431 Joe Rogan Experience Review of Elon Musk

Summary

Joe Rogan Experience Review Podcast: Episode 431 – Elon Musk

Release Date: March 9, 2025
Hosts: Adam Thorne and Trevor

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Overview

In Episode 431 of the Joe Rogan Experience Review Podcast, hosts Adam Thorne and Trevor delve into the insights shared by Elon Musk during his appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience. Over the course of their 45-minute analysis, they explore a range of topics discussed by Musk, including artificial intelligence, government operations, conspiracy theories, and societal implications of emerging technologies. This comprehensive summary captures the essence of their discussion, enriched with notable quotes and timestamps for reference.

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1. OpenAI and AI Safety

Elon Musk on OpenAI's Evolution:
At [01:38], Musk reflects on the original mission behind OpenAI, emphasizing its initial commitment to open-source artificial intelligence:
"Now it is closed source and for maximum profit. So it's like, I mean, to some degree, I think reality is an irony maximizer. The most ironic outcome is the most likely."
He contrasts OpenAI's trajectory with Google's approach, expressing concern over AI safety:
"I wanted to start something that was the opposite of Google because I was concerned about Google's AI safety."

Hosts' Commentary:
Adam and Trevor discuss Musk's intentions in fostering diverse AI personalities, noting the potential utility and entertainment value:
"I like that they're giving it kind of different personalities and you can apply it to different purposes. It's going to be pretty cool." (03:33)

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2. AI Personalities and Future of AI Technologies

AI Sex Bots Discussion:
At [03:53], the hosts humorously speculate on Musk’s prediction about AI-driven sex robots within five years:
"It's almost like when Al Gore's saying we're going to be underwater in five years if we don't recycle our cans." (04:06)
They draw parallels to recurring technological predictions, such as hoverboards and flying cars, highlighting the skepticism around timely innovations.

Impact on Employment and Society:
Trevor raises concerns about the societal impact of advanced robotics and virtual reality, particularly on employment:
"Women are gonna be out of work completely. It's gonna flip things on its head real fast." (04:26)

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3. Fort Knox Gold Conspiracy

Debunking Fort Knox Myths:
At [06:23], Adam and Trevor tackle the enduring conspiracy theory surrounding the gold reserves at Fort Knox:
"It's just a good headline and a good talking point. It seems like it's had an army around the building for 24 hours a day for the last 60 years. I can't imagine that anything is missing." (06:25)
They express skepticism about the plausibility of the gold being absent, questioning the evidence:
"Do you have proof that it was ever there? I've never seen a picture." (07:14)

AI's Role in Identifying Conspiracies:
The hosts find it amusing how AI in the podcast labeled Musk as a conspiracy theorist:
"Where's all the gold? That is good." (07:38)
They discuss the fine line between legitimate skepticism and unfounded theories.

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4. Government Operations vs. Corporate Management

Running Government Like a Company:
At [13:17], the conversation shifts to Musk's perspective on government efficiency:
"Do you have something that companies do that governments don't to where you couldn't bring in somebody that can run a company very well and a very large company and make it more efficient?" (12:14)
Adam acknowledges potential benefits in integrating business practices within government but warns against prioritizing profit over public welfare:
"I wouldn't want Apple to be running our healthcare system or... trying to get more money to shareholders to be setting the agenda for services that are needed for most Americans." (15:47)

USAID and Soft Power Influence:
Musk’s critique extends to USAID, viewed as a tool for exerting American influence globally without overt military action:
"The idea behind USAID is exerting government American influence around the world... the soft power idea." (17:25)
The hosts discuss the complexity of evaluating USAID's true intentions and effectiveness.

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5. Media Narratives and Fact-Checking

Media Synchronization and Bias:
At [34:01], Trevor highlights the issue of media outlets echoing identical talking points, questioning their independence:
"They got a script clearly. That's all tied to like a family of media and I think it's tied to Murdoch somehow." (34:30)
Adam concurs, emphasizing the challenges of validating information amidst widespread misinformation:
"Believing anything that you see from talking heads on any of the... it's getting hard to validate information these days." (37:28)

Fact-Checking as a Necessity:
The hosts advocate for personal responsibility in fact-checking, given the pervasive misinformation:
"You gotta fact check yourself." (38:06)
They express frustration over the difficulty in discerning truth from scripted narratives.

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6. Social Security System Flaws

Outdated Systems Leading to Errors:
Musk raises concerns about the U.S. Social Security system's outdated infrastructure, leading to errors like deceased individuals still receiving benefits:
"They're using super old crappy system... it just doesn't realize people are dead." (24:12)
Adam relates this to past audits revealing similar issues, underscoring the need for modernization:
"There's an audit of the Social Security system and they did find that there were issues with deceased individuals still being in the system." (24:42)

Potential for Fraud and Improvements:
Trevor speculates on potential fraud schemes exploiting system flaws, emphasizing the difficulty in proving such activities:
"It could get very, very difficult to prove." (21:27)
They agree on the importance of overhauling the system to prevent misuse:
"Get in there and clean that shit up, man." (26:45)

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7. AI Access to Government Data and Privacy Concerns

Data Privacy Risks:
At [38:36], Adam expresses concerns over the access Musk’s team might have to personal government data:
"What I don't really want is like them to be plugging all of our data into like an AI and using it to train an AI." (39:00)
Trevor shares personal experiences with data access in the past, highlighting the sensitivity and potential misuse of personal information.

Regulatory Oversight:
They discuss the role of regulations in safeguarding data, questioning the effectiveness of existing consumer protection measures:
"What it comes down to. Right. What is their intent?" (42:40)

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8. Conspiracy Theories and Political Accusations

Allegations of Immigrant Voter Manipulation:
Musk makes a sensational claim regarding the Democrats' alleged strategy to fast-track immigrants into voting:
"The Democrats were basically importing immigrants to fast track them into having the capability to vote as some sort of ploy just to win all the elections." (43:25)
Adam challenges the plausibility of such an operation, noting legal barriers and logistical challenges:
"It's illegal for an illegal somebody who's here illegally and is not a citizen to vote in any national election." (44:06)

Nazis and Historical Conspiracies:
The hosts engage in a speculative discussion linking historical Nazi figures to current events and figures like Musk:
"So if there was a system like this that you knew wasn't really being looked at... it could look like we did all of these things and maybe they did." (23:27)
They explore the possibility of lingering Nazi influence through Operation Paperclip and its fictional extensions:
"It seems like the most reasonable to me." (10:18)
Trevor humorously dismisses the idea of Nazis being involved in Musk's Mars endeavors:
"They're gonna set up like a Nazi utopia on Mars. Oh, God. Now that's a conspiracy theory." (30:26)

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9. Elon Musk’s Security Concerns and Influence

Life Threats and Security Measures:
Musk expresses fears about his safety, hinting at potential threats due to his transparency and actions:
"He feels his life might be in danger." (51:10)
The hosts speculate on the implications, questioning whether such fears are rooted in genuine threats or exaggerated narratives.

Influence on Democracy:
Adam interprets Musk's motivations as a desire to protect and improve democracy:
"I think he wants our democracy to succeed." (52:31)
They caution Musk to maintain his efforts without jeopardizing his safety or credibility.

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10. Closing Thoughts and Future Prospects

Effectiveness of Musk’s Initiatives:
In their conclusion, Adam and Trevor reflect on the potential impact of Musk’s initiatives discussed during the podcast:
"If they are effective, if they can actually get anything done, if everything just keeps getting locked up, or they make massive blunders and they lose public support..." (58:13)
They emphasize the importance of measurable outcomes, such as national debt management and program efficiency, in evaluating the success of these endeavors.

Promotion of the Doge Report:
The hosts tease their collaborative project, the Doge Report, aimed at scrutinizing government actions and Musk’s narratives:
"We look at the Doge Gov site, we look at what the government releases... and we get to see where the national debt is." (58:36)

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Notable Quotes

• Elon Musk on OpenAI:
  "Now it is closed source and for maximum profit... I wanted to start something that was the opposite of Google because I was concerned about Google's AI safety." ([01:38])

• Trevor on AI Sex Bots:
  "It's almost like when Al Gore's saying we're going to be underwater in five years if we don't recycle our cans." ([04:06])

• Adam on Government Efficiency:
  "I wouldn't want Apple to be running our healthcare system or... trying to get more money to shareholders to be setting the agenda for services that are needed for most Americans." ([15:47])

• Adam on Media Synchronization:
  "Believing anything that you see from talking heads on any of the... it's getting hard to validate information these days." ([37:28])

• Trevor on Social Security Fraud:
  "If there was a system like this that you knew wasn't really being looked at... it could look like we did all of these things and maybe they did." ([21:27])

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Conclusion

Episode 431 of the Joe Rogan Experience Review Podcast offers a thorough analysis of Elon Musk's perspectives as shared on the Joe Rogan Experience. Through nuanced discussions on AI, government operations, and societal challenges, hosts Adam Thorne and Trevor provide listeners with a deeper understanding of Musk's viewpoints and their broader implications. The episode underscores the importance of critical thinking, fact-checking, and vigilance in navigating the complex interplay between technology, governance, and media narratives.

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For Joe Rogan fans and enthusiasts seeking an in-depth exploration of his podcast episodes, the Joe Rogan Experience Review Podcast serves as an invaluable resource, distilling key insights and fostering engaging discussions.

Transcript

[Adam Thorne]

You are listening to the Joe Rogan Experience Review Podcast. We find little nuggets, treasures, valuable pieces of gold in the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast and pass them on to you, perhaps expand a little bit. We are not associated with Joe Rogan in any way. Think of us as the talking dead to Joe's walking Dead.

[Trevor]

You're listening to the Joe Rogan Experience Review.

[Adam Thorne]

What a bizarre thing we've created.

[Trevor]

Now with your hosts, Adam Thorne.

[Adam Thorne]

This might either be the worst podcast or the best one of all time.

[Trevor]

One go.

[Adam Thorne]

Enjoy the show. Yeah, so you were like initially, I know there, there were some talks about you purchasing open AI and which the whole started off like non profit and then stopped being non profit.

[Elon Musk]

Yeah, I mean the whole idea of creating OpenAI was my idea. I mean, I named it OpenAI as an open source Artificial intelligence. That's what it's named after. Now it is closed source and for maximum profit. So it's like, I mean, to some degree, I think reality is an irony maximizer. The most ironic outcome is the most likely. Especially the most ironic, entertaining outcome is the most likely. And I wanted to start something that was the opposite of Google because I was concerned about Google's. Google wasn't paying enough attention to AI safety, in my opinion. So it was like, what's the opposite of Google? Will it be a Nonprofit open source AI?

[Trevor]

Yep. But sadly ChatGPT decided they're not going to go that way and they've gone for profit. So here we are doing the Rogan review for the Elon episode, joined today by my brother from a different mother, Trevor. Thanks for being here.

[Adam Thorne]

What's going on, man?

[Trevor]

And we wanted to introduce a new show that we had made together called the Doge Report. So there will be a link in a bio. Um, it's up now on Apple and Spotify. We're just getting the first few episodes down. This is a perfect time to have Trevor on and break down some of Elon's message and what's going on with Doge. But the idea of that show is just that I didn't find another show that was really summarizing what those was up to. And Trevor was up for the task. And we're going to try and make sense of what's happening and create a weekly breakdown of it for everybody. So if you're into that sort of thing, if that's interesting to you, check it out, we'd appreciate it. And yeah, we're going to do our best to make it, make it a good show. Yeah. So let's get into it. Lots. One pack on this episode kicks off with Elon just trying to, you know, he's showing off some grok AI sexy and unhinged modes. Quite funny. I don't know how useful but pretty interesting to have like these different personalities that are coming in with, with AI. One of the ones that they said was a therapist and AI which I think could be quite useful potentially.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah, I like that they're giving it kind of different personalities and you can apply it to different purposes. It's going to be pretty cool.

[Trevor]

Yeah, that.

[Adam Thorne]

What's. What did they call that one with the bad attitude?

[Trevor]

Unhinged. Unhinged, yeah, yeah, unhinged.

[Adam Thorne]

So a little bit of.

[Trevor]

And then they were saying probably that in the next five years we're going to have full on AI sex bots. I mean I think we've been saying the next five years for many five years. It's almost.

[Adam Thorne]

Right.

[Trevor]

It's almost like when Al Gore's saying we're going to be underwater in five years if we don't recycle our cans.

[Adam Thorne]

And we always been. We've been saying that. We say that for everything.

[Trevor]

Yeah.

[Adam Thorne]

Like whenever hoverboards are going to come out next year. When I was like 14.

[Trevor]

Flying cars. They're on their way. Yeah, they're on their way. But you know those are coming.

[Adam Thorne]

Jesus is going to be back. The end of the world's coming back next year.

[Trevor]

Oh yeah. There are some groups that do that for sure. For sure. The sex bot industry is going to be a huge industry though once they get past a certain point. It's. I feel the same way with, with like VR and AR stuff. It's like right now it kind of works. There's some cool stuff. You know, they had a go at it in the 90s. It was really clunky. But there's gonna be this point where it's just undeniable when it's a bit matrixy and as soon as they have these robots walking around looking, I don't know what the number would be like 80% like accurate to a human but obviously, you know, still a super hot lady. It's gonna, that's gonna be it. You're gonna win. Women are gonna be out of work completely. It's gonna, it's gonna flip things on its head real fast.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah, there's a show about that and where they like the technology gets good and then you know, they just hire a maid, you know, good looking maid to start cleaning the house because everybody's Busy.

[Trevor]

Mm.

[Adam Thorne]

And, you know, that one thing leads to the next and.

[Trevor]

And your robot maid is pregnant.

[Adam Thorne]

Exactly. And it all falls apart. Is that cheating?

[Trevor]

Good point. I mean, it probably feels like it, yeah. But. Yeah, I mean, to be fair, though, like, you know, I've heard of girlfriends of friends of mine getting mad that they were caught looking at some porn or. I mean, I guess there's. There's elements there. Any non. Other human interaction that could be seen as not necessarily cheating, but disrespectful, maybe to some degree. I don't know.

[Adam Thorne]

Who knows?

[Trevor]

They. They kind of warm this whole thing up with what's going on at Fort Knox. So, you know, this is a lot of talk today. I don't really know if what Doge is trying to do is get in there and prove that all the gold's gone. I think maybe that's just a good headline and a good talking point. It seems like it's had an army around the building for 24 hours a day for the last 60 years. I can't imagine that anything is missing. But, you know, when you haven't had any kind of audit of it for however many years, a long time, I think before we were born, it's probably a good idea to go in there and do that. It's probably a good move.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah. Maybe it was never even there.

[Trevor]

Oh, the gold? Yeah, that'd be wild.

[Adam Thorne]

Do you have proof that it was ever there? I've never seen a picture.

[Trevor]

Yeah. Do they have pictures of inside Fort Knox?

[Adam Thorne]

They just, like, roll that clip of Indiana Jones, you know, that's all they do.

[Trevor]

It's just.

[Adam Thorne]

It's just rolling the crate in there.

[Trevor]

It just shows DuckTales the cartoon. Like, wait a minute. This isn't facts.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Trevor]

Yeah.

[Adam Thorne]

I like how the AI called him out on it, though. I thought that was pretty funny.

[Trevor]

Oh, calling him conspiracy theorists.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Trevor]

Yeah, that was.

[Adam Thorne]

Where's all the gold?

[Trevor]

That is good.

[Adam Thorne]

I mean, like, what are you, conspiracy theorist?

[Trevor]

To be fair, even if it turned out to be very correct to even think it, you definitely are.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah. I mean, and Joe. Joe owned it. He's like, yes.

[Trevor]

Yeah. I'm a bit worried these days when I talk to my friends and they don't have conspiracies for me, I'm like, are you guys not thinking you just believe everything that you like? It kind of scares me a little bit. I'm like, oh, no. Oh, dear.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah. I think people like sensational ideas, right?

[Trevor]

Yeah.

[Adam Thorne]

And, I mean, don't. Don't get it from Your soap operas, you got to find it somewhere.

[Trevor]

Well, don't come at me with flat earth, but, you know, if you're questioning things, I'm like, yeah, I'm into it. I mean, especially now that, you know, we can break down parts of history and go back to things that are, you know, like the Bay of Pig stuff, the. I mean, even Pearl harbor things. It's like stuff that was. Has been proven. There's been communication about it, there were notes written. It's like, oh, these things really happen. If it was all of time, every conspiracy is just like, it never went anywhere. I'd be like, yeah, it's a bad move to believe in conspiracies.

[Adam Thorne]

Right.

[Trevor]

I mean, you know, then you start watching 911 videos again. You're just like, oh, here we go. Gotta turn it off, dude. Confusing.

[Adam Thorne]

I worked in the industry a little bit when I was in the military, and, you know, one thing that the government is definitely really good at is psychological warfare and denial and deception. And we put a lot of money into it. Just a little cookie crumbs, you know, just to keep people on. On the wrong path, you know, just. Just reasonable enough to make you doubt it. That's all I got to do.

[Trevor]

You think that's the case with, like, UFOs and.

[Adam Thorne]

I don't know, man. I can't put my finger on that.

[Trevor]

Because, I mean, the Pentagon is coming out and saying, yes, there are these things. We don't know what they are. We also have been denying them and working hard to deny them for about 50, 60 years, but now here they are. I kind of don't trust it now. I think it's not even aliens anymore and it's shit they made.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah, I mean, that would be. That would. That seems the most reasonable to me.

[Trevor]

Right, but that's a conspiracy answer. That's a conspiracy theory right there. But it also is kind of reasonable.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah. Yeah. I think it's more likely the government has some secret program and that they're just trying to throw us off the trail.

[Trevor]

Mm. Well, Elon talked about that. He doesn't think so. He doesn't think.

[Adam Thorne]

He. Say again?

[Trevor]

Well, he was like, we're not. I. I don't. Like, we're not reverse engineering anything. I would know about it.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah. He's like, where's the tech? Like, if, if it's true, right? We have tech. Why aren't they. Why do. Why does. Why does SpaceX have the biggest. The biggest government contract for getting materials into space?

[Trevor]

Yeah. He's like, we're the best at it. If other people had this, they use it and beat.

[Adam Thorne]

That's a good point.

[Trevor]

SpaceX. I mean, it is.

[Adam Thorne]

It's a good point for why the government's not working on technology or some other, like, foreign state that has better technology than us.

[Trevor]

It seems to me that either he knows, like, absolutely for sure that something's here and he's seen a ton of it, that he's just like, I'm just gonna deny it for now, or there isn't anything. I mean, with the amount of satellites that he has, you're telling me they don't have, like, a camera on them? He could put just like a Galaxy S25 on each one of those just to snap some shots. I mean, if something is somewhere, he'd know, he'd be the guy that would know.

[Adam Thorne]

Yep. Maybe you get some good, high definite imagery of a UFO off one of those satellites, the US Government's going to be so far up his butt collecting all that information, he's never going to be able to get it out.

[Trevor]

Right. They might say if you release this, like, you're a terrorist or take every contract, he's like, okay, I won't say anything, I promise.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Trevor]

Yeah. I don't know. I don't know what to believe from him when. When he just keeps denying it like that, either. Either he's right or wrong or whatever, but it's. It's like, it's. It ruins my day a little bit. I'm like, come on, dude, you got to give us some alien hope. That was.

[Adam Thorne]

That was Joe's take on it, too. And they also said, oh, maybe Elon is just one of the aliens.

[Trevor]

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Well, let's get into the Doge stuff. One thing that you've said to me before, Trev, which is interesting, and why doing the Doge report with you is something that, like, you're the person I wanted to do it with. You were like, well, they're trying to run the government like a company, and the government isn't a company. Can you just differentiate those things? I mean, it clearly isn't. It is core to government, but what elements of it aren't? And you don't have to spend too much time on it. But just to kind of break that.

[Adam Thorne]

Down, I mean, yeah, our police force, our fire department, our public education, none of that's run for profit for a reason. Right. It's to try and provide basic services to the majority of the populace. Right. And. And we all pay for it with our taxes. It's, that's, it's socialized services that. Right.

[Trevor]

But if you look at a big and depend on, let's say you take a large warehouse, like an, a giant Amazon warehouse, they have their own private security there. They may have on site fire departments, sprinkler systems. It's all paid for by the company to protect the lives of the individuals in there. They may even, they probably do have their own training programs which could be seen as education.

[Adam Thorne]

Right, Yeah.

[Trevor]

I mean it's not directly the same thing, but those distinctions aren't big enough for like, is there something that government is doing that companies don't to where you couldn't bring in somebody that can run a company very well and a very large company and make it more efficient? Because even companies do a lot of charitable work and obviously it's often for tax write offs and the rest of it. But you know, the governments do that too in a different way. They do it because it looks good and it makes us look decent in the world. And to say that there's no care on either end, I mean even, even companies will donate for things that they believe in. It's not just for the tax write offs.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah, sure. Yeah. I mean, I think that there's probably elements of government that you can run as a business to make it more efficient. Sure, I think that that's probably good. I think since I've worked in the Federal Service, that you do see agencies starting to bring in more business practices and business process in their budgets and how they execute budgets. And so I think there's elements that you should bring into it. But I don't like, I wouldn't want Apple to be running our healthcare system or, you know, I don't, I don't, I don't want the company's objectives that are for profit, that are just trying to get more money to shareholders to be setting the agenda for services that are needed for most Americans.

[Trevor]

Yeah, that's where it would get slippy. I mean, imagine if governments had shareholders and maybe in a way they do and maybe that's part of the problem.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah, yeah, we kind of are. We are. The taxpayers should be the shareholders. But anyway, yeah, it's, I'm not probably as informed about it as I could be to really go into depth about it, but something about it doesn't smash past the smell test for me.

[Trevor]

Yeah. And I, I brought it up because I thought it was a good point too. I mean, I didn't have it well defined either and I had a bit of pushback to it. But I was like, yeah, they're not the same thing. And where could this get us in trouble? And obviously this leads into kind of what they're up to and where they're looking. What are you. What's your feel with the USAID stuff?

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah, you know, I think that I'd like to dig into it a little bit more. I hope, you know, we're going to do that with our podcast on the Doge Report.

[Trevor]

Um, it's. It's kind of hard to gather the research for it, though, you know.

[Adam Thorne]

It is, yeah. I think, I think there's. There's probably ways to do, but it has. It's been tough. I think, you know, there's probably some investigative journalists that are going to dig into it. But, you know, I think ultimately it comes down to, like, the idea behind USAID is exerting government, American influence around the world. Right. Without it always being just a hard military action where we just move in, take over governor governments. Right. And build. Build countries.

[Trevor]

Right.

[Adam Thorne]

It's. It's the soft power idea and it's. It's easier to. To get what you want out of other countries when they like you. Right. That's the idea behind it. It sounds like, you know, the hype that I'm hearing out of the media and from Musk is that there's some real wacky that they've been doing and, you know, I think it's good to put some light on it.

[Trevor]

Yeah. You know, put all the light on it. Shine every bit of light, like, find out what's there. And if it really is the situation that USAID or a lot of the programs really are beneficial, there's got to be groups out there that can justify it and make it make sense, you know.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah. As long as people are being reasonable about it. Reasonable about it. Right now, it feels like, you know, they're just. He's. Musk is just running the chainsaw. Right. And I think I. I said it on our other podcast that they're in the break it now and maybe fix it later kind of mode.

[Trevor]

Yeah.

[Adam Thorne]

The issue of it is, is like whenever you're breaking things, you know, you're breaking. Let's just say. Let's say it's all altruistic, it's all for good things. Right. Then, you know, people's lives are at stake. People's livelihoods, people's survival are at stake, and it's not something to take lightly.

[Trevor]

Right. And then on the other end of that coin, it's like There kind of is this ticking time bomb of national debt that eventually gets to a point that no one's even quite sure of, where we just all completely run out of money and.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Trevor]

And that's a tricky one.

[Adam Thorne]

Why haven't we been doing anything about it?

[Trevor]

You know, like, we definitely should have been.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah. I mean, Trump added a ton to the deficit and typically, I think if you look at it, Republicans tend to. But. Yeah. I don't know what the long term.

[Trevor]

Yeah. I would say it's kind of interesting that it's been tackled in this way with a Republican in. It seems like that would have been like.

[Adam Thorne]

I think he's not really a Republican is probably part of it.

[Trevor]

Probably true. Yeah. Yeah.

[Adam Thorne]

And neither is Musk. You know, these guys, they're not.

[Trevor]

Yeah, I don't think so. I mean, I wouldn't say Tulsi or RFK are either. No, it's like a kind of oddly fringe Democratic Party, which, you know, to.

[Adam Thorne]

Me is actually kind of interesting. It's one of the things like if, if they weren't just like just taking a chainsaw to all kinds of shit that I think is important. I would be really curious to see how they do it because they are not just traditional politicians.

[Trevor]

Mm.

[Adam Thorne]

And then you can't put them into a box. I mean, they say a lot of.

[Trevor]

Stupid things sometimes, but it's definitely an interesting time. For sure. I mean, for that reason. Definitely.

[Adam Thorne]

I think it's interesting.

[Trevor]

Yeah. What did you think about Elon saying there may be like a trillion dollar scam being undertaken? Like the biggest fraud undertaking the history. I think it's going to be tough to put all the pieces together for that. But, but my.

[Adam Thorne]

So he's saying that was about NGOs, right. Where. Yeah, he's saying that people are just, just starting up NGOs. They're, they're, they're fresh and just have their like, account set up and then they're getting billion dollar grants and, you know, I don't know anything about that world really.

[Trevor]

I.

[Adam Thorne]

What? I guess I know a little bit about kind of the non profit world and, you know, I could see how, how something like that might, might be true. But also it just seems like somebody should have been watching and maybe nobody has. I don't know. Because. And you know what? I want to see those receipts. If he's saying trillions of dollars are just going to these like, enrichment schemes for NGOs. Put your money where your mouth is. Let's see it.

[Trevor]

Right.

[Adam Thorne]

Roll them up, man.

[Trevor]

And you know, at what point can. I mean, because this is so heated, right. There are people that are going to be on his side, people adamantly against it. At what point can you say that something is proven? That's where it gets slippery. Right.

[Adam Thorne]

So let's get harder to.

[Trevor]

Let's say we pull up an NGO. They've taken 10 billion over these years. This is how the grants were picked up. Legal forms exist, they're very long, they're all covered by lawyers. Like every. All the I's are dotted, the T's are crossed. Like it makes sense for where the money should be going. Well, now we have to cross reference payments from this thing to places and who knows how far the rabbit hole goes. I mean, when I first heard this, I thought to myself, okay, so if there was a system like this that you knew wasn't really being looked at, but you're still going to cover your bases because this is entirely the thing, the task that you've been given. So you would have all the documentation together, everything to apply for this thing, this grant. You'd have a name that fit, you know, like the something Activist Aid. Put all those words in Patriot, like all the stuff that really sells you. Yeah. And then, you know, you could just set up one account after another, make payments to it, make it look like you were just paying into this other aid organization that then had it. It's just that.

[Adam Thorne]

Sure.

[Trevor]

It could get very, very difficult to prove.

[Adam Thorne]

That sounds like you've been planning this out.

[Trevor]

What? That's. That was just me listening to this podcast. So if you put very smart people that know how to funnel money into something.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Trevor]

And, and also know the process for investigation, they're like, oh, this will be impossible to prove. It will look like we did all of these things and maybe they did.

[Adam Thorne]

Maybe they follow. Following all the rules like you said, did all the paperwork. Is. Is anybody breaking the law?

[Trevor]

But it's not. I don't think this is a question of what the law is. I don't think that the law, it's ethics may have been being broken. It's just like that's not what taxpayers money is for.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Trevor]

It was never supposed to go that way. And if there are these systems in place that are allowing this to just be wasted and fraudulently taken.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Trevor]

We need to get a hold of it.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah. If that hypothetical is true or his claims are true. Yeah, let's. We got to get control of it. I agree.

[Trevor]

Right. Yep. Musk's Social Security stuff. Right. So he's looking into that there's reports that they're very old people that are still shown as being alive mainly because they're using this super old crappy system, this computer system that just, I guess what is, what is it doing? It just doesn't realize people are dead or you can't even put that, that.

[Adam Thorne]

Like 1950s programming language.

[Trevor]

Yeah, yeah.

[Adam Thorne]

That they're using it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know if it was identified, but like before all this went down, right. In 2023 there was a, a GAO, right. So inspector generals are going around and doing audits of these systems. Right. So in 23 there was an audit of the Social Security system and they did find that there were issues with deceased individuals still being in the system. I don't remember. I mean, I haven't pulled it up and looked at it in depth, but you know, that's not that outrageous a claim because there is already some audits that were taking place before this administration took over. So. Yeah, there's probably just not an easy way to, to try to do quality control on it. Maybe. I don't know.

[Trevor]

Right.

[Adam Thorne]

Hopefully they can get in there and use some of those young programmers and come up with a better system to do it. But it's, you know, it's a massive database.

[Trevor]

Right. And you know, from what I'm hearing, it doesn't seem like a lot of payments were made to the people that were seen as 150 plus years old. But Elong suggested that there could be an underlying issue where they could be qualifying for other benefits that somebody could be pulling on. And again, it's like that multi layer deception. That is a good move for fraud. It's like, why make it direct? Just have this person be seen as alive. Don't create a red flag by taking Social Security payments when you're 140, but as long as you're registered somewhere, maybe disability checks come in or just some other type of money benefit, you know.

[Adam Thorne]

Get in there and clean that shit up, man.

[Trevor]

Sneaky, right?

[Adam Thorne]

I mean. Yeah. Are people doing on purpose, you know, if they are, that's fraud.

[Trevor]

Or is it really just clumsy?

[Adam Thorne]

Just, just a. Yeah. Clumsy database management maybe. I don't really know.

[Trevor]

Right.

[Adam Thorne]

That's definitely something that seems like is probably easy to, to, to, to, to highlight to show the. Show the receipts on. So hopefully they do.

[Trevor]

Mm. And it kind of makes sense that we should modernize these systems. I mean there is, there is something to be said. I mean, I know they've been in the nuclear silos and Stuff they still use, like, floppy disk to set up some of these things. And that sounds insane, but at the same time, good luck trying to hack into a computer that is never going to be on the Internet because it can handle it. Yeah, yeah. It's just like super old. So maybe, maybe there is a value to it being kind of a little disconnected, but if it's so old that it can't differentiate people's age and I mean, that's tricky. That's tricky. We've got to cover the Elon Nazi salute. Well, he did. They did. I mean, that's true. They talked about it, you know, I mean, yeah, people have feelings about it. I thought that it was not the best thing to do. When I saw it, I was like, elon, shit.

[Adam Thorne]

Come on, man.

[Trevor]

That's going to be a conversation I'm.

[Adam Thorne]

Going to have for such a smart guy. He does some stupid things sometimes.

[Trevor]

He's certainly pretty goofy.

[Adam Thorne]

No, yeah. You know, he tried to. To just blow it off, I think, in this podcast with Joe. But, you know, I've seen images comparing, like, other people at CPAC that did the exact same thing. I was like, well, it was clearly planned, but why is it really just to, like, create a headline and they're okay with, like, the, the things that people infer about it or.

[Trevor]

There's so many ways to create a headline when you have a stage that I just. That one just doesn't. It doesn't make sense to me.

[Adam Thorne]

Three or four people at CPAC did it, like, almost identically.

[Trevor]

And here's the thing. It's like, okay, is there like a very powerful group out there that are pro Nazi, that have a ton of money and this is some sort of very secretive signaling process? Because it doesn't seem like there is. I mean, of all the nefarious players, I'm like, it's not like there's just one spot where Nazis are still pretty.

[Adam Thorne]

Powerful, you know, I bet you like, you know, all the. It was all the. The real, like, high profile and useful Nazis that got rolled up at the end of World War II and in the Nuremberg trials. And all the really smart ones, all the ones that were, like, managing all the business and money, they all snuck away. All right? So they probably never really went away. They just went undercover. So they're probably still around.

[Trevor]

Yeah, but, well, they're dead now. That's a conspiracy theory. No, it's. It's not really. There was Operation Paperclip.

[Adam Thorne]

Oh, no, that's true.

[Trevor]

That was well documented. And they brought all the Nazi scientists over.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Trevor]

You know, in fact, like, Werner von Braun wrote a book in the 1950s about somebody called Elon that became the president of Mars.

[Adam Thorne]

Oh, really? That's wild.

[Trevor]

Crazy, right?

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah. So Elon really is just like the apparent heir apparent of this Nazi regime, huh?

[Trevor]

Well, it's.

[Adam Thorne]

They're going to set up like a Nazi utopia on Mars.

[Trevor]

Oh, God. Now that's a conspiracy theory.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Trevor]

Yeah. Well, either way, I'm not going. I'm not going to Mars. I'm not going up there. One, because it's Mars and it would suck and be really difficult to live. And two, now I think there might be Nazis.

[Adam Thorne]

Exactly. Just another check. Not going to do it.

[Trevor]

It's not worth the risk.

[Adam Thorne]

No. We got it easy here.

[Trevor]

Yeah. So. Yeah, not a good salute, dude.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah, they definitely played it down, but I don't know what else you do other than either tell the truth or I don't know. He didn't have any other options besides playing it down, I think.

[Trevor]

Yeah.

[Adam Thorne]

Or just say I screwed up, I shouldn't have done it. I guess that would have been.

[Trevor]

That. That's kind of a good move, actually. It's just. It seems to be in the politician playbook that you don't do that though for whatever reason. No one ever takes any responsibility for being.

[Adam Thorne]

If they, if they do, it's. They're. They're Democrats. It's definitely not a Republican thing.

[Trevor]

Right.

[Adam Thorne]

Keep moving.

[Trevor]

Yeah. I've never seen Gavin Newsom do it, though.

[Adam Thorne]

No, I don't know. But like, you know Al Franken, right? He. He fell on that grenade. Oh, I screwed up. That's true.

[Trevor]

They should.

[Adam Thorne]

Democrats, we hold. Our. Democrats hold themselves to. To their ethics.

[Trevor]

Oh, yeah. Really? Nancy Pelosi don't to stop. Apparently she's Mrs. Trading. Yeah, technically that's not illegal.

[Adam Thorne]

Legal. Legal.

[Trevor]

Yeah.

[Adam Thorne]

Unfortunate. They got to fix that. Dude, that.

[Trevor]

That one seems bad for sure. But yeah, you might be right. There might be some more accountability in that direction. I just don't get it. I think that. I think more people could do it and it would give. It would give even strong perceived strong individuals. Like, it would make them look better. I don't assign it to weakness. Maybe a lot of people do. Maybe they know something I don't. And statistically, if you are that vulnerable, you're destroyed. Yeah, but I don't think so. I just.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah, I see it as a sign of strength personally. Like, and maybe it's just on the individual level, but you know, like, if. If a Person says, you know what? Shit, I was wrong. Yeah, I know better now. To me it's like, that's hard to do.

[Trevor]

Yeah. Unless. Unless. Because you're the only one doing it and all the rest of the politicians are not. Every time that you take a stand on something, they'd be like, remember when he was wrong that time before? And that's the whole story.

[Adam Thorne]

That's true.

[Trevor]

Yeah. It could be some of that stuff. I don't know. I don't know. They talked a little bit about Biden and that whole Sharpers attack reference that was kind of like all over the news. And I think this, what they were mentioning is like, it seems like often the news gets given these talking points because they say the same thing and they. Have you ever seen those videos where they line up like a hundred.

[Adam Thorne]

It's all like from the. What, who's the Murdoch family? Media. Murdoch, Right. Rupert Murdoch.

[Trevor]

Is it all. Are they always connected? I mean they're obviously connected because it's the same thing that they're saying. But like, is it easily traceable back to one network or one family?

[Adam Thorne]

So that example you're talking about where they're lining up all the panels of all of the different like local news anchors and stuff from around the country during like a two week period is like 50 or 60 of them. They are all saying the same thing verbatim. Right, Right.

[Trevor]

Yep.

[Adam Thorne]

Like they got a script clearly. Yeah. That's all tied to like a family of media and I think it's tied to Murdoch somehow.

[Trevor]

But there was one recently that was like Congress people. Elizabeth Warren was one of the people.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Trevor]

And you know, maybe it's saying the exact same speech is like these three other very well known people. I have to, I have to send you the clip. But they're, it's like they're reading a thing.

[Adam Thorne]

I bet. So yeah, I believe it. I think that there's probably within the, the, the political parties, you know, like, hey everybody, this is our line. This is the company line. Go out there and say it. We want, we want to see you on Fox saying it. We want to see you on CNN saying it. Because we just want to get this line heard as many times as possible. I'm sure they do that.

[Trevor]

Yeah, that sounds bad. I don't like any party or any group that does that. I'm against it.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah. It's just, I think it's their strategy.

[Trevor]

Yeah. Well, they bring it back to like what they were saying about Biden over and over. It was like a news like, all the different channels were like, you. Sharp as attack. Well, number one, that is not a very common phrase generally. Like, we've heard of it, we know what it is for a couple of media outlets to say it. That's descriptive. Right. But using the same thing and like having that be the piece when. Look, now we all know he clearly wasn't. They were all lying.

[Adam Thorne]

Sharp as attack. He still is, dude.

[Trevor]

Nobody, nobody was thinking that was true.

[Adam Thorne]

Nobody was ever thinking that was true. They just said it, hoping it was going to be true.

[Trevor]

He might have been in, like the 90s, I think, probably. I mean, still lying about.

[Adam Thorne]

He was sharper than he was last year. 100%.

[Trevor]

Yeah. Still lying about, like, being top of his class and having four degrees. But that's general politician stuff. If you've been in for your whole whatever, 30, 40 years kind of stretch. I mean, you know, if you were around before Google, you were. You were saying some things because you just assumed they were never going to be able to check it or you.

[Adam Thorne]

Didn'T care if they did. Yeah. Now people can QC that, I guess, a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Politicians are bad at it.

[Trevor]

I think they're just circling it back to the idea that some of them are. So if there are, you know, groups out there that are making these talking points and then we're looking at three or four news sources thinking that they're separate pieces of information, it's really not true. And also the real question is, like, who is creating this narrative and is it helpful? And if anything is created that way, should you believe any of it? It's a little tricky.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah, no, it is. I think believing anything that you see from talking heads on any of the. For like most of the, the news agencies, I think you gotta, you gotta, you gotta fact check yourself. Right. Yeah. And that. I've heard this. We've had this conversation before. We is like, people. Right. Whenever that video came out on YouTube of all those media outlets verbatim saying the same thing. It's hard, it's getting hard to validate information these days. There's so much misinformation out there.

[Trevor]

Sure.

[Adam Thorne]

It's tricky. Yeah.

[Trevor]

What's your take on the controversies over Elon's team and the type of access that they have? Now? This really plays into a lot of what we're talking about in the first couple of weeks on the Doge report. But yeah, just for the JRE review version, what were your initial thoughts? You know, were you concerned about access, those sorts of things?

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah, I think I Am anywhere we can minimize how much of you know, the, like our personal data getting out there. Anywhere we can minimize that getting, I think is a good thing. Right. So yeah, it happens. Data breaches are left and right. And I think it's a bad thing and I think what's interesting is.

[Trevor]

Wait, wait, you think it's a bad thing for a team that's designed to investigate things to have access or data breaches?

[Adam Thorne]

Well, yeah. So what I'm, I guess what I'm thinking is that they, I don't know what their motives are with the data, like if they have access to it and, and they don't use it for ulterior motives or you know what I, what I don't really want is like them to be plugging all of our data into like an AI and using it to train an AI. I think, you know, right, right now they're using, you know, public accessible data. I think there's something wrong with using all of our personal data like your health records or your Social Security payments for maybe potentially gain for a private company. Like that's. That I don't want to happen.

[Trevor]

Right, right.

[Adam Thorne]

I don't know if that's happening, but that would be my concern with them having access. I don't know what they're doing with it.

[Trevor]

Yeah.

[Adam Thorne]

And you know, if they tell us and, and somebody, we have some sort of watchdog that says, you know what, they're just using it to improve efficiency. And for official purposes.

[Trevor]

A big, a big push that was reported was that they have access to employees of the government, their personal information. And it's not like where they go shopping, it's like their address, the date of birth and then their Social Security number. What was interesting when I heard that is I used to run a cell phone store and it was an interesting one. It's on the military base and the ones on the military bases in the bx they had access. We did, which is kind of unique to all of the major carriers. We had AT&T, Verizon, T Mobile, I think Boost. So we would have like, we had to learn each of their systems. So it was more complicated than just one carrier. And we often hired from like you needed previous services, one of the carriers before you get on there. Otherwise the systems, it would just take too long to train you. But what was wild about it is when you think of having all those carriers, we literally had everybody on there somewhere. Like I could look you up without knowing which carrier you have because I only have to check with like four.

[Adam Thorne]

Or five information do you have. You had maybe a Social Security number and then like a bank account number or.

[Trevor]

No, the. No, maybe it would have the, like the last four of your bank account. It would have your social on there, which I always thought was wild, but it was just in there in the system. It'd have your address, it has your date of birth, it has your code or PIN number for like how you access the account. Because we would use that code to check you in, which could tell you. It just felt like that's telling you a lot. And I did nothing with it. Nobody was.

[Adam Thorne]

There's regulatory. So Congress has decided. We've decided that. That what you do with that data is. Is what matters. Right. So we have regulatory bodies. I don't know, some consumer protection board or, you know, something like that. I don't know who it is. But that monitors. And we have laws that say you shall not use that data for anything other than business information.

[Trevor]

For sure. I would have gotten a ton of trouble if I ever did that.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah, right. But you had access.

[Trevor]

But I'm just saying it was.

[Adam Thorne]

These guys have access. It. It depends on how they use it is all. What it comes down to. Right. What is their intent?

[Trevor]

Yeah, yeah. I'm just saying I'm not some MIT super genius that's been tasked with trying to find fraud. I was a guy that sold cell phones and I had all of that data.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Trevor]

So I'm just saying it's fairly. We could slow down a little bit on oh my goodness, this will ruin everyone's lives type of energy. But also, maybe that's. Maybe that's just how I sit. Maybe. Maybe it is massively dangerous for it to be that way. I just don't know.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah. I'm not a. I'm not a specialist on it either. I don't know for sure. It just. I think it should be protected and it should be used appropriately.

[Trevor]

Fair enough.

[Adam Thorne]

And if they do that, I'm okay with it.

[Trevor]

What about this kind of. And this has to be considered a conspiracy theory, but Elon's idea that the Democrats were basically importing immigrants to fast track them into having the capability to vote as some sort of ploy just to win all the elections. Sounds wild.

[Adam Thorne]

It is. It is. There's no. I mean, it's. He says it because it's. Because it is sensational. Right.

[Trevor]

Would it be.

[Adam Thorne]

There's no.

[Trevor]

There's a difficult thing to prove.

[Adam Thorne]

It is illegal. Illegal for an illegal. Somebody who's here illegally and is not a citizen to vote in any national election.

[Trevor]

Right. But if they get fast tracked through their immigration status.

[Adam Thorne]

Dude, what's Google? What is the average time for just to get citizenship if you come here illegally?

[Trevor]

Right.

[Adam Thorne]

You come here legally. It's. I mean, you don't know, you've been through the process. I don't know how long it take you to get your citizenship?

[Trevor]

A long time. It was difficult.

[Adam Thorne]

It takes a long time.

[Trevor]

Nobody fast tracked me though. What is that word? And how could we see if that's actually happening?

[Adam Thorne]

I don't even know how you do it.

[Trevor]

Yeah, we just speed it up, I guess.

[Adam Thorne]

But like our states, States can't fast track it. Right. So you'd have to have some sort of like special list of people who are getting fast tracked into citizenship if they wanted to for them to matter in any type of election.

[Trevor]

Right.

[Adam Thorne]

And I think it's illegal in all states for any like, statewide election. For. I think there are some states that have local election where people can vote if you're not a citizen for local, like school board elections, those kinds of things.

[Trevor]

Right.

[Adam Thorne]

But I don't think there's any like broad. But I could be wrong.

[Trevor]

What about all this not requiring voter id, like ID for voting stuff? Well, how is that even a thing? Because it just seems to me like that should absolutely be a thing. Like, why would you not have id? You can't even get the events that we put on locally for the magazine we make. Unless you have your ID to show that you're over 21 and a ticket to get in. And then all you do is watch snowboard videos for two hours.

[Adam Thorne]

Right? Yeah. I don't know. I don't know what all arguments against it are like, other than like, not everybody has access to an id. I mean, you're required to in your states. I think most states, if not all states, have a requirement to have some sort of id. I don't really know what the arguments are against it. To me, it passes the sniff test.

[Trevor]

I mean, you just go to the DMV, right? And then get one. They're like, they're like 40 bucks.

[Adam Thorne]

What do you, what do you have to have to get a license at the dmv? What are your documents that you have to have? You have to have like.

[Trevor]

Well, I just got my license the other day. I needed two forms of my address. So I had my lease and I had something from the bank, gas bill. And I had to go to the bank because I just moved. So I was like, can you just. I just changed It. But can you print the thing? So it didn't even look that good. That wasn't even difficult at all. I basically could have just printed that myself. That's how clunky it looked. They took it next to that. I had my old license. But if you didn't have that, I guess they could look you up with a passport or your social. You know, you'd have to have your card. It just wasn't. It wasn't a lot of stuff. And you should probably have those things.

[Adam Thorne]

So all those things to me, like, if you're a citizen, you should have them. Right. So. Yeah. I don't know what the. What the arguments are against it. I guess I would want to know more on the face of it is like, sure. Carrier id, like this is me, I'm voting.

[Trevor]

Right. I just wonder how they figure out who the heck just voted if you don't have it just because you wrote a name on the thing. Are they cross referencing all the names to make sure they're also citizens?

[Adam Thorne]

They're cross reference. They're. They're referencing signatures. Right. You sign it and they compare that to your signature on your voter registration.

[Trevor]

Okay.

[Adam Thorne]

I think is. I think that's the only verification other than like you got to know your address. That's how they do it where I live. I don't know.

[Trevor]

Oh, gotcha.

[Adam Thorne]

That is every state.

[Trevor]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. I don't vote. I probably should. I just need some candidates I like. Dude, I just need some. Yeah, of course you are. Because you're worried who I'll vote for. Well, at least I'm not voting for clowns, bro.

[Adam Thorne]

Nazis on Mars.

[Trevor]

Nazis. All right, dude, you voted for a dude with Alzheimer's or at least dementia probably. That was the thing you did you did you not.

[Adam Thorne]

You didn't vote in this election?

[Trevor]

No.

[Adam Thorne]

Wow.

[Trevor]

No.

[Adam Thorne]

Whoever did and voted for the current president voted the oldest man into. Into the White House. Good job.

[Trevor]

That is true. Yeah. They are getting older and older. We could. We could definitely get some young ones in there.

[Adam Thorne]

That generation just needs to hang it up.

[Trevor]

I would like to see limited terms for Congress and Senate. I don't think that there's necessarily a huge advantage to quote, unquote, experience when it comes to that. I think they just get potentially more crooked as time goes on and. Yeah, but I guess going back to running the government like a company, then it would make sense to have people with experience just stay in. But some type of checks and balances on term limits would be Useful.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Trevor]

You know, maybe shuffle them around, do something and then also age limit stuff.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Trevor]

I mean, are you in, like, retirement at, like, 65 or 70 for most jobs, right? Like.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah, no, we got to do something there. There's got to be, like, cognitive tests and make sure that you're capable of making solid decisions. And I'm good with some terminal term limits to some extent. I do think there's value in having people that know, that make form relationships with other lawmakers and able to, like, you know what? You help me out on this. I'll give you a little bit here. I think there's some value there.

[Trevor]

Right? Yeah, there might be. There might be. One thing I wanted to finish up on. We're kind of wrapping up. There were a few other points, like making getting his rockets to space cheaper and how useful that will be. I mean, obviously for the US Government wanting to get things into space, it's a good idea. We could eventually get some rare earth minerals from space. Who knows what they could do? Right. There's some good stuff going on there. Concerns about AI We've kind of gone over those stories a few times, but towards the end, he was. Elon was talking about how he feels his life might be in danger.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Trevor]

And that one. That one was kind of a change of tone for a second. And I don't know if Joe really knew how to take that. Obviously, Joe has his own security, probably encouraged by Elon and other big players that he knows. So he understands the value in it. But really seeing it is like, people might be so worried about him uncovering something that the best move for them might be assassination. Now, I'm sure he has an army. He's the wealthiest man in the world. I'm sure he's protected, probably like the President is, or maybe better. Well, I'm sure better after the better. The complete debacle of the Trump assassination where they couldn't even get on the slopey roof. I wouldn't want that team working for me. Would you?

[Adam Thorne]

No, no.

[Trevor]

But, yeah. What's your take on that? Do you think that he could be, like, close to assassination and if that is the question, why would he be doing any of this? He clearly doesn't need more money.

[Adam Thorne]

True. Yeah. Because he wants the. Because I think the answer to that question is because he wants our democracy to succeed. Right. I do think he believes that to be true.

[Trevor]

Right.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah. Yeah. And I think he should be careful, like. And he. You could tell throughout the episode and now that he's kind of. Now that he's got, like, some sort of role with the government. He's gonna be a little bit more careful than he has been in the past on what he says. You know, like, he's. If you're going after corruption, I'm sure there's, you know, there's movies about it. I don't. I can't think of any, like, real world cases, but if you start cutting into people's power and taking away their power or their money, they're going to come after you. You know, like, they, you know, they talked about the Epstein files, like, why the hell aren't the Epstein files out? You know, that was another thing. Oh, yeah, Freaking powerful people are on that list. Let's end on why it's not coming out.

[Trevor]

Yeah. And that's very obvious. Right. Whether.

[Adam Thorne]

And even though Trump said, like, oh, yeah, I'm going to release him day one. Well, he kind of says, like, oh, well, maybe I will. It's because he's on that list. And they don't want to say it. Joe and Elon.

[Trevor]

Right.

[Adam Thorne]

Because they got to be careful.

[Trevor]

Well, he's on the flight logs for sure. That's been proven. There's not much of a connection with him and Epstein after Epstein's first charge. So that. That's like, back in 2004. I don't know if he had that island then, too. I mean, the list is one thing, but really the list I'm looking for, and I think everyone is. Is like, who went to the island. Right. It's like flying around with somebody in those circles. It's like, I'm sure there's a lot of flying around that goes on now. It doesn't look good that Clinton definitely flew with him 26 times. That sounds like maybe too many times to be flying with anyone. I haven't flown with my wife that many times, and I know almost everything she's doing.

[Adam Thorne]

To claim that you're not tied to it in any way. And you're like, like, if you hop into a car with a drug dealer and, you know, you said, right by pull up, pop in their car and then get out, like, it's a reasonable suspicion that you're probably buying drugs.

[Trevor]

Yeah. I mean, if you also get caught going into their car 26 times, then it's.

[Adam Thorne]

It's not going to come out. And if it does, how can we trust it? Right. I don't see how you could.

[Trevor]

It's true.

[Adam Thorne]

It's gonna be. It's gonna be redacted to be black lines and it's gonna. Like, they're. Gonna. Other names are gonna be blacked out.

[Trevor]

For some people, it's just gonna be another lame uncovering. And, I mean, you know, it feels like that's what's happening with the JFK files. If anything, I think that they gave the good ones to rfk. That's part of his deal. He gets them, but then they're like, also. Look on page four. That's why we can't talk about this. Are you cool with this now that we've given it to you? What else do you need? His 200 million.

[Adam Thorne]

We should know, man. Don't hold that back. Whoever, excuse me. Is breaking the law and doing things they shouldn't be doing, whether they're on the left or the right, let's hang them up, man. Let's. Let's get. Give them their day in court.

[Trevor]

Do you think that if it was just, like, an overall plot by the CIA, that we would. There would be a big push to just disband the whole agency, if even this many late years later? No. If they killed JFK straight up.

[Adam Thorne]

Oh, okay.

[Trevor]

And that's what the files. I mean, it wouldn't. That's not a good look, dude. I don't know if you recover from that.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah, Yeah. I don't either.

[Trevor]

And maybe they're like, we can't afford to get rid of them now.

[Adam Thorne]

President. Yeah. Back then, the, like, FBI and they were rogue, man. They were doing some crazy shit. We know about now.

[Trevor]

Yeah.

[Adam Thorne]

And they were up to all kinds, like, for our. For. Like, if your purpose is to ensure that, you know, our. Our government continues on, like, that's. That's gonna be tough thing to. To swallow for everybody.

[Trevor]

Mm.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Trevor]

Yeah. Look, there's a lot to uncover. There's a lot to work through. It was great having Elon on. I like that he has this platform, and he can come in and just kind of throw his pieces down again. What we do on the Doge Report is we look at the Doge Gov site, we look at what the government releases. We try and reference that with, like, pretty much centrist news sites as best we can and, you know, see if things line up or what doesn't. And ultimately time will tell. Right. What's nice about this is there's some quantifiable pieces they're talking about. Got to take out a trillion dollars, so that should bring inflation flat for a period of time. All of that stuff we can monitor. You can't put a lot of spin on that. I guess you could make excuses for it, but they either do that or they don't. And we get to see where the national debt is, and it's like, are we able to stop that number going up? Because it's all well and good making these claims that we're cutting all these programs and potentially saving all this waste and money. All right, prove it on that massive number that keeps getting bigger that we're all potentially pretty terrified of.

[Adam Thorne]

Right?

[Trevor]

I mean, that's going to be what shows us. And I think also in time, you know, we're going to see if the team is effective, if they can actually get anything done. If everything just keeps getting locked up, or they make massive blunders and they lose public support, it's going to be difficult for them to. Any final thoughts?

[Adam Thorne]

No. I thought, you know, the. The musk conversation with Joe, I thought it was. It was interesting. They covered a lot of ground, and it's definitely worth listening to and get out there and listen to the. Our new podcast, the Doge Report. We're going to dive into it.

[Trevor]

Nice. I like it. All right, thank you, Trevor. And thank you, everybody, for tuning in this week, and we will talk to you next time.