There Will Never Be Justice...

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: "There Will Never Be Justice..."

Date: July 30, 2026
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Armstrong & Getty grapple with the impossibility of accountability for the COVID-19 pandemic, the current state of U.S. foreign policy—particularly regarding the escalating conflict with Iran—and the complicity of media and politics in shaping public narratives. The discussion is laced with their trademark skepticism, humor, and frustration at superficial or partisan discussions in the national media.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Accepting No Justice for COVID-19 (02:57–06:17)

• Jack Armstrong expresses resignation regarding meaningful accountability for pandemic-related errors, blaming "Trump derangement syndrome" and the human unwillingness to admit being wrong.
  • Quote: "There will never be justice for the crimes of COVID. We must accept it." (02:57)
  • He emphasizes the importance of truth-seeking as preparation for future crises.
• The hosts discuss media framing around Dr. Anthony Fauci’s testimony, noting coverage focuses on defending Fauci or deflecting toward Trump, rather than substantive issues.
  • Joe Getty: “I'm pretty despondent about the whole Fauci thing... mainstream media and certainly lefty media just treated this as... a ridiculous stunt trial by the Republicans.” (06:11)

U.S. Military Options and Foreign Policy in the Middle East (03:50–05:19, 20:23–23:06, 25:37–36:02)

• Go Big Option Against Iran: WSJ reports Trump has been presented with a "go big" plan for bombing Iran's rocket and missile sites, but is unlikely to pursue it. Egypt has been hit for the first time, showing the conflict's expansion.

  • Joe Getty: “It would be a two week heavy bombing campaign that would basically eliminate Iran's rocket missile capability.” (03:50)

• International Escalation: Accidental Russian missile explosion in Poland increases NATO alert; China allegedly ships 400 shoulder-fired missiles, stoking tensions.

• Military Stockpile Shortfalls: New figures show a dramatic reduction in U.S. Patriot and THAAD missile stockpiles since war began.

  • Pre-war: 2,300 Patriots → Now: about 750.
    452 THAAD → Now: 234.
  • Joe Getty: “Now we have about 750... We went from 2,300 to 750 in a fairly short time.” (33:06)

• Strategic Frustration: Both hosts discuss the cyclical, "intermittent annoyance" strategy in the region and Trump's hesitancy to make “big moves.” They analyze if this is Trump’s desire for realism or simply being too hesitant.

  • Jack Armstrong: "[Trump] knows a handful of licks, period. And I think he's realistic and, and, and savvy about certain aspects... but the tariff thing is Looney Tunes." (28:37)

• Best Defense is a Good Offense: Military analysts advise the U.S. switch from a defensive posture to making adversaries worry.

Media Spin and Fauci's Testimony (05:59–10:09, 13:46–15:15, 36:11–46:14)

• Hosts are frustrated at media deflection, especially making everything about Trump instead of Dr. Fauci's new diaries and lab origin questions.

  • Jack Armstrong: "Main theme on MSNBC this morning... They made it all about Donald Trump's handling of the pandemic, which... is not what the topic was yesterday." (06:36)

• They preview Armstrong’s “devastating indictment” of Fauci, not as a partisan witch hunt but as a pressing matter of truth and accountability.

  • Jack Armstrong: “It is absolutely unquestionable he is a villain. Absolutely a villain.” (07:22)
  • Joe Getty: “If I was Anthony Fauci... I escaped. I'm in pretty good shape.” (08:19)

• Liability and Accountability: If lab-leak theory is true, the civil liability (“the mother, father, and all the cousins of all liability cases”) eclipses history’s worst industrial disasters.

  • Jack Armstrong: “That would make the Bhopal disaster look like a fender bender.” (10:07)

• Media Priorities: Listeners question why media focus endlessly on the Epstein files but largely downplay or ignore Fauci’s diaries.

  • Listener Comment: “The Fauci diary is less notable than Epstein? Really, media?” (44:02)

• Joe Getty: "Fauci's diaries came out. It's clear now that he lied to us. Can we deal with that?" (45:44)

On Trump’s Realism & Deal-Making (26:16–32:02)

• The hosts reflect on Trump’s reputation as a consummate dealmaker, questioning why he seems unable to discern when leaders like Putin and Iran's regime have no real “deal” intentions.
  • Joe Getty: “You would think his life experience would have been: I can figure out very quickly when somebody isn't interested in making a deal.” (29:57)
  • Despite the legend of "The Art of the Deal," the hosts suggest reality is more complicated.
  • Jack Armstrong: “My understanding... was that Trump was okay as a dealmaker, he was okay as a developer. But the show, The Apprentice, the myth making of that...” (30:32)

The Challenge of Truth-Seeking News (13:46–15:40)

• The hosts celebrate a clip from the Mark Halperin show, where a caller says she listens to both them and Halperin because they're “seeking the truth rather than just convincing you of their own side,” noting how rare that is in the media landscape.
  • Jack Armstrong: “It's a niche market.” (15:40)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On accepting lack of COVID justice:
  "There will never be justice for the crimes of COVID. We must accept it."
  — Jack Armstrong (02:57)

• On media spin:
  "It must be... reassuring. If I was Anthony Fauci, it'd be pretty easy... to end the day yesterday and look around at the media landscape and think, I escaped. I'm in pretty good shape."
  — Joe Getty (08:19)

• On Fauci’s potential liability:
  "That would make the Bhopal disaster look like a fender bender."
  — Jack Armstrong (10:07)

• On truth-seeking in news:
  "She's looking for news sources where people seem to be seeking the truth rather than just convincing you of their own side. And we're that... most people don't want that."
  — Joe Getty (15:15)

• On media priorities:
  "The Fauci diary is less notable than Epstein? Really, media?" — Listener Comment Read by Jack Armstrong (44:02)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Resignation on COVID Accountability & Media Spin: 02:57–06:17
• Military “Go Big” Option/Iran Conflict Escalation: 03:50–05:19, 20:23–23:06, 25:37–36:02
• Fauci Hearings, Media Deflection, and Indictment: 06:29–10:09, 13:46–15:15, 36:11–46:14
• Trump’s Deal-Making & Political Realism: 26:16–32:02
• Missile Stockpiles & U.S. Vulnerability: 32:09–36:02
• The Value of Truth-Seeking News: 13:46–15:40

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Recurring Themes and Tone

• Cynicism and Frustration: The hosts frequently express frustration at media and political unwillingness to face uncomfortable truths, and at the superficiality of public debate.
• Dark Humor & Sarcasm: Despite gravity, they use humor to underline serious points (e.g., mockery of wet markets, references to Matt Damon’s arms, comedic call-backs about “cold snacks”).
• Implicit Call to Skepticism: Urge listeners to look past easy media narratives and ideological talking points.

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For Further Listening

• The hosts tease a deeper breakdown/“devastating indictment” of Dr. Fauci in hour two.
• Listeners interested in discussions on Fauci, pandemic accountability, and military policy will find much food for thought and talking points for debates at “Thanksgiving tables.”

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Summary prepared for those seeking a comprehensive yet engaging recap of Armstrong & Getty’s July 30, 2026 episode, emphasizing frank analysis, media criticism, and U.S. geopolitical dilemmas.

Transcript

[Host 1]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Joe Getty]

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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. And now here's Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty. We are your Go big option for intermation on Thursday. Go more on that coming up. Live from Studio CC Senor, you're sitting in a dimly lit room deep within the bowels, surrounded by Patriot missiles, the Armstrong and Getty Communications compound. And today we're toiling under the title

[Jack Armstrong]

of the show Trump's strategy of trying to defeat Iran with his mouth fails or if you there will never be justice for the crimes of COVID we must accept it. Yeah, that's definitely where I am trying very hard. I hate it. I boil with energy trying to somehow move the ball an inch forward to get people to admit the truth of what happened. And I need to accept that's not going to happen because of Trump derangement syndrome. And people can't be convinced to confess that they were wrong. It's just a part of human nature. So the best we can hope for is those of us who have heard the truth. We're prepared for the next time if there is a next time or something similar. It's the best we can hope for.

[Joe Getty]

So my mention of the go big option, Wall Street Journal reporting today that Donald Trump has been presented with a go big option by the Pentagon would be a two week heavy bombing campaign that would basically eliminate Iran's rocket missile capability. Lots and lots of crazy heavy bombing on lots and lots of sites. Go big. Based on his recent actions, I doubt he's going to take that advice. Oh no. By the way, Egypt got hit yesterday. So brand new country that previously had not been hit in this war expanding across the water there into North Africa.

[Jack Armstrong]

In a related story, notice how I put that question mark in there. I did a professional broadcaster right there.

[Joe Getty]

I picked up on your verbal question mark.

[Jack Armstrong]

Don't try this at home. A Russian missile exploded in Poland. Almost certainly unintentional, accidentally accidental, but the polls are not amused. And so you've got NATO ratcheting up its alert status a bit. One of our best allies is pissed off at Russia as Russia is attacking Ukraine and Iran is helping Russia and China is helping Iran target our guys. Plus sending, oh boy.

[Joe Getty]

Plus China is sending those 400 shoulder fired, fired missiles to bring down our aircraft. That they're denying, of course, but that's being reported in a number of places.

[Jack Armstrong]

Don't trust China. See, I saved you the trouble, Michael.

[Joe Getty]

That's very exciting.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Like exciting.

[Jack Armstrong]

So exciting is one word for it. Yes, it, strictly speaking, yes, that is exciting. I have been excited by it. Agitated made alert

[Joe Getty]

news that just broke before we came on. US economic growth slowed to 1.5% in the second quarter. 1.5% is not the sort of growth you're looking for in your economy.

[Jack Armstrong]

About my growth in the second quarter too, thanks to that cruise we took

[Joe Getty]

almost for what, around 4% would be really, really wonderful if you grew at 4%.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Certainly you'd hope for, you know, three annualized,

[Joe Getty]

but we're at one something. We'll get into that story a little bit later. Yeah, I'm pretty despondent about the whole Fauci thing.

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I.

[Joe Getty]

As you were listening yesterday, I was predicting to be despondent, and I.

[Jack Armstrong]

My

[Joe Getty]

expectations were met by mainstream media and certainly lefty media that just treated this as a. Just a ridiculous stunt trial by the Republicans. What is their deal? The main theme on MSNBC this morning, when I watched it with Morning Joe is, so tell me, did they get around to admitting that Donald Trump handled the pandemic so poorly and it made it all about Donald Trump's handling of the pandemic, which you can talk about if you want that at topic. That's not what the topic was yesterday. And the revelation of Fauci's diaries to me bring up some pretty obvious easy points of discussion that have nothing to do with Trump. Sure.

[Jack Armstrong]

But I labored late into the night last night preparing a devastating indictment of Dr. Fauci. It will be fairly brief, well organized. You will probably want to record it, transcribe it, and have it handy for future arguments at Thanksgiving tables, that sort of thing. Anyway, we'll get to that a little bit later on. It is absolutely unquestionable that he is a villain. Absolutely a villain. It's gotta be kind of nice on the left. I'm a little jealous, honestly, that no matter what the problem is, Covid was mishandled. You blame Trump. Homelessness grows in la. Karen Bass, Nithya Raman, the communist, they're all blaming Trump for it. My kid doesn't make the junior high basketball team blame Trump. I gain a few pounds, blame Trump. It must be. It must be, you know, reassuring.

[Joe Getty]

If I was Anthony Foushee, it'd be pretty easy for me to have ended the day yesterday and looked around at the media landscape and thought, I escaped. I'm in pretty good shape.

[Ryan Reynolds (Mint Mobile Advertiser)]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Dodged it and, you know, just believed their version of it and thought, you know, I didn't do anything wrong. I'm out here trying to protect the world as a good scientist, trying to, you know, make sure a virus never gets out and causes millions of deaths. Oh, wait, one did. And I caused it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

New York Times opinion piece, which is the only Foushee article I could find today. What we really learned from the Foushee hearing. Show trials are bad for democracy.

[Jack Armstrong]

I would agree, actually, but probably not in the way they meant.

[Joe Getty]

That's not the coverage I was hoping for out of the New York Times in the Foushee trial. We now know that Anthony Foushee knew long before any reporting about it that the virus came out of the lab.

[Jack Armstrong]

But that's, as he was claiming publicly, the opposite. Yes. Yeah. The Wall Street Journal editorial board did report on the Fauci thing, and we'll touch on that later. But the one interesting point that whoever wrote it made was that they. Rand Paul's been a little over the top in trying to criminalize Fauci and the inquiry into Fauci.

[Joe Getty]

I wish he wouldn't go that direction because I think it weakens his position,

[Jack Armstrong]

not strengthens it, and it gives Fauci an argument. Look at this guy. He's obsessed with putting me in jail, putting me in jail. I tried to save everybody's lives. It almost creates a distraction. But in weighing whether I agreed with that or not, after reading that piece in the Journal, it occurred to me Fauci's problem. And I'll say first that I don't know a great deal about the current state of laws, about immunity for government

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officials,

[Jack Armstrong]

but Fauci's problem is the greatest civil liability in the history of mankind. If he and Peter Daszak in the Wuhan lab were toying with bat viruses to make them extra virulent, to then test how we could deal with them, and they were sloppy and they let that virus out of the lab and millions of people died, that would make the Bhopal disaster look like a fender bender. That would make, you know, the Exxon Valdez oil spill look like an unfortunate incident at your local grocery store. I mean, it would be the. The mother, father, and all the cousins of all liability cases.

[Tony Ayo (Boost Mobile Advertiser)]

That's.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's got to be what he's terrified of. Not only of being identified as a. A man who's. Whose negligence or hubris led to the deaths of millions, but, you know, potential liability.

[Joe Getty]

One of the sexiest men in America, according to People magazine.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I represent science. I'm more of a Matt Damon guy myself.

[Joe Getty]

Have you read anything about. I've seen Matt Damon in some interviews. I saw him at a couple of the World cup soccer matches. Saw him on tv. I didn't see him in person. Saw him on tv. World Cup. He is not even close to as jacked as he was in the movie. Did they do CGI to make his arms bigger or to make him look more muscular? Or did he get super jacked for the filming like steroids or whatever, and then went off him and went back to normal size because he does not look like the guy in that movie. In that movie he's wearing whatever that is you wear back in those days. Some sort of sleeveless T shirt. I don't know what that is.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah, kind of. You're. You're going out to a gay club outfit. Yes. I am told that he has a stunt double who is a woman and

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has bigger arms than him.

[Joe Getty]

Who you are told?

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Yes,

[Jack Armstrong]

it's my source.

[Joe Getty]

That's my favorite part of the story. I am dope.

[Jack Armstrong]

According to sources near Matt Damon's Amazon. Well, there were.

[Joe Getty]

There were lots of shots of him where he was just. He was built more like. Well, like Russell Crow and Gladiator. But he's not built like that in real life. Russell Crowe is, but Matt Damon isn't.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know when filming finished and whether it's possible to. To get that jacked and then, you know, go back to normal in that timetable. I have no idea.

[Joe Getty]

I would think not. I've not seen that. But anyway, I just wondered about that. I thought there's just several scenes where I thought, those aren't Matt Damon's arms. They can't be.

[Jack Armstrong]

He's not that big.

[Joe Getty]

Speaking of being sexier than Anthony Fauci, if you know anything about that, Texas or email.

[Military Analyst/Commentator]

I'm kind of.

[Joe Getty]

I'm kind of interested. If that's just the future of acting. They can make you look. Look completely different. I don't know what the point is of.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, that's going to save a lot of trouble for actors who famously lost 75 pounds to play this role or. Yeah, you know, whatever. Or in the gym for six months, blah, blah, blah. Why bother, please. You can look like Marlon Brando toward the end and play, you know, I don't know. So skinny student.

[Joe Getty]

We need a little self aggrandizement. I think that would make me feel better. So that's in our opening clip. I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty on this is. How did it already get to be Thursday, July 30th? We're almost done with July here, people. The year 2026 where Armstrong and getting. We approve of this program.

[Jack Armstrong]

And enough of the preliminaries. Let's start the show according to FCC rules and regulations at Mark. Rachel, what appeals to you about Two Way?

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I love the fact that you're. You're hearing everybody's different opinions.

[Jack Armstrong]

I. I started listening to you guys

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from a recommendation from Armstrong.

[Host 1]

Thank you.

[Jack Armstrong]

Daddy are great guys.

[Joe Getty]

I didn't know they were listeners.

[Jack Armstrong]

I love Armstrong. They are great guys. I like them.

[Joe Getty]

That's from Mark Halpern's show that I watch every day. It's my favorite news show, but one of their they take lots of calls at the very end.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

One of them said she got turned on to Mark Halperin by listening to us.

[Jack Armstrong]

I, I, I like Mark and respect him and have liked him for a very long time. But right at the end he reminded me. So Will Ferrell in Anchorman, that clip we used to end the show with with good show everybody. Nice work. I liked it at the very end, he says. Yes, I like them very Will Ferrell.

[Joe Getty]

Doesn't that just fill you with a warm feeling?

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, it's nice to be respected, I guess. Why is someone smelling themselves? Oh, Hot Mike, hot mic.

[Tony Ayo (Boost Mobile Advertiser)]

No.

[Joe Getty]

1 your mic's on Michael.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, that's fine. Thanks. Mark and company. That's very kind of you.

[Joe Getty]

That is a good new show. We will get into some of the

[Jack Armstrong]

actually, there's no other shows, only ours.

[Joe Getty]

Actually, her point was, and we edited out her long point about why she liked us and them is that she's looking for news sources where people seem to be seeking the truth rather than just convincing you of their own side. And we're that and I think Mark Halpern's that. And most people don't want that. It would seem for me, looking around,

[Jack Armstrong]

it's a niche market.

[Joe Getty]

Exactly. We'll get to some more headlines, a bunch of other stuff on the way.

[Jack Armstrong]

Stay here, Armstrong and Gettysburg before you

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[International Fellowship of Christians and Jews Announcer]

The headlines they move on, but the heartache and the terror they do not. Iran and its terrorist proxies are continuing to target Israel. Hezbollah continues its attacks in the north, forcing families to live under constant threats. But Israel is not only defending her people, she is standing on the front lines against terror that threatens us all. Even when the news crews leave the international fellowship of Christians and Jews, they remain, Every day they are on the ground providing life saving aid. Now, near Israel's border with Lebanon, a Hezbollah drone recently struck the home of Yelena. Widowed earlier this year and living alone, she was trapped inside by the blast. Thankfully, she was not injured, but she remained displaced. It's hard these days, she says, but I don't want to leave. Well, as Christians, we are called to stand with God's people and pray for those defending Israel and protecting the freedoms we hold dear. I want you to join the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews in praying for the peace of Jerusalem and for the soldiers, families and civilians carrying the burden of this fight right now. Visit prayifcj.org that's pray ifcj.org hi, Ryan

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[Joe Getty]

I do have an update on Matt Damon's arms from the Odyssey. That is a very misleading headline that you qu he points out and others

[Jack Armstrong]

point out fake news.

[Joe Getty]

Michael well, there's one scene where he's fighting giants. So they brought in a bunch of seven footers to be the giants and a bunch of people who are five foot to make the difference between their sizes more stark. And there was a stunt double during that one scene who had great big arms. He said the rest of the movie is 100% my arms. So it's a three hour movie. So one minute there's a stunt person's arms. Okay, so that's not what what people are going around saying. But I thought this was kind of interesting. He and I must be about the same size. But he said, he said I lost a lot of weight. Nolan wanted me really lean I've been walking around my whole life since high school between 185 and 200. That's me, too. And he said, I did the whole movie at 167. I haven't been that light since high school. I cut out gluten.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, well, there you go.

[Joe Getty]

Good for you.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's about where I should be.

[Joe Getty]

167. I don't see myself unless. Unless Christopher Nolan offers me $50 million to be in a movie. I don't see myself getting disciplined to get down to 167.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is precisely the weight I got down to when I lost all that weight years ago. Yeah. Yeah. I was that to wait for 15 minutes before it started to climb back up.

[Joe Getty]

Probably true for Matt Damon, too.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. Handful of headlines for you. US said it intercepted an Iranian missile barrage Wednesday, then gave him a pretty good whacking overnight. But not the big one.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I've got an update on our supplies that came out from one of your institutes that studied this sort of stuff. That's a little damaging. Although, Mike Lyon, it's bad news to hear, but Mike Lyons pointed out yesterday, like we did last night, how about we go on offense? So we're not just waiting around shooting down missiles, hoping our supplies hold out. We're on offense and they're worried about shooting our missiles down. That's the way to handle that problem.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I know, I know. Terrify him. I don't know what Trump is thinking. More than a thousand employees at the big AI company signed a statement asking the US Government to support international efforts to deliberately pace AI development. Hilarious. The whole bunch of employees or a bunch of former generals or whatever signed a letter thing. It rarely goes anywhere. I've got a featurette on the current state of AI. Just a news digest later on the show. It's interesting. The worm has definitely turned on Wall street as investors are starting to say, you know, y' all are pouring zillions of dollars into this stuff, and I don't see you making any money anytime soon. So see how that develops.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, well, Nvidia made that giant, giant investment in a couple of AI companies just the other day. And Bloomberg was writing about the. Once again, the circular nature of the whole AI investing thing. Everybody's investing in each other and, you know, at some point, Sony's got to start making a profit out of this, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

Fed held the rate steady, surprising a lot of folks in the market plunged. Fauci invoked the fifth. That's the big stuff. Europe is on fire. Not. Not like in a good way. They're on fire. No, they're literally on fire.

[Joe Getty]

I do want to hit you with that. How how bad is our stores of defense weapons? It's. It's not. It's definitely not good. But we got a lot of other stuff on the way too, so stay

[ChatGPT Work Advertiser]

right Armstrong and Getty before you jump back in. You know that feeling when feedback notes and data are coming in from every direction. ChatGPT work can make sense of it all, turning scattered inputs into ready to review work. With your permission, ChatGPT work can gather context from apps and files, summarize incoming messages, rebuild decks, and help finalize high quality documents for your team or clients. Stay in control as you move from a goal to polished. Work faster with ChatGPT work. Download the ChatGPT desktop app today and take on your most ambitious work.

[NFL Plus Advertiser]

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[International Fellowship of Christians and Jews Announcer]

The Headlines they move on, but the heartache and the terror they do not Iran and its terrorist proxies are continuing to target Israel. Hezbollah continues its attacks in the north, forcing families to live under constant threat. But Israel is not only defending, defending her people, she is standing on the front lines against terror that threatens us all. Even when the news crews leave the international fellowship of Christians and Jews, they remain. Every day they are on the ground providing life saving aid. Now, near Israel's border with Lebanon, a Hezbollah drone recently struck the home of Yelena. Widowed earlier this year and living alone, she was trapped inside by the blast. Thankfully she was not injured, but she remained displaced. It's hard these days, she says. But I don't want to leave. Well, as Christians we are called to stand with God's people and pray for those defending Israel and protecting the freedoms we hold dear. I want you to join the international fellowship of Christians and Jews in praying for the peace of Jerusalem and for the soldiers, families and civilians carrying the burden of this fight right now. Visit pray ifcj.org that's pray ifcj.org have

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[Military Analyst/Commentator]

We can hit them very hard. I mean I can actually say that because in that there's very little they can do about was a different group than we're dealing with. They've already apologized, but you know, we got to smack them a little bit. When they strike, will I always hit back? Yes, pretty much.

[Joe Getty]

So I have no idea what Trump's thinking is and it'll be something to read about this someday in the history books. A lot of the Trump haters were worried that he was a madman that was going to get us into World War 3 and you know, this and

[Jack Armstrong]

that, that still may be.

[Joe Getty]

He's, he's so hesitant to want to deal with bad people and like call them out as being bad. And I just, I do not get it. So Fox's take on this today is this piece in the Wall Street Journal, the US Commander with a two week plan to escalate strikes in Iran. They're talking about Brad Cooper. He's the head of centcom and he clearly talked to the Wall Street Journal and he's got this plan for us just blasting the hell out of Iran for two weeks to make it basically impossible for them to fire any rockets or missiles at anybody. But it would be like some, it'd be like the very beginning of this epic fury thing, that kind of bombing for two weeks. And Fox's belief is that for whatever reason he doesn't get into the room. And Pete Hegseth, Secretary to War and Dan Cain, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are in the room with Trump making those decisions. And those three guys, for whatever reason, you know, I don't know if Trump's driving that train or if like Pete is way less aggressive behind closed doors than he is on TV and he's the guy slowing it down. But something with those three guys keeps us from doing what a lot of people think needs to be done. And this Cooper guy is trying to get word to the president through the Wall Street Journal because he's not in those meetings.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's Fox's belief. Right. And that might be true, honestly. And I'm guessing, I think it's probably Trump driving that train. We've mentioned before that, you know, in reference to the situation in Ukraine, he said, seriously, seems like, he wants to end death and suffering as soon as he can. And so it could just be that he's a little gun shy, literally, about this. Go ahead.

[Joe Getty]

As a guy who seems like the ultimate realist.

[Jack Armstrong]

Who, Trump?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. You don't think. Because I feel like he's rising hotels.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes.

[Joe Getty]

I feel like his rise politically is recognizing the American landscape, escape for what it is, and cynically taking advantage of it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, yeah, I think it's like, is he a great communicator or not? I think he. I've joked before that I know, like, three licks on the guitar and I can play him really, really well. But don't be fooled. I'm not a good guitar player. Trump knows a handful of licks, period. And I think he's realistic and, and, and savvy about certain aspects of life. But, like, the tariff thing is Looney Tunes. I could give you several. Several examples. Or it's just. It's bad. But anyway, we're off on a tangent, and I want to make a couple of points. Number one, if what he said is taken at face value, that, yeah, we're dealing with one group of people, the other group of people were the ones firing those missiles. And the first group apologized, and they said, oh, please don't hit us, but I got to hit them a little bit. Number one, that's an incredibly difficult situation to be in diplomatically and militarily. How the hell are you supposed to deal with that? Second thought, it reminds me a lot of good cop, bad cop, too. Is it really two groups that are in conflict with each other, or is it good cop, bad cop? And third, the first phase was called epic fury. The second phase should be called intermittent annoyance because it's just been a few bombs here, a few bombs there. You gotta stop that. All right, here's a few bombs. Now let's talk more. Well, the, The.

[Joe Getty]

The other part is he gets mocked for this by the. By the people who hate him. But he wrote a book called the Art of the Deal. He got really, really rich on making lots and lots of really, really big deals. You would think his life experience would have been. I can figure out very quickly when somebody isn't interested in making a deal and is jerking me around, but doesn't seem to be able to do that with Putin or the Iranians. He keeps thinking they actually. They say. They say they want a deal. They're liars, dude.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes. Yeah. Trump is so polarizing. It's difficult to take any source, you know, seriously without at least a Grain of salt. My understanding from having dug into this back in the day was that Trump was okay as a deal maker, he was okay as a developer. But the show, the Apprentice, the myth making of that was that he was the all time master, the greatest ever. That was part of the appeal of the show. But it really, there are plenty of other folks who said that's not really true. But again, grain of salt, right?

[Joe Getty]

I have no idea. And either way, you don't end up a billionaire by accident. You don't end up with the number one TV show in America by accident. You don't end up elected elected president twice by accident. You have some savvy and understanding of the world to pull off those three things. And how he has that ability and can't see that Putin's just jerking him around and Iran's just jerking him around,

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't get right.

[Joe Getty]

It just makes no sense to me unless he's pretending. But I don't can't imagine why he's pretending. No, they really want to make a deal. They have shown no interest in that. And if it's maybe one faction has. Okay, but that's not the faction that's shooting at us. So what difference does it make? Certainly with Putin. Putin is calling the shots. We know that. And there's no indication ever that Putin wants to make a deal.

[Jack Armstrong]

No.

[Joe Getty]

Okay.

[Jack Armstrong]

Xi Jinping unless it benefits him. We're good. We have a good relationship. We're friends. Okay.

[Joe Getty]

So I'm not sure that it was good that the New York Times and some anonymous source alerted our enemy to the fact that our diminished stockpile of anti missile technology is why Trump called off the big attack a week ago. In fact, I think it's almost certainly not good that we announced that the enemy but here anyway, here's the information that's out from one of these think tanks that looks at this sort of stuff. Before the war started we had 2,300 Patriot missiles. For some reason I as an American paying lots of taxes and we pay more for our military than practically every other world other country in the world added together, which is astonishing. I would have assumed we had more than 2300 Patriot missiles any now anyway. Now we have about 750. That's we went from 2300 to 750

[Jack Armstrong]

fairly short time.

[Joe Getty]

The very successful ways to shoot down ballistic missiles. Thad response. I forget what that stands for but you hear it in the news all the time. We had 452 of those. We now have 234. Huh so cut in half. So the Patriot missile cut in down a third from what we had Thads cut in half. And I don't know how long it takes to make this stuff and get back your stockpile, but there's, there's no rule out there that some other enemy can't jump ugly with you while you're fighting someone else.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Or encourage their proxy.

[Joe Getty]

Hey, hey, let's.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let's burn 300 more of those Patriot missiles. Tell you what, start shooting at them for a while. Let's get them down to like 400 and see what happens. And, and then, then, then let's start maybe getting a little more aggressive in the South China Sea when they're feeling a little vulnerable. Yeah. No, it's not good. It's not good that it's public information, for one thing. No, there are some really good trends going on in the Pentagon and the procurement processes where much less expensive weapons more effective or still effective, but much less expensive weapons are being developed. Procurement's getting a lot faster. The Ukraine style reappraising month to month, what technologies we need. I'm told that that's pretty encouraging right now. But just because we've started to turn the gigantic ship of the Pentagon around doesn't mean, okay, we're fine. We still have an enormous challenge, but that's good anyway.

[Joe Getty]

Well, one of the oldest sayings in sports that Mike Lyons hit us with yesterday is certainly true. In war, the best defense is a good offense. Him as a military guy saying, how about we make them worry about our missiles for a while instead of we're hunkered down, seeing if we can shoot down every one of their missiles coming at us.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, Right. They're smoking some sort of weird Middle Eastern cigarette, chatting with the Chinese about what barracks they should hit next. How about we have them running for cover?

[Joe Getty]

Right. I don't know. It's a, It's a troubling situation. And the fact that Egypt got hit, Saudi Arabia's fully involved in the war, at least for this week. Who knows where this is going? What's the way out? Because you can't. You can't leave the straight of Hormuz in control of the Iranians, and you can't let them get a nuclear weapon. Those two things are just. Those are not options.

[Jack Armstrong]

If I had the answer, I would spout it right now.

[Joe Getty]

This is going to dominate the rest of his presidency.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's entirely possible, yes. In fact, it's probable.

[Joe Getty]

All right, well, let's for once take it. Do we have a commercial here, Michael. Let's for once take a break to give enough time for a mailbag. And then you're going to unleash what

[Jack Armstrong]

an hour to a stunningly effective and and and fairly brief indictment of Dr. Fauci. Lest anybody be distracted by the mainstream media saying this is a partisan witch hunt silliness. It absolutely was not. They're really criticizing science because I represent science.

[Joe Getty]

And it absolutely was not old information, things that have been rehashed over and over again.

[Jack Armstrong]

Can you imagine in some sort of big argument about, I don't know, pick your topic. Maybe Trump's family making a lot of money, or maybe it's the war with Iran, or maybe it's whether the feds can control elections. Somebody saying they're really fighting against the Constitution because I represent the Constitution. They'd be laughed out of the room, as Fauci should have been.

[Joe Getty]

All right, lots on the way.

[Jack Armstrong]

Stay here Armstrong and Getty.

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[International Fellowship of Christians and Jews Announcer]

The headlines they move on, but the heartache and the terror they do not. Iran and its terrorist proxies are continuing to target Israel. Hezbollah continues its attacks in the north, forcing families to live under constant threat. But Israel is not only defending her people, she is standing on the front lines against terror that threatens us all. Even when the news crews leave the international fellowship of Christians and Jews, they remain. Every day they are on the ground providing life saving aid. Now near Israel's border with Lebanon, a Hezbollah drone recently struck the home of Yelena. Widowed earlier this year and living alone, she was trapped inside by the blast. Thankfully, she was not injured but she remained displaced. It's hard these days, she says, but I don't want to leave. Well, as Christians, we are called to stand with God's people and pray for those defending Israel and protecting the freedoms we hold dear. I want you to join the international fellowship of Christians and Jews in praying for the peace of Jerusalem and for the soldiers, families and civilians carrying the burden of this fight right now. Visit pray ifcj.org that's pray ifcj.org have

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[Joe Getty]

Yep.

[Montucky Cold Snacks Advertiser]

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[Joe Getty]

I forgot Fauci was the highest paid government employee when he left office in the whole country.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'd forgotten that too. Now, money well spent. Here's your freedom loving quote of the day sent along by honorary producer Jeff, who sends all sorts of great stuff and I appreciate it very much. Say a picture, a portrait, Jack, of you know, this man, the great Carl Marx. His beard game was top notch. True, we'll give him that. I'm a fair minded man. His beard game was spectacular. Really rocking the long hair as well. Could have played bass in a metal band. Anyway, it's a picture of Karl Marx. I love this. Socialism works just as often as Karl Marx did. That's really good. You don't know his story, Jack. Would you like to give us the 10 second version?

[Joe Getty]

He was a lifetime sponge off of all kinds of different people, women, family. And then that poor Ingalls guy who he wrote the book with.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. Just ripped everybody off. Freeloaded never worked. Boy. Mailbag, drop us a note mailbagarmstrongetti.com mailbag@armstrong and yeti.com on the topic of the end of the show yesterday, John from Eugene, Oregon writes, guys, the that was great. The last segment of your show. I have to start using perspective. It's all the way you look at things. Menachem Bagan was in solitary confinement and he handled it. I can handle what I've got. Really great segment. Thanks.

[Joe Getty]

Thank you.

[Jack Armstrong]

That was the final segment of yesterday's show. You can grab it via podcast. Armstrong, you get it on demand. You ought to subscribe. Auto downloads oh, a brief recap we were talking about just some great examples of. I think we were talking about young people convinced that they're doomed and depressed and anxious and over thinking in a negative way.

[Joe Getty]

It was. The premise is that we've never been more focused on mental health and it seems to be doing more harm than good.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Yeah. Yeah. And that. And I realize this sounds cliched, but it's a cliche because it is absolutely fundamental to human life. You've got to try to be optimistic and look in the bright side. It changes your life and. Or look at yourself before you look at anything else. Anyway, moving along. The most important question Fauci was never asked from Kevin the Texas Marine asking the Most important question Mr. I represent science never got to avoid.

[Joe Getty]

So now can I go to the

[Jack Armstrong]

wet market and safely get some bats to snack on, a cold beer, a grilled bat, and some Chinese mustard. Actually quite good. Try it. Are you kidding? Kevin the Texas Marine, Chinese mustard. What do you think I have on my egg rolls? Love Chinese mustard. So good. Anyway, he says that's one of the best ways to spend an evening after a grueling four hour workday and a cold beer.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. How much did that damage the. The wet bat market. The open markets.

[Ryan Reynolds (Mint Mobile Advertiser)]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

You know, and. And it was all a lie.

[NFL Plus Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

They probably.

[Jack Armstrong]

Humble Chinese wet bat salesmen are out of work now thanks to that coronavirus.

[Joe Getty]

You fish around in a big barrel full of opaque water trying to get a decent bat out of there.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. That one's kind of scrawny. Keep digging, honey. Yeah. You put those people out of work.

[Joe Getty]

Does this one look gray to you?

[Military Analyst/Commentator]

I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

God, that's so gross. Let's see. Chris from Shiny Spangle. Washington writes dear brilliant Joe and simple Jack and he's asking the media. The Fauci diary is less notable than Epstein. Really? Media?

[Joe Getty]

No kidding.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. The useless legacy media had the Jeffrey freaking Epstein files as their lead story for months. But no mention of the Fauci diary. The esteemed jackass Senator Gary Peters, who says this is old news and a waste of time, says this on his senate.gov website'Peters Leagues leads colleagues in calling on Senate majority leader to quickly bring the Epstein files transparency act to the floor for a vote. We cannot hate these people enough. We are not a serious country. Monarchy now.

[Joe Getty]

Ha ha.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Host 1]

All right.

[Joe Getty]

Well, you know what?

[Jack Armstrong]

It's clever so far. I'll go with it. But the only monarch I want, if it's someone else's monarch, I don't really want that. One will declare my property sovereign, plagiarize the Declaration of Independence and live in peace watching the beavers take over the earth. All right, Chris, thanks for the note. Secretarian wants to know you'll grill Fauci, but not this. The sitting president. And he talks about. I watched the coverage that. Oh, and he says, fair enough, Foushee is fair game. But he says Foushee gets days of scrutiny. 100 Biden got years of it. Treating his criminals. Family's finances picked apart. Meanwhile, the current administration family is pulling in staggering sums, billions tied to the president's own kids. And it barely registers here. You know, we've actually brought it up a number of times. It's unprecedented. It's really not good at all. Well, it's a terrible look.

[Joe Getty]

Definitely going to get its moment in the sun if the Democrats take the House back.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. Nobody can find any illegality so far, but, yeah, it troubles me greatly, the idea that it looks like America's for policies for sale.

[Joe Getty]

I don't like this either. Or though I don't like this. But what about that? I don't like that argument. That's what they're doing on a lot of the cable news channels yesterday. Fine. Have a separate hearing about Trump's handling of COVID if you want to. Foushee's diaries came out. It's clear now that he lied to us. Can we deal with that?

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, right. Yeah. That's sort of, you know, the cliched response is we can walk and chew gum at the same time, but, well, it's on purpose. Becomes such a cliche. People don't think about it.

[Joe Getty]

It's called switching the topic. It's an old tactic. I do it myself.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let's do it. Let's do both. Let's see Joe in Stockton on the topic of the Founding Fathers and slavery and Thomas Jefferson specifically, and he's talking about Virginia law at the time that slaves could only legally be freed by bequest while the owner was alive. He could keep his people or sell them, but he couldn't free them. And also, the freed slave had to be provided with a living. For most, this was farmland and Jefferson was a miserable businessman with upside down finances, so he couldn't do that. But again, it's much more complicated than they should have freed all the slaves.

[Joe Getty]

We're going to get into some of the Fauci details in hour two, but a lot of other stuff, too. I hope you can stick around.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

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[Tony Ayo (Boost Mobile Advertiser)]

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[NFL Plus Advertiser]

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[Host 1]

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