They Have Gotten What They Wanted & Now We'll Be Punished For It.

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: They Have Gotten What They Wanted & Now We'll Be Punished For It
Date: November 5, 2025
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into reactions to recent political developments, focusing on the outcome of key elections—particularly the election of Zoran Mamdani as Mayor of New York City—and what these results mean for the future of local and national politics. Armstrong and Getty critique the rise of leftist and socialist politics, the increase in voter anger, and the growing tendency of people—especially young people—to define themselves and their lives through political engagement and outrage. The hosts oscillate between sharp political analysis and a broader reflection on the role of politics in American identity, expressing both cynicism and concern over increasing polarization and “race to the bottom” politics.

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Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Election of Zoran Mamdani

• The episode is bookended by discussion of Zoran Mamdani’s surprising win as Mayor of New York City, symbolizing the “rise of Democratic socialism and Islamism” in major American cities.
• Armstrong sees Mamdani as emblematic of a dangerous leftist shift:
  • “I guess the communist...Zoran Mumdani, the guy who presided over New York's descent into filth, crime and horror.” (01:05)
  • Predicts increases in crime, rent, and areas “where you shouldn’t go”—comparing New York’s potential future to problematic neighborhoods in European cities. (01:50)
• Both hosts refer to the historic quote from former NYC mayor Ed Koch:
  • “The voters have gotten what they want and now they will be punished for it.” (01:15)
• They comment on how Mamdani proudly brands himself as a Democratic Socialist and a Muslim, and assert that much of the young electorate identifying as socialist likely doesn’t fully understand what the term means (11:23).

2. Wider Election Results and National Trends

• Armstrong and Getty express skepticism about the significance of most elections outside one's own locale, arguing that national media overstate the impact in places far removed from listeners’ everyday lives.
  • “I don't find it entertaining to talk about races 3,000 miles away that don't mean anything...I don't think it means anything.” (03:35)
• Joe Getty highlights Prop 50 in California (increasingly partisan gerrymandering) and its worrying implications for representative democracy.
• They lament the election of politicians with extreme or scandalous backgrounds, referencing the Attorney General race in Virginia where a candidate described as a “sicko” with inflammatory rhetoric was still able to win due to party-line voting (06:24).

3. Rising Anger and the Normalization of Outrage in Politics

• The hosts reflect on how anger has become an asset in political campaigns:
  • “Anger used to make party elders nervous. Now it's the entry ticket to all politics...People want someone who will rage against a system they believe has failed them.” (Mark Halperin, quoted at 21:30)
• They discuss the way both far-right and far-left leaders channel and fuel this anger—Trump being an early master, with AOC and Gavin Newsom now adopting the style.
• They fear that “channeling anger is now our politics, and it's the only sport in town” (25:52).

4. Cynicism Toward Politics and Its Central Role in Life

• Repeatedly, Armstrong and Getty bemoan Americans’ obsession with politics at the expense of more nuanced or joyful engagement with life, warning of the dangers of living vicariously through partisan conflict.
  • “I can't imagine living my life through an individual house race somewhere on the other side of the country and watching the analysis all day long and getting upset or happy either way about it. That's not what life is.” (23:38)
• Armstrong pushes back, noting the stakes are now much greater than in previous eras, as the two parties have diverged dramatically on core issues like education and economic freedom (24:08).

5. Generational Differences and Media Diets

• They express concern that younger voters (under 30) overwhelmingly get their news from TikTok (34:42), making it difficult for the older generation to even understand the basis for their beliefs and political decisions.

6. Affordability and Political Messaging

• Armstrong argues that Democrats may gain ground by framing issues around affordability, which cuts across party lines and speaks to broad economic anxieties. (36:36)
  • Listener comment: “You can't chant ‘four more years’ when you can't afford four more eggs.” (36:40)

7. Marxism, Socialism & the “House of Operatives”

• Listeners are quoted worrying about socialism and Marxism taking deeper root in America, especially as AI automates more jobs.
• Armstrong reads a listener’s quip: “We're going from a House of Representatives to a House of Operatives.” (39:06)
• The prospect of blasphemy (hate speech) laws and further suppression of dissent are also raised as worries in cities under new ideological leadership (37:23).

8. Silver Linings and Countertrends

• Armstrong points to the growing strength and financial support for alternative educational institutions (like the University of Austin) that champion free inquiry and resist ideological uniformity. (32:15)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Armstrong on NY Politics:
  “They have gotten what they asked for and now will be punished for it.” (12:34)
• Joe Getty:
  “How Americans being taken hostage by Hamas didn't become a bigger news story is a bit of a mystery to me.” (15:56)
• Armstrong on Mamdani supporters:
  “My hope is they don't know what [socialist] means. That's my hope.” (11:43)
• Mark Halperin, quoted:
  “Anger used to make party elders nervous. Now it's the entry ticket to all politics...” (21:30)
• Armstrong on generational divide:
  “For people under 30...more than 40% say they get the bulk of their news from TikTok. So I don't even know what they're seeing.” (34:59)
• Armstrong, referencing Prop 50:
  “It's 100% designed to rig elections. Hypocrisy at its finest.” (39:06)
• Listener email:
  “You can't chant ‘four more years’ when you can't afford four more eggs.” (36:40)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:05 — Armstrong declares Zoran Mamdani the "communist" mayor and invokes Ed Koch’s “get what you want, now you’re punished” logic.
• 02:19 — Discussion of crime, rent, and New York’s future.
• 03:35 — Getty on national vs. local election relevance and disdain for overhyped political drama.
• 06:24 — Virginia Attorney General race and the “race to the bottom.”
• 11:09 — Mamdani audio clip: “I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.”
• 15:05 — Lead story headlines and Katie’s news update.
• 20:24 — More from Mamdani’s victory speech and crowd reaction.
• 21:30 — Mark Halperin quoted on anger as political currency.
• 23:38 — Getty’s reflections on disengaging from obsessive politics.
• 25:52 — Armstrong laments channeling of anger in politics: “Channeling anger is our politics, and it’s the only sport in town.”
• 34:42 — Young Americans’ TikTok-based news consumption discussed.
• 36:36 — Listener feedback about affordability and Democratic messaging.
• 39:06 — Concern about the growing “House of Operatives” and listener outcry over new laws.

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Tone & Style

The episode is imbued with Armstrong & Getty’s trademark mix of sardonic humor, rapid banter, skepticism, and occasional exasperation about the state of American politics and media. Both hosts lambast ideological excess and what they see as the decline of civil society, while poking fun at the more absurd elements of the news cycle. Their commentary is laced with pop culture references, asides about sports, and playful self-deprecation about the futility and repetitiveness of political analysis.

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Summary

This episode powerfully captures Armstrong & Getty’s deep unease about the continued polarization and radicalization of American politics, the rise of anger as a political tool, and the “punishment” Americans may face for recent electoral choices. The hosts urge listeners not to make politics the center of their lives, warn about growing gerrymandering and loss of representation, and worry about the impact of ideological echo chambers—especially among youth consuming news via TikTok. Despite their rampant cynicism, the episode ends on a slightly hopeful note, spotlighting grassroots trends in education and free inquiry as seeds of potential renewal.

Transcript

[Announcer]

This is an iHeart podcast broadcasting live.

[Jack Armstrong]

From the Abraham Lincoln radio studio at.

[Announcer]

The George Washington Broadcast Center. Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

And now here's Armstrong and Getty live.

[Jack Armstrong]

From Studio C, senor.

[Joe Getty]

It is a dimly lit room deep within the bowels of the Armstrong and Getty communications compound. And hey y', all, is it mint?

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, God dang it. I didn't even see him over there.

[Joe Getty]

The camel's in the studio because it's hump day midweek. And it is Wednesday, November 5th, the year 2025. And today we are under the tutelage of our general manage.

[Jack Armstrong]

I guess the communist. What? What? The communist Marxist Islamist con man, Zoran Mumdani, the guy who presided over New York's descent into filth, crime and horror. Way back in the day, Ed Koch once said something very, very funny. He said the voters have gotten what they want and now they will be punished for it. And I think that's funny coming from him. But yes, I would suggest if you had thought of going to New York to take in a show or just enjoy that amazing dynamic city, you do it fairly quickly before the rot begins to fully take hold.

[Joe Getty]

What sort of rot are you expecting?

[Jack Armstrong]

Crime. There will be much more crime. There will be a, you know, if you live there, rents are going to go up, up, up, up, up. As if Mamdani the Commie is successful in restricting rises in rental more broadly. There will be a terrible, terrible shortage. All sorts of stuff. Islamism will rise in New York City. Parts of the city where you shouldn't go. It'll be a little more like Brussels or Paris or parts of London.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Imagine the Columbia style protests with Mamdani as mayor.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh yeah. Encouraging the anti Semitism and the pro Islamism.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

What an experiment they're running.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Interesting to watch.

[Jack Armstrong]

I will watch from over here.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know how much. I don't know how much the economic stuff he actually has the ability to do. It's troubling. Just fraud. It's troubling that directionally he wants it. But I don't know much how much. Mayor can't take over grocery stores and make them government run, for instance. Right. But you're probably right about the crime thing. He won't have the back of the. The police department and they'll know it.

[Jack Armstrong]

They know ran saying he would keep the current commissioner, who's pretty popular around, but who knows for how long and with how much support.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that's interesting. It's. We'll Play some of Danny's speech last night. And I. I think of most of this stuff, most elections, especially elections that aren't national around the country, they don't matter to you unless they live there. They're way overblown. I just. It drives me nuts. So overblown. So, so it's.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, that's right. It's like the Blue Jays losing didn't affect me in the very least, but I spent many hours engaged in it and all excited about it. Politics is our true national.

[Joe Getty]

If you find it entertaining, go ahead. I don't. It's. And I can't talk about it. I don't find it entertaining to talk about races 3,000 miles away that don't mean anything. So a Democrat one in a blue state, big freaking deal. I don't. I don't care. I just. And I don't think it means anything. The mom Donnie thing means something. And the Prop 50 thing in California, I find that highly troubling.

[Jack Armstrong]

Highly trouble. Yes. That is sickening. I laugh.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it's funny. I was just riding up the elevator with a woman and I.

[Jack Armstrong]

We've never.

[Joe Getty]

I ride up in the elevator with her a lot because we get to work roughly the same time. We've never talked politics because I don't talk politics with anybody. I was talking about the rain and everything like that. And, and I said, but the weather has been great. You know, it's going to be as crowded as Los Angeles around here. The weather keeps up. And she said, not with Prop 50 pass, and a lot of people are going to leave. And I thought, wow, okay, now I have an idea of how you feel about. But that's just a highly troubling move because when Gavin Newsom originally proposed the idea of further germ gerrymandering California, I wish the media would even have done a close to good job of describing what was happening instead of acting like California was a perfectly pristinely drawn state with all the Republicans getting exactly the amount of representatives they deserve. Wasn't even close. It was already a gerrymandered state, but the media presented it as, you know, Gavin Newsom has to do this to fight back against Texas.

[Jack Armstrong]

And it's even worse than you're describing, but go on.

[Joe Getty]

And originally, when it was proposed, voters, including Democrats, were like, no, no, that would be terrible. We don't want the politicians picking the lines and, and, and not immoral and un American. And having the 40% of the state which votes Republican not represented, hardly at all. That would be terrible. But they were able to turn it into a Trump thing. And it passed overwhelmingly. And that's where we are. And now more states are going to become even more gerrymandered. So a state is either all blue or all red in terms of representatives, even if, like in California, 40% of the people vote Republican.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

I mean, that's horrifying. That is not good.

[Jack Armstrong]

And the number will be far higher if a, you know, non trumpy Republican is running too. A fairly moderate Republican. Yeah, it's, yeah, I'm, I'm completely disgusted by it. I'm also disgusted by the victory of that J. Jones. Yeah, monstrous sicko in Virginia. I know you've just disdained looking at races that aren't immediate to you, but it's, it's a sign of how sick we've become, politically speaking.

[Joe Getty]

That's the guy with the texts about murdering his opponent's kids.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, and I hope your kids die in your arms. And then when he was called on it, he doubled down. You gotta make people suffer physically to change their politics. He is a monster. He is a sicko. He is a twisted little man. And he's now the top law enforcement officer in Virginia merely because, you know, people tend to vote straight ticket ish. And the Republican candidate for governor was fairly weak in an off year, blah, blah, blah. But he got lifted over the top in spite of just absolutely exposing himself as a sick human being, even as Attorney General.

[Joe Getty]

It's not like he's running his. I think that is. Again, I talk regularly. I think we got this race to the bottom going on that I don't know how we stop. We now there's like no scandal that can practically doom you if you're the right party in the right district, state, whatever. Just the scandals. We have no bar that you need to meet for like morality or behavior or anything like that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Now, interestingly enough, Trump dislike of Trump swayed many of the elections we're talking about and the Democrats absolutely. Lawlessness, amorality and clear dishonesty, especially in the media, got Trump elected. I mean, propping up the corpse of Joe Biden, you know, White House at Bernie's style, pretending he could run, got Trump elected. Now Trump's getting all these people elected because we're so divided.

[Joe Getty]

Part of my ennui over this is being old enough to have gone through so many back and forth of these elections and realizing that they last like a month or six months or a year or two years or whatever, depending on their race, and it means nothing for the next time around. You use the example yesterday, Barack Obama is the most popular person elected in my lifetime. Two years later got wiped out. The Democrats got wiped out two years later.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

It wasn't the end of anything or the beginning of anything. It was just, we swung that way for a while. Now we're going to swing this way for a while. And everybody reads all these large trends in them that are going to be by our lives for the rest of our lives.

[Jack Armstrong]

The reason he got booted out of I'm Sorry that the Democrats lost the midterm so miserably was people didn't like Obamacare. They saw that it was a pig in a poke. It was sold dishonestly, and it's gotten far, far worse since then. It is practically a disaster, a disease on the American body politic. But it's too confusing. People aren't really sure how to follow it.

[Joe Getty]

Blah, blah, blah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Although I would suggest to you, my, my, my cynical friend in the business we're in, I mean, getting back to my World Series analogy, what if the announcers have said, well, the Blue Jays won Game 7, but we're just going to start another season in April.

[Joe Getty]

I've got a. I've got an. I've got a perfect.

[Jack Armstrong]

We're in that business.

[Joe Getty]

No, we're not. Well, I'm not. Maybe you think you are. I'm not. I'm not. They're in the business. If you're in the business of calling baseball games, you better talk about baseball. I do not feel like I'm in the business of having to talk about politics for my whole life. I watch these cable news shows and I think, man, if you're somebody who turns on cable and all you care about is politics in your life, I actually feel sorry for you. There are lots of really interesting things that happen in the world all the time with schools and kids and AI and culture and medicine that aren't. Who won one race 3,000 miles from you and listening to a panel of seven people talk about it.

[Jack Armstrong]

And I'm going to Angus King, like, now, caucus with your party and point out that this worship of politics all the time is antithetical to what this country was found.

[Joe Getty]

Absolutely.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which is limited government. But we're, I don't know, I think, I feel like that that ship has sailed. It's over the horizon and it's halfway to its destination.

[Joe Getty]

Have some great AI stories, by the way, from my own personal life that are just amazing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Now, the one that we shared with Craig, the health care guru. Good gracious. It blew my Mind, I haven't told.

[Joe Getty]

You my favorite one with my son and I getting into a bit of an argument with the Grok lady yesterday in my car and the way it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Turned out, she, she, she, she's not a, it's not a lady.

[Joe Getty]

That's what he keeps telling me. Let's start the show officially. I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty on this. It is Wednesday, November 5, 2025. You know, it was one year ago today that Trump won. Think about how much has happened in the last year. That much is going to happen in.

[Jack Armstrong]

The next year before the next election. No.

[Joe Getty]

So acting like everything the world stopped today and that's how people are going to vote a year from now is nuts.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's a bellwether. Don't hit me. Don't hit me.

[Joe Getty]

And we approve of this program.

[Jack Armstrong]

All right, let's begin then, officially, according to FCC rules and regulations. Here we go at Mark.

[Zoran Mamdani]

I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.

[Joe Getty]

How about that crowd? So exit polling showed more than a quarter of New Yorkers identified as socialists. 40% of the young voters identified as socialists in New York. I, my hope is they don't know what that means. That's my hope.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Or they have a fanciful idea of what it means. Yeah, it's like an 11 year old girl's conception of love, you know, romantic love. It's just based on fantasy and little else.

[Joe Getty]

Maybe you don't know this if you saw his speech or didn't see his speech or whatever, but his, his opening line was from Eugene Debs, who ran as the socialist candidate five times in a row way back in the early part of the 20th century. And yeah, so he quotes a socialist. First thing, if you're wondering, you know, if he was going to moderate or anything like that, or say I'm here for all New Yorkers or blah, blah, blah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, no. And he, he was very proud that he'd gotten elected as a Muslim to emphasize that. Good.

[Joe Getty]

Again, our only hope is that young people don't actually know what they're talking about. They just think it means being kind of a Democrat, more of a Democrat.

[Jack Armstrong]

They have gotten what they asked for and now will be punished for it.

[Joe Getty]

We got Katie's headlines on the way. We got lots of news of the day, some horrifying grok stories, AI stories and lots of stuff. I hope you can stay here. Our text line, as always. 415295 KFTC Armstrong and Getty. The most depressing radio show.

[Jack Armstrong]

What? Shut up. Shut up. You hear AI Armstrong and Getty.

[Announcer]

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[Joe Getty]

I have an announcement to make for people who work at this radio station. I have put all my Halloween candy in the lunchroom. If you want some candy, there are bags and bags of candy in the lunchroom right now. You want some Reese's peanut butter cups or M and M's or what are the little mint things that are a Klondike mint bar thingies? There's lots of candy in there. Please eat it or take it home or throw it in the garbage or do anything with it. But I don't want it near me or my kids.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I heard that if, if you were inclined to eat candy but had none and couldn't afford to get any again, the presence of free food resulting in people eating that I know really is a head scratcher if you think.

[Joe Getty]

About it or it just being at. I've eaten candy every day since Saturday when we bought it. I would, I would never get like off the couch, get in my car, drive to the store and buy candy.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm gonna get some candy. No, it's not gonna happen. Yeah, it's an interesting probably say it has some anthropological truth behind it. Anyway, let's figure out who's reporting what. It's lead story with Katie Green.

[Katie Green]

KATATIE Starting with ABC, government shutdown becomes the longest in history.

[Joe Getty]

All right, I forgot that story was going on. Although a friend of mine who has been enjoying hiking and having a paid vacation starting to run up against their savings having not been paid now for quite some time. And that's going to happen a lot more people.

[Katie Green]

The only part of yesterday I enjoyed from News Now, Zoran Mamdani's HQ screen hijacked after his win. It's the says quote, trump is your president.

[Announcer]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh my.

[Katie Green]

It flashed across his big screen as he was coming out.

[Joe Getty]

That was some enthusiastic crowd. Damn.

[Katie Green]

From the Wall Street Journal, Hamas returns Last dead American Israeli hostage to Israel.

[Joe Getty]

We've said this. Not enough people have said it from the beginning. How Americans being taken hostage by Hamas didn't become a bigger news story is a bit of a mystery to me.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think the dual citizenship part played a role.

[Joe Getty]

Maybe.

[Katie Green]

From Fox News, dramatic video shows catastrophic UPS plane disaster that left at least 9 dead and 11 injured.

[Joe Getty]

What happened there?

[Jack Armstrong]

Some sort of engine problem that there was flood the flames coming out of one of the engines as it was taking off and it went down right after takeoff with I think it was either 28 or 38,000 gallons of fuel aboard.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

That went curblooey.

[Joe Getty]

Killed nine people.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. And counting.

[Katie Green]

From USA Today, Murder Hornet swarm kills father and son. Zip lining.

[Joe Getty]

I saw that.

[Announcer]

Oh.

[Joe Getty]

What? That's a rough story.

[Katie Green]

Hair stung more than a hundred times.

[Joe Getty]

Murder Hornets claim your first victim.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my God. You can't even run for cover. You're just sliding along. Good lord.

[Katie Green]

This is.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is no good. This is no good. Do you have anything that doesn't make me want to, you know, curl up in the fetal position?

[Katie Green]

I do not.

[Joe Getty]

We like everyone to start the day with. Here's a list of things you should be deadly afraid of.

[Katie Green]

Exactly. From the New York Post. Second monkey that escaped from overturned truck gunned down in Mississippi. One more still on the loose.

[Jack Armstrong]

Maybe the hornets will get it.

[Joe Getty]

So there were two monkeys on the loose. Now there's one monkey on the loose. I thought they'd got them all.

[Jack Armstrong]

They're not.

[Joe Getty]

I don't think they're being completely honest about this.

[Jack Armstrong]

This sounds like a really dark childhood rhyme that you do while you tug on your kids little toes or something. This little monkey escaped the lab.

[Joe Getty]

This little monkey got shot.

[Jack Armstrong]

This little monkey went on a rampage. This middle little monkey did not.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

And this little monkey went wee, wee, wee, wee all the way through Mississippi.

[Katie Green]

Speaking of dark.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. Off the top of my head.

[Joe Getty]

What a grief. Yeah. Joe.

[Katie Green]

From the Babylon Bee Snap. Beneficiaries wishing there was some way they could trade their labor and services for money to buy food.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's good.

[Joe Getty]

That is good. That is fantastic.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. That notion rejected in our nation's most important city.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, no kidding. Okay, we got lots to talk about obviously, so stick around.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

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[Zoran Mamdani]

So hear me, President Trump, when I say this. To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.

[Joe Getty]

Oh yeah, we're all together. Yay. No wonder the young get so fired up. They haven't heard all this crap before. You get older. You've heard this so many times from so many people.

[Jack Armstrong]

Are you ready to rock? He wants to know if we're ready to rock. We better show him that we're ready.

[Joe Getty]

To rock or we won't be able to rock.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, Lord.

[Joe Getty]

I've got some, I think, really interesting analysis of the whole thing. The whole current climate, not just the election, but the whole current climate. From Mark Halpern, coming up in a minute. But here is a little more of Zohran from last night after winning to be mayor of New York. He doesn't take office till January, by the way. Here we go.

[Zoran Mamdani]

After all, the conventional wisdom would tell you that I am far from the perfect candidate. I am young. Despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.

[Joe Getty]

Who was asking you to apologize for being Muslim? That's a made up controversy that he's, he's done a pretty good job of writing.

[Jack Armstrong]

But can you imagine a child of wealth and privilege? I mean, he's got to be a victim of something.

[Joe Getty]

If you Specifically got up and said, and I'm Christian. And the crowd went wild. Like all the mainstream media would present that as scary.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes. Yeah. When Christianity wants merely to get you right with the Lord and Islam wants to take over the politics and economics of the entire world at the point of a spear.

[Joe Getty]

Here's a little analysis for Mark Halpern that I thought that was interesting. He said anger used to make party elders nervous. Now it's the entry ticket to all politics. Voters numbed by years of chaos, fed up by the buffeting, seem to crave candidates who channel fury into authenticity. Zoran Mamdani, the New York assemblyman who's become a rising voice in the Democratic left, tapped into that energy in his own insurgent campaign. He understood something basic. People want someone who will rage against a system they believe has failed them. Trump has owned that tone for a long time now. Now leaders like AOC and Gavin Newsom have learned to wield it, and they do so with a fluency that unnerves their opponents. It is all about, and absolutely, this is what Trump is good at. It's just channeling that. Just you're angry at the system, kind of vaguely angry at the system. And maybe it's your rent being too high, maybe it's the fact that the media is all one sided, whatever it is.

[Jack Armstrong]

Maybe you can't get a woman or a man or a job or you're not. You feel disconnected with people and you're lonely and a little bit bitter.

[Joe Getty]

Right. That's a good one, too. It doesn't have to be anything. It doesn't have to be something that's got a mayoral or a governor answer to it. It's just they, they're angry. Me too.

[Zoran Mamdani]

I'm angry.

[Joe Getty]

And they're angry on me by, on my behalf. I'm voting for them. That might be where we are now.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yep. That's interesting.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know how that works out.

[Jack Armstrong]

And because, and I surprised myself with my own, you know, sociological jibe there, or whatever that was, that we're in an era where people look to government to solve all of their problems. Yes. And. And we'll say so openly. So the new promise is friends in every pub and a hottie on every couch, as opposed to the old slogan chickens and pots, etc.

[Joe Getty]

That's one of the reasons I hate to join in the whole, making this your life. I mean, it's like your mission in life is to stop the schools from teaching everybody to beat a Marxist, which is a good, good goal. My goal is to, like, make people stop paying attention to politics so much. It does not feel. I can't imagine living my life through an individual house race somewhere on the other side of the country and watching the analysis all day long and getting upset or happy either way about it. That's not what life is.

[Jack Armstrong]

Here's, here's the counter to that. And in a weird way, I agree with you. The distance between the Republican Party and The Democratic Party 25 years ago was pretty subtle, and 35 years ago was very subtle. Now there is an enormous gulf. I'm talking about teaching Marxism in schools. The Democratic Party is staunchly in favor of that. And so politics matters in a way it didn't used to. I mean, going back and forth from Jerry Ford to Jimmy Carter, I mean, it had significance, no doubt, but it's nothing like if Trump were to give way to a, you know, a Gavin Newsom or some, or God forbid, an AOC type character.

[Joe Getty]

So it's all part of a giant.

[Jack Armstrong]

So it's difficult. There's a real tension there.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, well, yeah, there's. It's all part of a giant swirling problem that I don't know how we break out of, because he got that, which is true. But if people make politics their lives and get all worked up about it emotionally, the way Mark Halperin's talking about, and then we go further to the. The other side is ruining America on both sides, and it just get angrier and more involved. And I don't, I don't see a way out that way.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, neither do I. Is King Solomon available? Paging King Solomon. King Solomon to the studio.

[Joe Getty]

This needs to be discussed more. And it is like some of the podcasts I listen to, they do discuss this sort of thing with, with modern fundraising and the role that social media plays in our news feeds. And is there any breaking out of this? Channeling anger is our politics, and it's the only sport in town.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oof. Right? Oof, indeed. I read an unnecessarily long Kevin Williamson piece about the whole Tucker Carlson antisemitism and his little cabal of parents, basement dwelling Jew haters. And that's a good description. And he wrote something very, very, very, very smart about. Here it is. I had it handy. My complaint with Carlson et al. Is at root a religious one. It could not be a political one. Tucker Carlson's politics in these waning days of 2025 are not worth disagreeing with. And neither are Kevin Roberts. He's the guy from the Heritage foundation who's embarrassed himself. Anyway, either you know about it or you don't. Here's, here's the part I like. Like every other self. Take two. Like every other self abasing servant of the digital mob, their politics are insipid, superficial and subject to instantaneous revision as soon as the necessity requires it. Every self abasing servant of the digital mob. I mean it's like I've seen a number of examples of your, your strictly online rabble rousers of the brand of Candace Owens and similar characters and wild about faces, just complete self contradiction just weeks and months later. But the, the skill that they have in their grift is they explain that 180 degree turn based on what the evildoers have done and how they've been forced to react to it. I mean that's, that's the con man skill that's required of that grift. But anyway, back to mum Donnie's grift. And the, the really interesting part to me as a student of politics at least his genius among other things is that he looked at legitimate sources of concern, specifically affordability, which is clearly, you know, the you know, bold faced word that will appear in Democratic politics, especially going forward. Now he addressed that through fanciful, ridiculous Marxist, you know, fantasies excuse the redundance, but he recognized what people were actually worried about and Republicans had better do that and offer better policy prescriptions or they are screwed. Trump, for instance, ran on a handful of things, couple of which he has delivered in spades. I mean, lived up to his promises more than anybody thought he would or could.

[Joe Getty]

The board of for instance.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah, clearly. And a couple of other things. On the other hand, one of the main planks of his platform was I'll bring consumer prices down. And the cause that was impossible. Right. Although I would suggest that the whole tariff thing, and only part of that is misguided, as always, some of it was necessary, but. Oh, and the big Supreme Court oral arguments are today on that blockbuster case. But inflation is still running 50% higher than the goal. You know, 3% isn't a ton, but it's tough. People are struggling.

[Joe Getty]

Is there any policy prescription that isn't giving people stuff? Taking money from higher wage earners and spreading it around more because that seems to be the only policy prescription anybody ever comes up with.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, well a lot of us have been begging the Trump administration to deregulate, double down on that, make that doges priority deregulation, free up American enterprise. How about would help?

[Joe Getty]

So the, the whole. No. Any enemies to my left or no enemies to my right thing that has caught on, which is a recipe for.

[Jack Armstrong]

Disaster for our fright.

[Joe Getty]

I just, I mean, there's no winning with that philosophy. I mean, that guy, that guy won in Virginia with his texts that my opponent should be dead and I wish his wife was crying with her children knowing dad died in front of them.

[Jack Armstrong]

I mean, their children die in their arms.

[Joe Getty]

What the hell? I mean, that's just, they're, you know, that's the sort of the equivalent of I could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and get away with it, isn't it? I mean, that should be the end of any political career.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's diseased. Absolutely diseased. All right, well, speaking of diseases, viruses, for instance, he says by way of a somewhat awkward transition, every day there's scams.

[Joe Getty]

By the way, listener, I have no idea. Oh, okay, you're going to go into the webrute commercial.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

I didn't know if you're talking about, to talk about the escaped monkeys or something that's happened to you or I didn't know where you were going.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's why it was such a hook.

[Joe Getty]

Speaking of diseases, viruses specifically.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Every day there's new scam, text scams, email scams, data breaches, tough to keep up. That's why we really recommend Webroot Total Protection. It's lightning fast. Antivirus, identity theft protection, dark web monitoring, secure VPN and unlimited cloud backup all in one. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

And you can put everybody in your family on it when you get a subscription. Webroot covers up to $1 million in expenses if you do get hit with identity theft. Plus they've got a US based support system. I love that. That's available 24 7.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yep. So here's the deal. Get cybersecurity with 60% off web root total protection, but [e-mail] Armstrong that's 60% off, but only through that link. Don't wait. Live a better, better digital life with webroot. Go to webroot.comarmstrong right now. Get that 60% off one more time. Webroot.com Armstrong offer ends soon.

[Joe Getty]

Can you believe it was a year ago today that Trump won the presidency? Doesn't it seem like it has to be longer than that?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, yeah. And then you bear in mind that it was only what, two and a half or December? Yeah, two and a half months later that he actually took office.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

So only nine and a half months in office.

[Joe Getty]

My point being really that we got a long way to go before the next election. So any projections about what people are going to be voting on seems silly to me.

[Jack Armstrong]

A year out, you want some good news? I mean, it's kind of the seed that's growing and showing green shoots. But a big time financier whose name was only vaguely familiar to me just gave $100 million to the university of Texas at Austin, that institution founded by Barry Weiss, among others, employing Neil Ferguson and some of our intellectual heroes, that is absolutely dedicated to free intellectual inquiry and making a university what a university ought to be. And that far from green shoots, it's showing a good sturdy stem and more and more people are coming out to support it. That sort of program around the country is, is really getting air. You just never hear it reported in the corrupt, dishonest, despicable mainstream media. But man, you find places and institutions like that and support them with your money, your time, your energy, however you can. You know, I griping is good because it raises attention, but at some point you got to do the work and I'm glad to hear there are people who are actually doing it.

[Joe Getty]

That's a good story. And as Joe mentioned, the Supreme Court is hearing the arguments today on whether or not one guy Trump can do the tariff thing he's been doing since he became president. That'll be interesting to follow. Can't wait. We start hearing some of the leaks of the oral arguments that are going on today. We got Mailbag on the way next. Lots of good stuff say Armstrong and Getty.

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[Joe Getty]

For instance, keep this in mind as you go through your day of taking in news for people under 30. And that's not exactly. Kids under 30, more than 40% of them say they get the bulk of their news from Tik Tok.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh.

[Joe Getty]

I mean, so I don't even know what they're seeing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

So how could I have any comment on why they're doing things they're doing? I haven't the slightest idea what they're view of the world is.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Right. Which is an odd circumstance.

[Joe Getty]

Yes, it is.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Let's talk more about that later. Here's your freedom loving quote of the day. Continuing on perhaps in vain with our series from John Stuart Mills on Liberty, maybe the most important book ever wrote written in the English language. The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human race. If the opinion is right, the they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth. If wrong, they lose what is almost as great a benefit. The clearer perception and livelier impression of truth produced by its collision with error.

[Joe Getty]

That's pretty good. Got an example of a school, I think it's in Oklahoma, another major public university where somebody had a table set up in favor of.

[Jack Armstrong]

Something.

[Joe Getty]

It was anti gay marriage or something, I think. Anyway, somebody came along and flipped over the table and knocked it all over. And the university did nothing about it?

[Jack Armstrong]

Of course not. Nope. Mailbag. Drop us a note. Mailbagarmstrongygetty.com here's your meme of the day. It's a New York Post cover. It's Zoron Mumdami with a hammer and sickle hoisted joyfully over his head. And the headline is on your marks, get set. Zoe Socialist Mamdani wins race for mayor. The Red Apple.

[Joe Getty]

That's pretty good. On your marks, get set.

[Jack Armstrong]

Though Paulo from Santa Cruz. The recent election may not be a perfect bellwether, but I think the Democrats might have finally found their voice. Not just we're not Trump, but something that hits a much wider audience. One simple word. Affordability. It's not left or right. It's everyone who's trying to survive the checkout line. This is brilliant. How low did you write this? You can't chant four more years when you can't afford four more eggs.

[Joe Getty]

No.

[Jack Armstrong]

See what he did?

[Joe Getty]

Devastating.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's a twist, so it's smart.

[Joe Getty]

It's more true than a truth.

[Jack Armstrong]

That isn't a twist.

[Joe Getty]

Years and eggs are completely different things.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

He substituted the one word for the other at the end of the sentence.

[Jack Armstrong]

It has to be true. Actually, it's very clever.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, it's real good. Real good.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. That's terrific. Dave from South Carolina. Muhammadani's first speech and he already sounds like Ding Hitler. Don't mess with Zo Zohan. I mean Zoharan. I mean Zohar. First London, now New York City. Unbelievable. This is happening in my lifetime. I am not joking. Look for blasphemy laws in New York. Soon they will not be called blasphemy laws. They will be anti hate speech laws in which it becomes a crime to insult the prophet.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Look for it. Mark it down. November 5th. Joe Getty said it. Dear Cold Warrior and old fancy Jack Ryan from Houston writes, Let me get this straight. Congress members who are all millionaires and control trillions of dollars and poorly are mad at billionaires who at the very least have built massive companies that employ millions of people. His title I should have read was Millionaires Controlling Trillionaires. Millionaires Controlling Trillions. Mad at billionaires. Not to mention, if they could somehow siphon all of Elon Musk's wealth, every dime of it, they'd still have a trillion dollar deficit and would even change the adjustment for a national death. P.S. let's put AI to use and have AI replace Congress. It couldn't do any worse. Some great AI stuff coming up next hour.

[Joe Getty]

Not to mention that our really enthusiastic bottom quintile of earners in America have a standard of living higher than practically anybody in human history. You wouldn't think you could get a revolution going with that, but no, you wouldn't.

[Jack Armstrong]

Eli writes, I fear that socialism and Marxism will make take more of a stronghold on America. As more and more people lose their jobs to AGI. We're all left.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah, you're right.

[Jack Armstrong]

How about Jeff Disheartened writes, we're going from a House of Representatives to a House of Operatives. Wow. Another clever turn of a phrase. And then Prop 50 in California they titled Prop 50 the Election Rigging Response Act. It's 100% designed to rig elections. Hypocrisy at its finest.

[Joe Getty]

Too much cleverness in Mailbag today sets.

[Jack Armstrong]

Too high a standard. Exactly.

[Joe Getty]

If you miss a segment, gets podcast Armstrong and Yeti on demand.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

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