A&G Replay Tuesday Hour Two

Summary

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Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: A&G Replay Tuesday Hour Two

Date: November 25, 2025
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty

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Overview

This replay episode of Armstrong & Getty centers on current political and cultural debates in America and the West, delving into skepticism about climate policy, critiques of political privilege (notably Gavin Newsom), the real roots of the homelessness crisis, and the ideological shift in elites who champion radical reforms, sometimes disconnected from everyday realities. The hosts—often with biting sarcasm—expose hypocrisy, disagree with mainstream narratives, and highlight significant trends via anecdotes, guest commentary, and cited journalism.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Green Energy & Climate Policy: Profit, Hypocrisy, & Futility (03:29–13:10)

• Green Energy Skepticism:
  Jack Armstrong highlighted an editorial by Holman Jenkins, criticizing the U.S. climate policy as a "for-profit scam" justified by bureaucratic maneuvering rather than science ([03:29]).

• Shadow Banning Michael Moore:
  The hosts were surprised that Michael Moore’s 2019 film Planet of the Humans was suppressed by left-leaning distributors—not for denying climate change, but for exposing the ineffectiveness of current climate policies ([06:03]).

  • Quote – Joe Getty:
    “Michael Moore, one of the most revered documentary filmmakers of the left ever, gets memory-holed for telling that truth.” ([07:10])

• Lack of Honest Metrics:
  The show compared climate activism to California's homelessness spending: vast sums are spent without mechanisms to measure effectiveness ([07:25]).

• Global Taxation & Democratic Deficit:
  Armstrong warned listeners about a new United Nations proposal to "impose what amounts to a global tax on carbon emissions," calling it “taxation without representation” as the details emerge via the International Maritime Organization ([09:08]).

• Cultural and Economic Impacts:
  The conversation moved to Britain’s economic malaise caused partly by “net zero” policies, and broader European dissatisfaction ([11:05]).

  • Notable Stat: 75% of Britons agree “Britain is broken” ([11:23]).

• American Prosperity:
  The hosts juxtaposed Germany’s economic struggles with U.S. economic dominance, connecting it to issues of liberty and overregulation ([12:11]).

  • Quote – Joe Getty:
    “Mississippi’s per capita income is almost the same as Germany’s. So the most powerful economy in Europe, Germany, is roughly the same as our poorest state.” ([12:07])

• Push for Nuclear:
  The Army’s new plan to power bases with modular nuclear reactors was praised as a return to sanity ([13:08]).

  • Quote – Jack Armstrong:
    “Hey, hippies with your no nuke crap and your climate change bull—your day is done, man.” ([13:10])

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2. Gavin Newsom: Challenging the "Self-Made" Narrative (13:51–20:13)

• Newsom’s Biography & Contradiction:
  The hosts ridicule Governor Gavin Newsom’s self-portrayal as a struggling “latchkey” kid. Katie Grimes' investigation revealed Newsom was labeled “Children of the Rich” in a 1991 article and leveraged significant family connections, notably via the Getty and Pelosi families, to launch his wine business ([14:55]).

  • Quote – Katie Grimes via Jack Armstrong:
    “In 10 of Gavin’s first 11 businesses, the primary money came from the Getty family.” ([16:04])

• Political Inauthenticity & Moral Failings:
  Newsom is called out as “inauthentic, phony, and specious,” with examples of flip-flopping and personal scandals, such as his affair with his campaign manager’s wife ([17:29], [19:47]).

• Democratic Disconnect with Working Class:
  The segment questions whether Newsom could connect with blue-collar or minority voters, given his elite background ([17:29]).

  • Quote – Marcus Breton (via Armstrong):
    “He is the living embodiment of privilege. And people seem to be okay with that. He has white male privilege, class, privilege...all creates a Teflon exterior, protecting Newsom’s horrendous lapses of judgment and character.” ([19:19])

• Potential Republican Counterattack:
  The hosts broach how Republicans could portray Newsom as the “out of touch elitist,” especially given optics like the infamous French Laundry dinner during COVID ([20:13]).

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3. Elite Radicalism, Self-Loathing, and Societal Fragility: Matt Taibbi’s Take (23:47–35:07)

• Matt Taibbi’s “Brilliant” Critique:
  Armstrong praised journalist Matt Taibbi’s argument that only societies prosperous and stable enough allow their wealthy to indulge in self-loathing and radical social theories ([23:47]).

  • Quote – Taibbi (via Armstrong):
    “In the rest of the world, rational social planning...results in fewer kids studying pure theory... [there’s less] denouncing their home countries as forces of historical evil.” ([25:17])

• Marxist Mindset & Political Trends:
  The hosts examine Zoran Mamdani—a New York candidate emblematic of ideologically rigid progressivism, with slogans like “queer liberation means defunding the police,” and question whether such views are widespread or media-shielded ([29:20]).

  • Quote – Armstrong:
    “Marxists lie all the time because people don’t expect somebody to lie so clearly to their face.” ([29:09])

• Danger of Undervaluing Stability:
  Taibbi’s “Burkean” warning: American society’s stability is hard-won, and radical reformers threaten to upend it without understanding the personal and historical cost ([34:19]).

  • Quote – Armstrong:
    “If you have created a safe, stable society, don’t take that for granted. It is really, really, really hard to do and you start messing with it and it could come apart quickly...” ([34:19])

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4. Homelessness: The Real Problem is Addiction (38:18–44:48)

• Reframing Homelessness:
  Both hosts advocate for a shift from the term “homeless” to “transient drug addiction” (TDA), based on messages from listeners working in the field ([38:18]).

  • Quote – Emailer (read by Armstrong):
    “85% of the folks I work with are battling drug addiction. 10% are mentally ill because of drug addiction. Only 5% are just mentally ill.” ([40:42])

• Tiny Homes as a Red Herring:
  The hosts and mailers are critical of policies promoting small/“tiny” homes as solutions; without addressing addiction, they become “drug camps” ([41:39]).

  • Quote – Listener:
    “Drug addicts don’t obey rules very well. Politicians love the optics...but addicts end up right back on the street.” ([41:39])

• Rehabilitation Realities:
  Forced rehab is mostly ineffective (94% failure rate first try), and most long-term addicts will not seek help or succeed in recovery under current models ([42:56]).

• Call for Accountability:
  The solution, the hosts argue, must be legal accountability—restoring drug courts, consequences, and distinguishing between the truly homeless and predominantly addicted ([43:51]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jack Armstrong:
  “The whole green energy climate change thing was a for-profit scam.” ([03:29])
• Joe Getty:
  “None of these things are doing any good. So what are we doing it for?” ([08:31])
• Jack Armstrong:
  “You can’t be cynical enough about this. What government does is it identifies problems, real and imagined, and then spreads money out to buy votes and influence.” ([44:48])
• Matt Taibbi (via Armstrong):
  “The only people who think the system that produced the richest, safest empire in history is essentially unfixable are America’s own wealthy, whose current disdain for their own good fortune is like a political version of heroin.” ([27:15])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Climate Policy & Michael Moore: 03:29–08:55
• Global Carbon Tax & European Discontent: 09:08–12:44
• Nuclear Power in the Military: 12:44–13:10
• Gavin Newsom's Privilege & Authenticity: 13:51–20:13
• Taibbi on American Elites & Socialism: 23:47–35:07
• Redefining Homelessness as Drug Addiction: 38:18–44:48

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Overall Tone & Final Thoughts

The episode’s tone is acerbic, irreverent, and sharply critical of political hypocrisy, especially among elites and left-leaning institutions. The hosts champion evidence-based reform, transparency, and a return to practical policy—often with humor and mockery aimed at those in power or shaping media narratives. Listeners are encouraged to question prevailing wisdom and look deeper than headlines or political platitudes.

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Transcript

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[Simon Jack]

And I'm Simon Jack and together we host Good Bad Billionaire the podcast exploring how some of the world's richest People made their fortunes.

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And we are back with a brand new season of billionaires.

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[Jack Armstrong]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty. Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Not live. We're not here. It's the Armstrong and Getty replay.

[Jack Armstrong]

But what we have for you is delicious. A collection of some of our best stuff. You can hear more of course on.

[Joe Getty]

Our podcast, Armstrong and Getty on Demand.

[Jack Armstrong]

And hey, get through your Christmas shopping list at the Armstrong and Getty superstore. Shirts, hoodies and much more.

[Joe Getty]

So now enjoy the Armstrong and Yeti replay. 80 Perry, the pop music superstar was spotted smooching the former prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. What a couple. I've been wondering how Canada was going to exact their revenge for the tariffs.

[Jack Armstrong]

And this is it.

[Joe Getty]

They're taking our women. They're not just taking our women, they're taking our astronauts. That's a good joke.

[Jack Armstrong]

He's not an obnoxious political weenie. Kim is pretty funny.

[Joe Getty]

Taking our astronauts.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow, that was a good joke.

[Joe Getty]

Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

So this is just yet more proof, as if you needed it, that the whole green energy climate change thing was a for profit scam. This is some great writing. Holman Jenkins, who I really enjoy, he's talking about, you know, during the Obama years they there was a finding by the epa, I think it was that, that, that carbon emissions that cause climate change threaten people's health so they could regulate it like mercury in the rivers or smog in the air. And he's writing about how 39 scientists from various organizations just signed a find, signed a finding that in fact greenhouse gases are in fact a danger because the Trump administration EPA just said no, they're not. So you got these 39 scientists. Anyway. So to quote Jenkins, read on. Realize their book length report is concocted for a bureaucratic and legalistic purpose, not a scientific one. The finding in the Obama years came to justify regulatory actions that have zero impact, none on climate change. Not only are US Emissions too small a share of the global total to matter, in practice, EPA actions mostly just drive US emissions offshore. Whatever they think the 39 scientists are part of a machine now defending its own activity and privilege in one of the biggest boondoggles in the history of policy making. And then he points out, and I was totally unaware of this, Michael Moore, the fat progressive film director. Why would I take his shot at his body shape?

[Joe Getty]

It helped.

[Jack Armstrong]

Unnecessary.

[Joe Getty]

I disagree. I, I think it was necessary. I think it helps describe who the person is for people who aren't sure. Oh yeah, the fat progressive film documentary guy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay. The judges will permit it. It will stand. Objection. Overruled. Anyway, he had a movie come out in 2019, Planet of the Humans, and he says, remember that? Of course you don't. It was shadow banned by the left and film distributors. Not because it wasn't climate apocalyptic enough. It was over the top on climate apocalyptics. It was shadow banned for pointing out that the US climate policy was a fraud. Oh, so Michael, who actually believes this stuff.

[Joe Getty]

Okay, so he actually believes climate change is a problem. It, we need to worry about it and that all the stuff we're doing is fake and people need to know that because we're not making a dent. Well, good for him. I mean, you know, that's, that's better than knowingly lying like the Al Gore crowd is doing, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

As Jenkins writes, it consisted of colossal pork barrel spending that was having no effect on the alleged problem.

[Joe Getty]

That is amazing. Michael Moore, one of the most revered documentary filmmakers of the left ever, gets memory. Hold on.

[Jack Armstrong]

Tell that truth.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Wow, that's interesting.

[Jack Armstrong]

They have Richard York of the University of Oregon seen marveling in the film at the self willed blindness of the U.S. policy community to a simple question. Do clean energy subsidies result in fossil fuels being displaced? He says in a voice of wonder. No, they don't even know that. That's the question. It reminds me of when Californians found out that not only was there no measure of how effective the bums and junkies billions of dollars spent had been, there wasn't even a mechanism to look into the question. And that's what this guy's saying about the climate change stuff.

[Joe Getty]

I'm pretty optimistic that we're on the other side of the whole trans issue and we're never going to go back to it at its peak, you know, from a couple of years ago where things were just off the rails. But I don't, I don't have much faith that we'll get on the other side of the climate change thing where people will start being honest. Do you think maybe we're actually our head that direction?

[Jack Armstrong]

It's Going to be a tough one because a lot of people are completely convinced that what they have been told is correct.

[Joe Getty]

Well, I, I meant more.

[Jack Armstrong]

And the left is dedicated to keeping that.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I meant more in terms of being honest about what things actually are doing something and aren't doing something. I mean, to Michael Moore's point, you need more. People like him are saying, yeah, climate change is real, but the stuff we're doing isn't doing anything. I'm not worried about climate change the way he is, but none of these things are doing any good. So what are we doing it for?

[Jack Armstrong]

You combine people that don't believe in.

[Joe Getty]

Climate change with people who are honest about it, but realize this stuff is phony and maybe we could kill it, most of it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Because we can't actually do anything about it. We can't actually do anything about it. Reality bats last, as we often say. I feel good that it's moving in that direction. There are a bunch of headlines, actually, that the entire world, Europe is now put its electric car in backward in reverse. When it comes to electric vehicles, the whole world is saying, you know, this wasn't quite what everybody was saying it was, including even China, which leads the world in electric vehicle use and sales and manufacture and the rest of it. So I think, I think sanity is creeping into the issue. But a couple of more stories real quickly, unless you add more on that. I love the topic, but the United nations is about to tax you. If. If you know, the other stuff we've talked about today hasn't boiled your frog already. This will. Global government voters are showing their opposition to the net zero climate agenda whenever they get the chance in the US and increasingly in Europe. It just doesn't make sense. People don't like it. But that isn't stopping the United nations, which this week is poised to impose what amounts to a global tax on carbon emissions. And yes, if you're wondering, this is the definition of taxation without representation, here's how they're doing it. The International Maritime Organization, a UN body based in London, hopes at its meeting this week to secure final approval for its net zero framework for shipping. And it would impose charges per metric ton of carbon dioxide that ships emit above certain levels. And the tax would be several hundred dollars per metric ton, depending on various factors. That could translate to an annual tax take of 10 to 12 billion dollars.

[Joe Getty]

Well, and then see how many of the people behind that new rule somehow profit from that. But that's horrifying. So I mentioned that I listened to.

[Jack Armstrong]

A podcast oh, and all the money would go to the U. N. By the way. Oh, lovely.

[Joe Getty]

Right. I mentioned I was listening to a podcast out of Great Britain talking about what a disaster, their net zero. They really took net zero seriously and just destroyed their economy. A lot of Europe did. In fact, I got a stat on that that I wanted to bring that I came across.

[Jack Armstrong]

Recent poll, 75% of Brits agree with the statement Britain is broken.

[Joe Getty]

75% just in general, not just around climate change stuff.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, but I mean it. That selling out the economy to that cult is one of the main drivers of unhappiness and dissatisfaction of all of Europe.

[Joe Getty]

Yesterday it was announced Nvidia is worth more than the entire German stock market. That one company, Mississippi's. We had this stat last week. Mississippi's per capita income is almost the same as Germany's. So the most powerful economy in Europe, Germany is roughly the same as our poorest state in the United States.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes.

[Joe Getty]

That is incredible.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

And one thing we don't.

[Jack Armstrong]

I said we don't have near enough understanding of in this country is why we have such an engine of creativity and growth. It's called liberty, for God's sake.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, we've been the richest country for a long time, but not to this extent versus relative to Europe. And a lot of it is because of all that climate change crap. They did so much climate change crap that just destroyed their economies. That's amazing. Our poorest state is as powerful as Germany. It's incredible.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it really is. Final story that I wanted to squeeze in because it's all kind of related. Note to self, buy stock in nuclear. Here's a headline for you. U.S. army plans to power bases with tiny nuclear reactors. The Janus program fulfills Trump order to start powering military installations with state of the art nuclear technology. This is such a great idea.

[Joe Getty]

Dang.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, Time to go. Nuke.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hey, hippies with your no nuke crap and your climate change bull ass, and I wish I could use the word, your day is done, man. I just pray that J.D. vance wins the next election. Or whomever. I mean, we got so far down the road to Crazyville, it's gonna take a minute or two to get our way to find our way back to sanity Town. At least Sanity Heights in the suburbs. Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty. The Armstrong, Getty Show. The Armstrong and Getty Show. Just like hustling started, you know, just.

[Joe Getty]

Getting obsessed, you know, sitting there with.

[Jack Armstrong]

The, you know, the Wonder Bread and five stacks of like the white stack.

[Joe Getty]

Five story all right, so there was.

[Jack Armstrong]

Poor Gavin Newsome on a recent podcast. Who knew he'd grown up poor, had to hustle to stay alive, and. And the rest of it. Katie Grimes. The fabulous Katie Grimes with a spectacular takedown.

[Joe Getty]

I knew it. I knew. I said that the other day. I said, she is going to have such a rundown of his actual upbringing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, she probably had to calm herself down to start writing this. It is so rich. It was about paying the bills, man. Wonder Bread, Mac and cheese. That's how I grew up, bro. It was just like hustling. I raised myself right. Gavin was a Latchkey kid When Gavin was featured in a Children of the rich article in 1991 at the age of 25, pretty much put the latchkey kid from the Larchmont Homes Tract Housing act to rest until now as Loose Newsom longs to be America's next president. Then she goes into how. What was that?

[Joe Getty]

Sorry, it made me cough. I swallowed my water. I hadn't heard that one before.

[Jack Armstrong]

Children of the rich article in 1991 at the age of 25.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

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Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

His father, attorney for the billionaire Getty oil family appeals court judge. The rest of it. But Gavin slept on a couch and ate Wonder Bread and raised himself. And he opened a winery. At the age of 25. Newsome & Investors at the age of 25, Newsom & Investors created PlumpJack Associates LP with the help financial help of Gordon Getty. In a 2003 article, Bringing Up Baby Gavin in the SF Weekly magazine, it says Newsom's father William was a judge and helped Gordon Getty get access to the Getty family money. She writes. I've read the article several times over the years, but it is no longer available at SF Weekly. They took it down, but they found an archive version, posted it to Twitter. He even helped Gordon Getty sue his own father to get access to the family trust. In return for these favors and many others, Gordon Getty put him the father in charge of managing a massive amount of money. Guess how Gavin got the funds to start his fancy businesses at such a young age. In 10 of Gavin's first 11 businesses, the primary money came from the Getty family, which is intertwined with the Pelosi family, by the way.

[Joe Getty]

Funny, I had read that while his dad did have access to blah blah blah because his parents divorced, that Gavin, you know, grew up with his poor single mom trying to make ends meet, etc.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, no. The minute he was of age. And again, he was a subject of a Children of the Rich article and then he had all the money he could use to finance all of his, his businesses the minute he was an adult. So why lie about being a privileged kid? Katie Grimes writes, because Gavin Newsom is inauthentic, phony and specious to be polite as well as a compulsive liar to be a little harsh. Newtham's inauthenticity leads him to compulsively lie to whomever he is speaking to, a kind of pandering she mentions when with Charlie Kirk. Newsom said he hinted that he agreed with Kirk that biological men should not play in women's sports. But then he did absolutely nothing about it as the governor of the most egregious title non violating state in the country.

[Joe Getty]

Maybe I don't speak Gavin well, but I didn't understand what he said in that Charlie Kirk thing. I didn't understand that clip we just played. I don't understand what he was saying. He just, he uses phrases that kind of hint at something, but he never says anything. Well, I was, you know, I was, I was out there running around, you know, and I got the stacks of bread and what, what are you claiming here? I don't even know what you're saying.

[Jack Armstrong]

Rich Lowry in the National Review asked, I'm sorry, it's Jim, Jim Garrity, who's asking, do Democrats really need a white male version of Kamala Harris? But it's worse than that. How well do you envision Newsom connecting with all the union voters in the Great Lakes states? How about those working class blue collar whites in North Carolina and Georgia for that matter? Will Newsom, who banged his campaign manager's wife, had a 19 year old girlfriend when he was 39, going to do better among women? When you see that photo of Newsom on the rug with Kimberly Guilfoyle, do you say, yes, this is the kind of Democrat candidate who's going to resonate with African American and Latinos?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I, I always think that's a blind spot for Democrats, you know, the coastal Democrats that they, they, because I come from a family of like everybody was a Democrat, but they were all former Democrats. They weren't Gavin Newsom, sort of the trans issues Democrats. And that's where Gavin's gonna really run up against it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, right. And, and then one final note from Marcus Breton, who has been a columnist for the Sacramento Bee. I'm not sure he still is. And a decent guy, a man of good character. He's a man of the left and I frequently disagreed with him. Vehemently but he's a good man. He wrote this in 2018, before Gavin was governor. If Gavin Newsom is elected governor of California without so much as a speed bump on his political journey of entitlement, it may take future social scientists to explain why current California voters were so willing to give this guy a pass on all of the things we know about him. Can't you see this picture for what it really is? The 50 year old lieutenant governor and former mayor of San Francisco is the living embodiment of privilege. And people seem to be okay with that. He has white male privilege. Class, privilege, wealth, privilege, the privilege of good looks. All creates a Teflon exterior, protecting Newsom's horrendous lapses of judgment and character, excusing his questionable background. It is simply accepted without eliciting the negative scrutiny that would dog or even derail lesser mortals.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. And that's from a lefty journalist.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. And he talks about the connections to the rich, Getty and Pelosi families, how they pump money into everything he does. And then his utter moral failings is.

[Joe Getty]

He is the caricature. The sort of stereotype that people try to plant on Republicans. Rich, white, good looking guy, connected, you know, rose up through the ranks with no effort whatsoever or talent. Right. But as a Democrat, he's gonna try to pull off the. I raised myself, you know, stacks of bread. No, I don't know. What do you mean by the stacks of bread?

[Jack Armstrong]

What, What? What are you trying to say back to Rich Lowry. Don't you think there's a good chance Republicans will be able to portray the Marin county mansion owning luxury suite, partying, wine sipping Newsom who always looks like a villain from a RoboCop movie as an out of touch elitist. Never mind the whole Napa dinner in the middle of COVID It was an early dinner. We all fail sometimes. Oh, that is Ron. The Armstrong and Getty Show. Get more Jack, more Joe podcasts and our hot [e-mail].

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[Zing Singh]

Hi, I'm Zing Xing.

[Simon Jack]

And I'm Simon Jack and together we host Good Bad Billionaire the podcast exploring how some of the world's richest people made their fortunes.

[Zing Singh]

And we are back with a brand new season of billionaires.

[Simon Jack]

Yes, movie megastar Arnold Schwarzenegger, America's richest.

[Zing Singh]

Self made businesswoman Diane Hendricks and co.

[Simon Jack]

Founder of Snapchat Evan Spiegel to name just a few.

[Zing Singh]

And we're asking you to decide if they're good, bad or just another billionaire.

[Simon Jack]

Good bad billionaire from the BBC World Service.

[Zing Singh]

Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Jack Armstrong]

The Armstrong and Getty Show. I love Matt Taibbi who is a man of the left. He's a brilliant writer. You know, he's one of those guys. I disagree with him about 25% of the time, but his point of view is always intriguing. And he's, he's writing about that geek up in Maine with the. The Nazi tattoo. But more about Zoran Mumdami. Because Matt grew up in a comfortable northeastern household and was sent to expensive boarding schools. And then he hits the job market and he realizes he had no skills at all, having gone through that sort of education.

[Joe Getty]

That's really interesting. His dad was a famous reporter for CBS News. One of the newscasts I watched as a kid, his dad, I'm whoever Tybee. So he grew up with that lifestyle, but then he got out of college and thought what am I going to do? That's interesting, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

And he thought yeah, he'd go with the family business of journalism, but he hadn't really studied it, so he had to start from the bottom. But here's where it gets really interesting. Across the next decade or so of embarrassed residency abroad because he went to live in several foreign countries, I saw that real working class people don't have the luxury to send their kids away to whack themselves off in intellectual spas. It's understood that large percentages of young people will be needed to design the generations. Roads, water treatment plants, refrigerators, et cetera. Living in places like Mongolia and Uzbekistan also introduced me to the idea that less than extravagantly wealthy countries don't have the luxury of sending class after class of their best young minds through curricula devoted to deconstructing the core premises of their society. In other words, in the rest of the world, rational social planning not only results in fewer kids studying pure theory, but the theorists those countries do graduate are far less inclined to spend their denouncing their home countries as forces of historical evil.

[Joe Getty]

That's good. Yeah, it's.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's a luxury of the self ego aggrandizing rich to be have self hating and hate their countries. As I've said many times, that's like the highest standard of showing how enlightened you are. If you despise yourself, your country, your religion, the rest of it.

[Joe Getty]

It's so. You're. You're so safe. Safe from attack from another country. The water is so clean, the economy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Is so stable, the government is so.

[Joe Getty]

Stable because the government and all of that has allowed you to decide this is a horrible country. That's an interesting turnaround.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's a luxury. Yeah. He goes on. In countries where the bulk of people have to be concerned with survival, getting enough to eat, not being conquered by rival nations or revolutionaries, and holding crime and corruption to tolerable levels. Colleges don't teach kids how their citizens of oppress nations that should probably be disbanded. They certainly wouldn't do it if they lucked into the benefits of citizenship in a country like the United States. This country has problems, even serious ones. But it's not like gangsters are setting up freelance toll booths on i95 for West Coasters. That's the equivalent of i5 on the East Coast. Or the strip steak you ordered at Ponderosa has a good chance of being cat meat, a reference that amused Jack a great deal yesterday.

[Joe Getty]

I'm not certain that that is a as solid as he thinks, but they.

[Jack Armstrong]

Have attorneys Moving along Citizens of countries that have known true suckage, including especially the ones with Marxist or Maoist histories, laugh at the things Americans call problems. The only people who think the system that produced the richest, safest empire in history is essentially unfixable are America's own wealthy, whose current disdain for their own good fortune is like a political version of heroin. Chicago.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that is so damn true. That crowd does not realize how hard it is to turn around, or would be to turn around if real corruption ever sets in in your city, state.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or federal government, which it would immediately with socialism.

[Joe Getty]

Sure.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Now he turns his attention to Mr. Mamdani, the Marxist Islamist who may well be the mayor of New York City. Zoran Mandani.

[Joe Getty]

Zoran, that Zohran.

[Jack Armstrong]

Zohran, correct. Anyway, right, this is what we're seeing now, and in particular with the Mamdani campaign, which to a hilarious degree is manna from heaven for Trump. Mamdani is the face of the new brand of socialism that embraces the preamble theme of the Communist Manifesto, in which all of society is divided into oppressor and oppressed. Illegal immigration isn't a problem that needs to be contained in order to make social programming for citizens affordable, as Bernie Sanders once believed and probably still does. But because immigration laws are inherently oppressive. So, as Mandami now proposes, let's spend $165 million making New York, quote, the strongest sanctuary city in the country. Taibbi goes on, let's not fix police violence by ending stats based enforcement, for instance, or doing away with broken windows theory. But let's tweet things like, quote, queer liberation means defunding the police. Mamdani says he no longer favors defunding, but be your own judge.

[Joe Getty]

A guy is gonna end up mayor of the most important city in the world with the slogan what was that.

[Jack Armstrong]

About that last Queer liberation means defunding the police.

[Joe Getty]

Queer liberation means defunding the police.

[Jack Armstrong]

What the hell? And then he quotes another journalist who's writing about it. In 2022, Mamdani declared of his political career, and again in 20 friends, for me, there's no point in doing this without the dsa, the Democratic Socialists of America favor full amnesty for legal immigrants, all of them, including the criminals, abolishment of the Senate, voting rights for non citizens, and public ownership of major corporations. Since he won the nomination, he has softened on some of these points, but remains a DSA member and fan. New Yorkers can decide if he's sincere. And I'll return to my frequently stated theme. Marxists lie all the time because people don't expect somebody to lie so clearly to their face. He still believes all that stuff. Then we're getting toward the end. But then there's Mandami's Gamut, in which he decided to speak to Muslims in New York, telling a story about an aunt, quote, who stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her job. And Taibi describes at some length he lived in New York City at that time and and he said there was an incredible level of amity and cooperation between most of the city's Muslims and non Muslim residents. And the numbers bear this out. New York has always been a liberal, welcoming city. Always. And if I might depart for a moment and we talked about this briefly earlier, Mamdani was talking about the victims of 911 and he spent zero time on the mommies and daddies, sons and daughters who died in fire when those planes hit the building, or the mommies and daddies who died and good, honest, hardworking people who died in the towers. He said not a word about the NYPD and the nyfd, the firefighters who gave us one of the greatest examples of heroism in American history said not a word. His only tear was for his fictional aunt, who may have felt somewhat nervous getting on the subway in her hijab. That's Mamdani's view of 9 11. Anyway, I will calm down momentarily.

[Joe Getty]

All the people on those planes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Anyway, for a likely future Muslim mayor of New York to even remotely imply that Muslims in New York were victims of 911 is infuriating lunacy. Unfortunately, it fits the aforementioned oppressor and oppressed mindset in which a marginalized community always holds the moral high card over people who built your roads, bridges and ports and put out your fires. Once you see attendees of $75,000 boarding schools talking about the need to arm the proletariat and a candidate for Mayor of the world's Financial center talks about perhaps toning down the rhetoric on seizing the means of production so that over time we can bring people to that issue. That's a quote. It's clear Neo Marxist idiocies have been allowed to gain a stronghold. Go ahead, Jack, if you want to.

[Joe Getty]

That is something. There are quotes there that I have not heard. The mainstream media has done a bad job of covering this guy because they sympathize with him.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's clear neo Marxist idiocies have been allowed to gain a stronghold. Only people who don't know how hard it is to build a society think this way. But the number of such people is growing, ironically because of the educational system.

[Joe Getty]

Keep in your mind very Berkey and screed from the left leaning Taibi.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh yeah, yeah. Finally. The liberal left in this country used to be about searching for ways to moderate the excesses of capitalism, creating more opportunity for social mobility and promoting tolerance and generosity. Instead we're in the quote upper class twits promoting revolution space. A script with much which most of the rest of the world is sadly familiar. Is there no defense against the ignorant rich?

[Joe Getty]

God, that's really, really good.

[Jack Armstrong]

Blank and Taibbi for the win.

[Joe Getty]

It's in. It's interesting to me that he traveled the world and came away with that. That man. We should really be lucky for our stable society because it's really hard to get one going. Whereas most people I know who travel the world and it probably has a lot to do with like where you stay, what you look at, what you choose to do when you're in that country. They come away with. These other places are so much better. Why? Why do we have to be the way we are? I've been to all these different countries and they're fantastic because you stay in a nice hotel and eat a nice restaurant and go to their museum.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, right. And you overlook the fact that the United States has provided a military umbrella to free up their social systems for decades now in the mold of the post WW2 carnage which is long since gone. Yeah, I know that. That's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant stuff, Matt Taibbi. I think you might get paywalled. I'd love to post this for [e-mail] we'll do it if you want to subscribe to his substack. You can if you want, but that's brilliant.

[Joe Getty]

The Burkean reference, Edmund Burke, if you don't know that, considered the father of modern conservatism. It's basically the idea that if you have created a safe, stable society, don't take that for granted. It is really, really, really hard to do and you start messing with it and it could come apart quickly and take centuries or a thousand years to build up again. And that's basically Matt Taibbi is saying to the whatever that last line was about the comfortable rich, thinking that if.

[Jack Armstrong]

There'S no defense against the ignorant rich, we're in the upper class twits promoting revolution space.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, you want to have a revolution against a safe, stable, happy most successful society in world history, you idiot.

[Jack Armstrong]

The chances that what is created will be far worse are 99.8 out of 100.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, no kidding.

[Jack Armstrong]

Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty the Armstrong and Getty Show.

[Joe Getty]

Shh.

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[Zing Singh]

Hi, I'm Zing Singh.

[Simon Jack]

And I'm Simon Jack.

[Zing Singh]

And together we host Good Bad Billionaire.

[Simon Jack]

The podcast exploring how some of the world's richest people made their fortunes.

[Zing Singh]

And we are back with a brand new season of billionaires.

[Simon Jack]

Yes, movie megastar Arnold Schwarzenegger, America's richest.

[Zing Singh]

Self made businesswoman Diane Hendricks and co.

[Simon Jack]

Founder of Snapchat Evan Spiegel, to name just a few.

[Zing Singh]

And we're asking you to decide if they're good, bad or just another billionaire.

[Simon Jack]

Good bad billionaire from the BBC World Service.

[Zing Singh]

Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Jack Armstrong]

We've been searching for a better term to describe what's going on because as I'll be sharing with you in a moment, that is a mission. Well, it's a misnomer, literally. It's a misnaming of the problem. It's like, you know, somebody with the flu has a catastrophic gunshot wound and the doctors just keep calling him the flu patient and treating him for the flu. It's not the problem. But this is from. We'll just say be like if someone.

[Joe Getty]

Had a heart attack with COVID and you called it Covid.

[Jack Armstrong]

Nobody would do that. A COVID death. No, Instead of bums and junkies. I like the very accurate term transient drug addiction writes Al Anonymous. I think the most interesting take is this. It's really good, by the way.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that's kind of what I say with the kids. But street people, drug addicts.

[Jack Armstrong]

TDA is transient drug addicts. I think the most interesting take is this. We should all, we all agree we should help the homeless, I. E. Productive law abiding people who fell on hard times. But we spend so much money supporting the transient drug addicts that we don't have enough to help the actual homeless. Anyone who wants to help the homeless should agree that the best way to have more resources to support the homeless is to stop spending it on the transient drug addict. Obvs. Yeah, yeah, clearly. And then this note again from Al or Alien Anonymous. I'll share part of it with you. Although the whole thing's great. Says some very nice things about the show. You've got a way of breaking down complex issues with refreshing common sense. Like a breath of fresh air. Thank you very much. I work with the homeless in. I don't see any reason I shouldn't mention the town. This person wants to remain anonymous.

[Joe Getty]

Is there need to mention the town?

[Jack Armstrong]

Significant sized city in Cal Unicornia. There you go. And he or she lists, maybe he, I don't know, lists the various places. Just about every street with significant homeless encampments in quotes. I was listening to you this morning yesterday while you were dropping truth bombs about the homeless on the radio and I found myself yelling, yes, yes, finally someone gets it. Because you're absolutely right. We don't have a homeless problem. What we have is a drug problem. Works with these people every day.

[Joe Getty]

The biggest problem I have with that praise is it seemed obvious for quite some time that that's what's going on.

[Jack Armstrong]

But yeah, 85% of the folks I work with are battling drug addiction. 85%. Another 10% are mentally ill because of drug addiction.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

The remaining 5%, they're just mentally ill and need confinement in a place that can help them.

[Joe Getty]

What do we do with people who ruin their brains because of drugs? I guess you treat them like the mentally ill.

[Jack Armstrong]

But yeah, I guess. While many homeless advocates in quotes argue that most homeless individuals are simply struggling abused moms or families in need of assistance, my five, pardon me, rent's too high. Oh yeah, we need to have rent control. In my five years of experience working in the toughest parts of my city, I have encountered only one such family. One. Wow. The rest mostly middle aged men and women trapped in a cycle of addiction who will say or do anything to feed their habit. The solutions, again in quotes, we keep hearing about like tiny homes are just band aids on bullet wounds. The county's current plan is to build hundreds of tiny homes near particular locations. But unless there's a serious plan for dealing with addiction, you're just creating a drug camp.

[Joe Getty]

Of course.

[Jack Armstrong]

And by serious plan, I mean more than the tired old line, we hear that support services will be provided. Politicians love the optics of tiny homes because people see something that looks like action. Solve the problem. But when the rules are broken at the tiny home settlements, as they inevitably are, these folks end up right back on the street. The turnover rate is astounding. I don't know if anyone in power has noticed, but drug addicts don't Obey rules. Very well. Add to the fact that it takes 45 days. Yes, 45 days to have a person cleared for intake services. Unfortunately, that's typically 44 days after they've disappeared back into the fog. Why not force rehab? Jack, you're going to love this. Well, Rehab has a 94% failure rate the first time around. And politicians know voters won't stomach a program that's $940,000 of failure for every million dollars spent. Plus, 90% of addicts refuse services outright because it cuts into their high time. Wow. So you're looking at a very small percent who even agree to give it a try. And then 94% fail. At least for context. $35 can purchase an eight ball in Sacramento. A measure of drugs, kids providing a high for several days, provided they do not share. $5 keeps them high for a day. All you people handing out cash at stoplights stop. They use the cash to buy drugs. They throw the food away. Addicts aren't known for huge appetites. Fine, I'll skip to the final paragraph. Even though, again, this is all terrific. If we want real change, we need drug courts back. We need accountability, we need punishment. We need to stop pretending this problem is something it's not. We need to stop acting like a long term drug addict has the same mental capacity and rights that everyone else does. Most addicts will not seek help for their addiction until they've reached the lowest point. It's just too, too easy. And as he made the point cheap to stay high and there's very little incentive for them to change. Interestingly, we have a chance to save them if they reach their lowest point within the first two years of their addiction. After that, the situation becomes unpredictable. Thanks for keeping it real. Thank you.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know how long it's going to take for society to catch up with this, but so you look at those people and you think, well, who would live like that? You see somebody on a bridge and they're dirty and it's cold outside and they're under there and they're, they're, they're drug addicts. And you think, well, they can't want to do that. Well, they do. It's hard for us to imagine looking at them that they want to do that as opposed to not do that. But they do today. They want to and got to. So we got to all just, you know, take that in and understand that there are a lot of people that once they're addicted, want to continue doing that. Somehow we need to blow up this notion. Maybe that's the these intervention shows or whatever, but somehow we need to blow up this notion that if there is a rehab, you can put them in there and fix them. I don't know where that came from. That idea. It's never been true. It's not true now. It never will be true. I so we got to blow up that idea too.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Their batting average is catastrophically low. People don't understand that. You know the. You can't be cynical enough about this. What government does is it identifies problems, real and imagined, and then spreads money out to buy votes and influence. That's what it does. Armstrong and Getty.

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[Zing Singh]

Hi, I'm Zing Singh.

[Simon Jack]

And I'm Simon Jack and together we.

[Zing Singh]

Host Good Bad Billionaire.

[Simon Jack]

The podcast exploring how some of the world's richest people people made their fortunes.

[Zing Singh]

And we are back with a brand new season of billionaires.

[Simon Jack]

Yes, movie megastar Arnold Schwarzenegger, America's richest.

[Zing Singh]

Self made businesswoman Diane Hendricks and co.

[Simon Jack]

Founder of Snapchat Evan Spiegel, to name just a few.

[Zing Singh]

And we're asking you to decide if they're good, bad or just another billionaire.

[Simon Jack]

Good bad billionaire from the BBC World Service.

[Zing Singh]

Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Morton Buildings Advertiser]

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[Joe Getty]

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[Jack Armstrong]

Guaranteed Human.