How Trump Wants To Wield The Shutdown

Summary

Podcast Summary: What A Day – "How Trump Wants To Wield The Shutdown"

Date: October 1, 2025
Host: Jane Coaston (Crooked Media)
Guest: Zack Beauchamp (Vox, Senior Correspondent)

---

Episode Overview

In this incisive episode, host Jane Coaston unpacks the latest government shutdown under President Trump’s second term, exploring how Trump seizes shutdowns and related crises as opportunities to expand executive power. The episode’s main focus is the administration’s authoritarian tendencies, drawing on international parallels, and the encroachment upon democratic norms via measures like media suppression and regulatory strong-arming. Jane’s guest, Zack Beauchamp, provides expert commentary on global patterns of democratic backsliding and what Americans can do to push back.

---

Key Discussion Points

1. Trump’s Approach to the Government Shutdown

• Trump appears unfazed by the cost of shutting down the government, instead framing it as a power move to eliminate “Democrat things” and push his policy priorities.
  • Quote:

    “A lot of good can come down from shutdowns. We can get rid of a lot of things…they want open borders, they want men playing in women’s sports, they want transgender for everybody…so we have no choice.” — Donald Trump, [00:57]

• Jane contextualizes that shutdowns are universally regarded as failures of governance, but Trump treats them as strategic tools to expand personal authority and scapegoat opponents.
  • Quote:

    “No one really ever wins a shutdown. But to Trump, it’s another opportunity to extend his power even further by potentially firing more government employees and pushing Congress out of the decision making process altogether again.” — Jane Coaston, [01:22]

---

2. Signs and Mechanics of Authoritarianism

• Zack Beauchamp distinguishes between general authoritarianism and competitive authoritarianism—systems that maintain democratic facades like elections, but tilt the playing field through media control and regulatory manipulation.
  • Quote:

    “What you do have are subtle tinkerings with the system that make it such that those elections are not under fair conditions. So it’s nearly impossible for the opposition to win.” — Zack Beauchamp, [03:57]

• Competitive authoritarianism is characterized by “corrupting regulatory tools like the FCC to use them for partisan political purposes” while avoiding outright, visible repression.
• The administration’s aggressive and public moves—such as efforts to silence TV hosts and stigmatizing protest movements—demonstrate a preference for overt displays of control, rather than subtlety.
  • Quote:

    “They don’t like the shadows. Like, they want you to know everything. Like Trump is going to live tweet himself attempting to take control of every entity available.” — Jane Coaston, [07:02]

---

3. Media Suppression — The Jimmy Kimmel Case Study

• Zack spotlights the recent attempt to push Jimmy Kimmel off the air via FCC pressure as quintessential “competitive authoritarianism.”
  • Quote:

    “It uses the power of the state to coerce private actors into doing their bidding, into doing the repression, so the state itself doesn’t have to do it.” — Zack Beauchamp, [06:13]

• While the Kimmel push ultimately failed due to public backlash, Zack notes this as a sign of democratic “antibodies” at work — resistance from civil society and the media.

---

4. The Orban Model and U.S. Right-Wing Admiration

• Victor Orban’s Hungary serves as a model for the American right, admired for:
  1. Framing itself as a “culture war” for Western civilization.
  2. Deploying state power against enemies while arguing it’s defending democracy against the left.
  • Quote:

    “What Orban represents for the American right is two things…He’s a culture warrior like they are…The second point is that he represents a way of attacking your enemies that can be plausibly defended as democratic.” — Zack Beauchamp, [09:06]

• Jane notes the American right’s fascination, which has even motivated figures like Tucker Carlson to highlight Hungarian governance.

---

5. How Close Is the U.S. to Broader Democratic Erosion?

• Zack draws direct historical parallels, cautioning that the U.S.in 2025 is at a tipping point similar to Hungary in 2010, Russia in 2000, and Germany in 1933.
  • Quote:

    “We are where Hungarians were in 2010, where Russians were in 2000, and where Germans were in 1933.” — Zack Beauchamp, [10:20]

• Urges active engagement: protest, activism, running for office—before mechanisms of control are firmly locked in.
  • Quote:

    “The answer is that you need to redouble your efforts to participate in democratic politics…You win elections and you engage in activism.” — Zack Beauchamp, [11:01]

---

6. On Trump's Ultimate Goal

• Zack believes Trump’s personal motivation is revenge and domination, not a well-articulated ideological aim. The broader authoritarian project is more ideologically driven by others in the administration.
  • Quote:

    “The quote from Conan the Barbarian, it’s to crush your enemies, to see them driven before you and hear the lamentations of their women. Like, I think that’s how Donald Trump thinks about the world. He wants revenge.” — Zack Beauchamp, [12:41]

---

Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• On the administration’s priorities:

  “He wants to post mean videos about Democrats, celebrities, and pretty much anyone else. And he wants to make it illegal to say mean things about him. It feels authoritarian, but it also feels incredibly, unbelievably stupid.” — Jane Coaston, [01:22]

• On the failure of media suppression:

  “I never thought that I would be saying Jimmy Kimmel...is the bellwether for American democracy. But that’s a sign that there’s still significant antibodies to this kind of authoritarianism in the U.S. right.” — Zack Beauchamp, [06:13]

• On historical lessons:

  “I heard a story from a Russian protester...we left a little bit after it because it was cold...and we thought we’d get to do this again and it would matter. And then we didn’t. We couldn’t.” — Zack Beauchamp, [12:07]

---

Important Segment Timestamps

• [00:57] Trump’s justification for the shutdown.
• [01:22] Jane’s warning on Trump’s view of presidential power.
• [03:44] Zack defines authoritarianism and competitive authoritarianism.
• [05:36] Analysis of the Jimmy Kimmel FCC incident and its democratic implications.
• [07:29] Orban’s manipulation of news and its lessons for the U.S.
• [09:06] Why Orban is admired by American conservatives.
• [10:20] Comparisons to historical moments of democratic decline.
• [11:01] How listeners can take meaningful action.
• [12:41] Trump’s motivation and the meaning for U.S. democracy.

---

Additional Headlines & Political Developments

1. Trump’s Drug Pricing Announcement & “Trump RX” [16:18]

• Trump touts a deal with Pfizer to lower Medicaid drug prices, framing it as a populist win—while Democrats criticize simultaneous Medicaid cuts.
• Launch of “Trump RX” website to buy drugs directly from manufacturers; laden with Trumpian branding.

2. Presidential Use of Deepfake AI Video [17:56]

• Trump posts a racist deepfake video mocking Democratic leaders, drawing outrage from Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer.
  • Hakeem Jeffries:

    “The next time you have something to say about me, don’t cop out through a racist and fake AI video…say it to my face.” — [18:07]

  • Schumer:

    “It was childish, it was petty. It’s something that a five year old would do, not a President of the United States.” — [19:54]

3. U.S.-Iran Deportation Deal [20:04]

• Trump administration plans to deport hundreds of Iranians, reversing decades of precedent amid ongoing diplomatic tensions.

4. FBI’s Kash Patel Smuggles Gun Parts into New Zealand [21:45]

• FBI director gifts inoperable (but modifiable) 3D-printed pistols to New Zealand officials, violating strict local gun laws.
  • Jane:

    “America finally achieved gun control. The bad news? It was in the wrong country.”

---

Conclusion

This episode delivers a wide-ranging yet focused discussion on the erosion of U.S. democratic norms under Trump’s recent actions, connecting presidential overreach, media suppression, and competitive authoritarianism. Zack Beauchamp provides clarity on global parallels and actionable hope, encouraging listeners to engage in democracy before the window narrows further. The news round-up further demonstrates the administration’s brash disregard for both domestic convention and international norms.

---

If you’re concerned about America’s democratic future, or want to understand the big picture behind the latest headlines, this episode is essential listening.

Transcript

[A]

It's Wednesday, October 1st. I'm Jane Coston, and this is what a day. The show that has experienced some cold rooms, but nothing quite as frigid as the response to this remark from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to a room full of top military brass to our enemies.

[B]

F a F O.

[C]

If necessary, our troops can translate that for you.

[A]

For Hegsef, I assume fafo means flail around and freak out. On today's show, President Donald Trump announces his latest business venture. Trump rx and FBI Director Keshe Patel smuggles guns into New Zealand. Whoopsie. But let's start with the government shutdown. The government has shut down now, and Trump even seemed to be looking forward to it. Kerry is speaking in the Oval Office Tuesday afternoon.

[D]

So we're doing well as a country, so the last thing we want to do is shut it down. But a lot of good can come down from shutdowns. We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn't want and they'd be Democrat things. But they want open borders. They want men playing in women's sports. They want transgender for everybody. They never stop. And they don't learn we won an election in a landslide. They just don't learn. So we have no choice. I have to do that. For the.

[A]

For the country nonsense town, as always. But it's telling how Trump views forcing the government to close up shop. Typically, a government shutdown is a sign of failure to get something important done, which no president and no political party really wants, because, remember, no one really ever wins a shutdown. But to Trump, it's another opportunity to extend his power even further by potentially firing more government employees and pushing Congress out of the decision making process altogether again. Since Trump retook the Oval, he has assumed a mantle of overwhelming authority over what TV show hosts are allowed to say and which protest causes get to have First Amendment protections while refusing to take any responsibility for absolutely anything. He wants to post mean videos about Democrats, celebrities, and pretty much anyone else. And he wants to make it illegal to say mean things about him. It feels authoritarian, but it also feels incredibly, unbelievably stupid. Tuesday's much ballyhooed televised meeting with America's military leadership is a great example. During the exact same speech in which the President of the United States seemingly declared war on American cities he doesn't like, he also had a lot of thoughts on paper quality, beautiful paper.

[E]

The gorgeous paper. I said throw a little more gold on it. They deserve it. Give me, I want the A paper. Not The D paper we used to sign a piece of garbage. I said, this man's going to be a general right. Yet I don't want to use this. I want to use the big, beautiful, firm paper. I want to use the real gold writing when you talk about the position. And they're beautiful.

[A]

So what can people who have studied authoritarianism and seen what such movements do to other countries teach us about what Trump is doing, what Trump wants to do, and how to fight back? To find out, I spoke to a friend and former colleague, Zach Beacham. He's a senior correspondent at Vox, where he covers the crisis of global democracy and right wing populism. Zack Beachum, welcome back to what a Day.

[C]

Jane Coston, I'm happy to see you again, old friend.

[A]

You've been writing about Trump and authoritarianism since we worked together, like eight years ago. But can you define authoritarianism specifically and explain as briefly as you can how exactly Trump has moved the government in that direction since his second term began?

[C]

Sure. So an authoritarian regime is any system of government in which the rulers are not elected.

[F]

Right.

[C]

So all different kinds of non democratic governments, Those are all authoritarian in one way or another.

[F]

Right.

[C]

So China's authoritarian, Russia's authoritarian, Iran's authoritarian, Saudi Arabia's authoritarian. Those are very different governments.

[F]

Right.

[C]

But in our context, right, when we're talking about democracies that are turning authoritarian in the modern world, this usually turns into something, a specific kind of authoritarianism called competitive authoritarianism. This is a weird one because it pretends to be a democracy. So you still have elections, you still have formal freedoms like freedom of the press. You usually don't have the police rounding people up on the streets because they criticize the government. What you do have are subtle tinkerings with the system that make it such that those elections are not held under fair conditions. So it's nearly impossible for the opposition to win. So the media is controlled by allies of the government. So civil society organizations that might be aligned with causes the government doesn't like, those folks are basically unable to do their work in an uninhibited way. And so no one of these policies, you know, destroys a democracy, but when you put them together, it makes it such that the incumbent government has an awfully difficult time losing.

[F]

Right.

[C]

And there are models for this in Hungary, in Venezuela, in Turkey. And we're going there. We're moving there pretty quick.

[A]

Yeah, I want to talk more about that because you wrote about how the FCC suspension of Jimmy Come Alive was proof that authoritarianism can come to America. And you said, and I quote, I mean that literally. Now, we've seen a lot of efforts by this government to stifle speech. I'm thinking about the arrests of pro Palestinian activists, or in one case, the arrest of a woman who co authored an op ed the government didn't like. Why this event specifically of all the things that have happened in the last six months?

[C]

So the reason that Kimmel's important, it's not just that, you know, Kimmel himself was briefly forced off the air, it's the mechanism by which they did it.

[F]

Right.

[C]

The FCC threatening to pull licenses from local television stations, and then the media conglomerates that owned those television stations, nexstar and Sinclair pulling Kimmel and strong arming ABC until ABC strong armed them back, apparently.

[F]

Right.

[C]

That is how competitive authoritarianism works. A very real and specific sense. It uses the power of the state to coerce private actors into doing their bidding, into doing the repression, so the state itself doesn't have to do it.

[F]

Right.

[C]

It's about corrupting regulatory tools like the FCC to use them for essentially partisan political purposes, for the idea of repressing the opposition. And so that was a very specific example of how this strategy works. Now, the fact that it failed is just like a really great sign for American democracy. I don't know, I'm not a Kimmel fan. I never thought that I would be saying Jimmy Kimmel, of all people, the old host of the man show, is the bellwether for American democracy. But that's a sign that there's still significant antibodies to this kind of authoritarianism in the U.S. right. And Brendan Carr in the Kimmel area, I think his mistake in part was that he was too blunt, he was too honest about what he was doing, and that led to a mass pushback. But competitive authoritarianism is best when it operates in the shadows. And the Trump administration is stumbling towards figuring out how to do that, even if they're not very adapt data.

[A]

Yeah, we'll get into this a little bit, but I think that one piece of this is that they don't like the shadows. Like, they want you to know everything. Like Trump is going to live tweet himself attempting to take control of every entity available. But you cited another strategy that authoritarian leaders have used to take control of their countries called news distortion. And you use this in reference to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. How did Orban use that strategy to take control in Hungary?

[C]

Well, in reality, news distortion, this specific legal principle in the US has not been used successfully because it runs into a series of First Amendment problems. And I suspect that Brendan Carr would have as well. But the broader idea of saying the news is biased so therefore the government is justified in going in and enforcing its own perspective. I mean, they wouldn't say that. Right. They'd say it. Enforcing fairness. This is a strategy that Orban used.

[F]

Right.

[C]

He and various other different people. Right. Netanyahu in Israel has complained about the media in that country. And then he was, you may know that he's on trial for corruption charges. The most serious ones relate to his efforts to try to correct for through corrupt means. So this is a very common tactic of would be dictators using claims of media bias as a shield for efforts to impose their own control over media entities.

[A]

Now, we've talked about this before, but something that's struck me for a long time in my work talking about the American right and American conservatism is how the American right fell in love with Orban. Specifically. Yes, there's been a lot of talk about how the far right loves Vladimir Putin, but it's Orban that got several conservatives to even move to Budapest. Tucker Carlson did a lauding trip to Hungary talking about how great it was. What do you think it is about Orbanism that is appealing to the American right in a way that other right wing authoritarian movements might not be as appealing?

[C]

What Orban represents for the American right is two things, I think. One, he's a culture warrior like they are. The way that he presents himself is fighting an existential war for Western civilization. One that he's waging against the left, which aims to corrode it, and specifically using mass migration as a tool for destroying the soul of the West. This is all very racial, obviously, but he presents it in race neutral language most of the time. One time he said mixed race and it was like, okay, we got you, we know what you're doing.

[F]

Right.

[C]

And that brings me to the second point, right? Which is that he represents a way of attacking your enemies that can be plausibly defended as democratic. When you talk to these people, they don't say we are authoritarian, Right. They don't claim that the purpose of the Trump movement is to destroy democracy in America. They claim the left is doing that and they're saving it. And that's what every kind of competitive authoritarian system does, Right. It's whole legitimation strategy. But the key point is that Orban gives them a model for governance that allows them to use the power of the state against their enemies without feeling like they're you know, they're Nazis or whatever.

[A]

So you wrote, quote, we are where Hungarians were in 2010, where Russians were in 2000, and where Germans were in 1933. But here's my concern and something I want to hear your thoughts on, because I think that it's worthwhile for the people listening. I hear that, and lots of people hear that and think, we are fucked. There's no way out. And you and I have both encountered a lot of liberal doomerism, both online and in person. How can we operate in a world in which we are in a very dangerous place for democracy and there are ways out, so you shouldn't just give up on everything and move into your basement.

[C]

Yeah. I mean, the answer is that you need to redouble your efforts to participate in democratic politics. Like, that's the way that you beat competitive authoritarianism is you win elections and you engage in activism that prevents their ability to consolidate control before those elections.

[F]

Right.

[C]

So what do you do? Go join local protests. Find an activist group that's doing significant work. If you're thinking about running for office, do it right. But when I chose those dates, I did that really deliberately.

[F]

Right.

[C]

It was before the system of control in those countries had been fully consolidated.

[F]

Right.

[C]

Where there was an opportunity for effective resistance. And choices of political actors and people in society could be really significant. You know, I heard a story from a Russian protester from around the time that Putin was inaugurated who said something like, we didn't know what was going to happen. At one point, we attended a protest, and we left a little bit after it because it was cold and we didn't want to be here anymore. And we thought we'd get to do this again and it would matter. And then we didn't. We couldn't.

[F]

Right.

[C]

And that story stuck with me because, of course, they didn't know.

[F]

Right.

[C]

How could they have anticipated that?

[F]

Right.

[C]

Putin. It was. It was a different time in history, but now we have 25 years of examples of competitive authoritarian regimes, or in Russia's case, actual outright authoritarian regimes taking power. We know what it looks like, and we know what's happening, and we don't have the same excuse. So we have to do something. We have to act.

[A]

I have actually one final question, but I also think it's useful to be thinking about this.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

What do you think Trump's end goal is?

[C]

I don't think Trump personally has a well thought out end goal. I mean, if there is one, it's, you know, the. The quote from Conan the Barbarian, it's to crush your enemies, to see them driven before you and hear the lamentations of their women. Like, I think that's how Donald Trump thinks about the world. He wants revenge. He wants to destroy everyone who opposes him. The end result of that is authoritarianism. But I don't think Trump is like, I have an ideological goal for revolution right in America. He just thinks I want to win and winning means crushing my enemies. And so that's why all of this is happening. Other people in the government have more sophisticated ideological goals. J.D. vance, Stephen Miller, Russ Vaughn, Right, those folks, yeah, they've got, they've got plans. Trump, he just does things.

[A]

Zach Beacham, thank you so much for joining me.

[C]

Thank you, Jade.

[A]

That was my conversation with Zack Beacham, a senior correspondent at Vox with a focus on global democracy and right wing populism. We'll link to his reporting in the show Notes. We'll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe. Leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube and share with your friends. More to come after some ads Water Day is brought to you by Ollie. My dog is a family member, a source of joy and love and yes, a lot of fluff. We have to vacuum and I'd do just about anything for him. So I switched his food to Ollie. They offer fresh protein packed meals made with real human grade ingredients. A win for my dog's health. And they offer five tasty recipes all slow cooked for top nutrition. A win for my dog's happiness. Ollie uses human grade recipes backed by vet nutritionists and crafted with culinary experts. And dogs love the taste. My dog gets visibly excited every time I get a package of Ollie out of the fridge. With Ollie you get tailored meal plans to meet your dog's specific needs, perfectly portioned meals in mess free packaging and even a scoop for easy serving in a storage puptainer. For zero fridge stink the Ollie app offers on demand health screenings where you can tap real experts for pup peace of mind and it uses data from the Ollie pack to develop new recipes and products for your dog. With Ollie, my dog has a happier tummy and that means more adventures and even more fun for all of us. Your dog's well being starts with their food and that's why Ollie delivers fresh human grade food that your dog will love. Head to ollie.com wad, tell them all about your dog and use code WAAD to get 60% off your welcome kit when you subscribe today. Plus they offer a happiness guarantee on the first box so if you're not completely satisfied, you'll get your money back. That's o l l I e.com waud and enter code wad to get 60% off your first box.

[B]

Now is your time to get into a new Dr. Horton home by taking advantage of its national Red Tag Sales event this Saturday, October 4th through October 19th. Stop by any of its participating communities and find select red tag homes at Incredible Pricing. So whether you're buying your first home or looking for an upgrade, you don't want to miss the red Tag Sales event. Starting this Saturday, discover the Dr. Horton Difference at Dr. Horton.com Dr. Horton, America's builder and equal Housing Opportunity Builder hi.

[G]

I'm Angie Hicks, co founder of Angie. One thing I've learned is that you buy a house, but you make it a home. And for decades, Angie's helped millions of homeowners hire skilled pros for the projects that matter. Get all your jobs done [e-mail].

[A]

Here'S what else we're following today. Head of Lines.

[E]

I can't tell you how big this is, sure Trump announced.

[A]

Tuesday that Pfizer, one of the largest US Drug makers, has agreed to lower the cost of prescription drugs for Medicaid. He spoke at the White House just hours ahead of the government shutdown after a partisan standoff over, what was it again, oh yeah, healthcare. Under the deal, Trump said Pfizer will charge most favored nation pricing to Medicaid and guarantee that pricing on newly launched drugs that involves matching the lowest price offered in other developed nations.

[D]

This is a critical step forward to our work and to improve health care and hard working low income Americans, especially low income Americans, will be helped so greatly.

[A]

But wait, there's more. Pfizer also agreed to participate in a new website the administration said it plans to start, called, you guessed it, Trump rx. The website would be operated by the federal government and allow people to buy drugs directly from manufacturers. Will the prescriptions come in gold tea bottles? Will RFK Jr show up to personally yell at you if he doesn't like what you're taking? The whole thing is a little ironic though, because while Trump was supposedly focusing on drug costs, Democrats were focused on reversing Medicaid cuts in the sweeping law Trump signed this summer.

[H]

We are fighting to lower the high cost of living and to protect the health care of everyday Americans. Mr. President, the next time you have something to say about me, don't cop out through a racist and fake AI.

[F]

Video.

[H]

When I'm back in The Oval Office. Say it to my face. Say it to my face.

[A]

That's House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on the Capitol steps Tuesday, responding to a deepfake AI video the President of the United States posted on social media after shutdown negotiations stalled Monday. The video shows Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer outside of the West Wing, where they spoke to the press after their meeting with Trump. But instead of their real comments, the video shows Schumer talking about how much Democrats suck while Jeffrey stands by with a superimposed mustache and sombrero. He's not Hispanic or Latino, he's just not, you know, white. Here's the AI video in full. Head to our YouTube channel to see the insanely racist video, which again, the President of the United States posted online.

[I]

Look, guys, there's no way to sugarcoat it. Nobody likes Democrats anymore. We have no voters left because of all of our woke trans bullshit. Not even black people want to vote for us anymore. Even Latinos hate us. So we need new voters. And if we give all these illegal aliens free health care, we might be able to get them on our side so they can vote for us. They can't even speak English, so they won't realize we're just a bunch of woke pieces of, you know, at least for a while until they, they learn English and they realize they hate us too.

[A]

That's a rendition of the Mexican Hat dance folk song playing in the background. In case you didn't think the video could get any more racist. Schumer responded to the video Tuesday in a press conference.

[J]

If you want another indication of how serious Republicans are about funding the government, look no further than the deep fake AI video the President tried to put up last night after our meeting when we were actually trying to fund the government.

[A]

His video was dumb.

[J]

It was childish, it was petty. It's something that a five year old would do, not a President of the United States. But it shows how unserious they are.

[A]

Yeah, sounds about right. In a rare moment of cooperation between the United States and Iran, the US Will deport hundreds of Iranians back to their native country. The first 120 deportees are being prepared for a flight in the next day or two, Iran said Tuesday. At the time of this recording. The announcement has yet to be publicly acknowledged by the US Government. Tensions have been high between the two countries since the whole Trump blew up their nuclear facilities thing back in June. The deportations marked the latest effort by Trump to ship out migrants regardless of human rights conditions in the receiving country. It's also a sharp reversal from decades of US practice that welcomed Iranian exiles after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Hmm. An anonymous US official with knowledge of the plans told the New York Times, quote, iran's Foreign Ministry was coordinating the deportees return and that they had been given reassurances that they would be safe and would not face any problems. Again, we are talking about the Iranian government. Anytime a government official feels the need to say out loud that people will not face any problems, you can be sure they'll face problems. FBI Director Kash Patel visited New Zealand to open the FBI's first standalone office in the country. But that's not what's making headlines. Patel gave New Zealand's police and spy bosses 3D printed inoperable pistols because when America visits, we don't bring gifts, we bring guns. Unfortunately for Patel, inoperable weapons are treated as though they're operable in New Zealand if modifications could make them workable again and therefore illegal. New Zealand has extremely strict gun laws, laws that were strengthened after the horrific 2019 Christchurch mosque shooting. It wasn't clear if he even tried to get permission to bring the weapons into the country. A spokesperson for Patel told the Associated Press Tuesday that the FBI would not comment. I guess we'll just have to wait for the Twitter rant. The pistols were judged by gun regulators in New Zealand to be potentially operable, so they were promptly confiscated and destroyed. The good news? America finally achieved gun control. The bad news? It was in the wrong country. And that's the news. Before we go the Supreme Court's new term is off to the races and surprise surprise, it's a mess. Crooked's Legal Podcast Strict Scrutiny is here to cut through the chaos. With legal expertise and plenty of side eye, new episodes drop every Monday. Listen to wherever you get your podcasts and watch on YouTube. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe. Leave a Review Contemplate how a self driving Waymo got stopped for making an illegal U turn but didn't get a ticket because you know self driving car and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading, I'm not. Just about how police near San Francisco pulled over the Waymo on Saturday but couldn't write a ticket because, quote Citation Books don't have a box for robot like me. What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and [e-mail] subscribe I'm Jane Coston, and now I'm contemplating a gritty Waymo Cry movie where Waymos run rampant, but there's no one to punish. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producers are Emily Foer and Chris Allport. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Gina Pollack and Caitlin Plummer. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison and our senior Vice president of news and politics is Adrienne Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.

[B]

Now is your time to get into a new Dr. Horton home by taking advantage of its national red tag sales event this Saturday, October 4th through October 19th. Stop by any of its participating communities and find select red tag homes at incredible pricing. So whether you're buying your first home or looking for an upgrade, you don't want to miss the red tag sales event. Starting this Saturday. Discover the Dr. Horton Difference at Dr. Dr. Horton America's Builder and Equal Housing Opportunity Builder.

[G]

Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co founder of angie. When you use Angie for your home projects, you know all your jobs will be done well, from roof repair to emergency plumbing and more done well. So the next time you have a home project, leave it to the pros. Get [e-mail].