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Kat Radley
It's not a battle. So glad the Saja boys could take breakfast and give our meal the rest of the day.
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Kat Radley
Hello and welcome to the Pre Cap, a daily show podcast where we sit down with this week's host to recap some of the latest news and preview what's coming up next. I'm Kat Radley. I'm a writer here at the show, and I'm joined today by your host this week, Ronny Chang.
Ronny Chang
Stay hydrated.
Kat Radley
This for context. We're coming in after a week off. We had a spring break hiatus week. And what a week to not doing shows. There is almost too much that we've missed.
Ronny Chang
Yeah.
Kat Radley
So let's get into. I mean, just the tip of the iceberg. Trump threatened to end the Iranian civilization casually on Truth Social.
Ronny Chang
This is kind of old news, Kat. This was last week.
Kat Radley
I'm just catching us up.
Ronny Chang
I know, but this. Five things happened after this. But yes, sure, yes, he did threaten to end civilization on Easter. To be fair to him, he didn't mention what civilization heavily implied to be Iran, but he wants them to open the Straight of Hormuz. He did this on. On. I keep calling it Twitter, but it's not Twitter.
Kat Radley
I know. I call everything Twitter.
Ronny Chang
Yeah, everything's so old now. Yeah, he did on Truth Social. Right. So he never actually said the words.
Kat Radley
Right. He just posted it.
Ronny Chang
He just posted it or someone posted it.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
So. And then he didn't end it yet.
Kat Radley
No.
Ronny Chang
So he backed out.
Kat Radley
It's still going.
Ronny Chang
So I guess all's well that ends well.
Kat Radley
So, yeah, the civilization is still up and running. Yes, ours is in question.
Ronny Chang
Ours is Looking. Looking down the barrel.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
And, yeah, I guess that's how we do geopolitics now. We tweet about annihilating everything about our enemies, I guess. Right.
Kat Radley
You're just wiping out entire cultures and civilians and wait and see if it happens. Yeah, it is weird because I. When we are off for work, I try to not be as engaged in the news as I am for work, to actually, like, hang out with my family and, you know, and so when I would kind of maybe every two days jump in to see what's going on, I was like, oh, do I have to Google, are we going to nuke Iran? I was like, why is. I didn't read the news for two days and this is where we are right now. What did I miss?
Ronny Chang
I know it. And also, you know, the first reading is like, you don't. You don't. I. Maybe I'm stupid. I didn't read into nuclear threat in the first reading of the tweet. The nuclear threat came in the analysis of it. And I was like, oh, yeah, that's. I guess that's kind of. You kind of gotta be careful if you're. If you control nuclear weapons to not say you want to destroy a civilization because people might think you want to use nukes.
Kat Radley
Yeah. If we're actually going to, like, take him at his word, which we shouldn't. But if we're going to.
Ronny Chang
I also love that the biggest defense of Trump is like, don't take him at his word.
Kat Radley
Right.
Ronny Chang
That's what his allies say. Yeah. I don't listen to the president when he says it ends. He's just. It's just. It's just hype.
Kat Radley
Yeah. I'm like, I don't know, let's. Let's err on the side of caution.
Ronny Chang
Right. And so no bomb. No. No annihilation. He backed out and then did the. The straight open.
Kat Radley
The. The strait is still in Iran's control. And now just. I think yesterday.
Ronny Chang
Yeah.
Kat Radley
He wants to send a U. S. Naval blockade. So, like, he wants to blockade their blockade.
Ronny Chang
Right. Which is, you know, so, yeah, he couldn't stop the blockade, which he caused. And so now he's going to say, now he's blockading it.
Kat Radley
If anyone's blocking, it's going to be us.
Ronny Chang
Yeah. We're going to cop. Block ourselves. And you know, on a tactical. On a very Trumpian level. Yeah. He. That. It's actually a weird thing where I guess it kind of works culturally in the culture war. He can say like, no, no, they're not stopping us. I'm stopping us now.
Kat Radley
I'm stopping them from stopping us.
Ronny Chang
Right.
Kat Radley
It is. He has this pattern where if he were to just do nothing, everything would have been fine. Like, we would have been back where we were before. He had just done nothing. But now he's trying to accomplish what already was in existence before he did anything.
Ronny Chang
Yeah, he's trying to. Now he's becoming. Opening the straight that was open already. Yes, that's what it.
Kat Radley
I felt the same way when he first came into office and Biden had, like, done all this work to, like, get the economy back up and running, and all he had to do was nothing and just like, let it slowly recover, like from the pandemic. And instead he just undid everything Biden did. And that's why, like, the economy is suffering again. I'm like, all you had to do was nothing and take credit for it. Like, but you had to just do stuff.
Ronny Chang
Yeah, you had to do stuff. And I don't know what the. Yeah, I don't know what. I don't know. I don't know what the. I don't know how he's going to get out of this one.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
But if anyone has proven that he's kind of Teflon and gets out everything this guy is, he'll be fine.
Kat Radley
Yeah, we may not be sure, but he'll be okay.
Ronny Chang
Sure.
Kat Radley
Well, he did. So he sent in his number one guy, J.D. vance, to do the peace talks, which also failed miserably.
Ronny Chang
So one thing I was interested is Pakistan was at the peace talks and Pakistan's are the ones who announced the ceasefire.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
If you recall that that basically ended Trump's threat.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
Right. Because he said there's. I'm putting a deadline. If you don't, if you don't open the straight, I'm going to end your civilization. And Pakistan is the one that kind of did the negotiations or hosted it and announced that. Okay. We. We researched ceasefire. So I, I may. I don't understand enough about why I'm glad they did it, but why would they bail out?
Kat Radley
You know, I think this JD Vance's was to kind of like finalize the peace plan and look into how we would reopen the strait and actually like, end everything. And they couldn't come to an agreement, which is why now they're like fighting over who is still controlling the strait.
Ronny Chang
Okay.
Kat Radley
Is from what my understanding.
Ronny Chang
Okay, well, thank you, Pakistan.
Kat Radley
I guess Pakistan is really, really helping
Ronny Chang
the US Save this work in this.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
I mean. Okay. To Be fair. Maybe they genuinely thought that Trump might destroy everything. So they were like, okay, we gotta stop this.
Kat Radley
And I think they're also like, Israel is still attacking Lebanon, which was also supposed to be part of the people.
Ronny Chang
Yeah. That's also.
Kat Radley
Don't forget Israel's also involved in this.
Ronny Chang
It's a very tenuous. It's a very tenuous ceasefire.
Kat Radley
Yeah. We, we're not going to solve peace in the Middle East.
Ronny Chang
We're not solving peace and the Middle east in this one.
Kat Radley
Well, we'll do better than Trump and Vance will. So we're. That's where we are right now. And we're kind of going to be covering that on the show today probably. But your week, you're going to pick up hosting tomorrow. And I'm sure there will still be shit going on considering concerning the Strait of Hormuz and Iran and the fallout of whatever crazy thing Trump maybe tweets tonight while we're sleeping.
Ronny Chang
Sure.
Kat Radley
So the Iran war is kind of our ever ongoing thing. Whereas, you know, if we go is always. There's always a little bit of Epstein files.
Ronny Chang
Yeah.
Kat Radley
Now there's always a little bit of Iran war lingering. Epstein files is now lingering. Under the Iran war. There's like a late, like different layers of.
Ronny Chang
It's a layer cake.
Kat Radley
It's simmering.
Ronny Chang
It's a layer of cake of storing shit. Oh, it's a layer cake of shit.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
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Kat Radley
But some fun news. One thing that was nice to watch over the break was the story of the astronauts traveling around the moon. Yes, it seemed to be a story that people found joyful, inspirational, hopeful. And it was kind of nice to see people actually experience something together collectively and take joy from it as opposed to just doom scrolling all the time.
Ronny Chang
Yeah, it's nice to see kind of the US government be responsible. Something that kind of brings hope and joy. I hope people felt hope, you know, I mean even in the, even in the 70s, in the late, in the 70s when they still went to the moon, people apparently the mood was that people were kind of over it then. Yeah, they were kind of like jaded about it because we did it. Yeah. But we haven't, we haven't done a moon trip in so long. And you know, it was easy to kind of be extremely cynical about it, considering how bad things are on earth and how much money, you know, is that we need here to do stuff. And you see all them kind of firing a rocket and you're like, what you guys doing? We're doing this again. And I gotta say I'm not, I'm not one of those people. I'm a very, I'm very inspired by it, I think. I think watching NASA at work is watching America's best when it's being aspirational and inspirational. And I feel like that's America at its best when it inspires people to literally reach for the stars in whatever industry, whatever that means for you personally in your industry or your self expression in this case. It was literally reaching for the stars and seeing people do it. And I guess every astronaut is woke because they were in space going like the Earth is beautiful and just being like.
Kat Radley
Introspective.
Ronny Chang
Yeah, introspective. And like what are nations? And you know, we're all on this rock in space floating. Why are we fighting in a comment section? Yeah, all we have is each other.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
But you know, I guess NASA and all these astronauts.
Kat Radley
Shut up lefties.
Ronny Chang
Yeah, shut up lefties.
Kat Radley
Anytime anyone shows any little bit of humanity and compassion, they're just like, shut up. God woke idiots.
Ronny Chang
Yeah, this. I guess, I guess it was a fighter pilot. I guess he's a woke fighter pilot. You know, the astronaut. These guys are all test pilots. So, you know, he's a woke.
Kat Radley
You have to be a badass to be an astronaut.
Ronny Chang
Nah, he's woke. Nah, he's woke. And then they went around the moon. And it's also interesting to see like, you know, I'm a real NASA Apollo program nerd. I actually watched how they, Re, like, people rebuilt the Apollo computers in modern times just for posterity, just to see how the. I'm a huge dork with NASA. And so it's interesting to see how much technology has come. You see these astronauts, like, they went to the moon. America sent people to the moon with, like, less computing power than, like, a Casio wristwatch, you know. And now they've got. We've got. They're like, on their phones. I think they. Outlook, they had Outlook in the moon. They were like, starlinking, you know, like, the tech now is. Can you imagine, like, what, 60 years improved.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
You know.
Kat Radley
Yeah, it's been that long.
Ronny Chang
Yeah. So, you know, they're still using, you know, in Apollo 13, they're still using, like, pen and paper in the, you know.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
It's a stopwatch.
Kat Radley
And they call back and people are, like, doing the math equations back in
Ronny Chang
using a slide ruler. Using a slide ruler. So technology has come a long way. You know, I don't know what this means for the future. You know, hopefully. Hopefully this leads us something. But I'm just saying the humanities aspect of it alone, I think was worth the $200 billion they burned up just
Kat Radley
to give humans a single moment of connection with people that might be different from them.
Ronny Chang
Four people. Four people were cured. Four astronauts were cured of what? You know, their hatred. So we just gotta keep doing that. We just gotta keep doing that. Just send people out, four people at a time. Eventually we'll get to everyone on Earth.
Kat Radley
And I, unfortunately, was kind of one of the cynical people, because I do have the thought, I'm like, well, we're destroying Earth. And, like, why not spend the time and resources, the money into, like, keeping the planet we are living on alive instead of, you know, going into space? But if they can get the technology to maybe, like, if they can just pretend it's safe for like, the billionaires to be like, I want to go to space. Just shoot them into space, you know,
Ronny Chang
and then submarine them. Titanic.
Kat Radley
Oh, my God. Whoops. We don't know how to get you.
Ronny Chang
Oh, whoops. Sorry, guys. Yeah, the. I mean, I. Let me quote some former president, some guy. I think his name was Obama. His name, like, he said something like, we have the technical means to solve a lot of the problems we're facing. A lot of the issues we have are political.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
We have the technical solutions to, you know, most of these environmental problems.
Kat Radley
Oh, yeah. We have, like, the science to cure all of these diseases.
Ronny Chang
Yeah. Well, on track.
Kat Radley
Reinforce the damage to the environment. A lot of the knowledge and science is out there. We're just letting. Yeah. Greed, corporations, and politics, political differences get in the way of it. We could be living in a paradise, but a couple of evil billionaires don't want us to be.
Ronny Chang
So from going from the moon to Epstein.
Kat Radley
Yeah, because it's. We're going into the next layer.
Ronny Chang
Next layer.
Kat Radley
It's always there.
Ronny Chang
Yeah.
Kat Radley
This was also. If know, the astronaut story was joyful. This was also a joyful moment of news.
Ronny Chang
I didn't get what the hell this was. I.
Kat Radley
So nobody did. So Melania came out unprompted and gave a speech to talk about her relationship to Epstein, denying ties to Epstein, denying that she, I believe, was a victim of Epstein.
Ronny Chang
And the number one reaction is, what are you talking about? Like, we. No one. No one even was thinking this until you said this. No one said.
Kat Radley
No one said. And it was such a formal speech, too, which she doesn't normally do. She made a big deal out of it.
Ronny Chang
Right.
Kat Radley
Which, of course, just led everyone to asking more questions. Be like, okay, well, now we want to talk about it.
Ronny Chang
What the hell is going on?
Kat Radley
So I really hope this does lead to some juice. There are stories about, you know, there's. I want to say, a guy from Colombia who asked Trump to deport his wife so he could get. Get custody of.
Ronny Chang
Yeah, that guy.
Kat Radley
And the wife that was deported knows Melania from their modeling days. And so she has a lot of dirt. And so as retribution, she was like, all right, well, I'm gonna spill all the beans, because fuck you guys. So that's kind of the Internet theory of what's behind all this.
Ronny Chang
As usual, very sunshines and rainbows in the Trump world. Everything is just very. Just above the board and positive. Not dark at all. And so she made this speech, and now we all like, what's going on?
Kat Radley
Waiting.
Ronny Chang
And this is classic. Like, you know how people. You know, when you talk to civilians who aren't comics or, you know, maybe even not in show business, like, they. They don't know how to. They overreact to other people overreacting. So, like, five people overreact to you, and then you, as the performer, you start overreacting to them.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
Because you're not professional.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
You know what I mean? And so this, to me, just reeks of that. It's like, what happens when, like, a Karen is able to, like, have a press conference, Basically.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
Because it's like, what are you telling us about this stupid. You know, this sounds like some kind of, what, like, WhatsApp gossip? And then you're like, no, no, I need to clear the air in front of the whole world. And we're like, okay.
Kat Radley
And I wonder who on her team was like, yes, it's a good idea. Let's do this.
Ronny Chang
Well, that's what I'm saying. This reeks of everyone saying, you don't have to do this, and her going, no, this is the right thing to do. Sunshine is the best disinfectant I got. And then people are like, no, you're misreading this whole situation because obviously no one would. You know, any junior PR person would be like, this is weird.
Kat Radley
No one's talking about this right now. Let's not do this. I do, though. If it. It would be great if just a few days from now, a big, juicy bomb drops. Metaphorical bomb about, you know, what is lying beneath this. Yeah. Like, what's. Like.
Ronny Chang
Yeah.
Kat Radley
Why is she. What is she getting in front of? What is she protecting?
Ronny Chang
Also, what's so funny is that, like, they, you know, they cynically started the Iran war to distract from Epstein. And then she's like, he has to go back to Epstein.
Kat Radley
She's like, oh, honey, that's why you started the war. Oh, so sorry.
Ronny Chang
She's like, we just did a whole thing to get passes, and you're bringing Bombed a rod. God damn it. And she. Yeah, and she went into this thing. And also, by the way, it's just like you're saying. You're saying this, but there's photos of you, of Epstein. There's photos of that video of your husband. There's all this stuff linking your husband to Epstein. And you. You know, so it's like, why are you. You know, why are you bringing this up?
Kat Radley
Yeah. Because it's very easily debunked.
Ronny Chang
Yeah. Just hire me as your pr. I won't let this happen. First, the White House.
Kat Radley
Roddy's got your back, Melania. Just give him a call.
Ronny Chang
Just deny it. Just don't even. Go on. Stop. Stop. Going on the Internet.
Kat Radley
That's really. It's just.
Ronny Chang
That's. It's really. Just. Get off.
Kat Radley
Blackout social media. Yeah.
Ronny Chang
Yeah.
Kat Radley
Some close to home news. New York Mayor Eric Adams was granted Albanian citizenship.
Ronny Chang
Yeah. What's up with this dude? Eh?
Kat Radley
I don't know. It's so fun to watch. I don't know if you've been following Zoron and, like, he's been posting a lot on social media.
Ronny Chang
Okay.
Kat Radley
He just did. I think it was either on Easter or it's marking his first 100 days. His first 100 days in office. He walked throughout the city just saying hi to people. And so it was videotaped. And everyone was just so excited to meet him. And he's just being a regular guy, meeting, you know, the constituents of New York and he's really getting shit done. And you're like, yeah. What is Eric Adams up to? Oh, he's moving to Albania for, I don't know, legal protection.
Ronny Chang
I don't know. What is this? I mean, I'm in favor of being a citizen of the world.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
And this post nationalist view of.
Kat Radley
Okay, you lefty.
Ronny Chang
Is that left? I don't even know. I just. Yeah, okay. If it's left, sure. I'm just saying, like, being able to, you know. Yeah. My home is everywhere, people. But what the fuck is this? Because, like, what. It just reeks of like. Yeah, you're trying to evade the law.
Kat Radley
Yeah. Something like you're. You're afraid of getting prosecuted, perhaps, and you need sanctuary somewhere.
Ronny Chang
So what are you, like, no one's
Kat Radley
assuming, oh, he just wants to see the world. People are like, oh, you're escaping something.
Ronny Chang
Yeah, you're escaping something. Yeah, I get it. I mean, you have passports in your pocket. What? This must be his, like, third citizenship. I feel like.
Kat Radley
Yeah. Cause he.
Ronny Chang
Turkey or something.
Kat Radley
He had a good relationship with Turkey for a while, so I think he's just kind of.
Ronny Chang
Any other person would be like, good for you for traveling.
Kat Radley
Yeah. But listen, if it gets him out of New York and keeps him out of New York, I'm also well with it.
Ronny Chang
This brings me to the next point. Was what. What are. Who are the best New York mayors?
Kat Radley
I mean, I just say Mamdani.
Ronny Chang
I think LaGuardia was good.
Kat Radley
He's got an airport.
Ronny Chang
He had an airport. He. Apparently he would go on the back of trucks and look for potholes and fill them.
Kat Radley
Oh, cool.
Ronny Chang
That's why everybody loved him.
Kat Radley
That is one of the things, Mom, Donnie is doing.
Ronny Chang
Oh, he's doing.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
He's probably read.
Kat Radley
He did like a whole pothole filling spree and he's filled 6,000 potholes so far.
Ronny Chang
Yeah, that's the LaGuardia thing and not
Kat Radley
the one on my street.
Ronny Chang
Hopefully this gets into the, you know, the blockchain and someone.
Kat Radley
110th in Amsterdam. There's a really.
Ronny Chang
No, no, don't tell me about your address. Don't tell me about it.
Kat Radley
It's Kind of far. It's far. It's like, oh, okay, delete that, Alan. Don't tell.
Announcer
Just.
Kat Radley
Just send it directly to mamdame. But bleep out my cross streets.
Ronny Chang
Also, LaGuardia. Apparently, for some weird reason, he refused to land at what was JFK airport.
Kat Radley
LaGuardia.
Ronny Chang
Yeah. And so he kept landing at this other location. I can't. I'm butchering the story. But basically that location became LaGuardia Airport. He just didn't want to land at the other one. And so he kept landing. But he was a beloved mayor. I think Prime Giuliani was very beloved. And yeah, in the prime, I'm talking not the. Not the leaking from his head. Giuliani. The.
Kat Radley
The. Like dry and coherent Giuliani.
Ronny Chang
Prime Giuliani was good.
Kat Radley
I love that LaGuardia story because LaGuardia is a great airport now, and it's in a much more convenient location to get there from Manhattan.
Ronny Chang
Yeah, LaGuardia. I mean, LaGuardia airports send us some money because honestly, it became. It went from. It was the biggest turnaround. It went from the worst airport. Yeah, it's the worst airport to now. It's literally the best.
Kat Radley
It's. I go there and I'm like, I don't even need to book a flight. I'll just hang out.
Ronny Chang
It's a good airport.
Kat Radley
Beautiful lighting, restaurants.
Ronny Chang
Oh, great.
Kat Radley
Yeah, go to LaGuardia Aircraft. You guys, people, Terminal C. Gorgeous. Love it.
Ronny Chang
Speaking of airports.
Kat Radley
Speaking of airports, this is a great segue. So there's an air traffic control shortage, which we know some of you may have been feeling it lately. I haven't flown in a while, so
Ronny Chang
I fly a lot.
Kat Radley
Have you felt it? The long lines?
Ronny Chang
No, I actually thankfully skipped. I missed it because I happened to not be flying for a few weeks, and then I missed the whole awfulness of it.
Kat Radley
But you make everyone land at a different place.
Ronny Chang
Probably Roaring Chang Airport.
Kat Radley
Chang Airport.
Ronny Chang
It's the Hudson River. I was just flying yesterday and this weekend and it was fine.
Kat Radley
Okay, good. So the FAA is specifically trying to recruit gamers to come work for FAA's air traffic controllers, I guess because they think they're already good at, I guess, you know, computers control sitting for long periods of time. They think the skills will translate to the job somehow. But in reality, being an air traffic controller is really high stressful, really high stakes because you're responsible for.
Ronny Chang
So it's Call of Duty.
Kat Radley
Yeah, that's true.
Ronny Chang
You know, people coming after you on screens and you're sweating and your girlfriend's Yell yelling at. You have to handle a lot. Your mom's telling you to go do a laundry. Like you. You need the. You need a good temperament.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
It is weird in America that FAA is such a. Like, the air traffic controller is. Shortage is an issue, you know, for a country that flies so much.
Kat Radley
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's really just a matter of. Because they were asking for, you know, better hours, so they weren't exhausted.
Ronny Chang
They wanted more money.
Kat Radley
Working too long and more money, which they deserve it because airplanes and air travel is something that is universal. Usually, generally, everybody uses it. It's not like, for one demographic or another, at least in the course of a year, I feel like everyone in America is gonna fly at some point. So it seems like it's an issue that everybody would get behind giving air traffic controllers more money. It seems like a very easy issue and an easy win for the Trump administration to do.
Ronny Chang
Yeah.
Kat Radley
But they're not.
Ronny Chang
They're not. And what's weird is, for me, I'm always like, how come they don't. Just the people who need this are the airports and the airlines.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
So they should, you know, just pay. I'm sure the airlines will be like, yeah, we'll pay in for it.
Kat Radley
Yeah. Like, Delta could kick in a few more. Yeah.
Ronny Chang
Kick in some money for this. I mean, that's. That's who needs it is the. Is the airports and the airlines. But, okay, that being said, recruiting from gamers, your pool of gamers in America. I love it. I love the idea.
Kat Radley
I go give them some employment.
Ronny Chang
As. As you said, the skill set is there. Multitasking, sitting in a chair for a long time, looking at a screen, you know, analyzing. It's. I guess in a weird way, it's a video game, except if you lose, people die.
Kat Radley
Get them out of the house.
Ronny Chang
Get them out of the house.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
You can have all the Mountain Dew you want.
Kat Radley
Yeah. They don't tell you that, but FAA has made it clear you will have all the Mountain Dew code red you want.
Ronny Chang
Yeah.
Kat Radley
If you join their task.
Ronny Chang
They also already wear that thing anyway all the time. So you're halfway there. You might as well do. You might as well be like, serve your country and get paid. Looking at the screen, and you just
Kat Radley
want them to confuse the two. Be like, all right, we got him. Shoot him down. No, land the plane. Land the plane.
Ronny Chang
Different game.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
America. I don't know. Like, the environmental side of me is like, everyone should fly less.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
But the reality is everyone in America takes flying for Granted so much.
Kat Radley
Totally, totally.
Ronny Chang
Like, you know, America's just a country that flies around. It's just. And it's also a big country. You need to kind of fly around to get stuff done. So I remember looking into this, and I think, like, the FAA is there's only like one school and that really. Yeah, there's one school, and then they're trying to make it a college program, but, like, there's only like one college that's kind of trying to do that.
Kat Radley
So that is wild because, yeah, air travel is kind of necessary to live in America. Assuming you, like, I have family in California, you know, like, I have to fly to go.
Ronny Chang
It's very first world to be like this, by the way. No other country is dependent on, like, flying. But I. I think. But this is a big country. It stretches from, you know, Atlanta to Pacific, so you need it. Yeah.
Kat Radley
You know, our country is too big for lots of reasons. This is one of us.
Ronny Chang
This one. Yeah. Also disgraceful. The country that invented flying. We can't figure out the freaking air traffic control.
Kat Radley
It is crazy.
Ronny Chang
Well, the guys who invented it, come on, they're telling me we can go to the moon and we can't freaking tell a plane when to land on the ground.
Kat Radley
Yeah, guys. Or make you not wait six hours to go to Albany.
Ronny Chang
Yeah.
Kat Radley
Ronnie Chang. Solving America's problems.
Ronny Chang
We can go to the moon. That's my. That's my. That's my thing in America now, guys. We can go to the moon. We can freaking cut this TSA line in half. Okay?
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Kat Radley
So some things that will probably pop up this week while you're hosting. Just kind of overnight, this battle, this little beef between President Trump and Pope Leo has started to come to the surface where they are. Trump has spoken out. Talk shit about him. He's. He's fighting back.
Ronny Chang
Yeah.
Kat Radley
Trump posted an AI picture of him as Jesus. This is something that might develop throughout
Ronny Chang
the week, or it could end tonight when he tweets something else. But Pope versus Trump, this is what they should be doing at ufc White House. I want to fight the Pope. This is the fight I want to see. Because Trump versus the Pope is a. Is a. Is a. It's a good matchup, you know, like the representative of Jesus on Earth, but versus, you know, I guess, the Antichrist, who doesn't want to see that.
Kat Radley
It would really put Christians in a tough spot. Like, yeah, you have to pick a side. And they claim to be, you know, pro Trump, but, yeah, this is who you going to pick. This is literally. Yeah, Jesus versus who you think is Jesus?
Ronny Chang
Like, yeah, it's alien versus predator. To me, anyway, as. As a atheist outside religion, I'm like, yeah, this, to me, watch. This is like, you know, a strong voice for reasonableness on the right versus we know what, you know, Trump is even more reasonable voice on the right. So. So that's why it's like, who. Who are. I feel like I. I guess I feel like the right. The Christian right is now having to organize. Right. I can feel them kind of a little bit trying to organize to see who they back.
Kat Radley
Yeah. Because they also, a lot of the Christian right, they're not Catholics. They don't really connect to the Pope the way other Christians do.
Ronny Chang
Yeah.
Kat Radley
But I can't imagine that they would still go against the Pope. Like, you can't root against the Pope
Ronny Chang
in this, especially when we see what the Pope is saying.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
You know, he's not even saying anything that's like, you know, remotely violent or anything. He didn't even address Trump. He just was like, peace on Earth, please.
Kat Radley
Yeah, that's. As a former Catholic, I am currently atheist as well. But as a former Catholic, that is kind of the only issue that Catholics got right was their stance on the poor and on immigrants. They're very pro immigrant. Help the poor. Yeah. They're very like, you know, take care of the sick, take care of the needy. That's kind of the only thing that I can agree with them on. And this Pope, I think, is specifically very, like, pro immigrant and very vocal about it. So naturally, he and Trump are not going to get along.
Ronny Chang
Yeah. What's also interesting is that this is not. This. Is this the first American Pope?
Kat Radley
Yes.
Ronny Chang
So that's the other thing about this, is that he gets it.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
Leo knows what's up. You know, Pope Leo, Chicago, motherfucker.
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Yeah.
Ronny Chang
Yeah. He's like, we, like, I. He's the perfect guy to, like, you know, tai chi this energy from Trump because he knows where it's coming from and what the vibe is. He's like, I get this. And he's just totally Tai chi.
Kat Radley
It throws you when you hear him talk and he has the American accent, I'm like, oh, okay. I was expecting, you know, he has a Chicago accent.
Ronny Chang
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Kat Radley
My friends and I, over the weekend, we, like, got together for dinner. We were just talking about, like, who should run in 2028, like, who can be the president? And one of them was like, the Pope. Oh, the Pope could run for President. And I was like, fuck, that's actually a really good idea. He might be the only person who could beat him. He's American.
Ronny Chang
I didn't even think about that.
Kat Radley
It's. You know, it's not. There's no rule that says he can't. You know, like, there's no rule that says dogs can't play basketball. So I'm like, oh, my God, the Pope should run for president.
Ronny Chang
That's very interesting. I wonder if he has US Citizenship still. And I wonder if. I don't think there's anything in the Constitution that says you can't be a citizen of another country and still be president.
Kat Radley
Right. You know, or, like, technically the leader of another country, because he is the leader of Vatican City.
Ronny Chang
Yeah. There's nothing in the Constitution that says that, I think.
Kat Radley
But he could just fake an 11th Commandment, be like, oh, no, I got 11. It's all good.
Ronny Chang
Yeah. Wow. Okay. Yeah. That's a good.
Kat Radley
Isn't it such a good idea? It's not my idea. My friend told me about it. Look, that's the answer.
Ronny Chang
I'll. I'll hold off on endorsing that, but it is an interesting idea, I'll give you that. And also, again, this goes back to what I was saying. This is a good fight because this is a good matchup.
Kat Radley
Yes.
Ronny Chang
You know, there's no, like, I think the. The Catholic Church is the equal of, you know, of whatever incoming from Trump. You know, it's not like, he's punching down on.
Kat Radley
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's a power player. And yet they literally disagree in every way, shape and form.
Ronny Chang
Yeah. So, yeah, Trump responded to the criticisms by tweeting, by basically shitting on the
Kat Radley
Pope, which called him a loser.
Ronny Chang
Called him a loser, which is bold. And then he followed up with the AI picture of himself as Jesus. And this picture of Jesus might be. You know, this is a good argument against AI. Yeah, right here. You know, if someone can just do this and, you know, just because someone
Kat Radley
might think it's real.
Ronny Chang
Guys, can we get some art people like Jerry Saltz or something to analyze? What, like, is this good art?
Kat Radley
There's a lot going on because you got an eagle, you've got soldiers, what looks like.
Ronny Chang
There's eagles flying with, like, fighter. Top Gun is Tom Cruise in Top Gun Maverick. And then there's. There's the devil, that thing in the middle. There's something going on in the middle that's like floating, shadowy characters.
Kat Radley
You got a nurse from the 1940s.
Ronny Chang
There's a 1940s nurse. The statue of Liberty made it. New York represents. Then there's an older soldier. Or is that a farmer? That's a farmer.
Kat Radley
Farmer.
Ronny Chang
That's just a J6 guy. J6 guy. He's a J6 guy in front of the Capitol. And then a kid, which I gotta say, a little gender ambiguous, actually. So, okay, don't, you know, a little woke. And then Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein being carried in the middle.
Kat Radley
No, that's him, like, erasing his memory.
Ronny Chang
Do not mention my name. You will not mention my name. Yeah, there's a lot going on here, so.
Kat Radley
But all very presidential at the end of the day.
Ronny Chang
At the end of the day.
Kat Radley
Thank you for truthing this.
Ronny Chang
I don't like, I don't like the base reality off of what I see on the Internet because I feel like it gets the vibe wrong a lot due to interference. But I will say, I think the Christians and the MAGA people whom I do follow, they. I think they, they, they are saying, like, this is bad. Like, don't desecrate the image of Jesus and don't, you know, I guess, like, why are you fighting the Pope? But most, most importantly, don't desecrate the image.
Kat Radley
That's a big one.
Ronny Chang
But they also, like, they're doing it like this is wrong, guys, anyway.
Kat Radley
Yeah, but will it actually change?
Ronny Chang
Right? That's.
Kat Radley
That's the vote or what they do. Yeah.
Ronny Chang
Versus a fury that they would have if. Let you know if I did Something like that. Or if, you know, if someone else.
Kat Radley
Oh, they'd come at you.
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Right.
Ronny Chang
If someone they hated did it. And so I guess to me, that's the intellectual dishonesty. Right. That you're not objectively looking at the facts of what's going on. You're just kind of basing off of your tribe or not your tribe. And.
Kat Radley
Yeah. So anyway, yeah, I think objectively, anyone who claims to be Christian should not be supporting really anything he's doing right now.
Ronny Chang
Objectively, you're Christian, Isn't it fair to say? You maybe don't be supporting a guy who's painting images of himself as Jesus and, you know, telling the Pope he's a loser because the Pope said, please have peace on earth, you know, objectively. But maybe I'm not Christians. I don't know.
Kat Radley
Yeah, okay.
Ronny Chang
That's not even the worst thing. We need. We need more Buddhism in America is really what the.
Kat Radley
You know, I would. I would do that over literally anything else. Oh, also coming up this week, so it's gonna be tax day.
Ronny Chang
Okay.
Kat Radley
During, I think on Wednesday while you're hosting.
Ronny Chang
Great. Everyone's favorite day.
Kat Radley
It is interesting because there is a big movement this year of people saying they're not gonna pay their taxes out of protest because of what their tax dollars are being used for, mostly the war in Iran. And I would. I'm always looking for ways to, like, protest or boycott. I feel like, personally, I think our economic power is the best chance we have at fighting back, even though it's not really being used very effectively right now, unfortunately. But I will admit, I. I did pay my taxes this year because I have a family and I don't want to go to jail or give them a reason to put me on a list.
Ronny Chang
Right.
Kat Radley
I think being associated, you know.
Ronny Chang
No, you did the right thing.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
Don't feel guilty about following the law and paying taxes, though. No big taxes. I don't know. I. I have this. I have this bit in my last special about how everyone, like, if you're right wing, you. You. You tend to, you know, code as very patriotic and loving your country, but then you also code as hating to pay tax. And I was like, if you love your country, wouldn't you want to pay tax to your country? Like, you want. You what? You want a country to be poor?
Kat Radley
Did you pay your taxes?
Ronny Chang
Oh, hell yeah.
Kat Radley
Are you kidding me?
Ronny Chang
Are you kidding me?
Kat Radley
They'd come after you immediately, bro.
Ronny Chang
Yeah, that. No, I gotta. I gotta be airtight.
Kat Radley
Like, oh, you just got your Citizenship.
Ronny Chang
I overpaid. I overpayed.
Kat Radley
You can't pay taxes.
Ronny Chang
Yeah, I voluntarily overpaid.
Kat Radley
Do you expect to get that money back?
Ronny Chang
No.
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Kat Radley
So now we've reached the point in the podcast where we do a daily show and tell. It's something that we talk about, doesn't have to be politics or news related, something we've watched, read, listened to, been talking about, arguing about. Just something that's been on our minds lately. So, Ronnie, do you have a fun daily show and tell?
Ronny Chang
I went to Rochester this weekend to do shows.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
I had no expectations. And Rochester was, was empty. The city was empty. The shows, the shows were full.
Kat Radley
Was everyone at the show.
Ronny Chang
The city looked empty. And then the show was full, like 2,000 people and very charming city. And I went up there and not dilapidated, you know, but just empty. Just empty. Like buildings abandoned but not in good shape, not broken down, but no homeless people, no drug users. It would just look empty. And I went to a bookstore. I got a book about the 92 presidential election, which was interesting, you know, recapping that very instrumental election in American history. 1992, Bill Clinton defeating Bush.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
At a very interesting time.
Kat Radley
Did you already read the book too?
Ronny Chang
No, I haven't read it yet, but I knew the history of it. But, but you know, this was written by people on the ground. So I was read. I've been reading that book. I think it's, it's called, it's the Quest series. It's by Newsweek. It's a. It was by a group of journalists who were covering the presidential election at the time. And it's written very interesting. If you're a political junkie. It's interesting, but it's it's thick, though. It is a big bit of a thick. Thick book. It's a thick. It's thick. It's one of the thick ones. And then next to the bookstore was a cigar bar, which you don't really see anymore.
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
Because it's illegal to smoke indoors. So, you know, most people, they got the license like 50 years ago or something. This was this guy, he got the license 50 years ago. I went inside and I just had a cigar with this dude, the owner. It's me and him in this bar at like 5pm in the afternoon. No, sorry. 4pm in the afternoon. Nicest guy.
Kat Radley
And that's so fun.
Ronny Chang
Yeah. And it was super fun. And he told me about the comics he liked. He. The guy was like, you know, 60. So all his references were like, you see Jack Mason, Jackie Mason. Yeah, I know of him.
Kat Radley
But, you know, not recently.
Ronny Chang
Yeah, not recently, but I know of him. And he. Anyway, my point to all this is that in America, you know, talking to people face to face will renew your faith in the country and the people. Don't judge everything by the comment section or your algorithm. I think talking to people face to face is often the cure for a lot of, I think, what is ailing us right now.
Kat Radley
That is nice that you take the time when you're on the road to actually do that. Go out and explore the community and meet some people.
Ronny Chang
Yeah. I don't know. I make it a point to walk around the city before the show just to get a vibe of it. Also because I genuinely like exploring America. I want to see what it's about. And my conclusion is that there is no one in America. It's just New York and la. Every other city I've been to is empty.
Kat Radley
It really. Especially when you live in New York and then you go visit. Like, I would do the same thing when I'm on the road. I would want to try to explore. I think the one time I did a show and went to Nashville.
Ronny Chang
Yeah.
Kat Radley
I booked myself a walking tour like, on that Sunday to, like, do a walking tour of the city.
Ronny Chang
Yeah.
Kat Radley
And there are people out, but it's just nowhere near you remember when we
Ronny Chang
do road shows, daily show road shows, and we'll go to Milwaukee or something and why Milwaukee, a major American city?
Kat Radley
Yeah.
Ronny Chang
You're walking around like, there is no one here.
Kat Radley
Yeah. You, like, go to a restaurant for, like, brunch and like, yeah, we have a table right here. You're like, oh, you do. Okay.
Ronny Chang
I know. And so I'm just Like Rochester. Like, hey, I'm not. This isn't. This isn't walkety walk, whatever. You know, immigration reform, you know, get people in. Have a system to get people in, blah, blah. I'm just saying, like, people can fit in Rochester. Okay. There's a lot of space in Rochester, New York, and they. I think they need people to rent these buildings. So let's get in some. You know, there's room for people here.
Kat Radley
If you're immigrating here, start at Rochester. Yeah, there's a lovely vacant building.
Ronny Chang
Apparently in D.C. there's many vacant buildings. There's quite a few vacant buildings and lots of sidewalk space, I'd say.
Kat Radley
My show and tell. I've been trying to stimulate my brain. I've started reading the complete works of Dostoevsky.
Ronny Chang
Oh, shoot.
Kat Radley
I'm just kidding. No, I'm not. Oh, I'm watching the Traitors.
Ronny Chang
The opposite.
Kat Radley
I have recently discovered. Everyone's talking about the Traitors. I know. Like, I'm a huge Alan Cumming fan. I should have watched it long ago. So I finally watched season four. It's amazing. And then one of our fellow writers here, Lily, was like, watch Australia season one. So actually I wanted to tell you this. So the Australia Traders, season one, I'm currently watching that. And it's really good.
Ronny Chang
Oh, so what, what makes it good?
Kat Radley
It's like, it's so. It's not celebrities, it's real people. So they just kind of plucked regular people. It's a nice little sample of, I'm assuming the Australian citizen.
Ronny Chang
Are you sure they want celebrities or just people you don't know? Got celebrities. Australian celebrities. You didn't know?
Kat Radley
No, I mean, I wouldn't know if they are Australian celebrities, but I'm pretty sure it's just real people.
Ronny Chang
Okay.
Kat Radley
And it is very entertaining.
Ronny Chang
Okay.
Kat Radley
So if there's anyone out there who has yet to watch the Traders and I'm not like a reality show person, I don't watch reality tv.
Ronny Chang
Okay.
Kat Radley
I like. I kind of think it's a waste of time, but. But I watched this one, I was like, okay, this is good shit.
Ronny Chang
Okay. I think. I think my friend is on the American one. Eric Nam, the Korean guy. Korean.
Kat Radley
Oh, Eric. Yeah, he. I don't want to give anything away.
Ronny Chang
Yeah, I think he had a good.
Kat Radley
He played a pretty pivotal role. He's a singer songwriter.
Ronny Chang
Singer songwriter. He's a great singer songwriter.
Kat Radley
Oh, dude, you should watch the season. He makes it pretty far and he has a pretty key kind of plot point in.
Ronny Chang
Well, you kind of just spoilt it.
Kat Radley
Nope. There's no.
Ronny Chang
Well, it's about it because you said you, you, you said he made it pretty far, so I know he's not gonna be pretty.
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Pretty far.
Kat Radley
Could be final 10.
Ronny Chang
That's not. I read. I did a poker read there.
Kat Radley
So it's still worth watching because you got to see what goes down with him.
Ronny Chang
Okay.
Kat Radley
It's. It's worth seeing.
Ronny Chang
I heard about this. Or you could read dogs, or you could read Dostoevsky.
Kat Radley
Or you could just watch Australian Traders Season one. No, I'm not trying to help my brain in any way, shape or form. I'm just, I'm just going with it. Okay. That's all the time we have for the pre cap. I'm Kat Radley. Catch Ronny Chang hosting the Daily show this week on Comedy Central, Paramount plus, and right here in podcast form on the Daily Show Ears edition.
Ronny Chang
Thanks, guys.
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Date: April 13, 2026
Host: Kat Radley
Guest Host: Ronny Chieng
This episode of "The Precap" offers a humorous, incisive run-through of a chaotic week in global and U.S. news, after a spring break hiatus. Kat Radley and this week’s Daily Show host, Ronny Chieng, dissect headlines including Trump’s Iran saber-rattling, ongoing Middle East tensions, Melania Trump’s bizarre Epstein denial, optimism around the latest moon mission, Mayor Eric Adams’ new Albanian citizenship, America’s air traffic controller crisis (and gamer recruitment), and the evolving Trump vs. Pope Leo drama. The hosts close with their trademark “Show and Tell” pop culture picks.
On Trump’s Iran Escalation:
“I guess that’s how we do geopolitics now. We tweet about annihilating our enemies.”
— Ronny Chieng (2:58)
On Melania & Epstein:
“The number one reaction is, what are you talking about? No one even was thinking this until you said this.”
— Kat Radley (15:28)
On Moonshot Optimism:
“Watching NASA at work is watching America’s best when it’s being aspirational and inspirational.”
— Ronny Chieng (10:14)
On Trump vs. Pope Drama:
“This is literally Jesus vs. who you think is Jesus.”
— Kat Radley (29:05)
“It’s a good matchup: the representative of Jesus on Earth, versus, you know, the Antichrist.”
— Ronny Chieng (29:05)
On Air Traffic Controller Recruitment:
“It’s a video game, except if you lose, people die.”
— Ronny Chieng (25:14)
On America’s Culture:
“You can go to the moon and we can’t figure out air traffic control?”
— Ronny Chieng (26:47)
On the Real America:
“Talking to people face to face is often the cure for what is ailing us right now.”
— Ronny Chieng (40:57)
Throughout, the tone is witty, irreverent, and deeply skeptical of both political spectacle and the absurdities of the news cycle. Ronny’s dry observations and Kat’s sharp asides keep things moving, with plenty of Daily Show-style sarcasm skewering both sides.
If you missed the week’s headlines or simply want a dose of levity amid the maelstrom, this Precap delivers sharp analysis, incisive jokes, and some much-needed reminders to unplug, look up at the stars—and maybe fill a few potholes while you’re at it.