The End Is The Planet Of The Beavers

Summary

Summary of "The End Is The Planet Of The Beavers" 

Podcast: Armstrong & Getty On Demand
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Release Date: February 27, 2025

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Introduction to AI-Generated Content and Its Implications

[00:23] Joe Getty: The episode kicks off with a discussion about a controversial statement allegedly made by Don Trump Jr. regarding Ukraine. Joe expresses skepticism about Ukraine as an ally compared to Russia, highlighting the USA's strategic considerations.

[00:27] Don Trump Jr. (AI-Generated):
"I honestly can't imagine anyone in their right mind picking Ukraine... We should have been sending weapons to Russia."

[00:57] Joe Getty: Joe labels the statement as "pretty shocking stuff," revealing shortly after that the audio was AI-generated.

[01:02] Jack Armstrong: Jack acknowledges the statement's immediate recognizability but admits it felt "a little too odd and perfect," suspecting artificial generation due to elements like "radiation-proof dogs."

Discussion on AI and Misinformation:

The hosts delve into the dangers of AI-generated content, emphasizing how easily misinformation can spread before corrections are issued. Joe notes that both Democrats and pro-Ukraine Republicans retweeted the fake statement before its AI origins were revealed.

[02:35] Jack Armstrong:
"There's a real difference between the Cronkite left and the woke left... I don't know if there's enough of a market for it to overcome the clickbaity... society."

They discuss the erosion of trust in media and the challenges AI poses to discerning truth, potentially leading to widespread confusion and manipulation.

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Jake Tapper's Controversial Book on President Biden

[05:47] Jack Armstrong: The conversation shifts to Jake Tapper's forthcoming book, which controversially claims President Biden is experiencing mental decline.

[06:00] Joe Getty:
"Tapper writing this book is like Hannibal Lecter writing one on the dangers of cannibalism."

[07:22] Jack Armstrong: The book allegedly covers Biden's perceived cognitive issues and criticizes media coverage as a cover-up. The hosts express outrage over Tapper's stance, questioning his motives and integrity.

Molly Hemingway's Response:

[08:56] Joe Getty: Discusses Molly Hemingway's vehement response to Tapper's book, lauding her defense against what he perceives as media hypocrisy.

[09:28] Jack Armstrong:
"Wow. Wow. Yeah... It's difficult to believe."

The hosts debate whether the media genuinely failed to recognize Biden's decline or if there's a deeper manipulation at play.

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Polling Insights from Harvard Harris and Government Efficiency

[17:18] Joe Getty: The discussion transitions to recent Harvard Harris poll results, revealing that a significant majority of voters believe the government should reduce expenditures rather than increase taxes.

[17:27] Jack Armstrong:
"It's so easy to manipulate issues polling with wording... it just illustrates so beautifully what we've said for a long time."

They critique mainstream media's portrayal of public opinion, arguing that the actual voter sentiment is being misrepresented.

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE):

[19:10] Joe Getty:
"Howard Lutnick... discussing efforts to cut government expenditures by $4 billion a day."

[19:45] Howard Lutnick:
"With the DOGE team is to help address the enormous deficit... If we don't do this, America will go bankrupt."

Jack and Joe discuss Elon Musk's role in DOGE, expressing mixed feelings about his involvement but acknowledging the critical nature of deficit reduction.

Polling Data Insights:

[25:18] Jack Armstrong:
"Do you think the government expenditures are basically fair and reasonable or do you think they are filled with waste, fraud, and inefficiency? 70 to 30."

They highlight that a majority of Americans see government spending as inefficient, contradicting the media's narrative.

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Satirical Segment on Gene Hackman's Passing

[27:04] Joe Getty: The hosts take a brief, somber detour to mention the death of renowned actor Gene Hackman, along with his wife and dog. They humorously speculate on the cause, with Jack joking about carbon monoxide poisoning and attributing blame to the surviving dog.

[29:15] Jack Armstrong:
"You gotta look to the dog first. If its fur gets up on its back, it's guilty."

This segment serves as a lighthearted break from the heavier political discussions.

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Howard Lutnick on Fiscal Responsibility and Government Efficiency

[30:19] Jack Armstrong: Returning to political discourse, Jack introduces Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce, praising his enthusiasm for cutting government spending.

[32:12] Howard Lutnick:
"We can save $40 billion or $4 billion a year, and we'll do a better job."

Lutnick outlines strategic measures to realign government departments, such as integrating the USPS with census operations to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

[33:49] Jack Armstrong:
"How blanking great is that? Even if the specifics don't work out, the spirit is right."

Joe and Jack commend Lutnick's approach, highlighting the potential for significant budgetary savings through smart restructuring.

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Concluding Remarks and Upcoming Segments

[35:27] Jack Armstrong:
"We've had so many times that it's insane that a person... has to pay somebody to help them figure out how much the government owes them."

Jack reflects on the inefficiencies in the tax system, advocating for reforms to simplify processes and reduce taxpayer burdens.

[36:07] Joe Getty: The episode wraps up with a humorous exchange about Joe Getty's health, referencing Ebola in jest, before teasing upcoming segments and encouraging listeners to subscribe.

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Notable Quotes

• Joe Getty on AI-Generated Misinformation:
  "It's going to happen a lot more in the future... what percentage of people who heard that, heard the correction later in the day that that wasn't real?" [02:49]

• Jack Armstrong on Truth Discernment:
  "This is the point of a lot of propaganda is not to convince you of anything specific, but to convince you that there is no knowing the truth." [03:48]

• Joe Getty on Polling Manipulation:
  "It just illustrates so beautifully what we've said for a long time, it is so easy to manipulate issues polling with wording." [21:46]

• Howard Lutnick on National Deficit:
  "We spend over a trillion dollars on interest... If we don't do this, America will go bankrupt." [19:45]

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Conclusion

In "The End Is The Planet Of The Beavers," Armstrong and Getty delve into pressing issues surrounding AI-generated misinformation, political integrity, government efficiency, and public opinion. They critically assess media narratives, advocate for fiscal responsibility, and highlight the challenges posed by emerging technologies. Through a blend of humor and serious discourse, the hosts encourage listeners to stay informed and question mainstream narratives.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

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

[Joe Getty]

But they forget that Ukraine isn't the kind of country you go all in on. This is ridiculous.

[Don Trump Jr.]

I honestly can't imagine anyone in their right mind picking Ukraine, Ukraine as an ally when Russia is the other option. I mean just think about it. Massive nuclear power, loaded with natural resources. Everyone needs literally the biggest country on the planet. And haha, there's Ukraine, which has Chernobyl and some radiation proof dogs. Meanwhile the Biden administration is like, oh yeah, this is definitely the ally we need. Let's dump all our money into them. Honestly, if anything, the US should have been sending weapons to Russia.

[Joe Getty]

Pretty shocking stuff From Don Trump Jr. Yesterday on a podcast.

[Jack Armstrong]

Immediately recognizable voice, shocking statements, as you say. I got a little squinty listening to it, but only because it was too much. That is AI generated.

[Joe Getty]

I'm not sure said that. I'm not sure I would have, I don't know, based on some of the things his dad has said in the last week or so, I'm not sure I would have jumped to that. This can't be real.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, I was not confident at all. No, I'm just saying I thought, wait a minute, there's, there's something just a little too odd and perfect and over the top radiation proof dogs. Don Jr. Does have a pretty good sense of humor, but honestly, if it had been a little more subtle, I would have bought it completely.

[Joe Getty]

Well, it got retweeted by an awful lot of legit organizations, Democrats and some Republicans who are more pro supporting Ukraine. And a lot of those people had to pull it down later in the day when it became clear that it was AI generated. And I think this is the most, the first, most successful time people have been hoodwinked in an important story. It's going to happen a lot more in the future. It helps that it's just, it was just audio in a podcast so you didn't have any of the video stuff. Although the video gets better every single day and pretty sure be completely falling for that. And even with the corrections and the people who pulled it down, what percentage of people who heard that, heard the correction later in the day that that wasn't real?

[Jack Armstrong]

I've seen studies on that very thing and it's a tiny fraction. Sure of course that actually here's the retraction, the correction and the, the original misperception becomes much, much bigger.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah, that's a problem.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it is a real problem. Not only on the practical level, because you can be so easily fooled. I mean, any human being, heck, we're made to recognize each other's voices and each other's faces. That's our method of identification. And so on a practical level, obviously you can mislead people, seriously. But on that second level, and this is the part that really troubles me, and this is the point of a lot of propaganda is not to convince you of anything specific, but to convince you that there is no knowing the truth. Give up. There's no way to discern the truth. We are going to discourage you to the point that all you can do is obey. And I think AI could easily get us to that point. I mean, if you have a perfect Don Jr saying something outrageous but not like, too over the top, the effectiveness of that would be near 100%. And then where do you go as a consumer of news, information and opinion?

[Joe Getty]

What do you do? I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wait. I suppose maybe as a species or as a society, we'll get a little less anxious to leap to opinions and immediately clap back. We'll have to go through a process of. Could be legit, maybe not. We gotta wait and see.

[Joe Getty]

I would like to think that we're gonna gravitate back toward gatekeepers the way we used to have with. And I realize this is flawed in that they were all left leaning, but it was, you know, your big evening newscasts, big newspapers, big magazines were gatekeepers and you had at least some reason to believe that they were trying to not feed you things that were completely inaccurate. But I don't know if people have any interest in that.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, no, that's a really good question. I don't know either. There's a. There's a real difference between the Cronkite left and the woke left.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, heck. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

But I don't know if there's enough of a market for it to overcome the clickbaity, you know, bubble information confirmation bias, society. I don't. I don't know. I doubt it. Honestly. Yeah, I don't. I have no idea where this is going.

[Joe Getty]

No, it's gonna be interesting to watch. We're gonna live through it. So.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, no kidding.

[Joe Getty]

I.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, the only thing that heartens me at times like this was, you know, we've gone through revolutions and wars and meteors and. And plagues and as human beings, and.

[Joe Getty]

I don't buy it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Why I didn't get to the end.

[Joe Getty]

I know the end. This is different.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, the end is a planet of the beavers, as I've made clear. You want to talk about something I am certain about that is it No.

[Joe Getty]

I know the argument is always like there's been all kinds of major changes in society that have been deemed that will be the end of the world. Whether it's rock and roll music or the printing press or television or whatever the hell. But this is different.

[Jack Armstrong]

Speaking of deep fakes and AI and cheap fakes, Jake Tapper's book. Can we talk about that for another minute or two? This is Joe Concha on Fox News. I think he sums it up pretty well.

[Joe Getty]

Tapper writing this book is like Hannibal Lecter writing one on the dangers of cannibalism.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's original sin. President Biden's decline its cover up and his disastrous choice to run again. And I like Tapper who could not have been a more enthusiastic cover upper cover upper of the President's mental decline than he was. Just unbelievable.

[Joe Getty]

And I like the picture on the COVID of the book and it comes out in May. It's Joe Biden with. Is it his hands over his eyes or somebody else's hands over his eyes?

[Jack Armstrong]

But any.

[Joe Getty]

Anyway, it's basically the we're not gonna look at, you know, we're gonna, we're gonna blind ourselves to reality. Well, you were part of it. So the fact I, I knew this book would come out at some point but I didn't think it'd be by one of the participants right in the.

[Jack Armstrong]

COVID So incredibly egregious and worth noting. Clip number 13, Hanson that while anybody like us who was stating that which was plainly clear would receive nasty pushback.

[Joe Getty]

The White House is calling cheap fakes. We were hearing about so called cheap fakes. It's playing out on right wing media.

[Jack Armstrong]

These videos, I mean they're blatant lies.

[Joe Getty]

These are cheap fakes with the White House and Biden people call them cheap fakes are a little bit simpler.

[Jack Armstrong]

They're cheap, they're just distorted out of.

[Joe Getty]

Context videos chopped up in certain ways, constructed in certain ways.

[Jack Armstrong]

Several of those clips from cnn. Well, right.

[Joe Getty]

We played the clip yesterday of Jake Tapper yelling at somebody who brought up. It was a Republican who brough brought up on his show Joe Biden's you know, mental decline. And Jake Tapper said oh no, no, these are talking points. The guy has a stutter. You have no evidence what you're diagnosing him from afar, you know that he's, he's senile. Come on. When the American people could Figure it out and you're going to write a book. President Biden's decline, its cover up and his disastrous choice to run again. Did you call it a disastrous choice at the time?

[Jack Armstrong]

And I read one columnist point out that two months after the the inauguration she was writing about how Biden forgot the name of the Pentagon as well as the name of his secretary of Defense and wrote these are not isolated incidents. These are not selectively edited clips. Something is wrong with Biden and it should concern all of us. That was two months after the inauguration. And, and honestly, throughout the campaign when he would wander off, not take questions, he had prompts telling him stage directions identifying press numbers. He would only answer a couple of questions. He would stammer out his answers. Robert, her declining to prosecute for the reasons we all discussed. Kindly old man with a bad memory. So putting, you know, another layer of Are you kidding me? On top of Tapper's just incredible hypocrisy is the idea that. And it all happened in the last six weeks or so of his presidency and they covered it up and now I'm bravely writing about it.

[Joe Getty]

What I often think Molly Hemingway's over the top, but she had a funny tweet response to Jake Tapper's book release. She tweeted out lots of capital letter words in here. The mother bleeping audacity of you to do this after running 247 interference on behalf of him and mocking and attacking every single person who noticed Biden's decline. The mother bleeping audacity. Have you no decency? Have you no shame? That is a perfectly reasonable response.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. Wow. Yeah, I think it is. Well, you know what? I'm gonna leave it there. It's. It is self beclownment of a Titanic proportion. I can't even. It's difficult to believe. Is this a deep fake? Is this a really kind of clever double reverse trying to convince us that Jake Tapper of all people has the audacity to write a book informing us. Now you're going to want to sit down for this. Joe Biden had a serious mental decline, was senile and some people, including the media were covering it up. Come on, nobody to have balls that big.

[Joe Getty]

Please. I can't believe.

[Jack Armstrong]

True.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that is something. I also bet there's some really good stuff in the book. I mean he's clearly checked his shame, hypocrisy, whatever at the door. But I'll bet there's some really good nuggets in that book about people covering it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Up.

[Joe Getty]

So I look forward to it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, here's a multi, multi, layered Twitter storm from this alleged independent journalist explaining how these pieces he's talking about, the dozens of pieces that came out of journalism in the wake of the. Her announcement, these pieces are, are baseless. They can't be evaluated because of anecdotal memory lapses. Just utterly unfair, no medical basis, irresponsible.

[Joe Getty]

So do you think there's a chance that we're misreading it? And, and we're, we're also not bubbled, but like, I don't know, a slave to our wishes that they just, they actually couldn't. Their, their minds wouldn't let them see his decline.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's a fascinating question. I have no idea the answer of it. I wish it were possible to answer that question because I'd love to hear it. Jake Tapper is a smart guy and we've talked to him before. He, for the longest time, I thought he was a very reasonable and very good journalist. This is inexplicable. Unless it is. It's either ideology, deliberate dishonesty, or some aspect of the human mental condition like you're suggesting. That is scary. And I'd love to know more about.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, like getting back to our Dear Abby thing we did last hour. I've seen this happen before and I remember this woman saying this wife saying to me one time, it's easy to believe a lie if you really want it to be true. It was on the idea that her husband was not being the way he should be, and she so didn't want it to be true.

[Joe Concha]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

The book I'm reading about Martin Luther King Jr. His wife to the very end, convinced that Martin did not cheat on her. I did not know that. But anyway, it's, it's the whole, I don't want this to be true, so I just can't even let that in. Is that what the media was doing? They just so didn't want it to be true that Joe Biden, you know, needed to step down, it was going to help Trump get elected and blah, blah, blah. They couldn't see it. I wonder.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I, you know, the marital thing's a little different, obviously, because of the incredibly deep emotional bond there, but I just, if you, you fall for that, you are weak minded. If you are that blinded by your own wishes. Seriously, you shouldn't be a journalist. For one thing, I tell you, if you, and this is not to portray myself as some sort of paragon, but if you want me to explain any flaws or weaknesses in my arguments at any point. I would do that for you because I'm acutely aware of them. I like to think. Now do I have some confirmation bias? Of course I do. But yeah. Jake Tapper, shame on you. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Be interesting to see what's in that book and the way it's received. Like everybody's just like, just shocked by these revelations. That'll be something to watch also. We got a lot more this hour. Stay here.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Howard Lutnick]

I'm confident at this point. Knock on wood, you know, knock on my wooden head. The gotcha. Lot of wood up there that we can actually find a trillion dollars in savings. We do need to move quickly if we're to achieve a trillion dollar deficit reduction in financial year 2026. It requires saving $4 billion per day, every day from now through the end of September. But we can do it and we will do it.

[Joe Getty]

Elon Musk yesterday in that first cabinet meeting of the Trump administration and a lot of the cabinet members there. To me, not looking super jazzed that Elon had so much time to speak. But I could be reading into their facial expressions. I don't know. But I like Elon pointing out, look, we gotta say $4 billion a day through, through September just to keep from.

[Jack Armstrong]

Going under in that spirit. And you know, Trump's foreign policy leaves me scratching my head or troubles me, but with him, sometimes he throws things into chaos, then comes to a decent solution. The jury's still out to me on Trump. Fore. I mean, really, seriously, the jury is out. But this stuff, I could not be more enthusiastic about. Brett Baer talked to Howard Lutnick, who's the Secretary of commerce, and we've got some clips later on in the hour of Lutnick describing the things they're trying to do. It is awe inspiring. It's beyond great. It's like, let's have a party. Great. If they can even do half of what they're talking about in terms of reining in the bloat, the redundancy, the stupidity of the federal government. Great stuff. Can't wait to play it.

[Joe Getty]

Breaking news. They're going to shoot Katy Perry into space.

[Jack Armstrong]

Good.

[Joe Getty]

Which John Mayer is probably happy about. Bezos and his rocket company. Second richest guy in the world. He's going to shoot Katy Perry, Gayle King, his weird looking hot fiance, wife and some other chicks into space.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's the man.

[Joe Getty]

In a historic all women mission. They said up. And so there you go.

[Jack Armstrong]

Is it historic? Will any historians be on hand and what will they Write.

[Joe Getty]

The all female six person crew is set to launch this spring. Gayle King's 70. She's not a young person.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, indeed. You know, good for her. Sounds like an adventure. Okay, so what this.

[Joe Getty]

Go ahead, I get his wife or his fiance saying. Wait, is he probably mentioned the people he's going to send in space. Hello. Hello. I know some other woman that would like to go into space. So she, she's going into space. But why Katy Perry.

[Jack Armstrong]

Probably his wife's favorite pop star.

[Joe Getty]

I bet you're right. Something like that.

[Jack Armstrong]

I tell you what, if I'm being shot into space with a rich guy's girlfriend slash wife, I'm. I'm checking into the health of the relationship before I sign on. If you hear me talking. Although in Jeff Bezos news, I am 1/10 is interested in this as I am about his piece in Twitter and his announcement that the policy the Washington Post is going to be from here on out, free markets and free people. To paraphrase the Wall Street Journal's slogan, advocating for America and freedom. Absolutely love that. Way to go, Jeff.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. And specifically saying that any articles that are counter to that will have to be published elsewhere. I mean, just like editorials. Yeah, yeah. Any, any opinion pieces in that you want to write about that that ain't gonna be in this newspaper.

[Jack Armstrong]

I like that commie clap trap elsewhere. Thank you. Really interesting new poll out about a lot that's going on in the country. Those results coming up Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

So you didn't feel like Marco and RFK Jr and Hegseth or any of the other cabinet members looked a little uncomfortable with Elon holding the phone?

[Jack Armstrong]

No, I wouldn't, I wouldn't deny that. No, no. It. They just look serious to me. I didn't think much about it. But I don't disagree with you that they're a little like he. When's he going to shut up? I'm the secretary of something or other and I haven't said a damn word. Right. I want to get back to that discussion And Doge. In a recent poll, I'm giving myself 90 seconds by the clock to do something else first because I know me, I'll start ranting, but I want to squeeze this in. We were talking about senile Joe Biden earlier and I have begun the timer and I've talked about Dr. Ethan Haim, 34 year old whistleblower who reported that the Texas Children Hospital was continuing to perform gender transition surgeries on children even after Texas outlawed the process. And he's a hero. And the rest of it. What I didn't know until today was because Trump rescinded it, the Biden administration issued an executive something or other edict that protected hospitals from state investigations into gender transition procedures.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

It was a complete inversion of the role of the hhs. The rule of the legal framework, says Ethan Haim. It outlaw. Well, what it does, what it did was it gave hospitals the right not to comply with state level investigations related to the provision of transgender medical treatment to minors. That is a. If there's been a more perverse use of the power of the federal government, I have no idea what it was. Wow, that should be insane.

[Joe Getty]

That should be known by more people.

[Jack Armstrong]

And I only have nine seconds to tell you. It also clear that the Biden FCC absolutely approved George Soros buying 200 radio stations in a way that there's never been an approval before. They skipped all of the regulatory steps and just said, no, no, no, you can do it.

[Joe Getty]

Most people don't know that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Outrageous. Good Lord, no. Nobody's ever going to hear these stories. All right, that's 90 seconds. My alarm went off. Moving along back to Elon Musk. Here's Elon in the cabinet meeting as Marco Rubio was starting to look slightly miffed. According to Jack, the overall goal here.

[Howard Lutnick]

With the Doge team is to help address the enormous deficit we simply cannot sustain as a country. A $2 trillion deficit. The interest rates, just the interest on the national debt now exceeds the Defense Department spending. We spend a lot on the Defense Department, but we're spending like over a trillion dollars on interest. If this continues, the country will go become de facto bankrupt. It's not an optional thing. It is an essential thing. That's the reason I'm here. And taking a lot of plaque and getting a lot of death threats, by the way. I mean, I like to stack them up. But if we don't do this, America will go bankrupt. That's why it has to be done.

[Jack Armstrong]

So he's absolutely right. And that's great stuff. I had said yesterday on the show that, that Doge and Elon have less than majority support. They are underwater pole number wise and one of our beloved listeners and I apologize, I didn't keep handy who sent this long but it was. It's great. Oh, it's Ben. He said, I'm not sure where you're getting those numbers because the Harris, the Harvard Harris poll just came out and it seems different. And Ben, thank you for the information. It just illustrates so beautifully what we've said For a long time, it is so easy to manipulate issues polling with wording because the one I saw was, and I wish I had it in front of me, but it said essentially, do you think Elon Musk and the Doge team is working too fast and doing too much or exceeding their authority, that sort of thing? And yeah, a pretty good percentage of Americans agreed with that. But this is the Harvard Harris poll and they say two in three voters say the federal government's debt is unsustainable. You third, that don't say that. You gotta show me your math, as they used to say in math class, show me your work.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Anyway, but over four in five say they should work to balance the budget. So if you were to question people in a way that emphasized a little bit more style and personality, you could easily portray, and it was portrayed this way, that Doge is highly unpopular in their work. People not supporting the unelected billionaire Elon Musk. But if you look at the underlying, you know, the principles that we're talking about, there's overwhelming support for it.

[Joe Getty]

If four out of five people think we should balance a budget, how do we keep electing two parties that have no interest in doing that?

[Jack Armstrong]

Because when it comes down to crunch time, you go with who is going to promise you more as the common voter. I think it's. That's. That is a really interesting contrast. The. And I'm reminded once again of one of my all time favorite Thomas Sowell quotes, and I've got like 50 of them, maybe 150. Is that we're partly to blame for the fact that politicians are such liars because if we over and over again demand the impossible from them, only liars can get elected.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

And we want a dollar thirty in government services for a dollar perpetually. And never any tax increases.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. That first poll of 2/3 of people think we're gonna go broke. Like you said. The other third. God, I'd love to sit down with those people. I just like to, you know, explain to me how you see things.

[Jack Armstrong]

It might be some of those lunatics who believe that the, the monetarists or whatever, the liberal economist group thinks that they'll just keep printing money.

[Joe Getty]

Thought about it that much?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I was gonna say, and a few of them are probably, we can grow our way out of this crowd. Trump's been talking about that even as they cut like crazy, which is good. But I think it's mostly morons. Some more. Some more of the poll after a quick word from our friends at Prize Picks Prize Picks is the best place to get real money sports action going. Joan over join over 10 million users and sign up today.

[Joe Getty]

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[Jack Armstrong]

It's guaranteed super duper easy. You just take at least two player stat projections and say, no, he's gonna do more than that. No, that guy's gonna get stopped by their great defense and you turn it into real money. So download the Prize Picks app today. Use the Code Armstrong to get $50 instantly after you play your first five dollar lineup. You don't have to win. It is automatic. And they have special features like Taco Tuesday explain it where they discount player projections, keeping it fun and loose and always different. Again, download the Prize Picks app today. Use the Code Armstrong. Get that 50 bucks instantly after you play a $5 lineup. Prize picks Run your game back to the Harvard Harris Poll. An overwhelming majority of voters say the government should reduce government expenses over increasing taxes. And a full examination of expenditures is needed. The taxes versus expenditures thing, you know, that's interesting. It's 83 to 17. The devil's in the details. But I thought, here's the way the question's phrased and I thought this was even more interesting. Do you think that we are in need of a full examination of all government expenditures or should we not get in the way of current contracts and expenditures? And it's 7723 that no, we gotta turn over every rock and look at it. Which is heartening. But in a raw political. Taking a look at it through the political lens, the idea that Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries and the others are on the steps of Capitol Hill saying how dare they disrupt and look at all these government programs that everyone loves, these pure bureaucrats. There's no, there's very, very little constituency for that. In fact, it's, it's mockable as a pitch to voters, given the numbers. But for, for the millionth time, we ought to, when there ought to be like confetti fall out of the sky when we say this for the millionth time, for the almost one millionth time, the media reports it as if that's what most Americans believe, right? Even though it's a tiny subset, 7 in 10 voters think government expenditures are filled with waste that's the actual phrase from the Harvard Harris poll. Do you think that the government expenditures are basically fair and reasonable or do you think they are filled with waste, fraud and inefficiency? 70 to 30.

[Joe Getty]

Wow, that's fantastic.

[Jack Armstrong]

It is.

[Joe Getty]

Happy to hear that.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is why folks like us, who are not the mainstream media, I think, are growing and growing and growing in the mainstream media, are withering and withering because they're so effing dishonest. Pardon me, do you, do you support or oppose the goal of cutting $1 trillion of government expenditures 69 to 31?

[Joe Getty]

That's incredible.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, how about this? Do you think there should be a US government agency focused on efficiency initiatives or not? 7228. Yes. Do you think the so called Department of Government Efficiency DOGE, led by Elon Musk, they go ahead and mention his name, is helping make major cuts in government expenditures or not helping? Wins 60 to 40. There you see a little Elon fatigue or you know, that sort of thing creeping in. And indeed, when you ask, do you think DOGE employees should have access to all information on government expenditures, including sensitive information on Americans, including names, Social Security numbers, then you get a no answer. But in general, if they can avoid, you know, the most obvious of excesses and screw ups, they have huge popular support. Somebody ought to tell the New York Times that and Jake Tapper and the Washington Post. Huge support. Hey La. Hey Law.

[Joe Getty]

Well, that's the best news I've heard today that polling.

[Jack Armstrong]

I like to wait till several hours into the show to give anybody any good news. I like to just batter them and discourage them as much as possible.

[Joe Getty]

Some of the bad news woke up to, of course, is that Gene Hackman is dead. The great actor. Not that he was doing a lot of movies lately. He retired quite a few years ago. My favorite actor of all time, Gene Hackman. I used to go to any movie he would be in, I would go see because I liked it so much. Anyway, he. He and his wife and dog all died overnight and they haven't announced yet why.

[Jack Armstrong]

Gotta be carbon monoxide or something like that.

[Joe Getty]

Gas leak or something. His 95, but she's only 65, so, you know. Why did they both die?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and the dog? Come on. The dog didn't despair and end his own life. So now.

[Joe Getty]

Yes, Katie, do we have an update? Yeah, they just did an update saying that one of the dogs died. There were two that lived and they're speculating as to why they were in separate bedrooms. Those dogs did it. It the Two dogs did it. The dog.

[Jack Armstrong]

You gotta look to them first.

[Joe Getty]

You're right. Where were you?

[Jack Armstrong]

That dog and everyone knows it.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Get your, I don't know, carbon monoxide detector batteries checked or something.

[Jack Armstrong]

You gotta ask the dog just point blank, did you do it? That if its fur gets up on its back, it's guilty. If it wags its tail, it's innocent. Simple as that. Too, too soon.

[Joe Getty]

The fact that they immediately announced no foul play.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, Yeah. I think it was some sort of terrible accident.

[Joe Getty]

How did they even find out? Did somebody do a wellness check? Like hadn't heard from him in a couple of days or what?

[Jack Armstrong]

No idea.

[Joe Getty]

Must have been something like that, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

Maybe the dogs who survived called again. Too soon. Too soon.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

I apologize.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. We're gonna play one of Gene Hackman's greatest movie roles for you in our four. We'll have a clip of that, among other things we got coming up. Systems. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

My new favorite figure in government, Howard Lutnick, speaking of cutting the budget and fiscal health. Oh, my gosh. Great stuff. You're gonna love.

[Joe Getty]

I don't like his name.

[Jack Armstrong]

What?

[Joe Getty]

I don't like the name Lutnick.

[Jack Armstrong]

Please.

[Joe Getty]

No, that's the way it sounds. We got that coming up. Stay here.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

We use the word tran tifa on the air before. Have I come across.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, we have.

[Joe Getty]

Okay.

[Jack Armstrong]

I have. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Anyway, hour four, we'll talk about this latest tran tifa activist that just got arrested in Colorado wanting to blow up a Tesla property.

[Jack Armstrong]

Got some great audio to get to, so I'll keep this short, but I was just saying a jack off the air. I am so glad we have people who know what they're dealing doing, dealing with taxes and the money stuff and everything as we're getting toward tax time and we have a couple of different relationships, and it's a little complicated, but it, you know, returns me to the thought that we've. We've had so many times that it's insane that a person, just a regular person with a regular tax return has to pay somebody to help them figure out how much the government owes them. It's absolutely idiotic. It needs to be reformed. It needs it desperately. And maybe now is the time that happens. So. Special report with Brett Baer. Last night, Brett was talking to Howard Lutnick, who's the secretary of commerce at the. At his office Commerce building. And Lutnick, who is so excited about his job, he's really a fascinating guy. He ran a big firm on Wall street, lost hundreds of employees on 9 11, including his brother. He was only spared because he was taking his little boy to his first day of school.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, my God.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think it was his partner. His brother's little boy's first day of school had been the previous day. So Howard lived, they all died. Just crazy. But anyway. But he is so crazy enthusiastic about what he's doing right now. I have two clips I want to play for you from the. From the interview. This is 48 First Hanson.

[Joe Getty]

The U.S. postal Service coming under commerce. I mean, where did that come from? And what is that about? And how will Americans deal with it? Will it affect their mail?

[Joe Concha]

No, it won't affect their mail. So the concept was, I'm sitting with the president, and the costs of the post office are like, it loses $7 billion. And he said, can you do something with it? And I said, sure. So I saw him the next day. He goes, okay, what do you got? You know, he gives me a whole 24 hours to figure it out. And I said, well, the Commerce department does the census, and we spend $40 billion every 10 years doing the census. And that means we hire 625,000 people. And they go, and they rent cars and gas, and you pay them food. And you know what they do? They go to every household in America and count the people. What department do we already have that already employs 625,000 people? It's got cars, already has gas, goes to every household. Can you imagine saying to your postman, can you count the people in the house? What day could he do the census? Monday. Could he double check it on Tuesday? How about Wednesday? He goes every day. So we can only save $40 billion or 4 billion a year, and we'll do a better job. And you know what else we can do with the post office? They can go to your house when you have a baby and give you the form for Social Security. And the 20,000 Social Security offices that we have, we just don't need them. We actually can do real customer service. Go right to your house. Someone died. Here's the forms. You can fill it out. I'll bring them to your house. Customer service. Why? Because we've got those people. Let's use the assets of the government to make us better and save us money. We can be smart. You know, we're loud.

[Jack Armstrong]

How blanking great is that?

[Joe Getty]

That's fantastic.

[Jack Armstrong]

Even if the specifics don't work out for some reason, the spirit of it, right? Which is the spirit of private enterprise come to government. Wait a minute. Wait A minute. Why are we doing two different things here? They're essentially the same business. Let's combine them and save, you know, 70% of the. The budget. That's right.

[Joe Getty]

And you. And if you're. If you're only look at things as the way people in government look at things, you could have two things grow up separately that overlap, but you don't think about it or care because you don't think about money. You don't care about money. There's endless taxpayer money. You don't care if it's efficient or not. As opposed to a businessman that says, we got two things. We could have one thing right.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's way more insidious than not caring. You would never bring it to anybody's attention because then you wouldn't have the turf and the budget and the people under you as the census guy, you would never say, hey, you know what, Mr. President, the post office could do this. It just came to me in a dream last night. We should get rid of my giant fiefdom in D.C. in my big house in Fairfax. And the rest of it. I'm not necessary. Yeah. Wait for that to happen. That's so positive and good. I hesitate to do this. Do we have time for a minute long clip answer? No. Okay, we'll do it next hour. Lutnick goes on to talk about Brett, asks him, what are you worried about? And Lotnick's description of why he's worried about China is great.

[Joe Getty]

Cool. I'm worried about our college system and the numb nut students at Columbia took over a building yesterday fighting for the rights of Hamas. And we've got some chanting stuff from them and how that played out. It's ridiculous.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm telling you. The snowflakey idiotic goodness of their chanting is amazing. It's some of my favorite stupid chanting of all time. Please join us for next hour. If you don't get next hour, you got to go somewhere. Whatever. Grab it via podcast later. Armstrong and gettyondemand. You should probably be safe and subscribe.

[Joe Getty]

Or follow and enjoyed today's show because it's a decent chance. I've got Ebola. I haven't been able to nail down what illness it is I have, but I'm just assuming it's Ebola.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, you're bleeding from the eyes and ears. I didn't want to bring it up. I felt indelicate, but it's probably Ebola. You actually sound and look better today. Are you or is it just better drugs?

[Joe Getty]

I'm not on any drugs, but okay. I don't feel better. I'm glad I sound better. That's fantastic. That's good news.

[Jack Armstrong]

Absolutely.

[Joe Getty]

Maybe I'll pull both feet out of the grave and just have one foot in the grave. Our four will be big. If you don't get it, get the podcast. Armstrong and Getty on demand.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Gettysburg.