Trump Isn't Friends With Dolly Parton or George Washington (w. Hannah Solow)
Brief Recess: A Legal Podcast with Michael Foote & Mélissa Malebranche
Michael Foote and Mélissa Malebranche dive into a mix of pop culture, political satire, and personal anecdotes in this episode of Brief Rece
Key takeaways
- Trump's repeated use of AI to generate fake images of himself with historical figures like George Washington reveals a pattern of performative spectacle over substance.
Main topics
- Trump's AI-generated images with Dolly Parton and George Washington
- The concept and satire around 'Lake America'
Notable quotes
"He's generating these AI photos of himself as Jesus, a doctor saving soldiers… I just don't understand. It's so stupid. But it's not just stupid. It's actually really confusing."
Conclusion
The episode blends sharp political satire with heartfelt personal stories,
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:01) This is exactly right. Speaker 1 (0:08) Hello. We have incredible news. The Exactly Right Store is having an end of summer sale. From September 3rd through September 7th, you can save up to 30% off storewide on My Favorite Murder and Exactly Right merch. The more you spend, the more you save. Now's the time to grab that shirt, tote, hat, koozie, whatever else has been sitting in your cart for the last three months. Head to exactlyrightstore.com and use code SUMMERSALE for up to 30% off storewide. Some exclusions apply. Goodbye. Speaker 1 (0:42) I'm Nancy Glass, host of the Burden of Guilt Season 3 podcast. This is a story about a horrendous situation that destroyed two families. It's a scorched earth war that shows just how far someone will go to get what they want. Cindy said I had to choose between the truth and my family, and I had to choose the truth. Listen to Season 3 of Burden of Guilt on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If your bookshelf and your For You page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. Pro Society is a weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of discourse. Speaker 1 (1:26) Each week, we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and pop culture with your favorite writers, book talk creators, and plenty of overthought opinions. Yeah, I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. Listen to Pro Society on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 1 (1:49) Welcome to Brief Recess. I'm Michael Foote. I'm Melissa Malbranch. Today we're going to talk about Dolly Parton's death and the suspicious circumstances around the Kardashian sisters. We're going to talk about the GOP majority and how they accomplished Lake America. We're going to talk about all the news and bananas, how you're not a New Yorker until your partner sleeps with your brother. We're going to sit down with our favorite Broadway boob, Hannah Solo, and we're also going to answer all your wicked and wild tales from the DMs, so stick around. Speaker 1 (2:17) I could never pull off a jump. I feel like I've tried on a lot of jumpsuits. Can you stop pruning the foliage? Speaker 1 (2:31) You don't like that? Weird. The most random things annoy me. You know that. Remember when Eric Botcher told us that he doesn't, his parents plant artificial plants in the yard. In the yard, he said? Yes. Okay. That's interesting. I have a friend of mine who has artificial flowers in a pot in front of her house on either side. Oh, maybe it wasn't Eric Botcher. Maybe it was you. Yeah. I know Eric Botcher bought his parents like a fake rubber tree plant. I'm always mixing people up. You know what I do all the time? This is really terrible. When I hear that somebody has died, like a famous person. Sure. It hasn't happened lately. No. So yeah, there isn't anybody who's died lately where I was like, oh, I thought they were already dead. But usually I already think they're dead. And I'm like, oh, so-and-so is still alive? Speaker 1 (3:25) I thought they were dead. Listen, Dolly Parton died. I know. That's actually – I suspect foul play. She was 80. And you know what we don't know? What don't we know? Where were the Kardashians when Dolly Parton died? Why are you doing this? Because I know that they are clawing at the archival outfits to squeeze their bodies into the Dolly Parton looks for the next Mac Gala. Fair. So I want to know an alibi from KK. I feel like here's what I think. Speaker 1 (4:03) Given what we know about Ms. Parton, I think that if they would have just asked her, she would have loaned it to them. I really do think so. Yeah, she was so generous like that. She was so generous. She would just be like, sure. We need to protect the archival outfits from the Kardashians for sure. I think, I mean, yeah, I'm pretty sure they have. Let's get into a sidebar on Dolly Parton. Okay, let's. What's interesting about Dolly Parton is that it's one of those things where Speaker 1 (4:34) She was just always there, right? Like my entire life, Dolly Parton was just there, you know, and didn't think about her one way or another. But every time she popped up, she was cute and bubbly and she had some songs you could sing along to. She was never like doing her big one where she was like, you know, I'm going to go on a 200 city world tour, bombard you with an album. There's going to be a media, a billion dollar media blitz where you can't get away from me. Nope. She was always there. Being iconic, being her incredible self. Yes. And just being one of these people that everybody gravitated towards, right? Because she was so, she was like just so bubbly and cute and everything. Even when she spoke about serious things. Here is what I find outrageous, outraging, enraging. It makes me absolutely sick. I don't know why. Speaker 1 (5:28) She's Melissa's hands are pressed in prayer. She's invoking the Lord. Because I'm just trying to understand, right? The president of the United States keeps on doing this one thing that I think is so fucking weird. Piss off Melissa using this one weird trick. He keeps on generating or somebody on his team, they keep on generating AI images of him doing something. Right. So he so he so I think he tweeted that like he knew her and that she loved him. But instead of and here's the thing, right, from now and from when we knew him before, if there is anything that Donald Trump has always been is a whore for a photo op. Sure. Right. Like he is he's he's hopping in a selfie. He always he wants to be there. So if he did not. Speaker 1 (6:23) take a photo of him and Dolly Parton together and post that. It's because it doesn't exist. Right. He's got about 50 photos with Jeffrey Epstein. Sure. When he should have. He would still, I think if Jeffrey Epstein were still alive, he would be hopping in a photo with him. He'd be like, well, he's getting a lot of coverage. So he generated this AI photo of him and Dolly walking arm in arm. And it's, you know, again, I let us for a moment. Forget what kind of president he is, right? Let's forget for a moment that he's killing the country. Just for a second. Just for a second. Isn't it weird how he keeps on doing this? Like he's generating these AI photos of himself as Jesus, a doctor. A doctor saving soldiers. A doctor saving soldiers. Wait, actually. Speaker 1 (7:19) I feel like where there's no water left for the data centers, we're in a drought. It's so strange. And I just don't understand. Are the people who love him, are they looking at this and being like, oh, yeah, so he's Dolly Parton. Here he is with the plans of the new ballroom walking arm and not arm and arm, but walking George Washington. Right. He's the pope. Plan to the ballroom walking arm in arm with Dolly Parton? No, no, no. With George Washington. Oh, OK. Not arm in arm, though, but he's leading George Washington on a tour looking at the new ballroom. So he's saying this dead president would. Speaker 1 (7:58) Would have loved my plan. My plan for the ballroom. Right. He's generated a photo of himself. Because there's no living former president who would say that the ballroom's a good idea. He had to get George Washington. But it's so, I just don't understand. It's so stupid. But it's not just stupid. It's actually really confusing. It's so confusing. It doesn't make any sense. And it's so. Someone signed up for like the chat GPT pro on his team. And they're like, we've got to get the 1599 worth of this. We've got to get, we've got the Claude fable downloaded on his iPad. We've got to use it. We're going to run out of usage credit. I just, I really, I find it so, I find it actually deeply concerning because I think it just shows a part of him. He is so unhinged. Right. And. Speaker 1 (8:50) You're the president of the United States. Don't you have anything better to do? Why don't you have anything better to do? You're laughing. I am dead. This is my trauma response. I am so serious about this. It is. What are you? What are you doing? What email are you not reading while you're doing this, right? Or like what treaty did you, you forgot to sign that housing bill. You forgot to sign the housing bill, but now it's Lake America. Fuck you. Yes. I mean, get out of here. Lake America. Right. He had time for that. Speaker 1 (9:21) Let's get into algorithm is showing on Lake America. What was he distracting from? What was actually going on? Was it because there were strikes in Iran? I think that's what it was. I think that's what it is. It was the same time this weekend. Because I think this might be the first time or the first time in a while where the United States and Iran have exchanged fire. In like over a month. Yes. Correct. Yeah. So, I mean, I think that this... Speaker 1 (9:48) This president and his administration believe that the American people are like kittens that are very easily distracted by something furry and shiny. Yeah. Right. So let me throw glitter at them so they could look at that. Or like, remember that dog from the Up movie? He's a squirrel. Like, that's what I feel like he thinks that we are. Yes. And it is working to some extent. I find it so insulting. It's insane. It's truly unhinged. And I think that like. Just renaming shit. Why, though? It would be. And so that's the other thing is that like, OK, so to rename something, right? Why? It actually doesn't make any difference. It is stupid. It's like sort of a PR stunt, right? If he actually had an agenda and if MAGA and the Republican Party and the GOP were all aligned on something and they could get Congress to move forward, right? They still have the House. They still have Senate. Speaker 1 (10:45) they're not aligned on anything. They can't get anything through. They don't want to get anything through before the midterms. Then they wouldn't have to be doing all these meaningless stunts, right? Because they would be moving forward. You know what it's like? I think the last time, I think we were speaking to Suzanne Lambert. I think it was her. She was saying how these people who are already in a place of privilege, you're already ahead, right? Ahead of the game. And you still suck. And you still suck. Speaker 1 (11:19) Well, white privilege is difficult to admit to when you've amounted to nothing despite it. Right. So the president, in theory, I feel like I feel like any president of any given party would want to be in this position. Right. Where all everything is sort of aligned in your favor. Right. You have you have the Congress. You have it. Yeah. But you're still not able to do anything. Gas prices went up. Speaker 1 (11:45) Nobody can afford groceries. The groceries we are buying, they're filled with glass, lead, and possum ankles. You can't eat anything. That's what we're eating. We're not eating steak. We're eating walrus meat. I'm sorry. Those are possum ankles. I ate that Argentinian beef and I can't turn my head to the left now. I don't know what's going on in there, but you've got the House, you've got the Senate, you've got the President, you've got everything, and your shitty little kid is still living in your basement. Because they can't afford a house. Right. So like, what's the tea, baby? At what point do you start voting different? And so, again, I always wonder. Speaker 1 (12:22) What's going on? Like, what's going on in the home? What's going on in the home, right? Just throw up a graphic, CJ. What's going on in the home? What's going on in the home? What's going on in the house, right? What's going on in the house? Are the people all, like, whispering to each other? Like, what the fuck is going on? Did you hear what he said? What do we do? What do we do? Mag is turning on him as of this morning. So this is – well, not as of this morning. They've done been turning on him. I don't care. But Trump went on Truth Social and was like – Speaker 1 (12:49) America, we have to get behind data centers. Data centers are the future. We must accept them all because no one wants a data center in their backyard. Right. Because it sucks up all the resources. It sucks up all the resources. Indiana still doesn't have electricity. It's been almost three weeks. They've got a data center right there. They build them right near, like very in close proximity to underserved communities, predominantly black and brown. Sure, sure, sure. They screw up the power grid. They screw up the water supply. Like, it's not good. Speaker 1 (13:17) And Trump posted on Truth Social and was like, y'all, get behind. I don't know why I said y'all. Yeah, but go ahead. You know what? I'm allowed. You are. I can do a y'all every now and then. It's gender neutral. Y'all, get behind data centers. We love them. If we want to be Americans, we've got to love data centers. Otherwise, we're going to be poor, is what he said. Yo, the way MAGA snatched that fake tan. They slapped the fake tan off his face, snatched that little wig. They freaked out on him on Truth Social, his own platform. Did he cry about it? Sorry, one sec. You all right? What do you got? You got something? No, I just ate that cookie. It's not contagious. It's carbs. Michael had a cookie. Oh, my God. Michael had a cookie before I came in here, and I said. Speaker 1 (14:09) Magnanimously. I said, Melissa, would you like to share this cookie with me? And I said, yes, thank you very much. Then Melissa looked at me. We're chatting. Wait, go ahead. We're chatting. And Melissa just says. I took a bite of the cookie. We're chatting. She took a bite. She says, this cookie was near a banana. It was. Those of you avid listeners know Melissa hates bananas. I don't like bananas. You can't eat a banana in the room with her. You cannot. I would prefer that you did not. It'll be fisticuffs. Well, I'll be very unhappy with you. You know the first 10 minutes of Saving Private Ryan? That's what it's going to be like. Speaker 1 (14:42) I cannot stand you. That's what it's going to be like if you would have been. Yeah. And so I'll never. So Michael and I have this cookie. Yeah. Michael and I have a mutual friend. And who is it? We'll bleep it out. Jones. Jonesy. Oh. And so actually leave it in. She'll get a kick out of it. And I. Was like hungry. And I was just like, hey, do you have like a snack? And she was like, sure. And she. A lovely, generous gesture. Right. I asked for a snack. No, no, no, no. I asked for a snack and she provided me with some popcorn. So I take some popcorn. I put it in my mouth. And I was like, is there a banana in your bag? And she was like. Speaker 1 (15:26) Yes. I was like, you can take that back because I can taste it. Thank you so much. The eau de banana. Uh-huh. Banan. Yeah. Went into the bag of popcorn. It's been recalled by Melissa only. She said. I'll never forget. You know what else I don't like? I don't like hazelnuts. And I, that's why, remember I don't like Nutella? You know that. I do know that. It is like your one character flaw. I mean, I've got many character flaws. According to the reviews, I've got lots of character flaws. According to the reviews, we have to finish a fucking story because the banana cookie, Melissa rejected. She said it was near a banana. I don't have a banana on my person. There was a banana near it. And then I remembered, in the case of pastries, there was banana bread offered. Speaker 1 (16:07) And she knew like a truffle pig. You can sniff it out. Are you calling me a pig? Like those Jack Russell terriers. Or a dog. Well, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, you just took a hold. Yeah, I am. Yeah. I think when you don't like something, you can really suss it out. I got that cookie and then I was biking to the studio. But I had a very important legal call. Okay. Very important lawyer things happening. And it's going to start raining. So I started, I was like, let me just get to the studio before it starts shitting down rain. Right. So it's not wet, brief recess after dark. I'm drenched. And you know what I mean? That's another show. A sultry like cologne advertisement. And of course the legal call happens like right when I'm at a stoplight. So I'm like, okay, cool. Let me pull over to like a side street in Chelsea. So that way. Speaker 1 (17:03) So that way it's like a little bit more quiet. People think I'm buttoned up. It's like petticoats. People think it's a little bit more formal. They don't hear the ambulance go by. So I was biking up 6th Avenue. So I pull over a quiet, beautiful side street in Chelsea. I get on the phone call. We're talking. It's like a group. This woman comes out of the building and starts screaming into the phone, how dare you sleep with my brother? No. Like right behind me. Speaking into her phone. Her phone. She starts screaming. Screaming. It was like the phone collector. Why do you care who's sleeping with your brother? That's weird. I think it was her partner. Oh. Screaming, crying, like big elephant tears. Alligator tears. Not elephant tears. Elephant. Speaker 1 (18:02) Alligator tears. Crocodile tears. Crocodile tears. We went through the full mudang. We did every animal cracker we went through. Crying, screaming. I'm like, excuse me one moment. I'm like trying to book it down the street with my bike to get away from this woman who's clearly going through. Sure, she's having a crisis. If your partner slept with your brother, type one in the comments. Right, and we want to hear about it. If you are her, if she is you. If you're every woman. Speaker 1 (18:31) It's all on you. Let us know. Let us know. We want to hear. We do. Because I wanted to, that was the call I actually wanted to be on, not my call. And it was, it was bad. She's crying. The voice was so cacophonous. It was very like sing-songy, Fraulein Maria, but also crying. But could you hear like the pain in the voice? Definitely. We were kind of close to Broadway. I feel like she could have been like an understudy for someone. Speaking of understudies, I see what you did there, by the way. What? Me? We've got someone in the studio? Yeah. Today we have... Everyone's favorite O'Mary performer, swing, understudy. She goes on for Mary all the time. Hannah Solos in the studio. It's going to be fun to talk to her. Here at iHeart. That girl must live in Times Square. She must live in Midtown. That poor thing. I'm sorry to hear that. Seven days, eight days a week. She's here. She's at... Speaker 1 (19:32) Because we record on a Monday. I said, can you please come to Midtown on a Monday? I know it's your day off. But she did it. Yeah, she did. She did. Nice. So we're so excited to have her. That's going to be a fun chat. Oh, yeah. We're going to chat with her. Anything else you want to talk about in algorithm? What was on your algorithm before we get into Hannah? What was in my algorithm? Oh, this guy was following me home the other night. Why? Well, okay. So I was away in like a small little beach town on vacation. And I was... Where were you? Speaker 1 (20:02) This was out on the North Fork. And so I was walking home from the bars, which closed like kind of early, but it was late enough where the only person who was awake was Alyssa. And I was walking, I went alone. I don't know something about being like a small town, spooky setting. I get a little, I'd rather walk home in the middle of Brooklyn, in the middle of Manhattan at two, three in the morning alone. Than on a street where there's nobody. Yeah. When there's nobody, that's when there's like a weird somebody. If Jack the Ripper shows up. Speaker 1 (20:34) That's it.