The A&G Monday Replay Hour Two

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand — Monday Replay Hour Two (Feb 16, 2026)

Overview

This replay hour of the Armstrong & Getty Show deals with the fallout of viral hoaxes, the nature of morals and free will, the massive shifts in immigration policy and rhetoric, and the broad societal impacts of AI and automation. Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty employ their signature blend of sarcasm, skepticism, and lively banter, discussing serious current events, cultural trends, and long-standing philosophical questions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Viral Hoaxes and GoFundMe Frauds (02:18–07:17)

• Key Segment: Jack retells the story of the Sumerian Humphrey hoax in Plano, Texas, where allegations of a racially-charged attack gained national attention, major media coverage, and financial support—only to be revealed years later as a complete fabrication.
  • The mother and attorney, who raised $120,000 on GoFundMe, were recently ordered by a Texas jury to pay $3.2 million in damages to the wrongly accused boy.
  • Funds were mostly spent on personal luxuries rather than the claimed therapy and schooling.

“Shot him with BB guns, made him drink urine... The whole thing was a hoax.” — Jack Armstrong (03:55)

• The hosts use the situation to satirize the ease of exploiting trending causes for financial gain and the lack of lasting accountability.

“Put your morals aside. What good are they? What good have they ever done you?” — Jack Armstrong (07:09)

2. Morality, Free Will, and Philosophy’s Limits (07:18–12:12)

• The conversation transitions to a philosophical discussion sparked by Jack’s son, a young atheist, questioning the origins and practical use of morality.
• Joe and Jack riff on the limits of philosophy in practical life, debating the genetic roots of fairness, the utility of free will arguments, and their own (lack of) patience for theoretical debates.

"Anything that can't be applied to life, I lose interest in very quickly. And I'm not saying there's no reason for anybody to contemplate this stuff. If you enjoy it, go ahead.” — Jack Armstrong (11:10)

• They reflect on the innate human sense of fairness and dismiss free will debates as ultimately unhelpful for daily living.

3. Ben Franklin’s Wisdom & Listener Mailbag (12:24–15:39)

• Jack reads a Ben Franklin quote about the importance of hearing differing opinions.
• Listener emails address immigration policy, specifically pointing out the performative nature of calls to abolish ICE and the lack of follow-up questions from media and politicians.

"If they were honest, they would just put up the iPad and ask how much you want to donate?" — Jack Armstrong (13:27)

• Another listener discusses protest culture gamified as role-playing classes, expressing concern for the blurring of lines between fantasy and activism.

“They’re absolutely wonderfully useful stooges for the activists.” — Jack Armstrong (15:33)

4. Adventures in Immigration Policy: Then vs. Now (17:45–26:58)

• The hosts use current Spanish amnesty news as a springboard to discuss the dramatic shift in U.S. Democratic Party rhetoric on illegal immigration.
  • Barack Obama’s statements from 2010 are played, advocating for border security and fair enforcement, contrasting with today’s significantly softer mainstream positions.
  • Jack and Joe note how those past centrist stances would now be considered right-wing.

"[Obama] would be a right winger by today's standards to come out and say that. Absolutely." — Co-host (20:43)

• The hosts reflect on whether Democratic voters are aware of this shift or if political tribalism simply overrides prior positions in favor of whatever currently seems “nice.”

5. Legislative Deadlock and Political Cynicism (27:22–29:17)

• Brief analysis of the looming potential government shutdown, with speculation about whether Democrats may use a shutdown for political advantage before the midterms.
• The point is raised that executive actions versus legislation allow for rapid policy swings with each administration, contributing to instability.

"Why you don't do stupid stuff so you don't lose that election." — Jack Armstrong (27:22)

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6. Wikipedia’s Evolution, AI, and Human Purpose (29:30–35:56)

• The segment starts playfully with a Michael Scott quote about Wikipedia, noting its 25th anniversary, and pivots to how AI chatbots have largely replaced Google and Wikipedia for their own research.
• Jack and Joe share startling stories about AI hallucinations and knowledge gaps, especially regarding pop culture—raising concerns about reliance on AI for information.

“I even gave the director and it said... here are the movies that Paul Thomas Anderson has directed... he has not directed a movie called [X]. I mean it's just stunning.” — Co-host (30:40)

• They dive into serious concerns about automation potentially “dehumanizing” people by stripping them of traditional work roles—a threat to identity, dignity, and meaning that technophiles often understate.

“Wait a minute. You're saying humanity's going to be freed up to contemplate the higher meanings of life? And by the way, you're going to lose your humanity and have no skills in the rest of it.” — Jack Armstrong (33:32)

7. AI Censorship and the Alignment Problem (35:56–36:13)

• Jack describes frustration with ChatGPT flagging content for references to “revolution,” highlighting the difficulties of moderation and censorship in generative AI systems.
• Co-host acknowledges this as the “alignment problem”—algorithmic over-correction to prevent harmful uses can block legitimate discussion.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Satire on GoFundMe fraud:
  “And then they come with a judgment against you. But you've already bought your liquor and your vapes and you made your car payments.” — Jack Armstrong (06:46)

• On the performative nature of protest culture:
  “So they’re specifically going after the nerdorama I love to larp class and telling them hey, this is what you love. But in the real world, come out on the street, you could be a tank or a wizard.” — Jack Armstrong (15:24)

• Obama on Immigration (audio clip):
  “I believe such an indiscriminate approach would be both unwise and unfair. It would suggest to those thinking about coming here illegally that there will be no repercussions for such a decision. And this could lead to a surge in more illegal immigration.” — Barack Obama (18:52–19:50)

• On rapid political shifts:
  “It's amazing that we have changed that much in that short a time.” — Jack Armstrong (22:08)

• On work, dignity, and the future:
  “How are you and I both human beings? And it’s not just abundantly clear to you that’s what will happen, as opposed to it could happen.” — Co-host (34:09)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Opening banter & holiday replay note: 00:36–00:54
• Viral hoax case & societal fallout: 02:18–07:17
• Morals & free will discussion: 07:18–12:12
• Mailbag & Ben Franklin quote: 12:24–15:39
• Gamified activism & D&D protest culture: 13:50–15:39
• Spain immigration, Obama’s stance, and U.S. policy shift: 17:45–26:58
• Government shutdown, legislative mechanics: 27:22–29:17
• Wikipedia, AI, and automation implications: 29:30–35:56
• AI censorship & alignment problem: 35:56–36:13

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Closing Thoughts

This hour of Armstrong & Getty is dense with commentary, humor, and pointed social criticism. The hosts thread together scandal, philosophy, political history, and technological anxiety, challenging both the narratives that drive news cycles and the deeper assumptions shaping society's future. Listeners are left both amused and provoked, with plenty to ponder long after the episode ends.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast, guaranteed human.

[Joe Getty]

Broadcasting. Live from the Abraham Lincoln radio studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty. And now, here's Armstrong and Getty.

[Co-host or Guest]

Hey, Armstrong. And get it. We are not live today. We know there's so much news going on and we'll have it for you tomorrow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Indeed, it's a company holiday and we're lazy, so we're taking it off. But we will grind all the harder tomorrow to bring you all the stories that matter. Without left wing media bias, you'll actually know what's going on.

[Co-host or Guest]

Now back to the Armstrong and Getty replay.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yay. Took out a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal apologizing for his past anti Semitic comments and saying they were due to an undiagnosed brain injury from a car crash 25 years ago.

[Co-host or Guest]

Damn.

[Jack Armstrong]

Even when it comes to excuses, he's a creative genius.

[Co-host or Guest]

So I was taking in. Those are Saturday Night Live jokes. I was taking in an old Conan o' Brien podcast where he had on Jim Downey, who was a writer way, way, way back in the day on Saturday Night Live. And they were talking about the best joke he and Norm MacDonald ever wrote for the SNL Weekend Update. And it was when Penthouse magazine got the alien autopsy photos. This was a thing back in the day. There were photos of apparently, you know, a spaceship crashed. And then they did an autopsy on the alien and the government had the pictures. So Penthouse claimed to have the alien autopsy photos. And the review was the photos are clear, detailed and surprisingly easy to masturbate to, which is a pretty funny joke.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's terrible.

[Co-host or Guest]

Now let's clean this up.

[Jack Armstrong]

Come on. That's terrible. Why would you.

[Co-host or Guest]

Oh, my God.

[Jack Armstrong]

Good Lord. So this is a. This is not a funny story at all. You may recall this. Back In March of 21, a story got nationwide blanket media coverage alleged that white middle schoolers in Plano, Texas, viciously tortured young Sumerian Humphrey, their black classmate, forcing him to drink their urine at a sleepover that they invited him to with nefarious purpose as they shot him with BB guns.

[Co-host or Guest]

Oh, my God.

[Jack Armstrong]

So. Shot him with BB guns, made him drink urine. A Black Lives Matter activist group charged the local public school district with doing nothing to stop this racially motivated hate crime. Violent protests broke out outside the home of Asher Van, the white child alleged to have organized the brutal attack. Major media outlets including NBC, cbs, cnn, Business Insider, People magazine, the Daily Mail, the Dallas Mountain Morning News, and others pounced on the story as Humphrey his mother, Summer Smith, and their attorney, Kim Cole, embarked on a media tour where they called Van Evil. The trio appeared on Good Morning America, where ABC host Lindsay Davis promoted a GoFundMe account that raised about $120,000 to help pay for Humphreys. That the kids therapy and private schooling. Racial activist groups added fuel to the fire. The NAACP dressed down the leaders of the school district in a town hall they described as the beginning of an open partnership spurred by the alleged hate crime. Let's see. Another Black Lives Matter tied group was later alleged. Humphrey was tortured for days by his white assailants, organized public marches that drew hundreds of thousands of protesters and raised tons and tons of money. And then a little under five years later, about a week and a half ago, a racially diverse Texas jury, including four black members, ruled unanimously the whole thing was a hoax. Texas District Judge Benjamin Smith ordered Smith, that's the mother, and Cole, the attorney, to pay $3.2 million in damages to Van, who's now a young adult, I'm guessing, attending his first year of college.

[Co-host or Guest]

I'm guessing they don't have that money.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, indeed. But for intentionally smearing him and tarnishing his future earning potential during their media tour.

[Co-host or Guest]

You'll never bounce. It'd be impossible to bounce back for that, practically.

[Jack Armstrong]

The ruling followed a civil trial in October of 25, where the jury determined that Colin Smith cooked up the scheme to raise their public profiles during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement and to rake in money through GoFundMe. And court records show that Smith, the loving mother, put less than $1,000 of the $120,000 her son's schooling.

[Co-host or Guest]

Oh, my God.

[Jack Armstrong]

Account statements reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show the remaining funds were spent on. Everybody can fill in these blanks, right? Yeah.

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Luxuries, including a designer dog, dining, travel, beauty products, liquor, vapes, cell phone, car payments, and rent.

[Co-host or Guest]

What an awful story.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, yeah.

[Co-host or Guest]

If you. I should do this. I should put my morals aside and do this. The next time there's a craze, got a craze going, jump on it. Come up with something and profit from it. Whether it's. Whether it's inventing the Black Lives Matter thing and the money pours in, or a fake. This. Whatever it is, if there's a craze going on, jump on it. Somehow.

[Jack Armstrong]

The Ice out thing hot at the Grammys, right?

[Co-host or Guest]

Might be.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Come on. I'm not sure exactly how you can turn that into cage, but you got to put a little effort into it.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right. I could put one of my kids in one of those little blue hats. Put them behind a chain link fence.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, yeah, that little kid in the blue hat. Cute little fellow, God bless him, but he was the lead story. First five minutes of ABC News were spent on that kid. It was unbelievable. You got it. Whatever his name is, we'll just call him Little Blue Hat. The Little Blue Hat. Fund for Immigrant Dignity. Then you come up with three sentences for how you help, you know, immigrants who've been battered and abused by the racist ICE and provide services, including, blah, blah, blah.

[Co-host or Guest]

There are thousands of kids that have been taken from their parents by the evil ice. I'm going to help every single one of them, like and always use that same picture of the little kid in the blue hat.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Co-host or Guest]

And you, I'll bet you could raise $2 million by tonight.

[Jack Armstrong]

We provide free legal services to keep those families together.

[Co-host or Guest]

And then I spend it on whatever the hell I want and nobody figures it out for years, if they care at all.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right? And then they come with a judgment against you. But you've already bought your liquor and your vapes and you made your car payments.

[Co-host or Guest]

My designer dog.

[Jack Armstrong]

Your designer dog. It's a Yves St. Lauren dog. Not exactly sure what a designer dog is, but probably a fancy, pure practice.

[Co-host or Guest]

Got a leg on top. An extra leg.

[Jack Armstrong]

Tavant guard. Yeah, yeah, you're right. Put your morals aside. What good are they? What good have they ever done you?

[Co-host or Guest]

My son, the philosopher, my youngest, we got into a real thing about. He's an atheist, hardcore atheist. He's decided at age 14. But anyway, he's got all this stuff about morals and where they come from and why they don't really matter. I told me, yeah, you got to be a philosophy major. And you just. I mean, you sound like a lot of friends I had who've majored in philosophy and want to have these conversations all day long about free will, whether it exists or not.

[Jack Armstrong]

And you just got to warn them when you're talking to people and their eyes glaze over. That's not allergies. You're boring them today.

[Co-host or Guest]

Well, you got to find someone else who's into it. But if you find someone else that's into it, they'll talk about it all night long.

[Jack Armstrong]

Friends for life.

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah, yeah, but it's something about the whole morals thing and why we have it. It's only. It's only from a. I mean, I suppose this could be true. I. I'm always telling him I do believe in God. I. I My joke is always, if, if there's not something after I die, I'm going to be shocked. But I fully 1000% believe there's something else after I die. Like with not even the slightest hint of, of maybe I'm wrong for whatever reason.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow, how interesting.

[Co-host or Guest]

He's, he's the, he's the other direction. And the only reason we have any morals is just from a evolutionary standpoint. Groups that didn't take from each other or could police that sort of thing, you know, did better than groups where they didn't.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's adaptive.

[Co-host or Guest]

It's adaptive. Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Co-host or Guest]

Which it certainly could be. Although it's. Well, yeah, I guess if it's a genetic thing. There seems, there does seem to be something genetic there because it starts at a very young age, as we all know with kids. This idea of fairness starts it like, just like the, the first ability to exhibit some behavior. Kids have some sense of fairness. Now that could be some genetic thing that evolved because of what you're just saying, adaptive.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, yeah, that's a tough one to nail down.

[Co-host or Guest]

As opposed to, you know, there's goodness in the world, there's good and evil, etc. Etc.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know what? I see that sort of quote unquote philosophical discussion I could have. It's where you get into the, you know, there is no free will because we don't. There's no knowledge of blah, blah, blah, and it's just where, where you get like way out into the cosmos. I have no time for.

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah, I have a friend, he got his masters in philosophy from Berkeley, which is, you know, pretty hoity toity. And he went down the free will thing one time and I thought I, I would indulge this because I'd never really done it before in my life, and I just can't. I just can't hang on to the thread as long as some people can. I was, I was into it for a while, then my, what difference does it make? Gene clicked in.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, I'd like to think I'm maybe a step or two above a head of cattle or something like that, but I always get to the point of, you know, I got it, I got a job to do, I got.

[Co-host or Guest]

Something to get ahead. I got laundry in the dryer, right.

[Jack Armstrong]

I gotta cut the grass. The grass is actually growing. Yeah. How do you know it is? I don't care how it is. It is, and I gotta cut it.

[Co-host or Guest]

Maybe this is all a simulation and maybe it is, but it still needs to be cut.

[Jack Armstrong]

What is the nature of knowing? I know I'm bored. Can I go do something else?

[Co-host or Guest]

One thing. I'm knowing. I'm knowing I'm bored.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, the nature of knowing.

[Co-host or Guest]

That's a good one.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Yeah. Epistemology. Yeah.

[Co-host or Guest]

The free will. Oh, my God. And if you. And if you. If you nailed that down completely, one way or the other, would it make a lick of difference to anyone?

[Guest or Quoted Speaker]

I just.

[Co-host or Guest]

I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I guess that's. That's where I stop. Anything that can't be applied to life, I lose interest in very quickly. And I'm not saying there's no reason for anybody to contemplate this stuff. If you enjoy it, go ahead.

[Co-host or Guest]

No, that's okay. You're. You're doing it for enjoyment. But they're not. Might. Might not be a reason beyond your enjoyment of it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. A. Don't tell me about it. And when you can't make a living, don't come begging for my tax dollars.

[Co-host or Guest]

Well, that's. Well, yes, I have free will. I could do this or that. Yeah, but you don't actually, because you were conditioned by society and genetics to. Yeah, I got to pick up my K school.

[Jack Armstrong]

So, yeah, I've been conditioned by society and genetics to pick up my kid on time or else they'll find me. So goodbye, you and Vin Stein and whoever else. Can't can. You just have to knock yourselves out.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty, Jack armstrong and joe getty. The armstrong and getty show.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think you make the sunrise. Yeah. Here's your freedom loving quote of the day from Ben Franklin. Once again continuing our series, when men differ in opinion, both sides ought equally to have advantage of being heard by the public. And that when truth and error have fair play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter. Now we. We need to outlaw hate speech. Well done, Ben. Well done. Mailbag. Feel free to drop us a note. Mailbagarmstrongetty.com will laid off from with Ryan from Houston. Dear cold puka and old fancy Jack, can we get a follow up question? When an elected official says we ought to abolish ice, do they mean another federal organization takes up immigration reform? Do we go back to just not enforcing it at all? Are you ever going to do your bloody GD job and pass new immigration laws?

[Co-host or Guest]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

If they were honest, they would just put up the iPad and ask how much you want to donate?

[Co-host or Guest]

100%. I can't believe. Well, I can believe actually that nobody gets to that question. As I said in the press conference on Sunday morning. There wasn't a reporter in that room that believes we should enforce are immigration laws right?

[Jack Armstrong]

It's all tribal signaling and nobody even cares that it's all tribal signaling. Excuse me? Or do you have any facts? Or what do you suggest we do if we do what you're suggesting? No, it just nobody even thinks of following up. It's bizarre. I got this note from Jeff in Spain. Don't know if you've come across things like this before or not, but I was shocked kind of sorta to see this on my sister's insta. Admittedly she's always been an idealistic unicorn jockey with desires to fight the man. Plus empty nest divorced currently. But the gleeful announcement of role playing Dungeons and Dragons nerd o rama style really makes me nervous with protests he's talking about no, she isn't hoping for tank status and I'll explain that in a second. But what if the guy next to her is spicy indeed. And here's her post I'm going to Multiclass Wizard Bard with a side of Fighter here I come. Welcome to protesting. Choose your class Fighter. You march in demonstrations. Tank. You put your body between the vulnerable and the cops attacks rogue flood snitch lines with false reports, oh k pop face cams, et cetera. So you flood the report of crime lines or something Healer provide medical support and supplies to protesters. Bard, blah blah blah. Chemist, wizard, support, caster. No matter your skills and resources, there's a class for you to play in a role you can fill. So they're specifically going after the nerdorama I love to larp class and telling them hey, this is what you love. But in the real world, come out on the street, you could be a tank or a wizard.

[Co-host or Guest]

That poor guy that got killed seemed like he was that kind of guy. And he would have been a tank, I guess because what he was trying to do is get between the the officers and some woman who had run at them and then they had shoved away and he was trying to get between them and well, that's exactly he.

[Jack Armstrong]

Was trying to go for tank status. And then somebody comments why is there no option for those who want to go about their business on the farm and stay out of the war? The Reply is because NPCs that's non player characters. Because NPCs aren't heroes. Wow, these people really, really have blurred the line between Dungeons and Dragons in real life. And they're absolutely wonderfully useful stooges for the activists JT and Livermore with a great note about what was missing from my list, Jonathan Haidt's list of how to ruin the next generation. And he says he really enjoyed it. But there used to be at least one bedrock red line that virtually everybody agreed needed to be preserved in politics. The sanctity of children. It used to be understood and agreed almost universally that everybody believed and supported the notion that children were sacrosanct. They weren't exploited for political purposes. Their pictures weren't published in papers either as victims or perpetrators of crimes. But somewhere along the line, one political party has abandoned that bedrock principle. They decided to teach children that white people are irredeemably racist. Evil's teach teachers unions leverage children's educations to gain financially. Politicians closed schools during COVID against the science, against the best interests of the children, for perhaps no better reason than Trump said we should open the schools. Previous generations created Title IX to specifically protect young women in sports, but now we no longer protect young girls or give them access to girls, only sports and spaces. And then he goes into the Josef Mengele style disfiguring of little children are confused about their gender. So whatever it was that allowed millions of people to suddenly abandon the traditional protected status of children, that's a key part of how you ruin a generation. Yikes.

[Joe Getty]

Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty. The Armstrong and Getty Show.

[Co-host or Guest]

The Armstrong and Getty show in Spain, they're rushing through. Basically, it's an amnesty thing. They're doing with a ton of the people that came to the illegally, which we did have done in this country a few times. They got a half a million people there that are there illegally. And they've decided they're just going to say, okay, you're a citizen. Well, because it's the eu, then you're a part of the European Union and you can travel from country to country. And they're welfare states, socialist welfare states, most of them. So you get all the benefits that go with being a citizen. I mean, it's going to be quite the mess. And a lot of the natives of the country, people who were born there, not happy with this.

[Jack Armstrong]

Just for the sake of the discussion. Spain has roughly one seventh of the population of the United States. 3.5 million people.

[Co-host or Guest]

Good thing to know all of a sudden.

[Jack Armstrong]

Although, as you point out, quite appropriately, they can spread throughout the EU and suck off the delicious government teeter. Whatever.

[Co-host or Guest]

Here's Barack Obama in 2010 about why that's not a good idea.

[Guest or Quoted Speaker]

There are those in the immigrants rights community who have argued passionately that we should simply provide those who are illegally with legal status or at least ignore the laws on the books and put an end to deportation until we have better laws. And often this argument is framed in moral terms. Why should we punish people who are just trying to earn a living? I recognize the sense of compassion that drives this argument, but I believe such an indiscriminate approach would be both unwise and unfair. It would suggest to those thinking about coming here illegally that there will be no repercussions for such a decision. And this could lead to a surge in more illegal immigration.

[Co-host or Guest]

I'll be darned.

[Jack Armstrong]

That would never happen.

[Guest or Quoted Speaker]

And it would also ignore the millions of people around the world who are waiting in line to come here legally.

[Co-host or Guest]

What are you going to do?

[Guest or Quoted Speaker]

Ultimately, our nation, like all nations, has the right and obligation to control its borders. What, and set laws for residency? We do citizenship.

[Co-host or Guest]

We do.

[Guest or Quoted Speaker]

Fascist.

[Jack Armstrong]

Fascist.

[Guest or Quoted Speaker]

And no matter how decent they are, no matter their reasons, the 11 million who broke these laws should be held accountable.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, that's, that's Stephen Miller from the White House.

[Co-host or Guest]

Sorry. Mr. Yeah, exactly. Sorry, Mr. President, I don't know if you know this, but illegals commit crimes at lower rates than natural born citizens or whatever horse crap you want to throw out to justify why you shouldn't have any borders.

[Jack Armstrong]

How is good, fresh, pungent horse crap.

[Co-host or Guest]

You, you said jokingly, Barack Obama, moderate, he would be a right winger by today's standards to come out and say that. Absolutely. Say that borders matter. Doesn't matter how good a person you are, you don't get to come here illegally. You don't get to stay, even if you're a hard working, law abiding citizen.

[Jack Armstrong]

Even if they're nice folks. It's fundamentally unfair to those people who are following them.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right. And it will encourage more illegal immigration. Unbelievable that we are where we are right now, where saying that sort of thing would be controversial. You could never get the Democratic nomination saying that. Now. I don't think.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, no.

[Co-host or Guest]

If you could.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm picturing Rahm Emanuel's version of that because he will have a version of that. It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with.

[Co-host or Guest]

And, and if he, and if you could, it's only because the blowback of the last several years, you couldn't have last cycle in the cycle before, no freaking way you could have stood on that stage and gotten the nomination saying, no, no, no, no, if you came here illegally, there's got to be some sort of penalty. You got to go back or pay A fine or whatever. We can't REWARD Illegal immigration.

[Jack Armstrong]

19 of the 20 Democrats, and Joe Biden was just too senile to answer the question, raised their hands and said, yes, we should give free medical care to illegal immigrants. Please. Yeah.

[Co-host or Guest]

Can you imagine the booze that would have rained down on someone like Barack Obama if he just said that in one of those debates?

[Jack Armstrong]

So many boos.

[Co-host or Guest]

God, that's amazing that we have changed that much in that short a time.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and it's also amazing that the. The folks who scribble for a living are either so detached from reality or so dishonest that even they don't stop and think, wow, this is a real transition for my party. I mean, we used to be way over there where Barack Obama was. Are they even aware of it? I'm actually honestly curious to know that. If you were to hit a Michelle Goldberg in the New York Times, for instance, with that, just jot it down, write it out and hand it to her and say, what do you think of that? I react to it. I know.

[Co-host or Guest]

I tell her, barack Obama, I have friends. I'd like to play that and the Hillary clip we played the other day for him and Bill Clinton the other day, and. And say, so what's your reaction? I think. I think their first reaction honestly, might be, that's AI. That can't be real. There's no way Barack Obama actually said, you can't allow illegal immigration. A nation has a right to have borders.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. I'm fascinated by the concept of how different people's. Differently people's brains work. And I wonder if I were to get into the head of a progressive person, if it would be terrifying, because I would realize, oh, my gosh, they don't have, like, fixed actual principles. It's just what's being advocated right now feels like a principle to them. And they have no, like, no neurological memory of what they believed yesterday, I think, at all.

[Co-host or Guest]

I think the overwhelming feeling would be that being nice overrides anything.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Being accepted, saying what I'm supposed to say and being rewarded for it.

[Co-host or Guest]

The nice thing to do would be to allow people to stay and do whatever the hell they want and get free health care. So you don't. You don't run that through the. But how would that work? How could we afford that filter? It's just nice.

[Jack Armstrong]

And then if they, you know, because it'd be one of those swaps where, like, I stay in their apartment and they stay in mine. We switch countries for a while in the summertime.

[Co-host or Guest]

Do you Drive the Subaru and then they drive your truck or whatever.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hey, you know, if we can work it out. Sure, why not? But then they would get into my head and think, oh, my God, this guy. Like, if somebody says, I disagree, he doesn't care. It's like a superpower. Or he thinks, oh, that's interesting. He doesn't feel at all threatened by people disagreeing with him. He's intrigued by it.

[Co-host or Guest]

Whoa. You wear Birkenstocks. They wear normal shoes. You start taking baths.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think I would bring my own shoes.

[Guest or Quoted Speaker]

I don't.

[Jack Armstrong]

How far do we have to go in this? Are you gonna wear their underpants too? What's the matter with you? You bring your own stuff. You just stay in their paddle. Ah, boy, I would be freaked out by that. I love that idea. But anyway, so I don't know. What do y' all think? I mean, there are obviously, you know, like, your hardcore political activists are just liars. They're cynical liars. They know perfectly well the difference between what Barack and Hillary were saying in 2010, 2015, whatever, and what they're saying now. They just don't care. They're cynics. But your average, you know, left voter, not. Not like center left Iowa farmer, always votes Democrat. But your left voter, do they have any awareness of how much their own position has changed, or are they just so governed by feelings they don't know? I honestly don't know the answer to that question.

[Co-host or Guest]

Do you think. I think so. But do you think Barack Obama believed that at the time? I think he did.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think he did, too, yeah. 100%.

[Co-host or Guest]

Well, because it's right, for one thing. It's just 100% correct, everything he said.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, Right. I think he was holding out hope that Congress could come together and come up with an immigration plan that would get a few of his wish list passed.

[Co-host or Guest]

So I did hear two more things on immigration. I heard somebody say, and this might be true, that Trump wanted such a big, splashy, chaotic, ugly, we ain't putting up with this anymore. That it completely, maybe for a generation, sends a message to the world, don't come. Not just Kamala and Biden saying don't, while rolling out the red carpet and promising free healthcare. But, like, don't as in, we're going to drag you out of your house and it probably will work. And that's probably what's actually going to happen. It'll be a long time before you have, what do they call those caravans headed toward the border, thinking they can come in and Just enjoy, you know, being in the United States, setting up shop. I think it'll be a long time before that happens. Probably went further than Trump wanted, and it's turned into blowback and all that. But.

[Jack Armstrong]

But what if, like, I don't know, something crazy happens, then the Democrats just win the White House with big numbers and it's a lefty lefty. Not a Rahm Emanuel, but a Gavin Newsom. You don't think those borders will be open immediately and we're filtered out quickly?

[Co-host or Guest]

I don't know. Certainly might happen. And then one other thing on this, and then we can move on, because there's some other thing I want to bring up, which, by the way, is.

[Jack Armstrong]

Why you don't do stupid stuff so you don't lose that election.

[Co-host or Guest]

Well, it's also a reason why you pass legislation. Of course, there is legislation around illegal immigration. Just lots of people don't want to follow it. But it's a lot harder to change laws than it is, you know, executive orders and enforcement of laws by presidencies, so it doesn't swing back and forth so fast. The other thing is, I heard Brian Kilmeade say this on Fox and Friends this morning. I haven't heard this anywhere else. So the Democrats are saying they're not going to vote for the next bill that funds the government unless you pull the DHS money out of it. You need to pull the DHS money out of it.

[Jack Armstrong]

We'll vote on that separately, I guess.

[Co-host or Guest]

And Republicans are saying no. So. And you need 60 votes to pass the legislation. So Democrats could actually hold it up on that. Kilmeade's theory was that big, long government shutdown that had no effect on me, but I guess it did on some of you. The longest shutdown we've ever had recently had an actual measurable effect on the economy. The government is so freaking big, and it lasts long enough. It's the only, like, real blip we've had in economic growth in a while. And he thinks they want another shutdown with another blip in economic growth headed into the midterms. That's a reason to shut the government down. And this is a great excuse for it.

[Jack Armstrong]

They could blame the tariffs, which, honestly I'm still against. I don't think they're good for the economy. But wow, wow, wow, that would be really, really cynical. Which means it's probably likely. Yeah.

[Co-host or Guest]

Chuck Schumer says, hey, man, we got the wind at our back on this whole Minneapolis ICE thing. We say we're going to shut down the government over this. People will be on board with us and we can shut down the government a while and hurt the economy.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty. The Armstrong and Getty Show.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything.

[Co-host or Guest]

They want about any subject.

[Jack Armstrong]

So you know you are getting the best possible information.

[Co-host or Guest]

That's from the office. Wikipedia debuted 25 years ago today. Is that what you say, Michael? So in the year 2001 I have used Wikipedia up until AI chatbots. Many, many, many, many times practically daily. Google and Wikipedia now I never use them at all because I use Grok or Claude or something else.

[Jack Armstrong]

How long ago was it that Wikipedia swung wildly progressive sound like eight years ago, ten years ago.

[Co-host or Guest]

I'm still amazed by Grok and Claude and Gemini and Chat GPT. All of which I use in that some of the things they get wrong. For instance, Claude is asking about the hottest movie in America. The most talked about movie in America is right now is one battle after another. Won a whole bunch of Golden Globes. One of the biggest directors in world history. This big movie asked Claude about it and they just. I don't know what you're talking about. I got nothing here. And I heard of it.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm not a big movie fan.

[Co-host or Guest]

I even gave the director and it said well, here are the movies that Paul Thomas Anderson has directed and listed all of them but that he has not directed. A movie called. I'm like how could this happen? I mean it's just stunning. Yeah, that that can happen and disturbing. And how often does that happen with things I don't know about when I'm asking it questions and it tells me stuff which kind of leads me to this. And this was. I asked a chat bot for this answer which is kind of like cannibalism, I guess. But it was quoting Forbes and a bunch of other tech magazines and therapists and stuff like that. About what? Automation and using tech stuff. And when the AI revolution happens and it's doing all the jobs, what's that going to do to people? This is what the current thinking is by some people. Automation profoundly impacts the human mind and spirit by shifting focus from mundane tasks to creative ones. Potentially. Potentially. Just because something's potential doesn't mean it's going to happen. Look at me. Potentially boosting purpose and reducing stress, but also risking dehumanization, skill erosion, loss of control and existential questions about human value as algorithms take over judgment and meaning. That's a hell of a. But also that's one of the all time but alsos. Well, if AI can do all the drudgery of life and all the jobs, you won't have to do them. It also might cause you to wonder why you're even alive.

[Jack Armstrong]

Luckily, Ed, we have a medicine for your condition. Oh, great, Doc. Will it cure me? It certainly might. It does kill half the people who take it.

[Co-host or Guest]

So open wide while free, freeing humans from higher for high, not from while. Freeing humans for higher level thinking. It can create.

[Jack Armstrong]

Theoretically, yeah.

[Co-host or Guest]

It can create a sense of being a mere data point. Challenging identity and dignity, obviously, and shifting cultural values. Notes, this Forbes article and then this other article it references and that sort of stuff.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, I'm sorry, I got to jump in just briefly, and I'm not trying to be smug, because you get the brain you get and you live with it. And there are a lot of people on in the world that are a hell of a lot smarter than me, but I've known a heck of a lot of people I don't think are, like, capable or interested in quote unquote, higher thinking. If you take away their job and their purpose and what they do, they're not going to sit around contemplating the works of Aristotle. They're going to get drunk, lay around.

[Co-host or Guest]

I would say that's most people, wouldn't you? Is that fair to say that most people aren't interested in grading, writing the great novel, or learning to play the cello?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, right. Nobody to rate it anyway.

[Co-host or Guest]

Or working for a charity because they've got so much free time and might just stare at the television and drink?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and as Abraham Lincoln said, God mostly loved the common people best because he made the most of us. So, yeah, it's no insult, but that's. Wait a minute, wait a minute, Wait a minute. You're saying humanity's going to be freed up to contemplate the higher meanings of life? And by the way, you're going to lose your humanity and have no skills in the rest of it. Yeah, okay.

[Co-host or Guest]

I guess one of the things I find interesting is whether it's this chatbot or individuals I've heard on podcasts talking about this, that they position it as. It could challenge some people's identity and feeling of dignity if they don't have a job.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, how are you?

[Co-host or Guest]

How are you and I both human beings? And it's not just abundantly clear to you that that's what will happen, as opposed to it could happen.

[Jack Armstrong]

How do we.

[Co-host or Guest]

How do we scream forward with AI eliminating all the jobs without wrestling to the ground the idea and Then people are going to do what?

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, I know. Well, because there's no stopping it, apparently. What about China? Is what I always come back to. They don't care.

[Co-host or Guest]

Well, that's fine, but I don't see any downside to getting on, getting a head start on what are people going to do for any sort of feeling of meaning in their lives when they no longer work.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, yeah, I agree with you.

[Co-host or Guest]

How is that like an afterthought or something? Only pains in the ass bring up.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, I've. I've got another one for you, unless you have more contemplating on that. It was, I was working with, happened to be Chat GPT on a project yesterday. I actually upgraded to the paid version finally and it was compiling lists of various information on various topics that had to do with liberty and political freedom and economic freedom and that sort of stuff. I'm working on something, I don't want to bore you with the details, but it kept stopping and saying ChatGPT is not oriented to give you that sort of content. And I asked it, hey, I keep getting this message. Why? It said, well, it must be because there's so many references to war and revolution and death and that sort of thing. And I'm like, you know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it, can't you tell yourself what I'm doing? And they finally had to give me like a half ass version. So ChatGPT, it's itself wouldn't keep interrupting and saying, I can't give you that because it's a reference to revolution.

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah, well that's the alignment problem. They're trying to figure that out. And so somebody's got that coded to not allow people to talk about revolution to try to keep, you know, terrorists something or other. And it's too strict currently, obviously.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human.