← After Party with Emily Jashinsky
After Party with Emily Jashinsky
Media Ignores “Arctic Frost” Scandal, Influencers and Hollywood Shift Right, with Brittany Xavier and Mark Hemingway
01:16:38
Emily Jashinsky opens the show with a look at House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ struggle to respond to the rise of Zohran Mamdani. Then Emily is joined by Mark Hemingway, Senior Writer at RealClearInvestigations, to discuss the media’s black out of the “Arctic Frost” scandal, calls for the impeachment of Federal Judge James Boasberg, and for the pardons of Trump electors, PLUS Ex-CIA chief John Brennan’s meltdown when he was confronted about Hunter Biden’s laptop. Then Emily is joined by digital creator Brittany Xavier. The two discuss the changing influencer landscape, the MAHA movement, Brittany’s surprising conversation with Dr. Fauci that left her feeling misled, the importance of authenticity on social media, the role of influencers in politics, Sami Sheen’s powerful message to young girls, and more. Emily wraps up the show with a look at how Hollywood has shifted to the right after seeing how it’s worked for Big Tech. Emily uses the example of Jennifer Lawrence and N...
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A
With my job, I can't drink during the week.
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Weekends are a different story.
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C
Ugh.
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B
After eight hours of this, I have earned my wine. You know what I'm saying?
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My family is a lot. It takes me four beers just to hang out with them. Binge drinking isn't all college kids doing keg stands. Oregonians in their 30s and 40s binge drink at close to the same rates as younger people, raising our risk for long term health problems. More@rethinkthedrink.com an OHA initiative.
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B
Are you ready to get spicy?
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A
These Doritos Golden Sriracha aren't that spicy.
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B
Maybe it's time to turn up the.
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Heat or turn it down.
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C
It's time for something that's not too spicy.
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Try Doritos Golden Sriracha.
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Spicy but not too spicy.
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Happy Monday. But more importantly, happy after party. Everyone, welcome to the show. We have two great guests tonight. We're gonna start with Mark Hemingway and end with Brittany Xavier. And along the way cover all kinds of big, big, big topics. We're going to start with Arctic Frost developments while we have Mark with us. And I mean this, the impeachment of Judge Boasberg potentially on the table. Pardons potentially on the table. There's so much to get to and actually some people who maybe disagree with Mark and me on the Arctic Frost historic revelations that the media is completely ignoring. So just put a pin in that. We're about to get to it. Brittany is such an interesting person. We have stuff to talk about in the Maha universe and I say stuff because it's all kinds of things. Influencer culture. We're on the cusp of election day tomorrow where influencers are completely up in the air about Mamdani versus Cuomo. So we're going to dive into all of that and kind of what it tells us about the fractured media ecosystem, period. And I'm going to finish with some reaction to new comments from both Cheryl Hines and and Jennifer Lawrence. Again, why not? As I always say. Okay. Before we get into all of that though, and believe me, I'm excited, I have to start with friend of the show, Hakeem Jeffries. I believe we have two recent clips of speaker. Well, I should say Minority Leader Jeffries. Speaker, Aspiring Speaker Jeffries. If all goes right in the midterms, he will be speaker of the House in all likelihood for them. So let's go ahead and see how Hakeem Jeffries is reacting to the possibility of the mayor of New York city being a 30 something democratic socialist with all of the momentum in the party on his side.
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A
Roll the first clip for mayoral candidate Zoran Mamdani. Do you see Mamdani as the future of the Democratic Party? No. I think the future of the Democratic Party is going to fall, as far as we're concerned, relative to the House Democratic Caucus and members who are doing a great work all across the country as it relates to our need to both take back control of the House, but in doing so, make sure that we're communicating to the American people like we understand you deserve better.
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I don't even know what he said. He sounds like Miss Carolina, Miss South Carolina in that famous viral video where she's like in regards to the. With respect, that's what that was. From aspirational speaker of the House Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Leader, Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Let's see if he recovered from that at all, if he's becoming more and more eloquent. Clip two.
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A
You know, it's Halloween. Donald Trump should put on a costume and pretend to act like a president. And at least on this day, oh.
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C
Man, that was Boris Sanchez from cnn. And on his face, you can see the look of complete and total shame for having that disgrace in the airwaves. On his show, on his platform, Donald Trump should put on a Halloween costume and act like a president. This is how the Democratic establishment is reacting in this moment when their unfavorables among Democrats are as high as they've been in recent history. Remember, we always talk about how they're at Tea Party levels. This is the Speaker. This is the Speaker. I'm sorry, not the Speaker. This is the House Minority leader, the aspiring Speaker. That's him. That's him. And to his point, in the first conversation with Jake Tapper, if he, if he wants the Democratic Party's future to look like the House Democratic Party's caucus. Well, one of their top small dollar fundraisers is, of course, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, maybe the top small dollar fundraiser in the House among rank and file Democrats. So if that's true, then he shouldn't be saying no to Zoram Mamdani, representing the future of the party. How do you not have an answer prepared for that? Which actually sounds plausible in any way whatsoever. If again, you have the ascendant squad, big fundraisers, Bernie Sanders, he's not even a Democrat. He's an independent who runs as a Democrat in presidential elections. He's one of the top small dollar fundraisers in Congress. And this is how the House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is deftly navigating the shutdown, is handling all of this. Yeah. As a reminder, the government, the government is still shut down. Big elections tomorrow. Government's still shut down. And boy, do we have a lot to get to when it comes to surveillance revelations. Rocking the conservative movement. Truly rocking the conservative movement. So I'll be right back in a second with Mark Hemingway. Before we get to that, though, of course, you know I love Vandy chips. Did you know I know you know chips and fries were cooked in tallow until the 1990s when corporations swapped out that beautiful, rich, delicious tallow for cheap seed oils. Disgusting. Those oils are now 20% of our daily calories and studies link them to inflammation and metabolic issues. We're going to talk a little bit about this later in the show. That is not okay. Vandy Crisps is fighting back with a chip made from three ingredients. Heirloom potatoes, sea salt and 100% grass fed beef tallow. No seed oils. None. And that tallow packs nutrients for your skin, brain and hormones and makes these chips taste incredible. They really, really do. I love them so much. Unlike regular chips, vanity leaves you satisf energized with no bloat or crash. They're 100% American made. No compromises. The best chip I have ever tasted, and I have tasted a lot of chips. The tallow keeps you from mindless binging. And my go to is the barbecue. They're pure perfection. So if you're ready to give Vandy a try, go to vandycrisps.com afterparty and use code AFTERPARTY for 25% off your first order. That's vandycrisps.com Afterparty and code AFTERPARTY for 25% OFF your first order. Can't recommend them enough.
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It's just weather. It is an introvert's dream. Give it a try@minmobile.com Switch upfront payment.
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Of $45 for 3 month plan. $15 per month equivalent required.
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New customer offer first 3 months only.
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Then full price plan, options available, taxes and fees extra.
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Cmnobile.com all right, let's now bring in Mark Hemingway, senior writer at Real Clear Investigations. My former colleague at the Federalist. Mark, thanks for being here.
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Glad to be here.
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C
So as of October 30, news busters had calculated, quote, there was nothing about any of this referring to the Arctic frost revelations of last week on the national network newscasts. Nothing on abc, cbs, NBC. We checked and found nothing on Univision or Telemundo either. There was no Arctic frost reporting on Friday's morning shows on abc, CBS and NBC. A quick review of last week's evening news finds that the consensus top story was the was the construction of the White House ballroom. Today's top news stories were a combination of the weather event hitting the East Coast, Prince Andrew getting stripped of his royal status, just essential information for every American to hear, and snap benefits potentially expiring due to the ongoing government shutdown. Now, Mark, it's a little early to have already calculated everything from tonight's newscasts, but I have done just scouring of the media today and I know that you have too, Mark, because you're always monitoring this. It's basically crickets. I mean, some will cover the reaction, some of these major legacy outlets will cover the reaction. But I looked at those documents, scanned all of them as again, I know you did last week, and just looking at the primary source, came away with the conclusion it was utterly historic. And the gap between the substance here and the coverage is stunning. But Mark, no offense, you've been around longer than I have. Are you as surprised as I am? I know I probably shouldn't be, but this seems crazy to me.
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A
I mean, this is genuinely shocking. I mean, having, you know, witnessed what happened with Russiagate and how particularly expansive that was and predicated on absolutely nothing. This is even more expansive in terms of it being like an entire, you know, government wide investigation with, you know, all the force and bearing of, you know, the Justice Department and all its resources and being explicitly partisan. I mean, it's just absolutely insane. I mean, you're spying on, was it eight to 10 Republican senators or something like that? I forget the exact number, but it was a significant number. You know, you about every conservative organization you could think of, including the Republican National Committee, Turning Point usa, you know, on and on and on. You know, they were, they were, you know, spying on these people. And it wasn't just that they were, you know, going after them for criminal issues when they were going after donor data. They were coming after, you know, their interactions with the press. I mean, this is, this is really, really crazy stuff. And you know, at the end of the day, you're like, what is the predicate for this. Right. You know, there's got to be some sort of underlying crime behind this and there just is nothing there. I mean there's this, there's this thing about, you know, the, the quote unquote fake electors which aren't so fake. It's a complicated legal issue that is in no way shape or form a justifiable basis for any of this. And you know, and again, you still don't get from that point to why you're going after, you know, who the donors are for conservative organizations or in some cases they were spying on. Jack Smith was spying on conservative organizations that did not exist on January 6, 2021. Like these things were created afterwards. So like the justification for like, you know, rooting through these people lives is just there's, there's nothing, there's nothing there.
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C
And that would be America First Legal is one of the examples that Stephen Miller's group did not exist at the time of the alleged crime, the alleged conspiracy. And Mark, that's sort of what I wanted to ask you about next. Cleta Mitchell had a very provocative piece in the Federalist where she argued today the criminal charges brought against Trump and his electors and others in five states were the focus and the pretext for the vast Biden administration conspiracy to destroy Trump and anyone close to him. Cleta is of course in the documents as someone who has surveilled it is time to end the lawfare against them. Every person charged in Georgia, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Michigan and Wisconsin must be permanently freed from their criminal charges. Nightmare. What we learned last week is that Arctic Frost was built around the Trump electors, supposedly the GRA men of the state criminal charges. But these are not independent proceedings. Absent Arctic Frost, there would likely have been no state proceedings. Arctic Frost was initiated to criminalize the Trump 2020 presidential electors actions in signing elector certificates for President Trump. I just want to stop there because that's about the best description. And Cletus obviously ideologically biased in one direction. There's no, you know, if, ands or buts about that. She's open about it, but that's just about the best description I've heard of the entire Jack Smith predicate. And Andy McCarthy disagrees. He's referred to the faux Arctic Frost outrage because he says there's always been some evidence of criminal wrongdoing in the elector case. There's always been some type of evidence. He said the evidence wasn't conclusive and you know, he never supported the opening of the case for various reasons. But mark this to me. I Went back and was going through the memos that were written at the time today by John Eastman Chesbrough and others. Going through the communications, people genuinely, you and I disagreed with them. If I'm remembering correctly. They genuinely believed they had substantive legal challenges in every single one of those states. And they believed that they were acting. And they reiterated this over and over again in their communications, that they were acting as within the confines of the Constitution. And that was the point of this entire quote, unquote, conspiracy was to devise a constitutional mechanism to challenge the election. It was overtly not criminal.
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Yeah. So this issue of alternate electors is a sort of complicated legal thing, but the reality is, what happens when you have a situation where you have an election that's disputed or could possibly be overturned? Well, if you don't have a slate of electors that are ready to go or have voted in this alternate situation, you know, Congress doesn't have any elector votes to count. Right. So this was, you know, always, you know, the idea of an alternate elector system, you know, is not without precedent. It came up in 1960 in Hawaii and the famously close election between John F. Kennedy and Richard, you know, M. Nixon, which a lot of historians think that Nixon might have actually won.
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C
I like that you got the M in there, Mark, just to be respectful, not. Not Nixon, not Richard Nixon. Richard M. Nixon.
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I hope I'm correct about that, Milhouse.
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Yes.
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Or.
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Or Richard Nixon.
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But the point is, is, like, this has come up before. And in fact, if I'm recalling correctly, I think it was the 1876 election where they had alternate electors in South Carolina and Vermont. And in that case, there really was, I think, maybe some bad faith involved in, like, what was going on, you know, in a close election. But even in that case, there were no criminal charges ever brought against the alternate electors. And this was not considered, like, you know, this. This, you know, totally unacceptable thing. And the idea that this would suddenly be criminalized in the wake of, again, an election that was decided by less than 40,000 votes across three states is really, really controversial at a, you know, if not completely outrageous. And in some of these cases, I would like to point out that, like, there were very legitimate challenges here. Like, if you strictly applied the law as it was written in Georgia, you know, there were. There were more than 10,000. There was more than the margin. Biden, one of the 10 or 10,000 or so votes that he won Georgia by, where you had a situation where you have people that were voting in the Georgia election in. In precincts that they weren't registered. In which, if you strictly apply Georgia law, that made those votes invalid. Now, the wisdom of disenfranchising 10,000 people and swinging a state in a presidential election is something I might question. But the reality is, if you legitimately applied the law, there's a very good case that Biden did not win Georgia. So, like, this was not some, like, crazy thing that people were, like, coming up with out of nowhere. This was, you know, what they were working through. Like, what would be the advisable constitutional process for us if, in fact, it turns out some of these challenges are legitimate and to criminalize that is just absolutely insane. But, like, the thing here is, you know, if you look at the breadth of this investigation, the alternate electors thing, it's not that I think they regarded that as a particularly serious thing. They were looking for something, anything to go on a fishing expedition that encompassed the entire conservative movement. You know, I mean, I, you know, how does the Justice Department go after the Republican National Committee? I mean, this is, you know, really, really loaded. And it is, you know, beyond, you know, anything ever anyone ever thought about in terms of Watergate or any of these other, you know, previous scandals. Like, I cannot think of a scandal emanating from, from inside the federal government in American history that possibly eclipses this. I mean, it's, when you get right down to it.
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C
Well, yeah, and a couple of things based on what you just said, you obviously have the great fortune of being married to a woman who became obsessed with this for a short but probably what felt like long period of time in your household. Rigged. Go buy your copy, folks. Rigged. It's all out there. And honestly, nobody has really refuted the proof in that book of funny business, to say the very least. A lot of it was pushed through by Democratic lawyers Mark Elias and others. And I think, Mark, genuinely, people in the media don't even know the full story of the 2020 election and all of the rigging that went on. And I just first will say I thought some of the, like, post election stuff, a lot of the post election stuff I thought was grifty. I thought it was predatory and extremely dangerous. That said, what I think you just. The point you just made is the disparity between the predicate for a sweeping special counsel election investigation that brought in virtually the entire conservative movement apparatus under secret surveillance for a long time and this flimsy, if not thin, to put it charitably, predicate for that election. And then the gap between that, the seriousness of that and the lack of Media coverage is astounding. I mean, this was. Maybe you could speak, Mark, just to the breadth of what Arctic Frost was, as the picture is becoming clearer.
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Well, you know, I mean, you're at the Justice Department and, you know, think about this. Someone comes up to you and says, you know, I need to start getting warrants to spy on, you know, eight Republican senators. I mean, at what point do you not see that and be like, whoa, you better have, like, you know, these people on tape, you know, murdering people, which AT&T.
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C
AT&T said no. ATT's attorneys, according to the Senate senators, said no Verizon attorneys allowed it to happen. And then Judge Boasberg. Sorry to interrupt, Mark, but Judge Boasberg allowed them to. So he granted the subpoena arrests, and then he ordered those telecom companies to conceal the subpoenas from the targeted senators, which is why there is now a charge to impeach Boasberg. So in. In all of this, to your point, like, nobody at the Justice Department, because it was Boasberg who is like this, obviously, like, has become such a partizan figure. No surprise ever since. But that's what was happening behind the scenes. Not only were the subpoenas ridiculous, but then they were ordered to conceal them.
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A
Right? Well, it's worse than that because there's like, a specific law. I mean, the idea here is there should be safeguards in place to keep from weaponizing the Justice Department to do things like go on partisan witch hunts, which this clearly was. So there was. There was some sort of law, I think, that required notification of the senators that, you know, there was some subpoena out for them, and Boasberg ordered a gag order on that subpoena or that delayed it a year or two, whatever, so that the investigation could be done. And, you know, the Republican senators are rightly outraged by this. Eric Schmidt, the senator from Missouri, I believe, the former AG of Missouri, who's, you know, a very, very capable legal guy, lawyer. It was a very aggressive ags in Missouri and very much knows what he's doing here, has come out and called for the impeachment of Schmidt. I'm sorry, the impeachment of Boseberg. And Schmidt is not, you know, some fly by night, you know, guy who's, you know, a partisan bomb thrower. If he's a very serious attorney, if he is calling for the impeachment of Boseberg, you know, knowing that this is crossing a Rubicon, he must think that this is extremely serious in terms of, you know, how over the top, his conduct Was So, you know, this is something that we, you know, people should take very serious. And I would add just one thing. We've talked about how the media has basically blacked all coverage of Arctic Cross. There's been one exception to this that I've seen, which I've seen multiple stories where I, you know, I forget. It was like Ted Cruz. And then I think Josh Hawley, maybe both said something about how the Justice Department had, quote, tapped their phones. And there have been multiple stories I've seen correcting this saying, no, no, they didn't tap their phones. They just, you know, asked for, you know, records indicating who they were calling, their locations and their metadata. They didn't actually tap their phones. It's like, thanks for the clarification, guys. But, like, literally the only coverage is to try and make Republican senators who are outraged about being spied upon with no basis look like they're lying. I mean, I just don't even know what to say to that.
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C
It reminds me of that, like, 2017 Trump tweet where he accused Obama of, quote, tapping his, quote, wires, and the media rushed to fact check it. And as the Russia collusion hoax became clearer and clearer, it was like, well, sort of indicated it may not have been literal tapping of literal wires. But the statute you're referring to is US code 6628. And if this was an official phone, according to an Ethics and Public Policy center fellow, Mike Fragoso, then Boasberg may have violated the statute, and it could predicate a bar investigation and an impeachment inquiry. And a bar investigation potentially could lead to an impeachment inquiry. But as seems like something that that could be the cards for Boasberg. Mark, I remember in the Obama era when James Rosen and James Risen were both spied on, but particularly James Rosen by the Obama administration, the media, the White House press corps kind of rallied to his side. It was sort of in vogue at the time to be, like, liberal, but against surveillance and to be, like, pro Obama. But because everyone was so pro Obama, they kind of scratched that contrarian itch by being like, except for the surveillance. And everyone rallied to rose inside. And now I'm looking at this. The subpoenas were for communications from Republican consulting firms and cbs, Fox Sinclair News Media. That's like source communications. And again, there's nothing. The journalists aren't curious about this. They aren't outraged by this. They're on. They aren't upset about, like, what is. What's the difference between then when everybody rallied beside James Rosen. And now when CBS Source Communications are potentially being tapped, and today, there's. There's very little outcry.
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A
Well, the only difference is, is that this is worse in terms of the breadth and scope, you know, if not the intent. And I don't know whether it's just there sort of inured to this. But also, you really think that, like, you know, I was so. I was working at the Weekly Standard at the time that the story of Donald Trump tapping his phone, Donald Trump's tweet, famous tweet about my phones were my wires were tapped or whatever it was. And I remember at the time, the reaction from the people that I worked for who were, you know, fairly notoriously anti Trump, you know, Bill Kristol et al, was, this is just further evidence that Trump was crazy, because this never happened. Because to do so would be such a, you know, crazy violation of norms that Trump is obviously making this up. I mean, that was the reaction at the time, and. But that was broadly the reaction in the news media to that Trump tweet. And then, of course, it turned out Trump was right. And this kept happening. Like, remember when Trump said that James Comey had told him three times he was not under investigation, and then, you know, Jake Tapper, anyone went there and said, like, well, you know, I have sources that this is just absolutely crazy, you know, you know, how, you know, this would never happen. And, well, it turned out Trump was absolutely right. The reality is, is they just kept underestimating the partisan depravity of the Justice Department and what it has become. And what's sort of fascinating to me is this Arctic Frost stuff all comes out against the backdrop of Trump filing the Trump DOJ filing charges against Letitia James and James Comey. And there's all this, you know, talk about, you know, you know, Trump's going out for retribution. These cases are baseless. How did Trump weaponize the Justice Department? And it's like, fine, I get that argument. I'm not sure I entirely agree with it. But, like, if. If you really think that the cases against Trump and Comey are the Justice Department being weaponized, well, I hope you're feeling refreshed from the coma you've been in for the last eight years, because what's been going on against Trump is infinitely worse than this, and nobody even wants to talk about it.
- [25:40]
C
I wanted to pull up this editorial that Aaron Ren highlighted. Aaron Ren's great. People should follow him. By the way. He's@aaronren.com. so this is the Sunday Opinion in the New York Times, by the editorial board, big, big splashy page. If you're not watching this, it says Donald Trump has persecuted opponents, bypassed Congress, sent troops into cities, defied the courts, changed election rules, vilified minorities, enriched himself. Where will it end now? With the exception of sending troops into cities, as Aaron points out, Democrats, quote, did all these things during the Biden administration. You could argue probably a lot of this in the Obama administration as well. And I think some of them. Scale is a legitimate question to be had. But mark, we are 10 years into this. Democrats have a Democratic socialist about to beat the far and away favorite establishment candidate of the party in the New York City mayoral election. They have a 33 year old democratic social state senators about to be in charge of all of New York City because they couldn't get their shit together and all backed Andrew Cuomo. Their approval ratings are terrible among their own voters and they still don't get it. And that's, I mean, I don't, Mark, I don't understand it. Honestly, I really don't understand it.
- [26:53]
A
I mean, if you do not like the direction that, you know, the quote, unquote authoritarianism or whatever the Trump is doing, like, you know, you really need to understand that what, you know, Trump is a symptom. Trump is not, you know, the overall disease here. And you mentioned that New York Times editorial. I mean, like, I mean it was just straight to back. It was just front to back projection. I mean, everything about it. And when it wasn't just patently absurd. My favorite part of that editorial was when the New York Times said that as proof that Trump is, you know, going after the media was when they defunded it, they defunded NPR and public television. It's like not the government not giving media money directly was proof that Trump is an authoritarian who's going after the media by. It's really frustrating because part of the problem here is that it's not that they're hypocritical so much as they are literally incapable of seeing that anything they do to rein in Trump doesn't matter whether it blows past norms or in this case violates all kinds of laws. They're literally incapable of seeing how that might be wrong or that might set new norms that come back to haunt everybody or that just might generally erode what we consider, you know, you know, to be, you know, freedoms we take for granted in this country. Like everything you do regarding Trump isn't, you know, is, is answering an existential threat. And you cannot have a country when you have, you know, one entire political party and that political party's interests encompass basically, you know, about, you know, 95% of federal employees that thinks that they're justified in doing whatever they need to do to burn down democratic norms in order to, quote, unquote, save democracy. Without seeing a contradiction, I have to.
- [28:50]
C
Get your take on these viral John Brennan clips. So a little bit of background for people who haven't seen these yet. I mean, just incredible. There's about three of them. One's at a Metro station, one's at the reception after the first one, which is of him on a panel at George Mason on I think it was October 30th, it was Thursday or last Thursday or last Friday, Matt Taibi tracked down this man in the who is again going massively viral for asking John Brennan these questions. So Taibbi reported he was a long serving military and intelligence officer named Thomas Special who served as a senior advisor to Tulsi Gabbard on counterintelligence issues. So at first he's confronting Brennan during a Q and A session about the predicate for opening investigations into Donald Trump, basically, and then he confronts him afterwards. Brennan first is like, you don't know what you're talking about, blah, blah, blah. And so Special confronts him afterwards. Here's that clip. Why the memo on the Hunter P laptop, he says, and you misrepresented that. We never said it was disinformation.
- [29:53]
A
We said it was Russian influence operations, which is what they do. There's a big difference between influence.
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C
No, you don't know that.
- [30:00]
A
Yes, the literature said it had all the hallmarks, all the hallmarks of identity.
- [30:10]
C
So John Brennan is clearly very sensitive about this, Mark, despite the fact that a lot of what he's being accused of is plain as day in writing and in the public record. But he just reminds me of the conversation we were having earlier about the sheer arrogance and impenetrability of the. It's weird to call John Brennan left, but of the sort of center left's mind at this point.
- [30:32]
A
Well, first of all, John Brennan did vote for a communist in a presidential election. Was it 1976? And somehow he ended up head of the CIA.
- [30:40]
C
That's such a deep cut.
- [30:42]
A
I thought all those polygraphs were designed to keep people like that out of the CIA, let alone leading the damn thing. Okay, so calling John Brennan left, especially after his conduct. You know, again, this is another guy who, by the way, spied on Congress and there was no, you know, there was nothing done to stop that from happening in the future. Again, it just got worse. But in this case, there's a lot of specific things that happened. And part of the reason why Russiagate was what it was was because it involved a lot of complicated intelligence community bureaucracy, which, you know, one of the problems with our intelligence apparatus is that it's, like, insanely bureaucratic, and there's all these, you know, internecine, esoteric rules that are only understood by, you know, people, intelligence community. And, like, what happened was, you know, John Brennan very much manipulated that process. The question he was asked that caused this whole blow up that we just, you just showed was the. The guy unpacking how they changed the intelligence community assessment because it's called the ica, you know, from one version to another version to, like, slowly watering it down to including things like the fake Russia dossier into that as, like, you know, a valid intelligence product that could be used as a predicate for investigations. And, you know, it took many years for people to, like, get the information out. And then it's, you know, and still, you know, the media itself, I would say, hasn't bothered to learn what went on in that process because it's very damning for Brennan. But the point is, is that all the facts are out there. And the moment Brennan is confronted with somebody who actually knows what he's talking about, Brennan has no response. He has to, like, point a finger in the guy's chest and get angry and walk away because he's simply not going to win the arden because he's a bad man who did bad things. And he, you know, and if there's any justice in this world, he probably should be behind bars.
- [32:36]
C
If you missed that, Mark thinks John Brennan is a bad man. That's subtle, but it was there. If you were listening. Mark Hemingway, senior writer at RealClear Investigations, thank you so much for coming on the show to talk about all this and help us break it down.
- [32:51]
A
Anytime.
- [32:53]
C
Oh, man. All right, I'll take you up on that, Mark. We'll be back in just one moment with Brittany Xavier. Before we do, though, I just want to say things feel really heavy right now. We were just talking about that. That politics is divisive and the news can be depressing. The news is depressing. Just say that it often feels like we as a society have more pulling us apart than bringing us together. But here's something simple that unites us. Shopping small. When you choose to buy from a small business, you are not just getting a product. You're helping someone's dream grow. And you're investing in values we all share. Honesty, craftsmanship and community. That's what a warehouse is all about. They've teamed up with nearly a hundred small business makers across the US to bring you handmade goods filled with heart and creativity. United people of all backgrounds in this singular mission. Check out the website. It really is cool. Head on over there. So let's choose connections over division and show small businesses the support they deserve. Visit awarehouseshop.com and use code party for 15 off your first order. That's a warehouseshop.com code party.
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A
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B
No, it's not.
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A
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B
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C
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- [34:52]
B
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- [34:54]
C
Seemindmobile.com okay, let's go ahead and bring in our second guest, Brittany Xavier, who is a digital creator. Very staying digital creator at that. Brittany, thank you so much for being here.
- [35:09]
B
Hello, can you hear me?
- [35:12]
C
Okay, I can hear you. Great. It's great to have you here. And I was hoping actually you could just start off by telling people a little bit about your journey. Because one of the things I read on your substack today is actually sort of what I've been thinking about discussing with you. You're kind of reflecting on where it all started as a sort of influencer blogger back in like 2013, when Instagram was becoming what TikTok became and then what seemingly the whole Internet became. And I thought it would be pretty interesting just to get into your backstory a little bit, Brittany, if you could just start by telling us how you ended up where you did Right now.
- [35:49]
B
Yeah. So in 2013, my husband and I, when, during, when we were engaged, we were really into. It was a completely DIY budget wedding. And so we were very into wedding blogs. I was reading them every single day. And so once we got married in 2013, we were engaged for a year and a half. We. I felt like it was a little depressing that I could no longer read wedding blogs. We got a nice camera for our wedding and I was really into thrift stores and trying to find a deal. I would try to find cashmere and leather when I would go. So my original blog was called Thrifts and Threads and we started it out with the idea that we could make money on AdSense, but we didn't really understand what it could be. No one really knew at that time. It was very. Just wild west on figuring out what worked, looking at the analytics and seeing, oh, my readership is growing and just continuing. I was super, super consistent with it once I, I think once my friends found out I was doing and they're like, are you modeling? What is this? Like, no one understood. I'm like, no, no, I'm trying to show my outfits on here. I'm trying to show how I'm styling things.
- [36:54]
C
Things.
- [36:55]
B
But it was very much, it was. I just trying to figure it out as we went. But it was very much photos only. There was no real time video. There was no, no vlogging. So it was very. I kept it very unpersonal for a while.
- [37:09]
C
Well, yeah. So let me read this part of. From your substack post today. You say this was long before Instagram stories or tick tock. Back then, storytelling happened through still photos and blog posts, rarely in real time, which I thought was very, very interesting. You note this was before carousels existed when Instagram met one photo. And my blog posts usually had five to seven images. And then you add again. I thought this was fascinating. Quote, everything was thoughtful and organized. And I wanted to ask Brittany, as these delivery mechanisms on social media have changed, like even something that's seemingly silly, like Instagram adding the carousel so you can have 10 pictures or whatever, 20 now, 20. That's too many. Or the live feature that has changed. I mean, it seems like it's actually changed what's being said. Not just the nature of the communication, but actually what people are sharing and then monetizing as well. What's kind of the big difference that you've noticed?
- [38:04]
B
I think that people really want to see authenticity, which is such a, I guess, cliche word to say in this industry now, it's like, what does that even mean anymore? But it's. I think it's evolved into. And why I was thinking about sharing that post on Substack was you can get so caught up into this, this hamster wheel of there's so much content. I could be filming every single moment of my life. And that could be a piece of content. And if you don't have boundaries around it, you not only go insane, but you have no personal life that you're not sharing outside of social media. And there's a lot that I don't share on social and that's by design. It doesn't mean that I'm less genuine or less authentic. It's just I have boundaries around what I share. And just like my blog posts before were very curated. I got up really early on Saturday mornings, shot everything with very organized because I had a full time job. So that didn't mean it was less genuine. I was still into those outfits. That's what I found at the thrift store. But it was just, I had to think ahead. I had to be organized with it in order to be consistent. So I think that people, I think it's really, really hard for creators sometimes to just feel like they constantly have to post and overshare and just give out so much information that it can feel like the lines are blurred of what you share and what, what's protected just for you.
- [39:24]
C
Yeah. And you know, you know this better than me, better than anyone. But as I think about kind of the influencer arc just over what, like the last 10 years, there was a time where influencers were the hottest things ever. Then it was like, oh, influencers were kind of cringe for a second. And then influencers evolved into this totally different entity. Not, not totally different, but just being much less like the word you, you used. Even though it's cliche, I think much more authentic is, is right. Even if sometimes it's. If it's this kind of scripted unscriptedness, people who are really good at that are successful. And that reminds me of this post I wanted to ask you about from Sammy Sheen, who's obviously the daughter of Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen, if you recognize the name. She posted this just yesterday. Let's go ahead and take a listen. Whenever I see a comment like this, I feel so guilty because I've gotten.
- [40:20]
B
So much work done. Done. I get lip filler, I've had a nose job, I have veneers. All of these are fake.
- [40:27]
C
I got a boob job.
- [40:28]
B
All of this hair is fake. I have extensions. And not with the physical appearance, but, like, internally. I have so many issues. First of all, I have hernias, so I literally can barely walk right now.
- [40:40]
C
I need to get surgery to get them fixed. I struggle with mental health issues every day. I am not this perfect person. And social media is so fake.
- [40:49]
B
I really don't have that many friends.
- [40:51]
C
Friends.
- [40:51]
B
I'm a homebody. I just hate the idea that there could be a young girl out there.
- [40:55]
C
Comparing herself to me, thinking this is all natural and I'm all perfect and I live this perfect life because that's. And anyone that you think is living that life is so. Sammy sheen is only 21 years old. And that reminds me of watching her when she was on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills with her mom, Denise Richards, maybe 10 years ago, roughly when Denise started on the show. So she was young, pre teen, if not just early teen years. And. And it felt really, I mean, I felt so badly for her because of all the kind of personal drama that was being brought into the show. It's no wonder that now someone who's been under this microscope like few others has that reaction to it. And Brittany, I just, I feel like that's actually the kind of thing now. Maybe it was. This was always the case. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the kind of thing now that gains people followers and sort of gains people respect and engagement and maybe even advertisers.
- [41:50]
B
Yeah. I think especially for me being in the luxury industry for so long and working with high fashion brands, it was the way I got into those relationships was doing very much editorial type photos. Like, I wanted to figure out how I can shoot like a Vogue magazine. So there was a time where we started before, like with all the blog photos that were very casual. When I decided I want to started to try to partner with some luxury brands, we really had to make a shift in the content. Like, you need it. I told my husband, like, we need to figure out the camera better. Like, how can we go from taking iPhone photos to like really stepping this up? But I think that you still have to. And in her perspective, I don't know what is going on with her family also, like, maybe just being in front of the camera all the time. But I do think that you can share a part of your life and it not be all fake. Like if you look at my page or you, you look at my videos, they're things we're actually doing. I'm not manufacturing things to create content. Now, I know there's been stories of people going on a private jet, but then they. You realize that it's actually just a set that you can rent in la. Or there's. Even when I was starting out in with the fashion shows, I would go and I would be working so hard to get into a show. Like, I was really trying everything to like, you know, really partner with these brands. And a girl would post right in front of the show. She didn't go in, she didn't actually make it into the as an invite, but then said had an amazing time at the show. And so from my perspective, I'm thinking she's posting assuming that all her followers are thinking that she got invited to this show. But really for me, it was always the integrity of I didn't want to do that. And it ruins the relationship with the PR brands too, because they're seeing and saying, no, you didn't. Those seats were designated for someone else. So I do think in a personal sense, maybe people are truly making up what they're doing. But I think you have to think about TikTok and social media and Instagram in particularly as a highlight reel. And I think that if you get so sucked into thinking that's actually what people are doing 24 7, I'm not showing my kids having a breakdown. I'm not showing myself in a bad mood. And those are just things I protect because I'm not going to be pulling out a camera on times if my kids are fighting and saying, this is relatable. I never, ever want to be relatable. That's like not my thing. So I'm like, I'm showing my life and if people can relate to it. But also I can't really relate to myself. When I was 12 years ago, when I started this, my lifestyle is a lot different. I mean, I've gotten a lot smarter with money. You know, different things have happened. But it's not like I follow a lot of people that I cannot relate to their life. But I just like to see how certain people live and I like to get different perspectives of how different families are. And so I don't feel like I have to relate to every single person I follow. And I mean, I love following you because I get such an insight to Washington D.C. that I love it, but it's. It's not like I can never relate to being a political correspondent, but it's just like you get those little snippets of how people are living and that's what I really enjoy about it. But I do think there's things that people are manufacturing and they're making their life seem a lot better that it's not. It's not the full story.
- [45:08]
C
I love that you push back on the concept of relatability, because I've always been skeptical. That's why people. It's like the. I think the. Not to go back to Bravo, but the way that NBC Universal used to see the Bravo brand was as, aspirational, which is right, by definition, not relatable. And it's the same thing with Trump himself, that politicians believed they had to be relatable. Mitt Romney, this multimillionaire, had to go to the Iowa State Fair with his sleeves rolled up. Trump came in and gave literal helicopter rides to children. And instead of trying to act like he was the everyman, to me, that's not even just a reflection of shrewd political instincts so much as it's a reflection of the era and knowing how to use these communication vehicles on social media in a way that resonates. It's not all about relatability, because relatability just is not always believable.
- [45:58]
B
Right. And I think that people have a really good sense of when someone's being true to themselves. And for instance, when Gavin Newsom was recently on that podcast and he's trying to act like he, you know, was a working class family and he was really just, like, out there in the backyard, I forget what he was saying about, like, basketball.
- [46:16]
C
Wonder Bread. Yeah, Wonder Bread and Mac and cheese. That's how I grew up.
- [46:20]
B
And immediately people were posting his Burberry scarf in high school, and they said, that is not how he grew up. His family was ultra wealthy. So I think that people can immediately see through it.
- [46:31]
C
It.
- [46:32]
B
It's one thing if that is your story, but to try to be whoever is in the room and try to be what they think that you want to be, I think that that's really confusing for people. And also I think it's the same thing when celebrities do that. It's like, it reminds me of COVID Remember when they were singing the song and they were. Everyone was singing that, like, Kumbaya song.
- [46:55]
C
Yes. Imagine. Yes.
- [46:57]
B
And that was supposed to be relatable at the time, but everyone's thinking, thinking, you guys are locked into these amazing mansions with great outdoor space, and it's not relatable for everyone else. So I think if you try to be relatable, it's just. It's just not. It's not real.
- [47:12]
C
Yeah. There's Gavin's Burberry scarf. The memes were incredible after that too funny. They were so good. Yeah. And actually I was really one of the things I I don't think it's talked about enough and you're the perfect person to ask this too, because you're in the luxury sector is the connection between Tick tock and Shein and f fast fashion that built on earlier eras of fast fashion, like just forever 21H&M. Then it becomes like Shein and whatever the hell else Amazon. All of that happens when the de minimis legislation is passing in Congress that allows without getting into the weeds of it basically, like you can avoid taxes, you can avoid tariffs by packaging all of this like really cheap stuff together in different ways. And I feel like on that question of authenticity right now, people, whether they're conservative or liberal or somewhere in between, are also kind of slowing down and looking for quality. And I don't just mean that in terms of like whatever scarf they're buying as a dupe to Gavin Massum's Gavin Newsom's Burberry. But like, I think there's an emphasis on that right now. And I was curious if you're sensing I mean, it probably has something to do do with honestly tariffs and prices and all of that, but also just in general, the mood of the country seems to be more towards slowing down quality. Are you sensing that, Brittany?
- [48:38]
B
Yes, I am. In particularly, I love natural fibers for my kids too, like cotton, linen. I used to be someone who shopped exclusively at Forever 21 and that was all I can afford at the time especially I would do thrift stores too do but if I wanted a nice outfit out and I didn't want to feel like I got it from the thrift store, that was what I was shopping at. And I do think that I think the whole idea of shopping, you know, smaller and the quality that works I think for certain people and I do think it's a class issue as far as the shopping goes because there are some people who are like, I didn't, I cannot afford a cashmere sweater. And I just want something to feel nice. So I think that some people are just like, I want a cute shirt. And I, I don't think that, you know, they should be like, looked down on because I do think very much so that it is a class issue. But as far as quality in general, I think like when it goes back to content in the way I think that people are looking for like the quality posts, you don't have to Post as much, but make sure they're meaningful and add value to your audience. I think people really do want to be following people who are offering them a little bit more than just an outfit.
- [49:56]
C
That's so interesting.
- [49:57]
B
Okay, that could be my own take, but that's.
- [50:01]
C
Well, okay, so let's talk about what we advertise tallow products on the show. And you posted a really interesting video in all of the recipes that you post. I really liked this one. Let's roll it. Talking about cooking with tallow, which again, is absolutely a trend right now. There's, there's no denying people are going to get tallow products more than they were before. And part of it is it's like yearning for a past that they never knew or a past that they remember and remember better in ways that are just simpler, like just less manufacturing, fewer artificial ingredients and all of that. Is that like, just on this question of tallow, I know we were just talking about clothes and fast fashion and Shein, but is there, is this a crazy connection?
- [50:48]
B
Brittany No, I think for my family in particular, my husband and I went through like a whole health journey. Journey, or I hate the word journey sometimes, but it's just so overused and I just used it.
- [51:00]
C
But about sometimes you have to sometimes were on a journey.
- [51:04]
B
It really was, it was about, it's about it been a year and a half, almost two years now, since we did all of our blood work. I did preventative scanning and realized we were eating out so much I have no idea how to cook. And my husband was on the pre diabetes route. And I thought we need to figure out what we're doing because we cannot be eating. We were eating fast food, but we were eating out at places that, you know, weren't caring about the ingredients. And so I went on this whole trying to take cooking classes, figuring out what do I need to do to feed my family more nourishing meals. And I wouldn't consider some myself, someone who knows how to cook. Especially when I started out, I had someone come over and teach me how to make sourdough. And it really opened my eyes into, oh my gosh, I've been missing out on all these, these things I could be cooking that seem so overwhelming, but they're, they're actually just simple. You have to time it right. And so that inspired me to read the back of food ingredients and see whatever. I couldn't read half of the ingredients of the things. The snacks I was buying for the kids too. So we just really. I've been Diving into it. And I really have been learning new recipes and how beef towel is not inflammatory. So it's nice to cook with it instead of frying with seed oil, oils. And it's a high smoke point. So it's nice. Anything you want to fry and fried in beef towel. And a lot of companies are switching to using beef tallow fries. I love the masa chips, the ones you talk about. They're so good.
- [52:28]
C
Oh, they really are.
- [52:29]
B
The spicy ones are my favorite.
- [52:31]
C
Oh, yes, that's. Yes, they are really good underrated masa chips. Yes. Everyone says their favorite is lime, but the spicy ones are fantastic.
- [52:37]
B
Oh my gosh, they're so good. And my kids love the churro one. So that I think the beef towel is also going to be more on the rise next year too. It's supposed to be like a top food trend because I think people are becoming more aware of their ingredients and more aware of the less in the less institutional trust too, of what the government's saying is healthy for us. We're very skeptical of. And I think that's really growing.
- [52:59]
C
Okay, so you just connected another dot for me. We started here with fast fashion and then we went to food and now we're going to go to politics. Because one of the things I caught in this big spread in the cut on, I think it was like the headline was the influencer girlies are split over the New York city mayor. Yeah. NYC's mayoral race is dividing the fashion girlies. Okay, so the last graph of it says, as the world increasingly feels like it's on fire, creators audiences are expecting more than just apolitical content from the people they're getting makeup recommendations from and supporting financially by shopping through their affiliate links. It's all very damned if they do, damned if they don't. But perhaps these influencers could ask themselves one guiding question before they speak out about politics. Can I back who I'm endorsing by name and with my full chest? If the answer is no know, perhaps it's worth another think. So I have two questions for you based on that, Britney. One, are you sensing this damned if you do, damned if you don't environment where people do want to see the values of people whose affiliate links they're clicking on? I have no idea whether that's true, but I want to know if you felt it. And then secondly, that last part, isn't that also just about authenticity? That's. That's kind of what the. This long cut article about how the influencer girlies are split Between Cuomo and Mamdani, some even Sliwa, because he's now the new quote baby girl. Another magazine referred to him as. Isn't that essentially what it's about? So maybe start with the first one. Have you sensed that?
- [54:21]
B
Yeah, I think that, I think that people are really jumping on, especially with that article talking about Danielle Bernstein, how she came out saying that she was telling people to vote for not Mandami and that people. There was backlash with that saying, oh, you don't understand. You know, there's also people that they're like under who live there and who are business owners are saying that's correct. So I think that if whatever you say, whatever you do, you have to double down. You cannot apologize for what you believe politically. And you know, I was very outspoken in 2020. I voted for Joe Biden. Huge regret. I posted on Substack. I was a lot more woke when I lived in la and, and I mean I wasn't raised like that. So I feel like after college I got more. I was a political science major and I got, you know, a little infiltrated with npr, New York Times. That's the only way I got my news. And I watched only CNN during the 2020 election and thought that was very unbiased, you know. So I, I had a great awakening during that time.
- [55:31]
C
So during COVID like the COVID time period.
- [55:33]
B
During COVID I actually had. It was during 2020. Was it 2021. My daughter was born, had Anthony Fouchi on my. I just, it's so, so disappointing when I think that I led so many people wrong. I had him on my channel. It was a quick interview. He was meeting with different creators. It was about a three minute interview. And I was pregnant at the time. And I asked him what is the best way. I was super nervous about going to the hospital afterwards. And, and Poppy at the time, she's four now, getting Covid. So I was so worried about, about it. And he said the best thing you can do is get vaccinated while pregnant. And so of course after I listened to his advice and I got vaccinated while pregnant. Well, come to find out there was all these other articles that I found afterwards that had instances of stillbirth. There was a lot of information that was censored to where I couldn't find it on. Just like me quickly checking, checking CNN was not on there. But afterwards I had done a big deep dive because in the forum that I was on a pregnancy forum, people who had gotten the shot were complaining about Certain things, certain things had happened to their baby. So they're like, I don't know if it was the shot, but my doctor says there's no way. And so of course I'm deep diving afterwards, like could there be anything happening afterwards? And I just felt really misled and that really pissed me off, to be honest. Afterwards I felt like I had, I did not have all the information to make an inform, informed decision. And I, my daughter also got the shot and she was 14, 15 at the time. And there was also reports of myocarditis with the teenagers, more in teenage boys. But I thought that what if that was randomly her for whatever reason if she had a pre existing heart condition. And so I just felt like very lied to and I just felt that there has to be more to this story. If there was that that was coming from New York Times and CNN and npr, all the things that I was reading felt like it was a very safe decision. And I felt during that time that, you know, I was very outspoken on my socials, but I didn't get any pushback from brands. I didn't get any pushback from the fashion industry because that was okay. But as long as I followed what the mainstream legacy media was talking about. But it's like now I did get a lot of pushback for posting about just like my support Charlie Kirk, just how terrible and disgusting the whole, that whole thing was. Really, really. I mean I got people celebrating his death in my DMs that I felt it was. I mean a lot of people were celebrating, which is disgusting. But I was just shocked that these people, I mean, clicked on their profiles. They look like regular girls or regular fashion girls. And I was just shocked with the response. Like he was a dad overall of two little kids. And I can't even imagine if I had to tell Poppy that, you know, her dad was not coming home. So it just hit me on like a mom level too. And. But it was interesting to see the different response when it's not the political party that people the mainstream is going for. And I do think that the mainstream is becoming more of a minority, but it is the labor loudest as far as like what they control still. So which is really interesting because if you think about it like a lot of the fashion brands are based in New York and la and they're in this little bubble of like what the coastal con, like the coastal cities believe. But it's not a fair representation of what the entire US believes because look at the last election.
- [59:08]
C
That is an incredible story, just the way that you actually talked to Fauci while pregnant, that is genuinely so. So I had a lot of friends who were pregnant at the time, were going through the same thing and would have very similar thoughts to you, even one who has a little girl named Poppy as well. So it's just like, speaking of things that actually are relatable, that's very much one of them. So did you feel like it just after that, you started to see that what you had been looking at was the tip of the iceberg, and then under the water, there was this totally different story going on. And grad, from that point, you just started seeing the world a bit differently.
- [59:49]
B
Yeah, I think I. I think also too, like, I. My faith started growing. I really recommitted myself over the last year and a half. I feel like the last two years, my husband and I, I think with health, also mental with our faith. And I think it's just really been investigating, like, what are my worldviews and why do I. Why am I holding them based on what I think versus what aligns with the Bible and what is the truth? Truth. So I think that for me, it's been really important to do my own research to listen to podcasts. Like, I love your podcast. I love it from a Christian conservative perspective, but that's also really positive and not so negative all the time. It's like, I don't want to, you know, be listening to a podcast that's just constantly, like, digging on people all the time. You know, it's like. So I try to make sure I'm thoughtful about what I consume as well. Well, but I do think it's really important to have access to all this information. And I think with the cut interview, I think people should be able to post whoever they. Whoever they want to post. And if followers don't agree with it. Okay, cool. You can keep scrolling. But it's like, I think that people are so used to policing what people should think or what people should believe. And that's exactly what Charlie Kirk was against. He was saying, I want to have this open discourse. Tell me why you don't agree. But just to say, cancel that person for her wanting to not support Mondami. And I saw someone else had posted saying, I'm. I'm voting for Mondami just to undo Danielle Bernstein's post. And it's like, that is so uninformed to be voting for someone only to be going against someone else. And I think that it's just that it goes back to what, what does that mean? Like, how are you informing your audience about what does this guy even stand for?
- [61:36]
C
Yeah, that's a weird way to go about it, right? Such a strange way to vote. And one person voted this way, so I have to balance it out with the other vote. Right? So, last question on that, Brittany. Or in general, does it feel like. Because talking about faith and food and politics and clothing and all of that, in my mind, the word authenticity, as cliched as it is, does tie that all together. And it's downstream of everything being on a screen now. So everything, like you have, to the point that you're making in your substack post about how you weren't doing things live, and now everyone has live capabilities, so they're constantly live streaming. Everything is. You probably remember at the time, vertical video was a no go. Like never take vertical video. It was always like horizontal and. And now it's the exact opposite because it feels more real to people when they're scrolling. The thumb stoppers, the vertical video, not the horizontal video. So I guess, do you think that people are looking for quality ingredients, real ingredients, so stuff that's not chemically created, chemical artifices in the food, you know, real fabrics that aren't diluted by all of these other chemical artifices and real, real takes from influencers, people on the Internet, whatever. And also having that concept of like, just like what is real and what is not. Is there something about that that's just part of. In your experience and as you have been a part of this shift in our culture, everything around us is, Is so hypervirtual that it's the. It's touching grass, as people say, that becomes extra, extra valuable. That like we're yearning for something that is solid and tangible and real. Is that that kind of what the trend is?
- [63:25]
B
I think so. I think for me, I've never felt more free mentally and not feeling like I'm so. Because before I would be so silent on everything because I was so brand dependent to where I didn't want to offend anyone. So I was so walking on eggshells, trying to please everyone to make sure that I didn't say the wrong thing, that I didn't, you know, I was very. Just self aware, so much so to where it would cripple me sometimes to even say a thoughtful thing because I was too worried about speaking my mind. And I had to apologize to my daughter recently.
- [63:57]
C
I.
- [63:57]
B
After the Charlie Kirk assassination, I was just thinking back to like, how, you know, I have been an Example to her. And at the time, she was 2015, or she was 15 when Roe v. Wade was overturned and she had posted just like a very innocent repost story that was praying hands and a little baby. And at the time, I told her, jaden, you need to take that down. I don't. This is not neutral enough, and we need to be really neutral for brands. And I just, like, that really hit me after Charlie and how bold he was with his faith. And he never felt like he had to back down because of what he believed. And I had. I called her. I mean, she's a freshman in college. I'm like, I'm so sorry.
- [64:39]
C
I told you to take that down.
- [64:40]
B
She's like, mom, get a grip. I'm like, I'm just. I feel so bad because I feel like I didn't. You know, that was a terrible example of making sure I was, like, money focused, right? Like, making sure I was hitting all the right things and telling her she. I should be telling her to, you know, support your beliefs no matter what. Don't be afraid of what people think about you. And that was a terrible learning lesson for her. So I apologized to her, and I'm.
- [65:06]
C
Like, please forgive me.
- [65:07]
B
She's like, mom, move on. It was a while ago, but I think that it's just. It's made me hyper aware of how. How, you know, the example I want to be to my daughter, too. If she wants to speak out on her beliefs, I want to be the one who's supporting her and not saying, you know, make sure you're. Make sure you're neutral for brands. That it's like, for a paycheck. I don't know. I feel like I was very convicted about that.
- [65:31]
C
That, again, is so fascinating. I could keep doing this for hours, but I'll let you get back to your night. Britney. Everyone, go follow Britney on all social media. Follow her substack. And Brittany, thank you for supporting After Party. It blows me away. So I appreciate it.
- [65:46]
B
I never miss an episode. You're my favorite podcast right now. I love it. It's so good.
- [65:50]
C
It's so thoughtful. Well, thank you, Brittany. Thank you so much. And I hope you'll come back because this was fascinating.
- [65:56]
B
I would love to tell me anytime.
- [65:58]
C
Okay, great. All right. Well, Brittany, thank you so much for being here. And we'll see you back here soon. Perfect. Okay. That was. You can tell that I really had fun with that. What I hope, speaking of which, Masa Chips. We just did a totally impromptu Masa Chips ad in the interview because everyone loves Masa chips. But did you know that chips and fries were once cooked in beef tallow, as we were just talking about until the 1990s when corporations swapped it for cheap seed oils. Now, those oils make up 20% of the average American's daily calories and are linked to inflammation and metabolic issues. Somehow, of course, that got sold as, quote, healthy. But Masa chips is flipping the script. They use just three ingredients. Organic corn, sea salt, and 100% grass fed beef tallow. You can look at that on the back of background bag. No seed oils, no fillers, just bold flavor and serious crunch. Strong enough to scoop guac without crumbling. Snacking on masa is a whole different vibe. You feel satisfied, light and energized with zero crash bloat or that gross sluggish fog. And beef tallow is very obviously the secret sauce here. As soon as you taste it, it's not even secret. You're like, oh, this is the tallow. Because you can taste how good it is. It keeps you full and focused, not mindlessly munching. And my favorite flavor, flavor, I go back and forth on this. As Brittany said, the spicy is great. The churro flavor is great. I also love the lime flavor. It's just right. So if you're ready to give Masa a try, go to masachips.comafterparty and use code AFTERPARTY for 25 off your first order. That's masachips.comafterparty, and code AFTERPARTY for 25 OFF your first order. Don't feel like ordering online? That's fine. Masa is now available nationwide at your local Sprouts supermarket. So stop by and pick up a bag before they're gone.
- [67:40]
A
With my job, I can't drink during the week.
- [67:43]
B
Weekends are a different story. After eight hours of this, I have earned my wine. You know what I'm saying?
- [67:50]
A
My family is a lot. It takes me four beers just to hang out with them. Binge drinking isn't all college kids doing cake stands? Oregonians in their 30s and 40s binge drink at close to the same ratio as younger people, raising our risk for long term health problems. More@rethinkthedrink.com an OHA initiative.
- [68:11]
C
All right, now on with the show because I promised Jennifer Lawrence and Cheryl Hines. And Jennifer Lawrence and Cheryl Hines. You shall have. There's a flurry of, I guess maybe because election day is tomorrow, celebrity comments on politics coming out at the moment. Maybe we can put this one up on the screen. This one is interesting. This is Nicki Minaj. You see Nicki Minaj reacting to Donald Trump commenting that actually threatening aid to Nigeria over the slaughtering of Christians. Nicki Minaj seriously weighed in and said, reading this made me feel a deep sense of gratitude. She posts this on X. We live in a country where we can freely worship God. Amen, Nikki. No group should ever be persecuted for practicing their religion. We don't have to share the same beliefs in order for us to respect each other. Numerous countries all around the world are being affected by this horrible. And it's dangerous to pretend we didn't notice. Thank you to the President and his team for taking this seriously. God bless every persecuted Christian. Let's remember to lift them up in prayer. And let us all lift up Nicki Minaj in prayer that she might use her platform for the glory of God because she's got a big platform and boy, just say controversial. But her support, obviously on her support for the Christians in Nigeria, I'm just genuinely appreciative of. I'm sure many people are genuinely appreciative. I doubt that that is political in any way whatsoever. I think everybody can be appreciative of that. So on the other hand, Cheryl Hines was on Tucker Carlson's show to talk about her new book. Obviously she's been making the rounds and she had this to say about what it was like in Hollywood, what it was like on the campaign trail being the wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. We can roll this. I think I was expecting somebody who didn't listen to other people. This is Trump. This is her being surprised by Trump wouldn't be interested in other people. And that's not, that's not who I met. I met somebody who was very interested in, in other people.
- [70:34]
B
Really wanted to hear what somebody else had to say.
- [70:37]
C
I think that was very surprising to me.
- [70:41]
A
Did you call back to LA and.
- [70:42]
B
Say, hey guys, he's actually cool?
- [70:44]
C
Good news, guys. Yeah, that, that's sort of the gap between, you know, the narrative and the reality that can be very radicalizing for people and not radicalizing always in a bad direction, but just sort of radicalizing toward the correct direction of low institutional trust, which again, you should have. Low institutional trust. It's not a sign of a healthy society that your institutions can't be trusted, but our institutions can't be trusted right now. And you can get sort of radicalized in that direction by having these expectations versus reality moments, as Brittany Xavier was talking about earlier in, in the show. And I thought that moment from Cheryl was super interesting, especially because she also talked about politics, kind of getting in the way of her relationship with the great Larry David over the course of these series of interviews that she gave in the last week. But Jennifer Lawrence, I'm just tying these all together because I think they're all connected. I'll tell you why in a moment. Actually, you're probably going to figure out why. As soon as I start reading from Jennifer Lawrence in Variety to today. She says, quote, I don't really know if I should in regards to speaking out on Trump and US Politics to the press. She says, quote, the first Trump administration was so wild and just how can we let this stand? I feel like I was running around with like a. Like a chicken with my head cut off. But as we've learned, election after election, celebrities do not make a difference whatsoever on who people vote for. So then what am I doing? I'm just sharing my opinion on something that's going to add fuel to a fire that's ripping the country apart. Art, we are so divided, she told the New York Times. According to Variety, she said, quote, I think I'm in a complicated recalibration. Wow. Recalibration. Because I'm also an artist with this temperature and the way things can turn out. I don't want to start turning people off my films and to art that could change consciousness or change the world because they don't like my political opinions. I want to protect my craft so that you can still get lost in what I'm doing. If I can't say something that's going to speak to some kind of piece of lowering the temperature as some sort of solution, I don't want to be a part of the problem. I don't want to make the problem. And worse. I try to express my politics through my work. A lot of movies coming up for my production company are expressions of the political landscape. And that's how I feel like I can be helpful. Okay. So I read that entire quote to the Times at length from that Variety excerpt because I think it is being interpreted as Jennifer Lawrence embracing neutrality. Jennifer Lawrence saying, I am becoming a fence sitter. But actually, what she said there was much, much more interesting. She said she is recalibrating because she is an artist and she doesn't want to start turning people off films and art that could change consciousness or change the world because they don't like her political opinion. She says she tries to express her politics through her work, but what that is actually saying, that is actually a rejection of the political mentality that an artist like Jennifer Lawrence embraced during Trump 1.0 and the interim period, although she was a bit more quiet recently, the neutral thing to do would just be to say, you know, I'm staying out of it. But what she did was actively reject that there is value in her weighing in on the basis of her art being much more valuable as a consciousness changer or a consciousness influencer. Right, Meaning that art is deep, deeper than good, art is deeper than partisan politics. I think that's what she's saying here. She's rejecting the idea that actors can shape electoral outcomes with political statements, but saying they could perhaps affect the climate more broadly, the culture more broadly with art. And you are hurting your own art's ability to do that by kind of interfering with the way the audience sees what you're up to. Now, if Jennifer Lawrence had said this in 2020, 2021, that would genuinely be brave. Now, I suspect a statement like this will be greeted in Hollywood as wise and mature and a path forward again. This is the. The Hollywood, and I really mean this. The post Top Gun 2 Hollywood, Hollywood, where they learned how to genuinely chase, they relearned how to chase audiences and realized they'd made some mistakes. So this Jennifer Lawrence is reacting to the world that Cheryl Hines has shaped, right? The. The world where you have someone like Cheryl Hines who goes on the View and speaks to that level of institutional distress, pops the bubble in front of them in a way where the, like film from the bubble is all that soap is getting on their heads. You can just see it happening in real time because they're caught completely off guard and unprepared for a real conversation, not a talking points conversation. And this is a world that Jennifer Lawrence and Nicki Minaj and others are now stepping into, where it's safe to be less partisan and more thoughtful. It's not super brave right now because it's obvious that the climate has changed. It's obvious that the money in Hollywood has. You know, Hollywood is still predominantly liberal celebrities liberal, the finance, arms liberal. But also understanding that the Trump administration needs to be wooed can be wooed if you, if you work with the Trump administration, they will work back with you, is a lesson that Silicon Valley obviously learned and in some ways good and bad. But it's not exactly brave. It's obviously not brave for Jennifer Lawrence after all these years, to come out and say that this. But I do think it's pretty obviously a reflection, a barometer, if you will, of the changing temperature in Hollywood from Trump 1.0 resistance and even the same kind of flavor of boomer resistance that we saw at the no Kings protests, where they're out there with like the Cheeto Jesus posters and the inflatable Donald Trumps that are so unfunny and weird and they're doing this, like, folk routine, acting like they're all Woody Guthrie in front of like, the strip mall that is not. Or nobody's pretending anymore, or nobody's buying that that's hip and trendy and going to like absolutely take down Donald Trump anymore. And so this is where you're kind of entering the new chapter. Maybe it's. Maybe it's slightly better. I don't know. I mean, there are some things right now in culture media that make me optimistic in ways I never expected to. The rise of substack is a good example. Changes at YouTube, good example. Changes on X. Not all of which are great, but some of which are just some of these things. I mean, seeing what competition via substack and new media on podcasts and YouTube has done to the old media is fascinating. Too early to call what's going to happen, but I've never felt like optimistic that there was a course correction happening. Our media is not going to get back to a perfect place again. It's at a record low level of trust, according to Gallup's Trusted Mass Media polling that just came out this month. Well, actually last month, October. So I'm not saying that it's all going to be great and wonderful again, but. But I think the competition is actually making us better. Like slightly better, maybe pushing us to a better place where people can choose what to trust, they can choose what to believe, they can choose what to watch or tune out. All of those different, like, I don't know, I don't know. We have to keep this conversation going because it's a very interesting one and appreciate everyone sticking with with us as I ramble late into the evening. You're probably already done with your drink or whatever it was. So thanks for. Thanks for sticking around and thanks for all the great questions you send over to emilyoublemaker Media for happy hour every Friday. I am loving happy hour. Make sure you tune in to Megan's show tomorrow. Some cool stuff coming your way over there. And we will see you back here Wednesday live at 10pm I gotta tell you, the guests that are coming up, you're not gonna want to miss them. So see you back here Wednesday at 10pm.
- [79:24]
B
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- [79:39]
C
Love.
- [79:40]
B
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