THOUGHTCRIME Ep. 127 — Obama, The Musical? Romance Novels? Instagram Moms?

Summary

Human Events Daily with Jack Posobiec

Thoughtcrime Ep. 127 — Obama, The Musical? Romance Novels? Instagram Moms?

Date: May 16, 2026

---

Episode Overview

This episode of Thoughtcrime explores the interplay of culture, storytelling, and societal trends across politics, the arts, and family life. The roundtable—hosted by Jack Posobiec and featuring Blake, Russ, Tyler, Cliff, and regular commentary from others—dives into:

• The phenomenon of “Obama: The Musical” and the broader cultural dominance of the political left
• The underlying trends in romance novel sales and what their popularity says about identity and desire in America
• Millennial motherhood: why today's moms are so burned out, and how social media fuels their discontent
• Notable side conversations on masculinity in the arts, intergenerational expectations, and shifting birthrates

The tone is lively, tongue-in-cheek, and unfiltered, with ample pop culture references and frequent moments of self-awareness.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Obama: The Musical & Culture Wars (00:19–04:20; 22:00–24:47)

• The episode opens with banter about the existence of a real “44: The Musical” (about Barack Obama), staged in D.C., with humorous testimonials and mock enthusiasm from the panel.
• Jack’s critique: The left takes culture seriously—through theater, music, and media they create stories and myths around their political heroes, "championing their heroes" and shaping generations.
  • Quote [03:30]: "Once again, the left shows they champion their heroes...they use media in a cultural way that actually promotes their values to future generations...something the right just doesn’t do."
• Panel debates the right's rare forays into cultural storytelling, noting how most right-leaning productions lack subtlety or emotional resonance.
• Fun moment [22:16]: The team discusses how musicals are largely a "fancy white liberal" domain, reflecting on musicals like "Hamilton" and now, ironically, Obama getting his own show.
• Cliff is “outed” as a theater kid, leading to a discussion about the few conservatives in performing arts and the importance of creative expression.

2. Musicals, Masculinity & Politics (04:47–17:10)

• Spirited back-and-forth on musicals: favorite shows, “masculine” roles, and Broadway’s place in conservative circles.
  • Notable picks: Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Hadestown, Book of Mormon, Matilda.
• Blake and Cliff discuss how DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) trends have “woked” up Broadway, closing out traditional casting with contemporary sensibilities—even in long-standing shows like “Phantom.”
• Jack shares [08:58]: “President Trump really actually just enjoys [Broadway]. He’s a New Yorker. He was at the Broadway opening of Phantom with Andrew Lloyd Webber...just something funny people don’t know about the President.”
• Playful request for Cliff to reprise his role as Billy Flynn from “Chicago,” with genuine appreciation for the performance: “You gotta play the ending hat dance...that was really good.” (24:13)

3. Romance Novels & Interracial Fantasies (24:47–36:50)

• Prompted by a viral X thread, Blake presents Amazon’s top 100 “Interracial Romance” novels—overwhelmingly written as white male/non-white female pairings (especially black women).
  • Key stat [25:22]: Of 100 bestsellers: 38 white guy–black woman, 20 white guy–Asian woman, 19 misclassified as ‘interracial’ (but both white), and only one black man–white woman.
  • “The only thing keeping the bottom 60% of the population literate, by the way.” [33:06]
• The panel muses on why these tropes appeal to minority women and the paradoxical nature of public anti-white-male rhetoric vs. private fantasy.
  • “Individuals, they hate us in culture and they hate us politically, but they love us.” [35:03]
  • “We are not objects. Stop objectifying us.” —Jack [34:54]
• Insightful tangent about genre conventions (forced proximity, billionaire/mafia/sports subgenres).
• Notable audience interaction, with the crew riffing on fake AI-generated romance covers featuring themselves for comic relief.

4. The Instagram Mom Burnout Phenomenon (38:12–53:00)

• Jack cites a Newsweek article: Millennial moms are more “drained, mentally anguished, and resentful” than dads and previous generations. Causes discussed:
  • Social media creates “Instagram Brain,” driving unrealistic comparisons and perpetual FOMO.
    • “Delete Instagram. They would be so much happier if they just deleted Instagram.” —Tyler [39:54]
  • Greater pressure on women to be careerists, perfect moms, and socially competitive.
    • “Most of these women wanted to be moms and perhaps weren’t presented with the realities of the hardest job.” —Jack [41:00]
  • Declining community structures, over-scheduled children, and “boss babe” expectations.
• Multiple members share the dream of deleting social media once public careers end: “The day I’m done, phone in the trash—I’m off all social media.” —Cliff [50:52]
• Reading habits come up: the importance of long-form media and “digital detox” for family health.

5. Birthrates, Timing, & The Modern Family (59:13–71:06)

• The CDC’s new stat: For the first time ever, more babies are born to women over 40 than to teenagers.
  • “That's wild...we had our first kid in L.A. and the nurses were shocked because my wife was in her 20s.” —Tyler [60:06]
  • “One of the biggest reasons people give for not having kids earlier is to be more financially secure, but late fertility interventions get expensive fast.” —Blake [64:37]
• Discussion on the “girl boss” arc—many pursuing ambitions then pivoting late to motherhood, often after fertility struggles.
• Rachel Wilson clip at [65:23]: “Women want men who make more than they do…they just can’t find a guy who’s on their level or higher, which is what they really want.”
• Team closes with advice: start families earlier if possible, rely less on career-focused strategies, and trust that “provision will come.” [70:24]

---

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Tyler [39:54]: “Delete Instagram. They would be so much happier if they just deleted Instagram.”
• Jack [34:54]: “We are not objects. Stop objectifying us.”
• Russ [48:18]: “The worst thing in modern culture with women is this crossover between the arc of the Pick Me girl and main character syndrome.”
• Cliff [50:52]: “The day I’m done, phone in the trash—I’m off all social media.”
• Rachel Wilson [65:23]: “Women…have now got salaries that compete with men, and they've got more equality than ever before. They're finding that…the men are not suitable to marry.”
• Blake [61:27]: “If you have a kid at 22, that by itself makes it easier for you to get pregnant again at 32—your body becomes better at it.”
• Faz [63:32, as read by Tyler]: “40s is when the wannabe girl boss plays her final trump card and retires to motherhood. It’s a tap-out disguised as a win for liberal rules.”
• Tyler [70:24]: “[If] your goal is to have kids, money…shouldn’t be your primary concern. I’m a big believer that when you have kids, God brings the provision.”

---

Timestamps of Important Segments

| Timestamp | Topic/Event | |:-------------:|:-----------------------------------------------------------| | 00:19–04:20 | Obama: The Musical—media, culture, left vs. right | | 04:47–17:10 | Musicals, Broadway, masculinity in arts, Trump’s favorites | | 24:47–36:50 | Romance novel stats, societal implications, panel banter | | 38:12–53:00 | Instagram, millennial mom burnout, social media’s impact | | 59:13–71:06 | Demographics, birthrates, late motherhood | | 65:23 | Rachel Wilson quote—women, relationships, career paradox | | 70:24 | Closing advice—families, faith, and fortunes |

---

Closing Thoughts

This episode blends acerbic cultural critique, personal anecdotes, and policy discussion, revealing:

• Deep anxieties about American storytelling and the right’s lack of narrative power
• Wry observations about gender, race, and desire in consumer tastes and media
• Concern for the state of family, mental health, and the effects of technology on society

Frequent ribbing among hosts lightens weighty topics, but the underlying theme is that reclaiming culture, identity, and sanity requires both introspection and action—whether that’s consuming less social media, having more kids younger, or taking creative risks in art and politics.

---

End of Summary

Transcript

[Blake]

From the age of Big Brother.

[Russ]

If they want to get you, they'll get you. DNSA specifically targets the communications of everyone.

[Jack]

They're collecting your communications.

[Tyler]

And his name is Obama.

[Blake]

Barack. A lot of Obama. He'll chum the pants off your mama.

[Tyler]

He's mother.

[Blake]

Nobody's history.

[Tyler]

44 was great. It's exhilarating. It's interactive. Every actor was great. It's worth seeing. Don't miss it. Go to another state, go to another country, but make sure you see 44. I just felt like I was in

[Blake]

a whole nother world for two hours.

[Rachel Wilson]

So great, great music.

[Russ]

Really made me nostalgic for a time

[Blake]

when, I don't know, politics meant something beautiful.

[Tyler]

And I miss you, Obama, but come

[Blake]

see the show and you'll recapture that spirit.

[Tyler]

Obama.

[Jack]

Well, on that note, it's thought Crime Thursday. Gosh, it's just so catchy when I hear the Obama musical. Music. Music.

[Blake]

Who.

[Jack]

Who set this up? Who else is on the show here today?

[Blake]

We've got five people house. We can put on an Obama musical ourselves.

[Tyler]

Love how Cliff is just front and center.

[Blake]

Look at him.

[Tyler]

Look at him. Just.

[Russ]

Actually, we have.

[Tyler]

You are the keystone.

[Russ]

This is actually Lynn Manuel Miranda.

[Cliff]

No, it's not a jacket. This is a citizens. Just for the record, I did not wear a jacket. A formal jacket.

[Jack]

Is that a pullover?

[Cliff]

Citizens alliance pullover.

[Blake]

It is not a jacket. It doesn't open all the way. It's just like a quarter zip.

[Tyler]

It's a quarter.

[Jack]

Blake is.

[Russ]

Is. You know, it looks very cheap.

[Jack]

I guess you have a quarter, huh?

[Cliff]

Very ch.

[Russ]

Very thin. It does not look like it's protecting him at all.

[Tyler]

We did not waste jacket donor money.

[Cliff]

We need to get some advice from Turning Point. Where you guys get your merch.

[Russ]

It's America. All that matters is American.

[Tyler]

Obama's got lots of money.

[Jack]

It's all China. Tyler only does his shopping in China.

[Russ]

But we.

[Blake]

We should explain that. So that intro was 44 the musical. It's actually existed for a little while, but it's on. It's being performed in D.C. for another 10 days, I believe. So if you live in that area, you could go see it. And it's sort of strange to say this. I wish I was in D.C. i would totally go see this.

[Tyler]

I would not see it.

[Blake]

You would not see it. You wouldn't see the Obama musical.

[Tyler]

I would have PTSD from it.

[Blake]

But that's.

[Tyler]

That's what the thing about it is.

[Blake]

It's got to be ridiculous.

[Tyler]

Yeah, they call it bipartisan Fun. Yeah. No, there's nothing bipartisan fun about it

[Blake]

is apparently the theme is apparently the Obama administration as remembered by Joe Biden. So it kind of leans in. So it leans in on Biden having foggy memory and so he.

[Tyler]

Oh, that is actually kind of fun. But then you heard those like testimonials like we forgot how good we had it and we missed the spirit of 44.

[Cliff]

And I'm back in the good old days.

[Tyler]

Good old guy who literally woke ified the country single handedly.

[Jack]

I don't know, Jack, you know what,

[Tyler]

you're in D.C. area.

[Jack]

I'm not, no, I'm not going to see it, but I am. I am going to point out that once again the left shows that they champion their heroes. The left goes and makes musicals. They go and make, you know, I mean this is obviously cringe, but you know, they're willing to go and actually put on musicals, put on shows. They just did one about Luigi, which I believe started in San Francisco. It's coming to Broadway. So they go in and they use media in a cultural way that actually promotes their values to future generations. And so this is something that the right. We just don't do. We don't use the power of story, we don't use the power of culture. With the exception obviously of the Turning Point halftime show, the all American halftime show. It's like the one time the right actually tried to do this.

[Tyler]

Well, but see, we have a disagreement on this, Jack, and I think Russ has my back here. You got, you got neocon thrillers up the yingy yang. You got. Was it Jack Ryan? You've got. I mean you could make an argument.

[Jack]

Neocons are actually liberals.

[Tyler]

Tom. Tom Cruise, you know, impossible. Not maybe Mission Impossible. I'm thinking more like Top Gun. That felt very patriotic. That felt cultural.

[Jack]

I Suppose Top Gun 2 is definitely neocon.

[Tyler]

Yeah, it's all neocon though. It's all like America, you know, I

[Blake]

don't know that I wouldn't say. It's like they're doing, they're doing a strike, an airstrike on somewhere that's so vague. We do airstrikes in a lot of places.

[Tyler]

It was Russia.

[Jack]

It's definitely Iran In Iran. Top gun too. It's 100% Iran. Yeah.

[Tyler]

Okay, okay, I misremembered. I don't know.

[Jack]

They don't know. Blake is right. They don't say it. But like if you just watch the film and you kind of like put the pieces together, like they're clearly talking about Iran.

[Tyler]

We have some B roll of this from this Obama musical number three. Can you just throw up some of the stills? Here we go. Oh, gosh, there's Hillary Rodham, basically. You know, Jack, to your point, though, you often make the observation that the left is basically run by a bunch of former theater kids. So this feels very apt.

[Jack]

Well, in this case, it's not former.

[Tyler]

Yeah, look at that. That was that the monkeypox guy.

[Russ]

Funny you should bring up theater, actually.

[Tyler]

Every time. I don't know. I don't even know what to think of this. It's just.

[Russ]

I just. I just discovered that Cliff Maloney is actually a full time theater professional.

[Jack]

Oh, are we doing this?

[Blake]

Really?

[Jack]

Are we. Are we out in. Cliff.

[Blake]

Hold on, hold on.

[Cliff]

This is new to me on every show. I have a degree in theater arts.

[Tyler]

Do you do.

[Blake]

Do you do theater like amateur theater on the side or pro theater on the side?

[Cliff]

I haven't done a show since 2021.

[Russ]

Listen, there's a lot of the students involved with libertarian.

[Cliff]

I was a teen angel in Greece. Oh, 2021.

[Tyler]

All right.

[Cliff]

Played Gaston and Beauty and the Beast. Glenn Gulia, naturally, in the Wedding Singer. Yeah, he is the rude.

[Blake]

Do you still have the Gaston song memorized?

[Jack]

Julia Gulia. Yes.

[Cliff]

Thank you. I knew somebody would get it. Exactly. Julia Gulia's fiancee.

[Tyler]

You and James o' Keefe holding it down for the theater kids on the right.

[Blake]

Now, hold on.

[Cliff]

What?

[Blake]

Give. Give us like a guest. No.

[Tyler]

1.

[Blake]

Something. I'm retired at this point.

[Tyler]

Who else? Who else in conservative circles does theater?

[Cliff]

I don't know.

[Tyler]

Is James and you Rob Schneider. I mean, we have all the dream role.

[Blake]

What's your dream role?

[Cliff]

I played Billy Flynn in Chicago and that was like. It was just a really cool role. It's like the leading male, but the male is not the lead. It's the two women, obviously.

[Tyler]

But.

[Jack]

Well, he's the lawyer, right?

[Cliff]

Yeah, yeah, but it was just, you know, every song, it's like. I mean, it's like Gaston kind of. Yeah, you're kind of doing your own thing.

[Tyler]

Are you doing. So you do musicals?

[Cliff]

Yeah, there's some good lowquality videos online you can find.

[Tyler]

Really?

[Cliff]

Oh, yeah.

[Blake]

Guys, find these videos. Get those hunted down, would you? What role would you want?

[Jack]

I'll throw something out to get your back here. Told to. To hold your back. Well, and obviously Rick Renell was running the Kennedy center for the longest for, you know, the first year. But. But also someone who's a huge fan of Broadway that on. On the right is not Someone who's in Broadway, but someone who is a huge fan. Probably his favorite music genre is President Donald J. Trump. And a lot of people, a lot of people don't know this, but if you spend time around him, he's listening to Phantom of the Opera soundtrack on repeat. We were, we were hearing that so much at one point that I actually had to sit Tanya Tay down and show her the movie because she wasn't familiar with it. And, you know, I think, I think it closed on, on Broadway after, funny enough, actually something that is going to come up in a later topic because they did a sort of woke DEI casting of Christine, even though it's supposed to be a, you know, set in what, 18th century France or something, and, you know, at this, at this opera house. And President Trump loves Broadway. He's just a huge Broadway fan. He obviously was going to the Kennedy Center a ton when it was still in full operation, last I heard there, it looks like July 4th is going to be the final, you know, like, final hurrah, as after they close it down for, you know, projected two years of maintenance. But, but it's something that President Trump really actually just enjoys. He's a New Yorker. He's always loved Broadway. He was at the, the Broadway opening of Phantom with Andrew Lloyd Webber. It's something that he talked about, has talked about a number of times, and it's just something that's funny that, like, I think a lot of people don't know about the President.

[Blake]

Okay, quick on the spot. Favorite musical,

[Tyler]

Come Back to Me.

[Cliff]

Hadestown.

[Blake]

Hadestown. I've never heard of that one. Tyler.

[Jack]

Is that actually good? I keep seeing, like, stuff for that.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Cliff]

I mean, there's one problem in it. There's an archetype that is pretty much Trump and they sing a whole song about knocking down the wall. But aside from that, and you look past it, the music's fantastic.

[Blake]

Okay. All right.

[Cliff]

Tyler.

[Russ]

I don't know. I, I have a special place in my heart for Les Mis.

[Tyler]

I was going to say Les Mis.

[Blake]

I actually was also going to say Les Mis. I, that one, I, I really hate

[Russ]

everything French, but for some reason it doesn't feel French.

[Blake]

It's one of the most French things ever created. It literally was originally in French.

[Jack]

It's not even a French thing ever. It was written in French.

[Russ]

I, I, I understand all of that. I'm just saying when I watch it in English, it doesn't make me feel, it makes me feel like the, the, the liberty elements of Les Mis. I appreciate.

[Tyler]

Yeah.

[Russ]

And Also. And also the analogies with. With Christ and everything else. I think that's.

[Blake]

It's a truly Christian musical. Jack, what's your favorite?

[Jack]

It's. No, I was going to. I love. I love Les Mis. You know, most of my life I would have said Phantom. You know, I might. I might give a slight edge to Les Mis now, but, you know, traditionally I would say Phantom.

[Cliff]

Let me stir the pot a little bit. I think the funniest show is Book of Mormon.

[Blake]

Book of Mormon is very fun. They messed it up how? In 2020, they changed the Book of Mormon because of George Floyd and the woke moment. So they edited the jokes. Like, if you see the show, there's a joke where like, oh, did you get my text? And they're literally writing it on a typewriter. Like, haha. That's what a text would be for them. Because they're in Uganda and they're poor and they changed it to. They just actually have smartphones and they send it and the joke is like, oh, you dumb American think we don't have smartphones in Uganda? Yeah, it's very stupid. They did a few changes. They did it. Yeah, yeah, they. They messed it up badly.

[Russ]

I was.

[Jack]

I always thought it was really funny. I think we've talked about it on here before and just. Cliff, just so you know, Blake has pretty much every word of Book of Mormon memorized verbatim off the top of his head.

[Blake]

I do.

[Jack]

Tyler. I always have to say I. I've always appreciated the way that the LDS Church responded to Book of Mormon was to like, use it as a promotional vehicle and be like, like, hey, you like the musical? You'll love the book. And they would just.

[Russ]

They also screwed that up too, though. It was at first, they embraced it the right way, which is that way, which is the same way that Charlie embraced.

[Jack]

Yeah, yeah, that's what I remember.

[Russ]

And then since then, though, now it's become like they don't embrace it now they. Now they reject it.

[Tyler]

Okay, I embrace it doesn't count, but I embrace it.

[Russ]

I actually think it's great. I think it's fine. I don't think it's that offensive. And I actually really like the. The producers of the content. And anyways, I just.

[Tyler]

Do you think that that opinion is widely held within the Mormon community? Are you the. Are you the exception at the rule?

[Russ]

I don't think. I actually don't think many. Most Mormons are bothered by it at all.

[Tyler]

I don't think they like, even my favorite. I just remember it's not a musical, though. But it was the Count of Monte Cristo.

[Russ]

Count of Montecristo is good. Yeah.

[Blake]

Play version of it.

[Tyler]

Yes.

[Blake]

Okay.

[Tyler]

They've done it as the play. I. But I fell in love with the one with Jim Cavis for kids.

[Russ]

I. I'm a big fan. I've. I've seen a few times with my kids. Matilda. Matilda.

[Jack]

Oh, is that good?

[Tyler]

My.

[Jack]

My kids are actually super into Matilda right now.

[Russ]

It's great. The broad. The Broadway version of Matilda is like, I think one of the best things you can take your kids to.

[Jack]

I love that book. I. I must have read that book like, a hundred times when I was a kid.

[Russ]

And they did a re. A new version of it on Netflix a few years ago that was based around the musical, like the actual Broadway.

[Tyler]

Okay. Sort of relate.

[Russ]

Really good.

[Tyler]

Sort of related. I saw one of the comments that they're still waiting for my review of Animal Farm. I have not seen it. Did you do this last week?

[Cliff]

Yeah, I did.

[Blake]

It was really terrible. It was catastrophically bad, unfortunately. I don't blame. Obviously, I don't blame Angel Studios that. I blame Gollum for that.

[Tyler]

Well, Angel Studios just did the distribution. They didn't exactly.

[Blake]

Exactly.

[Tyler]

But the. The guild had to approve it, so I don't know. The guilt. Hey, leave. Even the Angel Guild will get it

[Blake]

wrong from time to time. Yeah. They just, you know, but it was. It was devastating. Yeah.

[Jack]

I think someone was saying that, like, they approved it because they wanted to do an Animal Farm movie. And they're like, oh, yeah, Animal Farm would be great. But then they didn't realize that it was like the. The liberal Animal Farm thing.

[Russ]

I blame Seth Rogen.

[Tyler]

Can we talk about Helen Clothing? Can we talk about that? I know we're not like.

[Blake]

I mean, I know we're kind of on topic. We probably could. I mean, it's. It involves.

[Jack]

I mean, what. What else. What else can we add that hasn't already been said?

[Tyler]

Pictures worth a thousand words. I saw this AI with. Wait, what's the. The. The. The trans actor Ellen Page. Ellen Page. Ellen Page. You know that famous scene where Brad Pitt is, like, running after Eddie, like, dodges the spear and then he dodges the next spear and then he, like, stabbed. Yeah, well, they. They did some AI version with Ellen Page, and it's just like starts running kind of like weekly is running down and then just gets. And then just the first spear just takes her out. Actually, I think I could probably find.

[Blake]

The funny thing is, it's not. Even though the rumor Is that Ellen Elliot Page is going to be Achilles. That's not confirmed.

[Jack]

That's just a rumor.

[Blake]

Unlike Helen of Troy, being black is unfortunately confirmed. But there actually is a trans character in the Odyssey. Did you know that?

[Tyler]

No.

[Blake]

So the sage Tiresias is a fortune teller, and Apollo gets mad at him and punishes him by turning him into a woman. And so it would make sense to actually show that character as androgynous in some way. There's notably, Odysseus runs into Tiresias, I believe, in the underworld, and asks him a rather like PG13 question. He basically asks. Nevermind, I can't say it. Look it up. Go read the Odyssey, folks. You have to go read the Odyssey.

[Tyler]

I found it. There it is. Russ says he's pulling it, but it's worth sharing. But do you guys subscribe to the idea idea that.

[Russ]

Wait, while we're on the topic.

[Tyler]

Nolan's doing this for an Oscar?

[Blake]

I don't think so.

[Tyler]

You don't think so?

[Jack]

I think he is. I think he is. But also just in general, I think that Christopher Nolan is vastly overrated. I just thought that for a long time.

[Tyler]

I mean, since. What did he do that was good? He did Batman.

[Blake]

He did the Dark Knight was.

[Tyler]

The Dark Knight was.

[Blake]

Which came out almost 20 years ago.

[Jack]

No, Batman Begins was good.

[Russ]

Batman Begins with the Dark Knight was perfectly good. Dark Knight was a good movie.

[Blake]

The Dark Knight Rises.

[Jack]

I have. I. I was by the Dark Knight that I actually uploaded the entire movie into Final Cut Pro and made my own edit of it. I called mine the Darker Night.

[Tyler]

Sounds overtly.

[Blake]

You want to recast?

[Tyler]

All right, here we go.

[Russ]

Interstellar. Interstellar.

[Tyler]

We're gonna do. We're gonna do the. We have those Ellen Page video.

[Blake]

Let's let him show it.

[Jack]

Terrible.

[Russ]

No, Interstellar is great.

[Tyler]

Okay, play the Ellen Page video.

[Jack]

Love will win.

[Tyler]

Oh, is it not have sound effects. Okay, well, this is the AI. This is all AI. Yes, but like, I mean, I think they're borrowing heavily from the. From the actual film here.

[Blake]

It's somewhat mangled as an AI and yeah, you can see they.

[Tyler]

That's all. That's it.

[Blake]

Directed by Michael Bay. Oh, yeah. Because the original version had like some great music playing.

[Tyler]

But anyway, so there it is. Oh, and then we have. We. Okay, apparently we do we have it. Do we have. Do we have that one clip Russ of Chicago Way Musical.

[Russ]

Wait, let's hang on one second while we're on this. Memento is good. Jack.

[Jack]

Rent is good.

[Russ]

The Prestige, Inception. Inception's a great Movie.

[Jack]

Inception is only good on the first watch. It doesn't actually hold up after the

[Russ]

first watch every once every 10 years at recess.

[Blake]

I mean, I just watched most movies you're only gonna see once anyway, so you forget.

[Russ]

You forget. I forgot everything in it, and then I watched it again just like not that long ago.

[Jack]

If you're someone who has a memory, then.

[Russ]

No, it doesn't.

[Jack]

It doesn't work.

[Tyler]

We got a. We got a Dylan Ivy here.

[Blake]

Dylan's a regular. He's here every week.

[Tyler]

Dylan says I hated Dunkirk. What's that?

[Russ]

I hated Dunkirk. I didn't like Dunkirk.

[Jack]

Dunkirk was perfect. What are you talking about?

[Russ]

Okay, so, Jack, you now.

[Tyler]

You've now.

[Russ]

You've now argued against yourself. You now have argued against yourself. You think that most of Christopher Nolan stuff is good.

[Jack]

I said he's overrated.

[Blake]

I think he's.

[Russ]

Which one was. Which movie was overrated?

[Tyler]

Rated.

[Jack]

Yeah, the Stone's just right. Interstellar and the.

[Russ]

Interstellar and the Dark Knight, like, everything that, like, literally all of America loves both those movies.

[Jack]

Well, sometimes people are wrong, but usually the people.

[Russ]

Walmart sells a lot of clothes.

[Tyler]

So Dylan, Ivy says, I don't know about going to the musical, but I still think y' all should still send Blake to the Met gala next year. As an action news reporter, it would be a lot of, who are you wearing?

[Blake]

Who am I wearing?

[Tyler]

That's what you asked.

[Blake]

I mean, I guess I might have to wear. Gosh, no.

[Tyler]

That's the question you ask. You ask.

[Cliff]

He's not looking for an answer. He's saying that's what you're gonna say.

[Tyler]

You have to ask, like, who are you wearing? Oh, that's what you.

[Cliff]

What brand are you wearing?

[Tyler]

It's all by some designer.

[Blake]

Oh, gosh.

[Tyler]

I'm like a pop culture.

[Blake]

Andrew knows about these things. That's why he's always accidentally, accidentally wearing a jacket on this show.

[Russ]

Yeah, yeah, no, Blake with, like. With like, a top line, like, twenty thousand dollar, like, tux with no shirt underneath would be really hilarious.

[Tyler]

Dude, if you're doing the hundred push

[Russ]

up challenge, you'd be looking good and, like, eye glitter.

[Cliff]

No.

[Russ]

Sucks.

[Tyler]

All right, guess what, Jack. So I challenged jack to 100 push up challenge. I can't do 100 in one setting. You have to take a break and then I can do 100. But Jack.

[Jack]

Yeah, I can easily do it with a break. I can do it with a break.

[Tyler]

No, I could do it with a break. No, I could do it with a break. I'm talking one Set all the way through. And Blake already got started on. I mean, Blake already got started.

[Blake]

Yeah, I did. Yeah.

[Tyler]

He's got an app for.

[Blake]

There's an app you can get in. There's a hundred push up. App takes about six weeks, they say.

[Tyler]

So Blake. Blake is starting at week four. He's just. Cool.

[Russ]

So how do you.

[Jack]

How do you work your way up to it?

[Blake]

So I'll just whip it out here. So it's called. Let's get it here. It's called Pushy. And you'll do. It'll have you start. It starts off doing, like, only a handful of sets a day, but what you'll do is you'll do like five or six sets in pretty quick succession. So I started on week four, day one, and it went 22, 26, 21, 18, 19, 31. And you're supposed to wait no more than five minutes between sets when you do them.

[Tyler]

Okay. I got. I got up to 80 and I. I gave out. So I don't know what.

[Blake]

Jack.

[Jack]

Yeah. What's with the random numbers? I don't. I don't get the random numbers.

[Blake]

I don't know. It's probably science came up with it.

[Tyler]

Yeah, it's science, Jack.

[Blake]

Yeah. Science haters.

[Tyler]

Okay, without further ado. Without further ado, we do have Cliff's Broadway performance here. Ooh, it's off Broadway. Probably right off off Broadway.

[Blake]

It would be off Broadway.

[Jack]

No, no, it's on Broadway.

[Blake]

Off off off Broadway. They had to invent it just for him.

[Tyler]

All right, Slaters24, play it. Mr. Billy Flynn sings a press conference Rag.

[Blake]

Notice how his mouth never moves.

[Tyler]

Almost.

[Blake]

Where'd you come from? Mississippi. And your parents? Very wealth. Now six feet under.

[Tyler]

But she was granted one more start.

[Blake]

The Convent of the Sacred Heart when you get here.

[Jack]

19, 20. How old were you?

[Blake]

Don't remember.

[Jack]

Then what happened?

[Blake]

I met Amos and he stole my heart away Convince me.

[Cliff]

Ending. The ending's the only good part. You gotta play the last.

[Blake]

Find the ending. We'll get it, I think next week.

[Jack]

That's great.

[Blake]

We should get that suit for you. You should wear that. If you had.

[Cliff]

That burgundy suit is like a box suit. And at the end, I'm standing up. You see? It is like a pure box.

[Blake]

I might contemplate making an exception to the no jacket rule. If you wear that suit on the set. And it's not. It's not wearing a suit, it's not wearing a jacket. It's wearing a costume.

[Tyler]

Cliff, you're actually good.

[Cliff]

I'm an Actor who sings, not a singer who acts. So I, you know, would push through it. The ending's good, though. If you watch the ending, then I could say, yeah.

[Tyler]

Think about how many votes you could drive out in the midterms.

[Cliff]

0 showing up in Republican primaries.

[Blake]

I want to get back a little bit.

[Russ]

I bet. I bet in New Hampshire there's a few.

[Tyler]

Oh, yeah. New Hampshire's prime ground for this. They're cultured up there.

[Russ]

The widest parts.

[Blake]

That actually gets at something, which I think I want to actually talk a little bit more about the Obama musical because it's so fitting that Obama is getting a musical in the sense that the Obama ear. First of all, musicals are totally like a fancy white liberal thing. A white people thing.

[Tyler]

Oh, yeah.

[Blake]

And Obama was kind of. He was the last gasp of this sort of white lib dominated America. Like, it's. This is the group that gave us Hamilton.

[Tyler]

Ironic. Because he's black.

[Blake]

Yeah, of course. But it's. This is totally the sort of thing that they would get into the whole, you know, again, they pushed Hamilton everywhere. That was dominating D.C. in the mid-2010s. And you just read the descriptions of these. Apparently the guy who plays Obama comes on stage and says, I'm mother effing Obama. It's definitely a way a millennial would do it. I love these descriptions here. Hillary Clinton is the bitter, scorned woman with a feminist rant titled My turn. It's then followed by a performance by a bikini clad Sarah Palin titled PG13 warning. Drill me, baby. She is joined by fellow villains Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, and various blonde hobots. From phone news, the Republicans convene a meeting of Wham, the white hetero affluent men group, where they appoint Herman Cain as a token black member. Lindsey Graham prances about with a tiny parasol and makes that sounds fitting. Somewhat uncouth comments. And they exclude Trump entirely from the story.

[Tyler]

Wow. They just wanted a breather from Trump. All right, Cliff, we have it 25. Lot of pressure here.

[Cliff]

A lot of pressure.

[Blake]

Both reach for the.

[Russ]

I had much lower exposure expectations.

[Cliff]

Thank you.

[Russ]

That's pretty good.

[Tyler]

You gotta play the ending hat dance. Yeah, that's great. It was great.

[Blake]

I gotta get the suit.

[Russ]

That's like, really good.

[Blake]

You.

[Russ]

You hit that note.

[Tyler]

Yeah. Listen, I'm all for bringing back masculinity to the arts. The arts are awful because it's run by a bunch of femme Nazis and gay people. If you could actually insert some freaking masculinity in there. And then you got Christopher Nolan, who should be Kind of a masculine director and he's botching everything.

[Jack]

Speaking of the arts, I know that Blake on the next topic, wanted to do some, some review of the leading, I guess fiction, but a certain type of fiction. Isn't that right, Blake?

[Blake]

100% true. 100% true. Do we want to jump into that?

[Tyler]

Yeah, let's hit it.

[Blake]

All right, so it's all related. Oh one. 100%. Especially the way we've moved this here. Let me go grab the original tweet. So this was all prompted by a rather amusing observation someone made on X. They were going through Amazon. Amazon has some amazingly good detailed tracking of who is buying their products. And Amazon sells a lot of books. They sell a lot of the only books people buy anymore are romance novels. And they have them subdivided into a bunch of categories including interracial romance. Big.

[Tyler]

That's a category.

[Blake]

That's a category. Interracial romance. And someone of course top 100 best selling interracial romance novels of the past year. And 38 of them are white guy, black woman. 20 of them are white guy, Asian woman. 19 of them are white guy with a white woman, but misclassified because they classify an Italian or a Russian as not white. Then they have nine of them are white guy, Latina woman, four are white guy, Indian woman. Six out of 100 they're both not white. One was gay, one was a. I believe, I think it looks like Asian man, black woman and one was Asian man, white female.

[Tyler]

So hold on

[Jack]

audience. I think, I think, I think we need to know what the audience is for this because this is, this is I think the salient point here.

[Blake]

I think I. Well we don't, I don't think we have that data specifically.

[Tyler]

But I think we know though, like the white male, as it was in

[Jack]

the tweet, the tweet thread.

[Tyler]

58, we're at basically 65.

[Blake]

How many?

[Tyler]

70.

[Russ]

How many are black male?

[Tyler]

We're like 70. 70.

[Jack]

No, we are well over 70. We are.

[Blake]

Look, it was 30 years, 20, 19, 9. Literally over 90 of them are a white guy with a non white woman. And the answer as Jack is getting, that is these are consumed overwhelmingly by women and it turn and in general I'd say consumed by in this case women of color, black women.

[Tyler]

So they, they hate on us.

[Blake]

They crave the hairy, barbarian Nordic bodies in their romance.

[Tyler]

This is very telling actually.

[Russ]

So this is what we're pulling down.

[Jack]

Multicultural and based on Amazon bestsellers. Wait, wait, pull up the where's that AI deal again. I just Want to read it based on this? The is the overwhelming market is heavily dominated by bwwm, black women, white man pairings, particularly within the billionaire mafia and sports romance sub genres. Dark romance and forced proximity are currently the top performing tropes. And, and Blake, the point that they're getting at, I believe is that the, the audience for this is. Is not white men, is it?

[Blake]

No, it's not. It's. It is the women themselves. And that's why I find this really interesting.

[Tyler]

White women.

[Blake]

This is. No, it's. I think it's. It's like black women. Black women want to read a romance novel where a white guy falls in love with a black woman. Or a lot of them do.

[Tyler]

I bet there's some white women that read this stuff.

[Blake]

Probably. I think they're probably not put off by it because a lot of the women who read this are woke. So they'll. They'll feel righteous as they read this. And then the other groups actively like,

[Tyler]

I bet American white women do the misclass. The Italian Russian male with a white woman.

[Blake]

They might. Well, you are. I like this question. I have a question. Proximity subgenre. What's very interesting about romance novels in general? They have a lot of very specific niche sub genres that will get tons of entries. I know we've talked in here before how there's a million hockey romances. Like just go to Barnes and Noble, you'll find tons of them and they're all hockey specifically, but they'll also do that with types. And so they mentioned there the billionaire subgenre, the mafia subgenre, the sports subgenre. And yeah, forced proximity. That would be. There's tropes where I think two people are fish out of water and you are, you know, very different worlds and you contrive a reason they're stuck together. So that could be they're in a shipwreck and they're stuck on a desert island.

[Tyler]

Stuck in an elevator.

[Blake]

Yeah, stuck in an elevator. Trapped in a panic room. Trapped on an alien planet. A million different iterations of this, but they'll all follow the same beats of. Oh, I like the idea of them being trapped together.

[Tyler]

Did any. Anybody here ever date a black woman? Looking at you, Cliff? No.

[Jack]

Andrew, something you want to. Something to share?

[Russ]

I'm going to. I'm going to be fair. I'm going to. I'm going to be very blunt. Most black. It's not me. Most black women hate me.

[Tyler]

Oh, I don't know why in general

[Blake]

do they get

[Tyler]

that hat?

[Russ]

I Don't know what it is.

[Blake]

Do you like, if you, like, show

[Russ]

up and I don't know what it is. Do they know I piss off black women? Like, I'm not kidding. It's been my whole life. I don't know what it is.

[Tyler]

Like, I don't know why, but I'm bothered by. Black women love me.

[Russ]

Most black women, like, yeah. Do not find me funny. They do not like me. They don't think my humor is good. They don't think, like, my sassiness or whatever.

[Cliff]

Like, they don't like, sassy.

[Tyler]

Are you sassy?

[Russ]

So I used to. So I used to.

[Blake]

Have you discovered this through experience or something? Like, yes, you.

[Tyler]

This is anecdotal. It's your personal experience.

[Russ]

It's personal experience. Like, I. I have many stories. I don't know if I should share them, but, like, it is like, at

[Blake]

an R B concert and you were.

[Russ]

No, okay, fine, I'll just share.

[Tyler]

Did you go to a Boy's Dimension show?

[Russ]

When I was in college, I worked for a bank.

[Jack]

He went to see the Michael Jackson movie, and he was thrown out.

[Tyler]

He asked somebody to be quiet, and he got through.

[Russ]

When I worked for college. When I was in college, I worked for a bank, and we acquired a bank that was largely based in Detroit.

[Tyler]

Okay.

[Russ]

And every single bank manager that I was there to support was a black woman. And I talked to basically exclusively black women every single day. And I was like, I'm. Like, I was a really nice person. Really. They did not like me at all. Like, did not, like, not none of them. It was like I was batting zero.

[Tyler]

I would have been good at that job. I'm.

[Russ]

No, I have friends that, like, are loved by. Like, yeah, one of my best friends is, like, loved by black.

[Tyler]

I'll run into black women just, like, at the store or whatever, and they're like. I mean, get on like a house on fire. I'm not. It's not. I mean, you need to think.

[Cliff]

It's.

[Jack]

If you're in the military, government, you'll find that a lot of, like, the administrative HR roles tend to be black women. So if you can't, you know, build a rapport there, if you can't just have a conversation, then, like, you are not going to be very successful in any of those roles. And what can I say? Look, Cliff, you know, come from the Philly area. Like, it's just. Just something you grew up with.

[Russ]

Hey, hey, Blake. On that list, are there any black women? Mexican man novels?

[Blake]

I don't think so. It seems like there was Asian, there's Asian male, there's, there's nine.

[Tyler]

White male, Latin female.

[Blake]

Sorry, let's see, are there any others? Let's see. Authors. Yeah, I don't think there. There is, amusingly. There is exactly one. All right.

[Tyler]

Black male, white.

[Blake]

There's one. There is one Indian male, white female novel writt by an Indian woman and it has arranged marriage themes.

[Russ]

Arranged marriage themes.

[Blake]

So that's, that's definitely.

[Tyler]

This is hilarious. So this, this tweet was drafted by this guy Bucci, I guess.

[Russ]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

And he goes, there was only one black male, white female romance novel. At least that's what I thought. It turns out the male protagonist is Russian with a Viking with Viking traits. And apparently the COVID used stock photography at relaunch in an effort to, quote, appeal to a different audience.

[Blake]

These covers are amazing, by the way. Let's see if we can throw up one of these. We have Fjord lords captive there. That one is really amazing looking.

[Tyler]

So you know what's weird about this is because I'm looking at this, this image right here. And I mean, so here, I gotta put this image up here. But what's interesting about this is. So this is. This is all consumed by women.

[Blake]

Yes.

[Tyler]

So women apparently like the. Yeah, there you go. Alpha's mate, Bad boy bears book.

[Blake]

Too bad.

[Tyler]

Terrible stuff. But it's actually the most amount of

[Blake]

the only thing keeping the bottom like 60% of the population literate, by the way.

[Tyler]

That's very elitist of you. Yes, it is. But what's interesting, if you, if you swap the roles, like men are kind of famous for porn. I don't. I mean, I'm not encouraging that 11 year olds where the roles would be reversed. It's a famous genre. I mean, I'm not.

[Blake]

It certainly is.

[Tyler]

It's just a fascinating, weird dynamic.

[Blake]

I wanted to.

[Tyler]

Hold on.

[Jack]

What are we showing here?

[Blake]

What are they putting.

[Jack]

Producer Russ has made. Wait, Blake, you have a series of interracial novels. Blake, is that true?

[Blake]

Look at. I'm looking at the author here. They're written by.

[Jack]

They're written by Russ. Hat on.

[Blake]

Russ writes all of them.

[Jack]

He's got the rice hat on and he's with. With a Vietnamese girl.

[Tyler]

Look at. That's him after 100 push ups though. That was that, that one.

[Jack]

That's. Yeah, that's Blake after 100 push up. Blake, why are you wearing dress shoes on the beach?

[Blake]

A man should always be properly dressed at all times, Jack.

[Tyler]

This is literally the only way.

[Jack]

It's everything I Love how you have the quarter zip no matter what situation you're in. By the way, like on the palace,

[Blake]

again, a man should always be properly dressed in an elevator.

[Jack]

On the Rice Patties.

[Tyler]

That one's hilarious. Where you're wearing the.

[Blake]

Yeah, the.

[Jack]

The one with the hat.

[Blake]

The Rice Patty hat.

[Russ]

Yeah. Well, we were just talking about.

[Jack]

Read that.

[Russ]

We were just talking about theater. This is like Blake's west side Story.

[Jack]

No, that's the. The plot of Good Morning, Vietnam. Right. Doesn't he have. He has, like, a Vietnamese, like, girlfriend that he meets when he's. When he's Robin Williams, when he's stationed there.

[Blake]

I don't know. I've never seen that movie.

[Jack]

There's. Never seen Good Morning Vietnam.

[Blake]

Gosh.

[Tyler]

What is the takeaway here, Cliff? Why are white men dominating the interracial romance novel category?

[Jack]

Look, here's what I need to say about that. We are not objects. Stop objectifying us.

[Blake]

We keep objectifying us.

[Russ]

Do it.

[Tyler]

This is a weird, like, underhanded compliment. Individuals, they hate us in culture, and they hate us politically, but they love us.

[Blake]

That's the take. That's the takeaway. They can. Yeah, you can.

[Cliff]

No, we'll go with that. We'll go with that.

[Jack]

Surface. The hate is on the surface because what's simmering right underneath.

[Tyler]

Yeah, it's.

[Blake]

I mean, we've also seen this. We've seen the.

[Cliff]

No, I just think that I've seen.

[Jack]

Who watches Bridgerton? Okay.

[Blake]

Did you watch it?

[Jack]

Seen it?

[Blake]

Bridgerton. Wow. Did you watch it, Jack?

[Jack]

No. Okay.

[Blake]

All right. I mean, he says he's seen who watches it. I don't know. I haven't.

[Cliff]

Last point of clarification. We're saying that the people that. That are buying these books, we. We know that they are minority females,

[Jack]

or that's what we're guessing significantly, according to this data. According to this data set. No, based on. Based on sales and Amazon data.

[Tyler]

Where's the fact. I didn't see that anywhere. Blake was.

[Jack]

It was in the thing.

[Tyler]

Blake was. Was presuming. No, no, no.

[Jack]

It's.

[Blake]

It's in the thread.

[Jack]

Put it in the chat.

[Tyler]

Is it. No, this is. He's presuming.

[Jack]

No, it's right there.

[Tyler]

What does Zuzu's pedal say from. Can you make a T shirt and sell it?

[Blake]

Maybe.

[Russ]

I. I made it our. I made it our group photo and on telegram.

[Cliff]

Oh, dear.

[Blake]

Geez.

[Tyler]

You did.

[Russ]

Look at that.

[Tyler]

Dear Lord. Okay, that is a thought. Hold on, Jack. Don't say anything. Don't say anything. Cliff, what is the takeaway here, the

[Cliff]

takeaway I do agree with Jack, is that they act in public and virtue signal that all white men are evil. But in reality, they've got a soft spot for us.

[Tyler]

Charming.

[Russ]

Well, here's what's confusing about it. I mean, we've made pretty dramatic inroads with black men, specifically, like, black men love Trump and they've broken the whole. Since Obama. Since we were just talking about Obama since the Obama era. Black women, not so much. Black women are not big fans of most of us, but they're buying the books, so there's gotta be an inroad there politically.

[Tyler]

Yeah. I also look at my African American over here.

[Cliff]

Yeah. I also think, yeah, they do love Trump. But I do think we always underestimate how much black men hated Kamala Harris. I mean, yes, they hated her with a passion.

[Russ]

What.

[Blake]

How they feel about Michelle.

[Cliff]

I think they look at Michelle Obama as, like, an actual black woman. I think they just looked at Kamala and it was a little too yappy

[Tyler]

and a little too, like, Indian.

[Blake]

Yeah.

[Cliff]

Like, is she faking it?

[Tyler]

She's really a black woman.

[Cliff]

Correct.

[Tyler]

Yeah. Okay.

[Jack]

That be all right.

[Blake]

Someone was asking if they can make a romance novel cover set in the Roman Empire.

[Tyler]

You would be good at that.

[Jack]

They did ask for his own. His own comments.

[Blake]

Caligula. Oh, dear.

[Tyler]

Can we get.

[Jack]

We got it before. I. I have a heart out.

[Cliff]

But.

[Jack]

But I would. I would love to hit this. This millennial mom thing.

[Russ]

This.

[Jack]

I've been sitting on this for like two weeks now.

[Tyler]

You're talking about the one where 40 year old moms are having more babies than.

[Jack]

No, no, no, no, no. Not that one. This. It's related to that. But this was the one where it was like they were saying that millennial moms. So moms who I guess, like, are in their 30s, 40s now, are actually reporting more. This is a Newsweek article. And they were reporting to be more. Feeling more drained, feeling more mentally anguished, feeling more. What was the word? Resentful. This was. This is the headline from Newsweek. Feeling more resentful than mothers of other generations. So Gen X and baby boomer boomer mothers. And it said, while the findings suggest that while motherhood has changed across generations, the burden of. Of managing family life still falls disproportionately on moms. Okay, that's kind of a ridiculous suggestion. Like, obviously moms are the best at raising families because that's why we have moms. That's what they are for. But it was talking about how millennial moms have a higher rate of burnout and resentment and that personal time is their number one need. And stated that way more than or. Or baby boomer moms. And I wanted to throw out to the chat, of course, which we are reading, and also to the gang here as to what we think might be the reason for this huge generational disparity.

[Tyler]

Social media. Social media. Yeah. I mean, it's just like they all look, I'm telling you, they all look on Instagram and they all compare their lives to all the other moms and how they have it put together and they're like, my life sucks compared to them. I'm resentful.

[Blake]

Delete Instagram.

[Tyler]

Yeah, serious. They would be so much happier if they just deleted Instagram.

[Cliff]

When you figure if you're in your 30s or 40s, you know, you're raising kids in the era of like, you have to be a victim, you know, we've kind of gone over the hump of that. And it's like, I think they're probably fighting for privilege points. And it's like you said, everybody's critical on social media. I mean, it's.

[Jack]

I also.

[Tyler]

Yeah, but I also think it's like the expectations on moms these days are completely out of bounds. Like Gen Xers were free range kids. Like boomers like let their kids just like ride around the park and right around the neighborhood. Like, didn't have to helicopter parent them, so you got to do that. Then you got to get them the tutor, then you got to get them the piano lessons and the, and the like fencing, whatever the hell.

[Blake]

We've made being a parent a lot more miserable.

[Tyler]

They've made being a parent a lot more miserable.

[Blake]

Like it's, it's more time consuming. There's a lot more things you have to worry about either literally. So if you live in a place with bad public schools now that's something you have to, you might have to homeschool, you might have to find the right private school or get them into the right.

[Tyler]

And you have to be a boss babe at the same time.

[Blake]

So you got to have a job.

[Tyler]

You have to have a full time job.

[Jack]

And that's, that's what the article is talking about. I'm, I'm doing my tie right now as we, as we chat here, because I have a hit, but. Jolie Silva, PhD. How's my tie? I wasn't even looking. It's pretty good. Not bad for. Not bad for a Catholic school kid that millennial mothers were raised in a climate of women's empowerment to climb the corporate ladder, be entreprene, become highly educated, and make their own money. Most of these women also wanted to be moms and perhaps weren't presented with the realities of the hardest job. So you, you have the girl blossom on one hand. But I would, I would definitely argue that Instagram brain is a huge part of that. Particularly because, you know, they go on Instagram and. And you know, they're going to see like some influencer who's like, got the perfect house, got the perfectly, you know, is like working out all the time, everything seems great, kids seem great, has a job. And it's like, like, how am I supposed to compete with that? And internally, subconsciously, it creates all of these problems. So that's why I tweeted on Mother's Day that if you want to be a good husband to your wife, to your spouse on Mother's Day, yes, of course, take her out, treat her well. But if you really want to help her, unburden her mental load, if you want to help her find that way to relax, don't get her spa tickets, don't give her that back rub. The main thing that you can do is to take her phone and delete Instagram.

[Tyler]

I gotta agree with that. I think. Yeah. So Russ is making a good point because they're doing wedding planning right now and, like, the FOMO thing is real. So my wife used to be a wedding planner and she and her mom did the business together. And they were talking about how brides just kept getting worse and worse because of Pinterest. So they would all compare their wedding, even though they had like a $50,000 budget or a $30,000 budget. And they'd be comparing it to like a million dollar budget or half million dollar budget. So all they're feeling is like inadequacy after inadequacy. Fomo, fomo, fomo. So, you know, poor Russ is trying to plan one right now and you're comparing yourself to like, the entirety of the Internet. This is why I think people were happier when we just lived in, like, villages. All you had is compared to what

[Blake]

used to just resent your neighbor.

[Tyler]

Yeah. When you were living in a village and just like Matt, imagine like prehistoric times, you're literally. Your psychology, on some level is probably

[Jack]

wired most closely to what Scott Adams used to say. Exactly what you're saying right now.

[Tyler]

Oh, okay. I'm legitimately not ripping it off Scott Adams. But it's. No, no, yeah, it's a good point.

[Jack]

He agreed with exactly what you're saying

[Tyler]

you just compare yourself to the other like, you know, Neanderthal and like making fire in the corner. Oh, he got a bigger deer than me. Okay, I guess that's. But you would also know your role in like a social structure much more clearly. Like I'm part of the guys that go out and hunt, hunt for, you know, wild, you know, animals, or you're a woman that sits around and you make the bread.

[Blake]

A really interesting manifestation of that that I don't know if it's really been deeply investigated, but it's an interesting theory. So we talk about number of kids people are having fertility rates over the past five years, roughly since COVID the number of children being born in middle to lower middle income countries has, has absolutely cratered. Like the number of kids that are having in Latin America because they all got cell phones. So the number of kids they're having in the Middle east, the number of kids they're having in Southeast Asia, those places that are, they're not rock bottom poor, but they're lower, they're middle to lower middle class countries. And I think a real factor in that, as you say, they got cell phones, they got on social media. So we're getting FOMO of things in the United States. Imagine how bad your life FOMO is if you're a person living on $3,000 a year in Jakarta, Indonesia.

[Tyler]

I have a crazy story on this. So when I graduated college, I ended up joining up with an organization. I went to Africa for a mission trip and I was there for months and I was around the Maasai people. So we would do these like little tours out, you know, to Maasai land. And at one instance I was literally in a Maasai hut. Like a traditional, like old, ancient hut. There's nothing modern about it. They did it in all the old school way. When I got in there, I saw a car battery that somebody had sold them and they used the car battery to charge their cell phones. So these Maasai are living completely ancient lives. And this is like probably at the advent of smartphone technology, maybe a little before. But I remember thinking they had full cell service out there. They lived in a hut, they were hunter gatherers, but they had a car battery to charge their cell phones. It was like the wildest dichotomy. They didn't have anything else, but they had a car battery to charge their cell phone.

[Jack]

But so they could. They used the car battery to charge the cell phone so they could get on Amazon and download the interracial novels.

[Tyler]

Correct. With the white man.

[Cliff]

Were they happy people?

[Tyler]

Were they happy? Yes, they were happy. Those folks were really happy. But again, this was at the advent of all that. But I sort of wonder if you, if I went back now and I saw them still living in huts, nuts, you know, dodging elephants, literally. Like, you know, would they now have iPhones or androids, comparing themselves to Western cultures or Asian cultures or whatever? It was a really, really fascinating experience.

[Jack]

No, I, I think that's a huge part of it. I think you are starting. And by the way, I've seen something too, with like, millennials and just zoomers on, on Instagram in general, where people, like, act like they've got a brand new. If they've. And they'll have like 200 followers or whatever. And it's like, what's up, guys? Here's what I'm doing today. La la la. And it's like, like, who, who are you? Like, what are you doing? Like, we shouldn't.

[Tyler]

Nine views.

[Jack]

Yeah, exactly, like nine views or something. And I'm not dissing it or anything. Like, like, if you want to get started, that's fine. But I do think that we've created a problem. We have a problem in society. And social media, particularly Instagram and TikTok caused this where everybody wants to be, be like the person on stage. Everybody wants to be the, you know, the, the center of attention. And it creates this, this really narcissistic feedback loop for a lot of people.

[Tyler]

This is why, this is why Blake's right.

[Jack]

Constantly creating this content and they're, and just real quick, it, and it disconnects you from what you are doing in the moment because you are, like, you are wanting to be, you know, you're wanting to, like, film it for people elsewise. And you see this, of course, in like, the wake of, you know, horrific tragedies or events or like car crashes, like, oh, I got to film this for the gram. As opposed to be like, oh, my gosh, can I help someone?

[Tyler]

Well, this is ultimately why Blake's right. We're going to lose to China because we are, we are producing a culture where everybody wants to be a social media influencer. And can I just tell you as somebody who did my darndest to avoid ever being a public person until what happened to Charlie. And I was sort of like, forced to be more public. Public being private was way better. And actually, like, I, I, I've. It, it made me feel bad for you, Jack, because, like, you know, Charlie obviously was a very figure. He's not here. You've been. You've been forced to be a public figure. Well, you. You did it to yourself, but, like, you've had to endure it for years. And I think it's. I got a bug in my throat. I think it's, like, unfortunate. The downside of it is, like, really, really shockingly awful. I will tell you.

[Russ]

I think the worst thing in modern culture with women on particularly Instagram is this crossover between the arch of. Or the arc. Not the arch. The arc of the Pick Me girl crossing into the main character syndrome.

[Tyler]

What's the Pick Me girl?

[Russ]

Pick Me Girls on Instagram are people who are trying to exemplify their superiority over other women.

[Tyler]

Women. Okay.

[Russ]

So sometimes they're. It's deprecating of other women.

[Tyler]

They're. Are they like the mean girls?

[Russ]

Yeah, it's kind of like mean girl syndrome.

[Jack]

No, it's like, it's like, I'm not like, I'm not like other girls. I'm like one of the guys.

[Cliff]

They're fishing for comments. They're trying to, you know, get clout with the guys.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Oh, is it. Is it. Is it male geared? I've just barely ever been.

[Jack]

It's like those other girls are hussies. Those are thoughts, dots. Those are whatever. Like, I'm not. I'm cool. I'm not like them.

[Tyler]

Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. It's funny, there was like a whole conspiracy theory that I deleted my Instagram because it was like, it had all this, like, stuff on it that was really important public knowledge. It was literally just pictures of my kids. So my wife took my phone and, like, I haven't been on Instagram in like a long time. People send me Instagram.

[Jack]

It was, it was. It was just this weird account I found, like, Andrew Colvette too. And it's just weird pictures of you. Like, I think it's AI. I don't know if it's real, but it's just Andrew and Speedos. Like.

[Tyler]

No,

[Russ]

it's actually. It's actually Andrew singing on stage. And is it.

[Tyler]

Is it can you steal my heart?

[Jack]

You saw it too?

[Tyler]

Yeah, that's what it is.

[Jack]

Oh, no,

[Tyler]

that's really funny. I have to say. Literally, that's what the hut looked like.

[Russ]

Andrew Colvette goes into Maasai territory, comes

[Cliff]

out, can you steal my heart?

[Russ]

I don't know.

[Blake]

The best part is I did. I did just tell Grock, give it a punny African title. And it went with that.

[Cliff]

That's pretty good.

[Tyler]

It's pretty good.

[Blake]

These things are overtaking us. They're coming up with bad puns for romance.

[Tyler]

That's what the hut looked like. And it was filled with flies. That's what they don't show you in that Roman romance novel. Absolute. Filled with flies.

[Cliff]

You bring up a great point about the public. You know, we all kind of have this public Persona, but it's like. Like, people ask me all the time, like, what is your, like, off ramp from politics and what you're doing? And I'm like, my dream is, like, the day that I can delete all social media.

[Tyler]

Right.

[Cliff]

I. I mean, and I'm. I don't mind saying this on the air. Like, I really have to do it to raise the money. Right. Like, to have a pro to. To get the people to apply for door knocking. Sure. But, like, really, the public perception is, well, all these other groups are doing this. Like, it's about, you know, being able to reach donors and having a presence out there and commenting. But, like, the day I'm done, like, phone in the trash, I'm off all social media.

[Tyler]

Yeah, man. I. I genuinely think that it. If. If I could be king of the world for one day and they. And I could just destroy social media, like, that's what I would do.

[Blake]

Yeah. One of my dream laws.

[Tyler]

It would be, like, legitimately the best thing that could ever.

[Blake]

Like, I. I have to. I, frankly, I wasn't even on Twitter until last fall. And then I. No, you're like, you ordered me onto it.

[Tyler]

You said if I had to do it, I was like, blake, you've got to go on.

[Blake]

You've got it. You've got to start an ex con. I'm like, okay, fine. But I think ideally, yes, I think a huge number of our social ills are downstream of social media. And if I could, I think I would. I would pass a law and say, yeah, we're abolishing Instagram, or we're at least restricting it. One of my hot takes is Instagram is bad for women in the same way that hardcore pornography is bad for men, in that it takes a natural drive that a person has that is overall good, and it supercharges it in a way that is destructive. So with pornography, like, men are supposed to be attracted to women, they're supposed to pursue women, they're supposed to try to have kids with women, and you're blowing that out with a super stimulus, and it's messing with your head.

[Jack]

Got to dip, guys.

[Tyler]

Jack. Thanks, Jay.

[Blake]

We love you. Enjoy your hit.

[Jack]

What hit are you doing back Rob? Schmidt on. On Newsmax.

[Blake]

Have fun it up Instagram. Instagram, though, same thing that it. Women are women. As we said, they're Norman Forcers. They are naturally going to care about what other people are doing and think of them. They're the. They're the glue that holds a community together. And we're super stimulating that we're showing them too much of what's going on for too many people, and it's making them feel massively inadequate when that would not be the case if they were in a normal community with normal people of their normal social circle.

[Tyler]

Well, and. And by the way, the. The cure to this is community and namely church.

[Cliff]

Of course.

[Blake]

Yes.

[Tyler]

It was like Jonathan Haidt had this clip and I want to pull it again. But he was asked the question, like, who raises better kids, right wingers or left wingers? And he was like.

[Blake]

He said, not even close. Not even close.

[Tyler]

Not even. It's not even like, statistically close. I'm not even gonna try and throw a bone to the left, left, the right. The kids of the right are completely more well adjusted. And he specifically brought up social media that they're more likely not to get washed out to sea is I think the way he put it, because right wingers tend to go to church. They have based in communities, based in family communities, and that just is way more stable. So women that have families, that. Kids that like, are. Have like a stable husband, that I think they are going to endure the onslaught of social media much, much more in a healthy way than.

[Cliff]

Yeah, he calls it the happiness gap.

[Tyler]

Right.

[Cliff]

The happiness gap is because the right wingers will keep their kids off the phone.

[Tyler]

Yeah. I mean, we're talking about strategies right now because my kids are little, but we want to be able to get a hold of them for safety. But they make all these phones that don't have the smartphone stuff on it. Really? Steve Jobs ruined everything.

[Blake]

It's insane how much phones mess with you. I think one of the craziest ones to me is, is there's some study that having a phone in the room, you're not on it, but there's just a phone in the room, damages your ability to do focused work on things. You don't even. It's not even. It's not even that you are. Because you grab the phone and it distracts you. Just you're thinking about the phone and what's on it. You have to literally take the phone, remove it from the room.

[Tyler]

So I'm actually doing a big camping trip with my kids. Kids where the whole thing is digital detox.

[Cliff]

Nice.

[Russ]

Where are you going?

[Tyler]

I'm not gonna say for privacy, but. But it's a really fun.

[Russ]

Out of state?

[Tyler]

Yeah, out of state. So we're going for four days and we're digital detox.

[Russ]

Western or eastern United States?

[Tyler]

Western United States, of course.

[Russ]

Northwestern. Southwestern.

[Tyler]

So the point is they. They put your phone in a box for four days and if like there's an emergency with your family or whatever, they have a satellite for phone. That's the only way.

[Cliff]

Oh, this is like set up where

[Tyler]

you're going, set up. A guy invited me to it and I was like, this sounds rad. So it's a bunch of dads with their kids.

[Russ]

That's cool.

[Tyler]

Yeah, it's gonna be fun. But it's four days without a phone. And I was like, you know what? I freaking need this.

[Blake]

So Zuzu's pedals has chimed in again. Thank you, Zuzu. She says Instagram is for people too illiterate to read real news on X. I am going to critique that a little bit, Zuzu. Obviously all of us are on X. We get a lot of news on X. We read takes on X. But I would say you should not use X as your exclusive news source or maybe even your primary news source, because that's part of it is part of the rod of X is you're getting one. A lot of AI fake stuff these days, but also just a lot of very brief hot takes that are not allowing you to fully grasp what's going on. I would encourage everyone, if you're. If you want to be an informed person, you should have normal news sites that you read and you read full articles on them. And you should have find a substack on a topic that you like in the real world. So it can be finance, if you're in business, it can be world news and politics. Just subscribe to Nate Silver or something. Nate Silver is a good one to read, but find the thing that you can learn where that involves reading full long articles because you need to have that ability to digest a long argument about something.

[Tyler]

So I actually had this conversation. I had to do an event with Dr. Ben Carson last week in D.C. and I was talking about. He's obviously a brain surgeon, neuroscientist. He said that reading long form is the single most powerful, I guess, contributor to strong neural pathways that you can. Can do or you can engage in. So reading books, reading long articles, so much better for your brain than short form stuff.

[Blake]

I even noticed that in short Term like when you're just. You read. When I'm in a high pace of reading, I'm doing a lot of reading each day I start. It's like your brain is putting together all these connections. I start noticing all this stuff. I notice my vocabulary goes up. I'm detecting new words.

[Tyler]

Caboose the Bard. If you are going to follow somebody online. Caboose the Bard.

[Blake]

If you want the guy who's the

[Tyler]

funniest guy on X. He says, I'm the funniest guy on X. It's criminal.

[Blake]

He's the guy who, who does all of the sound intrusions.

[Tyler]

Yes.

[Blake]

So if you like those, you should follow him. If you don't like those, you should follow him and then down him. Send him angry messages and say that

[Tyler]

you don't like Caboose the Bard. There it is. Yes. Caboose the Bard.

[Blake]

I guess all the better. I guess all the better. DND classes were taken, he couldn't be Caboose the Paladin or Caboose the Mage. Caboose the Bart.

[Tyler]

Caboose the.

[Blake]

Sorry, I had to make that nerd joke.

[Tyler]

We're gonna have to find out about that too. Reading out loud too, for kids. Yeah, man. I read out loud to my kids every night and it's really good. But I do agree that the IQ on X is higher than the IQ on other platforms. Of course, I mean, just if you had to take it. Obviously there's retards on X as well, but like the full on overall median IQ is hider. Retard alert.

[Cliff]

Do you have to use the hangover pronunciation of retard?

[Tyler]

Is that where I got it from?

[Blake]

This is like, you know, I want to. I want to come back. It's like how Charlie would always say it, Nazi when talking about Nazis. He would say Nazis every time without exception. And I kind of want.

[Tyler]

Do you think that was in a Jen Psaki? He would say Jen Pisaki.

[Cliff]

Yeah, because he was a retard. Yeah, Alan says it so.

[Tyler]

Yeah, but he said Nazi because of that.

[Blake]

That's why he said it. But, but I just thought he. Because he would do that. Not just in flippant references. He would do that when 100% earnestly talking about World War II or America's achievements in World War II. Things like that. Where. Where you'd think there'd be a little different way. But that was his way of doing that. It was a funny tick of his.

[Tyler]

Yeah, it was. Are we done if we want or

[Blake]

we can keep going. What do you Guys, think we could talk about the other part of that? About how there's no teen moms and

[Tyler]

they're all, oh, let's talk about that. Yeah, this is great. We have the graphic, right, guys? The. Is that Russ Spacey? The. Where's the graphic? Throw the graphic up. I want to read the headline about the 40 year old moms. This is a wild new stat, so I'm trying to find it. There it goes. More babies born to women over 40 than teens. For the first time in U.S. history, birth rates in women over 40 have jumped 193% since 1990, CDC reports. That's wild. But I will tell you that, like. So we had our first kid when we were living in Los Angeles and the nurses were like, you know, my wife was in her 20s, so they were, they were like, you know, wow, this is like amazing. This is going to be. No, no, no, no issues here because they were so used to in LA having most of the moms be like close to 40, in their 40s.

[Russ]

I have a theory for this and I sent it to the group too. Too was that teen alcoholism is way down.

[Tyler]

So you think they're totally linked.

[Russ]

I, I sent it over to the group.

[Tyler]

Yeah. I don't know. But they're all smoking weed, which I guess probably is not.

[Russ]

Weed doesn't get you laid.

[Tyler]

Yeah, that, that 11 year olds.

[Russ]

Yeah, they, they. I mean, I think it's part of it is the alcoholism is like way down and to the point. Kids aren't hanging out.

[Blake]

Yeah, they're not, they don't hang out, they don't.

[Russ]

But it's all, it's the same.

[Tyler]

They don't like each other, it's all together.

[Russ]

Like, they're not dating, they're not hanging out, they don't have inside jokes, they're not drinking, which is a good thing. Which is, I mean, that's a good part of it.

[Blake]

But it is good that teenagers, teenagers are not having kids. Other than we don't like it if they abort their kids, of course. But it is, it is still interesting because, yeah, we have the medical science to have your kids in your 30s and 40s. But I think a very real fact that people have not been honestly informed about is just how much harder it is to have kids when you're in your 30s, especially if you haven't had kids before. This is the thing that's a true fact. If you have a kid when you're 22, that by itself makes it easier for you to get pregnant again when you're 32, your body becomes better at it. It's a real thing.

[Tyler]

Well, there was a, you know, that guy Zubi on X, or whatever his name is, Zubi. He put out this tweet like a couple years back, must maybe it was even like five years back. And he said, do you wish you would have had more kids or are you happy with the number you had? This thing went so viral, like so viral. I mean, it was, you know, it was like 12, 16 million engagements by the time and it was like this, the, and everybody chiming into the chat was, I wish I would have had more, or, or I had four or five. And it's just right. So the people that had like a lot, you know, of kids were happy. But then the vast majority, I got started too late and one person left this comment that I'll just never forget. And it was basically like, to your point, it was like, you know, when you get to a certain point in your life, you look back at your early 20s, mid-20s, and you realize you had this strong, healthy body that you just wasted on partying and getting drunk and not, I guess, to your point, maybe they're not so much, but like, that was the reflection of this person that was in their 40s that had like two kids, wishes they would have had more, but struggled to get pregnant. And they basically said, it's crazy. You had this strong, healthy, like, like, you know, fertile body and you just, you wasted all of these years doing these things that you, you don't even remember now or you don't even value looking back on. So I, I, I'm a big believer that if you have that nagging feeling in the back of your mind like, should I have more kids? Like, the answer is yes.

[Cliff]

Do you think abortion or, you know, access to protection, I mean, does that impact us at all? Is that how we get to that stat?

[Russ]

Yeah, for sure. I think like, especially teenage and college age, like call it, everyone that's been on a college campus knows that they're like, they're just like throwing condoms around. Like, that was like a big push for the last 20 years. So that's definitely had an impact. For sure. I think abortion, for sure.

[Cliff]

It's up 16% last year compared to 2020 abortion. Yeah. In the U.S. yeah, that became a

[Blake]

lot more common after Dobbs, unfortunately. The, you know, the left wing states really went and supercharged their availability.

[Tyler]

Yeah, well, and the, the tech companies were like, we're gonna help finance your trip to California to get you your abortion. Really Sick stuff. Faz has some good takes here. He says 40s is when the wannabe girl boss plays her final trump card and retires to motherhood. It's a tap out disguised as a win for liberal rules. The fact that it's. That it's hard adds to the victimhood. Sorry, Foz, if I shouldn't have attributed that to you, but it, but it's kind of true. Like, you know, like there is like a, I think a the boss babe journey. Like the arc of the boss babe, right, where they get to that later stage and they kind of like either have to settle or they finally find the guy that they're willing to have kids with. And then they. And then that's when they kind of come to grips with the fact there's no more time on the clock. I gotta go next. So I think that's what's driving it is a lot of this, like, you know, you know, the clock's ticking down. They got to take their final shot or no. Or. Or else. I think that's driving a lot of it. But there you're. To your point. A lot of them need a lot of fertility help. Yep. Lot of doctor help, a lot of nutrition, a lot of ivf.

[Blake]

It's very. It's dark. There's a darkly funny aspect of this, which is one of the biggest reasons people give for not having kids earlier is they need to be more financially established to do it. And then when you go through this fertility stuff in your late 30s or 40s, you can easily spend a six figure sum trying to get pregnant. If the cycles fail over and over, that stuff gets expensive.

[Tyler]

I totally agree. I was thinking about this. Oh yeah, this one. Play this clip. This is a good one from Rachel Wilson. I'm still trying to get her on the show. She's great, but she kind of gives a little bit of. It's kind of like it's talking around some of these issues that we're talking about. The how unhappy moms are, how unhappy women are in general and. Yeah, loaded at 29. Okay, great. Go ahead and play it.

[Rachel Wilson]

Women just overall reporting dissatisfaction, unhappiness, a feeling of being really torn, trying to have it all. Trying to have a career and be a career woman and also have a family and. And do all of that. Women don't know what to do with relationships because on the one hand, they want men who make more than they do. They want men who are higher achieving than they are. Yet this creates a paradox. Whereas women have become the number one, earners of college degrees. They have now got salaries that compete with men, and they've got more equality than ever before. They're finding that the men are not suitable to marry. They're finding that, you know, they just can't find a guy who's on their level or higher, which is what they really want.

[Tyler]

Which has, of course, been your experience as well. So. Just kidding. Like, just kidding. No, but. But this talks about the paradox, right? Because women are getting all these degrees, they're trying to do it all, and then they get to the point where they're 40, and they're like, okay, I. I think a lot of them settle, if I'm just being honest. Like, they settle for the guy they can get at 40 because they realize there's, you know, all of a sudden your math changes when you get to 40. Charlie used to talk about this all the time, especially as, like, you know, women, like, a lot of the good ones are gone by the time 30 rolls around. If you're a woman and you're trying to get a mate. Right. A good man, like, a lot of them tend to get married and. Or, like, you know, are no longer in the dating pool at that point. So I'm a big fan of starting early. I don't think you should rush. It's not what I'm saying. Don't. Don't pick the wrong guy. Make sure you've sussed them out. Make sure you go through premarital counseling. I'll do all the things. Things. But, man, I think if you're at 30 and you're just starting to think about it, I do believe that that's, like, the wrong strategy, the wrong approach. If, you know, in your life you want to get married and have kids, I think earlier is better.

[Blake]

Yeah.

[Tyler]

Right, Cliff?

[Cliff]

Yes, sir.

[Tyler]

Yes, sir.

[Cliff]

So hold on. Just real quick. The stat was. I know we jumped around. The stat was that people in their 40s are having more kids than teens.

[Blake]

Yes. For the first time ever.

[Cliff]

That's wild.

[Tyler]

Yeah, but.

[Russ]

I mean, but. And. And. And definitely. I. I bet. Well, I don't know. I don't know this, but there's probably fewer people now as a percentage that are having babies in their 40s. And that's how low the birth rate is for teens.

[Jack]

Well, more.

[Blake]

More. I think the number of births in 40s is going up over.

[Tyler]

No, it's gone up. 193 or something.

[Blake]

No, it's still not a very high total compared to 20s and 30s. That's why our birthday rate is low. But it is somewhat marginally propped up by a few of these people.

[Tyler]

I bet. I bet it's because the Mormons are having fewer kids as teenagers, too. Mormon birth rates.

[Russ]

No, it's Mormons. It's Catholics. It's. It's orthodox. Yeah. Religious, like, so hardcore Christians, Catholics, young Catholics, like, most of most of my friends, I would say, and people that are a little bit younger than me that are, like. Because I grew up basically just around exclusively Catholics and Mormons, most went one of two directions. One, they either immediately came out of high school and had a bunch of kids, or they waited until they're, like, right now, like, I know a bunch of people who are, like, in their late 30s, early 40s, who are just, like, barely starting their family. And now all of them. And by the way, now all of them are pretty conservative.

[Tyler]

Yeah. Well, millennials are getting more and more conservative. I think that we should, at some point, devote a show about the absolute psyop that millennials endured in this country. Because, like, it's crazy, the expectations we had in life. And, like, what we were told was good. Like, how many millennials were told, don't have kids.

[Blake]

You know, stuff even from people who are reasonably conservative, I think about. Sorry, mom and Dad, I know you listen to this show, so I'm gonna criticize you a little bit here, but one of my sisters, she's a dentist, and my dad was lobbying her hard to go spend more time in school and become an oral surgeon, which is go. Go to school another four years. You can make more money, do all these things. But it is four more years of school. And what my sister's opinion on this was, okay, but then I won't be done with school until I'm in my 30s. And she'd gotten married by this point, she's like, I want to have kids. And she has three kids now. And I'm not sure how enthusiastic she is about actually being a dentist, but.

[Tyler]

Well, by the way, that happens a lot with moms. Have their first kid, and they. A lot of them just don't come back to the workforce. I told Daisy when she had her. Her daughter, I was like, I'm not sure you're coming back, like. But she's like, adam, we've worked out. She's got a. I mean, a good, good situation here that. Where she can.

[Blake]

But it's a real thing. Parents, even conservative parents, they, like, they worry about their. Certainly their daughters being able to support themselves, being having independence. This is a real thing. But they do end up Encouraging them down a life path where they're a lot less likely to have as many kids as their mom did or as early as their mom did.

[Tyler]

And then you got the Hispanics that, like, are they living, like four families to an apartment building and they all have four kids? And it's, you know, if you. If your goal is to have kids, the point is, like, money. Yeah. It's a concern, but it shouldn't be your primary concern. I'm a big believer that when. When you have kids, like, God brings the provision. So I totally believe that if you're devoted to it and you're serious about being like a good parent and a providing parent, God will bring the provision. I believe that. All right, guys, it's been a great show. I've had a good time. And Cliff, do you want final words to Cliff Malone? We want you to feel like you can talk here. We're not going to just drag you through the mud with all of your extracurricular activities.

[Cliff]

Tyler, can we promote the coloring book

[Blake]

you did that foreword for? You did a forward for a coloring book?

[Russ]

No, it wasn't a coloring book. It was. So Cliff has a new book that's out.

[Blake]

Oh, he made a coloring book.

[Cliff]

Yes. It's great.

[Tyler]

We put your book on the.

[Blake]

Is it a romantic coloring book?

[Russ]

So I actually. Over at the. I'll bring you. Because Cliff was nice enough to send me a couple boxes of them, so got them out over on the.

[Tyler]

All right, what's the title?

[Cliff]

Run right, Run right, Run right Book dot com. Great forward by the wonderful Tyler Boyer. Tell a lot of stories. Pretty much it was just the curriculum from our candidate academies with Joshua Lycic's assistants, our favorite co author.

[Blake]

This isn't a coloring book. You lied to me. This is a normal book.

[Tyler]

Throw it up, throw it up, throw it up.

[Cliff]

A lot of fun stuff from 2024. And then talking through the basics of. I mean, most of it's. Honestly, people want to run for State House because that's kind of where we focus. But, you know, if you're an activist

[Russ]

or if you're somebody that wants to

[Cliff]

run, we say if you want to run, you want to win, you want to stay principal. That's the point of the book.

[Tyler]

Good. Yeah. And use a lot of the learnings from Turning Point Action. What you guys, of course, did in Citizen alliance in PA and else other

[Russ]

places, there's not a lot of books out there that actually give you insight into what to do and how to win. And again, most. I mean, look most Republican party apparatus scenarios in most states are pretty bad. Right. So you don't get any help whatsoever from those guys because if you're conservative they basically attack you, try to take you out. Most people don't help on the fundamentals when it comes to this and Cliff is one of the the very few PhDs that we have within the conservative movement.

[Tyler]

You got a PhD in running and in singing.

[Cliff]

Not running. Running for office.

[Tyler]

Running. Right.

[Cliff]

I gotta work on my push ups. I was glad you didn't turn to me and say hey, you getting in the challenge?

[Tyler]

Wait, so is Poso coming back for a sign off?

[Blake]

No, let's just do it. I think we're all right.

[Tyler]

All right. All right. We're good. All right guys, this was a fun thought crime. Thought crime Thursday until next Thursday. Keep committing more thought crime. Thought crime is death is death is death.

[Blake]

Obama.