Caning & Dueling

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: "Caning & Dueling"

Date: March 19, 2026
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on recent political fireworks in the U.S. Senate—specifically, the contentious nomination hearing of Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to become Secretary of Homeland Security. The hosts dig deeply into the erupting feud between Mullin and Senator Rand Paul, springing from comments Mullin made about justifying violence in politics (including referencing historical incidents like the caning of Charles Sumner and the broader idea of dueling). Armstrong & Getty also discuss the wider implications for political discourse, the normalization of inflammatory rhetoric, and how these patterns reflect changes in both media and American society.
Later segments pivot to the breaking news regarding Cesar Chavez’s legacy, in light of recent allegations, and a brief look at international affairs with Trump meeting the Japanese Prime Minister.

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1. Senate Hostilities: Mullin vs. Paul and the Specter of Political Violence

Key Segments:

Background & Opening Shots

• [00:59–03:19] The show recaps Mullin’s recent Senate confirmation hearing, where hostilities between Mullin and Paul reached a boiling point over remarks Mullin previously made about the violent assault Rand Paul suffered at the hands of a neighbor.
• Joe Getty notes:

  “We met Senator Mullen in Milwaukee and really liked him. But what he should have done yesterday and what he should do is say, you know, I was just... It was a crowd-pleasing sort of thing to say. I can understand why your neighbor attacked you. I didn’t mean it. I don’t. Violence is wrong. We live in an era where we say hyperbolic things. That’s what I did. I shouldn’t have.” (03:21)

The Rhetoric of Violence

• [02:19–03:19] During the hearing, Paul confronts Mullin about his past comments justifying violence through references to “caning and dueling.”
• Notable exchange:

  Interviewer: “Is it today your opinion that the caning of Charles Sumner was not only justified but argues still for resolving our political differences with violence?”
  Sen. Mullin: “What I was simply pointing out is some of the rules that still apply to this body. For instance, dueling with two consenting adults is still there..."
  Interviewer: "Do you realize that the man that beat Charles Sumner with a cane... kept beating him until he crushed his skull? That’s what you’re insinuating is the precedent of the Senate, and that’s what you live by. That is a very, very, very dangerous sentiment.” (02:38–03:19)

No Apology, No Regret

• [06:37–07:27] Paul presses Mullin for an apology. Mullin refuses, distinguishing “understanding” an attack from “supporting” it.

  Mullin: “I did not say I supported it. I said I understood it. There’s a difference.” (07:10)
  Interviewer: “What do you think most people would interpret 'completely understand' to be — support for or a condemnation of the violence?” (07:15)

The Current Political Era

• Armstrong reflects:

  “We need to just fully move into the period of American history where you say, I was pandering to the base, and everybody goes, oh, okay, sure. I mean, because everybody does it. Everybody knows they're doing it. ... In the world of podcasting, where you got a particularly pugnacious host or whatever, and the red meat is flying around like it’s feeding time at the lion enclosure.” (03:47)

• On refusing to apologize as the new political norm:

  Joe Getty: “Trump doesn’t like people who apologize for anything. He is a you-stick-to-your-guns-no-matter-what guy. And he chose Mullen to be his nominee. ... You don’t ever back down and say, I shouldn’t have said that.” (04:33)

• Armstrong: “In the quiet of a Senate hearing, [podcast-style rhetoric] sounds ridiculous. And I’m not approving of anything Mark Wayne Mullen said at all. ... Which is crazy and probably unhealthy, but here we are.” (04:19–04:33)

The Takeaway: The State of American Politics

• Armstrong & Getty see these exchanges as symptomatic of a deeper civic malaise:

  Armstrong: “We need to hold a séance and apologize to the Founding Fathers because it’s over. It lasted almost precisely 250 years. But we’re done. We’re through now.” (08:31)

• The hosts lament that the hearing focused on personal gripes instead of meaningful discussion on core DHS/ICE policy issues:

  “The most important part of that is we didn’t really have a hearing and discussion how DHS and ICE are going to move forward in a different way from ICE Barbie. We didn’t do that.” (11:21)

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2. The Chavez Scandal: Legacy, Revisionism, and Political Ironies

Key Segments:

Breaking News

• [18:10–22:14] Joe Getty: "The New York Times going big with outing Cesar Chavez as a child rapist."
• They discuss the evolving legacy: Chavez’s history, his role as a civil rights icon, and new revelations that threaten his place in American public memory.

Chavez’s Contradictory Beliefs

• Chavez’s strong stance against illegal immigration, including having his union physically patrol the U.S. border, is aired:

  Armstrong: "He used brutal violence against scabs, strikebreakers or illegal immigrants who he considered strikebreakers.” (22:52) Getty: "His organization actually manned the border and physically repulsed illegals trying to come into the country. I mean, made ICE look like nothing.” (23:13)

• Email from a listener:

  "We estimate that 60 to 70% of the farm workers in California are out of a job because of the wetbacks. The border patrol was not doing their jobs, so we're going to have to go out and do it ourselves." -- Chavez, 1974 (attributed, 24:44)

The Politics of Memory & Cancellation

• Multiple correspondences and hosts’ reflections highlight the awkwardness for progressives who lionized Chavez, now confronted with his anti-immigration, violent, and abusive history.

• Armstrong: "The left is quick to demonize and distance as it doesn't fit the presentism that guides the current progressive narrative ... the parties haven't just switched talking points, they've switched heroes.” (24:44)

Reaction to the News and Revisionist History

• Listeners recall brutal tactics attributed to Chavez's movement, question the wisdom of naming holidays and streets after fallible figures, and speculate on what the next round of cancellations might look like.

• Getty: "I do agree with you guys and think the U.S. is blazing toward the path of destruction due to the Marxist America-hating teaching even when some of these teachers probably don't even realize that's what they're doing." (29:49)

Institutional Denial & Image Maintenance

• Jack Armstrong observes that the University of San Diego’s official page still paints Chavez as a complete saint:

  "No ugly incidents detracted from his reputation. No misappropriation of funds, no extramarital affairs undermined his reputation as a family man..." (30:59)

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3. Lighter Bits & Other News

The Red Carpet Salvager

• [14:14–17:14] Fun story: Young woman salvages a chunk of the Oscars’ red carpet from a theater dumpster for her apartment, prompting the hosts to muse about waste, Hollywood, and the silliness of “equity” in the industry.

  Armstrong: “The whole Hollywood crowd is so beneath contempt. I literally can’t even work up contempt for them...they’re just too dumb and silly for me to even work up any real emotion.” (17:20)

International Affairs: Trump & Japan

• [32:52–36:03] President Trump’s meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister is referenced, with Jack and Joe riffing on the unusual meeting setting and discussing a possible new coalition regarding the Strait of Hormuz crisis.
• Notable quote from the Japanese PM’s interpreter:

  "I firmly believe that it is only you, Donald, who can achieve peace across the world.” (34:40)

Miscellaneous

• Side comments about magazine litigation (Vogue vs Dog magazine), headlines about Cesar Chavez Day, Oscars ratings, and the quirks of historical memory and political symbolism.

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4. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Joe Getty on political apologies:

  “Trump doesn’t like people who apologize for anything. ... You don’t ever back down and say, I shouldn’t have said that.” (04:33)

• Armstrong, channeling despair over modern politics:

  “We need to hold a séance and apologize to the Founding Fathers because it’s over. It lasted almost precisely 250 years. But we’re done. We’re through now.” (08:31)

• Senator Mullin’s razor-thin defense:

  “I did not say I supported it. I said I understood it. There’s a difference.” (07:10)

• On historical revisionism:

  “The left is quick to demonize and distance as it doesn’t fit the presentism that guides the current progressive narrative.” (24:44)

• Listener’s (summarized) take on Chavez:

  "Cesar Chavez was a terrorist…Chavez guys would drive by shooting guns and throwing explosives into the farm area because they weren’t hiring the right type of laborers. He was certainly no peaceful MLK figure.” (25:01)

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5. Key Timestamps

| Timestamp | Content/Theme | |-----------------|----------------------------------------------------| | 00:59–03:19 | Paul & Mullin feud; caning & dueling references | | 03:47 | Armstrong on “pandering to the base” | | 04:33 | Trump era: apologizing viewed as weakness | | 07:10 | Mullin: “I understood it” defense | | 08:31 | Armstrong laments the state of American politics | | 11:21 | Hearing fails to address DHS/ICE policy | | 18:10 | NYT breaks Cesar Chavez allegations | | 22:52 | Listener emails: Chavez’s violent tactics | | 24:44 | Chavez’s anti-immigration quote & the left’s pivot | | 29:49 | The politics of cancel culture & revisionism | | 30:59 | University portrayal of Chavez exhausts denial | | 34:40 | Japanese PM: “Only you, Donald, can achieve peace” |

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Summary

This episode delivers classic Armstrong & Getty: a blend of sharp political analysis, historical anecdotes, listener interactions, and satirical asides. The looming question is whether America’s political culture has so normalized combative rhetoric and “pandering to the base” that meaningful policy discussion is almost impossible—especially when personal vendettas take center stage. The second half, on Cesar Chavez, reframes historical “heroes” in the harsh light of newly-discovered (or finally acknowledged) truths, with all the awkwardness and anger that entails, and raises essential questions about how modern political identities are constructed and demolished.

All of this, as always, comes in Armstrong & Getty’s signature mix of candor, humor, and exasperation—making the episode both a time capsule of 2026 American politics and a wry commentary on how easily the nation slips into the absurd.

Transcript

[Podcast Announcer]

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[Show Announcer]

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

[Jack Armstrong]

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

[Interviewer]

The media that I was a freaking snake and that you completely understood why I had been assaulted. I was shocked. That would justify and celebrate this violent assault that caused me so much pain and my family so much pain.

[Joe Getty]

As Rand Paul yesterday at the confirmation hearing for Senator Mark Wayne Mullen of Oklahoma who wants to be the DHS secretary who had said he understood why Rand Paul's neighbor blindsided him from behind and put him in the hospital.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. About killed him. And Mark Wayne was not terribly charitable in his answer to that question. As we played yesterday and the hostilities continued. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

We have some more clips that we actually didn't get to yesterday. So here's a little more. So do I understand. So I just mentioned that the. The Senate did vote to move along his nomination.

[Jack Armstrong]

The committee. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

With the help of Fetterman Democrat of Pennsylvania. Because Rand voted no. You needed to pick up a Democrat.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Because the majority party gets like one more person on the committee.

[Joe Getty]

Why did Rand vote no? Was it because of the personal hates him? That's a decent reason. Okay. More or Rand Paul and Senator Mark Wayne Mullen.

[Interviewer]

In the days after the fight you did many interviews in which you justified the violence as historically justified by precedents such as caning and dueling. Is it today your opinion that the caning of Charles Sumner was not only justified but argues still for resolving our political differences with violence.

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

What I was simply pointing out is some of the rules that still apply to this body. For instance, dueling with two consenting adults is still there. I was pointing out what is still

[Interviewer]

legal for 170 years. There's no precedent for legal dueling. Even then they fled the country. Do you realize that the man that beat Charles Sumner with a cane, he beat him till he was unconscious. You know why no Senators intervened Because his friend held a gun on the other senators, and he kept beating him and beating him until he crushed his skull. That's what you're insinuating is the president of the Senate, and that's what you live by. That is a very, very, very dangerous sentiment.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

We.

[Joe Getty]

We met Senator Mullen in Milwaukee and really liked him. But what he should have done yesterday and what he should do is say, you know, I was just. It was a crowd pleasing sort of thing to say. I can understand why your neighbor attacked it. I didn't mean it. I don't. Violence is wrong. We live in an era where we say hyperbolic things. That's what I did. I shouldn't have.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's funny. I was saving this because I didn't want to steal anybody's thunder, but I was thinking we need to just fully move into the period of American history where you say, I was pandering to the bass, and everybody goes, oh, okay, sure. I mean, because everybody does it. Everybody knows they're doing it. And in the world of podcasting, where you got a particularly pugnacious host or whatever, and the red meat is flying around like it's feeding time at lion enclosure.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

You're going to say some stuff that in the quiet of a Senate hearing sounds ridiculous. And I'm not approving of anything Mark Wayne Mullen said at all. I just. That's the period we're in. Which is crazy and probably unhealthy, but

[Joe Getty]

here we are, the other period we're in. I heard this from a pundit I like, but is definitely not a Trump fan. Trump doesn't like people who apologize for anything. He is a you stick to your guns, no matter what guy. And he chose Mullen to be his nominee. And if you want Trump support, you got to be a guy who fights everybody all the time. You don't ever back down and say, I shouldn't have said that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Which kind of fits. Anyway, here's more.

[Interviewer]

You said, and I quote, sometimes people just need to be punched in the face. Is that still your opinion? That political disputes can sometimes and often only be resolved by violence?

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

No, I. I don't. I don't always agree with that. I don't believe in political violence. I've made that very clear. But sometimes people do need. Theoretically speaking, that's. Sir, I get it. It's about character assassination for you. That's the way this game is played. I understand it. And you are making this about you, which is fine. But that doesn't keep me as Sexual

[Interviewer]

as the assassination when you were the one lauding the assault. Who do you think started that character assassination?

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh my God.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, this is an ugly period we're going through.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, do we skip 73?

[Joe Getty]

Hanson thought it would make more sense in this order.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, okay. Okay.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it's. It's super personal with those guys. Obviously.

[Joe Getty]

I'd be freaking pissed if I was ran Paul. Some guy blindsided me a nuttle neighbor and almost killed me. And you cheered it f you, dude. The way I would feel viz ran Paul.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's clearly how he feels.

[Joe Getty]

And I think market, I liked Mullen when we met him, but I think he's the big guy who can always win every fight. So he loves the idea of fights. Of course you do. You're bigger than everybody else.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, he's one of those guys. Yeah. And the intellectual curly headed optometrist does not swing that way.

[Joe Getty]

No. Anyway, here's. Here's a more.

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

Three days in between.

[Interviewer]

You offer no apology, sir. And you offer no apology today. And no regrets. Haven't heard the word apologize. Haven't heard the word regret. Haven't heard I misspoke and it was heated and I made a mistake.

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

Those words, sir, actually it wasn't heated and I'm not apologizing for pointing out your character.

[Interviewer]

Good, good. So you're. You're jolly well fine. And you want the American public and the people up here to vote that may or may not vote for you, that you supported the felonious violent attack on me from behind.

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

I did not say I supported it. I said I understood it. There's a difference.

[Interviewer]

So that means you really didn't approve of it? Just completely understand it. What do you think most people would interpret completely understand to be support for or a condemnation of the violence?

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

Sir, as I said, we can. We can have our differences. It's not going to keep me from doing my job as Secretary of Homeland Security. I'm going to secure Kentucky and take care of Kentucky as. As if this much as I am.

[Interviewer]

If this, if this were a one off, it would be one thing if you just disliked me so much that you approved of violence against me. People could just write it off. Well, maybe they hate each other,

[News Reporter]

but

[Interviewer]

really there's a pattern of this.

[Joe Getty]

Now here's the question I got.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, clearly they hate each other. Yes.

[Joe Getty]

Here's the question I got is did they ever get around to. Here's the way Ice Barbie handled it? How are you going to handle it? Did they have that conversation? I was told they did. Not that the hearing never got around to that stuff, which seems like the whole conversation. I mean, that should be had. That's the point of the hearing.

[Jack Armstrong]

I feel like I've been punched in the face, perhaps by Mark Wayne Mullen. By that fact. I had not heard that.

[Joe Getty]

Well, have you heard any conversation about.

[Jack Armstrong]

Kidding me?

[Joe Getty]

Have you heard any conversation about how Minneapolis was handled since you're going to run DHS and ICE now and how you plan to handle it? I haven't heard any clips about that.

[Jack Armstrong]

We need to hold a seance and apologize to the Founding Fathers because it's over. It lasted almost precisely 250 years. But we're done. We're through now. Okay, that, that, I found that deeply discouraging. I'm sure that wasn't your purpose, but that now I'd love to do it right now.

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

Well, stand your butt up then.

[Jack Armstrong]

You stand your butt up. Forget about it. That's where we are. Oh, boy.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, I understand. I understand. I even understand Mullen saying the stuff he said about Rand Paul's neighbor. In the current climate we're in. In a certain setting, I, we say. I say all kinds of things that I don't, you know, if you really boil it down, I don't mean or believe I shouldn't say or whatever just to be shocking or funny or whatever. And, and if he had said, yeah, you know, I got caught up in the moment. I was trying to. Thought it was a crowd pleasing line. It was a crowd pleasing line. But no, political violence is awful. I'm sorry for what happened to you. It's terrible. It should never happen to anyone. You know, that wouldn't be that hard to say, would it? But it is.

[Jack Armstrong]

That wouldn't be a sign of weakness at all in my world. Not at all. Well, as we and Ricky Gervais have pointed out through the years, notice how I put us together like we're equals. If you strip humor of a. Pretend that you don't know that sometimes humor is offered to shock. And you making that joke is an agreement that you disagree with the sentiment with the audience. Not that you agree with it, but, you know, the, the humorless strip the humor of humor and then just read the words as if they're an essay that you wrote for the New York Times. I mean, it's so dishonest. Oh, my God. So, yeah, we've got to go with the. The times we live in defense. Yeah, that was hyperbole because we were just saying crap and. But now it was just. It was podcast stuff. I mean, everybody knows what he'd. What he means by that. Only people pretending not to understand would say that.

[Joe Getty]

What was Senator Mullen's. How was he slicing it there? Very thin with the whole. I don't condone it, I support it,

[Jack Armstrong]

or whatever it was. I understand it completely.

[Joe Getty]

I understand why your neighbor, I'll put you in the hospital and near you, kill you, but I don't support it

[Jack Armstrong]

because you're a snake in the grass and I hate you. Yes, is why. Well, it. You know, it reminds me of Chris Rock's OJ Bit about you see some young guy tooling around town in your car with your wife. What was this punchline? I'm not saying it's right, but I understand.

[Joe Getty]

Right, right, right, right. Anywho, that's quite a moment.

[Jack Armstrong]

These are guys in the same party.

[Joe Getty]

And again, the most important part of that is we didn't really have a hearing and discussion how DHS and ICE are going to move forward in a different way from ice. Barbie, we didn't do that.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's shocking.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Is it surprising, though?

[Jack Armstrong]

I'd like to. I still can't believe that to be true.

[Joe Getty]

I didn't watch the whole hearing, but I. I heard one pundit say that, and I haven't heard a single clip from the hearing that had anything to do with how they're going to handle immigration enforcement going forward.

[Jack Armstrong]

I feel like somebody told me your dad murdered the postman because he gave him a hard look. I'm like, I don't. What?

[Joe Getty]

What? That can't be.

[Jack Armstrong]

They didn't even talk about, like, the biggest dhs. That DHS isn't being funded right now. Ludicrously and stupidly, for those very reasons. And the Democrats are trying to grandstand on it, but yeah, okay.

[Joe Getty]

All right.

[Jack Armstrong]

So he gave you the side eye, dad, huh? I don't play. I totally understand it.

[Joe Getty]

I don't condone it, but I understand it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Anyway, you're gonna need a good defense attorney, so I'll make some calls.

[Joe Getty]

Whose side are you on on this thing, Ariana side? If you are, text line 415295KFTC. More to come.

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

You want to do it now?

[Jack Armstrong]

I'd love to do it right now.

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

Well, stand your butt up then.

[Show Announcer]

You stand your butt up, Armstrong, and get.

[Podcast Announcer]

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[News Commentator]

OG it describes itself as the world's first dog magazine on the world of canine couture and lifestyle. And yes, it openly admits it was indeed inspired by Vogue. Conde Nast, the parent company of Vogue with a V is suing, alleging that the dog magazine is obviously intended and likely to cause consumer confusion. While Vogue with a V is a magazine for people, it also has a special annual issue devoted to dogs, celebrity dogs called Doge. It now wants all copies of Doge destroyed, in addition to unspecified damages. But Port says she's going to fight back. She says the magazine's a parody. Nobody could confuse it with Vogue magazine.

[Joe Getty]

Okay, I didn't know Vogue actually does an issue every year about dogs that they called dog. That's a different thing. But before he said that, I thought, you're concerned that people just won't know the difference between a dog magazine and a People magazine.

[Jack Armstrong]

And women will start trying on dog clothes and be confused when they don't fit.

[Joe Getty]

Why are you wearing a dog collar and drinking out of a bowl? Well, I subscribe to Dog magazine, which

[Jack Armstrong]

is the same as Vogue, right? Yes, your honor, I move for dismissal on the grounds of everybody needs to shut the hell up. We have real problems. Bam, the gavel comes down. Oh, speaking of awards for various things, this is a really funny story. Here's this gal, lives in LA in a small apartment, doesn't make a ton of money. She's a production assistant in which oh man are those people are vanishing as the movie business crumbles and moves to other places. But anyway, she. She recently returned to LA after spending some time traveling and she got a new apartment and outfitting. Her place was proving expensive and she needed a pretty good sized area rug. And she was, she watched the. She was walking her dog and she noticed the red carpet being installed outside the Dolby theater in Hollywood where the Oscars are held. And she says, I got the idea when I was walking her down the red carpet that I could maybe track down what happens to it afterward. And so, da, da, da. Long story short, she gets up the next morning bright and early, arrives at the theater. She thought her textile dreams were dashed when she saw the carpet was already gone. Then she thought, maybe I can find it nearby. And sure enough, on a street near the theater, just behind the Jimmy Kimmel Live theater, she found a clean dumpster containing the red carpet.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. They just roll it up and throw it in a dumpster?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, she said, I have the same question.

[Joe Getty]

There's all kinds of people that would buy that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, not only that, but how about area Rugs for the poor.

[Joe Getty]

I thought you.

[Jack Armstrong]

You're all about equity, Hollywood. You just throw this crap out.

[Joe Getty]

But who wouldn't pay a couple hundred bucks to have a chunk of red carpet from the Oscars as the runner in their hallway?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I know, I know. I. Hell, I would pay for it, ironically. So she says to the security guard, hey, I have an insane question. Can I have some of that red carpet? And the guard just essentially winked at her and pulled a souvenir piece from her own pocket. So she grabbed the biggest piece she could physically lug home, which measured 6 foot by 8 foot, when she unrolled it in her apartment.

[Joe Getty]

Awesome.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is such a great shape.

[Joe Getty]

What a great conversation piece.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that's funny. And there's a picture of her little dog sitting on the red carpet.

[Interviewer]

I've got.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know if I ever posted those. I've got pictures, because when we were in LA one time, me and the kids, we were at the Dolby Theater and we did various poses on that. The stairs. The big stairs there. After you get the red carpet, you walk the stairs that you see in every Oscar episode. We all did poses on the stairs because everybody. But yeah, that's hilarious that they just roll up the red carpet and throw it in a dumpster.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it's kind of surprising. And it's expensive, too, they're saying, because it's dyed a very special specific color.

[Joe Getty]

God, you could sell that for many thousands of dollars every year, chunks of

[Jack Armstrong]

it, and give it to charity or whatever.

[Joe Getty]

Just make a profit or whoever, somebody. But the idea of throwing it in the trash seems ridiculous.

[Jack Armstrong]

The whole Hollywood crowd is so beneath contempt. I literally can't even work up contempt for them. They're just too dumb and silly for me to even work up any real emotion.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that is surprising. I know we've been talking about that whole thing being over for a long time, but 17 million people tuned in the other night. It is just. It is just. It doesn't exist even really as a

[Jack Armstrong]

thing anymore for the contempt of. For so many Americans. It's just so damn long. Really, really long. Things ain't exactly it these days.

[Joe Getty]

Three hours. And if you do dip into it, it's them making fun of everything. You think so? Sounds fun. Why? I'm surprised more people don't watch.

[Jack Armstrong]

Grab the popcorn, kids.

[Joe Getty]

We got more on the way. If you missed a segment of the podcast, Armstrong and Yeti on Demand.

[Show Announcer]

Armstrong and Getty.

[News Reporter]

The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott coming out saying, we are not going to Do Cesar Chavez Day, which is Arizona. Neither is Arizona. The governor of California saying we need to think about what we're going to do. March 31, there's supposed to be a state holiday named after Cesar Chavez. Be changing. This story is going to stay with us for a long time as we figure out the repercussions of it.

[Joe Getty]

Okay. They didn't explain in that news clip what the story is. New York Times going big with outing Cesar Chavez as a child rapist.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yep. At least two teen victims. Then Dolores Huerta, the co founder of the United Farm Workers said, yeah, he raped me when I was an adult.

[Joe Getty]

How about a little Caesar Chavez bio for those of us who didn't go to a California public school? So it's not, you know, we didn't get to taught all this like he was George Washington.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, correct me if I'm wrong. Your son said he was completely steeped in, in Cesar Chavez and had no idea what Thomas Jefferson did, Correct?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Didn't know a single thing about Thomas Jefferson. Like it was a name unfamiliar to him. I don't remember what grade it was, but he knew about Cesar Chavez, community organizer, civil rights activist. So he was born in 1927 in Yuma, Arizona. I don't know why I'd always assumed Cesar Chavez was from Mexico, but he was born in Arizona, grew up in a family of farm workers, and after his family lost their small farm during the Great Depression, they became migrant laborers straight out of the Grapes of Wrath, moving throughout California to pick crops from job to job and being treated very poorly. If you've ever read the Grapes of Wrath or know anything about that history, he attended more than 30 schools before dropping out after eighth grade to work full time in the fields. And it gave him a full understanding of the hardships faced by agricultural workers. In the 50s. He began working doing community organizing, honed his skills as a community organizer and founded the National Farm Workers association alongside Dolores Huerta, who probably should get more credit than she should be. A more well known name than she is, it would seem, and maybe she's about to be because Cesar Shaub is falling so much. The grape strike and boycott, which I did not know about. Chavez rose to national prominence during the Delano grape strike, which was from 1965 to 1970, five years in which he led thousands of farm workers in a strike against California grape growers demanding fair wages and better working conditions. He organized a nationwide consumer boycott of table grapes that gained massive public support across the country. I don't, I was a tiny Kid and I don't remember it, but maybe it did, eventually forcing growers to sign union contracts. Deeply influenced by Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Chavez was committed to non violent resistance. He used fasts, marches and boycotts as tools of protest. I didn't know this either. His most famous fast in 1968 lasted 25 days. That's a long time to go without food. And drew national attention with Robert F. Kennedy visiting, visiting him to show solidarity at the time. His rallying cry. I should have had you get this clip, Michael. His rallying cry. Yes, we can see se pway became a lasting symbol of the labor and civil rights movements as known by Dr. Jill Biden. Do we have the clip? I should ask you for the clip. I'm sorry about that. Cesar Chavez passed away.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm sorry. The doctor is running a little late this afternoon, so it'll be a few minutes.

[Joe Getty]

Got a lot of patience. He was. There you go. There's the doctor there. But Caesar Chavez got that going and made it famous. And he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom after he died by Bill Clinton. I'm surprised he didn't get it in his lifetime. His birthday, March 31 is a state holiday in California. Or at least was probably. I don't think it's going to last. We got what, 12 days by, by March 31st it will no longer be a state holiday would be my guess.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's a state holiday in Texas too,

[Joe Getty]

which they've already done away with, according

[Jack Armstrong]

to that news, including California and Texas. What does it take too much time to list them?

[Joe Getty]

That news report we just had said they've already done away with in Texas.

[Jack Armstrong]

So. Yeah, yeah. When we were talking about the New York Times breaking story yesterday, a number of you emailed us with comments that I found were very, very interesting.

[Joe Getty]

I left out my own snarky comment I had prepared while I was reading his biography to say, I was going to say he believed in nonviolence except against 13 year old girls. If he was horny.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. Then he'd raped them. So let's see. John writes, for decades they've ignored the fact that Chavez would drop a dime on any scabs working in the fields. That's true. He used brutal violence against scabs, strikebreakers or illegal immigrants who he considered strikebreakers.

[Joe Getty]

His organization actually manned the border and physically repulsed illegals trying to come into the country. I mean, made ICE look like nothing

[Jack Armstrong]

until you remember when Joe Biden lied and said the border guards were whipping people when they weren't Cesar Chavez guys did.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. How does it, how does that not get any attention?

[Jack Armstrong]

Unbelievable. Let's see some comments from Paolo Chris backs too. Oh, I was about to. Yeah, exactly. Kristi Noem just lost her job as Secretary of Homeland Security. Her border enforcement was called brutal, reckless and racist by the left. Disregarding. Now Mark Wayne Mullen is up for the same seat before the hearings begin, I'd love someone to read this quote aloud, no attribution. And I quote, we estimate that 60 to 70% of the farm workers in California are out of a job because of the wetbacks. The border patrol was not doing their jobs, so we're going to have to go out and do it ourselves. Kristi Noem 2025 let that hang in the air, then reveal it. That's quote from Cesar Chavez, labor icon, UFW founder. The man whose birthday is a California state holiday. The man on the mural outside half the Democratic Party headquarters in America for now. He said it in 1974, then organized his own border patrols to back it up. Before we call Mullins confirmation racists, someone should explain why it was progressive when Chavez said it. The parties just haven't just switched talking points, they've switched heroes.

[Joe Getty]

Well, I don't know about his tactics, but his understanding of the problem was 100% correct. If you have illegal immigrants coming in, you can't get any decent wages for American citizens, obviously.

[Jack Armstrong]

This note from Christy. Cesar Chavez was a terrorist. Wanted to share. My dad grew up in the Central Valley, California in the 60s when Chavez was active. My dad had several friends with small family farms. They didn't employ anyone, let alone migrant workers. The family would do the work and sometimes they would hire the local school kids to come help. You actually did that as a kid, didn't you? Chavez guys would drive by shooting guns and throwing explosives into the farm area because they weren't hiring the right type of laborers. He was certainly no peaceful MLK figure. Wow, that's really interesting.

[Joe Getty]

And certainly not if you were a 13 year old girl he found attractive.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let's allegedly al the libertarian cop on Cesar Chavez Fellas, hot take on Cesar Kami Chavez. Clips of Chavez articulately outlining the downside of illegal immigration and the harm to working class Americans are circulating all over right lean right wing social media recently as his words contradict the current ideology and became a talking point for the right. The left is quick to demonize and distance as it doesn't fit the presentism that guides the current progressive narrative. So that's a very well Put argument that the left is canceling him.

[Joe Getty]

That's why they're really willing to very quickly get rid of him, because that's very inconvenient. It was very inconvenient to have Cesar Chavez name on a street sign or your middle school when he was anti illegal immigration. Good point.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm going to keep you anonymous, ma', am, but this is a lean. Anonymous in Huntington Beach, California. Two points. This news about Chavez is not new. It was well known in California during the 60s. I remember my mom commenting about it every time he was in the news. But being molested by the boss was viewed through a different lens then and sadly, very common. And then she says, wow, that's interesting. Most importantly, this is not about Chavez. It's about Muslims. Keeping in mind that in politics, timing is everything. The Muslims have been trying to get their IDA. Holiday days are recognized as national holidays, but they had to get rid of one. Okay, that seems like a stretch to me, but we'll keep an eye on it. Let's see, Chris. Guys, guys, guys. The woke crowd turn on him because he was anti illegal immigration. He was all about guest seasonal workers and workers rights. Probably would have voted for voter ID too. Okay, let's see. Len. I grew up in the farm worker movement during the grape and lettuce boycotts that Jack was just describing. As my dad was assigned by the AFL CIO as liaison to the United Farm Workers Union. For many years, I have told my children that Cesar would not have appreciated having holidays, schools, parks and boulevards named after him. And I suggested a better option would be Farm worker Boulevard, Farm worker park, et cetera. This would appropriately remind us of the importance of the people who bring food to our tables. Now with these revelations, I feel certain this is the right thing to do. Your move, Gavin. Okay. And then, well, they're gonna have to

[Joe Getty]

rename these streets and schools and all this different sort of stuff. Buildings. They got to go with something they can't in the same.

[Jack Armstrong]

That would be the quick and easy and probably appropriate. Yeah, yeah. Until it turns out that she was, I don't know, a cat abuser or whatever.

[Joe Getty]

Drowned puppies or something. I don't know. No, you shouldn't.

[Jack Armstrong]

I wish.

[Joe Getty]

She might be a perfectly nice person, you know, I have no reason to think she was.

[Jack Armstrong]

And a rape victim. Yeah. Final note here from Scott. I feel horrible for these women that were raped and essential and essentially tortured by the power and the movement that Cesar Chavez was creating. It's really sad that there are probably countless stories of that throughout humanity, of those either thinking they're so powerful that are above prosecution or see if they can take advantage of it. What I do find very interesting is the bigger question of why all this is happening now. I have a tendency to think that between them tearing down cesar Chavez and MLK Jr. When the tapes come out, the Marxists left are washing them out of communication so they can rewrite history. Since both men had by today's standards very conservative views. Obviously their personal stuff is horrible, especially with Chavez. Well, wait for the MLK stuff to come out. But they don't follow the woke agenda of today. So they have to get rid of them history books and replace them with current dogma. This is obviously voice dictated, so it's a little scattered, but very interesting in a scary way. As they continue to warp the minds of children in the school system and rewrite history like 1984, what's going to be the sacred cows that are destroyed 10 or 20 years from now to make the new dogma? I do agree with you guys and think the US is blazing toward the path of destruction due the mark the Marxist America hating teaching even when some of these teachers probably don't even realize that's what they're doing. Yeah, I agree with you completely. They just think they're being up with the times and supporting the current chosen downtrodden. And Then he references 1984, several actual classics that mention how fervently brainwashed the youth need to be to create a new society and that that's the common theme of both fiction and nonfiction about that if you're going to tear down the old and usher in a new society, you've got to have the young so they brainwash them. Thanks for the nice things about the show.

[Joe Getty]

That is an interesting angle that I hadn't thought of that Cesar Chavez has become really inconvenient and convenient for people like us. We love when Caesar Chavez comes up. Oh, you want to talk about Caesar Chavez? Great. Here, here, let me get a list of quotes about how much he hated illegal immigration for obvious economic reasons because it drives down wages for American citizens or you know, green work, green card workers or whatever. So yeah, interesting.

[Jack Armstrong]

One final note. This is an odd one. It was sent along by Tom. This is from the University of San Diego's like archives, their official library website about Cesar Chavez. It's kind of a Wikipedia that they maintain the university and it goes into how f the FBI under Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter surveilled Chavez based on little more than idle Talk and unsubstantiated gossip, blah blah blah, goes into the investigation for years and years. What becomes abundantly clear in Chavez's FBI file is that after Hoover's men wrapped up their spying, bound up their foot thick dossier, cross referenced and indexed their material and analyzed hundreds of reports that came up empty. They found nothing on Chavez. No communist leaning stained his reputation. No ugly incidents detracted from his reputation. No misappropriation of funds, no extramarital affairs undermined his reputation as a family man. Chavez never even displayed one iota of disloyalty or blah blah blah. So he's officially still a saint on the University of California at San Diego's website. We'll see how long that lasts.

[Joe Getty]

So the Hoover FBI was spying on Chavez, same as mlk. And legally or illegally? I don't know, quite possibly illegally like they were on MLK Jr. Yeah, and that's another weird thing where you got streets and holidays and everything. The FBI used to spy illegally on this person and the Dems love the FBI. I just, I don't understand the now.

[Jack Armstrong]

And Hoover's name is still on the building.

[Joe Getty]

Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's just, it's ridiculous really.

[Joe Getty]

It's hard to wrap your head around. More on the way.

[Show Announcer]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

So as we speak, the President of the United States, Donald Trump is meeting with the Prime Minister of Japan. It appears to be in a Chinese restaurant. Why would you meet in a Chinese restaurant with the Prime Minister?

[Jack Armstrong]

I believe that is the current Oval Office decor,

[Joe Getty]

but does look like a Chinese restaurant to me. It really does.

[Jack Armstrong]

Gotta get a fish tank in there.

[Joe Getty]

Anywho, Japan kind of said the other day, we ain't gonna help you with this whole straight over Hormuze problem and everything, but there has been a, and a, a joint statement put out by Japan and all the European countries that hey, we're on board with helping. Which was a nice, I don't know, like you said, maybe Marco Rubio put that together, I don't know. But that was good to hear. And here is just recently what the Prime Minister of Japan said. You'll hear her interpreter.

[Japanese Prime Minister Interpreter]

Right now, situations in the Middle east and also the entire world, we are actually experiencing a very severe security environment. And also the global economy is now about to experience a huge hit because of this development. But even against that backdrop, I firmly believe that it is only you, Donald, who can achieve peace across the world.

[Podcast Announcer]

The so many.

[Japanese Prime Minister Interpreter]

And to do so I am ready to reach out to many of the partners in the international community to achieve our objective together.

[Joe Getty]

It's much friendlier than what she said the other day.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't remember what she said the other day.

[Joe Getty]

They just basically said, we're not, we're not going to help you. It's not our war.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Now she sounds like she's involved. And I'm going to talk to our partners and we're going to, you know, do it again.

[Jack Armstrong]

The coalition of the willing.

[Joe Getty]

I say I don't really have time to get to it here, but historian and friend of the Armstrong and Getty Show, Neil Ferguson, has a piece in the Free Press how the Iran war goes global. And one of the sentences out of that maybe we'll get to it now. Or four is the Strait of Hormuz is blocked for how long? The Strait of Taiwan is open for how long? His concern being that if Russia and China decided to close the Strait of Taiwan right now with us pretty tied up with the straight of Hormuz being closed, you could have a serious global challenge going on at the same time.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I certainly hope it doesn't happen.

[Joe Getty]

I hope not either.

[Jack Armstrong]

In other Donald Trump news, big new Yahoo YouGov poll out Trump's 41 points underwater on the cost of living.

[Joe Getty]

Positive to negative gas price ain't gonna help with that. If you miss a segment, get the podcast Armstrong and Getty on demand.

[Show Announcer]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Podcast Announcer]

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