Like I've Got A Head Full Of Cocaine

Summary

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

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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.

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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])

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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])

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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])

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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])

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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.

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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]).

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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]

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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.

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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])

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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.

Transcript

[Announcer]

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[Jack Armstrong]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio.

[Announcer]

Studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

And now, here's Armstrong and Getty.

[Narrator/Reporter]

In the middle of a May 2025 game against the Reds, the indictment says Clase texted a better asking if the better was ready. The better responded. But of course, 10 minutes later, the better won $10,000 by wagering Clase's pitch would be a ball slower than 98 miles per hour. That pitch was off speed and in the dirt. Prosecutors say Clause recruited Ortiz to the scheme this year. Before a June start against the Mariners, Ortiz allegedly agreed to throw a ball for his first pitch in the second inning.

[Joe Getty]

First pitch missing Low ball 1 Two.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Weeks later, Ortiz allegedly agreed to throw a ball in the third inning of the game against the Cardinals is just.

[Jack Armstrong]

A little bit outside.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Prosecutors say Ortiz and Class A took a cut of the winning bets.

[Joe Getty]

Major how about that? First of all, the fact that you can, in a game In May between two non likely playoff teams, bet on one pitch that it'll be less than 98 miles an hour. Who's making these bets? I wouldn't think there'd be any money in it because there wouldn't anybody, anybody would say, yeah, maybe, I don't know. I mean, who cares?

[Jack Armstrong]

The only reason those bets exist is for degenerate gambling addicts and so they can be fixed. That's an absurd bet to make.

[Joe Getty]

So burying the headline, in case you don't know it, at least two major league pitchers have been caught up in a scandal where they were fixing Pitches at least to make themselves money or make other people money. That gets complicated. And I doubt it's just these two. Probably bigger than this. How about the fact that it was during the game? He texts this dude, are you ready? Of course I'm ready. Then he goes out there for the next inning, throws one low and slow and somebody makes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Nobody notices. But money is made.

[Joe Getty]

You combine that with this, also broke yesterday, six players. This is NCAA basketball. Six players from three schools through games or shared betting info and have been kicked out of the schools. And the investigation is going on. And again, is it only these six or is this rampant? You got several people here, I can't pronounce their names, who played for different schools. Two players at Mississippi Valley State were offered money to throw a January 6, 2025 game against Alabama A&M, according to the NCAA. Who? This one kid was overheard discussing throwing the game during a timeout. He told one of the other players, hey, don't shoot anymore. I don't want you to score any more points.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow, criminal genius there.

[WWII British Veteran]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

And they also listened in on some phone calls in which they're discussing after the game, you know, where do I go? Pick up your money. And they've got a recording of this guy 45 minutes after the game going out to the parking lot and getting a bag of money. I can't believe that there's, there's bags of money to be had in like I follow college basketball, some. These are not powerhouse schools or well known players. You wouldn't think there'd be that much betting going on on these. But like you said, degenerate gamblers, Are there enough of them out there to cover every meaningless small college basketball game? Who's going to score the most points? You just wouldn't think that'd be.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and if I'm a mobbed up gambler and I've got a hundred thousand dollars say to bet. Yeah. I'm gonna go where it won't be noticed and bet. Excuse me. I'm gonna bet a huge amount of money on that game nobody cares about. Win once and then go about my, you know, my criminal activities elsewhere. But the problem is now the computers can identify that sort of weird blip in gambling and make it harder to pull that off. But this, this sort of thing, I think it's going to be a drum beat going forward. Sure. I don't know how you stop it. I think we're going to hear about a baseball slash basketball slash college sports scandal every couple of weeks.

[Joe Getty]

I think it's probably good for the individual sports like NBA is probably happier and heck, that Major league baseball and college basketball are now pulled into it. So it doesn't seem like, you know, they're just a rogue league that has problems. It's just a general cultural problem that we all have.

[Jack Armstrong]

And we're good.

[Joe Getty]

We want to get ahead of it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, that's, that's true, I think.

[Joe Getty]

Oh yeah, I agree.

[Jack Armstrong]

They have the advantage of the fact that everybody's doing it. Has the NFL been touched yet?

[Joe Getty]

I don't think so.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm waiting for field goal kickers to miss a kick or something.

[Joe Getty]

I was about to say, it's a little more difficult in the NFL, isn't it to. I suppose if we could get to a quarterback or a field goal kicker, a kicker, extra points too, kickers and quarterbacks. But other than that, I suppose you could get a receiver to drop a pass.

[Jack Armstrong]

But yeah, if you could get a kicker. I mean, but there's so much at stake and these guys make a lot of money. It's hard to believe anybody would go for a little extra cash on the side.

[Joe Getty]

But that's an excellent point. Baseball and basketball have so many games.

[Jack Armstrong]

That and so many plays within the games. I mean, kickers live and die by their makes and misses. So I mean, maybe if I'm a kicker, the, you know, back in the old country, they got my uncle in the clutches of the government and I've got gambling debts. Maybe I miss an extra point when we're ahead by three touchdowns. But it'd be have to be a pretty special circumstance. Anyway, we're going to hear a lot of things.

[Joe Getty]

Do you think there'll be any change in betting in America? Any change in the laws?

[Jack Armstrong]

Maybe just because so many of the big apps have relationships with the big leagues and so the leagues will tell them, hey, you're gonna kill us with this. So you gotta quit with the spot props or whatever the term is for betting on a single pitch.

[Joe Getty]

That's just, it's just amazing to me that there's any money to be that you can find somebody that would take up a bet on a meaningless pitch and a meaningless game by somebody you've never heard of, that it'll be less than 98 miles an hour, there's money to be had on that.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's crazy. It is, yeah. You know, part of me, this is the cynical part of me, which is most of me thinks as I look at how mobbed up and dishonest and how money laundry the Federal government is and people just ho hum. There's nothing we can do about it. 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? You just can't get people, you know, to pay attention.

[Joe Getty]

You know what we haven't had is a ref or an ump.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's not recently.

[Joe Getty]

That's got to happen in this whole NBA.

[Jack Armstrong]

Ref got busted a few years ago.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, but in this whole new betting world there's got to be because that's some of. That's an easy person to get to too.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh yeah, Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

I wonder if most of them are going to turn out to be degenerate gamblers themselves. They got themselves in gambling debt and that's mostly what drives it.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, umps and refs make good money, but they don't make, I wouldn't cross the street for 25,000 bucks money.

[Joe Getty]

Well again, if it's gambling debts you make, you make good money. But you get yourself a half million in the hole and somebody says, oh yeah, got a way for you to get out of this problem real fast.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, right, right, yeah, I could absolutely picture that. So speaking of making money in not the usual ways, President Trump and Jack, I'll need you to rule on the the over under for we ever hear about this again. Trump over the weekend. Truth Doubt. People are against tariffs are fools. Exclamation point. We are now the richest, most respected country in the world with almost no inflation and a record stock market price.

[Joe Getty]

That's true. That was pretty stock market's records, but the inflation is not.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that was pretty tone deaf to me. To the working people whose votes he got last time. Almost no inflation. Nobody thinks that. Nobody thinks that. I mean it's down significantly from when it was 9% during the nightmare Biden years. But again, it's all cumulative. You get three more percent on top of that 9% and the three and a half percent before that and whatever. Yeah, working people do not perceive that there's no inflation anyway. A dividend of at least 2,000 a person, not including high income people, will be paid to everyone. So a at least $2,000 tariff dividend because the government is making so much money on tariffs. This is less than a week after his lawyers were in front of the Supreme Court arguing that this is not revenue generation. That's just kind of an accident. This is a regulatory tariff. This is foreign policy.

[Joe Getty]

So who would get the $2,000 checks?

[Jack Armstrong]

Everybody. Except not high income people. According to the truth.

[Joe Getty]

And where do they draw the line on high income?

[Jack Armstrong]

They don't.

[Joe Getty]

Of course. This is never going to happen, so it doesn't really matter.

[Jack Armstrong]

I told you I need your ruling on that. Yeah. It's completely unclear who would be writing the check out of what qualifying. All right, well. And the Wall Street Journal editorial board says this was as Hail Mary pass Sunday about tariffs in the wake of the Supreme Court decision. And they point out this is a teaching moment for a high school logic class. Start with the contradiction that Mr. Trump can both pay a tarif rebate and pay down the national debt with the same money. The annual federal budget deficit is roughly $8.1.8 trillion. That's for this year. The deficit is $1.8 trillion, even with tariff revenue. So paying a rebate would add to the national debt, not reduce it. But I don't think we'll ever hear anything about it again.

[Joe Getty]

No. The best argument, and we talked about this last week a little bit. Well, I'll make sure everybody heard. The best argument came out in the oral arguments was when even Trump's lawyer admitted that a future Democrat president could announce a climate emergency the way Trump's announcing a drug fentanyl emergency or a trade imbalance emergency. A Democrat could say climate emergency and then come up with all kinds of things you would hate.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

If we're going to allow Trump to do this based on an emergency power. And we don't want that.

[Narrator/Reporter]

No.

[Joe Getty]

Can you imagine the things a President Ocasio Cortez could come up with or Kamala Harris could have come up with in a climate emergency?

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, just the idea.

[Joe Getty]

Gas powered cars have a, an added $5,000 tax tariff. Fine, whatever you want to call it for buying them because we need more people to buy electric cars. We're in a climate emergency.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, exactly. I've appropriated some of Congress's powers because it's an emergency. And what are we. We're living under like 22 different states of emergency. Does anybody feel like there's an emergency? That ought to be the headline. What is it with declaring states of emergency where there are none? If you don't want their guy to have the power, don't give your guy that power. It's a bad idea.

[Joe Getty]

We should take a break because I'm having a bit of an emergency.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I gotta get to.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my. I, I am a bit of an Anglophile, a Brit lover. And I see a really, really intriguing clip from a World War II British veteran about the state of that country. A Couple of stories from the UK coming up.

[Joe Getty]

I heard that O'Reilly and Bill Maher got into it. A couple of 80 year olds arguing on HBO Friday night. Maybe we can play that for you a little bit later. Lots of stuff on the way. Stay here.

[Announcer]

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[Joe Getty]

They are gonna vote and all that sort of stuff, but it's gonna end this week. So if you were worried about it. No, stop worrying about it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Thank God. Our long national nightmare. Da da da da da da, yada yada yada. Anyway, I've always loved Great Britain. Fascinated by the uk. Went there for the first time with my wife. Had a wonderful time in London. Loved it. Our next door neighbors over there for an extended period. Hello. He's wrapping up some business there and they absolutely love it too. Although it was interesting. My wife was admiring our neighbor's shoes and she Judy asked did you buy those in London? She said, oh my God, no. Everything's way too expensive there. And that's an indication of one of the problems afflicting Britain right now, which we're going to get to in a second. But I'm intrigued by this. This is 100-year-old British WW2 veteran talking about the current state of Britain. What does Remembrance Sunday mean for you?

[Announcer]

What is your message?

[WWII British Veteran]

My message is I can see in my mind's eye there were rows and rows of white stones of all the hundreds of my friends and everybody else that gave their lives for what the country of today. No, I'm sorry, the sacrifice wasn't worth the result that it is now.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, well, I'm sorry, what do you mean by that though at this point.

[WWII British Veteran]

What we fought for and what we fought for was our freedom, we find that even now is downside worse than what it was when I fought for it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it was interesting how the female was like, oh, that's not the mood we're going for on the dude. What do you mean?

[Joe Getty]

Right, let's talk about it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, he's almost certainly talking about the hundreds of people that are arrested every week for social media posts that the authorities in the government don't like because they might stir up discontent or offend somebody and absolutely obscene trend. I would love to spend more time on that because it's one of my jihads. But I found this interesting. The migration of millionaires worldwide. I'm looking at a chart and for instance, the US gained 3,800 millionaires last year. 3,800 millionaires moved to the United States. China lost 15,200. As anybody you can get out of the increasingly oppressive communist rule is getting out, probably, although they have an enormous population. But in second place for lost millionaires, the UK lost 9,500 millionaires in 2024. No wonder the old WW2 vet is not optimistic about his country's future.

[Joe Getty]

And do we have any idea primarily why was it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Was it Right.

[Joe Getty]

It wasn't a free speech thing, was it? There a tax thing happened or something?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, they're. They're trying to find more and more ways to tax the successful high earners. But this story's about how mobile people with money are now. The global economy, global world, everybody flies all the time. And the idea that mumdani, like you can just stick the rich with the bill is just. It doesn't work, man. I wish we had more time to talk about the BBC scandal. The more I look into it, the more interesting it becomes. That country's npr, as it were. But they're much bigger and more important than npr.

[Joe Getty]

Much bigger. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Utterly, ridiculously biased. Here's another example of what's going on in the uk. The Metropolitan Police put out a social media post about a crime that they are. Well, they're writing about an incident in Uxbridge of a man who sadly died. Those were quotes from the report and I could read the whole thing, but we don't really have time. So again, it's an incident and they talked about.

[WWII British Veteran]

After.

[Jack Armstrong]

In this incident, a man sadly died. What was the incident? An older man who works as a garbage collector was walking his dog when, according to authorities, an Afghani immigrant named Safi Dawood walked up and stabbed him to death. As the dog walker lay on the ground, the assailant stabbed him more than a dozen times. London's Metropolitan Police didn't want people to see the video. Sometimes people get violently sadly died by immigrants during incidents, hurt people, hurt people and some this sarcastic. And sometimes people become unalive in the process. But the point is, here's yet another crime by another immigrant in London and the Metropolitan Police tried to cleanse it of all offensive words. The man sadly died after an incident that's troubling. Oh my God. There's more, but we're out of time.

[Joe Getty]

So O'Reilly and Bill Maher got into it Friday night on HBO. We'll play a little of that and some other news of the day. So stick around.

[Announcer]

Armstrong and Getty. Tired of spills and stains on your sofa? Wash away your worries with Annabe. Annabe is the only machine washable sofa inside and out where designer quality meets budget friendly prices. That's right, sofas start at just $699. Enjoy a no risk experience with pet friendly stain resistant and changeable slipcovers made with performance fabric Experience cloud like comfort with high resilience foam that's hypoallergenic and never needs fluffing. The sturdy steel frame ensures longevity and the modular pieces can be rearranged anytime. Shop washablesofas.com for early birds Black Friday savings up to 60% off site wide, backed by a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. If you're not absolutely in love, send it back for a full refund. No return shipping or restocking fees. Every penny back. Upgrade [e-mail] Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

[Bill O'Reilly]

It's a supply and demand country.

[Joe Getty]

Now.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Mamdani doesn't want that. He's not a socialist. He's a communist. Okay, Mamdani's greatest quote is I agree with seizing the means of production. Yeah, okay, that's communism. That's not socialism. Because in order to seize something you have to use force. And that's what the Communists do.

[Joe Getty]

Bill O'Reilly sounding pretty old but still seems to be as sharp as ever on Bill Maher's Friday night HBO show. Bill Maher, who has called Bill Maher, who's a lifelong Democrat and voted for Kamala Harris calling Mondami a communist on his show. Which is interesting. But here, this clip they get into a little old guys junk measuring contest about ratings. That actually has an interesting point to it. Also, here's Bill MAHER and Bill O'Reilly.

[Bill O'Reilly]

You'Re disenchanted with the far left wing of the Democratic Party. Okay. Because they never meant anything that was counterintuitive that they didn't love.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Bill O'Reilly]

So they want to put trans people in here and they want to do this. And it just dilutes the message that the Democratic Party has traditionally had that we're for the workers, we want to improve the lives of the backbone of the country. Now you're into all this fringe garbage that Americans don't want. I think that's your posture. I wouldn't put it that way, but go ahead. Okay. But you might want to read think because that's a good way to put it. Well, I'm still on the air and you're not, but go ahead. I, I expected that. So we did a town hall on News Nation two weeks ago from Kennedy Center. 23 million people watch. 23 million. Okay. You can add up all the HBOs you want. You're not going to come close. Just want to correct the record.

[Joe Getty]

So interesting about that. First of all, I like the way he characterized the Democratic Party where it isn't. Bill Maher basically agrees with him as a lifelong normal Democrat. But that stuff about the ratings, I thought fit in with the current brouhaha between I don't even know what the sides are, but that involves Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes and Megyn Kelly and all these different people weighing in on different sides and how that all works. It's very easy, especially for me, being in the radio industry my whole life, to look at traditional media and ratings, and that sort of stuff is like figuring out where you rank. That's ridiculous. Bill O'Reilly is absolutely right there. The number of people that could tune into a town hall on some platform I've never even heard of would dwarf the number of people watching Friday night on hbo.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, probably. Although I don't. I don't trust those. How many people watch numbers on the Internet? But it's. It is obviously the future.

[Joe Getty]

Well, and it's clearly bigger. I mean, I just can't. You feel that it's bigger? Oh, yeah. Then, I mean, obviously, Nick Fuentes is a bigger thing than Face the Nation is.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, yeah.

[Joe Getty]

At this point, it's just.

[Jack Armstrong]

It just is.

[Joe Getty]

I mean, if you know. Well, it's hard to. It's hard to know what the ratings are for anything because, like, I watched every pitch of the World Series on my phone. Did that count anywhere? I don't know. I don't know. The way they count the ratings but like the Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carl's thing, you add in the. All the different platforms, there's like 60 million views. Okay. If it's a sixth of that, it's still a lot compared to all these other traditional media things. And I just, I can't figure out. So Joe sent me a clip yesterday of Ben Shapiro was on Megyn Kelly's show. And like, I don't watch Megyn Kelly's show. I know a lot of you do. I know a lot of people who do. She's, she's bigger now, I think, in influence than when she was on Fox.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh yeah.

[Joe Getty]

And I don't even know where her show is, just which platform. I'd have to search to figure it out. If it's YouTube or something I've never heard of or whatever it is. And she's huge with that. But where they, where everybody fits in on this different stuff and who's. Who's saying it because they actually are flipping Nazis. Like I think Nick Fuentes is, although I'm not even sure with him or, or, or people who are scared of their own audience and afraid to say certain things or don't want to get on the wrong side of Tucker Carlson because he's such a big deal. I, I don't, I don't. Or then you got the Candace Owens thing. I was talking to somebody about Candace Owens yesterday who's just so in love with Candace Owens and watches everything she does. I don't know how all this fits together.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, let's see. It's an ongoing fight contest, as I made it clear on Twitter. I thought Ben Shapiro was speaking with utter, utter moral clarity, whereas Megan was either afraid of her audience or afraid of offending Tucker Carlson and some of the woke. Right. I thought she was an utter moral coward, which I made clear.

[Joe Getty]

Well, there's right or wrong, and I would prefer to just go with right as opposed to wrong. But in terms of like, who's winning battles and stuff like that, you used to be able to tell either through voting or ratings for shows and that sort of stuff. But I have no sense of how big a deal this Nick Fuentes Nazi actually is. Because of the reasons you said millions of views and downloads. But is it the same 10 Nazis downloading it a million times or.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Or what?

[Joe Getty]

I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

How does that translate to real world effectiveness too? I mean, if you get a firestorm of jabbering on the Internet and astounding numbers, numbers we never thought we'd see, but that's where it stays and it doesn't result in votes or legislation or whatever. It. You know, it can result in votes. I think Mum Donnie is proof of that. But yeah, you're right. It's. It's tough to get a sense of because the technology and the platforms change so rapidly.

[Joe Getty]

Some woman, I don't know, but she's something, I guess, on the left, went after Ted Cruz and again on some platform I'd never heard of over the weekend, saying, Ted Cruz is the real Nazi here. What? And Ted Cruz, senator from Texas, tweeted out, I don't know who this angry lady is, but she's missing a key distinction. Fuentes calls himself a Nazi. He has said Hitler is cool. Hitler is right. I'm on Team Hitler. If you explicitly side and advocate for Hitler, you are an actual effing Nazi. Um, yeah, but who's. Who's trolling? Who means it? Who. Who's watching it as part of the troll? Because they get a kick out of seeing somebody FA say things over the line, but don't actually agree with the sentiment. I don't have any concept of at this point.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I think it just varies case by case, and you gotta make a judgment. Like, Candace Owens is so completely off the rails. I mean, really off the rails.

[Joe Getty]

I guess my point would be I'd like to know if there's a growing movement. Sometimes you can feel a growing movement, like the Tea Party or something like that. I can't tell if this whole Tucker Nick Fuentes thing is a growing movement or it's just. It just looks that way. Because of the way media currently works.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. And algorithms and the rest of it. Yeah. I don't know. I definitely think it's significant. And the reason I felt so strongly about the Megyn Kelly, Ben Shapiro conversation was because I become completely convinced. Not that I needed much convincing, but if you don't police your own side, you become corrupted by the crazies. That has been a lesson that's learned over and over again. Actually, the Democratic Socialists of America is an excellent example of that. I was just listening to some stuff on their history and how they started off as a very classic looking out for the working people, particularly the working poor party, and the modern woke wackadoodles and the like revolutionary communists took them over and rotted the place out from inside, and now they run it. That's what the DSA has become. And you see it in the Democratic Party that's so beholden to its woke left that they can't even say A woman is a woman. You know, that a man can't decide he's a woman and becomes a woman. They can't even deny that.

[Joe Getty]

Or boys shouldn't play in girl sports. Even though they probably mostly agree with it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh yeah, virtually everybody agrees with that, Hussein, but they're afraid to say it. And in the same way, I think if the right allows itself to be co opted by its wackadoodles, conservatism and patriotism will suffer for it.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I actually texted Joe. I mean, this is a real life conversation he and I were having over the weekend. I said, I wish we were bigger, but I'm glad we're not so big we have to deal with some of these problems. I don't mind saying, you know, having our whatever niche we've got in the world of broadcast radio or podcast or just broadcasting to people, I don't mind saying the Jews didn't kill Charlie Kirk and, and, and, and what else would be a good one? The Epstein list isn't really anything. And you know, whatever else, I don't, I don't mind saying that out loud because, you know, whatever. I don't think we're going to lose a giant portion of our audience who we need to kind of pretend we think the Jews killed Charlie Kirk to keep happy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Just hint at it, but not say it because we know it's crazy. Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. These are weird. Oh my God. I like the Internet. Unplug the Internet.

[Joe Getty]

I took it a little. It wasn't Candace, but it was Candace adjacent stuff about how Erica Kirk was working with the Jews to have her husband killed. I mean, this is some insane s.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, Ashley, Candace has been claiming that lately.

[Joe Getty]

Oh my God.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

What the.

[Jack Armstrong]

Because he wasn't sufficiently right wingy for her, so she conspired with the Jews to kill him or something.

[Joe Getty]

I was watching a video yesterday, so they had it, they had a clip of. It was Charlie Kirk and Ken and his wife doing a, a little video thing together, talking about how they met and everything. And the guy hosting it said, look how long it takes her to answer the question of how they met. Well, you want to tell everybody how we met, honey? And she starts in and says, how we met. Why did it take her so long to answer that question? She's trying to remember the script that they came up with. I mean, it's that sort of conspiracy nuttiness. And so like, I don't have a concept. I'm hoping that I shouldn't even be talking about it because it's just a small segment of society. Why are we even acknowledging its existence? But at least it kind of looks on media and and by knowing how some of these people are being paid, how things get monetized is not a bad indication of how big they are because people, advertisers don't throw money around just in crazy ways usually. And some of these people are pretty damn big. Some of you. Enough of you think Erica Kirk was working with the Jews to have her husband killed. Okay. Stay away from me, nut jobs.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah, far away. I missed an opportunity in discussing mum. Donnie, there's something I meant to say. Speaking of young people in their wackadoodle politics. After a quick word from our friends at Prize picks on Prize Picks, being right can get you paid. Don't miss any of the excitement the sports season. Whether you're a football fan, basketball fan, or both like us, it always feels good to be right. Prize Picks you. It's super easy. Just pick two, at least two player stats, say more or less. If you get your picks right, you could cash in.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, and they've got stacks now, meaning you can pick the same player up to three times in the same lineup. For instance, Steph Curry, greatest shooter of all time. You could go points, three pointers and assists have three different things. Stacks, all of them in the same lineup. Download the Prize Picks app today. Use the Code Armstrong to get $50 in lineups after you play the first $5 lineup.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, you can have one football player and one basketball player too if you like mixed sports, that's fine. Download that Prize Picks app today. Again, use the Code Armstrong. They will give you $50 in lineups to play with after you play just a $5 lineup. Again, that's the code ARMSTRONG to get 50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineups. Prize picks. It's good to be right.

[Joe Getty]

One thing that is clear, and we've talked about this a lot over the.

[Jack Armstrong]

Years.

[Joe Getty]

Now we're living through a time of incredible uncertainty. I mean, there's just no getting around. Things are more up in the air and weirder than they've ever been. Agreed. I mean, is anybody gonna argue with that? And when it. And when it's like that, whether it's the economy doesn't make sense or our politics don't make sense or the world order or whatever, 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.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I came across an absolutely great think piece that called the conspiracy theorists. What was it? Modern Medievals or something like that. Explaining how similar conspiracy theories are to a lot of medieval thought about, you know, demons and hidden forces and the rest of it. Maybe we can get into that someday. It's a little longish, but it's thought provoking. So when we were talking about Mandani earlier, I'd forgotten one of my keys realizations was, you know what? We don't have time. I don't want to rush through it. Why would I rush your time? Spread out some sort of maniac like I've got a head full of cocaine or something.

[Joe Getty]

No, I want you to be able to go through and put in as many as adjectives and adverbs as you want.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, I do love a good adverb. I add adverbs skillfully.

[Joe Getty]

Nice job.

[Jack Armstrong]

Thank you.

[Joe Getty]

That's all on the way.

[Jack Armstrong]

Stayer, Armstrong and Gettysburg.

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[Joe Getty]

Lionsgate has released the first trailer for Michael, the upcoming biopic about Michael Jackson. And like Jackson, it starts out very dark but ends in a much lighter tone. If that is an attempt to be honest, that could be damned interesting.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh yeah? Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Huh.

[Jack Armstrong]

Will it be though you probably sell more. Would you sell more tickets being honest about the craziness?

[Joe Getty]

Hey, geography to make more money?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I don't know. I really don't know.

[WWII British Veteran]

Huh.

[Jack Armstrong]

So during hour two I think it was, we talked a bit about Mamdani's followers and how he won the affluent college educated vote. Or at least the college educated vote and the working class didn't vote. Vote for him, which is really pretty interesting. And it was a lot of affluent people. I thought this was interesting too. The New Jersey jihadis who got arrested at the end of last week who were associated with the Michigan jihadis that got arrested. The one, Milo Sederot, is the young son of a famous poet and professor who was arrested at his father's sprawling Victorian home in Mount Carmen Claire, New Jersey, Montclair, for allegedly plotting a terror attack. His fellow aspiring terrorist, another product of Montclair, who also grew up in a beautiful Victorian home, was arrested too. So these are upper income intellectual guys.

[Joe Getty]

If I was going to assign one thing to like the progressive movement, not just liberals in general, but like progressives, they're always like telling people they see as beneath them what's best for them.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes.

[Joe Getty]

And they don't want it. Like, you should call yourself Latinx. No, I don't want to. You know, we're voting for Mandani to help the bodega worker and the person who rides the subway. We don't. But we're voting for him because it's going to help you. Right, but they don't vote for him.

[Jack Armstrong]

Longtime listeners to the show, how many times have you heard me rant and rave about the paternalism of the left, how they're constantly telling you you can't make it, you're too pathetic. The only way you can make it is if those wise college educated white people fix the game for you because you're too stup.

[Joe Getty]

Look how sad the working class is. They voted for Cuomo, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. For instance. So the other thing I came up with, that it clicked in my head and I can't believe I'm this slow, but please, I ought to be used to it by now. I've been talking about the Red Green alliance for a long time. How Marxists team with Islamists to, for instance, overthrow a government like in Iran. And the Marxists and Islamists both say to each other, yeah, we'll work with you, we'll share power, it'll be great. But behind the scenes, both are saying, yeah, the minute we're in power, we're gonna kill those guys off and we're gon to seize power. But often it's the Islamists who triumph because not only are they into it politically, but they're religious zealots too. They finally figured it out. You got to come up with a communist, a Marxist who is an Islamist. Zoran Mamdani. He's an Islamist who claims to be a Marxist to gain power because remember, he has said openly and proudly. He came to politics through the so called Palestinian issue, including Jew hatred. And that's still what animates him. The Marxist stuff is just a put on. He is smart enough and clever enough and the product of prominent lefty academics.

[Joe Getty]

And so it's okay.

[Jack Armstrong]

So do you combine the two in one person?

[Joe Getty]

So you think we're misreading him talking about his communism all the time? That that's not his debts, not his main thing?

[Jack Armstrong]

I think there is an element of socialism in Islamism, but I think his main motivator is Islamism. He's just smart enough to know, having observed, that you can attract American young people to socialism.

[Joe Getty]

Well, that's an interesting. That's an interesting thing to keep an eye on once he takes office in January. What is he mostly a communist or a Jew hater?

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

Did he get into office to fight against Jews or to, you know, take over grocery stores?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Keeping in mind he might perceive the more successful I am as a socialist, the more power I'll have to push jihadism. So I will keep that in the closet for a while.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, he won't.

[Jack Armstrong]

He won't show his cards immediately.

[Joe Getty]

Okay. I would think his priority will reveal itself at some point.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I don't know. The Islamists have a long, long timeline. As Peggy Noonan put it, he is really smart and calculating.

[Joe Getty]

Well, I'll be fun.

[Jack Armstrong]

He will only show you his true colors if he decides he wants to.

[Joe Getty]

We do 20 hours of this every week. Maybe you don't hear every hour or every segment. Get the podcast. Armstrong and Getty on demand. You should subscribe.

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Armstrong and Getty. This is an I heart pod.