You Reebok Wearing Freak!

Summary

Podcast Summary: Armstrong & Getty On Demand – "You Reebok Wearing Freak!"

Episode Details:

• Title: You Reebok Wearing Freak!
• Host/Author: iHeartPodcasts
• Release Date: March 12, 2025

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1. Vandalism and Arson Targeting Tesla Facilities

The episode opens with Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty discussing a series of disturbing incidents targeting Tesla charging stations and dealerships across the United States. These acts include arson, vandalism, and even violent attacks, raising concerns about politically motivated assaults against the electric vehicle giant.

• Incident Overview:

  • Boston: Seven Tesla charging stations were set on fire.
  • Portland, Oregon: Individuals were caught spray painting dealership glass and shooting at cars during early morning hours.
  • Colorado: A woman was arrested for throwing Molotov cocktails at a dealership and defacing cars with the word "Nazi" (00:23).

• Political Undertones:

  • An unnamed contributor suggests a possible MAGA (Make America Great Again) motive behind the attacks, hinting at political opposition to Elon Musk's influence and Tesla’s non-union stance (00:56).

  Unnamed Contributor: "This is making the news, but not in the same way. If it were MAGA people attacking an electric car company because of the politics, because they're attacking Elon because of the politics." (00:56)

2. Tesla's Presence at the White House and Trump-Musk Interaction

A significant portion of the discussion centers around Tesla's unprecedented appearance at the White House, featuring Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump. The interaction between Musk and Trump is highlighted with a mix of humor and critique.

• Tesla Showcase:

  • President Trump and Elon Musk are seen evaluating Teslas on the White House lawn, answering reporters' questions (01:51).

• Elon Musk's Statement:

  • Musk expresses gratitude towards the President and condemns the violence against Tesla supporters and properties.

  Elon Musk: "It's really terrible that there's so much violence being perpetrated against people at Tesla. Tesla supporters, Tesla owners, Tesla stores. These are innocent people who've done nothing wrong." (03:00)

• Trump’s Banter:

  • Trump humorously declares his intention to purchase a Tesla Cybertruck but mentions he's not permitted to drive it himself, opting instead to have his staff use it.

  Donald Trump: "I love Tesla... I want to get it at the White House and let my staff use it." (05:18)

3. The Politicization of Brands: Tesla and Bud Light

Armstrong and Getty delve into the broader implications of brands becoming symbols within political divides, using Tesla and Bud Light as primary examples.

• Tesla’s Shift:

  • The transition of Tesla from being associated primarily with progressive ideals (like combating climate change) to becoming a symbol embraced by conservative figures like Trump is discussed.

• Bud Light Controversy:

  • Referencing the Bud Light incident involving Dylan Mulvaney, the hosts compare how brands can rapidly shift their market perception based on political and social associations.

  Joe Getty: "Bud Light went from kind of heartland America to allegedly wildly woke. But Tesla's gone all the way from the left to the right." (08:50)

• Impact on Consumer Behavior:

  • The conversation highlights how political affiliations now influence consumer choices, potentially destabilizing traditional economic models.

4. Kratom: Emerging Concerns and Usage

The hosts introduce the topic of Kratom, a Southeast Asian plant derivative marketed for various benefits, and discuss its rising prevalence and associated health risks.

• Kratom Overview:

  • Marketed as a supplement for energy, pain management, and addiction recovery, Kratom is available in liquid, tablet, and powder forms.

• Health Risks:

  • The DEA notes that small doses act as stimulants, while high doses have sedative effects. The CDC reports 1,151 overdose deaths across 37 states and Washington, D.C., with Kratom detected (30:07).

• Regulatory Stance:

  • The FDA warns against using Kratom for medical treatment due to insufficient regulation and potential health hazards.

5. Gen Z and the Overload of Micro Trends

A significant segment of the podcast explores the phenomenon of "trend overload" among Gen Z, examining how the rapid emergence and disappearance of micro trends impact young people's mental health and social interactions.

• Trend Overload Defined:

  • Micro trends like the "coastal grandmother aesthetic" and "blueberry milk nails" flood social media platforms, creating an overwhelming environment for Gen Z users (12:04).

• Psychological Impact:

  • Members of this generation report feeling exhausted by the constant barrage of new trends, leading to increased anxiety and a sense of futility in keeping up (14:34).

  Unnamed Contributor: "The prevalence and pure amount of micro trends has made it impossible to understand or participate." (26:52)

• Possible Adaptations:

  • The hosts speculate whether these trends might eventually be rejected by Gen Z, similar to how societal norms shifted post the Roaring 20s due to significant historical events like the Great Depression and World War II (28:25).

6. Internal Conflicts at Columbia University

The podcast shifts focus to the tumultuous environment at Columbia University, highlighting how political tensions and external pressures are leading to internal strife and potential policy changes.

• Executive Order Impacts:

  • An executive order from the Trump administration enforces a zero-tolerance policy for foreign nationals on visas who engage with radical organizations. This has led to arrests on campus and is expected to result in more cases (17:16).

• Faculty Civil War:

  • A divide has emerged between hard science faculties (engineering, medical, business) and political science/humanities departments. The former group demands a return to academic integrity and focus, while the latter are seen as entangled in political activism (21:17).

• Financial Repercussions:

  • The administration's heavy-handed approach has resulted in the cancellation of approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts, further exacerbating tensions among faculty members (21:30).

• Leadership Challenges:

  • Columbia University's interim president faced criticism for not effectively managing the protests and internal conflicts, leading to her resignation after just over a year in the role (22:43).

7. Debate on Making English the Official US Language

The hosts engage in a philosophical discussion about the proposal to make English the official language of the United States, weighing the arguments for and against such a policy.

• John McWhorter’s Perspective:

  • Citing McWhorter, they argue that English has naturally become the de facto official language through societal adaptation rather than governmental enforcement. This spontaneous order has also facilitated English becoming a global second language (30:21).

• Potential Backlash:

  • The conversation touches on possible resistance if the policy were to be enforced legally, anticipating cultural and practical challenges in a diverse, multilingual society (32:05).

  Joe Getty: "If we were to make it legally, so enforce people into it, what would the resistance or backlash look like?" (32:05)

8. Final Thoughts and Light-Hearted Banter

The episode concludes with final thoughts from the hosts and their guests, blending humor with reflections on the discussed topics.

• Trends and Personal Anecdotes:

  • Discussions about adopting new trends like the "coastal grandmother" aesthetic are met with playful skepticism and personal stories about balancing contemporary styles with practicality (24:12).

• Humorous Exchanges:

  • The hosts share amusing interactions, including Trump’s repetitive declaration of loving Tesla and lighthearted comments about fashion trends and consumer behavior (33:01).

• Call to Action:

  • Listeners are encouraged to visit armstronggetty.com, support the show by purchasing merchandise, and engage by sending in topic suggestions or feedback (34:12).

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

1. Unnamed Contributor on MAGA Motive:

   "This is making the news, but not in the same way. If it were MAGA people attacking an electric car company because of the politics, because they're attacking Elon because of the politics." (00:56)

2. Elon Musk on Violence Against Tesla:

   "It's really terrible that there's so much violence being perpetrated against people at Tesla. Tesla supporters, Tesla owners, Tesla stores. These are innocent people who've done nothing wrong." (03:00)

3. Donald Trump on Buying a Cybertruck:

   "I love Tesla... I want to get it at the White House and let my staff use it." (05:18)

4. Joe Getty on Brand Politicization:

   "Bud Light went from kind of heartland America to allegedly wildly woke. But Tesla's gone all the way from the left to the right." (08:50)

5. Unnamed Contributor on Gen Z’s Trend Overload:

   "The prevalence and pure amount of micro trends has made it impossible to understand or participate." (26:52)

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Conclusion:

In "You Reebok Wearing Freak!", Armstrong and Getty tackle a diverse range of contemporary issues, from politically motivated attacks on Tesla to the overwhelming wave of micro trends affecting Gen Z. They critically analyze the intersection of politics and consumer behavior, the internal conflicts within academic institutions like Columbia University, and the ongoing debate over the official language of the United States. Through engaging dialogue and insightful commentary, the hosts provide listeners with a multifaceted exploration of the current sociopolitical landscape.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln radio.

[Joe Getty]

Studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Law enforcement across the country, they're investigating for suspected arson. Like in the case outside of Boston where seven Tesla charging stations caught fire. And then there have been other incidents with vandalism, people spray painting on vehicles, spray painting the glass of dealerships or in one case outside of Portland, Oregon, shooting at the cars and the glass of the dealership in the early morning hours. Last Thursday, in one incident in Colorado, a woman was arrested for throwing Molotov cocktails at the dealership and spray painting the word Nazi on the cars.

[Unnamed Contributor]

This is making the news, but not in the same way. If it were MAGA people attacking an electric car company because of the politics, because they're attacking Elon because of the politics.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sure, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, it's amazing that conservatives ever win anything because they have the information industry on their side. But we do got a lot of.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Stuff coming up this hour before but we're going to get into Elon and Trump there. Having a car sale on the, on the White House lawn yesterday.

[Jack Armstrong]

One of the most gratifying stories I've heard in a really long time. Columbia University is at war with itself and the forces of reasonableness have been emboldened. So those few non communist academics out there are saying enough is enough. We'll bring you the details later.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Cool. So we'll start with, I don't know if you probably, if you watched any news yesterday, you saw this. They had a bunch of Teslas parked there at the White House and Trump was looking at him and Elon was showing them to him and, and they were taking questions from reporters. I, I've never heard anybody mention this other than me and I don't know why through the whole Biden, Obama times when they were touting electric cars and electric cars in the future and we're going to force you into electric cars. And they would have all the GM electric cars and the Ford electric cars and no Teslas even though Tesla was the only especially then electric car company even coming close to making a dent. I mean none of them were, they were selling like 100 a year of these other electric cars. But they'd have them there at the White House and talk about how big was all because even though climate change is an existential threat, is more important to make sure the auto union workers were happy and not Tesla. Who doesn't allow the unionization Right, Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

So revealing.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Yeah, no kidding. Apparently it's not so much of an existential threat anyhow. So you had Tesla's there at the White House for the first time yesterday. Here's a little Elon.

[Elon Musk]

And I just want to thank the President for his support. This means a lot. And also thank everyone out there who is supporting Tesla. It's really terrible that there's so much violence being perpetrated against people at Tesla. Tesla supporters, Tesla owners, Tesla stores. These are innocent people who've done nothing wrong.

[Unnamed Contributor]

So, you know, yeah, I, I have some concern about that. Somebody. Somebody's gonna get hurt. I mean, you know, you start setting stuff on fire and attacking people's cars and traffic and all that sort of stuff.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, hell yeah. Yeah. It's inevitable.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Yeah. Ain't. Ain't good. And I went to my local charging station in my Tesla yesterday and was wondering, is there gonna be anything going on here? Anybody's paint Nazi on the pump or anything? But not yet. Here's Trump responding to that.

[Donald Trump]

There's been some physical damage, a little damage, and we want to keep it that way because I don't want to say this, it's just not the appropriate. But law enforcement's out there watching everybody. We don't want this to happen and not to somebody that's been so good to our country. He didn't have to do this. He didn't have to go through this, and we can't let it happen.

[Unnamed Contributor]

And so, yeah, yesterday I on the air a couple times said, I think I'm going to get a cybertruck with a personalized license plate that says Doge. I think having a cybertruck truck now is basically like having a driving mega.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hat, which nobody saw coming five years back when like the entire constituency other than you who just wanted a rocket ship, fast car was, look at me, look how responsible I am. Global warming is an existential threat. I mean, that was like every customer or a huge percentage.

[Unnamed Contributor]

I eat kale and I drive a Tesla and I do all the good things. My kids are in public school and we're looking forward to Pride Month. It all fit together.

[Jack Armstrong]

I have a shrine to Greta Thunberg right in the living room. We genuflect to that brave little girl every day before we leave the house.

[Unnamed Contributor]

And now it's flipped the other direction. I have no idea what this is going to do to the car prices or the brand or whatever, because all a lot of the MAGA people live in parts of the country where they're going to drive electric cars. I know these people. They're my relatives, they're my friends. They're not going to drive electric.

[Jack Armstrong]

So it's gone from Joy Reid viewers to Kid Rock enthusiasts right there at.

[Unnamed Contributor]

The Tesla dealer, including Trump.

[Donald Trump]

So I just wanted to make a statement. I'm going to buy one. Now here's the bad news. I'm not allowed to drive because I haven't driven a car in a long time and I love to drive cars, but I'm going to have it at the White House and I'm going to let my staff use it. I'm going to let people at the place use it. And they all are all excited about that. I'm not allowed to use it. Can you believe it? One of my great. One of my great things in life is that I can, you know, I like to drive cars, but I'm not allowed to. And I will say this one, the cyber truck, I bought for a very special young woman. Do you know, I'm sure you've never heard of her, Kai. And she's a great golfer and she puts the clubs in the back and I guess it's a very safe deal. She loves it.

[Unnamed Contributor]

I mean, he's full car salesman mode there. Selling cars in the White House lawn. A little more of that.

[Donald Trump]

I love Tesla.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Which one did you buy, Mr. President?

[Jack Armstrong]

Which one did you buy? Which car are you gonna buy?

[Donald Trump]

The one I like is that one.

[Jack Armstrong]

How does this work?

[Donald Trump]

I want that same color.

[Jack Armstrong]

Are you going to put down a credit card? Elon, would you take a personal check from the president?

[Donald Trump]

I do it, the office. I give checks.

[Elon Musk]

I like checks, I guess, but it's good.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Do you still have.

[Donald Trump]

You know, I like your check better than this modern system of all of a sudden there's money in your account. Nobody knows. I like signing a check.

[Unnamed Contributor]

So Trump said, I'm going to get one. And Elon said, which one you want? And Trump said, which one do you drive? And he said, well, I drive an S plaid. And he said, well, get me that one. Get me the red one. I want one of those red. And then Hannity announced last night and tweeted out, I just ordered my new self driving Tesla Plaid, over 1,000 horsepower. So it is becoming a Hannity Trump Maga vehicle, which it wasn't when I bought one three years ago. But I guess that's the direction it's going. For better or worse? I gotta believe it's for worse for the car company.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Well, yeah, probably because it was always, at least in Large measure a virtue signal. Now it's a virtue signal again, but without the climate change is an existential crisis aspect of it. Yeah. I don't know. These are odd times.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Well, yeah, but this isn't just a minor company. This is one of the magnificent seven companies. This is the most valuable car company in the world. Is our politics now. So infiltrated every aspect of our lives. I mean, we've talked about this endlessly on how now people. You know, the first question you ask on social media if you're going to date someone is, did you vote for Trump or not? Something unheard of not that many years ago that it would even cross your mind thinking who they voted for President. When you got down to dating, I don't know how long you'd have to be dating before it would ever come up. In my case, maybe never.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, right, yeah. You could easily be a year into a relationship before something would pop up and you'd be like, oh, really? Yeah. Okay. It just doesn't matter.

[Unnamed Contributor]

But anyway, has it so infiltrated every aspect of life that companies can rise or fall based on whether they're seen as woke enough or maga enough or whatever? Like seriously rise and fall. And then I don't know what that does to economic models. Throws them all out the window because we all know how quickly that sort of thing can change. See Bud Light and Dylan Mulvaney. See Tesla in the last month.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, yeah, it's the greatest whip song ever. Because Bud Light went from kind of sort of heartland America to allegedly wildly woke. But Tesla's gone all the way from the left to the right. I think it may continue the trend, which in the wake of the whole George Floyd Wokist, BLM crap, where all these companies were throwing money at Marxist organizations in a desperate, desperate attempt not to be targeted by the angry howling mob of lefties. The. The after effect was that of that was that they realized, you know, maybe we ought to just, you know, I don't know, sell beer or. Or hardware or clothes or whatever we sell instead of hell out of politics like we used to. Maybe. I wonder if this will just cement that. Depends what happens.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Or is it go the other direction where it's. I was over to Buddy's house the other day to watch a football game. He had a Samsung tv. I'll never be over there again. I'm a Sony man. Sony's maga. Samsung's woke for something happening, you know?

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my God. Yeah. That's a great example. I. I hope not. I really can we just watch the.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Game, throw paint on somebody because they're wearing Reeboks, which are the wrong politics. But my president wears Nike New Balance.

[Jack Armstrong]

Where do you wear. You Reebok wearing fre? Yeah, I don't. Can we just settle the hell down? You know, they're getting weird fast. Yes, they are. I do want to clarify one thing. Talking about how dating, you know, the idea of knowing somebody's politics up front, blah, blah, blah, back in the day, it was completely unnecessary to know it and I didn't care and most people didn't care. Now, though, if somebody's like super wildly nutjob left, I think I kind of would like a heads up in advance. I mean, because that's, that's, I'm not sure that isn't maybe fatal issue. Maybe. Although we've received emails from folks who, who have spouses that are wildly different politically than they are and they're still happy and in love. So. Yeah.

[Katie Green]

Yes, Katie, I was raised in a world where asking about politics, finances, and religion was rude, right?

[Unnamed Contributor]

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. I've got some.

[Jack Armstrong]

Of course you wear a Doge hat around, so. Sure. You wear a Doge, Katie.

[Katie Green]

Well, I do now.

[Jack Armstrong]

I've been forced into it. You've been forced into it?

[Unnamed Contributor]

Yeah. Actually today I drove my F250 to work because I had to put a giant mower in the back of it to take to the repair shop. And it wouldn't, it wouldn't fit in a cybertruck if I had one. But. Oh, and Trump saying he's gonna give this to his. Don't give your granddaughter a 1000 horsepower car. That just seems like a really bad idea for a young woman.

[Jack Armstrong]

His ridiculously good looking granddaughter that was raised on the same farm of ridiculously good looking woman that the Trump Organization cranks out even more fruitfully than golf courses.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Here's a NASCAR for you and your friends to drive around. Yeah, go ahead.

[Jack Armstrong]

Speaking of young people mentioned this earlier. It was kind of an afterthought and an email from a beloved listener. But the idea of trend overload and how it's affecting Gen Z, whatever that one is, I can't keep track of the generations anymore. Plus Columbia University in open Civil War. And I'm loving it.

[Unnamed Contributor]

I just want to hear the beginning of this clip again, just to hear.

[Donald Trump]

I love Tesla.

[Unnamed Contributor]

That's a, that's a New York Tesla.

[Jack Armstrong]

Who grew up in New Jersey and went to high school in the Bronx for a while. And all he would occasionally let a sodor slip or. That's a good idea.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Love me a Tesler.

[Donald Trump]

I love Tesla.

[Unnamed Contributor]

More on the way. Stay here.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Unfortunately, at last week's World Ski Jump championships, two ski jumping Norwegians admitted to cheating by using manipulated jumpsuits with a reinforced thread and let him. Who watches a man hurl himself into the sky at 80 miles an hour, soar 300ft and stick a perfect landing and then goes. Wait a second. Does his jumpsuit have reinforced thread?

I wonder what advantage that gave them. Aerodynamics.

[Jack Armstrong]

Aerodynamics.

[Unnamed Contributor]

I don't.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know. It's like those. Those swimming suits that came in for one Olympics and everybody swam like a motorboat and then they banned them. Now he's doing 30 miles per hour in the pool. Jim, that's. He's gonna break the world record by, well, half. So, speaking of things that come and go, I thought this was interesting. Again, one of our beloved listeners made kind of an offhanded reference to what's the trend? Overload. And helpfully, it might have been Paolo included a link to an article in the New York Times by the pop culture Gen Z writer, a young gal by the name of Kelly Holterman. And it's the article is trend overlo. Consider yourself lucky if you've never heard of the coastal grandmother aesthetic. I have not. Or blueberry milk nails, or the mob wife aesthetic, or a hundred other Blink and you'll miss them crazes that cycle online with the ferocity of a centrifuge. These micro trends, as they're known, tend to be associated with Gen Z, but members of that generation say they're exhausted by the onslaught of faddish clothes and new phrases they encounter every time they pick up their phones.

[Unnamed Contributor]

I don't want to get bogged down. Can you give me a rough idea though? Which. Which one is Gen Z? Is that the current 20 somethings?

[Jack Armstrong]

They're teens and 20 somethings.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Okay, yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

This. You know, I hate to jump to the. The big overarching philosophical question before us, but I've wondered this for a long time. With the advent of smartphones and people becoming miserable and anxious and depressed and suicidal and nobody has friends anymore and nobody can talk to each other. And I always say on all sorts of different topics, don't engage in static analysis and assume that the beast will not adapt or the system will not adapt or. Because for every action there's a reaction. I just wonder whether this is another sign of young people saying this is making me miserable. And they'll start to decide not to be miserable.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Yeah. So I mentioned that I was running around with my son and his friends for his birthday weekend the other day and I was, I was amazed at how much time they spent staring at their phones, even with each other, you know, and I, I wasn't going to weigh in because you know, that's their deal, but it seemed weird to me and we drove by all these interesting things and I'd say something and they'd kind of look up from their phone for a second but go back to their phone, you know, more interested in what was on their phone than seeing anything new or whatever. But. And it's clearly each other, which breaks my heart. Yeah, it's clearly so bad. I mean, so bad. I got a million examples on the plane. Two airline stewardesses sitting in the jump seats for takeoff. Pre smartphone. They had to be talking to each other unless you brought a book. Now they sit there and stare at their phones. Anyway, I wonder if we'll look back on this and it'll be like smoking. When you look back on the like 50s and 60s and think doctors used.

[Jack Armstrong]

To smoke, I would love that.

[Unnamed Contributor]

I hope so. I really, really, really hope so.

[Jack Armstrong]

More than any one trend, the teenagers and 20 somethings she spoke with wanted to talk about just how many trends there were and how overwhelming it felt. Others say they can't keep up, they can't afford it mentally or financially. Yeah, there's, there's more to this and it's, it's pretty interesting. Maybe we can re approach the topic.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Well, the only hope is if this current generate Gen Z or whatever they are, they do get miserable enough that they don't want to raise their kids doing it, that they, they change the rules for their kids and their kids schools and all that sort of stuff. That's the only hope I think.

[Jack Armstrong]

What the f is the coastal grandmother aesthetic.

[Unnamed Contributor]

I actually have come across this. What that one I actually heard of.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, Columbia University at war with itself and we're loving it.

[Joe Getty]

Next, Armstrong and Getty.

[Unnamed Contributor]

The Trump administration, at the direction of President Trump's executive order has a zero tolerance policy for foreign national who are given the privilege of getting a visa and going to some of our finest universities and colleges and then siding with these radical terrorist organizations. And so this arrest that took place on the campus of Colombia is the first of many to come.

I don't know legally where we are on this whole thing, the free speech stuff, but in terms of a political issue, this one might be in around 80, 20 certainly 70, 30.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Especially if you laid it out in neutral verbiage about roughly rough draft here. Well, honestly, you could put it as plainly as this. Are we going to follow the law about if somebody's on a visa and they break our laws and get arrested, they get booted out or not? And I think most people would say, yeah, hell, follow the law. That's why it's the law. Or change the law. Anyway, Columbia University, and there will be many more test cases for this that will, in a very helpful way, I think, you know, run up against the First Amendment and we can weigh. All right, how do we want to approach this stuff? I'm fine with it, especially because a lot of these young college radicals are foreigners. They're on student visas. They're working for the violent overthrow of the government of the United States. Screw them. Boot them out. Anyway, I love this. I was unaware of this. It makes perfect sense. Columbia University is kind of in two battles right now. The one we just talked about and the canceled federal funds to the Ivy League school over their anti Semitism. They got that. But the second one is simmering behind the scenes. A faculty civil war that is pitting medical doctors and engineers, actual science people, against the political scientists and humanities scholars over how to handle all the chaos, including the pro Palestinian, pro Hamas demonstrations that have disrupted the campus life. And that's understating it, honestly, if you ask me. It's a piece by. Who is this Douglas Belkin that's pretty interesting.

[Unnamed Contributor]

I know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Takeover of buildings, the occupation of buildings, all that crap.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Because I know the crazy politics has infiltrated every department of these major universities, and we've talked about that a lot, how they work it into astronomy and obviously the law school and all that sort of stuff, but not so much that the engineers aren't saying, yo, I'm trying to get a degree here so I can go make a living. What the hell are you doing over there?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and this is the faculty we're talking about, too. Well, in particular, it's the faculty. But. And this is so easy to imagine, the soft sciences lunatics who are as left as can be. They're embracing this stuff enthusiastically. The physicists are saying, you want me to incorporate that stuff into physics? Holy crap.

[Unnamed Contributor]

And they're.

[Jack Armstrong]

They're doing it maybe just enough to stay out of trouble, but they hate it. They hate it because it's perverting the science they've spent their entire lives studying and developing. So in February, well before Donald J. Made Columbia Exhibit A in his effort to reshape elite colleges, seven Jewish faculty from the engineering, medical, and business schools, along with some prominent deans and representatives for Jewish alumni, met with the Columbia interim president, Katrina Armstrong. Because every university president needs to be a woman. They asked her to get ahead of Trump's moves by implementing a series of restrictions on protesters, including banning masks on campus, which is probably already the law.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

But they said, look, let's do the smart stuff, and then you won't have to worry about, you know. Right. Wingy Trump and his crazy ideas. Her response was to kick the can down the road. She gave him a little lip service, and absolutely nothing happened.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Boy, the fact that you don't have the guts to say to your students, all right, you can protest on behalf of Hamas, but you can't cover your face.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, Right. Last week, the Trump administration said it's canceling roughly $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia. On Monday, notes went out informing the faculty about the frozen money and said Brent Stockwell, chair of the Department of Biological Sciences, it feels like you're on a bus that's going over the cliff and you're just asking to take charge and drive. People are very angry. People are in tears. They are so frustrated because these people are trying to do hard science and real, you know, academic studies, and their school has become so perverse that, you know, the stuff that's happening is happening.

[Unnamed Contributor]

I've got a close relative who got their graduate degree from Columbia just a couple years ago. I should ask them if they feel that's damaging its prestige. It's got to be. If I'm an employer and I see Columbia University on a resume coming through, I'd have to at least want to take a, you know, have a few conversations with the person, suss them out.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. At Columbia, the protests last fall led the school to move classes online. Last April, I guess last winter, spring, while a campus rabbi warned Jewish students against returning to campus because it wasn't safe, Columbia canceled its main graduation ceremony. And in August, the president resigned 13 months into the job. The rest of it, and you're. And again, your hard science, your real academics are saying, this is insane. We have got to reign this in. So I. You know, as a political science major, I would be happy to go deep undercover on behalf of you scientists. I know how to talk to these people. I can speak their language. I will be your mole deep within the faculty, although I could never get into their faculty. So I love this. Keep standing up. Real academics and folks in those. You Know like political scientists who actually understand what's wrong with the current atmosphere on campuses. I love this. It's got to come from within. It's like, you know, we've been saying it's going to take women to get rid of the transgender madness or fellas are in their locker room showing their wang and, and beating the hell out of women on sports fields and showing their wang. I mean, that's the least of the worries. But yeah, it's just women need to take charge of this and academics have to take charge of their universities. Honestly, we need help. We can't do it from without.

[Unnamed Contributor]

You brought it up last segment. So I did a little googling around. How to dress like a coastal grandmother or coastal granddaughter.

[Jack Armstrong]

Excuse me, we've skipped right over why to dress like a coastal grandmother.

[Unnamed Contributor]

How to dress coastal grandmother chic on a budget. So I feel like we've done you some good today, particularly you women on a fashion trend that is out there right now. Coastal grandmother, Chicago.

[Jack Armstrong]

We have done nobody a favor by bringing that up.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Well, so you know, it's a hot thing for summer.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, no, it's. Well, like I would know a damn thing about this. But according to the New York Times Gen Z writer. Here you go. Here's a 16 year old high school junior, New York said she felt constantly bombarded by product recommendations. Cheetah print was hot. Less than two months ago she said, quote, and now when I go on TikTok, I see people saying like cheetah print is getting sol right right here today, gone today. Chris Rock didn't know how right he was.

[Unnamed Contributor]

My God. Yeah, I just texted you a picture of a coastal grandmother cheek so you can look at it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Is it going to turn me on?

[Unnamed Contributor]

No, it's, it's just very kind of loose fitting, comfortable wear. But for whatever reason.

[Jack Armstrong]

All right, for the love of heaven, here's, here's another quote. Here's a 15 year old in Indiana watch classmates buy $35 Stanley tumblers only to covet another brand of pastel water bottles shortly thereafter. It's wasteful. She said, you're waste. You're just wasting resources, you're wasting money.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Will kids adapt to this? I mean, it was my son. I can't remember what the topic was. It might have been about the radio show or whatever. It was quite a few years ago when he was a teenager, I guess maybe early 20s. He introduced me to the phrase, dad haters gonna hate the idea that online. No, ignore it. Because that's, that's what they do for fun. It has nothing to do with you. Haters are gonna hate. And so he's adapted to that world in a way. Of course, he's not an impressionable young teenage girl who will go along with about anything.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Yeah, well, we've talked about how words and phrases come and go way faster than they used to. So everything does, I guess.

[Jack Armstrong]

Here's a college kid in Oregon, he thinks his age group has reached saturation. Quote, the prevalence and pure amount of micro trends has made it impossible to understand or participate.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Well, trying to think of, experienced anything like that. Is it like when, I don't know, like American Idol was so dominant and then you had like 50 different singing shows. Everybody's like, yeah, whatever, you just give up on it. Is it kind of like that? I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah, I don't know. I'm, I'm interested in the debate sociologically.

[Unnamed Contributor]

It reminds me. And this fits in perfectly. So I got turned on. The New York Times had an article about this, this book on this author that I got into a couple weekends ago. And he was a great cultural critic in New York of the 20s. I don't remember his name, but you wouldn't know it anyway, really, really big deal then. And he wrote a number of novels about the roaring 20s, basically. I mean, it was the most roaring there in New York. And it was during prohibition and everybody was feeling rich. I mean, if any of us. This sounds familiar. Everybody was feeling rich and just bored by modern life and there was just a lot of casual sex and people not interested in getting married and dating anymore. Every. Everybody was just bored with everything and constantly trying to find the next new thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

And drunk all the time, drunk during prohibition.

[Unnamed Contributor]

And this, this book, I should send you one of them. It's really interesting to read. But we all know what ended that. The, the depression in World War II completely obliterated that. I mean, and it was a hard reset, as we all know, to, you know, the way my parents grew up, very austere. I mean, just the 180 degrees from that lifestyle. But it took cataclysms to do that. And that's what will wipe all this out. I think.

[Jack Armstrong]

Human nature does not change.

[Unnamed Contributor]

It's a little different now because of the social media. And it's not just cultural, it's just, you know, the way we do everything staring at our phones. Everything has changed. But a cataclysm, oh, you know, a good long war with China and a devastating economy for a while, you know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sweet meteor of death. Maybe.

[Unnamed Contributor]

I don't want that to happen, but that's what reset us last time around. We'll finish strong. Coming up next, Armstrong and Getty sold.

Readily at smoke shops, convenience stores and gas stations. Kratom is derived from a plant from Southeast Asia and often marketed as a supplement to boost energy, manage pain, and even possibly help kick addictions. It can be bought in liquid, tablet or powder form. Small doses, the DEA says, provide a stimulant effect, high doses a sedative effect. CDC data from 2023 shows 37 states and Washington, D.C. had 1,151 overdose deaths in which kratom was detected. The FDA doesn't regulate it, but warns the public against the use of Kratom for medical treatment.

Had never even heard of Kratom.

[Jack Armstrong]

That was if you had said there's a new drug called Kratom. Did I just make that up or not? I wouldn't know.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Yeah, no idea. Take it easy on the Kratom.

[Jack Armstrong]

Everybody ain't good for you, boy. A small dose is kind of a stimulant. Large dose is a depressant. I get that myself out of a glass.

[Unnamed Contributor]

So here's something counterintuitive for you. Maybe we'll get into this when we have more time because it's kind of fascinating. So Trump mentioned the other day, I think he mentioned it in his not State of the Union address about making English the official language, which in general sounds good to me. I just, it drives me nuts when I am trying to function in the world and dealing with somebody doesn't speak English drives me crazy. I said a store the other day and ask a question. The person just said no English then why are you here? I would have said in their language if I knew how but so I saw this from Steven Pinker who sometimes I agree with, sometimes I don't in his Twitter feed. But he pointed out John McWhorter's piece in the New York Times about this and I we often agree with him. English as the official US language is an unkind policy for a non existent problem, says John McWhorter. Right wingers take note. Libertarianism has worked perfectly well here. Spontaneous order of emerging from everyone wanting to learn the predominant language has resulted in English becoming the de facto official language of our country without government regulation. It has also become the world's de facto official second language again without government regulation. And how pulls people together better just because it's an easier to way to make a go of it in this country than it would if we Tried to force people into it. That's McWhirter's argument.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and if we were to make it legally, so enforce people into it, what would the resistance or backlash look like? And I'm not advocating one side of this or the other. I'm just curious how it would actually play out in real life. I mean, because the official state language of California is English and it's a joke.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Yeah. Well, then there's no enforcement of that whatsoever. But it's not hard to imagine an immigrant family from wherever. And you hear this all the time. People who grew up in a house where their parents were going to make them learn English. You're going to speak English because that's how you're going to make a go up in this country.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Maybe being resistant to that if it were forced upon.

[Jack Armstrong]

You asked a girl on a train platform in Munich, excuse me, do you speak English? And she. She said yes, as if it was a ridiculous question.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

And she was terminal.

[Unnamed Contributor]

I gotta comment on that.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'll do it.

[Unnamed Contributor]

For my final thought. It's final thoughts.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm strong again.

[Unnamed Contributor]

It's final thoughts.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm strong again.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Get ready with Katie Green and Michelangelo. Here's your host for final thoughts, Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let's get a final thought from everybody on the crew. Michelangelo, lead us off, would you please? Well, I got exactly one month till I turned 50, and I know that.

[Unnamed Contributor]

I can't keep up with the trends like coastal grandmother.

[Jack Armstrong]

I just don't know.

[Unnamed Contributor]

I think you should start dressing like a coastal grandmother.

[Jack Armstrong]

Katie Greener, esteemed newswoman, has a final thought. Katie?

[Katie Green]

Well, since Jack is thinking about getting a cyber truck, I was looking at wraps and they have a McDonald's burger wrap.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Oh, cool.

[Katie Green]

For the cyber truck.

[Unnamed Contributor]

There you go.

[Jack Armstrong]

So your truck looks like a burger?

[Katie Green]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. Dream come true. Jack, a final thought for us.

[Unnamed Contributor]

So I was good friends with this guy named Giuseppe who's from Italy, and he's a PhD at the university. And he spoke decent English. Not great, but decent English. And I remember telling him one time that I was thinking of learning Spanish or a second language. I thought it'd be cool. And he said, why would you care? You already know the most important language on earth. And he was a very, well, world traveled, world traveler. That's just stuck in my mind. Yeah, I already know that. Them the important language.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. I will be online all afternoon promoting the coastal middle aged dipstick who doesn't give a crap anymore aesthetic. If you'd like some pictures of that, well, I'll send you pictures of me.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Yes. I've got the guy who shops at Tractor Supply Aesthetic Armstrong and Getty wrapping up another grueling four hour workday.

[Jack Armstrong]

So many people. Thanks a little time. Go to armstrong getty.com check out the hotline links. Oh, so many good reads and views. Pick up an A G hoodie for your favorite AMG fan. Maybe it's you. Helps to keep everybody on the payroll during these challenging times. And if there's something we ought to be talking about. Man, y'all are great about this Drop us line. Send a link [e-mail] we will see you tomorrow.

[Unnamed Contributor]

God bless America.

[Donald Trump]

I love Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm gonna say this at risk of.

[Joe Getty]

My job, which are beyond my craving for Doritos.

[Unnamed Contributor]

What the hell are you talking about? Seems like there's a few kinks in that slinky.

[Jack Armstrong]

So let's go out with a bang.

[Unnamed Contributor]

Raindrops keep falling on your head. Are you familiar with that?

[Jack Armstrong]

On my head? Right.

[Unnamed Contributor]

It's not nitpick. That's not the point of the conversation. Who's hate is getting rain on it? It's not the point.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's not the key question. Right.

[Unnamed Contributor]

And on that nightmare inducing note, thank.

[Jack Armstrong]

You very much, Armstrong and Gettysburg.