Today's News with Larry Schweikart
TODAY'S NEWS, August 14, 2026
Episode Summary
Trump continues to rack up wins on immigration, military recruitment, Medicaid policy, drug prices, and the courts, while the DemoKKKrat Terror Party keeps generating an impressive crime blotter of its own. Karoline Leavitt is stepping down to spend more time with her young kids, while Abdul El-Sayed's record and beliefs are coming under renewed scrutiny. AI is simultaneously becoming more influential and more financially frothy, Harvard has deeper ChiCom ties than it should, and Americans are increasingly outsourcing medical questions to machines. Meanwhile, the economy continues pulling businesses toward red states, entertainment is delivering a rather brutal verdict on "girl-boss" projects, and TrumpRx is producing the biggest drug-price drop in six decades.
Episode Notes
IN POLITICAL NEWS
- Karoline Leavitt steps down: After more than a year and a half as White House Press Secretary, Leavitt is leaving to spend more time with her young children. Larry ranks her alongside Sarah Huckabee Sanders among the greatest White House press secretaries.
- Abdul El-Sayed under scrutiny: Larry attacks El-Sayed's personal practice of sharia and raises questions about his record as Michigan's health commissioner, including responsibility for a large share of dog euthanizations in 2015.
- Crime and corruption blotter: DOJ uncovered decades of sexual misconduct in Kollyfornia women's prisons; the SPLC CEO faces fraud charges; a Lawrence, MA mayor was arrested over $1.6 million in COVID funds; a daycare operator allegedly billed Medicaid $32 million; five Texas officials face fraud charges; Bill Gates's daughter faces jail over alleged fraudulent sales; and six Nevada alternate-elector charges were dismissed.
- Alternate electors: Larry emphasizes that they were constitutionally permitted "ALTERNATIVE electors," not "fake" electors.
- Gun rights: A judge struck down decades-old restrictions on guns and silencers.
- Oklahoma tragedy: A Republican state Senate candidate was found dead inside a bullet-riddled truck.
- Massachusetts abortion law: Larry attacks the state's abortion policy as allowing abortions essentially up to childbirth.
- Climate science: The National Academies of Science removed a climate-change chapter from a scientific-evidence reference manual.
- Military recruitment: All five service branches reached their recruiting targets months ahead of schedule, which Larry attributes partly to Pete Hegseth's leadership.
- Kennedy-Trump Center: The board restored Trump's name to the institution.
- FBI "Round River": Newly discussed documents allegedly show the FBI categorizing people as Russian-influence "conduits" and protected "targets." Kash Patel says as many as 53 supposed Russia informants were themselves under foreign control.
- Harvard and Chy-na: Harvard has reportedly been linked to more than 140 papers co-authored with the ChiCom military.
IN AI NEWS
- NVIDIA is lining up roughly half a trillion dollars in new financing, keeping Larry's eyes firmly on the possibility of an eventual AI crash.
- Nearly 1 in 6 Americans have acted on AI medical advice without consulting a human doctor.
- Larry's broader concern: AI is becoming a medical decision-maker before society has figured out how much it should be trusted.
IN ILLEGAL CRIMINAL ALIEN NEWS
- The Fifth Circuit handed Trump another victory involving Tren de Aragua.
- Federal authorities busted a massive sham-marriage operation involving more than 1,000 people, mostly Chinese.
- The State Department created a dedicated task force targeting birth tourism.
- Human-smuggling profits have reportedly collapsed following Trump's immigration crackdown.
- An appeals court gave Trump another victory involving the Alien Enemies Act and deportation of criminal illegal aliens.
IN CULTURAL NEWS
- Meta faces youth social-media addiction lawsuits from 29 states.
- Nearly half of adults under 30 are still living with their parents.
- Dallas-Fort Worth airport plans to install Muslim foot-washing stations in restrooms.
- Ryan Burge's research suggests that bringing children to church early and consistently is among the more effective ways to keep them engaged with faith.
- Kansas schools are implementing all-day cellphone lockup policies, with Larry expecting student performance and test scores to improve.
IN TRANSOID NEWS
- The federal government has ended Medicaid funding for transoid surgeries involving minors.
IN ECONOMIC NEWS
- DoorDash is reportedly leaving blue-state Delaware and moving toward red-state territory such as Texas and Nevada.
- A major rare-earth discovery in Nevada could face complications because NASA controls more than 17 miles of the area for satellite calibration and related work.
- Elon Musk is increasingly "leaning into" fossil fuels.
IN INTERNATIONAL NEWS
- India has ordered drug testing for all airline pilots.
IN ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
- Supergirl reportedly failed badly enough that DC canceled four other female-led projects.
- Spider-Man: Brand New Day has surpassed $1.7 billion and is projected to exceed $2 billion, which Larry estimates could produce around $1 billion in profit.
- Young Washington has reached $46 million against a $20 million production budget and is approaching profitability.
- The WNBA's latest attempt to define a woman has, according to Jennifer Say, managed to "say nothing."
- Australian golf prospect Jessica Bang died at 18 following a brain hemorrhage.
IN MEDICAL NEWS
- TrumpRx: Drug prices have reportedly fallen at their fastest rate in 60 years.
AND FINALLY...
- A new antiviral chewing gum reportedly reduces the risk of certain head and neck cancers dramatically. Larry welcomes the news while noting that he's never been much of a gum chewer, unlike his mother, who apparently had the gum-popping game fully mastered.