AOC’s Catastrophic Collapse + Rep. Andy Barr

Summary

Ruthless Podcast: "AOC’s Catastrophic Collapse + Rep. Andy Barr"

Date: February 17, 2026
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook
Special Guest: Rep. Andy Barr

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Episode Overview

This episode delivers a wide-ranging and charged discussion focused on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (AOC) widely criticized appearance at the Munich Security Conference, the state of progressive politics, and broader left-wing foreign policy ideology. Later in the show, Congressman Andy Barr appears as a guest to discuss his Kentucky Senate race, his approach to populist conservative issues, and broader partisan strategy. The panel’s tone is sharp, irreverent, and satirical, yet focused on dissecting the news through a right-of-center lens.

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Key Segments and Timestamps

• [00:00] AOC at the Munich Security Conference — Opening Montage
• [02:41] Introduction & Main Event
• [05:07] Panel Dissects AOC’s Munich Performance
• [13:06] Venezuela, the "Global South," and Leftist Rhetoric
• [19:55] Media Spin and Marco Rubio’s Reception
• [25:11] "Class-based Internationalism" & Progressive Foreign Policy
• [34:01] How the Media Covers AOC’s Fumbles
• [51:14] Interview: Rep. Andy Barr, Kentucky Senate Candidate
• [56:03] Campaign Strategy, DEI, Populist Messaging
• [75:13] Coal Country & Kentucky Values

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Detailed Summary

1. AOC at the Munich Security Conference: Catastrophic Debut

The Setup

• AOC makes her international debut at the Munich Security Conference, presenting herself as a foreign policy voice for the progressive wing.
• The hosts air actual (and parodied) clips of AOC fielding questions on complex geopolitical issues, notably about U.S. commitment to defending Taiwan.

The Panel’s Critique

Main Points:

• Lack of Preparation:
  • “She has literally no idea what she’s talking about.” – Josh Holmes ([05:55], [08:09])
• Dodging the Hard Questions:
  • “AOC has developed like a new strategy. Instead of answering the tough question, you say: ‘Well, we're never going to have to have that happen because we're going to do things... research with the research and things...’” – Michael Duncan ([05:49], [10:39])
• Failure of Leadership:
  • “She's not able to lead people. She's only able to try to follow what they want and feed that monster. And that's the opposite of leadership.” – John Ashbrook ([09:01])
• Progressive Foreign Policy as Virtue Signaling:
  • “There was this old fallback... we’ll just work with our allies in the region.” – Michael Duncan ([10:15])
  • “She’s thinking through like how she can sort of third way–not have to answer that argument.” – Michael Duncan ([12:46])
• Reluctance to Criticize Authoritarian States:
  • “Progressives... support Marxism. They have an issue with saying China bad.” – John Ashbrook ([11:50])

Notable Quotes

• “Imagine going to the Munich Security Conference and not having thought through China vis a vis Taiwan.” – Josh Holmes ([11:13])
• “No one made you go.” – Michael Duncan ([11:28])

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2. AOC on Venezuela, "Global South," and Historical Revisionism

Venezuela and Missteps

• AOC criticized for conflating global regions and for what the hosts see as contrived intellectual posturing:
  • “It is not a remark on who Maduro was as a leader. He was an anti-democratic leader. That doesn't mean that we can kidnap a head of state just because the nation is below the equator.” – AOC ([13:06])
  • “Venezuela, north of the equator. That's right.” – Michael Duncan ([14:02])

Leftist Framing and Identity Politics

• The hosts argue AOC promotes an “America bad, Global South good” narrative, calling her worldview “twisted ideology." ([14:04])
• Discussion about “global south” as leftist terminology, critiqued as “everything America is bad, everything that's south of the equator is good.” ([14:55])

Progressive Political Cadence

• The hosts lampoon AOC for slowing her cadence to sound more thoughtful and “intellectual,” drawing comparison to Hillary Clinton’s infamous accent switches. ([15:22])
  • “The way that she talked about this with the accent, it reminded me of a very, very famous Democrat who ran for president...” ([15:22])

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3. Media Response & Progressive Messaging

Media Coverage: Downplay and Deflection

• The hosts point out how various media outlets responded to AOC's performance:
  • The New Republic: “Maybe the time is right for an AOC presidential bid.” ([34:26])
  • The New York Times: “Ocasio Cortez offers a working class vision in Munich with a few stumbles.” ([36:32])
  • NBC: “In Munich, AOC warns that democracies must deliver for the working class to stave off authoritarianism.” ([38:15])

Panel Reaction

• Strong skepticism toward what they see as media gaslighting:
  • “It's like, Lincoln applauds play despite gunshots.” – [36:33]
  • “They're cognizant of that. They can no longer completely control what folks see.” – John Ashbrook ([37:29])

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4. “Class-based Internationalism”: What Does It Mean?

Breakdown of the Rhetoric

• Playing AOC’s statements on the “class-based internationalist perspective” and the need to end “hypocrisy towards the global South.” ([25:11])

• The hosts interpret these remarks as a call for global redistributionism, lambasting it as disconnected from American values and history:

  • “Lines are not drawn around your country. They're not nationalist in nature. They're class based. She's telling you what it is that she believes.” – Josh Holmes ([27:34])
  • “Can you imagine a term more offensive to your average American than class-based internationalism?” – Josh Holmes ([27:07])

• The panel pits the “promise of America” against identity and class politics.

  • “Only in America... you're only limited by the scope of what you want to accomplish.” – John Ashbrook ([29:35])

Rhetorical Highlight

• “Class based internationalism, to put a fine point on it, means that your country doesn't matter. What it matters is whether or not you have any money or whether or not, more importantly, your skin color is the right color.” – Josh Holmes ([30:16])

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5. Rubio’s Contrast, and AOC’s (Possible) 2028 Presidential Run

• Rubio praised for his “grand slam” and “robust defense of American foreign policy” at the Munich conference. ([21:58])
• AOC painted as either future presidential candidate or kingmaker for the Democrats, regardless of whether she runs herself.
• Open Question for Listeners:
  • “Can AOC actually win the White House?... you should never underestimate folks like her. You have to take her seriously because the consequences are too high.” – John Ashbrook ([40:34])

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6. Interview: Rep. Andy Barr, Kentucky Senate Candidate ([51:14])

Motivation and Personal Connection

• Barr emphasizes deep Kentucky roots and keen desire to represent his state at the Senate level:
  • “I love Kentucky. I love this country. I love my kids. And I want to secure a better, brighter, more prosperous future for them.” – Andy Barr ([52:06])
  • Relishes “meeting people that I haven't met before... you can't predict these things, but what an amazing blessing.” ([53:26])

Populist-Right Messaging on DEI and American Identity

• Barr’s campaign ad:
  • “You know what DEI really stands for? Dumb Evil Indoctrination... It's not a sin to be white. It's not against the law to be male. And it shouldn't be disqualifying to be a Christian... to give woke liberals something else to cry about.” – Andy Barr ([56:03])
• Panel notes this messaging directly counters elite/progressive discourse and resonates with “forgotten men and women” in Kentucky. ([58:19])

On “Woke Capital” and ESG

• Barr details how the left “infected” corporations and universities:
  • “You took over the educational system, you took over the media, and now you know what, you're taking over our corporations.” – Andy quoting Maxine Waters ([60:39])
• “The pendulum is finally swinging back to a level of common sense where we are actually winning the fight against [ESG and DEI].” ([62:45])

Campaign Dynamics and Trump Association

• Barr pitches his candidacy as the most battle-tested, referenced national electoral trends, and his practical record.
• Endorsed by Trump, served as KY chair for Trump's campaign, and touts alignment with Trump policies, especially on coal and border security. ([71:39])
  • “I led the fight in court defending the President's legal authority to build the wall...” ([72:42])

Blue-Collar Politics, Coal, and Kentucky Identity

• Strong defense of Kentucky’s coal tradition:
  • “We need to put our coal miners back to work... If we want to win the race for AI dominance against China, it's an energy race.” ([74:07])

GOP Factionalism and Kentucky's Uniqueness

• Barr distances himself from intra-GOP labeling:
  • “I've always been asked... are you a Rand Paul Republican or a Mitch McConnell Republican? And my answer has always been. It's a simple answer. Neither. I'm an Andy Barr Republican.” ([80:22])
• Emphasizes his conservative bona fides and independent approach.

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7. Other Notable Moments & Cultural Commentary

• [45:28] Funny tangent about Obama admitting "aliens are real" in an interview and panelists bemoaning lack of follow-up questions.
  • “You don't ask a president how he knows that aliens are real?” – Josh Holmes ([48:28])
• [49:21] “Sassy ICE agent” video clip lampooned for effective rhetorical owning of an activist.
• Panel closes with encouragement to engage in the primary process and to listen/watch all candidate interviews for an informed vote.

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Memorable Quotes—Attribution and Timestamps

• “She has literally no idea what she’s talking about.” – Josh Holmes ([05:55], [08:09])
• “AOC has developed like a new strategy...we're never going to have to have that happen because we're going to do things...research.” – Michael Duncan ([05:49])
• “She’s not able to lead people...that’s the opposite of leadership.” – John Ashbrook ([09:01])
• “Imagine going to the Munich Security Conference and not having thought through China vis a vis Taiwan.” – Josh Holmes ([11:13])
• “Dumb Evil Indoctrination...It’s not a sin to be white. It’s not against the law to be male. And it shouldn’t be disqualifying to be a Christian.” – Andy Barr ([56:03])
• “You should never underestimate folks like her. You have to take her seriously because the consequences are too high.” – John Ashbrook ([40:34])

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Episode Takeaways

• Hosts view AOC’s attempts at foreign policy as unserious, ill-informed, and indicative of a dangerous ideological shift on the left.
• Media coverage is critiqued for downplaying or rationalizing progressive missteps.
• Rep. Andy Barr offers a solid conservative, pro-Trump, anti-DEI platform for his Senate run, emphasizing authenticity and Kentucky-first values.
• The panel urges listeners to pay attention to emerging leftist rhetoric ("class-based internationalism," "global south") as signals for 2028 politics.
• The Ruthless team commits to hosting all major GOP primary candidates so listeners can make informed choices.

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Listen for Yourself

Major segments worth revisiting:

• AOC’s Munich performance analysis: [05:07–32:22]
• Media response breakdown: [34:01–40:07]
• Andy Barr interview: [51:14–83:10]

Final advice:
"Keep the faith, hold the line, and own the libs." – John Ashbrook ([84:33])

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

AAOC is an interesting task.

[Michael Duncan]

The Munich security conference was basically her coming out party on the world stage and boy was it humiliated.

[Josh Holmes]

Look at this. Would and should the US Actually commit US troops to defend Taiwan?

[AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)]

You know, I think that this is such a, you know, I think that.

[Josh Holmes]

She has literally no idea what she's talking about.

[AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)]

We want to make sure that we are moving in all of our economic research and our global positions to avoid any such confrontation.

[Michael Duncan]

AOC has developed like a new strategy. And that is instead of answering the tough question, you say, well, we're actually, we're never going to have to have that happen because we're going to do things, research with the research and things to avoid that.

[Josh Holmes]

And it just becomes a disaster.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, the holidays have come and gone once again. But if you've forgotten to get that special someone in your life a gift. Well, Mint Mobile is extending their holiday offer of half off unlimited wireless. So here's the idea. You get it now, you call it an early present for next year.

[Josh Holmes]

What do you have to lose?

[Michael Duncan]

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[AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)]

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[Michael Duncan]

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[Andy Barr]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[John Ashbrook]

Keep the fate, hold the line and own the lids.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

It's time for main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Tuesday to you. Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety program. I AM Josh Holmes, along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook. Left to right across your radio dial. It has been a whale of a weekend and into another big week. It turns out they shut down Democrats, shut down the Department of Homeland Security. We'll see what kind of ramifications all of that has. We're going to get to it as we understand a little bit more about if there are significant imminent ramifications. But it's insane. There was a lot of Great Olympics. Daytona 500, which I absolutely loved. USA Hockey, which is really my inspiration here today, dominating on the world stage as they do.

[John Ashbrook]

It's hard to think of a group who hates America more than the American Olympic team. That's my one. That's my one thing. It's like it's basically a parade of people that are getting paid money. And, you know, there's a patriotic American billionaire who's like giving each of them 200,000. That's still not enough for these people to just act normal and be grateful. It's just a parade of overpaid brats being.

[Michael Duncan]

Look what you did, homie.

[Josh Holmes]

I have a homework assignment. I have a homework assignment. Smug. You need to go home after we're done.

[John Ashbrook]

I like the Daytona 500. I support your son. He's got a NASCAR son, folks. That's a real patriot.

[Josh Holmes]

He's in.

[John Ashbrook]

That's a real patriot.

[Josh Holmes]

He's really into it. But I give a homework assignment. You just need to go home and just watch Miracle. It's been a few years since you've watched it. If you watch Miracle, I think it'll get back to where you need to be. Just in a mental space. I'll never delude rooting for your country.

[John Ashbrook]

I root for my country. That's what I wish the American Olympic team would do. But I digress.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Here's the thing. Does I think when you have NBC carrying the broadcast and you have the mainstream media interested in what we all know they're interested, and they tend to point towards the people who are against our country.

[John Ashbrook]

He's right.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

That means that you're not watching the winners who are out there doing their job, getting gold medals, crying at the Star Spangled Banner because the media is less interested in them than they are in the ones who don't win.

[Josh Holmes]

I think that's well said. But look, the international stage is a real deal. Over the last weekend, the Munich Security Conference. Big hat tip to Fox News Sunday and Shannon Bream for coming on in here and giving us the opportunity for a little Preview on some of that. And I think we kind of hit our marks on that about what you were gonna see and what you saw. But the big unveil on the Democratic side was their hopes and dreams of aoc. It's a big, you know, it's like look, she's been a domestic phenomenon in the progressive left. Every time she gets on the, on the main stage, basically all of middle America is like, oh my God, like look at this.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, but the Munich Security Conference was basically her coming out party on the world stage. And boy was it humiliating.

[Josh Holmes]

Boy was it humiliating because I mean, look, just a little back channel on how potential nationwide maybe presidential candidates handle things like the Munich Security Conference. It matters not lick to you. You don't give a about any of this. It's the same thing with Davos, right? You're like great, that's fantastic. A bunch of jerk offs doing jerk off things. But this is the way that they burnish a foreign policy credential. In many cases when politicians don't have one, right? They go interact with people, they pretend like they know what they're talking about. They usually hit a bunch of trite, well worn grooves of political and international foreign policy. And just like it is what it is, but it's a way of showing like look, I'm on the international stage, right? Governors did this for years because they were locked into their own domestic politics and they would go over there and some made better impressions than others. AOC is an interesting test case and I would say that this is probably the most interesting of any of them that we've seen because she has literally no idea what she's talking about. And everybody here already knows that. Unless you're a progressive leftist who doesn't care about competence and understanding of the world and history and things like that. But her decision to go do that shows most of us she's either going to run for president or thinking very seriously about running for president or the third option, whoever she backs is going to be the darling of the left because she is a power base of these psychos who have an incredible amount of financial backing, energy on the ground. They're the people that throw in the dildos on their head in the middle of Minneapolis. Those are her people. So when she shows up in Munich and has something to say, you got to take a listen. Because the chances are whoever the Democrats nominate in 2028, she's going to either be the person or she's going to have a strong say in who the person is.

[John Ashbrook]

Exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

Question Is how did it go? Well, let's take a look. Clip 1 would and should the US.

[AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)]

Actually commit US troops to defend Taiwan.

[Josh Holmes]

If China were to move?

[AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)]

You know, I think that this is such a, you know, I think that.

[John Ashbrook]

This is a, this is still happening.

[Andy Barr]

Whoa.

[AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)]

This is of course a very long standing, very long standing policy of the United States. And I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that we never get to that point.

[Michael Duncan]

Whoa, how do we do that?

[AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)]

We want to make sure that we are moving in all of our economic research.

[John Ashbrook]

You have to move in economic research.

[AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)]

Such confrontation and for that question to even arise.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, so I want to take the first swing at this one. So I think this is actually a very beyond her looking dumb. And it's funny that how clearly unqualified she is for anything involving foreign policy. I think it's critical to understanding her as an elected official because what she's doing there, you're seeing a complete and total absence of leadership because she has no opinion on this matter. She has no understanding. She has no capability of leading individuals in a crisis like this. Because what she's trying to do in her slow moving head is figure out what she could say to placate her base because that's the modern left. There's a bunch of psychopaths out there who we have to placate them so they continue being our are psychopaths who commit violence in our name and do what we want. If she says something because the whole time she's just like, what can I say here that won't piss off the psychopaths who are our base? She's not able to lead people. She's only able to try to follow what they want and feed that monster. And that's the opposite of leadership. And that's how you run countries into the ground.

[Josh Holmes]

It's well said. Fellows, did you have any immediate observations?

[Michael Duncan]

There was this old fallback that most Democrats used forever in foreign policy that was always, well, just work with our allies in the region. Whenever they didn't actually know the answer to the question and didn't want to say something that required a little bit of moral clarity, they would always fall back on the we'll just work with our allies in the region, solve this problem.

[Josh Holmes]

We'll build an international consensus.

[Michael Duncan]

AOC has developed a new strategy and that is instead of answering the tough question, you say, well, we're actually, we're never going to have to have that happen because we're going to do things research with the research and things to avoid that.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, there's things.

[John Ashbrook]

It's amazing, isn't it?

[Michael Duncan]

We're going to do stuff and things that. I don't actually have to answer that question because it's not going to happen because of the research.

[Josh Holmes]

Reminds me of the Iraq girl.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, right.

[Josh Holmes]

In the Iraq, in the education.

[Michael Duncan]

Was that like Miss America?

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Such as.

[Josh Holmes]

It's such as the Iraq.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

No, I mean, it's just, it's so, it's so bad. I mean, look, imagine going to the Munich Security Conference and not having thought through China vis a vis Taiwan.

[Michael Duncan]

No one made you go. No one was like, aoc, you must be here at this conference. We need your voice.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, I understand the. Like for most of you, for sure.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Great point.

[Josh Holmes]

For most of you who are listening to this, you're like, I mean, I don't know. Right. It's not your job to know. It is her job to know and certainly when she's trying to lead her party, it is her job to know.

[John Ashbrook]

Also a very weird wrinkle that progressives face is they support communism, they support Marxism. And so they have an issue with saying China bad. They can't say that, can't do it. Because they're like, wait a minute, all our grassroots are out there. Like, they're funded by China supporting Mao. Being like, yes, I like the Little Red Book. Like, because they're all cosplaying as if they're some kind of like revolutionaries.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And China is essentially the last communist power left. You know, every other one has starved and failed and shown yet again that this will never work. But they're, they can't speak out against it because if they do, then their base is like, how dare you not support China, our communist comrades.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude, you're 100% right. There is an element of that. And she's. To your point, Duncan, thinking through like how she can sort of third way.

[Michael Duncan]

Right. Not have to answer that argument.

[Josh Holmes]

And it just becomes a disaster. Well, there are current events of which become also problematic for her. Venezuela is one of them. And she's, you know, as one does at the Munich Security Conference, asked about such things. Clip 2.

[AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)]

You know, we look at what happened in Venezuela, for example.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Oh, there we go.

[AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)]

It is not a. It is, it is not a remark on who Maduro was as a leader. He was an anti democratic leader. That doesn't mean that we can kidnap a head of state and engage in acts of war just because the nation is below the equator.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, hold on. We have so much The Maduro, right, The Venezuela.

[Michael Duncan]

May abuela in Venezuela.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, dude, you can't just speak with like a full Brooklyn and then right immediately turn into like Maduro himself without a little bit of observation by the outside. It turns out in the end, Venezuela, north of the equator.

[Michael Duncan]

That's right, yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Can we get graphic one right there?

[Andy Barr]

Boy.

[John Ashbrook]

But I want to say something about this is again, this is the kind of twisted ideology that AOC and the modern progressive have, where anything that is above the equator is bad. That's white supremacy. When she says the western world, that's bad. Everything America is bad. Everything that's like south of the equator away from America is good and these are good people. So she's essentially wanting to be a leader in the country that she despises and thinks should be destroyed. That's why she said the equator thing. Because what she's trying to say is, oh, you know, south of the equator, everyone is benevolent and lovely and wonderful and it's just imperialist powers south of the equator destroy them.

[Michael Duncan]

There's a term these leftists use called the global south.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, that's it.

[Michael Duncan]

Right. And so she thinks it's south of the equator for that framing of the thing. It's like, you're right. You know, we used to call it third world or whatever. There was the first world America, Second world was USSR and third world was everybody else. And the new term that the leftists use is global south, which means America did the imperialism ruined you forever. It doesn't matter when you were independent or how much was this in your own control for, you know, decades and decades and decades. It's all America.

[Josh Holmes]

They did it.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

I'll tell you what, aside from the warmed over ideology and aside from the fact that this woman will never win a geography be, there was something that caught my attention that is a little bit more run of the mill politician. It's when they slow down the cadence to sound thoughtful, when they throw in a synonym like remark, like they are actually approaching this in a very heady mindset. Okay, they're very smart. But the way that she talked about this with the accent, it reminded me of a very, very famous Democrat who ran for president. Would you guys care to guess who that is?

[Josh Holmes]

Hillary Clinton.

[Andy Barr]

I don't feel no ways tired.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

This is the same woman from a different state. Okay, yeah, she is running for president and she is just as qualified as Hillary Clinton. And I think she is headed for.

[Josh Holmes]

The exact act she is far, far less qualified.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Well, okay, that's probably Hillary Clinton.

[John Ashbrook]

No, I think she's far more qualified. I mean, she hasn't killed people, but I think she's still, you know, allegedly.

[Michael Duncan]

Allegedly.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, allegedly. And we're all laughing and it's a parody. Jesus. Smug.

[John Ashbrook]

Don't kill me. Next. Hillary. I think she's a killer, folks. What?

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Hey, are you right handed or left handed? Just so we can get that out.

[John Ashbrook]

When Hillary leaves the gun in the left. She's done it again, folks.

[Josh Holmes]

Right there on the GW Parkway. That's right next to Vince Foster.

[John Ashbrook]

We need that out there for posterity.

[Josh Holmes]

He's got a kick out of it. You know, she have to. All the equator talk and the Venice, Venezuela.

[John Ashbrook]

Maduro.

[Josh Holmes]

Maduro, Caracas. What about Brazil feel.

[Andy Barr]

No way.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

He's tired. The same woman.

[John Ashbrook]

Great callback.

[Josh Holmes]

What about Argentina? You know what I mean? It's just, it's what it levels out as is, is something less than authentic in, in many ways, but also your representation of where you. I mean, Boston University, New York. It's not. You're not from Argentina.

[John Ashbrook]

Can I say that? Like, this kind of like faux intellectualism is a very Boston University thing. Anyone who's had to deal. Yeah, dude, we haven't dealt with this. I've dealt with so many people from Boston University. No way. Dave Martinez, prime example is these people like to like, you know what I mean? It's like you went to Boston University, you didn't go to the other school in Massachusetts. So try to try not giving me that cadence like you did, amigo. You know what I mean? Like, oh, you went to, you know, and they turned.

[Michael Duncan]

So you think it's like an inferiority complex.

[John Ashbrook]

Totally, dude, totally. They went to that other school.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, there, there are many things that people do to try to make up for an intellectual gap. And some of it, like on the Republican side, it's basically talking through a vernacular of well established foreign policy memes, like, you know, triad, nuclear triad. So there are pieces of this that, you know, everybody sort of understands. Well, unless you're like Hugh Hewitt unmasking, you know, of people who actually don't.

[John Ashbrook]

Understand you, it's going to ask you that.

[Josh Holmes]

But there's like, there are pieces that don't make sense to the average American that if you were to just say you sound like you know what you're talking about. On the progressive left, it's Venezuela, Maduro, Argentina, you know, and like, stuff don't feel.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

No way. He's tired.

[Josh Holmes]

That's what she's doing.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Just as authentic as Hillary Clinton.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, what was Fascinating about this. It's in the backdrop of what Marco Rubio did over there and what Rubio did. We're not going to play clips of it in large part because what I do is encourage you to go. If you're on Axe, go to the State Department. Axe, watch the whole thing. It's 30 plus minutes. But it is well worth your time to understand and appreciate what well articulated, clear foreign policy looks like in comparison to what it is that you're hearing from Maduro, Venezuela, on AOC's side. And then she comes back and has the audacity after the world has heard this, by the way, gave Rubio a standing ovation despite the fact that they didn't probably love anything that he said. She comes back in clip three.

[AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)]

Rubio's speech was a pure appeal to Western culture. My favorite part was when American cowboys came from Spain.

[Josh Holmes]

I thought they came from. Way too bad.

[AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)]

I believe the Mexicans and descendants of African enslaved peoples would like to have a word on that.

[Josh Holmes]

What is she talking.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, so that's the thing.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Where did the Spanish language come from?

[Michael Duncan]

Where did horses come from?

[John Ashbrook]

Exactly. So horses were brought over from Spain. Hence that's where they came from. But again, I want to reiterate, this is the thing she tried saying, oh, American cowboys, this is all. They just stole everything from Mexicans and slaves because their belief system is predicated upon America is evil. Anything. Do you see how she's like, he appealed to like Western valley. You're supposed to, in theory, you're a Congress member for America, which is a Western nation, and you're not. Her thinking is, if it's American, if it's Western, it's evil. Everything that America has is because of Mexico and slaves and the global South. And to paint America as this evil entity. And then to want to. Because everyone knows she wants to be president, everyone knows she's going to run for president, to want to lead this country. And she makes no bones about it. And you can see it in her ideology. And she wants to destroy America because she thinks it's an evil place.

[Michael Duncan]

And how do you justify, I don't know, an open border? You let in 25 million people. You make the false reality that there is no difference between culture. You make people hate the history and the country in which they live. You make people hate Western civilization. And in that context, of course, you could convince people that Western values are not something worth fighting for and that you can open the border to any people in any part of the country to come and Be here and it doesn't mean anything.

[John Ashbrook]

And to go back to Secretary Rubio's speech, if you haven't seen. There's a reason everyone was talking about it is because it was a grand slam. I mean, he crushed it. Widely applauded. But she starts great speech and exactly what you want to hear from a Secretary of State. Just a tremendous, robust defense of American foreign policy. It was so pro America and he just nailed it.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

She's paying too much attention to the Chinese operatives paying money to tear our country apart. Their mess message is designed to tear America limb from limb. And she's interpreting that as a message that can actually win an election in this country. Like the Chinese operatives spending money are like, no, America's a terrible place. It's stolen land. And she's like, yes, that sounds like a good message. That's the one I'm gonna carry to the White House.

[Josh Holmes]

She's doing two things here before we get to the next clip that I think are intertwined and will be intertwined all the way until 2028 that you just need to pay attention to a little bit. The first is she opens up. What Rubio is doing is a full throated defense of Western civilization. As if it's a pejorative.

[Michael Duncan]

Right, Right.

[John Ashbrook]

Bingo.

[Josh Holmes]

As if it's a pejorative.

[John Ashbrook]

So telling.

[Josh Holmes]

As if anyone in the United States of America believes that the United States of America, the European allies of which we have now been through two World wars and 250 years of history with, all of that is wrong. What is right is an unnamed to be later peoples who have been downtrodden throughout the United States and the world that we can't talk about who they are. Exactly. But they are out there and those are the people who are right and that's the people who are on our side. It's a transition to the next clip. But I will say the second part, that what she does leads into all of this. Because in order for you to believe anything that she says is true about the perils of the west and what a horrible people we are for leading the values based, Christian, Judeo version of governance that we have, she has to rely on factual falsehoods, inaccuracies, to the point where, like you mentioned the horses, you mentioned the. Was she saying, like, the cow. He's so dumb he doesn't even realize it was the Mexicans that were. The cow? No, the Mexican they got from the Spanish. That that's, that's the way that, that's the way that worked. Because they didn't have the fucking horses.

[John Ashbrook]

You want to know why? It wasn't Aztec warriors who came up.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, right. But like there's just simplicities that she overlooks that are factually. Any historian will tell you are factually insane. They're dumb. But you need to buy into those inane stupid fuck details in order to believe that this woman has some vision beyond just like reflecting back a 19 year old college protester.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

Like you have to believe that in order to get to the next level. Well, here she is at her pitch. This is the one that sends me through the moon. Clip 4.

[AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)]

There was certainly more openness to what I was saying than probably there would be in years past. We can't underestimate the appeal of going back to these well worn grooves. A lot of what we talk about when we talk about a class based internationalist perspective also means ending the hypocrisy towards the global South.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, there it is. Global South.

[John Ashbrook]

And that class based international.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Wait a minute again. Slowing down the cadence to sound a little bit smarter. If you slow it down, it's a politician. They tell you people will take you more seriously. In her case, I'm not sure that works.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, Joseph McCarthy tried warning us about this kind of shit.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, the thing that's really funny to me about that is she talks about going back, returning to these grooves, well worn grooves, and it's like. That's what you're talking about.

[Josh Holmes]

You mean like.

[John Ashbrook]

What do you mean? The Cold War?

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, yeah, the Cold War.

[John Ashbrook]

Every one of these countries that just starved its people into the ground, she.

[Michael Duncan]

Shows up in Munich and she's like, we need to go back to that wall across your country. Right.

[Josh Holmes]

The Global South. Is she talking about South America, Africa and Australia?

[John Ashbrook]

Well, not Australia, because Australia might have a stolen land because of the colonial.

[Josh Holmes]

So it's not really the Global South. Her definition of the Global south is just everything. Every poor country in South America.

[John Ashbrook]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

Half of Brazil.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, failed countries, essentially. Africa, all the failed countries.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, well, that's, that's what the Global.

[Michael Duncan]

South, that's our fault.

[John Ashbrook]

And that's the thing, that's how they couch it. They're like, listen, we need to emulate all these failed countries. The only reason they failed is because America made them fail. But otherwise they'd be prosperous. So if we just emulate, all the failure will succeed. And somehow she gets away with it. Somehow the entire progressive left gets away with it.

[Josh Holmes]

Can you imagine a term more offensive to your average American than class based Internationalism, Yes. As if the Uyghurs in China have any similarities to Midwesterners in the middle of this country in these factories in Xinjiang.

[John Ashbrook]

It's a class based internationalist order. They sell the soccer balls and they send it around the world.

[Josh Holmes]

But that's what she's saying. She's saying lines are not drawn around your country. They're not nationalist in nature, they're class based. She's saying it. She's telling you what it is that she believes. So we should probably examine what it is that your next Democratic nominee may not be aoc, but I can guarantee she's gonna have a big say in it.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Huge.

[Josh Holmes]

I guarantee her huge. So you might as well listen to things that they're saying and interpret them directly because they will, guaranteed three years from now, walk back from this and be like, well, we didn't mean any of that. We're general election candidates.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Just like when they held up their hands and said, free health care for everybody, walking illegal.

[Josh Holmes]

And then, and then they did as such, but told us they weren't right.

[John Ashbrook]

Can I make one quick observation? We are still years away from the primary on both Republican and Democrat side happening. You know, there's early front runners and favorites and such like that. And the world always will change. In politics, things shift so quickly, you have no clue what things could look like. But as it stands, like if you look at the poly market or prediction markets of who each party is likely to nominate, the comparison between jd, Vance and AOC could not be more stark in the sense that with aoc, you have someone who was raised in like among the wealthiest suburbs of New York City, right? Like you want to live in her part of town where she grew up because the schools are nice and the houses are expensive and there's no crime. And then you contrast that with JD's upbringing of abject poverty and horrific circumstances, a direct result of a lot of this internationalism. Globalism, which shut all the factories down, took all the jobs and hope out of where he grew up. And then you see what each did with that, where his opportunities were so tiny, but because this is America, he found, I mean, look at what he's accomplished.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Right? That's a good point.

[John Ashbrook]

Because only in America, because that is the promise of America, is you're only limited by the scope of what you want to accomplish and are willing to work to accomplish. And I believe that in my heart still to this day, no matter what the Dems are trying to pull. And then you look at aoc, who had all that head start and becomes a bartender. And then thanks to the power of the Internet, being able to be like, no, you see, I'm going to be here and I'm going to fight for the working class who's always had it handed to her and then scraped together and she becomes a bartender. I love bartenders. I see too many of them. But I'll tell you what, the bartender may not be the best expert on U.S. foreign policy.

[Josh Holmes]

You know what they could be. But when you come up with things called class based internationalism.

[John Ashbrook]

Exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

You know that you have a deficit of actual real world knowledge to a point where it is so offensive and so anti American, frankly, that I don't even know how to like. I don't think we've ever had an election in this country. You can go all the way back to like McGovern, who was like the furthest left that the Democrats had ever nominated, I think before Barack Obama, who was the furthest. But he masked it well and there's never been this. But that's what this is gonna be. I don't actually care who the candidate is. It could be aoc, it could be there. Going to have to go through her to get the nomination. Class based internationalism, to put a fine point on it, means that your country doesn't matter. What it matters is whether or not you have any money or whether or not, more importantly, your skin color is the right color. And if it's not white, if it's white, it's the wrong color. You saw this play out in Gaza. You saw this play out in almost every international conflict that the progressive left has leveraged upon the American people to try to pretend like they give a shit about these people. They don't. It's the focus of their immigration policy. It is what they say by completely waving in sex trafficking and drug trafficking and human trafficking and public repression and modern day slavery and all of those things. What they want you to believe is that they're doing that because the other people don't want these people in here because they're brown. You can't have an intellectual conversation about the human condition that greets the people who are at our borders.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

They don't want that.

[Josh Holmes]

They don't want that.

[Michael Duncan]

Or how about the human conditions that people are already here. Like the working class people that are in these countries, the working class people that are in Europe that is overrun by immigration that's completely unchecked across the continent. She's gonna show up and say, I'm here to defend the working class values internationally.

[Josh Holmes]

Internationally, Right, right.

[Michael Duncan]

And there's the wink. Right?

[Josh Holmes]

There's the wink.

[Michael Duncan]

There's the wink.

[Josh Holmes]

Because what I'm talking about is not the working class condition in the United States of America. What I'm talking about is an international bond that is segregationist in nature. It is the most racist classist. Doesn't even begin to sort of categorize it. It's all an observation of the world based on what you look like and how you look like. Never mind the international or domestic conditions that you find yourself in.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

And that, like, it's just something to think about as you the listener, about what it is that they're thinking about when they're putting together a national ticket. It's fucked up. Not since like the days of Bull Connor has anybody looked at a domestic situation in this country like that. It is horrific, but that's what they are. Wait till you see how the media takes all this. It's an interesting deal because they're on board. They're on board for the big win. Right after this. I've worked at Coca Cola for 21 years.

[Michael Duncan]

We're delivering Dr. Pepper from our brand.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

New facility in Dallas, Texas.

[John Ashbrook]

We're really proud to still make Pepsi products in America.

[Josh Holmes]

You don't need a college degree to work here, but I put four kids through college by working here.

[Michael Duncan]

This is a great place to work with great people and great American brands.

[John Ashbrook]

Grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, they all depend on us. We deliver great paying jobs.

[Michael Duncan]

We deliver beverages people love.

[John Ashbrook]

We deliver for our community.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so based on the first segment, you would ask yourself how anyone could see what it is that AOC and folks like aoc. Honestly, Gretchen Whitmer did a hell of a job over there too. The Michigan governor, if you listen to any of that, it was just as incoherent. It was, it was, it was just.

[Michael Duncan]

And Hillary had a really funny segment over there as well. I've dubbed it the Sisterhood of the Traveling Idiots.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's very good. And I don't think you could watch any of that without coming to a very similar conclusion, regardless of your ideology. But how is it the media has picked up on this? Let's look at graphic two, the New Republic. You know what? Maybe the time is right for an AOC presidential bid. She's only.

[Michael Duncan]

Here's this. A lot of board work today.

[Andy Barr]

Boardwork.

[Josh Holmes]

She's only 36 and there's a good argument that she should run for Senate and bide her time. But she also could be a formidable White House candidate. Now it's the New Republic. You know what? They're out. There's a clique. They're just trying to get some clickbait on that sucker, because I don't even think they really believe it. But how, after what we just played, could you be like, yes, that's what the country needs now.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

The media wants to build her up. And if this play from the mainstream media looks similar to you, there's a reason for that. They did the same thing with Joe Biden when he was demented beyond any incoherence when he was in his basement running for president in 2020, when he was president and couldn't put a sentence together. And the media told you over and over again, trust us, this guy is sharper behind the scenes than he looks like on camera. They're doing the exact same thing to aoc. Trust us. Just because of the stupid things she said in those clips you saw on the Internet, she's actually doing what we want her to do.

[Josh Holmes]

So. So the way that we've categorized these, and Wolf has done a hell of a job of pulling these clips, it's like the story of the three Bears.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Oh, yeah, right.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like, oh, my porridge is too cold.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my porridge is too hot. Oh, my porridge is just right. And like, so here, here's, Here's a. Like, too cold. It's New York Times Graphic 3 Ocasio Cortez offers a working class vision in Munich with a few stumbles.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, some stumbles.

[John Ashbrook]

Those are just stumbles, dude.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

When I saw this headline, the first thing that came to my mind is, Lincoln applauds play despite gunshots.

[John Ashbrook]

You know what I mean?

[Josh Holmes]

Rave reviews at the Lincoln Theater.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Exactly. Despite a brief interruption, man jumped on stage.

[Josh Holmes]

Speaking at Europe's largest security conference, she tied income inequality to the rise of authoritarians and offered a forceful rebuttal to President Trump's worldview. She also had some shaky moments. Yeah. I mean, to say the least. To say the least. But this gets through. It's like the hand wave away.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, like, if you have a world leader. And again, I just. I can't figure out how you wouldn't panic at some level if you were, like an AOC supporter. If you go to a Munich security conference and they ask you about China and Taiwan and you have no answer for it, that would panic me.

[John Ashbrook]

And also, so this is another interesting thing, is when you start to see headlines like this more often because mainstream media, like the New York Times, has become keenly aware of the fact that they no longer have total control on what folks see. Folks have now seen on X a million times clips of AOC being an absolute moron. So they're aware of that. So they can't go out like the New Republic and fully say, oh, aoc, home run. She crushed it. She was great. They're saying, you may have seen the stumbles online. Sure. But she's right. You know what I mean? Like, they're trying to be like, oh, we're being totally honest and saying she did a great job and we all saw the couple stumbles online. But other than that, it was pretty perfect. They're cognizant of that. They can no longer completely control what folks see.

[Josh Holmes]

So ready for president? Too hot. Some stumbles. That's too cold. Let's turn to NBC, shall we? Graphic 4 In Munich, AOC warns that democracies must deliver for the working class to stave off authoritarianism. Incredible. Just right.

[John Ashbrook]

And I want to note that this is written by Ash Brook's good friend Sahel Kapoor, who's a piece of garbage. And he blocked me because I hold him accountable. He blocked me online. He's Ashbrook's friend.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

He's a good guy.

[John Ashbrook]

See, there you go.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

I don't think he wrote this headline.

[Josh Holmes]

He did the subhead. I don't know if he had a hand in that. Ocasio Cortez gave a rare glimpse into reviews on foreign policy.

[Andy Barr]

A rare.

[Josh Holmes]

Hold on, can I pause on that?

[Andy Barr]

A rare.

[Michael Duncan]

Really rare.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, into her views, because she has no views. It's rare, I guess. And foreign policy in the Munich Security Conference while sidestepping when asked when she'll run for president. So what he's done here, conveniently, is ignore the full face plant that this woman did in Munich time after time after time. We've just given you the tip of the iceberg, by the way, on these clips. Like, it's replete throughout her entire stay. But it would be impossible to cover her visit without making note of the fact that she had some very embarrassing moments.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

They're going to pretend like this is the burgeoning credential component. What we talked about at the top, that this is somebody who is. Well, it's a rare glimpse because she doesn't often share her deep thoughts, but when she does, well, it's class based.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

And it's interesting, Right. The exact opposite of what the media did to Mitt Romney when they followed him and they were like, Governor Romney.

[Josh Holmes]

Tell us about your gas what about your gas?

[John Ashbrook]

What about your gaffes?

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Opposite.

[Josh Holmes]

Exact opposite. So the question of the day, when you like and subscribe to the ruthless Variety program, we read all of them. Get back to the very next episode. And our question today is, can AOC actually win the White House? You'd be surprised. And I think a lot of you have some thoughts on that, in that you would like to think in a modern society that this would be an impossibility because you would all see something.

[John Ashbrook]

That'S not qualified, I would say. And Holmes does a great job of this, where I can tend to harp on just like she is just so unbelievably dumb. But she isn't. And Holmes constantly points this out, is you should never underestimate folks like her. You have to take her seriously because the consequences are too high. I mean, look how far she's gotten. She's essentially a kingmaker already on the Democrat side. She and Schumer are battling out for control of New York State. Think about that.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, and I think more counterintuitive than you might imagine. The more Donald Trump and Marco Rubio dismantle this. What is. What did she call it? Working class internationalism.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Venezuela.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Now, the repercussions of what you're seeing, like in Cuba.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Right. The more Trump and Marco Rubio disassemble this argument of basically global Communism. Yeah, right.

[Josh Holmes]

Which is what she's arguing for.

[Michael Duncan]

Right. I think the more powerful she becomes domestically.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Honestly, because she's filling in the vacuum of that moment and she knows it. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And play. Look, if you can make a good case to a whole bunch of dumb folks.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

You're pretty popular.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, it goes back to the whole thing on the Global South. Right. Sorry, Ashbrook, but like, you know, we've been told, you know, ever since the Cuban Revolution back in the 1950s. Right. That this was an alternative to capitalism and all this and they could sustain themselves. Now you find out all these decades later that it's basically just a beggar country that begs to get oil from Venezuela and works with Russia and China. And when you disassemble the economics of that system, you find it's all fucking joke. It's all a joke, and none of it was real.

[Andy Barr]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

And the only thing I was going to add is sort of consistent with what you were saying in that to win the White House, you have to first win your party's nomination to be a candidate. Yeah. And the Democrats want people who are communist. A Communist has a better shot at winning the Democrat nomination today than they ever have before. And that's why her communist rhetoric fits with anybody who is voting for for the damn nominee.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Well said. All right, when we come back, we've got some five stars. We haven't done this in a little while.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

For all of you audio only listeners, we're going to get you in right after this. Okay, when you like and subscribe or when you leave five stars in a comment to our question of the day, we read all of them. And to do that, we always start with the voice.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Okay. I promise that comfortably smug will get his chance on the third one, but for the first one we'll go with Marble Foot 111. Best podcast out there. These cats are as cool as the center seed of a cucumber laying in the refrigerator crisper drawer. That's a good comparison. Hemingway.

[John Ashbrook]

I like that.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Interesting. Intelligent and passionate. I love them better than soup, beans and cornbread. They seem like normal people, except smarter. I never miss a show unless I do honest. Smart foot 111.

[Josh Holmes]

I love it. All right, comment two dunks drunks.

[Michael Duncan]

This one's from Christmas speak. They write candies and veggies.

[John Ashbrook]

Always.

[Michael Duncan]

Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Friday mornings, my hubby and I have coffee and brekkie with the fellas. I mean, must be from down under.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Brekkie?

[Michael Duncan]

Isn't brekkie Australian thing?

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Global south.

[Michael Duncan]

Never miss. I've never laughed as as loud so early in the morning. And yet at the same time, I've learned so much about today's politics. I credit Megyn Kelly, Adam Carolla, and the ruthless variety program for my red pill enlightenment. Thanks, Chris.

[Josh Holmes]

I love that.

[Michael Duncan]

That's nice.

[Josh Holmes]

Comment three, Smuggles.

[John Ashbrook]

Comment three is from kdd, Idaho. They write, hey, smug, what you said this morning about bullying is so true. I've actually been thinking about the same thing for the past couple of years. Thank you for saying that today. We should call out bad ideas and lies when we see them and stop apologizing for it when we do. That's it. There you go.

[Michael Duncan]

The crowd is very happy and some board work.

[Josh Holmes]

I love it. Okay. All right, well, great comments. Keep putting them on in there when you like and subscribe or leave 5 stars. We read absolutely all of them. Get back to you the very next episode with your thoughts. You want a little variety? Always. All right, so Obama did this interview with this guy, Brian Tyler Cohen.

[Michael Duncan]

And.

[Josh Holmes]

It'S interesting when he goes and he sits down like, first of all, the whole interview is unbelievable. Our boy Hugh Hewitt was Just absolutely unmasking the whole thing. Like, what a charade that Barack Obama is. And you already know my opinion. He's the worst president in the history of the United States. But they asked an interesting question, one interesting question, and then just left it alone. This is about the aliens. Clip 9.

[Andy Barr]

Are aliens real? They're real, but I haven't seen them. And they're not being kept in, what.

[Josh Holmes]

Is it, Area 51.

[Andy Barr]

Area 51. There's no underground facility unless there's this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the President of the United States.

[Josh Holmes]

What was the first question you wanted answered when you became president?

[Andy Barr]

Where are the aliens? Where are the aliens?

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, he just said straight up. He said it. He said it straight up. He's like, well, yeah, of course the aliens are real. And then, like, so there was a very interesting meta discussion about this because, like, as soon as this, like, podcast clown's like, are aliens real? Everyone's like, yeah, sure, but they didn't let me see him@area51. And then he's like, okay, then what was the first thing? Like, he instantly moves.

[Josh Holmes]

How you brush that through.

[Michael Duncan]

It's almost like Obama was like, dude, please tell me, like, ask me a question about when I saw the evidence of the aliens. He goes back to it. What was the first thing you wanted to know when you got into the Oval? Are the aliens real? And no follow up.

[John Ashbrook]

No follow up. And so this is the thing, is that you'll see this a lot. And I want to toot our own horn is our podcast is such a discussion with the audience of trying to learn things and uncover the truth of things, whereas so many other podcasts, especially on the left, they're really bad about this. They're just trying to maintain that access that they have to this individual. Like, if I ask Obama a tough question, he'll never be back. They only care about having that access, whereas we do the tough things. For example, have every Republican running in a primary, even though half audience might like one guy, half the audience. Like, everyone deserves the answers, but so many podcasts feel that they're beholden to that access that they're not willing to risk asking the.

[Michael Duncan]

I think it's something even more simple than that, though. Like, I don't know. I listen to a lot of podcasts, right? You see people who start podcasts and stuff, like, the key to good podcasting, I think, isn't talking, it's listening. And there's too many people who ask a question, and then they get ready to ask the next question, rather than being like, hold on, wait, wait, wait, you're saying fucking aliens are real?

[John Ashbrook]

Did you not just hear Obama admit.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, we talk about this a lot. I mean, my view has always been exactly what you just said, Duncan, is that everybody that comes in here is going to be prepared for the three or four questions that are tough questions and they're going to have an answer for it. And you as the audience glean nothing from it because they've just thought about it and thought about a way in and out. Kind of close the door on follow up and whatever. But having a conversation about things in general, as long as you're listening, allows you to have a larger conversation where you can learn an awful lot. That is a perfect example. Well, you know, yeah, aliens are real.

[John Ashbrook]

And then it's like, yeah, of course they are.

[Josh Holmes]

You don't ask a president of the United States how he knows that aliens are he.

[Michael Duncan]

Just what evidence have you seen? Who has this evidence? Who briefed you about that thing? I can think of like 10 questions right now. It's also because I believe in aliens.

[John Ashbrook]

That's the thing is like if we ever got a chance to ask about the alien thing, I want to do Duncan to be the tip of the spear. Do you're getting a follow up question.

[Michael Duncan]

President Obama, it'd be like, dude, it'd be like Frost Nixon just on aliens.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

How many of them voted in 20. 20.

[John Ashbrook]

That's right. Oh my God.

[Michael Duncan]

Also, are you an alien?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, fair enough, fair enough. It's all good. Anyway, that caught our eye. One more clip. This is a, a wolf special, I think.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay.

[John Ashbrook]

He said this clip, it's a blind clip. He said it's a friend of his. We need to check that.

[Josh Holmes]

I think it's a good friend. Somebody that he hangs out with on the day daily basis. Clip 10.

[Michael Duncan]

This isn't a good look for you?

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

No.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, you think I care about my look?

[John Ashbrook]

No.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Oh no, no.

[John Ashbrook]

Trust me, when you guys are evident by how you look, you don't care. We get that, trust me. No, that's what I'm saying. I'm just saying this, trying to be a social warrior. If you actually care, you probably would care about the child who got raped and also the person got murdered by the person that we were looking for. But see, you don't care.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

No, I don't care. Because you guys, you just try to detain legal immigrants.

[John Ashbrook]

Damn, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

A sassy ICE agent. We haven't had a look at a sassy.

[John Ashbrook]

He walked her into that really bad. Like, first off, he was like, you look like a mess, but here's the thing is we're trying to catch a child rapist that you clearly don't care about. She's like, I don't care about it. And he's like, thank you, we're done here.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Bingo.

[John Ashbrook]

And you see, his buddy was like, yeah. For the folks who don't have the get on the YouTube, because that clip was. That's a million dollars.

[Josh Holmes]

So good. And that lady had to go back and just question everything about it. Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And I shot the video. I put it off. Me getting owned. Totally right.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, so look, what we like to do here on the Ruthless Friday program they've started a couple of weeks ago, is get absolutely all of the primary candidates that you're going to have to cast a ballot for in studio so we can have a conversation. This one, we're talking about the Commonwealth of Kentucky last Friday. And fun time Friday we had Daniel Cameron. This is Andy Barr, Congressman from the 6th district of Kentucky, represents Lexington and out east, also running that primary. We've also extended an invitation to Nate Morris. So we'll get all three of them in here where you can hear everything. This one is Andy Barr. Want to welcome a good friend of the program. Known this guy for an awful long time. You've heard him here, I think, three or four different times. Always brings, by the way, a state product.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Sure does.

[Josh Holmes]

Just a nice gesture. Andy Barr.

[Andy Barr]

How are you, sir? Cheers.

[Josh Holmes]

Cheers.

[Andy Barr]

Cheers to you, gentlemen.

[Michael Duncan]

Cheers.

[Andy Barr]

Good to be back on Ruthless. Thank you.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Good to have you.

[Josh Holmes]

Bad luck if you don't drink a little before you set it back down. Listen, you've been a congressman, represented the sick district of Kentucky very, very well and gotten to know you over the years. We've talked about all kinds of different things on this program. Mostly fun making. We have a good time with stuff. But you're in the heat of it, in the thick of it. You're running for the United States Senate. An incredibly important. Every seat in the United States Senate is a huge deal in 2026. Can't have any mistakes, certainly in states like Kentucky. You decided to throw your hat in this ring. Tell me why.

[Andy Barr]

I love Kentucky. I love this country. I love my kids. And I want to secure a better, brighter, more prosperous future for them. And, you know, it's been a privilege of a lifetime to get a chance to represent the people, the families, the businesses, their hopes and aspirations in the United States Congress for these last 13, almost 14 years now. And it would be an even greater privilege to get a chance to represent the entirety of the state. I grew up in the state. I love Kentucky. I love everything about Kentucky. Whether it's bourbon horse racing.

[Michael Duncan]

No, it's not.

[Andy Barr]

The lake, the coal industry, my beloved Wildcats. Now I'm aspiring to represent the great city of Louisville. So I've got to be a little careful about my allegiances to my sports teams. But, I mean, that's. That's really the thing you say in the thick of it. When you're in the thick of it and you're working really hard on a project you really care about, and you have passion for it, you work hard and you travel all over the place. And what's cool about that is I'm getting to meet people that I haven't met before. They're fellow Kentuckians that are not in my district, but man, oh, man, you. You know, you can't predict these things, but what an amazing blessing it would be to get a chance to represent them as well.

[Josh Holmes]

It's funny, I mean, that resonates deeply with me, obviously. My first few trips to Kentucky, I had a Tour guide of McConnell, but we would stop in at some roadside, you know, some house just off a county road somewhere, and he's like, that's Marianne. She lives there. You ought to stop in. Those are the most rewarding experiences I've ever had in campaigns, meaning average people who are just doing the right thing, trying to make a living, provide for their family. They're just giving you everything you need to know.

[Andy Barr]

Exactly. And I think of people who I've met and come to. These are supporters of mine, but they've become almost like family. They've become friends. I think of Roy Gene Todd in Berea, Kentucky.

[Michael Duncan]

There we go.

[Andy Barr]

Roy Gene. If you met Roy Jean, this guy, he works his tail off for Andy Bar for Senate. But it's not because he's for me. He's for his country. And he knows I've represented him and his family and I fought for them, and he wants that for the entirety of the commonwealth. The guy is relentless and he's calling me, he's texting me, he's telling me who to call. He's talking to the pastors, he's talking to the workers who work for his home building business.

[Josh Holmes]

Billy Joe, he is a little waving. We got to lock him up. You should give him a call.

[Andy Barr]

You got it. That's the type of stuff. And it's almost daily. He's. He's calling me, texting Me and trying to help the cause. You know, Mendel and Debbie Tipton over in Powell county, same thing. I mean, these are people who I've come to know and trust and can't be a thing. Mark Honchel. Mark Honchel's a guy. He's got white hair. He's got a ponytail. Estell county, former railroader. And he believes in what we're doing to save the country, make America great again. And the guy won't stop working for our cause. These are the people who I love. These are the people I'm working for and fighting for. And I want to meet more people like that across the Commonwealth.

[Josh Holmes]

One of the things that I find interesting about your campaign, obviously your first statewide deal here. I've known you a long time. I know your personality. I know what it is that you care about. It feels like you've got an authenticity here that is not a political manufactured deal. Right. This is something that the Andy Bar I know is coming out. And the ad that you put up this very week, we can just play that real quick.

[Andy Barr]

You know what DEI really stands for? Dumb Evil Indoctrination.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Yeah.

[Andy Barr]

Woke Liberal Spuit. Corporate Losers fall for it. But thanks to Trump, America is rejecting that trash, and I'm leading the fight to end it for good. I'm Andy Barr. It's not a sin to be white. It's not against the law to be male. And it shouldn't be disqualifying to be a Christian. I'm Andy Barr and I approve this message to give woke liberals something else to cry about.

[Josh Holmes]

So here's the thing. I know you. I know that that has been your point of view since I've met you. But, like, you know, you get involved in politics, you can't say this stuff. You can't say that stuff. Right. I mean, we all grew up in a generation where it was like, you're gonna get canceled for shit like that. Yep. Yep.

[Andy Barr]

And that's why I did it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Andy Barr]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, this is.

[Andy Barr]

Some people would call that politically incorrect. Amen. Amen. You know, I asked a young man who works for me in my office from Kentucky, from Union county, western Kentucky. Young man, just graduated from college, went through all that Covid. Stu has. Has grown up really, in this new generation. Young, early 20s, grew up in the generation of woke of cancel culture, political correctness. And I asked him what he thought about that ad. He said, thank God someone is finally saying it. You know, he feels like he's been persecuted by his generation, his generation. And, you know, Look, I mean, the reason, look, the reason why I think it's important to have that pushback against that is because it's not right to assume that just because I'm a white Christian male, I'm racist. And it's also wrong to denigrate the history, the great history of our country, the greatest country in the history of the world. These people teach that our country is evil, that we have some kind of, look, we're human beings. We all are sinful in some way, shape or form. But this is the greatest country in the history of the world. And you know what? I'm proud to be an American, and I'm proud of celebrating the founders of our country and our Constitution and our history.

[Michael Duncan]

And it's such an important message, I think, for, like, the forgotten men and women that make up the Trump coalition in places like Kentucky. And we know this because we've worked these campaigns, we've met the people that you were talking about. And the very idea that some guy who's broken his back shoveling coal his whole life is somehow privileged because he's white is such like an antithetical thing in America, it's just not true. And these people are hardworking people who don't have a racist bone in their body. But so much of our discourse in politics and media is dictated by Ivy League people and this just this industrial complex of media and liberal thought that teaches this crap. And so I think it's nice for those people to be like, all right, this guy gets it and he recognizes that.

[Andy Barr]

Yeah, I think that's very true. And I'm getting texts and phone calls from across Kentucky and they're thanking me for saying it and for standing up. And let's go back to what this country is about. And even in the civil rights movement, it's the content of your character. It's not the color of your skin, it's the content of your character. Why can't we elevate that idea? And so it is important to fight back. And I have, and I've been a leader in Congress of voting against DEI initiatives, of defunding DEI initiatives and taking on environmental, social, governance crap and politicizing things that should never be politicized, whether it's in education or whether it's in finance. This cancel culture is, is really about trying to transform our country into something we don't recognize, don't you think?

[Michael Duncan]

It's two things, though. There is the. There are far left lunatic communists and socialists who believe this stuff. I totally get that very Small but vocal minority. But it feels like so much of that stuff you're highlighting, esg, and all of this is really just a. A financial scheme from elites pretending to care about this thing. Yeah, it's a shakedown with this far left wing NGO ecosystem and all of that sort. I'm not actually convinced they believe it. They just think it's a good way to make a buck.

[Andy Barr]

Well, I actually had a conversation with Maxine Waters about this.

[Michael Duncan]

Really?

[Andy Barr]

I'm a senior member of the Financial Services Committee, serving with Maxine. And, and on occasion, I, you know, I'm in the chair, I have the gavel, I'm a subcommittee chairman, and she was sitting next to me one day and we had a conversation. I suppose I'm probably not supposed to divulge all these confidences. Let me tell you what, that's why.

[Josh Holmes]

You do it, where you're ruthless.

[Andy Barr]

I said we were having a hearing on ESG investing. And I said, you know, mics were off. And I leaned back and I said, maxine, I got to hand it to you all in the far left. You took over the educational system, you took over the media, and now you know what, you're taking over our corporations. And she said, you're darn right. And that's the strategy. The left knows what they're doing with esg. They have taken over and infected our colleges and universities with this DEI cancer. The media has always been with them on this stuff. And then they pushed ESG and DEI into what should be the free enterprise system, the center of capitalism, our businesses, our corporations, and they tried to convert them, and they did, and they were successful for some period of time. And those of us who recognize that, we called out those business leaders for parroting all of this nonsense and saying, look, your job as a director or officer of a corporation is not to advance the Democratic National Committee talking points. Your job is to return deliver returns for your shareholders. Your job is to deliver on the core mission of your business and be profitable. And we called them out and we talked about their fiduciary obligation and what. And I think the pendulum is finally swinging back to a level of common sense where we are actually winning the fight against that.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, they took that argument to the face. And then the national election in 2024 made it very clear that the vast majority of Americans agree with your point of view. In the moonwalk that you've seen all of these corporations, they were like, what? DEI did that?

[Michael Duncan]

Never heard of it.

[Josh Holmes]

What is that?

[Andy Barr]

Yeah, exactly. How about that? I won't name the company, but at the beginning of the Biden administration, I gave a speech, I actually named the CEO in the speech. He didn't like it, but it was politicizing finance, allocating capital based on what was politically popular with the Biden administration.

[Michael Duncan]

It's like the definition of crony capitalism.

[Andy Barr]

Totally. And at the end of the Biden administration, by the way, the very first veto of Joe Biden's failed presidency was his veto of my bill that took on the woke environmentalists.

[Michael Duncan]

Really?

[Josh Holmes]

Yep.

[Andy Barr]

It was a Congressional Review act resolution disapproving of Biden's Department of Labor ESG mandates under erisa.

[Josh Holmes]

Wow, I didn't realize.

[Andy Barr]

And he vetoed it. But we had a celebration that, you know, that was our first resolution disapproving of a Biden regulation. Delivered it to his desk and he vetoed it, of course. But over time, sending that signal to corporate America that we weren't going to tolerate the politicization of American business to do the heavy lifting for the far extreme left that we were going to push back against redirecting capital away from reliable, affordable energy into speculative green energy projects. Boondoggles.

[Josh Holmes]

Solyndra.

[Andy Barr]

Yeah, right. And by the way, why are you trying to debank law abiding businesses just because they're manufacturers or they're in fossil energy or maybe they're conservative groups or maybe they're firearms industry. That's what we were dealing with. And so we chipped away at that, we stayed at it. And by the end of the Biden administration and when President Trump was elected again, and boy, they were backtracking fast because the political winds had shifted. And that same CEO came back to my office and I knew exactly what he was gonna do, what he was there for. He wanted to celebrate with me that they had withdrawn from the Net Zero Asset Managers Group, International group.

[Josh Holmes]

The thing you criticized about.

[Andy Barr]

And I never let him talk about it. We talked about AI, we talked about all kinds of investing strategies. We talked about overregulation at the capital markets, the securities and Exchange. We talked about everything except es, everything that he had been a part of. And at the end he said time was up. He said, hey, you never asked about our big announcement that we withdrew. I thought you were going to be really excited about it. I said, I don't have to ask you about it. You did the right thing, finally.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

That's so good, Andy. I got to ask you about this Senate race we had Daniel Cameron on recently. And when we interviewed him, it looked like he was leading in the polls, a three way primary for Senate in Kentucky. I see some new polls that show that you have taken the lead over Daniel Cameron. And of course there's a third candidate, Nate Morris. Is a three way race. It looks like it's going to be a pretty tight race, but you've got some momentum. I wonder if you could just give us a sense of what we're looking at here.

[Andy Barr]

Yeah, it's very gratifying to see the momentum. We're the campaign moving in the right direction. We're moving north in the polls. We took the lead in two independent polls. Our internal polls corroborate that. They, they're telling us that we're moving in the right direction. I love horse racing, as you all well know. And so the horse racing analogy is we've just, we've just. This is a long horse race, but we've passed the third turn, we're not there yet. We've got three quarter pull. Yeah, that's right, three we got down the stretch they go not quite yet.

[John Ashbrook]

Not quite.

[Andy Barr]

We're not at the stretch run yet. But we've rounded the third turn and we've taken the lead. Every horse is behind us. I think there's like 10 horses in the race. There's three of us or four of us you could argue are competitive in the race. But we've now just taken the lead and it took us to the third turn to take the lead because my name ID wasn't nearly as high as our former Attorney General. He was on the ballot four times statewide.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, just to explain for the listeners, you've represented the Lexington area and out east, which is an incredibly important part of the commonwealth in Kentucky, but it's not Louisville, which is the most populous place and then you've got Cincinnati suburbs up top, which is a ton of population. And then everything west of I65 known as West Kentucky.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, that there are serious Republican votes out there.

[Andy Barr]

Serious.

[Josh Holmes]

And you've never had a chance to.

[Andy Barr]

Talk to these people. Never, never. But you know what, what's so gratifying, the reason why I'm surging in the polls is because I'm meeting them and they're meeting me and they're learning about my record.

[Michael Duncan]

And not for nothing, but you've run some competitive races in that district itself.

[Josh Holmes]

If you win the sixth, you're going to win a general election.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, you ran against Amy McGrath.

[Andy Barr]

That race and there's three arguments I'm making and all of them seem to be resonating. One Is that while these other guys talk about supporting President Trump, they talk about how they are a Trump guy or whatever, I'm actually doing it every day in Congress. I'm the only candidate in the race who is voting to advance this agenda, who's part of the team with the Republican majority, who's in the trenches fighting, making the votes, advancing the cause today. The second thing is I do have a track record as an effective leader in Congress. I won't have a learning curve. And I think that's important. We are losing influence in the Senate as a commonwealth and we need someone who can hit the ground running on day one and not miss a beat. I have a record of delivering for Kentucky and I think that resonates actually with Kentuckians. And the final thing is your point is that you owe it to your philosophy to win. And I have a proven record of winning in the one purple swing district in the state. Republicans should not have to worry about Texas and Kentucky in the midterms. We should not have to worry about the general election. But I do not take anything for granted. I have run in a purple district. They call it the big blue nation. Lexington, Kentucky. But it's a big blue nation. Not just because of our basketball team. It's blue. It is blue. Politically, Lexington, Kentucky is like a mini Austin, Texas or a mini Madison, Wisconsin. Obama. Obama, Clinton, Biden, Kamala Harris. And I've won that district seven straight times. Nancy Pelosi knows me. She's thrown. Thrown millions of dollars at me to defeat me. And we beat her every time. And so if you want a winner, if you want to take Kentucky off the map, so we can focus on Whatley and North Carolina, so we can focus on Mike Rogers in Michigan, so we can focus on flipping Ossoff in Georgia. If we focus on offense, take Kentucky off the map. Nominate the guy who can block the Democrats path. One of my opponents lost to a Democrat statewide. And how did you do it? How does Kentucky vote for a Democratic governor? I'll tell you how they did it. Andy Beshear. Governor Andy Beshear won by winning my district by 19 points. So they're not going to beat me in my district. I can block their path. Nominate the strongest general election candidate. And guess what? The Democrats own polling shows this booker, who is one of the leading Democratic candidates, he is the Mamdani of Kentucky. Let me tell you, he is the socialist. And guess what?

[Michael Duncan]

He's winning.

[Andy Barr]

He's winning. I know he's winning. He released a poll that shows him winning. He released it because he wants to show he's ahead of McGrath.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, part of it is you kicked McGrath's ass and then McConnell kicked McGrath's ass.

[Andy Barr]

That's right. You know, exactly, exactly. So I beat McGrath before, I'll beat her again if necessary. But Booker releases this poll. He releases it because it shows that he's ahead of McGrath, but it also shows, and this is why he also released it, that he's neck and neck with my opponents. And what he doesn't say is that the only Republican in the primary in Kentucky right now for US Senate who has a comfortable double digit lead is me.

[Josh Holmes]

Is that right?

[Andy Barr]

And that's a really important point. If you want to win and take Kentucky off the map, nominate the guy who can lock it down early and take Kentucky off the map.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it's interesting because I want to get into things. First of all, you have a great relationship with the Trump administration. I know you're going to an energy event. You may have gone to an energy.

[Andy Barr]

Event over there at the White House.

[Josh Holmes]

But you have frequent discourse with this White House about these Kentucky issues. Imagine that. That is a something you've grown comfortable with.

[Andy Barr]

Well, yeah. I mean, I was the first member of the federal delegation to endorse the President before the primary. He asked me to serve as his chairman of his campaign in 2024, largely because we worked so closely together.

[Josh Holmes]

Chairman of the Trump campaign.

[Andy Barr]

The Trump campaign in Kentucky in 2024. I believe Jamie Comer and I were the first two members of Congress to be invited on Air Force One in March of 2017. We flew back with him. And I remember very vividly, I mean, not only was I working to pass the first Trump tax cuts, I wrote major pieces of the legislation that rolled back part of the Dodd Frank law that President Trump signed into law. But when we voted on those two border security bills in the first term, when those two bills failed, I led the fight in court defending the President's legal authority to build the wall using defense appropriations and military construction appropriations, already existing appropriations.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

So it got it built.

[Andy Barr]

It got it built. And you know, the thing is, in that midterm election, that was a blue wave election. Amy McGrath, Nancy Pelosi spent millions to defeat me. A lot of Republicans in swing districts were running away from the President. I did not. I asked the President to come campaign for me in my district. And when I told the President I was thinking about running for U.S. senate, that was the first thing that he remembered.

[Michael Duncan]

He has a really good memory.

[Andy Barr]

He has a great Memory. And he remembered coming and doing a big rally for me. And I remember also telling the president back then, I said, listen, we don't want to go to Rupp arena, which is in Lexington. They don't like us there. I said, let's go to Eastern Kentucky University of Richmond. That's where they like us. So we had a big rally in Richmond, Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, home of the justice and Public Safety Law enforcement training program. And so very pro veteran university, very pro Trump, very MAGA place. And we ran up the score in that part of the, part of the.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

District, also gorgeous part of the country.

[Andy Barr]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

I mean anybody who's listening to this, who has never seen it with their own eyes, you are missing out. There is nothing more beautiful than eastern Kentucky.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

It's the truth. Yeah, it's true.

[Josh Holmes]

Although landing in that hazard airport, I have battle scores.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Well, the good news is you could drive there. They have roads. Yeah.

[Andy Barr]

Which I'll just say one other thing. You said I was at a coal event. There's a reason why the President invites me to the White House for these coal events. And by the way, this is the most pro coal president in the history of our country. And that's good. We need to put our coal miners back to work to become energy dominant again. And if we want to win the race for AI dominance against China, it's an energy race. We have to have baseload dispatchable power. We have prematurely retired 290 coal plants over the last 16 years as a result of Obama and Biden's war on coal, precisely at the time when AI data center energy demand is spiking. If you look at the AI stack, the base of that is reliable, affordable, baseload power. Kentucky is after 115 years of mining coal. Those heroic coal miners in eastern and western Kentucky, we are literally sitting on an ocean of coal still today. And we need to bring back online those coal fired power plants so we can power the technologies of the future and win the race.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Hell yeah, buddy. I mean you're speaking my language. I'm telling you. For anybody who's listening to this show who has never driven over by where a coal mine where the guys working their park. Okay. The guys who are still lucky enough to have jobs in these mines. These are well paying jobs. And how do you know that? That? Because every single F150 in the parking lot is platinum level.

[Andy Barr]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Every single one. Yeah, every single one is tricked out and you know that. It's a very well paying job. And what Obama did To that industry is a war crime.

[Andy Barr]

It is, yeah. It is unspeakable. And you know, those are jobs that are good paying jobs, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a great job.

[Andy Barr]

And by the way, all the lefties.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

They look down on, you know, like nothing pisses me off more.

[Andy Barr]

And on those trucks are black license plates. Friends of coal.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Yeah, exactly.

[Andy Barr]

And they are proud. These are proud people. And I'll never forget back during the Obama administration, I went and took a tour of a coal mine and they took me underground. And this, he was a foreman. He was in his 30s, pretty young guy. And he took me underground. Very proud of what he did. And he. And he showed me his work. He showed me what he did. Heroic work. Heroic work powering the American economy. And he didn't go to college, but he was a really expert at what he did and brave. And he showed me how he put roof bolts to put the mountain on top of his head to make sure it didn't fall on him and his crew and showed me the tons of, of energy he was pulling out of that mountain. And when we left and we came up to the surface of the mine, he said, you know, Andy, this was right when all of them were losing their jobs because of Obama.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. And he said, Obama said at the point, at that point, he was like, if you try to start a coal, I'll shut it down.

[Andy Barr]

I'll shut it down.

[Michael Duncan]

People forget how anti coal we are.

[Andy Barr]

We lost 15,000 jobs overnight. And this guy looked me in the eyes, he said, you know, Andy, I don't know much about politics and I don't care much about politics, but if you can save my job, I'm for you. And to this day, that gives me cold chills.

[Josh Holmes]

Think about it.

[Andy Barr]

Because we couldn't, we didn't save a lot of those jobs because Obama was relentless. But I am committed. If I win this Senate race, when I win this senate race, I'm going to bring those jobs back. I'm going to put those brave men and women back to work so we can save our country, power this country, and win the race for AI Listen, it's well said.

[Josh Holmes]

And spending a lot of time in Kentucky, I can imagine what people think about that. One uncomfortable component to this whole thing. Kentucky's a small political state. You know, I mean, like, it's a, it's a thing where you kind of know everyone. And we find it hilarious having worked there for so long, knowing you, I mean, Daniel, like you worked with Daniel, your opponent, everyone knows each other in a, in A very significant way. You interned for McConnell. Cameron ended up being his general counsel. What's his name? Ended up working for both Nate.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Nate Morris ended up working for both Elaine and McConnell. You have to find it fascinating at some level that anyone in Kentucky can make a point of trying to have a conversation about whether they had an interaction with McConnell, because the entire Republican Party was built in large part by Mitch McConnell.

[Andy Barr]

They all worked.

[Josh Holmes]

Nate worked for both of them. Daniel worked for McConnell. You worked for McConnell. Like everyone, all the state legislators, everybody. That's like up and down the ranks.

[Andy Barr]

Of the Republican Party. So this is the Republican Party of Kentucky. Headquarters is named the Mitch McConnell Building.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. So it's like a national discussion that people are having like, Oooh, this guy's McConnell. It's become a factor in your race. And I just wonder, it's gotta be as unsettling at some level to you in looking at how this national conversation has been about something about a guy who's retiring rather than the next six years. Yeah.

[Andy Barr]

He's not on the ballot. And the bottom line is, you know, I've always been asked. It's been an interesting thing because it's gotta be fascinating. The Kentucky Republican Party, let's face it, we have rand Paul, Senator McConnell, we got a very pro Trump electorate. So who are Kentucky Republicans? Well, there's a lot of variety there. Right? There's a lot of variety. There's a lot of flavors. You can pick your flavor. And I have been asked ever since I was a freshman congressman. So you're from Kentucky. Are you a Rand Paul Republican or a Mitch McConnell Republican? And my answer has always been. It's a simple answer. Neither. I'm an Andy Barr Republican.

[Michael Duncan]

It always struck me as such a reductive way of looking at it. It's like, you know what I mean? It's like that is, I think, the greatness and the strength of the Republican Party is that it's all of those things. And that if you're Senator McConnell, you look at what the Republican Party has become in Kentucky. What a blessing.

[Andy Barr]

Yeah. And if you want to know who I am, I'm an 8th generation Kentuckian, born and raised in central Kentucky, the grandson of two World War veterans. World War II veterans. My mother was a hospital chaplain. My dad was a serial entrepreneur. He's a business guy. Nobody in my family had ever been in politics before. But we all care. We all were very patriotic. We believe in our country. I was raised in the era of Ronald Reagan, which means I'm for limited government, free enterprise and a strong national defense. I'm deeply pro Israel and pro life and pro second amendment and I back the blue. That's who I am. If you want to know who I am, you can't put me in a box. And the good thing about me is like, you know, a lot of politicians like to talk. You don't have to like listen to what I say. I have a record. I'm proud of that record. Go look at my conservative record. I voted for spending cuts. I voted to force the government to live within its means. I've forced to take on the bureaucrats and dismantle the CFPB and fight for community banks because they're the makers of the American dream. I've been a fighter against ESG and dei. I defend the U S Israel alliance. I am unapologetic about that. I am against appeasing China because I think it's a generational threat. I want to reduce the debt.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Debt.

[Andy Barr]

I'm for innovation. I'm for AI dominance. I'm for energy dominance. I'm for the United States becoming the crypto capital of the world. You can take any issue and you can look at where I have a record of advocating for making America great again.

[Josh Holmes]

It's just, it's well said. So if anybody wants to help you out, where do they go?

[Andy Barr]

Bar4senate.com Bar for Senate wants to provide.

[Josh Holmes]

Either their hard earned dollars or their walking boots.

[Andy Barr]

You got it. You got it. And if you want to be part of that mission, preventing the left from transforming this country into something we don't recognize, restoring the American dream. That's what we mean when we say make America great again. Simply put, we who believe in this country, who are patriotic, who love this country, we win and the socialists lose.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, well said.

[Andy Barr]

That's it. And if you want to be on that team, we welcome your help.

[Josh Holmes]

Andy Barr, thank you so much for joining us.

[Andy Barr]

Thanks a lot. Thank you very much. Appreciate it, guys.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Okay. Very interesting interview. You know, you heard from Daniel Cameron, you heard just now from Andy Barr and we've reached out to Nate Morris. You've heard from other candidates in other states as our commitment to delivering every single candidate running in Republican primaries across the map app. And you will only get that here on the ruthless variety program.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, exactly Right. I mean, look, I've known Andy for a long time. Seems pretty tuned in.

[Michael Duncan]

He's fine tuned.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

You can always tell when somebody's done the hard work on the campaign trail and then comes in here for an interview. Yeah, like they hit all their marks. He had great stories and vignettes from people across the state. It was very impressive.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep, yep. I think he did a good job and that's going to be a hard fought one. But again, we're going to give you some more information and we're going to aggregate all of this stuff and give you an easy place to access all of it if you miss any one of these interviews. Because we think it's that important.

[Unidentified Co-host/Guest]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

Right. I mean, you don't get to complain if you don't vote and you are unlikely to vote if you don't know the significance and the difference between the candidates. So that's what we're seeking to provide here in the Ruthless Variety program. Remember our question of the day, Can AOC actually win the White House? When you like and subscribe, we read absolutely all of them. And we get back to the very next episode with that. Fellas, I think we did it.

[John Ashbrook]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much, Congressman Andy Barr, and thank you to the listeners. Remember, if you have not yet, go to the YouTube and hit that subscribe because it's more fun in video. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you Thursday. Stay ruthless.