This week on The Necessary Conversation, Bob is still out dealing with some medical issues so Mary Lou, Chad and Haley hold down the fort and discuss:

🇨🇳 Trump took a two-day trip to China that was widely seen as a humiliation for America. President Xi called the U.S. a "declining nation," sat Trump in a smaller chair, and made zero commitments on Iran. Trump brought a squad of billionaires — including Elon Musk and Tim Cook on Air Force One — plus Eric and Lara Trump, but not Melania. He did bring his 34-year-old executive assistant Natalie Harp, fueling speculation. He left with nothing.

🤷 Trump said the quiet part out loud — twice. When asked if Americans' financial situations were motivating him to make a deal with Iran, he said: "Not even a little bit. I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody." Gas hit $4.50/gallon the same day. When Fox's Bret Baier gave him a chance to walk it back, he doubled down: "Short-term pain. I'd make it again."

🏙️ NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani hit his 100-day mark and the results are in: he eliminated New York's $12 billion deficit, launched universal childcare, secured $30 million from bad landlords, and repaired over 6,000 apartments. Mom said New York would fall under Mamdani. We check in on that prediction.

🗣️ We simmer down with a round of speaking gibberish.

💰 Trump is expected to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for creating a $1.7 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund to compensate allies — including nearly 1,600 January 6 defendants he already pardoned. The money comes from the Treasury's Judgment Fund, Trump has unchecked authority over who gets it, and there's zero oversight.

⚓ FBI Director Kash Patel got into a screaming match with a senator over his drinking — then we learned he took a "VIP snorkel" over the sunken USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, where more than 900 sailors and Marines are still entombed. A marine veteran called it "like having a bachelor party at a church."

🎬 Trump's Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy is starring in a new reality show called "The Great American Roadtrip" — funded by Boeing, Shell, Toyota, United Airlines, and Royal Caribbean, all companies his department directly regulates. Taxpayers are covering his travel. Shell's profits doubled from the gas price surge. And Duffy filmed over seven months, meaning he wasn't doing his actual job. We ask: is this what a cabinet is supposed to look like?

Dad's back, the whole family is fired up, and this one goes everywhere.

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