Normally Podcast: Trump-Mamdani's Oval Office Meeting & Holiday Insights

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Normally Podcast: Trump-Mamdani's Oval Office Meeting & Holiday Insights

Air Date: November 25, 2025

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Overview

In this episode of Normally, a segment of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show hosted by Mary Katherine and Carol Markowitz, the hosts delve into the recent surprising meeting between former President Donald Trump and New York Assemblyman Zoran Mamdani, break down the social media shakeup with Twitter/X's transparency features, and riff on Thanksgiving traditions—including the pros and cons of holiday family gambling. With their usual blend of sharp political insight and humor, Mary Katherine and Carol look at populism, internet culture, and how modern tech is affecting both our online and offline lives.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump-Mamdani Oval Office Meeting

Theme: The episode centers initially on the unexpected, widely-covered Oval Office meeting between Trump (Republican/Populist Right) and Mamdani (Socialist/Populist Left).

• Mary Katherine’s Take:

  • Mamdani risks alienating his ultra-liberal base by meeting with Trump, but seeks support for progressive/socialist policies that local Democrats might avoid funding.
  • Both Trump and Mamdani “like the camera more than anything else happening that day" and share a populist streak focused on performance and publicity (04:21).

• Carol’s Perspective:

  • She reflects on how Democrats under Trump’s presidency missed a potential strategic opportunity:

    “Trump is not an indoctrinaire Republican. They could have gotten so much from him... Instead, they chose to fight him.” (05:55)

  • Draws a parallel to Kim Kardashian’s approach to policy influence—visiting the Oval Office for photo ops and substantive change.

  • Expresses concern about Trump’s claim that conservatives would be happy with Mamdani’s policies:

    "I didn't like the line... 'conservatives are going to be happy about some of his policies.' And I was like, no, we're not. Very much no." (07:07)

• Dynamics in the Meeting:

  • Both hosts agree Trump is driven by personal relationships and tends to drift leftward when praised, seeing this as both a strategic weakness and a source of unpredictability.
  • Trump’s tendency to “kill him [Mamdani] with kindness" and joke during the meeting is called out, with Carol quipping,

    "If you think he's a fascist, you're not doing that. So Trump really did get him in that way." (08:03)

Notable Exchange:

• When a reporter presses Mamdani about calling Trump a fascist:
  • Trump: "Go ahead, say yes. Who cares?"
  • Mamdani: "Yes, he's a fascist."
  • Carol comments: "It sounded completely defanged... He doesn't think he's a fascist. He can't even say it anymore because you stood next to a fascist..." (07:46–08:09)

Populist Alliance Concerns:

• Both hosts are skeptical about "left and right populism" merging—seeing it as bad economics and bad politics, potentially undercutting more clear-eyed opposition to socialism.

2. X (Twitter) Transparency Feature

Theme: Discussion shifts to new features on Twitter/X that reveal user’s sign-up locations, exposing inauthentic or foreign-based accounts posing as Americans or journalists.

• Carol:

  • Praises move:

    "I think it's an amazing policy... so you could like see where the people are from and what their bias is." (17:56)

  • Notes that “a lot of accounts have been exposed,” e.g., a supposed Gaza-based journalist in Turkey.

• Mary Katherine:

  • Explains the impact: Online personas faking their origin distort public debate and amplify outrage, often for monetary gain (“attention economy”).
  • Points out the flattening of the earth on X—random users can suggest features and interact with Elon Musk himself (19:02–19:32).

• Carol:

  • Emphasizes honesty over faked identity:

    “If you're honest, it doesn't matter, right? Put it right in your bio: ‘Moroccan man interested in American politics’... but this lie that you're American... It's really appalling and I'm so glad it's being exposed.” (21:02)

On Social Media Incentives:

• Hosts agree monetization and anonymity incentivize rage-baiting and the foreign manipulation of discourse, distorting perception of American views on social and political issues (21:28–22:43).

3. Gambling at Thanksgiving—Fanduel Ad Critique

Theme: Mary Katherine and Carol dissect a FanDuel ad encouraging family gambling during Thanksgiving and give their personal takes on its social implications.

• Ad Recap: Family sitting at Thanksgiving placing bets together via phones—a satirical "pass the leg" group parlay.

• Carol's Rebuttal:

  • “I hate it so much... They're not only saying, go gamble, encourage your family to do it, but place the worst possible bets...” (28:09)
  • Contrasts poker (a game of skill) with parlay betting (chance).

• Mary Katherine:

  • Notes the shift from physically going to gamble to the accessibility of betting anywhere:

    “The part that's changed over the years... is that you can just do it from your phone... and now you're just like, let me do it here with my family at Thanksgiving dinner. That seems bad.” (29:49)

  • Voices ambivalence—libertarian instincts vs. awareness of social downsides.

• Personal Anecdote:

  • Carol’s brother muses on the paradox that he can open-carry guns in Florida but not place a sports bet online (30:04).

4. Thanksgiving Traditions & Favorite Dishes

Theme: The episode closes on a lighter note: swapping favorite Thanksgiving recipes and traditions.

• Most Anticipated Dishes:

  • Carol: Green beans with a cornflake topping—“So good... nobody else eats it and I love it.” (31:47)
  • Mary Katherine: Southern-style potato casserole with cheese, sour cream, mayo, cornflakes, and butter. (32:01)

• Quotes:

  • Mary Katherine: “Do we want to treat [betting] like Wordle? ... Just sit down and play Parcheesi or something.” (30:45)
  • Carol: “Vocabulary is better than betting on people you don't know playing a sport and that you have no... possibility of affecting.” (31:16)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Trump’s agenda:

  “The funding of the socialism is always the hardest part of the socialism.” — Carol Markowitz (05:13)

• On the bipartisan populist alliance:

  “I don't want to write populism and left populism allowance. That sounds terrible to me.” — Mary Katherine (10:25)

• On X/Twitter feature:

  “Put it right in your bio: Moroccan man interested in American politics... It's really appalling and I'm so glad it's being exposed.” — Carol (21:03)

• On family betting:

  “Pass the leg. Working on it. Everybody, the leg has been passed. This Thanksgiving.” — Parody ad segment (27:52)
  “They're not only saying, go gamble... but place the worst possible bets...” — Carol (28:09)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Topic | Timestamps | |---------|-------|------------| | 03:27–04:28 | Thanksgiving plans & family traditions | 03:27–04:28 | | 04:28–10:08 | Trump and Mamdani’s Oval Office meeting | 04:28–10:08 | | 10:08–12:27 | Populist politics & New York City implications | 10:08–12:27 | | 12:27–14:15 | Notable clip: Trump-Mamdani interaction; political fallout | 12:27–14:15 | | 17:56–22:43 | Twitter/X’s new transparency features and impact | 17:56–22:43 | | 27:26–31:16 | Family gambling on Thanksgiving & FanDuel ad critique | 27:26–31:16 | | 31:43–32:45 | Favorite Thanksgiving foods | 31:43–32:45 |

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Tone & Style

The episode blends sharp political commentary with personal warmth and dry humor. Both Mary Katherine and Carol combine critique with self-deprecating asides, and their conversational style makes for an engaging exploration of serious topics without losing a light, relatable tone.

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Useful For:
Anyone interested in the intersection of populism, social policy, digital authenticity, and evolving American traditions, or just looking for witty, thoughtful takes on the news of the week.

Transcript

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[Mary Katherine]

Hey guys. We are back on normally the show normal it takes for when the day gets weird. I'm Mary Katherine.

[Carol Markowitz]

And I'm Carol Markowitz. How are you, Mary Katherine? How was your weekend?

[Mary Katherine]

Pretty good. I went to the beach for the weekend. Got a little getaway in Nice.

[Carol Markowitz]

Which beach?

[Mary Katherine]

Aruba.

[Carol Markowitz]

I love it.

[Mary Katherine]

Yes.

[Carol Markowitz]

Back to where you got married.

[Mary Katherine]

That's right. And so got a little, I mean, very little sun. I'm me, but I pretended like I was getting sun and had a cocktail and then came back ready for to, to prep something, do it all again.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine]

Tan, rested and ready for my next vacation.

[Carol Markowitz]

I love it. Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday. I really love it. I love the whole thing. I love the food, I love the thankfulness. I love the family. I'm, I'm all about it. My brother and his family are visiting. They're here for their year. You know, I hate the whole switching off years, but I mean, you gotta do it right? You got to, you got to share them.

[Mary Katherine]

I'm excited. We're going to North Carolina, so we'll be out of here in a couple days.

[Carol Markowitz]

Love it.

[Mary Katherine]

All right.

[Carol Markowitz]

Well, before we get to the turkey and the stuffing and the side dishes, Donald Trump and Zoran Mamdani had a much too warm situation happen at the Oval Office on Friday. And I wasn't sure if we would still be talking about this for Tuesday's episode, but it remains kind of the biggest story around. I don't think anything else is beating. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about those two crazy kids and the fun they had at the Oval Office together.

[Mary Katherine]

They had so much fun. So Mamdani comes down to the Oval Office, a couple things from his Perspective from Mamdani's. I do think there's a risk of losing a bunch of cred with his very liberal folks. But the problem for him is he needs someone to fund his socialism.

[Carol Markowitz]

The funding of the socialism is always the hardest part of the socialism.

[Mary Katherine]

And like, Hochul might not do it. So I guess he's coming down here.

[Carol Markowitz]

She's definitely not doing it.

[Mary Katherine]

Think mostly the two of them like the camera more than almost anything else that was happening that day. And so both of them were like, this is great. Everybody's got all eyes on us. But it occurred to me that Mamdani is doing what 2017 Democrats should have done, which is, oh, my God. Yeah, just roll up in that Oval Office, tell him how many votes he got in your district, how there's so many people who agree with him on stuff, how you agree with him on stuff. He's, here's the things we should do together. And he's like, maybe we should.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, yeah. I wrote about this at the time, how Democrats are missing a huge opportunity. Trump is not an indoctrinaire Republican. They could have gotten so much from him with him all around. They chose to fight him instead. Actually, I call this the Kim Kardashian rule. She was like, come to the Oval Office, take a bunch of pictures together, get what I want. Policy wise, she got, you know, a.

[Mary Katherine]

Pardon for a non violent drug offender.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yes. And a policy change about nonviolent drug. Non violent offenders in general. So, yeah, it's the first step back. That's what it was called.

[Mary Katherine]

Yes. Very effective work on, on her part.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right.

[Mary Katherine]

Something people should have learned from. And perhaps Mamdani is the guy who did.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah. I have to admit to a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ride about this whole thing. I. I don't know. I first saw it, I was like, oh, no. Like, really didn't like it. Felt not betrayed by Trump. Because, listen, if you. We didn't. We didn't talk about it in advance, but had we talked about it, I would have said, Trump is going to kill him with kindness. He's going to be super nice. All of that. I knew that was going to happen. I had no illusions that they were going to have some major clash in the Oval Office. But I felt, I don't know, like, I didn't like the line that particularly I didn't like was Donald Trump saying conservatives are going to be happy about some of his policies. And I was like, no, we're not very much. No. But I have been on a little Bit of an emotional roller coaster about this, and I have ultimately come out on. There was some really wise things that Trump did. The joke that he made. Well, we'll play a clip in a minute, but I'll just tell you the joke that everybody was sharing where a reporter asked Mamdani, do you still think Trump is a fascist? And Trump is like, go ahead, say yes. Who cares? Like, you know, it's fine. And Mamdani's like, yes, he's a fascist. But then he said it again on the Sunday shows. I think it was Meet the Press at that point. It sounded completely defanged. He. He doesn't think he's a fascist. He can't even say it anymore because you stood next to a fascist and told him how people in your district voted for him and how you should.

[Mary Katherine]

How you can really work together.

[Carol Markowitz]

Come on. If you think he's a fascist, you're not doing that. So Trump really did get him in that way. And I think he doesn't have the kind of nails that he had going into that meeting. And that's. That's a good thing.

[Mary Katherine]

Yeah. I. Again, like I said, I think both of their priority was perhaps being on camera and enjoying themselves. So that's number one. Number two, I do think, because Trump doesn't. Trump loves New York City. He is not joking around when he says, I want him to succeed. Now, he's also not an ideologue, nor is he that interested in, like, economic policy outside of tariffs. So he's not. I don't. I don't think he's spent a ton of time thinking about what those policies will look like. And he's, like, agreeing that the buses are very slow. It's, like, great, but they're not going to be free and fast.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's not going to happen faster if they're free. Sure.

[Mary Katherine]

You know, but I think, like, both of these people understand the appeal. A, they're good on camera. B, they're good at appealing to populism. Trump, a right version of Mamdani, a left version. So he's. They're kind of right that they have things to agree on. And yours. And my complaint about Trump has always been that he's a. Liz creeping too far left for us. Right.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine]

And so I think that's a lot of what you saw. What I did not like is that Trump defanged arguments against Mamdani by plenty of other people who could correctly, morally, and usefully politically run against this force in New York City, like Elise Stefanik.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine]

But Trump, that's not Trump's number one priority fo show. I think the thing about Trump is.

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If he likes you, he likes you.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine]

And I think this guy came in and he liked him and he emphasized the right things. You could tell Mamdani had thought about, like, what are the things he likes to hear? Because he kept emphasizing people who had voted for him and Trump, the things that Trump and he both want to give to people. And I did. I especially did not love Trump's credulousness on. Well, he said he doesn't want any crime. It's like, okay, great. Same magic. How. How's that gonna work?

[Carol Markowitz]

Right? Yeah. So I'm sure they have crossover voters, but if you look at the New York City voting map, the Andrew Cuomo areas that Andrew Cuomo won were the areas that went for Donald Trump. So while there is some crossover in general, there isn't also.

[Mary Katherine]

I don't want to. I don't want to write populism and left populism allowance. That sounds terrible to me.

[Carol Markowitz]

This is awful, awful.

[Mary Katherine]

Bad economics for everyone.

[Carol Markowitz]

Totally. Let's play this clip and then get into that.

[Zoran Mamdani]

He's got views a little out there, but who knows? I mean, he's going to change also. We all change. I change a lot. I think he is going to surprise some conservative people. Actually, just days ago, you referred to.

[Carol Markowitz]

President Trump as a despot.

[Zoran Mamdani]

And I've been called much worse than a despot. So it's not. It's not that insulting. I expect to be helping him, not hurting him, a big help, because I want New York City to be great.

[Mary Katherine]

Do you think you're standing next to a jihadist right now in the Oval Office?

[Zoran Mamdani]

No, I don't. You say things sometimes in a campaign. I met with a man who's a very rational person.

[Carol Markowitz]

Are you affirming that you think President Trump is a fascist? I've spoken about.

[Zoran Mamdani]

That's okay. He's could just say yes. Okay. It's easier. It's easier than explaining it.

[Carol Markowitz]

I don't mind that, Pat.

[Mary Katherine]

That part. That part was very funny.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, it was. It was funny. I mean, look, Donald Trump has a very good sense of humor. Our concerns remain that he drifts leftward when left to his own devices.

[Mary Katherine]

And.

[Carol Markowitz]

But you're. You're right, he loves New York. He wants New York to succeed. I don't think he cares very much about it succeeding in a conservative policy way, which, you know, you and I would care more about. But, yeah, the left and right populism Thing is a real big issue for people who are not into that sort of thing. We'll talk about in the next segment about Twitter X now, now putting people's location on their bios and what we found in the last few days. Again, we'll get into the next segment. But the groiper class that pushes the left and right populism together. I've seen so many tweets in the last few days since the Mamdani thing. Like, we need, we need to have social conservatism and liberal economics. And it's like, no, we don't. We definitely don't.

[Mary Katherine]

Well, and I think he also probably appealed. It sound sounded like behind closed doors that Mamdani was talking a lot about building stuff. Again, exactly what Trump wants to hear, but not what you heard from Mamdani on the campaign trail. And Trump pointed that out. He's like, I didn't really hear much of that when he was running, but, you know, it's a campaign. But now he's telling me he wants to build stuff. Okay, I'll believe that when I see it. But that was part of the message that appealed to Donald Trump, which then makes him friendly to you in the room, which means when you're asked about genocide and you affirm that you believe the Israeli government is committing it, he doesn't push back on you.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's right.

[Mary Katherine]

Yeah. I would really like to see. Because he knows better than that.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, right. Yes. Taking me back to Friday where I was like, all angry and then had the weekend to, like, digest. Yeah, you're absolutely right. Trump loves to be loved. He loves when people say nice things to him. It is an Achilles heel. I always worried about this, and we saw it in action here.

[Mary Katherine]

We'll see where Elise Stefanik takes it from here because she again is running against Kathy Hochul for governor of New York. And the idea is to use him as a foil. But if Donald Trump is saying, I'd have no problem living in New York under Mamdani, that's going to be a little bit of an issue.

[Carol Markowitz]

But he totally will. You know what I mean? Even as a billionaire, even as, you know, among the richest people living in New York, you still, as soon as you leave your golden palace, you have homelessness on the street, you have disarray in the city. Donald Trump's not going back to that. I'll put my five bucks on it right now. I'm getting to gambling in the last segment. Five bucks. Donald Trump does not go back to New York after his presidency.

[Mary Katherine]

Also, Trump reserves the right to change his mind about everything he said in that meeting tomorrow. Yeah, and he probably will in like several days.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, I think at least Stevonik should still run against creeping socialism and Kathy Hochul's embrace of that and I wish her the best. We'll be right back with more on normally. And where is your favorite X account from? Malaysia, Tunisia, Turkey? We'll find out.

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[Carol Markowitz]

We are back on normally where X introduced a very popular new feature where you can click on somebody's profile and see where they signed up for X and where they are based basically where what app store they use to log on. So maybe were on vacation and decided to join Twitter in like you know, 2015 and you joined from Aruba but then your app store still is us. So a lot of people have been exposed because of this and there's a lot of hoopla around it. I think it's an amazing policy. I actually think you should not have to click through. I think it should be right on the profile so you could like see where the people are from and what their bias is. I think it's very important and a lot of a lot of accounts have been exposed in the last few days including one of my personal favorites because it does hit the real world not just at our in our ex world Palestinian journalist allegedly that was writing for the BBC turns out doesn't live in Gaza at all, lives in Turkey. So yeah yeah, yeah.

[Mary Katherine]

This is an interesting thing because it is by its very nature extremely online. Right. But there was the background is that was there was always this suspicion that we were being messed with by a lot of accounts that pose as true patriotic America first accounts or or tent Dwelling Gaza residents who are happily regurgitated by the BBC and others that were misrepresenting themselves. And we've found that out on a case by case basis at times. But I believe, and I don't think I'm incorrect about this, but I. Somebody, Katie Pavlich, suggested this change on Twitter and Elon Musk, like, took it up and then they said it should show these things. So, well, well done, her. And there is a fun sort of flattening of the earth that happens on X where you can just say, like, hey, Elon, you should try this. So transparency is very helpful because I don't mind if you're from another country and America's a superpower. We have a lot of influence. You have thoughts, fine. I'm not going to take your thoughts with the same weight that I would other people's, but don't lie to me about where you are and what you're into. And so I think the transparency is very helpful. And like, we always talk about these very online things, become part of the discourse which then is broadcast on media and then sort of trickles down to become this idea, right. Of what our country is. And if our country is not actually as populated or animated by groipers, I would like to know that. I want to know if they're real.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, that. That's it. That's what it is. It's like, is what we're seeing online something that's actually happening or is it manufactured outrage? And I think that a lot of what we've seen in the last few days turns out that many of these accounts are in other countries and they're not actually the farm girl in Iowa baking pies for her, you know, husband and being a good trad wife and commenting on how the Jews are taking everything over. It turns out that's just a dude living in, like, Morocco and he has some thoughts.

[Mary Katherine]

But I'm with you.

[Carol Markowitz]

Like, the thing is, if you're honest, it doesn't matter, right? Put it right in your bio. Moroccan man interested in American politics. And then put whatever you want and tweet whatever you want and see if it becomes popular. It still may. But this lie that you're American and that you have as much of a stake in it as the rest of us do. It's. It's really appalling and I'm so glad it's being exposed.

[Mary Katherine]

Well, and there's the larger issue of the attention economy and the fact that monetization of X, although I think admirable in Some ways incentivizes both rage baiting people, for sure. Crazy things that you don't actually believe, and incentivizes people in countries that are not as prosperous as ours to log on and pretend to be Annie in Iowa and put some rage bait out there and make a couple hundred bucks a month, which is quite good money. And it's not. It ain't chicken scratch anywhere, but it's sure much better money in smaller countries with smaller economies. And so you sort of incentivized that situation. That being said, there are plenty of Americans who have these, like, detestable views in many place in many cases. I do think perhaps that these points of view are being favored and amplified in a way that distorts how many of these people there actually are. And then that leads people to think you and I don't do it, but like to think that to talk to your audience, you must adopt these views, because your audience is animated by these views. But how animated actually are they? Is it real? Is it not? And I think that's what we're getting a little closer to understanding, right?

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, that's absolutely right. Other, you know, changes that I'd love to see on X is just, I guess, to keep up with that. Does the person still, you know, check in from wherever people are? They do move. They, you know, all of that does happen. But if you're an American who moved to Russia because you like their system better, I. I kind of want that information in your bio.

[Mary Katherine]

Yeah, that is important information.

[Carol Markowitz]

Any other changes you want to see X make? The edit button needs improvement, by the way. Elon, if you're listening, I can never ed. Edit my tweets.

[Mary Katherine]

I know. Well, so my edit button mostly works. I would say that. I know you're a blocker. I'm a muter. And the mute doesn't work properly.

[Carol Markowitz]

No, blocking also doesn't work properly. Yeah, I saw blocking this weekend, actually. I had. I unblocked somebody because I wanted to follow along with their drama. But when you block someone, you can't see their tweets. Like, why not? I like. If they block me, I can't see their tweets. That's fine. But if I block them, I can't see their tweets. But what if I want to see what their little fight is about? Which I did.

[Mary Katherine]

Yeah. Well, the drama shall continue. But I do think we have a better handle on parsing who the Americans are in the drama now, which is nice.

[Carol Markowitz]

America first, you know?

[Mary Katherine]

Yeah, I mean, we got to run our elections here, so I'd like to know which ones are real.

[Carol Markowitz]

We'll be right back with more on normally and gambling on Thanksgiving. Should you do it Time for a.

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[Mary Katherine]

All right, we are back on normally with some festive ad making for Thanksgiving. Some ideas for things you could do with your family. This is FanDuel. Let's just play the ad and then we'll talk about it.

[Zoran Mamdani]

Okay, everyone, pass the leg. What's past the leg? It's a parlor you build with your friends. Add a leg. Pass it on.

[Carol Markowitz]

Hey, who are you passing it to?

[Mary Katherine]

Not him. One bad wing. Why haven't you passed the leg yet?

[Zoran Mamdani]

Can't rush the leg, dad.

[Carol Markowitz]

Just pass me the leg.

[Zoran Mamdani]

I like my leg. Pass my leg. Pass the leg. Working on it. Everybody, the leg has been passed. This Thanksgiving.

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[Carol Markowitz]

I hate it. I hate it so much. And. And you know, I'm. I'm very squishy on gambling. I'm a poker player. It is a game of skill, but it has a gambling component that is necessary to the game. I hate this so much. It's. It, like, infuriated me if you. If you didn't see the ad at the end. The family sitting around on their phones at Thanksgiving dinner placing bets. It's awful if you don't know what a parlay is. It's basically the probability of hitting some random thing in a game. And if a bunch of people are placing parlays, which are already extremely unlikely to ever hit, It's. It's just the lowest odds of anything. So they're not only saying, go gamble. Encourage your family to do it, but place the worst possible bets that you.

[Mary Katherine]

Can and do it while sitting at your Thanksgiving table and do it with all of your family. Yeah, Yeah. I feel like I'm. I'm a bit of a squish on the gambling thing as well, because I don't really have a dog in this fight. I don't gamble. I. It's just never been interesting to me. But it is a thing that I'm willing to listen to both sides on because my libertarian side is like, okay, well, like, let me listen if you're an adult and you're not hurting anybody else. But I can see well enough to know that, like, this probably has some real downstream bad effects. And the. The part that's changed over the years since you and I have been paying attention to this is that you can just do it from your phone for everything, anytime, anywhere. And there used to just be a lot more effort involved in going to a place to do the thing that's like, maybe not the best use of your time and money. And now you're just like, let me do it here with my family at Thanksgiving dinner. That seems bad.

[Carol Markowitz]

Awful. And poker remains illegal online in most places, so it's just. It makes no sense to me. I will say that my brother and his family are visiting for Thanksgiving, and I had told my brother that Florida recently got open carry.

[Mary Katherine]

You can.

[Carol Markowitz]

You're now allowed to open. Carry your guns. So he's like. So let me get this straight. He lands yesterday. He's like, you can go to like, a 711 in sweatpants with two guns in your holster exposed, but I can't place a bet online because you actually can't in Florida. So, yeah, no gambling for Thanksgiving, little brother.

[Mary Katherine]

We are governed by our community standards. You know, that's. That's the way it works. And he's in Florida. Yeah. I do think that there are dark stories underneath a lot of this online betting and sort of the real mainstreaming of it over the past five years. And this one, like you said, seems unwise. Not a great use of your time on Thanksgiving. And it's like, do we want to treat that like Wordle?

[Carol Markowitz]

Like, exactly.

[Mary Katherine]

It's. Right. It's sort of treated as if, like, oh, we're just doing a game together as fam. And I don't know, just sit down and play Parcheesi or something.

[Carol Markowitz]

Totally. Do you have a wordle Chat?

[Mary Katherine]

I don't ever wordle Chat, but I know other people.

[Carol Markowitz]

Do you want to get in on a wordle Chat?

[Mary Katherine]

I'm not. I'm not. I'm not in touch with the people on these things, but I know I.

[Carol Markowitz]

Do have a wordle Chat. It's very, very, very active every single day.

[Mary Katherine]

See, that's good. You're learning new things.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine]

Doing the vocabulary. Yeah.

[Carol Markowitz]

Vocabulary is better than betting on people you don't know playing a sport and that you have no, you have no possibility of affecting. That's the thing. Like, where I always say, like, poker is different and it is different than even table games in casinos. You're playing against the house and poker, you're playing against other people and you're playing with your own skills. So if poker's illegal, I don't understand how betting on sports is legal. I'll just, just, you know, I'll be the bummer and say that it shouldn't be.

[Mary Katherine]

Quick exit question before we go. What dish are you most looking forward to?

[Carol Markowitz]

Nobody agrees with me on this. It's the green beans. It's the green beans. They are so good. I make one with a cornflake topping and it is delicious. And it's next to me because nobody else eats it and I love it. How about you?

[Mary Katherine]

I love a green. We're same but I love a green bean casserole. Really? I am going to shout out a different casserole that I only have on Thanksgiving. Well, my dad makes a cornbread stuffing that is very special for Thanksgiving to that's very arduous and we only do it once a year. But there is a potato casserole in the south that's just like potatoes, cheese, sour cream, mayo, like all the things that are fatty in the potatoes. And then you put cheese on top and make that crispy. And then you put the corn flakes on top with the butter on top. And it is so decadent and ridiculous and I only eat it once a.

[Carol Markowitz]

Year and I love. All right, ship me that recipe.

[Mary Katherine]

Let's do it so we can vote. We can trade off our green beans and our potato casseroles. Yeah. Here we go.

[Carol Markowitz]

Well, hope you're having a very happy Thanksgiving with your families this week. We will be back with more normally on Tuesday. We're gonna have a rerun on Thursday. We wish you all the best. Have a happy and safe and healthy Thanksgiving.

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[Mary Katherine]

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