Trump's UFC Birthday, Elon Hits $1 Trillion, and Vance's Secret Situation Room Epstein Meetings

Trump's UFC Birthday, Elon Hits $1 Trillion, and Vance's Secret Situation Room Epstein Meetings

Nick and Rick break down a chaotic week in American politics — recorded as the UFC fight unfolds on the White House South Lawn. They open on Trump's 80th birthday UFC spectacle: seven mixed martial arts matches with 4,000 spectators, including 1,000 servicemembers required to attend in uniform on their own dime and meet a waist-to-height ratio standard, plus a 120,000-person fan fest at the Ellipse and a federal lawsuit that lost on Friday — and Trump joking he might never take "The Claw" cage down. Days before the fight, a massive "86 47" mural appeared etched into the National Mall grass. Then to the wealth milestone: Elon Musk became the world's first trillionaire after SpaceX's $1.77 trillion IPO — the largest in market history — pushing his net worth to roughly $1.1 trillion, nearly four times the next-richest person on Earth. And the bombshell from Haberman and Swan's forthcoming book "Regime Change": VP JD Vance and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles held secret Situation Room meetings without Trump's knowledge to contain the Epstein files fallout. Vance "appeared panicked" and floated a plan to have Tucker Carlson interview Ghislaine Maxwell in prison. Dan Bongino predicted Epstein would be "Trump's Iran-Contra." Trump has now launched a "massive" leak hunt to find the source. Also covered: the US struck Iran's drinking water reservoirs in Hormozgan after Iran shot down a US Apache, with Defense Secretary Hegseth dismissing questions about civilian infrastructure as "disingenuous"; FISA Section 702 expired for the first time since 2008 after Democrats refused to reauthorize warrantless foreign surveillance under acting DNI Bill Pulte — Trump then nominated SDNY US Attorney Jay Clayton as permanent DNI; Sen. Rand Paul released documents showing Fauci's NIH ties to the intelligence community date to 2003 and how he coordinated lab-leak pushback with the NSC; the US government ordered Anthropic to pull its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models globally — the first time the government has recalled an LLM, with Anthropic publicly disagreeing; a court forced Trump's name removed from the Kennedy Center facade in an overnight removal; the US killed Tren de Aragua leader Niño Guerrero in a joint operation with the Venezuelan government; Graham Platner won the Maine Democratic Senate primary as expected, and Trump-endorsed Pamela Evette crushed Nancy Mace in the South Carolina governor primary. We close with Spencer Pratt's unhinged concession in the LA mayor race — calling Bass and Raman "dumb and dumber" and "corrupt communists," vowing FBI raids, claiming secret recordings — and Trump backing his "Rigged Elections!" fraud claims.

Can Republicans Survive Trump's Purge?

Trump just did something FDR tried and failed to do: he purged his own party. Three sitting members of Congress — Sen. John Cornyn, Sen. Bill Cassidy, and Rep. Thomas Massie — crossed him, and all three are gone. So why does a president polling at 38% have this much power? Nick breaks down the math trick behind Trump's grip on the GOP, why the same anti-establishment fever just nominated an oyster farmer over Chuck Schumer's hand-picked recruit in Maine, who MAGA actually blames for $20 breakfasts, and the receipts showing Democrats are turning out at 2018-wave levels. Trump purged his party's shock absorbers five months before the crash — and the bill comes due November 3rd.

Trump vs. Netanyahu, the NYT Tries to Sink Platner, and DOGE's Plot to Mark Millions Dead

Nick and Rick break down a chaotic week in American politics. They open on the Trump-Israel rupture: Trump cursed out Netanyahu in a Monday phone call — "You're f***ing crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. Everybody hates you. Everybody hates Israel because of this" — and then confirmed it on the record to the New York Post. Days later the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency raised Israel's counterintelligence threat to "critical" — the highest level, same as Russia and China — after Israel was caught spying on Trump's top Iran negotiators to learn his negotiating positions. Then to Maine, where the NYT published a hit piece on Senate candidate Graham Platner days before his primary — surfacing allegations from an ex-girlfriend that the source herself later said the Times "twisted" into something it wasn't — while Sens. Hassan and Slotkin lined up to express "concerns" without calling on him to drop out. Plus the DOGE bombshell: a WaPo whistleblower revealed the Trump administration planned to falsely classify 2.7 million living people — including US citizens, lawful permanent residents, and teenagers — as dead, using the Social Security Death Master File to destroy their financial lives and force them to self-deport. Also covered: the House passed an Iran War Powers Resolution 215-208, the first time the chamber has voted to end the war, with four Republicans crossing over; Iran struck Kuwait's airport and US bases in Bahrain after the US disabled a Botswana-flagged oil tanker with a Hellfire missile; the Senate passed a $70 billion ICE/Border Patrol bill 52-47 after a 19-hour vote-a-rama, funding Trump's immigration agenda through the end of his term; Pam Bondi told House Oversight that Todd Blanche "was in charge" of the Epstein files decisions; Trump floated government equity stakes in top AI companies on Air Force One as Anthropic confidentially filed for IPO at $965 billion; Jill Biden's memoir revealed she thought Joe was having a stroke during the 2024 debate and that doctors checked him moments after — contradicting the White House timeline; Hunter Biden returned to X with 102 posts in a day; the Iowa Senate primary set up Ashley Hinson vs. Paralympian Josh Turek; Karen Bass advanced in LA with reality TV star Spencer Pratt and Nithya Raman fighting for the runoff spot; Trump named housing director Bill Pulte — with zero intelligence experience — as acting DNI; John Bolton reached a plea deal on classified documents; and Trump announced a $700M coal bailout in the Oval Office, then was caught dozing off mid-announcement the day after Rubio told Congress he'd "never seen" Trump fall asleep — and Ted Lieu played the video proving him wrong. We close with George Santos under DOJ investigation for insider trading on the prediction market Kalshi — he bet against himself attending the State of the Union, then posted videos saying he'd be there.

So... Is MAGA Actually Fascism?

Is Trump a fascist? Nick's guest says: wrong question. Dr. Eric Grube is a historian at Boston College who specializes in fascism, nationalism, and the far-right movements of interwar Europe — and he's back on the show six months after his last appearance to update his verdict. His answer has shifted: Trump isn't a fascist in the historical sense so much as a selfish egomaniac being driven by the Heritage Foundation's policy machine. But here's what Eric wants you to take away — fascism was never easy to categorize in the moment either. The bigger problem with forcing the label is that half the room shuts down the second you use it. So what do we actually call this? And does the name even matter if the machinery is already running?

Trump Threatens to Blow Up Oman, Paxton Wins Texas, and UFC at the White House

Trump threatened to "blow up" Oman over the Strait of Hormuz while a tentative Iran deal sits unsigned. Ken Paxton crushed John Cornyn in Texas — the first GOP senator ever primaried out — and immediately started attacking his Democratic opponent's testosterone levels. Federal courts blocked two Republican gerrymanders in Alabama and South Carolina, taking a chunk out of the GOP's redistricting math. Plus: government-wide NDAs for federal workers, the DOJ unmasking ICE critics on Reddit, and Trump wants his face on a $250 bill and the National Mall's horses covered in gold. Nick and Rick cover the week.