Has Trump converted these Gen Zers into MAGA true believers, or is this just a rebellious phase? In this half-hour special, Jordan Klepper is ditching the rallies and heading to Texas A&M, a UFC fight, and spring break in Florida to ask young right-wingers why they've turned toward Trump, Charlie Kirk, and even Andrew Tate.My wife and I watched this and were simultaneously amused at how much Klepper was trolling the college students and their not realizing it and appalled at how they liked Donald "Hoover Cleveland" Trump and other right-wing influencers because they think they're "cool." It reminds me of a prediction Archdruid John Michael Greer made in Conversation as Commons four years ago.
But what about those ideas that most people consider Bad? Ahem. You can’t get rid of those by censoring them. That’s been tried, over and over again, and it always fails. What’s more, it quite often guarantees that the censored ideas become the cool new notions of the next fashionable counterculture. Decades of Victorian censorship of sex, for example, simply made the Decadent movement and the Sexual Revolution inevitable. If today’s woke ideologues want to make racism, sexism, and posthumous reverence for Donald Trump the foundation of the hot new avant-garde youth culture of the 2040s and 2050s, in other words, they’re going about it the right way.We didn't have to wait twenty years for Greer's prediction to come true. As the young people Klepper interviewed demonstrate, it's happening right now, while Hoover Cleveland is still alive. Sigh.
Follow over the jump to watch the trailers and other Emmy nominations for the nominees in Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special.

Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or SpecialAs the promotional images from Twitter/X show above, three shows have two nominations, Conan O'Brien Must Go, The Daily Show Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: MAGA: The Next Generation, and Tucci in Italy. Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. and My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman have just the program nomination. Gold Derby breaks the tie at the top with 60% of experts, 80% of editors, and 79.4% of users voting for Conan O'Brien Must Go, 40% of experts, 20% of editors, and 15.0% of users picking Tucci in Italy, 2.9% of users choosing Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr., 1.8% selecting My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, and only 0.8% thinking The Daily Show Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: MAGA: The Next Generation has a chance. It may be my favorite, but I'm in a tiny minority.
- Conan O'Brien Must Go (HBO Max)
- The Daily Show Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: MAGA: The Next Generation (Comedy Central)
- Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. (PBS)
- My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman (Netflix)
- Tucci in Italy (National Geographic)
Time to go through the trailers for the top four nominees according to Gold Derby, beginning with Conan O'Brien Must Go Season 2 | Official Trailer | Max.
New countries. Same Conan.
That looks like a riot and it has star power with Javier Bardem and Taika Watiti, which might be why Gold Derby thinks it is likely to win. They thought so last year, but a special spinoff of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman won instead. It's also up against a sequel of sorts to Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, a three-time prior winner, so I'm skeptical of its favorite status.
Speaking of Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, I'm sharing Tucci in Italy | Official Trailer | National Geographic.
National Geographic invites audiences on a mouthwatering journey with Academy Award®-nominee and Emmy®- and Golden Globe®-winner Stanley Tucci in TUCCI IN ITALY. Produced by Tucci’s SALT Productions and BBC Studios Specialist Factual Productions, the five-part series follows Tucci across Italy’s stunning landscapes as he explores the deep connections between food, culture and history. More than a travelogue, it’s a rich, narrative-driven dive into the country’s iconic culinary traditions. Along the way, Tucci meets locals, chefs, artisans—and even cowboys—to uncover hidden gems and untold stories with National Geographic’s signature storytelling and his trademark wit. Tucci indulges in a Sienese feast in Tuscany, samples farm-to-table innovation in Lombardy, and rediscovers Lazio’s rustic soul. For the first time, he visits Trentino-Alto Adige for pine needle pesto in the Alps and explores Abruzzo’s wild seafood rituals atop a centuries-old trabocco. This is Italy like you’ve never seen it—flavorful, heartfelt and unforgettable.I think this series is a better fit on National Geographic than its predecessor was on CNN. Disney and NatGeo certainly know how to put together a better trailer and an awards campaign. I just hope what worked at the News & Doc Emmy Awards works here.
Now for Gold Derby's third choice, Finding Your Roots | Season 11 Trailer | PBS.
Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. returns for its eleventh season on PBS. Over the course of ten new episodes, Gates and his team use genealogical detective work and cutting-edge DNA analysis to trace the family trees of twenty compelling guests, telling stories that illuminate America’s fundamental diversity. Along with an array of celebrity guests, the season features a special twist as host Henry Louis Gates, Jr. becomes a guest himself, uncovering a personal family mystery.The star power of the guests alone gives this series a chance, to say nothing about the power of learning new things about them.
I close the trailers with the returning winner, sort of, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman: Season 5 | Official Trailer | Netflix.
Dave sits down with Grammy winner Miley Cyrus and basketball icon Charles Barkley for a fresh set of revealing interviews about their lives and careers.Again, star power, which is what I attribute last year's win to. Apparently, the experts at Gold Derby don't agree. We saw how that turned out.
Now for the other categories in which Conan O'Brien Must Go, The Daily Show Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: MAGA: The Next Generation, and Tucci in Italy earned nominations, which I covered in 'Pee-wee as Himself' vs. 'Will & Harper' for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special on Tequila Day and '100 Foot Wave' leads Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series in nominations, but could lose to 'SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night'.

Both the food and the scenery Tucci in Italy shows look lovely, too, but I my pick is still 100 Foot Wave.I still think so, even though the food photography in Chef's Table looks gorgeous.Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction ProgramWill & Harper is the only nominee for Documentary or Nonfiction Special nominated in this category. Since much of it was photographed outdoors and great scenery helps earn cinematography awards, I can see why. That's also the case with 100 Foot Wave, which has won this award twice before and is my choice to win it again.
- Chef's Table: "Jamie Oliver" – Adam Bricker (Netflix)
- 100 Foot Wave: "Chapter III: Cortes Bank" – Vincent Kardasik, Alexandre Lesbats, Chris Smith, Laurent Pujol, Michael Darrigade, and Karl Sandrock (HBO)
- Ren Faire: "Daddy's Dyin', Who's Got the Will?" – Nate Hurtsellers (HBO)
- Tucci in Italy: "Tuscany" – Matt Ball (National Geographic)
- Will & Harper – Zoë White (Netflix)

Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction ProgramAs much as I enjoyed The Daily Show Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: MAGA: The Next Generation and the trailer to Conan O'Brien Must Go, I think this will go to Martha because it's the only nominee with a WGA Award nomination; Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story didn't earn one and Chimp Crazy would be eligible at the next ceremony, so it could surprise me. I expect enough WGA members also belong to the Television Academy for that to make a difference. Electorates matter.
- Chimp Crazy: "Head Shot" – Eric Goode, Jeremy McBride, Timothy Moran, Evan Wise, and Adrienne Gits (HBO)
- Conan O'Brien Must Go: "Austria" – Conan O'Brien, Mike Sweeney, Jessie Gaskell, and José Arroyo (HBO)
- The Daily Show Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: MAGA: The Next Generation – Ian Berger, Jordan Klepper, Jennifer Flanz, Devin Delliquanti, and Scott Sherman (Comedy Central)
- Martha – R.J. Cutler (Netflix)
- Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story – Peter Ettedgui, Ian Bonhôte, and Otto Burnham (HBO)
That's a wrap for today. The next category will be either the short-form nominees or the unstructured reality shows. Stay tuned to see which are the subjects of tomorrow's Sunday entertainment feature.
Previous posts about the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards
- No PSAs among nominees for Outstanding Commercial plus winners for Outstanding Promotional Announcement at the Emmy Awards
- 'I Am: Celine Dion,' 'Patrice: The Movie,' and 'The Remarkable Life of Ibelin,' Emmy nominees for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking
- 'Asia' and 'The Americas' lead nature documentaries at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards
- 'Pee-wee as Himself' vs. 'Will & Harper' for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special on Tequila Day
- '100 Foot Wave' leads Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series in nominations, but could lose to 'SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night'
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