- [Philip] You won't believe what Belle Delphine just said
and we need to talk about it because it's a growing problem.
Donny is taking swings at Ronny.
We're breaking down the State of the Union
so you don't actually have to watch it.
We've got all of that and more
on today's brand new "Philip DeFranco Show."
So buckle up, hit that like button,
and let's just jump into it.
Starting with the fact that apparently I'm in trouble
because of the situation with Belle Delphine right now.
As you may or may not have seen,
I made the genius decision this morning
to livestream a podcast,
and there's a clip from it that's now gone viral.
And before I explain,
and then talk through how I would do things different now,
that I, you know, I've heard from more people,
let's just watch the clip together
so you don't hear about it secondhand or paraphrased.
- This has gotta be something that you-
- No, but what I'm saying- - [Belle] No, Phil.
I'm saying I only recently switched.
Now I stab homeless people.
I didn't do that, by the way,
I didn't do it on purpose to gain a controversy on purpose.
I just, like, it's something that I like.
- Now the first thing I need to explain is
I lied to you.
(crowd cheering)
There wasn't a real clip, that wasn't a real interaction,
or at least half of it didn't happen, right?
Belle's not out here stabbing homeless people,
at least not to my knowledge.
There was no viral clip
that resulted in scandal and controversy and backlash.
And rather, we just created that clip
because it's a jokey, nonsensical example of
the very true, scary scenarios
that we're gonna see moving forward.
What you just watched was a mixture of fake and real,
where we took part of a Belle Delphine interview
I did, like, two years ago,
and I mixed that with an AI audio clone of Belle Delphine
that I was able to whip up in 12 seconds
by just using two minutes of source material.
And while initially we're seeing
other examples of this popping up,
in general, more meme-y, jokey, in-your-face examples.
- My fellow Americans. (congresspeople applauding)
Capitalism is exploitation.
(audience applauding)
(congresspeople cheering)
I mean it.
- And while this is how we're initially seeing this start,
this is going to be a very real problem.
Like when it's not your full-time job,
it's already hard to understand
what's real or not on the internet,
which is why many people are already concerned
and we're already seeing headlines like
people using AI to make celebrities voices
say horrible, racist, or violent things.
Or for example, there was a recent Motherboard article
pointing to what 4Chan users were doing
and finding things like
people manipulating Emma Watson's voice
to read a passage from "Mein Kampf"
and honestly, that's one of the milder things they found.
You know, the AI firm that was used here,
they quickly noted the misuse of their program,
saying they plan on exploring more safeguards
to make sure it doesn't happen again.
But if it's not done through them,
it's gonna happen through someone else.
I don't know how you safeguard this.
And if I was even able to trick
like just a small percentage of people with that clip
that we crudely put together this morning,
what happens when it gets better and better?
Because understand, this technology is
the worst it will ever be, right?
It is only getting better and better by the day.
So something to keep in mind if you ever get angry at me
because the thing that you got angry about
I probably didn't say.
(Phil laughing)
But there is a genuine reason to be concerned here.
I wanted to raise it to you.
And now I wanna pass the question off to you.
What are your thoughts here?
Are you concerned or no, you think it's overblown?
Any and all thoughts, I'd love to hear.
And then, Donald's "I wish her well" Trump
is digging up Ron DeSantis's past
and smearing all over his face.
And by his past, I mean a short stint that he did
teaching history and coaching sports
at a boarding school in Georgia 20 years ago,
where, according to a recent New York Times report,
students remember him as smug and superior,
but also as the cool guy and a jock,
with one Black student claiming that
he was mean and hostile toward her because of her race
and that he defended the South while teaching the Civil War,
which he apparently did so much
that students made a satirical video impersonating him
saying, "The Civil War was not about slavery,
it was about two competing economic systems."
Also, in another incident,
Ron allegedly challenged a student
to guzzle as much milk as he could, which he then did,
throwing up his dozens of others watched.
But none of that was what Trump latched onto.
Instead, he focused on Ron's notorious mingling with minors,
with Donald "grab 'em by pussy" Trump
re-sharing a picture on Truth Social
of 23 year old Ron smiling between three female students,
one of whom holds will looks to be a beer bottle.
With several students also reportedly recalling him
often attending high school parties
where drinking was involved,
and one former student saying,
"As an 18-year-old, I remember thinking,
'What are you doing here, dude?'"
Another student saying they once saw a memo on Ron's desk
reminding him that fraternizing with students,
even recent graduates, is inappropriate.
And so along with the photo, Trump added sarcastically
"That's not Ron, is it?
He would never do such a thing."
Seeming to endorse accusations by some on the right
that Ron's some sort of groomer,
which, you know, obviously should be looked into.
But also, considering the source of Trump here, it's rich.
The guy was buddy-buddy with Jeffrey Epstein.
He wished Ghislaine Maxwell well.
He's been accused of sexual misconduct
by at least 26 different women.
But also, that's not where diddlin' Donald stopped.
He launched a whole volley of attacks on Ron,
posting a screenshot of the headline
"DeSantis says he's glad
violent Trump protestors are being arrested."
Slso slamming Ron for voting against
a plan to build the border wall
when he was a state congress member in 2018.
And as far as why is he lashing out at Ron DeSantis, I mean,
I think it's because he's really the only true competitor
for Donald Trump going into 2024.
And that's if he runs.
Because remember, 2023 just started.
We don't even get the primary until next year.
And if anything, DeSantis has gone out of his way
to not comment on running or not.
But if anything, it feels like
we're just getting a small taste of
what the shitstorm's gonna look like.
Because I mean, if it's this early
and he's already throwing out these groomer allegations,
Jesus Christ, shit is gonna get wild and ugly.
And then, 15 million people are essentially
living under the shadow of a ticking time bomb.
And that clock is speeding up thanks to climate change.
As the Earth warms,
more and more the world's glaciers are melting
and the leftover water often pools into huge glacial lakes.
And so then all it takes is
a small breach in the natural dam around the lake
and all the rocks and debris
carried out by the gushing water
widens the hole more and more
until it becomes an inland tsunami,
drowning any communities and infrastructure
unlucky enough to sit in its path,
and in many instances, kill thousands of people.
And then once the disaster's over,
there's still may be danger because
ice dams can close back up or lakes can refill,
setting up another future explosion.
And these glacial lake outburst floods,
they're hard to predict.
And when they happen,
they come suddenly and without warning,
which makes 'em scary enough,
but in recent decades, they've become more and more common
at the same time, the population growth
has put more people at their mercy.
Since 1990, the number area and volume of glacial lakes
have all increased by around 50%.
And if the same glacial lake
that killed just over a thousand people in Peru in 1942
happened today, it could affect
more than 100,000 people living downstream.
And all these factors led to a study
published in the Journal Nature yesterday,
finding that 15 million people are
at risk of glacial lake outbursts globally,
with more than half of them being in
just four countries, China, India, Pakistan, and Peru,
with the most dangerous area surrounding the Himalayas.
Though also, researchers warn
not enough attention is being paid to
the second most dangerous region, the Andes,
where, very notably, the number of lakes has shot up
93% over the past two decades.
By comparison, North America and Europe
are far more insulated from the threat,
both because of their wealth and their geography,
with only 393 deaths in the European Alps
being directly linked to lake outbursts
over the last 1,000 years.
But fortunately, people can take protective measures,
such as partially draining the lakes
and reinforcing natural dams.
But that requires governments to pay attention.
It's a lot of work to do, it's a lot of money to be spent.
And for some, there's not gonna be
a lot of time to do either.
And then, it's the beginning of the year
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And then, we really need to talk about
the State of the Union, key moments, takeaways,
and even like some big things going into last night.
It was Biden's first State of the Union
before the newly divided Congress.
It was also largely expected to be
the soft launch of his 2024 presidential campaign,
which notably comes as his approval rating
has remained quite low, hanging around just 42%.
But here's the thing,
that only kind of scratches the surface of Biden's problem,
with a recent poll finding that
only 22% of Americans want Biden to run again.
And arguably more important,
an Associated Press poll on Monday found that
62% of Democratic voters want someone else.
And that was also echoed
in a second poll from the Washington Post and ABC
finding 58% of Democrats wanted someone else.
And if he does run again,
he is asking for voters to trust that he will
run the country until he is 86 years old.
And that becomes an even bigger target
as Republicans have repeatedly seized on
his past flubs and stumbles
to argue that he's unfit for office.
But as far as the details of
what Biden outlined in his speech,
and we're not gonna go into all the details,
it's pretty much exactly what you'd expect
from a second-year president now facing a divided Congress:
touting his administration's biggest accomplishments
over the last bit,
with a big focus on modest but steady economic gains
and recoveries to key sectors,
emphasizing economic initiatives
like the Inflation Reduction Act
and the historic infrastructure bill,
and taking a jab at Republicans
who didn't back the bipartisan bill
to rebuild roads and bridges.
With that notably including house speaker Kevin McCarthy.
- [President Biden] I want to thank my Republican friends
who voted for the law,
and my Republican friends who voted against it as well.
But I still get asked to fund the projects
in those districts as well.
But don't worry.
- [Dramatic Voice] Why are we here? Just to suffer?
- I promised I'd be a president for all Americans.
(congressperson cheering)
We'll fund these projects,
and I'll see you at the groundbreaking.
- Biden also took credit for a range of social policies
like lowering prescription drug prices,
lowering costs for childcare and housing,
and investing in climate programs.
But we also made it clear that
there's still a long way to go,
calling on Republicans in their new House majority
to work with him to finish the job,
which he really hit on over and over,
reportedly saying at 12 different times during the speech.
And in that vein, we saw Biden presenting an agenda
that was very toned down from
the ambitious progressive plans he had outlined
before a Democratic-controlled Congress.
He didn't push for a whole lot of new policies
and when he did, they were very middle of the road.
Things like ending junk fees
in travel, entertainment, and credit cards.
Though he also reiterated calls for a number of initiatives
that have been non-starters or Republicans,
things like codifying abortion rights,
the assault weapons ban,
imposing new taxes on billionaires, stuff like that.
But for the most part, the president largely focused on
a push for bipartisanship,
saying to Republicans that if they could work together
in the last Congress, they could do it again.
And with that, pitching a unity agenda
full of issues that he believes could get GOP backing.
Things like support for veterans,
fighting the opioid epidemic,
and increasing access to mental health benefits.
But unity and bipartisanship are easy to talk about,
way harder to actually accomplish.
Because I can't think of another time
in modern American history
where we have been this divided,
and that was very much on display last night.
Some of the biggest and most talked about moments
came from the pretty wild and unusual heckling
from some far right Republican members,
with the Hill describing it as
some of the rowdiest pushback from an opposing party
in recent memory.
And the thing is,
it's not just a standout because it happened.
We already know the politics is unceremonious these days.
But rather, it really just highlights that
they're ignoring the demands from their own leaders,
with McCarthy specifically telling reporters that
Republicans would act in line
with the congressional code of ethics
and that they wouldn't play childish games,
with it also being reported that
he even explicitly warned his party to behave
because there was gonna be hot mics and cameras everywhere.
With this, one of the most notable moments came
when Biden talked about
Republicans' refusal to raise the debt ceiling
and accusing them of holding the economy hostage
until Democrats agree to their demands.
- [President Biden] Instead of making the wealthy
pay their fair share,
some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security sunset.
I'm not saying it's the majority of 'em.
(congresspeople booing)
Let me give you, anybody who doubts it, contact my office.
I'll give you a copy, I'll give you a copy of the proposal.
- [Marjorie] Liar! Liar!
- [President Biden] Well, I'm glad to see you.
No, I'll tell you, I enjoy conversion.
(congresspeople chuckling)
You know, if Congress doesn't keep the programs
the way they are, they'd go away.
Other Republicans say,
I'm not saying it's a majority of you,
I don't even think it's even a significant
(congresspeople shouting)
but it's being proposed by individuals.
I'm politely not naming them,
but it's being proposed by some of you.
(congresspeople shouting)
So folks, as we all apparently agree,
Social Security and Medicare is off the books now, right?
They're not to be touched?
(congresspeople cheering)
All right. (congresspeople applauding)
We got unanimity.
- And the key thing with this moment is like
not only did most experts say,
"Wow, this actually made Biden look very strong."
It's been widely described as
Biden intentionally baiting Republicans.
Not only because of that final moment that it created,
but also because televised reactions like that of Mike Lee
and people sharing that and going like,
"Yeah, we're all Mike Lee right now."
Right? He's seemingly confused.
"What's Biden talking about?"
It allowed for the other shoe to later drop at last,
because we saw a number of viral posts being created
where people were saying,
"Okay, you see Mike Lee seemingly confused,
not knowing what Biden's talking about
with them wanting to strip away Medicare,
followed by a clip of Mike Lee
explaining what he wanted to strip away."
- It will be my objective to phase out social security,
to pull it up by the roots and get rid of it.
(audience applauding)
Medicare and Medicaid are of the same sort
and need to be pulled.
- [Philip] Though also, to be fair,
it has only been a couple of Republicans floating this idea.
It has been largely rejected, including by McCarthy himself,
who said, "That's off the table."
Though remember, he does have a very slim majority,
so the the tail gets to wag the dog there a lot.
But also, that wasn't the only moment
where Republicans acted out.
We also saw this happen
when Biden was talking about the opioid epidemic.
- Fentanyl is killing more than 70,000 Americans a year.
(congresspeople shouting)
You got it.
- [Congressperson] It's your fault!
- And there was also jeering and mocking laughter
at various points in the night.
In fact, you could even see McCarthy at times
shushing members multiple times.
Though again, to be fair,
we did see Biden repeatedly jabbing at Republicans
on a number of issues,
condemning them for not backing certain proposals,
criticizing GOP policies,
calling out efforts to ban abortion
and repeal the Inflation Reduction Act,
with those firmly saying he'll veto those attempts.
But also there were some solid moments of unity,
like when Biden talked about the need for police reforms,
speaking specifically about Tyre Nichols,
whose parents were in attendance,
with the president garnering bipartisan applause
at one point during those remarks.
He also got standing applause from Republicans
when he slammed Putin's war with Ukraine,
as well as when he talked about
building more semiconductor production in America.
So on the note of foreign policy,
something that you saw a number of analysts talking about
is that despite the fact that Russia and China are
obviously huge issue areas for Biden
and major parts of his job,
he spent very little time talking about them,
devoting only small portions of his speech to talk about
the war with Russia, ongoing standoffs with China,
making vague references to the balloon
but not mentioning it by name.
And then of course, wrapping up by talking about
democracy versus autocracy.
But if you didn't watch the whole thing,
which is part of the reason why
I think a number of you were watching me,
and if you feel inclined to, I'll link to it down below,
throw that sucker on double speed and get through it.
But that's up to you though.
The whole point of this show is try to save you time.
And that's where today's show ends.
Thank you as always for watching
another one of my daily dives into the news.
My name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in.
I love yo' faces and I'll see you tomorrow.