Latest news with #AkaashSingh
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Comedian podcaster says he's breaking free from Trump 'cult' after massive betrayal
Podcaster and comedian Andrew Schulz unleashed a viral rant against President Donald Trump for failing to release the 'list' of financier and convicted pedophile Jeffery Epstein's clients. Schulz and his co-host Akaash Singh kicked off their Flagrant podcast on Tuesday discussing the big scandal of the week: the administration's handling of the Epstein files. They compared their own experiences dealing with critics calling them 'idiots' and 'bad Americans' online and Trump's MAGA haters coming for him about his 'failed' Epstein promises. Earlier in the week, Schulz and his crew wore tin-foil hats on their show as they criticized the president's failure to keep his promises to release the Epstein list, get out of foreign wars and cut spending. Trump recently bombed Iran 's nuclear sites and also got his signature big, beautiful bill passed which is estimated to add $3.4 trillion to the national deficit. 'I voted for none of this. He is doing the exact opposite of everything I voted for. I want him to stop wars, he's funding them. I want him to shrink spending, reduce the budget, he's increasing it,' Schulz said. The comedian had hosted Trump on his podcast in October in the weeks leading to the election despite backlash at the time. But now he's admitting he's disappointed by Trump's actions in his second term. 'I wanted something different. I was hoping for some sort of change,' he said, but he then defied anyone who tried to recruit them in their political camp. 'I just want to let you all right now, I'm in neither one of your f**king cults if you want me to be in your cults you can go f**k all, I'm not a Dem cult, I'm not a Republican cult, I'm a free American I'll make my own f**king decisions, and I'll say what ever the f**k I want about whatever president is in power,' Schulz said. During the campaign, Schulz and his podcast crew went viral for their hilarious interview with Trump as he detailed how he used 'the weave' to respond to questions and revealed how he came up with snappy nicknames for his opponents. The pair of hosts mocked Democratic critics who accused them of helping the president win simply by sitting down with him for an interview during the campaign and 'humanizing' him. 'You just wanna take no accountability for the fact that you ran a dead guy and a woman that couldn't speak,' Schulz said, referring to former President Joe Biden and former vice president Kamala Harris respectively. Both hosts reminded their audience they were not surprised that a politician appeared on their show and did not keep his promises. Schulz said he wanted Trump to do three things, stop the endless wars, stop government spending into oblivion, and to release the Epstein files. 'If Trump did one of the things, yeah. We would've been happy,' he said. 'Unfortunately the only one he chose was the immigration one, the one we were not that enthusiastic about.' When they spoke with Trump during the campaign about their distaste for his promise to deport all illegal immigrants, Trump famously promised them he would start with criminals. Schulz said he did not regret his vote for Trump, but was disappointed with the results. 'Yeah. So he's done nothing on those fronts in terms of the promises he made us. But I don't regret it at all,' he said. 'I don't even regret voting for him at all. Because what you see is all these Democrats that are starting to take up the issues that he was the one campaigning on.' The hosts noted that the White House responded to Schulz by name in a statement to Fox News, and trumpeted their newfound influence. 'Andrew Schulz knows life is far better in President Trump's America than it would have been under a weak and incompetent President Harris. As a guest on the Flagrant podcast, millions of listeners heard the President lay out his vision for America, and many voted in support of it—that's exactly what President Trump is successfully executing. Name the issue, and the President is solving it. From the border to Biden's inflation to fostering world peace—the results speak for themselves,' White House spokesman Harrison Fields told Fox News Digital last week. 'It was the dumbest thing that the White House has ever done. I just wanna point that out, never respond to us,' Schulz joked. They joked that in the future, they would demand a statement from the White House every time they had something critical to say about Trump. 'Listen, something we say now, we expect an immediate response from the White House. Yeah. A precedent has been set. If we talk about the White House, they fu**ing respond,' Schulz laughed. Schulz welcomed former Obama White House aides Tommy Vietor and Jon Favreau from the podcast Pod Save America on the show to talk about politics, indicating it was more important than ever to talk to the other side of the political aisle. They also welcomed Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna on the show to talk about his proposed Congressional amendment that would release all of the redacted Epstein files. Schulz said he would continue to criticize political figures and say what he thought when it came to politics. 'When people fail us and fail us on the promises that they make, we should criticize them. Like what is the alternative? We just vote and then agree with every single thing that person does?' he asked. 'You know, so it's like, and you should hold the elected officials accountable. And we live in this like weird time where any measure to hold them accountable comes with immediate criticism.'
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Comedian Who Voted For Trump Blasts Him For ‘Doing The Exact Opposite' Of His Campaign Promises
Comedian and podcaster Andrew Schulz turned on President Donald Trump Thursday, lashing out at promises the president has failed to fulfill since returning to the White House, saying he 'voted for none of this.' 'He's doing the exact opposite of everything I voted for. I want him to stop the wars. He's funding them. I want him to shrink spending, reduce the budget. He's increasing it,' Schulz said on his podcast, 'Flagrant.' Schulz, who has amassed nearly 2 million subscribers on YouTube, hosted the president on his show last year in the lead-up to the presidential election; during their interview he burst into laughter after Trump called himself 'basically a truthful person.' Trump: I'm basically a truthful personPodcaster: *bursts out laughing at him* — Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 9, 2024 Schulz told The New York Times in an interview published last month that his vote for Trump was 'against a Democratic institution' he felt 'was stripping the democratic process from its constituents.' He went on to say that, going into the Trump interview, he specifically wanted to address three topics with the candidate: making sure access to in vitro fertilization was protected, having 'empathy' for law-abiding undocumented migrants, and ending foreign wars. Months after casting his vote for Trump, Schulz tore into the president in Thursday's episode in front of his co-hosts, comedians Akaash Singh and Mark Gagnon and media producer AlexxMedia. 'There'll be people that they'll DM me and be like, 'You see what your boy's doing? You voted for this.' I'm like, 'I voted for none of this,'' Schulz said. The conversation moved on to Trump's immigration policy, where Singh questioned the president's promise of focusing on undocumented immigrants who committed criminal offenses. 'I don't even know if the criminals are getting sent back. I know there's a lot of people with green cards getting sent back. There's people who aren't criminals getting sent back,' Singh said, emphasizing that 'nothing has happened.' At one point, Schulz expressed frustration with Trump's unfulfilled promise to release files related to convicted child sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein, stating 'it's insulting our intelligence.' 'Like, obviously the intelligence community is trying to cover it up. Obviously the Trump administration is trying to cover up,' Schulz claimed. 'Something changed because they ran on this idea of exposing it all.' Some argued that Trump's appearance last year on Schulz's podcast and others like it that draw large audiences of young men helped the president reach younger male voters and win the election. The comedian has recently hosted more left-leaning figures on the show, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who warned of not taking Trump's promises seriously. 'To me, like most of the stuff he said he was going to do, he didn't actually do,' Buttigieg said in April. 'He didn't do the big infrastructure bill he talked about. [The Biden administration] actually did it. He didn't even build the wall.' Brazil Vows Retaliatory Tariffs Against The U.S. If Trump Follows Through On Tariff Threat State Department Is Laying Off Over 1,300 Staffers Under Trump Administration Plan Karoline Leavitt's 'Delusional And Absurd' New Trump Claim Mocked By Left And Right
Fox News
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Sanders knocks Democrat establishment's strategic use of 'identity politics' to vilify Bernie bros, podcasters
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., compared the Democratic establishment for demonizing his supporters in the 2016 election to how male podcasters are being vilified today. Sanders spoke to Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh of the "Flagrant" podcast on Monday, agreeing that the Democratic Party has robbed their constituents of their right to participate in the democratic process. After discussing how the 2016 primary nomination was stolen from Sanders for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Schulz asked, "Could we not also say, ostensibly, there hasn't been a fair primary for the Democrats since 2008, are they not also a threat to democracy?" he asked. "Yes," Sanders replied. But another key element about the 2016 election was how Sanders' supporters, then referred to as "Bernie bros," were condemned by the Democratic establishment and the media in 2016. Singh recalled claims that they "have a racism problem, a misogyny problem," and asked, "do you think that's a super PAC thing behind that?" "That was the Democratic establishment," Sanders replied, arguing he had a diverse grassroots base. "They were sitting there - We had a lot of young people, we had people-of-color and, you know, they create this kind of myth with the help of the corporate media and all that stuff." "You know it's kind of interesting, to that note, is during this election, the podcast space which the Democrats largely avoided, they feel had some influence in the election and um they started to label us 'the podcast bros' and said that we were sexist, and we were racist and bigoted," Schulz recalled. "It's almost like it's the exact same strategy to get you out of there." "Yeah," Sanders replied, agreeing that's what the "liberal elite" does. The Vermont senator went on to argue that there is a clear distinction between working against "all forms of bigotry" versus engaging in "identity politics." "'You're Black? You're wonderful, you're tremendous. You're gay? You're the greatest human being on Earth,'" Sanders said, criticizing the identity politics. Sanders argued advocates of identity politics are failing to ask the real question, "'What do you stand for?' You're gay? That's fine, who cares? But what do you stand for?" Sanders continued, "You know, is every gay person brilliant and wonderful and great? No, of course not. Everybody's a human being. So the issue is 'What you stand for?' which gets you back to what we discussed earlier. Class politics, in the sense of 'Which side are you on?' Are you going to stand with working families? Are you going to raise the minimum wage to a living wage or not? Are you going to guarantee - fight to guarantee - healthcare to all people or not? Are you going to demand that the wealthiest people stop paying their fair share of taxes or not? Those are the issues, and no one cares what color you are, you know, what your gender is etc. etc."
Fox News
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Bernie Sanders agrees Democratic Party is 'threat to democracy,' removed process from its constituents
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., agreed with comedians Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh on Monday, who argued that the Democratic Party has completely robbed their constituents of the democratic process and that the party is a threat to democracy. "Over the last four elections, Democrats, we felt that we didn't have a say on who could be president," Schulz said on his "Flagrant" podcast. "We talk a lot about the Republicans being autocrats and oligarchs and taking over democracy. But from the Democrat perspective, and I'm a lifelong Democrat, I felt like the Democratic Party completely removed the democratic process from its constituents. And I think they need to have some accountability of that." The progressive senator agreed, adding, "no argument here." The Vermont senator has been touring the country with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., for their "Fighting Oligarchy" tour that's drawn large crowds. Schulz said he felt the party stole the nomination from Sanders in 2016, when he narrowly lost the Democratic primary to establishment favorite Hillary Clinton, who went on to lose to Donald Trump. "And I'll be honest, it broke my heart when you supported them," Schulz told Sanders. "In the world that I live in, you've got a choice. And I know a lot of people, including my wife, agree with you, but you're down to a choice," Sanders said. "Is it going to be Hillary Clinton? Or is it going to be Donald Trump? Not a great choice." Singh posed another question to Sanders about the Democratic Party being a threat to democracy. "Could we not also say, ostensibly, there hasn't been a fair primary for the Democrats since 2008, are they not also a threat to democracy?" he asked. Sanders replied, "yes." "Fair enough," he added. "I'm not going to argue with that point. And that's why I'm proudly an Independent."
Time Out Dubai
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out Dubai
Dubai Comedy Festival 2025 lineup revealed
The Dubai Comedy Festival is back and bigger than ever for its 2025 edition. Running for the fifth year, the lineup for the stand-up whirlwind has now been revealed and you're in for a treat. Running from Thursday October 2 to Sunday October 12, the festival will see jokesters giving their best performances at both the Dubai Opera and the Coca-Cola Arena. If you like this: The best places in Dubai to find non-cringe comedy Choosing comedians from around the world, you're guaranteed a laugh whether you prefer your jokes in English, Hindi or Arabic. Tickets are now on sale, so if you're wondering which dates to schedule in the diary for a night full of laughs, check out the first headliners to be announced below. Dubai Comedy Festival 2025 lineup October 2: Tom Segura (Credit: Supplied) A previous hit at Dubai Comedy Fest, the American stand-up artist will be returning with his global tour Tom Segura: Come Together, that has so far been a huge hit across Asia and North America. Want to get a flavour of what to expect? Check out his Netflix specials Ball Hog and Mostly Stories. From Dhs295. Thu Oct 2, from 6.30pm. Coca-Cola Arena, October 5: Omid Djalili (Credit: Supplied) The British-Persian funnyman takes the stage at Dubai Opera on Sunday October 5 in a show presented by DXB Live. Voted as the 60th best stand-up comedian by the British public, the show, Namaste, is a hilarious take on the absurd state of the world, so get ready for some serious belly laughs at this one. From Dhs195. Sun Oct 5, from 5.30pm. Dubai Opera, October 5: Akaash Singh (Credit: Supplied) American comedian, podcaster, and actor Akaash Singh is coming Dubai Opera for an evening of non-stop giggles. Getting crowds laughing both onstage and from his podcast, his opinions will leave you in stitches. From Dhs195. Sun Oct 5, from 8.30pm, Dubai Opera, October 6: Morgan Jay (Credit: Supplied) You might recognise this LA star from his appearances on MTV, or from the real-life version of Ratatouille (yes, really). Jay knows how to hold the stage, so expect hilarious interactions, a good helping of banter and even singing (don't worry, the autotune is very forgiving). From Dhs250. Mon Oct 6, from 9pm. Dubai Opera, October 7: Joanne McNally (Credit: Supplied) The Irish comedian definitely has the gift of the gab. A primetime TV favourite, the star last got crowds laughing in Dubai in 2023, when she performed a sell-out show with Vogue Williams. This year, she's flying solo with her (definitely) unfiltered take on life, and it'll have you in stitches. From Dhs195. Tue Oct 7, from 6pm. Dubai Opera, October 11: John Achkar (Credit: Supplied) John first made waves with Stand-Up Baladi—the first Lebanese stand-up comedy series in Arabic, and is always a crowd favourite at the Dubai Comedy Festival. Expect fresh material and some very witty skits that will more than impressed. From Dhs175. Sat Oct 11, from 8.30pm. Dubai Opera, October 12: Zakir Khan (Credit: Supplied) The popular Indian comedian, is back on the road with a brand new show ,ready to tickle the funny bones of Dubai audiences once again. Keeping audiences laughing at the Dubai Comedy Festival in 2024, his 2025 set (all in Hindi) is expected to do the exact same. From Dhs195. Sun Oct 12, from 6.30pm. Coca-Cola Arena, In other Dubai news The unbelievably cool Dubai hotels launching in 2025 and beyond From sky-high pools to private islands 8 major Emirates updates that could impact your next holiday Key updates you need to know UAE public holiday dates 2025 revealed: All the days off this year The important dates to know
