Joe Getty (2:04)

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Jack Armstrong (2:11)

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Jack Armstrong (2:11)

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Joe Getty (2:12)

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Jack Armstrong (2:18)

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Joe Getty (2:20)

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Jack Armstrong (2:27)

Okay. Rock paper scissors for it.

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Jack Armstrong (2:34)

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Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center,

Jack Armstrong (2:46)

Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

Joe Getty (2:49)

Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Getty. So many members in the, in the media are carrying water for Iran. You know, of course the Iranians consume all of American media and they must be elated with the vast majority of this coverage. And they've just realized now we can't and will never put any kinds of boots on ground or we won't do the kinds of very specific kinds of things like from sieving the uranium material or reopening the strait. And now that's they puts them in the straight where Here we are right now. Senator Fedman Fetterman of Pennsylvania Democrat, not liking the media coverage around the whole Iranian war. I would agree. If you watch like the Sunday shows or cable news channels or anything like that, it's all a discussion of, well, the disaster happened. It's the worst thing any president has ever done. How do we clean this up without any idea that things could still turn out for the better, which they obviously could.

Jack Armstrong (4:01)

And because it's an echo chamber, they don't even feel the need to make the argument for why it's a mistake. It's just self evident in their world. And of course, with all these implications and omissions of, you know, the Iranians trying to get nuclear weapons as soon as they could, spreading terrorism, they've got proxy armies all over the region, sowing mayhem constantly. They don't even bother to make the case.

Joe Getty (4:24)

So the blockade is on as we speak. The United States is now blockading the Strait of Hormuz so no ships can come in and out. Hey Iran, you ain't gonna make any more money from here on out. Also, hey China, you ain't gonna get any oil, neither is Europe. So you got that? Iran has threatened all kinds of attacks on ports and ships that go through and all that sort of stuff. Donald Trump has just put out another truth social post in which he says Iran's navy is laying at the bottom of the sea, completely obliterated 158 ships. What we have not hit are their small number of what, what they call fast attack ships because we do not consider them much of a threat. Warning if any of these ships come anywhere close to our blockade, they will be immediately eliminated using the same system of kill that we used against the drug dealers on boats at sea. It is quick and brutal. So we're going to drone strike the fast attack boats if they head out into the Strait, apparently.

Jack Armstrong (5:23)

Fair enough. Yeah.

Joe Getty (5:25)

That'll be exciting today, won't it?

Jack Armstrong (5:26)

Yeah. You brought China into the discussion, which is absolutely appropriate. And when we were talking about this earlier, Jack made I think an excellent point that this feels to some extent like the big thing hasn't even happened.

Joe Getty (5:38)

Right.

Jack Armstrong (5:39)

This is the run up to the big thing, the history making events. Here's the best thing we've got going for us. Ironically, China is so desperately addicted to exports, any shock to the world economy would be terrible for their economy, like practically unsustainable. So it's held them in check from moving on Taiwan for now. And I also think they are seriously gonna exert pressure on the IRGC to tone their crap down because China's got to have world trade going and the

Joe Getty (6:11)

world trade gone down. Your crap. I hope that happens. Maybe that's Trump's leverage. Maybe he feels like that's the leverage

Jack Armstrong (6:21)

because what's the alternative? China decides to go crazy on the US and get into a tit for tat with Trump? I just don't, I don't think that's the right strategy.

Joe Getty (6:31)

Well, it could be Europe and China leaning on Iran. Hey, get your open that straight.

Jack Armstrong (6:38)

Well, Europe leaning on anybody is not very impressive. Europe is a. You know what Europe is? I'm going to tell you what Europe is. Europe is a 16 year old golden retriever that ought to weigh about 70 pounds, but it weighs 110, it can barely walk. It lumbers around fat and useless Europe in a way, like with their food and their architecture. But useless Europe is a fat golden retriever.

Joe Getty (7:04)

You heard it here first.

Jack Armstrong (7:06)

That's the sort of analysis you only hear here at the Armstrong and Getty show.

Joe Getty (7:09)

I didn't mean militarily. It looked like for a couple of days there last week that Europe might strike some sort of a deal with Iran where, okay, we'll pay the tolls and go through and nobody's striking nothing.

Jack Armstrong (7:22)

Says me. Donald J. Trump.

Joe Getty (7:26)

Right. So that's exciting stuff. We'll see how this all turns out today, I guess.

Jack Armstrong (7:31)

Yeah, yeah. A side issue. It's hard to tell because the lefty media loves this, but Trump's meme, he put out last night of himself as Jesus.

Joe Getty (7:40)

I haven't seen it. I've just heard about it.

Jack Armstrong (7:42)

Oh, I texted it, I think, or Hanson did some of it. It's on the group feed, but it's causing widespread consternation.

Joe Getty (7:50)

Oh my God.

Jack Armstrong (7:51)

Evangelicals that's from his own truth social feed. He truthed it out. Yeah. As if he is Jesus with dead service members in heaven with angels wings above him and a. An American flag and an eagle and oh my God. Touching the forehead of a dying man and oh my God.

Joe Getty (8:10)

Does it have any words accompanying this picture or just the picture?

Jack Armstrong (8:15)

I'm just aware of the picture.

Joe Getty (8:17)

It's.

Jack Armstrong (8:18)

It's.

Joe Getty (8:19)

Holy crap. Yeah.

Jack Armstrong (8:21)

Literally. Yeah.

Joe Getty (8:23)

Did he think that was touching? Funny. Is he just trolling? Is this a classic Donald Trump? Oh, this will get people upset.

Jack Armstrong (8:34)

Well, he's, he's retweeted and memed out many memes that show him as like a superhero or just a God like figure. But this is a touch on the nose or on the cross, if you will.

Joe Getty (8:48)

Wow. It's got so many elements to it. So it's Trump dressed like Jesus. You got the American flag in the background, as Joe said, eagles flying, of course, some jets. You got a guy, an old guy with a veteran hat on. Then you got a young guy who's clearly currently in the military. You got a nurse all looking up at him, awe inspired as he lays hands on what appears to be somebody who's wounded or dead.

Jack Armstrong (9:20)

Dying. What? Dying man, I would say. And the divine light is emanating from both of Trump's hands.

Joe Getty (9:28)

What the hell is the message of this?

Jack Armstrong (9:31)

Oh, there's the. You left out the Statue of Liberty in the background. And the Lincoln Memorial.

Joe Getty (9:36)

Oh, is that the Lincoln Memorial?

Jack Armstrong (9:37)

For folks who hadn't picked up on the theme.

Joe Getty (9:39)

Yes, Lincoln Memorial. And then what's that up the top?

Jack Armstrong (9:45)

Those are dead soldiers with angel's wings.

Joe Getty (9:47)

Oh, my God.

Jack Armstrong (9:49)

I know, you're right. Or is that some sort of demon character in the middle?

Joe Getty (9:54)

No, I think you're right. I think those are. Holy crap.

Jack Armstrong (10:00)

A couple of them are clearly like dead soldiers. I don't know what that thing in the middle.

Joe Getty (10:05)

Okay, one other building we haven't named. The over his. His right shoulder on the left side. What is that? Is that a church? Is that the Vatican? Is what is that? It looks like it's got a cross on top of it.

Jack Armstrong (10:18)

That's not like, is that part of the Vatican or is that. I don't know what that is.

Joe Getty (10:26)

Something like some church of some sort? This is his all time inappropriate. That's a heck of a statement I just made.

Jack Armstrong (10:38)

Oh, boy.

Joe Getty (10:41)

Wow.

Jack Armstrong (10:41)

Okay. All right, we'll post it@armstrongandgetty.com so you can see it and judge for yourself. We'll get that up there immediately. I demand it.

Joe Getty (10:48)

How are so like, if you're really into the belief that Trump is out to save Christianity and so was Victor Orban and that's why J.D. vance was over there in Hungary over the weekend last week trying to get him elected. He lost big. You know, that's the whole pucker.

Jack Armstrong (11:09)

Carlson Orthodox Eastern Christianity is going to stamp out the queer thing. Yeah.

Joe Getty (11:16)

Does that crowd like this sort of

Jack Armstrong (11:18)

thing, Trump coming off as Jesus or is that blasphemous? Well, it's clearly blasphemous. It's one of the most things I've ever seen in my life.

Joe Getty (11:33)

Puts the ass back in blasphemous.

Jack Armstrong (11:38)

Blasphemous from the past, from us.

Joe Getty (11:41)

We probably should stop now.

Jack Armstrong (11:44)

I plan to. Yes, please. Anyway, so the blockade started what, an hour and a quarter ago? According to U.S. central Command. If the rest of the world can't ship, neither can you. Iran says Trump. And we'll see if the shooting starts.

Joe Getty (11:58)

I'm going to retweet this picture just because I want to know what people think of it.

Jack Armstrong (12:03)

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Joe Getty (12:32)

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Jack Armstrong (12:52)

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Joe Getty (13:12)

Man, oh man, oh man. For some reason, the Trump Jesus post has thrown me for a loop. I feel like I'm a little lost right now. I don't know what to think of that because I'm on board. Like he's thinking on Iran, I think. I think Iran was. Every president said Iran's trying to get a nuclear weapon. We Got to stop him. Nobody was actually willing to do anything. Trump actually did something. I still think at this point it was a good idea that. I don't know what that post is.

Jack Armstrong (13:46)

You know, what it is, is. And I remember this from the campaigns, Trump has a weird relationship with, like, blue collar America, Heartland America, Evangelical or. Or Protestant America in that he expresses great affection for them, but he has no idea how they think and how they live, really. And those folks, having received nothing but derision and judgment from the left for decades now, years and years, certainly are like, oh, my God. He says, we're good people who care about our country and our families, and we're good people. And by God, that's refreshing. But Trump has. I mean, listen, the Bible, you know, the greatest book ever written, maybe, except for the Art of the Deal. I mean, the Bible. He has no idea of the thinking and what those people actually say. And this, I think, is just a misstep. He doesn't understand Christianity because he's an atheist, I'm sure, and he doesn't understand how far over the line this is for a lot of folks.

Joe Getty (14:49)

Doubt he's thought that much about it.

Jack Armstrong (14:51)

Right, right.

Joe Getty (14:54)

Wow, that is something. Anyway, I tweeted out, want to know what you think of it, or you can text us. What do you think of that sort of thing? I just. I'm just. I'm just. I don't know how it's received by all y', all, I guess is my question.

Jack Armstrong (15:05)

I think it'll be a micro blip.

Joe Getty (15:07)

Oh, sure.

Jack Armstrong (15:08)

The shooting starts very soon.

Joe Getty (15:09)

Oh, sure.

Jack Armstrong (15:10)

It's a very trumpy thing to do.

Joe Getty (15:11)

It's almost guaranteed to be some shooting today, isn't there? Iran isn't just going to allow that blockade to happen, are they?

Jack Armstrong (15:20)

No, no. They might calculate for a little while, figure out how best to strike. So it might be a couple of days till something crazy happens. But something crazy will happen.

Joe Getty (15:28)

Oh, boy.

Jack Armstrong (15:30)

They may hit some ports, and, you know, they may hit Dubai again or Saudi or who knows?

Joe Getty (15:37)

We got a lot we need to get to. There's another big AI story that's out, among other things. Stay here.

Jack Armstrong (15:42)

Armstrong and Gettys, day or night. VRBoCare is here 247 to help make every part of your stay seamless. If anything comes up or you simply need a little guidance, support is ready whenever you reach out. From the moment you book to the moment you head home. We're here to help things run smoothly, because a great trip starts with the right support. And, hey, a good playlist doesn't hurt either.

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Jack Armstrong (17:49)

Cindy Crawford and I'm the founder of Meaningful Beauty. Well I don't know about you but like I never liked being told oh wow, you look so good for your age. Like why even bother saying that?

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Jack Armstrong (18:02)

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Jack Armstrong (18:25)

2026 I'm I've been practicing Fat Defiance for many, many years in 2026.

Joe Getty (18:32)

Well, I'm going to keep doing that

Jack Armstrong (18:34)

by continuing to lead NAFA and civil rights work.

Joe Getty (18:37)

I'm also going to do it by

Jack Armstrong (18:38)

wearing whatever I want to at whatever

Jack Armstrong (18:41)

size I happen to be in 2026

Joe Getty (18:43)

bigger, smaller, same, whatever it is.

Jack Armstrong (18:47)

That's how I'm defying the standards of

Joe Getty (18:49)

being told what I'm supposed to do with my body and doing what I

Jack Armstrong (18:52)

want to do with my body. And I know that's right.

Joe Getty (18:55)

Practicing fat defiance in 26. That's people at Fatcon. What's Fatcon?

Jack Armstrong (19:03)

It's like comic Con for the overweight. I guess you get together and celebrate being large.

Joe Getty (19:12)

This is a tough topic. Bill Maher talks about this a lot on his show. You know, it's probably tough coming from a rail thin vegetarian, but who smokes? You know, there's. But there's both of both ends of it. Something's going on with our food or whatever that, that some people can get as big as they are. That just never happened in the past.

Jack Armstrong (19:34)

It was in what, Katie?

Advertisement Voice (19:36)

You're blaming it on the food?

Joe Getty (19:37)

Well, I don't know what it is, but there's something going on that allows some people to get like really, really, really big. That just never happened in the past. And I don't know what that is, but to pretend that it's healthy and something to be proud of is kind of a weird direction to go.

Jack Armstrong (19:56)

Boy in the hole. And it's mostly young women, of course, but the whole I'm defiant, I'm a rebel, I'm a practically a guerrilla warrior for one cause or another thing. My God, that's tiresome these days.

Joe Getty (20:08)

Anyway, I don't want to get sidetracked by this because I got this story, Katie. I've already told Joe a little bit of it. We had the story last week about Southwest Airlines was going to start cracking down on people that are too big for one seat, making them buy another seat. And then the pushback was, well, you're profiling people, of course. The answer is yes. We're looking at people that look like they're too big for one seat and then, you know, going and measuring them and if they're too big for one seat, we're going to charge them to check it. Well, they either backed off that or haven't implemented the strategy or missed one or something because this woman sat in the middle seat with me on Southwest coming back from Wichita, Kansas. And, and you know, God bless her, I don't know how she, she ended up this big. Could be no fault of her own. Whatever. Let's leave that out of it. She was £500. If she was £5. And I mean, she, she started to get in, I thought, how's she even going to get into this how's she even going to get through the. And she pushed up both the arm things because there's no way she could sit between the arm thing. I think she sat in the middle because if she sat in the window, you know, the wall doesn't move. And if she sat in the aisle, she'd be in the aisle and people couldn't get through. So she sits in the middle. And she was easily half of my seat and the, and the seat on the other side. And I'm basically turned flat up against the wall like I'm a lizard on the wall or something like that, with my arms out and one leg crossed over the other. That's the way I sat for two hours.

Jack Armstrong (21:36)

How is that fair to you as a guy?

Joe Getty (21:38)

I paid full price.

Jack Armstrong (21:40)

And did you, at any point, did you think of excusing yourself and going and talk to a stewardess? No.

Joe Getty (21:46)

No, I did not. I was super tired. I thought, maybe I can sl. Like this. I was so tired because we flew out at like 6 in the morning, but I don't. I didn't know what to do. If it had been my son with all these OCD problems, he would have not been able to handle it, pressed

Jack Armstrong (22:01)

up against them the whole time.

Joe Getty (22:02)

I don't know. Well, first of all, going to. Unless I want to have this conversation in front of the lady, which would be awful. How was I going to get out? I mean, there was no way I could go to the bathroom. That's not even on the. Not even an option for me at any point during the flight, say, hey, could you excuse me? So I could get out? Because there's just no way that she could. I mean, it's such a process for her to get in there, for her to get out. So I could have gone to the bathroom. So I'd had to do that and go talk to a, an air stewardess and say, look, I paid full price. I got half a seat. Can I get. Either get half my money back or move? But it was a full flight, so somebody was gonna have to sit there.

Jack Armstrong (22:36)

Oh, boy.

Joe Getty (22:37)

But they gotta figure that out.

Advertisement Voice (22:39)

Oh.

Joe Getty (22:39)

It was the first time I'd ever seen anybody actually use an extension. She had the extension with her all rolled up, and she sat down and she reached, like over into my seat and clicked it on and spread it out and wrapped it all the way around her and then clicked it in. It was like an extra three feet. And then she rested her arms on top of her body and then sat there like that for two hours.

Jack Armstrong (23:02)

Meanwhile, if the top of your backpack

Joe Getty (23:04)

sticks out an inch from the seat underneath in front of you, it's a hazard, right? Oh yeah. If there had been like an emergency, we got to get out. I'm dying. There's no getting out of there because she can't get up and I can't get out. So I don't know. Southwest, you're not being too picky. I feel bad for that woman, but that is insane. That just can't happen.

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Jack Armstrong (25:00)

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Jack Armstrong (26:30)

start off with Tucker Carlson, who has been in absolute freefall with Republicans. I mean just take a look at this, look at this Trend line. Tucker Carlson's net favorable back in March of 2024 when he and Donald Trump were very close friends. Look at this. He was at plus 54 points. Look at where he is today at only plus 7 points among Republicans and that includes GOP leaning independents. I mean that is a drop of what, 47 percentage points? My goodness gracious. When you go up against Donald Trump and you want to appeal to the Republican base to quote the movie Good Burger, you go on the grinder. And that is exactly what has happened to Tucker Carlson who has absolutely collapsed among Republicans.

Joe Getty (27:09)

Well, is it, is it all that because he went against Trump or because he outed himself as either completely nuts or shilling for some enemy of the of the United States?

Jack Armstrong (27:22)

One of the Tucker Carlson as they call him, Right? Yeah. Yeah. On the other hand, more people should quote the media the movie Good Burger. Well, well done, Harry.

Joe Getty (27:33)

My kids love that movie with a young Kenan Thompson. I went from what I used to watch Tucker every single night on Fox and loved a lot of his stuff to I think he's one of the most dangerous, awful human beings on earth. And it's not because he went up against Trump that I think that.

Jack Armstrong (27:52)

No, not at all. So I want to talk a little bit about the conspiracy theory thing. We're all familiar with the various, you know, qanon ish or what have you, the current Bizarro Candace Owens Tucker. It's always the Jews stuff and the psychology behind it by one of our favorite authors. But just by way of example, here is Candace's own tease for her show. This week on Candace and this was last week, but this week on Candace, Candace Owens cross hatches a link between BB Net, Yahoo, Mitt Romney, the CIA and Brigham Young University in Utah. All of this, however, ties back to the Charlie Kirk assassination and the lingering questions surrounding it. As alleged shooter Tyler Robinson's trial begins, already filled with holes, Candace is determined to get to the truth no matter the cost. Then she mentions the CIA and Erica Kirk and whatever. Okay, so that's her own tease for the show. And then the actual producer of the Charlie Kirk show responding to Candace trolling him, saying why haven't you played the video? Blah blah blah. Something to do with that whole grand theory. And Blake Neff, the producer of the Charlie Kirk show writes, candace, we haven't bothered playing it because we know psychopathic predators like yourself do not care what is true or false. And normal evidentiary logic Evidentiary logic has no effect on you. You're the kind of person who sees coded messages in the number 33 but then ignores evidence like DNA on a rifle or Tyler Robinson's own family members turning him in, playing the audio at blah blah blah. You're obviously you'll just say it's an AI or hologram or an Israeli actor or something. So what's the point? We gave up the possibility of any good faith conversation with you months ago. It's like trying to reason with a maniac brandishing a knife and screaming at people on the sub way. You're the same thing.

Joe Getty (29:35)

Does she she an act or she actually a maniac? That's what I don't know about her or Tucker.

Jack Armstrong (29:43)

I assume the people who run these things are an act. They've just understood the psychology we're about to talk about and realized you can make obscene riches manipulating people.

Joe Getty (29:53)

Isn't that what we found out about Alex Jones when he was in the courtroom? In fact, he said that in the courtroom, right? Look, it's an act.

Jack Armstrong (29:59)

Yeah, I'm an entertainer. People love this. They've figured out the psychology I'm about to talk about. And quoting Arthur Brooks here who quoted a Couple of times. He now writes for the Free Press about matters of happiness and psychology and that sort of thing.

Joe Getty (30:12)

He's got a new book out that's damned interesting.

Jack Armstrong (30:14)

Yeah, he's super smart. Love, Arthur Brooks. Anyway, quote, they were kidnapping our loved ones and replacing them with a bitter hollow shell of what they once were. Which sounds like a line from Invasion of the Body Snatchers or something about aliens from a dying planet coming to Earth, blah, blah, blah, replacing humans. But it's not. It's actually a quote from a recent study in the Journal of Social and Personal relationships about the QAnon conspiracy theory which alleges that the government elite is dominated by a secret cabal of Satan worshiping, cannibalistic, Deep state pedophiles. Again, the quote is, they're kidnapping our loved ones and replacing them with a bitter hollow shell of what they once were.

Joe Getty (30:52)

Yes, you heard right. Cannibalistic.

Jack Armstrong (30:55)

Yes, yes. I mean, if they were merely Satan worshiping, Deep state pedophiles, that would be bad enough, but by God, the cannibalism is one step too far. For me anyway. Participants in the study described watching the theory take hold of their friends and family members, transforming them beyond recognition. Perhaps this scenario sounds familiar to you. You too may know someone who started doing his own research, quote, unquote.

Joe Getty (31:19)

But that's the exact phrase.

Jack Armstrong (31:21)

That's the exact phrase on politics, science or the economy. Then went down an Internet rabbit hole of posts claiming that some event or phenomenon was plotted by a clandestine group of powerful people or organizations, usually with sinister or malevolent intentions. Before you know it, he or she seems like a different person. His new beliefs dominate conversations and ruin relationships.

Joe Getty (31:41)

Yes, obsessive. Ding, ding.

Jack Armstrong (31:44)

Yeah. And then they. And then he goes into the fact that our current news cycle has no shortage of online influencers peddling even more ever more outlandish theories. And then he gets into the field of psychology trying to understand why people adopt conspiracy theories. And there are some explanations, like in the past few years that have come out that are just. They're dumb. I'm not even going to waste your time on them about narcissism or deficiencies in intelligence, because that's clearly not true. He quotes J.D. vance as saying when Susie Wiles said he was a conspiracy theory for a decade, Vance cleverly responded by saying he believes only in the conspiracy theories that are true. And then they touch on that a lot of conspiracies are conspiracies, whether the untreated syphilis study at Tuskegee, the Official discrediting of the lab leak, origin of the coronavirus pandemic. And. And then it turned out that was clearly and always was the most plausible explanation. And they were called nothing more than anti Chinese conspiracy theories. But even as conspiracy theories are completely fictitious and, well, nuts, it doesn't require a person to be a stupid narcissist to embrace them. Rather, and let's get down to the main point of this. Rather, psychologists believe that these narratives can be so compelling to regular people because they meet three deep human needs. The first is epistemic, or epistemic, which refers to the need to understand. Understand your own environment in an increasingly complex and confusing world. We all have that need. The second is existential, which is to feel safe and in control of one's environment. And the third is social, referring to the need to maintain a positive image of oneself and one's social groups.

Joe Getty (33:32)

Now, that one I don't understand. You're hanging out with some weird people, if that gives you some social credit.

Jack Armstrong (33:38)

Yeah, yeah. Well, he gets into that in a bit. But another way to account for these needs is that people crave coherence. In other words, an answer to the question of why things happen the way they do, from the weather to political events and world affairs. According to a couple of psychologists he names, coherence is one element of the meaning of life, the other to our purpose and significance. Without a sense of coherence, one's life is bereft of meaning. Meaning, in turn, is central to human happiness.

Joe Getty (34:04)

I understand all these human tendencies, but I feel like I could sit down with a lot of the people I know who believe some of this stuff and come up with a more believable theory that explains everything. Usually around human greed, right?

Jack Armstrong (34:21)

Often, yeah. Yeah. But he says the embrace of conspiracy theories is a way to gain a sense of coherence for people who otherwise lack it. Viewed another way, conspiracy theorizing is a lamentation of helplessness because life feels meaningless. The crisis of meaning lies behind the psychogenic epidemic of depression, anxiety and loneliness that afflicts our society today. So the world is confusing, it's ugly, it's seemingly random. And if that makes you feel helpless, you know, like, I agree with everything I just said, the world does seem that way. My response to it is, what are you going to do? But if it gives you a feeling of helplessness and there may be other factors in your psychology that lead you there, then life feels meaningless. Okay.

Joe Getty (35:08)

The other fact actors. I don't know if he gets into this or not. Because this is my current theory based on a couple of people I know.

Jack Armstrong (35:14)

Please.

Joe Getty (35:14)

Your life is a mess. It's such a mess it would be very hard to straighten out. In fact, maybe impossible. Latching onto something like this gives you way more control of your thoughts and emotions than dealing with the mess your life has become.

Jack Armstrong (35:32)

So you no longer feel helpless. Right. And your life has meaning.

Joe Getty (35:36)

Right. But it's driven there by the you made a mess of your life. So I wonder how often that happens.

Jack Armstrong (35:42)

Right, right. And then he talks about how religion and civic organizations and just being with people has fallen off. So much goes into a bunch of data and it's shocking every time I see it. But he said so where do people turn for coherence if they don't trust journalists, doctors, scientists and clergy to tell them the truth? The answer is the Internet, where once fringe ideas can propagate with astonishing speed and efficiency.

Joe Getty (36:06)

I don't trust any of those people on that list either. Certainly not blindly. Not even close to.

Jack Armstrong (36:12)

Right.

Joe Getty (36:14)

I'm practically that whole, I don't remember where that comes from, that if your mother says she loves, you still get a second source. Yeah, I'm close to that, but that doesn't make me run to Candace Owens or Tucker Carlson for the answer. That's what I don't get. Why do you believe them? So you don't believe that person. I get it. I don't believe that person automatically either. But you believe them, Candace and Tucker, I guess for all the reasons you just explained.

Jack Armstrong (36:42)

Yeah, yeah. And I'm sure it's a certain personality type and people in a certain circumstances you so well described. It reminds me, I didn't get it when I heard this the first time, that the most terrifying thing you could ever do is spend five minutes in somebody else's mind. But now I get it. If I was in somebody's mind, who would tend to fall for that sort of thing. And maybe it's some of you good folks. And I'm not here to judge. I sympathize because you're being led way, way astray by these people who are just greed heads. But yeah, I, I don't get it at all. My Bolas filter or whatever is, I don't know, it's too tight. I take no credit for it. It might be genetic, but yeah, it's troubling. Oh, and, and the one thing that I've thought for a long time and you've heard me say several times, is that it, there was a natural ecosystem of ideas for mankind for like our entire existence. Then it changed with the printing press, then it changed more with broadcasting and became much more immediate. But then the Internet has gone crazy. If I had a crazy ass idea, I would bounce it off my neighbors and my friends, maybe the people I worked with, maybe even a girlfriend or two. And if every single time I got. Are you serious? Are you out of your mind? No. After a while I think must have been mistaken. But you go on the Internet and there's no idea. So blank and crazy. You can't get name in from 15,000 people like immediately. It's a crazy reinforcement system.

Joe Getty (38:18)

Yeah. So to the whole conspiracy thing which you described is that one out of a hundred people, one out of a million people. What's the numbers on that? We don't know. And is it growing?

Jack Armstrong (38:32)

I wonder. I wonder. So what he goes into, what's the solution at the public level? It is to reestablish broader confidence in our institutions that previously provided a wide sense of care.

Joe Getty (38:46)

Okay, good. I'll do that this afternoon.

Jack Armstrong (38:48)

I'll get started today. Right. The solution at the individual level, which involves asking what you can do to win back the loved one who has gone down the rabbit hole, starts with a bit of neuroscience. Researchers have found that conspiracy believers exhib high activation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. You know, I suspected so. A brain region that's important for self understanding and emotional associations. What else do you suppose involves similar high activation that provides coherence in our lives? Romantic love. Very similar ventromedial prefrontal cortex reaction.

Joe Getty (39:26)

So if you know somebody who's a conspiracy nut job like this, ask him out or hit on them or tell them you love them.

Jack Armstrong (39:31)

Well, if you want to get married, yeah. As does deep friendship. Not coincidentally, these phenomena are negatively associated with holding conspiratorial views. Researchers have hypothesized that love acts as a protective agent against these ideas. Whereas social isolation or maybe screwing up your life so much your connections have broken increases the likelihood of holding these beliefs. Wow.

Joe Getty (39:54)

Love her.

Jack Armstrong (39:55)

Bluey goes the truth bomb.

Joe Getty (39:57)

Love holds this stuff at bay.

Jack Armstrong (39:59)

That's wild.

Joe Getty (40:03)

That is really interesting.

Jack Armstrong (40:04)

I'm telling you. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Truth bomb.

Joe Getty (40:10)

And if you don't have that in your life, you got to fill it with something. And you fill it with this nonsense. Yeah, that is super interesting.

Jack Armstrong (40:18)

And again, the, the Tucker's Carlson and Candace's Owens and several other names I could check have understood this psychology. And they know precisely what buttons to push, when and how they're brilliantly evil.

Joe Getty (40:35)

So if you hear about somebody who's believing like the worst of the Epstein stuff that George H.W. bush was eating babies.

Jack Armstrong (40:41)

Yeah.

Joe Getty (40:43)

And you think, who would believe that? You should be grateful that you clearly have like, loving relationships in your life that make that impossible to fit in there.

Jack Armstrong (40:54)

Right? Right. Everybody knows George Bush would never eat someone till they were a teenager. Come on. Right.

Joe Getty (41:03)

He wasn't eating underage people.

Jack Armstrong (41:05)

He was a decent man. That's so wow. Yeah.

Joe Getty (41:10)

There are lots of people who believe that. The lots. I don't know if it's a million people in the whole country or 10 million or 10,000 for that matter, but there's a bunch of people out there that believe it. Any thoughts on this? Texas we can check in on the blockade Wall Street Journal with an update on how the blockade is going there in Iran. Pretty interesting. Stay here.

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Jack Armstrong (43:08)

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Joe Getty (44:39)

video has surfaced in which a quadruple amputee cornhole champion accused of a road rage shooting is seen firing a semiautomatic rifle and standing on his head snorting

Jack Armstrong (44:50)

drugs off a dollar bill.

Joe Getty (44:53)

So what's stopping you from living your best life? We had that story a couple of weeks ago and didn't even have the details of. Well, he hadn't been arrested yet.

Jack Armstrong (45:05)

I guess

Joe Getty (45:08)

that videos came out of him doing drugs, standing on his head or whatever. He's a quadruple amputee cornhole champion who murdered a friend with a gun because he's a shooting expert. Yeah, it's quite a story. It sounds like, you know, they have

Jack Armstrong (45:26)

those tall tale contests sometimes like Calaveras County I think in California holds one and sounds like the product of some fevered imagination.

Joe Getty (45:37)

So we have an update on the Trump Post where he looks kind of like Jesus Katie, you Went to the website.

Jack Armstrong (45:44)

Yeah, well, while you guys were talking

Joe Getty (45:46)

about it, I went to, you know, look at the image itself and it was there on his Truth Social and I just went back to grab the link to put it in hot links

Jack Armstrong (45:53)

and it has been deleted.

Joe Getty (45:54)

So somebody convinced him it was too much and he took it down. We got this text from somebody who is thinks we're being too critical, not saying he's Jesus after Ba Ba Ba. He's not saying he's Jesus. He's saying he's ministering and caring for our warriors who give incredible sacrifice. That's all he's doing.

Jack Armstrong (46:16)

Please look at the image. That's. I'm not even going to dignify that argument.

Joe Getty (46:20)

Sorry.

Jack Armstrong (46:22)

Dressed in the robes exactly like every portrait of Jesus, with divine light emanating from his hands and angels up above him.

Joe Getty (46:29)

Please.

Jack Armstrong (46:31)

It's not going to change the world, but it's idiotically blasphemous and inappropriate.

Joe Getty (46:35)

And the Statue of Liberty over his shoulder and the Lincoln Memorial, fighter jets in the air and bald eagles.

Jack Armstrong (46:41)

Bald eagles flying around,

Joe Getty (46:46)

I assume set to Lee Greenwood's song.

Jack Armstrong (46:49)

If there were audio, that would be it.

Joe Getty (46:51)

Yes. Here's an update from the Wall Street Journal on how the blockade is going, which is currently underway of the straight of Hormuz, according to us. According to Trump, no boats getting in out now. No boat. Sorry, Ryan, you ain't making any more money. According to the Wall Street Journal citing a senior US official, the US blockade of the Straight or moves is now in effect and per the official, 15 US warships are in position to enforce the blockade. Will we actually have to bring ordinance to bear to stop a boat from going through? I mean, that's the question the Wall Street Journal asks. If a boat goes through, we board it, we bomb it. We what do we do?

Jack Armstrong (47:30)

Wow. I guess we'll find out, right?

Joe Getty (47:33)

If you miss a segment of this show, get the podcast. Armstrong and Getty on demand. Our four is coming.

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Jack Armstrong (48:43)

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