Jan. 22, 2025

Trump's Hollywood Takeover, Meta's Forced Follows, and Government Dogs

Show Notes
Transcript

Join Patrick Gutfield for a satirical take on the day's biggest political stories, including Trump's surprising Hollywood ambassador appointments, Meta's mysterious automatic follows of the Trump administration, and the new Department of Government Efficiency's meme-worthy website. In this episode, Gutfield unpacks Elon Musk's controversial inauguration gesture, Stallone, Gibson, and Voight's new roles in entertainment policy, and the unexpected transformation of government websites. From social media chaos to questionable political appointments, this episode delivers sharp commentary on the intersection of politics, technology, and entertainment in twenty twenty-five.

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WEBVTT

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Callaroga Shark media.

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From Washington, DC, where sometimes a one armed salute is sorry,

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there's no joke there.

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We all know what a one armed salute is it.

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This is ballot, that's right. And if you check Facebook

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you might have some new friends. Hey, look, I don't

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want to get canceled. I think this is all great,

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so let's hit this. I'm Patrick Gutfield. And some people

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are saying their social media accounts automatically followed Trump, Vance

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and Milania. Nothing says peaceful transfer of power quite like

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your social media becoming a Trump family fan club without

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your consent. Here we are in twenty twenty five, where

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your Instagram account has more autonomy in choosing who to

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follow than you do. One minute, you're scrolling through pictures

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of your friends brunch, the next you're getting updates about JD.

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Vance's thoughts on infrastructure week. Even the Democratic hashtags got

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sent to Instagram jail. Try searching for Bernie Sanders and

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you get a warning label, like you're trying to look

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up instructions for building a potato cannon. Meanwhile, Republican hashtags

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are apparently as family friendly as pictures of puppies. And

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there's Mark Zuckerberg sitting in the front row at the

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inauguration like a proud parent at a school play. He's

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really committed to this whole free expression thing, which apparently

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means freely expressing who you should follow. Meta's Andy Stone

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had to come out and explain this totally normal situation

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where accounts are just magically following political figures. You know,

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like when your Netflix account starts playing shows you never

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clicked on, except instead of true crime documentaries, it's just

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actual crime. The best part Meta's terms of service say

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they can make suggestions about what to follow, because nothing

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says suggestion quite like surprise, you're now following the entire

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Trump administration. That's not a suggestion. That's a hostile takeover

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of your follow list. Remember when the scariest thing about

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Facebook was your ant's political rants. Check your doge coin

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to see if it went up, mind did. There is

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now a URL for the Department of Government Efficiency, which

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leads to a very minimal landing page with the shiba

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Enu dog that is identified with the original doge meme

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from over.

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A decade ago.

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Nothing says streamlining government bureaucracy quite like turning a federal

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website into a mid twenty tens meme. Welcome to twenty

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twenty five, where your tax dollars are funding a shiba

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enu on a government domain. You've got to appreciate the

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irony here. They created an entire new department to eliminate departments.

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And what better way to show you're serious about government

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efficiency than by making your website look like it was

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designed during a lunch break.

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In twenty thirteen.

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I hear they almost went with this is fine dot gov,

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but the dog in that meme was already busy with

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the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Remember when government went websites

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were just boring and didn't work.

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Now they're gimmicky and don't work.

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That's what I call progress, though I have to admit

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there's something poetic about using a dog meme to represent

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government waste. Both tend to leave unwanted surprises that somebody

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else has to clean up, and Elon musk Our, Nation's

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chief meme officer keeps reminding us that the people voted

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for major reform, though I'm pretty sure when voters said

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they wanted change in Washington, they weren't thinking, you know,

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what would fix government bloat. That funny dog from the

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Internet speaking of Elon. So now we're analyzing Elon Musk's

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interpretive dance moves, because that's exactly what America needs right now,

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a frame by frame breakdown of a billionaire's wave gone wrong.

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This guy can't even post a tweet without causing an

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international incident, and now we're debating his gesture skills like

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he's auditioning for dancing with the Silicon Valley Store. I

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don't know about you, but I don't give off too

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many accidentally hile salutes. This is a man who named

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his kid after his WiFi password. His awkward movements are

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about as surprising as finding out Mark Zuckerberg sleeps standing

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up in a charging station, and of course, social media

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immediately turned into the world's largest game of charades. Half

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the Internet is playing armchair historian while the other half

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is probably trying.

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To mint the moment as an NFT.

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The ADL had to come out and basically say, everybody,

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calm down, he's just being Elon. When you need the

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Anti Defamation League to defend your dancing, maybe it's time

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to stick to the robot. At least that one's on brand.

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If anyone knows about Hollywood. It's three guys who spent

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all of Trump's first term complaining about Hollywood. Trump's making

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sliced alone, Mel Gibson and John Voyt his special ambassadors

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to fix Hollywood. You know, because when you think cutting

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edge entertainment industry experts, you think of three guys who

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peaked during the Reagan administration. They're worried about production moving

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to places like Canada and the UK, which makes sense.

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I mean, who wouldn't trust mel Gibson to handle delicate

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international negotiations that's always gone great. Trump says these three

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will be his eyes and ears, though given their average

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age is around seventy five, maybe more like his reading

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glasses and hearing aids. But hey, maybe these three ambassadors

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will succeed. After all, nothing says we understand the future

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of entertainment like three guys who probably still have answering machines.

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Portions of today's program were made with the help of

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AI Rocky three, Lethal Weapon two, and whatever John Boyd

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was in