Who was your most interesting person of 2017? via INSH


Joe Gruters, the chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), grossed people out after talking during an appearance on the Chambers, Changes & Conversations podcast about witnessing the amount of McDonald's President Donald Trump eats on a daily basis and the odd way he combines his food.
Trump's love for McDonald's is well-documented and has for years sparked conversations about the true state of his physical health given the amount he eats and how much he avoids exercising.
Gruters spoke about Trump's “unique” McDonald's order and revealed that "The amount, and what the president eats" is the funniest thing he's seen on the campaign trail.
He said:
“He had hot fries waiting for him from McDonald’s. ... Then he had a Filet-O-Fish, a Quarter Pounder, and a Big Mac, and I think he combined two of them and he was drinking orange soda. I'm thinking to myself, how does the guy that's as senior as him get away with eating all this McDonald's on a consistent basis?"
“I had two of the sandwiches and I was sick as a dog for like 24 hours but I did enjoy it. In terms of something that was unique, that was definitely unique. I wasn't expecting to witness that but he loves McDonald's."
"McDonald's should pay the president with what he eats."
You can hear what Gruters said in the audio below.
People were very grossed out.
Trump even once made headlines for serving Clemson University’s football team McDonald's meals at the White House to celebrate their win over Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship.
During his 2024 campaign, he staged a campaign photo-op at a Pennsylvania McDonald's so he could promote his false claim that then-Vice President Kamala Harris did not work at McDonald's in college, even though she's repeatedly mentioned working at the McDonald’s on Central Avenue in Alameda, California, during the summer of 1983 while a Howard University student.
The restaurant was closed to the public during Trump's appearance, and the motorists he served at the drive-thru were pre-screened by the U.S. Secret Service and positioned before his arrival. No one placed an order; instead, attendees received whatever Trump handed out.
After Vice President JD Vance refused to condemn Young Republican leaders after their racist, misogynistic and antisemitic group chat was leaked online and referred to participants as "kids," liberal influencer Pottymouthpollyanna called out exactly what that implies.
Earlier this week, Politico published 2,900 pages of leaked exchanges between a dozen state-level Young Republican leaders in different states.
Young Republican leaders called Black people “monkeys” and “the watermelon people" and talked about reinstituting slavery. They also praised the genocidal Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, and referenced raping Democrats and gassing them much like the Nazis did to the Jews and others during the Holocaust.
For instance, Joe Maligno, general counsel for the New York State Young Republicans, wrote “Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don’t fit the Hitler aesthetic." Annie Kaykaty, New York’s national committeewoman, said, "I'm ready to watch people burn now."
In an interview on The Charlie Kirk Show—now hosted by allies of the far-right activist who was assassinated last month—Vance dismissed these messages as “stupid” jokes made by “kids.” Vance said he planned to warn his children—“especially my boys”—to be cautious about what they share in group chats or online, advising them to assume “some scumbag is going to leak it in an effort to try to cause you harm or cause your family harm.”
He added:
“But the reality is that kids do stupid things. Especially young boys, they tell edgy, offensive jokes. Like, that’s what kids do. And I really don’t want us to grow up in a country where a kid telling a stupid joke—telling a very offensive, stupid joke—is cause to ruin their lives.”
However, none of the participants are "kids."
In fact, 8 of the 11 members in the chat spanned the ages of 24-35 (the ages of three of the participants are not publicly available). For example, Peter Giunta, the now-former chief of staff to Republican New York Assemblymember Mike Reilly, is 31. Vermont State Senator Samuel Douglass, who the chat shows used a racial slur for Indian people, is 27.
You can hear what Vance said—and see the ages of the participants—in the video below that was produced by the progressive outlet The Tennessee Holler.
Amid the controversy, liberal influencer Pottymouthpollyanna offered a sharp critique about how Republicans hold grown men to minimal standards of accountability.
She said:
"The same people I hear defending this group chat and referring to these 30-something-year-old men as 'kids' are the same ones who would call a 12-year-old little girl a 'young woman' and force her to give birth."
You can hear what she said in the video below.
That's a cutting observation considering that when Vance was a Senator, he pledged to support a national abortion ban and has argued against allowing victims of rape and incest to access abortion care—moves that would have horrifying consequences for young girls.
Notably, Vance has pushed back against criticisms by arguing that the matter is "not whether a woman should be forced to bring a child to term, it’s whether a child should be allowed to live, even though the circumstances of that child’s birth are somehow inconvenient or a problem to the society."
Vance was criticized for his remarks.
JD is pulling that "boys will be boys" crap that gets rolled out whenever some guy rapes someone.
— MX-LUC1F3R (@mxluc1.bsky.social) 16 de octubre de 2025, 1:31
These are kids and Epstein preferred young women. What a time to be alive.
— ☭ Mutha Nature 🏳️⚧️Bodily Autonomy For ALL (@muthanature.bsky.social) 16 de octubre de 2025, 0:17
To be fair a lot of the repubs can't tell the difference between an adult and a child, so this tracks...
— Ben Jammin (@grittspitter.bsky.social) 16 de octubre de 2025, 7:01
Funny how when facist men say/do abhorrent things, they are "boys", absolved of everything and anything because they are immature and innocent. But when 14 year old girls are raped they are "underage women" who apparently don't deserve any innocence at all.
— RobinMKR (@robinmkr.bsky.social) 16 de octubre de 2025, 0:17
30-year-old white man described as boy and yet a 16 year-old black boy is often charged as an adult. And young teenage females are described as young women in the Epstein files…
— Maria W (@mariacary.bsky.social) 16 de octubre de 2025, 6:14
Thanks for reminding us of the double standard the GOP live by. Indeed, these people are not boys. They are adults, with fully formed minds, that are twisted and evil. The GOP is so fond of giving free passes to the nasty from their side. It is sickening.
— spiritanimalpotato.bsky.social (@spiritanimalpotato.bsky.social) 16 de octubre de 2025, 5:11
Vance earlier called the outrage over the leaked texts "pearl-clutching" and took the opportunity to attack Virginia Democrat Jay Jones, sharing a screenshot of leaked 2022 texts in which Jones allegedly called for violence against then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert. Vance said Jones’ comments were “far worse than anything said in a college group chat."
The vice president has also been harshly criticized for downplaying the far-right's outsized role in political violence. Last month, Vance blamed “the lunatics in American politics" and said without any evidence that the suspect in Kirk's killing was motivated by far-left ideology.
Though statistics show otherwise, Vance asserted that "people on the left are much likelier to defend and celebrate political violence," a statement that has aged like milk considering how much he's currently downplaying the actions of members of his own party who used their chat as a space to espouse openly genocidal rhetoric.
Democratic Representatives Ted Lieu of California and Sarah McBride of Delaware had social media users in stitches after sharing a joint video in which they wandered around the Capitol building looking for Republicans amid the government shutdown—and managed to mock White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller over one of his sore spots.
The shutdown, which has hit its fifteenth day, stemmed from Republicans’ refusal to negotiate with Democrats over reversing Medicaid cuts and renewing key Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits set to expire this year. Republicans falsely accused Democrats of seeking to extend healthcare to undocumented immigrants.
Lieu shared a video on social media that shows him and McBride wandering the quiet halls of the Capitol, mockingly calling out for absent Republicans. “Steve Scalise, where are you?” Lieu shouts, peering behind an empty desk in the visitor center. “House Republicans, where are you?”
He then runs into McBride, who jokes that there were “far more tourists around the Capitol than House Republicans.” The pair continue their search, checking out statues and escalators along the way, until McBride notices a tiny door barely two feet tall.
She bends down to open it and quips:
“They might be meeting with Stephen Miller in here."
Lee bends down to look himself and declares:
“Nope, I don’t see any House Republicans there either.”
You can see the video below, which Lee posted with a mocking caption mentioning how he and McBride teamed up "to see if any Republicans had the common sense to come back."
The two knew what they were doing—particularly when it came to Miller, whose height has been the butt of jokes for over a week now.
In an Instagram livestream last week, New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said “one of the best ways that you can dismantle a movement of insecure men is by making fun of them." She called Miller "a clown" and suggested he—the architect of President Donald Trump's immigration policies—takes out his anger on others because he's "like, 4 feet 10 inches."
Miller was later made to watch Ocasio-Cortez's remarks about him during an awkward live segment featuring him and Fox News host Laura Ingraham. At one point, he stressed that he is in fact 5'10''.
You can hear his response below.
As for the tiny door, it turns out it was one of the Capitol’s Meigs miniatures—a series of waist-high access panels designed in the 1850s by engineer Montgomery C. Meigs. After a devastating Christmas Eve fire destroyed the Library of Congress in 1851, Meigs overhauled the Capitol’s infrastructure, installing a maze of pipes and valves to improve fire safety and plumbing. The small doors provided access to those hidden systems.
The Advocate reported that the doors are "strange, charming, and, in McBride and Lieu’s video, perfectly symbolic."
People were immediately in on the joke—and mocked Miller themselves and criticized the rest of the GOP while they were at it.
The Senate last night failed for the ninth time to advance the House-passed GOP bill to fund the government and end the shutdown.
No Democrats backed the measure, leaving Republicans still five votes short of the support needed to break the impasse—a margin that has remained unchanged since the shutdown began.
When on a first date, or even in the early stages of a relationship, we are often on the lookout for "red flags" that might suggest there is no future with this prospective partner.
More often than not, major red flags, such as a lack of chemistry or a personality difference, are usually evident on the first date.
Other red flags, however, may not emerge until much later, sometimes even after marriage and the birth of children.
Red flags that we either missed entirely or chose to ignore.
Redditor bunny_irina was curious to hear about the most commonly ignored red flags when it comes to dating, leading them to ask:
"What is a ‘red flag’ people almost always ignore in dating until it’s too late?"
"If you can't figure out how they were managing in life without you, it's because they've stopped doing the things they needed to do now that they have you."- brokenmessiah
"When their words don't match up with their actions."- RabbitCharacter5686
"Being too clingy and wanting you to ditch your family and friends."- Appearance_Cold
 
"Minor selfishness."
"Taking the biggest piece of desert, talking over you, unwilling to inconvenience themselves for you."
"I had an epiphany while dating that I was expecting men who were selfish in all the little things, to suddenly be unselfish about big things."
"It doesn't work that way."- Sweaty_Knee_7425
"Taking everything as joke and somehow everything is funny, even your damn life."- god_complex_irl
"Not actually liking the person."
"Sometimes we convince ourselves otherwise for various reasons, but it will always become untenable."- Aggravating-One2200
 
"Newly divorced or just separated or something like that."
"They are almost never, ever, ready to date seriously, though they think they are."
"They certainly haven't given themselves the time to unpack what happened to them and heal."
"You're gonna get love bombed, then see how noncommittal they are."
"Speaking of noncommittal, if they keep moving the timeline because they're 'not fully ready', TRUST THEM."- pay_the_cheese_tax
"A Dude told me early on in the conversation that he can be a jerk."
"And me being polite said, we can all be jerks sometimes."
"Well, little did I know that he would really turn out to be a big jacka**!"
"LOL!"- Opposite_Pea_6243
"People mention how they treat waitstaff, but plenty of people know how to be decent to strangers or acquaintances for an evening."
"What I should have paid closer attention to is how my now-husband treated his sister when they lived together."
"I saw how much contempt he had for her and how illogical he became in a seriously small dispute, and I even thought, 'Wow. He might talk to me like one day...'"
"It was a neon friggin sign."
"He talks so much worse to me now and the severe lack of logic is breathtaking."
"After 17 years, he hasn't matured all that much in that regard."
"So my answer is: family dynamics and how they resolve issues with closely familiar people in their lives."
"Do they take these relationships for granted?"
"Do they treat their 'loved ones' with respect?"
"If not, one day, you might fall into that category, too."- spentpatience
 
"Getting extremely mad at the smallest inconveniences."- Original_Day6832
"When they show you who they are and you know you wouldn’t accept that, but hoping they will change."- krk03
"Controlling behavior."- Samsaara44
 
"Blowing off/ excusing men when they put their convenience over your comfort."
"This probably happens the other way around, I just personally haven't had a man tell me about it, but I know SO MANY women who do this."
"When he knows it will hurt you if he doesn't do x or y for you, but he still does whatever he wants because that's what's easy and convenient."
"It starts so small."
"He says you're going to hang out on Saturday, then Saturday comes and you don't hear from until 11pm because he's been at his friends BBQ all day and 'forgot'."
"He said he would run by Walgreens and pick up your prescription, then he shows up and says the drive-thru line was 10 cars deep so you can just get them another time."
"Years down the road and you're calling your best friend to take you to surgery because he's 'really busy'."
"You are the one managing the entire mental load of the household because you KNOW it won't get done if you don't manage it."
"You're making excuses for him when he eventually doesn't show up for your kids the way he should."
"He's brought home a 4th dog even though you said you didn't want it because you do all of the care for the other 3."
"He knows what he's doing - he just doesn't care."
"Never, ever choose a partner who consistently prioritizes their comfort over your discomfort."
"Good relationships aren't 50/50 or 60/40, they are when both partners care so much for each other that they're 60/60 because they want to show up and support their partner and are willing to do the work to make it happen."- tootincommon
"Ignoring your pets’ boundaries."
"I’m not even talking about outright harmful behaviors, just pushy ones."
"If they can’t read and respect the boundaries of an animal (especially if they have one themselves), they won’t read or respect yours."- an_ineffable_plan
"Inconsistency."
"They may simply grow tired of pretending to be someone they’re not, and their real selves begin to slip out."
"Be careful with people who show this pattern."
"Sometimes, their real personality only becomes clear after marriage, when they feel the commitment is secure."- Taegibears21
 
Some people just have that inexplicable, extra special something that leads us to believe that whatever problems we might sense will all be solved through the sheer power of love.
Unfortunately, despite the age-old belief to the contrary, love does not always conquer all...
The Harry Potter fandom breathed a collective sigh of relief when our favorite Herbology professor, Miriam Margolyes, reaffirmed her “unapologetically woke” status on Ireland’s The Late Late Show with Patrick Kielty. At 84, the British-Australian actress proves that age hasn’t dulled her fire—or her mouth.
Known for her candor on everything from her love of Laurence Olivier to her beef with John Cleese, Margolyes has also been outspoken in her solidarity with the people of Gaza. Appearing on the The Late Late Show last Saturday, the Age of Innocence and Harry Potter star reminded audiences why she remains one of the most fearless voices in entertainment.
When asked about her activism and unmistakably Hufflepuff-brand progressivism, Margolyes leaned in with her trademark blend of mischief and effortless charm that would impress Professor Flitwick himself.
Margoyles explained:
“I’m a left-wing d*ke, and I love it. I love being a lesbian. I’m not going to apologize for that. It’s great fun.”
When Kielty asked what exactly was so fun about it, both promptly broke into laughter.
You can watch the moment here:
@latelaterte Never change Miriam, never change 👑🌈 #LateLate
Margolyes has long worn her liberal views with pride. On a 2023 episode of The Graham Norton Show, she opened up about becoming a trans ally, admitting it initially challenged her grammar-nerd instincts.
“I was very keen on grammar,” she said, recalling that a trans actress, Zoe Terakes, helped her understand singular they/them pronouns.
Margolyes recalled:
“She said, ‘What does it matter to you? If you can make somebody happy by calling them ‘they’ instead of ‘he or she,’ why not do it?’ I thought, that’s right. It doesn’t matter about grammar.”
See, Joanne “Karen” Rowling? It’s not that difficult to understand.
And it’s not the first time Margolyes has clashed with the Harry Potter author. She’s publicly criticized Rowling’s anti-trans rhetoric and defended the younger cast members who’ve spoken out.
“Now they’re grown up and they have opinions,” she told The Telegraph last year. “They shouldn’t be silenced just because they were in her films.”
Recently, Rowling reignited her feud with Emma Watson, accusing the actress of being “ignorant” about real-world struggles in a lengthy post on X.
Rowling wrote:
“Had Emma not decided in her most recent interview to declare that she loves and treasures me … I might never have been this honest.”
During her Late Late Show appearance, Margolyes also addressed why she’s been outspoken about Gaza, noting it’s a matter of moral clarity for her as a Jewish woman.
While condemning the October 7 Hamas attacks, she said:
“It’s important because I’m Jewish, and it’s very important that people realize that all Jewish people are not killers, they’re not b**ards. It’s not like that. This is just a section of the Israeli people that are like that, not Jewish people, and I want that to be known and understood and be clear.”
Her comments drew both praise and backlash online, but Margolyes didn’t seem fazed.
Margolyes continued:
“What happened in Gaza was utterly wrong, wicked, and terrifying. The response to the Hamas attack — the Hamas attack was terrible, of course it was, but it came from 70 years of oppression… My heart is open to anyone who needs help… and they need that.”
You can watch the interview clip here:
@latelaterte “I’m shocked at the way it took so long for the international community to respond to what was going on.” #MiriamMargolyes on why she’s been so vocal about Gaza. #LateLate
Her activism isn’t limited to politics. In 2022, she appeared in a cheeky video urging queer football fans to push back against FIFA’s consideration of Saudi Arabia as a future World Cup host.
Margolyes advocated:
“It’s our big gay duty to make sure this doesn’t happen again. After all, a World Cup without queer people just isn’t a World Cup.”
You can watch the donation video from Stonewall UK below:
Honestly, leave it to Miriam to turn FIFA shade into a full-blown queer rallying cry—poetic and political.
And both Harry Potter and non-Harry Potter fans gave all the points to this Hufflepuff on social media:
For the entire interview, watch below:
- YouTubeThe Late Late Show
The actress was also on The Late Late Show to promote her new autobiography, The Little Book of Miriam, described as:
“Packed with her wit, wisdom, and unfiltered stories, The Little Book of Miriam is a memory palace of Miriam’s extraordinary life’s standout moments, opinions, and conclusions. Never forget that this is a woman who knocked back WARREN BEATTY, played to an audience of TWO THOUSAND NAKED LESBIANS, injected sex into the CADBURY’S CARAMEL BUNNY, and was VOGUE’S COVER STAR AGED 83. Miriam is always full of surprises — and this book is too.”
Fearless, funny, and fully herself, Miriam Margolyes continues to prove that being “unapologetically woke” is, in fact, great fun. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to start a petition to officially crown her the new Queen of Harry Potter—robes, wand, and all.