logo
Late Night Fact-Checks Trump on His Uncle and the Unabomber

Late Night Fact-Checks Trump on His Uncle and the Unabomber

New York Times2 days ago
Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night's highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.
Weird Flex, Bro
At an A.I. conference in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, President Trump said his uncle, John Trump, had been the 'longest-serving professor in the history of M.I.T.' and held 'three degrees in nuclear, chemical, and math.' Trump added that his uncle's students had included Ted Kaczynski, who he described as being 'seriously good.'
'Wow, we went from zero to Unabomber like that,' Jordan Klepper said on Wednesday's 'Daily Show,' snapping his fingers.
Klepper pointed out that while the president's uncle had indeed been a well-known M.I.T. professor, he was not the longest-serving one, nor did he have degrees in 'nuclear, chemical and math' (he had a Ph.D. in electrical engineering). He said it was also highly unlikely that he had told his nephew Donald a story about teaching the Unabomber, 'because nobody knew who Kaczynski was until 1996, and Trump's uncle died in 1985.'
'Kaczynski did not go to M.I.T. He went to Harvard. [imitating Trump] 'Yes, but sometimes old Ted would take the crosstown bus over to M.I.T, then he would go around correcting people. He'd say, 'I actually didn't go to school here, you know, you don't actually know me. I'm a figment of the imagination of your dumbest nephew.'' — STEPHEN COLBERT
'So the whole thing we just heard wasn't just a small lie, it was like a full hallucination.' — SETH MEYERS
'Now, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe Trump just misspoke, made a slip. I mean, who among us hasn't accidentally told people that our uncle taught the Unabomber?' — JORDAN KLEPPER
'What I'm saying is, isn't it great that we finally have a president whose brain works perfectly?' — JORDAN KLEPPER
The Punchiest Punchlines (Snoozefest Edition)
'But the big story today is that Trump lashed out at his own supporters who are criticizing him over the Epstein files, calling them 'weaklings who have bought into B.S. hook, line and sinker.' Trump hasn't been this mad at the people he loved since McDonald's introduced salads.' — JIMMY FALLON
'No, he's right. The Epstein saga is a total snoozefest. I mean, the most powerful man in the world is blocking information about a cabal of the rich, the famous and the royal befriending a con man, who regularly flies off on his private plane to his private island to do super-illegal sex stuff. Then the con man is arrested, people are afraid he's going to name names, but before he can, he mysteriously dies right after being taken off of suicide watch in a federal prison during the administration of the guy who is blocking the release of the information. Boring!' — STEPHEN COLBERT
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

‘I Know What You Did Last Summer' Twists, Cameos & Credits Scene Revealed — Who Is The Fisherman?
‘I Know What You Did Last Summer' Twists, Cameos & Credits Scene Revealed — Who Is The Fisherman?

Yahoo

time4 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

‘I Know What You Did Last Summer' Twists, Cameos & Credits Scene Revealed — Who Is The Fisherman?

I Know What You Did Last Summer As I Know What You Did Last Summer slashes its way into a new generation, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson's requel has plenty of surprises in store for fans of the OG. More from Deadline 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' Red Carpet: Cast Talks Keeping A Killer Secret Sarah Michelle Gellar Says She Won't Reprise 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' Role In Sequel Film: 'I Am Dead' 'Superman' Soaring Past $200M+, 'I Know What You Did...' Doing $13M+, 'Smurfs' $12M Opening - Saturday AM Update The latest horror franchise to come back from the dead, amid the likes of Halloween and Scream, the followup to the 1997 slasher flick and its '98 sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer takes some big swings with its killer reveal, as well as some top-secret cameos that longtime fans will appreciate. With Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. reprising their roles from the previous two films as survivors and high school sweethearts Julie James and Ray Bronson, nostalgia was inevitably going to be a major factor in this new installment, which also boasts a young cast of new potential victims (and suspects), including Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers and Sarah Pidgeon. In addition to several Easter eggs—including a freight elevator, a parade float, a steamy gym locker room and a Scooby Doo reference—the sequel keeps longtime fans hooked with a few massive twists. Read on for some major SPOILERS about I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025). Long live the Croaker Queen 'I am dead,' Sarah Michelle Gellar previously offered as a response to whether she'd reprise her role from the OG as Helen Shivers, following her family's set visit in Australia with husband and former co-star Prinze. A close friend of the director, it turns out Gellar was just playing coy about the fact that she makes a digitally de-aged cameo as Helen's snarky ghost in a dream sequence of the guilt-laden Danica Richards (Cline), a fellow former Croaker Queen. Her cameo follows some heavy references to the doomed beauty queen, including a visit to what was once Shivers Department Store. The moment earned a passionate response from the audience at the movie's world premiere this week in Los Angeles, and it's sure to have the same impact in theaters on opening weekend, ahead of Gellar's highly-anticipated return to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. College reunion Stick around for the credits, as a stinger brings back another survivor of the franchise, Brandy Norwood's Karla Wilson from the '98 Bahamian-set sequel, a cameo Robinson also teased. Reacting to the news of another vengeful massacre in Southport, North Carolina, Karla receives a menacing knock at the door. Could it be… Nick Fury? No, it's Julie warning her with another letter she received, along with a throwback photo of them, featuring a red X over Karla's face. With a couple of new 'final girls' joining the franchise, Julie and Karla seem poised to team up against the remaining killer for another potential installment. Killer reveal Following a pretty similar plot and format as writer Kevin Williamson and director Jim Gillespie's feature adaptation of Lois Duncan's 1973 novel, Robinson and co-writer Sam Lansky took a big swing with the reveal of their requel's killer, one that no other horror franchise has taken, at least in recent memory. Avenging the death of her spiritual peer and sober buddy, Pidgeon's Stevie Ward reveals in her big menacing monologue that she decided to take revenge on the group of former friends who covered up his death, after previously deserting her during her darkest days. What first seems heartbreaking for Ray, who is established as Stevie's employer and father figure, soon turns out to be an even more shocking reveal. Coming face to face with Julie, he confesses to guiding Stevie's murderous impulses to take revenge on the gentrified town that erased the trauma he endured (and for which he has apparently never sought help) nearly 30 years before. With Julie and Wonders' Ava Brooks defeating Ray, his homicidal protege is still out there and ready to take revenge in another installment. Best of Deadline Streamer Subscription Prices And Tiers – Everything To Know As Costs Rise And Ads Abound (Hello, Peacock) - Update 'Stick' Release Guide: When Do New Episodes Come Out? 'Stick' Soundtrack: All The Songs You'll Hear In The Apple TV+ Golf Series

Without weather forecasters, our canaries in the storm, expect disaster
Without weather forecasters, our canaries in the storm, expect disaster

The Hill

time5 minutes ago

  • The Hill

Without weather forecasters, our canaries in the storm, expect disaster

Before modern forecasting, hurricanes were mass casualty events. The 1900 Galveston Hurricane killed over 8,000 people, wiping out an entire city with a 15-foot storm surge. Less than a century ago, Hurricane Okeechobee killed over 2,500 Floridians in a tragedy that today would be largely preventable. We've come a long way since the days when hurricanes struck without warning. I know, because I helped develop the systems that save countless lives and give communities time to prepare. That was my job until February, when I was terminated by President Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency alongside hundreds of other scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Since then, I have continued my work in hurricane forecasting through Cooperative Institute research; however, the cuts left deep holes across NOAA's forecasting teams that've not been filled. This purge isn't 'cutting waste' — it is dismantling America's hurricane monitoring systems. At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, I worked on the next-generation Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System. This system enabled emergency managers to issue timely evacuation orders during life-threatening hurricanes like Helene and Milton, helping prevent thousands of potential fatalities. Yet even with cutting-edge forecasting, Helene revealed new, urgent challenges. In the last decade, freshwater flooding surpassed storm surge as the leading cause of hurricane-related deaths. Helene's victims were coastal residents and mountain communities, caught unprepared by catastrophic inland flooding. Dozens more died — victims of power outages, delayed medical care and collapsed infrastructure in the days after the storm passed. If our warning systems don't evolve to keep pace with rapidly changing storms, Helene's damage may seem merciful compared to future disasters. Precisely when adaptation is most urgent, political decisions have systematically dismantled our protective infrastructure. Key vacancies remain across NOAA's local forecast offices, satellite operations and modeling teams — many of which are already stretched thin this hurricane season. Without continuous investment in modeling and surveillance, hurricane season, which officially began June 1, will become even deadlier and harder to predict. DOGE's decimation of the forecasting workforce unravels a century of progress in hurricane survival rates. While the full impact of these cuts won't be seen overnight, the damage will compound the longer these positions go unfilled. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration isn't just a research agency; it's America's first line of defense against natural disasters. Forecasting is the foundation of all response efforts. While scientists aren't knocking doors with evacuation orders ourselves, we're the ones telling first responders when, if, and whose doors they should knock on. When NOAA functions at full capacity, emergency managers have the tools they need to prepare their communities. NOAA's remaining scientists and National Weather Service forecasters will give their all this hurricane season to deliver the most accurate forecasts possible, but dedication can't make up for a system that's been hollowed out, and grit can only hold together this critical system for so long. Privatizing these forecasting services creates a dangerous 'pay-to-play' model for life-saving information. This approach wouldn't just create barriers for low-income families; it would hamstring small municipalities and volunteer emergency services trying to protect their communities. The private sector cannot fill this void. The National Weather Service processes over 6 billion observations daily and issues approximately 1.5 million forecasts and 50,000 warnings annually. No private entity possesses infrastructure that can match this scale and reliability. There is a better path forward. By recommitting to public science and restoring forecasters' positions, we can build systems that adapt to changing storms, accurately track flood zones and storm paths, and provide both inland and coastal communities with the advanced warning they need to stay safe. We owe this to every family who will face the next Helene or Milton. Congress must act urgently to restore NOAA's full operational capacity and reject all efforts to privatize these essential services. The FY26 federal budget proposes a $1.3 billion cut to NOAA's core operations, such as satellite programs essential to forecasting, programs supporting climate modeling and even public education. NOAA can't issue life-saving warnings if its data stream has gone dark. And the research that drives improvements in modeling and forecasting is threatened if some of the budget proposals come to fruition. There have been some positive developments from Congress. The House Republicans' fiscal 2026 Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill, announced on Monday, proposes a much-smaller cut of $387 million, bringing the NOAA budget to $5.8 billion. While it's a modest improvement, it still does not fully cover the financial needs of an agency tasked with protecting hundreds of millions of Americans. Hurricane forecasting shouldn't be treated like a luxury or a political football. It's public infrastructure that's as essential as our power grids or water systems. Storm surges don't check voter registrations before flooding homes, and hurricanes won't stop based on who occupies the White House. Without urgent action in this year's budget, we risk turning the worst-case scenario into reality. The question isn't whether the storms are coming. It's whether we'll be ready when they do.

With gavel in hand, President Trump chisels away at the power of a compliant Congress
With gavel in hand, President Trump chisels away at the power of a compliant Congress

Chicago Tribune

time5 minutes ago

  • Chicago Tribune

With gavel in hand, President Trump chisels away at the power of a compliant Congress

WASHINGTON — 'Mr. President, this is the gavel used to enact the 'big, beautiful bill,'' House Speaker Mike Johnson said at a White House signing ceremony on the Fourth of July. 'I want you to have it,' he said. Handing over the gavel delighted President Donald Trump who, seated behind a desk outdoors, immediately tested it out with a few quick thumps. The moment left a memorable mark on a historic day. The gesture reflected a traditional nod of honor, from one leader to another, a milestone of the Republican Party's priority legislation becoming law. But the imagery also underscored a symbolic transfer of political power, from Capitol Hill to the White House as a compliant Congress is ceding more and more of its prerogative to the presidency. Since Trump's return to the White House in January, and particularly in the past few weeks, Republicans in control of the House and Senate have shown an unusual willingness to give the president of their party what he wants, regardless of the potential risk to themselves, their constituents and Congress itself. Republicans raced to put the big package of tax breaks and spending cuts on Trump's desk by his Independence Day deadline. Senators had quickly confirmed almost all of Trump's outsider Cabinet nominees despite grave reservations over Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary, Pete Hegseth as the Pentagon chief and others. House Republicans pursued Trump's interest in investigating his perceived foes, including investigating Democratic President Joe Biden'suse of the autopen. But at the same time, Congress hit the brakes on one of its own priorities, legislation imposing steep sanctions on Russia over its war on Ukraine, after Trump announced he was allowing President Vladimir Putin an additional 50 days to negotiate a peace deal, dashing hopes for a swifter end to the conflict. This past week, Congress was tested anew, delivering on Trump's request to rescind some $9 billion that lawmakers had approved but that the administration wanted to eliminate, including money for public broadcastingand overseas aid. It was a rare presidential request, a challenge to the legislative branch's power of the purse, that has not been used in decades. 'We're lawmakers. We should be legislating,' said a defiant Sen. Lisa Murkowksi, R-Alaska, as she refused to support the White House's demand to rescind money for National Public Radio and others. 'What we're getting now is a direction from the White House and being told, 'This is the priority. We want you to execute on it. We'll be back with you with another round,'' she said. 'I don't accept that.' Congress, the branch of government the Founding Fathers placed first in the Constitution, is at a familiar crossroads. During the first Trump administration, Republicans frightened by Trump's angry tweets of disapproval would keep their criticisms private. Those who did speak up — Liz Cheney of Wyoming in the House and Mitt Romney of Utah in the Senate, among others — are gone from Capitol Hill. One former GOP senator, Jeff Flake of Arizona, who announced in 2017 during Trump's first term that he would not seek reelection the next year, is imploring Republicans to find a better way. 'The fever still hasn't broken,' he wrote recently in The New York Times. 'In today's Republican Party, voting your conscience is essentially disqualifying.' But this time, the halls of Congress are filled with many Republicans who came of political age with Trump's 'Make America Great Again' movement and owe their ascent to the president himself. Many are emulating his brand and style as they shape their own. A new generation of GOP leaders, Johnson in the House and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, have pulled closer to Trump. They are utilizing the power of the presidency in ways large and small — to broker deals, encourage wayward lawmakers to fall in line, even to set schedules. Johnson, R-La., has openly pined for what he calls a 'normal Congress.' But short of that, the speaker relies on Trump to help stay on track. When Republicans hit an impasse on cryptocurrency legislation, a Trump priority, it was the president who met with holdouts in the Oval Office late Tuesday night as Johnson called in by phone. The result is a perceptible imbalance of power as the executive exerts greater authority while the legislative branch dims. The judicial branch has been left to do the heavy lift of checks and balances with the courts processing hundreds of lawsuits over the administration's actions. 'The genius of our Constitution is the separation of power,' said Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the former speaker, in an interview on SiriusXM's 'Mornings with Zerlina.' 'That the Republicans in Congress would be so ignoring of the institution that they represent, and that have just melted the power of the incredibly shrinking speakership' and Senate leadership positions, 'to do all of these things, to cater to the executive branch,' she said. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., endured Trump's criticism over his opposition to the tax and spending cuts bill. The senator raised concerns about steep cuts to hospitals, but the president threatened to campaign against him. Tillis announced he would not seek reelection in 2026. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted against that bill and the rescissions package despite Trump's threat to campaign against any dissenters. One Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, appears to be pressing on, unphased. He recently proposed legislation to force the administration to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, something the president had been reluctant to do. 'Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that if the president wants something, you must do it,' said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, in a Senate speech. 'We don't have to do this. We don't have to operate under the assumption that this man is uniquely so powerful.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store