I Should Have Thrown Him Into The Sea

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: I Should Have Thrown Him Into The Sea
Date: August 25, 2025
Host: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Guests: Mike Lyons (Military Analyst), Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA)

Episode Overview

This episode of Armstrong & Getty On Demand navigates the complexities of current global conflicts—primarily the Ukraine war and the situation in Gaza—offers candor on national security decision-making, and explores U.S. political issues like redistricting and immigration. Key guests include military analyst Mike Lyons and Rep. Tom McClintock. The show’s trademark humor and personality shine through, especially during Armstrong's vivid recounting of an attempted sailing lesson (and near-altercation with a stubborn old man).

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. U.S.-Russia Tensions & Ukraine War

(00:27–09:17)

• Topic: Russian attack on an American company in Ukraine.
• Guest: Mike Lyons, military analyst.
• President Trump's policy: More assertive than Biden's, with increased permission for Ukraine to fire into Russia, though this reportedly frustrated Pentagon officials who are slow to approve such strikes.
  • Lyons: “Maximum military pressure by Ukraine is what's going to take Russia to possibly come to the negotiation table.” [03:26]
• Bureaucratic friction: Pentagon sometimes works against presidential directives due to internal disagreement or inertia.
• Nuclear escalation risk: Discusses possibility and world reaction if Russia were to use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine.
  • Lyons: “If Russia fires … Kharkiv or Lviv, that … would be an incredible escalation … what would the world do then?” [06:26]
  • Jack: “No, I don't think there would be … condemnation from the UN … Of course, Putin doesn't give a crap about that.” [08:30]
• UN & NATO involvement: General skepticism that the international community would go beyond statements or sanctions.

2. Israel, Gaza, and Tunnel Warfare

(09:17–10:39)

• Status: Netanyahu aiming to eliminate Hamas, possibly occupy Gaza.
• Challenge: Tunnel warfare (the “fourth dimension”).
  • Lyons: “That's going to be tunnel warfare … the last remnants of Hamas. Likely … those tunnels are going to get destroyed. They're going to be flooded, they'll be blown up.” [09:31]
• Casualties: High likelihood of significant Israeli and civilian losses; hostages in tunnels might be collateral damage.

3. National Guard: Domestic Use & Civil-Military Tensions

(10:39–12:07)

• Armstrong’s perspective: Imagines family members deployed internally, expresses discomfort with National Guard troops in cities acting as law enforcement.
• Lyons’ concern: U.S. overrelies on military for policing; lack of appropriate training and risk of role confusion.
  • Lyons: “If we're going to arm them and expect them to go out on police raids, that's a bridge too far.” [11:06]

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4. Sailing Lesson Story & Its Human Lesson

(15:23–19:21)

• Jack’s humorous anecdote: Took adult sailing lessons; was overwhelmed by terminology, struggled with learning new skills as an adult, and clashed with another participant.
  • “The main thing I learned is it's way more complicated than I know … I found that quite funny … Process of elimination. I'm going to grab everything until I get it right.” [17:27–18:10]
• Teaser: Suggests he nearly pushed an old man into the sea—as the title hints.

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5. Political Interview: Rep. Tom McClintock on Redistricting & Immigration

(20:25–33:33)

• Redistricting/Gerrymandering:
  • McClintock explains the origins, abuse, and consequences of gerrymandering.
    • "This, I guess you could call it a Gavin Mander, was drafted behind closed doors in a matter of days." [22:11]
  • Notes how California’s independent redistricting commission was designed to prevent abuse, but Gov. Newsom's actions would bypass it.
  • Disparity in representation due to counting illegal immigrants in population totals.
    • “Mainly because illegal aliens are counted for districting, which increases the proportional influence in Democratic regions.” [23:16]
  • Outrage over lack of fairness and transparency in the process.
• Immigration & Sanctuary Cities:
  • McClintock's ‘simple truths’ on border enforcement: “If we don't enforce our immigration laws, we have no immigration laws. If we have no immigration laws, we have no border. If we have no border, we have no country. It's not complicated.” [25:31]
  • Stresses need for closing asylum and parole loopholes—claims current law already requires detention of illegal entrants.
  • Calls for reforms so a future Democratic president cannot easily upend enforcement.
• Use of National Guard in Cities:
  • Federal government supreme in federal district/Washington, D.C., and in enforcing federal law; but regular policing should remain local.
    • “Local law enforcement needs to remain in local hands, no matter how badly those local hands are handling it.” [29:24]
  • Armstrong and McClintock express wariness about the precedent set by sending troops to Chicago.

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6. Tennis Culture Shift: Etiquette vs Entertainment

(34:36–38:20)

• US Open’s changing vibe: Loud music, trash talk now encouraged—breaking from tradition.
  • Jack: “Am I ever gonna watch this sport as a TV show? Part of me loves pointing in people's faces and trash talking.”
• Pros & Cons: Acknowledges increased TV excitement vs. effects on youth sports (“We don’t need to make 11-year-old football more entertaining for advertisements.”)

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7. Sports Spectacle: The “Schmildo” Incident

(38:20–40:28)

• Story: Fan threw a bright green marital aid (“schmildo”) onto the court at a sporting event, faced multiple charges including felony assault.
  • Jack: "If I'm standing around and something hits me in the head ... and then I look down and see that it's a bright green schmildo, I would think ... What are they ... what message are they sending me right this moment?" [39:54]
• Humor: Armstrong & Katie riff on the bizarre—laughter and banter abound.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Mike Lyons:
  • “Maximum military pressure by Ukraine is what's going to take Russia to possibly come to the negotiation table.” [03:26]
  • “I do think a smaller tactical nuke like that, they can deliver it and they have it.” [06:26]
• Jack Armstrong:
  • “I just, I think it's always easier to picture military stuff if you picture one of your own relatives ... I don't know that I would [want my dad or brother in Baghdad or Chicago] ... I'm all for cracking down on the crime. Maybe more on that later.” [12:19]
  • “If we don't enforce our immigration laws, we have no immigration laws. If we have no immigration laws, we have no border. If we have no border, we have no country. It's not complicated.” (Echoing McClintock) [25:31]
• Rep. Tom McClintock:
  • “This, I guess you could call it a Gavin Mander, was drafted behind closed doors in a matter of days.” [22:11]
  • “Local law enforcement needs to remain in local hands, no matter how badly those local hands are handling it.” [29:24]
• Katie:
  • “[About sports etiquette]—If the adults want to go out there and smash their tennis rackets and call each other effers, that's cool ... but leave the kids out of it.” [37:40]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:27 — Russian strike on U.S. company in Ukraine; intro to Ukraine policy discussion
• 01:55 — Mike Lyons military analyst joins
• 03:26 — Military pressure as negotiation leverage over Russia
• 06:26 — Discussion of nuclear escalation risks
• 09:31 — Gaza: tunnel warfare and Israeli military challenges
• 10:39 — National Guard domestic deployments; militarization concerns
• 15:23 — Jack’s sailing lesson story (leads into show’s title)
• 20:25 — Rep. Tom McClintock on California redistricting and gerrymandering
• 25:31 — On the role and necessity of immigration enforcement
• 29:24 — National Guard in local law enforcement: federalism concerns
• 34:36 — US Open, tennis culture shift, and sportsmanship debate
• 38:20 — The “schmildo” incident: sports spectacle and legal fallout

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Tone & Style

The episode delivers news and analysis with a blend of sharp critique, wry humor, and direct speech, true to Armstrong & Getty’s established style. They move swiftly between serious policy discussions and lighter, offbeat cultural commentary, maintaining an approachable, conversational tone.

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For listeners seeking comprehensive insight into U.S. foreign policy friction, domestic politics, and more, this episode offers an engaging mix of substance and wit.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Joe Getty]

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.

Are you enraged when you learned that Russia targeted an American company based in Ukraine? Is that not a slap in the face?

[Kristen]

I don't like it, Kristen, but this is a war and this is why we wanna stop the killing. The Russians have done a lot of things that we don't like. A lot of civilians have died. We've condemned that stuff from the get go. And frankly, President Trump has done more to apply pressure and to apply economic leverage to the Russians certainly than Joe Biden did for three and a half years when he did nothing but talk but, but do nothing to bring the killing to a stop. So you ask me what I'm enraged by, What I'm enraged by is the continuation of the war.

[Jack Armstrong]

So yeah, if you didn't hear that story, Russia, I'm sure on purpose hit a, an American factory in Western Ukraine the other day. We say that they're just making like toasters and electronics, commercial goods there. You Russia is claiming that we're manufacturing something that can be used in the war and that's why they attacked it. That's its own separate story. We'd like to welcome to the Armstrong and Getty show on the topic of war. And whenever we have a military thing, we always go to Mike Lyons, military analyst. You find him popping up all over the place and certainly on the Armstrong and Getty Show. If you want to follow him on Twitter, you can follow him at MA J as in Major Mike Lyons, or you can read his pieces that he writes for real clear defense. Mike Lyons, welcome. How are you this morning?

[Mike Lyons]

Hey, Jack Crate, thanks for having me back.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hey, when you get up in the morning and you want to check in on wars, where do you go to first? I really like that open source intelligence feed on Twitter or ISW Institute for the Study of War. But what do you look at?

[Mike Lyons]

Yeah, Institute for Study of War. I know those guys. I see, you know, they monitor the situation both in the Middle east as well as in Europe. They're my go to guys. Okay, first I'll reach back out to them, have some folks at the NSC as well. I just try to follow there and try to monitor, but there's lots of good sources that you can look at just to just kind of get a lay of the land. Because time matters here, right? I mean you wake up and six hours ahead over there. So Something's happened usually. And so trying to get up to speed quickly on something that's already happened is really the hard part sometimes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Interesting. So as you just heard J.D. vance there, the administration's making the argument all the time that they've done a hell of a lot more to arm Ukraine than Joe Biden ever did. And Joe Biden was hardcore. Ukraine was not able to fire across the border into Russia and Trump has loosened those restrictions. In fact, Trump has made a number of noises about Ukraine is allowed to use some of the weapons that we have given them or that they purchased that came from us to attack Russia. Well, there was a story in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend that the Pentagon doesn't like that and doesn't want us to be doing that and they're kind of maybe going against the president wishes. First of all, would that be a good idea for Ukraine to be firing into Russia or not?

[Mike Lyons]

Well, I think so. First of all, maximum military pressure by Ukraine is what's going to take Russia to possibly come to the negotiation table. I opened up the Post this morning, for example, and on the inside articles as Lavrov saying we're not going to negotiate. So I never thought there was enough pressure on Russia to negotiate anyway. Right now they still feel that they can win on the battlefield. Whether that's true or not remains to be seen. But from what I've seen projections and what I've also seen, intel reports that have come come out, I'm surprised I saw that report because the Biden administration got off to a very slow start, did not turn up the thermostat at all, but did create a logistical supply chain in order to make things happen. And in the last year, the last six months or so of the Biden administration, they did allow those cross border attacks to military targets. And then Trump takes over and it was shut down. And I am surprised by that. But I think it has a lot to do with probably a dysfunctional NSC in some level. The fact that if we better national security advisors with the president making sure that the Pentagon did what the president wanted because it's likely just a couple of personalities in the Pentagon that doesn't think that we should be doing this and that's why it got shut down. So it's passive aggressive behavior. They just have to approve the strike. It just takes them too long because a lot of these strikes are targets of opportunity.

[Jack Armstrong]

Boy, it's interesting. Those of us who just casually follow the world, we assume that if the president and his crew decide Something that that's what happens. But the bureaucracy is big enough. There are people that can stymie that.

[Mike Lyons]

Sometimes it is. And I think it's gotten worse. Not just this administration, but you go back to, you know, we just haven't had a really well connected, you know, national security advisory and council with the president that's overseeing all the different levers of American national security. We used to say that, you know, there would be very bipartisan support for national security interests and they would that, you know, on our shores is where it ends and we're all together. But you've seen, seen this president travel and Democrats mock that travel when he goes to foreign ways. We had the Russia hoax that really stymied the last, the first Trump administration. It's been a while. I'd like to get us back to the 80s and 90s again. I know maybe we never get there, but of really making sure that the national security adviser is telling the Pentagon what the president intent is and then can monitor that. Because it's also taken now four or five months for that report to come out. It took the media to figure that out. And now the Trump administration, I think, is scrambling, making sure that it doesn't look like we're supporting Ukraine like we say we are.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, it obviously gives the Russians a tremendous advantage if they know that Ukraine can actually fight any offense. So if you were in charge, how much time would you spend worried about kicking off a nuclear war? I mean, that was Biden's big concern. I guess, according to a couple of different books are out, he didn't want Ukraine, you know, using our weapons. It would start a nuclear war.

[Mike Lyons]

Yeah, I mean, so I had this argument this morning with somebody about that. And Russia really hasn't flexed its true military power because if it wanted to, it could launch a nuclear weapon. And the counterargument to that was, well, what good would that do? Well, I guarantee it. When we did it in the Second World War, the Japanese got the message and they decided to stop and negotiate quickly. At that point in time, they knew the war was going to be over. If Russia fires, let's just put all these scenarios on the table. Kharkiv or Lviv, that eastern or that western city in Ukraine, if they threatened and were able to drop a nuclear weapon there, killed 10,000 civilians, that would be an incredible escalation that would still be fundamentally within theater. What would the world do then? Again, all of these sanctions and economic things and levers that they're trying to pull, Russia knows that'll take 8 to 10 to 12 months in order for it to take effect. They still have India, China on their side and Germany is the biggest outlier because they still buy a lot of oil and gas from Russia. So Russia still has not used all its military might yet, which is why I believe they feel that they can still do what they're doing, because I do think that's an option. I do think a smaller tactical nuke like that, they can deliver it and they have it.

[Jack Armstrong]

How do you think the world would react to that?

[Mike Lyons]

Well, I think the world would be not happy. Obviously there would be United nations issues there. But again, what could the world do? Is the world willing to deploy a NATO army?

[Jack Armstrong]

No.

[Mike Lyons]

Willing? No. So I mean, that's the thing. I mean Russia, you know, can, can play this thing to that, to that point if it chooses to. I just don't believe that there's any appetite within the European Community to actually go on the offense because that's what it would take. It would take, it would take doing that. Now Russia's already said now that they're not going to allow Western troops inside of Ukraine as part of the security agreement. That would have. So, so again, that's off the table. There's no, there's no negotiation that's going to take place anytime soon.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow, that's really interesting. I hope it doesn't come to that point, but I could imagine it. And no, I don't think there would be your usual condemnation from the UN we condemn this in the strongest terms. Of course. Putin doesn't give a crap about that.

[Mike Lyons]

Right? Yeah, it would be like a letter of admonishment or something. I mean, he understands one thing and that's power. And I believe that you look, there was an interesting chart also in the Journal, or it might have been the post about the landmass that they really haven't got gotten anywhere in three years down in the Donbass region. And Russia wants those complete obelisks. They want all of the area they want area that they haven't even taken over yet. And again, this is what their maximalist position is. And it can remain that way as long as they feel they can win the battle on the ground.

[Jack Armstrong]

Switching gears to the other war that we're semi involved in, certainly the president is Netanyahu deciding to try to finish off Hamas and I guess occupy Gaza. How difficult a military operation is that going to be?

[Mike Lyons]

Very tough. I think that's going to be tunnel warfare. That's going to be that fourth dimension underground. Israel won't be able to use a lot of its technology and advantages there. That's going to be the last remnants of Hamas. Likely. If those hostages are there, they're going to be collateral damage. Unfortunately. I hate to use that term like that, someone personally, but those tunnels are going to get destroyed. They're going to be flooded, they'll be blown up. That tunnel structure that Hamas has still is their shield and their sword. It's their last remaining power base that the Hamas has. You know, you look in history and sometimes to win wars, you have to attack center of gravity of places. Or our civil war, you have to attack an army. Lincoln knew that he had to find a general that was going to attack the Confederate army and chase them. In this case, their strength is their infrastructure. So Netanyahu knows he has to attack and destroy this infrastructure, this tunnel system. That's what's coming in Gaza City. It's going to be a lot longer. It's going to be twice as long as whatever they think it's going to take. And I think you'll see tunnels destroyed, but you'll also see, unfortunately, only high Israeli casualties because it's going to be close in, it's going to be bloody.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. And it'll be interesting to see what public opinion is on that in Israel. Final question. My brother was in the National Guard for a while. I was trying to picture him. If he got deployed to Washington D.C. or Chicago with a crime fighting mission with a gun at your side, are you concerned about that? For some of our troops that aren't exactly. That's, you know, and then, you know, a lot of people ended up in the National Guard. Didn't think they'd ever be going to Iraq or Afghanistan either.

[Mike Lyons]

Yeah, I'm absolutely concerned about it. We're definitely over. We're doing too much with our military right now. And I think that it was the same problem we had in Iraq anyway. I mean, we deployed active duty troops and we made them peacekeepers on one block and on the next block they were war fighters. And I got into an argument with a four star about this and he thought it was fine because of the discipline of our troops over our weapons system. It's got nothing to do with that. It's just human nature. It's just too hard to flip that switch. Well, now you bring in National Guard troops that don't really have law enforcement training. Now if they're going to help in the back or they're going to help logistically or provide just a presence, look, New York City every day. There's National Guard troops in the subway system at Grand Central Station. You see them there. They're not carrying loaded magazines. They're just more of a presence. But if we're going to arm them and expect them to go out on police raids, that's a bridge too far. So I'd like to see less of it. And I think that this is the president probably using too much for the military. Someone needs to be countering this argument with regard to the National Guard in the room, and I hope someone's doing that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Thank you as always, for your time. Mike Lyons. You can follow him at magmajormikelsons on Twitter or read him Real Clear Defense or look for him wherever he pops up. Thanks, Mike.

[Mike Lyons]

Thanks, Jeff.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I just, I just, I think it's always easier to picture military stuff. If you picture one of your own relatives, would you want your dad, brother, whoever, going to Iraq or Afghanistan or in Chicago carrying a gun and. I don't know that I would. I'm all for cracking down on the crime. Maybe more on that later. Speaking of crime, I don't worry about it much in my own home because I've got Simply Safe, which is really, really handy. Simply Safe with their new active guard outdoor protection to help stop break ins before they happen. AI powered cameras, live monitoring agents that will detect suspicious activity around your property. If someone's lurking around your house, agents can actually talk to them. Hey, what are you doing, lurker? They can turn on the spotlights, call the police, proactively deterring crime before it even starts. CNET called it the best home security system of 2025. No contract. Four million Americans trust Simplisafe. I'm one of them. Ranked number one in customer service by Newsweek and USA Today. Visit SimpliSafe.com Armstrong today to claim 50% off a new system with the professional monitoring plan and get your first month free. That's simply safe.com Armstrong there's no safe like simply safe. The US Open tennis tournament started over the weekend. I just watched some guy. I don't, I don't follow tennis that closely. I don't know who this guy was losing his ass on the court. Did you see the video of the guy sitting there? He loses a point or something, loses his mind, and he can't stop smashing his racket on his bag and stuff. You saw that, Katie?

[Katie]

Oh, yeah. Well, what happened was a photographer delayed the game and he lost one of the points. And so that photographer came out onto the. I don't know what it's called the court.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Katie]

And so the guy starts yelling at him and then that was the end of his racket. It turned to smithereens.

[Jack Armstrong]

I heard about the photographer thing, but man, he lost his mind there for a while. That's exciting stuff. We got a lot more to talk about on the way. What did I mean, there's an AI problem. That's a real problem. Among other things. Coming up. Stay here.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

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So coming up, we're going to talk to Republican Congressman Tom McClintock about a couple of things about immigration and maybe redistricting. He's a California congressman, so obviously he's interested in what Gavin Newsom wants to do in California to try to fight the evil Republicans who are redistricting Texas. That's according to Gavin Newsom. So I took my sailing lessons over the weekend. A phrase I never thought I would ever say in my life. Not exactly come from sailing folk from western Kansas, but I always wanted to try to learn how to do that. And this neighborhood I live in has got this little private man made lake in it and it's big enough that people sail little boats around on it and everything like that. And I was over working out at the, at the club and had a sign up, it said adult sailing lessons. And you sign up for it and it's two hours on a Saturday, two hours on a Sunday for a total of four hours. And then you get some sort of Certificate. I don't know. I don't know what that certificate entitles me to do. But so I did that and I had the sailing lessons over the weekend. And the main thing I learned is it's way more complicated than I know. I don't know how many of you ever been on a sailboat, but it's super compliment complicated. And you're constantly doing things and making decisions. It's not like you just get to know if you've been out on motorboats. You mostly chill, right? You drive out there. You're either driving and anybody can drive a boat. You can even have done it before. You can give the 8 year old kid to let him drive the boat around. I mean anybody can do it. Not everybody can sail. You got to know what the hell you're doing. And so the first thing we did was sit down with the instructor and he had a couple of visual aids, like big charts with all the parts on there and everything like that. And go through the various parts of the boat. I thought I'm never going to remember all this. And so we'd get out into the water and he'd say, grab the halyard. No, that's the, that's a. That's the forest A. Not the forest A. Get the backstay. That's not the right. Get that jib halyard. That's the mainsail. How you're tonight. And I couldn't remember what all the parts were. I just couldn't.

[Katie]

Didn't even sound like English.

[Jack Armstrong]

I know. And, and, and I was trying to explain this to my son. When you get older, learning is so much harder than when you're younger. Your brain is in the. When you're young, your brain. Every single day when you go to school, you're learning new stuff. And then after you get out of school, out of college, if you go to college, you know, you might not learn another thing again the rest of your life. My brain is out of practice for getting hit with 30 new terms and immediately being able to memorize them and everything like that. I found that quite funny is that's not the mainstay. I don't even remember what that is. I'm just grabbing random things, hoping you'll say yes. That's what's happening.

[Katie]

Process of elimination. I'm going to grab everything until I get it right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. And the instructor was super, super awesome. Really chill. He's a high school kid and what a background he had. He lived on a boat with his dad from age like 6 to 9 when he was a kid running stuff on a sailboat from Cape Cod to Florida back and forth. And he did that for three years of his life doing like homeschool on the ship. Then he went to New Zealand and competed in sailing and finished third in the nation for speed sailing. And now he's anyway, he's in my town and giving sailing lessons among other things. As amazing as a 16 year old, but he really knew what he was doing. But all of us, there are other six of us, these other six adults, we had no idea what we're doing and it was quite hilarious. But I got to tell the story a little bit later about me getting into the argument with the old man who kept telling me what to do. That turned very ugly for a while. I should have pushed him into the sea. That's what I should have done. Yes, yes. Sorry. Blub blubber. Nice knowing you. I'll tell you sir, I'll tell your wife that you died devaluingly we're going to talk to Congressman Tom McClintock coming up in just a second. If you miss a segment or an hour, get the podcast Armstrong and Getty on Demand.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

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Well, currently Tom McClintock is represents the 5th district of California. Will that remain the same after Gavin Newsom gets if Gavin Newsom gets his way about redistricting in California to try to take on the evil Texans. Anywho, welcome to the Armstrong and Getty show. Old friend Tom McClintock again, Republican congressman, fifth district of California. How are you this morning, Tom?

[Tom McClintock]

I'm fine, Jack. How are you?

[Jack Armstrong]

Doing great. You've been in California politics forever. What is the back and forth over the years as you know it, of like drawn up districts and whether it was fair or not and all that sort of stuff in California?

[Tom McClintock]

Well, as you know, California, all states reapportion every 10 years because of population shifts. The populations of the districts have to be as equal as we can make them. That, of course, then opens the door to gerrymandering, which has a long history. It goes back to Elbridge Gary, Governor of Massachusetts, signer of the Declaration of Independence, you know, who first began joggling lines so that his party would benefit. He drew one district that looked like a salamander. A newspaper editor said, no, let's call it a gerrymander, and the name stuck. But the problem is, over the years has gone from artwork to science and it can now be used to badly distort the partisan choices that the voters make in every election.

[Jack Armstrong]

And is there any way to do away with this? I mean, it's been going on since the very, very beginning. Lots of Democratic states are all gerrymandered to heck, as we all should know by now, Texas isn't inventing something new.

[Tom McClintock]

Yeah, well, California did get sick and tired of it and they adopted constitutional provision calling for an independent commission. That's what Newsom's trying to bypass the California Commission this year in order to do. The reapportionment held 196 public meetings. They received more than 30,000 written communications over nine months. They listened to every constituency and community in the state and they drafted a consensus plan in public. This, I guess you could call it a Gavin Mander was drafted behind closed doors in a matter of days. And if they succeed, I think we expect this to happen after every election. That the Democrats don't like the way a particular district voted.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, so Republicans account for about 38% of the vote last election around and if Gavin gets his way, would have 7% of the house members in the state. So that's obviously out of proportion and.

[Tom McClintock]

That'S with the independent commission. It's still a stack deck against California Republicans, mainly because illegal aliens are counted for districting, which increases the proportional influence in Democratic regions. So as you point out, it's not only stacked against California Republicans. You look at the vote nationally in 2024, Democrats got 47% of the congressional vote. They got 49% of the congressional seats. That's eight seats more than their vote would entitle them. And that's because in the Democratic states, the gerrymanders are absolutely brutal. You know, in Illinois, California's got Republicans got 47% of votes, 17% of the seats. Massachusetts, California Republicans got 35% of the vote and zero seats.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is really interesting stuff. I wish mainstream media was better at presenting that. And then the gerrymandering, gerrymandering, as you call it, polls very low. Like, 6% of Americans like the idea. But it happens all across the country.

[Tom McClintock]

Well, right. And again, Californians got rid of that. The Democrats, by the way, tried to abolish the Independent Commission once before. That was in 2010 with Proposition 27. Voters rejected it, 60, 40. So, you know, and I think most Americans, you know, whatever their politics, have an innate sense of fairness. And I think that's going to be decisive when this comes up to a vote.

[Jack Armstrong]

So talking with Republican California Congressman Tom McClintock of California, most recent piece I'm reading here about immigration, I wish that somehow, some way, quickly, it would get to the Supreme Court. This whole notion of a sanctuary city, sanctuary county, sanctuary state, which seems obviously crazy. The whole thing with illegal immigration, the way Joe and I have been presenting it for quite some time, is if you're going to ignore the federal law, what other federal laws can we ignore if we don't like them in states across the country? Can we just pick and choose federal laws that we want to ignore and which ones we want to go with? What's your take on it currently?

[Tom McClintock]

Well, right. And if you're going to tolerate illegal immigration, it makes legal immigration pointless. And start with some simple truths. If we don't enforce our immigration laws, we have no immigration laws. If we have no immigration laws, we have no border. If we have no border, we have no country. It's not complicated. Our immigration laws weren't written to keep people out. They were written to assure that when someone comes to this country, they come with a sincere desire to become an American, to obey our laws and contribute to our nation. Illegal immigration undermines that whole process. And that's why our current law requires any adult who is illegal in this country to be detained. That's the exact wording of the law shall be detained. There is. It's not voluntary. It is required under the law. That's the law that Biden and the Democrats ignored over the last four years, producing the biggest illegal migration in American history. And now they're shocked that the biggest illegal migration in American history, that they unleashed now has to be followed by the biggest deportation.

[Jack Armstrong]

So Republicans control Congress right now and the Senate. Is there anything Congress can do do to strengthen immigration laws so that it's the law of the land and not just something that one administration does, so that if the Democrats win next time around, they can go the other direction, Right?

[Tom McClintock]

Well, it is already the law of the land. And you remember the Democrats saying, oh, there's nothing we can do about this without granting amnesty. And as Trump pointed out, we didn't need new laws. We needed a new president. We got one. And within 30 days, the borders were secured. And I think the last number is we're getting close to 2. 2 million illegal migrants have now departed the country either voluntarily or been forcibly removed. But we also, and this is where Congress comes in, we've got to enact law so that a future Democratic president can't once again simply throw our borders wide open. So we've got to reform our asylum laws to ensure that only legitimate claims will be honored and those who are making such claims are detained until they're adjudicated. We've got to close the loopholes, and that means making the loopholes that allowed Biden to abuse the limited parole authority that Congress gave him. We've got to revamp our unaccompanied minor laws to prevent human trafficking that ran rampant under Biden. And we've got to rescue the hundreds of thousands of children that Biden simply lost track of. And we've got to restore integrity to our temporary and permanent visa programs so that only those who are an asset to America can take advantage of them. The Office of the Inspector General is about to come out with a report. I think that they documented that during the Biden administration, there were 13 million visas granted that were completely unvetted. Now, when you apply for a visa, you go to the American consulate in your country and there's an interview. They interview you. They check your background to be sure that as you come in with a visa, you're not going to do any harm and that you're going to abide by the terms of the vision visa. 13 million such visas were issued under Biden without any vetting whatsoever. And that's what the administration is reviewing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Now, another topic before we let you go, Congressman McClintock, one of the big news stories of the day, Trump talking about sending National Guard troops to Chicago to deal with their crime. Now, I think we're all up to speed on the fact that the president, federal government has the constitutional right to do that. In Washington, D.C. how do you feel about National Guard troops in Chicago?

[Tom McClintock]

Well, I'm a federalist, and the federal government is absolutely supreme in the federal District of Columbia, as you pointed out. And they are also supreme in the enforcement of federal laws like our immigration laws. And the president has been brilliant at both. But local laws are subject to local jurisdiction. I think we want to be careful if a the city is not actually asking for assistance. I think we want to be careful about how we insert federal authority into the enforcement of strictly local laws, and that's going to play out. Obviously, I'm not entirely clear what the president is proposing for Chicago, but local law enforcement needs to remain in local hands, no matter how badly those local hands are handling it.

[Jack Armstrong]

I would agree with that. Interesting. Tom McClintock, appreciate your time today, Tom. Thank you very much.

[Tom McClintock]

My pleasure, Jack. Good talking to you.

[Jack Armstrong]

I would agree with that. I am not only skeptical of his legal power to send National Guard troops to Chicago, but I don't know how I feel about that as a precedent and as Joe and I are always talking about. Joe's in England on vacation. He's going to call in later. But as Joe and I are always talking about the problem with giving your guy the power to do something or looking the other way if he does something that like maybe send troops to Chicago, is the other. The other guy, the other side's going to be in charge at some point. And do you want, you know, President Gavin Newsom sending National Guard troops into a conservative city somewhere because he doesn't like the way that place is being run? No, I don't found that. Find that horrifying. So that's what we got to keep our eye on for today. I want to tell you about this before we take a little break. Break. I don't know if you've ever known anybody or maybe it's happened to you where you've had your bank account hacked by somebody got in there. It can be a nightmare to straighten out. Take you weeks, months, years of being on the phone and online and blah, blah, blah. It's just horrible. You can avoid that. That's why we trust Web Root Total Protection. It monitors for stolen identities, credit fraud, and even scans the dark web web for your info to see if it pops up somewhere. So we want to hook you up with a great offer right now. Get 50 off Web Root Total Protection or Webroot [e-mail] Armstrong I'll never again not have something like that. If something goes wrong, you're backed up with up to $1 million in reimbursement. It's fast, it's lightweight, it installs in minutes. No annoying pop ups. Just which, you know, there's I don't know if you've used some of these other their companies. Their pop ups are endless. Drive you nuts. No pop ups with Webroot. Even includes a VPN for secure browsing and password manager to keep your login safe. Love that. Don't risk being the next victim. Get 50% off Webroot Total Protection or Webroot Essentials right now webroot.comarmstrong Again, that's Web root.comarmstrong Protect yourself, protect your family. Live a better digital life. And you can set it up for for like I'm going to set it up for me and my kids for instance, but you can get a whole bunch of other people in your family on there at the same time. The whole redistricting thing finally being presented in a much fairer way. I thought on the Sunday talk shows yesterday we can play some clips of that later and talk about exactly what Gavin's trying to do in California, which would make it just unbelievably gerrymandered. Oh, I thought it was interesting. It doesn't Surprise me, Tom McClintock being the kind of guy he is, that he goes ahead and says Gary Mandered because that's strictly the right word, as you heard from the original guy named Gary who the name comes from. But everybody says gerrymander. But Tom McClintock is the sort of guy that is going to go with Gary Mandered because that's the correct thing. In spite of that's what everybody else says. I'm the other. If everybody's saying gerrymander, I'm going to say gerrymandered. So that's the way it goes. So how I almost pushed an old man into the sea at sailing lessons, among other things on the way.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

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[Tennis Announcer]

The U.S. open is officially kicking off. Record breaking crowds pouring into New York from all over over the world. All eyes are on tennis royalty Venus Williams, set to return to Grand Slam tennis Monday after two years.

[Katie]

Yeah, super thrilling to be back.

[Jack Armstrong]

It does not get old, it just gets more exciting.

[Tennis Announcer]

The 45 year old getting a wild card invitation to play. It's the first time in 44 years someone her age has competed in women's singles at the U.S. open.

[Jack Armstrong]

So that's one interesting story around the U.S. open tennis tournament. If you follow tennis at all. Or you might start following tennis more often. Often if what is happening at the US Open becomes more of the norm. So the headline in the New York Times today I don't follow tennis. I just became aware of this at the US Open. Tennis etiquette no longer rules and some players want that to be the norm. So they kind of encourage a more rambunctious atmosphere at the US Open tennis tournament there in New York, music blasting in between points. That sort of thing like happens at other big sporting events, right? Didn't used to have that at Major League baseball games or NFL games when I was a kid. But now you do constantly to just provide a little more buzz, a little more entertainment all the time. And trash talking your opponent, like pointing at him, saying things to him. Stuff like that is starting to catch on and a lot of players think cool. I think it would be better for the sport, which I find interesting because the, I don't know which side of me, the what would be the right term, the Law and Order side of me I guess likes decorum and etiquette and all that sort of stuff in all manner of life. But the am I ever gonna watch this sport as a TV show? Part of me loves, loves pointing in people's faces and trash talking and music in between points.

[Katie]

It definitely makes it more entertaining with no doubt.

[Jack Armstrong]

And as Joe is always pointing out, these are TV shows. These are just like every other TV show on television. The NFL, US Open, the Bachelorette or Law and Order. They're all the same. It's just how many people can we get to watch so we can charge as much as possible for the commercials in between? Yeah, that's the whole point.

[Katie]

And by allowing that behavior, I mean think over the last couple of years how many more tennis headlines we've seen because of the behavior and people are paying attention to it, it culturally.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't like it as I've seen it move into youth sports. I talked about this last year when my son was playing football. It was amazing to me on how this was a two years ago. I guess 11 year olds, after every mundane play they're popping their jerseys and doing the stances and stuff like that. It's just for 11 year olds play football just every play. And the, and the, and the coaches just, I mean they'll coach. When I was a kid, the coach would have benched you immediately for doing that. But the coaches didn't say anything about it. It's just, it's just part of the culture. And is that good or bad? I don't know. We don't need to make 11 year old football more entertaining for advertisements.

[Katie]

I think, I think leave the kids out of it. If the adults want to go out there and smash their tennis rackets and call each other efforts, that's cool.

[Jack Armstrong]

But you can't have one without the other though. The kids, the kids watch their heroes and whatever sport they're in and they're going to emulate them and it's just, it's just the way it is. There's no getting around that. So I, I, that that's the part that bothers me because guaranteed it will sift down to, you know, high school tennis. You'll have somebody score an ace on the other player. That's when you hit the ball and it lands in a little square and it's so fast that the other guy can't even get the racket on it usually, you know, like yo Bo interface, you know, that sort of stuff and it'll just happen for better or worse.

[Tom McClintock]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

For instance, in the wnba you throw marital aids onto the court. If that I'm more likely to watch part probably if there's a chance that sexy toys are going to be thrown onto the court and I can, you.

[Katie]

Know, watch every laugh I'm in.

[Jack Armstrong]

Get a good laugh. Exactly. How much time I got, Michael, depends.

[Katie]

On how you keep eating.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah.

[Katie]

I've got about two minutes and the guy who threw the schmildo is in quite the, oh, hot water.

[Jack Armstrong]

So he's charged with 10 different things. I had you look that up. So, yes, Mildo. That's a good word. So the guy that threw the schmildo on the court, being charged with 10 different things. You looked it up. What are they?

[Katie]

The top charge is second degree attempted assault, a felony that carries a maximum of seven years in prison.

[Jack Armstrong]

Second, what's the assault like if it hit somebody in the head?

[Katie]

Well, it did hit one of the players.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay.

[Katie]

Among the other charges are interference with a professional sporting event, reckless endangerment, harassment and obscenity. Not guilty, doll.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Interruption of a professional sporting event is a crime.

[Katie]

I didn't know that.

[Jack Armstrong]

I didn't know that either. For throwing a schmildo on the court bright. Launching a bright green schmildo. Wait, I didn't realize it hit somebody in the noggin.

[Katie]

I don't know that it hit her in the nog. It hit one of the players, I want to say, in the shoulder or something. And she screeched and jumped back. And then you. It started as this lime green. You know, if I'm.

[Jack Armstrong]

If I'm standing around and something hits me in the head, I think, whoa, what was that? And then I look down and see that it's a bright green schmildo, I would think.

[Katie]

Not a good day.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hmm. Who threw that? And what. What are they. What is.

[Katie]

Why was not on my bingo card?

[Jack Armstrong]

What message are they sending me right this moment? I would be very confused.

[Katie]

They attracted to me.

[Jack Armstrong]

How much? How am I supposed to react to this? With anger? Am I supposed to be turned on? I'm not exactly sure what's supposed to happen. We do a lot of hours, a lot of segments, and if you miss one, you can get our podcast, Armstrong and Getty on demand. We got Joe Getty calling into the show on the fourth hour to kick it off, so you're going to want to catch that. Lots of stuff on the way for the Armstrong and Getty Show.

[Joe Getty]

Thanks for joining us, Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an I heart podcast.