Transcript

Shock Call to Execute Elon Musk, Hegseth Impeachment Push, Truth About Absurd Puff Piece, w/ Taibbi

From Megyn Kelly · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 42 min · 16,749 words · 166 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Shock Call to Execute Elon Musk, Hegseth Impeachment Push, Truth About Absurd Puff Piece, w/ Taibbi", an episode of Megyn Kelly published November 10, 2026 (1 h 42 min, about 16,749 words). It mentions 121 people, works and ideas, including Matt Taibbi, Megan Kelly, The Megyn Kelly Show, Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump.

What this episode is about

A controversial political discussion highlights calls for violence against Elon Musk, the impeachment push against Pete Hegseth, and critiques of media figures, including remarks from Ted Cruz and analysis of public discourse. The piece frames rising hostility in political commentary and its potential consequences for governance.

Key takeaways

  • Polarized media ecosystems weaponize chaos; accountability gets misted by personal attacks and loud outrage.
  • Podcast host rants reveal how online culture normalizes violence-language as debate, chilling civil discourse norms.
  • Ted Cruz and Pete Hegseth arc shows how impeachment chatter doubles as political theater and power play.
  • Despite claims of sanity, self-contradictions in rhetoric erode trust; consistency becomes the real endangered species.
  • Even familiar pundits can flip from professorial to incendiary; expertise is surface-deep in the age of hot takes.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Pete Hegseth, People magazine, Ted Cruz, Matt Taibbi
  2. – 20:00: Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump, People magazine, Department of War
  3. – 30:00: People magazine, Amnesty (policy term), J.D. Vance, Donald Trump
  4. – 40:00: Elon Musk, People magazine, Amnesty (policy term), Treason
  5. – 50:00: People magazine, Elon Musk, Scott Galloway, Ukraine
  6. – 1:00:00: People magazine, Charlie Kirk, free speech, Chappelle (Dave Chappelle)
  7. – 1:10:00: People magazine, Charlie Kirk, Chappelle (Dave Chappelle), Florida private plane crash investigation
  8. – 1:20:00: People magazine, The Athletic, New York, New York, Mike Vrabel
  9. – 1:30:00: People magazine, Mike Vrabel, Tennessee, Dianna Russini
  10. – 1:40:00: People magazine, Glacier Security App, Marketing Harry, European Parliament
  11. – 1:42:26: Matt Taibbi, free speech, Marketing Harry, People magazine

Notable quotes from "Shock Call to Execute Elon Musk, Hegseth Impeachment Push, Truth About Absurd Puff Piece, w/ Taibbi"

  • Hey everyone, I'm Megan Kelly. Welcome to the Megan Kelly show and happy Tuesday. There is more fallout from insane podcaster Jennifer Welsh's despicable comments about Charlie Kirk.
    about Megan Kelly · at
  • Joining me now Matt Taibbe he's founder of Racket News on Substack.
    about Matt Taibbi · at
  • Fair point. certainly on that last point. So what do you make of the attempted impeachment of Pete Haggath?
    about Pete Hegseth · at
  • He did it for Israel. Well, that's so obvious. We all know that. Marco Rubio is the one who told us that the day after we launched the Iran war. And by the way, Matt, all that nonsense, that's.
    about Iran · at
  • For Democrats. All those groups were Trump voters and went for Democrats this time. And Trump gets on 60 Minutes on Sunday night and basically promises amnesty. he says he…
    about Donald Trump · at
  • I mean the most of the political pundits I respect on the right agree that any kind of amnesty any kind will be a catastrophic event for the Republican party from which they will.
    about Amnesty (policy term) · at
  • I had a Tesla, great car. You started posting me on Twitter, so I sold it. Not before taking a giant dump in the passenger seat.
    about Scott Galloway · at
  • I think the biggest point that I could probably pass on from all the parents that we've met is really firstly to the companies.
    about free speech · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Matt Taibbi — Person · Guest commentator · 7 mentions · first at
    Primary guest on the episode discussing impeachment of Pete Hegseth, media behavior, Elon Musk controversy, and other political/cultural stories.
  • Megan Kelly — Person · Host · 3 mentions · first at
    Host of The Megyn Kelly Show, driving the interview and commentary across the episode topics.
  • Pete Hegseth — Person · Referenced public official / subject of impeachment discussion · 11 mentions · first at
    Central political figure in segment about impeachment articles introduced by Thomas Massie and debate over his conduct as Secretary of War.
  • Donald Trump — Person · Referenced political actor / former president · 11 mentions · first at
    Discussed in relation to decisions to go to war with Iran, appointment of Pete Hegseth, immigration rhetoric and potential amnesty comments on 60 Minutes.
  • Elon Musk — Person · Referenced tech figure / target of criticism · 9 mentions · first at
    Subject of Scott Galloway's extreme comments (calls of treason/execution) and discussed in context of Starlink, Tesla and public derangement toward innovators.
    That and he is openly bragging that before he sold his Tesla, so disgusted was he with Elon, he actually defecated in it and then sold it to some innocent consumer. This is the…
  • Scott Galloway — Person · Referenced commentator / critic · 7 mentions · first at
    Cited for advocating extreme rhetoric against Elon Musk (comparing him to Rosenbergs, saying he should be executed) and for the crude Tesla story used as an example of derangement.
  • Congressman Thomas Massie — Person · Referenced Congressman / initiator of impeachment articles · 3 mentions · first at
    Introduced eight articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth; central to the impeachment discussion.
    Like this is it's Massie. It's not a Democrat. I mean I think it's dumb for Massie too. Massie has staked out this ground. Obviously, he's bitter because he got primaried by a Trump candidate.
  • Dianna Russini — Person · Referenced sports reporter (subject of scandal) · 2 mentions · first at
    Discussed in segment about an affair with coach Mike Vrabel, journalistic ethics, The Athletic's investigation and her subsequent People magazine profile.
    Was this just came out. They let's see, they did that investigation and The Athletic released a report from its internal investigation that found the relationship gave the…
  • Chappelle (Dave Chappelle) — Person · Referenced comedian / commentator · 9 mentions · first at
    Discussed for controversial remarks about Charlie Kirk and broader implications about public speech and reaction.
    Got was on Dave's side and really thought that there should be penalties to what happened and Dave Chappelle gets on stage at Madison Square Garden and says s 31 I feel up haters.
  • J.D. Vance — Person · Referenced VP / intra-party critic · 6 mentions · first at
    Referenced as a voice critical of the Iran war; his stance contrasted with Hegseth and Rubio and discussed as part of GOP factionalism.
    So, on that front of the Iran war, Pete Hexath, one of the things he spoke to today was JD Vance saying the day after the midterms, We lost because of the war. because our…
  • Mike Vrabel — Person · Referenced NFL coach / subject of affair allegations · 6 mentions · first at
    Central figure in the sports reporting scandal involving Dianna Rousini; his relationship with the reporter raised ethics questions.
    Accessible from the twoerson bungalows, which cost up to $2,100 a night. Photos show the two hugging at sunset and weaving their fingers together as they stand face to face.…
  • Jennifer Welsh — Person · Referenced podcaster / critic · 4 mentions · first at
    Cited for making despicable comments about Charlie Kirk and losing advertisers as a result.
    To the Megan Kelly show and happy Tuesday. There is more fallout from insane podcaster Jennifer Welsh's despicable comments about Charlie Kirk.
  • Ted Cruz — Person · Referenced senator / commentator on impeachment process · 4 mentions · first at
    Quoted about likely outcomes for Hegseth and timing of impeachment relative to Senate control and confirmations.
    Impeach Secretary of War Pete Hexath which is heating up and he may be in a lot of trouble. Ted Cruz actually of all people offering some commentary on where this is likely to go and was not predicting a good outcome for HEGs.
  • Marco Rubio — Person · Referenced senator / potential 2028 contender · 4 mentions · first at
    Quoted defending the decision to confront Iran and framed as part of the pro-war GOP faction.
    He did it for Israel. Well, that's so obvious. We all know that. Marco Rubio is the one who told us that the day after we launched the Iran war. And by the way, Matt, all that nonsense, that's a defense of what happened in June 2025,.
  • Marketing Harry — Person · Referenced public figure / commentator on child safety · 3 mentions · first at
    Mentioned for his remarks about protecting children online and for speaking at the European Parliament while Meghan Markle's father's arrest was in the news.
    People in the media, speech activists, anti-dis disinformation activists, but the central figure in that committee was Prince Harry. and he was essentially going to be the frontman for a report that was going to say that social media was.
  • Joe Biden — Person · Referenced public figure · 2 mentions · first at
    Referenced in discussion of immigration policy and earlier administrations' handling of military actions; compared with other presidents regarding war decisions and border issues.
    To get the murderers out. We've gotten most of them out. We've gotten most of the really bad, they allowed Joe Biden allowed hund well 25 million people to come in. Of that, 11,888 murderers, most of whom committed more.
  • Jonathan Turley — Person · Referenced legal analyst · 2 mentions · first at
    Cited as weighing in on the impeachment articles against Pete Hegseth, expressing skepticism about most charges but noting a couple with potential merit.
    Rid of him, right? There would be a trial. I think and Jonathan Turley pointed to two of the eight charges that would be probably the most likely to come close to passing or resulting in a conviction would be the extra judicial.
  • Thomas Markle — Person · Referenced as Meghan Markle's father / subject of arrest · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in relation to Meghan Markle/Prince Harry and allegations about child pornography found in his belongings; contextualizes Harry/Meghan controversy.
    And the reason she canled is because her father was just arrested for reams of child pornography. Allegedly in his belongings in the Philippines, in Mexico, and in the good old United.
  • Cara Swisher — Person · Referenced podcast co-host / interlocutor · 5 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as Scott Galloway's podcast co-host and part of media personalities criticized for extreme commentary.
    To leave Starlink available. I like this is what he's been railing about. But the truth is Matt, he doesn't like Elon. He and Cara Swisser can't stand Elon.
  • Steven Little Miller — Person · Referenced political staffer · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in discussion about immigration policy/White House staff; criticized rhetorically in episode.
    Think this will be catastrophic. They absolutely should not do it. And it also doesn't make any sense. Why would you make Steven Miller your chief of staff if you're actually…
  • Eric Burus — Person · Referenced expert · 2 mentions · first at
    Potential misname; requires canonical identification
    One of the questions that has come up a lot is if this was a jet that had Doppler radar or weather radar, how did they not see this thing? And there's a very interesting kind of component to.
  • Nicolás Maduro — Person · Referenced foreign leader · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in relation to alleged operations concerning Venezuela (kidnapping/extraordinary rendition) that are included in the impeachment articles against Pete Hegseth.
    One final point. Pete in his clever move tried to paint this about criminalizing the actions of our soldiers. Among the other items that have been raised in the impeachment…
  • Barack Obama — Person · Referenced public figure · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in critique of past administrations' military actions and lack of similar impeachment or accountability for those actions.
    Right. as for the Venezuelan drug boat strikes, at least they weren't Americans. That's who Barack Obama was killing without any congressional approval. he didn't get impeached.
  • Stone Cold Steve Austin — Person · Referenced former Defense official · 2 mentions · first at
    Clear, properly named defense official
    Every enemy on Earth took notice. But somehow, as the president pointed out yesterday, no impeachment vote for Lloyd Austin for that terrible withdrawal.
  • Charlemagne tha God — Person · Referenced commentator · 2 mentions · first at
    Quoted on the episode reacting to Dave Chappelle's comments about Charlie Kirk; his viewpoint used to illustrate disagreement with violent or celebratory rhetoric about shootings.
    Matt, one person who did not find any humor in Dave Chappelle's comments was Charlemagne the God who's been on this program. Here's what he said in S 34.
  • Mark Kelly — Person · Referenced public figure · 1 mention · first at
    Referenced in discussion of potential impeachment articles against Pete Hegseth (threatening Mark Kelly mentioned as one of the contested actions).
    One final point. Pete in his clever move tried to paint this about criminalizing the actions of our soldiers. Among the other items that have been raised in the impeachment…
  • Tulsi Gabbard — Person · Referenced political figure · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as an example of an anti-war or non-interventionist public figure referenced when discussing Trump's 2016/2024 coalitions and supporters.
    They ended up becoming a very important part of his electorate in 2016 returning veterans and so were people like Tulsi Gabbard and JD Vance in 2024. So this decision it's it's…
  • Vladimir Putin — Person · Foreign leader referenced · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in context of Trump's Helsinki meeting and media accusations of 'treason' — a reference point for discussion about political rhetoric.
    And I think back to the early days of Trump's first presidency when he went to Helsinki and we had these banner headlines everywhere saying treason you know because he I guess didn't have a hostile enough.
  • Angie Sullivan — Person · Podcast co-host referenced · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as Jennifer Welsh's co-host on the podcast where offensive comments about Charlie Kirk were made.
    Died. She joked about it. I guess we'll start with that one. Here it is. from her podcast November 5th with her idiot co-host Angie Sullivan 35. Dad Mororrow says, We're digging up Charlie Kirk and doing it again.
  • Joel Osteen — Person · Religious leader referenced · 1 mention · first at
    Corrected spelling
    Close to the most controversial thing that she has said. They have said here's just a little in SAT 38. So when you think about the Erica Kirks, the Life Church, the Joel…
  • Nikole Hannah-Jones — Person · Referenced journalist · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as an example of media framing that critics allegedly accepted without deeper scrutiny in the context of Charlie Kirk coverage and characterization.
    They believe the lies of the New York Times and Nicole Hannah Jones. I guarantee you they read it and they believe that he was a racist who hated blacks, black women, and took all those context or all those quotes that Nicole.
  • Captain Steve — Person · Referenced pilot/source (named in transcript) · 1 mention · first at
    Identifies a person mentioned
    It on another man's theory, another pilot I think who posited that there is a possibility because we had Captain Steve come on of YouTube and tell us ultimately he thinks that…
  • Bill Simmons — Person · Referenced media figure · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as someone Diana Rousini spoke with on a podcast; identifies an association in sports-media circles.
    I haven't even told my husband. She spoke about Mike Vrabel being head coach of the Patriots on a podcast with Bill Simmons. Talked about shoving Vrael down your throat. She…
  • Charlie Kirk — Person · Referenced public figure · 15 mentions · first at
    Canonical spelling; alias can remain in metadata
    Close to the most controversial thing that she has said. They have said here's just a little in SAT 38. So when you think about the Erica Kirks, the Life Church, the Joel…
  • Ronald Reagan — Person · Historical reference · 1 mention · first at
    Consistent full name usage
    Hypocritical about this is that nobody ever said a thing before when it was Biden or Obama or Bush or Clinton or Reagan or any of a dozen, a number of other presidents doing essentially the same thing.
  • Mark Levin — Person · Referenced conservative commentator · 1 mention · first at
    Canonical spelling; fix garbled variant in evidence
    Like the Iran war, which is a war. Although Mark Leavin is out there still trying to say it's not. It's just a military operation. That's all just an opera. Oh, okay. All right. dropped a bunch of bombs on them. We destroyed their.
  • James Fishback — Person · Referenced social media commentator · 1 mention · first at
    Consistent spelling for a public figure
    Okay, that is amnesty and everyone knows it. As James Fishbach posted on X Trump, I love cheese on top of red sauce on top of dough. Us pizza. Trump, I never said that.
  • Kamal Harris — Person · Referenced public figure · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned briefly in passing when discussing how past administrations handled immigration and policy decisions (referred to as 'Kla Harris' in transcript).
    To war. most people don't even know where we have military actions in the world now. I remember you know in the last actually I think it was in the 2016 election cycle we had active military operations in over six countries at the.
  • Andy Kaufman — Person · comedian/performer referenced as cultural reference in discussion · 1 mention · first at
    Comedic figure referenced in context of cultural commentary
    Yeah. Who knows? maybe he's pulling some kind of Andy Kaufman routine on 60 Minutes. It's hard to say what he's doing, but that's not going to help him politically, I don't think.
  • Peggy Flanagan — Person · Political figure referenced · 1 mention · first at
    Corrected spelling
    Public once they get into office, who aren't going to be absolute nutcases once they get in there are just left in the wilderness because we're we're going to be ruled by people like Peggy Flanigan and her land acknowledgements.

Companies & orgs

  • The Athletic — Company · Employer / publisher involved in ethics investigation · 7 mentions · first at
    Conducted an internal investigation into Dianna Rousini's relationship with Mike Vrabel and reviewed her coverage.
    Was this just came out. They let's see, they did that investigation and The Athletic released a report from its internal investigation that found the relationship gave the…
  • Tesla, Inc. — Company · Referenced product/company example · 3 mentions · first at
    Referenced in anecdote about Scott Galloway defecating in a Tesla before selling it; used to illustrate extreme rhetoric/behavior toward Musk and his companies.
    I had a Tesla, great car. You started posting me on Twitter, so I sold it. Not before taking a giant dump in the passenger seat.
  • Racket News — Company · Media outlet / guest affiliation · 1 mention · first at
    Matt Taibbi's publication (founder) referenced as his platform; provided in episode context.
    Joining me now Matt Taibbe he's founder of Racket News on Substack.
  • Department of War — Company · Referenced institution · 5 mentions · first at
    Historical accuracy: renamed to Department of Defense
    Accountability. It's a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment. Time for one man's final days in Congress to try to do damage to this president…
  • Twitter — Company · Referenced platform · 4 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in contexts including Elon Musk-related controversy, Twitter Files, and where commentators post; used to explain public discourse dynamics.
    Not become the nominee. So you know and Trump by the way in 2016. I remember watching this he sort of picked up that every time he mentioned endless wars or pointless wars or…
  • Page Six — Company · Tabloid outlet cited as source for photos · 3 mentions · first at
    Reported photos of Dianna Rousini and Mike Vrabel at a resort, used as primary evidence in the scandal.
    Showing the pictures now. a boutique resort set against the breathtaking Brins Mesa Mountain Range. a page six by telling them that the pair had breakfast on the patio of the…
  • ESPN — Company · Past employer mentioned in relation to a subject/source (Dianna Russini) · 2 mentions · first at
    Media company tied to a person mentioned in the transcript
    Matt. You see, they're both married to other people with kids. They were there as just friends and colleagues. She of course is a reporter and he is a coach.
  • National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) — Organization · Investigative agency referenced · 3 mentions · first at
    Full name addition for clarity
    Plane was going through so that air traffic control and of course the NTSB would know. And long after her the pilot in charge had switched to praying, she was still relaying…
  • Tennessee Titans — Company · Referenced organization · 2 mentions · first at
    Professional football team mentioned because Mike Vrabel was identified as their head coach in the context of a reporter's alleged affair with him.
    Coach in the NFL. Well, August 2021 is a good amount after March of 2020. when she was allegedly in that bar canoodling with Mike.
  • Neuralink — Company · Referenced technology company · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as one of Elon Musk's ventures (Neuralink) that is working on brain-computer interfaces and was cited to illustrate Musk's technological contributions amid attacks against him.
    Communicate with their brain onto the computer screen to reflect their thoughts. It's miraculous. this guy is changing the world in so many profound and great ways, but he…
  • Crooked Media — Company · Media company referenced · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as the organizer of Crooked Con where podcaster Jennifer Welsh spoke; provides context for Welsh's public remarks and platform.
    Pulled totaling well over an $8 million loss. And here she is addressing it at Crooked Media's Crooked Con on November 9th. Yesterday, S 37.
  • New York Post — Company · News outlet cited as source · 1 mention · first at
    Cited for publishing photos and reporting on Diana Rousini and Mike Vrabel at a resort—source for the scandal details referenced.
    Showing the pictures now. a boutique resort set against the breathtaking Brins Mesa Mountain Range. a page six by telling them that the pair had breakfast on the patio of the…
  • FBI — Company · Law enforcement agency referenced · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in relation to allegations about Meghan Markle's father — referenced regarding alleged evidence and jurisdictions involved.
    States of America, which according to our FBI includes pictures of him with underage children. He wasn't just consuming child pornography. Not that's any better, but it appears…
  • Aspen Institute — Company · Referenced organization · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as the organization behind a draft report on 'information disorder' that reportedly involved Prince Harry — used to discuss attempts to regulate social media and speech.
    Invitation and it was allowed to stand notwithstanding what has just come out about them. Your thoughts? So, one of the most shocking things that we found in the Twitter files…
  • New England Patriots — Company · Referenced organization · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned because Mike Vrabel later moved to the Patriots; used in the context of the Rousini-Vrabel story.
    Who they were. I don't even think the bartenders were aware, said the source. And this is when he was at a as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans and she was an NFL reporter…
  • Gallup — Company · Referenced pollster · 1 mention · first at
    Pollster/organization cited in discussion
    Matter because I was just looking at the polls and the polls show there is support. Like here's Gallup allowing immigrants living in the US illegally the chance to become US…
  • Fox News — Company · Media outlet mentioned in discussion · 1 mention · first at
    Media outlet cited in discussion about the episode's content
    No comment on that other than he was shot by somebody that was super MAGA family.
  • Turning Point USA — Company · Referenced organization · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned (TPUSA) in Jennifer Welsh's rant as an example of conservative organizations she opposes; used to illustrate her extreme rhetoric.
    Stephen Miller is a Nazi and he is a sociopath. He is a little insecure white supremacist. This guy was bullied in high school and he's unattractive and he's 4 foot 10 and…
  • NBC Orlando — Organization · Local news source · 1 mention · first at
    Proper name capitalization/accuracy
    One of the questions that has come up a lot is if this was a jet that had Doppler radar or weather radar, how did they not see this thing? And there's a very interesting kind of component to.
  • Shake Shack — Company · Referenced employer (spouse) · 1 mention · first at
    Referenced as the employer of Dianna Rousini's husband (Kevin Goldmid) in a People puff piece about her comeback.
    At the beginning it was a nightmare. But people writes with the support of her husband Kevin Goldmid who is I guess with Shake Shack and loved ones. Rousini navigated a turbulent stretch of her career and is now preparing to return to.
  • BetUS TV — Company · Platform for content · 1 mention · first at
    Platform mentioned for streaming content
    Navigated a turbulent stretch of her career and is now preparing to return to sports media. Enter the Rini Report, a one-hour show that will stream on Bet Us TV's website, an ex and an X account beginning Wednesday, November 11th.
  • Metropolitan Police Service (London) — Company · Referenced agency · 1 mention · first at
    Precise naming of jurisdiction
    Told eight years ago, the only reason I didn't say anything is because I was allegedly told by a Metropolitan Police officer in London to stay mum while they investigated.…
  • Life.Church — Company · Religious organization referenced · 1 mention · first at
    Branding/branding correction
    Close to the most controversial thing that she has said. They have said here's just a little in SAT 38. So when you think about the Erica Kirks, the Life Church, the Joel…
  • Cracker Barrel — Company · Cultural reference · 1 mention · first at
    Capitalization correction
    Best thing that America has to offer, which is multiculturalism. Get your fat asses out of the Mexican restaurant. Get your fat asses over to Cracker Barrel because nobody…
  • Washington Post — Company · Media outlet referenced in transcript · 1 mention
    Referenced media outlet requiring substantiated context

Products & tech

  • Learjet — Product · Referenced aircraft · 2 mentions · first at
    Type of private jet that crashed; used in discussion of the Florida private plane crash and weather/radar considerations that may have contributed.
    Yep. speaking of pilots in the sky, just want to spend one minute on this because we've been talking a lot about the Learjet that went down and just it's so disturbing and a lot of people's first instinct, including my own, to be.
  • Starlink — Product · Referenced product · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in discussion of Elon Musk controversies — specifically the temporary disabling of public Starlink service for Ukraine — as part of criticisms leveled by commentators.
    Galloway is not specifying any crime that he's committed. it he's been railing about the Starlink Starink the public Starlink being shut down for Ukraine to use to drop bombs…

Concepts & topics

  • Amnesty (policy term) — Concept · Core policy issue / political flashpoint · 8 mentions · first at
    Clarified as a policy term used in political discourse
  • free speech — Concept · Core topic · 4 mentions · first at
    Central to multiple segments: debates over celebrating violence, cancel culture, journalist ethics, and Prince Harry's advocacy related to online safety and speech regulation.
  • Immigration — Concept · Core political topic · 2 mentions · first at
    Central to discussion of Trump's comments on potential legal status/amnesty and electoral consequences for Republicans.
    Support it, or even how many sort of chamber of commerce Republicans support it. It is so objectionable to the workingclass base of the Republican party that it truly would devastate what is left of an already devastated party.
  • Treason — Concept · Legal concept / accusation discussed · 4 mentions · first at
    Referenced in criticism of Scott Galloway's characterization of Elon Musk as a 'traitor to the West' and discussion of misuse of the term.
    Unhealthy, and dangerous idolatry of innovators that they get to live by an entirely different standard. Elon Musk is a traitor to the West. It's uncomfortable and weird…
  • Trump derangement syndrome (TDS) — Concept · Critical framing / rhetorical concept · 2 mentions · first at
    Used as shorthand to describe extreme emotional reactions to Trump (and analogous 'Elon derangement syndrome').
    Clicks a and because their derangement syndrome is so allconsuming. there is a Trump derangement syndrome and there is an Elon derangement syndrome and both of those two have it in droves. You rais a good point. You and he had this.
  • Elon Derangement Syndrome — Concept · Rhetorical framing · 2 mentions · first at
    Used to describe extreme negative emotional reactions toward Elon Musk analogous to Trump Derangement Syndrome.
    Clicks a and because their derangement syndrome is so allconsuming. there is a Trump derangement syndrome and there is an Elon derangement syndrome and both of those two have it in droves. You rais a good point. You and he had this.
  • DEI judge — Concept · Cultural policy / criticism topic · 2 mentions · first at
    Raised in discussion about Charlie Kirk's comments on pilots and quota policies; cited as corrosive by speakers.
    Black pilots when we don't have even 50% black pilots in the potential pool of black pilots. We have 13% black people.
  • Epstein — Concept · Referenced scandal / historical example · 2 mentions · first at
    Referenced in context of Thomas Massie's prior oversight efforts and as an example of selective political outrage.
    Ground. Obviously, he's bitter because he got primaried by a Trump candidate and lost. But, like Massie has staked out this area that's been proven correct. He tried. He…
  • Idolatry of innovators — Concept · Argument / critique · 2 mentions · first at
    Phrase used by Scott Galloway (quoted) to criticize societal reverence for wealthy tech innovators like Elon Musk and to justify harsh rhetoric against them.
    Traitor to the West. And I think what is even more dangerous is this zeitgeist within America that the idolatry of innovators in money has created a cloud cover such that…
  • Authorization for Use of Military Force — Concept · Policy reference · 1 mention · first at
    Policy reference governing military action
    Had a whole slew of military actions since 911 that were approved under the AUMF. now that doesn't come into play with these HEGs cases, but in none of these was there any kind…
  • Divided government — Concept · Political concept · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as a preferable outcome by the host — used to argue that divided government can check overreach and reduce harmful legislation or policy changes.
    Look over at the left, when you're trying to like comfort yourself, all right, divided government. I like divided government, to be honest.
  • White evangelical Christianity — Concept · Target of critique · 2 mentions · first at
    Referenced in Jennifer Welsh's rant as being described by her as 'a cancer' — used to illustrate the extreme and offensive rhetoric that led to advertiser loss.
    Our country because they use their religion in two ways. As a weapon and as a shield. They weaponize it whenever they want to and say, We're on the moral high ground. You're a…

Places & events

  • Iran — Place · Geopolitical actor / topic of war discussion · 6 mentions · first at
    Central to the segment on the Iran war, US strikes, and political fallout affecting Republicans and 2028 positioning.
  • Florida private plane crash investigation — Event · News event / investigation topic · 3 mentions · first at
    Discussed concerning questions about radar equipment, weather, crew actions, and initial speculation about pilot competency vs. severe weather factors.
    Female co-pilot, was is this the DEI situation? like was there incompetence in the air? And it very much looks like it had nothing to do with that. That she was a very…
  • Israel — Place · Referenced allied country / geopolitical actor · 3 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as a key reason cited by officials for striking Iran and in foreign policy justification discussions.
    He did it for Israel. Well, that's so obvious. We all know that. Marco Rubio is the one who told us that the day after we launched the Iran war. And by the way, Matt, all that nonsense, that's.
  • Venezuela — Place · Referenced location in alleged extra-judicial strikes · 4 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in impeachment articles regarding drug boat strikes and alleged kidnapping/operations tied to Hegseth's conduct.
    One final point. Pete in his clever move tried to paint this about criminalizing the actions of our soldiers. Among the other items that have been raised in the impeachment…
  • New York, New York — Place · Geographic reference · 4 mentions · first at
    Referenced multiple times as a setting for events (e.g., Madison Square Garden, New York media outlets) and general context for reporting.
    Showing the pictures now. a boutique resort set against the breathtaking Brins Mesa Mountain Range. a page six by telling them that the pair had breakfast on the patio of the…
  • Tennessee — Place · Referenced location / team affiliation · 3 mentions · first at
    Referenced as the team/location where coach Mike Vrabel was head coach (Tennessee Titans) during reported interactions with reporter Dianna Rousini.
    Who they were. I don't even think the bartenders were aware, said the source. And this is when he was at a as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans and she was an NFL reporter…
  • Ukraine — Place · Referenced location · 4 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in discussion of Starlink service availability and military aid/operations relevant to critics of Elon Musk.
    That he's committed. it he's been railing about the Starlink Starink the public Starlink being shut down for Ukraine to use to drop bombs, but the military version of Starlink…
  • Madison Square Garden — Place · Referenced venue · 2 mentions · first at
    Location where Dave Chappelle made remarks referenced in the episode (Madison Square Garden performance where he joked about Charlie Kirk).
    Got was on Dave's side and really thought that there should be penalties to what happened and Dave Chappelle gets on stage at Madison Square Garden and says s 31 I feel up haters.
  • European Parliament — Event · Venue for Prince Harry speech · 2 mentions · first at
    Location where Prince Harry spoke about protecting children online (criticized given timing of Markle family news).
    All children should be able to go online and discover something wonderful, a friend, an interest that becomes a passion, a place where they feel understood.
  • Iran War — Event · Historical reference · 6 mentions · first at
    Referenced as an example of previous contentious war debates used to contextualize current discussions about going to war and congressional oversight.
    Used to operate within when having political disputes. been around for a long time. We've been having these political disputes for a long time and heartfelt tough ones like…
  • Kabul withdrawal — Event · Referenced event · 3 mentions · first at
    Impeachment discussion tied to a withdrawal decision
    5 years ago, America was humiliated in Kabell, Afghanistan, and every enemy on Earth took notice. But somehow, as the president pointed out yesterday, no impeachment vote for Lloyd.
  • Florida — Place · Referenced location · 3 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in passing in the episode context (show page) and in relation to reporting (e.g., Florida private plane crash referenced earlier in episode description).
  • Mexico — Place · Referenced location · 3 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in relation to alleged child pornography evidence and as a general reference in immigration discussion and investigations.
    Best thing that America has to offer, which is multiculturalism. Get your fat asses out of the Mexican restaurant. Get your fat asses over to Cracker Barrel because nobody…
  • Minnesota — Place · Referenced incident location · 2 mentions · first at
    Capitalization and consistency as a location used in incident context
    I like the electorate sometimes sways like this. Like that number is coming on the heels of what we saw in Minnesota and non-stop media coverage condemning ICE as evil and so on. the media was disgusting in the way it.
  • Rosenberg trial — Event · Historical reference · 2 mentions · first at
    Referenced by Scott Galloway in comparing Elon Musk to the Rosenbergs (Julius and Ethel Rosenberg) and invoking execution for treason as rhetorical hyperbole.
    Makes a great EV and can land a rocket on scissors is held to a different standard. We lined up the Rosenbergs against a wall.
  • Afghanistan — Place · Geopolitical reference · 1 mention · first at
    Geopolitical location; correct spelling and context
    5 years ago, America was humiliated in Kabell, Afghanistan, and every enemy on Earth took notice. But somehow, as the president pointed out yesterday, no impeachment vote for Lloyd.
  • Helsinki Summit — Event · Referenced geopolitical event · 1 mention · first at
    Geopolitical event referenced
    And I think back to the early days of Trump's first presidency when he went to Helsinki and we had these banner headlines everywhere saying treason you know because he I.
  • Sedona — Place · Referenced setting · 1 mention · first at
    Setting the scene/location referenced in transcript
    To 20 2025. Football's not my world, but journalism is. And the New York Post found P pictures of the two of them at this posh resort in Sedona. We're showing the pictures now.…
  • Tribeca Tavern — Place · Venue in scandal reporting · 1 mention · first at
    Location where events took place
    Pictures of the two of them in the dimly lit Tribeca Tavern in the early hours of March 11th, 2020. They sat close to each other while conversing at the bar. They shared a kiss. They were kissing. They.
  • London — Place · Referenced location · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in context of Megyn Kelly disputing Diana Rousini's claim she was told by a Metropolitan Police officer in London to stay quiet.
    Officer in London to stay mum while they investigated. Well, it's been eight years. We haven't been able to find said Metropolitan Police officer who told her this. And even if…
  • Miami — Place · Referenced location · 2 mentions · first at
    Referenced as a place where Dianna Rousini said she had personal experiences she hadn't told her husband (part of the controversy narrative).
    Nothing was going to stop it, it became unhealthy for us to read it. So, they unsubscribed from X. one of the hard parts about this was that a lot of the work I was doing and…
  • Helsinki — Place · Referenced past event location · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned recalling Trump's 2018 Helsinki meeting as an example of past 'treason' headlines; used to illustrate media overreaction.
    I think back to the early days of Trump's first presidency when he went to Helsinki and we had these banner headlines everywhere saying treason you know because he I guess didn't have a hostile enough meeting with Vladimir Putin at a.
  • San Francisco — Place · Illustrative location · 1 mention · first at
    Used in a remark about air travel times to illustrate amazement at modern transportation (Megyn's aside).
    Yeah. I always feel thankful to any pilot who gets me from any place to any place. always amazed by people who find ways to criticize the fact that they're able to get from…
  • Brins Mesa Mountain Range — Place · Referenced setting · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in Page Six description of Sedona resort where Dianna Rousini and Mike Vrabel were photographed; used to color the reporting about their getaway.
    Accessible from the twoerson bungalows, which cost up to $2,100 a night. Photos show the two hugging at sunset and weaving their fingers together as they stand face to face.…
  • Siberia — Place · Metaphorical reference · 1 mention · first at
    Used metaphorically to describe lengthy exile; Megyn mocks Diana Rousini's description of six months out as if it were long exile.
    I was going to say that's almost like that's got to be a Guinness record for not being in perspective at length. right. That's more words not looking at your own conduct in the middle of a.

Media & podcasts

  • The Megyn Kelly Show — Media · Program / source of episode · 1 mention · first at
    The broadcast/podcast in which the interview and segments occurred (hosted by Megyn Kelly).
    Hey everyone, I'm Megan Kelly. Welcome to the Megan Kelly show and happy Tuesday. There is more fallout from insane podcaster Jennifer Welsh's despicable comments about Charlie Kirk.
  • People magazine — Media · Media outlet cited for puff piece · 64 mentions · first at
    Identified as a magazine rather than generic 'People'
    And now she reemerges. Matt, in this puff piece in People magazine, Diana Rini reveals new NFL projects seven months after Mike Vrabel photo scandal.
  • 60 Minutes — Media · Referenced program · 3 mentions · first at
    Referenced as the program where President Trump gave an interview that included comments interpreted as openness to a deal on immigration/amnesty.
    For Democrats. All those groups were Trump voters and went for Democrats this time. And Trump gets on 60 Minutes on Sunday night and basically promises amnesty. he says he…
  • Pivot podcast — Media · Referenced podcast · 2 mentions · first at
    The podcast (hosted by Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway) where Galloway made the incendiary comments about Elon Musk being a 'traitor' and referenced the Rosenbergs — used to illustrate extreme rhetoric on the left.
    Are, like what the normal bounds of ideas and political combat look like and that's him. So, first he is on his pivot podcast with Cara Swisser and he says the following about…
  • Ted Cruz's podcast — Media · Media source · 1 mention · first at
    Referenced as the source of Ted Cruz's comments about the Hegseth impeachment prospects and timing.
    Know because they could be political rivals. Just trying to factor in alleged or potential biases here. But here is what Ted Cruz said on his own podcast on the 9th, which is yesterday, right?
  • Dianna Russini Report — Media · New show / media project · 1 mention · first at
    Correct entity naming for media project
    All that's going to matter. And I hope that quiets the noise. off People magazine and Diana on this absurd, ridiculous, poisonous spin that takes zero responsibility for what she actually did.
  • YouTube — Media · Platform referenced · 2 mentions · first at
    Correct type for a media platform
    It on another man's theory, another pilot I think who posited that there is a possibility because we had Captain Steve come on of YouTube and tell us ultimately he thinks that…
  • Austin Powers — Character · Cultural reference · 1 mention · first at
    Invoked for a humorous point about a 'consequence-free environment' — used as satire toward media/celebrity culture.
    Where you left off as if nothing happened. it's just such a strange universe that we live in. It's it's like Austin Power is talking about how you know as long as we still live in a consequencefree environment, I'm happy.

Sponsors

  • Glacier Security App — Sponsor · Sponsor / product promoted · 3 mentions · first at
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    Just burn that number and get a new one without changing your real number. Love this. Glacier also protects your overall privacy, blocking background connections to trackers…
  • Relief Factor — Sponsor · Sponsor / advertised product · 2 mentions · first at
    Episode sponsor; ad read promoting Relief Factor supplement, 3-week QuickStart offer and CTA to visit ReliefFactor.com.
    Beginning. The real gift is what comes next. More of the moments and people you don't want to miss. This holiday season, take the first step. Visit relieffactor.com for your 3-week quick start. Just $17.76.
  • Sundays for Dogs — Sponsor · Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at
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    Pet parents report shinier coats and better digestion. Consider switching to Sundays. Go right now to Sundays fordogs.com/megan and get 30% off your first order. Or you can use code Megan at checkout. That's 30% off your first order at.
  • Birch Gold — Sponsor · Sponsor (possible) · 2 mentions · first at
    Sponsor entity with promotional content
    Okay, we're going to take a quick break. We'll come back more with Matt Taibbe right after this. Good news.
  • Shawn Ryan — Person · Glacier app founder (sponsor founder referenced) · 1 mention · first at
    Individual associated with Glacier Security App
    It to websites every day, leading to constant spam calls. That's why I want to tell you about Glacier, a mobile security app co-founded by my friend Shawn Ryan alongside former…

Full transcript with timestamps

Hey everyone, I'm Megan Kelly. Welcome to the Megan Kelly show and happy Tuesday. There is more fallout from insane podcaster Jennifer Welsh's despicable comments about Charlie Kirk. Plus Cara Swisser's co-host. This guy's unbelievable. He was on this show once, Scott Galloway. He seemed kind of reasonable and professorial and had a lot of thoughts on things like young men and what their problems were. and we provided him with a forum to say all that stuff. He has since gone insane like there's something seriously wrong with him now. He has been repeatedly pushing for Elon Musk to be executed.

that and he is openly bragging that before he sold his Tesla, so disgusted was he with Elon, he actually defecated in it and then sold it to some innocent consumer. This is the host with Cara Swisser, the hateful, disgusting Cara Swisser. Both of them. And their commentary is about the level of what he left on the passenger seat of that Tesla. This is disgusting. These people are so disgusting. What's with all the calls for violence on the left and the and the, you know, let's just kill our enemies talk from that insane podcaster, the ugly Jennifer Welsh. And I mean that term in everyone in every sense. Um Dave Chappelle, a disgusting fool.

And now this Scott Galloway like and everybody around him is like fine with it. Haha. So funny. I mean, it's like it's disgusting. It's pathetic. And it really does speak to the corrosion of our society and our civil bounds that we used to operate within when having political disputes. I mean, been around for a long time. We've been having these political disputes for a long time and heartfelt tough ones like about the Iraq war. Um, I don't recall it ever being quite this unhinged. And now today we have the effort to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hexath which is heating up and he may be in a lot of trouble. Um Ted Cruz actually of all people offering some commentary on where this is likely to go and was not predicting a good outcome for HEGs.

Joining me now Matt Taibbe he's founder of Racket News on Substack. Don't miss a moment. Subscribe to this show on YouTube and follow me on Insta, Facebook and X. The best part of the holidays, the traditions we share. Taking walks with the kids, preparing the traditional family meal, decorating the tree together. But when everyday aches and pains get in the way, even the things we love can feel like work. That's what makes real pain relief so important. Relief Factor is designed to support your body's natural response to inflammation. It doesn't just mask the pain, it deals with it at the source.

And I know because it worked for me myself. When joint stiffness sets in, keeping up with everyone can be tough. Getting out of pain is just the beginning. The real gift is what comes next. More of the moments and people you don't want to miss. This holiday season, take the first step. Visit relieffactor.com for your 3-week quick start. Just $17.76. Or simply call 18004 relief. You will connect with their friendly local team and they will do everything they can to help you enjoy your holidays the way you want to. Painfree relief factor. Take your holidays back and take your life back. Matt, welcome back. Great to have you.

Thanks. Um, we'll get to all the crazy ass calls for killing people in a second, but let's just start with the Hegsth thing and I'll I'll give you what's the headline is that Thomas Matthew has introduced Messi. Eight articles of impeachment against Pete Hegsth. Um, for what it's worth, Jonathan Turley says he doesn't think much of six of them, but two of them he thinks may have some legs. Uh, but Ted Cruz, now I think this is kind of interesting. the thing about Ted Cruz because now keep in mind Ted Cruz is likely going to run for president in 28 and there's some buzz that Pete Hegsath may have eyes on running for the presidency in 28. So he could be looking at him as a potential competitor. Um they also have a lot in common because they're both very pro-war, very pro-war, very pro-Israel.

So, I would have expected him to have Pete's back per potentially, but I don't know because they could be political rivals. Just trying to factor in alleged or potential biases here. But here is what Ted Cruz said on his own podcast on uh the 9th, which is yesterday, right? Today's the 10th. Um about Pete's chances. Watch. Listen, one of the reasons the House has been out of session for a couple of months and and the reason they've been out of session is because they didn't have the votes to stop a Hegath impeachment back in September. Either Hegsth is going to step down, either he will resign voluntarily or Trump will fire him or if that does not happen, I think it is extremely likely if not certain that the House will impeach him because on the face of it, the votes are there. Now, if that happens, it then goes to the Senate, and the Senate has the responsibility of conducting the trial.

Uh, now, if it happens now during the lame duck, it's possible that that the majority, still under Republican control, could dispose of it. If he resigns now and the president nominates a new defense secretary, we can nominate we can confirm the new defense secretary. I if he resigns or is fired next year, we can't confirm a replacement. Okay. So, he's making a push to he's saying Pete's toast and saying, "Let's just get it over with now while we have control of the Senate. We can control the up or down vote on his replacement."

Pete came out today, an oppressor, and just went at it. Uh, here's a bit in Six.

I'll get right to it. What one disgruntled and defeated congressman is attempting is not oversight and it's not accountability. It's a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment. Time for one man's final days in Congress to try to do damage to this president, this country, and most irresponsibly the warriors who defend it. It's a farce and it's a stunt. and everybody knows it.

One final point. Pete in his clever move tried to paint this about criminalizing the actions of our soldiers. Among the other items that have been raised in the impeachment articles are the attacks on the Venezuelan drug boats, uh the Iran war and the alleged quote kidnapping of Nicholas Maduro out of Venezuela. Those are all actions that our troops have participated in, but Thomas Massie is taking issue with the commands, not the issue, not the behavior of the troops. Um, that's not to say that the Democrats might not go there if you know this floodgate is opened. I don't know.

But here's just Pete trying to really talk about how this endangers are warriors. Um, ST9,

let's be clear about what this resolution actually does. It tells our enemies, Iran, the cartels, every adversary watching that the United States will actually punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations. It tells them that a single rogue legislator loaded with personal animus for the president can attempt to veto national security decisions made by the dulyeleed commanderin-chief. It puts a target on the backs of American warriors by signaling that Congress will undermine their missions in real time. This is not patriotism.

This is sabotage. You know, 5 years ago, America was humiliated in Kabell, Afghanistan, and every enemy on Earth took notice. But somehow, as the president pointed out yesterday, no impeachment vote for Lloyd Austin for that terrible withdrawal. Fair point. Uh certainly on that last point. So what do you make of the attempted impeachment of Pete Pete Haggath?

Well, it's a it's a fascinating case. Um I'm a little torn on the issue because on one hand we have been um sort of skirting the uh the rule that the basically the Congress has to have some oversight over decisions to go to war for my entire lifetime. uh the specific conditions that um HEGX is being charged uh with misusing uh artic the article 2 powers of the constitution have been used over and over again for unapproved uh congressionally unapproved military strikes dating back to the 80s. Uh we've had a whole slew of military actions since 911 uh that were approved under the AUMF. Um, now that doesn't come into play with these HEGs cases, but uh in none of these uh was there any kind of proper congressional oversight. And the thing that HGH is talking about uh where you might have a a civilian official who's punished for essentially legally, you know, executing a a legal order. um that wouldn't happen if we had uh

followed the procedure that we've historically followed, which is Congress approves our decision to go to war in some fashion or another. So, but what's hypocritical about this is that nobody ever said a thing before when it was Biden or Obama or Bush or Clinton or Reagan or any of a dozen, you know, a number of other presidents uh doing essentially the same thing. Right. I mean, as for the Venezuelan drug boat strikes, at least they weren't Americans. That's who Barack Obama was killing without any congressional approval. Like, he didn't get impeached.

Like, his secretary of war didn't get defense at the time. Didn't get impeached. It feels a little selective. the the Obama case is really instructive because uh you know in in that case the administration essentially wrote itself the legal memo uh and it got around the fifth amendment uh requirement for due process by saying that a process that may not involve the defendant um is still some kind of due process. In other words, we can as long as we discuss it amongst ourselves before we drone somebody to death who might be an American citizen and his son um that count that counts as due process. And that somehow nobody said a word. There was no discussion about uh you know the impeaching the president after that. And that was crazy. Um, I will grant that, you know, no lawyer that I've spoken to has said that they can think of any kind of legal justification that would cover the Venezuelan drug boat um, uh,

bombings. However, uh, that's still better than assassinating an American citizen without trial.

I mean, I I don't know. Ted Cruz has got an interesting point, you know, that they're definitely going to have the votes to impeach Pete once the Democrats take over. I mean, clearly they've won control of the House, and it seems like it's going to wind up right now that they're still counting in a lot of jurisdictions. We've got some 40 seat majority, but it's going to go up, we think, double that uh for the Democrats. So, there's going to be zero problem impeaching Pete Hexath once the Democrats take over. And I know the audience knows this, but just as a reminder, the an impeachment is basically an accusation, like an indictment, excuse me. The actual trial on the charges would happen in the Senate. And you need 2/3 of the sitting US senators, which is 66 senators, and they're not going to have that. I mean, the Democrats are going to have 54, maybe 56. to get an extra 10 from the Republican side to vote to impeach the

sitting secretary of war. I mean, to vote to convict. I just I don't know about that. Um but there is a concern there's a concern that there will be enough Republicans rattled by this last you know um election and worried about some of those not entirely kosher actions by the department of war or like not obviously kosher you know not beyond all question that they might actually vote with the Dems and convict him because like just The impeachment doesn't get rid of him. Just you have to be convicted and and and that would get rid of him,

right? There there would be a trial. Um I think and and Jonathan Turley pointed to two of the eight charges that would be probably the most likely to come close to passing um or resulting in a conviction would be the extra judicial killings uh in the Venezuelan boats. Um uh and the other one would be the the the veil

threatening Mark Kelly Mark Kelly. Yeah. Um and you know if they if they win a conviction in in those cases it's very very unlikely. But um what I'd be most curious to see is whether they go back to instituting some kind of hard and fast rule about not doing that in the future um or whether this is a one-off about punishing just members of the Trump administration.

I think this is very dumb politically. Like this is it's Massie. It's not a Democrat. I mean I think it's dumb for Massie too. Massie has staked out this ground. Obviously, he's bitter because he got primaried by a Trump candidate and lost. But, uh, like Massie has staked out this area that's been proven correct. He tried. He demanded justice on Epstein and more disclosure. He won that. Now, the bill that was passed as a result of him has enough holes that you could drive a truck through it, but at least we got it. We got it thanks to him. And then the Iran war, which he was also right about. Why do this? Like, why not let the Democrats just come in and do what they're going to do? Why take this on as an outgoing Republican congressman?

Like, it just I think it makes you look petty. It will, I think, have the effect of rallying the Trump base to some extent. That's kind of mad at Trump right now. But they're not going to like this. They don't want to start see Republicans impeaching Republicans.

I mean, it's getting a little exhausting. How many times has Trump been impeached? If this becomes a thing that just happens willy-nilly with every uh administration that comes in, uh you know, the public is going to get tired of it uh very quickly. I in fact, I think that was a lot of what was going on with election night last week is just the frustration over the the back and forth between the two parties. Um so, yeah, I agree. Not sure that this would be a a politically winning move, but you know, uh it's been hard to predict what what would and would not be popular in this this environment.

I don't think this is going to be popular. I just I feel like I I don't get it. I I genuinely don't get it. And by the way, whatever Pete's done, he's done at the request of Trump. So this is just this is kind of like when the Republicans impeached Mayorcus as DHS secretary. It was like, okay, he's definitely not enforcing the border, that's for sure. But it's because of the old man with, you know, pudding for a brain who's technically in the White House and in charge of these policies, who when he was still somewhat there had said he was erasing all of Trump's policies at the border, he undid all executive orders with his own executive orders. So, it's like we're kind of engaging in a fiction here that Pete Hexath is to blame when these are the policies of Donald Trump.

Yeah. And I think the public would be all in favor of a permanent move back toward having some kind of a process that would be more formalized for going to war. I mean, most people don't even know where where we have military uh actions in the in the world now. I remember uh you know in the last uh actually I think it was in the 2016 election cycle we had active military operations in over six countries at the time of the election and most people didn't even know where we were. Uh and that's because we no longer have national debates about it. People would probably approve of a of a system that didn't allow us to just on a whim go into any country we wanted to. Um, but if it's just about Donald Trump and just about Pete Hexth, then this becomes a much weaker maneuver, I think.

Mhm. Well, you need congressional approval if you're going to declare war, which they don't. And uh they just do these sort of little military incursions. Incursions, Matt,

interest like like like the Iran war, which is a war. Although Mark Leavin is out there still trying to say it's not. It's just a military operation. That's all just an opera. Oh, okay. All right. I mean, dropped a bunch of bombs on them. We destroyed their navy. Feels a little worry, but um Okay. So, on that front of the Iran war, Pete Hexath, one of the things he spoke to today was JD Vance saying the day after the midterms, "We lost because of the war. because our party wants more distance between us and Israel, wants America first um and wants this war to end and Pete Hexath spoke to that a bit in SAT 12.

I respect the vice president greatly and I'm certainly not going to uh exchange in any fingerpointing and thankfully politics is not really my thing. Uh I do the Department of War and making sure we're prepared and ready. Uh so a lot of people are going to look at the conflict uh and and assess it and the vice president has been a critical member of the team in every aspect of this and we're grateful for all the input he's given me personally uh and our department and I think uh going forward we're going to learn all those lessons and apply them. But I I I agree with what the president said when he said, "Hey, if if I had to do this all over again, would we do it again?"

Absolutely. It's it it was done for the right reasons to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon. Um there it as as Marco Rubio said I think quite well. It's not necessarily uh popular but it may have been necessary

and that's the line that's being pushed by President Trump himself like you know people were reacting to it but it was the right move. Um, I don't know how that's going to fly with the electorate between now and 2028. And I would suggest, Matt, that they're going to need to abandon that talking point as a front and center piece of their rhetoric. I mean, I really think I I realize they can't and President Trump's incapable of coming out and saying, "I made the wrong decision." Um, but I think people are so angry over the war that it you're if Pete Hexath actually does have hopes of running for president or Marco Rubio, who was also out there defending it. In fact, let me play you what he said at um, CPAC Mara Lago the other day because he weighed in. Um, all these potential 2028 contenders are weighing in. And here's Rubio in uh, Sat 20. This is November 6th.

The most important thing a president can do for a country is to keep it safe. And there are people around the world that want to destroy it. They want to destroy our country. They want to destroy our way of life.

He was elected to do the hard things. The hard things. It would have been very easy to do what multiple presidents before him would have done, which just ignore the Iran thing. Leave it for the next guy. Put it aside and don't worry about it. That would have been the easiest thing to do, honestly, to just basically say, "Leave it alone. Who cares? That's going to be someone's problem in the future." But this president didn't do that. He confronted it because what Iran wants to do is not just destroy our country, it's destroy our way of life and threaten our children. We cannot live in a world in which the most radical terroristic regime on the planet possesses a weapon of mass destruction. And we've had president after president ignore it and allow it to linger. But this president wasn't allowed to ignore and he wasn't elected to allow threats to linger. And he did it for you. Not for him, not for

anybody else. He did it for you. He did it for Israel. Well, that's so obvious. We all know that. Marco Rubio is the one who told us that the day after we launched the Iran war. And by the way, Matt, all that nonsense, that's a defense of what happened in June 2025, not what happened on February 28th, 2026. So, you've got Rubio now and Heg Seth carving out the it was the right move irrespective of of the electoral consequences. I mean, I I'm sorry. I don't agree with that. The electoral consequences of that decision are so catastrophic, we're only beginning to start to feel them. Um, but you can see lines are being drawn on 2028. JD's over here, those two over here.

Yeah. And I would argue that Trump was uh elected to not go to war. Um that was that was the primary reason uh for the the the amount of the support that he got in 2024. um some of the people who were uh key supporters of his in that election cycle and also the the decision to make JD Vance the nominee uh over Rubio was because of a decision within uh Trump's team uh to send a signal in a more anti-war direction. Um the there were two, you know, ve very vocal uh groups within uh Trump's camp and the people who wanted to be a more isolationist uh run a more isolationist campaign won out and that's why Vance ended up being the nominee and not Rubio. Um the the sort of national security state people

very disappointed that that Rubio did not become the nominee. So um you know and and Trump by the way in in 2016. I remember watching this uh he sort of picked up that every time he he mentioned endless wars or pointless wars or made fun of NATO. Uh every time he did that at the next speech, there would be more people in um in desert colored fatings uh standing in the back of his presentations watching his speeches. and they they ended up becoming a very important part of his electorate in 2016 uh returning veterans and uh so were people like Tulsi Gabbard and and JD Vance in in uh in 2024. So this decision it's it's been catastrophic to his pre presidency. There's no other way to look at it.

I agree. There's um now I don't it's like out of the frying pan into the fire. I don't know why Trump is now floating amnesty on the on the heels of this massive loss, right? Like the base already feels betrayed. Maybe there's no more base. Maybe that's the the the reality here. I mean, I myself said this the day after Tuesday last week, also known as Wednesday, um when I said, "What what is MAGA? If MAGA it only exists when Trump is on the ba the ballot, then MAGA's dead. There is no MAGA. There's there's nothing to MAGA electorally that we should be thinking about, talking about, or considering in any way, shape, or form. They're irrelevant if Trump's not on the ballot.

So, okay, goodbye. We got to move on without them. Um, but I do think that there's still Trump voters, shall we say, who felt very betrayed over Epstein, felt very betrayed over the Iran war, felt very betrayed over the amount of grift that we've seen in and around this administration and still reeling, you know, so so disgusted were they that they actually pulled the lever for Democrats. I mean, and they did. Whites pulled the lever for Democrats. Men pulled the lever for Democrats. Young men and young people in general pulled the lever for Democrats. Working class, non-ol under 50, under 50,000, under 100,000, they all pulled the lever for Democrats. All those groups were Trump voters and went for Democrats this time. And Trump gets on 60 Minutes on Sunday night and basically promises amnesty. I mean, he says he doesn't say the word amnesty, but he's asked specifically what he's going to do. Um,

do we have this soundbite? I'm looking. on my on my list. I played it yesterday, but in any event, maybe we can pull it over you guys. It's clear as day where Trump says he's interested in striking a deal. Um, he wants to think about the landscaper or the house cleaner or the hotel cleaner, he said, who's been here for a long time and the only crime they committed was coming across the border illegally. And um, you know, Duat says, "Do do you mean allowing them to stay here?" and he says, "Yes, yes, that's what I mean." Then realizing that this is extremely unpopular and that he's caused quite a stir, the president comes out last night and says, "Um, we have it, Deb.

Here it is. Let's watch it." So, you think your deportation policy went too far? It was too tough.

I think it might be too tough. Yeah. What would happen? What does the deal look like with the Democrat?

Ultimately, that hurt me. Well, the deal would be we would work something out. And I think it's something I think that's something that's actually doable

doable to create some kind of some kind of legal status for the landscapers and the

Yeah. When you go into a hotel and you have a woman that's worked there as a, you know, as a maid, as a cleaner, as a this, as a that, as a waitress, a lot of good things, great jobs, and all of a sudden they're being taken out of the country. It's tough. It's a tough thing. But there's a group of people that I would say on the sort of pretty far right that would like everybody taken out of a group of people.

Do any of those people work in your administration? Are they in the building with us right now?

No. No. Well, there are a lot of those people. Then there's also people that are more modified on that. In other words, get the killers out. Get all the the rough ones out. get the drug dealers out, but let the people that are here and in some cases here for 10 and 15 years, work a deal for them. I mean, it's unambiguous what he's talking. Work a deal. Work a deal. Work a deal. We'll work out a deal. And then realizing the push back, Matt, he tries to come out at a White House briefing room presser yesterday and says the following. ST three.

Now, we have a very strong deportation policy. There's no amnesty, no no anything. We keep that. But, uh, we focus on the worst of the worst. We want to get the murderers out. We've gotten most of them out. We've gotten most of the really bad, you know, they they allowed Joe Biden allowed hund well uh 25 million people to come in. Of that, 11,888 murderers, most of whom committed more than one murder. We've gotten most of them. We want to get the worst of the worst. And then we'll see what happens. But uh they came in illegally. Many of them have good jobs now. They're productive. Some of them are even paying taxes. And we're seeing what's going to happen. There won't be amnesty. Somebody suggested, will there be amnesty? No.

But uh they came in, they knew the law. Uh and we're working with a lot of different groups to see whether or not. But my policy hasn't changed. What we are doing is absolutely the worst of the worst. Okay, that is amnesty and everyone knows it. As James Fishbach posted on X Trump, I love cheese on top of red sauce on top of dough. Us pizza. Trump, I never said that.

Yeah. So, this is this is funny because in he's done this several times before. I was actually um in a pool of reporters who were traveling with Trump in August of 2016 when he said there certainly can be a softening uh because we don't want to hurt people. And the very next night he came out and said uh there's no amnesty as such. There's no amnesty but we work with them. Um so it was exactly the same process. uh the I don't know why he does this because he always ends up back in the place of zero tolerance and no amnesty, but every now and then he does blurt out these things about um you know being willing to work with people who you know have been here for a long time. Um and it's

amnesty. Yeah. I I mean I I just remember the the reaction of other reporters saying he said what and that was a long time ago. that was already, you know, um, 10 years ago. And now, uh, you know, it seems like he's losing a little bit of his political instincts, um, and just trying things out. And that's much harder to do when you have an established political record as opposed to a new candidate, which is what he was in, you know, 10 years ago. I mean the most of the political pundits I respect on the right agree that any kind of amnesty any kind will be a catastrophic event for the Republican party from which they will not recover for years to come. Uh it doesn't matter how many Democrats support it, how many independents support it, or even how many sort of chamber of commerce Republicans support it. It is so objectionable to the workingclass base of the Republican party that it truly would devastate what

is left of an already devastated party. And it like I just think it doesn't matter because I was just looking at the polls and the polls show there is support. Like here's Gallup allowing immigrants living in the US illegally the chance to become US citizens if they meet certain requirements over a period of time. Um combined either strongly support or favor 75% oppose combined 25%. The problem for Trump is those 25% are all Republicans. They're they just are. and they they will feel so betrayed and angry that it will absolutely for forget it. There'll be no Marco Rubio. There'll be no JD Vance. There will be no Republican nominee from the Trump administration if this is what he tries to do. And he thinks it'll help his legacy with like the the left or the independent middle.

It won't. They hate him and they're going to continue hating him even if they manage to use him to get a couple of their agenda items through.

Yeah. And and the proof in is in the pudding here with the behavior of the Democratic party in the last election cycle in 2024 when you know Kla Harris and the Biden administration completely backed off their own uh immigration policies in the last election year. Uh the polling was overwhelming. Um it was abundantly clear that it was a winning issue for uh the Republicans in 2024. Uh that it had been early uh in this Trump presidency. Um so I have no idea what he's doing. Uh this is not a situation where where he's going to win any votes by going back on those policies. May maybe changing the execution of the policies uh might win some popularity. I don't know. But but not the policy itself which was very popular.

I I like the electorate sometimes sways like this. Like that number is coming on the heels of what we saw in Minnesota and non-stop media coverage condemning ICE as evil and so on. I mean, the the media was disgusting in the way it covered ICE trying to do its job. Not to say that there weren't controversial incidents, but I mean, it was like there was nothing even attempting approaching fairness, but we saw the numbers exactly the other way after four years of an open border under Joe Biden. So, you know, they sway back and forth, but I do think like amnesty, every other time we've tried it, it has led to more illegal immigration. It is an invitation. it as a red carpet down to Mexico. Um, I just think this will be catastrophic. They absolutely should not do it. And it also doesn't make any sense. Why would you make Steven Miller your chief of staff if you're actually getting ready to do

this? Now, Trump is the boss, and the chief of staff is not as powerful in a Trump administration as they have been in other admins because he's so heavy-handed, a leader. So, he'll he'll tell Steven Miller what the policy is going to be, not the other way around. But I I I can't imagine Steven Miller's not trying to encourage him to reconsider this because he knows he knows very well what this will do.

Yeah. Who knows? I mean, maybe he's pulling some kind of Andy Kaufman routine on 60 Minutes. It's hard to say what he's doing, but um that's not going to help him politically, I don't think. what uh that energy.

So now those of us who would like reason to prevail, we want like normal people who aren't going to fleece the American public once they get into office, who aren't going to be absolute nutcases once they get in there are just left in the wilderness because we're we're going to be ruled by people like Peggy Flanigan and her land acknowledgements. Matt, it's it's a problem. Um, and you look over at the left, you know, when you're trying to like comfort yourself, like, all right, divided government. I like divided government, to be honest.

Like, I think most Americans like divided government because it stops them from doing anything. And I I don't want them to do anything because they're not It's been a long time since they've done anything for us. They usually do something to us that we don't like and that takes decades to reverse. So, there's that. But you look you look across the landscape over there at you know what's on the left and you see people like Scott Galloway Cara Swisser's podcast co-host and I think a self-styled intellectual in his own right and he again as I said at the top used to be kind of normal he's lost his mind like it's sad some people like can't exist in the digital space without really losing their tether on what the normal standards of behavior are, like what the normal bounds of ideas and political combat look like and that's him. So, first he uh is on his pivot podcast with Cara Swisser and he

says the following about Elon. This was on November 3rd Saw 28. The West Coast is littered with multi-t trillion dollar companies. And you get to the Canadian border, it stops. You get to the Mexican border, it stops. And yet these individuals are quick to credit their grit and their character for their success and blame the government for their failures. The fail is that we have begun believing through this ridiculous, unhealthy, and dangerous idolatry of innovators that they get to live by an entirely different standard. Elon Musk is a traitor to the West. It's uncomfortable and weird because we've decided someone who's a trillionaire and makes a great EV and can land a rocket on scissors is held to a different standard. We lined up the Rosenbergs against a wall.

This is a traitor to the West and he should be held to the same standards as every other trader in the West.

Wow. He didn't say, "Let's kill him." But once again, it's a I want the food product that has red sauce and cheese on top and dough underneath. We know what that is. We know exactly what you're saying. We know what happened to the Rosenbergs. He says it there himself. And then he says Elon Musk is just like them, a traitor who should face the same penalties. And just in case you think it was a one-off, like, oh, he, you know, was shooting off his mouth at like got ahead of himself, here he is again on the same day, uh, on a different podcast, SA 29. We took the Rosenbergs and put them up against a wall and executed them for being traitors.

And I realize this is an incendiary statement, but I'll make it and I believe it. I think Elon Musk is a traitor to the West. And I think what is even more dangerous is this zeitgeist within America that the idolatry of innovators in money has created a cloud cover such that traders to the west are not seen as traders to the west. That if this had happened in any other age where we were not obsessed with innovators and money, a much different reaction would be playing out to Elon Musk. This is crazy, Matt. I

It's completely shocking. Um I I think you're right about the people in sort of the internet era and the podcast era. Uh almost daily we have yet another person who sort of falls off um you know the plank of sanity uh into the ocean and they're just they're just gone for forever. They're they're never coming back.

We do. And You know, I think back to the early uh days of of Trump's first presidency when he went to Helsinki and we had these banner headlines everywhere saying treason um uh you know because he I I guess didn't have a hostile enough meeting with uh Vladimir Putin at at a conference. Now treason has a very specific legal meaning. Uh it only applies in very narrow circumstances. It's a capital crime. accusing somebody of being a traitor is clearly liable. Like, it's the kind of thing that I would never I I would be terrified to do in public. Um, clearly does not apply here. There's no possible way you could make it fit uh to call this treason. It it doesn't even u it's excluded legally like it only happens during in the the middle of a declared war. But even so, even to colloquially claim that is absolute lunacy. Uh, incidentally, I have my own differences with with Elon, but Elon has has among other things um

been threatened uh you know by other countries. They've tried to drag him in for questioning um you know for failing to abide by uh foreign censorship rules. Uh and you know he's not specifying Galloway is not specifying any crime that he's committed. Uh it

he's been railing about the Starlink Starink the public Starlink being shut down for Ukraine to use to drop bombs, but the military version of Starlink remained available to them. Like he's got an obligation, some legal obligation to leave Starlink available. I like this is what he's been railing about. But the truth is Matt, he doesn't like Elon. He and Cara Swisser can't stand Elon. They've been ripping on him weekly since long before the Ukraine thing.

Well, right. That's all you have to do do with these audiences. You just have to stand up and say, "This person sucks. I hate this person. They should be shot." And and in many cases, it it works. Um

Yeah. And they are. Yeah. In some cases, they are right. And that's what's terrifying about this uh this environment that we're in. Um, we have, uh, you know, again, once upon a time, I hate to be all back in the day about it, but public figures used to be very hesitant to use to accuse people of, you know, serious crimes, to to accuse them of sex crimes, to accuse them of all kinds of things without hardcore evidence, like confirmed 50 ways uh over. And they don't even bother uh trying very hard anymore. They they just simply lob out these things because they know it's going to get a lot of clicks

a and because their derangement syndrome is so allconsuming. You know, there is a Trump derangement syndrome and there is an Elon derangement syndrome and both of those two have it in droves. You you rais a good point. You and he had this whole falling out over the Twitter files. You you don't have Elon derangement syndrome. You can report on him fairly. You can hit him if he needs to be hit. You can defend him if he needs. That's how I am with Trump. Like I don't have any derangement syndrome. I can recognize the good things and I can recognize the bad things. Why is that so rare?

Well, what's so strange about it? I think Megan like you and I just don't get emotionally involved with the news in the way that these people do. Like this is almost like a religious thing for people who are um who they pour their whole selves into these uh these sort of debates between left or right Republicans and Democrats and it means absolutely everything to them. Uh you know it has a significance that no sane person would afford these issues. is like if you have an actual life, if you have a, you know, a wife and children or a family, um, you're not going to stay awake at night thinking about Elon Musk.

I mean, I'm sorry. No. Right. Would you? I mean, it's absolute insanity. No matter how much you might dislike the person, uh, he should be, you know, well below a hundth on your list of, uh, probab, you know, concerns on any given day. And not but not for these people. Uh for for them, you know, this this is the most important thing in the world.

Well, and here's here's all the evidence we really need to see that Scott Galloway has truly lost his mind. Here he is describing what happened when he sold his Tesla because of Elon.

I had a Tesla, great car. You started posting me on Twitter, so I sold it. Not before taking a giant dump in the passenger seat.

True story. Not good for resale value. I mean, what a disgusting pig. I mean, who who who would be that deranged?

What is he? Six. I mean, really. Uh, that's witty. Uh, it's stupid is what it is. I mean, I'm all in favor of stupid humor. You you can go as as low as you want as long as it's actually funny. Uh but that's not funny. It's not even close to funny. Um could you imagine trying to pass that off as a as a witty line to somebody like Mark Twain or Oscar Wild? This guy imagines himself an intellectual. That's just stupid. And it shows that you

Yes. You're you know, a little bit, you know, out of your mind at this point. Um

Yes. You know what? Think of I mean a grown man his car. Are you crazy? Seriously. So like that's that's what I can't get past. Like you're right. There's a lack of intellectualism there and he's treated like an intellectual. So please pardon us for not agreeing. But the crude, disgusting nature of what he says is a true story that he did. I mean think about it. He like he waited till he had to go. He got into his own car. He dropped Trow and then he dropped something else in his own car just to feel better about a man who is a stranger to him who is currently working on curing blindness and paralysis has actually made progress with his neural link in putting a chip in the brain of paralyzed people and helping them communicate with their brain onto the computer screen to reflect their thoughts. It's miraculous. I mean, this guy is changing the world in so many profound and great ways, but he would

like him shot. We knew the left wanted him locked up. He wants him shot. And then at some point, he decided to sell this Tesla. So, he had to go in and clean up his own So, the only one he really hurt was himself. And now wants credit for it. I'm sorry, but I'm I'm just trying to imagine what was going on in his mind as he was cleaning up. Um, you know, was he patting himself on the back? I showed him like Yeah, exactly. Like, yeah, this is great. I'm on a real roll now. Like, what? Uh, it's

it's the same way like Trump like destroys his most ardent enemies who who truly have the TDS without having to lift a finger, you know, like they catch the disease. It eats their own brains and they self-destruct. That's what's happening to Scott Galloway in front of our very eyes. And by the way, I actually have a really interesting legal question about whether said purchaser can now demand a refund and return the Tesla. I actually am going to save this for a Kelly score because I I have a good feeling that they can get out of this deal.

That would be an interesting one. Uh I wonder if there's there are additional penalties that could be tacked on as well. Then there's probably

if he if he sold it as is, then no deal. You can't return it. But like if certain warranties were made, like I didn't in it,

which every car from SC Scott Galloway is going to need now. Then then he could get sued.

Unbelievable. It's just it's totally crazy. And uh and people are just they are down with it. This is this is a rallying cry for folks. Um

Oh yeah. They they they laughed. They clapped. Um, of course it's not just Scott Galloway. That was Elon derangement syndrome there, which is plentiful on the left. But we spoke on this program yesterday with the audience about the Dave Chappelle comments on Charlie Kirk which were so despicable after after Charlie defended him after Dave Chappelle was attacked on stage and Charlie actually got was on Dave's side and really thought that there should be penalties to what happened and Dave Chappelle gets on stage at Madison Square Garden and says s 31

I feel up haters. It's scary being a public speaker and it and I I I mean, look, ever since that guy Charlie Kirk got murdered and and I I shouldn't say this publicly, but I feel better. I'm still a human being.

I know I shouldn't say that, but it's just a feeling. I didn't ask you this. I just be driving around like such a good loophole.

It's a laugh riot, Matt. Yeah. I mean, I'm such a Chappelle fan that I feel like giving him a mulligan. I'm not I'm not sure what he was going for there. Uh, you know, I read the full context of of that whole um diet tribe. I he I guess he was trying to

It doesn't make it better. It It doesn't make it better. No, I read it, too. Yeah. And you know, he he's cloaking it in basically saying that after uh Charlie Kirk got murdered, um it's been better for free speech somehow. I I it doesn't make any sense. Which is disappointing because Chappelle has been one of the few public figures who's been willing to stand up and say the unpopular thing uh during this this time period and be funny about it uh while doing

and then he got up but then and then a second later he got up there and said, "I know I'm sure Charlie's looking up at us right now laughing so hard he can't breathe." As if Charlie's in hell. This wasn't like some light touch on Charlie about free speech. It was about Charlie's dead. He's happy and Charlie's burning in hell, which is just so up. This is like it's so insensitive. It's It's just like Galloway to me and uh deeply offensive. We'll pick it up there when we come right back with Matt Taibbe who's with us for the show.

Hey, thanks for watching today's full episode. If you're new here, throw us a subscribe. See what you think. Stay in touch. There's plenty more goodness where this one came from. As always, we really do value your feedback. So email me too, Megan Me-gynlly.com or just leave a comment down below. I do read them. I meander over and I scroll through and I find them very entertaining and really appreciate the feedback. But in any event, join the community by becoming a subscriber so you miss nothing. We value your support.

We may not always agree on positions, but as you know, I'm very open-minded to people who disagree with me. That's how I learn. So, thanks and thanks for trusting us to always talk about it openly, honestly, and with provocative conversations. Pet food industry will not tell you that the real story is in the ingredient panel, not the front of the bag. Sundays for Dogs made a deliberate choice. Real human-grade meat, no fillers, no synthetic vitamin pre mixes, and nothing unpronouncable. Sundays for Dogs is real food suitable for human consumption. The recipes contain 80% all naturatural meat, roughly twice the meat content of leading frozen brands combined with nutrient-rich ingredients like kale, ginger, and blueberries. Instead of exposure to high heat, the ingredients are gently air dried. Founded and formulated by Dr. Tori Waxman to meet the high standards of both a veterinarian and a dog parent. The

process is effortless. No fridge, no freezer, no prep, and no mess. With over 100,000 dogs now eating Sundays, many pet parents report shinier coats and better digestion. Consider switching to Sundays. Go right now to Sundays fordogs.com/megan and get 30% off your first order. Or you can use code Megan at checkout. That's 30% off your first order at sundaysfordd.com/megan. Or just use the code Megan at checkout to get your discount. Matt, one person who did not find any humor in Dave Chappelle's comments was Charlemagne the God who's been on this program. Here's what he said in S 34.

Yeah, I don't find the humor in people getting clapped. Okay, any of us can be shot

and I don't want anybody getting shot because somebody disagrees with their opinion. So, yeah, you have the freedom to, you know, joke and talk about whatever you want to joke and talk about, but personally, I don't want to deal with the energy of that. Like, I don't wish stuff like that on my worst enemy. Good for him. I appreciate him saying that. There was no one more deplorable though than the angry podcast lady Jennifer Welsh. But you could say that about virtually any topic on virtually every day. She's always got the most vile, crass, disgusting take one can have. Um, she's in trouble at the moment and losing advertisers by the second for what she said about Charlie Kirk. That's not like that's not even the most controversial thing she has said. She thought it was hilarious that Charlie died. She joked about it. I guess we'll start with that one. Here it is. Uh, from her podcast November 5th with her

idiot co-host Angie Sullivan 35. Uh, Dad Mororrow says, "We're digging up Charlie Kirk and doing it again. I'm zooming in for the fox.

No comment. No comment. No comment on that other than he was shot by somebody that was super MAGA family.

He was shot by a MAGA person. Right. So do that with what you will. White person, white MAGA family.

Well, as I point out, that's not even close to the most controversial thing that she has said. They have said here's just a little in SAT 38. So when you think about the Erica Kirks, the Life Church, uh the Joel Olstein of it all and their desire to accumulate wealth while hoodwinking their flock into thinking they're super moral, this is a cancer. White evangelical Christianity is a cancer. These are the worst of our country. These are the worst people in our country because they use their religion in two ways. As a weapon and as a shield. They weaponize it whenever they want to and say, "We're on the moral high ground. You're a lesbian. You deserve to die. You're a lesbian. The cops shouldn't have uh revived you. Oh, your parents are Mexicans and they brought you over here. Yeah, you should go to jail and eat worm food." And then when you call them out on it, oh my god, they're after the Christians. How dare

they? How dare they? Uh, we're so oppressed. White Christians are so oppressed in this country. And they want it both ways.

So, white evangelical Christianity is a cancer. And white Christians celebrate when lesbians die. It's not what happened. I don't know if that's a reference to what happened in Minnesota, but there was not a celebration that Renee Good died. There was some defense of the officer who pulled the trigger, but this is this is the kind of mind virus that this person operates under. Here's one more, just a montage of some of her comments. Shockingly, the conservatives that I thought were just crusty old white people have morphed into this young group of misogynists.

And I can tell you when I'm around white people, they test the racist water. They tested on people like you all.

Stephen Miller is a Nazi and he is a sociopath. He is a little insecure white supremacist. This guy was bullied in high school and he's unattractive and he's 4 foot 10 and nobody likes him. You get to J. D. Vance who is a failed drag queen because little Moses Mike Grinder Johnson worships two things. Donald Trump and his closeted life for this dementia ridden diaperw wearing sack of He started off his 60 Minutes interview by saying, "I am not a Nazi." Okay, he clearly clearly is a Nazi. People that triple Trump should be banned, boycotted from enjoying the best thing that America has to offer, which is multiculturalism. Get your fat asses out of the Mexican restaurant. Get your fat asses over to Cracker Barrel because nobody wants to see your smug ass teeny weeeny pink arm big gut around. Nobody wants to see that No one.

The real surprise that she hasn't been cancelled before this. She's lost all of her ad advertisers. I think all but last I checked, Quint and one other had pulled uh totaling well over an $8 million loss. And here she is addressing it at uh Crooked Media's Crooked Con on November 9th. Yesterday, S 37. At first, I was just kind of like, you know, f them. It was a joke. Move on down the road. Of course, I condemn gun violence. I just oppose gun violence in all of its forms. So this morning I decided because I'm getting about 400 death threats a minute on my Instagram and the death threats from these people that are offended by my laughing at the joke are, I can't believe you laughed at Charlie Kirk. We can't wait for you to die. C. So the selective outrage is is on them. But I'm responsible for me and me apologizing. Don't think I'm going soft. I, you know, I I still think TPSUA, TPUSA, Charlie Kirk and their

movement, I stand against everything. I want an inclusive world, a non-violent world. I want common sense gun reform. But it's better because I have ascended and I have so many listeners. I want to keep my side of the street clean.

Okay. I I follow the podcast charts. I know exactly where the top podcasts stand. She's never been there. She's she's nowhere in the running. Um I don't think she is ascendant any place other than in her own mind. And now she's lost virtually every single advertiser she had, which is appropriate. She should be on her own. She should be on a direct to consumer basis. If people want to pay $10, $15 a month to consume that garbage, they can. That'll be their relationship with the devil. That's on them. But what kind of a sane advertiser would get behind filth like that?

Yeah. I don't I I don't know. When she said uh she mentioned the best that America has to offer, I thought she was going to say plastic surgery because she seems to have had so much of it. I mean, I'm sorry. I shouldn't go there, but it it just um

I don't know. I mean, she's It looks like someone All she does is talk about people's looks.

A winch handle in the back. It's It's unbelievable. But the uh Yeah. Yeah. This This is a classic example of of a person who uh I mean, all they're about is just winding people up. It's just, you know, her whole show, her whole act is ridiculous. It it was it was always shocking to me that it um it had even a temporary response, but um but who knows now. Maybe they'll make a free speech martyr out of her now and she'll she'll find her way back. I doubt it. But, you know, the other thing is it feels like none of these people have ever watched Charlie Kirk's actual show. I mean, like of all the people to be upset about um on the right, Kirk would have been the last person I would complain about if I were uh you know, a hardcore uh leftist or or a liberal. He is exactly the the wrong kind of person to caricaturize um as you know a hater. He he was a discusser. Uh you might not have agreed with him but he was civil which is a big

step up in this world. And it's it's remarkable that nobody seemed to bother to take the time to find that out. That's another enduring mystery of this whole thing. They believe the lies of the New York Times and Nicole Hannah Jones. I guarantee you they read it and they believe that he was a racist who hated blacks, black women, and took all those context or all those quotes that Nicole Hannah Jones put up there out of context without bothering to understand. For example, his remark about how he's going to feel when he sees a black pilot. Now, thanks to these mandates by some of the airlines that they have at least 50% black pilots when we don't have even 50% black pilots in the potential pool of black pilots. We have 13% black people.

We have 6% black men in America and a very very small percentage of those are going to pilot school. So, how are we going to make 50% of the pilots be black unless we lower standards? That was Charlie's whole point, saying DEI is corrosive. And because they're doing this kind of thing, just playing with quotas, it's now going to make me and others get on planes and if they see a black pilot, instead of under the old system when you knew it was merit-based and you'd say he must have been a badass who went to the Navy or the whatever, he earned his way here just like anybody else has. You're going to guess, did they lower the standards for him? Oh It It's a very honest point. It's actually not controversial at all, but it's been used to bastardize Charlie and his legacy for the better part of a year. And and and honestly, it was used to bash him while he was alive by people with an agenda.

Yeah. And if I remember correctly, there was some misquing that went on uh with him um

all the time, quoting out of context. Uh you can disagree with that commentary if you want. You could say he he he could have put it in a different way. uh that would have made it more a more accessible thought for people on the left. Um but that's you know he he didn't he didn't say it in the way that he it was reported that he said it. Uh more than that though if you have any exposure to to Charlie Kirk if you watched any of his broadcasts I mean I was curious about him. I I I had read lots of negative things about him and was very surprised um when I watched him to find that that he seemed to be trying to find some kind of middle ground with people when he talked uh to them, which is it's almost uh so rare now that it comes across uh as like a gimmick or it came across as a gimmick, but it wasn't with him. I think he was he was a genuine person which again is another thing that should have been um celebrated uh at the

time. That's why this whole thing about re rejoicing in and Charlie Kirk's death is just mysterious. Like I I I have a hard time believing that Dave Chappelle actually watched uh Kirk's act. I I I just don't think he did. He read maybe

that he's a lowinformation voter who who should shut his mouth about a man who was a decent father to two babies who will grow up without their father now thanks to that gun violence which Jennifer Walsh wants to call the assassination the political assassination of Charlie Kirk that he should shut his mouth about it. I don't want to hear another word out of Dave Chappelle on Charlie Kirk unless it's on this show and he has the balls to say it to somebody who was actually friends with him. Do you have the balls, Dave Chappelle? Let's see. Why don't you come on? You have an open invitation.

You tell me the day. I will clear the schedule. You can come on here and say it directly to me. He won't do that. He'd rather say it to his people at Madison Square Garden who don't have the ability to fight back or the information. Well, I am not a lowinformation voter and I will be prepared with facts, Dave Chappelle. So, come on anytime. I I am I I feel very differently about him than you did than you do, Matt. I I didn't realize he was this disgusting. I really didn't. Thought he was like kind of nonwoke and wasn't afraid to like poke the bear on things that were like, you know, untouchable like Michael Jackson. Um or he dealt with the trans issue in a way that was brave. I didn't think he was just cruel and a dick. And that's what I saw in that clip.

Yeah. And it also felt a uh you know, more than a little bit like, you know, if I do this, I'm going to get some of this audience back, you know. Um which also wasn't really like him. like if you go back in in his past, uh he did a lot of didn't said a lot of things that that um you know, he had to know we're going to lose him audience and did them anyway. Uh and so it's it's always shocking when somebody who has a history of not uh pandering to uh this or that political side starts doing it. Um so yeah, I don't

Yeah, does it I don't I don't know. I'm not sure how to explain that one, but yeah.

Yep. Um, speaking of pilots in the sky, just want to spend one minute on this because we've been talking a lot about the Learjet that went down and just it's so disturbing and a lot of people's first instinct, including my own, to be honest. When I heard it, it was a 20year-old female co-pilot, was is this the DEI situation? You know, like was there incompetence in the air? And it very much looks like it had nothing to do with that. That she was a very competent co-pilot. She had 1300 hours under her belt. She wasn't the pilot in charge.

She was the co-pilot. And that audio tape of when that plane went down showed her being I mean under the circumstances actually incredibly calm, cool, and collected. You know, there were a couple of moments where she screamed, which is human given what was happening to her. But to the last second, this young woman relayed the circumstances of what the plane was going through so that air traffic control and of course the NTSB would know. And long after her the pilot in charge had switched to praying, she was still relaying information and trying to to give data that she had to know at that point would only be examined postuously in her case. So tip of the hat to her. Um, I wanted to mention this because it was a sort of an extraordinary thing. There is a meteorologist uh at NBC Orlando and he's also a pilot. His name is Eric Burus and he has a theory. He was basing it on another man's theory, another

pilot I think who posited that there is a possibility because we had Captain Steve come on of YouTube and tell us ultimately he thinks that it was those thunderstorms of course that brought down this plane and the ice on the wings and so on, but that it is ultimately the pilot's responsibility to see the weather. like air traffic control should tell you and should help you, but when all is said and done, it's the pilot's responsibility to know what the weather situation is and behave accordingly. And virtually every pilot has said since like you just don't fly in a severe thunderstorm, you definitely don't fly in severe turbulence. And the Learjet in particular has some issues that would make you avoid that like the plague. And now we've played audio of another plane approaching the thunderstorms and being told to basically go into them by air traffic control and him saying, "I'm not. No, I refuse." And turning his jet

around. You know, I don't know if these pilots just didn't have the experience. The co the pilot in charge was 55 years old. Um, but we don't know how long he'd been flying. He certainly was licensed at in 2016. I just don't know how long prior to that. In any event, here is the theory of the Orlando meteorologist and pilot Eric Burus when it comes to how they may have not seen those storms. One of the questions that has come up a lot is if this was a jet that had Doppler radar or weather radar, how did they not see this thing? And there's a very interesting kind of component to that. All right, so you're flying along and you're coming up on a thunderstorm.

if you're flying it straight ahead, especially if you're in a spot like they were, they were more of an icephase environment where it's not big precipitable moisture or so. So, they probably got weak radar returns if anything, but that onboard radar can tilt and if they had tilted down, they would have seen that stronger storm building up near the radar, super light returns. But look, if it would have been tilted down by about five degrees using the resampling of the Doppler radar, they would have seen that storm build up out ahead of them. Just before they penetrated the storm, the height was at 31,000 ft. As they penetrated it, it got to 40,000 ft above them. And then right after they went through, it went back down to about 33,000 ft. So, it was rapidly growing and then rapidly collapsing. In other words, there was winds going rapidly up and down and they went right through it at perhaps the

worst possible time. More than likely, this aircraft was in instrument meteorological conditions. In other words, they couldn't see out ahead. So, just kind of super basic. Theoretically, they were operating at about 35,000 ft. Flight level 350. Their onboard radar showed this. Not much ahead of them. They couldn't see out front. And unfortunately, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It's chilling, Matt. And it does make you think like, I don't know, when your numbers up, it's up.

Yeah. I I always feel thankful to any pilot who gets me from any place to any place. Um, always amazed by people who find ways to criticize the fact that they're able to get from, you know, New York to San Francisco in four and a half hours or whatever it is. Uh people can be they can find a way to be unhappy about anything. Uh pilots are amazing. People who do you know who drive trains are amazing. I mean um so yeah I think we should

your mailman your mailman is amazing. Everybody's amazing. I think I think we should just appreciate everybody who has a tough job just a little bit more. How how does the US mail system get, you know, this this communication from one place to another for such a cheap cost? Like it still is like kind of a mystery to me. It's it's a modern miracle. But I will tell you of all the things that like that are out there that I just like can't quite understand. I don't I genuinely don't get it is the telephone. I don't understand. I don't understand how you can pick up your phone and you can talk into it and your voice can be heard instantaneously in another country a world away like a second later. I don't understand it.

It's incredible. And I'll tell you one other thing. My nana who lived she was born in 1915. She died in 2016. She was 101. I did ask her one time what was the most amazing invention she had seen in that 101 years. And I mean we've talked we had the airplane, we had the computer, we had so many things. And she said it was the garage door opener. That's amazing. But you'll still see though people being upset at their phones if they momentarily lose their connection. They'll they'll they'll in in an airport they'll be yelling it at their cell phone like got you know stupid thing like you're speaking to somebody halfway around the world for almost nothing uh and you're upset about it. You got out of bed upset, you know?

I mean that's that's that's true. You're an unhappy person. That's really that's the bottom line. Yes, I I agree. Okay. Um, back on this topic of journalists and how they perform their jobs. Um, Diana Rousini. Now, Diana Rousini is probably not a name that is on the tip of the tongue for most of our audience, but she is a sports reporter. And the audience may remember she was in the news last April because she'd been working for the New York Times offshoot, The Athletic, their sports offshoot. Her prior life had been with ESPN as a sports reporter and she was all over the news because it came out that she was obviously having an affair with the head coach of the Tennessee Titans, Mike Vrabel.

She was 43, he was 50. Thank you. Okay. And he moved on to the Patriots. Yes, he was he moved to them to 20 2025. Football's not my world, but journalism is. And um the New York Post found P pictures of the two of them at this posh resort in Sedona. We're showing the pictures now. Um a boutique resort set against the breathtaking Brins Mesa Mountain Range. um a page six by telling them that the pair had breakfast on the patio of the hotel restaurant around 10:30 Saturday March 28th before spending a leisurely hour or so together at the pool and lounging side by side by side in a hot tub. Our spy spotted them again that evening on the private rooftop of one of the hotels bungalows. Roofs are only accessible from the twoerson bungalows, which cost up to $2,100 a night. Photos show the two hugging at sunset and weaving their fingers together as they stand face to face. The spies said they saw the pair briefly

dance together. They insisted publicly that they were just there as friends, Matt. You see, they're both married to other people with kids. They were there as just friends and colleagues. She of course is a reporter and he is a coach. And I can't tell the audience how many times you and I have been at a gig covering the same massive news event, interlacing our fingers, briefly dancing together, hugging at sunset, hot tubbing together. This was what we know in the business as That was utter They were clearly caught. But it was a much bigger deal than just an affair, which let's face it, happens in life. The problem was she's a reporter and he is a subject slashsource.

And the reason I'm bringing this up now is that The Athletic, to its credit, began an investigation. Even though they were both denying it, she was being indignant. She, the coach, first said to Page Six, "These photos show a completely innocent interaction, and any suggestion otherwise is laughable. This doesn't deserve any further response." Then Rini said, "The photos don't represent the group of six people who are hanging out during the day. Like most journalists in the NFL, reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other venues. Again, this is all spin Reporters do not behave like this with their sources. I have never behaved like this with a source.

Everyone in the business knows this would be completely inappropriate to do. Um, so the athletic at first backed her and said the photos are misleading. They lack context. And then it quickly shifted to we're doing an investigation. We've we've got to investigate this. And her coverage will be reviewed. And ultimately, hold on a second cuz this was this just came out. They uh let's see, they did that investigation and The Athletic released a report from its internal investigation that found the relationship gave the appearance of a conflict of interest and was in clear violation of the public's the publication's standards. Prior to that, she pieced out of the publication saying, "I don't want an investigation."

She in in a huff back in April, she said, "Eaccept this letter as my resignation. It's with deep sadness, but with clarity about what's right for me. Uh, the recent attacks against me uh have already been addressed between us. I have nothing to add publicly to what we've said. I have covered the NFL with professionalism." Uh, she says, "I I'm I'm over this self-feeding speculation that is simply unmed from facts. I have no interest in submitting to a public inquiry that has already caused far more damage than I'm willing to accept. I've decided to step aside now before my contract expires. I do so not because I accept the narrative that's been constructed around this episode, but because I refuse to lend it further oxygen or let it define me in my career." Mike Vrabel switched his tune to I've had some difficult conversations with people I care about with my family, the coaches, the players. Those have

been positive and production. I never want to be the cause of a distraction. There are comments and questions I've answered for the team and with the team. We'll keep those private. And then of course he sought counseling. Oh, because everybody goes to counseling. Okay, so he sought counseling uh in order to move forward. Well, then it started to come out that there were pictures of these two. This of course was April of 2026 that this broke. But then it started to come out all these clips of her ripping on her husband in the nastiest ways that um she thought her husband was boring.

She thought he was average. She's married to someone average. If he was beautiful, he'd be all over social media. She said she did things in Miami I haven't even told my husband. She uh spoke about Mike Vrabel being head coach of the Patriots on a podcast with Bill Simmons. Talked about shoving Vrael down your throat. She made sure everyone knew she had to close her eyes when she had sex with her average husband. Um it like multiple comments and ultimately um ultimately she uh she was she had to face this tweet from August of 2021. Okay, which is not that long after um 2020 when it emerged that there was a picture of the two of them in a bar getting very intimate with one another. Okay, so this is March of 2020, page six, obtained.

This is in the last spring, but somebody gave them to them after the fact. Pictures of the two of them in the dimly lit Tribeca Tavern in the early hours of March 11th, 2020. They sat close to each other while conversing at the bar. They shared a kiss. They were kissing. They were all over each other. They reported she was he was already married and she was engaged. She was going to get married 6 months later. Um her legs were in between his. is it was a hole-in-the-wall bar. They were having a glorious time. They were giving each other pecs, a bunch of pecs constantly.

There was no one in there. No one knew who they were. I don't even think the bartenders were were aware, said the source. And this is when he was at a as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans and she was an NFL reporter covering them. And so this is 6 months before she gets married. Then she gets married and in August of 2021, she tweeted out, "I keep looking at my almost 4day old son, Michael." Michael Michael, while trying to figure out who are the best Michaels to ever play and coach in the NFL. Well, August 2021 is a good amount after March of 2020. when she was allegedly in that bar canoodling with Mike.

Yeah. With Mike Vrabel six months before she got married. And this these are I'm just listing some of the reasons why this became such a big scandal. It was a very big scandal. They denied it. If they had just said, "We did something. It's private. Don't want to discuss it publicly. We're dealing with it with our spouses." People would have left them alone. And then and then if she had said to the athletic, I admit it. I'm sorry and I'm stepping down. that people would have accepted that. She didn't. She got indignant. She played the how dare you card. And this is not factual. And we all know it is factual. It's obvious.

And now she reemerges. Matt, in this puff piece in People magazine, Diana Rini reveals new NFL projects seven months after Mike Vrabel photo scandal. I'm not scared to get back in. And this is some of the pabum that we read in people. The best way to describe the last six months for me is heartbreaking. At the beginning it was a nightmare. But people writes with the support of her husband Kevin Goldmid who is I guess with Shake Shack and loved ones. Rousini navigated a turbulent stretch of her career and is now preparing to return to sports media. Enter the Rini Report, a one-hour show that will stream on Bet Us TV's website, an ex and an X account beginning Wednesday, November 11th.

Baha, this is what the show is going to be about. Uh, it's going to feature somebody or she will also be a featured contributor on some podcast with a guy named John Weiner, better known as Dugats. In a time when it was easy to pile on and I think people were enjoying watching my career fall apart, John was really bold and loyal and he was a friend to me. He said something that stuck with her. I need my friend to laugh again and I want to help her laugh again. I think this show is going to give me that opportunity. She says she's also found support from dozens of people in the NFL, team owners, agents, general managers, head coaches, and players, including, she wants us to know, star quarterbacks. The absolute best part of this situation has been the loyalty that the NFL has shown me. They checked in with me almost daily while I wasn't working to make sure that I was staying connected to football, to check on me as

a person, and to just see how I was doing. It became what Rini describes as a motivational tour. I felt like players were texting and calling me to say, "Get back to work. It's time." Okay, it's been six months. I think it's pretty poetic that here I was all these years telling the story about these players going through adversity and then they became sort of the people that I was learning from doing this. They didn't just call the week after things came out. They called all the time just to say, "Let's go." According to Rini, one player even texts her on his way to work at 500 a.m. to ask what she's doing to better herself and reminds her that you have to stay strong through hard times.

I'm using that, she says, as motivation and it's why I'm so energized. It's why I'm not scared to get back in because I know the people that I cover are welcoming me back with open arms. And then she goes on to add, "The lies, they became so out of control. This was a runaway train. There was nothing I could do to stop it. Once we realized nothing was going to stop it, it became unhealthy for us to read it." So, they unsubscribed from X. Um, one of the hard parts about this was that a lot of the work I was doing and the things that I've accomplished got lost. It quickly went from just one moment that people felt was true and erased years of work.

I would not wish this experience on any person ever. But through it all, I did get an opportunity to not just learn about myself, but my family and our priorities and maybe some decisions and things I was doing in my career and putting it before what I really wanted most, which was to be a mom. Okay. And then she finally adds, "The way I'm going to approach stories is going to be very different now." Oh, you mean you're not going to be sleeping with your sources anymore? No, that's not it. She says, "I have an understanding and an empathy that I didn't have before. I would do stories in the past about to the best of my ability and sometimes now I reflect on those and I don't know if I always thought about how much this would affect not just the player, but a team, an organization, the players families.

Now that I've been at the center of this attention and understanding, this wasn't just something that shook me. It affected my 94 year old grandmother, my cousins, family members I haven't even spoken to in years. It just had a really lasting effect. And I don't necessarily know if I ever really thought about that as much as I should. But being out of the spotlight helped Rini discover the best version of herself. I really hope I can be someone other women see. You can pick yourself up, get back out there, and not be afraid. Because if you just do the work, Matt, and I hope to continue working at a high level, that's all that's going to matter. And I hope that quiets the noise. off People magazine and Diana on this absurd, ridiculous, poisonous spin that takes zero responsibility for what she actually did.

I was going to say that's almost like that's got to be a Guinness record for not being in perspective at length. Um, right. That's more words not looking at your own conduct um in the middle of a scandal than I I I can remember anybody uh putting forward. It's really amazing. I mean, look, it's a complete no no for men or women. You don't sleep with your sources like that. You can't pay your Yes.

You can't give favors to your sources um financial or otherwise, right? like it it's usually a career ender. Uh and for her to even be contemplating coming back this early uh is remarkable. Uh you also

she talks about it like it's been 10 years in Siberia. Yeah. 6 months she was off

and and like she's the victim in the whole thing. Um, you know, the the husband, uh, first of all, why he didn't boot her out the door the instant this happened is is is remarkable. I remember being told as a young person that um, you know, somebody who cheats on you, somebody who talks about you behind your back, those are both, you know, just end it immediately, right? Like that's if you have any selfrespect to to run her husband down as she's doing that. Uh that's incredible. But you know, look, that's that's her private business. But the the journalism aspect of it should for People magazine to be celebrating a comeback as as if she were the victim of something is it's pretty amazing. Uh

where is the question? Where's the question? Did you do this? Yeah. Did you sleep with a source? Are you sorry? I mean, we're not really asking a lot of people. I know people go there for a puff job, but like is that is basic journalism just two questions too much to ask?

No, because it's all about being seen, right? I you know, and and self-affirmation and self-actualization. Like that's that's a a storyline that you can have about almost any celebrity and people will buy it. It doesn't have to make a lot of sense. Um, and it it it's disappointing. You know, it it speaks to the low level of um, you know, attention that's paid in our business to pretty serious ethical issues. U, people make mistakes, nobody cares. People, um, you know, we'll fail to call somebody for comment or, you know, we'll, uh, we'll smear somebody, get something terribly wrong. um not feel sorry about it, ruin somebody's life, not feel sorry, uh sleep with a source, upend their, you know, all kinds of lives, they don't care. It's it's all about them, you know, as long as they came, they come out all right in the end, I guess it doesn't matter. Well, that's what like that's what's so gling because

there there was a way for this woman to come back in in like a credible way and the that way was probably more than 6 months off but in any event to come back and say I up definitely caused a lot of pain in my marriage and I'm very sorry for that and that's a private matter and everybody would say we get that. Um, as for my journalistic failure, which I also committed, I've paid the price. I was fired. You know, I I was basically forced out. She wasn't fired, but I was forced out of my job at The Athletic, a job I loved, and I deserved it. And now I hope to rebuild the trust of my audience. Um, you know, having come clean and having paid the price for a really stupid thing I did. Like I do think people are very forgiving and they understand human frailty and failure, but this this is the opposite of the way, right? Yeah. We've had lots of media scandals in the past where people do things that are questionable.

The you know, we've had um people who've lifted passages of from other people's work sometimes inadvertently. Sometimes they did it on purpose and, you know, it got busted and had to spend some time out in the wilderness and then they come back, chasened, um, talk about their mistakes. You have to be open about it. Uh, and everybody wins in that situation. Uh, because it's a learning experience for people. Uh, but it's not when nobody has to learn anything, when you can just pick up where you left off as if nothing happened. Um it's just such a strange universe that we live in. It's it's like um Austin Power is talking about how you know as long as we still live in a consequencefree environment, I'm happy.

You know, like that's what we're in. We're in the consequence free environment.

It also is giving vibes of Vanessa, that's not mine. No. Uh we're pretty sure it's yours, Diana. We know it's yours. as as longtime reporters, we've never behaved like this with a source. U it's not something that's done not to get a story. Maybe if you're a Chinese spy, you do it without meaning it. Uh or if you're actually having an affair with the person you are holding hands with, then it makes sense. Uh okay, we're going to take a quick break. We'll come back more with Matt Taibbe right after this. Good news.

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Open the app, tap connect, and you're done. It makes keeping your digital life private and effortless. Take your privacy back today and download Glacier on the App Store or Google Play. or get 20% off your first three months at my link, the glacierapp.comgan, and use code Megan at checkout. Again, that's the glacierapp.com/megan and use code Megan at checkout for 20% off your first three months. Remember, privacy is not paranoia, it's protection. Matt, those grifters, Megan and Harry, um are over in where are they? They're in Europe. And she cancelled her speech, but he went ahead and did it at the European Parliament.

And the reason she canled is because her father was just arrested for reams of child pornography. Allegedly in his belongings in the Philippines, in Mexico, and in the good old United States of America, which according to our FBI includes pictures of him with underage children. He wasn't just consuming child pornography. Not that that's any better, but it appears he was in the pictures and obviously molesting children, although he denies it and says this is all a smear job. So, he's been arrested now. He's 82 years old. And for once, she did the right thing and stopped herself from needing to be on camera and in front of the microphones.

At least she did make sure she was on camera. Um because they were set to deliver a speech about child safety. And while her father's sins are not her sins, she came out when this broke two and a half weeks ago that her father had allegedly stashes of this stuff. According to her half brother, who was the one who outed him after having found the first stash in the Philippines, she ran to the presses to say, "I've known all along. I knew for eight years. I was told eight years ago, the only reason I didn't say anything is because I was allegedly told by a Metropolitan Police officer in London to stay mum while they investigated. Well, it's been eight years. We haven't been able to find said Metropolitan Police officer who told her this. And even if one had 8 years ago, it's long past the time when an investigation would have wrapped up. And she knows that. So, she sat by. She was obviously more interested in protecting

her brand than in protecting children. and so was Harry because he said nothing either. And yet he took to the European Parliament and had the nerve to start speaking about the dangers of social media for children. Here's just a sample in SP 43.

I think the the biggest point that I could probably uh pass on from from all the parents that we've met is is really firstly to the companies. um don't put don't put anything in front of our children that you wouldn't put in front of your own children. And I I use that because the majority of these of these companies um they don't let their children on social media because they know of the dangers. So why would you create something that you know is going to harm someone else's child? I mean, he he went on he went on to say the children deserve to feel safe no matter where they are. Look at this.

Watch. All children should be able to go online and discover something wonderful, a friend, an interest that becomes a passion, a place where they feel understood. They deserve to feel safe wherever they are. in a classroom, on a playground, at any time, no matter where they are.

This was colossally stupid and tonedeaf. And again, she did make sure she was caught on camera giving just the right angles of her face, looking like the concerned person. But, you know, she she dained not to do the speech just given the circumstances. Matt, these two grifters cannot be stopped. They are tonedeaf. They care only about their branding and their image and it is outrageous that they were extended this invitation and it was allowed to stand notwithstanding what has just come out about them. Your thoughts? So, one of the most uh shocking uh things that we found in in the Twitter files was an an early draft of a report uh from the Aspen Institute that had put together um a committee on what it called information disorder. Uh it took people from all over the world uh celebrities, people in the media, uh speech activists, anti-dis disinformation activists, but the central figure uh in

that committee was Prince Harry. Um and he was essentially going to be the frontman for um a report that uh was going to say that social media was something that was too uh important and too dangerous to be left in the hands uh of the general public that it needed some kind of um you know a watchdog figure uh in the government. And the story is amazing because it shows why you can't do that because you know if you if you have a watchdog, who's the watchdog? Um there's always going to be a problem with somebody who's in charge of overseeing your content. Uh the only remedy is to is to let everybody have their say. And you know, it's very scary. Uh and to see him posing as this kind of holier than thou um you know protector of speech uh is is deeply offensive and especially as an American that the fact that he came over here um you know a British royal uh with effecting to tell us how to how to do

our business online. Uh that's that's really obnoxious, right? He's crit he was criticizing the First Amendment. Yeah. These two want to style themselves as like the the protectors of children and of free speech. Meanwhile, they sue every media company. They did not protect children. They unlike the rest of us knew according to them about Thomas Markle long before we did and did nothing. Nothing by their own admission. I reject fully their continuing attempt to style themselves as protectors of child safety. It's a no. Matt Taibbe, great to see you. Thanks for coming on. We are back tomorrow and we will see you all then.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Shock Call to Execute Elon Musk, Hegseth Impeachment Push, Truth About Absurd Puff Piece, w/ Taibbi"?

Megan Kelly (Guest), Matt Taibbi (Guest), Diana Rousini (Guest), Mike Vrabel (Guest), Jennifer Welsh (Guest), Cara Swisser (Guest), Charlie Kirk (Guest), Ted Cruz (Guest).

What is "Shock Call to Execute Elon Musk, Hegseth Impeachment Push, Truth About Absurd Puff Piece, w/ Taibbi" about?

A controversial political discussion highlights calls for violence against Elon Musk, the impeachment push against Pete Hegseth, and critiques of media figures, including remarks from Ted Cruz and analysis of public discourse. The piece frames rising hostility in political commentary and its potential consequences for governance.

What is mentioned in this Megyn Kelly episode?

121 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Matt Taibbi, Megan Kelly, The Megyn Kelly Show, Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump, Elon Musk. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Shock Call to Execute Elon Musk, Hegseth Impeachment Push, Truth About Absurd Puff Piece, w/ Taibbi"?

The episode runs 1 h 42 min; the transcript is about 16,749 words in 166 timestamped sections.

More from Megyn Kelly

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated November 11, 2026.