Trump's Nicki Minaj Problem & Meltdown Exposes A Lot and The Brazil Election Scandal Explained

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Good payment account required. See Experian.com for details. - This holiday, all plans, even unlimited, are just $15 a month. A holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song. Like, "All I Want". Right. Okay, we can't afford that. You know what, forget the music budget. We're gonna stick with whatever's in the public domain. Give it a try at mintmobile.com/switch. - Upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for a 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent to taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only, greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. - Trump's Nicki Minaj butt fixation situation and 1,300 word freak out just exposed a lot, but not as much as the new Epstein investigations connected to horrific allegations against Trump that you're gonna see after the midterms. Lula's historic comeback in Brazil's elections crazier than you think, and it has Bolsonaro's son melting down, and why Microsoft's new 60,000 employee buyout is even bigger than you think. We're talking about all of that and even more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show, your daily dive into the news, starting with this. - So Trump just had a very busy weekend doing super presidential important things, like admiring Nicki Minaj's beautiful ass, his words at a Michigan rally, and lashing out at his pal turned enemy Bill Maher in a 1,300 word truth social post, just like a serial killer's manifesto. Now we've talked about Minaj's bizarre dissent in a MAGA and how Maher, he had this sort of change of heart about the president when he was invited to a White House dinner last year, but you've got some potentially very consequential shifts happening in Trump's relationship with both of them, right? And starting with Nicki, there were some rough moments when she joined him at a Michigan rally to stump for Republicans, starting with Trump's weird introduction. - By the way, I looked at one hell of a beautiful ass before Nicki Minaj. That's hard to miss. That stand up, that's hard to miss. - Trump taking a quick break from commenting on men's bodies recently, if you've seen this, to the point that there were even gay allegations to make an equally inappropriate comment about hers. - You know, as on brand as this stuff is for him, like we should also not lose sight that this is a crazy way for the president of the United States to talk. Like I know that we're numb to 98% of shit these days, but could you imagine if Biden or Obama did this? It would be like wall to wall nonstop coverage on Fox News for months. But that said, Minaj, right? She didn't acknowledge the ass comment before she then launched into her usual "Trump is an amazing man" routine. - We love Trump. We love Trump. We love Trump. We really need all of these great people, all of these great people to be elected because this is a major turning point for our country. And we're not gonna give up because we want our children to grow up in a place where we can be proud of. We don't want our children to be bombarded with sex changes, right? We don't want that for our children. We want people to leave the children alone. So President Trump, it is an honor to stand with you every single time and I will continue to support you forever and ever. If you run again, I will support you again. - So Minaj, right? She's got those Trump talking points down. And in fact, some members of the Trump administration were so thrilled with her performance that they appear to be throwing her name in the hat for the press secretary position. Or whether each were serious or not, you had White House communications director, Steven Chung, tweeting, "Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have found the new White House press secretary." - You have a man who's won three elections. You know, legacy media continues to attack him left and right. And what does he do? He wakes up at four o'clock in the morning. He outworks people that, you know, are half his age. And you know, what does that say about his character? - In the video, it almost seems like she's reciting lines from a script, like she's training for the position. And it wasn't just Chung who endorsed her, at least jokingly. You also had a Trump advisor weighing in, replying, "Hey, Barb, what do we think about this idea?" And you even saw Minaj herself responding by sharing an American flag and grinning face with sweat emoji. So yeah, could be all joking, but also this is a clown show administration, so you never know what's a joke or not. Also on the other side of things, you had Gavin Newsom's press office, for example, reposting the TMZ article about it and tweeting, "We can only pray." But also, while you have Minaj pick-me-ing her way, I guess, to the top of the MAGA train, you had another liberal turned friend to Trump in the doghouse. Because earlier this month, Bill Maher went back to the White House for a round two Trump dinner with Kid Rock and Stephen A. Smith. And initially, it appeared that everything went smooth. You had Trump telling reporters, - It was a great dinner. It was a very informative dinner. Smart people. Stephen A. is great. Bill Maher, I tell you what, he likes me a lot more than people understand. And I actually like him. It was a good dinner. - But his attitude on that dinner has completely changed since Friday. Because you had Maher saying mixed things about the president during his monologue, right? He mentioned the dinner and he did say he enjoyed it. - Yeah, I did it again, bitches. I know, I'm the bad guy because I go and say face-to-face to the man the things you write in articles that he'll never read, but okay. You know what? you, I like these dinners. - But you also had Maher joking about Trump's low approval ratings and his recent obsession with men's bodies. - It's so odd that Trump keeps gushing about men's bodies and how handsome they are in their draw lines, in their asses, their physiques. I'm a little hurt. I was there for dinner for four hours last week. Not a peep. Nothing. - And that appeared to really get Trump's blood boiling because on Saturday, he got all that anger out on Truth Social in a just wildly long rant calling Maher a loser, a coward, and a pothead, among other things. Are you a Trump writing? Let's talk about this complete and total loser, Bill Maher. He's got a low rated show on equally low rated TV. Low rated HBO, which was once, long ago, a network of quality and excitement. But that's all gone. It's not hot anymore. Also saying that Maher's business associate, Chuck LaBella, was a gopher for his reality show, "The Apprentice." With that, he claimed that over the last few years, LaBella's called him nonstop to beg him to meet with Maher. With Trump adding, "When I became president, "I agreed to meet after the first one and the last one, "but never agreed to do his show, "which he wants me to do desperately. "It won't happen." With him then going on to reject the low approval rating, allegations, I guess he wants to call it, saying he has high ratings, particularly with Republicans. Also citing CNN polling that he said put him at 98 to 99% within the party. And then later on in the post, you had him making some observations about Maher's health and looks, writing, "I wanted to tell Bill that he's a major pothead. "He's gotta stop. "It's very bad for his health. "He looked like hell this time. "Bill was drunk and had alcohol in his hand "as he walked through the White House." I know, ew, who does he think he is, Pete Hegseth? But he did end by addressing Maher directly, saying, "You're also a coward who is afraid "to tell the truth about how well our country is running "because of your few fans and how badly the Democrats "have done, almost destroying the USA "saying you're not transformative, you're a loser. "I never watched your show much, "but I will never watch it again "because it is nothing more than fake news "that America and the world is unfortunately subjected to." Right, and all of this was very interesting to watch because Bill Maher does apparently have this magic ability to get people on the left and right to go, "Oh, I fucking hate this guy." Like, it feels like he just constantly comes off to everyone as a pompous, self-righteous dick. Though I'm pretty sure with all of this, Maher is kind of getting what he wants, even if it is not actually that fantastically self-serving. Right, he'll probably try to spin this as, "Look, look, I can take the dinner and you'll still hate me. "Because I'm just a person "and I'm not married to any side or any whatever." But really, I think to a lot of people, it just comes off that he is a two-faced grifter. Right, he wined and dined with the president, presented himself in a certain way, and then on his show, from the safety of that, he does this other thing. Right, but speaking of Trump drama, we're just one week away from the midterms and we might be about to witness something historic, the beginning of the end for Trump. Right, based off of what you've got out there right now, based off of what happens next week, he might be finally losing his iron grip on the Republican Party. And we might be finally seeing the fall of the shittiest regime ever. And that appears to be in part because like literally everything else, Trump has made it clear that these midterms, they're about him. He has repeatedly told the American people time and time again to pretend that he is on the bounce. But that might not be the best strategy given just how deeply unpopular Trump is and how so many people blame him for the ongoing affordability crisis. Right, Trump was reelected in 2024 on promises to help struggling Americans and bring costs down to crack down on corruption and drain the swamp. But two years in and even a lot of his own supporters admit, Trump's only made things worse, driving up prices through his war of choice with Iran and his pointless tariffs, gutting the social safety net through the big beautiful bill and corrupting the office of the president to enrich himself and his allies. And of course the entire time, elected Republicans have aided and abetted him because they wanted his money and support to keep their own seats of power. But meanwhile, based off of what they're doing and not doing, affordability has become one of the single biggest voting issues this cycle as many Americans just struggle to keep up with rising energy bills, surging fuel prices, increasing healthcare costs and more. And so it ends up not being surprising that his approval ratings fell to their lowest level ever in either of his two weeks. In other words, Trump's new terms, which is insane because they were still polling after January 6th. Right, but a bunch of big polls came out last week and all of them showed him hovering in the low to mid 30s. And just to give you some context there, that makes Trump's approval rating, lowest of any president before a midterm election since Harry Truman in 1946. And it appears that many people blame Trump directly, which makes sense. He's consistently bypassed Congress and that's a Republican-led Congress and they've been more than happy to let him. So there is shared blame, but of course he is leading the party. And according to a New York Times-Siena poll, nearly seven out of 10 voters disapprove of his handling of the cost of living. 65% disapprove of his handling of the Iran war. And it appears like those views are dragging down perceptions of Republicans across the board. You've got majorities of likely voters saying they believe Democrats are more understanding and able to fix the problems that Americans are facing. And they're saying that as most people don't even like the Democrats. They just dislike the Republican politicians and candidates more. And you now have more voters viewing the Democratic Party as the party of the working class and saying that they're more likely to keep their promises than Republicans. But of course, words are words, polls are polls, and the big question remains, will all of this actually be enough to sway voters in the battleground races that will determine control of the House and Senate? And actually today we got to talk to and hear a firsthand account from someone who is on the ground and in the thick of it. And that is a man we've actually talked about on the show a number of times, Troy Jackson. He's a Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine. He's running to replace Senator Susan Collins in one of the most closely watched and tightly contested races the entire cycle. In this main election, it will be a deciding factor in whether Dems can flip the Senate. When you had him talking with us, he said that while affordability is definitely a big voting issue, it's also just the tip of the iceberg, a symptom of a much deeper problem. Yeah, I do think it's a bunch about affordability, but it's also about change. I mean, we need to have a government that works for people. This is not about going back to where we were before Trump. It's about going a lot further than we should have been. Government should have been doing anyways, having a Medicare for all system, prescription drugs, things like that. I mean, this should have been something the Democrats got done years ago. And I'm really excited that there's a group of people that wants that now. And you can see all across the state, people are fired up because they do see an opportunity here. There seems to be one thing that's universal across the country. No matter where you live, what party you vote for, people want change. That's true, yes, now, but it was also true in 2024. You do not get a President Trump again. If the system is working for people. But in order for there to be change that actually helps we, the people, you need to have lawmakers who actually care about the people. But hey, and this is just my opinion though, I think more and more people share it given his polling now after he got elected again, you are not going to ever get that from Trump. He ran as president seemingly to enrich himself and his family, to avoid possible criminal prosecution. And also I think because he's a narcissist whose ego was bruised after the 2020 election. And so it's unsurprising that with millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet, you have many voters becoming increasingly concerned that politicians are going to be using their positions of power to just enrich themselves and their friends. In fact, in multiple polls, corruption actually narrowly overtook affordability as the number one concern among respondents. And another found that nearly two in three Americans say that Trump is using this presidency to enrich himself, which may or may not be connected to the fact that he has made more than a billion dollars off of cryptocurrency while also dramatically increasing his net worth just in the first two years of his second term. And really that only scratches the surface. And so it makes sense that his broader vibe of corruption would rub off on the Republicans who have allied themselves with Trump, who have used his brand. To hold onto power, right? Not only have they allowed this corruption to run rampant with no consequences, they have functionally condoned his actions by always coming to heel because they know that as long as they scratch daddy's back, he'll continue to use his influence and war chest to scratch theirs as well. And you would Jackson saying, Hey, that's true for Collins as well. Arguing that she can't actually separate herself from him and her record. It just proves that Susan Collins is voting with Donald Trump 96% of the time. She won't stand up against them. He knows that when he needs her, she's going to be there a hundred percent of the time. I mean, you know, he, by his own admission, she's doing a great job. She caters to the billionaire class. And obviously people in Maine are sick of that. I mean, they're watching their lives get upended, uh, by someone that says that she has the most power and the U S Senate don't, you shouldn't get rid of me because I have all this power, but she won't use that power to help everyday Mainers. And that's really a big thing here, right? Because Collins is among the growing list of lawmakers who have now tried to distance themselves or Trump more recently with many splitting with him over the Iran war, right? Because for years, Republicans, they've hitched their wagons at Trump, whether they really wanted to or not, because they knew it was the best chance to win and stay in power. They rode his coattails. They used his popularity to get elected and stay in power when it benefited them. But now, you know, that things are looking down, they're turning tail and running like the cowardly dogs. They are. But Jackson, he says, you, we can't let Collins or any others off the hook. We need to show them that we do not like the world that they've created and that there are consequences for their actions. And that's what you have Jackson saying this race will come down to. Do you like the world we're in right now? I mean, do you like how we're paying? I've seen fuel prices that, you know, we're in a trade war with our closest neighbor and ally Canada, that we've lost our health care system, that, you know, she puts people, I mean, she lies to us about people like Brett Kavanaugh knowing damn well that he's going to take away Roe versus Wade. I mean, do you want to do you want a senator that is just going to work for the billionaires? I mean, to me, that that is a race. It feels safe to say, at least to some degree, that these are the same general sentiments that will become the dividing lines for most key billionaires. I mean, we've been in battlegrounds this November, but also looking long term, right? One of the big questions is, will it be enough to topple Trump once and for all? And the answer to that question, at least in part, is going to come down to how big this blue wave is. So also, I think maybe a better framing would be a red collapse, because again, if and when Democrats get into the House and maybe the Senate, what they do is going to matter, at least what they try to do, because even in a world where Democrats overperform, Trump can be to a lot of stuff. But if Dems take over the House, if they take over the Senate, they do get different powers and different abilities. And unless Democrats want a repeat of 2020, where all of a sudden, Republicans, yes, they moved away from Trump, but then they came right back, they've got to do something meaningful, because lives are busy, they're chaotic, and we all have very short-term memories, right? And obviously, the difference this time is that Trump can't run for president again, but he can still be a kingmaker, unless they lose so big that him endorsing someone is the equivalent of lighting a bag of shit on fire in front of someone's doorstep. And then there's more we got to dive into in just a minute after a quick break with our sponsor. Because no amount of planning can guarantee tomorrow looks anything like the version of it you imagine today. And that's why I'm happy to share today's sponsor. Fabric by Gerber Life. Fabric by Gerber Life offers term life insurance for busy parents all online and on your schedule. You can be covered in under 10 minutes, often without a health exam. And if you've got kids, locking in life insurance while you're young and healthy, it can mean lower rates. And workplace coverage is a good start, but it might not be enough or stay with you if you change jobs. And Fabric offers flexible term life policies designed around your family and budget. 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No store, no hassle, no subscription required. Get started today at StitchFix.com. That's StitchFix.com. And I'm right back under the newest Democrats in the House Judiciary Committee. They just released a 50-page report laying out Trump's ties to Epstein. One of the key things here is that it includes a new allegation of rape against President Trump. Or with a report claiming that Trump was an active participant in Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse of young women during the mid to late 1990s. And saying the DOJ is doing everything they can to keep the American people in the dark about it. Now, it mostly references previously released claims that there are 11 women who have tied Trump to Epstein's trafficking in some way, including five who have directly accused Trump of assault. And you have the committee saying that for the first time in this report, Beatrice Kuehl is alleging that Trump raped her in 1990. In 1993, during a pageant at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. And while this is not the first time that we've heard from Beatrice, right? She previously said that Trump groped her and claimed that Epstein used Trump's pageants to recruit women. Now, in interviews with the committee, she said that when she was 24, she met Trump at a luncheon for his American Dream pageant. Saying that in their introductory conversation, Trump promised to arrange a visa for her and to ensure her acceptance to NYU. And after meeting Trump, she says she met Epstein who said, "I'm Jeffrey, Don's best friend." And then later that day, one of Trump's representatives invited her to go upstairs to meet with him. And she did, thinking that it would be about her NYU admission. But according to the report, Trump, quote, "grabbed Kuehl from behind and forcibly raped her, in the process tearing her dress and causing bleeding and bruising on multiple parts of her body." Saying Kuehl described the rape as brutal. And after the alleged assault, Trump is said to have repeated his promises about her visa and schooling, made her a promise to keep quiet, and then said the show must go on. Though she then also claims weeks later, when she had returned to her home in Switzerland, Trump followed up about NYU and her visa, but she declined. Now, obviously, as with any allegation against Trump, there are going to be people who doubt it, who question the timing of it, who just straight up disbelieve it. And while the report does not offer any evidence to this claim beyond On their interviews, the committee says that there are multiple factors that reinforce her credibility, including the fact that multiple witnesses allege that on that same day, Trump was seemingly interested in multiple other young women. And then on top of that, the report notes that the tactic of promising an NYU education was very similar to Epstein's own modus operandi. And you've got the report claiming that Beatrice would have had little ways of knowing this when she first reported this part of her story in October of 2024, months before any public report of the connection between NYU and Epstein survivors had surfaced. And then for those that are hesitant to believe any allegation that comes this close to the midterms, you have the report also highlighting older ones as well, like the one from Jill Harth, who was one of the first women to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct. She sued him back in 1997, alleging that he sexually assaulted her in 1993 in Ivanka's bedroom during a Mar-a-Lago party. And you had Harth's former spouse claiming that even though the party was full of models, Trump and Epstein appeared to be the only two men in attendance. And you had that suit later settled, but she also claims that Trump assaulted another young model that night as well. Like I said, this report discusses five cases where women directly accused Trump of sexual assault in Epstein's presence. Because most were already in the files or other public articles, we don't need to get into the details there, though the report notes that these stories are united by time, place, and the distinct factual similarities in how Trump and Epstein pursued, manipulated, and abused these women. Saying these reports do not stand alone and they are not aberrations. Saying they are remarkably consistent with the extensive public reports of Trump's sexual misconduct at the time. So committee Democrats said that a special counsel should be appointed to investigate Trump, other potential Epstein accomplices, and the DOJ's handling of these allegations. And you had the report adding, there is reason to believe that this administration's cover-up of the Epstein files is driven, at least in part, by a desire to prevent Donald Trump's own misconduct from ever coming to light. Though in response to this, you had a White House spokesperson saying that all of these allegations presented in the report are false and claiming this was, quote, desperate attempt by crazed Democrats to distract Americans from the surging Republican momentum driven by President Trump's historic achievements. And while it's going to be very interesting to see how this proceeds forward if the Democrats take over the House, it will also be interesting to see if this has any impact on the midterms. Because again, we are so close. Early voting started in a lot of places. Of course, people can vote now. Then there's, of course, November 3rd. But one of the things we've seen is Epstein being a major topic in a lot of campaigns across the country. I mean, you've got hundreds of ads out there using the topic to mostly target Republicans. Which makes sense. I mean, Trump's actions around the Epstein files was very strange to a lot of his supporters. I knew some making campaign promises about Epstein with, for example, Robert Garcia, the Oversight Committee's top Democrat, saying, Epstein investigation is going to be one of our top priorities. Saying there has to be real accountability there and there has to be real investigation. This is one of the most bipartisan issues in the country. People are interested in this topic. People ask about it all the time. Even though it's not the general public's top issue when they're casting their ballot, reports indicate that that doesn't mean that Epstein has vanished from their minds. If we're talking about accountability, corruption, privacy, these things, they're up there. But the Epstein files of it all for a number of Republicans was kind of the first door, at least in Trump administration 2.0, where they thought, oh, he's actually a fucking liar. But time will tell soon regarding the election. And if it goes the Democrats way, all of a sudden they have the power to lead impeachment efforts and other investigations. This is going to be fascinating to watch. And then while you've got the US midterms just days away, you've got results from this international election somehow catching everyone off guard, but also giving a weird sense of deja vu. We're starting, with the unexpected, because according to official preliminary results, Lula da Silva just won his fourth term as president of Brazil over his opponent, Flavio Bolsonaro. And the reason it was unexpected is because he had to pull off an extraordinary comeback to get to this point. Lula actually came in second place earlier this month when he and Bolsonaro were forced into a runoff. He had 45% of the vote and Flavio had 47%. And Brazilian elections, which are determined purely by popular vote, require more than 50% for an outright victory. And it wasn't looking great, especially due to the global anti-incumbent sentiment and the wave of right-wing election victories you'd seen across Latin America recently. You had Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Costa Rica all seeing right-wing candidates winning presidential elections over the last 18 months. Not to mention a candidate in Brazil who came in second place in the opening round, he hasn't come back to win the election since democracy was re-established there in 1989, so nearly 40 years. And so you had very few pollsters predicting that Lula was going to get back into office. But he did it. In a matter of three weeks, Lula gained serious ground across the country and won the runoff yesterday with 51.79% of the vote, which was actually double the margin than his last victory four years ago. Except what you're saying is that his opponent, Flavio Bolsonaro, will not accept his loss with grace, or really even at all. Right at a news conference last night, Flavio just straight up refused to recognize the result and said that he was going to seek to have the entire election annulled because of a Supreme Court justice's last-minute order to extend voting by two hours. When I say last minute, I mean it, right? By the time that the announcement had come in, some polling locations had already shut down, which meant that they couldn't reopen. And so you had Flavio calling the extension a dirty trick and saying what happened today was not normal and was unacceptable. Saying that there's a lot that needs to be cleared up before Brazil simply accepts this foul play that took place in these But a huge key thing to note here is that one, yes, Lula's campaign team did request an extension about halfway through the day. Specifically, he accused public officials of deliberately slowing down public transportation in places where he won in the first round. But two, Flavio's team also requested that extension. Or you had Flavio saying that flooding and heavy rain was impacting voter turnout in places where he had strong support. And so you have that likely going to seriously undermine his petition to have the election annulled. And if all of this feels like a little deja vu, it's because we have been here before. Right back in 2022, Lula was running against Bolsonaro, who was actually Flavio's father. When Lula won that 50.9% to 49.1%, Jair also refused to concede the race and cried fraud on the voting machines. His party also challenged the laws, but when they couldn't provide any evidence to back up their claims, they were then fined. And then you actually saw Bolsonaro's supporters storming government buildings in protest to the final result. And Jair, he ended up being sentenced to 27 years in prison for organizing a coup to overturn his defeat. And that coup is said to have included plans to assassinate Lula, his running mate, and a Supreme Court justice. And then as far as Flavio Bolsonaro, he was essentially his father's successor for the party. But he ran on the promises to restore his father's conservative agenda while trying at least at first to paint himself as a little more moderate. But also, another of his big selling points for his supporters was his plan to seek amnesty for his dad and the rioters, impeach the Supreme Court justice who locked them up, overhauled the judiciary itself, and changed the Brazilian constitution. And then on the flip side, a big part of Lula's campaign was the preservation of Brazil's democracy and keeping the Bolsonaro family out of power. Because even setting aside the coup of it all, Jair Bolsonaro's time in office between 2019 and 2023, it's not just a coup. It's a coup of power. It's been called chaotic at best. He botched his country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He pursued policies that alienated minorities and even earned the nickname Captain Chainsaw because of the devastation inflicted on the environment under his watch. So that's to say he wasn't exactly winning the world's greatest president month. But as far as the younger Bolsonaro, it doesn't look like his petition is actually going to go very far. Because like I said, his campaign also requested the extension he's complaining about, but he also lost by a margin of roughly 4 million votes. So we're not looking at like a rounding error. But the real concern is like, you know, whether Flavio's refusal to concede it could spark a wave of protests like what we saw four years ago. Our faith in both the electoral system and judicial independence in Brazil, it's been strained ever since. And so there's a question of could they go through another round of like what we saw before? Plus, the big thing here is that when Lula goes back into office, he's going to be facing a conservative Congress, meaning that he might not have the backing to actually implement meaningful reforms, which then isn't actually going to inspire trust or love of the system. And then of course, there's the Trump of it all, right? He may not have outwardly endorsed Flavio, but he did endorse Jair Bolsonaro back in the day. You had him coming in hot with double digit tariffs on Brazilian goods and retaliation for Bolsonaro's prosecution. Right? And Trump, he's reportedly been reinforcing this shift to the right across Latin America with electoral endorsements, financial bailouts, and millions of dollars in military aid. And so you've got people like Kenneth Roberts, a professor of government at Cornell University saying, the U.S. is certainly putting its finger on the scale to try to help the more hardline right-wing elements in the region. So he's kind of been playing kingmaker down there. And Lula, you know, him winning, that puts a damper, we'll call it on that. Especially because Lula has openly stood up to Trump in the past. Except I will say, even with all that defiance, we'll call it, Lula is seemingly willing to negotiate with the White House. Right back in May, he made a visit to Washington to discuss trade and minerals and organized crime, which also, I guess, coincidentally undercut the Bolsonaro's claim that they were the only ones who could work with Trump. And with this, you've got experts like Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations saying, Lula is pragmatic enough to work out some kind of modus operandi with the Trump administration. Saying, I'm not sure anyone in the Trump administration beyond a few individuals will want to keep making the Bolsonaro's the central issue in the U.S.-Brazil relationship. But he knows that he needs to get stuff done and maybe working with Trump within reason is the way to do it. Then again, that may be easier said than done because it seems like Trump isn't too happy with this election, right? Even though he very much wants you to know that he personally does not endorse anyone. But as far as what happens next, we're just gonna have to keep our eyes on this and see how it plays out. And then there's even more that we got to dive into in just a minute after a quick self-promo break. Because one of the best ways you can support the show is to wear your feelings by getting something over at beautifulbastard.com. Or whether you want in on what's become a fan favorite, our latest drop, which has teas and cruise where I used to be on the honor roll, now I'm on a government watch list. Or whether you want in on what's become a fan favorite, our latest drop, which has teas and cruise where I used to be on the honor roll, now I'm on the Do not talk to me about AI and how many grams of protein will it take to restore the light in my eyes? As well as of course our now classic bestsellers like Yeah, No, I'm Fine, God is Testing Me and I Refuse to Study, A Silly Goose in This Economy, and Emotionally Exhausted. With all of that and even more now available at beautifulbastard.com. And yeah, go snag your new favorite tea, wear your feelings and support the show. But then diving back into some final stories today, did Benjamin Netanyahu try to drag the Middle East back into a war just to survive an election? Because while many of you are scoffing and going, yes, of course he did. You also now have reports coming out that he tried to restart strikes on Iran earlier this month with Israeli ministers and even Washington pumping the brakes. And reportedly even Donald Trump's administration refused to give the green light, asking Israel to hold off until the US is strategically positioned and ready for a broader campaign. And also Trump doubled down that we have to finish the job eventually. And internally it's said to have triggered chaos. You've got Israeli outlets reporting that the IDF chief of staff clashed directly with Netanyahu, warning that launching an offensive right before the vote, it could force the Knesset elections to be postponed entirely. With that sparking outrage from rivals at home and opposition figures asking the attorney general to open an inquiry, especially since it seemed like domestic Israeli politics, not military strategy, was driving Netanyahu's push for an attack. Now for his part, Netanyahu's office has blasted the reporting as total fake news and Defense Minister Katz insisted that Israel had zero intention of initiating preemptive strikes before voters head to the polls. But whether or not this was an attempt to postpone elections or drum up support for Netanyahu, it probably doesn't matter. Perceptions there, the fact that he's the type of guy that makes this situation believable is probably why his coalition is going to lose tomorrow to the more centrist bloc run by a former IDF chief. But again, polls are polls, and we'll see how the actual election turns out. And then also in the news, we've got to talk about the tech world scrambling after Microsoft sent out buyout offers to 60,000 employees. That's like one fourth of the entire company. This massive move is said to be targeting redundant roles across multiple divisions as the company's aggressively pivoting resources towards next generation infrastructure and efficiency, AKA more AI. And a key thing here is that buyouts of this scale, they're essentially unheard of, and it's a balancing act for this company. But on the one hand, they want to heavily cut down on head counts and reduce payroll in the long run. But on the other hand, just conducting a mass, layoff at this scale would be a PR nightmare. And of course, as nice as some people might see this, there is an underlying threat to everyone. If there aren't enough people that take the deal, mass layoffs are probably going to follow. And so this entire offer, it ends up being a gamble for the employees. Do they want the guaranteed money and transition support now, or do you want to kind of gamble it that your role isn't going to be the one that's redundant after the buyouts are finished? So actually many, they feel like this isn't adding up, especially as the tech space has been posting record revenue, but also the devil is in the details. While you're raking in a lot of money, it is also incredibly expensive to build out AI computers and data centers. And while companies are doing this, other departments also get squeezed for their budget. But a key part of why this is such big news is that there is a real fear that Microsoft is just the first domino and another industry-wide layoff spree that's to come. And if everyone is going to do that, where do all those workers go? And I guess that's more a problem for the people and not the companies, because usually their stock price goes up when this happens. Now, my friends, you beautiful bastards, is the end of your Monday show. Thank you for watching, like, and share, and being subscribed to these daily dives into the news. And actually we can dive further into more news right here if you check out this video. But hey, no matter what you do, let me just say, I love your faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.