A couple of weeks ago, on February 25, CNN’s Have I Got News For You comedian Michael Ian Black claimed on the similarly named Have I Got News For Your Ears podcast that in 20 years, serial killer John Wayne Gacy will have a higher approval rating than President Trump. Black began his wild, Jimmy Kimmel-esque diatribe by declaring, “His legacy is he's going to be—” Before Black could finish, co-producer Jim Biederman interrupted to claim, “The most corrupt president ever in the history of this country.” Black, however, resumed by taking it one step further, “I think the most reviled American who ever lived.” Black then wondered, “Like is there, is there one that will be remembered worse?”   A couple of weeks ago, CNN's Michael Ian Black said on the "Have I Got News For You" podcast, "His [Trump's] legacy is he's going to be I think the most reviled American who ever lived...If you look at the favorability ratings in 20 years, Trump will be lower than [John Wayne]… pic.twitter.com/dGPPWRAvbG — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) March 11, 2026   Co-producer Jodi Lennon thought the idea seemed fair, “Oh, who's the second? Who’s the second in the list?” as Biederman suggested Gacy might be worse. Black stuck with his original idea, “I don't think so,” and after another interjection from Biedermann, continued, “If you look at the favorability ratings in 20 years, Trump will be lower than Gacy, because Trump did much—Trump destroyed so many more lives in Gacy. According to Black, Trump’s strike on drug boats make the analogy appropriate, “What's Gacy’s body count? 60? I mean, Trump blows up that many in a boat on the weekend.” After the trio expressed shock that, in the words of Biedermann, “they've killed a hundred people,” Lennon lamented, “Everything's so hard to keep track of.” That led Black to do some self-promotion, “That's why shows like, Have I Got News For You exists.” That actually raises an interesting question for CNN: Is this the kind of intellectual rigor that you are proud to put on the air? Or would CNN staffers rather just whine about Scott Jennings? Here is a transcript for the February 25 show: CNN Have I Got News for Your Ears 2/25/2026 MICHAEL IAN BLACK: His legacy is he's going to be— JIM BIEDERMAN: The most corrupt president ever in the history of this country. BLACK: — I think the most reviled— JODI LENNON: Yeah. BLACK: American who ever lived. BIEDERMAN: Not just president. BLACK: No, American. BIEDERMAN: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. BLACK: Like is there, is there one that will be remembered worse? BIEDERMAN: John Wayne Gacy? LENNON: Oh, who's the second? Who’s the second in the list? BLACK: I don't think so. BIEDERMAN: You think Gacy is going to be below? BLACK: If you look at the favorability ratings in 20 years, Trump will be lower than Gacy, because Trump did much—Trump destroyed so many more lives than Gacy. LENNON: Yeah. BLACK: What's Gacy’s body count? 60? BIEDERMAN: Yeah, something—not even that. BLACK: I mean, Trump blows up that many in a boat on the weekend. BIEDERMANN: That's right. BLACK: That's what he's doing. BIEDERMAN: I heard a weird—that they've killed a hundred people. BLACK: Over a hundred. BIEDERMAN: Over a hundered. LENNON: Everything's so hard to keep track of. BIEDERMAN: Well, you know— BLACK: That's why—that's why shows like Have I Got News For You exists. 

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel and CBS’s host of The Late Show, Stephen Colbert, attacked what they described as wasteful and extravagant Pentagon spending by Secretary Pete Hegseth on their Tuesday shows. However, neither man seemed aware that when it came to the fancy food part of this spending, the food in question is a long-standing tradition meant to boost morale among service members. Kimmel began by taking a weird shot at Hegseth’s Iran-related comments, “Hegseth said today would be the most intense day of strikes on Iran. I think one of the things that's most troubling about this is how excited Pete Hegseth gets to bomb people. Like he would do it even if he wasn't getting paid. Just for the love of it, just for the hell of it.”   Jimmy Kimmel apparently doesn't know about military surf and turf dinners, "Hegseth said today would be the most intense day of strikes on Iran. I think one of the things that's most troubling about this is how excited Pete Hegseth gets to bomb people. Like he would do it even if… pic.twitter.com/mAXS2KMTMp — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) March 11, 2026   He then moved on, “But he is getting paid, and he's spending a lot of money. There was a report from a government watchdog group that says Pete Hegseth blew through $93 billion in September of last year alone. Again, just in September, he spent $2 million of taxpayer money on Alaskan king crab. He spent $6.9 million on lobster tail. $140,000 on doughnuts. $124,000 on ice cream machines. $26,000 on sushi preparation tables. And $15.1 million on rib eye steak. What is this, My 600-pound Defense Department?” The fiscal year ends at the end of September. Additionally, as Haley Fuller of military.com put it in February: Across branches and generations, service members have circulated a widely recognized belief: when steak and lobster appear in the dining facility, something significant may be coming. Often described as a “surf and turf” meal, the combination has become embedded in military culture as a symbolic precursor to deployments, combat operations, or extended missions. While experiences vary by unit and theatre, anecdotal accounts from servicemembers consistently reinforce the association between morale-boosting meals and periods of heightened operational tempo.  Kimmel, who claims to have a rigorous fact-checking process, however, only quipped, “How are they eating so much food? Can you imagine—I want you to put this in your head for a second: can you imagine the size of the egg Sean Hannity would lay if a Democrat had spent millions of dollars on lobster tails and sushi preparation tables? He would never walk again, okay?” Meanwhile, over at CBS, Colbert tried to make the same point, “Hegseth also went all-out on the buffet. Reportedly, the Pentagon spent $2 million on crab legs, $6.9 million on lobster tail, and over $15 million on rib eye steaks.”   Stephen Colbert does likewise, "Hegseth also went all-out on the buffet. Reportedly, the Pentagon spent $2 million on crab legs. $6.9 million on lobster tail, and over $15 million on rib eye steaks. No, no, no boo! They're just harkening back to our founders. As Paul Revere… pic.twitter.com/NrqNqPbgpA — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) March 11, 2026   As the clueless audience booed, Colbert continued, “No, no, no, no, no boo! They're just harkening back to our founders. As Paul Revere declared on his famous ride, ‘One if by surf, two if by turf!’ It wasn't all high-class food. They also spent $140,000 on doughnuts, $124,000 on ice cream machines, and $3,160 on stickers with characters from Dora the Explorer, Frozen, and Paw Patrol. And despite all that, no one came to Pete Hegseth's birthday party.” One imagines Colbert and Kimmel are not opposed to feeding the troops well, but they and their writing staffs are too lazy to see if the narrative that so neatly aligns with their preconceived notions might actually be false. Perhaps they need new and better fact-checkers. Here are transcripts for the March 10 shows: ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live! 3/10/2026 11:38 PM ET JIMMY KIMMEL: Hegseth said today would be the most intense day of strikes on Iran. I think one of the things that's most troubling about this is how excited Pete Hegseth gets to bomb people. Like he would do it even if he wasn't getting paid. Just for the love of it, just for the hell of it. But he is getting paid, and he's spending a lot of money. There was a report from a government watchdog group that says Pete Hegseth blew through $93 billion in September of last year alone. Again, just in September, he spent $2 million of taxpayer money on Alaskan king crab. He spent $6.9 million on lobster tail. $140,000 on doughnuts. $124,000 on ice cream machines. $26,000 on sushi preparation tables. And $15.1 million on rib eye steak. What is this, My 600-pound Defense Department? How are they eating so much food? Can you imagine—I want you to put this in your head for a second: can you imagine the size of the egg Sean Hannity would lay if a Democrat had spent millions of dollars on lobster tails and sushi preparation tables? He would never walk again, okay? *** CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 3/10/2026 11:43 PM ET Hegseth also went all-out on the buffet. Reportedly, the Pentagon spent $2 million on crab legs, $6.9 million on lobster tail, and over $15 million on rib eye steaks. No, no, no, no, no boo! They're just harkening back to our founders. As Paul Revere declared on his famous ride, "One if by surf, two if by turf!" It wasn't all high-class food. They also spent $140,000 on doughnuts, $124,000 on ice cream machines, and $3,160 on stickers with characters from Dora the Explorer, Frozen, and Paw Patrol. And despite all that, no one came to Pete Hegseth's birthday party. 

If CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss is going to succeed in turning the car around with decades of liberal bias and oversee an organization that does operate where over two-thirds of Americans operate, she will need more stories like this one from Tuesday’s CBS Mornings and CBS Evening News uncovering hospice fraud inside far-left California. CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King had a gripping introduction: “For people reaching the end of their life due to illness, hospice care helps them get through their final days. Medicare often pays for almost all of it, making it very ripe for fraud.” I know this made the rounds yesterday, but it’s worth underlining – this kind of story on ‘CBS Mornings’ about rampant hospice fraud in (deep blue) California is exactly the kind of story that will make a @BariWeiss-led network a success pic.twitter.com/q7fQ9g42CV — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 11, 2026 She then dropped the stunning statistic that “suspected Medicare hospice fraud totaled almost — listen to this number — $200 million in 2023” and, in California, “many hospices with red flags still remain in business” despite having “vowed to stamp out fraud” “four years ago.” Correspondent Adam Yamaguchi opened with one such fraud victim, a 69-year-old doctor that, “according to Medicare records” had been “dying in hospice care two years ago” when she tapped her Medicare benefits for “physical therapy” after a “pickleball injury.” This resulted in Yamaguchi visiting a ghost hospice office (click “expand”):  YAMAGUCHI: Sixty-nine-year-old Dr. Lynn Ayani (sp?) was, according to Medicare records, dying in hospice care two years ago, something she discovered when she sought physical therapy for pickleball injury. DR. LYNN AYANI: I was shocked. They said, “You’re in hospice.” And I said, “What? What are you talking about? Do I look like a mess.” So she was “No, no!” YAMAGUCHI: Ayani’s Medicare number had been stolen and used by a company to fraudulently enroll her in hospice care, which she obviously didn’t need. AYANI: Just to think you’re literally without coverage because of some ridiculous fraudulent thing. YAMAGUCHI [KNOCKING ON OFFICE DOOR]: My name is Adam Yamaguchi. I’m with CBS News. [VOICE-OVER] A CBS News investigation found an industry ripe for fraud, especially in California. Companies accused of over billing, real patients denied care, and it is costing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. The hospice Ayani was fraudulently enrolled in is called Fortuna. When we called, no one answered. AUTOMATED RESPONSE: Does not accept any message at this time. Yamaguchi explained California has claimed to have “increased monitoring of the hospice industry four years ago, identifying the potential hallmarks of fraud,” but a CBS News investigation “analyzed every hospice licensed in L.A. County, more than 1,700 and checked for the same warning signs the state used, like multiple hospices packed into one building or caregivers whose patients supposedly at death’s door are discharged alive.” Along with hundreds of millions wasted a year nationwide, Yamaguchi said CBS News found “more than 700 agencies with three or more signs of potential fraud” and “Sheila Clark, a hospice patient advocate” told them “an area of Los Angeles that’s home to nearly 500 hospice company offices in just a three-mile stretch.” Visiting one such ghost office, he added “it’s real patients in desperate need who pay the price.” He took this insanity to California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) and asked him why, despite the state’s claims to be clamping down on fraud, “[a fraudulent company] can go for a full year and still not have their license revoked.” “Is that a systemic failure,” he wondered. Bonta offered boilerplate assurances that “[w]e will continue until hospice fraud...is rooted out” by remaining “responsive to the red flags and...do something.” Yamaguchi saved a critical component for the end about why the piece focused on a state’s response for fraud in a federal program: Though Medicare is federally administered, the state licenses hospices to be able to operate. Now, California extended a moratorium on new hospice licenses through next year. Officials tell us they’re still working on emergency regulations to hold those hospices accountable. Those regulations were supposed to be added at the beginning of this year[.] An abridged version aired on Tuesday’s CBS Evening News with this set-up from anchor Tony Dokoupil: “Turning now to a CBS News investigation about Medicare fraud involving both identity theft and fake hospice care. It’s an area long rife with fraud, costing taxpayers millions, and it may be getting worse. CBS News correspondent Adam Yamaguchi has details.” At the end, Yamaguchi added spin from Bonta that “[t]he attorney general’s office says it’s charged more than 100 defendants.” To see the relevant CBS transcripts from March 11, click here (for CBS Mornings) and here (for the CBS Evening News).

Last night saw one for the ages on CNN’s NewsNight, sometimes also referred to as the Abby Phillip Gaslighting and Interruption Power Hour. The show’s eponymous host is getting wrecked on social media after publishing a retraction to a gross mischaracterization of the ISIS attack against a group of protesters outside Gracie Mansion, New York City’s mayoral residence. After all publicly available information revealing at least one of the attackers to have sworn allegiance to ISIS and hoping for a higher casualty rate than that of the Boston Bombing, Phillip still managed to refer to the attack as being against Mayor Zohran Mamdani, while teasing a segment attacking Speaker Mike Johnson. WATCH: In the latest installment of the Abby Phillip Gaslighting and Interruption Power Hour: the ISIS-adjacent attack against an anti-Islam protest at Gracie Mansion was really an attack against Zohran Mamdani. pic.twitter.com/3A50B1VTAa — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) March 11, 2026 ABBY PHILLIP: Up next, two Republicans say Muslims don't belong here after an attempted terror attack against New York's Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and the House Speaker Mike Johnson says nothing, really, to condemn those comments. The most generous interpretation of Phillip’s gross mischaracterization of what is now obvious is that it was an ill-fated teleprompter read. Nonetheless, it went viral to the point of drawing a correction via social media: I want to correct something I said last night. The bombs thrown in New York City over the weekend by ISIS inspired attackers was thrown into a crowd of anti-Muslim protestors and not specifically targeted at Mayor Mamdani. That wording was inaccurate and I didn’t catch it ahead… — Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) March 11, 2026 The correction appears to have drawn more virality than the underlying video. This is due in large part to its careful wording which, in part, appears to validate the Bad ‘Prompter Load Theory. However, the correction reads as needlessly vague about the potential targets of the bombing. There were protesters, counterprotesters and NYPD all assembled at Gracie Mansion and all within range of the improvised explosive devices. Condemnation of the correction has been swift. A sampling: You're an inspiration to all people who are terrible at their jobs and never get fired anyway. — Noam Blum (@neontaster) March 11, 2026 If you have an ounce of integrity left, you would go on air and correct it Let's see what happens — End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 11, 2026 You'll correct it on the air tonight right — Ron Coleman (@RonColeman) March 11, 2026 Make sure to do this on the air today. Top of the show — Rafael A. Mangual (@Rafa_Mangual) March 11, 2026 Not seeing the contrition for expressing a deliberate lie. Feels more like a forced statement. Viewers will be expecting better on air. — Daniel Garza (@danielggarza) March 11, 2026 Wording doesn’t mislabel a terror attack, PEOPLE mislabel a terror attack. — Jimmy Failla (@jimmyfailla) March 11, 2026 The bombs was thrown at anti-Muslim protestors. How about just "ISIS attempted a terror attack." — MAZE (@mazemoore) March 11, 2026 Wait, you said something without knowing the facts because you're stuck in an agenda driven bubble? Imagine my shock. — Jim Verdi (@jjverdi) March 11, 2026 You did a racism. You did an imperialism. You did a nationalism. You did a xenophobia. You did a white fragility. You did a weak apology. You did no growth. This makes it abundantly clear you don't understand the intersectional nature of the multiplicity of your offenses. — Jarvis (@jarvis_best) March 11, 2026 Will you be leading tonight’s show with an apology and a correction? — Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) March 11, 2026 One common theme in these reactions is the call for an on-air correction to match the one issued on social media, in the interest of proportionality and fairness. There are those who will question whether the correction is authentic, or a pre-Paramount act of pre-emptive hygiene. Nonetheless, we welcome the correction and call on Phillip to follow up with one on the air.  

In another monologue driven by Barron Trump, Lawrence O’Donnell, the host of MS NOW’s The Last Word, went after the President’s 20-year-old son on Monday for not dropping out of college to immediately enlist in the military to be on the frontlines near Iran. In this iteration of the Barron focused monologue, O’Donnell now wanted Barron to be a sailor of a ship traversing through the Strait of Hormuz after the President told sailors to “show some guts” and travel through the strait. The MS NOW nighttime host has spent the last week going after Barron in a sort of weird peer pressure attempt to get the college student to go into Iran. Last week, O’Donnell also added Tiffany Trump to his list of possible enlistees. In his now latest installment, O’Donnell used the President’s comments to FOX’s Brian Kilmeade as a new path to find a way to connect the situation back to Barron Trump.  Trump told Kilmeade ““these ships should go through the Strait of Hormuz and show some guts. There's nothing to be afraid of.   In another Barron Trump focused monologue, @Lawrence O'Donnell attacked the president's 20-year-old son for not dropping out of college immediately to enlist in the military and sail through the Strait of Hormuz. pic.twitter.com/ZVG16cqaAO — Nick (@nspin310) March 10, 2026   Then O’Donnell started his Barron rant: Donald Trump wants the noncombatants on commercial vessels to do something that no one in the Trump clan has ever done. Enter a war zone, show some guts. How about 19-year-old Barron Trump, who is turning 20 in 11 days?  He subsequently went to comparisons of the Roosevelt sons' enlistment in World War II and John and Joe Kennedy dropping out of Harvard Law to enlist in the war. It was literally World War II. In a closing outburst against Barron, O’Donnell continued his calls for president’s son to leave to fight while now bringing the First Lady into the conversation: No one, Donald Trump, no one in the Trump family has ever done anything like that in the entire history of the clan. Not one Trump, not one. No Trump has ever attended a military funeral of a family member. And now it's Barron Trump's turn to refuse to go to war while his father sends young men and women his age into that war.  (...) No one, Donald Trump, no one in the Trump family has ever done anything like that in the entire history of the clan. Not one Trump, not one. No Trump has ever attended a military funeral of a family member. And now it's Barron Trump's turn to refuse to go to war while his father sends young men and women his age into that war.  (...) ships, because we know the only place Donald Trump would allow Barron to go, the only place where Barron, Trump's mother, would ever allow him to go is a place where there's nothing to be afraid of. (...) O’Donnell’s obsession with the president’s college aged son brings a newfound concern for his mental state, as the only thing he can continually think about during the Iran conflict was how to connect any actions or comments about the war back to Barron Trump. The transcript is below. Click "expand": MS NOW’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell March 9, 2026 10:08:21 PM Eastern (...)  LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: One of those calls was to FOX’s Brian Kilmeade, who quoted Donald Trump on Fox and Friends this morning, telling him, quote, “these ships should go through the Strait of Hormuz and show some guts. There's nothing to be afraid of.”  Show some guts. 20 percent of the world's oil shipments pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which has now become far too dangerous for safe passage. Shipping traffic has dropped by at least 90 percent in the strait or more. And Donald Trump's solution to that is for everyone on those oil tankers to just be brave. You know, like him, Donald Trump wants the captains and crews of those ships to be brave and put themselves in the line of fire, put themselves in harm's way. Just call their families at home around the world and tell them, “wish me luck, We are bravely going through the strait today because Donald Trump told us to show some guts.” Donald Trump wants the noncombatants on commercial vessels to do something that no one in the Trump clan has ever done. Enter a war zone, show some guts. How about 19-year-old Barron Trump, who is turning 20 in 11 days?  As I reported on this program last week, all four of president Franklin Delano Roosevelt's sons served in the military in World War II, while their father served as commander-in-chief until his death in office weeks before Germany's unconditional surrender. It was unthinkable then, for a president's son not to serve in that president's war. And World War II was not a war of Franklin Roosevelt's choosing. We entered World War II only after Japan declared war on the United States, and then Germany declared war on the United States.  But because World War II was already underway in Europe in 1939, John Kennedy decided not to go to Yale law school after his Harvard graduation and instead joined the Navy months before the United States entered World War II. Jack Kennedy, the future brother - the future president's older brother, Joe Kennedy, dropped out of Harvard Law School to become a pilot in World War II. Joe Kennedy's plane went down and he was killed in action in Europe. Such was the call of duty in those days that the sons of presidents, the sons of cabinet members, the sons of ambassadors, the sons of generals, along with the sons of laborers and factory workers all showed some guts, as Donald Trump would put it, and rushed toward the sound of the guns. In fact, almost all Harvard students dropped out during World War two to serve in the military.  So, what about Barron Trump? Why hasn't he left college like almost every Harvard student did during World War II to fight in his father Donald Trump's war. And I mentioned Harvard specifically because that is the institution of higher learning in America that Donald Trump seems to hate the most. It is the institution that seems to fill him with a raging jealousy, for reasons known only to his pathologically insecure psyche. Of the thousand students - the 1000 students admitted to Harvard class of 1944 before World War II started, only 19 graduated in 1944. That's how much America's universities emptied out as students followed what they felt was their call of duty into war.  No one, Donald Trump, no one in the Trump family has ever done anything like that in the entire history of the clan. Not one Trump, not one. No Trump has ever attended a military funeral of a family member. And now it's Barron Trump's turn to refuse to go to war while his father sends young men and women his age into that war.  Why doesn't Barron Trump do what all those Harvard students did during World War II? Why doesn't he leave college now and go join his father's war? Why doesn't Barron trump donate his services as a crew member on an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz? He doesn't even have to join the military for that. His father said “There's nothing to be afraid of.” Does his mother agree with that? Does she think there's nothing to be afraid of for her son? On one of those oil tankers, Donald Trump said these ships should go through the Strait of Hormuz and show some guts, there's nothing to be afraid of.  Well, let's prove there's nothing to be afraid of by putting Barron on the deck of one of those ships, because we know the only place Donald Trump would allow Barron to go, the only place where Barron, Trump's mother, would ever allow him to go is a place where there's nothing to be afraid of. (...)