Trump Raids Bolton Home, White House Tours Cancelled, Cracker Barrel Responds to Backlash

0:00You're listening to Newsweek Radio, irreverent news talk and opinion without agenda. from the 72nd floor of One World Trade Center at Lower Manhattan. This is Newsweek Radio with your host, Jesse Edwards. Today's top trending headlines at Newsweek.com. Links are in the descriptions depending on where you're listening. John Bolton's Bethesda home raided by the FBI. Federal agents searched the Maryland home of President Donald Trump's former National Security Advisor John Bolton early Friday morning as part of a long-running investigation into the handling of classified documents. FBI Director Kash Patel ordered the raid.

0:35So far, Bolton has not been detained or charged. Cash Patel posted on Twitter, never going to call it next, shortly after the raid, quote, no one is above the law at FBI agents on mission, unquote. Bolton served as national security advisor for 17 months and later became a vocal critic of the president, which is not allowed. He previously faced some scrutiny over his 2020 memoir, which officials said contained classified material, but the Justice Department dropped its lawsuit in 2021. Trump also revoked Bolton's security clearance and protection earlier this year upon returning to office. Yeah, all of this after Trump was caught orange-handed decorating his own bathrooms at Mar-a-Lago with classified documents not too long ago.

1:13Nothing to see here. Accuse everyone else of what you do because it's the best subterfuge that money can buy. Maybe Trump thinks that's where the Epstein files are hidden. Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? I'm joking, of course, because this reeks of the same old tired, petty, childish, and amateur hour behavior that we've come to expect from this absolute dunce of a president. Priorities, priorities, priorities. Yes, his priorities are all over the goddamn map because he's got the attention span of a fruit fly and is desperately trying to divert our attention away from his Epstein flop.

1:43And while the news cycle on that has certainly cooled off a little bit, new information is coming out soon. Tell me it's not interesting timing that Trump decides to raid John Bolton's house this morning. The very day that his own Justice Department is expected to start turning over documents to the House Oversight Committee, which should be a good signal to everybody that this is just getting started. And you can bet your biscuits that there's going to be buckets of bombshells to behold when Congress finally gets to the bottom of this. Either that or even Congress will bow to the shadow government deep state, which is a possibility, I guess.

2:12I mean, what, you don't think they raided John Bolton's house just to keep the Epstein-Docs release out of the headlines, do you? Those are just conspiracy theories, you wackadoodle. Look, they might not be all that smart, but even Congress knows how to get the bad guys without exposing the victims. They have the power and it's not really that difficult and you should never let them suggest to you otherwise. I'll even go out on a limb and say that if we don't get some sort of concrete evidence of the top 10 Epstein clients by the midterm elections next year, we're never going to see them. And if that becomes the truth, then everybody at least will finally know that even Donald Trump was a deep state swamp monster the entire time, just like the rest of them.

2:49And I guess I could live with that, but I'd rather see the list too. Next headline of Newsweek, White House cancels school field trip visits indefinitely. Yeah, it's probably a good idea to keep kids away from the White House until we can figure out exactly what Donald Trump was doing with Jeffrey Epstein and those minors he had working in his spa at Mar-a-Lago back in the day. Yeah, it probably makes for a terrible photo op, because seeing Donald Trump with children right now would remind everybody exactly of why they don't trust him. No, no, I'm just teasing. It's not just kids who aren't allowed at the White House until further notice, because all public tours are actually on hold for the build of this 90 ,000 square foot monstrosity of a ballroom.

3:26There's never been a president that was good at ballrooms. I'm really good. Yeah, I hope you like gold everything. God, it's so gaudy. Throughout the years, people have tried to come up with a gold paint that would look like gold, and they've never been able to do it. Can't do it. You've never been able to, look at that look, you've never been able to match gold with gold paint. But eagle-eyed sleuths on social media claim the Oval Office decor is a cheap fake. The Oval Office has been decorated courtesy of Home Depot. They've matched the Oval Office accents to plastic appliques sold on the Home Depot website.

4:01You can buy it from Home Depot for$58, and then you go to the other aisle and get the gold spray paint. The White House field trip program has long been seen as a symbolic way to connect young Americans with their government and inspire civic engagement. And its cancellation severs an educational tradition that gave students a first-hand look at the executive branch. Yeah, well, trust me, kids, you're better off not getting a look at this executive branch, I'm sure. There's more gold leaf in there than the Ark of the Covenant. Your little faces would just melt right off, I'm afraid.

4:36Next headline, this one from Fox News. Marjorie Taylor Greene calls for property tax abolition, derides health insurance as giant scam. Well, I certainly didn't wake up this morning thinking it would be the day that I agreed with our favorite little nut job on Capitol Hill. All the humanity. Posting on Twitter, never going to call it X, she said, quote, We need to completely abolish property taxes. It forces us to pay rent to the government on property that we own. But if we don't pay the property taxes, the property that we own gets taken away from us. That should never happen in a free country, unquote.

5:09And oh my God, holy crap, she's absolutely right. Almost as if she's starting to realize that it's not exactly a free country if you can be taxed to death. I mean, if taxes are just a fee for a transaction, then why the hell are you still taxing me for something that I've already paid for in full? And if I go to build a house, you're going to tax me on top of the taxes that I already paid for everything I purchased in order to build said house? These are the kind of real problems we could be fixing in this country if we weren't caught up in this idiotic tribalist culture war. She continues, quote, Quote, secondly, health insurance is a giant scam that's become completely unaffordable and it doesn't make any sense.

5:46And I don't know anyone, and I mean anyone, that supports the current health care system in the United States. Unquote. Wow, Marjorie Taylor Greene, the machine gun Kelly of Congress is 0 for 2 today. She's right. Health insurance, like most insurance, is absolutely a scam. You know, of course, that is unless they happen to be sponsoring this episode. They're different. Because nowadays, it seems to be there rarely, if ever. Especially when you need it the most. It costs a fortune, and we're being forced to accept a service against our will. Thanks, Obama. Seriously. This idea that everyone is now required to have health insurance is a new thing.

6:18And from my perspective, it's kind of when everything started going south. Look, I've got world-class health insurance right now, and I struggle to find care for my family when we need it. It doesn't help that most doctors, since COVID, along with all the veterinarians for some reason, is still holding onto that bullshit line that they're not accepting new patients. That needs to go away yesterday. It's probably even going against your Hippocratic oath. And COVID is over. You gotta go back to the old rules of serving the public. That and where I live, most doctors only accept state-run insurance.

6:48So all of us who are paying for private insurance are like second-class citizens now because all the people who can't actually afford it are given priority. I'm telling you, these are the kinds of things about society that make a lot of us want to just move deep out into the forest to check out of society forever, you know? Never to be seen or bothered by the masses ever again. Because if you keep your head down, work hard, and play by the rules, you go to the back of the line in America because shame on you for being privileged enough to have any good sense or a strong work ethic or any other trait that might dare give you any sort of advantage over anybody else, God forbid, right?

7:21This isn't equality. It's a one-size-fits-all idiocracy where success is taxed to death in order to compensate for the lowest common denominator. It kind of reminds me of Dr. Zhivago after the Russian Revolution. If you were successful enough in life to have a big, nice house, the government would just confiscate it and move a bunch of poor families in against your will. I'm sure Bernie Sanders and AOC would love something like that. I can't be the only one who fantasizes about leaving society, can I? God knows you don't need to look any further than your local tent city full of junkies to see that a lot of folks have already given up on trying to be part of society, and it feels like more and more we're all being squeezed harder and harder for every dime and there's no relief in sight.

8:00Trump certainly isn't going to reduce the cost of living anytime soon. I mean, at least the Democrats generally come with giveaways of more free food when you vote for them, but it always seems to come at the cost of tolerating their obsession with skin color and sexual organs. Meanwhile, Republicans keep building this economic tower of babble that's glued together with subprime lending. Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you. And when Marjorie Taylor Jewish Space Lasers Green is the sanest voice in Washington for the day, Why don't you go talk about Jewish Space Lasers and really why don't you f*** off?

8:32How about that? You know that we've breached uncharted territory. But yes, abolish property taxes and abolish the healthcare mandate. That would be fantastic, but it's never going to happen. Because of news like this and the next headline at Newsweek, Cracker Barrel responds to backlash over logo change. The southern country-themed restaurant chain, which was founded in 1969, recently changed its logo for the first time in 48 years. When the restaurant first opened, it had a text-only logo. The restaurant's name originates from a time in the 19th century when people would socialize around a barrel full of crackers in a country store.

9:04The logo was then updated in 1977 to the one that many recognize today with a man resting by a barrel. Backlash to the recent move, which comes as part of a$700 million rebrand, was swift with criticism from conservative figures online being loudly directed at the brand. Wow, politics aside here, before we dig in, I am in the wrong business, apparently. The real way to beat the system isn't media, it's corporate rebranding. Holy crap, change the font, play with the color palette just a little bit, and walk away with$700 million. It's basically modern art for corporations, a banana duct tape to a canvas.

9:41No, do not get into podcasting or radio, kids. Because the real money is in selling quick dopamine hits to insecure legacy brands desperate for a new shiny object. I'm really not too sure why conservatives are upset over this, to be honest. I mean, to me, it's much more about the absurdity of it all. but conservatives being upset about it just makes it stupid all the way around. What, they're mad because the white guy was taken off the label? Are you kidding me? I think Trump has absolutely melted the conservatives' brain into mashed potatoes at this point. But you couldn't pay me enough to eat at Cracker Barrel either.

10:11One, because I hate the name. Two, because it's all pure kitsch with clutter and fake nostalgia everywhere. And the food is straight off the Cisco truck. The same bland, boring slop you can get anywhere else without the ridiculous markup. I take that back. You could pay me to eat a Cracker Barrel, but I'll do it if you pay me 300 bucks and I don't actually have to eat anything. Yeah, I'll just sit there muttering under my breath about how this place makes me break out into a sweat because it's so damn tacky. Yuck! Goodbye! And we say bye-bye! Newsweek Radio is a member of the Trust Project. There's never been a president that was good at ballrooms.

10:44I'm really good.