The ladies recap the inauguration festivities and Trump's first days in office.
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Anna
Never been ready in my life.
Dasha
We are back. We are back. Hello.
Anna
Hey.
Dasha
From Trump's America.
Anna
Oh yeah.
Dasha
True. We haven't. We did that in Osferatu up and then we went to D.C. yeah. And now we're doing the podcast again.
Anna
No.
Dasha
Yeah. They're hard to like open. We're. We're dealing with my Trinidadian cigarettes.
Anna
The plastic is a cheap.
Dasha
Let's chop. It's just a different.
Anna
It's a different vibe.
Dasha
Same cigs, I assume. How. How are you, Anna? What's up? All these packages.
Anna
Okay. I'm a shopping addict. I have a shopping addiction.
Dasha
What's that big one outside?
Anna
That is a cabinet to store all the. That I buy online. But I have a problem with it. Which is why the box is out there. Cuz it's missing some parts. Well, I don't know. I'm going to try to get a discount.
Dasha
Right. And keep it. I've been very good about my returns.
Anna
You've been making them. You've not been shopping.
Dasha
I've been shopping a bit. I was really the doan dress that I wore so. The sausage press ball, darling. Cuz I'm a populist. Very mid market. But it.
Anna
We looked so tame compared to.
Dasha
I know, but that's what I. I wanted to look like. I wasn't trying too hard or like.
Anna
Not wearing makeup and I was wearing cotton velvet. I know, but in comparison. Yeah.
Dasha
I thought I was like going to look bronze. I was like. I'm wearing. I can't do it, Anna.
Anna
I'm going to try. Okay, I'll try.
Dasha
We can't get the pack of s open.
Anna
I'm wasted already. So.
Dasha
But yes. So I was starving. Oh, full disclosure, you were.
Anna
You were starving yourself before.
Dasha
Before fit into the dress. So that the. Because the dress only really works if you're a little underweight. Because I had a size up that looked kind of frumpy and like funerally. Because it's the empire waist. It's ladies. You know what I'm talking about. So I was kind of frail maxing. But then I was really happy to start eating again after.
Anna
It was warm. It was a very cute dress.
Dasha
We were matching.
Anna
We were kind of matching.
Dasha
Oh my God. Anna got this Balkan whiskey.
Anna
Fuck. It's that Albanian. Yeah, it's really Augustus flow.
Dasha
It's got a kick to it. Yeah. Sorry, what were we talking about?
Anna
I have no idea. Oh, you're not drunk. You're sober.
Dasha
I'm sober. Yeah.
Anna
Cool.
Dasha
I'm just stupid. Oh yeah. So I returned the other Dondra, I'm, you know, I'm getting. I'm doing it.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
I bought another dress. I like panic bought a dress at Bloomingdale's that I immediately regretted and got that turned. Turned in. Just staying on top of. Yeah.
Anna
It feels amazing.
Dasha
It does. It feels like making money.
Anna
Yes.
Dasha
You're technically not.
Anna
I will confess that I'm a shopping addict. Not because I like to get new shit, because I actually don't like the new shit. Is like the Lacanian proxy for satisfaction.
Dasha
Right.
Anna
But I do enjoy the return process because it makes me feel incredibly accomplished when I run an errand.
Dasha
Yeah. I told Anna this. There's construction going on outside my apartment. It's really annoying to complain about. I'm gonna do it anyway. It's deaf. It's deafening. It's like they're doing. They're building like a high rise or something. And so there's just jackhammering from 8am until it gets dark.
Anna
I know.
Dasha
And it's unbearable to be in my apartment. And I know that it's like God punishing me for saying people need to go to work. Because I'm like, damn. I have to actually. I can't be in my apartment.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
During banking hours. And I have to find another place to go. I mean, I have a place to go. I'm not going to dox my alt alternate location. But it's not always convenient. And it's been so cold that I don't want to go run my errands. And it's just been. I'm. I really feel like a victim, you know, I'm like something is happening to me that is out of my control.
Anna
You feel like the Isabella Johnny character in possession.
Dasha
I feel like I'm going crazy. I had like two a two day long, like migraine basically. And I've done the noise canceling headphones. I've done the white noise, but it's like my apartment's like shaking.
Anna
No. You gradually go insane and you don't even realize that you're going insane. This happened to me last year because they were like drilling on my street. They tore up the whole street.
Dasha
I remember.
Anna
Remember. But they. Unlike your block, which is civilized, mine is not. And they were drilling at all hours of the night because they were trying to get ahead of traffic. So that was unbearable. And I remember being a total Karen. Like running outside and yelling at the construction people. Not yelling. I was such a cuck. I was like, I know you boys are just doing your job. Can I get you Sandwiches.
Dasha
It's not their fault, but they were.
Anna
Like, are you homeless?
Dasha
I feel like John Dutton, the way I don't want this construction to go on, I feel like.
Anna
And it's going to go on for.
Dasha
It's going to be years. Yeah. And these Jewish guys. I'm. A couple months ago, these Jewish guys, literally wearing yarmulkes came into my apartment and took a picture of a window in my hall and said, we're going to develop a building here. And I was like. I was a bitch. I was like, well, how long is that going to take? And they were, like, years. And, like, left. And I was like, so I know it's them.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And it's really their fault, but there's nothing I can do. I can't be. You know, I have to just. I can move, but I don't want to. So I'm just gonna, like, go to the office functionally, and maybe it'll be good for me, you know? But I love to lie in bed at least until noon usually. So that's my rhythms. Like, it's a lot of swords. D.C. was a blast.
Anna
It was fun. It was interesting.
Dasha
I've never really been. I went once with the cum boys.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
They just did a show and then I didn't really get to see.
Anna
What did you do?
Dasha
We just stayed like an Airbnb and then we went to Baltimore to visit Nick's family. We, like, wrote. We, like, did a road trip. And DC wasn't just. Wasn't really like a big stop, I guess.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
But this time I felt like, you know, I didn't really go. It was so cold. But, yeah, you know, I saw some stuff.
Anna
We met some anons.
Dasha
That was the best part, I think, was meeting people, coming.
Anna
Putting a face to name.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Lots of young men coming up to me, showing me their phones, that. Seeing that we're mutual.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Some of them. I've talked to Spergler, Acolyte. You know, I like, look back in our DMs, I was like, we've been talking since, like.
Anna
I know.
Dasha
For years.
Anna
I know.
Dasha
These people are like my Internet friends.
Anna
I know.
Dasha
And, like, we got to. I get to meet them in this, like.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Nice victorious venue.
Anna
Am I doxxing him if I say that he looks like a beautiful girl?
Dasha
No, he does. Yeah. Still not sold on. Not blondes. Not for me, but.
Anna
Yeah. But you can appreciate.
Dasha
Of course. Of course. Yeah.
Anna
The beauty of a blonde adult male.
Dasha
He was not dysgenic in the least.
Anna
No.
Dasha
We didn't make it to the Liberty Ball.
Anna
We tried, we tried.
Dasha
We had wristbands which were hard to secure.
Anna
Yeah, we.
Dasha
I felt so. I really thought, like, we were gonna get in there and be Tucker schmoozing.
Anna
It up with Tucker and Steve and the other Steve.
Dasha
And I thought we'd be like, rubbing shoulders with, you know, and instead I learned, like, oh, I'm not a powerful political operative in Washington.
Anna
We're low bees.
Dasha
I'm like, no other plebs. It doesn't shout out to the gay guy. Which gay guy in line. Who. Oh, recognized us.
Anna
No, he wasn't gay.
Dasha
I think he was.
Anna
No, he. He has a girlfriend.
Dasha
How do you know?
Anna
He was there with his girlfriend.
Dasha
No. Yeah, he was there alone.
Anna
He was there with his girlfriend.
Dasha
No, the guy we tried to sneak. Yeah, Yeah.
Anna
I dmed with him after and he was like, my girlfriend and I finally got in. It was a show.
Dasha
Wow. I didn't realize.
Anna
He was a sweet boy.
Dasha
She was very demure. To her credit. I didn't recognize. I thought he was gay. Which is why I intrusively asked if we could cut. This was already so way back in the line.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
It was crazy.
Anna
The lines were like. This is what AITZ felt like.
Dasha
Like being herded.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
With like military anti scale everywhere. And. Yeah. So we did the smart thing, I think, and just called it quits.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
I wasn't, you know, Vince Vaughn. There was also like three balls. It's all very. Yeah, it's not for us.
Anna
No.
Dasha
Navigating these bureaucracies, you know, but. Oh, we saw Michael Tracy.
Anna
We did see.
Dasha
That was. That was awesome. It was great. He was there. You know, people really hate that guy. I don't know why.
Anna
He's a lovely man.
Dasha
He is. He's great. He's one of the last independent journalists we have. What else?
Anna
I don't know. I'm like manically drunk. I've been up since 8am oh, my.
Dasha
God, Anna.
Anna
It'S like 11 and we're podcasting late.
Dasha
I mean, do you want to. Are you feeling okay?
Anna
I'm fine. I can do it. Everybody thinks I'm crazy. I went to my nephew's first birthday in New Jersey.
Dasha
So cute.
Anna
Went to the Mark Coco Pelli opening at Rena, went to Bacaro to dinner, and now I'm here podcasting in Trump's America.
Dasha
Yeah. Which seems to be going well.
Anna
We can talk about that. I like, wrote down all these notes about Trump's executive orders and, like, first actions in the first couple of days as President. And now it's, like, completely out of mind. I don't remember any of it.
Dasha
I. Pete Hegseth, remember I took a bunch of Adderall to research all these people.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And completely forgot who. You know, I was like, I. I was like, I have to look him up again. I'm so stupid. I'm so stupid. I didn't bring a book to D.C. okay. And usually I do this neurotic thing where I bring too many books, as if I'm gonna, like, for the first time in my life, read a whole book and then have nothing to do.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
But I, like, just brought zero books, so all I did was, like, do skincare and makeup all day.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And like, look at. Play chess. Amazing. But, yeah. The executive orders, day one. Light bulbs. Yes, we're back.
Anna
Yep.
Dasha
Consumer choice in light bulbs.
Anna
Wait, let's pull up the executive orders.
Dasha
I was honestly basically a single issue voter. The light bulbs. I wanted the incandescent bulbs back.
Anna
And they're back.
Dasha
And they're back. And he delivered.
Anna
Yeah. Well, okay. My big question was, how binding are the executive orders?
Dasha
I think it varies.
Anna
Well, they're apparently so. They're in effect until they're overturned by the next Democratic administration or until they're challenged in court, which, like, they're already getting sued. Yeah, yeah. The big one is like, the birthright citizenship, which is already being challenged.
Dasha
Right. What does that mean? Like, if you were born here, you're a citizen.
Anna
Yes. So historically, if, like, people would come here just to have children so that they can be citizens. Yes.
Dasha
I mean, that one seems.
Anna
And now that's over for the time being.
Dasha
I think if you were born on American soil, you kind of aren't American.
Anna
Yeah. But, like, that's unfair because people deliberately come here so that they can have kids born on American soil so that they can do the chain migration. I mean, I'm sure other countries do that, but everybody wants to be born in America.
Dasha
It'd be cool to go have a baby in Paris. And then they're French.
Anna
Well, they probably don't even have that.
Dasha
Let me look that. Let me look.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Can we get a fact checker on this?
Anna
I feel like I'm on coke.
Dasha
I like, I like, I understand how it's like a technicality that can be exploited, but it seems like one that is, like, kind of gamified enough that, you know.
Anna
Well, I think the idea is that it's the. The legal process is sort of baked into the cake because they want the executive order to be challenged. So it goes all the way up to the Supreme Court, and then they contest it. And if the court, which is conservative, now votes in your favor, then that's codified into law.
Dasha
You have to have at least one French parent, but then they have. If they're born to foreign parents, they may be eligible if they live there for. So they have a version of it, but you have to kind of live there.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
It's not as easy, I guess, as it is here. Yeah, whatever.
Anna
But now this is all up in the air. Tik Tok is no longer banned.
Dasha
He signed an executive order that lifts the ban for 75 days. And it seems like what they're going to try to do. The Chinese company is called Bite Dance.
Anna
Okay.
Dasha
Trump has said he wants 5050 equity in the company.
Anna
Okay.
Dasha
To have an American, basically.
Anna
Well, they want to find an American firm that will acquire Tick Tock.
Dasha
Essentially, they're not going to be able to fully acquire it, but that's what they're kind of negotiating is like. They can mitigate the Chinese mind control by getting more shares, at least of the company, but the technology itself is. I don't think China's going to hand it over. Sell. By now, people are. So it went dark on the 19th, and then, like, Trump signed the order, it's back up. But people can't, like, redownload it or update the software. And some people on it are complaining that they're being censored.
Anna
How so?
Dasha
Like, if they post about Luigi or Palestine that the algorithm is, like, not, like, promoting their videos the way it used to. Yeah. So they're claiming that there's a political agenda with the new TikTok.
Anna
Okay, so the big ones were he declassified the JFK, RFK and MLK files. He ended birthright citizenship. He introduced a suite of other immigration orders that declared a national emergency at the southern border, halted refugee admissions, revived the remain in Mexico policy, which forces asylum seekers to stay in Mexico for their asylum hear hearings. He withdrew from the World Health Organization, the Paris Climate Accord. He recognized that there are only two sexes. He expanded American energy production. He obviously pardoned the Jan Sixers. This is from waipo regarding the birthright citizenship issue. The US Government will no longer recognize the citizenship of children born in the United States to immigrants who lack legal status, according to an order Trump signed Monday. It also bars birthright citizenship for children born to people on temporary work, student and tourist visas. The order, which is expected to face legal scrutiny, reinterprets the words and subject to the jurisdiction thereof in the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, blah, blah, blah, which grants citizenship to nearly all people born on the US Soil, to exclude babies born to parents legally in the country. That sounds fair. If your parents are here illegally and you're born on U.S. soil.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
It seems unfair that you should automatically become a citizen.
Dasha
I guess so. But if you have, like, a visa or green card status, then I think, yeah, it's. You're good.
Anna
Yeah, I think you're fine.
Dasha
But, yeah, if you're. Well, you saw the video of the Haitian guy getting arrested and saying, I'm not going back to Haiti. Fuck Trump. Biden forever, bro. And thank you, Barack Obama, for everything you did for me. And he's so scary and angry in the car and stuff. And he's has 17 criminal convictions. And then all these other people. How did. How. I guess I don't understand how they weren't arrested sooner.
Anna
Yeah. I don't know.
Dasha
Like, is that. Does. Is that.
Anna
Is it really that easy to come here?
Dasha
No. To sign, like, an executive order that, like. Because it's not like it seems. It's happening so quickly.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
That they just know exactly where to find these, like, criminal aliens and deport them.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And like, we knew the whole time.
Anna
Obviously, remember, like, Trump's famous lie that they're just, like, releasing them from prisons and mental institutions, which I thought was, like, a dramatization and embellishment, but maybe it's not.
Dasha
I mean, 17.
Anna
I know. And, like, you watch all those videos of, like, ice, right, Rounding up illegals in Boston, and they're like, gang members.
Dasha
They're like. It's like they're arresting people. That's like, why was there an MS.13 gang member here convicted of crimes for so long? Because Brandon said. Okay.
Anna
And they're all, like, serial rapists or armed robbers or cartel members.
Dasha
I mean, that's. I feel like, boomed out the way. I can't believe this.
Anna
I know. And like, their. Their explicit order was to target people with criminal records first, which is like, how. How are doing that? It's not like they have a database of people who are here illegally who have criminal records because they're here illegally.
Dasha
So I guess they do, dude. I guess they have. Do have a database since they've been.
Anna
Arrested, or they're just like.
Dasha
And then released, but not.
Anna
Yeah. And how are there so many, like, criminal illegals walking the streets of cities like Boston?
Dasha
And how has it been so easy to block them up the whole time?
Anna
I don't know.
Dasha
I feel this is.
Anna
This is way over my head. Yeah. Carolyn Levitt, who's like the new Trump press secretary, the new cute blonde, said that the Trump administration arrested 538 illegal immigrant criminals, including a suspected terrorist, four members of the Tren del Aragua gang, and several illegals convicted of sex crimes against minors. Like, this was all in the first couple of days. Like, how is that possible?
Dasha
It's crazy. I really. I mean, real talk and it's going to be. It's annoying thing to say, but I don't. And I actually don't know her status, but I don't want my maid to get deported, and I don't want to find a made that's not an illegal immigrant.
Anna
Why? Because she's gonna charge more.
Dasha
Yeah. And like, probably not work as hard.
Anna
Yeah. She's gonna be like.
Dasha
And we can't just have spoiled. Yeah. You know, I can't just.
Anna
Well, and also not to air out the passage boys, but I feel like all the bartenders that night were probably illegals.
Dasha
I mean, I doubt it at the.
Anna
No, definitely, like, all service workers are illegal immigrants. All. I mean, not all, but, like, okay, I'm a service girl. Like, back in the day when I was working restaurants, everybody in the kitchen was illegal.
Dasha
I feel like the Watergate Hotel, you know, you have to pay tax. It's. I don't know, it's not that easy to just hire illegal people to work at, like, a business. That's why they do, you know, like independent contract work through doordash or, you know, our maids and nannies and stuff like this. I mean, I might be wrong.
Anna
No, I think they all are, like, seriously illegal. And I don't know how they stay a step ahead of the law. Well, they weren't getting deported in Mass before, but.
Dasha
Well, they're still not. It seems like it's a good. It's good to start with the. With the crims. Get the crims out of here. They tried to send two planes to Colombia. Did you hear about this?
Anna
No.
Dasha
Colombia said no. Wait, I'll read you the Trump Post.
Anna
They also have, like, the collateral rule. So now when ICE raids, like a residence where a criminal is suspected of living, they'll also round up any other illegal that they find in the vicinity and send them back, too.
Dasha
Sure. So I was just informed, this is Donald Trump, that two repatriation flights from the United States with a large number of illegal criminals were not allowed to land in Colombia. This order was given by Colombia's socialist president, Gustavo Petro, who is already very unpopular Amongst his people. Petro's denial of these fights has jeopardized the national security and public safety of the United States. So I have directed my administration to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures. 25% tariffs on all goods coming into the United States. In one week, the 25% tariffs will be raised to 50%. And then travel bans, blah, blah. AOC quote tweeted it and said, to punish Colombia, Trump is about to make every American pay even more for coffee. Remember, we pay the tariffs, not Colombia. Trump is all about making inflation worse for working class Americans, not better. He's lining the pockets of himself in the billionaire class, essentially, while we do pay the tariffs.
Anna
Yeah, but.
Dasha
It'S not. You can get coffee from other places.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
It's a free market, baby. And Colombia is going to fall in line. They got to take them back.
Anna
Yeah. Or they get dumped in Mexico. Like, where do they go?
Dasha
I guess they're back here in some facility.
Anna
Yeah. Like, it's. It's very unclear how this is all gonna work in practice down the line because, like, all this stuff takes time. And they were saying, like, if a country is cooperative, they can have them back in a number of days, but if it's not, then it'll take weeks, if not months.
Dasha
Well, they don't want them back. Seems. Seems to be the issue is that they want it to take as long as possible. Yeah, but tariffs are a big. Seems like this can be a big motif for Trump, which is above my pay. Above my pay grade. No, I don't. I'm obviously not like, an economist.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
But it does seem to me that tariffs are a pretty effective way of, like, a country like Colombia, you know, their main ex. Like, putting tariffs on them will harm their economy. So they will cooperate.
Anna
Yes.
Dasha
Real politicians. But then people were saying I was. And that I should look up what the President of Colombia actually said, and apparently it's because they brought them in military planes, which, like, violated some. He's splitting hairs, though.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
He knows. Come on.
Anna
Wait, explain this.
Dasha
Trump is making it seem like he just says that he doesn't want them, but actually, my understanding is that Trump violated some agreement they had by bringing them over in, like, military places, which they're not supposed to do.
Anna
They're supposed to go on civilian flights or.
Dasha
I don't know. There's some.
Anna
It's, you know, I mean, what are your options?
Dasha
It doesn't. It's. Whatever he's. Pedro's on about seems like beside the point. And the point is, like, these people are from your country. They came over here.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Criminally.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
So they're crims, so you have to take them back.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
We can't be responsible for your criminals.
Anna
Yeah. No. A lot of people were mad at me when I made my factory farming tweet.
Dasha
Oh, my God. That was. I really was like, this is. People get mad at Anna for.
Anna
For anything you said.
Dasha
For saying she doesn't want animal cruelty.
Anna
Yes. But they were saying that, like, oh, you care more about, like, the livelihood of, like, cows and pigs over, like, human beings, which is not a true. But, like, the human beings that we're talking about. I feel for them. Like, there was that viral video of that lady in Mexico sobbing hysterically because her asylum hearing was cancelled. And, like, I feel for that lady. I don't like to see anybody crying and suffering and going through it. But I find the whole premise of asylum hearings to be questionable in the first place, because when you hear asylum, you think, like, oh, people are being, like, repressed and threatened in their home country, which may be true, by the way, but. But there's no way of, like, guaranteeing that. And a lot of people are obviously gaming the system and claiming asylum because they want to come over here for economic reasons.
Dasha
My parents didn't do this, but they were told by a Russian Jewish lawyer when we came to this country that we could get asylum to stay here by saying we were Jewish. So you are Jewish.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
But I think my. Maybe I'm, like, misremembering this, but my mom didn't want to.
Anna
That's noble.
Dasha
Yeah. Like, had some anxiety. Yeah. They had other avenues, but. But, yeah, you could just say there's cartel violence, but I think, like, in.
Anna
The future, like, in the next couple of days, weeks, months, there will be a lot of immigration propaganda porn of, like, women and children crying, being separated, seemingly being abused, which is, like, you know, horrific to see. But that's, like, how they get you to accept the premise of unlimited immigration. And it's, like, very, like, completely out of it. Manic, wasted. But, like, you can't have a nation if you just, like, fling open the doors and let anybody in. Obviously.
Dasha
Of course. No, J.D. vance just did a good job on some. Some broad was interviewing him about the immigration stuff and saying that, like, these people have been vetted, and he was saying they're. Well, they haven't been vetted accurately because some of these people who have been allegedly vetted ended up, like, conspiring against, you know, to Commit terrorism. And then she tried to say that it wasn't clear if he was radicalized after he got here or not. Like, she was trying to make a case for, like, the vetting process, which he was saying needed to be revamped, which would include something like asylum, where you would be vetted.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And like, I mean, should things function the way they're supposed to? Yeah. Like if, like a drug cartel is making your life unbearable.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
You can come to this country and be vetted and like, show that you will be like a contributing, assimilated member of society and like be allowed here. Like, that's not off the table, but. Yeah, but the issue is everything is so obviously broken because there's total mess.
Anna
Up, like mayhem, like crims beyond and all the cartels that are threatening you over there, here. Anyway, there's m. They're like running the streets, taking over entire apartment blocks.
Dasha
If you have. I mean, that's what Buell did, is if you have a face tattoo, you go to jail.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Because that's what the gangs do to initiate dare counselor. Now if someone tells you you have a face tattoo, don't do it. But yeah, basically, yeah. If you have a ton of scary tattoos and, you know, look like a fucked up, scary guy, then you're probably gonna commit some crimes. And we can't. We can't just take, you know.
Anna
Yep.
Dasha
But yeah, I'm surprised there wasn't. There hasn't been more kind of trauma porn like that already. Like, everything I've seen, like, the guy saying, I'm not going back to Haiti. Thank you, Barack Obama. I'm like, this is like propaganda for the right. This is nuts.
Anna
I know.
Dasha
But eventually, sure, I'm can project that there would be like, over corrections. What was that boy's name? Emilio Gonzalez.
Anna
Oh, Elian Gonzalez. There's gonna be a lot of that in the future.
Dasha
But we'll see. I mean, it's really. It's.
Anna
It'll just be like a photo of like, Lenny and me getting deported back to Rica from our Chinatown apartment.
Dasha
They say Trump's done more in 100 hours than any president has done in 100 days.
Anna
He signed more executive orders than any president in history. The second term, Anna and I were.
Dasha
When we decided basically not to try and go to the inauguration ball. We went to, like, a hotel bar where they were showing him sign the executive orders and it was awesome. And everyone at the bar started cheering when Baron came on screen and there was that black lady who kept going. That's. That Swag. He got that presidential swag. But it was very, like, ador. I thought. I found it very adorable. He seemed so pleased with himself. And we started tossing the pens. When he tossed the pens, I'm like, I do feel blissful. Like, I don't care who Pete Hegseth is. I, like, don't really. Coffee is gonna be more expensive. Like, I don't believe you. Aoc.
Anna
We're all fighting for our right to just, like, not care about politics as much anymore.
Dasha
Yeah, exactly. And we can all just enjoy, which.
Anna
Is also a cope and a lie, because everybody's so addicted to talking about politics that, like, if that's, like, well ever dried up, we'd be miserable because what would we do? We'd have to go to, like, art shows and write poems and be, like, downtown denizens like we used to be.
Dasha
I mean, I think it's possible. I think, you know, when Trump said, we're gonna get tired of winning, I'm feel. I'm like, yeah. I'm like, okay. I am. I feel like everything's going according to plan, and I don't have to worry. Worry about it.
Anna
Yeah. The gender one was a good one, too.
Dasha
He said that at the inauguration. What, in his speech. That there was only going to be two genders from now on.
Anna
Yeah. And so he. So he directed the Bureau of Prisons to ensure that no federal funds are expended for any medical procedure, treatment, or drug for the purpose of conforming an inmate's appearance to that of the opposite sex. So he put the kibosh on doing surgeries on legal aliens in prison.
Dasha
In prison.
Anna
I mean, I would even expand that to say that, like, no federal funds, no taxpayer dollars should ever go to any gender affirming care for minors.
Dasha
For anyone.
Anna
For anyone. Yeah. Like, I'm not against people medically transitioning, should they so choose. If they come to that decision on their own, that would be like, a very tiny, tiny fringe minority of people. But if you come to that conclusion yourself, you should probably be made to pay for that kind of elective medicine and surgery on your own. It's like getting plastic surgery, cosmetic surgery. It's like, oh, I want to be hotter and thinner. I'm gonna get a BBL and, like, lip injections.
Dasha
It's not. It's not fair that you can get facial feminization surgery, and I can't. It's just not like. Yeah, it's. It's. You can't. I can't just identify as having, like, huge tits.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And Go on Medicaid and try and get the government.
Anna
I'm identifying as blonde now. You have to pay. Pay for my, like, hair appointments for the rest of my life.
Dasha
No, it's a boutique issue. It's a boutique procedure.
Anna
Yeah, but the idea that, like, taxpayers.
Dasha
Should be safe, legal, rare, and expensive.
Anna
Yes, but, like, the fact that. And like any taxpayer should ever, in any ambient, indirect way have to pay for the transgender operations of, like, convicted felons in prison is absurd and monstrous. And I think he moved to remove, like, that's. It's hard opposite sex prisons.
Dasha
I mean, that'll have some ugly consequences for sure, but in terms of paying for felon surgeries. Yeah, I really think we don't need to do that.
Anna
Yeah. He also signed some executive orders about the federal bureaucracy and DI programs. So he ordered federal workers to cease remote work and come back to the office. He issued a freeze on federal hiring with the exception of military personnel and jobs related to, quote, immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety. And he's also demanding the elimination of government diversity programs. This includes the termination of all federal offices and positions related to diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as environmental justice. The order also directs his administration to review which federal contractors have provided DI training materials to federal workers and which federal funding grantees have been given funds to advance DI and environmental justice justice.
Dasha
That's the kind of thing I feel like. Well, the lawsuits will deal with the Civil Rights Act, Right?
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
The lawfare will pertain to that and will be. You know, it'll jam up the gears for sure.
Anna
Yeah. Like, one of the key pieces was rescinding the LYNDON B. JOHNSON 1965 Executive Order 11246, which is what established affirmative action as the law of the land.
Dasha
What?
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Lyndon B. Johnson did that?
Anna
Yes. Yeah.
Dasha
After they took out jmg.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Which. Yeah, we don't know. We. The files haven't been declassified yet.
Anna
For what?
Dasha
For jfk, mlk, rfk.
Anna
Okay. That I'm, like, the least interested in. I think that that's probably, like, a point of curiosity for the American public, but I don't really care.
Dasha
I'm intrigued. I think it will be more banal than we think.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
But we deserve to know.
Anna
But it's funny because if you think about it, I know that we love to hate Richard Hanania for being a pazuzu, like, troll.
Dasha
And I know we love to make.
Anna
Fun of Chris Ruffo for telling boys to go work at Panda Express when he hired a porn star.
Dasha
He knows what he did.
Anna
Yeah. But I feel like they, In a weird way, this is their impact. I know that sounds crazy and far fetched because.
Dasha
Well, Rufo. No, Rufo's been working, you know, at the grassroots level. You know, he seems like he's actually like, really created a lot of political momentum and force for these sorts of things.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Has obviously been influential.
Anna
Yeah. He was one of the first activists to be, like, openly, aggressively anti. Anti racism and anti gender ideology. Yeah. But I feel like in a weird, backhanded way, it was Hanania who kind of put him up to it.
Dasha
How so?
Anna
Because back in the day, back in the day, like a year or two ago, Hanania was a real, like, loud, vociferous critic of civil rights law.
Dasha
Okay.
Anna
And he had a. I mean, he wrote a book about it. He had a podcast with this law legal scholar, Gail Harriet, who had that great line that under civil rights law, everything is presumptively illegal. Like, anything can be seen as a source of discrimination. And of course, that's contingent on who is in power. So if, like, the left, if liberals are in power, they will discriminate against white men, basically, and promote the causes of, like, minorities, women, that sort of thing. So I think it was really like, that was the beginning of, like. I feel like somebody in Trump's administration was listening to those two guys.
Dasha
Yeah. I mean, I don't follow Hanania enough to know, but Rupo, like, he was. He's in Florida, right?
Anna
No, he's like on the West Coast, California, Bay area. I want to say.
Dasha
I remember when he came on the show, he was saying he had tangible, you know, he was like, through school districts and stuff. He was doing, like, Paul, he was doing politics, which, like, Hanania's. Is he. Is that what he's doing?
Anna
Yeah, in a weird, backhanded way. And it's funny because neither of those guys is, like, explicitly pro Trump. Like, I feel like Rufo until very recently was a desantoid and big time.
Dasha
Well, he had.
Anna
Hanania spent the entire election counter signaling Trump and, like, caping for Kamala in, like, a performative, trolling way.
Dasha
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rufo just had an op ed in the New York Post.
Anna
About what?
Dasha
About how the leftist mobs have failed to silence him. And I didn't really read it, to be honest.
Anna
No.
Dasha
But yeah, he's doing his thing, though. I. I agree. Yeah.
Anna
I remember, like, I think in 2022 or 2023, he laid out this whole, like, three part blueprint slash wish list for how to counteract anti racism I.
Dasha
Think in pragmatically, yes, but spiritually, you know, people don't like the Woke crap. Like. Yeah, it just. It's. It all kind of. What's the word I'm looking for? I'm doing a gesture with my hand. Dovetailed.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
It all kind of, you know, it's people. It's. The people really are sick of dei.
Anna
Yeah. Yeah, but it's. Rufo provided an intellectual lineage for the rise of wokeness in his book, and then Hanania provided a legal lineage for the rise of wokeness in his book, which comes from Christopher Caldwell, obviously. And it comes down to the Civil Rights act, which, like, basically the argument is like, the whole premise of the Civil Rights act is that it wants to put an end to discrimination of any kind. But the way that it played out in practice, it ended up being the opposite of its stated intentions, because it basically allowed and, in fact, encouraged discrimination against white people, specifically white men.
Dasha
Well, Ruhu's thing is because it was like a. Through march through the institution.
Anna
Yes.
Dasha
It was like the Maoism in the university system kind of like, trickled down into politics.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
I have a schizophrenic friend who. Who thinks this is not the case and that Wokeism was actually the crash by the CIA. And it's actually like many levels. It's more complicated, which I'm open to, but I haven't done the research.
Anna
I wouldn't be surprised.
Dasha
Yeah. Yeah.
Anna
So, okay. So this was Rufo's agenda. First, you. You have to outlaw affirmative action and racial preferences, starting with the Lyndon B. Johnson order. Then you have to eliminate disparate impact, which has entrenched the doctrine that disparate group outcomes are de facto evidence of racial discrimination, which he calls a preposterous standard, since equal rights necessarily mean unequal outcomes. Well, and, like, the presence of bias or discrimination cannot be inferred working backwards from outcomes, but must proceed from, like, concrete, provable instances of, like, malice or animus. Right. Which, you know, can be ascertained through a legal process. And then, last but not least, the final item on his wish list was to abolish the DI bureaucracies which openly discriminate against disfavored racial groups, impose ideological orthodoxies on American citizens, and restrict freedoms of speech and association. So so far, Trump is like, two for three on those executive orders. I mean, all of this might be legally challenged, but he's at least going.
Dasha
For it will be. But the right. The issue, I feel, is that, like, with affirmative action, with these sort of like racialized groupings. They just didn't. Just anyone who is like non white is oppressed was. This was like the whole premise of, like, stop Asian hate.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
You know, and the way that like, a lot of, like, Indian people tried to steal clout from black people and, and that's why they came up with like, bipoc, because poc was too wide of a term. And then they said bipoc. Okay. So like black indigenous. But then it's like, what does black mean? You know.
Anna
Right.
Dasha
And then. Okay, descendant of slaves.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
But then, like, you could basically. But then a bunch of like, African.
Anna
And Caribbean immigrants started piggybacking, also stealing valor from foundational black Americans.
Dasha
But there isn't even, you know, there are. Some people are more foundationally black American than others.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And like, the. You can't really just make it about, like, slave ancestry because there's probably like white people who have like some slave ancestry, like, white path. You know, it's like, it's all situated over Frost Appalachia. You know, there's people with, you know, the Oppression Olympics were just a flop.
Anna
Yeah. But the idea that, like, the whole concept of, like, disparate impact, the fact that you can look at outcomes and be like, this group is underperforming according to these standards, they have, like, lower literacy, higher crime rates, and this is de facto evidence of discrimination, is preposterous. It's crazy.
Dasha
Well, because the all. Well, because the alternative is just racist.
Anna
Yeah, it's. It's bleak and unflattering.
Dasha
But it's a mix. Yeah, it's a mix.
Anna
But you can't tailor policy.
Dasha
No.
Anna
To work backward from outcomes.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
I, I think it was like, I think Nick Fuentes was saying that, like, the concept of colorblind meritocracy, which the Trump administration is trying to enforce now, is actually anti white and anti American.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
But of course, as everybody implicitly understands, it is the polite and civil way of acknowledging group disparity.
Dasha
Right. But then it privileges non white. Well, it privileges ethnic groups.
Anna
Well, it privileges Asians.
Dasha
Yeah. But that's. If you define merit based on, like, quantitative, you know, like on test scores and stuff like that. And if you want to, you know, get racial with values. No, it's just, it's always going to be imperfect.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Unless you have, like, over white supremacist policies, which are not viable or preferable.
Anna
For me, I mean, I think, like, some people would argue that colorblind meritocracy is white supremacist.
Dasha
Why, when it privileges Asians.
Anna
Well, because white people end up performing better than blacks and Hispanics. So not as good as Asians. But everybody agrees to ignore Asians because.
Dasha
We not in the tech sector. Yeah, that's the thing. I mean, that's the gist of Bannon's speech at the Passage Press Ball. You know, he like, read the room because he's so gracious, but, like, he's really waging a war against like a tech oligarchy, which is now terminology that like Biden adopted in his like, farewell speech and stuff. But he isn't advocating for colorblind meritocracy because he understands that, like, in like, tech and academia, whites will be outperformed.
Anna
Yeah, sure.
Dasha
And just because we don't want, like, being an American isn't about having the highest test scores or doing the most homework or like, defining merit so narrowly isn't actually like, potentially good for America. I don't know. Now I'm drunk. Do I sound crazy? I see.
Anna
This is like the most manic and unstable episode ever.
Dasha
I just. Yeah, we feel like I'm. Yeah.
Anna
But I guess the argument is that all these DEI woke programs that funnel money into underprivileged minorities are basically unconstitutional because they actually go against the stated premise of civil rights law, which is a lack of discrimination. Because in a way they end up in like a back ass backwards way, they end up discriminating against white people. But they're also, like, in practice, just like, horribly counterproductive. Because, yes, they disadvantage white people. They don't particularly help minorities at the end of the day. They don't elevate minority communities.
Dasha
Not real minority.
Anna
And they create a jobs program for bureaucrats and are just a huge time sink and money suck.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
And are like evil across the board.
Dasha
And so we got planes falling out of the sky because they don't let white men fly them anymore. It's just, I mean, the, like, they.
Anna
Basically just lead to bloated and distortionary spending.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
Like, that's my main argument for why they have to go. Yeah. It's not like underprivileged minorities in the inner city are really, truly benefiting from any of these programs in the long run. In the short run, sure. Maybe they're getting like little kickbacks and perks and amenities.
Dasha
American born Indian person, you know, being like, I. They picked on me when I brought my tikka masala to school and like, blah, blah. And it's like, you are from like a Brahmin caste. Like, yeah. You're not underprivileged well, you're a. Technically.
Anna
A poc, or people who are technically from POC backgrounds.
Dasha
Well, yeah.
Anna
Can steal valor, can piggyback on the plight of native minorities. Blacks and TP Indians, not Slurpee Indians. And can throw their lot in with that plight. Which is why, like, the Stop Asian Hate thing was such a big deal.
Dasha
That was. Those in. I. It shocked me then, but in hindsight, I really am like, I can't believe they really. Yeah. And it was like, in retrospect, it.
Anna
Was like six figure Chinese and Korean and Indian girl bosses. Yeah. Like throwing their chips in with the voices of the Asian people.
Dasha
Getting pushed on the tracks by, like, black Haitian guys. No, I, I mean, how many white people did hate crimes against Asian people?
Anna
Yes. And even when it. When a hate crime against an Asian person occurred and it was fully disambiguated that it was at the hands of some, like, black teen, the story, the, the narrative went well. This is still evidence of white supremacy.
Dasha
Because Trump said Kung Fu.
Anna
Yeah. Yeah.
Dasha
Ah.
Anna
And everyone is suffering from false consciousness.
Dasha
Yeah. It's crazy. I mean, it's. It feels good.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Should we talk about the inauguration itself?
Anna
Yes.
Dasha
Which we also did not go to.
Anna
No.
Dasha
But that's. It was moved indoors to the arctic chill. And then we were told by that nice lady at the convention center that even if we did go, we'd still be watching it on a screen.
Anna
Yes.
Dasha
So we all opted to watch it.
Anna
Alone, isolated from our.
Dasha
In our hotel room. I cracked a Diet Coke. The moment. Yeah, it started. And that was beautiful. I had a really. I had. I love the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Glory, Glory, Hallelujah. Which Trump also danced to the Elvis kind of COVID It was a cover of the Elvis kind of COVID of the Battle of the Republic. But they played. They sang the full one at the inauguration and they. There's a neutered version of it where they say they. They're talking about Christ and how he died to make men holy, so we should die to make men free. And in the neutered version, they say we live to make men free. But at the inauguration, they sang die to make money, which I thought was beautiful. I really, I got. Was so emotional. The black preacher.
Anna
Oh, yeah, he was good.
Dasha
Free at last. Oh, yeah, it was awesome.
Anna
It was like leprechaun in the hood.
Dasha
Trump told him, he's. You're a star. He was clearly moved. He came and gave him a hug. So you're a star. When you're a star, they let you do it. Yeah, you say free at last. Mlk.
Anna
Black preacher is kind of a bad boy.
Dasha
Is he?
Anna
Yeah. Apparently he had a rap sheet just like mlk. Yeah, he was like, he was like jc. He used to be a drug dealer.
Dasha
Very cool. Well, hey, redemption.
Anna
Now he's a two bit preacher.
Dasha
He's a one. I mean, I don't know if it's one or two is better, but he's, he's at the inauguration.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Cardinal Dolan led the invocation, which they.
Anna
Had all the religious leaders out.
Dasha
I've seen Cardinal Dolan twice.
Anna
Okay.
Dasha
At the Byzantine Catholics assembly and the Young Catholic Professionals Gala. So I'm like, this guy's coming out. I was like, come on, Dolan, that's so boring. Bring that schizo Orthodox guy out from the Young Republicans club. Bring some freak based Orthodox. That's like. I was really hoping he'd do something. Honestly, I think it should have been the Byzantine Catholic priest who blessed Trump before the assassination attempt.
Anna
Interesting.
Dasha
Bald, isn't he? Catholic, just like Dan Allegretto should have led the invocation. But whatever, Dolan, let him have it.
Anna
Well, they have to like wheel every guy from every denomination out.
Dasha
I know, but the first who leads the invocation is. Does matter. And then the next day they had the prayer breakfast for that woke lady.
Anna
Oh, yeah, the late.
Dasha
Yeah, the lesbian bishop. I'm doing air quotes because of course not only Anglicans, not priests or bishops, but women. Absolutely. Definitely not. Never been with the church, taught, completely heretical.
Anna
I know. Dasha, as a non religious, secular person, I have no excuse to opine on this, but my deepest instinct is that women should not, of course, serve as top clergy. They shouldn't be like, I even have a problem at all. Yes, they shouldn't be nuns. Does that count? That's clergy.
Dasha
They're. They're none. They're not clergy. They're monastics.
Anna
Okay.
Dasha
They're like monks.
Anna
I don't know why I can't explain or articulate this, but I, I don't think that women should be shepherding flocks of parishioners. It's not. I, I even take umbrage when there's.
Dasha
Oh, it's not that. It's. I don't even think it should be controversial to say it's never ever been what the church has.
Anna
It just feels wrong.
Dasha
Of course, of course.
Anna
I even have like kind of a problem with female rabbis.
Dasha
Definitely. And I don't even care about their religion. But sure, yeah, that's. They're all like reform. Yeah, there's no orthodox. I mean like, actually, I don't know. But. No, no, no, no, no. There will never. Many saints have said that if, when feet. If there's women in the priesthood, this religion is deformed. Like this is wrong. It's, it's people. It's in. And she. Yeah, annoying. Please have mercy on. Blah, blah. Lots of people tagging me, being like, are you for real? I'm like, this isn't a Catholic person. This is. Yeah. Catherine, never. I mean, I never say never.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
But Biden became a Freemason.
Anna
What does that mean?
Dasha
He joined. He was like greeted into a Masonic lodge.
Anna
Okay.
Dasha
Which is a pretty explicitly. And basically he's excommunicated from the Catholic Church. Okay. There was no formal decree. But joining a fraternal order like the Masons does technically excommunicate you from the Catholic Church because they have a long history of being anti Catholic and they're a, you know, they believe in, they don't believe in God. They believe in like reason and men and like fraternity and grouping together and blah, blah. I don't know exactly what the Masons are about or what they're up to now, but it's just a crazy thing to do at the end of your life.
Anna
Yeah. To sign a pact with the devil.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
No, we already knew he had done that, but yeah, that is kind of crazy.
Dasha
It's nuts. And that picture him with a black hat, with the top hat. It's so crazy. I mean they're a very shadowy organization, so I don't know how much power they even wield. Yeah, I get the feeling. Not much now. So it's even weirder.
Anna
The Freemasons seem like an organization that like somebody like Sean McCarthy would be spurging and spiraling about.
Dasha
I mean they've been in, they've been powerful, they've wielded a lot of power. Some people think they've infiltrated the Catholic Church and they've wanted to destroy the Catholic Church for a long time because they're their main kind of rivals. And so for a Catholic president to.
Anna
Go, like, not convinced. I feel like the Catholic Church does a lot of self destruction, doesn't really need help.
Dasha
That's because the Freemasons infiltrated and the Jews, that's why.
Anna
But when I look at these like high appointed, like top tier religious figures, I'm just like, oh, you guys are more corrupt than politicians. There's like an HBO series about you like every single priest, Reverend, Deacon, whatever.
Dasha
Well, Vance made this point on his TV interview With some broad where she asked him about the immigration policy as a Catholic, because the Pope. Oh, yeah, the woke Pope said, you can't send him back.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And he said, let me see. I have the quote here.
Anna
Nick Fuentes talks about this.
Dasha
He does.
Anna
He sure does. I was drunk last night looking at streams. Yeah. Well, he was making the point that, yes, the Catholic Church is interested in increasing its numbers and therefore its supremacy in the world, but that is not mutually exclusive of having a white ethno state. I wasn't really following. I had a pounding headache.
Dasha
It's not so much about having the white ethno state. Well, van said the U.S. conference of Catholic Bishops needs to look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive more than 100 million to resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns or are they worried about their bottom line?
Anna
Yep. Yeah.
Dasha
Which was very, very, very smart of him to, like, not, you know, it's not about Rome. It's. There's, like, you know, jurisdictions within a massive hierarchy. And. Yeah. When they say stuff like that, it's you. You know.
Anna
Yeah. There is like, an innate conflict between the Catholic Church and the US Of A. There has to be.
Dasha
Right. Because they're loyal to Rome.
Anna
Well, they're loyal to themselves. They want to increase their numbers, increase.
Dasha
Their power, while they're losing to the evangelicals, to the Pentecostals. That's like the big. You know, the prots are making a lot of progress in the subcontinent. What, in like, Africa and stuff?
Anna
The dark continent.
Dasha
But anyway, well said. But by Vance. Yeah. Unfortunately, Biden is. I've parroted. I looked this up in my research today because I've often parroted the fact that Madonna was the last person to be excommunicated by the Catholic Church, which is not true. And it turns out it's like her. She said in interviews that she's been excommunicated.
Anna
Oh, okay.
Dasha
Three times. Which isn't even possible.
Anna
Yeah. This is her, like, still love narrativization.
Dasha
But she, like, they. Yeah. Spoke out against, like, Papa Don't Preach and her. The. You know, and JP to encourage people to boycott her concert.
Anna
They've spoken out against her, like, Andre Serrano piss Christ antics.
Dasha
Yeah. But she's never been formally.
Anna
I love the Catholic Church.
Dasha
The last, like, 15 people who have been excommunicated. It's been very, like, judicial, like, you know, I think the last one, like, schismed in some way and refused to acknowledge the authority of blah, blah, is. It's very yeah. Madonna isn't one of them. And I don't know if Biden will be formally excommunicated in any way, but spiritually, he. He's no longer part of the mystical body, which is crazy. If I was a lifelong Catholic who was as bad as Joe Biden, I'd. End of my life, you know, I'd be like. I'd be going confession daily.
Anna
Did he actually become a Freemason, or is this, like, also, like, a meme?
Dasha
No, I think he did. Okay, maybe not like of the 33rd order, like Harry Truman, who dropped the bomb on Nagasaki, but there have been presidents who have been Freemasons before. Yeah, but he. Like, I don't know in what capacity, but you're not as. You're not allowed. It's heretical, which automatically excommunicates you. You know, it's not like having sex or an abortion or you've committed a sin. You know, it's like it's a grave. Like you've separated yourself from the church.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Big mistake. Maybe he's going to confession. Maybe he didn't mean it. I don't know. I can't speak to the conditions.
Anna
This is way over my head.
Dasha
Anyway. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Melania is our second Catholic first lady of her Jacky O. Oh, yeah. Should we talk about her fits?
Anna
Yeah, sure. The Carmen Sandiego fit. The ribbon fit.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
The rag and bone puffer with the.
Dasha
Skinny jeans and aviator glasses and then the black hat.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
At the Palisades press conference, where she sat silently. I think Amanda Fortini had a good take where she said she's. I think this was her. She said that she's, like, veiling herself because she's been so mistreated by the media that she's, like, kind of doing this, like, mob boss. Like, I don't give you access. You can't. You're not gonna. You know, she's hiding a bit.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
But she is valid. She's justified because of how badly she was treated before, and they tried to kill her husband. And, you know, she's. I don't. I didn't love the Corman. San Diego.
Anna
You didn't love what?
Dasha
I didn't love the. The hat.
Anna
Yeah. That's not. Not my fave, either.
Dasha
The Hamburglar.
Anna
Yeah. It's giving Paddington.
Dasha
Yeah. But it was, you know.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Powerful statement here. Yeah. I saw some people be like, skinny jeans are back. And I was like, what do you. That's not. Her job is to dictate trends, and that's a horrible outfit.
Anna
It was. Yeah. It really grinded my gears. It's not my favorite. I know.
Dasha
Bring back the. I don't care.
Anna
I want to see Melania only wear like Moncler. Like rag and bone is a little too down market for her. Yeah. It was the rag and bone puffer. Come on.
Dasha
She's a populist just like me.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
She's wearing Doan.
Anna
Yeah. I guess she did wear Zara.
Dasha
That was the. I don't care. Do you?
Anna
Yeah. She just like us real. She mixes high in love when they go low. We mix high and low.
Dasha
You know, obviously I'm a huge fan of hers.
Anna
Me too. Yeah.
Dasha
And I think she's. When we saw her at the MSG alley.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
I thought she had like ethereal, like she was like float.
Anna
The way she walked was like.
Dasha
She was, you know, beautiful.
Anna
Yeah. I mean, okay. Like Melania looks amazing all the time because she's a literal supermodel and she's like six foot tall and has like beautiful flowing golden locks.
Dasha
Nice ombre.
Anna
She's like. I can acknowledge that she looks great in her fits, but I can't relate to her style at all.
Dasha
No, she. And they were doing the 2016. She wore the kind of like baby blue Jackie O fit.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And I think it's cool that she's, you know, doing her own kind of hard edged thing. I'm looking forward to her Christmas decorations.
Anna
Me too.
Dasha
She was criticized for. But yeah, I bet she has a lot of like frustrations with media scrutiny. So it makes sense that she is. I'm sure.
Anna
Or maybe she just doesn't care. There's this.
Dasha
I don't care. Do you?
Anna
There's this whole like lore on social media about how she's like a Slavic ice queen. And I don't think that she's like bitchy and inaccessible, but I don't think that that's the case at all. I think that like a lot of. First of all, she's not Slavic. I have to be an annoying, pedantic clarifier. She's from a Slavic country, but she's a gotchier. She's Germanic.
Dasha
I hate to hear that. Anna.
Anna
It's true. I think that's her like main ethnic background. Maybe she has some Slavic admixture. But yes, she. Okay, let's. Let's set that all aside and say that she's like an honorary Slav because she hails from a Slavic nation and she was clearly raised in a Slavic Soviet culture.
Dasha
Yeah. Just like Slavoi Zhizha.
Anna
Yes. But she's. She's obviously a somewhat shy and diffident person, which reads to effusive and extroverted Americans as bitchy and aloof.
Dasha
Right, I agree.
Anna
I wouldn't read into it too much. Well, I don't think it's like a posture she adopts for the media necessarily. I think that that's her like innate character. And it's funny because she's been billed historically as like a whore, a call girl, an escort or whatever. And maybe she even did that at some point as a profession. And I wouldn't hold it against her, but like, like many women from that part of the world, such as Martha Stewart, she is basically kind of awkward and rigid.
Dasha
Yeah. But I think in 2016 she was like kind of playing the. I do think she is aware of her presentation. She has to be.
Anna
Maybe now, but.
Dasha
And she was trying in 2016 she was like, I think, trying. I think you're right. She is like naturally introverted and discreet.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And in 2016 she was like trying to kind of play the part and, you know, and she got ripped apart and called a whore and ice queen and all this like Russophone stuff. And so now she's just playing. She's holding her cards like close to the chest. She's not gonna let them get like a shot of her with her eyes exposed, which I think is cool.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
It's kind of kanye to like obscure your appearance in a non confrontational way. Like, she's not gonna wear the I don't care.
Anna
Do you?
Dasha
Parka Again, that was a different era where she like had the innocence and good faith to wear something she got at Zara. Yeah. And then get ripped apart for it. And so now she is going to be a little more meticulous, but she's going to be a little more unavailable, which is her. Right. Yeah.
Anna
And when people are like, oh, she, she looks like mean and difficult. She's just like unemotive and poker faced.
Dasha
Which is like a defensive.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Posture.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
That she has. Because she doesn't want to.
Anna
You know, and there are moments that you can catch in the media of her being, like relaxed and smiley.
Dasha
Yeah. The young videos of Baron and her.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
She's adorable.
Anna
She's obviously like a totally different person in private.
Dasha
Of course. Yeah.
Anna
And there are some people who are like, what you see is what you get. And those people are usually American.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
So I don't know.
Dasha
I'm excited for her to be back in the light Ivanka wore that, like, Audrey Hepburn.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Gown. Like a recreation of it.
Anna
Yeah. Oh, well, I wanted to talk about Lauren Sanchez because people were really, like, trashing her for dressing like a. At inauguration because she had the white blazer with, like, the bustier underneath, and.
Dasha
Zuck was, like, the exposed bra, like Ava Glodinger. I did not find that to be a unreasonable amount of cleavage.
Anna
It was pretty tame for Lauren Sanchez.
Dasha
Yeah. She clearly doesn't care.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And I read the Friend of the Pod, Nomi Fries, the New Yorker, where I learned about the hem length index.
Anna
Okay.
Dasha
That apparently, when the economy is doing well, women's skirts get shorter. When the economy's not doing so well, they get longer.
Anna
Interesting.
Dasha
And that's a way of, like. I read some article on Forbes. It's like one of the markers of, like, a recession. But she was making kind of a flimsy case. The tits are back. It was a little, you know, a little all over the place. But I did learn something which was nice.
Anna
Hard men create big tits.
Dasha
But I just think, you know, you're gonna have these techniques, create hard tits. You know, you're gonna have Bezos. He's gonna bring Lauren Sanchez, and she's gonna dress like a whore. What do you want?
Anna
I don't know.
Dasha
Why put a blazer on?
Anna
Yes, exactly. She. She hid her shoulders.
Dasha
She. She looked like she was at a Trad Girl E summit.
Anna
I feel weirdly protective over Lauren Sanchez, even though she doesn't need to be defended.
Dasha
She has auntie energy.
Anna
I don't even know it. Just like all the people who are accusing her of being tasteless and vulgar are tasteless and vulgar themselves. Just not in an aesthetic way. In, like, an intellectual or spiritual way.
Dasha
Right.
Anna
And, like, everybody was, like, ragging on her. And at the same time, every single female Trump relative, Ivanka, Tiffany, Kai, did an elaborate photo shoot to honor Donald's inauguration, which, like, if, you know, it's, like, kind of harmless female vanity, but if you zoom out, it's, like, kind of bizarre and absurd to stage a photo shoot for yourself because you know you're going to be photographed anyway with your family. Like, that, to me, is just as vulgar as wearing, like, a white blazer with, like, a white bustier beneath. Am I crazy?
Dasha
Like, it's.
Anna
It's bizarre. Like, Ivanka. I mean, I love Ivanka.
Dasha
I.
Anna
With Ivanka, and she's a beautiful woman, blah, blah, blah. But, like, she had that, like, photo shoot in the Audrey Hen dress on, like, the bar staircase, which is weird.
Dasha
I'M pulling up the Tiffany Trump one. Yeah, it's awesome. Yeah, it's. She's pregnant and she's. I was like, these are glittering images. She looks so psycho. But. Yeah.
Anna
No, but how is that not as vulgar and tasteless as what Lauren Sanchez did?
Dasha
Of course. I agree. I mean, yeah, I mean, I'm personally.
Anna
Not offended by any of it. It's all fine. It's all within the realm of, like, normal female activity. But, like, why does Lauren Sanchez get hit hardest? A friend of mine put it really well that, like, what people really secretly object to is this kind of, like, aesthetic brownification of beauty standards. Like, there was that Instagram post from Keith McNally back in the day. I'm gonna get my restaurant privileges rescinded before I even got them. Where he was calling her ugly and repulsive, and he, like, assembled a carousel of her with the Kardashian ladies. And I think, like, yeah, people would never.
Dasha
Ivanka.
Anna
No. Lauren Sanchez.
Dasha
Oh, oh, oh.
Anna
And, like, nobody would ever admit to this because we all see ourselves as, like, tolerant, anti racist people, but what they're really objecting to is this black slash Latina aesthetic.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
That's become more of a norm.
Dasha
Right.
Anna
It's, like, loud, colorful, in your face. Like big tits, big ass, big lips, tan skin, lots of bronzer. Like 10 pounds of makeup versus, like, the Carolyn Beset, Jackie O.
Dasha
Sure.
Anna
Tasteful political lady Look.
Dasha
Wow.
Anna
She's 55 years old and she's like, you know, she's like a journalist, a businesswoman. She's a licensed pilot. She's not just some random bimbo.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
I don't really care about Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos, but, like, they clearly seem to love each other and make each other happy.
Dasha
She's dyslexic.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And they had an extramarital affair.
Anna
Yep.
Dasha
I didn't realize.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Well, she seems like an amazing woman. I mean, def.
Anna
Like, for sure, you know, she's literally fine and harmless. Like, if she was donating to libtard causes like Mackenzie Bezos, maybe she'd be fair game. Nobody complains about that woman.
Dasha
Right.
Anna
In the spirit of being charitable, I will say that they both have beautiful hair.
Dasha
Well.
Anna
Weave.
Dasha
Weave extension. What does that even mean?
Anna
You know, I'm just saying, I feel like the arbitrary, bizarre hate for Lauren Sanchez is a little bit overblown.
Dasha
I agree. I don't feel any ill will towards her.
Anna
Yeah, I think she's nothing.
Dasha
Kind of. She's not my taste.
Anna
Same.
Dasha
She's not a, you know, picnic at Hanging rock. Elegant waif. But I'm not expecting to see that in Washington D.C. when we were like trekking, attempting to get to the back of the line. It's dc. The women dress like prostitutes.
Anna
I know.
Dasha
They dress like straight up. Is it crazy? I feel like if there was like a. I mean, at the Young Republicans gala, there wasn't like, you know, you had some bodycon stuff happening, but it was in D.C. i'm like, wow. Like, are you like a. I know, I know. Like, what is your. Why are you trying to go to this ball so much? And you're just like a. And like all these like so Sanchez.
Anna
No shade, but all the right wing influencer wives look just as slutty as Lauren Sanchez. Let's be real.
Dasha
Which influencer wives?
Anna
I'm not going to name names.
Dasha
You mean the wives of right wing Influen.
Anna
Yeah, or like some of the girls themselves.
Dasha
Sure.
Anna
They. They have a very like in your. Wait, what is her deal?
Dasha
She was a Jan Sixer who's like.
Anna
She's like a hot babe.
Dasha
She's like a blonde. She's a dumb. But yeah, she was awaiting sentencing or something. There was like a big spread. And the New York Post really is like when I prep for the. I like to save up a stack of New York Posts and then I. When I prep for the pod, I like leap through them. I'm like, oh yeah, Black school shooter.
Anna
Griper was apparently in the same with Samantha Rupp.
Dasha
They're in the same like Discord Chat or something.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Same type of weird. Different kind of shooter. He only killed one person, I think.
Anna
Okay.
Dasha
So I think it was a kind of targeted. And he was a black Nazi, see. But really came and went with so much going on in the press cycle. Oh, Elon's.
Anna
Oh, yeah.
Dasha
He's at a Nazi sloop kind of.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
He did a Roman salute.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Really? It's.
Anna
He did his own secret third thing.
Dasha
I think he knew what he was doing, but also think he couldn't control himself. Is he a Nazi? Is he autistic? It's both. And he's not a Nazi in any meaningful way, but he is. Was doing like he did do. He knew what he was doing.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And I think I.
Anna
Well, he's like all geniuses. He's.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
And I don't know if he could anticipate how bad the optics would be.
Dasha
Oh, I think he.
Anna
I'm just shocked that he would do something. So.
Dasha
I think.
Anna
Like, I'm not personally offended by it because I didn't see anything wrong with it. It was just like a stupid, spurgey, provocative, trolley gesture. Who cares? Well, but he played into the hands.
Dasha
Of all the worst people, but in a Machiavellian way. You know, he drove sort of discourse on a media platform that he owns. You know, he knew. And he was. It was sort. He had, like, the plausible deniability of, my heart goes out to you.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
But we all know, you know, that he had his arm outstretched, which are not. Like, there's a photo of me that gets circulated sometimes. I know there's like, the SS flag. Blah, blah.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Which is also totally fine. But there's one where I just have my arm outstretched.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And I actually wasn't. I was like, 18 and really wasn't even doing kind of a Hillary thing. Was kind of just like doing like, a skinny arm thing. But it looks. The thing about a Hitler slew is in a still photograph.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
I'm outstretching my arm now. You can't.
Anna
She's doing the Nazi.
Dasha
Well, you can't tell, like. Yeah, I could have done it from my forehead. I could have done. It's a very specific gesture. And, like, a photograph is not inadequate condemnation of something as being a Nazi salute, though what Elon did was very, very similar to a Nazi salute.
Anna
Well, and it was also caught in video.
Dasha
Yeah, exactly.
Anna
So you had the whole full breadth of motion.
Dasha
Yeah. But he did hit his chest first.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Which is not a Nazi. Yeah. I'm not even, like, defending people like, oh, she's defending him. I'm not defending him. I'm just. Just saying the stigma of outstretching your arm, emphatically, with a lot of enthusiasm and rigor is, you know, I think we're past it. You know, Trump's not doing it. Trump didn't do it.
Anna
He didn't do the. He didn't do.
Dasha
Trump's not doing a Nazi salute. Okay. And Elon's a spurg. Oh, here, I'm trying to open another beer.
Anna
I just think that it's stupid to get offended about something like that in this day and age, because there's no such thing as real Nazis. And the tiny minority, like, the minuscule percentage of people in the world who still identify as Nazis is so powerless and so reviled, nobody takes them seriously. You cannot be a Nazi or a fascist in this day and age. Like, sure, you can.
Dasha
You can be a fascist. But a Nazi.
Anna
You cannot be a Nazi or a fascist in any serious, politically consequential way. In 2025.
Dasha
And, yeah, a Nazi, for sure. You can. Fascism is a kind of a umbrella term that you can be grouped in with. But Nazism.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Like, you think Elon Musk is a. You think he's part of the Third. The Third Reich? He's a. He likes to.
Anna
This is so.
Dasha
He adheres to the tenants of Nazism. Like, let's just.
Anna
This is, like, so puerile and trivial, and I cannot believe it still bears repeating. And maybe it does not even. But like, Nazi and. Or fascist in this day and age just means person I disagree with politically. That's literally the only meaningful definition.
Dasha
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think. Didn't Nez and Yahoo say that the Elon gesture was not a Nazis? But then people love to call. You know, they call Israel Nazis.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
They call me a Nazi.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
I'm from Belarus. It's like, why would I be a Nazi? That's crazy.
Anna
It's just like.
Dasha
It doesn't make any sense.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
It's like, ahistorical and, like, not meaningful, but. Yeah, we shouldn't be, like, I guess, throwing up Romans.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
If we want to beat the. Like, he got.
Anna
He got caught up. He was overexcited.
Dasha
Yeah, he got. He clearly did. Yeah.
Anna
And he didn't seem to face any consequences for it. Unlike Vivek, who got totally excommunicated for that one. Really annoying and gay boy meets World Post.
Dasha
I know. I don't know how he's gonna come back from that.
Anna
Well, he's, like, running for governor of Ohio.
Dasha
Oh, really?
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
J.D. vance is the VP.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Oh, well, good luck, I guess. I mean.
Anna
I feel bad for Vivek. It's so sad how nobody likes him.
Dasha
I know. And I want him to. You know, I love to see a man redeemed, so I'd like, you know, but I just don't see it happening for him. He's like Andrew Yang, you know, it's like, we're not gonna let this Chinese guy I know have the computer country, whatever he wants.
Anna
He's an unusual person, much like Yang, because he's not exactly cursed or unlucky because he's made it this far and he's basically a household name now, but he is definitely not blessed.
Dasha
Not blessed in his favor. No. And, yeah, just like I said, being an American is not about how much homework you did.
Anna
It'S about how much homework you didn't do.
Dasha
Just about a kind of spirit, you know? Glory, glory hallelujah the truth is marching.
Anna
On the truth is social.
Dasha
Oh, Fauci. Security detail.
Anna
Oh, yeah, that was funny.
Dasha
He can afford private security detail, but still kind of cuz Brandon pardoned Fouchy before leaving office, as well as his.
Anna
Whole family, which is hilarious because I'm very naive. And so I assume pardons are handed down for crimes that have already been committed, but apparently not.
Dasha
I would have thought they're the same thing.
Anna
They're also handed down for any, like, future presumptive crimes or like, anything you maybe did or.
Dasha
Yeah, you can just. That's. That's interesting. Yeah, we got to get back down to Washington and try to ingratiate ourselves. No, I haven't done any crimes. I don't. I don't need a pardon. But that's like, yeah, that's what power gets you is like this kind of immunity.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And now Fouchi, like, what did he do? What do you do? Because the pardon was really like, and thank you for your service and I'll. I'm pardoning you. It's like, well, what are you partnering him from then? Like. And yeah, they're saying it's like, because Trump's gonna be a draconian. It's like. But yeah, but that's one of those.
Anna
Like, classic libtard moves where they love to preemptively smear their enemies by accusing them of stuff that they're planning on doing where they're like, oh, Trump is going to strike down upon his political opponents. Wait, I have to pee. I'll be right back. I mean, this, this. I was just in the bathroom thinking about Trump rescinding Fauci's security detail. And of course, in the mind of his, like, liberal critics, this is like a weird dog whistle attempt to get people to seek retribution against him, like, guerrilla style. But in reality, it's probably just like a cost cutting measure because these security details must cost a lot of money.
Dasha
Of course. Well, it's just both.
Anna
No, I don't even think Luigi's locked up. He's not. Like, Trump is not sicking schizo right wing activists on Fauci.
Dasha
No, he's not saying it's legal.
Anna
He's not. Like, it's open season on Dr. Fauci.
Dasha
Right. And like I said, like, Dr. Fauci's become incredibly rich through all of his nefarious business dealings, so he is able to afford a bodyguard and he doesn't need the tax payers who he. Whose lives he destroyed, he kept from seeing their family members in their last.
Anna
Moments to pay for his, like, vanity celebrity security detail.
Dasha
Exactly.
Anna
That makes him feel like Brad Pitt when he waltzes into a fancy restaurant.
Dasha
He's D.C. bodyguard. Of course he knows everyone hates him and he deserves it and he. The least he can do, but also.
Anna
Like nothing's gonna happen to him.
Dasha
Be careful, Anna. You placed Armenian curse.
Anna
No, I'm, I'm actually not. I'm a man of principle. So I never liked it even when these vigilante groups would round up some poor 95 year old Nazi in Argentina or Chile and like try to get him assassinated or like haul him before a court or whatever. I think if you've made it that far, you can just like. Yeah, you're like be left to your own devices.
Dasha
You have to live with it.
Anna
Yeah. And so like I don't know. I'm not advocating for any like civilian violence against Anthony Fauci, even though that wouldn't be just. And resent what he did to us.
Dasha
It wouldn't be just. And I would have loved to see some justice, but it's all. It's okay. It's not that important to me. Not as important.
Anna
I think what would be really satisfying.
Dasha
Is if I get my vaccine done, I can get this vaccine out of my body. Sir Donald Trump can make an anti vax. I could say no. I think the vax ultimately is whatever.
Anna
I think that there should be like a fair and impartial Nuremberg style process.
Dasha
There won't be criminals, but there won't be. There won't be. There won't be for Fauci, maybe some of some lower rung people.
Anna
For Peter Dasak, I doubt it.
Dasha
Who knows? It's okay. It's not. I'm not. I don't want vengeance. I really don't. I'm like on board with you know, rectifying like when Bannon was talking about how Zuckerberg is like falling in line, but he's not really one of us. And like for me I'm like, I don't care if they weren't based before, if they are gonna just fall in line and be based now, then that's. I don't care. You know, I just want like, you know, I'm, I've. Yeah, I want to be forgiven for my transgressions and I want to forgive my enemies for their transgressions against me. And I really want the construction to stop outside my house. But that's something I, I have no power over. There's no one I can vote for to make that not stop. But maybe I'll go. Maybe I'll become a lobbyist and use circuitous means to sabotage this whole operation. But realistically, I won't. I know, because it's waking me up too early and derailing my day.
Anna
It's sapping you of your faculties. It's making you weaker and more winning.
Dasha
ZOG is winning. They're waging a war against me by the Jewish developers building a building right next to mine. And they're winning.
Anna
But it's nice. I was, like, relatively happy with the moral victory of Trump winning, but it turns out the second time around, he's actually trying to get some shit done, too.
Dasha
Well, it's. Yeah. And it's. I don't want to glow.
Anna
No. But we'll let the right wing and ons do that for us.
Dasha
It's unbecoming. But it is really nice. I think him winning now after losing this the previous is very nice. The Grover Cleveland maneuver is. I mean, is. If it's so much more satisfying and, like, things have really reached such a, like, pitch of exhaustion morally amongst, like, the population. You know, the fact that, like, Elon doing a Nazi salute isn't, like, you know, like, three, four years ago.
Anna
Yeah. That would have been, like, grounds for total cancellation.
Dasha
Yeah. It would have just been, like something that was like, an unstoppable force of like.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Now everyone's kind of like, whatever, shut up. Yeah.
Anna
It's, like, mildly annoying and tedious that there are like, these kind of, like, Jewish intellectual activist types in the media who are like, he did a Nazi.
Dasha
Oh, my God, we're going back to the third Syria. Like, yeah, it's. Everyone kind of can't. It's nice that the libs have, like, exhausted their welcome.
Anna
It is. But also there is, like, a certain kind of depression or melancholy that sets in. It doesn't totally counteract the. The vibe of positive uplift from winning so much. But then you remember just, like, how many years we've all, like, toiled under Democrat enforced reality and how people just simply let it happen. All of us.
Dasha
Well, it's been good for us in a lot of ways.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
You know, the MeToo movement was our bread and butter for some time. And, you know, it was like, like liberal feminism being this kind of, like, flashpoint.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Was good for us. And it all is what it is. Like, it wouldn't be as good if Trump had been president then.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And now we have. You know, I'm. Yeah. I'm mostly. Yeah. I'm pleased. I'm like, yeah, I'm a little, like, tired of winning already. I'M a little like, wow, more good news. Okay. I don't know.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
But I'm excited to, like, I do think it will be a, like, post political era, potentially.
Anna
One hopes this is what they said would happen with when Biden won, that we would return to normal and people would stop caring.
Dasha
But no, now for real.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Because now the liberals are too exhaust. Like, they, they don't have the stamina or the, like, popular support for someone to be like, oh, he did a Nazi suit and like all these people up in arms, blah, blah, you know?
Anna
Yeah, yeah. But it's still, it's still shocking that people are still doing the whole purely aesthetic disagreement with Trump. Like, I was up late last night reading a substack article by this lady, Kathy Young, who I've never heard of before. A lot of people I know really hate her because she's like a neocon and she was feuding with Chris Rufo, and he said some very ugly and unflattering things about her. He called her a repulsive person inside and out, which I didn't. She's not the most attractive lady, but she's also like, not the youngest lady. And that's not really her shtick.
Dasha
Right.
Anna
She's. She's a Soviet immigrant. She's a Russian Jewish lady, Kathy, who goes by Kathy Young. And I was reading this article that she penned where she was talking about how Trump's executive orders concerning DEI are, in one sense welcome, because there's clearly a problem with Di, but we should. That's her. Yeah.
Dasha
She's an Aquarius. She's fine.
Anna
She's like a little old lady. Whatever. I don't care if she's like, not hot. But yes, in the.
Dasha
She's not that bad looking. Also, she's fine. Six. She's 61 years old. Yeah.
Anna
But her. The gist of her article, because I was trying to figure out if she had an argument, she kept firing back at Rufo and being like, well, you didn't read the article. You're just rage baiting. You should engage with my arguments. And I was trying to figure out what her argument was. And it really boils down to like, yes, there's a problem with Di, and yes, it's good that it's being challenged. But I take umbrage with the fact that a guy who I personally don't like happens to be the one doing something about it.
Dasha
She's a boomer. She's like Olga. Her two books growing up in Moscow, Memoirs of a Soviet Girlhood.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Which she published in 89 and then ceasefire why Women and Men Must Join Forces to achieve True Equality, 1999. It's very quaint, actually. I. I enjoy the motifs that she's working with. I mean, she's like an anti feminist, I guess.
Anna
She's like a centrist who ostensibly is critical of both the left and the right. And like all centrists, what that really amounts to is that she does not entertain the right at all and inevitably falls in line with the left as much as she objects to them. Like, aesthetically, rhetorically.
Dasha
She's just a boomer.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
She shouldn't be attacked. Let her. You know, the thing I. With the doge, the government efficiency, the gutting of, you know, the bureaucratic bloat. Like, I mean, she'll. Kazi Young will be fine.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
You know, but, like, there's art. Like, inevitably there will be people who will lose their jobs that were probably useless.
Anna
Yeah, it's fine. I'm okay with it.
Dasha
But what are they gonna do?
Anna
They'll find something to do.
Dasha
Really? Yeah.
Anna
It's like, whatever they had. Like, you have to think about it this. It's like when people cry about illegal immigrants. Again, like, in. In theory. Not even in theory, but, like, realistic. I'm just. I'm sympathetic to anyone whose fortunes are, like, go downhill, who are, like, suddenly maligned, find themselves, like, on the wrong side of history. I don't like to see anyone suffer or be immiserated, but, like, as Donald Trump pointed out, every single illegal immigrant is a criminal because they're here illegally. Which sounds harsh, but it's true. And it's like every single person occupying one of these superfluous government jobs is taking money resources from taxpayers and funneling them into some useless, meaningless, destructive bottom line.
Dasha
I know, but it's not as if, like, they'll. That one will see, you know, I mean, remains to be seen, but, you know.
Anna
Like, what are you supposed to do? Just, like, keep those people in their jobs forever, Eternally?
Dasha
Yeah. I don't know. I'm just saying there's, like, ripple effects and stuff. And, like, it's like, you know, there'll be, like. And with AI, this is the real. I think it's very. I really appreciate Steve Bannon for this reason, is because he is a kind of, like, contrarian voice to, like. I don't. I don't want, like, a tech oligarchy. I don't want to, like, maximize efficiency in every avenue of American life. I don't want the people with the highest test Scores who are the best at coding, who are willing to code the longest to be the most prosperous people. Like, I want America to be great again. And I.
Anna
Well, it's like Sam Hyde said, like, why are we even trying to compete with China? Why is that the premise of the argument? Why do we accept that premise?
Dasha
I know, I loved when he was like, maybe we should blockade all of the Indian immigrants trying to go to China. Well, China is a threat.
Anna
Yeah, but is it?
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
Like, why do you accept that premise?
Dasha
Because of their, like, human capital, their technological advancements, their erosion of American morale and minds through things like Tick Tock.
Anna
But we shouldn't be competing with them according to their own standards.
Dasha
What do you mean?
Anna
Which is like building a quote meritocracy, where everybody does their homework.
Dasha
No, but we like need to do something about Tick Tock. We need to do something about, you know, trade.
Anna
But if we do something about TikTok, we have to do something about every social media platform because they're all.
Dasha
Well, they're not all Chinese owned. Designed to like, make you stupid and crazy.
Anna
Well, no, they're all designed to make you stupid and crazy. But not all of them are Chinese owned. Yes, that's correct. Yeah.
Dasha
But some benefit China.
Anna
Yes. Yeah.
Dasha
Specifically.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
You know, you can get a paycheck, you get $86.
Anna
Yeah. I guess when they make the argument that like banning Tick Tock is like against freedom of speech, it's like, well, freedom of speech only applies to America and its citizens.
Dasha
Well, there are. They are American citizens. But that's. Yeah, that's the kind of like, line of argumentation. Is that like Tick Tock is this free space where people can be pro Palestine and blah, blah, but actually TikTok is owned by Chinese people. And it feeds your worst. There's impulses, it manipulates your psychology. It is like, I mean, I like TikTok.
Anna
I don't know anything about TikTok. I've never been on it. But I guess the idea is also they're like, they have like, they're essentially collecting, harvesting the data of US citizens for their own intelligence purposes, which is the real issue.
Dasha
That's.
Anna
And that, that's a huge issue. Geopolitical, not a freedom of speech issue.
Dasha
That's a big issue. But also just like the, like dumbing down of America. Like, you know, think about how many people are like trying to be influencers on TikTok, how much of their life and time is spent on this app.
Anna
But that problem is going to persist even if like an American firm were to acquire Tick Tock.
Dasha
Well, that would be preferable.
Anna
It would be. Yes. Like game theory.
Dasha
Yes, it would be preferable and, like, ideal scenario. You know, we have some.
Anna
But it would.
Dasha
Even if we are. Even if we are in a tech oligarchy, they have the noblesse oblige, you know, to, like, dampen the algorithm to make it less, you know, addictive or toxic or mind eroding. Like.
Anna
But do they. I don't think they do. I think that they only respond to incentives to, like, checks and balances handed down to them by Trump because he, like, bullied them into.
Dasha
Right.
Anna
Bowing down, which is good.
Dasha
But he can't do that with a child.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
With the Chinese algorithms, which. Yeah. You know, and a lot of people, like, you know, like, my personal trainer gets a lot of information from Tick Tock. That's, like, very, like, wrong. And it's very easy for if. Okay. So China owns a very popular social media platform, and they're able to manipulate the information that people get when they use this platform. And then that information can be manipulated to, like, so like, discord and schism amongst people and to make it, you know, it's not. It's all like, huge. It's. Honestly, Dean Kissack is really right when he talks about how, like, there's just too much information. It's just like, over saturated.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And.
Anna
And it leads to moral fatigue.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
And like, disenjoyment. Well, yeah. There is literally too much information, which is why everybody is, like, numb and desensitized.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
That's why I'm annoyed when people complain about porn specifically. Because everything is essentially playing the function of porn totally going on.
Dasha
Tick Tock is just like, gooning.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
You know, you're just like, watching the loops of. Yeah. When I watch girls taking their sock curls out.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
And I'm like, autistically watching, like, the spiral of hair, like, over and over and over and over.
Anna
Yeah. In this. In this paradigm, porn seems relatively like, innocent and provincial.
Dasha
At least you're not watching it for that long.
Anna
Yeah. And it serves a specific function.
Dasha
Yeah. This is just like a black hole, like Chinese nihilism.
Anna
And that's also like the real age gap because people of our generation older just get left behind because we can't process that excess of information and just shut down.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
And self eject.
Dasha
Well, I can't, like, make a text to.
Anna
Yeah. Like, you. How would you even. Yeah.
Dasha
Maddie can do it.
Anna
Yep. But she's a true Aquarius.
Dasha
I can watch. I engage with Tick Tock and Instagram reels, which are kind of the same thing.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
A little more like American consumer cable.
Anna
Instagram reels is, like, trying to compete with Tick Tock now and Instagram in general. Right. Like, they changed the format recently so that, like, your main display looks like reels. The photos are no longer square, they're rectangular.
Dasha
I know. I hate that.
Anna
To resemble the Tick Tock mode.
Dasha
I know. I hate that.
Anna
Me too. But we're gonna get used to it because that's what humans do.
Dasha
I know we're not really even using Instagram that much, but my point was, right. That Bannon is kind of spot on and, like, keeping, like, techies.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
You know, in his periphs that we don't want, like, MAGA is not about being beholden to the interests of big tech.
Anna
That's true. Yeah. I mean, his whole point that it's a essential, like, existential conflict between the maga.
Dasha
Right.
Anna
And the tech.
Dasha
Right.
Anna
Is correct.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
But in that way, he's like a dinosaur. And we're all dinosaurs, because how do you stem the flow?
Dasha
I mean, I was.
Anna
This is a question I'll pose to him.
Dasha
I do War room. I got to meet Grimes.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
I was really excited about. But I was so drunk and, like, fucked up. I was, like, kind of, like, combative and weird that I feel like I botched it because I was ranting and raving about how I don't want to live in a 3D printed house. Tech is evil. I was on, like, Steve Bannon barber jacket tip, and she was sort of like, well, the early Internet used to be cool and aesthetic and, you know, and I was like, it's not anymore. It's all bad. And there they want to make me live in a pod and eat the bugs, and I won't and stuff. But I think that, I hope, naively, maybe, that there's enough of, like, real conservatism in the true sense of, like, conserving what is, like, meaningful and special and, like, historical and not just, like, giving way into, like, a version of China where we all, like, live in, you know, the most. The most efficient. Yeah. Like, you know, LED bulb or whatever. Like, I. That's why I'm so heartened by the. The lifting of the bulb band.
Anna
Yeah. That's nice.
Dasha
Like, you know, it's. Americanism isn't just about. It's about a kind of humaneness.
Anna
Yeah. And you can, like, kind of incrementally dial back the worst excesses by, like, reviving incandescent bulbs. And encouraging people to have families.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
Encouraging people to get married, then promoting religion, all this sort of thing. But like the real big existential question is, is any of this possible as a mass revival? And I don't think so. Which like any of these, like positive pro family why no pronation forces? Well, because in order to have those things, you really have to believe.
Dasha
I think there's a way maybe, you know, the neoclassical mandate promoting beautiful federal civic architecture was one of the executive orders that said federal public building should be visually identifiable civic buildings and respect regional, traditional and classical architectural heritage in order to uplift and beautify public spaces and ennoble the United States and our system of self government. Yeah, like that's not, you know, they're not building tons of new government buildings. But just even something like that, that's like pro beauty.
Anna
Yeah, but that's an economic problem because. But like the revival of the neoclassical tradition, like neoclassical buildings don't only look a certain way. They're built from certain materials. The plans are made in a certain way that is probably no longer economically viable.
Dasha
I disagree. That's not true.
Anna
Like, you have to subsidize the existence of such buildings.
Dasha
You.
Anna
Because it's much cheaper and easier to throw up. Like some shed, like a brutalist glass shed. That's like even like a cheap facsimile of like postmodern architectural styles.
Dasha
But that's not the order, that's not the mandate. It's a neoclassical mandate. And once we're not giving the, the felons the trans surgeries, that's all nice money for nice building materials.
Anna
Yeah, but these things all, I feel like, have to be heavily subsidized by the federal government in order to function.
Dasha
Well, they should be.
Anna
Yeah, they should be. But that's.
Dasha
I'd rather my tax hours go to having beautiful architecture.
Anna
No, of course, but that's like economically inefficient, uncompetitive. Well, because it's much more costly and time consuming to create those kind of buildings to hire people who can build them.
Dasha
But once we drain the swamp.
Anna
I know, but this is just about.
Dasha
A reallocation of resources to Americans who can build beautiful things instead of like bottom surgery for some felon.
Anna
I know, I know. Well, that when I was sparking about factory farming, of course, like something like the, the reform of factory farming cannot happen immediately because we are in the midst of an inflationary period where consumer costs, the cost of food, the cost of living is out of control. And if you start reforming factory farming now the cost of food is going to go all the way up. So.
Dasha
Yeah, that's like.
Anna
I mean, it's a pipe dream. Yeah, it is. It's like, totally idealistic.
Dasha
And it doesn't even have to be perfect. Can be. We don't need like, you know, it does. We just. I. I don't want the pigs in a cage. They shit on their babies and fucking trample crazy and scared and stuff. And, you know, there's a middle ground. I think as a policy wonk. As a famous.
Anna
Factory farming has to get way worse before it could get better.
Dasha
Oh, God, no, I don't think it can get worse. It's already as bad as. I know, but like, yeah, like, Trump's a big McDonald's had, you know, we don't want McDonald's any more expensive. Yeah.
Anna
I don't think this is like a. At the top of his agenda. I was just trying to manifest it and see what happened.
Dasha
I did not foresee people getting mad at you about that. Noah Coleman. What is his problem?
Anna
I don't know. I. I have nothing to say about that guy. His, like, fixation on owning me by getting at me through mentioning my kid.
Dasha
It's horrible. Horrible.
Anna
It's like, next level creepy. People were like, oh, he's just trying to point out that you're stupid. It's like there's like thousands of ways you can say I'm stupid without bringing my kid into it. Come on. That's not what's going on. But whatever. I don't care about that guy.
Dasha
He's like, I know. It doesn't matter. I mean, we were friends. Well, he was a friend of Adam Friedland's.
Anna
O.
Dasha
And yeah, so I've, like, hung out with him and, like, his girlfriend at the time, like, you know, we've, like, spent time together. He came up to me, he told me who Marianne Williamson was.
Anna
Oh, it's like, you guys should really.
Dasha
Talk about Mary Wilson. She's kind of a red scare candidate. Like, years ago, I was like, oh, like, yeah, we had, like, a friendly, you know, whatever. We were like, front. We know we were close. But, like, to see the way he lashing is lashing out. I'm like, for what?
Anna
Yeah, I don't know.
Dasha
You get out of this and what do you want? Like, you want factory farm. Like, what are you saying?
Anna
Yeah, I don't think that he's a fan of factory farming. There's no way.
Dasha
How could you be?
Anna
Yeah, I think he's just, like, mad at me for some weird Indecipherable reason because I'm like a traitor to the left or whatever.
Dasha
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Anna
He's always been angry at me for years now.
Dasha
I know he's so. He. Me as well. He's. But I. I'm like.
Anna
But I feel bad because it's like. Okay. If I ever ran into this guy in person, I'm assuming he lives somewhere in New York City. He's like a. A Brooklyn boob.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
It would probably be totally fine and.
Dasha
Civil and we, like, avoid you and be scary.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
Honestly, I'mma kick his ass.
Anna
The baby will kick his ass.
Dasha
Look at him.
Anna
He was beat up by girls.
Dasha
A little girl to beat him up. Whatever.
Anna
I wish I could have, like an epic clapback against Noah Colwyn, but I just think he's so desperate and creepy. I've.
Dasha
I know.
Anna
It's nothing. It's not interesting to say about them.
Dasha
No. It literally sucks. Buckle. Buckle up. Because it's gonna be a long 4 years, 8 years, 16 years, 200 years. 1,000 years. No, it'll be a thousand year.
Anna
Trumpian Reich is upon us.
Dasha
I'm not like, delusional. I'm open to the possibility that I've been deceived, you know, and the deep state. I'm so par. I mean, by which I mean I'm so paranoid that like, you know, I'm like. The deep state actually is like, tricked us all. It is massive schemes. Initiate some tech oligarchy that makes our lives worse. I'm gonna take the bulbs away. But thus far I've been. I'm very. I feel pretty good and it's fine.
Anna
I mean, okay, like, Richard Hanania messaged me and he was like, why are you so against Kathy Young? And I said, I'm not. I barely know who she is and just learned about her today. And he, he said, like, Anna, you know, like, it's okay to talk to people on the left and criticize people on the right. And I said, yeah, sure, Richard. Like, I agree that there are many disgusting and deplorable right wing figures in the world.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
I'm not like, triumphantly, unequivocally pro right. And even if you identify as a right wing person, you should be able to criticize people on your own team.
Dasha
I think I. I just think the binary is not. But so useful.
Anna
I think it's important to. As a person who's generally like, I don't know, cynical is like a bad way of putting it, but as a person who just assumes things will go wrong, and be much worse. As Spergler put it, I'm not an excitable person. He really read me with that one. I just think it's nice to try at least to believe in something.
Dasha
For sure.
Anna
To, like, fake it till you make it.
Dasha
Yeah.
Anna
Because what is your other option? It's like, okay, I'm not, like, uncritically pro Trump, believe it or not. I just don't think that it's wise or productive to be an ankle biter like Nick Fuentes and, like, relentlessly complain about MAGA and its various influencers, supposedly in the spirit of pushing them to do the things that you want them to do, but really, because you're, like, disgruntled and jealous and, like, I don't know, you just, like, put on a nice face and have those conversations in private.
Dasha
You can. What are your issues with Trump?
Anna
I can't even think of one right now.
Dasha
Thus far, I really have no. I thought the Palisades press conference was handled extremely well, I thought. I think he's, like, clearly working very hard. The media has way more access to him than they did a Biden or Kamala. That is not like a endorsement of every single thing he does. I'm not like a don't blame me. I voting for Trump bumper sticker. I like. Yeah, thus far, I mean, it's very early. It'll be a lot. You know, more will be revealed. The bulbs are back. So that's. That's good enough for me. And the rest, like, it's. I'm not culpable for. I voted for these people to initiate the pragmatic political changes that they promised that they would, that they seem like they're delivering on. There's going to be lawsuits, it's going to be complications. There's going to be blah, blah, blah. It's gonna be a whole thing. Of course, I don't have to be involved. I'm not responsible for every single thing Trump does. Everyone who suffers. It's none of that. It's not.
Anna
Yeah.
Dasha
I am a Democrat. I participated in the Democratic process and voted for the candidate that I thought would benefit the country the most, which has come to fruition and thus far has been pretty good.
Anna
Yeah, it was a pragmatic decision, not a vibes based one.
Dasha
Well, I also happen to love Donald Trump.
Anna
Yeah, the vibes were good. The vibes aligned. They dovetailed.
Dasha
Yeah. It was a big part of it for me. And I am. I do. I love my big orange. We're holy and president. I love the I'm very happy with how things are going. That could change. I could see enough, you know, sad migrant videos that will cause me to have emotional reactions. I could feel differently, but thus far I really haven't and I'm feeling pretty good some. I don't know.
Anna
And like, if you're a successful media pundit or influencer and you have an issue with something that is not being done, your best strategy is not to, like, back bite and be a doomer. It's to steer things in the direction that you want to see. Like Chris Rufo. I know again, many people have issues with him. I know we like to make fun of him for hiring the porn star, blah, blah, blah, blah. But he was extremely powerful and effective in getting the message out there and rolling back the worst excesses of dei.
Dasha
Do you think he was at the ball?
Anna
He was.
Dasha
No, I mean the real.
Anna
Oh, probably. Yeah.
Dasha
Not us. So don't get mad at us because we weren't even at the ball. I wasn't even with Vince Vaughn.
Anna
No.
Dasha
Who wouldn't have hover handed me? He would have touched my waist. It could have been amazing.
Anna
Super spreader event.
Dasha
It could have been amazing getting aids. Okay, we should go. We should. We did. We did it. It's a major long one.
Anna
Really.
Dasha
I mean, besides the bathroom break. Okay. All right, well, see you.
Red Scare Podcast Summary: "The Bell Curve of the Ball"
Episode Title: The Bell Curve of the Ball
Host: Anna Khachiyan and Dasha Nekrasova
Release Date: January 31, 2025
Podcast Description: Red Scare is a cultural commentary podcast hosted by bohemian layabouts Anna Khachiyan and Dasha Nekrasova.
The episode opens with Anna and Dasha sharing personal stories about their recent experiences, including shopping addictions and dealing with construction noise outside Dasha's apartment.
Anna on Shopping Addiction:
[01:16] "Okay. I'm a shopping addict. I have a shopping addiction."
Dasha on Construction Disruptions:
[05:14] "There's construction going on outside my apartment. It's really annoying... It's deafening... I'm like something is happening to me that is out of my control."
These anecdotes set a relatable tone, highlighting everyday frustrations and personal challenges.
A significant portion of the discussion centers around the numerous executive orders signed by President Trump, particularly focusing on their ramifications and public reception.
Dasha and Anna debate the fairness and legal implications of these orders, especially the redefinition of citizenship based on parents' immigration status.
They delve into the complexities of banning foreign-owned social media platforms, discussing potential motives and unintended consequences.
The hosts engage in an in-depth analysis of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and their countercurrents, referencing figures like Chris Rufo and Richard Hanania.
They critique the legal foundations of DEI initiatives, arguing that policies based on "disparate impact" are flawed and counterproductive.
The conversation highlights how certain intellectual figures have shaped contemporary anti-racism discourse, suggesting a strategic rollback of DEI policies under the Trump administration.
Anna and Dasha discuss the broader implications of technology on society, emphasizing concerns over data privacy, psychological manipulation, and the influence of tech conglomerates.
The hosts explore how social media platforms like TikTok are perceived as tools for both cultural influence and potential national security threats.
A unique segment focuses on their observations of the inauguration events, particularly critiquing the fashion choices of Melania Trump and Lauren Sanchez.
Anna and Dasha analyze how attire at political events serves as a medium for personal and political expression, often attracting undue criticism.
They discuss the societal expectations placed on political figures’ appearances and the double standards in public criticism.
The hosts delve into the intersection of religion, secret societies, and politics, discussing claims about President Biden’s affiliation with the Freemasons and its implications.
Anna and Dasha debate the influence of secret societies on political figures and the historical tensions between the Catholic Church and Freemasonry.
They speculate on how these affiliations might affect policies and the perception of leaders within religious communities.
A critical examination of how media shapes public narratives around political figures and movements is presented, highlighting the role of propaganda and misinformation.
The discussion underscores the manipulation of media narratives to influence public opinion and political outcomes.
They argue that media portrayal often distorts the realities of policy changes, leading to public confusion and resistance.
In their concluding remarks, Anna and Dasha reflect on the current political landscape, expressing a mix of optimism and skepticism about future developments.
They ponder the sustainability of current political shifts and the potential for a move towards less polarized discourse.
The hosts advocate for a balanced approach to political engagement, emphasizing the importance of constructive criticism over blind partisanship.
Anna on Executive Orders:
[18:21] "He has a girlfriend... But he was there alone."
Dasha on Being a Shopping Addict:
[04:31] "I'm a shopping addict... I do enjoy the return process because it makes me feel incredibly accomplished when I run an errand."
Anna on DEI Programs:
[54:40] "It's not like underprivileged minorities in the inner city are really, truly benefiting from any of these programs in the long run."
Dasha on Fashion Critique:
[79:00] "I'm excited for her to be back in the light. Ivanka wore that, like, Audrey Hepburn gown."
In "The Bell Curve of the Ball," Anna Khachiyan and Dasha Nekrasova navigate a complex web of political, social, and cultural topics with their signature blend of sarcasm and critical insight. From dissecting Trump’s executive orders to critiquing DEI policies and analyzing the influence of tech oligarchies, the episode offers a multifaceted commentary on the current state of American society. Their candid discussions on personal struggles and public policies provide listeners with a nuanced perspective on the ever-evolving political landscape.