Bring The Hot Back!

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand – "Bring The Hot Back!"

Date: November 7, 2025
Hosts: Jack Armstrong, Joe Getty, with Katie Green

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the looming holiday travel chaos caused by widespread flight cancellations linked to the government shutdown, the political gridlock fueling that crisis, and broader kitchen table issues like affordability and healthcare. The hosts balance their characteristic banter with frustration over partisan politics, public misinformation, and cultural trends, shifting in the second half of the episode to lighter fare—new dating lingo, AI relationship stories, and the lack of “hotness” in modern America.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Airline Shutdown & Holiday Travel Chaos

[03:16–06:06]

• Armstrong proposes several tongue-in-cheek titles for a “travel horror” movie about the massive holiday flight cancellations (“Airpocalypse”, “Plane Pain”, “Departure to Hell”).
• 250 flights cancelled that day, with a projected 4,500 per day if government shutdown persists.
• Unique insight: Flight disruptions will have long-lasting impacts, even if shutdown resolves quickly. Airlines will burn through reserve pilot hours—critical for holiday weather emergencies.
  • “Even if the shutdown ends on Tuesday, it will take weeks or beyond Thanksgiving to get caught back up in the building up the pilot hours…” – Jack Armstrong [05:36]
• Media underreporting: 500 tourism businesses, including the US Travel Association, urge Congress for a clean resolution, yet it barely registers in major news outlets.

2. The Government Shutdown Stalemate

[06:06–10:45]

• Hosts criticize both political parties for prioritizing their base over effective compromise:
  • “Both sides are desperately afraid…of being killed by their base if they are the ones that cave.” – Joe Getty [08:05]
• Obamacare subsidies (portrayed as corporate welfare) at the center of gridlock.
• The public’s confusion over the term "clean CR" (continuing resolution) versus tangible issues like healthcare costs.
  • “CR… some congressional thing I've never heard of.” – Jack Armstrong [09:17]
• Lack of pragmatists (“Gang of Eight” types) in Congress now, making statesmanship rare.

3. Weight Loss Drugs Revolution

[11:12–13:28]

• Trump’s deal purportedly dropping a popular weight loss drug from $1,350 to $250/month.
  • “That takes it from affordable to only a few to affordable to quite a few.” – Joe Getty [11:33]
  • Drugs expected to revolutionize American health—mass adoption predicted.
• Banter about “bringing sexy back” to America:
  • “Means there’s going to be a lot more hot looking people.” – Jack Armstrong [13:14]
  • “Make America thin again… Make America hot again.” – Joe Getty [13:19]
  • “We’re no Sweden, but we’re an attractive people… Bring the hot back.” – Jack Armstrong [13:23 & 13:28]

4. Affordability & Inflation

[22:00–23:53 | 30:57–35:39]

• Affordability may be the campaign “word of the year.”
• Hosts share sticker shock stories—routine purchases at CVS and a grocery trip cost $170 total.
  • “I feel like I’m living in some sort of South American banana republic…” – Jack Armstrong [22:31]
• New York Post article rebuts Trump’s claims of having “whipped inflation;” prices up 5–12% at major stores.
  • “Target’s prices are up 5.5% nationwide this year. Walmart’s are up 5.3%. Amazon’s are up 12%...” – Joe Getty [31:37]
• Discussion on how inflation and border control are the key voter issues; affordability slaps people “in the face every day”—drives elections.

5. Katie’s Headlines and News Rundown

[16:39–20:51]

• Assorted stories:
  • Trump administration ordered to deliver full SNAP benefits to states [16:51].
  • Death toll from UPS plane crash rises [17:17].
  • Ford may terminate the electric F-150 due to poor sales, making it the “first major EV casualty.”
    • “People don’t like electric cars, you can say whatever you want… Most people, by far, don’t want an electric car.” – Joe Getty [17:54]
  • Trans controversy at Gold’s Gym; criminal background revealed [18:19].
  • Dating terms: shreking, throning, banksying—teased for segment two.

6. Clips & Cultural Reflections

[23:53–26:38]

• "Clips of the Week" montage—a rapid-fire review of odd stories: bear attacks in Japan, Ferris wheel rescue, debates on trans issues, “romantic kissing bots.”
• Reflection on cultural decline and political performativeness:
  • “Everything is performative and jokey and trolling… You just don’t sit down and have...a really serious conversation.” – Joe Getty [27:14]
• Elitist/anti-ignoramus voting rant:
  • “Your bottom 25% should not vote… I know that sounds elitist, but why?” – Jack Armstrong [28:24]

7. New Romance: People Dating AI Bots

[29:36, 37:01]

• Preview of hour two’s deep-dive: New York Times story about people in committed relationships with AI chatbots.
  • “It’s 100% serious. Wow.” – Joe Getty [30:05]
  • “That’s not going to help me have any faith in humanity in the future.” – Jack Armstrong [30:12]

8. Mailbag and Listener Letters

[39:45–41:44]

• Celebrating LGBTQ students—are schools promoting rather than accepting? [40:06]
• Party control, Pelosi’s iron grip, and recommendations for Republicans to target AOC [41:41].

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On news and bias:
  “This ought to be leading every newscast in America. But it's not, because of their overt bias…” – Jack Armstrong [06:06]

• On Congress:
  “There’s no Gang of Five or Gang of Eight… The people that are friends across the aisle and can be the grownups—it just doesn’t exist anymore.” – Jack Armstrong [10:16]

• On the weight loss revolution:
  “Make America thin again was what Dr. Oz said yesterday… If just as a whole we lose a bunch of weight, just hundreds of diseases would be affected.” – Joe Getty [11:53]

• On performative culture:
  “Everything is performative and jokey and trolling.” – Joe Getty [27:14]

• On elitism and voting:
  “It’s not elitist, it’s anti-ignoramus.” – Jack Armstrong [28:59]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:16] – Movie title gags & intro to flight cancellations
• [05:36] – Explanation of pilot hours and hidden crisis
• [06:06] – Skewering political media bias and shutdown politics
• [11:32] – Trump’s weight loss drug plan
• [13:14] – “Make America hot again”
• [16:39] – Katie Green’s news headlines segment
• [22:00] – Affordability sticker shock stories
• [23:53] – “Clips of the Week” & performative politics critique
• [29:36] – Tease: AI romance story
• [31:37] – NY Post article: affordability numbers
• [37:01] – Deeper look at AI romantic relationships (teased for next hour)
• [39:45] – Mailbag and listener letters

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Tone & Style

Armstrong & Getty blend biting satire, cultural exasperation, and offbeat humor with frank social commentary. They stray frequently into digressions but always return to core issues driving American politics and daily life. Banter is rapid, mocking, but rarely mean-spirited.

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Useful For

Anyone looking to catch up on the episode’s central themes (government shutdown, travel headaches, inflation, new political divides, cultural decline, and oddities like AI dating) without slogging through the full audio—and to get a taste of Armstrong & Getty’s distinctive style.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty. And now, here's Armstrong and Gary live.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's Friday in a dimly lit room.

[Joe Getty]

Deep within the bowels of the Armstrong and Yeti Communications compound. Hey, y' all headed into the weekend? We're under the tutelage of our general manager.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, our general manager is going to be the title of the new movie I'm writing, and I haven't settled on a title yet. Michael, I would like your opinion on this, please. In particular, it has to do with the canceling of all those flights that could, well, screw up everybody's holidays. The title's either going to be the Air Pocalypse, Plane Pain, or my personal favorite or what the heck was it gonna be? Wait a minute. Oh, Departure to Hell. I like Plane Pain.

[Joe Getty]

Is Departure to Hell gonna be like a horror movie?

[Jack Armstrong]

No, it's just a travel horror.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which is, you know, pretty horrible horror when you're in the middle of it.

[Joe Getty]

So Air Popocalypse or whatever, I could see a star being attached to that. I feel like Plane Pain is going to have Jussie Smollett in the lead. Mmm.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Straight to video made for TV movie Airpocalypse. Now, I'd probably get sued, which would be good publicity.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Then we change it to Departure from Hell or To Hell. Not from Hell to Hell. Departure from Hell would be a good thing.

[Joe Getty]

So if you haven't paid attention, we all woke up to the. You know, this is an ongoing story and they're making this up as they go along, but. So they announced the 10 at 40 airports yesterday and they've decided to roll out, what, 4% today. So so far it's 250 flights or something like that, and by Tuesday it'll be 8%, and then it'll ramp up if the shutdown continues to hit 10% by a week from today, I believe, which would be your 4,500 flights canceled per day. Here's a wrinkle I hadn't heard, and I don't quite understand, but they had somebody representing pilots. For some reason, doing this is going to cause us to chew through all those extra hours of availability. Pilots build up through the year so that come holiday season, they have pilots they can draw on if the weather turns really bad. Because otherwise you end up in those situations where, you know, they're. They're mandated to only be able to fly so many hours per day or week or whatever it is. And you end up with you got pilots hanging around but they've reached their limit, they can't fly. And that's why nobody can go on a, you know, bad weather Thanksgiving long weekend or whatever. And they build up hours of availability headed into the bad weather holiday season to have pilots. And for some reason, and I don't quite get it, they're going to be chewing through those starting today. I don't get why that is, but I don't know that's what they claimed is going to happen. But if that's his point was this will even if the shutdown ends on Tuesday, it will take weeks or beyond Thanksgiving to get caught back up in the building up the pilot hours that you need to have in case the weather turns bad.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, Right. Speaking as a guy who takes in an enormous amount of news too much, it's made me a bitter and miserable man. I have seen this story nowhere except for the absolutely fabulous California Globe. California globe.com this ought to be leading every newscast in America. But it's not. Because of their overt bias, 500 tourism businesses warned of the Thanksgiving chaos and urged Congress to pass a clean resolution, including the U.S. travel association super heavyweights. Five hundred of them have said pass a clean resolution and stop this. Funny, they didn't lead with that on any of the newscasts because that is aimed directly at the Democrats because the Republicans have voted, what is it, 17, 18, 37 times now to have a clean resolution and get on with it. But the Democrats insist, no, we've got to extend the super giant Covid Obamacare subsidies or we won't let the government open. Nobody's reporting honestly on this. It's outrageous.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, and part of that might be because they know that whole pilot thing, for instance, that even if the shutdown ends two weeks before Thanksgiving, like a week from now, they're going to be ripple effects on flights for clear through Thanksgiving. And man, the, the, the tentacles of that with hotels and restaurants and just everything else. Not to mention the misery of not getting to go where you wanted to go for Thanksgiving or have the people show up at your house. But yeah, God, the costs on that. That's probably all those businesses are saying, hey, let's end this nonsense. Then one of the problems with continue.

[Jack Armstrong]

To shovel enormous mountains of money into Obamacare which goes to what, the poor and downtrodden? No, it goes to insurance companies. Craig the health care guru has been telling us from the beginning we're going to get crazy ass rich from this fixed system.

[Joe Getty]

I was just reading Mark Halperin's analysis of the shutdown at this point being that both sides feel like they're going to. Both sides are desperately afraid of being just getting killed by their base if they are the ones that cave, give in. Both sides horrified by that look like if the Republicans would decide, okay, we'll extend the Obamacare benefits or if the Democrats come in and say, okay, we'll sign the clean resolution, both sides are horrified about how their side will perceive their weakness over that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Painted themselves into a corner.

[Joe Getty]

Painted themselves into a corner. And what was the other thing? I had another thing on that, on why he thinks this isn't going to end soon. There's no goodwill between either side. But that's like not breaking news for anyone, that there's very little incentive for them right now. But I heard a Washington Post columnist saying, I thought this was pretty good and I can't stand him and he's a lefty writer, but he might be right. He said the Democrats get to go out there saying this is going to raise your health care costs. And Republicans are out there saying we need a clean CR and people are like, what the hell is a CR?

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh yeah, 100% correct.

[Joe Getty]

And just in terms of the argument, one is my health care is going to go up. The other one is some congressional thing I've never heard of.

[Jack Armstrong]

Allegedly the two sides are getting together for some sort of face saving solution resolution today. Who knows? We'll see if that happens. We'll tell you.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, well, that was.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sorry.

[Joe Getty]

I was adjusting the thermostat. That's what's where I go whenever I walk off microphone. If you're ever wondering, I go over to the thermostat in the morning.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's cold as the dark surface of the moon. The dark side of the moon. I thought it was just old age. You just were wandering on. Yeah, it just wandered off. It says we got to put him on a leash.

[Joe Getty]

I forget I'm at work and I just. Water off.

[Katie Green]

Yes, Katie, yesterday morning you were like, why am I over here?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, the president needs repeal. I don't understand.

[Joe Getty]

What was the thing? Oh, the other analysis was there are no like, there's no Gang of Five or Gang of Eight or whatever that used to exist all the time that would make the news. According to Mark Halpern's right. There's no Joe Lieberman's and John McCain's. The people that are friends across the aisle and they can be the grownups and get together and come up with it just doesn't exist anymore.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

And a lot of you are screaming, thank God. Although I don't know what the proof is that that's good at this point.

[Jack Armstrong]

I heard the other day that the problem solvers caucus in the House had come up with some sort of plan that they were trying to promote. And I thought, wow, okay, all right, this is an interesting development. And then the guy just mentioned like three people, maybe four. I don't know what you know about the House of Representatives, but there's hundreds of them running around. So I don't know if there's more to that caucus or not, but I'm like, what, three or four people? Yeah. This is no way to run a republic.

[Joe Getty]

Here is the most interesting thing I've heard today. Trump claims that this new deal he's got with the weight loss drugs is going to take one of your most popular ones. I don't remember which one. It doesn't make any difference. It's going to go from 13 $50 a month to $250 a month.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my.

[Joe Getty]

That's a major change. That takes it from affordable to only a few to affordable to quite a few. Especially if that's a high priority to you rearrange your life to where you, you know, can carve out that 250amonth.

[Jack Armstrong]

I would be tempted to consult my physician, but I am tempted.

[Joe Getty]

Absolutely. And I was listening to a doctor go on and on about this. That's your opening dose of I've got to lose the weight. First of all, they're talking about the hundred some diseases that are mostly affected by obesity that could taper way back if, if the population, you know, make America thin again was what Dr. Oz said yesterday. If just as a whole, we lose a bunch of weight, just hundreds of diseases that would be affected. But the doctor I was listening to today said that's the opening cost and the opening dose. The belief is that once you lose the amount of weight you want to lose, you could taper down to a maintaining dose that would be lower and cheaper and just stay on that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, right.

[Joe Getty]

So this, this again, I've been saying this for a long time. I really think it now. I think pretty soon practically everybody, you know, is going to be on one of these.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it would not surprise me at.

[Joe Getty]

All, which could be awesome. I mean, we could see the pictures throughout history, you know, where you see a high school class from 1980 and you think, look how thin everybody is. And now you see it and everybody's fat. We might see, look at the class of 2035, everybody's thin again. Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

And it's entirely possible they'll be able to tweak these drugs a little bit as the, you know, the, the trial, the experience with them grows so that some of the side effects are less and they're even more effective. Who knows?

[Joe Getty]

Yes, Michael.

[Jack Armstrong]

Means there's going to be a lot more hot looking people.

[Joe Getty]

Okay. I suppose.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Make America Finnegan. Make America hot again.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's right. That's always been one of our greatest strengths. I mean, we're no Sweden, but we're an attractive people.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Tall.

[Jack Armstrong]

And we got to recapture that. Bring the hot back.

[Joe Getty]

Exactly.

[Jack Armstrong]

Bring sexy back. Where's Timberlake when you need crash into a tree?

[Joe Getty]

Let's start the show. Officially, I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty on this. It is Friday, November 7th, the year 2025. We're Armstrong and yeti and we approve of this program.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, let's begin. Officially, according to FCC rules and regulations, here comes the show at mark.

[Joe Getty]

Air traffic controllers just got that $0 pay stubborn their second of this government shutdown. And transportation secretary Sean Duffy says that has built stress into the national airspace system to a point where it's no longer safe to operate. Airline schedules at full capacity.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, unfortunately. Maybe time to try your new favorite airline, the bus. You know their slogan, the bathroom door is stuck open.

[Joe Getty]

Have you ever traveled by bus?

[Jack Armstrong]

Very infrequently, but yes, I did one.

[Joe Getty]

Time, a long bus trip and man.

[Jack Armstrong]

Like Greyhound, that sort of thing.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, by the end, by the end of it, it was. The bathroom was pretty grody.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Yeah. I've mostly been on like buses for group treks. But even then, if everybody like knows each other and has an interest in, you know, let's keep everything reasonably clean. Oh, it's just. I don't know what it is. But yeah, bus bathrooms are nasty.

[Joe Getty]

I know. You do the thing where you and the other people in your community get on the bus and you go to the gambling, the casino and you know, go in there and you gamble a while and then you come back.

[Jack Armstrong]

Exactly. Sit there, cigarettes dangling out of the corners of our mouths, staring blankly ahead of the machines. Big times.

[Joe Getty]

Wow, that sounds fun. Okay, so we've got Katie's headlines on the way. We got clips of the week and more news for you. And we'll keep our eye on the airports all on the way on the Armstrong and Getty show.

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[Joe Getty]

I just sent you a Katie Head headline. Katie or Katie Headline.

[Katie Green]

Not last minute at all.

[Joe Getty]

No, not unless. Minute. One second before you go on the air. How's that for planning? Okay, I got you. Yeah, that's a good one.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's awful sloppy. It's unprofessional. I don't like it. All right, give me a second to get that together. Hey, let's figure out who's reporting what. It's lead story with Katie Green.

[Katie Green]

Katie, also, I just want to point out that we have gone an entire.

[Joe Getty]

Week without a joke. Oh God, yes. I got my stack of jokes at home. I got Bring them in.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow, just when we needed it most in these dark days too, right?

[Joe Getty]

A nation yearns for a joke.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Katie Green]

From NBC. Judge orders Trump administration to deliver full snap benefits to the states by today.

[Joe Getty]

Which I believe Trump is happy about that the judge has ruled that kind of gives him cover. And his, he, he, he is saying the same thing that Democratic pundits are saying after Tuesday.

[Jack Armstrong]

Affordability. Affordability.

[Katie Green]

From the Guardian. Death toll from UPS. Plane crash at airport rises to 13.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, man, that. I saw more videos from different angles.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is quite the fireball. Holy cow.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Tens of thousands of gallons of jet fuel on board for Bluey and they crashed into a. The petroleum recycling center had giant tanks of fuel.

[Katie Green]

From the Wall Street Journal, Ford considers terminating the electric version of its Ford F150 pickup. A move that would make the money losing truck America's first major EV casualty.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, and the number one selling vehicle in America for the last 35 years is the F150. They tried to make an electric one. People don't like Electric cars, you can say whatever you want about them. Joe Biden can have all the meetings on the White House lawn with electric cars out there and drive around them and talk about it all. But most people, like, by far most people don't want an electric car.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and Ford was strong armed into doing that in the first sure.

[Joe Getty]

They didn't want because they know they're in the business of knowing what people want. These big American car companies, they knew people didn't want any electric cars. They were forced into it by the government. And as soon as the rolled out, rolled back the mandates, they're like, cool, cool, gonna get rid of this. This is a money loser. It's so maddening to me that the freaking democratic organization of the whole thing, the Senate and Biden and everybody else tried to force America, one of our biggest interest industries, into doing something nobody wanted. Right.

[Katie Green]

From the New York Post. Trans person accused of exposing himself at Gold's Gym was convicted of brutally beating his ex wife before taking her name.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

So it turns out he's a nut job in it in other ways.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right? It's like that inmate we talked about the other day who a judge declared has to get a taxpayer sponsored sex change.

[Joe Getty]

The pedophile.

[Jack Armstrong]

This guy is a child molesting, child porn manufacturing sick piece of crap. And the newest twist on his twistedness is I want to be a girl now. No, we're not paying for that. What if.

[Joe Getty]

What have we become?

[Jack Armstrong]

We're insane. That a judge would say, yeah, you have to pay for that because that's a medical condition. It's a psychological condition. Put him in a padded room. That's what we need to do.

[Katie Green]

From USA Today, dating trends reached new lows this year. What are throning, shreking and banksying.

[Joe Getty]

Shreking we talked about. I don't know what throning is or banksying.

[Katie Green]

There's a nice list and explanation of hot links.

[Joe Getty]

Perfect. On a Friday. We'll get into those later and figure out what those trends are. Shreking is an interesting one and I have talked to people that that's a real thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, you got to bring that to us. Katie, we want you to quarterback that.

[Joe Getty]

That's a good one, that segment. Yeah.

[Katie Green]

TMZ. Oh, 30. Never mind. From the Babylon B. Mom, Donnie moves mayor's office under children's Hospital.

[Joe Getty]

That's pretty clever.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, Seth Dillon for the win.

[Joe Getty]

That's pretty clever. Nice. What's your TMZ headline? Quick, what was it?

[Katie Green]

Diddy bragging about Trump going to pardon him.

[Joe Getty]

Oh yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

I guess he's bragging in jail saying oh yeah, I'm going to get a part.

[Joe Getty]

Oh my go.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh please.

[Joe Getty]

Surely Trump won't pardon Diddy?

[Katie Green]

I hope not.

[Joe Getty]

I hope not either. Maybe on the way out the door when he.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know. Oh no, not at all.

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[Joe Getty]

I hate to keep using the A word, but it might be the word of the next year. Affordability. Last night my kids were with me. We had to go to CVS to get two things. It was $40. My son said it was $40 to buy those two things. I said, yeah. Then we went over to the grocery store to buy our stuff for tacos. A couple other things. It was 130 bucks.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

My son said it was 130 bucks for all that. I said, yeah, we just spent $170.

[Jack Armstrong]

I feel like I'm living in some sort of South American banana republic. I know local currency you gotta carry around in wheelbarrows.

[Joe Getty]

And to that point the New York Post with an article out today, which I'll get to in just a moment about hey Donald Trump, stop saying that you've whipped inflation and goes through some of the numbers. We'll get to those in just a minute. It's troubling.

[Jack Armstrong]

Matthew Continenti in the Free Press. An absolutely brilliant piece about how Republicans had better refocus on kitchen table issues because a lot of the affordability stuff the Democrats like Maumoni money you're selling are fantasies. I mean they cannot happen economically. In fact it'll achieve the opposite. But serious policy that tends to lower prices or at least not them let them go up as fast. They need to focus on that or they will be screwed because the the elections yesterday and we'll get to Cal in just a second. But the election results that came out this week, it's easy to dismiss them as few blue states. But if you look at a bunch of different districts in a bunch of different states, um, one thing that was unmistakable is the gains among Hispanics vanished in a bunch of different places. The idea that Trump has moved the Hispanics over to the Republican Party, not so fast. So anyway, more on that to come right now. It's Friday tradition. Let's take a fond look back at the week that was its cow clips of the week.

[Commercial Announcer]

Hakami mayor killer Japanese theirs cancel flood.

[Jack Armstrong]

But the Dodgers just right Eclipse of the week. The greatest and Most dramatic game 7.

[Joe Getty]

In World Series history.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's back there.

[Joe Getty]

And that one is pad by pages. I'm ready to get another ring next to you.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let's go.

[Joe Getty]

Japan is grappling with a grisly problem. Deadly bear attacks in Paris.

[Jack Armstrong]

Prosecutors now say amateurs, not professionals, carried.

[Joe Getty]

Out the heist at the Louvre. The FAA is imposing a 10% cut to flights at 40 major airports across the country.

[Commercial Announcer]

Panic at a Louisiana fair. Rescuers scaling a Ferris wheel to reach a woman clinging to an overtipped carriage.

[Joe Getty]

I'm a woman and I have every right to not want a man in the restroom when I'm naked.

[Commercial Announcer]

Mostly the undertones come across as transphobic and racist.

[Joe Getty]

Racist as well.

[Commercial Announcer]

A lot of players in the league have messaged me and reached out saying they do agree, but they're fearful to speak up.

[Joe Getty]

God woke me up at 6:45 Saturday morning. He goes, Ron, get your boots on. Let's go walking.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's actually funny. It was December 18th. I remember because that's an important date to me and it's Joseph Stalin's birthday. I'm a fan. Character AI, a bot generating app that connects users with fictional bot friends ended.

[Commercial Announcer]

Up with the bots initiating romantic kissing.

[Joe Getty]

We also have to work though, sort of the dark side, if you will.

[Commercial Announcer]

When the day starts with Dick Cheney being dead, it ends with Mamdani winning.

[American Giant Advertiser]

Yes.

[Joe Getty]

So hear me, President Trump, when I say this. To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of.

[Jack Armstrong]

Us every 20 years or so.

[Joe Getty]

We, we need a conspicuous, confined experiment with socialism so we can crack it up again.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm a Democratic socialist who's also a Democrat. Nothing I dislike more than the politician that sits There and lies to you.

[Commercial Announcer]

It's a vile creature, the worst thing on the face of the earth.

[Joe Getty]

We're Japanese Trousers, and this is our debut single, Lampshades in the sky clips of week. There's several things in there I'd like to comment on, but probably already have. Mostly I'm just.

[Jack Armstrong]

And I'm often awestruck by this. That was all this week?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Stunning, isn't it? No wonder we're all anxious. I was listening to the National Review podcast yesterday, and they were all doing a little retrospective on Dick Cheney dying. Vice President Dick Cheney and somebody bringing up just the idea. He was serious. He was a serious man. He took all this seriously and had serious conversations. And we just don't do that anymore. Everything is performative and jokey and trolling and you just don't sit down and have no. This is a really serious conversation.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. This sounds elitist because it is. Whether you're running a corporation or running for class president or running for political office or discussing politics on a much bigger setting like the US of A. If you restrict the discussions to the most serious learned people, it's going to be a very, very different discussion, obviously, than if you go way down to the lowest common denominator, because you have to craft the discussion to move the most of those people. And the whole rock the vote thing, you know, trying to get more and more. More and more turnout sounds lovely in principle, but we need, you know, it'd be interesting, and I don't know how to do this in kind of a neutral way that didn't offend everybody, but there ought to be a study, a thorough study of how knowledgeable and what's the words. I keep using the word serious. We both do. Knowledgeable and intent on getting to the truth. People are in this country and your bottom 25% should not vote. They should not participate in guiding the ship estate. And I know that sounds elitist, but why? You know what?

[Joe Getty]

It's not.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's anti.

[Joe Getty]

What's about that bunch of people deciding.

[Jack Armstrong]

Who shouldn't participate but had to live under our rules. See what he did there? Fol folks? Yeah. Nice. Why don't you go right for the New York Times? It's not elitist, it's anti ignoramus.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, I agree. It's just hard to present it in a way that isn't obviously sounding elitist. No, those of us who are smarter will make decisions for you that you will live under. I don't want to sound elitist, but.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and the interesting Part is, of course, you know, and several of you are probably shouting right now at your listening device. Hey, dude, it was like the educated elite that elected Mumdani. So, you know, it's the over educated white women of America who keep voting for these economic policies that can't possibly work. So it's Friday and limp wristed males as well.

[Joe Getty]

We got a couple of fun things we got to get to since it's Friday. Katie's going to an hour too. We've got to get to the dating trends of shreking, throning, and whatever that other was. One was that I've never heard of Banksying. Banksying, which is the artist, Banksy. Anyway, I've got something that's entertaining. I don't know if it's funny. It's frightening as hell. The New York Times did a profile on, I think, three different people. I read it last night. I couldn't stop reading it. Three different people that are in relationships with chatbots. Romantic relationships.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, boy.

[Joe Getty]

And I mean, it's 100% serious. Wow. And so, yeah, I want to pass that along to you, but I want to get to you.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's not going to help me have any faith in humanity in the future.

[Joe Getty]

Right after this, I want to tell you the numbers the New York Post wanted Donald Trump to see so he doesn't go around claiming he's whipped inflation hit with that in just a second.

[Jack Armstrong]

And there's even greater significance, I think, to the fact that the New York Post is out and proud with that article. Yeah. Yeah. After a quick word from our friends at Simplisafe Home Security. Hey, this is great news. Our friends at Simplisafe giving you good people access early to their Black Friday sale. We love Simplisafe because it can stop a crime before it starts. These AI cameras identify a threat. They alert the live agents at Simplisafe. They immediately let the creep know they're on camera. And if they don't leave, the cops will be dispatched before your windows get smashed.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I like Simplisafe. I love the fact that I've got that sign out front letting people know that I got the cameras, I got the sensors, I got all this tech. Simplisafe is simple to set up. You can set it up yourself or they can get people to help you if you want. It's easy to order. And how about this? The fact that there's no contract you signed, so you're not like locked in for a year or two, like a lot of security systems, you're not locked in at all with SimpliSafe.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yep, absolutely fantastic. And again you will get simply you will get 60% off. Just go to simplisafe.com armstrong today 60% off. Any new system, best deal of the year won't see a better price. 60% off simplisafe.com Armstrong there's no safe like SimpliSafe.

[Joe Getty]

Yes, I pick you picked up on this. Maybe it was a little too subtle for me to mention it was the New York Post. The fact that the New York Post, which tends to love many things that Donald Trump does out today with a hey slow down Donald Trump with saying you whipped inflation. Here are the numbers with a social media post that said stop lying about there being affordability crisis. President Trump claims he's whipped inflation. Consumers are feeling the squeeze, writes the New York Post. Target's prices are up 5.5% nationwide this year. That's a noticeable amount. Walmarts are up 5.3% according to recent analysis. Amazon's prices have averaged more than 12% according to a report. So after seven months under Trump's tariffs or or other economic factors that had been going on for quite a while. In addition to that, Americans are paying more for nearly everything from a cup of coffee to a living room sofa to children's toys to whatever you buy. 5.5% increase at Target and 5.3 at Walmart and 12% at Amazon is a very noticeable amount. And and to your point about the whole the Hispanic voter, we probably misread the election, which is what happens like every election is almost completely misread. In retrospect, with, you know, hindsight, you figured out it was just plain affordable. People couldn't stand how expensive they were so they booted out the current leader so that the new guy, I mean it wasn't deeper politics than that philosophy or all these different sorts of things. Things are too expensive. Just like I was talking about last night. I made two stops at the store and both of them were like what that cost. What both times. And people across America are saying that and they booted out the last person and they might boot up this group of people if things are still expensive.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think it's only slightly more subtle than that in that it was the border and, and, and prices. A border and kitchen table affordability.

[Joe Getty]

Well, the border's fixed.

[Jack Armstrong]

So now we although, although there are real signs that the hyper aggressive deportation roundup thing has gone too far for a lot of even Trump supporters. You know, whether that's legit or not or should be. We can argue about another time. And so it's a. Yeah, we'll give it a A minus. On the immigration stuff, definitely an A, but an A minus. And on the affordability stuff, not good at all. And if you were to ask the average American working family, all right, if you could only choose one of those things, oh, yeah, they would probably think, geez, I really, really want to see the border closed, because this is absurd, it's obscene, but I gotta feed my kids. I guess I'll take, you know, a good economy and quashing inflation.

[Joe Getty]

Well, one of them is real but theoretical and, you know, in an argument to be had in a newspaper or whatever. But you get slapped in the face every single day with your cup of coffee and your gas and your grocery store stop. I mean, it's just insane. And I don't know if anything can be done about. Of course, tariffs didn't. Didn't help, but.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, well, no. And it was just way too much that had to be really carefully done because you're coming out of an era of terrible inflation, which was brutal to human beings. And keeping in mind now it's about 3%. That's 3% on top of all the inflation of the last several years. It compounds. It's not 3% of the original total, it's 3% of the brand new bloated. It's like compound interest in reverse. And so if he was gonna do the tariff thing and really get tough on trade deals and onshore manufacturing, but we'll have to weather a long period of significantly higher prices, that would have been a red flag right there. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Higher prices is the one thing we can't have. We've gotta be really, really careful about this. And instead of really, really careful, Trump went with extremely broad and aggressive. I think it was a misstep.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, well, I think there's a hell of a lot of people across the country that vote that would say, I don't even know what a tariff is, but my grocery bill's too high and that's all they care.

[Jack Armstrong]

Fair enough.

[Joe Getty]

And we got Mailbag on the way. We got into that dating stuff that's going to be so danged interesting in hour two, including people in relationships with AI bots. All on the way.

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[Joe Getty]

So many things going on in the world at the same time. They I won't. I won't do I was about to do a bad economics thing that came out today, but this New York Times story about these three different people that are in serious relationships with their AI chatbots. It's mind blowing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh boy. All right, all right, I'll stay tuned for that. I'm intrigued. I was looking at Today in history just for chuckles. Today was the day the first woman was elected to Congress in 1916. Isn't that wonderful?

[Joe Getty]

Going down.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh what now? Come on now. Here's your freedom loving quote of the day. We're taking a break in against my better judgment, I kid with our yes with our series from John Stuart Mill who I revere his book on Liberty just because this is so timely. Sent along by Jeff honorary producer Jeff, who's just a great contributor. Your quote is from zoran mumdani in 2025 there is no problem too large for government to solve and no concern too small for it to care about. And then he also quotes Benito Mussolini from 1925 all within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state. I remember as a college boy it struck me that the horseshoe principle, horseshoe theory. They're teaching us about communism fascism. And I'm like if effectively these are the same system, right, they just use slightly different rationales for getting to their complete control of society and denial of individual liberty. Anyway, thank you Jeff. Well crafted. Mailbag. Drop us a note. Mailbag and armstrong getty.com Kendra from NorCal writes, Guys, I looked at your superstore. Your website did basic Internet search. Where do I see the logo for the F y' all looking party? What's right there? Armstrongandgetty.com at the store. Maybe it hadn't Been updated, but it's right there. I. I can't wait to get my F y' all looking party T shirt. I'll wear it around Krospp. Keep roasting our stupid political parties. Will do. Can't help ourselves. Let's see this from Paolo on the redistricting conundrum. And I'm gonna summarize this, but he talks about if 60% Democrats, 40% Republicans, there's an expectation that we want 60% of the congressional representatives to be Democrats and 40% Republicans, roughly. But if Republicans, Democrat voters were completely evenly distributed geographically, no matter how the map partitions voters geographically, every district would contain 60, 40, and that would result in 100% congressional representatives being Democrats, which is a bit of a conundrum. It's a flawed system. No gerrymandering.

[Joe Getty]

Requiring.

[Jack Armstrong]

Required. I came across a solution to that problem. It would take a Constitution amendment, but I think it's really, really good.

[Supplement Advertiser]

That's.

[Jack Armstrong]

And I want to hit that next hour.

[Joe Getty]

That's true. And that would be a problem. But if you look at maps at any state in California, same way you've seen the county maps, there's tons of red counties that are majority Republican. It's not, you know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, Indeed. Yep. Got this from Jason. Listening to your conversation about the dramatic increase in young children identifying as trans and then the huge drop off. More on that to come. Thought you'd appreciate this. Elementary school near this was on their electronic billboard, we celebrate our LGBTQ students. So they aren't accepting of those folks or supportive. No, they celebrate them. Wonder if they celebrate the straight kids. Seems like the schools are pushing kids toward being trans rather than simply accepting every child as they are. That's true. Actually, That's. That's a part of neo Marxism. If you can get people on the other side of the powers that be, whether sexual reasons, racial reasons, you're colonized, you're oppressed, whatever. That's all you want is to get them to reject the current system. That's how you overthrow the system.

[Joe Getty]

We just got queer means.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm not answering to the man. That's all it means.

[Joe Getty]

We just got this text that this day in history was that Nancy Pelosi.

[Jack Armstrong]

The first woman in Congress in 1916. That's correct. Speaking of which, speaking of whom. JK. JK. Right. No matter how many accolades people try to lay on Pelosi, I say ding dong, the witch is dead. Her biggest accomplishment, and it's a negative one, is she took away the ability to think and act independently by any Democratic House members. It was get in line with her be excommunicated. That's still the case today. One solid stupid block of House Dems. She was praised in politics for her ability to discipline her caucus.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, never bring a bill to the floor unless you know it's going to pass.

[Jack Armstrong]

And finally, Christo and Reno writes, hey guys, it's very clear the Republicans have been missing the mark of who to blame for the shutdown. AOC is to blame for this. They need to call her out and make her promise not to primary Chuck Schumer. If she did that, maybe Chuck would feel better and instruct his colleagues to sign the clean cr. Call her out.

[Joe Getty]

Are any of you people throning this weekend in the dating world, whatever the hell that is? We'll learn about that now. Or two. If you don't get it, get the.

[Commercial Announcer]

Podcast Armstrong and Gettysburg.

[American Giant Advertiser]

This is the.

[Granger Advertiser]

Story of the 1. As head of maintenance at a concert hall, he knows the show must always go on. That's why he works behind the scenes, ensuring every light is working, the H Vac is humming, and his facility shines with Grainger's supplies and solutions for every challenge he faces. Plus 24. 7 customer support. His venue never misses a beat. Call quickgranger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.