Is He A Chinese Spy??

Summary

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Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: Is He A Chinese Spy??

Date: November 7, 2025
Host: iHeartPodcasts (Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Armstrong & Getty explores a mix of current events, political commentary, media criticism, and cultural musings—all wrapped in the hosts’ trademark banter. The main thrust focuses on political developments (notably the election of a self-declared socialist mayor in New York), the government shutdown’s real motivations, messaging failures of the Republican party, the allure of socialism in an AI-driven labor market, pop culture, and some lighter personal anecdotes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Grammy Nominations & Pop Culture

• The show opens with a lighthearted discussion about the Grammy nominations and the hosts’ personal and generational tastes in music.
• Discussions include Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl appearance, opinions on Kendrick Lamar’s musical evolution, and confessions about genres they can’t tolerate.
  Notable quote:

“My son is old school Kendrick Lamar. He doesn’t like the newer Kendrick Lamar...” – Jack Armstrong [01:42]

2. Government Shutdown: What’s It Really About?

• Armstrong and Getty debate the true cause of the ongoing government shutdown, clarifying media confusion and ineffective Republican messaging.
• The shutdown centers on reverting healthcare subsidies to pre-COVID arrangements, not cutting Obamacare per se.
• The hosts are frustrated by the GOP’s inability to explain this simply and effectively. Notable quotes:

“How have the Republicans not done a better job of saying no, no, we’re not cutting Obamacare. We’re going back to the pre-COVID… that’s the law the Democrats passed.” – Jack Armstrong [06:24]
"It’s an F minus: the Republican party’s messaging." – Joe Getty [06:52]

3. Political Satire & Merchandise

• Joking creation of the “F Y'all Again Party” and plugs for Armstrong & Getty-branded pickleball paddles and other merchandise are interwoven.
• Used as a humorous way to highlight frustrations with politics and support show operation (“Helps keep everybody on the payroll…” – Joe Getty [02:59]).

4. Clips of the Week

• A recurring segment compiling humorous/odd news and show moments, often with satirical or absurd highlights. Memorable moment:

“God woke me up at 6:45 Saturday morning. He goes, Ron, get your boots on…” – Clips of the Week [03:54, montage]

5. Pop Culture Preferences & Intergenerational Gaps

• The hosts, along with crew, discuss music dislikes (pop-country, metal, polka), generational differences, and nostalgia for odd TV acts like yodelers. Notable quote:

"The only genre I can’t really get into is metal. I just... I don’t even want it on around me." – Jack Armstrong [10:47]

6. Obesity Drugs and Health

• Trump’s announcement of lower prices for GLP-1 obesity drugs like Ozempic is discussed in the context of public health and insurance.
• The hosts note a decrease in national obesity rates, likely driven by these medications. Notable quote:

“It went from, man, you gotta really need it or have a lot of money... to lots of people could figure out a way to pay $250 a month.” – Jack Armstrong [15:25]

7. The "Chinese Spy" Joke & Family Food Preferences

• Pivoting around the episode’s title, Jack jokes that his son— who dislikes steak—“must be a Chinese spy.”
  Notable quote:

"I know, I don’t take this personally, but he’s a Chinese spy." – Joe Getty [17:54]
"What do you call somebody who only eats chicken? ... It’s an apolitarian. That’s what you are." – Jack Armstrong [18:05]

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8. Main Political Focus: The Election of Socialist Mayor Mamdani in New York

Media Narratives vs. Electoral Reality

• They analyze the election of Zoran Mamdani, a self-declared socialist, as mayor of New York.
• Despite rhetoric about representing the working class, data shows Mamdani won with the city’s college-educated elites, not the working class or less-educated voters. Notable exchange:

"Mamdani lost everybody but college-educated." – Jack Armstrong [21:57]
“Radical ideology is almost always the product of the elite, the young, wealthy, comfortable elite.” – Joe Getty [22:24]

Critique of Media & Messaging

• Frustration that media parroted Mamdani’s “man of the people” image without acknowledging the real electoral support base.

"Why does Stephen A. Smith know that and the media doesn’t?" – Jack Armstrong [24:13]

Perspectives from Across the Spectrum

• Commentary snippets from Stephen A. Smith (skeptical of policing and free services policies) and Victor Davis Hanson (cautions about the dangers of socialist governance and its historical pitfalls).
• Joe Getty praises Hanson’s steadfastness against anti-Semitic strains on both political extremes.

In-Depth Peggy Noonan Analysis

• Peggy Noonan’s Wall Street Journal column is quoted extensively. She warns conservatives against viewing Mamdani’s win as a surefire advantage; he’s a serious operator whose ideas may catch on, especially in economically turbulent or tech-disrupted times. Key passage:

"[Mamdani]…won’t start out moderate... he’ll be an inch by inch bulldozer." – Peggy Noonan via Joe Getty [28:00]
“Republicans should understand. Mr. Mamdani isn’t your boogeyman… He’s cleverer than you. He understands the world of right now better…” – Peggy Noonan/quoted by Joe Getty [30:10]

9. AI, Socialism's Appeal, and the Future

• The hosts draw a direct line between coming AI-induced job losses and the likely increased popularity of socialism among unemployed graduates. Quote:

"If AI does anything close to what it’s supposed to do… Socialism is going to be more attractive than ever." – Jack Armstrong [32:48]

10. Show Wrap-up, Listener Engagement & Humor

• Final thoughts from crew, including jokes about AI chatbot relationships, Texas tariffs on New Yorkers, and a robo taxi running over a cat in San Francisco.
• Plugs for Armstrong & Getty merchandise and request for listener tips and news items. Quotes:

"We have breaking news: a robo taxi has run over a beloved cat in San Francisco. People are angry." – Jack Armstrong [39:17]
“Cat hating robo taxis—something to watch out for!” – Joe Getty [39:48]

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Memorable Quotes (by Timestamp)

• On Republican messaging:
  “It’s an F minus: the Republican party’s messaging.” – Joe Getty [06:52]
• On Socialism’s pull:
  “We need a conspicuous, confined experiment with socialism so we can crack it up again.” – Clips of the Week [04:45]
• On political hypocrisy:
  “Radical ideology is almost always the product of the elite, the young, wealthy, comfortable elite.” – Joe Getty [22:24]
• On AI and the future of politics:
  “If AI does anything close to what it’s supposed to do…Socialism is going to be more attractive than ever.” – Jack Armstrong [32:48]
• On Mamdani’s mandate:
  “He thinks he knows his historical meaning. Do you? … Take him both literally and seriously.” – Peggy Noonan (quoted by Joe Getty) [30:10]
• On partisan fatigue:
  “I feel like I felt at times rooting for various sports teams that just flat sucked. …I’m not going to have any emotional investment anymore. I feel that way about the Republican Party.” – Joe Getty [09:13]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Music & Grammy banter: [01:16 – 02:13]
• Shutdown explanation & Republican messaging: [06:11 – 09:13]
• Clips of the Week: [03:14 – 05:36]
• Music genres & generational preferences: [10:07 – 13:13]
• Obesity drugs/healthcare policy: [15:05 – 16:22]
• "Chinese Spy" family joke: [17:54 – 18:29]
• Analysis of Mamdani’s win & media narratives: [20:28 – 24:13]
• Peggy Noonan analysis (extensive): [25:14 – 32:10]
• AI & future of socialism: [32:22 – 32:48]
• Closing/final thoughts/crew jokes: [37:54 – 39:54]

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Overall Tone and Style

Armstrong & Getty maintain their signature irreverent, sardonic, and conversational style, blending deep political analysis with self-deprecating humor and offbeat cultural references. The tone is skeptical and contrarian, especially regarding facile media narratives and conventional wisdom on both sides of the aisle.

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For the Uninitiated

This episode is a characteristic Armstrong & Getty blend: pop culture, sharp political dissection, policy gripes, and wry observations. The core message is a warning to take both emerging political movements (especially the resurgence of socialism) and technological changes (AI) seriously. Meanwhile, the hosts offer comic relief with life anecdotes and playful crew banter.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Joe Getty]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center.

[Commercial Announcer]

Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

And now here's Armstrong and Getty. The Grammy nomination and Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga and Bad Bunny are among the artists with the most nominations. Bad Bunny who's playing in the super bowl, right.

[Joe Getty]

I congratulate him her or it.

[Jack Armstrong]

My son is old school Kendrick Lamar. He doesn't like the newer Kendrick Lamar and I all I knew is from what I saw of him on the super bowl last year and I didn't really get it. But he is playing me the like original Kendrick Lamar that made him famous and it was pretty cool. I really dug it. The CNN chiron up there says no deal appears imminent as long as ever Shutdown keeps going. I don't know if that's accurate or not. Often these things are being put together behind the scenes and it doesn't look imminent until it happens practically right?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

So I wouldn't be shocked if you heard today that the shutdown is going to gonna continue. But Mark Halpern was writing in his newsletter today that his inside sources say both sides think they're winning. So there's not a lot of political movement to end the shutdown. That's both sides outside of Trump because Trump announced the other day we're losing. We need to end this now.

[Joe Getty]

But well that's exactly why I formed the F Y' all Again party. F Y' all and we formed a political party. And you can get your Eff y' all Akin Party T shirt at the Armstrong and getty superstore.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrongandgetty.com we now have pickleball paddles.

[Joe Getty]

I'm not against it.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, no.

[Joe Getty]

Okay. All right. Super. Helps keep everybody on the payroll during these challenging times. So we've got a lot to squeeze in this last hour of the week. But first Friday tradition. Time to take a fond look back at the week that was. It's cow Clips of the week.

[Commercial Announcer]

It's Clips of the Week.

[Joe Getty]

The greatest and most dramatic game seven in world. That's back there. And that one is tied by pages.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm ready to get another ring next to you.

[Joe Getty]

Let's go.

[Jack Armstrong]

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

[Joe Getty]

Prosecutors now say amateurs, not professionals, carried out the heist at the Louvre.

[Commercial Announcer]

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

[Joe Getty]

God wok me up at 6:45 Saturday morning.

[Jack Armstrong]

He goes, ron, get your boots on. Let's go walking. I'm a woman and I have every right to not want a man in the restroom when I'm naked. Americans will lose 135 billion pounds by the midterms, but I don't measure it in pounds.

[Joe Getty]

I measure it and save lives.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's actually funny.

[Joe Getty]

It was December 18th. I remember because that's an important date to me. And as Joseph Stalin's birthday. Oh, I'm a fan Character AI a.

[Commercial Announcer]

Bot generating app that connects users with fictional bot friends ended up with the bots initiating romantic kissing.

[Jack Armstrong]

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

[Joe Getty]

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

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes. So hear me, President Trump, when I say this. To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us every 20 years or so. We need a conspicuous, confined experiment with socialism so we can crack it up again. I'm a democratic socialist who's also a Democrat.

[Joe Getty]

Nothing I dislike more than the politician that sits there and lies to you. Just a vile creature. The worst thing on the face of the earth. It's not a trance, so I think it's a trend. When someone trends people inhaling, then exhaling when they're done inhaling. It's a new trend on TikTok clips of the week.

[Jack Armstrong]

There's no way Nick Fuentes actually admires Stalin. He's just trolling.

[Joe Getty]

He's an edgelord.

[Jack Armstrong]

What's an edgelord?

[Joe Getty]

It's somebody who's constantly pushing to the very limits of acceptability to get attention and be provocative. Particularly it attracts young men. All young men are like that. They like the risky and the dangerous and the. I'm not supposed to say this, but I get it.

[Jack Armstrong]

There's something else in there.

[Joe Getty]

He's a piece of crap, but amoral.

[Jack Armstrong]

There's something else in the clips of the week I wanted to comment on, but I don't remember what it was. Anyway, maybe it'll pop into my head so much.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

So you were going to try to tell us what the government shutdown is actually about. Do. Do you. Is it. Is it Obamacare?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's continuing the subsidies. I gotta dig.

[Jack Armstrong]

How have the Republicans not done a better job of saying no, no, no, no, no, we're not. We're not cutting Obamacare. We're going back to the pre. Covid. They. We changed all the medical policies because of COVID Now Covid's over and we're going back to the old that.

[Joe Getty]

We're following the law that the Democrats passed.

[Jack Armstrong]

What's crazy about that? You were going back to the original Democratic law.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Their messaging is terrible.

[Jack Armstrong]

I haven't heard anybody say it that succinctly.

[Joe Getty]

It's an F minus the Republican Party's messaging. Yeah. I mean, of everybody, you got F's. You're the worst. I am actually mystified by it. I don't get it how their messaging can be as bad as it is. Who wrote this? It's really good. Rick. Oh, Rick Scott. Congressional Democrats have said the quiet part out loud. They want the federal government to keep cutting massive checks to insurance companies forever using your tax dollars to shore up the sinking ship of Obamacare, even shut down the government to make sure it happens. Obamacare did not deliver on its promise of health care affordability and stability. If you like your health care plan, you're screwed. Was the Truth in 2013 promised to bring down health care costs. Savings of $2,500 a year for every American family and $200 billion for the federal government. Was a complete fiction by Obamacare. And to keep Obamacare afloat, the federal government has propped it up with hundreds of billions of dollars in handouts directly to the insurance industry, while failing to lower costs. And these handouts lacked any accountability or eligibility requirements, opening them up to fraud, waste and mass confusion that lined the pockets of insurance companies and brokers and failed Americans who need help. The whole system is misconceived, he writes. But Washington has done its best to hide that from the American people.

[Jack Armstrong]

That that's all true and interesting. I still think it's too complicated, though. So when the shutdown started, they were making. They want to give your tax money to illegals for their health care, which is true, but I still think it's too complicated. No, no, no. We just want to go back to the pre Covid situation. That's the law the Democrats passed that they were so proud of. You're not proud of it anymore or what? We're just going to go back to.

[Joe Getty]

The pre Covid law, Right?

[Jack Armstrong]

We had to.

[Joe Getty]

You ought to be in charge of the Republican Party's messaging.

[Jack Armstrong]

Covid was the biggest health emergency in this in a century. So we adjusted our sales. Of course, now we're going back to the pre emergency numbers. Why is this so complicated?

[Joe Getty]

It frustrates me no end. They can't get that.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't. I think you'd have a fair amount of agreement if people knew that. Because when you position it as well, anything more complex or a cut, which is an easy way to position it if you're a Democrat, people react negatively to that. Often.

[Joe Getty]

I feel like I felt at times rooting for various sports teams that just flat sucked. And I thought, all right, I'm not going to be emotionally invested in you anymore. I might watch because I enjoy the sport and I might be. I've got to readjust my sales. I might be thinking, okay, I wonder if that kid's going to be any good. Maybe they can help us in future seasons. But I'm not going to have any emotional investment anymore. I feel that way about the Republican Party. Some days you're just so bad at what you do. And yet against all of the media and academia and entertainment, Republicans still win elections because their ideas are so much better. Generally speaking, I might look over the.

[Jack Armstrong]

I might look over the Grammy nominations that just came out, see if there's anything I think is interesting to you, our audience. But what's your least favorite kind of music that, like, you just have no toleration for? You can't really listen to it. I say this, of course, because I've got one.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Popular, like pop, country, makes my skin crawl. It's funny.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's what my son said last night when we were talking about this, my oldest. He said, I like pretty much all kinds of music. And he does have a very ferried, varied taste. Mostly hip hop, but you kind of listen to everything. Every once in a while he surprises me with something. He said, I just can't do modern country.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. And I Like, a lot of, like, twangy music, Americana and traditional American music and stuff like that. But it's just so formulaic, and it just. It's so formulaic. It just. It bothers me.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I don't.

[Joe Getty]

It's like it's the musical equivalent of a rom com where you know the entire plot in the first 10 minutes.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't dig it. But if it's on, it doesn't bother me. Like, the only genre I can't really get into is metal. I just. I don't even want it on around me. I do not. I've tried many times because I like so many different kinds of music. And my son was talking to me about how I go through phases, and I do. I go through a classical phase, and then I'll be on jazz, and then I'll be on Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie, and then I'll just. And I'll do them each for a week or two. But I've tried with metal, and I just can't find any enjoyment in it.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I know my son, who is practically a musical genius, is super into it, and he is a huge Robert Earl Keane fan, and Bob Dylan and Rush and a hundred other things, but he says it gets all of the angst and all the frustration out of him. It's just a dragon ticket. Ticket to banging your head and all. It's just. It just. It flushes it all away. Katie, you're a metal fan, right? At least, you know, so. Because there are a lot of different genres of metal. It's like country people here. I don't like country and might think I don't want to hear, you know, whatever great Americana act. And that's not true.

[Jack Armstrong]

Merle Haggard, as opposed to whoever's popular.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I want to listen to the old 97s all day, but I have no desire in what's on the radio. The screaming gets a little rough in the metal sometimes. But if it's. How about the Cookie Monster thing? What amazes me is that Drew can understand what they're saying. And I'm like, we translate. Because I have no idea what they're saying.

[Jack Armstrong]

I. I got plenty of angst and frustration. So you think it would work for me.

[Joe Getty]

And we'll teach their own.

[Jack Armstrong]

Michael, any kind of music you just don't like. Polka. Polka, yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Too many clarinets.

[Jack Armstrong]

I like some polka. I like some yodeling. I mean, I could listen to yodeling more than I could listen to metal today if I had to listen to one thing like Classic yodeling. It was always on TV when Joe and I, Joe and I are old, we're each in our 90s, but when we were kids on television, there's every once in a while they'd have a yodeler on. I don't know who they were trying to satisfy with that. Like, what the hell?

[Joe Getty]

Well, you couldn't tune out. I mean, it was like, what the hell is that?

[Jack Armstrong]

And then they'd hit that part toward the end where they'd go, yeah, oh, yeah. Really, really fast. And the crowd had like come to their feet with amazement.

[Joe Getty]

That's the yodeling equivalent of tweedly doodly doodle. Right? Right. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my God.

[Joe Getty]

Good times.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. So we got a little update on all the flights being canceled on how much that's disrupting air traffic today. I just got a funny text from somebody who was at the airport with I'll have to read to you is quite humorous.

[Joe Getty]

So I'm absolutely drowning in things I really want to talk about, but I feel the need to at least tip our cap to the great Peggy Noonan, who's out with her column or weekly column. And it's entitled, ahem, Take Mamdani seriously and literally.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, that's a good one. I want to hear that. So all that stuff's on the way. Stay here.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

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[Jack Armstrong]

Americans will lose 1,135 billion pounds by the midterms. But I don't measure it in pounds. I measure it and save lives. Yeah, that wasn't a number to me. I didn't see it till this morning where Trump explained one of your big name. We'll go vi or whatever it is, one of your big names is going to go from 1350amonth to $250 a month.

[Joe Getty]

1350?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, 1350amonth to 250amonth. So it went from, man, you gotta really need it or have a lot of money before you're going to do that to. Lots of people could figure out a way to pay 250amonth.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah, a lot of people have spent that and more on various diet plans and gyms and the rest of it. Yeah. It's intriguing, for sure. And it could pay enormous health dividends.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that's the theory is that that's what's going to drive lowering the cost is insurance companies are going to quickly figure out this is the best investment we've ever made because there are a hundred or more diseases. I heard a doctor this morning on News Nation that obesity is a huge contributor to. And that's way more expensive than subsidizing these drugs a little bit.

[Joe Getty]

Obesity rates, by the way, have fallen in the last couple years for the first time in many, many years. And it's thought it's probably mostly the weight loss drugs.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, yeah. Wow. So also the idea, the idea that they'll be prescribed to more people that aren't, you know, profoundly obese, like was the beginning. It'd be just people that got £25 to lose.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, I'm not profoundly obese, but I'm certainly heavier than I need to be. And it has its health effects. You know, it's funny, I close this tab because it's the same old, same old. But the 10 least and most obese states in America, your, your obese five are Alabama, Louis, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and West Virginia. It's the usual suspect and the fittest states, allegedly. Hawaii, California, Massachusetts, Utah and Colorado. The usual suspects.

[Jack Armstrong]

And what do you attribute that to?

[Joe Getty]

Culture. Culture and diet. And diet is part of culture. Southern cooking is absolutely freaking delicious. But you got to burn a hell of a lot of calories. Yeah. Whereas in Colorado, you get your, your kales and your quinoas and your whatever the heck you people eat.

[Jack Armstrong]

My son hates red meat. My oldest. It's really tough. Makes it Tough to go out. Interesting. Yeah. Just because that's my favorite thing in the world. I love the red meat, like chicken. He will eat chicken. But he doesn't like. He doesn't like anything. Steak, burgers, anything like that. And those are my favorite places. Then often their chicken offering is kind of, excuse me, for weirdos who won't eat a steak or a burger.

[Joe Getty]

Burgers. I know. I don't take this personally, but he's a Chinese spy.

[Jack Armstrong]

He thinks steak is disgusting. I know. I say what I told him to get out of the car and then I looked.

[Joe Getty]

You know, a son of mine.

[Jack Armstrong]

What do you call. Well, he barely is. My dad was in the cattle business his entire life when we grew up eating state and it's my favorite thing. But anyway, all our favorite restaurants that I've ever gone to. I don't like any of this stuff. So I looked it up. I asked Grok. So what do you call somebody who only eats chicken? He doesn't like fish either. Only eats chicken. No red meat. It's an Apollo. An apolitarian. That's what you are.

[Joe Getty]

You're a politic party.

[Jack Armstrong]

You just eat chicken.

[Joe Getty]

I believe in anarchy, but with a strong fire department. Oh, speaking of radical politics, the great Peggy Noonan weighing in on Moram, mon commie. And actually oddly enough, Stephen Smith and Victor Davis Hansen on Mumdani. Oh, really? Last time you heard those three human beings in the same sentence paragraph.

[Jack Armstrong]

Anyway, so I look forward to that fantastic little mum. Danny wrap up. He doesn't take office till January. You realize he's. Can I do anything yet?

[Joe Getty]

So it's. There's still time to buy a new hammer and polish up your sickle.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, get that sickle sharp. You got to start stabbing the economy till it bleeds out.

[Joe Getty]

Dar.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm glad we're out of time so I don't take this any further.

[Joe Getty]

Make him stop. Armstrong and Getty.

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[Joe Getty]

Thank you. To those so often forgotten by the.

[Jack Armstrong]

Politics of our city, who made this movement their own. I speak of Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas, Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses.

[Joe Getty]

Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, aunties.

[Joe Getty]

Let the inevitable lying begin. So typical of Marxists claiming that he was representing the working poor, the minorities, the immigrants. The numbers do not bear that sentiment out at all.

[Jack Armstrong]

I saw this yesterday, meant to bring it up. It's really interesting. And more than the fact that he lied about who he's representing, the media completely unaware of who he's representing or they don't care.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Cuomo won the I don't have a high school degree vote by eight points. Cuomo did. Voters whose education ended with a high school diploma backed Cuomo over Mondame to the tune of 46 to 40%. And 47% of those with some college voted for Cuomo, compared with 41% who backed Mamdani. Mamdani strength was with the city's elite.

[Jack Armstrong]

Mamdani lost everybody but college educated.

[Joe Getty]

Right. So you don't get to advanced degree. People went in droves from him. Donnie.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. You don't get to stand up in front of a crowd and yell, I represent the working class. No, you don't. You represent the college educated. I mean, it's just factually true. These are the numbers. But again, to me, I wish the media would have, you know, understood that at all.

[Joe Getty]

Right. Radical ideology is almost always the product of the elite, the young, wealthy, comfortable elite. It happens over and over and over again in history, and it's happened again. But for some reason, people, the media, pretend that's not the case. They fall. They just lap up the rhetoric and never question it.

[Jack Armstrong]

And we all know how it is just generally been true broadly that the more education you have, the more money you make throughout your life. So the people that could benefit for the most, in theory from rent control and free buses and riding the subway for free and all that sort of stuff, they voted for Cuomo.

[Joe Getty]

Right, right. That's the narrative here. That's the narrative everybody ought to be talking about.

[Jack Armstrong]

Absolutely. That's the most interesting part of the whole story.

[Joe Getty]

I know, I know. And we, we kind of buried it, too. Here we are in our four. But at least we're getting to it. Let's hear from a couple more voices before we get to the fabulous Peggy Noonan. This is basketball commentator and budding politician Stephen A. Smith.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm very concerned about what he once said about defunding the police. I don't want to see less police officers. I want to see more police officers. I heard him talk about mental health experts in the subway system. I don't care about that. I want cops in the subways, free buses, free grocery stores in each borough. Really think that's gonna work? Which means that rent freezes, which is also something that Muhammadani pushed. Is that really going to be plausible? Are you really going to be able to freeze rent? Or you're going to end up hiking it because you don't have enough people here to pay it. The people who love mom Donnie the most are not people who pay bills every day. Why does Stephen A. Smith know that? And the media doesn't know that or any commentators on the race?

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

The polling probably showed that leading up to this, nobody was telling that story. No, look, he's. He's winning overwhelmingly among the college educated. The downtrodden don't want him. That, that, that should have been evident in the polling. And nobody was talking about that.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, my God.

[Jack Armstrong]

And that. Amazing.

[Joe Getty]

You know, and I'm sorry, I. It's like I'm punched in the face every time somebody brings up rent control. It's like somebody runs into the room and says, oh, my God, I just got an email from a Nigerian prince. I won the Nigerian lottery and all I have to do is. Rent control is a scam just one notch below that. It never, ever works. It removes units from the market and it makes landlords not maintain their properties anymore because they can't charge a rent commensurate with their costs. It's a nightmare anyway. From Stephen A. Smith to. This is probably the first time the sentence has ever been uttered in the English language. From Stephen A. Smith to Victor Davis Hansen.

[Jack Armstrong]

People forget that New York was already in a fiscal crisis because it had too much socialism. People were not paying their fares on the subway or the bus anyway, so he's going to the next step of nihilism. And you know, he's on the back of a communist tiger because you hear Linda Saussure and these other radical Muslims and Islamists, these anti Semites, that he's he's ridden and now he can't. If he gets off, they're going to devour, you know, devour him. So he's going to ride that all the way to the most extreme logical end. And it doesn't look good for New York. I don't see a way out for it right now.

[Joe Getty]

As an aside, I've been really gratified that vdh, who is the dean of conservative historians and a brilliant man, has not one second of patience for the woke right anti Semite thing. He's really come out strongly. Well done vdh. Anyway, to Peggy Noonan, who as usual wrote a wonderful column in this case about Zoran Mandami and I'm going to skip around a little bit, but she writes, Mamdani got the mandate he wanted and it was big. He broke past 50% in a three man race as a declared not hidden socialist. The first such mayor in New York. O I should tell you that the the title of this piece is Take Mum Donnie seriously and literally. He did this at age 34 with no real resume and as a Muslim, again a first. It is a most extraordinary achievement and he didn't come to do nothing. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez was elected to Congress in 2018 and went to Washington where she posed for magazine covers and did TikTok rants. She didn't accomplish much after she ran into a little iceberg named Nancy Pelosi. Mr. Mumdani won't take a page from that book. He's as serious as a heart attack, he told us in his victory speech. This is a man who six months ago was unknown to the vast majority of New Yorkers and 10 months ago was polling at 1%. Was he humbled by New York's open minded, open hearted, embraced? Embraced? Not in the least. He delivered a declaration of dominance. And we've played you some of these clips. To get to any of us, you'll have to get through all of us. Billionaires can play by the same rules as the rest of us. We have toppled a political dynasty. We'll put an end to the culture of corruption with communism. That's hilarious. We will prove that there's no problem too large for government to solve and no concern too small for it to care about. He declared a new age. He made Barack Obama look modest and self effacing. Perhaps the most horrifying of those statements departing from the text to me will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve and no concern too small for it to care about.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well It's a different worldview than I've got meaning.

[Joe Getty]

Government now has the right to get involved in everything you do and say.

[Jack Armstrong]

Probably think because that's who's going to solve your problems.

[Joe Getty]

Van Jones, watching it live on tv. We played you this clip, said I felt like he was a little bit of a character switch here. During the campaign, Mr. Mamdani was the warm, embracing fellow with the dimpled smile who loved everyone with undifferentiated warmth. The night he won, he showed who he was. A serious ideologue who means it. In the day after interview in the New York Times, he spoke of the size of his win. It is a mandate to deliver on the agenda that we ran on. The conversation turned to his plan to raise taxes on the wealthy. In the past he implied that there might be other ways to raise funds for his programs, but not now. I think that our tax system is an example of the many ways in which working people have been betrayed. The Times headline an emboldened Mandami sheds conciliatory tone. Everybody noticed it. A good guess, writes Peggy Noonan. He won't start. He won't start out moderate. But he will be clever because he is. And here's the nut of what she wanted to write about. He'll focus first on city services such as garbage collection, knowing he can lose it all if he shows incompetence on the basics. He won't quickly impose the Democratic Socialists of America criminal justice agenda and allow crime to spike. He won't wear down popular and respected police commissioner Jessica Tisch right away. He'll wait. But as months go by, he'll be an inch by inch bulldozer. And then this is kind of an aside, but it's so good. His economic agenda is to hike taxes on millionaires, billionaires and corporations. Nobody minds if he gets another 5 million bucks a year out of a billionaire. Even the billionaire will hardly notice. I wonder if the Mandani administration is going to find out that billionaires and corporations have many legal ways to protect their wealth and profits. But high salary, quote unquote millionaires, People who own a $1.4 million apartment and earn a joint $600,000 a year and have two kids in Catholic school, each with tuition and are highly taxed already, that they're going to get clobbered. I wonder if socialists care about these fine points or just want to raise taxes on the rich. Any rich, and get the credit with their followers. I suspect the latter. I suspect they think why should anyone have a million dollar apartment when the homeless sleep in the streets anyway.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which is not what the non college educated are worried about, apparently.

[Joe Getty]

No, absolutely not. No. They're like, no, these are junkies and crazy people. And then she gets into 100,000 volunteers who are underemployed and will try to help him by volunteering at his communist grocery stores. All right, here is the part that really brings it home. And this is, this is the message to conservatives. Republicans should understand. Mr. Mamdani isn't your boogeyman to use for your electoral amusement. You think you're going to make him the face of the Democratic Party in that stupid phrase and everyone will hate Democrats and you'll profit without even trying. But he's cleverer than you. He understands the world of right now better. And in any case, he has an ideology. He swallowed whole at his father's knee with mother's milk and is fully absorbed and digested. He thinks he knows his, his historical meaning. Do you? It isn't necessarily true that Mr. Mamdani, unless he is an utter failure, will sour those outside New York on the Democratic Party. Americans think New York is a place apart, a liberal city that will always be New Yorking. In the coming AI crisis, his brand of leftism may start to look good to some people. Mr. Trump can't moderate himself for his policies and will continue to rouse wild opposition. He is the face of his party. Mamdani can't do anything alone. He needs the governor. Kathy Hochul is up for reelection, faces a primary challenge from the left and is surrounded by progressive legislators. She's your bulwark against him. Take him both literally and seriously.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, that's interesting. So that's two people that we've read saying a not so fast with the this is going to be good for conservatism. Peggy Noonan and Douglas Murray, those are two people you ought to pay attention to. They're two of my favorite, smartest people I know who are both saying, yeah, this is not gonna help.

[Joe Getty]

And both are serious people because that's.

[Jack Armstrong]

What Douglas Murray said.

[Joe Getty]

Chuckers and click grabbers.

[Jack Armstrong]

His piece from a couple a month or so ago was, was very similar. He could do a lot of damage and he could catch on with a lot of people.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, because the scam is an attractive scam. Socialism is, you know, George Will pointed out the other day, seems like we have to have a, an experiment in it that fails miserably about once every 20 years because it's so seductive and I hate to sung Tsuya to death. But the worst thing we could possibly do is underestimate this extremely clever enemy of the Western world, because I believe firmly he is that boy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Her point about AI was true. So with the shutdown going on, we didn't get our normal government numbers. But I was listening to a newscast today where they were using private numbers to try to get a guess where we are on jobs right now. And it was a horrible month. October. Something like 150,000 jobs lost, almost all attributed to AI if AI does anything close to what it's supposed to do with people losing their jobs, man, the seductive siren of socialism. Socialism is going to be more attractive than ever.

[Joe Getty]

The francification of the United States continues.

[Jack Armstrong]

Don't you think? You have. You have millions of college graduates out of work out there because AI, they're all going to be mom dummy type voters.

[Joe Getty]

It's entirely possible.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, that'll be fun to watch.

[Joe Getty]

What was the line from the classic O brother, where art thou? By God, we're in a tight spot.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. Or I always like the line from no country for Old Men. This is a mess, isn't it, Sheriff? Well, if it ain't, it'll do till the mess gets here.

[Joe Getty]

Amen to that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, we'll finish strong.

[Joe Getty]

Next, Armstrong and Getty.

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[Jack Armstrong]

So when I heard a triathlon. Triathlon, because they vary and some of the triathlons are, you know, you swim a half a mile, you run a 5k and you bike ride for five months, which is fine. That's, you know, good athletic, but not the big one. The full marathon, hundred mile bike ride and a couple mile swim. I don't know how anybody does that, period. I ran a marathon once. It almost killed me. The idea of getting on a bike afterwards or before and riding 100 miles is insane.

[Joe Getty]

Yikes. That's. If everybody trained their whole lives to do that. What percentage of us could still do that at age 80? Be small or ever, ever, but 80?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. I don't know. I don't know what's going on there. Of course. How long did it take her? Did she start it in 2016? She just finished yesterday.

[Joe Getty]

No, she. She was better than the 17 hour cutoff, they said.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, right. God dang it. That is really something. That's. That's got to be a genetics thing.

[Joe Getty]

He says to a large extent. Sure.

[Jack Armstrong]

He says, wanting to discount his lazy ass.

[Joe Getty]

Right. It's not sloth and lack of ambition that holds me back. It's genetics.

[Jack Armstrong]

Donuts. Oh. So the Armstrong and Getty store, which getting to be this time of year, people get excited about because I've purchased gifts for before, for people before, for people I know I like the show or I know other people have. And our store right now has got some cool stuff. Armstrong and Getty hoodies, Armstrong and Getty T shirts and then stocking stuffers.

[Joe Getty]

Coasters.

[Jack Armstrong]

People use coasters.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely.

[Jack Armstrong]

People like you have fancy furniture. I don't use coasters. I've never used a coaster in my life. Decals. Armstrong and Yeti decals. Armstrong and Yeti pickleball paddles. Huh?

[Joe Getty]

I just, I want to make sure nobody buys the decals and like puts them in public places in liberal towns or on their liberal friends, neighbors and relatives. Cars just don't. Or their mailboxes. Don't do that. Likely to see them under.

[Jack Armstrong]

Under any circumstances. Don't do that.

[Joe Getty]

Certainly not.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hey, kids, it's that time again.

[Joe Getty]

With Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Here's your host for final thoughts, Joe Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Let's get a final thought from everybody on the crew to wrap things up for the day. Wouldn't that be delightful? Michelangelo, our board operator, our technical director is ready to go. Michael, you know, this may sound a Little odd, but I'm thinking about setting up play dates for my wife so she doesn't find companionship with a chat, you know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

With the chatbot or something to watch out for.

[Jack Armstrong]

For.

[Joe Getty]

So I'm gonna set her up with friends. I'm just gonna call, you know, women and have them come over. Wow. Good. Good strategy. Okay. Katie Green, our scene newswoman, has a final thought. Katie, I, I lost it with that. I'm sorry. Enjoy following that. Yeah, yeah, right. That, that whole segment, really, it was a mixture of emotions like sad and disturbed. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

What hour was that? Get the podcast. If you didn't hear that big New York Times piece on this will be my final thought. New York Times piece featuring three different people full on grown up people surviving in the world with jobs that have AI bot relationships.

[Joe Getty]

Three, I believe. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Correct.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. My, my. One of my favorite things we talked about today was that Greg Abbott threatened a 100% tariff on new Yorkers moving to Texas and a lot of people took him seriously and started screeching online about how that was on stage constitutional and you can't have tariffs on people and didn't get the joke. That's a funny thing to say.

[Jack Armstrong]

We have breaking news. A robo taxi has run over a beloved cat in San Francisco. People are angry.

[Joe Getty]

I think that happened a few days ago.

[Jack Armstrong]

Did it?

[Joe Getty]

Did it pack up and run over the thing again?

[Jack Armstrong]

Run over it again. Out of anger. Armstrong and Yeti wrapping up another grueling four hour workday.

[Joe Getty]

So many people. Thanks. So little time. Go to Armstrong and getty.com. hey, if you're doing your thing over the weekend, you see something we really ought to be talking about or think piece that you think is fabulous, send it along. The email address is mailbag. Armstrong and Yeti.com cat hating robo taxis. Something to watch out for. They're coming for us next. We came for the cats and I said nothing.

[Jack Armstrong]

We will see you Monday. God bless America.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

The Dodgers dominate the Blue Jays.

[Joe Getty]

New Yorkers elect to commie mayor O Yay. Tariffs taken up by the Supreme Court. Fat drug prices drop eat up. Now we in another.

[Jack Armstrong]

Crazy week.

[Joe Getty]

Join us again on Monday. This is where we'll meet Armstrong and Getty. This is an I heart podcast.