On Friday, MS NOW’s Morning Joe hosted an interview with Democratic Maine Senate Candidate Graham Platner, poised to be the Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine. The supposed anti-establishment candidate went on the largest, liberal establishment morning talk show to discuss his campaign, as the hosts glanced over his controversies, which include Platner’s Nazi tattoo and his past comments on Reddit about women and other topics. The only mention of any controversy was a lobbed softball from occasional co-host Willie Geist about the Republicans’ framing of Platner as “too radical” for Maine. Joe Scarborough’s first question to Platner asked him if he would “actually exercise” Article I of the Constitution, as he set up Platner to go on an anti-Iran war speech. Platner said, “We have seen, time and time again, Congress handing over war powers to the executive branch. And we need people in the halls of power who want to claw that power back.”    Morning Joe had a softball interview with Maine Senate Candidate Graham Platner on Friday, as the questions glanced over his controversies, except one from Willie Geist that referred to Republican "attacks," framed mostly on Platner being called "too radical to win." pic.twitter.com/4A6CktQci3 — Nick (@nspin310) May 1, 2026   Co-host Mika Brzezinski asked about current Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) who he would replace if elected. Platner attacked the Big, Beautiful Bill and then went to the normal progressive, Bernie Sanders-like phrases and points about billionaires, corporations, and companies like Palantir:  And that has happened because she and Republican politicians like her have prioritized the interests of billionaires and corporations over people. (...) We have already seen out-of-state superpacs pouring millions of dollars into negative ads against me. Even before the announcement yesterday, super PACs that are funded by the CEOs of Palantir and Blackstone. Finally, one of the hosts brought up the backlash to Platner and the points of interest against him, including posts on Reddit and a Nazi tattoo on his chest. But, Geist posed the question as just “Republican attacks” and paired the question of radicalization with, simply, “past comments” that he might regret: Republicans have stepped up their attacks on you, putting out statements yesterday after Governor Mills bowed out of the race, that you're just too radical to win in the state of Maine.  We've talked to you on this show, gone through some of the past comments you've made that you say you regret. The suggestion is that you're unsteady, that people can't be sure about how you lead. What do you say to those criticisms that you're radical? And going back to past comments that you've said some things that people shouldn't support? Platner took the question first about radicalization, which he based on an economic wealth gap fight, similar to a campaign speech by Bernie and AOC. As for his past comments, he repeated a line about him being isolated after combat tours and said he had become a changed man. Jonathan Lemire then posed a question about Platner as an anti-establishment candidate, while he was on the most Democratic establishment talk show. Platner pledged to work with the Democratic leadership, including Senator Chuck Schumer (NY), but also promised his campaign would remain grassroots.    Co-host Joe Scarborough later compared himself to Platner as he said Republican leaders told him he was too radical when he ran for Congress. https://t.co/WUIzWipaYt pic.twitter.com/SgEQCF58a5 — Nick (@nspin310) May 1, 2026   At the end of the interview, Scarborough compared himself to Platner: “It's what happened to me. I actually, I had party leaders working against me around the clock. Said I was too radical to get elected.” Platner's response included a reference to their “very similar experience.” Scarborough definitely did not have a Nazi tattoo on his chest, and he almost certainly was not a Redditor when he ran for Congress. But even with the controversies, he was definitely their candidate now. The transcript is below. Click "expand": MS NOW’s Morning Joe May 1, 2026 8:10:18 AM Eastern (...) JOE SCABOROUGH: And Graham Platner follows us. Now. He is both a Marine and a U.S. Army Veteran who's deployed overseas four times. Graham, thank you so much for being with us.  You know, we could talk about a lot of things. You talk about inflation, we can talk about the money. But I want to just start with Article One of the Constitution. Do you know what it is? And unlike Republicans in the United States Senate right now, would you actually, when you take the oath to God to uphold the Constitution of the United States, will you do that and actually exercise what, what our founding fathers demanded Congress exercise Article One powers over war and peace? GRAHAM PLATNER (D-ME, CANDIDATE FOR US SENATE): You know, when this nation was founded, the Constitution lays out very clearly that the power to make war is in the hands of the body that most directly represents the American people. Because when the United States goes to war, it is the American people who are asked to shoulder the burden.  And as ridiculous as the war in Iran is, I mean, I think we can all agree that this thing is just utterly insane. We have to be clear that this really does come on. Decades of Congress abdicating its constitutional duty. We have seen, time and time again, Congress handing over war powers to the executive branch. And we need people in the halls of power who want to claw that power back.  And I'll be honest, for me, it's a pretty personal thing. I mean, I had to fight in Iraq. I wish to god there had been a Congress back then that didn't have people like Susan Collins in it, who were more than happy to send America's sons and daughters off to fight and die and take part in untold horrors, for what it seems like today was just a complete fool's errand. It's not just about the politics.  It's not just, frankly, even about the constitutional responsibility. There is a moral clarity that we lack. There is a moral clarity that we have a lot of leaders who don't seem to have that when we send people off to war, we are asking of them horrific things and immense sacrifice. And for a long time, we have a political class that kind of treats war like it's a game, like it's something they get to do to look tough or to posture, or in the worst case, really just kind of pad the pocketbooks of defense companies that donate a lot of money to them.  But either - however you look at it, we really have had, and I just want to make this clear, I think it's on both sides of the aisle. We've had a lot of people for a long time in power who have given up on the fact that we are supposed to be waging war. As a nation, we are not just supposed to give that power to one person and then let them run rampant with it, which, sadly, is why we find ourselves in the absurdity that is the Iran war and running up against insane statements like, well, because we have a ceasefire that stops the clock. That's that's just I mean, that's not how it works. SCARBOROUGH: Yeah. MIKA BRZEZINSKI: So, you mentioned Senator Collins. Let's talk about the state of Maine. Maine is a hard-working, proud, beautiful state. How has she not served the interest of Mainers? How will you - I know a lot of business owners and families in the state of Maine who are still very much behind the president and his party. PLATNER: One, in the 30 years that Susan Collins has been in office, things have gotten harder for working-class Mainers. I say this as somebody that lives in a small, working-class town on the coast of Maine and makes his living on the sea. We have seen our health care system fall apart. We have seen hospitals closing. I mean, over the past three years, we've lost three rural hospitals in the state, primarily because the Republicans passed a Big, Beautiful bill.  Susan Collins did not use her power on appropriations to slow it down in any way. And those Medicaid and Medicare cuts that were used to justify tax cuts to corporations, those cuts have resulted in hospital closures. Because it turns out, as no surprise to anyone, rural health care is not really a profitable business. And it needed those subsidies to come in and keep those hospitals alive. Well, they're gone now. And now we have mainers who are driving two, sometimes three hours just to get health care, people giving birth in emergency departments, because labor and delivery units in eastern and northern Maine have closed.  That has happened on Susan Collins' watch. And that has happened because she and Republican politicians like her have prioritized the interests of billionaires and corporations over people, which, I may add, is why over the past week, we have already seen out-of-state superpacs pouring millions of dollars into negative ads against me. Even before the announcement yesterday, super PACs that are funded by the CEOs of Palantir and Blackstone and, most amusingly, a private equity group that broke down and sold off for parts a lot of the mills here in Maine, specifically Jay and Bucksport. They hate the fact that we are building a movement to represent Mainers, and we need to fight back. So, if anybody is watching, we could definitely use your help, grahamforsenate.com. We can use all the money we can get because we're up against billionaires in this one, and they're not going to give it to us easily. WILLIE GEIST: Graham, good morning. Since, especially even just the last 24 hours, since it's become clear that you'll be the guy in the democratic side, Republicans have stepped up their attacks on you, putting out statements yesterday after Governor Mills bowed out of the race, that you're just too radical to win in the state of Maine.  We've talked to you on this show, gone through some of the past comments you've made that you say you regret. The suggestion is that you're unsteady, that people can't be sure about how you lead. What do you say to those criticisms that you're radical? And going back to past comments that you've said some things that people shouldn't support? PLATNER: So, one of the idea that my politics are too radical, I find somewhat laughable. I mean, as I go all over the state of Maine, you talk to any working person in Maine, Republican, Democrat, Independent, ask them if they think they live in a political system and an economic system that has their best interests at heart. Nobody says yes, nobody.  Everybody knows. Everybody knows that. We have witnessed the largest transfer of wealth from working people to the ruling class in American history, and it has happened while we have watched our working communities in the state of Maine begin to fall apart. We've watched the hard work that Mainers have done for generations no longer be enough to own your home, to have health care, to have access to good schools for your kids. It's all becoming significantly harder to make life work down here. While we also watch the largest accumulation of wealth in human history happening at the top echelons of our society. Everybody sees that happening.  And the idea that you want to show up for working people, you want to have a tax code that taxes wealth at at least the same rate as we tax wages, because right now we tax wages at a much higher rate than wealth. That's not radical. That's just showing up for the people that build this country, the people that go out every single day and work with their hands, work with their bodies, support their families, support their neighbors, support their communities. We put in the work down here, and we're just asking that that hard work be enough. Again, when it comes to if I'm study enough. Well, I was an NCO in the Marine Corps in the army. I led men in combat. I have run an oyster farm for the past decade. I run a small business. I am a diver in the Gulf of Maine. Diving is a cold and relatively dangerous business and I enjoy it thoroughly because it's a challenge. Steadiness and a steady hand is very much a part of my existence. And I think that that's very much going to continue. And it's also what the people of Maine see, because I'm very much of them. I'm born and raised here, spent my life here, make a living on the sea here with my hands.  And it is a - it's not surprising that the Republican party is going to attack me with that. I mean, these are a lot of people who've never worked a day in their lives. And if they have, it certainly hasn't been with their hands. They don't know what it's like to fix an outboard engine on the ocean. They don't know what it's like to have to like, you know, fix your chainsaw because a tree came down the neighbor's driveway and it's the middle of winter. They don't know what that life is. Mainers know what that life is. And for them, the only attack they're going to have is trying to make stuff up. I mean, you guys were just talking about the fact that Tim Scott and Scalise are out there just lying about gas prices. I fully expect that to continue in all facets of this.  But as to past comments, I got back from my four combat tours, and I was a pretty isolated and angry young man. And I went on the internet, and I expressed that. And I had opinions and beliefs and said things in the past that do not reflect who I am now. Because like most people, you grow, you change, you learn new things, you meet new people, and you realize that you can be a better version of yourself. And that's something I've been working on for a very long time and continue to do so. And I think the people of Maine see that. JONATHAN LEMIRE: So, Graham, we just mentioned the Republicans, of course, lining up their attacks, some saying they're salivating for this campaign. Also, no secret that you were not the candidate of choice for some of the Democratic Establishment Leader Schumer supported. Governor Mills, I know you spoke to Leader Schumer yesterday. Feel free to categorize that call.  But also, though perhaps it was to this point to your benefit, to have some distance from the Democratic establishment. As you mount your candidacy, what will your relationship like with the party going forward, as you likely need their help in what will be a very expensive race? PLATNER: Yeah, I mean, I spoke to the leader last night, and I'll just say that nothing brings people together like wanting to get Susan Collins out of office. That is the priority for me. That is the priority for Senator Schumer, and I'm happy to get whatever help that they are willing to provide.  This is going to be a very expensive race. The Republican Party has already committed $42 million to this thing. And that's from the party. That's not even considering all the outside spending from billionaire super PACs. So, we're going to - we'll take money. But I will say this. What we have built is ours. We have built a campaign with tens of thousands of Mainers as volunteers.  We have built a campaign that is focused on field organizing and building, frankly, working-class power in the State of Maine by getting labor unions and community groups and civil rights groups and political organizations and just individuals combining in a coordinated and broad-based coalition. That's what we've done. If people want to come in and give us money to help us grow, that is fantastic. But that is the game that we're playing. That is the battlefield that we are trying to shape.  And I think, one, it's how you win this thing. You can't, like, you can't play their game. If we play the game, the old just kind of well-worn playbook of raise lots of money, spend it on consultants, spend it on TV ads, that's not how this is going to work. That's what they're going to do. We need to do something different. And that's what we've been doing since August of last year, which is why we have the momentum that we have, and we have the trust of so many Mainers because I go to every corner of the state. We've held 63 town halls. By the time this thing is done, I'm going to hold public events in almost every single town, over 2000 people in this state.  And in Maine, going and talking to people, having that personal relationship, having their neighbors knock on their door and talk about this campaign, that's how we're going to win it. We're going to do that no matter what.  And our criticisms, my criticisms of the party leadership, my criticisms of the party, they have not changed. And I've been very vocal about that since the beginning. But we will absolutely take the help that we can get. But it's our show, and we're proud of what we built, and we're just going to keep moving forward with it. SCARBOROUGH: And that's a really great message to send, a great message to send to people in Washington, DC that are all going to jump on board now, and they should.  It's what happened to me. I actually, I had party leaders working against me around the clock. Said I was too radical to get elected. And so people would come up to me halfway through my term and they go, “Hey, if you don't vote with leadership, they're going to,” I go, what? What?  Work against me? I got 62% the first time they worked against me. I'll get 70.  So, you are in a unique position here to get their support and you should get their support. And I know a lot of people would say the Democratic Party needs to be united. But man, really quickly we got to go. But talk about the Independence it will give you, doing this on your own with your grassroots support and not getting help early on, from the senate leadership. PLATNER: This is very much my kind of politics. And the reason that I'm running is because for a long time, and this is not just me, a lot of my neighbors, a lot of my friends, we've all been lamenting the fact that we have not seen an actual movement based, organizing focused political campaign in the State of Maine, really focused on working class people's issues, the material realities we all live in down here.  We have been able to build that, and the fact that we have built it on our own. The fact that our average donation is $26 and 99% of our donations are less than 100 bucks. The fact that we've been able to do all of this without the help of the establishment, it puts us in such an amazing position. And it also, Joe, it's kind of funny. I think you and I, at this point, had a very similar experience being told very similar things from party leadership, from people who are experts in politics, who know better than we do. And it is in many ways, very heartening to see this kind of politics not just work, but work spectacularly and allow us to continue building what I think is the politics of the future at this point. This is how we need to do this kind of thing moving forward, certainly here in the state of Maine. SCARBOROUGH: Yeah. I had people come up to me saying, "Son, you ran such a great campaign. You'll probably get in fourth or fifth place. It'll be great for you.” And like I said before, everything that's happened, you've built it along with your grassroots supporters. Man, that gives you such extraordinary Independence when you do get to Washington. Democratic Candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine, Graham Platner, thank you so much for being with us, and good luck out on the trail. (...)

Here’s something Americans will never hear socialists in Congress like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) or Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) admit – because it flies in the face of their attacks on “millionaires and billionaires,” Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) said Friday. “The top 10% already account for well over 60% of all federal income tax revenue. But they still want more!” Rep. Steube wrote on X.com, posting a clip from his interview on Fox Business Network. “Americans are already taxed enough, Washington just doesn’t spend it responsibly. That’s the problem,” Steube wrote. You’ll never hear socialists like @AOC or @SenSanders admit this: The top 10% already account for well over 60% of all federal income tax revenue. But they still want more! Americans are already taxed enough, Washington just doesn’t spend it responsibly. That’s the… pic.twitter.com/HBhd8dIePg — Congressman Greg Steube (@RepGregSteube) May 1, 2026 “They will never admit it, because it doesn't go their mantra and what they want, which is socialism and communism in America,“ Rep. Steube explained:  “It doesn't go to the bottom line. They want to increase taxes on the American people, despite the fact that we already have a very large tax base.“ “We're not spending it correctly. And, we're $35 in debt, because we haven't got our spending under control.“

If The View celebrating how President Trump and his cabinet feared for their lives during the White House Correspondents Dinner shooting wasn’t bad enough, on their Behind the Table podcast, they decried how the attack fueled calls for the White House ballroom and the indictment of disgraced former FBI Director James Comey for his “8747” post. On Tuesday’s episode, alongside executive producer Brian Teta, faux conservative co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin bemoaned about how Trump and others on the right were holding up the attack as a reason to back the construction of the White House Ballroom. According to her, the argument that it helped keep the president safe was invalid because it wouldn’t be able to protect him at all points in time seeing as he did need to leave the building on occasion: FARAH GRIFFIN:  But on the flip side, as I mentioned on the show, using this to justify the ballroom is absurd. On its face, It falls apart. I would ask any serious person to look me in the eye and say that will eliminate the threat risk against the president. It just simply won't unless he's going to hunker down and just not leave the however-many acres the White House is. That would mean that all future - rather than going to campaign events all over the country ahead of the midterms, he'd have to do it at the White House; rather than going to the G7, he'd do it at the White House. Or even going to CPAC. TETA: Or even with the Kennedy Center, which the rebuilding right now. The President often goes to the Kennedy Center. FARAH GRIFFIN: Correct. He often does. He likes to go golfing. Like this is just - It's not to say that that's the answer to security threats is just a ridiculous reason. “If you want to make the argument, which I said on air that we just need a bigger room to host state dinners, and he would like it, then then say that with your full chest, but don't make it about the security risks,” she huffed.   On The View's podcast, Alyssa Farah Griffin and executive producer Brian Teta scoff at the notion of building the White House ballroom to protect the president because it doesn't completely protect him at all times. They whine Trump is just exploiting the attempt to kill him.… pic.twitter.com/xr3aGuhOTm — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) May 1, 2026   Teta suggested that Trump and his supporters were partially to blame for why conspiracy theorists that the attack was a hoax (Click “expand”): TETA: There was a real - we talked about this a little bit - but there was a real right-wing kind of social media blitz that happened very quick - FARAH GRIFFIN: Bizarre. TETA: - minutes after this happened before the President even referenced the ballroom or right afterwards. Right-wing influencers in unison started posting tweets and I guess truths and other things, pushing Trump's ballroom. (…) TETA: Which has probably contributed to this idea that is everywhere on social media that this was staged, which you and I don't believe. FARAH GRIFFIN: Right. “I do think that was a part of it,” Farah Griffin agreed. “And then you add in just like perfect storm things of like Karoline Leavitt saying, you know, ‘shots will be fired.’ She's clearly talking about the President is going to have jokes, he's gonna take you know jabs at different people there. But for a super-online audience of people in this country, that is just like catnip for them to believe in conspiracies.” On Thursday’s episode, it was co-host Ana Navarro’s turn with Teta. According to Navarro, Trump was “exploiting” the attempt on his life to manipulate the grand jury who indicted Comey: NAVARRO: I think his - you know, I think he is vindictive and he likes to take retribution. And I think it is no coincidence that this Comey indictment came two days after the White House Correspondents Dinner association shooting attempt. So, they are exploiting and using the moment to go in front of a grand jury that, you know - is - is - is hyper sensitive two days after that shooting attempt. Shooting attempts against the president. TETA: Yeah, understandable. NAVARRO: You know, are milking it for everything it's worth. And we're seeing that that's happened, not just regarding Comey.   On a later episode, Ana Navarro whines the attempt to kill Trump was being "exploited" for the ballroom and indict Comey. She also blames Trump for people thinking the assassination attempt was a hoax. pic.twitter.com/PIkQ6AQOzV — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) May 1, 2026   She too blamed the White House for why crazies thought the attack was a “hoax” (Click “expand”): NAVARRO: I think that's why there are so many people out there. I have been - I'm telling you I have been shocked by the amount of people who are not conspiracy theorists, who never believe a conspiracy, smart people who immediately jump to the conclusion that this thing at the White House Correspondence Dinner association was a hoax. You were there. TETA: Yeah. NAVARRO: Nobody in that room thought it was a hoax. TETA: No. NAVARRO: You know, I have a lot of friends and people I love including you who were there who thought it was very serious. I certainly don't think it's a hoax, but you have to delve into and ask yourself why do so many people think it's a hoax? “[O]ne of the reasons is the way that Trump and his administration have reacted,” she exclaimed. “That they have used this moment to try to get their agenda through, and to try to get their pet projects, and to try to get revenge against those that they don't like, to try to silence opponents, to try to indict James Comey, and to try to get a ballroom!” Apparently, only Democrats were allowed to work on their agendas. The transcripts are below. Click "expand" to read: ABC’s Behind the Table April 28, 2026 4:51 (…) ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN:  But on the flip side, as I mentioned on the show, using this to justify the ballroom is absurd. On its face, It falls apart. I would ask any serious person to look me in the eye and say that will eliminate the threat risk against the president. It just simply won't unless he's going to hunker down and just not leave the however-many acres the White House is. That would mean that all future - rather than going to campaign events all over the country ahead of the midterms, he'd have to do it at the White House; rather than going to the G7, he'd do it at the White House. Or even going to CPAC. BRIAN TETA: Or even with the Kennedy Center, which the rebuilding right now. The President often goes to the Kennedy Center. FARAH GRIFFIN: Correct. He often does. He likes to go golfing. Like this is just - It's not to say that that's the answer to security threats is just a ridiculous reason. If you want - if you want to make the argument, which I said on air that we just need a bigger room to host state dinners, and he would like it, then then say that with your full chest, but don't make it about the security risks. TETA: There was a real - we talked about this a little bit - but there was a real right-wing kind of social media blitz that happened very quick - FARAH GRIFFIN: Bizarre. TETA: - minutes after this happened before the President even referenced the ballroom or right afterwards. Right-wing influencers in unison started posting tweets and I guess truths and other things, pushing Trump's ballroom. Now, you and I have spoken a lot about this and we've - you've told me a little bit about how this all works on the right. I mean, I think there's versions of this on the left too, but the rights just better at it. FARAH GRIFFIN: Yeah, the right is in this era so much better at the social media sort of rapid response to things. And what it is is allies of the President have text message chains and they have email chains, and they blast out their orders to - I'm not talking hundreds, I'm talking thousands of influencers - to say, ‘hey, this is the line of messaging,’ and people respond to it. And because now you have a system of social media that's monetized, that's an added incentive. So, you see a lot of these influencers who make all their money basically on X posting things that are in line, like pro-administration that are gonna get amplified heavily for saying, you know, what the public line is. And it was really remarkable, because I was like, ‘that's, that's the response? It's not you know” - and people were wishing him well and grateful and talking about security failures. But it was so wild to just see how quickly everyone on the right was like, ‘well and now we need a ballroom.’ That is clearly the logical answer of this. TETA: Which has probably contributed to this idea that is everywhere on social media that this was staged, which you and I don't believe. FARAH GRIFFIN: Right. TETA: But even in the comments for the show yesterday I was saying like you know, ‘how do you guys believe it's real?’ It's really - and it's not just on the left, it's on the right too. FARAH GRIFFIN: One hundred percent. TETA: It’s fascinating to me. FARAH GRIFFIN: I do think that was a part of it. And then you add in just like perfect storm things of like Karoline Leavitt saying, you know, ‘shots will be fired.’ She's clearly talking about the President is going to have jokes, he's gonna take you know jabs at different people there. But for a super-online audience of people in this country, that is just like catnip for them to believe in conspiracies. And into folks who are - who are believing that and playing into like this was staged, whatever I would just remind them of a few facts. We do have more guns than people in this country. We have an epidemic of mental health crises in this country, where people are truly struggling and not getting treatment they need. And then, add to that we have social media - Sarah spoke about this on the show today. Social media algorithms that are meant to make us radicalize, meant to make us hate one another. You put all those things together, and honestly, thank God we're having as few of these events as possible. It is a perfect mix of a dangerous environment that's like a powder keg that these things are likely to happen. So when it feels like this just seems unbelievable that it could, unfortunately when you consider all those factors, it's really not unbelievable at all. (…) ABC’s Behind the Table April 30, 2026 6:07 (…) BRIAN TETA: So, Whoopi rang the distraction bell yesterday when talking about this [indictment of former FBI Director James Comey for “8647” post]. She thinks this is you know, yet another distraction. And it does seem unlikely - most legal experts seem to think this will get thrown out, but do you believe it's a distraction or do you think he's really trying to put these people into jail? ANA NAVARRO: Oh, I think he hates Comey. TETA: Yeah. NAVARRO: I think his - you know, I think he is vindictive and he likes to take retribution. And I think it is no coincidence that this Comey indictment came two days after the White House Correspondents Dinner association shooting attempt. So, they are exploiting and using the moment to go in front of a grand jury that, you know - is - is - is hyper sensitive two days after that shooting attempt. Shooting attempts against the president. TETA: Yeah, understandable. NAVARRO: You know, are milking it for everything it's worth. And we're seeing that that's happened, not just regarding Comey. And I think that's why, you know, I think that's why there are so many people out there. I have been - I'm telling you I have been shocked by the amount of people who are not conspiracy theorists, who never believe a conspiracy, smart people who immediately jump to the conclusion that this thing at the White House Correspondence Dinner association was a hoax. You were there. TETA: Yeah. NAVARRO: Nobody in that room thought it was a hoax. TETA: No. NAVARRO: You know, I have a lot of friends and people I love including you who were there who thought it was very serious. I certainly don't think it's a hoax, but you have to delve into and ask yourself why do so many people think it's a hoax? TETA: On both sides of the aisle, that's the fascinating thing. Yeah, I've seen Republicans say it too. It's so strange. NAVARRO: I think there's several reasons, you know, I mean, but certainly one of the reasons is the way that Trump and his administration have reacted. That they have used this moment to try to get their agenda through, and to try to get their pet projects, and to try to get revenge against those that they don't like, to try to silence opponents, to try to indict James Comey, and to try to get a ballroom! I mean, that's a hell of a reaction from a guy who's now had three failed assassination attempts. You think there would be a moment of reflection. You think there would be a call to unity. You think there would be a call to our better angels. No, let's build the ballroom. Let's silence our opponents and let's indict James Comey. (…)

Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer has a brand-new book titled Trump 2.0: The Revolution That Will Permanently Transform America. The book blurb boasts: “President Donald J. Trump’s second term in office will be the most consequential administration in history because of the people and the policies that are markedly different than his first term.” MRC Free Speech America vice president Dan Schneider joined me to discuss with Sean how different Term 2 is from Term 1. He began with the Defense Secretaries: Gen. Jim Mattis barely knew Trump when he was appointed, but Trump's known Pete Hegseth for more than a decade. The media complained that Trump has now appointed "loyalists" to his Cabinet. That's what reporters say when they refuse to leak negative information. Biden's cabinet was stuffed full of "loyalists" who pretended Biden wasn't mentally declining. Dan suggested that Mike Pence acted as "Cheerleader-in-Chief" when he was vice president, while J.D. Vance is different. Spicer suggested Pence was more of an old-school Reagan Republican, where Vance is more aligned with Trump's positions against free trade and long wars.  Then there was the ruined White House Correspondents Dinner, where the shooter denied us the chance to witness President Trump roasting reporters. Spicer says Republicans should never go to the White House Correspondents Dinner: “Don’t go give them their credibility by going to their dinner and be a prop.” This was underlined by Sarah Huckabee Sanders going to the dinner in 2018 and getting roasted by liberal comedian Michele Wolf, who said she "burns facts" for her eye shadow. Then Trump granted an interview to Norah O'Donnell on 60 Minutes, where she dared to read the manifesto of the crazy man who wanted to kill Trump, where he called the president a rapist, a pedophile, and a traitor. Axios said Trump broke the "truce" with the press by objecting to the questioner as "disgusting," when that obnoxious question broke any truce that was in place. Enjoy the podcast below, or the audio version is here. Sean's book can be found on Amazon here. 

Friday’s I’ve Had It Podcast News featured 16 minutes of unhinged smears from two of the most chronically miserable, repugnant humans on the media landscape with Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan trashing our friend Scott Jennings after he smacked down the MediasTouch kid, peddling more gay jokes about House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), mixing up two prominent black Republicans, and argued Trump is now being led around on foreign policy by outside forces. The bat signal must have gone out that condescending and pompously partisan Adam Mockler needed defending after this interaction with Jennings the night prior on CNN NewsNight: Scott Jennings goes off on Adam Mockler: “Get your fucking hand out of my face” pic.twitter.com/Q891NlV8nL — Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) May 1, 2026 Welch insisted this was a “stage-five meltdown on live TV” and boasted in Jennings’s general direction: “Trigger to party of one, your table is now available. Trigger to party of one. Your table is now available.” “I would just like to say number one, Adam Mockler, you are incredible. You are doing incredible work. Your poise, your defense of Democratic ideals, the battlegrounds that you go into. A+ no notes. Abby Phillips [sic] really calmed everybody down after that. A+ no notes,” she continued, cheering on the double standards when it comes to discourse and Phillip’s atrocious hosting abilities. Welch then uncorked her conspiracy theories about Jennings, claiming she saw a series of X posts making wild claims about his personal life: These are some pretty vile and awful smears against Scott Jennings by quite possibly two of the worst human beings on the planet pic.twitter.com/JH10PqrR2N — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 1, 2026 You see, dear readers, homosexuality is used as an insult and thus fine when the left does it! For her part, Sullivan obviously agreed, arguing such meltdowns happen “when you have sold your soul, you have sold your integrity,” and life comes apart after “insecure” personality is brought to the surface by someone who’s “younger and smarter.” Further proving this rally-around-the-flag strategy was out on Friday, they also called for Jennings’s firing for using profanity and dressing down a liberal guest, which just so happened to be the subject of former CNN correspondent and fellow miserable person Jim Acosta’s Friday morning Substack column. Here was Welch demanding Jennings’s firing, even though she predicted nothing would happen because rules of employment do not apply for “white MAGA men.” Sullivan piled on that such people would never “survive in a meritocracy” (click “expand”): WELCH: Pumps, in situations like this, if a liberal behaved this way on one of these corporate-owned television shows, they would be fired. They would be fired and it would be immediate. On Fox News, you can have a morning host talk about killing homeless people — just kill the whole population. You can have Jesse Watters acting like an unhinged lunatic at all times. Now we have Scott Jennings telling appear, a colleague, get your fucking hand out of my face. And will — will the network address this? Or does this just go on? There’s one set of rules for white MAGA men, and we will never hold them accountable, and then there’s another set of rules for the people who try to defend democracy. What’s your take on that? What do you think CNN’s going to do here? SULLIVAN: I think CNN is going to do exactly fucking nothing. I think they have shown they have no backbone. They have embraced this. There’s two sides to a fact because they want to reach an audience that doesn’t want to be reached. They want to knock on the door of people that will never open the door to them, so nothing’s going to happen to them, just like nothing’s going to happen to Fox News with the line and the racism and the misogyny. But you know, Brendan Carr, he’s getting after Jimmy Kimmel for making a joke. But none — this shit, oh, it’s just fine. And to your point about white men, I mean, would any of these men — Trump included — survive in a meritocracy?  WELCH: No.  SULLIVAN: No. WELCH: Not for a fucking second. SULLIVAN: No. WELCH: His whole cabinet are just like Fox News narcissists that have failed forward because they have taken these culture war ideals that speak to the rich, broken people that own these networks. And it’s just — it’s really horrible.  They then moved to a truly embarrassing and actually racist portion of the show when they confused Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) with Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL) as Sullivan declared Scott is “running for office in Florida” (click “expand”): WATCH: Jennifer Welch's sidekick Angie "Pumps" Sullivan confuses @VoteTimScott with @ByronDonalds pic.twitter.com/wLr0Fa6Po3 — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 1, 2026 WELCH: Okay, speaking of horrible people, Republicans are choosing to just completely ignore reality. Here’s Tim Scott saying that Trump’s economy is a miracle. Play the clip. SCOTT [on FBN’s Mornings with Maria, data N/A]: Finally, because of President Trump, we have to look back at the Biden years. Remember, nine percent inflation interest rates went in the same direction. The great news is the last 15, 16 months, President Trump has pulled a miracle. We finally have it. WELCH: Angie, Angie. SULLIVAN: I don’t know what you say to this. Like, it’s all lies. I just — I don’t understand how you can, and he’s running for office in Florida. And he just — he’s lying. He’s just getting on there and making shit up. And I guess what I don’t understand is people that go get gas that went and got gas two years ago, how they can’t, like, sniff this out or bread or whatever. WELCH: Well, I want to sorry — to interrupt you, but I want to put up proving your point right here. Americans disagree with Tim Scott — completely. Pop this up. Share of Americans who say their financial situation is getting worse. And look at this chart and we have it shooting and skyrocketing up 55 percent. And so, it’s higher now that think the economy is getting worse than it was in 2008 during the Great Recession. And it’s higher than it was during the COVID-induced recession. Look at those two points. And it is higher that — think the economy is getting worse. And here’s the messaging for Democrats. And here’s the messaging for all of you listening who comment on things, who have conversations with moderates or somewhat reasonable-minded people. The biggest argument we have to elect Democrats right now, the Republicans control everything. They have the presidency. They have the house. They have the Senate. They have Supreme — the Supreme Court and all of the oligarchs. They have all of the industry titans that back them up. These are Republican policies. Nobody is stopping them except for themselves. All of this is American, Republican, MAGA policies on steroids. It is always a race to the bottom. It is always massive deficit. It is always in some bullshit illegal war. It is always driving the economy into the ground. It’s always taking away rights from other people, so that is our biggest message moving forward. I would always use this argument — Pumps and I would use this argument to our friends in Oklahoma. If you don’t like what’s going on in Oklahoma, you have no one to blame except for Republicans. They have controlled everything for 20 years. If you think Oklahoma’s policies are shitty, look no further than the governing class.  Going back to making homosexuality something to ridicule (which, again, is supposedly not something the left condones), Welch reupped one of their running bits lacking a shred of evidence that Johnson is gay: And perhaps Mike Johnson — our Little Moses Mike Grinder Johnson is taking an approach to defending the war that we haven’t seen before. Let’s pop this up: “When asked about the deadline, Johnson told the network, ‘we are not at war.’ He added: ‘We’re policing the Strait of Hormuz and trying to get a piece. The president and the administration are moving as aggressively as possible. There’s nothing Congress can do to move that along any further. So, we’ll see how this plays out. That’s my position.’” Sullivan also leveled some gross, not-safe-for-work descriptors: “Speaking of sold your soul and your integrity, Mike Johnson is number one. And here’s the thing with Mike Johnson. He can hold a dick in his hands and act like he doesn’t like it. And we all know the truth. This man will lie while standing on his Bible. It’s unbelievable that he is not universally hated by every party[.]” “I can hardly feel anything about him except for just overwhelming pity that you have all of this power and you choose to kiss the ass, Donald Trump, while Bible thumping all of the time and having these imaginary conversations where you claim God woke you up and told you you were Moses,” Welch replied. They continued on this topic of Iran by treating as gospel Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) — aka Da Nang Dick — claiming Thursday on CNN that there’s “an imminent military strike” on Iran. Welch — who still roots for Iran despite being one of the first people who would be sent to Iranian prison camps or worse — reacted by declaring she’s “so sick of this aspect of being an American where the Republican Party acts like they’re so pro-military, support the troops, support the troops, yet they always vote for these men who get us into these wars that are not in America’s best interests.” “They’re in the interests of Haliburton or...oil and gas companies or some military industrial complex where people are making billions. It never helps working-class Americans. And the way that a lot of people go to the military is they go there for a career, for an education. And we need to elect people that are good ambassadors to these young men and women. And instead we’ve got this dipshit, raging alcoholic Hegseth who is just like the sociopath that likes to sit around and watch shit get blown up,” she added, sounding like Cindy Sheehen from 20 years ago. Ironically, she said Hegseth engages in “really juvenile stuff” and “enjoys blowing up innocent fishermen without due process and it makes him feel so masculine and it makes him feel like such a big boy,” which sure sounds like she trusts random speedboats coming from a narco state more than the U.S. She also implied more Americans are dying in Iran, claiming without evidence “we already have American deaths” and the administration’s “not reporting the truth to the American public as to what’s happening — happening over in Iran and the greater area where we have American military bases.” Reacting to a final clip of Trump calling The New York Times’s Iran war coverage “seditious,” Welch declared it a “train wreck of dementia, batshit flight of ideas.” Sullivan replied, “nobody knows sedition like Donald Trump” and he should really “just kind of, like, shut the fuck up” because “he’s stupid,” “a dipshit,” and “doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Welch closed the stream with a conspiracy theory that he’s being “gas lit” by mysterious, unnamed forces (meaning Israel). She even deployed a series of insults one could simply change the meaning of the word “he” from Trump to Biden: Jennifer Welch: “So, I think our President is being gaslit. He’s insane. He has dementia. And then in turn, you get these batshit press conferences and our country is being torn down all around us by forces that are getting their claws into the United States government because… pic.twitter.com/icOlaMWVmg — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 1, 2026 To see the transcript of the May 1 I’ve Had It Podcast News, click here.