The Zombie of Communism Eats Brains

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: The Zombie of Communism Eats Brains
Date: July 29, 2026
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Theme: Accountability, media failures, and political tribalism in the wake of the Anthony Fauci hearing and new COVID revelations.

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Overview

This episode centers on the congressional hearing featuring Dr. Anthony Fauci, focusing on explosive new revelations from his personal diaries and the subsequent handling (or lack thereof) by the media and political establishment. Armstrong & Getty express deep frustration with the erosion of accountability among public officials, partisan divides that stifle truth, and the media’s reluctance to grapple with uncomfortable facts. The hosts also weave in broader themes: the dangers of tribalism, the failures of institutions, the consequences of ignoring history, and contemporary global tensions (notably Iran’s attack on a US base). Throughout, a tone of disillusionment, urgency, and biting humor prevails.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dr. Fauci’s Hearing & Taking the Fifth

• Fauci appeared before a Senate committee, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights on every question, including, humorously, being asked if he had a file in front of him.
• Fauci’s justification: Rand Paul's supposed “obsession” with prosecuting him and an intent to entrap him legally.
  • Quote: “Given Senator Paul's obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution...Under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth amendment of the Constitution...” – Dr. Fauci ([29:05])
• Armstrong & Getty emphasize how unprecedented this is and their dismay at the lack of real consequences for powerful officials.

2. Media Complicity and Lack of Coverage

• The hosts criticize mainstream outlets for almost universally ignoring the “Fauci diaries,” except for Fox News and the New York Post.
  • Quote: “The fact that all of the media except for Fox and the New York Post are ignoring the Fauci diaries and acting like they’re a non-story. And he said, this is Biden all over again.” – Jack Armstrong referencing Mark Halperin ([06:53])
• Contrast is drawn between Wall Street Journal’s hard-hitting editorials and legacy media’s “see-no-evil” stance.
• Discussion includes the economic desperation of media outlets, pushing them to pander to their base audiences and avoid uncomfortable truths.

3. Partisan Breakdown and Loss of Shared Reality

• Sharp criticism of both parties, but especially Democrats for dismissing the hearing as “rehashing old news,” reflecting a time when bipartisan fact-finding had substance versus today’s pure tribalism.
  • Quote: “On big issues...Republicans and Democrats in the big committees...would not be partisans. But that era is clearly over.” – Jack Armstrong ([06:05])
• Armstrong & Getty expand this idea to the polarization within society — even within marriages and families — where media echo chambers mean people no longer share common facts.
  • Quote: “Imagine if you tried to do that in your house where you’ve got a set of facts and your wife has a set of facts, and they’re completely different.” – Jack Armstrong ([10:16])

4. The Cost and Consequences of COVID Cover-Ups

• Discussion covers diary revelations: Fauci privately acknowledged the lab leak hypothesis, the ineffectiveness of masks, and the made-up origins of guidance like 6-foot distancing — yet publicly denied these things.
  • Quote: “There’s more stuff in there about how made up all this crap was. They knew the masks didn’t do much. They knew that standing 6ft apart was completely made up... So there’s no point listening to these people ever.” – Jack Armstrong ([11:31])
• The long-term devastation: child education, the economy, and public trust.
• Greg Lukianoff is referenced as pointing out the loss of millions of lives and dollars due to slow acknowledgement and action.

5. Legal Context: Fauci’s Pardon and Rand Paul’s Questions

• Fauci has received a blanket pardon from President Biden, further fueling suspicions.
• The hosts play clips from the hearing where Rand Paul asks pointed, reasonable questions about funding risky research in China, to which Fauci responds only with the Fifth.
  • Quote (Rand Paul): “Can you explain to the committee why you chose to fund this dangerous research in China?” ([31:27])
  • Fauci: “On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment.” ([31:59])
• Discussion on legal nuances: generally, if a witness chooses to invoke the Fifth, they must do so consistently and cannot pick and choose questions.

6. Hopelessness about Accountability

• Armstrong pessimistically predicts the story will fade quickly, with no lasting consequences.
  • Quote: “This is the high water mark for holding Fauci’s feet to the fire. Only about 10% of news will cover it at all and it will be over as a story.” – Jack Armstrong ([37:17])
• Joe Getty, in contrast, tries to inject hope: “You just got to keep the truth out there. You never know when the right people are going to hear it in the right way. You just, you can’t give up.” ([39:26])

7. Iran Attacks on US Military Base & Media Framing

• Iran launched a significant attack on a US base; it is discussed how the story barely gets media coverage.
• Contrasting coverage:
  • Wall Street Journal calls it a major Iranian strike.
  • New York Times frames it as “US and Saudi airstrikes drag more countries into fighting,” implying US escalation.
  • Hosts lament this skew and the public’s ignorance as a result.
  • Quote: “We did something to make the war worse.” – Jack Armstrong mocking NYT’s framing ([20:35])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Joe Getty: “These people have no interest in the truth, insofar as it might upset their narrative.” ([07:22])
• Armstrong on Fauci: “I don’t know if history is going to portray him that way, but he is [a really bad human being].” ([02:35])
• Mockery of “moving on” from COVID:
  • “Hey, Mr. Ranking Member, somebody murdered your wife yesterday. Would you be interested in looking into it today? Huh? Because that’s in the past.” – Joe Getty ([12:22])
• On fake pandemic guidance: “They knew all this stuff was crap. So there’s no point listening to these people ever.” – Jack Armstrong ([11:31])
• On partisanship: “He should have just put up a sign that said, I’m going to stay in my tribe.” – Jack Armstrong ([13:02])
• Comic Relief: Babylon Bee headline – “Fauci asked China to engineer new virus that just kills Rand Paul.” ([21:48])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:35] – Armstrong’s opening attack on Fauci/Senate hearing setup
• [05:56] – Media’s failure to cover Fauci diaries; Halperin’s outrage
• [07:22] – Wall Street Journal’s revelations and media denial
• [08:52] – Referencing Greg Lukianoff: “If we had recognized what it was and held China’s feet to the fire…”
• [11:31] – Public health guidance: “They knew all this stuff was crap.”
• [14:48] – Trump’s threats against Iran and discussion of the attack
• [20:04] – Comparing media coverage of Iran attack (WSJ, NYT, etc.)
• [25:36] – Media economic pressures and audience pandering
• [29:05] – Fauci’s opening statement invoking the Fifth
• [31:27] – Rand Paul’s question on Wuhan funding, Fauci takes the Fifth
• [33:08] – Legal discussion: the Fifth Amendment and compelled answers
• [37:17] – Armstrong’s prediction: “This story is gone by the end of the week”
• [39:26] – Getty’s call to keep fighting for truth
• [41:18] – Jefferson/Montesquieu on despotism and checks & balances

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Final Thoughts

Armstrong & Getty use this episode both as a moment of national grief—and gallows humor—over what they see as the collapse of American accountability and shared factual reality. The Fauci hearing and the ignored revelations from his diaries illuminate deeper institutional failures, public cynicism, and the recursive polarization of American life. Administrative inaction, media cowardice, and partisan pearl-clutching have “zombified” critical thinking, leaving the hosts, and their listeners, in a state of angry, incredulous despair—but not entirely without hope for eventual truth.

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Note:
All times are in MM:SS format and refer to the transcript above. Direct ads, intros, and outros were omitted. The summary preserves the critical language and tone of the hosts.

Transcript

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[Jack Armstrong]

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

[Kyle McLaughlin]

And now, here's Armstrong.

[Jack Armstrong]

Doctor Anthony Fauci is a really bad human being.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know if history is going to portray him that way, but he is. Live from Studio C, senor Dimly lit room deep within the bowels of the Armstrong and Getty Communications compound, where we have already been Watching the hearing with Rand Paul and Anthony Fauci and others. Today we are toiling under the title

[Joe Getty]

of the show Grouchy. Fauci ignores Pardon takes fifth or and I like this one too, the zombie of communism walks the streets eating young brains.

[Jack Armstrong]

I am so despondent.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, that's a poor way to start the day.

[Jack Armstrong]

There's two reasons. Okay, there's probably more than two, but two main reasons, right? One, this. Most hearings aren't important. This is an important one today and still nothing is going to come out of it. Nothing ever. There are no consequences for anything in modern life. There just aren't. There never are. And that's, that's depressing. The other thing I'm despondent is just because I'm so tired, because I can't get my soon to be junior high schooler to not be loud at night and wake me up. I just.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, boy.

[Glenn Washington]

Haven't had any.

[Jack Armstrong]

He's having a good time this summer, him and his friends. But told him last week there's gonna be, it's gonna be a day. Because I told him last week, I said if that happens again, there's got to be some major changes to your schedule. I got, well, I got woken out of such a deep sleep last night, you know, where you're like, you don't even know who you are. You're in such like the deepest of your middle of the night's sleep. And I didn't get to sleep for hours after that. And I was trying to turn off my anger so I can.

[Joe Getty]

That's a bad way to be.

[Jack Armstrong]

I know. It's just like I told him so many times, I have to work. I'm supporting, I'm paying for everything this family does, everything. I gotta go work. I just couldn't get back to sleep.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Anyway, so, yeah, that doesn't help my mood to turn on. The hearing today can sum up pretty well what they're hearing. It just started like right before we went on the air today. And we can sum up because nothing new is going to happen. He's taking the fifth on every single question, as Rand Paul pointed out, including, do you have a file in front of you? And Anthony Fauci wouldn't answer the question. Going with the angle. And unfortunately the Democratic chair of the committee, I don't remember his name, going with the angle. Also that Rand Paul, the chair of the committee, has just got some sort of weird personal obsession with Dr. Fauci and hates him so much that he just can't let Go of what is an old story, digging up things we answered years ago when we've got all kinds of work to do. The American people want us to focus on the future and work on making this country ready for the next pandemic, not look at things that we've discussed years ago. That's what the Democrats said. And then Anthony Fauci basically said the same thing in his opening statement and then said, I'm taking the fifth on every question.

[Joe Getty]

Right, Right. Millions of people are dead. We know it's time to move on. Says Caldwell or whatever the ranking members is despicable.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. What's disappointing about that is there was a time not that long ago where on big issues, the Republicans and Democrats in the big committees, like your important committees, judicial, you know, some of the investigative committees, that sort of stuff, where they would work together, where they would, they would, they would not be partisans. But that era is clearly over. The Democratic chair, this committee being just a flat out partisan, acting like there's nothing new or interesting in these diaries. You've got to be kidding. I also got worked up because in the middle of the night, cuz I was awake, cuz my teenager woke me up. I watched some of Mark Halperin's afternoon show yesterday and he was incensed with the media coverage. He said, I'm so angry, I don't

[Joe Getty]

even know what to say about this.

[Jack Armstrong]

The fact that I, all of the media, except for Fox in the New York Post are ignoring the Fauci diaries and acting like they're a non story. And he said, this is, this is Biden all over again.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

You ignored something that was clearly wrong to start with. Pretending that there was no possibility that the virus came out of the Wuhan lab. And then when we've got proof that it was a lie yet you don't even own up to it at that point. It's depressing.

[Joe Getty]

It's even worse than that. And I'm not quibbling. I want to point out that as we were discussing yesterday, the Wall Street Journal editorial board absolutely brought the thunder on this and was talking about the absolute smoking gun nature of the diary entries that Foushee had lied, he had covered up, he had made comments in public, official statements in public diametrically opposed to what he personally believed and the rest of it. And if there is still willful La la la la la la. Nothing to he see here from major media outlets after the Journal went that big, you get, you get a sense of the, the severity of the problem. These people have no Interest in the truth, insofar as it might upset their narrative.

[Dr. Anthony Fauci (reading statement)]

None.

[Joe Getty]

As you said on the big committees before, you know, people were, quote, unquote, partisan, but they were. There was an 80% overlap, maybe 70% overlap here, there's a 0% overlap. This is completely out of line. And there's nothing to see here. Say the Democrats about something that killed millions of people, destroyed children's educations in their souls, the whole thing. We've gone over it a million times, crushed the economy, led to rampant inflation, blah, blah, blah.

[Jack Armstrong]

We're talking to Greg Lukianoff yesterday on our podcast. You should check it out. Armstrong and Getty on Demand. Actually an extra large episode, but anyway, automatically downloads.

[Joe Getty]

If you subscribe to Armstrong, you get On Demand.

[Jack Armstrong]

He made the point that if we had recognized what it was and held China's feet to the fire right away, maybe we could have, you know, trapped this virus in China in early December where that's when it was still only in China, and it would have saved millions of lives. And again, the money ain't nothing. Lives are more important. But it's the most expensive event in world history.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

And, you know, it's not like there's any benefit to the spending either. I mean, it's just. Just a loss of money.

[Joe Getty]

And then Anthony Fauci, because of his involvement in the Wuhan Lab and the media and the Democratic Party, decide to cover up for the Communist Chinese because Trump, I guess, partly. Yeah. Well, and once you go down the road of lies, you know, oh, what tangled web we weave, etcetera, Once you've lied about something that incredibly important and heavy and expensive and deadly, and then decided, oh, we got to cover up those lies. Soon you find yourself so far down that road, there's no coming back. Apparently, that's the only thing I can guess. Like Mark Halpern, I'm so disturbed by this anew, I'm not sure what to do. I've shut down emotionally, so I don't go crazy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and Halperin's point of anger is that. Not that you need to care about legacy media because they need to be around forever, but. But we need some media we trust, and they've blown up their credibility and they have no interest in rebuilding it. So there's just. There's just no media that most of America will trust. So there's no going forward with shared facts. There just isn't on any topic, and you can't operate that way. Imagine if you tried to do that in your house where you've got a set of facts and your wife has a set of facts, and they're completely different. And you operate like that. I mean, imagine how many disagreements you'd have or mistakes you'd have.

[Joe Getty]

Well, what if even worse than that, your entire identity was. She's always wrong. No.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

So even when she's completely right, you recognize that. You think, well, this is uncomfortable, but I've got to deny it. I've got to come up with some explanation of why she's wrong. Because my identity and all of my followers identity is that person is always wrong or that side of the aisle is always wrong. So I can't. I can't admit it. That's diseased. That's toxic.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

And that is a house divided that cannot stand a Lincoln.

[Jack Armstrong]

And then you've got the country. If we had a pandemic now, nobody trusts the government or at least, certainly half the country doesn't trust the government at all to listen to anything they say. I know I wouldn't. None of it. I mean, there are more dire entries because there are 1400 pages or whatever that came out and, and more people have dug through them. There's more stuff in there about how made up all this crap was. They knew the masks didn't do much. They knew that standing 6ft apart was completely made it up and a waste of time. I mean, they knew all this stuff was crap. So there's no point listening to these people ever. Of course, they use the point of law on some of this stuff, even though they knew it was crap.

[Joe Getty]

But again, as the ranking member made clear, there's no reason to look at this. This is the past.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, they were trying to get answers to questions we answered years ago.

[Joe Getty]

Hey, Mr. Ranking Member, somebody murdered your wife yesterday. Would you be interested in looking into it today? Huh? Because that's in the past.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or ten years ago, if you caught the guy today. What? What? We're trying to answer a question to a crime from 10 years ago.

[Joe Getty]

Or if you went broke a year ago, but it's. And you've. You've now cleared bankruptcy. You have no interest in why you went bankrupt. We're making a mistake.

[Jack Armstrong]

We're making a mistake in arguing against his presentation as if he meant it. He knows that that's crap.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, no, I'm not arguing with him. I'm pointing out to the good people how. How unholy he. And that argument is.

[Jack Armstrong]

He should have just put up a sign that said, I'm going to stay in my tribe. Then we would he would have saved five minutes.

[Joe Getty]

My tribe is with Fauci. Yeah. Yeah. I tell you what. From a legal point of view, this is at least marginally interesting. Anthony Fauci had a blanket pardon from Joe Biden. Weird, Unprecedented. Like anything you did in the past. Or is it any. I don't think it's any future act. You can't do that because that would be like giving somebody a license to kill. But so Fauci can't be prosecuted for anything he did if the pardon holds up. His excuse was Rand Paul is going to try to cleverly trick me into saying something and then prosecute me for that. So that's why I'm going with the fifth amendment. But Rand Paul is talking about entirely what happened. And so if a guy with a blanket pardon won't explain his actions in the past, either you buy his story that Rand Paul is a demented evil genius trying to entrap him or he's got enormous deadly secrets to hide. I can tell you which way I'm leaning.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. We'll talk more about this throughout the show. I don't know if anything exciting is going to happen from here on out. I mean, all the senators will get their shot at their questions, but he's not going to answer any of them. Let's start the show officially. It's just freaking depressing. There are no consequences in the modern world. Whether you're somebody who rips off a CVS or you're running the biggest health organization in the world. I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty on this. It is. How did it get to be Wednesday July 29th year 2026 we are Armstrong. You get in. We approve of this program.

[Joe Getty]

All right. We're going to take all the damn amendments and proceed officially according to FCC rules and regulations. At mark. President Trump about Iran. We are going to beat the effing s out of them. He went on to say will be hitting them hard. They're going to get a beating.

[Jack Armstrong]

Ran. Iran attacked one of our bases yesterday afternoon. I was also disappointed how little news coverage that got. I went to my cable news channels. Most of them stuck with the regular pre recorded shows. Didn't even think it was worth breaking in with breaking news that we're in a war in that country. Broke a mini ceasefire by attacking one of our bases. Luckily we were able to shoot down the missiles and nobody got hurt. But it was a major attack. Major escalation in the war. Saudi Arabia is now involved. Didn't really make the news. So I don't. I don't even know what to do anymore. I don't even know what to think. I wish I could tell you. We got to take a break. We'll come back with headlines and more of the good stuff for you. I hope I weigh in. Text us or email, would you? What do you think? Heather Myers? Next. Armstrong and Getty.

[Becca from Scrubbing In]

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[Tanya from Scrubbing In]

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[Kyle McLaughlin]

Hi, it's Kyle McLaughlin, host of the what are we even Doing podcast. You know, my favorite part of the morning is that first cup of coffee. A small, quiet ritual that sets the rhythm for my day. That's why I appreciate DE'. Longhi. For over 50 years, they've combined Italian craftsmanship and thoughtful design. And as the number one espresso machine brand in the world, they make it effortless. Just a damn fine cup of coffee in your own kitchen. Right now, you can save 10% off your purchase at DeLonghi.com with code Kyle at checkout. After all, if it's not Italian, is it even Nespresso?

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[Jack Armstrong]

Papa had a kidney stone. Completely forgot. Heather Myers had her kidney stones surgery or procedure or whatever yesterday. She'll have to tell us about it when she comes back. I'm kind of interested in how that went, but. So she's not here today. And we'll have to tell you about the headlines before we move on with some the Anthony Fauci, Rand Paul stuff from the hearing. There's not a lot because he's taking the fifth on every question, but there is one amusing moment. The head. The biggest headline to me is yesterday afternoon US Time Iran attacked big time, a US Military base. We were able to shoot down all the ballistic missiles, thank God, but it was a major attack. And then we struck them back. I don't know how hard yet. We're gonna talk to Mike Lyons later this morning about all this. But we Saudi Arabia with us the first time they've like openly declared being part of attacking Iran. So that's a big deal. And one more thing on Iran before we move on to other headlines. Reuters is reporting Iran is expected to receive within weeks its first shipment of 400 Chinese made shoulder fired air defense missile launchers. So China's sending Iran more stuff to shoot down U.S. planes.

[Joe Getty]

That sounds a little war spready to me.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I know.

[Tamara Judge]

Ah.

[Joe Getty]

Oh boy. You want to hear an interesting media contrast? Free Press has nothing about the Iran attack yesterday in their headlines, which surprises me. Wall Street Journal their lead news story on the site, Iran launches surprise missile attack on US Forces. New York Times in their war updates, US And Saudi airstrikes drag more countries into fighting.

[Jack Armstrong]

So we did something to make the war worse.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. And it wasn't a surprise attack by Iran and we dragged more countries. And then I read that update and the countries were Iraq. Well, and they say end Yemen, but the Houthis have already been active.

[Jack Armstrong]

But that's.

[Joe Getty]

So the US Dragged the Houthis in, according to the New York Times.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and the headline doesn't mention that after four days of relative peace, Iran

[Joe Getty]

started it back up.

[Jack Armstrong]

That that would lead you to believe that we started it back up, right?

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah. Oh, they make that absolutely clear. Even though the Wall Street Journal makes it clear that the strikes. Shortly after the Iranian strikes on Jordan, the American military said U.S. and Saudi jet fighters have launched strikes in Iraq against Iran backed groups that the IRGC previously directed to attack American and Saudi infrastructure, American troops and Saudi energy infrastructure. So anyway, it's. It's back on. Trump is making more bellicose threats. Whether he follows through on them or not is anybody's guess.

[Jack Armstrong]

I've got a Babylon B headline for you, which normally Katie or Heather ends this segment with.

[Joe Getty]

Here's your Babylon B headline.

[Jack Armstrong]

Fauci asked China to engineer new virus that just kills Rand Paul. Wow.

[Glenn Washington]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

A longtime friend of the Armstrong and Getty show, Mike the lawyer pointed out that. Oh, so the 911 Commission was a waste of time. And the Kennedy assassination, those were all looking back at the past. So a waste of time. According to the Dems.

[Jack Armstrong]

Rand versus Fauci. We'll have a little of that for you now. Armstrong and Getty.

[Becca from Scrubbing In]

This is Becca and Tanya from Scrubbing in with Becca Tilly and Tanya Rad.

[Tanya from Scrubbing In]

Becca, can I ask you a question? How do I convince myself I need something before I buy it?

[Becca from Scrubbing In]

Oh, so we're doing that today?

[Tanya from Scrubbing In]

Well, I'll be shopping online and suddenly I'm like, well, technically this counts as self care.

[Becca from Scrubbing In]

You're definitely not alone there.

[Tanya from Scrubbing In]

That's why Klarna stands out. It's about smarter tools that help you feel more confident with your money.

[Becca from Scrubbing In]

Klarna brings payments, cash back and money management together in one place with flexible ways to pay. It helps you make smarter money moves without the stress.

[Tanya from Scrubbing In]

That's the goal, right? Having tools that make your money work with you.

[Becca from Scrubbing In]

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[Glenn Washington]

I'm Glenn Washington. This is Snap Judgment from kqed. When everything is falling apart, what do you do? Hurricane Helene shut everything down. No roads, no cars, no way through. But his daughter was getting married. And somehow, someway, he was going to walk her down that aisle. All systems down. A new Snap judgment miniseries from KQED. Wherever you get your podcasts.

[Kyle McLaughlin]

Hi, it's Kyle McLaughlin, host of the what are we even Doing podcast. You know, my favorite part of the morning is that first cup of coffee. A small, quiet ritual that sets the rhythm for my day. That's why I appreciate DE'. Longhi. For over 50 years, they've combined Italian craftsmanship and thoughtful design. And as the number one espresso machine brand in the world, they make it effortless. Just a damn fine cup of coffee in your own kitchen. Right now, you can save 10% off your purchase at DeLonghi.com with code Kyle at checkout. After all, if it's not Italian, is it even espresso?

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[Jack Armstrong]

So I mentioned I watched Mark Halperin's whatever he calls his show that's on I watch on YouTube in the afternoon. My favorite news show, really. He was so upset with the media coverage of the Fauci thing that they don't feel like there's any news there. And what that means for the country going forward of not having a mainstream news that's interested in facts and the truth that.

[Dr. Anthony Fauci (reading statement)]

That.

[Jack Armstrong]

That half the country can see before the very eyes. I mean, so it's not like you're getting away with it.

[Joe Getty]

Well, yeah. How.

[Jack Armstrong]

How.

[Joe Getty]

What's the level of your willful blindness? I mean, if you ignore a minor flap in the Department of the Interior because it doesn't really suit your side. Okay, I get that. But if the president assassinates the vice president on the South Lawn, you ignore that. That's a whole different deal.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, you know what part of it is. And because we're in media, we know this. The. There's a big crunch for revenue in all media, especially legacy media. Newspapers are struggling. TV, radio, industry not near what it was, you know, 20 years ago. Whatever. So everybody.

[Joe Getty]

Washington Post is hemorrhaging cash.

[Jack Armstrong]

Everybody's really struggling to keep the doors open and, you know, laying off people left and right and that sort of stuff. And all your legacy media, radio, television and newspapers. And I think a lot of people have just gone with the. We've got a core audience of this political view. We're not gonna give them something to, you know, hate. We're only gonna give em something to like. And so if you're CNN or the New York Times. I guess you feel like nobody in our audience wants to hear anti Fauci stuff. What are we doing here? We're barely keeping the electric bill paid as it is.

[Joe Getty]

I think that's part of it. That is absolutely part of it. You have an audience, you need to plead, please them. Because some sort of grand and honorable quest to return to your roots and find a newer, bigger, more reasonable. No, you don't have the time, you don't have the money.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which is why I brought up the other day the Free Pet Press had that piece on like the new media being whoever it is that emerges that there seems to be an audience out there for people who aren't doing that, who are trying to tell the truth as they see it. And those people are starting to do pretty well. And I hope you know we're included in that, that crowd.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Luckily we got, you know, another three and a half years or whatever on contract to keep, to keep doing this. But it's just, it's just, it's, it's incredible. There is a diary entry away. Don't have to read it again. We read it 10 times yesterday where Anthony Fauci flat out states, I've looked at the research. I now know that it came out of the lab, that it didn't come out of the wet market. The wet market exacerbated it once it escaped from the lab. But that's not where it started. He states that in his diary entry. Then like the next day there are clips floating around of him being on cable news channels saying, we don't know. You do know. And that's why Mark Halpert on his show yesterday said, the guy's a liar. The man is a liar. And the mainstream media is not willing to say that, even though it's right there in black and white.

[Joe Getty]

We're in a hell of a spot.

[Jack Armstrong]

We are.

[Joe Getty]

So here are some choice moments from the early parts of the hearing. Dr. Fauci's statement why he's taking the Fifth. And. And then we'll play Rand Paul's couple of replies. I just tuned back in and Democrats are still saying Trump is cut funding for the such and such. Could that lead to a new explosion of athletes Foot fungus? Dr. Fauci. But of course, because you know, he's taking the fifth on everything he repeats on the behalf of my council. Take the fifth.

[Jack Armstrong]

So the way the, the way the fifth works, you can't answer some of the questions and just take the fifth on other questions.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that's by far what an attorney would say. Don't pick and choose. Don't, don't do that. Because there are laws specifically about that. I don't know what they are. But yes, in answer to your question, yes. So we'll play clip 50. Here's how the voucher opened with his opening statement of lies.

[Dr. Anthony Fauci (reading statement)]

Given Senator Paul's obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, his repeated slanderous comments about me, and recently his publicly releasing my unredacted personal diary aimed at embarrassing and intimidating me, the only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up in his words, quote, behind bars, unquote. Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion. Therefore, although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government and my decades long record of cooperating with Congress, under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the fifth amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions. Thank you.

[Jack Armstrong]

In an attempt to embarrass you, he released your diaries. Well, if you finding out that you said one thing in your diaries and a different thing on cable news the next day embarrasses you, I guess that's just the way the cards, you know,

[Joe Getty]

fall or chips lay or something. I don't know what that. I got to admit, if I was caught covering up for the Communist Chinese and leading to the death of millions of people, I'd be embarrassed too. So I feel for him.

[Jack Armstrong]

Would it have been better to like leave out all the stuff about being on magazine covers and on Dancing with the Stars? Yes, yes, leave that out.

[Joe Getty]

And media outlets including Fox and whomever else who kind of highlighted that stuff because it was fun. And we got to say, he's such an a hole, right? Oh my God. You're part of the problem because that

[Jack Armstrong]

makes it looks like it is just too embarrassing.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah. Well, let's, let's let the curly headed Randy man have his say. Senator Paul will go 51 first.

[M]

Michael, what went behind the decision to fund the research in Wuhan? How did you come to the conclusion that a totalitarian country would be capable of doing this in a VSL2 lab, a lab that lacked the security? What was the reasoning? And are you sorry basically for making the decision? Would you, you know, like given another chance, say, well, gosh, circumstances now, as I know Maybe it wasn't a wise thing. Can you explain to the committee why you chose to fund this dangerous research in China?

[Dr. Anthony Fauci (reading statement)]

On the advice of counsel, I respectfully declined to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth amendment of the Constitution.

[Joe Getty]

You could hear the wild eyed, frothing mouthed Rand Paul there with his unreasonable. Well, wait a minute.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, that was pretty clever because he clearly anticipated that Fauci was going to take the Fifth, so he asked him a very reasonable. Any normal person listening to that question would be thinking, yeah, I'd kind of like to hear the answer to that too.

[Joe Getty]

Of course. Yeah, well, yeah, Ran, smart guy. I am angry to the depths of my soul. I truly am. But I haven't lost my sense of humor. I really enjoyed this one. Next clip.

[M]

Michael, that section makes it a crime for a witness appearing under subpoena to refuse to answer any questions pertinent to the question under inquiry. Do you have that in front of you?

[Dr. Anthony Fauci (reading statement)]

On the advice of counsel, I respectfully declined to answer based upon my rights to under the Fifth Amendment. Let the Constitution.

[M]

Let the record record that the witness has refused to answer whether there's a folder in front of him based on his Fifth amendment right.

[Jack Armstrong]

The blonde swimsuit model over Rand Paul's shoulder. Thought that was very funny. I don't know who she is.

[Joe Getty]

She's part of Rance Paul's group.

[Jack Armstrong]

But she's going to get. She's good. She's going to be one of those people that show up, you know, like a. A referee, the referee in the soccer game, the other guy, the hot guy or whatever. She's gonna be one of those people are gonna figure out who she is. She'll be on Instagram tonight. She'll be an influencer by tomorrow.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, my God. She's over Rand Paul's shoulder.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, I almost wish we'd played more.

[Joe Getty]

More of that clip because I was semi unaware of the fact that if that. You can't refuse to answer, like, all questions if you've been subpoenaed. And I'd like to know the. The legal weight behind what Rand's asserting there, because if this guy could be compelled to answer the questions, we might get some answers at some point.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know if you or any of y' all saw Rand's actual opening statement. It's. It's very long, and I don't know how easy it would be to grab clips to play on the air, but it was really, really good. And one of the points he made that I thought, you know, and this will be lost because it, It's. It's preaching to the choir. Only people who already feel this way. We'll see clips on Fox. If you watch the CBS Evening News, you probably won't even know this hearing happened. So that's unfortunate.

[Joe Getty]

But most people get their news through Tick Tock and Facebook, so, like this,

[Jack Armstrong]

but they, yeah, they still won't know this hearing happened. But Rand Paul's opening statement, he. He talked about, you know, you. You fought so hard to deny gain of function research in the most technical ways. You know, it's like he didn't say this, but it's like Bill Clinton's depends on what the definition of is is. You know, really getting to the technicalities of the way a sentence is worded as opposed to the overall thing, which we all know. And, and Rand brought that up, that you were working on viruses, trying to make viruses as dangerous, possible to study them in a Chinese lab. And you know you were, and we all know you were, and you use all these technical details to try to, you know, legally pretend you weren't.

[Joe Getty]

And that's absolutely true. I advocate playing that clip. We actually have it handy if you want to, or we can do. You know, I'd like to do his whole opening statement maybe next hour, because he makes the point. Americans are not looking for a semantics debate. They want to know, is that research dangerous? Is that where the COVID came from? But again, oh, my God, how dare he ask those questions? He's so obsessed with Dr. Fauci and Dr. Fauci.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is what we're talking about Yesterday, is it? PhD type people often think they're smarter than everyone in the world because they are, but it blinds them to certain things. But he thinks the average population is too dumb to understand how important this is. And he can't, you know, give any ground or it might get shut down. And he and his scientist genius friends are going to save the world. But you people are too stupid to understand that, right?

[Joe Getty]

So we're not even going to try. Yeah, I despise people like that. More to come after word from our friends at Incogni. There are thousands of places on the Internet that have a file with your name and all your info. I mean, like your kids names, how you vote, your medical conditions, the rest of it. You can tell them, hey, take my stuff down. But there are too many of them. That's why Incog is so important. Incogni goes broker by broker and forces each one to delete your file.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I love that they've got the law on their side and they can go to those brokers and get into those opt out forms that are buried. I didn't even know there are opt out forms in some of this stuff, but they are probably in all that giant long thing that you accept sometimes when you go onto websites. Anyway, Incogni finds them and when your data tries to creep back, Incogni wipes it out again over and over.

[Joe Getty]

Just go to incogni.com Armstrong right now for 60% off. That's incogni.com Armstrong I n c o g n I.com Armstrong take your private life off the market. Incogni.com Armstrong Armstrong.

[Jack Armstrong]

My depressing prediction is this story is gone by the end of the week and will never come back.

[Joe Getty]

This is it.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is the high water mark for holding Fauci's feet to the fire. And it, this is. It's glory day. And he took the fifth every time. Only about 10% of news will cover it at all and it will be over as a story.

[Joe Getty]

Well, that's made everybody sad and angry. Everybody's angry now because tell me I'm wrong. May God have mercy on your soul. Well, you could not say it. I mean, yeah, you go, go to your girlfriend. You're looking kind of fat. I mean, you don't have to say everything that pops into your head. You could pretend. I'm going to pretend, folks. Dr. Fauci will be in a federal penitentiary by the end of the year. See, I'm the hopeful one, everybody.

[Jack Armstrong]

And, and you can't, you can't even hope that there's like some friend out there that's willing to come forward and say it's true. He told me that he didn't because it's in, it's in right there in black and white. It's in his diary, in Fauci's own words.

[Joe Getty]

And nobody friend. He said it himself. Yeah, right. Yeah. Let's say I don't want to. I'm not comfortable with that. Let's not print it or talk about it. Let's pretend it didn't happen because that would make me complicit and I will never ever admit that.

[Jack Armstrong]

What if he dies from COVID Wouldn't that be something? Would that be ironic? Alyssa Morissette?

[Joe Getty]

Yes. A lot of Alanis Morissette. Yes, yes, that. That would indeed, unlike rain on your wedding day, be ironic. And justice.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's like being the director of the pandemic response than dying of COVID Isn't it, it's like leaking viruses and dying of it.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I'm still working on the lyrics. Yeah, we'll, we'll play Rand Paul's opening statement. A little more from the hearing coming up. Because what, Jack, here's, here's, here's your little bit of hope. You just got to keep the truth out there. You never know when the right people are going to hear it in the right way. You just, you can't give up. Baby steps. Just don't let them get away with the COVID up.

[Jack Armstrong]

They're getting away with this one.

[Joe Getty]

Well, sometimes they get away with it for a very long time before, you know, the right thing happens. Not only am I not the sad, angry one, I'm the hopeful, optimistic, keep fighting one. Unlike old Jack over there. Wow. Oh, oh, gives it up, Jack.

[Jack Armstrong]

Surrender, Jack.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, that's right. Right. Put on a parade. You're like a Frenchman.

[Jack Armstrong]

Please.

[Joe Getty]

Surrendering to Dr. Fauci. Good Lord.

[Jack Armstrong]

We have mailbag on the way and other stuff.

[Joe Getty]

Stay here, Armstrong, and get.

[Jack Armstrong]

I was getting pretty upset about it yesterday, listening to National Review podcast about it. They never got into the school stuff. And that's the stuff that if you were a parent of small kids, was just so painful. Of course, also, they didn't live in California where they shut down the public schools for like three years.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah. There's so much to be said. Dr. Fauci is clammed up at the hearing, but we're not going to let him off the hook. Stay tuned. We've got some great audio from the hearing and, and other sources as well. Here's your freedom loving quote of the day. Love this. This is Thomas J.E. jefferson writing, paraphrasing the French philosopher Montesquieu, who really came up with the idea of the balance of, of power, of checks and balances, I should say. And this is pre revolution, Jefferson wrote the concentration of legislative, executive and judicial power in the same hands. And this is true even if those hands consisted of. Oh, I'm sorry, I skipped line. The definition of despot. Despotic government is concentrating of legislative, executive and judicial powers in the same hands. And he wrote that that was true even if those hands consisted of a majority of the people. Quote, an elective despotism is just as oppressive as a monarchical one.

[Jack Armstrong]

Absolutely.

[Joe Getty]

What is needed is a government quote in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistrate that so that not one could transcend their limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others. That is exact. The opposite of the Democratic Socialists of America platform that wants to get rid of the courts in judicial review. They want to get rid of the Senate, they want to get rid of the presidency as it exists now. And everything would be a rubber stamp of one legislative body, an elective despotism, as Jefferson is describing. It's absolutely right. And as an aside, Jack, in reading, I got back to Tim's book Proclaiming Liberty, which is just so good. It contains, and it's fairly brief, the single most clear, interesting, fascinating description of why, for instance, Thomas Jefferson, from when he was young, was absolutely leading the parade for ending slavery and the slave trade. He was crusading against slavery to the point that it almost cost him his career. Yet he wasn't in favor of the emancipation of the slaves. As you would understand it at the time. People say, oh, he's a hypocrite. He wrote those words, but he didn't mean it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Blah, blah, blah.

[Joe Getty]

Great explanation of that coming up later on the show. Hope you can stay tuned. We barely have any time for mailbag, but here it is. Drop us a note. Mailbagarmstrongygetti.com Eric in Texas writes this conversation about fouching Covid. Media coverage is felt in my own house. My wife and I disagree politically, so that means we follow different news sources almost every day. One of us brings up a major news story that the other one hasn't even heard about. It's not that we disagree, we just haven't heard the story. So if a news story isn't covered by who we personally choose, it's like it's not happening. Yeah, it's tiring and a bit demoralizing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yep. I. I had a girlfriend for a while that happened to us all the time. She'd say, did you? So what do you think about the whatever night Sage?

[Joe Getty]

What?

[Jack Armstrong]

And then the reverse would happen.

[Joe Getty]

And then a great email from Terry in Brush Prairie, Washington, which sounds lovely about Mumdani's government grocery stores and how he ought to be sued for that. He is being sued for it and we'll bring you that story. It's by a bunch of minority small business people. Yeah, squash them, mum.

[Jack Armstrong]

Donnie Rand's opening statement against Fauci. We'll play that for you an hour too. If you miss it, get the podcast on.

[Kyle McLaughlin]

Hi, it's Kyle McLaughlin, host of what Are We Even Doing? You know, I've always believed the way you start your morning sets the tone for everything that follows. That first cup of coffee isn't just a routine. It's a ritual, that quiet moment before the day really begins. That's why I appreciate DeLonghi. For over 50 years, they've combined Italian craftsmanship, thoughtful design and innovation for homes around the world as the number one espresso machine brand in the world. They bring that same expertise to an espresso experience that feels effortless and makes mornings a little more delicious. The machine looks beautiful in my kitchen, but it's also incredibly simple to use a quick espresso before heading out the door or a cappuccino on a slower morning. It turns an everyday moment into something worth savoring, dare I say, a damn fine cup of coffee right now. You can save 10% off your purchase at DeLonghi.com with code Kyle at checkout. After all, if it's not Italian, is it even espresso? To learn more, visit delonghi.com

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