Putin Cozies Up To Modi And Xi

Summary

What A Day – “Putin Cozies Up To Modi And Xi”

Date: September 3, 2025
Host: Jane Coaston
Guest: Tommy Vietor (co-host, Pod Save the World)

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Overview

In this episode, Jane Coaston unpacks a rapidly shifting global landscape as Russia's Vladimir Putin plays host to India’s Narendra Modi and China’s Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. Through a lively and often acerbic conversation with Tommy Vietor, the episode covers the “throuple” dynamics among these leaders, their anti-U.S. maneuvers, and how Trump’s ego—and his pursuit of a Nobel Peace Prize—has frayed longstanding U.S.-India ties. The discussion expands to the emergence of a new anti-Western alliance with North Korea and Iran, Trump’s failed diplomacy with Putin, and the ongoing consequences for global power shifts. The episode wraps with news on the Trump family’s latest crypto scheme and Americans’ deepening pessimism about the American Dream.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Global Stage: The New “Throuple”

• SCO Summit Recap:
  • [03:28] Tommy Vietor explains the SCO as a “Regional Security cooperation Organization...founded in the early 2000s by the Russians and the Chinese, and it's sort of their counterweight to Western alliances like NATO.”
  • Jane calls out the “fun filled weekend” of Putin, Modi, and Xi as a “throuple sort of situation...but I don't judge whatever they're into.”
• Anti-U.S. Sentiment:
  • The summit featured coordinated criticism of U.S. trade and tariff policy.
  • [04:00] “A whole bunch of criticism of the United States, some thinly veiled, some not veiled at all, especially US Trade policy and tariffs.”
• Modi-Putin Bromance:
  • [04:00–04:47] Modi and Putin’s closeness is highlighted—“putting out images of them literally holding hands” as “dear friends.”

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2. Modi, Trump, and the Nobel Peace Prize Saga

• U.S.-India Strains:
  • [04:47–05:24] Modi’s growing distance from Trump is traced directly back to Trump’s tariff hikes against India and his obsession with a Nobel Peace Prize.
    • “Is this...just a fuck you to Trump?” Jane asks of the Modi-Putin coziness.
  • Tommy: “Putin...is at his heart, he's a troll...everything he does is a fuck you to the United States or to Trump or to...democracies generally.”
• A Failed Alliance:
  • [05:41–06:12] Modi and Trump once collaborated during infamous “Howdy Modi” events, but the current rift stems from Trump demanding credit for “solving” India-Pakistan tensions.
• The Nobel Fiasco:
  • [06:15–08:17] Tommy details Trump’s “whining to Modi in a series of phone calls about how he'll never get the Nobel Peace Prize.” Modi is annoyed because letting Trump play peacemaker would undermine his own strongman image.
    • “Trump just decided, it's all about me and I care about my Nobel Peace Prize and I'm just going to unravel all of this.” – Tommy Vietor [07:14]

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3. Putin’s Position, Trump’s Failed Diplomacy, and the Ukraine War

• Putin as Power Broker:
  • Putin uses meetings (e.g., Modi and Trump in “the Beast” limo) as “purposeful” signals to the world.
    • [08:40-08:49] “He's like, I'll ride around with whoever I want. That's Putin's message to the world.” – Tommy Vietor
• Trump’s Alaska Summit and Faltering Ukraine Policy:
  • [08:49–09:27] Jane and Tommy recount how Trump’s attempt at an Alaska peace summit with Putin yielded nothing: no ceasefire, no new meetings, while the war drags on.
• Trump’s Disengagement:
  • [09:44] Tommy: “Sometimes it seems like he just gets bored of this stuff, you know?”
  • Parallel drawn to Gaza: Trump’s momentary focus fizzles, leading to no real action or pressure on strongmen like Putin or Netanyahu.

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4. The Rise of a New Anti-Western Bloc

• Expansion with North Korea & Iran:
  • [10:18–11:48] North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Iran’s president are also joining the party, appearing at a huge military parade in Beijing marking WWII’s end.
• From “Ragtag” to Real Threat:
  • [10:58–11:48] “Early on you would see meetings...and it felt like, look at this ragtag group of rogue states and kind of clowns....Over time...this kind of ragtag group...actually ended up having a lot of power.” – Tommy Vietor
  • North Korea supplies artillery to Russia; Iran supplies drones, showing how the anti-Western “alliance” is evolving from symbolic to strategic.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• [01:09] Jane Coaston: “I guess it's more of a throuple sort of situation, but I don't judge whatever they're into.”
• [04:52] Tommy Vietor: “Putin, as you know, is at his heart, he's a troll. So everything he does is a fuck you to the United States or to Trump or to...democracies generally...”
• [07:14] Tommy Vietor: “Trump just decided, it's all about me and I care about my Nobel Peace Prize and I'm just going to unravel all of this.”
• [09:44] Tommy Vietor: “Sometimes it seems like he just gets bored of this stuff, you know...”
• [10:58] Tommy Vietor: “Early on you would see meetings with Putin and North Korea or Iran, and it felt like, look at this ragtag group of rogue states and kind of clowns. ... Over time...this kind of ragtag group...ended up having a lot of power. And I think, like in summation, they all came together this week to remind us of this new alliance that they've formed and how significant it is.”
• [11:48] Jane Coaston (to Tommy): “Thank you so much as always for joining me.”
  Tommy Vietor: “Thank you for having me. Next time, we'll just talk about UNC football.”

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:02–01:09]: Episode cold open and shifting to the main foreign policy story
• [01:09–02:48]: US-India-Russia-China relationship background, Trump’s past statements
• [02:48–04:00]: SCO summit context and purpose
• [04:00–04:47]: Modi-Putin hand-holding, deepening ties, US tariff retaliation
• [04:47–06:12]: Explaining the Putin-Modi-China “alliance” and Modi’s tricky balancing act
• [06:12–08:17]: The Nobel Peace Prize saga and breakdown of the Trump-Modi relationship
• [08:17–09:27]: Deja vu: Putin-Trump car ride, failed Alaska summit, stalling on Ukraine
• [09:27–10:18]: Why resolving the Ukraine war seems out of reach
• [10:18–11:48]: Expansion of anti-Western alliances (North Korea, Iran), strategic significance

---

Headlines & News Updates (Post-Interview)

1. Pentagon Assigns Military Lawyers as Immigration Judges | [15:12]

• The Trump administration, facing massive court backlogs and after firing civilian judges, will assign up to 600 military lawyers as temporary immigration judges—raising legal and ethical questions.

2. Trump Family Enriches Itself with New Cryptocurrency | [16:59]

• Trump's family launches a new coin “WLFI” via World Liberty Financial; Trump Jr. paints it as “the governance backbone of a real ecosystem.” The family reportedly amasses $5 billion.

3. The American Dream Grows Dim | [18:19]

• Citing a Wall Street Journal/NORC poll, Jane reports that only 25% of Americans feel they can improve their standard of living—the lowest since 1987.
  • “Americans no longer believe that hard work leads to building wealth...”
  • The middle class is feeling squeezed even as the wealthy splurge and the Trumps generate instant billions from crypto.

---

Final Thoughts & Tone

The episode’s tone is sharp, irreverent, and darkly funny—Jane and Tommy trade barbs (and mental images) as they dissect the absurdity and danger of today’s international “alliances of convenience” and the lasting damage of leader-level ego-tripping.
The shifting allegiances and performative strategic gestures underscore a larger, worrisome trend: America is losing diplomatic leverage, and authoritarian “trolls” are exploiting every perceived weakness.

---

For those who missed it, this episode provides a concise but incisive roadmap to the new world order, with memorable banter and a healthy dose of skepticism about both international affairs and the integrity of America’s ruling class.

Transcript

[Jane Coastin]

It's Wednesday, September 3rd, my birthday. I'm Jane Coastin and this is what a day. The show that is sad that West Point is reinstalling a portrait of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Sad because Robert E. Lee was a loser. He lost the Civil War despite having the tremendous luck to fight against Union General George McClellan, who was an idiot. Why are we encouraging safe spaces and participation trophy culture for our troops? What happened to win on today's show, the American dream is dying and the Trump family reaps financial success from a new cryptocurrency. But let's start with foreign policy. Because while President Donald Trump spent Tuesday explaining how he enjoyed his very normal, very quiet Labor Day weekend, I did.

[Donald Trump]

Numerous shows and also did a number of truths, long truths, I think pretty poignant truths. No, I was very active over the weekend. They also knew I went out to visit some people at the, at the club that I own pretty nearby on the Potomac River. And no, I've been very active actually.

[Jane Coastin]

Over the weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese leader Xi Jinping had a fun filled weekend of meetings and hand holding. They met at the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting. It was the first time in seven years that Modi and Xi met in person and that we're meeting at a time when the relationships between Russia, China, India and the United States are complex. I mean, China and the United States have been global foes on pretty much every front for decades now, battling over trade and most recently AI policy. But according to the New York Times, Indian leader Modi is upset with Trump because of Trump's tariff policies and because Trump claimed that he had, quote, solved the long running dispute between India and Pakistan and wanted Modi to nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize. Donald Trump did not, in fact, solve it in Russia. Well, the war in Ukraine has lasted for more than three years and shows few signs of stopping anytime soon. And Putin has shown markedly little interest in America's diplomatic outreach. Speaking to conservative pundit Scott Jennings on Tuesday, Trump said he was disappointed in Putin over the war, but also felt it necessary to bring up the 2020 election because of course he did.

[Donald Trump]

I'm very disappointed in him. He and I always had a great relationship. Very disappointed. Thousands of people are dying. They're not Americans that are dying, but they're Russians and they're Ukrainians and there's thousands. And it's a war that makes no sense and it would have never started if I were president. And that's what bothers me even more because the election was totally rigged and it's a shame. We'll see what happens. But I'm very disappointed in President Putin. I can say that.

[Jane Coastin]

So to talk more about Putin, Modi Xi and our maybe new World Order, I spoke with Tommy Vitorin. He's the co host of Crooked Media's Pod Save the World. Tommy, welcome back to Water Day.

[Tommy Vitorin]

Great to see you.

[Jane Coastin]

So let's start with Vladimir Putin's new beautiful romance. Very friendly meeting over the long weekend with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. I guess it's more of a throuple sort of situation, but I don't judge whatever they're into. Anyway, they met in northern China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. Can you give us a bit of context? Like what is the SEO exactly? And what was the main purpose of this summit if not romantic handholding?

[Tommy Vitorin]

Yeah, now I'm just thinking of, like a gigantic key party. So thank you for.

[Jane Coastin]

I love giving you the worst possible mental images.

[Tommy Vitorin]

Thank you so much. So the SEO, it's this Regional Security cooperation Organization. It was founded in the early 2000s by the Russians and the Chinese, and it's sort of their counterweight to Western alliances like NATO. And the focus of this whole weekend was a whole bunch of criticism of the United States, some thinly veiled, some not veiled at all, especially US Trade policy and tariffs.

[Jane Coastin]

So we had a moment with Putin and Modi where they had a private meeting in the back of Putin's armored limo and they were spotted literally holding hands on their way to the meeting with Xi. And Putin called Modi his, quote, dear friend, and praised India and Russia's, quote, friendly and trusting relations. This is all coming, as you point out, just days after the US doubled tariffs on India to 50% as punishment for buying Russian oil, or arguably because Modi won't nominate Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, which is the wildest possible storyline of many wild ones. So is this a general statement of alliance between Russia and India, which isn't new, or is this also just a fuck you to Trump?

[Tommy Vitorin]

Yeah, this is a fun one. We should dig into this. So, I mean, Putin, as you know, is at his heart, he's a troll.

[Jane Coastin]

Right.

[Tommy Vitorin]

So everything he does is a fuck you to the United States or to Trump or to like, Europe or democracies generally, like our entire system. Right. And so, you know, he loves nothing more than to be at the center of the action on the world stage and let everyone know that you don't get to lecture him about human rights or not invading your neighbors or any of the things he doesn't care about. He's still here for Modi. Modi has played a different game over the years. I mean, he sort of tried to straddle both worlds. He was Trump's good buddy for a long time. Remember those Howdy Modi events?

[Jane Coastin]

Yeah. No, that was the very, I think, undercovered story of like, you know, both 2016 and 2020 elections. Was Trump really going hard after Hindu Americans and Modi doing his best to help?

[Tommy Vitorin]

Yes. There was this weird alliance between Trump's sort of authoritarianism and this Hindu nationalist movement. Modi essentially endorsed Trump in 2020. So you're right, there was this close relationship, but also Modi, he straddled both worlds. He tried to keep close ties with the Russians and the Chinese. Part of it was just to be his own man. But also he wanted to show that he could buy oil and gas from whoever he wanted and just sort of have this broader economic set of relationships.

[Jane Coastin]

What is Trump's relationship with Modi going to look like now?

[Tommy Vitorin]

Yeah, well, so let's just start with this weird Peace Prize thing just for a second, because. So if you remember, there was a flare up on the border between India and Pakistan. There's a horrible terrorist attack.

[Jane Coastin]

Yes.

[Tommy Vitorin]

And it led to this exchange of fires that got really dicey for a while. And that's a big deal because you have these two nuclear owned countries with, you know, decades of tensions in armed conflict. And so India and Pakistan, basically they brokered a ceasefire and then Trump jumps the gun and tweets out that he had basically brokered this deal.

[Jane Coastin]

Right. And that he had, quote, solved the India, Pakistan thing, whatever you want to call it. I don't think you solved a, what, 75 year ethnic and religious conflict in like two days?

[Tommy Vitorin]

No, no, as far last time I checked, they still have militaries, they still have nukes. And so Trump comes out and says, I want a Nobel Peace Prize for this. The Pakistani side's like, yeah, sure, whatever, like freebie for us.

[Jane Coastin]

Yeah.

[Tommy Vitorin]

And then Trump, in addition to ratcheting up tariffs on the Indian government for buying Russian oil and for other trade related things is like whining to Modi in a series of phone calls about how he'll never get the Nobel Peace Prize. And Modi's like, buddy, that's not what happened. First of all. And also for him, I mean, he's got this strongman image. And for him to suggest that the US had to come in as Big Brother and broker A ceasefire between the Indian government and Indian military and a much weaker government and military in Pakistan was just a non starter. So this was like politically impossible for Modi. And Trump's demand basically led to this unraveling of, you know, not just years of effort from Trump to be put into the Modi relationship, but also like decades of presidencies. I mean, US Presidents have seen India as this counterweight to China, this growing economic engine that could be an important partner. And Trump just decided, it's all about me and I care about my Nobel Peace Prize and I'm just going to unravel all of this.

[Jane Coastin]

Well, the private car meeting between Putin and Modi happened just weeks after. Obviously, Putin and Trump shared a similar moment in the US Presidential limo known as the Beast. That was during their summit to discuss a potential peace deal with Ukraine that they had in Alaska. That feels like it took place 10.

[Tommy Vitorin]

Years ago, a billion years ago.

[Jane Coastin]

Now, where does Trump stand now with Putin? And could that impact the larger relationship between the US And Russia?

[Tommy Vitorin]

Yeah, I mean, the double car ride photo sure seemed purposeful, huh?

[Jane Coastin]

Right. No, it really. A message is being sent.

[Tommy Vitorin]

He's like, I'll ride around with whoever I want.

[Jane Coastin]

Exactly.

[Tommy Vitorin]

That's Putin's message to the world. Yeah. So, okay, remember going into the Alaska summit, it seemed like Trump's focus was to get a ceasefire. That did not happen.

[Jane Coastin]

Nope.

[Tommy Vitorin]

Putin somehow got him to walk away from his primary goal in that meeting. And so we came out with nothing. What Trump instead announced was that there would be a bilateral meeting between the Russians and the Ukrainians. And then, if that went well, a trilateral meeting that also included the US where he would, I guess, triumphantly announce peace in the world. None of those steps have happened. There has been no Russia, Ukraine meeting. There's been no scheduling of a trilateral meeting. So he's gotten nothing.

[Jane Coastin]

Yeah, it seems like nobody's moving on that. Vladimir Zelensky obviously sees no reason ever to give up any of these territorial demands that Russia has wanted this entire time. So is it possible that Trump's just gonna give up on the Ukraine war?

[Tommy Vitorin]

Sometimes it seems like he just gets bored of this stuff, you know, I mean, it seems like the similar things happened with Gaza. There was a moment where there was this acute interest in the horrible images of famine. Trump was like, contradicting Netanyahu, Prime Minister, Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. Everyone thought, okay, maybe now he's going to push him right, to do something and then nothing. And it seems like that maybe is what's happening in Ukraine. It's like Trump was focused on ending that war. He genuinely wants a Nobel Peace Prize, but he doesn't want to do anything to pressure Putin, the stronger of the two parties.

[Jane Coastin]

And now we have two more players. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Beijing on Tuesday to join Putin, Xi and the President of Iran at a massive military parade. It's an event to commemorate the anniversary of the end of World War II. And as a World War II dork, I'm not gonna get weird about this revisionist history. But anyway, a lot going on here. What do you make of this? Like, this is clearly a big, you know, these celebrations of the end of Second World War are basically like military strength parades. That's what you do. That's what they've always been. That's what Victory Day in Moscow has been since 1945. Like, what is this? What are they doing?

[Tommy Vitorin]

Yeah, I mean, I think, you know what I think about when I see events like that, images like that is I think early on you would see meetings with Putin in North Korea or Iran, and it felt like, look at this ragtag group of rogue states and kind of clowns.

[Jane Coastin]

Axis of Evil, I believe someone once said.

[Tommy Vitorin]

Someone once said, I can't remember who. He's on resistance Twitter now. But over time, North Korea became a huge source of shells, basically weapons for the Russian government they were using in Ukraine. The Iranians became an important source of drones and drone technology. So this kind of ragtag group of rogues actually ended up having a lot of power. And I think, like in summation, they all came together this week to remind us of this new alliance that they've formed and how significant it is.

[Jane Coastin]

Tommy Vitor, thank you so much as always for joining me.

[Tommy Vitorin]

Thank you for having me. Next time, we'll just talk about UNC football.

[Jane Coastin]

Perfect.

[Tommy Vitorin]

Good.

[Jane Coastin]

That was my conversation with Tommy Vitor, host of Crooked Media's Pod Save the World. 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. What a day is brought to you by Oneskin. I'm a big fan of Oneskin. Known for cult favorites like os1 body, os1 face, and os1 eye, oneskin stands out for their science first approach, delivering hydration, barrier support and powerful longevity benefits in a single step. Customers consistently rave about how their skin is smoother firmer and healthier looking with results that get better over time. It's no wonder that Oneskin's products have over 10,000 five star reviews. @ the helm of this iconic skincare brand is their founding all woman team of longevity scientists with backgrounds in stem cell biology, science, skin regeneration and tissue engineering. And all of Oneskin's products are designed to layer seamlessly or replace multiple steps in your routine, making skin health easier and smarter at every age. Oneskin is the world's first skin longevity company targeting cellular aging to keep your skin and scalp looking and acting younger for longer. For a limited time, you can try OneSkin with 15% off using code WAD at OneSkin co. That's 15% off at OneSkin Co with Code Wad. After you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. Try Oneskin today. Your future self will thank you.

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[Jane Coastin]

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[Jane Coastin]

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[Donald Trump]

There'S certainly a lot of legal.

[Tommy Vitorin]

Issues that is raised by this decision, not the least of which is whether.

[Donald Trump]

Or not it's appropriate to appoint a commissioned officer in the military to these.

[Tommy Vitorin]

Positions, whether or not it violates the Posse Comitatus Act. There are some old Office of Legal Counsel opinions out of Department of Justice that indicate it is legal, but in.

[Donald Trump]

A very narrow sense. And whether that narrow sense is met.

[Tommy Vitorin]

By appointing them as temporary immigration judges is yet to be seen.

[Jane Coastin]

James McPherson, a former undersecretary of the army during the first Trump administration, spoke to PBS NewsHour about the Pentagon's new immigration plans. The Pentagon announced Tuesday that it will authorize hundreds of its military lawyers to temporarily serve as immigration judges. Why, you might ask? Well, the administration needs some extra hands to process the massive backlog of cases facing the courts right now, thanks in part to Trump's arrest and deportation frenzy. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved sending up to 600 military lawyers to the Justice Department, which is nuts. The military services should choose the first round of attorneys, 150 of them, both military and civilian, by next week, according to a memo reviewed by the Associated Press. At the same time, more than 100 immigration judges have been fired or left voluntarily after taking deferred resignations offered by the Trump administration. The labor union for immigration court judges said in July that at least 17 immigration judges had been fired without cause in courts across the country. So once again, the Trump administration fired almost everyone who had the job and then put people who aren't in that job into those jobs. The Trump administration is considering a ludicrous plan to turn the decimated Gaza Strip into a high end luxury resort after a, quote, voluntary relocation of Palestinians. That's according to a slide deck put together by a consulting firm and seen by the Washington Post. Per the deck, landowners would be offered crypto to give up their property rights. The token could be redeemed for an apartment in one of the territory's new AI powered smart cities. Are you fucking kidding me? But really, should we be surprised by this? Trump literally told us his plans back in February with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his side.

[Donald Trump]

As far as Gaza is concerned, we'll do what is necessary. If it's necessary, we'll do that. We're going to take over that piece, we're going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it'll be something that the entire Middle east can be very proud of.

[Jane Coastin]

Oh, and he also said this.

[Donald Trump]

I don't want to be a wise guy, but the Riviera of the Middle east, this could be something that could be so bad, this could be so magnificent.

[Jane Coastin]

And clearly the authors behind the slide deck were listening to Trump. The deck's stated goal is a thriving Gaza at the crossroads of a new Abrahamic architecture. No thank you. Hey, speaking of crypto, I wonder if there are any connections between that plan and the fact that the Trump family keeps getting richer off weird coins that make no sense to me. The Trumps amassed as much as $5 billion after launching a new cryptocurrency Monday, which can now be purchased on the open market by anyone who wants to curry favor with the president in a shady kind of way. Here's Bloomberg Television talking about the token's debut.

[Advertisement Voice]

Let's take a look at a two day chart here of the market cap of wlfi. This is the cryptocurrency tied to President Trump and his family is issued by World Liberty Financial, thus the name the ticker. It began trading yesterday and can now be bought and sold on the open market like a listed company's share.

[Jane Coastin]

Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. Posted on Twitter quote, this isn't some meme coin. It's the governance backbone of a real ecosystem changing how money moves. Sure, Donald Trump owns many of these tokens, while former President Jimmy Carter put his peanut farm in a blind trust to avoid corruption accusations. On that note, Americans no longer believe that hard work leads to building wealth, according to a Wall Street Journal NORC poll. That poll found that just 25% of Americans feel confident they can improve their standard of living, the lowest number since 1987, which older listeners might recall was the year of one of the worst stock market crashes in American history. So not great. According to the polling, 70% of respondents said that the American dream work hard and you can get ahead was either no longer true or maybe never true. 55% of Republicans and 90% of Democrats said that they were feeling negative about their prospects and those of their children. There's also new data showing that the middle class, which is usually categorized as households that make about $53,000 to $161,000 a year, is increasingly strapped for cash. According to the Wall Street Journal, while high earners keep buying flights and spending on retail, middle class households are tightening their belts, spending less in general and looking for bargains wherever they can. And yet the first family made $5 billion over the weekend by creating its own funny money. I'm sure that will make American families feel just fantastic. And that's the before we go if your favorite way to enjoy Crooked's podcast is on video, but you hate ads, we've got great news. You can now stream ad free video with a paid subscription to Crooked. Enjoy shows like Pod Save America, Pod Save the World, Love it or Leave it and Offline with Jon Favreau with no interruptions, just the content you actually came for with your cricket subscription. You will also get Polar Coaster with Dan Pfeiffer, who delivers expert takes on polls and media and Terminally Online, where Crooked hosts and staff reveal the unhinged rabbit holes their algorithms dragged them into this week. Best of all, your support helps support progressive media that exposes lies, battles misinformation, and pushes back against conservatives who are trying to control the conversation. Ad Free video is available now on Supercast, Substack and YouTube. Visit crooked.com friends to learn more. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, distract yourself with a sentence about a celebrity and a sort of celebrity that might cause your brain to short out completely and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just about how according to curbed and I quote, Richard Gere and Paul Simon's daughter's feud over a Connecticut mansion has ended in demolition. Like me, what a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and [e-mail] subscribe I'm Jane Coston and you want more details like how Paul Simon's daughter grew up in that mansion? Or that she hates Richard Gere for buying that mansion or that she posted on Instagram richardgear. I hope my dead pets buried in that backyard haunt you until you descend into a slow and unrelenting madness. Good times, everyone. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producer is Emily Foer. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Shauna Lee and Gina Pollack. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison and our senior vice president of news and politics is is Adrienne Hill. We had help with our headlines from the Associated Press. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.

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[Tommy Vitorin]

On New Year's Eve 1969, three men snuck into Chip Yablonsky's childhood home and gunned down his family while they slept.

[Donald Trump]

They killed them. They killed them all.

[Tommy Vitorin]

Chip was convinced that the president of the United Mine Workers, one of the most powerful labor unions in America, was behind the murders.

[Donald Trump]

And I'm saying hang on, you son of a bitch, because I want you to get your just desserts.

[Tommy Vitorin]

Listen to Shadow Kingdom wherever you get your podcasts. Friends of the Pod subscribers can listen to the full season of Shadow Kingdom right now. Join Friends of the [e-mail] friends or subscribe through the Shadow Kingdom Apple feed.