Common Friction

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: Common Friction
Date: July 17, 2026
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty tackle a diverse slate of timely topics, including the fallout from President Trump’s recent primetime address on election interference, debates around the realities of U.S. elections and popular “truths,” updates on the Iran conflict and the strategic challenge of the Strait of Hormuz (with expert insight from military analyst Mike Lyons), reflections on modern social dynamics and “frictionless” living, and some lighter moments on World Cup soccer and fast food mysteries.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s Primetime Address & Election Interference

[02:37 – 07:35]

• Overview: Trump’s primetime speech focused on alleged election interference by China and Russia, rather than relitigating 2020, as Armstrong anticipated.
• Media Response:
  • CBS aired the speech’s first part, then pivoted to analysis; ABC and NBC declined to air it.
  • Major Garrett on CBS clarified: “It is not alleging that China or any other foreign adversary infiltrated any system in our country, compromised a single vote or materially affected any election outcome ever.” (Joe Getty, [05:17])
• Hosts’ Reaction:
  • Armstrong criticizes the networks’ refusal to air the speech and Trump’s unfocused message: “It was, frankly, it was a mishmashy hard to follow this, that and the other-ish speech from Trump that tried to make way too many points.” (Joe Getty, [05:49])
  • Speculation about the real motives behind the primetime slot: Was it to distract from the Iran conflict escalation?

2. A Poll of “Indisputable” Truths

[08:06 – 13:13]

• Jack Armstrong shares a viral social media list: Statements considered “indisputably true,” e.g.:
  • Trump lost fair and square in 2020
  • Only women can get pregnant
  • Michelle Obama is not a man, etc.
• Debate on Attainable Consensus:
  • Hosts estimate a small percentage of Americans could endorse all such statements, given major divides.
  • “Anybody who doesn’t think [only women can get pregnant] is an idiot or a cultist.” (Joe Getty, [09:45])
  • They clarify that, by all legal recourse, Trump undeniably lost in 2020: “He lost. And he got 7 million fewer votes and he lost.” (Jack Armstrong, [12:03])
  • Many lawsuits filed by Trump’s team were lost—“Most of the claims that Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell made on TV…they did not make in court because they didn’t believe them themselves.” (Jack Armstrong, [12:39])

3. Disinformation & Internet Culture

[13:21 – 13:50]

• Commentary on the perverse incentives of media and online culture:
  • “There’s a lot more money to be made in wild conspiracies than in—And it’s actually not that interesting. Here’s the truth. It just is…Human beings cannot survive the Internet. That has become clear to me.” (Joe Getty, [13:21])
• Brief levity as the “nightmare” of the Reflecting Pool’s resurfacing comes to an end.

4. Culture Wars & Museum Takeover

[14:02 – 15:37]

• Recap of the Trump administration’s report on “Ideological Capture at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.”
  • Armstrong and Getty lament left-wing “capture” of the institution, with Armstrong sharing personal observations: “It was unbelievable…It has become a far leftist. This country is Evil and it Sucks museum.” (Jack Armstrong, [14:43])
• They urge listeners to check out their previous “One More Thing” podcast for a deep dive.

5. Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, and U.S. Military Strategy

Expert Guest: Mike Lyons
[21:47 – 33:38]

Background Discussion

• U.S. recently bombed Iranian power plants and bridges; questions arise over the feasibility and goals of “opening” the Strait of Hormuz.
• General Jack Keane (FOX) is quoted: “They [Iran] are willing to fight us for it, and we have got to take it away from them and prevent them from ever getting it back under their control again.” (Jack Armstrong, [24:56])
• The Wall Street Journal reported the Pentagon warns about the immense resources needed to securely open the Strait.

Interview with Mike Lyons

• Military strategy: “I think we’re gonna continue to attack along this very long coastline…We could still pound away here for a very long time from the air and continue to degrade their capability.” (Mike Lyons, [25:49])
• Possibility of a ground war? “We’re not invading Iran…” The focus is on degrading capabilities via airstrikes and infrastructure attacks.
• Iran's Remaining Capacity: “With 90% degraded, they still have a few hundred missiles left…Everything is asymmetric…It’s consider it to be terrorism on the sea. That’s what they can do, but that’s all they have.” (Mike Lyons, [29:27])
• No “Forever War”: “We can do this all day. We can continue to strike…As long as we’re not bringing body bags home, this is fine.” (Mike Lyons, [29:31])
• Political outlook: If regime instability increases, internal change may come; “This is starting to be the beginning of the end.” (Mike Lyons, [30:31])
• On Democratic Socialists’ rise: “If they think they’re going to defund the military and get rid of the Senate and overturn this…they’re just delusional. That’s civil war level stuff.” (Mike Lyons, [31:46])

6. World Cup & Pop Culture Interlude

[18:19 – 21:19]

• Side banter about the World Cup final (Argentina vs. Spain) and a comedic take on third-place halftime entertainment (Six Flags guy, Mitch McConnell on spoons, etc.).
• Armstrong discusses his own walking routine and David Sedaris’ logic-defying habit of walking 10 miles daily, transitioning into a brief health discussion on the merits of 7,000–8,000 steps/day for longevity.

7. Frictionless Life & Friendship

[39:11 – 44:56]

• Joe Getty introduces economist Roland Fryer’s essay on the downside of eliminating “friction” (i.e., inconvenience) in modern society.
  • Key Quote: “Some inconveniences aren’t merely costs. They are the hidden scaffolding of social life.” (Joe Getty quoting Fryer, [41:46])
  • Fryer’s “production function for friendship”:
    “Friendship = proximity × repetition + idle time × low stakes + shared irritation”
  • The frictionless world (remote work, online shopping, smartphones, etc.) is making social interaction increasingly optional—and loneliness more prevalent and deadly.
• Armstrong and Getty reflect on social behaviors before smartphones and speculate whether segments of society might revive those more interactive, friction-based habits.
  • “We probably were having small talk.” (Jack Armstrong, [43:17])
  • Getty thinks some subgroups may return to ‘analog’ interaction, as even socialist youth groups offer social connection.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On primetime denial:
  “I don’t remember the last time that a president has asked for primetime time and been denied that by any of the major networks.” (Jack Armstrong, [03:55])
• On “indisputable” truths:
  “How many people could you get to say, yeah, to all of those, do you think? Oh my gosh. Oh, Because I think all of those are, to my mind, indisputably true.” (Jack Armstrong, [09:08])
• On media and conspiracies:
  “There’s a lot more money to be made in wild conspiracies than in…here’s the truth.” (Joe Getty, [13:21])
• On friendship:
  “Some inconveniences aren’t merely costs. They are the hidden scaffolding of social life.” (Joe Getty quoting Fryer, [41:46])
• On the Iran conflict:
  “It’s consider it to be terrorism on the sea. That’s what they can do, but that’s all they have.” (Mike Lyons, [29:27])
• On fast food:
  “Why are the calories so high on this stuff though?...How do they pack so many calories in there?” (Jack Armstrong, [35:10])

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Timestamps for Major Segments

| Segment Topic | Start | End | |-----------------------------------------------|---------|---------| | Trump’s Election Interference Speech | 02:37 | 07:35 | | The Poll of “Indisputable” Truths | 08:06 | 13:13 | | Disinformation & Internet Culture | 13:21 | 13:50 | | Smithsonian & Culture War | 14:02 | 15:37 | | World Cup (comic interlude) | 18:19 | 21:19 | | Health & Walking Routine | 19:31 | 21:19 | | Iran & Strait of Hormuz (w/ Mike Lyons) | 24:21 | 33:38 | | Frictionless Life & Friendship | 39:11 | 44:56 |

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Tone & Style

The episode blends brisk, satirical banter with keen analysis, staying true to Armstrong & Getty’s irreverent, conversational style. While the show deftly covers serious political and geopolitical matters, it frequently lightens the mood with pop culture asides, petty observations, and self-deprecating humor.

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In Summary

“Common Friction” offers a fast-moving tour of American political schisms, international tensions, and the subtle costs of convenience in modern life—all laced with Armstrong & Getty’s trademark wit and skepticism.
The episode is ideal for listeners seeking both a rundown of the week’s hot-button issues and food for thought on the unexpected ways society is changing.

Transcript

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[Jack Armstrong]

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[Joe Getty]

Broadcasting

[Jack Armstrong]

live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio

[Joe Getty]

at the George Washington Broadcast Center. Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

And now he here's Armstrong and get it. But it gets even worse. Raw intelligence obtained by the FBI in 2020, yet buried by rogue bureaucrats, stated that China's activities even included an attempt to manufacture illegal ballots for Joe Biden. Documents show that during this period, dozens of significant CIA and NSA reports about China's election targeting were kept out of the presidential briefing. These were briefings I would get almost every day. Everything was kept out that was of importance. So Trump announced earlier in the week he was going to address the nation the way we do it in the United States. Since we don't have government controlled media, like we're Iran or Russia or something like that. Putin can just announce or the Ayatollah can just announce, I'm giving a speech tonight and everyone is covering it. And they do, because again, the media is controlled by the government. Our media is not controlled by the government. So you asked for time.

[Joe Getty]

It's controlled by the Democratic Party, knows that.

[Jack Armstrong]

So you ask for time as the President. And I don't remember the last time that a president has asked for primetime time and been denied that by any of the major networks. Anyway, Trump asked for time and CBS aired at least the first part of the speech and then went to analysis. ABC and NBC didn't air it at all.

[Joe Getty]

I don't remember he blasted them during the speech, too.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't remember the last time that's happened. Now, earlier in the week when it, when, when it was announced that he was gonna talk about election interference, I thought, oh, God, he's gonna go on and on about the 2020 election and how it was stolen from him. But that's not what happened. He got into. It's not entirely what happened. He got into all kinds of stuff that is supposed to be new information about China and Russia messing with our elections and their intent and that sort of stuff. Some of it to help Biden, some of it to help him. The Russians were trying to help him get elected, the Chinese were trying to help Biden get elected, and various stuff. Here's Major Garrett on CBS after they broke in and they did a little analysis of what Trump had said so far last night to underscore the point that the White House made today in its briefing. It is not alleging that China or any other foreign adversary infiltrated any system in our country, compromised a single vote

[Firestone Tires Announcer]

or material, affected any election outcome ever. That's really important.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, vulnerabilities matter.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is important.

[Firestone Tires Announcer]

But have they been taken to the

[Joe Getty]

next most important Scariest level.

[Firestone Tires Announcer]

And the administration is saying, no, it has not.

[Jack Armstrong]

So I, I feel like Major Garrett was like bailing out the Trump administration. I don't, I don't know. I don't know if what his intent was, but I think that did with, look, they're not claiming that China stole the election or anywhere. They're just letting you know they were jerking around with the elections and we need to watch out for it. Right.

[Joe Getty]

And that we have vulnerabilities that we really ought to look into. That's, that's 100% legitimate. It was, frankly, it was a mishmashy hard to follow this, that and the other ish speech from Trump that tried to make way too many points. As I said earlier, I wish he just hammered the need for legal ID to vote and making sure the voting rolls are only people who need to be on there.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, why wasn't it just from his desk at 2 o' clock on a Wednesday like he announces all kinds of other stuff of roughly the same importance. Is there any three dimensional chess going on here? We did bomb bridges and power plants for the first time last night. Did he decide I need to have a primetime speech that everybody's talking about so that all the talk the next day is not about war, crime this and taking out power plants that? Any chance of that?

[Joe Getty]

I don't know. I don't think anybody cares that much, do they?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, when he first announced power plants and bridges that there was a lot of talk about, lots of Democrats came out immediately with that's a war crime in the New York Times and everybody. But same, same night as the primetime address. That doesn't make any sense to me. I don't understand why that was a primetime address. Save those for really, really important new things.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I would agree, I would agree. Anyway, moving on, because I don't think anybody's going to be talking about it and on Monday, I don't think he

[Jack Armstrong]

may be talking about it at lunch.

[Joe Getty]

Right, right. And again, it's kind of a shame because I think there were some legitimate things brought up. Well, I know there were, but again, it was a little mishmashy. We'll see what comes from it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sorry, you know.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, that's right. I was gonna, I was gonna check what the latest reporting on the Iran war was, and I was distracted by the fact that the first several stories in the New York Times are about the new Prime Minister of Britain. They get to the speech eventually. Didn't, didn't trip my trigger wildfire smoke in North America. Still scrolling. China and AI. So I don't think anybody's that upset about the Iran stuff.

[Jack Armstrong]

So he did throw in a couple of things that apparently were ad libbed. You know how he does that? He threw in a couple of things about burn bags and stuff that has been discredited since he originally started talking about it back in 2020. Anyway, somebody tweeted this out last night and it was floating around on social media and I thought this was pretty good. What I would like, I would, I would love it if this could be put to a poll for the entire country. How many people would agree with this? This series of statements? How many people would be on board with this? Trump lost fair and Square in 2020. Only women can get pregnant. The Trump assassination attempts were real. Mitch McConnell is alive. Michelle Obama is not a man. Barack Obama is a citizen. America is less racist than most countries. Police stop crime, tariffs hurt the economy. How many people could you get to say, yeah, to all of those, do you think? Oh my gosh. Oh, Because I think all of those are, to my mind, indisputably true.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I agreed with all of them.

[Jack Armstrong]

But how many people could you get on board to say yes to all those?

[Joe Getty]

Most. 28. 28%. I don't know. I need to hear the list again and I will have to do a little quick math in my head. All right, there. We lost 20% there.

[Jack Armstrong]

Trump lost fair and square in 2020.

[Joe Getty]

Only I know there's a significant chunk of our audience that would reject that notion.

[Jack Armstrong]

True. Only women can get pregnant.

[Joe Getty]

Anybody who doesn't think that is an idiot or a cultist.

[Jack Armstrong]

The Trump assassination attempts were real. This is kind of a presentism one. This one. Mitch McConnell is alive. Michelle Obama is not a man. Barack Obama is a citizen. I like this one. America is less racist than most countries. That would cut a bunch of people out.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, you'd lose a lot of the young left.

[Jack Armstrong]

Maybe, maybe this one too. Police stop crime and tariffs hurt the economy. Which to me might be the most complicated one. Did you see Paul?

[Joe Getty]

Is it Paul Krugman? That's his first name.

[Jack Armstrong]

Nobel prize winning economist. Who. I don't think he works for the New York Times anymore, but he's been a pain in the ass of normal people forever as a lefty. And they take his word for everything because he won the Nobel Prize years

[Joe Getty]

ago, completely full of crap.

[Jack Armstrong]

Except he came out and saying, you know, he said I was wrong about this. He said, I've looked over the data and I think Trump is right about the tariffs. He put that out a couple of weeks ago. That the tariffs, we were being treated unfairly. This was a good idea. And this did help us.

[Joe Getty]

Well, that's partly because he's an old school lefty. And protectionism and mercantilism. If you really want to turn people off at a dinner party, start talking about that. That's long been province of the old left, the union.

[Jack Armstrong]

I thought that was a good list, though, because you, you really hit on a couple of big points for a certain crowds because a lot of people would be.

[Mike Lyons]

Not long.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. And then you get to their. Whatever they call gory or ox or sacred cow or whatever it is, you'd be, okay, I'm all this. And then as soon as it said America is less racist than most countries, I'm out. Or only women can get pregnant, I'm out. Or like you said, for a bunch of our audience, Trump lost fair and square in 2020, I'm out.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that one's, that one's a little bit broad because. And I know I speak for a lot of the folks listening, they're like,

[Jack Armstrong]

whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Joe Getty]

The Russian collusion hoax as perpetrated by the FBI with help from the nsa. That's fair and square. You know, they have a point. What do you mean by fair?

[Jack Armstrong]

He lost. He lost.

[Joe Getty]

He lost.

[Jack Armstrong]

And he got 7 million fewer votes and he lost.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I would, I would change that one to, Donald Trump did not actually win the votes in 2020

[Jack Armstrong]

to rehash something nobody wants to rehash. But I did the homework on it yesterday, so I'll have to throw it out there quickly. There were 62 legal claims that Trump people made. They lost 61 of them in court. The one they won got overturned quickly.

[Firestone Tires Announcer]

Okay.

[Jack Armstrong]

Most of the claims that Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell made on TV to you, they did not make in court. They said them on TV and on talk shows and podcasts, but they didn't actually say them out loud in court because they didn't believe them themselves.

[Joe Getty]

And they want to get disbarred and

[Jack Armstrong]

they didn't want to go to jail or get disbarred.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that's just true.

[Jack Armstrong]

And all those court cases across America that Trump lost over challenging that election, lots of them were with Trump judges and red legislatures.

[Joe Getty]

It's just true. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know what to say about that. There's not much you need to, you don't need to get complicated when you get into the men can't have Babies one. That one's easy.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, there's no subtlety there. Yeah. The fact is there's a lot more money to be made in whipping people up than calming them down. There's a lot more money to be made in wild conspiracies than in. And it's actually not that interesting. Here's the truth. It's just. It just is. It's human nature. Human beings cannot survive the Internet. That has become clear to me. I wish you young people well good luck. It's going to be quite a. Quite a test. Life has always been quite a test. So don't get all self pitying.

[Jack Armstrong]

They fixed the reflecting pool and they're going to fill it back with water. Thank God. Finally the nation's nightmare is over.

[Joe Getty]

Our long national. Are you kidding me? Barely noticed that. You compare that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, damn it.

[Joe Getty]

Well, it's not that late in the show. I'd meant to plug yesterday's One More Thing podcast. Armstrong and Getty One More Thing. You get it automatically if you subscribe to Armstrong and Getty on Demand. We went through the executive summary of the Trump administration's report on. What's the title of it? Saving America's Story. How Ideological Capture at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History Erases Our Heritage. And we went over the Marxist activists who have taken over. Who took over the leadership of the Smithsonian Institution, particularly the National History Museum.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's where I noticed it the most. It was unbelievable.

[Joe Getty]

All right, Jack. First person account of it has become a far leftist. This country is Evil and it Sucks museum and the Trump administration's report on that and what to do about it is absolutely shocking. It's amazing. It is extreme, extremely even handed and reasonable. And we hit that hard and at length in yesterday's Armstrong and Yeti One More Thing podcast. So that would be July 16th and I would encourage you to listen to it. And the reason that popped into my head is the idea that the thing you ought to be worried about on the National Mall is the resurfacing of the reflecting pool as opposed to the bizarre and sickening takeover of our national institution's history. Oh, please.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, no kidding. That's a very good point. That's a good comparison right there in a B. Are you kidding me?

[Joe Getty]

Honey, every time you leave for your affair, you leave the door open. Our air conditioning bills are so high. You've got to close the door on

[Jack Armstrong]

your way to your affair.

[Joe Getty]

To your affair with three of our neighbors, your orgies, while I take care of the kids.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's a good one.

[Joe Getty]

Come on. Anyway, listen to the podcast.

[Jack Armstrong]

Can we militarily open the straight? And what would that look like? We're going to talk to Mike Lyons a little bit later about that. Lots of other stuff on the way too. Stay here.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

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[Jack Armstrong]

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[Jack Armstrong]

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[Jack Armstrong]

The World cup final matchup is set with Argentina taking on Spain, and they got a pretty it's gonna be good. They have a pretty amazing halftime show in store. There's also a game for third place on Saturday between France and England. And they have a halftime show, too. Wow, look at this.

[Mike Lyons]

This Saturday, it's the third place game

[Joe Getty]

with an incredible halftime show featuring the Six Flags guy, hawk to a girl, Ray Gunn, the Australian breakdancer, Justin, his cousin Hank, that other other guy from the Black eyed peas, Mitch McConnell on

[Jack Armstrong]

spoons and BTS, the Bulgarian tambourine squad.

[Joe Getty]

You can miss it.

[Jack Armstrong]

The tambourine squad, Mitch McConnell on spoons. They do that. They have a third place game.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Wow. I really don't go deep enough in my soccer knowledge to know how hard anybody tries or whether the scrubs get to play or what.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or whether there's that much pride involved in that. Yeah, I don't know.

[Joe Getty]

Maybe. You definitely want third instead of fourth. Like I say, I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know. So I. I'm on this thing now where I walk for about 45 minutes to an hour every single night. And it's become one of those habits where I just can't hardly not do it. And I hope I can keep it doing when the weather turns bad. But I was listening to a podcast yesterday with David Sedaris. Do you know him? The writer? Hilarious guy. He's been an NPR favorite forever. But really funny guy if you've never read any of his stuff. But anyway, they're talking to him about his walking routine. He walks 10. Remember, 10,000 steps was a thing for a while and then they came out with the 10,000 steps is just a made up round number to sell you fitbits. 7000 steps is really plenty for most people. Here's why. Lowering all these different things, cancer risk, dementia, all these things, more steps is better. But Sedaris walks 10 miles a day.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Every day. He said rain or shine, no matter what his schedule is, if he has to be somewhere, he'll get up at 4 o' clock in the morning to get his 10 miles in before he goes to the airport to fly somewhere to pump his latest book.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

How long would that, Wouldn't that take you? I'm. He has a four mile an hour walk is. You're walking fast. If you walked at that pace, it's gonna take you two and a half hours. I just think from a time standpoint, I don't know how you do that and.

[Joe Getty]

Well, look, who am I to question the great David Sedaris? But you could do, you know, brief interval training that would give you all sorts of health benefits on those days. But you know, he's got a habit going, he's got a groove. It's overall a good one for him. Would I approach it differently? Yeah, but I can't fault a guy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Anyway, got all this information about what it does for you to get in seven, 8,000 steps a day, which is about three, three and a half miles, by the way. If you're wondering how far that is, there are a lot of health benefits to that. You don't need a gym, you don't need to be in great shape or anything like that. So I guess we're bombing bridges now and some energy infrastructure in Iran and is that going to do the trick? Wall Street Journal said the other day we can't get the straight open without a lot of troops. We'll ask Mike Lyons about it next.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

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You've never been one to settle, stand down or stand still. You're a lifelong learner, energized by excellence. There's a fire inside you you can't ignore. You've got competition to outrun, momentum to build on, and your own high standards to meet. Stop now. Not a chance. At Capella University, we help you catch what you're chasing because you've always had the drive. Now go earn the degree. Capella University. What can't you do? Visit Capella Edu to learn more.

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[Commercial Announcer]

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[Joe Getty]

For Iran, the Straits Hormuz is a strategic asset. No matter what happens here, they will continue to want to take it back from us because it's number one. They don't have a nuclear power capability.

[Jack Armstrong]

They don't.

[Joe Getty]

They're not even close to developing a weapon. Now. This is their number one strategic asset. It gives them leverage over the Gulf states in a region and they truly want to have an element of control here and they are willing to fight us for it. And we have got to take it away from them and prevent them from ever getting it back under their control again.

[Jack Armstrong]

General Jack Keane on FOX yesterday, and that seems to be the case. And we started talking about this two days ago. Wall Street Journal had that piece where they were supposedly talking to people in the White House and the Pentagon who were saying, the Pentagon has been telling the President, look, we can open the strait, but it'll be incredibly difficult and it will take a lot of troops. And I mean, it will be an amazing commitment of military power to do this. Do we really want to do this? You're going to need more people. You're going to need more everything.

[Joe Getty]

Let's talk about the situation in general and that question more specifically with military analyst Mike Lyons, who joins us now. Mike, always great to talk. How are you?

[Mike Lyons]

Hey, guys, great to be back.

[Jack Armstrong]

So how accurate is that that to open the straight would be somewhere between impossible and very, very, very difficult.

[Mike Lyons]

I'm not sure I think General Keane's got it right. I think we're gonna continue to attack along this very long coastline, right? 600 miles of coastline that exists here. I look at the targets specifically, right? We're on the sixth day now of striking here and we're going after the most, the largest threat. And out of these coastal batteries and drones and anybody who picks his head up and decides to fire still not at sc. Some of their missiles and drones are still getting through. We could still pound away here for a very long time from the air and continue to degrade their capability. We saw, we took out a bridge last night that's a little unusual. And it's all about the infrastructure now because if you take away the initial capability that they have along the coastline now, we've got to get another layer behind it. So I think that's what the military strikes are going to do. I'm not sure where the people are coming in. I mean, we're not invading Iran. We're not taking it over. We're not, you know, doing that. So I'm not quite sure what that is. I mean, we could, we could do this for a long time and get the results we're looking for.

[Just Food for Dogs Announcer]

So.

[Joe Getty]

But given the fact that all you need are a couple of shots across a couple of boughs to effectively close the straight, eliminating their capabilities to that extent seems like a near impossibility to me. Don't you need to remove their will to do that?

[Mike Lyons]

Yeah, that's two separate kind of lanes there for sure. The question is we can again attrit it down to the point where that probability becomes just so low. And I think that's what we're doing. That's what we're trying to do. The will question comes down to the separation that you could see already between the Ministry of Foreign Policy and the Ministry and the irgc. I mean, one side of the coin, they're trying to make a deal. Trump says they're calling them all the time to make a deal. But the IRGC obviously is in control of everything here. So, you know, and I think that they've been very decentralized. Obviously the intent is very clear. Just don't give up. And so the United States is going to have to continue to pound away. While other countries too, the Gulf countries are looking for alternate means, which is really the issue here. Creek pipelines don't give the leverage back to the Iranians once this is over, they can't ever control this in the future. And these Gulf states are trying to recognize that as well.

[Jack Armstrong]

So the Wall Street Journal's story was we the and you know, if you have information that's different than this, feel free to tell us. But the reporting has been that the part of the strait that we're saying is open, no ships have gone through. And we made a big on the radio announcement. The United States says it's open. Go ahead, come on through. And the only Response was somebody on another ship saying F off. Then we're not going through there.

[Mike Lyons]

Yeah, well, there's, there's a couple of pathways. There's one close to Oman, which is what we believe is what's open. It's what's getting through. It's not the hundred ships a day necessarily. It's not that open passage. But, you know, you know, again, the military is going to overestimate, I think, what its capability, its needs in order to get the job done and then try to come in under that. Obviously, I think that's where the Wall Street Journal is getting those sources from. Because, sure, if you're a commander on the ground, if you had unlimited resources, you're going to say, this is what we need in order to make it, you know, completely open. We've always heard the chairman say degraded. They're not completely destroyed. I know the president says destroyed, but that's, that's a little bit different.

[Joe Getty]

Military analyst Mike Lyons is on the line. So what in. What would you say overall is the capability of the Iranian military at this point? Are they. I mean, are they just. The only thing they can accomplish is frightening ships in the Gulf, essentially, at this point.

[Mike Lyons]

Exactly.

[Joe Getty]

Hanging on some infrastructure, maybe in the neighborhood.

[Mike Lyons]

Yeah, exactly. Hanging on for dear life. I mean, again, with 90% degraded, they still have a few hundred missiles left. And nothing comes at scale. Everything is asymmetric. What that means it's the one off when you don't know it's the most challenging to defend against. It's consider it to be terrorism on the sea. That's what they can do, but that's all they have. And like anything else, like we defeated isis, we just have to keep going at it and keep trading at it. And frankly, as long as we're not bringing body bags home here, this is fine. I know. I saw some smart person say, oh, this is now going to turn into forever war. No, it's not, because we can do this all day. We can continue to strike for the military, 100 or so. So 100 strikes a day. It's not the level of epic Fury. It's not 1100, but it's also not 6 or 7, which is all the Iranians are doing. Continue the leverage on the economic side and the blockade as well. Something's going to have to crumble inside Iran. I think this is starting to be the beginning of the end. And I think this is the strategy most of the military wanted to see us do a couple months ago.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I sure hope you're Right. I mean, that'd be fantastic. If we hit them a couple hundred times a day, day after day, eventually they fall, they're not getting the revenue they need. You know, there's enough internal conflict where people are saying to each other, hey, this ain't gonna work. What's our long plan here? And the regime crumbles.

[Mike Lyons]

Yeah, it works for now. I mean, again, what we kind of. I'm not saying I don't care. We obviously, you know, this is, again, a good example of other countries should recognize this is the number one threat in the world right now. This is. This is it. And if we don't get it that the Iranians think they're going to control this, then again, the Trump Derangement Syndrome, you know, obviously exists inside of NATO and exists in some of these leaders here, but the Gulf states are getting it because they're also been part of the receiving end, and one or two attacks still come their way. This problem needs to be solved right now, and I think the President is gonna make sure it gets solved before we move on to the next thing.

[Joe Getty]

Mike, I wanna change topics just briefly, because we've been talking about this a lot today and are gonna be talking about it more, including Marco Rubio's fantastic speech of. Was it yesterday or.

[Mike Lyons]

Yeah, yesterday. It's tremendous.

[Joe Getty]

And we've been talking about the success so far of the Democratic Socialists of America's candidates in various elections, and they're trying to take over the Democratic Party. I'm sure you've been watching this, too. Any thoughts?

[Mike Lyons]

Yeah, I'm not sure that anyone in that party's ever got a civics lesson. We have a constitutional republic that's going nowhere. And if they try to change that, then you're talking. We're back to the 1860s again, and you want to go there. We'll see how that works out. So, again, I don't think it's unfortunate. Gets a lot of press and I feel terrible. I'm not the political guy here, obviously, but, you know, the Democrats have got a problem I have to solve here. But if they think they're going to defund the military and get rid of the Senate and overturn this, whatever they think they're just delusional. And so that's civil war level stuff. So, again, you want to play hardball, we'll play hardball and we'll see how that goes.

[Joe Getty]

Military analyst Mike Lyons. Mike, it's always great to talk. As I said before, we'll stay in touch as the. As the situation evolves. Thanks.

[Mike Lyons]

Great, guys. Thanks for having me.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yep. Well, he's pretty optimistic about the road. We're going down with the couple hundred strikes per day.

[Joe Getty]

The old wack and squeeze.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yep, we'll see. I don't. Well, I suppose at the end of the day it might be. What's the other option? I'm not sure there is one.

[Joe Getty]

So you take the best of your bad options.

[Jack Armstrong]

Now that's interesting. His angle. He. This is something he thinks about because he is in the military and talks to people at a high level that I don't always think about. The people that leaked that stuff to the Wall Street Journal want a lot more stuff. They want people, planes, bullets, bombs, all this stuff. And that's how you get it, by saying, well, we could do it, but it's gonna be really, really, really hard. We're gonna need a lot of stuff.

[Joe Getty]

Well, you do that for reasons that are both perfectly noble and maybe a little self serving. But yeah, yeah, if I'm a Marine, I want to go in with overwhelming force.

[Jack Armstrong]

The Powell doctrine.

[Joe Getty]

Indeed, indeed.

[Jack Armstrong]

Want me to hit you with something really, really stupid before we take a break?

[Joe Getty]

If you'd like.

[Jack Armstrong]

You're going to complain about this. Oh, you're going to yell. We usually make people buy advertising. That's what you're going to yell.

[Joe Getty]

Well, if you know everything I'm going to say, I'm going to go play golf and you can just do me.

[Jack Armstrong]

McDonald's has two brand new sandwich creations. Normally we make people buy it immediately.

[Joe Getty]

Hostful. That is true.

[Jack Armstrong]

The honey brown butter bacon, egg and cheese biscuit. What is, what is honey brown? What is honey brown butter?

[Joe Getty]

Which one is brown? The honey or the butter? In the English language, it's probably the butter.

[Jack Armstrong]

At Taco Bell, it's the lettuce.

[Joe Getty]

Nailed him.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh my God. He made a joke.

[Joe Getty]

Give people the poops.

[Jack Armstrong]

He tied it into the news of the day. Did you hear that?

[Joe Getty]

Fantastic.

[Jack Armstrong]

All right, so you got the honey brown butter, bacon, egg and cheese biscuit. You're right. I don't know the descriptor.

[Joe Getty]

Brown. That is bacon and cheese biscuit. That's eight words.

[Jack Armstrong]

The honey brown butter chicken biscuit. Which is different.

[Joe Getty]

Biscuit or McHoney or something.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, they want you to know about the honey brown butter, whatever the hell that is. And fans are loving them, apparently.

[Joe Getty]

Excellent.

[Jack Armstrong]

If they have one at my local McDonald's, I'll try one today. Why are the calories so high on this stuff, though? I generally kind of like put my hand up to the Menu in front of my eyes. So I can't read the calorie part if I'm at McDonald's. But like one of my go to's is a couple of cheeseburgers. Couple cheeseburgers, no onions. That's all I get. Two cheeseburgers, no onions, no fries, no drink. Just that. But it's like 800 calories for two tiny cheeseburgers. Why, why are there. So how do they pack so many calories in there?

[Joe Getty]

I don't know. The fat? I really don't know. That was the great thing about being on that cruise Judy and I were on. No calories anywhere. It was international waters, friends. The lawless rum sodomy in the lash piracy and no calories on the menu. It was fantastic.

[Jack Armstrong]

Make me walk the plank. You're gonna need a thicker plank.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, you better reinforce that plank.

[Jack Armstrong]

You don't know how they pack all those extra calories into fast food. It seems like a lot for tiny. For two tiny little burgers. Look up making cheeseburgers or something at home. It ain't like that. Yeah, I don't know what that deal is. Yeah, deliciousness, I guess, has a lot of calories in it.

[Joe Getty]

I will not eat at McDonald's. Coming up. You should inconvenience yourself more often. I will explain. I have made our lot, all of us.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay.

[Joe Getty]

You, the general you, the great you. We've made our lives too frictionless.

[Jack Armstrong]

Ah, okay.

[Joe Getty]

Great essay from one of my favorite young thinkers.

[Bethenny Frankel]

Cool.

[Jack Armstrong]

A lot of stuff on the way. Stay here.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty,

[Bethenny Frankel]

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[Capella University Announcer]

You've never been one to settle. Stand down or stand still. You're a lifelong learner, energized by excellence. There's a fire inside you you can't ignore. You've got competition to outrun, momentum to build on, and your own high standards to meet. Stop now. Not a chance. At Capella University we help you catch what you're chasing because you've always had the drive. Now go earn the degree. Capella University what can't you do? Visit Capella Edu to learn more.

[Firestone Tires Announcer]

Real value shows up in reliability. You don't have to second guess. Like a set of Firestone All Season tires, they're designed to deliver confidence, inspiring wet weather, traction and a quieter ride, no matter the road, season after season. Firestone All Season tires for durability you can count on, just like people count on you. Firestone always dependable since 1900

[Commercial Announcer]

summer is here, which means we all want to look and feel our best. A GLP1 may be right for you. Visit orderlymeds.com to learn more about which GLP1 you could be eligible for. Getting started is fast, easy, and happens virtually through telemedicine from licensed professionals. Check it out for yourself. Go to orderlymeds.com podcast that's orderlymeds.com podcast taking care of yourself feels great. Compounded medications are not FDA approved. Eligibility required and determined by a licensed provider. Individual results may vary. See website for details.

[Jack Armstrong]

So Marco Rubio, whose arrow is pointing up in terms of his Q factor, definitely is. Gave it quite a speech against socialism slash communism yesterday. We'll play some of that in hour three.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, just absolutely terrific. I am a big fan. I'm also a big fan of Roland Fryer, who is a young, unconventional economist. He teaches at Harvard. He's a think tank guy, entrepreneur. But he writes about all sorts of intriguing things and looks at them through the lens of economic analysis and including friendship. And I'm just, I'm going to hit you with a little, little splash of paint here, little splash of paint there. Then get to the point. It's going to be like some of my favorite songwriters. You don't know quite what's going on. Great movies. The ferry crossing from Chappaquiddick to Edgartown, Massachusetts is blah, blah, blah. No matter how rich or important you are, you have to wait to get on the boat. Sometimes you wait in your car, sometimes you get out. Someone complains about the line, the weather, our politics, or the UPS driver. It goes to the front of the queue. Someone else laughs. The conversation begins, I've been on that ferry.

[Jack Armstrong]

I've been at Gertown.

[Joe Getty]

And then he talks about if modern life hasn't has undersold inconvenience. We treat waiting as wasted time, and often it is. But sometimes waiting does something useful. It forces people into the same place with nothing to do long enough for conversation to begin. And then he points out a number of studies that have called loneliness America's greatest public health problem and the tie in between a social circle and long life and happy life for all sorts of age cohorts and just it is undeniable that social loneliness is a bad thing for human beings. 2010 research big study found that weak social relationships predict mortality at a magnitude comparable to smoking and greater than obligation, obesity or physical inactivity. Loneliness linked to higher risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety and premature death. So he makes that point. And then finally he winds back to what brings me back to that ridiculously inconvenient theory and what I call the friction theory of friendship. The idea is simple. Some inconveniences aren't merely costs. They are the hidden scaffolding of social life. Then he because he's an economist, he has to crank out an equation. If I had to estimate my own production function for friendship, it would look something like this. Friendship equals proximity times repetition plus idle time times low stakes, plus shared irritation. Proximity matters most when it recurs. Idle time matters most when nobody is trying to impress anyone. Shared irritation helps, but with diminishing returns, he points out, a delayed ferry creates conversation. A broken ferry creates rage. But he says this is why friendship is often a product of something else. Work, school, church, children, sports, errands, waiting rooms. It is produced not by misery, but by enough common friction to make conversation natural. Modern life has spent decades eliminating that friction. We can work without offices, shop without stores, exercise without gyms, and communicate without looking anyone in the eye. Each improvement is defensive, sensible, some phenomenal. Together, they have made interaction with other people increasingly optional.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't argue with any of that. I don't think we're ever going back. But I think about this all the time. When I'm in a line for anything. At the airport, at the coffee shop, I see people at the bus stop. Everybody's looking at their phone and think, what would this have looked like? You don't have to go back far. Just 20 years ago, what would this look like? 20, 30 years ago? All these people in line to get on the plane, you know, in the long tunnel after you've shown your ticket. Were we talking to each other? Were we. I don't know. I don't remember what we were doing. But we weren't all staring at a phone. We definitely were not doing that. So we probably were having small talk.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I disagree with you that we're not going back. I think significant chunks of society will. And part of the evidence of that, strangely, is the success that the Democratic socialists of America are having because they perform social functions for young people and young people are loving that. But anyway,

[Jack Armstrong]

so.

[Joe Getty]

And then he talks. Then he really gets into economist talk. But the main point I want to make to you is that the usual response is to blame phones. That's too easy. The deeper force is the war on friction. We need to interact with others. We need to find excuses to do it. It's good, it's healthy. I really wanted to have time in this to tell these story of my dinner last night. Day two. Night two in a row. Sitting at the bar at the golf club where I play, having dinner and an intoxicating beverage and just chatting with people because normally Judy's been busy. I would be at home alone eating a frozen pizza.

[Jack Armstrong]

But partly because, fantastic.

[Joe Getty]

Partly because of this article, I thought, no, just go see who you meet. Run into people, chat. Night one worked perfectly. Ran into some friends, had a lovely conversation.

[Jack Armstrong]

Night two explains the eye patch.

[Joe Getty]

Night two. Yeah, well, you should see the other guy. No. Night two, I'm sitting there at the end of the bar reading news, waiting for a conversation to happen. Eight young females set up camp right next to me and start chattering at a million miles a second. Oh God. Armstrong and Gettysburg.

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[Capella University Announcer]

There's a fire inside you you can't ignore. Stand still. Not a chance. You're a lifelong learner who's come this far. Now we're here to help you keep going further. Capella University what can't you do? Visit capella.edu to learn more.

[Firestone Tires Announcer]

Real value shows up in reliability. You don't have to second guess Like a set of Firestone All Season tires. They're designed to deliver confidence inspiring wet weather, traction and a quieter ride. No matter the road. Season after season. Firestone All Season tires for durability you can count on, just like people count on you. Firestone always dependable since 1900

[Commercial Announcer]

summer is here, which means we all want to look and feel our best. A GLP1 may be right for you. Visit orderlymeds.com to learn more about which GLP1 you could be eligible for. Getting started is fast, easy, and happens virtually through telemedicine from licensed professionals. Check it out for yourself. Go to orderlymeds.com podcast that's orderlymeds.com podcast taking care of yourself feels great. Compounded medications are not FDA approved. Eligibility required and determined by a licensed provider. Individual results may vary. See website for details.