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Tag: podcasts

  • Joe Rogan claims top spot on Apple Podcasts, dethrones New York Times’ ‘The Daily’

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Joe Rogan’s podcast has climbed to the top of another major streaming platform this year, The Hollywood Reporter reported Tuesday.

    “The Joe Rogan Experience” clinched the No. 1 podcast spot in the U.S. on Apple Podcasts for 2025, driven by the sheer size of Rogan’s audience this year.

    Rogan’s interviews with high-profile guests — including billionaire Elon Musk in February — helped propel his show from third place in 2024 to Apple’s top spot this year.

    KAMALA HARRIS HINTS AT POSSIBLE 2028 RUN, SAYS SOME CALL HER ‘MOST QUALIFIED CANDIDATE EVER’

    “The Joe Rogan Experience” became the number one podcast in the U.S. in 2025 on Apple’s streaming platform. (Cindy Ord/Getty)

    The podcast overtook The New York Times’ podcast “The Daily,” which held Apple’s top spot in 2024.

    Crime series “Crime Junkie” fell from second place in 2024 to fourth in 2025, as “The Mel Robbins Podcast” rose to No. 2 this year.

    Rogan’s episode with Musk was the fourth-most-watched episode on Apple Podcasts in 2025, edging out President Donald Trump’s interview on “The Daily,” which placed fifth.

    JOE ROGAN SAYS HARRIS SITDOWN WAS SCRAPPED AFTER CAMPAIGN TOLD HIM SHE ‘ONLY WANTED TO DO AN HOUR’

    Rogan speaks on a podcast

    Podcaster Joe Rogan’s interview with Elon Musk was one of the most viewed podcast episodes on Apple’s streaming platform in 2025. (Ultimate Human Podcast with Gary Brecka YouTube channel)

    NFL stars Travis and Jason Kelce’s show, “New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce,” topped both programs for the year with their interview featuring pop star Taylor Swift, who is now engaged to Travis Kelce.

    “The Taylor Swift Episode” ranked third among the most-watched episodes, behind a “Crime Junkie” episode in second place and “The Telepathy Tapes,” which took first.

    “The Joe Rogan Experience” also ranks as the second-most-followed show on Apple’s U.S. charts for 2025, trailing only “The Mel Robbins Podcast.”

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    Joe Rogan speaks

    Podcaster Joe Rogan’s show “The Joe Rogan Experience” is the most listened-to podcast on Apple Podcasts in 2025. (PowerfulJRE YouTube Channel/The Joe Rogan Experience)

    Rogan’s surge on Apple’s charts follows his show’s continued dominance on Spotify, where “The Joe Rogan Experience” has held the top U.S. podcast spot for several years. The program also leads Spotify rankings in other English-speaking countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

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    Representatives for Rogan did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

    Gabriel Hays is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. 

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  • The 4 Things You Need for a Tech Bubble

    Chatter about an AI bubble has been everywhere lately, and top tech companies like Google, Meta, and Microsoft have doubled down on their AI investments for 2026. But how have analysts in the past accurately identified forming tech bubbles? Hosts Michael Calore and Lauren Goode sit down with Brian Merchant, WIRED contributor and author of the newsletter Blood in the Machine, to break down the four criteria some researchers have used in the past to understand and brace for the worst.

    Articles mentioned in the episode:

    Please help us improve Uncanny Valley by filling out our listener survey.

    You can follow Michael Calore on Bluesky at @snackfight and Lauren Goode on Bluesky at @laurengoode. Write to us at uncannyvalley@wired.com.

    How to Listen

    You can always listen to this week’s podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here’s how:

    If you’re on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link. You can also download an app like Overcast or Pocket Casts and search for “Uncanny Valley.” We’re on Spotify too.

    Transcript

    Note: This is an automated transcript, which may contain errors.

    Michael Calore: Hey Lauren, how are you doing?

    Lauren Goode: I’m OK, Mike. It’s earnings season, so a lot of us on the business desk here at WIRED have been tuning into tech companies earnings reports and their earnings calls. And I guess that basically means it’s CapEx season.

    Michael Calore: CapEx?

    Lauren Goode: Capital expenditures.

    Michael Calore: You say CapEx?

    Lauren Goode: Yeah. Now that I’m a business desk reporter, I say CapEx.

    Michael Calore: You’re one of those.

    Lauren Goode: I throw it around at parties. No, I really don’t. But we are seeing a trend in how tech companies are sleeping on piles of money, but they aren’t just sleeping on it. They’re sharing big plans to spend on it, and especially to spend on AI infrastructure.

    Michael Calore: Right. Data centers.

    Lauren Goode: Yeah, more data centers. Not just data centers, but yes, that’s a big part of it.

    Lauren Goode, Michael Calore

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  • Former Police Commissioner not sure if he’s ‘free to comment’ on scathing report

    Former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster.
    Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER

    Former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster does not know if he’s “free to comment” on a scathing report by the police watchdog, a spokesperson for him says.

    The Independent Police Conduct Authority’s report found serious misconduct at the highest levels of police, including Coster, in relation to police’s response to allegations of sexual offending by former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming.

    Coster was placed on leave from his role as chief executive of the Social Investment Agency, following the report released on Tuesday.

    RNZ called and texted Coster on Wednesday and received a text with an email to contact for comment.

    RNZ asked for comment on Coster’s actions, whether he would stay in his role at the SIA, and whether he had a message for the woman who raised the allegations.

    • Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@rnz.co.nz

    A spokesperson then replied: “As has been publicly noted by ministers, this is now an employment conversation between the Public Service Commissioner and Andrew Coster. He will not be responding to media ahead of that process.”

    RNZ approached Coster’s spokesperson again on Friday asking for comment on the IPCA’s reports and his actions as the former Police Commissioner.

    “Unfortunately, Andrew is not in a position to comment on any of these issues while there is a process underway with the Public Service Commissioner,” the spokesperson replied.

    Asked why, and whether Coster was intending on returning to work, the spokesperson replied: “It is not presently clear whether Andrew is free to comment, given his role as a public servant and the process in which he is engaged. He will not be commenting further while this is underway.”

    Coster took on the role as Secretary for Social Investment in November 2024, after stepping down as Police Commissioner.

    Public Service Minister Judith Collins earlier said it was agreed between Coster and the Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche that Coster would be on leave while Sir Brian undertook his own “investigation”.

    She said the report showed a “massive” failure of leadership, and while it was now an employment matter, she said the report spoke for itself.

    “If this was me being named in this report, I would be ashamed of myself. And I think that’s what I can say. I would be deeply ashamed.”

    Collins said the findings that leadership attempted to influence the investigation into the woman’s complaint and persuade the IPCA that the matter could be resolved quickly were “very serious”.

    “Let’s put it this way. If a minister tried to do that, I’m sure that the Prime Minister would have them out the door that way.”

    Asked whether she thought it amounted to corruption, Collins said, “If it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it’s not looking good, is it?”

    While acknowledging the IPCA report did not say it was corruption, Collins said it was “an extraordinary set of events, and extraordinary facts, and it must never happen again”.

    She expressed thanks for the people who did stand up and send the matter to the IPCA as a complaint.

    A spokesperson for the Public Service Commissioner earlier said it would be inappropriate to comment on any employment matters.

    Social investment minister Nicola Willis said she was “shocked and appalled” by the IPCA report’s findings.

    “I have conveyed my views to Public Service Commissioner Brian Roche. The matter now sits with him as Mr Coster’s employer,” she said.

    Police Minister Mark Mitchell said Coster first briefed him on 6 November 2024 about McSkimming.

    “The issues around Andrew Coster, we all now clearly see in that report that yes, without a doubt, he was the leader of the executive. He should be held to account for that, because of what we’re dealing with.”

    Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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  • Cook Islands PM says economy remains strong despite NZ funding pause

    New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will not attend the milestone event in Rarotonga, which will celebrate the Cook Islands’ six decades of self-governance in free association with NZ.
    Photo: RNZ Pacific

    Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown told local media he had requested a meeting with New Zealand’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister regarding the funding pause, but was declined.

    It comes as a second round of funding to the realm nation has been paused by Aotearoa, bringing the total funds held to nearly $30 million over two years.

    Brown has declined an interview with RNZ Pacific.

    In a written statement, a spokesperson for Brown said the government continues to engage in good faith with New Zealand and that discussions are ongoing, “so it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time”.

    However, speaking to Cook Islands Television (CITV) in Cook Islands Māori, Brown said he had received criticism for not meeting with New Zealand’s prime minister or foreign minister.

    “I want to confirm to you all that I did send a letter to the prime minister of New Zealand and [New Zealand foreign minister] Winston to arrange a meeting between leaders, New Zealand’s leader and myself,” Brown, addressing Cook Islanders direclty, told CITV.

    “I wanted to elevate these discussions to the prime minister’s level. But they sent their response, they wanted the discussions to be done between our officials.”

    He said the Cook Islands was doing what New Zealand requested by leaving the meeting for officials to come up with solutions.

    Uncertainty over what the problem is

    The disagreement between the two governments stem from partnership agreements that Cook Islands signed with China at the beginning of the year.

    The New Zealand government believed it should have been consulted over the agreements, while Brown disagreed.

    Brown told CITV the agreements signed with China are “all over and done with”, and New Zealand has had an in-depth look at them.

    “There is a part of the document we signed that [New Zealand] say they have a problem with but they have not been able to confirm with us what exactly it is that they have a problem with.”

    Kiwis ‘running’ to Oz, Cook Islands economy ‘all good’

    Brown said his government is able to cover the amount that New Zealand has put on pause because of a strong economy, driven by the tourism sector.

    He said the money New Zealand had paused would normally be disbursed to education and health.

    “Looking to New Zealand, they are having issues with the state of their economy, it’s going backwards, the people are running away from New Zealand for Australia to find better opportunities.

    “But our status however, it’s all good, hence we were able to afford to cover the amount of money that we did not receive from New Zealand.”

    Relationship between to nations ‘not like it was back in the day’

    Brown said the relationship with New Zealand had evolved.

    “For our relationship today, it is not like it was back in the day where New Zealand was like a parent, and we were the child,” Brown said.

    “We have reached 60 years of self-governance; we are our own people, we have our own land, we have our own ocean, our own being, our relationship now is the relationship between friends, not of a parent and child.”

    Brown said he wanted the friendship to grow and not go backwards – where New Zealand spoke for the country on the world stage.

    “The younger generations and their young ones, they are able to fulfill roles that were once held by westerners or New Zealand… they can fly our flag, be our voice, out there in the world.”

    But Brown said he did not want to change the free-association relationship between the two countries, which he has always maintained. It comes after several calls from New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters for Brown to hold an independence referendum.

    “When looking at the state of this relationship, what we are pushing firmly for is that this relationship continues, and is strengthened, continuing on into the future,” Brown said.

    Peters’ response

    A spokesperson for Peters said they had nothing further to add to a statement issued last week.

    Part of it said there had been a series of constructive discussions between New Zealand and Cook Islands officials aimed at remediating the breach of trust.

    “However, Prime Minister Mark Brown continues in his public statements and actions to promote a vision of the New Zealand-Cook Islands relationship which is inconsistent with the free association model,” the statement said.

    “He appears to wish for the Cook Islands to reap all the benefits of the free association relationship while being subject to none of the mutual responsibilities.”

    A spokesperson for Brown in a statement told RNZ the Cook Islands remain committed to the relationship of free association with New Zealand.

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  • Klay Thompson Defends Megan Thee Stallion Over Podcast Comments

    Klay Thompson won’t sit by and let two former NBA players drag his girlfriend.

    Thompson, 35, jumped into the comments of the “Hoopin’ N Hollerin’” podcast’s Instagram account on Wednesday, November 12, to defend Megan Thee Stallion after Jason Williams used a derogatory term to describe her to his cohost, Patrick Beverly.

    “Referring to my GF as a ‘p****’ is so disgusting and disturbing,” the Dallas Mavericks star wrote. “Especially from someone who played in the NBA. How would yall feel if I referred to your wives in such a way ? @patbev21.”

    “Do better fellas,” he added. “Very disappointing.”


    Related: Klay Thompson Adorably Kisses Megan Thee Stallion During Couple’s Workout

    Megan Thee Stallion and her NBA star boyfriend, Klay Thompson, are proving that couples who work out together, stay together! “Not I got him working out with no shoes on lol 🏋🏾‍♀️🏋🏽 his lil commentary 😂,” Megan, 30, wrote via Instagram on Saturday, July 19, sharing footage of the pair hitting the gym. In the […]

    During the Tuesday, November 11, episode, Williams, 49, suggested that Thompson’s relationship with Megan, 30, could be the reason for his struggles on the court so far in 2025–26.

    “I’m from West Virginia, man, I’ve been taught a lot from old folks, old white folks,” he said. “It only takes one p**** to drag a battleship across the desert. That’s how powerful it is.”

    “Klay Thompson, I ain’t sayin’ that’s what it is,” he continued, “but that might be what it is.”

    Thompson is averaging a career-low 8.5 points per game through 11 games this season, down from 14.0 per game last year. He is also shooting a career-worst 28.9 percent from three-point range and 32.1 percent from the field.

    Thompson and Megan seemingly hard-launched their relationship in July when the four-time NBA champion posted a carousel of photos via Instagram that included shots of Megan — though her face was not shown. They eliminated any doubt a few days later, appearing together at the rapper’s Pete & Thomas Foundation Gala in New York City.

    “Megan is such a special person, and she inspires so many around the world,” Thompson told Us Weekly exclusively at the gala. “I’ve seen it firsthand. This is just another incredible feat of hers to be able to give back, create foundation and raise a ton of money for those in need. And I’m honored to be here by her side.”

    Meanwhile, Megan thought of her late parents, Joseph Pete III and Holly Thomas, for whom the foundation is named. She told Us that she believed they would approve of her new boyfriend.

    “I feel like my mom would’ve been like, ‘Wow, you finally picked a nice man!’” she said. “We kissed a lot of frogs, but now we got a real prince! I feel like they would be very proud. My dad would be very happy.”

    Thompson added that he would have loved to meet them.

    “I know both of them would be so proud of their only daughter because of what — not only what she’s been able to accomplish, what she’s also going to continue to do,” he said. “She has never been put in a box, or allowed herself to be in a box, and she just continues to inspire so many people around the world. And, on top of that, raise a ton of money this evening and just do so much for so many in need.”

    Russell Steinberg

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  • Who Is Threads For? Meta Would Like One Answer to Be ‘Podcasters’

    Threads is one of the two big platforms that materialized in 2023 as alternatives to X/Twitter when Elon Musk really started remaking it in his own image. Bluesky developed an unmistakable identity as the microblogging platform where liberals talk about liberal stuff, while Threads became the microblogging platform built atop Instagram, where Instagram users talk about themselves.

    Now, Threads’ parent company Meta is making a concerted effort to nail down some semblance of a specific audience: podcasters and podcast fans.

    As reported by Engadget, Threads announced a suite of podcast-friendly features on Tuesday, rolling out slowly (the timeline is unclear) with some of the functions debuting immediately—particularly for podcasts that live on Spotify. To start, podcasters can now put a big, graphical link to their podcasts in their bio that looks, integrated and official, including the title of the latest episode.

    Also, that famous problem where microblogging platforms tend to be bad at scraping data from podcast feeds for posts, and typically don’t generate elegant, clickable preview “cards” is more or less solved now. When podcasters inevitably post their latest episodes—again, if they’re on Spotify—they’ll get pleasant, visually legible buttons with the word “PODCAST” right on them, so there’ll be no more confusion.

    Adam Mosseri, the CEO and President of Instagram, wrote on Threads that he’s “excited about this, there is lots more to do to support podcasts here on Threads.” For starters, it will need these features to support Apple Podcasts, instead of just Spotify, if Threads is going to really transform into the social media home of the podcasting universe, though Engadget says that support is in the works.   

    But as Joseph Bernstein of the New York Times style section wrote back in July, the appeal of podcasts as a social media phenomenon isn’t just the ability to share episodes clearly and easily. “Clips of video podcasts slot neatly into the Gen Z and millennial behemoths of TikTok and Instagram.”

    “To get a sense of just how much things have changed, imagine the viral podcast appearances of the 2024 presidential campaign — Donald J. Trump on Theo Von’s podcast and Kamala Harris on “Call Her Daddy” — happening without YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and X. You can’t,” Bernstein wrote.

    In my experience, viral podcast clips show up as context-free content, wandering around social media without necessarily getting linked back to the creator, or even crediting them. Harnessing that virality for clicks and followers is a tough trick for creators to pull off. Figuring out a solution to that problem could make Threads the truly hospitable environment for podcasters it seems to want to be.

    Mike Pearl

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  • The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Cookie Maker

    Opening a store that exclusively sells chocolate chip cookies, or even just cookies in general, is not a special thing in 2025. Mrs. Fields, Insomnia Cookies, Levain Bakery, Chip City—the list of cookie stores across America is long. In March of 1975, however, when my dad, Wally Amos, opened the first Famous Amos store in Hollywood, the idea of a store that exclusively sold chocolate chip cookies seemed insane.

    It was the type of idea that seemed so harebrained that only a down-on-his-luck talent agent with an at-home hobby of baking chocolate chip cookies would even think of it.
    At the time, Wally had two things going for him. The first was his famous friends. Singers like Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy became initial investors in the company, while his hefty Rolodex from years in the entertainment business provided a customer base full of social influencers. The second was a combination of charm and hustle that would help create more press opportunities for the fledgling brand than he ever thought possible.

    With the help of his oldest friends and PR team, John and Marilyn Rosica, Wally set out on a multiyear, nonstop promo push for Famous Amos that made both him and his cookies household names. The vibes of the early Famous Amos years scream ’70s fever dream. He was hanging out with Quincy Jones and Sidney Poitier. Doing interviews with an up-and-coming reporter named Oprah Winfrey. Riding kangaroo floats in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and donating his trademark panama hat and Indian gauze V-neck shirt to the Smithsonian. And that always-on mentality really worked. Famous Amos became an overnight business sensation. It expanded across the country and became a part of American culture.

    Of course, while my dad had created the perfect American success story on the surface, that didn’t mean that his business—or his personal life—was built on an actually solid foundation. Eventually, the realities of running a business caught up with my dad in a pretty real way, conveniently right around the time I was born. Because I was around for the fall, but not the rise, of Wally “Famous” Amos, I always breezed past the truly incredible set of circumstances that led to the creation of this indelible American brand. Turns out, it’s a journey worth taking, even if things are bound to get rough ahead.

    To hear episodes three and four of Tough Cookie: The Wally “Famous” Amos Story, listen here or wherever you download your podcasts. New episodes every Wednesday.

    Sarah Amos

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  • ‘Seattle News Weekly’: WA election results, political trends, tax tensions

    ‘Seattle News Weekly S1E13’: Recapping the 2025 November elections

    Election day has come and gone. FOX 13’s Hana Kim is joined by FOX 13 political analyst Sandeep Kaushik to talk about the recent political trends in Seattle and Washington state as whole, and how they were front and center this election cycle. The two also chatted about how this year’s election is a sign of what’s to come in next year’s midterms.

    SEATTLE – Days after the 2025 election on Tuesday, results across Washington state are still trickling in, but tensions are increasing in Olympia over potential big tax increases. 

    On the 13th episode of the “Seattle News Weekly” podcast, political analyst Sandeep Kaushik joins Hana Kim to unpack the results and look ahead to Olympia’s next legislative session, where Kaushik says tensions are increasing.

    They briefly discuss the race for Seattle Mayor, where, as of Thursday morning, incumbent Mayor Bruce Harrell holds a 6% lead over challenger Katie Wilson.

    The focus then shifts to the state legislature in Olympia, where Democrats maintain an “almost supermajority,” despite Republican efforts to flip two key Senate seats: Legislative District 26 and Legislative District 5. Kaushik says, based on election results, those Republican efforts appear to have been unsuccessful.

    With Democrats controlling both the legislative and executive branches, political tensions are increasing within the Democratic Party—specifically between centrist leadership and the increasingly progressive caucuses.

    These tensions between Democrats, according to Kaushik, stem from the progressive Democrats pushing for more extensive policy changes, specifically advocating for higher taxes on the wealthy. On the other hand, the more moderate Democrats, which include Gov. Ferguson, are more aligned with a less aggressive tax increase. 

    The biggest point of contention at the Capitol is how to address the state’s budget and where the priorities lie for new revenue. Specifically, they discuss how the more progressive side is pushing for a wealth tax, or high earners’ income tax. In the last session, they pushed for a record $9.2 billion tax increase. For the next session, Kaushik says they want to go even further with their high-earners income tax. 

    Kaushik says an income tax is “ostensibly unconstitutional in Washington state.”

    On the podcast, they discuss how Governor Ferguson initially ran into conflict with his own party because he opposed the idea of “big tax increases” and sought a different tone than his predecessor. Although he signed off on the $9.2 billion package, the tension remains.

    Kaushik brings up the voter fear in this instance. 

    They switch gears and talk about Gov. Ferguson and his conflicts with his own party. 

    The podcast concludes with a brief review of additional key races, including the King County Executive position and the defeat of several moderate and Republican incumbents in Seattle, with notes on the strong progressive ideological shifts. 

    Join us every Thursday to stay up to date on weekly news around the area.

    Seattle News Weekly is a podcast that goes in depth and gives context to the stories that matter to the western Washington community. Check back every Thursday for a new episode on your favorite podcast platform, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Stitcher, Amazon Music, TuneIn and Audible, or YouTube.

    The Source: Information in this story came from original FOX 13 Seattle reporting. 

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    Seattle News Weekly PodcastWashington State Politics

    Annabelle.Pepin@fox.com (Annabelle Pepin)

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  • How to Hack a Poker Game

    Michael Calore: Yeah. My favorite indiscreet product placement was in the show Entourage from HBO. It was on TV, I don’t know, 15 years ago.

    Lauren Goode: Oh, I remember it.

    Michael Calore: And the characters used to say to each other, “I’ll BBM it to you.”

    Lauren Goode: No. Time capsule.

    Michael Calore: Yeah. Which is like, even if you had a Blackberry—

    Lauren Goode: Yeah, you never said that.

    Michael Calore: Nobody ever said that.

    Lauren Goode: No, it’s so true.

    Michael Calore: They would text it to you.

    Lauren Goode: Incredible.

    Michael Calore: But no, I’m going to BBM it to you.

    Andy Greenberg: Just the fact that we even know what BBM-ing is just kind of means it worked.

    Lauren Goode: Or maybe it’s more, “What is that, guys? I don’t remember that. I’m too young.” All right, Andy, give us your WIRED, TIRED.

    Andy Greenberg: Well, I am not a video game reporter, but I did buy the—everybody has been talking about this game Silksong. It was $20 on the Switch. I bought it for my 9-year-old son, and I thought that I would play this cute little game and I just cannot believe how fricking hard it is. Nobody is talking about the fact that this incredibly popular game—it makes you want to cry. Like me, not my son, like me, the adult. I cannot stop playing it.

    But I have been more frustrated playing this game than I have been maybe in anything else in my life or work for years. This is my extremely amateur video game trend watching observation that for a while all these games got really easy like Candy Crush and Farmville and Angry Bird stuff where you just basically can’t lose. And people seem to love that and games got incredibly easy. And now it feels like we’re in this era where games are just absurdly hard, including these—what look like casual games for kids are in fact some of the most challenging things you will do in your life. And actually I think it’s great. So yeah, I would say TIRED are easy games and WIRED is games that are ridiculously hard and making me want to cry.

    Lauren Goode, Michael Calore, Andy Greenberg

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  • Famous Amos: The Secret Life of A Cookie Mogul

    When my dad, Wally Amos, decided to open the first Famous Amos store in 1975, he didn’t set out to be famous. That little corner shop he opened on Sunset and Formosa, in the heart of Hollywood, was more desperate pivot than calculated risk. Despite having been the first Black talent agent at William Morris, working with acts like Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, Marvin Gaye and the Supremes, he was burnt out in the entertainment business and looking to do something that really made him happy.

    Chocolate chip cookies made him happy. Giving them to other people made him even happier. Earning a living through cookies? Well, that would be the dream. And for a while it really was. He created a new industry, paving the way for brands like Mrs. Fields and David’s Cookies. It was the definition of the American dream. A high school dropout, born in the segregated South, manages to use his charm and natural promotional skills to achieve meteoric success. And sure, he didn’t start the company to be famous, but that didn’t mean he didn’t love the fame once he had it. He was on the cover of Time magazine, baked cookies with Andy Warhol, and guest-starred on TV shows ranging from Taxi to The Jeffersons. He married a hot blonde flight attendant and moved to Hawaii, and many assumed he lived the rest of his life with cookie millions in paradise.

    Fifty years later, that brand he created is still going strong, but in the end, cookies didn’t exactly provide the happy ending for which my dad had hoped. When he passed away in August of 2024, he left behind six marriages to five women, broken relationships with all four of his children, and a mountain of debt and failed companies, not to mention a family in chaos.

    Most people who seek to understand their parent’s life and choices after they pass away do the work privately. But I am more my father’s daughter than I like to admit, so here we are at the beginning of a six-episode podcast journey to understand who Wally Amos really was.

    To hear the first two episodes of Tough Cookie: The Wally “Famous” Amos Story, listen here or wherever you download your podcasts. New episodes every Wednesday.

    Sarah Amos

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  • Kelsey Grammer, 70, Announces the Birth of His 8th Child: ‘Isn’t That Lovely?’

    It’s a boy — named Christopher — for 70-year-old actor Kelsey Grammer and his wife Kayte Walsh.

    The “Frasier” star announced his latest baby news on Monday’s edition of the “Pod Meets World” podcast.

    “We just had our fourth one, it just became eight kids,” Grammer said. “It was like three days ago. Christopher has just joined the family. Pretty cool. Yeah, isn’t that lovely?”

    The child is the fourth for Walsh and Grammer. The actor also has four older children from previous relationships, including two with ex-wife Camille Grammer, an original cast member of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”

    Grammer was on the podcast to discuss his recent book, “Karen: A Brother Remembers,” about the murder of his sister when she was 18.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

    Associated Press

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  • There Are 3 Types of Leaders, Says Jay Shetty, and Only 1 You Want to Be

    If you want to know the leadership secrets behind iconic brands like Microsoft, Netflix, Bridgewater, Fanatics, Skims, Robinhood, or Rare Beauty, you could ask the companies co-founders—or you could ask Jay Shetty.

    The best-selling author and life coach has sat across the table from Bill Gates, Marc Randolph, Ray Dalio, Michael Rubin, Emma Grede, Vlad Tenev, and Selena Gomez, interviewing them for his hit podcast, “On Purpose,” which averages around 500 million views a month and has surpassed 20 billion views in total since launching nearly a decade ago. After spending hundreds of hours peppering some of America’s most high-profile business leaders with questions, Shetty has learned something about leadership styles. 

    “There’s three types of leaders. There’s purpose-driven leaders, who focus on impact. There’s performance-driven leaders, who focus on goals, and then there’s power-driven leaders who focus on themselves. And I think we’re living at a time now where we can clearly see all three of them,” said Shetty, during a conversation with Julia Hartz, the co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite, at the Inc. 5000 Conference in Phoenix on Thursday.

    Purpose-driven leaders are the most effective, according to Jay Shetty. “Purpose-driven leaders are building from a place of what they didn’t have,” said Shetty, who specifically mentioned Rare Beauty founder Selena Gomez and Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton as some of the people he has interviewed who fall into that category. “They’re trying to create for other people what they wish they had for themselves.” He added, “When they failed, the purpose driven leader never changed their purpose. They just found a new way.”

    Shetty leveled with the audience of founders and CEOs, who run some of the fastest-growing private companies in the country, and said building a purpose-driven corporate culture is incredibly difficult. To do so effectively, the culture cannot depend just on the leaders, he added. Instead, it comes down to the C-suite creating an entire organization of leaders, down to the entry-level employee. 

    “Culture is dependent on how many other leaders you create that can also feel a part of that mission, and the leader in that mission doesn’t need to be a leader in your organization,” said Shetty, who knows this himself as the co-founder of Juni, an adaptogenic sparkling tea brand with 10 full-time employees. “It’s giving everyone—someone who’s just walked through the door all the way to someone who’s been there since the beginning—the permission to demonstrate leadership in different ways.”

    That strategy starts—and ends with—hiring. As Shetty told the audience, “You can’t recruit badly and create good culture. I don’t think it’s actually possible.”

    Ali Donaldson

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  • Dreaming Up Hits? These Are Our Favorite Audio Interfaces

    While open-source crusaders and techno-libertarians are applauding Universal Audio’s recent efforts to move away from its “walled garden” approach to plug-ins, the truth is that most of the good ones still require the presence of an interface or a processor core to load up and run in your DAW of choice. As we mentioned in the write-up of the Apollo Twin, above: “good” is a massive understatement when describing UAD’s most popular plug-ins.

    Its digital re-creations of optical mix bus compressors, legendary reverbs, and warm, vibey tape machines are unmatched by any other prosumer-level manufacturer, and the fact that its hardware powers the CPU-hungry algorithms that apply the magical high-end sheen to your mix makes the pricey leap into the UA universe well worth it.

    Direct monitoring on the four included XLR unison preamps is crystal clear, nearly latency-free, and loaded with clean headroom for anything you plug into it. A wide array of inputs like a pair of ADAT I/Os and eight line-level 1/4″ jacks can handle sessions of all sizes, and the UA Console app makes routing, monitoring, and plug-in management a breeze. If you go to a major studio, this is the most common interface you’ll see, often with multiple stacked together for even more channels, which you can do with a single cable between devices. —Pete Cottell

    Specs
    Connectivity Thunderbolt 3
    Microphone Inputs 4
    Instrument Inputs 2
    Headphone Outputs 2
    Analog Audio Outputs 8
    MIDI In/Out? N/A
    ADAT In/Out? Yes (2)

    Parker Hall

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  • Pentagon announces ‘new’ press corps filled with conservative news outlets

    Several conservative news outlets said Wednesday they had agreed to a new press policy rejected by virtually all legacy media organizations and will take their place in the Pentagon to cover Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the U.S. military.

    The new Pentagon press corps will include the Gateway Pundit, the National Pulse, Human Events, podcaster Tim Pool, the Just the News website founded by journalist John Solomon, Frontlines by Turning Point USA and LindellTV, run by “MyPillow” CEO Mike Lindell.

    The Pentagon’s announcement came less than a week after dozens of reporters from outlets like The New York Times, The Associated Press, CNN and the Washington Post turned in their access badges rather than agree to a policy the journalists say will restrict them to covering news approved by Hegseth.

    Hegseth’s spokesman, Sean Parnell, announced the “next generation” of the Pentagon press corps with more than 60 journalists who had agreed to the new policy. He said 26 journalists who had previously been part of the press corps were among the signees. The department wouldn’t say who any of them were, but several outlets reposted his message on X saying they had signed on.

    There isn’t even unanimity among organizations that appeal to conservative consumers. Fox News Channel, by far the most popular news source for fans of President Donald Trump, was among the walkouts, as was Newsmax.

    In a post on X, Parnell denounced the “self-righteous media who chose to self-deport from the Pentagon.”

    “Americans have largely abandoned digesting their news through the lens of activists who masquerade as journalists in the mainstream media,” Parnell wrote. “We look forward to beginning a fresh relationship with members of the new Pentagon press corps.”

    The journalists who left the Pentagon haven’t stopped working covering the U.S. military. Many have been reporting aggressively, for example, on stories about strikes against boats in central America alleged to be part of the drug trade.

    By not being in the Pentagon, “reporters will have to work harder, there’s no question about it,” said Barbara Starr, a longtime Pentagon reporter retired from CNN.

    “But the real price is paid by the American people and the American military families,” Starr said. “Military families who have their sons and daughters serving, they want to know everything and they want to know it fast.”

    Starr wondered about Hegseth: “What is he so afraid of?” New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote a biting piece about the defense secretary over the weekend titled “Fraidy-Cat at the Pentagon.” But Hegseth’s boss, President Trump, has expressed support for the new media policy and Hegseth’s aggressive moves mirror some of those made by the administration. The president has sued outlets like The New York Times and Wall Street Journal for their coverage of him.

    Some of the outlets that accepted Hegseth’s rules will have to staff up for their new roles: Just the News, for example, posted an ad online seeking a Pentagon reporter.

    The Gateway Pundit’s White House correspondent, Jordan Conradson, posted on Wednesday that he was excited to join the Pentagon press corps “and help restore honest journalism after agreeing to follow basic rules … something the legacy media refuses to do!”

    Lindell, whose My Pillow ads once blanketed Fox News before he joined the political media, posted a statement that LindellTV was “proud to be part of a new generation of news organizations reshaping how real information reaches the public.”

    Some of the publications pronounce themselves conservative in their mission statements. The “about” page on the National Pulse features a picture of Trump.

    ___

    David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social

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  • Maine Democratic Senate candidate insists he’s ‘not a secret Nazi’ after controversial tattoo reveal

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    Maine Democratic Senate candidate and former Marine Graham Platner denied that he was a “secret Nazi” on Monday after revealing he has a tattoo that resembles a Nazi Germany symbol.

    Platner’s campaign shared a video with the “Pod Save America” podcast that showed Platner lip-syncing to Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” at his brother’s wedding about a decade ago. In the video, Platner is shirtless and appears to have a skull tattoo on his chest that resembles the “Totenkopf,” a symbol of the SS, or Schutzstaffel, under Adolf Hitler.

    “I am not a secret Nazi,” Platner said. “Actually, if you read through my Reddit comments, I think you can pretty much figure out where I stand on Nazism and antisemitism and racism in general. I’d say a lifelong opponent.”

    REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER DIRECTS INVESTIGATION AFTER SWASTIKA VANDALISM DISCOVERED IN DC OFFICE

    Graham Platner, a U.S. Marine and Army veteran and oyster farmer, in August launched a Democratic run for the U.S. Senate in Maine against Sen. Susan Collins. (Graham Platner campaign)

    Platner said that he got the tattoo in a Croatia parlor after being “very inebriated” with his fellow Marines in 2007. He insisted that skulls and crossbones were a “pretty standard military thing” and that he got the tattoo prior to joining the Army and getting a security clearance. 

    “At no point in this entire experience of my life did anybody ever once say, ‘Hey, you’re a Nazi,’” Platner said. “It never came up until we got wind that in the opposition research, somebody was shopping the idea that I was a secret Nazi with a hidden Nazi tattoo. And I can honestly say that if I was trying to hide it, I’ve I’ve not been doing a very good job for the past 18 years.”

    Platner quickly faced backlash for the video, including from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).

    “This comes less than a week after he was caught: advocating for political violence, saying Black people don’t tip, calling all police ‘bastards,’ calling Maine’s lobstermen ‘pieces of sh*t.’ What’s next…,” the group wrote on X.

    ‘MAINE’S MAMDANI’: MAINE GOP CHIEF ISSUES WARNING ABOUT NEW CHALLENGER LOOKING TO OUST SUSAN COLLINS

    Sen. Susan Collins of Maine

    Graham Planter is looking to run against Sen. Susan Collins but has to first win the Democratic primary against sitting Gov. Janet Mills.  (Mark Makela/Getty Images)

    Although Platner suggested he did not think the symbol meant anything beyond a skull and crossbones, his former political director Genevieve McDonald reportedly wrote on Facebook that he “knows damn well what it means.”

    “This is seriously the dumbest timeline,” McDonald wrote. “Graham has an anti-Semitic tattoo on his chest. He’s not an idiot, he’s a military history buff. Maybe he didn’t know it when he got it, but he got it years ago and he should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means.”

    She added, “The vault is open for the GOP to f—— crush any dreams we had in the general and literally everyone I know is fighting with each other on social media. We cannot be this painfully stupid.”

    WATCH: SNL’S ‘WEEKEND UPDATE’ NAZI JOKE ABOUT TRUMP ADMINISTRATION GETS AWKWARD RESPONSE FROM AUDIENCE

    Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner of Maine

    Graham Platner’s former director reportedly claimed that he knew “damn well” what the symbol meant. (Graham Platner Senate campaign)

    Fox News Digital reached out to Platner’s campaign and the NRSC for comment.

    Platner, who is attempting to take on longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, recently came under fire last week after Reddit posts of his from 2018 resurfaced. In one post, he wrote that “all” police are bastards and called himself a “communist.”

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    In a separate post, he argued that if people “expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle, they ought to do some reading of history.”

    Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to lindsay.kornick@fox.com and on Twitter: @lmkornick.

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  • The New Power of Far-Right Influencers

    In this episode of Uncanny Valley, we discuss the impacts of antifa’s designation as a domestic terrorist group as author Mark Bray faces new harassment from the far-right.

    Michael Calore, Leah Feiger, David Gilbert

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  • ‘Seattle News Weekly’: Haunting cold case out of Snohomish, WA

    ‘Seattle News Weekly S1E10’: Snohomish County community haunted by cold case

    On the tenth episode of the “Seattle News Weekly” podcast, FOX 13 Seattle anchor David Rose and reporter Lauren Donovan discuss a 2006 cold case out of Snohomish County, which continues to haunt the community. It’s been nearly 20 years, but David Stodden — who lost his wife and daughter — is still processing the pain.

    SEATTLE – A cold case in Snohomish County has haunted the community for nearly twenty years. On a Tuesday in July 2006, Mary Cooper and her daughter, Susanna Stodden, were murdered at the end of their hike on the Pinnacle Lake Trail off the Mountain Loop Highway. 

    On the tenth episode of the ‘Seattle News Weekly’ podcast, David Rose sits down with reporter Lauren Donovan, to discuss the case. Both Rose and Donovan have closely followed the case in their Seattle journalism careers and have worked directly with Snohomish County law enforcement to learn as much as they can about both the case itself, and the process that goes into working with such a sensitive cold case. 

    cold case homicide 2006

    Cold case homicide flyer courtesy of Snohomish County Sheriff’s office

    Donovan begins the podcast by laying out the scene of the crime: The women were at a natural resting spot on the trail, a spot where one would pull over for a sip of water or grab a bite to eat. Then, they were both found shot to death. 

    Rose began his FOX 13 Seattle journalism journey in 2007, a year after the murders took place.

    Rose explains the process of working with unsolved cases. He says they take out the entire file, they reconcile it, and they look for things they can retest for DNA and if they get DNA, they can submit that for genetic genealogy. 

    Earlier this month, Donovan reported on the story, shining light on the grief that still looms over David Stodden, the father and husband of the victims in the case. On the podcast, she talks about her experience spending time with Stodden and Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office Detective Dave Bilyeu. 

    One of the key pieces of this story that Donovan covers on the podcast, is that Stodden was a a person of interest for nearly a decade. His name was not cleared until after taking three polygraph tests. Donovan describes the feelings surrounding the case, when she spent time with Stodden, who read a poem aloud in the spot where his wife and daughter were killed. 

    They conclude the podcast with a clip from Detective Bilyeu, who talks about the Sheriff’s Office’s commitment to bringing answers to the family and the community. They highlight his effort to never stop bringing the case to life and their commitment as journalists to continue that effort as well. 

    Donovan says when she reported on the story earlier this month, she felt like she was able to step into the shoes of an investigator, which she says she appreciated a lot.  

    Seattle News Weekly PodcastPodcastsCrime and Public Safety

    Annabelle.Pepin@fox.com (Annabelle Pepin)

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  • Kim Kardashian Explains What It’s Like To Co-Parent With Kanye West: “It’s Not Easy”

    “I welcome a great healthy relationship with my kids and their dad, and I think he knows that, I push for it all the time,” she said. But just because she welcomes it doesn’t mean that it necessarily happens. “It’s not easy.”

    Kardashian’s kids see West “whenever he’ll call for them and ask,” she said, though “it’s probably been a couple months since we’ve heard from him.”

    Though Kardashian’s chauffeured black car has a high road-only route programmed in when it comes to navigating her relationship with West, both public and private, that doesn’t mean she’s unbothered by some of the things said about her.

    “The one thing that just gets me is that there’s this narrative that, like, I keep the kids away from him,” she said. “I’ve never once done that. Like, there’s been so many times where I’ve been like, ‘Oh, I just wanna show all of these texts. What are you talking about?’”

    Headlines often take her by surprise, she said. “I think it’s all good and we’re living our life and then I just wake up and there’s all these tweets about how I’ve kidnapped the kids and I’m like, it’s not a kidnapping, it’s a divorce.”

    There wasn’t one specific thing that made her reach a breaking point and end the marriage, but consistently “not feeling safe” with West.

    And even though she hasn’t publicly rebutted West’s claims about her parenting doesn’t mean she hasn’t been tempted. Kardashian revealed that she lives and dies by writing emails and tweets that she’ll never send.

    “There has been so many times where I’ve written a draft and been like, ‘I’m gonna go,’ and then I’m just like, what’s the point? You know, what is the point? Am I gonna go back and forth? My kids are gonna see this.”

    Kase Wickman

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  • New on Netflix: Some of Spotify’s Biggest Podcasts

    Video podcasts are coming to Netflix — in part because everyone’s gotta compete with YouTube.
    Photo: Bill Simmons via YouTube

    What even counts as television these days, anyway? That question gets a tad thornier by the day, especially now that Netflix has announced a new partnership with Spotify to bring a curated slate of the latter’s owned video podcasts onto the streaming platform.

    It’s a sizable lineup, one that mostly draws from The Ringer, the Bill Simmons–founded network that Spotify acquired in 2020, and which in recent months has been notably embracing video. The slate coming to Netflix includes the expected sports programming like The Bill Simmons Podcast (redemption, presumably, for Any Given Wednesday) and The Zach Lowe Show, but also more culture-oriented fare like The Rewatchables, The Big Picture, and The Dave Chang Show. Beyond The Ringer, the deal brings on podcasts that had been absorbed in Spotify’s 2019 acquisition of Parcast, including the generically named True Crime and Serial Killers, both of which will likely play nicely with Netflix’s recommendation algorithm. They will become available on Netflix in the U.S. early next year, with other markets to eventually follow. More titles are expected to be added later.

    For Netflix, this move doesn’t come out of nowhere. The company has been steadily experimenting with broadening its on-platform definition of “content,” including video games and digital video programming that originated on YouTube, like the popular kids’ YouTuber Ms. Rachel. It’s also long dabbled on the periphery of podcasting, mainly producing branded company shows tied to its television projects, not unlike how HBO uses podcasts to deepen engagement with shows like The Gilded Age and The Last of Us.

    But the podcast world has changed dramatically in the past few years. The rapid rise of video-first programming has completely reshaped the medium — and Netflix’s leadership has been watching. “The lines between podcast and talk shows are getting pretty blurry,” co-CEO Ted Sarandos told investors back in April. “As the popularity of video podcasts grows, I suspect you’ll see some of them find their way to Netflix.” Around the same time, Axios reported that it was seeking a podcast chief, signaling a deeper structural move into the space.

    The Spotify podcasts heading to Netflix

    Sports
    • The Bill Simmons Podcast
    • The Zach Lowe Show
    • The McShay Show
    • Fairway Rollin’
    • The Mismatch
    • The Ringer F1 Show
    • The Ringer Fantasy Football Show
    • The Ringer NFL Show
    • The Ringer NBA Show

    Culture / Lifestyle
    • The Rewatchables
    • The Big Picture
    • The Dave Chang Show
    • The Recipe Club
    • Dissect
    • True Crime
    • Conspiracy Theories
    • Serial Killers

    For Spotify, things are a little more complicated. The deal represents both a retreat and a reframing. After spending years and billions of dollars to become the dominant podcasting player — buying Gimlet Media (now shuttered), Parcast (also largely shuttered), and The Ringer, plus signing exclusive deals with Joe Rogan and Alex Cooper (who later left for SiriusXM) — the Swedish platform had been further pivoting toward video in search of more lucrative ad dollars and a better business model for its podcast efforts. But YouTube’s sudden incursion into the podcast space, precipitated by the medium’s broader turn toward video, has effectively boxed Spotify in; it didn’t take long for audience-research reports to indicate that more podcast listeners now consider YouTube to be their top preferred platform, surpassing Spotify. By bringing its video podcasts to Netflix, Spotify can extend its shows’ reach without shouldering the cost of competing in video distribution. It’s a way of turning its original content into syndicated inventory, licensing its productions into a marketplace and audience ecosystem that’s indicated greater affinity toward visual programming.

    Both companies, of course, are reacting to the same gravitational pull: YouTube. The platform has evolved into the default center of gravity for the creator economy, swallowing categories like music, gaming, education, and now podcasts. In recent months, YouTube had been quietly reframing itself as a direct competitor to Netflix, a position further substantiated by its own claim that the platform is reaching more viewers over television sets than on phones and computers. As such, for Netflix and Spotify, this partnership is less a marriage than a kind of mutual defense pact: Netflix gets a new vein of low-cost, evergreen talk content that helps it compete in attention time against YouTube, while Spotify gets a new distribution vector that can keep its video and podcast investments relevant.

    The most intriguing question is how far Netflix is willing to go, and whether it’s considering adding what’s long thought to be the most popular podcast in the world: The Joe Rogan Experience. (Spotify doesn’t own Rogan’s show, but it holds an exclusive distribution deal.) Or, indeed, whether it will lean toward bringing on the most culturally influential podcast genre we have: politics. Given Netflix’s aversion to anything resembling news programming, there’s likely not much appetite for that. At least, not yet. But give it time — and, perhaps, a bad fiscal quarter.

    Nicholas Quah

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  • Bill Maher says he can’t deny President Trump’s success despite acknowledging he wasn’t ‘his choice’

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    Comedian Bill Maher said he can’t deny President Donald Trump‘s success during his podcast on Monday, while acknowledging he was not Maher’s choice. 

    Maher, speaking with actor William H. Macy during his “Club Random” podcast, said he can’t deny success – no matter who it is. 

    “I always say this — you cannot ever deny success. You just have to give your respect even if it’s not your thing. Have the humility to give it up for enormous success on any level. Trump — not my choice, didn’t vote for him,” Maher said. “And he’s – I can’t deny the success.”

    Macy agreed and said, “I can’t either – and he’s the president.”

    BILL MAHER ADMITS HE WAS WRONG ABOUT TRUMP ON TARIFFS, DOESN’T ‘SEE A COUNTRY IN A DEPRESSION AT ALL’

    Former President Donald Trump looks on during a meeting at the 80th session of the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 23, 2025, at United Nations headquarters in New York City. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

    Macy then pointed to a signed sheet of paper hanging in Maher’s studio that listed the many insults the president had thrown at him over the years, which Trump signed when Maher visited the White House. 

    “That’s f—— brilliant,” Macy said of Maher bringing it to the White House to sign. 

    “This is what’s so amazing, that he, off the top of his head, could come up with 56 different—,” Maher said, before reading the insults and names Trump had given him. “It’s hip, and it says something about the human mind, or some human minds.” 

    Maher quipped that he couldn’t come up with that many names for someone. 

    BILL MAHER CLASHES WITH LIBERAL ACTOR OVER TRUMP, IMMIGRATION POLICY

    Bill Maher speaking

    Bill Maher at SiriusXM Studios on May 20, 2024, in New York City. (Noam Galai/Getty Images)

    Maher met with the president at the White House in April – a move that angered some liberals.

    The comedian said Trump was “gracious and measured” and suggested the man in the Oval Office is not the man the rest of the world sees on TV. 

    “I never felt I had to walk on eggshells around him,” Maher told his audience. “And honestly, I voted for Clinton and Obama, but I would never feel comfortable talking to them the way I was able to talk with Donald Trump. That’s just how it went down. Make of it what you will. Me? I feel it’s emblematic of why the Democrats are so unpopular these days.” 

    CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE

    President Donald Trump

    Former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after stepping off Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on Oct. 5, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

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    Though a frequent critic of the president, Maher has also said Trump is one of the “most effective” politicians, due to his authenticity. 

    “Trump really is one of the most effective politicians, whether whatever you think of the policy and him as a person, just as a politician, just understanding that — always lean in to being more who you are — the people are not savvy about issues, but they smell a phony a mile away. And that kind of s—? Nobody else does it,” Maher said during his podcast in April. 

    Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.

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