Abdul El-Sayed cut deep when Jim Acosta asked him to respond to Donald Trump’s vile and false attacks, reviving an infamous campaign issue involving the size of certain bodily appendages.

A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR

Hey guys… there’s a new tool I am using more and more these days to check out the news. It’s called Ground News. Not only do they have all of the day’s news… they also provide ownership information about the media outlets reporting the headlines. Take a look!

Go to groundnews.com/acosta to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world.

Hot on the heels of El-Sayed’s victory speech warning about Islamophobia and racism that the GOP would be trotting ot against him, Trump dropped spectacularly disgusting smears during his speech in Las Vegas.

This guy -- this guy hates Jews.

Somebody said, Oh, that’s a little strong. No, he hates Jews and he hates Israel. Abdul El-Sayed.

...Abdul El-Sayed. Lovely gentleman. He’s a man of hate. And now he’s going around saying, No, I love everybody, I love -- he doesn’t love everybody. Put him in office, you’re going to find out what he loves. He doesn’t love Israel. He doesn’t love Jewish people. He hates them. He hates them with a passion that burns in his heart, and there’s not a fricking thing he can do about it. There’s not a thing he can do about it because he hates them.

Jim Acosta played that clip for El-Sayed during an exclusive interview on Friday’s show, and the candidate threw some jabs that are guaranteed to get under Trump’s skin.

Read more

Jim Acosta and former prosecutor Dave Aronberg roasted jailed MAGA hero Andrew Tate over his shift from self-proclaimed “Alpha male” to disgruntled Secure Housing Unit “Yelp” reviewer who has been abandoned by Donald Trump and his family.

We’ve been following developments and resurfacing disturbing connections to Donald Trump and his family since the arrests of Andrew and Tristan Tate last month.

When last we left the brothers, Andrew Tate was tweeting out a stream of bitter complaints about the conditions of his detention, and thanking the one guy who showed up to lend moral support outside the jail.

A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR:

Keep Your SSN Off The Dark Web

Every day, data brokers profit from your sensitive info—phone number, DOB, SSN—selling it to the highest bidder. And who’s buying it? Best case: companies target you with ads. Worst case: scammers and identity thieves. It’s time you check out Incogni. It scrubs your personal data from the web, confronting the world’s data brokers on your behalf. And unlike other services, Incogni helps remove your sensitive information from all broker types, including those tricky People Search Sites.

Try Incogni today and get 55% off annual plans with code JIM55.

Well, not much has changed; Tate is still in jail and still whining. A judge will decide by next week whether the Tates should remain in jail during the extradition process.

On Thursday’s show, Acosta asked Aronberg what he makes of Tate’s complaining, and they both mocked the MAGA tough guy-turned-sudden civil libertarian:

Read more

CNBC anchor Rick Santelli was blown away by a disastrous July jobs report that showed Trump’s economy not just missing the expected 85,000 or so jobs gain — but actually losing 23,000 jobs — and another hundred thousand in downward revisions.

On Friday morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a July jobs report that was a disaster for Trump:

Read more

Welcome to the Jim Acosta Morning Memo on another beautiful F*ck It Friday in the upside-down. Let’s hit it!

New Vocab Just Dropped: Punchbowl News just dropped a new interview with Trump that we haven’t picked through yet, but one thing that stood out was Trump’s description of the Federal Reserve Board.

At first, it seemed like maybe he was just eggcorning the word “fakakta” (and maybe he was), but it turns out “becocked” is an arcane and rarely-used word that means “shitty.”

That’s a sadly useful word these days.

Wiktionary reverse-engineered an etymology for the word after the first time Trump used it, in 2024. Shout out to Sam Youngman for jumping on that one.

Trump Makes It Weird:

Read more

Jim Acosta went off on Rand Paul, Donald Trump, the GOP Senate, and all the horses they rode in on over the despicable vote to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt.

After the release of his personal notes, Dr. Anthony Fauci testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last Wednesday in a farcical show trial led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).

Fauci invoked the 5th amendment, and Paul had his lawyer dragged out of the hearing room for responding to Paul’s threats.

But that wasn’t enough.

Read more

Maggie Haberman dropped a fascinating and telling detail into a deep dive in the press cabin aboard Bribe Force One, the Qatari-gifted plane at the center of multiple controversies. Reporters each get their own TV — that can either display Fox News or flight-related video.

Haberman is best known these days as the best-selling author of blockbusters that send Trump into tantrums and the dropper of scoops that set paranoid leak hunts in motion.

But she’s also a sometime pool reporter, a task that falls to the scribe only very occasionally. There’s a large press pool rotation and a sizable stable of New York Times White House reporters, so her name on the pool emails is a rare sight.

Haberman was the out-of-town pool reporter on Trump’s western swing this week, dropping useful and keen observations on things like the stepped-up security.

Read more

People noticed something… different about Donald Trump’s hair during his speech in Las Vegas on Wednesday night. What followed was a flood of viral mockery that would drive Trump to tears if it ever got past his “Human Printer.”

After a disastrous stop in Los Angeles the day before, Trump gave another absurd speech Wednesday night at the Red Rock Casino Resort Spa in Las Vegas.

There were dozens of consequential moments — the flood of lies, the naked racism, the worsening incoherence — but there was also the kind of trivia that has grown in importance in the Trump era. Like his ridiculous hair.

At the outset of the speech, video influencer Aaron Rupar posted a clip with a simple observation:

Read more

Welcome to the Jim Acosta Morning Memo on a late-summer Thursday that finds us in the middle of another racist GOP campaign that’s being led by the Racist-in-Chief.

Sorry for the delayed newsletter, but Jim Acosta had to jump on the air live to cover the despicable contempt vote against Dr. Anthony Fauci. Watch that here.

Trump’s Vicious Attack On El-Sayed: Hot on the heels of Abdul El-Sayed’s victory speech warning about the racist campaign that’s headed our way, Trump dropped spectacularly disgusting smears during a Las Vegas speech that thrilled his fans.

And the polls were wrong again last night, when they thought it would be a landslide victory for a hater of Jews and a hater of Israel. This guy -- this guy hates Jews.

Somebody said, Oh, that’s a little strong. No, he hates Jews and he hates Israel. Abdul El-Sayed.

...Abdul El-Sayed. Lovely gentleman. He’s a man of hate. And now he’s going around saying, No, I love everybody, I love -- he doesn’t love everybody. Put him in office, you’re going to find out what he loves. He doesn’t love Israel. He doesn’t love Jewish people. He hates them. He hates them with a passion that burns in his heart, and there’s not a fricking thing he can do about it. There’s not a thing he can do about it because he hates them.

...When I watch Abdul, he’s full of shit.

El-Sayed Claps Back: Kaitlan Collins played those attacks for the candidate Wednesday night, and he reacted with laughter at the over-the-top rant.

EL-SAYED: I'm glad he thinks I'm a lovely gentleman. A lot of people think so.

Look, this is the response that they have. You notice what he talked about. First, look at the background. It says, no tax on tips. The man can't stay on focus.

A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR:

Every day, data brokers profit from your sensitive info—phone number, DOB, SSN—selling it to the highest bidder. And who’s buying it? Best case: companies target you with ads. Worst case: scammers and identity thieves. It’s time you check out Incogni. It scrubs your personal data from the web, confronting the world’s data brokers on your behalf. And unlike other services, Incogni helps remove your sensitive information from all broker types, including those tricky People Search Sites.

Try Incogni today and get 55% off annual plans with code JIM55. I use it myself, and it’s a service that’s really important to me.

Trump Crowd Tells Trump To Hold Their Beer: One of the most viral moments from that speech came when another speaker mentioned Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Officer Austin Abdelnabi, who was killed in the line of duty a day earlier, and the crowd reflexively booed.

LOMBARDO: So I know the pastor spoke about Officer Abdelnabi--

TRUMP RALLY CROWD: *Boooooo*

LOMBARDO: No. We're not booing him. He's the officer that passed away here recently

Dum Shit:

Read more

Donald Trump had another bad cognitive day on Tuesday as he swung out west for a stop in Los Angeles in advance of another stop in Las Vegas on Wednesday, dropping a blizzard of lies and incoherence in public appearances that barely added up to 19 minutes.

Trump was already way ahead of his quota this week after a nearly-hourlong Monday photo op chock full of tantrums, lies, and cognitive misses.

He traveled to Trump National Golf Course in LA suburb Rancho Palos Verdes for a lavish closed-door Republican event, after which he spoke to Fox News and to reporters on his way out of town.

Read more

Epstein survivor advocate Lauren Hersh told Jim Acosta that she and the survivors have reached out to three holdout senators for meetings about Trump AG pick Todd Blanche — and have already arranged two while the third is pending.

Subscribe now

The Blanche saga took a predictable turn on Monday when Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) dropped their objections after Blanche offered them one signed fig leaf, and one unsigned fig leaf.

On Tuesday, Cornyn and Tillis joined 10 other Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to advance the nomination out of committee in a 12-10 party-line vote.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Cassidy (R-LA), and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) were all still undecided about Blanche as of Tuesday, in a confirmation vote that will come down to these 3 people.

Collins has since come out as a “no” vote, but when Hersh joined Acosta on Tuesday’s show, she revealed that —

Read more

Abdul El-Sayed came out swinging against Trump-backed opponent Mike Rogers during a speech following his primary victory in the race to replace Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI).

On Tuesday night, El-Sayed appeared to have won, but the race was so close that the NY Times and other holdouts took until Wednesday morning to call it for Abdul El-Sayed.

Read more

It’s time for the Jim Acosta Morning Memo on a muggy hump day that will feature another full-length Donald Trump cognitive test speech, this time in Vegas. Let’s roll the dice and get this JAMM-packed day going!

Raining On The Revolution: While some outlets still haven’t called it, Abdul El-Sayed appears to have won in Michigan. But to hear the media talk about it, this is a disaster for him because it was close. Update: The NY Times and other holdouts have now called it for Abdul El-Sayed.

But El-Sayed is saying the right things about uniting the party and focusing on MAGA Mike Rogers, and Haley Stevens and Mallory McMorrow are on board.

However much we might disagree with our Democratic opponent, there is so much more that unites us than divides us. Tomorrow, we begin to mend fences. Whatever happens tonight, we have a responsibility to unite and make sure Mike Rogers never sees the inside of the U.S. Senate.

Dementia Or Its Equivalent: Trump’s battle with coherence continued on Fox News, where he couldn’t summon the word for modern Tivo and got an assist from Trace Gallagher.

Trump: Sometimes I tape it and watch it but it's okay. I don't know what they call it today. They used to call it TiVo maybe they still do. But I love TiVo or its equivalent

Gallagher: DVR

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR…

Hey guys… there’s a new tool I am using more and more these days to check out the news. It’s called Ground News. Not only do they have all of the day’s news… they also provide ownership information about the media outlets reporting the headlines. Take a look!

Go to groundnews.com/acosta to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world.

Max Miller Trainwreck: Jake Tapper made the risky move of giving Miller a 23-minute platform to do that thing that accused abusers do, but executed the interview with the toughness that we wish Trump would get from a media that has blown big chances.

Meanwhile Trump: While Miller was sweating it out on CNN, Trump was still saying how badly he felt, not for the woman who had hot water thrown on her and the toddler who had her collarbone broken, but for Miller.

Speaker No Evil:

Read more

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR…

Hey guys… there’s a new tool I am using more and more these days to check out the news. It’s called Ground News. Not only do they have all of the day’s news… they also provide ownership information about the media outlets reporting the headlines. Take a look!

Go to groundnews.com/acosta to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world.

Get more from Jim Acosta in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Acting AG Todd Blanche cleared another hurdle on his quest for confirmation, but not before Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (R-RI) tore him to shreds ahead of the committee vote on Tuesday.

The Blanche saga took a predictable turn on Monday when Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) dropped their objections after Blanche offered them one signed fig leaf, and one unsigned fig leaf.

Trump is still pimping the fund and basking in IRS immunity, but Cornyn and Tillis nevertheless joined 10 other Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to advance the nomination to the full Senate in a 12-10 party-line vote.

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR…

Hey guys… there’s a new tool I am using more and more these days to check out the news. It’s called Ground News. Not only do they have all of the day’s news… they also provide ownership information about the media outlets reporting the headlines. Take a look!

Go to groundnews.com/acosta to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world.

But Democrats on the committee had their say, and Whitehouse came out swinging over the “sad and embarrassing” confirmation — and dropped a pile of receipts on Blanche in an epic 16-minute speech.

Read more

One of the most dispiriting themes in American politics was on display Monday (as it is nearly every day) when Donald Trump expelled a series of verbal feces, any one of which would have had President Joe Biden hounded from office.

As Jim Acosta likes to say, Monday was a day ending in “Y", which meant it was a day that featured an insane rambling Trump photo op that would soon blend in with every other day that ends in “Y.”

It churned out lots of soundbites that made the news, but does anyone ven know what the event was about? Why were all those people there behind him, and what were all those reporters there to witness?

Ostensibly, it was a signing ceremony for an executive order, but it was really just an excuse for Trump to hold court in the way that cinematic psychos like King Joffrey or Caligula did.

And hold court he did, for nearly an hour, not just churning out the kinds of gaffes that used to be fatal, but entire genres of gaffes. For those of us who watched President Joe Biden get hounded from office or Hillary Clinton get Sonny Corleoned, each over laserlike focus on a single issue, it’s maddening.

Read more

Dr. Peter Hotez smacked down HHS Secretary RFK Jr. over his remarks, during a trainwreck CNN interview, about the resurgence of measles.

Scott MacFarlane and Dr. Hotez joined Jim Acosta on Monday’s show, which produced some compelling moments.

We covered some of Dr. Hotez’s remarks in this morning’s JAMM, namely his reasons for refusing a chance to platform RFK Jr. on Joe Rogan’s show.

But Hotez had a lot more than that to say about the roadkill enthusiast at the helm of our nation’s health agencies.

In one exchange, Jim Acosta asked about that CNN interview, and Hotez didn’t hold back from eviscerating RFK over his insane campaign to make measles great again.

JIM ACOSTA: Going back to that RFK Jr. Interview on CNN, he was prodded by Dana Bash to say that parents should get their kids vaccinated for measles.

What’s been your response to the way measles has blown up in this country? We’re seeing more cases now than we’ve seen all century, and it’s the greatest number of measles cases we’ve recorded in a single year since 1991, if I’m seeing all the numbers correctly.

DR. PETER HOTEZ: Yeah, we’ve had over 2,000 cases last year, and we’ve already reached over 2 thousand this year. And so who knows, it could reach maybe 3,000 or more.

And the reason we have to be concerned is I’m worried about our losing our measles elimination status, which ironically, the CDC was the one who set the defining criteria back in 1999. And that’s terrible.

I mean, measles is a bad actor, right? 20% of kids require hospitalizations from measles pneumonia, measle encephalitis. We had two needless deaths among kids last year in West Texas because parents made the tragic decision not to vaccinate them.

And I think it’s true that Kennedy was confirmed as Health and Human Services Secretary after the first measles epidemic started in West, Texas.

But what does he do? He goes, makes these public announcements that’s filled with misinformation all during 2025.

He says, well, those 100 kids, 99 kids in Texas hospitals, they’re there not because they’re sick. They’re there because of quarantine and isolation.

No, they were there because they were sick with measles pneumonia, and measles encephylitis.

And then came this whole string of just kind of gish galloping he did with Dana Bash, you know, then he says, well, the MMR, the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine’s a leaky vaccine, whatever that means.

JIM ACOSTA: Yeah.

DR. PETER HOTEZ: Or, or then he says it declines in protective immunity 4% a year. Well, no, it declives in protective immunity, if anything, 0.04% per year. So it’s off by a factor of 100.

And then he says the vaccine is contaminated with aborted fetal remnants, which is absolute nonsense. It’s not true.

And then he repeats the whole stuff about vaccines causing autism. So that kind of stuff was the same nonsense he would say to me 10 years ago, but there was one important difference.

JIM ACOSTA: And he’s not convinced by the evidence if the research comes in he’s just not

DR. PETER HOTEZ: But the interesting new twist that I hadn’t heard from him before is when he says stuff like, or he proposes as a viable alternative, getting an infusion of supplements, vitamin A, B-desinide, and clarithromycin.

You’re scratching your head. Where’d that come from? And then you realize this is all the language of the health and wellness influencer industry. So he’s clearly bought into the rhetoric of that industry, which you know, works overtime to sell their ivermectin and their hydroxychloroquine and does nothing.

And there’s just the same kind of stuff. So this whole MAHA thing is very much connected to the wellness and influencer industry.

A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR:

Every day, data brokers profit from your sensitive info—phone number, DOB, SSN—selling it to the highest bidder. And who’s buying it? Best case: companies target you with ads. Worst case: scammers and identity thieves. It’s time you check out Incogni. It scrubs your personal data from the web, confronting the world’s data brokers on your behalf. And unlike other services, Incogni helps remove your sensitive information from all broker types, including those tricky People Search Sites.

Try Incogni today and get 55% off annual plans with code JIM55. I use it myself, and it’s a service that’s really important to me.

In another must-see exchange—

Read more