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Jack Armstrong
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Jack Armstrong
broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln radio Studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack
Joe Getty
Armstrong and Joe Getty. Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong.
Jack Armstrong
I want to get this phrase right. I'm taking this from the Iranian tweet. There you go. Avoid falling into the abyss of defeat and destruction. Armstrong and Getty live from Studio C, senor. Or.
Joe Getty
Or.
Jack Armstrong
A manhole. Trying to avoid falling into a manhole.
Joe Getty
The abyss of. Yikes.
Jack Armstrong
A dimly lit room deep within the bowels of the Armstrong and Getty Communications compound. And today we're toiling under the title
Joe Getty
of the show, alternate titles for the same story. Either Trump Dumps Disloyal Chumps or Lick the Boot or Get the Boot.
Jack Armstrong
Ah, that's a. That's a good thing.
Joe Getty
On how you look at it.
Jack Armstrong
Like the Boot or Get the Boot. That's a good one. You know how on Mondays I often say another week pregnant with possibilities. Who knows what's going to happen this week? Maybe next week it'll be. Maybe you'll fall into a manhole and boiled to death.
Joe Getty
Oh, my God.
Jack Armstrong
Or maybe you'll meet the love of your life. You never know what's going to happen on any given. Oh, boy.
Joe Getty
Do I get a choice?
Jack Armstrong
How about that story? We had it. We had it right after it happened that we. I didn't realize. Nobody realized exactly what happened to the poor woman who stepped out of her car next to a manhole. So apparently she got out of her car, stepped right into it, went deep down into the steam bowels of the New York City. City streets.
Joe Getty
Yeah. They forced boiling steam through those pipes. Yikes.
Jack Armstrong
How was the end of that?
Joe Getty
Yeah, that's a rough one. Just too grim.
Jack Armstrong
Did you happen to read and I don't know why anybody would. I wish I had.
Joe Getty
Oh, boy.
Jack Armstrong
Did you happen to read the description from an emergency room worker who had dealt with the last person who fell into a manhole.
Joe Getty
No.
Jack Armstrong
And was boiled like a lobster?
Joe Getty
No. Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
It was pretty rough, as you'd expect.
Joe Getty
Well, I started to read. I think it was a coroner who wrote a book about it who dealt with all sorts. No. You fool. About dealing with people who got killed by all sorts of different means, including that. And I started to read it and thought, why am I reading this?
Jack Armstrong
Why would you read that?
Joe Getty
Why did you.
Jack Armstrong
I don't know why I read one paragraph. It was one of those things where if I'd have known what they were gonna say, I Would have gone back in time and. And not read it. I didn't need that information.
Joe Getty
Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
So you got a lot of attention. It's just that's one of those kind of. To kind of like people who watch horror movies, I guess working out your fears about something that's very unlikely to happen to you or something. I don't know what's going on there.
Joe Getty
Yeah. As human beings we have to process that sort of thing one way or another. That's why people like we were laughing about it. It's not funny. It's so horrifying. You just.
Jack Armstrong
Well, right.
Joe Getty
It's your psychological defense mechanism.
Jack Armstrong
It's kind of a cavemanish death though. They didn't have manholes. Not many like fall into a volcano. Be like that. Yeah.
Joe Getty
Terrible. Any. Literally anything else.
Jack Armstrong
This phrase. Because Iran threatened that if we attack them again we will fall into the abyss of defeat and destruction. But you don't want to do.
Joe Getty
Oh no. Oh no. I told you. Watch your step. There you are down at the bottom of the.
Jack Armstrong
The what? The canyon of the old A D. Abyss of the. The defeat and destruction. Yeah.
Joe Getty
I told you. I warned you.
Jack Armstrong
Yep. The AD&D abyss of defeat. Destruction. I was just watching Fox and Trey Yanks there on Fox. His reporting is everything. Looks like we're gonna attack again. That's just what the mood is. Everybody's assuming that's gonna happen. So.
Joe Getty
Well, he is such a cut above most reporters. Yeah. I mean we've got him making a comment about the battle of Thermopolis later on in the show. I guarantee you David Muir doesn't make many mentions of ancient battles nor civilizations.
Jack Armstrong
But he does wear tiny T shirts to show off his big gu.
Joe Getty
It's a good point. He's got enormous guns.
Jack Armstrong
And I'm not. I'm not going to get bogged down on this because we've been over the Iran war thing. We've said everything 8 million times. But the. But everything is still there for a gargantuan verging on World War Three type situation to unleash at any moment. That. That is not. I think it kind of feels to like a lot of people. Like that's off the table now. It's not. It's. There's still. We attack. Iran's promising to attack every country around them with everything they've got. Which according to the New York Times last week is a lot. And I mean this could turn into quite the hoot nanny really fast. Right.
Joe Getty
While I believe this so called ceasefire has gone on far too long and will ultimately be just utterly without reason in the, you know, scope of history as you look at major conflicts. This little pause, I mean heck, that's. Then there was a brief pause later.
Jack Armstrong
Blah, blah, blah.
Joe Getty
I mean it deserves half sentence. Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
So why was your, what was your, your title there?
Joe Getty
Either Trump Dumps Disloyal Chumps or Lick the Boot or Get the boot. The number of primaries around the country were decided in favor of a Trump endorsed candidate over somebody who had vexed him or been insufficiently, you know, bootlicky. In my opinion, Thomas Massie got the boot, which is fine because he's a crank.
Jack Armstrong
He's a freaking nut.
Joe Getty
Oh yeah, he is. Yeah, yeah.
Jack Armstrong
He said more on that later.
Joe Getty
Flaming anti Semite among other things.
Jack Armstrong
But there are or decided they pretending to be that is a good idea which is a certain crowd at least pretending to be an anti Semite is less dangerous than the people that actually believe it. But there is a certain crowd out there that just thinks that's. That's where the energy is. Oh. So on that topic I might as well bring this up now. So this Thomas Massey guy in Kentucky who started out as a like a libertarian saying all kinds of things that like libertarians loved way back in the day and then he's got all kinds of different directions on Vax or Novax or this or that. But he landed on I'm going to be another anti Israel guy that I think that's where the momentum is to, to stay in office. And that's not why Trump ran against him. Trump. Trump went against him because Massey went full on Epstein. Like full on Epstein is the most important thing out there. We've got to get the files. There's a cover up going on. Tied it in with the Jews, all that sort of stuff and that's why Trump wanted him out was the whole Epstein thing. But so Massey last night loses and says I was gonna call my opponent to do a consolation thing but he's in Tel Aviv so he's hard to reach. F you dude. I tweeted that out. I was angry about that. I said glad you lost. Good riddance. Trump got this one right even if it was for different reasons. F you on that whole thing. But handful of comments in our Twitter and I see them on the text line every day. The people were losing audience members. We are losing that have been long time fans because we are too friendly to Israel purely on that issue.
Joe Getty
Well, good luck.
Jack Armstrong
That is an interesting one. I wouldn't have predicted I wouldn't have predicted a year ago, let alone 10 years ago, that someday we'd be losing listeners because we're on the side of defending Israel, on the side of one
Joe Getty
of our most loyal allies through the years, who both parties endorsed thoroughly and considered a close and critical friend in the region. Yes.
Jack Armstrong
Well. And the. The other side of the story, to my mind, is mostly full of crap that's not true.
Joe Getty
Right. So, yeah. Wild exaggerations and. And nutty conspiracy theories that are as old as God, Judaism itself. And I just. I have no patience for it. So if you can't take it, you know, that's a shame. But I'm not going to alter what I believe and what I think and what I say. You know, for people who are so misguided by this bizarre modern disease was. Did Israel go hard in Gaza? Oh, yeah. Yeah, they did. And so would we. So would you. If you're threatened from all sides and raped and tortured and killed in the road, we'd have gone crazy.
Jack Armstrong
So for the lefties who are hardcore anti Israel, that's an issue. I don't think the Republican Party crowd, they're. That are anti Israel now are upset about Israel being too hard on the Palestinians. I don't think anything.
Joe Getty
No, no. They're the secret string pullers.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah.
Joe Getty
Behind the scenes. Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. It's the. They run our country. Epstein. Etc.
Joe Getty
Right.
Jack Armstrong
I know several people like that.
Joe Getty
Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
I think you're wrong. If you'd like to make a reasoned explanation as to why we're wrong. You know, other than F you guys, which is some of the responses we get. It's a good expression of your sentiments, but not really an argument I can engage with. You can text or email, whatever you'd like to do. That's interesting, though. I'd say it was probably a fifth of the responses were FU guys over supporting Israel on that particular topic. Me saying good riddance to Massey and his whole. Couldn't find my opponent. He was in Tel Aviv. He's the one. Massey's the one. Finally, remember the clip that was so crazy from a couple of weeks ago where he. He went on. He was on Tucker's show and talking about how the. The Department of Homeland Security's IP addresses in Tel Aviv. What's that all about? Which is just completely made up story, Right?
Joe Getty
Yeah. Wow.
Jack Armstrong
Wild. Time to be alive, man. I have to talk more about that later. This is. This is really interesting stuff. Let's start the show officially. I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty on this it is Wednesday, May 20th, the year 2026, where I'm strong. You get him. We approve of this program.
Joe Getty
I'm going to throw in one more comment. That's whether you're a communist or an anarchist or a flat earther or Bigfoot believer or whatever, take heart. Because there's no philosophy, there's no idea so ridiculous and stupid that it won't make a comeback eventually. They all do, it seems like. All right, let's begin the show officially now, according to FCC rules, regulations. Here we go at Mark.
Commercial Announcer
Here's what's happening. We're using a new AI system as our read.
Jack Armstrong
So that is. That is a lesson learned for us.
Commercial Announcer
It didn't feel sincere, and it kind of felt like they didn't care. I would have liked a little bit more thought to go into it rather than pushing something as simple as reading some names off to an AI device.
Jack Armstrong
I don't think that's the issue. It has happened now four times at least, that I've seen. Any mention of AI in a college commencement speech is roundly booed. And Ian Bremmer had a good post about that the other day with kind of a montage of them saying, policymakers need to watch this. The young people out there, just the mention of AI roundly booing.
Joe Getty
They're not excited, they're terrified.
Jack Armstrong
They're terrified and angry about the whole AI thing. And, hey, policymakers, you better have your eye on this. Which I think is absolutely, absolutely true.
Joe Getty
Yeah, yeah, true. And I can't wait to talk about that. There are a number of aspects to the story that are. They're super interesting. That was a college that used AI to read the names at graduation. I guess it went terribly slaughtered. A bunch of names.
Jack Armstrong
But all you got to do is mention AI and people go boo. If you. If you mentioned AI for America, I think mostly it'd be booze, wouldn't it? I mean, if you could just stand over the whole country for 340 million people, what do you think of AI Boo, I think would be mostly it.
Joe Getty
Or what sound do people make when they're making their wait a minute face? Whatever sound that is, I think that would be wait a minute.
Jack Armstrong
I don't know.
Joe Getty
I might do.
Jack Armstrong
Even though I use it every day.
Joe Getty
All right, I gotta soften my comments of a second ago. I called.
Jack Armstrong
Joe is walking back his comments headline.
Joe Getty
I'm breaking my silence that I said these philosophies were stupid. I believe them to be. But the charitable side of me has to point out that the most skilled and persuasive con men and women of our time have turned their attention to, you know, hornswoggling people, fooling them, duping them, twisting facts, being very selective with their facts, etc. To lead them down a certain road. And if a truly skilled grifter fools you for a while, that does not make you stupid. That just, just makes you, you know, you're misled.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, put it all together with Bigfoot and Flat Earthers and another one, Chemtrail people. Something like that.
Joe Getty
I should have. I did not think of that one.
Jack Armstrong
We've got. We got a bunch more headlines to get to. Got a hilarious comment on a segment from yesterday's show. Critique of ours, a critique of Joe and I that is perfectly appropriate and I'm gonna bring it to you that I saw actually on one of the Facebook pages. It's pretty funny. Among other things on the way. Stay here.
Joe Getty
Armstrong and Getty. I used to worry like crazy what would happen to my wife and kids if I wasn't there. It was such an enormous relief when I was properly insured and I knew that they would be okay if the worst happened. I want you to have that feeling.
Jack Armstrong
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Jack Armstrong
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Joe Getty
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Jack Armstrong
like semaglutide and Tirzeptotide.
Joe Getty
No guessing, just a more supportive experience. And all shipped directly to your door in discreet packaging. Do your research, ask questions, then visit
Jack Armstrong
orderlymeds.com podcast for an exclusive offer. That's orderlymeds.com podcast.
Joe Getty
Individual results may vary. Not medical advice Eligibility required. See site for details.
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Jack Armstrong
Let me mention two kind of sub headlines before we get to actual headlines, because neither one of these probably. Well, this one should be a headline. One headline is. The most angry violent person I've run into mad because I drive a Tesla cybertruck yesterday, in which I'm gonna now carry a weapon with me because it's just so prevalent, which is a crazy time to live in that later. And then this headline that. That is something I want to talk about. I'll get into the graph. New study shows the youngest, poorest generation. Well, that usually goes together. Youngest and poorest. Gen Z spends the most money on restaurants and doordash for eating compared to the other generations. Yeah, don't be complaining to me about your rent too high. Even though it is if you're eating out all the time and doordash and all your food.
Joe Getty
All right. Wow. Wow. I'm blown away by the modern world. I read something during the break that disturbed me deeply and I woke up disturbed. So I would like to crawl upward into the abyss of defeat and destruction
Jack Armstrong
while you're below it.
Joe Getty
Oh yeah, I'm sub abyss. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. In a word, abysmal. Yeah, yeah. So a handful of headlines. 30 year treasury yields have hit their highest level in 19 years since the big crash. What does that mean? That means that government borrowing is getting more and more expensive and so is your borrowing on fears of inflation and gas prices and rising rates and that sort of thing. We gotta Come up with stuff that
Jack Armstrong
is not gonna make people want to stay in bed.
Joe Getty
All right. Right. The sun is shining and it's warm on your skin. How about that? Go outside and greet it. Let's see there you get your primaries. Google is changing its search box for the first time in 30 years. Jack. In place of the skinny rectangle will be a larger box to encourage longer questions. For Gemini. Google's AI.
Jack Armstrong
Oh, for Gemini. Okay, Google. I was listening to a podcast yesterday talking about how Google. Thank God chatbots came along because Google become useless and it really was sucky compared to what it used to be. Your first eight things were sponsored and then the next eight things were all politically driven and it was very hard to find the answer you wanted.
Joe Getty
Indeed, users will see more AI answers in their results and fewer links to sites. Oh, you know those thousands and thousands of layoffs that meta threatened like five weeks ago? I think it was today. They are happening today around the world. At least 8,000 workers laid off, which is 10% of the workforce, I think. Oh, wow. 7,000 people being re tasked to work on AI functions. So that's a giant shake up there.
Jack Armstrong
Maybe we can weigh in on a meaningless controversy because something that's not really important is, you know, is how can you get depressed? It doesn't matter. The new Odyssey movie coming out is. I hate it.
Joe Getty
I'm against it.
Jack Armstrong
Got quite the controversy because they cast a black actress as Helen of Troy and some people are outraged.
Joe Getty
Troy, Michigan.
Jack Armstrong
Troy, the ancient city.
Joe Getty
Oh, oh, I get it. I'm a for it staunchly. I think it's the best thing ever.
Jack Armstrong
We can get into a couple of different big topics. That big slush fund thing for Trump, that whole thing, that whole story.
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Joe Getty
You're somebody who has left late night
Jack Armstrong
once or twice before. Yes, sometimes on my own volition, sometimes not.
Joe Getty
Yes, yes. You've been fired. You've been fired.
Jack Armstrong
Oh, I've been fired.
Joe Getty
But talk to me. I haven't been fired yet. Tell me how in your life. No, I've been fired but I've never lost a late night show before.
Jack Armstrong
Oh, it's the best really.
Joe Getty
How were the par you were at the Paramount show?
Jack Armstrong
I was at the Paramount.
Joe Getty
I was there for one of the
Jack Armstrong
last shows actually but we we got the term back then was canned I don't know what they call it now. And they put security guards at the exits. We had two more weeks to go and they put security guards at all the exits like I was a fax machine. We didn't have anything of value.
Joe Getty
Jon Stewart is known for stripping buildings for copper to buy meth.
Jack Armstrong
Unbelievable. Every everybody's that experience that who works for a corporation if they need to let you go been a perfectly fine employee. Everybody likes you and then they treat you immediately like a criminal. I think that's everything you need to know about bureaucracies and how the government does what it does and all kinds of horrible things that just the moment you have some sort of, I don't know, power to treat somebody like. I hate this term, usually, like. But the other people jump on it and really, like, go way too far immediately.
Joe Getty
Here's a question for you. I agree. I think it's shocking that individual managers couldn't make the call that, no, this is a good and decent person, always has been. It's unfortunate we're parting ways, but we've talked about it, blah, blah, blah. What percentage of people actually are the sort of people who, upon hearing that they would no longer be associated with a company, decide, I'm gonna show them, I'm gonna steal stuff and I'm gonna break stuff. And I. Is that 10 of the population or 60? I don't know.
Jack Armstrong
It's nowhere close to 60. I wouldn't even think it's close to 10, actually. I don't know. So it's so exciting.
Joe Getty
Have you been on the Internet lately?
Jack Armstrong
So it's your crowd, so you have to treat everybody like they're a criminal. You've worked with these people for years.
Joe Getty
Now all of a sudden, I'm not leaping to conclusions. I'm looking at evidence. Look at the Internet. How many people? Well, that's the Internet. It's a lot of people or a few people making a lot of noise.
Jack Armstrong
Do you think you've worked with that? You need to have somebody stand looking over them and march them to their. Lock them out of the building immediately.
Joe Getty
Now, certainly, Michael and Hanson. Oh, do you want me to just give a number or name?
Jack Armstrong
Name, yeah. Name, Name names. Especially people names that people would recognize.
Joe Getty
Yes, yes. Now, I'm just. I'm asking the question, what, folks? Mailbag@armstrongandgetti.com what? How many like, people?
Jack Armstrong
You know, what drives it over the top? Liability concerns from lawyers.
Joe Getty
That's what drives it.
Jack Armstrong
They don't want anybody to be able to claim this or that.
Joe Getty
If you can blame it on attorneys, you're probably right to blame it on attorneys. Yes.
Jack Armstrong
So this story is only interesting if you remember who Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was. He was the president of Iran, which is a kind of a weird position they have in Iran because the Supreme Leader is the religious leader, and the whole country and revolution was founded around the. And then they replaced him with another guy who we obliterated a couple of months ago. But then they also have a president that they vote for, pretend to vote for, but is the handpicked person of the supreme leader. And then anybody who tries to run against them. That's like a moderate is, is beaten and imprisoned. So it's not really a fair election. But then they called people the president and this guy Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the president back when Bush was our president and became a thing because we're at war with Iraq and Iran was involved in, in killing so many of our soldiers and blah, blah, blah. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad turns out. This is in the New York Times today and it's such an interesting story. He was the plan when we decapitated the leadership back in February. He was the guy who was supposed to take over and run the country and, and make things easy for everyone on the first day. This is New York times coverage today. On the first day of the Iran war, the Israeli air force carried out a strike on the Tehran home of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, former president of Iran, known for his hardline anti Israel, anti American views, which was designed to free him from house arrest. He had been under arrest by the republican national guard for years because that's what you do in countries like that when you go on to a new president, you arrest the old one because there's, you know, and, and, and keep him under house arrest so he can't cause any problems. So Israel bombs his house, which is supposed to somehow free him from captivity.
Joe Getty
Man, I'm Medina, John. I'm thinking, hey, is there a different plan?
Jack Armstrong
I mean, what room are you gonna hit specifically and place him in a position to take over the country following the elimination of the supreme leader Khamenei, who we killed along with a whole bunch of other people. Plans to place Ahmadinejad in power after week after the weakening of the current Iranian regime had been developed by the Israelis with the knowledge of the United States and had been briefed to Ahmadinejad himself. He knew about this, though, quickly went awry after the strike on his home. According to u. S. Officials who were briefed on the matter and spoke to the New York Times, Ahmadinejad was accidentally injured in the Israeli strike. Kind of getting to your point. Is there a better plan than bombing my house to free me and like, hoping the guards are killed and I'm not like it's some sort of batman scheme or something like that. Anyway, he was injured in the strike which destroyed. Destroyed a security outpost at the entrance to his street, killed several members of the IRGC that were holding him hostage. And though he survived after the near miss, he became disillusioned with the regime change plan and halted further communication with Israel. He has not been seen publicly since Then. And his current whereabouts and condition are unknown.
Joe Getty
Whoops.
Jack Armstrong
That was the plan. I mean, for anybody who was wondering what was supposed to happen after we killed the top guy and everybody underneath him. What? We're just hoping chaos reigned and someone. No, we had been talking to the former president and he was supposed to take over, but we blew up his house and he thought, this seems wacky and has disappeared.
Joe Getty
I'll be damned.
Jack Armstrong
So I don't know what plan. I suppose immediately they were into playing B, C and D, since plan A
Joe Getty
fell part, which happens in war, certainly. Yeah. Maybe Ahmed Dinjad was getting spammed too much and he used Incogni to. To disappear. A word from our friends at Incog. We both use an Incogni to get our names and info away from the data brokers who have all that information on you and sell it all the time. That's why you're getting scammed and spammed. So just to hide it, knock it out of there.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. And you're gonna notice a drop right away in your suspicious phone calls, texts, emails and all that sort of stuff. And they go to the data brokers with the law on their side and say, hey, you got to get that information on there. And they keep doing it over and over and over again. This is something that everybody needs. You need, I need, we all need.
Joe Getty
They can't spam you if they can't find you. And this is very affordable too, especially now. You can get 60% off with an exclusive deal@incogni.com Armstrong. Go to incogni.com Armstrong to take back your privacy and get that 60 off. That's incogni.com Armstrong back to that big
Jack Armstrong
New York Times exclusive, briefly. This is what I've been talking about since the war started. Just because I'm really, really into reading recent ish history. When books finally come out about things that happened in, you know, the early 2000s or the 90s or whatever, there's so many things we don't know about this Iran war. Like that one. There was a plan for leadership and it went horribly wrong very, very quickly. Who knows what other things we're gonna all learn in the coming days, weeks, months, years, maybe some of them 25 years from now.
Joe Getty
Well, the decision making process, which is, I mean, that's fundamental to deciding. Was that a good decision that just didn't work out? Or was it hasty? Was it impulsive? Was it, you know, pushed by ego? Or was it, you know, good common sense and thinking about the American people? Blah Blah, blah. That's so hard to know in the moment. I mean you have to wait till like multiple books come out because you never know how accurate something is. But yeah, you're right, you're right. There's so much we don't know.
Jack Armstrong
That seems like a crazy plan to me. Anyway, he was, he was an enemy of the United States back when he was president of Iran. Why are you going to put him in charge?
Joe Getty
You know, I'm casting my memory back to those days and yeah, he was a hard ass but he was, he was also a bit of a bridge builder. He came and gave lectures at universities and stuff like that. He wasn't like wild eyed anti American, but yeah, I don't remember him as being a force for good at all.
Jack Armstrong
Well, right. And I certainly don't think he was the sort of person that the average Iranian, the sort of people that were in the streets during the big protests before they got machine gun right would be thinking, oh cool, Aqua dinosaurs in charge, this is a new day. Was he a bit of a reformer?
Joe Getty
I can't remember. It doesn't matter now he's got his legs blowed off or something or he's in hiding or he's, you know, the IRGC got wind of this and thought, no you ain't. And he's with Allah.
Jack Armstrong
Now I would like more details on the whole. We're gonna bomb this house and the guy we want is gonna get out and the guys we don't want are gonna die.
Joe Getty
Sure.
Jack Armstrong
How that works again, sounds like a Batman. And I'm not talking about modern Batmans. I'm talking about like the, the goofy Batman from the 60s TV show Batman
Joe Getty
sounds like Ward Etc. Yeah. Owl. Yes. Burgess Meredith. Right. Yeah. I'm just blown away by this story and, and you know, bringing it up to the current status of things. Are we an hour a day, a week away from the big whacking? Is it ever gonna happen? What, what's going on?
Jack Armstrong
I think Trump said yesterday, well, we'll get the details coming up. I think pretty sure he said yesterday that he's going to give him a couple of days, but a couple more times. Yeah, that I don't know that that means anything to anybody at this point. There have been, I mean on some of the really big attacks that we've had and we've had several really big attacks since Trump has been off is in office, including this. The taking out the head of the Revolutionary Guard back in his first term where it looked like he was, you know, no where he looked like he was backing away right before the attack. It was a trying to trick people. So who knows? Who knows? But again, tree angst of Fox was reporting as if on the ground there. It looks like things are happening. There was some open source intelligence last night on their Twitter feed about Israeli Air Force. Looked like they're gearing up and everything like that for bombing runs and stuff. So.
Joe Getty
Yeah, it's amazing that we can know that sort of thing these days. I mean, not only do the intelligence services know it by careful use of human intelligence and spy satellites and the rest. No, I went on the Internet and they told me, yeah, oh yeah, yeah, we're, we're, you know, whatever, polishing up our refueling planes like they do before a mission. So yeah, it's on. They had the Turtle Wax out. So yeah. Yep. It's funny, crazy.
Jack Armstrong
What did we learn? That was a week or so ago. We learned that to fool the Iranians, the Israeli Air Force, remember?
Joe Getty
Oh, that's right.
Jack Armstrong
They went home from work and then took cabs and Ubers back to the base.
Joe Getty
So the parking lots would be empty.
Jack Armstrong
So the parking lots would be empty. And the Iranians would think, well, I guess it's not going to happen today or this weekend or whatever.
Joe Getty
Stand down everybody.
Jack Armstrong
Right, yeah, that's pretty clever. But that's what you have to do in the modern world. Okay, we'll get to a mailbag. Coming up. Stay here.
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Joe Getty
Ooh.
Jack Armstrong
Former speaker Newt Gingrich out with a piece today on how Iran's using this time to rebuild their anti aircraft stuff and Russia's sending them more equipment, etc. Why are we waiting? This isn't making things better.
Joe Getty
Here's your freedom loving quote of the day from the great Winston Churchill. Continuing our badly needed series on optimism. A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity. An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Jack Armstrong
Who suffered greatly from depression.
Joe Getty
Right, right. Knocked it back with a little champagne breakfast.
Jack Armstrong
I think he often had to convince himself of anything optimistic.
Joe Getty
Oh yeah, yeah, indeed. Mailbag. Don't we all? That's the point. Drop us a Note mailbag@armstrongygetti.com Paolo on the topic of Israel, given the attitudes, how they've. Oh, I'm sorry. Given how attitudes toward Israel have changed since October 7th, I think Hamas believes it was a great idea and are planning the next horrific thing even as I type. How couldn't they. Yeah, Dave, on a Similar topic. There's so many people who are being brainwashed against Israel, it's frightening. The ability of the media and their acolytes to brainwash Democrats scares the bejesus out of me. I would point out horseshoes at the time. Right wingers playing the same old time worn song of anti Semitism or swaying people too. The anti Christian, anti Jew forces in the world are escalating. Hmm, dare I say Antichrist?
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, the left has got the whole oppressor, oppressed thing that Israel fits so well into. And then on the right it seems to be federalism.
Joe Getty
Right.
Jack Armstrong
Flat out anti Semitism.
Joe Getty
Yeah, they're the evil string pullers behind the scenes. Yeah, it's the ancient, ancient stuff. Let's see, Skipper from Port Angeles, Washington again, that name is Port Angeles. Or do you pronounce it? Would I do it all over again? Yesterday, Jack mused about whether he could do it all over again. Going from the young person through school and college into the world as you, Jack, sit in the restaurant as the oldest person in there. Yeah, I would say of course you could think about it. We live in a world that caters to the age group. You would be among how many young college age kids could afford to even be in restaurants like the one you were eating in in your day? We lived on PB&J and rode our bikes everywhere because we were broken. Today you'd have the means to come to class every day with your Starbucks and your Latest iPhone and MacBook. You get to complain about how hard it is you have AI to write your papers. You get to take classes that we never even heard of, like racial equity and Human Improvement. You can vent on your favorite social media platform or go to one of the many safe spaces in your chosen school. Heck, you can even get credit for participating in a protest of your choosing. Yes, Jack, I think you do have the energy to do it all over again, just not the way things were in your day.
Jack Armstrong
I clearly need to take Human Improvement.
Joe Getty
Yes. Yeah, that'd be good. The 100, 200 and 300 level classes. Yes, it's an excellent point. Paul writes. I'm not sure what Trump's Taiwan thinking is, but I think the minimal goal of American foreign policy should be to stall any Chinese takeover attempts until at least the US at least until the US has reconstituted its leading edge chip fabrication capabilities. The most optimistic date I've seen for the US being able to produce its own chips is 2035. China might be willing to wait until then or to otherwise take Taiwan In a way that doesn't interrupt U.S. access to the critical flow of computer chips if the US promises not to interfere too much with the takeover. Wow, that's some next level thinking. Speaking of 300 level courses, maybe that's what Trump is saying. Look, as long as we get our chips, we'll be cool. But who knows? He's only in office a few more years.
Jack Armstrong
You know, we had Mike lines on Thursday when you were gone and I, and I said if China moves on Taiwan, do we, would we hit the mainland of China? And he said you'd have to. I mean you absolutely would have to. I mean that's like step one. And so then they would hit the mainland of the United States. Holy crap. I mean, you talk about getting to the. We're now into a new era.
Joe Getty
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You could talk about that all day. Unless you believe that China, hell bent on having Taiwan can be stopped by measures the US is actually willing to employ. A negotiated solution is best for all. Less loss of life, less destruction of infrastructure, less chaos. Yeah, I mean, historically speaking, this, it would not be an outlier or weird that China says no. We're giant and big and strong. We want that. Nobody's willing to do what it would take to stop us. We're taking it.
Jack Armstrong
It's the opposite of an outlier. It's the most likely thing to happen by far.
Joe Getty
Oh, by far. Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
Agreed.
Joe Getty
Let's see, let's go with this one here. Kirsten, not Kristen in Camino, California writes the name Kirsten can be pronounced Kirsten or Kirsten. I'm fine with either, though I prefer Kirsten as my parents intended. She's responding to Jack's long stated theory that if your name is Kristen, Kirsten or Kirsten. Right. We get to call you any of the three. Yeah, but don't lump into your aunt Kristen. It is a different name. She writes. See the R before the. I bet you'd never have trouble pronouncing it like Kristen Stewart. Kristen is often a misspelling that I've dealt with for 63 years. To be called Kristen is to be called the wrong name. Not just a mispronunciation. By the way, I know you don't care. I'm fine with that. Just had to say my piece. Is a fellow linguist and lover of words.
Jack Armstrong
That's a 63 year old Kirsten. I didn't know that was around that long.
Joe Getty
Yeah, oh yeah. In the Euro, Germanic, Northern European.
Jack Armstrong
Thought that was more of a recent invention.
Joe Getty
No, no, no, no, not in that
Jack Armstrong
part of the world.
Joe Getty
I just know because I studied German as a kid. But and she signs off and points out, do you remember production director Mark in San Francisco who was such a delightful guy to work with? Mark Van G. I'll leave out his name. Tall, balding, great guy. She's his sister in law. Oh, and he's doing great in retirement, she says. Best wishes Mark.
Jack Armstrong
Good for.
Joe Getty
What a fabulous guy. Lovely guy.
Jack Armstrong
One of the six we've run into in the radio industry.
Joe Getty
Yep.
Jack Armstrong
Kidding. Total kidding. Kind of.
Joe Getty
Oh boy. Yeah, I could squeeze something in and babble as fast as I can, but who wants to hear that? More More mailbag coming up. Oh, overwhelming pile of emails saying dudes I support Israel. Always have. And the anti Semitism is freaking me out too. A lot of folks saying that.
Jack Armstrong
Interesting. Yeah, we got a lot on the way. If you missed a second, you get the podcast Armstrong and Getty on Demand is where you find that. Stay tuned.
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Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Podcast by iHeartPodcasts
This episode dives into the shifting political and cultural landscapes—both in the U.S. and abroad—with an emphasis on loyalty and power within the Republican Party (“Lick the Boot, or Get the Boot”), the evolving debate over U.S. support for Israel, and the ongoing unrest in Iran. Jack and Joe discuss the nature of group think, the influence of AI on society (and graduations!), generational spending habits, and what recent stories reveal about modern anxieties and tribalism.
(03:00–06:32)
(06:32–12:38)
(10:03–14:34)
(13:15–15:54)
(19:03–21:12)
Gen Z Spending:
Jack highlights a new study (19:03) showing Gen Z spends more on restaurants and delivery services than any other generation, even as they complain about high living costs.
Treasury Yields & Economic Anxiety:
Joe notes that 30-year Treasury yields are at their highest in 19 years, making government and personal borrowing ever more expensive.
(21:12–22:20)
Google’s AI Search Overhaul:
Google’s search box is getting its first major redesign in 30 years, now focused on AI-powered queries and answers.
Meta Layoffs to Push AI:
Meta (Facebook et al.) lays off 8,000 workers and reassigns 7,000 to AI projects.
Odyssey Controversy:
The new “Odyssey” movie casts a Black actress as Helen of Troy, sparking an online controversy; the hosts mock the uproar as meaningless.
(24:49–27:54)
Security After Firings:
Stories of being canned from TV/radio shows and employers immediately treating ex-employees as potential criminals, regardless of their history.
Legal Liability & Managerial Cowardice:
Joe blames lawyer-driven risk avoidance, wondering what percentage of people would actually “go rogue” if let go.
(27:54–36:55)
The Plan to Free Ahmadinejad: The New York Times reports that, during the recent Iran war, Israel’s plan was to bomb former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s house to free him from house arrest so he could lead a transitional government. He was accidentally injured in the strike, killing the plan.
The Unknowable Realities of War: The hosts stress how much of recent and current global events are opaque and will only become apparent in future history books.
Open-Source Intelligence: Both are amazed that the public can now track military preparations (e.g., Israeli air force maneuvers) online.
Clever Tactics:
The Israeli Air Force fakes routine by emptying parking lots to trick Iranian surveillance (36:41), using rideshares to return to base before operations—“pretty clever.”
(40:03–46:24)
Israel & Anti-Semitism:
Mailbag dominated by varying takes on the Israel debate; some listeners are distressed by rising anti-Semitism, while others criticize the duo for their stance.
Changing Campus Life:
Listeners muse on how much more comfortable and privileged young people are now compared to previous generations.
U.S.–China–Taiwan Dynamics:
Thoughtful feedback suggests U.S. strategy in Taiwan may be to “stall any Chinese takeover attempts until at least the US has reconstituted its leading-edge chip fabrication capabilities.” (Paul, 43:38)
Name Pronunciation:
Lighthearted discussion with a listener named Kirsten about the correct pronunciation and spelling of her name.
On GOP Loyalty Tests:
“Either Trump Dumps Disloyal Chumps or Lick the Boot or Get the boot. The number of primaries...decided in favor of a Trump-endorsed candidate over somebody who had been insufficiently, you know, bootlicky in my opinion.”
— Joe Getty (07:57)
On Losing Listeners Over Israel:
“I wouldn't have predicted a year ago, let alone 10 years ago, that someday we'd be losing listeners because we're on the side of defending Israel, one of our most loyal allies.”
— Jack Armstrong (10:06)
On Anti-Semitic Conspiracies:
“Wild exaggerations and nutty conspiracy theories that are as old as God, Judaism itself. And I just—I have no patience for it.”
— Joe Getty (10:35)
On AI Anxiety:
“Any mention of AI in a college commencement speech is roundly booed…The young people out there, just the mention of AI, roundly booing.”
— Jack Armstrong (14:11)
On America's Systemic Paranoia:
“Everybody likes you and then they treat you immediately like a criminal. I think that's everything you need to know about bureaucracies.”
— Jack Armstrong (25:39)
On Iran’s Failed Coup Plan:
“He was supposed to take over, but we blew up his house and he thought, this seems wacky and has disappeared.”
— Jack Armstrong (31:06)
This episode of Armstrong & Getty figuratively and literally explores the “abyss” of modern politics, media, and culture—never shying away from controversy, whether about Trump’s control over the GOP, the unraveling consensus on Israel, or the psychological impact of AI and conspiracy thinking. The hosts blend current events, historical perspective, and signature banter, inviting both serious engagement and comedy at the expense of cultural absurdity.