Sept. 19, 2025

Jimmy Kimmel Canceled, Marine One Grounded, and Golden Trump Holds Bitcoin: Democracy's Really Going Grea

Show Notes
Transcript

Patrick Gutfield breaks down the week's absurd political news: Trump threatens to revoke broadcast licenses while Jimmy Kimmel gets indefinitely pulled from ABC, Marine One makes an unscheduled landing in England due to hydraulic issues, crypto investors install a twelve-foot golden Trump statue outside the Capitol during the Fed's rate announcement, and the fate of TikTok hangs on a phone call between world leaders. Plus, why Congressional Democrats are now the ones fighting to protect free speech, and what happens when your backup helicopter pilot finally gets their moment to shine.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:10.640
Calaruga shark media from America, where you can't criticize the

2
00:00:10.679 --> 00:00:14.080
president or you lose your show. This is ballot. I

3
00:00:14.119 --> 00:00:17.039
don't know why anyone would criticize him anyway. He's awesome.

4
00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:21.839
I'm Patrick Gutfield, and President Trump is now threatening to

5
00:00:21.879 --> 00:00:25.199
revoke broadcast licenses because late night hosts are making fun

6
00:00:25.239 --> 00:00:29.559
of him. And apparently the Federal Communications Commissioned chairman was

7
00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:33.159
pressuring ABC so hard that they just pulled Jimmy Kimmel's

8
00:00:33.159 --> 00:00:37.280
show indefinitely. Now I know what you're thinking. Didn't Trump

9
00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:41.159
spend years saying he was the champion of free speech. Well,

10
00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:44.479
turns out that was only when other people were being censored.

11
00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:48.560
When it comes to comedians making jokes about him, Suddenly

12
00:00:48.600 --> 00:00:52.560
he's very pro censorship. The man who complained about cancel

13
00:00:52.600 --> 00:00:55.880
culture for four years is now canceling Jimmy Kimmel faster

14
00:00:55.960 --> 00:00:59.439
than a Netflix subscription after a price hight. And here's

15
00:00:59.479 --> 00:01:03.039
the beautiful irony. Congressional Democrats are now trying to pass

16
00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:07.079
legislation to protect free speech. Yes, the party that Trump

17
00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:10.319
claimed wanted to destroy the First Amendment is now literally

18
00:01:10.359 --> 00:01:13.719
trying to save it from Trump. But hey, at least

19
00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:16.560
Seth Myers is still on the air for now. He

20
00:01:16.599 --> 00:01:19.159
paid a nice tribute to Jimmy Kimmel and then jokingly

21
00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:23.079
told Trump he's a visionary, an innovator, a great president,

22
00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:27.000
and even better golfer. Then he added that if anyone's

23
00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:31.079
ever seen him say anything negative, that's just Ai, which

24
00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:33.480
is an absurd notion to think that Ai could write

25
00:01:33.640 --> 00:01:37.640
lame late night style jokes. Trump is having another phone

26
00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:40.560
call with Chinese President She, and this time they're trying

27
00:01:40.599 --> 00:01:44.200
to hash out the great TikTok Deal of twenty twenty five. Yes,

28
00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:47.760
we've reached the point where international diplomacy now revolves around

29
00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:52.319
whether teenagers can keep posting dance videos. Trump said, I'm

30
00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:55.120
speaking with President She as you know, on Friday, having

31
00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:58.760
to do with TikTok and also trade, and we're very

32
00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:01.799
close to deals on all all of it, which is

33
00:02:01.879 --> 00:02:06.239
exactly what every negotiator says right before talks completely fall apart.

34
00:02:07.079 --> 00:02:10.000
She is probably thinking about Jimmy Kimmel and the times

35
00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:13.840
she canceled Late Night with Lee Ming Wait. I thought

36
00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:16.680
we were supposed to be the ones with government censorship.

37
00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:20.520
This is very confusing. Now, let me get this straight.

38
00:02:20.840 --> 00:02:22.919
We're in the middle of a trade war with China,

39
00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:26.840
Farmers are losing billions in exports, late night hosts are

40
00:02:26.840 --> 00:02:29.879
being canceled, and the big breakthrough everyone's waiting for is

41
00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:34.919
saving TikTok, the app that Trump wanted to ban, then

42
00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:38.120
didn't ban, then maybe wanted to ban again, and now

43
00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:41.599
apparently credits with helping him win the election. But here

44
00:02:41.639 --> 00:02:44.439
we are, with the fate of TikTok hanging in the

45
00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:48.360
balance of a phone call between two world leaders. Future

46
00:02:48.439 --> 00:02:50.639
historians are going to have a field day with this chapter,

47
00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:54.719
The Great TikTok Crisis of twenty twenty five, how dancing

48
00:02:54.840 --> 00:03:04.800
videos nearly started World War Three. Trump had quite the

49
00:03:04.840 --> 00:03:09.319
adventure getting around England yesterday. Marine one, that's the presidential

50
00:03:09.319 --> 00:03:12.080
helicopter for those keeping track at home, had what the

51
00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:15.879
White House is calling a minor hydraulic issue, which is

52
00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:20.840
government speak for the helicopter started making scary noises. Now,

53
00:03:20.960 --> 00:03:24.120
when your helicopter has hydraulic problems, there are really only

54
00:03:24.199 --> 00:03:28.960
two options. Land immediately or become a very expensive paperweight

55
00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:32.599
that falls out of the sky. Fortunately, the pilots chose

56
00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:35.840
option one and made an unscheduled landing at a local airfield.

57
00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:39.919
The President and First Lady safely transferred to the backup helicopter,

58
00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:43.759
which raises an interesting question. Why do we have backup

59
00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:47.960
helicopters following the president around? Somewhere there's a Secret Service

60
00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:51.240
agent whose whole job is flying around in a spare helicopter,

61
00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:53.599
thinking I hope I never have to use this thing.

62
00:03:54.439 --> 00:03:57.759
Yesterday was his day to shine. What was supposed to

63
00:03:57.800 --> 00:04:00.560
be a twenty minute flight from the Prime Minute's place

64
00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:04.319
to Stanstat Airport turned into a forty minute journey. So

65
00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:07.039
Trump was late, but for once it wasn't because he

66
00:04:07.080 --> 00:04:10.319
was tweeting or getting distracted by a mirror. The Royals

67
00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:13.280
were hosting the Trumps to discuss a large US investment

68
00:04:13.319 --> 00:04:16.879
in the UK, which probably means Trump looked at some

69
00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:19.839
castles and said, I could put my name on that.

70
00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:24.480
While the Federal Reserve was making their big interest rate announcement,

71
00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:27.560
someone thought, you know what, this moment really needs a

72
00:04:27.639 --> 00:04:31.680
twelve foot golden statue of Trump holding bitcoin, and then

73
00:04:31.800 --> 00:04:35.360
they actually did it. The timing was perfect. Right at

74
00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:38.040
two pm, the Fed announced they were cutting interest rates

75
00:04:38.040 --> 00:04:40.720
by a quarter point, bringing them down to about four

76
00:04:40.759 --> 00:04:45.360
point one percent, and there's Trump immortalized in gold, clutching

77
00:04:45.399 --> 00:04:48.279
bitcoin like he's about to make it rain digital currency.

78
00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:52.000
The Fed also said they're planning two more rate cuts

79
00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:55.319
this year, but only one in twenty twenty six. Wall

80
00:04:55.319 --> 00:04:57.519
Street was hoping for five cuts by next year, so

81
00:04:57.560 --> 00:05:00.160
they're probably looking at this statue thinking maybe the gold

82
00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:04.120
and Trump knows something we don't now. The organizers claim

83
00:05:04.199 --> 00:05:07.319
this statue is meant to provoke debate about the future

84
00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:11.279
of digital currency and monetary policy, which is a very

85
00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:14.079
fancy way of saying we made a giant golden Trump

86
00:05:14.120 --> 00:05:18.079
because we really really like bitcoin. The group says they

87
00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:22.639
chose Trump because of his outspoken support for cryptocurrency, which

88
00:05:22.680 --> 00:05:26.279
is true. Trump has been very vocal about crypto, especially

89
00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:28.720
after he figured out people would pay him in bitcoin.

90
00:05:29.639 --> 00:05:32.319
Nothing says currency of the future like a seventy eight

91
00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:35.480
year old man who just discovered it. To be fair,

92
00:05:35.879 --> 00:05:39.199
it probably got more attention than any Fed announcement in history.

93
00:05:39.959 --> 00:05:43.519
When was the last time anyone cared about interest rate decisions?

94
00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:47.959
Now they're appointment viewing thanks to golden Bitcoin Trump. You

95
00:05:48.040 --> 00:05:50.600
wonder what the Secret Service thought when they showed up

96
00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:53.920
for work and saw this thing. Portions of today's show

97
00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:55.800
were made with the grant by the First Amendment and

98
00:05:55.959 --> 00:05:56.279
AI