After Trump banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, all five major networks — even Fox News — banded together and completely suspended pooled TV coverage of the President in protest. That means no video coverage of his UN General Assembly speech this week, and no cameras when he hosts Xi Jinping at the White House for a state dinner, unless this standoff ends first. CNN, MSNOW, and Politico have already filed a First Amendment lawsuit. Who blinks first — the administration facing an uncovered diplomatic week, or the networks worried about losing access? Meanwhile diesel just hit another record, $6.51 a gallon. And Trump revealed his 250-foot "Triumphal Arch" near the Lincoln Memorial will now double as a military complex with drones, snipers, and ammunition storage — justified as national security, drawing serious legal and safety pushback, including concerns about a drone site sitting directly in Reagan National's flight path. All of it today.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support.Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Trump announced Friday he's banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House "effective immediately" over what he calls fake news, warning more outlets could follow. Presidents have always complained about the media and vice versa, but this is different, and it's already headed to court — Schumer compared it to what dictators do, and even the White House isn't clear on whether journalists were actually removed from the grounds. Convenient timing, given both outlets have been reporting on his underwater poll numbers right as midterm voting begins. Meanwhile diesel hit a record $6.45 a gallon and keeps climbing, adding more fuel to the inflation fire the Fed just raised rates to fight. And Apple's iPhone 18 Pro launched today with new CEO John Ternus opening the Fifth Avenue doors himself to overnight campers — same scene, every September. All of it today.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support.Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

People — including members of Congress actively writing AI regulation — are expressing incredibly confident opinions for or against AI without actually understanding what it is or how it works. That's a real problem when these are the people who might end up writing the rules. We call it out directly today. Meanwhile, Trump said it again — we're close to ending the war with Iran and they really want a deal. He's said versions of this for eight months now. At some point you have to invoke the boy who cried wolf. We ask whether there's any credibility left in these statements. And gas and diesel prices keep climbing regardless of what anyone says about how close we are to peace. All of it today.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support.Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

The Fed raised interest rates today for the first time since 2023 — a unanimous quarter-point hike to 3.75-4%, directly against Trump's public demands for cuts. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, who Trump himself appointed just months ago, said plainly that inflation is the problem, and the Fed doesn't expect it back to target until after 2028. Iran war-driven oil prices and record $6 diesel are the main culprits. Markets already expect another hike in December. We ask — is this the start of a real multi-meeting hiking cycle? Then the AI debate rages on — will it save us or end us? I'm firmly in the camp that it's going to cure diseases and genuinely improve our lives. The doomsayers remind me of the greenhouse gas predictions from years ago that never quite panned out the way we were told they would. All of it today.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support.Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

The Supreme Court just handed President Trump a 7-2 defeat, ruling that his executive order did NOT give the USPS enough time to implement new mail-in ballot rules before the 2026 midterm elections. We break down the ruling, Justice Kavanaugh's key concurrence on the compressed timeline, the Thomas-Alito dissent, and why Trump says this legal fight is far from over. Plus: FBI Director Kash Patel faced an awkward and heated Senate Judiciary Committee showdown with Senator John Kennedy over the bureau's decision to loosen hiring standards tied to bestiality — a moment that quickly became one of the strangest exchanges of this year's congressional hearings.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support.Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Most Americans say they're anxious about AI — but is some of that anxiety being fed by Chinese messaging designed to slow us down in the AI race? Same question for data center backlash. And do you actually want Congress writing the technical rules for AI companies? We dig into all of it. Meanwhile gas and diesel keep climbing and here's why — Houthi rebels just seized Yemen's entire Red Sea coastline and a critical Saudi pipeline just got knocked offline for weeks, cutting off one of Saudi Arabia's last safe export routes. Brent crude is now over $107 a barrel. And President Trump publicly told Ukraine's Zelensky to stop striking Russian oil refineries because it's driving up diesel prices here at home — even as those strikes are one of Ukraine's most effective tools against Russia's war machine. Once again, he seems to be siding with Moscow's interests. All of it today.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support.Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Twenty-five years ago today, everything changed. Those of us who were adults that morning will never forget — but a new generation is growing up knowing 9/11 only as history, not memory. Today we set the news aside and share firsthand stories from survivors, first responders, and families who lived through that day, so the memory of what we lost — and who we lost — stays alive for the people who weren't there to see it themselves.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support.Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Trump promised a $5,000 "Trump Dividend" to every adult American if Republicans hold both the House and Senate in November — but here's the problem. The President has no unilateral authority to issue this; Congress would have to pass a roughly $1.3 trillion bill, on top of $40 trillion in existing national debt. Vance already started walking it back within hours. And dumping that much money into the economy right now would almost certainly be wildly inflationary — just like it was under Biden's big spending, which helped push inflation to 9 percent. Speaking of inflation, PPI jumped 5.4 percent last month, driven largely by oil prices tied to the escalating Iran war. And despite Bessent tripling his bond buyback to try to push rates down, the bond market keeps winning — Treasury yields just hit their highest levels since 2023. All of it today.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support.Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Someone scheduled the GOP's first-ever midterm convention the same night as the NFL season opener — Seahawks vs. Patriots, a Super Bowl rematch on NBC. Vance's keynote goes head to head with kickoff. Bad planning or just bad luck? Trump said today the Iran war will end shortly after the midterms — a specific promise after six months of "almost over." Same day, oil spiked hard — Brent crude hit $101 after U.S. forces struck five Iranian tankers. And Treasury Secretary Bessent tripled a bond buyback to $6 billion specifically to push interest rates down. It backfired completely — yields hit their highest level since 2023, and even his own mentor Stanley Druckenmiller publicly called the move a mistake. All of it today.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support.Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

This Friday is the 25th anniversary of September 11th, and there's a real controversy in New York this year. Mayor Mamdani says he'll attend the Ground Zero ceremony despite nearly 100,000 people signing a petition asking him to stay away, retired Port Authority officers directly asking him not to come, and pushback from George Pataki and Rudy Giuliani — all centered on his appointment of a lawyer with a controversial past client and his own history with a Brooklyn imam named in the 1993 WTC bombing case. We walk through both sides fairly, but more than anything we want to take today to honor what this anniversary is actually about — the 2,977 people we lost and the families still carrying that grief 25 years later. President Trump will be at the Pentagon ceremony this year instead of New York. Meanwhile, more Iran strikes happened over the weekend, and we're still watching to see if the economic pressure campaign actually works. Oil and gas prices keep climbing in the meantime. All of it today.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support.Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed