In short
The hosts discuss Trump’s Fox News interview clips—his “gay vote” comments and his rambling, flirtatious remarks—then pivot to criticism of U.S./Democratic media framing around Iran and Israel/Palestine. They also debate Democratic establishment attacks on Hassan Piker and Abdul Al-Sayed’s campaign, arguing it’s “loser playbook” politics and censorship-by-labeling.
Guests
Jack Cacciarella (co-host/guest; described as a friend of the host; political commentator who reacts to the clips and campaign discourse). No other guest is clearly identified as a co-speaker.
Key claims
Trump’s ignorance is enabled by advisors; empathy framing on Fox contrasts with Trump’s responses. “Anti-Semitism” accusations are used to shut down genocide criticism. Attacks on Hassan are portrayed as ineffective and out of touch.
Notable examples
Trump’s “gays for Pelican” line; Trump’s remarks to Dana Perino about Iran; claims about Hassan being compared to Nick Fuentes by Mallory McMorrow; references to Andrew Cuomo’s “palling with terrorists” style strategy.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOTrump and the LGBTQ Vote
1:35 to 2:08
Discussing Trump's remarks about his support from the LGBTQ community.
“I am joined this morning by my good friend, Jack Cacciarella.”
Contradictions in Republican Rhetoric
2:08 to 3:30
Exploring the contradictions in Republican arguments regarding gay rights.
“Perhaps it's because I'm from New York City.”
Sanitizing Trump's Image
3:30 to 4:25
Analyzing how media sanitizes Trump’s controversial statements.
“But secondly, this argument about Palestine and gays, from my vantage point, a gay person is far more likely to be killed by the IDF than they are in Palestine by their own people.”
Empathy in Political Discussions
4:25 to 7:27
Examination of Dana Perino's empathetic approach during Trump's interview.
“whether it's conservative news or if it's the New York Times or other corporate news that sane washes all the crazy shit this man says.”
Trump's Ignorance on Global Issues
7:27 to 8:23
Discussing Trump's lack of awareness about international issues.
“And he doesn't know not because he doesn't care.”
U.S. Foreign Policy and Propaganda
8:23 to 10:19
How U.S. foreign policy is shaped by narratives and propaganda.
“And this reminds me of how there's a larger connective narrative through all of these things.”
Criticism of Democratic Responses
10:19 to 12:22
Critiquing the Democratic establishment's response to certain candidates.
“They're all blue cities because we all share and cooperate.”
Hassan Piker and Political Criticism
12:22 to 14:00
Examining the backlash against Hassan Piker and political discourse.
“And that is also the type of person that Hassan speaks to.”
Critique of Democratic Politics
14:00 to 17:01
Explore criticisms of the Democratic Party's approach to engaging with leftist voices.
“It's very secure in his historical perspective on capital.”
Sarah Palin Politics and Its Implications
17:01 to 20:24
Discuss the dangers of adopting strategies reminiscent of Sarah Palin's approach.
“with Hassan, who is deeply popular with the anti-genocide base of the Democratic Party, which I believe is like in the 80 % or something astronomical.”
Show all 14 chapters
The Importance of Open Criticism
20:24 to 22:41
Emphasize the necessity of allowing criticism in a democratic society and its benefits.
“And Mallory is doing, taking a play out of a loser's playbook.”
Hungover Leadership and Personal Anecdotes
22:41 to 24:18
Light-hearted personal stories about dealing with hangovers while engaging in activism.
“Or Bernie or AOC who have also gone on and hosted events with Hassan?”
Call for Progressive Unity
24:18 to 28:02
A plea for progressive movements to unite and reject losing strategies of the past.
“And my darling Jack was supposed to be on at 845.”
Discussing Credit Scores
28:25 to 28:36
A conversation about credit scores and the challenges of getting loans.
Transcript
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1:34Welcome to iHip News. I am joined this morning by my good friend, Jack Cacciarella. Jack, here is a video of Trump talking about how much the gays love him. Play the clip.
1:46Jack Cocchiarella:Who are the gays for Pelican? And they have a significant amount of gays for Pelican. Now, I think when, you know, I did very well with the gay vote. OK, I even had I even played the gay national anthem as my walk off. OK. And I think it probably helped me. But I did great with no Republicans ever gotten the gay vote like I did. And I'm very proud of it. I think it's great. Perhaps it's because I'm from New York City. I don't know. But but. Jack. I guess this is because he was just posting the other day about ICE being great strong men with the biggest muscles and we love the muscles and they're so great and so hard and beautiful and let's lather them up and yeah that is the way that he posts I don't know what's weirder the fact that that is what he wanted to chime in with on Fox of all places or this argument that MAGA consistently uses to justify Israel's genocide, talking about, oh, you can't be gay in Palestine, which, first of all, isn't true.
2:53But also, when has the U.S. made decisions about foreign intervention and which countries we want to support on the basis of who loves gay people the most? Is this the same Republican Party that I know that's homophobic as hell? What are we talking about here it's just nonsensical i mean one could argue that perhaps if you're in a mega bubble and you live in a mega bubble and you're on true social and you go to charlie kirk's funeral or you go to the republican national convention and grinder crashes that it could feel like the gay momentum is on your side. One could argue that. But secondly, this argument about Palestine and gays, from my vantage point, a gay person is far more likely to be killed by the IDF than they are in Palestine by their own people.
3:54And of course, a lot of countries have very draconian and horrific rights for the LGBTQ plus community for women, etc. But the solution to that is not to arbitrarily kill them and to justify a genocide. And so, you know, this is just this sane washing and sanitizing of letting a weekend at Bernie's president continue on all of these, whether it's conservative news or if it's the New York Times or other corporate news that sane washes all the crazy shit this man says. But here he is. This is really a window into his soul talking to Dana Perino. And I'm very shocked at the empathy with which she frames this question, first and foremost, on Fox.
4:47And then I want you to listen to his response. Play the clip. I think it is alarming that we have not been able to see or hear from any of the Iranian people. And I imagine that is because their Internet is shut down. And I think there is some general worry about them. Obviously, their government treats them terribly and killed tens of thousands of them in January. Again, like Kayleigh, I would never ask you to tell us something that is classified. But do you have any insight as to how they are doing? do they have drinking water? Do they have food? It's upsetting.
5:26Jack Cocchiarella:I do but first you remember when we had lunch years ago in the base of Trump Tower when it was a brand new building. A long time ago a long time ago and you haven't changed. You have not changed. Now I'm not allowed to say this it's the end of my political career but you may be even better looking okay so I don't know what you're Oh, I will not say that because that will end my political career. You know, you're not allowed to say a woman's beautiful anymore.
5:55Jack, you're not allowed to say it as you say it on national television. And as you say it all the time about little girls, he said this earlier in the week in in in Memphis before he went Paul Simon style, the Graceland. He was like, we love little girls and we love talking about how beautiful they are. OK, I've done the Trump voice twice. We're going to cut it off. I like it. I think it's better coming from me than him. I think that it is interesting for us to see two different examples of diaspora politics playing out this way in the course of like three months when you both have Venezuela and Iran.
6:30When you have people here celebrating Donald Trump's attempts at regime change and trying to use that to reflect the feelings of 90 million people in Iran. I saw a video recently of a girl like doing the Trump dance, like, ooh, YMCA, of course, the gay national anthem. Like, oh, he's changing the regime. Everyone in Iran loves this. And then two weeks later, she's posting that her cousin was killed in a strike and saying, I can't believe that this violence is being carried out. I just people don't understand the pain that people are feeling. And you have so many who are doing propaganda, Western propaganda, interventionist propaganda on behalf of the regime without having to feel the consequences of actually being there.
7:17It is also, like you said, pretty shocking that Dana Perino was coming to that from a place of empathy and actual care. And Donald Trump clearly can't respond because he doesn't know. And he doesn't know not because he doesn't care. He doesn't. That's true. But the new reporting about why Donald Trump doesn't know is that because his officials, his advisors, his national security advisors, they're not telling him anything. What Donald Trump gets in terms of information about this war is reportedly a two-minute sizzle reel of clips of shit, and I'm quoting this, blowing up. That is what they show him to try to engage him.
7:53He is so stupid, so out of it, and just so, I guess, unmotivated to learn or to know or to be aware as fucking president of the United States having started this war that no one wanted, that they have to show him shit going kablooey for him to pay attention. And thousands of people have died. And schoolgirls are dead. And parents are broken. And Donald Trump can only stay engaged with the thing that he wanted through clips of shit blowing up. And I just don't know what's more heartbreaking than that to the point that even Dana Perino is like, what the fuck is going on? And this reminds me of how there's a larger connective narrative through all of these things.
8:37And it is that oftentimes people play a short sighted instant gratification, feel safe with Trump. And you know this with like the Latinos for Trump, despite seeing all of the signs that said mass deportation now. You see this with even, what's his name, Joe Rogan. You know, he played the, oh yeah, the fight, fight, fight video. Now he's calling all the MAGA supporters dorks yesterday on his podcast, unintelligent dorks. This is straight from inside the Death Star. And I don't know, it's hard for me to have empathy for people that have a record of 11 years of watching this man. the Epstein files that grab him by the pussy on Howard Stern.
9:23He said that his cutoff date for dating people was age 12. And he has been an overt racist. I mean, the dog whistles are screams and direct. And now all of a sudden they're like, you know, maybe he's an unintelligent dork and maybe his followers are a bunch of rubes. And so with the, as it pertains to Iran, Americans like to package everything up in a very black and white way. MAGA Americans like to. And in fact, as you mentioned, there are over 90 million people there. And much like what is happening in every country, you have people in urban areas that are more open-minded, that are a lot more progressive as it pertains to women, as it pertains to LGBTQ plus issues, as it pertains to race.
10:10And then you get out into rural areas. and this is certainly true in Iran, and they're all pro-Ayatollah, just like in the United States. In urban areas, there's no such thing as a red city. They're all blue cities because we all share and cooperate. And then you get out into rural America and Trump is their Ayatollah. But something really fascinating is happening right now. And I'm sure you've seen this because you're a lot more online than me, but this is online. This has come to my attention. And it is that Michigan race. And there is a candidate who is campaigning with Hassan. And now there is a stage 10 meltdown from the Democratic establishment over this candidate campaigning with Hassan Piker, pop this up, Kylie.
11:04Pro-Israel influencers and AIPAC-backed politicians have now tweeted about Hassan over 300 ,000 times in the last week alone. That's more than they've mentioned the Epstein files, ICE, and genocide in Gaza combined. And here's my main issue with this is Gavin Newsom was able to sit down and play patty cake with racist, homophobe, anti-democracy, pro-gun, pro-death Charlie Kirk. He's able to sit down and play patty cake with genocidal propagandist Ben Shapiro. Donald Trump is able to play patty cake with Elon Musk, who does back-to-back sig hiles and there's never ever ever when it's a white person with whom they collude with there's never hardly any outrage at all from the super pro israel side but when these people happen to have a little bit of a brown hue in their skin 300 000 posts trying to paint hassan as an anti-semite for pointing out that we have to be able to criticize a government that actively justifies genocide and american taxpayers don't want to pay it so i wanted to get your take on this because i know it's going to be great well i've got a lot of thoughts and i think both of you you and i we we really like abdul think he's a great candidate um think he's a different type of politician someone that we certainly don't see he's not like exactly like grant like he's different than graham and the way that he communicates about some issues, but they both appeal to a person who is done with the type of politics that has been done for the past 10, 20, 30, 40, however long, right?
12:55And that is also the type of person that Hassan speaks to. And Mallory McMorrow is surprisingly, it wasn't the other candidate in the race, because I'm not even going to mention because she's just so APAC bought out that I don't even want to say her name. I'm going to Haley Stevens. but I'm surprised that fucker. Mallory McMorrow is kind of championed as this, you know, like sort of progressive, but pragmatist and like, you know, she's gonna girl boss it and get it done, but you know, but she's not all the way on the left. Never buy into that. Anyone who's like, well, I'm halfway progressive, but there's some things that I don't like that the left does.
13:35That person is never going to be an actual progressive. And what Mallory McMorrow said about Hassan is that he is an internet provocateur, which is a ridiculous thing to say. Like Hassan is just trying to get people upset. He's a funny guy. He makes a lot of jokes on stream, but his political ideology isn't reactionary and based in trying to get people angry with him. It's very secure in his historical perspective on capital. He's a very well-read, very smart guy. And Mallory McMorrow compared him to Nick Fuentes and said he's just trying to get a reaction. These people are anti-Semitic, which is something that we hear even more every single day, is that everybody who wants to talk about the Epstein files or the Epstein class or call a genocide a genocide is an anti-Semite.
14:26But McMorrow is the same person who also said not but a few months ago that Democrats are elitist for doing the same thing that you just said, not wanting to go on whose podcast? Joe Rogan, not wanting to go on with Charlie Kirk or Ben Shapiro, these other spaces with white people. But once it's Hassan, it's a little bit of a different story. And once it's someone who's been so directly critical of the Israeli government, then it becomes a different story. Then it's not elitist that people don't want to go on with Hassan. It's protecting the Democratic Party. And there was recently a poll of the most popular and unpopular figures in the Democratic Party.
15:06Hassan has a net popular approval rating amongst Democrats. This is a widely known figure. People like him. He was invited to the DNC. This idea that he's some fringe guy is insane. And this idea that campaigning with him and having him be a surrogate to people who are disengaged with the electorate is also insane. All the people who talk about wanting a big tent and different ideas, only say it to appease the people to the right of them. That is who they want to bring in. They don't want to bring in anyone on the left. And I'm just very tired of it. I think it's gross. These attacks have been ridiculous.
15:43I've caught a lot of shit. Jen, you've caught a lot of shit from people making wild and ridiculous claims about us because we don't want children to die. And I think that everyone is getting very tired of it and if that finger wagging side of the democratic party is what becomes and is fully the establishment which it is we're just going to continue to lose more and so i'm just fed up i i don't know about you so this reminds me this is sarah palin's playbook this is sarah palin politics when barack obama was running against john mccain and sarah palin sarah palin made a statement about Barack Obama's pastor, I believe it was, and said that he's, quote, palling around with terrorists.
16:26And if the Democratic base is looking to Sarah Palin, who didn't know geography well, and is not a reader, and quit her job immediately after losing, after she got a taste of the lower 48, went back to Alaska, didn't give a shit about serving, and quit her job because she got a little taste of the lower 48 and private planes and all of this stuff. If the Democratic base is playing Sarah Palin politics, we are in huge trouble. Because if this candidate wants to, and he's been on my podcast, and I think he's a physician, he is a very viable candidate, wants to go campaign with Hassan, who is deeply popular with the anti-genocide base of the Democratic Party, which I believe is like in the 80 % or something astronomical.
17:24This is a real fucking problem. Because for me, I have, if Gavin wants to have Ben Shapiro or Steve Bannon or Charlie Kirk on, um okay do it gavin i don't care but you're open you know to criticism this criticism of uh hassan and abdul al-sayed just it seems like they have shot their wad it seems like complete bedwetting and you see these far-right israeli groups go after people like hassan but all you need to know about it is they go after Miss fucking Rachel. Miss Rachel, who is like, I just don't want kids to be killed. I advocate for all children. And so I've just been very mystified because it looks to me, number one, like Sarah Palin politics.
18:17And number two, it looks like MAGA colluding with the democratic base, which makes me think the democratic base has this tendency to be fascist collaborators. I'm sorry, when I say base, I'm not talking about us, listener. The establishment. The establishment. Yeah. Yeah. And I also think that just like, it's dumb politics to make your campaign about attacking Hassan for a week. Like who is the anti-Hassan voter that you're not going to already have won, you know, by being bought in with AIPAC and defending Israel and walking back. Because Mallory McMorrow had said in the past, she said, if people want to call it a genocide, I understand that.
19:00That's maybe not the word that I used. And then she walked back those comments, as it appears everyone wants to be doing recently, a lot of corporate Dems. But to just talk about Hassan, no one gives a fuck, right? No regular person is caught up with what Hassan did or did not say. They watch his stream, like this is a really smart guy. Oh, fun interviews, Ro Khanna's on, having a good time. his dog is cute. All right, we're making some jokes. I learned something cool. We'll keep it pushing. Like no one is voting based on whether they hate Hassan. This is not a voter that you should be going for.
19:33And so if the focus of your campaign is we're going to attack Hassan Piker as a Nick Fuentes style anti-Semite, which is also just insane. And there is a great clip that I'm going to post on Twitter or I've already retweeted. So maybe or maybe we can show a little bit at the end of Hassan talking about the conflation of anti-Israel rhetoric with anti-Semitism and how dangerous it actually is to Jews. And this is stuff that he talks about. And so Mallory doing that, saying Hassan is the same thing as Nick Fuentes. One is dangerous to Jews in America. Two is not true. Three is bad politics. And why are you focused on that rather than the cost of living or a war or a genocide or any number of things happening in the Trump administration right now.
20:21It just shows that you're out of touch. And I think we're so tired of people being this out of touch. And Mallory is doing, taking a play out of a loser's playbook. The last politician that did this, his name was Andrew Cuomo. And he went bananas and wet the bed and said, Zoran pals around with Hassan Piker. He said it on the debate stage twice. Andrew Cuomo got his ass beat twice by Zoran Mamdani. And so when you see Democrats taking a play out of a loser playbook where you have the Democratic establishment trying so desperately to shill for a genocidal regime and they try to be the thought police, tell us what we can think, tell us what we can say, tell us what we can believe.
21:13And here's the situation, the way I see it. We live in a democracy. Everything is open to criticism, period. If it's a country, if it's a leader, if it's military operation, it must be open to criticism. What this reminds me of, because one of my side hustles is I like to watch a lot of cult documentaries, like about Mormons and weird sex cults and all this shit, right? These two wildly different, or maybe they're kind of the same. Very similar, actually. Most of the religious cults end up being sex cults from my anecdotal study research that I'm doing. Yeah, but they are completely stage five meltdown to criticism.
21:58Criticism is not allowed. So for me, a red flag is any sort of group government leader who says, don't criticize me. I mean, Abraham Lincoln was so brilliant when he said, I want a team of rivals. He welcomed inquiry. He welcomed criticism because that gets you closer to making better decisions in the truth. And so Democrats quit with the losing strategy. Andrew Cuomo tried this twice and he got his fucking ass beat. And so I just bang my head against the wall at the Democratic establishment's inability to evolve and be intuitive. And it drives me fucking crazy. And does this mean that Mallory has to now attack Zoran, the most popular politician in the country?
22:45Or Bernie or AOC who have also gone on and hosted events with Hassan? Is she going to attack them now? Because that's the logical conclusion to the argument that she's trying to make. Like, is that what we're going to do in the Democratic Party? Is that how we're going to waste our time? It's just stupid. It's so ridiculous. Have you talked to Hassan about this since? Because it just all kind of started last night. no i haven't i haven't talked to him about it i'm just i've seen it because it's i saw that clip that we put up but what's so funny about this is you know people have tried to cancel him forever and what they try to do is make a they go after a personality because they can't stand on business they can't stand on facts so i think they feel like okay if we can take him out then we can start moving on to others.
23:34And I think what they're finding is it's not working. And I would be very interested, maybe some internet sleuth listener of ours. This is a little side project for you guys to do. See if there's any crossover of anybody that worked or advised or has been on a Zoom or a phone call with Andrew Cuomo, the back-to-back loser in the New York mayoral race, back to back loser. Okay. With Mallory, because this is the exact same losing strategy that happened before. Okay. I just want to share a little bit of personal tidbit listener. It is currently, um, 922 AM Eastern time. And my darling Jack was supposed to be on at 845.
24:23kylie and i started psychotically texting jack around 8 30 a.m i started texting him caps lock because we knew he would not be awake so jack just just for some humor and levity tell me how hungover are you on a scale of zero to ten well i i would first like to make an inquiry with you uh today is friday correct correct and so that would have made yesterday thursday but thirsty Thursday. I started at dinner with a friend and dinner was three glasses of wine. And then we went to a bar and they brought us a shot because she knew the bartender. And then it was two martinis. And then it was another bar, a martini there.
25:06And I'm not sure if I had another when I got home, but I felt great this morning and my head is throbbing and I'm going to have some Gatorade and maybe sit in the tub. And this made it all better, Jen. So I feel like shit. You know what? See, this is the type of leadership our movement needs. Hungover is all get out. I got up two minutes before we started recording this. And he got up to engage in fighting for democracy. Oh, Kylie just did a little bit of research here. Kylie, pop this up. Kylie, so good. Okay, Liz Smith, a prominent Democratic strategist who previously served as senior communications advisor to former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and helped defend him during his sexual harassment scandal, worked for Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow as a communications advisor starting in 2022.
26:06It is a fucking burden being right all the time. I fucking knew it. This is a loser playbook. Democrats, for fuck's sake, if somebody took two L's, two back-to-back L's, got beat by a guy who started pulling at 1%, who took on everybody, and he gets his fucking ass beat. Anybody who worked for Andrew Cuomo's mayoral campaign should not be working in politics anymore. This makes perfect sense jack my hungover darling i just don't know why we have to continue to see that it's a big old club and they don't want us in it and that we just can't all band together on this we need to elect abdul al-sayed what we need to elect them it is a loser playbook it will continue to be a loser playbook and all of these people i i don't know i guess it's because they're so out of touch or maybe that they're just so incensed that anyone wants to take on the establishment but they don't know what they're doing and I'm really tired of it.
27:05I'm also just dying. You're also just tired. Okay. I feel great. This is what I wanted to do this morning. I made it. I saw one text from you. Can I share a little bit more on background? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Get your ass up, wake up, or I'm going to go live and roast you for 24 straight hours. The only way you can make this up to me is if you are on a train to New York. That was at 845. I called you at, when did I I called you at 8.56 and I think we started at 8.57 as I was putting my contacts in walking over to this room. You know what? Listen, this is really great work. We've done a fantastic job.
27:45Lots of people wake up hungover and still fight for democracy. And that's the type of leadership this country needs. I'm going to go throw a lot.
27:59Oh my gosh. This is so good. All right, listeners, go subscribe to my friend, Jack Cacciarella's YouTube channel. Don't make me work anymore. And as we keep building this progressive, hungover media ecosystem, Jack is a big player in this, despite... There we go. Yes, love. All right, like and subscribe. We'll see you guys later.
28:36It's so weird. This app shows that my credit score is pretty good, but I couldn't get the car loan. Are you using MyFICO.com? No, it's some other company. Oh, you should get a MyFICO account instead. FICO scores are the ones used by 90 % of lenders, and other credit scores can vary up to 100 points. That would have been helpful yesterday. Get the scores lenders use. Get the right FICO credit score for your credit goal, including your FICO scores used for mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards. Visit MyFICO.com or download the MyFICO app to get started today.
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We are joined by our friend @JackCocchiarellaShow to talk about Trump's claim that gay people love him, but not too much.
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