Samantha Ettus: Why Parents Are Panicking About Their Kids’ Beliefs | DSH #1736

Summary

Digital Social Hour Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Overview

Title: Samantha Ettus: Why Parents Are Panicking About Their Kids’ Beliefs | DSH #1736
Host: Sean Kelly
Guest: Samantha Ettus
Date: January 6, 2026
Main Theme:
Sean Kelly engages Samantha Ettus—a leading voice against antisemitism and misinformation—on the rise of anti-Israel sentiment among young people, the collapse of traditional trust in media and institutions, and the battle for truth in a “disinformation war.” The episode explores the generational divide on Israel, the manipulation of social media, and strategies for combatting propaganda, particularly in shaping young minds and parenting through turbulent times.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Rise in Youth Anti-Israel Sentiment & Parental Panic

• Samantha opens describing parents' deep concern about children turning against Israel and Zionism, influenced by campus activism and social media.

  “Parents calling me all the time, asking me for advice on what to do about their kid that suddenly is turning against Israel…” (00:00, 20:03)

• Argues that her generation was shielded from antisemitism due to "the existence of Israel."

  “My generation, the reason I grew up pretty much without any anti Semitism in my life is because Israel existed.” (00:08, 20:24)

2. Personal Trauma & Activism Catalyst

• Samantha recounts losing her home and community to wildfires due to government failures, focusing her on stabilizing her family over dwelling on governmental incompetence.

  “I’m very much a don’t live life in the past lane kind of person…” (03:17)

• Shifted to anti-antisemitism activism after October 7, 2023, coinciding with her son's Bar Mitzvah and Hamas’s attack:

  “I thought I’d post bar mitzvah pics, then realized the horror in Israel— it didn’t feel appropriate to post anything but about what was going on…” (04:07–04:45)

3. Disinformation War: Media, Propaganda, and Social Platforms

• Highlights the challenge of combating widespread misinformation, especially among young people radicalized via platforms like TikTok, X (Twitter), and Threads:

  "We are in a disinformation war, a propaganda war that's been leveraged against Israel and co-opting the minds of a lot of young people." (05:41)

• Relies heavily on Telegram and cross-referenced sources, admits to occasional errors and stresses transparency and honesty.

  “I think I’ve made a mistake in the last two years once or twice… every time, it’s important to own it.” (06:51, 06:54)

4. Generational & Demographic Shifts

• Sean notes he’s lost a significant social following (“500,000 followers in two months’ just for having pro-Israel guests”), illustrating generational divides—Gen Z and Millennials largely supporting Palestinian causes.

  “For example, I’ve lost 500,000 followers in the past two months… having on Pro Israel guests.” (09:25)

5. Monetization and Influence in Social Media Activism

• Discusses misleading claims that pro-Israel activists profit (the "$7,000 comment" myth), combating relentless new lies, and “influencers” on both sides:

  "We don't get paid for any posts about Israel… they'll use anything." (14:16–14:28)

• Explains how belief in “trusted institutions” (UN, Harvard, NYT) has eroded for Jews, raising existential questions about trust and credibility. (15:27–15:45)

6. Algorithmic Radicalization & Bot Farms

• Both speakers lament the role of algorithm-driven outrage; Samantha blocks hate liberally, notes rise in bots (“It's almost always a bot”), worries about AI-generated accounts amplifying division.

  “If they ever come after people for blocking too many people, I’m first on that list.” (18:59)
  “Now with AI, it's probably so easy to just make a thousand accounts.” (19:54)

7. Campus Activism, SJP, and the Muslim Brotherhood

• Details how well-organized, well-financed organizations (e.g., Students for Justice in Palestine, SJP)—with alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood—have orchestrated campus protests over decades.

  “It's not an accident. These are big plans that they have… the FBI was recording conversations about the Muslim Brotherhood and their plans to take over universities 20 years ago.” (29:06, 29:35)

8. DEI and Jewish Identity

• Explores the exclusion of Jews from DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs and the struggle for institutional recognition as an ethnic group.

  “Before October 7th, I was a huge advocate for diversity. I just had no idea that Jews were not included in diversity… That’s just been a shock.” (30:00, 30:24)

9. Corporate Censorship and Hostility

• Recalls being banned as a speaker at Amazon’s Jewish Slack group, branded too “controversial” even to discuss a hostage coworker, while anti-Semitic rapper Macklemore was welcomed.

  “A week before I was scheduled to speak, the Human Resources department contacted them… She's too controversial. You can't have her speak here.” (33:34)

• Reveals big brands’ fear-driven censorship, further evidence of the success of anti-Israel propaganda.

10. Celebrity Activism and the Cost of Speaking Out

• Samantha describes persuading ~100 celebrities to record simple anti-antisemitism statements post-Oct 7, but new waves of backlash have made others too afraid to join.

  “All it would take is a celebrity saying, 'I am [X] and I stand against antisemitism.' ... About 100 celebrities in, I hit a wall.” (35:14, 36:19)

11. Debates, Media Literacy, and the Importance of More Voices

• Advocates for real debates, arguing they expose new audiences to rarely-heard perspectives and are sorely needed in the “intentional disinformation” age.

  “Debate brings in a new audience… that's why I like debates.” (38:37–39:11)

12. Biggest Disinformation: Anti-Zionism and Erasure

• Dismantles the claim that being anti-Zionist isn't antisemitic, comparing it to demanding a country not exist:

  “Imagine if you said to an Indian person, 'I really love Indian people, just wish India did not exist.' ... That’s what anti-Zionism is.” (39:16–40:01)

13. Collapse of Old Institutions and Need for New Critical Thinking

• Voice concern that trusted institutions (media, colleges, even the census) have let Jews down; stresses the need to teach critical analysis of news, ads, and social media.

  “We’re not arming students with the means to differentiate between the truth and fiction.” (60:39–60:55)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On misinformation impact:

  “People only remember the first headline.” (07:53, Sean)
  "It’s much harder to chase a lie with a truth because the lie is usually much more scintillating.” (08:03, Samantha)

• On optimism and networking in activism:

  “I’ve gained so many more friends since October 7th than I have lost… We've all rallied around this cause.” (08:18 – 09:16, Samantha)

• On the challenge for Gen Z/Millennials:

  “They're being educated at TikTok University and they believe it.” (15:48, Samantha)

• On antisemitism’s resurgence:

  “I feel like I'm a barometer for it. And it's gotten much worse [in recent months].” (17:03, Samantha)

• On the Israel–Hamas propaganda war:

  “Anyone who is shouting Free Palestine is literally cheering for Team Hamas. They just don’t realize it most of the time … Most people … have no idea what they're joining.” (17:12–18:21, Samantha)

• On DEI and Jewish identity:

  “I have to check off white. The world treats me as Jewish, not white … there is no checkbox for Jews." (31:06, Samantha)

• On combating digital hate:

  “Live for the lovers, not the haters.” (18:49, Samantha)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00, 20:03 — Opening: Parents panicking as kids “turn against Israel.”
• 03:17 — Samantha’s wildfire loss and forward-thinking resilience.
• 04:07–05:37 — October 7, 2023, and beginning activism.
• 05:41–07:04 — Disinformation, Telegram reporting, and importance of correcting mistakes.
• 07:20 — Hospital misinformation and media’s role.
• 09:25 — Sean loses 500k followers for pro-Israel stances.
• 13:10–15:45 — Influence of paid activists & institutional collapse.
• 18:59–19:58 — Bot accounts, AI, and hate amplification.
• 29:06–29:35 — Organized campus activism & Muslim Brotherhood plans.
• 30:00–31:33 — Jews’ exclusion from DEI and the question of identity.
• 33:34–34:47 — Censorship at Amazon over anti-antisemitism speaker.
• 35:14–36:19 — Celebrity advocacy and the chilling effect of backlash.
• 38:37–39:11 — Defense of debates’ role in fighting siloed narratives.
• 39:16–40:01 — Dismantling anti-Zionism: “I love you, just wish your country didn’t exist.”
• 51:17–52:40 — Critical thinking, advertising, and questioning media manipulation.
• 60:39–61:06 — Arming students with discernment for the AI era.

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Overall Tone and Language

• Conversational, candid, at times emotional but consistently direct and urgent.
• Samantha’s style: Empathetic, optimistic, assertive, grounded in personal experience.
• Sean’s style: Curious, supportive, unfiltered, shares personal stakes and losses.

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Conclusion

This episode delivers a hard-hitting, deeply personal exploration of how antisemitism and anti-Israel beliefs are propagated in modern America, especially through social media and on university campuses. Samantha Ettus positions herself as a fact-driven, optimistic activist fighting against overwhelming tides of digital propaganda, advocating for honesty, critical thinking, and the value of speaking out—no matter the social cost.

Listeners are left with a call to vigilance: question what you see, value truth over comfort, and don’t remain silent in the face of hate. This conversation is a vital resource for parents, educators, and anyone seeking to understand the intersection of cultural conflict and media manipulation in today’s world.

Transcript

[Samantha Eddis]

Parents calling me all the time, asking me for advice on what to do about their kid that suddenly is turning against Israel and separating themselves from Zionism. And it's really hard because the young people really don't realize that my generation, the reason I grew up pretty much without any anti Semitism in my life, is because Israel existed. So all those people were fighting a war so that I could be safe. The Diaspora, which is what we call, you know, the. The Jews outside of Israel or the Jews that live in the Diaspora.

[Sean]

All right, guys, we got Samantha here in Las Vegas. F. One week. How was the flight over here?

[Samantha Eddis]

Oh, it's so easy to get here. Four hour drive, one hour flight.

[Sean]

Not bad. Easy peasy. So you're still in Cali?

[Samantha Eddis]

Yes, we live in Los Angeles.

[Sean]

Nice.

[Samantha Eddis]

We had all three kids in New York and then we moved them to LA about 14 years ago.

[Sean]

Okay. Yeah, I did the same thing. Came from Jersey to la.

[Samantha Eddis]

Really?

[Sean]

Yeah. Lasted five months. Didn't last long.

[Samantha Eddis]

Why did it end?

[Sean]

Covid. I hated it there during COVID but I still go there once a month to film. There's a lot of good people out there.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yes.

[Sean]

I don't know if I'd live there, though. Little too liberal for me, I think.

[Samantha Eddis]

I don't know. It depends on where you live. I think it's just a weird place right now. Just with the government.

[Sean]

Yeah. Yeah, there are good parts, for sure. I like Orange County. It's stuff like that.

[Samantha Eddis]

Louisiana is tough right now, especially. I mean, I think, you know that our home burned down.

[Sean]

Sorry to hear that.

[Samantha Eddis]

And it's just. It's hard not to blame the government for what happened. And so it's. It's kind of weird to live in a city where you feel like you're governed by people who are incompetent.

[Sean]

Yeah. Well, I saw there's some investigation on the state of Cali now for the homeless thing. Right.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah. I mean, and that's even different because I think having no water in the fire hydrants, that's like something you just don't expect. Right. You just kind of. There's like an assumption if you live in America that, you know, the police will come if you call and the fire trucks will come if you need them.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Samantha Eddis]

And that didn't happen.

[Sean]

Yeah. That's awful. Were you at the house when the fire started or where were you?

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah, we were, but we thought we were escaping smoke, so we didn't even bring anything. I mean, we had lived there for 14 years and there had never been Any fire anywhere in the Palisades, that was an issue. It was always, you know, we were evacuated before for smoke, but never for fire. So it was kind of an assumption that we were in a safe area. I mean, if we were in Malibu, we would have known that something terrible would happen because Malibu has a lot of fires, but not the Pacific Palisades. So we thought we were safe, and we just packed for like one or two nights.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Samantha Eddis]

And we left every single thing behind. Every old picture, everything my late mom left me. I mean, everything we've ever had. Yeah. And unfortunately, it wasn't just our home. As one of my children said, it was every childhood memory because their school burned down. You know, the local. The dentist we used to go to. Every place that we frequented was gone. Even the place I used to hike in Covid.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Samantha Eddis]

So it was just. It's hard to sort of comprehend losing an entire community, not just your home, I think.

[Sean]

Yeah. Did you want to speak out against the government after that, or how did you take all that in?

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, I'm very much a don't live life in the past lane kind of person. I always move forward, and I had to focus on getting my family in a stable situation, living wise, and getting everyone settled. And, you know, I think everyone handles that kind of stuff differently. So I had to meet my kids where they were. I have three teenagers. And, you know, I think there's a lot of people that are spending their time right now fun fighting the government on what happened. And, I mean, I support them. And I've definitely done a number of Fox News appearances about it. But, you know, beyond that, it's not something I have time for. Cause I'm fighting another battle.

[Sean]

Yeah, you're fighting a bigger battle, right?

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sean]

Yeah. Much bigger battle. When did that start? When did you start speaking out against the anti Semitism stuff and all that?

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah. So on October 7th, my son was actually bar mitzvahed. October 7th, 2023.

[Sean]

Whoa.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

That's crazy.

[Samantha Eddis]

So, so on that day, we really. I was like, in bar mitzvah land, in party land. I had no concept of the gravity of what had happened in Israel. And I had a pretty nice platform at that point, social media platform. And normally the next morning, I would have woken up posting really cute pictures of the party and all that stuff. And that was when I really understood the horrors of what had happened on October 7. And it didn't feel at all appropriate to post anything but about what was going on there. And I thought I'll do that for a couple days. And then the grownups who know everything about the Middle east, they'll show up and take over. And they never arrived. And so I realized that I was completely unqualified to play the role of someone who would relay what was going on, because frankly, that had never been my beat before. And so I started voraciously reading a book a night and trying to educate myself to be the person that I had needed at that moment, which was someone who could really deliver the true news, but in a very digestible way. That's always been my goal. It's like, I'm not making it really heady. I'm not making it very academic. I'm just delivering sort of the Cliff Notes, or depending on your age, the Sparks notes.

[Sean]

I used spark notes.

[Samantha Eddis]

Okay. Yeah, Spark notes on what was needed at that moment. And so that's what I still do. I wake up every day and I do my best to deliver the true news of what's going on in Israel and the fight against antisemitism.

[Sean]

Yeah. And it's hard to really find true news these days in the age of social media. Right.

[Samantha Eddis]

It's brutal. I mean, we are in a disinformation war, a propaganda war that's been leveraged against Israel and co opting the minds of a lot of young people. And so for me, I've found my sources. I mean, I wake up and I go on telegram every day and there's a few people on there and a few outlets I trust on there and so on Telegram.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah. So I mean, I'm really finding the news before traditional media outlets are posting it. I already sifted through it. And I always make sure that I always back up everything with a second source. So I'm making sure that I'm not making mistakes. I think I've made a mistake in the last two years once or twice. When I remember I had heard that the USC dean was resigning because of the way they've handled the valedictorian speaker. And she didn't resign. And I had reported that she had because a board member had told me she had. She was going to in the next hour and it turned out she didn't. And then I went on and apologized because I feel like the one thing I need to do is be honest and truthful about every piece of information I deliver or else I can't be a trustworthy source.

[Sean]

Yeah, Respect. Shout out for even admitting that you made a mistake because a lot of people won't do that.

[Samantha Eddis]

You know, I think it's so critical to do that. Yeah. I mean, and, you know, I will probably make another mistake in the future because it's almost impossible not to. But I think every time, it's important to own it.

[Sean]

Yeah. I think if you're breaking news, there's obviously, with sheer numbers, you're going to make a mistake, you know. Yeah.

[Samantha Eddis]

And you look at, like, the New York Times, right? I mean, the New York Times, they have made so many mistakes since October 7th, and then when they retract something, they put it in really fine print, you know, buried in the paper, and nobody sees it.

[Sean]

No one.

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, you look at what happened, I think it was about 10 days after October 7, they announced that Israel had bombed a hospital. It was completely false. It was actually Gaza who bombed their own hospital. Hamas had bombed the hospital.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Samantha Eddis]

But by the time they had corrected it, that lie traveled around the world multiple times, and the war against Israel in the press had started, and they started it, and they make that mistake over and over again, and there's no one stopping them. So. And they're not policing themselves, that's for sure.

[Sean]

Yeah, yeah. People only remember the first headline.

[Samantha Eddis]

I feel like that's a great way to put it.

[Sean]

You know, even if it gets proven false, it won't get as many views.

[Samantha Eddis]

That's so true. And it's much harder to chase a lie with a truth because the lie is usually much more scintillating than the truth is.

[Sean]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you start speaking out more and more, and I'm sure you're, like, losing followers, you're losing friends. Right.

[Samantha Eddis]

You know, it's funny. I really. I've always been a huge optimist. I don't think I could do this work if I wasn't. And I feel like I have gained so many more friends since October 7th than I have lost, really. I have sort of tapped into this community of supporters and colleagues. I call them my colleagues, you know, fellow activists. And it's funny because we all came from very different backgrounds. I mean, there is, you know, a former actress, a former nutritionist, a former executive, a former branding expert. I mean, every one of us came from a different background, former entrepreneurs, and we've all sort of rallied around this caus, and I think you just meet the moment when you have a platform and you have to use your platform responsibly. And we've seen so many people get in trouble when they don't do that. And I think that the least I could do is use what I have to help fight this crazy propaganda war.

[Sean]

Yeah, that's very interesting. I love how positive you are. I think there's a shift with the age demo because, like, for example, I've lost 500,000 followers in the past two months.

[Samantha Eddis]

From what?

[Sean]

From just having on Pro Israel gas.

[Samantha Eddis]

Wow.

[Sean]

Yeah. And then you look at these charts on, like, what age ranges are supporting the Palestine movement and the Gen Z and millennials seem to favor at the moment, Palestine. You know what I mean?

[Samantha Eddis]

Well, good for you. Okay, every Pro Israel person now has to go follow you.

[Sean]

Yeah, please. I need a gain of followers back.

[Samantha Eddis]

I think there's a big reward for speaking out and I commend you so deeply for platforming voices that need to be heard. Because a lot of your colleagues are not platforming us.

[Sean]

That's true. Because they're afraid to lose followers, business and all that.

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, I used to be on Tucker Carlson's show when he was on Fox News a lot. Really know him. And I always, you know, had a good relationship with him.

[Sean]

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[Samantha Eddis]

And recently I reached out to him and said, you really need some. Some more Jewish voices on there. How about mine? And he kind of, you know, hemmed and hawed. I'm still working on him because I believe that you have to fight within the system. A lot of people would say, don't even touch it. But I think if he's out there platforming all these people without pushing back on them, that makes a more hateful world and having voices that are actually delivering the truth is what's really important.

[Sean]

I agree. I think you should have on both sides. As long as they're speaking truth. Right? Truth, facts.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

They're not spreading disinformation.

[Samantha Eddis]

That's. That's what's important to me. Then that's the tricky part. Right. And that's probably the hardest part of your job. It's hard is that like, someone will come on and say something. And if you're not, you're not expected to be an expert in every single subject.

[Sean]

On so many experts in their subjects. I can't verify it.

[Samantha Eddis]

You can't verify it. And then in real time, it's almost like. I almost equate your job with like being a moderator of a presidential debate.

[Sean]

Literally. I mean, I would need a full time fact checker.

[Samantha Eddis]

Right. In real time, in your ear, going, that's not true. I just looked on ChatGPT and that's not true. You know, you kind of need that.

[Sean]

That's why Rogan has Jamie. I think guests can't really BS on there. Like, I mean, I guess they can, but it's harder sometimes.

[Samantha Eddis]

You let them.

[Sean]

Yeah, yeah. Sometimes they slip through. It's inevitable. Right. If they sound really convincing, you just believe it.

[Samantha Eddis]

Right. Say it with authority and people believe you.

[Sean]

Yeah. What do you think happened with Tucker, with Candace, with people that have kind of flipped sides?

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, I think a lot of them, I'm not going to name names, but I think there's. There's bad actors behind them, paying them. I think if you look at. You can look at Ms. Rachel. Right. She's a very popular. You don't have kids yet, but I've heard of her. Okay. She's like, she's like the Mr. Rogers of this generation. In some ways, she is fully bought. I mean, this woman talks more about gauze and children. She just spreads lies. They're fake children, usually that she has up there in terms of, like, she'll, she'll use a picture and say it's a malnourished child and it's actually a kid with a terrible generative degenerative disease. Like, she just does not care.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Samantha Eddis]

And just pedals lies. And now, unfortunately, she's corrupted all these mothers of the kids. Like, they follow her on social media and they believe her lies.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Samantha Eddis]

And you know, that's happened with so many people. Look at Glennon Doyle, who hosts We Can Do Hard Things with Abby Wambach. I mean, she is peddling misinformation on Every podcast and is unchecked. And these people, I don't know what motivates them if it's. I like to believe it's not just pure Jew hatred. I believe it's gotta be money. Most of the time it's money.

[Sean]

Yeah. Yeah. Cause the influence has shifted towards these creators now, Right?

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

So these guys know they have a big audience, and they're willing to pay for messaging.

[Samantha Eddis]

And it's brilliant. Right. Because what they do is they'll pay someone to talk about this issue 10% of the time. So 90% of the time, they're doing kids TV or whatever it is that they're doing.

[Sean]

So it looks natural.

[Samantha Eddis]

Exactly.

[Sean]

Yeah. I get hit with a $7,000 comment every video. Now, I'm sure you do too, right?

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, listen, it was. It was such an unfortunate article that was written. It's obviously bs. We'd all be, like, raking in the money if every time I post it. I post multiple times a day.

[Sean]

Yeah. Were you on that list? I didn't see. It was like, 20 people, right?

[Samantha Eddis]

No. And. And. And frankly, though, it's. It's unfortunately polluted our entire world because we've all gotten it. I mean, we're a very small crew, and a lot of my friends were on that list. And really, it was a lie. So we don't get paid for any posts about Israel. We don't get paid for posts about fighting anti Semitism. And the bottom line is they'll use anything. So I'm not that worried about the $7,000 comment because it's BS but every day there's a new lie about us. And you can't necessarily play whack a mole trying to fight every lie. Instead of, you need to push through the truth. And I think one of the biggest things we can do in educating our young people is to get them to question what they're seeing. Because when I grew up, the institutions you could trust were the United Nations, Harvard, the New York Times. These were institutions I worshiped. All three of those have come tumbling down. And it's very difficult to get our heads around a world where the institutions we grew up trusting are no longer trustworthy.

[Sean]

Agreed.

[Samantha Eddis]

And then where do you get your information? Right? And I can say, oh, trust me, get. Get your information from me, because I'm. I am someone who's only trying to deliver the truth. But at the same time, we should be able to trust our traditional media, our traditional press, and we really can't.

[Sean]

I can't anymore. I used to Watch the news every day. Growing up cbs.

[Samantha Eddis]

Me too. And the local news. You would. It's like. It was fun. Right? And I think one of the things that we're not teaching young people is to question what they're seeing. So they're being educated at TikTok University and they believe it.

[Sean]

Or Twitter. Right. Twitter's a big one, I feel like.

[Samantha Eddis]

Absolutely.

[Sean]

Yeah. Twitter's just non stop. The craziest posts. Like, I almost don't want to scroll, to be honest. There's a lot of negativity.

[Samantha Eddis]

Oh, a lot of negativity.

[Sean]

A lot. Because the algorithm favors that on threads.

[Samantha Eddis]

I do. I'm very active on threads in rebutting people because for some reason, people see your replies all the time on threads.

[Sean]

Really?

[Samantha Eddis]

I feel like it's. It's a worthy platform.

[Sean]

I don't use that one. Maybe I have to start.

[Samantha Eddis]

Oh, threads. It's the best.

[Sean]

Really.

[Samantha Eddis]

It's. I find it way more.

[Sean]

Is there a lot of anti Semitism on threads compared to X?

[Samantha Eddis]

There's anti Semitism everywhere.

[Sean]

Yeah, I know they're trying to fight back. TikTok there seems to be less right these days.

[Samantha Eddis]

They say that. I mean, I get. I get hateful comments and death threats every day, but I just keep going.

[Sean]

On TikTok or every platform.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah, TikTok is perhaps the worst comments. But it's very easy to block those people. They make it really easy so you can just quickly whip through it. I get a lot of hate and I think it's gotten way worse in the last few months. I've noticed.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Samantha Eddis]

I don't know what's happening, but last few months, the hate in the world towards Juice has just gotten. I feel like I'm a barometer for it. And it's gotten much worse.

[Sean]

That is crazy. So it's gonna keep getting worse then if this, this war continues. Right.

[Samantha Eddis]

I think that right now, I mean, for all purposes, the war is kind of over. Okay. As we knew it. There is a peace deal on the table. We just had this big evolution in the last few days where Trump got, you know, all these countries to agree to this kind of governing body that would help reconstruct Gaza over the next two years. And really the most important part about it is that they all agreed to disarm Hamas. And we have to remember that anyone who is shouting Free Palestine is literally cheering for Team Hamas. They just don't realize it most of the time. That's crazy. I'm of the belief that most people who are shouting Free Palestine have no idea what they're shouting. It's not that they hate Jews. They truly don't realize they're cheering for a terrorist regime.

[Sean]

They've been programmed. Right.

[Samantha Eddis]

They don't even realize. They don't question. Listen, if you and I were in college and we just became friends and you said to me, hey, do you want to go march for freedom? Sure, I love freedom. Why wouldn't I? I mean, they have a great brand, right? So. And if you're not, you know, well versed in geopolitics, you wouldn't know what that even meant.

[Sean]

Sure.

[Samantha Eddis]

I want Palestine to be free. That's like. That's just, you know, game over. Absolutely, I'll join you. And these people have no idea what they're joining and no idea what they're fighting for, and no idea that the Palestinians have turned down every offer for independence and land that they've ever received. People don't realize that. And so we're in this war against ignorance and fighting that every day has become my mission.

[Sean]

Yeah, I'm sure every day you're dealing with hate comments and.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah, I mean, I always say, like, live for the lovers, not the haters. And I really believe that. I just block, block, block.

[Sean]

I'd love to see your block list. It's gotta be, oh, my gosh, pages long.

[Samantha Eddis]

If they ever come, come after people for blocking too many people, I'm first on that list.

[Sean]

I don't answer. You know, I get hate DMS and comments.

[Samantha Eddis]

I just never answer.

[Sean]

I just. I try to not think about it. Usually it's coming from someone I don't really value, to be honest.

[Samantha Eddis]

Also usually coming from bots.

[Sean]

I mean, when you bots are anonymous.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah. There never is a photo. And if there is a photo, if it's like usually grainy or blurry.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Samantha Eddis]

And they don't have that many followers. It's like almost always a bot.

[Sean]

Literally, almost always. If it's a comment from someone I respect, then I'll take it serious and I'll actually think about, like, okay, maybe he has something here. But usually it's not, you know.

[Samantha Eddis]

Exactly.

[Sean]

It's like a guy with like 100 followers. Fake profile picture.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

The bot farms are nuts these days.

[Samantha Eddis]

It's wild. I mean, and there must be a way to somehow stop that. You keep thinking like, Facebook's going to figure it out. I don't understand.

[Sean]

They always figure it out and then they come up with a new method. It's going to be an ongoing thing.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

And now with AI, it's probably so easy to just make a thousand accounts.

[Samantha Eddis]

Wow.

[Sean]

You know, so I don't think I'll ever end. Yeah, I know Elon really wanted to stop it, but even he can't figure it out.

[Samantha Eddis]

Wow.

[Sean]

With Twitter, you know, there's guys that will tweet out something and get like 5,000 likes in 20 minutes.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah. I mean, we have to assume the truth eventually will prevail. I mean, you like to believe that, right? And I think the thing that concerns me most is just what's happening with young people and that they're getting so brainwashed. And I get parents calling me all the time, asking me for advice on what to do about their kid that suddenly is turning against Israel and separating themselves from Zionism. And it's really hard because the young people really don't realize that our genera. My generation, the reason I grew up pretty much without any anti Semitism in my life is because Israel existed. So all those people were fighting a war so that I could be safe in the Diaspora, which is what we call, you know, the Jews outside of Israel are the Jews that live in the Diaspora. So, you know, I was very protected because Israel was there and Israel existed to protect us. And I don't think I appreciated that fully until October 8th.

[Sean]

Wow. So you dealt with no anti Semitism your whole life?

[Samantha Eddis]

Pretty much none.

[Sean]

Holy crap.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah, I remember. I mean, I went to college. My best friends from college were not Jewish. My three roommates were not Jewish. But it never even occurred to me. Like, I didn't even realize today that would be something I would think about. But then I was growing. I grew up in New York City. I grew up as a competitive tennis player. So I was always traveling around the country. Most of my tennis friends were not Jewish. Didn't matter. It just, I mean, you know, people say they're colorblind. I was kind of blind to that stuff. And then it just, you know, October 8th was like a. Just whiplash.

[Sean]

Wow. Now you got Mamdani in New York City. Times have changed.

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, times have changed. Fought so hard to stop Mom. Donnie.

[Sean]

He won by landslide. Right?

[Samantha Eddis]

I don't like to call it a landslide. Okay. But I do think, listen, if Curtis Levi had dropped out of the race, it would have been just a couple points between them would have been closer. I also, I have my theories about whether a lot of those votes were real.

[Sean]

Really?

[Samantha Eddis]

There were a lot of people. Even Mahmoud Kale. Remember that? That dude? Yeah, bad guy. But he boasted afterwards that he had voted Multiple times for Mamdani.

[Sean]

What?

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah. I mean, a lot of people were recorded saying they voted a lot of times for Mamdani. So apparently at the voting booths, there was not a lot of ID checking. There were a lot of sketchy things happening.

[Sean]

That is crazy.

[Samantha Eddis]

So I don't know what happened. I also believe that, like, listen, this guy came from nowhere. He had never held a job. He had never. He'd shown up for less than half of his votes in the state assembly, and he's never managed a budget of a lemonade stand, let alone a city. And this is who we're having running the most important financial mecca in America, maybe the world. And a city that's based on capitalism. It's based on the American dream, and we've just elected a socialist communist. It just doesn't even make sense.

[Sean]

There was something there because I would say I'm an expert on social media, like, going viral. And to see him go that viral the way he did, you need a lot of money for that. You don't just do that. Like, I know what it takes to go that viral.

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, we know CAIR was behind him. And CARE is just designated a terrorist organization. And a lot of it doesn't make sense. A lot of it's very sketchy. And I think the biggest concern now, and the one positive, because I'm optimist, the one positive about it is I think it's woken a lot of people up to realize, listen, the DSA is coming after your city, too. They're coming after very local elections. Unless you want to live in a socialist city, you need to wake up and either run for office yourself or help elect someone who is not a socialist. Because the socialist experiment has never worked. It's failed in countries and cities across the world. And there is no reason that we want it in our cities in America. That's not. That's the opposite of the American dream.

[Sean]

Yeah. I wonder how it's going to play out in New York City. Because the top 1% pay 50% of the taxes. So if all the billionaires leave there, that's really going to hurt New York City, I think.

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, I think it's also the millionaires you have to worry about. Like, it's the people that were doing really, really well, but they're not billionaire status. And they're like, you know, screw it, I'm going to the suburbs. This guy wants to get rid of, you know, he wants to get rid of the gifted and talented programs in public schools. Like, how is that.

[Sean]

Why would you get rid of that?

[Samantha Eddis]

Right. It's. He. That's because he wants to socialize, education. I mean, this is a very. A very scary cliff we're on, I think. And the only positive thing, look, he just. He just endorsed a person to take over his state assembly seat who's been in America for less than a year.

[Sean]

What? You can still get a job in politics, being less than a year in a country.

[Samantha Eddis]

There's all these loopholes. And, I mean, he does not have America's best interests at heart. He has other interests at heart. And we are seeing that. And look at his wife. I mean, I've been focusing on his wife since August. I've been obsessing over her because in August, I did a video that went viral about who his wife was, because it was right on her Instagram and no press was covering it. No traditional media was covering her. But her Instagram was full of lies about Israel and the Jews.

[Sean]

Really?

[Samantha Eddis]

So how is that someone you want to be your mayor's wife? I mean, she is now the first lady of New York City is someone who is a blatant Jew hater, lie spreader about Israel, and she still has it up there. And she's been posting these things even since he took office.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Samantha Eddis]

So, I mean, what does it say when she's spreading lies about apartheid and genocide and things that have been proven untrue? And she's spreading that on her Instagram. And her Instagram, when I started following her was, you know, a few, I guess, six months back, she had just, you know, a few hundred thousand followers or less. And now she has millions because she's the first lady of New York City.

[Sean]

Yeah. You need a lot of budget to get to millions.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

You know.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

Like, that's just the wife of a mayor.

[Samantha Eddis]

Exactly.

[Sean]

You don't just get to millions being the wife of a mayor.

[Samantha Eddis]

You don't think so?

[Sean]

No, No. I know how social media works.

[Samantha Eddis]

Wow.

[Sean]

To get the amount of views they did, they probably got tens of billions of views.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

Take some funding.

[Samantha Eddis]

So what do you think it is? Who's funding it?

[Sean]

That's the million dollar question. Right. Because it clearly wasn't organic. Let's be honest. You need a team. You need editors, you need. They call them clippers. It's a whole world. Like, I know how it works. You pay based off their views and you pay for performance.

[Samantha Eddis]

It's wild. You know, yesterday there was a big. You and I were talking about this before a big protest outside of a synagogue In New York City, they were having an event and 200 protesters showed up saying globalize Intifada, which means death, death to the Jews.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Samantha Eddis]

And no arrests were made. Nothing was stopped. Eric Adams was overseas and he said as soon as he gets back, he's visiting Parky Synagogue. That today they come for a synagogue, tomorrow they come from a church or a mosque. Like he's, he's, he's a huge ally for the Jews and for all races, frankly. And what's it going to be like in January? I mean, Mamdani didn't say a word about it. What is he going to say? I mean, scary.

[Sean]

Who knows? How have you been navigating? I know you got three kids with sending them to public school. And I know you. I don't know if you want to share what happened with the flag at one of your kids universities, but have you been scared to send them to public school and public universities?

[Samantha Eddis]

So my daughter goes to an Ivy League school. She did see a swastika right outside of her dorm recently. The school handled it very, very well. The president took it so seriously and right away announced it to the whole school. She wanted everyone to know, the entire community, that this is not tolerated and that we will find this person. She was working with police on it. So the rapid response honestly made Jewish students at our school feel safe and that's what is needed. And I think what we see saw at so many Ivy League schools, you know, Columbia, where, where, you know, Mamdani's father is a, is an agitator, professor, you know, activist against Jews. I mean, they're not stopped. They're, they, they've gone on unchecked. All these encampments, I mean, look kind of like what we were saying. They all have these beautiful uniform tents at all these schools. And that's because they are paid for by a much larger organization than the students. Right. Students for justice in Palestine is a group that is now on campuses across the country. And we know that it has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Samantha Eddis]

And it's not registered as a nonprofit. So it is fully a, a propaganda led movement that has giant, billions of dollars behind it. And it's run by, you know, jihadists and they have now invaded every college campus. I mean, Mamdani was the, the founder and president of Students for Justice in Palestine at Bowdoin College.

[Sean]

What?

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

I did not know that.

[Samantha Eddis]

This is not, this is not an accident. These are big plans that they have. And these are the groups that started the encampments at every single College. And frankly, the university administration was just shocked by it. They had no idea what had hit them. And they didn't know that this plan has been in the works for over 20 years. I mean, the FBI was recording conversations about the Muslim Brotherhood and their plans to take over the universities and all of these institutions over 20 years ago.

[Sean]

Wow. I mean, as someone that just got married and wants to have kids, I personally wouldn't send them to universities at the moment.

[Samantha Eddis]

You know, I think it's really important that we have educated students at these universities. I remember saying to my daughter, oh, thank God you didn't go to Columbia. And she said, mom, you need people like me at Columbia because you need people who are willing to say, speak up. And I think that's really true. We can't all just hide.

[Sean]

Yeah, I agree.

[Samantha Eddis]

It's why I don't believe every Jew should just live in Israel. Right. We need to be everywhere, and we need all kinds of people everywhere. And I've always. Before October 7th, I was a huge advocate for diversity. I still am. I just had no idea that Jews were not included in diversity. So here I was fighting for dei, not knowing that Jews would not be included in dei. And it's just been a shock, I think, for all of us.

[Sean]

Is there any movement on that? Do they want to include anti Semitism language in DEI laws?

[Samantha Eddis]

It hasn't made a lot of headway yet. I think that a lot of people are going after DEI programs and demonizing them instead of fixing them. There's a movement of people who want to fix them from within and say DEI is important, but we need to include Jewish people in that. But listen, it's a much bigger problem than that. For a very long time, it made me uncomfortable that every time there was a census, I had to, you know, or anytime at the doctor's office or applying for anything, I have to check off white. The world treats me as Jewish, not white. Right. And I don't identify as white. I identify as Jewish, but there is no checkbox for Jews.

[Sean]

Interesting.

[Samantha Eddis]

And so when you're not included in the census, you're not included in these. These Jews, you know, Arenas. And there's no box for you. You're not going to be included in dei.

[Sean]

Ah, that makes sense.

[Samantha Eddis]

Now I think it's a much larger problem that needs to be fixed.

[Sean]

Right. So you got to get Jewish registered as a. Whatever it's called.

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, we should probably have Jews on the census because it is an ethnicity, it's not just a religion.

[Sean]

I Wonder why that's not. Is it not big enough, you think, or.

[Samantha Eddis]

Listen, you know, I was asked to speak to a group of Amazon employees. So there was a hostage named Sasha Truvanoff who's been. He was an engineer at Amazon. Most people don't know that. There was an engineer at Amazon who was held hostage in Israel. And he was there for a very long time. And I became an active fighter for his release. And really, his story touched me so much. I'm happy to say he is now out. He just got engaged to his beautiful fiance, and they're incredible people, actually. But he. At the time, Amazon employees did not have employee resource groups. So I know if you're familiar with employee resource groups, a lot of Corporations Now, Fortune 500 companies, all have employee resource groups. And these resource groups are for women employees. They might have one for black employees. They might have one for lgbtq. They might have one for Muslim employees. For Catholic employees. They have them for different affinity groups. So the Amazon Jewish community had, for years asked to have a Jewish group, and they were shot down because Amazon said, jews are a religion and we don't have religious groups. So, sorry, I misspoke about Catholic. Amazon would not have had a Catholic group because they didn't have religious groups. Okay. So the. The Jewish employees said, but we're in ethnicity. We're not just a religion. And it fell on deaf ear. Deaf ears. And then they have one of their colleagues taken hostage, and they need a community more than ever before.

[Sean]

Right.

[Samantha Eddis]

And they still wouldn't allow them to have an employee resource group. So instead, all they had was a Slack channel. And the problem with that is they had no budget. So they contacted me and said, will you please come speak to our group? We have no budget. And I said, of course I will. You know, when we agreed that I would speak over Zoom, and I felt terribly for these people. And a week before I was scheduled to speak, the Human Resources department contacted them. I guess there was a mole in their Slack channel, and said, she's too controversial. You can't have her speak here.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Samantha Eddis]

So the response was, that's ridiculous. There's nothing controversial about Samantha Eddis. And they said, yes, there is. And so they said, okay, what we'll do to compromise is you'll come. Samantha will come on, and she will do a Zoom with you, but more of, like, a webinar thing, and an HR person will watch it and decide whether it's acceptable for you to release to the employees. So I did that, and they watched it and said it was too controversial.

[Sean]

No way.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yes. And all we were talking about was anti Semitism and Israel.

[Sean]

Why?

[Samantha Eddis]

And Sasha the hostage. It was wild. Then cut to two months later. Guess who they have speak?

[Sean]

Sasha Macklemore. Huh?

[Samantha Eddis]

Macklemore is a known anti Semite and they had himself speak at Amazon. So the New York Post went crazy over it. Like, they won't let this anti Semitism fighter speak, but they'll let Macklemore speak.

[Sean]

That is weird. Just because he's a celebrity.

[Samantha Eddis]

Probably just because he's a celebrity. But it was clearly there was someone there who. Everyone gets very scared when you mention anti Semitism. Everyone gets very scared when you mention Israel. And I think it's an example of how the propaganda has worked.

[Sean]

Yeah. Well, I think you've probably dealt with big brands in the past. They're always walking on eggshells, right?

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

They don't want to make any risky move because they got a reputation.

[Samantha Eddis]

Well. And what's considered risky is what's so disturbing. Right. Because it should be risky to have an anti Semite like Macklemore speak at your company.

[Sean]

Right.

[Samantha Eddis]

So how do we get to a place where that's not risky? But I am.

[Sean]

Yeah. There's been a culture shift, right?

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

A lot of programming. Like you said, it's been a long game. You know, they've been working at this for decades.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah. And, you know, and I think it's just. We just need more voices. And you and I were talking earlier about, you know, celebrities speaking out. And I think it was in January, right after October 7, that I was frustrated by the lack of voices speaking out. And so I started approaching celebrities because I knew how little it would take to make Jewish people feel supported. All it would take is a celebrity saying, I am Connie Britton and I stand against anti Semitism. I am Rob Lowe and I stand against anti Semitism. That's all it would take. It wasn't, you know, I'm pink and I stand against anti Semitism. So I started approaching celebrities and asking them to say that that was it. That was all I asked for, that one line. And a lot of them said yes. And we started making these videos. And it really made people feel so comforted to know that there were people standing with them. And then about 100 celebrities in, I hit a wall and no one else wanted to speak out. And I think it probably is perceived today as harder to speak out than it was even then.

[Sean]

Oh, yeah. Like I said, I've lost 500k in the past two months. Imagine these celebrities are fine.

[Samantha Eddis]

Get them back for you, Sean. Okay? That's my mission.

[Sean]

I'm playing the long game, so I'm not too worried about it. I might even lose 500,000 more. Who knows? But, like, imagine these celebrities you're talking to, they have 10 times the followers I have, so they would lose millions.

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, it's just such a crazy thing, though. It's like if you're not speaking out now, then, like, this is our time, right? There were just a couple years before World War II happened, and it was the silence that allowed 6 million Jews to be killed. It was just everyone thinking, well, if I stay silent, I'm okay. Even Jewish people thinking, if I support them, I'll be okay. And if you had even the smallest bit of Jewish blood in you, you were not okay. Or if you were an ally to the Jews.

[Sean]

Yeah, silence doesn't work, right?

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, this is the time to speak out. If people are ever thinking of something speaking out, I implore them to speak out now, because this is the time when we need more voices.

[Sean]

Yeah. Yeah. I commend you for your bravery. I was even trying to set up a debate for you to speak out. I think it's important to have both sides speak as well.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah, I'm happy to defeat anyone.

[Sean]

Have you done debates before?

[Samantha Eddis]

I used to be on shows like the O'Reilly Factor. I don't even know if you were born.

[Sean]

I heard of it.

[Samantha Eddis]

Like the Fox News debate show. I used to do a lot of that, but I'm very comfortable with it. So. Yeah, if anyone wants to bring it on. You know, I once debated this guy Gavin. What's his name? Gavin.

[Sean]

Gavin McInnes.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yes. I always on his show debating him. Yeah.

[Sean]

About Israel or something else?

[Samantha Eddis]

No, it was about women. He was a big sexist.

[Sean]

Really? Yeah. Oh, wow. I gotta watch that.

[Samantha Eddis]

That was a long time ago. Yeah.

[Sean]

Is it still up?

[Samantha Eddis]

I don't even know. It was only available to his subscribers.

[Sean]

Oh, he payballed it.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah. He paywalled all of his stuff. Yeah.

[Sean]

Wow. I feel like debates are back. Piers Morgan's crushing it right now.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah, he is with the debates.

[Sean]

Yeah. You should get on there.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah, no, I should. He doesn't listen.

[Sean]

Yeah, no denying that.

[Samantha Eddis]

So he doesn't really usually let people talk, but it doesn't scare me. Yeah.

[Sean]

From a host point of view, it's hard because he's got like five guests at once. It's already hard to have one person, you know?

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah. I mean, I think you're giving him the benefit of the doubt.

[Sean]

I am a little bit.

[Samantha Eddis]

He definitely lets certain people speak.

[Sean]

And he has his favorites. Yeah, he definitely has his favorites. But what do you think overall about debates? Do you think they're good or no?

[Samantha Eddis]

I think it's great to have debates because I think right now we're in an era where there's so much disinformation so intentional that most people only hear one side. So sometimes the debate will bring one side listening when they never would have listened because their favorite person is up there debating. So they're actually listening to both sides.

[Sean]

Right.

[Samantha Eddis]

So that's why I like debates. It's not because of the attention. It's because it brings in a new audience of people that might not ever hear a perspective if it weren't for the fact that you're debating someone that they worship.

[Sean]

Agreed. Definitely agreed. What's the biggest disinformation you're seeing right now on social media?

[Samantha Eddis]

Well, I think that this issue of Zionism is not anti Semitism. It's very intentional campaign from the Jew haters. And it's ridiculous. And the reason it's so ridiculous is because imagine if you said to an Indian person, I really love Indian people, just wish India did not exist. Right. I mean, how ridiculous. Oh, I love Pakistan. Just Pakistanis just wish Pakistan didn't exist. Or I love the French just wish that whole country didn't exist. That doesn't happen. It would be obsessed, absurd. And so it's absurd to say to Jewish people, I love you guys, just wish that whole country didn't exist.

[Sean]

People are saying that that's what.

[Samantha Eddis]

That's what anti Zionism is. They're just saying they don't believe Israel should exist.

[Sean]

Wow. Like the whole country.

[Samantha Eddis]

The whole country. I mean, listen. From the river to the sea. What that means is we want you all dead. From the river to the sea. That's it. So I mean, all of these phrases that sound cute and catchy, they're about the annihilation of Jews. And then it brings us back to the Free Palestine movement. Palestine has had so many opportunities to have their own land, to have their own independence. And the reason they have said no every single time is because they don't want to live side by side with the Jews.

[Sean]

So they're never going to reach an agreement.

[Samantha Eddis]

They want one state, they want their state, and that's it.

[Sean]

But that wouldn't work.

[Samantha Eddis]

Ironically, the Jews have wanted two states for so long, but every time they've offered it, it's been turned down even as recently as when Bill Clinton offered it to Yasser Arafat and Yasser Arafat turned it down. I mean they, and then he, and then he went on an escapade of violence against the Jews in Israel. So I mean, this is a long history. But they do not want. That's why it's so ironic that all these countries and these ignorant fools who are just following what they see on social media, thinking that they're fighting for a free Palestine, that they're fighting for a two state solution when the people they're fighting for don't want two states.

[Sean]

Right, yeah, yeah. This war has brought a lot of division, especially on the right. I feel like, how do you see this playing out in the future? Because we might lose 28 if this keeps dividing the right.

[Samantha Eddis]

Here's how I think, I think it's really dangerous right now to affiliate yourself with a party. I think that what we have seen in terms of anti Semitism is there originally it started on the left with the woke left, which is so ironic. Right. Because you know, I frankly was always pretty liberal and I always cared a lot about social services and was always very socially liberal and somewhat fiscally conservative. But it put me onto the liberal side of things. And I think what has happened with the woke left has been so shocking to me who's fought for every possible minority and ethnicity and equal rights. It's shocking to me that they have turned into people who are now siding with really people who have no tolerance for anyone who is not a radical Islamist. So these are countries that would not welcome them. And so they're fighting for, against the only democracy in the Middle east simply because of ignorance, you know, so that pushed a lot of people in our camp, in the Jewish camp or people who are fighting anti Semitism. It pushed a lot of people into the MAGA world and let's go right wing. And I think what we've seen recently is that's not always a safe place to be. You know, we don't know if J.D. vance is going to ever speak up for the Jews. We, we see what's going on with Tucker and how, you know, he's being so widely platformed and he's not platforming any Jewish voices. So it's a very scary time to just affiliate yourself with one party. I always, I did a video saying I'm not a party girl because it's really true. I am candidate by candidate. We have allies, you know, that are pro Israel Democrats and we have allies that are pro Israel Republicans. And it's a candidate by candidate choice for me. And I think that we would be much better off if more people started thinking that way.

[Sean]

I like that. I'm actually probably the same.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

I've never voted, but I think it's candidate to Canada.

[Samantha Eddis]

Hold on, why have you never voted?

[Sean]

If I did vote on the last one, it would have been for Trump. I just. I didn't vote.

[Samantha Eddis]

Okay. Can I get you to agree on this podcast that you were going to.

[Sean]

Start voting in 28.

[Samantha Eddis]

No. For even local elections. I mean, here's the thing. Local elections in some ways control your life more than.

[Sean]

I heard that.

[Samantha Eddis]

Elections.

[Sean]

Yeah, I've heard that.

[Samantha Eddis]

And so we need you, Sean, to start voting in every single election. My mom used to have this saying, my late mom saying that if you do not vote, your right to vote will be taken away from you. And she sort of infused that mentality in me. And so I used to bring my kids to the voting booth from a very young age.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Samantha Eddis]

As like a celebration. Oh, my gosh, we get to vote today. And even after, you know, the mail in ballots came, I would still take them to vote because I wanted them to be part of the act of voting and sort of make it a habit for them.

[Sean]

Yeah. I literally had the mail in ballot filled out. I just.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah, but I mean, from now on, I really would encourage you because you do have strong opinions and.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Samantha Eddis]

You know, you care. Like you just mentioned you care about the world that your kids are going to be raised in and the schools that they're going to go to and. And the way you live your life and whether the fire department shows up when you have a fire. You know, all of these things are really important. And so that's why we all need to vote.

[Sean]

I'll start voting.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah. Thank you.

[Sean]

Yeah. Well, the midterms are coming up, right?

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah. I mean, but literally, like, even your school board election, like every single local election.

[Sean]

Yeah. I didn't even know you could vote on that. School board election.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

How does that work? They send it to you or.

[Samantha Eddis]

I actually was listening to this obscure podcast the other day that I wish I could remember the name of it. It was like Middle east something. And they had this woman who is an evangelical Christian, and she had made it her mission to get these textbooks out of the K to 12 curriculum in her town, I think it was in Tennessee. And what she noticed is that the textbooks were talking about this one incident that happened in Jerusalem at a restaurant where Jews were killed out of nowhere. And it was kind of justifying it in the textbook. Takeda 12 kids.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Samantha Eddis]

And it turns out that Pearson, which was the textbook company, was funded by Qatar and Jordan and Egypt.

[Sean]

No way.

[Samantha Eddis]

So they're invading the textbooks in our public schools. So this woman inspired me so much. What she did. I think her name is Lori Cardoza. And what she did was she went to the next school board night meeting, or whatever it was. It was five school board members, and she got a bunch of people to come with her to the meeting so that she had a team behind her who agreed that this textbook was not okay. And she brought them all in, and she stood up and she looked at the school board members and she said, you must get this out of your curriculum immediately and commit to it. And if you don't, you will not be here. Come time for next election, like, we will vote you out. And all five of them voted to keep it in.

[Sean]

Whoa.

[Samantha Eddis]

The next day, she woke up and she found she made it her mission to find five people to run for those school board seats.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Samantha Eddis]

And she ran their elections for them and got all five replaced.

[Sean]

Shout out to her. I know most people would not go through all that.

[Samantha Eddis]

Well, I mean, that's. People always say to me, but I have no platform. How can I be part of this? And it's like, that's exactly what we need. We need local activists in every single school looking at this kind of stuff, because one person can make an enormous difference. Wow.

[Sean]

You got me thinking about the textbooks I used growing up. Now, if they were compromised, you know, who knows?

[Samantha Eddis]

Who knows? It's wild.

[Sean]

Yeah. Because they teach history from a biased point of view no matter where you're at. Right?

[Samantha Eddis]

Right.

[Sean]

That's a fact. So who knows who made those and what messages they were trying to. When you're that young, you're so impressed.

[Samantha Eddis]

So true. I also think, just in general, like, I think history is taught in such a strange way growing up. Like, I hated history growing up because I thought of it as, like, memorizing dates. And I wasn't very good at that. And I was always so stressed by that. And if you talk to your kids about it and say it's actually what's happening right now will be history in 10 years, in 20 years. It makes it so much more accessible. And what I've learned now, it's like, what I've learned in the last two years studying the Middle East. I would have loved history if I'd understood what it really meant to be studying history. But I don't feel like I ever really fully understood it.

[Sean]

No, you're right. They teach us definitions and dates and weird facts to memorize, but not the actual meaning behind these events.

[Samantha Eddis]

Right. Like if you took out the newspaper and you said, see this event that's happened today, one day that's gonna become history, how do you think you would write about that? If you were a historian, wouldn't that be such a cool way to teach?

[Sean]

It would be, yeah. Yeah. What's happening now is going to go down in the history books. All right.

[Samantha Eddis]

It's unbelievable. And it's happening so fast. And, you know, I think this is the first war that's really fully played out on social media.

[Sean]

Yeah, that I can remember for sure. Because I feel like the, when I was a kid, the Iraq war in Afghanistan, it wasn't really on social media every hour.

[Samantha Eddis]

No. I mean, even the Ukraine, Russia war wasn't this covered on social media.

[Sean]

It was for a bit, but I feel like this one's just taken over. I barely see the replacement Ukraine war anymore.

[Samantha Eddis]

People that know nothing about war have opinions about every day of this war.

[Sean]

That's because of social media, right? Yeah, yeah, that's the one side effect, I guess.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

But all these images, you don't know what's AI now with video, even with videos.

[Samantha Eddis]

Well, it's, it's. So, I mean, the one thing I will say about the sort of pro Hamas, pro Palestinian activists, I consider that a synonym. They are so smart about what they do, they kind of come up with a new campaign every month. So you could constantly be chasing what they're coming up with. But I know if you remember a few months ago, there was this giant campaign about malnutrition and hunger in Gaza.

[Sean]

Yeah, I remember that child photo.

[Samantha Eddis]

And it was, it was. I think at the end of the day, if you look back, less than 100 people died of hunger in Gaza over that entire time. And more people in America died in hunger during that time.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Samantha Eddis]

Died of hunger. But people became completely outraged over these images. And then when people dug into those images, they found that most of the images were of kids who had pre existing conditions. They weren't actually hungry kids.

[Sean]

I remember that one. Yeah.

[Samantha Eddis]

Staged and. But again, that lie traveled around the world before the truth came out.

[Sean]

Yeah, I remember that one. I remember the one on the first aid, how they were setting up traps with the first aid they were providing. The genocide one.

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, it's wild. I mean, if that, if there was a genocide, it's the genocide that's been carried out against the Jews on October 7th.

[Sean]

Yeah. When you break down the. I just had Demetri on who you met. The ratio of civilian to soldier, it's one to one.

[Samantha Eddis]

According to him, it's the lowest of any war in history. It's wild. It's the lowest civilian to combat ratio of any war in history. And, you know, unfortunately, Israel is fighting a war, or was. I should say was right now, was fighting a war against people that don't wear uniforms.

[Sean]

Right. So it's hard to tell.

[Samantha Eddis]

And so they're intentionally blending in with the civilian population.

[Sean]

Right.

[Samantha Eddis]

So they want. I mean, listen, they're hiding underneath in tunnels while they have the. The civilians living above. And they're using the schools and hospitals for storage of weapons. So it's impossible then not to hit that school or hit that. That hospital, because it's not a hospital or a school. It's a storage facility for weapons. It's a place where terrorists are hiding. And you see this play out, and it's so brilliant because then in the press, they can say, israel hit a hospital, you know, and it's Israel hit a school. And they're not expressing what they really are, which is terror locations.

[Sean]

Right. You don't hear that part?

[Samantha Eddis]

Hubs of terror.

[Sean]

They use people's emotions against them. Right. Because they see this headline of hospital bombed, people immediately start thinking of sick people, of children, of newborns. Right.

[Samantha Eddis]

That's right. And I mean, they know exactly how to manipulate the public. And it's so easy now with AI it's so easy now.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Samantha Eddis]

With social media to do that.

[Sean]

Yeah. People don't view things objectively.

[Samantha Eddis]

Right.

[Sean]

It's just the truth. Right. They'll be scrolling. They don't have the time to sit there and actually think about it analytically and see the numbers.

[Samantha Eddis]

You know, it's funny. I remember taking a class in college. It was my senior year. I took this class. It was an advertising class at, like, the Harvard Design School. And it was an elective. And the teacher said to us, there are two kinds of people in the world. There are people who absorb advertisements. They look at an advertisement and they believe it. Oh, you should buy this. It's going to make you look younger. And then there are people who look at it and say, how is this advertising manipulating me? And you're questioning what the advertisement does.

[Sean]

Right.

[Samantha Eddis]

And I remember he was using, like, a lot of, like, phallic advertisements as an example, because people didn't notice that they were, like, kind of selling sex when they were selling a perfume or whatever it was, but people hadn't noticed that and I had never noticed it before. And then you start looking at all the advertisements and you think of it that way. I think of that in the way we need to educate people. Not just young people, but adults too, to question what they're seeing in the media. What perspective does this reporter have? You know, I've gone in rabbit holes in cnn, even dot com. And just who is this person that was reporting from Gaza? And then you look and that person has pro Palestinian flags all over their, you know, feed. And they're not a legitimate reporter. A legitimate reporter or journalist is someone who is unbiased. That is their job to be. So if you are getting your news from someone who is compromise, that's not news. That's an opinion piece.

[Sean]

And it seems like a lot of the big ones these days are compromised.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah, for sure.

[Sean]

When it comes to reporters, right?

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, they've infiltrated the newsrooms. Look, I mean, Northwestern Medill School of Journalism, probably the number one school still in the country, maybe in the world. They have a campus in the Middle East. So you can get a degree from Medill in the Middle East. And what are you doing with that degree? You're going into a newsroom at the Washington Post or at the New York Times or npr, and who knows what you're reporting?

[Sean]

I mean, the way I see it is like if they can convince NBA players to rig games who are making millions a year, they can easily convince a reporter that's making maybe six figures. I don't know how much the average reporter makes or journalists, but I'd imagine it's like 100, 200,000 if I had to guess. Yeah, you could easily convince them, right?

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's something I hadn't thought of.

[Sean]

Think about it. Yeah. They're convincing NBA players there's a whole scandal now. I don't know if you saw it.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah. Oh, believe me, I'm following it.

[Sean]

Yeah. And these guys are making millions a year. Some of them made tens of millions.

[Samantha Eddis]

It's crazy.

[Sean]

Some of them were legends, like hall of Famers, you know, I mean, that's.

[Samantha Eddis]

Another institution that's been compromised, right? If the NBA is compromised.

[Sean]

MLB just got announced too. It's probably. If that. If it happened in the NBA, let's be honest, it's probably happening everywhere. That's one of the biggest sports leagues in the world.

[Samantha Eddis]

It's. It's just really sad. What do you believe? What's true exactly.

[Sean]

So podcasters are definitely compromised reporters. Like, it's just money talks. Right.

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, in many ways, your podcast is an example of the truth because you're platforming what you believe are two sides of different topics. Right. So that can't be said for a lot of the articles. I mean, look, most articles. When you read an article in any news outlet about the Israel Hamas war, you are seeing a quote from the Gazan health ministry.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Samantha Eddis]

Which is code for Hamas.

[Sean]

They control those numbers.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah, they control those numbers. And they're. And they're not even real numbers.

[Sean]

Yes. You could just say whatever.

[Samantha Eddis]

It's like seeing a bingo machine where every day they come up with another number. I mean, the numbers are fake.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Samantha Eddis]

But the fact that reporters are actually using that as a legitimate thing. All they did was slap kind of a nice term on them, which was Gazan health ministry, and that legitimized them enough to be quoted in articles about the war. It's wild.

[Sean]

I'm at the point now where I pretty much don't read articles.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

You know what I mean? Because I know, like, there's going to be some bias.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah. And it's good to read them and point out the bias. I do that a lot because I want people to see, like, let's redline this. This is not real news. This is not the news you grew up with.

[Sean]

Yeah. I used to really love articles, actually. My dad read the newspaper. I would read that I used to read. Did he read what was in Jersey? I think. Was it New York Times?

[Samantha Eddis]

Oh, I think was the Star. What is it called?

[Sean]

Star.

[Samantha Eddis]

The Star Legend or something?

[Sean]

Something like that. Yeah. So he read that sometimes in New York Times when it was prestigious. Right. Back in the day. 20 years ago.

[Samantha Eddis]

Exactly.

[Sean]

But no, not anymore. And you can't even sue the New York Times. I had a guest on. She said they haven't lost a lawsuit in like, 80 years or something. That's why, like, a defamation lawsuit.

[Samantha Eddis]

I just. I wish it was seen as forbidden in terms of, like, morality to work at the New York Times or to advertise in the New York Times, because I think that would really hit them.

[Sean]

Yeah. Well, they're not profitable. Right. I know a lot of newspapers are struggling.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

So whoever's funding them is just.

[Samantha Eddis]

I don't know. I think that they are profitable because of their online numbers and their advertising, but they shouldn't be because they're not anything like they used to be.

[Sean]

Yeah. Well, I knew Bezos when he bought that one newspaper Post. They weren't profitable, I believe so I'd imagine a lot of them are struggling, but people probably see it as a way to. To spread propaganda. So they don't even care to make money. Right.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah. I mean, I think that it's. They're the number one spreaders of propaganda. A lot of these outlets.

[Sean]

Yeah. It's because they have that. Yeah. Well, they had that reputation for so long of being great. Yeah.

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, I felt a little bit heartbroken by the New York Times in the same way I did from my college. It was like both of them broke my heart.

[Sean]

Yeah. I've had a couple hit pieces on me, not from them, but a couple of really prestigious, you know, sites, really, just for having. On certain guests.

[Samantha Eddis]

Wow.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Samantha Eddis]

Wow.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Samantha Eddis]

Which guests?

[Sean]

Tate. Andrew Tate.

[Samantha Eddis]

Okay.

[Sean]

Mainly him.

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, how do you feel about Andrew Tate's. I guess here's the problem, Right. It's like Tucker is getting blasted for having Nick Fuentes on but not pushing back on him.

[Sean]

I saw that.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

Yeah. What do you think about that?

[Samantha Eddis]

Here's the thing. When you had Nick Fuentes on you. I've listened to a lot of your interviews, and I think you're very honest about where, you know, I was always. I always joke I have a knowledge gap about that area or whatever you are very honest about. That's not my area of expertise. Like, I don't necessarily know enough to push back when someone's saying a fact that they're acting like it's a fact.

[Sean]

I would just look dumb if I tried.

[Samantha Eddis]

Exactly. Tucker has historically been a journalist. That's. He. He was considered a serious journalist.

[Sean]

Right.

[Samantha Eddis]

And he was very proud of that moniker. And so you can't parade yourself out there. Like Katie Couric, too. She does the same thing. She was always a serious journalist. That was how they got their start. So as a serious journalist, it is your job to push back on someone that is spreading lies and propaganda. And Tucker did not do that.

[Sean]

He didn't, but he did it with Ted Cruz.

[Samantha Eddis]

Correct.

[Sean]

So I think he picks and chooses.

[Samantha Eddis]

He picks and chooses.

[Sean]

I think he saw Fuentes is on a meteoric rise, and maybe he was a little intimidated by his audience.

[Samantha Eddis]

I asked him about it, I texted him about it, and I asked him about it, and he said, well, you know, he's. He's. He's a blogger, so it's different.

[Sean]

Fuentes is a blogger.

[Samantha Eddis]

That's how he describes.

[Sean]

He's not a blogger. He's leading a movement. That guy is like.

[Samantha Eddis]

Correct, correct. That guy's that was how he justified it.

[Sean]

Yeah. I don't know if that's a good reason.

[Samantha Eddis]

Well, it's certainly not a good reason. I mean, listen, like, you have millions of people listening to you. You have a responsibility.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Samantha Eddis]

Especially if you were a journalist.

[Sean]

He does have the knowledge to push back, correct?

[Samantha Eddis]

He does.

[Sean]

I could tell he was holding back on that interview, for sure.

[Samantha Eddis]

And. And a lot of things he pushes back on. I mean, he pushes back on even business interviews.

[Sean]

Oh, yeah. The one with the guy. That one was crazy with, the A.I. guy.

[Samantha Eddis]

Oh, with Sam Altman.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah. He basically was so tough on Sam Altman.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Samantha Eddis]

Like, why aren't you that tough on Nick Fuentes?

[Sean]

That's what I mean. He picks and chooses, Right?

[Samantha Eddis]

Sure.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Samantha Eddis]

He knew what he was doing.

[Sean]

Candace kind of pushed back on Fuentes. Right.

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, I didn't see that.

[Sean]

Oh, you didn't see that one. She pushed back. They don't like each other right now, but she's on a whole nother thing with Charlie, the whole Charlie stuff going on. I mean, I don't know if you've been following.

[Samantha Eddis]

I've been following it. Yeah.

[Sean]

She's actually the number one. Based off downloads right now, she's the number one podcast in the world. Three and a half million downloads per episode.

[Samantha Eddis]

Hate cells.

[Sean]

Yeah. Well, I think any sort of drama just sells.

[Samantha Eddis]

Right, right, right.

[Sean]

It's crazy times we're in.

[Samantha Eddis]

I mean, but, you know, it's funny because, like, drama is the Real Housewives. Drama should not be at the expense of a population of people being endangered. And so I think we need to differentiate and not let someone like Candace Owens off the hook for. For drama. I mean, she's spewing hate, and that hate is dangerous.

[Sean]

Yeah. Yeah. What do you think of the whole Charlie narrative going to, like, they were blaming Israel. I don't know if you saw that, but.

[Samantha Eddis]

Of course I saw that. I mean, listen, I. They'll blame any. Anything on Israel. Everything is. Is fault. That's what they do.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Samantha Eddis]

So it was natural that Charlie Kirk death, which had nothing to do with Israel, would be blamed on Israel.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Samantha Eddis]

And it's ridiculous. But listen, that's par for the course. That's the whack a mole game that we are now part of. And I think the more oxygen we give those lies, the longer they last.

[Sean]

That one didn't make sense to me.

[Samantha Eddis]

Because he was so.

[Sean]

He was pro Israel.

[Samantha Eddis]

So ridiculous and so bogus and. But listen, that's what people will do. I mean, conspiracy theorists Are everywhere. In this day and age, it's easier to be one than ever before.

[Sean]

I would say with my age generation, a majority of people are conspiracy theorists. Like, more than not.

[Samantha Eddis]

Well, by the way, how could you not be when your media is lying to you?

[Sean]

Yeah. So we're skeptical.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah, you're going to be a cynic. But unfortunately, as we were just saying, like a lot of them are not cynical about the right things.

[Sean]

Right.

[Samantha Eddis]

So if there's a TikTok video, they'll believe it. But you know, if someone, if their professor saying something, they might not. So it's. It's very complicated. I think that we're not arming students with the means to differentiate between the truth and fiction.

[Sean]

They're gonna have to figure it out. Because with AI, it's gonna get worse. Yeah, for sure it'll get a lot worse.

[Samantha Eddis]

It should become a big part of education.

[Sean]

They should teach discernment. There should be classes on it immediately.

[Samantha Eddis]

Absolutely.

[Sean]

Even myself, I struggle sometimes discerning. And I would say I like take the time to do proper research when I have a guest on, you know, it's tough.

[Samantha Eddis]

Well, it's hard even. Like Wikipedia is compromised.

[Sean]

Oh, yeah, I never use Wikipedia.

[Samantha Eddis]

A lot of people use it.

[Sean]

Hell no.

[Samantha Eddis]

It's crazy.

[Sean]

Really? Oh, yes, they value Wikipedia.

[Samantha Eddis]

A lot of people do. Students all the time are using Wikipedia.

[Sean]

What? That's crazy to me. Yeah, you can type whatever you want on there.

[Samantha Eddis]

Of course you can.

[Sean]

If you know a high up editor there, you can tell them to type whatever you want about someone.

[Samantha Eddis]

Well, and there was a whole thing about how so many of the editors were anti Semitic and they were posting a ton of propaganda about it.

[Sean]

Yeah, a lot of them are on the left too.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah.

[Sean]

You know, if you look at like people on the right, they don't say the best things on Wikipedia about them.

[Samantha Eddis]

Yeah, I mean, I think that as we, as we saw now, I mean, you know, friends on the right, enemies on the right, friends on the left, enemies on the left. Yeah, it's case by case.

[Sean]

Yeah, I agree. Well, Samantha, this was great. I hope the next time you're on we have a friendly little debate. Will you be at America Fest this year?

[Samantha Eddis]

I'm not sure.

[Sean]

Okay.

[Samantha Eddis]

What is America?

[Sean]

We'll talk about it. It's Charlie Kirk's yearly event, Turning Points. Yearly event.

[Samantha Eddis]

Oh, the one that I saw that last year?

[Sean]

Yeah. It's a really good lineup.

[Samantha Eddis]

Oh, that sounds amazing.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Samantha Eddis]

I hadn't planned on it, but maybe I should be.

[Sean]

Yeah, maybe I'll set up a debate for you there. But where can people find you, support you and everything?

[Samantha Eddis]

So they can find me. I've spent all day long on Instagram amanthaedis and they can also follow my substack, which is thejewsletter like newsletter with a jewel.

[Sean]

I love it. Awesome. Check her out, guys. Check out the link. See you next time. I hope you guys are enjoying the show. Please don't forget to like and subscribe. It helps the show a lot with the algorithm. Thank you.