• Whether we like it or not, the 2024 campaign season has officially kicked off, after Donald Trump announced he’s running for president for the third time. But many of his allies are already eyeing the exits.
• Tensions have eased after NATO officials said a missile that killed two people in Poland came from neighboring Ukraine – not from Russia as originally suspected, though world leaders say the Kremlin is still to blame for the deadly explosion.
• And in headlines: a Senate bill to protect same-sex marriage cleared a major legislative hurdle, a federal judge struck down the controversial Trump-era border policy known as Title 42, and NASA finally launched its Artemis 1 moon mission.

Show Notes:

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TRANSCRIPT

Priyanka Aribindi: It’s Thursday, November 17th. I’m Priyanka Aribindi. 

Juanita Tolliver: And I’m Juanita Tolliver, and this is What A Day, the podcast that is working hard every day to avoid being named as a defendant in a cryptocurrency lawsuit. 

Priyanka Aribindi: I mean, we repeatedly tell you we don’t know what we’re talking about [laughter] every single time it comes up. So I don’t know how it would happen. Some people are very litigious. 

Juanita Tolliver: Disclaimers have been delivered. [music break] On today’s show, the Senate narrowly advanced legislation to protect same sex marriage. Plus, a conservative Christian actress is facing backlash after her remarks about, quote unquote, “traditional marriage.” 

Priyanka Aribindi: But first, the 2024 campaign season officially kicked off on Tuesday night when Donald Trump announced that he would be running for president for the third time. We said we didn’t want to talk about it honestly. We feel the same way today, but it’s in the news and this is our job. So we have to unfortunately. 

Juanita Tolliver: Truly, we did our best to avoid it. But the man who attempted a coup and incited a violent insurrection decided to ruin primetime television in order to announce that he will continue to drag the Republican Party down with him in 2024. He made his official campaign announcement Tuesday night at Mar-a-Lago and Priyanka how’d it go over. How was it received? 

Priyanka Aribindi: Well, he uh painted a very dark picture of our country and said he wanted to, quote, “make America great and glorious again.” So uh. 

Juanita Tolliver: Not glorious.

Priyanka Aribindi: New tagline, everybody. MAGAGA. Gag.

Juanita Tolliver: Right. Gag–

Priyanka Aribindi: Um. 

Juanita Tolliver: –Is the only appropriate response. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Yeah, but it was described as an unusually subdued event for Trump. He mostly stuck to the script. There was only one reference to the fake news media. And speaking of the country’s three major broadcast networks ABC, NBC and CBS, none of them carried this announcement live. NPR did it best in my book. They tweeted the breaking news announcement, but they made sure to include that he tried to overthrow the 2020 election results and inspired an insurrection against this country’s government all in that same announcement. That should be in all the coverage of this event from now and throughout this campaign, however long he sticks around like that should be in every single sentence we utter about this man. But my personal favorite, I will say, was from the New York Post, which is a sentence I don’t think I’ve ever said before, but he barely made a headline on the front page. At the very bottom of the front page. It said, Florida man makes an announcement, which that’s it. No context. Nothing.

Juanita Tolliver: That was all. 

Priyanka Aribindi: And that is all. That was all. Which I mean, Donald Trump is the quintessential Florida man. 

Juanita Tolliver: Right. 

Priyanka Aribindi: And I suppose he made an announcement so great. They did it great. 

Juanita Tolliver: Lol. And I feel like this is yet another Murdoch publication burn for Trump. So that’s got to be driving him crazy. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Yeah. 

Juanita Tolliver: And I would love it if we could call him Florida Man for the duration of the 2024 election cycle. So he is officially Florida man on this show when you’re listening and we say Florida man. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Yes. 

Juanita Tolliver: We’re talking about Trump. Apparently during the announcement, a bunch of people tried to leave early, but security at Mar-a-Lago would not let them leave, which feels like a metaphor for how Republicans across the board, save for Marjorie Taylor Greene, of course, have tried to distance themselves from this man. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Yeah, I know. Apart from being, like, totally wild. Definitely is. But it’s not just Republican elected officials. Mega-donors like Blackstone’s CEO Stephen Schwarzman, Citadel founder Ken Griffin and Estee Lauder heir Ronald Lauder have all said that they won’t be supporting Trump in his bid for office. Some of them have already gone so far as to endorse Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has not thrown his hat in the ring or indicated that he will yet nothing official going on there. Many Fox hosts have also indicated over the past week that DeSantis is their preference over Trump, especially after these midterm election results. So definitely something to keep an eye on. And yes, our engineer Bill is in the chat again. Other Florida man, Ron DeSantis. It’s a battle of the Florida man. 

Juanita Tolliver: Good one Bill. [laughing] 

Priyanka Aribindi: I don’t know how I feel about it, actually I feel pretty bad. We don’t like it. But we touched on this yesterday. You know, just because Donald Trump has named himself a candidate now, this doesn’t mean his legal troubles are going anywhere. The Justice Department is still continuing with its probes. And as a reminder, he faces federal investigations over his effort to overturn the 2020 election, which he lost, and for illegally hoarding top secret government documents at his vacation home. And uh he also faces a state probe in Georgia. So really no shortage of action over there. This man has disrupted our peace not only by you know announcing that he’s running for president, it’s going to be a nightmare. We get it. But like there are races that haven’t even been called in the midterm elections like we are– 

Juanita Tolliver: The midterms are all happening. 

Priyanka Aribindi: They’re still going on. And this man just pushed us into 2024. And for that, I mean, there’s so many reasons to hate him forever, but like, just add it to the list. 

Juanita Tolliver: Add it to the list. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Add it to the list. [laughter]

Juanita Tolliver: The highlight for me was Jeb Bush. Remember Trump trolling Jeb exclamation point. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Jeb with an exclamation. Oh yeah.

Juanita Tolliver: Jeb Bush called Trump low energy. And this man is such an easy punching bag right now. He’s an easy target. And as much as I’m here for Republicans turning their back on him, history has shown us that it will not stick. So here’s to the countdown until Republicans come crawling back to Trump yet again. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Totally. 

Juanita Tolliver: But also, speaking of events on Tuesday night, I’m sure a lot of y’all gasped like I did when World War Three started trending on that bird app after news broke that Russian made missiles struck farmland in Poland, killing two people. Well, on Wednesday, Poland, a NATO member, and NATO’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said that the strike appeared to be unintentional and was probably launched by air defenses in neighboring Ukraine. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Okay. So that is a tiny bit of relief that this was not an intentional– 

Juanita Tolliver: Right. 

Priyanka Aribindi: –Issue. But how did Ukrainian officials respond to this update? 

Juanita Tolliver: Well, therein lies a bit of a rub. So mere hours after the missile strike during his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Russians fired the missiles that struck Poland. And on Wednesday, after hearing this explanation from NATO, Zelensky requested a further investigation. He requested access to the site where the missiles hit. He– 

Priyanka Aribindi: Wow. 

Juanita Tolliver: –Requested all the evidence. Right. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Okay. 

Juanita Tolliver: So a critical piece of context here, though, is that at the time of the strike at the Poland-Ukraine border, Russia was bombarding Ukraine with a series of strikes that targeted Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, specifically their power grid. In response, Ukraine fired off a volley of defense missiles. And Polish President Andrzej Duda stated on Wednesday that it’s, quote, “highly probable that one of these missiles from Ukraine unfortunately fell on Polish territory.” And that, quote, “there is nothing, absolutely nothing to suggest that it was an intentional attack on Poland.” Here’s what the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, had to say about the incident during a press conference on Wednesday: 

[clip of Lloyd Austin] We’re still gathering information, but we have seen nothing that contradicts President Duda’s preliminary assessment that this explosion was most likely the result of a Ukrainian air defense missile that unfortunately landed in Poland. And whatever the final conclusions may be, the world knows that Russia bears ultimate responsibility for this incident. Russia launched another barrage of missiles against Ukraine, specifically intended to target Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure. This tragic and troubling incident is yet another reminder of the recklessness of Russia’s war of choice. 

Juanita Tolliver: I appreciate so much that the Secretary of defense emphasized that Russia is ultimately to blame here. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Even though the investigation is ongoing. I’m sure a lot of folks, myself included, are breathing a little sigh of relief that this was not like some kind of intentional attack here. 

Juanita Tolliver: You definitely got that right. And as we mentioned on yesterday’s show, if these missiles were fired by Moscow, that would trigger Article five of NATO’s constitution. That’s the part that states that an attack on one member state is an attack on all of them. And thanks to the preliminary hypothesis that was averted. But some are saying that this was like a fire drill exercise. It’s just that we were all an anxious mess for 20 hours or so while they sorted out the details. And what seems to be an odd coincidence is that all of this happened during the G20 summit where a number of NATO members were meeting in person in Indonesia. Needless to say, this incident upended a lot of their plan business as the leaders held an emergency meeting. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Yeah, I can imagine this was not what they thought they were going to be talking about, nor what they wanted to be discussing. 

Juanita Tolliver: Right. And even with this momentary sigh of relief. There are still growing concerns about how Russia’s invasion could ultimately lead to expanded conflict outside of Ukraine. Much of Europe and the world has been on edge for the past eight months since this invasion began, and that has certainly intensified after this week’s incident. We’ll definitely keep everyone apprized as Poland conducts this investigation, but that’s the latest for now. We’ll be back after some ads. 

[AD BREAK] 

Priyanka Aribindi: Let’s wrap up with some headlines. 

[sung] Headlines. 

Juanita Tolliver: The Senate moved a step closer yesterday toward passing legislation to protect same sex marriage. A dozen Republicans joined Democrats to advance the Respect for Marriage Act, clearing the threshold to break a filibuster. The idea here is to create a safety net for same sex couples, if the Supreme Court ever overturns Obergefell v Hodges, the landmark decision that legalized gay marriage nationwide. Now, the bill wouldn’t mandate that all states legalize gay marriage. Instead, it will require them to recognize same sex marriages performed in states where it is legal. The Senate could pass the bill by the end of the week before sending it to the House where it’s likely to pass, while Democrats still hold the majority for the time being. You know. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Yeah. That is like the saddest statement. It’s likely to pass, but just for now. 

Juanita Tolliver: Just for now. 

Priyanka Aribindi: It probably wouldn’t if we did this a little while from now, sadly. 

Juanita Tolliver: That’s exactly right. 

Priyanka Aribindi: A federal judge on Tuesday struck down the controversial Trump era border policy known as Title 42. To jog your memory, Title 42 was cast as a public health order in the early days of the pandemic, and it allowed border authorities to expel migrants trying to get into the U.S. from Mexico. Although President Biden criticized Trump’s immigration policies on the campaign trail, his administration has continued to enforce this particular rule. The judge overseeing the case called Title 42, quote, “arbitrary and capricious” but the order to end it won’t go into effect until December 21st. 

Juanita Tolliver: The little space mission that could, NASA’s Artemis One finally launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, early yesterday morning after numerous setbacks. 

[clip of unspecified NASA announcer] 3, 2, 1 boosters and ignition and liftoff of Artemis One. 

Juanita Tolliver: You may remember we talked about the Artemis mission back in September when it was originally scheduled to launch. But after months of delays from technical difficulties and extreme weather hitting the Sunshine State, the massive rocket system finally took flight. This historic flight will put an Uncrewed space capsule in orbit around the moon for the next three weeks before it returns to Earth. The mission is expected to pave the way for American astronauts to return to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Someone needs to update the white board because it has been just zero days since the last insane update out of Twitter. Except, you know, that white board has been stuck at zero. 

Juanita Tolliver: We have never gotten to one day. 

Priyanka Aribindi: New CEO Elon Musk just gave the company’s remaining employees an ultimatum. He demanded that they commit to being, quote, “extremely hard core” not a joke, not an exaggeration, that is a direct quote, “or resign.”. 

Juanita Tolliver: Yikes. 

Priyanka Aribindi: In an email sent yesterday morning with the subject line, a fork in the road, Musk said workers have until 5 p.m. Eastern today to decide whether they want to work, quote, “long hours of high intensity to create Twitter 2.0 or take three months of severance pay.” Spoiler alert. Take the fucking pay. Get the fuck out of there. 

Juanita Tolliver: Cut and run. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Yeah. Leave. Twitter employees who stay on can take respite in the fact that maybe, just maybe, all the chaos that they are experiencing could be temporary. Musk said yesterday that he expects to eventually reduce his time at Twitter and find someone else to run the company. 

Juanita Tolliver: There were just too many maybes in that for me, Priyanka. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Yup. 

Juanita Tolliver: I feel like take the money and run is the only plausible option at this point. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Get out of there. 

Juanita Tolliver: And send your lumps of coal to Candace Cameron Bure, the former Full House star who’s appeared in dozens of Hallmark Christmas movies. She’s been criticized for recent comments many have rightly called out as homophobic. Bure recently took on a new role as the chief creative officer at a faith based cable network, Great American Family. The name alone is weird. 

Priyanka Aribindi: It literally spells gaffe. 

Juanita Tolliver: It spells gaffe, y’all. And in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, she said she doesn’t think her new channel will feature same sex couples in leading roles, saying, quote, “I think the great American family will keep traditional marriage at its core.” Traditional here is being read as code for straight and more likely than not, white too. Following widespread backlash against her comments, she posted a lengthy statement yesterday on Instagram that read in part, quote, “To everyone reading this of any race, creed, sexuality or political party, including those who have tried to bully me with name calling. I love you.” D.J. Tanner. Girl, keep it. I don’t want that. I don’t want it. This woman has made it explicitly clear what she thinks of people who look, live, and love differently from her. So miss me with that weak ass statement. 

Priyanka Aribindi: No interest in that. Also, just a side note here. You’re an Instagram user and you go to this woman’s page to see her apology post because it’s in the news. You can see everybody who you follow, who you know, who follows this person. And there are too many for my comfort here, like everyone can see. So just so you know, if you have these people, you’re following them. Everyone can fucking see it. So do yourself a favor, unfollow. 

Juanita Tolliver: This is a direct message to all of Priyanka’s friends who follow Cameron. [laughing]

Priyanka Aribindi: It’s all out there, guys. It’s embarrassing. It is embarrassing. 

Juanita Tolliver: Hate to see it. 

Priyanka Aribindi: And those are the headlines. [music break[ That is all for today. 

Juanita Tolliver: If you like the show, make sure you subscribe. Leave a review. Send a lump of coal and tell your friends to listen. 

Priyanka Aribindi: And if you’re into reading and not just New York Post headlines like me, apparently, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter, check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. 

Juanita Tolliver: I’m Juanita Tolliver.

Priyanka Aribindi: I’m Priyanka Aribindi. 

[spoken together] And you did it Artemis One! 

Juanita Tolliver: Blast off no that was really cool though. 

Priyanka Aribindi: It was. I was not expecting that. [laughter] I saw we had a clip in there. I didn’t know that was what the clip was going to be. 

Juanita Tolliver: Highly technical language here, right? Like it’s a serious mission. 

Priyanka Aribindi: I was like, oh, cool. [laughter] What A Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Bill Lancz. Jazzi Marine and Raven Yamamoto are our associate producers. Our head writer is Jon Millstein and our executive producer is Lita Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.