In short
Breaking Points Podcast Summary: Episode 12/8/25
Episode Overview In this episode of Breaking Points hosted by Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, the hosts discuss several key topics including the apprehension of the January 6th MAGA pipe bomber, Hillary Clinton's comments on TikTok and Israel, and Sydney Sweeney's backtracking after movie flops. The episode dives into the implications of these incidents, exploring political motivations and the media's role in shaping narratives.
Key Topics Discussed
- January 6 MAGA Pipe Bomber
- Update on the Case: The FBI apprehended a suspect in connection to the pipe bombs placed near the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Democratic National Committee (DNC) on January 6, 2021.
- Motives: The suspect expressed beliefs that the 2020 election was stolen, which may indicate a motive linked to the "stop the steal" narrative.
- Media Skepticism: The hosts discuss skepticism regarding the official narrative, suggesting that if a government's claim runs counter to its interests, it may be more credible.
- Legal Implications: There’s speculation about whether the suspect could be covered under a clemency proclamation made by former President Trump, which has raised questions about the legal interpretations surrounding the case.
- Hillary Clinton's Comments on TikTok and Israel
- Context: At a Doha security conference, Clinton argued that young Americans are misinformed due to their reliance on social media for news about the Israel-Palestine conflict, with TikTok being a focal point of her critique.
- Responses: The hosts analyze her comments, arguing that they avoid addressing the complexities of U.S. support for Israel and the context of the current conflicts.
- Political Backlash: Clinton's remarks were met with criticism, particularly regarding her perceived condescension towards young Americans' understanding of global issues.
- Sydney Sweeney's Backtracking
- Public Image: After facing backlash from a previous ad campaign, Sweeney attempts to reframe her public persona by stating she does not support certain views that were associated with her brand.
- Cultural Commentary: The hosts discuss how Hollywood's changing dynamics and Sweeney's perceived alignment with right-wing audiences may have influenced her decisions, especially following underwhelming box office results for her recent films.
Key Takeaways
- Media Narratives: The discussion highlights the potential manipulation of media narratives and the importance of skepticism towards official claims, particularly in politically charged cases.
- Cultural Shifts: The hosts explore how cultural and political sentiments are shifting, particularly among younger demographics, and how public figures navigate these changes.
- Accountability in Political Discourse: There’s a broader commentary on the need for accountability and transparency from political figures, especially as public sentiment evolves.
Conclusion The episode encapsulates the intricacies of contemporary political discourse, media representation, and the evolving landscape of public opinion in the digital age. Krystal and Saagar provide a nuanced analysis of these topics, encouraging listeners to think critically about the narratives presented to them.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human 1969 Malcolm and Martin are gone America is in crisis and at Morehouse College the students make their move These students including a young Samuel L. Jackson locked up the members of the Board of Trustees including Martin Luther King Sr. It's the true story of protest and rebellion in black American history that you'll never forget I'm Hans Charles Listen to the A-Building on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:00Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or simply wherever you get your podcast.
1:30cult. NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. Mind Games, a new podcast exploring NLP, aka neurolinguistic programming. Is it a self-help miracle, a shady hypnosis scam, or both? Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, Sagar and Crystal here. Independent media just played a truly massive role in this election, and we are so excited about what that means for the future of this show. This is the only place where you can find honest perspectives from the left and the right that simply does not exist anywhere else. So if that is something that's important to you, please go to breakingpoints.com, become a member today, and you'll get access to our full shows, unedited, ad-free, and all put together for you every morning in your inbox.
2:16We need your help to build the future of independent news media, and we hope to see you at breakingpoints.com.
2:24all right let's go ahead and move on to these updates with regard to the pipe bombing suspect who has now been apprehended by the fbi so you guys covered this on friday but there were some updates that happened on friday that we wanted to make sure to get in here as well so let's put d1 up on the screen and you guys probably know this like this pipe bomber has been a real fixation on the right and i understand why because it's like okay this was a serious act like pipe bombs were placed outside the rnc and the dnc and this just never we just never solved this case like really in this age of mass surveillance we can never freaking figure this out oh what is going on here yeah on capitol hill and kamala harris was going in the dnc and we never figured this out yep so in any case they apprehend this guy and um the initial thing that was put out is he was an anarchist.
3:17Okay, well, now they're saying during interviews with the FBI, the suspect told investigators he believed the 2020 election was stolen, providing perhaps the first indication of a possible motive for the bombs placed near the DNC and the RNC headquarters. So basically, it looks according to this interview in this report, that he was a stop the steal guy. And the reason I give this credence is because this is not what like a Kash Patel FBI would want him to say that his motive is, right? And that's why I think when the government or any source says something that is sort of against their interests, you can give it more credence.
3:55Not to say you shouldn't be still skeptical of the narrative, whatever. That's like your responsibility to ask questions and question the government, especially when they're making claims. But if it's a claim that goes against their partisan ideological interests, I do think that that is worth giving more credence than something that just like fits really neatly with what they would want this narrative to be. So anyway, apparently they brought this guy in and Pirro, Janine Pirro is saying like, oh, he was an equal opportunity, hated both parties. That may also be the case. But in any case, he at least bought into these stop the steal narratives.
4:28Yeah, the story is deeply weird. And I have all kinds of skepticism about the story, period. But just on this note, Ken Delanian right away, who is very tethered to kind of like deep state, for lack of a better word, people who are like careers at the FBI. Oh, yeah. He's I forget who called him Fusion Ken, but that's because he was reporting so much on the Fusion GPS stuff. Maybe that's a Glenn Greenwaldism back in the Russia collusion days. But he reported right away before the suspect was named. But when we knew that there had been an arrest that he had, quote, anarchist leaning anarchist leanings.
5:05And that was sourced to two people with knowledge. And now Cash Patel and Dan Bongino are getting asked about all of this. They're getting asked about the fact that this guy worked for his dad's bail bond company that worked with Benjamin Crump, a very ideological attorney from the left as they were bailing out immigrants in jail. And they're not going much further. And now we get this, that he's also stopped to steal. And Patel and Bongino are kind of punting on it and saying we don't want to interfere in the legal process. So I think Bongino has said this is chapter one of a 10 to 20 chapter book.
5:42And so just over the last five days, everyone's like, well, so what's what's actually going on right now? Like, what is what is actually happening with Brian Cole, who was discovered seemingly out of nowhere with information that Patel and Bongino said existed at the FBI for years? And if you read through the affidavit, they're essentially connecting the dots between phone records, license plates records, purchases, hardware purchases. So pipe end caps, things that are really specific, wires, that sort of thing. Also, though, that were bought after January 6th. So the affidavit lists out all of these purchases, a couple of them, that go into January, late January after January 6th.
6:27So it's a very, very strange, the entire story right now is strange. And it could be cleared up fairly quickly if the FBI opens up and explains some of these inconsistencies and just question marks. But right now, I mean, there's just such a vacuum of clear explanations. It's like, what the hell is this story supposed to be? Yeah. Well, and if we think about a motive and why it would make sense if you're a stop the steal person to, you know, plan a bomb both at the DNC and the RNC. Like the DNC part. OK, that's obvious. Right. You're, you know, you're mad that the election was stolen. You think they were complicit, whatever.
7:04But I mean, there was a lot of upset, too, at the mainstream Republican Party in a sense that like they weren't doing enough to go along with, you know, to just, quote unquote, stop this deal and to go along with Trump's election lies and delusions. So it's it does make a level of sense that if that is your motivation, you would be going after both the DNC and the RNC and just generally looking to cause fear and chaos on that particular day. Another, I don't know if you could call it funny, but whatever you want to call this, ironic. Yeah, we'll call it amusing. Put D2 up on the screen. Element of this is it's possible that with Trump's very broad pardoning of the J6 rioters that he may have accidentally also pardoned this guy.
7:56So this says Mr. Trump in one of his first official acts after returning to the White House this year issued a grant of clemency. to the nearly 1 ,600 rioters charging connection with the Capitol attack, his clemency proclamation was extraordinarily broad, covering all defendants accused or convicted of, quote, offenses related to events that occurred at or near the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. At or near. It is possible defense lawyers will ultimately try to argue that the placing of the pipe bomb should also be covered by Mr. Trump's proclamation. I'm not a lawyer, but I mean, it seems like they could definitely make that case because offenses related to, I mean, it was certainly related to the events.
8:39It certainly occurred at or near the U.S. Capitol. It was on January 6th. So I don't know. I mean, maybe technically, did he actually place the bombs on January 5th? Yes, but I think that might still be covered because it's at or near. I mean, they were discovered on January 6th with timers that I bet are going to be argued. I mean, that's another very strange part of this. It looks like one hour. I mean, if people haven't seen the pictures of the bomb, I keep telling everybody of the pipe bombs. I keep telling people to Google them because they are the most cartoonish looking, like Looney Tunes ass devices where they have kitchen timers strapped, like literal oven timers strapped to these pipes and with like the wires on the outside and all of that.
9:20And so these look like one-hour timers. So are the timers being controlled remotely to detonate on January 6th? That could be a pretty crucial question because if the administration wants to put screws to this guy, they're going to want to say that these devices were created, were viable, we've already seen them hinting at that, for January 6th. So it might not be wiggle room on the date, actually, if the date is the problem, because it seems like what they're trying to insist is that January 6th, these were intended to disrupt the process. Yeah. So I don't know. That's an interesting one. We'll definitely continue to follow those developments.
9:59Emily, can you talk a little bit about some of the theories that have been percolating on the right and how the right is responding to these developments? Yeah, let's put D3 on the screen. So this is from an account called at 459 crimes. And this is where you're definitely starting to see the like anti deep state right split into two. So on the one hand, you have people like Julie Kelly, who have covered this story really closely from the MAGA perspective for a long time. And do does seem to think that Cash and Dan have the right guy. Then, on the other hand, you have some of the more skeptical folks.
10:33I mean, Thomas Massey has already insisted he's not buying the story. This thread that we have up on the screen now, it's called The Five-Year Fuse. It's not even this thread. It's a published article on X. You can do that now. Very long. That casts doubt on the official story that Brian Cole is the man in question. and Kyle Serafin, others still seem to be pretty set on the idea, actually, that the person the blaze named and then retracted the report about, this is D4, we can go ahead and put this up on the screen. Some people seem to be still pretty serious about, and this was in the 459 article we just had on the screen too, that the person the blaze named and then retracted the article naming them, that that person was or is still, in their opinion, the likelier suspect and that Cole is a patsy.
11:26So that's where this is going. I don't know. I mean, Crystal, I honestly am trying to reserve my judgment in this entire case because the FBI is continuing to say they don't want to interfere in the legal process. They don't want to taint jury pools or whatever and isn't giving us a lot of information about what's actually going on. It sounds like Cole is cooperating uh patel and bongino have said they've talked to him they've interviewed him they're they're so sure that he's the right guy i mean the what i soft theory um i think somebody definitely planted that story with the blaze because i've gone back and read it a couple of times um and i i mean to say somebody within the government it seems to me planted that story with the blaze which is a really weird thing to do uh obviously to name a specific person right who also So, by the way, it had FBI outside the house next to their house when the blaze was scoping out the house before the reporting, which, again, just it could mean a million different things.
12:24But it does seem to me that there's something very fishy happening with some faction of people, whether it's at the FBI or elsewhere, who were trying to deflect, divert or pin this person, knowing that another person was about to be found. It could be the like tickling the wire approach where they dangled that to the blaze to see how Brian Cole reacted because the story of the blaze story popped right when they said they had a break in the case. So four to five weeks ago, the timeline matches up exactly. So maybe they were trying to plant a story in the media to see how Brian Cole would react.
13:00No idea. But there's something really strange happening with this story. And I don't know what it is. I don't want to speculate recklessly. but I think clearly if you go back and look at the blazes sourcing they had people in the government pointing them in the direction of this person at the CIA who they've retracted the claim about so weird shit well I never put a lot of stock in that even though you know I've been following this pipe bomber thing as well because it's genuinely like well what happened with that that was a significant event and then it just never got resolved and so I read the blazes thing and I didn't put much stock in it because it was like based on like oh a gate analysis like her gate and like this seems like bullshit like I'm gonna wait on this one and see what transpires but they did have to your point they claimed to have sources from inside the administration that were also saying oh this is the the lady which is part of why when they were challenged on it they were so like no we stand by our reporting they were very adamant there's also weird tie with like Tulsi Gabbard in the office.
14:02Yes, the DNI. Yeah, the DNI, where they either, I don't know if they originated this or they wrote up, it was very unclear from the reporting. They just wrote this up, the blazes information as like a tip. But in any case, what I definitely got out of it is that she and her whole team are very much on the outs. Apparently they pissed people off too because they were looking into the Tyler Robinson investigation to see if there was anything else there that was being missed. I think there was another instance, too, where they, you know, stuck their noses in on the way the rest of the administration was not happy with.
14:35But what did you make of that that Tulsi Gabbard piece? Yes. So it's very weird. What seems to be the case for media reports, the claim at least, is that the blaze went to the government and maybe the blaze got a tip from inside the DNI. Like that's how circular these stupid intelligence leaks can happen sometimes. But went to the ODNI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, with this idea that it was this person, again, they've retracted the claim, that currently works at the CIA in security, at the time was in Capitol Police. And from there, the blaze then, because the DNI wrote the memo up, the blaze then was able to report the story because they reported on the DNI memo, which gives you a hook to say this is something that exists in the government.
15:20It's not just crazy speculation. Right. Right. It's a government memo. But that could have been circular. It could have been them putting it to the DNI. The DNI writes up a memo. Then they're able to report on, oh, there's a memo at the DNI. So this gives us more credence. And it can get even crazier than that. Meaning, okay, so this person who, again, the claim was retracted about, works at the CIA, worked in Capitol Police. FBI has been doing this investigation. This is the office of the DNI. Did another agency. Plant it with the blaze. the blaze goes to dni the memo gets written up and because dni is desperate to uh also look like it's solving moving uh you know and getting to the bottom of a big maga case something that maga is really concerned about they write up the memo blaze reports on the memo and they were played but like a fiddle by fbi cia or someone else um this stuff like sounds crazy but it does actually happen a lot of this happened with russia collusion so there's something is really off about this story.
16:21Maybe it'll all be cleared up. But so far, it's extremely weird. And I think people moving on entirely from the Blaze story are probably missing a hint as to how the, like, deep state was handling this investigation before Cole was arrested. Yeah. Well, you know, I was sort of skeptical when the initial announcement about Cole came out. Yeah. Yeah. We should say that in terms of the evidence they're claiming to have against him, there are, my understanding, three components from what I was reading in the indictment. So You've got the assembling of all these parts, right, the constituent elements of the pipe bombs themselves.
16:56Then you have his vehicle is, you know, in the vicinity at the right time. And then you have cell phone pinging in the relevant towers at the appropriate points as well. And then I think there's also, like, you know, a stature analysis. He is, I think, five foot six. the person that's roughly the same, which is why it was credible that maybe it's a woman because it's a relatively small stature person. So those things all fit. And I think there may be some other, you know, pieces, but those are the big pieces. Okay. I mean, that's pretty significant in terms of a, you know, an evidentiary footprint.
17:30I became more convinced that this was the guy when he told interviewers, oh, I was, you know, I didn't believe the Trump election claims. Because like I said, that goes very much against what they want the storyline to be. So if you have a suspect that you are claiming to have this evidence on and you have a motive that isn't really the motive that they were hoping for here, that to me made it more credible that this is, in fact, the individual. because if they were going to set it up and like, you know, blame some person who's just a patsy and innocent, whatever, that is not necessarily the storyline that they would want to go with, because the whole point is to satisfy MAGA here.
18:11And MAGA is definitely not going to be satisfied with someone who did this basically to avenge President Trump and to buy into his claims that the election was stolen, that this was a great crime against the American people. And I also think we should be open to the possibility. So his grandmother has already come out in the press and this just hurts to hear this type of thing and said that she thinks he's on the spectrum. Yeah. So I think I'm also open to the possibility that what we're seeing is a disgusting possibly. I'm not saying this for sure, but possibly exploitation. It's very easy, well, relatively easy to get people on the spectrum to commit to crimes that they didn't do and confessions.
18:50This is a documented phenomena. And so it's possible that there's something going on with that, too. I do not know. Keeping it open to that. Also, Crystal, just want to mention the big picture, I think always worth keeping in mind, which is that the implication of a lot of the conspiracy theories, and I don't say that pejoratively because, again, I'm kind of open to the idea that there's something weird going on with this. But the implication is that the FBI, under Trump, by the way, had some role in whipping up the violence on January 6th. That, you know, either resources were diverted over to the RNC and the DNC at a critical time.
19:32That is actually true. Or that in a way that let security sort of fall apart and people run into the Capitol and create a pretext for mass surveillance of MAGA, et cetera. or that this could have possibly been these these could have been viable bombs that you know the fbi was planting not even just as a setup but to do real damage and violence and that sort of thing just worth saying again yes there were fbi assets um at january 6 true there are a whole lot of because like half of the oath keepers are fed 100 boys and whatever like all of these all of These organizations are top to bottom chock full of feds.
20:14Yep. I'm reading from the Office of the Inspector General for Justice Department right now. 26 FBI confidential human sources were in Washington, D.C. on January 6th in connection with the events of January 6th. This is from Michael Horowitz. So, yes, that did happen. A lot of another important point is a lot of regular MAGA people were caught up on January 6th. Saw it with my own eyes. It was a lot of people who have since come and said, talked about how they got caught up in violence and other. Now, that's not everyone, but some people really did. And there were, you know, average MAGA folks who got caught up and did awful, horrible things on January 6th.
20:54And again, they've since talked about it. So the Fed surrection, quote, Fed surrection narrative, to the extent this pipe bomb thing could play into it. I'm open to the idea that these were planted as some type of op. But I also just want to say, like, that was not just a quote Fed's direction. There were a lot of regular people who got caught up in it. And I think it, I think it diminishes the, the sort of lessons from January 6, in a way that I think people should be brutally honest about to pretend that it was all I mean, And some of it, I'm curious if it was whipped up by feds. I think that's essential information we don't have.
21:33And I think that's probably possible. But at the same time, there are a lot of average people who got caught up in this. And that's I don't think it's I don't think it's worth whitewashing that either. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, from the left, my perspective is that you I mean, it's without a doubt you had all these fed informants and assets within a bunch of these organizations who would have been privy to some of the planning. And but but many of those people were also sympathetic to the right wing causes, like even as their fed assets, they're also genuinely sympathetic to right wing causes.
22:07And so I think there was a downplaying of the risk, even as they were getting intel in, that this would turn into the violent, chaotic, you know, disaster that it ended up being. So that's always been my interest in understanding, you know, what they knew and when and how many fed like human intel sources were involved and were privy to the planning. And if they were there, then why wasn't why weren't the Capitol Police more prepared? Why weren't there more precautions taken on that day? So, you know, there's there's that aspect to it as well. But in terms of the pipe bomb thing, we'll see where it goes.
22:48We'll see what other evidence they're able to offer. You should always be skeptical of government claims. But like I said before, the fact it does not fit the narrative they would want it to, to me, gave it more credence than, you know, than if it was just like very neatly like, yeah, oh, he was he was anti he was actually trans Tifa. I'd be like he wrote it on the pipe bombs that he was trans Tifa. I'd be like, hmm, gonna I'm going to let's let's see some more evidence on that one. The bottom line on this is that they need to tell the full story ASAP. I get not wanting to intervene in the legal process.
23:24And I mean, we've seen our government rush to do dumb stuff over and over again for public relations purposes. But the story is is quite odd. So the more information, the better. Somebody hates the blaze, apparently. Or, yeah, yeah. I mean, somebody was trying to... Somebody hates the blaze and, you know, really screwed them over. Because they look... I mean, it's humiliating for them that they directly accused this one woman and who had, like, a very easy alibi. Like, here's a video of me playing with puppies on that day. I guess it wasn't. Well, that, I think, is also... Clearly was not me. Sorry, but, like, that's another part of the story to me that I'm just like, what the...
23:59they, this, you name a person who has this, who works at the CIA and has a literal video at the exact time of the bomb plant being planted of her with her dog. Yeah. What the, like, it's a, it's a lot. They're asking us so far by not filling in the gaps, they're asking us to believe a lot. So, uh, Hey, I'm open to it. Want to see the information. It's a crazy story. Yeah. I want to know who's out to get the blaze administration. One of the, what I think one of the benefits of the last like 10 plus years is the right developing this deep skepticism of the like intelligence agencies, the intelligence community, which seems to be like not unsurprisingly lapsing as they have retaken the intelligence community.
24:40But I feel like this is just a great surprising, not, I mean, this is a great reminder of why that skepticism, those seeds were planted during Trump one that should be continuing to blossom into like permanent skepticism of these agencies. Welcome to the A-Building. I'm Hans Charles. I'm Menelik Lumumba. It's 1969. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. have both been assassinated, and Black America was out of breaking point. Rioting and protests broke out on an unprecedented scale. In Atlanta, Georgia, at Martin's alma mater, Morehouse College, the students had their own protest. It featured two prominent figures in Black history, Martin Luther King Sr.
25:23and a young student, Samuel L. Jackson. To be in what we really thought was a revolution. I mean, people were dying. 1968, the murder of Dr. King, which traumatized everyone. The FBI had a role in the murder of a Black Panther leader in Chicago. This story is about protest. It echoes in today's world far more than it should. And it will blow your mind. Listen to The A Building on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. What if mind control is real? If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have? Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car?
26:06When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings. Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. NLP, aka Neuro Linguistic Programming, is a blend of hypnosis, linguistics, and psychology. Fans say it's like finally getting a user manual for your brain. It's about engineering consciousness. Mind Games is the story of NLP, its crazy cast of disciples, and the fake doctor who invented it at a New Age commune and sold it to guys in suits.
26:45He stood trial for murder and got acquitted. The biggest mind game of all? NLP might actually work. This is wild. Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. On a recent episode, I sat down with Nick Jonas, singer, songwriter, actor, and global superstar. The thing I would say to my younger self is congratulations, you get to marry Priyanka Chopra Jonas. and also you know your daughter's incredible that's beautiful man yeah thank you that's so beautiful i can see that got you a little yeah for sure our daughter she came to the world under sort of very intense circumstances which i've not really talked about ever growing up on disney in front of million how did that shape your sense of self i went blank i hit a bad note and then I couldn't kind of recover.
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27:43And I built up this idea that music and being a musician was my whole identity. I had to sort of relearn who I was if you took this thing away. Who am I? Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, should we check in with our friend Hillary Clinton here? Why would we not? So what was this conference? Was that some like a Doha security conference? Security conference. Tucker Carlson was also there for reasons I don't really know. But in any case. Oh, the Global Security Forum in Doha. OK, so she's reemerging. The Doha Forum.
28:24OK, sorry. Doha Forum. She has reemerged because she wants us all to know that we just don't understand the what's going on with Israel, Palestine, and that the real problem is not Israel murdering, mass murdering babies with our support. The real problem is TikTok. So she said this. We covered it last week. Now she was sort of questioned, more aggressively questioned on these comments and asked to defend them, which she did. Let's take a listen to that. I want to talk about you now. You've been in the news this past week for some comments you made at an event in New York organized by the newspaper Israel Hayam.
28:59And I'm going to paraphrase here, but you said that smart, well-educated young Americans are getting their news from social media and from TikTok. And you went on to say that this is how they're learning about what happened on October 7th and then what happened in Gaza in the months that followed. And it appears that this was a broader lament on your part about declining support among Americans for Israel. That comment has generated a lot of controversy, and it's led Congressman Ro Khanna, for example, to point out that I don't think the answer is to disparage the intelligence of young people.
29:35It's been a few days now since you've said that. How are you reflecting on your words and the controversy around it? Well, I think it is a provable fact that most Americans and an even bigger percentage of young Americans get their news from social media. If that is controversial, then people are not paying attention to how... Is that a bad thing? I don't know if it's a bad thing, but I think it's an incomplete... We are not going to implement the 20-point peace plan or any other peace plan unless people come with some sense of historical perspective and empathy about how we're going to move people toward what I still believe is the only realistic outcome, a two-state solution.
30:24And we're not going to get there. If people, you know, when they say from the river to the sea, and you say what river and what sea, and they don't know, which has personally happened in conversations that I've had. And I can't gauge how well young people grapple with history, but what I can speak to is they're grappling with the here and now. And they are witnessing images that are live-streamed, that are coming out every day. you know, and yes, there is misinformation and disinformation, but a lot of it is real. And I think there's a genuine anger in the United States and around the world that some of that anger is deflected.
31:02But Ravi, I'm angry about all of the human rights abuses. I'm angry about all of the excessive use of force. I'm angry about, you know, what happened on October 7th in Israel and what happened in Gaza. I'm angry about what Russia's doing in Ukraine. I'm angry about Sudan. I'm angry about the Eastern Congo. I mean, I think we should be all looking at the tragedies and the conflicts that are bringing about so much suffering and be dealing with them. That's why the national security strategy is not to my liking, because I think the United States has an important role in trying to resolve these conflicts and alleviate the suffering and give people a chance to have peaceful, prosperous lives.
31:50That should be our goal. That is in America's interest. I don't care where in the world you are. So, of course, the suffering in Gaza is horrific. Full stop. Suffering everywhere is horrific. Suffering everywhere is horrific. And I mean, she uses a lot of tactics there that we've seen deployed before. I mean, first of all, just suffering in Gaza, no attribution of blame, of course, no attribution of blame on the United States, no attribution of blame on Israel's if this is just like a natural disaster that occurred. And oh, my gosh, these poor children, if only someone would do something. But no direct assignment of blame.
32:31That's one thing. And then the other one of, well, suffering everywhere is horrific. with the suggestion, the suggestion always, the subtext there always is that, well, you only care about this one because you're anti-Semitic is basically the subtext there. And if you aren't as focused on other suffering, other places in the world, it can only be because you're anti-Semitic and also an attempt to just sort of like diffuse and deflect of like, well, of course I care about that, but I care about other things as well. So let's talk about those other things and not so much talk about this one. So classic sort of liberal Zionist, I would say, deflection tactics, not to mention the original assertion from her in the original comments and reasserted here as well that, well, it's just complicated and you just don't really understand.
33:17Yeah. Well, I mean, there's a little bit of an irony here in that people who make the argument Clinton was just laying out about this being rooted in anti-Semitism and the tell being that people are obsessed with this particular conflict. You know, people right now are who make that argument are very upset about this forum being in Doha and Tucker Carlson going and all of these other people taking money from Qatar, the United States, supporting Qatar. Why? Well, because the United States is involved with Qatar. That is the same reason that people are upset, particularly about Israel-Palestine.
33:57It's that they don't like, they believe as Americans, they have a responsibility to, they have an obligation to follow this particular conflict so closely because it is so heavily dependent on U.S. involvement. A fifth of of Israel's annual military budget. That might even be an understatement. You know, the permission structure that Netanyahu was reliant on, whether it was Biden or Trump, to continue prosecuting the war, like that is the reason for the level of attention. And I remember, you know, obviously as somebody who is Christian, the treatment of Christians in Nigeria is like horrifying to me.
34:38But a lot of times that is used by people on the right to say, see the anti-Semites, they don't care what's happening to the Christians in Nigeria. It's like a couple of months ago, I was like, all right, I'm looking it up. I'm going to see how much money, how much aid is in one place versus the other. It's not even close. I mean, in terms of like percentage of, even if you look at percentage of annual budgets, what does USAID constitute? So it's obvious. I mean, it's just, it's that line drives me up a wall because of course it's true that some anti-semites are completely obsessed with Israel and will find any reason to criticize Israel at every turn because they're anti-semitic.
35:17Of course that's true. But to impugn the motives of people who care about this particular conflict because the U.S. has a heavy level of involvement, it's the same reason people make the arguments about I mean, it's just Ukraine. Like, it's just all it's it's it's sophistry dressed up as sophistication. By the way, the guy who was doing that interview, I was like, wow, I need to look up who that was because it was really well handled. That was Ravi Agrawal of Foreign Policy. I was actually just on his podcast and his voice was familiar. I was like, oh, that is fantastic job sticking it to her and saying this is different than what you're saying it is.
35:58You said one thing. I mean, even asking her about that, I thought was pretty bold because she's the type of person that is now seen as like a August states woman. Yeah, sort of unimpeachable character. Yeah. Right. Right. And people use these opportunities to sort of fawn over her. Yes. And very deferential. Yeah. So I thought that was actually really impressive. You know, what I've witnessed, too, is, I mean, first of all, to your point, there is just no other country that we have a comparable relationship to as Israel. No. Like, there is just no other country. That is part of what makes the Somali memes so funny.
36:33Yes. Right? It's because their posture, like, they have all this influence, all this money behind them and a pact. Of course they don't, right? I mean, not nearly on the scale. If they do, nothing like the scale of what Israel has in terms of their influence operation here, in terms of what has been lockstep bipartisan support for decades that is only now coming unraveled. And so there's just nothing comparable that you could point to of another country that has similar level of influence, similar type relationship as we do with this one nation. So that's one thing, too. But, you know, I'll tell you, as someone on the left, what I've witnessed is as people have had their eyes open to our malign influence in terms of, you know, the horrors that are being perpetrated in Gaza, it has made them more open to, OK, well, what is what's going on in Sudan?
37:19in because, you know, with with RSF and this horrific massacres that they're perpetrating and we aren't the ones directly sending those bombs. But our ally, the UAE, is backing them. And we are certainly in a position to put pressure on them to end their support of RSF. We are certainly in a position to use our influence there. And so what I've witnessed isn't that people are like, oh, I only care about Gaza, the exclusion of everything else. In fact, what I've witnessed is people sort of that being one area where they go in really deep and that opens their eyes to other ways that we're impacting events around the world.
37:58And yes, other horrors that are being perpetrated as well. And to sort of expand their horizons rather than narrowing their focus just to this one place. I mean, of course, it wasn't anti-Semitism that made people mad about what was happening in Nicaragua and El Salvador. door, it was U.S. support, right? Like in the 1980s, it was U.S. support, 70s, the 80s. It was literally the very obvious issue of U.S. support for backing death squads, all that sort of thing. And again, that is, I think as far as I can tell, it's a pretty similar side by side of people who were furious at this, at the U.S., not because they really, in every case, it wasn't that people were sympathetic to the Sandinistas.
38:43They were like average Americans. Congress said that we could no longer fund it because average Americans were like, hey, this is pretty bad. Like, you know, there are priests that are being killed by people using U.S. weapons and U.S. money and getting U.S. backing. So it wasn't just like Sandinista sympathists who were like upset about that. It was people who were upset about cruelty backed by U.S. support. Yeah, that didn't want US support. Their tax dollars going to that evil. Yes. And so argue against the actual argument. Stop making shit up. It's not helping anyone. What about this? What about that?
39:18You don't get it. It's complicated. The problem's TikTok. Like, all of this, it just feels so tired at this point. I know. Too. And out of touch. At this late date. So on a touch. So tired. And just really quite pathetic. I mean, I think the biggest thing is, you know, Hillary Clinton is not a person without knowledge and skill. who's been in the political arena for a lot of years at this point. And for this to be the best that she can do on behalf of the Zionist cause, I think shows you how much all of their arguments have just been thoroughly discredited and thoroughly destroyed. And that's why you see, you know, within the Democratic Party, support for Israel, I mean, it's dead.
40:01It's done. It's over. And you're going to see that you're already seeing this playing out in a lot of Democratic primaries right now. It is an earthquake within the Democratic Party. It's an earthquake among young people in a really bipartisan manner. Well, I was just gonna say, I mean, Hillary Clinton is like seen as a leading figure in the Democratic Party, not without reason. I mean, she's the presidential nominee 10 years ago. And she is so like clearly out of touch with where the party is. I mean, has she talked to a significant number of young Democrats? because she's calling them anti-Semitic right here.
40:37Like she's calling them anti-Semitic or stupid. And stupid. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just such a giant cope rather than actually grappling with, it's not making the situation any easier at all. It's like how Republicans use, we were talking about this earlier in the show, Obamacare to not cope with healthcare problems. Like people actually want a better healthcare system. You can't just keep saying repeal Obamacare, repeal Obamacare. You have to actually deal with their argument. Mainstream Democrats are used to these sorts of arguments coming at them from like a fringe group. And his her husband, Code Pink.
41:12Yeah, her husband, you know, really like pioneered the strategy of like punching left. Right. And using that as a way to bolster his credibility. And they just have this instinct for always doing that. And they haven't realized the way or she hasn't anyway, realized the way the ground has shifted where it's like, no, this isn't just you know, this isn't just Bernie supporters or Bernie bros or fringe left. or Democratic. So it's like, this is the entire Democratic Party at this point that agrees with this position. And you are in line with maybe like 10 % of where the Democratic Party base is at this point.
41:48So when you're punching left right now, you're punching like 90 % of the party. Another good example of why that Agrawal question was important, because if people don't publicly push her on that, she doesn't even know. I mean, like she just attributes it all to anti-Semitism. Right. And TikTok. Or idiocy. Right. When you have like the editor-in-chief of foreign policy doing it on stage and it's going to go viral. Yeah. It's very patronizing. Yeah. You have to cope with that. Welcome to the A-Building. I'm Hans Charles. I'm Menelik Lumumba. It's 1969. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. have both been assassinated.
42:22And Black America is at a breaking point. Rioting and protests broke out on an unprecedented scale. In Atlanta, Georgia, at Martin's alma mater, Morehouse College, the students had their own protest. It featured two prominent figures in black history, Martin Luther King Sr. and a young student, Samuel L. Jackson. To be in what we really thought was a revolution, I mean, people were dying. 1968, the murder of Dr. King, which traumatized everyone. The FBI had a role in the murder of a Black Panther leader in Chicago. This story is about protest. It echoes in today's world far more than it should.
43:04And it will blow your mind. Listen to The A-Building on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What if mind control is real? If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have? Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car? When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings. Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. NLP, aka Neuro Linguistic Programming, is a blend of hypnosis, linguistics, and psychology.
43:45Fans say it's like finally getting a user manual for your brain. It's about engineering consciousness. Mind Games is the story of NLP. It's crazy cast of disciples and the fake doctor who invented it at a New Age commune and sold it to guys in suits. He stood trial for murder and got acquitted. The biggest mind game of all? NLP might actually work. This is wild. Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. On a recent episode, I sat down with Nick Jonas, singer, songwriter, actor, and global superstar.
44:26The thing I would say to my younger self is congratulations. You get to marry Priyanka Chopra Jonas. And also, you know, your daughter's incredible. That's beautiful, man. Yeah. Thank you. That's so beautiful. I can see that got you a little... Yeah, for sure. Our daughter, she came to the world under sort of very intense circumstances, which I've not really talked about ever. Growing up on Disney in front of a million, how did that shape your sense of self? I went blank, I hit a bad note, then I couldn't kind of recover. And I built up this idea that music and being a musician was my whole identity.
45:05I had to sort of relearn who I was if you took this thing away. Who am I? Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, shall we get to Sidney Sweeney here? Of course. Excited about this. Let's put F3 up on the screen, and then we'll get to what is actually a bigger story, but the Sidney Sweeney one we're going to start with because it's more fun. In any case, so you - We're going to use Sidney Sweeney to talk about antitrust. Yeah, that's right. That's right. And Tim Dillon, I made that connection earlier as well with the vibe shift.
45:37Yes. Okay. So you guys will remember she did this interview. Who was, what was the outlet? It was like GQ, right? That she sat down with. The recent one. This interview that went super viral, especially on the right. Cause she got asked about the eugenics adjacent nature of the American Eagle ad that she cut. and she said at that point she was like when I have something to say on an issue you'll hear from me and sort of like shut her down in that moment so I was like oh this is amazing blah blah okay then her movie that came out totally bombed at the box office the one about a like queer boxer that she put on a bunch of weight for it was very sort of like artsy film haven't seen I don't know if it was good or bad but I know it did very poorly at the box office so in any case Now she's talking to People magazine and her tone is a little bit different here, Emily.
46:29She says, I was honestly surprised by the reaction. I did it because I love the jeans and love the brand. I don't support the views. Some people chose to connect to the campaign, me being one of those people. Many have assigned motives and labels to me that just aren't true. So she keeps it vague, right? She doesn't directly disavow eugenics or MAGA or white nationalism or any of that, any of the sort of broad groups that have embraced her. She doesn't directly disavow them, but clearly very different tone being struck here and her wanting to sort of clean up what I guess she and her PR team. Because all these actors, you really shouldn't think of them as individual people.
47:15You should think of them as a whole team and a brand. And it's a business. It's a corporation. It's Sydney Sweeney Inc. Exactly. And so clearly Sydney Sweeney Inc. decided that this direction was not going all that particularly well for her. And there needed to be a recalibration. It's so funny because this is given as a statement to People Magazine. Yes. Right. So it's not like she put this on Instagram or anything. This is a complete, like, why does it sound like it's not Sydney Sweeney? Because it's not Sydney Sweeney. This was some workshop PR, yeah, statement. She goes on to say, this might even be ChatGPT.
47:48Anyone who knows me knows that I'm trying to bring people together. I'm against hate and divisiveness. In the past, my stance has been to never respond to negative or positive press. But recently, I have come to realize that my silence regarding this issue has only widened the divide, not closed it. Any M dashes in there? Not yet. Yeah, actually not at all. Then she goes, so I hope this new year brings more focus on what connects us instead of what divides us. I mean, come on, a statement to People magazine. Yeah, it's pretty funny. I don't even know. Like if this were in politics, you know, you wouldn't run with this statement as news because it's so it's such a PR.
48:23It's like running a press release for Sidney Sweeney, basically, to just go with this as a, quote, exclusive, which is what People magazine did. I get it. It's entertainment news. But yes, clearly somebody on the team was like Sidney Sweeney with Gen Z, which is true. Gen Z girls are kind of her should be, I would imagine her target demo. But I don't think they are. Well, I mean, I'm sure it's men, but like for selling jeans, you would want if your value to American Eagle is that you're selling women's jeans. And so she wants to keep getting deals like the American Eagle one. She has to have some appeal with younger women and younger women are like liberal, like increasingly liberal.
49:05They're going to side with Zendaya in that fight. Oh my gosh. 10 times out of 10. Yeah. No, like I literally was just writing a piece about this. Like young women are, they're accelerating to the left. And so the vibe shift did not come for young women. The vibe shift came for young men, not young women. And so clearly Sydney Sweeney's team's like, and I wonder actually if this is influenced at all by American Eagle, middle of Christmas season, Christmas shopping season, people should be asking for their American Eagle jeans. I definitely got American Eagle jeans for Christmas like 20 years ago.
49:36So So I wonder if it has something to do with American Eagle sales, too. Could be. Could be. I mean, I am curious what kind of factored into this. And, you know, I mean, in terms of her personal views, it almost doesn't really matter. Like she did. She registered as a Republican in Florida. So we know she has. And recently. So like during, you know, Trump 2.0 and MAGA and the vibe shift and whatever, she registers as a Republican in Florida, which is a choice. So, you know, I mean, think we have a general sense of what her political leanings are. She comes from a conservative family, whatever.
50:09I do not buy that she and her whole team, because, again, we're not just talking about Sidney Sweeney. We're talking about a whole team that they did not realize what they were flirting with in that American Eagle ad. I think they knew. I think they were fully in with the vibe shift, thought she could be a sort of pinup for the right and and was, by the way, and already was occupying that space. So they thought, OK, this is a good way to lean into this. This is where the culture is going. This will help us. Like, this is where we are now. And so we're going to play with these concepts that are in the air that are a little edgy and controversial for fun and profit.
50:42And so she did that and, you know, thought that that was like the lane for her to occupy up until recently when you have you have a political vibe shift, which is why I connected to Tim Dillon and his comments. You have a very clear political vibe shift. whatever vibe shift young men had been caught up that in that is also dissipated. I mean, the numbers for Trump among young men are almost as devastating as they are among young women. Although on cultural issues, young men are still like attracted to certain things that young women aren't like certain cultural questions. Um, they're still more liberal than every other generation.
51:20They absolutely are. Just meaning that there's a gulf culturally between young men and young women, like young men have, have different opinions on like, uh, trans, immigration, like they tend to still be polarized from women on those. Maybe the case. But in terms of affirmative support for MAGA, that's totally different. Dead and gone. Right. And if you're doing an American Eagle, I mean, she really created a brand that wasn't really pitching herself to young women. It really was leaning hard into the male gaze. The problem with that is, number one, there's no loyalty there. Right. The minute you put on some weight and do an artsy film, they're like, I'm not going to say that.
51:55Like, what are you doing? I'm like, that's not what I'm here for, right? You're an athlete? Yeah. I'm like, ugh. The minute you, you know, you hit a certain age, it's over for you. Or show any sign of aging, like, it's over. You know, if that's what you're catering towards, there's not going to be any loyalty or longevity there. And if you're trying, American Eagle carries, you know, genes for men and women or, you know, young people of any gender. So the male audience matters there. But yeah, if you are wanting to sell to women, you're really sort of isolating yourself and ostracizing yourself from that part of the market.
52:29So, you know, I don't know that the box office bomb, and this wasn't her first box office bomb, by the way, that that really had anything directly to do with like the MAGA flirtation and all these sorts of things. But maybe her team feels like it did. Maybe she feels like it did. Maybe the dynamics with Zendaya were also like personally taxing for her. I don't know. But to me, it's sort of emblematic of a movement in the culture that we see in other, you know, in other spaces as well. Yeah, I mean, and this gets into our next story because, you know, Hollywood is still not like an easy place to be seen as, quote, pro-Trump.
53:06And I bet people were uncomfortable working for Sidney Sweeney with this new reputation that she was getting as someone who's like hardcore MAGA and is like a almost a mascot for MAGA. So I'm sure some of that was uncomfortable. But just to get into the antitrust component, we can put F2 on the screen. I'm sorry, we can we can one second. We actually have a clip of Donald Trump who was on the red carpet of the Kennedy Center honors last night, which he hosted. We should know Donald Trump hosted the Kennedy Center honors. Maybe that'll be a presidential tradition. So glad that Joe Biden didn't do that.
53:41Actually, we could have gotten some great moments out of Joe Biden attempting to host a late night Kennedy Center honors. Yeah. Amazing. So Trump is asked about this attempted merger between Netflix and Warner Brothers and says something very interesting on the red carpet last night at the Kennedy Center. Let's roll this. Are you allowed to buy Warner Brothers? Well, that's the question. They have a very big market share. And when they have Warner Brothers, you know, that share goes up a lot. So I don't know. That's going to be for some economists to tell. And also, and I'll be involved in that decision, too.
54:13But they have a very big market share. Did he make any guarantees to you about the merger if they do merge? No, no, not at all. He came up. He was in the Oval Office last week. I have a lot of respect for him. He's a great person. But he's done one of the greatest jobs in the history of movies and other things. And he's got a lot of interesting things happening aside from what you're talking about. But it is a big market share. There's no question about it. So that is, I mean, he said, I'll be involved in that decision. There you go. Now we can put F2 on the screen. This is the Netflix CEO. Not a surprising story at all.
54:51But this is Ted Sarandos meeting with, according to Bloomberg, Donald Trump in the Oval Office, as Trump just mentioned, actually, in the clip. And so the connection was Sidney Sweeney-Gristol. Basically, is that the vibe shift sort of came last year. will remember like this exact time last year, it looked like Hollywood, Silicon Valley were all getting swept up in kind of reckoning with the reality that they'd alienated a lot of the country and that Donald Trump was going to be mercurial and was going to wield his power where he wanted you to kind of come kiss the ring in an aggressive way. And then he would reward you in reward you back.
55:35Now, this deal, this attempt to merger, which looks like a pretty clear-cut violation of the Clayton Act, although none of that stuff is super clear-cut because it depends on how you define market share and all of that, it's already getting criticism from Mike Lee and Republicans, and it's getting absolutely panned across Hollywood. There is no love in Hollywood for this. I mean, it's predicted to absolutely decimate theaters. You could understand why, but people are pissed about this. It is not going well for Netflix so far. Well, and we've got a new factor to add in as well. I think we can add this in post, this New York Times tear sheet, because we're just learning now Paramount, headed by David Ellison, is making a hostile bid for Warner Brothers Discovery.
56:16I'll just read from this tear sheet. Paramount on Monday mounted a hostile takeover bid for Warner Brothers Discovery, a brazen attempt to secure a Hollywood prize snatched away by Netflix last week. Netflix announced an$83 billion deal to buy a big part of Warner Brothers Discovery on Friday in an agreement approved by the boards of both companies. In a news release on Monday, Paramount went around the Warner Brothers Discovery board and straight to shareholders with what it called a superior offer. Paramount said it would pay$30 per share in cash, valuing the company at around$108 billion, including debt.
56:50It said it was going to shareholders because the board of Warner Brothers Discovery is pursuing an inferior proposal that would lead to a challenging regulatory approval process. Paramount has offered to buy all of Warner Brothers Discovery, including the Warner Brothers movie studio, the HBO Max streaming service, and a portfolio of cable channels, including CNN. The cable channels are not part of the Netflix deal. We believe our offer will create a stronger Hollywood. David Ellison, the chief executive, Paramount, sent a press release. It is in the best interests of the creative community consumers and the movie theater industry.
57:22Warner Brothers Discovery had no immediate comment. How about none of these would be in the best interest of creating a stronger Hollywood? How about we stop mergers? Yeah, I mean, this was expected from David Ellison, and this has been a concern both because, obviously, of the corporate consolidation, but also because of Ellison's ideological leanings. So he is pro-Trump, he's a close Trump ally, very Zionist pro-Israel. You know, we've seen what's going on at CBS. I mean, he's, you know, so we're, the idea here is you have a consolidation of all these media properties now under and like affirmative avowed Trump supporter.
58:00And so more sort of like state influence on media bleeding over into these other outlets, including HBO Max, including CNN. So obviously really significant there. So now you, I guess, have these two rival bids and even more uncertainty about what may ultimately happen here. Right. And what's the goal? I mean, Matt Stoller over at Big, which is the essential newsletter to read if you don't on these questions. And he's been following the Hollywood stuff a lot.
58:32Absolutely open question as to what the goal of Netflix is with this merger. You have to basically freeze the assets of the competitor that you're trying to merge with in a case like this. what is what does David Ellison think is going to come of this is he trying to block Netflix from hurting the competitiveness of Warner like this is this is succession level uh drama obviously and I wonder what we're seeing a little bit is somebody like uh Sarandos and maybe you could argue even Ellison who by the way Trump did get to uh green light the new Rush Hour movie so something good will come of this.
59:10That actually happened. I don't know if you get it. Did you just cover that? Like, we did it, but I did see that it happened. Yeah. And say like, just the perfect Trump story on every level. But it did it was there an overreach that has spawned serious backlash that ends up actually hurting them more than it helps them because they've overreached. I don't know. That's, I think, an open question right now. And I think the sort of way that we can make this full circle with Sidney Sweeney, is that none of what everyone was feeling this time last year was permanent. And could the Trump administration have come in a second time around and maintained that cultural momentum?
59:50I don't know, but it's kind of an interesting counterfactual to ponder. Yeah. Well, and they also came in with a lot of, you know, gestures towards the antitrust movement and some, you know, even personnel decisions that were like, oh, maybe, You know, and some of the antitrust movements started under the first Trump administration. And now that's just been basically completely abandoned and certainly where tech world is concerned. I mean, they're just given whatever, whatever they want. And if you can get in good with Trump, you're going to get your deals approved. And that's pretty much how he operates.
1:00:19Now, they can use it as a weapon against you. If they hate you, then, you know, I don't think anyone would be surprised to see them using it as a weapon instead of just using it as like a neutral enforcement mechanism. And that's really one of the things that Trump has completely not to say that the government's been perfect in terms of being neutral. But the general expectation was that the government bureaucracy would be neutral in its adjudication of these questions. And Trump doesn't even pretend that that's a goal. Like, that's just out the window. And he says he's going to be involved in the decision.
1:00:53So there's another component of it. If you want to keep getting in Donald Trump's good graces, you know how to do it. Apparently, the Oval Office is open. Yeah, not hard to figure that one out. All right, guys. Well, thank you so much for watching. Emily, thank you for filling in today. I'm always happy to help pick up Sagar's slack and then to call him out for slacking. I'll never just do it out of the goodness of my own heart. I know he appreciates that about you. I'll do it to roast him. That's my real motivation. I enjoy that aspect of your personality as well. I think it should be Sagar. We'll see how Sagar's doing tomorrow.
1:01:27should be me and Sagar tomorrow, but we'll see. And in case you guys have a great day, we're going to do, I'm going to do the AMA with producer Mac, I think, because Emily has to jump. But if you want to get access to those live AMAs, make sure you sign up at breakingpoints.com. See you guys soon.
1:01:57Black history lives in our stories, our culture, and the conversations we still have in today. This Black History Month, the podcast I Didn't Know, Maybe You Didn't Either, digs into the moments, perspectives, and experiences that don't always make the textbook. Let me tell you about Garrett Morgan. Bruh had to pretend he didn't even exist just to sell his own invention. Listen to I Didn't Know, Maybe You Didn't Either, from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or simply wherever you get your podcasts.
1:02:341969, Malcolm and Martin are gone. America is in crisis. At a Morehouse College, the students make their move. These students, including a young Samuel L. Jackson, locked up the members of the Board of Trustees, including Martin Luther King Sr. It's the true story of protests and rebellion in Black American history that you'll never forget. I'm Hans Charles. I'm Menelik Lumumba. Listen to The A-Building on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What if mind control is real? If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have?
1:03:09Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car? When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings. Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. Mind Games, a new podcast exploring NLP, aka neurolinguistic programming. Is it a self-help miracle, a shady hypnosis scam, or both? Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.
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Krystal and Emily discuss Jan 6 pipe bomber, Hillary doubles down on Israel and TikTok, Sydney Sweeney backtracks after movie flops.
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