CNN anchor Jim Acosta laughed out loud at ex-Trump aide David Urban as he claimed President-elect Donald Trump has nothing to do with Project 2025.

Trump spent months not just distancing himself from Project 2025, but deriding the notion he would have anything to do with it after the policy document became politically toxic during the presidential election.

But many found those protests at odds with the facts during the campaign, and now that Trump is assembling a cabinet and team of advisers, the plan is in the news again.

On Wednesday’s edition of CNN Newsroom With Jim Acosta, Acosta pointed out that prominent Trump picks Thomas Homan, Brendan Carr, and Russ Vought all helped co-author Project 2025.

When Urban stuck to his guns about Trump not being involved or influenced, Acosta derided him:

JIM ACOSTA: David. That was all B.S., wasn’t it? That I had nothing to do with Project 2025?

DAVID URBAN: I had firsthand discussions with the president, literally asked him about it. I talked to him about it directly. And and he hadn’t read it. He didn’t know about it.

Are there people– it’s a huge document. Are there certain people that worked on it? Yeah, Those people have been in the administration before.

Brendan Carr’s FCC commissioner, Tom Homan, was in the administration. Russ Vought was the administration? They they offered chapters. They offered insight into it and they put things in it. That didn’t mean that Donald Trump had his hand in drafting it all.

JIM ACOSTA: I’m not saying that Donald Trump had a hand. He was sitting there writing it with his Sharpie or whatever. But I mean, he is implementing parts of–.

DAVID URBAN: (CROSSTALK)

JIM ACOSTA: He’s using the people who were writing the chapters on Project 2025. Is it I mean, isn’t it time to admit the jig is up?

DAVID URBAN: No, no! (BUZZER SOUND EFFECT).

JIM ACOSTA: This is going to be a Project 25 administration, right?

DAVID URBAN: And No, no, because a lot of those things are just basic core tenets of the Republican Party, it’s been in the platform for the Republican Party for years. A lot of the project 2025 pieces of it. Right. Getting rid of the part of education, downsizing government, doing certain things. That’s been a part of the Republican Party for a long time.

Just because it happens to be in this document doesn’t mean that now we’re wholesale embracing the document.

JIM ACOSTA: I would encourage our viewers to go. I mean, you can go online and look this up. I mean, it’s if you go through the authors of the various parts of Project 2025, it’s a who’s who. And now he is selecting people from that who’s who to to be in his administration.

DAVID URBAN: It doesn’t mean you’re taking that doesn’t mean you’re taking the document and use it as the blueprint for how the government is going to run. Completely. Two separate things, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA: Probably 2025 talks about tearing down the administrative state. Firing federal employees en masse–

DAVID URBAN: Yeah, exactly. But that’s but those are– Yeah, but those are the things that have been part of the Republican platform for years, not just a part of Project 2025. They just happened to be in this document moving forward.

JIM ACOSTA: So when Trump was out there saying, I have nothing to do with this, I know he he.

DAVID URBAN: He he he didn’t.

JIM ACOSTA: Really?

DAVID URBAN: He didn’t. I’m telling you, I talked to him several times about it.

JIM ACOSTA: It’s a Wednesday. I could use a good laugh and I just got one.

DAVID URBAN: Come on.

Watch above via CNN Newsroom With Jim Acosta.

I never imagined that as I grew older and more mature, I would develop into someone with a "favorite vacuum," but that's where I'm at. I am loyal to Bissell. In a world where vacuums from companies like Dyson and Shark can inexplicably cost over $500, Bissell provides more accessible price points without compromising on quality; every Bissell I've ever had has had intense suction power, innovative features, and a solid user experience. And ahead of Black Friday, a bunch of them are on sale at Amazon. If nothing says "I'm an adult" more than having a vacuum-brand preference, waiting to get a new one until you can save some cash is a close second.

Early Black Friday deals on Bissell vacuums

These are some of the Bissell vacuums you can grab at a steep discount right now.

BISSELL CrossWave OmniFind Cordless Multi-Surface Hard Floor Cleaner Wet Dry Vacuum with FurFinder Headlights

$199.99 at Amazon

$299.99 Save $100.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$199.99 at Amazon

$299.99 Save $100.00

BISSELL Cleanview Compact Upright Vacuum

$49.99 at Amazon

$59.99 Save $10.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$49.99 at Amazon

$59.99 Save $10.00

Bissell Little Green Pro

$119.99 at Amazon

$164.79 Save $44.80

Get Deal

Get Deal

$119.99 at Amazon

$164.79 Save $44.80

Bissell Little Green Machine

$81.49 at Amazon

$123.59 Save $42.10

Get Deal

Get Deal

$81.49 at Amazon

$123.59 Save $42.10

BISSELL TurboClean Pet XL Upright Carpet Cleaner, Upholstery Tough Stain Tool & Formula included, 3746

$149.99 at Amazon

$169.99 Save $20.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$149.99 at Amazon

$169.99 Save $20.00

SEE 2 MORE

CrossWave OmniFind Wet/Dry vacuum

I'm a well-documented fan of the CrossWave OmniForce, but the CrossWave OmniFind is very similar and, ahead of Black Friday, about $30 cheaper than the OmniForce. Right now, it's $199.99 and, like the OmniForce, is a wet/dry machine, meaning that both dry and wet messes are no issue here. This one is more tailored to pet hair and even includes lights designed to identify it so you can suck it up faster.

Cleanview Compact Upright

In my journey to becoming a Bissell loyalist, I learned a lesson: Even the cheapest options are still great vacuums. I'll never forsake my $33 Featherweight, but if you want a little bit more than that, the Cleanview Compact Upright is on sale for just $49.99. It features an extension wand and a brush attachment, has a larger capacity than my beloved Featherweight, and still weighs less than eight pounds. It's a perfect middle-ground machine.

Little Green Pro

The Little Green Pro (which is not always green, for the record, and can also go by the name SpotClean Pro) is a compact, portable machine that is ideal for small messes or detailing, especially in your car. It looks like a tiny shop vac, which makes it great for hauling around, setting down, and using with its extendable hose. It's a pet-focused stain remover that combines scrubbing and suction with a powerful cleaning solution to extract stains and dirt—and right now, it's $119.99.

Little Green Machine

The Little Green Machine is just $81.49 right now, which is good news for anyone who has seen seen it all over social media. This widely loved machine is very small, comes with a crevice tool and other accessories, and also uses powerful cleaning solutions to quickly detail and clean small spaces.

TurboClean Pet XL

Those little machines are great, but if you need a heavier-duty carpet cleaner, the TurboClean Pet XL might be your best option—and at $149.99, it's priced right at the moment. It has a 10-inch cleaning path and a gallon tank, both designed to help you clean more, clean faster, and clean longer. With four rows of brushes, it's helpful for pet owners who need to tackle stains and dander-related allergens, but even if you don't have a dog and just want your carpets cleaned, this is a worthwhile investment.

AP Photo/Alex Brandon File

It is the single greatest tell that a commentator has nothing of value to offer the public.

What is? Any complaint about or advisement against “normalizing” Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States who will soon serve as the 47th.

The Trump era has given way to many tropes, and nearly all of them are boring, useless, misleading, or some combination of the three. How many times have Americans heard that “the walls are closing in” on ole’ Donny Trump? Or that the Russians have kompromat on him? Or heard the preposterous defense that his only vice is his “mean tweets”?

Yet among all of these inanities, it is the pearl-clutching about “normalizing” the president-elect that stands out.

On Monday, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski’s announcement that they had met with Trump over the weekend set off a fresh round of howls.

“Normalizing Trump is a bad idea,” declared the Scarborough and Brzezinski’s MSNBC colleague Katie Phang in a not-so-subtle shot at them.

“Period,” she added in an attempt at a rhetorical flourish.

Former Republican congressman Joe Walsh — who once threatened to grab his “musket” if Trump lost the 2016 election — put on his dunce cap Tuesday morning when he tweeted “Good morning. Do. Not. Normalize. Him. Resist. Have a wonderful day.”

If anyone in your own life talked this way, you’d have them committed.

Donald Trump is one of the most famous people to ever live. Long before he embarked upon his political career, he became one of the most famous people in the world’s most famous city, dominating the tabloids and establishing himself as a symbol of American wealth.

He parlayed that status into a career as the star of one of America’s most famous television shows and then a political platform.

Then he won a presidential election, served as commander-in-chief for four years, narrowly lost his reelection bid, and then won again four years later.

He has a cameo in Home Alone 2.

He’s hosted Saturday Night Live twice.

Almost everyone on Earth has an opinion about him.

So when anyone embarks upon a ham-handed lecture about “normalizing” about the man, the first thing one should do is make sure they’re not suffering from a stroke. But if they’re not, the next most proper course of action is to ruthlessly and relentlessly mock them until they either apologize or go into exile.

If you’re looking for an example of what your rebuke should look like, consider James Downey’s admonition of Adam Sandler’s titular character in Billy Madison: “…what you have just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”

The purpose for such acerbity is not merely to punish the foolish, but to serve as a wake-up call for the ideologically homogenous American press.

Donald Trump has dominated American politics for the better part of a decade in no small part because he has a better idea of what sounds normal to the average voter than the likes of Phang and Walsh.

A border wall is a sensible solution to illegal immigration. Most who do cross illegally should be deported. Biological sex is not a social construct. America should not hamstring its energy industry.

All of these truths that seem self-evident to others, yet vast swathes of the Fourth Estate treat them as not just abnormal, but unthinkable.

Of course, none of this is a defense of Trump’s character. He is self-evidently unfit for office and his occupation of it over the next four years will doubtlessly be the cause of many bad things for the country.

But any and all whining about his being normalized isn’t just silly, it’s so disconnected from reality as to disqualify those responsible for it from being taken seriously.

Spirit Airlines, a business so well-known for being cheap that it's fodder for memes, announced Monday that it's filing for bankruptcy. Spirit plans to operate business as usual as it begins to work on its $3.1 billion in long-term debt, according to previous filings.

But if you having upcoming holiday travel that depends on a Spirit booking, or Spirit points you've been planning to redeem, it's natural to be a little concerned. Here's what you need to know.

Why did Spirit file for bankruptcy?

Chapter 11 bankruptcy is not a death sentence for an airline. Unlike complete liquidation, this type of bankruptcy allows Spirit to:

• Restructure its financial obligations

• Continue operating during the bankruptcy process

• Potentially emerge as a more financially stable company

There's plenty of historical precedent on this. Major airlines that have successfully navigated Chapter 11 bankruptcy include American Airlines in 2011, Delta Air Lines in 2005, and United Airlines in 2002.

What does this mean for you?

The good news is that your current flight plans are likely unaffected. Spirit has explicitly stated that it expects to continue normal operations throughout the bankruptcy process, both honoring existing tickets and allowing customers to continue booking new flights. In the same vein, you can continue to earn and use points as you normally would. “Guests can continue to book and fly without interruption and can use all tickets, credits and loyalty points as normal,” the airline said in a release.

What else you can do

To protect yourself during this uncertain period:

• Monitor your flight itinerary closely.

• Check Spirit's official communications regularly.

• Have a backup travel plan, if possible.

• Consider travel insurance for future bookings.

Remember, many airlines have successfully emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, continuing to serve millions of passengers. While uncertainty exists, there's no immediate need for panic.

Food, clothes, home goods: If you can buy it, chances are there’s a Black Friday deal being advertised for it. But just because you’re snagging something with a so-called Black Friday markdown doesn’t mean you’re actually getting the best deal in the long run. With electronics in particular, that fresh price tag might mean getting tricked into buying a cheaper model of the thing you actually want. Here’s how to avoid misleading Black Friday “deals” and make sure you’re getting the best bang for your buck.

How to tell if a Black Friday sale is a good deal

When you see a clothing item or kid’s toy with a big ol’ Black Friday tag slapped on it, it makes sense to take advantage of that deal. Chances are it is the same exact product you'd find on other days of the year. The same can’t be said for a TV, though. Stores often take cheaper, shoddier versions of the same electronics and mix them in with the legit offers. You might end up purchasing a Black Friday “deal” that actually has inferior components.

So sure, you can go with the cheaper TV on Black Friday, but think about the value of what you’re buying. As the Motley Fool puts it, “You may be better off spending $1,200 on a TV that lasts for eight years versus an $800 Black Friday special that only lasts half as long.”

In order to avoid a low-key scam, you should do your research. The easiest way to tell that you’re getting the correct product is by checking the model or serial number. And with online shopping, finding and double-checking those numbers is quick and easy.

On that note, when it comes to electronics, you might be better off holding off a bit; according to CBS News, it could pay to wait for the five-day span between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, when electronics could be discounted by as much as 30%. Then again, you risk more “out-of-stock” results if you wait, so the risk is up to you, depending on the popularity of the item you’re eyeing (and how badly you want it).

At the end of the day, retailers are selling items at a price point that still benefits them over you. Don’t fall victim to a falsely-advertised lower-quality product, and make the most of holiday deals by doing a little research ahead of time.

Co-hosts of ABC’s The View carefully navigated their differing opinions on whether Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski’s weekend trip to Mar-a-Lago constituted an olive branch or naked opportunism.

The Morning Joe hosts said on MSNBC Monday that they hoped their visit to President-Elect Donald Trump’s Palm Beach estate would help to “restart communications” between the media and his new administration. It was a far cry from Brzezinski’s tearful pre-election appearance on The View when she warned of the country’s “descent into fascism” if Trump re-took the White House.

On Monday, Ana Navarro declared, “I will never sit with him,” before continuing:

I think there’s a lot of people who are probably looking at what Joe and Mika did and find it opportunistic. There are people who change their stripes, or maybe their spots, I should say, today, depending on who is in power and what benefits them. I don’t know that that’s what they are doing, and to me, it’s a to-be-determined situation, because right now, it’s the transition. We don’t know what he’s going to do as president. We don’t know what they’re going to do if he commits abuses of power as president. So, you know, everybody has to live with their decision. Everybody has to look at themselves in the mirror. I’m good.

Co-hosts Sara Haines and Alyssa Farah Griffin said they believed the Morning Joe hosts “absolutely” made “the right decision” to talk with Trump.

“You have the conversations or nothing happens,” Haines said of opening the dialogue.

Griffin added, “I don’t think this is opportunistic, but I think they recognize that 75 million people voted for this guy. He will be in power, short of something like an impeachment, for the next four years.”

Sunny Hostin remained adamant that Trump can’t be trusted.

“I don’t think you need to sit down for 90 minutes at Mar-a-Lago and kiss his ring to be able to speak truth and to be able to cover a story,” Hostin said. “So maybe they’re not journalists in the true sense. Maybe they’re saying that they’re opinion journalists, but we have to remember that Trump is the guy who ushered in the era of fake news.”

“I’m going to wait and see what I’m dealing with, as I’ve said since the election, because I don’t know,” Whoopi Goldberg declared. “I’m going to wait. I’m going to have some popcorn, and when I have something to say, I will say it.”

Watch the clip above via The View on ABC.

Are you cooking for Thanksgiving? Me neither! The idea of spending a day stuffing your face with friends and family is appealing, but to so many of us, the prospect of having to prepare all that food first is utterly crushing.

We can’t all be kitchen wizards, which is why many restaurants have started selling entire Thanksgiving meals you can bring home and serve like you spent all day in the kitchen. Whether you need the full shebang or a few sides to round out your homemade offerings, here are eight national chains where you can pick up your holiday fare this year. 

If you’re feeding a bunch of people for Thanksgiving 2024

If you need a whole meal, don’t feel overwhelmed. You have options.

• Denny’s is offering a "Turkey Bundle" for 2024. For $54.99, you get enough carved turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry sauce for four people—plus you get to choose an additional side. You can order it between Friday, Nov. 22 and Wednesday, Nov. 27, but you must do so at least 24 hours in advance of when you want to pick it up.

• Cracker Barrel is going all in on heat-and-serve meals for 2024, with varying price levels and offerings for everyone. For $184.99, for instance, you can enough turkey, casserole, pie, and more to feed between eight and 10 people. (Feeding four to six is $119.99.) These choices are available between Nov. 23 and Dec. 1, though there are others available at different intervals throughout the holiday season, so you can make sure your next two months of hosting go smoothly. Check out the site for details on the meals and options available (and don't pass up the hashbrown casserole).

• If you want an Italian twist on your Thanksgiving meal, Buca de Beppo can help. Their Thanksgiving offerings are available both dine-in and take-out, and you get 10% off if you order before Nov. 26. The mashed potatoes have garlic and the stuffing has Italian seasoning, but it's just traditional enough to make even a Thanksgiving purist happy. Use the site to check your local prices.

• Golden Corral has meals to feed six to eight people with turkey, ham, or beef, plus mashed potatoes, stuffing, and sides. Like last year, they have a la carte options to go along with the standard fare, but the prices in 2024 are down significantly: The complete meals start at just $99.99, compared to $109.99 and up from last year. The last day to order for pickup is Nov. 20, though, so get moving.

If you need smaller options for Thanksgiving this year…

Maybe you need a few sides to go with the rest of your home-cooked meal, or you are having a low-key dinner with yourself or one or two other people. You don’t need a giant takeout order for that, but you can try these options (in addition to the a la carte offerings from the restaurants above). 

• Popeye’s is offering a Cajun-style turkey again this year, though it's pricier than it was before. It's $99.99, feeds eight to 12 people, and arrives pre-cooked at your door. Thaw it, heat it, and eat it. Since it's Popeye's we're talking about, don't forget to order some sides to go with it.

• Boston Market, a chain synonymous with Thanksgiving-esque offerings all year round, is serving up buffets and individual plates, making it more customizable for different sized parties. You do have to call to order: (303)317-6900.

• In addition to options for larger parties, Bob Evans is once again offering its Farmhouse Feasts at a variety of sizes. If you want a premium feast to feed eight to 10 people, check out the options at the link, but also be advised that four people can eat a ham meal with dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, and pie for just $84.99.

• You might not think of a grocery store when you're imagining heat-and-eat Thanksgiving meals, but the same place you would go if you wanted to whip up the whole feast yourself can actually be where you pick up the premade version, too. Whole Foods is offering full meals for between $99.99 and $259.99, plus ready-made appetizers, sides, and more a la carte. Order by Nov. 26 and pick up by Nov. 28.