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Joe Getty
what
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broadcasting live
Jack Armstrong
from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio at
Commercial Voice
the George Washington Broadcast Center.
Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.
Jack Armstrong
Armstrong and Getty.
Joe Getty
And now here's Armstrong and Getty.
Jack Armstrong
Live from Studio C. Please, Senor. We were going to broadcast live from Cuba today, but we couldn't get a plane to get fast enough. But deep within the bowels of the Armstrong and Getty communications compound. And today we are toiling under the
Joe Getty
title of the show, Amazon CEO delivers truth bombs overnight or Cuba Libre, you dirty commies. We're going to free up Cuba next. Here we go.
Jack Armstrong
So, yeah, so remember right after Venezuela and then there was talk of it's going to be, first it's going to be Iran, then it's going to be Cuba, kind of when we were all thinking Iran would take like a week or something, I guess, and, but that didn't work out that way. So do we still have really enough space in our. Enough, enough bandwidth, as they say, to, to regime change yet another country while we're still kind of, kind of locked down on Iran right now?
Joe Getty
I think we put a pin in Cuba and we're gonna circle back when we have more bandwidth.
Jack Armstrong
That's a good idea. So we announced the charged Raul Castro who used to run the place, and then are we gonna snatch him in the middle of the night like we did? There's really, there's not a lot of point in that. He's not actually the leader anymore. So.
Joe Getty
No, that's unlikely to happen. I just. It's funny, I've heard this reported and I've read a number of accounts, quite a few of them, and they all say the same thing, designed to increase the pressure on Cuba, but they never explain how exactly charging an ancient, you know, senile revolutionary with crimes is going to increase any pressure on anybody.
Jack Armstrong
I don't get it. That's really flying under the radar though, the whole Cuba situation, whenever I see it brought up, it's always like they're in about as bad as shape that they've ever been in their country's history.
Joe Getty
Right.
Jack Armstrong
In terms of ain't got no gas and all that sort of stuff.
Joe Getty
Yeah, yeah. They were leaning hard on Venezuela, you may have heard. There's a bit of a change there. And Iran as well. And they're occupied, as we were discussing. So, yeah, tough times for the Cuban commies. And that's just heartbreaking, isn't it?
Jack Armstrong
Well, it sucks for the people. It ain't their fault. Yeah.
Joe Getty
But I think it's, it's, you know, they've got to go through this to get that regime out of There. But I tell you what, it's going to be a challenge. There is no meaningful opposition to the Communist Party in Cuba. They have an excellent police state. It's not a very big place, as you may know. It's an island. And Cuba's an island. Breaking news, as it turns out. And there's no Cuban del C, as folks within the administration have been talking about. Delsey what's her face, who took over for fathead in Venezuela and is now evidently kowtowing to Trump until he leaves office. Then she'll just go back to being the female Maduro. Who knows?
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, so we got that whole issue. Geez. At the same time that we're all worried about Ebola. That's really tough. But I keep, I keep seeing all these stories. Gotta be, gotta be careful talking about this because people's mood about the economy is bad. My, my mood about the economy is bad. And the price of gas, I hate the price of gas. I filled up my diesel truck again and it was practically 250 bucks. 250 bucks to fill up my truck, which is absolutely amazing. If I, if I had to drive that all the time and fill it up, you know, four times a month or more, geez, that'd be a noticeable difference. Anywho, even with all that said. Oh, and there's a new Fox poll out today. 71% of people disapprove. This is the disapprove number because often the approval number was low, but the disapproval number wasn't this high because people were kind of in that. I don't approve, but I don't know where I am on this now. 71% of people disapprove of Trump's handling of the economy. That's a, that's a high number, like record high number still. God, your endless stories about Memorial Day weekend and how difficult it's going to
Joe Getty
be for people to travel.
Jack Armstrong
And they were, they're just doing it. And this, this family is traveling. And it was 90 some miles. Okay, you're going 100 miles each way. It's get four to five gallons of gas. It's a dollar higher than last last year. So total last year, the gas price alone is going to be a 10 spot more for the weekend. Come on now, let's, let's not be ridiculous. All right, people.
Joe Getty
Yeah, yeah, I know. Nope.
Jack Armstrong
Nobody should be altering their life over $10. I don't think you are. Given the economy. $10 is like a venti coffee at Starbucks. And there's a line at Starbucks every Morning. I see it. So come on now.
Joe Getty
Tell your kids you're suspending the allowance program. But you. They'll be paid back in full at some point. As soon as legislation is like the government shutdown, they'll be fine.
Jack Armstrong
My point was that while the mood is bad and everything is way too expensive, the media is catastrophizing this at just a ridiculous level and around stupid stuff. It reminds me of.
Joe Getty
I was just reading again about why kids aren't having kids and young people aren't having kids. They're not coupling and having sex and, and every article always mentions that. What's the official term you hear used? Climate anxiety is a big part of it. Well, who caused this climate anxiety, you cranks? As we were trying to tell you. Look, all these, everything you're pitching to the poor little terrified children is wildly overstated. It's designed by activists to turn them into little revolutionaries. And now the very people who are pitching that crap because it's clickbait and fear mongering are now saying, yeah, look at all the damage that did. I'll be damned.
Jack Armstrong
I don't know that our spending matches the polling showing how worried we are about the economy. It just, they don't seem to match up. So are people worried on other people's behalf? Like, I'm going to keep traveling and eating out, but I know it's really bad for other people. Is it one of those things? I don't. I'm not exactly sure. Well, it's similar to that. Nobody. Nobody knows. Wall Street Journal had a long article about that this last week. Nobody is exactly sure why with the war going on and 75% of people saying the country's going the wrong direction, why we set a record in the stock market every single day. So this is all a bit of a mystery, but.
Joe Getty
Right.
Jack Armstrong
People are still eating out and, and traveling and all that sort of stuff at a pretty high level. Even though the numbers are so bad.
Joe Getty
Yeah, yeah. Getting back to the, the fertility thing, because it's all related. I was reading a really long and interesting think piece from a scientist about the low birth rates around the world and we'll talk about it later. But it struck me in reading it and I'm like the only person I've heard talking about this. What came up over and over again, and it relates to your questions about people's perception of the economy, is that people take in their inputs of the world. Their perceptions of the world are formed in a way that they've never been formed in human History, just In the last 20 years or so, post smartphone, post never ending information input to humans. You ask somebody even 25 years ago, their perception of the economy, it's gonna be based on their paycheck, their expenses, their vacations, how much they can save. It's going to be almost all personal, plus a little around the edges, talking to friends and neighbors and coworkers. Now, people's perception of reality is almost entirely, what would you call it? Third hand or electronic or cosmic. And virtually none of it's personal. So you get all these results of, I'm not a racist and nobody I know is a racist, But I believe 80% of Americans are racist. You get that over and over again. My personal economy's fine, my friends seem to be doing fine, but boy, I hear it's just s out there. So yes, my perception of the economy is. It's terrible. I will grant you now with the affordability stuff going on, it's, it is stressful. But nobody else talks about that. Maybe I'm a madman. I'm convinced that's like every. That explains virtually everything people wonder about in the year 2026.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. Psychologically, our perceptions are in, are external now instead of internal. Yeah, you're right. Not very many years ago, it had to be an internal perspective. That's all you had.
Joe Getty
Yeah, it pictures your own life. Yeah. Picture a, an upside down pyramid. Well, I guess it would be. No, a regular pyramid. The, the, the bottom of which would be personal experience. Then people very, very close to you. And at the very top you'd have that little part that would say, you know, media. And now it's inverted.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, it's. Yeah.
Joe Getty
Somebody remind me to write that analysis. It'll put me on the map.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, you get your opinion and externally, as opposed to internally. Now it's really interesting. So I noticed this the other day and I found it very, very troubling. I am, and I know most of you are not on Twitter. Very very few people are actually on Twitter. And us in the media talk about it all the time because all the media people are on Twitter, but we're all on Twitter. Anywho, same would be true, I assume for Facebook, Yahoo or Yahoo.
Joe Getty
Facebook.
Jack Armstrong
What was the other thing I was going to. Oh, Instagram, a lot of the other stuff that y' all are on. So on the Twitter feed, I have never, in the decades we've been on Twitter, I've always just gone there and like searched out individuals, opinions, people that I know and respect and stuff like that. I never Just kind of randomly scroll. Never did. For whatever reason, I started doing that a couple of weeks ago. I open up my Twitter and then I just scroll the stuff the algorithm feeds me.
Joe Getty
Yes.
Jack Armstrong
In other words, the algorithm didn't mean anything to me in the past because I wasn't scrolling it.
Joe Getty
So who cares?
Jack Armstrong
You can do whatever you want. The algorithm, I'm seeking out specific things. New York Times, Ian Bremmer, whatever I'm looking for. But I started scrolling the algorithm and I noticed it making me. I noticed this last night. It making me like paranoid and crazy because it's so much more catastrophizing than when I seek out specific information. It's just one after the other of people I've never heard of. And some of them might not even be real people that might be Russian bots. But it's one after another of this bad thing happened. And look how woke this person is just.
Joe Getty
It just.
Jack Armstrong
It started to make me think, oh my God, I can't believe my kids are going out into this world.
Joe Getty
And if, if most people are doing
Jack Armstrong
that probably with Instagram or something else, no wonder people feel that way.
Joe Getty
Yeah. To that point. See, I do the, the in the algorithm thing more than you do. And I'll tell you why. I feel like I am trying to litigate a case to America. And that's a good resource for evidence and insights and that sort of perspectives. I've got some great stuff in front of me right now, but I liken it to an investigator who looks into crimes against children. It will gnaw away at your soul and turn you very dark and angry and negative if you let it. You have to be aware of what it is doing to you. And I mean, God, what two. I mean, the real advent of social media in my life is barely, you know, 10 years old and I had 50 years of life experience to give me a little perspective as I waded into that unholy pool. But younger people without that experience who don't think, wow, okay, wait. I can feel myself changing emotionally what's happening here, Right? I mean, it's just so corrosive.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, it's weird. I'd never really done that. It was weird. It started to turn me paranoid and dark and like really concerned. I thought, no, no, you're looking at the scroll of who are these people? You're reading a whole bunch of money. You know what the hell they are.
Joe Getty
Okay, that great thing I mentioned that I gleaned from the Twitter machine, I refuse to call it X elon. You don't get to take a letter of the Alphabet and make your company that letter.
Jack Armstrong
That's a good hill.
Joe Getty
Yeah. Bastard. I could absolutely prove the case that the left is far more bubbled than the right. I mean, it's not even close.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah.
Joe Getty
And that's not to indict the left. But if your lefty friends don't seem to have a clue about how the world really works, I think we can explain it.
Jack Armstrong
You know, I think we actually used up all our time. We can't start the show officially. Let's start the show officially when we come back, just because the clip is worth talking about.
Joe Getty
Oh, my God. We're going to FCC jail. Damn it. I'm not tough.
Jack Armstrong
I'm not gonna make it in FCC jail. I'm hoping we'll get a pardon. We'll be right back with a great opening clip right after this.
Joe Getty
Armstrong and Getty.
Jack Armstrong
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Narrator
It's a celebration 250 years in the making.
Announcer
And we want everyone in America, from Maine to Montana, from Alabama to Alaska, to be a part of it.
Narrator
This year marks America's 250th anniversary, and we're coming together from coast to coast at star spangled events, live performances, and the largest day of giving in American history.
Announcer
Join the nationwide celebration@america250.org
Jack Armstrong
so I think for the first time in the show's history, in the first segment, we did not start the show officially. Joe's worried about going to FCC prison.
Joe Getty
You're not tough enough.
Jack Armstrong
You're cute and cuddly. They'll be loving you from dawn till dusk.
Joe Getty
Oh, wait, I'm looking at the pamphlet. They have pickleball.
Jack Armstrong
Wait a minute. And sodomy. Let's start the show officially. I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty on this. It is Thursday, May 21, the year 2026, where Armstrong and Gideon, we approve of this program. All right, here we go then.
Joe Getty
Officially, according to FCC rules or exact
Jeff Bezos
mark, the way you make a billion dollars or $100 million or $10 million or anything is you create a service that people love. And if millions of people choose your service, you're going to end up with a billion dollars.
Joe Getty
Right.
Jeff Bezos
And you can, you know, just try it with a chicken franchise.
Joe Getty
Do you think though?
Jeff Bezos
But your chicken has to be good.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. Jeff Bezos of Amazon did a long interview with CNBC yesterday and dropped some fantastic truth bombs out there that will play portions of Pushing Back On AOC and others ridiculous claim that you can't become a billionaire and basically saying, look, it's simple. You open it. Say you open a hamburger stand. He just goes through the very simple nature of how you could become a billionaire quite easily. Well, you'd have to be very successful. But. But the math is easy to understand without anybody doing anything illegal or that. And he also made the point that if we were as inefficient as New York City packages would, it would cost a hundred dollars to deliver every package and you'd get it next week. He was talking particularly about Mandani's in New York City. So it's really good stuff.
Joe Getty
I'm trying to come up with a quick acronym for the politics of Envy for stupid people, because that's what AOC is trafficking in. She just packages up envy in ridiculous. And I use that term with the original meaning it should be ridiculed.
Jack Armstrong
She packaged that and Jeff Bezos returned that package and said, sorry, it doesn't fit.
Joe Getty
Wow. From the department of trying Way too hard. She packages envy with stupid slogans that a moment's thought would explode. But people are not capable of a moment's thought. Lap it up like the sweet mother's milk of you sound. There I go. Now I'm doing it.
Jack Armstrong
You sound like Robespierre as he's being led to the guillotine saying, but you all don't understand that this is a stupid argument. They're off with his head.
Joe Getty
Right? Yeah. Yeah. An angry mob cannot be reasoned with.
Jack Armstrong
No. God dang it. Anyways, that's some good stuff from Jeff Bezos and a bunch of other news, including several pieces out today about who's really running Iran. This is brand new information. Super interesting, Brigadier. Old General Ahmad Vahidi. He's the guy we got to convince or bomb or something.
Joe Getty
Oh, fahiti hate him so much. Plus, how the commie dictatorship in Cuba works and why the blues the progressives are so much more bubbled than conservatives. It's all pretty damned interesting. Hope you can stay tuned.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, a lot of good stuff today. If you missed a segment, get the podcast. Armstrong and Getty on demand.
Joe Getty
Armstrong and Getty.
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Warning. This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.
Views is smooth, consistent and intentionally simple. It's vapor done right? Because when you're free to focus on what really matters, everything just clicks. Find views that's V U S E VUSE at your favorite convenience store.
Underage sale prohibited Views as a vapor Product website restricted to age 21 plus tobacco consumers. Copyright 2026 RJRVC.
Narrator
It's a celebration 250 years in the
Announcer
making and we want everyone in America, from Maine to Montana, from Alabama to Alaska, to be a part of it.
Narrator
This year marks America's 250th anniversary and we're coming together from coast to coast at star spangled events, live performances, and the largest day of giving in American history.
Announcer
Join the nationwide celebration@america250.org
Commercial Voice
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Jack Armstrong
is a stupid comment about Jeff Bezos, who I think is still the world's second richest man. He came up with the Amazon idea which lost money for geez, what a decade and a half. I remember that used to be a joke. Amazon, which still hasn't turned a profit, announced today that, you know, it started as a place to buy used books, anywho, and then it changed everyone's lives and took over the world.
Joe Getty
That's the guy.
Jack Armstrong
Then he buys the Washington Post and starts dating a woman who carves herself up to look like the joker. Anyway, those are all extraneous things. And he's letting his hair kind of grow back as a bald man, which seems to be coming back in style. The whole I'm bald on top, I got hair on the sides thing seems to be making a comeback. So I got to keep that in mind. Do I want to make that choice at some point?
Joe Getty
Are we going to get to the truth bombs or.
Jack Armstrong
I suppose so. Jeff Bezos did a long interview with cnn.
Joe Getty
Very big boat. You left that out. Very large boat. Yes.
Jack Armstrong
Jeff Bezos on CNBC yesterday asking questions from Andrew Ross Sorkin. And they got into the whole billionaire thing. Now, we played the clip a week or so ago. I mean, it got a lot of traction on the, well, on the right and the left for different reasons. AOC explaining how you can't become a billionaire in the United States. Nobody can become a billionaire without cheating. And I mentioned the other day, Robert Reich, of all people, AOC's a dunce, but Robert Reich was a major economic advisor for, for Bill Clinton, for Barack Obama, for Democrats. Professor at Berkeley gave their commencement address the other day. He put out a statement the other day, there are five ways to become a billionaire. Profiting from a monopoly, insider trading, political payoffs, fraud, and inheritance. Don't believe the myth. So basically, there's no way to become a billionaire.
Joe Getty
Well, he's a Marxist or a fool.
Jack Armstrong
Jeff Bezos pushing back on that yesterday. AOC recently said in a podcast, I'm so curious how you think about this. Says there's a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned. She says you can't earn a billion dollars, just can't earn that. She says you can get market power, you can break rules, you can abuse labor laws, you can pay people less than what they're worth, but you can't earn that. Yeah. By the way, you earned extraordinary amount of money. You employ large, largest employer, if not
Joe Getty
one of them, the whole country. When you read that, what do you think?
Jeff Bezos
Well, it's, it's, it's not cracked on its face. Let's give you, let me give you a simple example. Let's say you start a burger joint and you have 10 employees and you make a little bit of money, right? Until you have this is this one, one outlet. And by the way, these are the most delicious burgers in the world. People love your burgers, Andrew. And so then you open a second Outlet.
Jack Armstrong
Right.
Jeff Bezos
And now you're making a little bit more money and you have 20 employees and you open a third outlet, by the time you've opened a thousand outlets, you are a billionaire.
Joe Getty
Right.
Jeff Bezos
And by the way, this is a real life story. It happens all the time. It's in and out. Burger, it's, you know, raising canes, chicken. At what point did that money all of a sudden become unethical or it didn't. There was, was one outlet and there were two, and then there were three. What you're doing, the way, the way you make a billion dollars or $100 million or $10 million or anything, is you create a service that people love. And if millions of people choose your service, you're going to end up with a billion dollars.
Joe Getty
Right.
Jeff Bezos
And you can, you know, just try it with a chicken franchise.
Jack Armstrong
Do you think, though?
Jeff Bezos
But your chicken has to be good.
Joe Getty
But how can a person need to even be told that?
Jack Armstrong
I don't know.
Joe Getty
We just need to accept that that's true. Well, because they're dunces who are easily captured by the politics of envy, I think. I don't know.
Jack Armstrong
I was about to say, I think AOC believes it.
Joe Getty
Why did they do that interview next to an industrial air conditioner?
Jack Armstrong
Well, they did.
Joe Getty
Yeah. I don't know.
Jack Armstrong
They did it in one of your. One of the many Amazon, giant Amazon warehouses.
Joe Getty
Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
Kind of trying to make the point. Oh, well, Bezos makes the point earlier and maybe we'll play that clip because he said a lot of interesting stuff that I wish. You know, he should be on a debate stage with aoc. It'd be so good for the country.
Joe Getty
Oh, yeah, agreed.
Jack Armstrong
I think she's a dunce and doesn't actually understand a lot of things. How Robert Wright gets to go around saying that as a guy who's definitely not a dunce.
Joe Getty
Well, there are two, two possibilities and one of them is 100% true. I guarantee it. He is either one of many intellectuals who's blinded by his ideology and humans ability to blind themselves to further their ideological goals has astounded me since I was a little kid. It's either that or he's just a dedicated Marxist and he knows, look, there are some arguments in favor of capitalism, but I can't concede them. I've got to keep my ideological purity. So I'm going to pretend that, for instance, this horse crap that I'm about to say is true. Those are the only two possibilities.
Jack Armstrong
But Bezos at another point in the near interview talks about, I can do more to help society by starting the successful business than I could ever do. This is your point. You're always making. Than I could ever do by donating money to any charity or anything like that. Which I know for a lot of people that just is a head slapping. How the F could that be true? Why they don't get the whole. If I start a successful business that employs a hundred people, a hundred people have families, the families, 100 families are living their lives for decades, owning a house, a car, sending their kids to school, blah blah, blah, blah, blah. All because of this business I started. There's no charity I could donate where I could help that many people. And in the case of, you know, really big companies, you're helping thousands and thousands and thousands of people.
Joe Getty
Every dime they'll need cradle to grave. Imagine how vast a charity would need to be. Or you can just hire people and give them full time jobs with decent pay and benefits, period.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, the
Joe Getty
illiteracy of many Americans about economics, and I don't mean like the fancy stuff which is. God, it'd make you want to throw yourself off a bridge. I'm just talking about basic economics, how business works, economies work. It's really quite amazing and discouraging.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, I think we might be. I thought these arguments had been had and won and we could move on. But as we're all learning, we need to rehab these arguments like every 20 years. Apparently, like Ronald Reagan said, we really are at a place where we need to have some, some big debates on stage with I don't know who you choose to have about like basic economic stuff like this. Can you become a billionaire without being a crook or a monopoly or insider trading? Clearly yes. But half the country, maybe more, God help us, believes you can't. So let's, let's work this out.
Joe Getty
Yeah, they have that sort of cerebral debate. I think it was. The University of Toronto has them now and again, we've referenced them through the years, but not enough people see them, not enough people are aware of them. If your side whoops ass, it generally gets distributed to folks who tend to agree and they see it and hear about it, but nobody else does. Once again, because of the algorithms.
Jack Armstrong
Envy is such a strange thing. And then you got the human nature part of it. Elon was talking about this the other day, that that concept of you could be perfectly fine with your house. You take your house and put it in a neighborhood where it's like the nicest house in the neighborhood and you're perfectly fine. You take that same house, Put it in the neighborhood where all the other houses are nicer than yours, and you're all of a sudden unhappy. It's just a terrible aspect of human nature.
Joe Getty
I experienced that myself. I talked about it on the air. I wasn't proud of it, but I was shocked by it and honest enough to be honest about it. Like, what the hell's the matter with you? It's just part of being a human. But we've. You know, it's one of those urges that you just. You've got to, you know, climb above your caveman self and try to be a little more evolved and not let it drive your entire worldview, for goodness sakes.
Jack Armstrong
You know, I'm always looking for the evolutionary reason. Is it just. Is it so that we will continue to strive? But somehow I got mixed up with the emotion of envy, which is not a helpful emotion.
Joe Getty
Right. I think, you know, there I am with my caveman wife and my little caveman kids, cute little devils, and, you know, every other caveman dad is bringing home half an antelope. And me, I got barely a quarter of an antelope. There should be discontent, I guess.
Jack Armstrong
I don't know.
Joe Getty
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Jack Armstrong
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Joe Getty
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Jack Armstrong
Back to the caveman thing. Nobody can get an antelope. That can't happen. It was either Handed to them by a crook or, or something.
Joe Getty
Yeah, no, nobody can get a mastodon, honestly. Exactly. Here's, here's how people get those attitudes. And we'll get back to the Jeff Bezos interview because I think it's terrific. This is a study by a lab of politics in political science looking at specifically campaign finance donations among various fields of professional fields. And the most Republican fields run from 33% of them donate to Democrats, down to just 10% of them. But most of them, there are only a few that are that little, like oil workers and miners, 10, 11%. They're extremely Republican fields. But auctioneer, bank officer, plant manager, nurseryman, landscape contractor, insurance agent, truck driver, farmer, anesthesiologist, dairy farmer, all those things are about 30%. I donate to Democrats. 30% of that field goes against the grain. Maybe it's more like 20% when you get down to ranchers and mechanical contractors. But really the bulk of them, it's about 2/3, 1/3. Okay, now, among the most Democratic fields, those are the most Republican fields. Among the most Democratic fields, which range from union organizer to arts administration administrator, professor of this, that and the other. Epidemiologist, psychotherapist, conservationist, yoga instructor, social worker, TV producer, screenwriter, professor of law, film director, all those things, they range from 91 to 99% Democrat. So just to summarize it, in the most Republican fields, on average, a third of the people kicking around are Democrats. You'll hear their point of view, you'll get to know them, you'll like them, you'll think, well, their politics are wacky, but he's a good guy, she's a good gal, blah, blah, blah. In the most Democratic fields, it is 90. Well, the average is 95% Democrat.
Jack Armstrong
So you self select where you live to be around people that think like you. Then you go to work with people that think like you. And you never encounter anybody who, who you could say, well, they have different politics, but they seem to be nice. They don't seem like they're Hitler or anything.
Joe Getty
Right. They're not a correct caricature of, you know, evil. Like I get from social media, for instance. And the case has been made many times that conservatives are subjected to more progressive points of view via the media and popular culture and, and, and, you know, and academia. It's unavoidable. So you get used to it. It's fine. You consider those arguments. You don't like them, you walk away from them. Folks in blue bubbles never hear a conservative express conservative ideas or virtually never. It's why their ideas are so wacky.
Jack Armstrong
Or see one in the wild, right?
Joe Getty
Exactly. So all they can picture is this cartoonish fangs dripping with blood Trump worshiping lunatic.
Jack Armstrong
Speaking of speaking of fangs dripping with blood, they think they've nailed down who's running Iran. Okay, got a couple publications talking about that today. We'll get into that now or two. Among other things. We got Mailbag on the way. Hope you can stay here.
Joe Getty
Armstrong and Getty.
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Jack Armstrong
mentioned this the other day. We should read some of it. The Washington Post editorial board last week pushed back hard on Kamala Harris saying Democrats should not pack the Supreme Court. That would be devastating to our country and explained why. Maybe we'll do that later. It's pretty interesting.
Joe Getty
Good, good. Yeah, I love that idea. Here's your freedom loving quote of the day just sent along by alert listener Patrick to our topic of only a couple of months ago, Charlie Charlie Munger, who's a good, good down to earth author. I've read some of his stuff. He said the world is not driven by greed, it's driven by envy. Well, I think it's probably driven by both. Depends who you're you're talking about. Now it's gonna go off on a tangent, but we don't really have time. Mailbag. I got this note for oh drop us note. Mailbagarmstrongandgetti.com got this note from Adam thanks for bringing up the IRS settlement story in the slush fund on today's show yesterday. I count on you guys giving it to me straight. I was disturbed by yet another move by Trump that feels gross to say the least. Maybe our opinions part ways here, but he seems more and more interested in benefiting a smaller portion of the country doesn't sit well with me. And I think he owes more to a larger group of people and including the folks who voted for him. Yeah, I would agree. Well, you know, I realize this sounds unbearably sincere in this cynical age, but we're for the United States of America and sanity around here. Not for Trump per se, except when he's right. Not for a party when they suck. We'll call them out if you like it. Great. Thank you for listening. If you don't, goodbye, good luck. And he says, as we were finishing the segment, I was thinking to myself, the recent leadership that the White House in the White House. Oh yeah, several going back. Several unacceptable commitment to serve the citizens of the country. Is there a chance it's saving what the forefathers fought so hard to achieve? Then Joe said, it's been a great 250 years. That's a wrap. Hard to disagree with you. Finish the week strong, boys, he urges us. All right, Adam, we'll do our best.
Jack Armstrong
Love that.
Joe Getty
Finish the week strong.
Jack Armstrong
That goes against our motto, though. Start slow and taper off.
Joe Getty
That's true. That'd be a new leaf, Adam. But we'll try. Number of folks weighing in on Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google's commencement speech, and how all the youngsters were booing him every time he brought up AI now, number one. I think they're probably hitting the margaritas pretty hard there at University Arizona, but who knows? But Kevin writes. Morning, guys. The tone deafness of Mr. Schmidt was striking, but not surprising. What was equally striking was the response of the grads of this generation. I would wager there was not a single one of them without a smartphone and at least one AI chat app installed and 99% probably a chatbot helping write their papers during the cap and gown they were wearing. Yes, I received a text from a good old friend who is a law school teacher and said, are you kidding me? Most, if not all, of my students use AI every day to get their work done, so.
Jack Armstrong
Doesn't mean you don't boot. Wouldn't both. I use chat. I use AI 10 times a day. I would still boo a speech where they talk about the future of AI is coming. Boo.
Joe Getty
Right. Right. It's. It's a mixed bag, of course. Yeah. And then this from frequent correspondent Paolo. The visceral reaction many people have day I reminds me of telling a toddler they need an unpleasant medical procedure. The fear, the crying, the resistance are entirely real and they matter. But it shouldn't stop. The procedure should signal to the parents that the fear deserves to be acknowledged or addressed. You touched on that when you played Eric Schmidt's graduation speech. The problem is the parents building AI don't seem to be listening to the room. We must absolutely govern how AI deployed. But I don't think AI development can or should be slowed. Humans are built to learn. It's our greatest strength. It's what we do. The danger has never been the acquisition of knowledge, but the risk of failing to develop the wisdom to guide its use. That's some good writing there. The difference this time is that the stakes are higher than ever. Responding to challenges brought by AI feels as daunting as storming the beaches at Normandy. Overwhelming, terrifying, and far bigger than any one of us. We don't know what's going to happen, but we go anyway because we have to. What's the alternative? That's a very grown up thing to say.
Jack Armstrong
Somebody ought to get into the ear of all your tech giants and there's only like eight of them controlling the whole AI world right now and say people are scared to death of this. You can't keep presenting it like it's obviously good for them because they don't feel that way.
Joe Getty
Your toddler doesn't want a shot no matter how much good it does them. To get back to that metaphor. Ah, there's another really good one here from Jerry and Fairbanks. But. But we don't have time. Yeah, we'll get to that later. It's good, but it's about AI as well. Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
And if you have any thoughts on it, you can text us, of course, the text line. 415295KFTC. We got a lot on the way. Good stuff. Of all different stripes and varieties. And if you miss any of it, get our podcast. Armstrong and Getty on Demand. See you in moments.
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It's a celebration 250 years in the making.
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And we want everyone in America, from Maine to Montana, from Alabama to Alaska to be a part of it.
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This year marks America's 250th anniversary. And we're coming together from coast to coast at star spangled events, live performances and the largest day of giving in American history.
Announcer
Join the nationwide celebration celebration at america250.org
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Date: May 21, 2026
Podcast Host: iHeartPodcasts
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
This episode of Armstrong & Getty On Demand is a lively, irreverent, and insightful discussion centered on global politics (Cuba, Iran, Venezuela), perceptions of the U.S. economy, the effects of social media on public mood and understanding, and a deep dive into wealth creation controversies highlighted by a recent Jeff Bezos interview. The hosts also tackle the politics of envy, the generational divide over technology and AI, and why left-leaning Americans may be more isolated from opposing viewpoints.
The tone is skeptical, satirical, conversational, and sharp-tongued, with both hosts riffing on current events, economic anxieties, internet culture, and the ever-present specter of political polarization.
Cuba and "Regime Change" Jokes (03:11-05:17)
Quote:
Economic Pain and Gas Prices
Mood vs. Reality in the Economy (09:01-09:51)
How Social Media Shapes (or Warps) Our Reality (09:51-12:22)
Quote:
Younger Generations Are Especially Vulnerable
Demographic Study on Professional Political Leanings (35:48-39:07)
Quote:
Bezos on CNBC: How Billionaires Are Made (20:11, 28:02)
Quote:
Armstrong & Getty’s Commentary (Post-clip)
Charitable Giving vs. Creating Jobs
Envy, Human Nature, and Social Psychology
| Timestamp | Topic | |-----------|-------| | 03:11–05:14 | Cuba's government, U.S. regime change talk, international context (Iran/Venezuela) | | 06:30–07:34 | Gas prices, economic sentiment, poll numbers | | 09:01–09:51 | Mood vs. economic behavior; “catastrophizing” media | | 09:51–12:22 | Social media shifts how people form opinions | | 13:23–15:22 | Armstrong experiences algorithm-driven Twitter, feels its negative effects | | 15:49–16:08 | “Left is more bubbled than the right” discussion | | 20:11, 28:02 | Jeff Bezos interview on earning billions; basic business math | | 27:21–29:16 | Reaction to AOC/Robert Reich billionaire commentary, Bezos pushback | | 32:12–32:47 | Public illiteracy on basic economics, need for public debate | | 35:48–39:07 | Political ‘bubbles’ by profession; why progressives are more isolated from conservative views |
This episode captures Armstrong & Getty’s blend of biting humor, skepticism, and cultural critique, especially focused on the mythologies and misunderstandings pervading American politics, economics, and perceptions shaped by the digital age. They dissect everything from the “politics of envy” and media-driven panic to digital echo chambers, offering a bracing reminder to ground one’s worldview in reality rather than algorithms or slogans.