9/22/26: Trump Media Ban Backfires, DraftKings Caught Targeting Addicts, AI Anthropic Wet Lab
September 22, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readTrump's Media Ban Backfires, DraftKings Caught Targeting Addicts, and AI's Wet Lab Future
The White House press pool went silent yesterday. President Trump held a ribbon-cutting event with no audio, no video, no still photographs — because after he banned CNN, MSNBC, and Politico from White House access, the entire press corps, including Fox News, refused to participate in the pool. Newsmax, an outlet deeply aligned with Trump, was caught on camera saying "I can't hear what the president's saying," an admission that even friendly media recognized the strategy had backfired. The only footage of Trump that day came from an event with New York Mayor Eric Adams, where city media — not the White House pool — provided coverage.
The Mechanics of the Pool and the Backfire
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What you'll learn
- 1 (02:01) **Trump Media Ban Backfires** - Trump bans CNN, MSNBC, and Politico from White House events, prompting a press pool boycott that leaves his own event without audio or video coverage.
- 2 (07:47) **Trump Defends Ban as Anti-"Fake News"** - Trump claims he's not assaulting free press but "fake news," which he calls a "cancer" and a "threat to national security."
- 3 (10:42) **Republicans Struggle to Defend the Ban** - Rep. Steve Scalise falsely claims Biden removed 400 press credentials, but is corrected that those were non-renewals, not bans.
- 4 (13:25) **Trump Launches "Trump TV" State Media** - The White House is launching its own official media channel to circumvent the press pool.
- 5 (15:35) **Pentagon's War on Press Backfires** - The Pentagon's strategy of banning critical reporters and instead courting influencers like Logan Paul has actually led to more honest reporting.
- 6 (20:12) **DraftKings Caught Targeting Addicts** - A whistleblower reveals DraftKings uses machine learning to identify and target "likely losers" with free bets and bonuses.
- 7 (22:20) **Sports Betting Epidemic Devastates Young Men** - A CBS profile shows a 29-year-old pest control salesman betting his entire $97,000 salary, losing $80-120k per year.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Krystal and Saagar discuss Trump media ban backfires, DraftKings caught exploiting gambling addicts, Anthropic AI wet lab exposed.
Kevin Roose: https://www.youtube.com/@machinegodspod
Alex Bores: https://www.alexbores.nyc/
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