19: The Pete Buttigieg Apology Tour Starts Right Now (w/ Manny Fidel)

Summary

FYPod Episode 19: "The Pete Buttigieg Apology Tour Starts Right Now (w/ Manny Fidel)"

Release Date: April 26, 2025
Hosts: Cameron Caskey & Tim Miller
Guest: Manny Fidel
Podcast: FYPod by The Bulwark

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1. Introduction and Setting the Stage

In this episode of FYPod, hosts Cameron Caskey and Tim Miller welcome Manny Fidel, a media professional with a decade-long experience in political commentary and content creation. The primary focus revolves around former Mayor and 2024 presidential contender Pete Buttigieg, examining his recent forays into right-wing media platforms and the hosts' evolving perceptions of him.

---

2. Guest Introduction and Background

[01:55] Tim Miller:
"His name is Manny Fidel. What's going on, Manny?"

[02:05] Manny Fidel:
"Not much. Doing pretty good. Thank you for having me on the show. I feel honored to be invited on the show about young people, considering I'm well into my 30s."

Manny Fidel shares his extensive background in media, starting at Business Insider as a video producer and transitioning into opinion pieces and TikTok content creation. His experience at MSNBC's TikTok channel provides him with unique insights into digital media's role in shaping political narratives.

---

3. Pete Buttigieg’s Communication Strategies

The discussion shifts to Pete Buttigieg's appearances on traditionally right-wing platforms, specifically Andrew Schultz's podcast. Manny praises Pete's ability to communicate effectively across ideological divides.

[25:43] Cameron Caskey:
"I think one of the things Pete does very effectively is he isn't trying very hard to have a personality that he doesn't have."

[30:03] Manny Fidel:
"Pete is like the best communicator for the Democrats in terms of getting a message to constituents."

Manny highlights how Pete's authentic and steady communication style allows him to connect with diverse audiences, a trait that sets him apart from other Democratic figures who may struggle to engage similarly on unconventional platforms.

---

4. Challenges for Democrats in Engaging Gen Z

Hosts delve into the broader implications of Pete's media strategies for the Democratic Party's efforts to win over Gen Z voters.

[25:06] Manny Fidel:
"I don't see, you know, Kamala Harris or Cory Booker being able to sit there for three hours in here, like the dumbest shit possible, but still be able to, like, be personable and engage the hosts of the show."

The conversation underscores the difficulty other Democratic politicians may face in replicating Pete's success in these arenas, emphasizing his unique ability to balance authenticity with effective messaging.

---

5. Hosts’ Evolving Perspectives and Apologies

As the episode progresses, both hosts reflect on their previous criticisms of Pete Buttigieg and extend apologies for their past remarks.

[36:35] Manny Fidel:
"I was wrong in 2020 when I called Pete Buttigieg a little rat or whatever... I wasn't able to see past my anti-establishment glasses and understand just how valuable he is in terms of communication right now."

[37:34] Cameron Caskey:
"Pete Buttigieg, I'm sorry I made a little bit of fun of you. I called you a dork and a dweeb and a nerd and a square... you are one of the most valuable people in the party right now."

These heartfelt apologies signify a shift in the hosts' perceptions, recognizing Pete's contributions and communication prowess.

---

6. Discussion on RFK Jr.’s Autism Registry and Public Health Policies

The conversation takes a turn towards public health concerns, specifically addressing RFK Jr.'s controversial proposal for an autism registry.

[43:22] Manny Fidel:
"This feels so unfair... I feel like this is really like an X Men villain. Like a badly written X Men villain."

[44:59] Tim Miller:
"RFK Jr. is a ridiculous human... We're ending fucking cancer studies that have been going on for 14 years right in the middle."

The hosts express strong disapproval of the proposed registry, highlighting the ethical and scientific flaws in RFK Jr.'s approach to public health and autism research.

---

7. Gen Z News Segment

In the final segment, the hosts present a Gen Z News update, focusing on a survey by Edelman that reveals alarming trends among young adults.

[47:55] Sebastian:
"According to a new survey from communications firm Edelman, 45% of adults age 18 to 34 admitted to disregarding their health providers guidance in favor of information from a friend or family member. In the past year, 38% of young adults said they've ignored their provider in favor of advice from social media, a 12-point increase from the year before."

[48:24] Tim Miller:
"Do not be manipulated by these influencers, you idiots."

The segment emphasizes the increasing influence of social media over professional medical advice among Gen Z, raising concerns about public health and the reliability of information sources.

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8. Conclusion and Final Remarks

The episode wraps up with the hosts reiterating their concerns about Gen Z's engagement with information sources and thanking Manny Fidel for his insights.

[50:24] Cameron Caskey:
"And with that, we say slay. Manny, thank you so much for joining us this week."

[50:40] Manny Fidel:
"Thank you so much, guys. This is a blast."

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Tim Miller on Pete's Communication:
  "[25:43] I think he's better than some of the other options."

• Cameron Caskey on Pete's Authenticity:
  "[25:06] What makes Pete effective is that he isn't trying very hard to have a personality that he doesn't have."

• Manny Fidel's Apology:
  "[36:31] I was wrong in 2020 when I called Pete Buttigieg a little rat or whatever."

• Tim Miller on Public Health Policies:
  "[44:59] RFK Jr. is a ridiculous human... We're ending fucking cancer studies."

• Sebastian on Gen Z Health Behaviors:
  "[47:55] 45% of adults age 18 to 34 admitted to disregarding their health providers guidance in favor of information from a friend or family member."

---

Key Takeaways

• Pete Buttigieg's Media Strategy:
  Pete's ability to communicate effectively on right-wing platforms like Andrew Schultz's podcast showcases his unique skills in bridging political divides, positioning him as a valuable asset for the Democratic Party in reaching Gen Z voters.

• Hosts' Shift in Perspective:
  Both Cameron and Tim acknowledge their previous criticisms of Pete, now recognizing and apologizing for underestimating his communicative abilities.

• Challenges in Democrat Messaging:
  While Pete excels in these unconventional media spaces, other Democratic figures may struggle to replicate his success, posing a challenge for the party's outreach efforts.

• Public Health Concerns:
  The episode raises alarms over RFK Jr.'s proposed autism registry and the broader implications of defunding essential medical research, highlighting the intersection of politics and public health.

• Gen Z's Information Consumption:
  A significant portion of Gen Z disregards medical advice in favor of social media and personal networks, signaling a shift in trust and the need for better information dissemination strategies.

---

Tune in weekly to FYPod for more in-depth analyses and discussions on the evolving political landscape and America's youngest voters.

Transcript

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[Cameron Caskey]

Hey, everybody, we've got a very exciting episode this week where we're going to talk to Manny Fidel and we're going to talk about Pete Buttigieg and how awesome he's been lately. And I've got a little bit of an apology for him. Please comment down below how you feel about a potential 2028 run for mayor. Pete.

[Tim Miller]

Hey, guys, I'm Tim Miller. I'm Cameron Caskey and this is Fypod. We got a good guest coming here today. You know, he might have a book coming out. We're not sure. We're gonna have to talk to him about that. I've been working on it and he's working on a bunch of stuff. His name is Manny Fidel. What's going on, Manny?

[Manny Fidel]

Not much. Doing pretty good. Thank you for having me on the show. I feel honored to be invited on the show about young people, considering I'm well into my 30s. So that.

[Tim Miller]

That was. Oh, but don't be aging. Don't be aging yourself. Your skin care looks great.

[Cameron Caskey]

So good.

[Manny Fidel]

Thank you so much. Yeah, it's been. It's been a problem in the New York City bar scene getting carded and asked if I'm over 21, but I'm.

[Tim Miller]

Begging to get carded. I just would love to be carded. What a gift that would be. Well, man, we. We'll start with a little speed dating. All right, tell us about you. What's your. What's your story?

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah, kind of been in the media kind of grind for 10 years now. Started at Business Insider as a video producer. Started off just really remedial kind of subtitling Trump speeches. That kind of stuff evolved into doing explainer video and then opinion video. A lot of fun doing these opinion videos about Fox News and getting yelled at by the Fox News PR people. Remember those times fondly. Then I left video briefly to do op eds. So bi had this opinion team that I was doing some commentary on. Then I went to msnbc. It was kind of like the. One of the, like, personalities of their TikTok channel, which was really interesting.

[Cameron Caskey]

Did people that you worked with call it ms? Because every time Tim is going on msnbc, he's just such besties with the MSNBC folks that he calls it multiple sclerosis.

[Manny Fidel]

Everyone says Ms. There. I never got into it. It just doesn't feel right to me. I don't know why, but I. But yeah.

[Tim Miller]

Do you have a personal experience with multiple sclerosis?

[Manny Fidel]

No, but that one. That is one of the things I thought of when I. When everyone kept calling it.

[Tim Miller]

How was the tick tock feed? Were you like, you know, what was kind of your. What was. Did you do dances? Or was it the green screen videos?

[Manny Fidel]

Or what was the vibe we briefly flirted with, like trying to appear more tick tocky and unfortunately for me, like those. The videos that started performing well. But we decided at some point we should. We should feel journalistic and responsible. And so we went back to boring videos of me complaining about maybe we.

[Tim Miller]

Need to hire you because I. We have no shame in the game over here about. About making it journalistic seeming. Well, I'll do whatever.

[Cameron Caskey]

What exactly makes a video Tik toky? You'd think I would know, but you know where you were doing the dances.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah, strategically, we, you know, I started trying to do commentary through these, like, TikTok trends. So there was a trend where one of the songs goes through every state in the. In the country. It's some song people learned when they were kids.

[Tim Miller]

Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana. I always get stuck at Indiana.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah, I.

[Tim Miller]

What's next?

[Manny Fidel]

Never got good at that song. But then, yeah, I would do like, for example, that trend. I would like, point at states. Which state does this and this. That kind of stuff.

[Tim Miller]

Are you taking notes, Sebastian? Okay. This is the kind of thing we should be doing.

[Cameron Caskey]

This feels like the type of stuff that, like we said we were going to Talk about on FYpod. It feels like the promise we made to everybody. I'm so interested.

[Manny Fidel]

Oh, I'm happy to keep talking about Tik Tok strategy. It was, it was an interesting job. I, I didn't. Wasn't really a Tik Tok user prior to that, but I, you know, sold myself as being a fast learner and yeah, I haven't really used it much since that job. I'll be honest. I feel like very old school media kind of.

[Tim Miller]

And I'm trying to break like hard copy newspaper. So you go to the coffee store.

[Manny Fidel]

Not that old school but you know, blog sites, that kind of stuff.

[Cameron Caskey]

Yeah, I, I used. So I have Tick tock again now. Follow. Follow. Either Cameron or Cam Caskey, I don't remember but I post my news clips like me me talking on any CNN type thing. I had made one TikTok before and I didn't make it because I wanted to become a TikToker. I made a video that was me theorizing about the new Superman movie and it was because TikTok was the only platform I knew how to use where I could move the different images into it and say this is what this character is going to be. And it got like 1900 views. Not to be that guy. So Manny, you and I met online. We're Oomphs and Moots, as some people would call it.

[Manny Fidel]

I only just recently learned what an oomph was, but we were oomps for a long time.

[Cameron Caskey]

For those of you who don't know, Oomph is one of my followers. It was almost the name of this show.

[Tim Miller]

I always thought it was one of my. I can't say the word because I get demonetized. Not because we're woke. Not because we're woke. We can say the word if we want to. I say it in the green room because I'm gay and I can say it, but Sebastian doesn't let me say it. I always thought it was that. And is that not true?

[Manny Fidel]

No, it is not. It's one of my.

[Tim Miller]

It was not one of my.

[Cameron Caskey]

Maybe just gay people using it. And you saw mostly gay people using it. You figured that that was it.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, I did train a fight. Yeah. Okay.

[Cameron Caskey]

Yeah. So Oomphs was almost the name of the show. Now it's FY Pod where we have this issue where when I go on different shows to talk about it, MSNBC and CNN call it the for you pod because FYP is for you page. But the thing is if anybody's watching and wants to find the show they type in for you in podcast. They just don't find it.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah.

[Tim Miller]

That we have some branding issues. Can you help us with that, Manny? Seems like you're kind of a brand.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah. I'll send you my daily rate. We can get right to the bottom of it.

[Cameron Caskey]

But we met in progressive circles with the online lefties and I'm. I guess my next question for you is where do you balance your own commentary journalism type stuff and the very, very left wing people who we hang out with?

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah, I've always tried to in my commentary be like the kind like the lefty your voice at a given a publication or outlet. It was funny going to MSNBC and in like being among like TV hosts who. Who do pretty much agree with 90% of what I say. And so. But yeah, I think like you and I, we, we. We kind of like were meld molded in the like too online too far. Not too far left, but like really lefty Twitter.

[Cameron Caskey]

Sometimes too far though. Sometimes I said, I said some things that maybe were a little bit left of my actual beliefs because I was getting twittered into it.

[Manny Fidel]

Y. I think that happens to everyone. And it's definitely something I've noticed in the past couple of years. Getting older and realizing, you know, what kind of policies are more practical and how exactly to support certain candidates. Yeah. But for the most part, like my political ideology you can find on like the Democratic socialist about page. Like that's pretty much this. Pretty much most of the stuff I believe in.

[Tim Miller]

I think we're over here Bulwark pilling Cam. He's. He's in favor of cutting red tape now. I don't know if you knew that Cam is now in favor of cutting government red tape and also American. American having American power and might in Europe. You know, Cam's also in favor of that. But I think it's a good thing.

[Manny Fidel]

For Cam, honestly, going like just surrounding yourself with people with people who have different views from you. I know it's like cliche point by now, but I'm really noticing that being helpful for me in Trump 2.0.

[Cameron Caskey]

Yeah. I mean when I was 21 years old, I was on the brink of anarcho communism. But now I am co workers with Bill Kristol and I, you know, I'll be, I'll be talking to a, you know, handsome young man or gorgeous young lass at a party, another Gen Z, you know, some other 20 something. And I'll be like, hey, so I don't want to be that guy. But I work with Bill Kristol.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah.

[Cameron Caskey]

They're like, woe is me. You know, Bill Kristol. And I'm like, no. Tim actually very deliberately keeps me away from him. I protect him because I'll embarrass him.

[Tim Miller]

I am. I have a few questions. We're going to get to the news eventually. For people who care about the news, they can, they can fast forward. But I've pulled up the DSA's platform and I don't know if you accurately identified your views, but we're going to test you. Let's see. Do you support complete abolition of the carceral state?

[Manny Fidel]

The carceral state. I mean, you could define that in so many ways, but no abolition.

[Tim Miller]

Some people need to be in prison, right?

[Manny Fidel]

I think one of the biggest problems with the left is a messaging problem. I think like, you know, sometimes when people on the left say prison abolition, they mean breaking down kind of the, the more carceral. More police state apparatus. Apparatus size. Is that a word that we have.

[Tim Miller]

Free all people from involuntary confinement. I mean, I'm a fucking. I'm a left. I mean, I'm a lefty. Okay. I'm very unhappy about the coach.

[Manny Fidel]

Which DSA page is that, by the way? DSA USA.org all right, maybe I have to go back.

[Tim Miller]

I'm just saying I'm just reassess my.

[Manny Fidel]

Views, but I just mean like big kind of basics stuff. Universal health care, student loans, that kind of stuff.

[Tim Miller]

Okay.

[Cameron Caskey]

I think we should abolish the private prisons. I read about it a little bit and it seems like the prisons being private is not a great idea.

[Tim Miller]

I'm not a big fan of private prisons myself. Okay, well, we'll continue going down the DSA page maybe at another date and kind of do toots and boots on what they've got. There are a couple things that I could get on board with over here. I want to hear about your book because. Well, tell us about your book and then, then I have a couple of things I want to pick your brain on for sure.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah. The book is called Colored People Time. I'm not sure if you guys have heard of that phrase before, but it's.

[Tim Miller]

Similar to New Orleans time.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah, exactly. It's just a reference to, you know, certain people who might look like me being late to certain things. But the title is Tongue in Cheek. The. It's a book of essays that are hopefully humorous and it's about my life, kind of memoir esque. It's about politics and pop culture. It's just 10 different essays about different things, but.

[Tim Miller]

And what's the delay on that? I noticed you announced it 104 weeks ago.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah, yeah, there's been a lot of delays. One of them is me turning it in a year after I was supposed to. Another delay is, you know, without naming any names. There are some pretty big celebrities on. On Penguin Random House is one world imprint. That might have delayed the release of my title, but.

[Tim Miller]

So I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but it sounds like your submissions of the writing was on colored people time.

[Manny Fidel]

It absolutely was.

[Cameron Caskey]

And it's something I was about to say. Penguin Random House time. That was gonna be my way of getting around it.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah. It's something I absolutely tried to avoid, but it's just kind of in my DNA, I think.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah. So here's the question. This is unintentional name drop. I was halfway out my mouth, and I realized this was gonna be a brag. I didn't mean it. But I was having dinner with Vice President Kamala Harris when she was vice president before she lost. It's kind of just one of these, like, little dinners she has with people, influencers, et cetera. And we're going around the table, and one of the guys at the table, I guess I probably shouldn't out of. But it was black guy. And he said to her that he did not. Like, he was sick of the Democrats using people of color, and he was sick of them using black bipoc. Because he was like, black men, like, are not getting recognized. Right. Like, when you do that, it's a way of kind of, like, lumping in everybody when we've got unique problems. And so when I just. I saw the name of your book, I was just curious what your take was on that.

[Manny Fidel]

I've heard. I've heard that complaint. I've heard that complaint also about the word Latinx. But if I'm honest, in my experience, that was one of the situations where people complained about it more than it was being used. Like, I don't think I've ever heard someone earnestly use the word Latinx. I think sometimes on, like, university websites or whatever, it's there or was there. But I thought that the reaction to those kind of words was kind of.

[Tim Miller]

People do use people of color, though. And I have to tell you, I had a. One of my friends, one of the. One of the couples, one of the members of the couple might be listening. So this. This might be embarrassing for them, but it's An Asian man and a white lady. They had a child. And she was referencing I adopted a black girl. So she was referencing how our children are bipocs.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah. And I was like indigenous people.

[Tim Miller]

I was like, actually, no, actually, no, actually your, your child does. And she's doing her best. She's trying to be woke. And I was like, your child doesn't quite cover a half Asian is not actually covered under the bipoc rubric. I don't.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah, yeah, they don't quite count. No, I'm just kidding. No, I think like one of my.

[Cameron Caskey]

Black indigenous people of color. Or is it black indigenous and people of color?

[Manny Fidel]

No, I don't even know. This is one of my like oldest takes. It's like, you know, I think especially in the scenario you just brought up Tim, like they're just kids. Why, why are all like, they're just kids. We don't need to label them 40 different ways to Sunday.

[Cameron Caskey]

But yeah, I've, I've struggled. I, I have a very read the room situation with Latinx versus Latino or Latina because I do work in political spaces and Hollywood and theater type spaces where the people I'm with might be more of a Latinx or what I, what I think is widely being used now is Latine thing. But then I'll be around other Latinx people who hear Latinx and go, shut the fuck up. Yeah, like shut up, you fucking white jerk.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, it's kind of like how I feel when a straight couple talks about their, their boyfriend or girlfriend or wife or husband as a partner. And I was like, no, y'all forced us to do this because we were ghettoized as a second class citizens for a long. That's why gays called their husband partner because they weren't allowed to have husbands. It's not allyship to do that. You just call it wife or husband. It's fine.

[Cameron Caskey]

Only straight people who should be allowed to say partner are cowboys.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Tim Miller]

I agree. Or business. Or I guess your business partner.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah.

[Tim Miller]

True news, you have a, you have a business managing partner.

[Manny Fidel]

Your partner at like tennis. You know, there's several other ways you should be allowed to use it.

[Tim Miller]

What about gang bang? How are we feeling about the use of the term gang banger these days?

[Manny Fidel]

Has there, has there been like a trumpet?

[Tim Miller]

I've been noticing the Trump administration has been calling all the people we sent to the prison gang bangers. And I was like, yeah, I'm not sure if that means what you. I don't know if you're Getting there, what you're going for.

[Manny Fidel]

That was like, 90s kind of rhetoric about gangs, I think, right? Gang bangers. I remember that. Certainly it does have a different. Different kind of connotation in the online world, but it's one of those things my brain can compartmentalize when. Depending on who's saying it, I know what they mean.

[Tim Miller]

I guess we should talk about the news, but do you have anything else you want to share about yourself? Any other.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah, sure. I recently launched a podcast joining one of billions of people.

[Tim Miller]

Good luck out there.

[Manny Fidel]

December. It's called no Such Thing. It's like an explainer show. It's doing pretty well for how soon we launched it, but check it out on.

[Tim Miller]

Sorry, we're gonna have to crush you in the ratings, but it's nice.

[Cameron Caskey]

How do you feel, Manny, about telling people you have a podcast? Because I.

[Manny Fidel]

It's pretty humiliating. Yeah.

[Cameron Caskey]

When I'm at, like, a social gathering or a party or something, it used to be the thing that bothered me was people saying, oh, this is Cameron. He's from, you know, Parkland, where there was the school shooting in March for our lives. And I'd be like, I'm just trying to have a good night, like, off.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah.

[Cameron Caskey]

But now it's, hey, it's Cameron. He has this podcast, and I'm like, okay, but it's my Tim Miller. Tim Miller's got a lot of ethos. People really like him.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah.

[Cameron Caskey]

Bill Crystal is also at our network.

[Tim Miller]

School shooting Survivor was preferable to podcaster.

[Cameron Caskey]

I was so much more comfortable because I'm from Parkland. Like, it's where I'm from, the podcast thing. I just. Because you can't be like, but don't worry, we do pretty well. So I just have to be like, yeah, I've got a podcast with a Never Trump Republican.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah.

[Cameron Caskey]

It happens to be really good.

[Manny Fidel]

I think one of the. One of the few scenarios where it's okay to say that you have a podcast is if you are someone like Tim Miller who's, like, been in the game for a long time. I remember watching Tim Miller on, like, every other Bill Maher episode. When you've got, like, a name attached to the podcast, it's great.

[Tim Miller]

This is. Speaking of humiliating, this is the kind of thing that's happening to me now where I'll, like, go to speak at a college, and people and kids will be like, I've been watching you since I was a child.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah.

[Tim Miller]

And I'm like, five years ago. Yeah. I'm like, that's not really makes me sad.

[Cameron Caskey]

How did you feel about Tim? Now, I have to ask. I didn't know you used to be a regular on Bill Maher. Because, Manny, I don't know if you know this about our show, but I've never really looked Tim up. But, you know, Larry David released an essay called My Dinner With Adolf to mock Bill Maher for his Trump fangirl moment. And Bill Maher, who's constantly talking about how comedy is dead and people are trying to get in the way of real comedy, saw Larry's comedic essay and threw a whole fit about it. How do you feel about that, Tim?

[Tim Miller]

Me? Or me? I guess I thought it was pretty pathetic. Here's the thing, as people know who listen to this, I hung out with Bannon a couple of times. I will hang out with him. I don't then come out of the meeting, though, and say, you know, that Bannon, he's a little bit nicer than you realize. You know, when you get him off the camera, he's not quite as crazy. Like, I don't try to solve it. Like, Bannon fucking sucks. Like, he is a awful person that is trying to ruin the country. That's also a good hang, but that doesn't make him any. Any more of a good person, right? And so, like, there's this conflation. Like, that was the thing that bugged me about the Vilmar thing. It's like this conflate, like, oh, Trump was a little bit of a good hang that night, and he didn't seem as crazy. It's like, well, yeah, man, what did you expect? Like, fucking crazy. Like, have you ever. You think if you go meet every murderer that, like, every one of them, like, takes out a fucking chainsaw as soon as you see him? Is like, I've got fucking killer eyes, Bill. It's like, no, man, Humans are fucking complicated. Like, human, bad humans. Humans that do really bad things also can, like, make a funny joke at dinner. It's like, that was the thing that bugged me about Bill, that he was just so fucking gullible that he got, you know, that it was. It was credulous. That was the thing that bugged me about it.

[Manny Fidel]

I was conflicted about it because I can. I. I can easily see the decision from a. From the lens of, like, yeah, this is going to be content for the show I'm doing on Friday. On the other hand, yeah, he's, like, such a bit like a powerful voice in liberal circles. He. He's smart enough to know, I think, hopefully that Trump is, was kind of using him in that scenario, image wise.

[Tim Miller]

But I don't think he is smart enough to know that. Maybe not totally used. Yeah, I want to be like Bill Maher. Have you ever watched the Sopranos? Like, Tony was also a good hang, but he was a murderer. That was the point of the show.

[Cameron Caskey]

You know, I think this is a good segue into one of our topics in the news today, which is Pete Buttigieg on Andrew Schultz's podcast. Kind of really reaming the right a little bit, just through swagger and charisma. And it brings to mind, you know, Andrew Schultz is a podcaster. I don't know that much about him, except he does not have a face that is appropriate for a mustache and he looks like a fucking idiot. But he had recently come out and said like, oh, yeah, I used to be a liberal back when liberals were cool and they were getting their dicks sucked in the White House. But now, you know, the, the, the liberals aren't cool anymore, you know, so I'm a conservative now because that's what's cool. And you're like, people in right wing circles seem to still think that MAGA is the counterculture, but it's the culture now. And that doesn't mean that like, you know, Nancy Pelosi is what's hip. But, you know, Pete Buttigieg went on to Andrew Schultz's podcast and really showed just how thin the right wing ideology is right now by basically explaining something. And Andrew Schultz was like, oh, yeah, man, that was great.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah. If you press those guys like even a little bit on some topic that they think they know about, they completely fold. And I, I noticed that actually throughout the duration of.

[Tim Miller]

Did you watch the whole three hours, Manny?

[Manny Fidel]

Almost. I've got about 12 minutes left.

[Tim Miller]

Okay. I was excited to watch it and then it was, then it was three hours and I'm doing like 90 podcasts a week and I've got to do Nicole Wallace and I went to the goose show and you know, I've got a parent and so I just, I couldn't fit the three hours into my schedule. So why don't you give us a little of a readout?

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah, I'll give you a quick summary. Basically he goes on. You know, I was surprised by the amount of times he actually had to stop or, or pause or drop like an interesting point because the hosts needed to like crack their like 3 minute long belabored jokes. So that kind of actually made for a bad watching experience. But yeah, I think Pete Buttigieg. This is something I've been thinking about ever since, you know, in contrast with, you know, my 2020 lefty online days, is that he's, like, a really good communicator. And that's something I'm realizing now. He's really good at, you know, hearing someone's complaint about something, addressing the, like, emotional layer to the complaint first, and then telling the person why they might be wrong, or just contextualizing the issue a little bit better. And that's what's happened. That happened probably 30 times during the duration of the show. And it made me think about, like, politicians is foray into these kind of, like, manosphere podcasts. One example was, you know, these four bros talking about how good DOGE is and how, like, effective the Department of Government Efficiency is. And I noticed something they kept bringing up, which was like, hey, I don't want to sound like I'm defending the Trump administration, and I believe them. But the reason it does sound like they're defending the Trump administration is because that. That's where all their information comes from. And I don't think enough Democrats are going on those kinds of shows. And I'm always conflicted as. As like a. A consumer of media, because I think the shows are dumb. But at the same time, you should. You should go on to them. If you're an elected official or someone who's trying to convince constituents about X, Y, and Z.

[Tim Miller]

Here's my question. Somebody's watched the three hours was Because, I mean, I've seen a couple of clips, and obviously Pete was great. Pete's great in these settings. And he has a really good clip where he's like, if people haven't seen it, we'll put it in the. In the notes where he. He's like, explaining what freedom is to him. And it was, like, it was pretty good. It's a nice pushback to, like, the bro, I should be free to say pussy if I want to. And. Yeah, well, no, freedom's a little more complicated than that. But so that part was good. My question, though, is like, there's one part of me, it's like, yeah, more Democrats should do this. Like, because it's. If you go on to someplace and talk to people for two hours, they realize you don't have fucking horns and aren't like, you know, trafficking babies in a pizza basement. And, like, whatever they see, you're a normal person. On the other hand, I think, are there other Democrats? Like, how many Democrats could do it? Well, like, how hard did it seem like as a consumer, did it seem like something you're like, oh, yeah, man, I could see Cory Booker doing this. Or did you watch it be like, man, no, thank God Pete's doing this, because here's hard.

[Manny Fidel]

Herein lies the issue. So I think more of them should do it, but only Pete, maybe one or two other Democrats, can actually thrive in that environment. And, you know, four years ago, I probably wasn't someone who thought he could, but now I'm learning a lot more about him. Yeah, I don't. I don't see, you know, Kamala Harris or Cory Booker being able to sit there for three hours in here, like the dumbest shit possible, but still be able to, like, be personable and engage the hosts of the show. So that is a real problem. It's like a kind of a conundrum. They should do it more, but no one can do it to that extent.

[Cameron Caskey]

I think the thing that Pete does very effectively. I used to be super anti Pete, and I used to think he was a square and that he wasn't making us look any better. And then a year or so ago, some of my normal people friends, I got this group chat called Infinity Gang. It's like, been my best friends for like seven years.

[Tim Miller]

That's the normal group, the Infinity Gang.

[Cameron Caskey]

That's the normal group, regular guys. We're called Infinity Gang because one of our friends is obsessed with the Infinity sign because his name is Mooch. It's Anthony Scaramucci's adult son and he goes by.

[Tim Miller]

Anthony Scaramucci's adult son is in the normal text chain called Infinity Gang.

[Cameron Caskey]

He's one of my best friends.

[Tim Miller]

Concerned about what the other text chains are, but go ahead. So I'm just trying to get the facts.

[Cameron Caskey]

His name is Anthony Scaramucci Jr. And he also took the nickname from his father. So his father, the Mooch. Mooch is just Mooch without the the. But Infinity Gang is my friends who see some articles about politics and, you know, will tell me what they think, but they aren't political nerds like other people I know. And two of my buddies who were like, mooch not included. I'm not going to indict him with that. Two of my other buddies who are, who kind of have the, like, Trump is funny thing that some people do where they're like, we don't support Trump, but we think he's funny. Which there's truth to that. But also, I think some people get a little too buddy buddy with it, but they also think that Barack Obama is the coolest person of all time. And he plays basketball and smokes cigarettes and shit. So these guys who don't really engage with me about politics unless I directly ask, they sent a clip of Mayor Pete talking about something. I don't even remember what it was.

[Manny Fidel]

I bet it was his appearance on the Jubilee, the 1 versus 20 videos.

[Cameron Caskey]

I don't know. But they sent it to me and they were like, wait, this guy's spitting facts. And I was like, yeah. So my whole opinion on Pete changed. And since then, I've been able to see that, like, he is such a great communicator. And in terms of, you know, the Kamala and Corey maybe not being able to do Joe Rogan, it kind of makes me think. I think one of the reasons Pete is so effective and personable is that he isn't trying very hard to have a personality that he doesn't have. And I think one of the things that makes a lot of Democrats so cringe when they're trying to do that is they try so hard to. I'm a normal person. Look at me. And in doing that, they, like, embarrass themselves. Like, there's no way to look less cool than to try and look cooler than you really are. And Pete is sort of owning this fact that he's kind of like a nerdy square who's just going to tell you the facts. So he, you know, he's not falling because he's not jumping too high. But, Tim, you had said. We were talking about this a long time ago. I think on the first video you and I ever did something that cursed you with me for much longer than it should have been. You had said, I was talking to Mayor Pete, and I said to him, you can't be the guy who goes on Joe Rogan. Has your opinion on that changed?

[Tim Miller]

I mean, I don't know if that's exactly I said, because I do think he should go on Joe Rogan. What I don't know is, can Pete be the person that reaches, like, bros and I. And by that, I don't really mean, like, even like, kind of college, like frat guys. I mean, like, working class. Like the people that the Democrats really struggled with. Like, working class black people, working class Hispanic people. It is like, it kind of. I speak seven languages. Like, kind of nerdy guy, you know, who's gay. Is he, like, going to be able to be a. Is he going to be able to resonate with them? And I don't know the answer to that. And so I Meant it more on, like, I don't know if he could do it in a way that could help him become the president. Right. Because I think that, like, there he has some issues. I hope. I would love to be wrong, and I'm pretty sure I said this because I love Pete. I would love to be wrong, but that's the thing that I worry about. That said, he could go over there in a way that'd be useful, in a way to just like, translate Democrats for people, you know what I mean? In a way that maybe helps pave the way for some other person. I'm not really sure, but I do think that he's better than some of the other options. But I do wonder about whether the gayness and just the nerdiness and the like is. Is. Is overcomeable.

[Manny Fidel]

Well, just as a piece of anecdotal evidence that, you know, this show, it's called flagrant. It's like the broiest thing you can imagine. And in the comment section of Pete Buttigieg's appearance, it's all positive. It's like, wow, I'm learning this X, Y and Z about some issue. People are noting that they are hearing, like, you know, counter facts than what they've heard. Especially with the DOGE thing, I thought that was like, probably the most valuable part of the episode is that people learning that there aren't millions of dead people getting Social Security. And so, yeah, I think you're right, Tim. It's like, right now I see Pete as like, the best communicator for the Democrats in terms of getting a message to constituents. I don't know if that's the same exact strategy he's going to need when. If he's, like, actually running for president in the next election. But I find it to be really valuable for just the. Just that mission of like, tapping into this audience that the MAGA people have been so good at reaching.

[Tim Miller]

I want to say one more thing on this in Pete's defense, which is he has exceeded my expectations at every turn, so maybe I'll be wrong about him on this. I literally, my friend Liz Smith is. It was his, like, whatever media guru. Me and Liz are besties. And she was like, I'm going to go work for this guy when he's running for president. And I told her she was insane, asked her if she was having a mental breakdown, and then she was like, will you go meet with him? And I went to one of these, like, little roundtable things with him, and I walked out and I was like, he Seems fine. Like, he's probably a great mayor, but I don't know. I think you're crazy if you think that he's going to, like, win, and then, you know, he wins the Iowa caucus. Sorry, Bernie, people. So, like, I was just totally wrong from the start about it. So maybe I'm wrong about the. The bro stuff, too. Like, maybe it works.

[Manny Fidel]

Who is, like, the second best. Damn. Right now in terms of, like, being able to go into an arena like that and just.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah.

[Manny Fidel]

Holding them.

[Tim Miller]

I mean, I think AOC would be fine. And she's pretty natural. I think that, like, there will be misogyny and, like, sometimes she does little. She does little social justice warrior talk in a way that, like, might turn off some people. I don't know. But then again, she could exceed my expectations. That would be what I'd be worried about. Those two things. Wes Moore is pretty good. He's a guy. He gets into, like, PowerPoint speak a little bit for me sometimes.

[Manny Fidel]

Like, a little bit tough, I think, to feel like personable. So many politicians are, you know, they're like that. Yeah.

[Tim Miller]

But I like Wes. Those are Cam. On the other pod today, I interviewed Beto, and we just don't deserve better. We don't deserve him. He's so great. He's so dreamy. Like, I just. I'm just there. I'm just like, God, in a better world, you know, he was. He'd be the governor of Texas.

[Cameron Caskey]

He was cursed with the state of Texas. You know what I mean? Put that guy anywhere else.

[Tim Miller]

Totally cursed. So I don't know. But he could do it, obviously.

[Manny Fidel]

I thought about this with. With. Because, you know, someone else who's making this kind of foray into podcasts or the manosphere anyways, Gavin Newsom, and I always liked his kind of appearances on Fox News and stuff. Like, he'll. He'll. He'd. Like. Not because of what he's saying necessarily, but because he's going into a place that vehemently disagrees with everything he believes in and just having that ability to exist there. But, you know, it doesn't feel. He doesn't feel as good at communicating as Pete, in my opinion. He feels like debating versus Pete, who feels like he's having a conversation with you.

[Tim Miller]

What about JB Pritzker? People like a jolly fat guy.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah. Yeah. He's got. I mean, yeah.

[Tim Miller]

Who doesn't love a jolly fat guy? Chris Farley. Everybody loves Chris Farley. Maybe that would work for bros. Could.

[Sebastian]

I say one quick thing on feet with this, please.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah. Sebastian, I.

[Sebastian]

It's not the bro culture that I worry about with Pete. It's that I think the Democrats, we've talked about this, they really want a fighter. And I can't see Pete getting like visibly mad or raising his voice even about anything. And that for me, that's the nail is the.

[Manny Fidel]

Like.

[Tim Miller]

You don't think Pete's ever been punched?

[Sebastian]

I don't think Pete has ever like yelled in his life is the thing. And I think that, that genuine, like, he's passionate, but in a sort of like, I thought this through with my therapist kind of way.

[Tim Miller]

Cameron, have you been punched?

[Cameron Caskey]

Yes. No further comment.

[Tim Miller]

Because that was an obvious one. Manny, you don't seem like you've been punched.

[Manny Fidel]

I have been punched before.

[Tim Miller]

Really?

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah. Also a no further comment situation.

[Tim Miller]

I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to ask you a follow up.

[Manny Fidel]

No, a very old years. Old friend dispute, very drunken 4am situation.

[Tim Miller]

Intra friend.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tim Miller]

Okay. Not who got the better of. Who got the better of it.

[Manny Fidel]

Oh, I didn't raise a hand.

[Tim Miller]

I'm like, you just got smoked.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah, I turned the other. I don't even try.

[Cameron Caskey]

So I, I threw the first punch that was, don't worry, because I was a freshman in high school and the person that I threw the punch at was a freshman in college at Florida State University. And his arms were probably the size of my head and it really hurt and my mouth was bleeding. I didn't deserve it morally or spiritually. But I did throw the first punch. And I think that's what I say in response to you, Sebastian, with the Pete thing is, I agree, people want sort of like a fighter who can come out and be big like that. But the other thing I think is some people that we characterize as fighters, the more swings you take, the more misses. Right. So a lot of the people who I think are quote, unquote, fighters end up tripping up the most when they're doing that fighting. So I think one of the things Pete does very effectively. And again, this is not in contrast to what you're saying, it's just a yes. And one of the things he does very effectively is he fights by. Even when people are trying to hit him, he just talks to them. And that's one of the things he does on Fox News. So. Well, he doesn't meet these people where they're at. He doesn't meet that energy. Because when people are trying to debate you and argue you, the more elevated you make it, they match that. And if you can keep calm and steady. The way he does it does, you know, sort of scramble people's debate computers a little bit.

[Tim Miller]

I have one more question for. I think we have one other news item, but do you guys think the other problem, the other challenge that he would have is it just felt like it was very cool to dunk on Pete in, like, young online, like, TikTok culture.

[Manny Fidel]

Like, I was doing half of it.

[Tim Miller]

Okay. Yeah, there you go. So do you have any. Do you want to apologize to him right now? Actually, you can look at the camera to say, actually, actually address to Address your apology to Chastain. Okay. Chastain took a lot of heat.

[Manny Fidel]

I think Chassis follows me on Twitter. Yeah, I. I've been telling. I've been going around to my friend groups and being like, hey, I was wrong. I was wrong in 2020 when I called Pete Buttigieg a little rat or whatever. I. I was so engrossed into, though, that, that, like, echo chamber of far leftism. And I still believe all that stuff, but I wasn't able to see past my anti establishment glasses and understand just how. I think, just how valuable he is in terms of communication right now. Yeah, I don't know how I'm going to feel about him as a presidential candidate once that comes around, but just as someone who's like, gonna be the press secretary for the Democrats, so to speak, I think he's doing a great job. Right.

[Tim Miller]

I didn't hear it. I'm sorry there. But Chasten, I think, will forgive you. Anyway, we'll see what he says. He's a viewer. Yeah. What?

[Cameron Caskey]

Just. Just to get on this train. Pete Buttigieg, I'm sorry I made a little bit of fun of you. I called you a dork and a dweeb and a nerd and a square. I meant it. I'm not going to say I didn't mean it, but I don't mean it now. Now, if I could speak to people the way you did, I would have a much better career than I currently do. And I think that you are one of the most valuable people in the party right now and you should keep on slaying. And Chastain, I'm sure I made fun of you too, and for that, I'm sorry. I hope you two have a very bright future and I'm glad that we got to have this moment much more.

[Manny Fidel]

Is. I never made fun of Chasten.

[Tim Miller]

Okay, so here's my question, though. Is, did. Is. Do the younger, less wise versions of you, will they just. You Know, will we just repeat the same history, you know, the 19 year olds out there?

[Manny Fidel]

It's a great question. I don't know. You know, after this election, I kind of. I stopped being on. On Twitter slash X so much. Yeah. And Pete's kind of not been the topic of conversation in those circles, I don't think. Right. Great question, though.

[Tim Miller]

What'd you think about his answer at the adoption thing? I saw some of the MAGA guys were going after him because he was talking about how they're. This is true, they're two different for adopt. If you want to adopt a kid and you. And you don't care what the race is, then the list is shorter. Right. Like, and if you just want a white kid, then, like, the list is longer. And he mentioned that and like, some of the maggots were, like, going after him about that. Which, like, how'd that, How'd that little combo read in the room?

[Manny Fidel]

I. Look, I'll be honest, I. I put that show on while I'm like, eating lunch. I think I missed that part.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, good.

[Manny Fidel]

I'll go back and listen. But yeah, I think, and I mean, people should ask themselves if, you know, why they would only want a white kid. And even if, you know, I'm not, I'm not surprised. Like, I think you want maybe a kid that kind of looks like you. That's not the craziest thing in the world. But I think people should ask themselves, you know, what exactly makes them think that one kid is worth less than the other?

[Tim Miller]

It's kind of crazy, actually. Like, what you think that if the kid has brown eyes like you, or like, as a fucking, like in, like, you know, big schnoz that, like, you're gonna love them more? It's a little crazy.

[Cameron Caskey]

I come from a big adoption family because my father and grandfather did adoptions. And I got to, you know, sometimes kids who were kind of in between foster care and getting adopted would stay at our house when I was growing up. And that was really interesting, but just it's. It's kind of weird because it brings to mind, you know, if you're white and you want like, only a white kid, like you said, Tim, it's like if you want them to be in your image, that's still an adopted child, that doesn't make them any more your biological child. And it's weird. Like, it's this. I wouldn't go and call it eugenics, but it's like eugenics. It's like the vibe of eugenics. Eugenics. Core. Because it's like, don't you just want a kid? Like, if you want a kid, you'd want any kid. There's something narcissistic about wanting a kid who has the same race as you. I'm sorry. There, I said it here on the bulwark here.

[Tim Miller]

All right, Cameron, you had another topic you wanted to hit before we get to Gen Z News. I don't remember what it was.

[Cameron Caskey]

Also pertains to my family, which is I have a brother who has autism. This is not the type of person who you might not know has autism. He just happens to be really good at doing puzzles or not read certain social cues. Holden has the type of autism that you can read 10 seconds into talking to him. He's very handsome, he's very social. He has girlfriends, he has two jobs. All the things that RFK was saying autistic people can't do, Holden does quite easily. He's saying that they can't go and play baseball, they can't pay taxes. I'm pretty sure, like a year ago, Holden, my autistic little brother, probably paid more in taxes than I did because I think he was making more money.

[Tim Miller]

What are his two jobs, can we say?

[Cameron Caskey]

Or is that he works at a movie theater scooping popcorn and cleaning up the theaters when people leave, and he works at a hotel pouring water for people at events and folding napkins and stuff like that. And he loves making money so he could buy little gifts for his little autistic girlfriends. And he's really such a smart guy when you're talking to him. If you were like three beers in and you talked to Holden, you might just think he's another guy who's three beers in because he's so social. He loves talking to people. He loves getting to know people. And that was something he struggled with growing up, because when he was in classes with other development, developmentally disabled kids, a lot of them would be a little bit maybe behind him is a bad way to put it in terms of their development socially. So he was around a lot of kids who were dealing with things that were sort of different from what Holden did. Because Holden has a lot of, you know, issues doing certain things that neurotypical, so to speak, people can do, but socializing is not one of those things. So. So he was socially a little stressed out growing up because of, you know, autism is such a wide spectrum that no two, you know, no two snowflakes look alike. Not to call these kids snowflakes. That has a different meaning now. But Kids with special needs all have different types of special needs. So it was hard to sometimes match the energy of the people in the room. But I say this because we are doing this Nazi thing where there's going to be an autism registry using public and private data. And Manny, you had brought this up to me. I want to know how you feel about it.

[Manny Fidel]

Yeah, it's, it's. I mean, it's hard to have like, I don't where to start with a reaction. It's like, you know, I always. My first reaction to things is to make a joke. But like, sometimes it's so dark. But like, I feel like this is really like an X Men villain. Like a badly written X Men villain. Like who, who thinks of this? And RFK Jr. He's got. The problem with him is that he's starting from a conclusion, right? Like his whole mission here is to quote, unquote, solve the quote, unquote autism epidemic. And he's already messaged that that it can't be that diagnosing has gotten better. But that's the problem with this kind of study he's trying to do, which is he's starting from a conclusion and working backwards to find support for that conclusion. And that's just not how science works. And you know, obviously there's, there's. This affects millions of people. If I had any kind of disorder, I wouldn't want like the government keeping tabs on me. It's very basic stuff that we, that I feel like we have to react to, which just feels so unfair.

[Cameron Caskey]

It's just so crazy because we're ending fucking cancer studies that have been going on for 14 years right in the middle. That's it. They're over defunded. And now it's like, no, we're going to do an autism study, right? And you know, more kids have autism now. It's not because we're getting better at diagnosing it. It's because there's fluoride in the water. It's like. Tim, what would you say is the most egregious Make America healthy Again messaging that you've seen?

[Tim Miller]

I mean, I don't know about. Well, look, RFK Jr. Is a ridiculous human and like, and he has a brain worm. He sounds horrible. He like does steroids, obviously. I mean, I guess I don't have 100% proof, but like, if it looks like a steroid, it smells like a steroid. I think it's probably steroids. He's either in a tanning booth, you know, like he like, this is not a healthy man. Like, nobody would look at this man and think, oh, boy. And so, like he's preposterous. But I just think what you just said, Cam, like the cut, the funding cutting. I mean, if you just talk to anybody, like, I've got a bunch of friends who are doctors because my best friend is a doctor. So like I've met all his doctor friends. Like I. When I hear from all of them, like, it's just like people, people have not yet really grasped like the scope of what is being lost as far as like funding for long term research for various diseases and the stuff that the private sector like is just not going to do. And so like to be doing that in concert with this other stuff. Fucking sucks. You suck RFK Jr. Okay, we've got to go to Boomer Mailbag and Gen Z News. Unless you had a final thought on that, Cameron. I didn't want to.

[Cameron Caskey]

I was just gonna say we should do a study about why there are people who sound like this, like rfk, talking about how we're gonna make people healthy and sounding like his throat cancer has throat cancer. But that's all.

[Tim Miller]

I wish I could do a good, good rfk. Okay, listeners, listen to me. Boomer listeners. The Mailbag is Bulwark podcast@the bulwark.com I was very disappointed with the Boomer questions from this week. So you can do, do better. Boomer listeners, send us questions, what things you want to know about the youth life, advice, etc. Since the boomer questions are so bad, I'm going to turn to a question from Dale. Gen Xer, why do you show Gen X no love? None of us is responsible for the shit show that is Washington right now, okay? None of us are responsible for the shit show in Washington right now. And actually all of you are responsible for the shit show in Washington right now because Gen X voted the most for fucking Trump. So Dale, suck it.

[Cameron Caskey]

Also, Dale, real quick. Like, part of this show that we try to talk about as much as possible is what's going on with Gen Z. Because Gen Z surprised everybody by being crazy and terrible in this election. And one thing it's always important to note is that Gen X parented us. And you got to talk to your kids. You got to get your kids in order, right? If, if I had a child in first grade and there was a kid who bullied my child, I wouldn't want to talk to that kid. I would want to talk to their parents. So let's remember, you all have A responsibility to make sure your kids aren't going insane. And if you're looking at your little kid on their iPad right now, which millennial parents also have to think about, you need to make sure you have an eye on what they're watching.

[Tim Miller]

Parent better. Gen X. I agree with Cameron. Now on to Gen Z news.

[Sebastian]

According to a new survey from communications firm Edelman, 45% of adults age 18 to 34 admitted to disregarding their health providers guidance in favor of of information from a friend or family member. In the past year, 38% of young adults said they've ignored their provider in favor of advice from social media, a 12 point increase from the year before.

[Manny Fidel]

Damn, that's, that's Gen z respondents age 18 to 34.

[Tim Miller]

So some millennials include some young millennials, which I kind of lump in with Gen Z. I don't. You know, the young millennials also had their brains broken by it's social media.

[Manny Fidel]

So it sounds like Gen Z is going to break another record by being like the shortest lived generation. If I think, if that, if that continues to be the norm.

[Cameron Caskey]

Well, I've always said we're called Gen Z because Z is the last one. But I was going to say this. We were talking about the defunding of all this medical research. It's like, you know, a lot of people in Gen Z, I think, have read about some of the things that are happening to our bodies that might not have happened to previous generations. Obviously boomers were like eating asbestos for dinner and, you know, lead was in everything. But you ever hear of this thing called microplastics? It really looks like it's going to be giving a lot of us cancer. And kind of part of the reason that I shrugged that off and said, okay, maybe I'll get microplastic cancer is that I thought that by the time I was getting my microplastic cancer, medical research would have advanced to a point where, where they could stop my microplastic cancer. But it's like, nope, we did away with that. Instead we're googling why kids have autism. And so that isn't true.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, my thought to that and my message to Gen Z is like a good elder millennial. I also don't listen to my doctor's advice. Sometimes I think I had four Parliament lights yesterday. I hope you're not listening, Mom. But it's not because I listened to some moron on TikTok tell me that Parliament lights are actually healthy. And it's like eating an apple a day. Some like Maha, mom, influencer. And I'm like, oh, man, this person has 1.2 million followers on Instagram, so they're probably smarter than my doctor. No, I'm doing it because I'm making a conscious choice that I would rather enjoy myself than extend an extra year of my life. Probably dumb. Probably dumb. This will come back to haunt me, but I'm doing it consciously. Do not be manipulated by these influencers, you idiots. That's my thought.

[Cameron Caskey]

And with that, we say slay. Manny, thank you so much for joining us this week.

[Manny Fidel]

Absolutely.

[Cameron Caskey]

Yeah, I'm grateful for you, and I look forward to the next 100 weeks of your book promotion. Cannot wait.

[Manny Fidel]

Thank you so much, guys. This is a blast.