The Trawl ladies are dismayed to learn that worldwide Joe Rogan has three billion listeners. His is the most popular podcast in the world which is why it's rather disturbing to hear him saying that Musk isn't doing anything for the money.....

Fortunately, plenty of other people, aren't as impressed and a clip of former governor Michael Steele, who was also chair of the Republican National Committee, losing his temper MSNBC is blistering and somewhat reassuring given the fact he's a Republican.

Then we head to the Oval Office to discuss what happened when Musk's toddler started mouthing things at Trump. The ladies discuss.

That scene was fascinating but perhaps more known about than the dialogue on X between Musk and someone called Ashley St Clair who claims Musk is the father of the child. The Trawl have the screengrabs, which is good because they were mysteriously deleted. Almost like someone at X didn't like them.

There's more Musk scandal due to the fact that DOGE have published ultra classified information on their website only with no apparent repercussions while Trump spends his valuable time bullying Romania into releasing Andrew Tate. Good to see they have their priorities straight.

There are under rated tweets as ever and pudding is by the wonderful Cody Dahler.

Enjoy!

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Created and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina Purkiss

Edited by Max Carrey

Just occasionally, social media can deliver something really heart warming and Jemma and Marina were moved by the fact that Jamie Theakston's listeners at Heart FM cared enough to make him see a doctor when they noticed his voice had changed. As a result he received a cancer diagnosis and fortunately now has been given the all clear. His words are really worth listening to.

And the BAFTA for best presenter goes to.....David Tennant for making not one, not two but three Trump jokes during his monologue at the start of the BAFTAS, though only one made the final cut on the BBC and some of the backlash on socials was intense to say the least.

You'd think people would save their vitriol for the speech JD Vance made during which he insulted Europe and singled out the UK for a punch or two too. So much for that 'special relationship.' Vance claimed that over here 'free speech is in retreat' which is interesting given the US have just banned a children's book by Julianne Moore about a girl who has freckles.

Marina and Jemma give a full fash chart rundown, literally to the Top of the Pops music and consider what could happen if Europe stand firm against the US.

Pudding is sung by Martin Kerr

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Created and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina Purkiss

Edited by Max Carrey

The sun came out in Britain for about five minutes so Marina and Jemma thought they'd better begin this episode with that incredible news. Maybe blue sky (not the social media platform) will take the edge of the new world order?

But first, seeing as the news is borderline dystopian and jaw-droppingly surreal, it's only natural that the BBC should be focusing on Rachel Reeves' LinkedIn and whether or not she put £49 on expenses 100 years ago. TOTALLY NORMAL COUNTRY.

Meanwhile, Trump appears to be blaming Ukraine for the fact that Russia invaded them. Worse than that, he's not just a Putin apologist, he's a fan. A fascinating clip of Former Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Turnbull on what he observed in-person when Trump met Putin illustrates this perfectly.

Sadly, in the UK we have our own apologists, none more so ill-informed than Richard Tice who was taken to task by Julia Hartley Brewer for comparing the situation to Northern Ireland. Trump's appeasement has put Boris Johnson in a bind. How do you support Trump and Zelensky at the same time? You can only do so if you have zero integrity. So he manages perfectly fine.

Pudding is served by comedian Will Sebag Montefiore.

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Created and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina Purkiss.

Love, positivity, drama, scandal, horror, and chaos, it's all in the air during this episode of The Trawl. Marina has a theory. She suspects that Jemma had a lot of stuff bookmarked that wasn't appropriate for normal Trawls so has decided to do a Valentine's ep so she can sandwich it in. She might be right...

The Trawl ladies kick off with some reasons to be cheerful and reminders that whilst it might not feel like given the political hellscape, the world is full of wonderful people. Not just power hungry billionaires and authoritarian leaders. It's a timely reminder.

Then the Trawl takes a musical turn because social media has been dominated by the off- pitch shenanigans at the Superbowl. Taylor Swift was in the audience watching her partner play and got booed by MAGA. Trump (and this will amaze you) reacted like a petulant toddler with the maturity of a gnat. Meanwhile rapper Kendrick Lamar was on stage making all sorts of pointed references to frenemy Drake. in fact it's fair to say the football probably didn't receive as much speculation as his performance did.

Then Marina and Jemma briefly discuss Kanye West's disgusting Twitter tirades and his odd appearance on the red carpet at The Grammy's with girlfriend Bianca Censori who was naked in a way that wasn't entirely comfortable for onlookers. It probably wasn't entirely comfortable for her either. Definitely chilly.

And then Jemma leads a valentine's section,, on her own. She explains why but don't worry, the Trawl ladies haven't split. They'll be back together for the whole of the next ep.

Pudding is full of love - enjoy!

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Created and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina Purkiss

Marina has been feeling particularly overwhelmed by the news cycle lately so Jemma insists on joining in the UK conversation about identifying as llamas. Labour MP, Andrew Gwynne, has been fired for writing dodgy WhatsApps and his replacement tweeted (years ago) something about not caring if people want to identify as llamas. Cue right wing meltdowns from the usual suspects. Still, thankfully Lee Anderson is on hand to explain what a llama is in case his followers weren't sure.

Sadly the trawl ladies have to take the plunge and head to the US where Trump and Musk are doing their level best to dismantle democracy. Musk is refusing court orders and wants to get rid of any judges he doesn't agree with. Bit fashy, no? Trump is disbanding taskforces who were in charge of targeting oligarchs and brilliant journalist, Carole Cadwalladr has described what's happening as a digital coup. Still, Truss is delighted that Trump is bringing back plastic straws, so someone's happy.

There's a string of other travesties to discuss, including the latest disgusting rhetoric on Gaza and a pleasing clip which demonstrates Trump's thin skinned response to Musk being on the front of Time Magazine.

There are under rated tweets of course and pudding is from comedian, Reed Galen. Enjoy!

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Created and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina Purkiss

Marina and Jemma open with a flicker of good news, before putting on their waders to get stuck into the latest political developments stateside...

They revisit the ugly fallout from the two fatal air disasters, Trump's inane ramblings and the insanity of blaming diversity, equity and inclusion before turning their attention to the latest monstrosity to fall out of Trump's mouth when discussing his intentions for Gaza - or what he is now referring to as 'The Riviera of the Middle East'.

There's some brief chat around Marina watching CGI videos of mega prisons in El Salvador (which will become clear once you listen ) before the conversation moves to deportations and how the White House chose to, in an act of rank immaturity and unprofessionalism, single out actress Selena Gomez.

We finish off with the constitutional crisis facing America as Musk and his allies infiltrate Government departments and cut off life-saving aid, and the undeniable reality of the richest man on earth taking away support from the very poorest, and how somehow the Trump-evangelicals will still find a way to wrap their warped minds around that...

Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcast

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Created and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina Purkiss

Edited by Max Carrey

Jemma and Marina open with a nod to the five year Brexit anniversary, sharing details from all the wonderful celebratory street parties and endless Brexit benefits... Except they didn't, as they were and are none, as even GB News found out.

There's some chat around Starmer's trip to the EU and what it means before moving swiftly on to another country that is stupid enough to wage tariff wars with its closest trading partners - hello Trump's US.

The ladies discuss the caving of Trump on his threat to apply 25% tariffs to Canada and Mexico, while observing that actually all world leaders need to do is make Trump think he's had a victory, instead of actually letting him have one.

Meanwhile China, the real adversary, gets a 10% tariff applied which prompts a tweet from Marina that attracted MAGA trolls telling her to 'cry harder'.

We wrap up with some highlights include the revoking of a church license from everyone's least favourite priest and a delightful US election-themed pudding.

Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcast

Patreon

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BlueSky

https://bsky.app/profile/thetrawl.bsky.social

Created and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina Purkiss

Edited by Max Carrey

It’s the podcast that trawls social media so you don’t have to. Join political commentator Marina Purkiss and broadcaster Jemma Forte to find the most interesting, hilarious and sometimes ridiculous takes of the week’s trending news. Here’s a segment from some of their recent episodes on Trump ‘saving’ TikTok (and why we should be very worried) and whether Labour have just become Tories 2.0? Listen to The Trawl wherever you find your podcasts.