Stay Tuned To Be Horrified!

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand: Episode Summary – "Stay Tuned To Be Horrified!"

Release Date: January 8, 2025
Host: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Produced by: iHeartPodcasts

In the "Stay Tuned To Be Horrified!" episode of the Armstrong & Getty On Demand podcast, hosts Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty delve into a myriad of pressing political and social issues with their characteristic blend of humor and incisive commentary. The episode covers topics ranging from geopolitical maneuvers in Greenland to the state of American education, the declining approval ratings of President Joe Biden, and catastrophic wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Below is a detailed breakdown of the episode’s key discussions, insights, and conclusions.

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1. The Greenland Conundrum: Potential U.S. Acquisition

The episode kicks off with an in-depth discussion about the growing talk surrounding Greenland and the speculative notion of the United States acquiring it. Joe Getty initiates the conversation by highlighting the recent frenzy over Greenland, comparing it to historical land purchases:

Joe Getty [00:23]: "Whether just buying it outright. I mean, if anyone think that's bonkers, it's like, well, we'll remember the Louisiana Purchase. I think Alaska was pretty, a pretty great deal to $50 million."

Jack Armstrong interjects with a humorous twist, imagining a swift U.S. annexation:

Jack Armstrong [06:26]: "57,000 people. We could take it in a day."

The hosts explore Greenland's strategic importance, particularly its proximity to vital Arctic waterways that are becoming increasingly accessible due to climate change. They express concern over Denmark's control and the potential for other global powers like China and Russia to exert influence in the region. Armstrong underscores the necessity for the U.S. to maintain a significant presence in Greenland to safeguard free trade routes:

Jack Armstrong [04:13]: "Greenland's incredibly important... if we're in charge of that, we need a serious say and we need a serious presence in Greenland."

Despite its current sparse population of approximately 57,000, the duo anticipates Greenland's rising geopolitical significance in the coming decades.

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2. Political Profiles: John Fetterman as a Moderate Democrat

Shifting focus to American politics, the hosts discuss Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, portraying him as a notably reasonable and moderate figure within the Democratic Party. Jack Armstrong observes a marked transformation in Fetterman's demeanor, potentially influenced by personal health challenges:

Jack Armstrong [02:17]: "He strikes me as a very, very different dude. He is now the most utterly reasonable moderate Democrat in a lot of ways that I've seen on Capitol Hill in a long time."

Katie Green adds context by referencing Fetterman's background and previous portrayal in the media as a "socialist" without mainstream political positions. This contrast sets up Fetterman as a potential stabilizing figure against more extreme elements within the party.

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3. Foreign Policy and National Security Concerns

The conversation transitions to broader foreign policy issues, particularly focusing on Iran's nuclear capabilities and the United States' role in ensuring global security. The hosts express apprehension about Iran's rapid enrichment of uranium, narrowing the breakout time for potential nuclear weapons:

Katie Green [09:09]: "The fact that Iran is closer to a bomb than they have ever been... Trump has hinted that he's willing to help on that project."

Jack Armstrong echoes these concerns, emphasizing Iran as a "frightened, cornered beast," making it highly dangerous:

Jack Armstrong [10:35]: "Iran is a frightened, cornered beast right now... When a beast is most dangerous."

Additionally, the hosts touch upon the geopolitical significance of Greenland in the context of U.S. strategy against China and Russia, advocating for a robust American presence to counterbalance other global powers' influence.

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4. Education Crisis: Radical Gender Theory in Schools

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to critiquing the implementation of what the hosts term "radical gender theory" in American schools. Referencing a report by the Heritage Foundation co-authored by Jack Armstrong, the hosts assert that:

Jack Armstrong [20:16]: "We found that the health frameworks of 16 states contain the pseudoscientific belief that biological is entirely divorced from gender... It amounts to roughly 37% of American students."

Katie Green vehemently condemns this trend, urging parents to withdraw their children from such educational environments:

Katie Green [21:32]: "Pull your kid out of that school if that's what they're learning. God, that is horrible."

The discussion highlights specific state mandates, such as Connecticut requiring students to define terms like "cisgender" and "transgender," and California mandating that even kindergarteners identify as transgender. The hosts argue that these educational policies are not only inappropriate for young children but also detract from essential academic competencies like mathematics and reading.

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5. Presidential Approval: Gallup Polls on Joe Biden

Turning to domestic politics, Armstrong and Getty scrutinize recent Gallup poll results indicating President Joe Biden's plummeting approval ratings:

Katie Green [31:44]: "Only 6% of adults responded that history would remember Biden as an outstanding president. He’s down in Nixon territory to start with."

Jack Armstrong compares Biden unfavorably to former presidents, noting that Biden ranks near the bottom in Gallup's historical comparisons:

Jack Armstrong [33:23]: "For Biden, he was an awful president. Awful on virtually every single topic."

Katie Green further elaborates on the polling data, revealing that Biden holds a net negative rating of -35, trailing only Richard Nixon at -42. In contrast, Donald Trump's first-term approval stands at -31, significantly better than Biden's standing.

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6. Wildfire Catastrophe in Los Angeles

The hosts provide a somber update on the devastating wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area, describing extensive property loss and ongoing dangers:

Katie Green [25:26]: "As you drive down PCH, you couldn't even see the water because they were home after home after home. They're gone."

Jack Armstrong expresses concern over the uncontained fires, exacerbated by relentless high winds:

Jack Armstrong [26:28]: "They’re still all 0% contained at this point. Howling winds all day today again. Oh, a nightmare."

The discussion underscores the immediate human and infrastructural toll of the wildfires, with thousands of structures destroyed and two confirmed fatalities. The hosts empathize with those displaced and affected, highlighting the severity of the natural disaster.

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7. Legal Scrutiny and Media Bias: Allegations of Lawfare Against Trump

Addressing ongoing legal battles faced by Donald Trump, the hosts critique media narratives and suggest possible judicial overreach orchestrated to tarnish Trump’s reputation. Referencing Mark Halperin’s comments, Armstrong and Getty discuss the timing and nature of legal actions against Trump, insinuating coordinated efforts to impact his political aspirations:

Jack Armstrong [29:11]: "These alleged crimes so fresh they were sushi grade... they all came down to an election year."

Katie Green reinforces this viewpoint by questioning the fairness and motivations behind the legal proceedings:

Katie Green [29:43]: "I don’t understand how more people don’t get it... Is this the way we want it to be going forward?"

The hosts argue that such legal maneuvers represent a broader pattern of partisan lawfare aimed at undermining Trump's potential presidency.

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8. Presidential Legacy and Future Prospects

Concluding the episode, Armstrong and Getty reflect on the legacies of past presidents, emphasizing how public perception evolves over time. They contrast the high approval ratings of figures like John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan with the current disfavor surrounding Biden and Trump. The discussion suggests that historical legacies are significantly influenced by the length and circumstances of a president's tenure.

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Closing Thoughts

Throughout the episode, Armstrong and Getty maintain a critical stance on current political developments, advocating for informed and proactive engagement with pressing national and global issues. Their blend of humor and serious analysis provides listeners with a comprehensive and thought-provoking overview of the episode's main topics.

For those interested in the full discourse and additional segments, subscribing to the "Armstrong & Getty On Demand" podcast is recommended to access all four hours of content.

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Notable Quotes:

• Joe Getty [00:23]: "I think Alaska was pretty, a pretty great deal to $50 million."
• Katie Green [22:41]: "Pull your kid out of that school if that's what they're learning."
• Jack Armstrong [04:13]: "Greenland's incredibly important... we need a serious presence in Greenland."
• Katie Green [31:44]: "Only 6% of adults responded that history would remember Biden as an outstanding president."
• Jack Armstrong [33:23]: "For Biden, he was an awful president. Awful on virtually every single topic."

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the multifaceted discussions of the "Stay Tuned To Be Horrified!" episode, providing listeners with valuable insights into the hosts' perspectives on pivotal issues shaping the contemporary political landscape.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty. Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

There's a lot of talk about Greenland, for example, now. And I know a lot of, there's a lot of freak outs, you know, and of course, I would never support taking it by force, but I do think it's, I do think it's a responsible conversation if they were open to acquiring it and, you know, whether just buying it outright. I mean, if anyone think that's bonkers, it's like, well, we'll remember the Louisiana Purchase. I think Alaska was pretty, a pretty great deal to $50 million. I think it was, it was record. It was, it was referred to as Seward's Folly. And now that was Alaska now. So, I mean, you know, open to having all kinds of convers as well.

[Katie Green]

I wish we could get away from the anything Trump proposes is automatically dumb and ridiculous thing. When I was in Washington, D.C. we went to the Air and Space Museum, which is, you know, the number one attraction for, especially for kids. But the amount of Space Force stuff they had in the museum shop. And remember how roundly that was mocked when Trump decided to put together a Space Force, another branch of the military, since we've got, you know, the ground, the air, the water, and now space.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hilarious.

[Katie Green]

What a dummy.

[Jack Armstrong]

I mean, I was practically unanimous.

[Katie Green]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

The mockery.

[Katie Green]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

In the mainstream media.

[Katie Green]

It was clearly a good idea. Probably overdue.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, right. You know, I want to get into that, that topic in the Greenland thing very briefly, but I love this, and as I said earlier in the show, I've never seen a change. Well, I'll put it this way. In my perception of a politician like John Fetterman before, and I don't know if it's the effects of the stroke or maybe having an incident that was incredibly scary and maybe he changed consciously, I don't know. But he strikes me as a very, very different dude. He is now the most utterly reasonable moderate Democrat in a lot of ways that I've seen on Capitol Hill in a long time.

[Katie Green]

Well, remember the backstory on him that we were constantly mocking was he's a socialist who grew up on his mom's couch and never had had a job in his life.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Katie Green]

And ran against Dr. Oz is how he ended up as senator. But he's, he's got entirely mainstream positions on almost everything.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. So he was reacting to the reaction to the press conference, the Trump press conference yesterday, in which Trump said a bunch of different things that are a little surprising, but if you run them through the Trump filter and you understand how he communicates, they're not that crazy at all. But he was reacting to the reaction on his side of the aisle. It's clip 57, Michael, when he said.

[Joe Getty]

This, I don't think we. It's not helpful to freak out, but some things might work out, some may not. But that's part of ongoing dialogue. But he hasn't even take office in two weeks. And, you know, we really need to pace ourselves if we're going to freak out over every last tweet or every last conversation or press conference.

[Jack Armstrong]

God is calm the hell down.

[Katie Green]

Is Senator Fetterman, the hoodie wearing stroke victim, going to be the one that drags America back to the way we used to be, where we didn't freak out about everything and everything wasn't a tweet blast reaction to all stories?

[Jack Armstrong]

I doubt it. I doubt it, too. Yeah. Anyway, so during hour one of the show, and if you missed it, grab it, you ought to subscribe to our podcast, Armstrong and Getty on Demand. But hour one of the show, we went into a fair amount of depth about the Greenland thing and we're not going to invade it. You know Trump, he's imprecise, he says provocative things, he lays out like a crazy opening offer and then gets down to business.

[Katie Green]

I say lay waste until they surrender.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. No quarter. Wow. Wow.

[Katie Green]

Take care of women, enslave their men, whatever you got to do.

[Jack Armstrong]

But as we talked about during hour one of the show, Greenland will soon have unbelievable, difficult to describe how huge a geopolitical significance it and the waterways around it are going to have, particularly if the warming continues. The global trade, a huge percentage of global trade will be going around Greenland, through the Arctic passages which are going to be opening up. And Greenland is a protectorate, a territory of Denmark of all places, and under the umbrella of the eu. And if it's up to Denmark to ensure the free passage of shipping and trade around the world, I'm a little worried about the free shipping and trade around the world. And so Trump's point, and as usual, you've got to like dig into it to figure out what the hell he's talking about, which is one of his greatest failings. He has strengths. He has failings like all of us. But if the US Is going to be the country that ensures the continuation of free trade and not trade under the mob like stranglehold of Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin and whoever Succeeds them in the Arctic. If we're in charge of that, we need a serious say and we need a serious presence in Greenland, and I think that'll happen. We already have a pretty fair presence there. A space force port and a longtime air force base that I think is mostly space force now, but Greenland's incredibly important.

[Katie Green]

I'm going to guess. I think you have these facts handy, your Greenland facts. The population of Greenland is. I'm going to go with 6 million.

[Jack Armstrong]

Six million people, Jack, is that your guess?

[Katie Green]

That is my guess.

[Jack Armstrong]

What is the population guess? And the guess that you have is that. Scrolling.

[Katie Green]

Scrolling past imports and exports and, well, there is demographics.

[Jack Armstrong]

You have it, Katie.

[Katie Green]

Katie has it.

[Jack Armstrong]

You. You're close. 57,000 is the total population. Oh, yeah. It's a barren wasteland.

[Katie Green]

57,000?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Like a small. It makes the Yukon look like Miami beach in terms of climate.

[Katie Green]

Wow. Greenland is 57,000 people.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it's way, way, way, way, way north.

[Katie Green]

Well, then who cares?

[Jack Armstrong]

It soon will be much more hospitable.

[Katie Green]

Who cares? What they should.

[Jack Armstrong]

Because we don't conduct wars of conquest in the 21st century, Vladimir.

[Katie Green]

57,000 people. We could take it in a day. That's funny. That should be part of the story anytime they're talking about this. I was listening to npr and they had some politician on there who was in favor of Greenland coming under the American umbrella, and he's mostly worried about China and how China wants Greenland and, you know, both the waterways and their natural resources. Okay, you're a politician representing I don't know how many people. 57,000. All right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. I'm a flaming geek for this sort of thing, but the more I learn about Greenland, the more interesting it becomes. Partly just geographically. I remember being astounded. At one point, somebody mentioned to me that they're flying to Japan and that the flight goes over the pole. And I thought, how can that be the shortest way? Because I just picture Earth is you go around, like horizontally. You know, the way a map is oriented. I realize we're a ball floating in space. There's no such thing as horizontal, but, you know, you go around the equator or there's no going around the planet top to bottom. No, it's east, west, top to bottom. Like Greenland to Russia is nothing. And to China it's not that much either. So the Arctic is going to be one of the great geopolitical areas of struggle in the next 50 years. There's no denying it.

[Katie Green]

Katie Green weighs in with more Greenland knowledge.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's not knowledge, but I just think we should make an executive order, given the population, just National Guard, couple of lifeguards, maybe.

[Katie Green]

I feel like that's all it takes. Certainly. One tank you unload, one tank you roll into the Capitol, you put up our flag, and we're done.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, honestly, you probably don't even need that.

[Katie Green]

Katie said a couple of lifeguards might do the trick.

[Jack Armstrong]

I mean, if you, if you have a reasonably loud voice, you could probably assemble all of Greenland together in, in one stadium and shout to them and explain what going on and probably have a show of hands vote and be like, all right, all right, well, thanks. Thanks for coming along. Well, we'll have some flags brought in later, but just as you were. It's fine. The US Is pretty benign when it comes to being, you know, under our umbrella.

[Katie Green]

Elon could cut them each a check for like $10,000 and they'd all get on board. Probably wouldn't cost that much.

[Jack Armstrong]

And Don Jr. Is there. So it's like, we're already half done.

[Katie Green]

You know, we already got one guy over. Yeah. Don Jr going there yesterday and claiming. I just, I've always wanted to see Greenland. Oh, come on, that's silly. Speaking of foreign policy, before we take a break, and this is kind of like what Joe was bringing up yesterday, with the economy there, there's a possibility that there are some, and there's some bad news out there economically for Trump. That's just part of the business cycle that's got, you know, it's not anything he can do anything about or will be, be to blame for, but it's just kind of the way things go up and down with hiring and firing and mortgages and all that sort of stuff. Also with foreign policy, he's got a bunch of stuff that's landing on his desk. For instance, the fact that Iran is closer to a bomb than they have ever been. They currently, according to our own estimates, need about one to two weeks to get enough enriched uranium to be able to make a bomb. So their breakout time is faster than it's ever been. And Israel is sworn that, one, they don't want to let that happen, and two, they can't do it on their own. They need the help of the United States. Trump has hinted that he's willing to help on that project. I, if I had to bet money on a big foreign policy story of the first portion of Trump's first year, it's going to be Israel and US are going to take out Iran's nuclear program or something.

[Jack Armstrong]

Very much like that. Yeah. Something just tangential to that. You're 100% right. Yeah. Iran is a frightened, cornered beast right now. And this is not some sort of argument in favor of Obama's phony Iran nuclear deal. It's just a statement of fact. They are a cornered beast, and that's when a beast is most dangerous. So I'm sure our foreign policy wonks have their eyes squarely on them. If not, BB Netanyahu certainly does.

[Katie Green]

So Gallup came out with what people think of the Biden presidency where it ranks with other presidents. Not good. And I don't think it's going to get better over time. I think this is probably his high mark would be my guess.

[Jack Armstrong]

There's a certain emoji that I think is appropriate for describing the Biden administration's job in the White House.

[Katie Green]

Man, the press can claim Nancy Pelosi.

[Jack Armstrong]

And it ain't the smiley one.

[Katie Green]

Nancy can say he ought to be on Mount Rushmore, but that ain't the way people feel about it. Among other things we've got to talk about on the way.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty. We're probably not going to annex Canada, but this guy is probably gonna be running, running the place next. That would be the clip we discussed. Yeah. Hold on just a second.

[Katie Green]

My computer here.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, the damn computer. Here we go.

[Katie Green]

On the. On the topic, I mean, in terms of your sort of strategy, currently, you're obviously taking the populist pathway.

[Jack Armstrong]

What does that mean?

[Katie Green]

Well, certainly you tap very strong ideological language quite frequently.

[Jack Armstrong]

Like what?

[Katie Green]

A lot of people would. Would say that you're simply taking a page out of the Donald Trump.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which people would say that?

[Katie Green]

Well, I'm sure a great many Canadians, but like who? I don't know who, but.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, you're the one who asked the question, so you must know somebody.

[Katie Green]

Okay, taking the page of Donald Trump's book.

[Jack Armstrong]

But what are you talking about? What page? What page? Can you give me a page? Give me the page.

[Katie Green]

You keep saying in terms of turning things quite dramatically in terms of.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm not sure.

[Katie Green]

I don't know what your question is that. First of all, that's absolutely hilarious. That's perfect. And he might be the prime minister.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Pierre Poliev, he's the leader of the biggest opposition party. Really interesting guy. He really came to prominence when the, like all of Canada's political establishment blasted the freedom convoys those truckers were protesting, the COVID 19 mandate, among other things, and the vaccine requirements to be a trucker out on the road alone. But Poliev said no, these guys are right. And so as Canada tires of the empty promises and the progressive rot of woke Elvis and he's just resigned, Poliev is a good. There's a good chance he will be the next Prime Minister.

[Katie Green]

I don't understand.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's really interesting. Adopted son of a couple of schoolteachers, intense workout regimen that involves flipping a 500 pound pound tractor tire in a field and sprinting uphill while dragging a 75 pound weight sled.

[Katie Green]

How old is he?

[Jack Armstrong]

He's 45.

[Katie Green]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. In Canada they don't understand that somebody needs to be at least 80 before they're in charge.

[Katie Green]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Silly Canadians.

[Katie Green]

So the LA County Sheriff and the fire department, they're doing their first big update since the fire happened. They're now saying there have been two deaths. There are thousands of structures that have been completely destroyed. Thousands.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Wow.

[Katie Green]

That is gonna shake out in an interesting way. Especially the homes and businesses that didn't have any insurance for fire that got dropped in the last couple of weeks, which we found about out about earlier from a friend who had to abandon his home, which may have also burned down.

[Jack Armstrong]

And as today is dry and very windy again, today could be a nightmare. So certainly hoping and praying for the good people of that part of the world. Back to Canada, briefly. 55% of Canadians hold an unfavorable view of Polly. 55%. That compares to 74% negative for Trudeau and his party. So you think our politicians are unpopular, but this guy's rejected a lot of the woke crap that we've been railing against. I've got a great example for you. Next segment. If we can squeeze it in. The percentage of kids in America who are going to government schools where they are teaching radical gender theory. It's horrifying. Stay tuned. To be horrified.

[Katie Green]

In Canada? No, in the us in the United States. Okay.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Katie Green]

I don't understand why more politicians don't answer questions like that or sports stars or anybody. Because you're regularly attacked with like, generality. Some people say your philosophy. What people? What philosophy? What aspect of my philosophy?

[Jack Armstrong]

Your critics suggest. Well, they're wrong.

[Katie Green]

Or, or just say, what is your specific thing? Tell me what you're trying. Don't just hint at something negative and expect me to respond to it. What specific thing? Are you unhappy about that you want me to explain? I don't know why that doesn't happen more often. I think it would get you out of a lot of jams.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I would. I would agree There the tendency of human beings to go along with what's expected of them even if it's completely unfair. You know, it's the way we get along as a species. We're a social beast. But it goes way too far. Particularly when the other side. And I've got a good example of this coming up as well, particularly when the other side thinks, you know what, we're going to chuck the rules. We're not going to do the things that are, you know, the social lubricants that, that help people get along. We're just going to be mean as hell and make people dance to our tune.

[Katie Green]

I'm going to remember that in my own life. Just critics don't like your tone on this. Which critics? What did they say? My tone on what? What did I say specifically that you have a problem with? And then I'll respond to that as opposed to just a general something.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, right. Or say I chose my tone intentionally and I stand by it was specifically. Do you have against it? What's the problem?

[Katie Green]

That was good. Any. Any did it while eating an apple which makes it better.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which, which is a healthy snack typical of a guy who hurls 500 pound tractor tires about right. Stay fit.

[Katie Green]

How can you lift a flip over a 500 pound tractor tire?

[Jack Armstrong]

I can't. Wow.

[Katie Green]

I want to get to those Gallup ratings on how people feel about Joe Biden at this point. It's really quite a. More people agreed with you than you thought.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Katie Green]

I was listening to the press conference that they're doing right now about the fires in the LA area and I got a big complaint about that sort of thing that has bothered me my entire media career. It might be kind of controversial. I'll get to that later.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh no, not controversy.

[Katie Green]

Might make me look like a jerk. But that's all right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh boy, not again. So I meant to mention in discussing young Mr. Pollyv in Canada who may be the next prime minister, he told Jordan Peterson that his polling success comes down to voters rejecting, quote, horrendous utopian wokeism and the deteriorating economy. He could have been talking about the US and so that's one of the reasons I like the guy. And there's actually been some good news on the fighting neo Marxism because that's what all the wokeism is. It masquerades as moral or racial or whatever justice seeking. It's not. It's just a takeover. But Robbie Starbuck had another big victory. McDonald's has, has jumped far back from their crazy ass DEI goals, joining, you know, Walmart and John Deere and Tractor Supply and a whole bunch of others that have backed off of those post George Floyd trips down the crazy highway.

[Katie Green]

Is Nike on that list? Did they retreat?

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't think so, no. I remember Riley Gaines and her organization made that brilliant attitude a little girl. I'm sorry, that brilliant. I'm trying to read and talk at the same time. That brilliant advertising directed at Nike about protecting women's spaces and women's sports.

[Katie Green]

Yeah, my bro, my son is super into the variety of hot Nikes and stuff like that. And I thought, do I, do I want to support this company? I don't remember where they are. I know I hated them at one point.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. So anyway, the reason I bring all of that up is just to remind everybody, as I often say, this is not the beginning of the end. This is the end of the beginning. The troops have just gotten on the troop ships. GM has just converted from making cars to tanks. The fight has just begun dismantling all this stuff. And to that end came across a great piece by Daniel Buck in the National Review, who points out more than a third of American students, more than a third are being taught modern radical transgender theory. And he talks about, it seems every day another school unfurls a young trans joy banner on school grounds. Another library shelves a book delineating the tenets of gender theory. Another district hosts a drag event for children. But just, just how persuasive or pervasive rather is this stuff in schools? And he poses the question, are conservative media merely nut picking, finding the most egregious examples and putting them up on libs of TikTok, for instance, because he said there will always be some number of kooks, cranks and other screwballs holding conspiratorial views and exhibiting outlandish behavior. So are these stories representative or outliers?

[Katie Green]

That's very, very true. And I wonder that often, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

To answer that question in a recently released report for the Heritage foundation, my co author Jay Richards and I scan the health education framework of every state in America to see how many compel educators to teach the central tenet of gender theory, that gender is socially constructed. And I don't even like the term gender. It's. It's an intentionally confusing term. They mean sex. But anyway, do they encourage a distinction between sex or sex organs and gender, the latter of which is undefined or treated as a social construct? Do they introduce concepts of gender identity or sex assigned at birth to children now, do they Downplay or omit references to biological sex or sex differences? Do they employ terms such as cisgender, transgender and non binary? These are simple questions. Affirmative answers are evidence that a curriculum pushes gender ideology on teachers and kids. And in all, we found that the health frameworks of 16 states contain the pseudoscientific belief that biological is entirely divorced from gender. And because a number of these are high population states like California and New York, that amount. It amounts to roughly 37% of American students.

[Katie Green]

Wow. Over a third get that crap.

[Jack Armstrong]

You don't have to know how to read and write or anything in Connecticut. But they, for example, require that students be able to quote, define and explain differences between cisgender, transgender, gender, non binary gender.

[Katie Green]

Oh my God. Pull your kid out.

[Jack Armstrong]

Gender identity.

[Katie Green]

Pull your kid out of that school if that's what they're learning. God, that is horrible. Freaking unbelievable that you're teaching a little kid that a little kid's got to memorize that s. I want to say the real word because that's what it is. God, that makes me mad.

[Jack Armstrong]

In California, students are taught that children younger than kindergarten can identify as transgender. In fact, it's required they be taught that.

[Katie Green]

That is so crazy. And you know what? I would hate this if you were already succeeding in math and reading and the other important things. Yeah, but you've done.

[Jack Armstrong]

Great point.

[Katie Green]

You've dumbed down the what qualifies as proficient little by little over the years to where it's just embarrassing. Low, embarrassingly low to even pass. And the numbers are still in the toilet. How about you worry about that before you're teaching kindergarteners making them memorize the. The genderbread man.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, you want to talk about scores in the toilet? In the great state of Illinois, students are expected to discuss the role and use of hormone blockers.

[Katie Green]

That is so crazy.

[Jack Armstrong]

The Governor of Illinois, J.B. pritzker, is a monster. He's a neo Marxist gender bending monster.

[Katie Green]

Can you balance a checkbook? A what now? I can explain to you what hormone blockers are. I learned it in social studies.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's worth noting, he points out, many of these frameworks include explicit topics in addition to gender theory, abortion, lubrication, many others not fit to print.

[Katie Green]

Oh my God.

[Jack Armstrong]

And 37% is freak. Probably wrong.

[Katie Green]

You people are crazy.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is correct.

[Katie Green]

You're so crazy. Why?

[Jack Armstrong]

Avowed neo Marxists who've influenced soft heads into thinking this is morally correct.

[Katie Green]

Why is a grade schooler learning about sexual lubricants?

[Jack Armstrong]

Even in red states like Alabama, over half of schools teach about gender identity. The idea that a person could be a gender that doesn't match their biological sex.

[Katie Green]

God, and all this happened like an hour ago. What the hell?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah, it's absolutely insane and troubling. But again, we're at the end of the beginning, friends. It's you almost. If you step back and look at it as a political scientist or a student of ideas, you have to be in awe of their effectiveness at operating undercover first. Then cloaking themselves in what seem to be moral arguments or arguments against bigotry. That convinced a lot of again, I called them soft heads. Well meaning people that don't think critically that all of this crazy mumbo jumbo that nobody believed 10 years ago is now not only true, but it's so true that anybody who dares say, hey, can we talk about this for a minute? Ought to be rent, run out of polite society, ought to be ruined, ought to lose their career. Anybody who just says, whoa, can we tap the brakes here? If you still can't recognize a radical ideology and the damage it's doing, I pity you and get out of the way. The rest of us are going to fight it.

[Katie Green]

So that fire in the LA area fires, it's a whole bunch of different fires, is a horrific. They just had a big press conference. We can hit you with a couple of headlines on that. Fox is still saying they're expecting 100 mile an hour gusts today. That does not help fighting the fires, all of which are 0% contained at this point. We got a lot more on the way in a variety of topics. Stay here.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Katie Green]

What you see the, the remnants of flames, Those were all homes. And as you drive down pch, you couldn't even see the water because they were home after home after home.

[Jack Armstrong]

Now they are all gone.

[Katie Green]

And as he's going to pan all the way over to those lights far down there, those were all homes, you guys. They're gone. Yeah, it's quite amazing. I had some people texting me yesterday. This is the fires in the LA area, a couple of different spots quite far apart where they've got these fires going on. Including people we personally know who may have had their homes burned down. Some people are saying, man, have you seen the videos? Have you seen the pictures? And I thought, yeah, I mean I've seen fires and everything before, so I can imagine it. Then I actually saw some of the stuff on Twitter. Holy crap. I think it was the wind that made it so exceptionally crazy though. Actor James Woods, I was following his Twitter thread is a fire. His porch was on fire. And he's putting out pictures of it as he's loading up and taking off and getting out of there. And his neighbor's house burned down. And he thinks maybe his house burned down. He hasn't been able to go back. Thousands of buildings have burnt down. They've already announced. And so far, only two deaths that they've announced. But.

[Jack Armstrong]

And is it still all 0% contained?

[Katie Green]

Every single fire. 0% contained at this point.

[Jack Armstrong]

Howling winds all day today again. Oh, a nightmare.

[Katie Green]

Yeah. And last night, people I know that were sitting in the dark, electricity was completely off. And you know how the electricity goes out in a neighborhood. It's so dang dark you can't see anything. And they had to get in their cars and leave and try to find their way to a road that didn't have too much traffic. People getting out of the cars and run into the water. Like happened in Hawaii a while back. Oh, just horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible. Mother Nature, Joe. Mother Nature. I stopped following Mark Halperin's morning podcast after the election. I was on it every single day when he'd have the very latest news on Kamala Harris and Donald Trump's campaign and everything like that. Cause he's one of my favorite political journalists, and he's got some of the best sources in all of journalism. But I was looking at some of the quotes that he tweeted out today from his podcast this morning. I think you might find this interesting. Here's one thing he said. I have zero doubt that there was more coordination on lawfare than has been reported. I have zero doubt of that. And I think it could be extensively more Halpert and reported today. I think that we're going to see a congressional investigation about that. We might see a Justice Department investigation about the coordination. Maybe we'll see somebody in media come forward. Uh, I don't think lawfare is going to age well. I remember, you know, we were saying at the time, you're telling me all six of these cases magically showed up in an election year designed to have him in a courtroom while he's running for president. I'll be damned.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Some of the alleged crimes so fresh they were sushi grade. And some of them years and years ago.

[Katie Green]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

And they all came down to election.

[Katie Green]

Year and obviously coordinating them. The timing of those would be completely uncool from a justice standpoint. So sure. Also on that sort of thing, Mark Halperin said this morning, I never predict the outcome of judges, justices, or jurors But I'm making an exception today. I think the Supreme Court is going to get involved in the, and block the sentencing in the Stormy Daniels case. I think the Supreme Court will stop this. I don't even remember where that one is. What, what did he get? What did he, he owes her money or.

[Jack Armstrong]

I happen to just be reading about this. This is Judge Juan Mern, who had months and months and months to decide on schedule, scheduling the sentencing and when and whether to do it, and announced with three weeks before the inauguration. Yeah, we're going to do it in two weeks. And how that was unprecedented and crazy and unfair. And it was clearly so that Trump would be branded a felon as he took the Oval Office and not be able to appeal it in time.

[Katie Green]

Right. So that gets to the whole. There's some coordination going on here.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, and by the way, that was written in Slate for the love of partisanship. The far left state Slate was like, this is not cool. This is not good judging.

[Katie Green]

Well, right. And as we have said a million times, but I don't understand how more people don't get it if I'm a lefty. You let this go. You think the right's not going to do it when they have the power to do it to your guy? Is this, is this the way we want it to be going forward? Of course not.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Boy, it's hard to get those arguments to stick. People are so feverish for power and they're so cynical in the political establishment. I have more on that to come, but I don't want to get in the way if you have more.

[Katie Green]

There's one more thing that's not related to that from the Mark Halperin podcast this morning. And I just thought this was interesting. They were talking about a variety of things and Trump discussing Greenland and, and, and its benefits and everything like that. And Sean Spicer, who, if you remember was Donald Trump's first White House press person, said, I have always been shocked by the level of detail that Donald Trump can command, said Sean Spicer. His level of recall is, honest to God, like no one I've ever seen before. Find that interesting. Oh, and specifically saying about things he cares about. So if he doesn't care about something, he hasn't looked into it. He has no interest, as we've all seen, and he knows very little about it and is willing to spot off about. But if it's some issue he's interested in, like, I think for whatever reasons he's decided Greenland is important, apparently he has tons of knowledge about it and looks into it and can recall it.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's funny you should bring that up. I was watching some of the news conference yesterday, and it struck me that because Trump's speaking style makes me insane, how he doesn't finish sentences and he leaves things unsaid and he gives his opponents, you know, clubs to club him with. But it occurred to me, I can't remember what he was talking about, but I could see in his eyes this is a guy realizing that there are so many tangents to what he's saying if he starts down that it's going to turn into a. Just a cul de sac. And so he just kind of left off, because I've often thought, and I'm not proud of this, that he just. He had nothing else to say. But I could tell at that moment he had so much to say that he was just kind of leaving it alone. And his speaking style is still frustrating, but I think it's. It's not what I thought it was necessarily way.

[Katie Green]

So I teased this a couple of times. I should mention it. Gallup is out with a poll of where Joe Biden ranks as presidents in people's minds currently. And these numbers change over time. Some people go up, some people go down. I feel like Biden's going to go down over time. If anything, I could be wrong, but I agree completely. He doesn't start from a good spot. Only 6% of adults responded that history would remember Biden as an outstanding president. 13% thought he'd be regarded as above average. So above average and outstanding adds up to 19%. And we'll get to some of the other presidents to see how it compares here in a little bit, but that's very low. Another 26% said Biden will go down. His history is just average. So Biden's -35 percentage point net positive rating ranks near the bottom of the list. I'd say near the bottom. And this is all modern presidents where they've done Gallup polling. So it goes back to Kennedy. Only Nixon is lower than Biden at minus 42 on the positive versus negative. Biden's at minus 35. So he's down in Nixon territory to start with. And I think he's going to go down from there. By the way, if you're wondering where some of the other presidents were, perhaps the guy you voted for, maybe Donald Trump in his first term, 17% outstanding, 23% above average. So that adds up to, obviously, 40%. And he's got 16% average. So he's in way better shape than Joe Biden after his first term.

[Jack Armstrong]

This idea is a bunch of malarkey. Sometimes negative feelings fail as you were hinting at or I'm sorry they fall as you were hinting at earlier. I don't think it'll be that. So for Biden, he was an awful president. Awful on virtually every single topic.

[Katie Green]

And so much more information is going to come out about how bad his brain was and how and become more clear how awful it was for him to make the decision to run again. And yeah, yeah. So like Trump has got pretty high numbers. Those are people who like Trump have voted for Trump. Trump has the highest negative or tied for the highest negative number with Biden at 31 who think he was a poor president. That's Democrats. The difference with Biden is those Democrats, the few that said he was positive, when they find out how bad a shape he was and he ran anyway, they're going to turn on him. So that's.

[Jack Armstrong]

I would. His, his numbers are going to expect, so they should. Yeah.

[Katie Green]

By the way, your two highest ranking presidents, number one, John F. Kennedy, who's only president for 38 months, I think John F. Kennedy, 22% outstanding, 48% above average. That's a huge number for whatever reasons.

[Jack Armstrong]

Some of it is to me it's like looking back on the career of Nirvana. Kurt Cobain, I mean he died young. I remember talking to my parents about this, the worshipfulness of JFK in school and they said, you know, he didn't finish his term. And there are some pretty serious birds coming home to roost.

[Katie Green]

Reagan and Obama with very high numbers. Also a couple of two term presidents in modern history, Biden and Trump down toward the bottom.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hour four of the show you might find interesting. And if you don't get hour four live, grab it via podcast. You ought to subscribe to Armstrong and Getty on demand. I'm not a fan of cynicism, I'm a skeptic and a realist. But there's one area of life that you ought to be bitterly cynical about. We will discuss. Hope you can stay around Armstrong and Gettysburg.