Oct. 14, 2025

Trump's Mystery Peace Deal & Marc Maron's WTF Signs Off with Obama

Show Notes
Transcript

President Trump declares the Gaza war over with a document nobody read that neither side signed. Marc Maron ends his sixteen-year podcast run with Obama dropping by to discuss partial victories and not annoying people into fascism. And John Legend tries positive reinforcement on Trump, promising him a Nobel Prize if he'll just stop with all the dictator stuff.

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Kalaruga shark media from Egypt, where there's a KFC across

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the street from the Pyramids. Look it up. This is Ballad.

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That's right. And I know a guy who looks like

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he eats a lot of fried chicken when not making

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peace in the Middle East. Let's hit this. I'm Patrick Guttfield,

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and President Trump declared the war in Gaza over on Monday.

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He said this in a speech to the Israeli Parliament,

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and then at a summit in Egypt, twenty hostages came

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home to Israel in exchange for nearly two thousand Palestinian prisoners. Now,

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Trump being Trump, he couldn't just give a normal diplomatic

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speech to the Kanesset. He went full campaign rally mode.

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We're talking lengthy digressions, praising himself, taking shots at Biden

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and Obama. At one point, he looked directly at Israel's

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President Isaac Herzog and urged him to pardon Prime Minister

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Netan Yahoo, who is literally on trial for bribery. That's right.

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Trump just casually suggested pardoning a guy in the middle

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of a corruption trial. Very on brand. The hostage exchange

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itself was emotional. Ainov Zangauker got to video call her

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son Mattin for the first time in two years. She

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told him, you are coming home. Trump then flew to Egypt,

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where President Elcci greeted him at a red sea resort

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in charm El Shaikh. El Cci declared enough war, welcome

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to peace. They signed some document along with leaders from

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Turkey and Katar. The only problem nobody knows what was

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actually in the document, and neither Israel nor Hummas signed it,

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so we had this big ceremonial signing for a mystery

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document that the actual parties involved didn't even put their

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names on. Trump also ran into Mahmudabas, the president of

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the Palestinian Authority, for the first time since twenty seventeen.

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This is the same guy Trump's administration denied a visa

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to last month, so we couldn't attend the UN General Assembly.

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Abas had to address everyone by video link. But at

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the summit, Trump pointed at him and said, it's good

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to have you from you can't come to New York

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to good to have you in about four weeks. Here's

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the thing, though, plenty of questions remain, will Hamas disarm,

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will the ceasefire actually hold, who's paying to rebuild Gaza,

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Who's going to govern it? The ceasefire agreement requires Hamas

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to hand over the bodies of at least twenty six

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hostages who died in captivity. Hamas says that'll be tough

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to do in the three day window. The hostages and

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missing persons families for him is already accusing Hamas of

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not following the agreement. But hey, Trump called it the

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historic dawn of a new Middle East, so I guess

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we'll see. Mark Maren wrapped his podcast after sixteen years,

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and Barack Obama showed up for the final episode. Obama

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asked how Maren was feeling about ending the show. Maren

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said he's nervous about what comes next. Obama told him

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to take a beat, be brain dead for a while,

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read books, go on trips. Obama defended long form podcasts.

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People criticized Bernie for going on Rogan, but why wouldn't

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you having conversations as democracy? The problem is when everything

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gets chopped into clips. Maren joked that progressives have annoyed

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the average American into fascism. Obama loved it, but said, yeah,

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Democrats need to stop being scolds all the time, he

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told Maren that democracy requires accepting partial victory, not perfection.

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When he was president, he'd tell his staff better is good.

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We're not getting to perfect. The Affordable Care Act wasn't

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single payer, but it ensured fifty million people. This sense

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that things aren't worth it unless we get everything leads

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to doing nothing, Obama said. His daughter Malia once asked

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what to tell her friends who feel hopeless about climate change.

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He told her, yeah, we'll probably blow through the target.

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But if we can stop the temperature increase at two

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point five five degrees instead of three, that half a

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degree could save a billion people. That's worth working for.

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At the end, Obama told Marin, most people are really decent.

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When they hear someone else who is, it gives them

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courage and hope. John Legend has some advice for President Trump.

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Drop the dictator crap if you want that Nobel Peace Prize.

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The singer posted a video on Instagram Sunday where he

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decided to try what he called positive reinforcement with the president.

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Legend actually praised Trump for his role in the Gaza

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ceasefire deal, calling him instrumental in bringing about this new

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peace deal. He said he wants Trump to win the

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Nobel Peace Prize. Yes, really. Now, Legend has been a

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longtime Trump critic, but he explained his logic. He said,

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if Trump is able to actually earn the Peace Prize,

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it probably won't be enough that he's helped bring peace

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to the Middle East. Translation, Trump would have to stop

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doing all the other stuff. What other stuff, Well, Legend

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laid it out. Stop sending the military into our cities

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simply because they're run by democrats. Stop sending masked, unaccountable

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ICE agents to torment immigrant communities. Stop ordering the prosecution

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of his political opponents on flimsy charges. Then he really

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got to the point, he'd have to stop all this

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authoritarian dictator crap, all the fascist crap, all the inhumane

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crap he's been trying to do. Legend's pitch is basically this,

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we should all want Trump to win the Nobel Peace

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Prize because imagine everything he'd have to do to actually

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deserve it. He told Trump, you have another year to

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work on this. It's going to require a serious change

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in your governing philosophy and your behavior. Then Legend went

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full parenting mode. He said, as a parent, I've learned

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that kids respond really well to positive reinforcement. So Donald,

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we've tried negative reinforcement, impeachment, indictments, voting you out of office,

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So let's try positive promise. If you get it together,

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you change your awful behavior, you're going to get that

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Peace Prize that you so so badly desire, and I'll

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be so proud of you, so proud. Portions of today's

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show were made with the help of AI and WTF