You've Heard Of Google, Right?

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand – “You've Heard Of Google, Right?”

Release Date: September 12, 2025
Hosts: Jack Armstrong, Joe Getty, Michael, Katie Green
Podcast Provider: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Theme

This hard-hitting episode revolves around the assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk, the broader implications for American political violence, and how misinformation, tribal thinking, and media missteps fuel current civic divides. The hosts weave in commentary about public figures, current events, internet misinformation, and societal reactions, all delivered with Armstrong & Getty’s signature mix of irreverence and earnest concern. There are also lighter interludes, including talk of pop culture and baseball, but the focus remains on political violence, the state of discourse, and the media’s role.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. Misinformation and Media Literacy

• The episode kicks off with Joe Getty criticizing Stephen King for tweeting false information about Charlie Kirk ("[00:26] Stephen King…has retracted his idiotic tweet...saying Charlie Kirk was in favor of stoning gays."). Armstrong & Getty underscore the dangers of accepting outlandish claims without basic research and mockingly recommend using Google or ChatGPT ("[01:02] Michael: ...just type in did Charlie Kirk actually say…in like 1, 1 millionth of a second you'll find out that he didn't.").
• The conversation highlights a breakdown of skepticism in media consumption and how confirmation bias—believing the worst about ‘the other side’—is widespread and damaging ("[01:28] Joe Getty: It's people that are so drenched in the other side is evil that they just absolutely take that at face value.").

Notable Quote:

“Hey, Stephen, I know you’re more into killer clowns and weird spirits, but there’s this thing called Google or ChatGPT…”
— Michael, [01:02]

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2. Tribalism & Demonization in Politics

• The hosts lament how many Americans are quick to demonize political opponents, seeing them not as people with different views but as “evil and hateful” ([01:47] Michael).
• This tribalism has real-world consequences, including the willingness to believe or spread false accusations, stifle productive debate, and, ultimately, rationalize or excuse violence.

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3. Charlie Kirk’s Assassination: Reactions & Implications

• The hosts discuss the killing of Charlie Kirk: his assassin’s intense, open hatred; the community’s reaction; and Governor Cox’s response ([01:53] Michael, [16:02] Joe Getty).
• Governor Spencer Cox of Utah is highlighted for his statesmanship and balanced messaging, earning praise for his “calming, informed, judicious, human” approach ([18:09] Joe Getty quoting Noah Rothman).

Notable Segment:
Governor Cox’s remarks on political assassination and American ideals:

“This is certainly…about the tragic death, assassination, political assassination of Charlie Kirk. But it’s also much bigger than an attack on an individual. It is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the American experiment. It is an attack on our ideals. We will never be able to solve all the other problems...if we can’t have a clash of ideas safely and securely, even...especially those ideas with which you disagree.”
— Governor Cox, [17:21]

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4. The Perils of Political Violence: Public Opinion & Polling

• Joe Getty presents disturbing polling data:
  • 55% of left-leaning respondents said it was at least “somewhat justified” to murder President Trump ([19:37]).
  • 48% said the same of Elon Musk. 60% said it was somewhat acceptable to destroy a Tesla dealership.
  • The justification for violence, across ideological lines, has risen sharply since 2017—alarming evidence of eroding civic norms.
• The hosts emphasize that support for violence, even at 10-15%, is “way too high” and dangerous ([23:15]).

Notable Quote:

“It’s a minority of Americans who support political violence. But that minority is...significant; it’s between 10 and 40%, depending on the poll...10% is way too high.”
— Joe Getty, [23:15]

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5. Flawed Data and Narrative Control

• The hosts dissect a study cited by Congressman Seth Moulton regarding "right-wing extremist" violence, critiquing its methodology and how it may skew perceptions by misclassifying certain violent acts ([24:16]–[26:47]).
• Armstrong & Getty warn about bad-faith use of statistics and the ease with which narratives can be crafted or manipulated.

Notable Quote:

“You can craft a study or stats to justify anything you want to say. How about we all just go with ‘All political violence is no good’ and keep it at that.”
— Joe Getty, [26:51]

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6. Call for Civility and Civic Courage

• The episode closes with a plea for better civic engagement, less fear, and no tolerance for political violence (“...have courage, stay on the high road, do the right thing and do it in the right way. You’ll never have to apologize for that, ever.” [35:15] Michael).
• There is concern that the political climate is deterring “the best, most decent people” from running for office, which bodes ill for the country’s future ([28:47]). The hosts stress the necessity of disagreeing without demonizing and retaining the ability to be swayed by argument, not fear.

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7. Media & Information Awareness

• A lighter segment follows, poking fun at Whoopi Goldberg’s ignorance of public accessibility to Supreme Court decisions:

  • “[29:58] Joe Getty: So Whoopi, completely unaware that you can read these Supreme Court decisions...”
  • Sotomayor’s response is quoted:

    “Where can people find these dissents?...You search online the way you search anything...It’ll pop right up.”
    — Justice Sotomayor, [29:58]

• Armstrong & Getty use this as an example of media personalities being embarrassingly uninformed, returning to their main theme: do your homework, anyone can access primary information now—use it.

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8. Personal Notes & Pop Culture Interlude

• The crew adds some humanity by talking about the Charlie Sheen documentary, its impact, and addiction’s collateral damage ([08:49]–[10:44]).
• Katie Green touches on her emotional response:

  “...the Denise Richards part broke my heart pretty good...she got really emotional on camera...‘film this. Like, people need to see that this type of behavior causes this type of pain.’”
  — Katie Green, [10:00]

• Discussion of the upcoming Emmys, fragmentation in TV viewing, and a playful closing banter about baseball and family ([11:26], [31:41]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Misplaced Outrage:

  “Wouldn’t it strike you as sounds a little crazy that this guy that so many people are speaking highly of is in favor of stoning gays?”
  — Joe Getty, [00:26]

• On Political Division:

  “People that are so drenched in the other side is evil…they just absolutely take that at face value.”
  — Joe Getty, [01:28]

• On the Threat of Political Violence:

  “If you look at 50,000 college kids…if 10% of them think political violence is okay, you got a serious problem, right?”
  — Joe Getty, [23:50]

• On the Need for Courage:

  “Have courage, stay on the high road, do the right thing and do it in the right way. You’ll never have to apologize for that, ever.”
  — Michael, [35:15]

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Important Timestamps

• [00:26] — Discussion of Stephen King, misinformation, and the rapid spread of outrage
• [01:47] — The nature of political tribalism and demonization
• [02:34] — News about Chagas (“kissing bug”) disease
• [05:21] — Clips of the Week, including national and international crises
• [08:49] — Reactions to the Charlie Sheen documentary and addiction’s impact
• [16:02] — Praise for Governor Cox’s response to the Kirk assassination
• [19:37] — Polling data on acceptance of political violence
• [24:16] — Critique of studies on “extremist” violence and media narrative
• [29:58] — Supreme Court accessibility & Whoopi Goldberg segment
• [34:01] — Crew final thoughts, calls for community and resilience
• [35:15] — Show’s closing call to courage and ethical action
• [35:57] — Reflections on Charlie Kirk and quotes from Governor Cox

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Conclusion

This episode of Armstrong & Getty is a somber, sometimes heated, always candid reflection on the state of America in the wake of a political assassination. The hosts decry the spread of misinformation, the normalization of tribal hatred, and the alarming rise in tolerance of political violence. They praise leaders who rise to the moment, warn about media ignorance, and end on a note urging personal responsibility and civic courage. Peppered with humor, pop culture asides, and their trademark chemistry, it’s a bracing listen—and a call to do better.

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(For further details, see specific timestamps listed above. Notable quotes are attributed and time-stamped for context.)

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Joe Getty]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln radio studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center.

[Michael]

Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Michael]

And now here's Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Stephen King, the author of maybe some of your favorite horror books, has retracted his idiotic tweet that he put out yesterday saying Charlie Kirk was in favor of stoning gays. How are you feeling bad about this guy being killed? How? Wow. Don't you like do the slightest bit of research on that before you would post that? Because. Because wouldn't it strike you as sounds a little crazy that this guy that so many people are speaking highly of is in favor of stoning gays?

[Michael]

Yeah. Yeah. Hey, Stephen, I know you're, you know, more into killer clowns and weird spirits and stuff like that, but there's this thing called Google or chat GPT and all you have to do is type in did Charlie Kirk actually say. And then fill in the blank. And then in like 1, 1 millionth of a second you'll find out that he didn't. No. So that's what it would have taken, Stephen. Oh boy, do we have a fight ahead of us.

[Joe Getty]

And you know what that is? We, we both know what that is. It's people that are so drenched in the other side is evil that they just absolutely take that at face value. Of course they think you should stone gaze. I mean, because that's crazy.

[Michael]

Well, because they've heard over and over again the most vicious, slanderous characterization of their opponents.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Michael]

And they went into it believing conservatives are evil and hateful. Not that we just have a different point of view about what policies work. Anyway, the young man who slaughtered Charlie Kirk was exactly what you think he would be. We can talk about that a little bit more. One note that his expressions of dislike for Mr. Kirk were so off putting and vitriolic that it freaked out people who heard him ranting and raving at a dinner. For instance, we'd heard that he had expressed a dislike. No. Evidently it was so vehement that people are like, dude, are you out of your mind?

[Joe Getty]

So he's a little unhinged or you would keep that to yourself while you.

[Michael]

Were playing completely indoctrinated. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, more on that to come. Quick, public service announcement. Be on the lookout for Chagas disease. What? I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right. C H A G A S. Chagas disease. Also known as kissing bug disease. It's now endemic in the United States. Here's here's the deal. It's a kissing bug.

[Joe Getty]

Bug disease.

[Michael]

The kissing bug disease. That's right.

[Joe Getty]

If I don't kiss a bug, can I avoid catching it?

[Michael]

Bunch of bug kissers out there. No, here's what happens. The kissing bug is known as the. It's got a long scientific name which you'll never remember. Anyway, apparently there's a parasite that gets on the so called kissing bug and infects it and bites it and sucks its blood. Then the bug becomes a carrier for the parasite. Then the bug passes the parasite through its droppings. So what you need to do is avoid the poop of a bug infected by a parasite getting into a cut in your skin, your eyes or your mouth. Or you'll get Chagas disease.

[Joe Getty]

Well, I'll do my best. How would I know if I had this Chagas disease?

[Michael]

Oh my gosh. The symptoms are unpleasant indeed. Swollen eyelids is the most immediate and prominent symptom. You look like a prize fighter who got smacked in both eyes.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Michael]

Swollen and you need to get ice between rounds.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, it's just.

[Joe Getty]

At least it's an easy to identify symptom because that doesn't.

[Michael]

Plus fever, diarrhea and loss of appetite. It can progress to enlarged esophagus or colon, large heart, or even sudden death, although that's very rare. So if you notice a bug pooping on you.

[Joe Getty]

He's got a big heart. No, he's not supposed to. That's the thing.

[Michael]

No, no, that's a symptom if. Just don't. Just don't let any bugs poop on you, especially if you have a cut going forward. Okay, but that's how you avoid the Chagas disease.

[Joe Getty]

But I like a disease that has an identifiable symptom like swollen eyelids, as opposed to flu like symptoms, which is everything else. And I only. I feel like I've got flu like symptoms pretty much every day of my life.

[Michael]

All right, so we've got a bunch to squeeze into the final hour of the week. But first, let's take a fond look back at the dark week that was its cow clips of the week.

[Joe Getty]

Right now, shots fired during a speech by right wing activist Charlie Kirk. This nation is in desperate need of prayer and some kind of an intervention.

[Katie Green]

We only have a democracy if we settle our disagreements with words.

[Governor Cox]

This is a dark day for our state.

[Jeffrey Mead]

I want to be.

[Michael]

I want to be remembered for.

[Joe Getty]

For courage, for my faith.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think with a high degree of certainty. We have him.

[Governor Cox]

We got him.

[Jack Armstrong]

Aryna Zarudska getting on the train Brown.

[Katie Green]

Rises from his seat and unprovoked.

[Joe Getty]

The video shows him stab her.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, when you have horrible killings, you have to take horrible actions.

[Joe Getty]

Poland saying 19 Russian drones violating its airspace.

[Jack Armstrong]

Again, guns of August. How about the drones of September? I'm worried.

[Governor Cox]

The point is, when there's dissonance in.

[Joe Getty]

Data that you have to sort of.

[Governor Cox]

Watch how it all works out.

[Michael]

The message apparently bears the signature of President Trump and comes with an outline of what appears to be a naked woman.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't do drawings.

[Joe Getty]

Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas leadership in Doha, Qatar. Did you get the targets you were seeking?

[Jack Armstrong]

If we didn't get them this time, we'll get them the next time.

[Katie Green]

The nation's report card for 12th graders across the US shows reading and math.

[Jack Armstrong]

Scores dropped to historic lows.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

So if I don't know the two.

[Katie Green]

Baby raccoons immediately, I just started doing.

[Jack Armstrong]

CPR on it because there's probably a lot of people out there that still.

[Joe Getty]

Only know me from those viral clips.

[Michael]

A guy screaming tiger blood and winning and all this other nonsense. Watching in the stands.

[Joe Getty]

His now favorite player on his favorite.

[Michael]

Teams had just hit a homer.

[Joe Getty]

And Andrew, his dad, got that baseball.

[Michael]

A woman started berating, felt low, claiming the ball was hers.

[Joe Getty]

What was she screaming at you? I can't even repeat that on air.

[Michael]

She's very vulgar. Did you mention this curious about the mystery of who actually impregnated the boy's mother, because surely it wasn't that limp wrist. Last part was harshly judgmental. I believe that was Michael's voice. That was terrible. Terrible thing you said.

[Joe Getty]

Michael, are you going through manopause? We have symptoms of that. We could get you in a little bit if you need them.

[Michael]

Did you just alter the term menopause to include the word man to imply that men are going through something similar?

[Joe Getty]

I did Charlie Sheen. His voice appeared in the clips of the week. I do. I, I. For some reason, I'm interested in watching at least some of that Netflix documentary about that. I'd like to hear him talk about that.

[Michael]

I've got to admit. And you've reinforced this. I love his tone of. I was completely out of control. I was a jackass and it's my fault. Good for you, Charlie.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, he's got eight years of sobriety going, so.

[Michael]

Have you seen any set of fake choppers? Because his rotted out. But what are you gonna do?

[Katie Green]

I watched. I watched the whole thing.

[Joe Getty]

Okay, well, yeah, tell us about it.

[Jack Armstrong]

He.

[Katie Green]

It's A lot of it is sad.

[Jack Armstrong]

He.

[Katie Green]

Because he talks a lot about his kids and whatnot, but he. One of the things that I took from it, especially towards the end, and I won't spoil any of it, but he really was shocked at his own behavior. And he talked about how shame is the best thing that happened to him because he was so shameful of what he did that he felt like he needed to talk about it, and that's why he's finally kind of coming out with it.

[Joe Getty]

It was that the having sex with dudes partially. Okay.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Michael]

There's plenty to be ashamed of, I think.

[Joe Getty]

Well, anybody who doesn't want to know this, turn off the radio for a moment. Go ahead and tell me you're not going to spoil anything. What was a. What was in the Charlie Sheen document?

[Michael]

Oh, no.

[Joe Getty]

You ruined the documentary of Charlie Sheen. What happened?

[Katie Green]

I mean, they obviously, they talk a lot about his. His relationships. Denise Richards is still madly in love with him.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, really?

[Katie Green]

And her part of the documentary is heart wrenching.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, wow.

[Katie Green]

You can just tell he took her heart, ripped it out, stomped on it, and she' still just cares about him. Major.

[Joe Getty]

That's rough.

[Katie Green]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

People who you, you know, you're married to someone and they. They become a drug. Drug addict. I've heard those stories before, but I.

[Katie Green]

Loved the way she handled it because she got really emotional on camera. And all the people from Netflix are going, okay, we're going to cut. She goes, no, film this. Like, you people need to see that this type of behavior causes this type of pain.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Katie Green]

Yeah, it was really. That was probably the most powerful part for me.

[Joe Getty]

That's interesting.

[Katie Green]

Yep. And now it's. It's odd because his. The. His last wife, who he had his two boys with, she's still in recovery. And you can tell throughout the documentary, I don't know if she's wasted or what's going on there, but she definitely seems off. And now Charlie is the one that all the kids go to because he's the reliable parent.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, good for him.

[Katie Green]

Yeah. So it's a. It's a happy ending story. But the Denise Richards part broke my heart pretty good.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. That's good because that's a common thread with alcoholics and drug addicts. Because I'm not hurting anybody but myself, which is never true.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

And. And she's wanting to make that clear.

[Michael]

He hurt. Look at all the damage he did in spite of all the money.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Michael]

And all the fame and all the crap people think are important things people think are important.

[Katie Green]

Warner Brothers for two and a half Men. They wanted Charlie so bad because they had sold the show out a couple of years and they had all this money coming in. But Charlie was kind of wavering on whether he was going to be part of it. He was making $2 million an episode. Yeah, that blew my mind. I didn't know that.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. High spared guy in all of television. She's winning as a funny. That's a funny damn show, too. Which reminds me, the Emmys are on Sunday night, which we used to talk about when they're out, like who's nominated and all that sort of stuff. Now it would be a list of shows you've never heard of or I've never heard of or you've heard of two of them, but not the other.

[Michael]

Don't know where to find. Once you hear from.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Because you and all your friends have a series you're watching that's the greatest thing you've ever seen, but you don't know anybody else that's watching it. That's just the way how. How spread out it all is.

[Michael]

Is that on Blue Tree or Mind Doc? No, it's on Zim Flying. Oh, I don't. I. I don't subscribe to that. Well, you can always quit.

[Joe Getty]

Nate Bargazi's the host, which. So he's, you know, they hired the hottest comedian out there to be the host. And it's kind of interesting because he's. His whole thing is he's a nice guy. And a lot of these shows, it's about making fun of people, and he doesn't do that. He makes fun of himself, but he doesn't really make fun of anybody else. So I don't know how that'll be. There's one thing I wanted to point out about that, though, I heard on NPR that I thought was really interesting about the Emmys and the blah. I'll think about it later.

[Michael]

Speaking of npr, I happen to flip them on before the show to punish myself for my sins. And they're going on and on and on. About January 6th. In the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk long feature. About January 6th.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. The thing I do get from the Emmys, if something is named the best drama, I will probably check it out. It was a couple of years ago when every single actor on S Creek won the award that year and it won best comedy. And I thought, I got to check that out. I checked it out. It was one of the greatest things it's ever been, ever filmed is S Creek. So, you know, sometimes the awards can tip you off to good things. They got the murderer of Charlie Kirk. A few details maybe we can pass along to you. It's mostly mundane, which makes it all.

[Michael]

The worse, but that's exactly what you thought.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that and other stuff on the way. Stay here. Armstrong and Getty. Wow, this is heavy. So I didn't think we'd talk this much about the Charlie Sheen documentary today, but Charlie Sheen's estranged daughter put out a video just yesterday, having watched the documentary in which she's half crying, saying, I had no idea my dad got sober because of me, and said she gives the documentary a 10 out of 10. So hopefully that leads toward the healing of that relationship. I mean, how awful is that? But from the documentary, Charlie Sheen saying, it was December 10, 2017, and by 9am I was on my third Macallan. Spiked coffee. I assume that's whiskey.

[Michael]

Irish whiskey. Yeah, yeah, Scotch, actually.

[Joe Getty]

Okay.

[Michael]

I think. Yeah, scotch. It's whiskey.

[Joe Getty]

So an Irish coffee. My phone rang, and when I picked it up, it was my daughter Sam. This is the estranged daughter who put out the video. It was my daughter Sam asking what time we were leaving. S. I said to myself, her appointment that day had completely slipped my mind. He was supposed to, you know, be picking her up to go do something and he had to call somebody else to go pick her up and all that sort of stuff because he couldn't. And that was the moment of clarity they call it in the world of being an addict or an alcoholic, that he couldn't. He couldn't. He couldn't deal with that. And so, wow, that that reached her, finding that out, that. That. That was the moment that he cared so much about that. That that's what led him to get sober. Wow.

[Michael]

How interesting. Not a crack up, just a moment of clarity that he'd let down the people he cared about the most. Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, wow.

[Michael]

Oh, happy for the guy.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. So a lot of people, including us, have realized what a rock star the governor of Utah might be for the Republican party. I. It's kind of, as I say that it sounds really coarse because he is just reacting best he could to a horrible, horribly tragic thing that happened in his state. But he's been received very well.

[Michael]

Yeah, he's. He's said some wonderful, eloquent things. I'll just for the record, I'll say we've had a couple Utahns say, don't canonize the guy. You know, he's kind of controversial in some ways, but yes, he's. He's said some absolutely wonderful, appropriate things.

[Joe Getty]

I don't quite understand that standard that people apply to you. Name the politician throughout history that doesn't have things you don't like about them. Go ahead, Go ahead. Name one.

[Michael]

Well, no, that's. Don't. I characterize their comments. It was much more thoughtful than that.

[Joe Getty]

Okay. But anyway, he. He spoke today as he was announcing that they caught the scumbag assassin. And the details that have come out on that that are unfortunately mundane, which makes it even more tragic and worse. Also, the latest stats on how many young people think political violence is justified. That number has got to go down or we are in big trouble.

[Michael]

Yeah. It's sickening and horrifying if you can't stay tuned. That number is astonishingly high.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Can we move that down or is it going to go up? Stay tuned for all that. It's on the way.

[Katie Green]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Governor Cox]

This is. This is certainly about the. The tragic death, assassination, political assassination of Charlie Kirk. But it is also much bigger than an attack on an individual. It is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the American experiment. It is an attack on our ideals. We will never be able to solve all the other problems, including the violence problems that people are worried about if we can't have a clash of ideas safely and securely, even. Especially, especially those ideas with which you disagree. That's why this matters so much.

[Joe Getty]

We've got people's attitudes towards political violence in some poll numbers, including some taken since Charlie Kirk was assassinated. Get to that in just a second. But that was Governor Cox of Utah, who's gotten a fair amount of attention for handling this situation very well. If I may be crassly political for a moment. Noah Rothman of National Review posted. Cox has done extremely well over the last 48 hours. Calming, informed, judicious, human. He made the most of his moment, but not in a cloying or solicitous way. An impressive performance. Then no one went on to say this morning after Governor Cox's.

[Michael]

Part of.

[Joe Getty]

The press conference, when they released the killer, the name of the killer. Oh, my God, he's quoting Yuval levin. I'm sold. Cox, 28.

[Michael]

Wow. Huh? Interesting.

[Joe Getty]

And, yeah, they do have the killer. We haven't mentioned that for a while. And it's just a regular young guy who hated Charlie Kirk.

[Michael]

Yeah, he's been ranting and raving about him lately. And it turns out his father, who's a retired sheriff's deputy, got him to turn himself in through a minister who was a family friend. He initially told his dad. He'd rather kill himself than surrender. But was convinced to relent somehow.

[Joe Getty]

So acceptance of political violence is higher than it ought to be. Here's a couple of different polls for you this past April. So not that many months ago, one think tank at Rutgers University found that 55%, 55% of self identified left of center respondents said that it was at least somewhat justified to murder President Trump. Over half of left of center respondents said it was at least somewhat justified to murder President Trump.

[Michael]

That's sickening.

[Joe Getty]

It's crazy.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

48% said the same of Elon Musk.

[Michael]

I remember when that came out. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

And then 60% said it was somewhat acceptable to destroy a Tesla dealership. You people are nuts, you realize. How do you not know that you're nuts? The question was asked on a scale of 1 to 7 on how justified it was and 7 being the highest. Completely justified. Nearly 15% of the left of centers who wanted who said it was okay to murder Donald Trump gave it a 7. Completely justified.

[Michael]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

15% of that, over half said it was completely justified to murder Donald Trump. Now that is either a performative answer, which is still sick, or you actually believe it, which means you probably ought to be in the care of the state because you're crazy.

[Michael]

Right?

[Joe Getty]

Dang it. Different poll, November. This one. It's interesting to see how it's grown because they've been asking us in YouGov for a while. In November of 2017, when asked if violence was justified to advance political goals, only 8% of Democrats and Republicans said it was at least a little bit justified. By 2020, that number had gone to 36%. It went from 8 to 36 between 2017 and 2020. Yeah, that kind of growth is intolerable. And then in the latest poll by YouGov taken after Charlie Kirk was murdered, 72% of people said violence is never justified. So I'm very happy to see that in the wake of the assassination this week.

[Michael]

I like the fact there were more than double the number of Democrats who said violence can be justified than Republicans. It was a shocking number of Independents too.

[Joe Getty]

On the question about Charlie Kirk. Specifically, 5% said they'd prefer not to say whether they think violence is justified or not. Well, you know, you're a weirdo.

[Michael]

Attitude is.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, so you see, think that means they. They do, yeah. Of course, if you're against it, you wouldn't be afraid to say it.

[Michael]

No, of course not.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Saying that. And this is from Yahoo News that I'm reading by the Way left leaning organization if ever there was one. Saying that violence can be justified is more prominent among Democrats and independents than among Republicans, which is not shocking at all. It's funny that I quoted Noah Rothman of the National Review as he is writing a book about the left and political violence that it will be very timely when it comes out.

[Michael]

And it's absolutely not justified or acceptable that people on the right believe it either. We condemn them just as strongly. But. And you know, we haven't gotten to this. Did you have more you wanted?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I'll just, I'll just hit you with the summary paragraph that they wrote. Three sets of polls they looked at from different polling organizations makes it clear that it is a minority of Americans who support political violence. But that more minority is. Significance is significant. It's between 10 and 40%, depending on the poll, of people who think that violence can be justified to obtain political goals. 10% is way too high. You know, if you look at 50,000 college kids on campus, if 10% of them in that one college. Right. Think political violence is okay, you got a serious problem, right?

[Michael]

Yeah, a horrifyingly serious problem. Agreed.

[Joe Getty]

So I'm not sure we're going to.

[Michael]

Play this whole thing. I might jump in. But the first voice you're going to hear is Seth Moulton was a Democrat congressman, fairly well known. He's a fixture on the Talking head shows. And then the second voice is a commentator by the name of Jeffrey Mead. Michael, I'll tell you when to bail out, but clip 60.

[Governor Cox]

Let's be serious about where this violence is coming from. Of extremist violent attacks in America, streamless violence, violent murders, 76% are from right wing extremists. 4% are from left wing extremists. I condemn that 4%. But we also need to be honest about as a nation about where this.

[Michael]

Violence is coming from.

[Governor Cox]

And oh, by the way, it's probably an appropriate time to talk about guns too.

[Jeffrey Mead]

This man is gaslighting right in front of our faces. Real time, just gaslighting. And what's even more sick is that he's downplaying the political violence against conservatives at this moment. Notice he didn't say anything about extremist political murders. He just said extremist. So in that study, that basically counts for anyone that commits violent acts that has extremist beliefs. So for example, if a white supremacist kills someone in a bar fight and it wasn't even related to race, that counts. This is what's so despicable about what he just did, it's blatant manipulation, blatant gaslighting and an attempt at narrative control. All we have to do is pay attention. Again, before I say that he's minimizing the actual problem that we have with violence against conservatives in this country.

[Michael]

Let's think about it.

[Jeffrey Mead]

We know Trump almost got assassinated.

[Michael]

Bail out of that. And we could go through the various acts of political violence lately. But one thing, there have been a couple of criticisms of that study that if people hear them, just devastate the accuracy. If you go one day past the end of the study, there was the killing of, like, of, I can't remember, 14 people by a leftist lunatic. And that completely changes all of the numbers. Second thing, and even more devastating, that includes violence and deaths in prisons with the white gangs, the Aryan Nation for instance, considered a right wing political organization, whereas the black and Hispanic gangs were just, in that incredibly flawed study, just identified as ethnic groups, ethnic clubs, in essence. So it was only the white gang guys who had a political stance attributed to their in prison violence and that constituted the vast majority of the incidents they were talking about. It is a horrifyingly misleading study and Seth Moulton should know better.

[Joe Getty]

82% of stats are worthless.

[Michael]

Correct.

[Joe Getty]

They really are. I mean you, you can craft a study or stats to justify anything you want to say. How about we all just go with all political violence is no good and keep it at that.

[Michael]

That was easy.

[Joe Getty]

Which we never got around to playing any. Bernie Sanders put out a four minute video yesterday. It was very good and balanced and blamed both sides, including his own. And just, we can't have this. We can't have this. We have to be able to disagree and have arguments without people being afraid to express their opinion because they're afraid they're going to get hurt or killed. We just, it's the only way we can move forward.

[Michael]

Right. And we already have a serious problem with the best people unwilling to get involved in the nation's politics or your state's politics or your county politics. There's actually, there's not to get into this too much, but within the community I live in the, the politics of it has like national politics gotten ugly and personal in a way that it, it hasn't been as much in the past. And it's at a moment of you ask people, hey, are you willing to get involved and help with the community and its management and blah, blah, blah. And they're like, not a chance. And we're doomed. We're doomed as a country in society, if the only people willing to get involved in politics are the climbers and the greed heads and not the people who are honestly concerned about the country and its children, not to mention the adults, I'm one of them and I hope somebody's concerned about me. But the best, most decent people in the country are afraid, physically afraid to run for Congress, for instance, or a city council or what have you, then we're doomed. We are really, truly doomed.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. We will finish strong next Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

And we know that you can't comment on legal cases pending, but as Sonny said, you know the ruling yesterday about ice rays. I'm just curious, how are they going to know who is who read my dissent? Where can people find these dissents? Because I think people always think they're not available to regular folks. Is there a place to have online? Online, There's. And you search online the way you search anything. The Supreme Court's decision yesterday. You can start there. Yeah. All right. Sotomayor, dissent yesterday. Nome. That's one of the names in the case. The Nome Supreme Court decision search bar. It'll pop right up. The Supreme Court website, supremecourt.gov has all our decisions immediately when they're issued. So you don't even have to wait for that. They keep defunding the Department of Education. How is going to be reading these dissents?

[Joe Getty]

Wow, that's from the View. If you don't recognize the horrific voices of Whoopi Goldberg and whatever that one woman's name is, Joy Bayard. So Whoopi, completely unaware that you can read these Supreme Court decisions. Well, first of all, without going to the Supreme Court website or every article you read in any major newspaper has a link to them. Always.

[Jack Armstrong]

Always.

[Michael]

Yeah, you have to try to avoid them. And she's clearly never read one, never read part of one.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Michael]

She's an ignoramus.

[Joe Getty]

So see, when you're reading an article in the New York Times and like, it's either in bold or blue or has a line under it, that's a hyperlink and you can click on it and it will take you to more information about whatever you're reading.

[Michael]

I loved Sonia Sotomayor. Where can I find these decisions? You've heard of Google, right? I mean, like, just Google anything related to it. It'll come up. What? Are you serious? Whoopi's an ignoramus. She was charming in Sister act, but she's an ignorant.

[Joe Getty]

Married to dead. Dancing briefly. Were they actually married or just dating?

[Michael]

They're together for A while.

[Joe Getty]

I'm gonna ask. Chat GPT. This is important to me.

[Michael]

Oh, no, you don't.

[Joe Getty]

Were Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson actually married or just dating? That is one of the weirder things that's happened in world history, I think. I think they just dated. Okay, well, you.

[Michael]

You pointed out years ago, you're the first person I heard mention this, that in Hollywood, getting married is like going steady. Yeah, it is. Not till death do us part at all. No, it's just like we're exclusive for a while.

[Joe Getty]

We're down to the. About the last dozen baseball games of the year, and then we'll be into the playoffs. And if you like baseball, that's when it gets very, very exciting.

[Michael]

I do. I love baseball. I haven't been watching lately. I need to get back to it.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. And then the. The NFL is in week two this weekend. I'll probably catch a little bit of that. I'm craving that a little more than normal, as this has been a very long news week.

[Michael]

Obviously, it has difficult and painful, and the road ahead is as uncertain as it's ever seemed.

[Joe Getty]

I'll be interested to see how the Sunday shows handle this. There'll be a full, what, five days out from the assassination and how. How big a role that plays in the Sunday talk shows and what people have to say.

[Michael]

It will be at least slightly interesting to see what they leave in, what they leave out, what aspects of the case, how they try to spin it. Of course, I'm so exhausted by that. I mean, it's not like I need further evidence that Kristen Welker is a lefty. I mean, and what I'm always looking.

[Joe Getty]

For is after there's something horrifying, we tend to come together for like, an hour, and then we go right back to where we were before fairly quickly. And I wonder if that's where we'll be on Sunday. So.

[Michael]

Yeah, well, if any good comes of this, it's at least. Well, a significant number of people have been energized to continue Charlie Kirk's work in whatever way their talents can take them, whether it's openly engaging in discussion, whether it's realizing that conservatives can't just, like, grind our teeth and grumble as the leftist crowd insists on their way and calls everybody who disagrees with them a hater or says speech is violence. Because, of course, the next sentence is, therefore violence is justified. To combat violence. We can't. We can't pretend that's harmless anymore.

[Joe Getty]

It's final thoughts. I'm strong Again. It's final thoughts. It's final thoughts.

[Michael]

I'm strong again. Get ready with Katie Green and Michelangelo.

[Joe Getty]

Final thoughts. I'm strong together. Here's your host for final thoughts, Joe Getty.

[Michael]

Get a final thought from everybody on the crew, the full crew to wrap up the week. There he is, pressing the buttons. Michelangelo, Michael, what's your final thought?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, this is for Katie.

[Governor Cox]

We're all glad you're there.

[Joe Getty]

That's right.

[Katie Green]

Oh, thank you.

[Michael]

I had so many people ask where you were and they, they really missed you. So welcome back.

[Jack Armstrong]

Thank you.

[Michael]

Katie Greener, esteemed news woman, is back in the saddle. Katie, a final thought for us.

[Katie Green]

Yes, I'm very happy to be back. And I'm also very happy to wish my mom A happy 75th birthday today.

[Michael]

Cool.

[Katie Green]

Yeah. And she's still hot. Smoking hot.

[Michael]

Oh, she's incredibly youthful. Are you kidding me? Jack, a final thought for us.

[Joe Getty]

You're gonna call her mom hot? I'm glad you didn't. I didn't want. That's just weird.

[Michael]

She's pretty hot.

[Joe Getty]

That's a weird thing to say.

[Michael]

That's an odd thing to judge, Larry.

[Joe Getty]

She is.

[Michael]

Your girl is a hottie.

[Joe Getty]

Weird to say. My high school, er, my high schooler is having four of his friends stay the night on Saturday night. So I'm gonna have five teenage boys, sophomores, in my house. And it'll be loud. It'll smell like a locker room. Lots of laughter. I assume they'll be up in his room getting tattoos and smoking and vaping or something.

[Michael]

Yeah, I guess my final thought is. Yeah, I could use a little break too, honestly, after wallowing in, in this horror for days and days. But my final, final thought is have courage, stay on the high road, do the right thing and do it in the right way. You'll never have to apologize for that, ever.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty wrapping up another grueling four hour workday.

[Michael]

So many people to thank, so little time. Go to Armstrong and Yeti.com. a lot of great hot links. We'd love to hear from you. Drop us a note. Mailbagarmstrongandgetty.com While you're there, pick up a hat, a T shirt, a hoodie, Joe.

[Joe Getty]

Getty, who goes around to co workers telling them their mother is hot. We will see you on Monday. God bless America.

[Jack Armstrong]

With a high degree of certainty. We have him.

[Governor Cox]

We got him.

[Jack Armstrong]

The father convinced the son. This is it. And he's there now.

[Joe Getty]

The suspect was taken into custody at 10pm local time.

[Governor Cox]

Charlie said when people stop talking. That's when you get violence.

[Jack Armstrong]

Young people. He wanted to help young people and he didn't deserve to. This he was truly a good person.

[Governor Cox]

He said, always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them so much.

[Joe Getty]

To my friend Charlie Kirk. Rest now, brother.

[Jack Armstrong]

We have the watch.

[Joe Getty]

And I'll see you in Valhalla.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.