We Mucked It Up

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand: Episode Summary – "We Mucked It Up"

Podcast Information

• Title: Armstrong & Getty On Demand
• Host/Author: iHeartPodcasts
• Episode: We Mucked It Up
• Release Date: March 26, 2025

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1. Security Breach and Classified Information Leak

The episode delves into a significant security mishap involving the inclusion of journalist Jeffrey Goldberg into a confidential Signal messaging group. This group was intended for high-ranking officials, including the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence.

Key Discussion Points:

• Staffer Error: The confusion arose when a staffer unintentionally added Goldberg to a sensitive chat, potentially exposing classified operational details.
• Potential Risks: The disclosure of precise war plans and timelines could have allowed hostile entities, like the Houthis, to anticipate and counteract U.S. military actions, posing severe risks to both national security and military personnel.

Notable Quotes:

• Mike Waltz [00:53]: "So you don't know what staffer is responsible for this right now?"
• Jeffrey Goldberg [00:57]: "I take full responsibility. I built the group to ensure everything's coordinated."
• Jack Armstrong [05:45]: "If this text had been received by someone hostile to American interests, the Houthis would have had time to prepare for a surprise attack."

The hosts criticize the handling of the incident, emphasizing the need for transparency and accountability. They argue that denying the mistake only prolongs the scandal and suggest that acknowledging the error would be a more effective approach.

2. Signal Messaging App Vulnerabilities

A significant portion of the discussion centers on the vulnerabilities of the Signal messaging app, previously recommended by federal agencies for secure communication.

Key Discussion Points:

• Changing Advisories: Initially endorsed by the federal government, Signal was later advised against by the CIA due to vulnerabilities exploited by Russian hackers.
• Operational Failures: The use of Signal in sensitive operations, such as by President Trump's advisor Steve Witkoff in Moscow, led to critical security lapses.

Notable Quotes:

• Jack Armstrong [07:07]: "We played a tape of a commentator on Fox News yesterday saying this. In December, the federal government said, hey, Signal is just fine... but then in February, the CIA put out an advisory saying, hey, the Russians have figured out a way to hack into Signal."
• Joe Getty [08:28]: "So you were discussing specific war plans in Moscow on a commercial text chat thingy. That seems crazy."

The hosts express disappointment in the administration's handling of secure communications, highlighting the irony and potential dangers of relying on compromised platforms for national security operations.

3. Social Security Debate: Is It a Ponzi Scheme?

Armstrong and Getty engage in a heated discussion about the characterization of Social Security as a Ponzi scheme, referencing statements by public figures and fact-checking analyses.

Key Discussion Points:

• Elon Musk's Assertion: Elon Musk described Social Security as "the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time" during a Joe Rogan podcast.
• Fact-Checking Response: PolitiFact rated Musk's statement as false, arguing that Social Security is fundamentally different from traditional Ponzi schemes since it is a government program with a promise to pay.
• Structural Similarities: Despite distinctions, the hosts acknowledge that Social Security shares structural similarities with Ponzi schemes, particularly the dependency on a growing base of contributors to sustain payouts.

Notable Quotes:

• Elizabeth Warren [17:48]: "Social Security is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time."
• Social Security Administrator [18:13]: "I believe it's a promise to Pay."
• Joe Getty [31:10]: "I would say calling it the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time is 100% accurate."

Armstrong criticizes the political discourse surrounding Social Security, arguing that debates often overlook factual accuracy in favor of partisan maneuvering. He laments the inability to have a straightforward conversation about the program's sustainability and necessary reforms.

4. Apple Watch Adds Camera Feature

Shifting to lighter topics, the hosts discuss Apple's latest innovation of integrating a camera into the Apple Watch.

Key Discussion Points:

• Product Launch: Apple introduced a camera feature for the Apple Watch, allowing users to capture various moments from different angles.
• User Experience: Getty shares personal anecdotes about the limitations of relying solely on the Apple Watch, highlighting scenarios where the absence of a smartphone can lead to inconveniences.

Notable Quotes:

• Pete Hegseth [13:29]: "The Apple Watch with camera. And the battery's dead."
• Jack Armstrong [14:11]: "I quit Google for ChatGPT and other AI search and I'm not going back."

While the innovation is met with humor and skepticism, the discussion underscores the challenges of balancing technological advancements with practical usability.

5. Violent Incident During a Hike in Honolulu

In a somber news segment, the podcast covers a tragic incident involving a violent attack during a hiking trip in Oahu.

Key Discussion Points:

• Incident Details: Gerhardt Koenig, a 46-year-old anesthesiologist, assaulted his wife Arielle Koenig by striking her with a rock and attempting to push her off a ledge.
• Arrest and Charges: After a prolonged manhunt, Koenig was apprehended and is facing criminal charges. His wife remains in critical condition at a local hospital.
• Speculations and Reactions: The hosts joke about the absurdity of the situation, touching on the unpredictability of human behavior and the tragic outcomes of sudden violence.

Notable Quotes:

• Jack Armstrong [32:58]: "And he's an anesthesiologist, so he knows that hitting someone in the head with a rock is not anesthesia."
• Joe Getty [36:30]: "Selfie deaths are rampant these days."

The segment mixes dark humor with genuine concern, reflecting the hosts' typical conversational style that blends news with personal commentary.

6. Final Thoughts and Reflections

Throughout the episode, Armstrong and Getty critique various political and social issues, expressing frustration with perceived failures in governance and public discourse.

Key Discussion Points:

• Democracy's Shortcomings: Armstrong resonates with the sentiment of disillusionment with democratic processes, emphasizing the need for better accountability and strategic decision-making.
• Human Behavior: The hosts touch on the importance of listening to one's conscience and the dangers of ignoring moral judgments.

Notable Quotes:

• Jack Armstrong [19:00]: "This is why I've given up on democracy."
• Joe Getty [28:09]: "But Tariffs are human nature on such an interesting level."

The episode concludes with a mix of reflections on the discussed topics and a return to lighter commentary, maintaining the show's characteristic blend of humor and critique.

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Conclusion

In "We Mucked It Up," Armstrong and Getty tackle a range of topics from national security lapses and debates over Social Security's sustainability to technological innovations and tragic news incidents. The hosts provide insightful commentary interspersed with humor, offering listeners a comprehensive overview of current events through their unique lens.

Disclaimer: This summary is based on the provided transcript and aims to encapsulate the episode's key discussions and themes for listeners who may not have access to the full podcast.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, oh, oh. O'Reilly.

[O'Reilly]

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[Joe Getty]

Today auto parts.

[Jack Armstrong]

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

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

And now here's Armstrong and Getty.

[Mike Waltz]

So you don't know what step staffer is responsible for this right now?

[Jeffrey Goldberg]

Well, look, a staffer wasn't responsible. And look, I take full responsibility. I built the. I built the group to. My job is to make sure everything's coordinated.

[Mike Waltz]

I mean, I don't mean to be pedantic here, but how did the number.

[Jeffrey Goldberg]

Have you ever had a. Have you ever had somebody's contact that shows their name? And then you have an. And then you have somebody else. Those mistakes. Right. You've got somebody else's number on someone else's contact. So, of course, I didn't see this loser in the group. It looked like someone else. Now, whether he did it deliberately or it happened in some other technical mean is something we're trying to figure out.

[Joe Getty]

That's your national security advisor waltz on Laura Ingram last night taking full responsibility for adding the journalist Jeffrey Goldberg into the chat that has been discussed so much in the last 36 hours, but.

[Jack Armstrong]

Then suggesting it was an innocent mistake anybody could have made, or it was Jeffrey Goldberg skullduggery that got him in that group. I like Mike Waltz a lot. I like him policy wise. I like him personally. I like the cut of his jib that was weak.

[Joe Getty]

I don't want to get sidetracked by this, but do you think he's wondering how the hell did this happen?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, guaranteed. Yeah, Some staffer of his put together the contact card for, say, Marco Rubio or somebody else. Rubio's already known what contact he was, but, you know, okay, here is the Secretary of Energy's contact information. And somehow it was Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic.

[Joe Getty]

Boy, a lot of people say a lot of crap. Like, I've heard so much. You always know who's on a call whenever you're. Whenever you get on a call, you check and see who else is on there. Who. Whoever does that, who scrolls through and makes sure who's. Who's JG5262? That's me. Okay. Who's who does that?

[Jack Armstrong]

How many folks were on this string, do you recall?

[Joe Getty]

I don't know the total number. I keep hearing all the big names. I keep hearing all the big names. Sec, Def sec, State, all that. CIA Director and assuming that's it. But there might have been a whole bunch of other people on there also. I don't know. Um, Scarborough this morning on Morning Joe. That show makes me insane. But I think I agree with him that the best thing they could do on this is just like really own it and move on and nobody would remember in the week. The, the denying things that are pretty obviously true is, is giving this story more legs.

[Jack Armstrong]

I agree with Joe Scarborough. God help me. It's so early in the administration and the strike was a success. So this is a really stupid. The more I read a really stupid breach of security. I mean really bad. But it was the dog that didn't bark. And so it's the perfect opportunity to come clean, confess errors, say we'll do better and, and then move on. Don't offer any resistance. That continues the scandal.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, and just the whole this scumbag reporter sort of thing. You added him in and saying over.

[Jack Armstrong]

And over, nothing classified was shared. Well, the Atlantic is putting out what was shared. It was 100% classified, highly classified.

[Joe Getty]

Well, that, that leads us to this. So I'm going to read the New York Post version just because, you know, they lean Trumpy. So you're going to get the most favorable view from the New York Post and it's still damning. The Atlantic magazine on Wednesday published even more in quotes, war plan texts laying out minute by minute operational details and exact weapons to be used in the Yemen strikes after the Trump administration shot down. Claims that classified details were ever show shared in the signal chat snafu. The magazine's top editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, published additional snippets of the text exchange that he says revealed the precise operational details. The reason he's doing this is because they came out so hard against him yesterday, say no, we'd never know nothing was classified. And he's making this up and he's a scumbag also. So here we go. This is Pete Hegseth team. Update time now 11:44 Eastern Time. Weather is favorable. Just confirmed with CENTCOM. We are a go for mission launch 12:15 Eastern Time. F18's launch first strike package 13:45. That's the timestamp trigger based F18 first strike window starts. Target terrorist is at his known location. Shows should be on time. Also Strikes drone launch MQ9s. I don't know what all this stuff means, but some bad people might know what it all means. 14:10 More F18s launch second strike package. 14:15 Strike drones on target. This is when the first bombs will definitely drop. Pending earlier trigger based targets. 15:36 F18 second strike starts. Also first sea based Tomahawks launched. That is pretty specific.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. And as they right in the Atlantic. Let us pause here for a moment to underscore a point. This signal message shows that the US Secretary of Defense texted a group that included a phone number unknown to him Goldberg cell phone at 11:44am 31 minutes before the first US warplanes launch and 2 hours and 1 minute before the beginning of the period in which the primary target was expected to be killed. That's a Houthi leader. If this text had been received by someone hostile to American interests or merely someone indiscreet with to social media, the Houthis would have had time to prepare for what was meant to be a surprise attack on the strongholds. The consequences for American pilots could have been catastrophic.

[Joe Getty]

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard Yesterday and the CIA Director John Ratcliffe were among 18 officials in the signal messaging channel. So there's your answer. There was 18 were adamant that they didn't divulge classified information. Well, so the question in the hearing yesterday that never really got an answer is, well, if this wasn't classified, why wasn't it classified? It sure sounds like the sort of thing that ought to be classified. And if it. And they kept getting hammered. Mark Warner, the Democratic chair, kept saying, well then share us all the details. And they wouldn't do it in the public hearing. So you won't share these in a public hearing, but you're saying they're not classified. It's one or the other, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. This is floundering. It's amateur hour. It's embarrassing. And if you're tuning in, hoping to hear Trump always right, Administration always right. Democrats always wrong. You know, we on the right side of the aisle have to do better than this. Like the telegram, what the hell? I can never remember the name of the app. Signal in December. And we played a tape of a commentator on Fox News yesterday saying this. In December, the federal government said, hey, signal is just fine. Put it on your phone, use it for encrypted chats. But then in February, the CIA put out an advisory saying, hey, the Russians have figured out a way to hack into Signal. Do not use it. That somebody must have missed. And Steve Witkoff, who's the President's. He's a friend from New York. He's a businessman, a good negotiator, and he's done some good stuff. But he was in Moscow using signal under the nose of the Russians, who listen to everything they. They know when you flush the toilet, if you're any sort of American official in. In Moscow. And so it was just. It was an. It was an own. Own goal, as they say in soccer. It was throwing three consecutive interceptions. And just because it's my team, I'm not going to say those were good interceptions. We like interceptions. No, this was dumb. They got to do better.

[Joe Getty]

So you were discussing specific war plans in Moscow on a commercial text chat thingy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes.

[Joe Getty]

That seems crazy. Now, this. The new revelations from Jeffrey Goldberg, which, again, I think he probably wasn't gonna publish. I don't know if he was or not, but he might not have been gonna publish until he got so much pushback of people saying, no, no, we didn't share anything. So he put this stuff out today. And both Tulsi Gabbard and Ratcliffe, that's your DNI and CIA director, say they deny any knowledge that the message is including details about weapons packages, targets, or timing. Well, unless you think Goldberg's completely making this up. And I don't get absolutely detailed packages and timing. I mean, 100%.

[Jack Armstrong]

So they're doubling down on Goldberg's making this up, essentially. No. Which will work.

[Joe Getty]

This is so people.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, yeah, I guess it will. Yeah. But you're. You could do literally anything and still have that chunk of people. Tell me. Tell me what's wrong with this. And feel free if you want to weigh in via text or email. The text lines 415295 KFTC. That's 415295, KFTC. Or if you like, email mailbag@armstrong and getty.com. but if you were to say this was a serious mistake, we are embarrassed. We will never do it again. We appreciate the Atlantic and Mr. Goldberg's restraint in not publishing information that could be dangerous to American troops in the field. Wouldn't this all peter out?

[Joe Getty]

Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

And now you're going with, no, no, no, we didn't. No, it wasn't classified. And so Goldberg's like, you're calling me a liar now I got to prove I'm not right. I don't strategy at all.

[Joe Getty]

Your method, you know, on cable news channels, they would have continued to hammer it, and look how incompetent they are and blah, blah, but nobody watches those channels. No one to matter. The overall how big a story this is would have dwindled a ton if.

[Jack Armstrong]

They'D have gone with a one sided tennis match. If you stop hitting the ball back to them.

[Joe Getty]

So here's the reality. Because of the way it was handled. Tulsi Gabbard. As we speak, I'm looking at the cable news. Today's the House version of the world threats hearing that they have every year. So it was the Senate version yesterday. It's a House Intelligence Committee today. And are they talking about worldwide threats? No, they're talking about this signal chat thing and how it happened. And she's being questioned right there. It says up there, I'm looking at Fox intel chiefs testify as new chat details revealed. So they're hammering Tulsi Gabbard over this new stuff. Excuse me. This sure looks like war plans to me. So they could have ended this by just, you know, this is true to your whole life for everyone. We all know this. Maybe you figured out in childhood, maybe you don't figure it out later. That's quicker. You just come clean and say, I screwed up. Your life is so much better always.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or to hearken back to the 1970s, what a fine and exciting time that was. Inflation was rampant. Nixon was impeached. Jerry Ford was walking into doorways. And something else happened. I don't remember.

[Joe Getty]

Disco ruled the airwaves.

[Jack Armstrong]

Disco ruled the air. Thank you. No, it's not the crime. It's the COVID up. It's the COVID up that brings you down. Hey, we screwed up. Embarrassed. We fixed it.

[Joe Getty]

It's human nature.

[Jack Armstrong]

Into the Atlantic and Mr. Goldberg, it's.

[Joe Getty]

Human nature on such an interesting level. And it's true. Like picturing kids. You can picture the government stuff or whatever. If your kid comes to you and say, I just. I don't. I took the cookies and I shouldn't have, and I. I hate myself for it. I don't like eating that crap. It makes me feel bad. I'm trying to stop, and I just. But I saw him there and I. Could you feel bad for him? You feel compassionate? If they say, I didn't eat the cookies with crumbs around their lips, you feel like they're calling you stupid.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes. I mean, it's just a liar. Yeah. Oh, goodness. If we screw this up, we don't get a chance to do the good stuff.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's why I call, you know, my own team for. For running a bad offense to get back to the sports metaphor.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. So this has got at least one more day in it. Hanson, I'm sure you're staying on top of the answers they're giving to. Okay, now we see more of these. Are they. Are they claiming they're made up? Are they claiming they're not real? That would be your only hope. Unless you're going to. It's the only thing you could do.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, I'm kind of disappointed in you, Jack. Speaking of calling fouls that you haven't hit me with a single. So you wanted Kamala to win because that's always such a fun part of these discussions. Oh, my God.

[Joe Getty]

That is always good. We got a lot more news. All the way. Stay here.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty switching gears to some business news. Apple said that they're working on adding a camera to. To the Apple Watch.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, they even put out a commercial today.

[Pete Hegseth]

Look at this. For years, your iPhone camera has captured life's biggest moments. And now we've added a camera to your Apple Watch so you can capture more new moments like your chin knits, knees, the inside of your jacket sleeve, the ceiling of your dentist's office. An accidental close up of a stranger scratch at Starbucks. The Apple Watch with camera. And the battery's dead.

[Joe Getty]

Pretty funny.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, funny coincidence. Later this hour, I want to talk about. I quit Google for ChatGPT and other AI search and I'm not going back. This is a person who uses Apple devices.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, I might be on board with that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Goodbye, Google boy.

[Joe Getty]

Him mentioning that. So I talk a lot about the Apple Watch. I just love all the stuff. I can do it. I have my car app on there. I have my bank stuff. I pay for everything. A car app?

[Jack Armstrong]

Why do you need a car?

[Joe Getty]

I don't really need anything in my pocket. I just. As long as I got my watch with me. But every. I want to leave my phone behind more often just so I don't look at it and. But every time I leave it behind, it always turns out to be a mistake. We headed out the other day. We went on a bike ride downtown. I left my phone behind and my, my high schooler said, you're going to regret it. I guarantee you're going to regret it. And I said, I don't think so. I think I'll be fine. Anyway, we get downtown, too tired to walk back. Want to get an Uber? I don't have my phone, so I can't get an Uber. There's something else that happened I need my phone for. I wanted to take a picture or something. Oh, that'd be cool. Yeah, it's right. I don't have my phone. Just every time and it's so frustrating to me.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's how they get you.

[Joe Getty]

That is how they get you. Anyway, we got this text before we get to real news. Joe has mentioned over the years this seems to be true.

[Jack Armstrong]

People.

[Joe Getty]

If people are going to refer to something we said, one of us said, it's. They get it wrong like a hundred percent of the time.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes. Why is that? Why? Why is that? I don't, I don't.

[Joe Getty]

It doesn't matter at all at all. But it's just interesting that people always get it wrong. And I'm pretty sure this one is backwards. Can you please ask Joe? I think it was me to restate his strategy for winning hockey. Getting a morbidly obese goalie. Big fat goalie.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, that's Jack strategy. I thought of that just the other.

[Joe Getty]

Day I, I came up. I thought about that years ago. I think it's when Manuel Uribe was in the news all the time. He was the world's fattest man. A guy who lived in Mexico. He has since passed from being 1300 pounds.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

He's over a thousand pounds. And I couldn't understand why a, an NHL team wouldn't hire a 1200 pound guy to just sit in the goal and fill out the whole thing. I know it's because I saw a picture of him in his bed and he filled like an entire king sized bed. Put him in the goal with some pads. You'll shut out every opponent. Is there, is there a reason this hasn't happened?

[Jack Armstrong]

It's a bit macabre, but yeah, you've been touting that for years.

[Joe Getty]

You'd be the world's greatest goalie. You'd make lots of money. I don't know if chicks would throw themselves at you, but maybe.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh yeah, let's. Let's Hang on.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know. I still think it's a pretty good idea.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, you'd make a lot of money until the other teams realized they could do the same thing. And then they would just, I don't know. League would have been the grotesquely obese or. Okay, we're into imprison them and feed them. I don't know.

[Joe Getty]

We're into season two of all 00 games because everybody's hired a big fat goalie. We're gonna have to change the rules somehow.

[Jack Armstrong]

A weigh in for goalies.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know. Yes, I realize that's stupid, but I still haven't Heard a workaround.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay. That I'm completely distracted now.

[Joe Getty]

I want to get into the whole is Social Security a Ponzi scheme? Conversation, which is a dumb. A dumb conversation. I'll admit. It has come up many times over the decades. Somebody mentions Social Security being a Ponzi scheme and then the pushback and response is just so over the top. Even though it resembles a Ponzi scheme in so many ways.

[Jack Armstrong]

Structurally.

[Joe Getty]

Structurally, absolutely. So politic. Elon said it the other day. There was a fact check on him and then a fact check with the definition of a Ponzi. Ponzi scheme. It came up in a hearing yesterday with Elizabeth Warren, blah, blah, blah. We'll play it all out for you coming up. I hope you can stick around.

[Katie]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Elizabeth Warren]

Social Security is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time. Basically, people are living way longer than expected. There are fewer babies being born. So you have more people who are retired and get that live for a long time and get retirement payments. So however bad the financial situation is right now for the federal government, it will be much worse in the future.

[Joe Getty]

Do you believe that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme?

[Social Security Administrator]

I believe it's a promise to Pay. It's an 89 year institution so far. It will continue.

[Joe Getty]

Yes or no, do you think it's a Ponzi scheme?

[Social Security Administrator]

That's a promise to pay.

[Joe Getty]

So that's from a hearing yesterday with the Democrats grilling the Republican who runs the Social Security, trying to get him to contradict Elon Musk who's, you know, working with the president on trying to cut costs and deal with us going bankrupt. Elon Musk said on Joe Rogan fairly recently what you just heard, that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. And I can't believe we're still having this conversation. I mean, we probably first had it 2005.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hey, I'm sorry, that's 20 years ago. I've got to interrupt you based on that clip. I'm just jotting this down for my personal notes from my memoir. March 26, 10:36am Eastern Time was the moment I gave up on democracy. That exchange crushed my spirit.

[Joe Getty]

For your memoir.

[Jack Armstrong]

Good Lord. So, yeah, let's, let's not talk about the structural problems or the challenges. Let's just try to catch each other and saying the thing we can embarrass each other over. Good Lord. I know it's sorry, Dr. Franklin, sorry, General Washington. We mucked it up.

[Joe Getty]

So I was listening to some cable news hosts talking about George Bush taking on Social Security and what a dumb plan it was and what a mistake it was. Political mistake. And they were just talking about the politics of it. If you want to just be very crass, bottom line, all that matters is getting reelected. Yes, it is stupid to take on Social Security and Trump knows that. That's why he always says, not going to touch it, not going to touch it. But if you want to live in reality at all, what George Bush planned to do, I think it was, it was second term. So I think it was 2005 when he started talking about privatizing it. And you could, you could take some of it and invest it and make, you know, more money in theory in the stock market over time, almost guaranteed than the. Yes, 3%. I think it grows in the government barely.

[Jack Armstrong]

If you'd, if that had gotten through at the time, you'd be listening to the podcast on a yacht in the Mediterranean and not getting crusts of bread from the government every month. My retired friends.

[Joe Getty]

And he got killed. And, and they referred to it as a Ponzi scheme back then and just got killed. How dare you call FDR rescuing the working class calling it a Ponzi scheme, blah, blah. First, I suppose we should start here. How many of you know people that don't know what a Ponzi scheme is? It's like, you know, if you're selling water purifiers or Tupperware or, I don't know, there's all kinds of different things out there that are Ponzi schemes where.

[Jack Armstrong]

If actually the classic one is, is the like the airplane thing that was hot for a cup of coffee in college where you buy seats on the so called airplane and then as it fills up, the people who are in the front of the plane become the co pilot and pilot. Then they get paid off. They make a huge amount of money relative to their investment and then as long as more people are coming in at the bottom.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

The people at the top get paid.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. And there's all I had friends that got into the water purifier thing in the 90s or whatever and it was classic Ponzi scheme. And they'd come and hit you with say I'm making $300,000 a month. You know why I've had, I've got 200 people underneath me selling water purifiers. And it was true that they were, I mean it's not, wasn't a lie. It's just that the people underneath you need to also sign up a whole bunch of people to Sell water purifiers and sell them and then. But as soon as it stops, it all falls apart. As soon as that lower level can add in more people, the whole thing falls apart.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and the difference in Social Security is that it's not a question of attracting people to what seems like a profitable proposition. It's just the sheer number of young workers versus retirees. It's a function of demographics, not like sales persuasion.

[Joe Getty]

So George Bush there. Hey, there you go.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. W Good to hear from you.

[Joe Getty]

But I hated, I hated that the conversation I saw on cable news about with George Bush to just labeled only as stupid again. If you're just gonna be cold crass politics, which is what most politicians are, it is stupid. But would somebody please throw in a and completely necessary in there. Maybe it was stupid politics, but 100% necessary and patriotic to stick your neck out politically to try to take this on as opposed to when it works.

[Jack Armstrong]

You'D be hailed as a hero as.

[Joe Getty]

Opposed to kick the can on down the road for someone else. Any who to the Ponzi scheme comment that Elon made on Rogan's podcast. James Freeman in the Wall street journal. Politico, Politico, PolitiFact versus Elon Musk. PolitiFact is grading the comment from Elon Musk. Social Security is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time as false because it's not a Ponzi scheme. The headline from James Freeman is do victims of Ponzi schemes feel better if the schemes are legal? As in it is a Ponzi scheme, but because it's guaranteed by the government in certain ways it's not. And you know, there's no guarantee that the water purifier scheme, somebody's going to fill that in at the bottom at the, at the point of, you know, a legal gun by law, at some point anyway. PolitiFact. PolitiFact calls this statement false. But as Alex Christie of Newsbuster notes, much of PolitiFact's argument rests on the fact that Social Security is a government program when it comes to describing how the program actually operates. The following political fact passage is bound to convince a number of readers that Mr. Musk has spoken the truth and they go through how Social Security works. Then this university professor said, this structure of Social Security, where you have workers coming in, you're not getting your money back. No, I don't know how many people don't understand that. Surely you understand that by now. And this goes back to the 2000 election and Al Gore talking about a lockbox. This idea that I'm paying into Social Security. It's an account somewhere and it's growing. And then they're going to start sending me checks when I retire. No, they spent that money that I sent them when I was 22, working to, to, to, to, to retirees in 19, whatever that was. 87.

[Jack Armstrong]

And just other crap too. Just expenditures.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Or any other debts, probably interest payments in a lot of cases. The. The university professor said this structure has similarities to how Ponzi scheme investors provide payouts to earlier investors. If they're no longer enough workers to provide enough payroll contributions to pay out benefits to retired workers, then the system would fail. Similar exactly to how a Ponzi scheme would fail in the same manner, said the university professor. So it's exactly a Ponzi scheme. It's only different than it's backed by the federal government. And they're going to have to take the money from somewhere or by law change the amount that you're going to receive in payments.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is why I've given up on democracy. Even a question. So clearly. I mean there's, there's true and there's false in this. It's not like how strong should America military be and how much should we spend money where honest people can disagree. This is just a question of fact. And people calling a Fonsi scheme a Ponzi scheme. They're talking about the structure. And then phony liar, Elizabeth Warren acts as though they're talking about the intent of it. This is not criminal. This is the government. This is the promise to the American. No, we're talking about the structure. We're only talking about the structure, you lying fake Indian.

[Joe Getty]

Do you believe that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme?

[Social Security Administrator]

I believe it's a promise to Pay. It's an 89 year institution so far. It will continue.

[John Ratcliffe]

Yes or no, do you think it's a Ponzi scheme?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes or no?

[Social Security Administrator]

That's a promise to pay.

[Jack Armstrong]

I hate you. I hate this process. It's stabbing democracy in the liver. I despise every moment of this. I'm counting the seconds until I get out of this stupid, stupid hearing.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, and. Well, we'll play this first. This is Elizabeth Warren grilling the Social Security Republican a little more.

[John Ratcliffe]

If you are confirmed in this job, will you commit to reversing these cuts so that seniors get the money that the law says they are entitled to?

[Social Security Administrator]

What I will commit to is that I will run the agency and I will be in charge of the agency and I will look at every item you want me to look at.

[John Ratcliffe]

That's not what I'm asking you. I'm asking. You just answered the previous questions by saying you would follow the law.

[Joe Getty]

Yes.

[John Ratcliffe]

The law is to deliver the benefits that people are legally entitled to. If you don't have the staff, if you don't answer the phones, if you don't fix the mistakes, people don't get what they're legally entitled to. So I want to know, are you willing to commit right now that you will put enough people back to work so they can do the job of delivering the benefits that Americans earned? Yes or no?

[Social Security Administrator]

I will commit to have the right staffing to get the job done.

[John Ratcliffe]

To get the job done, meaning delivering the benefits people are entitled to?

[Social Security Administrator]

Yes.

[John Ratcliffe]

I'm going to hold you to that.

[Jack Armstrong]

I promise that they'll get all the wampum and blankets to which they're entitled.

[Joe Getty]

Michael just said in my ear, she's bringing the fire water. I don't know if that's an expression.

[Jack Armstrong]

I tell you what, the only thing. I hate Elizabeth Warren, she is such a lying phony. But the Doge guys have cut, like, the customer service end of Social Security right now, and it's become a bit of a nightmare to deal with. I have a friend who's been telling me about it. Guys, be smart in your cuts. Be strategic. Add those people back in.

[Joe Getty]

But it still gets down to there have to be cuts. You either have to raise taxes or cut the program, or you have to make major changes. It doesn't work. And the fact that we can't talk about that is so nuts. I mean, your inside conversation. He's having his head. I'll continue to answer your questions. You know, you're lying. You're playing to your stupidest voters. You know what you're doing. I know what you're doing. We. Everybody in this room knows what we're doing. We're gonna continue to do this Kabuki theater because this is how it works. And luckily, I'm old and I'll die before I have to see how this plays out. I mean, that's actually what they're think.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Yeah. Boy, if. Boy, I'm not sure I can go on, Michael. I mean, it's just.

[Joe Getty]

I mean, you would think that in a room full of people, you could get one Republican and one Democrat. Because it flips back and forth. Sure. Because you saw when Republicans were screaming at Biden because he was going to cut Social Security in theory, and he wasn't at the State of the Union address. I mean, so it works on both sides. But anyway, you'd think you could get in these hearings one Republican, one Democrat at some point say how about hey Jim, you and me or Linda or whatever could be a woman. Let's you and I just have a conversation separate from all these politics that it's going broke. It doesn't work. The math doesn't work. We got to make radical changes one way or the idea. Yeah. What do you think we ought to do? And let's have this conversation separate from all these people who are playing to their voters and acting like this isn't true. But you can't even get two people to say that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. I appreciate your your even trying. It's cute. Democracy has failed. Monarchy now. So springtime is here. Baseball season officially underway. Word from our friends at Prize Picks. Do not miss your chance to add your favorite players from the diamond in your Prize Picks lineup. Whether it's strikeouts, RBIs, first inning runs even, take your pick of more or less for your shot to win. Up a thousand. Up to a thousand times your cash today on Prize picks.

[Joe Getty]

Yep. So download the app. It's super easy to use. Turn your sports opinions, you probably have strong opinions heading into a new bas baseball season or whatever and turn those into cash. You can do it fast.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. And on Prize Picks you can mix and match player projections from different sports. So combine your favorite baseball players with players from basketball, hockey, esports even and much more. Second half of the basketball seasons here they're starting to play like they mean it. Playoffs will be heating up on Prize Picks. The best place to cash in on your favorite sports. So download that app today. Prize Picks Use the Code Armstrong. They'll give you 50 bucks instantly after you play just a $5 lineup. Again, you don't have to win. They give you that money to play around with after you play $5 prize picks run your game. Remember that Code Armstrong Prize picks Run your game.

[Joe Getty]

I would say calling it the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time is 100% accurate. The amount of money biggest Ponzi scheme of all time and it's going to crash in my kids generation certainly we got more on the way.

[Katie]

Armstrong and Getty Honolulu Police a 46 year old Gerhardt Koenig was hiking the Pali Trail in Oahu with his wife, 36 year old Arielle Koenig when he struck her in the head with a rock and tried to push her off the ledge. Police say the attack happened around 10am on Monday when the couple was visiting the tourist site located just outside Honolulu. She was taken to a local hospital with multiple injuries to the head and face, where police say she remains in critical condition after a day long manhunt. Hawaii police confirmed they arrested Koenig after chasing him on foot. He's being held behind bars and criminal charges are pending.

[Joe Getty]

So where'd you get the detail you threw in about that, Katie? About what? They. The argument that ensued. Where'd you come up with that?

[Mike Waltz]

That was attached to a couple of articles.

[Joe Getty]

So here the story. What's the story you have? They're out hiking, husband and wife. And what happens?

[Mike Waltz]

They're out hiking, he wants to take a picture with her and she said no and he lost it.

[Jack Armstrong]

So hit her with a rock and heaved her over the cliff. Right.

[Mike Waltz]

He did the next logical thing.

[Joe Getty]

Tried to push her off a cliff. Why didn't she just get her picture taken? I don't know.

[Mike Waltz]

I'll ask her.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. Wow, wow. Good looking couple too. But who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.

[Joe Getty]

Shouldn't hit her in the head with a rock, but hey, why are you being so obstinate? We're on vacation. We want memories.

[Jack Armstrong]

And he's an anesthesiologist, so he knows that hitting someone in the head with a rock is not anesthesia. I mean, it has a similar effect ultimately, but.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

So this is a moneyed couple, highly educated. His wife's a nuclear engineer.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. And it's not being portrayed as like it was a plan, you know, he's got. He's got a mistress or insurance money or. Because we've heard this sort of thing before. It was an all of a sudden lose your temper thing that I don't remember hearing, especially among older successful people. Not like it's a couple of meth heads.

[Jack Armstrong]

All right. Yeah, exactly. They've been married six and a half, seven years, something like that.

[Joe Getty]

Not another picture, she says. I want a nice picture with the sunset and you and I'm not doing it. Where's our rock?

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow, that's just nutty. No, he was planning a killer.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it's gotta be. That's why I think that detail is a. A red herring.

[Jack Armstrong]

Canard. Yeah, it's a. Well, it is a red herring. He's. He's trying to come up with. Oh my God, I'm busted. Crime of passion is my only defense. Yeah, and just to reduce the sentence because premeditated. You're done.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. I know you like this story. Katie, I know a woman. So she would have been at the time mid-20s, very serious boyfriend. And they were out hiking and he said to her they're on standby cliff. He said, man, if I pushed you off this cliff, nobody would ever know again.

[Jack Armstrong]

Out. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

And she broke up with him over that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Good.

[Joe Getty]

They were very serious too.

[Mike Waltz]

What a weird thought and thing to say.

[Jack Armstrong]

Even if you had thought, you shouldn't say.

[Mike Waltz]

Everybody's got weird thoughts. But to go, hey, by the way.

[Joe Getty]

And not standing next to the cliff, it'd make me a little. I think I'll ease away from this cliff and keep my eye. How about you walk in front of me for the rest of the hike.

[Jack Armstrong]

And I taught my daughter daughters. Katie. I heard a cell of a self defense expert talking about this women. If you have the urge to cross the street or you're concerned in a parking lot, don't turn that voice off because of either political correctness or no, I need to be brave. No, listen to that voice. Likewise with dudes. If you're getting the. This is wrong, this is not right. Don't talk yourself out of it. Don't even worry about why.

[Mike Waltz]

Yeah. Or if the guy you're with shove.

[Jack Armstrong]

You right off this cliff and I never get caught. Oh, honey, I don't.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know if he used that menacing tone, but might as well have.

[Mike Waltz]

Hey, honey, by the way, this. Did you know I could make you disappear?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Mike Waltz]

No, not a good. Not a good thing.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, and they were like. They were a long way away on vacation. I want to say where because I want to give away who it is, but they were like way far away on a vacation so they had to fly back and everything like that. I don't remember if she broke up with him there and they came back or after we got back or what. But yikes. Oh, geez. I'm glad this guy. I'm glad this guy wasn't successful because it would have been pretty hard to prove, you know, if she stumbled and fell off the cliff.

[Jack Armstrong]

Come back and weep and gnash your teeth that oh my God, my wife and. And then keep your story consistent. That's how they always get you.

[Joe Getty]

But especially in the, with the, in the, the modern era. There's so many stories, you know, of people doing selfies or taking pictures and falling off cliffs and whatnot. It happens for real. I told her back. I didn't know she was that close.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh yeah. Selfie deaths are rampant these days. Charles Darwin, his hand in the events for sure. Coming up. Get rid of Google. It's time for the artificial intelligence on your phone. Plus, people mad at our take about the signal scandal. We'll let their voices be heard as well.

[Katie]

Stay with us, Armstrong and Gettysburg.