The Hard Foul

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand — “The Hard Foul”

Episode Date: August 10, 2026
Podcast: Armstrong & Getty On Demand
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty

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Episode Overview

This episode, "The Hard Foul," centers on controversies in women's sports, particularly the intersection of transgender identity and athletics, catalyzed by former NBA players declaring for the WNBA draft as transgender women. The hosts use these events to launch a deeper exploration into issues of gender, progressive ideology, and broader cultural “big lies”—connecting them to historical communist systems and the concept of compelled falsehood. The show’s tone blends satire, seriousness, and critique, with frequent cross-talk and pointed humor.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Royce White & the WNBA: Transgender Controversy

• Royce White, a 6'8", 270-pound former NBA player, has (satirically or sincerely) declared as a transgender woman to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft.
• Discussion of whether this declaration is sincere, tongue-in-cheek, or a critique of current gender policies in sports.

Quote:

“You know I'm transgender. I'm a woman. I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purposes of basketball. Professional basketball. So I'll be declaring for the WNBA draft in 2027 as well.”
— Royce White (02:21)

• Hosts highlight the challenge of progressive principles: if "trans women are women," sports leagues face a test if large, biologically-male athletes join women's teams.
• Joe Getty discusses the emergency meeting called by WNBA leadership to address this.

Quote:

"The fact that that would be an emergency meeting tells you everything you need to know, I think, about progressivism."
— Joe Getty (03:13)

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2. The Sophie Cunningham Incident & League Dynamics

• Discussion of a recent physical altercation: Indiana player Sophie Cunningham was flagrantly fouled (clotheslined) by Dijonay Carrington.
• Cunningham called Carrington “the dirtiest player in the league” and criticized her for turning the incident into a commentary on racism.

Quote:

"She definitely learned well from Angel Reese. Whenever something goes against, you just pull out that race card. I think she's jealous of my natural blonde hair...Her level of IQ needs to be studied for generations."
— (as Sophie Cunningham, relayed by Jack Armstrong) (05:32)

• Carrington, ejected from the game, posts “White privilege” online, turning the situation racial.
• Discussion on how WNBA coaches, like Stephanie White, feel compelled to defend the player who committed the foul due to complex dynamics between race, sexuality, and progressive ideology.
• Hosts critique this as evidence of “victim-oppressor theology” (critical theory) at play in the league.

Quote:

“There is no league…where after a flagrant ejectable foul like that, your coach would be defending the person who did it. That’s because…the coach…feels the need to defend the black, perhaps lesbian player because of oppressor-opressee…Critical theory.”
— Joe Getty (06:58)

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3. Progressive Principles Under Fire: Are Trans Women Women in Sport?

• Use of man-on-the-street interviews and social media reactions to address the logical consequences of “trans women are women” in elite sport.
• Skepticism about the sincerity of male athletes declaring as women, and questioning the intellectual consistency of progressive supporters.

Quote (woke interviewee):

“The truth is trans women are women. And so if they would like to play women's sports, then that would be something that they should do as women.”
— Interviewee (08:46)

• Host response:

"Those 6 foot 8, 270 pound guys…would crush her. Sweetheart. It would be…embarrassing. You couldn't watch more than a little bit because then it would just be sad."
— Joe Getty (09:13)

• Debate over who determines who is "really" a woman. Incorporation of J.K. Rowling’s argument questioning whether “sincere” trans-identifying men are different from insincere ones—and how one tests for “sincerity.”

Quote:

“Do sincere men injure fewer women and girls than insincere ones? How do we test for sincerity? What if a sincerity jury is split? Very much looking forward to your answers.”
— J.K. Rowling via Joe Getty (10:09)

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4. The “Big Lie,” Compelled Speech, and Leftist Ideology

• Joe Getty launches into a lengthy segment connecting cultural compelled acceptance of “obvious untruths” (e.g., “a man is a woman if he says so”) to the mechanics of communist societies.
• Uses reflections by a Polish thinker, Krzysztof Chmielewski, to argue that the real foundation of communism is not so much failed economics as “systemic, institutionalized commitment to lying.”
• Introduces Polish terms:
  • Zakłamania: A society so suffused with lies that truth becomes inaccessible.
  • Obłuda: Deep, performative hypocrisy—where repeated falsehoods become reality.

Key quote from Chmielewski section (25:19–33:00):

“Communism's true core is the systemic lie...A mode of social organization built on organized mendacity, where the lie is not the exception, but the foundation."

• Warns that Western cultures lack language or experience to spot these cultural “big lies” in new guises (wokeism, compelled speech, etc.).
• Argues that forcing people to say things they know are untrue erases the distinction between belief and performance—a process described by Orwell as "doublethink."

Quote:

"This system does not just produce lies, it produces people who can no longer clearly distinguish truth from the narrative they've been trained to admit."
— Joe Getty (summarizing Chmielewski) (33:00)

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5. Satire, Sincerity, and Calling Bluffs

• Hosts, especially Joe Getty, take pleasure in the spectacle of progressive ideology being “called on its bluff” by outrageous but logical extensions of its own principles (e.g., biological men dominating women's sport).
• Question whether the actions of athletes like Royce White are mockery or activism, and discuss the limits of tolerance for “calling the bluff” through satire.

Quote:

"Evildoers will put up with a certain amount of opposition, but the one thing they can't take is mockery."
— Joe Getty (17:14)

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6. Socialism, Democracy, and Irreversibility

• Brief segment with an AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) interview outlining her take on the differences between socialism and communism.
• Joe Getty challenges the practicality of “voting out” socialism once a system reaches total government power and people depend on it, leading to the adage:

Quote:

"You can vote in socialism, but you have to shoot your way out."
— Old saying, cited by Joe Getty (40:51)

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• Royce White’s Satirical Coming Out — (02:21; 15:45)

  • “You know I'm transgender. I'm a woman. I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purposes of basketball…”

• Sophie Cunningham’s Reaction to Foul and Accusations — (05:32)

  • “I literally got clotheslined in the air, and this clown has to turn it into race…Her level of IQ needs to be studied for generations.”

• On Progressive Orthodoxy and Race/Sexuality Dynamics in the WNBA — (06:58)

  • “That’s because…the coach…feels the need to defend the black, perhaps lesbian player because of oppressor-opressee…Critical theory.”

• Logical Consequences for Women’s Sports — (09:13)

  • “…would make Asia Wilson look like, you know, a girl. They would crush her. Sweetheart. It would be…embarrassing.”

• J.K. Rowling’s Challenge — (10:09)

  • “Do sincere men injure fewer women and girls than insincere ones? How do we test for sincerity?…”

• Essence of the “Big Lie” — (25:19–33:00)

  • “Communism's true core is the systemic lie...A mode of social organization built on organized mendacity, where the lie is not the exception, but the foundation.”

• Irreversibility of Socialism — (40:51)

  • “You can vote in socialism, but you have to shoot your way out.”

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Important Segments with Timestamps

• Royce White's Declaration & WNBA Reactions — 02:21–05:00
• Sophie Cunningham Incident & Social Media Fallout — 05:32–06:17
• WNBA and Progressive Compulsion — 06:18–08:24
• Voices on “Trans Women in Sports” — 08:24–09:41
• J.K. Rowling/‘Sincerity’ Debate — 09:55–10:30
• Philosophical Deep Dive: Zakłamania, Obłuda, and the Systemic Lie — 25:19–33:00
• AOC Clip & Socialism Discussion — 41:14–42:05

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Tone, Language, and Atmosphere

The hosts employ sarcasm, biting humor, and deliberate use of progressive language for satirical effect. They challenge mainstream progressive orthodoxy on gender identity and question the sincerity and coherence of public declarations and policies. The discussion weaves current events with philosophical digression, aiming for both entertainment and critical reflection.

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Summary Takeaways

• The episode uses the case of NBA athletes declaring as trans women for the WNBA as a lens to critique progressive gender policy and “woke” ideology.
• Armstrong & Getty assert that forced collective untruths—in sports, speech, and policy—mirror the intellectual and social mechanics of historical communist regimes.
• The hosts argue that the greatest danger lies not in economic theory, but in systemic, compelled dishonesty, with ramifications for both freedom and personal authenticity.
• The show both lampoons and seriously interrogates contemporary claims about gender, truth, and power, suggesting the compulsion to repeat “absurdities” is a foundational threat to a free society.

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For further reading: The discussed Polish analysis and referenced sources are promised in the show's Hot Links section at armstrongandgetty.com.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Joe Getty]

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[Joe Getty]

live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio

[Jack Armstrong]

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

[Commercial Announcer]

Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Yeti.

[Royce White]

You know I'm transgender. I'm a woman. I'm identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purposes of of basketball. Professional basketball. So I'll be declaring for the WNBA draft in 2027 as well.

[Joe Getty]

That's a proud American woman, Royce white. She is 6 foot 8 and 270 pounds. An NBA player until a few years ago I think. But she has now come out as transgender. And Ms. White goes on.

[Royce White]

I mean, I think I'd be unstoppable, you know, But I'm a team first guy. You know, I'm a pass first kind of player. I do the little things. You know, I led my team in all five major stat categories at Iowa State University. So I do a little bit of everything. I'll do whatever the coach needs me to do. I'll do whatever the girls need me to do.

[Joe Getty]

Rice, one of two former NBA players who are declaring for the WNBA draft, taking them at their word as progressives that trans women are women. And the WNBA commissioner has announced an emergency meeting of the general managers and coaches of the league to deal with being asked to live up to their principles. The fact that that would be an emergency meeting tells you everything you need to know. I think about progressivism. Before we get into a little more of that. One of the issues is. And, Michael, we'll start with 15 in a second. But one of the issues is, as Jax mentioned in Katie too, the WNBA started as a PR project of the NBA. It's heavily subsidized by the NBA. It would not stay in business. If it were not for that, you might be firmly in favor of girls sports and women's sports and women's collegiate sports. I am. I'm a big fan. I defend them with my life. But the idea that, yes, there's a women's league for every sport and it should be as popular as the men's, is just silly. It's not. It's not even close. But because of the nature of it, the way it started the wnba, and the fact that it is heavily black, heavily lesbian, and extremely progressive, they embrace all sorts of progressive nuttiness. For instance, Sophie Cunningham and who's also on the same team with Caitlin Clark on Indiana and is kind of the enforcer. Somebody takes out your star, you give him an elbow in the mouth. That's the way basketball's always worked. Hockey, the rest of it, that's how you protect the stars. Got absolutely mugged. I've seen this video. Katie, have you seen the fell on Sophie Cunningham? Oh, yeah. She got basically punched in the face. Well, yeah, a big. What do you call it? A clothesline. As she goes up for layup. This Dijonay Carrington clotheslined her right in the neck and head and center, crashing to the ground. Just a big, angry, nasty, deliberate, blatant, flagrant foul. But Sophie explains what happens after Ms. Carrington was ejected.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, so Carrington is a dirty player. Probably the Dirtiest player in the league. And then she has the audacity to go online right after her ejection and claim that she got ejected because of racism. She definitely learned well from Angel Reese. Whenever something goes against, you just pull out that race card. I think she's jealous of my natural blonde hair. She'll never have this hair. I literally got clotheslined in the air, and this clown has to turn it into race. Her level of IQ needs to be studied for generations.

[Joe Getty]

Number one. Meow.

[Ashley Iconetti]

Yes.

[Joe Getty]

Number number two. Yeah. Djene Carrington got ejected for this blatant assault foul and goes to the locker room and texts White privilege. Yeah. She sent it out on threads, which is like Instagram's Twitter. Right, Right, right. Essentially.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

So. And then. Oh, my God, this just shows how incredibly this league is. So after her star player gets almost killed by a blatant flagrant foul, here's coach Stephanie White of Indiana defending the player who committed the foul was a hard foul.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't think that Dijonay intentionally came

[Joe Getty]

out to get her across the neck like she did, but it did happen,

[Jack Armstrong]

and I thought it was the right call.

[Joe Getty]

But, you know, one of the things

[Jack Armstrong]

about Nay is that she's gonna play

[Joe Getty]

her butt off, man.

[Ashley Iconetti]

She's gonna compete.

[Joe Getty]

Nobody's gonna go walking in for a layup. And so I'm not. I don't oppose the hard, but I

[Jack Armstrong]

also don't think that she intentionally went for the net.

[Joe Getty]

Here's the visual. Caitlin Clark. And who is the other player next to her at that press conference? Their heads were in their hands. Their heads were hanging with a blank look as. Let me tell you this. Maybe you're not an athlete. Maybe you don't follow sports. There is no league. There is no team on earth. We're after a flagrant ejectable foul like that, your coach would be defending the person who did it. There is no way. That's because, Miss, the coach, Stephanie White, feels the need to defend the black, perhaps lesbian player because of oppressor. Oppressee, Political theory. Critical theory. As a white woman, white straight woman, Sophie Cunningham has the power. And so the black player is automatically always right in critical theory. Right. You're used to that. The underdog mode was called in the early days. Victim, oppressor theology. And so she felt like she had to. That's how woke this crazy league. Is Katie, more on that before I move on to the next pointer? Yeah. Sophie Cunningham actually followed up on this. There somebody, you know, commented on how, you know, I. I wouldn't watch this. But the, the fights are getting good. And she said, yeah, I wouldn't watch this circus either. And everybody's just tuning in for the cat fights.

[Michael]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. That's gonna make her popular. But so here is, here's John Root, who's a citizen journalist, an independent journalist on the street asking various people, including this woke young woman, about the the move of former NBA players to go out for the wnba.

[Jack Armstrong]

The truth is trans women are women. And so if they would like to play women's sports, then that would be something that they should do as women.

[Joe Getty]

A few former NBA first round picks came out yesterday and declared for the WNBA draft. Are you supportive of them?

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

So if they truly were trans, then I would be perhaps supportive of them,

[Joe Getty]

but they're not who determines who's really

[Commercial Announcer]

a woman though I would say I

[Jack Armstrong]

would love to see them play against Asia Wilson and Peter her. I doubt they would. So thank you so much.

[Joe Getty]

Okay, so you've got a couple of things and then she rolls her eyes. Number one, those 6 foot 8, 270 pound guys, and I've seen them play recently, would make Asia Wilson look like, you know, a girl. They would crush her. Sweetheart. It would be, it would be embarrassing. It would be ugly. You couldn't watch more than a little bit because then it would just be sad.

[Michael]

Right?

[Joe Getty]

But she, in her plucky proud way denies that reality. I don't want to see it. I just want these people called on their bluff. Man, this crowd is sick in the head.

[Royce White]

I don't.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, they really are. Yeah, yeah. And then responding to one of your woke type people, you had this big woke Twitter account saying Andrew Mercado, men invent a problem, then try to make it real. There are no men playing in the WNBA yet. Enos Cantor and now Roy Swade are announcing plans to enter the draft as actors in a broader anti trans narrative that falsely portrays women's sports as being overrun by men. That's the new argument, that they act like it's the biggest problem in women's sports? No, no, it's just, it's a problem if you're on the field at that time. It's a problem for the girls who are having medals denied to them. It's a problem for the college women who are taking volleyballs in the face or losing out on the podium or losing out on their dreams or being beat in meets or championships. That's it. That's all I care about. Andrew. So your straw man is cute. I hope you keep him out for Thanksgiving. The kids will enjoy him. But nope, nobody's claiming that. Not at all. But then he gets into they're not sincere. And the brave and brilliant J.K. rowling replies, you say some men sincerely identify as women, but that these two men aren't sincere. Do sincere men injure fewer women and girls than insincere ones? How do we test for sincerity? What if a sincerity jury is split? Very much looking forward to your answers. I'm looking at the clock. I wish we had time to get into my ultimate point. Jack is going to weigh in from the vacation road in a couple of minutes. The problem is. Yeah, the problem is, as I alluded to earlier, the the concept of the big lie. And that's what's at the root of this. And this is why I care. Not only because I'm a huge fan of girls and women's sports. As a supporter, I don't necessarily want to watch the wnba. In fact, I don't. But this is not about boys and girls sports. Ultimately, it's about communism and Marxism and the big lie. And you know, if you haven't been listening long and you don't understand the connection, wait a second. In what sensor are like dudes who convert to being, quote unquote, a woman? What do they have to do with communism? I'll explain it to you a little more thoroughly in a little while. Don't want to wear you out. Well, we got all sorts of other news to get to, and we'll check in with Jack in a couple of minutes as well, including the Again to Progressivism. The progressive prescription for our schools is falling apart more and more and more. It's going broke. The scores are miserable. The kids are unhappy, the parents are unhappy. Government schools are crumbling. We'll get to that and much more. Stay with us.

[Jack Armstrong]

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[Ashley Iconetti]

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[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it's pretty wild.

[Ashley Iconetti]

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[Joe Getty]

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[Jack Armstrong]

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[Royce White]

You know, right. Right now I'm just, I'm just having a blast. In my feminine era, I never thought that I was a woman. You know, I've always trusted the science and I thought I was a man my entire life. But you know, after further review, you know look strong. Look at my, my personal preferences. It would appear that, that I am indeed sometimes identifying as a transgender woman. And I think it's only fair I get a chance to play with, with some of my queens here in the twilight of my career, my athletic prime.

[Joe Getty]

That's future WNBA player Royce White, recently come out as trans. We congratulate her on her courage. Speaking of courageous, here he is, the co host of the Armstrong and Getty Show, Jack Armstrong. Jack, how are you, sir?

[Michael]

I feel like she's making a mockery of the issue.

[Joe Getty]

I disagree. Well, who are you to judge her sincerity?

[Michael]

How old is this man?

[Joe Getty]

This woman is, I don't know, 40ish, I think.

[Michael]

I just wondered, I mean, because he's still a great big giant dude who is NBA. An NBA.

[Joe Getty]

Got to beg you to stop misgendering this poor woman. But she's 35. Thank you, Michael.

[Michael]

Okay, so he's still plenty young.

[Joe Getty]

Yes, she is.

[Michael]

That they have got such a problem. What are they gonna do with this? Right?

[Joe Getty]

Calling their bluff. I love this. And this illustrates for the millionth time. And it's one of the reasons we do what we do. Certainly it's one of the reasons I do what I do and the way I do it is that evildoers will put up with a certain amount of opposition, but the one thing they can't take is mockery. They can't take being called on their bluffs and people laughing at them. I am so delighted by this. As I said to Jack over the weekend, this is like Christmas for me, this whole deal.

[Michael]

So there's two dudes, right? There's this guy and one other.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah,

[Michael]

yeah.

[Joe Getty]

And he was a pretty good player too, by the way. Oh, both of them, Both of them are. Yeah, they're, they're a real credit to American womanhood, for sure.

[Michael]

So what, what, what do you think the WNBA is going to do as

[Joe Getty]

I think you know, Jack, they're having an emergency meeting this week of all the general managers and coaches to discuss what to do about somebody calling them on their bluff to figure out how they decide who's a woman. I suspect very strongly that they will go with. If you went through male puberty, you don't get to play, which is almost the right solution. But my problem with that is there will be some progressive lunatics, child abusing, child mutilating lunatics, who would think, oh my God, that makes it all the more important that if an 8 year old is trans, we start feeding them hormones and mutilate their bodies. While they're still children, so they can realize their dreams as women, which will create hundreds, thousands more of these poor, poor victims of this Joseph Mengele style experiment.

[Michael]

Man, this dude, like the. The clip that you just played, this woman.

[Joe Getty]

Yes.

[Michael]

He's. She's doing. He's doing a good job of keeping a straight face.

[Joe Getty]

Yes, she is.

[Michael]

You know, and really playing it up like, you know, I'm just excited to finally get to express my femininity on the basketball court.

[Joe Getty]

And her very low voice really adds to the comedic effect. What I'm. What I'm doing now, obviously. And I could deadpan this for a very long time. I could approach this 100% with the words, the slogans, and the philosophies of the progressive left, and it would be like the funniest thing I could do. Just insisting over and over again that Royce White is a woman. That's about the funniest thing I could do.

[Michael]

Have you seen the clip? I just saw this a few minutes ago. So I've been thinking about it. AOC was on some interview show and talking about, yeah, woke one was crazy.

[Joe Getty]

I didn't see that.

[Michael]

The idea being that, yeah, that whole woke period woke one, that things got out of hand. But the new woke, now that we've, you know, got our acts together or whatever, and somebody said that that is the history of like, you know, Stalin murdering people or Mao starving people or whatever. It's just like, yeah, things got out of hand and that was crazy. But, you know, we're not deviating from our plan because it still works. It just. Something went wrong there. She actually called it. She said, I've got this mayor friend who calls it woke one. And woke one was crazy. And they laughed.

[Joe Getty]

Right. Turns out Stalin was a counter revolutionary. Now we've got our act together and we still have total power. Yeah, exactly. Which reminds me, Jack, I wish you could be here for this, but I'll send it to you so you can read it on your own. My favorite thinkers is a poll. A fellow from Poland who lived through communism, and he explains what the west still doesn't get. He calls it the most dangerous intellectual failure of our time. And I'm going to. I'm going to talk about that with the good folks in just a couple of minutes. Hope you can stay tuned. Anyway, what are you guys doing, you and the boys?

[Michael]

Here's the thing I learned last night. Arriving in Canada, driving across. Driving across the border. They put gravy on the french fries at the restaurants.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, my God.

[Michael]

I don't think I'm ever coming back. I think I'm renouncing my US Citizenship and I will live here the rest of my life.

[Joe Getty]

You know, if you'd ended that sentence, they put gravy on with virtually anything, it would have been good news. Gravy makes everything better. We'll have a great trip. We look forward to updates from Canada. America's hat that Polish thinker, I promise you. Coming up in moments. Stay with us.

[Jack Armstrong]

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[Ashley Iconetti]

This is Ashley from the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast. Ben. I've been reflecting a lot lately on how many big life moments our listeners have experienced with us.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it's pretty wild.

[Ashley Iconetti]

They've watched us go from dating shows to engagements, weddings, babies buying homes. Every stage comes with new decisions.

[Commercial Announcer]

The milestones are the fun part, but the planning is where things get real.

[Ashley Iconetti]

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Secret Sissy Tanya here. And nowadays, with the school year starting earlier and earlier in July or officially in kind of a back to school mindset.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, for sure. And with three kids, my brain is already there. Which is why I'm so glad JCPenney exists. Yes, JCPenney. It's literally the one stop shop for everything the parents of young scholars need. Well, you know, they've got the brands that kids want and honestly, I love them too. Nike, Levi's, Adidas at all great prices.

[Joe Getty]

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[Jack Armstrong]

Under $10 and join JCPenney rewards access for free and new members get a $10 cash pass they can use that same day.

[Joe Getty]

So head to a jcpenney store or shop jcpenney.com yes, jcpenney hi, I'm Cindy

[Jack Armstrong]

Crawford and I'm the founder of meaningful beauty. When Dr. Sabah and I decided to do a skincare line together, he said to me, we, we are going to give women meaningful beauty. And I said, that's exactly right. We want to give women meaningful beauty, which means each and every product is meaningful. It has a reason to exist. It's efficacious. You're going to get results, and then you just go out and live your life. Meaningful beauty confidence is beautiful. Learn more@meaning beauty.com Alexandria Ocasio Cortez has not endorsed Hong. In an interview this weekend, she joked about some of those far left stances, distancing herself, herself from ideas that she previously supported. Francesca Hong has made clear her present stances. She's moved away from it. And I have a local city councilman that has this saying, woke one was crazy.

[Joe Getty]

So, yeah, they're moving away from what they told you you had to believe or you would. They would end your career, they would kick you out of school, they would insist that Twitter and Facebook remove your account. And now they've just kind of like they're changing clothes, disavowed those very policies that were so important that they argued in favor of suspending free speech if you uttered them. Because that was hate speech. Hate speech is not free speech. You remember that. Those are the beliefs they've now abandoned. Almost makes you want to embrace free speech, huh? So on that topic, came across this. This guy's become one of my favorite thinkers. There's too much stuff these days. You ever noticed that? Oh, my gosh, there's so much good stuff. His name is Chris Kristoff Chavinsky. That's at least close. His Twitter handle is Kristoff of Poland. But I, I've been trying to communicate this to y' all for a long time. And, and you know, me courting, quoting George Orwell all the time. And, and the Voltaire is saying that I, I love so much that those who could compel you to repeat absurdities or say absurdities can make you commit atrocities. And I've tried to explain, and James Lindsay's books and lectures and stuff are wonderful about this. Cynical theories is a great place to start. But I tried to explain to you how like the transgender thing, the thing that bothers me the most about it. I hate women getting beat up by men on the field of play. But the absurdity of forcing you to say that man is a woman. And I actually got a note from a very nice lady the other day, says, joe, why are you so on about this? It reminds me of the AIDS crisis. And you gotta stop. No, no, no, no. You're totally misunderstanding the problem here. The problem is the absurdity being made to repeat the absurdity being made to repeat something you know that is not true. Otherwise you'll be in trouble and they will hurt you. Okay, so here's where we get to Krzysztofinski. What the west still doesn't get. And I found this fascinating. I hope you do too. It's just so clear. Communism's true core is the systemic lie. Most people in the west think they understand Communism. They picture breadlines, gulags, failed Five Year Plans and the collapse of the Soviet Union. They treat it as a discredited economic theory, an experiment that proved that abolishing private property doesn't work. Case closed. History moved on. This misunderstanding may be the most dangerous intellectual failure of our time. Communism was never primarily an economic system. Economics was the surface. Beneath it lay something far more insidious. A total, systemic, institutionalized commitment to lying. Not occasional dishonesty, not spin or propaganda in the ordinary sense. Something deeper. A civil, civil civilism. Civilizational war against truth itself, waged through every institution, every classroom, every newspaper, every conversation, until reality itself became negotiable and the lie became the air people breathed. And then I found this part really, really interesting. The words were missing. The Polish language, which was forged by decades of living under the communist system, produced words for this phenomenon that we don't have. In English, he mentions Zaquamania. A state of total, pervasive, socially embedded falsehood. A condition in which an entire society is saturated with lies so thoroughly that truth becomes almost inaccessible. Poles all know that word because they lived through it. Zaquamania. Then there's Ovuda. A deep performative hypocrisy. The gap between what is proclaimed and what is actually practiced. The mask worn so long it begins to feel like a face. That is, for instance, your Soviet tractor factory person saying, yeah, we produced 100 tractors this month. And then his supervisor, getting the reports from 10 different plants, says, yeah, we produced a thousand tractors this month. The tractors don't exist. They can't be found. But everybody check the box and that's Awuda. A deep performative hypocrisy. The gap between what is proclaimed and what is actually practiced. And everybody does it. These are not words for individual liars. They describe a system, he writes, a mode of social organization built on an organized mendacity, meaning dishonesty, where the lie is not the exception, but the foundation. English has no single word for either concept. And that linguistic gap is not a coincidence. It reflects a gap in experience. Cultures that did not live under communism lack the vocabulary because they lack the wound. And because they lack the vocabulary, they struggle to recognize the thing when it appears in new clothing. So here's the continuity, here's. Here's how it flows. Communism, leftism and wokeism. And here's where we get into why I'm so agitated about people trying to force me to say something I know to be untrue. Christoph Wright what we call wokeism today, or the broader radical left, is not a new phenomenon. It is the same operating system running on updated hardware. The specifics have changed. Instead of the proletariat, we have marginalized identity groups. Instead of bourgeois class enemies, we have racists and transphobes. Instead of socialist realism, we have DEI statements. But the deep structure is the same. That deep structure is this truth is not discovered. It is assigned. In other words, in plain language, they tell you what the truth is and you just repeat it. It reality is not something to be understood honestly, but something to be narrated strategically. Language is not a tool for communication, but a weapon of power. And anyone who resists the approved narrative is not simply wrong. They are dangerous and must be silenced, shamed or destroyed. This is zaklamani in its modern form. This is obluda wearing a human rights badge. And how many of you, especially you in academia, in education, or in blue states and cities, know how that felt when you rejected the approved narrative? And maybe it was about transgenderism, maybe it was about systemic racism, the idea that all white people are oppressors and blah, blah, blah. Maybe it was some of the COVID policies. Anyone who resisted the approved narrative is not simply wrong. They are dangerous and must be silenced, shamed or destroyed. Does that sound familiar to you? Yeah, I know it does. Back to Christoph. The same movement that insists men can become can become women will insist with equal fervor that questioning this is an act of violence. Speech is violence. Remember that. He's getting to the core of why I'm so hardcore about this. The same movement that insists men can become women will insist with equal fervor that questioning this is an act of violence. The same institutions that claim to champion free Inquiry systematically suppress the same people who invoke tolerance as their highest value are among the most intolerant forces in public life. The contradiction is not accidental. It is structural. It is the system working as designed. And here's why the west doesn't. Still doesn't get it. People who grow up in freedom tend to assume at some level that bad actors know they are lying. This is the conversation Jack has started many times, because I'll, you know, I'll talk about neo Marxism and how it's assumed a new face and new words and vocabulary like Christoph was describing. And he always asks how many of these people who are advocating this stuff know that? And you know, I always go to. There's the activists who know what they're doing, then the useful idiots and the masses who just. They believe the moral arguments. They think they're doing the right thing. But here's another aspect of it that I hadn't really grasped. People who grew up in freedom tend to assume at some level that bad actors know they are lying. That somewhere behind the ideological performance there is a cynical operator who privately acknowledges reality. This assumption is wrong, and it is why Westerners consistently underestimate what they are dealing with. The totalitarian lie at its mature stage is not cynical. It is believed. Or rather, it creates a condition in which the distinction between belief and performance collapses entirely. People learn to say things they do not believe so fluently and for so long that they lose access to what they actually think. I'll let you contemplate that for a minute. You get so beaten down by a system where you have to say what you know to not be true over and over for so long, you lose access to what you actually think. That's the brilliance of Orwell, by the way. Reread 1984. Anyway, this system does not just produce lies, it produces people who can no longer clearly distinguish truth from the narrative they've been trained to admit. This environment also produces a kind of cognitive adaptation often described as doublethink, the ability to hold two contradictory beliefs at the same time and to accept both as true when required. It is not merely lying to others, but a learned internal tolerance toward contradiction itself, where inconsistencies are tolerated because you're serving. Survival depends on it. You knew that Ibram X Kendi Robin d' Angelo crap. You knew it was wrong, but you sat there and repeated it in that classroom so you could keep your job or keep your cla, your scholarship. A lot of you had to do that. And I sympathize with you. I kind of wish you'd stormed out or something, but I get why you didn't. So you learned internal tolerance toward contradiction itself because your survival depended on it literally twisting people's minds. Polls, Czechs, Hungarians and others who lived through this recognize the pattern immediately when they see it in western institutions today. The show trials of the Twitter mobs, the compelled speech, those anti racism Robin d' Angelo white guilt sessions. That's compelled speech. The ideological litmus tests for employment, the memory holding of inconvenient facts. Fauci. The ritualistic confessions of privilege. To a post communist eye, it's unmistakable. They know what we're doing. To eyes that have only known freedom, it looks like a passionate if misguided social movement. But that gap in perception between those who have vocabulary for Zaklamani and those who do not may be one of the most consequential fault lines in the western world today. Because you cannot fight a disease, you cannot name. And you cannot name what your language was never built to describe. The first task then is translation. Translation not just of words, but of the lived understanding those words carry the lie is not a bug in the system, it is the system. Until that is understood, the west will keep arriving, perpetually surprised to find that the institutions it trusted have been quietly hollowed out from within. I think that's enough of that for now. We will post that under hot [e-mail] if you want to reread it yourself, send it to all your friends hands, print it out, memorize it, have it tattooed on your chest, whatever. Every single word of that is true. Every single word. And a lot of you, I think it probably blew your mind. But trust me, and I'm not some all powerful authority. I've seriously been studying communist systems since I was a teenager. Every single word he wrote is true. And if we don't absorb it and understand what it means, God help us and God help our liberty. Because it will go away. More to come. Stay with us. Armstrong and Getty.

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[Ashley Iconetti]

This is Ashley from the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast. Ben I've been reflecting a lot lately on how many big life moments our listeners have experienced with us.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it's pretty wild.

[Ashley Iconetti]

They've watched us go from dating shows to engagements, weddings, babies, buying homes. Every stage comes with new decisions.

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[Ashley Iconetti]

That's why Klarna stands out. Klarna gives people smarter tools to help manage everyday money with flexible ways to pay cash back that builds automatically everything in one place and support that makes everyday decisions feel less overwhelming.

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Since life moves so fast, the right tools can help you feel more confident. Download the Klarna app today or visit klarna.com to learn more.

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Seacrest, Sissany, Tanya here. And now to with the school year starting earlier and earlier in July or officially in kind of a back to school mindset.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, for sure. And with three kids, my brain is already there. Which is why I'm so glad JCPenney exists. Yes, JCPenney. It's literally the one stop shop for everything the parents of young scholars need. Well, you know, they've got the brands that kids want and honestly, I love them too. Nike, Levi's, Adidas at all great prices.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, we're talking thousands of items. That is thousands. Into thousands. Under $10.

[Jack Armstrong]

Under $10 and join JCPenney rewards access for free and new members get a $10 cash pass they can use the same day.

[Joe Getty]

So head to a JCPenney store or shop jcpenney.com yes, JCPenney.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hi, I'm Cindy Crawford and I'm the founder of Meaningful Beauty. Well, I don't know about you, but like, I never liked being told, oh wow, you look so good for your age. Like, why even bother saying that? Why don't you just say you look great at any age? Every age. That's what Meaningful Beauty is all about. We create products that make you feel confident in your skin at the age you are now. Meaningful Beauty. Beautiful skin at every age. Learn more@meaningful beauty.com.

[Joe Getty]

you know, this fits in so beautifully with what we've been talking about. I had to throw it in. Thanks Eric for sending this along. It's a great old saying. You can vote in socialism, but you have to shoot your way out. You can vote in socialism, but you have to shoot your way out. Let's listen to AOC with John Carl real quickly. What in your mind is the difference

[Royce White]

between socialism and communism?

[Jack Armstrong]

I think to me the fundamental differences one, democracy, Democracy. And I believe that democratic socialists are fundamentally pro democracy. And we believe in the ballot box, we believe in respecting the outcomes of elections and governing democratically and ensuring that the ideas and policies that are implemented are won through popular vote and popular opinion. And so I think that's why so much of what we focus on is also making sure that we are providing for the majority of Americans, guaranteeing health care, raising wages, strengthening the right to a union. And I think that that's at its core what we're about.

[Joe Getty]

Okay, thanks aoc. So let's game this out. Keeping in mind the saying that I gave you a second ago, you can vote in socialism, but you have to shoot your way out. So AOC gets our wishes and we impose socialism. And most, if not all economic policy is run through the government. The government picks winners and losers. The government takes a substantial amount of what those who remain producers produce and redistributes it to people through, you know, food, housing, healthcare, you know, just everything, everything. So you've got the government which is all powerful, essentially incredibly powerful, and the rest of us all depend on it. Now we've all seen how like a entitlement program can start or a social benefit of some sort can start. And if they decide it's a bad idea, two days later you hear just screeching that what will happen to the whatever who have been depending on this program for two days. It's like you can never end a social problem because oh, those people depend on it and they, they expect it. And you're going to balance the budget under back so you've got an entire system, a huge part of the economy that's like that. So in AOC's world, number one, the populace would get together and say, okay, we're entirely dependent on this system, we're going to vote it out. And then what? All of the government controlled industries are gonna become independent again, run by whom and at what level of efficiency? And how do we decide who's employed? Because the government's had their hand in that. How would the entire economic system work? How do you unplug it? There is zero chance. The average voter would say, yeah, let's take that chance, let's roll that dice. I know life is crappy and I don't have any hopes of it ever getting better, but they're telling Me, I'll starve if I vote out socialism. Okay, so that's the problem number one. Problem number two is, and this happens every single blanking time, and you all know this, you grant such enormous power to the government that the economy and everything we need runs through them. They are in control of it. And then if we all win by half a percent, all those people, all those bureaucrats, those technocrats, those apparatchiks as they used to call them in the Soviet Union, all of those people are gonna say, well, hey guys, an election's election. Give up your super cool dacha in the country and your luxury car that nobody else has and your nice salary and your first access to those government grocery stores and the graft we get because everybody below us, if they want something a little extra, they got a bribe. Us, we're all giving that up because did you see the headline? We lost in the election by half a percent. So we're giving it all up, Comma, ha. You can vote in socialism, but you have to shoot your way out. Thanks for reminding us of that pearl of wisdom, Eric. Appreciate it. You can drop us a Note [e-mail] and you really ought to subscribe to the podcast Armstrong and Getty on Demand everything auto downloads, including the One More Thing podcasts, which sometimes have swears and you can listen to them at your leisure whenever you want. Coming up next hour, we will talk to nonpartisan political analyst Gary Dietrich about the the conundrum facing the Republican party and that of the Democrats and just kind of get a nonpartisan look at where things lay. Hoping you stay tuned. If not again, podcast Armstrong and Gettysburg. This is Tony Ayo from the Real report with Tony A.O.

[Royce White]

and Uncle Murder.

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