What a Weekday: If You're In Line To Be President, Stay In Line
44:09 Share

Love It or Leave It is brought to you by Noom. The weight loss journey can be hard, and most weight loss plans are one-size-fits-all, not taking into account each person's individual needs. But Noom is changing that. Noom uses science and personalization to help you build new habits for a healthier lifestyle. Noom builds personal plans that can meet an individual's needs and take into account dietary restrictions, medical issues, and other personal needs to build a plan that works for you. Stay focused on what's important to you with Noom's psychology and biology-based approach. Sign up for your trial today at Noom.com.

Oh, I do recommend seeing stuff at the WGA theater, though. Oh, yeah. It's so relaxing because everyone knows how to behave during a movie. That's great. They got big chairs. What have they got there? Regular chairs? Yeah, it's like nice. It's plush. They're not like, it's not like they're reclining ones. They're just like nice velvet seats. I simply only, I'm like. You must recline. I must recline. Like if I'm going to the movies, I want to, I want to press, I want to recline. Seattle, I don't like to recline in public. I like reclining. That's for home. If he didn't see. Reclining is for home.

reclining is for sure you're not to be done in public unless you're at the dentist uh yeah what if you were in the dentist in public well that's the only way to get the dentist you leave your seat all the way up on the airplane yeah i i also don't recline so rude no no no no if you're an economy how dare you i don't think it would crush my computer every time i'm a five six woman how dare i no um i'll sit bolt upright i'll sit upright right now in solidarity

I don't like thinking about all the people back there. Yeah, that tracks. Yeah, yeah, that'll add to it. Welcome to What a Weekday. I'm Jon Lovett, joined, as always, by Kendra James, Hallie Keeper, and Sarah Lazarus. However, this is the final episode of What a Weekday, at least for the time being. But not to worry, dear listeners, Crooked has already greenlit our prequel, Young What a Weekday. It's mostly about the family surrounding What a Weekday.

It's just all of us as babies. It's all of us as babies. I'm Marci Martin. Let's get into it. One last time in 2024. What a weekday.

As the saying goes, America only has one president at a time. And get this, that president is already Donald Trump. On Monday, Trump held his first post-election press conference, joined by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son to announce that SoftBank will invest $100 billion in the United States. This was a strange event for three reasons. A, Donald Trump is not currently the president. B, SoftBank doesn't have $100 billion. And C, we had moments like this.

200. He'll make it. 200 million investment. He is a great negotiator. So basically, this guy gets up there and says, Donald Trump is great. And I'm doing this because of Donald Trump. And then Trump's like, make it 200 billion. And then kind of does his sort of alpha male arm grip thing.

thing where he demonstrates dominance over this guy whose height Trump definitely enjoys because the South Bank CEO is a short king, as it were. I will just point out so we don't forget what it was like to live in a nation of laws and not of men that traditionally the private sector figures would praise the country

and not the president, that no, a major company isn't being harangued into making an investment, but sees the value in betting on the country itself, which meant betting on the people, that traditionally when you're even doing events like this, which are always a little bit uncomfortable, right, because it's the private sector and the public sector,

They would they would make it about the American economy and the ingenuity and skill of the American people. But no, this is an event where Donald Trump is calling it so that this guy can go and praise Donald Trump, who basically this guy explicitly says, because Trump won, America is going to do better and I'm going to invest because of Donald Trump.

And sure, that's a quaint and old fashioned critique now. But there's an old saying by William F. Buckley, and it goes, a conservative is someone who stands at the word history yelling stop at a time when no one is inclined to do so or to have much patience with those who so urge it. And on stuff like this, I think that's just going to have to be us for a while. And it's not going to be good politics all the time. And it may not be practical and it may not be what we run on. It may be tiresome. And but on several fronts, this is going to be us.

Because this shit is terrible and embarrassing and un-American. And it turns out not a lot of people care about that. And it's very dispiriting, but it doesn't make it less true. And that's it.

He just palmed that guy like a basketball. Like he just grabbed him like a baby. I know. I know. It's gross. Also, SoftBank is a bad name for a bank. I want my money in a hard bank. Yeah, I want my bank. I like my banks. Rock hard. Like I like my math tests. And my dudes. Boo. Boo.

What a year it's been. The president-elect told reporters that he would consider pardoning New York City Mayor Eric Adams if he's convicted on federal corruption charges. Yeah, I would. I think that he was treated pretty unfairly. Now, I haven't seen the gravity of it all, but it seems, you know, like being upgraded in an airplane many years ago. I know probably everybody here has been upgraded. They see you're all stars.

Yeah, but in my case it was because I have a lot of delta miles, not because I've done favors for the Turkish government. But for a flight over six hours, I would do favors for the Turkish government. Talk about reclining, go all the way back. Go all the way back. I wonder what I could do for the Turkish government. What could I do that would be useful to them? Write some hilarious one-liners. It's all Greek to me. Not Constantinople. Hey, there's more where that came from, Turkey. Let's get in touch. I'll tell you.

This Eurocentrism, it's for the birds. Turkey. What are we talking about? Trump said this about Tim Cook and other CEOs traveling to meet with him. The first term, everybody was fighting me. And this term, everybody wants to be my friend. I don't know. My personality changed or something. People always say that when they know perfectly well, it's just because they got incredibly hot. He honestly looks okay. I don't know what it was, filler or whatever. I'm like, he did get something done. I feel like you...

you often say this. Well, he just looks so different from week to week. It's like, almost like I see it, like, I guess it's a good week on. I think lighting is a huge component. Yeah, absolutely. I think he's well lit. His hair is translucent, but his face looks okay. He also, he's not been traveling. Yeah. He's chilling out at Mar-a-Lago. Also, like,

Like a chip has fallen off his shoulder. Yeah, it just doesn't mean he's not going to be less of a menace. Doesn't mean he's not going to be less extreme. Doesn't mean that there's any kind of crisis or protest. He's not going to do something evil and illegal. He's going to be a terrible president. But a chip has felt like the popular vote win combined with the fact that

The legal threat has basically come off of him. Think about how tired you would look if you were facing dozens of felony indictments. And then think about how good you'd feel the next day when that all went away. Think about how good that would be for the skin. Talk about a vitamin. Here are the things that we know work on the skin. Vitamin C, retinol, sunscreen, moisturizer, and having 92 felony indictments

That is great for the complexion. That data behind it. Yeah, you could take that to the bank. It's correlation, not causation. Take that to the soft bank. Hey, take that. In response to a question about the potential TikTok ban, Trump said this. We'll take a look at TikTok. You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points. And there are those that say that TikTok has something to do with that.

First of all, no, Donald Trump didn't win youth by 34 points. He only won old people. That's the group that he wins. Uh,

And sure, you think you're just going to take a look at TikTok and then suddenly it's five hours later. You're smearing beef tallow on your face while wondering what's going to happen on Molly Rudder's next first date. Oh, I'm waiting for part six of CO to felon right now. I'm really invested in a woman who got manipulated by a by one of her prisoners and is like now under indictment. But her fiance doesn't know it's there. It's there's a lot going on.

Well, then if it's it's on TikTok, doesn't the fiance find out? This is what she's telling a story. She's been to jail and out. Every once in a while, there'll be like one of those 30 part stories. You just dig in. Let's go. Let's go on a journey. I'm in. I'm in. Also, on Monday, Trump said of RFK Jr. that he'll be much less radical than people think and said you're not going to lose the polio vaccine, but also cited a debunked connection between vaccines and autism, adding there's something wrong and we're going to find out about it.

Trump keeps saying this about the polio vaccine as if it's reassuring, but it's but it's not like, yeah, man, we didn't think that was on the table. It's like you're about to go into knee surgery. And as the anesthesiologist brings the mask down, he says, don't worry, we won't touch your kidneys. Well, I wasn't. But what else is going on in here? Is that reassuring? What else are you going to take? Don't worry, we won't touch the polio vaccine. Well, great, man. There's a bunch of other ones. You shouldn't. No one was talking about that one. What about the other ones?

Mitch McConnell had polio. Also this weekend, Trump and J.D. Vance attended the Army-Navy game and invited recently acquitted Marine Corps vet Daniel Penny as their guest. Either you hate the male loneliness epidemic or you hate this, but you can't hate both. These are men finding community.

Penny was found not guilty last week of criminally negligent homicide after he put homeless man Jordan Neely in a chokehold on the New York subway last year, explained a spokesperson for Trump and Vance. Inviting Penny to the game was just our way of saying thanks for putting a homeless man in a chokehold in the New York subway last year.

The trio were also joined at the game by Trump-picked to head up national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and his prospective defense secretary Pete Hegseth and Ron DeSantis, who is allegedly in the running to replace Hegseth if Trump rescinds the nomination of the former Fox News anchor. The competition between Hegseth and DeSantis to win Trump's favor has been dubbed the smarmy Navy game.

And as is our new custom, America's oligarchs are finding new ways to pay tribute to our leader. After Mark Zuckerberg's meta donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund last week, other tech giants have rushed to do the same. Jeff Bezos' Amazon reportedly plans to donate $1 million to the fund and will stream Trump's inauguration on Prime come Monday, January. What?

January. Just leave it. It is the Monday of the year. You got to be careful though. All right. Amazon also has a bunch of knockoff Trump invaguations and they will fall apart the first time you put them in a dryer. Too many vowels. All those fake brands on Amazon. It's not good. You just look up anything. It's like, well, this is just going to burst into flames when it gets here.

Yeah. Open AI told NPR that CEO Sam Altman intends to make a personal $1 million donation to the fund and not to be outdone to settle a ridiculous lawsuit. ABC News capitulated to Trump's lawyers and will donate $15 million to Trump's presidential library and pay an additional $1 million for Trump's legal fees. The Trump presidential library, oops, I'll gift shop. I like that joke.

This was a lawsuit over an interview in which George Stephanopoulos asserted that Trump was found liable for rape when he was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation in a case where the judge said that the term rape as commonly understood would apply, but not according to a narrow specific legal definition in New York state law. Disney, of course, has the resources to fight this kind of lawsuit, whereas many critics threatened with legal action by Trump to intimidate and silence them do not. It's a healthy reminder. Corporations will not save us from Trump. They will only make us happy.

That's what they do. They're just here to make us happy. And boy, do they make us happy. We love them. Thank you, corporations. And Trump's threats are not idle. Disney's pathetic capitulation comes as Trump pursues costly legal fights against his various enemies. In October, Trump sued CBS News, accusing 60 Minutes of editing a clip of Kamala Harris in such a way as to assist her candidacy. Meanwhile, I will be suing 60 Minutes for not doing that well enough. Said the suit to paper over Kamala's word salad weakness

CBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to cross the line from the exercise of judgment in reporting to deceitful, deceptive manipulation of news. Yeah, because of 60 Minutes, nobody ever got the sense that Kamala responds to questions about politically fraught topics with a string of bromide said slowly and with great conviction. Just before the election, Trump sued the New York Times, alleging three stories on him were deceptive, malicious, intentional, defamatory, disparaging, distorted, fabricated, false, and misleading. The Times said,

stood by its reporting. That's great writing. It sounds like a Tom Lehrer song. Yeah, beautiful. It's interesting. Yeah, it sounds like Gilbert and Sullivan. And on Monday, Trump sued the Des Moines Register for publishing that Ann Selzer poll that showed him down in Iowa. I'm going to be bringing one against the people in Iowa, their newspaper, which had a very, very good pollster who got me right all the time.

And then just before the election, she said I was going to lose by three or four points. And it became the biggest story all over the world because I was going to win Iowa by 20 points. The farmers love me and I love the farmers.

As with the 60 Minutes lawsuit, Trump is attempting a novel legal argument, this time under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, claiming the poll constituted consumer fraud. As a law professor told NBC News, the odds of success here are slim to none, but winning in court is not likely the real goal of the lawsuit. The true motivation is to intimidate the press and journalists. And that's disgusting. The only thing that should intimidate journalists are first dates, dancing, anything athletic, and social functions where it would be weird to bring a backpack.

Fucking nerds. I just have to say, like, getting sued for getting some math wrong has unlocked a new high school, like, fear for me. Oh, yeah. I think more kids should go to get sued for how bad they are at math. Maybe that would shake some sense in them. I don't feel like finding a new staff that isn't in jail. Trump riding high and threatening all of these lawsuits, fine. It's the combination of these ridiculous...

frivolous lawsuits against 60 minutes against uh des moines register combined with the fact that abc news one of the biggest and most like well-resourced legal departments disney have capitulated to donald trump on this like what is the des moines register supposed to do what's olivia troy supposed to do these are individuals or smaller organizations that are going to basically be uh uh uh

potentially bankrupted by the cost of defending themselves against this. And like Disney has the Disney, it's Disney famously has great lawyers famously has a big legal department. Remember when, um, this was very sad. Somebody died of an allergic reaction at a restaurant in Disney or Disneyland or Disney world. I don't remember.

And as part of that lawsuit, they withdrew it after an outcry. But at first they said that they had no right to sue because they had Disney Plus. Because inside of the Disney Plus terms and conditions, they had, I guess, indemnified or whatever the correct term is. They had indemnified Disney in some way. They withdrew that part of the complaint because there was such a public outcry over it. But like these are lawyers that know how to fight. Yeah.

people in the world understand what's happened when you misuse Disney's copyright. They know how to defend their people. And it used to be. And look, like maybe there's some email somewhere where somebody told George Stephanopoulos don't use the word. Maybe there's some like small bead of evidence that could kind of go to the argument Trump is making. But like every step of it. Right. Did George Stephanopoulos do it maliciously? Of course not.

Is what he said inaccurate? I don't actually think it is. Like, I mean, look, I think you could there's an argument, right, that he was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, not technically for rape. But the judge said that the that the public understanding of the term would apply. And he's not a judge. He's describing something. He is free to describe it the way he sees it. And if he personally sees it as being found liable for rape, even though the technical New York state definition is different, that's completely defensible.

And then you have to prove that it was malicious, which it wasn't. So it's maybe not even inaccurate, certainly not malicious. And then you have to prove that there was some kind of damage done to Donald Trump's reputation because of the difference between being the legal definition of rape in New York state and the judge describing it as colloquially.

a sexual assault that rises to the definition of rape. None of that is something a normal newsroom wouldn't want to defend their people against. And he got elected, so where's the damage? Right, right. Also, tell me the person who can make that separation and isn't just using the word rape. It's just, it's, and so like,

It was so shocking to see that they had settled it, right? And then you think, well, why? Like, okay, maybe there's some bit of email or something somewhere, fine. Or then you think, well, it's $15 million as a donation. So they get to write a portion of that off. There'd be a bunch of costs associated with fighting it publicly. And so they just view it as something they can make go away. But they're also supposed to be defending their people. They're also supposed to be having the backs of the journalists that work for them. Because by the way,

Let's say it was inaccurate. People are allowed to make mistakes without being destroyed by it. We want journalists to be able to do an interview without being terrified in the moment that if they make a mistake, they will be sued into oblivion and that their corporate parent will abandon them. You want like that's that's why you have these lawyers. They're supposed to defend you. And like I remember when Ronan was working on the Weinstein stories at NBC and.

There are all kinds of threats being bandied about. And I may get the details wrong because it's years ago now. But I remember having this feeling while he was doing it that there was a missing voice at NBC to say, but that's why we're here. Yeah, no, there are threats. And yes, it's obviously deeply sensitive. And yes, it's a big story. And yes, it will create controversy. But that's why we're here. And it is like, there are so many places where there were

that Donald Trump has exposed these weaknesses. And this is yet another example that because these important news institutions that develop their prestige and habits and standards and reputations before the modern conglomerate era, they continue to exist, but they've now been absorbed into these big companies, whether it's a Comcast or a Disney or a Viacom or whatever it may be. And the

There are no it seems like there's no longer that figure in a place of power who's in it because they believe in the news who says that's why we're here. So we're just going to keep fighting because that's yeah, I understand that there's a business reason to settle. Yeah, I understand. It'd be better to make it go away. But that's why we're here. Parents are going to help us. I know. I was about to say that's why you wrote on the newsroom.

But also, this is the natural endgame of capitalism. It's like, yeah, these are capitalists. At the end of the day, Disney made a... Someone made a spreadsheet of like, let's just give them $50 million because we don't want to deal with the cost. And that's just what it's going to be. Remember the January 6th hearings? It was a bunch of individuals...

who are like, I don't think we can do this. I can't allow this to happen. Those people are all gone. Much like probably a lot of people who are in charge of these newspapers, those people are gone too. And whoever's making the decision are not the people who are like, this is a newspaper. We have to be defending these people. And unfortunately, he is the ultimate capitalist and he knows that. He knows that he can exhaust people because we're all exhausted

already. So the next four years is going to be him and Cash Mattel and all the rest of these guys just threatening everybody and assuming that we are also exhausted, that like even those people who still want to stand up are going to say this one's not worth it. We'll wait to the next one. And then the next one doesn't come because it's all not worth it. You know? Yeah. It's I like this moment of all these wealthy guys supplicating and genuflecting for Trump. Disgusting. ABC News is

Capitulating this way. I'm sure inside of ABC people are furious. I'm sure there are great journalists there There is an ethic that's in the code like the DNA of these places and that continues and like I am sure people inside are absolutely furious that they have lost that they have been allowed to be kind of Maligned in this way But I think how you're right. It's just like I I want to think about Okay, like how do we stop this like?

How do we find that backbone and who's going to have it and who's going to show it? And it may not be these big corporations, but it has to come from somewhere else. Well, it has to be. I'm sorry. I was going to say it has to come from

With someone like the Des Moines Register, it kind of has to come from our capitalists. You have to hope that, unfortunately, that, like, a Mark Cuban, if a suit really shows up at their doorstep and they really need to defend themselves, you kind of have to hope that, like, a Mark Cuban steps up and says, here's your legal defense. Yeah, it's true. I think that's part of it. We do need, you know, they, like, I remember when it came out that it was Peter Thiel funding

the lawsuit against Gawker. Yeah. And I like, at the time, I remember feeling like, wow, like, it's amazing how many people are ready to dance on Gawker's grave. And Gawker was fucking terrible in a lot of ways, terrible in a lot of ways. But that was a harbinger of things to come. And they took the lesson there that they really can use the legal system to destroy outlets they don't like if they find the opening. And it's just we have your I do think it's going to take

big money to get behind protecting these institutions, investigating these institutions. But I don't think there's any way to avoid the fact that already there are, I am sure right now there are stories that journalists are saying it's not worth it. I'm not going to do it. It's just not worth it. And it's December of the year before he's sworn in. Happy holidays. Happy holidays.

Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. What a weekday brought to you by Helix. I love my Helix mattress. I have a lot of sleep issues.

Not getting enough. My shoulder sometimes hurts, not getting enough sleep. From stress to uncomfortable mattresses, a lock can get in the way of a good night's rest. The good news, a Helix mattress is here to help you sleep better night after night. Whether you're a side sleeper, back sleeper, or anything in between, Helix provides the targeted support your body needs for a deeper, more comfortable sleep. And with so many unique Helix mattress options to choose from, just take the Helix Sleep Quiz on their website to find the perfect one for you. I took the Helix Sleep Quiz. I got the Dawn Lux. It's a great mattress. It's plush, but it's very supportive. Super comfortable mattress.

Highly recommend it. And I've used it for years. Totally improved my sleep. Totally made a difference. Love Helix. Have a couple of them myself. Now listen up, it says here, because there's a special offer for our listeners. You get 20% off and two free pillows for all mattress orders. Just visit helixsleep.com slash love it to take advantage of this special offer. That's helixsleep.com.

SimplySafe.com slash love it. What a weekday is brought to you by Simply Safe. If you've ever worried about the safety of your home and family, there's no better time to act right now. Simply Safe is extending its massive Black Friday deal for our listeners. Get 50% off today just by visiting SimplySafe.com slash love it. This is your last chance to protect your home at Simply Safe's lowest prices of the year. I love Simply Safe. I set up a Simply Safe, customized it for all the windows and doors. I have the, um,

They're all normal shapes. Normal shapes. Normal shapes, normal number of windows and doors. Nevertheless, you customize it and then it arrives. You set it up very easily or they can send somebody to help you set it up. It works perfectly, incredibly reliable, and the customer support is great. SimpliSafe is a new way to protect your home that stops intruders before they break into your home. Old school systems only take action once somebody is already inside your home. That's too late.

The break-in is commenced. Simply Saves Active Guard Outdoor Protection changes the game by preventing crime before it ever happens. If someone is lurking around or acting suspiciously, those agents see them in real time, talk to them directly with their patented phrase, uh-uh, uh-uh.

Set off your spotlights. Leave and call the police before they've had a chance to break in. Plus, there are no long-term contracts, no cancellation fees, and it's around $1 per day for all of this protection. SimpliSafe is extending its massive Black Friday deal for our listeners. This week only, you can get 50% off a new system with select professional monitoring plans. This is your last chance to claim their best offer of the year. Head to simplisafe.com slash loveit. That's simplisafe.com slash loveit. There's no safe like SimpliSafe. What a Weekday is brought to you by Aura Frames.

It can be hard to find the perfect gift. Sure can. People are hard to shop for. What do you get for people that have everything and hate everything? You know? That's the challenge. Isn't it funny how people we love the most are often the hardest to shop for? There's one gift that everyone on your list will enjoy, and that's an Aura digital picture frame named number one by Wirecutter, which is the people I trust. You just go to Wirecutter to figure out what the... That's it.

I'm doing my Christmas shopping. Aura Frames makes it incredibly easy to share unlimited photos and videos directly from your phone to the frame. And when you give an Aura Frame as a gift, you can personalize and preload it with thoughtful messages and photos using the Aura app, making it an ideal present for long distance loved ones. We love Aura Frames. They're great. Beautiful gifts. Such a nice thing. You load it with pictures.

You can put in the first day of school, old family photos, funny photos, a treasure map. And you can update it whenever. You can update it all the time. So you have a falling out with the family member. Boom. Out of the frame. Out of the frame. They're gone. Estrangements, this frame's got you covered. Save on the perfect gift by visiting AuraFrames.com to get $35 off Aura's best-selling Carver mat frames by using the promo code LOVEIT at checkout. That's A-U-R-A frames.com. Promo code LOVEIT. This deal is exclusive.

To listeners, so get yours now in time for the holidays. Terms and conditions apply. Of course, Donald Trump isn't the president right now. Technically, get this, it's a man named Joe Biden. And fun fact about him, he was born on the same day as Elvis Presley, which isn't true. I made that up, but that's how old Joe Biden seems to us.

Biden's last hurrah should have been the 1500 people he pardoned or commuted in one day. However, people have started to comb through that list. And there are some unfortunate and strange picks. For example, Biden wrote down the lady from Anatomy of a Fall, even though she had been acquitted, didn't even make it to the end of the movie, must have fallen asleep.

The president commuted the sentence of former Pennsylvania judge Michael Conahan, who was convicted in 2011 of the kids for cash scheme, where he accepted kickbacks in exchange for wrongfully sentencing children to for-profit juvenile detention facilities. He took money to fill the jails with children. Some of those kids were so wrecked by the experience, they ultimately took their own lives. It's a disgusting, cartoonishly evil situation.

scandal, like a 30 rock style joke, fucking scandal. And that sentence was commuted because President Biden commuted all the sentences of people that were released into home confinement during the pandemic at the request of certain outside groups, apparently not going through and checking them. So that's a bit of a botch, though. I will say it's interesting that

To see people that advocate for abolition or just a general complete overhaul of the justice system, seeing a person like this judge who is an older person and is very unlikely to to reoffend, given that it's hard for him to become a corrupt judge again, being angry. I feel like there's the there's there's two pieces to it, one of which is the thing is completely fair, which is like.

This is somebody who exploited the very system we despise to destroy lives. That it is in stark relief a...

a kind of cartoon hyperbolic version of what the justice system does every day, which is destroys people and sends them to these for-profit institutions. And you're going to show this person mercy in a system in which so few people get mercy. And I totally respect that. There's another part of it, which is people being like, yeah, I'm for prison abolition, but I want this guy to fucking pay. But these people were on home confinement, yes? This person was on home confinement, yes. Yeah, that's not like that part.

I can like get behind home confinement. Yes, our parole and probation systems need to be fixed. Those two things are not the same thing. And there are definitely inequalities and injustices in those. But home confinement is a much, much better option than the for profit and also, frankly, like the federal jail and prison systems.

Sure. Yeah. I wouldn't have mind this guy brought in jail. He was already out of prison. Like to commute a sentence of somebody who's already like at home. You know what I mean? Like it's not even like. Yeah. And he was apparently going to be up in a couple of years anyway. And so they're like they just sort of wiped everybody, including the people that would have been up in the next couple of years. Yeah. But I do think it was like it's interesting just to see how negative the reaction has been, because I felt the same thing. It's like I remember that scandal. It's what it was.

outrageous. It was outrageous. And I do think there's like a, an understanding, like a kind of why, like, why does this guy get mercy? Can we make sure his home sucks a little bit? I mean, I, I like, it's also just like, will people shout at him at restaurants? I hope so. If you've ever find yourself involved in any endeavor that could be potentially described as cash for kids, you shouldn't get the clemency treatment. You should get the final destination treatment.

He also pardoned Rita Crunwell. Her name is Crunwell, a villain name, former Illinois controller who pleaded guilty to a $54 million embezzlement scheme. Crunwell is better known by her street alias Corn Pop Biden. Well, it does like this story too. It had this sort of, it fed and it's feeding into the narrative of like,

Joe Biden is just quiet quitting because it's like, well, the group submitted all these names. Well, didn't anybody go through it? Did Joe Biden have any questions? Did anybody? We don't know. We're not getting insight. Like maybe, but we're just not seeing it. We're not getting any sense.

sense of it. You think somebody political would flag the cash for kids judge, be like, hey, let's get that guy off the list. Why? Why is that? Why are we putting that guy? Why is that guy jumping to the front of the line? Is everyone seeing it as cash for kids? Two Ks? Oh, like the commercial? Yeah, I am. OK, for sure. For sure. In Sky News, the drone mania in New Jersey continues. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told This Week

We have not seen any foreign and we know of no foreign involvement with respect to the the sightings in the northeast. And we are vigilant in investigating this matter. The Department of Homeland Security with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the lead. In other words, this is the work of some kind of local kingpin who's operating out of New Jersey, a droney soprano. Yeah.

As for why people are suddenly seeing so many drones at once, in 2024, Mayorkas actually had an explanation. And in September of 2023, the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, changed the rules so that drones could fly at night. And that may be one of the reasons why now people are seeing more drones than they did before, especially from dawn to dusk.

My theory is that these things are like the forest clowns people were seeing in 2016. And just as with the clowns, the sightings should die down once Trump takes office. They're just omens. Nothing to worry about. Just a terrifying omen. I forgot about the clowns. When asked about the mysterious drones flying over Jersey on Monday, Trump, of course, knew his job was to calm frayed nerves and avoid feeding into a frenzy of speculation and fear. The government knows what is happening. Our military knows and our president knows.

And for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense. I can't imagine it's the enemy because if it was the enemy, they'd blast it out. Even if they were late, they'd blast it. Something strange is going on. For some reason, they don't want to tell the people. That's right. The president sees a story like this and thinks, I bet I can make people even crazier. That's his instinct. That is his instinct. His instinct is like, I think I can really spin this up. He's basically Frank from Always Sunny. It's like my middle school principal who told us that the Sears Tower had been attacked on 9-11. Yeah.

Wow. My principal used to wear a belt and suspenders. That's the one thing I remember about him. What did he do? He'd wear a belt and suspenders. You don't need both. No. The beauty of the suspenders is you get the loosey-goosey feeling of the belt. I want to bring suspenders back. I want a loosey-goosey waist. Yeah.

You don't wear like actual pants though. Yeah, I will wear pants. Well, like a trouser. Yeah, with a zipper. With a jean. Yeah, I'm not going to attach it to my sweatpants. Yeah. We'll see what next year brings. Who knows what mental state we'll all be in. And you know what that sound means? The ding that's been reinforced several times because of the hard out. I know we have Charlotte. It's the end of the year and it is for the time being the end of what a weekday. And an end to me having excuses why I can't go to my regularly scheduled therapy appointment that just happened to coincide with this recording.

Maybe therapy is back in 2025. I hope so. I hope so. So we wanted to mark the biggest and best moments of the last 365 days. We have several categories and I'll present you with the nominees and Sarah, Hallie, Kendra, you will choose the winner. First off, we have 2024's biggest scam here. The nominees, Australia sent break dancer Ray Gunn to Paris Olympics in August, despite the fact that she dances like this. Fantastic. And

Next up, we have the Willy Wonka Experience or Willy's Chocolate Experience offered through an unlicensed trip through Roald Dahl's world of pure imagination in a Glasgow warehouse this March. It was a total fucking dump. Remember that? Just a bunch of AI images and like there was a new character called The Shadow. The Unknown. The Unknown. Yeah. To terrify the children. Just an absolute scam. I think you got like one little chocolate if you were there earlier. And like a half a cup of Sprite. Like two jelly beans. You got two jelly beans and a Sprite.

And finally, this year alone, Donald Trump released gold sneakers, guitars, branded Bibles, $100,000 watch and a signature set named what? Fight, fight, fight.

what is the biggest scam? Was it Raygun? Was it Glasgow? Or was it the Trump financial operation? I mean, I assume the Trump products are going to show up at your house. They're like, they're going to show up. Something's going to show up. Yeah, right. That's a good point. So in that sense, it's really the price is a scam. Yeah, it's a grift, not a scam. Okay, so then do you think Raygun or Glasgow? I gotta go Willy Wonka. I'm going Raygun. I'm going

on ray gun i think just because like they had the world stage and yeah all of us just see it the exact moment go oh this woman can't break dance but

There was something about that moment. A collective realization. Willy Wonka is very special to me because just writing that up for the show every hour a new detail would come out. It was the best day of my life. I think that Glasgow was like the biggest fire. Like if you call it like a fire fest as a specific kind of scam, which is a group of people. It's like it only tilts into scam because they fail so hard. Like they didn't intend to fail so spectacularly. They just they both like kind of

They were in over their heads. Yes. It's a combination of arrogance and stupidity and a little bit of malice. And then it all like it's it's the incompetence leads to a kind of malice. That was also scamming children, which is funny. Yes. There were a lot of sad kids. Reagan takes it next up. Oldest Joe Biden moment. Joe Biden bit several babies.

On Halloween at the White House? God, that's old. Commander Biden was off that day. Next up, in February, Biden paused mid-ice cream cone to say that he hopes Israel-Hana Mosque will reach a ceasefire. Can you give us a second when you think that ceasefire will start? Well, I hope by the beginning of the weekend. I mean, the end of the weekend. He hoped there'd be a ceasefire at the end of the weekend. That was in February of 2024. Ice cream surely melted.

Next up, during the presidential debate in June, Biden said this. We finally beat Medicare. Thank you, President Biden, President Trump. And just last month, Biden appeared to wander off into the Amazon rainforest after finishing his speech. For the benefit of all humanity. Thank you very, very much. All right. I'm going to say the sunglasses, the aviators add a youth that otherwise wouldn't be there. I have to go still with the debate.

I think ice cream cone. I think it's the baby just because it was already after everything had happened. It was like everyone's like, all right, well, you know, we've switched out to Kamala. And it was like literally the next week it was like, all right, he's out here biting babies. But he wouldn't bite that baby at any age. No, and I want to be clear. That's a fair point. I think it's just the baby's expression. It's just the passing on of the next generation.

What do you think it is? I'm going to break the time. I'm going to say ice cream. I agree with Lazarus. I think it is very old. The pause. Terrifically old. Yeah. Looks good, though. Next up, we have the most unhinged promotional tour moment. On June 18th, Justin Timberlake was arrested and later pled guilty to driving while ability impaired. According to page six, the singer told the police officer his arrest was going to ruin the tour. The officer asked what tour Timberlake replied. The world tour.

I was going to say also that world tour started yesterday. Wow. It did eventually happen. So he is on tour now. Casey, why don't you see Justin Timberlake, I guess. Next up, while promoting It Ends With Us, Blake Lively revealed this to E. The iconic rooftop scene in this movie, my husband actually wrote it. Nobody knows that but you now. This was a surprise considering Ryan Reynolds had no role in the making of the film whatsoever. And they apparently asked the screenwriter afterwards. She's like, I don't know anything about that.

But I guess they did do something. She's like, I thought they were improvising. So they may have improvised a scene that he wrote. No, he wrote it during the strike. I think something. Look, I'm not saying I don't know. I think there's something about there's a few moments where. So there's another point where she was in some interview and she said that she doesn't like writing from a blank page, but she loves writing off of something that's already written. And it's like, oh, you like editing? Yeah. There was a few moments where it's like, oh, man.

Gotta keep a few people around you that don't say yes to everything you say. Gotta keep your feet on the ground. Both of them have kind of overplayed their hand recently, I think. It's like you gotta scale back and maybe disappear for a year and then come back. Yeah. Rooting for you guys. I like some of your work. You know? In a Rolling Stone interview in April ahead of the release of her album Hit Me Hard and Soft, Billie Eilish said about masturbating, everybody should be jerking it, man.

That's just true. And Dakota Johnson repeatedly went viral for her deadpan Madame Webb interviews or Madame Webb, if you're nasty, like this one. Why did that go viral? I think it went viral because out of context, people were just like, what does this mean?

Did you catch that at all? No. Somebody brought this up and I have no idea what it's about. There were lots of memes because I think people were like, what is that? Just out of the context of it. It was just a very... But isn't any sentence out of context, out of context? Yeah. And this interview from Wicked in November, the one we've all been talking about, it deserves to be part of the conversation.

I've seen this week people are taking the lyrics of Defying Gravity and really holding space with that. I can't hear it again. We got to stop. I just can't hear it anymore. I love it, but I can't hear it anymore. All right. What do we think? I mean, it is recency bias, but do you think the Wicked moment is unbeatable? Blake and Ryan went on for so long.

And also there was the Justin Baldoni of it all. There was so much going on there. Also, that movie is about domestic violence and they would have, they had like cutouts you could take photos of like in the, in like the AMC as if it was wicked. It's like, why would you take a photo of this? I kept trying to sell her shampoo too. Yeah. I think what's funny about the Billie Eilish is like, that's where we're at. Like, I feel like society has become so prudish that like,

15 years ago, a rock star who's like 23 should be like, I'm out of here fucking. And the fact that she's like, yeah, everyone should masturbate. It's like, yeah, girl, you got to get out of the house. You know, I don't know. Wicked, though. It's iconic. This is wicked. I think that Dakota Johnson deserves a honorary mention because I think she was just out there figuring it out. And she did. Oh, they let they hung out to dry. Well, I also like she was in a godforsaken movie and she came away looking even better, which is an amazing achievement. She went on a press tour.

promoted the movie, never insulted the movie and came out looking better, even though the movie was a big steamer pile of shit. So good for her. And finally, best animal news. We got mood dang. Next up, we've got a leaky fire hydrant that birthed the Bed-Stuy fish pond. We've got 43 monkeys that got loose from the Alpha Genesis Research Resilient in South Carolina. All but four monkeys have been recovered. There are still monkeys on the loose.

And finally, TikTok squirrel, Peanut. Who is dead? What do you got? We got the loose monkeys. We got Moodang. We got the pond. And we got Peanut. I didn't give it to Peanut posthumously for making it into the election discourse. Yeah, that's true. Peanut made a difference. But Peanut died. And I feel like so it can't be the best animal news because it ended with their tragic execution by the state. But he did rise above his station.

And isn't that the most American story? All right, let's move to peanut. Peanut, peanut, peanut. So those are our awards. Congrats to the winners. Peanut, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.

Joe Biden and Reagan. You've done it. You've won our awards. Before we go, everybody, exciting news in 2025. Love it or leave it is going to be back. We have a bunch of live shows in Los Angeles. Come through. You can see what we cut from the unhinged material that doesn't make it into the video or the podcast. It's a new season of the show that dare guests from Danny DeVito to Amy Klobuchar to ask, what is this?

Where am I? Each week we will break down the biggest and dumbest stories and politics to help you keep up with and laugh along with the news. And this season, stay tuned. We have some big guests and surprising conversations you won't find anywhere else. In our first episodes, I'll be joined by Rachel Bloom, followed by Joel McHale and some other big guests to come. Don't miss out. Uh,

on Love It or Leave It in real life. So head to crooked.com slash events. You can get the show dates and grab those tickets. Also, we had a bunch of amazing limited series this year that you should check out. Go to crooked.com slash limiteds. You can listen to our podcast called Empire City, which is the true story of the NYPD. You can listen to

uh, dissident at the doorstep, which is an amazing true story about a Chinese dissonant that came to the S and went MAGA. Um, and a bunch of other amazing shows, really proud of the limiteds. We've made the limited series. We've made these amazing, incredibly like, um, engaging, like riveting documentaries, uh, which, um, we're really proud of. So go to crooked.com slash limiteds to check them out. That's our show.

Thank you to everybody that has listened to What a Weekday. Thank you to everybody who has mad at us for ending What a Weekday. We've loved doing that, but we've loved doing it. But certainly at the start of next year, we really want to focus and concentrate on the Saturday show and how we can make that show even better and how it can continue to change and adapt. I'm really proud of how this show has only gotten better over the years and how even though we're heading into year nine,

It never feels rote. It always feels like we're trying to make something new and interesting every single week. And I want to make sure we keep doing that. And as we head into another Trump era, I want to make sure you know that you can count on us to give you the best understanding of what happened that week in a way that keeps you engaged and interested and and

and hopeful where at all possible. So we will see you all next year. Thank you so much for listening. Have a great break. Thank you to Sarah. Thank you to Hallie. Thank you to Kendra. Thank you to the whole team behind Love It or Leave It here in the studio. And we will see you sluts in 2025.

Love It or Leave It is a Crooked Media production. It is written and produced by me, John Lovett, and Lee Eisenberg. Kendra James is our executive producer. Chris Lord is our producer. And Kennedy Hill is our associate producer. Hallie Kiefer is our head writer. Sarah Lazarus and Jocelyn Kaufman, Peter Miller, Alan Pierre, Will Miles, and Mahana Del Shiki are our writers.

Evan Sutton is our editor. Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landis provide audio support. Stephen Colon is our audio engineer. And Milo Kim is our videographer. Our theme song is written and performed by Sure Sure. Thanks to our designer, Bernardo Serna, for creating and running all of our visuals, which you can't see because this is a podcast. And to our digital producers, David Tolles, Claudia Shang, Mia Kelman, and Matt DeGroat for filming and editing video each week so you can.

We can't reignite the reclining seat debate, but all the seats are designed to recline. Everybody gets to recline. The issue is not my going back. We're back on the airplane now. For airplanes? Back on airplanes. I want to be on my computer and when you recline, it like squishes that space and I can't have my laptop off. That's why I don't like it. That is not my fault to fix or to not use. That is the airline's fault.

Well, I think we have two people, four or two people against, and I feel fine about being on the against side. It's definitely the airplane maker's fault that the seats are so close together and bad, but I still have responsibility as a person to make the best of it for everyone around me. But you all collectively, but we all, everybody wants to recline a little bit.

And everybody on the plane recognizes there's this much space behind each seat that we share. I can recline into it and you can recline into the space behind you. That's your space. And now you don't have to use it if you don't want to, but you're, you can donate it to the person behind you, but it's your space to use. Again, it is unethical about using it. The issue is not the space behind the issues of space in front. I,

I feel very secure about this. But you have no control over what the person ahead of you does because that's not your space. And I wish that we all collectively agreed that we were reclining. Because when someone in front of you reclines, you lose this space. Yes. Even if I recline, I don't get that back. Yeah. No, we, you, what he's saying is that's not your space to begin with because the chair, that's where we disagree. And that's where we disagree. Cause I need that space. Yeah. But, but it's just the, the eyes are in the front of my head. I want what's in front of me.

Right, but that's not the deal. We're a front-oriented species. And that's true on Spirit. And on Spirit Airline, you get to keep that space. And I am flying Spirit to Columbus. And on Spirit, there are no rules. Oh, no rules. Nothing's right. On Spirit, I'd recline my seat and punch someone. Right. Because you're allowed on Spirit. All right, yeah.

Building a business may feel like a big jump, but OnDeck small business loans can help keep you afloat. With lines of credit up to $100,000 and term loans up to $250,000, OnDeck lets you choose the loan that's right for your business. As a top-rated online small business lender, OnDeck's team of loan advisors can help you find the right business loan to fit your needs. Visit OnDeck.com for more information.

Sometimes words seem so unnecessary.

Introducing Unspoken, the new diamond fashion collection you'll only find at Jared Jewelers and just in time for the holidays. Discover the brilliance of natural diamond pendants, rings, earrings, and bracelets in a range of carat weights, expertly interwoven in white or yellow 14-carat gold. It's the perfect holiday gift where your love speaks for itself. Unspoken, the dazzling new collection exclusively at Jared.