‘The Kylee Cast’ feat. Tony Kinnett, Ep. 39: Attempted Trump Assassin Was Only As Deranged As Your Average Democrat

Summary

Podcast Summary: Federalist Radio Hour — ‘The Kylee Cast’ feat. Tony Kinnett, Ep. 39

Episode Title: Attempted Trump Assassin Was Only As Deranged As Your Average Democrat
Date: April 30, 2026
Host: Kylie Griswold
Guest: Tony Kinnett (National Correspondent, Daily Signal; Host, Tony Kinnett Cast)

---

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Host Kylie Griswold and returning guest Tony Kinnett discuss the event’s security failures, the normalization of extreme rhetoric in American discourse, the influences behind such violence, and broader issues of cultural and political division. The episode critically examines whether the would-be assassin was truly deranged or a product of mainstream left-wing ideology, reflecting on the culpability of media and educational institutions.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Firsthand Account of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

• Security Lapses

  • Tony’s detailed walk-through upon arrival highlighted lax protocols: duplicate ticketing, limited ID checks, only two metal detectors, courtesy of TSA (not Secret Service) ([03:00]-[06:30]).
  • Regular hotel services remained open to the public, even with multiple members of the presidential line of succession and administration in attendance.
  • Quote:

    "I think that the security was lax and I am disappointed in the venue itself, especially after President Trump was almost assassinated in Butler. ... The whole thing at the RNC, I mean, they had the regular hotel and the bar and the restaurant open for regular people. I was just, I was shocked."
    —Tony Kinnett [06:38]

• Secret Service Response

  • Tony declined to critique Secret Service, crediting them with averting greater tragedy, but criticized the White House Correspondents' Association for poor preparation ([07:42]-[09:14]).

2. Mainstreaming of Extreme Rhetoric — "Not Deranged, Just Normalized"

• The Assassin’s Motive

  • Kylie and Tony argue the attacker's stated motivations (Trump as "racist", "rapist", "traitor", "Antichrist", etc.) mirror popular left-wing talking points rather than revealing actual mental illness.
  • Quote:

    "He is evil, but he believes very garden variety Democrat things… This is the kind of stuff that you can hear passing any television, walking through an airport 24/7 on CNN."
    —Kylie Griswold [12:39]

• Media and Institutional Responsibility

  • The episode examines how media normalization of hyperbolic and dehumanizing language lays groundwork for real-world violence, with both hosts arguing this is more prevalent and systematic on the left ([20:11]-[22:59]).
  • Tony:

    "This is the natural endpoint of all of this, is the natural reaping of sowing this exact seed… The idea that, 'Oh, he just suffered some mental break one day,' [is mistaken]. The rational person who truly believes that Trump is the Antichrist… that’s the rational answer. You would have a duty to do something like that."
    [20:11]

3. Pattern and Politics of Political Violence

• Comparison of Political Violence

  • Both criticize datasets used to claim right-wing violence is equivalent to or worse than left-wing, labeling such databases as "crap" and noting how high-profile left-wing violence is often excluded ([22:34]-[23:15]).
  • Events cited: Congressional baseball practice shooting, BLM riots, firebombing pregnancy centers, attacks on law enforcement, assassination attempt on Justice Kavanaugh, etc. ([23:15]-[25:00])

• Institutionalization of Political Violence

  • Kylie:

    “This is like baked into the cake of the Democrat Party. ...This is a Democrat institutional problem, not a one off thing.”
    [25:00]

4. Deeper Questions: Citizenship, Culture, and Social Cohesion

• Crisis of American Identity
  • Tony posits that unlimited rights with no responsibilities have eroded American culture ([25:59]-[28:31]).
  • Calls for societal reckoning on what citizenship demands and the role of crisis measures.
  • Suggests capital punishment for political violence ("public hanging") as deterrent, criticizing delays and lack of resolve in legal responses.

5. Ideological and Educational Roots

• Education as a Source

  • The assassin, an educator himself, is portrayed as a product of a left-wing educational system (Howard Zinn model) that teaches the US is inherently evil ([32:46]-[34:19]).
  • Tony:

    “The education system on the left, the Howard Zinn model, ... that's always where it was going to end.”

• Questioning Uncritical Cosmopolitanism

  • Discussion on the meaning of citizenship and the dangers of granting rights without requiring civic service or sacrifice ([34:22]-[35:54]).

6. Warped Christian Ethics

• Religious Rhetoric in the Manifesto
  • The attacker used Christian language to justify violence ("turning the other cheek" applies to your own oppression, not others').
  • Critique of "feminized" or "cultural Christianity" on the left that distorts Christian doctrine for political ends ([35:54]-[41:24]).
  • Quote:

    “There are two kinds of cultural Christianity warping in the United States… They don’t read scripture… using the concepts of Christianity as though to argue that they are more moral than you are.”
    —Tony Kinnett [38:04]

7. Gender, Masculinity, and the Night’s Response

• Positive Masculinity Amid Chaos
  • Praise for men who physically protected women and others during the incident (Stephen Miller, Pete Hegseth, etc.) ([43:09]-[43:50]).
  • Tony recounts the confusion and composure among attendees, moments of solidarity, and frustration at lack of timely communication from organizers ([45:51]-[48:42]).

8. The Surreality and "Pageantry" of Washington

• Contradictions of DC Culture
  • Tony and Kylie mock the self-congratulatory tone of DC journalism and the disconnect between real division and the manufactured camaraderie of events like the Correspondents’ Dinner ([48:43]-[54:59]).
  • Quote:

    "There are actually people who did try to cross the aisle … and they were assassinated. And now we're watching [his] wife be harassed for having a natural response, and at the same time … [we’re] manufacturing this fancy dinner that’s like purporting to be this, but it's just a fake and gay version..."
    —Kylie Griswold [53:30]

9. Gun Control Discourse and Policy Proposals

• Refuting the Gun Control Narrative
  • Citing the fact the shooter obtained his weapons in California, the state with the strictest gun laws, as proof gun control proposals are unrelated to such incidents ([60:40]-[61:22]).
  • Both hosts deride the kneejerk reaction from Democrats and compare the weaponry and tactical choices of the shooter to video game logic ([61:22]-[63:29]).

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "[The proposed gun control] is a pretending to not understand things that are easy to understand, but like, yeah, just retardation levels to the max."
  —Kylie Griswold [61:22]

• "If you don't have a public display of execution… then we will always have this issue. And it can't be a firing squad because that ... you can have dignity and be a martyr. Hanging is really the only kind of execution here that's not beheading because we're not France."
  —Tony Kinnett [27:46]

• On the DC press culture:
  "It was a weird time... I flew to [expletive] Washington, DC, a city I hate to eat fast food, overpriced via Uber Eats, and then fly home the next morning."
  —Tony Kinnett [48:43]

• On the insularity and pageantry:
  "It's good to see up close and in person. This is one of the reasons why this industry is passing away. You've brought this on yourselves."
  —Tony Kinnett [60:20]

---

Key Timestamps

• [02:57] – Security experience entering the event
• [06:38] – Lax venue security and lack of Secret Service checkpoints
• [12:38] – The attacker’s motivations as common partisan rhetoric
• [20:11] – The "natural endpoint" of divisive, apocalyptic rhetoric
• [23:15]-[25:00] – Expanded list of Democrat-inspired political violence
• [25:59]-[28:31] – Questions of citizenship, rights, and responsibilities
• [34:22] – The Starship Troopers model & sacrifice for citizenship
• [35:54]-[41:24] – Warping of Christian doctrine for political violence
• [43:09]-[43:50] – Masculinity and responses during the incident
• [48:43] – Surreality and chaos of the event’s aftermath
• [53:30] – Critique of political/theatrical “unity” at such events
• [60:40] – Refuting gun control arguments related to this attack

---

Summary

This episode offers a raw, sometimes biting, sometimes darkly humorous analysis of the attempt on Trump's life, focusing on institutional failures, the dangerous normalization of hateful rhetoric, cultural and educational trends, and the perceived degeneration of both the media and civic virtue. The hosts argue the assassin’s motives were disturbingly conventional, reflecting a larger disease in elite and progressive discourses. The tone is critical, unsparing, and at times polemical, with frequent asides about masculinity, the emptiness of beltway culture, and the future of American society.

For listeners who missed the episode:
Expect an unvarnished, insider account of the event, trenchant critiques of media and left-wing culture, and a challenge to conventional wisdom about the roots and remedies for political violence in today’s America.

Transcript

[Blue Square Alliance Spokesperson]

Hot take. You can disagree with someone and not hate them. I know really groundbreaking stuff, but lately that line seems blurry because hate is rising across communities in all kinds of ways and Jewish communities are getting a lot of it right now. You don't have to agree with people, you just have to not be awful. The blue square is a simple way to say I'm with you and I don't tolerate hate of any kind. Go to bluesquarealliance.org, get a pin, share it and stand up.

[Tony Kennett]

Spring into deals with stay green premium 2 cubic foot mulch, 5 bags for 10 doll plus stay fresh with up to 35% off select major appliances and save an additional $100 on select laundry pairs. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's. Lowe's we help you save valid 3, 5, 6 mulch offer excludes Alaska and Hawaii. See lowe's.com for more details.

[Kylie Griswold]

Visit your nearby Lowe's. Hi everybody and welcome to the Kylie Cast. I'm Kylie Griswold, managing editor at the Federalist. Please like and subscribe. Wherever you get your podcasts. Leave us a five star review. It's one of the easiest and best ways you can help out the show. If you're just listening to the show, go check out the full video version on my personal YouTube channel or the Federalist channel on Rumble, and then of course like and subscribe there too. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at radio@the federalist.com I would love to hear from you today. I am bringing back Tony Kennett. Tony is the national correspondent for the Daily Signal and host of the Tony Kennett Cast. And he was also at the White House Correspondent's Dinner on Saturday, where there was yet another attempt on President Donald Trump's life as well as other members of the administration in his cabinet. Tony and I talk about the event. We talk about the attempt on Trump's life and the factors that led to this and where the heck we go from here as a country. All of that and so much more. Please welcome to the show. Tony Kennen, Foreign. Tony Kennett, welcome back to the Kylie Cast.

[Tony Kennett]

Thanks for having me. Always good to be back.

[Kylie Griswold]

Yeah, so great to have you. You are one of a few repeat guests we've had. But you were at the White House Correspondence Dinner this week, so had to have you back to hear about your experience. And I will say that our editorial position of boycotting nerd prom has once again paid off. But you were there. So I do want to hear I do want to hear about your experience. I'm curious, first and foremost about just your perspective on security, because I heard a lot of various accounts of this. Of course, everybody was sharing their. Their own perspective on it on Twitter. I saw a good breakdown from Bill Malugian, but then I saw some other people that were saying, no, security was actually fine. So what was it like for you to get into the event? What did you see? What you experience with that?

[Tony Kennett]

So, first and foremost, thank you very much for congratulating me on going to nerd prom. I was excited because I was hoping that, you know, maybe just. Just going to be prom king and queen this year. In all seriousness, this is my first whca, you know, correspondent Fun Fest. And flying in, I was supposed to get my, you know, beautiful ticket from the. Our White House correspondent, Elizabeth Mitchell. We took an Uber over in the rain and it was all crowded and packed and garbage. And I hate Washington so much. Again, as we've talked about before, you and I living in flyover country, I detest it so much. And so getting to the outside, there were all these protesters. As we're walking up, we ditched the Uber because it's just going to be faster to walk. And so we're walking through the rain in the tuxes and the ball gown of our correspondent, which was at least 35 and a half feet long. So as I'm focusing on not tripping over that, getting up to the building itself, there were people passing us and saying, well, there's this one lady that said, I hope that you talk about the children and the drone targeted, blah, blah, de blah, of the genocide of whatever. Not knowing that I have had experience with, with the wonders of drone piloting. And when I turned around and said, I believe the quote is M9reapers. Hell, yeah. She didn't care for that. So that was a great start. Got up to the security line and there's people yelling at us. The guy with, you know, we hope everyone in there is dead sign, standing there yelling, that would shove Katie Pavlich. Later, we get up and I don't have my ticket because Elizabeth, our White House correspondent, forgot her and my ticket in her apartment. So we were immediately faced with this, well, hey, what do we do? And so we went to the well, can you show us an email addressed to you saying you're supposed to be here? He didn't even read the email. We're in Texas, therefore we must belong. Waved us on through to the inside of the building. Go up to the help desk where we explain the situation. My name is not on the outer

[Kylie Griswold]

perimeter of the Hilton or like, where are you entering?

[Tony Kennett]

That's the outer perimeter. So it's like outside, outside, little drive in area in front of the lobby courtyard roundabout of fun and good times. So then we get into the front of the building and all of the tuxery and the dressery and the ABC reception for gay nerds and then the Politico recept for bisexual nerds. You know that dc. And so we get in, we, you know, we walk a little bit forward to the help desk and explain, hey, I'm on the list. You know, probably, no, I'm on the list and stuff. And they say, great, what's your name? Give them the name. I'm not on the list. Because we didn't give them from the daily signal the names of the attendees. So finally we went through this rigmarole. So they give me a duplicate ticket. You will notice, behold, it says duplicate on the top, not my name. And just 172. Nothing on here. That's an identity. It's just a cream card. It doesn't even have a watermark. Patrick Baitman fans. It's just very basic. And that is only briefly waved. I think I actually was walking through the building kind of on the back of my phone just like this. So I would just kind of show this. And they waved me on through little security. The Magnum, the magnetometers, whatever, the metal detectors. There were two of them in a long hallway. Yes, that would be the one from later. And went through this lady from the TSA took my wallet, took my phone, took my earbud case. And she checked my earbud case. She was like, so if I was sneaking in a line of coke. Yes, I'm. Problem avoided. Get into the building. It's a fishbowl. It's this like tomb underground. There's no cell signal of any kind of. You're going to hear me mention that a lot. There's no signal.

[Kylie Griswold]

And as is typical in those environments with that many people with phones. Yes.

[Tony Kennett]

Oh, yeah. And also the people that everyone's contacting as well. So these are the people that if you are a journalist, your friends, your family, everyone knows it and is constantly messaging you all the time. And so that's all overload to the tower to begin with. And I will say two things here up front. I think that the security was lax and I am disappointed in the venue itself, especially after President Trump was almost assassinated in Butler. The entire city of Milwaukee was shut down. The whole thing at the rnc I mean. I mean, as I was driving from Kankakee, Illinois, into Milwaukee, they were changing the map of the city as I was getting closer as a security measure. And this. They had the regular hotel and the bar and the restaurant open for regular people. And I was. I was just. I was shocked. Now that I'm told that's a W. HCA Decision, not a presidential decision. That brings me to the second thing, and I'm sorry that I'm. I'm being very wordy here in this.

[Kylie Griswold]

These are the things we want to know.

[Tony Kennett]

I will kindly refuse on commenting on the Secret Service. And here's. Here's why. So up to that point, I think all of that is like hotel security and the wca. Hca, when you get down to the metal detecting, that's the tsa. Everywhere else, the Secret Service. Because the Secret Service doesn't have, like, checkpoints set up in the building for this, or at least not that I saw. And they did. They popped out of every nook and cranny. It was like a 1950s spy cartoon, as you can see on the camera footage, as soon as there was a problem, Right. If you were in a burning building and the fire department shows up to your house two minutes late and they still pick you up, they get you out of the building, but they should have arrived two minutes earlier. And everyone agrees. Yeah. You are not going to hear the victims that were pulled out of the fire by the fire department say, now, let me tell you everything I think is wrong with the fire department. And so I am going to hopefully respectfully decline any comments about how I feel about Secret Service because I don't think it's my place to criticize or question at this time those who are responsible for, at the very least, me not seeing people die in front of me, and at the most, possibly being one of the likely wounded or dead myself.

[Kylie Griswold]

Yeah. So, I mean, you can. You can say two things at once, right? Like, you can say that the Secret Service jumped into action quickly, that they helped, you know, protect the president, protect the vice president. Clearly were the ones who, you know, apprehended this deranged man. Actually, I don't think he was deranged. And we'll get to that.

[Tony Kennett]

I don't either. I'm so glad you brought that up.

[Blue Square Alliance Spokesperson]

Good.

[Kylie Griswold]

We'll get to that. We'll get to that. But even though I. It seems to be his own fault for tripping. Not that they were successful in. In other efforts to subdue Still.

[Tony Kennett]

Still grateful for the Secret Service.

[Kylie Griswold]

Yes. Still apprehended him. Yes.

[Tony Kennett]

Angry at the WCHA President for not thanking them. Yes.

[Kylie Griswold]

At the same time, you can say, oh, these decisions were made by the White House Correspondents Association. These decisions were made by the hotel. Why were these people allowed to make these decisions for the President of the United States? And not only the President of the United States, but the presidential succession. Like, we had a handful of people in that room who, if they had been taken out and were the explicit targets based on the manifesto of this would be assassin. So, you know, you can, you can decline to like, comment on the people who. Yes. Saved. Saved people in the building. But at the same time, it's like, we cannot let this happen. And I don't understand how we can become this close to letting this happen, especially after what we saw in Butler. So go ahead.

[Tony Kennett]

No, I want to. I wanted to address that. And I think that there are two things kind of off the back end that I'm already seeing, and that would be first of all, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. So I'll begin by saying that I was concerned. Excuse me, I was less concerned about Todd as soon as I saw who initially was complaining about him. Because when he became the Acting Attorney General, there were a lot of people who were like, well, ages ago, he was one half night's move on a chessboard away. And I heard all that and I thought, okay, so he's probably fine. And then when he got up after the W and I was not one of the people who jogged over to the White House, I did an interview with Reuters. And then, wow, I flew to D.C. for two fast food meals. I'm going to go walk three miles and sleep. And then I passed Jacob Fry on the way to the hotel.

[Kylie Griswold]

And was he eating rice like this?

[Tony Kennett]

He recognized me. And that bothered me because I didn't recognize him at first. And I only remember, I only figured it out.

[Kylie Griswold]

Somalis dancing behind him, Right?

[Tony Kennett]

Yeah, I know. I didn't recognize him without the stench of failure in my nostrils, you know. So regarding right afterward, Todd Blanche gets up in front and I'm watching this live while I'm walking through the street, you know, at that point. And he's not messing around at all. And he's not like, we in the United States are not going to stand like the Pam Bondi Barbie crap. Which again, being the guy on the right who called her that before she was ever tossed aside. I stand by it. I think that Todd Blanche, and ever since, even with the James Comey thing, they're making it clear. Foot down. We're not doing this. We're not doing this. And that's what the White House needs to do with the whca. We're not doing this. You want to have the event, have some security standards. The President's under threat by extension. You're all under threat. Play by the rules or, you know, sawed off.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right, right. I mean, I have questions about why Trump was at the White House Correspondents Dinner anyway, especially given his hostility, his warranted hostility toward it during his first administration. And now he's showing up as an honored guest in a room full of people who helped seed the ground for this kind of crap. And obviously there were plenty of people who did not do that in that room as well, you being one of them. But I mean, this, this is a room that is predominantly filled by propagandists who create, who helped create the environment for this kind of stuff. And let's, let's get to the, to that because as you said, and I said, this man was not deranged like he is evil, but he believes very garden variety Democrat things, that Trump is a racist, he's a pedophile, he is a rapist and a traitor.

[Tony Kennett]

Antichrist. Yep.

[Kylie Griswold]

Yes. Right. This is the kind of stuff that you can hear passing any television, walking through an airport 247 on CNN. You can hear it anytime you tune into the shrews of the View. You can hear it on every network channel in every newspaper ever for the past decade. So, yeah, why was Trump even going to show up in a room full of these people anyway? Is another question I have. But, yeah, he clearly wasn't deranged. These are, these are typical left wing Democrat talking points.

[Tony Kennett]

So I think that it's probably more worthwhile, at least from my perspective. Obviously, you know, your show, correct me if I'm wrong, I think there's probably more that we can get out of the conversation in whether or not the, well, the guy being crazy and people saying, oh, it's mental illness. But. So I'll get this out of the way first. Why was Trump in the building? I got into trouble the last time I was in Israel, which is a great way to start any kind of a story, because when I was in front of the foreign minister and also Alan Dershowitz was up there and these two anchors of, like, their media, I said, hey, I've got a question. I said, hi, Tony, can a Daily Signal, hey, how come you guys will get up in front of the international Community. And you will whine and complain that the media treats you unfairly. Then when it's time to call a press conference, who do you call? CNN, Ms. Now, BBC, all these others. I'm like, you want someone to cover you accurately that's not going to kiss your butt, but is also going to deliver the news and not make up things. And like an idiot. Well, then you would call me. Right? I mean, what's, what's the print? And so I think the reason the President was here. We have seen more of the White House correspondence room be replaced with Mary Margaret Olahan from the Daily Wire. I know that, I think is Brianna Lyman from the Federalist been in that, that, that new media seat at least once.

[Kylie Griswold]

Brecken. Brecken Theise is in that seat often.

[Tony Kennett]

Yep, yep. So, so we've had, obviously our Elizabeth Mitchell has been there, the guys over from Ruthless, you know, and you can list all these other individuals that never would have been in the room. I mean, even the young lady from Mike Lindell TV who has gotten more direct interview questions to Congress members than anyone I've seen in years. Years.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right.

[Tony Kennett]

And that in and of itself, there were more people in that room last night. Remember, there was supposed to be this huge protest. There was. Or not last night, Saturday night, there. There were a lot of people that were gone, but it was filled with all of these people like yours truly, who never would have been. I mean, the assistant press secretary, Andrew Bates, was a disgusting creature during the Biden years. And I would ask him very simple questions that could have, in fact, gotten a very decent pro Biden answer. And like, the words that he used to respond to me would make the Gavin Newsom press office look like Mother Teresa doing pr. So, I mean, I think that's one of the reasons why it's building an institution. You want media to change. Well, yeah. I mean, go do some ribbing back and forth with some members of the press who were. They didn't report on this, but right after the shooting, there were several people, by all means, not just a few, who shouted USA Now. The Secret Service also wanted quiet because we didn't know a whole lot. So that died down pretty quickly. That was a response. And so I think that'd be that, that little tweak there that I'd say, if we're going to build up like American Moment does rising up that next generation of, like, staffers, also the media side has that room to grow as well.

[Kylie Griswold]

Sure, sure. Yeah. And maybe I think the counter to that is let's do an event that can fit in a secure venue with members of the new media who don't hate this country and don't hate the President of the United States.

[Tony Kennett]

Oh, sure.

[Kylie Griswold]

You know, like, like a better way rather than, than saying, like, yes, White House Correspondents association, let's all come together for a Kumbaya moment. You know, a break in the Russia gate and a break in the assassination prep.

[Tony Kennett]

Sure, sure.

[Kylie Griswold]

You know, so.

[Tony Kennett]

And I, I think you're right there.

[Kylie Griswold]

Yeah.

[Tony Kennett]

Seriously, I do. I absolutely agree. I mean, obviously, even Fetterman, who I talked to the next morning, dude, so freakish in person, although he has the voting record that's, you know, bluer than Dabadi. Dabadai. I mean, that man has obviously said the ballroom is necessary. And I'm all for kicking out some members of the press that are just awful. But I mean, you know, do I think that the entire Politico staff should be there? No, but I think there should be a person or two there from there just because, well, depending on who it is, I'll either enjoy the article or I'll wipe their tears, you know, with, with the, with the article later, I guess.

[Kylie Griswold]

Sure, sure. Yeah. The people want to know, was John Fetterman wearing basketball shorts?

[Tony Kennett]

Yes. Yeah, he was wearing black basketball shorts and, like, a gray or white hoodie. And I almost couldn't believe him. He was standing off to the side next to the south security checkpoint, like he was waiting for someone. And I couldn't believe him. I couldn't believe it was right there. And I walked up and I was like, hey, I'm. I'm Tony Kennett, Daily Signal. And, and talked to him for a couple of minutes. He had me speak into, like, dictation software because it appeared he had a little trouble hearing me.

[Kylie Griswold]

Okay.

[Tony Kennett]

Which was interesting. And I think we might have an interview with him coming up. I'm. That's. It's going to be curious.

[Kylie Griswold]

Interesting. He is an interesting dude. And I would be. I'd be curious to hear that. So let's, let's talk about the derangement component, though.

[Tony Kennett]

Yeah.

[Kylie Griswold]

Because, yeah, this guy. Clearly not deranged.

[Martha (Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador)]

When Kohler, the global design leader in luxurious kitchen and bath products, came to me and said, martha, we need an ambassador for our timeless, elegant, durable cast iron products. I said, I'm in. Now, let me see the factory. Weeks later, I was suited up in coveralls and work boots, walking through their Kohler, Wisconsin cast iron foundry. I stood next to the molten iron furnace, saw the hand applying enamel and touched the gorgeous finished products waiting to be sent out into the world. Since 1883, Kohler cast iron products have been forged and finished by the incredible craftspeople right in Kohler, Wisconsin. I'll tell you, I gained a newfound respect and appreciation for Kohler's cast iron craftsmanship. So now I am lending my discerning stamp of approval to my most beloved Kohler cast iron products for their durability, beauty and timelessness. Shop my Kohler Cast Iron favorites curated on Kohler.com bring the warmth, character and enduring style of these timeless products into your kitchens and bathrooms. As the Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador, I say, long live Cast Iron.

[Blue Square Alliance Spokesperson]

Here's a thought that shouldn't be controversial. You can think someone is completely wrong and still not hate them. I know, wild. But somehow we've turned disagreement into a personality and hate into something people are way too comfortable with. And it's not just happening in one place. Hate is rising across communities in different ways. And Jewish communities are getting hit especially hard right now. And hate doesn't just stay in one lane, it spreads. So even if you think this isn't your issue, you give it a minute. You don't have to agree with people, you just have to decide you're not okay with hate. That's it. The blue square is a simple way to say that out loud. Go to bluesquarealliance.org, get a pin, share it or don't, but at least don't pretend this isn't happening.

[Kylie Griswold]

I would love your take on him. The manifesto just. Yeah, he's clearly not deranged. He's evil. But, like, what do you make of it?

[Tony Kennett]

So this is the natural end point of all of this, is the natural reaping of sowing this exact seed. So I've said this for years. You've said this for years. You know, we've actually seen. I remember all the way a couple of years ago, back on the playground at an Ohio public school in which a group of children beat another child within an inch of their life for not raising his fist in the Black Lives Matter salute. All right, we have. We have seen countless times in which those who do not participate in the mob ideology have been attacked, have had their businesses burned to the ground, sued within an inch of their life, fired, you know, no reason, that kind of thing. This was always coming. You can't just hide behind the, oh, they're very clearly mentally ill. There are schizos. There sure are. But the idea that, oh, he just suffered Some mental break one day. The rational person who truly believes that Trump is the Antichrist, who truly believe. If you truly believed that Trump was Hitler, you truly believed in your heart that there are Nazis roaming the streets, throwing people into unmarked vans and taking them to be raped in concentration camps. That's what you believe, right? Then that's the rational answer. It is. I mean, you would have a duty to do something like that. And so the answer is, after saying it for so long and just saying Epstein, like a panacea, sprinkling, seasoning word in there, whenever and when that doesn't work, you do that. Jews. Then, then that's the natural. That's. That's the natural next step.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right, right.

[Tony Kennett]

And so people say, oh, he's crazy. No, he's not.

[Kylie Griswold]

No.

[Tony Kennett]

And he is literally answering the rhetoric. You told him it was true. So we said, well, if it's true, well, then I have to do something.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right. And you know, he's not crazy because he's very clear in the manifesto that, yeah, I've been done with this for a while, but this is just the first chance, the first chance I could take to do this. It's also definitely worth noting, you know, the, the left has a serious political violence problem. And of course they spend all day, every day trying to both sides. This issue. All of the data, the databases that show any level of right wing political violence. Not that there are not outliers. Of course there are anybody, you know, we have evil in our hearts and anyone can be capable of doing something evil. But this is not a both sides issue. The databases that show any level of right wing violence are complete crap. Like they will, they will lump anything in as a. Yeah, religious thing.

[Tony Kennett]

It's the Wall Street Journal. Yeah, the Wall Street Journal saying, oh, look at all of like 2020. There was all this right wing violence and there's like, like they count every single person. First of all, like the January 6th, like, like riot and, and guided tour. Like they all count that as individual crimes. But then there is no left wing violence at all recorded. 2020 for burning down the cities of Minneapolis and Kenosha.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right.

[Tony Kennett]

Nothing.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right.

[Tony Kennett]

And then Josh Shapiro's house being burnt down, not counted because that's like religious or whatever.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right?

[Tony Kennett]

Oh, man.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right. You can look up some of the most high profile Democrat inspired crimes, and they are not included in these databases. They're just complete.

[Tony Kennett]

Yeah.

[Kylie Griswold]

And I mean, here's just like a very, very small sampling and there are so many more than this, but the congressional baseball practice shooting Multiple attempts on Trump's life. Depending how you count them, we could be up to like five here. I mean, you know, people are saying three, but, like, there were some other dicey things that, like, it depends on

[Tony Kennett]

how, when the FBI catches them because they're not driving. Or like this. The word I'm probably not allowed to use. Like this fool on his. This guy took the train, which. Sabrina. Sabrina Carpenter, grimacing at the crowd picture. Just really, the train. I mean, when are you counting it as an assassination attempt? If you're like, all right, I'm going to buy the gun, and then you're caught, does that count as an attempt? I would argue. I'd say it's probably close to 8. But again, it's. It's obviously multiple.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right.

[Tony Kennett]

The fact that it's plural is a problem.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right, right. Yeah. More than we've had on any other president. You've got the Charlie Kirk assassination, obviously, the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Black Lives Matter riots, months long. Many people died, like billions in damages. The most damage we've ever had from this kind of activism in the history of the country. Firebombing, pregnancy centers. You've got talking heads constantly promoting violence like Hassan Piker. We can come back to that, too. You've also had Democrat lawmakers encouraging violence against Supreme Court justices. And then an attempted assassination on Brett Kavanaugh. Other. Other attempts, you know, on scotus, environmental crazies, the violent anti ice protesters like Renee Goode. People constantly attacking law enforcement. We had members of the National Guard, I believe, who were gunned down in the nation's capital. You also had the church protesters. I mean, this isn't like, murderous, but it's still very violent and very high crime. Yes, yes, yep.

[Tony Kennett]

Kidnapping.

[Kylie Griswold]

Yes. This is like baked into the cake of the Democrat Party. And I'm just like, what do we do about it? Because also, this is the natural response to the types of revolutionary thinking that the left has long espoused, even before they started, like, shooting people. In this era, obviously we've had, like, we've had eras of other murderous Democrat extremism.

[Tony Kennett]

Sure. But when you have Maxine Waters saying you need to get in there and be in their face every waking hour of the day, all of. I mean, the language is charged.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right, right. Well. And we've long said at the Federalist, you know, it starts with statues and it ends with. It ends with human lives. It starts with speech and it ends with human lives. And that's exactly what we've seen over and over and over. And so it's like, how do you, how do you share a country with these people? How do we move on from this kind of stuff? Like, yeah, sure, you can build a ballroom, yeah, sure, you can fire people in the Secret Service who aren't doing their job well enough and, you know, like, shore that up. But at the end of the day, like, this is a Democrat institutional problem, not a one off thing.

[Tony Kennett]

So this is where we get into three core questions. So one is the question of what do we define as a citizen? Number two is what do we define as a crisis and when do we agree that we've come back from that crisis? Because we're going to have to act with crisis mitigation measures here, period. I mean, that's just the way it is. And then finally, last but certainly not least, what is American culture and what must it represent? Because those are the fundamental questions. Because, you know, when you have right now, which essentially Trump playing the game, basically the left will go to, you know, eight on the, you know, out of 10 scale and Trump will say, all right, then it's an eight. And then that's, you know, he matches it and that is what causes a lot of the upset. And the left goes to nine. And then Trump's like, all right, nine it is. And that's the kind of thing that we've seen through his administration so far. The real issue is going to be how we define in the future what being a citizen means and what responsibilities they have. Because that's what, that's what caused a lot of this. People that just voted in rights and just unlimited rights and privileges to themselves, that have no responsibility behind it, has eroded our culture completely away. And that's universal suffrage. That, like, we're never going to ask anything of you, but you have all of the rights in the world to demand everything that is society. And then when you don't get it, you think, well, oh, then I get to kill you on the streets of New York, even though you're not even my health care provider, I'm still going to kill you because you've done social murder in the case of Luigi Mangione and Brian Thompson. So that's the question on that side. And then obviously, I mean, I said this on the show this week, it public hanging. And I think I even said that last time I was on the show. It needs to be public hanging for crimes, sexual crimes, I would say also domestic abuse crimes. And then last but certainly not least, crimes of political assassination and political violence. Because if you don't have a public display of execution, of capital punishment. I'm sorry, Libertarians go pound sand. You guys suck. Then we will always have this issue. And it can't be a firing squad because that you can have dignity and be a martyr. Hanging is really the only kind of execution here that's not beheading because we're not France. It needs to be hanging, not a public spectacle. Not on pay per view, not entertaining. But it needs to be a warning. If you do this, we will humiliate you. And then we will take away your ability to take away the rights of others anymore. That's where it has to go.

[Kylie Griswold]

Yep, yep. Well, and it also needs to be swift and certain. You know, so like in criminal justice study, you learn that it's not just about the severity of the punishment, it's also about the. The certainty and the swiftness of it. So these years, long trials that we have, these, you know, depending on what state, depending on this or that, maybe it'll happen, maybe it won't. No, none of that. We're done with that.

[Tony Kennett]

Immigration courts were not created in the United States federal government initially for a reason. Are you here illegally? Well, then you're gone, period. We show you the door. There's no court for this. Get the. What are you talking about?

[Kylie Griswold]

Right.

[Tony Kennett]

Same for this stuff. We have you on tape doing it.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right. Right.

[Tony Kennett]

Americans have never been this pessimistic. The Watchdog on Wall street podcast with Chris Markowski. Every day, Chris helps unpack the connection between politics and the economy and how it affects your wallet. A record 54% of US consumers now say their financial situation is worse compared to a year ago due to higher prices. That's up 900% in five years and higher was in the 70s. Whether it's happening in D.C. or down on Wall street, it's affecting you financially. Be informed. Check out the Watch Start on Wall street podcast with Chris Markowski on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast.

[Kylie Griswold]

Well, it's interesting you bring up the citizenship thing too, and what that means, because I. I found it interesting that one of the earliest things that this guy says in his manifesto, and I'm trying not to say his name as much as I can, is that I am a citizen of the United States of America. Okay, buddy, Great. Well, we do have clearly a crime problem that's associated with a violent crime problem that's associated with our completely unchecked immigration system, whatever. But this guy, not a product of that. This guy is a product of the same type of environment. Tony that you used to be in, which is education. And, you know, you brought up social murder, that just ridiculous term from the Hasan Piker interview, which is just another complete indictment of the media, the New York Times, you know, ladies, sitting there just like, grinning as he's justifying the murder of a UnitedHealthcare CEO for the crime of being a capitalist.

[Martha (Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador)]

When Kohler, the global design leader in luxurious kitchen and bath products, came to me and said, martha, we need an ambassador for our timeless, elegant, durable cast iron products, I said, I'm in. Now let me see the factory. Weeks later, I was suited up in coveralls and work boots, walking through their Kohler Wisconsin cast iron foundry. I stood next to the molten iron furnace, saw the hand applying enamel, and touched the gorgeous finished products waiting to be sent out into the world. Since 1883, Kohler cast iron products have been forged and finished by the incredible craftspeople right in Kohler, Wisconsin. I'll tell you, I gained a newfound respect and appreciation for Kohler's cast iron craftsmanship. So now I'm lending my discerning stamp of approval to my most beloved Kohler cast iron products for their durability, beauty and timelessness. Shop my Kohler Cast Iron favorites curated on Kohler.com bring the warmth, character and enduring style of these timeless products into your kitchens and bathrooms. As the Kohler cast iron ambassador, I say, long live cast iron.

[Blue Square Alliance Spokesperson]

Here's a thought that shouldn't be controversial. You can think someone is completely wrong and still not hate them. I know, wild. But somehow we've turned disagreement into a personality and hate into something people are way too comfortable with. And it's not just happening in one place. Hate is rising across communities in different ways. And Jewish communities are getting hit especially hard right now. And hate doesn't just stay in one lane, it spreads. So even if you think this isn't your issue, give it a minute. You don't have to agree with people. You just have to decide you're not okay with hate. That's it. The blue square is a simple way to say that out loud. Go to bluesquarealliance.org, get a pin, share it or don't, but at least don't pretend this isn't happening anyway.

[Kylie Griswold]

That type of thing, social murder, is the kind of crap that you would hear in college or in a public education system. Like, this guy is the product of that environment, not a third world country who, who came here and just like, is importing his, you know, third world ways. So I would love to Know just what you make of. Of that, because I think a lot of it starts in the classroom. This guy is, is an educator. Like, he's, he's steeped in this.

[Tony Kennett]

I'm. That. That's what I, I met earlier is where this was the. This was the natural conclusion. This was the. The very likely outcome anyway, because, again, yes, the education system on the left, the Howard Zinn model, that again, suggests that you, as a human inherently are hurt by the United States, which was built as this evil, oppressive, whatever. That's always where it was going to end. And I don't. I'm sorry, I don't think it's free speech at all to get out there and say we need to tear this country down. Because that's not criticizing the country that's calling for its destruction. No, no. You say, well, that's really fascist. No, it's not. No, it's not. I cannot think of a time in history in which the entire group of people that had previously had some kinds of rights of free speech all of the sudden were cast into fascism because they arrested the person saying, we need to destroy everything and kill everyone. I've never seen it in history. I'm happy to be proven wrong in that instance. One of the things that has gripped my mind in the last couple of years came from reading of all books, Starship Troopers, which, again, not the movie. I think I've even talked about it last time that I was on.

[Kylie Griswold]

I think you did talk about it last time you were on the show,

[Tony Kennett]

is that there's this concept of citizenship. Because in the book. Not again, not the parody movie from the 90s, but in the book, to be a citizen, you must have participated in federal service. That doesn't mean serving in the military, but that means serving. You have to demonstrate that you are willing to sacrifice your life, if necessary for the rest of the country to be a citizen. There are tons of legal residents. But in order to enact change on the system, you must demonstrate personal sacrifice in some way, shape or form under federal service. I think that needs to be the standard for citizenship. You must demonstrate. Again, anyone can try to demonstrate it. There's no ban on creed, on color, on sex. But the only thing you must demonstrate that sacrifice and lose your life if must be for the sake of. Of the others. You know, that. That kind of an idea. Because right now we have all of the benefits and none of the responsibilities. I mean, even when they just reworded an existing law. Whoopi Goldberg lost her mind on the view they institute in the draft and all that stuff. No, Even the other hosts were like, no, you crazy crackhead. It was just making a process that already existed automatic, like, so you can't get dinged on, like a late fee kind of a thing here. That's. That's it. And she still. It's this. I. I shouldn't have to give anything back to be a citizen. The word has no meaning. It's become. I mean, it's. I mean, it's become like due process. It doesn't mean anything anymore. It's just a magical term thrown around that's supposed to impress you.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right? Right. I want to talk about another underappreciated angle of the manifesto, and I want to get your thoughts on this. And that is, there's this weird Christian lingo in it. He. He apologizes to his friends and family, including his church family, and he says he goes through these, like, objections to what he's doing and then his rebuttals to what he's doing. And here's the very first 1. Objection. 1. As a Christian, you should turn the other cheek. Rebuttal. Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I'm not the person raped in a detention camp. I'm not the fisherman executed without trial. I'm not a school kid blown up or a child starved or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration. Turning the other cheek when someone else is oppressed is not Christian behavior. It is complicity in the oppressor's crimes. Okay, this is obviously to any, like, devout Christian, a complete warping of Christian theology, but it's also the same kind of crap that you see on Mom Instagram all of the time. It's the inversion of the order of Morris of, like, caring, you know, having this disordered love for people that you've never met, you will never meet. They're not in your sphere of influence at all. Well, at the same time, like, patting yourself on the back for loving them in an abstract way while. While being completely violent against the authorities that, like, you are commanded to submit to. I'm just curious what you think of this. And like, you know, we have right now in the. The broader political discourse, like this assassination attempt interrupted some other news cycles like Ali Beth Stuckey and David French, you know, debating empathy and what it actually looks like to love your neighbor and all these things. And it seems to me that, you know, progressive Christians like James Talarico out here thinking that the only. The main tenets of Christianity are Love your neighbor and turn the other cheek. And this is the same kind of crap that we're seeing surface now in an attempted assassin's manifesto. Like, what do you make of this? And like, do you think that this is a product of the, the warping of Christian theology, like, on the left?

[Tony Kennett]

Yes. I mean, clearly there's, there's this attitude of cultural Christianity that, and when I don't. There are two kinds of cultural Christianity warping in the United States. The first kind and the one that has been going on for the last several decades is this idea that you just inherited. Like, this idea of Christianity which just means anything that I think is like, good man. And, and what I think is like friendly Jesus was like, you know, I don't believe in him, but he's all about peace, man, and all this other, like, crap. They don't read scripture. They don't. They saw like one verse in a Hallmark card ages ago, totally confounded. They, they've never read scripture, never paid attention to it at all. And yet they are using the concepts of Christianity as though to argue that they are more moral than you are. This is the, this is what they're trying to do. And they've gained some headway here because Donald Trump is not a Christian. Like, that's, that's their, that's their, their angle. Like, oh, well, I'm more Christian than Donald Trump is.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right?

[Tony Kennett]

Okay, sure, a car is faster than a bicycle, but neither of those would I feed dinner. It doesn't, they're not, they're two separate things here.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right.

[Tony Kennett]

And so when I'm, when I'm looking at this, that's bothersome. It's given a rise to a counter reaction. And I, I won't say on the right, because I don't believe it is this cultural Christianity thing that masquerades as Catholicism where they also don't read scripture. They also have no idea about any of the tenets of anything other than, well, actually Jesus said. And then it's a bunch of other blasphemous stuff on the other side.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right?

[Tony Kennett]

And essentially what you've seen is this hollowing out of the American Christian faith and the different denominations that were actually able to effectuate a solid culture. And you've tossed it aside for some weirdly fetishized pseudo Catholicism led by the converts mixed with this non denominational, almost Democrat prosperity gospel that is neither prosperous nor a gospel. It's simply socialism painted under Karl Marx's post fetishization of, of what he thought Jesus should have been and both are heretical. And in on the left case here, it excuses violence.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right, right. It's a weirdly feminized idea as well. You know, like, not the F word

[Tony Kennett]

I would have used, but yes.

[Kylie Griswold]

I mean, I don't know how much time you spend on Instagram or how much your, your algorithm is, you know, dominated by like weird deconstructionist, progressive Democrat, Christian mom culture. But this is the same kind of stuff. I see 247 and you've got, you know, James Talarico out here who, yes, exactly, who, who slept with the prom queen. Just so everybody knows, like he, he's not gay, everyone. But, but it's like this very weird feminized version of Christianity. And it's just interesting now to see it used like in part to justify this assassination attempt. And obviously this is not like his primary motivating factor, but it was clearly important enough for him to include it in his manifesto. And it just, it's like this has infected, it's a mind virus. And it's infected many, many parts of the left. You know, you've got like the radical revolutionary types and then you've got the like Kumbaya Instagram mom types and they're getting fused, it seems, in the middle. And I'm not really sure what to make of it.

[Tony Kennett]

So it's the, so it's the excuse for the abuser is, is the, the dynamic here that's at play. So you have an individual that, that somebody that somebody likes who is acting horribly but recognizing that there's nothing left to turn to on the left side of the aisle if they abandon that. And so you have people that are so desperate just to hate Republicans again. They have no faith, they have no friends, they have no community. It is all of these menopausal, middle aged, left leaning women who either look like overly botoxed Jennifer Welch, Pumbaa from the Lion King, or Michael Scott with grayer hair and round glasses. Those are the three types of ladies on the left. They look like one of the three. They all act the exact same. They will do this kind of weirdly passive aggressive excuse making for those who are really violent. And they'll do this in one of two ways. Either number one, they will suggest that there is far worse, that they're bad as fighting. So this is, and you see this on the right, not again, not really the right, the really far right as well. It's like, well, we have to unite with the fascists in order to defeat communism. And it's like actually no, you're both sorry. And even though one, the left is clearly bigger than the smaller issue over in the fringes on not really even the right, that that kind of binary, again, is retarded. But in that there's the second half of that kind of enabling, which is I need someone to pay attention to me. And the only way that I can gain their favor and get them to sleep with me is if I get out there and defend them when they're acting abusive. And it's, it's really. It comes through everything, especially those Christian, pseudo Christian mommy accounts. So like Rachel, but more unattractive.

[Kylie Griswold]

Yep.

[Tony Kennett]

Film this big theological disposition and then the next reel is get ready with me. Here I am in my underwear.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right.

[Tony Kennett]

And it's. Oh, okay, so you're a spiritual whore as well. Thanks for sharing.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right, right. I did. On a total flip side to this, I did appreciate that we got some really great examples of masculinity on display at the dinner. We saw Stephen Miller shielding his very pregnant wife. Pete Hagseth, Hegseth shielding his. His wife as well. There was just like a lot of watching men instinctually jump into action to protect the women and important people around them. And I just thought that was incredible. And we only got like several, you know, phone views of this type of thing. I'm curious if you saw any more of that or have anything else to share about that.

[Martha (Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador)]

When Kohler, the global design leader in luxurious kitchen and bath products, came to me and said, martha, we need an ambassador for our timeless, elegant, durable cast iron products. I said, I'm in now. Let me see the factory. Weeks later, I was suited up in coveralls and work boots, walking through their Kohler, Wisconsin cast iron foundry. I stood next to the molten iron furnace, saw the hand applying enamel, and touched the gorgeous finished products waiting to be sent out into the world. Since 1883, Kohler cast iron products have been forged and finished by the incredible craftspeople right in Kohler, Wisconsin. I'll tell you, I gained a newfound respect and appreciation for Kohler's cast iron craftsmanship. So now I'm lending my discerning stamp of approval to my most beloved Kohler cast iron products for their durability, beauty and timelessness. Shop my Kohler cast iron Favorites, curated on Kohler.com bring the warmth, character and enduring style of these timeless products into your kitchens and bathrooms. As the Kohler cast iron ambassador, I say, long live cast iron.

[Blue Square Alliance Spokesperson]

Here's a thought that shouldn't be controversial. You can think someone is completely wrong and still not hate them. I know, wild. But somehow we've turned disagreement into a personality and hate into something people are way too comfortable with. And it's not just happening in one place. Hate is rising across communities in different ways. And Jewish communities are getting hit especially hard right now. And hate doesn't just stay in one lane. It spreads. So even if you think this isn't your issue, give it a minute. You don't have to agree with people. You just have to decide you're not okay with hate. That's it. The blue square is a simple way to say that out loud. Go to bluesquarealliance.org, get a pin, share it or don't, but at least don't pretend this is. Isn't happening.

[Tony Kennett]

Just from what you saw, like what we saw. So I again, we heard the. The argument from the president or from someone initially who said it sounded like a tray dropping of some. Or like a. That's wholly accurate. I didn't actually link that sound, which I heard and remember hearing, to the events that would follow until way after we were out of there.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right.

[Tony Kennett]

Because again, you all knew immediately what was going on. We had no idea inside the room because there was no service. And then everyone we've ever known or met, all the way from guys that you and I went to college with, all the way forward to people that I'm colleagues with now, were texting me the whole network down. What I remember, and I'll never forget, there was a guy that was kind of rising out of the crowd, running towards, to my right, the front of the room, towards the president and staff. And initially our thought was that was the guy that was maybe making a run for the President. I think that was a Secret Service member running in and running up, saying, we ought to go. The initial thought that we had was it was a bomb threat. That they're. My actual. For the first about three minutes was that there's a guy, that guy has like some kind of bomb strapped to his chest. There's going to be shrapnel. I actually stood up initially and leaned forward, kind of started looking for people trying to act nonchalant. Instincts kick in. And there were a couple of others in the room doing that. And I remember the feeling of. Of surety and peace that I got every time I would lock eyes with a guy who was either clearly a veteran, former law enforcement, former contractor, who would look at me, nod, and then we would both immediately go looking to a new area. And then I was also recording narrating some of the events as well. What I do remember over the next. That. That next hour is just that we were sitting there just doing nothing. They didn't tell us anything. There was nothing for an hour. And so I will say this at the end, it's a very weird defense you would never expect me to make. Number one, the dude sitting there and eating his meal. I have no problem with that. I don't blame the old guy. I mean, I never got any food. I mean, I had that nasty pile of green construction paper and the block of Styrofoam that they told me was Brie sitting on my plate. You know, I hate wine. It's dry and it tastes like crap. I didn't enjoy. I didn't enjoy any of that. I mean, and that's not me trying to be holier than thou. I hate the taste of wine. So at the end of that hour, there's, like, a girl taking an open bottle of wine. She was ridiculed for this as we were all walking out. You guys do realize they throw away used bottles. Like, they don't just go, all right, let's empty it all back into one to go. Like, that's not a thing. So, I mean, I don't. I grabbed a second America 250 pen, which no one also talks about. It's the freshest pen I've ever seen. And I grabbed two of them on the way out. I mean, it sucked. It was an hour. Then Zhang gets up there and has us all clap for ourselves. She says, number one, Trump made a true social post where he said, everyone is okay and there's going to be a press conference in 30 minutes. We all laughed because that is kind of funny. You're all gonna have to hoof it to the White House in 30 minutes.

[Kylie Griswold]

Right?

[Tony Kennett]

That is funny. Number two, also, we're all so brave, we run to the crisis. I mean, Politico had a picture of them all sitting on the floor going, when things are tough, we report. We're journalists. And I was like, oh, just. You know, I was like, my. And so when she finally had us all clap for each other, I will admit, the good little indie funny Baptist boy, he swore and swore very loudly, and only about a third of the room clapped for themselves. And which I thought was notable because it was only the menopausal women on the left. I'm serious. That's the only people. Everyone. Even Jake Tapper. I got. I looked over at his face, and he was like, why are we. And then all of A sudden, it was, all right, we're going to reschedule. We have to evacuate right now. No mention of the shooter, whether he was alive, whether there are other threats. We didn't know the National Guard was outside. No announcement. So when we finally got out of there. And this is the other thing I won't remember, when I was walking out, to my left, a guy from Google. To back of me, John Ashbrook from the Ruthless podcast. To my right, Jake Tapper. And to my front, a lady from Axios. And it was just very bizarre to be walking out with all of them at a very different mood than was portrayed by some of those anchors later. It was very surreal, and I was very mad. Like the dad who drives to Disney to find out the rides are closed. That was my attitude. I was like, I flew to bleeping bleep Washington, dc, a city I hate to eat fast food, overpriced via Uber eats, and then fly home the next morning. So, I mean, yeah, there was some fear. I mean, I. I was worried I heard our White House correspondent by shoving her to the ground. So a lot of other people. I mean, I don't. Obviously, you should have hit under the tables. Sure. I was worried. I broke her neck doing it. I was like, no, I mean, I don't. I. That's. That's kind of. I was. We were at the Univision table, so I was also trying to get them to stop their Mexico City morning traffic report that they were babbling. So.

[Kylie Griswold]

So funny.

[Tony Kennett]

It was a weird time.

[Kylie Griswold]

I'm sure you saw the continued demonic harassment of Erica Kirk leaving the event, as everyone probably did. Yeah.

[Martha (Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador)]

Oh, yeah.

[Tony Kennett]

I saw her on the way in and I. I, like, stopped because I'd met her before, and I got. I just a look of recognition, like, oh, hey, hey. And then she was, you know, gone with security. Yeah. I was obviously disgusted by the treatment of. Of her from.

[Kylie Griswold]

Yeah, yeah. I saw a Tweet from Aran McIntyre, but it was something that my husband had said to me, like, a day and a half before. We'd had this conversation where it was like, that's how any woman would respond to that type of situation, much less a woman who watched her husband be assassinated. Like, if you've had any kind of traumatic experience at all, like, that's a very natural response from a female. I was. I was. I mean, obviously the. The demonic Erica hate continues. But, like, even outside of it being Erica Kirk, like, this is. This is just people not even understanding, like, normal human nature. I'm just Sick.

[Tony Kennett]

So much of political discourse right now is just pretending not to understand things, right?

[Kylie Griswold]

Yep.

[Tony Kennett]

So much of it. And we can see this again from whether it's on the left side and they're. They're like pseudo prosperity gospel Christian garbage where they just pretend that, oh, if you kick someone out of the country or, you know, you. You send the National Guard in to help clean up D.C. that's. That's fascism. It's pretending not to understand things. And then over on the. The again, I have to be very careful. The. The almost a. Not really a Catholic. I'd say appropriating Catholic culture is convert kind of crew that are saying also this kind of. They don't. They pretend not to understand how anything works and everything is a conspiracy. And we're all going to, you know, we're all secretly taking Jewish money or whatever. And, you know, Candace Owens, when she's usually slapping herself in the chest like a retard, that kind of. I'm sorry, I will get in trouble for that. I don't care. I mean, that kind of stuff they really are showing themselves in this moment. I mean, even a lady that I knew from my town here in Greenfield, Indiana, who I'd gone to, like, a library event with for, like, parental rights stuff, essentially accused me of being an actor playing a prop in this part right afterward. And I was like, wow, you. Man, it really bit you, didn't it? You poor thing. I mean, you saddled broad. I mean, goodness gracious. I. I don't know. I just. Part of this has me. I'm just done. I think that's a lot of the aspect here. There's a bigger part of the country that is truly starting to be done with some of this left and this right. And I think you see those actions echoed with Todd playing.

[Kylie Griswold]

Yeah, Yeah. I. I just wanted to say on the Erica Kirk thing, because I've been like, mulling this over but didn't quite have the words for it yet. I think this is another one of the reasons why the, like, the fake pseudo. We're all going to be in the same room together and play nice for one evening, even though you literally hate me and my country and would write a headline about me that painted me in the worst possible light if I were assassinated. This, like, fake thing is. It's. It's also fake and gay, you know, whereas, like, whereas you have the widow of Charlie Kirk at this event. This is a man who actually did cross the aisle to talk to people that he disagreed with, that hated his views, but he's willing to sit down and hear them out and try to persuade them. And then you have this like stupid larping journalism play theater where everybody comes together again for like, nerd promotion. And we're all going to sit in the same room and pretend that we get along and pretend, you know, pretend that this is just a beautiful event and we put on our best attire or whatever. And it's like there are people who actually did try to cross the aisle and who actually did try to change people's minds and who actually did the hard work of like, making good arguments and using facts. And that guy was murdered. And now we're watching his wife be harassed for having a natural response to that. And at the same time, it's like we're. We're manufacturing this fancy dinner that's like purporting to be this, but it's just a fake and gay version of it that's like, not real. You know what I mean? Not to like, bring it right back to the very first thing we talked about.

[Tony Kennett]

No, no, no.

[Kylie Griswold]

That's why it bothers me so much because it's just like there are actually people who did this and they were assassinated. And you, you know, Jake Tapper can sit there and you know, the guy who helped manufacture the Russia hoax or who I Biden's decline and then pretended it was a big cover up by other people. Like, what are we doing? It's so fake.

[Tony Kennett]

I mean, exactly. I mean, so first of all, that's precisely one of the points that I'd made over on Twitter X the next day was that, or perhaps maybe a day later is that Tapper went on and started talking about how it was bad for Trump to go after Kimmel and comedians and free speech and all this other stuff. And I said, I don't remember that gauche, cocky attitude next to me when we were walking out of the building. I remember. I don't think there were any in that exact initial moment except maybe, you know, a fool from the Lincoln Project up at the front of the room trying not to look at little boys that, you know, was really cocky. Everyone else in the room was like, wow, that gee whiz, this is scary and uncomfortable. And in that particular instance, I remembered thinking, well, yeah, guys, this is serious. It is. This is something that a lot of people do, in fact, face from the day to day. This is what you do, in fact, make a lot of excuses for as far as the, you know, the fake kindness. I wanted to go, I had actually had to be kind of convinced to go by Rob, our president, the Daily Signal, our administration. I wanted to go see some of the ribbing because I wanted to see here in a couple of years.

[Martha (Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador)]

When Kohler, the global design leader in luxurious kitchen and bath products, came to me and said, martha, we need an ambassador for our timeless, elegant, durable cast iron products. I said, I'm in. Now let me see the factory. Weeks later, I was suited up in coveralls and work boots, walking through their Kohler Wisconsin cast iron foundry. I stood next to the molten iron furnace, saw the hand applying enamel, and touched the gorgeous finished products waiting to be sent out into the world. Since 1883, Kohler cast iron products have been forged and finished by the incredible craftspeople right in Kohler, Wisconsin. I'll tell you, I gained a newfound respect and appreciation for Kohler's cast iron craftsmanship. So now I'm lending my discerning staff of approval to my most beloved Kohler cast iron product for their durability, beauty and timelessness. Shop my Kohler Cast Iron favorites curated on Kohler.com bring the warmth, character and enduring style of these timeless products into your kitchens and bathrooms. As the Kohler cast Iron ambassador, I say, long live cast iron.

[Blue Square Alliance Spokesperson]

Here's a thought that shouldn't be controversial. You can think someone is completely wrong and still not hate them. I know, wild. But somehow we've turned disagreement into a personality and hate into something people are way too comfortable with. And it's not just happening in one place. Hate is rising across communities in different ways. And Jewish communities are getting hit especially hard right now. And hate doesn't just stay in one lane. It spreads. So even if you think this isn't your issue, give it a minute. You don't have to agree with people. You just have to decide you're not okay with hate. That's it. The blue square is a simple way to say that out loud. Go to bluesquare alliance.org get a pin, share it or don't, but at least don't pretend this isn't happening.

[Tony Kennett]

There's. There are some huge changes going on in the media. Huge changes. And I think I talked about this with cnn trying to flirt around with the podcast fear. The New York Post is trying some stuff. Fox News as they're like Fox one group. Things are changing in the media sphere and I wanted to size up. I'll be honest, I wanted a size of competition. I did. I mean, our show's growing really quickly. I wanted to see what does this look like what do we actually get out of this room? Like, I want to see what skills are you really bringing here to cover later? And did I actually get to see any of that? No. I also love seeing the Capitol, you know, go on parade and do their little meeting, you know, Hunger Games, Pan Am style, little fancy ball. Because that always gives me a laugh. So to see, like, again, them all pat themselves on the back. I, I knew I, we wouldn't get out of the meeting, the evening without one. Can I use the term self masturbatory on your show?

[Kylie Griswold]

I think you just did.

[Tony Kennett]

Well, I mean, I know you probably could cut that out. I, I, but I, and I even said that when I called.

[Kylie Griswold]

I think it's the best way to refer to what's going on here. So.

[Tony Kennett]

Yeah, I don't mean that. Yeah. I don't mean that in an inherently sexual man, but I mean, it's this. This.

[Kylie Griswold]

Yeah.

[Tony Kennett]

Oh, my goodness. We're so wonderful and amazing and it, it really made me sick again. I am your little indie fundy Baptist. And for me to just swear like a dad who the air conditioner just stopped working that he's working on like Fetterman, you know what I mean? Like the H Vac guy telling you there's a dead cat in the ac. I mean that, like that kind of a thing. I was so sick to my stomach that we had to stop and congratulate ourselves or was told, congratulate myself. And it was that I don't care for the pageantry of it. And it was good to see up close and in person. This is one of the reasons why this industry is passing away. You've brought this on yourselves.

[Kylie Griswold]

Yep.

[Tony Kennett]

And it's good to see that you're not trying anything new and different.

[Kylie Griswold]

Yeah.

[Tony Kennett]

And I don't know that kind of a thing. So I don't really necessarily have, you know, I think the critique is very good there about the whca. The fact that there's a union like this is ridiculous. Very, very. It was a very bizarre, very unique kind of event to witness in person, though. For sure.

[Kylie Griswold]

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. The death of the media is, is a remarkable thing to watch. So that's a point well taken. I want to let you go here quickly because I know you've got your own show to prep for, but before we go, I do just want to talk about all of the just nonsensical calls now for gun control from various groups and various Democrats who, of course, just right on cue, come out and call for these things. This guy was from California. He bought his guns in California, which is like the only state in the union that gets like an A grade from the gun control groups for having the strictest gun laws. Like, and it was a pretending to not understand things that are easy to understand, but like, yeah, just retardation levels to the max.

[Tony Kennett]

And he brought like a shotgun. And I thought I saw with bird shot, like, the man wasn't even bringing slugs. He brought like bird shot shotgun and then a.38. The man brought a.38 as his sidearm. So I mean, also I do want to point out the man armed himself like he was going to a modern warfare Call of Duty game. You got your primary and you got your sidearm. All right, everybody.

[Kylie Griswold]

All right.

[Tony Kennett]

And like when I saw this, again, it was because again, going out and immediately just mocking this, this, this fool for going out and try, you know, hard. I'm trying not to, not to say it. Just like this guy going out and doing all this nonsense and then he didn't even do it right. And then. Yeah, he fell down. I mean, just come on, like what. And what this is?

[Kylie Griswold]

Right, Right.

[Tony Kennett]

So that obviously brings. If there was someone halfway competent. My God.

[Kylie Griswold]

Well, I don't know if you saw in his manifesto, he said why he. He used birdshot and it was to save lives, Tony. So that's really.

[Tony Kennett]

Holy four letter word. The, the spread to save lives. So I mean.

[Kylie Griswold]

Yep. I. Did you. Do you remember saying that? I'm trying to find out.

[Tony Kennett]

That was engineer boy, right?

[Kylie Griswold]

Yeah, Yep.

[Tony Kennett]

And he was like, I'm gonna, and I'm gonna work my way down. So I mean, this guy. I mean, I, I, Yeah, he. No, I don't. I, I usually have a shotgun kind of behind the, the, the tv. I think it's actually over there. All I have here is kind of the sidearm next to my desk. I can't imagine the idea of like, shoot, pump, shoot, pump, shoot, pump, if it was even a pump action shotgun. A lot of them are break action shotguns. So like, whatever. Was just going to stand there while you racked the next round.

[Kylie Griswold]

Like, this is his. This is a direct quote from his manifesto. In order to minimize casualties, I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs. Parentheses, less penetration through walls.

[Tony Kennett]

Okay, so he wasn't using birdshot, he was using bucks.

[Kylie Griswold]

Buckshot. I missed.

[Tony Kennett]

Do we know, do we know what kind of. Or like what gauge of buckshot he was using? Like how many. How many pellets or whatever. Either way. So he's yes, that would kill someone, but also that's going to kill a lot of people on the way there, including some of the farthest to the left individuals, which again, he tried to say, well, oh, well, you know, if they're going to support the speech or whatever. Which, no, it's, it's all, it's all so stupid. And Kurt Schlichter is a, you know, phenomenal author, former, you know, infantry colonel. He and I have talked about this quite a bit that he doesn't write a lot of the books that he writes about, like the Second American Civil War to be a, like a guide, like a prediction, you know, like Nostradamus. And it is scary how many of those things are being attempted, like the, the play out to what would lead to things are being attempted and getting closer. And that's if you don't actually have again, the arrests and then as you said, the very swift trial and the very swift punishment. And if we're doing this thing where. All right, Tyler Robinson's trial scheduled for October 1st of 2036. How about. No. How about. You got two weeks and then it's the rope, right?

[Kylie Griswold]

Yep, yep. End of story. Couldn't have said it better. Tony, I don't have anything else for you. I want to let you get to your show prep, but I'm so glad to have your insights today and just get to chat with you. It's fun to have you back.

[Tony Kennett]

I know. I'm. I'm so sorry this was such a. Such like a combative, like, like high energy and very, very cynical show. Normally with you, I'm in like such a better mood, but you're right, these questions, they do piss me off.

[Kylie Griswold]

Yeah.

[Tony Kennett]

I'm sorry. Kylie, I really appreciate you and the stuff that you do and having known you since college, we're so proud of you at the Federalist and what you're doing. I mean, I could not have asked Molly and Sean to pick a better editor than they've got on the team. We just were thrilled that your work is as awesome as it is.

[Kylie Griswold]

Back at you. Back at you. Great to have you, Tony. We'll have you back again soon. Thanks so much for your time.

[Tony Kennett]

Absolutely.

[Kylie Griswold]

Thank you so much for tuning in to this week's episode of the Kylie Cast. If you haven't done so already, please like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We have a channel specifically for the Kylie cast on Spotify and Apple podcasts. So if you are only subscribed to the Federalist Radio Hour or you're wrong with Molly Hemingway and David Harsanyi, two of our other great Federalist podcasts. Cast Be sure that you are subscribed to the Kylie cast as well so you never miss an episode and then leave us a five star review. It is one of the easiest and best ways you can help out the show. What is stopping you? As always, I will be back next week with more, so until then, just remember the truth hurts, but it won't kill you.

[Tony Kennett]

Lots of places can expose you to identity theft. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats to your identity, which is way more than anyone can do on their own. If we find anything suspicious like new loans or changes to your financial accounts, we alert you right away, all through text, phone, email or the LifeLock app. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com iheart Terms apply when Kohler,

[Martha (Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador)]

global design leader in luxurious kitchen and bath products, asked me to be their ambassador for timeless, elegant, durable cast iron, I said, I'm in. Soon after, I was in their Kohler Wisconsin foundry watching molten iron, poured, enamel applied by hand and the beautiful finished pieces ready to ship. Since 1883, Kohler cast iron has been crafted by incredible artisans and seeing it firsthand gave me a whole new appreciation for their craftsmanship. Now I am proud to lend my stamp of approval to my favorite Kohler Cast Iron products for their durability, beauty and enduring style. Shop my curated [e-mail] as the Kohler cast Iron Ambassador, I say, long live Cast Iron.

[Tony Kennett]

The day may be wrapping up, but your hunger is just getting started. It's time to make moves. Cool off with a refreshing large Big gulp drink at 7:11. Cold, refreshing and made the way you like it. It's available at 711 and just 59 cents with 7 rewards. Download the app and swing by the local 711 near you. Valid through 62326 while supplies last participating stores see after full terms.