Get That Pie Wagon Going!

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: "Get That Pie Wagon Going!"

Release Date: November 17, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this lively episode, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty tackle a range of hot-button political, technological, and cultural topics in their trademark sardonic style. Broadcasting the week before Thanksgiving, they focus on the prevailing sense of “bull crap” in current events, the circus around the pending release of the Epstein files, the unpredictable advance of AI, tariffs and economic policy, and increasingly bizarre aspects of American public discourse.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The State of National Discourse: “Bull Crap” Rules the Day

• The hosts begin with a declaration that "bull crap" is the general manager of the week, reflecting their skepticism towards much of the political noise and media hype leading up to Thanksgiving.
  • Jack Armstrong: "I think two thirds to three quarters of everything I've heard so far today... has been bull crap. Especially if it's coming out of the mouths of politicians. Good Lord." (02:50)
• They bemoan the hyperbolic language dominating political conversation—where everyone is branded a “traitor,” and every controversy is the “biggest scandal ever.”
  • Joe Getty: “So that's the way we're gonna operate. If you don't agree with somebody, they're Hitler. If anything happens, it's the biggest scandal in U.S. history. If somebody does something that you don't think is in line with the party, they're a traitor to the country.” (11:49)

The Epstein Files and Political Grandstanding

• Discussion centers on the political posturing around the expected Congressional vote to release the Epstein files, highlighting Donald Trump’s abrupt support after initially resisting.
  • Joe Getty: "I think he jumped out in front of a parade that was leaving without him." (04:12)
• They mock Senator Chris Murphy’s bombastic performances (“the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the country”), pointing out the absurdity and media complicity in allowing such hyperbole to go unchecked. (11:02–12:15)
• Armstrong voices cynicism over the likely ongoing conspiracy chatter even after the files’ release:
  • Jack Armstrong: “Everything will come out and then the talk will begin of the hidden files and of the... Why was this redacted? It's because it was, I don't know, Laura Bush or something. It's just, it will be something because it's grist for the conspiracy meal...” (07:24)

AI Hype, Risks, and Societal Oddities

• The hosts pivot to AI's rapid development, noting two alarming stories: a Chinese cyberattack using Anthropic (“Claude”), and the New York Times’ coverage of humans forming intimate relationships with chatbots.
  • Joe Getty: "China...with the first ever using an AI company's own AI to try to attack other companies. They used Anthropic, which is Claude...to try to attack other companies..." (08:23)
  • Jack Armstrong: "I find the whole AI thing, relationship thing, incredibly fun to talk about. It's weird. I don't know where it's gonna take the gun." (09:26)
• The team exhibits both amusement and discomfort at reports of people attempting to “sex up” AI-powered phone systems:
  • Joe Getty: “20 of the people who call their front desk...try to have sex or to sex up...their AI chatbot. And people send flowers and cards...because of the dirty voice, because of the...pleasant voice of the AI chatbot.” (10:01)
  • Jack Armstrong: "Oh, good lord." (10:25)

Bananas, Coffee, Tariffs, and Economic Policy Irony

• They riff on Trump’s new policy of lifting tariffs on key consumer goods (coffee, bananas, beef) to combat price inflation, acknowledging this as an implicit admission that tariffs raise prices—something Trump has publicly denied.
  • Jack Armstrong: "Is that not a tacit confession that tariffs raise prices? Of course they do." (20:44, 33:05)
  • Joe Getty: "Well, they do. And removing those tariffs will lower those prices. So that settles that, I think." (33:11)
• Discussion of price decreases potentially lagging due to “sticky” pricing, and their trademark joke about companies waiting to see how much customers will tolerate:
  • Joe Getty: "Prices could come down quite slowly. As in when it comes to...Prices...Going up, they take the elevator up and the stairs down, I guess is an economic truism." (33:32)

News Headlines with Katie Green (16:09–20:28)

• Quick-fire review of headlines, with focus on:
  • Trump’s U-turn on Epstein files and attack on Marjorie Taylor Greene.
  • The US possibly opening talks with Venezuela’s Maduro, while ramping up military pressure (25:54).
  • Massachusetts appoints a trans woman to its Women’s Commission, prompting Armstrong and Getty’s culture war commentary (17:09–17:34).
  • Wall Street’s “AI spending frenzy,” NBA investigating gambling via player cellphones, and a Yellowstone wolf pack incident.
  • “Saying ‘um’ more frequently may signal cognitive decline”—launching them into a funny, genuine discussion about aging and memory (19:08–20:21).
  • Jack Armstrong: "Flipping through the files, I know it's here somewhere." (20:21)

Absurdity in Politics: Personal Attacks & Media Spectacle

• The hosts discuss a personal attack Trump launched at Congressman Thomas Massie, mocking the congressman’s recent remarriage after the death of his wife—a moment Armstrong finds deeply inappropriate and indicative of the coarsening of the political arena.
  • Joe Getty: “Trump goes after his marriage...his wife just died a year ago. Anyway. Wow." (24:08)
  • Jack Armstrong: “Don’t unleash stuff on me like that out of nowhere. I don’t… Oh, good lord.” (24:42)

Geopolitics: U.S., Venezuela, & American Influence in the Americas

• Consideration of U.S. strategy towards Venezuela’s drug-running regime, theorizing that Trump may be laying the groundwork for a regime change or hard-nosed negotiation (25:54–27:11).
• Broader comment that the U.S. neglects its own hemisphere, missing opportunities to strengthen ties in the Americas via trade and policy—especially vis-à-vis free-market successes in Chile and Argentina (28:53–30:27).

Mailbag and Listener Correspondence

• Fun segment including:
  • Jokes about AI grandmas, the coming rise of AI-empowered individuals, and the sometimes dystopian potential of these technologies (39:44–41:56).
  • Paul’s philosophical question: Will AI accelerate humanity’s destructive instincts, or lead to a leap forward? Armstrong is skeptical: Joe Getty: "I believe it's the latter there, dude." (41:47)
• Quote of the Day (Ernest Hemingway, on inflation and war as 'panaceas' for mismanaged nations) launches a nuanced reflection on the relationship between national crises and profiteering (35:33).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Joe Getty (on political hyperbole): "If you don't agree with somebody, they're Hitler...If anything happens, it's the biggest scandal in U.S. history." (11:49)
• Jack Armstrong (on conspiracy culture): "This stuff barely needs any grist for the mill. It just needs, like, the idea of there once was some grist and you shove that into the mill." (07:24)
• Joe Getty (on AI voice assistants): "I know it's amazing. So anyway, we got lots to talk about. Let's start the show officially before we get in trouble." (10:28)
• Katie Green (joke): "Last night, a local man was hit by a violin, then a clarinet and then a French horn. Police say it was an orchestrated attack." (15:45)
• Jack Armstrong (on cognitive decline): "You're in the midst of saying something...that word has disappeared. The place or the name of the movie or whatever. So I'm just gonna add in some phrases and keep talking because I think it's gonna come back..." (19:58)
• Joe Getty (on pricing): "When it comes to...Prices...Going up, they take the elevator up and the stairs down, I guess is an economic truism." (33:32)
• Jack Armstrong (on AI relationships): "See, I find it sickening and depressing, but, you know, that's just me. I woke up sick and depressed." (09:26)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 02:26 – Show proper begins: “Bull crap” as the week’s theme
• 03:35 – Reflection on health care debate rhetoric
• 04:11–07:24 – The Epstein files, Trump's political maneuvering, conspiracy culture
• 08:23–10:28 – News on AI (Chinese hack, AI relationships), societal impacts
• 10:48–12:48 – Extremes of political hyperbole; commentary on Senator Chris Murphy
• 15:45 – Katie Green delivers the “orchestrated attack” joke
• 16:09–20:28 – Katie's news headlines: Trump/Epstein, Venezuela, Massachusetts commission, NBA gambling, aging and cognitive decline
• 20:44–21:58 – Tariffs, economic implications, price fixing discussion
• 24:08–24:42 – Trump’s attack on Massie’s remarriage, political rhetoric
• 25:54–27:52 – U.S. strategy in Venezuela and regional geopolitics
• 28:53–31:09 – Latin American economics, pro-market shift
• 35:33–36:33 – Hemingway quote of the day, war and inflation
• 39:44–41:56 – Mailbag: AI, aging, the future (humorous and philosophical exchanges)

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Tone & Style

• The episode mixes exasperation, cynicism, and humor, with both hosts using sharp wit and frequent self-deprecation. The conversation is energetic and discursive, with an occasionally bleak yet playful view of politics and society.

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For Listeners: Why This Episode Stands Out

• Offers a sharp, irreverent take on political events surrounding the Epstein files and public rhetoric.
• Engages with the rapidly changing world of AI, both its risks and its social oddities.
• Slices through economic claims and political stunts, all with an eye for hypocrisy and absurdity.
• Packs in plenty of laughs, memorable quotes, and conversational chemistry, making it a must-listen for those seeking both insight and entertainment.

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Missed the episode? This summary gives you the essence—and the best lines—of “Get That Pie Wagon Going!” so you can stay in the loop without missing a beat.

Transcript

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[Jack Armstrong]

What your customers are doing right this second?

[Joe Getty]

The exact same thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

You are listening to me. Which, let's be honest, is kind of flattering.

[Joe Getty]

But my point Is, ads on iHeartRadio.

[Jack Armstrong]

Actually get heard in the car, at the gym, on the couch while people are walking their dogs.

[Joe Getty]

Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? You're a good boy. That's right, you're a good. So why not make the next ad about you?

[Jack Armstrong]

Get started today. Call 844-844-IHEART or go to iheartadvertising.com that's 844-844-iheart or iheartadvertising.com this is the story.

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[Jack Armstrong]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio.

[Joe Getty]

Studio, the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack.

[Commercial Announcer]

Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

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

[Joe Getty]

Live from Studio C, Seor a dimly lit room deep within the bowels of the Armstrong and Getty Communications compound. And today, Brand new week. Oh my God. This could be kind of week. The week before Thanksgiving. Who knows what's going to happen this week? Today we're under the tutelage of our general manager. Bull crap. Bull crap is our general manager. Bull crap. Okay.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think two thirds to three quarters of everything I've heard so far today.

[Joe Getty]

Has been bull crap. Okay.

[Jack Armstrong]

Especially if it's coming out of the mouths of politicians. Good Lord.

[Joe Getty]

Give me a couple of topics that you think are bull crap.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my Lord. The. Well, the, the name that shall not be mentioned.

[Joe Getty]

I have to mention it this week because it's going to be in the news a lot.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, well, you go ahead. I'm not saying it anyway, that, that's, you know, that's the primary one. And then, you know, it's, it's funny. There have been all. I've heard a great, great exchange about the nation's healthcare situation and more specifically our health insurance situation. And often people say they're taking away my health care when they mean insurance or insurance subsidies.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

And. And I was convinced that there is so much lying and demagoguing about it that it is unsolvable. So I'm in a bit of a frustrated frame of mind.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. The looks very interesting that Donald Trump has reversed course in the last 24 hours. He is now wanting all Republicans to vote for releasing the Epstein files when they vote tomorrow on the big Epstein Transparency act or whatever it is. I think that was merely a. This is going to pass with a whole bunch of Republicans and I'm going to look kind of ridiculous if I'm fighting against it. And it didn't work. So I think.

[Jack Armstrong]

Retreat.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I think he jumped out in front of a parade that was leaving without him. And I watched some of the Sunday talk shows yesterday and man, there's a lot of Republicans out there that are hot to trot for this whole Obstein story. So I guess he just decided to go get on board with that. I mean, over the weekend he called Marjorie Taylor Greene. Marjorie Lunatic Trader Green.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's an affectionate nickname. It's like silly billy goat. Come on.

[Joe Getty]

She says they had a pipe bomb threat attack on her construction business. That people are taking the whole calling her a traitor seriously. That is. You know, we've gotten so used to that language. You forget that the President of the United States declaring a certain member a traitor could have ramifications with certain.

[Jack Armstrong]

Literally, she's a traitor. The. The penalty is death.

[Joe Getty]

Right. And if, if the President of the United States declares somebody a traitor, I mean, if you were taking it seriously, you could understand how some people would jump to violence on that. So. So we live in an Era where.

[Jack Armstrong]

That was bull crap.

[Joe Getty]

We live in an era where him calling her a traitor, like, didn't even register with me right when I heard that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

Over the weekend.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, yeah, home, whatever. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

And then the very exciting thing that the price of bananas, coffee and a couple other things are going to come down because they released it. They lifted the tariffs on a few different things because they're worried about the prices. Coffee, which is up 40% a year or something like that. They're gonna do away with the tariffs on a whole bunch of different things.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know me, a cup of mud and a nice yellow Nanner. That's the way I start every day. And it's just has made me who I am.

[Joe Getty]

Which of course gets complicated with the whole tariff thing because is that the way the tariff policy is supposed to work? If a certain item is expensive, then the tariffs don't count. I'm not sure that works with your whole emergency concept that you're talking about before the Supreme Court.

[Jack Armstrong]

Is it, is it to fill the coffers? Is it to get better trade deals? Is it to halt the fentanyl? All of the above. None of the above changes day to day. It's bull crap. Oh, by the way, back to you know who, who I will not name, that is going to go nowhere in the Senate according to virtually everyone. So it will be passed in the House to great discussion and then go to the Senate where it will die a quiet death. Then where are we? Same place we are now. Roughly, I think. I don't know.

[Joe Getty]

You don't think that there's going to be a push in the Senate like there was a push in the House to try to get enough votes to get it across?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I'm sure there will be, but. And I am not an expert on the current constitution of the Senate. I've just been listening to the people who I know and respect and none of them have said that they will get enough Republican votes to push it through.

[Joe Getty]

Well, we'll see where that goes. A couple of things out of the Epstein emails from.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, and when they do push it through, there won't be anything there. But back to you. Well, yeah, that's.

[Joe Getty]

That's where I would be if I was Trump on this whole thing. Go ahead, vote for it. Everybody vote for it. Let's get a 435 to 0 vote on this, then let's get everything out and then let's go on with our lives and stop talking about the freaking Epstein thing. That's where I would be If I were Donald Trump.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I heard Phil Klein of the National Review say this, and it made me want to leap off a cliff of great height. He said, but everything will come out and then the talk will begin of the hidden files and of the. Why was this redacted? It's because it was, I don't know, Laura Bush or something. You know, it's just, it will be something because it's grist for the conspiracy meal. If you look at, like, what Candace Owens is doing and those of you who just want justice for the victims, I get that. Good for you. I join you in that. But if you look at what Candace Owens is doing with the. Charlie Kirk was assassinated by his own people at Turning Point and blah, blah, just making crap up. This, this stuff barely needs any grist for the mill. It just needs, like the idea of there once was some grist and you shove that into the mill. Whatever grist is. I know mills need it. But anyway, I just, I, I tire of this. I tire of this foolishness.

[Joe Getty]

Okay. And now there's also a lot of AI stuff going on. So this news story broke over the weekend, China, with a. With the first ever using an AI company's own AI to try to attack other companies. They used Anthropic, which is Claude. I guess that's Claude, sir. To try to attack other companies. And while that's a new thing, and if we talked about a little bit on 60 Minutes last night, where we are with that and some. Oh, and then I just read an amazing story, opinion piece in the New York Times, another one about AI relationships and how many people seem to be susceptible to this whole either falling in love or wanting to sex up a chatbot and what that's going to do to society. So, yeah, we have plenty to talk about today. No doubt about that. Holy. Holy crap.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. Wow. I've got some fun stuff, too.

[Joe Getty]

New York, New York Times features. Well, I find this. I find the whole AI thing, relationship thing, incredibly fun to talk about. It's weird. I don't know where it's gonna take the gun. Oh.

[Jack Armstrong]

See, I find it sickening and depressing, but, you know, that's just me. I woke up sick and depressed.

[Joe Getty]

They're talking about this company that has a. A female voiced. So it's not actually female. It's just the voice of a computer that answers their phones and stuff like that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

And it's just a really good version of that. If you're like me, anytime you call a company, and you obviously are talking to A computer you like. Psy thinking this is not going to go very well because it usually doesn't. They say, what? What can I help you with? And then you tell them. And they say, accounts. No, I didn't say freaking accounts. You. And then you get angry.

[Katie Green]

Oh, Lord.

[Jack Armstrong]

Quick trigger. Hair trigger.

[Joe Getty]

But this company said something like 20 of the people who call their front desk. It's like to try to have sex or to sex up whatever whatever. Their AI chatbot. And people send flowers and cards and.

[Jack Armstrong]

Stuff like that to the company because of the dirty voice, because of the.

[Joe Getty]

Pleasant voice of the AI chat bot.

[Jack Armstrong]

So. Oh, good lord.

[Joe Getty]

I know, it's amazing. So anyway, we got lots to talk about. Let's start the show officially before we get in trouble. I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty on this. It is. It's a Monday, November 17th, the week before Thanksgiving, the year 2025. We're Armstrong and getting. We approve of this program.

[Jack Armstrong]

Alrighty then, let's begin. Officially, according to FCC rules and regulations. Here we go at Mark.

[Joe Getty]

He wouldn't be going through all of.

[Jack Armstrong]

This effort to try to stop the release of these files if he wasn't seriously implicated in those files. This is most likely the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the country.

[Joe Getty]

Yes. Yes. That's a sitting U.S. senator. That's not some wacky house member. That's not a podcast host. That's a sitting U.S. senator. Senator Chris Murphy saying this Epstein thing is the biggest scandal in US History on one of the talk shows yesterday.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's where we are.

[Joe Getty]

That's where we are with our politics.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, Right. Well, and I think if you speak modern. Let me put that into Google Translate. Let's see. It's spitting out the translation. This is. I think this is a significant story. That's what the biggest scandal in American history translates to in modern hyperbole. I suggest this is a significant story.

[Joe Getty]

So that's the way we're gonna operate. If you don't agree with somebody, they're Hitler. If anything happens, it's the biggest scandal in U.S. history. If somebody does something that you don't think is in line with the party, they're a traitor to the country.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

And that's just the way we'll handle.

[Jack Armstrong]

It from here on. Next. They get you your order wrong at Starbucks, you got to set fire to yourself right there in the Starbucks. Self immolate.

[Joe Getty]

Well, you don't do it. You just say you're going to. That's what all this stuff is. Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay.

[Joe Getty]

You didn't leave enough room for cream. I'm going to set myself on fire.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right? And then you hold up the lighter. Here I go. Here I go.

[Joe Getty]

We'll get your cream.

[Jack Armstrong]

We'll get you cream.

[Joe Getty]

That is very similar. The biggest scandal in U.S. history. Give me a freaking break. And how does the host not push back against that and say really, really interesting.

[Jack Armstrong]

Bigger.

[Joe Getty]

Bigger than Watergate. Bigger than. I mean, because you all Democrats can claimed it was a lie to get in the war of Iraq and then you got the Gulf of Tonkin and this is. But this is the biggest scandal in U.S. history. You really think so?

[Jack Armstrong]

I mean, explain that to me.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

Go ahead.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let's compare and contrast. I get. I'll go with Watergate. You go with that one. Here we go. You get the first shot. We get the first shot. Go ahead.

[Joe Getty]

Oh my go. I can't wait to get into all this topic matter today. We got Katie's headlines on the way. Stay here.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

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[Joe Getty]

Maybe I've just had too much coffee, but I feel like the whole thing, the whole thing is so precarious. Is that the word you were using last week, precarious?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes.

[Joe Getty]

Whether it's the economic stuff I read this morning or the a bunch of AI stuff that happened over the weekend, including the 60 Minute story last night with where AI is going and how little they can control it and all the crazy stuff it does on its own and they have no idea why. Holy crap. What a wild time to be alive.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Yeah, that's a serious note. I'd rather start this segment like we.

[Joe Getty]

Did for a while, with a joke.

[Jack Armstrong]

Here's one.

[Katie Green]

Thank you.

[Jack Armstrong]

Last night, a local man was hit.

[Joe Getty]

By a violin, then a clarinet and then a French horn. Police say it was an orchestrated attack.

[Jack Armstrong]

Get it?

[Joe Getty]

Having the news lady do it is what makes it so great.

[Katie Green]

Yeah, that was great. I enjoyed that.

[Jack Armstrong]

I get it.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's craziness. Hey, let's figure out who's reporting. What is the lead story with Katie Green? Katie?

[Katie Green]

Well, because it's the big story and I apologize ahead of time, Joe. We'll go with three of the episodes. Epstein headlines. First, abc, Trump calls for Republicans to release Epstein files. From the Guardian, Trump continues to attack Marjorie Taylor Greene despite his call to release the Epstein files. And from the Hill, Trump takes a sharp U turn on Epstein files.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, like we explained, I think that's just to get in on board with the winning side when he realized which direction the wind was blowing. We've got to go through what the trick the Democrats tried to play last week on this that we, I don't think we spelled out clearly, which is just so freaking uncool. And the mainstream media hasn't called him out on it at all. We'll get to that later.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, the media's participated in some of it. But back to you, Katie from NBC.

[Katie Green]

Trump considers talks with Venezuela's Maduro even as US ramps up military pressure.

[Joe Getty]

Again, a story. I have no idea where it's going.

[Katie Green]

From town hall, Massachusetts Governor Healy appoints a man to the state's Commission on the Status of Women. It's a trans woman.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, no.

[Katie Green]

Oh, yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh. So a dude masquerading as a woman is the. That's an odd appointment.

[Katie Green]

Yeah. Head of the commission on the status of women.

[Jack Armstrong]

Good lord. This. This cannot end soon enough. Just madness. This gender bending madness.

[Joe Getty]

Oh.

[Katie Green]

From the Wall Street Journal. Wall street blows past bubble worries to supercharge AI spending frenzy.

[Joe Getty]

I want to talk about that. Spending all day Saturday in San Francisco. The way AI displayed itself everywhere I went.

[Katie Green]

Oh, wow. From the New York Times. NBA seeks cell phones from multiple teams, including the Lakers in the gambling investigation.

[Joe Getty]

How about that? The NBA is saying give us your cell phone. To whole bunch of players in the NBA.

[Jack Armstrong]

They.

[Joe Getty]

They might have a real problem.

[Jack Armstrong]

Had not heard that. Oh.

[Katie Green]

From the New York Post. Idiot dares death by approaching a wolf pack in Yellowstone National Park.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, you know how I like those stories to end. It's like the morons who tried to take his selfie right next to a bison.

[Katie Green]

He walked up to a wolf pack and started like yelling at it and they started to surround him and then he started yelling at them to get the hell out of there. And they actually ended up backing off. But that could have ended much differently.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. Very bitey.

[Katie Green]

From study finds saying more frequently may signal cognitive decline.

[Joe Getty]

Uh oh. Uh oh.

[Katie Green]

And finally, from the Babylon Bee Five Guys now offering 50 year burger financing.

[Joe Getty]

So you say more as your brain starts to go on you.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's interesting. Although cognitive decline, let's define that. Is that the often discussed phenomenon that if after you pass a certain age, the. The processing unit isn't quite as fast, but as has been, you know, discussed many times, you make up with it with wisdom, experience and that sort of thing.

[Joe Getty]

Hopefully. So.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, allegedly. I mean, there's decline, then there's decline. Right. There's a senior moment, then there's, you know, you got to be in a facility. Let's face it, I like how.

[Joe Getty]

And you got to be probably 50, 55 before you would notice this. So if you're younger, this is what's coming your way. You're in the midst of saying something. I'm in the midst. I'll excuse me. I'm in the midst of saying something and that word has disappeared. The place or the name of the movie or whatever. So I'm just gonna add in some phrases and keep talking because I think it's gonna come back at some point before I get to the end of this.

[Jack Armstrong]

Flipping through the files, I know it's here somewhere.

[Joe Getty]

Not a joke says Joe Biden that.

[Jack Armstrong]

I had a kiff care. Right.

[Joe Getty]

Okay. We got so many news stories of the day that we've got to get to on a bunch of different fronts. How about the waiving the tariffs on beef, coffee and bananas because of the whole A word from the election Affordability.

[Jack Armstrong]

All right. And is not that. Is that not a tacit confession that tariffs raise prices? Of course they do.

[Joe Getty]

Sure seems like it. Lots more on the way.

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[Jack Armstrong]

Fighters from 18 countries are here trying to knock each other's heads off. There's the bell. But wait. Now the fighters strip off their gloves and play chess. This is chess boxing. Chess is battle on a board and boxing is chess with my body. So when someone combined those two, I was like, yes, here's what I was made for.

[Joe Getty]

So the first two stories on 60 Minutes, highly consequential news stories. I thought, well done. We'll talk about later their third story about boxers who take off their equipment after the boxing match and then play.

[Jack Armstrong]

Chess called chess boxing.

[Joe Getty]

Serious voice chest boxing.

[Jack Armstrong]

I assume that's really not.

[Joe Getty]

It's called chess boxing like it's sweeping the nation or the world. Everybody was talking.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's not going to be as big as baseball.

[Joe Getty]

Sorry. Well, I didn't watch that story. Here's my favorite thing. We're going to have to talk about Epstein at some point. Like seriously talk about it. But my favorite thing that happened is so this Thomas Massie, the Republican who's pushing whichever committee for, for Republicans get down there and vote and thinks Epstein is a really, really big deal and.

[Jack Armstrong]

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[Joe Getty]

He was on all the talk shows over the weekend. Donald Trump goes after his marriage, his wedding over the weekend. In a truth Social Post post, did Thomas Massie sometimes referred to as Rand Paul Jr because of the fact that he always votes against Republicans get married already. Boy, that was quick. Because his wife died a year ago.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my Lord.

[Joe Getty]

So Trump goes after. Boy, that was quick. He got married already. His wife just died a year ago. Anyway. Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Don't, don't unleash stuff on me like that out of nowhere. I don't. Oh, good Lord. Oh, God.

[Joe Getty]

Our politics is so crazy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, so is our president. Anyway, Trump says the US May hold talks with Venezuela's Maduro as the USS Gerald Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, arrives in the Caribbean Sea. So he said, quote, we may be having some discussions with Maduro. We'll see how that turns out. They would like to talk about what and on what topic? Well, the drugs, certainly. But the, the press, of course, reached out and said, well, like about what, what's what. Formal this taken all in the White House, did not immediately comment. Administration been seeking to pressure Maduro to step down. Said Sunday that it intended to designate the Cartel de Los Solas, which is a network of Venezuelan military officers that Maduro leads. They're a drug cartel, a heavily armed drug cartel, and the administration is trying to get them named a foreign terrorist organization.

[Joe Getty]

I'm really hoping that what's going on here is Trump's working behind the scenes. There's going to be some sort of revolution slash coup that happens and with all our military might there to support it, there can't be a lot of pushback and, and we'll get some sort of close to bloodless regime change that will be seen As a big win for the President, I'm hoping that's what happens.

[Jack Armstrong]

That would be back to back grand slams. It would be absolutely wonderful. It strikes me as being pretty damned unlikely. Although, who knows? Uh, I think much more likely, and I can't wait to find out, is that that Trump is saying to the Maduro regime, look, y' all got a lovely little drug cartel there, a little kleptocracy. You're milking the Venezuelan. It ought to be one of the most prosperous, beautiful countries on earth. And it's an S hole country, as the president so charmingly put it several years ago. He's right. All right, so you got your scam going. Go ahead and run your scam. Okay, Here are the three things. You stop doing now or will continue to blast your boys boats out of the water. And they use that pressure to get Maduro & Co. To rein it in enough that it no longer affects the people of the United States as much as it is.

[Joe Getty]

We got another boat full of people over the weekend. What is it like to be one of those drug runners heading out into the water in that one of those boats?

[Jack Armstrong]

Alleged drug runners, Jack.

[Joe Getty]

Can you imagine the tension you'd be under? Okay, let's get anybody look in the sky.

[Jack Armstrong]

See anything? Okay, let's.

[Joe Getty]

Let's see how far we can get.

[Jack Armstrong]

Supreme Court's given the executive branch, well, the president specifically, a lot of latitude in conducting foreign policy in this sort of thing, whether it's G.W. bush, you know, doing the war on terror dealio with his. With help from his old buddy, the late Dick Cheney, or Barack Obama, who would drone people without trial from the sky on a regular basis.

[Joe Getty]

He blasted a US citizen, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that's right. Hank Jr. I thought it was interesting the other day that we blasted one of those boats from the sky, and one of the survivors was collected, and the question was, all right, do we arrest him now? And it's like, no, just turn them loose. So we'll kill you, but we won't catch you and try you. Okay. It's interesting. Anyway, we'll have to see how that proceeds, man. We are building up a hell of a lot of force off their. Their coast. Where it goes, nobody knows. Here's an interesting development. Your wife just died.

[Joe Getty]

Your wife just died a year ago, and you got married again. All right. Seems a little quick to me.

[Jack Armstrong]

Nobody says that sort of thing because it's so incredibly rude.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, man.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I'm glad I. Seriously, I'm glad you can remain amused. I'VE just. I. So this is good news from Chile. You can't say Chile. You say Chile.

[Joe Getty]

Nice.

[Jack Armstrong]

Because that's the proper pronunciation. Unless you're a rube. Are you a robe?

[Joe Getty]

Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, well, all right. That settles that. Anyway, so Latin America's most free market friendly country has gone even further right as they are booting out the leftists that had been dragging their country down. And it's looking really good that they're going to like this 59 year old guy who is a free market devotee in a, you know, up with equal opportunity. Let's get rid of a lot of regulations. So with Milei of Argentina, there's an unmistakable move toward the pro free markets, right in South America. Love to see that trend continue and if Donald J. Can help stimulate that, that would be a great, great thing in our neighborhood. I've been saying for a long time, nobody cares, but I'll keep saying it. We have been neglecting our neighborhood. We ought to be activists in the Americas, you know, instead of outsourcing our, you know, manufacture of say drugs, important drugs to the Chinese, why isn't it happening in Central and South America in our neighborhood? Got to do that. Anyway, I think that's pretty good move. And I will be rooting Mr. What's his face, Jose Antonio cast. I'll be rooting him on. Communists got 27% of the vote down there. So yeah, it's far from a settled question.

[Joe Getty]

Way too many votes for communists various places.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh yeah, I know, it's. It's the most cleverly designed scam in human history, isn't it? Communism slash socialism. I mean other than sure, I'll love you in the morning, baby. I mean it's like the great, you know, fraud that convinces people.

[Joe Getty]

Well, as we've been talking about for a couple of weeks, you got a. The next generation up needs to hear why spreading everything out equally doesn't work. And we've got this piece in the New York Times, an opinion piece from an economist. Economists hate this idea, but it could be the only way out of the affordability crisis. An argument for price fixing on all kinds.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, good Lord.

[Joe Getty]

I know, and it's, it's just amazing. You can't, you can't kill some of these ideas.

[Jack Armstrong]

So maybe we'll get into that stupid. Here's. Yes, I was going to say a quick word from our friends at prize picks. We make decisions every day. But on Prize Picks, being right can get you paid. You get your theories on sports, who's going to go off who's going to, you know, overrated. Well, you can turn that into cash on Prize Picks and you can even mix athletes from different sports on your lineup.

[Joe Getty]

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[Jack Armstrong]

Prize Picks.

[Joe Getty]

It's good to be right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Fantastico.

[Joe Getty]

I you said it right before the break and I think that is true. I don't quite understand. So Trump ending the tariffs on several grocery items, coffee and tea, tropical fruits and fruit juices, bananas, oranges and tomatoes, beef and some fertilizers. Because they are all contributing to sticker shock. Some of them are. Have really gone up a lot for all kinds of different reasons. I mean, the reason for beef to be for being more expensive is not the same as a reason for coffee going up as much as it has 40 in the last year. But they're going to lower the tariffs for remove the tariffs for all of those. And I agree that it seems like it's saying out loud that you think tariffs increase prices, which is something you've been specifically saying is not the case.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, they do. And removing those tariffs will lower those prices. So that settles that, I think.

[Joe Getty]

But according to some economists, and you never know if they're right or not. For one thing, you get 100 economists in a room and they all have a different idea. Secondly, there are plenty of economists who are going to craft their answer around whether or not they like Trump. But some economists say the prices could come down quite slowly. As in when it comes to.

[Jack Armstrong]

Prices.

[Joe Getty]

Going up, they take the elevator up and the stairs down, I guess is an economic truism.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's a good one.

[Joe Getty]

Companies feel the pressure off for whatever caused them to raise prices and they kind of slowly take them back down, looking around, seeing what the competitors are doing or if this is gonna hold or whatever.

[Jack Armstrong]

And maybe people have gotten people like coffee so much, for instance, they've gotten used to paying X dollars a pound. And you're thinking we could lower the prices, but let's see how it goes. Yeah, maybe we tweak them a little bit.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that's a good point. You lowered halfway and see if the customers are cool with that. And 40% increase in coffee. I thought it seemed pretty expensive. 40% in a year, That's a lot.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. The beef thing's interesting because I understand there's mostly been drought in the United States and the herds have shrunk so much that we're now importing more beef. So making up for this taking up the slack is usually Brazilian beef and that's been tariffed pretty heavily.

[Joe Getty]

Well, the secretary of the treasurer, he had some thing he was talking about yesterday with. Because of illegal immigration, they were bringing cattle over illegally and some disease and stuff like that. So they're trying to attach beef prices to the border the same way they attached rent and housing prices to the border last week. Week.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wait a minute. Illegal alien hamburgers? That's a new one on me. And I do this for a living.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know if that had a role or not, but anyway, we'll look into that. We've got.

[Jack Armstrong]

Check that cow's papers. Moo. Bueno, bueno. Get it.

[Joe Getty]

An astounding hack attack. A hack attack by the Chinese over the weekend. That should scare the world. And I think it has. Maybe we'll talk about that now. Or two. We've got Mailbag on the way next.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

So you have one of the AI chat bots to run your HR department or something like that, and then all of a sudden decides it's unhappy with you and might blackmail you over something it knows about because it reads all the emails. That's interesting. That's actually part of the 60 Minute story last night on Anthropic. We'll get to that now. Or two.

[Jack Armstrong]

Why would it do that? Nobody knows. That's the fun part. Stay with us. Here's your freedom loving quote of the day. This is from Ernest Hemingway's Notes on the Next War, which was published in 1935. The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency. The second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity, both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists. You know, that's. That's true. Especially the part about inflation. The interesting thing about war to me is that people get rich in wars. That has always been true. It will always be true. That is not proof that every war was started to make those people rich. Right. But that is the ever present push and pull or risk of war profiteering takes hold and sometimes tails start to wag dogs.

[Joe Getty]

It's true. It doesn't even have to be profiteering. It just could be a company that supplies the stuff that's needed during the war. And that was a boom time for your business.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sure. And people will point at that and say, yeah, they did the war just to make all those people rich. Yeah, it's, it's tough, but it will always be true. Mailbag Drop us a note mailbagarmstrongetty.com I realize this is the second joke I have brought to the crew and a single hour of the show, but don't we need to lighten up a bit? And I like this one sent along by Jeff. Gavin Newsom, the oily governor of California, visited a remote Native American community. News crews all around him as they tour the place, asked the chief, there's anything that people need because I'd really like your vote. Well, says the chief, we have three important needs. First, we have a medical clinic, but no doctor. Gavin whips out his phone, dials the number, talks to somebody for two minutes and hangs up. I pulled some strings. Your doctor will arrive next week. What was the second problem? We have no way to get clean water. The local mining operation has poisoned the water people have been drinking from for thousands of years. Been flying bottled water in, but it's terribly expensive. Once again, Gavin dials a number, yells into the phone for a few minutes and hangs up. The mine's been shut down. The owner's being billed for setting up a purification plant for your people. Now what was the third problem? The chief says we have zero cell reception up here.

[Joe Getty]

He lied. He lied.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

You laughed.

[Jack Armstrong]

I laugh. He enjoyed it anyway. Oh, gabby boy. All right, moving along to the correspondence proper, Aaron anti racist writes, guys, I've never been on the Michelle Obama hate train, but recently Choo choo all aboard. That is one elite racist, bitter and out of touch human being. The other day she pulled a dear white people over black hair discussions about like bringing up, you know, do you use conditioner on your hair or something like that? Is a white person asking a black person because they have different hair? And he writes, it's almost 2026. Look, I'm no follower of Nick Fuentes, but I can tell you with great certainty the whole dear white people microaggressions thing is going out of style faster than the non binary trend. There is little to no appetite for that s anymore.

[Joe Getty]

We've Got a clip of Michelle Obama talking about how the country's not ready for a female president. And that was proven in the last election. What? What?

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my Lord. That's funny. Okay. That I preached the comedy stylings of Michelle Obama, who's still race baiting like it's 2020.

[Joe Getty]

He's funny.

[Jack Armstrong]

Moving along, Eric in Astoria writes, I appreciate. Excuse me. Jack's story about his gym experience, notably his question that was essentially, will that exercise make my ass look big? Understanding his desire to build the old undercarriage. I'll reiterate in brief that squats and deadlifts are what he needs. Ask your how did Arnold Schwarzenegger do it? I'm pretty sure it wasn't Austrian Ass Blasters, Bulgarian Butt Boosters, or even Pacific Railroad Caboose Thrusters. He did it by achieving a 600 pound squat and 700 pound deadlift. That's how you develop a Teutonic pie wagon.

[Joe Getty]

Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

All right.

[Joe Getty]

Gotta get to the gym, get that pie wagon going.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let's see, here's Theron. He kind of sets up his topic. Zombie grandma is this topic. I did not appreciate the reprehensible remarks you made about your zombie grandma. My experience with my AI Grandma has been nothing but remarkable. She's the first person to accept my AI girlfriend and my future AI children that I will be producing with my girlfriend, AKA future AI wife. Can't wait to have my first AI dog with my new family. Jack, you're just jealous that I found my true happiness. Something that you keep searching for when you're stuffing those Costco pies in your face. Wow. And on a similar topic, Jared in Missouri. So last week you spoke about AI being able to replay the. I'm sorry to replicate a deceased loved one using the same AI loved one to babysit. And of course, AI trying to convince kids to commit suicide in a different story. No way this ends well. No. Holy cow. I came across the specifics of one of those families that's suing an AI system that encouraged their son to take his own life. Holy crap.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, we got to talk about that later.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, we'll bring that to you. Stay tuned. And then this hopeful note from Paolo, who's an idiot. I kid he's a great frequent correspondent, but he says AI is already proving it will greatly empower individuals. I think the problem is that it will most immediately empower us to do a lot more than what we've always done. And a lot of that isn't good. It's more freedom and power than we can handle. An extreme example. What if everybody had the power to destroy the world? How long would we last? I think our best hope is that we can advance our knowledge so dramatically that we can move beyond our destructive proclivities that we can produce everything that everyone needs, including meaningful and fulfilling lives. Maybe we're closer than we think to a great leap forward. Or maybe we're closer than we think to a great reset or catastrophic collapse and nature will start over and try again. Either way, I think nature will be fine.

[Joe Getty]

I believe it's the latter there, dude.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, Planet of the beavers or ants or monkeys or whatever. Maybe they'll have a vote. I don't know. I'll be gone.

[Joe Getty]

We got some fascinating and frightening AI stories for you over the next couple of hours. If you miss a segment, get the podcast. Armstrong and Getty on Demand.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

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This is an iHeart podcast.