The Lamest Showman on Earth | Roundtable

The Dispatch Podcast

The Dispatch

News, Politics

4.6 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 October 2025

⏱️ 85 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Steve Hayes is joined by Kevin Williamson, Jonah Goldberg, and Mike Warren to discuss the gathering of generals at Quantico earlier this week, debate who is to blame for the government shutdown, and dive into the controversy surrounding a comedic festival in Saudi Arabia. The Agenda:—Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's performance—Blame the Democrats?—Kevin and Newt Gingrich are kindred spirits—Saudi Arabia: just for laughs?—NWYT: Grilled cheese and comfort foods The Dispatch Podcast is a production of The Dispatch, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a non-partisan, conservative perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including access to all of our articles, members-only newsletters, and bonus podcast episodes—click here. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member by clicking here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Introducing Dispatch Energy. The Dispatch's newest weekly newsletter diving into the politics, policy, and innovation shaping America's energy future, presented by our friends at the Pacific Legal Foundation. Featuring a rotating roster of contributors who are experts in their respective fields. Each edition will feature incisive analysis on everything from oil and gas and permitting regulations to renewables, climate,
0:21.5	and the grid. Head to the dispatch.com slash energy to sign up.
0:26.7	Welcome to the dispatch podcast. I'm Steve Hayes. On this week's roundtable, we'll discuss the
0:31.6	odd made-for-TV military show featuring Secretary of Defense Pete Hagseth and President
0:37.4	Donald Trump.
0:38.5	Also, the government shutdown is here.
0:42.0	How much does it matter?
0:43.3	A comedy controversy, a Saudi laugh fest, and a comedian battle royale.
0:48.6	And finally, for not worth your time, with the beginning of flu season upon us,
0:52.7	what were the go-to feel-better foods our
0:55.1	panelists ate when they were feeling sick as kids? I'm joined today by my dispatch colleagues
1:00.3	Jonah Goldberg, Mike Warren, and Kevin Williamson. Let's dive right in.
1:21.2	Thank you. Gentlemen, welcome to this week's dispatch podcast.
1:33.8	I want to start by talking about this made-for-TV military show that we saw earlier this week at Quantico, just outside of Washington, D.C. We first had a speech from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. He would ask us to call
1:40.0	him Secretary of War. And then we heard from President Trump for more than an hour.
1:45.6	I want to start with a comment from our colleague, Nick Catojio, who wrote about this in his
1:52.1	newsletter yesterday, summarizing the whole thing and whether it was more cringy or more
1:58.1	menacing.
1:59.2	Nick writes, I'm pleased to report that the assembly was somewhat more
2:03.2	cringy than it was menacing, a case of two men who radiate neurosis about their own toughness,
2:09.9	lecturing a room full of actual tough guys about how to be tough. It had the feel of Pop Warner players
2:16.1	scolding a group of NFL linebackers about the
	...

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