The Hot Crazy Matrix

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand – "The Hot Crazy Matrix"

Date: November 13, 2025
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Producer/News: Katie Green
Guest Attributions As Noted

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on the political and media frenzy surrounding the possible release of the "Epstein Files" and the associated Epstein Transparency Act, which prompted unusual alliances and contentious debate in Congress. Armstrong and Getty approach the story with skepticism and exasperation, dissecting motivations, circumstantial evidence, and media treatment. They go on to reflect on broader political dynamics, institutional shifts due to “wokeism,” and American attitudes toward income, happiness, and capitalism, all while keeping their signature irreverent and sarcastic tone.

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Key Topics & Insights

1. The Epstein Transparency Act: Congressional and Political Drama

Timestamps: 01:19 – 13:33

• The General Manager Is the Epstein Files:
  [01:19]
  Jack Armstrong announces the "general manager" of today's show as "the Jeffrey Epstein files," focusing on growing bipartisan calls for transparency—most notably the upcoming House vote on the Epstein Transparency Act.

• Republican In-Fighting and MAGA Contradictions:
  [01:53 – 03:37]

  • Discussion of Rep. Thomas Massie (MAGA-aligned) urging colleagues not to be seen as protecting pedophiles:

    "Donald Trump isn’t going to be around forever. This vote will be hanging around your neck forever if you decide to stand up for protecting pedophiles..."
    (Jack Armstrong quoting Massie, 02:28)

  • Trump, according to Jack, was "fighting like hell" to block the act and pressure MAGA Republicans, citing Lauren Boebert as an example:

    "...brought her into the White House and had the Attorney general and the FBI director pressuring her to vote no. She voted yes anyway. That's a heck of a move.”
    (Jack Armstrong, 03:42)

• Media & Political Cynicism and Fatigue:
  [04:44 – 05:24]
  Joe Getty expresses exhaustion with ongoing scandal speculation:

  "This country faces existential threats. Existential. And we're obsessing with this garbage. Makes me insane. I can't take it anymore."
  (Joe Getty, 04:58)

  Jack reads from released Epstein emails, which contain mostly innuendo about Trump, leaving much to interpretation and fueling further frustration.

• Why Fight the Release?
  [08:21]
  Jack suggests circumstantial evidence points to suspicious actions by powerful people:

  "...until someone explains why Maxwell was moved to a cushy prison, why Boebert was in the Situation room being pressured... the level of suspicion... has nothing to do with the emails..."
  (Jack Armstrong, 08:26)
  Joe suggests Trump’s concerns may be a matter of personal embarrassment or worse but doubts anything truly damaging will emerge.

• Media Treatment and Partisan Interest:
  [10:05]
  Armstrong & Getty note mainstream channels differ in coverage—MSNBC obsessing, Fox News largely ignoring the story.

• The Inevitable Vote and Aftermath:
  [11:10]
  Speculation about what comes after a possible full release:

  “If they vote and it comes out and then there's nothing there. And Then are we done?”
  (Jack Armstrong, 10:32)

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2. Character and Motivation: Trump, Parties, and the “Hot Crazy Matrix”

Timestamps: 11:52 – 13:33

• Armstrong’s Theory:
  Jack speculates Trump likely engaged in "a lot of partying" with Epstein and young women:

  "Trump did a lot of partying with Epstein with a lot of young women... I think Donald Trump might look back at all those partying days and thinking… I just assumed they were all of age until I found out Jeffrey Epstein's into the whole underage thing. Holy crap."
  (Jack Armstrong, 11:52)

• Memorable Quote:
  Joe Getty:

  "Two Congress people who are proof of the whole hot crazy matrix..."
  (Joe Getty, 10:59)

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3. News Roundup and Humor

Timestamps: 13:38 – 17:38

• Katie’s Headlines:
  • Noteworthy: College student does a 93-mile wheelie, streaming prices rising, NYPD warns of officer exodus after election, Alaska to try phone voting, Vietnam vet lauded after defending tenant.
  • Absurd/light moment:

    "Somebody broke into my house and stole all my fruit. Left me peachless."
    (Jack Armstrong, 14:41)

  • Commentary on Diddy’s prison trouble, and Babylon Bee’s joke about Democrats removing sombreros after the shutdown.

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4. On Political Performances and Structural Change

Timestamps: 18:18 – 24:47

• Shutdown Theater

  • Analysis of why politicians (esp. Chuck Schumer) manufacture drama for their bases.

    "It was about showing their base...that they could fight back."
    (Jack Armstrong citing Ezra Klein, 19:41)

  • Breakdown of who the Democratic base now consists of—listing unions, activist groups, and large left-leaning organizations.

• “Woke” Institutional Capture and Collapse
  [22:00 – 24:47]

  • Case study: The Sierra Club’s internal struggle and decline after social justice missions eclipse environmental focus.

    "...scattering of its focus has not only left the Sierra Club flat footed and broke, it’s also rendered it indistinguishable from other everything bagel progressive organizations..."
    (Joe Getty, 24:27)

  • Illustrative Sierra Club moment:

    "What do wolves have to do with equity, justice and inclusion?"
    (Joe Getty recounting a Sierra Club response, 25:14)

• "Conquest's Laws": The inevitability of leftist institutional drift:

  "Any organization, not explicitly right wing, sooner or later becomes left wing."
  (Jack Armstrong, quoting, 25:58)

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5. Institutional Bureaucracy and Mission Drift

Timestamps: 26:28 – 27:20

• Discussion on how all long-standing institutions shift priorities over time from their original purpose to justifying and preserving their own existence—seen as a fundamentally left-wing tendency.

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6. Mailbag: Listener Feedback, Socialism vs. Capitalism

Timestamps: 31:01 – 36:14

• Michelangelo’s Early Christmas Shopping:
  Playful teasing about holiday preparedness.

• Socialist Sweden vs. Capitalist US:
  A listener contrasts US and Swedish income and happiness, fueling wider conversation on the realities of capitalism, socialism, and the myth of egalitarian contentment in Scandinavia.

  “Americans have a much higher standard of living than Swedes. Why? In the global economy, the answer is simple. Americans are four times on average as productive as Swedes...”
  (Listener email summarized, 33:07)

  • Jack points out that, despite these figures, Scandinavians often report higher life satisfaction, though that may be changing with social shifts.
  • Joe: "In America, you’re free to be poor and live like a Swede. Just make sure you act like one too. And live contentedly at the poverty level. Yeah, and quit complaining." (Joe Getty, 34:39)

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7. American Affordability and the Myth of the 1950s

Timestamps: 29:41, Previewed for Later Discussion

• Teaser for an extended talk about how single-earner households and home ownership have become unachievable for most Americans compared to the 1950s, setting up a recurring theme for future episodes.

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8. Free Speech, Social Tyranny & John Stuart Mill

Timestamps: 29:41 – 31:01

• Getty shares a freedom-loving quote touching on government and societal overreach:

  “Society can and does execute its own mandates ... it practices a social tyranny more formid than many kinds of political oppression.”
  (Joe Getty reading Mill, 30:01)

  • Both hosts discuss the vital need for a culture of free speech beyond the legal requirements of the First Amendment.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• "This country faces existential threats. Existential. And we’re obsessing with this garbage. Makes me insane. I can’t take it anymore." (Joe Getty, 04:58)
• "Two Congress people who are proof of the whole hot crazy matrix that was such a popular YouTube video not too long ago." (Joe Getty, 10:59)
• "If I was going to try to put my best guess onto what's going on here is Trump did a lot of partying with Epstein with a lot of young women which he'd been hanging around his whole life." (Jack Armstrong, 11:52)
• "Any organization, not explicitly right wing, sooner or later becomes left wing." (Jack Armstrong quoting Robert Conquest, 25:58)
• "Environmental justice is. Racial justice is. Transgender justice is. Palestinian justice. We’re just trying to save the pine trees over here, right?" (Joe Getty, 24:26)
• “What do wolves have to do with equity, justice and inclusion?” (Joe Getty, 25:14)
• "In America, you’re free to be poor and live like a Swede. Just make sure you act like one too. And live contentedly at the poverty level. Yeah, and quit complaining.” (Joe Getty, 34:39)

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Tone and Style

The hosts maintain a sarcastic, exasperated, and irreverent tone throughout, blending skepticism about scandal with cutting analysis and moments of light humor. Memorable asides and playful banter offset the heavier political coverage.

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Suggested Listening Segments

• 01:19 – 08:50: The meat of the Epstein Act drama, congressional intrigue, and speculation about the release.
• 22:00 – 25:27: The profound discussion of how mission drift and “woke” activism can implode institutions like the Sierra Club.
• 31:01 – 36:14: The mailbag’s detailed listener breakdown of US vs. Swedish economics and the ensuing debate.

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Conclusion

Anyone seeking a condensed, insight-rich rundown of current political drama, institutional culture wars, and the hosts’ signature wit will find this episode engaging and illustrative of Armstrong & Getty’s unique voice. The Epstein scandal—and America’s obsession with endless revelations—serves as a springboard for wider reflections on transparency, media, partisanship, and the self-cannibalizing nature of U.S. political organizations.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an I heart podcast.

[Caller or Listener]

Every now and then I rinse it out and I need jelly rinse tonight and I need it more. My kid wears a bed and the smell never leaves. I don't know what to do I'm always in the dark the sweat and D sure smells like a dark.

[Katie Green]

Downy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Rinse Fights stubborn odors in just one wash when impossible odors get stuck in.

[Guest or Producer]

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

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty Enough here. Armstrong and get it live from Studio C Senior.

[Jack Armstrong]

We're in a dimly lit room deep within the bowels of the Armstrong and Getty Communications compound on little Friday and today we're under the tutelage of our general manager.

[Joe Getty]

I'm not saying can't make me. The secret court has ruled repeatedly that compelled speech is every bit as forbidden by the First Amendment as restricting speech.

[Jack Armstrong]

So you want me to say it? I won't. The general manager today, the Jeffrey Epstein files, or what is known as when they vote on it next week, the Epstein Transparency Act. There was a vote yesterday. First thing they did when they opened the government back up.

[Joe Getty]

First thing worth repeating.

[Jack Armstrong]

First thing they did was they swore in this new Arizona congresswoman who had won in a special election but over the last 50 some days or whatever, hadn't had a chance to get sworn in.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, there's no time.

[Jack Armstrong]

The schedule is full with the shutdown and whatnot. And she gave a little speech about this and that, including, we need to see the Epstein files. And she was a yes vote, as were many Republicans, including this guy, Representative Massey. We'll be hearing from him a little bit later. Who went out there and said, hey, Republicans, Donna. Other Republicans. He's a MAGA conservative Republican. Couldn't be more in charge of and forcefully advocating for the Epstein Transparency Act. Who said, hey, other Republicans, before you vote next week, Donald Trump isn't going to be around forever. This vote will be hanging around your neck forever if you decide to stand up for protecting pedophiles. When you're in a debate in 2030 with either a Republican or Democrat, somebody's going to look at you and say, why did you vote to cover up for pedophiles?

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's from Republican Congressman Massie challenging the Republican.

[Joe Getty]

He's a loose cannon, but, yeah, he's, he's pretty maga.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, so that, that's where this thing, the whole thing gets interesting. I still don't understand what we're talking about. I still don't know if there's any there there, although why they're. Why Trump's fighting so hard to keep this from happening. So it was a really close vote yesterday and Trump was trying to turn some of the Republican votes that were extra MAGA y away from voting for this so that it wouldn't have a chance to come up for vote next week. And for instance, Lauren Boebert of the tight jeans, high heels and hand jobs in movie theaters, that Lauren Boebert, Congressperson from Colorado.

[Joe Getty]

Frank there. But go on.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm just describing who she's, what she's known for.

[Joe Getty]

There's more than one way, but go on.

[Jack Armstrong]

They actually brought her into the White House and had the Attorney general and the FBI director pressuring her to vote no. She voted yes anyway. That's a heck of a move. Why you doing this? Why you doing this?

[Joe Getty]

I'm just, I'm exhausted, completely exhausted by this.

[Jack Armstrong]

Why are you, why are you working that hard? And then you got the whole thing. We did this on the air yesterday. The Democrats released whatever, 20,000 pages or some cherry picked emails or whatever, and then The Republicans released 23,000 pages of the. The reason this is so much more interesting than like every other battle of the last decade is you got a chunk of the most MAGA people in our government who are hardcore. The Epstein files need to come out. Right? And I personally know a couple of people that are very maga whose biggest disappointment is the Epstein files haven't come out yet and Trump's fighting like hell to keep them from coming out. I tell you what, I'm gonna strike.

[Joe Getty]

A bargain with the world right now.

[Jack Armstrong]

World.

[Joe Getty]

Here it is. Take it or leave it. When the Democrats had both houses in the White House, they didn't come up with anything that is really damaging to Republicans. Republicans have been power. They haven't really come up with anything damaging to Democrats or really themselves. Just some innuendo and vaguely worded emails. The first thing of real significance that comes out, you tell me and I'll pay attention to this steaming pile of crap. This country faces existential threats. Existential. And we're obsessing with this garbage. Makes me insane. I can't take it anymore.

[Jack Armstrong]

In 2012, Mr. Epstein emailed one of his lawyers. This is one of the emails that came out yesterday saying he needed to get someone to dig into Donald Trump's finances, including the mortgage on Mar a Lago and a $30 million loan that Mr. Epstein said Mr. Trump had received. And it needs to be dug into that there's dirt there. Okay, Is there or not? That lawyer was contacted yesterday by the New York Times. He said attorney client privileges. I got nothing to say. Epstein's dead, so can't ask him. As Trump's presidential campaign gained traction In December of 2015, Mr. Epstein asked a New York Times reporter, would you like a photo of Donald and girls in bikinis in my kitchen? It's unclear whether Epstein actually possessed such photos. And this Mr. Thomas, who doesn't work at the New York times anymore, says Mr. Epstein never provided him, but he did send him that message.

[Joe Getty]

Well, and what the hell does that mean? Girls? Did he mean 24 year old models or 13 year olds?

[Jack Armstrong]

I.

[Joe Getty]

That's it makes all the difference in the world. Again, vague innuendo.

[Jack Armstrong]

But then, then why would you, and this isn't really cool, bring in Lauren Boebert and have the Attorney General and FBI director pressuring her to vote no on this thing yesterday?

[Joe Getty]

That's not a good look.

[Jack Armstrong]

No.

[Joe Getty]

You know, you, I don't know the answer to that. It could be that this Trump is truly like me, disgusted by this idiotic waste of time. But at this point, you know, even.

[Jack Armstrong]

When a lot of his MAGA base is like super on fire for it.

[Joe Getty]

Well, yeah, it's the kind of paranoid conspiracy base, but at this point, with the one caveat that you've got to continue to protect the victim's names and that sort of thing in, you know, the usual ways that the Justice Department handles, I, I don't think there's any choice but to just flood the zone with all of it. Just get all of it out so we can move the hell on.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I think it's going to happen next week then. And then is that going to be a whole bunch of. We got another email we'll get to later where Epstein says something about the dog that didn't bark is how dirty Trump is in this whole thing, but doesn't specify in any way.

[Joe Getty]

No, no.

[Jack Armstrong]

Can it all come out next week and then people dig through? It'll take a while to dig through everything.

[Joe Getty]

Sure.

[Jack Armstrong]

And then they just find nothing but like innuendo and kind of vague suggestions. He's pretty dirty. Wait till you find out. Would you like to see some pictures that I've never shown anybody in? Right. And then, and then does it just go away and I never have to hear about it again? Could that happen?

[Joe Getty]

My evidence that there's nothing really there is entirely circumstantial, which I've described already. Everybody's had Power. Everybody's had access. Nothing's happened, so I don't think anything will happen. Well, there's another point I was going.

[Jack Armstrong]

To make, but while you're thinking of that point, I'll go with the circumstantial evidence. The other direction, as Mark Halpern writes in his newsletter today, Sorry, jump down to here. Until someone explains why Maxwell was moved to a cushy prison, why Boebert was in the Situation room being pressured by the c. The FBI director. The level of suspicion around this has nothing to do with the emails that were released on Wednesday. Why is Donald Trump working so hard to keep these from coming out?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, fair enough. I, I would not be shocked to find out that he was up to no good. At some point in the past. He was a millionaire, womanizing playboy type and ran in some, some racy circles. And, and that is some pretty decent circumstantial evidence that there's something there. Although the Ghislaine Ma thing, I still say it was as simple as back, you know, two rounds of this crap ago. Trump had her come out and say, Trump never did anything. And this bargain he struck with her and her lawyers was that she would be moved to a cushy girls camp, a tennis camp with, you know, a perimeter. I mean, what do I have to.

[Jack Armstrong]

Pay for a week in that prison camp? Somebody take care of my kids. You spend a week in that prison. Sounds fantastic.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know, I just feel like I'm watching some sort of mystery movie. Judy and I like to watch mystery movies and. But we're stuck on the first scene where there's been a murder most foul. I wonder which of these townspeople could have done it. But then you never get any more, like, serious clues. You just stay stuck in that first scene talking about murder most foul. You bring me something, anything, please, or forget it.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'll tell you this. Watching MSNBC last night, it was the only story they had watched Morning Some Morning Joe and MSNBC today, they, they were heavy, heavy on the Epstein thing. I watched about 20 minutes of Fox and Friends and it never came up at all.

[Joe Getty]

So Fox has decided a better approach.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's not a story that they want to carry, even though for a lot of the MAGA base, it's a huge thing.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

I would like to call it the Armstrong and Getty don't have to talk about it act that they're going to vote on next week. If they vote and it comes out and then there's nothing there. And Then are we done?

[Joe Getty]

So Nancy goes without saying that would.

[Jack Armstrong]

Have my vote to your high profile MAGA people. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Lauren Borman, Colorado.

[Joe Getty]

Cuckoo.

[Jack Armstrong]

Both pressured yesterday to vote no because it was such a close vote. But they, they went ahead and voted yes. Release there. Let's move on with the Epstein stuff.

[Joe Getty]

Two Congress people who are proof of the whole hot crazy matrix that was such a popular YouTube video not too long ago.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh man, what a deal. All right, let's start the show officially. I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe gated on this. How did it already get to be. Well, now that there's no more government shutdown, it's, everything's changed. Thursday, November 13, the year 2025 where Armstrong and getting. We approve of this program.

[Joe Getty]

Okay, let's begin officially then. According to FCC rules and regs. Here we go. Show starts at mark.

[Guest or Producer]

These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong. And what President Trump has always said is that he was from Palm beach and so was Jeffrey Epstein. Jeffrey Epstein was a member at Mar a Lago until President Trump kicked him out because Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile and he was a creep.

[Jack Armstrong]

If I was going to try to put my best guess onto what's going on here is Trump did a lot of partying with Epstein with a lot of young women which he'd been hanging around his whole life. And you know, and up until not that long ago. Right. I mean that's his thing. And he thinks he wasn't. He's not a. I'm like, I was going to name some names, but this hasn't been proven either. Like some names on the list who I think really liked the idea of having sex with 17 year olds.

[Joe Getty]

Let's go with Prince Andrew.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay. Prince Andrew, Matt Gaetz, like that was their thing. It turned them on for some reason. I think Donald Trump might look back at all those partying days and thinking, God, I have no idea. I didn't ask. She was pretty young. I just assumed they were all of age until I found out Jeffrey Epstein's into the whole underage thing. Holy crap.

[Joe Getty]

Right? Yeah, I think that's a pretty, pretty good supposition.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, and the whole I didn't know thing. I don't know if anybody would much traction you get with that. What, are you going to impeach him? What was going to happen anyway, he can't run again.

[Joe Getty]

Right, Right. I just honestly the fact that this dropped the day the shutdown ended and the Democrats were shown to have been showboating for no good purpose. And Chuck Schumer looks like the grizzled old used up bum that he is. Please, it's just this is an enormous distraction. I mean, we've got a 38 trillion dollar debt or whatever it is. Might be 50 by now. You know, the house is burning down and we're arguing about the paint color. It's just insane.

[Jack Armstrong]

Joe Getty covering up for pedophiles.

[Joe Getty]

Just like that's a fair assessment.

[Jack Armstrong]

Just like Massey said. We've got Katie's headlines on the way and a bunch of other stuff. Stay here.

[Guest or Producer]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

One thing I'm trying to sense is how many of you listeners to the Armstrong and Getty show give a crap about the Epstein thing that I don't actually know. Just saw a poll that about three quarters of Americans want the file to come out. Whatever the file means, probably so we.

[Joe Getty]

Can stop hearing about it. Here are my two favorite headlines. Katie, number one, the college student who did a wheelie for 93 miles.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, wow.

[Joe Getty]

I asked the all time record by like 40 miles.

[Jack Armstrong]

I got to tell my son about that. I said, how far you can do a wheelie? And he said he did one all the way downtown once. I was four miles.

[Joe Getty]

This guy was six plus hours of wheelies.

[Katie Green]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

His prostate will never work again.

[Jack Armstrong]

When your arms is what gives out on you.

[Joe Getty]

And my other favorite headline, Chinese diplomat threatens to cut off Japanese leader's head.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, there you go.

[Joe Getty]

Now that's a threat.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that's a flex.

[Joe Getty]

All right, let's see what Katie's favorite headlines are. Who's reporting what? It's the lead story with Katie Green.

[Jack Armstrong]

Katie, here's a headline for me.

[Joe Getty]

Horrible story.

[Jack Armstrong]

Somebody broke into my house and stole all my fruit. Left me peachless.

[Joe Getty]

You could have given me 50 guesses for the last word of that sentence. Wait, what?

[Katie Green]

Oh, I feel like the government shutdown's over. The jokes are back.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. That's right. That's right. The department of Tokyo jokes is now real.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, God.

[Joe Getty]

With all full back pay.

[Katie Green]

All right, starting with the Washington Post, Transportation Department freezes flight cuts 6%, citing strong staffing and possible recovery.

[Joe Getty]

There you go.

[Katie Green]

From NBC. Gavin Newsom's former chief of staff accused of stealing campaign funds from ex Health Secretary Becerra.

[Joe Getty]

It's weird Gavin would associate with a criminal.

[Jack Armstrong]

Is there any Zet paint Gavin, any bad way at all have anything to do with him? Really?

[Katie Green]

Well, apparently he knew about it and didn't say anything, so.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, really? Okay. Well, that's something.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I was letting the investigation proceed.

[Katie Green]

From the free Beacon. NYPD officers say Mamdani's win will lead to an exodus of quote, a few hundred officers.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow, that'll be something to see. Yikes.

[Katie Green]

From the Wall Street Journal. Streaming prices are soaring and consumers are.

[Jack Armstrong]

Still paying streaming prices like for your Netflix and their. Oh yeah, Hulu and that sort of thing. Okay, I didn't even know the price went up. Of course I wouldn't got it on auto pay like everybody does.

[Joe Getty]

Well, right. One goes up $3, one goes up $5, the other goes up $6. And you don't really notice it until.

[Katie Green]

It accumulates for the New York Times. Will people trust voting by phone? Alaska is going to find out.

[Joe Getty]

Huh?

[Katie Green]

Apparently they're going to test this out in Anchorage.

[Jack Armstrong]

They think that's better than voting by mail. It might be actually better.

[Katie Green]

Better security and it'll be easier.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

I'd have to noodle this through. I want lower turnout, not higher. Because the bottom 20% of the moron population should not b voting. But this could be the wave of the future.

[Jack Armstrong]

I want poll testing as you know.

[Joe Getty]

Yes.

[Katie Green]

Love this one. New York Post. 79 year old Vietnam veteran hailed as a hero after he shot and killed naked intruder who broke into female tenants la home.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, God dang it. Good for him.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Katie Green]

Page Six. Diddy's prison release date pushed back after rapper allegedly violates multiple rules.

[Joe Getty]

What'd he do?

[Katie Green]

Well, there's speculation apparently he was drinking the pruno.

[Joe Getty]

That guy likes to get a buzz after a long day.

[Jack Armstrong]

How he is kitchen not Cristal pruno.

[Katie Green]

And finally, the Babylon Bee. Democrats somberly remove sombreros signaling the end of the shutdown.

[Jack Armstrong]

That was a good time. The sombrero days. Oh, those were the best days of the shutdown. The sombrero days. I'd forgotten about those. We got to catch up on all the news of the day on the way. If you missed a segment of the podcast, Armstrong and Getty on demand.

[Guest or Producer]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Well, guys, listen to this. A self driving taxi company, Waymo, said that their cars will start taking customers on the freeway for the first time. They made the announcement after a Waymo accidentally took a customer on the freeway for the first time.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's pretty funny. Yeah, we're doing that now. That's actually a pretty funny joke. We'll see how that goes, I promise. This is a tease. I will shut up about it for a while. But the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson was just Asked about the Epstein file vote, he said it will happen. He will, because he didn't have to bring it to a vote. He will bring it to the floor next week for a full House vote. So it's gonna happen.

[Joe Getty]

Okay, good. All right. It's, it reminds me of like oral surgery. The sooner we start, the sooner it's gonna be over. Let's just get it all done, please. So a couple of really interesting, unexpected commentaries on the, the shutdown and just the politics these days. Um, the first one, why Schumer had to do it, some really good analysis from Barton Swaim. And yeah, it was aoc Left. Right. Everybody knows that he's going to get primared. You know, the crazy part is he's 74 freaking years old and he doesn't run again till 2028. So that means it's just 100% assumed a 76 year old man is going to run for another six year term.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. It would be horrifying if he did, regardless of someone running against him. Yeah, yeah.

[Joe Getty]

But as Barton Swaim points out in the Wall Street Journal, from the beginning of the dispute, everyone dispute, everyone seems to have understood that Mr. Schumer forced a shutdown because he needed to show his state's progressive voters he could take it to Trump and fend off aoc. Right. Ezra Klein in the New York Times wrote the whole stunt was about Trump's authoritarianism. It was about showing their base and themselves that they could fight back. Guy in Politico says Democrats achieved their primary political objective, showing a furious base that they can actually work together effectively.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I don't think that's what happened.

[Joe Getty]

To Flee for what?

[Jack Armstrong]

Did any of you all watch John's Stewart on the Daily Show Monday night? That was one of his great performances. I liked it. Cuz he was attacking Democrats as opposed to Republicans. And he's really, really good at that sort of thing. But man, he was incensed that the Democrats caved the way they did. So the whole we showed the base that we fought. Yeah, I don't think that's the way it landed with a lot of them. Right.

[Joe Getty]

They're prepared to fight with every tool at their disposal, says the Politico guy. All right, but who or what Callum writes is the part I liked. Who's that base to which these fellas are referring? Poke around you' it consists mainly of cash flush foundations, unions and activist groups. The aclu, the Sunrise Movement, other environmental and climate groups, Planned Parenthood, other abortion rights outfits, an array of immigrants rights Associations, some of them so radical as to be almost insurrectionist. The American Federation of Teachers, don't get me started. And the National Education Association, Southern Poverty Law Center, Black Lives Matter, other racial justice organizations, Human rights campaign, assorted LGBTQ + over the power of three activist groups, scores of foreign connected Palestinian rights and otherwise anti Zionist groups. And the George Soros funded network known as the Open Society Foundations. On and on and on. And then he points out that it's interesting and revealing that the Democrats tried to make such a big deal of the Koch brothers back in the day. And the Koch brothers are mostly libertarian leaning and are not very close to Trumpism at all. But he points out that the reason the Democrats are always saying that Republicans are controlled by their activist groups because the Democrats are and they really, really fear running afoul of these far left groups that really don't represent Americans at all except on the left fringe. And a lot of them are still like the naacp, a legendary organization, did amazing work during the civil rights era. They are now a far left black male organization, the Southern Poverty Law Center. Just nothing like they were. Which brings us to this great piece Jeff Blair wrote for National Review. And this has happened over and over again and I just love it so much. A time honored lefty organization, in this case the Sierra Club, eaten apart from inside by its woke staffers. And he asks where does power truly reside? It often resides only where people believe it does and only up until the moment people believe it to reside there. And the Sierra Club, once one of America's most formidable ecological activist groups, and a group that did very good work back in the day, is giving up the illusion that it wields any power whatsoever as it seizes up arthritically and kneels upon broken joints to display its helpless incapacity to the world. That's pretty good. The New York Times story. New York Times is out with a story that should already be familiar. The Sierra Club embraced social justice, then it tore itself apart. And he points, you know the drill. From the headline alone, they're now a flaming wreck. They've lost 60% of their paying donors since 2019 and for precisely the reason that all observers watching Wokeism progress through left coded institutions thought it would. It was devoured by the never ending financial political demands of the progressive omnicause, which encouraged the formerly single minded conservationist society to become deeply embroiled in the progressive left's racial and socio sexual agenda as part of its core mission.

[Jack Armstrong]

They let themselves get tied up in that.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. So in In. And this is so typical of the permanent omnicause. Social justice was folded into the Sierra Club's mission through its new year younger leadership via the now standard series of semantic sleights of hand. Environmental justice is. Racial justice is. Transgender justice is. Palestinian justice. We're just trying to save the pine trees over here, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

Make the water clean.

[Joe Getty]

Well, then you got to embrace transgender Palestinians. And the scattering of its focus has not only left the Sierra Club flat footed and broke, it's also rendered it indistinguishable from other everything bagel progressive organizations, which I thought was a good description. The everything bagel. My favorite bagel.

[Jack Armstrong]

And the focus of the movie. Everything. All at once, all the time.

[Joe Getty]

Do you ever think and. Oh yeah, yeah. My favorite move moment. He. He talks about the New York Times piece again. Illustrative of the natural progress of activist entryism came when a local Sierra Club member responded to a volunteer suggestion that the club lobby for more protection for wolves. We've got to protect the wolves. And the response from the leadership was, that's fine, Delia, but what do wolves have to do with equity, justice and inclusion? Wow. What The Sierra freaking Club. Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is something. You're off track when that happens.

[Joe Getty]

I love this so much. All right, final note. And this is, this is worth remembering. I kind of let. I'd space this off. I'd heard it years and years and years ago. Jack, I know you know this. The Sovietologist Robert Conquest. What a name. Dick army wishes his name was Bob Conquest. Anyway, let's see. Yeah. Oh, he once posited a series of laws of politics, the most famous of which remains his second. Any organization, not, not explicitly right wing, sooner or later becomes left wing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Our friend Tim Sandifer has quoted that on our show a number of times and it's stuck in my head. It seems to be true. Unless your goal is to be right wing, you over time become left wing. Yes, it's it. And you can see it all around. Once you become aware of that. You see it all the time.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, agreed. I think it's mostly because left wing entities are much, much easier to milk for profit than right wing entities which tend to be, you know, all about self reliance and following rules.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or I've always just taken it just, you know, humans are involved and humans are emotional and the left is an emotional thing. I don't know. Know.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, well, and it, it also, it smacks of the iron law of bureaucracy, which is another great law to memorize that over time every institution. And this is the short version of it grows less to be about its actual purpose and more to be about protecting the institution or protecting the bureaucracy to the point that, you know, in the latter stages of a Department of labor or something like that, nobody even knows what they're supposed to do except continue to exist, continue to add staff and keep their BUC budget and. Oh, and I'm sorry. And my point being that that very orientation is very leftist. It's very, you know, we've got to maintain the, the bulk of the bureaucracy.

[Jack Armstrong]

I've got a story about myself I want to tell later that will cause you to slap your head and wonder about me. I wonder about myself. It is a self reveal and that is very, very embarrassing.

[Joe Getty]

You should wonder about yourself. It's called introspection, Jack. Speaking of one of our other favorite sayings, if you don't know what introspection is, you need to take a long, hard look at yourself.

[Jack Armstrong]

This one isn't hard. This is a. What is wrong with you?

[Joe Getty]

Oh no. So sorry to hear that.

[Jack Armstrong]

So I've got that story coming up a little bit later. Look forward to getting into that.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, I realized what my personal hell would be. I actually said to my wife as we were walking the dog, sweetheart, I need to clean up my act and be a better person. Because I just realized what Satan would damn me to my personal hell. And it has to do with never ending leaf blowers. There would be three to four leaf blowers around me every moment of my God forsaken, literally suffering in Hades, just constantly blowing and revving.

[Jack Armstrong]

If it were hell though, it would have to be like 7:30 on a Sunday morning because that's what makes it worse. I hate them always. But the fact that, that this is a beautiful, pristine, quiet weekend morning right next door, you gotta be.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, and if I ever got used to my suffering, you know what Satan would add? Someone trying to talk to me over the sound of it that I couldn't understand because it was so loud. So mix in that frustration with the hellish din of leaf blower.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, so we got lots to get to. We've got Mailbag on the way. I'll mention how the texts are running on Epstein wondering if anybody in our audience is interested about it today. It's not scientific in any way, but I can tell you how the results have gone. Stay tuned. Armstrong and Getty in my searching for stuff to talk about on Twitter and various places and listening to podcasts, the topic of back in the 50s on one income. You could have a nice house you owned and garden, blah blah blah blah. Now you can't. It's to the whole affordability thing that the elections all might be about for the foreseeable future for both parties. Want to talk about that a little bit? We have in the past, but we need to talk about it more.

[Joe Getty]

Looking forward to that. So has anybody assembled here today been pressured into repeating something they didn't believe to be true or. Or sat in a classroom being brow beaten into believing the country was, I don't know, for instance, founded on racism? Or that men can declare themselves women and shamed into silence? You'll love our freedom loving quote of the day. Continuing on our series from John Stuart Mills on liberty. Society can and does execute its own mandates. And if it issues wrong mandates instead of right or any mandates at all in things which it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formid than many kinds of political oppression.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. There's something that is not well understood and very hard to control. Impossible to control. Really?

[Joe Getty]

Oh yeah, yeah. Mill was a believer not only in freedom from government oppression, but also a tolerance of competing ideas, obviously the marketplace of ideas in general. And he was trying to tell people in a very different time, hey, keep an open mind. That's why every bit is true now.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's why I like conversations about the culture of free speech. When anybody throws it at, you know, the, you know, the First Amendment is specifically Congress, blah blah blah. But the culture of free speech is important.

[Joe Getty]

Two different things. Yeah, I agree completely. Mailbag. Speaking of exercising your rights, drop us a note. Mailbagarmstrongygetti.com Brian from Kansas City with a nice note, guys. Hour one of the show the other day. I have to say, poor Michelangelo. The man's done with his Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving and Jack acts like he just announced he's starting a TikTok dance career. The beating of Michelangelo is completely inappropriate for declaring that the Christmas season has begun. Jack is the gold medal procrastinator here. If they're an Olympic event for waiting until December 24th to start shopping, he'd be the Simone Biles of last minute panic. Meanwhile, Michelangelo's over here with everything wrapped, labeled and alphabetized. The guy probably has a spreadsheet of stocking stuffers. Instead of mocking him, study his methods or just appoint him director of holiday logistics for Team A and G. He's operating on a level the rest of us mortals can't comprehend.

[Jack Armstrong]

Can it be somewhere between waiting to the last minute and finishing your Christmas shopping in the summer like Michelangelo does.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, the beating continues from the bidder, by the way.

[Katie Green]

Very hurtful.

[Jack Armstrong]

Thanks for listening to us on FM in Kansas City. I wish we were on more FM stations.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, Brian, don't make this the last time. You're right. That's great. And then we're going to feature one email in particular from Rob S. Guys. He writes. The recent discussion on the show about the trend of younger Americans towards socialist thinking is really disturbing. I like Joe's analogy with grades. You know, everybody gets a B. Since most people can understand that immediately, here's another argument. Often capitalists will ask a socialist to name one country where socialism has worked. And they'll cite Sweden for instance, since there's little evidence there of the social tensions that are seen in other countries cultures. Actually there are now, but more on that later. Okay, great. So what are the facts? Sweden's median household income is $39,000 per year. The poverty threshold in the US for a four person household is $32,000 a year. So half of Sweden is living just above the US poverty level. There's the question of buying power society to society, which can change those numbers a little. But the point still remains. I think Sweden's average household income is even less.33k a year, just at the US poverty level level. Compare that to the US with a median income of $80,000. An average income of 144k. So what does that mean? Americans have a much higher standard of living than Swedes. Why? In the global economy, the answer is simple. Americans are four times on average as productive as Swedes. Because capitalism motivates people to work harder and take bigger risks. Of course it does, because there are rewards and more subtle. In Sweden, the average income is less than the media. What that means is that the poor are more poor than the median because the rich are more rich than the median. Wow, that sucks. Isn't the whole point of socialism to make sure nobody gets left behind? Not only are people just barely above the US poverty threshold, but a lot of them are way below it.

[Jack Armstrong]

If I was gonna argue against that, and I'm not on the side that would really want to, but let's be.

[Joe Getty]

John Stuart Mill here and steel man.

[Jack Armstrong]

The argument they regularly rank at the top in the world of of life satisfaction. Being happy people.

[Joe Getty]

That has declined precipitously in the Nordic countries. The Scandinavian countries, as they let in way too much immigration and the homogeneity nuity of their societies. The fact that they're all pretty similar people, same culture Same religions, which is generally atheism, et cetera has now changed and they are being torn apart.

[Jack Armstrong]

Men.

[Joe Getty]

You could do it by non assimilating immigrants.

[Jack Armstrong]

PhD dissertation on that whole topic.

[Joe Getty]

Oh my Lord, yes. The only possible counter I could see for this is for a socialist to say money isn't everything. Well, good in America, you're free to be poor and live like a Swede. Just make sure you act like one too. And live contentedly at the poverty level. Yeah, and quit complaining.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which fits in a little bit with the topic we need to get to on the whole. In the 50s, one guy could earn enough money to support his whole family and buy a house and blah blah, blah.

[Joe Getty]

And then Rob Hess makes his final fabulous argument. Joe. I know, Jack, I know. Your redneck background is struggling with owning an electric vehicle. Yeah, it's super fast, but still, I have a solution. It's a hybrid smoke pressure cooker. You can install it on the bed of your truck with a stack vented to a fake tailpipe. When your social justice neighbors flip you off, pull up to them, throw the vent switch in the cab and coal roll their ass. Just like you would have back in Kansas.

[Jack Armstrong]

There you go, rolling coal. Guy rolled coal on me the other day. Guy in a great big truck wanting to show me in my stupid cyber truck.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, you didn't take that, Idiot.

[Jack Armstrong]

I need to put a sign in my window. Which is true. I also in a own a big giant diesel truck. I have both. I'm the only one in America who has both.

[Joe Getty]

I make an F250.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, I like them both. I'm making no political statement. Find out how crazy to believe you drive a car with no politics in mind.

[Joe Getty]

Yet another concept that if you try to explain to somebody 15 years ago, they wouldn't know what you were talking about.

[Jack Armstrong]

The politics around the car you drive. I know we have a car. We have a lot on the way. I hope you can stick around.

[Guest or Producer]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.