Sam, JVL and Sonny Deconstruct Trump’s “Buy Less” Disaster

Summary

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Bulwark Takes Podcast Summary

Episode: Sam, JVL and Sonny Deconstruct Trump’s “Buy Less” Disaster
Date: December 10, 2025
Host: JVL, with Sam Stein & Sonny Bunch

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Episode Overview

This episode focuses on Donald Trump’s increasingly peculiar messaging about consumer goods (“buy less,” particularly regarding dolls and pencils) in the holiday season, as well as his contradictory lifestyle and economic messaging in light of ongoing White House renovations and tariffs. The panel (JVL, Sam Stein, and Sonny Bunch) use Trump’s own words as a springboard to dissect his economic, political, and cultural approach, emphasizing the bizarre disconnect between advocating austerity and indulging in ostentatious luxury.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s “Buy Less” Message: The Pencil & Doll Rant

• [01:49]–[02:16] Trump is heard in a clip emphasizing that Americans can “give up certain products,” singling out pencils and dolls, implying that abundance is unnecessary for American children.
  • JVL notes, “This is the second time he's gone on the doll thing... He has a real thing about the weakness of America's little princesses having 37. I think it’s always also $37.”
    — [02:16]
  • Sam Stein reacts passionately, associating such messaging with Jimmy Carter-era austerity:
    “When I hear Republican politicians talk about... America, it is not, you got to give up your pencils. You got to give up your dolls. ...Flames on the side of my face watching this.”
    — [03:20]
  • Sonny Bunch lampoons the specificity: “Such a specific number. I don’t really understand it.”
    — [02:38]

2. Cultural Critique: What It Means Politically

• [03:47]–[04:22] The group ridicules the idea of limiting children’s staples and toys as un-American, lampooning the notion of “throwing away pencils” rather than sharpening them.
  • JVL sarcastically jabs: “Don’t sharpen them. No, sharpening is for poor communist countries.”
    — [03:47]
  • Sam Stein: “He’s trying to take that away from our precious young people. And I just can’t. I cannot abide this.”
    — [04:22]

3. Trump’s Bizarre Consumer Reality

• [05:17]–[06:08] The hosts highlight Trump’s disconnected reality, stating he scoffs at the idea that holiday shopping is a struggle for regular Americans.

  • Sonny Bunch: “He’s in a bit of a different reality than I think most people.”
    — [05:51]

• [06:09]–[06:20] In a clip, Trump rebuffs concerns about holiday affordability with “Don’t be dramatic.”

  • Sonny Bunch: “You didn’t even get the question out.”
    — [06:20]

4. Messaging Disaster: “Be Happy With Less”

• [06:30]–[08:21] Sam Stein frames the political madness of a “be happy buying less for your family” campaign.
  • “It is so counter to everything we understand about American politics, the American consumer...”
    — [06:31]
  • The group jokes about the impact on toy companies and how Trump’s logic runs counter to fundamentals of political and advertising culture.

5. Tariffs and Economic Irony

• [08:21]–[09:17] Sam Stein and JVL unpack the actual driver behind higher prices: Trump’s tariffs and his inability to connect that policy with household pain.
  • “He will do a tariff just for funsies... I don’t think he’s able to handle messaging the fact that the tariffs make things cost more.” — Sam Stein, [08:21]
  • “Tariffs are walls.” — Sam Stein, [09:28], leading to collective amusement.

6. Trump’s Renovation Obsession & Opulence

• [10:06]–[13:18] JVL and Sonny satirize Trump’s fixation on White House renovations, contrasting calls for public restraint with personal extravagance.
  • “You can tell people, hey, you know, we need to kind of dial it back... but you got to conserve too, right? Like, you can’t be out there just splurging... that’s insane.” — JVL, [13:06]
  • Sam observes Trump's motivations: “His presidency really is defined... by how much he wants to build buildings and go to sporting events.” — [13:18]
  • They humorously suggest Trump is best suited as an HGTV renovation host:

    “Donald Trump is actually best suited to be an HGTV host...” — Sam Stein, [13:50]

7. Mixed Messages and Trumpian Appeal

• [15:07]–[19:51] The show interrogates whether Trump’s supporters are bothered by his extravagance—does his lavishness repel, or is it part of the brand?
  • JVL: “Hasn’t part of his appeal always been that he doesn’t live like the common man? ...They admire him for it.” — [15:07]
  • Sam Stein: “The idea of Donald Trump is this is how I would live if I had this much money... I think he undercuts that when he says, I live like this, but you have to be poor.” — [15:56]
  • Sonny Bunch: Adds context, recalling the Gatsby-themed party alongside food stamp cuts as especially tone-deaf:
    “It was that they were doing this at the same time that they were debating cutting food stamps. Okay, that’s a whole another level.”
    — [16:41]

8. Final Thoughts: Tariff Gambits and Trumpian Tactics

• [20:00]–[22:05] The team muses on Trump’s likely policy maneuvers if the Supreme Court blocks tariffs:
  • JVL: “One of his moves is starting fires and then putting them out and taking credit for [it]... The American people reward him for it constantly.”
    — [21:07]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You need steel. You know, you can give up certain products. You can give up pencils...every child can get 37 pencils. They only need one or two.” — Donald Trump clip, [01:49]
• “Every American child should have a cup on their dresser with, like, 40 pencils in it that are of varying states of sharpness... throw them away and get a new one.” — Sam Stein, [03:20]
• “Don’t be dramatic.” — Donald Trump, rebuffing holiday shopping worries, [06:14]
• “It is fascinating to watch this happen in real time, because... a politician can go out there and say, you need to be happy buying less stuff... is such insane messaging.” — Sam Stein, [06:31]
• “Tariffs are walls.” — Sam Stein, [09:28]
• “His presidency really is defined in large degree by how much he wants to build buildings and go to sporting events.” — Sam Stein, [13:18]
• “He wants to host a home renovation show. That’s what he wants to do and you know who owns hgtv?” — Sam Stein, [13:50]
• “I think he really undercuts it when he says, ‘I live like this, but you have to be poor.’” — Sam Stein, [15:56]
• “Hide your pencils before the government comes confiscate pencil hoards.” — Sonny Bunch, [22:14]

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Segment Timestamps

| Segment Topic | Timestamp | |:----------------------------------|:------------| | Trump’s "buy less" clip | [01:49] | | Panel reacts to pencils & dolls | [02:16–04:22]| | Trump’s “don't be dramatic” | [06:09–06:20]| | Messaging as political disaster | [06:30–08:21]| | The tariffs discussion | [08:21–09:28]| | Renovation obsession | [10:06–13:18]| | Trump as home renovation host | [13:50] | | Gatsby party & GOP base appeal | [15:07–19:51]| | Tariffs and future tactics | [20:00–22:05]|

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Tone & Style

The episode blends deep exasperation, sharp wit, and a touch of absurdist humor—matching the at-times surreal nature of Trump’s rhetoric. While the hosts indulge in comedic riffing (especially around the “pencil” theme and Trump as HGTV host), their analysis remains rooted in pointed political critique and policy reality-checking.

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Takeaway:
The panel paints Trump’s “buy less” messaging as politically incoherent and damaging, especially when paired with personal extravagance and a disconnect from the realities of American families. The episode is a fast-paced, sardonic takedown of Trump’s economic populism—one where luxury renovations, holiday austerity, and cultural tone-deafness make for a combustible political cocktail.

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For lively, incisive political commentary with a dash of gallows humor, this episode is quintessential Bulwark.

Transcript

[Narrator]

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[Sarah Longwell]

Hey, this is Sarah. Look, I'm standing out front of a.m. p.m. Right now and well, you're sweet and all, but I found something more fulfilling, even kind of cheesy. But I like it. Sure you met some of my dietary needs, but they've just got it all. So farewell.

[Sam Stein]

Oatmeal.

[Sonny Bunch]

So long.

[Sarah Longwell]

Use strange soggy.

[JVL]

Break up with bland breakfast and taste AM PM's bacon, egg and cheese biscuit made with cage free eggs, smoked bacon and melty cheese on a buttery biscuit. AM P M. Too much Good stuff. Welcome to Bulwark Takes. I'm JVL here with my colleagues Sam Stein and Sonny Bunch. And Donald Trump, like Marie Antoinette before him, had some messages for the little people about Christmas. Sam, Sonny, before I let you guys off the chain, let's go to the tape.

[Donald Trump (clip)]

We need the one thing you need. You need steel. You know, you can give up certain products. You can give up pencils.

That's under the China policy. You know, every child can get 37 pencils. They only need one or two. You know, they don't need that many. But you always need. You always need steel. You don't need $37 for your daughter. Two or three is nice, but you don't need $37.

[JVL]

This is the second time he's gone on the doll thing. Yeah, remember that before we had lost the mists of time. He, he has a real Thing about the weakness of America's little princesses having 37. I think it's always also $37.

[Sam Stein]

37.

[Sonny Bunch]

Is it always 37?

[JVL]

I think so. I think that again, we'd have to go to the. To the archives.

[Sonny Bunch]

Such a specific number. I don't really understand it.

[JVL]

I. Anyway, maybe Ivanka had had 37 dolls, and he's always that. Who can say? I mean, let's just go.

[Sam Stein]

I grew up as a young conservative, and I would always hear. Tell tales of this Jimmy Carter person who sat America down and wore his cardigan and said, you got to turn your thermostat down. You got to suffer in the summer. You got to be. You got to be cold in the winter. And that's what America is. It's suffering, and you give things up for the common good. And then Ronald Reagan came in and said, no, we were not. We're not going to do that. And. And that is, you know, that's the. That is when I. When I hear Republican politicians talk about, you know.

America, it is not, you got to give up your pencils. You got to give up your dolls. It I. Flames on the side of my face watching this, because it drives me crazy, this idea. Every American child should. Should have a cup on their dresser with, like, 40 pencils in it that are of varying states of sharpness, and when they get too dull, just throw them away. Throw them away and get a new one out of a pencil box.

[JVL]

Don't sharpen them. No, sharpening is for poor communist countries.

[Sam Stein]

You know what?

[JVL]

We use pencils once.

[Sam Stein]

The only reason anybody needs to get rid of them. The only reason anyone needs a pencil sharpener is in the classroom. If you want an excuse to get up from your desk to go do the little. Because that's pretty cool, actually. The little turning one, that was. I was. I was always very into that. It's like mechanical.

[Sonny Bunch]

You don't have the automatic ones now, like the.

[Sam Stein]

No. Mechanical pencil stick a minute.

[Sonny Bunch]

That sharpens a fire. Okay.

[Sam Stein]

Oh, well, no, well, the. Well, see, but that's. That's. That's just not as much fun as the crank. I like the hand crank, you know, because I'm old. I'm an old man.

[Sonny Bunch]

Sorry, you're. Go ahead, go ahead.

[Sam Stein]

No, I just. I just. I. It's the pencil thing in particular. Dolls. Whatever. My daughter has more than 37 dolls. I'm sure if I went in there and counted them, if you include the stuffed figures. More than 37. But the pencils. She has cups and cups of pencils. And every time I see them, I smile and I think, this is what an American child should have. And he's trying to take that away from. He's trying to take that away from our precious young people. And I just can't. I cannot abide this.

[JVL]

Did Hulk Hogan grow up with a pencil shortage in his house? I don't think so.

[Sonny Bunch]

Absolutely not.

[JVL]

I don't think so. Sam.

[Sonny Bunch]

I've never heard such a passionate defense of pencils in my life. I didn't realize Sonny was such a pencil man.

[Sam Stein]

Big pencil.

[Sonny Bunch]

I don't really have much to add on the pencil front. The dolls are a little bit of a quirky thing because it. It's like one of these things where Trump's obviously caught in the, like, 80s, 70s mindset where, like, people just go home and play with their little Barbie dolls and so on.

[Narrator]

That stuff.

[Sonny Bunch]

It's a weird tick. He. I guess we'll have a lot of steel. Everyone. Every child could have their steel in Trump's world, but not dolls.

[JVL]

You get a lump of steel.

[Sonny Bunch]

Obviously. You know, it's like, we can jump ahead here because he's doing this as he himself is indulging in just the most, you know, opulent possible for a president.

[JVL]

Right. We'll get to. So we're going to. Continuing with the affordability, because that's what. This is all part of his pivot to affordability. And.

[Sonny Bunch]

Well, he. He also said there that he's not allowed to say anymore that affordability concerns are a hoax.

[JVL]

Yeah.

[Sonny Bunch]

Which means it's on. Which means he thinks it's a hoax, but he just can't say it. And then he had an interview the other day with Dasha Burns where he was just sort of scoffing at the idea that it was dramatic to think of holiday shopping as a concern for consumers. So he's in. He's in a bit of a different reality than I think most people.

[JVL]

Let's look at the video on that.

[Donald Trump (clip)]

To the people, not to the insurance.

[JVL]

Right now, people are buying their holiday presidents presents.

[Sarah Longwell]

They're planning.

[Donald Trump (clip)]

Look, don't be dramatic. No, no, don't be. Here's. Here's what I want to. Such a drama queen and what I want to do.

[Sonny Bunch]

What does he mean by that? Don't be dramatic. You didn't even get the question out.

[Sam Stein]

Don't be dramatic.

[JVL]

They're buying their holiday present. I mean, don't be dramatic.

I.

[Sam Stein]

No, I, I really think it's. It is fascinating. It is fascinating to watch this. This happen. In real time. Because again, this, this idea that a politician can go out there and say, you need to be happy buying less stuff. You need to be happy buying less stuff for your family is such insane messaging. It is such, it is such like, it is so counter to everything we understand about American politics, the American consumer, the American political class, the American media class. There's no nobody in everybody who runs the advertising departments in these newspapers and television channels like buy less, buy fewer dolls. No, they need to buy $38.

[Sonny Bunch]

Hold on. I just came upon a great story idea. We should call up the doll manufacturers and the pencil manufacturers and say to Mattel, yeah, what do you think of this presidential message here?

[Sam Stein]

So few dolls.

[JVL]

So I am slightly conflicted on this because I am in favor of politicians communist doing truth telling and not pandering to idiotic voter concerns. And so this is one of the things that I said much through 2024. I said inflation has been beat. We are actually net positive. Real wages have outstripped inflation growth. Everybody's working with out outdated feelings. People, people's views of the economy are as if it was the autumn of 2008 when the global financial system was blowing up. And so I am again sympathetic to a politician saying, hold on now, things are not as bad as you think. Let's look at xyz. Let's sort of have a rational understanding of how prices work. Yeah, but this isn't that. This is just like you, you should be happy with less stuff. It really is.

[Sam Stein]

Jimmy Carter, shut up. He says shut up. Yeah, shut up, shut up and have fewer things. And again, of course the cause of all this is tariffs. And there's only one. I've long argued that there are two things Donald Trump believes in. One, walls. He believes in walls, in buildings, on borders, whatever. He believes in walls. He believes in tariffs. He like absolutely believes in tariffs. He thinks tariffs are a good thing. He will do a tariff just for funsies. Like he'll be like, what can we tariff today? Let's do that. I don't think he's able to handle messaging the fact that the tariffs make things cost more. Like, I just think he doesn't, he doesn't, he doesn't understand how to make this argument other than you don't need those things. I, I, you don't need those things, just have less. And that is again just from a, from a pure politics standpoint. I watch this with my mouth agape and think, how is he going to get away with this?

[Sonny Bunch]

Sonny, I'm gonna blow Your mind. I'm gonna blow your mind here, Sonny. And I promise you I haven't taken a soul gummy sponsored by soul in Adrian. But tariffs are walls.

[JVL]

Oh.

[Sonny Bunch]

Oh.

[Sam Stein]

I did trade wall mic drop.

[JVL]

Boy, do you used to work at the Cato Institute, Tim?

[Sam Stein]

Double. It's a real double rainbow moment for me here. I'm like, really?

[Sonny Bunch]

You know, maybe a triple rainbow.

[JVL]

So here is. Here is the. Here's the kicker though, because Donald Trump, he believes in one other thing though, which is buildings. And. And all this is happening at the moment when the only thing he really seems to care about deeply are the renovations he's doing to the White House.

Including, there's the ballroom, which is currently halted because he did have to fire the guy who was the architect. Amazing. They did the demo before they had a.

Is that normally how projects work? Like, if you're putting an addition on your house, do you demo the part of the house before you've settled on what you're actually building in a final design? Is that how approval processes work? Yeah. Okay.

[Sonny Bunch]

Yeah.

[Narrator]

Good.

[JVL]

And we have some truth Social. And the Lincoln bathroom in the White House. Talk about how it was renovated in the 1940s in an art deco green tile style, which was totally inappropriate for the Lincoln era. I did it in black and white, polished statuary marble. This was very appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln and in fact could be the marble that was originally there.

I don't. I don't know how that could be true.

[Sonny Bunch]

Fairness. In fairness, if you look at that pictures, you don't see a single doll, you don't see a single pencil.

[Sam Stein]

How many pencils? How many pencils are in that bathroom?

[Sonny Bunch]

No, no pencils. No pencils. Highly polished statuary marble bulwark takes is sponsored by Ora Frame. I've got a bit of a holiday gift giving pattern. I tell myself this year it's going to be different. And then I will panic at the last minute because I forgot to get the more thoughtful gift and I'll just buy a gift card. Well, this year I skipped the panic and I gave an Aura Frame. They are an absolute hit among people at the Bulwark. And I am jealous of Sarah Longwell every time I go into her office because I see that frame right there. It looks so good. You can upload unlimited free photos and video. Just download the Aura app and connect to Wi Fi. You can preload photos before it ships, keep adding from anywhere, anytime. You can share photos and videos effortlessly straight from your phone all year long. It's Perfect for sending grandparents their ideal gift, which is pictures of their grandkids. Every frame also comes packaged in a premium gift box with no price tag. For a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting auraframes.com to get $35 off Aura's best selling Carver mat frames. It was named number one by Wirecutter. Use the code. Use the promo code Bulwark take at checkout. That's a U R A frames.com promo code bulwark takes. This deal is exclusive to listeners and frames sell out pretty fast, so order yours now to get it in time for the holidays. Support the show by mentioning us at the checkout. Can I, can I riff on this for a little bit? Because it's so out of control. There's two things that are really wild. So it's the, the bathroom renovations, the bar renovations. We could throw up the picture of the Great Gatsby party and all that stuff. And he's out at all these sporting events and he's doing the Kennedy Awards dressed taxes. And it's like you can tell people, hey, you know, we need to kind of dial it back and everyone needs to conserve a little bit. But you got to conserve too, right? Like, you can't be out there just splurging with the taxpayer money on all this stuff, because that's insane. But the other thing is that he does generally seem to be over consumed with these random renovations and totally unnecessary portions of the job. I mean, his presidency really is defined in large degree by how much he wants to build buildings and go to sporting events.

[JVL]

That's in the White House in 2029, right, Sam?

[Sonny Bunch]

Yeah, he's checked. Well, so you think that. Yes, I hear you. You don't build a new White House and a ballroom so that you then leave it, right?

[JVL]

You can leave it and the next.

[Sonny Bunch]

Person can move in, park it. You don't get a Qatari jet, so you could park it in your library. Right, like that makes sense to me. And yet he clearly has little appetite for the actual job itself. He's not doing any of the actual presidential work. He likes doing the ceremonial shit, the deals.

[JVL]

That's always been the case, though.

[Sam Stein]

I want to cross some threads here because here, here's what I've just realized, that Donald Trump is actually best suited to be an HGTV host, right? He is. He wants to host a home renovation show. That's what he wants to do. And you know who owns hgtv? That's part of the Warner Brothers Discovery Universe Show. You Know what's happening with Warner Brothers Discovery right now. If either Netflix or Paramount were to offer Donald Trump his own home renovation show, they would close it like that. That deal would be over. It would be done. Donald Trump. Donald Trump rebuilt. I don't know what you would call it. I don't, you know, I.

[Sonny Bunch]

Who cares?

[Sam Stein]

Delightful.

[Sonny Bunch]

You're joking, but it's true. You're joking, but it's absolutely true.

[Sam Stein]

I'm not joking. I am being 100% serious. I like. It is. It's a, it's a, it's a wild thing. The renovations are fascinating because it really does feel like he is just do. He's just. That is what he is. Has the most fun doing. It's like the, in his first term, remember when he was in the big trucks? Remember when he was in the big. Like that. That was when he looked the happiest, when he was doing big truck things and he was. When he was doing some kind of construction adjacent stuff. That is what he seems to really enjoy doing. I don't think that's appropriate for the president to be doing. But, you know, whatever question about the.

[JVL]

Gatsby party, first of all, picking the theme of a great Gatsby party is so, I mean, it is like saying, oh, we're going to do a, you know, our Marie Antoinette party. It's literally like, you know, at the moment, you could pick any other opulent theme that wouldn't. You could be like the Egyptian pharaohs or something and it wouldn't be as like, like, let them eat cake as Gatsby. But here's my question. Doesn't Trump get away with this? Hasn't part of his appeal always been that he doesn't live like the common man and that, that's, that's what makes him an ubermensch and an alpha, is that he, you know, oh, his people don't seem to hate him for this or resent him for it. They admire him for it.

[Sam Stein]

I'm going to push back on this slightly because I think that his appeal is not. His appeal is not I am so great and you are so small. It's. I am so great and you can too. Like that is that is the idea of Trump. Is it like he writes the art of the. He writes air quotes. Art of the deal to give people a guide to be like Donald Trump. You know, like, I think, I think that is. It's the, the idea of Donald Trump is this is how I would live if I had this much money, right? And I think he Undercuts that I actually like. I think this is actually really bad for him. I think he really undercuts it when he says, I live like this, but you have to be poor. And I don't, I don't think that works for him. I feel like this will, I feel like this will actually undercut his basic appeal to that core demo.

[Sonny Bunch]

I'll just add two things in that. One is, I, I'm not totally sure Trump understood what happened after the 20s or 1929. So it's totally fair that he could throw a Gatsby party. Two is, I think, yes to both of you. Like, that is his appeal. But remember, the context of the Gatsby party wasn't just that they had this ostentatious party with half dressed women in big martini glasses and all. It was that they were doing this at the same time that they were debating cutting food stamps. Okay, that's, that's a whole another level. That's, that, that's different than, look at me, I don't give a. You can become rich. And as offensive as I am in my America, it's, hey, I'm gonna live it up and I'm not gonna let you live at all. It's like, I'm not gonna let you eat. And I think I have to imagine that even as someone who is as creative and dexterous as Trump is at politics, that's, that's a tough one.

[JVL]

I just don't think I agree. Let me explain why, okay? Maybe I can convince you. I don't think Trump's appeal has ever been, I'm going to make you rich. So when Trump has his rallies down in the Panhandle and there are a bunch of swamp trash people there.

[Narrator]

You.

[JVL]

Know, with all of their great dental hygiene and whatnot, I don't think Trump's appeal to them is, don't worry, you're going to get rich and have gold faucets too. No, his appeal is, I'm so rich and I'm going to rub it in the face of all those people that you hate. I'm richer than all of those people at the New York Times with their, like, oh, sure, they drive a BMW. I have a jet, and I'm going to use all this to hurt the people that you hate. And that's what they were there for. And I don't think any of that has changed.

[Sonny Bunch]

We'll agree to disagree. I think he's, I think his shtick is, America is going to be so damn wealthy again, we're going to win so much. I'm going to cut your energy cost by so much. We're going to, we're so hot that you're going to beg me to stop, but I won't stop because I'm so good at this job. So I think there is some element of, like, look, I've done it. I'm rich, I'm wealthy. These guys want all the wealth themselves. Let me make everybody wealthy. And that's obviously all right. No, but I disagree with you. I'm going to leave.

[JVL]

Okay, Sonny, did I, did I convince you at all, or no?

[Sam Stein]

I think there's definitely an element of that. You know, he is, there is a, there is a Ted DiBiase quality to him. If we can bring it back to the wrestling, he's the Million Dollar man and he's, you know, Sam, it's very key wrestling figure in the late 80s, early 90s. But I, but I do, I do think that there is also an element of, there is an aspirational element to Donald Trump that I, I do think him being like, you can't have these things undercuts somewhat. I, I do. I, I'm not saying that he is necessarily, again, a Reagan ask, a rising tide lifts all boats type figure, but he, he is definitely, I think he has always positioned himself as, yes, I'm rich, and also other people can be rich. You, you, I, I will. I, you know, it's not necessarily I will teach you the secrets, but it definitely, there's, there's an element of that there, I think. I don't know, maybe not.

[JVL]

Yeah, the austerity stuff, I think, hurts him a little more than, than the, the Gilded lifestyle stuff.

[Sam Stein]

Oh, yeah.

[Sonny Bunch]

Total 100%.

[JVL]

Final, final question. If, as the market seems to believe, the Supreme Court is going to save Donald Trump from himself with tariffs, does Trump then just declare victory? Or do you think he then decides he has to try another emergency gambit, Declaration, emergency declaration gambit, or he's going to force House Republicans to vote on tariffs or something like, what do you think?

[Sonny Bunch]

I just go by what Katherine Rampel tells me, and she says they're going to just try to do some sort of work around different authorities, try to get those tariffs back in place. It would, it would be fitting for him to just say, no, fuck you, I'm going to try it another way. Although he would be handed such a gift, could you imagine it would be an incredible stimulus.

[Sam Stein]

It's like, it's like getting $37 all at once. And yet the, the, all the Pencils.

[Sonny Bunch]

Suddenly in your lap?

[Sam Stein]

No, I, I, I, again, he believes in one thing, right? Tariffs, walls. He believes in walls that can also be tariffs and like that. I think he will 100% push to reinstate it through some authority, I don't know, you know, statutory or whatever.

[JVL]

It could be a, what do you think, JVL miracle. I don't know. I honestly don't know. I could see it going a bunch of different ways. Again, he could just declare victory because one of his moves is starting fires and then putting them out and taking credit for this is what he's done with the, the farmer bailout. So you know, he's, he's given. And now look how rich all these farmers are because of me. And it's like, well, they got, they needed a bailout because of you. That and that's a move that has worked for him over and over and over. The American people reward him for it constantly. So why wouldn't he keep doing it? I don't know. And he has gotten a lot of what he wanted from tariffs, which was all the ring kissing from American businesses.

[Sam Stein]

Right.

[JVL]

Tim Apple came and gave him the golden apple and all the, you know, Rolex went and gave him the special gold bars and well, that's the reason.

[Sonny Bunch]

For him to keep using them, right, Is that he views them as a leverage point to companies and countries.

[JVL]

Yeah, that's right. Well guys, this was just a heck of a, a journey we've been on together. Donald Trump.

[Sonny Bunch]

Hide your pencils. Hide your pencils before the government comes confiscates pencil hoards.

[Sam Stein]

That's what I'm just going to buy my kids 10,000 pencils for Christmas. This is the last one. This is the last good Christmas.

[JVL]

Hey. Hit like hit. Subscribe. Follow us here on the feed for more upbeat and lively conversation just like this about all the wonderful things that are happening in Donald Trump's America. Good luck. Oh, the car from Carvana's here. Well, will you look at that. It's exactly what I ordered.

[Sonny Bunch]

Like precisely.

[JVL]

It would be crazy if there were any catches.

[Sonny Bunch]

But there aren't, right?

[Sarah Longwell]

Right. Because that's how car buying should be with Carvana. You get the car you want, choose delivery or pickup and a week to love it or return it.

[Sam Stein]

Buy your car today with Carvana.

[Sarah Longwell]

Delivery or pickup fees may apply. Limitations and exclusions may apply. See our seven day return policy at Carvana dot.