The A.M. Update

Latest Episodes:

Going to Plan in Venezuela? | Talarico Already Backpedaling? | 5/28/26 May 28, 2026

Show notes

Scott Bessent, Pete Hegseth, James Talarico, Mike Pence, and the Delaney Hall ICE protests headline today's A.M. Update. Trump's cabinet meeting covers Iran negotiations, Scott Bessent calling ongoing price increases transitory and projecting 4.3% GDP growth this quarter, Marco Rubio's update on the Venezuela three-step plan, and Pete Hegseth revealing that at Trump's personal directive the U.S. hunted and killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, ISIS's number two in Nigeria and the most active terrorist in the world, along with hundreds of other ISIS fighters who were slaughtering Nigerian Christians. James Talarico goes on CBS and calls his own "God is non-binary" comment cringy while still trying to defend it, and Aaron takes apart his attempted Pauline justification piece by piece. Federal agents deploy pepper spray and batons against anti-ICE protesters blockading the Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, including a viral moment where the crowd cheers two brown-skinned men walking out before realizing they are ICE agents. Mike Pence crawls out of his spider hole to complain about mean politics, and Aaron reads John Adams calling Alexander Hamilton a bastard to make his point. Aaron closes with new research showing 75% of consumers including 79% of parents support adults-only dining options, set against the backdrop of the ongoing Christian slaughter in Nigeria, and a challenge to put it all in proper perspective.

Paxton Beats Cornyn | How Deep Does the Fraud Go? | Pratt Wants ICE Out | 5/27/26 May 27, 2026

Show notes

Ken Paxton, James Talarico, JD Vance, Stephen Miller, Spencer Pratt, and Zohran Mamdani headline today's A.M. Update. Ken Paxton defeats incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the Texas Republican Senate runoff, setting up a November race against Democrat James Talarico, and Aaron plays a clip of Talarico using his Christian faith to defend abortion access and takes it apart piece by piece. JD Vance chairs a bipartisan anti-fraud roundtable with 15 state attorneys general including Connecticut and Oregon, and Stephen Miller expands on his claim that rooting out welfare fraud at scale could balance the federal budget, tracing the collapse of the honor system to decades of mass immigration from cultures that don't share it. Zohran Mamdani threatens to seize and redistribute property from negligent New York City landlords, and Aaron points out the city's own regulations are what drove the neglect in the first place. A resurfaced Spencer Pratt video from February shows him saying he does not want ICE in LA either, and then explaining exactly why Karen Bass is the one who keeps inviting them in. A new Christian mobile carrier called Radiant Mobile launches on the T-Mobile network with a network-level firewall blocking pornography and other harmful content, tied to research showing pornography is a problem for 74% of Gen Z men. Aaron closes with the story of biking 36 miles to work and back on a 90-degree day, and the fountain Dr Pepper from Casey's that almost saved his life at mile 34.

Iran Deal Forming? | Massie's Epstein Bombshell Threat | Aaron Comes Out on AI (Kind Of) | 5/26/26 May 26, 2026

Show notes

Iran deal rumors, Thomas Massie, Camille Kiefel, Bryan Walsh at Vox, and Chris Olah of Anthropic headline today's A.M. Update. Trump's Memorial Day Truth Social post lays out his framework for an Iran settlement, demanding Saudi Arabia and Qatar sign the Abraham Accords first, while Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian goes on state television to say Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons, and Marco Rubio cautions that paper agreements still have to be implemented. A gunman opens fire at a Secret Service checkpoint outside the White House on Saturday and is killed, with a bystander also hit by gunfire. Freshly ousted Rep. Thomas Massie goes on the media circuit promising to read the full Epstein client list on the House floor before he leaves Congress, and Aaron calls it not finishing well. Detransitioner Camille Kiefel reaches a reported $3.5 million settlement against the two Oregon therapists who approved her double mastectomy after brief Zoom calls. A veteran Vox climate journalist named Bryan Walsh admits that over a decade of apocalyptic climate coverage was built on an imaginary worst-case model called RCP8.5, not actual forecasting. Aaron closes with Chris Olah's remarks at the Vatican on AI's unsettling inner workings, and Aaron's own personal story: 82 app builds, two hours saved every day, and a pregnancy app for his wife now pending Apple review.

Potty Mouth Democrats | Raúl Castro Indicted | What Is Jeff Bezos Up To? | 5/21/26 May 21, 2026

Show notes

Graham Platner, Maureen Galindo, Raúl Castro, Jeff Bezos, and Pete Hegseth headline today's A.M. Update. Trump calls out Senate Republicans for keeping Obama-era parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough in place, and Aaron uses John Cornyn's non-answer about his Senate record to lay out exactly why he deserved the Paxton endorsement — the list of accomplishments is a long silence. Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner takes another hit as a resurfaced Reddit post shows him mocking a Purple Heart recipient who was shot four times by the Taliban, while Texas 35th district Democrat Maureen Galindo faces backlash even from her own party after pledging to turn the Karnes ICE detention center into a prison for American Zionists, and a castration facility. The DOJ unseals a 1996 indictment against Raúl Castro for the shootdown of two unarmed Brothers to the Rescue aircraft, with acting AG Todd Blanche announcing the charges to an enthusiastic Miami crowd. Jeff Bezos does a wide-ranging CNBC interview calling for zero income taxes on the bottom 50% of earners and criticizing corporate welfare — and Aaron unpacks why the taxation idea would actually increase class resentment. Aaron closes with Pete Hegseth's Rededicate 250 remarks on George Washington kneeling in the snow at Valley Forge.

Massie Is OUT | Paxton Gets the Nod | Senate GOP, You Don't Get to Cry | 5/20/26 May 20, 2026

Show notes

Thomas Massie, Ken Paxton, Karoline Leavitt, Canada's euthanasia laws, and Marco Rubio headline today's A.M. Update. Trump scores another primary scalp as Ed Gallrein defeats Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky's 4th district — the most expensive House primary on record — while Trump simultaneously endorses Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in next week's Texas Senate runoff, leaving Senate Majority Leader John Thune visibly rattled. JD Vance steps in for Karoline Leavitt at the White House briefing and defends Trump's "I don't think about Americans' finances" comment for over an hour, and the NAACP calls for a student athlete boycott of Southern state universities over redistricting. A resurfaced comment from a Quebec College of Physicians member proposing euthanasia for disabled infants up to one year old prompts Aaron's broader warning about Canada's medically assisted dying laws and the slippery slope from allowance to coercion. Aaron closes with Marco Rubio's Rededicate 250 address tracing America's Christian foundation from the Puritans to the moon landing, and a sharp response to various voices crying about an ungovernable Senate: all you had to do was pass the SAVE Act.

Trump Calls Off Iran Strike Again | Growlers Collide at Idaho Air Show | Rededicate 250 | 5/19/26 May 19, 2026

Show notes

Trump calls off Iran strike again, the Mangione murder weapon ruling, Gavin Newsom's "break the glass" threat, and Rededicate 250 headline today's A.M. Update. Trump posts on Truth Social that Gulf state leaders asked him to hold off on a planned attack on Iran — again — as Aaron flatly says he no longer thinks there's a plan. Luigi Mangione loses his bid to suppress the murder weapon at trial but wins a small evidence ruling, while three women from his fan club show up at the courthouse to celebrate and say things Aaron calls "wack." A security guard is killed in a shooting at San Diego's largest mosque as two apparent suspects are found dead nearby, and a fast-moving wind-driven wildfire scorches more than 500 acres in Simi Valley. Gavin Newsom hints at a "break the glass" scenario if Democrats get frozen out of California's gubernatorial jungle primary. Zohran Mamdani tries to riff on Reagan's famous government quote and Aaron isn't impressed. All four crew members eject safely after two Navy EA-18G Growlers collide at the Gunfighter Skies Air Show at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, Texas Children's Hospital agrees to a $10 million settlement and opens the nation's first detransition clinic, and Aaron closes with JD Vance's Rededicate 250 speech and a challenge to listeners not to take religious freedom for granted.

Bomb in the Water Supply | Trump's China Win? | AOTMA | 5/15/26 May 15, 2026

Show notes

Trump's China visit, Boeing jets, an IED found at an Alabama dam, Abdul El-Sayed, Hasan Piker, the Temple Israel attack, and an abortion pill at a gender reveal party headline today's A.M. Update. Aaron also covers the Air Force rescue of 11 Bahamian plane crash survivors, Watertown Wisconsin's school board walkout over a trans-themed concert piece, the CIA-DNI standoff, data centers, foreign land ownership, and a late-night theology question about Satan in the garden.

COVID Coverup Confirmed | California's BILLION Dollar Problem | 5/14/26 May 14, 2026

Show notes

Trump lands in China with Elon Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in tow, as the State Department simultaneously sanctions four Chinese companies for giving Iran satellite imagery to attack U.S. bases, and a CIA whistleblower testifies publicly before Rand Paul's committee that the intelligence community deliberately covered up the COVID lab leak — and that Fauci's role was intentional. JD Vance announces $1.3 billion in withheld Medicaid payments to California over rampant fraud, with Mehmet Oz revealing that 780 out of 800 booted fraudulent providers never even called to dispute it. Rand Paul's son William Paul goes on a drunken antisemitic tirade at a DC bar directed at Rep. Mike Lawler, King Charles pushes a digital ID decree that Aaron says is a perfect reminder of why America fought the Revolution, the Pope's apparent diplomatic honor to Iran's ambassador turns out to be a routine Vatican practice that Iranian state media ran with anyway, and Hannah Harper, a Missouri stay-at-home mom of three, wins American Idol with a song about postpartum depression.

Inflation Hits Hard | Makary Out at FDA | Mail-Order Abortion Pill Fight | 5/13/26 May 13, 2026

Show notes

The latest CPI report shows inflation at its highest point since May 2023, with fuel oil up 54% and gasoline up 28%, as Trump deflects a question about Americans' financial pain by saying his only focus is keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigns under pressure from pro-life groups and the White House over his handling of mifepristone, while 23 states file a Supreme Court brief to block mail-order distribution of the drug, and General Dan Caine tells the Senate that maximum pressure on Iran is holding but the timeline is a political decision. FBI Director Kash Patel fires back at a senator grilling him with personal allegations, Rand Paul announces a CIA whistleblower will testify publicly on COVID origins, a Russian ship suspected of carrying nuclear technology to North Korea mysteriously sank in the Mediterranean, a 78-year-old Northern Ireland pastor is convicted for preaching near a hospital, and the U.S. withdraws from the UN Global Compact on Migration.

Iran Ceasefire on Life Support | China Spy Mayor | Cignetti at the White House | 5/12/26 May 12, 2026

Show notes

Trump says the Iran ceasefire is "on life support" after the latest round of failed negotiations, while praising Xi Jinping ahead of their China meeting and hinting bombs could drop again within days. The Arcadia, California mayor Eileen Wang has been charged as an illegal agent of the Chinese Communist Party, and reports surface that Trump may be considering allowing China to invest $1 trillion on American soil. Dr. Deborah Birx reappears on cable news calling for more PCR testing over the hantavirus outbreak, Democrats threaten judicial reform after losing the Virginia redistricting battle, Netanyahu says he wants to draw down U.S. military aid to zero over the next decade, Coach Curt Cignetti and the national champion Indiana Hoosiers are honored at the White House, and Aaron closes with a deeper look at Spencer Pratt's political instincts and what he reminds him of.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected