Former 2016 Trump campaign advisor Sam Nunberg warned Disney CEO Bob Iger that his company is “fucked” if former President Donald Trump wins the upcoming election as the Republican nominee eyes revenge for ABC-hosted presidential debate.

Since the debate in early September Trump has blamed ABC News for a “rigged deal” that he said was run by a “dishonest news organization.” The morning after the event he called into Fox & Friends to lambast the network and accuse the moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, of heavily fact-checking his arguments while not doing the same for his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Speaking on the Puck podcast Somebody’s Gotta Win with host Tara Palmeri, Nunberg put it bluntly: “I would not want to be Disney.”

He continued, adding that he’d give the Trump answer: “Disney is fucked after that debate from last. They’re absolutely fucked. I would not want to be them. And Bob Iger really is going to have a lot to say if Trump is president, Bob Iger is going to have a lot to explain to the shareholders how he let [moderators] Muir and that other person — Lindsey Davis, Muir, Davis.”

He called their performance “absolutely disgusting,” adding that lecturers “should show it in every journalism school” to illustrate “what not to do and of why America hates the media.”

The exiled Trump staffer also referenced Trump’s previous public attacks on Disney and its feud with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over social issues.

Palmeri countered in defense of the moderators, arguing they were right to challenge Trump.

“They called him out when he was actually lying,” she said.

However, Nunberg expressed dissatisfaction with the tone of the questions and accused the moderators of bias for Democratic nominee: “Why did they not call her out? She’s a liar too.”

Despite the heated exchange, Nunberg acknowledged that Trump had a poor showing at the debate, blaming his performance on fatigue.

“He lost because for two reasons,” Nunberg said. “One, he had an off night, he just had an off night. He was tired, whatever it was. That’s true. That’s vintage Trump. That was how he was in 2020.”

He added: “Number two, he always thinks he can wing it. He ultimately thought he was going to wing it. And number three, I was very surprised, let’s go into this part, he didn’t counter attack. Donald is a genius when people go after him. He didn’t counter attack.”

“She’s not Hillary Clinton,” Nunberg said. “You can’t just be attacking a woman, it could hurt you. And I think they’re absolutely wrong. I mean, this whole idea of the biography she’s presenting is complete bullshit. She wants to talk about how she was always for the people. I would say go ask Willie Brown’s wife if she was always for the people. She’s for herself.”

“Oh God, Sam, let’s get out of the gutter for a second,” Palmeri responded.

Listen via Somebody’s Gotta Win on Apple Podcasts.

It's flu vaccine season again, and there's good news—the nasal spray option is back. In addition to getting your flu shot, this is also a good time to get your 2024-2025 COVID shot (yep, we're officially on a yearly schedule for these boosters too).

In addition, RSV shots are available for the very young, for people who are pregnant, and for older folks, if you haven't gotten one before.

Here’s your rundown on this fall’s vaccines, and when you should get them.

What shots do I need, and when?

Fall is the beginning of flu season, and it’s also when we see an uptick in other respiratory illnesses. To better protect yourself, you may want to get:

• A flu shot, ideally during September or October (for everybody aged 6 months and up).

• A COVID shot (for everybody aged 6 months and up). The current version is a new one for this season.

• An adult RSV shot if you are 75 or older, or if you are 60 or older and have certain chronic health conditions or live in an nursing home (there is also an RSV shot for babies up to 8 months). If you are pregnant, you’re recommended to get an RSV shot between 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy.

If you are pregnant, besides the RSV shot, the CDC recommends getting a flu vaccine, a COVID vaccine, and a pertussis vaccine (TDaP) in your third trimester. The baby will be born with antibodies to those diseases, protecting them for about the first six months of life.

About the 2024 flu shots

All of this year's influenza vaccines are trivalent (meaning they target three different strains of flu virus). Besides the usual injectables, the nasal spray version of the flu vaccine is back this year. (It was off the market for several years based on findings that suggested it may have been less effective.)

The nasal spray vaccine uses a live virus (a modified/weakened version of the flu virus, not the actual flu virus) and because of this, it's potentially less safe for some people. The nasal spray is not recommended for people under 2 years of age, over 49, or who are pregnant. There are also health conditions that mean you shouldn't have the nasal vaccine. The CDC has more information here.

Older adults may want to consider a high-dose or adjuvanted flu vaccine, but the CDC says that if you can't get that, any flu shot is better than none.

About the 2024 COVID shots

We've finally settled into a pattern with COVID shots where we get a new version each fall. It makes sense to get your COVID shot in the same season as your flu shot, since the new shots are out now. The CDC says that we should all get a 2024-2025 edition COVID shot.

As for timing, they say it's OK to wait three months after a COVID infection before getting your vaccine. (You can still get the vaccine in that window if you like, but some people prefer to wait since the recent infection protects you for that little while.)

Your options, if you are an adult or a child aged 5 and up, are:

• Moderna mRNA (one shot)

• Pfizer mRNA (one shot)

• Novavax (for ages 12 and up only—and if this is your first COVID vaccine ever, you need two doses)

Children under 12 can't get Novavax, and children under 5 who have never had a COVID vaccine before may need more doses, depending on the brand of vaccine and their vaccination history. Basically, they will need, in total, 2 doses of Moderna or 3 doses of Pfizer. You can read the CDC's recommendations here.

The CDC points out that vaccines have been found to reduce the risk of long COVID. They also add: "Last season, people who received a 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine saw greater protection against illness and hospitalization than those who did not receive a 2023-2024 vaccine."

About the 2024 RSV immunizations

There are three different ways to get protection against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), depending on which group of people you fall into.

• For babies, there is an antibody-based immunization that should be given within the baby's first week of life if they are born anywhere from October to March. It can also be given to babies up to 8 months old, and in that case it should be given in October or November. Here is the CDC's page with more information on RSV immunizations for infants. A baby usually does not need this immunization if their mother/parent got the RSV vaccine while pregnant with them.

• For people who are pregnant, there is an RSV vaccine that can be given during 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy, between September and January. If that portion of your pregnancy does not overlap with that calendar period, the RSV vaccine is not recommended for you. (This timing is meant to protect the baby during RSV season.) Here is the CDC's page with more information on this vaccine for people who are pregnant.

• If you are 75 or older, the CDC recommends that you get an RSV vaccine. The vaccine is also recommended for people aged 60 and up who live in a nursing home or have certain health conditions that put them at greater risk of severe RSV disease. Note that this is not a seasonal vaccine; you only need to get it once. But if you haven't gotten it yet, now is the perfect time. Here is the CDC's page with more information on this vaccine for older adults.

Can I get multiple vaccines at the same time?

You can get multiple shots in the same appointment. The CDC has a page explaining this in detail, but it boils down to the simple advice that you can get COVID, flu, and/or RSV shots all at the same appointment, and that there is no minimum waiting period between them.

The CDC has recommended in the past that you get the COVID shot in one arm and your flu shot in the other if you’re using one of the high-dose or adjuvanted flu shots (this applies to older adults, but not to middle-aged or younger people). This year, they just say that your shots should be at least one inch apart from each other--which could mean two shots in the same arm if the provider is careful with their spacing.

Otherwise, it’s up to you. Each shot may result in a sore arm, so you might prefer to get both of them over with at once, or you might decide it’s more convenient to stop by the drugstore one week for your COVID booster and the next week for your flu shot.

The CDC says that the RSV vaccine is safe to receive alongside COVID, flu, or other vaccines. If you’re getting multiple vaccines, you may want to talk to your doctor or pharmacist about whether it makes sense to get them all together.

This post was previously published and has been updated with new information for fall 2024.

New York Times correspondent and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman roasted former President Donald Trump even as she defended the media’s coverage of the “incoherent” and frequently untruthful subject.

Shots were fired at Trump International golf course earlier this month in what turned out to be a failed assassination plot. The suspect fired no shots and never had a line of sight to Trump. The incident occurred two months, almost to the day after the July 13 assassination attempt that left Trump’s ear bloodied and a supporter dead.

In the wake of both incidents, Trump and his allies have tried to blame Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris, for calling Trump a “threat to democracy.”

Haberman was a guest on this week’s edition of NPR’s Fresh Air, and was asked about the “level of bitterness” in politics.

While Haberman cautioned it wasn’t fair to say Trump “brought on” these incidents, she noted that Trump’s rhetoric has been head-and-shoulders worse than that of his critics:

DAVIES: So let’s talk about some of the criticisms of the media. I mean, I will just say, you don’t have to answer for all media or even the many reporters and editors at The New York Times who are working on this campaign. But I’m interested in how you respond when people say that The Times and the media have given Trump credibility by treating things he says as if they should be taken seriously when they don’t deserve that treatment, or when he gives a garbled answer about, you know, say, child care, and it’s rewritten to sound clear and credible. In general, I mean, is there a point here?

HABERMAN: I think that the media does a very good job covering Trump. There are always going to be specific stories that could have been better, should have been better, that are written on deadline, and people are not being as precise as they should be. I think there is an industry, bluntly, Dave, that is dedicated toward attacking the media, especially as it relates to covering Donald Trump and all coverage of Trump. And I think that Trump is a really difficult figure to cover because he challenges news media process every day, has for years. The systems are just fundamentally — they were not built to deal with somebody who says things that are not true as often as he does or speaks as incoherently as he often does. I think the media has actually done a very good job showing people who he is, what he says, what he does. I think most of the information that the public has about Trump is because of reporting by the media. And I guess I don’t really understand how this industry that literally exists to attack the press broadly – and the media is not a monolith. It’s not a league. But this industry that exists to do that — I don’t see how they think they are a solution by undermining faith in what we do. That’s been very confusing to me.

DAVIES: Yeah. Well, I mean, part of the attacks are clearly are partisan. I mean, Republicans and Trump supporters are going to attack.

HABERMAN: I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about —

DAVIES: Yeah, well, who is the industry you’re talking about? Yeah.

HABERMAN: I’m talking about criticism on the left. I’m talking about a lot of that Trump has used the language of despots to undermine the press is very well established, and it’s very dangerous. And I’ve talked about that. The publisher of The New York Times has been incredibly clear about that. He published an op-ed recently in The Washington Post actually talking about that. So I don’t think that anybody is in — at The New York Times is trying to sanitize Trump’s language. Do I think that there are occasional pieces at my paper, at other papers that probably should have been done differently? That’s absolutely true. And that’s – but that – what happens with this industry on the left that attacks the press is that it gets described as a grand conspiracy to try to help Trump somehow, as opposed to people doing their job on daily deadlines and not always hitting the mark because we are humans. And we are doing our best under a very challenging set of circumstances. But I actually think the media has done a very good job of covering Trump.

I think that what is frustrating to those people making those claims is that there is not the result they want to see, which is Trump melts or Trump no longer has, you know popularity. I mean, you were saying — I think your question was treat him with credibility. He’s the Republican nominee. So there’s a substantial voting bloc in this country — almost half — that take seriously what he’s saying. And it’s not because The New York Times wrote a certain story. And so to not understand that, I think, is problematic for folks leveling the charge.

Watch above via NPR’s Fresh Air.

Paramount+ With Showtime is gearing up for spooky season. A bunch of vintage horror favorites, including all of the Friday the 13th films as well as some choice Stephen King adaptations, arrive on the service on Oct. 1.

If you're not in the mood to be scared, this month also will see the launch of the fifth and final season of the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks (Oct. 24), which managed to move beyond its premise as a quasi-satire of the long-running franchise to become a Trek classic in its own right.

Also on tap: the season two premiere of Lioness (Oct. 27), the globe-trotting espionage thriller series from Yellowstone creator Tyler Sheridan, starring Zoe Saldana and Nicole Kidman.

Here’s everything else coming to the service in October, including SpongeBob SquarePants: Kreepaway Kamp (Oct. 10), a new animated Halloween special. Note that titles with an asterisk are exclusive to Paramount+ With Showtime; everything else is also available to subscribers on the ad-supported plan. Those with two asterisks are available to Paramount+ With Showtime users streaming live on CBS and to all subscribers the following day.

Paramount+ Originals and premieres coming in October 2024

Available October 10

• SpongeBob SquarePants: Kreepaway Kamp

Available October 15

• FBI True season 5 premiere

Available October 24

• Star Trek: Lower Decks final season premiere

Available October 25

• Transformers: EarthSpark season 3 premiere

Available October 27

• Lioness season 2 premiere

Available October 28

• Ezra*

• Treasure*

Coming in October (date TBA)

• Ink Master Season 16 premiere

• UNCHARTED

TV shows coming to Paramount+ in October 2024

Available October 2

• Monster High: The Series (Season 1)

Available October 7

• American Music Awards 50th Anniversary Special*

Available October 8

• An Oprah Special: The Presleys—Elvis, Lisa Marie and Riley*

Available October 9

• Blaze and the Monster Machines (Season 7)

• Blaze and the Monster Machines: Wild Wheels Escape to Animal Island

• Blaze and the Monster Machines: Big Rig to the Rescue!

• Blaze and the Monster Machines: Racecar Adventures

Available October 13

• Tracker (Season 2 premiere)*

Available October 14

• NCIS (Season 22 premiere)*

• NCIS: Origins premiere***

Available October 15

• FBI (Season 7 premiere)*

• FBI: International (Season 4 premiere)*

• FBI: Most Wanted (Season 6 premiere)*

Available October 16

• Love & Hip Hop Atlanta (Season 11)

• Tyler Perry's The Oval (Seasons 1-3)

Available October 17

• Elsbeth (Season 2 premiere)*

• Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage premiere*

• Ghosts (Season 4 premiere)*

Available October 18

• Blue Bloods (Season 14 return for final episodes)*

• Fire Country (Season 3 premiere)*

• S.W.A.T. (Season 8 premiere)*

Available October 20

• The Equalizer (Season 5 premiere)*

Available October 21

• Poppa's House premiere*

• The Neighborhood (Season 7 premiere)*

Movies coming to Paramount+ in October 2024

Available October 1

• 28 Weeks Later

• 30 Days of Night

• A Simple Plan*

• All About the Benjamins

• All the Wrong Ingredients

• Allegiant

• Almost Famous*

• Along Came a Spider

• American Psycho

• Amistad*

• Antlers

• Arena Wars

• Bad Behaviour

• Best Defense*

• Black Rock

• Bram Stoker's Dracula

• Buried

• Chaplin*

• Chocolat*

• Cliffhanger

• Coach Carter

• Colombiana

• Days of Heaven*

• Deliver Us from Evil*

• Desperado

• Divergent

• Django Unchained

• Downhill Racer*

• Dying of the Light*

• Eastern Promises

• Eddie Murphy: Raw*

• Elizabethtown*

• Enough

• Escape from Alcatraz*

• Eyes Wide Shut

• Fear (1990)

• Fido

• Finding Neverland*

• Flatliners* (1990)

• Fools Rush In

• Freedom Writers

• Fresh (2022)

• Friday the 13th (1980)

• Friday the 13th: Part II

• Friday the 13th: Part III

• Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter

• Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning

• Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

• Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood

• Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan

• Frozen River

• Galaxy Quest

• Gothika

• Hard Eight

• Heat (1995)

• Heaven Can Wait*

• Hell or High Water

• Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth

• Hellraiser IV: Bloodline

• Hellraiser V: Inferno

• Hellraiser VI: Hellseeker

• Hellraiser VII: Deader

• Hellraiser VIII: Hellworld

• Hide and Seek*

• Hugo*

• Hustle & Flow

• Imagine That*

• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

• Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

• Insurgent

• Jawbreaker

• Jennifer's Body

• John Carpenter's Escape From L.A.*

• John Grisham's The Rainmaker

• Juice

• Just My Luck

• Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events

• Life

• Little Women (1994)

• Love Story*

• Maggie's Plan*

• Marathon Man*

• Margin Call*

• Men, Women & Children*

• Mirrors

• Monstrous*

• Mud*

• Obsessed

• Oculus

• Once Upon A Time In Mexico

• Only Lovers Left Alive

• Orphan

• Planes, Trains and Automobiles

• Pride And Glory

• Private Parts*

• Prospect

• Queen of The Damned

• Re: Uniting

• Resident Evil

• Road Trip*

• Runaway Jury

• Scary Movie 3

• Scary Movie 4

• School Ties

• Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders

• Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire

• Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster

• Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers

• Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy

• Scrooged

• Set it Off: Director's Cut

• Sleepy Hollow

• Smallfoot

• Snakes On a Plane

• Southpaw

• Spanglish

• Spawn

• Stephen King's Graveyard Shift

• Stephen King's Silver Bullet

• Stephen King's Thinner

• Stir of Echoes

• Surviving Christmas

• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street*

• Swingers

• Team America: World Police

• The Belko Experiment

• The Blob

• The Core

• The Day After Tomorrow

• The Exorcism of Emily Rose

• The Gambler*

• The General's Daughter

• The Girl in the Pool*

• The Green Inferno

• The Hours*

• The Ladies Man*

• The Legend of Zorro

• The Little Vampire

• The Midnight Meat Train

• The Negotiator

• The Net*

• The Orphanage

• The Running Man*

• The Stepford Wives*

• The Truman Show*

• The Wash*

• The Wicker Man (2006)

• This One's for the Ladies*

• Three Days of the Condor*

• Training Day

• True Grit (2010)

• Universal Soldier

• Vampire in Brooklyn

• Vantage Point*

• We Own the Night*

• Weird Science

• Wild Eyed and Wicked

• Wild Things

• Willard (2003)

Available October 22

• Tale of Tales*

Available October 29

• The Man Who Knew Infinity*

Available October 31

• Camp X-Ray*

Former President Donald Trump is ruling out a fourth run for the White House — if he loses the 2024 election.

In an interview on the syndicated program Full Measure, host Sharyl Attkisson asked Trump about his future plans should he lose the 2024 election.

“If you are not successful this time, do you see yourself running again in four years?” Attkisson asked.

“No, I don’t,” Trump said “I think that will be — that will be it. I don’t see that at all. Hopefully we are going to be successful.”

Given President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 race, Trump — at 78 — is now the oldest person ever to run for President. Trump would be 82 years old on Election Day 2028.

Watch above, via Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.

C-SPAN

A Cold War-era Washington Post journalist who scooped not only the American media but also US intelligence agencies in 1984 was mourned this week after he died on Sept. 10 at the age of 87.

Dusko Doder’s connections and intuition during his time as the Post‘s Moscow bureau chief saw him report on the death of Soviet leader Yuri Andropov before American intelligence agencies had become aware of a change in leadership behind the Iron Curtain. 

Doder’s accurate reporting took the media by surprise to such a degree that it resulted in an accusation from Time magazine he was a KGB asset. Doder later sued for libel and won, but the damage to his career was done.

In a story eulogizing the acclaimed former reporter, the Post reported this past week:

As Moscow bureau chief for The Washington Post in the early 1980s, Dusko Doder had several advantages stemming from his upbringing in Yugoslavia: fluent idiomatic Russian and an intuitive understanding of the signs of change within a totalitarian system. He sensed something was amiss on a February night in 1984, when state radio canceled a jazz program and broadcast somber classical music. He noticed also that the lights at the Defense Ministry and the Soviet secret police, the KGB, were blazing at hours when their offices were often mostly dark.

Like every foreign correspondent in the city, Mr. Doder heard rumors that Soviet leader Yuri Andropov was severely ill. He filed a story that reached The Post’s foreign desk at 7 p.m. on Feb. 9 reporting that various telltale signs “appeared to indicate that the country was being placed on an emergency footing,” suggesting strongly that Andropov was dead. A similar occurrence happened two years earlier with the death of Andropov’s predecessor, Leonid Brezhnev.

Doder’s reporting led to what his old employer called “fingerpointing” among US government officials for missing what a lone reporter was able to surmise – that the leader of one of two global superpowers had died.

The New York Times reported that CIA officials were “furious.”

Time‘s Jay Peterzell would later file a story that used questionable sources to imply that Doder had been paid by the KGB. There were inferences the agency was behind a smear of the reporter’s integrity.

In 1996, Doder was offered “sincere regret and apologies” as well as more than $250,000 by the outlet after Time was found to have libeled him.

Peterzell moved on from the publication shortly after and Doder’s name was cleared.

Doder died in Thailand after a battle with Lewy body dementia, leaving behind three sons and two grandchildren.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Kamala Harris has decided not to attend a star-studded charity dinner in New York City which has historically hosted both major-party presidential candidates in the final run-up ton the election.

As first reported by CNN Saturday, Harris will skip the Al Smith dinner on Oct. 17, opting instead to campaign in a battleground state. With a few notable exceptions, the Catholic fundraiser has hosted every major-party presidential candidate since 1960. In 1996 and 2004, the Archdiocese of New York did not invite either candidate over disputes of with the Democratic nominees — Bill Clinton and John Kerry — over abortion. And in 2020, the event was held virtually during the Covid-19 pandemic. (Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden did both contribute with pre-taped messages.) But Harris is the first candidate to decline an invitation to the dinner since Walter Mondale in 1984.

According to the New York Post, Trump has confirmed to the Archdiocese that he will attend.

The Al Smith dinner has been a high-profile stop on the campaign trail — as it usually marks the final time the candidates appear together before the election. Traditionally, the two candidates roast one another. Some of the jabs have been light-hearted, while others have been more stinging. In 2008, for instance, John McCain and former President Barack Obama took gleeful shots at each other before exchanging praise. While in 2016, the atmosphere was far more tense between Trump and Hillary Clinton.