Our weekly quiz and a look ahead to Salone del Mobile

The Monocle Daily for April 17, 2026, opens with a lively and humorous weekly quiz hosted by Andrew Muller and Rob Bound, featuring questions on U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s controversial use of a Pulp Fiction quote as a military prayer, Allbirds’ pivot to AI infrastructure under the new name Newbird AI, the viral story of a runaway wolf named Nyukgu in South Korea, and the upcoming biopic on Hershey’s Chocolate. The segment ends with a tongue-in-cheek victory for Muller after a bonus Hungarian language question. The show then transitions into 'The Aestheticist,' where Muller, Rob Bound, and Nick Manese dissect a series of AI-generated images of Donald Trump portraying Jesus, analyzing their kitschy, propagandistic style and cultural resonance. The segment critiques the absurdity and self-mythologizing in Trump’s social media output, linking it to historical dictator imagery and internet meme culture. The weekly recap, 'What We Learned,' satirically notes that nearly all wars in history are still ongoing, with a sharp jab at Trump’s self-proclaimed peacemaking and Vice President J.D. Vance’s diplomatic missteps. The episode closes with a preview of Salone del Mobile in Milan, featuring Grace Charlton’s insights on the event’s design highlights, including the Polish and Brazilian modernism exhibitions and a Monocle-hosted party at the trendy bar Ballet. The show ends with a live performance by Canadian country artist Corb Lund and Texan Hayes Carl, covering Garth Brooks’ 'Much Too Young to Feel This Damn Old.'