I've Done Drugs, Folks!

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: I've Done Drugs, Folks!
Date: April 2, 2026
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Podcast: Armstrong & Getty On Demand (iHeartPodcasts)

---

Episode Overview

This episode takes on an energetic, no-holds-barred deep dive into several major California controversies, including massive welfare and Medicaid fraud, the ongoing saga of the state’s bullet train, and erratic public behavior by Governor Gavin Newsom that sparks rampant speculation. The hosts also riff on current events like protests, U.S. military interventions, media narratives, and high-profile scandals. As always, Armstrong & Getty’s signature mix of biting critique, satire, and unscripted banter is on full display.

---

Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. California Government Waste and Fraud

• Massive Medicaid Fraud

  • Recent investigations (notably City Journal, Christopher Rufo) estimate California has lost at least $180 billion in taxpayer money to fraud, scams, and organized crime since 2018 ([04:27]).
  • Medicaid fraud alone estimated at 25% of the state’s annual $197B medical budget—about $50B each year ([05:53]).
  • Fraud is pervasive in multiple welfare programs (unemployment, in-home healthcare, homelessness initiatives).
  • Skepticism from the hosts regarding mainstream media and public reaction, especially among left-leaning audiences ([05:54-07:06]).
  • New law raised the felony threshold for welfare fraud from $950 to $25,000, which critics say legalizes fraud ([07:06-07:24]).

  "Since 2018, $180 billion worth of fraud scams and organized crime rings."
  —Jack Armstrong ([04:34])

  "[Minnesota says] we do fraud. And California says, hold my Chardonnay. Watch this."
  —Joe Getty ([04:27])

• California’s Bullet Train Fiasco

  • Clip of Gavin Newsom (2014) candidly discussing the ballooning costs and false revenue claims of the high-speed rail project.
  • Hosts lament the lack of accountability and skyrocketing cost beyond even previous, already high estimates ([02:21-03:44]).

  "On their own website, it's no longer a high-speed train. It’s a slightly faster regular train."
  —Jack Armstrong ([03:29])

• High Taxes, Poor Results

  • Despite the nation's highest tax rates, California struggles with road conditions, homeless population, and failing schools ([08:32-08:59]).

2. Gavin Newsom's Public Behavior: Is He on Drugs?

• Viral Ceremony Appearance

  • Newsom’s behavior at a California Service Corps ceremony (excessive fidgeting, nose wiping, sweating) prompts speculation about substance use ([09:17-13:45]).
  • Hosts play the speech, analyze the incoherent flow, and share reactions from viewers who see classic signs of drug use ([09:58-12:31]).

  "I've done drugs, folks. There is something very odd happening there...drug counselors, drug addicts are saying, oh, dude, please."
  —Joe Getty ([12:37])

  "It's hard to follow."
  —Jack Armstrong ([11:17])

  • The show leans heavily (though somewhat tongue-in-cheek) into the speculation—bringing up elite trends like microdosing ketamine ([11:18-11:34, 13:03-13:38]).

• Audience & Staff Reaction

  • Clip replayed; staff and hosts dissect the physical and verbal “tells” ([11:54-12:31]).
  • Banter about visible tics and jokes about ketamine.

  "It's not an admission of weakness to admit you're addicted to ketamine."
  —Joe Getty ([14:11])

3. Protest Culture & Satire: The Straits of Hormuz

• Street Interviews at "No Kings" Rallies

  • Satirical bit with protestors confusing the Strait of Hormuz with a nonexistent “Gays of Hormus,” highlighting activist ignorance and scripted ideological talking points ([15:32-16:50]).

  "She speaks with the confidence of the youth that thinks they know much..."
  —Jack Armstrong ([16:08])

  "Just reciting her, you know, postmodernist, neo Marxist talking Points, historical discrimination, blah, blah, blah, colonialism, blah, blah, blah."
  —Joe Getty ([16:40])

4. U.S.–Iran Tensions & War Coverage

• Military Missions and War Timetables

  • Discusses public expectations for swift wars vs. the complexities of military operations.
  • Anecdote about a Chinook pilot’s heroism during a Venezuela intervention—illustrating how close major missions come to disaster ([20:31-23:12]).
  • Trump’s leaked comments on “taking the oil” and awareness of American impatience for prolonged conflict ([24:29-25:27]).

  "All military operations, even when you got the upper hand by far can go south because they're very, very complicated and there's lots of moving parts."
  —Jack Armstrong ([19:48])

• International Response & NATO

  • Trump mocks France’s Macron for hesitance to contribute militarily—humorous personal jabs and skepticism about NATO participation ([28:22-29:16]).

  "Many of them said, we'll be there after the war is completed."
  —Donald Trump (clip, quoted by hosts) ([29:06])

• Iran’s Letter to America

  • Iran’s president pens a letter denying they are a threat, to which hosts respond with dark skepticism, referencing years of “Death to America” rhetoric ([29:46-30:30]).

5. Language Trends & Social Commentary

• Generational Language Shifts

  • Brief discussion about youth speech patterns—particularly dropping t’s in words like “kitten” and “fountain” ([33:07-34:09]).

  "I pronounce every letter. As you know, I don't believe in silent letters."
  —Joe Getty ([33:52])

6. Kristi Noem’s Husband Scandal

• Adult Webcam Allegations

  • Update on Kristi Noem’s husband’s online “sissy sub” interactions—comic commentary about his “cartoonishly large knockers” and his unique requests ([34:09-35:47]).

  "She said she'd never seen a sub that had bigger knockers than him."
  —Jack Armstrong ([34:27])

  "You're used to people coming to you for your cartoonishly large breasts. They generally don't bring their own to the party."
  —Joe Getty ([35:42])

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On California Fraud:

  "Unemployment benefits, subsidized health care for the poor... all these different things that, that people sign up for that don't deserve it, or programs that don't accomplish anything and nobody's paying any attention..."
  —Jack Armstrong ([04:56])

• On Government Accountability:

  "California has the highest taxes in the country on almost everything... The roads suck, the schools are failing. So, I mean, so if you have the highest taxes and the worst results, that money is going somewhere."
  —Jack Armstrong ([08:32])

• On Gavin Newsom:

  "He was just moving and going to his nose and twitching and looking around. I mean, he was agitated."
  —Joe Getty ([09:18])

  "There's something wrong with him right there. He's probably microdosing ketamine..."
  —Joe Getty ([11:18])

• On Protester Ignorance:

  "You're interested enough in the news to be out at the protest... but just reciting her, you know, postmodernist, neo Marxist talking Points, historical discrimination, blah, blah, blah, colonialism, blah, blah, blah."
  —Joe Getty ([16:40])

• On Military Luck:

  "Four bullets, all missing the big arteries in the leg is a bit of a miracle."
  —Joe Getty ([22:06])

• On Youth Language:

  "I say fountain. I don't really get the T. Fountain. I definitely say fountain."
  —Jack Armstrong ([33:48])

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• CA Fraud & Medicaid Waste: [01:01] – [08:59]
• Newsom’s Twitchy Speech: [08:59] – [14:11]
• No Kings Rally Satirical Interviews: [15:32] – [16:54]
• U.S.–Iran War Analysis & Military Story: [18:08] – [25:27]
• Trump’s Leaked Comments/NATO: [25:27] – [29:46]
• Iran’s Letter to America & Veteran Sentiments: [29:46] – [31:15]
• Language Trends: [33:07] – [34:09]
• Kristi Noem’s Husband Scandal: [34:09] – [36:10]

---

Episode Tone and Style

The episode is rich in sarcastic critique, news analysis, and off-the-cuff humor. Armstrong & Getty alternate between dead-serious watchdog journalism and irreverent social satire, maintaining a direct, colloquial style that makes complex policy and political ethics accessible and engaging.

---

For listeners who missed the episode:
This summary covers all the major stories and commentaries—government fraud revelations, viral political gaffes, war analysis, protester obliviousness, and the stranger corners of public scandal—wrapped in the show’s trademark energetic banter and pointed, often comic insight.

Transcript

[Podcast Announcer]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human with VRBO's last minute deals, you can save over $50 on your spring getaway. So whether it's a mountain escape city break or a week at the beach, there's still time to get great discounts. Book your next day now. Average savings $72.

[Commercial Voice]

Select homes only this week with digital

[Grocery Store Announcer]

coupons at Safeway and Albertsons get beef rib roast for $7.97 per pound member price with minimum purchase of $50 or more in a single transaction. Exclusions apply. See Store for details and Broccoli, cauliflower or russet potatoes are $0.97 per pound member price limit £6 plus selected sizes and varieties of Lucerne butter cheese or Philadelphia cream cheese are 197 each member price. Visit safewayralbertsons.com for more deals and ways to save.

[Show Announcer]

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

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

And now here's Armstrong and Yeti. So there's a giant fraud problem in California. If this investigation is true, that just came out, we're about to tell you about it in a second. And it matters to the whole country because it's just an example of when government gets bigger and programs get giant at the behest of lefties that a lots of waste happens.

[Joe Getty]

And because Gavin Newsom is absolutely dead set on being the president and there's a lot of smart democratic money, semi smart behind that effort. And I feel about Gavin running for president roughly the same way I would feel is if like I had a neighbor who was a big bully and he'd like, you know, hit me several times but I couldn't do anything about it. And he announced he was going to fight like the heavyweight champion of the world. That's how I feel about Gavin Newsom. I can't wait to see him get battered anyway. Politically of course, not physically. I abhor violence. Here is Gavi boy, before we get to the enormous Medicaid fraud, here is the gov himself and he was lieutenant governor in 2014 talking about the bull spit train.

[Gavin Newsom (quoted)]

He started with 33 billion, it went to 96. We value engineered it so it's no longer quote unquote high speed rail. It's higher speed rail. We wildly overstated the ridership projections. We manipulated some of the revenue projections. There's only one true high speed rail system in the world that generates real profit. I thought there were two. And I remember when president of France was here a few months ago, I Complimented him on being one of the two. And he laughed and his ministers laughed. I said, what do you mean? They said, well, don't believe what you read about us generating profits on our high speed rail. The only one is Osaka that generates. And that's a different kind of concentration, urban concentration. So this is going to be a subsidy. The bonds. You double the cost of the bonds is the actual cost to the taxpayers of repaying them.

[Jack Armstrong]

That sounds like a normal smart guy looking at a ridiculous project at the bullet train and speaking the truth. Where did.

[Joe Getty]

And explaining why it's an absolute no. It's a hard no. Where did he say that when that was in 2014? Does anybody know the context of that? I don't, actually.

[Jack Armstrong]

I mean, that's all completely true. By the way, it on their own website, it's no longer a high speed train. It's a slightly faster regular train.

[Joe Getty]

And the numbers he cited have ballooned one and a half to two times as high as even he was talking about.

[Audience Member / Caller]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it's astonishing.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's highly troubling.

[Joe Getty]

Sorry.

[Jack Armstrong]

So this is about to explode, I think. The California Post editorial board with a piece about the amount of fraud and waste going on in California. According to a new City Journal investigation that has just come out. The investigators writing, and this came out yesterday, the best estimates suggest that on the governor's watch, that since 2018, you know, to be fair, that is quite a few years. But fraudsters, scammers and organized crime rings have stolen, at least In California alone, $180 billion from taxpayers.

[Joe Getty]

As I said earlier, Minnesota says, hey, we do fraud. And California says, hold my Chardonnay. Watch this.

[Jack Armstrong]

Since 2018, $180 billion worth of fraud scams and organized crime rings.

[Joe Getty]

Shocking yet unsurprising in a state that doesn't even have a mechanism for measuring whether their homeless industrial complex waste is doing any good. They don't even have a way to check.

[Jack Armstrong]

And the numbers will make your eyes gloss over when you. So that's. We go with the total. It's a little easier to understand. But it's unemployment benefits, subsidized health care for the poor in home healthcare benefits, welfare programs, homelessness programs, all these different things that, that people sign up for that don't deserve it, or programs that don't accomplish anything and nobody's paying any attention to whether or not they accomplish anything and all those different things. Fraud against taxpayers is saturated California. Christopher Rufo, one of the authors of the investigation, estimates based on intel from federal officials that 25% of the state's $197 billion annual medical budget was lost to fraud. That's about $50 billion in one year. In one program. $50 billion and a quarter of it

[Joe Getty]

is fraud every year.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. So I'll be interested to see the pushback on this, if they even need to push back. I am so cynical about the modern world and people getting any information from any source that doesn't, you know, with algorithms and whatnot. If you're a lean left sort of person, blue, if you will. Will this information from the California Post reach you at all? Probably not.

[Joe Getty]

Two competing answers. Number one, they see the name Chris Ruffo and reject it immediately in the mainstream media because Chris has been such a great writer about the idiocy and dishonesty of DEI programs. But on the other hand, the Minnesota fraud got a fair amount of attention. It doesn't mean, because I'm thinking from the twisted perspective of lefty journalist, you might be able to sell that as Minnesota's off track, but these giant social programs are overall a good idea. But if you have to admit that California is, with that enormous volume, every bit is corrupt and wasting money, that might be too big an admission for lefty journalists.

[Jack Armstrong]

And it's likely getting worse or going to get worse. Starting as of last year. So in California, April 2025, we had a bill that raised the threshold for felony welfare fraud from 950 bucks to $25,000.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, my gosh.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which Republican State Assemblyman Carl DeMaio said that if that bill becomes law, it will effectively legalize welfare fraud in California, which is likely. What happened?

[Joe Getty]

Carl's right. Well, look at what never. Well, lifting the limit for shoplifting and then never prosecuting it. Look at that. Did for shoplifting. That is something.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

In a related story, Gavin Newsom's on Drugs. Stay tuned.

[Jack Armstrong]

I want to hear that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That fraud thing. I'm going to be interested to see if that explodes. If that gets legs. Like the Minnesota welfare fraud thing. The numbers are so giant, it's just jaw dropping. This sometimes if something's so big, it almost doesn't get attention for some weird reason, like it doesn't register. You can't believe it's true or something or it seems like too big a problem to even deal with.

[Joe Getty]

Well, and again, I think from the lefty journalists point of view, and that's virtually all of them, this is just too much of a confession about how our dear programs are terrible and badly run and squandering taxpayer dollars that's too much of an indictment.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, we, as it points out in this California Post piece from the editorial board, California has the highest taxes in the country on almost everything. You know, gas and this and that and everything like that. With the idea that we're going to fix the roads, fix the schools, deal with the homeless program. We got half the homeless people in the whole country here. The roads suck, the schools are failing. So, I mean, so if you have the highest taxes and the worst results, that money is going somewhere.

[Joe Getty]

Sure, of course it is. Yep. So back to the Gavin's on drugs thing. He had a. He was part of a ceremony the other day about the California Service Corps. And while the other speakers were speaking and this kind of went semi viral online, he was doing like the,

[Gavin Newsom (quoted)]

you

[Joe Getty]

know, the equivalent of the twitchy pee pee dance. I mean, but for a grown man, he was just moving and going to his nose and twitching and looking around. I mean, he was agitated.

[Jack Armstrong]

I haven't seen this.

[Joe Getty]

And it was kind of funny. But I, you know, being a charitable fellow, believe it or not, I thought maybe he was just bored or. I don't. Maybe it's his allergies or something like that. Well, we'd missed. When he actually got up to speak, in which he was. And we'll show the video and we'll post [e-mail] and Jack, you'll see it, but he's sweating, he's twitchy, he's wiping in his eyes and dabbing in his nose and stuff. And here's what he had to say.

[Audience Member / Caller]

ADHD Avenue. I mean, everything about this is. I feel like I'm home, you know, dyslexics that are surrounded by, you know, these special folks, particularly the young folks there. So I'm grateful. I'm also weird, You know, I'm trying to follow him. This is embarrassing. He can turn all that off just because all the noise, you know, that we just need to turn off. And this is. This is this. Listen to this. This is it, man. This is it. You want to fix all this stuff? This is it. Listen to these guys. You know, we're all just sitting there yelling and screaming at each other. Everybody's getting each other's throats and trying to tear everybody down. And, you know, how are we going to get out of this? This is it. You heard these guys, programs like this, community leaders like this. And. And I just. It's like, why are we so stupid? Why can't we just get this? It's so obvious what we need to do. And so I'm just deeply proud of this.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's hard to follow.

[Joe Getty]

He is. There's something wrong with him right there. He's. He's probably microdosing ketamine, because that's very hip among your Napa Valley elite.

[Jack Armstrong]

So you're doubling down. The he's on drug thing.

[Joe Getty]

There's something very odd going on there. Very odd. That opening 40 seconds was mystifying, Katie,

[Commercial Voice]

that that video circulated on a couple of different platforms yesterday, and there were a lot of comments saying, hey, I was a drug addict. This is drugs. Like, a lot of people.

[Joe Getty]

Play the first chunk again, Michael.

[Audience Member / Caller]

ADHD Avenue. I mean, everything about this is. Feel like I'm home. You know, dyslexics that are surrounded by, you know, these special folks, particularly the young folks there. So I'm grateful. I'm also weird Tron, you know, dabbing

[Joe Getty]

in his face, touching.

[Audience Member / Caller]

This is embarrassing. He can turn all that off.

[Joe Getty]

Super twitchy.

[Audience Member / Caller]

Just because all the noise, you know, that we just need to turn off. And this is. This is.

[Joe Getty]

All right, look, I've done drugs, folks. There is something very odd happening there. And obviously, I can't nail down what it is. But as Katie said, drug counselors, drug addicts are saying, oh, dude, please.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right?

[Commercial Voice]

And it's not. They're not trying to politicize it or make it like, because it's him. They're like, I've definitely seen this before.

[Joe Getty]

The difficulty stringing together coherent. Well, strings of verbiage, thoughts popping up and not being finished and bopping from sensory impression to sensory impression, just kind of reacting to it and throwing out a couple of words. And then.

[Jack Armstrong]

And then the visual was he.

[Commercial Voice]

He was. He was wiping his eyes and his nose and the corners of his mouth. He was looking around kind of sporadically. And then when he went weird, he did that thing like trying to crack both sides of his neck. And it was just. There was a lot going on visually with him.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Commercial Voice]

During that whole. However long that was. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

For some reason, that reminded me. I was watching a Bill Barr comedian thing, and he said, ladies, here's a dating tip. If you're ever on a first date with a guy and he cracks his neck. Run.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. Anti. Anti. Neck cracker. We need to take a break.

[Jack Armstrong]

But, Craig. So he cracks his neck and legs.

[Joe Getty]

Weird.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Gavin, get the help you need. Seriously. It's not an admission of weakness to admit you're addicted to ketamine.

[Jack Armstrong]

I can tell you're here to help him.

[Joe Getty]

That's what you're here for.

[Jack Armstrong]

What are your thoughts on that text line? 415295, KFTC.

[Show Announcer]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

I just saw Kanye did a what they're calling comeback concert in LA last night. I wonder how that went.

[Joe Getty]

Surprised he's wearing his clan robes.

[Gavin Newsom (quoted)]

Was.

[Jack Armstrong]

He brought his daughter north on stage to perform with. Okay.

[Joe Getty]

Apparently he's past that hating the Jews thing, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I think he's past his manic phase. Unmedicated manic phase for now.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

He's back on the meds. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

So the no Kings rallies continue to be a gift in that a lot of the people that were at the no Kings rallies, it's interesting that don't really follow the news that much. So you're motivated enough to get out on the streets and protest, but you don't follow what's going on in the news that much? Because, man, you wouldn't have to follow the news a lot to be familiar with the whole Strait of Hormuz, Straits of Hormuz situation. I mean, it's gas prices. Every gas price story includes the term Straits of Hormuz. But anyway, this person being interviewed by a comedian on the street at the no Kings rally apparently hadn't heard of it.

[Protester 1]

Isn't it a little bit homophobic that we're so focused on the straights of Hormuz and not the gays of homose?

[Protester 2]

I agree. Yes, for sure.

[Protester 1]

Why do you sing so willing to Leave the gays of Hormuz behind?

[Protester 2]

I think it's just history historically. Like, you know, gays have always been very discriminated against, which is wrong on so many levels.

[Jack Armstrong]

Even in war.

[Protester 2]

Yeah, even in war. It just takes more reform in government, obviously, and then also educating society.

[Audience Member / Caller]

Just feel like if.

[Protester 1]

If we're gonna go in there, we can't leave the gay people behind. I don't think we should go in there at all. But if we're going to the gays of Hormuz, we could turn it into

[Jack Armstrong]

Fire island for sure. So she speaks with the confidence of the youth that thinks they know much,

[Joe Getty]

quoting her professors in three or four different ways. I recognized all of that. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

And you just haven't come across the whole Straits of Hormuz and seen a map and, oh, a straight. Like a little area of water between two areas of land passage. I see.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, okay. Yeah, exactly. It was interesting, though.

[Jack Armstrong]

You're interested enough in the news to be out at the protest.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, but just reciting her, you know, postmodernist, neo Marxist talking Points, historical discrimination, blah, blah, blah, colonialism, blah, blah, blah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that's a good one.

[Joe Getty]

The gaze of Hormuz.

[Show Announcer]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

And that Fire island joke, if you're not familiar, that's the famous island off New York that for many, many, many years was known with a nod and a wink, is where the gay people went to get it on.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wonder how many people he had to ask that question before he came across somebody who. Who bit on that. Do you remember the Duggar family and they're like 27 kids?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Got an update on that horror show.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, boy, that went sideways. Anyway, we got lots of stuff to talk about. We're gonna have. We have a great guest coming up a little bit later to talk about the Supreme Court oral arguments from yesterday on the Constitution and whether or not birthright citizenship should continue and this and that. Based on most of the analysis I've heard, they seem to think the justices are going to say, no, Donald Trump, you can't get around this. If anybody born on our land is

[Joe Getty]

a citizen, it would be a big stretch. And as a strong advocate for the administration's position, I got to admit some of the logistical challenges that were pointed out are significant.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, I want to hear about that. Among other things on the way. If you missed a segment, get the podcast. Armstrong and Getty on demand.

[Show Announcer]

Armstrong and Getty.

The Vietnam war lasted for 19 years, 5 months, and 29 days. Iraq went on for 8 years, 8 months, months, and 28 days. We are in this military operation, so powerful, so brilliant, against one of the most powerful countries for 32 days. And the country has been eviscerated and essentially is really no longer a threat.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I heard somebody make the point yesterday that Iran is a top 20 military in the world. They're nowhere near the United States, but they're not nothing. And we've been.

[Joe Getty]

Unlike the NCAA tournament, you rarely see a 125 upset, though, in the military rankings.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. But the idea that it should be over in. I don't know what mainstream media thought or. Or the public maybe. I don't know what the public. How long the public thought the war should last. If you go to war with Iran. Of course, as a number of people have pointed out. Maybe you should have given the speech selling the war like day one.

[Joe Getty]

Absolutely. Legit point of view.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I think so, too. Maybe I'll do this later, but, for instance, I wasn't aware until yesterday how close the whole Venezuela thing came to going completely sideways and being a disaster. I mean, it came really, really close. To being a entirely failed effort. And if that had happened, in what way?

[Joe Getty]

Just a nickel version?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I could go through it here. Why not? It's pretty damned interesting. And the point of that being if it have. First of all, all military operations, even, you know, even when you got the upper hand by far can go south because they're very, very complicated and there's lots of moving parts. And secondly, if it had not worked out, I think pretty damned obviously we wouldn't have been going into Iran. There would have been no public mood for going into Iran.

[Joe Getty]

Sure.

[Jack Armstrong]

See if I can find this.

[Joe Getty]

There ain't much one now. Here, look, here's what I got.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, you got it.

[Joe Getty]

Okay.

[Jack Armstrong]

So. And this is the. The army chief officer that got the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the State of the Union address. And Trump gave an abbreviated story about what he did, but he was the lead Chinook helicopter pilot going in with the Special Forces troops that were going to run in and secure the ground and set up the whole thing. They started firing on us, fired on that helicopter. He took four bullets in the leg. Oh. And continued to fly his helicopter on the mission, landed it, got the guys off so they could secure the ground so the next helicopters could come in and complete the mission. Then he went up and flew over and his gunman took out the dudes that were shooting at him that almost killed him. He then said to his co pilot, you need to take over. I'm about to pass out. And they got the, the helicopter out of there. If one of those bullets had hit him in the stomach or the head or the chest, he goes down, missions over, mission is over. I read some analysis of it by a variety of experts that it almost certainly would have failed spectacularly if one of those bullets had killed him or if he wasn't able to continue to fly with four bullets in his legs and everything else like that. And, and it's just a point that the success or failure these military missions hangs on so many tiny little things going. Right.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

And at some point we're gonna have that in Iran. Maybe we already have.

[Joe Getty]

Honestly, four bullets, all missing the big arteries in the leg is a bit of a miracle. I find myself surprised that the loss of one helicopter could have doomed the mission like that. But it was a fairly small hit and run mission, so I get it, I guess.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right? Yeah. Well, you know, I could read the whole thing if you want to, but the military, military people explaining on how that, that helicopter getting in there, landing the guys getting off to secure this so the next helicopters could land, blah, blah, blah. It just. It all hinged on him getting through there and landing. They also didn't know. They didn't think there was any chance he was going to get shot at again. The point being that things could go sideways so fast. And as we get further into trying to secure various islands or chunks of land, or landing an expeditionary force to get the uranium back or anything like that, we got a long way to go on this war. And if we're already at the why isn't this over already, period, I don't know if you can sell a war in the TikTok world lasting very long.

[Joe Getty]

You know, this is a bit of a tangent. I think Trump may be a little complicit in that, having sold the escapade as a perfect, flawless, easy in, easy out. Don't do that. Tell the people. All right, look, because you know the phrase going sideways when you're talking about war? It will. It's just a question of how much and in what way.

[Jack Armstrong]

Have you seen the thing that leaked out yesterday as Trump speaking to a private group?

[Joe Getty]

Don't think so.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. I hadn't heard about it until last night, and I started watching, and it's about an hour long. I got about halfway through it. It's pretty darned interesting. So he's. It's not like private private, like he's at a dinner with four other people. He's in a. Like a. A ballroom little room there at the White House with what looks like, I don't know, 60 people, and he's standing at a podium talking to him. But it's a private thing of all friends. Vance is there and Bondi and then staffers and then Erica Kirk is there and just, it's all friendly. It's supposed to be behind closed doors, private. They recorded it because they record everything, I guess, and somehow posted it to the public site very briefly. Some journalists grabbed it, downloaded it, and then it disappeared from the public site. So it wasn't meant for public eyes.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

And it's really interesting to hear Trump talk in a completely different voice. Just his manner is so different. Halperin posted it on his newsletter today, and he said it's both interesting how different he sounds when he's speaking to friends privately and how the same he sounds. I mean, both are true. His. His information was the same. The way he talks was a lot different. But anyway, at one point, the reason I brought this up was he said we really should take the oil. I mean, he said that was my Big complaint with Bush is that we went to Iraq and we didn't take the oil. Why didn't we take the oil? He said, I think we take the oil in Iran, but I'm not sure the country's got the stomach for the timetable. Said I just, I just don't think people are going to put up with the stock market hit and everything long enough for us to take the oil. So I guess we'll see. I thought that was pretty interesting. He's aware that public opinion is not on the side of this and that the timetable is really short.

[Joe Getty]

Michael, let's hear 54 from the speech last night.

[Show Announcer]

Our armed forces have been extraordinary. There's never been anything like it militarily. Everyone is talking about it and tonight I'm pleased to say that these core strategic objectives are nearing completion.

[Joe Getty]

And then he continues the thought and

[Show Announcer]

we are going to finish the job and we're going to finish it very fast. We're getting very close. I want to thank our allies in the Middle East, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the uae, Kuwait and Bahrain. They've been great and we will not let them get hurt or fail in any way, shape or form.

[Jack Armstrong]

So how, what did Iran think of the speech? Well, here you go.

[News Reporter]

Meanwhile, Iran is responding to the President's speech last night by really doubling down. Firing several missiles at Israel overnight. Ballistic missiles. So far most have been intercepted. However, we do know that some injuries have been reported. Iranian officials are also rejecting any ceasefire and vowing further retaliation after President Trump warned the US Will hit the country and I quote, extremely hard over the next two to three weeks.

[Jack Armstrong]

Gonna bomb them back to the Stone Age, but you gotta open the Strait of Hormuz, which came up in the news yesterday.

[News Reporter]

The UK Prime Minister is leading a virtual summit today of 35 countries to try to build some kind of consensus on military or diplomatic efforts, efforts to reopen the strait. Obviously a response to that strong pressure from President Trump. But you heard Secretary Rubio say on Hannity the other night that, you know, if these countries are not going to allow the US to use those bases when it needs to, then NATO is a one way street and the troops are only in Europe for the defense of Europe, not for American interests. That's the message here from the White House.

[Jack Armstrong]

We have had troops in Europe for a very, very long time specifically to defend your countries from being invaded.

[Joe Getty]

It wasn't for our benefit. Yeah, to the humiliation that the Brits are experiencing right now because they can't get their aircraft carrier, either one of them. Up and running. They're in such terrible shape. They spend 60% of their time in dry dock getting fixed or in wet dock being fixed, but they don't have parts. They don't have the expertise to fix it. Their navy has been reduced, according to British media accounts, to utterly unable to project force in any significant way.

[Audience Member / Caller]

Way.

[Joe Getty]

That's a quote. Just sad.

[Jack Armstrong]

I thought this was darn interesting because, you know, the conversation of is there negotiation going on?

[Joe Getty]

Oh, wait, wait, before we move on for that, because that's very important. Can't resist this. Speaking of NATO and our allies, 18 Michael.

[Show Announcer]

Then I call up France Macron, whose wife treats him extremely badly and. Still recovering from the right to the jaw. And I say, emmanuel, we'd love to have some help in the Gulf, even though we're setting records and knocking out bad people and knocking out ballistic missiles, we'd love to have some help. If you could, could you please send ships immediately? No, no, no, cannot do that, Donald. We can, we can do that after the war is won. I said, no, no, I don't need. After the war is won, Emmanuel. Many of them said, we'll be there after the war is completed.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's from that thing I was talking about, that private leaked out luncheon thing that he had. We made a joke about Macron's old lady beating him up.

[Joe Getty]

Still recovering from that right to the jaw.

[Jack Armstrong]

And then he says he sees Erica Kirk sitting there and he said, oh, hey, Erica, I didn't know you're here. He said, I'll tell you what, what they're saying about you is awful. I'd sue their asses off if I were you. Sue their asses off. That's what Trump told her.

[Joe Getty]

I've got some examples of that for later, but back to your.

[Jack Armstrong]

So a lot of mainstream media claiming that Trump's lying about this whole negotiating thing, that there's not actually any negotiations going on and who's it with all that. And I don't know who it's with. But this came out yesterday, was just

[News Reporter]

a few hours before the address, Iran's president penned a letter to the American people saying that Iran is not a threat. In fact, he. He called the United States the aggressor. And he says continuing along the path of confrontation is more costly and futile than ever before. President Trump earlier, he claims that the Iranian president wants a cease fire, but a spokesperson for Iran's president says their country is determined to fight on.

[Jack Armstrong]

He penned a letter, did he, saying that they're not a threat to The United States. Can I pen a letter back to him? I don't know his address. Dearest President of Iran, you have been chanting death to America from your podium my entire life, signed to me.

[Joe Getty]

What do you mean? Actually killing Americans every chance you get. So shut up.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I heard one of my favorite pundits talking about running into some military guys in the bar and he was interested that all of the former Iraq, Afghanistan veterans of those wars were gung ho about this because they all had had friends hurt or killed by Iranians, all of them. So they were gung ho about this.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. That is interesting.

[Jack Armstrong]

All those roadside bombs and, you know, all the lost limbs and lost life and everything like that. Those were bombs either developed by or completely made by and helped by Iran all those years.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah. I wish there were any sort of honest discussion about this going on in a way that people would actually hear and think about, because you know, it. To say this is going to happen is ridiculously premature. But if this is successful, even like substantially successful, it could usher in an era of peace and stability in the Middle east for decades to come. Decades to come in a way that we've never seen before. All the stars are aligned for that. And the last thing that needs to be accomplished is to neuter Iran and make them cut it out. For what it's worth, in discussing the President of Iran's letter and everything, the book may never be written, but man, I would like to know what the internal power struggles are like right now. As I would guess everybody is trying to come off as the hardest hard ass that's ever hard assed. Meanwhile. But I still think maybe we should talk to the Americans.

[Jack Armstrong]

But I'm a hard ass.

[Joe Getty]

I'm a serious hard ass. But we're getting killed, so I mean, that's got to be vexing. I don't envy them.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, we're probably.

[Joe Getty]

Never mind the bombs falling on their heads. I don't envy that either.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, that was. That was our check in on Iran and that was all good stuff. Got something about the space flight that is silly for you coming up.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, okay. Captain Silly over here. Joe, Serious would like the floor for a moment. We're in a serious space race with China.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's good stuff.

[Joe Getty]

A big deal. Want to hit that in hour four? If you don't get our four, subscribe to the podcast. Yada. Anyway, Armstrong and Yeti on demand.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is good stuff. All right, stay here.

[Show Announcer]

Armstrong and Getty

[Podcast Announcer]

say forgotten.

[Jack Armstrong]

Forgotten.

[Podcast Announcer]

Important.

[Jack Armstrong]

Important.

[Podcast Announcer]

Say Sacramento.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sacramento.

[Podcast Announcer]

2020. Center.

[Joe Getty]

Center.

[Podcast Announcer]

Say Counter.

[Jack Armstrong]

Counter.

[Podcast Announcer]

Say fountain.

[Jack Armstrong]

Fountain.

[Podcast Announcer]

Kitten.

[Commercial Voice]

Kitten.

[Podcast Announcer]

Kitten.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's kitten.

[Show Announcer]

Bro.

[Joe Getty]

First of all, he calls his mom bro.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think I do most of those. That's not a. So my son, we've talked about this before. The young people dropping their T's. I don't know if that was a good example of it or not. The way, like, I hear my son and some of his friends say fountain.

[Joe Getty]

Fountain. Yeah, he kind of lightly tapped some of those T's. Not a good example.

[Jack Armstrong]

I say fountain. I don't really get the T. Fountain. I definitely say fountain.

[Joe Getty]

I pronounce every letter. As you know, I don't believe in silent letters.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. I think I say all those words, but I don't say kitten. Yeah, that's weird. It's just an affectation that just caught on for some reason among the young still waiting.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

So I got distracted by the term sissy sub when I was reading about Lydia Love. Turns out that's not her real name. That's a stage name. The woman who had been talking with Kristi Noem's husband on the phone, apparently

[Joe Getty]

25 bucks a minute.

[Jack Armstrong]

25 bucks a minute. Yeah, she called him a. She remembered him because she said she'd never seen a sub that had bigger knockers than him.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

So a little tip of the cap from one pro to another there.

[Jack Armstrong]

Whatever turns you on. Whatever turns you on behind closed doors. I'm not criticizing that or whatever. The.

[Joe Getty]

The. The. The.

[Jack Armstrong]

The cartoonishly large knockers are definitely outside, if of anything. Kind of normal. Mainstream, certainly, but especially on a fella. Yeah, it's pretty interesting. This woman who recognized him when the pictures broke this week, Kristi Noem's husband, if you don't know the story, I think you probably do. Said when she would talk to him on the phone, he would try to talk more feminine. His kink was yoga pants. He wanted to be the star of the show and really show off. I would hype him up. She described him as an extremely needy client. Needy client who needed ample praise and feedback. But what stood out most, she recalled, is the comically large balloon breasts that he always wore under his tight shirts. I've never had another client who had them, she said, ever. So, yeah, that would stand out. I mean, if you had somebody come on this video screen looking like that, it would make an impression. You'd think, wow, what's going on here?

[Joe Getty]

You're used to people coming to you for your cartoonishly large breasts. They generally don't bring their own to the party.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, this woman says that Kristy Gnome's husband talked to her 10 to 15 times over a year and a half to two year period up to about six months ago. So certainly well inside the whole having to get a security clearance situation. FBI missed that one somehow. We got more on the way in hour three.

[Show Announcer]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Podcast Announcer]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Protester 2]

Guaranteed human.