Ballot with Patrick Gutfield - Where Politics Meets Pop Culture

Trump suddenly shifts course and urges House Republicans to release the Epstein files after weeks of trying to block them, sparking a feud with Marjorie Taylor Greene. At the same time, rising tensions with Venezuela collide with talk of possible negotiations as U.S. warships sit off the coast. And in the entertainment lane, Trump renews his demand for NBC to fire Seth Meyers — amplified by an eyebrow-raising signal boost from the FCC chairman fresh off a weekend at Mar-a-Lago.

Come for the sass, stay for the sanity—and blame the A.I. for the jokes that don’t land.

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From Chicago — where President Trump demanded troops for the non-existent “Miracle Mile” — Ballot breaks down a day of presidential confusion, late-night energy bragging, and celebrity fury. Trump’s geography gaffe sets the tone as ABC’s Jonathan Karl reveals the president’s frantic no-sleep routine, prompting the White House to insist he’s basically immortal despite MRIs, bruised hands, and mid-event nod-offs.

Then Billie Eilish jumps in swinging, blasting Elon Musk over his trillion-dollar payday with an Instagram tirade spicy enough to melt a Tesla battery.


Come for the sass, stay for the sanity—and blame the A.I. for the jokes that don’t land.

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Subscribe now for exclusive shows like 'Palace Intrigue,' and get bonus content from Deep Crown (our exclusive Palace Insider!) Or get 'Daily Comedy News,' and '5 Good News Stories’ with no commercials! Plans start at $4.99 per month, or save 20% with a yearly plan at $49.99. Join today and help support the show! 

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Megyn Kelly set the internet on fire after arguing a defense so deranged it made even her fans recoil. 

Then: Trump holds a foster-care event at the White House and delivers a speech that instantly went into the Word Salad Hall of Fame — complete with a mangled “adopt the general population” line and a right hand that looks like it fought a stapler and lost.
Plus: Kai Trump hits the LPGA Tour and posts an eighty-three that would make most golfers fake an injury, though she insists she “outdrove the pros.” Nepotism never slices — only hooks.

Come for the sass, stay for the sanity—and blame the A.I. for the jokes that don’t land.

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Subscribe now for exclusive shows like 'Palace Intrigue,' and get bonus content from Deep Crown (our exclusive Palace Insider!) Or get 'Daily Comedy News,' and '5 Good News Stories’ with no commercials! Plans start at $4.99 per month, or save 20% with a yearly plan at $49.99. Join today and help support the show! 

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Patrick Gutfield unpacks the latest political circus: Donald Trump's Truth Social meltdown over newly released Epstein emails. The president's response? Classic deflection - calling the potentially explosive documents a "hoax" and demanding everyone look at the government shutdown instead.

We're breaking down the emails that suggest Trump might have known more about Jeffrey Epstein than he's letting on, while he's frantically waving the shutdown flag like a magician trying to distract the audience.
 

Come for the sass, stay for the sanity—and blame the A.I. for the jokes that don’t land.

Unlock an ad-free podcast experience with Caloroga Shark Media! Get our shows on any player you love, hassle free! For Apple users, hit the banner on your Apple podcasts app. For Spotify or other players, visit caloroga.com/plus. No plug-ins needed!

Subscribe now for exclusive shows like 'Palace Intrigue,' and get bonus content from Deep Crown (our exclusive Palace Insider!) Or get 'Daily Comedy News,' and '5 Good News Stories’ with no commercials! Plans start at $4.99 per month, or save 20% with a yearly plan at $49.99. Join today and help support the show! 

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America’s skies are in meltdown as the shutdown leaves air traffic controllers unpaid, flights grounded, and Trump promising mystery bonuses from “some place.” Laura Ingraham actually does journalism for once, grilling him on housing, China, and chaos in the skies. And in corporate land, Paramount tells workers “five days a week or hit the eject button,” and six hundred take the parachute.

Come for the sass, stay for the sanity—and blame the A.I. for the jokes that don’t land.

Unlock an ad-free podcast experience with Caloroga Shark Media! Get our shows on any player you love, hassle free! For Apple users, hit the banner on your Apple podcasts app. For Spotify or other players, visit caloroga.com/plus. No plug-ins needed!

Subscribe now for exclusive shows like 'Palace Intrigue,' and get bonus content from Deep Crown (our exclusive Palace Insider!) Or get 'Daily Comedy News,' and '5 Good News Stories’ with no commercials! Plans start at $4.99 per month, or save 20% with a yearly plan at $49.99. Join today and help support the show! 

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The Washington dating scene is on fire — and not in the fun way. We dig into new reporting on why pro-Trump singles are struggling to find partners in the bluest city in America, where 92% of voters went Democrat and MAGA staffers are now speed-dating each other at partisan mixers because they’re tired of being called fascists on Hinge. You’ll meet the women who moved to D.C. looking for “masculine, faith-driven providers” and instead found overworked political guys who ghost after six weeks because they’re already plotting their next job. And yes, there are now matchmaking events built around “Did you attend January 6th?” as a screening question. Then we look at Elon Musk’s new “Grokipedia,” his AI-run Wikipedia clone that claims to be the unbiased alternative while pushing a right-leaning spin on culture-war topics and playing up Musk as a visionary. Critics — including Wikipedia’s own Jimmy Wales — say it’s sloppy, plagiarized from Wikipedia, and already full of errors. We connect the dots: Trumpworld is trying to build its own government, its own media, and now apparently its own dating pool and its own encyclopedia.

Come for the sass, stay for the sanity—and blame the A.I. for the jokes that don’t land.

Unlock an ad-free podcast experience with Caloroga Shark Media! Get our shows on any player you love, hassle free! For Apple users, hit the banner on your Apple podcasts app. For Spotify or other players, visit caloroga.com/plus. No plug-ins needed!

Subscribe now for exclusive shows like 'Palace Intrigue,' and get bonus content from Deep Crown (our exclusive Palace Insider!) Or get 'Daily Comedy News,' and '5 Good News Stories’ with no commercials! Plans start at $4.99 per month, or save 20% with a yearly plan at $49.99. Join today and help support the show! 

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Conservative host Glenn Beck says Trump personally told him the real reason he’s tearing down the East Wing and replacing it with a 90,000-square-foot, gold-soaked, bulletproof ballroom: foreign leaders only respect “power and wealth,” and Trump wants them to feel like they’re walking into a palace. We explain how Trump fast-tracked demolition, bypassed normal review, and greenlit a project that’s expected to cost around $300 million and seat more than triple what the old East Room could handle — the first major structural change to the White House complex since the Truman Balcony in 1948. Then: House Speaker Mike Johnson says he’s already spoken with Trump about the “constrictions of the Constitution,” basically conceding they’ve discussed a third Trump term but admitting there’s “no path” to change the 22nd Amendment fast enough. This episode hits the two questions that actually matter for 2028: How far will Trump bend American institutions to match his ego — and are Republicans quietly planning for a post-Trump era, or planning for no post-Trump era at all?

Come for the sass, stay for the sanity—and blame the A.I. for the jokes that don’t land.

Unlock an ad-free podcast experience with Caloroga Shark Media! Get our shows on any player you love, hassle free! For Apple users, hit the banner on your Apple podcasts app. For Spotify or other players, visit caloroga.com/plus. No plug-ins needed!

Subscribe now for exclusive shows like 'Palace Intrigue,' and get bonus content from Deep Crown (our exclusive Palace Insider!) Or get 'Daily Comedy News,' and '5 Good News Stories’ with no commercials! Plans start at $4.99 per month, or save 20% with a yearly plan at $49.99. Join today and help support the show! 

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Zohran Mamdani makes history as New York’s first Muslim mayor, Tom Brady clones his dog because of course he does, and President Trump decides to celebrate his eightieth birthday with a UFC fight on the White House lawn. From politics to pets to the Octagon, it’s another totally normal week in America.

Come for the sass, stay for the sanity—and blame the A.I. for the jokes that don’t land.

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Subscribe now for exclusive shows like 'Palace Intrigue,' and get bonus content from Deep Crown (our exclusive Palace Insider!) Or get 'Daily Comedy News,' and '5 Good News Stories’ with no commercials! Plans start at $4.99 per month, or save 20% with a yearly plan at $49.99. Join today and help support the show! 

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It was a bad week to be Donald Trump and a great one for anyone who likes seeing him lose. Democrats swept major races nationwide—Zohran Mamdani made history as New York’s first Muslim mayor, Gavin Newsom outmaneuvered Trump’s redistricting games, and Abigail Spanberger flipped Virginia blue. As Trump raged in all caps on Truth Social, off-Broadway found hope and harmony in Forty-Four, a new musical about Barack Obama’s presidency. Because when politics gets too grim, there’s always a song about “Yes We Can” to make America feel good about itself again.

Come for the sass, stay for the sanity—and blame the A.I. for the jokes that don’t land.

Unlock an ad-free podcast experience with Caloroga Shark Media! Get our shows on any player you love, hassle free! For Apple users, hit the banner on your Apple podcasts app. For Spotify or other players, visit caloroga.com/plus. No plug-ins needed!

Subscribe now for exclusive shows like 'Palace Intrigue,' and get bonus content from Deep Crown (our exclusive Palace Insider!) Or get 'Daily Comedy News,' and '5 Good News Stories’ with no commercials! Plans start at $4.99 per month, or save 20% with a yearly plan at $49.99. Join today and help support the show! 

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Democrats just handed Donald Trump the political beating of his second term. In New York, 34-year-old democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani toppled Andrew Cuomo’s comeback bid and made history as the city’s first Muslim mayor. Out west, Gavin Newsom passed Prop 50—the so-called “Election Rigging Response Act”—to out-maneuver Trump’s redistricting games. Meanwhile in Virginia and New Jersey, pragmatic Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill cruised to double-digit wins while every Trump-backed candidate went down in flames. From coast to coast, voters sent a message loud enough for even Truth Social to hear: America’s done playing along.

Come for the sass, stay for the sanity—and blame the A.I. for the jokes that don’t land.

Unlock an ad-free podcast experience with Caloroga Shark Media! Get our shows on any player you love, hassle free! For Apple users, hit the banner on your Apple podcasts app. For Spotify or other players, visit caloroga.com/plus. No plug-ins needed!

Subscribe now for exclusive shows like 'Palace Intrigue,' and get bonus content from Deep Crown (our exclusive Palace Insider!) Or get 'Daily Comedy News,' and '5 Good News Stories’ with no commercials! Plans start at $4.99 per month, or save 20% with a yearly plan at $49.99. Join today and help support the show! 

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