Nov. 21, 2025

“Arabic Numerals” Freakout, Trump–Mamdani Summit, and a Kimmel Late-Night Jab

Show Notes
Transcript

From Washington DC, Patrick Gutfield breaks down a truly chaotic Friday: viral outrage over “Arabic numerals,” Trump’s tense meeting with New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, the President’s explosive reaction to lawmakers warning troops against illegal orders, and the White House defending Trump calling a reporter “Piggy.” Plus, Trump renews his crusade to get Jimmy Kimmel fired — again.

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WEBVTT

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Kalarouga Shark media from Washington, d C. Where the Latins

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are making us use their alphabet. This is valid, that's right.

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When will we get back to using good old fashioned

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American numbers and letters. Let's hit this. I'm Patrick Guttfield,

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and people are very upset about acclaim. New York's mayor elect,

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Zoron Mamdani wants to require elementary school students to learn

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Arabic numerals, and people are freaking out, which is hilarious

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because Arabic numerals are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,

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and zero, the numbers we all use every single day.

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This is the oldest trick in the book. Someone posts

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politician wants kids to learn Arabic numerals, and half the

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Internet loses their minds without knowing what Arabic numerals actually are.

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They're not some secret Middle Eastern code, They're literally how

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you wrote your phone number this morning. The post went

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viral on x which tells you everything you need to

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know about reading comprehension. On social media, people saw Arabic

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and schools in the same sentence, and their brains just

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shut off. Nobody stopped to think, wait, do I know

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what Arabic numerals are. They just hit retweet and added

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three angry emojis. Trump is meeting with mam Donnie today,

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which should be interesting considering Trump has called Mamdanni a

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radical left lunatic, a communist, and a Jew hater. That's

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quite the icebreaker for a first meeting. Most people start with,

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how about this weather. Mamdanni is a thirty four year

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old Democratic socialist who won the mayor's race earlier this month.

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Trump is a seventy nine year old former New York

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resident who's threatened to strip federal funding from the city.

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So this meeting is basically the political equivalent of your

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divorced parents being forced to sit together at Thanksgiving. Mom

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Donni requested the sit down to discuss cost of living

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issues and public safety. Trump will presumably spend the meeting

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calling him names and threatening to withhold money. It's like

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a hostage negotiation, except the hostage is asking for the meeting.

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At a press conference, Mom Donnie said, being a New

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Yorker means that you're prepared for all situations, which is true.

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New Yorkers are prepared for anything, rats, the size of cats,

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subway delays, and apparently meetings with presidents who've publicly called

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them lunatics, so this conversation should go smoothly. Nothing awkward

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about discussing deportation policies with the mayor of America's biggest

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immigrant hub while you're also threatening to defund his entire city. Meanwhile,

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Trump is also dealing with some light trees and accusations.

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Six Democratic lawmakers released a video telling active service members

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they can refuse illegal orders, which seems reasonable. Hey, maybe

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don't commit war crimes is generally solid advice. But Trump

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saw this and lost his mind. He posted on truth

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social that these lawmakers engaged in seditious behavior punishable by

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death all caps, multiple exclamation points. He also reposted someone

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saying hang them George Washington would, which is historically inaccurate

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and also completely unhinged. But House Speaker Mike Johnson defended Trump,

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calling the video wildly inappropriate and dangerous. Johnson said to

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telling troops to disobey illegal orders is unprecedented in American history,

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which ignores the Nuremberg trials. But sure, let's call this unprecedented.

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House Democratic leaders released a statement saying political violence has

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no place in America, which feels like something we shouldn't

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have to say, but here we are. The President is

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threatening to execute members of Congress for reminding soldiers that

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following illegal orders is illegal, and half of Washington is like, well,

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let's hear him out. So Trump's got a big Friday

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ahead morning, threaten lawmakers with death, afternoon sit down with

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the mayor of New York, who he's already called a

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communist lunatic. Evening, probably another meltdown on truth social It's

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all very normal and fine. The White House is defending

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President Trump for calling a female reporter piggy on Air

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Force One, and their defense is that he's frank and honest,

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which is a fascinating way to spin the president uses

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playground insults. From nineteen fifty three, Press Secretary Caroline Levitt

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said Trump's frankness is one of the reasons Americans re

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elected him. So apparently, when voters said they wanted someone

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who tells it like it is, they meant they wanted

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a president who sounds like he's bullying someone for their

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lunch money on the elementary school playground. Levitt told the

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room full of reporters that they've all experienced Trump's frankness. Themselves,

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which is like a mob boss saying you've all seen

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what happens when people disappoint me. There's a difference between

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being direct and calling someone piggy like you're a cartoon villain.

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But hey, at least he's bringing back the lost art

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of creative nicknaming. Next week, he'll probably call someone stinky

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and we'll get a twenty minute explanation about how it

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shows strong leadership. President Trump is demanding ABC fire Jimmy

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Kimmel again. This is now officially a tradition, like Thanksgiving

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or complaining about Thanksgiving. Kimmel says he's lost count of

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how many times Trump has called for him to be fired,

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which is impressive because Kimmel can probably count pretty high.

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The man hosts the show five nights a week. He

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knows numbers. Kimmel's wife came out of the bathroom and

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told him Trump tweeted he should be fired, and Kimmel's

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response was to go downstairs and make bagels for his kids.

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That's the most dismissive reaction possible. Trump's having a meltdown

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on truth social at one in the morning, and Kimmel's like,

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do the kids want cream? Cheese? Or not. Trump posted

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this at twelve forty nine am, eleven minutes after Kimmel's

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show ended on the East Coast. So the President of

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the United States is hate watching late night television past midnight.

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That's dedication. Most people his age are asleep by nine

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point thirty, but Trump's up furious, typing in all caps

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about a comedian. Kimmel called him a snowflake, which is

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perfect because Trump melts down every five weeks like clockwork.

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Kimmel said, if you got this many threats from a neighbor,

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you could get a restraining order. The judge would say, yeah,

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sounds like the guy's nuts, except in this case the

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neighbor has nuclear codes. Kimmel ended by saying he'll go.

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When Trump goes, they'll ride off into the sunset together,

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like Butch Cassidy and the sun Tan Kid. Then he

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borrowed Trump's own line and said, quiet piggy. Portions of

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today's show were made with the help of AI and

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the Latin alphabet