You Ugly Beagle!!

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand: "You Ugly Beagle!!"

Release Date: February 12, 2025
Host: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Producer: iHeartPodcasts

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1. Introduction to the Episode

In the "You Ugly Beagle!!" episode of Armstrong & Getty On Demand, hosts Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty delve into a variety of pressing socio-political issues, blending humor with critical analysis. Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln radio studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, the duo navigates topics from public health crises to governmental reforms, all while maintaining their signature irreverent style.

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2. A Grim Flu Season

The episode opens with a discussion on the severity of the current flu season in the United States, described as the worst in over fifteen years.
Jack Armstrong [00:11]: "This is one of the most severe flu seasons in the United States. It's the last 15 years. It's so bad in some states, school districts are closing because so many students and staff are getting sick."
Joe Getty [00:35]: "Worst flu season in over a decade and a half."

The hosts explore transmission methods, emphasizing the longevity of the flu virus on surfaces and reiterating standard preventive measures like frequent handwashing.
Jack Armstrong [00:54]: "Wash your hands a lot. Is that a good idea? It can't hurt. Yeah. Yeah."
Joe Getty [01:20]: "No, it didn't."

They critique public health messaging, specifically mocking ineffective advice from officials.
Jack Armstrong [00:54]: "We decried that. That was one of the early signs that... This is completely ridiculous."

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3. The Absurd Evolution of the Westminster Dog Show

Transitioning from health to culture, Armstrong and Getty comment on the Westminster Dog Show's shift to a thrice-weekly event.
Jack Armstrong [01:46]: "Now the Westminster Dog show, which is held every three weeks now apparently."
Joe Getty [02:20]: "Giant schnauzer. How giant? Like the size of a school bus."

They humorously describe the latest champion, a “dignified giant schnauzer” named Monty, highlighting the show's surreal changes.
Joe Getty [11:05]: "We have this show every week."
Jack Armstrong [11:21]: "Unfortunately, the giant schnauzer bounded to accept the award and crushed five people."

The hosts ridicule the event’s triviality compared to more serious national issues.

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4. Declining Fertility Rates and Population Dynamics

A significant portion of the discussion centers on falling fertility and reproductive rates in the developed world. Drawing from a correspondent named Paolo, Armstrong and Getty challenge mainstream explanations attributing this decline to factors like climate change.
Jack Armstrong [03:02]: "Paolo dropped us earlier with just kind of expanding on his theory, which I think has nailed it beyond any scientist."
Joe Getty [06:54]: "That's a unique idea that I hadn't heard before."

Paolo’s theory posits that high population density, exacerbated by the Internet, leads to reduced reproductive incentives, likening human behavior to that of ground squirrels facing resource competition.
Jack Armstrong [04:16]: "We could certainly make that case... populations are falling like crazy in the developed world."
Joe Getty [07:18]: "We're seeing behaviors that limit reproduction."

The hosts argue that constant internet stimulation overwhelms human neural capacities designed for intermittent engagement, leading to decreased desire for traditional social structures like marriage and childbearing.
Jack Armstrong [07:47]: "The condition of being constantly badgered by the Internet is similar to severe overcrowding in our brains."
Joe Getty [09:44]: "There'll be no sperm count whatsoever. Couldn't have a baby if we wanted to."

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5. Elon Musk’s Government Reform and the "Doge" Initiative

A focal point of the episode is Elon Musk’s involvement in government reform, particularly his association with the "Doge" initiative. Armstrong and Getty scrutinize Musk's recent press conferences and policy proposals.
Jack Armstrong [17:16]: "Donald Trump: And we're going to be signing a very important deal today. It's Doge."
Elon Musk [18:56]: "If you have rule of the bureaucrat... we don't live in a democracy. We live in a bureaucracy."

They highlight Musk’s criticisms of federal bureaucracy, accusing it of being unelected and excessively powerful.
Jack Armstrong [23:30]: "All of them? Yeah, practically all of them."
Joe Getty [25:25]: "It's been done over and over again. Washington felt more than free to completely ignore."

The hosts express skepticism over Musk's ability to manage multiple high-profile roles, questioning his commitment to long-term governmental reform.
Joe Getty [26:02]: "I can't even imagine his life... how he functions."
Jack Armstrong [29:15]: "If you have a feedback loop, you fix that feedback loop, and that public's elected representative decide what happens."

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6. Political Commentary: Government Spending and Deficit Crisis

Armstrong and Getty delve into the critical issue of the national deficit and federal spending. Citing Elon Musk’s alarming claims, they discuss the unsustainable $2 trillion deficit and the priority of servicing national debt over defense.
Elon Musk [24:38]: "We've got a $2 trillion deficit... it's essential for America to have the resources necessary to provide things to its citizens."
Jack Armstrong [25:25]: "That is the most important thing that's been said politically in the United States in the last 50 years."

They argue that traditional committees and officials have failed to address these issues, necessitating Musk’s disruptive approach to draw attention.
Joe Getty [26:16]: "The politics part of it is where it really makes sense to have somebody of Musk's profile."
Jack Armstrong [27:12]: "It's just, it's undeniable... we are now paying significantly more just interest on our debt."

The discussion extends to the inefficiency within government agencies, with Musk highlighting unexplained wealth accumulation among federal employees.
Elon Musk [32:19]: "There are quite a few people... somehow managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth while they are in that position."
Joe Getty [34:25]: "More Elon."

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7. Cultural and Political Satire

Throughout the episode, Armstrong and Getty employ satire to critique current political and cultural phenomena. They mock the repetition of historical protest tropes in modern political discourse, questioning the elevation of mundane legislative issues to civil rights battlegrounds.
Jack Armstrong [14:17]: "And people want to relive that all the time."
Joe Getty [15:13]: "We have to do something about this."

They also lampoon public figures and media portrayals, using humor to underscore the absurdity they perceive in contemporary governance and societal trends.
Joe Getty [30:29]: "Now the disruptor in chief Elon Musk, who apparently has adopted the alias."
Joe Getty [31:41]: "This is Generation X in charge."

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8. Conclusion

As the episode wraps up, Armstrong and Getty reiterate the urgency of addressing America's fiscal and societal challenges. They emphasize the need for transparent and effective governance, critiquing the status quo and advocating for disruptive leadership to instigate meaningful change.
Jack Armstrong [29:47]: "If you had your typical gray man blue ribbon committee appointed, nobody'd be paying any freaking attention."
Joe Getty [35:15]: "If you missed a segment or now. Or get the podcast Armstrong and Getty on demand."

The hosts leave listeners with a blend of concern and skepticism about the future, calling for vigilance and proactive measures to navigate the complexities of modern governance and societal health.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Jack Armstrong [00:11]: "This is one of the most severe flu seasons in the United States."
• Joe Getty [03:02]: "Is it responsible?"
• Elon Musk [18:56]: "If you don't have a feedback loop, we don't live in a democracy. We live in a bureaucracy."
• Jack Armstrong [25:25]: "That is the most important thing that's been said politically in the United States in the last 50 years."
• Joe Getty [34:25]: "More Elon."

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Final Thoughts

In "You Ugly Beagle!!", Armstrong and Getty offer a critical lens on contemporary issues, blending satire with substantive discussions on health, culture, and governance. Their candid approach invites listeners to question established norms and consider alternative perspectives on the challenges facing modern society.

Transcript

[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. This is one of the most severe flu seasons in the United States. It's the last 15 years. It's so bad in some states, school districts are closing because so many students and staff are getting sick.

[Joe Getty]

Worst flu season in over a decade and a half. As you heard Jake Tapper say there. How do you get the flu? How do I catch that? Somebody sneeze on me or drop some glue?

[Jack Armstrong]

They live on surfaces for a long time. The, the flu virus as well. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Rather not get the flu.

[Jack Armstrong]

Ra.

[Joe Getty]

Wash your hands a lot. Is that a good idea?

[Jack Armstrong]

It can't hurt. Yeah. Yeah. Try not to touch your eyes and nose. You remember that idiotic. Was it that scarf lady Burks who said, now don't touch your eyes and nose? And as she's giving the speech, she's like dabbing at her eyes and they're rubbing her. And we decried that. That was one of the early signs that. Wait a minute. This is completely ridiculous. And it didn't get any better either.

[Joe Getty]

No, it didn't.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh. Even the lefty media now is admitting keeping the schools closed was a horrifying debacle. And we're, we're struggling mightily to come back from that debacle. And it's not going well. Among many other topics we'll discuss. Probably ought to get to the lead story today, Jack, of course, which is that the Westminster Dog show, which is held every three weeks now, apparently.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, exactly.

[Jack Armstrong]

As designated a dignified giant schnauzer. Monty. As the nation's top ranked dog. What?

[Joe Getty]

They didn't. They had the show again. When?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yesterday. Every day debut.

[Joe Getty]

So weekly show now.

[Jack Armstrong]

I, I know. I, I know the hell. How often do they hold that show? I don't know. I remember when he got the idea it was annual. Right.

[Joe Getty]

I always thought so. Okay. Swear it was like, congratulations, giant schnauzer. How giant? Like the size of a school bus.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's like 50ft long. Like Clifford an amazing dog cleaning up after. It's no treat. Moving along. So the question of falling fertility rates and reproductive rates and indeed coupling in general and marriage all over the industrialized west and east and China and all sorts of places. I mean everything but like the sub Saharan Africa. And those figures are not as easy to come by anyway. But populations are falling like crazy in the developed world. And this is a note from frequent correspondent and deep thinker Paolo, I'm guessing.

[Joe Getty]

This came in after did the thing yesterday from the New York Times where they did, like, their monthly opinion piece about, oh, is it okay to bring a child into this world with climate change and whatnot.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, exactly. And then is it responsible?

[Joe Getty]

And then they just jump to the conclusion that people aren't having kids because of climate change. All right, if you say so. I don't believe that.

[Jack Armstrong]

But idiotic reasoning. Idiotic conclusion, just. Anyway, so this is an expansion of note. Paolo dropped us earlier with just kind of expanding on his theory, which I think has nailed it beyond, you know, any scientist between Paolo and our thinking. And we've been kind of going back and forth on this. You're talking about the falling birth and coupling rates and how people commonly attribute that to the world being such a horrible place that they don't want to bring a child into it. That just doesn't listen. Right. I've never. I don't think I've heard that expression. Well, doesn't sound right. It's a variation on that. It's kind of clever. As you pointed out, the world is arguably the best it's ever been. And, you know, we could certainly make that case or read Thomas Picker's enlightenment. Now, in terms of life expectancy and health and just a hundred measures, particularly in the United States, the best it's ever been.

[Joe Getty]

You pick any point in history, place or point in history, you can't really do better than being in the United States now.

[Jack Armstrong]

Our poor people are astoundingly wealthy by historical standards and global standards. Anyway, our response to perceived tough times. Oh, I'm sorry. It's arguably the best it's ever been. Yet the birth rate here and many other places is suicidally low. Our response to perceived tough times is suicide. I think there's a more likely explanation for the low fertility rate. And then he quotes a paragraph from a scholarly journal slash article. Animals can change their reproductive output depending on certain environmental conditions. And one of those environmental conditions is population density, notes this lead author. So if you have lots of neighbors and you're competing for the same food, it can lower reproduction. And that's what we saw. At very high population densities, female ground squirrels basically shut down their reproduction. Imagine the frustration of the male ground squirrels. And that was done in order to sustain their own survival. When better they would start reproducing again.

[Joe Getty]

Unless the male ground squirrels also have no interest, which might happen, too, because we're seeing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. I'm not sure why they phrased it that way. Exactly. But yeah, that is the case among humans. But then we get to. And I remember, and y'all probably do too. When we had had this discussion a couple of weeks ago, I made my usual joke. Anybody who thinks the world is overcrowded should drive across Nevada or from Kansas City to Sacramento, say along i80. It's vast thousand mile stretches of virtually nobody but a handful of farmers anyway. But then Paolo jumps to what I think is his most brilliant conclusion, reached again in concert with the Armstrong and Getty show. The degree to which we're interconnected think the Internet likely makes our animal brains think we're even more crowded than we are and triggers behaviors that limit reproduction, waning interest in reproducing. This is what I'm always hammering going on and on about is our level of input or stimulus is a hundred times what it is designed to be. In the average day, the average human being would have so much less interaction, so much less input of ideas and arguments and anger and passion and porn and everything else. They're just. Your brain is made to be bored or daydreaming for long stretches of time. That's what it's made to do. That's how it keeps itself sane.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I don't know if this is it, but that's a unique idea that I hadn't heard before. The one thing I am positive of is it's not a choice. I do not believe people are choosing. You know, with climate change and the rent, we're deciding. I, I'm not going to get married or have kids. No, no, that's not. You're not. There's something going on way deeper than that and maybe it's this Internet.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think you're 100% right. So anyway, and I'm sorry I, I didn't connect the dots completely. For anybody who hasn't done it on their own, the condition of being constantly badgered by the Internet of our own free will. Most of our cases is extremely similar to that of serious overpopulation, as if we're crammed into a Tokyo subway car in terms of our brains perceptions.

[Joe Getty]

The only thing I don't know, while you've got all kinds of examples with beasts, what was the birth rate of London when it was the biggest city in the world and you know, people were living hip to hip in the 1800s, were people still cranking out babies like crazy or not? I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know. That's a really, really interesting question to test the premise. I suspect that the Birth rates were lower than they were in less crowded places. And if you're used to 12 kids per couple and you go down to eight, that's still a lot of kids.

[Joe Getty]

I wonder if they have.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's a decline.

[Joe Getty]

I wonder if they have numbers in JAP Japan for what is like Tokyo as it grew into one of the biggest cities in the world through the.

[Jack Armstrong]

70S and 80s, led the way in low reproductive rates.

[Joe Getty]

Sure, no doubt. But this makes more sense than practically any other theory I've ever heard.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh yeah, 100%. And just. I'll let him bring it home just to credit his fabulous arguments. We don't recognize the real cause for these behaviors, so we try to formulate an explanation such as, the world is so awful that I don't want to bring a child into it. Or perhaps it's just too expensive. Hard. The world was a lot harsher place 100 years ago. Thousand years ago, 10,000 years ago. Lucky for us, our ancestors viewed things differently than we do. And likewise, he points out that the very sparse population of our distant ancestors was probably strong motivation to mate like bunnies. Not to mention. It's just kind of fun. I think this is, this is important.

[Joe Getty]

We're gonna figure all this out. Too late though. Whether it's the plastics in our brain or, oh, it's the Internet, it's social media that's keep us from having babies, there'll be no, you know, we'll be at the point of no return on population and our brains will be full of plastic. We'll have no sperm count whatsoever. Couldn't have a baby if we wanted to.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, and, and I'm not a particularly religious fellow, but I always go back to the book of Genesis and the apple from the tree of knowledge. And that always confused me as a kid because here I was being sent to school five days a week and doing homework and reading and the rest of it and I think, wow, knowledge is fine. In fact, it's great. In fact, if I don't get my daily knowledge, my parents yell at me. So I always found that somewhat mystifying. But the older I get and the more I see, the more I think I understand. It's simply a message that man's abilities and lusts will be man's undoing.

[Joe Getty]

Yes, well, you can't blame Elon Musk for not having kids, as he was in the Oval Office yesterday with his cute little kid on his shoulders as he talked about trying to gut the federal government. Cuz he's part of a dictatorship of oligarchs or plutocrats or something. Well.

[Jack Armstrong]

And he's unelected.

[Joe Getty]

We got a little from that press conference and a bunch of other hairs. The Westminster Dog Show Giant schnauzer wins. It's no I, I Good looking dog though. I swear to God. We had a different winner two weeks ago.

[Jack Armstrong]

Do you want to hear the announcement?

[Joe Getty]

I suppose. For Best in show at the 149th annual. I hope it's the Giants.

[Michael]

Westminster Kennel Club dogs, please be the Giants.

[Joe Getty]

Now I choose the giant Schnauzer.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, Monty.

[Joe Getty]

He did it. Three years and he finally wins Best in show.

[Jack Armstrong]

Unfortunately, the giant schnauzer bounded to accept the award and crushed five people and under its mighty paws.

[Joe Getty]

Well, and you didn't see as the cameras panned away, but there was a middle aged woman in sensible shoes who kicked her beagle. You ugly beagle.

[Jack Armstrong]

You suck. Jack. Many in the crowd were disappointed that were they crowd favorite German shepherd Mercedes did not win the crown. Snubbed again this year. It's been a tough couple years for Mercedes the German shepherd this year.

[Joe Getty]

And by this year we mean this week because we have this show every week. I think something's gone wrong there.

[Jack Armstrong]

Gotta watch Best in Show now.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think the German shepherd also carried with it some of the guilt over World War II.

[Joe Getty]

I heard the German shepherd lift his never forget looked reminiscent of Elon Musk's signal to the crown. That's what I thought.

[Jack Armstrong]

Bad dog. Bad dog.

[Joe Getty]

We got a lot more on the way. Stay here.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty Doge for or against?

[Joe Getty]

It is all the rage. Somebody texted that Marjorie Taylor Greene is on the floor of the house right now. They wrote this making a great case for why we need to cut spending and shrink our debt. She's hitting a home run. A crazy blonde sort of bitchy home run. And everyone knows it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. Meanwhile, Jack, I've discovered what I believe to be the we shall overcome of 2025. The we are the world of the 21st century. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you. Which side are you on?

[Michael]

Oh, which side are you on? Which side are you on?

[Jack Armstrong]

Rally and Washington.

[Michael]

Which side are you on? Which side are you on? We'll fight against Josh. We'll fight Elon Musk. No. We landscape within our walls. We'll fight from dawn to dus. Oh, which side are you on? Which side are you?

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm on whichever side ensures I never have to hear this song again. Play it, Michael.

[Joe Getty]

Play it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Damn it. Did somebody tell you? Turn it off.

[Michael]

He Wants us all to fail. He wants us to bow to him, but we want him in jail.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, my God.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

You know, I. I don't forget who wrote this or said this, and I thought it was really good. One of the problems we got going on in America is we. We had this period in the 60s where there was a whole bunch of late 50s, mid-60s, particularly, where we had all kinds of this sort of thing, songs and protests and, you know, the. Look at the Bob Dylan movie and the Civil Rights act and all these different sorts of things, where there was, like, a real major issue to be dealt with and. And people rallied around and there was a. Which side? Where you're on. And people.

[Jack Armstrong]

It was righteous.

[Joe Getty]

It was righteous. And people want to relive that all the time, even if that issue doesn't exist right now. And you can't, like, put that level of intensity on Doge. He's trying to cut spending by a few percent and shrink the government. Which side are you on?

[Michael]

Which side are you?

[Jack Armstrong]

Elon Musk? Thanks for asking.

[Joe Getty]

Staunchly, it' moral question of our time.

[Jack Armstrong]

As. As you. Exactly. As you point out, it's just so nakedly a strategy of. We've got to change these incremental cuts that aren't nearly enough to a bloated federal workforce into the civil rights issue of our day. Yeah, good luck with that. I mean, you want to talk about trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear? That's like a silk purse out of the pig's crap, never mind its ear. God, this is not gonna work.

[Joe Getty]

The singing, the lyrics. Was that a Saturday Night Live bit? Good Lord, don't take that government bio.

[Michael]

Don't listen to Trump's lies. US Workers haven't got a chance. And let's reorganize.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, it's just the union pretending that the union is standing up for goodness and righteousness, when indeed they're just standing up for continuing to have way too many workers paying way too many dues to enrich themselves. We're on to you, friends.

[Joe Getty]

I sure hope I'm right about this, and I think. But the vast majority of America doesn't look at government jobs as sacrosanct, protected by all that is good. They should never go away under any circumstances the way they think we do.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, they have managed to jam through every bit of wasteful spending and. And redundant taxation and similar stuff for years and years. And we're most familiar with California, but by. By always it's the teachers and the Firefighters, if there are any cuts, it's gonna, you know, the firefighters are gonna have to fight fires with Dixie cups full of water. And the teachers, well, they're just gonna be imprisoned, apparently, if we don't pass this tax increase. Well, now it's extended. Like all government workers who are sacrosanct and sacred and so valuable to society, we dare not question them for a minute.

[Joe Getty]

Right. The great civil rights issue of our day is making sure mid level government employees who do something that you can't even tell what it is, don't lose their jobs. All right.

[Jack Armstrong]

No matter how unnecessary their jobs are. Right.

[Joe Getty]

And there's also the issue, and I don't think Elon's been hammering this enough, although he has many times in his Twitter threads. There are important jobs and important agencies that are going to have to go away if you don't have enough money. It's like if you're broke, you really, really want to do this or that, but you can't. You just flat don't have the money.

[Jack Armstrong]

And you better eliminate the not necessary stuff before you have to eliminate all of it.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Speaking of Elon, he was in the Oval Office, did kind of a press conference yesterday. It was pretty cool. Some highlights of that on the way.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Donald Trump]

And we're going to be signing a very important deal today. It's Doge. And I'm going to ask Elon to tell you a little bit about it and some of the things that we found which are shocking. Billions and billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse. And I think it's very important. And that's one of the reasons I got elected. I said, we're going to do that. Nobody had any idea it was that bad, that sick and that corrupt.

[Joe Getty]

Yes. He ran on. He was going to cut waste, fraud and abuse. He had Elon on stage all the time. The term Doge was out there for months. The idea that this is some sort of unelected oligarch takeover thing, I don't know where that comes from.

[Jack Armstrong]

You left out coup and constitutional crisis.

[Joe Getty]

You can be against it if you want, but you're. You're making stuff up. If you claim that the president can't appoint people to advise him on things that the executive branch then enacts.

[Jack Armstrong]

He's unelected, you fool. Can we save time and just call it a constitutional. Constitutional kousis. Ooh, that's pretty good as a time.

[Joe Getty]

Saver because I know how you like combining words to save time, and I'm very busy so Trump's there behind the desk. Elon is standing next to him wearing his dark MAGA hat with this cute little kid. His cute little kid factors in here.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh.

[Elon Musk]

So the. At a high level, if you say, what is the goal of Doge or. And I think a significant part of the presidency is to restore democracy, this may seem like, well, are we in a democracy? Well, if you don't have a feedback loop. Okay. We'd have to. If you, if you.

[Joe Getty]

Sorry.

[Elon Musk]

Tell you gravitas can be difficult sometimes.

[Joe Getty]

So how old is that kid?

[Jack Armstrong]

He's little. I would guess four or five.

[Joe Getty]

And he's dressed in a little suit. Very cute.

[Jack Armstrong]

His name is X.

[Joe Getty]

Spent a lot of time on dad's shoulders, but it. Elon's an interesting dude, and I don't want to get sidetracked by this.

[Jack Armstrong]

He's four, by the way.

[Joe Getty]

He's four. Thank you, Michael. I don't want to get sidetracked by this. I mentioned it many times. He's got a dozen kids. How does he choose which one he's hanging out with on any given day with a number of different women? And. And then since this is actually a pretty big policy discussion and point of attention, I mean, it's been leading the newscasts for a week of the three weeks.

[Jack Armstrong]

Of the world's leading superpower.

[Joe Getty]

Of the world's leading superpower.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes.

[Joe Getty]

Maybe you have one of the moms or a sitter or somebody hang on to the kid and, you know, hand him an iPad in the other room during the press conference.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. It's an interesting move. I'm so pro kid and pro family. And though his family structure is not one I am familiar with or approve of, I like dad being with the kid. It was, it was, it was cute, but it was, it was odd.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Utterly irrelevant to the gigantic questions which confront us. Yes.

[Joe Getty]

Let's roll on with Elon Musk. Press conference.

[Elon Musk]

So if, if there's not a good feedback loop from the people to. To the government, and if, if you have rule of the bureaucrat, if the bureaucracy is in charge, and then what meaning does democracy actually have if the people cannot vote and have their will be decided by their elected representatives in the form of the president and the Senate and the House, then we don't live in a democracy. We live in a bureaucracy. So it's incredibly important that we close that feedback loop, we fix that feedback loop, and that the public, the public's elected representative, the president, the House and the Senate decide what happens as opposed to a large unelected bureaucracy.

[Joe Getty]

I can understand.

[Jack Armstrong]

He's a monster. This is a constitutional crisis.

[Joe Getty]

I agree. I can understand why people are so frightened when you hear that sort of talk straight out of Hitler.

[Jack Armstrong]

Tribalism will ruin us. The inability of a significant chunk of the population. It's less than half, but it's significant. To reject his words before they've even heard them for purely tribal reasons is troubling. There was nothing he said there that was not. Not only uncontroversial, it was patriotic and fantastic.

[Joe Getty]

So there's some. Dude, there's. There's words in front of it on the tv. Somebody with the Project on Government Oversight. So he's in the Doge. It's a Doge subcommittee. Anyway, he's testifying. He's. He looks like he's 22 and he's wearing sunglasses. I feel like Doge doesn't help themselves sometimes with their little too cool, little too young, little too. You know. Elon renaming himself on Twitter yesterday. Harry Balls. I don't feel like it helps his cause. I. You know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Do you think he had any idea that that is a suggestive nickname?

[Joe Getty]

Wait a second. And thought of that.

[Jack Armstrong]

The sunglassed young man isn't named Hugh G. You can guess the rest. Is he? Right.

[Joe Getty]

Let's hear a little more of Elon Musk, Plutocrat.

[Elon Musk]

This is not to say that there aren't some good. There are good people who are in the federal bureaucracy, but you can't have an autonomous federal bureaucracy. You have to have one that is responsive to the people. That's the whole point of a democracy. And so. And if you looked at this, if you asked, looked at the founders today and said, what do you think of the way things have turned out? Well, we have this unelected fourth unconstitutional branch of government, which is the bureaucracy, which has, in a lot of ways, currently more power than any elected representative. And this is. This is not something that people want. And it's not. It does not match the will of people. So it's just something we've got. We've got to fix.

[Joe Getty]

Again, like I was saying, I don't know, two weeks ago when people started screaming about nobody elected Elon Musk. We have this unelected. You know, how many unelected people are controlling your lives right now? Come on.

[Jack Armstrong]

All of them? Yeah, practically all of them. And the counter argument to what he just said is that the president is in no way in charge of the executive branch, which he is the head of. It's absolutely nonsensical and, oh, you want to talk nonsensical and we've got some more great clips to play, but this is so great. The New York Times. It's just, even when it's good, it's bad. Here's your headline. And then subhead. Appearing with Trump, Musk makes broad claims of federal fraud without proof. Here's your subhead. The billionaire whose federal cost cutting team has been operating in secrecy asserted that he had uncovered waste and fraud across the bureaucracy without offering evidence.

[Joe Getty]

Are you trying to insinuate you don't think there is fraud?

[Jack Armstrong]

In a related story, Elon Musk suggested, without evidence that rich white guys play golf disproportionately and suggested, without citing proof, that they have cocktails after. What the hell?

[Joe Getty]

More Elon.

[Elon Musk]

And they've also got to address the deficit. So we've got a $2 trillion deficit. And if this, if we don't do something about this deficit, the country's going bankrupt. I mean, it's, it's really astounding that the, the interest payments alone on the national debt exceed the Defense Department budget, which is shocking because we've got a lot, we spend a lot of money on defense, but. And if that just keeps going, we're essentially going to bankrupt the country. So what I really would say is, like, it's not optional for us to sit to reduce the federal expenses. It's essential. It's essential for America to remain solvent as a country. And it's essential for America to have the resources necessary to provide things to its citizens and not simply be servicing vast amounts of debt.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is the most important thing that's been said politically in the United States in the last 50 years. And whether it falls on deaf ears or is heed is the pivot point for the next 50 years for US.

[Joe Getty]

History and maybe world history, if we can't continue to be the hyper power that we have been. Some of my favorite pundits are, like, really critical of this Elon being involved thing, but if you had your typical gray man blue ribbon committee appointed, nobody'd be paying any freaking attention.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's been done over and over again. And they came up with great recommendations that Washington felt more than free to completely ignore and shove under the dish cabinet over there, never to be thought of again.

[Joe Getty]

Right. That's the problem. The politics part of it is where it really makes sense to have somebody of Musk's profile so he can get people's attention.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah, I am.

[Joe Getty]

First of all, I can't even imagine his life. I mean, how, how many hours has he put into this project? It sure looks like it would take a tremendous amount of effort, right, to be doing what he's doing now while you run one of the biggest social media platforms on the planet, while you're running the top electric car company on the planet, while you're running the most effective rocket company on the planet. And he got 12 kids, but I just. I don't even understand how he functions. But I wonder at what point, because he does this a lot, where, I mean, he gets really energized for things, he gets super into him, and then I don't know if he gets bored with it or what, but he turns his attention to one of his other projects, and I wonder when that will happen with this.

[Jack Armstrong]

And he has good people to mind the store when he's away, certainly. But this is an exaggeration, but just barely, given the utter obviousness of our deficit and debt problems, and as he pointed out quite eloquently that we are now paying significantly more just interest on our debt than we are on national defense, which is astonishing and troubling given how obvious and undeniable this problem is. The fact that a significant chunk of our media and population are acting like this is just Trumpian stupidity or a constitutional crisis, and we don't have to listen, and we're not gonna listen and we're not gonna help. And the rest of it, I think the ex that says if Trump cured cancer, these people would go ahead and die of cancer rather than take the cure. We're getting close to it. What was it? Reductio ad hit Lorem. Right. The longer an online discussion goes, the more likely it becomes somebody references Hitler. I think we are getting close to the I'd rather die of cancer point in our national quote unquote conversation. It's just bizarre. And that's not to suggest that Trump is incapable of missteps or. Or even doing bad things. Some of his recent pardons, I think, have been inexcusable and indefensible. For instance, and I'm happy to talk about them, but on this, trying to rein in the federal deficit, well, this is just. It's undeniable.

[Joe Getty]

Well, the fact that Trump and Biden and every president for a while now has said our entitlement programs are off limits, nobody can touch them, is ridiculous. The fact that you're up there talking about our $2 trillion annual deficit and our. In our. In our. In our debt and not talking about that because they're off limits is insane.

[Jack Armstrong]

Unless you're going to pair it with significant tax increases.

[Joe Getty]

Right, but that's, that's what that is, something voters have asked for. At some point, some leader has got to stand up and tell the voters something they don't want to hear. We got it. We got to do something about this.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. I mentioned a great Thomas Sowell quote I came across a couple of weeks ago in which he explained. I got a paraphrase because I don't have it in front of me. But the fact that our politicians are, you know, in large numbers, congenital liars is partly our fault. Because if we, the electorate, continually demand that which is impossible to deliver, for instance, $1.30 worth of government for a dollar year after year after year, the only person who can win an election is a liar.

[Joe Getty]

Right. Well, that's where we are on that. All right, I've seen the giant schnauzer enough. What the hell is that? Dog? That dog shouldn't be. What is that thing with its hair? You know what that is, Michael? See that on the television? What the hell?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, no idea.

[Joe Getty]

What the hell is that? I walk into your house and you got one of those run up at me. I shriek and pepper spray it. What is that?

[Jack Armstrong]

That's not a.

[Joe Getty]

Is that a dog?

[Jack Armstrong]

That's a male equivalent of the hairless cats. An unnatural creature shouldn't exist. God doesn't want that.

[Joe Getty]

God doesn't want that. You have any thoughts on Elon and that press conference or anything else? And we got more on the way. Text line 415295 KFTC ARMSTRONG and GETTY.

[Jack Armstrong]

Now the disruptor in chief Elon Musk, who apparently has adopted the alias. At least he changed his social media handle to Harry balls.

[Joe Getty]

Tweeted what? CNN yesterday. Elon @ least briefly changed his Twitter handle to Harry Balls and they had to announce it there on Twitter. Of course he responded on Twitter with laughing lol. How funny he thought it was that the media was reporting it.

[Jack Armstrong]

And I'm sorry, this is the same fellow who's in charge of the most important governmental reforms in the last hundred years.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, there's a couple when doing a.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hell of a job at it.

[Joe Getty]

Couple quick tweets before we get back to Harry Balls laundry listing the government waste out there.

[Jack Armstrong]

So we call him Harold.

[Joe Getty]

At least Harold AOC had tweeted out lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that free speech on free speech when it's $8 a month to have a subscription on Twitter. Elon said your feedback is appreciated. Now pay $8. But this is the one I really like. An idiotic comment, Bernie Sanders. We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share, period. Elon's response was. I keep forgetting that you're still alive.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh my God. Oh my, oh my. This is Generation X in charge.

[Joe Getty]

It really is. It really is.

[Jack Armstrong]

Snark of the grew up with Watergate and then Vietnam and it's right.

[Joe Getty]

Yep, it's the Letterman and Stern generation. Here's a little more Elon.

[Donald Trump]

And also could you mention some of the things that your team has found, some of the crazy numbers, including the woman that walked away with about 30 million. Right.

[Elon Musk]

Well, we do find it sort of rather odd that, you know, there are quite a few people, except bureaucracy, who have ostensibly a salary of a few hundred thousand dollars, but somehow managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth while they are in that position, which is, you know, what happened to usaid? We're just curious as to where it came from. Maybe they're very good at investing, which case we should take their investment advice perhaps. But just there seems to be mysterious. Obviously they get wealthy. We don't know why. Where does it come from? And I think the reality is that they're getting wealthy at the taxpayer expense. That's the honest truth of it.

[Joe Getty]

So Elon being pretty measured there. Trump the politician, he knows where the gold is. What people want to hear the laundry list of wasted money. And that's what he was prompted Elon for. Here's a little more of that.

[Donald Trump]

I campaigned on this. I campaigned on the fact that I said government is corrupt and it is very corrupt. It's very, very. It's also foolish. As an example, a man has a contract for three months and the contract ends, but they keep paying him for the next 20 years. You know, because nobody ends a contract. You get a lot of that. You have a contract that's three. A three month contract. Now, normally if you're in a small, in all fairness, it's the size of this thing is so big. But if you have a contract and you're in a regular business, you end the contract in three months. You know, it's a consultant, here's a contract for three months, but it goes on for 20 years. And the guy doesn't say that he got money for 20 years. You know, they don't say it. They just keep getting checks month after month. And you have various things like that. And even much worse than that, actually much worse.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or the guy tried 15 times to contact the federal government, say, hey, you got to stop paying me. And the response to all this from the New York Times is appearing with Trump. Musk makes broad claims without proof, offered no evidence that the federal government is bloated and overspends and corrupt.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, we've heard from people over the years who, like, tried to send their check back that they weren't supposed to be like, their husband died and they're still getting the Social Security checks. And he tried to send them back and he's getting nowhere.

[Jack Armstrong]

He claimed without proof that ice cream parlors are generally not jammed with thin people. Come on.

[Joe Getty]

And Trump hitting on really, the core thing. There are people out there who just, it's just plain scam and fraud from the beginning. They're trying to slip one by the goalie. But a lot of it's just so big, nobody can keep an eye on everything.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right? Right. Which is a perfectly valid point. George Washington warned us about factionalism. He said it's the only thing that can kill the country. And if you are so factional that you're not for saving taxpayers money.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know how we can work together.

[Joe Getty]

If you missed a segment or now. Or get the podcast Armstrong and Getty on demand.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Gettysburg.

[Joe Getty]

It.