It's Got Nothing To Do With Your Genitalia

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: "It's Got Nothing To Do With Your Genitalia"

Date: January 13, 2026
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Contributors: Katie Green

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode focuses on two core topics:

• The ongoing crisis and violent repression of protests in Iran.
• The U.S. Supreme Court’s consideration of cases concerning transgender athletes’ participation in sports, examining the legal and cultural implications surrounding gender identity.

Additional segments touch on current political infighting, viral social media events, and the influence of lobbying in the digital age.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Iran: Crackdown on Protests & International Response (00:55–03:50, 13:54–15:41)

• State of the Uprising:
  The hosts discuss the Iranian government’s deadly crackdown on protestors, noting reports of over 12,000 deaths, internet blackouts, and comparisons to Tiananmen Square.
• Role of Technology:
  Elon Musk’s Starlink is blocked at the ground level by authorities to prevent internet access, curbing protest organization and international awareness.
• US Foreign Policy:
  Trump is deliberating potential U.S. intervention; the hosts question if assistance is feasible or if the regime has already “weathered the storm.”
• Western Hypocrisy:
  Comment on the lack of solidarity protests at U.S. colleges, especially given the oppression of Iranian women and minorities.
  • “Where are the demonstrations? Show me one from the plucky little college.” – Joe Getty [14:36]
• Cynicism About Numbers:
  The editorial board of Iran International is cited, but discussed skeptically due to possible exaggeration for political purposes.

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2. Supreme Court & Transgender Athlete Cases (00:34–11:41)

• Nature of the Cases:
  The Supreme Court is hearing two cases concerning state bans on transgender girls competing in girls’ sports and broader Title IX/Title VII issues.

  • Some analysts expect a narrow "states’ rights" ruling, while others predict a deeper debate on biological sex and gender malleability.

• Legal and Cultural Arguments:

  • Joe rejects the phrase “biological man/woman” as redundant:
    • “That’s like saying astronomical star. It doesn’t make sense. There are men, there are women, there’s men’s sports, there’s women’s sports, we’re done here.” [03:58]
  • Both express skepticism that the Supreme Court would rule in favor of allowing trans athletes in girls’ sports, citing public opinion polls (70-30, possibly 90-10 against).
  • The hosts discuss whether the Court will wade into the science of trans athletes’ advantages.

• Memorable Clip:

  • They play a quote from a young trans athlete imploring others to “educate themselves,” but the hosts dismiss this as a child’s perspective guided by parents and not legally relevant:
    • “That was very silly and completely irrelevant—in the words of a child.” – Joe Getty [06:53]

• Broader Impacts:

  • Armstrong speculates trans adults may wish the sports debate would disappear, as it undermines broader trans acceptance:
    • “If I’m a trans adult, I want this whole high school sports thing to go away.” – Jack Armstrong [09:33]

• Pushback Against Activism:

  • Joe argues activist voices are out of step with the overwhelming majority:
    • “Nobody else believes that. It’s a tiny percentage of loud activists who have a disproportionate megaphone.” [10:53]

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3. Viral Stories & Fake Outrage (17:23–20:50)

• Youth Hockey “Brawl” Goes Viral:
  • Discuss a widely shared video of eight-year-olds fighting in a hockey game, initially framed as a sign of decaying social norms and absent parenting.
  • Later revealed to be a staged comedy, with parents in on the joke—but the video was misrepresented as real in media and fueled national outrage.
• AI Deepfake News:
  • Armstrong speculates that the AI-generated news report covering the event may mark a new era of “triple layers of fake,” calling it potentially “the most important thing today.”
    • “Every single aspect of it is fake and was taken completely seriously and generated fake outrage for like a cup of coffee and a half.” – Joe Getty [20:40]

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4. Current Political Battles & Infighting (13:13–16:43, 21:22–23:51)

• Trump vs. Fed Chair Powell:
  • Trump is attempting to remove Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve Chair, through criminal investigation related to office remodeling, a move widely criticized—even by Republicans.
  • Hosts discuss the risks of subjecting central bankers to political whims:
    • “You can’t have politicians involved with interest rates because they’re always going to go for maximum growth and inflationary pressure… It’s a terrible idea.” – Joe Getty [22:29]
  • Speculation that Powell could be pressured to resign through legal intimidation.
• Democratic Party Infighting:
  • Hosts mention Trump's criticism of Pam Bondi, referencing it as “one battle after another” in politics.

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5. Social Media Influencers As Lobbyists (26:22–28:13)

• Rise of Paid Online Influence:
  • Discussion of social media personalities being paid hundreds of thousands by interest groups or foreign governments (e.g., Qatar) to influence U.S. attitudes and policy through seemingly authentic posts.
  • Armstrong is shocked by the willingness of influencers to take money for controversial views:
    • “With your up with fundamentalist Islam? Because somebody’s paying you. That’s unbelievable.” – Jack Armstrong [27:58]
  • They joke about their own “sell-out” price.

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6. Mailbag & Listeners’ Responses (32:05–36:35)

• Quoting Lenin:

  • Reflect on the long-term implications of youth indoctrination:
    • “Give me just one generation of youth and I’ll transform the whole world.” – Vladimir Lenin, quoted by Joe Getty [32:23]
  • Debate over whether U.S. cultural shifts in education and ideology are reversible.

• Listener Feedback:

  • Read and debate a listener email critiquing the male-centric perspective of their show and arguing that women’s political unhappiness stems from “the patriarchy.” Joe and Katie Green (the show’s female contributor) reject this, calling the listener a “nut job”—in a characteristic, colorful style.
    • “You’re a nut job and I’m a woman.” – Katie Green [35:04]

• Political Discontent:

  • Another listener bemoans the lack of appealing choices in American politics and skepticism about the rise of a viable third party.

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7. Additional Light Moments & Pop Culture (25:13–26:22, 31:53–32:05)

• Boxing, Pop Culture, and Humor:
  • Discussion of a recent high-profile boxing match (Jake Paul), jokes about retirement after a big payday, and frequent references to the movie "One Battle After Another"—Armstrong's new catchphrase.

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Transgender Sports:
  • “That’s like saying astronomical star. It doesn’t make sense. There are men, there are women, there’s men’s sports, there’s women’s sports, we’re done here.” – Joe Getty [03:58]
  • “I know. It’s an argument so idiotic, I can’t even like inhale deeply enough to counter it.” – Joe Getty [07:28]
• On Influence of Activists:
  • “Nobody else believes that. It’s a tiny percentage of loud activists who have a disproportionate megaphone.” – Joe Getty [10:53]
• On Viral Fake News:
  • “Every single aspect of it is fake and was taken completely seriously and generated fake outrage for like a cup of coffee and a half. Unbelievable.” – Joe Getty [20:40]
• On Paid Influencers:
  • “I’m telling you, half the stuff you see about Israel or Qatar or the Middle East… is sponsored by the Qataris. And they buy people off.” – Joe Getty [28:13]
• On Youth Indoctrination:
  • “Give me just one generation of youth and I’ll transform the whole world.” – Quoting Vladimir Lenin [32:23]
• Listener Feedback:
  • “You’re a nut job and I’m a woman.” – Katie Green [35:04]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Iran Protests & Crisis: [00:55–03:50, 13:54–15:41]
• Supreme Court Trans Athlete Cases: [00:34–11:41]
• Viral Hockey Fight & Fake Outrage: [17:23–20:50]
• Trump vs. Fed Chair Powell: [21:22–23:51]
• Paid Online Influence: [26:22–28:13]
• Mailbag and Listener Response: [32:05–36:35]

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Tone and Style

The episode is marked by Armstrong & Getty’s signature mix of irreverent humor, blunt skepticism, and sharp-edged commentary. They move rapidly between news, cultural critique, and playful banter—often using sarcasm and rhetorical exaggeration to emphasize their viewpoints.

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For New Listeners

This episode provides a spirited, opinion-driven overview of two major stories—the suppression of dissent in Iran and America’s debate over gender identity in sports—layered with cultural meta-analysis, comedic detours, and a healthy skepticism of trending outrage, both real and manufactured. You’ll also hear spontaneous reactions to breaking news, pop culture, and audience feedback, giving you a clear sense of Armstrong & Getty’s unfiltered style and perspective.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast, guaranteed human.

[Announcer]

Broadcasting. Live from the Abraham Lincoln radio studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

And now here.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Get it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Live from Studio C, a dimly lit room deep within the bowels of the Armstrong and Getty communications compound. Two men just trying to do their job. Or are we men? That might be the very sort of thing the Supreme Court's trying to decide today.

[Joe Getty]

What?

[Jack Armstrong]

Welcome to another live episode of the Armstrong and Gang Show.

[Joe Getty]

That would explain why Ruth, that's why Sotomayor was in my bathroom bathroom last night demanding I drop my drawers.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, that would be the opposite of what's going to happen. It's got nothing to do with your genitalia. Or does it compare? You know, depends on how the conversations go with the Supreme Court today. Oh, today we're under the tutelage of our general manager, the poor people of.

[Joe Getty]

Iran trying to throw overthrow actual oppression.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, God, no kidding. I was just listening to one international report and their thinking was since Iran, the government, the mullahs, the, the scumbags have turned the Internet back on to much of the country that they must feel like they've weathered the storm, which would not be a good sign. Obviously there's still, or the phone lines, the phone lines have been turned on for, for parts of the country. The Internet's still off. Some, some parts they have Internet because of Elon Starlink that he's been trying to get in there. Apparently the, the people on the ground have been pretty good at making sure there aren't any of the, whatever the connectors are at the, on the ground that you need to have to get the Starlink going. And, and that's why there hasn't been much Internet. It's like, you know, Elon was able to drop Internet into Ukraine. He had to get the stuff in the sky. Obviously the people on the ground in Ukraine had an interest in trying to keep the Internet going as best they could as they were being invaded. Whereas the people on, the people running the country of Iran don't want Starlink up and running. So they were able to stop a lot of the ground communication stuff from happening. And so there hasn't been much Internet for quite a while. And I imagine the stories that will be coming out of Iran are going to be gruesome. I was reading one last night about the number of protesters that just got shot in the back of the head, standing there with signs and stacked in piles and then drug off by the mullahs. And all that sort of stuff. Now Trump, who had vowed to come to their rescue if the bad guy started shooting the protesters, is meeting with all of his advisors today and gonna make some very big decisions whether or not we get involved militarily and to what extent and all that sort of stuff. So we'll be taking a look at that. Now back to the Are Joe and I men or women? The Supreme Court taken up a couple of cases today around the whole trans athlete issue, and that could be fascinating. I've listened to a whole bunch of different lawyers describe what they think the arguments are going to be like and whether or not they're going to get into the actual stuff of can is gender fluid, can you decide you're a girl one day or a boy one day, or they're not going to get into that stuff, at least on one of the cases. And it's going to be more about Title 9, Title 7, which is a workplace thing, and those sorts of things, very narrow, and whether or not states have the right to ban this sort of thing. So we'll talk more about that later.

[Joe Getty]

Well, it strikes me that the question is almost decided at the outset if you ignore the fact that Title IX exists because there are men and women. And the question of what is a man and what is a woman is entirely biological. That's why I don't use the term biological man or biological woman. It's like saying astronomical star. It doesn't make any sense. So if you just stop at the beginning and say, well, no, no, there's men, there's women, there's men's sports, there's women's sports, we're done here. That would be the most just ruling. It seems obvious.

[Jack Armstrong]

Do you think there's any chance. I was watching one legal analyst who said it could be as narrow as like a states rights thing. The states that have banned this, do they have the right to do that? And then determining. Yes, states do have the right to do that. Which would allow the, what is it, 28 states that have bans on this sort of thing to keep their bans. But that wouldn't do anything for all the states that haven't made a ban. Your blue states who think it's super cool that boys are defeating girls in high school sports.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I, I'm surprised to hear that argument being made just because Title 9, if, if, if indeed the, the ruling rests on Title ix, it's, it's federal and so it doesn't really matter what the states think, although we have Reached the limit of my almost went to law school knowledge of that topic. So.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, there are two cases, so I don't know which one they were talking about. There are two cases are going to be looked at today now that the girl boy in the Idaho case has been trying to get out of it now for quite some time saying, you know, I no longer am interested in pursuing this. But the.

[Joe Getty]

Well, partly because it's turned their lives into a living hell, which is too bad. I don't want that for anybody.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm sure it has. And that's the other problem you run into this, at least in terms of criticizing it, is you're dealing with children. Well, in fact, our opening clip has.

[Joe Getty]

To do with that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let's start the show officially. We'll hear from one of the children involved. And you can't blame children for going down the road they went down, really. I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty on this. It is Tuesday, January 13, the year 2026, where Armstrong and getting. We approve of this program.

[Joe Getty]

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

[Jack Armstrong]

I wish these people would educate themselves just so they would know that I'm just there to have a good time. That's a. But it just, it, it hurts sometimes. Like it gets to me sometimes, but I try to. I try to brush it off. So that's a young person born with male genitalia who decided in third grade, I believe, I'm sure, at her parents urging that they were a girl and making the case that, look, I'm just trying to have fun. So you need to educate yourself. That's not the issue here.

[Joe Getty]

That was very silly and completely irrelevant in the world. Words of a child.

[Jack Armstrong]

In the words of a child. Right. And although I gotta believe the parents think that makes sense or they would talk to their kid.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah. Mom was sitting alongside a child there, nodding knowingly. Yeah, well, just want to have fun. Oh, okay, great. Nevermind then.

[Jack Armstrong]

So aside from the craziness of people with male bodies defeating girls in high school sports, aside from that, the, the girls that you're playing against, they just want to have fun too, you see. So that's where the rubber meets the road.

[Joe Getty]

I know. It's an argument so idiotic, I can't even like inhale deeply enough to counter it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Do you feel like this is going to get into. Because I watched some other legal analysts said that no, it's going to get into the full. Is it a malleable thing Whether you're a man or a woman, they're going to get into the science of it. Do you think it's going to go down that road?

[Joe Getty]

I think it almost has to, yeah. Because that's the specific argument of the plaintiffs is that you can change your sex and. Or that a youth who has not gone through male puberty has no significant advantage. But that's been disproved over and over again.

[Jack Armstrong]

Man, if it goes down that road, I would love to listen to these arguments. That'd be fantastic.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, I'm going to. I can't wait.

[Jack Armstrong]

That sounds very entertaining. So I also, I took in a lot of legal analysts and, you know, they all have a different opinion and they're often wrong. But one saying the Supreme Court is feeling much more comfortable getting into this issue in 2026 than they were the last time it came up in 2020, when, you know, the wind was blowing the other direction nationally.

[Joe Getty]

Right. And the wind of being terrorized and.

[Jack Armstrong]

Any, any anti trans ruling would have been explosive, whereas I don't think it would be now. And multiple polls showing it is a 7030 issue against these athletes being trans athletes being able to participate in sports. And I have a feeling that if the coast was clear, it'd be closer to 9010.

[Joe Getty]

I would agree. I would agree. And again, one of the reasons I don't use the term biological male or biological female is that that grants too much ground to the other side. It states that there's another standard and there's not, as applied to this specific question. If some dude wants to present as a woman and get hormones or whatever and show up to work in a dress, that's fine. Just do your job. I have no objection to that. It does not affect me in any way, or my children or my kids that I'm coaching, for instance. But on the field of play specifically, yes, it matters. It matters deeply. End of question.

[Jack Armstrong]

If I'm, I think if we have any trans listeners, maybe you could weigh on this and weigh on this. I feel like if I'm a trans adult, I want this whole high school sports thing to go away.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I see. I see what you mean.

[Jack Armstrong]

Because, you know, I'm, I'm doing my thing and I don't, I don't want this to be the battle lines, all right? It's got nothing to do with what I'm doing with my life, all right?

[Joe Getty]

It's not nearly as defensible as, like, every other question, which is, you know, I'm not hardcore about, you want to present as a woman and show up to work.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's just.

[Joe Getty]

It's not that important to me. This is different. You're right. That's a good point.

[Jack Armstrong]

Your thing of when people make bad arguments, it's not because they're holding back their good arguments. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Keeping them safe for Christmas. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

And surely Pepper had been coached to some extent on how to handle this in interviews. And if the best argument is, I'm just there to have fun, people need to educate themselves. I'm just there to have fun. Well, I think fly with the justices.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. No kidding. Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is something. This could be one of the more interesting oral arguments of all time. I mean, you're getting into the question of is there such thing as a man or a woman? Which. Lots of people, you know, professors and. And writers in the New York Times and whatnot, believe there isn't such thing as man and woman.

[Joe Getty]

And. And nobody else believes that. It's a tiny percentage of loud activists who have a disproportionate megaphone.

[Jack Armstrong]

I got a bit of a this is Christmas feeling of we might finally get this settled at the highest level and be able to move on from this issue.

[Joe Getty]

I know. I agree completely. That's what this is. And if it goes the other way, I'm moving to Paraguay or Uruguay. I can never remember which.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, it can't go the other way.

[Joe Getty]

I know. I know. Well, some people are trying to. I think they're trying to pump up the fact that it could in the same way that a sportscaster tells you the team that's down 48 points could come back. So you ought to stay tuned.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know. There's always the possibility when you get to the Supreme Court of some sort of very new narrow commerce clause thing that's got nothing to do with whether you were born with a penis or.

[Joe Getty]

Not and have an advantage even without going through puberty. And there are statistic. There are studies that show that you do. But you're right. That would be incredibly frustrating.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. Okay. We got Katie's headlines on the way and lots of news to get to. I hope you can stay with us. Text line 415295, KFTC.

[Announcer]

Armstrong and Gettysburg.

[Jack Armstrong]

Last night's playoff game, Monday Night Football. That's what all football games used to be back in the old days. Kind of dull. Not much happened. Never really close. That's the way most football games used to be. Not like all those other games over the weekend that each one of them was, like, written by a director to make them as exciting as possible.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah. Dullsville daddy. Oh, I don't even know who won. I don't care.

[Jack Armstrong]

Since then, knocked out these Steelers.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, okay. Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. A lot of people think the Texans are going to be the AFC representative in the Super Bowl.

[Katie Green]

So I went to bed before the game ended and was kind of rooting for the Steelers.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I was kind of rooting for Aaron Rodgers, too.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let's find out what's being reported with Katie Green.

[Katie Green]

All righty. We're going to start with the Alphabet outlets. They're all talking about inflation. NBC inflation ticked up in December as falling gas prices prices helped offset food and housing costs.

[Jack Armstrong]

Off to dig into those inflation numbers because that's a big talking point.

[Katie Green]

The other one, the other two, ABC inflation held firm in December, testing Fed amid DOJ probe into Powell. And from cnn, Secretary of Treasury Besant unhappy with criminal investigation of Fed chair Jerome Powell.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. In the giant high school. It is Washington, D.C. that is the really hot story. Trump trying to investigate Powell and run him out of office.

[Joe Getty]

But you know, I think, I think it's more significant than that. It really is. You've got prominent Republicans saying no way, way too far. Stop it. And like all the central bankers around the world are saying, do not do this.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm hoping it goes away.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. It's just more open defiance of, of Trump in a way we didn't see in the past.

[Jack Armstrong]

He has so many battles he's fighting right now. Why pick that one in the midst of them?

[Joe Getty]

He doesn't pick them. That's the thing. Just there is no dog that barks on him that he's not going to stop. And Chuck rocks at, to paraphrase Churchill.

[Katie Green]

This one from Open Source Intelligence Defender. According to the editorial board of Iran international, at least 12,000 people have been killed so far by security forces in ongoing anti government demonstrations in Iran.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. So that's either accurate or not. They're calling it and I don't know what the editorial board of Iran International is. And I'm sure they have every reason to inflate the numbers, but it could be accurate. And there's, they're calling it the largest massacre in contemporary Iranian history, which it very well may be. It's, it's a lot like Tiananmen Square. I mean, they're still arguing over how many people the Chinese government killed in 1989 when they had all those protesters.

[Joe Getty]

And those of you who still cling to the idea that the college kids were sincere and not just Recruited by neo Marxists to overthrow Western civilization. People are being slaughtered by an oppressive regime. Where are the demonstrations? Show me one from the plucky little college.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's the snarky thing to do right now is to show a college campus like Harvard or Columbia or whatever, and say, here's a live picture of the demonstrations to try to help the brave people of Iran. And they're empty. Obviously, there's nobody there.

[Joe Getty]

Including the women of Iran, the gays of Iran, the minorities of Iran. No, Nothing. Okay.

[Katie Green]

Also still on the Iran topic. I thought this was interesting. From the Wall Street Journal. Iran is now hunting down Starlink users to stop protest videos from going global.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sure they are. So that number, who knows? But that's not out of the. That's not out of the realm of possibility.

[Joe Getty]

Right?

[Jack Armstrong]

12,000 people dead. I mean, when you got. You got 100 plus cities with who knows how many tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people in the street.

[Joe Getty]

Absolutely. Because the crackdown's getting harder and harder. So. Sure, it's possible.

[Katie Green]

From the Independent. Trump is complaining that Pam Bondi is weak and doesn't enforce his agenda.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, boy.

[Katie Green]

Infighting.

[Jack Armstrong]

Good one.

[Joe Getty]

Out fighting, across, fighting, down fighting. And up fighting.

[Jack Armstrong]

Trump. This is my new chant from that movie that I have a mental block on. The hot movie that won all the golden globes with Leonardo DiCaprio. What's the name of that movie?

[Joe Getty]

Somebody opened it. Somebody's got him like crazy all the damn time.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm gonna. I'm gonna talk about this movie a lot. Somebody needs to memorize the title because I have a mental block on it. Somebody. Nobody.

[Katie Green]

Nobody working on it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay. But anyway, so I watched half of it yesterday, and a frustrated Leonardo DiCaprio at one point goes life. So that's gonna be my new. That's gonna be my new chant. Whenever.

[Katie Green]

One battle after another, one battle after.

[Jack Armstrong]

Another, which I love that movie, by the way, so far, I'm only halfway through it. But DiCaprio, so frustrated. Just life. And that's the way I feel a lot of times. Like bonding. The Bondi Trump thing. Life.

[Joe Getty]

I thought that was in the usa Magnified States Theater. Is it online streaming?

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm watching it on Netflix, I think. Or hbo. Max.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, all right.

[Katie Green]

All right. And finally, the Babylon Be Democrats fear Iranian love of freedom could spread to America.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that was mean. That is too much meanness.

[Jack Armstrong]

If that whole Iranian uprising is over already and they did kill enough people to drive people underground and everything like that before Trump even has his meeting, that's that's an unpleasant development. We got a lot more news of the day on the way. I hope you can stay with us.

[Announcer]

Armstrong and Gettysburg. On Saturday, minor league hockey team the Hershey Bears hosted an eight and under youth hockey game during an intermission when suddenly a massive brawl breaks out, the crowd cheering them on. One fan saying, that's the best intermission entertainment I have seen in years. Others say it got out of hand. No adults tried to break it up. Now multiple investigations are underway, including from the Atlantic amateur Hockey associ. Which says it's aware of a staged fight.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, Katie, we might have to put you on this story. So this video went viral yesterday. If you've seen it, of all these little kids beating the crap out of each other, rolling around on the ice. The ice is covered with. I mean, every single pair of hockey competitors broke out into fights and they're rolling around and the crowd's cheering like wild.

[Joe Getty]

My favorite thing in hockey, the two goalies have to skate out and meet in the middle and fight each other.

[Jack Armstrong]

These are seven year olds, but they're eight and under.

[Joe Getty]

But.

[Jack Armstrong]

And no adults stepped in and all this sort of stuff. Then I heard this morning it was all a put on. It was fake. But.

[Joe Getty]

So.

[Jack Armstrong]

So it was fake. What was the goal, though? I assume the coaches organized comedy. Comedy.

[Katie Green]

Yeah. I mean, you could tell right away.

[Joe Getty]

The fact that there was.

[Katie Green]

There was not an adult in sight that came out to try to stop.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay. So. So did at the time in the arena. The parents were in on the joke.

[Katie Green]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

And so the video went viral with everybo kids today. This is how bad America is presented as real. Even though every parent there knew it was a joke. When did that happen? For 24 hours. That was like the most viral video of the day yesterday.

[Katie Green]

And one of the videos that went viral because there were obviously several angles of this was shot by one of the parents.

[Jack Armstrong]

Isn't that something? So for a day, talk radio and television and the View and everybody got to go today. Where are parents? It's probably, you know, social media and everybody's on edge with the Trump, blah, blah, blah. Turns out everybody there was joke and thought it was hilarious. As that one parent said, this is the best halftime entertainment I've ever seen.

[Joe Getty]

And to add another layer of what the hell are we dealing with in the modern world? That voiceover we just heard was clearly AI oh.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. So did it. Somebody needs to look into this. This could be big. This could be the first one of these. Did somebody put together an AI News report knowing exactly what happened and then it went around the country or around the world and everybody just played the fake news report from a non existent news outlet.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, there was like triple layers of fake in that story.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, I really think this could be big.

[Joe Getty]

Were there actually kids on the ice or was it entirely AI generated in.

[Jack Armstrong]

A minor sort of way? I think this could be big if this was the first somebody completely created a news story. Other people picked up on it because it's just too good and unimportant to talk, you know, to investigate, really. And it's too good to, to believe that, you know, tiny kids fighting this is how angry the world is now. And no parrot got involved.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. Every single aspect of it is fake and was taken completely seriously and generated fake outrage for like a cup of coffee and a half. Unbelievable.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know what to think of that. Not important.

[Joe Getty]

I think I'll head for the woods.

[Jack Armstrong]

It might be not important. It might be the most important thing today, by the way. So Trump's trying to force out the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, who he's called an idiot and like talking to a chair and is investigating him over. So Powell's redoing his office and everything like that. And the Trump administration is trying to claim that he broke federal law by remodeling his office without going through the proper paperwork.

[Joe Getty]

That's two whole buildings. And, and it's. There have been cost overruns, whatever.

[Jack Armstrong]

Trump hates Powell and is looking for a reason to drive him out. Clearly. This is from the Wall Street Journal today. And as you pointed out a few minutes ago, a lot of major Republicans have said, have come out and said, no, no, no, no, no, we ain't doing this. This ain't good. The Wall Street Journal suggests that the plan is going to be to make a deal with Powell, will drop the charges if you agree to resign, and that Powell might agree to that. I don't know. That video he put out yesterday, which we didn't play, he was, he was standing pretty strong of I ain't going nowhere.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Well, the Wall Street Journal editorial board, also quoting some pretty prominent Republicans, called it the dumbest episode of Lawfare they've ever seen. And you know, anybody with any sense, and God dang it, this is where Trump makes me insane. Anybody with any sense knows that you can't have politicians involved with interest rate rates because they are always, always going to go for maximum growth and inflationary pressure because they like the numbers rising. Short term thinking third worldy. It's a terrible idea. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

The politicians will always go with the short term, thinking what's going to be good for the next election.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. No matter what damage it causes, you can see it in the deficit spending. That's. That is their audition. They failed the audition. You don't get to be in charge of interest rates.

[Jack Armstrong]

It could work, though. One thing I not caught on to until a couple of years ago, with all this lawfare that happens at so many different levels in government, you can actually get spent into poverty. Do you end up having to go out and get lawyers and stuff like that and pay for them and. And that's.

[Joe Getty]

That's rough.

[Jack Armstrong]

And that's the real threat. Even if you're, like, gonna win, you might spend the next two years. And I've been paying lawyers for. For a legal situation for many years. It adds up really, really fast. So it's not impossible to pal. I mean, he put out a video yesterday. We should play some of it where he is pretty resolved to stay in office and how he's innocent and everything like that. But, God, you can always go on.

[Joe Getty]

MSNBC and get a GoFundMe started and probably end up making a profit. So he'll be fine.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or he could. I'm amazed more people haven't decided. Well, a lot of people have. Ben Sasse, who's dying of cancer right now. A lot of other My favorite politicians have decided. You know what? We're going through a weird time in this country. I ain't gonna be part of it. I'm gonna go to the private sector. Y' all knock yourselves out. I'm done. Uh, you could easily see a Jerome Powell deciding that.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, he's. He's done in May anyway. Um, but, yeah, who knows? Who knows? Uh, we got a couple of minutes. Let's do a little bingo bango bongo. And. And I'm gonna stay away from most of the serious stuff I have. Um, and. And it. With the exception of this Mississippi, they caught the guy who burnt down the synagogue. They're not releasing a name or a motive.

[Jack Armstrong]

For some reason, the motive. It actually burnt down.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, it's. Well, the entire interior is gutted. It'll be a very, very long time before they can use.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's enough to be burnt down. And it was the oldest synagogue west of the something or other. I mean, it's from the 1800s. That's horrible. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

The last time it had been burned was by the Ku Klux Klan way back in the day. So that's what we're dealing with Nazis and Klansme. Who knows of what sort? I have a guess, but I'll wait and see. So onto lighter fare, because everything's lighter fare. Headline you never thought you'd see. France delays G7 summit to avoid clash with White House cage fighting on Trump's birthday.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's an interesting headline.

[Joe Getty]

So the G7 big meeting has been delayed because Trump's got the cage fighting schedule for his birthday on the White House. So hey, just bump it back a week. How's the next week for you? Not good. Let's keep trying.

[Jack Armstrong]

Did you watch Jake Paul get the crap beat out of him over a Christmas spring?

[Joe Getty]

I did not.

[Jack Armstrong]

Was on Netflix.

[Joe Getty]

That was a good fight.

[Jack Armstrong]

That was a fun fight. That was very entertaining. They.

[Joe Getty]

Yes, Katie, I was reading Dickens at the time.

[Katie Green]

Yes, his jaw got knocked out of the ring.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, he got, he got the crap beat out of him, but he stayed, he kept fighting. It was the first time he'd fought an actual person, not a 60 year old Mike Tyson or an actor or whatever. And God, he got his jaw broken multiple times. Oh, no. Yeah, yeah, it was quite the pummeling.

[Katie Green]

It was hard to watch. Once the jaw went.

[Jack Armstrong]

It was, it was. Oh. What I wanted to mention is they each made, and nobody knows the actual number, but they each made between 80 and 90 million dollars for that fight.

[Joe Getty]

Stop.

[Jack Armstrong]

90 million dollars each. Holy crap. Wouldn't you just retire?

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah, well, I'd certainly retire from getting smashed in the face.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, first I would eat soup through a straw until my jaw got better, but then I would retire. I called my accountant. Do you think I could retire? I really need to retire.

[Joe Getty]

Shaman.

[Jack Armstrong]

A Christmas. That's, it's Gladys. It's low, brown, incredibly low brow.

[Joe Getty]

I won't have it. I'm too busy watching the ballet and reading Dickens. So this is a perfect segue to this story. Washington's new lobbyists, paid online influencers with few rules. And they get into all of these guys who've got hundreds of thousands of or more of followers on the various social media platforms. And you've got, for instance, here's this pot industry guy, he hired this 28 year old Alan Brucewitz who's got 640,000 followers on X and he paid him $300,000 to just post about, for instance, nearly 70% of Republican vot support Trump on reclassifying marijuana. This is a no brainer. And all these people pretend it's serious expressions of their opinions, stuff like that, but they're all on the take.

[Jack Armstrong]

He got paid that much?

[Joe Getty]

Yes. Wow. Yeah, yeah, it helps a great deal if you're close to Trump world.

[Jack Armstrong]

What do you want us to say? Anybody?

[Joe Getty]

Oh yeah, I'm for sale. Are you kidding me?

[Jack Armstrong]

Sure. Yeah, we're old. Write us a check. Tell us what you want to say.

[Joe Getty]

You got the solar energy industry, the health industry, you got Israel. Qatar spends enormous amounts of money trying to influence Americans attitudes toward that Muslim Brotherhood supporting country. And in fact, it's hurt traditional lobbyists because like, we don't need you anymore. We got that. We got some hot chick with 5 million followers.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's interesting. Even with the joking around about, hey, I'll say anything, just cut me a check. How the hell do you go on the air or on TV or on Twitter or whatever with your up with fundamentalist Islam? Because somebody's paying you. That's unbelievable.

[Joe Getty]

I'm telling you, half the stuff you see about Israel or Qatar or the Middle east or whatever is sponsored by the Qataris. And they, they buy people off.

[Jack Armstrong]

And the scumbags who are willing to take money for that to sell out their country or Western civilization. Nice job.

[Joe Getty]

Plenty of them. Yeah. Hey, a quick word from our friends at Simply Safe Home Security. Oh my gosh, it's so good. It's so smart. SimpliSafe uses AI powered camera and real human monitors. They're live agents to prevent break ins, not to have something go whoop, whoop, whoop after your home's already been smashed up. They prevent it.

[Jack Armstrong]

I got the cameras, I got the sensors, I got the stuff. I got the sign outside saying stay away scumbags. That's not exactly what it says, but I'm one of the 5 million Americans that are using Simplisafe right now. Other systems might give you a camera and a notification, but they need you to see the alert and handle it. It Simplisafe some monitoring, monitoring agents have your back even when you're busy asleep or on a plane.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it's really so advanced and it's less expensive than old systems. There's no long term contracts you can cancel anytime. They earn your business every day. And right now you can get 50% off any new system this month only. It's a great time to upgrade to security that actually helps stop crime before those scumbag junkies break in. Go to simplisafe.com Armstrong that's simplisafe.com Armstrong there's no safe like Simplisafe. You know, I want to get more into this influencer Lobbyist thing in a little bit. There's a lot to it. But I want to touch on a couple other things really quickly. Ilhan Omar had earmarked a million dollars for an East African addiction center. It was recently axed from a federal bill. When they found it, it was going to the very same people who were running fake charities out of that restaurant that's become infamous. She put a million dollar earmark in the government funding bill.

[Jack Armstrong]

She was on one of the shows over the weekend, I think Face the Nation. She is unbelievable. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

She is shameless.

[Joe Getty]

She is smug. She is mean. She is America hater.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. And.

[Joe Getty]

And Meet the. She may have done multiple shows. They saw she was on Meet the Press. They chose her as the voice of Minnesotans, which is just crazy. One more. And this is another one. We could get into more later. Your next primary care doctor could be online only accessed through an AI tool. The whole online exam for a lot of fairly routine stuff could go all online AI very, very soon.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. Of course, the question is, how good would it be?

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah, yeah. It would have to overlook things.

[Jack Armstrong]

You would think, yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Here's this gal in West Hallucinate.

[Jack Armstrong]

What if it hallucinates? You're. You're eight months pregnant. I'm a dude. I'm a 60 year old dude.

[Joe Getty]

Seems odd to me. But who might argue with an AI doctor? But here's this gal in a pretty civilized part of Massachusetts called 10 primary care practices near home. None of the doctors, nurse practitioners or PAs were taking new patients. Few offices. Told her the doctor could see her in a year and a half or two years.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. But I think we've all had certain things that it seemed like a monkey. You had to see somebody to get the antibiotics or whatever. And it seems like a monkey could have done that. Well, maybe AI can. Cool. Just gonna get in the mailbag. We got more news of the day. This stuff in Iran is troubling, if true. And some of the decisions Trump has got to make, like today are big if we're going to war with Iran. So stick around.

[Announcer]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

So the movie, One Battle after Another will set a bunch of records at the Golden Globes and probably will at the Oscars too. And I watched about half of it yesterday. I want to talk about that. Maybe an hour too.

[Joe Getty]

Excellent. Looking forward to it. Here's your freedom hating quote of the day. Continuing that series from Awful People. I promised you a blockbuster from Vladimir Alina. There it is. Give me just one generation of youth and I'll transform the whole world.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's a good one. Man. Man, oh man, oh man, oh man. Do we not fully appreciate that?

[Joe Getty]

And we let it happen. Multiple generations of our youth taught to despise their country and the principles that underlie.

[Jack Armstrong]

And it could quickly become too late.

[Joe Getty]

If it's not already. I don't think it is. I'm a little concerned. Give me just one generation of youth and I'll transform the whole world. Oh, every dictator knows that. That's the first thing they do. Damn it. Mailbag drop us note anytime [e-mail] let's see. I wanted to start off with this one. Well, I've learned two new phrases this week. Ice queens and awfuls. Awfuls is affluent white female liberals due to the terrible loss of a young woman in Minnesota. I appreciate your analysis of how younger women get persuaded to take on these social issues. Issues. Interestingly, this playbook's been around for at least 2,000 years. The apostle Paul wrote about it in Second Timothy, and he gives the verses and everything before he gets to verses 6 and 7. He talks about multiple vices such as ungratefulness, slanders, blah, blah, reckless haters of good. Then he says, avoid such people, for among them are those who make their way into households and capture weak women burdened with sins and swayed by various impulses, who will listen to anybody and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

I am unaware of that. That is interesting.

[Joe Getty]

I gotta look that up. Yeah, I know that finding meaning in the life outside of politics is the real reality. Not LARPing. LARPing's just another addiction. How interesting. Man.

[Jack Armstrong]

MSNBC is still going hard with this was cold blooded murder despite more videos coming out.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah, well, people see what they want to see. And then we got this note. In fairness, it's very long, but I'm gonna. I'll highlight it. M in San Jose says I'm a left leaning moderator, listens to you to hear from the other algorithms. But honestly, it's getting tougher to listen as you make zero attempts to bring women onto the show to represent women's perspectives. Sorry, Katie, Stop having segments where you discuss purely feminine issues like liberal women dark about the future. Given that the vast majority of Trump supporters are men, did it ever cross your mind that being a Trump supporter or maga right leaning might place you dead center in your own echo chamber? That extends beyond politics. You're only hearing male perspectives. I don't consider myself those. Myself those things. But then she says Let me clue you in why liberal women are so unhappy. Men's inability to adopt to changing societal norms and our increasing awareness of the role of the patriarchy in our lives. I will pause your eye rolling.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let me finish it. You're a nut job.

[Joe Getty]

Here, I'll say it too.

[Katie Green]

You're a nut job and I'm a woman.

[Joe Getty]

Ironically, she says I will pause while you finish your eye rolling in deep sign. Hopefully you will let me explain.

[Jack Armstrong]

And there was a lot of eye rolling. Deep sawing.

[Joe Getty]

You know what, Em? Yeah. I think you're a crackpot and you're wrong about these things. These new exciting philosophies of yours have led to misery. Nothing but misery. And. But we'll go into it later. It's like I said, it's long. And we'll talk about.

[Jack Armstrong]

She could have been. She could be one of the characters in the movie. One battle after another, like Brock drawn over the top. Ridiculous characters who buy into that stuff.

[Joe Getty]

Then you have this one from Ryan in Houston. Dear Cold Warrior and old Fancy Jack. Will I ever see the change of the two parties in my lifetime? As the same goes. If I had two buckets and wished into one and defecated in the other. We can see which fills up first. The fact is. That's a charming saying.

[Jack Armstrong]

Was that Plato?

[Joe Getty]

It's exactly the right word. Charming. The fact is I'm a 95% never Trumper. I think he's a horrible person, a bad president. The fact that I'm not 100% a never trumper is that the Democrats ran senile man, then a dimwit backed up by a hack fraud grifter. I could want another choice, but it was either going to be Trump or Harris. I don't see it changing.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't see it changing either.

[Joe Getty]

Oof.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, the Gallup News that came out yesterday that now half of Americans identify as independent because they don't want to call themselves a Republican or Democrat anymore. So the two parties are at about 27% each. Will a third party come out of that is the question. And the answer is probably no.

[Announcer]

Armstrong and Gettysburg.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an Iheart podcast. Guaranteed human.