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This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
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Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln radio studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.
B
Armstrong and Getty.
C
And now here's Armstrong and Getty.
Summon hope. We get back up and remember who in the hell we are. We're the United States of America. That's who we are.
Well, good to have him back.
Michael.
B
Some hope.
C
We get back up and remember who in the hell we are. Where the United States of America.
B
Got it.
C
That's who we are.
B
That's how. It was always the best when he'd wind up because I'm gonna nail it here. Oh, my God. People are gonna come to their feet and carry me around this room.
C
Here's that big applause line where United States of America.
B
Got it.
C
Someone who get back up and remember who in the hell we are. We're the United States of America.
Of applause.
B
Some sort of prize for being the most trans friendly president in US history.
C
Yeah, keep mutilating those children from the LGBTQ+ community.
B
Even though, as it pointed out in the New York Times over the weekend, most of the country was not near as far down the road as he was. And it hurt him more than helped him and the entire party.
C
Well, and then something leaked out the other day. I've got it around here somewhere. Where they high placed official in his administration realized the activist group duped us and. And they had way weaker evidence than they told us. But we'd already committed to including gender, appearance or whatever as a protected trait. And we couldn't go back. So we're kind of stuck. One more from the senile old man praising his utterly incompetent press secretary. Well, when I took office, I promised to have an administration that look like America. I kept my promise.
B
Who are you?
C
Who are you?
And not just for the community. My press secretary, Kareem.
Sounds like he said Kareem Abdul Jabbar perhaps. Yeah, she was perhaps the worst, most incompetent press secretary in the history of our country. Laboring under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
B
And once again, you gotta wonder why his wife is trotting him out there to.
Be that way in front of crowds.
C
Then who are.
B
Who are you? Die hards in politics. Who are Willing to just, you know, stand with somebody or a party or whatever, no matter what's happening. I just don't get it.
Similar vein, New York Times. Very long, detailed story about the immigration aspect of the Biden presidency. And this will be the rough draft of history for some book that nobody will read someday about how they do this. Uh, the headline being How Biden Ignored Warnings and Lost America's Faith in Immigration. And that is exactly what happened. This paragraph sums it all up, and then I'll get into some of the details. I think we all remember how this played out. First, they underestimated the scale of migration that was coming. Second, they fa. This is the New York Times, by the way. Second, they failed to appreciate the political reaction to that migration, believing that stronger enforcement would alienate Latino and progressive voters. And also that a border surge would not be an important issue to voters. Those calculations would later prove to be mistaken, with many voters, including Latinos, citing immigration as a reason for supporting Mr. Trump in 2024. They were all for three on that. It was a giant scale of people coming through. People cared a lot. It was like the number one issue until inflation hit. Then it became the number two issue. And Latinos voted with Trump because they hated it as much as everybody else did. How could you be so wrong? It's because you were led by the Twitter crowd. The Democratic Party will not be a successful party until they finally learn that Twitter isn't real life. And I don't know if they're yet there yet.
C
The only thing that saves them is the incompetence of the Republican Party. It's the middle one that's the most astounding swing and miss. They didn't think voters would react badly to a giant influx of illegal immigration. They must be convinced of their own, by their own rhetoric that only right wing racist xenophobes want coherent immigration policy. What, are you kidding?
B
How could you miss that? And the New York Times goes through his chief of staff, all his top advisors, everybody were telling him over and over, look, this is a giant issue for people and it's a disaster. And he just wouldn't budge for whatever reason. So first we'll relive stuff, you know, and then get to something I didn't know. It's worth knowing in case you ever end up in an argument with somebody about this.
June 4, 2024. So this is.
Toward the end of his presidency, during the election, the. The damage had already been done. At that point, Joe Biden, finally, five months before election Day, Biden reversed course on everything he'd done so far and issued an order all but closing the border to asylum applications, a move that was far tougher than the proposals that he had rejected during the first year of his office. And border encounters quickly fell. Of course they did. And we remember the commentary at the time. You could have done this on day one if you'd wanted. And you claimed you couldn't. You claimed that only Congress could do it. And then look, all of a sudden you've done it yourself. But so it, it was such a disaster. In the middle of the election, looking like he might lose to Trump, he finally closes the border. Why Mr. Biden waited so long to effectively seal the borders become one of the defining questions of his presidency. Three weeks after closing the border, the president had his famous debate with Donald Trump that was three weeks later. Asked why voters should trust him to solve the crisis, Mr. Biden flubbed it, according to the New York Times. I will reread this answer. What I've done since. I've changed the law. What's happened? Said Mr. Biden, who had not changed the law. I've changed it in a way that he claimed he changed the law. The law was already there. He just. They just enforced the law that was already there. There.
A
But.
B
Right. The New York Times pointing that out. I've changed it in a way that now you're in a situation where there are 40% fewer people coming across the border illegally. I'm going to continue to move until we get the total ban on the, the total initiative relative to what we're going to more with the Border Patrol and more asylum officers. And that's when Donald Trump unleashed his famous. I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don't think he knows what he said either. Yeah, because it was completely incomprehensible.
C
That's right. I always go back to the crazy.
Abortion, illegal immigration, raped by their own sisters nonsense. I forgot about that one. Just the rambling nonsense.
B
I won't read this again. But it made no sense. Trump said that whole thing. He doesn't even know what he said. And as the New York Times says in a very good sentence within a month, Mr. Biden left the race after that, making their point. But here's the part that I didn't know, because you often hear this, the pushback has been.
There. Congress had a plan to deal with the immigration thing. Trump intervened, told Republicans not to vote for it, which torpedoed it, and that putting Biden in a Situation where he had no choice. Okay. Democrats blamed Mr. Trump for sinking the deal. But Senator Lankford, Republican, pointed to another culprit, the Biden administration's own foot dragging. When negotiations had gained momentum the previous fall. Because the American people were all worked up about this and wanted something done. The White House had refused to get involved in the Senate negotiations, according to Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat, and Lankford, the Republican, both of them saying that Biden wouldn't get involved. We don't want our fingerprints on these negotiations, the White House had told Murphy and Lankford. Only as border crossings continued to spike did the administration relent. Looking back, Lankford said he believed the delay was critical. If Biden had signed on sooner and the White House gotten involved at that point before Trump did, it probably could have had the momentum to pass and they could have taken this off their plate as an issue. But it got kicked down the road to the point where Mr. Trump was the de facto nominee at the beginning when Biden was saying, we don't want our fingerprints on this if you do it. Because they were so scared of the. The wokes and the. And the Latino community. Blowback at that point.
C
Believed that narrative. Yeah.
B
At that point, Trump had just announced and Desantis looked like a real threat. And it wasn't clear that Trump had the nomination. He didn't have the power to tell Republicans at that point. So it was the Biden's fault that that legislation never happened. They were too scared to put their name on it and fight for it. I thought that was an interesting piece of history that I didn't even get.
C
Involved in the conversation.
B
Right.
C
I mean, that's a level of paranoia right there.
B
God, I'd say. So weak. So incredibly weak, man. It's the opposite of Donald Trump, who, as we all know, is a bull in a China shop. Donald Trump was a mouse in a. I mean, Joe Biden was a mouse in a china shop.
C
So.
B
Worried about ruffling any feathers whatsoever.
C
Yeah. Yeah. What a miserable, incompetent president. Quick word from our friends at Omaha Stakes. They're putting out the full court press right now to make sure your gifts get to your loved ones in time for Christmas. From holiday to unforgettable gifts, Omaha Steaks delivers the world's best steak experience gift. Family and friends with USDA certified tender steaks, juicy burgers, cozy and convenient comfort meals, and so much more. And during the Sizzle all the Way sale, you can get 50% off site wide@omaha steaks.com.
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Wow. That is pretty darn impressive. And we love the Omaha Steaks around here. We got our box the other day and I put everything. Most of the stuff's in the freezer, but some of the stuff thawing. So we can have great steaks and burgers and all. Apple tartlets and all that sort of stuff.
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B
So.
Didn'T. Don't need to relive that, I suppose anymore. The whole immigration thing, we all know what it was. That was new news to me though, that the Biden administration's great pushback has always been, look, Donald Trump torpedoed the legislation. You didn't push it at all. You told your own Democratic Senate leadership, we don't want our fingerprints on this.
C
Wow, that is so weak. Maldeid deserved to lose the election to a very unpopular Donald Trump. Yeah, yeah. Craziness. That is wild political malpractice.
B
How do more people not understand that the, the successful presidents get stuff done their way? Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George Bush, they, they do what they want to do out loud and fight for it hard. They're not super scared of what people in their own party, so they don't say anything.
C
But what was Biden's reputation? His entire career, he was a very glib, back slapping guy who would hold his finger up in the air, figure out which way the wind blows. And he had no beliefs or character other than this is what's popular right now. Then as president, he just continued that groove. It's not that shocking.
B
Remember when I won that 10 pound box of toffee the other night?
C
Oh, yeah.
B
Christmas concert, homemade coffee. Best toffee I've ever had. We're about five pounds through, me and the boys. Pretty good effort over the weekend, eating five pounds of toffee between three. Three dudes.
C
That is impressive.
A
Yeah.
C
My sweet bride doesn't love to cook, but she loves to bake. And back in the day, she loved to make candy and she would make peanut brittle that would make you weep with joy. I mean, it was unbelievably good. Oh my God, weep with joy and toffee and all sorts of stuff like that. And it was a few years into our marriage. We came to a mutual agreement. This has gotta stop.
B
That's the problem you get.
C
We're gonna be toothless and 800 pounds at this. Toothless.
Please. Too much sugar.
B
Well, actually, you're actually going to eat the teeth out of your head. That have been quite a thing as a man.
C
Rot him right out of there.
B
In a first world country. Oh, Joe with no teeth. He just won't stop eating toffee and whatnot.
C
Does Joe have a meth problem? He's only got like three teeth. No, it's peanut brittle. Actually, he's got a peanut brittle problem.
B
But you'd have thought he'd stopped after he lost the first one to ten teeth.
C
Those fingers are constantly sticky. He's always got a big slab of it as a hand.
B
It's completely toothless at this point. Point now he kind of has to mash it up with a spoon so he can gum it.
Coming up.
C
Elijah Omar attempting to answer for the rampant theft of the funds there in Minneapolis. Plus, America's welfare state just gushes money. This is not an outlier. There is a lesson to be learned here. Hope you can stay with us. Where the United States of America.
B
Got it.
C
That's who we are.
A
Armstrong and Getty. Stay cozy, stay home and save big online during Lowe's December deal drops. Because honestly, why go anywhere when the deals come to you? Check this out. Lowe's is going to give you two free select tools from dewalt, Craftsman or Cobalt when you buy a select battery or combo kit. Yep, two tools free. It's basically a holiday miracle. Plus, rewards members get free standard shipping all month long. Yet another reason not to leave your couch. Kick back, click around. Let the savings roll in. Shop. New December deal drops on Lowe's.com every week. This month, fresh deals, cozy vibes, zero effort. Hi, I'm Cindy Crawford and I'm the founder of meaningful beauty. When Dr. Sabah and I decided to do a skincare line together, he said to me, we are going to give women meaningful beauty. And I said, that's exactly right. We want to give women meaningful beauty. Which means each and every product is meaningful. It has a reason to exist. It's efficacious. You're going to get results. And then you just go out and live your life. Meaningful Beauty confidence is beautiful. Learn more@meaningful beauty.com.
Did you know that parents rank teaching financial literacy as the toughest life skill? That's where greenlight comes in. The debit card and money app made for families with Greenlight, you can send money to kids quickly, set up chores, automate allowance and track spending with real time notifications. Kids learn how to earn, save and spend responsibly while parents have peace of mind knowing smart money habits are being built with guardrails in place. Try Greenlight Risk free today@greenlight.com iheart that's greenlight.com iheart Every holiday shopper's got a list. But Ross shoppers. You've got a mission like a gift run that turns into a disco, snow globe, throw pillows and PJs for the whole family, dog included. At Ross holiday magic isn't about spending more, it's about giving more for less. Ross work your magic. Busy work weeks can leave you feeling drained. Prolon's five day fasting mimicking diet works at the cellular level to rejuvenate you from the inside out, providing real results that include fat focused, sustainable weight loss with no injection needed. Next Gen builds on the original prolon with 100% organic soups and teaspoons, a richer taste and ready to eat meals. Developed at USC's Longevity Institute and backed by top medical centers, Prolon supports biological age reduction, metabolic health, skin appearance, fat loss and energy. Get 15% off plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe at prolonlife.com iheart that's prolonlife.com iheart want to give all.
C
The glory to God? We were never supposed to be in this position but by the glory of God, the great coaches, great teammates and we have around we were able to pull these dogs. Whoever thought the hoor would be here, but now the Hooers are flipping champs.
B
Let's go. Well, that guy's excited.
C
Cheer up, would you?
B
That's Fernando Mendoza of the Indiana Hoosiers are the number one seed in the college football playoffs as they named the 12 teams after a whole bunch of big games this weekend. He goes on.
A
You guys call yourself a bunch of misfits who found the right home at Indiana. Why was this the right place for this group?
C
It's the right place for process oriented. We're going day by day whether the office aligned the defense, the coaches, special teams. We're all process oriented to one goal. That's our thing is we're brothers. We can drag teams into the deep end because we know that we're going to stick together and we're the strongest glue ever.
B
All right, can I hear a little of number one again? The first clip again. That guy is. He is fired up.
C
Want to give all the glory to God. We were never supposed to be in this position, but by the glory of God, the great coaches, great teammates and we have around us, we were able to pull this off. Whoever thought the hood would be here, but now the Hoors are flipping champs.
B
Let's go. That's after Indiana upset I. Ohio State. Although it was an upset and they were number one ranked team I think when they won. So that's a weird upset.
C
I just love Indiana. I think Ohio State was number one.
B
Was it okay?
C
Yeah.
B
That guy was excited though. He's. I wonder if he always. Always that way.
C
Good for him. Good for the very exciting. I've never won a Giant football championship, but I'd imagine it's quite, quite cheery.
B
Crazy thing about college football is if you're old enough, you remember this way back in the day, they didn't play, they didn't have any games. I mean they just. The. The writers would vote on who they thought the college. The champion was at the end of the season right after all the games, just. Yeah, I think that was the best team. What?
C
And then there would be bitter disagreement from coast to coast. Now we have a big playoff system and there's bitter disagreement from coast to coast.
B
Well, yeah, yeah. So Notre Dame didn't make the 12 and so they're. They've refused to play in any bowl game. They've just said that we deserve to be able. So whoever gets left out, it's always good. But at least if you have 12 teams. Yeah, the, the top half dozen that absolutely deserve to be there are going to make it. When you had people just voting on who the best team was, that was crazy. I can't believe that lasted as many years as it did.
C
Yeah, I agree. It was kind of silly and ridiculous. Although college football has now changed in so many different ways, what it looks like in five years, nobody knows.
B
But as you hear that crowd there, it sounded like there's plenty of people still showing up to games and really enjoying it.
C
Oh, heck, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I watched some great college football over the weekend. It's. It's aaa NFL. The college football is they, they happen to affiliate themselves with universities for some reason, which is odd. It could be, you know, auto manufacturing plants or they might as well associate themselves with the, the local meat packing plant or something like that. As a university, it's.
B
Yeah.
C
Kind of quaint.
B
Yeah, that's. That's always been the whole college sports thing. I like following college sports is. But it being part of the whole college thing with the like pretending they're regular students. And that hasn't been true for many, many, many years.
C
Big matchup this weekend. The Microsoft Spartans are against the, you know, the Google Nittany Lions or whatever. Why not?
B
If you're not in the premier sports, it's you're just a student athlete. No, I mean, I had a bunch of babysitters when my kids were little that were Division 1 swimmers at the local college. And you know, you're not making any money off of that with any future being pro or anything. You're just competing in a sport and going to school. Right?
C
Made the point briefly last week. Want to hammer it home? The takeaway from the giant Somali theft ring thing is not an immigration conclusion, although that's part of it. What we really need to capitalize on is people's awareness that our welfare state just gushes money. Nobody even cares more on that to come.
B
Joe doesn't care about the hungry. That's my takeaway.
C
Good takeaway. Yep.
A
Armstrong and Getty Stay cozy, stay home and save big online during Lowe's December deal drops. Because honestly, why go anywhere when the deals come to you? Check this out. Lowe's is going to give you two free select tools from dewalt, Craftsman or Cobalt when you buy a select battery or combo kit. Yep, two tools free. It's basically a holiday miracle. Plus rewards members get free standard shipping all month long. Yet another reason not to leave your couch. Kick back, click around, let the savings roll in. Shop New December deal drops on lowe's.com every week this month. Fresh deals, cozy vibes, zero effort. Now I'd like to introduce you to Meaningful Beauty, the famed skincare brand created by iconic supermodel Cindy Crawford. It's her secret to absolutely gorgeous skin. Meaningful Beauty makes powerful and effective skin care simple and it's loved by millions of women. It's formulated for all ages in all skin tones and types and it's designed to work as a complete skin care system, leaving your skin feeling soft, smooth and nourished. I recommend starting with Cindy's full regimen which contains all five of her best selling products including the Amazing Youth Activating Melon Serum. This next generation serum has the power of melon leaf stem cell technology. Its melon leaf stem cells encapsulated for freshness and released onto the skin to support a visible reduction in the appearance of wrinkles. With thousands of glowing five star reviews, why not give it a try? Subscribe today and you can get the amazing Meaningful Beauty system for just $49.95. That includes our introductory five piece system, free gifts, free shipping and a 60 day money back guarantee. All that available@meaningfulbeauty.com every holiday shopper's got a list. But Ross shoppers, you've got a mission like a gift run that turns into a disco, snow globe, throw pillows and PJs for the whole family. Dog included. At Ross Holiday Magic isn't about spending more. It's about giving more for less. Ross, work your magic. Hey, I'm Stephie. You may know me from your social feed. I go big for the holidays so I'm going to Famous Footwear because the best gifts are giving Famous. My friends and family are gonna love all these styles from Nike, Adidas, Crocs, New Balance, Skechers and more. With over 800 stores, you're never far from the perfect gift. So make your list and make it famous. Come in today for buy one pair. Get one half off at your local famous footwear or famous.com some exclusions apply. Busy work weeks can leave you feeling drained. Prolon's five day fasting mimicking diet works at the cellular level to rejuvenate you from the inside out, providing real results that include fat focused, sustainable weight loss with no injection needed. NextGen builds on the original Prolon with 100% organic soups and teas, a richer taste and ready to eat meals. Developed at USC's Longevity Institute and backed by top medical centers, Prolon supports biological age reduction, metabolic health, skin appearance, fat loss and energy. Get 15% off plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe at prolonlife.com iheartrad that's prolonlife.com iheart so a number of.
B
Publications are making a really big deal out of this Netflix, hbo, Warner Brothers thing and how it's going to affect all of entertainment. And I don't quite understand it, but we'll delve into that a little bit later.
C
It will end. Movies and storytelling as we know them, Jack. There will be no tv.
B
Storytelling will come to an end.
C
Yes, something weird happens to you at the grocery store. You'll be unable to spin that yarn, I'm afraid, with this new merger. Anyway, this is funny Nellie Bowles in the New York Times leading us brilliantly into the. I'm sorry, she's in the Free Press talking about the New York Times leading us brilliantly into the topic of Ilhan Omar and rampant welfare fraud and the rest of it. Nelly writes. The perfect New York Times headline does exist. We found it. This is a story from the End of November about a man who's a blue collar worker in Minnesota. The other is an illegal immigrant who stole his identity. Here's your headline. Two men, one identity. They both paid the price.
B
Oh, wow.
C
The blue collar worker had to pay thousands of dollars to the IRS thanks to the theft. The guy who stole his identity then got in trouble for stealing his identity. I just love that the framing is like two equally guilty men. You decide who got it worse.
B
Wow.
C
They have the same identity. But what is identity really? You're supposed to read this and think, can't they just share? Who am I to need my own Social Security number? Rude and selfish.
B
Well, that doesn't even sound like there's anybody did anything wrong. It's just like an asteroid fell on two guys heads. I mean it's something bad happened to two people just out of nowhere. What an interesting story.
C
We'll get back to Nelly Bowles and, and theft from the welfare state in general after tipping our cap to America hating Somali immigrant Ilhan Omar, who was making the rounds trying to spin the Somali community. Not the entire community certainly, but the enormous theft of taxpayer funds within the Somali community there in beautiful Minneapolis St. Paul. Here she is with Margaret Brennan.
A
The binary Justice Department called it the largest Covid fraud scheme in the country. And this was pocketing Covid era welfare funds more than a billion dollars in taxpayer money that was stolen. It was pretty, pretty shocking. Of the 87 people charged, all but eight are of Somali descent. And that has added to the spotlight being put specifically on your community.
Why do you think this fraud was allowed to get so widespread? Well, I want to say, you know, this also has an impact on Somalis because we are also taxpayers in Minnesota. We also could have benefited from the program and the money that was stolen. And so it's been really frustrating for people to not acknowledge the fact that we're, you know, we're also as Minnesotans, as taxpayers, really upset and angry about the fraud that has occurred.
B
Good for Margaret Brennan to ask the question. She asked it. I think I'm surprised she went that, that far toward pointing out the Somali angle.
C
Well, and I love Ilhan Omar saying, hey, we're the victims of this, right? Yeah, we're the victims of our theft. And of course, again, it's not the entire, not everybody participated. It was a number of people, but. And then they get into it a little more and, and see, see how like Ilhan Omar's responses to the various questions. 92, Michael.
A
One of the initial defenses by the organization at the heart of the fraud, fraud feeding our future was to claim the probe was due to racism. Do you think that this was all about negligence or that it was, like, political fear of alienating the Somali community? You have to remember that the woman who led the program is a Caucasian woman. And that was her way of making sure that this would continue to happen by using whatever rhetoric that was available to her. We do know that when the money was stopped, they did sue the ag. Attorney General Keith Ellison defended the department in that lawsuit. It was a judge that said it should continue, that money should continue to go out. And so this wasn't something that people were not looking at. There was always those alarms. And we will continue to understand where things might have gone wrong as these investigations continue and as these fraudsters are prosecuted and sent to jail.
C
Yeah, the alarms went off, and you and your people silenced them over and over again by threatening, you know, they would lose the Somali vote or you would call them racists or what have you. It was a woman, Caucasian woman, running the scam, she points out. Okay, yeah, put her in jail for a very, very long time. And then you got Tim Waltz, who famously was on Meet the Press last week and said this. 93. Michael, we'll take it on.
B
We'll put folks in jail. I don't care what your nationality is. I don't care your religion is your.
C
Color if you're committing crimes.
B
These are programs that were meant to serve students with autism, to housing and to making sure people had enough to eat. There's a reason Minnesota ranks as the top, lowest childhood poverty, best place for children to live. People are taking advantage of that.
C
They're going to prison. All right, Tampon Tim. So he also was asked, will you take responsibility for the rampant theft left? And he said, I'll take responsibility for putting people in jail. Here's a reporter following up with Governor Tim.
A
You said that you take responsibility for putting people in jail, but all the.
B
Fraud so far has been federal prosecutions.
A
Why did you say that?
B
I didn't erroneously say that. We're the ones that. Our agencies are bringing it up.
C
We're referring them over.
B
This is how this works. We were through it, through the bca. This is Drew Evans and the superintendent. Bca. These are Minnesota folks who work in state government, who are the ones that.
C
Are helping build the case, turn it.
B
Over to the federal authorities. So that is totally false. That is totally wrong.
C
It is Minnesotans.
B
It is Minnesota's investigators. It is the IGs that are over there. Investigator Clark, that are doing the things of putting people in jail.
A
Why aren't there safe prosecutions?
C
The federal laws that they're, they're choosing to do federal prosecutions, we will prosecute.
B
On every single thing we can.
C
Many cases, we get longer ones.
B
Is your assertion is that we don't have anything to do with the investigations? That is totally false.
C
We're the ones who brought it to them.
B
We're the ones who alerted the FBI. We're the ones.
C
We turn these cases over every day. Drug cases, human trafficking cases. We would prosecute them. That's kind of interesting, actually. It didn't come off as the lame oh, I expected to. I hadn't heard that clip. So getting back to Nellie Bowles, she mentions the volume of scams going on at any given time is truly staggering. House Ways and Means Committee summary of a Government Accountability Office investigation that came out last week. In 2023, one single Social Security number was used on applications for over 125 insurance policies. Wow.
B
And there's no computer that can catch.
C
That totaled over 26,000 days of coverage, the equivalent of 71 years.
B
So not only does the computer not catch, wait a second, we've got a duplicate of somebody having the same Social Security number. You can do it dozens and dozens.
C
And dozens of times. Right? Right. And we saw the report last week that the GAO was trying to get fake Obamacare. Well, fake humans approved for Obamacare and whatever it was. 21 out of the 22 were approved even though they submitted none of the proof that was required for income. The fact that they existed, the rest of it, it's unbelievable. Kim Strassel in the Journal wrote a great editorial about how the Somali thing.
The Minneapolis thing is about immigration and failure to assimilate and importing lots and lots of people from an incredibly corrupt country. But it's more than that. A story about the broken welfare system, she points out. It's a story of a federal government that shovels more than a trillion dollars annually into more than 80 major anti povert poverty and countless minor programs. A system too complex to ensure even basic integrity. And of a state that preened as a model of social welfare, its own lavish benefits drawing many immigrants and inviting plunder. I would agree. The US Welfare debate is long centered on the failed outcomes of overly generous government programs, the long term dependency, the loss of dignity, the discouragement of work, the damage to family structure, rounds and rounds of these destructions. And she, she brings up several historically and according to the center for Immigration Studies, the share of US born working men not in the labor force was 11% in 1960. It's now 22%. 22% of working age men are not in the labor force.
B
That's incredible.
C
And she points out, the Minnesota raises to alarm level a separate need for reset. The system itself, the government machine is broken. Its heaving duplicative federal state programs awash in forms and bureaucracies and ancient mainframes has already suffered Soviet style collapse. The system serves more as a cash machine for criminals than as a safety net for the needy. I thought that was a great, great sentence. How do you separate the wheat from the slime? And millions of overlapping self attested applications for snap, wic, unemployment insurance, eitc, all these acronyms. I don't even know what half of them are.
B
I wish you could get lefties to care about this sort of stuff with the idea that look, you're the one that want to help the downtrodden. There'd be a lot more money for the downtrodden if it wasn't being stolen from people who don't need it.
C
So true. They ought to be leading the the the the the hue and cry for investigations and reform.
B
We are absolutely a wealthy enough country to take care of every single person who's incapable of taking care of themselves very easily.
C
Right?
B
With housing and health care and food and everything you need. If for whatever reason you're born this way or something happened to you, we can't support yourself. We have plenty of money. If we if we stopped giving it to people that are perfectly able bodied. Starve the lazy. Buy the T shirt at the Armstrong and Getty store. Starve the lazy. More on this.
C
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How about the new early payouts thing? If your lineup gets off to a hot start, you got the option to cash out those winnings before the game's even oh over.
C
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B
I would never actually do this, but I like playing out the fantasy in my head of like, instead of my kids going to college, just coach them up on how to take advantage of various government programs.
C
Right.
B
Do that your whole life. Lots of people do.
C
You know, I want to get. I don't want to rush through this because there's a lot more really, really good stuff. Why don't we take a break and we'll come back and, and continue the discussion because Kim makes some absolute blockbuster home run ball points.
B
You know, do the research. You start out as a 19 year old instead of going to college. Well, your income is basically nothing. Maybe you're working at a fast food joint. And then figure out all the programs that you qualify for and that overlap and see how much you can get.
C
Well, and fake it up too. Invent identities and Social Security numbers. Steal people's identities, medical problems. Fake children. Medical problems. Yeah, please, please. The money truck will back up to your door every single week.
B
Us suckers who are paying for it all. Okay, more on the way.
A
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B
How you doing? You got your Christmas shopping done? No. Me neither.
C
No. Good Lord. As pointed out last segment by that horrific New York Times headline, the left just seems to think any seriousness about welfare reform is evil or even stopping fraud is somehow working the wrong side of the street.
B
Or they think it's a slippery slope, that if you try to stop fraud, then you'll take the program away or something.
C
I don't know. Children will starve. Yeah. Kim Strassel makes the point in the Journal that how do you separate the wheat from the slime with these zillions of overlapping programs? You don't. You write checks and the crooks know it. As Joe Thompson, lead prosecutor in the big Minnesota cases, has said, quote, this isn't just a few criminals exploiting the system. This is a system that's begging to be exploited. As one of the people involved in it said, yeah, we had our hands in the cookie jar and they just kept refilling the cookie jar. And then she points out that even the government auditors are numb to fraud and bug eyed at the scams that sucked through Joe Biden's Covid dollars. Your Covid dol and she goes into a list of just the rampant theft and people getting rich and oh man, Democrats. It's Minnesota's the new outrage partly because it's Democrat. Democrats have long pitched the state as a model of a successful, generous Swedish style social welfare state financed by high taxes, much as California pitched itself as the future of green energy. How's that going? But then she gets to her point. This is a moment Republicans might be shouting from the rooftops that Minnesota proves how right they were to have included in the tax reform bill a slate of anti fraud reforms, Dominican and food stamps. But they also might seize on this scandal to take the government fraud argument much further to explain that this no longer is a situation that can be corrected with more due diligence. It is the size and scope of the morass that is enabling fraud. The argument we need to move many people off government dependency not just for moral and societal reasons, but because government has an obligation to taxpayers and the truly needy. Your point Jack to right size and return to a system that can can function. One that is lean, efficient and able to focus its dollars on the actual mission. Temporary assistance in most cases. In a perfect world we tear down the maze we've added to for a century and replace it with a central clearinghouse for short term government support able to interact efficiently with states. Dennis Miller why not reimagine the government?
B
Dennis Miller's old line was always I'm all for helping the helpless, not the clueless.
C
Right? Her final point all around us is evidence that the current structure is failing and past the date of fixing. You know it's funny, there is an utter lack of courage or like ambition in Congress. And it's ironic because the government is super gigantic and there are trillions of dollars washing around. But the great taste is for the status quo. How effed up would a system have to be that Congress would say we got to step in and do what Kim Strassel is suggesting. We've got to totally tear this thing down to the studs and rebuild it. I mean if it's not effed up enough now for that, will it ever be? Probably not. I guess.
B
Apparently it's easy enough to demagogue that they're trying to, you know, take the food out of hungry kids mouths to help billionaires that it stops anything from getting. What I don't understand is why the left fights reigning in the fraud like they do. Like I said, I don't get it. I don't think you'd want the extra money for other things.
C
Yeah, well You've got two groups on the left. You have sincere lefty voters who I think would be with you completely. But then you've got the professional leftists. Yeah, the money goes somewhere, the money goes to someone. Right. And they are never gonna allow reform of the welfare state because they're profiting so mightily from it. Well, that's why you wish the Republicans would get the balls to just lay this out and explain it. And much like the Biden administration, I think was hour two, we were talking about this, missed by a thousand miles what the public's real attitude was about immigration. If you had an eloquent, you know, powerful Republican person or party explaining how screwed up the system was and how we can feed and clothe and take care of everybody who really deserves it, in fact, we'll do it better than we're doing it right now. But we need to reform the system completely. You'd think that would get pretty good support on the right and the left.
A
Also.
B
There's so much money sloshing around that gets to my. One of my pet arguments that not enough people are aware of when the whole argument around income inequality that they never count how many benefits the lower end gets.
C
Right.
B
If you have somebody that makes $200,000 a year, maybe they get to keep, I don't know, 110 of it after taxes. If you have somebody that makes $50,000 a year, they get another 50 or more of government money. So they've got around a hundred thousand dollars to live with. But if you look at the original numbers, that person makes four times as much money as that person.
C
Why would somebody be that dishonest or make a mistake that enormous? Because they're profiting from it.
B
Yeah, because you can keep it going.
C
It's like the homeless industrial complex in California is a great example that we've had the displeasure to witness up close and personal. The money just pours into various coffers and organizations and individuals and all, and they will always, always, always, always vote for the person, you know, spraying, hosing them down with the money. Same with the giant welfare industrial complex.
B
I have zero, and I mean zero, not even 1%, 0% belief that in my lifetime we'll ever really tackle this whole waste, fraud and abuse in our social net pro problem.
C
Well, speaking of Cal Unicorni, a good armstrong and getty.com hit the superstore, get your ruin the entire country newsome 2028.
B
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Date: December 8, 2025
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Podcast: Armstrong & Getty On Demand (iHeartPodcasts)
In this episode, Armstrong and Getty dig into a series of pressing issues: the political and practical failures of the Biden administration, especially regarding immigration and welfare fraud; the cultural and structural rot afflicting America’s massive welfare system; and some lighter moments around college football and holiday candy excess. Their sharp, mocking tone skewers both political leaders and systemic dysfunction, with a special emphasis on government waste and lack of accountability.
Notable Quotes:
Notable Quotes:
Notable Quotes:
| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 07:02 | B | "They must be convinced by their own rhetoric that only right wing racist xenophobes want coherent immigration policy..." | | 13:56 | C | "Maldeid deserved to lose the election to a very unpopular Donald Trump. That's wild political malpractice." | | 15:43 | B | "Well, actually, you're actually going to eat the teeth out of your head." | | 27:54 | B & C | "[Headline] Two men, one identity. They both paid the price." / "You're supposed to read this and think, can't they just share?" | | 29:26 | Rep. Ilhan Omar | "We are also taxpayers in Minnesota... it's been really frustrating for people to not acknowledge... we're also... upset." | | 36:15 | C (quoting Strassel) | "The system serves more as a cash machine for criminals than as a safety net for the needy." | | 42:49 | Joe Thompson (quoted) | "This isn’t just a few criminals exploiting the system. This is a system that’s begging to be exploited." | | 48:04 | B | "I have zero, and I mean zero, not even 1%, 0% belief that in my lifetime we'll ever really tackle this whole waste..." |
If you haven’t caught the episode, expect an unvarnished and sarcastic take on current American dysfunction—particularly the Biden administration’s misreading of public priorities; the gross inefficiency and fraud in the welfare state; and the media and political class’s unwillingness to face reality. While they provide some laughs—via toffee mishaps and football fandom—the underlying mood is one of deep skepticism toward political courage and government efficacy. Their message: the system is so broken that only a radical overhaul could restore confidence, yet there’s little will to attempt it.
The Armstrong & Getty show, in this episode, offers a turbocharged critique—at once comedic and deeply cynical—of current American governance, warning that as long as government, media, and interest groups refuse to reform, America will remain a “cash machine for criminals” rather than a protector of the truly needy. Meanwhile, no one in power seems brave enough to “tear it down to the studs”—and so the dysfunction continues.