Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: "Like I've Got A Head Full Of Cocaine"

Date: November 10, 2025
Host: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Podcast Network: iHeartPodcasts

Overview

In this episode, Armstrong & Getty dissect a striking mix of current scandals and cultural convulsions: sports gambling corruption, the state of UK society via a WWII veteran’s reflections, the shifting media landscape, and a deep dive into contemporary political extremism. Their signature mix of irreverence, sharp skepticism, and sardonic humor brings focus to questions of corruption, cynicism, and how audiences interpret rapid social changes.

Key Discussion Points

1. Sports Betting Scandals: Fixing Games & Widespread Corruption

• Major League Baseball Scandal ([01:29]–[03:24])
  • Two MLB pitchers implicated in betting schemes: texting bettors mid-game and deliberately throwing “off” pitches for profit.
  • NCAA basketball has also seen six players booted for game-fixing.
• Degenerate Gambling & Systemic Vulnerability
  • Armstrong & Getty express disbelief at obscure prop bets being exploited (“Betting on one pitch in a May game between two non-likely playoff teams?” – Joe Getty, [02:10]).
  • Observations that fringe events in low-profile games are especially susceptible to corruption.
• Mob Involvement & Betting App Blips ([04:47]–[05:28])
  • Discussion of how mobsters exploit unnoticed games but note that “computers can identify that sort of weird blip in gambling and make it harder to pull that off.”

Memorable Quote

“The only reason those bets exist is for degenerate gambling addicts and so they can be fixed. That's an absurd bet to make.”
– Jack Armstrong ([02:37])

• Broader Impact and Public Apathy
  • Suggestion that repeated scandals might result in public indifference:

  “I wonder if the main reaction to all these betting scandals is going to be apathy. People think, yeah, pitch here, pitch there, who cares?”
  – Jack Armstrong ([07:34])

2. Activist Policing, Free Speech, and British Societal Woes

UK Veteran’s Lament ([15:14]–[16:06])

• WW2 veteran expresses regret about the current UK:

  “The sacrifice wasn’t worth the result that it is now.” ([15:17])

• Veteran feels the freedom he fought for has been eroded, suggesting life may be “downside worse” ([15:47]).

Social Media Policing & Emigration Trends ([16:08]–[18:20])

• The team highlights increasing police action against speech in the UK, linking it to the veteran’s comments.
• Noted exodus: UK lost 9,500 millionaires—a sign of broader malaise ([16:59]).

Euphemistic Crime Reporting

• Armstrong lambasts the UK police’s sanitized crime statements, especially regarding a stabbing by an immigrant:

  “The Metropolitan Police tried to cleanse it of all offensive words. The man sadly died after an incident that’s troubling.”
  – Jack Armstrong ([18:20])

3. Tariffs, Trump, and Emergency Powers

Trump’s Tariff Dividend Proposal ([09:22]–[10:43])

• The hosts lampoon Trump’s promise of a $2,000 tariff rebate:

  “A dividend of at least 2,000 a person, not including high income people, will be paid to everyone… This is never going to happen, so it doesn’t really matter.”
  – Jack Armstrong ([10:39])

• Wall Street Journal analyzed this as “a teaching moment for a high school logic class.” ([10:43])

• Emergency Powers Danger

  • Concerns that using emergencies for political ends can backfire:

  “If we’re going to allow Trump to do this based on an emergency power… a Democrat could say climate emergency and then come up with all kinds of things you would hate.”
  – Joe Getty ([11:57])

4. The New Media Ecosystem: Influence, Outrage, and Audience Measurement

O’Reilly & Maher Clash ([20:22]–[21:29])

• Excerpt from Bill O’Reilly on Bill Maher’s show about the left’s shift and a ratings “junk measuring contest.”

  • O’Reilly:

  “You can add up all the HBOs you want. You're not going to come close. Just want to correct the record.”
  ([22:04])

• Armstrong & Getty analyze how new media eclipses legacy platforms—audiences are larger but harder to measure.

  • “Nick Fuentes is a bigger thing than Face the Nation.” – Joe Getty ([23:40])

• Confusion about platforms and audience size—references to Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, and Candace Owens.

The Problem of Extremist Influence ([25:15]–[27:55])

• Armstrong notes the necessity of “policing your own side” to prevent being “corrupted by the crazies.”

  “If you don’t police your own side, you become corrupted by the crazies.”
  – Jack Armstrong ([27:55])

• Doubts expressed about the real size of extremist movements:

  “Is it the same 10 Nazis downloading it a million times or what?”
  – Joe Getty ([26:08])

The Lure of Conspiracy in Uncertainty ([33:01]–[33:29])

• Armstrong:

  “It’s comforting apparently for a lot of people to settle on some nutjob theory that explains it rather than have it just be kind of up in the air.”
  ([33:29])

5. Political Extremes & Identity (Mamdani, Islamism, and the Red-Green Alliance)

Affluent Support for Radicals ([36:01]–[37:26])

• Young radicals (“jihadi” plotters) coming from wealthy, intellectual backgrounds in the U.S.—not the downtrodden.

Left-wing Paternalism & Disconnect ([37:10]–[37:43])

• Critique of “paternalism of the left”:

  “They’re always like telling people they see as beneath them what’s best for them. And they don’t want it.”
  – Joe Getty ([37:10])

Marxism vs. Islamism – The Mamdani Example ([39:01]–[39:54])

• Armstrong posits that some activists (e.g., Zoran Mamdani) exploit socialist rhetoric to pursue Islamist agendas:

  “He is an Islamist who claims to be a Marxist to gain power because… you can attract American young people to socialism.”
  – Jack Armstrong ([39:13])

• Questions whether personal ideology or opportunism is the core driver for such figures.

Other Notable Moments

• Michael Jackson Biopic Trailer Release ([35:23]–[35:59])
  • Armstrong & Getty joke that an honest film would be "damned interesting," though they’re skeptical.
• Show Self-Awareness
  • The hosts reflect on their own space in alternative media, preferring niche integrity over chasing a volatile mass audience ([29:20]).

Selected Timestamps for Important Segments

• MLB/NCAA Fixing Scandal & Gambling Cynicism: [01:29]–[08:34]
• Trump's Tariff Dividend/Emergency Powers Critique: [09:22]–[12:26]
• WWII Vet on Britain's Decline & Police Speech Policing: [15:14]–[18:20]
• Bill O'Reilly/Bill Maher & Media Landscape: [20:20]–[24:33]
• Policing Political Extremism/New Media Audience Doubts: [25:15]–[27:55]
• Appeal of Conspiracies During Uncertainty: [33:01]–[33:29]
• Societal Discontent - UK, Affluence & Radical Politics: [36:01]–[39:54]

Tone & Language

The episode keeps its signature candid, sardonic, and conversational style, using humor and exasperation to cut through the chaos. The hosts riff freely, often looping back on earlier points for emphasis, and rely on skepticism as their default stance.

Summary

This episode is a sweeping tour through the weirdness of modern American (and British) life: betting scandals implicating professional athletes in the most obscure of prop bets, retired veterans’ heartbreaking worries about national decline, media figures’ ego clashes, and the blurred lines between political radicalism, opportunism, and conspiracy theorizing. Armstrong & Getty highlight the ease with which big problems can provoke apathy, the risk of letting extremists shape political identities, and their own attempts to maintain integrity in the cacophony of modern media.

Memorable closing thought:

“Why would I rush…like I’ve got a head full of cocaine or something?”
– Jack Armstrong ([34:05])

For listeners: If you want an irreverent, skeptical, and occasionally exasperated look at the news cycle—and the forces shaping discourse far beyond the headlines—this episode is essential Armstrong & Getty.