Nice Job, Idiot.

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand – "Nice Job, Idiot."
Date: October 18, 2025
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty

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Episode Overview

In this lively episode, Jack and Joe tackle a whirlwind of contemporary topics with their signature mix of wit and skepticism. Their main focus swirls around cultural debates on casting in the arts, the latest international political intrigue involving Trump, Putin, and Zelensky, military tech, generational divides over music and pop culture, and some notably absurd moments from American public life. From showbiz controversies to pointed critiques of world leaders, the hosts mix current events with irreverent asides and personal anecdotes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Progressive Casting Debates and the Performing Arts

• Topic Introduction (00:32)

  • The hosts return to ongoing controversies about casting in theater and Hollywood—namely, the idea that only actors who directly match a character’s ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other demographics should play a role.
  • Joe: "Utter ridiculous racist idiocy of the progressive left in insisting only a Korean person can play this role, etc." (00:32)

• The “Cult” of Ethnic Specificity in Casting (05:14, 09:56)

  • Jack and Joe criticize the rapid shift in casting norms, questioning the logic and artistic ramifications of such practices.
  • Notable Quote:
    Joe: "It's insane. It's a cult." (09:56)
  • Discuss cases where white authors are barred from reading black characters and touch on a recent Tony Award-winning musical with robot leads that stirred up debate despite the characters being intentionally ethnically ambiguous.

• Actors and Industry Reactions (07:51)

  • Korean-American actor Daniel Dae Kim pushes back against ethnic-specific casting, saying it's an "overcorrection," noting sometimes roles don't require such specificity.
  • Quote:
    Joe (reading Dae Kim): "It doesn't require any kind of specificity ... because very often it's not even being written by an Asian person." (08:41)

2. The Trump-Putin-Zelensky Triangle & Tomahawk Missiles

• Trump-Putin Phone Call and Alaska Meeting Flashback (03:29, 04:00)

  • The topics of Trump’s recent long call with Putin and his willingness to “joke” about supplying Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles.
  • Jack recounts a tense meeting between Trump and Putin, noting Trump’s impatience with Putin’s historical lectures on Russia and Ukraine.

• Tomahawk Missile Realities (13:45–15:41)

  • Discussion about the practicalities of supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, including input from military analyst Mike Lyons.
  • Military Analyst Insight:
    Mike Lyons: "It's not an easy task ... there's no land based firing system ... but it would provide deeper strikes into Russia that they would have to defend against ... Is it a silver bullet? No, I don't think so. Nothing is." (14:50–15:41)
  • The hosts lament the media’s lack of depth in reporting what Tomahawk missiles actually are and how they’d be used.

3. International Affairs: Xi Jinping’s Purge, Genocide Accusations, & Hostage Realities

• China’s Military Purge (20:24)

  • Joe and Jack dissect Xi Jinping’s removal of high-ranking generals—dismissing claims it’s merely a crackdown on corruption, suggesting it’s a classic dictatorial move to maintain power.
  • Joe: "Dictators will sometimes get rid of people for no reason whatsoever. So everybody's going around saying what the hell did he do?" (22:04)

• Middle East and Hostage Developments (26:12)

  • Coverage of the Israeli hostages' ordeal, with harrowing stories of psychological torture by Hamas, reflecting on the ongoing complexities and cruelties of the conflict.
  • Memorable Moment:
    Joe: "...they said, look, just look into the camera, emphasize how excited you are to see your wife and your daughters...well, Hamas knew all along they'd murdered his wife and daughter. ... that was their final brutal emotional torture." (26:12)
  • Both hosts express horror and contempt for the perpetrators:
    Jack: "I hope they're dead soon." (26:23)
    Joe: "I. And I hope the US has a hand in it." (26:25)

4. Media & Pop Culture: From ‘Kiss’ to Hilaria Baldwin

• Rock & Generational Culture Wars (27:41–33:30)

  • The hosts remember cultural panics over bands like Kiss and Alice Cooper—and compare them to the explicit rap music of today’s teens.
  • Reflections on parental overreactions:
    Jack: "...it all just seems ridiculous looking back on it." (31:05)

• Ace Frehley (Kiss) Interview Clip (28:59)

  • Tribute through a vintage Tom Snyder interview, humorously dissected.
  • Ace: "No, actually, I'm a plumber [not a spaceman]." (29:36)
  • The contrast between the band's antics and business-minded member Gene Simmons is highlighted.

• Hilaria Baldwin on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ (34:38)

  • Hilaria Baldwin, outed for faking a Spanish heritage, is booted from 'Dancing with the Stars'—and responds by blaming bullying.
  • Jack: "She is a piece of work. Alec Baldwin was probably trying to kill himself when he hit that tree." (36:06)

5. Criticism of American Leadership Age/Gerontocracy (19:44)

• Debate over Mitch McConnell and other octogenarian politicians running for office, calling the phenomenon “gerontocracy.”
• Joe: “That’s a good word. Octogen. Tocracy.” (20:24)

6. Show's Meta Humor, Reflection, and Advice

• On the abundance of quality content:
  Jack: "Don't let yourself waste any time watching or listening to something that's just average ... only listen to or watch. Great." (16:50–17:13)

• Joe’s “Final Thought” on conspiracy theories and evidence:
  Joe: "I had an experience yesterday... got part of the story ... then I found out that was only a small part... and I'd been completely misled. Exactly the way conspiracy theories get people. They take a piece of evidence, they ignore [opposing evidence]." (37:08)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It's insane. It's a cult.”
  —Joe Getty on the current state of identity-driven casting. (09:56)

• “Robots. Okay. I didn't see that coming.”
  —Jack Armstrong on the bizarre premise of the Tony-winning musical embroiled in a casting debate. (07:27)

• “It's not an easy task to all of a sudden give Tomahawk cruise missiles to the Ukrainians...Is it a silver bullet? No, I don't think so. Nothing is.”
  —Mike Lyons, military analyst (14:50–15:41)

• "Dictators will sometimes get rid of people for no reason whatsoever...”
  —Joe Getty, on Xi Jinping and authoritarian power plays. (22:04)

• “I hope they're dead soon.”
  —Jack Armstrong, on Hamas captors’ cruelty. (26:23)

• “She is a piece of work. Alec Baldwin was probably trying to kill himself when he hit that tree.”
  —Jack Armstrong on Hilaria Baldwin's public complaints. (36:06)

• "Nice job, idiot."
  —Show’s theme, encapsulating the skepticism and acid humor throughout the episode. (17:16)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------------------------------|--------------| | Progressive Casting Debate / Showbiz Idiocy | 00:32–11:12 | | Clips of the Week & Trump-Putin Call | 01:36–05:14 | | Alaska Meeting & Historical Putin Story | 04:00–05:11 | | Tony Award Musical & Ethnicity in Casting | 07:13–10:00 | | Tomahawk Missiles in Ukraine, w/ Analyst Mike Lyons | 13:45–16:19 | | Reflections on Content Quality/Recommendation | 16:33–17:16 | | Naval Battle of Trafalgar (Historical podcast chat) | 17:16–18:06 | | Mitch McConnell & Gerontocracy | 19:44–21:08 | | Xi Jinping’s Purge & Dictator Tactics | 21:08–22:42 | | Middle East Hostage Cruelties | 26:12–27:07 | | Joe & Jack on Kiss, Generational Music Panics | 27:38–32:48 | | Hilaria Baldwin on Dancing With the Stars | 34:38–36:06 | | Show Wrap-Up, Final Thoughts | 36:53–38:31 |

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Episode Tone & Style

The hosts remain sardonic, sharp, and irreverent. While skewering political and cultural trends, they balance comedic asides and honest criticisms (“Nice job, idiot.”) with moments of sincere horror at current events. Their dynamic mixes skepticism with a kind of wearied affection for the absurdities of our age, weaving in generational nostalgia, pop culture trivia, and practical cynicism about institutions and media.

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For listeners or readers seeking a crash course in both the week’s political/cultural outrages and Armstrong & Getty’s distinctive style, this episode is a prime sampler—blending commentary, history, media, and sharp asides into a lively radio stew.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio at.

[Commercial Announcer]

The George Washington Broadcast Center. Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

And now here's Armstrong and Getty. Dum ba da ba da ba ba dum Ba da ba da ba ba. Mad Music's channel, isn't it?

[Joe Getty]

Huh? Sure it is. Yes. Speaking of show business, a couple of notes. We'll continue our discussion of the utter ridiculous racist idiocy of the progressive left in insisting only a Korean person can play this role, etc. Etc. As we were talking about at the end of last hour, because there's more great ridiculous examples.

[Jack Armstrong]

John Bolton has pled not guilty to mishandling classified information. He surrendered yesterday, which is technically true, but it's not like he was holed up in a barn with weapons.

[Joe Getty]

Right. In a shootout with Elliot Ness.

[Jack Armstrong]

He's got a nail file hidden in his mustache. He'll be able to break out of.

[Joe Getty]

Jail, put a chainsaw on that thing. Anyway, all sorts of good stuff to squeeze into the last hour of the week. But first, it's the Friday tradition. Let's take a fun look back at the week that was. It's Cal Clips of the week.

[Jack Armstrong]

Bolton indicted by a federal grand jury. Too bad. But that's the way it goes, right?

[Joe Getty]

They discovered the material that Iran had hacked.

[Jack Armstrong]

Through a US intelligence penetration of Iran.

[Joe Getty]

20 newly freed hostages and their families hug, cry, kiss, scream and pray.

[Jack Armstrong]

Bless the Middle East. Thank you, everybody.

[Joe Getty]

I really commend President Trump. I commend the Qataris, the Egyptians and the President. This is not going to be a bloodless process.

[Jack Armstrong]

And if they don't disarm, we will disarm them. President Trump says US Forces struck another small boat carrying drugs in the waters off Venezuela. I did actually say, would you mind if I gave a couple of thousand tomahawks to your opposition? I did say that to him. I said it just that way. You have to be a little bit light hearted sometimes.

[Mike Lyons]

Is it a silver bullet? No, I don't think so. Nothing. Nothing is.

[Commercial Announcer]

And Operation Summer Heat included more than 8,600 arrests.

[Joe Getty]

Meantime, across the border, DHS says Mexican criminal gangs are placing bounties on the heads of federal law enforcement.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm going to be strongly recommending that you start looking at San Francisco.

[Joe Getty]

This is not a job for a first timer. Any day you could have a hurricane.

[Jack Armstrong]

We're a health pandemic. And if we have a health pandemic, then why would New Yorkers turn back to the governor who sent Seniors to their death in nursing homes. So after we realized there was a.

[Joe Getty]

Boy on the team, and let me.

[Jack Armstrong]

Just say this person is 18 years old, so he's a grown man.

[Joe Getty]

Black.

[Jack Armstrong]

O down the sideline, caught and sliding to a stop at the sixes. Higgins.

[Joe Getty]

Brilliant.

[Jack Armstrong]

Just brilliant. Top splits of the week. There you go. So Trump was on the phone with Putin for two hours yesterday and claims he brought up the whole Tomahawks thing. Said, what'd you think if I sent a whole bunch of Tomahawks to Ukraine, huh? What'd you think of that? And he said, putin didn't like that much. Didn't like that. I'll tell you that. So where that goes, I don't know.

[Joe Getty]

What'S going to be different this time. It's my question. We tried this in Alaska. There could be a perfectly reasonable answer to that. But I'm curious. More pressure. It's got to be much more pressure.

[Jack Armstrong]

That reminds me, the Financial Times, I think, had an article with some stuff I hadn't seen it before. Talking to people both in Russia that were around the meeting and people in the United States all talking on conditions of anonymity, that what happened there in Russia was in Russia, in Alaska, when Trump met with Putin, and in that room, it was only him, Putin, like, and a handful of people, including in translators. Putin did that whole launching into the history of Russia and Ukraine, going back to the year 600 thing for a long time. And Trump got really upset about it, threatened to get up and leave at one point. Was clearly super off that he was playing that game. And, and that's what ended up canceling the, you know, they're supposed to have a press conference and a lunch and all that sort of stuff, and he canceled it after that. He was, he, he did not dig that at all. Why he thinks it's going to be different this time, I don't know. Maybe he just is ready to immediately. No, no, no, no, no history lessons. We ain't doing that again. Or something.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Huh?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay.

[Joe Getty]

I remain uneasy with Trump's relationship with Putin, but, you know, it'll play out in front of us. So back to the topic of the last hour, which is the idiotic progressive insistence on. What do they even call it? You've got to have. If you have a Hispanic gay man as a character in a play or movie or whatever, it's got to be played by a Hispanic gay man. Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

And this rule, by the way, has been around for, like, five minutes. Because some of the best acting performances in world history have been by people that weren't specifically that. Right.

[Joe Getty]

And, and this account that we shared starts with a woman, an author, an actress.

[Jack Armstrong]

Back up just a second. What, what is even the theory behind that? So Tom Hanks.

[Joe Getty]

Otherwise it's an imitation of race. It's practically blackface Jack.

[Jack Armstrong]

Tom Hanks won the Oscar for playing a gay guy with AIDS in the movie Philadelphia. That would be completely out of bounds, I guess, by modern standards.

[Joe Getty]

100.

[Jack Armstrong]

So you have to be a gay man with AIDS to play the role.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know. I don't know if they've gone that far. But anyway, so this author who was doing selections from her book Woman warriors about heroic woman and was informed she could not do any black characters because she was a white woman. Couldn't even talk about them, I guess just. Or read their words because that would be wrong. And she's filed suit. It's just idiotic because she said, no, I'm not going to do just white women. I've got this selection of all different women, regardless of the race. And the woke library said, you will not do any women of color. That's how sick this is. And we mentioned another movie example. If you didn't get it, grab the podcast Armstrong and get on demand last hour. But here's, here's perhaps my favorite, this year's Tony Award winner for best musical, which of course, Michael, you know is maybe happy ending. I know you've seen it three times on Broadway.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

It's become an unwitting example of the theater community's self defeating barriers. The. Get this now. The musical is a love story set in South Korea about two decommissioned, decommissioned robots.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay. I didn't see that coming. Robots. Okay.

[Joe Getty]

When the show announced that Andrew Barth Feldman would take over the lead role when Darren Criss leaves the production, the news did not sit well for many on Broadway with some saying that this casting decision caused, quote, pain and profound disappointment and that it was, quote, a hard slap in the face.

[Jack Armstrong]

Two robots.

[Joe Getty]

That is because Feldman, the new guy, is white and the old guy is half Filipino. And critics are convinced that only Asian actors can play the lead. The show's very creators defended the new guy, clarifying that their intention was the first for the show, quote, to be comfortably performed by anyone, anywhere. The robot leads don't have Korean names. Even in the Korean version of the show, they were meant to be ethnically undefined. And don't even ask how a half Filipino actor was deemed Korean adjacent Enough by race obsessed critics. Let's not even go there. And interestingly enough, Korean American actor Daniel Dae Kim explained recently that he was emphatically opposed to ethnic specific casting, arguing there's been an overcorrection by casting directors. Quote, and here's a thinking man. There are very often times when the role itself has not been thought through. It doesn't require any kind of specificity in the stories that's being told or in the specifics of the character. Because very often if it's not even being written, because very often it's not even being written by an Asian person. So they don't know the difference in what they're asking for. And yet casting is very specific.

[Jack Armstrong]

Was this the one that the comedian. Is it Ronnie Chang? He's one of the hosts of the Daily Show, Stand up comedian. He's got specials on Netflix. Super funny guy, Chinese. It was this one or some other one. But anyway, he was asked about the controversy. He said it's all stupid. I don't care. It doesn't make any difference.

[Joe Getty]

Right. And then this, this piece in the National Review mentions a handful of great roles played by black people through the years that were written by white people. And, and they point out that it's just a short step from only an Asian actor can play this character to only white actor can play this character to only a white actor can read the brilliant words in a script written by a white man. We won't put those words in the mouth of a black person.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

I mean, these, these. It's insane. It's a cult.

[Jack Armstrong]

And obviously it would be pretty limiting on art.

[Joe Getty]

Sure.

[Jack Armstrong]

To start going down that road.

[Joe Getty]

And, and you know what, Ed? It's hard, and this is my last word on the topic, but it, and this is the most ugly, awful part of all this. It denies the common humanity of different people. If, you know, the, you know, they mentioned Asian half Filipino actor I've never heard of. If, if his longtime love leaves him, he will feel very much like I do and very much like. They mentioned Idris Elba, the great black British actor. He'll feel about the same as Will this, this, you know, the, the boyfriend of this lady wanted to read about the. Here the woman heroes. We're all humans, for God's sake. The most obscene part is that it tries to deny that. But as always with these people, it's not because they sincerely believe this or if they do, they're stupid. It's an effort to take control of stuff you don't know what to do anymore. You don't know what's okay anymore. So you tell them you be in charge. Because I'm tired of being called a racist. That's what it's all about.

[Jack Armstrong]

So Zelensky is about to show up to the White House. I'm keeping my eye on the cable news because if he's not in a.

[Joe Getty]

Suit, white tie and tails, he needs.

[Jack Armstrong]

To look like Liberace. If he's not in a suit, I say you Tomahawk him. We don't need to be messing with somebody who's not even willing to wear a suit. You see, the interesting thing about all these little deals is they could be world history changing on a major level.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Like for 500 years. Sometimes we get caught up in extraneous details that really aren't that important. But such as the modern world, as we were just discussing, extraneous details that really are important.

[Joe Getty]

If I get caught up with them, it doesn't matter. If Donald J. Trump gets caught up with him. That matters.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I took in a podcast yesterday about. Well, I'm not even going to say the tease won't be any good. I'm just going to tell you it's interesting. It's an historical thing that I want to get to.

[Joe Getty]

Okay.

[Jack Armstrong]

Also, speaking of Tomahawk missiles, we ought to play a little bit of Mike Lyons was on the show yesterday and you might not have heard it explaining how much benefit or lack thereof there would be to giving Ukraine Tomahawk missiles. I feel like nobody has been pointing that out. People just keep throwing around the term and Trump's throwing around the term as if we all know what Tomahawk missiles are and what they're capable of and what they would do. I don't. So we got all that coming up this hour. Stick around, Armstrong and Getty.

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[Jack Armstrong]

Putin told Trump what he's been saying publicly for some time, which is that these missiles, these Tomahawks, even though they've got a long range of more than 1500 miles, even though they could potentially target Moscow and St. Petersburg, they could help Ukraine target energy infrastructure locations around the country, at least the new European part of Russia. Putin saying he does not believe that these will have a significant impact on the battlefield. Now, of course you would say that if you were Putin, but we had Mike Lyons, one of our favorite, go to military analysts on yesterday and my first question to him was, I feel like all news reports about Tomahawk missiles leave out one important thing, like what are they? What are they capable of, what are they not capable of? All that sort of stuff. They just throw it around like we're all familiar with this because we're all military experts and we're not. So we talked to Mike Lyons, who is, and asked him about the Tomahawks missile, Tomahawk missiles, which Trump is going to discuss with Zelensky today in the Oval Office, and how big a deal it would be.

[Mike Lyons]

It's not an easy task to all of a sudden give Tomahawk cruise missiles to the Ukrainians because there's no land based firing system. If you notice, they're called vertical launchers, V launchers, they have to launch as a rocket, they go up straight in the air and then they get proposed and they get to go into their target from there. So it's not an easy solution. Now, however, they would provide deep strike capability for Ukraine. Should there be this land based solution to that? They have, we haven't, we haven't seen that. But it would, it would provide much deeper strikes into Russia that they would have to defend against and it would allow Ukraine this increased capability. Is it a silver bullet? No, I don't think so. Nothing, Nothing is.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which was that, 56 or 57? I feel like I got 56. He says silver bullet in the next. Okay. But anyway, he made the point that I hadn't heard anybody else say, because when you ever hear Tomahawk missiles used in the news, if you've ever been paying attention over the years, it was fired from the USS whatever that was in the Black Sea and landed in Iran or something, they get fired from ships. And so he was confused as to how these were going to be used. Now, there is a claim, like he said, that there is a way to fire him for land, but he's never seen it before. It's never been used before. So that'd be a kind of a big deal. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

I wouldn't think Trump would be talking about it if it wasn't doable, but I don't know the answer.

[Jack Armstrong]

I would hope. But I'm often surprised on how journalists don't take the time to dig into these stories at all.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah, yeah. That's absolutely true.

[Jack Armstrong]

Speaking of warfare, I was listening to a podcast yesterday. The rest is history. If you've never. If you're a history fan and you've never listened to the rest of history. Oh, my God. Gazillions episodes, just scroll through and find one of your favorite topics. It's so good.

[Joe Getty]

But they're talking too much good content. I call for the government to throttle it.

[Jack Armstrong]

No kidding. There is so much good content. Here's the lesson. Don't. I'm talking to me here. Don't let yourself waste any time watching or listening to something that's just average. If you. If you're all of a sudden you find yourself, you're watching the same or listening to this thing and it's just kind of not digging it. There's so many great things out there.

[Joe Getty]

Only listen to or watch.

[Jack Armstrong]

Great. That's what I'm. That needs to be my new standard.

[Joe Getty]

Because there's so many people clicking out all over America. Nice job, idiot.

[Jack Armstrong]

But anyway, they were doing the. The big battle with Admiral Nelson there in England and Trafalgar and all that sort of stuff when they took on the French and the Spanish. One of the great naval battles in the history of the world and kind of did in Napoleon's plans of taking over England. You're. You're probably. You were just there. You're probably in Trafalgar Square and saw the giant pole that goes up in the air, the Nelson thing. But the description of what those naval battles were like back in the day. Holy crap. None of us ever do anything that horrifying or gruesome ever in our lives. Yeah. I highly recommend looking into that if you want to, but, man, you're gonna get your arms blown off and be seasick and rats everywhere and just incredible.

[Joe Getty]

It's so funny how you can gloss over it with a couple of sentences. And then the great naval bottle of Trafalgar.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, we got a lot more on the way. If you missed a second, get the podcast Armstrong and Getty.

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[Jack Armstrong]

Coming up, I'm trying to get executive producer Hansen working on it. He. He's got. We got audio of Hilaria Baldwin. Is that how you say her name? She. She got kicked off Dancing with the Stars and she put out an Instagram video complaining about the bullying she received. It's kind of funny. So anyway, maybe next. Maybe we can get to that next segment.

[Joe Getty]

Fabulous. Something to look forward to.

[Jack Armstrong]

Michael, I'd asked for 20. Did you not hear me? 20? Can we do 20? Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell falling at the Capitol. The 83 year old falling while being asked a question about the ice crackdowns. He got up and continued walking with the help of staff. Earlier this year he said he would not be seeking reelection. I saw that.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, but he's running for reelection in 2027. According to my math, that's like the year after next, so no way he lasts. I think we may be moving beyond. What would you call it? An octogen.

[Jack Armstrong]

See, gentocracy, people have called it.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, gentocracy. That's a good word. Octogen. Tocracy. Anyway, yeah, there's a. Seth Moulton's challenging Ed Markey. Is that the Guy's name? A 79 and a half year old senator is running for reelection. Guy's 80 and he's running for reelection. That's ridiculous. Anyway, speaking of who's in, who's out, I found this very interesting. Xi Jinping China has purged its second most senior general and eight other high ranking military commanders. As in the Wall Street Journal takes this seriously, which is interesting if you've studied communist regimes. But it says as leader Xi Jinping dials up a crackdown on corruption and disloyalty, the armed forces.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

What are you seriously, are you a freshman in political science or. Yeah, you take that seriously.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's.

[Joe Getty]

It's just that's what you say when you decide to get rid of someone.

[Jack Armstrong]

But dictators regularly get rid of all the generals because you are scared they're scheming against you so you turn them over quickly on a regular basis.

[Joe Getty]

General He Wide Dong. That's quite a name. Lower ranking of two vice chairmen on the Communist Party's top decision to making military body blah blah blah has been dismissed from the party in the military for severe disciplinary violations and abuses of power. According to the spokesman. Who knows what actually was happening.

[Jack Armstrong]

And it could be nothing. Like I said, that was the history with Stalin and Saddam and all. Name your dictator. Every once in a while you get rid of the generals because you start doing that guy's looking me kind of funny, wasn't he? Yeah. Wasn't that weird what he said the other day? And you just get paranoid about the powerful people close to you so you turn them over on a regular basis.

[Joe Getty]

And one thing that's kind of counterintuitive, or at least it was for me, is I hadn't realized. And interestingly enough, slave owners do the same thing. Dictators will sometimes get rid of people for no reason whatsoever. So everybody's going around saying what the hell did he do? What?

[Jack Armstrong]

What?

[Joe Getty]

Why'd they get rid of him? Which instills your desperation to please the dictator. And Xi Jinping is, is evil incarnate, but he's really, really good at his job. I wish a guy like that would write a book toward the end of his reign.

[Jack Armstrong]

No kidding.

[Joe Getty]

Xi Jinping. Here's how I did it or don't call me poo. The Xi Jinping story, you know. Anyway, moving along to a different malign part of the world. What's Stefanic? Elise Stefanik and Tom Cotton are urging the Trump administration to investigate the Council on Islamic American Islamic Relation Care their links to Hamas. According to a letter obtained by the Free Beacon. The if you've studied this at all, these so called legit groups that just happen to hate Israel and are up with Islam and the rest of it, they get just far enough from the really evil guys to have plausible deniability but it doesn't take a lot of dot connecting.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, my favorite critique of the way things have gone down this past week is how people aren't who have been so critical, critical in talking about genocide. Don't seem to be so excited about the fact that the genocide has come to a close. And not to mention the fact that they were never worked up about any of the other Arab on Arab killings that have been going on for the past decade or so. I mean just hundreds of thousands of people slaughtered in Syria and Yemen and you know, you name the country by other Arabs and just nobody cares.

[Joe Getty]

Somalia, there are a handful going on in Africa. Or Arabs killing black people in Africa, nobody cares. Nope, nope. It's just the one with the Jews, which is clearly not a genocide for a dozen reasons I could cite for you, including that the Jews just signed a agreement saying, yeah, okay, the war's over if everybody abides by the rules. Yeah, that's a poor genocide. They're not very good at it. Anyway. It should be really interesting to see how this investigation comes out. And by interesting I mean completely predictable. I had quite a number of sources in the FBI right after 9 11, the couple of years after 9 11, initially the FBI said, hey, we gotta have outreach to Muslim organizations, number one, so we can all live together in peace. And number two, so if there are any radicals they can tell us about it and we won't mistake good America loving Muslims for radicals. And. And they started working with care. And it wasn't very long after that where they realized, oh wait a minute, you really take a look at this organization. They are not at all what they claim to be. And they stopped. So anyway, more on that to come and finally I'm just going to hit you with this headline. And then I've got to admit I am in favor of a jarring transition. But the headline, it's the Israeli hostages who are held and starved and beaten and tortured and terrified and, and mock executions and the rest of it. One of the worst I heard was one of the guys held for two years. When the Hamas people finally were letting him go, they had one of those camera, those, those weird on stage PR events staged by Hamas. This was the last round of guys before this final round. They said, look, just look into the camera, emphasize how excited you are to see your wife and your daughters and blah, blah, blah, talk about that. Well, he said, all right, yeah, whatever. And he goes on and on about that. Well, Hamas knew all along they'd murdered his wife and daughter.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh My God.

[Joe Getty]

But that was their final brutal emotional torture.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh my God.

[Joe Getty]

Knowingly, they're subhuman. They're monsters.

[Jack Armstrong]

They really are.

[Joe Getty]

So anyway, here's one of the guys in the latest.

[Jack Armstrong]

I hope they're dead soon.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah, I. And I hope the US has a hand in it. Here's a headline for you. His captors were teachers, university lecturers and doctors. Israeli hostage reveals One of the guards was a first grade teacher. Another was a lecturer at university. Another was a doctor. He said, this is Shoham. What's his first name? Do we have. Oh, Tal Shoham. These are normal people become terrorists. He described his captors. Hamas captors is so brainwashed and so full of hate that his 505 days into captivity included a lot of torture and cruelty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Unbelievable. All right, Michael, how about a little transit transition music?

[Jack Armstrong]

That's a good one.

[Joe Getty]

I like how the guy goes yodel.

[Jack Armstrong]

And his random chicken noises.

[Joe Getty]

This is a masterpiece.

[Jack Armstrong]

It is a masterpiece. Anyway, I don't remember what we're talking about.

[Joe Getty]

Music. Quickly turn it off before we're all insane. I was never a big Kiss fan. Back when I was a young lad, I thought it was jivey and stupid.

[Jack Armstrong]

Joe is too good for Kiss.

[Joe Getty]

Well, I was pretentious and picky like all teenage music freaks. But now I look back and I marvel at their a entrepreneurial spirit and merchandising and creativity and the rest of it. And honestly, I look back, they did something completely different and stuck with it. And I've read about when they were starting in the New York clubs and everybody's like, what the F is this?

[Jack Armstrong]

Now they crafted a thing which is pretty impressive.

[Joe Getty]

It is. I wasn't a big fan of the songs, but you've got to admire their. Their sense of purpose and dedication and sticking their necks out.

[Jack Armstrong]

Come on. Me and the boys are playing and we just can't find the sound.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, that's frustrating.

[Jack Armstrong]

Beth, I hear you calling.

[Joe Getty]

Oh yeah, but you need to shut up because we're practicing. Anyway, I've not heard this, but this is the great Tom Snyder, great interviewer of the 70s, 80s, 80s, talking to Ace Freely, the original lead guitarist from Kiss who just passed away. It's clip number 24.

[Jack Armstrong]

Michael, watch your outfits. I mean, do you. Did you design your own outfits? All of you. And tell me what each outfit means.

[Joe Getty]

And I'll start with you, Ace.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, that means this outfit is self explanatory.

[Joe Getty]

I mean, you know, this is part.

[Jack Armstrong]

Of a kind of a V shape. This is my utility Belt.

[Joe Getty]

And we don't want to go any belower than my waist area because that's reserved for concert players.

[Jack Armstrong]

And after it's all over, they say, this is what we came for. I stole this from Flash Gordon. And, you know, I have my cap, but you're kind of like a spaceman, huh?

[Joe Getty]

No, actually, I'm a plumber.

[Jack Armstrong]

On the side.

[Joe Getty]

Listen, I got a little piece of pipe backstage I'd like to have you work on.

[Jack Armstrong]

Tell me about it. Yeah, there's only one. One reason you laugh at jokes that much. You all sweet talker. I'll tell you, I read in the sheet that they gave me where they said that it's hard to get you out of your shell.

[Joe Getty]

So, you know, it's funny. I was reminded for the umpteenth time that they're a bunch of, like, working class New Yorkers.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, Hanson watched the video. He said, when you watch it one, it's obvious that Ace is out of mind on whatever is why he's laughing so much. And Gene Simmons, the real businessman in the the band, was completely stone cold sober, as he has been his whole life, and was not digging the way they were acting at all.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

He was not digging it.

[Joe Getty]

How interesting.

[Jack Armstrong]

Like, you know, you're, you're. This is not professional. This is not helping us. This is.

[Joe Getty]

Which is kind of funny. This is a great opportunity for us.

[Jack Armstrong]

My takeaway on this, and I try to remember this as a parent now, is just. I was not really a Kiss fan, but I knew how culturally like parents across the country were worried about their kids listening to Kiss music and the blood and the devil imagery and all the different sort of stuff and where is this headed and godlessness and blah, blah. And it all just seems ridiculous looking back on it.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah. It's just the provocative for the sake of being provocative thing and a lot of people going along with it. Yeah, I remember all those controversies as a, you know, music freak. I was paying attention to all of them. I actually watched the damn hearings where, like, Dee Snyder and Frank Zapper were testifying in front of Tipper Gore in Congress about whether there should be parental advisory stickers and, you know, censorship or whatever. Good Lord.

[Jack Armstrong]

And then the music my son listens to now that my oldest son listens to and that sometimes I'll let him have ox, as they call it, and he can run the music in the car on the way home. And I mean, it's just so freaking filthy. I mean, it's just as pornography pornographic as anything could Possibly be compared to parents worried about Kiss. Oh my God.

[Joe Getty]

Do you ever talk to him about it?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it doesn't seem to mean anything to him. That's my observation of him and his friends. It's just like, it's just, it's just words. It's just like it's a put on kind of like with Kiss, I guess it's just an act. It's not really. Doesn't mean anything.

[Joe Getty]

Right. Gene Simmons doesn't actually like for some reason bleed from his gums. He really needs to floss. Really, really needs some good dental hygiene.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think you need your wisdom teeth out. Something has gone wrong there. That is funny. But yeah, I, I, I initially when my son was listening to that music especially, I wasn't letting him listen to it. He's gonna be 16 soon. But it just, it doesn't seem to resonate. It's just like, it's an act. It's a, they like the beat and all that sort of stuff. I don't think the words matter that much.

[Joe Getty]

I really don't.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Interesting. Yeah. I remember Alice Cooper and the outrage that greeted that band back in the day. And as their lead singers now kind of become known as Alice Cooper, he, he's an English teacher and he just thought a little like haunted house imagery would be kind of cool and different on stage. The idea that English teacher Vincent Vernier is some sort of Satan. The guy's a golf enthusiast, for God's sake. He just thought, oh, this would kind of be mysterious and dangerous and stuff. But it was taken so seriously.

[Jack Armstrong]

He's also a Republican, isn't he? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Alec Baldwin's wife did something kind of funny. We'll finish with that. We'll finish strong. Coming up. Stay tuned.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

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[Jack Armstrong]

So, almost out of time.

[Joe Getty]

I gotta get right to this.

[Jack Armstrong]

I haven't been watching season 37 of Dancing with the Stars, but Hilaria Baldwin, Alec Baldwin's wife, just got booted off early in the season. And it's kind of interesting, given the fact that she is a professional ballroom dancer. Dancing with another professional, you'd think it would give her a leg up. But as the New York Post writes, Hillary Baldwin thought she'd go on Dancing with the Stars, shimmy her way into America's hearts, and we'd forget that she's been pretending to be a Spanish woman for a whole decade.

[Joe Getty]

Um, people.

[Jack Armstrong]

Cause you get voted off, it's a popularity contest, so it's your dancing. But also they gotta kinda like you, you know, like American Idol used to be. The people clearly didn't like her because she's a narcissist who posed as a woman called Hilaria from Spain, when in reality she's Hillary from Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston, which we've talked about a whole bunch of times. But to Hilaria, her early exit is the dastardly work of a vast online network of mean girls who don't appreciate her unique burden of being bilingual. And she posted a video complaining about how rough it was. And she's in her video where she's very, very serious. Being booted off Dancing with the Stars, she says, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that today is World Mental Health Day and all the bullying that went on behind the scenes, Dancing with the Stars and blah, blah, blah. She is a piece of work. Alec Baldwin was probably trying to kill himself when he hit that tree.

[Joe Getty]

Hey, kids, it's that time again with Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

I got another comment on that, but I'll save it for final Thoughts. Here's your host, Joe Getty.

[Joe Getty]

How about a final thought from everybody on the crew to wrap up the show for the day in the week? Michelangelo, our technical director, Michael, final thoughts. Yeah, Joe, you really tickled my funny bone when you're talking about Gene Simmons. And now he's bleeding from the gums.

[Jack Armstrong]

And he needs the floss. Be laughing about that all day.

[Joe Getty]

Well, it's a good reminder how important mental hygiene, what dental hygiene is. Katie Greener, esteemed news woman, has a final thought. Katie, one of the best Days I had, I went from a Raider game at the Oakland Coliseum, walked 100 yards and went and saw kiss at Oracle Arena.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, the same day. That's a good day. It was cool.

[Joe Getty]

So many scary costumes all in one day.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, no kidding.

[Joe Getty]

Jack, final thought for us.

[Jack Armstrong]

So Alec Baldwin. There's a chance that he at some point figured out what he's into and he's thinking, I'm 70 years old, I got seven kids with this fake Spanish wife who is an absolute just piece of work. It's gotta be a tiring way to live. Hey, my final thought.

[Joe Getty]

I wish I'd gotten time to talk about this on the show. I had an experience yesterday where I got part of the story from somebody who seemed very authoritative and I came to a conclusion. Then I found out that that was only a small part of the story. There was countervailing evidence and I'd been completely misled. Exactly in the way conspiracy theories get people. They take a piece of evidence, they ignore mountains perhaps of opposing evidence. But they spin a yarn and suck people along.

[Jack Armstrong]

You'll have to talk more about that next week. That is a phenomenon. Armstrong and Yeti wrapping up another grueling four hour workday.

[Joe Getty]

So many people to thank, so little time. Go to Armstrong and getty.com. we have a lot of great clicks for you. Katie's corner the hot links ang swag drop us notice there's something we ought to be talking about. You see over the weekend. Send it along mailbag at Armstrong&getty.com.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yep, we'll see you Monday. God bless America. I love Jewish people, but I also love Armstrong and Getty. What?

[Joe Getty]

You can take a crack at each one. Well, one's just a total con artist. Disgusting.

[Jack Armstrong]

Makes me sick.

[Joe Getty]

The other guy did a good job.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm not gonna have the cheeks of their torn off. Son of a. I'm just saying. It's gone.

[Joe Getty]

Enough talk.

[Jack Armstrong]

Do you understand? No senor. No senor.

[Joe Getty]

Okay.

[Jack Armstrong]

And on that possibly nightmare inducing note. Hi.

[Joe Getty]

Good night everybody.

[Jack Armstrong]

Have a great Friday.

[Joe Getty]

You mother. Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an Iheart podcast.