Trump Commands While Dems Are Lost In The Woods

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Five

Episode: "Trump Commands While Dems Are Lost In The Woods"

Date: December 27, 2025
Panel: Charlie Hurt, Paul Morrow, Leslie Marshall, Kayleigh McGee White, Tom Shalhou

---

Episode Overview

This episode of "The Five" focuses on contrasting the continued dominance and showmanship of Donald Trump in the political landscape with what the hosts describe as the Democrats' lack of leadership, vision, and direction. Through a mix of banter, policy discussion, news highlights, and humor, the panel addresses holiday moments turned political, crime and urban life, media narratives, and cultural phenomena, peppered with their trademark irreverence.

---

Key Discussion Topics & Insights

1. Trump’s Omnipresence and Showmanship

• Santa Hotline Segment: Trump transformed a children’s Christmas call into a political soapbox, humorously referencing “clean, beautiful coal” (01:52).
  • Quote:
    Charlie Hurt: “Only Trump could turn a Santa hotline into a Trump rally on giving kids clean, beautiful coal.” (01:44)
• Christmas Military Action: Discussion of Trump’s decision to order a Christmas Day airstrike against ISIS, positioning it both as a forceful policy move and performative politics.
  • Quote:
    Charlie Hurt (as Trump): “We hit ISIS...they got a very bad Christmas present.” (02:59)

2. Democratic Leadership Vacuum

• Lack of Clear Leaders: Both President Biden and Kamala Harris are criticized. Biden is literally invisible in his family photo, and Harris’s podcasting is labeled as rudderless.
  • Discussion of Kamala Harris attributing criticism of her public persona and laughter to sexism.
    • Quote:
      Kayleigh McGee White: “Kamala Harris is now bouncing around on random podcasts...explaining that criticizing her cackling laugh is, you guessed it, sexist.” (03:12)
• No Clear Vision: Debate over the absence of a charismatic next-generation Democratic leader, despite past unexpected rises (Clinton, Obama).

3. Republican Unity vs. Democratic Disarray

• Trump’s High Approval & Policy Wins: Panelists tout Trump’s high approval among Republicans (87%) and list his supposed policy achievements: Iran, immigration, women’s issues (07:34).
• Democratic Division: Emphasis on internal struggles, with references to Hunter Biden and Harris’s political difficulties.
  • Quote:
    Kayleigh McGee White: “You have Joe Biden, who doesn’t know where he is still...Kamala Harris...blaming her own political failures on sexism. This is the future that Democrats want. No wonder they’re at 18% approval rating, right?” (08:40)

4. Crime, City Life & Law Enforcement

• Crime Down Under Trump?: Panel credits Trump policies and National Guard deployment for a 20% national drop in murders, contrasting it with recent high-profile crimes (21:16).
  • Quote:
    Kayleigh McGee White: “One year in. And President Trump is making great progress in undoing four years of Joe Biden’s career crime crisis.” (21:16)
• Quality of Life in Cities: Argues that Democrats tolerate diminished urban quality of life, while Republicans support “broken windows”-style policing.
  • Quote:
    Paul Morrow: “You don’t want to have a city where you lock up your toothpaste and not your criminals. And somehow or other we’ve decided that that’s okay.” (23:43)
• Discussion on Due Process & Mental Illness: Leslie Marshall urges balancing tough-on-crime stances with mental health interventions and fair legal process (25:27).

5. Media Critique and Political Comedy

• Late Night 'TDS' and Kimmel Abroad: Criticizes Jimmy Kimmel's “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and anti-Trump jokes, particularly his alternative Christmas address for British TV.
  • Quote:
    Charlie Hurt: “Jimmy Kimmel delivering an alternative Christmas message on British television...from a fascism perspective, this has been a really great year.” (13:11–13:17)
• Comedy Has Become Political: Tom Shalhou and others lament the lack of non-partisan targets and claim only right-leaning comedy (e.g., Gutfeld) is drawing broad laughs.
  • Quote:
    Tom Shalhou: “Humor has to be at every moment...everybody needs to be sort of in the barrel and be up for mockery and ridicule or it’s not funny.” (16:07)

6. Generational and Cultural Notes

• Social Media & Youth: Millennials and Gen Z aren’t watching Kimmel and late night—they get news and satire from social media, with access to all viewpoints (19:30).
  • Quote:
    Kayleigh McGee White: “They’re definitely getting alternative viewpoints. They’re not watching late night comedians. Or Jimmy Kimmel.” (19:30)
• Parenting & Pop Culture: Macaulay Culkin story—his children don’t know he was Kevin in "Home Alone" (31:51–33:20); panelists muse on generational divides and keeping up traditions.
  • Quote:
    Macaulay Culkin (via clip): “They have no idea it’s me. They watch Home Alone. They go, that’s Kevin.” (31:51)

7. Listener Questions & Fun Segments

• Thank You Notes—Still Required?: Mixed panel opinions on the etiquette and practicality of handwritten notes in the texting era (34:51–36:06).
• Fan Mail Friday: Panelists reminisce about shows they weren’t allowed to watch as kids (38:06–39:32).
• One More Thing: Fun news bites, including the real-life Grinch caught shoplifting (39:52–40:23), Yellowstone hydrothermal eruptions, and Santa Claus pulled over with a concealed carry permit (41:08).

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Democratic Disarray:
  Leslie Marshall: “We don’t have one leader and you don’t need to have one leader. This far out from the general...” (10:17)
• On Trump’s Messaging:
  Charlie Hurt: “Trump really does have a remarkable ability to stay on message even when talking. He turned that into putting a GPS on Rudolph...” (04:43)
• On Kamala Harris’s Laugh:
  Tom Shalhou: “We find your sense of humor, Kamala, to be kind of weird because you laugh in all the wrong places... you’ll be telling a story and they’ll start laughing and, you know, you say, I didn’t get to the punchline. Calm down here.” (11:07)
• On Comedy’s Evolution:
  Tom Shalhou: “Humor has to be about everything. ...If it’s not real, it’s never funny.” (16:07)
• On Crime and Urban Life:
  Paul Morrow: “If a woman can’t walk down the street in your city after dark and without fearing for her life, then you live in a place that is not a civilized place.” (27:22)
• On Thank You Notes Today:
  Charlie Hurt: “As a millennial myself, here’s what I do. I take a photo of myself enjoying the gifts, right? ... I text it, and then that’s it. Box checked.” (35:05)
• On Parenting & Media:
  Kayleigh McGee White: “Well, I was raised sort of as a fundamentalist Baptist. So basically, all of them [no shows allowed] except for Little House on the Prairie.” (38:19)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Time (MM:SS) | Highlights | |---------|--------------|------------| | Santa Hotline / Clean Coal | 01:44–02:33 | Trump turns a call into political theater | | Christmas Day Airstrike Discussion | 02:33–03:12 | “Bad Christmas present” for ISIS | | Kamala Harris Laugh & Sexism Claims | 03:52–04:30 | Critique of Harris’s response to critics | | Democratic Leadership Debate | 09:06–10:32 | “We don’t need to have one leader” — Leslie Marshall | | Late Night Comedy & Jimmy Kimmel | 12:30–18:42 | Kimmel’s anti-Trump monologue, “comedy is no longer funny” | | Crime & Urban Life Stats | 21:16–30:15 | National crime down under Trump, city life quality debates | | Macaulay Culkin & 'Home Alone' | 31:51–33:52 | “They have no idea it’s me.” | | Thank You Note Etiquette | 34:51–36:06 | Handwritten vs digital gratitude | | Fan Mail Friday | 36:55–39:32 | Shows panelists couldn't watch as kids | | One More Thing | 39:52–42:11 | Grinch shoplifter, Yellowstone eruptions, Santa with a CCW |

---

Recurring Tone & Style

The episode features fast-paced panel banter, sarcasm, pointed political jabs, and comedic asides. The hosts use pop culture, anecdotes, and personal reflections to make political arguments accessible and entertaining.

---

Takeaway

"The Five" in this episode underscores what they see as Trump’s effective political theater and leadership, contrasts Republican unity with Democratic uncertainty, and bewails shifts in crime, culture, and media. The underlying throughline: a belief that assertive policies, real-world focus, and a willingness to mock all sides—rather than preaching to the converted—are the supposed keys to political and cultural success.

---

(Summary excludes sponsor ads, show intro/outro, and transitional content.)

Transcript

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Meet the computer you can talk to with Copilot on Windows. Working, creating and collaborating is as easy as talking. Got writer's block? Share your screen with Copilot Vision to help spark inspiration and use Copilot voice.

[Leslie Marshall]

To have a conversation and brainstorm ideas.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Or maybe you need some tech help with Copilot Vision. Copilot sees what you see. Let Copilot talk you through step by.

[Charlie Hurt]

Step guidance so you can master new.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Apps, games and skills faster. Try [e-mail] copilot hi, this is Joe from Vanta.

[Charlie Hurt]

In today's digital world, compliance regulations are changing constantly and earning customer trust has never mattered more. Vanta helps companies get compliant fast and stay secure with the most advanced AI, automation and continuous monitoring out there. So whether you're a startup going for.

[Tom Shalhou]

Your first SoC2 or ISO 27001 or.

[Paul Morrow]

A growing enterprise managing vendor risk, Vanta.

[Charlie Hurt]

Makes it quick, easy and scalable. And I'm not just saying that because I work here. Get [e-mail] right now.

[Paul Morrow]

Hello everyone. I'm charlie hurt along with paul morrow, leslie marshall, kayleigh mcgee white, tom shalhou. It's five o' clock in new york city and this is the five. Love him or hate him, there's simply no president in recent history. We with the same instincts, presence or showmanship as Donald J. Trump. Case in point, on Christmas Eve, the president first lady Melania spent time answering calls from kids tracking Santa's progress. And only Trump could turn a Santa hotline into a Trump rally on giving kids clean, beautiful coal.

[Charlie Hurt]

What would you like Santa to bring?

[Leslie Marshall]

Not cold.

[Charlie Hurt]

Not cold?

[Paul Morrow]

No.

[Charlie Hurt]

You don't want. Well, cold is. You mean clean, beautiful, cold. I had to do that. I'm sorry.

[Tom Shalhou]

No coal is clean and beautiful.

[Charlie Hurt]

Please remember that. Well, we track Santa all over the world. We want to make sure that Santa is being good. He said he's a very good person. We want to make sure that he's not infiltrated, that we're not infiltrating into our country. A bad Santa could do this all day long. We have to get back to China, Russia, Ukraine. We have to get back to other things. But you could do this all day long.

[Paul Morrow]

President Trump is also spreading the holiday cheer by blowing up ISIS terrorists, launching a Christmas night airstrike in Nigeria, and targeting militants accused of killing Christians. Trump telling Politico that the strikes were originally supposed to take place on Christmas Eve, but he ordered it delayed one day and here's why.

[Charlie Hurt]

And I said yesterday, I said hit him on Christmas Day.

[Paul Morrow]

It'll be a Christmas present.

[Charlie Hurt]

We hit isis, who are terrible, they're butchers, and we really hit them hard in different locations. And they really got hit hard yesterday. So they got a very bad Christmas present.

[Paul Morrow]

Trump's ability to play Santa's wingman and bomb the bad guys once again leads us to a very simple question. Who's the Democrat version of that? Because their last leader, well, he's getting lost again. Former President Joe Biden is barely visible in his own Christmas family photo. His face, if you can see it, is hiding in a corner behind Jill. And as for the next generation, Kamala Harris is now bouncing around on random podcasts, something she didn't do in the 2024 campaign. Ex Veep explaining that criticizing her cackling laugh is, you guessed it, sexist.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

I don't aspire to be humble. Humility, yes, is very important.

[Charlie Hurt]

But when you are sending signals and.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

It'S very dated, if not just traditional, but a very dated perspective on who.

[Tom Shalhou]

Women should be to say women should.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Be humble, Women should be quiet, women should laugh quietly.

[Charlie Hurt]

Women should not have a sense of humor. Women should not raise their voice.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Women should not express experience, at least openly anger. Women should not complain.

[Charlie Hurt]

Right. I have never felt burdened by those.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Very dated and I think out of touch standards.

[Paul Morrow]

So, you know, going back to the Santa, tracking the Santa sleigh, Paul Trump really does have a remarkable ability to stay on message even when talking.

[Charlie Hurt]

He turned that into putting a GPS on Rudolph, right? All of a sudden the kid is right. A global tracking system like, like he's somehow rather a fugitive. And that was very, very sort of verbal judo, right? He switched it up on a kid. Look, I think the real takeaway from this whole thing here is, as the segment posits, who is going to be the Dem that can deliver on similar issues and in a similar way. And if you go down the track here, it's going to be tough. Now, first of all, in the economy, you're starting to see the economy wake up, right? We're starting to see all of these headwinds going for the Republicans as opposed to against, which was the narrative just a couple of weeks ago as we go into next year and you're going to get the big beautiful bill clicking in. Right? So I think that's the takeaway there. Immigration, I do think, and I've said this on the air before, that one of the things they should consider in 2027, 26, excuse me, is the idea that it's been all stick and no carrot. It's been all about running people up and getting people out. We understand 10 million illegals came in. I'm on board with it. But that said, one of the things Trump promised was a big, beautiful door. And I think as he needs to talk to Hispanics who he's going to need for the midterm. See, Everybody's focusing on 2028 should be thinking about the midterms because that's the next big test and that's what we really got to get past. According to the polling right now, he's got a hill to climb relative to Hispanics. The big beautiful door has to be something. I would like to see the following. I'd like to see the president do something like a swearing in ceremony to show that we're not anti immigrant. We want legal immigration. It's under the executive. Do a nationwide swearing in in every city where they swear people in. You could do it by zoom. So I really feel like that's one of the things he should be looking at, the economy. And ultimately he has one secret weapon. Whether you're talking about the midterms or what do you talk about 2028, the Democrats themselves. Because when you look at the cast here right now, it's sort of setting up to be. Kamala Harris is going to be the leading light. A couple of weeks ago it was, of course, Newsom, everybody said, but nothing's been built in the palace. Aids. He's got so many negatives. He's become synonymous with a failing state. So now looks like Kamala is going to make her play. And folks, we saw what happened even with the, the entire media machine pushing, what was it, $1 billion they threw at that at least. And we saw how that went. You're going to try that again. The truth of it is, the truth of it is the media doesn't have that clout anymore.

[Paul Morrow]

Right.

[Charlie Hurt]

Think it does, but it doesn't.

[Paul Morrow]

So, Kelly, you know, across the aisle on the, on the Republican side, There is enormous U.N. president Trump. And I think we're starting to see there are obviously real questions about who will pick up the mantle from him in after the midterms. But there does seem to be tremendous unity. And I think it's, it's largely because of the way President Trump has re made the Republican Party focusing on really important issues that matter to people.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Yeah, he's at 87, 87% approval rating among Republicans according to the latest poll. And I think, you know, to Paul's point, this is part of what we're seeing from the Democratic side of the aisle. It's a lot of cope over the fact that they don't really have a vision, they don't have a next generation leader who's going to step in and take the place. And so we hear a lot about how Trump's approval ratings are cratering and blah, blah, blah. I mean, look, yes, they're down from where they were earlier in the year. That's to be expected. But I think in some ways Trump is a victim of his own success and that voters expect a lot from him because they know that he can deliver on it. You look at some of his biggest policy achievements from this past year. The elimination of Iran's nuclear capacities, cracking down on the southern border, basically eliminating illegal immigration across the southern border, keeping women's spaces for women. These are all issues where he's not just above water with voters. He's overwhelmingly supported by 80 to 90% of Americans on these key issues. And you look at the Democrats, you have Joe Biden, who doesn't know where he is still. He's not even in his own family photo apparently. And you have his son Hunter Biden, who's out in the media trashing his own father's administration. And then you have Kamala Harris, who apparently lacks self awareness to the point where she's blaming her own political failures on sexism. This is the future that Democrats want. No Wonder they're at 18% approval rating, right?

[Paul Morrow]

Leslie? When I looked at that picture, the family photo, Christmas photo, it kind of reminded me of the 2020 election campaign where Joe Biden was hiding the entire time. And of course it worked out for him. But you took, you had a different view of the particular picture.

[Leslie Marshall]

Well, I have a different view of everything everybody has said so far. So I'm so glad that both Paul and Kayleigh have just hit the ball into my court. When it comes to polls. Three quarter of Americans find that the economy specifically is fair or poor. There are more than half of Americans who disapprove of the President's job performance. And then hemorrhaging, not light losing, hemorrhaging independent voters, hemorrhaging youth voters, hemorrhaging Latino voters. Not going to get it back by the midterms. Paul is right in the predictors for the midterms, the Dems take the House. Even in the most conservative leaning predictors and polls now, Dems have flipped 25 Republican held state seats so far. Republicans have flipped zero. And then you have victories in New Jersey. You'll say, oh, that, that's a blue state. Well, if Virginia is a blue state, I guess Glenn Young. Glenn Young. And didn't get the memo on that. Biden is not running for president. He is a former president. I don't care where he stands on a Christmas card because he's not running. He is not the leader of our party. He's a former president. That was a leader.

[Paul Morrow]

He was hiding there.

[Leslie Marshall]

No, I told you what this is. This is a teenager took the picture and she looks great in it. And this is the one I'm posting. I don't care how. Grandpa, who is the leader?

[Charlie Hurt]

Who is the leader?

[Leslie Marshall]

We don't have one leader and you don't need to have one leader. This far out from the general, I remember back in the day, there are two people's names that most of us had never heard of. A guy named Bill Clinton, a governor in Arkansas, Barack Obama. Who's that?

[Kayleigh McGee White]

They both considered a leader of the Democratic Party.

[Leslie Marshall]

They were. They were both very.

[Paul Morrow]

Well, they're not getting the party to rally around a more moderate Democrat. Tom, I wanted we have to hear from you on this. Kamala Harris says it's sexist to criticize her. Cackle.

[Tom Shalhou]

I love it. Are you a sexist? I mean, maybe I am because she pulled out all the straw man arguments. She said people tell us women should be quiet. Who said that? Nobody said that. People tell us women should not have a sense of humor. We don't have a problem with a sense of humor. We find your sense of humor, Kamala, to be kind of weird because you laugh in all the wrong places. At the debate, she'd be talking about war, poverty. It was crazy. You know, it was like, we all know people like this. They don't have a good sense of. Of their own sense of humor. So they're always ready to laugh. You know, so you'll be telling a story and they'll start laughing and, you know, you say, I didn't get to the punchline. Calm down here.

[Paul Morrow]

You know, often they're serial killers, by the way.

[Tom Shalhou]

Exactly.

[Paul Morrow]

You don't know when to laugh.

[Tom Shalhou]

Yes, My favorite was then she said, but I'm not burdened by that. She went back to the unburdened.

[Charlie Hurt]

Come on, please say it. Please say it.

[Tom Shalhou]

She's the one thing she's burdened by is that unburdened phrase. She's going to try to carry that in.

[Paul Morrow]

She will be carrying that burden for the rest.

[Charlie Hurt]

But just to be clear, now you call her a serial killer, right? Is that what I said?

[Paul Morrow]

No, no. No, I said that serial killers often don't know when to lie.

[Charlie Hurt]

Better clean that up.

[Leslie Marshall]

Yeah, but Charlie, you always tell me to shut up.

[Paul Morrow]

No, like, and I agree with Tom, I don't know any women that I can't imagine. Telling women that you're not supposed to talk. That's not my experience.

[Leslie Marshall]

Well, if you want to.

[Paul Morrow]

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Okay, ahead, America's least funny late night host is at it again. Jimmy Kimmel is taking his TDS overseas.

[Leslie Marshall]

This is Ainsley Earhart. Thank you for joining me for the.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

52 episode podcast series the Life of Jesus.

[Tom Shalhou]

A listening experience that will provide hope.

[Charlie Hurt]

Comfort and understanding of the greatest story ever told. Listen and follow now at Fox News Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. So the crybaby of late night is back and this time he's taking his TDS act global. Jimmy Kimmel delivering an alternative Christmas message on British television. Watch this. I honestly have no idea what's going on over there. I do know what's going on over here, though.

[Paul Morrow]

And I can tell you that from.

[Charlie Hurt]

A fascism perspective, this has been a really great year.

[Paul Morrow]

Tyranny is booming over here.

[Charlie Hurt]

Our show came back stronger than ever. We won, the president lost, and now I'm back on the air every night.

[Paul Morrow]

Given the most powerful politician on earth, a right and richly deserved bollocking.

[Charlie Hurt]

So Jimmy Kimmel's overseas nonsense comes as late night takes a hard left term and there's data to back it up. A recent study found 7,000 Trump jokes with gags aimed at conservatives, up 92% this year. Which of course, is unrelated to the fact that Trump won. Leslie, let me ask you, this is the constant drone of he's Hitler, he's fascism. Is that compelling? Is that going to help? I mean, is that really the message you guys want to send?

[Leslie Marshall]

Well, first of all, Jimmy Kimmel is a comedian. He's not running for office. But what's the comedian?

[Charlie Hurt]

Maybe he could be funny at something.

[Leslie Marshall]

I don't know. I woke up Christmas morning for my president to call me and my family, my entire extended family, radical left scum. So that wasn't funny. But Jimmy Kimmel is a comedian. He is not the President of the United States. He's not running for any office. And look, when he gives the jokes and they laugh, and if the ratings hold and he keeps his job, if it's working and it's not broken, you don't fix it. You keep them. You give them what they want. You know your audience and you give the audience what, what you Want so simple economics, supply and demand. Look, this guy is exercising what makes our nation greater than any other nation in the world, the freedom to speak and to speak freely and to speak against the president without disappearing, even though he did temporarily. He is back. But what we also have the freedom to do is to not watch, to change the channel, to choose who we give our laughs and our applause to. So if you don't like Jimmy Kimmel, don't watch him.

[Charlie Hurt]

Charlie, let me ask you this. What do you think about the fact that he's delivering that message about fascism overseas audience that has a history of having a king? Does he understand what fascism is?

[Paul Morrow]

Yes, exactly. Setting aside the fact that I don't think like, does he even know what fascism is or tyranny is? Because I would like to hear some examples from him of what this tyranny is that he's talking about. I don't think most people are buying it. And of course, as is right, it is. You know, there is a marketplace for comedy, and he's losing that marketplace because everybody is leaving his show and going to better places like Fox News and Greg Gutfeld, the king of late night. I think I've heard that somewhere. And not to encourage him any further, but the real problem with this is it's not just that when you are. When you have all of your comedy is directed at attacking conservatives. It's not just that you turn off those people. It's that it is patently not funny. Humor has to be about everything. Humor has to be at every moment somebody is giving you humor. Everybody needs to be sort of in the barrel and be up for mockery and ridicule or it's not funny. And that's what's so terrible about. About Kimmel and these other guys, is that everything is so. Their speech, their comedy is so policed that it's not real anymore. And if it's not real, it's never funny.

[Charlie Hurt]

Yeah. And Tom, I gotta go to you because we're talking comedy here, you know, and you're a historian of comedy and comics. Like, I can remember growing up like Carson hit everybody, you know what I mean? It was just, it was a universal target because the. It was in service of being funny. I mean, don't you lose a lot of purchase on the funny bone when it becomes weaponized for political purposes?

[Tom Shalhou]

Well, you know, they need any weapons they have in their arsenal now to get audience. And I think Kimmel was somebody who wasn't even that political. But you know, who really someone who kind of Believes it. Who kind of walks the walk is Stephen Colbert. He was always left wing, and he started with the Colbert Report, and then he, when he went to cbs, he, he didn't play Middle of the Road. He was, he continued with kind of a left wing show. And his ratings went up because the liberals all flocked to Colbert. Then Jimmy Kimmel started becoming anti Trump because he was desperate to attract some audience. The most interesting thing about this is Channel 4 is in, you know, in Great Britain, Channel 4 is essentially public television. It's like PBS here. It's, it's government owned. It's a little different than other.

[Charlie Hurt]

Nobody watches it.

[Tom Shalhou]

Yeah, exactly. And it's run by elitists. They do this every year. This is kind of supposed to be mocking the Queen's annual speech to the nation. And that's why they have the music playing and the kind of, you know, the very austere looking in the fireplace and everything like that. So why did they choose Jimmy Kimmel? They chose him because of this little dust up he had with Trump and he was taken off the air, and then he can come back on and say he was a survivor. It's essentially the elitists who run Channel 4, you know, they always have people, you know, who did this in the past. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran. Like, these are the kind of characters they have do this response.

[Paul Morrow]

Okay, so that tyranny.

[Tom Shalhou]

Yes, exactly. I know they've had, they had a speaker on one year, I think it was Stephen Fry, who was speaking about anti Semitism. And then they have Ahmad Dinejad who's pro anti Semitism. I mean, they can't make up their mind. But the thing is, I think this Kimmel thing was like, okay, we're going to invite him on. He's going to bash Trump. And that's what they were looking for.

[Charlie Hurt]

And let's remember something right now, as I recall, Donald Trump has a little lawsuit versus the BBC. And you know what? You just got to pile this in there.

[Tom Shalhou]

Yes. You know, that's his position.

[Charlie Hurt]

Right. There you go. So they just leaned into it. I don't know how that lawsuit's going to go, but, you know, one of the things you do in litigation, I can just tell you, as the saying goes, if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. Kayla, gotta come to you because I want to talk social media. You are our Gen Z millennial. What I can't keep track of anymore. There you go. So look, one of the points we made at the top was that mainstream media does Just doesn't have that juice anymore. It can't drive the narrative. The big swing and a miss in my estimation was Kamala. They thought they were going to push her over the line. It didn't work. Is this resonating for your generation who are so dialed in to social media, these kinds of messages getting through? Are they getting alternative viewpoints?

[Kayleigh McGee White]

No, they're definitely getting alternative viewpoints. They're not watching late night comedians.

[Charlie Hurt]

They're not.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Or Jimmy Kimmel. And you know, speaking of social media, though, I do find it a bit ironic that Jimmy Kimmel is complaining about tyranny to a country where they're literally arresting people for social media posts. So that's a bit ironic, you know. But yeah, so called tyranny here in the United States is so bad that you can be a mid comedian whose show is hemorrhaging ratings and moneys and ratings and money, and you could still make deliberate misinformation about a high profile political assassination. And then you can rally all of Hollywood and all of the legacy media behind you to make sure that you never actually face any consequences for the disinformation that you spread. But yes, tell us more about how you're so plagued by tyranny in the United States, Jimmy Kimmel. And look, I got to say, I don't care if Donald Trump trashes these guys in a Christmas post because the way that Jimmy Kimmel ended his Christmas message to Great Britain was he said, we're not very bright. We're Americans. He drips with disdain for people that disagree with him politically. So you know what? If Trump wants to give them some of their own medicine, I'm all for it. They've earned it.

[Charlie Hurt]

There's a special penalty box someplace for Americans who go overseas in order to. I know he did it from the states, but to bash Americans to foreign governments because he thinks he's going to get pat on the back from that foreign populace. I mean, that, to me, that's really dirty, Paul. And really, he should be ashamed. We got to move on. Coming up next, a shocking Christmas Eve ATM robbery in Texas. And it was all caught on camera.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Turns out all we needed was a new president. One year in. And President Trump is making great progress in undoing four years of Joe Biden's career crime crisis. According to the Real Time Crime Index, murders in the United States are down nearly 20%, making it likely the largest single year drop ever. And get this, the FBI's violent crime arrests have doubled in President Trump's first year across 17 major cities compared to Sleepy Joe's record. But there's still more work to be done. In Seattle, horrific video shows an elderly woman whose eye was gouged out in a random attack by a notorious repeat offending thug. And check out this crazy video from Texas. Christmas Eve crooks attempted a brazen ATM robbery at a 711 by literally dragging it from the store with a metal cable attached to their suv, sending the machine crashing through the window. But it was a massive fail. The ATM was later found in a ditch by cops with all the money still intact. You know Paul, I live down in D.C. where President Trump famously sent the National Guard to help crack down on the crime crisis. And the statistics don't lie. Murders and homicide rates in the District of Columbia are down significantly since President Trump sent in the national guard troops on August 11th. The stats don't lie. Why aren't more cities embracing this?

[Charlie Hurt]

So murders are amenable to. There's majorly two types of murders and they're amenable to enforcement, I would say more on one side than the other. As in gangs, guns, drug crews, they're amenable to heavy enforcement. Domestics is the other big category of murders. They're a little bit less amenable because they have them behind closed doors. But stranger murder is pretty, pretty rare. Thankfully. My overall point on this segment is that it's not the best metric because thankfully, murders are comparatively rare now. Everybody likes to use them because they're the most lurid thing, right? A murder is the thing that makes all the true crime shows and everything else, but what you deal with more than anything else, no matter where you live in any city, is the quality of life stuff. The lower level stuff that happens all the time. That's the stuff that the federal government has a much harder time getting to. And that's where and why the cities are failing, particularly here in New York, but in other cities as well. I've called it the nut job archipelago on the air. And the point I'm making is that we have punted on the idea that cities should be more livable. These are the jewels that America's crowned and you can enforce against, as I said, drug Cruise Trend, Nicaragua, Ms. 13 the feds can come in, they can grab those guys, deport them, get them out. You'll see that in the numbers and more power to them. I'm not denigrating that it's extremely important. But while doing that, the cities have to wake up to the fact that the people who live here, much like myself and People I know want to live in a city where you can get on the subway, not be harassed by homeless people who are hearing voices, who are screaming at you for no reason. You don't want to have a city where you lock up your toothpaste and not your criminals. And somehow or other we've decided that that's okay. Just to close the distinction is the following. The right is on board with what I just said, enforcing against the small stuff. At some point, the left decided, no, we can live with denigrated quality of life and call it a win, because that's what they do. I live there. I've been seeing it with my own eyes up close. That's the dividing line. That's really it. And when we get Mom Danny and they try to gaslight into telling us that it's working, don't let them do it. Because that's the message that has to go out nationwide as we go into the midterms. Because this town is going to be the petri dish for this. It's going to flunk and they're going to tell us it's working.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Well, Leslie, to Paul's point, one of the most shocking things that was in that Seattle footage was the emt, the police officers who were on the ground, they recognized the repeat offender and they. They literally said, oh, he's known for violently assaulting random people on this street. Look, this is as obvious of a policy win as I can think. You could improve the lives of 99% of this country by locking up and throwing away the key for the 1% of repeat violent offenders who repeatedly attack people and commit other crimes. Why is the left not for this?

[Leslie Marshall]

Well, I'm on the left and I disagree with you saying that because I'm very conservative when it comes to crime. I do believe in very tough crime. But you can't just take a paintbrush and have a broad, sweeping generalization of all crime. And under that umbrella, everybody does have the right to due process. And there is something that Paul alluded to when he talked about that homeless person who's crazy on the subway is the crazy. And we do have people that have mental illness and they are being treated the same as people who are just horrifically evil, violent criminals. But to your point also, Paul, and thank you. You must have been reading my notes here, because we have a lot of city measures and statewide measures that have been very successful that have nothing to do with the federal government, because we've had murder and violent crime dropping since 2020, consistently, year after year, but you can't say 2020.

[Charlie Hurt]

That was the summer of love. Anything would have dropped.

[Leslie Marshall]

And it continues to. I want to give a shout out to Brandon Scott. He is one of the youngest mayors in the United States. He's the mayor of Baltimore. He has been doing incredible. If you look at the numbers in Baltimore and the drops in violent crime in Baltimore, in he has been doing this with community based projects that he has seen work in other countries and that he has seen work in other cities than Baltimore and they've been very successful. So in Los Angeles, where I live, our violent crime is down 19%. Again, we are trying to have mental illness professionals work with those who need that and then law enforcement focus on getting the real bad guys, if you will. So I don't have a problem with somebody being, you know, locked up and, you know, the key thrown away if in fact a jury decides that.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Well, in many of these cases, the criminals have received due process, they're just released back onto the streets anyway. And this is the problem. I'm always reminded of the Adam Smith quote, that mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent. Charlie. And how innocent victims are the ones who suffer when we put suicidal empathy for criminals in the forefront.

[Paul Morrow]

Yeah. And it really is entirely unacceptable that we have. You know, my role always is if a woman can't walk down the street in your city after dark and without fearing for her life, then you live in a place that is not a civilized place. It is. And for some reason over the decades, we've become inured to all of this kind of crime. You see there, where it's just sort of a given that a woman can't walk down the street after dark in her city. And it just, I think it is, as you point out, it's cruel to every law abiding citizen. But I do think it's also very interesting when you. And as you point out, stats don't lie, or at least they're not supposed to lie. But we have also been through decades where you have cities run by Democrats who do lie with the statistics and they make up statistics. And so we don't really know what, what is real and what's not real. But one thing that I think is interesting is when you look at the places where President Trump has sent the National Guard, where people have actually won out with the argument that we don't want to defund the police, we actually want to support the police and we want to enforce the laws that crime does go down and it doesn't take A rocket scientist to figure that out. If you enforce the law, you're going to get less crime.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

And Tom, speaking of the third worldification of America's democratic run cities, I remember a White House press briefing pretty recently where Caroline Levitt shared that in Chicago, which is currently resisting efforts to send to the National Guard to help with crime, the murder rate in Chicago is apparently worse than the capital, Pakistan, worse than New Delhi, India, and yet they continue to refuse the aid that President Trump would like to send into the city.

[Tom Shalhou]

Well, look at the, when you saw, what did you say, 20%, the murders are down. But if you look at certain areas, Birmingham, 49%, they're down. Baltimore, almost 31%. Denver, 45%, Buffalo, Seattle, Orlando, 40%. So there's certain areas of the country where murders are way down. And here's where I say, Paul, that the murder statistic is very, it's very relevant when they talk about, you know, I remember when you remember Giuliani when he came in and the crime situation. I mean, we're talking about 50, 60% reductions in crime in the city at the time. And you could see it not just in the quality of life, but in, you know, in murders. The murder rate was way down under Giuliani. And people used to say to me, well, okay, so quality of life is down. There's fewer broken windows. But I don't like Giuliani's approach toward minorities. And I'd say, what do you mean they're alive? You know, thousands of young black men were alive that would be dead if not for Giuliani. And they overlook that all the time. And that's what's happening in cities all across the country now. They'd be dead. All the people you claim to be defending, they'd be dead.

[Charlie Hurt]

That's the great unspoken is that the people who are harmed by this are the people who are being told we're doing this on your behalf. And the, and the demographic who is always overlooked here because it's the great unsayable is women. Who gets thrown in front of train cars on the New York City subway? It's women. Yeah.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Putting politics over people's well being. Well, up next, what does Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin tell his children about the movie that made him famous? Find out next in the fastest. Shopping is hard. I can never find anything in my size.

[Paul Morrow]

I don't even know my size.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

I buy my clothes the same place I buy my groceries. There's a better way. Make it easy with Stitch Fix. Just share your Size, style, budget, and done. Your personal stylist sends pieces picked just for you. That was easy. Stitch Fix online, personal styling for everyone. Free shipping and returns. No subscription required. Get started today@stitch fix.com.

[Leslie Marshall]

Welcome back. Time for the fastest now. First up, every Christmas, Home Alone works its magic on millions of kids, including the children of its star, Macaulay Culkin. But apparently, they have no idea their dad is the iconic Kevin McAllister, the actor admitting he's been keeping his famous role a secret from his sons. Watch.

[Charlie Hurt]

They have no idea it's me. They have no idea it's me. They. They watch Home Alone. They go, that's Kevin. You know? You know. Are you serious? My. My oldest, he wanted to see pictures of me and my sibling. And he looks directly at me, goes, that kid looks like Kevin. Who's that? And I said, that's me. And kind of just waiting for the.

[Paul Morrow]

Other shoe to drop.

[Charlie Hurt]

He's like, well, anyway, okay, cool.

[Leslie Marshall]

So what do you. What do you think about that? Like, I think it's kind of cool that he keeps.

[Charlie Hurt]

Yeah, I think it is. It's nice. The only thing I'll say is this. There's going to be a really rough, revelatory moment coming in the future, whatever it is, 78 years old, whenever it occurs, whether it happens at home or at school. Because there's going to be a day where two things happen. First of all, oh, you mean there's no Santa Claus? Right. That's going to be a very disillusioning moment. And then they could be told, wait a minute. You're telling me that dad is Kevin? Oh, really? And their entire worldview will be blown. That's it, you know, no more Christmas.

[Leslie Marshall]

Well, Charlie, somebody else is going to tell them, probably.

[Paul Morrow]

Yeah, exactly. But I don't know that it'll be a great disappointment. Of course, I was looking at it from the dad's standpoint. Having. You know, when you have kids, one of the first things you have to learn to do is lie about everything you did when you were a kid. And then eventually they get to the age where you don't have to lie anymore and you can be honest about, like, what a moron you were when you were a teenager, because they're past all of that. And so I love this story, and I have a lot of respect for the way he's handling that.

[Leslie Marshall]

Kaylee, what do you think?

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Well, this is where I get to make you all feel old, because Macaulay Culkin's wife, Brenda Song, I grew up watching her on Disney Channel. So everyone in my generation was very invested when they got married. I love this. One of the comments that he made about watching Home Alone with his kids is he said that he doesn't watch the movie. I watch them. I watch their eyes. I listen to them laugh and things like that. And he enjoys seeing the movie now through their eyes. And I gotta say, as a new mom, that is so true. I love experiencing the holidays now through my son, even though he's only five months, he loves the Christmas lights on the Christmas tree. He's very into it, and it's very special.

[Leslie Marshall]

Yep.

[Tom Shalhou]

Tom, I think it's great. You know, I grew up with Macaulay Culkin. Come on. Yeah. It's just I didn't grow up till I was 40. But, Leslie, I think this is great. I can't believe he has the willpower to hold out. And, you know, I'm always bragging about everything I did today. My daughters are like, where are you going? I'm like, the number one show in cable. I'll be on that. How about that? And, you know, every Halloween, I'm like, did I ever tell you I was in a Snickers commercial? And my daughter's like, yeah, every time I have a Snickers, you tell me you were in a Snickers commercial.

[Paul Morrow]

Every time a commercial comes on, dad.

[Tom Shalhou]

It'S like, I never shut up about my accomplishments.

[Leslie Marshall]

And finally, Christmas is over, and now comes the question nobody wants to ask out loud. Do you actually have to write thank you notes for all those gifts from family? Well, according to one etiquette expert, yeah, kind of. She told Southern Living, you can give a verbal thank you. However, a handwritten thank you note for Christmas gifts provides that extra dazzle of appreciation. You doing some dazzle, Bob?

[Charlie Hurt]

No, no. Way too much work. You gotta write the note, you gotta find an envelope, address it, you gotta find the stamp. When's the last time you did that?

[Tom Shalhou]

Right.

[Charlie Hurt]

As a gen CEO, have you ever. Have you ever sent a letter in your young life?

[Kayleigh McGee White]

No, but I've given people cards. But no, I can't remember the last time I put it.

[Charlie Hurt]

As a millennial myself, here's what I do. I take a photo of myself enjoying the gifts, right? If it's food, I send a picture of me eating, and I just send the image. You know, I text it, and then that's it. Box checked.

[Leslie Marshall]

That's nice.

[Paul Morrow]

You have to write letters. Yeah. If for no other reason, obviously, you want to show to family. Especially to family. Not only to show gratitude. But also it. Because to record what was given.

[Charlie Hurt]

Oh, it's like that.

[Paul Morrow]

So 100 years from now you can see that what, who gave to whom. It's a really like somebody got a country ham that came from wherever.

[Charlie Hurt]

And this of course is how you decide who gets what next year from you.

[Paul Morrow]

I try not to.

[Charlie Hurt]

That's a yes.

[Paul Morrow]

I try not to judge.

[Tom Shalhou]

I think it's a nice idea. I don't do it, but I would like it. You know, I remember as a kid getting thank you notes from, you know, all different relatives and still, you know, the kind of, the older, the old school relatives in my family. Family. I still get a handwritten note from them and I think it's great. I just don't do it. You know, if I want to do something, I pick up the phone, I'll, you know, hi, how you doing? Boom.

[Charlie Hurt]

Send a text.

[Leslie Marshall]

I made my kids do it for their birthdays. I guess I'm a boomer. Fan mail Friday is up next.

[Tom Shalhou]

Hey, Ryan Reynolds here wishing you a very happy half off holiday. Because right now, now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited. To be clear, that's half price, not half the service. And Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price. So that means a half day. Yeah. Give it a try. @mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of 45 for.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Three month plan equivalent to $15 per month. Required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes of networks busy. Taxes and fees extra cmtmobile.com Weather so.

[Charlie Hurt]

The two of us can get together.

[Tom Shalhou]

It's fan mail Friday. You know what that means. Okay, here we go. Joan W. Asks, do you have holiday fatigue? I can tell you do. Paul, you look fatigued already.

[Charlie Hurt]

That's just my normal. No, I don't get it. I'm gonna tell you why. Because it was the best thing about working in law enforcement. Because, oh, we wouldn't invite you to this. You gotta come Christmas Eve. Oh, can you travel out to the end of the earth so we can see you for the holiday? No, I gotta work. Oh, yeah, that's it. Best part of the best fringe benefit of work in law enforcement.

[Tom Shalhou]

Leslie. That's why I love working Fox News. I can tell all the relatives, no, I can't leave town. I got to work Fox News.

[Leslie Marshall]

Yeah, I, you know, I had, I love the holiday. I still love the holidays, but I get a little fatigue. There's a lot of work, you know, involved and it falls on we ladies usually.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Right.

[Tom Shalhou]

All right. It does. I know. You are right. She's right, Charlie.

[Paul Morrow]

Maybe that's one reason I have less holiday fatigued than other people, but. No, but it's kind of nice, especially if you have to work around the holidays. Because then when the fatigue hits in, you're like, I gotta go to work.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Yeah. Or you could do what I do right after Thanksgiving and immediately start telling people, check in with me in the new year. In a couple months, you're out. After Thanksgiving, I'm out.

[Tom Shalhou]

Oh, wow. I thought you were kind of like, you know, holiday. Anyway, let's go to Tara. W here. She says, was there a show or movie your parents would not let you watch? Oh, I can think of one. I'm gonna save it, though. What do you think, Kaylee?

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Okay. Well, I was raised sort of as a fundamentalist Baptist. So basically, all of them, except for Little House on the Prairie.

[Tom Shalhou]

Oh, yeah, that was a good show.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

Thank you, mom and dad.

[Paul Morrow]

Actually, same here. All of them. But especially Dallas because it came on after Dukes of Hazzard and Dallas was about a divorced couple.

[Tom Shalhou]

So no divorce. Me too. No divorce. We couldn't watch Maude.

[Leslie Marshall]

Anything that had parental discretion advised. But especially General Hospital because of Luke and la.

[Tom Shalhou]

Oh, yeah. That was tawdry for. Even by today's standards, Paul.

[Charlie Hurt]

Disgusting. I remember one thing, absolutely verboten. The Exorcist. That was a. And everybody wanted to see it because, of course, if they wouldn't let you see it, that's what you were interested in, but nobody was allowed to.

[Paul Morrow]

So when did you get to see it?

[Charlie Hurt]

Last week. I think it was actually finally allowed. She let me.

[Tom Shalhou]

I'll never forget, my dad wouldn't let me watch Bonnie and Clyde when it was on tv, you know, the movie with Faye Dunaway. Because it made the bad guys look good. And he.

[Paul Morrow]

Not because of the ending.

[Tom Shalhou]

No, it was the morally ambiguous. He didn't want, you know, me making a hero out of the villains.

[Paul Morrow]

This explains everything. Yeah.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

I was always allowed to watch, though. Sean Hannity raised on Fox News every night.

[Tom Shalhou]

Okay, one More thing's up next.

[Paul Morrow]

2009.

[Charlie Hurt]

I'll think of you.

[Paul Morrow]

And it's time for One More Thing. So, Tom, what have you got?

[Tom Shalhou]

Okay, the actual Grinch was at a mall in Aurora, Illinois, and he was shoplifting. This is if this guy wanted to shoplift. And he dressed as the Grinch. He went in there. This the. We have the camera. Seems like kind of a dash cam here, but they're following the Grinch he police raced to the scene, they spotted the green suspect and they stopped him. He's facing charges of theft, criminal damages to property, resisting arrest. Unlike the actual Grinch, he never learned his lesson. His heart didn't grow.

[Paul Morrow]

Did he think he was going to get away with it in the Grinch suit?

[Tom Shalhou]

I mean, you go. Go big or go home. That's what you say during the holidays, apparently.

[Charlie Hurt]

That's a great. We're a great country.

[Paul Morrow]

Yeah, that, that, that's good. Okay, I'm up next here. Let's head out to Yellowstone national park in Wyoming. And boom. Geologists are calling this a morning kablooey. It's a hydrothermal explosion at the Black Diamond Pool in the park's biscuit basin. This pool is the site of the kablooey that wrecked a boardwalk last year. Since then, dirty eruptions reaching up to 30 to 40ft in height have occurred sporadically from the pool. This section of Yellowstone is now closed to the public for obvious reasons.

[Kayleigh McGee White]

All right, well, mine. Santa almost joined the Grinch in jail because apparently Santa found himself on the naughty list when he and Mrs. Claus were pulled over for speeding in Ohio. The police officer was surprised to see St. Nick in a car and not his sleigh. But even more surprised when Santa told him he had a concealed carry permit. The officer responded, santa has a cc. Times are rough. The deputy let Father Christmas go with a warning, not wanting Santa to be locked up for Christmas along with the Grinch.

[Tom Shalhou]

I like that.

[Paul Morrow]

You can never be too safe, especially if you have a night job. Leslie.

[Leslie Marshall]

These adorable rescued street dogs in Thailand were treated to an unforgettable day at the beach for Christmas by the Soi Dog Foundation. Dozens of dogs frolicked along the sand and took a dip in the ocean while enjoying the sun.

[Tom Shalhou]

Is that real? Is that AI? Is that real?

[Charlie Hurt]

I got 15 seconds. Okay. Sub freezing temperatures led to this Ontario driveway icing over. Essentially, the kid's driveway frozen. He gets the skate on it. That's a real hockey player, right? This kid, I love him. By the time he's out of high school, he won't have a tooth in his head.

[Paul Morrow]

That looks like a good time right now, right there. That does it for us. Merry Christmas. Thanks for watching.

[Charlie Hurt]

Listen to the 5ad free on Amazon Music with your prime membership or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.