transcript
show notes
On this week's episode of The Left Hook, Jason Kull and I went after Trump's decision to pull White House press pool credentials from CNN, MSNBC, ProPublica, Politico, and other outlets. We called it what it is: thin-skinned, authoritarian behavior from an administration that seemingly only wants coverage from people willing to applaud. Less than 48 hours later, they announced "Trump TV" — which Jason couldn't even get to load on YouTube during the show. Then the whole thing backfired at the unveiling of the new White House helipad, where the gutted press pool left one Newsmax crew without a working microphone and the event was barely covered. We also talked about the economic squeeze Americans are dealing with, from $5.15 gas in Chicago and diesel nearing $8 to the reality of people living paycheck to paycheck. I'm old enough to remember when a $2.99 Denny's Grand Slam and a free birthday breakfast didn't feel like folklore.
In the second half, we took apart Ben Shapiro's suggestion that young Americans who can't afford to live here should just move somewhere else. Keep telling frustrated 18-to-25-year-olds to leave, and don't act surprised when they spend the next two decades voting against people like J.D. Vance and Mike Johnson. We also had a good laugh at Tommy Tuberville's bizarre claim that airline workers and pilots are "furries," Trump's claim that crime in D.C. has fallen to zero, and the White House obsession with gold décor, ballrooms, and armed drones. We also ran through a Substack list of the five U.S. regions to avoid if society collapses — the Northeast, California, the Southwest desert, Florida, and the industrial Midwest — which an AI tool rated as 60 percent real risk analysis and 40 percent doom-porn. We wrapped things up debating the best sitcom friend group: I picked Friends, Jason picked The Office, and yes, he was wrong. Catch past episodes and stay up to date at MarkBland.net.
