Transcript

Wrapping 2025 w/ Jon Favreau & Tim Miller | The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart

From The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 37 min · 19,092 words · 285 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Wrapping 2025 w/ Jon Favreau & Tim Miller | The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart", an episode of The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart published December 11, 2025 (1 h 37 min, about 19,092 words). It mentions 18 people, works and ideas, including Martin Tim, John Stewart, John Favreau, John Favro, Jim Miller.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Jim Miller, John Favreau, John Favro, John Stewart
  2. – 20:00: Mint Mobile
  3. – 30:00: John Stewart
  4. – 40:00: Cheryl Hines
  5. – 50:00: Cheryl Hines, Zaran Mandani
  6. – 1:00:00: Air Force One
  7. – 1:20:00: Terry Moran, MS-13
  8. – 1:30:00: Jim Miller, Jimmy Kimmel, John Favreau, John Favro
  9. – 1:37:28: John Stewart, The Weekly Show with John Stewart

Notable quotes from "Wrapping 2025 w/ Jon Favreau & Tim Miller | The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart"

  • Hello everybody. Welcome to the Weekly Show podcast. my name is John Stewart. I will be your host for this lovely afternoon. It's Wednesday, December 10th. This is the final podcast that we are doing this year. We will.
    about John Stewart · at
  • Me. Moguls. I don't throw that word around lightly. I mean it in the sincerest form. John Favro, founder of Crooked Media and host of Pods Save America and Tim Miller, host of the Bullwork podcast. Gentlemen, welcome.
    about John Favreau · at
  • Suggest like a Stockholm syndrome, but it's sort of I don't know if you've seen Cheryl Hines on any interviews recently. She was like a diet in the wool liberal, all these…
    about Cheryl Hines · at
  • Change coming. Like I'm pretty excited about this. And so, and I think the Mandani point is instructive here, which is Mandani's success is going to like completely hinge on…
    about Zaran Mandani · at
  • It's oh, hey, look, we're going to drink liberal tears and go on Air Force One and go to the, parties at the White House and we're winners, so it doesn't matter. But Trump's poor but I think what's revealing about it is that Trump's poor.
    about Air Force One · at
  • The dark comedy. like it's really like heartbreakingly horrible but also just clownish was when Terry Moran was interviewing Trump in the Oval Office and there was asked about…
    about Terry Moran · at
  • Thing that he's doing. the best thing he did was accept a trophy from the World Cup that literally looks like zombies reaching out of the grave to tickle the underside of his balls. It's just it's [ __ ] crazy.
    about World Cup · at
  • Are Weekly Show Podcast, and you can subscribe, and comment on our YouTube channel, The Weekly Show with John Stewart.
    about The Weekly Show with John Stewart · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Martin Tim — Person · 8 mentions
  • John Stewart — Person · 4 mentions · first at
  • John Favreau — Person · 2 mentions · first at
  • John Favro — Person · 2 mentions · first at
    Me. Moguls. I don't throw that word around lightly. I mean it in the sincerest form. John Favro, founder of Crooked Media and host of Pods Save America and Tim Miller, host of the Bullwork podcast. Gentlemen, welcome.
  • Jim Miller — Person · 2 mentions · first at
    Sincerest form. John Favro, founder of Crooked Media and host of Pods Save America and Tim Miller, host of the Bullwork podcast. Gentlemen, welcome.
  • Cheryl Hines — Person · 2 mentions · first at
  • Terry Moran — Person · 2 mentions · first at
  • Marjorie Taylor Greene — Person · 2 mentions
  • Zaran Mandani — Person · 1 mention · first at
  • Jimmy Kimmel — Person · 1 mention · first at
    All right. Next. do you think it's possible for Trump and Jimmy Kimmel to end their feud, or is it too far gone at this point?
  • Nicholas Kristof — Person · 1 mention
  • Pete Buttigieg — Person · 1 mention
  • Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) — Person · 1 mention

Companies & orgs

Products & tech

Concepts & topics

  • MS-13 — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Office and there was asked about Kilmargo Garcia and Trump's team to like prove that Kilmar Garcia was MS-13 had done like the MS Paint like the font it was like aerial 12 font…
  • World Cup — Concept · 1 mention · first at

Full transcript with timestamps

Tim and I uh joke that our our politics have sort of moved now so that we have the same politics. Like I've moved towards Tim and he's moved towards me and so we don't disagree on anything.

A bad clip for you on TikTok. You know what? This is part of it. When you run for governor in California,

Tim, this is part of it. I I don't give a [ __ ] I don't give a [ __ ] Hello everybody. Welcome to the Weekly Show podcast. Uh my name is John Stewart. I will be your host for this lovely afternoon. It's Wednesday, December 10th. This is the final podcast that we are doing uh this year. We will be back, I think, in the maybe this the second week of January. You know, old people need a good time. You know, it used to be when you're younger, you go on vacation. I believe I am going to be convolesing. I believe that is the proper term for uh ladies and gentlemen over 60 years old who are taking uh a little bit of a break. But we will be back then. And when we come back, publishing on Wednesdays instead of Thursdays, which I know will make a really I don't want to say crucial difference in your life, but the impact will be uh sensational. Uh and we're delighted because it's the wrap-up episode of the year. We're going to do a

wrap-up type thing. We're going to grab a couple of our favorite uh pundit type individuals and talk to them about uh how they're viewing about uh the year in rewind and how they're feeling in terms of optimism for the future. I'm sure it's all it's going to be all rosy people. That's what that's how we've been living this thing. So, let's get to let's get to them right away and and jump into our year and review episode. Here we go, ladies and gentlemen. What would a a year-end wrap-up be without two media mogul? Moguls. That's right. You heard me. Moguls. I don't throw that word around lightly. Uh I mean it uh in the sincerest form. John Favro, founder of Crooked Media and host of Pods Save America and Tim Miller, host of the Bullwork uh podcast. Gentlemen, welcome.

What's up? Thanks for having me. Thank you for taking time from your media empires.

Yeah, it's upstairs in my house. My kids room is right over there. Is it really?

Oh, yeah. That's the beauty of podcasting. Favro, by the way, uh mentioned this earlier. He has to Let me talk about what a sucker this [ __ ] is. He has [snorts] to get in a car

and drive Yeah. to some place of business in LA, no less, where he breathes shared air

with others. Well, it's a it's a progressive outlet, so there are a couple masked couple of the people.

Oh, there's there's always two. There's always two. And you always say, "Oh, are you sick?" And they go, "Uh, I don't want to talk." And then you have to uh move along. Gentlemen, as a year end in review, let me ask you this. We shall begin with this. I think it's the question uh of of the era. Uh how many years has this year been? Tim, you go first. I who could say I don't know like on the one hand I'm like how is it Christmas? I haven't bought a single present yet. And on the other hand, I feel like every day is a lifetime. And so I I don't I don't have a great answer to that. But it's it's been a slog. I'll tell you that.

It's been a slog. It is a slog. Favro, how you holding up? I'm holding up okay. Uh, it's been a long year, but it's also been like a long decade. I'm really feeling the uh the fact that we've been dealing with this in some form or fashion since 2015 now, and it sort of feels like that's the only life I know. So,

yeah, guys, I didn't want to say this. I'm 24. Really? Look what this has done to me. Look at this.

You look great. I look like I sleep in a meat dehydrator for God's sakes. The [ __ ]

This is I've got the Carrie uh Lake Vaseline on the lens thing to try to help me.

I should smooth that and get some some good diffusion uh that that's going on here as people. So, it is the inevitable contradiction. So, the rise of your media empires coincides with the sort of attention economy that is occurring. Is it symbiotic? at this point, you know, people used to say to me during, you know, the Bush years, you know, I think Larry King said this to me once, uh, you know, uh, George Bush gets reelected. That good for you? You you hoping for that? And I was like, no, I have children, Larry. How do you separate sort of your professional engagement and success from that feeling of it is it is you're having to wade through a turd mine to get there?

Yeah. Uh it's a good question. Um we're catching we're catching Fabro on a reflective day. Deep Catholic guilt. Really deepathy.

We're having a reflective day with Vavro. I mean I look if if uh Donald Trump exited the scene tomorrow and our politics returned to some semblance of normaly which probably hasn't been normal in my whole life but some semblance of normaly

the '9s and our audience went away like I would take that trade easily any day over continuing this [ __ ] storm that we've been in for a decade. So that's that's that. Um, I think what has propelled me this year more than anything else is just sort of a a rage um at uh what

Tim is Tim is nodding by the way when you said what has propelled me is a rage. I just saw a glint of recognition. I'm usually like the the hopeful guy and I still, you know, I still have some hope, but I'm just I'm so [ __ ] angry that we're here and that we're dealing with this and that it's been um as bad or worse uh than uh than we imagined in uh in 2024 and before Donald Trump coming back.

Tim, on on the emotion wheel, where where are you at with that? A similar kind of uh rage, the optimism and

No, no optim a deep abiding rage. Yeah. And uh and anger. Um, and I don't look for me though I I also because this has been our life because it's been a decade. I've tried to process this as like this is just a job now. Like this is a gr this is our life. Like this is it. Like the I I don't I did everything I could think of to try to convince people in my tiny little way to not vote for this person the first time or the second time or the third time. And I was I lost two out of three. And um and you know, we have to deal with the consequences. And so I I think I get up and some days I just I'm like, it's just the lunch pale, man. It's just like we got to get up and talk about this [ __ ] And um

and I I think that's the only way to deal with it and have let the emotions, you know, I pro I said last year when I was thinking about this, how was I going to deal with it emotionally? I was like, I'm only going to get mad and upset about the things that make me really mad and upset. And like there's a lot of we'll talk about it all year. There's a lot of crazy [ __ ] that happens that's bad. It's like objectively bad, but like doesn't really affect me emotionally. And I just do. That's healthy. I think, you know, you can't,

you know, run at at 11 all the time. And then when something happens that makes me really upset, I get on get on here in my little hole. I walk up to my little hole and I get upset with people. Scream.

Yeah. And I scream. And you allow yourself to do it that Yeah. people. And I And I think people want that because they're all screaming at their phones, so we might as well scream together.

Two two things from that that that I I find interesting. one is so you know Tim your frustration you were coming at it from in you know the Trump voters were inside the house.

Yeah. You know you were coming at it from a more conservative uh perspective. I think for John and I it it always felt like an an oppositional place. Our frustration probably went more towards how can you not to the Democrats present a more coherent and thoughtful and affirmative case other than I think this guy is [ __ ] nuts.

Don't you Doesn't everybody see that? But having that happen, I don't want to throw this to the Mets, but like the Mets recently lost Edwin Diaz to the Dodgers. That's what it feels like to be a Democrat, to be a Mets fan. But you're coming at it. You were the you you were on the Dodgers.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't do baseball metaphors, but I'm gonna go with you on that. It's all I have, Tim.

I'm going to make it I'm going to do holidays. It's a family, you know what I mean? It's more personal. I'm pissed. You know, it's more personal and you get more upset. Uh I do that. Not that you guys you know what I mean, but like there's just some there's a different level of veilance. There's like the narcissism of small differences is that phrase like I get the most mad

at the most normal Republicans if that makes sense. Like like they are the like they know better like Marco and you know whoever all the way down the line the people that I knew personally,

right? And I do think that like you that like in your creates a different like body response maybe than being mad at somebody that you think has been stupid and wrong the whole time. That's so interesting because John, I I don't know about you, but my my feeling is rage against fecklessness. That idea, you know, Kla Harris wrote a book 107 days. I only had 107 days. I couldn't put together a coherent uh governance plan. And you're like, well, it's been a year now. Like, does anyone over there have chat GPT? Can you [ __ ] just throw that in there? Like, hey, what's a good affirmative liberal case for econ like what's your frustration?

It is with that. Uh maybe not primarily because I do think like you have to, you know, Republicans and Republican politicians have agency and and so do voters. Look, look, it's been it's been 10 years of this. All of us are to blame. Uh you know, like

Oh, you're in a dark hole, man. You're in a dark hole. But, you know, I know we we all try to blame someone else, but it's like we all have a little stink on us here, you know, voters, media, uh Democrats, Republicans. But no, I do I am very I find myself very frustrated with uh the Democratic party and Democratic politicians because um I just I can't believe we haven't [ __ ] figured this out yet. Um and that uh we are still making the same mistakes that we made I don't know in 2016 uh on it's just like we haven't learned many lessons. John, to that point you're making, I I he came down the escalator in 2015 and I remember being gleeful. I thought, well, oh my god,

Yoseite Sam has just entered the race. A cartoon villain. I mean, who chooses the escalator? The least powerful mode of getting down. You know, you might as well come down on a fire pole. And then he comes out and he's Mexicans or this and blah blah blah. And I thought, "Oh, this is just going to be a funny circus that we're all going to enjoy ourselves." And 10 years later, I I Did you guys watch any of the rally last night?

Oh, yeah. Unfortunately, I watched the whole thing. Yeah. Yeah. That's the lunch pale part of the job we were talking about earlier. I only did I did a I did a strong 14 minutes, I think, was what I could take. Yeah, maybe 16.

I'll tell you what jumped out to me. A uh it felt a little bit like when you see a big star from 20 years ago playing a state fair. Yeah.

Like where they go out there and like everybody's just kind of sitting there like just [ __ ] do Achy Breaky Heart and let's go.

Yeah. His heart really wasn't in uh any of the affordability message that he was supposed to which he told us which is always this is you know you got to give him credit for that. He's like, "Uh, my chief of staff is making me do this, and they're telling me not to call it a hoax, but it's a hoax, and let me show you all these charts." And he started has all these charts up about inflation and the Biden administration, and and you know, no one really cares about the charts. And he's like, "No." He's like, "Let's do one more chart since they're playing so well." And it's like, you know, he is funny. That that was it's a funny joke, but he's his heart's not in what voters actually care about or what most voters actually care about.

his heart's in, you know, going off on Ilhan Omar and Somalia and immigration stuff.

But that's also, if you notice for the audience, until he plays the hits. Yeah, that's their watchtowwer right there. That's

Somalia was the good stuff. I I I thought and it was really gross. And the good stuff for him like working with the audience like you know the

he did like five minutes on Elon Omar last night and um and to me I thought it was the most telling because a it was the the crowd response was probably the most into that.

It's the crudest or maybe the fake four years champ and it's like he needs a foe. Like that's what it that is the thing he's good at. He was good at you know making Hillary into a foe. He's good at at making Harris and Biden into foe. He's good at going after elites. He's good at going after immigrants. It's it's been tough for it's tough for him on the economy. He doesn't have a foe, right? Like he he tested out Jerome Powell. You know, you're like, you know whose fault it really is? It's this guy Jerome Powell over at the Fed.

Fed chairman. My favorite image of the year, the two of them in hard hats. Yeah, that didn't really land.

And he's like, you're over budget. And Powell looks at like, that's a different project, you dumb [ __ ]

Yeah, Somalians are much more in line with the type of thing that the that his folks are going to respond to.

It's not just that his heart wasn't in it, though. It's that um I think he has become even more out of touch uh in this second term and in the first year

for sure. Like he's doing the last night he was doing the uh your kids don't need 37 dolls. Like we're like two weeks out from Christmas. You know,

only two or three. How's that going at your house? It's the economy is the best it's ever been. You're all doing amazing. Make your children at Christmas cry. And also like I I just fired the architect for my new ballroom because he couldn't build it big enough or fast enough. So while I'm

Yeah. I'm sort of you using gold leaf all over the White House. But you know, two two dolls. Two dolls maximum.

Two maybe three. Maybe three. So I'm going to throw out to the to the sisters. I'm going to inject a little bit of that MDMA in this thing. I'm going to throw a little bit of ecstasy into the room. the thing that it strikes me as and and the reason why I bring up sort of the state fair uh analogy or that the the vein of this that's so tapped into something deep and dark in the American spirit seems to be waning that if you look at somebody in his more he's in authoritarian right he wants to run this thing he wants us to be more like Russia and more like Orban and all those Generally authoritarians in their first year are legitimately popular.

That the things that the I'm going to take care of the drug dealers and I'm going to kill the and I'm going to deport the Somali and all those things that are the trappings of kind of a more darker authoritarian thing usually play pretty well in the co countries where they're deployed. He's not that popular. And is that the thing that maybe gives you a little bit of like, oh, wait a minute. Maybe this lunch pail [ __ ] we're doing, maybe it's working. Or maybe it's his own incoherence that's causing this.

Yeah, I think it's own incoherence. Like, I'll I'll I'll maybe take a half dose at the MDMA.

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Cuz I'm with you on him on like he's made he's made a lot of promise for himself. I I think that the nivism and the kind of right-wing authoritarianism I I don't I don't know that's going anywhere. I think you

that's still that holds its appeal. Yeah. You got to hang around some young MAGA voters for for any uh length of time and you'll kind of see the trajectory we're on that is that's still scary. But but Trump himself, like the ability for him to control power, you know, I I look back at the year and in some ways I think about that inauguration picture with him with all of the tech billionaires

and I think maybe the seeds of his demise were really right there, right? Like I I do think that he has lost touch with like the types of people that came into his

his coalition late who like really were pissed about inflation who really were kind of pissed about the way the COVID governance happened. You know, these kind of young men that we all talk about who like are more libertarian-ish, but they they had economic concerns and they didn't like the establishment. and Trump ends up like ensconcing him and with like the richest people in the world and doing them favors and doing nothing to actually help regular people. A and I I think you're seeing the results of that and his numbers going down. Like I don't know that he's lost like the core mega base like people that are injecting Newsmax into their veins have not turned on him yet. But like that that that that layer of people, you know, the manosphere types and Hispanic voters and and other folks who like came in in this last time who voted for him the third time that maybe didn't the first or second time. I think that he's really

alienated them and you're see and and it's hurting his political standing for sure. Yeah, I think his political standing is probably weaker than it's been at any time in the last decade, uh, save for, you know, after he tried to ferment an insurrection, uh, the capital. Um, don't want to forget that.

It was pretty dicey there for about a couple weeks, about two weeks there. I I can't believe that that's been reduced to some sort of subtextual footnote that you know there was also that if I if I remember correctly there was when he tried to overthrow the uh the government of the United States of America violently.

Yeah, it was that and then right behind it concerns over inflation. Yes. No, absolutely.

But uh yeah, so his politically he's he's rarely been weaker, but he's also never had more power than he does right now. And so I my concern is that uh so the good news is defin like I I'll take the full hit of MDMA on

All right, bring it. Here you go, bud. Getting some more water. Let's hit the rave, man. Hit the rave.

The uh Yeah, like I think I I think the offear election showed us that I feel like relatively hopeful about the midterms because of this. But I do think that he and the people around him also are not going to let go of power uh easily and he is going to I he has proven in the past that the more cornered he is the more dangerous he is. And so if I'm looking ahead to next year and the year after what I worry most about is that he lashes out and abuses his power in ways that are even more harmful and dangerous to the country as he gets weaker politically. You think that as he's as he's more cornered it'll do it because I'm always struck by that juxaposition that you're talking about.

When you think about the [ __ ] that he's done like okay January 6 and there's no question that January 6 was the culmination of a two-month strategy to overturn that election in any way possible that it could. Then there's the I've got the Epstein files, the QAnon uh uh sort of power that surged through my campaign and got me to like but I'm not doing that because I've done doodles of pubic hair with like messages of like and please don't tell anybody about all the girls we [ __ ] like you know all all those different things and we line up all the unbelievably like unprecedented through 250 years of attempted did republic governance uh of a country, a historical uh you know consent to the governed experiment that we're trying and we lay it all out there and the uptake of it is always like so I think we're going to do better in the midterms.

Yeah. And not even that good actually. I don't know that we're going to take the Senate. Like we're going to do a little better in the midterms. Maybe one house, not the other. What is what has happened to our our zeal, our revolutionary goals of like have we been reduced to a guy overturning, you know, a unitary executive overturning everything? And the best we can hope for is like there's a swing district in Georgia that I think is really, I tell you, they're primed if we just get a centrist in there. Like, has she beaten us down?

I mean the the the concern I and this is where I get annoyed with Democrats is the concern I have is we are in a cycle where um one party takes power and then they don't uh deliver in a way that solves people's concerns and and alleviates their distrust in their government. And so then the party in power gets thrown out and then the other party comes back in. And that would be difficult enough for democracy if both parties were normal political parties. But we are playing uh a bit of Russian roulette uh with these parties because one of them uh wants an authoritarian takeover of the country which is the one in power right now. And so for Democrats, there is a way to look at this like you just did, John, which is okay, we can um he's going to be unpopular because he has not fixed people's chief concern, which is costs and inflation and affordability. And so based on that, we can maybe take back

the House, maybe take back the Senate, but maybe not, right? and then and then hopefully eek out eek out a victory in 2028, but only if we focus only on these, you know, economic concerns that people have.

Okay, that's fine. But that is continuing to put a band-aid on a a a wound, a gaping wound that we've had for a decade now. And if we and if we don't have leaders who speak to the broader set of challenges that we have as a country and not just the ones that voters are saying that they care most about which are important but if we don't have that larger narrative and that larger vision um then we're going to end up right back here.

I want to say one thing about the revolutionary zeal was your phrase John because like

please know Tim that I am very careless with my wording so just know that whatever it is that I said I take it back.

No that's great. I'm right. We need revolutionary zeal. Then that's what I meant.

Yeah. Maybe um uh you know, maybe you can be the leader of the revolutionary zeal. I don't know because here's my frustration with Democrats, which is like

we're in year 10 of this and and the last two successful political figures in this country, meaningfully successful. Sorry to gas out Fabro right now. I really hate to do that. is like a guy who's named Barack Hussein Obama who ran as like the ocean should recede and red states I don't need the first black president and you know we're not red like like very grand ambitions like

audacity of hope. Exactly. And then it's Donald Trump who's like a reality show host bigot who's like we're going to build the wall and arrest our opponents. Right. Like neither of them were going at all by normal political playbook and they tried they tried something new. the establishment and and conventional wisdom and the pundits mocked them and they won success including myself um in both cases and um and they won overwhelmingly and it's like could we learn something from that? Like could could could somebody try to try like I'm desperate for somebody to try something try something

it might not land it might not be my preferred policies you know I've got someone for you Tim

great centerleft former Republican radical it might not be that but what and and we just and there's not a lot of trying out there of giving people something to get excited about

right I'm going to sing you a song Tim I didn't want to have to do this but I'm going to sing you a song Donnie Whoa.

Yeah. Well, he was born in Uganda, unfortunately. So, we put limited gap on his ambitions,

but isn't that the the thing you're talking about? So, I think structurally we are more set up for what you guys are talking about now. So, we're we are in a joint custody agreement now. It used to be sort of shared custody. Now, it's a complete, you know, sh I mean a shared custody. Sometimes dad gets the country, sometimes mom gets the country, but there is no real interaction. It is not uh what do they call it a conscious uncoupling. This has been a it's one of those divorces that has a lot of uh vituprative elements to it. But the structure is also set up now so that these pendulum swings that you guys are talking about to go from Barack Hussein Obama to Donald Trump is you know we keep having those pendulum reactions to one another. But now those pendulum swings are set up to be uh the the gap between them is much more especially if the Supreme Court grants the executive the ability to come in and just wipe out

the uh entire government, everybody that comes in there. So depending on which billionaires are the ones that are victorious in in whatever they do there, aren't we set up actually not for the thing that that we're all talking about, which is a healing candidate that brings an affirmative case that finds a way to break through this kind of attention economy fog that we've all lived in. Aren't we Aren't we in for a little bit of a rougher cycle than that?

Maybe. We certainly could be. Yeah. I was worried about this Fabro's new friend Ben Shapiro. He's been on multiple panels with them recently, but I was watching Ben and he was like rationalizing Trump. Uh I forget who he was in an interview with. It might have been u but he was rationalizing Trump by saying that he thinks we're going to go through the cycle you just laid out, John Stewart. He's like we're going to have, you know, kind of an authoritarianish right-wing person followed by an authoritarian-ish leftwing person. And if that's going to be the cycle, then I've got no choice but to sign up for the authoritarianish right-wing person. and and I and I just I do think there are a lot of forces out there that are like incentivizing that dynamic and um and so I I worry about that and and I and that is like part of the reason why I I'm like trying to you know gently encourage um opponents to

Donald Trump to have some positive ambition or else I I I think that we we could end up there and I don't want I don't want to I didn't leave one authoritarian side to to join up with another one.

Right. See, that's where Tim and I, we we disagreed a little bit because I was I was more down with that.

You're down. I I was more down with not not authoritarian necessarily, by the way. And I and I say this in no way uh to scare anybody except myself. There is a giant bee.

Oh. And uh at first I thought, "Oh, look at that giant bee outside." And now he's on uh my phone

and I realized, oh, he's not outside and and he's not healthy. Is this a metaphor?

I wish it was. I think it's there is [snorts] a giant. Do you want to kill it? Clearly unhealthy

or or let it go or just or just wish it away. I want to find out what's wrong. I want to diagnose.

You want to help it? I want I want to help this be uh desperately, not to derail anybody, but if you find me at any point while you're talking going, "OH MY GOD, that's why." And I apologize to Rob Vto for blowing out the sound just now. When when the bee came in, I think you were saying that you wanted a left-wing Franco.

You wanted kind of like a Democratic Franco to to to just shake things up. Yeah. I mean, I say that sort of, you know facitiously. What I want is a Democrat who understands that government's role is partially to be a check against corporate power, not a lubricant for it. that when you have government does the [ __ ] corporations won't or can't do like healthcare. So like when we talk about you know Obamacare or like setting up an insurance pool to all that like I want government to understand the lesson that every other industrialized sophisticated country understands the market for health care is inevitably broken. It doesn't work. And therefore, you have to accept that like they've all accepted.

We're the only ones who haven't accepted it and we see our cost skyrocket. If a more robust executive can use the bully pulpit to push through what like what John was talking about earlier, a policy that could actually solve the problem that we're facing rather than uh kind of just adding more liquidity to a system that we have that is already broken through the externalities that capitalism doesn't fix. Tim, does that sound dystopian to you?

Not dystopian. No, you know, we can hash out the details. I'd like I'd like to hear I'd like to see your white paper, sir. No, that's that's that's right.

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Look, this is a choice that the next Democratic nominee and hopefully president is going to have to make, which is uh Donald Trump has uh taken a sledgehammer to uh whatever was left of government uh when he got there and he has politicized everything. And Democrats, you know, one style and one piece of advice has been you got to fight, you got to be, you got to they play, they don't play by the rules, why should we play by the rules? Um, and in some cases, you know, I agree with that. I think that Democrats take the Senate then and we have a Democratic president.

We should get rid of the filibuster immediately. Uh, because there is going to be no other way to pass legislation where Democrats aren't getting 60 votes in the Senate probably in the next decade, more. Uh,

they can try. I'd like to throw that out there. They can try. You're saying they could try to get elected?

Trying to win some races in red states, but honestly, it's going to be an uphill at this point to get to 51. Right. And so if we're going to need to get rid of the filibuster on the other hand, it's like, okay, who's the next attorney general? Um, do we want someone who's going to like go after all of the MAGA people? Um, like they went after Democrats or are we actually the party that believes in a a government that works and that people can have faith in and trust in and believe isn't politicized? And so you're going to have someone like that. And then if you do that, then that gets a bunch of people really pissed off because now you're not fighting hard enough, right? So there there are real choices for the next Democrat to make because of what Donald Trump has done. Do you get rid of all the people all the the crazies in the Trump administration? Yeah, I probably would. But like what if someone what if

he installs someone as Fed chair who's really bad, but now you're a Democratic president, you're going to fire the Fed chair and that's going to screw up the markets. Maybe you do that anyway. But these are I think the next I think we are underestimating right now the choices that the next set of Democratic candidates have to make in regard to like what kind of country they want beyond just not having it.

No, that's I am having I'm this is my kind of now then I'm not having it. All right, then I'm

this is my kind of hard ball. My question is Favs's optimism is showing that are I mean isn't JD Vince or Donald Trump Jr. going to be in charge of the next Fred chair? Oh yeah, maybe

Democrats need to actually convince people and win, you know? Uh but this is nice,

Tim. I'm talking about like these things will be hashed out in the campaign. Oh god.

Before you That's why I said Democratic candidate, right? Like this is this is going to be a conversation we're having in 27. Maybe this though is is kind of the viewpoint of it, which is and I hear this a lot from the Democratic party is we've got to get rid of the filibuster or we've got to pack the Supreme Court. And what I don't hear a lot of is to what end?

Yeah. Right. So when they say we're going to get rid of the filibuster, I go, "Oh, great. What are you going to pass?" Uh, I think we're going to pass an extension of subsidies to insurance companies that does not in any way address the broken health care and insurance market system. And then we're going to continue along with uh the kind of failed legislation that does not address in an agile way the needs of the people you purport to represent. And that's where this is my uh largest problem. And Tim, I'm so curious about you though because

you're in this kind of it starts out as a diaspora. Yeah. And I imagine that you begin to have more affection for sort of the Democratic side. Not to suggest like a Stockholm syndrome, but it's sort of like, you know, I don't know if you've seen Cheryl Hines on any interviews recently. She was like a diet in the wool liberal, you know, all these different things. And now she's just like, "Ma opened their heart to me." And the liberals turned their backs on me. And you're like, "Right, because you're useful to them. You agree with them now.

So they embrace you. Look at the [ __ ] they're saying about other people. Like

for you, has the embrace of liberals changed you politically? Do you still feel the same kind of political mindset or are are you in a diaspora? Like where where are you?

Yeah, it's changed me some. Like anybody who's like Donald Trump getting elected twice did not change my ideology at all. I I think that's a sign of a really small finger. It's like I don't know why in a society we have to be like oh the way to show that you're moral and true is to to have the exact same views when you're 22 is when you're 82. Like that is what a principled person does. So yeah, I've changed some um there are certain things in particular like Republican things that were just I didn't care about that much, but I just like signed up for the for the team uh you know, on issues that like were not high priorities for me that I'm like, you know, you get a little time to think about them and and you change your views. I'm way more open. I've also I've been around way more rich people uh and and important people lately and I'm way less impressed with them than I was when I was 22. And

so like I'm think you were ever impressed with them. Yeah, I'm much more open to, you know, extreme extensive taxation of the wealthy than I was when, you know, uh, I was I was I was convinced by the pull you're up pull pull myself up from the bootstrap stuff that I, you know, learned as a college Republican. So, I've had some changes, but there's also stuff I I think that look, I think that, and you guys, I'm sure, agree with this, you know, I I haven't gone full native. The Democrats have not done a good job governing a lot of the places where they're in charge of everything. So, I'm not on board for everything the Democrats have done. I I lived in San Francisco or lived in Oakland, but I lived in the Bay for a while. The Bay wasn't governed that great and now they've got Luri in who's more of a center guy and I think things are getting better. So, I I'm not on, you know, Chicago is not being governed that

great, right? I I don't think that the National Guard should go in and that we should have the, you know, jack booted thugs menacing people, but I don't think the mayor of Chicago is doing a particularly great job or the and I and I think Pritsker would have questions about that if he were to run for president. So, you know, I've had some changes and and I think that just going back to your Zoron point about how Democrats could think about this. Zoron's like Zoron's messaging is grand and and like the movement is grand, but the ambitions like aren't that grand, right? It's like free it's it's tangible stuff for people. It's free buses.

It's rent control. It's we're going to cut some of the red tape so that your, you know, the food food, you know, uh truck guys can surv, you know, uh can survive the halal trucks, right? And so, you know, like I I'm fully on board with all of that. Um I I think it would be a big risk for the Democrats to come in and say we just listed out all the things that need changed. It's like, okay, well, we're going to put in the Swedish health care system. Sure, I I would be f I'm fine with that. I have no love for this current healthare system.

I'm not going to go to the mattresses over that, but like you know that that's going to be a rocky transition and that might lead us right back into a mega to mega 2032. And so I just mean that like there's a lot of stuff to consider. It's it's it's complicated.

So Tim and I uh joke that our our politics have sort of moved now so that we have the same politics. Like I've moved towards Tim and he's moved towards me and so we don't disagree on anything.

Bad clip for you on TikTok. I know. You know what? This is part of it. When you run for governor in California,

Tim, this is part of it. I don't give a [ __ ] I don't give a [ __ ] Um, but one way that I've sort of rethought my own priors on this is the delivering on the campaign promises is just as important as the boldness of the promises that you make. And so I do like when I think back to the 2020 primary on the Democratic side on healthcare to stay with that example, it was an entire every single debate, every single time they all got on stage, it was they were debating the finer points of various Medicare for all proposals. And if you didn't have Bernie's, you had to explain why you were lesser than Bernie and why you weren't as committed to healthcare as Bernie was. Everyone on that stage knew, including Bernie probably, that you're never going to pass just a clean Medicare for all. Some people had pretty bold plans that would be just light years better than we are right now. You know, that thinking of like Pete Buddha

Judge was like Medicare for all who want it. So you have a Medicare program, you can have people choose into it and then it slowly kills off the insurance system, right? That would be amazing. But so we we're we're debating all this stuff that Joe Biden wins and what do we get? We get an extension of the healthc care subsidies because that's all that passed right now. What do you think that means?

Oh, and they also got to negotiate the price of four different drugs. Four drugs. Yeah. And the other ones are coming soon. [clears throat]

Won't believe it. And so do you think like what do you think that does to all the voters who were thinking, "Oh, we had this big debate about healthcare and then we win in 2020, so there's going to be real change coming. Like I'm pretty excited about this." And so, and I think the Mandani point is instructive here, which is Mandani's success is going to like completely hinge on whether he delivers the promises that he made. That sounds obvious, but like if he can't do free buses, if he can't freeze the rent, then it's not like, you know, people's fears are like, oh, he's a, you know, Muslim socialist who's going to, you know, institute Sharia law. No, the real fear is that he just doesn't manage the city well and doesn't deliver on his promises. And so therefore it deepens cynicism and it makes people less uh likely to participate in politics. And so I do think that our ability to deliver on the promises we make has to

be as important as the promises themselves. And so you need a path uh a realistic path to get where you say you want to go

and a coherence to it. I mean one of the things that strikes me about this administration I'd love for you guys to think about is the utter incoherence. He's a wonderful announcement president. He makes great announcements. We're gonna have we're gonna cut drug prices by a thousand percent. He never actually follows up on it. China is gonna buy more of our farmer soybeans than in the history of soybeans. You're going to have to we may have to plow over Omaha to plant more soybeans because of how much China's going to buy. And then they don't. And then Caroline Levit goes out and says under Biden, China didn't purchase any soybeans. Just a flatout [ __ ] lie. They actually purchased more than they're purchasing now.

does coherence. There has to be a price for incoherence. There has to be a price for somebody who's going to get us in a war to stop drug trafficking while pardoning a guy who literally moved mountains of cocaine into America. Surely coherence has to be a part of this at some point.

Surely. And stop calling me surely. Surely. I don't know about surely. I mean, I think he's paying the price for it right now in his approval ratings and you we saw it in the offyear elections. Like there is there is a price to it, but I think that the key is and what's frustrating is there's only a price to it when um you are lying to people about something that they know you're lying about because they're experiencing it in their own lives, right? And so him going out there last night and being like it's an A++ economy and affordability is a hoax, like that is going to hurt him with voters. It is hurting him with voters. On the other hand, when he says like, "Well, I'm getting the worst of the worst uh off the streets for immigrants." Like, if you don't live in a community where ICE has been raiding the community and he's telling you that these immigrants, you know, committed all these horrible crimes and now he's

cleaning them up, you know, it's more possible for you to believe that [ __ ] because you're not experiencing it in your own lives. So, I do think that the the economic trouble that he's facing is the first is is the is the thing he can't run from with just all of his usual [ __ ] Well, some of it too is sewing the seeds of our destruction. I mean, you know, how do you make America stronger by completely gutting our research capacity,

right, in in anything? So, maybe these things don't don't pile up. Tim, what what do you think is the is the thing that's going to start to create a sense because even when we say like he's not that popular, like I don't understand how he's even in the 30s, quite frankly.

Yeah. the research thing that makes me sad. I just want to say one sentence on that because like some of the stuff that's in the most destructive that he's done actually isn't going to matter at all. And that's really that gets you into a dark place into wanting to have some have some bourbon. uh because the you know the like we won't even know like we won't ever really be able to say right like was it because of that cut that we weren't able to deal with this disease or that we won't weren't able to have this discovery that we could have had right and then on the USA ID cuts on top of that and and all of the vulnerable people throughout the world who've died and um you know Cheryl Hines doesn't understand why liberals are mad at her um you know

well that was at most even I saw I think it was Nicholas Kristoff made a great point which is for all the MAGA people that are upset about Nigeria attacking Christians. Like nothing will kill more Christians in Africa than cutting off USA ID.

That's sad. Nothing. Yes. Um but I don't think that will matter. I to me what has mattered um you know I and I spent a decent amount of time like listening to like MAGA adjacent media to try to see what's like resonating and and for them like or listening to Marie Taylor Green lately um for you know like there there wasn't genuine feeling like the America first thing really did resonate with people and

as it has for 150 years. Yeah. And there's obviously there are some racist elements to that that I I just I I deplore. But like just this idea that the government doesn't care about us. It cares too much about the elites. Cares too much about our foreign, you know, adventurism and militarism. And I think that you you think that Trump, as I mentioned before, with like having all the tech guys being his new BFFs, bombing people in Venezuela, blocking the Epstein files, you know, caring more about his peace prize than he cares about the food bank lines in Kentucky. Like I I think that is his real vulnerability and that he seems to just be kind of just like any of the other elites that have let people down and and it would be for the Democrats to best capitalize that they need to find a messenger who can without the racist parts speak to that, right? Like speak to the fact that like I I do care.

But without the racist parts, where's the fun? Yeah. You got no on that. Yeah, it's not as fun. Is that is John when you think about sort of because I

you guys live more in the world of of of these pundits. Tell me about the conversation that occurs not on television where people you know how many times does Marjgerie Taylor Green just recently say you won't believe what Republicans say about Donald Trump when they're not uh on television or you won't believe the things that they say to me. You know what? What is the conversation below the conversation?

Yeah, fabs. What's what's Ben Shapiro saying to you in the green room when you guys are hanging out?

We're so tight now. Cuz I've always said this, the real news is what people are talking about in the green room of the news network, not the sort of performative news that you see, you know, being delivered every night. That's where the truth is.

Yeah. I mean, I think on the Democratic side, um, look, I try to keep my whole goal is to, uh, narrow the gap between the on mic conversations and the off-mic conversations. Um, but honestly, on the on the Democratic side of the conversation is like, what are we, we don't have anyone for 2028. What are we going to do

really? Like, no one like people can This is why I'm trying to be honest about this. people people can tell you that they're really impressed with one candidate or the other or they think this one's going to win or this one has a chance, but it's like it's it's either something that you say in public to not piss everyone off or it's something you tell yourself

to make yourself feel better and like you sort of get to the point where you're like, "Yeah, I could get on board with this one. I could maybe get on board. This this could work."

So when Democrats say, "I'm so impressed by our deep bench," they're completely lying.

I think either to themselves or to other people. I I I I I you know I am I will say I am not impressed with the deep bench.

Some people are definitely lying to themselves. I guess I I had a democratic a very prominent Democratic strategist. I would embarrass him but like he gave me the deep bench thing just like a month ago and I was like what are you talking about? Are you serious? I was like is this a [ __ ] And he's like no. Uh so some of them have convinced themselves and and by the way Trump could [ __ ] everything up so bad that it doesn't matter.

It's a big bench. There's a lot of people on it. Do you have a sense of of with the Republicans like when Marjorie Taylor Green comes out now, nobody tells the truth until they decide not to run anymore and even then people are a little bit uh reticent. So when they talk about that, you know, we can all relate it to kind of the emperor's new clothes. Like, is anyone ever going to say it when it still means something that the emperor has no clothes? Or are we are we really sentenced to this sort of backroom conversation that is the real conversation? Like I would love to know and I know Tim you recently had a spat with Scott Jennings, but like I would love to know in his quiet moments when when the Demogorgans visit at night like what he really thinks about all this [ __ ] cuz certainly like Dan Bonino recently now as the FBI deputy director said, "Oh, all that conspiracy shit."

Well, I was being paid Yeah. I was being paid to lie to you and stir up discontent and trouble and and all kinds of other incredibly negative emotions to undercut the authority of the United States government. But now that I'm in it, I just want to let you know like we're all good.

Yeah. I I guess I'll just look the these guys don't talk to me as much as they did the first term. You'll be surprised to know. Um so I I have like a somewhat limited vantage point. Uh, our boy Scott Jennings, I think he's I think he's vonigated himself. I think he's become the person he pretended to be. So, I don't know that he has quiet moments. Uh, to be honest, maybe he does, but I don't know. I I think that what you're seeing, though, um, like where you can kind of get a little peak into what's happening is in the frustration from the House of Representatives members. It wasn't just MTG. Nancy Mason has spoken out about this recently. Lee Stefonics running away, running for governor. A bunch of people retiring. There's just another one from Texas today. And and they all say the like they're all saying the same things like we're not doing anything. Like I don't feel like we're accomplishing anything. And you know

they can't blame the person whose responsibility it is. But what is it that Nancy Mason at least Stefonic thought they were going to accomplish? Like they seem like just bombthrowers. I mean, at least Stefonic is a pretend like I think underneath all that is probably

uh someone much more sober, but like what exactly is Nancy Mace frustrated about not accomplishing?

Yeah, it's a great question. Look, I I think part of it was when things were going well, I I think that they were happy to do what you just said, right? It's like, oh, hey, look, you know, we we're going to drink liberal tears and go on Air Force One and go to the, you know, parties at the White House and and we're winners, so it doesn't matter. But Trump's poor but I think what's revealing about it is that Trump's poor political standing means it's not as fun anymore. And so they do want to be able to say, "Oh, hey, you know, whatever whatever it is, like the Epstein thing was a real break for them, you know, on a variety of other issues. They want to be able to go home and say to people, we're doing I I am like trying to deliver something for you economically and instead they're not doing anything."

John, do do you find Democrats like during the Biden cycle, did you find a very similar thing where all of the sudden some Democrats were like, "You don't understand." Because I didn't see much of that. You know, none of them were very few people were coming out and going like, "Yeah, I'm not sure this guy's up for a re-election campaign."

Yeah. Look, there was anyone who was uh close to the White House was even privately spinning the same [ __ ] that you would hear in public with like maybe taking it down a few notches, but like he's he's tired. He has his days, but he's good. You know, I was in a meeting with you the other day. He was so smart. He It was It's Yeah, it's it's very like uh you know, participation trophy kind of thing. It's like

it's sounds like a parent teacher conference. You can't Let me show you a picture. This is He drew this. Remember Jill Biden after that debate when she came out on stage and was like, "Joe, you answered all the questions and like everyone it was."

Why are we doing this? You're traumatizing me. I know. I'm I can't It's It's the year after.

All right. All right. All right. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. But anyway. Yeah. No. So, you didn't But but people who weren't close to the White House Yeah. That was the same thing. Look, this h but this was this goes back to like 2016. If people who weren't close to the Clinton campaign were like, "Oh, Hillary, not a great candidate, but like you know what? Donald Trump is so bad that she's obviously has to win and we just got to we just got to get her there. And I just I cannot I cannot go into another presidential cycle where it's like, you know, the person isn't the best, but like they've got to be better than JD Vance and I think we can just get him there. I think we can. It's just to compare him to JD Vance and we'll get him there.

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Indeed.comweekly. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring. Do it the right way with Indeed. Speaking of JD Vance, let's let's pivot for a second because Donald Trump will he's 79 years old. as much as he threatens the you know we're going to uh change the constitution or there's a lot of things we're looking at that talk is quieted somewhat based on on uh popularity and certainly JD Vance would be seen as as most vice presidents are the the person that's going to inherit this but I think most people look at JD Vance and go doesn't have the magic like Donald Trump gets away with there's a certain antibioticresistant kind of being to to Donald Trump [ __ ] doesn't stick to him. He's able to get away with saying the most horrible [ __ ] and it doesn't seem to affect that dude doesn't have it and Rubio doesn't have it. So, they're going to be back to Okay, now we're stuck with Pat Buchanan's platform,

but without Trump's ability to somehow put gold leaf on it and make people not see it.

I'm with you on that, Hobian. I look I don't maybe we can compete on this and have some sort of competition. I don't know that there's anybody that has more disdain for JD Vance than me. Like I find him utterly contemptable.

I'm not like if you ask me like name you guys really do agree on everything. Yeah. Name somebody in public life your entire life that you like less than JD Vance and it's literally like mass m you know what I mean. You know what I mean? Like it's hard to find.

I think Steven Miller's up there for me. Stephen. Okay. So I hate Vance more. So anyway, with that big windup, I

He's a learner. He's a learner. Like, you know, I think it'd be it's a little bit of coopium to just be like

shape shifter. Yeah, he's a shape shifter and he's good at it. Like I I think about him on Dioon's podcast. Um the man guy from here in Louisiana and he did fine actually. I I mean like it wasn't my cup of tea, but like they did some cocaine jokes. Like he seemed qu kind of he didn't seem scary. And I could see how he could, you know, kind of learn how to adapt and appeal in a way that's better than he is now,

but he would have to soften the, you know, Steven Miller is only able to be there because Donald Trump dilutes the poison.

Sure. Yes. Right. They may not. There may be no difference or distance between what they actually believe, but you can't feed that [ __ ] I truly believe this. I'm not one of those people who believes that America at its heart. I think this nivist uh uh era we're living through is antithetical to our actual country's spirit and and being. Like, I really do. I don't think people dig this. and Miller's poison has to be filtered and Trump is the perfect vessel to be able to do that. You take that away and when people get a real taste of this [ __ ] I don't know. I I maybe I'm being naive.

No, I I I think there's some truth to that, but I don't think I will agree with Tim again. I don't know that Van I think Vance is um he's he's definitely not as good as a vessel as Donald Trump for Steven Miller's [ __ ] but he is

he can code switch in a different way than than Donald Trump, which is he has been part of um the elite circles uh in media and the never Trumper worlds that we all uh have been swimming in for the last decade. And so he know like think about him with uh against Tim Walls in that debate. He won

like that. That was a nicer, more respectful JD Vance. And the way he makes the argument for nivism is not as uh let's say exciting as Donald Trump, but it is more cohesive and intellectualized in a way that is targeted to people who like when you know when he talks about uh uh there was this quote he was trying to explain himself the other day where he's like, you know, it should you really what's wrong with not wanting your neighbors uh to speak English? So you can if you go over for a cup of sugar um you know you can ask them in English and when they don't speak English like that's okay that they don't speak English but really do you want a whole town like that of people who don't speak your language right you know and it's like he's like I don't person I think it's [ __ ] I laugh at it but like I think he is more adept at um speaking to sort of the nivist strains in Americans um than we might think. And I worry about

that because that that coalition after Trump is going to be more ideological. That's what I mean

because Trump this is more personalistic right now because it's all about Trump. This the the postTrump coalition would be more ideological, more dangerous I I think in many ways. And so but maybe more maybe politically weaker.

Tucker would embody that much more cleanly than JD Vance. He would be much more uh like

and he's more entertaining. He's like more he's more genuinely I can't believe I'm saying this but funnier than JD Vance. Like JD Vance does have a stiffness to him that um that Yeah, I don't think Tucker has.

Tucker might be believing his own [ __ ] now, though. I was a little more scared of Tucker a year or two ago, but I think Tucker might have seriously had a psychotic break. At some level, Donald Trump knows it's an act, right? Like remember he made fun of of of Mike Pence for being too religious and he makes fun of Steven Miller being like, I don't know if we'd want what this guy if I don't we all want to know what's in his head. He knows this that it's a lot.

And Tucker might I think have had an actual psychotic break. It may he may now be a long I I tell you the moment for me and you know I've been a fan of his for many years.

Long time. Yeah. Oh yeah. Uh for a long time. Uh for me you know my my break obviously with subscribing to um Carlson.com or whatever it is that they do there was when he said uh he was attacked by a demon

and and scratched and I was like that's weird. And then he told the story. He's like, "So, I'm asleep with my four hunting dogs and I wake up with four scratches, you know, because I was fighting a demon." And I'm like, "Look, I'm not obviously I don't want to be like AAM's razor here, but, you know, there is a possibility. I have dogs. I sleep with them. And I do wake up occasionally with wi with with markings. My first thought isn't demon. It's Toby. Toby, what did you do? Toby, why would you scratch me?

Maybe maybe that shows you're out of touch. Maybe the de Maybe you should be thinking of demon John.

No, I I think the problem that he'll have is again there's a shape there's too much of a shape shifter element. The whole thing about Trump was authenticity. You know, if if your career was I'm the bow tie wearing Buckley and now you're I'm the Marbor man who fights off demons. Like that's a hard pill for Americans I think to swallow.

Yeah. Though we don't have long memories. That's what I'm I'm going to throw one out there for you. There's only one person within that coalition who has that sort of magic that Trump has and the kind of like I don't give a [ __ ] devotion and that's RFK. He's the only one that possesses that and I would think can do the most pull-ups out of any of those [ __ ]

Too weird. The voice uh voice I'll give you. I think that might I don't think too weird.

I think that's part of the mythology that gives him his it's like saying like Donald Trump never would have been I mean look at his house. He shits in a gold toilet. Nobody's going to buy that.

But he but the problem with Trump that we missed is it was like oh he's too offensive. He's too offensive. No one is going to do that. It's RFK's problem is not that he's too offensive. like the whale carcass and the

No, I think I think you're falling for sort of and and you're falling for monology rather than like that's become the butt of a joke like, "Oh, he's got a a worm in his brain and a bear carcass." And I I I don't think that is in any

He's going to be 75. Like, are we ever going to have a cannon again that's not a thousand years old? He can't be um he can't be outsider shaking up the system anymore. And like if you're a weirdo, but like eh, you're going to go in there and you're going to you're going to shake some things up. Like he's going to have run HHS for four years and he'll have a he'll have a record.

But his people don't view him as weirdo. What I'm trying to say is his people view him as a like heroic Hercules standing against the tides of institutions that are designed to kill Americans. Like there's a mythology around that guy that none of the other ones have.

Yeah. But like but he'll have to answer for did you did you do anything to those institutions over the last four years? Did you save us?

Will he do does anyone have to answer for anything anymore? Isn't that the lesson of the Trump administration?

No, no, no. The lesson is that once you're when you're out of power, it's easy to just uh throw rocks at the institutions, but once you're in power, then people get pissed at you and then they throw you out and they put someone else in.

I'm intrigued. That's the only That's the only thing I would say. No, no, no, no. Under his breath. I heard something. I heard something under his breath. Let me hear. Let me hear.

I'm intrigued. I think Bobby verse Stewart versus He wants to do it obviously. I think if you'd read the Olivia Nitsy book, like she I mean, she's very honest about that. He's

Did you guys see yesterday? Cheryl says no. Cheryl says he's not running in 2028 no matter what.

Oh, and and she's been very predictive, hasn't she? Over these last Yeah. She don't seem to be running the show.

She He's never going to I mean, endorsing Trump, that's a bridge too far in the

He never stray from our marriage. That's the voice though is really I think the saving grace

that may that may be political reality for Americans that that that make it that make it harder in in your

Let's sort of try and wrap up. Is the way to change the results we're getting from our government? Do we have to change the incentive structure around what wins? Because the thing I noticed in Washington is it runs on a different currency than what its purported kind of ideal is. It's sort of like the Washington Post. Remember the Washington Post put up on their mast head, democracy dies in darkness, you know. But meanwhile, in the Washington Post boardroom, they had a list of articles and how many clicks it got, you know, and they were running on a different currency.

It feels like the political system and the media, which I I sort of liken to America's immune system, right? If those two things are corrupted, and I think they are, we don't get the results that build a healthier environment. Do we need to change the incentive structures on media, on social media, on governance? They're not rewarded down there in the same way that you think they are. Would does that sound fair to you guys? I think that yes, I think you do need to change the incentive structures for sure, but then the question is how do you change the incentive structures and I think the way to change or or the best chance of changing the incentive structures is to have someone who wins who doesn't follow those incentive structures and proves to everyone else that you can run a different way and win. This is the you're going back to Obama wins, Donald Trump wins, and they won um based on

campaigns that people would have guessed before they ran would not have been successful. And so I do think it it still comes back to in my opinion you need a person willing to like a leader willing to sort of go outside the box and sort of swim against those tides and show people see all this stuff that you think you need to win is actually [ __ ] and you can win by doing you know something different.

Yeah. I I look Trump has revealed that like the structural, you know, um architecture of our government and society is a lot weaker than we thought it was, right? And so I'm totally with you that

I am pointing and thumbs uping Tim. So I I and I think that like a successful candidate potentially in the future would run on like you know just a a just total reform of how to do things, right? like and and really like not not just kind of a marginal change like really and and in ways that would make people uncomfortable ways probably make me uncomfortable. I think that's probably right.

The thing that I struggle with on this though, John, is like I go a little bit back and forth like I think that's obviously true if you look at Trump. The other thing though I think that's obviously true that's in conflict with that is that like our society has went through so many worse times than the 2016 to 2024. just like putting Trump aside like economic like like people's lived people's experience living through like you know

except for the pandemic I think that's probably the pandemic had had historical echoes to it but you know I mean look we went through like look at how black folks were treated throughout the entire history of the country country up to through the civil rights act they didn't like turn to you know their stupidest you know um like like a stu like a stupid authoritarian like black nationalist to try to overthrow the government. I just like

two weeks of wearing a mask in Massachusetts and guys stormed it with assault rifles.

Right. Exactly. And I'm sure black people are like, "Oh." And so to me, you think about that, it's like something else is happening too, right? It's like, yeah, people are strugg I don't want to like I'm not trying to minimize any struggles. I just mean like looking at a historical lens like what we're going through now does not seem to match like the level of rage and the the political reaction to what people are going through. And why is that? And like the phone is really the answer to that I think. And so then like how do you deal with that? Is that fixable? Is that not fixable? Is that a generational thing where it's our kids will be able to manage that better than we are? I I don't know the answer to that. Like that to me is the other element of this.

No, I've said that I think for a while which is the catastrophizing that occurs when you live online. Yeah. because that the incentive structure of social media and all those things is to uh you know the weaponization like again I hate to go back to the Bonino thing but like he basically said it like my job

was to make you feel like [ __ ] is completely falling apart and we are in an existential crisis now my job is to try and hold things together so I can tell you what's actually going on and it's actually not that bad and you almost you know It's it's that part of it, right? It's like, so oopsie oopsy poopsy, but AI is going to make that worse. And what have we done to that? Rather than again show the government as maybe the only powerful enough check against that power, we've invited them into the hen house.

Yeah. And I don't think anyone is speaking thoughtfully about uh AI and how we're going to handle it on the Democratic side at all. like the even the social media stuff it's to some extent we're now fighting the last war on that because people are moving you know even off social media towards their chat bots who they're going to be friends with and but like the way we I mean we talk about this like is it really the phones but it's the way humans interact with one another right and the if the way that we interact with each other get information from each other uh debate with each other has fundamentally shifted then of course our politics is going to change dramatically And I think that if AI continues to push us further, you know, it could divide us further. It could make us lonier. It could uh make us, you know, we have these chat bots that are obsequious and they're going to just flatter us the

whole time and tell us everything we want to hear or drive vulnerable kids to suicide. I mean, literally drive them to suicide.

Yep. And and what are we going to do? We're just going to we're charging ahead so that like the 10 people that run these companies can become like trillionaires and not just billionaires.

Maybe you'll have an a benevolent AI president. That's what Sam Alman said. The AI is going to pull everyone, see what everybody wants, and then do what everybody wants. Problem solved. What the hell are we needed for?

And none of that will ever get weaponized by the Mercers to try and figure out exact. See, that's the problem. All these technologies are being weaponized. I think it used to be I used to think like oh it's going to be it used to be like communism versus capitalism or democracy or you know those various things. Then I thought it was woke versus unwoke. That was going to be the new schism. I actually think Trump's on to something different which is the sort of stable world order that we had that was based on kind of shared liberal or democratic values. He does not in any way value. He thinks that's for [ __ ] His mindset seems to be the five families.

Russia is the Gambinos. Uh we got China over there is, you know, uh whoever that family is. And you know, and we're going to divide up turf.

Yeah. It's very It's very great powers. Yeah. We're North Jersey. It's you know what it is? It's uh you know, if you ever watched uh Thomas Shelby and uh you know uh do you remember that show? um Pey Blinders.

Uh he had a theory of power called big [ __ ] small. And and that's what strikes me as so I think this next election what we're really going to be fighting over is is the world order going to be the five families dividing up the spoils or are we going to try and go back to a more stable uh liberal thing? But I don't think that can be the explicit battle,

right? The Democrats can't make this about we don't want to go to a spoil system. We want to go back to they've got to address real people's concerns. Is is that sound fair to you guys again?

Yeah. I mean, what they are selling what's behind that sort of five families uh style of of leadership is uh it's zero sum politics, right? It's it's and and it's domestic as well. This is Trump's view, which is um I if if you win, someone else loses. And so it's might makes right and it's survival of the fittest. And uh that's why I like the people with power and I like the people with wealth and everyone else is a sucker. And so um

we're not losers. We're the hottest country in the world. We're not losers. If if you're the right person and you uh and you have enough strength and you have enough power, then you can get whatever you want and take whatever you want and everyone else fend for themselves. And that's why I'm respect Putin. That's why I respect she and I respect all these people who, you know, who are who are tough.

He only respects people that don't have to face elections or real elections. And I think that the argument we have to make is that this is not like politics isn't zero sum. that there is that there can be winners and winners and that like we can grow the economy in a way that um benefits everyone. We can have a government that benefits everyone.

But that can't be the argument. The argument has to be explicitly like child care doesn't work, healthcare doesn't work, education doesn't work, and here are the ways that we have to do it

and we have to actually deliver. Well, yeah. And I would just say look like the spoil system, my argument to them against it is more less that he pitched you that the spoils were going to come to you. That was the point of the spoil system and like that these liberal democratic [ __ ] as John put it cared more about what was happening in the Netherlands and you know in in Rwanda and and I don't I want I want the spoil system to help you. But we saw what happens to the swirl system actually. The spoil system helped Trump.

The spoils were for Trump and his family and their crypto money and and and we need an al alternative vision to that right like what is the counter vision to that that is not like the League of Nations. You know what I mean? Like people don't care about that stuff. I do. Which is why the corruption message comes in in addition to what you're saying, John, which is like, yes, childare, healthcare, all the things people want, but you have to talk to people about why they're not getting it, haven't been getting it. And Trump is giving a perfect example of that right now.

The difficulty with the corruption message is in the nuance of it. Yes. Because I think Tim said it earlier, which I thought was a really great point, which is Trump has found the ways to do this. He's made the corruption that we all suspected were in our society explicit, but it's a hard argument to make. You know, you look at 1789 capital or you look at, you know, Jared Kushner is now going to finance the buying of CNN and [snorts] hand it to the president so that he can kill it in front of us or

or give it to the cutteries and the Saudis or give it to the Saudis. You know, uh Donald Trump Jr. is suddenly now the head of a drone company or on the board that has like a half a billion dollar contract. The problem is Hunter Biden was on the board of Berisma. And you may say, "Oh, but that the order of magnitude is different." And you're right, but it speaks to the same thing that proximity to privilege is what matters. It's how kleptocracies and those things work. And so I think if the Democrats try and make it again a moral corruption argument, there's enough whiffs and notes and heady hints of Teapot Dome and Tamonn Hall in their backgrounds that it's a hard argument to make.

Yeah, but that's but that's why you don't you the message can't be they're corrupt and we're not. So elect us because we're better and trust them.

But that is always what they do. They run on this weird moral black and white. I know. I know. I know. But back to what we were saying earlier, that's why you need an a an actual reform agenda. Like I am willing to change the institutions. I'm willing to change the incentive structure. I'm willing to get money out of politics.

A new deal for uh uh against corruption, a new deal to tap into. Inequality occurs because we value capital and not labor. There's got to be a way to tap. Tim is Tim is a socialist now. I see it on his face. He is so excited about this new plan.

Yeah, you can definitely sell me on just painful levels of taxation for the for the AI CEOs, you know, like you're get you can get like I will I will flank Elizabeth Warren on the left on

but you can't here's when you can't sell taxation Tim. You can't because the Democrats haven't proven that people will get value for that extra money. The message of we need to get rid of the filibuster or we need to tax billionaires means nothing if nobody ties it to fair value. They have to be more remedial than that. They have to step back board. Now you can frame it two different ways. You know the first thing is the first commercial Democrats should run is uh Trump said he was for you. He said Democrats are for they them and he's for you. And that works if you're Gain Maxwell, if you're [snorts] the cutteries, if you like that should be every ad is showing who you is.

Yep. But on the Democratic side, if they can't prove that taxpayers get value for their dollar, they are [ __ ] no matter what they think of.

See, this is where we're becoming more centrist, John. We're moving towards Tim. Tim Tim.

Yeah. Wait, WHAT? EXACTLY. WHAT JUST HAPPENED? YEAH. NO MORE welfare reform. Okay. We're going to have so we're going to have high taxation, socialism, and welfare reform and cutting red tape so we can build things for once.

This is our abundance agenda. We're going to get rid of the regulations. Yeah, we can do that. But value doesn't mean not because first of all, it's not welfare. It's not an entitlement. It's an investment.

If we invest in oil companies to go drilling somewhere, how the [ __ ] can you not invest in human beings getting enough food and getting enough shelter to be their best selves? These are investments. That's value.

Yeah. All right. I think we're done here. Oh my. Gentlemen, I need to see the white papers still.

You're probably right. Uh any moment from this year that you would like to highlight on your on your way out to go to your respective media empires? Anything that strikes you as

the the the one that for me that was both because I think it represents the year which is simultaneously it's like the dark comedy. like it's really like heartbreakingly horrible but also just clownish was when Terry Moran was interviewing Trump in in in the Oval Office and there was asked about Kilmargo Garcia and Trump's team to to like prove that Kilmar Garcia was MS-13 had done like the MS Paint

like the font it was like aerial 12 font that they put on top of his hands and it says MS13. Yes. And and and Trump says to Terry Moran, he's like, "What? What? You're crazy." Like, obviously it was MS-13. It said it on his fingers. And and Terry's like, "That was that was Photoshop." And he's and and he's like, "No, it wasn't." And then Terry's like, "I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree." And Trump won't let it go. Like Cherry's trying to let him off the hook and Trump's like, "Give me the picture."

That was it for me. That's That's a beautiful one, John. Um it's funny. I was going to do I I was going to do well Kilmer Bgo Garcia this was a little darker but I mean the fact that the when I knew that like this was much darker than uh even I had expected. The fact that the United States government in court admitted that they mistakenly sent someone to a torture chamber and then their response to that was not bring him back. It wasn't even okay well get him out of there and send him somewhere else. It's we're now going to ruin this guy's life and make this a a big cause on our side that we are going to punish this guy no matter what just because and that is how they dealt with the whole deportation regime since then and it is a they are delighting in violence and wanting us to know that they delight in the violence and the abuse and I think it's that that sadism

the memes the meme yeah the memes and how they try to make it like a joke but funny like the desensitizing people to violence and abuse and sort of dehumanizing people is I think the um sort of the underlying like the real poison of the last year and something that's going to take a lot more uh to get out of the system than just uh a few better policies.

That's so interesting. And it is it's the dehumanization as a virtue. Yes. The idea that that is the virtuous way. And it it really is it's they make a virtue of the ignorance of a lack of discernment that and the thing that I think always comes to you is we're not actually safer when our government can't tell the difference between MS13 and an 18-year-old validictorian who's lived here from Honduras since she was seven but got the same treatment and sent to some facility in Louisiana. That's the thing that I think maybe also has to be brought to bear to the American people is our ignorance doesn't make us safer.

It doesn't make us America first. That discernment is the first quality you need in in building a better state of understanding individuals and not uh groups. Gentlemen, uh I so appreciate you taking the time. I know you guys are are awful busy. Tim Miller from the Bullwwork and John Favro from Pod Save America. Uh, and obviously you will be consolidated uh when the Ellison's buy you. And I think that's by the way I think it's a great move on their part.

We're not selling. Uh, that was a for the moment for me and this is probably selfish is when Donald Trump is like I'll choose who gets uh Warner Brothers and you're like is that where we are? Like literally the the president of the United States

now make me another rush hour. I want rush hour four, five, and six. I want rush hours and you can have it. Uh, guys, thank you so much. have a wonderful uh Christmas, holiday, Hanukkah, uh New Year's, and I look forward to seeing all the good stuff you do in the next year.

You too, John. Thank you. Thanks, man. I'll be honest with you, they seemed like worn down.

Yeah. At first, I think they they they they started to gather that that vigor again to go back into battle, but they definitely I had a feeling of like

it's [ __ ] December. Yes. and I I want to buy presents for my family and my friends, but like this is an incessant grinding.

Yeah, this year has felt a million years long as you said at the top, but you also weren't introducing such uh fun ideas like RFK is going to inherit the earth. You know,

you're saying that it actually I was not in any way bringing uh optimism and and

I mean, maybe you tried, but I don't you are the problem. I definitely didn't leave the conversation feeling optimistic, but I wouldn't expect that for a conversation recapping 2025.

Yeah, look at our outfits. We all spontaneously wore black. Oh god, I didn't even I didn't recognize that. Can I say maybe I'm insane, but I remain optimistic. I I honestly think the despicable nature of this administration is the effect that it's having on those two that that is not the effect that it has on political operatives. That is the effect that it has on human beings that don't want to live in this acidbased. This is not like it's a it's Mars. We don't want to have to wear space suits

to breathe freely amongst our people. Yeah. People are sick of the [ __ ] I think.

Sick of this [ __ ] And they're starting to realize he's the band leader. Trump is the band leader. [ __ ]

Optimism. There you go. We did it. Jillian's so not buying this, by the way. No, I really I I think that you're right, and I want it to be true as much as I think it's true.

All right. Well, for real optimism, we'll have a new mayor. And and listen man, which presents opportunity like we haven't had in a very long time. And each one of the thing uh uh these moments presents opportunity to get some fresh water into this brackish cesspool that that we've been swimming in and and we'll get out of it. Uh uh and it's the end of the year. Obviously, we want to give our our listeners a chance to pop in a couple of questions there. Britney, what what what do we got from

All right. They are versatile kids. So here we go. They are versatile. This is our last podcast of the year, by the way. That's why I'm talking like that. All right.

Um, John, in your opinion, what is the best and worst thing that Trump did this year?

Oh, god. Best and worst. Yes, sir. I mean, the holy [ __ ] Really? I mean obviously like for me the worst thing is it's creating clouds of humanity that are not individuals. they're just a patina generally shaded uh that he feels are inferior to uh to his you know I think he truly believes in those kind of hierarchies and and he believes that his people are at the top of the hierarchy and you know take this for however you think it but that the the lower casts are disposable They're not individuals. They're not particularly on the same level of humanity that he is on. There is no individuality. A Somali doctor has nothing against a Swedish petty lararssonist. Like a Somali doctor is worse because he's in that cloud and therefore can be treated in the manner that his administration is is treating him. And and that's by far, I think, the worst thing. It's not an individual thing uh that he's doing. Um

the best thing he did was accept a trophy from the World Cup that literally looks like zombies reaching out of the grave to tickle the underside of his balls. It's just it's [ __ ] crazy.

Yes. But all right, what's next? Hopefully this one will perk us up a little bit.

Um I doubt it. Oh boy. End of year. People are hurting, man. We'll get there. Um, John Trump has uh stated that he believes it's sedicious, perhaps even treasonous for the press to report on his health. Care to comment on his health?

First of all, I think he's doing great health-wise. I think he he looks great. I have found, and again, I'm obviously not like an orthopedist, but I found that uh the thicker the ankle, the better the balance.

That is that famous saying for old people. falling is really but if you get those if you if your ankles are tree trunks you can't get knocked over you can't break the hip and that's generally the beginning of the downward slide so uh I would suggest that that in and of itself would give you confidence that this may be the healthiest most robust president that we've ever had in the history of the United States of America uh

ankle circumference alone yeah but but it once again gets to the point of for Donald Trump the level of filty can never rise uh to a level that is satisfactory to him. There is no level of asskissing that you can do. I mean when you watch his, you know, everything is sedicious that falls beneath the level of my god, sir, thank you for not allowing too many hurricanes to hit the United States as Christine Gnome did in that stupid uh cabinet meeting that they had. He he is angry at Fox News, which is literally like a 24-hour a day ballwashing machine for Trump and and is designed specifically to keep him in power. So for him to say something as sedicious and treasonous means nothing because the bar of entry to Donald Trump is purely about uh how deeply you are proving your undying loyalty to the king.

Anything below that obviously is is sedicious and none of us measure up unfortunately.

Sad. It is sad. And I and I hate it because, you know, it's so hard to be a billionaire president.

I know. I mean, I don't know, but sure. But you can imagine money corrupts and power corrupts. And to have all the money and all the power, it's it's like if Lord of the Rings ended where, you know, they're going to drop the ring into the fire and then instead of hitting the fire, he catches it.

Spoiler. Think Think of how hard that is on someone. We don't feel bad enough. That's why he's so sleepy.

That's right. That's right. All right. What's next? All right. Next. Um, do you think it's possible for Trump and Jimmy Kimmel to end their feud, or is it too far gone at this point?

First of all, Jimmy Kimmel might be the most generous, kind-hearted individual that I have met in my entire life. He is someone he he doesn't even sleep. like he sp in the middle of the night he will just sit and Google like ideas for what the best thoughtful gift might be for you that he could send to you in a moment when you're feeling low like that dude is all heart like all of it like he is always he is a naturally generous gregarious uh warm individual that people are drawn to and he is drawn to people. He is I wish I could be more like him. I I am a kind of introvert loner type personality that like I love people over there. He brings them in in into an embrace in a manner.

So if anybody could do it, it would be him. He is the antithesis of everything that that guy stands for. And uh he has been and his family has been put to the ringer for no apparent reason. Donald Trump can say nobody, you know, everybody's mean to me. And you're like cuz you're the [ __ ] president and you have an army and nuclear weapons.

Yeah. That's kind of part of the job, right? And he's also mean, so Yeah. But you've you've drawn fire on him and his family cuz he said [ __ ] about you you didn't like.

Tough [ __ ] Learn to take a [ __ ] joke. Boom. I would love a president that could take a joke and stay awake through a meeting. Two things. Like I don't ask for a lot.

When When was the last time this country had that? I think it might have been Eisenhower. No, I just I just hate that. He's honestly like one of the best human individuals underneath the the scenes, behind the scenes, whatever that you will ever see in your entire [ __ ] life. Coar too, by the way. I I'm very fortunate that uh those people in my life who understand my eccentricity uh but also warmly embrace me at the same time. I'm very lucky to have folks like that in my life. Absolutely.

Something to be grateful for in the holiday season, Britney. Yeah, this is a good optimistic note.

Britney, you just put a bow on that. Well done. Thank you so much. Yeah. [gasps]

Um, last but not least, John, do you think Christmas should be more about Santa Claus or the baby Jesus?

Oh god, this is not in my jurisdiction. I don't I don't know. Uh, boy, I've got some explaining to do to the people at home. I don't know if you can tell by, let's say, my face, but I would be more comfortable answering any question about Fiddler on the Roof. I can I can give you the ins and outs of the show Yentle, but uh as as far as I'm assuming that Christmas has I mean other than the birth of Jesus being the tent post, the the the rest of it doesn't appear to be about that in any way, shape, or form. Am I You guys might know better than me, but

uh it's giving presents. Yeah, it should be more about Santa. Yeah, why not? Like I don't I don't ever go like on November 19th. Oh my god, the Jesus commercials are starting so early this year. Like it doesn't seem to have a whole lot uh uh to do with that. But I will tell you this as someone who never experienced it when I was younger. When my kids were younger and they still believed uh in all that, it was the most fun holiday I have ever experienced. when they still believed in magic. Britney, do you can do can do can do can do can do can do can do can do can do can do can do you recall when you believed like did your family

Oh, very much so. Um it's kind of magical. Yes. My mom actually uh my one of my favorite memories is my I was 11 years old and my mom sat me down and she goes, "You know Santa?" And I said, "Yeah." She goes, "Well, it's me."

She wanted the credit. I was like, "That's awesome. devastated. I love that. Yeah, we did it. It like it was one of those things that like we were always talking about like when are they going to figure this out because we knew it wasn't going to come from us. It they would be like

so Katie told me. Yes. And it is your entree into the world of lies. Like it is your And then your entire worldview is like wait a minute there's no Santa and I think the president might be corrupt. like you the the jump from there and the way that you parent your kids up to that point and then after that point is so like before that it's all a certain like magical morality tale you know it's nice to be important but it's important to be nice sharing is caring like it's all that and like as soon as that other thing hits a lot of like there's fentanyl and cocaine remember that like It it everything [ __ ] changes very quickly. All right. Well, uh uh this is our last podcast of the year. As we said, we're back January 14th. So, it's a nice long beautiful and you guys have

have earned it. Uh in the new year, obviously, we're publishing podcast on Wednesday instead of Thursday. That's just something that you can uh uh lie down there. And this end of the year is a nice uh time to remind everybody that all the work that is done on this podcast uh that that hopefully you find yourself enjoying is done by the people that I'm talking to now or that you are not seeing but they are behind the scenes and they put in the uh diligent work that allows me to feel uh prepared and ready to talk to anybody and I mean anybody. They're throwing me the creators of AI and political pundits and all these other things. And I just uh I love it. I love being able to just talk to people that I find interesting and fascinating and pick their brains and learn. There is nothing better in this entire [ __ ] world than learning something you didn't know yesterday. And uh it's it's just something I I really

appreciate. I really appreciate you guys for uh obviously doing the hard work that allows me to do those sorts of things. Oh, Britney, how do they get a hold of us?

Uh Twitter, we we are Weekly Show Pod, Instagram threads, Tik Tok Blue Sky, we are Weekly Show Podcast, and you can like, subscribe, and comment on our YouTube channel, The Weekly Show with John Stewart.

Our lead producers, Lauren Walker, producer Britney Mavic, producer Jillian Spear, video editor and engineer Rob Vatlo, who has to sit back there when I see a bee.

and go, "Oh, that's going to suck." And edit. Uh audio editor and engineer Nicole Boyce, who also has to deal with that. Rob actually more has to deal with uh just how much of the Nick's picture I'm going to show and how [clears throat] pale I'm going to look. Nicole is the one actually who has to turn down. I guess it's the gain.

Very good, John. I don't really know what it is when I shriek like a scared uh girl. And our executive producers, Chris McShane and Katie Gray, who keep the whole ship running. Thank you guys so much for all of it and thank you guys for in any way listening or watching this. We really do appreciate uh your support and we will see you guys next year. Bye-bye. The Weekly Show with John Stewart is a Comedy Central podcast. It's produced by Paramount Audio and Bus Boy Productions.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "Wrapping 2025 w/ Jon Favreau & Tim Miller | The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart"?

In order: 0:00 Jim Miller, John Favreau, John Favro, John Stewart; 10:00 Mint Mobile; 20:00 John Stewart; 30:00 Cheryl Hines; 40:00 Cheryl Hines, Zaran Mandani; 50:00 Air Force One; 1:10:00 Terry Moran, MS-13; 1:20:00 Jim Miller, Jimmy Kimmel, John Favreau, John Favro; 1:30:00 John Stewart, The Weekly Show with John Stewart.

What is mentioned in this The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart episode?

18 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Martin Tim, John Stewart, John Favreau, John Favro, Jim Miller, Cheryl Hines. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Wrapping 2025 w/ Jon Favreau & Tim Miller | The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart"?

The episode runs 1 h 37 min; the transcript is about 19,092 words in 285 timestamped sections.

More from The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart

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 January 24, 2026.