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Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Before I get to the game, Jon Favreau's here. Do you guys know him? Hey, guys. It's Jon Favreau's fault that we had to read the worst autopsy that's ever been.
John (political commentator)
You're welcome. You're welcome.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Ever. I got it. It's all Jon Favreau's fault.
John (political commentator)
This is what I wanted.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Before we get to the game, I just want everybody opinion on the work that you've done. John, were you happy with the results?
John (political commentator)
Did you like that? Did you like the conclusion? Conclusion where it says not provided by author. It's not there.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Let's say hi to.
Ken (guest or commentator)
I think we have Ken right there.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
So what you think, John? What's your big takeaway? I mean, is the party ready to move forward now? United States.
John (political commentator)
The guy stepped on so many rakes. It wouldn't have been that bad if he didn't just fucking lie over and over and over again. Right? Like that is the. Because it's like it's the autopsy. Whatever. It would have been nice to learn more from an actual well done autopsy. But if he had just come out when the friend that he put in charge of this fucked the whole thing up and didn't produce an actual product and either said, you know what, my mistake, we screwed this up. We're gonna try to do it again and it's gonna be delayed or you know what? It's now it's too late. It's close to the midterms. We screwed it up and that's it. Like, he would have gotten some shit for it, but it wouldn't have been the same as this. Instead, he realized that it fucked up. And then he just decided to lie and then lie again and then keep lying until he got himself into this problem.
Jane (political commentator)
Well, John, he also did something very important, which is that he put a lot of the blame on Vice presidential Vice President Kamala Harris because, you know, it's her fault for trying to run an Entire campaign in 110 days.
John (political commentator)
It was 107.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Honestly, if it had only been 17 days, we probably would have won. That's why I don't really like that complaint that we didn't have enough days. I think we had two.
Jane (political commentator)
I'm just saying, like, of the people.
John (political commentator)
It was the day after the dnc
Jane (political commentator)
of the people who I'm putting this autopsy on. It's not her. No, no, it's not. No, it's not her. It's guy who did podcasts with you and came off looking real bad.
John (political commentator)
Who's that?
Jane (political commentator)
A man named Ken.
Sarah (political commentator)
Oh, Ken.
John (political commentator)
Oh, yeah, that guy.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Yeah, of course.
John (political commentator)
Well, the other problem that we learned today, too, is that, like, the DNC has negative $3 million on hand, so.
Jane (political commentator)
But they email me so much liberal spending.
Sarah (political commentator)
Can I just. This whole thing's gonna be a little bit about never Trumpers. And you know what? We're immigrants to your native land.
John (political commentator)
No, of course, of course.
Jane (political commentator)
And so, you know, you got a lot of thoughts.
Sarah (political commentator)
We got thoughts.
John (political commentator)
You are. You are on the path to citizenship.
Sarah (political commentator)
I'm not sure I'm getting citizenship, actually. But we do have opinions. And, like, as a communications matter, there is something about him being like, no, we're not going to release it.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Yeah.
Sarah (political commentator)
And then, like, we're going to withhold it for a really long time while everybody gets mad at us. And then, like, we're not going to do the thing. It's just like, when is Chuck Schumer coming to Ken Martin's Rehoboth beach house to say, hey, man, maybe you got to step aside?
John (political commentator)
Also, like, I did not ambush this guy. We did not try to get him on the pod for this.
Ken (guest or commentator)
He.
John (political commentator)
He texted me because he was angry about a tweet that he thought was my tweet. That was actually Ben Rose's tweet, critical of him.
Sarah (political commentator)
Well, all white guys look the same.
John (political commentator)
And then he said, first of all, he was like, hey, stop criticizing. And I'm like, I didn't know the number. I didn't recognize the number. So I get A text at 4am from Ken Martin, pissed about this tweet that I didn't do.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Sorry.
John (political commentator)
And then he was like, Hang on
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
his personal cell at 4 o' clock in the morning. Dude, can you give me his number?
Sarah (political commentator)
I have something right now.
John (political commentator)
And so then he was like. So he's like, and I should at least get a chance to come on the pod and tell my side of the story. And again, I'm like, what story? I don't know what you're talking about, because I wasn't aware of the criticism.
Ken (guest or commentator)
And who is this?
Guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
Right?
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Who is that?
John (political commentator)
Exactly. I kind of figured out.
Ken (guest or commentator)
It looked.
John (political commentator)
It was like Minnesota area code. So I put it all together, and then we go to D.C. and then I run into him at the Grinder party, as one does.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
And it was a pretty good party.
Sarah (political commentator)
It was Ken Martin waring to the Grinders.
John (political commentator)
It was a bad party because we got there at 11 o' clock and there was no fucking alcohol. So I was getting to be way too sober when Ken Martin accosted me and then started being really pissy again about the autopsy thing. And then he was like, I know that your guy didn't win, and blah, blah, blah, because we, like, supported Ben Wickler. And I'm like, come on the pod. We're so excited to talk. It's great. We'll talk about this in the pod. We don't have to do this here at the Grinder podcast. So that was how I left it. And then he came on the pod and that. And then that was.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Well, when I read the autopsy today, I was really excited that we could say the AR slur again. That was my biggest takeaway from it. Btc, you know, you're a man in the digital space. What'd you think of their assessment of the 2024 campaign?
Sarah (political commentator)
Also, did you buy those boots, like, today?
Jane (political commentator)
Yes.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
This is literally the first time.
Sarah (political commentator)
They aren't broken in at all. Those are brand new.
Ken (guest or commentator)
Thank you so much for calling it out.
Sarah (political commentator)
I'm a lesbian. I like a good pair of boots.
Ken (guest or commentator)
Well, now that you've asked me and I'm on stage and I have to answer the question, I will admit that I did not read the autopsy because, I mean, I lived like, I lived all of it. I saw all the broken bullshit that we did. So, you know, I kind of.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
So what do you think they should do next? You got any advice? And you have a lot more followers than Ken Martin does on social media, so maybe you could give them some tips.
Ken (guest or commentator)
Well, look, I mean, I spent a lot of the lead up to 2024 begging and pleading for Democrats to actually embrace independ because it seemed like going on MSNBC over and over and over again to talk to the same 400,000 people was not gonna do it. And now they get it. And so that's good. That's at least a step in the right direction.
Jane (political commentator)
All it took was losing an election that ruined the lives of millions of people.
Ken (guest or commentator)
It's amazing. It's amazing what you can finally, when it clicks once you descend headfirst into autocracy. I don't think that there's anything you
Sarah (political commentator)
could learn in the autopsy about what Democrats do wrong that you couldn't learn from watching how Democrats handled trying to release or not release the autopsy. That feels like the main.
Ken (guest or commentator)
The autopsy conclusion was actually the lessons we learned along the way. It was the friends we made along the way.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
All right, you guys ready to have some fun? We're gonna play a little game. We have the latke legs over here, you know, because we're trying to be culturally appropriate. And over here we have Team Crooked. And what we're doing is never trump trivia, right? We're gonna test each side to see who knows better about never Trump trivia. You have a whiteboard.
Sarah (political commentator)
Okay, this is your official Katie Porter whiteboard.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Here's the in kind contribution. Here's the thing to you people in the audience, okay? You're gonna be tempted to shout out the answers to help them out. That's not fun. What would be more fun is if you shout out the wrong answers to try to confuse them. Okay, so. So please don't help them out. All right, Sarah's gonna ask the first question at the end of this. Obviously, the winner gets the thing that a content creator wants the most, which is the opportunity to create additional content.
Sarah (political commentator)
Okay, first never Trump question. What were the Twitter burner names of Mitt Romney and Jim Comey? Go.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
When I had Jim, what did you guys think about that Jim Comey pod when he was on this week?
Sarah (political commentator)
Are we rehabilitating Jim Comey at all or are we still mad at him?
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Rehabilitating him. Mix and miss. Okay. Are you rehabilitating Jim Comey? Say yes. Okay. Do you still want Jim Comey to die in a fire? Say yes. Okay. Well, he's making progress. All right, do we have our answers? Team Crooked? What do we have? Pierre Delicto and question mark. One point. Pierre Delicto and Jake. Ooh. One to one. Reinhold Niebuhr was Jim Comey's name Reinhold suffer insufferable. Question two. It's a three part question. What was the Name of Mitt Romney's dog that he tied to the roof of his car, resulting in feces dripping down the window. Bonus, what type of car were they driving? And bonus two, which son shared that story with the Boston Globe thinking it was going to be a cute anecdote about their childhood?
John (political commentator)
Oh, that's good.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. All right, we've got. Over here, we got the answer. Sam, time's up. Turn around. Over here we have Seamus, Volkswagen Tag two for three. Seamus, Buick tag two for three. It was actually a Chevrolet Caprice station wagon. Chevrolet Caprice, two for three. So it's three to three. That's nice. Question number three. This is a good one. This one. Kind of a local one.
Sarah (political commentator)
Yeah, this one's for the locals here. Winch Never Trumper and friend of the Bulwark once got into hot water for spending 200,000. No, not 200,000, just 2,000. It was just 2,000 in campaign funds at Voyeur West Hollywood, a risque nightclub here in Los Angeles.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
$2,000 was spent at Voyeur nightclub by a Never Trumper and friend of the podcast, frequent podcast listener. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Crooked T. You're running out. 3, 2, 1. Do you have any guests? No. What do you have over here?
Sarah (political commentator)
Yes, obviously, Michael Steele. When Michael Steele was running the rnc, he ran up two grand in strip club fees.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Voyeur, wow. Has anybody been to Voyeur? Van, have you been to Voyeur? No. Anybody else out there? Can I just say that the lock of legs over here, I'm just carrying the load. Other than nothing. This is why I put Sam on your team, actually. Is okay, Van, this one might be more up your alley. At a March Madness Sweet 16 game, Chris Christie was spotted gorging himself in an unusual manner. What snack was he eating? And what was he doing with that snack? It was a meme. It was a picture of Chris Christie at a Sweet 16 game.
Sarah (political commentator)
Sam spent so much time with the
John (political commentator)
Never Trappers now that he knows it's unfair.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Do you think it's unfair?
John (political commentator)
Well, Sam is like a Bulwark person, you know?
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
I don't know what the Bulwark has to do with Chris Christie at Madison Square Garden. Okay, what was Chris Christie doing? He was eating M and M's. He took one box and then dipped it into another.
Sarah (political commentator)
He emptied one box of MMS into another box.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Deep threading. A pretzel is incorrect. Chris Christie had a bag of MMs and he was pouring it into a Larger receptacle of M and M's.
Guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
Are you going. You're going crazy.
Sarah (political commentator)
Why do you know that?
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
I'm crashing.
Sarah (political commentator)
I didn't know that when he told me that on the bus, I was crying.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Yeah.
Jane (political commentator)
Sam, I'm worried about you.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
That was.
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
I. I predicted. Sam, that playing against talk about this, Sam is Jane.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
I thought you were going to be the ringer.
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
He's going to do everything terrible.
Jane (political commentator)
I'm so sorry.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
It's five to three. Luckily, the bonus round, it's kind of like Price is Right. You get bonus points at the end. So, you know, no worries. You guys are still in the game.
Sarah (political commentator)
This is a good one. I believe you. I believe in you for this one. This Never Trump candidate and this was the. This was going into 2020. This never trump candidate did a stunt in front of Arby's asking where's the beef? Despite that being a Wendy's slogan, and he dropped out shortly thereafter.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
What year was this? 2020.
Sarah (political commentator)
This was going in. So think of the Never Trump candidates who are primarying Trump.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Oh, boy.
Sarah (political commentator)
Guys, he wore a sandwich board in front of an Arby's.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Nobody. Any guesses? Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. It's five to three.
Sarah (political commentator)
We can give them a hint.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Okay, well, no, actually, we're just going to move on to the follow up question because then it'll be a bonus. This same candidate pretended like he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. Where was he really? And a extra bonus point if you can name who he was with. This is the goodest. This is a. This is your life. Tim Miller that I'm doing just for my own benefit.
Sarah (political commentator)
He was like, I'm running this guy's campaign. He's going places.
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
Could you share with us Mark Sanford inside his mistress in Argentina?
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Sanford, Argentina, mistress. Not Olivia. It was Maria, actually. It was Maria. We have three points and two. So it's six to seven right now.
Sarah (political commentator)
Are you doing that math in your head? Six, seven.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Okay. All right. We're going rapid fire right now. So if you don't know it, just let me know. What?
Sarah (political commentator)
This is my.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
I'm sorry, I can't even say this. Okay,
Sarah (political commentator)
Wait, you guys are gonna know this. What is the title of Joe Scott Scarborough's song about 911 that he has played several times on Morning Joe? It's an original song.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
I should be recused.
Sarah (political commentator)
Morning Joe Scarborough.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
You know it, though. You know. You don't know.
Sarah (political commentator)
Come on, you're on their show. You're a mayor, part of their gang.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
It's called Reason to believe, Jane. Number eight, Nikki Haley's son has recently achieved minor notoriety as a white nationalist maga. What is his name? The White Nationalist Maga son of Nikki Haley. Did you guys know that Nikki Haley has a white nationalist son? It's interesting. He's a quarter Indian. Do you know his name? He's very handsome.
Sarah (political commentator)
Do you know that the actual MAGA never trumpers white nationalist crew is incredibly diverse? It's a real testament to America how diverse our white nationalists are.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Do you have it, Sam?
Jane (political commentator)
Yeah.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Naveen. No. New racist. Nailing. Nailing Haley.
John (political commentator)
Take it a point away.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
And he would like that. He would like that.
Sarah (political commentator)
Stop hogging the sheep.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Just declare Brian suggesting. Naveen, let's skip ahead to number 10. We're going to shout out some Bulwark colleagues who aren't.
Sarah (political commentator)
Oh, you don't want to do number nine? It's good.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Do it if you want.
Sarah (political commentator)
No. Okay, I'll do 10 and then we can circle back to nine.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
All right.
Sarah (political commentator)
The now infamous National Review Against Trump edition Featured essays from 22 authors. Four remain living and against Trump. One point for each one you can name.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Okay, so 17 have turned and are for Trump now.
Sarah (political commentator)
One has died and some have passed away, which isn't funny.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Now four remain living and opposed to Trump. We'll give you a hint. Two are Bulwark colleagues. Two were Bulwark colleagues. Two of the four.
John (political commentator)
Oh, yeah, obviously.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. You can guess this one in the crowd. We can help them out. Do you know any Against Trump listeners? Against Trump essays? Can you believe 17 of those motherfuckers are for Trump? It was right there in the name Against Trump. Tick, tick, tick. Final chance. Final chance. Here we go. Sam, who do you have over there? Bill Kristol. Yes, Bill Kristol. We both have that. You have Jonah Goldberg. We don't like him. And Steve Hayes. Nope, Neither of them were on there. Sorry. One for three. Sam is from on there. Nope, nope. There's another Bulwark colleague on there.
Sarah (political commentator)
Sam.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
There's one other Bulwark staffer.
Sarah (political commentator)
We work with two people from there.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
One other Bulwark staffer who can get it. Mona. I got it eight to eight. Mona Mog.
Sarah (political commentator)
Sam. I just.
Jane (political commentator)
One of my favorite.
Sarah (political commentator)
I cannot wait to tell Mona that you did not get it.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Van, this one's finally going to be for you. The category is Jeb Bush, Dead or alive in 2016. My boss told Scott Conroy he's here in the audience. What's up, Scott? That there was one Instance where he would kill a vulnerable person. This came 10 years after he intervened to keep another vulnerable person alive against their will. Who did Jeb want dead and who did he want to live? Who did Jeb want to kill and who did he want to keep alive?
Sarah (political commentator)
Sam, think of a prominent person that Republicans wanted to keep alive.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Who did Jeb want?
Sarah (political commentator)
Did you say baby Hitler? That's not who they wanted to keep alive.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Who did he want to keep alive? Keep alive? He wanted to.
Jane (political commentator)
In.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
In 2016. He wanted to kill someone in 1996 or no, 2006. He wanted to keep someone alive. We have an answer from Shane.
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
Baby Hitler and Terry.
Sarah (political commentator)
Terry Shivo is correct. Yes.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Terry Shivo, too. Ten to nine, sorry, they've taken the lead. Wow. Did you? Yeah.
Sarah (political commentator)
You didn't have Shia vo.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
No, I did. I said marry Shiava, but it was Shivo.
Sarah (political commentator)
Do we give him that? Do we give him that?
John (political commentator)
No.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
10 to 9 Crooked has taken the lead.
Sarah (political commentator)
God damn it.
Jane (political commentator)
It's a comeback for the ages.
Sarah (political commentator)
This is the one I'm doing.
Jane (political commentator)
That's yours. This is for you.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
I need help, guys.
Sarah (political commentator)
Okay, okay. I'll give this back to you for yours. Okay, this is a serious never trump question because we are the capitalist wing of antifa. Okay, so what is the national debt right now? Price is right rules. To the nearest trillion without going over.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Without going over. Don't help them. Don't help them. Okay. I know there's a handful of old whites out there that have the debt clock in their house. Do not help these liberals. Do not help these profligate liberals by shouting the answer.
Jane (political commentator)
Do we get.
Guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
Whoever's closer gets the point.
Sarah (political commentator)
Yeah, but don't go over.
John (political commentator)
Can't go over.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Price is right rules. I think that's right. Okay.
Sarah (political commentator)
Oh, my God. You show that to them. 12 trillion.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
What do you guys guess? 38 trillion? 39.
Sarah (political commentator)
This is why you guys think we can spend forever. Do you know the last time it was 12 trillion?
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
In 2012, probably when I was trying to.
John (political commentator)
Working on fucking Irks and Bols Bowles Simpson. Right. We had a whole thing in the open.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
We tried.
Jane (political commentator)
We tried.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Did you? Yeah. This is a Tim Miller theme. Question. What was the name of the original Naughty by nature inspired Never Trump super pac, for which I was the spokesperson. The name became tinged with irony when Trump became the nominee and everyone involved in the PAC besides me went on to support him. The name of the original, not the Lincoln Project. I know you're thinking Lincoln project. Before the Lincoln Project, there was a pac for which I was the spokesperson. John, you and I were friends back then.
John (political commentator)
I know. I just couldn't remember.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Can't remember it. Naughty by nature themed. If you just gave me the initials, we'd allow it. Oh, oh, oh, oh. We'd allow the initials even. We would allow the initials. They got opp that's 1.2 points for our principal's pack over here. The lot collects 12 to 11. Our principal's back. They all went for Hillary after. I don't think anyone's gonna get this, but I just want to let you know that I wrote down super bonus for 100 points. Who did Dick Cheney shoot?
Sarah (political commentator)
Do you know the name?
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
100 points if you know who Dick Cheney shot. Does anyone in the audience know who Dick Cheney shot? If you know, come to the stage right now. If you know the name of who Dick Cheney shot, you can come up on stage right now. No one in the whole audience. He knows. There it is. Let's see it. Let's see it. Sir. Sir, who did Dick Cheney shoot? Is it Harry Whittington? Harry Whittington.
Sarah (political commentator)
Wow. 100 points.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Bravo.
John (political commentator)
Who's the network crumper there?
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Dick Cheney or what? I had it. I had it. Okay, we now move on to the notable quotable section.
Guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
What a weird thing to know.
Sarah (political commentator)
There's no such. Why would you know that person?
Jane (political commentator)
There's no such thing as a weird thing to know.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
We have two quotes that we are going to provide, and you have to tell us which former Never Trumper said them.
Sarah (political commentator)
Former.
Jane (political commentator)
Never.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Former. Never. Trumper.
Sarah (political commentator)
Oh, yeah, they're all former, except for the people on this stage.
Jane (political commentator)
I was gonna say when you talked about this category, I was like. So people not employed by the Bulwark in a former.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
They're with them now?
Jane (political commentator)
Yes.
Sarah (political commentator)
Like. Like everybody. Okay, so which former never Trumper said the following? Trump makes people I care about afraid. Immigrants, Muslims, et cetera. Because of this, I find him reprehensible. God wants better of us.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
God wants better of us. God wants better of us, he said. Or she.
John (political commentator)
That's tough.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Can't believe you guys didn't know Nayland Haley. His thirst traps are better than his political opinions.
Sarah (political commentator)
You spend a lot of time in his thirst traps.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
I am. I've been eyeing his Twitter feed for a while. Okay, what do we have? Both sides. Shady Vance.
Sarah (political commentator)
Yeah, Shady Vans. That's right. We didn't even give you the. Is America's Hitler?
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
It's a very close match right now. I think the rant section will determine who's going to be the winner. It's so close. Final notable quotables. Friends don't let friends vote for con artists. Donald is not going to make America great. He's going to make America orange. Cringe. Cringe. That feels like. Feels like the worst never Trumper quote imaginable. Somebody who has no friends, don't let friends vote for con artist. Donald is not going to make America great. He's going to make America orange. Orange. Let's see what we got here. Oh, we got two.
Sarah (political commentator)
Ted Cruz. Wrong. Okay, wait, hold on. Before you guys answer, this candidate. No, no, no. This person also accused Donald Trump of having a small penis. Now we've got it.
John (political commentator)
There we go.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
All right, so the current score is 12 to 12. And so it will be the crowd that will get to decide who's the winner because we have three rants coming up and you will get to vote which team rants better about the following topics.
Sarah (political commentator)
Quick, let's explain the rules. Each of you, like in west side Story, can choose the person from your team who gets to do the rant on each topic. So we will do head to head. Each of you will get one chance to do a rant.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Yeah, kind of like Price is Right or west side Story. Whatever you want. Or no. Well, it's a family feud. You know, you pick one person to come up for the buzzer on the last one, we might let you all go because it's so fun. All right, number one, California is governed like shit. This is a statement that I'm making, and you guys are going to have to respond to it. I landed in San Diego, and within one hour, the following happened. I walked outside the hotel. I looked at a promenade that said, please social distance and wear your mask. Still, the hotel was locked all the way around. I didn't have a key. I couldn't get in because they were worried that vagrants were going to micterate on the rug inside the hotel. And then I sat outside a green juice store where a lady came up to me and said, hey, I love you so much. I used to live in the Bay Area. I had to move because it was so expensive. Then I moved to San Diego, and it's so expensive now, I want to move to New Orleans where you could be a real estate agent. That really happened outside of a juice store in San Diego. As a response to that, you people have decided that you're going to keep the same shitty mayor in this city and that you're going to nominate Biden's worst cabinet Secretary to be the governor candidate. No one can afford to live here. You can't build a train. And this is the model of democratic governance. Please defend California.
Sarah (political commentator)
Wait. And before you do that, I just want to say one thing. You guys live here. I found out something fun. Did you know they invited the French in here to help you build a train? And the French, like, spent a couple years and then went, we're gonna fuck off to Morocco and build a train. Because they said something like, ladies don't know what they're doing.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
It's ugly. It's ugly. Defend California. Which team would like to go first? Crooked. Why don't you go first?
John (political commentator)
I did this last time I was here.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Defend California.
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
All right. Okay. So what was the last few lines of that like?
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Like, condemnation against California.
Sarah (political commentator)
Yeah, yeah.
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
What were the last few lines?
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
The last few lines were that despite all the horrors of the state was run by the Democrats.
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
You can't build a train. What were. What were the things that you were upset about?
Jane (political commentator)
Affordability.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
You can't build a train. People can't afford to live here.
Sarah (political commentator)
You can't build anything else.
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
Well, so here's the way to defend that in California language. You say it with, like, an optimistic. You can't afford to live here. You can't build a train. Like, part of it is by design. We don't want everybody to live here, because if everybody could live here, they would. If everybody could live here, they would. Okay, so I grew up in the Minneapolis St. Paul area. What are the.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Wow.
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
Amazing.
Jane (political commentator)
Yeah. They're all here.
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
They're all here. No, we. Most of them don't leave, so I'm surprised that there's so many people here. Well, one of the things I loved about where I grew up was just, like, most people can't fucking hack it in Minneapolis St. Paul because it is too cold, and they cannot stand it and persevere into what's awesome about it. That's the same thing for California. There are things that require you to persevere. And once you do, you get to experience the fact that, like, every day you walk out of the house and you don't have to be like, am I gonna die? From what? The weather? Like, is it gonna rain on me? Is it gonna snow on me? The fact that you get the sun 300 days a year, it's like, it's a better place to live. And I'm saying this as a Midwesterner who will defend the Midwest to the death. I love California, and I.
Sarah (political commentator)
Okay, but to be fair, hold on. Just to. Just to push back. That's what God did.
Jane (political commentator)
Okay.
Sarah (political commentator)
That's not what the governance did.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Yeah. Karen Bass didn't do any. I don't think she controls the weather.
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
I.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Well, Sam might. Sam might. Yeah.
Ken (guest or commentator)
That would be the.
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
It really doesn't matter whether.
Jane (political commentator)
What.
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
What the governance is because things could get so bad here that. That people were like, yeah, I have
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
to like, the crooked case for California is pretty weak. Not.
Jane (political commentator)
You think that. That the case that God has chosen us is weak.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Let's clear the stage and defend Karen Bass and Gavin.
Jane (political commentator)
We are chosen by God. The Lord loves us.
Guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
I'll defend this. First thing I'll say is, go yourself. That's the first thing. The second is what I'll say is that California is a state, but it's also a dream. It's a place that people come from all parts of this country, a diverse makeup of people who have different interests, different values, different sensibilities. And when you are governing for those people, it is oftentimes very complicated and very difficult. But there is one thing that California has that is very unique to this state, is that we innovate. We push forward.
Sarah (political commentator)
Not on trains.
Guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
And sometimes we fucking fail. And even when we fail, we do it with beautiful hair, by the way.
John (political commentator)
We innovate.
Guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
We push.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Look at that.
Guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
And we create. So the rest of the country that's complaining about whatever the fuck that we do, just remember that our tax revenue is paying for your rose and the
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
rest of this
Guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
that you got going on. So what I would appreciate you do is say thank you and clam it.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. 13 to 12. Good news. It's still not. It's not over yet. Crooked. Don't get down. Don't get down. All right? It's not like the Joe Biden debate. All right? You still have time to get off the mat. Topic 2. Sarah wants to talk about her book.
Sarah (political commentator)
I do want to talk about my book, but I won't, because apparently it gets annoying after a while. Okay, btc, you have a book coming out, and so you might have a leg up for this question, which is, let's say, God willing, the man who provides the sunshine in this state. Let's say you get power. What should Dems do in 2029 with their power?
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
And to be specific, should you focus on health care for all the people, et cetera, or. She focused on tearing down that fucking ballroom and putting all these assholes in jail.
Ken (guest or commentator)
So I do have a book coming out called the Day after, which Aptly named.
Jane (political commentator)
Don't plug your book.
Sarah (political commentator)
It's annoying.
Ken (guest or commentator)
Aptly named talks about what we should do the day after we finally get power. And I could sit here and explain how first order of business would be reforming the Supreme Court so we don't always have a rogue branch of government that has veto power over every single thing we do.
Sarah (political commentator)
How do you reform.
Ken (guest or commentator)
Just real quick, hold on, I'm gonna get to it. We could. It would probably be by adding Supreme Court justices, expanding the court, because we have nine Supreme Court justices and 13 federal court circuits. But I could say that. I could say that we should have universal health care so that in the richest, most prosperous country in the world, access to health care is a right and not just a privilege. I could say that we should finally focus on climate change because it is an existential risk facing the ent fucking planet. And what are we doing if not coming together and focusing on climate change? But I'm gonna say the very, very first thing we do is whatever Donald Trump has named the ballroom, we take that name down and instead rename it for Liz Cheney, name it for Barack Hussein Obama. That's the very fucking first thing we do. And we etch it in fucking stone so they can never change that name. And then we leave it up.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Team Crooked Counterpoint.
Jane (political commentator)
You want me to do it, I'll do it.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
You can do it as a team. It's fine.
Jane (political commentator)
Okay.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Whatever you want to do.
Jane (political commentator)
All right. What I say we do in 2029 is fuck em the whole time. Whatever it is, whatever they're thinking about, fuck em for too long. I think Democrats have been like, oh, but what if we lose the majority, but we need to benefit most of America. I've met a lot of America and do you know what a lot of America likes a lot of. Exactly. A lot of America likes it. Like, when have you ever seen a college football game where somebody's winning like 63 to three and you're like, but what if it was 60, 70 to three, and what if you went for two? Yeah, yeah, you want to see somebody. You want to see somebody run the Statue of Liberty up 60? Yeah, you do. You want to see things get real weird. So I think that's what we should do. Like, yeah, like we should do as much as we can to benefit most of humanity, but also we should see that, like, you know what Jon Ossoff isn't. Jon Ossoff isn't nice. Like in. When he.
Sarah (political commentator)
If you.
Jane (political commentator)
Did you read his statement that came out after the primaries On Tuesday, where he made sure to note that Derek Dooley's father is why Derek Dooley. A failed coach. A failed. Like when Derek Dooley. We're not even going to get started on his college football career. A failed coach who's only in this because of his daddy's coaching career is in this. No, no, no. What we're going to do is we're going to fuck them. We're going to get mean and we're going to say, you know what? We want to fight for people. But also, you guys suck.
Sarah (political commentator)
All you seem to do.
Jane (political commentator)
You're like, oh, no, we want to, like, benefit the working class. The working class includes black people. The working class includes people who work at nail salons. The working class is not just people who own a $75,000 F150 and manage a construction crew. So what we do is that we run up the score and then, as Michigan national championship winning football coach Jim Harbaugh would do, don't boo. We won. I don't care how it happened, we won.
Sarah (political commentator)
Jane and I are different kinds of lesbians. I don't understand a word she's saying right now.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
We do.
Jane (political commentator)
No, we don't balance the budget. We have fun.
Sarah (political commentator)
You think the debt's $12 trillion?
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
We throw touchdown entitlements.
Jane (political commentator)
We throw touchdowns. That's what we do.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Are you siding with BTC's plans for
Ken (guest or commentator)
the future, the Barack Hussein Obama ballroom,
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
or do you think we should fuck em. There you go. Tie game.
Jane (political commentator)
Everybody wants touchdowns.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Tie game. All right, this final topic will be the tiebreaker, and everyone that has the mic on either team can speak to it. Okay? And in the spirit of what Jane Coston said, fuck em. I would like a one minute rant. Team Latke, I'd like you to fuck Marco Rubio. Team Crooked, I'd like you to fuck J.D. vance. Yes. That's not fair.
Sarah (political commentator)
That seems like a tacit admission that Marco Rubio is a better candidate than J.D.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
vance. Whoever wants to go first can go or I can decide. J.D.
Jane (political commentator)
vance is the worst person to ever come from Cincinnati. And I include everyone to ever come from Cincinnati. That's all I have to say.
John (political commentator)
There's never been a more pathetic human being in public life than J.D.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
vance.
John (political commentator)
By far.
Jane (political commentator)
Also, whoever's.
John (political commentator)
I have run out of words to describe how awful J.D. vance is. And it's not just his politics. He has the charisma of a fucking toe. And the man is trying. I've never seen someone try so hard to be cool, to be Popular to be anything and just fail so fucking spectacularly every single time he opens his mouth.
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
I will say that the bright side version of this, though, is that J.D. vance tries so hard to do all of these things, and yet at the moment that he has the best opportunity to achieve them, all of his physicality is turning against him. His hairline is receding at the exact moment that the most people are looking at him. His beard is growing in weird. His jaw is slimming downward like Nickelodeon gak slowly. He's not getting enough sleep. The gray is not coming in in a hot way. He does not. The way that he is aging is anti gravitas at a time when he bleeds with effort for gravitas.
Sarah (political commentator)
I just want to say.
Jane (political commentator)
JD Vance. JD Vance and I are around the same age. And I'll just say he's been doing his eyeliner like Dashboard Confessional style for a really long time. You will never be Dashboard Confessional. You will always be like Reliant K. We the people who got that joke. I see you. I know. Jars of Clay. We were there. I mean, no.
John (political commentator)
I challenge anyone. I challenge someone to find.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Is this going to end? Who? Who?
John (political commentator)
Who says that? Like, they are J.D. vance fan. Do you think there's a J.D. vance fan anywhere in this country?
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
Peter Teal. Peter Teal is the JD Vance fan.
John (political commentator)
Vance fan.
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
And that is why we like a gay vampire.
John (political commentator)
That's it.
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
I mean, are they all.
Sarah (political commentator)
I was about to be like, what?
Jane (political commentator)
But which witch? Gay vampire?
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
That was really good. Nine and a half out of ten. I wanted to hear recessed side profile out of you though, Aaron, but we
Jane (political commentator)
need Flavicular for that.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Guys, you have two minutes until the end of the show. Fuck Marco Rubio.
Ken (guest or commentator)
Of all the national archivists, he's definitely the worst one.
Guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
I have a problem here. I'm on the stage with a lot of Never Trumpers, but I'm a Never Vancer. And I have to be a turncoat here because I can't do it. It doesn't make any sense.
John (political commentator)
I respect that.
Guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
Like, J.D. vance is the only motherfucker in the world that can make Marco Rubio look cool. JD Vance has by far the most punchable face that's ever existed in American politics. Beard or no beard. You scratch your knuckles, punching them with the beard. You reward your knuckles by punching them without the beard. I wish I could do it, but you basically handed them the fucking game by making me defend the cuck Antichrist. I can't fucking do it, man. Like, never. J.D. vance ever, ever. I want to give him a wedgie.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
I'm sorry. I'll be an honorary latke then. Marco Rubio's ears are growing like he's Pinocchio with the ears of the nose, okay? Marco Rubio's kid was the 152nd person on the Florida Gators football team that went 4 and 7 this year. And he pretended like he was like in the national championship game, I was like your little son was the walk on, okay? Like he was the backup to the fourth string fullback, all right? That couldn't get a role on the Florida State team that finished three and eight. Marco Rubio. Here's the thing about Marco Rubio, all right? Marco Rubio fucking knows better, okay? Marco Rubio fucking knows better. And he has manipulated this president into getting us into the stupidest war of all time. You can say what you want about J.D. vance's recessed side profile. It's horrible. You can say what you want about J.D. vance's voice. It's extremely unappealing. You can say what you want about J.D. vance's attitude. It's the worst of any person in public life my entire lifetime. But one thing that he has not done is getting us, got us into the stupidest fucking war imaginable and made you guys pay $7.69 a gallon of gas because you decided to live in California for some reason. So only if that's your.
Sarah (political commentator)
Why is Tin doing your job?
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Marcel Rubio is the worst.
Jane (political commentator)
I will say we win.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
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Ken (guest or commentator)
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Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Visit spinquest.com for more details.
Another guest or commentator (possibly a comedian or political commentator)
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John (political commentator)
Yes you can. A five minute quick and easy calorie burning workout.
Crooked Media Host (possibly Brian)
Give it a try.
John (political commentator)
Come join our sweatsesh on TikTok.
Episode: No Matter How Hard He Tries, JD Vance Will Never Be Cool
Date: May 24, 2026
Host: The Bulwark Team (Tim Miller, Sarah Longwell, Bill Kristol, et al.)
Description: A lively, irreverent crossover episode focused on Democratic post-election finger-pointing, the fate of Never Trumpers, and a raucous trivia/rant battle between “Team Latke” and “Team Crooked,” ending in a no-holds-barred roast of Marco Rubio and especially J.D. Vance.
The episode explores the political aftermath of the 2024 election, the failed Democratic "autopsy," the fate and shifting allegiances of Never Trump Republicans, and the continued uncoolness of J.D. Vance—framed through spirited discussion, inside jokes, and a competitive trivia game. The tone is witty, sarcastic, and distinctly insider-y, with panelists gleefully skewering political figures from both parties.
The episode is conversational, inside-baseball, snarky, and deeply irreverent—panelists riff freely, overlap, swear, and trade rapid-fire bites. It’s rife with political in-jokes, digs at both parties, and dismissive (but funny) asides about the self-seriousness of the political class.
If you want a sharp, funny critique of post-2024 Democratic drama, a tour of the ruins of Never Trump Republicanism, plus the single most gleeful group evisceration of JD Vance you’ll hear anywhere, this episode delivers. It’s also a reminder—delivered amid laughter and groans—that, amid all the chaos, what’s truly in short supply is political authenticity and a sense of humor.