TRUMP'S GROWING FASCISM (and other news)

On tonight’s show I’ll discuss Trump’s increasingly bizarre week of corruption, authoritarian branding, and general weirdness. We’ll start with the Comey indictment, the FCC targeting Disney and ABC because Melania Trump doesn’t like Jimmy Kimmel, Trump calling everyone fascists, and the still-murky ballroom shooting that may not even have been a shooting. Then there’s the ballroom itself: Trump now says it isn’t paid for and wants Congress to cough up $400 million, while Republicans are basically saying, sure, why not, let’s just hand him a taxpayer-funded palace.

I’ll also get into Trump’s war with Iran and the economic fallout. Gas is now reportedly up to $4.19 a gallon, oil prices are spiking again, and Trump is claiming Iran is in a “state of collapse” and wants the US to open the Strait of Hormuz -- one minute before markets opened, because apparently that’s how we do global crisis management now. We’ll talk about King Charles, Trump’s weird handshake moment, Paramount asking the FCC to approve nearly 50 percent Middle East ownership in its Warner deal, and The Bulwark’s report that the State Department is close to redesigning US passports to put Trump’s face on them. Because nothing says constitutional republic like turning your passport into a Dear Leader collector’s item.

And then we’ll hit immigration, public health, and a few international stories. The Miami Herald says ICE arrests of Cubans have skyrocketed under Trump as green cards have plummeted. The White House is doubling down on renaming ICE as “NICE,” which is so stupid it almost feels like parody, except it’s apparently real. CNN says 2025 was America’s worst measles year since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000, and this year could be worse. We’ll also talk about Hungary’s Peter Magyar proposing a meeting with Zelensky, Israel’s response to Ukraine’s allegation that it bought Russian-stolen grain, and yes, because we deserve one moment of sanity, the seagull competition.