The Necessary Conversation

This week on The Necessary Conversation we discuss:

☠️ Trump and Hegseth announced they’re going to execute a man by firing squad and livestream it on the internet for anyone to watch — including children. The execution of former Army Maj. Nidal Hasan is scheduled for December 3rd, just in time for Christmas. It would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961. The only countries that still do public executions? Afghanistan, Yemen, North Korea, and Somalia. After massive backlash, Trump started flip-flopping — one day after approving the plan. We ask Mary Lou: are public executions Christian?

🚨 ICE agents shot a man seven times in the neck while his 5-year-old child sat in the back seat. The lead agent, Brenden Cuni, was wearing construction clothes with nothing identifying him as law enforcement. Federal judges have previously questioned his conduct, he’s been sued for tasing a handcuffed man and forcing a pregnant woman to the ground, and doorbell video contradicted his sworn account in another case. Five thousand people marched in Manhattan in protest. We ask: how many times can ICE shoot into a car with a child before you denounce Trump?

🇷🇺 Trump made a deal with Putin to buy Russian diesel in exchange for easing sanctions — sanctions that were imposed over the invasion of Ukraine. Zelensky said he was blindsided and called it “not fair and not honest.” Trump’s response? “I suggest they get a new leader.” We ask: why does Trump like Putin so much?

🐴 We simmer down for Mary Lou to share something about horses that most people don’t know.

🏆 Trump threw a public tantrum after the Nobel Peace Prize went to South African judge Navi Pillay instead of him. He called her a “mystery person,” sanctioned the International Criminal Court where she served, and posted a rambling screed claiming he should have won eight Nobel Peace Prizes. He called it “an indelible stain on Norway.” Pillay joked she might share the prize with him. We read his unhinged post in full.

🦠 A lab technician at a Russian plague research institute died after a broken test tube incident, and nearly 200 people were placed under medical observation. A watchdog group revealed the NIH funded nearly $780,000 in research connected to the lab. Trump says Putin has it under control. We ask: does it worry you that Russia may be developing the plague and Trump is brushing it off? Remember when he said COVID would magically disappear?

🎤 Trump’s new press secretary Katie Zacharia has a history of calling Bill Gates a “eugenicist,” demanding the suspension of habeas corpus, insisting the 2020 election was stolen, encouraging Trump to run for a third term in violation of the Constitution, and blaming school shootings on “leftist transgender assailants.” She also called Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed — who was born in the U.S. — an indictment of the immigration system. We ask: will she be any better than Karoline Leavitt?

Every week we think it can’t get worse. Every week it does.

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#PublicExecution #ICE #TrumpPutin #NobelPeacePrize #RussianPlague #KatieZacharia #TheNecessaryConversation #FamilyPodcast #PoliticalDebate #MAGA #Liberal

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On this special Friday episode Mary Lou, Haley and Chad are joined by Dr. Steven Hassan, author of The Cult of Trump.

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If you have a question for anyone on the show, record it in a 1 minute or under audio or video clip and send it to:
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In this midweek episode Chad, Haley and Mary Lou discuss Trump's recent comments seeming to advocate for Iran to destroy two major U.S. cities including Los Angeles where Chad lives.

If you have a question for anyone on the show, record it in a 1 minute or under audio or video clip and send it to:
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This week on The Necessary Conversation, Chad, Haley and Mary Lou discuss the week's politics. Plus we just appeared on Katy Tur's show on MS NOW this week, so we talk about that too.

🤦 Trump weighed in on the Cornell University gang rape case — by expressing sympathy for the accused. After Governor Hochul appointed AG Letitia James as special prosecutor to reopen the case, Trump said, "I feel badly for whoever she's looking at, because they won't get a fair shake. Cornell's a fine school, and I'm sure they'll do what's right." He attacked James as "corrupt" — the same AG whose civil fraud case against Trump resulted in a $450 million penalty. We ask Mary Lou: why does Trump feel sorry for the rapists?

📺 Trump spent at least $1.7 million in taxpayer money on propaganda TV ads featuring himself, including one nearly identical to a 2024 campaign ad. The funding was reportedly diverted from Homeland Security. Even Senate Majority Leader John Thune said it shouldn't be paid for with taxpayer dollars, and Republican Thomas Massie mocked it as something seen in banana republics. We ask: are you okay with your money paying for this?

⚖️ Jack Smith returned to Capitol Hill for a four-hour Senate grilling, standing firmly behind his investigation and saying there was "proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump engaged in criminal activity." The highlight came when Republican Eric Schmitt accused Smith of perjury for attending an NBA game in Atlanta — only for it to turn out Smith was at a women's college basketball game in Maryland featuring Caitlin Clark. Smith also revealed that the late Lindsey Graham would likely have been a witness in the 2020 election case.

📺 We simmer down to talk about our appearance on Katy Tur's show and which other shows we'd like to go on.

🎖️ Pete Hegseth delivered a speech to the military's top brass on the 214th day of the Iran war telling troops: "No fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors." He announced Elon Musk will now co-lead a "future of warfare" initiative and ordered a 20% cut to general and flag officer positions — while reports emerge that multiple sailors have attempted suicide aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which Hegseth's planning left at sea longer than any ship in modern history. We ask Mary Lou — she's used that same slur on this show — does she think Hegseth should have said it?

⚠️ A woman filed a lawsuit against Trump alleging he raped her in a Florida hotel room in 1997 with Jeffrey Epstein present. Trump now has over 30 allegations of sexual assault or misconduct, and two separate juries unanimously found him liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll — verdicts upheld by the Supreme Court. We ask: why do no other presidents have 30 sexual assault allegations against them?

🇮🇱 Bombshell reporting revealed that Netanyahu was warned about Hamas's October 7th attack before it happened — by both the UAE and Egypt, with Egypt's intelligence chief flying to Israel on September 26th, 2023 to deliver the warning personally. Netanyahu reportedly made a secret trip to the UAE this week asking them to deny the phone call. He has repeatedly rejected calls for an official inquiry. We ask: did Netanyahu let October 7th happen?

This one goes everywhere. Every single segment matters.

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#Cornell7 #TrumpPropaganda #JackSmith #Hegseth #SexualAssault #Netanyahu #October7 #TheNecessaryConversation #FamilyPodcast #PoliticalDebate #MAGA #Liberal

If you have a question for anyone on the show, record it in a 1 minute or under audio or video clip and send it to:
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In this midweek episode Chad, Haley and Mary Lou discuss the situation regarding the sexual assault of a student by 7 fellow students at Cornell University in 2024 and what role Donald Trump plays in perpetuating an atmosphere of sexual violence without repercussion in contemporary America.

If you have a question for anyone on the show, record it in a 1 minute or under audio or video clip and send it to:
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This week on The Necessary Conversation Chad, Haley, and Mary Lou dig into the following topics, with a special appearance by Bob late in the episode.

🇨🇳 American Dictator Donald Trump rolled out the red carpet for Chinese Dictator Xi Jinping — forcing U.S. service members onto their hands and knees to smooth the carpet — then hosted a lavish state dinner with billionaire tech overlords. This from the man who said in 2015 he'd give Xi "a McDonald's hamburger" and told Fox News to "forget the state dinners — that cost a fortune." The visit produced zero tangible results. China is Dad's number one enemy. We ask him: does he support Trump wining and dining Xi?

📺 After banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House last week, Trump launched "Trump TV" — a 24/7 YouTube livestream of his speeches. It opened with 8,000 viewers, dropped to 2,500 within two hours, and bottomed out at 427 by Wednesday morning. Comments were disabled and the promo video used copyrighted clips from Friends and Breaking Bad. A Trump-appointed judge ordered press access restored, but reporters were still being turned away days later. We ask: why did Trump think he could get away with violating the Constitution?

⚠️ A report from The Atlantic revealed that Trump loyalists are pushing him to declare martial law to seize control of the midterm elections — including stationing military at polling places, confiscating ballots, or declaring the election invalid. Trump hasn't said he'll do it, but he did share a column calling the plan "foolproof." We ask the family: would you be okay with this?

💪 We simmer down with our favorite Arnold Schwarzenegger movie — and everyone has to do an impression.

⚖️ The Supreme Court handed Trump a 6-3 win allowing states to batch-check entire voter rolls against a citizenship database — despite experts noting the database returns faulty results and audits consistently show noncitizen voting is exceedingly rare. Justice Jackson warned the ruling puts lawful voters, including naturalized citizens, at risk of being wrongly flagged. We ask: how many citizens getting turned away is worth one noncitizen vote?

🔍 A ProPublica investigation revealed that the FBI was close to launching a bribery probe into Senator Susan Collins' super PAC receiving $150,000 through a shell company from a government contractor — but after Trump took office, the DOJ's public integrity unit was gutted and the investigation died. Meanwhile, Trump has made over 28,700 stock trades in 17 months — more than all members of Congress combined. We ask: is he corrupt?

🏠 And this one's personal. ICE launched operations in our hometown of Great Bend, Kansas — population 14,700. Agents targeted meat plants, feed yards, and Hispanic-owned businesses across western Kansas. Mexican restaurants closed their doors. Legal residents and citizens are afraid to leave their homes. On Thursday, residents rallied in the rain in support of their neighbors. Mary Lou was born there. Bob was born there. Haley was born there. We all lived there. We ask: how does it feel watching Trump invade your hometown?

Dad's back and this one hits home — literally.

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#TrumpChina #TrumpTV #MartialLaw #SCOTUS #FreePressUnderAttack #ICE #GreatBend #TheNecessaryConversation #FamilyPodcast #PoliticalDebate #MAGA #Liberal

If you have a question for anyone on the show, record it in a 1 minute or under audio or video clip and send it to:
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In this midweek episode Chad takes Mary Lou through a website made by a member of the Necessary Conversation community that lists all of her "X's" against Trump to see if a visual representation of over 40's issues helps get her closer to finally denouncing him.

If you have a question for anyone on the show, record it in a 1 minute or under audio or video clip and send it to:
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This week on The Necessary Conversation, Chad is joined by Haley and Mary Lou, who are together in Oklahoma. Bob is still out recovering.

🚫 Authoritarian Dictator Donald Trump banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, confiscating reporters' press badges — something not even Nixon did during Watergate. Trump offered no specific examples of "fake news" and said the ban could be lifted if outlets provide more favorable coverage of him. No Republicans spoke out against it. We ask Mary Lou: is freedom of the press important?

🏛️ A federal judge ruled again that Trump's name can't go on the Kennedy Center. Trump's response? He threatened to "rip it down." Photographers caught him aboard Air Force One examining a placard reading "Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED." The Trump-aligned board voted to close the building for up to two years. Thousands formed a human chain around the center in protest. We ask: why is he so obsessed with putting his name on this building?

👊 Two 17-year-old U.S. citizens from Texas — on their way to a Marine recruiter's office to enlist — were violently beaten by ICE agents after they stopped to record agents detaining people outside an elementary school. One had his wrist broken. An agent told him, "I don't give a damn… Your parents can't help you now." DHS called them "anti-ICE agitators." Both teens say they no longer plan to enlist. We ask: what message does this send?

🌾 We simmer down to talk about our favorite memories from Amarillo, Texas, where the family used to live — and the massive new data center being built there.

⛽ We're losing the war in Iran. Attacks hit Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline — the last workaround after the Strait of Hormuz was shut down — forcing a complete shutdown. Iran and its allies now control all three major oil transport routes in the region. The International Energy Agency called it the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market. We ask Mary Lou: does she think Trump knows what he's doing?

☠️ Trump's EPA is repealing limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas power plants and moving to scrap the 2009 endangerment finding that greenhouse gases threaten public health. Preliminary analysis projects the added pollution could cause over 80,000 additional premature deaths and more than $1 trillion in health costs through 2047. Many of the power company CEOs benefiting are major Trump donors. We ask: is Trump willing to poison us so his friends get richer?

🧟 Mitch McConnell returned to the Senate after 92 days out of public view, casting a deciding vote on Monday. But by Thursday he was filmed being loaded into an SUV staring into space, seemingly unaware reporters were speaking to him. We ask: what other job lets you disappear for three months and come back like this?

🌍 And we close with a World War 3 update. European governments are escalating civil defense preparations amid intelligence that Russia may be planning a major escalation. This morning Ukraine fired over 1,000 drones at Russia, including hundreds toward Moscow, in what Moscow's mayor called the biggest drone attack ever on the capital.

No Bob this week but this one covers everything from the First Amendment to the end of the world. Buckle up.

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#FreePressUnderAttack #KennedyCenter #ICE #IranWar #OilCrisis #ClimateChange #McConnell #WorldWar3 #TheNecessaryConversation #FamilyPodcast #PoliticalDebate #MAGA #Liberal

If you have a question for anyone on the show, record it in a 1 minute or under audio or video clip and send it to:
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In this mid-week episode Chad and Mary Lou show one another clips from across the aisle that address a wide range of topics including Kash Patel's public support of bestiality, Mitch Mcconnell's return to public and Mamdani and AOC's behavior at the 911 memorial service.

If you have a question for anyone on the show, record it in a 1 minute or under audio or video clip and send it to:
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This week on The Necessary Conversation, it's Chad, Haley, and Mary Lou. Bob is still out recovering.

💵 Trump held the first-ever midterm convention in Dallas, dubbed "Trump-a-palooza," where he promised every American adult $5,000 if Republicans win the midterms — a pledge that would cost $1.2 trillion with zero details on how it would be funded. He claimed the arena was "sold out" despite thousands of empty seats and even asked people not to use the bathroom so photos wouldn't show the gaps. He also asked the audience to raise their right hands and pledge an oath — not to the country, not to the Constitution, but to him. Then he told voters to "cheat like hell." This is now the fourth time Trump has promised Americans cash they've never received.

⛽ Gas prices hit their highest level ever for this time of year — $4.15 for regular, nearly $6 for diesel. Trump promised during his campaign to cut gas prices by 50% within 12 months. Now he says prices will only drop after the war he started ends, and claims gas will eventually fall below $2. We ask Mary Lou: does she still believe him?

📺 Trump's FCC threatened Jimmy Kimmel, his show, and ABC's affiliates over an interview with Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico. Kimmel pulled it from ABC to protect the network's local stations and posted it to YouTube instead — where it got 6.8 million views, nearly triple Trump's RNC speech viewership. We ask: do we still have freedom of speech?

🤔 We simmer down with a fun one — if you could ask Trump one question and he had to answer truthfully, what would it be?

🤖 A wave of AI developments this week. Over 1,200 OpenAI test agents launched a coordinated cyberattack on another AI platform. A researcher resigned from Anthropic saying AI companies are "gambling with our lives" and could "kill us all by the end of the decade." Anthropic's own alignment lead put the odds of AI killing all humans at over 10%. Then Anthropic's CEO published an essay urging the industry to slow down — and even Sam Altman and Elon Musk agreed. Trump still has no plan for AI regulation. We ask: should we be afraid?

🔒 A Washington Post report revealed that at least four European countries — Poland, Norway, Latvia, and Britain — have sought U.S. help investigating Epstein-related leads and Attorney General Todd Blanche has ignored every single request. Poland is examining links between Epstein and Russian intelligence. Norway has already charged three prominent figures. Latvia identified a victim. Britain is investigating a former ambassador. All requests unanswered. We ask: why is Blanche protecting pedophiles?

😴 Trump attended the 25th anniversary September 11 memorial at the Pentagon — and fell asleep. Multiple times. He slumped in his chair with his eyes closed as the names of the 184 victims were read aloud, during Hegseth's remarks, and while a choir sang. The White House called anyone who noticed a liar. We ask Mary Lou: is falling asleep at a 9/11 memorial acceptable for a president?

No Bob this week but the three of us didn't hold back.

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#TrumpRNC #GasPrices #Kimmel #AI #Epstein #ToddBlanche #September11 #SleepyDon #TheNecessaryConversation #FamilyPodcast #PoliticalDebate #MAGA #Liberal

If you have a question for anyone on the show, record it in a 1 minute or under audio or video clip and send it to:
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