Oct. 3, 2025

Trump's World Cup Power Play, Melania's $90 Ornaments & LA's Million Dollar Bathroom

Show Notes
Transcript

President Trump discovers that hosting the World Cup gives him more leverage than a UN Security Council seat, threatening to move games away from cities run by "radical left lunatics" while holding cards on Israel's potential soccer suspension. Melania launches a Christmas ornament collection in October featuring American landmarks for ninety dollars each - because nothing says holiday spirit like spending that much on a miniature Statue of Liberty. And Los Angeles approves a one million dollar two-stall bathroom at Runyon Canyon, proving that even porta potty upgrades can become budget disasters in California. That's nearly half a million dollars per toilet, making this the most expensive place to take a break in American history.

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Kalaroga Shark media from Washington, DC, where it's Christmas in October.

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This is ballid. That's right, the president is turning the

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capital into Washington QBC. Let's hit this. I'm Patrick Guttfield,

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and President Trump has discovered that hosting the World Cup

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gives him more diplomatic leverage than a UN Security Council

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seat and better ratings than the Olympics combined. While other

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Western leaders were at the United Nations last week announcing

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recognition of a Palestinian state, Trump could only watch from

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the sidelines. But now that soccer's governing bodies are considering

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suspending Israel from international competition, the same fate that befell

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Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, suddenly Trump holds all

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the cards. UEFA's executive committee could vote to suspend Israel

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from European competition, which would effectively banish the country from

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international soccer entirely. And Trump, who has already proposed lifting

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Russia's soccer ban as part of a potential peace deal,

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now finds himself as possibly the only world leader who

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can prevent Israel from getting the same treatment. Here's where

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things get interesting. Trump has also suggested he might move

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World Cup matches away from cities he considers unsafe. When

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asked about Seattle and San Francisco, two of the eleven

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US host cities, Trump called them places run by radical

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left lunatics who don't know what they're doing. Trump mentioned

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Memphis in Chicago as possible replacement cities, saying we're going

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into Memphis, and we're going into some other cities very soon.

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We're going into Chicago. It'll be safe for the World Cup,

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which makes it sound like he's planning a military operation

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instead of a soccer tournament. The president went on to

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say that if any city seems even a little bit

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dangerous for the World Cup or the twenty twenty eight Olympics,

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we won't allow it. We'll move it around a little bit.

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So apparently Trump's foreign policy strategy now involves threatening to

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relocate sporting events like their campaign rallies. Meanwhile, the World

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Cup draw is scheduled for December fifth at the Kennedy

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Center in Washington, where they'll determine the tournament schedule for

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all forty eight participating teams. At this rate, they might

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need to schedule a backup draw in case Trump decides

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to reorganize the entire tournament based on his personal safety assessments,

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or decides to World Cup draw as too woke. Like

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most Kennedy Center events, Milania Trump has launched a new

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line of Christmas ornaments called Celebrating America, because apparently October

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is the new December when it comes to holiday marketing.

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The collection features miniature versions of American landmarks like the

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Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, and Mount Rushmore, all

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priced between seventy five and ninety dollars. Now ninety dollars

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for a Christmas ornament is quite the investment. For that price,

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you could buy an actual small Christmas tree, but then

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you wouldn't get Malania's signature engraved on it, which apparently

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adds significant value to your holiday decorating experience. The ornaments

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are designed to celebrate America's upcoming two hundred and fiftieth

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anniversary in twenty twenty six, which gives them a patriotic

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theme that's either deeply meaningful or incredibly convenient for marketing purposes.

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Each purchase also includes what they're calling a special three

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dimensional animated digital collectible, because even Christmas ornaments need NFTs. Now,

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Malania explained that she sought inspiration in our nation's upcoming

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two hundred and fiftieth birthday and all of the holiday

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blessings that we enjoy as Americans, which is a beautiful sentiment,

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though one of those American blessings apparently includes the freedom

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to sell overpriced holiday decorations in September. The First Lady

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has been in the ornament business since twenty twenty two,

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expanding into various products including NFT releases, a two hundred

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and forty five dollars Mother's Day necklace, and watercolor paintings.

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At this point, she's basically running a luxury lifestyle brand

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from the East wing. President Trump has promised a grand

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celebration worthy of the momentous occasion for the two hundred

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and fiftieth anniversary next year, so these ornaments are essentially

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advance merchandise for America's birthday party, which is either patriotic

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planning or the most elaborate souvenir shop strategy and political history.

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The ornaments are available for pre order on both Malania's

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personal website and something called USA memorabilia dot Com, which

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sounds like where you'd go to buy a piece of

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the Berlin wall or a chunk of the original constitution.

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Los Angeles has approved a plan to build a one

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million dollar public restroom at Runyon Canyon, proving that even

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bathroom breaks can become budget disasters in California. The city

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signed off on spending nine hundred and sixty thousand dollars

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for a two stall bathroom at the entrance to the

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popular Hollywood Hiking Trail. For context, that's nearly half a

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million dollars per toilet, which makes airplane bathroom prices look reasonable.

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Local residents are understandably upset, especially since the city had

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to slash its fire department budget last year. Ark currently

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uses porta potties, which a city spokesman described as scruffy

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and often smelly. So essentially, Los Angeles is spending a

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million dollars to upgrade from portable toilets that smell bad

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to permanent toilets that presumably smell better. That's two hundred

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thousand dollars per improvement in oder quality. Mayor Karen Bass's

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office defended the project, noting that the park welcomes two

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million visitors per year. That breaks down to about fifty

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cents per visitor for bathroom construction. Costs, which actually sounds

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reasonable until you remember they could have built the same

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thing for half the price. The city statement promised the

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new facility would make parks safe, clean, accessible, and enjoyable

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for Angelinos and visitors alike, though at a million dollars,

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this bathroom better come with concierge service and complementary towels.

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

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a very expensive bathroom break and ai