This is Your Captain Freaking
Lovett or Leave It
The episode navigates a turbulent political landscape, covering allegations of corruption involving Senator Susan Collins and the controvers
Key takeaways
- The Washington Post reported that Trump's White House ballroom design fails to meet basic safety requirements for emergency exits.
- A ProPublica investigation alleges Senator Susan Collins was targeted in an FBI probe regarding a pay-for-play scheme with defense contractor Navitek.
Main topics
- Trump White House ballroom safety
- Senator Susan Collins corruption allegations
Notable quotes
I am the code.
Conclusion
A biting critique of institutional decay and political corruption pair
Transcript preview
Speaker 6 (0:00) Love it or leave it is brought to you by built. Here's a question. Are you getting rewarded for paying your rent or mortgage right now? Did you even know that was an option? If the answer is no, you need to check out built. Becoming a built member means earning points on every housing payment, no matter where you live. Redeem built points for flights, hotels, Lyft rides, amazon.com purchases, and future housing payments. You can even use them for fitness classes, restaurants, or metropolis parking savings. Members also get access to the AI neighborhood concierge right in the built app. It doesn't just give local recommendations. It takes action for paying rent and reserving dinner tables to booking fitness classes and ordering lifts. It handles tasks seamlessly while applying your member benefits across 50,000 partner merchants. First, you download the built app. Second, you link any credit card or debit card to the app. So purchases at your local spots become even more rewarding. And third, you ask the neighborhood concierge in the app, pretty much anything. And for homeowners out there, built works for mortgages too. Your housing payment is one of your biggest monthly expenses. So why wouldn't you want to earn points on it? Download the built app and join the membership for where you live at join built.com slash love it. That's J O I N B I L T.com slash love it. Use our link. So they know we sent you. Speaker 4 (1:02) What's Speaker 8 (1:18) up Los Angeles. Speaker 8 (1:20) Welcome to Love It or Leave It, live from Hollywood. A special shout out to our viewers on MSNOW. As always, I'm Jon Lovett, and this is America's number one late night political gay live comedy podcast, and technically, television show. We've got a great show for you tonight. Rachel Maddow, Nimesh Patel, and Michelle Collins are here. So let's get into it. What a week. On Wednesday, First Lady Melania Trump stopped by Fox and Friends to discuss her husband's second administration. How Speaker 4 (1:49) is the president doing in Trump 2 as compared to Trump 1? How Speaker 1 (1:52) do you see him handling the job differently? Speaker 4 (1:56) He's very focused. He has a lot on his plate. It's very different what's going on around the world now. But I think he's doing the best that he can. A Speaker 8 (2:09) ringing endorsement. Though when Trump was asked how Melania 2 compared to Melania 1, he said they look pretty similar. Also this week, the Washington Post reported that the original architect of the new White House ballroom, James McCrary, fought with Trump over the design's failure to meet basic safety requirements, including emergency exit routes. But Trump loves situations with no way out, whether it's a ballroom or a war in the Middle East. Before McCrary resigned, Trump told him that no building codes apply to the project, reportedly saying, quote, I am the code, before sliding a piece of paper with the words infinity toilet across the resolute desk. According to the Post reporting, there was little in the design to prevent a kitchen fire from rapidly spreading into the event space on the floor above. And that's pretty dangerous. If you die in Trump's ballroom, you die in real life. Speaking of places to die, according to MSNOW, the White House has started looking into putting Trump's name on Ford's Theater, the site of Abraham Lincoln's 1865 assassination. Boy, that guy's brain is shot, said us and a horrified theatergoer in 1865. In fairness to Trump, he'll need a backup venue for events after the ballroom is taken out by the first gust of autumn wind. Meanwhile, Iran's president addressed the UN General Assembly this week, the first time that the leader of a country at war with the United States has ever done so, saying Iran will not surrender. Trump then said, in the interest of world peace, he would invite the entire Iranian delegation for dinner. In the new ballroom, no Masood, it's a trap! Speaking of historic speeches, Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville took to the Senate floor on Tuesday to say this. Speaker 4 (3:54) Many airline pilots, flight attendants, and air traffic controllers are part of the furry community. Speaker 4 (4:06) Lord help us. It's terrifying when you think about this. When you walk onto a commercial flight, it's possible that the pilot flying your plane could have a deranged fetish of dressing up like an animal. You can't make this up. Speaker 8 (4:25) That sound means the captain has turned off the fasten seatbelt sign and you are now free to use the litter box. Speaker 8 (4:32) I know this is very stupid, but I would like to make a sincere point about this. So I've agreed to keep this to one minute. So let's have a one minute timer. Senator Tuberville. A commercial airline pilot is a specific, special kind of person who brings pride, professionalism, love of craft, and dedication to the job, qualities that have been slowly drained out of virtually every other part of our society. And because you're an angry, old, and curious fool, you've allowed your impression of pilots as ciphers because of the intentional invisibility of their personalities and their use of the Chuck Yeager voice during announcements to create an image in your mind of a person who would only have straight-laced, by-the-book missionary sex, as if the incredible contribution of commercial pilots, the gift of the of our collective trust and all the worry and fear we're spared because of that confidence is because pilots don't have quirks. While in fact, pilots are all the more amazing and the system that trains and prepares pilots all the more worthy of respect because of course they're also broken people with flaws like the rest of us who may score in a lower percentile on anxiety and a higher percentile on conscientiousness and competence, but fucking suck in all the freaky ways people do. So shut the fuck up. Thank your Christian God that these pilots get to live out their dream of flying for all our benefit. Don't introduce the idea that these steadfast men and women should be worried about anything other than the flaps y'all lift and drag. And when it comes to their sex lives, mind your own fucking business, you dumb, lucky, worthless asshole. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie is also apparently weighing a 2028 run, telling a reporter, I need to see what happens in six weeks. What's going to happen in six weeks? You going to find a genie in a lamp, you fat fuck? All right, sorry. Speaker 8 (6:05) That was not fair. I wasn't right. I Speaker 1 (6:07) wasn't right. Speaker 8 (6:08) Speaking of fat cats, in a bombshell report by ProPublica, we learned that Maine Senator and concerned American Susan Collins was the target of an FBI investigation into an alleged pay-for-play scheme with a top donor. We don't tolerate that sort of thing up here, said a lighthouse keeper to his wife, a moose. Speaker 8 (6:27) According to the disgraced CEO of a Hawaiian defense contractor who later pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, his firm donated to Susan Collins in exchange for defense contracts worth millions of dollars. What an evil clown, said Maine resident Pennywise the Dancing Clown to his wife, a moose. And sure enough, according to ProPublica, the Senate allocated at least $10 million to the company, Navitek, while a shell company set up by the CEO, Martin Kao, donated $150,000 to Collins' PAC. The shell company, and this is real, was called Young Women Scientists and Engineers, not plural. There was a literal typo in the organization's name. young women scientists and engineers. That typo caught the eye of a campaigned watchdog group, which began to question the source of the funds. Then Cao tried to cover his tracks and make the fake company seem like a real nonprofit by quickly standing up a scholarship program for women in STEM at state universities, where his company was also trying to win contracts, while he was at the same time also defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program set up during COVID, for which he was also convicted. Now given this crime spree, I'm not surprised this guy was caught. I'm surprised this guy isn't in Trump's cabinet. Speaker 8 (7:41) Now, Senator Collins, of course, denied the allegations. Speaker 4 (7:44) It's clearly a partisan hit job. And I've got to say, I do not understand how anyone would take the word of a felon who's been convicted twice. Twice. Two separate cases. Speaker 8 (8:02) And you can't trust a person like that unless you're confirming their Supreme Court justices. But the evidence isn't just this one guy's word. Here's a photo of Collins christening a Navitek corruption boat. And ProPublica has a copy of the check from the defense contractor's fake LLC to Collins' super PAC. You don't have to be a woman in STEM to solve this equation, am I right? And ProPublica pointed to an email from the CEO that said, quote, we often use LLCs that can be set up to facilitate transactions. They are super vague and very difficult to get any background info on, totally legal, and typically used in real estate transactions to conceal the identity of buyer-seller. To which Scott Reed, the head of Collins' PAC, replied, very smart and glad your counsel understands. Thanks for doing this, added Scott. I'm glad we put this in writing. I will print this out for safekeeping in a file labeled felony campaign. finance violations. Now, you may be wondering, if there was all this evidence, why hasn't anyone connected to Susan Collins faced consequences? Well, the FBI opened an investigation, but the FBI shut the investigation down after Trump returned to office in 2025 and eviscerated the department's capacity to investigate public corruption. Yeah, Kash Patel really screwed the pooch on this one. He also fucked up the case. Speaker 8 (9:17) In other DOJ failure news, this week a criminal hacking group called Shiny Hunters revealed that it has stolen thousands of sensitive personnel records from the FBI. Said FBI Director Kash Patel, I want to assure everyone I checked and this information does not include our penis sizes and how they are in the normal range. This is only the latest in a series of embarrassing cybersecurity failures by the FBI, including a breach by Chinese hackers of surveillance orders and the leak of Kash Patel's personal emails by a pro-Iranian group. As a general rule, it should not be easier to get into the FBI's computer system than it is to get out of the White House ballroom. New York Mayor Zohra Mamdani announced that DoorDash agreed to a $131 million settlement with the city after the company admitted to underpaying or delaying payments to 264,000 workers. You know what they say, DoorDash, revenge is a dish best served cold, like these fucking fries. Tweeted the mayor. This is New York, where hard work pays and greed will cost you. And the manholes occasionally demand a human sacrifice, but baby, that's part of the thrill. I actually think you could make a Lady and the Tramp. romantic comedy about a naive door dash driver from LA and a street smart door dash driver from New York falling in love. The LA Dasher asked innocently, so where do you park your car? And the New York Dasher is like, put your hands in these plastic bags. You're lucky it's warm today, seven degrees. Now get on this bicycle with a dirt bike engine and go as fast as you can the wrong way down 10th Avenue. Think of these pizza boxes as your whiskers. That's how wide you are. Oh, you hit someone, keep going. It's you or them. If you leave the food, it will be stolen. If you leave the bike, it will be stolen. Never press the buzzer. The buzzers don't work. Now deliver the this one burrito downtown in these five cinder blocks uptown by six. I know it's 615. That's why you got to move. And by the way, I think I'm falling in love with you. And finally, Taylor Swift posted a cryptic countdown this week, eventually revealing that she has a new single, Patient Zero, dropping September 25th. It's unclear what the song is about, but the music video was shot entirely in a Wuhan wet market. Speaker 8 (11:20) As far as her fans are concerned, the song should be called Zero Patience since they simply cannot wait. Now I'll level with you. The producer said that was the only joke about Taylor Swift that wouldn't get my car bombed. God damn it, my car's been blown up. How am I going to tell my wife? A moose. All right. And we've got a great show for you tonight. We'll be right back with Rachel Maddow. Speaker 4 (11:45) Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. Speaker 6 (11:49) Love it or leave it is brought to you by Hungry Root. When you work long hours or have an otherwise packed schedule, it can be really tough to stick to your health-related goals. Hungry Root is a simpler way to handle meals during the week. There's no mental energy expended on meal planning because Hungry Root does it for you, delivering everything you need right to your door to eat healthy every day. Hungry Root takes into account your health goals, dietary preferences, and budget to curate a custom delivery for you each week. From there, they tailor your deliveries accordingly once you note the ingredient to avoid, like gluten or dairy. It stays on your block list. They source only high quality ingredients like meat and seafood with no hormones or antibiotics, plus organic produce and non-GMO options. Hungry Root holds all of its food to high standards, screening out over 200 additives, including high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, and preservatives. Think of it as the convenience of a meal kit combined with the variety of a grocery store. Getting started with Hungry Root is simple. You just answer a few questions about your goals, your dietary needs, and your budget. Hungry Root curates custom recipes and fills your cart with groceries for the week. Everything arrives right at your door. You're going to love Hungry Root as much as I do. For a limited time, get 40 % off your first order, plus get a free item in every box for life. Go to HungryRoot.com slash love it and use the code love it. That's HungryRoot.com slash love it. Code love it to get 40 % off your first box and a free item of your choice for life. Love to leave it is brought to you by Sundays. We are what we eat. And so are our dogs along healthy, active life starts with clean, real food nutrition every day. That's why Sundays for dogs is different. It's human grade, real food. Sunday's recipes contain 80 % plus all natural meat, roughly twice the meat content of some leading frozen brands. Plus nutrient rich ingredients like kale, ginger, blueberries, gently air dried rather than exposed to high heat. No fillers, no synthetic additives, no chemicals, just simple, complete nutrition. It doesn't look or smell like dog food. It looks like high quality jerky. And it's vet founded and vet formulated, created by Dr. Tori Waxman to meet her high standards as both a veterinarian and a dog parent. The best part, it's effortless. No fridge, no freezer, no prep, no mess, just scoop and serve. You get the quality of a home cooked meal with the ease of kibble. I love using air dried dog food. For a pundit, it is the best. It is the easiest. It's healthier than the kibble, but it's not a mess like the kind that's frozen. You just think about it. You just have it. And pundit loves it. It just, it's great. And she used to have so many more problems with allergies and stomach issues. And honestly, ever since she switched to air-dried dog food, like, you just like, you know, you can sit your wash to these poops and they're great. You know, just fantastic poops. Easy to pick up. You know, listen, not to put too fine a point on it, but, you know, everyone knows what I'm talking about. All right. Anyway, make the switch to Sundays. Go right now to Sundays for dogs.com slash love it and get 50 % off your first order. Or you can use code love it at checkout. I'm saying she's got great poops. Speaker 8 (14:36) We'll get to my interview with Rachel Mano in just a moment. But first, thank you to everyone who is a friend of the pod. As a subscriber, you unlock so much more, including an extra biweekly episode of Pod Save America only, friends. Add free episodes of your favorite Crooked podcast, discounted tickets to CrookedCon, plus on-site perks while you're there. And if you're thinking about coming to CrookedCon, now is the time to get that ticket because discounted friend of the pod tickets are almost gone. So go to crooked.com slash friends to become a friend of the pod and come hang out with us when we're in D.C. for CrookedCon. And if you're in L.A., you can still get tickets to this show. Head to crooked.com. This week, I sat down with Rachel Maddow, host of MS Now's The Rachel Maddow Show. We talked about Trump's ban of MS Now and the launch of his Trump TV YouTube channel. MS Now, CNN, and Politico may be back inside the White House, but the battle over press freedom is far from over. Rachel had a lot to say about what this moment means. Let's take a look. Speaker 1 (15:30) Joining us in studio, she's the host of The Rachel Maddow Show and producer of a new documentary out on Sunday called Kill Barry Print. Rachel Maddow, welcome to the show. Hi, Speaker 2 (15:40) John Lovett. Thanks to see you, old friend. Speaker 1 (15:42) Yes. First of all, I just want to say I love the documentary. I loved it. I thought it was excellent. I highly recommend people watch it when it comes out on Peacock. But it also, as I was watching it, obviously there are parallels to what's happening nationally. So I did want to start with that because MSNOW, CNN, Politico, they're out at the White House. I know you've talked about this a little bit, but what was your reaction? Speaker 2 (16:09) My reaction was, um, is first, is this one of these things that he's just gonna threaten or say is true, and then there's no follow-up? Like, when he announced that there was a truce between Russia and Ukraine? We were like, there is, and then there's no truce. Or he announced that the Strait of Hormuz is open. Like, nah. Like, is this a real thing? But then we found out, um... over the weekend that it was a real thing, that they really are instituting what he calls a ban on the free press. So, yes, is it real? And my second thought was, oh, he's playing the hits. Like, he's... This is Speaker 5 (16:47) him doing the YMCA two-fisted dance. Like, this is him doing a thing that he knows he can get the kind of reaction that he wants from the people who love him the most, or the people who share his authoritarian, you know, dreams with him. And he's just hoping to return to safer ground. He wants the kind of attention that he wants. And he's getting attention for all sorts of stuff that he doesn't want. For having this record low approval rating, and for the economy being in the toilet, and the Iran War, and the impending midterms, and all of his, like, falling asleep in public. And, like, it's all bad news about him right now. So he wants to go back to playing the hits, getting the kind of attention that he wants on the terms that he wants it. And I think that's why he did it. Speaker 1 (17:31) So... The response from the networks, by the Correspondents Association, including by Fox News, led to a suspension of their coverage and this