That's Why I Take The Bullet Train Everywhere

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: "That's Why I Take The Bullet Train Everywhere"

Date: September 23, 2025
Hosts: Jack Armstrong, Joe Getty, Margie
Producer: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

This episode is a fast-paced, irreverent look at current political headlines and culture wars, focusing on California’s economic and climate policies, the ongoing TikTok ownership drama, education and “anti-American” history, Kamala Harris's new book and rumored presidential run, and the complexity of political boycotts in modern America. The show, as always, features sharp banter, a skeptical lens on political spin, and a strong emphasis on cultural narratives and media influence.

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Key Topics & Discussion Highlights

1. TikTok’s Future: The Billionaires Step In

[01:15 - 02:25]

• Jack Armstrong announces that Trump claims "billionaires Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and the Murdochs will be involved in the deal for TikTok".
• Margie and Jack riff on the optics of an elderly Rupert Murdoch managing a teen-centric platform.

  “Your beloved TikTok will be perfectly safe in the hands of this 94 year old man.” – Jack Armstrong [01:38]

• Margie points out confusion in the reporting about whether the TikTok algorithm will stay the same, questioning if a changed algorithm is really still TikTok.

  “If it’s a different algorithm, it’s not TikTok, it’s something else you’re calling TikTok.” – Margie [02:10]

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2. California’s 'Donor State' Myth & Economic Realities

[02:25 - 09:34]

• Jack critiques Governor Gavin Newsom’s claim that California is a ‘donor state’ subsidizing ‘moocher’ red states, heavily referencing Stephen Malanga’s piece in City Journal.
• Federal funds received by states are broken down, making the point that California’s lower share of federal payments is due to demographics and state policies—not bias.
• Businesses leave California because of a hostile regulatory environment; state receives less in federal contracts.
• California does receive plenty in federal grants due to high poverty and undocumented immigrants.
• Takedown of the “red moocher states” meme:

  “That red moocher state thing is a complete myth.“ – Jack Armstrong [06:24]

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3. California’s Climate Policy “Own Goal”

[06:26 - 11:48]

• Jack and Margie lampoon the backfire of California’s anti-fossil fuel regulations, arguing it has only increased pollution and gas prices.
• The state now imports dirtier oil from places with worse environmental records, gas prices may exceed $8/gallon, and infrastructure can’t meet import demand.
• Margie quips, referring to California’s infamous hi-speed rail:

  “That’s why I take the bullet train everywhere. I took the bullet train to work…” – Margie [09:34]

• Jack labels California energy policy “the biggest own goal I’ve ever seen.” [09:49]

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4. The “Bad America” Narrative in Education & Public Spaces

[11:48 - 20:00]

• Margie shares her frustrations with history teaching in her son’s school: curriculum focuses on land acknowledgments and settler colonialism rather than foundational American history.
• Both hosts criticize the shift in public plaques and textbooks to emphasize the negative aspects of America, drawing analogies to obituaries and anniversary speeches:

  “Why are we focusing on the most negative part and acting like that’s the only thing to look at?” – Margie [17:46]

• Jack says this is a deliberate effort by activists “to end Western civilization as it stands and turn it into a Marxist paradise.” [17:56]

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5. Kamala Harris’s Book, Presidential Ambitions & Media Tour

[21:49 - 33:38]

• Margie predicts Kamala Harris will discover that “none of the heavyweight people” will support her, and will drop out soon.
• Discussion of Harris’s book 107 Days—its delays, the criticism from Mark Halperin (“wishy washy” [22:31]), and analysis that Harris reduced Pete Buttigieg “to a label and dismissed him as unelectable solely because of his sexuality.” [25:08]
• The hosts skewer Harris’s rambling interview style:

  “She’s the greatest parenthetical speaker in the history of speaking.” – Margie [27:47] “Let’s practice. I want you to say, the dog got wet in the rain.” – Jack Armstrong [28:48] (followed by hilarious word salad impressions)

• They cite Hector Barajas’s withering critique:

  “From her released excerpts, 107 Days isn’t a campaign memoir, it’s a political obituary. Harris comes across as petty, insecure, and consumed with excuses.“ – quoted by Jack Armstrong [31:13]

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6. The Boycott Maze & The Disney Octopus

[35:35 - 39:17]

• The hosts, with a clip from Jon Stewart as Rupert Murdoch, talk about the absurd difficulty in boycotting any major entertainment conglomerate like Disney given their reach:

  “I just can’t… not have Hulu because it’s under the Disney umbrella of something else that I don’t agree with politically.” – Margie [37:06]

• Margie mentions personal experience with being “flipped off” for driving a Tesla Cybertruck, calling out the futility and complexity of politicized consumer choices.

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7. Improv in Comedy & Final Thoughts

[39:17 - End]

• Margie shares a tidbit from Rob Reiner’s appearance on Bill Maher: the original Spinal Tap was “entirely ad libbed” [39:14].
• The crew reflects on the nature of improv, comedic genius, and the editing process.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On California’s climate backfire:
  “Super high prices, dirtier gas, dirtier oil, more environmental damage... but you get to say ‘we don’t do that dirty, dirty oil stuff in California.’” – Jack Armstrong [08:51]

• On educational narratives:
  “If more people knew about it, there would be riots in the streets. Well, when—it's astonishing to me there aren’t riots in the streets. I’m not calling for riots. I'm calling for a shutdown of government schools.” – Jack Armstrong [12:34]

• On Kamala Harris’s book tour:
  “She is the greatest parenthetical speaker in the history of speaking.” – Margie [27:47]

• On political boycotts:
  “I don’t live my life that way. I can’t…not have Hulu because it’s under the Disney umbrella of something else that I don’t agree with politically. Just seems like such a complicated way to live.” – Margie [37:06]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:15 – Trump announces billionaire involvement in TikTok deal
• 02:10 – Debate over TikTok’s future algorithm
• 02:25 – Gavin Newsom’s ‘donor state’ claims and Malanga’s debunking
• 06:26 – Climate backfire and California’s war on oil
• 09:34 – “I take the bullet train everywhere” satire (episode title tie-in)
• 11:48 – Plaques and the “bad American” history narrative in public spaces
• 15:05 – Public school history: focus on negatives, curriculum complaints
• 21:49 – Kamala Harris’s book and presidential ambitions dissected
• 25:08 – Critique of Harris’s DEI logic regarding Pete Buttigieg
• 27:47 – Margie: “She is the greatest parenthetical speaker...”
• 35:35 – The impossibility of effective political boycotts
• 39:14 – Rob Reiner’s fully improvised Spinal Tap
• 41:09 – Final thoughts and crew wrap-up

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Summary

This episode skillfully skewers the contradictions of California politics and culture, makes light of Kamala Harris’s media efforts, unpacks the pitfalls of “conscious consumerism,” and rails against the increasing focus on historical negatives in American education. The trademark Armstrong & Getty tone—skeptical, biting, and wry—permeates the discussion, offering listeners a touchstone of irreverence and contrarian insight in a media landscape dominated by spin.

Recommended for:
Anyone looking for a punchy, cynical, and policy-focused take on current events with comedic interludes and sharp social commentary.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Joe Getty]

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[Jack Armstrong]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln radio.

[Margie]

Studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center.

[Joe Getty]

Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Getty. Trump just said that billionaires Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and the Murdochs will be involved in the deal for TikTok.

[Rupert Murdoch]

Rupert Murdoch is 94 years old.

[Jack Armstrong]

Every time he exhales, it looks like he's doing the cinnamon challenge. President Trump suggested that media mogul Rupert Murdoch will be involved in the deal for US control of TikTok. So don't worry, kids. Your beloved TikTok will be perfectly safe in the hands of this 94 year old man.

[Margie]

I still don't quite understand the tick tock deal. Maybe it has to be completely done before we'll completely understand it.

[Jack Armstrong]

What are your questions?

[Margie]

Is the algorithm going to be the same or not? The reporting last week there were, there were outlets. CNBC said the algorithm was going to be the same. Wall Street Journal said it is going to be different. Well, if it's a different algorithm, it's not tick tock, it's something else. You're calling TikTok.

[Jack Armstrong]

All right. It's like buying the brand of Taylor Swift. But it'll be different songs, different music, different legs. Yes, the leggy songstress. So speaking of high flying stars of media, you got Gavin Newsom of Cal Unicornia. He's the governor and he is hot for the presidency, obviously. And he's been defending his tenure in Sacramento by lauding the California way. He's trying to sell that to America. And I am going to quote Stephen Malanga fairly extensively here. Steven's a senior editor at City Journal senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He writes about economics a lot. But anyway, I found this very, very interesting because I heard Gavi the other day suggesting that California is a donor state. It gives more in taxes than it receives and it derives from balance of payment studies done a hundred years ago. And that red states. Well, he actually used, or you know, he actually, he quoted somebody who else used the term red moocher states. Blue states pay more in taxes than they take in. And those moocher red states are freeloaded on the backs of the American people. Unbelievable. And they quote some reports that came out in the early 2000s and even before that by the Rockefeller Institute. Now quoting Malanga, here's the truth. Some of the big the few politicians have ever bothered to investigate what these reports measure. Some of the biggest categories of spending aren't discretionary programs that help finance state budgets, but cash spent by Washington to people and businesses that earned it. That California and other states come up short in receiving this money can be a function of their own failings rather than any funding bias. The biggest category these studies measure is direct payments from the federal government to individuals like Social Security and government employee pensions. A big chunk is the money for people who have worked for and that the feds send them when they retire. Few budget experts would classify these as subsidies from Washington. And California residents annually receive about 10% less per capita than the national average in direct payments, in part because it's a relatively young state. And Malanga gives several statistics, but it has to do with the fact that it's miserably expensive to retire in California. In fact, it's the third most expensive state to retire comfortably. Only Hawaii and Massachusetts are worse.

[Margie]

Yeah, it's hard to imagine if you lived somewhere else that you had moved to California to retire, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

Federal contracting dollars constitute another huge spending category. This is money that businesses and other private entities earned for work performed for the government, especially for national defense, not money Washington disperses based on the state's population or tax contributions or whatever. It's buying fighter planes and that sort of thing. And California falls short on this measure too, about 28% less than the national average, partly because California is so hostile to business. Now there are fewer businesses per capita for the federal government to buy from because so many have fled. The state where California does quite well is in receipt of federal grants, some of which clearly represents spending that bolsters state budgets. Second largest category tracked by Moynihan style studies include Medicaid, federal highway funding, welfare, food stamps and education Subsidies. And given the very high poverty numbers in California and all of the illegal immigrants that have come into the state, California gets more significantly more per capita than other states in actual charity payments.

[Margie]

So.

[Jack Armstrong]

It'S time to trade less activism in Washington in return for more revenue at home for whatever active measures. Blah, blah blah. If Newsom is truly upset about California subsidizing other states, he might consider incorporating Mr. Moynihan's proposals into his presidential platform. Essentially leave more money in the states. You know, don't send $30 billion to the federal government, then beg for your share back. Anyway, so that red moocher state thing is a complete myth. Secondly, and this one's so good, this comes from Wall Street Journal, California's Great Climate Backfire Sacramento Democrats are allowing dirtier air to avoid gasoline price hikes. And California's war on fossil fuels is backfiring in spectacular fashion as gas prices, imports of Foreign Oil and CO2 emissions are all increasing. The response in Sacramento allow more oil drilling and dirtier blends of gasoline in the state. What happened to the climate emergency, you might ask? Then they go into the high high prices of gas In California, nearly 2 bucks more in Texas. Looming refinery shutdowns and declining in state crude production could drive prices even higher during the 80s. Did you know this? Most of the oil Californians consumed was produced in California. But then state regulations regulated the oil business right out of California. So instead of most of it, California produced only 23% of the crude its refineries used last year. Almost all of the rest was imported from abroad from countries that don't give a crap about the environment and drill way more dirtily. More imports have increased CO2 emissions and smog causing pollutants from tankers docking at the state's ports. Declining production is also making pipelines that carry crude to in state refineries less economically viable. If pipelines shut down, the state would have to import even more foreign crude oil. And looming shutdowns of the of two large refineries mean the state would also have to import just gasoline. We wouldn't be refining our own gas. Trouble is the state lacks the infrastructure to handle more imports. So a study this spring by a USC business school professor projected that gasoline prices could rise to more than $8 a gallon owing to constricted supply. None of this is good for Gavi, who's eyeballing the presidency. So he has now strong arm the legislature into saying yeah, all those environmental regulations and the cleaner gas and the summer gas blend and all. Let's Just throw that crap out the window to keep the prices high. So you get high prices in spite of that measure. Super high prices, dirtier gas, dirtier oil, more environmental damage during the drilling for the oil and you lose in every single environmental measure. But you get to say we don't do that dirty, dirty oil stuff in California. No, we just burn more of it than, you know, any other state in the union because the population's so big.

[Margie]

Well, that's why I take the bullet train everywhere. I took the bullet train to work. I take my kids to school in the bullet train. We went camping this past weekend. We rode the bullet train up to our campgrounds.

[Jack Armstrong]

Absolutely hilarious.

[Margie]

You laugh, I laugh.

[Jack Armstrong]

Gavin Newsom and the Democrats. Energy policy in California might be the biggest self goal, own goal they call it in soccer I've ever seen.

[Margie]

Yeah, it's worked so far. I wonder if it will keep working because people didn't catch on to the fact. Oh, that is so admirable. You don't drill for oil in your state. Well, the gas has got to come from somewhere. So we buy it from places who do a worse job of drilling oil.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. And it jacks up more smog and pollution which unlike, you know, CO2 emissions which is allegedly behind some climate change. The smog and pollution actually hurt people's health. They damaged lungs and it's bad for children. And the rest of it. CO2 is theoretical and maybe has some effect on climate change. More smog hurts people and you're going to get lots more smog.

[Margie]

Yeah. I don't know why we can't be grown ups around us. The Keystone pipeline, remember that was such a big deal during the Obama administration. Everything and it finally got killed, was obviously a good idea. It was going to, it was going to be a safer, cleaner way to transport oil around the country, but is up like a pipeline. It was like doubling down on fossil fuel so you don't have it and then you gotta buy again more oil from more expensive places or transport it in dirtier ways and trains and trucks than the pipeline.

[Jack Armstrong]

You can pretend that we're not using oil anymore.

[Margie]

It's so childish.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's, it's performative 100 which, which is fine. If it's just performative. If it's performative and it squanders tax dollars, that's a problem. If it's performative and squanders tax dollars and makes the air dirtier so they convert you signal it's abhorrent. But you too, America can have this sort of government and management and leadership Vote Gavin Newsom in 2028.

[Margie]

I was thinking about Do I want to talk about the deadline was last week for national parks to fall in line with the new regulations that the Trump administration has of not having any plaques or anything like that. That that bad mouth the US and now you got all your museums are in the same situation. That whole topic. I find that topic pretty interesting since I've run up against it with my kids quite a few times. Every damn plaque everywhere. It's got something about climate change, what we were just talking about or how evil we were to the Indians or slavery.

[Jack Armstrong]

Every single one that reminds me when I was gone. Did you do some version of your conversation with Tim Sandifer on the air?

[Margie]

I did, yeah. About the Indians.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh good.

[Margie]

Yeah, I read that stuff.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh my God, the Marxist indoctrination in so many of America's kids schools rather of the kids. If more people knew about it, there would be riots in the streets. Well, when it's astonishing to me that there aren't riots in the streets. I'm not calling for riots. I'm calling for a shutdown of government schools.

[Margie]

I want to. I want to use an example, see if this holds up of like an obituary for an individual or if you were saluting a 60 year wedding anniversary. The way you would talk about those things versus the way we talk about our history in my son's history class or in the plaque at your local park and see if that makes any sense. Anyway, I'll explain that when we come back.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

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[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

Hey there. I'm Mary Kathryn Hamm.

[Carol Markowitz]

And I'm Carol Markowitz. We've been in political media for a.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

Long time, long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's why we started Normally a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor.

[Carol Markowitz]

We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the truth seriously.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

So if you're into common sense, sanity, and some occasional sass, you're our kind of people. Catch new episodes of Normally Every Tuesday.

[Carol Markowitz]

And Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.

[Margie]

So I'm super sensitive to this issue, as I've talked about, because my son has taken American history. My son, my 8th grader, loves history class, and he is in a public school that is apparently not going to teach American history the way you and I learned it, where you talk about the revolution and the Founding Fathers, Constitutional Convention, all that sort of stuff. Because all they've done so far is talk about how this they had to write a land acknowledgment about the land we're learned we're have holding this class on used to belong to whatever tribe of Indians, which is just stupid on its own. I don't even need to go any further than that. What about the tribe that owned it before that tribe? I mean, what, what are we doing here? This is moronic. And I've since pulled my son out of this class. The other day, they were talking about settler colonialism, which anybody who uses that term ever is obviously a Marxist, but.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or a fool who's been seduced by Marxists. Yeah.

[Margie]

And it fits in with the story of Trump is trying to get national museums and parks and all that sort of stuff around the country to stop having all these plaques that badmouth the United States. So the NPR version of this sort of story is trying to whitewash history to try to cover up, you know, slavery and the ills of this country and all that sort of thing. And I have a feeling that's what my son's teacher would say. For too long we didn't teach this. Well, now we're going to teach the bad part. And I, I keep wondering, well, first of all, has any country ever done this before, ever, where you focus practically to the exclusion of everything else on your negatives? Why? To what end? What are you trying to accomplish? If you hadn't overcome the negatives, maybe you could still focus on it, but if you have overcome it, like, we don't have slaves anymore. If you have overcome the negatives, do you need to make that the focus of everything? And I was using the example in my own mind, and I think I brought this up on the air a while back of, like, an obituary and obituaries. They. They highlight all the stuff that a human being did that were more or less positive in their lives. You don't pick out. And then, you know, when he was 28 years old, he. He got cut speed and drunk and spent three nights in jail or whatever. You don't do that.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, it's a distraction from the totality of the story.

[Margie]

Right, right, right, right. And I was thinking of the example of like a 60th wedding anniversary or a. You talk about the wedding, the marriage and everything like that, and everybody's giving. Nobody stands up. Yeah, well, you know, I don't know if you remember this, but they separated briefly when they were in their 30s because he cheated on her.

[Jack Armstrong]

We.

[Margie]

We don't do that with. With.

[Jack Armstrong]

With.

[Margie]

With lives or towns or whatever. But why are we doing it with our country where we're focusing on the most negative part and acting like that's the only thing to look at?

[Jack Armstrong]

Two reasons. One, the activists want to end Western civilization as it stands and turn it into a Marxist paradise. They know precisely what they're doing. Like the teacher in California who said, I have nine months to turn them into revolutionaries, those people. That is precisely their goal. Then the other answer to your question is people have been convinced that that's how you are a good person, by hating. Loathing is evidence of being enlightened. The Marxists have convinced them.

[Margie]

I got to use this example because it's so good. So the other day, the last day he was in the class since I've pulled him out, they were talking about slavery. And somebody brought up. Might have been Henry, but somebody brought up the idea that there were black tribes in Africa capturing other black people and selling them to Europeans in the slave trade. They weren't racists. They just were okay with slavery and making money. He actually said in the classroom, apparently, well, they didn't know how bad slavery was in the United States. Yes, they did that, but they didn't know that what they were signing these people up was the evils of what slavery was in the United States. Oh, you're willing to capture people, sell them, take them away from their homes, but, you know, you didn't know how bad it was.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. I just read a great piece by a historian on that is one of the. Because, you know, more and more people have become aware. Wait a minute. At that time, slavery was ubiquitous. It was everywhere on earth. Every society. The Native Americans had slaves. The Arabs would enslave black people, the black people would. Everybody was enslaving each other, the Irish were enslaved, blah, blah blah. It was everywhere. And so the Marxists are like more and more people realize that. Okay, okay, let's go with slavery in America was extra bad. And this historian was disputing that ludicrous idea, you know, in various, you know, examples of here, there and everywhere. It was a little better over there, a little worse over there. But then 10 years later, it changed the rest. That is a false argument.

[Margie]

So crazy.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, it's deliberate. It's not crazy. It's thought out. It's smart. It's vicious.

[Margie]

Well, it's crazy that we put up with it and let our kids learn it in class.

[Jack Armstrong]

Amen. Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

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[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

Hey there. I'm Mary Kathryn Ham.

[Carol Markowitz]

And I'm Carol Markowitz. We've been in political media for a long time.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's why we started Normalely, a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor.

[Carol Markowitz]

We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the truth seriously.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

So if you're into common sense, sanity and some occasional sass.

[Carol Markowitz]

You're our kind of people.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

Catch new episodes of normally every Tuesday.

[Carol Markowitz]

And Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.

[Margie]

So Kamala's got a book out and she's gonna try to run for president. Or she thinks she's gonna run for president. She's gonna find no money lines up, none of the heavyweight people who work in campaigns are gonna join her, and then she's gonna quickly decide, I guess now is not my time. That is my prediction. But she does.

[Jack Armstrong]

Nor is any other time. Back to you now it's not your.

[Margie]

Time or any other time.

[Jack Armstrong]

Now is not my time to make it in the NBA. So I will stick with the business I'm in for now.

[Margie]

Her book 107 Days is out and I don't know, does the book ever actually come out or is it just because it seems like it's been coming out for weeks and months?

[Jack Armstrong]

It's like the Loch Ness monster. We'll just hear about it for the rest of our lives.

[Margie]

So she's done a couple of interviews making the rounds, and we're going to play Eclipse in a second. But this is Mark Halperin's take on her performance so far, if the former veep and book peddlers maiden media hit on Rachel Maddow is any indication. Wishy washy for mumdami. Wishy washy semi backtracking on boot hedge edge confusing on Biden's acuity open to a 28 run. Then there ain't gonna be much there for her. So wishy washy, I guess is how it came off. Let's hear a little bit of her on Rachel Maddow last night.

[Mark Halperin]

I guess. I guess I'd ask you to just elaborate on that a little bit. It's hard to hear with you running. As you know, you're the first woman elected vice president. You're a black woman and a South Asian woman elected to that high office, very nearly elected president to say that he couldn't be on the ticket effectively because he was gay. It's hard to hear.

[Kamala Harris]

No, no, no, that's not what I said. Said that that's that he couldn't be on the ticket because he is gay. My point, as I write in the book, is that I was clear that in 107 days, in one of the most hotly contested elections for president of the United States against someone like Donald Trump, who knows no floor, to be a black woman running for president of the United States and as a vice presidential Running mate, a gay man. With the stakes being so high, it made me very sad. But I also realized it would be a real risk.

[Margie]

I had forgotten.

[Jack Armstrong]

I had forgotten.

[Margie]

I had forgotten her meandering inability to ever say anything.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, she's a terrible liar, which is a shame because she needs to a lot. But Rachel says it hurts for me to. She's. Rachel's gay, in case you don't know this. But to hear that you wouldn't have him on the ticket because he's a gay man. And after, like a full word salad bar, she gets to. So it'd be too big a risk because. Because he's a gay guy. Yeah.

[Margie]

So that we're talking about Mayor Pete. We never set that up properly. Mayor Pete Boot. Edge. Edge who? She says in the book. We read this yesterday, this portion, that she liked him best but thought black woman gay guy is too controversial a ticket. Right. I think she's completely wrong because he would have been so much better than Tim Walls as a running mate.

[Jack Armstrong]

And let me rip off Hector Barajas, who writes for the California Globe. He pointed out that she wanted Pete as a running mate, but decided America, quote, couldn't handle a black woman and a gay man. And then Hector writes, think about that. Harris preaches diversity, equity and inclusion every. But when it came time to choose, she reduced Buttigieg to a label and dismissed him as unelectable solely because of his sexuality. That's not dei. It's the opposite. It shows her worldviews based on boxes, not on value or worth.

[Margie]

The Democrats are so wrong about this. I've been saying this since Barack Obama got elected. Barack Obama got more votes because he was black. Hillary Clinton gets more votes because she's a woman than she should have gotten if she was. The exact same qualifications in the dude and a dude. It helps you at this point. You cannot convince me that it holds you back being a woman. Even though Hillary, I guess, is out today talking about that sort of thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, that's her only she knows. So she's playing it again.

[Margie]

You know, if Kamala Harris had been a white guy with. With those chops, she wouldn't come close.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, she'd have been laughed out of the. Nobody would have even considered her. So anyway, so Rachel asks, hey, that. That's rough. You wouldn't have a little Pete because he's gay. That's the man, right? And Kamala rambles, I almost hear it again. That was some unbelievable word salading. And says, and. But it was too high a risk because He's a gay fella. Then she continued, no matter how, you.

[Kamala Harris]

Know, I've been an advocate and an ally of. Of the LGBT community my entire life. So it wasn't about. It wasn't about. Yeah, right. So it wasn't about any. Any prejudice on my part. But that we have short. We had such a short period of time, and the stakes were so high. I think Pete is a phenomenal, phenomenal public servant.

[Jack Armstrong]

But go ahead and say it.

[Kamala Harris]

And I think America is And would be ready for that.

[Jack Armstrong]

But.

[Kamala Harris]

But at. When I had to make that decision with two weeks to go, you know, and maybe I was being too cautious.

[Margie]

Yes.

[Kamala Harris]

You know, I'll let our friends. We should all talk about that. Maybe I was. Well, we are, but that's the decision I made. And I'm. And I, as with everything else in the book, I'm being very candid about that. Yeah.

[Margie]

No, you're not.

[Kamala Harris]

With a great deal of sadness about. Also the fact.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes.

[Kamala Harris]

That it might have been a risk.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my God. Surely there's some punctuation around here somewhere.

[Margie]

She is the greatest parenthetical speaker in the history of speaking.

[Jack Armstrong]

The whole thing is crazy.

[Margie]

Just clauses and parentheses and then brackets and then asides.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and just come out and say, look, I wanted to pick little Pete, but America is such a land of bigoted, you know, scumbags that they wouldn't vote for him. So I went with a straight guy who happened to be one of the great lame O's to ever appear on the American scene. Tim Waltz. Good Lord.

[Margie]

Well, the problem is, Rachel Maddow says it hur me that you wouldn't put him on the ticket because he's gay. And then Kamala says, after three minutes, I didn't put him on the ticket because he's gay.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Margie]

So that's where the problem is rambling. Why couldn't somebody get to her? Certainly her husband. Somebody. Somebody's got to say to her, subject, predicate. Subject, predicate, subject, predicate. Just keep that in your head all the time when you're speaking. Craft a sentence with a beginning and an end at a point.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let's practice. I want you to say, the dog got wet in the rain. Okay? The dog who was animals. And we all love animals for many years. And who can't love dogs? And with 107 days to have a dog.

[Margie]

Not to exclude cats, which are also in addition to horses and many other animals.

[Jack Armstrong]

But when you think about raining on pets and all sorts of pets, even rabbits and beginning pigs and smaller pets. When you think about rain falling on pets, you've got to think about the dog that is getting rained on. And her husband just says, ah, that's enough. I'm out of here.

[Margie]

Oh my God, look at cnn. Harris stops biting tongue as new book is released no, she's not.

[Jack Armstrong]

She's ended her silence.

[Margie]

She has not stopped biting her tongue. She's still doing it. I thought maybe she would with that whole I got nothing to lose at this point. I'm never running again. They rejected me. I'm off about it. Biden screwed me at every turn. Screw him. I thought she might actually say some things, but she, she. Well, because she's running again, she can't just come out and say what she wants to say.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, yeah, but she has said more than people normally do. Two more thoughts from Hector Brahas, whose piece I really liked. First of all, comma Harris new memoir, 107 Days could use a more honest title, like Everybody but me or 107 Ways to Blame Someone Else for My Incompetence. And then his his, his conclusion is and he talks about politics is tough. I can tell you. We all win, we all lose. The measure of leaders, how you respond, you learn, recalibrate and keep working. You don't torch your own. You don't publish a score settling memoir that alienates your team, your leadership, your base. Harris has violated some of the most basic rules of politics. Lose with grace, fight back smart, and never attack your own allies. From her released excerpts, 107 days isn't a campaign memoir, it's a political obituary. Harris comes across as petty, insecure, and consumed with excuses. Instead of showing leadership, she chose to air grievances and settle scores. This only reinforces what voters already knew. She was not ready, she was not capable. She was not fit to lead then, and nothing she writes now will change that.

[Margie]

I wonder what caused her to come across as petty and full of excuses.

[Jack Armstrong]

Perhaps. Perhaps because she is, to her core.

[Mark Halperin]

And everyone knows it, to her core, petty?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes. And full of excuses. Yes.

[Margie]

So I thought it was kind of interesting over the weekend. So apparently there's a little blurb in the book about why she didn't choose Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania. And she talked about the interview process and how he had brought up something about some artwork he would like to bring into the vice president's mansion. Or she asked about her something. It's weird that it came up as a topic. He would think of all the things you wouldn't get around until you were actually the person it was like what artwork I can bring in. But anyway, that blurb was in the book and he apparently did not dig it because he said over the weekend in an interview that he hasn't read the book.

[Jack Armstrong]

But she is going to have to.

[Margie]

Answer for how she was in the room and yet never said anything publicly about Biden's mental, mental acuity. So he's already sharpening his knives in case she decides to run. And I think also saying, hey, you might want to back off the whole taking me on thing like right now.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. Do not mess with Joshi. Yeah, she's going around saying it would have been self serving for me to say Biden shouldn't run again because you know, as the veep, if the guy's senile, you gotta set that aside.

[Margie]

And again and again, the quote from yesterday that David Plouffe who ran Obama's campaign, one of the smartest Democrat political minds probably in America, told her, people hate Joe Biden so craft your message around that. If she had broken with Joe Biden and said look, I have, I've seen him behind the scenes. I probably should have said something earlier. I was trying to be a good soldier. But he is. He is not up to this job and we need to move on, she would have been in so much better position to run. It's not people would have thrown her under the bus for not being a loyal servant. They'd have been finally somebody said it out loud. Who's a Democrat that I can vote for?

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know if you've noticed in the polls 80% of us agree with you. Well, I will end my comments with the title of a Charles C.W. cook column from the election cycle. Kamala Harris is an idiot and everyone knows it. That's right Margie.

[Margie]

That that did hold her back.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that's among her issues. That's a big one.

[Margie]

We will finish strong next Armstrong and.

[Jack Armstrong]

Get.

[Joe Getty]

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[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

Hey there. I'm Mary Kathryn Hamm.

[Carol Markowitz]

And I'm Carol Markowitz. We've been in political media for a long time.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's why we started Normalely a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor.

[Carol Markowitz]

We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the truth seriously.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

So if you're into common sense, sanity, and some occasional sass, you're our kind of people. Catch new episodes of Normally every Tuesday.

[Carol Markowitz]

And Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.

[Rupert Murdoch]

That campaign that you all launched pretending that you were gonna cancel Hu. While secretly racing through four seasons of Only Murders in the Building. I really won. Congratulations. Wasn't it interesting to try and figure out all the tentacles Disney has in your daily life? It's one thing to swear off cruises, but the Avengers?

[Jack Armstrong]

Nah.

[Rupert Murdoch]

How is it possible that by getting rid of one company, I can't watch Winnie the Pooh?

[Margie]

Who?

[Rupert Murdoch]

Or Monday Night Football.

[Margie]

It's it. That's Jon Stewart making the point for the. For. That's. For his crowd that was gonna not take in anything Disney because they had Jimmy Kimmel. Then you got the other crowd that's gonna cancel, like in a different direction for having Kimmel on, so.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Margie]

So everybody was gonna cancel that stuff because you. Anyway, Kimmel's back on and. Yeah, I mean, it just shows how ridiculous that whole notion is pretty much on that sort of thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and how. What a sprawling octopus of a gigantic organization Disney is at this point. Yeah, it ain't Walt and a couple of parks and some quaint movies like Snow White anymore. It's a giant conglomerate.

[Margie]

I just can't. You know, I drive a cyber truck made by Tesla. I get flipped off on a regular basis. It happened to me two days ago. Again, I mean, very regularly. People flip me off for what I drive. I just. I don't live my life that way. So, like, I can't not have Hulu because it's under the Disney umbrella of something else that I don't Agree with politically. I mean, just. It just seems like such a complicated way to live.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, right.

[Margie]

And then you got to figure out, you know, so I can't eat at that restaurant because it's owned by the conglomerate that has all of these different things and just what.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, including, you know, this subsidiary who's, you know, whatever middle manager said this awful thing on Twitter. So people are boycotting. Yeah, I just. Yeah. I don't. I'm not going to choose to live my life that way. It takes too much time for one thing, to keep track of all of it.

[Margie]

I'm sure we'll have some clips of Jimmy Kimmel on tonight, and they're going to be hard to take. And he's going to get a standing ovation, he's going to get teary ey, and he's going to talk about how much he loves America and blah, blah, blah. It's gonna be hard to think. I was watching. Let us.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let us know how the view is up there on the cross. Jimmy, how much time I got?

[Margie]

Do I have time to say anything?

[Jack Armstrong]

You got about a minute 30.

[Margie]

Okay. So I was watching the latest. Bill Maher in his basement was with Rob Reiner, the movie director.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, yeah.

[Margie]

Actually had a pretty interesting conversation about a lot of things. Rob Reiner. I would love Rob Reiner if he didn't talk politics. Fascinating guy. Grew up in show business with his dad, Carl Reiner. Google it if you want to know it. I mean, like. But knows all the heavyweights of Hollywood of the last more than a, you know, half a century and just knowledgeable, funny, and everything like that about show business. But then whenever he talks politics, it's insufferable. Anyway, he was on there to promote Spinal Tap 2, which is out soon. The. It's the. The longest distance ever between a movie and a sequel. 41 years.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my God. It's been that long.

[Margie]

But realize this. Maybe you already knew this. It was entirely ad libbed. Not like they just used ad lib. It was entire. Every word of the movie was ad libbed.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. It was all improv.

[Margie]

That's crazy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Margie]

Of course, you have to have certain comedic geniuses to do it right? And.

[Jack Armstrong]

And you do multiple takes and you edit and.

[Margie]

Yeah, but.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah.

[Margie]

Have you ever seen any of the clips that bounce around on Instagram of that sort of stuff? A lot of. A lot of them with Will Ferrell from, From. From Anchorman. When they do it that way, they've got an idea and they just let a Will Ferrell or you know, people like that who are really funny and spontaneous riff and riff and riff and riff while their co stars stand there and try not to laugh. And they're so funny. I mean, just unbelievably. Well, you can't stand it funny. And then they take the best clips and reactions.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Wow. I'd like. No, I, I don't recall.

[Margie]

I'll send a couple to you that they're really, really good or we can.

[Jack Armstrong]

Post [e-mail] we could.

[Margie]

Here's your host for final thoughts, Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let's get a final thought from everybody on the crew to wrap things up for the day. There is our technical director Michelangelo pressing the buttons in the control room. Michael, what's your final thought? I can almost guarantee you tonight Jimmy Kimmel will stand up there and start crying at some point and who knows, maybe Stephen Colbert will come out on stage and give him a nice hug. It's gonna be hard to fake help to heal the nation, Michael, what with Trump the new Hitler in the White House. Katie Green is our esteemed newswoman. She has a final thought. Katie, I have put together a Katie's Corner which is up@armstrong getty.com and there is a bear video in there just for you, Jack.

[Margie]

Oh, thank you. I'm still traumatized.

[Jack Armstrong]

Did it destroy your kayak bear? Jack, a final thought for us.

[Margie]

Yeah, I don't think Jimmy Kimmel is as smart as he thinks he is, is or as he likes to portray himself. And, and he said something just dumb. It's just dumb.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Margie]

And he's going to go on tonight and just be so pompous and smug and an audience is going to tear up. Cheering I don't think the FCC should pressure him off the air either, by the way, but it's going to be hard to take.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, you've stolen my final thought. Whether it's Brendan Carr or Trump and, and it's useful to rail against these people in the whole, you know, populism culture, we're thinking, I get that. But the marketplace will do a fine job of saying, for instance, as Sinclair and nexstar have said, we don't want this jackass on our TV stations and we're not going to air him anymore. Let, let private enterprise, let the people deal with it. We don't need the government.

[Margie]

Armstrong and Getty wrapping up another grueling four hour workday.

[Jack Armstrong]

So many people. Thanks. A little time go to Armstrong.

[Margie]

Yeti Armstrongandgetty.com See you tomorrow.com God bless America.

[Jack Armstrong]

The Armstrong and Getty shown is standing.

[Margie]

There and he's arguing with the police and apparently Trump just says you should walk.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah just dude tough croissants Macron. Get walking.

[Margie]

Maybe your dude wife can carry you. I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh wait a minute. You're gonna get sued like Candace Owens you maniac.

[Joe Getty]

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[Margie]

Ah come on.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

Why is this taking so long?

[Jack Armstrong]

This thing is ancient.

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[Jack Armstrong]

Whoa, this thing moves.

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[Kamala Harris]

This is an iHeart podcast.