What a Weekday: A Tough Monday at the Justice Department

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Speaker 2 Any lingering thoughts for Hassan Piker since we're over here on YouTube?

Speaker 2 Oh, I just challenged him to a

Speaker 2 wrestling colleague.

Speaker 2 You fucked up my TikTok algorithm, by the way. I'm glad I did.
So I had a great conversation with Hassan.

Speaker 2 Really enjoyed it. Fair number of responses calling me some kind of snibbling worm and that kind of thing doesn't really bother me.
Those were most of the time.

Speaker 2 Yeah,

Speaker 2 those were from Sarah's dummy accounts. That's fine.
There was one person,

Speaker 2 and I, because I started seeing it in my feed too.

Speaker 2 I asked Hassan because he had posted a selfie, like a shortlist selfie showing his workout progress, which is great.

Speaker 2 And I was just joking about, you know, oh, you know, Trump wins in your show hole, that kind of thing. And we talked about working out, and I said that I was on Manjaro.

Speaker 2 I asked him if he did Pilates, whatever. And somebody

Speaker 2 posted something that actually like went pretty far saying that like my

Speaker 2 that I was sort of snied about Hassan working out. And then I brought up Manjaro to say, oh, you you put in effort, I don't put in effort.
And that actually speaks to the core failures of liberalism.

Speaker 2 And of all, I can't believe it bugged me, but it is so fucking stupid. Because A, like, I was just joking.

Speaker 2 B, the conversation that immediately goes into the value of talking about working out and like how people are looking for community around how to live a better life. Also,

Speaker 2 I work out so fucking hard. It made me so crazy.
You think I'm just fucking loafing around? God damn it. I am 42 years old.
I do so much Pilates.

Speaker 2 I am like keeping up with those fucking gay Weeho guys that are like 26 at Barry's. I'm running fucking fast on the treadmill.
How dare you? Challenge him to an arm racing competition.

Speaker 2 Challenge him to a foot race. That's what like makes you feel better.

Speaker 2 That might have been like a weird AI comment because I saw videos about that too, but and it comes out of nowhere because that's such a small part of the conversation.

Speaker 2 It was so strange, but like, no, I was not belittling or being snied about Hassan's work. I was joking about why he posts selfies of himself looking hot, not about the working out.

Speaker 2 We had a good conversation about working out, and

Speaker 2 no, like, I was not saying, huh, anyone who actually puts in the work is stupid for not taking an experimental pancreas medicine.

Speaker 2 You just are a humorless scold who was looking for reasons to dislike me. There are just so many better reasons to dislike you.
That's what I sang. That's what I sang.

Speaker 2 It's on the top 100 reasons to dislike you. I agree.
I agree.

Speaker 2 Welcome back. I'm John Lovett.
Joined today by my trusty team, Kendra Halley, and Lazarus.

Speaker 2 It's so good. Thank you.
Howie's really good. How's it good? What do they call it? It's It's the

Speaker 2 roar. The battle cry.
The battle cry. Oh, okay, great.
Thank you. Let's get into it.
What a weekday.

Speaker 2 After months of repeatedly pledging that he would not pardon his son Hunter, President Biden on Sunday pardoned his son Hunter. Give me the battle cry.

Speaker 2 Biden explained, to send Hunter to prison would be immoral as it would deprive the world of his art. Does that make sense?

Speaker 2 Biden issued a full and unconditional pardon to spare Hunter a possible prison sentence for his federal felony gun and tax convictions.

Speaker 2 It's a messy situation, but I can't help but be happy for Hunter, who will finally be reunited with his illegal gun.

Speaker 2 And now no son ever in the history of the world has been under more pressure to really nail that Christmas gift for his dad this year. I mean, he really got to knock it out of the park.

Speaker 2 Oh, oh, a robe with my initials on it? Thank you, son. As I've been saying to you for decades now, you shouldn't have done that.

Speaker 2 The sweeping pardon also covers any other offenses against the united states which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from january 1st 2014 through december 1st 2024 we now go to footage of how hunter spent his thanksgiving weekend

Speaker 2 that's footage from Grand Theft Auto. The president said in a Sunday night statement that he decided to issue the pardon because he believed the charges against his son were politically motivated.

Speaker 2 Continued Biden, I can't stand for my son to be hurt politically. Everyone knows a parent's role is to only scar their children emotionally.
Here's what Biden said.

Speaker 2 The charges in his case came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election.

Speaker 2 No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter's cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son and that's wrong.

Speaker 2 Biden went on to say there has been an effort to break Hunter, who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution.

Speaker 2 In trying to break Hunter, they've tried to break me, and there's no reason to believe it will stop here.

Speaker 2 Crazy that they went to all that effort to break Joe Biden, only to get one-upped by the passage of time.

Speaker 2 Little do they know that all it would take to break Biden is stares.

Speaker 2 After his pardon was announced, Hunter Biden issued his own statement saying, I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction, mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport.

Speaker 2 I will never take the clemency I have been given today for granted and will devote the life I have rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering.

Speaker 2 Added Hunter, I'm glad people know I got a lap dance to a fleet foxes song, though. I stand by that.
I think you should.

Speaker 2 Donald Trump reacted in a truth social post, writing, does the pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J6 hostages who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of justice.

Speaker 2 It didn't include them, obviously. That wouldn't make any sense.

Speaker 2 It just doesn't make any sense. I was Senator Chuck Grassley wrote on X, I'm shocked President Biden pardoned his son Hunter because he said many times he wouldn't and I believed him.
Shame on me.

Speaker 2 Wrong, Chuck. That would only be if Joe pardoned his son twice.
Then it's shame on you. It's still just shame on him.

Speaker 2 He's only been fooled once. Right.
It's a shame Grassley sucks because he might be the finest poster of his generation. Here's his tribute to his vacuum cleaner on the day before Thanksgiving.

Speaker 2 He said, I usually send this picture of faithful Beth before starting the drudgery of getting farmhouse ready for the family coming for Thanksgiving.

Speaker 2 But since Beth is 40, 50 years old, I'm sending when I'm done, Faithful Beth delivered. Faithful Beth.
Faithful Beth. Faithful.
Look at that beautiful vacuum. I didn't know how to make things.

Speaker 2 I will say those things really used to last. Yeah, we should do that part again.
For sure. For sure.
Well, we made it.

Speaker 2 We all collectively chose cheaper and cheaper versions of things. Correct.
I'm not absolving us. No, it's a sort of we all did this.

Speaker 2 It really is like a good example of like

Speaker 2 we,

Speaker 2 you know, we like all collectively choose the chain restaurants and then the local places close. Well, you sure do.

Speaker 2 I'm part of it. No, no, you said you were still using a 30-year-old fridge.
That's all.

Speaker 2 And now it's fucking dead. But you got 30 years.
Someone got 30 years. Someone got 30 years out of it.
It wasn't me. Vanessa Hudgens.
That a great thing. Yeah, Vanessa Hudgens got some.

Speaker 2 You come see me. Yarry Oldman got some good years out of it.
She bought it the day the day she was. Sorry.

Speaker 2 She bought it the day she was born.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Look at that beautiful vacuum cleaner. I like the color, the colorway.
Yeah. The beige and red.

Speaker 2 People have been noting, I saw a few people talking about this in social media that we're entering an ugly aesthetic. The next few years are going to be an ugly era.

Speaker 2 Like the combination of AI and Trumpian politics. There's going to be a kind of...
I feel like we've been in one.

Speaker 2 Yeah, like I wonder, is it just sort of like the AI aesthetic will become fashion aesthetic? Is that what they're saying? We've been into that millennial gray

Speaker 2 thing, which I think is for some people going towards more of a maximalist right now, which I'm okay with. Yeah, me too.
But I don't know what the counterpoint to that is. What is going to be

Speaker 2 the Tuscan farm kitchen? Right, right, right. What's going to date? It's exciting to think about.
Yeah. I always think it's interesting to think about like what

Speaker 2 you like

Speaker 2 where I'm like more interested in like what do I not see right now that will look dated to me.

Speaker 2 Like what do I like right now that I will feel wrong about or my opinion of will change and what's timeless? And it's hard to know. Yeah.

Speaker 2 It's hard to know. House Speaker Mike Johnson posted, trust in our justice system has been almost irreparably damaged by the Bidens and their use and abuse of it.
No, the trust was already damaged.

Speaker 2 The damage is why Biden said, fuck it. It's like when your phone screen is already cracked, so you start using it in the pool.

Speaker 2 Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis posted, Joe Biden pardoned three turkeys this week. Folks, this pardon power is for the birds.

Speaker 2 Three turkeys.

Speaker 2 Democrats, meanwhile, were divided by the controversial pardon.

Speaker 2 Colorado Governor Jared Polis was amongst the scornful chorus, writing on X, While as a father, I certainly understand President Joe Biden's natural desire to help his son by pardoning him, I'm disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country.

Speaker 2 This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation. Yes, and I'm sure that's what later presidents were scrupulously waiting for.
A precedent.

Speaker 2 Trump waiting around for a president. Good kids, kids.

Speaker 2 We can finally do whatever we want.

Speaker 2 But former Attorney General Eric Holder said the pardon was warranted, writing, no U.S. attorney would have charged this case given the underlying facts.

Speaker 2 After a five-year investigation, the facts, as discovered, only made that clear.

Speaker 2 But President Biden didn't just pardon his son for the crimes related to his convictions and plea deal, the tax and gun charges.

Speaker 2 President President Biden issued a blanket pardon covering a whole decade worth of crimes by his son. Exciting, added Holder, ask yourself a vastly more important question.

Speaker 2 Do you really think Cash Patel is qualified to lead the world's preeminent law enforcement investigative organization? Obvious answer, hell no.

Speaker 2 That's true. It is a more important question, and it's the question we ought to be talking about.
But President Biden had other plans. President Biden's statement concluded, here's the truth.

Speaker 2 I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.

Speaker 2 And once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision.

Speaker 2 But there was a little sense in delaying it further, Joe.

Speaker 2 There's a little sense in delaying it until perhaps Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve or after you've pardoned a dozen other people who are not your children, but who may be targeted by the incoming administration, or after Hunter spent one night in jail where he could have been visited by three ghosts, all of whom told Hunter that he ought to finally form that bluegrass band he's talked about because his voice is amazing.

Speaker 2 Fucking ghosts.

Speaker 2 That's what he learns from these ghosts. What a shame.
Donald Trump announced Cash Patel as his pick for FBI director on Saturday. Biden announced his son's pardon on Sunday.

Speaker 2 So now we have to talk about both.

Speaker 2 Look, I get why President Biden pardoned his son, and I get why he'd want to make it a broader pardon for fear that the next administration might target his son because his influence peddling and sleazy dealings, while never tied directly to Joe Biden, are a great what about the Democrats talking point to use when downplaying Trump's open, brazen corruption.

Speaker 2 But Trump and his allies have threatened generals like Mark Milley, members of Congress like Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff and Liz Cheney, Anthony Fauci, journalists, intelligence officials, prosecutors, judges.

Speaker 2 The list goes on and on. If Joe Biden believes in using the pardon power to stop political prosecutions, if that's the principle, then so be it.
There are more papers to sign.

Speaker 2 But if that starts and ends with Hunter, it's just a bullshit statement to paper over saying fuck it. And by the way, I respect saying fuck it.

Speaker 2 You're one foot out the door, not just of the presidency, but of life itself. You have this ridiculous pardon power.

Speaker 2 You were pushed out of the race, a race you believed you could win by people you once trusted. She loses.
Everyone blames you. Anyway, you leave Washington feeling like all you have is your family.

Speaker 2 You don't want to die regretting your failure to act while you had the chance. You just had your last Thanksgiving as president and you know it came up at dinner.

Speaker 2 So you say fuck it. I get it.
I'd say fuck it too. But where's the fuck it for the rest of us?

Speaker 2 Meanwhile, Trump announced on Saturday that he had selected loyalist Cash Patel, a self-described enemy of the deep state, to lead the FBI.

Speaker 2 Patel has vowed that for his first trick, he'll somehow figure out a way to shoot Dr. King again.

Speaker 2 I don't know about that. This is beside the point, but announcing anything newsworthy over Thanksgiving is un-American.

Speaker 2 I found out Cash Patel was nominated to be our next FBI director while trying to get my father to stop calling calling the customer helpline for a 20-year-old oven. Let those poor people rest.

Speaker 2 We'll get takeout if we have to. It's clicking.
I know it's clicking.

Speaker 2 Nominating Patel to the post would require ousting Christopher Wray, a Republican first appointed by Trump, who still has three years remaining in his 10-year term.

Speaker 2 Sure, Ray is a Republican appointed by a Republican, but will he open an investigation into Liz Cheney for the crime of being a huge bitch?

Speaker 2 No, he won't. Patel might.

Speaker 2 Patel, who worked on Trump's National Security Council before becoming chief of staff to the acting defense secretary, has previously called for the purging of employees at the FBI who refused to support Trump's agenda.

Speaker 2 Said Patel in a September interview, I'd shut down the FBI Hoover building on day one and reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state. Did somebody say night at the museum sequel?

Speaker 2 I can already picture Ben Stiller being chased around by David Koresh.

Speaker 2 That's exciting.

Speaker 2 I just really think someone should hold him to that because I'd like to see how that, the timeline on that.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I mean, it shouldn't be our main takeaway, but it doesn't seem like Patel realizes that curating and operating a museum is a lot of work.

Speaker 2 Patel also issued this threat against journalists in a 2023 interview with Steve Bannon.

Speaker 3 We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government, but in the media.

Speaker 3 Yes, we're going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We're going to come after you.

Speaker 3 Whether it's criminally or civilly, we'll figure that out. But yeah, we're putting you all on notice.
And Steve, this is why they hate us. This is why we're tyrannical.
This is why we're dictators.

Speaker 2 Stay with that for one moment. Let's dig into that.

Speaker 2 You're almost, you're right. You're right there.
You're on the verge of a breakthrough, but we're out of time. We'll have to pick that up next week.

Speaker 2 Let's not forget to start there next week. Cash, you're so close.

Speaker 2 You start a media company in 2017. You name it crooked media.
It's a wry little joke. Then all of a sudden, it's 2025.
Cash Patel is FBI director.

Speaker 2 And it's like, should we have spent like 10 more minutes in the brainstorm?

Speaker 2 Anyway, I find it hard to believe a guy as handsome as Cash Patel would abuse his power or target anyone who doesn't deserve it.

Speaker 2 Anybody that hot and that charming, I don't think we have anything to worry about. He's a good guy.
And I'm on the record. Cash Patel is a good guy.

Speaker 2 Cash Patel is a good guy.

Speaker 2 Please retweet. But for whatever reason, a bunch of people who should be higher on the enemies list as far as I'm concerned disagree.

Speaker 2 Former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton compared Patel to Joseph Stalin's head of secret police, telling reporters the Senate should reject this nomination 100 to 0.

Speaker 2 When John Bolton starts sounding like a resistance wine mom, you know we're in for a rough fucking ride.

Speaker 2 Trump's pick of Patel once again raises questions that Democrats, namely me, struggled with during the election and now must confront as the opposition.

Speaker 2 How do we contend with a Trump administration that's both deeply ridiculous and dangerous? Which fights are critical and which are distractions?

Speaker 2 Which smoke is coming from a wildfire and which is just a cyber truck that blew up outside a crypto-only gentleman's club. On the one hand, you've got RFK Jr.

Speaker 2 showering in the background while his wife Cheryl Hines promotes beauty products for Black Friday with the hashtag M-A-H-A Make America Healthy Again.

Speaker 2 No, you can't, you can't take a shower. I'm doing a video.

Speaker 2 No, no, no, I'm doing,

Speaker 2 you've got to give me a second. I'm doing a video.

Speaker 2 And sure, we all beat off to it, but to what end?

Speaker 2 Can I just...

Speaker 2 It's not the most important thing about Cheryl Hines now basically becoming a right-wing grifter and doing make America Healthy Again merch.

Speaker 2 She is in full glam.

Speaker 2 The shower is in full view. So he

Speaker 2 did not, this is fake. Oh, yeah.
I think she's acting. I think she's acting, but it's more like...
She's phenomenal at it.

Speaker 2 But it's also like, it's not even, it's not even a successful execution of the, I was trying to film a video, and then my husband was showering behind me because the setup.

Speaker 2 She's like doing this like, oh no, R.F.K. Jr.
is showering behind me, but like you didn't you just wanted to make a video with him showering behind you. You could have just done that.

Speaker 2 You have to pretend he's doing something to interrupt you. That's ridiculous.
I do think it's interesting that RFK's whole thing now is like, I know that everyone wants to fuck me, RFK.

Speaker 2 Like, that, it's such an odd tack to

Speaker 2 take now. You know what I mean? Like, it's,

Speaker 2 they're such unappealing people.

Speaker 2 This whole, it's just like, this is so.

Speaker 2 Like, I don't understand who this is for. I don't, I don't understand who sees this.
Like, huh, delightful. Bye-bye, bye, bye-bye.
I guess.

Speaker 2 I do agree. It's like, it hits the same note over and over again.
Like, this is like, this is TikTok. Like, this is, we've already done this.

Speaker 2 Like, the idea that this is happening, it's like, I feel like you're catching the end of it. Well, it's on wheels.
So that's a good one. Well, that's two weeks ago.
You're right. Okay.

Speaker 2 I will say 60% off everything is a genuinely good deal. Yeah.
Everything is 20% off. That's a great deal.
That's true. 60%.

Speaker 2 Finally. Oh, Bobby.
I don't know what's in that stuff.

Speaker 2 I mean, we're not going to buy it, but if I ever were, today's the day.

Speaker 2 Worm water. It's also time to admit to ourselves that Cheryl Hines isn't trapped or talking to divorce lawyers or just barely tolerating him for tax reasons.
Cheryl Hines is into this.

Speaker 2 Blani isn't replaced. Usha isn't conflicted.
Usha might be local for me. No, don't know.

Speaker 2 Kennedy also posted a clip of himself working out shirtless to Eye of the Tiger.

Speaker 2 Okay, Robert.

Speaker 2 Okay, Robert.

Speaker 2 And sure, we all beat off to it.

Speaker 2 This is what you should be doing. I'm sorry.
You have to fight that guy. He's a good shock.
You have to work out in your jeans. I don't want to wear workout pants.

Speaker 2 You keep saying I have to fight someone. I don't want to fight anyone.
I know. Nobody wants to fight anyone, Movie.
I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 I just want to do, let's see who has a faster mile.

Speaker 2 A foot race. I think that's fine.

Speaker 2 I'm in great shape. I work out really hard.
Diplates like four days a week. Faster mile with the tread or or faster mile on the street.

Speaker 2 Well, I haven't done the street in a long time, but I can do the street. I mean, I'm fast.
Hollywood Boulevard. Treadmill race is funny.
Treadmill race is funny.

Speaker 2 Hollywood Walk of Fame, though. Sure.
Wherever you want. Let's run up.
We'll run up Griffith. Let's go uphill.

Speaker 2 Let's do hills. Unbelievable.

Speaker 2 I'm in an argument with a video I saw. I kind of miss doing stadiums.

Speaker 2 Stadium stares at me and just like running up and down. Great.
Whatever you want.

Speaker 2 Unbelievable.

Speaker 2 Oh, you think I don't believe in working out? I'm a fucking...

Speaker 2 It's like I have a deeply unhealthy relationship with fitness, food, my body.

Speaker 2 But I can run.

Speaker 2 Tell me, I don't take this seriously.

Speaker 2 Just.

Speaker 2 Hallie, give us the roar. Wow.

Speaker 2 Fox News lapped this video right up. I just think it's unfair that you guys get to see this and we don't get to see any of the female members of the category.
What do you want to see?

Speaker 2 I'd like to see maybe Linda McMahon doing yoga, Tulsi surfing. I don't know.
Can I see something that's not fair, Jessica? It's just not fair. Charlie and I need to see some eye candy, too.
Oh, boy.

Speaker 2 I guess that's what's left once Project 2025 bans porn. And look, I would not watch a video of Tulsi Gabbard surfing, but I think we're really getting off track here.
Behind the buffoonery, RFK Jr.

Speaker 2 is an anti-vax crank who will pose a genuine threat to the health of millions of Americans as Secretary of Health and Human Services. He's a clown, yes, but the flowers on his lapel squirt polio.

Speaker 2 We've also got Pete Hegseth, Trump's pick for Secretary of Defense, whose own mother accused him of mistreating women for years in a 2018 email obtained by the New York Times.

Speaker 2 Imagine receiving an email like that from your mother. Imagine your mother logging into her Earthlink account to confront you with the unacceptable truth of the way you lived your life.

Speaker 2 Some frightening appointments are almost lost in the churn, like Russian propaganda parrot Telsey Gabbard for director of national intelligence.

Speaker 2 Gabbard's seen here returning from a clandestine meeting with Vladimir Putin.

Speaker 2 I just love

Speaker 2 1950s, 1960s, like green screen, just somebody standing in a room while somebody off-screen is throwing buckets of water at them. The best.
The best. Incredible.
It's practical effects for you.

Speaker 2 It's the best. The onslaught, and unlike that beautiful shark in Gladiator 2.

Speaker 2 People didn't like the shark in Gladiator 2.

Speaker 2 They didn't like the moves at the beginning. I saw.
The CGI animals overall, We were just discussing this before we started recording.

Speaker 2 Left something to be desired. You know what? I want to come back to it.
We got to come back to it. We got to keep moving.
We have a gladiator section coming. The onslaught doesn't stop.

Speaker 2 On Saturday, Trump announced that he'd chosen Charles Kushner, father of his son-in-law Jared, and recipient of his 2020 pardon after pleading guilty to tax evasion and making illegal campaign contributions to serve as ambassador to France.

Speaker 2 Now, people don't really remember this, but Charles Kushner, I believe, hired a prostitute to try to ensnare his brother. His brother-in-law.
His brother-in-law. For blackmail.
To try to blackmail.

Speaker 2 And they showed the tape to his sister.

Speaker 2 What a family. What a family.
People love money.

Speaker 2 People go to incredible lengths. These were already super wealthy people.
Anyway, fascinating. We all begged for season five of succession, and boy, are we getting it.
The only constant is chaos.

Speaker 2 And after threatening steep tariffs on all products that enter the U.S.

Speaker 2 from Canada and Mexico, Trump chatted with both Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week, praising his meeting with Trudeau at Mar-a-Lago as very productive.

Speaker 2 The meeting was just Trump complimenting Trudeau on the old blackface picture and constantly telling him it was hilarious before asking him if they have quarter pounders in Canadian McDonald's, making it the most successful meeting with a foreign leader Trump has ever had.

Speaker 2 It's also like a signal to like what the next couple years will be like in part, because Trump goes out there and threatens sweeping tariffs that would destroy the economy, issuing menacing threats for actions that the Canadian government and Mexican government actually can't possibly do.

Speaker 2 Like they can't press a button that stops the fentanyl, right? Like they're not actually in charge of that, right? It's like a big complicated problem.

Speaker 2 Guns go from our side of the border down to the Mexican side of the border. And so he issues this brawn threat.
They all have to kind of find some way to kiss the ring.

Speaker 2 He claims it was a very productive conversation that he's getting the results he had always wanted. And he gets to do a whole

Speaker 2 storyline of Trump issues crazy threat.

Speaker 2 Foreign leaders capitulate to the power of Trump. Trump declares victory.

Speaker 2 The actual underlying problems haven't changed materially, but he can claim they have because he'll claim whatever he wants to claim.

Speaker 2 Meanwhile, we went through a cycle of saying Donald Trump is going to destroy the economy. The economy doesn't get destroyed.

Speaker 2 And we look silly, even though the thing he actually said he would do would be disastrous. And we just have to, I think,

Speaker 2 not allow ourselves to be tools of that story that he's going to try to tell, versions of that story he's going to try to tell over and over and over again.

Speaker 2 Anyway, speaking of Trudeau and things that are French in some way, Trump announced Tuesday that he would be visiting Paris for the opening of the newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral.

Speaker 2 I've heard of Emily in Paris, but this is ridiculous.

Speaker 2 Wow.

Speaker 2 Not very America first of him.

Speaker 2 Why isn't he paying a visit to America's Notre Dame, a Missouri Bass Pro shops that partially burned in 2020 after an irate customer set up a firework in the boat accessory section?

Speaker 2 Did you see the pictures of the restored cathedral? It's on the inside. I think it's beautiful.
And I really like the more modern.

Speaker 2 I would want to call it a BEMA, but I know that that's wrong. That can't be right.
What's the narthex? What's the nave?

Speaker 2 I think it'd be the nave, right? What is the nave? Like sort of the

Speaker 2 top part. I'm not sure.
The part with the seats.

Speaker 2 Realizing I haven't retained much of Art History 101. I don't like it.
It's a very millennial. It looks very West Elm to me.
I don't like all the lights. I don't.

Speaker 2 I want it to be dark and I thought it was beautiful. I like the floor.

Speaker 2 I like the kind of

Speaker 2 simple

Speaker 2 aesthetic of the new kind of whatever that is. I don't know Catholic terms, but the big bowl.
The big pope, it's called. The pope.
The new, the new modernist pope, pope shape. The baptismal pope.

Speaker 2 I like a pope with clean lines. You know, I like a simple silhouette on my pope.

Speaker 2 I'm minimal pope. Minimalism pope.
Conclave in theaters now.

Speaker 4 Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up.

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Speaker 2 Chevrolet, together, let's drive.

Speaker 2 Back here in the United States, this past weekend was the largest Thanksgiving box office of all time.

Speaker 2 I think

Speaker 2 you never want to hear that again? Well, buckle up because this is, we're going to to hear it again. Love wicked.

Speaker 2 This Thanksgiving, more than ever.

Speaker 2 This Thanksgiving, more than ever, Americans were looking at their family and rightfully concluding, how about we shut the fuck up for roughly two and a half hours?

Speaker 2 Moana 2 alone made $221 million, the biggest Thanksgiving opening for a single film in history. God, after it made so much money, Disney must be kicking themselves for agreeing to kill Moana in this.

Speaker 2 Sorry, spoiler alert for Moana 2. She drowns.

Speaker 2 So no Moana.

Speaker 2 You're so proud of us. I like that joke.
Yeah. Spoiler alert for Moana, too.

Speaker 2 She's bad dad. Yeah, no child.

Speaker 2 The kids made you the cash patel section. The worst child in the world watching this.
We could also soared past expectations, capturing the biggest opening weekend for a Broadway adaptation to date.

Speaker 2 Let this be a lesson, Hollywood. Theater kids will not let you down.
They will not have plans on opening weekend.

Speaker 2 Theater kids didn't even find out that everyone else from their high school class was hanging out over Thanksgiving until today.

Speaker 2 Adding Gladiator 2 in the weekend surpassed the previous record-holding Thanksgiving weekend 2018's combo of Creed 2, Fantastic Beast, The Crimes of Grindelwald, and Ralph Breaks the Internet.

Speaker 2 Yeah, there were a couple years break where we all realized we were gay and learned to make sourdough bread and some other stuff happened, but now we're back in business, baby.

Speaker 2 Finally, back to the cinematic golden age of Fantastic Beast,

Speaker 2 the crimes of Grindelwald.

Speaker 2 Those movies could not,

Speaker 2 first of all there's been several of them. They all have impenetrable titles.
I don't know what secret. It's the same thing happened to me with the Spider-Man movies because

Speaker 2 they were all called like Spider-Man,

Speaker 2 the homecoming, Spider-Man, no way home, Spider-Man far from home. It's like, what's the fucking order? Same thing with the

Speaker 2 monkey movies. Planet of the Apes, colon, dawn of the apes.
Planet of the apes, colon, rise of the apes. Planet of the apes, colon, war for the planet of the apes.
What's the order?

Speaker 2 Does rise come before dawn or does dawn come before red, David? Which is it? Do you know? It's the ladder.

Speaker 2 Hell yeah. That's the ladder.
It goes rise, dawn, or dawn, rise.

Speaker 2 Dawn, rise. I like that.
Why? Because that's just the way it is. But that doesn't make any sense.
It makes perfect sense.

Speaker 2 Yeah, the sun has to dawn before it can start to rise. Yeah, sunrise and dawn are synonyms.

Speaker 2 The sun is rising when it is dawn. It is dawn when the sun is rising.
Sunrise spans a period of time. But I agree there's a period of time after dawn that the the sun is continuing to rise.

Speaker 2 It rises till noon. But that's not what we mean when we say sunrise.
That's not what you mean. I don't like the monkey movies enough to care.
The monkey movies.

Speaker 2 But I really don't enjoy them. All right, let's take a moment to talk about Gladiator 2 and Wicked.

Speaker 2 Loved both. Enjoyed both thoroughly.

Speaker 2 We were talking about this.

Speaker 2 Yes, the CGI,

Speaker 2 I don't even know what kind of Simeons those were meant to be.

Speaker 2 They're selling a baboons. Yeah, they're baboons.
They're baboons. But what if that was a bad shape?

Speaker 2 You can buy like packages of CGI, essentially. So you buy like...
The baboon package. Yeah, exactly.
And there's like a level one baboon package. Oh, interesting.

Speaker 2 Up to like an expensive baboon tree.

Speaker 2 I do not think Gladiator 2 is using off-the-shelf

Speaker 2 baboons. No, no, no.
But you don't have to, what I'm saying is you don't have to re-render an animal. You can get like a package and then have less rendering.

Speaker 2 rendering is so they start with a they kind of start with they get you can you can get a an off-the-shelf baboon and then put that doctor it up then doctor it up

Speaker 2 on it yeah put a hat right a little bow tie make it a text like with all of the cgi there was not enough doctoring up i agree i to me it was the boats i i didn't mind the baboon but the boats at the beginning i was a little

Speaker 2 a little um

Speaker 2 for me the the the the the little

Speaker 2 it's actually not it's hard right because i don't actually think it is the baboons themselves or the little monkey or the sharks It's the one

Speaker 2 he was real and no I actually

Speaker 2 Someone look this up. I don't think that monkey was real

Speaker 2 monkey it looked real

Speaker 2 100% you're gonna 100% do you know that

Speaker 2 some of them what if you're wrong they will never believe you and you're sure again that's why

Speaker 2 are you look it up or you just feel like

Speaker 2 him can you look it up

Speaker 2 yeah we could get a monkey

Speaker 2 thank you but It's not no effects at all. Dondas.
Dondas was 100% a real monkey.

Speaker 2 Your anti-like monkeys have not been a part of Hollywood the entire life. I just watched him crazy, and I would just like to think that there are no real monkeys.
Oh, there's probably more than ever.

Speaker 2 I don't, whether or not it may be a real monkey, there are definitely shots where it looks like

Speaker 2 they're that like Denzel Washington is told to stand in a certain way and then the monkey, they like, and now the monkey's on your shoulder.

Speaker 2 Like there are things, there are moments where I don't know if it's fully a real monkey. The monkey's real and Denzel is AI.
Whoa.

Speaker 2 There is a moment from the movie that needs to be

Speaker 2 available to us as a video, which is when he goes, and that's politics.

Speaker 2 That's going to be when that, when we get, when somebody gets a good

Speaker 2 wicked title card with their phone, they put their phone away from Gladiator. People were filming the wicked title card? Oh, did you not see this? What are people doing with that?

Speaker 2 Posting it on Twitter.

Speaker 2 Unbelievable. There was a, um, there was a, uh, when the second time I saw Wicked, there was somebody sitting.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's right. Yeah, you heard me.
Saw it twice. Deal with it.
Deal with it. Saw it twice, cried both times, would see it a third time.
Sobbed. Fucking sobbed.
Sobbed.

Speaker 2 I'm crying from good news. Like, I cry from the opening of that movie.
I am so in on Wicked. I fucking loved Wicked.

Speaker 2 I can't, I'm not going to like it.

Speaker 2 it that's that's totally i i love that for you just as someone who is a musical theater person i i just wish i felt the same you saw it no i haven't seen i i do not like wicked no no no i i saw wicked original cast 2003 okay so like i have seen and she hated it then i just the music does nothing for me

Speaker 2 i want to

Speaker 2 agreed i'm sorry it's not it's just not it's not what i it does it doesn't do anything for me i don't find it to be particularly imaginative i don't like the wizard of oz as like a vehicle for storytelling neither does wicked

Speaker 2 it's based what do you mean there's a twist on it it's saying imagine um well look to each their own uh

Speaker 2 i love wicked i thought it was beautiful i'll stop i'll cry right now thinking about it dude i also enjoy gravel gladiator too but but the uh the sharks did take me out of it They were not very real, seeming.

Speaker 2 I'm a Conclave girly. Go out and see Conclave.
I fucking loved it. Can't wait.
I'm excited to go see that one.

Speaker 2 I need to get a better picture of what the supporting actor race looks like, which I don't have a. I will say, I think they're all in Conclave.

Speaker 2 It's all elder, like older character actors just absolutely having a blast.

Speaker 2 I would like to say, it would just be fun for me to see Denzel get a nod because his nod for Roman J Esquire, I still am upset about it.

Speaker 2 You don't even remember that movie. No, I do.
He plays, his character's name, I believe, is Roman Israel.

Speaker 2 Yeah, Roman J. Israel Esquire.
Yes. Sorry.
And he's a lawyer? Yes.

Speaker 2 They had one.

Speaker 2 Denzel Washington is awesome in Gladiator 2. My only problem with Gladiator 2, which is,

Speaker 2 I think, a contrarian take, but like,

Speaker 2 I wanted it to be longer because I was actually enjoying...

Speaker 2 So without spoiling anything, like you're watching.

Speaker 2 What's his name? Paul Mescal. You're watching Paul Mescal.
Who was AI?

Speaker 2 Who was 100% AI and hot as hell, but you're watching him and Denzel Washington and their story is kind of how they kind of come together. And I just was like, I wanted to spend more time.

Speaker 2 Like, I loved watching the Denzel Washington story of like where he started and where he gets to. And I just wanted to spend more time in it.
It's, I, that is the beauty of a Denzel movie.

Speaker 2 Like in American Gangster, him with Russell Crowe, I always fast forward through the Russell Crow parts because it's a better movie when you're just focusing on the Denzel stuff.

Speaker 2 So good in that training day. Yeah.
God damn it. He's one of our guys.
It's so good to see him. It was so good.
It's so good to see him.

Speaker 2 If you read his profile, he like, I think one of the reasons why he looks so activated and animated in this movie compared to a few like Roman J, whatever, and also like all those equalizer movies, apparently, he stopped a 15-year like two-bottle of wine-a-day habit.

Speaker 2 He's been sober for a few years now. Uh,

Speaker 2 so in the movie Heat,

Speaker 2 Al Pacino's character was

Speaker 2 doing cocaine, and Michael Mann cut any shot. I don't know if he, I don't know if it was discussed or you see it.

Speaker 2 I believe they did shoot him doing cocaine, maybe a little bit wrong, but the basic gist of it is Al Pacino played this character like he was doing cocaine throughout the movie.

Speaker 2 And then any reference to it is cut. And so the final movie, Al Pacino was like, I think a little bit pissed because he's like, I played this like a guy doing Coke and you never see me do Coke.

Speaker 2 And it makes the whole movie. It makes the whole movie.
And you sort of know he's doing Coke because he's up for three days straight and he's crazy. Like he just seems like he's on Coke.

Speaker 2 But I do think that it's a kind of a funny kind of direction that should be used more, which is just to like tell Denzel Washington, like

Speaker 2 it's Rome, but like you're on Coke the whole time. One of my favorite shots ever in any movie is in Flight.
Zemekis does this shot where it's either Denzel or John Goodman doing a lot of Coke.

Speaker 2 And the way he shoots it, he puts a camera on a dolly and like follows the line up his nose. It's a really excellent shot.
Yes.

Speaker 2 i like the movie flight because it asked the question what if sully is terrible

Speaker 2 finally a movie willing to wonder what if sully was do it was drunk when he turned that plane upside down our only hero is in fact a villain there's it's there's also i think it's great too that we made two movies one is just about him and the other is a fake version of it and in one of them like it's just like a very like the ron howard one wait ron howard did which one did ron howard do flight or zemekis is flight oh zemekis did flight

Speaker 2 and in that one, it's just like a straight-up, like, he's a hero, he turned the plane upside down, and it was totally awesome.

Speaker 2 And then the end of the one with Denzel Washington, he like does two bottles of vodka, throws them out of the garbage, does a line of clothing. He's like,

Speaker 2 he's like, no, but it was still the right thing to do. And it's like, what? Why did this need to exist? Sully, a movie I have seen exclusively on TikTok.

Speaker 2 There was a period where people were just posting Sully in like 10-minute chunks on TikTok. And I watched a lot of it.
I'd never seen it before, but I got really pulled in. It's quite good

Speaker 2 is it good or was i just up at 10 45 p.m watching things in two time speed on tick tock i don't did you ever get the did you get the woman who's like hey take a break you've been watching i don't think i got there you've been watching too much tick tock if you watch tiktok for too long tick tock pops up a little thing and says hey hey hey hey hey hey

Speaker 2 hey chill

Speaker 2 starts popping pitbulls and you're right back in oh oh nothing that'll get me to turn off tick tock

Speaker 2 not me

Speaker 2 not

Speaker 2 I want to see what's going to happen.

Speaker 2 I want to follow the rabbit, you know?

Speaker 2 See how deep this rabbit goes.

Speaker 2 Speaking of fantastic beasts. That's what the transition was from a while ago.

Speaker 2 This year's national dog show winner was Vito, the first pug to take best in show at Purina's annual dog show competition.

Speaker 2 That makes sense.

Speaker 2 Vito made the judges an offer they couldn't refuse. The chance to crown this adorable pup, Best in Show.

Speaker 2 Here's Vito on the Today Show. Vito and his handler, Michael Scott.
Not that Michael Scott. Vito, Michael, David, congratulations for being here.
I mean,

Speaker 2 Vito was already booked to discuss his breakup with Baby Rex. Wait, I don't know who this is.
It's Bibi Rexa. Who's Bibi Rexa? Who's there?

Speaker 2 Nothing. Oh.

Speaker 2 Vito was already booked to discuss his breakup with Bibi Rexa, so it worked out perfectly.

Speaker 2 If you knew who Bibi Rexa was, it would be funny. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Said one judge. He's everything a pug should be.
One head cold away from death.

Speaker 2 Woo.

Speaker 2 Do you, when the dog show is on, do you call Pundit into the room?

Speaker 2 Because I will call Amy into the room when they're announcing her category and like try to get her to sit and watch and like, so she has representation. This was, so I didn't watch anything.

Speaker 2 So I, we worked, I worked part of the day, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. And then Tuesday night and Wednesday night, I did like prep cooking, and then Thursday I did cooking.

Speaker 2 And so Tuesday, I brined the turkey and spatched, I spatchcocked the turkey, and I brined the turkey. Wednesday, I made cranberry sauce from scratch.
I made a artichoke casserole

Speaker 2 and then discovered that my fridge was slowly rising in temperature and no longer staying below 50 degrees.

Speaker 2 So then on Thursday morning, I threw out the turkey that I had brined for two days and bought a new turkey, spatchcocked that bad boy, didn't have time to brine it. There was no time to brine it.

Speaker 2 Made the mac and cheese, made the mashed potatoes, and then cooked the turkey, then made gravy from scratch. But I was basically cooking the whole time.
It was very fun. I really loved doing it.

Speaker 2 I put butter under between the skin and the turkey, which was very fun and gross. But I made a compound butter with herbs and garlic and salt and pepper.

Speaker 2 got the turkey all ready, cooked the turkey, but I just was in the kitchen the whole time, which I actually loved doing. I loved just sort of like being in the kitchen making stuff.

Speaker 2 What did your family say? Uh, well,

Speaker 2 such an important question. Uh,

Speaker 2 there was some question as to what we could or could not eat because it had been in the fridge that had slowly risen in temperature, and so uh, there was your whole family's in the hospital, was what this was.

Speaker 2 Oh, they're yeah, they're fucked up, they're fucked up,

Speaker 2 stab wounds, yeah, yeah. The hospital being the nick, our nickname for the toilet,

Speaker 2 but um, no, so everybody, it all turned out really, really well. But, like, I think, like, I was like, this, like, I basically used up everything that was in the fridge,

Speaker 2 but, but, like, my sister was like, I don't know if I feel, I don't know if this macaroni cheese is safe. And I was like, it is safe.
The milk is fine. It smells fine.
Also, it was in the oven.

Speaker 2 Yeah, everything was in the oven. That's the whole thing.
It was all in the oven. I relented on the turkey.

Speaker 2 Like, I would have cooked the turkey and just tested it because it's like, we're going to cook it. So it's going to be okay.
But I don't know.

Speaker 2 I think that if it had been overnight in a fridge that had been promoted. Yeah, you made the right call.

Speaker 2 that had to go. The turkey had to go.
Because also, if they get sick, you will never live it down. It's just not worth it for them to always have that to refer to.

Speaker 2 But then, but that was then, then, when I was using the oven, the oven started. It's an old oven, so the oven started clicking.
So then my father called the Viking number. It's like,

Speaker 2 who do you think's on the other end of this phone? I didn't know Viking made ovens. I knew they made sewing machines and vacuums.
It's an old Viking oven. I don't know.

Speaker 2 It's probably 20 or 30 years old, too. I have no idea.
Anyway, it worked out well, though, but I didn't watch the dog show.

Speaker 2 and this pug one even though i i don't know these things

Speaker 2 i feel like we i feel like these they shouldn't exist nature's defects fito is the best example of a dog that should never have been made yeah it's not even nature's defects a human-made thing they were bred to have worse and worse faces he looks like a bug and you can see in his eyes too it's like i shouldn't be here yeah

Speaker 2 wasn't there a period of time too where they were talking about french bulldogs and like trying to reverse

Speaker 2 they've been bred to be more and more unhealthy and that actually they should be bred to have longer and longer noses, and that the standard needs to be changed so that these dogs

Speaker 2 so they can breathe better. Because, like, I don't know, like, don't airlines not allow, yeah, they have eye problems, don't they not allow pugs on planes? Like, what is it called?

Speaker 2 They should, they should, there's a name for the flat-nose dog. What's called it, maybe pug-nose, snub-nose, snub-nose.
I think it's a snub-nose dog because they can't breathe.

Speaker 2 Well, they, yeah, some airlines won't allow them on a plane because they're not that they worry that they're gonna

Speaker 2 give out, yeah, so those eyes go. Also, if they're able to get out of the cabin, who knows what happened, Yeah.

Speaker 2 All right.

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I want to thank Sarah. I want to thank Hallie.
I want to thank Kendra.

Speaker 2 I want to thank everybody behind Wicked.

Speaker 2 for doing an amazing job, really bringing their A-game. Also, whoever was in charge of the baboons, I think you did fine.
I think I did fine. I didn't take me out of it.

Speaker 2 I really did see them as being baboons. I could use more people.

Speaker 2 I was a bit confused by them as like what I didn't think that it was more like what kind of animals are this? These animals are no longer exist.

Speaker 2 They look like monkey dogs. Yeah, that's what I thought.
They were like monkey dogs.

Speaker 2 And you did a great job on those monkey dogs. And I didn't see Milano 2.
But

Speaker 2 I'm sure that everybody worked really hard on Moana 2.

Speaker 2 Oh, I don't think we want both of those playing at once. Yeah, I think we do.
See you sluts on Saturday.

Speaker 2 Straight shoot tie.

Speaker 2 Love it all in. It's loving or leaving.

Speaker 2 Spected on my side.

Speaker 2 Love it, or leave it, it's love it or leave it.

Speaker 2 Straight shoot tie.

Speaker 2 Love it or leave it. It's love it or leave it.

Speaker 2 Love it or leave it or leave it.

Speaker 2 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.

Speaker 2 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 Mohanad El-Shiki are our writers.

Speaker 2 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.

Speaker 2 Our theme song is written and performed by SureSure.

Speaker 2 Thanks to our designer Bernardo Cerna for creating and running all of our visuals, which you can't see because this is a podcast, and to our digital producers, David Toles, Claudia Shang, Mia Kelman, and Matt DeGroat for filming and editing video each week so you can.

Speaker 2 It's love it or leave it. Oh, that's another voice you can do.

Speaker 2 So, if you can't find me, look to the western sky.

Speaker 2 You see, you can't,

Speaker 2 it's hard to do in your real self, but

Speaker 2 unlimited. Yeah, now

Speaker 2 Killing Dylan.

Speaker 2 It's that. Well, the

Speaker 2 but then you cannot make it more nasal because of what I'm doing.

Speaker 2 Nope, not great. No, no, no.
Nothing. No, no.
I had it a second ago.

Speaker 2 I had it a second ago.

Speaker 5 Being an American right now is a wild ride. The headlines come fast, but what do they actually mean for people's lives?

Speaker 5 I'm Alex Wagner, and on my new crooked media podcast, Runaway Country, I'm talking to people across the nation to uncover how political chaos is shaping their everyday realities.

Speaker 5 Join me and some of the smartest thinkers in politics to ask how we take back the reins of a runaway nation.

Speaker 5 Listen to Runaway Country with Alex Wagner every Thursday, wherever you get our podcasts or watch full episodes on YouTube.