Is It A Bit Of A Urinating Contest?

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand: "Is It A Bit Of A Urinating Contest?" – Episode Summary

Release Date: April 10, 2025
Host: Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty
Platform: iHeartPodcasts

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Introduction

In the April 10, 2025 episode of "Armstrong & Getty On Demand," hosts Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty delve into a spectrum of pressing political and economic issues, ranging from U.S.-China relations and the bond market's volatility to internal political maneuvers and societal observations. The episode is marked by sharp commentary, insightful analysis, and a blend of humor and seriousness that characterizes the Armstrong & Getty dynamic.

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U.S.-China Relations and Trade Tariffs

Discussion Highlights: Jack and Joe kick off the episode by addressing Europe's recent 90-day pause on tariffs, contrasting it with the escalating tariffs imposed on China. The hosts express skepticism about President Donald Trump's strategic intentions behind these tariffs, pondering whether it's a calculated move or a display of rivalry with China's Xi Jinping.

Notable Quotes:

• Joe Getty [01:05]: "Since we got up this morning, Europe has announced their 90-day pause. So everybody's pausing. Except for it with China, which is what I think a lot of us been saying for quite a while."

• Jack Armstrong [01:23]: "Indeed. And we're intertwined with them in a way that is utterly unsustainable. So is Donald J. behaving purely strategically with the China tariffs, or is it a bit of a urinating contest between him and Xi Jinping or half and half?"

Insights: The hosts debate the sustainability of the U.S.'s economic entanglement with China, questioning the long-term viability of current tariff strategies. They highlight the potential repercussions on global economic stability and the complexities of disentangling such deep-rooted economic ties.

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The Bond Market Explained

Discussion Highlights: A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to demystifying the bond market. Jack emphasizes its foundational role in the economy, likening it to the plumbing that keeps the economic system functioning. Joe shares a personal anecdote about not altering his investments despite market volatility, illustrating a common sentiment among listeners.

Notable Quotes:

• Jack Armstrong [03:35]: "We're gonna explain the bond market to you."

• Joe Getty [03:42]: "Everything turns on the bond market. That's quite possibly true."

• Jack Armstrong [24:33]: "But you won't know it. You'll be hiding in the bathroom."

Insights: The hosts break down the complexities of the bond market, discussing how government borrowing and investor confidence impact economic stability. They touch upon recent market reactions to political decisions, underscoring the inseparable link between political actions and economic outcomes.

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Political Maneuvers and Media Influence

Discussion Highlights: Jack and Joe analyze President Trump's recent actions and their implications on both domestic and international fronts. They reference media portrayals, specifically criticizing outlets like News Nation for perceived biases in reporting on Trump compared to Fox News or MSNBC.

Notable Quotes:

• Joe Getty [01:39]: "I watched the News Nation for the first time this morning... I noticed no obvious how do we make this story worse for Trump or how do we make this story better for Trump."

• Jack Armstrong [06:45]: "No horn with the horn. Stop it. So if you're a fan of power and influence and... he's definitely the voice that we conservatives and Republicans with our hatred and abuse of anybody who is gay. No, no."

Insights: The conversation delves into the strategic communication between the Trump administration and the media, questioning the authenticity and consistency of the administration's narratives. The hosts express concerns over media biases and the impact of such reporting on public perception and political agendas.

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Societal Observations and Anecdotes

Discussion Highlights: Interspersed with political discourse are lighter segments where Jack and Joe share personal stories and societal commentaries. These include anecdotes about interactions with individuals holding strong political opinions and observations on social behaviors influenced by political climates.

Notable Quotes:

• Joe Getty [31:15]: "Here's your freedom loving quote of the day. Love this one from PJ O'Rourke... 'There is only one basic human right. The right to do as you damn well please.'"

• Jack Armstrong [33:50]: "Nobody got loans in the name of equity."

Insights: These segments provide a humanizing break from intense political analysis, illustrating how broader economic and political issues permeate everyday life and personal interactions.

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Conclusions and Final Thoughts

Discussion Highlights: As the episode progresses, Jack and Joe reflect on the potential long-term impacts of current political and economic strategies. They express caution regarding Trump's adaptability and question the sustainability of policies that may erode international trust and economic stability.

Notable Quotes:

• Jack Armstrong [19:24]: "Has there been no harm? That's the question a lot of people are asking in terms of our allies... Has that been hurt?"

• Joe Getty [19:54]: "I think people are going to go with the United States because China's... They don't want to be your business partner."

Insights: The hosts conclude by emphasizing the delicate balance between political maneuvering and economic resilience. They advocate for strategic, informed decision-making that prioritizes long-term stability over short-term gains, highlighting the intricate interplay between national policies and global economic dynamics.

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Closing Remarks

Throughout the episode, Armstrong and Getty maintain a critical yet conversational tone, effectively unpacking complex issues for their audience. Their blend of expertise, personal anecdotes, and sharp wit offers listeners a comprehensive and engaging exploration of the topics that shape today's political and economic landscapes.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

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

[Joe Getty]

As he wrote in my favorite newsletter this morning, maybe it was all a dream.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, if only.

[Joe Getty]

That's funny.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, that's beautiful.

[Joe Getty]

Live from Studio C, senor, a dimly lit room deep within the bowels of the Armstrong and Getty Communications compound. Hey, y'all. Today, Thursday. Is that right? Yeah, Thursday. Little Friday. We're under the tutelage of our general manager.

[Jack Armstrong]

The pause. Yeah, the pause that refreshes.

[Joe Getty]

And since we, since we got up this morning, Europe has announced their 90 day pause. So everybody's pausing. Except for it with China, which is what I think a lot of us been saying for quite a while. The China thing, I get. Let's, let's, let's figure out how we're going to decouple from China. They're an s. Sworn enemy of this country.

[Jack Armstrong]

Indeed. And we're intertwined with them in a way that is utterly unsustainable. So is Donald J. Behaving purely strategically with the China tariffs, or is it a bit of a urinating contest between him and Xi Jinping or half and half? Hard to say.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know. You know, I watched the News Nation for the first time this morning, first time I've tuned that in, even though our boss, Bill has been telling me for a very long time, you should check out News Nation. It's way, it's way closer to what your show is than anything else and I would say is right. I noticed no obvious how do we make this story worse for Trump or how do we make this story better for Trump? Which you do get from Fox or msnbc. So I didn't notice that on News Nation, but anyway, to add them to my rotation. Yeah, yeah, I got a lot of really interesting information out of it, but great. I do think it's interesting the, the Trump hating world. For weeks now it has been how he's just so stubborn and ideological and he's been saying the same thing from the 80s and he would, he will not accept reality and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then when he, you know, gets to a point of like, this is just doing too much damage, I got to pull the plug. Then it's, he said he'd do this and now he's backing off. Well, you just were criticizing him for being unwilling to back off and now you're criticizing him for backing off. And I just, I don't quite understand.

[Jack Armstrong]

Now you can bash Trump no matter what happens? What's there to understand?

[Joe Getty]

Well, you could, you obviously you could make the comment that it was somewhat predictable that the markets would go crazy. And since that was true, you wouldn't, you didn't need to do this in the first place. But that being said, I don't understand the. It's one or the other, you know, you can't.

[Jack Armstrong]

It is kind of funny. It's the proverbial kicking your dog when he finally comes to you.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, Jack, speaking of the whole tariffs and the upheaval and the pause and the rest of it, and this is exciting, folks are going to be canceling appointments, keeping their kids home from school during the show. Today we're gonna explain the bond market to you.

[Joe Getty]

I might be in the bathroom.

[Jack Armstrong]

Stay with us.

[Joe Getty]

Might be when I take my bathroom break the bond.

[Jack Armstrong]

Everything turns on the bond market.

[Joe Getty]

That's quite possibly true. And in fact.

[Jack Armstrong]

But you won't know it. You'll be hiding in the bathroom.

[Joe Getty]

I'll assume it is true. But somehow I've made it this far in my life without knowing anything about it. If I can make it till dead without knowing anything about it, then I'll be all right.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's not like you're living under a bridge.

[Joe Getty]

Well, I was, I was thinking about the last however many days it's been and partially. And I didn't ask my financial guy, he sent me an email. I imagine he sent everybody emails because everybody was freaking out there for a couple of days. But I didn't change a dollar of my life based on anything in the last week. So no, really, no harm, no foul.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know, I was kind of kicking myself because I didn't have any real money in my little playing around investment account because this was the classic dip to buy.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, but you didn't know it was going to come back like it could have been.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, but I knew it would come back eventually. Yeah, but he does.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, but he could have held strong for nine months or who knew?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that's, that's why I think it's important to have just, you know, a play around. If this bet doesn't turn out and for two years you got no money and that's fine. So what?

[Joe Getty]

Well, that one of the problems with.

[Jack Armstrong]

This, I wouldn't bet my, my net worth on it. I hear what you're saying. I wouldn't bet my house payment on it.

[Joe Getty]

One of the problems with this whole thing is just, you know, one guy and this has been discussed a Lot one guy having the ability to do this either direction. And so according to the Wall Street Journal, he tapped out his post, his truth social post in the Oval Office at the desk with the treasury secretary sitting there and the commerce Secretary sitting there. Now unfortunately, this came out like five minutes after we said goodbye everybody. See you tomorrow. I wish it would have happened while we were on there because the markets reacted instantly and it was the biggest rise in the NASDAQ as a percentage since the dot com bust, which was what, late 90s? I mean that is, that is amazing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Year 2000, whatever it was.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, we've had some, you know, pretty major ups and downs. Nine, 11, the financial crash, lots of different things in that amount of time. So it was a big deal. I wish it would have happened while we were on the air. But so he taps out his little truth social says that's it, people are getting the yips. I'm going to pause. 90 days, stock market skyrocks. Obviously, if you had had that information that I, I'm, I don't think this is true. Skinny neck, what's his. I almost used a bad word.

[Jack Armstrong]

Go ahead, do it. Adam Schiff.

[Joe Getty]

Adam Schiff. I can't believe he's my U.S. senator. Adam Schiff show he wants an immediate investigation for insider trading. I don't think that's what Trump was up to, but it sure would be easy. It sure would have been easy to tell anybody. Hey, tomorrow, tomorrow, Tomorrow morning, about 10, I'm gonna pull the plug on this thing. So I mean, just call him up.

[Jack Armstrong]

And say bye and hang up.

[Joe Getty]

Buy the dip. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Nope, too much. No, don't blow the horn. Just say by much more spy moves, don't be shy.

[Joe Getty]

Shoot a confetti cannon out the top of the White House and say, I don't know what that was.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh no. Shh. Not settle enough.

[Joe Getty]

But you got to admit, with one guy making that decision to make the stock market go up the most in 30 years, I mean that a ton of money could have been made if you knew at all what was going to, gonna happen.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm sorry. I am so sorry. I gotta take this call.

[Nancy Pelosi]

Hello?

[Jack Armstrong]

Huh? Really? Huh. Okay, thanks, bye. That was Nancy Pelosi. She said she's been doing this for 50 years.

[Joe Getty]

I think they all do it all the time, but man, not on this grand a scale. I mean this was the all time 500 pound gorilla of this sort of thing. If anybody was tipped off, and I don't think they were, but yeah, it's, it's it's something secret to keep to yourself, you know, a whole bunch of rich guys with a lot of stock. By the way, I ain't saying nothing. Ain't something. Just. Just a little hint Wednesday morning. I ain't say anything else then, you know, horn.

[Jack Armstrong]

No horn with the horn. Stop it. So if you're a fan of power and influence and. And who's got what sway in any White House, I think it's. It's super interesting that Scott Besant, the. The treasury guy, is clearly the voice that Trump is listening to through the tumult less than a couple of other folks. He is kind of the voice of let's not do too much damage, common sense down to earth. And he's willing to speak truth to Trump and then spin the hell out of it on the South Lawn or wherever he was speaking yesterday. But he definitely has huge influence. And I feel the need to point out, because you will never, ever hear this pointed out in mainstream media. He happens to be a gay feller. You know, we conservatives and Republicans with our hatred and abuse of anybody who is gay. No, no. We select the most competent person for the job in the job, period.

[Joe Getty]

The Secretary of the treasury lays down with other men.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, there's no need to put too fine a point on it. We all know what that expression means. Good Lord. All right.

[Joe Getty]

No, I didn't know that. And who cares?

[Jack Armstrong]

Who cares?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Mark Halpern, in his newsletter today, say, said 100%. The power broker in that whole thing was Scott Bessett.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

The Treasury Secretary. So let's start the show officially. I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty on this. It is Thursday, April 10, the year 2025, where Armstrong and Yeti. And we approve of this program.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, boy. The Masters kicks off today. Here we go. Let's begin the show officially, according to FCC rules and regs at. Mark.

[Donald Trump]

Well, I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippee, you know, they were getting a little bit yippee, a little bit afraid, unlike these champions, because we have a big job to do. No other president would have done what I did. No other president. I know the president. They wouldn't have done it. And it had to be done.

[Jack Armstrong]

Except perhaps the late, great Abraham Lincoln.

[Joe Getty]

As usual, it was hilarious that his people came out and said this was the plan all along. Then Trump comes out and says, now, I was watching TV last night and think the bond market was going crazy. So I pulled the plug. Wait a second.

[Donald Trump]

We're getting. Yippee.

[Joe Getty]

Why did you, why did you make me go out and say it was the plan all along or they thought that's what they should do?

[Jack Armstrong]

One of the great risks is speaking for Trump from the first moment of term, number one till today, I thought the plan was. Oh, never mind.

[Joe Getty]

Maybe it was all a dream. We were talking yesterday about how it could, he could pull the plug at any moment and then we'll look back, you know, on it in six months and think, oh, yeah, I remember that happened.

[Jack Armstrong]

It might remember that whole tariff thing.

[Joe Getty]

Might be like that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Although the China again, as we've been saying from the very beginning, different story. China is an entirely different subject, I would say.

[Joe Getty]

And on News Nation this morning that I was watching, they did a feature on this new nuclear weapon we've got. It's more about our ability to deliver it, but it's mostly about keeping up with China specifically and also Russia and their aggressive increasing the strength of their nuclear arsenal. So they're calling it a new nuclear arms race. Boy, now that's some serious stuff. We got Katie's headlines on the way and more news of the day. I hope you can stick around. Text line is 415295KFTC.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

A new image out of of what our closest monkey ancestor looked like. And it's very human. I'll talk about that later. Love evolution stuff. Also, speaking of images based on our One More Thing podcast yesterday, Katie sent me. You must have. How did you get them to me so fast? Like within an hour? Amazon. I got in the mail some chicken leg socks and I took pictures of them on my legs and posted at Twitter. This is an attempt to drive up our Twitter numbers or drive them down. Maybe more people left.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Then we had serious.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes.

[Joe Getty]

And somebody said, you have rickets, dude, get some vitamins.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. Yeah. Mix in an orange or two, huh?

[Joe Getty]

Anyway, more on that later.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let's figure out who's reporting what. It's the lead story with Katie Green. Katie?

[Katie Green]

Well, starting with CNN, inflation drops to 2.4% lower than expectations of 2.5%.

[Joe Getty]

There you go. Good inflation news the day after the stock market has a giant rise. Huh?

[Jack Armstrong]

We're back. Oh, everything's coming up Trump. I'm back, baby.

[Katie Green]

From Fox News, Doge reveals bizarre findings of unemployment insurance claims.

[Joe Getty]

Quote. This is crazy, I'm sure.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, I have no doubt. Any system that involves government payouts is got billions and billions and billions of dollars with the old WFA waste fraud.

[Katie Green]

Appears guaranteed 9.7 thousand people with birth rates are birth dates over 15 years in the future claim $69 million.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Katie Green]

From the AP. Freed Israeli hostages. Thank Trump for efforts to get the Hamas hostages released.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, I got a. I got a little tidbit. Maybe after your headlines. We have time on a three dimensional chess theory around Doge. Stay tuned.

[Katie Green]

From the Daily Mail. Update. After brave female fencer took knee and refused to fight against transgender rival. She has left her team completely because fencing.

[Jack Armstrong]

I want to know that woman's name. I want to know it like I know Riley Gaines. I think she should be hailed as the hero that she is.

[Katie Green]

From CNBC. The Rise of AI Generated Profiles. By 2028, globally, one in four job candidates will be fake.

[Joe Getty]

What's the benefit of that?

[Katie Green]

They're just saying that these job seekers are using AI tools to make fake identities, fake IDs, fake resumes, and lying about their.

[Joe Getty]

You can't actually come in and work, though. So what's the ultimate goal?

[Katie Green]

They're doing this for remote hiring jobs.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

A lot of engineering tech jobs or remote hiring. And these guys have figured out I can hold three jobs and do the minimum work for each of them and get a triple salary. I wish I was smart enough to do it. I do it today.

[Joe Getty]

Barely hold one job.

[Katie Green]

From the LA Times. Wife of Weezer bassist is shot by LAPD during a hit and run manhunt and accused of attempted murder.

[Jack Armstrong]

Murder.

[Joe Getty]

I watched this yesterday. What a crazy story.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. I need to know more. I'm flabbergasted. There's a lot going on there.

[Katie Green]

The LAPD was in pursuit of a totally unrelated incident for a hit and run. And they drove by the house and the wife of the Weezer bassist was out there waving a handgun at the cops. And so they had to handle her and they ended up shooting her in the shoulder. And now she's being charged with attempted murder.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

She. Yeah. She would not put down the gun. Then pointed at the cops, they shot her. And then amazingly, she's a. She's alive. And. And that's a little. What are they. What are you trying to do when the. When someone's pointing a gun at you? I would think your goal is to take them out. Take them out. And there was a bunch of cops there. She's like, you know, I'm wounded, but I'm fine.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Often. Yeah. The result is quite an impressive number of bullet wounds. Yeah. I expect more from the wife of the bassist of Weezer.

[Katie Green]

From the New York Post. Australian surgeon fined $10,000 for sharing a picture of a coma patient's swastika. Tattooed pennis.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, wow.

[Joe Getty]

I could see how it'd be hard to not share that with the buddies.

[Jack Armstrong]

Speaking of stories with a lot going on, look at this.

[Joe Getty]

How would you not share that?

[Katie Green]

Nazi Germany from the Free Beacon. Members of Congress agree Jerry Nadler is the capital's worst smelling man.

[Joe Getty]

What?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, I have that story.

[Joe Getty]

Really? That's a real story?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes. An aggressive scent.

[Joe Getty]

That's a real story?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes. Yeah. He is the big old weevil of a fat progressive who's known for filling his drawers.

[Joe Getty]

Jack. Disgusting. Me.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes.

[Katie Green]

And finally, the Babylon Be analysts clarify that Trump is only responsible for the stock market when it goes down.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, exactly.

[Katie Green]

And Joe, just a side note that that fencer's name is Stephanie Turner.

[Jack Armstrong]

Stephanie Turner. God bless you, dear, for your courage.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, the. You remember Lucy, one of the oldest skeletons of like a human that have ever. They've got a new computer mock up of what it looked like and it is. It's pretty interesting to see. Well, talk about that later. Love that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Did. Did Lucy go with they? Them pronouns?

[Joe Getty]

Well, since I don't know, I'm not going to assign a gender.

[Jack Armstrong]

Don't misgender. The monkey girl. Armstrong and Getty.

[Nancy Pelosi]

The president announces he's putting a 90 day pause on most of his tariffs.

[Jack Armstrong]

After Wall street lost nearly $6 trillion in one week.

[Nancy Pelosi]

There is one exception.

[Jack Armstrong]

He is upping the ante on China. Is there any strategy here? Is this any way to run a global economy?

[Donald Trump]

Well, I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippee. You know, they were getting a little bit yippee, a little bit afraid, unlike these champions, because we have a big job to do. No other president would have done what I did. No other president. I know the presidents, they wouldn't have done it. And it had to be done.

[Joe Getty]

Did it have to be done? I don't know. Uh, you could have slept through this whole thing. I'm not sure it would have changed your life any at this point if you had ignored it. Uh, Rich Lowry of National Review tweeted out yesterday, you know the easier way to enter into trade negotiations with our major allies and tariff China would have been to enter into trade negotiations with our major allies and tariff China. Maybe. Maybe he feels he got some leverage out of this. Or not. I don't know. Others will decide that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and the probably unanswerable question continues. Although I suppose the books will come out to the extent that you Trust them someday. But the, the question continues to be, does Trump have a strategy? Is this a coherent set of maneuvers, or is he just going moment to moment, trust in his gut, and then reverses field willingly? That one I. Oh, okay.

[Joe Getty]

I think. But I mean, it's worked for him his whole life, so I can understand why, you know, if you're a successful financial person, enter headed number one TV show, you're a billionaire, and you get elected president twice, nearly three times. Yeah, I can see how you'd trust your gut.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I would, too. It's not completely, you know, out of left field. On the other hand, pride goeth before.

[Joe Getty]

The fall and always has.

[Jack Armstrong]

So, anyway. So all's well that ends well, is it?

[Joe Getty]

All's well that ends well, is it no harm, no foul? Is it? Where are we?

[Jack Armstrong]

Has there been no harm? That's the question a lot of people are asking in terms of our allies, the, the world's perception of the United States as the safest, best place to put their money, always. Has that been hurt?

[Joe Getty]

Tom Friedman says yes in the New York Times. Of course he does. But he says that our, our allies in Europe will never trust us again and they'll see China as a more steady, predictable partner.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay. I, you know, so many years ago, I read so many things from Tom Friedman that I thought were fantastic. Honestly, I don't want his opinion on anything other than what's the best Chinese food close to Times Square at this point.

[Joe Getty]

I think, I mean, in terms of the world splitting between us and China, which is what's happening. I still think people are going to go with the United States because China's. They're all, they want to take you over. They don't want to be your business partner.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes. They have a way of making you truly regret your partnerships through the years. So a glimpse behind the scenes. I was dealing with a bit of a domestic crisis during the commercial break, and so we didn't really get a chance to chat. Playing the Charlie Gasparino stuff seems apropos right now. How do you feel about that? Yeah, he was on Fox News just after the pause was announced.

[Joe Getty]

Moments later.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. The aforementioned Scott Besant and others came out and said, this was the plan all along. This president negotiates like no other. And then Trump came out and he said, yeah, I saw people freaking out. So we changed our minds. Of course, his people are like, thanks for that. Thank you. But it happens. I found this instructive. Perhaps you will, too. Let's start with clip 60, Michael, and just go from there. Charlie Gasparino yesterday, I want to tell.

[Nancy Pelosi]

You right now that Donald Trump outsmarted the world. Trust me, I'm an American. I support my president. But that's not really what happened here. From what I understand and I know I'll get pushback. But here's what it is. First off, we should point out that one of the good things about this is that Scott Bessant is finally in the White House. He's finally leading this. I mean, up until a couple days ago, it was Lutnick, it was Peter Navarro, the commerce Secretary, the trade adviser, very much hawks. Now it's Scott Besant who believes in cutting deals as opposed to, you know, just not non, you know, just putting these tariffs out there. And let's be a mercantilistic economy.

[Jack Armstrong]

All right, the scene is set to the substance.

[Nancy Pelosi]

But number two, let's recall what happened overnight. And from what I understand, and I'm getting this from people that are talking to the White House, the what happened in the bond market overnight, the spike in yields on the 30 year and the 10 year bond which showed that people were dumping our bonds. And who were those people dumping our bonds? Japan, the biggest holder of bonds was selling bonds. That's what I'm getting from some very big money managers. China maybe to some extent, but it was largely Japan and others. If you have a mass sale of bonds, that means people are losing confidence in the US Economy on the ability to do deals with us. And from what I understand, this is what forced the hand of this 90 day reprieve.

[Joe Getty]

And apparently, apparently Trump didn't think that was going to happen or not as.

[Jack Armstrong]

Much as it was happening. Yeah. In other words, since we spend way more than we take in and it's good to have cash flow, even if you're being smarter than we've been as a country, it's nice to be able to say, hey, would you like some of our bonds to invest your money? We'll pay you three and a half percent. And at some point, like overnight they start saying, we don't want your stinking bonds at three and a half percent. Well, would you take them at four and a half? How about five and a half? And all of a sudden our borrowing costs are skyrocketing. And I don't know if you're familiar with this. We run hellacious debts in this country. We overspend like coke, bing, binging sailors. Anyway, so that's part of the panic. A little more from Mr. Gasparino.

[Nancy Pelosi]

You know, are people coming to the table. Yeah. But if, you know, if you read between the lines or not even what Scott Besant said, we have no deals. Right. There's nobody that is really there saying, this is what we're going to do. And they paused it anyway. So my thing said, well, I'll give you this, there is some art of the deal here and by the way, brilliant move by putting China in the corner. But that's a whole separate thing because, remember, that's a very difficult negotiation. Everybody else is a lot easier. They really wanted, they do want to deal with us. Whether they want to be, you know, forced into really bad trade deals on their end is a whole other negotiating story.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, we haven't mentioned that. Along with the pause of everyone else, he upped the tariffs on China to what now? 120%? Is that what it is?

[Jack Armstrong]

It might be more in the last 10 minutes. Everybody's ratcheting it up and so everybody.

[Joe Getty]

Trump and Xi Jinping, both of those things happen.

[Jack Armstrong]

But Jack, how would you describe the bond market now? It underpins the economy.

[Joe Getty]

I wouldn't.

[Jack Armstrong]

Would you say it's the plumbing of the economy? That's what I would say.

[Nancy Pelosi]

But make no mistake about it, you cannot divorce this decision right here from what happened last night, which was, you know, people focus on the stock market all the time. It's the bond market and the sort of lending markets. That's the plumbing of the economy. And those markets were imploding last night. And that's why we have a 90 day, 90 day freeze. Let's see if those markets improve. Someone told me we had a decent treasury auction today, but if you can't sell your Treasuries, guys, and people are unloading your Treasuries, like Japan, which is, I believe, the largest foreign holder after, after China.

[Joe Getty]

Just to be clear, there was an option that just. So the bond market is the plumbing of the economy and it was imploding. And I can tell you, if your plumbing implodes, you're going to have to call into work and say, I'm not going to be there today.

[Jack Armstrong]

Call service master. Yeah, it's terrible. It's. Oh, it's so gross. So the Charlie Gasparino there, I have no reason to doubt his explanation. I have come across no serious contradiction to his explanation.

[Joe Getty]

I think it's fascinating that there was some metric that was enough to make Trump say now this isn't working, are going to work.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

And I don't know if he. So he famously, as everybody has been talking about for a Week now has been saying this since, you know, the 80s on Oprah Winfrey's show, that we're.

[Jack Armstrong]

Getting ripped off and need tariffs.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. And got. So does he still believe that? Does he believe that his cur. That's still true, but his cure for it, it doesn't work for whatever reason. I wonder where he is on all that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I mean, and this is the sort of thing that might freak out new listeners who think every radio show ought to be 100% pro Trump or 100% anti Trump. We calls him as we seize him. But I think a Trump is very adaptable. He is more than willing to say that didn't work, we're gonna try this. He does not cling to ideas that do not serve him. You know, he's a little parapeted and mercurial for my taste. And I think some of the stuff he's pulling may damage our standing in the world over the long term. Having said that critical stuff, I think trade wise this could end up in a very, very good place with reasonable trade barriers, if any, with our, our friends and allies and non enemies in a way that was way, way overdue and happening. On the other hand, he never counts when he talks about trade surpluses and deficits and he never counts services. And I understand the allure of manufacturing and making our own stuff and being self reliant on critical industries. But I mean, we export. We have an enormous trade imbalance in our favor. A surplus for services, banking, entertainment, financial advice to a thousand different things.

[Joe Getty]

So to the three dimensional chess thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm sorry, the obvious. Tech.

[Joe Getty]

Yes, three dimensional chess. So I remember asking Bill O'Reilly this question back when Bill O'Reilly was the number one show, cable show in America 10 years ago, 2015, when Trump was running, is this three dimensional chess or is he just winging it? And I remember Bill O'Reilly saying it's not three dimensional chess. And I think that is generally the case case with Trump. But I do wonder about this one maybe around Doge more than the tariffs, because he's been talking about the tariffs thing, you know, for 40 years, as we mentioned. But maybe around the Doge thing getting so much attention. What was everybody saying leading up to the election, including us? The number one political story of 2025 is going to be the Trump tax cuts. That's going to be all everybody's talking about and nobody's talking about it. And they're working on it behind the scenes. And there's a bill last night that didn't Happen, but they're working on it constantly behind the scenes and nobody's talking about it. And I mean, Trump is, you know, a TV producer guy who understands the media and how they flock towards stories. And I just wonder if some of this stuff might be. I'm gonna get the biggest, that tax cut redone and that is gonna set the economy in place the way I want it the rest of my term. And that is the whole enchilada. And nobody's talking about it.

[Jack Armstrong]

I do enjoy a good enchilada. Perhaps that is the case. We'll. We'll all find out together. So a quick word from our friends at Simplisafe Home Security. It's a chaotic, scary world and we're not talking about trade negotiations. Too many junkies, too many scumbags on the streets, too many policies that have made crime too easy. But with Simplisafe, millions of Americans enjoy greater security and peace of mind every time they arm their system.

[Joe Getty]

I love the out Gore out. I love the active. They say they got the.

[Jack Armstrong]

Get the spoon for Mr. Armstrong's tongue right out.

[Joe Getty]

They got this thing with cameras in your yard and around the house there.

[Jack Armstrong]

You can just skip it.

[Joe Getty]

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[Jack Armstrong]

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[Joe Getty]

And then one more thing before we take a break because you got Mailbag coming up is this wasn't on purpose, but ended up being, you know, everybody's talking about the end of the. All those other tariffs without much focus on the fact that he just exploded Chinese tariffs on China to 120% from what were they before? 45. And I mean if he had only done that, that would have been such a giant headline and everybody to be talking about and a lot of people would be saying it was a horrible mistake. And now it's just kind of like not even a story.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, you're right.

[Joe Getty]

I don't think that was on purpose. But that is the ultimate end result, I think.

[Jack Armstrong]

What was that movie? Everything all at once, all the time. That's the news flow right now. Yeah. What do you focus on if you're a Democrat? They're. They're miserable. Their heads are in their hands. I don't know what to yell about.

[Joe Getty]

Mailbag on the way. Bunch other stuff. Stay here.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

I had to get up extra early to take my direwolf pups for a walk around the block before I. Before I went to work.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, if they get antsy, they'll really tear up the furniture being and eat your face off. Tall at the soldier at the shoulder. Yeah, exactly. Enormous. Here's your freedom loving quote of the day. Love this one from PJ O'Rourke. Jeff sent it along. It's terrific. Just quoting it the other day. An entitlement is what people on welfare get. And how free are they? It's not an endlessly expanding list of rights. The right to education, the right to health care, the right to food and housing. That's not freedom, that's dependency. Those aren't rights. Those are the rations of slavery. Hay in the barn for human cattle. There is only one basic human right. The right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty. The duty to take the consequences. I couldn't love that more.

[Joe Getty]

That's pretty good.

[Jack Armstrong]

If I had a manifesto that would be in the lead. Mailbag, Drop us a Note [e-mail] weirdly dental related mailbag today this later today, 2pm eastern. I'll be listening to the A G podcast as I have for many years. But this time I'll be listening to it while undergoing oral surgery. I mean, couple holes drilled to replace an implant. Etc. Why am I reading you this? Because of the sign off. Michael, can you lower the music? There's a hole in my mouth where my teeth once were. Somebody's making money anyway. Owen too. It's Kevin. That's pretty funny. That's really funny. And then this Mike from Surf City met the dentist today with my 15 year old son. He's been going to this place most of his life and we've always known there's this wackadoo roaming the halls. Usually he's just loud and opinionated. Opinionated. But today he went full feral. Now he already has his hands in my kid's mouth, so I've always let his loud anti Trump rant slide. But today he launched into a tirade about the China tariffs and how everything comes from China. I held my tongue for about half an hour, but the mix of dentist office tension and one lie after another finally pushed me to respond with a little common sense. Anyway, so this guy gets all agitated and starts yelling. He's got no facts. He's just like a homeless meth addict coming at me on the street. Just pure intensity and zero logic. And I'm gonna skip ahead a little bit, but somewhere in the middle of his madness, I somehow had him supporting slavery and child labor, all while complaining that the minimum wage is too high in California. Poor guys never had so many truths at once. My son looked at me afterward and said daddy was gaslighting you. He didn't have a single good point. All he could do is yell. 15 years old and already smarter than half the country or more. Says Mike from Surf yeah, I when.

[Joe Getty]

I'm in those situations I I try to get to a yeah, I don't talk about politics very quickly. Just yeah, I'm not listening to you. Even if I agree with you. I don't want to talk about this while you're working on my kids teeth.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's crazy. If it persists, I am on the phone that day with the dentist saying you get rid of this person or we will go. We are gone and we will tell everybody why we're gone. That has to end like day before yesterday as Reagan put it. Let's see Burbank, Luke with an excellent point here. Larry Summers said of the tariffs this is the first US bout of US financial stability caused by the US Government. What a statement against the housing bubble and subsequent recession of 2008 slipped his mind.

[Joe Getty]

Excellent point.

[Jack Armstrong]

Was caused by granting mortgages mortgages to anyone who could fog a mayor. Thanks Bill Clinton and Barney Frank.

[Joe Getty]

Excellent point.

[Jack Armstrong]

While he was Bill Clinton's Treasury Secretary, how about our government racking up $36 trillion worth of debt? Or allowing China to wage total war on us for the last 30 years with the favored nation status we granted them. I wasn't going to count the disastrous COVID policy lockdowns which direct disrupted every aspect of our lives causing massive inflation and job losses because state governments share the blame. Then I remembered what government paid for the gain of function Research. What an effing clown. Thomas Sowell was onto something with that quip about Harvard men. Burbank Luke bringing it.

[Joe Getty]

I'm. I'm an ostrich head in the sand on a lot of your macro economy stuff. I just, I'm so cynical and like practically conspiracy theory guy that I just feel like there are very powerful people at the top that run all this and do whatever hell they want and get really, really witching. I mean, Scarborough was mentioning the other day on msnbc, and I was happy that he brought this up. Was the Giant 2000, whatever it was, housing crash. Nobody went to jail. Nobody. Nobody destroyed the economy. So many of us. I lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I mean, so many people lost so much money because they were giving loans to people that should have never gotten loans.

[Jack Armstrong]

Nobody got loans in the name of equity.

[Joe Getty]

And nobody got in trouble for that, except no.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well. And progressive America never stood up and said, yeah, that policy was disastrous. It was miserable. We have inflicted this damage and we apologize. Nobody. Ah.

[Joe Getty]

So I can't get started on it. It makes me too angry. So that's why some of the reasons I've given up on that whole thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Coming up next hour. Jack. Yes. You can outrun a horse. I will explain.

[Joe Getty]

Well, that's the question of the day. How the hell did that come up? If you missed a segment, get the podcast. Armstrong and Getty on demand.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Gettysburg.