoline, which almost everyone does. I mean, if you drive a truck, you need diesel gasoline. If you operate heavy machinery, you need diesel gasoline. If you fly in a plane, you're paying for it. It's like, it's everywhere as Doug Brunt, author of the mysterious case of Rudolph Diesel, and now the follow up, which is the lost empire of Emmanuel Nobel pointed out to us. But diesel is everywhere. Everybody's feeling the punch where almost 6, 6, 15 now per gallon. So people are sick of it. Like they, they just want their own lives to be improved. Yeah. You know, if, if there is a big blue wave, I think we'll look back and we'll say duh. Like he said he wouldn't get us into forever war, we're stuck in a war. He said he would lower prices, prices of a lot of stuff, including energy, so he says up. And then two other things. One, you referenced and when I'll add the corruption stuff and the profit, the profiteering. It may be all legal. The Trump family can say, oh, look at what Hunter Biden did. But I hear it from Republicans all the time, all the time, who people who voted for Donald Trump three times, you just say, it's just too much. While American families are struggling, it's just too much. And then lastly is health care. It's not like Democrats have super ideas on health care that are foolproof. But the failure to address the cost of health care, all the normal things, higher premiums, higher co-pays, higher deductibles, it's just, it's a big problem and Republicans passed a law that restricted some people's access to health care. And that has a lot of people, including in red states, just saying again, at a time when people are struggling, help them with health care, don't hurt them. know they're running against the week that I just I want to order a verse. Let's take let's put
put in reverse and go back about four minutes to where you mentioned two words, two states that stood out. I believe I heard you say South Carolina and Mississippi. I stopped breathing for a moment after I heard Mississippi, but could you elaborate on why you are mentioning those as possible problem areas for Republicans? Well, I've been talking about South Carolina for a while. It's not quite a perfect storm, but you've got a really weak candidate in Senator Graham, Lindsey Graham sister took up to see Starleen. She's not raising money, campaigning or debating or advertising on television. I'm exaggerating a little bit, but I mean, she's just not very visible. And the woman she's running against, a doctor who I had on next stop in any interest, she's a strong candidate. I mean, she's again, she's more liberal than the state would normally vote for, but she's run a very short campaign. When I had her on next stop, one of the next hers emailed me and said, you must have given her the questions in advance because her answers were also good. I said, no, she's just a smart, smart candidate. And there've been now three straight polls that have shown the raise virtually tied. And again, I don't listen to the public polls, but that's part of the mood music that have caused Democrats to be more optimistic. And she's raising a lot of money. I don't know how much put a lot. And then in Mississippi, Democrats have a decent candidate and there's a story in the Wall Street Journal today about how big donors are thinking of going in there. They may not win those two races, but again, just like with Kansas, the fact that these places are closed. Kansas is another one. And Florida, we have to talk about Kansas and Florida. The fact that these places are close is says something. Kansas, I really don't think the Republican incumbent Roger Marshalls, the leader at this point. I think he's, he's going to have to fight back. And you know, when JD Vance spends a day in Kansas, you know, they're concerned about it. There's no hiding the president and the vice president. Their schedules tell the tale. The president's going to, uh, going to Alabama. The president's, Alabama, the president's going to Oklahoma. You know, that tells you why are you saying words like Alabama and Mississippi and Oklahoma, Oklahoma? Stop saying those words. This is, it be like a brock of bomb. It was five alarm fire. If you like it, brock of bomb in the last month was going to Vermont, right? You just say, well, if he's going to Vermont, obviously, there's a huge problem for Democrats and, and, and that's what's happening now. It doesn't mean that they're going to lose them all. They're doing what they, what they think they need to do to try to save some of these seats. But I wouldn't be surprised. Again, if they lost well more than the number of Senate seats that people have talked about, they could also, you know, hold them all because, again, this is probably the best news for Republicans making. There's almost no race, uh, that's contested. Let's say there's now 40 contested House races and it doesn't contested center races. There's almost no race where Republicans are behind by more than five. They're all, they're all within the margin of error. So if they execute on that, you know, bads, if they execute on turn at the vote, if they execute on, uh, presidential visits, you know, advice presidential visits, they can save a lot of these seats still. Does Trump have money and is he spending it on these races? Yes. And maybe, um, he transferred some of it to other entities, which everyone assumed he meant he was going to spend it. But now there's back to being this suspicion that perhaps he's not going to spend it because he doesn't want to spend money on people who go who distance themselves from him. And he doesn't want to spend money on races where he feels they can't win. So, um, that seems to be up in the air now as is, you know, the money that Elon Musk was said he was going to spend and some of these other very wealthy supporters of the Republican party. So they'll have a big money advantage. But I think it's going to be smaller than it would be if they had some momentum. That's part of the reason they don't like my reporting. I'm amazed. I'm the only one who's been saying it so vocally because everyone I know here's the same thing. But they don't, I've, uh, I've been hearing this thing for, for months now for months. And I mean, then you've got open revolt in sections of the party, thanks to Iran. And, and, and diesel prices, you know, the president kept saying it was going to, it was going to wrap up and it was going to wrap up. And yeah, no, the so it's not just that people don't like being in what feels like a quagmire or, you know, did not wrap up easily and was a war of choice. And even the president has said himself, I don't, we don't have to worry about nuclear. We took care of nuclear in the previous June. So it's like, we know that's why many of us thought this was a mistake. We started on February 28th. We had already done it the previous June. Why did we, why did we even risk this? But in any event, so people have their objections to the war. But on top of that, it's the gas prices because that really, I mean, you know, it's incredible how much gas costs now. When you watch that thing, just keep going, sitting at the pump. And I feel for people like I can't afford it, but my mom can't afford it without my help. And a lot of people I know cannot afford these gas prices without help. And by the way, that's to say nothing of what's happening in the housing market at the grocery store. And as you point out, when it comes to their health care, these are the things that actually do drain away somebody's bank account really fast. And all four things you listed are not optional. You need food. You need gas. You need housing. Right. And, and the, the, and health care, you know, these are, these are all things that are essential. And, um, the president is not out there every day, explaining what he's done and what he will do. Instead, people see him talking about the ballroom, the Kennedy Center, etc. Now, again, his aide say that's going to turn around. And today he's doing an event focused on jobs in Iowa, building a steel mill in Iowa. That's, that's the kind of thing. That's the kind of thing that people would, and the Republican Party would like to see the president do here in the last 30 days. But there's a reason he's in Iowa. Yeah. It's a, Iowa's, I was one of the most critically endangered states, uh, the governor's race, the Senate race, two house races. Um, and, and I'll tell you a thing, then get as much attention. But state house races, right? State legislative races. In a blue wave, uh, you're going to see it, uh, so many of the gains or Republicans have made undone. And so they're trying to staunch that in a place like Iowa where there's obviously a lot of legislative dangers as well in the state level. Your piece, uh, for the daily mail that caused all the kerfuffle has the following line. I have an investment banker friend who once offered this sage advice, sometimes the appropriate response in a crisis is, in fact, to panic. And then you point out that, um, while the Trump White House is maintaining a stiff upper lip, the code of political Umerta was broken by veteran Iowa talk show host Steve Dase who said yesterday Iowa House Republicans were informed by their own pollsters that if you are in a plus 15 district, you're within the margin for error. If you are in a plus 10 district, you're under water and that this might end being an even worse midterm environment than 2006. Um, that's Iowa. This as the political, the cook political report you point out has shifted its outlook for Senate races in multiple races, including in Kansas, um, where Democrats have not won a Senate seat since 1932. And yet cook is shifting the outlook there, um, to more beneficial was likely Republican. Now it's only lean Republican. That doesn't mean it's going to be a dem pickup. But it's shocking to see it move to the left, um, using hopes on team blue for the first time in 700, almost 100 years, um, not to mention what we just discussed in Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, and so on. Now, let me ask you this, as I see it, the only silver lining here, while there's two, one is it's better. No, no. Like God forbid you have cancer. It's better to know. You can do something about it, you know, like you have it either way. You know, one, you stay oblivious until you die, which will be soon. And one, you get very bad news, you get very stressed out, but then ideally you do something about it and you live. So that's one. The second silver lining is if the Republicans lose the house and or the Senate, let's say they lose both, it improves their chances of holding on to the White House two years later. Because never underestimate really either side, but definitely the Democrats' ability to alienate the voters of America. Once they take power, they'll remind us every day who they are. It'll be investorama into the Trump White House, the Trump family. You know, it'll be Trump battling the media every day, which will tell lots of lies and overstate the case, right? And Republicans and right-leaning independents will be reminded of why we maybe it's epochs on both their houses, but we really can't stand that side. You know what I mean? So I don't think it's all bad news for Republicans if they lose one or both houses of Congress. I do think it improves JD Vance's Marco Rubio's whomever's chances of winning the presidency. What do you think? I agree with you. And I would say that people around Vance and Rubio would agree with you as well. On the other hand, there's a chance that the Democrats could use that power the way the Democrats did in 1990 to lay the groundwork for Bill Clinton to win. But that requires a lot of skill. And this Democratic team doesn't appear to have all that much skill. They're not winning to this. They're not poised to do well in the midterms, which historically, of course, they should do. What did the Democrats do in 1990 to lay the foundation.
for Bill Clinton. They use the power to control Congress to create uncomfortable votes for Republicans and to contrast the President Bush's positions with public opinion. It basically just used it as like a sound stage to do press conferences and use the legislative process to put him in a tough position. It took a lot of skill. George Mitchell, who was the Senate leader, Democrat leader, was super skillfully doing that. And that was their goal. It wasn't to compromise. It wasn't to get things done for the American people. The goal was to lay the groundwork to win. I don't think this team has, you know, one of the best illustrations of the fact that the Democrats are just stumbling into this election. Republicans are hurting themselves with gas prices in the war, rather than Democrats do anything. Do you see Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries barnstorming around the country? Do you see them having press conferences with their candidates talking about a shared agenda? There's none of that. Why? Why aren't they? Because they have a socialist wing and they don't have any ideas that would lower prices that they think they can sell to the country. So they're just keeping their heads down. All right. Now we've got President Trump who he's been doing a bunch of things lately. I think he picked this fight with the media, which I have studiously avoided because I hate this. It's like covering, you know, will they shut down the government or will they pass a budget? No, I'm out. I'm out. I'm sick of this shit. I agree with you. Very hard for me at this point in my career to get worked up right for either side. I just can't, but okay, he picked this fight with CNN MSNOW and Politico to keep them out of the White House. I think because he knows fighting with the media is good for him with his base. They like it. But this one really didn't go that way. It didn't really seem to rally a bunch of Republicans like Fox News didn't side with him. And some of the Trump faithful got mad at Fox News over that. I wasn't surprised one bit because when Obama refused to allow Fox to be pool one day during his term, all the other networks stood up for Fox and said, if they can't be in the pool, we're not, we're not going to be covering the president. And so I knew what Fox would do. There was no way they were going to turn their back on these news organizations, which even though they loathed Fox did stand behind it when this was done to them. But in any event, it didn't seem to really excite right wing podcasters. And by the way, there was just a report showing that right wing podcasters are mentioning Trump at record lows right now. Record lows, which tells you that right wing viewers have record low appetites for said news, which is another worrisome sign for the Trump White House and for Republicans. But what did you make of the whole fight with the media? It just seems like Trump's normal go-to's may not be working the way they have. >> Yeah, everything is just said, I think it's really right. And on point to where we are, on the second point, I'll come back to the fight. The fact that Trump's name, the topic of Trump is not as interesting to MAGA audiences as before, is a horrible sign for him. And he's thrived on Mojo for over a decade now because he has incredible Mojo. And it's a great figure to feel for what fights to pick. He fought with John McCain. He fought with the Pope in his first campaign. And everybody said, you can't do that. He's always fought with the press. People say, don't fight with the press. I think you're right that it hasn't really caught on. And I think it hasn't caught on for three reasons. One is because there has been solidarity, not just with Fox, but from other conservative media. And that takes the edge off of it. Number two is the reality is, it's hard to explain why he kicked them out. They didn't do anything in this case except he says, right, negative stories. But there's no storyline that says they did this one outrageous thing and therefore he punished them. And then lastly, you know, when people are paying 650 for diesel, it's like, you know, this is just like a side show. It's like the Kennedy Center. It's like this other stuff where people might get excited about Trump, the fighter under normal circumstances, but these are not normal circumstances. This is an opportunity for them to express their anger about how much things cost and about a forever war. And Donald Trump, not liking Caitlin Collins is, you know, is just a side show. Right. It's like, it's, it's not exciting them the way it normally used to. It's not invigorating them. I think they're just ignoring it. Like they, they have bigger problems. That's how it feels. Like they're really hurting and they really wanted a solution and they aren't getting it. And they really want somebody to say, okay, no, actually, I'll fix it. Which by the way, no, no one, another Democrats is saying that either the socialist Democrats are they, they have an idea. It's a terrible one, but at least, at least they're articulating a vision unlike the other Democrats who are basically like, we're not Trump. So I really feel for the people, you know, who are genuinely struggling right now because it doesn't seem like relief is coming from either party. You know, like Trump, when they had that fake midterm convention thing, you know, they, he was like, we'll do this and we'll do that and we'll do the other thing. And it was like, if what? And the answer is if you keep us in power, it's like, wait a minute, you're in power right now. That's, you're giving the speech of somebody who's out of power. You, you control all three bodies, you know, the house, the, the Senate and the White House. So like, what are you saying? Because there's zero chance the Republicans add to their majority in the Senate to the point where they get a filibuster-proof majority. The whole question is like, for either party, frankly, can you govern with something less than that? Because the other side's going to be obstreparist and stop things. And what we're seeing at least under this government is not really everything will be done by executive order. And now he's promising what? I guess more executive or I like, I don't get it because the things he was like, if he was in power and we'll do all these things, it's like, wait, but you've been in power now two years. No, there's, and voters get, get that, I think. And that's a problem for any incumbent president, you know, during their second midterm. You know, he's got this new thing that I think is really one of the more outrageous things he's done, which is using our tax dollars to run political ads. The White House denies their political ads. But one of them is literally the political ad that he ran when he was running for reelection, which is a different ending. Let me show you that. I think we, is this number three, Steve? Is that the one that's the one he ran before? So, three. Here it is. This is the final battle. With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state. We will expel the war mongers from our government. We will drive out the globalists. We will cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists. We will grow off the sick political class that hates our country. We will route the fake news media and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all. It reads paid forward by the US government, which means taxpayer paid for that, taxpayers, Democrats included. And the claims, well, they may have been palatable while he was campaigning. Now he says we're going to demolish the deep state. I don't think anybody thinks he did that with the Epstein scandal, just as one example. Oops. That didn't happen. They won the war mongers. Mongers, we will drive out the globalists. Maybe we've tried. I don't know. I mean, he was just co-zying up to Zora Mamdani, which is truly, I think I was saying you last week on your show, who wanted to see that? Who on earth wanted to see Trump and Mamdani as BFFs? No one. Not the left, not the right, not me. I didn't want to see it at all. So it's just it's an odd message for right now. The rest of it's mostly okay, but you highlighted the lines. It just they cannot land with any clarity. And again, our tax dollars shouldn't be paying for that. No, absolutely not. If Joe Biden did this, we would be ripping him a new one. And Trump shouldn't be doing it either. Nobody I know thinks he should. Speaking of Mamdani, here's Trump with him, shot seven. 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. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Okay, so Mark, I think the president is probably thinking as from a PR standpoint. This could help him because he can get along with anybody. He can get along with the other side. He is not some extremist. And he's telegraphing. Look at me. Like here's a Democrat, you know, a communist. And I can get along with him. The problem is that everybody in New York state and beyond in the Republican Party is using Mamdani as their poster boy for the evils of the DSA and what is likely to come our way if we go DSA in the midterms. So it's not great to have the arm around him like patting him. This is my buddy and we're going to be friends because I mean, truly pick up the New York post on any day of the week and he's on the cover being attacked. And for good reason. Yeah, I thought when you and I talked about it last week, I thought you explained it well.
like Trump's just attracted to New York things and he's attracted to other people who are good and popular 'cause he is popular in New York. I think another factor somebody mentioned to me yesterday. And he likes Trump, that's the other thing. He likes Trump. He does, but he's also not afraid of Trump. And a lot of powerful people are surrounded all day by people who are afraid of them. And sometimes they find it refreshing when someone's not afraid of them. And I think that may be part of it too. Boy, that's a tricky game with Trump. You can go just so far. And then he wants you to be afraid, yeah. Yeah, like have your own gay, he likes winners. So if you are strong, like take an Elon, but don't kiss ass, you can make it in Trump's world. But if you get openly antagonistic, forget about it. You know, I mean, honestly, I can relate to this because I think Trump and I have always for the most part gotten along. We've had our downs as everybody knows. But then I started criticizing him over the Iran war and he attacked me and things haven't been the same since. And that's fine. That's the risky run if you're going to be an honest political commentator. But I will say in general, he's fair. If he thinks you're successful, he likes you. And if he thinks you don't have Trump to range in syndrome, he will give you another chance. Exactly. So I think he doesn't think Mom Donnie has TDS. Here's the other thing, the Iran war. He keeps talking about it. Like when he went to the UN. And he keeps making the same threats over and over and over. Here's the latest example of last Tuesday at the United Nations, sought six. But I have a big decision to make. Will it 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. OK, so here's my big on that. You tell me what you think. We've gone from him saying that and people being either like, yeah, do it. Or being horrified at their casual rhetoric about annihilating a people. To him saying that and everybody being like, let's just talk. He's not doing it. So the more Neocon people have been frustrated that he doesn't live up to it, just fucking do it. That's what they want. And then people like me who wish he wouldn't talk quite so casually have been like, he doesn't mean it. This is Trump. He's making empty threats toward a crazy regime that just is never going to give him what he wants. To now where it's like, it barely even makes news. It's like crossed over to, I think, completely meaningless and almost a little sad because he just keeps saying it. Even though no one's really paying, even the Iranians, I don't think feel threatened by that now. I couldn't agree more. And all the time, just now Axios is reporting that a senior administration officials say, Trump will make a deal and give Iran sanctions relief and open the strait for progress on nuclear. And I'll get 20 calls about this. Well, what does it mean? It means nothing. I've never thought the words of a president in the context of a global conflict that affects every corner of the world where nuclear weapons are at issue. I never thought the words of a president could be so meaningless, but they truly are. They truly are. He can announce anything from annihilation to their begging for deal and we might make a deal or anything in between. It really doesn't mean anything. And it's embarrassing, I think, for the presidency. And I think what they must think in Tehran, I mean, you could do a great comedy about what they must think watching this. Because it's just, it's so undisciplined, it's so unfocused, it's so meaningless. So I hope there's a way to end this. And I think it's true that all options are on the table. But this series of statements, the war's over, the war's not over, we're going to annihilate them, we're going to make a deal with them. I find it so diminishes the power of the office and the meaning of the words of a president. I think you should just stop talking about it. Like we know he's negotiating, when they were here last week, there was a backroom negotiation. That's good. We actually are getting more than 10 million barrels a day through the Strait of Hormuz. It has to be done under the dark of night and so on. So, but that's progress. That's one of the reasons why it's not worse at the pump, especially when it comes to regular gasoline. So like, just stop talking about it. Because I just don't think people believe him anymore and it's undermining to him personally, to the presidency, probably to the negotiations, to just, just, there's no reason. And like, people are associating it with their gas prices. So like, it's just, it's, there's no upside. There's no upside to talking about the war. >> Let other people live so holy. >> Let Secretary Rubio talk about it. Let Scott Batson talk about it. But just, just do other stuff because there's just, it literally is, is only negative. It's best anybody I know can tell. And, and the stakes are so high. It's not talking about like, you know, the ballroom. It's talking about trying to end a conflict which has huge implications for American security and, and economics. >> It's a mess. It's like between Ukraine, which, you know, Vladimir Putin has been a stubborn mofo and so has Zelensky. You know, Trump genuinely thought he could go in there and settle the thing in 10 days. I think he said, of course, that turned out not to be true because they're just so dug in on their, well, we know why. And then Israel, you know, are around same. So it's just, all of this is, I think what's driving down the numbers. That, like, on a gut level, as somebody who remains a Trump supporter, like I really do want Trump to succeed. I feel grateful that the pieces of the agenda that I was very vocal in supporting and the reasons I stood up there and endorsed him, he really has delivered on and continues to deliver on. Namely, closing the border and attacking the Transmania, especially when it comes to our children. I mean, just last week there was yet another news item about six more hospitals agreeing to stop performing these barbaric surgeries on children under threat by Trump that he would find a way to close them if they didn't. So God bless him for that. But, like, so much of the agenda has been muddied by these other things that are contrary, in the minds of many of us, not everybody, to what he promised to do, that it's people don't feel enthusiastic anymore. So, I don't know, Mark, what would you tell him? If he calls up Mark Halper and Afri gets mad at you for your columns and says, Mark, you're one of the most astute political observers in America today, what should I do between now and 35 days from now to help my party? How would you answer? I would say I don't give advice to politicians, Mr. President. Thank you. Thank you for calling. Why can't I have an interview? What have you said? I look. You can say it on the MK show and I'll tune in. Look, I think the thing you said, stop talking about Iran, stop talking about Ukraine, unless you got something to say that's meaningful, stop diminishing your words. And then I'll tell you what most Republicans I talk to say, they say, do stuff like what he's doing today, announce a big new deal for a multi-billion dollar investment in a state like Iowa, involving steel. Like that's what they want to see him doing. They want to see, you want to see him talking about stuff that means something to the real lives of real people, not the ballroom, not done juniors wedding, not whether Iran's going to be annihilated or not. That's what every Republican I talk to say the same thing. Use your ability to persuade people by talking about things that they'll say, well, that's going to make my life better. Yeah. He told, when did he say, who did he tell this to when he said, he's not going to be campaigning that hard for the midterms because he said he's kind of tired of politics and he worked hard enough just to get himself elected, which frankly, I mean, honestly, yeah, he's not wrong. But I don't know how much he's going to be doing between now and the midterms, but I do think he's got skin in the game. Even though Trump, I don't think he really identifies with the Republican Party, right? I think he's Trump and like he created MAGA, which isn't exactly synonymous with the Republican Party. But I think, hopefully, he's been made to see that his fortunes will be hurt if the Republicans lose his personal political fortunes that is over the next two years. If Republicans lose both houses, he says I'll be a blocker. But that's not exciting. Like America, the American people need help. You know, he's such a student of history, which people don't often credit. He knows the history. There were two extraordinary circumstances, the Clinton impeachment and 9/11 that allowed a president to not lose seats in the midterms. But he knows those are the exceptions in the modern era. So he kind of often will feel slave to history or a prisoner of history that isn't nearly nothing he can do. At the same time, people say it doesn't care about the midterms. He doesn't like to lose, you know? He just, he just, he just, all. But I don't think he thinks that's him. Well, I genuinely believe Trump sees a big delta between the party and himself. Yeah, I agree that that's his general attitude. But I also believe that he knows that he will be tagged. He knows, again, he knows what happened when Barack Obama talked about his shalacking. He knows what happened with the Republican Revolution and Duke English. And he is, he is aware that even though he might be detached emotionally and intellectually from it, he's aware that he will be blamed for it. And he'll be particularly blamed because, because whether there's exit polls or not, and no one's going to, if there's a shalacking, no one's going to doubt the reasons for it. No one's going to doubt the reasons for it. As weak as the Democratic Party is, it's because of the war and gas prices. [BLANK_AUDIO]
and ethics and healthcare. And those are all going to be laid at his feet. And he's not stupid. He knows that. So I agree with you 100% have detached he is from like the heart. Like he's not a party man. He doesn't care about the Republican party per se, but he doesn't want the next two years and the next few months after the election to be in the context of Trump's elusive or he just he doesn't want that. You know what? He should be out there touting. He should be out there touting judges. That always gets Republicans to the point and they've confirmed that like exactly. So if the Republicans lose control of this Senate, there goes the judges. There go the judges because that's Republican appointed, but Senate confirmed like that. He should be hitting the things you know they used to always run on row versus Wade. They can't do that anymore. But judges is a real thing and a major part of legacy and he should be hitting that reminding people. It's not just about this senator annoys me. But who are you going to get with a with a Mary Peltola? We talked about her the other day. Oh my God. This is so funny. So this is the one, the woman who's got the potty mouth who allegedly was calling people retards in the F word for gays. And was making her staff feed her crickets. I mean her chameleon named meatball live crickets. And she's doing okay. She's actually doing all right. But state of she and again, we're flanking underneath Alaska. Thank you. Well, Podsave America weighed in on the controversy. This is a New York Times piece taking aim at her. It's kind of interesting because she's a, she's a Democrat who's pulling ahead is ahead in Alaska. Again, she's running against this guy, Dan Sullivan, who has the disadvantage of being, yes, he's a Republican, he's got another guy on the ballot named Dan Sullivan, thanks to dirty tricks by the Dems. But anyway, here is Podsave America's John love it, who is gay responding to the controversy. Sorry. Do I think it's great if a boss calls an employee a f*ck at no, but I think the Senate's more important. But now we're like, no, the stakes are too high. And we've just been through too many rounds of this. And the fact that there are people that would be working for a Democratic member of Congress who may have been rude and mean at the darkest moment in her life, by the way, like after experiencing incredible tragedy. And then six weeks before an election to leak that to the Times, like it's not a, it is a privilege to pretend you don't have to think about the stakes. Everybody has to think about the stakes. And whether or not Donald Trump can appoint right-wing anti-choice judges for two years, whether or not we have genuine investigations in the Senate, like these are the stakes in the election. And there's not a gay guy from Austin to underneath the docks in Provincine, who wouldn't be happily called a f*cking guzzling f*cking. To have a Democratic Senate, just a, just a mincing but-munching ass pirate. And if we have to get Mary Peltola, honestly, we can neither go to find the gayest f*cking person you can find in the state of Texas, in the state of Alaska. However, Neal and have a sword go to both sides and say, you may call us wherever the f*ck you want, Mary Peltola, if you win this seat. >> Honestly, that should be put on loop by the White House to help every Republican. >> Did you still work? >> They remind us who they are that he used the C word and then guzzling after it, casually in conversation and butt-munching. That's what his party reminds us is totally fine and passes for normal talk. And then it's like, I'm fine, Trump can say whatever the hell he wants about the negotiations with Iran. And I'm back. That's how it goes. >> I've always liked the word guzzling, like guzzling a beer, guzzling some lemonade, but I'm not going to be using the word guzzling anytime soon. >> No. >> No. >> John. >> I mean, I don't consider myself a prude, but that was a lot. That guy is a comedian. I mean, he's a political commentator, but he's also a comedian. So I think he partly meant it to be a little bit of an overstatement and a joke. But that is the attitude of the Democrats. Think of any of them stuck with Graham Platner until it became just absolutely untenable. Nazi tattoo, guzzling doesn't matter. Anything to win. And that's an empowering thing for a party which has these big divides. The woke wing of the party is going to swallow a lot here with some of these candidates in order to win. >> Don't say so. >> Well, I know I did on purpose. It was innocent. You can bleep it out in a different version. >> And what did we hear him say? I mean, I hadn't actually heard the full sound bite until just now. What did he mention? He mentioned the two things that you and I have been discussing. He said anti-choice judges and investigations. That's what's important to him. That's why he thinks Democrats need to get to the polls. The Republicans should listen. Yes, run that as your ad. Show them how disgusting these people are. First and foremost, these far leftists who would talk so casually about something. By the way, it's not that Republicans are anti-gay. They're not at all. But I think they'd prefer not to hear it discussed in those terms. So casually, like it's funny. And secondly, they're promising that they're going to be appointing pro-choice, meaning pro-abortion judges. The left and right if they gain power or at least stopping the pro-life judges. And investigation, Rama. So it's not that hard. Why am I saying it? Honestly, Mark, they need to start doing it. We're a month out. >> Yeah. Well, you're going to see more negative ads and maybe John Love will make us into some of them. You know, you asked what the Democrats did in '90 to '92 to help Bill Clinton. One thing was they highlighted ethical challenges to the Bush administration. I think if the Democrats have either chamber or both, there will be investigations. And I think from a 2028 point of view, how skillfully are they done? The Democrats have not been particularly skillful in doing hearings, although some people think that January 6th hearings were well produced. Mostly they haven't been when they've had the ability to do it. And I think that could be the biggest issue for 2028 is, do they do investigations that the country says stop wasting our time? Or do they do investigations that put a real target on not just present Trump, but this would be success or? >> Mm-hm. I just think January 6th, no one cared. We'd already had an impeachment. We'd had non-stop media coverage of it. By the time they got to their little pony show, it was like, we know what you're doing. Fuck off. But this other stuff, like investigating how much have the pockets been lined and to what extent and how. I do think people won't, that might resonate. If they hit on some of the things you got you and I have been discussing, it won't be great for Trump or the Republicans. >> Yeah, they got to do them well, though. >> But wait, two, two final things. One, I wanted to say, the Greenland deal actually is very good. That is very good. And that's another thing. No one cares about Greenland exactly, but we do care about North American security when it comes to the rest of the world. And that should be, I think, touted. Unfortunately, the loss of Latinos is another big thing that's in the negative column that we haven't discussed. And it's one of the reasons why you've got this Maria Salazar, this House member down in Texas who's openly declared war basically on Trump. Why? Is it that bad? Why are the Latinos so drastically against Republicans now? >> Well, mostly for the reasons that independence are and young people, including young men, are they not happy with the nature of the government? They're not happy with the war. Some aren't happy with the way Epstein was handled. And in the case of Hispanics, some of them have not liked the ICE and border enforcement in Minnesota and elsewhere, where the president has waffled on, is he only going after the worst, only going after those who've committed additional crimes, where is he going after everybody? So there's some specialty reasons, and that's what her thing was about her thing, was about the border. But there's some specialty things that Hispanic voters are upset about, but I would say if you talked to Hispanic voters who voted Republican, but now have drifted either to Democrat or undecided, it's just the same thing as for everybody else. They don't understand why we're in a war, why prices are so high. >> Yeah, that's what we learned when we went into 2024, is the reason they were voting for Trump is they hated the economy, they hated the inflation. And it was one of those, oh, Latinos, they're just like us. They have the same economic concerns. They're going to vote based on the same issues. But I do think it's interesting that you have Republicans running to the immigration thing and criticizing ICE and saying, there should be more coordination with locals, wasn't that the Kansas message that we just saw? No, we need to coordinate more with the locals on this. It was like from Republican lawmakers. So they must be hearing something, unless they're just misreading the Latino backlash. Like, like so many politicians often do and think that they're just all about immigration. >> Yeah, I think there's some of that, but basically, and this is, we didn't talk about Florida, you mentioned it, this is the problem is the president's unpopular in Florida and Kansas. And so for a lot of these Republicans, they're just looking for an issue, whether it's the war, immigration, diesel, diesel fuel, export embargo, they just want to be on the record of saying, I don't agree with Trump on everything, even if they don't phrase it that way. Because the president's super unpopular, Florida would be in play, both Senate race and governor's race, except the Florida Republican Party has so much organization and money and voter registration advantage, but even Florida, which has been a citadel for the Republican Party, is a problem right now because primarily because of the president, it's unpopularity [BLANK_AUDIO]
policies. Not just Florida, but Ohio too. That's another thing that should have been red established red by now, but there's been some problems there. Yeah, it's not good. Even Byron Donald is running for governor down there. There was a news item last week about how tight that race is and how he had diminished the Trump endorsement on his website. So there's trouble of foot. There's trouble in River City, Mark Halperin. Thanks for keeping us up to date. Great to see you, Megan. Check them out next up Halperin.com. He's a truth teller. We'll be right back. Everyone's talking about weight loss injections because the results can be so dramatic. They work by lowering blood sugar and reducing appetite. But what if you're looking to lose weight, but are not interested in painful weekly injections, especially when you hear about some of those intense side effects? That's why doctors created a weight loss supplement called lean, and the results could be remarkable. Lean says the studied ingredients in their product have been shown to lower your blood sugar, burn fat by converting it into energy, and curb your appetite and cravings so you are not as hungry. But listen, lean is not for the casual diet or with only a few pounds to lose. The doctors at Brickhouse Nutrition created lean for frustrated dieters with 10 or more pounds to lose. You could get started with 20% off and free rush shipping, adding lean to your healthy diet and exercise plan. Visit TakeLean.com and enter mk for your discount. That's promo code
[email protected]. We have got to talk about Madonna. Is anyone watching the VMAs anymore? They started in 1984 and as someone who was alive then, I can tell you that VMAs would have been relevant at the time because there was not a lot of TV to choose from, and MTV was very cool. It was still relatively new. It was kind of a neat place to see your music played and get to see your favorite singers and artists. We didn't have social media, so we didn't get a lot of time looking at them or seeing them in their natural environment, short of a concert, or their unnatural environment as the case may be. Anyway, there was a time. That time has come and gone. I mean, who is tuning in to the VMAs, like the video music awards? Whatever. Nonetheless, we're going to discuss it because, look, Madonna is an American icon. She is. I would never take that away from her. She's accomplished a lot over her five decades in the public eye. I don't know. I truly for one would love to see her be an example of being a badass bitch at age 68, who after all the years of non-stop sexual titillation or attempts at it, somehow finds the courage and inspiration to lean into a new way of exciting us. Because let's be honest, I don't think most men out there are feeling really excited about the secret possibility of having sex with a post, post, post, menopausal woman like Madonna. And I'm only saying that because her whole shtick seems to be have sex with me. Look how I might be while I'm having sex because she's on the ground riving with her legs apart with hip thrusts. So clearly she wants you to have that image in your head. And I am here to tell her that there comes a time when you really should shift the message. It doesn't mean you can't be sexy at all, doesn't mean you have to give up wanting action in your personal life. But this is the problem for aging sex symbols. Women who have decided to make that, their sexiness, their calling card, they've got a decision to make. You could go like fully the other way, like Pam Anderson, which has been, by the way, a smash success. I don't think has lost the affection of men. I think men who used to want to sleep with her or looking at her now is like, I like her. She's cool. They're probably not thinking I want to take her to bed the way they did back in the barb wire days. She doesn't wear any makeup now. She looks far less barbified. And she's fine with that. She likes the face in the mirror matching the one she sees on Instagram or so she has said publicly. You don't have to go that far. Like, I always wear makeup when I go out in my down days. I think it's in part because I'm just so used to seeing my face more heavily made up when I do the show. So like, to go completely bare it even to me is like weird looking. I was like, oh wow, I'm almost not used to that person. But okay, then you could go the full Pam Anderson. My point is simply to try so desperately to stay in the Sydney, Sweeney Lane looks just that desperate. It doesn't look attractive. I don't think it's having the intended effect. And I do think there's an opportunity for her to do kind of what Pam Anderson did, which is still have men being like, Madonna's cool. Good for her. She found a way to redefine herself. That's what she was famous for back in the 80s and the 90s in the early arts, redefining herself like a brand new way of shocking us or exciting us or getting attention. It was always related though to something around sexual titillation. And wouldn't it be the ultimate hat trick? I guess that's not the right term, right? Because that's a hockey term that I think means something in any event. Wouldn't it be the ultimate trick to do it yet again without that shit? Because truly like, okay, she's 68 now. When she's 78, when she's 88, do we still play along? When she's 88, if she's able to like gyrate on a stage, do I need to look at that and say, I feel empowered as a woman because that does not make me feel empowered at all, at all. I would love, love from Madonna to find a new way of coming out and showing women. This is a lane that's available to you at 68. That is me leaning into my fully empowered bad-ass self. I have fucking more money than God. I'm internationally known, first name only. I still have my talent such as it, I mean, she was never known as like a great singer or even as a great dancer. She was always known as a great entertainer. Kind of like Paula Abdul, only a lot more famous and more successful. Paula Abdul was in the news back when she was at her peak as she wanted to be listed in her IRS tax returns as entertainer. I think that's what Madonna is. I just, whatever, this, what she's doing here is degrading. She's degrading herself. And I, look, look, I'm talking about her. I guess maybe she would consider that a win. I don't see this as a win. I really don't. I am feeling kind of sorry for her. Like I, I feel like she, she looks a little sad to me. The whole situation is a little sad. And I wish like her daughter, Lordis would step in and say, Mom, like you're too cool for this shit. Please be the too cool person that I know you can be. Like Tina Turner was. Tina is a great example. The Tina was never raunchy. She was always the picture of class. She had on the shake the tail, feathers outfits, and she could, she could shake it like nobody's business while she was a great singing talent. But as she got older, what did she do? She still showed off those million mile legs and the buff arms and she had the hair. But she was appropriate. She wore like the leather number, but like she wasn't showing off her ass like her in her badge and the boobs with the nipples all that's like, I don't, it's just there's a, there's a line. And I think to have class is to know where it is. One other thing. I was saying to my team, like having, I'm not against facial work. I'm sure I will get a facelift someday. That's fine. But like I think doing it nonstop, like to the point where it's like really obvious, which is what I think Madonna has done. I think she might be at least two facelifts in. It's just weird. You, you look weird. You look old with a tight face, an oddly tight face. And clearly she's had enormous lip injections and filler all over her face. And what that does is make your face look heavy, not youthful. Look at this. Look at those lips. She had nice normal lips. And that picture on the left is with liner for sure and lipstick. And so she had perfectly full lips. Honestly, those lips look literally perfect. And now over on screen, right? We are, we have gone the full Kim Kardashian. And look at how heavy her face lip looks. That's from filler in my view. These claims have not been evaluated by doctor. But I'm just saying it looks like it's weighed down the entire face with filler in the lips filler in the cheeks. And she doesn't need that. She doesn't need all that, you know, whatever. It's just, it's not working. You don't look at her and say, no way. I can't believe she's 68. I think you say, she looks, she looks 68 and like she's had a ton of work done. The trick is to get to 68 and look great and now
Not look like you've had a ton of work done. Like a few ladies who we've pulled for an example. Michelle Pfeiffer, same age, Sharon Stone, same age, and Angela Bassett speaking of Tina Turner, Angela Bassett played Tina in the movie, "What's Love Got To Do With It?" And they look totally fabulous, like they don't, they've got a couple of lines, they look pulled together. No, I don't know. I don't think Sharon Stone has had a face lift. She's got like actual lines, but she looks great. And Sharon Stone had a very serious brain issue, something that she had like seizures much right after Basic Instinct. It was actually a shocking story where she had massive seizures and she had a serious brain injury. And I think it's one of the reasons why she didn't make, you know, her career was on it like an incredible trajectory. And it slowed a little, and I think most people know who she is. But my point is simply she's probably not worried so much about getting surgeries with general anesthesia that can be avoided and so on. Michelle Pfeiffer, she looks, I mean, stunning, like literally most of us would do anything to look like Michelle Pfeiffer. These women are all 68. And look at this. Michelle Pfeiffer looks sexy. She's got a very low cut dress on here. It's like not quite down to the navel, but it's well below the breasts. But she looks amazing. She looks classy and she hasn't done anything weird to her lips or her ass. She just looks gorgeous. And I think this is, I don't think most like 25-year-old men are not like, I want to have sex with Michelle Pfeiffer right now. They're probably looking at an old tape of her thinking that version. But I think men in general, when you say the word Michelle Pfeiffer, think beauty, elegance, ass, married to David E. Kelly, who is like one of the great writing talents of our time. And Sharon Stone, same exact analysis and Angela Bassett, same too. So anyway, my point is this is like, I just think this is, you know how like the feminists are constantly railing about, oh, that's women back and poor women this and poor women that that has never appealed to me, but I do think when it comes to female empowerment, the left continues to praise and celebrate the wrong things. And they are praising and celebrating this, you know, like, oh Madonna does it again. She reavents the wheel there. They love the inappropriate sexual behavior on the stage. I don't. I don't. I think it's sending the wrong message. There needs to be a point in life in 2026 America where women know that the sex appeal is not required to be valued. Now, I know for most of us, we enjoy sex appeal and love to see it in the eyes of our husbands and don't mind it even more in a stranger appreciates it the way we look or, you know, whatever. But how long must it be your identifying characteristic, truly? I mean, Madonna is basically telling us well into your 60s and beyond. Like, I see that as my value even though I probably have a billion dollars worldwide fame and less platinum albums and, you know, talent that made it all, I just, I object. I wish she would choose something different in her messaging. So here we get to the problem. She shows up and, um, okay, I guess we'll just start with the lasers coming out of her and her dancers asses. There's video of them gywriting on the stage, simulating sex acts, you know, with the hips lifting and dropping and lifting and dropping. And I mean, it's really more of a butt exercise. They're simulating. If I'm being honest, because I don't think most people have sex like, whoa, all over the place with the hips to keep them, don't want a moving target. Someone could get hurt, maybe, and then the middle of said sex act, then you drop on your lover. I've missed your smile. A stuute MK show viewers know the reference. And this is how the act went, okay, but the laser's out the ass. It's Mother. But there's lasers coming out of the badge or the ass and then Madonna also had that. And she would later make remarks, and she got to the microphone to actually speak, pretending to pull the laser out of her ass and drop it. Again, the picture of class, um, sad, but that's what she thinks is entertaining. Then she did, oh, we have that, okay, I sat 16. I'm short, but I'm not this short, but don't make me bow down, I've been doing that for too long. First of all, I just want to get the- Oh, sure. Sure. Thing out of my ass. It's just, it's been in here all night. Pretending to pull something out of my ass, and I can party in the park. Why are you guys so far away? I'm kind of unclear what this award is for. I guess it's for the short film. Wait, hold on. This, uh, confession suit of film, okay, well, I feel good surrounded by people who like to dance. I want to thank Torsou for going on this adventure with me. You guys didn't get my joke, did you, about the laser at my ass? Did you get it? It was up here all night, and I, yeah, and then I took it out. Anyway. So she's bombing, and she knows she's bombing. She has to say, mm, you didn't get my joke, did you? I've been bowing down to people for too long. What the fuck? Who? You're Madonna. Who have you bowed down to? Give me a break. Stop trying to act like you're a victim. You're not a victim. Again, could you- could you please try to find a more empowering narrative for age 68? Please, I'm begging you. And I don't think she was drunk. I think she was trying to sound drunk, because if he listened to her, she's hitting her articulation. She doesn't, in some of the other sats. I actually don't think she was wasted. I think she was trying to pretend like she was with the, he didn't get my joke, I don't even know what I'm getting in the award for. As my dear dear friend, Maureen would say, not Callahan, Maureen Walsh from Fox, my makeup artist. She stinks the desperation, and she does, she stinks the desperation. Okay, so then she comes out there to do her thing and actually like sing a song. That didn't go so well either, because there was no singing, there was only this, sa ten. Okay, so for listening audience, first we saw Sabrina Carpenter, and then we saw Madonna come out, and Madonna's lyrics kicked in, and Madonna wasn't even moving her mouth. So can I say she was lip syncing not really, she wasn't even trying, it was just a fraud upon the audience. I mean, okay, I guess we're not, no one's shocked. Here's sat 12, this is her performing with, I don't know, while Charlie XCX performs. All I know about Charlie XCX, is this the person who created Brat Summer around Kamala? Of course, Madonna talks about assassinating Trump. We know what we're getting here, but take a look, sat 11. No, 12, sat 12, 12, 12, 12. Madonna's being a ghastly stalk. Riding aggressively against a guy, okay, we get it. You really want us to picture you having post-miniposal sex, got it? I guess you do you, but see earlier comments. Okay, there's this one, which has been making the rounds everywhere today. I believe Madonna had butt implants a couple of years ago. She used to have, honestly, very tight, amazing hamstrings and quads into a very perky, muscular bottom. I know because I researched before this show. Then she did something, now, would you look at this before and after? Look at that on the left. She looked great. Her ass looks muscular, so do her legs. She looks awesome. She looks fit and in shape. I don't know what year this was, double tummy. Over here on the right, the legs have lost 2005. The legs have lost the muscle tone. I mean, I guess that will happen, although I have to say her upper body still looks amazing. And she's done something to her ass. Now, we saw what I believe her butt implants a couple of years ago at a different performance. And then last night, she seems to have added to the situation by putting actual padding in her, in her.
her pants, her blue verse was the only word coming to my, you know, because they're not like normal underwear. It's like the, like briefs that you'd wear under a cheerleading skirt she was wearing. And she was prancing around the stage with this, here it is, and stop 13. Okay. It doesn't look good, she just wants us talking about her, which I'm complying with. But I just, you know, again, how is this hot, attractive, sexy, it just telegraphs needy to me, needy. I got to move on. I've spent enough time on her. We got to talk about Naomi Watts. Naomi Watts appeared at a fashion award thing over, well, it's actually a couple weeks ago, I think it happened on September 11th, we were all dealing with other things. And she, oh, was it Milan fashion week? Okay. So she went and she brought her son and her son is named Kai and he is a gender-confused young man because he is masquerading as a girl. And this is the picture that's been everywhere this weekend. What you see is a man pretending to be a woman. He's young. I think he's like maybe 18. He's got the long blonde hair, he has eyes that look like what you would put your child in if you wanted them to be a ghost for Halloween. You might put them in a white sheet and then make the eyes in big circles, like well below the eye and above it in like black makeup, navy or black makeup. And that's Kai's look. So this is a boy pretending to be a girl and I have to tell you, I find this so sad. They had their son right around the same time we had ours. My sweet yates just turned 17 on Friday and in New York, I was working at Fox at the time. I was very, very busy and you can hire something called a baby nurse to help you with your baby when he's very young. And we had talked to and it had a relationship with for a short time, a baby nurse who knew the family. And honestly, I was, I had nothing but excitement for them too. They had a baby boy right around the time when we had a baby boy. And I was thrilled for her and I thought they were an adorable couple. She's married to, was, live, live Shriver. And this is what happened with their boy. It's very sad, like it's, it's very sad to me that they allowed their son to get caught up in the gender madness that is contagious in New York. The audience will recall we pulled our children from the New York City schools because they were trying to shove it down the throats of all of our children who had zero gender confusion but not for lack of trying by the schools. And this is what can happen if you don't intervene and if when your child, you know, almost invariably persuaded by some forum on Reddit or a teacher gets swept up into this and you are told by the psychiatric community to affirm, affirm, affirm, affirm. And I'm just going to tell you, Kai Shriver did not look so happy in those photos. And I don't think Kai Shriver is likely to have a happy existence because none of them does. It's, you know, they nine times at a 10. These folks wind up very angry, embittered, confrontational, entitled, not everybody. Caitlin Jenner seems absolutely lovely. So there are exceptions to the rule, but why would you gamble with your child's mental health? Now, it's possible that they just didn't understand because I've lived that same parenting arc where when our kids were very young, people weren't talking about this issue. And as you know, from even my past coverage of the trans issue back in, you know, 1718, for most of that time, we were told, just be kind. And they're getting bullied. There's a very, very small percentage who are genuinely gender confused. They deserve our support. I was sucked in by that. I didn't, I didn't have a gender confused child. But I'm just saying, maybe they fell victim to a society that was starting to embrace this without question and now it's too late. But I feel, I feel terribly for them all. I do. Now they're divorced too. I have Naomi and Leo Schreiber, I think she'll be married. Didn't she remarry another famous dude? Can't remember who, but she did. Okay. Moving on. Speaking of the trans issue, Elliott Page, formerly known as Ellen Page, star of Juneau, is gracing the cover of New York magazine right now that because it's celebrating men's health, men's, look at this speaking of sad. I almost cannot look at this. I am honestly, I'm not saying it's to be mean, I'm just being honest, I'm repulsed by what I see there. I am genuinely repulsed by the body mutilation that this beautiful young woman has done to herself and the masquerading she's doing before the world and her own mirror. And the fact that New York magazine wants us to celebrate this as an example of men's health is a parent, it's deeply offensive. This is the opposite of men's anything. This is an example of a woman's illness, mental illness to be exact. That's why it was in the DSM 4, now we're in the 5, and so on. This is not to be celebrated in New York magazine, you are doing something very dangerous by putting this person on the cover in an effort to celebrate what she has done to her body and her breasts, which will never look male. And all you need to do is hear Elliott Page speak and you will hear what is clearly a manipulated voice, a voice that's been so test-tostor-owned up, it will never sound female again, but it will never be male either. It's stuck in some in-between that's only deeply disturbing. They think they're being woke and tolerant what they're actually being is dangerous, dangerous to you. Other young people who have been swept up or are considering getting swept up in this ideology, who now see, oh, look, you get celebrated on the cover of New York magazine for this shit. You don't get shamed, you don't get ignored, you get celebrated as an example. I find this disgusting, I really, really wish that Elliott Page would get the help. He obviously, she, obviously so desperately deserves and needs, I think that ship has sailed. Okay, let's move on to, well, I think we should talk about Tom and Giselle next, because Tom Brady and Giselle are in the news today because there's a book that's coming out about them. It's a book by Lars Anderson titled Brady, an American story and the price of greatness. Now, I don't know Lars Anderson, but I do find some of these excerpts very interesting and very telling as reprinted in the Daily Mail. The picture he's painting in this excerpt is of a woman who desperately wanted more time with her husband and the father of her children and was repeatedly denied. And I will tell you, based on my own sources and I do have good ones, that's exactly right. I've reported this before on this show that she wanted him to be a husband and a father. And this is where the reporting splits because Lars seems to be reporting that, well, yes, Tom was all football and I've said that too, but that and he wouldn't give her the time with her that she wanted. My own reporting is that he was not all football. He was all football during the days, but Tom Brady, even when he was married to Giselle liked to go out and party a lot. Maybe not while football season was going on or before a big game, but I know plenty of people and I know where he was going. And this was one of her objections I have been told by a reliable source and that she did not want him hanging out in clubs and out late carousing with dudes in bars, et cetera. She wanted him to be home with her. He's a Brazilian. These tend to be very traditional women and wives. I know a lot of Brazilian women and honestly, it's a Latina thing too, South American, they love their husbands and they want actual husbands. They want actual husbands. And my information is Tom Brady really wasn't interested, even though Giselle was his wife. The reporting of Lars Anderson is interesting though. Lars' reporting is that she went to him and begged him.
beg Tim to spend more time with her. So this is what Laura's reports. In 2017, minutes after Tom Brady had just masterminded the greatest comeback in NFL history to win his sixth Super Bowl, Giselle and their two children ran under the field to celebrate. But the first words Giselle said to her husband of eight years had nothing to do with the game and everything to do with the future. Quote would now be the perfect time to retire. Brady did not know what to say. He hugged his wife and acted as if he had not heard the question. Later that night in Houston, as the team celebrated, Giselle pressed her husband a second time. Brady was unresponsive. After a third attempt, he finally answered, "Too bad, babe, I'm having too much fun right now." Giselle went for a more direct approach the following year in 2018. Days after Brady and the New England Patriots had suffered a gut-wrenching Super Bowl loss to the Eagles. Giselle wrote her husband a letter, "Serious, handwritten, I'm reading here." She explained that their marriage was not working. She needed more of him, more of his time, more of his attention, more of his heart. She needed him to be present when he was at home, not responding to text messages on his constantly buzzing cell phone or replaying a game in his mind. She needed more help with the kids. She needed the chance to sleep in just a few days a week, presumably this is when their kids were younger. She needed more time for her own career. The couple went to marriage counseling, but Brady eventually filed the heart-felt letter in a drawer. In early 2020, the family relocated to Florida when Brady signed for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Think about being married to Tom, said one of his friends, a former NFL player. The guy gets up at the crack of dawn, thinks all day about a game that's foreign to his wife, comes home and is in bed each night by nine, again, that's not true, maybe before a game, but trust me. No. Okay, by nine, he can't really eat out or go out without causing a scene. Everything he puts in his mouth, tastes like shit. That's also not true. I know one of their chefs. The whole lifestyle had to begin, had to be getting tiresome for Giselle. Worried that enrolling their young children at a new school would be too much change, Giselle committed to homeschooling Beni and Vivian in Tampa. You were only going to stay for a year, she said one turned to two. I'm February 1st. He announced the verdict at the age of 44 and after 22 years in professional football, his NFL career was over. That decision lasted 40 days. I marched 13th. Brady announced he would return for a 23rd season. He set his sights on an eighth Super Bowl win. Quote, I've realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands. That time will come, but it's not now. At first, Giselle made the right noises, expressing public support for the decision. I don't think relationships just happen. It's never the fairytale people wanted to believe it is. She said that summer, when you love someone, you don't put them in a jail and say you have to live this life, you set them free to be who they are. Then they said that July, when he showed up for training camp, he looked gaunt, cadaverist as the word. People worried he was ill. He had lost 20 pounds. That was a lot of weight to lose off of his frame and people knew he was very stressed. He looked like a cancer patient, said one, seemed miserable. They say they believe he was upset about his failing marriage. In truth, right, Lars, Giselle had been so upset at Brady's U-turn that she had flown off to Costa Rica with just six months left in his football career. The bond he and Giselle had was flickering out like a match in a strong gust of wind. The fragile illusion of forever now fast fading. The frantic, nearly two-week effort to rescue his marriage, another detail, had failed. Those close to Brady feared the countdown to divorce was on, but Brady remained utterly captivated by Giselle, still lost in the enchantment of her. Tom was an empty shell of who he was when he got back. There was no joy. Everything was hard work. Bapapah. Tom was facetiming with Giselle during the day between meetings, checking to see if she needed anything. These were normal conversations she seemed happy then one day, Giselle, who was really into astrology, basically looked into the stars and told Tom, "We are not compatible." And just like that, she was done. Brady and Giselle announced their divorce on October 28, 2022. After 13 years of marriage, in February 25, she gave birth to her third child, her first with boyfriend Joaquim Valente, her former jujitsu instructor. According to one of Brady's friends, he was absolutely stung that she'd become pregnant just two years later, after their divorce, just over a month after the birth. He shared a photo of himself on Insta in the color photograph. Brady's right arm is extended and a ball has spiraled out of his hand. He is siloated by the sunset's golden glow underneath Brady wrote, "True love to those who knew him well. There was no ambiguity." As one friend described it, that was the softest middle finger, presumably the true love being football, and not his wife, you might mention your children there, unless they're actually not a football for you, and perhaps they're not. Because when Giselle was asking Tom to stay home with her and their children, and he was allegedly saying no, if football was too important to him, he was having too much fun. He was saying no to time with his kids too. He was saying no to helping raise them in a more active way. I've seen Tom with his kids, and I think he's a loving good father. I do. I just think football has been his number one love, as that Instagram post seemed to suggest. And I think it's really sad that he met this amazing dynamic woman, who's by the way, like in the beginning, I think her money dwarfed his. If you're a top supermodel in the world, you're making hundreds of millions of dollars. Question Giselle was, she's been the number one supermodel in the world for a long time. I don't know if she is today, but she was for a very long time. And not until he got his deal with Fox, I think, did he start making hundreds of millions of dollars a year, though, what do I know? Because he had endorsement deals and all that, and I'm sure the numbers were huge all along. The point is simply what might have been, what might have been, if they could have found a way between his enormous career and hers to actually raise the kids in a more active present way, maybe their marriage could have been saved, maybe the kids would have had more access to this superstar that America loves. And then I'm sure more than his biggest, most diehard fans, they wanted access to. It's sad to me, something to be considered before you get married. And really, before you have the children. And on that front, she's responsible as well. You know what she was marrying? He was not projecting stayed-home dad vibes and, you know, it was an enormous request to basically ask him to give up his career because unlike Gisele's career, NFL football cannot be done part-time. Cannot. Modeling can. But NFL football cannot. And I'm sure the children received many, many benefits as a result of their dad being Tom Brady and being one of the most celebrated athletes in the world. But all of this is very sad to me because I just think of a loving wife who was asking to actually share her life with a husband and could not get a yes. And on that front, my reporting has dovetailed with this reporting here, so it was not a surprise to me. Okay. When we come back, the moment of the weekend, this guy, Verlander, on the pitcher's mound for Detroit, honestly, it was so uplifting, it's kind of the opposite messaging of what we've been talking about so far. Let's talk about something that is not always the most comfortable subject, but it is incredibly important making sure the people you love have financial security if something were to happen to you. Life insurance, it can be easy to put off. We don't want to think about it, right? But just think about it for like a couple of minutes and you can get it taken care of. All right, getting coverage does not have to be complicated. This is why you need to know about ethos. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy. 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your story with them, and with me soon too. All right, before we get to the nice moment, I've got to spend one minute on those morons over at the view. So during Friday's show, Joy Bayhara was apparently discussing a clip from some podcast in which the host recommended giving your inner critic a man's name so you are less prone to listen to it. This is how liberals think, men are the devil, and therefore you name your inner critic something that's male, and then you'll just disregard it because, you know, all liberal women disregard everything men say. I mean, I think most conservative women would say, "This won't work on me." I actually love and listen to my husband, and he loves and listens to me. This is why liberal women are so unhappy. That's why they don't get married. When they do get married, they're unhappy. They're not having sex. It's like all the whole thing. You shouldn't take relationship advice from Joy Bayhara or the podcast that she follows. In any event, the table goes around, and it comes around to Sonny Hauston. And would you listen to her answer? I don't have this sort of negative self-talk going on in my head. The world already tries to tell me what I can and cannot say and what I can and cannot do. As a black woman in the United States, I don't have that sort of thing going on in my mind because I'm criticized constantly and I have to, my average has to be excellent. So I don't participate in that. Wow. Even that audience could only manage a smattering. As a black woman in America, her average has to be excellent because of all the racists. Obviously that is what she's saying. This country that she thinks is so racist has made her a multi-millionaire. She lives in one of the nicest homes in Westchester. Her son went to Harvard, and I think the daughter went to some Hoidi-Toydi school as well. She sent them to a high school, according to her, called Ethical Culture, which is $60 or $70,000 a year right now. It is Doug and I toured that school when we were looking for speaking of my children when we were looking for our eldest. Because unlike Nicole Hanna-Jones, we actually wanted him to go to a great school. And in Manhattan, you're rolling the dice. So we didn't know anything about the schools and we did tour Ethical Culture. And when we walked out, I said to Doug, this would be a great school for Rachel Maddow's children. It was so woke and over the top, there were about 10,000 posters, gut privilege, check it on the walls. It is known for how woken and annoying it is. And this is the same school that she sent her, her kids there, and that they got treated by a bunch of racists. Like it was a racist school, bullshit, zero chance. That's true. But my point is simply, her kids had the best education, both at the undergraduate and K through 12 level and allegedly at the college level. I don't think Harvard's the best place you can go, but a lot of people do. And she becomes a federal prosecutor, absolutely no discrimination in that process. She becomes what she wanted to be, a law school, of course. And then Parley's that into a television career that makes her millions and gives her this amazing lifestyle. And she wants you to know that this is a fucking racist country that she has demanded. She'd be perfect. Excellent. Because because she's black, so she has to be, oh, this is so tiresome. And by the way, she's lamenting that the internet says nasty things about her. People, she's criticized constantly. She says, hello, Sunny, it's called being a public figure in America, grow up, grow up. As I always point out, some of us have been on the cover of the National Inquirer as and I quote, the country's most hated mom, okay? That is one teeny tiny drip of the ocean of negativity you could get around my career and my life is a public figure, but in a simple Google search, stop bitching about it all the time. Just stop. It's part of the job, grow up and act like you've been there. Okay. Moving on to the nice story, Justin Verlander. He is 43 years old. I got to read the background because of course I know nothing about him. One of the most accomplished MLB pictures of his generation, 2005 began his career with the Detroit Tigers, three time Saiyong Award winner, 2011 American League MVP, 10 time All Star, two time World Series champ with the Houston Astros where he played for a while per MLB.com. He finished with 3554 career strikeouts, the eighth most in MLB history. That's amazing. Played for the Tigers Astros and the Mets, how about the Mets and the San Francisco Giants and was finishing his career off with Detroit again. In 2012, he met model K. Upton while filming a commercial connected to MLB. In 2014, they began dating. She showed up to a baseball game. He was playing for Detroit against the Yankees and this moment was caught on cam. That is the lovely K. Upton and Justin Verlander tossing her baseball and odds. It's gotta be love. She's adorable, she's very pretty. She was parlyed into international start-up thanks to Carl's junior which ran an ad with her, which we have. Eating the big burger. And she looks very turned on by it. And she has a fishnet docking and a very low cut, a little short. And a garter belt and very large brass, up here kind of sweaty. And now she's lying down, unhooking the garter belt and taking the stocking down with her burger. And now she's bending over. The classic. Just got off it. Hitting the straw. Now that worked, that ad worked Madonna. That's, you can get away with that when you're K. Upton, not 68 years old at the VMAs. But in any event, they got married. So this guy's got it all. He marries K. Upton. He's MLB's MVP and winning world series and 10 time all star and like incredible, incredible the number of things that this guy had on his resume. And then he added to that two children, Dr. Genevieve born in November of 2018 and seven years later, they welcomed a second daughter, Bellamy in June of 2025. Well, he decided this past July that he was going to retire, writing on X about how he was, he was fully committed when he resigned with Detroit, but things were starting to go south on his body and he realized this, this season had to be his last. And it's, it's fitting that I get to finish where it all started with the Detroit Tigers. So he goes out to Saturday's game and the moment came where he was basically, I think they were pulling him from the mound. And I forgive me this part, I'm sketchy on, but I think they sent like his coach out or somebody out to sort of tell him, okay, you know, you're coming off the mound and everybody knew that this meant it would be his last time on the mound is a professional MLB player, which was storied and emotional for the obvious reasons. And as that coach walked out his daughter, Genevieve ran to the mound. Let's watch it. He's going to get Justin Verlander's daughter, Genevieve. He's holding her tightly and thoroughly proud, he's completely bent over her at the top of her head. He's shaking. He's feeling stopping. Now he heads to the coach. Fans are going wild. All the other players come over. The mound off the field. of all the pitches he threw from 60 feet, 6 inches. The speed at which she ran out to the mound might be the most important thing we've seen to them.
He's hugging his wife and their baby too and Genevieve's in there as well. Nailed it. Well done, sir. What a beautiful way to end your professional baseball career surrounded by your loved ones. Your teammates, your fans, who got you started, your coach, and your baby, your little girl who actually will have her father around as she grows up the majority of her adolescence. Whose baby will have her father around for her entire life, God willing. And your wife who loves you and supported your career for all these years and probably much likes Giselle will be thrilled to have more of him at home. That is a life well led, Justin. I tip my hat to you. Clearly you have the love of your family. Let's watch quickly, sought eight him, or order, sought 22 after the game. Justin, just think about your daughter again. She's at a great age because she's going to remember all of this stuff this happening. But as she gets older, what do you want her to understand about why all of this matters to you the way it does? I mean, what do you mean, what do you mean, what do you mean, what do you mean, what do you mean? What do you mean your life is something? I've been a baseball player since I was five years old. I gave everything for this. I've left home, she's been in school, and I wasn't there. It's just a level of commitment it takes to be great at something, you know. And I hope she understands she means the world to me. My family means the world to me, and I'm just so happy that it's, I mean, I'm happy that I get the opportunity now to make up the last time. Good for him. His little girl's, I think she's seven, about to turn eight, and he hasn't missed it. He hasn't missed it. He can still be there in a very meaningful way as she's still in their house. And I can feel his pain thinking about what he did miss those first seven years. But good for him for making a smart decision. Sounds like both for his team, but definitely for his family. There's no greater commitment than to the children you bring into this world. God bless them. Tomorrow, very excited to bring you Dr. Sean O'Mara, the man behind RFKJ's diet and JD advances. We'll see him tomorrow. Thanks for listening to The Megan Kelly Show, no BS, no agenda, and no fear.
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