Upper Class Twits

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: "Upper Class Twits"

Date: October 30, 2025
Host: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Podcast Network: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

This episode zeroes in on America's "upper class twits"—privileged elites insulated from the realities of ordinary life, especially those in politics and academia. Through lively banter, Armstrong and Getty explore the ideology and backgrounds of high-profile political figures like Gavin Newsom and rising leftist candidates, critiquing how wealth and disconnect foster radical and divisive politics. In addition, the episode covers the enduring government shutdown, the realities of socialism abroad, as well as some lighthearted monkey news.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Privilege of Elites and the Rise of Neo-Marxism

[00:58–11:14]

• Matt Taibbi's critique: The hosts break down journalist Matt Taibbi's recent writing highlighting the extravagance and self-hatred of wealthy, upper-class progressives.
  • Taibbi’s upbringing: Raised in comfort, sent to elite schools, but emerged unprepared for real-world jobs.
  • Realization: Most of the world doesn’t have the luxury to focus on theory or denounce their countries’ historical failures.
  • "In the rest of the world, rational social planning not only results in fewer kids studying pure theory, but the theorists those countries do graduate are far less inclined to spend their lives denouncing their home countries as forces of historical evil." (Taibbi, quoted by Joe Getty, 03:24)
  • Key point: The self-hatred of American elites is a “luxury of the self ego aggrandizing rich.”
• Societal Stability: Armstrong & Getty stress the fragility of stable societies and how the privileged often take it for granted.
  • "You're so safe from attack from another country... and all of that has allowed you to decide this is a horrible country." (Jack Armstrong, 04:16)
  • They cite Edmund Burke’s warning: hard-won institutions can be easily destroyed by the ignorant rich.

2. Spotlight: Zoran Mamdani and Neo-Marxist Politics

[05:53–10:12]

• Profile of Zoran Mamdani: The hosts discuss the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Mamdani’s campaign in New York.
  • Radical agenda: Full amnesty for all illegal immigrants, abolishment of the Senate, non-citizen voting, and public ownership of businesses.
  • Identity politics and 9/11: Mamdani’s focus on Muslim victimhood post-9/11 is harshly critiqued for ignoring the real victims—first responders and those who died in the attacks.
  • Memorable quote: “For a likely future Muslim mayor of New York to even remotely imply that Muslims in New York were victims of 9/11 is infuriating lunacy.” (Joe Getty, 09:28)
• Critique of Marxism: The hosts warn against the naivete of current Marxist movements, powered by the privileged who have little understanding of what it takes to create and maintain a stable society.
  • “Only people who don't know how hard it is to build a society think this way.” (Joe Getty, 10:23)

3. Government Shutdown: Political Theater and Real Impact

[20:55–26:39]

• SNAP (food assistance) running out of money: The looming effects of the federal shutdown hit essential programs.
  • Armstrong highlights the public’s apathy and the repetitive blame game in Washington.
    • “It always comes down to an attempt to have the public blame the other side, with both sides thinking we give a crap.” (Jack Armstrong, 22:40)
  • The hosts criticize the lack of substantive negotiation and point out the shutdown's roots in partisan posturing, especially with Senator Schumer feeling the need to fend off a primary challenge from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
• John Thune soundbite: Illustrates the frustration in Congress amid the shutdown.
  • "Thirteen times people over here voted to fund SNAP. Thirteen times they voted to fund WIC. My aching back." (John Thune, quoted by Joe Getty, 25:29)
• Congressional Geriatrics: Congress is full of old, out-of-touch politicians, many barely present at work.

4. Gavin Newsom: A Case Study in Inauthentic Privilege

[27:02–41:08]

• Newsom’s calculated campaign move:
  • He’s now "running for president” and attempting to build on Joe Biden’s legacy, despite Biden's unpopularity.
  • "We'll continue to build on the legacy, I would argue, of our former president who I think was one of the most successful presidents in the last century, and that is Joe Biden. And I will defend that to my grave…." (Gavin Newsom, 27:33)
• Attempting to Rewrite His Upbringing:
  • Newsom presenting himself as a hustling, latchkey kid—contradicted by his privileged background as the child of the Getty and Pelosi-connected elite.
  • “He was a subject of a 'Children of the Rich' article in 1991 at the age of 25—that pretty much put the latchkey kid from the Larchmont Homes tract housing act to rest.” (Katie Grimes, quoted by Joe Getty, 34:20)
  • "Why lie about being a privileged kid?" The answer: “Because Gavin Newsom is inauthentic, phony and specious, to be polite—as well as a compulsive liar, to be a little harsh.” (Katie Grimes, quoted by Joe Getty, 36:41)
• Leftist critics pile on: Even progressives like Marcus Breton and Jim Geraghty question Newsom’s authenticity and his ability to connect with non-coastal, blue-collar Democrats.
  • "He has white male privilege, class privilege, wealth, privilege, the privilege of good looks. All creates a Teflon exterior protecting Newsom's horrendous lapses of judgment and character….” (Marcus Breton, quoted by Joe Getty, 40:03)
  • “He is the caricature, the sort of stereotype that people try to plant on Republicans: rich, white, good looking guy, connected….” (Jack Armstrong, 40:15)

5. Miscellaneous: Monkey Escapades and Political Ironies

[15:19–18:54]

• Lab monkeys escape: The hosts riff on the news of escaped research monkeys in Mississippi—injecting levity, skepticism, and jokes about monkey diseases.
• Pet monkey causes a Halloween stir: A monkey running amok in a Halloween store makes for cheeky commentary on news reporting antics.
  • “Swinging, crawling and darting around. Not with a banana, but with a cookie.” (Jack Armstrong, mocking NBC Nightly News, 17:02)
• DUI director busted for DUI: A perfect emblem of political hypocrisy.
• Venezuelan socialists and drug cartels: Discussion of South American regimes shows that repression and corruption are far more terrifying to citizens than aggressive US foreign policy.

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Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• On American privilege and radical ideology:

  • “The only people who think the system that produced the richest, safest empire in history is essentially unfixable are America’s own wealthy, whose current disdain for their own good fortune is like a political version of heroin chic.” (Matt Taibbi, quoted by Joe Getty, 05:04)

• On Newsom’s attempt at blue-collar credentials:

  • “It was about paying the bills, man. Wonder Bread, Mac and Cheese. That's how I grew up, bro. It was just like hustling. I raised myself, right?” (Gavin Newsom, mocked by Joe Getty, 34:09)
  • “He is the caricature, the sort of stereotype that people try to plant on Republicans: rich, white, good looking guy, connected...” (Jack Armstrong, 40:32)

• On the shutdown and public apathy:

  • "It always comes down to an attempt to have the public blame the other side, with both sides thinking we give a crap." (Jack Armstrong, 22:40)
  • “Washington, D.C. is a big high school. It is obsessed with itself. For the rest of us in other high schools around the nation, we don’t care.” (Joe Getty, 23:14)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• American elites and Matt Taibbi’s analysis – [00:58–11:14]
• Zoran Mamdani & DSA politics – [05:53–10:12]
• Government Shutdown & SNAP/WIC debate – [20:55–26:39]
• Gavin Newsom in the national spotlight & privilege takedown – [27:02–41:08]
• Monkey stories and political ironies – [15:19–18:54]

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Tone & Takeaways

With their trademark mix of satire, skepticism, and outrage, Armstrong & Getty peel back the layers of political and cultural absurdity. The hosts voice strong skepticism about the radical left’s motives, highlight the disconnect between elite theory and real-world issues, and lampoon figures like Gavin Newsom for hypocrisy and inauthenticity.

The episode delivers a powerful message about the dangers of taking societal stability for granted—and the naivete of those privileged enough to think revolution is consequence-free. At the same time, it serves up accessible, whip-smart commentary perfect for listeners who want incisive political analysis with a healthy dose of humor.

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End of Summary

Transcript

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[Jack Armstrong]

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Oh, let me make an announcement.

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[Joe Getty]

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.

[Gavin Newsom]

Disgusted what's happened in this country. I'm disgusted by the supine Congress. I'm disgusted by how the private sector is conducting themselves. I'm disgusted by universities selling their soul and law firms.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's Gavin Newsom, who is disgusted. He's the governor of California. He's about to have a huge political win this coming Tuesday when he's going to get this Prop 50 over the line and read Gerrymander California. But more on that later.

[Joe Getty]

Okay, yeah, I've got a couple of the greatest takedowns of Gabby Boy I've ever come across, including one from an old friend of the show who's a man of the left. So looking forward to that, Cal Unicornians and all who fear King Gavin standing astride America someday. Yikes. As I often say, don't you threaten me. Anyway, so speaking of the left, love Matt Taibbi, who is a man of the left. He's a brilliant writer. You know, he's one of those guys. I disagree with him about 25% of the time, but his point of view is always intriguing. And he's. He's writing about that geek up in Maine with the Nazi tattoo. But more about Zoran Mum Dami. Because Matt grew up in a comfortable northeastern household and was sent to expensive boarding schools. And then he hits the job market and he realizes he had no skills at all, having gone through that sort of education.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's really interesting. His dad was a famous reporter for CBS News. One of the newscasts I watched as a kid. His dad, I'm whoever, Taibi. So he grew up, yeah, with that lifestyle, but then he got out of college and thought, what am I going to do? That's interesting, right?

[Joe Getty]

And he thought, yeah, he'd go with the family business of journalism, but he hadn't really Studied it, so he had to start from the bottom. But here's where it gets really interesting. Across the next decade or so of embarrassed residency abroad because he went to live in several foreign countries, I saw that real working class people don't have the luxury to send their kids away, whack themselves off in intellectual spas. It's understood that large percentages of young people will be needed to design the next generation's roads, water treatment plants, refrigerators, etc. Living in places like Mongolia and Uzbekistan also introduced me to the idea that less than extravagantly wealthy countries don't have the luxury of sending class after class of their best young minds through curricula devoted to deconstructing the core premises of their society. In other words, in the rest of the world, rational social planning not only results in fewer kids studying pure theory, but the theorists those countries do graduate are far less inclined to spend their lives denouncing their home countries as forces of historical evil.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's good.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it's. It's a luxury of the self ego aggrandizing rich to be have self hating and hate their countries. As I've said many times, that's like the highest standard of showing how enlightened you are. If you despise yourself, your country, your religion, the rest of it, it's so.

[Jack Armstrong]

You're. You're so safe from attack from another country. The water's so clean, the economy is.

[Joe Getty]

So stable, the government is so stable.

[Jack Armstrong]

Because the gov And.

[Gavin Newsom]

And.

[Jack Armstrong]

And all of that has allowed you to decide this is a horrible country.

[Joe Getty]

That's right.

[Jack Armstrong]

An interesting turnaround.

[Joe Getty]

That's a luxury. Yeah, he goes on. In countries where the bulk of people have to be concerned with survival, getting enough to eat, not being conquered by rival nations or revolutionaries, and holding crime and corruption to tolerable levels. Colleges don't teach kids how they're citizens of oppressor nations that should probably be disbanded. They certainly wouldn't do it if they lucked into the benefits of citizenship in a country like the United States. This country has problems, even serious ones. But it's not like gangsters are setting up freelance toll booths on I for West Coasters. That's the equivalent of i5 on the east Coast. Or the strip steak you ordered at Ponderosa has a good chance of being cat meat. A reference that amused Jack a great deal yesterday.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm not certain that that is a.

[Joe Getty]

Solid as he thinks, but they have attorneys moving along. Citizens of countries that have known true suckage, including especially the ones with Marxist or Maoist histories laugh at the things Americans call problems. The only people who think the system that produce the richest, safest empire in history is essentially unfixable are America's own wealthy, whose current disdain for their own good fortune is like a political version of heroin chic.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that is so damn true. You, that crowd does not realize how hard it is to turn around, or would be to turn around if real corruption ever sets in in your city.

[Joe Getty]

State or federal government, which it would immediately with socialism.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sure.

[Joe Getty]

Right. Now he turns his attention to Mr. Mamdani, the Marxist Islamist who may well be the mayor of New York City. Zoran Mandani.

[Jack Armstrong]

Zoran.

[Joe Getty]

That's Zoran.

[Jack Armstrong]

Zoran.

[Joe Getty]

Correct. Anyway, right? This is what we're seeing now, and in particular with the Mamdani campaign, which to a hilarious degree is manna from heaven for Trump. Mamdani is the face of the new brand of socialism that embraces the preamble theme of the Communist Manifesto, in which all of society is divided into oppressor and oppressed. Illegal immigration isn't a problem that needs to be contained in order to make social programming for citizens affordable, as Bernie Sanders once believed and probably still does. But because immigration laws are inherently oppressive. So, as Mondami now proposes, let's spend $165 million making New York, quote, the strongest sanctuary city in the country. Taibi goes on, let's not fix police violence by ending stats based enforcement, for instance, or doing away with broken windows theory. But let's tweet things like, quote, queer liberation means defunding the police. Mamdani says he no longer favors defunding, but be your own judge.

[Jack Armstrong]

A gun is gonna end up mayor of the most important city in the world with the slogan, what was that about that last?

[Joe Getty]

Queer liberation means defunding the police.

[Jack Armstrong]

Queer liberation means defunding the police. What the hell?

[Joe Getty]

And then he quotes another journalist who's writing about it. In 2022, Mamdani declared of his political career, and again in 2022. Friends, for me, there's no point in doing this. Without the dsa, the Democratic Socialists of America favor full amnesty for legal immigrants, all of them, including the criminals, abolishment of the Senate, voting rights for non citizens, and public ownership of major corporations. Since he won the nomination, he has softened on some of these points, but remains a DSA member and fan. New Yorkers can decide if he's sincere. And I'll return to my frequently stated theme. Marxists lie all the time because people don't expect somebody to lie. So clearly to their face. He still believes all that stuff. Then we're getting toward the end. But then there's Mandami's gamut, in which he decided to speak to Muslims in New York, telling a story about an aunt, quote, who stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her job. And Taibi describes it some length. He lived in New York City at that time and he said there was an incredible level of amity and cooperation between most of the city's Muslims and non Muslim residents. And the numbers bear this out. New York has always been a liberal, welcoming city. Always. And if I might depart for a moment and we talked about this briefly earlier, Mamdani was talking about the victims of 911 and he spent zero time on the mommies and daddies, sons and daughters who died in fire when those planes hit the building or the mommies and daddies who died and good, honest, hard working people who died in the towers. He said not a word about the NYPD and the nyfd. The, the firefighters who gave us one of the greatest examples of heroism in American history, said not a word. His only tear was for his fictional aunt, who may have felt somewhat nervous getting on the subway in her hijab. That's Mamdani's view of 9 11. I will calm down momentarily.

[Jack Armstrong]

All the people on those planes.

[Joe Getty]

Anyway. For a likely future Muslim mayor of New York to even remotely imply that Muslims in New York were victims of 911 is infuriating lunacy. Unfortunately, it fits the aforementioned oppressor and oppressed mindset in which a marginalized community always holds the moral high card over people who built your roads, bridges and ports and put out your fires. Once you see attendees of $75,000 boarding schools talking about the need to arm the proletariat, and a candidate for mayor of the World's Financial center talks about perhaps toning down the rhetoric on seizing the means of production so that over time we can bring people to that issue.

[Jack Armstrong]

That.

[Joe Getty]

That's a quote. It's clear Neo Marxist idiocies have been allowed to gain a stronghold. Go ahead, Jack, if you want to.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is something. There are quotes there I have not heard. The mainstream media has done a bad job of covering this guy because they sympathize with him.

[Joe Getty]

It's clear Neo Marxist idiocies have been allowed to gain a stronghold. Only people who don't know how hard it is to build a society think this way. But the number of such people is growing, ironically, because of the educational system.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, this is very Burkean screed from the left leaning Taibi.

[Joe Getty]

Oh yeah, yeah. Finally. The liberal left in this country used to be about searching for ways to moderate the excesses of capitalism, creating more opportunities for social mobility and promoting tolerance and generosity. Instead, we're in the quote, upper class twits promoting revolution space. A script with much which most of the rest of the world is sadly familiar. Is there no defense against the ignorant rich?

[Jack Armstrong]

God, that's really, really good.

[Joe Getty]

Blank and Taibi for the win.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's, it's interesting to me that he traveled the world and came away with that, that man. We should really be lucky for our stable society because it's really hard to get one going. Whereas most people I know who travel the world and it probably has a lot to do with like where you stay, what you look at, what you choose to do when you're in that country. They come away with these other places are so much better.

[Joe Getty]

Why?

[Jack Armstrong]

Why do we have to be the way we are? I've been to all these different countries and they're fantastic because you stay in a nice hotel and eat in a nice restaurant and go to their museum.

[Joe Getty]

Right, right. And you overlook the fact that the United States has provoked provided a military umbrella to free up their social systems for decades now in the mold of the post WW2 carnage, which is long since gone. Yeah, I know that. That's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant stuff. Matt Taibbi, I think you might get paywalled. I'd love to post this for [e-mail] we'll do it if you want to subscribe to his substack, you can if you want, but that's brilliant. Hey, on that topic, and this is beautiful timing. Every year for the last quite a few years, our listeners have come together for the warriors who've so bravely served and sacrificed for our country. Want to remind you that Next Thursday the 6th is the Warrior Foundation Freedom Station annual Giveathon.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yep, Warrior Foundation Freedom Station has helped to assist ill and injured warriors transition to civilian life with dignity, independence and hope for the past 21 years. And during the Giveathon, we have one mission and that's to fly warriors home for the holidays. Because no one should be alone during.

[Joe Getty]

The holidays, especially those who've sacrificed so much for our freedom. Your tax deductible donation is a heartfelt thank you and ensures our warriors get to wake up with their loved ones on Christmas morning. And for those not healthy enough to travel, their families are flown to San Diego to Be at Warrior Foundation Freedom Station.

[Jack Armstrong]

So if you want to learn more and donate, you should go to warriorfoundation.org that's the best way to do it. Go to warriorfoundation.org if you want to.

[Joe Getty]

Kick it old school, you can call 619 Warrior. That's 619 Warrior. Or again, get the name right. Warrior foundation.org the Burkian reference.

[Jack Armstrong]

Edmund Burke, if you don't know that, considered the father of modern conservatism. It's basically the idea that if you have created a safe, stable society, don't take that for granted. It is really, really, really hard to do and you start messing with it and it could come apart quickly and take centuries or a thousand years to build up again. And that's basically what Matt Taibbi is saying to the whatever that last line was about the comfortable rich thinking that.

[Joe Getty]

If there's no defense against the ignorant rich, we're in the upper class twits promoting revolution space.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, you want to have a revolution against a safe, stable, happy, most successful society in world history, you idiot.

[Joe Getty]

The chances that what is created will be far worse are 99.8 out of 100.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, no idiots. We got a lot more on the way.

[Joe Getty]

Stay here.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

Armstrong and Getty run a business. And not thinking about podcasting, Think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than ads supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one one podcaster, iheart's twice as large as the next two combined. So whatever your customers are into true crime, sports, comedy, culture, they'll hear your message. Plus, only iHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio. And all this reach means everything. Just think about the universal marketing formula. The number of consumers who hear your message times the response rate equals the results. Now let's get those results growing for you. Think podcasting can help your business? Think iHeart streaming radio and podcasting. Let us show you at iheartadvertising.com that's iheartadvertising.com or call 844-844, iHeart one more time, call 844-844-IHeart and get podcasting working for you.

[Joe Getty]

He's. He's on the prowl there an urgent.

[Sophia Bush (Ad Host)]

Search to find three lab monkeys still on the loose.

[Jack Armstrong]

We got 21 monkeys.

[Sophia Bush (Ad Host)]

The primates escaped Tuesday afternoon when a truck carrying them crashed on the interstate in Jasper County, Mississippi. Tulane clarifying saying while they provide monkeys for research, the primates in question belong to another entity and are not infectious.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sure, of course. I'll believe you. Tulane University. Of course. Your research. Monkeys that escaped don't have aids. Chlamydia, Covid bed sores, whatever else.

[Joe Getty]

Hepatitis A through F. Right. They're loose on the frog syndrome. Right?

[Jack Armstrong]

Monkeys with restless leg syndrome, running around, biting people. Yeah. Chronic fatigue thing. Let's say there's just two monkeys out there on the loose now. So you got most of them.

[Joe Getty]

Two or three?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, three, I guess. Yeah, get them all. Like you said yesterday, let's. Let's get a good head count. Everybody count up. Let's count them all. Make sure we got all of them. Every single one of them.

[Joe Getty]

It's tough, boss. They keep moving. Yeah. Yesterday they were saying there was just one left, and today it's three. Tomorrow it'll be a dozen. Right, Right. Unbelievable.

[Jack Armstrong]

And other monkey news, which I don't.

[Joe Getty]

Think I've ever said before.

[Jack Armstrong]

In other monkey news, this happened.

[Sophia Bush (Ad Host)]

A pet monkey spooking customers at a Halloween store.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

My daughter looked up and she said, what in the world? And she's like, is that a real monkey?

[Sophia Bush (Ad Host)]

The animal seems swinging, crawling and darting around, turning the store into a jungle gym. Ultimately caught not with a banana, but with a cookie.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my God, that reporter. Swinging, crawling and darting around. Not with a banana, but with a cookie.

[Joe Getty]

Turning the star into a jungle jam. I bet she was praised lavishly for the creativity of that report too.

[Jack Armstrong]

Why'd you deliver it like that? Swinging, crawling and darting around the monkeys.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, that was on NBC Nightly News. Yes. That's funny. I thought it was a local report.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hey, hey. We're the monkeys. They would be a little confused if you've been in one of those big box store Halloween things. You see a monkey, you'd assume there's a child in a monkey costume. Until you think that's a very realistic looking costume. Then it bites your fingers off.

[Joe Getty]

Claws your eyes out. Want to hear my favorite headline of the day? Director of Las Vegas committee tackling DUI issues faces a DUI charge.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, wow.

[Joe Getty]

You gotta find a new director or I don't know, maybe they're clear. An expert. Now that I think about it, here's.

[Jack Armstrong]

My famous favorite serious story. The news outlet being quoted as falcone, which I don't really know. That news outlet. It's a south of the border.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

Hold on.

[Jack Armstrong]

I got a sore throat, I'm sneezing down. I was petting a monkey yesterday. Loose monkey in the neighborhood. Didn't think twice about it. Patent it bit me. Now I got a sore throat and I'm sneezing I wouldn't know about it. This news outlet, Falcone, that is being quoted in Breitbart. Venezuelan fishermen say they fear socialist repression more than Trump anti drug operations. And this seems, I mean, these are very legitimate sounding quotes from, I don't know this news organization at all. But these fishermen saying they're way more worried about the local police arresting them out of nowhere and making them, you know, pay them off.

[Joe Getty]

Sure.

[Jack Armstrong]

For a variety of things in the way that socialist regimes do than they are worried about getting blasted out of the water by Trump.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Well, and this one's especially interesting. His regime, because it's kind of a quasi socialist regime. It's also half a drug cartel. They are in bed with and financed by the. What are the Soleil. Trump always mentions trend, but they're actually more closely aligned with this other drug cartel. But yeah, they're, they're. It's a mafioso outfit. Oh, yeah. And so fake socialist.

[Jack Armstrong]

And yesterday he had the story that the Nobel Peace Prize winner, that opposition leader there in Venezuela who said she, she loves the fact that Trump is pushing for regime change.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, finally somebody's woken up, she said, to the fact that this is not a conventional regime. It's a drug cartel running a country for its own profit.

[Jack Armstrong]

The shutdown continues, which we've ignored, but the S is about to hit the fan politically anyway, around the whole thing. We can tell you about that.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

Armstrong and Getty run a business. And not thinking about podcasting, Think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than ads supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, iHeart's twice as large as the next two combined. So whatever your customers are into true crime, sports, comedy, culture, they'll hear your message. Plus, only iHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio. And all this reach means everything. Just think about the universal marketing formula. The number of consumers who hear your message times the response rate equals the results. Now let's get those results growing for you. Think podcasting can help your business? Think iHeart streaming radio and podcasting. Let us show you at iHeartadvertising.com that's iHeartadvertising.com or call 844-844, iHeart. One more time, call 844-844-IHeart and get podcasting working for you.

[Joe Getty]

SNAP Federal food assistance serving 42 million Americans set to run out of money in just days. Many anxiously stocking up at food. President Trump suggesting his administration may find a way to keep SNAP afloat. But not Giving any details. Republicans erupting on the Senate floor, blaming Democrats for refusing to end the shutdown.

[Jack Armstrong]

The shutdown continues. We are, what, in the late 20s somewhere of days, and we're about a week away from it being the longest shutdown ever. And now rubber starting to meet the road with a variety of programs, including the food benefits stuff. I have no idea how many people are on it that actually need to be on it, but some of those people need to be on it.

[Joe Getty]

And lazy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Starve the lazy. Yes. I don't want to starve the unfortunate, but I do want to starve the lazy. So the. I think the. It has been ignored mostly by the American public. That's certainly my sense of it, that news media isn't covering it that much. And then when they do, I just think people are rolling their eyes because we've all lived through this a whole bunch of times. I do think it's about to ramp up politically. So here's back to back. You got Hakeem Jeffries, who pretty much represents the Democratic point of view in the House, and then Mike Johnson, the. The speaker of the House. For the Republicans, back to back here. Donald Trump has spent more time talking to Hamas and the Chinese Communist Party than he has in talking to Democrats. I've given up on the leadership.

[Joe Getty]

So we're trying to appeal to a handful of moderates or centrists who care more about the American people.

[Jack Armstrong]

So it always comes down to an attempt to have the public blame the other side, with both sides thinking we give a crap. Really. Anyway, beyond like the news cycle, because I haven't seen any indication throughout history that it's had any legs as a story. One side will ultimately be blamed, and then they'll have polls saying most people blame the Republicans or the Democrats for this shutdown, but then it disappears as a story and nobody goes to the polls voting on that. So who cares?

[Joe Getty]

Right?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Washington, D.C. is a big high school. It is obsessed with itself. For the rest of us in other high schools around the nation, we don't care.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, it just, it's just not a story that, that has any lasting impact on anything. It's. We're just, we're just dysfunctional all the way around.

[Joe Getty]

It's not bore you with it. But what's actually at issue is so minor. I mean, this is a continuing resolution that only lasts, what, through the end of November or something like that? Yeah, this is not like some giant budget fight over critical programs. This is a question of whether to extend additional benefits. The, the Democrats themselves sunset it. And. And Republicans are like, yeah, you sunsetted it, so now it's over, right? No, we demand to continue for another month. Otherwise we'll shut down the government. Well, what, what happens then? Like, next year's budget? We'll get to that when we get to it. It's just so phony.

[Jack Armstrong]

The real story, in case you don't know it, is AOC is going to run against Chuck Schumer in New York. She is a House member. He is a longtime senator. He is the leader of the Democrats. That's a very powerful man. She is going to run against him. Polls show she's got a shot of beating him. People don't think Schumer's a fighter. People. Democrats think she is a fighter for good reason. And he needs to show that he's a fighter. So that's where the shutdown comes from. He needs to look like he's trying to fight the evil Republicans. So here's the current leader of the Senate because the Republicans have the majority, John Thune. And I thought this was a pretty decent little speech he gave yesterday.

[Joe Getty]

This isn't a political game. These are real people's lives that we're talking about. And you all just figured out 29 days in that, oh, there might be some consequences. There are people running out of money. Yeah, we're 29 days in, and they've done their best to make sure that a lot of these programs are funded. But at some point, the government runs out of money. 13 times people over here voted to fund SNAP. 13 times they voted to fund WIC. My aching back.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm not exactly sure about the aching back part.

[Joe Getty]

That's an old timey expression. I hear you, John.

[Jack Armstrong]

It is. I don't know that expression.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, my aching back. It probably still does unleash that from time to time.

[Jack Armstrong]

So the Republican messaging should be that and everybody should hear it because they should say it on every show they ever on. We vote to open the government every single day. Right. We're not the ones stopping the government from being open. We vote yes, open to government every single day. We just can't get enough Democrats to go along with it.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

This.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's not a complicated notion. I don't know why people can't say that.

[Joe Getty]

They could say under the existing law, we. We're not changing anything. We just want to open it under the existing law. They're asking for a big change for a month. This is ridiculous. But their messaging is terrible. Soon is a huge Upgrade for Mitch McConnell. But even he needs to work on it.

[Jack Armstrong]

From the current Mitch McConnell. Not from Mitch McConnell in his prime, probably.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, right, right, right, right.

[Jack Armstrong]

But yes, Mitch McConnell who's, you know, locks up every now and then.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

He's old as the hills.

[Joe Getty]

And I read a takedown, a bipartisan takedown of all the geriatric senile oldsters in Congress, in the Senate. And it's both sides of the aisle. I mean, people who like, haven't been seen in Congress for six months, haven't registered a vote, they're in a care home and they're still serving. I mean, it's just silly.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh boy, my aching back.

[Joe Getty]

I hear you, John. Handsome devil at John Thune.

[Jack Armstrong]

So maybe now it'd be a good time to get to our Gavin Newsom clips here because he was on fire yesterday. He's running for president as he announced last weekend.

[Joe Getty]

Please, please, Ron, please run.

[Jack Armstrong]

What's he, he wants to build on the legacy of Joe Biden, which is a hilarious notion.

[Joe Getty]

Wait, what?

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm surprised that that's the angle he's going to take, but here's a little Gavin Newsom from yesterday.

[Gavin Newsom]

We'll continue to build on the legacy, I would argue, of our former president who I think was one of the most successful presidents in the last century, and that is Joe Biden. And I will defend that to my grave in terms of the Chips and Science act, the infrastructure bill, the work he did on the ira, the fact that he had a worker centered industrial policy and the fact that those are the right policies for this country.

[Joe Getty]

They're all getting undone. I mean everything, a lot of them.

[Gavin Newsom]

But not, well, many aspects are being celebrated by Trump administration is his.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm pretty surprised by that, that he's not going with it because Joe Biden was not popular even with his own party. So I'm kind of surprised he's going with a. Joe Biden is one of the greatest presidents of the last century. And I'm going to. I'm just surprised by that.

[Joe Getty]

Who is he trying to appeal to? Because Gavin is calculating. He has no principles. So what is he looking for? Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

I guess that's what I'm saying. I guess I'm surprised. His calculation is that's the best way to run for president is to claim Joe Biden was one of the best presidents of the last century.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. I came across two spectacular takedowns of Gavin Newsom written by Californians, including one man of the left I want to get to a little bit later on. But both of them, well, One of them makes great sport of him trying to recently pass himself off as some street hustle and latchkey kid from the projects on that podcast lately. His, his dad was an attorney for the billionaire Getty Oil family and managed their assets. And Newsom's father was an attorney, a judge and former associate justice on the California Court of Appeals and just crazy.

[Jack Armstrong]

So just to finish up our Governor Newsom stuff, play the last two clips back to back there. Michael.

[Gavin Newsom]

I'm disgusted what's happened in this country. I'm disgusted by the supine Congress. I'm disgusted by how the private sector is conducting themselves. I'm disgusted by universities selling their soul and law firms. These guys have sort of a maniacal sense of purpose and desire for power they want. This is a revolution.

[Jack Armstrong]

Boy, so tiring.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

I can't wait to get into the bringing Gabby down stuff. It is so good. So good. First, a word from our friends at web root. It's cyber Scaries month. Never mind ghosts and goblins and escape disease monkeys. The scariest thing you're gonna run into is all the data breaches and the tech scams and everybody trying to scam you all the time. That's why this cyber Scaries month you need webroot total protection.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I don't know if it can do anything about the diseased monkeys on the loose, but it does have the lightning fast antivirus computer virus, not monkey virus to identify theft protection with dark web monitoring. See if your information's floating around out there. Secure vpn, unlimited cloud backup, Web root total protection helps defend every part of your digital life and up to a million dollars in fraud expense reimbursement if something does happen.

[Joe Getty]

24. 7 US backed customer support. I like that. Change your October from cyber scary to Cyber secure with 60 off Webroot total [e-mail], armstrong at 60 off 60 for limited time, but only when you go to webroot.com Armstrong one more time use our code webroot.com armstrong so if the.

[Jack Armstrong]

Shutdown goes into November, which it almost certainly is, then we're getting, we're weeks away from Thanksgiving. Now that, that would be a long time. But there's no way it has can go through Thanksgiving because you'd have the whole flying air traffic controllers airport nightmare. Neither party wants to mess with the chance that they get blamed for that.

[Joe Getty]

Right? Yeah. That's a nuclear, nuclear explosion right there. Yeah. I find the whole thing tiresome and discouraging. You know, it's not like a Fight. I mean, there's nothing going on. There's no fight to be had.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, no, no, no, no. It's. It is. It's just depressing. Well, we're broken. We got it. We got a broken system, and it's just depressing.

[Joe Getty]

It's almost like watching some sort of, I don't know, battle of the Bands or a dance off or something like that. Because they're not accomplishing anything. They're not even pretending to. They're just trying to posture better than each other. And listen, the Democrats started this fight. There's no getting around that. They could have approved a clean continuing resolution to fund the government for the next month or whatever the heck it is, but they didn't. They wanted to. To make this a hill to die on again, to help Chuck Schumer, but it's just so discouraging.

[Jack Armstrong]

Gavin Newsom actually said, Joe Biden is the best president, one of the best presidents of the last century. And I'll go to my grave defending that. Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Okay. I want to put him in his political grave. Next segment. Why don't we go ahead and pay that off?

[Jack Armstrong]

That had to be aimed at a donor or something. I don't know what the hell that possibly was.

[Joe Getty]

Absurd. Nobody thinks that. He was no joke. A senile joke.

[Jack Armstrong]

Democrats didn't want him to run again anyway. More on the way.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

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[Gavin Newsom]

But also, you know, it was also about paying the bills, man. It was just like hustling. And so I was out there kind of raising myself, turning on the tv started, you know, just getting obsessed, you know, sitting there with the, you know, the Wonder Bread and five stacks of.

[Jack Armstrong]

Story.

[Joe Getty]

All right, so there was poor Gavin Newsom on a recent podcast. Who knew he'd grown up poor, had to hustle to stay alive, and the rest of it. Katie Grimes. The fabulous Katie Grimes with a spectacular takedown.

[Jack Armstrong]

I knew it. I knew. I said that the other day. I said, she's gonna have such a rundown of his actual upbringing.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, she probably had to come calm herself down to start writing this. It is so rich. It was about paying the bills, man. Wonder Bread Mac and cheese. That's how I grew up, bro. It was just like hustling. I raised myself right. Gavin was a latchkey kid When Gavin was featured in a Children of the rich article in 1991 at the age of 25, that pretty much put the latchkey kid from the Larchmont Homes Tract Housing act to rest until now, as loose Newsom longs to be America's next president. Then she goes into how.

[Jack Armstrong]

What was that? Sorry, it made me cough. I swallowed my water. I hadn't heard that one before.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, he's just trying to pass himself off.

[Jack Armstrong]

But the Children of the Rich.

[Joe Getty]

Children of the rich article in 1991, at the age of 25.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. Wow.

[Joe Getty]

His father, attorney for the billionaire Getty Oil family, appeals court judge the rest of it. But Gavin slept on a couch and ate Wonder Bread and raised himself. And he opened a winery. At the age of 25. Newsom and Investors at the age of 25, Newsom and Investors created PlumpJack Associates LP with the help financial help of Gordon Getty. In a 2003 article, Bringing Up Baby Gavin in the SF Weekly magazine, it says Newsom's father William was a judge and helped Gordon Getty get access to the Getty family money. She writes. I've read the article several times over the years, but it is no longer available at SF Weekly. They took it down, but they found an archive version, posted it to Twitter. He even helped Gordon Getty sue his own father to get access to the family trust. In return for these favors and many others, Gordon Getty put him the father in charge of managing a massive amount of money. Guess how Gavin got the funds to start his fancy businesses at such a young age. In 10 of Gavin's first 11 businesses, the primary money came from the Getty family family, which is intertwined with the Pelosi family, by the way.

[Jack Armstrong]

Funny, I had read that while his dad did have access to blah, blah blah because his parents divorced, that Gavin, you know, grew up with his poor single mom trying to make ends meet, etc.

[Joe Getty]

No, no. The minute he was of age and again he was a subject of a Children of the Rich article. And then he had all the money he could use to finance all of his, his businesses the minute he was an adult. So why lie about being a privileged kid? Katie Grimes writes, because Gavin Newsom is inauthentic, phony and specious to be polite as well as a compulsive liar to be a little harsh. New them's inauthentic inauthenticity leads him to compulsively lie to whomever he is speaking to. A kind of pandering she mentions when with Charlie Kirk, Newsom said he hinted that he agreed with Kirk that biological men should not play in women's sports. But then he did absolutely nothing about it as the governor of the Most egregious Title 9 violating state in the country.

[Jack Armstrong]

Maybe I don't speak Gavin well, but I didn't understand what he said in that Charlie Kirk thing. I didn't understand that clip we just played. I don't understand what he was saying. He, he uses phrases that kind of hint at something, but he never says anything. Well, I was, you know, I was, I was out there running around, you know, and I got the stacks of bread and what, what are you claiming here? I don't even know what you're saying.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, man, I've got a, Is that it over there? I've got a great. Oh, Rich Lowry in the National Review ask. I'm sorry, it's Jim, Jim Garrity, who's asking, do Democrats really need a white male version of Kamala Harris? But it's, it's worse than that. How well do you envision Newsom connecting with all the union voters in the Great Lakes states? How about those working class blue collar whites in North Carolina and Georgia for that matter? Will Newsom, who banged his campaign manager's wife, had a 19 year old girlfriend when he was 39. Going to do better among women. When you see that photo of Newsom on the rug with Kimberly Guilfoyle, do you say, yes, this is the kind of Democrat candidate who's going to resonate with African Americans and Latinos.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I always think that's a blind spot for Democrats, you know, the coastal Democrats that they, because I come from a family of like everybody was a Democrat, but they were all farmers Democrats. They weren't Gavin Newsom, sort of the trans issues Democrats. And that's where Gavin's gonna really run up against it.

[Joe Getty]

Right, right. And, and then one final note from Marcus Breton, who has been a columnist for the Sacramento Bee. I'm not sure he still is for many, many years as we started the Armstrong and Giddy show in Sacramento, California. And. And Marcos, always a decent guy, a man of good character. He's a man of the left and I frequently disagreed with him vehemently. But he's a good man. He wrote this in 2018 before Gavin was governor. If Gavin Newsom is elected governor of California with without so much as a speed bump on his political journey of entitlement, it may take future social scientists to explain why current California voters were so willing to give this guy a pass on all of the things we know about him. Can't you see this picture for what it really is? The 50 year old lieutenant governor and former mayor of San Francisco is the living embodiment of privilege. And people seem to be okay with that. He has white male privilege. Class privilege, wealth, privilege, the privilege of good looks. All creates a Teflon exterior protecting Newsom's horrendous lapses of judgment and character. Excusing his questionable background. It is simply accepted without eliciting the negative scrutiny that would dog or even derail lesser mortals.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. And that's from a lefty journalist.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah. And he talks about the connections to the rich, Getty and Pelosi families, how they pump money into everything he does. And then his utter moral failings is.

[Jack Armstrong]

He is the caricature, the sort of stereotype that people try to plant on Republicans. Rich, white, good looking guy, connected, you know, rose up through the ranks with no effort whatsoever or talent.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

But as a Democrat, he's gonna try to pull off the. I raised myself, you know, stacks of bread. No, I don't know. What do you mean by the stacks of bread?

[Joe Getty]

What?

[Jack Armstrong]

What?

[Joe Getty]

What are you trying to say back to Rich Lowry? Don't you think there's a good chance Republicans will be able to portray the Marin county mansion owning luxury suite, partying wine sipping Newsom, who always looks like a villain from a Robocop movie, as an out of touch elitist. Never mind the whole Napa dinner in the middle of COVID It was an early dinner. We all fail sometimes. Run Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

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[Joe Getty]

You'Ve got the winning formation.

[Jack Armstrong]

One on one advice. IT solutions and customized hardware powered by Intel Core Ultra processors help you stay ahead of the competition. Business goes probably with Lenovo Pro. Sign up for [e-mail] Pro.

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[Jack Armstrong]

You know what your customers are doing right this second? The exact same thing. You are listening to me, which, let's.

[Joe Getty]

Be honest, is kind of flattering.

[Jack Armstrong]

But my point Is, ads on iHeartRadio.

[Joe Getty]

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[Jack Armstrong]

The gym, on the couch, while people are walking their dogs.

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[Jack Armstrong]

You're a good boy.

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[Jack Armstrong]

So why not make the next ad about you?

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[Jack Armstrong]

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[Joe Getty]

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[Jack Armstrong]

That's 844-844-IBEART or iheartadvertising. Com.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

This is an iHEART podcast.