← After Party with Emily Jashinsky
After Party with Emily Jashinsky
“Happy Hour”: The Candace Situation, New Media, Airing of Grievances, and Holiday Fun: Emily Answers YOUR Questions
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On this edition of “Happy Hour,” Emily Jashinsky answers questions about Candace Owens, why she feels sadness about it, and why she believes Candace has been influenced by a psychological difficulty in coping. She also discusses why it’s important to vet tips and she acknowledges Candace has been dabbling in antisemitism. Emily explains how difficult Charlie Kirk’s death has been on so many people on the right who were friends and fans of his. Then Emily moves on to her profession, why she loves new media, and thoughts on Rachel Maddow. She also discusses the tragic murder of Rob Reiner, “All in the Family,” and Trump’s post. Then the conversation turns to fun topics like her favorite holiday drink, memories of her early days at D.C. holiday parties, favorite musical genre, favorite Wisconsin restaurants, favorite places to travel, and the backstory on the airing of grievances with Christopher Bedford.
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Welcome everyone, to a special New Year's edition of Happy Hour, which is of course itself a special edition of After Party that we do here on podcast feeds only. For all you podcast listeners out there, make sure to subscribe. It's the best way to make sure that you get Happy Hour every week. Subscribe on your preferred podcast feed, whether it's Apple or Spotify. Make sure that you're subscribed so that you get these right into your feed. So subscribe on YouTube too, by the way, if you haven't yet. We want to go into 2026. Happy 2026, by the way. We want to go into 2026 with some real momentum. We're over a hundred thousand subscribers and looking forward to growing, growing, growing, hopefully exponentially in the new year. Because we want to get we believe that we do some some fun, relaxed, but also honest, transparent, authentic coverage in the 10pm hour on Mondays and Wednesdays and of course here, the five o' clock hour on Fridays, Friday for you podcast listeners, we're not live, but I do tape these live. I go through all of your emails live. I mark them in my inbox, just flag them when I see that they are for Happy Hour so that I can come to them fresh. Which is what I'm going to do right now. Hope you all had a wonderful New Year's. By the way, here's a a message from Ken Kent says still still laughing from the segment with the Batya. That's really funny. This is a little bit about Candace, Ken says. Signed off on listening to Candace a while back. Couldn't Erica bring a lawsuit against her? And I don't know why anyone still cares about her. Interesting email, Ken. Now, of course I am prerecording this on December 19th before Christmas, before New Year's, so any number of things could have happened in the interim. But I'll try to keep this kind of broadcast and just say the Candace stuff just makes me sad. I feel like I've said this a couple of times, but say Whatever you want to say about Candace Owens, I think one thing that's obviously true is she cared about Charlie Kirk. No matter what you think about her, she cared about Charlie Kirk and was affected by his brutal assassination on live video. So my take is all of this, since September has really been influenced by a real psychological difficulty in coping with that violence. Now, I've actually been frustrated with generally the media's lack of care or attention to how traumatic that was for many, many, many people on the right. You know, just about everybody in media, in conservative media knew Charlie Kirk. And many, many people in the Republican Party, in the White House, they were really good friends with him. Charlie and I weren't friends, knew of each other, but weren't friends. And I was on that live coverage with Megan, who was a friend of his, a dear friend of his, and I could not believe how she was able to. To do what everyone really needed, which was have the news delivered as it was happening. And it seemed like after a week or two, people just moved right along and were no longer aware or willing to be aware of how powerfully traumatic seeing that happen was for people on the right. And Candace really was very close with Charlie Kirk for many years. Some debate about how close she was with Charlie Kirk when he passed. She seems to have thought that they were. They're close. And hey, I do really think some of this has been downstream of a psychological difficulty in coping with that. I again, don't think that's an excuse. I mean, what I've seen, I have watched some full episodes of her coverage of this. And what I've seen is, you know, someone who's literally reading random emails aloud on the show and, you know, with theories. Right. With tips. So to this inbox, emilyevilmacaremedia.com where you all hit me up, you probably wouldn't be surprised to hear that I get random tips all of the time. And you can usually smell if it's from a crazy person from a mile away. Right. Because there are many people among us who are having psychological breakdowns or are mentally impaired who are sending insane emails with tips saying, you know, the CIA is doing this or this person's out to get me, or I saw this and that and the other thing. And to just kind of read those tips aloud, which. That's my take on what's happened on the show without vetting them, running them down and doing the journalism, I just don't think that's helpful to anyone at all. And I do, by the way, blame some people who have created such a tough culture for honesty and who just call everyone crazy and anti Semitic, whatever. I think that fuels some of this. Again, not an excuse, but an explanation. And I think people should stop doing that. You know, only call someone anti Semitic or crazy if you are, think, if you think that they are legitimately someone who believes in this ridiculous theory that Jews are lesser. Only call someone anti Semitic if you think that's what's happening. And if you don't, then keep that definition tight. Just like I believe people should keep the definition of white supremacy tight, people on the left should keep that definition of white supremacy tight and apply it only to those who believe in literal racial white supremacy. So that's, I think that's really important and I disagree with people who are broadening that definition and I think it is fueling some of the reasons that people are taking Candace seriously and the like in some of these rabbit holes. So I think it's been unfortunate. I have not taken a lot of this coverage seriously because I've seen again, just as a journalist, I don't know if Candace considers herself a journalist just as a journalist. Our profession is wildly self serious and, you know, just so high on its own supply. But there are certain, I was going to say tricks of the trade, but in some respects, journalism used to be a trade. It used to be kind of a blue collar profession where there are just actual skills that you have, there are steps that you take just like a craftsman to vet things before publishing them. And so I have always felt uncomfortable with her commitment to those things. Like since she first kind of came on the scene, I've always been wary of her. I do understand. I think she's a talented broadcaster. I understand the entertainment value. I do think a lot of people watch her for the entertainment value because she is very entertaining and I think she has touched on some third rail topics that nobody else wants to touch on and has said some accurate things in certain cases. And so I understand actually why people listen to Candace Owens. I've just always been kind of, I don't know her heart. I don't know if she's acting in good faith or bad faith, but I've never followed her too closely because I feel like she's just a little too loose, a little bit of a, a loose cannon, a little bit too loose with taking seriously every like rabbit hole. And I don't like that, you know, because I think the solution to the trust deficit in media is not, is not going down certain rabbit holes without vetting them right oh, by all means, go down a rabbit hole. Like, there are a lot of Epstein rabbit holes that you can like. I was just before I pre taped this, reading my friend Ryan Grimm's latest piece as of December 19, on Jeffrey Epstein's connections to Iran Contra. And you're reading this piece. And I know Ryan, and I know I talked to him a little bit about the editorial process behind the story. I know he vetted these facts. I know in their documents, we are literally talking about documents that are being pieced together, emails that are being pieced together. So I think there are some legitimate rabbit holes for journalists to go down. I don't think that it's helpful for people in the public eye to go down those rabbit holes without some serious vetting and to just constantly do the sort of just asking questions routine if you're not also substantiating the impetus for those questions, if that makes sense. So that's sort of my position on all of that. I don't know. I don't know. There's a lot more that I could say. I'll keep it a little bit more brief, probably. Even though that was already kind of a long, rambling answer. I just kind of think, like, I don't know that it's people all over the country taking what Candace says as gospel so much as people listen to her because she raises. And I think there's something similar about Nick Fuentes. Not to open that can of worms, but I do think a couple of these people who are in conspiracy ish territory or like genuinely racist territory, I think Candace has actually dabbled in anti Semitism, but, and I am somebody who uses that word, I take that word very seriously and I try to use a very, a very narrow definition of it. I just, you know, some of this stuff is, I think, intentionally dabbling to toe the line and then be able to say, hey, hey, you know, this is the left game. They use this, they overuse this all the time. And I think Fuentes plays that game a little bit too. I think he played it on Tucker Carlson. We talked about this on last week's Happy hour, acting like he doesn't engage in blood guilt. He does, but he doesn't always. And so if you see one clip, it gets into this foolishness. And I think we're just, in general, my position is that it's being talked about disproportionate to its importance and relevance to the daily life of the average American and its importance to the. The average conservative. Not to say that there's no problem at all. Just to say that the, the problem has been inflated. So, yeah, I, I don't think that everybody who's pushing them to the top of the podcast charts is doing it because they are, is listening, because they are like agreeing with them on every single thing or particularly on these types of things. I think they just find it to be an interesting kind of compliment to their news diet. Tell me if I'm wrong. I'm not saying that's everybody. I just think it's why some people do it. Whoa. This is a super nice email from Howard, who says. As someone who recently discovered you, I just wanted to say how impressive I think you are so articulate and wicked smart, especially considering your age. I'm not that young anymore, guys. By the way, I, you know, I am in almost mid-30s here. I guess maybe that's kind of young for media. Maybe it's kind of young. Howard goes on to say, like a young female version of William of Buckley. Your parents supposed to be over the moon, proud. There's only one downside. I consider myself to be pretty smart. When I look back at when I was your age, you make me feel like I'm completely moral by comparison. I'm sure that's not true, Howard. I think you should have your own regular TV show like Tucker Carlson used to have. You could be the Rachel Madow at Fox. What do you think? Thank you, Howard. Merry Christmas back to you. Although I'm delivering this Merry Christmas a little bit late. Hopefully I responded to your email before you hear this. I think I will have. I'll probably respond to your email right after this recording. But the Rachel Maddow point is kind of interesting to me. That is kind of interesting. I'm not super interested in doing Fox a lot like I did when I was even younger. First time I went on Fox, I think I was 22. I think it was 2015 and used to do it pretty frequently. I just see, you know, especially when you're a guest on those shows, it's very interesting. It requires its own set of skills where you learn to kind of package your answers in these 20 seconds sound bites. And that's kind of difficult to do because you can't count, you can't look at a timer. You just kind of have to develop innately inability to be persuasive in that time period and all without looking at the clock. So there's something about it that's compelling and you have to be skilled in order to do it. I love new media. I Love podcasts. I love YouTube. And so I'm kind of in that world now and happy to be in that world, but I do, actually, and I don't know if I've ever said this before, but I think Rachel Maddow is very talented as a writer and broadcaster. And unfortunately, she went so deep, she got lost in the Russia collusion sauce. And I think part of that was because she had, like many people in liberal media at the time, so many sources in the FBI, in the legal world, in the government who were like, if you were in media at the time, people were. The rumor mill was spreading with absolute certainty that Trump had. There was something weird in Trump's background with Russia that was like people were legitimately saying that people who knew the intelligence world or were in the intelligence world were circulating that very seriously. And I think once buy into that as seriously as she did, I mean, the level of humility it would require to back off rather than dig in deeper and deeper. I mean, she really does still believe it, and that's more than I can say for others. I can at least give her that. Right. I think she genuinely believes in her heart of hearts that Donald Trump colluded with the Russian government to win the 2016 election. And everything that's happened in our politics is downstream of that for the last 10 years. So she's at least holding to that. She's not giving it up and acting like it never happened. Except people just never talk about it. They never really. Mueller report. Never really. They talked about it once and then threw it in the trash and never covered the rest of it. Acted like they didn't say everything that they said for, you know, five years or whatever, three years before the Mueller report. So I think at least you could give Matto that. But she has a. I don't know. I used to, in the first Trump term, even when she was spinning up this Russia collusion narrative, I actually think she really skillfully. Journalists aren't always skillful storytellers, especially in the broadcast format, meaning they don't do a good job telling the stories that come from complicated documentary records. So when you have tons and tons of, you know, decades worth of documents, then you have sources, you know, human sources and all, and then you have pictures, phone records, and you have to put that together into a cable news story. That's really, really difficult. And I think Maddo did something interesting with her monologues. And I don't really write monologues often. I'm mostly speaking contemporaneously anytime I do write a segment. I like doing it. I find it to be a very interesting challenge. But when I was writing monologues more. Those are more for breaking points. I actually did think a lot about Maddow. And you know, I'm not like your, your typical like, or at least I don't think of myself as your typical, like, I don't know, type A, like preppy, conservative. Like it's. I, I say that with no disrespect. Like I, I wish that I could, you know, be that put together all of the time, but it's just not who I am, to be honest. Like, I'm more of like the ink stained wretch. I say that with self deprecation. You know, I've never been good with like hair and makeup or wardrobe or anything like that. And you know, no offense to Rachel Maddow, but I kind of like her, her simple style. Did you ever watch the show Doug? I know you can't answer me, so this is rhetorical, but in nickelodeon in the 90s and in the opening credits, I think Doug would open his closet and there would be like 10 different versions of the exact same outfit hanging up in his closet. And even as a kid I was like, that's awesome. That's the dream. You open the closet every. I think this was what Zuckerberg did or something. So I feel like Maddo does that her closet every day. Black blazer, black undershirt, let's go. And so that, that part of, of Maddow resonates with me too. It's too bad she got lost in the sauce, to be honest, because I think we do need more. You know, I wish Rachel Maddow was as concerned about civil liberties across the board. Like I wish she didn't have blind spots on, on civil liberties and wasn't just concerned about conservatives war on civil liberties. And I wish she was concerned about these like, foreign policy, the corruption in our foreign policy without blinders because she's a compelling broadcaster and researcher and writer. But she's too lost in the sauce and that's unfortunate. So thank you for the nice words, Howard. I really do appreciate it. I really do appreciate it. And you know, the Buckley point, I don't think of myself as in any league similar to Buckley, but there's been a lot of debate about Buckley. And you know who had a really good piece on this is. And it was might have also been in compact. Where was it? It was Dan McCarthy. It might have been the Spectator. He had a great piece on how people misconstrue Buckley. Some of the misconceptions about Buckley as this, like, obsessive gatekeeper type, because everyone always just gets sucked into the Bircher legend about how Buckley purged the Birchers. And there's been some interesting debate about who he really was and all of that. But it's just to say, I love going on YouTube and watching old firing lines. And if you haven't done that, I kind of recommend it in this holiday break. It's like slower. They're so long and sometimes so tedious. But, like, you can see Reagan debating Buckley with a young George Will, who's not someone I particularly admire, to be honest. Honest. But all of these people engaged in these serious long form discussions, and they were happening really before cable, even when cable was competitive. I think it was on pbs. Right. And so it's always happened in America. We have this great tradition of discourse, and I love that. And I think you can see, like, Betty Friedan and Phyllis Schlafly. So I have always really, really appreciated and admired that. And Buckley, the way that he was able in those conversations to be the devil's advocate, even ask questions, again, his own belief, like a prosecutor. And I definitely try to. You know, I think I'm actually. One of my skills is moderating debates rather than being a debater, because I like doing that. I just enjoy doing that because one of the reasons I do what I do is I have a lot of questions and more questions than answers. So Buckley was arguably the best. The best to do that. All right, here is a nice message from Marlowe. Ooh, yes. This is a little disagreement with Hank on Batya and the integration of people from heavily Muslim countries based on what Batya Unger Sargon said on a recent show about assimilation and all of that. Marlow says, I hope Batya is correct that America is special and assimilation, where assimilation will continue. I'm nowhere near journalistic, but I am deeply concerned that in my lifetime I will hear a call to prayer in America. Oh, this is actually similar to what Hank said. Actually, I'm glad Brooklyn is still a melting pot, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are parts of Minneapolis or Dearborn where I would not enter. Interesting, Interesting perspective here from Marla, who says on Rob Reiner, I wonder if those MAGA women were on X. I chose to block Rob Reiner and Stephen King or their team bots because I was sick of being told by people before my youth that I'm an awful rube. You know, that is I think that's a great point. Marlo, thank you for the email, as always. Thank you for the email. Isn't that true that there's just something about seeing the contempt that an icon, particularly of your childhood, who has these, like, you know, so many of these pop culture figures we remember warmly, and I think we remember them so much because we have warm feelings attached to them. And there's something about that that feels like a gut punch, like someone you really like. It feels like someone you really like hates you or doesn't understand you. And I think that's very. I think a lot of people had that experience with Rob Reiner over the last 10 years. But from all accounts, you know, when Charlie Kirk was assassinated, Rob Reiner was very clear that he thought it was a terrible thing and that he loved what Erica Kirk said about having Grace. So by all accounts, he was probably somebody whose political commentary often did not reflect his personal. Like James Wood. Did you see it on Jesse Waters, talking about how Rob Reiner was one of his greatest champions even though they disagreed on politics? One of the ways I think people misuse social media, and the only reason I think I didn't fall into this trap is because I kind of grew up around social media at this point. Not quite like today's kids, but, you know, Facebook came out was when I was in high school and all of that. I think some people use social media to say things that they wouldn't say to other people's faces. And believe me, I'm on the receiving end of that all the time, which is why I'm hyper conscious about not being on the delivery end of that. And, boy, you know, in some ways, it's good that social media lets people, you know, have anonymous accounts, for example, where they can report tips to journalists and, you know, solve crimes on Reddit or whatever it is. But on the other hand, we let it tempt us, seduce us into. Again, I say this, I'm a broken record speaking in. Speaking for the algorithm. Right. Communicating for the algorithm, which incentivizes strong emotions, so condemnation or full exoneration, those sorts of things. And that's unhealthy. And it does force people to talk about others, like Trump voters, for example, in a way that if you're sitting across the barbecue from someone who's talking to you in good faith, they might not. And I think that affects both sides. Of course, I think that affects both sides. I think that affects all of us. Not even both sides. All sides, everyone. So those women on X who were Celebrating. I think that's what Marlowe's referring to, because I made a sort of passing comment in a monologue about why Rob Reiner's killing resonated. Killing at the hands of his son, which is what appears to have happened, resonated. And that's because the whole point of all in the Family was a father and a mother and their children and their son in law, their daughter and their son in law, and eventually their grandson. But getting along right like that is the sort of reassuring nature of the sitcom, of the, the network sitcom from the 70s, 80s, 90s, maybe still to some extent today, is that the episode opens, there's a problem. Problem is typically solved by the end of the episode or resolved in one way or the other by the end of the episode, which often means that by the end of the episode, these social problems, political problems, personal problems are resolved by members of the family. It was all in the family. And I think that's really why Reiner's son appearing to slit his throat and his. Oh, my gosh. I think that's why it's struck a chord. But what I did see were some of these posts coming from people on X. After Donald Trump came out, and with his post on X about Reiner, I saw some people suddenly start to be like, well, Rob Reiner said X, Y and Z about Trump. And the comments I made on afterparty was, you sound exactly like those people who said, well, Charlie Kirk made these comments about transgender people. Like, it's. It's the exact same thing. And I know that these situations are not apples to apples, but they're apples to apples in the sense that when someone is brutally murdered, you do not have to offer this context because it was because this person was a political opponent, right? Like in the first 24 hours. So you just leave that. Like, if you think it's relevant to the crime or something like that, make it the point in that sense. Like, well, maybe the motive could be explained by this, this and that. Of course, it doesn't excuse it, blah, blah, blah. But I just saw a bunch of people with no context being like, oh, Rob Reiner said this, this. It's like, no, no, no. And I think what they were trying to do was explain why Trump reacted the way that he reacted. But there's, again, no moral justification for Donald Trump dancing on the grave of Rob Reiner, who was brutally murdered by his own son, whose wife was brutally murdered by their son within a, you know, such close proximity to the event actually happening. And I really really did not like that. And I just think it's an example of people letting social media dictate their reactions, if that makes sense. All right, let's take some. Ooh, some questions here from Instagram. JP says, oh, this is about Rob Reiner. Emily, have to say how impressed I am of your breadth of knowledge and the insights far behind your years. The Rob Reiner all in the Family response was so perfect and frankly gave me a different perspective and appreciation for the show, having grown up watching it. Love your stuff. And us Canadians are very tuned into your expert take on all things. Well done and thank you. Thank you, jp. I appreciate that, the breadth of knowledge I have on all in the Family because I watched every episode of all in the Family as a teenager myself, so I can only give credit to my parents for that. There was, I think I mentioned this on that episode, but there was a year where one of those channels that plays oldies was replaying all of the Family in sequence every night. And so for like a year, I don't know, maybe it was less. It was like we watched every episode of all in the Family. And I've since seen those episodes, some of them multiple times, and they really do hold up. I was just telling someone that last night, like they, some of those shows I go back and watch and maybe people will go back and watch Friends and the Office, whatever, and feel similarly. Although I think some of them are just timeless. But some of those shows in the 70s, because they really had to appeal to everyone. Sometimes the humor was just a little too soft for my taste, but sometimes it was like the type of joke that was so good that everyone could laugh at it. You know, like the stuff that Johnny Carson was a master of and that I think on the Family really, really was timeless and American in the best possible way. So thank you for the nice words, jp but all credit to my parents for that. Here's another Rob Reiner one from Christine. Comment and question. I'm truly so disappointed by the President's comments over the murder of Rob Reiner and his wife. So vile. Question. You mentioned the West Wing last week in the show. Some of the press to work there full time in a room thinking specifically of the character Danny. Is that true or is that just for the show? It's one of my all time favorite shows. Great question. Great comment too. I just want to say in response to the comment about Rob Reiner on the Megyn Kelly Wrap up show, which is on Sirius XM Monday through Friday, I take your calls. Basically after Megan from 2 to 3pm live. And that day, it was like the Monday after the Rob Reiner killing. The phone lines lit up specifically about Trump's truth social post on Rob Reiner. And I did not expect that. And listen, do I think that means people are breaking with Trump? Honestly, no. I think maybe Trump is. Now that he's likely not trying to run for president again, the incentives to sort of be a little tougher on him are different. I think we're gonna see that into the future here. But I think there was just something people were disappointed in that was resonant with that post because they grew up watching Rob Reiner. That's probably an obvious point, but. And because the mo. The murder was so brutal. A few points here. One, people really grew up loving Rob Reiner. He's just been a constant fixture in our pop culture as a sort of jolly man, even as his politics seemed to harden. Two, the nature of the crime was so brutal and unthinkable. And three, Trump's post was so intense and so soon. So I think that combination made it really resonate with people and made people really disappointed in Trump. And I think a lot of that also is because they knew Rob Reiner as meathead and someone whose problems were. He worked to resolve his problems with Archie and Archie worked to resolve his problems with him. As hard headed as they both were. And so I think that explains it. Now to the West Wing. I've seen a total of like one or two episodes of the West Wing. I tried to get into the West Wing because I love these like soaring depictions of America at its best from the 90s and 2000s. You know, like the movie October sky is a good example. Or Mona Lisa Smile. People who captured America in that way. Rob Reiner really captured America in that way, I think. And West Wing Sorkin does that. It's just, it's a little too much for me. When I go back and watch it, I'm like, oh my gosh. No. Like he's is a little too much of a. What's the right word for it? It's a little cringey to me when I go back and watch, but I think if I had grown up watching it, I probably would have loved it. I just didn't. The press. Yes. So there's a. It works in a couple of different ways. If you are part of the White House Press Association's press corps, they work with the White House now. The White House. One of the things Trump 2.0 has done is mostly take that over from the WHCA against their wishes. But they, the White House manages the seating chart of the chairs. So if you have a chair, you likely also have a desk. And if you're with a television network, you likely also have a little studio or a radio studio down there. And that was all, that's all coordinated with the whca. Some of it is right behind the press room. So if you walk, there's a hallway. You can see it on camera if you're looking. If you, if you're taking the view that the press secretary has, that Caroline Levitt has on the left, you can see there's a little hallway. And that hallway goes back to a kitchen. It goes back to desks and offices. And then there's also a lower level where there are, like little booths and desks for people who, who have chairs. And if you are, you know, one of the camera guys or the print reporters, pool reporters, many of them actually do work full time out of the White House. Some of them have desks at their respective offices, too. But a lot of them just like, literally have to be there certain hours every single day in case, if you're a cameraman or an audio person or an on camera reporter, you kind of have to be there because you have to jump up at a moment's notice if there's breaking news to do a hit from the White House for your network or to be the person that's. If the President's doing a press availability, he's bringing people in the Oval Office, which Trump will do with a moment's notice. You want to be there. So they're there full time. Also, you're taking meetings with the press team and all that stuff too. So that is true. That is true. Dio v Tretin. I don't know. I'm not saying that correctly. I don't know how to pronounce it. Says, what's your favorite holiday drink? Oh, boy. What's my favorite holiday drink? I like eggnog. I actually didn't try eggnog until, like, kind of well into my twenties, into my adulthood, because it just always seemed kind of gross to me. But when I tried it the first time, I think I was at a Daily Caller Christmas party when I tried it for the first time. And those parties used to be like, I remember this was in the Tucker years of the Daily Caller. I remember this was like 2016, maybe 2015 or something like that. I walked in and I saw, you know, if you're in conservative media, you know, like some of these Newsrooms. It's just they're so young. And I was, of course, young at the time, too. They're kind of like. They almost feel like frat houses. I remember walking in as they were prepping the party and just watching someone who's now a friend overturn just a massive bottle of, like, bottom shelf, like, you know, the lowest quality whiskey you could possibly find into this big punch bowl of eggnog. Just overturning the whole thing. And I was like, oh, my gosh. So I tried it, and I liked it. So I'm an eggnog person. I also like a Stella, you know, a nice cold Stella. Everyone now associates that with Christmas. I will have a Stella any time of year. But a nice cold Stella or Peroni, for whatever reason. Those are my winter beers that I like. What are my favorite? This is from the Agog Egg. What are my favorite bands? Slash singers for every person, myself included. That's a big question. My best answer is that my musical tastes were shaped on a very specific night. I think it was 2007. It's like January 2007 or 2008. My mom had to travel for work, and she had gotten my dad tickets to a concert at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee. I think it was at the Pabst. Might have been the Riverside. So we drove into the city, and it was freezing. It was like, 10 below that night. And I always remember my dad just refuses to pay for parking, even when it's 10 below, so we wouldn't park at the theater. So we parked, like, five blocks away or something, and we were a little late coming into the theater, which is also unusual because my dad's. As we walk up to our seats in the kind of upper level. It's just a gorgeous theater. It was the opening notes of Red Dirt Girl by Emma Lou Harris. Because the concert was called Three Girls and Their Buddy. And if you're into Americana folk music, this lineup is just, like, mind blowing. And this was, like, the first concert that I really ever attended. It was Sean Colvin, Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, and Buddy Miller. Oh, my gosh, I can't believe how lucky I was. And I went home that night, and I think it was on my ipod touch. I stayed up until, like, three in the morning listening to. You know, obviously I couldn't do the whole, like, Emila Harris discography at that point because, you know, she was so prolific. But I did as much as I could. I listened to just about the whole Sean Colvin, Patty Griffin discography a lot of Buddy Miller and that to me just set the tone. You know, I grew up really listening to like country and my dad's music, of course, which is, you know, the Buddy Miller, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams stuff. And obviously my. So not obviously, but you know, my dad plays guitar, little drums. I did drums in high school all the way up through my senior year. Percussion all the way up through my senior year through whatever the top band was. I wasn't very good. That was kind of the running joke. But you know, I love, love drum set, love guitar. So that was a lot of, you know, coming from a lot of that in my, in my life came from my dad and he has fantastic taste in music. So grew up on some of that good kind of alt country. Early Steve Earle, early Lucinda Williams, all Lucinda Williams, honestly. I've seen her and Steve both multiple, multiple times. Patty Griffin I've seen multiple times. Emmy Lou I've seen multiple times. I love Sean Colvin. I love that 90s music. I remember when I first watched Dawson's Creek going through the soundtrack. They used to have an early 2000s looking website at the time with all of the music from Dawson's Creek on it. So that's where the Lilith Fair stuff that I really like comes into the picture. And now probably my favorite contemporary people who are still like really, I don't know, putting out music and touring and are in their, maybe you would say in their prime. I'm a huge Haim fan. I probably mentioned that before. I've seen Haim in a bunch of different places. I wish I would have been able. It was such a busy fall with after party starting and the wrap up show starting and all of that. But I wish I'd been able to, to travel and see some of the European leg and some of the west coast leg. I really want to do the Santa Barbara Bowl. I spent a lot of time in Santa Barbara over the years because I've done some work at the Reagan Ranch and I have always wanted to do the Santa Barbara bowl and Chaim was playing there and it was early November and there was just no way I could make it work. So that's a long answer to that question. But yeah, 90s country, 90s Lilith and especially alt country. I love altcountry, you know, even even, like, not even even, but like a lot of the new stuff. Like if you're on, if you're listening to SiriusXM Outlaw, the outlaw country channel, some great stuff over there. If I had to, if I had to live with one Siriusxm Channel. Other than the Megyn Kelly channel. That's the one that I would pick. All right. What's my favorite Wisconsin restaurant? Oh, man, do I wanna put anyone on blast. Let's see. Oh, there's so many. And there's some, like, really great little, like, supper clubs up north. I will say our favorite supper club up north is the. The White Stag. I like the White Stag a lot. If you're looking for a good, like, Wisconsin experience, that's one of my favorites. Oh, what else? What else? There's again, there's, like. There's little ones. Leduc's. That was across from my high school. That's a great Wisconsin restaurant. Great Wisconsin custard burger place. I know, like, lots of people like Cops. I also like Cops. That's a good one. Let's see. Milwaukee. I didn't go into Milwaukee too much as a kid, to be honest. I worked there. I had an internship with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in college, but I wasn't spending too much time there. And then another one in college, too. But, yeah, I'll stick with leducs and Cops. I love the White Stag for supper clubs. I think they closed the Paul Bunyan in Eagle River. There might still be one in the Dells. I always like. My family makes fun of me all the time because I liked the Pop Onion that was in, by the way, that Dan Aykroyd movie. What was it called? The Great Outdoors. I think a lot of that was filmed in Minocqua up there. I think the scene where he eats that disgusting big steak was at the Paw Bunyan in Minocqua. I think I could be wrong about that. Maybe that's just a legend. Or Eagle River. I think they might have closed that one, though. There may still be one in the Dells that's open. But anyway, if you're ever in Wisconsin, there's honestly just, like, a lot of good. There's just a lot of good stuff. The Watershed Brewery on the lakefront is a classic choice if you find yourself in Milwaukee. Yeah, I could go on forever. But my favorite, of course, is in my hometown of Delafield, which is. Holy cow. That's a classic. Like leduc's custard burgers. Anyway, it's a great place. Great place. Let's see, this one is Anonymous. Hi, Emily. Big fan of your work on Breaking Points and afterparty Happy Hour International travel. Question. What are your top three favorite international cities you visited? And what are three international cities that you've not yet been to. But would like to visit. Thanks and congrats on all your success. Okay. You know, I know a lot of people who are much more well traveled than me. Because of my job, I have been able to do some fun travel, but not nearly as much as I want to. As I've gotten older, I've just gotten more into like, there's just much of. As I. After I went for the first time, I started getting the bug. And so there are a lot more places that I want to go to. Favorite international cities. Top of the list is Rome for me. I've been a couple times, like, just, you cannot beat Rome. It is the most, like, I don't know, it's. It's just if you're on a movie set, right. It's kind of like New York City has that. It's not an international city, so it doesn't count for the sake of this question. But Rome, you're on a movie set, but you're not. Right? Like, there's just so everything, every little nook and cranny of Rome is Rome. And it's so fascinating. Incredible food, obviously. And I've been in different parts of Italy and I thought the food in Rome was just. I mean, the, the seafood once you get to the coast is like insane. I'm not a big seafood person, but yeah, the food in Rome is just unreal. I haven't really been. I've done most of the Amalfi coast. I haven't been to Venice, Florence, any of those. I haven't been in Northern Italy. I haven't done Sicily or anything like that. So those are definitely on the list of places that I want to go as well. So I can't compare the food, but I do think the food in Rome is just outrageous. Let's see, it's not a city, but, well, international cities. Okay, I'll stick to international cities. I just honestly haven't been that many places that aren't kind of the obvious. So, like, I've done London, Paris, Dublin, Lisbon, Rome a couple times. Amalfi coast. I've been like. I've done a lot of like the Caribbean stuff on vacation, I really love. Actually, I've been to San Juan for work. I interviewed the governor of Puerto Rico years ago. But I love San Juan, Puerto Rico. I think that's an incredible city. The architecture is awesome. Out of this world, like, just beautiful. So we have Rome and San Juan so far, obviously. I mean, London is, you know, it's. It's an incredible city. But I don't know, I mean, I feel like I just need to travel more. That's my answer to this. I have a lot of places that I really, really, really want to go to. So obviously, yes, for three international cities, I definitely want to do Jerusalem, Bethlehem. I really want to do Athens, and I want to do. Yeah, like, I would love to do, like, a pilgrimage that follows, like, the. Like, Paul's footsteps or Peter's footsteps. So probably, you know, those. Those islands. Yeah, I would love to do, like, Santorini. And I'm sure all of you are now gonna, like, hit me up with travel tips. I definitely want to go to Mexico City. I've never been to Mexic Mexico City. I love Mexico. That was going to be my answer when I said it's not a city, but just the country. It's such an incredible place, like, whether you're in a tourist destination or not. The time that I spent in Northern Mexico doing reporting on the border, I really. Just. The combination of cultures and the way that Spanish Catholic culture merged with indigenous culture and how it is today, it's just an absolutely fascinating place. So that'd be my answer. I really want to go to Buenos Aires. I want to do. Yeah, I definitely want to do different places in South America. I'd love to do Venezuela at some point. Kind of tough right now. Would love to do, like, you know, I don't know. Like, you know, I don't know. That's my time filling as I'm trying to think. But yeah, I like South Central or I like Mexico and Central America. I've never been to South America. I would like to go to South America. All kinds of places. As you can see, there are. There are all kinds of places that I want to go that I haven't been to yet. So I'm going to Turks and Caicos for the first time soon. I love the Caribbean. Even like Miami. I love Miami. No, that's not international. Let's see, here is Terry, who says, emily, thank you for your Midwestern sensibilities. Love listening here. If you're ever in Cleveland, let me know. So I went on a family vacation to Cleveland once as a little bit of a sample of just how Midwestern my family was. We did take a family vacation to Cleveland once. Went to the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. Yeah. We did summer vacations in the Midwest for a while. Yeah, we did Traverse City in the Dunes, South Dakota, Mount Rushmore. Yeah. One time we took a vacation to Cleveland. I was too young to really be mad about it, but I Remember being like, really? This is our summer vacation? Is Cleveland Cleveland? No offense to Cleveland. I know everybody in Ohio loves Ohio. I love Columbus. Actually. I like downtown Columbus. It reminds me a lot of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Midwestern cities. Seth Red Star asks if I've ever heard of the new Apostolic Reformation, Bethel, et cetera. I've definitely heard of Bethel. Haven't paid super close attention to that. M. Bowman asks, how do we get Megyn Kelly on Joe Rogan? Ha. Man, that would be awesome. I love that idea. I don't know. I certainly don't have any power over it, but that would be great. I'd love to see that because Megan has such an interesting professional story and personal story, and that would be awesome. So I'm all for it. One more question here. This is from Maddie says Emily, an after party crew. I understand this message poorly time and could have been sent early. However, I absolutely love this podcast. I wanted to express my desire for an airing of Grievances pod with the beloved Christopher Bedford. I've had a tough time getting in the Christmas spirit this year, and there's nothing that would spur on the Yuletide glee like an airing of Grievances. Please know that if it's not too late this year, consider this as an early request for next Christmas. Thank you for all you're doing. Merry Christmas. All right. This is a great place to end because the backstory. And now I'm like kicking myself because it would have been so easy to do an airing of Grievances with Bedford just over zoom and air it as a holiday happy hour episode. Oh, I'm so sorry, everyone. I should have thought about that. But the backstory here is that every Christmas, even when he didn't work at the Federalist, Bedford, who's been on the show, he's over at the Blaze now. He forced me to do what was called an airing of Grievances. I want to say it started with Ben Domenech on Federalist Radio Hour when Ben was the host. And then Bedford would force me to do it. I have no idea why. I think mostly it was his excuse to day drink in the middle of the week before the holidays because we would come in and he always liked to record in person and he would immediately go to the Hemingway. So Mark and Molly, when the Federals first got in office, or when we got our Capitol Hill office, they just brought all the liquor in their basement that was like 20 years old and half consumed. Made for niche specialty cocktails, the most random stuff. And Bedford would come in during the airing grievances and force me to drink some concoction. But he is a bartender, so he has pretty good ability to make cocktails. And he would do a Seinfeld style, like, Festivus level airing of his grievances. And they were bizarre, but kind of a good way to wrap up the year behind because he would just have grievances with the stories that you've forgotten or with the characters from the year that you've forgotten. So thank you so much, Maddie, for sending this in. I actually wish that I had thought about this, and I hope that we can do this next year because it was always fun for me to. He forced me to drink with him, and the key was just to go slowly, you know, just like then you can throw away what's left over. Maybe I didn't always throw it away. Maybe I would always find this really great beer. And I don't know what it was called, but all that is to say, yeah, by the way, he did do beer and cocktails over the, like, 40 minutes that we would take to record this. So I think that's probably why he forced us to do the Festivus was to have an excuse for midday holiday happy hour. We should have done that. I'm sorry, Maddie. Apologies to all grievance airing fans out there. We'll try to bring that back next year. I'll try to remember it. Thank you, Matty, for remembering the airing of grievances. I'll make sure that Bedford hears that his fans miss him. Appreciate it. Appreciate you all. Hope your new year is off to a great start. And I'm so excited to be back because right now, as I'm recording this, we have one after party left before the year's end, and I'm already kind of itching to just have it be January and to dive back in. I don't like. I rarely, rarely take time off. I don't like it. It gives me like a rash because I've gotten too used to mixing it up. So I'm excited to get back to it, and I hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful break, if you were able to get one, and that your new year is off to a great start. God bless. See you back here soon with more.
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