Can Trump Save Hollywood?

Summary

Ruthless Podcast – "Can Trump Save Hollywood?"

Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook
Date: November 28, 2025

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Episode Overview

This lively episode digs into whether Donald Trump’s cultural influence could “save” Hollywood by shifting it away from woke content and back to crowd-pleasing, all-American fare. The fellas combine sharp conservative commentary with their characteristic banter, joking, and detours about Thanksgiving, movie explosions, foreign social media influence, and more. Special guest Brent Gardner from AFP joins to discuss Congress, government shutdowns, and end-of-year legislative priorities.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Thanksgiving Banter and Movie Nostalgia

• [01:36–03:40] The show opens with light ribbing about Thanksgiving, “the plight of a man in today’s society,” and the kind of jokes that go unnoticed by their wives.
• The group laments the current state of Hollywood movies, missing the "great dramas and comedies" of the 90s/2000s.
  • [04:26] Michael Duncan: “None of it is like, stupid woke bullshit. This is before Hollywood decided that they're the moral arbiters of the world...”

Classic Films vs. "Woke" Hollywood

• [05:04] Discussion of Eddie Murphy’s career and how his old comedies still hold up.
• [05:18–05:48] The hosts bemoan how “Hollywood started to twist and turn in the Obama years,” prioritizing non-English, unrelatable, or overly politicized content for awards.
  • Josh Holmes: “Every film that came out were things that you literally would never watch.”
• [06:01] The shift led to “moralizing” movies, exemplified by Robert De Niro’s anti-Trump speeches.

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Can Trump Influence Hollywood?

Trump’s Entertainment/Cultural Clout

• [06:01–07:47] The hosts argue that Trump, having shifted corporate culture on DEI, climate, etc., could theoretically impact Hollywood—if only the industry would listen:
  • Josh Holmes: “He’s the first guy who was famous for being famous... when is that going to affect the information you consume?”
• They note Hollywood's resistance to shifting away from current trends, but speculate on Trump’s ability to help re-center American entertainment.

The Action Movie Debate

• [07:47–09:01] Fun digression: Ashbrook is chided for only loving "explosions" and not “art.”
• [08:58+] Jokes about "French movies" and how most just want classic, fun, action-packed films.

Ben Smith's Semaphore Article

• [09:01–13:25] The crew analyzes Ben Smith’s article on Trump’s influence over popular culture, especially his desire to revive “over-the-top macho” movie franchises (e.g., "Rush Hour," "Bloodsport") and rewards action movies.
  • [12:19] Unnamed Host: “If Larry Ellison returns our country to the days of action movies... he will have done his job.”
  • [13:10] Dallas Sonier predicts movies with “mentally tough, traditional, courageous, confident heroes.”
• [14:12] Duncan: "We've been inundated with that stupidity... stories from the like, dawn of time... of heroes and deeds... we can bring that back."

Hollywood, Culture Wars, and Streaming

• [15:52–16:43] Ashbrook argues it's not even worth “saving” Hollywood: “These people don’t deserve to be fucking saved. Let’s not save them.”
• [16:45] Duncan: “Bad take.”
• [17:17] Holmes observes Trump’s love for 80s/90s action films, including "Bloodsport," and the idea of a reality version on the White House lawn gets bandied about [18:05–19:06].

The “Woke” Era & Racial Humor in Comedy

• [19:19–21:14] Discussion of whether jokes about race have a place anymore, with criticism of press overreacting to “gags about racial stereotypes” in films like “Rush Hour.”
  • Michael Duncan: “We used to be able to have jokes and good times with each other instead of now where... some wine drunk white lady kissing the foot of Jasmine Crockett. We think that's a healthier way for people to interact with each other.” [20:23]

American Movies Controlled by Foreigners & Outsourcing

• [22:59–24:39] Hosts highlight that much of Hollywood's culture shift stems from outsourcing production—movies are increasingly made in Europe to leverage tax incentives, with foreign cultural content requirements impacting the product.
  • Holmes: “You’re making movies that basically incentivize people to have a cultural disposition that show us in the least possible light.” [26:08]
• [26:50–27:39] If Trump were to create incentives to "repatriate" moviemaking and focus on American audiences, studios would be less beholden to things like Chinese censors (as on "Top Gun 2").
• [27:10] Duncan: “You don't want to have, like, China calling the shots on what's a hit and what's not.”

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Social Media, X (Twitter), and Foreign Influence

Transparency Features on X

• [28:43–31:10] Holmes introduces X’s new feature showing where accounts are based, exposing that many supposedly American, pro-patriot, or MAGA accounts are run from overseas (e.g., Turkey).
  • Duncan: “If it's saying that this guy registered the account while he's in Turkey and he's using the app store in Turkey ... your Turkey based account.” [31:32]

Foreign “Engagement Farming” on American Politics

• [33:18–36:23] Countries like Turkey and the UAE heavily influence “American” online discourse by operating fake accounts with a U.S. persona, bot followers, and algorithmic engagement farming—impacting both sides of U.S. politics.
  • Ashbrook: “The market for American politics is thousands of times larger than the number of Americans in America... you have people that live in Indonesia or Nigeria or India or Russia... who care more about American politics than their entire lives.” [35:25]

Impact on Media and Sentiment

• [39:43–42:45] The mainstream media often laps up this “sentiment,” basing stories on large, foreign-run accounts and distorting perceptions of what grassroots Americans think. This explains, they argue, narratives like “troubling signs” within the Republican Party.
  • Duncan: “Modern journalists think whatever X shows me when I scroll through my algorithm, that must be what's happening in the world.” [41:01]

Anti-Semitism, Gaza, and Online Influence

• [44:09–45:45] Hosts note the strange bipartisan spikes in online pro-Gaza, anti-Israel sentiment as a product of this global manipulation—not a genuine U.S. shift.
  • Holmes: “Just ask yourself whether or not any of those accounts may contribute to it... there’s an awful lot of nefarious actors in the online space that look at online trends and try to say, how do we surf that wave?” [44:10]

Calls for Transparency and Caution

• [47:35] Wrap-up: If someone’s broadcasting strong opinions about America from abroad, “their opinion doesn’t matter.”
  • John Ashbrook: “America first.” [47:44]

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Fixing Social Media: Algorithm vs. Chronology

• [48:01–49:45] Duncan proposes returning Twitter/X to a strictly chronological feed to eliminate algorithmic manipulation and “engagement farming”:
  • Duncan: “Make it all just chronologically based like it used to be.” [49:45]

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Unhinged Variety Segment

Namibia’s Adolf Hitler

• [52:28–56:45] The crew is amazed—a Namibian politician, actually named Adolf Hitler, is running for reelection. His father “probably didn’t understand what Adolf really stood for,” and the hosts incredulously riff on the challenges of winning with such a notorious name.
  • Josh Holmes: “If Adolf Hitler shows up on my ballot, I'm going to vote for the other guy.” [56:45]

Penis Protester in Alabama

• [57:28–60:13] Footage of an Alabama police encounter with a protester dressed as a giant penis leads the crew to jokes about public decency, generational decline, and consequences.

Rogue Ambulance at the Horse Track

• [60:13–63:28] They watch and comment on a viral video where an ambulance accidentally appears in a horse race, nearly causing a disaster—a lighter note on unexpected chaos in American life.

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Congressional/Government Shutdown: Policy with Brent Gardner (AFP)

Interview begins at [63:28]

Shutdown Recap & Legislative Priorities

• Gardner summarizes the post-shutdown scene: affordability is the top issue, health care and energy permitting reform are on deck, and the government will need to address continued funding soon.
  • “Affordability is definitely something that Americans care about, and that's no surprise to us after years of bad Biden economy and bad Biden-nomics.” [64:37]
  • Hints at solutions shifting control “closer to the patient” (HSAs, personal option in health care).

AI Regulation & U.S. Competitiveness

• [70:46] Discussion of the importance of not letting U.S. AI innovation fall behind due to overregulation or lack of national policy consistency.
  • “The only way we lose this tech race vis a vis China... is like we beat ourselves...” [71:54]

Takeaway: Congress has limited time but some momentum for key reforms heading into year-end.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Hollywood started to twist and turn in the Obama years, not only just to start creating a whole bunch of shit which nobody would ever watch...”
  — Josh Holmes [05:18]
• “None of it is like, stupid woke bullshit. This is before Hollywood decided that they're the moral arbiters of the world...”
  — Michael Duncan [04:27]
• “These people don’t deserve to be fucking saved. Let’s not save them... They're failing on purpose because they're bad people. Why is it that Donald Trump has to save these people from themselves? Fuck that.”
  — John Ashbrook [16:09]
• “The market for American politics is thousands of times larger than the number of Americans in America...”
  — John Ashbrook [35:25]
• “Modern journalists think whatever X shows me when I scroll through my algorithm, that must be what's happening in the world...”
  — Michael Duncan [41:01]
• “If Adolf Hitler shows up on my ballot, I’m going to vote for the other guy.”
  — Josh Holmes [56:45]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Time | Segment/Topic | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:36 | Thanksgiving banter, setup | | 03:40 | "Movies aren’t what they used to be" discussion | | 04:26 | Praise for 90s/2000s movies, anti-woke critique | | 05:18 | Hollywood “twists” in the Obama years | | 06:01 | Trump’s cultural/clout and potential influence on Hollywood | | 07:47 | Digression: art vs. explosions in movies | | 09:01 | Analysis of Ben Smith’s article ("Trump Tries to Shape Pop Culture") | | 13:10 | Predictions: Return of the “classically male” action movie | | 15:52 | Ashbrook: “let Hollywood fail” rant | | 22:13 | “Top Gun 2” as a non-woke box office hit | | 24:39 | How outsourcing and tax policy shapes Hollywood output | | 28:43 | X/Twitter’s new “country of origin” feature | | 33:18 | Foreign “engagement farming” and the real size of US political debate | | 39:43 | How media sentiment is distorted by foreign-run social media accounts | | 48:01 | Proposed fix: switch Twitter to chronological, not algorithmic, timeline | | 52:28 | Namibia’s Adolf Hitler—wildest political name of the year | | 57:28 | Alabama’s penis protester (body cam scene) | | 60:13 | Rogue ambulance at a Louisiana horse race | | 63:28 | Policy interview: Brent Gardner on shutdown, healthcare, AI | | 73:20 | Wrap-up and sign-off |

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Summary and Takeaways

This Ruthless episode is a whirlwind of humor and hard takes linking politics and pop culture. The hosts paint a nostalgic picture of American entertainment’s past (“give us explosions and comedies, not moralizing garbage”) and wonder aloud if Trump’s brand of brash, crowd-pleasing culture can find its way back to the mainstream—while also noting he can do more via policy and “repatriating” the film industry than by demanding studios make "pro-Trump" movies.

The second act transitions into digital influence operations: the hosts warn listeners about social media sentiment being manipulated by foreign actors and bots, highlighting how “American” online discourse is often anything but. Proposals to fix social media include breaking the algorithmic grip and increasing transparency.

Rounding out the show are viral oddities (a politician named Adolf Hitler, costumed protests, weaponized ambulances at tracks), all delivered with the signature Ruthless tongue-in-cheek and a final deep dive into the state of Congress with expert Brent Gardner.

If you missed the episode, rest assured: you’ll get the hosts’ blend of nostalgia, sharp cultural criticism, war stories from the social media trenches, and a heavy dose of conservative irreverence.

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

Like Trump can just sit on high and be like, make these movies and make them popular. Like, of course that's not the way it works. But Trump does have a pretty good grip on the American public or he wouldn't have been elected president twice.

[Michael Duncan]

Robert De Niro goes from being the guy in casino to the guy who every award show is gonna get up there and bitch about Trump, right? And it's like, wow, that's a shame. Like this is what's left of Hollywood, essentially.

[John Ashbrook]

My point is that my friend here, John Ashbrook, just doesn't respect art. He watches stuff for explosions.

[Michael Duncan]

There's nothing wrong.

[John Ashbrook]

There is nothing not for story. And I mean it bothers me. I'm glad we're should finally have this discussion.

[Josh Holmes]

Nothing but laughs and Sharon Stone scenes.

[John Ashbrook]

From here on out.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Well, maybe, maybe the next generation's Sharon Stone.

[Josh Holmes]

Why was the government shut down? Because big insurance greed knows no limits. The same insurance companies pocketing billions in profits were demanding billions more in taxpayer funded subsidies again, putting millions of families at risk. Shutting down our government now, unless they get their billions, the big insurance companies are threatening to raise your premiums even more. Putting greed and profit before patients. It's time to hold them accountable.

[John Ashbrook]

Paid for by Americans for Open Government.

[Michael Duncan]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. Keep the faith, hold the line and own the lids.

[Unnamed Male Host]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Fun Time Friday. We trust you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as I know we did here at the Ruthless Variety Program, I am Josh Holmes along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook. Left to right across your radio dial as always, fellas. Everybody good? We survived?

[Unnamed Male Host]

Oh yeah, we're good right here.

[Josh Holmes]

Everybody's great.

[Michael Duncan]

Can't wait for this. This episode is truly gonna be a fun time for us.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm thankful for this episode and for all of your friendship.

[Unnamed Male Host]

I am too. And when you eat as much as we did yesterday, you're full of opportunity and full of ideas for a wonderful episode.

[Josh Holmes]

Let me just say on behalf of the fellas, the gift of misogyny in the Thursday recommendations smash was not unnoticed.

[Unnamed Male Host]

You know, just a handful of jokes you can't like.

[Michael Duncan]

Eh, some jokes.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Listen to me, listen to me. If you have to basically do every single dish in your, you should at least be able to laugh about.

[Brent Gardner]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no, I think that's fair.

[Unnamed Male Host]

I mean, that's the plight of a man in today's society.

[Josh Holmes]

And there is absolutely no danger that any of our wives actually listen to this episode whatsoever.

[John Ashbrook]

Zero.

[Josh Holmes]

None. They won't know anything I just love.

[John Ashbrook]

The idea that, you know, John Ashbrook's like the Andrew Tate of Thanksgiving. Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, it's so good.

[John Ashbrook]

I am a high value man.

[Michael Duncan]

That's right.

[Unnamed Male Host]

You gotta live out what you want here. Because the reality is when you're home, you're washing all the dishes.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Just the way it is.

[Unnamed Male Host]

You gotta have a couple of laughs.

[Josh Holmes]

It's good.

[John Ashbrook]

I like.

[Brent Gardner]

That's good.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Laughs is what gets you through the day.

[Josh Holmes]

It does. It really does. So we've got a lot to cover in this particular episode. I don't know that you all have noticed, but it has occurred to us on this particular. It's Black Friday with family. You know, if you're shopping, you're shopping. Most people are like, we order stuff online these days, but, like, there's a lot of family time and people burn it with movies. And they aren't what they used to be.

[John Ashbrook]

No.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Not at all.

[Michael Duncan]

Nope. They're just not 100% not.

[Josh Holmes]

You know what I mean? Occasionally you'll get something like, what was the lightning thing that we watched on Netflix?

[John Ashbrook]

Death by Lightning.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, great, great, fantastic. Death by Lightning. If you haven't watched it, it's about James Garfield. Great stuff.

[Michael Duncan]

I have a quick aside that's actually gonna lead us right into the segment, which is for the longest time, there's a genre of film that I've been really enjoying. When I get to catch it. Sometimes if it's like, you know, you're flipping the channels, it's like TBS or someone's gonna air one of the old hits. Like, you know how they. They air Goodfellas almost on loop from time to time. Or. Or this great genre. Yeah, this great genre films I love, that's like 90s and early 2000s, which was just like the greatest movies where it's just people having a good time, a good laugh. You had some good dramas come out of that time period.

[Brent Gardner]

Yep.

[Unnamed Male Host]

And.

[Michael Duncan]

And none of it is like, stupid woke bullshit. This is before Hollywood decided that they're the moral arbiters of the world and they have to moralize to people. Those were such great movies. And I was like, you can't find them on Netflix. Netflix is basically all just like, original content that they're shoving down there. And now every studio's got their own streaming service. And it's like, if you ever wanted to just watch movies from that time period, you know, I'm talking about, like, Forrest Gump and stuff like that. You know what I mean? Like, how movies used to be just.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, I Defy anybody to turn on, like, an Eddie Murphy comedy of the 8 and 90s and not see how it holds up. Like, it's still very, very funny, but it's still good.

[John Ashbrook]

By the way, Netflix has a new documentary up about Eddie Murphy.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's good.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Interesting.

[Josh Holmes]

I watch that, too.

[Brent Gardner]

I gotta check.

[Josh Holmes]

It is very good.

[John Ashbrook]

Very, very good.

[Unnamed Male Host]

But Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Great. Giving classic. Yeah, it's so good.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, it's so good.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Make movies like that.

[Josh Holmes]

But you saw Hollywood start to twist and turn in the Obama years where it began, not only just to start creating a whole bunch of shit which nobody would ever watch, but the accolades, the awards, the recognition for every film that came out were things that you literally would never watch.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

You know what I mean?

[Josh Holmes]

First of all, it's not in English. Second of all, it doesn't hold any American value whatsoever.

[Michael Duncan]

And then, like, Robert De Niro goes from being the guy in Casino to the guy who every award show is gonna get up there and bitch about Trump. And it's like, wow, that's a shame. This is what's left of Hollywood, essentially.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally right? So we couldn't help but notice Donald Trump did a whole bunch. I think, look, there's a bunch of anxiety here In Congress, in D.C. over the holidays and everything about, like, what are we doing here? We don't have a legislative agenda, which, by the way, is totally fine. You guys did what you needed to do with the big beauty. But what happened at the beginning of the Trump administration in terms of shifting culture away from dei, away from the climate regime, a bunch of cultural issues, like reset the dial in terms of how corporate America is dealing with their business. And it just, like, has occurred to us over the last eight months as we're watching all that, like, why isn't the entertainment industry a part of this discussion? Trump, if anything, is a part of the entertainment discussion. Like, he's lived his life this way. He's the first guy who was famous for being famous. He was the guy on my transistor radio as I was growing up, talking about all the things that he was working on. There was no relevance to Minneapolis, Minnesota, but he was on there talking about stuff, and he was famous for being a rich guy doing important stuff. He gets this at, like, its core. And so, like, it's always been an open question, like, when is his influence that he has just absolutely smashed upon corporate America, turned back the dial on things like dudes in women's locker rooms, DEI climate, whatever, going to affect the information that you consume. Like, when is that going to. When is that going to happen? Because Hollywood putting up a real resistance about that.

[Unnamed Male Host]

You'd like a regular movie here and there at least. You know, Denzel. I watched a movie. You guys. You guys always make fun of me for my movie selections.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, because you like explosions and you don't like culture art.

[Michael Duncan]

You watch.

[John Ashbrook]

He watches terrible shit, dude.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Okay, well, let me tell you. Can I tell you the latest terrible shit? I watched big explosions called Unstoppable. It's Deniso Washington. He's a train operator. Okay. He saved the day.

[John Ashbrook]

I. I will watch everything. Denzel Washington.

[Unnamed Male Host]

He's backtracking now.

[Josh Holmes]

No, he's right about.

[Michael Duncan]

He's backpacking faster than Deion Sanders over here.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Nope, I'm sorry, he's not.

[John Ashbrook]

Man on Fire Flight. I will watch anything with Denzel Washington.

[Josh Holmes]

My only point, American Gangster.

[John Ashbrook]

My point. American Gangster.

[Brent Gardner]

Great movie.

[John Ashbrook]

My point is that my friend here, John Ashbrook, just doesn't respect art. He. He watches stuff for explosions.

[Michael Duncan]

There's nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with that.

[John Ashbrook]

Not for story. And it bothers me. I mean, it bothers me. I'm glad we're finally. Finally have this discussion, but we're doing it live.

[Michael Duncan]

We're doing it for.

[Josh Holmes]

So it turns out Trump does care.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Thankfully, so we don't have to be stuck with Michael's French movies.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep, yep.

[Michael Duncan]

No, he's not wrong.

[Josh Holmes]

He's not wrong about that. Anyway, so there's an article in Semaphore by Ben Smith. Do you have any comments?

[Michael Duncan]

Who's a crook but a friend? You can't just say that about somebody but a friend.

[John Ashbrook]

You can't say Amy's a friend.

[Michael Duncan]

I find him.

[Brent Gardner]

Him.

[Michael Duncan]

Crookley. Ben Smith. Okay, the funny part about it, he comes up to me and I like, he knows somebody. He was like, how you been? I'm fine. Why are you talking to me? Ben Smith? Ashbrook's over there. Go talk to your buddy.

[Josh Holmes]

The best part about Ben is he's done absolutely nothing wrong.

[John Ashbrook]

Nothing wrong.

[Michael Duncan]

Yes, he has. In terms of smug. I can't. I can't stand the guy. He hops to garbage mill to garbage mill and puts out garbage attacking conservatives. But like at Ashbrook, he's still buddies with the guy.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Well, this is a good story.

[Michael Duncan]

It's a great story.

[Josh Holmes]

Puts this article out how Trump is trying to remake American culture, starting with his favorite Buddy Cop franchise.

[Brent Gardner]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so let me just read you a little bit and then we'll get A flavor and a jumping off point for you. President Donald Trump has strong views about news and media and an interest in asserting them. He's long claimed credit for ending the careers of journalists and comedians. CNN staff now worry that if the company has sold to Paramount, his friend Larry Ellison may fire two of the network's most prominent women, Erin Burnett and Brianna Keillor. Somewhat less attention, however, has been paid to the ways in which Trump wants to reshape popular culture outside of news and late night comedy. The one time wannabe Broadway producer brought his particular style of late 20th century over the top macho taste to political events, elevating professional wrestling to the Republican National Convention, finally, and inviting the 1980s icons Sylvester Stallone and Mike Tyson to the White house.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Thank you, Mr. President. Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Entertainment studios have thrown the Trumps the occasional bone. Amazon paid $40 million for Brett Ratner's documentary about Melania Trump, a presumably soft focused project on the life of the fairly private first lady. But beyond his on again, off again relationship with the Murdochs, Trump's preferences have largely been ignored by the entertainment industry titans who made him a household name. He has been forced to deliver his cultural preferences through online rants about celebrities.

[Michael Duncan]

Programming, which are great rants, by the way.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Some of the best stuff.

[Josh Holmes]

Some of the best stuff. And so. But now they say Larry Ellison, one of Trump's most prominent financial supporters, owns a second tier studio. Second tier studio.

[Michael Duncan]

Dude, this is Ben Smith at it again, dude. Wait, you guys are like my friend Ben Smith. He's such a good writer, he's calling Paramount a second tier.

[Josh Holmes]

Get out of here. He says the second tier studio. Paramount isn't lame, man. On Paramount.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, yeah, dude, all of it is.

[Josh Holmes]

Isn't that like the number one show as we speak?

[Michael Duncan]

Think of every movie you've seen that opens with those stars flying around the mountain. That's AKA Paramount.

[Josh Holmes]

Why would you ever refer to it as a second tier?

[Michael Duncan]

Because you're a little crook.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Because like Ben Smith, because you're a troublemaker. Larry Ellison isn't finished with it yet. He's about to make it first here.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it's on the cusp of.

[Michael Duncan]

Dude, he's running cover for Ben Smith, the journo this year.

[Unnamed Male Host]

I'm telling you, I'm telling you that if Larry Ellison returns our country to the days of action movies and Denzel Washington, you know, every season with like an action movie, I think he, I think he will have done his job. I think we will have done his job. It's just a big Pounder.

[Josh Holmes]

He's a pounder. He's on the cusp of taking control of the great Warner legacy.

[Michael Duncan]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

Because there's gonna be a merger.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, there's. There's currently bids have been put in for Warner, like a number suit. Netflix has put in a bid. Yeah, Paramount's put in a bid. I can't remember who else put in a bid. A few companies have put in bids and they're all being. Right now.

[Josh Holmes]

So the film producer, Dallas Sonier predicts a wave of classically male driven movies with mentally tough, traditional, courageous, confident heroes.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Maybe even a tad cocky, but dedicated to honor and duty. Plus, of course, a few explosions, gun battles, helicopters, fist fights. This is. I feel like he's there. We're living in an era where smash.

[Michael Duncan]

And so here's the thing is, that is terrific news if this is the case, because this is like he is.

[John Ashbrook]

The river and there is the canyon.

[Michael Duncan]

So we've had fairly disparate.

[Unnamed Male Host]

You wanna get me back to the theater?

[Michael Duncan]

I wanna bring up.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Take Michael's movies off the screen and put mine on.

[Josh Holmes]

He's just pounding the canyon right now.

[Michael Duncan]

Michael, I wanna bring up a couple different things. So one of them is, what's the children's show? It's Peppa Pig. That Duncan would be like. It's horrible because they always.

[Josh Holmes]

Hello, Peppa.

[Michael Duncan]

They act like, dad Pig's an idiot. Right.

[John Ashbrook]

He's literally a nuclear physicist.

[Michael Duncan]

So here's the thing is you've got that. And then we've had for the past, like 20 years every male depicted on screen as, like a bumbling idiot. And then a woman comes and saves the day. It's like, despite my, like, stupid husband or this stupid guy, the boss girl is able to save the day every movie has had.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm the smart, articulate, feminine.

[Michael Duncan]

Exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

Who's going to save you from your misdoings.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the thing is we've been inundated with that stupidity. Meanwhile, you've had, like, stories from the, like, dawn of time. Like the oldest poems told of heroes and deeds. Like, like the Odyssey, you know, all these stories of courage and honor and these lessons to be learned by people. We can bring that back.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, okay, okay. So first of all. First of all.

[Unnamed Male Host]

When'S the American flag gonna drop behind smug after that wonderful speech.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, so Christopher Nolan is making the Odyssey. It's gonna be awesome.

[Michael Duncan]

I mixed on it. I'm scared it's gonna be woke.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, so here's my. Here's my complaint in all of this. It isn't the explosions that my friend John Ashbrook, he likes an explosion with a bad attention.

[Michael Duncan]

There's nothing wrong with that.

[John Ashbrook]

Needs for him to be excited about watching cinema.

[Michael Duncan]

Dude, how are you attacking him for such a great taste?

[John Ashbrook]

He has no taste. He has terrible taste in films.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Boo, hiss.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, whatever. My point is that you don't like John Wayne.

[Unnamed Male Host]

He doesn't like cowboy movies.

[Michael Duncan]

A24 is a movie studio for people who want to feel like they're smart. They make movies for those people so they don't have to have an opinion. You just say, I saw an A24 movie.

[John Ashbrook]

He's saying that because I like A24.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, who could have guessed?

[Josh Holmes]

He's saying, who could have guessed?

[Michael Duncan]

Because all the signs are there. Because I like all the signs. Well, you see, I'm above watching a movie that blows up.

[Josh Holmes]

It's his roundabout way of calling you dumb.

[Michael Duncan]

I'm not. Can I give you.

[John Ashbrook]

Let me go ahead and counter.

[Unnamed Male Host]

And the action movies are smart.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, right.

[Michael Duncan]

Let me.

[John Ashbrook]

Let me countervail this whole thing for you right now.

[Josh Holmes]

All right.

[John Ashbrook]

I think Donald Trump caring about what happens in California and. And Hollywood is kind of a rhino thing. Honestly, that's a wild take. I think it's kind of a rhino.

[Michael Duncan]

No culture matters. No, no, seriously, I want to hear.

[Josh Holmes]

This because I've got. I have.

[John Ashbrook]

These people don't deserve to be fucking saved. Let's not save them. And also, when he did that press conference with mom, Donnie, at the same time, I thought that to myself, like, what are we doing? And I get it, dude. Like, Donald Trump loves New York. He's from there and all of that sort of stuff. Do this press conference with Mamdani. We're going to fucking care about Hollywood and how they succeed. I don't give a shit if Hollywood succeeds. I don't give a shit if Mamdani succeeds. I hope these people fucking fail. They're failing on purpose because they're bad people. And why is it that Donald Trump has to save these people from themselves? Fuck that.

[Josh Holmes]

No, I do.

[John Ashbrook]

Honestly, that is my opinion of the whole thing.

[Michael Duncan]

Bad take.

[John Ashbrook]

Whatever.

[Michael Duncan]

Bad take.

[Unnamed Male Host]

I would watch movie. Listen. I'd watch a movie about Michael Duncan.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it would be an action movie.

[Michael Duncan]

No, dude, it'd be a 24. Maybe like 17.

[John Ashbrook]

There's.

[Michael Duncan]

There's a blue horse. And what it stands for is, is he stressed out? Are we all brilliant? Well, this is better than a dude with a machine gun mowing down terrorists. Dude, I think.

[Unnamed Male Host]

I think Duncan would be taking out the terrorists. A movie about Duncan is Duncan's saving America.

[Josh Holmes]

Let me just say that I had no idea this was going to just devolve into attacking each other about all of our preferences. But I will say, like, look, it's worth noting what Trump's references are, because I know he likes the action and the comedies of the 80s and 90s. He's passionate. For instance, this is according to Ben Smith, which. I'm sorry, this is where our jumping off point is. He's passionate, for instance, about 1988 Jean Claude Van Damme sports flick Bloodsport.

[Michael Duncan]

And also how's that referred to as like a sports flick? That's like a martial arts movie. But, like, that's the thing. Like, look at Duncan, because that's iconic.

[John Ashbrook]

That's iconic.

[Michael Duncan]

The number of times I watched Bloodsport with my dad and you saw the scene where he's dipping the, like, hand. The hands in the glue and then the broken glass. It is so on. Dude, I'd like to see.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Here's my modification suggestion for Bloodsport. I'd like to see it as a reality show where the greatest fighter from every continent shows up on the White House lawn to prove that they are the best.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude.

[John Ashbrook]

So we've talked about. Ashbrook and I have talked about this, this, and we want to do it like Street Fighter, right? So it's like, you've got us.

[Unnamed Male Host]

There's no weight class.

[John Ashbrook]

Blanca, you've got. Blanca, you've got Ryu, right?

[Unnamed Male Host]

You know, you got a. You got a sumo fighter from Asia, okay?

[John Ashbrook]

You got.

[Unnamed Male Host]

You got somebody from Africa, you got the big Russian. You've got somebody from South America who fights in their style. North American.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Male Host]

You have literally somebody for like the. The Canadian Mountie or whatever Canada has, Dude, this.

[Michael Duncan]

That would be top tier.

[John Ashbrook]

Wouldn't that be incredibly terrific?

[Unnamed Male Host]

No weight class. Yes. All fighting styles. The best fighter on the planet decided on the White House lawn, and you.

[Michael Duncan]

Gotta put him in the cage. In the cage. It should be just like two go in, one goes out, where it's just like they have, like, monitors on them for pulses. And it's like, only when one has kicked out.

[Josh Holmes]

Fine.

[John Ashbrook]

Jesus.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Regional tournaments where you follow their stories. You know, there are cameras all over the place. You can build these stories and have regional tournaments.

[Josh Holmes]

Regional tournaments. Hold on.

[John Ashbrook]

This episode is off the fucking rails.

[Josh Holmes]

Let me press pause on all that, because he's not done with his recommendations. Trump apparently has discussed with the Paramount owner an effort to revive another franchise from Ratner Rush Hour. A buddy cop movie starring Jackie Chan.

[John Ashbrook]

Great film.

[Josh Holmes]

And Chris Tucker that blended physical comedy with martial arts. Gags about racial stereotypes. Trump convincing Ellison.

[Michael Duncan]

Do you see that's another Ben Smith thing. Do you said and gags about racial stereotypes. Do you see how Ben Smith tried to make, like, jokes into something that's evil? Like, I'm so this dude always does this racial humor.

[Brent Gardner]

He says.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, he said, we used to be.

[Michael Duncan]

Allowed to have a good time.

[Josh Holmes]

Broad racial humor might have been unwelcome a few years ago, if not much earlier. May well be one of the capstones of cultural influence as president this time around.

[John Ashbrook]

Hold on, dude, that's the thing. Racial humor.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Everyone think that's a low blow.

[John Ashbrook]

Let's all just be honest. Everyone finds that kind of a little bit funny. Dude, everyone does racial jokes.

[Josh Holmes]

Enough about your own thing.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, right.

[Michael Duncan]

We do it all the time in this country. We used to be able to have jokes and good times with each other as opposed to now where the Democrats are like, no, we prefer summer race riots and then like some wine drunk white lady kissing the foot of Jasmine Crockett. We think that's a healthier way for people to interact with each other.

[John Ashbrook]

It's not about being racist. It's about, like, making fun of each other is fucking funny.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it's hilarious. It's funny. I mean, at some level, I mean, look, if we wouldn't get these scripts flown into us from smug on a flying carpet, I don't know what we would do.

[John Ashbrook]

Exactly.

[Michael Duncan]

Here's what needs to be pointed out is again, you're seeing Ben Smith again, making this into a woke thing. Like, the message has been sent out to all these journals that the American people like, there's a reason Republicans swept the country. There's a reason that Trump won so convincingly. It's because Americans were sick of the woke era. Woke is dead.

[Josh Holmes]

Right?

[Michael Duncan]

And this guy still doesn't get the message. How many publications does he have to run through, squeeze the equity out of and bounce when it fucking crashes and burns?

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, hold on.

[Josh Holmes]

Maybe as many times as Ashbrook gets drunk and starts trying to fight somebody and has another baby as an Irishman.

[John Ashbrook]

That's right. Yeah.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Because that's what the Irish do.

[Michael Duncan]

That's what we do.

[Josh Holmes]

That's what we do.

[Michael Duncan]

Patio fl. You know what?

[John Ashbrook]

See, it's funny.

[Unnamed Male Host]

You're all under arrest.

[Josh Holmes]

But look, I do think there's a bigger component to this, which Trump. It's not listed in Ben's article because he's talking about the Cultural impact. Right? Like, he can just. Like Trump can just sit on high and be like, make these movies and make them popular. Like, of course that's not the way it works. But Trump does have a pretty good grip on the American public, or he wouldn't have been elected president twice.

[Unnamed Male Host]

You know what? The perfect example of what he is describing imperfectly is Top Gun 2.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, Top Gun 2 is a perfect example where everybody showed up because it's been a long time. Like, we had to suffer through all these Italian, like, subtitle things that won awards, and all of a sudden you throw fighter pilots back up and they're killing stuff and having.

[Michael Duncan]

And that was an Ellison movie, and it was a huge hit. It's because the American people actually enjoy good movies that are made to entertain people.

[Josh Holmes]

But I think there's a couple of things happening here, one of which is actually controllable by Donald Trump, and some of which is him just reading the tea leaves on what the American public want. I think he's not wrong about Trump about what the American people want.

[John Ashbrook]

He's not wrong at all.

[Josh Holmes]

No, I don't think he's wrong about that. But what he can actually control is worth a debate, because at some level, whether you know it or not, many reasons why it is that the American entertainment industry has not reflected what it is that you care about as an American is because they've outsourced it, gone overseas, they've given away the ability to not only make movies in the United States, but have an employment industry that is supported domestically.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, dude, they outsourced it in the same way.

[Josh Holmes]

In the same way.

[Michael Duncan]

That's a good issue, dude. It is, dude. That is what he should be, dude. That's a total winner for him.

[John Ashbrook]

And this is the thing. I'm definitely on board with all of this.

[Michael Duncan]

Damn, that's a good point.

[John Ashbrook]

This is my complaint on Trump with the Hollywood stuff is that he's like, hey, man, make better movies. The reality is it's like, you gotta fix the industry that has outsourced this entire thing to Eastern Europe.

[Josh Holmes]

There you go.

[John Ashbrook]

I remember there's those guys, you know, Rob Lowe and. Gosh, who's the other guy from Parks and Rec? Whatever. Yeah, I don't know his name.

[Michael Duncan]

Anyway, they did a dude as all the superhero movies. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't remember, but they. They.

[John Ashbrook]

They did a podcast episode and they're like, we couldn't make Parks and Rec in the United States anymore, right?

[Unnamed Male Host]

Oh, you're kidding.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no, they're like, we'd have to go overseas to do it.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, like, you couldn't actually find a lot at a studio in California to make. To make this.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Right?

[John Ashbrook]

To make a. To make a show that is literally like just like stage sets, you know, like, we couldn't do that in the United States. We would be doing that in Europe.

[Unnamed Male Host]

And that's a nondescript government. It's not exactly like when it comes.

[Josh Holmes]

Can I explain this in like 30 seconds or less? What's happened? California is obvious, right? Regulatory, tax structure. All of these things that have happened that have basically shut down the lots in California and made it financially ill equipped to try to deal with the creative industry. There's a bunch of states in the interim, when California was doing all this that provided some tax incentives, like Georgia. Yeah, Georgia, Texas, I think Montana, Missouri is definitely one of them. They try to do some things to try to create. And they did. You know, what's his name, the guy that's. He made Yellowstone? Taylor Sheridan. Sheridan, right. He's a part of that discussion and that he's filmed a lot of these things following what it is that they've got there. But if you look overseas, what they've done is basically create a tax incentive structure that makes you. That helps you write off the cost of a film if you're just showcasing their deal. But they do have a couple of things that they require, one of which is you gotta be culturally relevant to the people that you're dealing with with. Right. And the people that you're dealing with overseas that are providing these tax incentives certainly aren't Americans. They certainly don't have our best interests at heart. You're making movies that basically incentivize people to have a cultural disposition that show us in the least possible light.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, wow.

[Josh Holmes]

Right. And that is what's happened. And so this is where I'm saying that, like, Trump actually does have a hand on the ball here, if he chooses to use it. It's not about like calling Paramount and saying, hey, make this movie because it'll be popular. If you were to re. Incentivize the American film industry to reconstitute itself in the United States, and I'm not talking about Hollywood, California's a lost cause. But if you were to provide a tax incentive structure that is at least competitive with the international world on that, and then you were to have cultural tests, components about like, you know, what is it that American people stand for and believe in?

[Michael Duncan]

And then also, if you reinvigorate the American film industry to make it relevant for Americans again. What you also nip in the bud is, like, studios making films that are, like, especially sensitive to the Chinese audience or, like, the Chinese government, because it's like, well, they're the biggest international bosses.

[John Ashbrook]

Me off.

[Michael Duncan]

You know what I mean?

[John Ashbrook]

Like, if you could somehow. If you could somehow reinvigorate the American film industry and remove it entirely from California, I'm on board.

[Michael Duncan]

Like, I love that. Like, there was totally, like, Tom Cruise was saying there was pressure on them because in Top Gun, Top Gun two, he was wearing a patch that had, like, the flag of Taiwan. And the Chinese tried telling him, take that out of the movie. And they were like, fuck you. We're not gonna take it out of the movie.

[Unnamed Male Host]

No.

[Michael Duncan]

So, like, that you're 100% right. Like, re. Acclimate the movies towards an American audience because you don't want to have, like, China calling the shots on what's a hit and what's not.

[Josh Holmes]

Nothing but laughs and Sharon Stone scenes from here on out.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Well, maybe. Maybe the next generation's Sharon Stone.

[Josh Holmes]

Listen, I want to get to a next story, but I want to take a break first. The next story is one that we all appreciate in that X has put on top of itself a new transparency about the influencers that have these massive followings. And it includes where they're registered and where they're coming from. Hint, they're not American, right after this. America is built on hard work and powered by American energy.

[Michael Duncan]

Chevron has spent $44 billion with local.

[Josh Holmes]

Businesses across all 50 states since 2022, fueling infrastructure and communities, all while strengthening local economies. Last year, Chevron increased U.S. production nearly.

[Unnamed Male Host]

20%, powering communities and businesses from the.

[Josh Holmes]

Heartlands to the coast.

[Brent Gardner]

We're helping to fuel America's energy advantage.

[Josh Holmes]

Building a brighter future right here at home. Visit chevron.comamera to discover more. Okay, so listen, X, there's been a lot of criticism about some of the accounts and where they come from because they are playing a increased role in public policy and media coverage or whatever. So people asked for some transparency. Like, where are these things coming from? You get these accounts. Like, for example, we've all had accounts for like, 15 years or whatever. And, you know, people who follow us, they follow us, and that's great and we appreciate it, but, like, we've been in it, and then you see somebody pop up like a couple years ago and have, like a million followers and you're like, oh, like.

[Unnamed Male Host]

And it's like, Jim Thompson, maga. And the takes it's like, you could kind of see how English is the first language, but you could kind of see how, well, wait a minute. This is not a. This is not a normal thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Also, just like a very, a very sort of ruptured version of the American English language that it most gratuitously could be described as spectrum.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

And most accurately described as not American.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

And I think what Elon and the crew did over at X is like, all right, let's provide some transparency. Let's find out where these people are. So Fox News did a piece, a new feature on Elon Musk's X exposing the truth behind social media accounts across the political spectrum, with account owners apparently misleading followers about where they're posting from. A new feature allows X users to inspect where a given account is based, usually listing a country or region. Many popular accounts posing as American, quote unquote, patriots or constitutionalists have been exposed as being run from foreign countries since the day they were enrolled. Oh, well, that seems problematic. One account with a handle 1776 General boasts over 140,000 followers.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Yeah, that's exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

And a user biography describing the owner as a constitutionalist, patriot and ethically American.

[Unnamed Male Host]

What does that even mean?

[Josh Holmes]

The biography. The account is based in us, but the X's new feature reveals it's actually based in Turkey.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Of course.

[Josh Holmes]

Right.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Something we all ate yesterday.

[Josh Holmes]

I work in international business. I'm currently working on a Turkey contract. The owner of the account posted after the new feature was released. So they're all playing defense on this and I don't know some of them.

[Michael Duncan]

And so that's a straight apply because like it's. The features are where they registered, which country they're in, when they registered the account, and then which country's app store they're using to engage with the app and to use X. And so if it's saying that this guy registered the account while he's in Turkey and he's using the app store in Turkey to receive all the updates and everything. Like, like your Turkey based account. And so people have been on X since like Twitter and for a while.

[Josh Holmes]

Turkey based, Turkey based loves it.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Right?

[Michael Duncan]

So, so folks who have been on Twitter for a while may Remember in like 2015, 2016. So Turkey has like a super sophisticated digital influence operation that the government supports. I didn't realize in like 2015, 2016, they were hacking tons of huge accounts and like it was the fun, it was kind of funny. And they were like using the account to post videos that were like extremely like pro Turkey and based that were like, we did nothing wrong slaughtering Greeks and like videos about like glory of the Turk, the Turkmen and are like numerous victories in war. It was like hilarious, right, that like, they're using all their like hacking acumen to. To post videos on Twitter of like glorious Turkish army, right? Like, there's no such thing as genocide. It was, it was wildly funny. But the thing is that they never stopped, right? Instead of being like, well, we're gonna just hack accounts and put it out there. They're like, we're gonna build up influence operations that are like accounts that we act like are like MAGA or based in the US or whatever. And then we'll get them a lot of bot followers and we'll try to push it out there and we'll try to get in the political conversation and influence things in America. And a number of countries have gotten involved in this.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, so it becomes more problematic, right? The Turkey thing is one. I mean, it's an ally at some level, but they obviously don't really are. They're NATO some at some level, but it doesn't have like American.

[Michael Duncan]

What a day.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, fuck NATO. Oh, gee, I'm sorry, I don't, I don't.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, you know why? Please.

[John Ashbrook]

What is that wrong? Am I wrong? Am I wrong? We let in Turkey, I don't know. And now I have to defend Turkey.

[Josh Holmes]

I was not prepared to do a NATO exposition.

[Michael Duncan]

I think Article 4 means you have to defend them.

[Josh Holmes]

Them I want. Personally, I want to stay on your personal.

[Michael Duncan]

Guns must be used.

[Josh Holmes]

We can do a NATO segment at some point.

[John Ashbrook]

I just, I think they're belligerence a lot of times, honestly.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, I don't think he's had it with Turkey.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't totally disagree.

[Michael Duncan]

After Thanksgiving, the man's head. Enough.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no, he hates him. He hates him.

[Michael Duncan]

Am I wrong?

[Josh Holmes]

I'm sorry, it's just.

[John Ashbrook]

Am I wrong?

[Michael Duncan]

It just really catches you.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm not wrong.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm just an asshole. I get it, I get it.

[Unnamed Male Host]

No, no, it should be Constantinople.

[John Ashbrook]

It should be.

[Josh Holmes]

Where this has become particularly problematic is in. And this is just X based. We have already monitored and talked about how this is TikTok based in many ways, but when it comes to X, there is a number of accounts that claim to be, as we've read these Constitutional Republic, America, stars and stripes and fuck you for dealing with us that claim to be very pro Gaza, very pro Palestinian. And as we know, whole effort from October 7th after the Hamas attack on Israel all the Way through to current day, there has been an enormous amount of public relations try to reset the dial in terms of who's culpable for what.

[John Ashbrook]

So, so. So the market for American politics is thousands of times larger than the number of Americans in America. It reminds me of that moment in the Big Short. Remember the Big Short, when Mark Baum is at that conference in Vegas or whatever, and he's sitting with that guy who's a derivatives trader and he's like, how big is the market for the synthetic CDOs? More than the number of Americans that have mortgages. And he's like, 50 fucking times.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And it's like, that is the market for American politics. It's like you have people that live in Indonesia or Nigeria or India or Russia or wherever who care more about American politics than their entire lives. And so if you actually go on to X, you have Americans, but then you've got like a thousand times of people out there pretending to be American.

[Josh Holmes]

Exactly, exactly. And so that's what the derivative of this entire decision to post where it is that you are from has become. And what is unveiled.

[John Ashbrook]

It's hilarious.

[Josh Holmes]

Is unbelievable.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm having fun.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

You.

[Josh Holmes]

I think you've had more fun than anybody, Duncan.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, it's fun. I found a guy talking about how he's a doctor in Gaza and he actually lives in Egypt.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, which is funny.

[Josh Holmes]

Can't get the Gaza from there.

[Michael Duncan]

Can I say one? You mentioned Indonesia. One of the wildest revelations to me is the guy like, Ian Miles Chong.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

People who are on X Men is like, if Elon has a tweet, this guy's gonna reply to it. Yeah, right. And it'll be like trying to agree with Elon because he's like, the more you agree with Elon, the more the algorithm will like me is, I guess, the theory, bro.

[John Ashbrook]

When Elon tweets, he's like Vin Rhames in a gimp suit.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, my God.

[John Ashbrook]

For Elon.

[Josh Holmes]

God.

[John Ashbrook]

And like. And, like, here's the thing, dude. Yo, do your thing. Whatever. I think it's disgusting and you're a weirdo. Honestly. But whatever, enjoy it.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Yeah, but.

[Michael Duncan]

But I think the biggest.

[John Ashbrook]

Not American. Not American.

[Michael Duncan]

So the thing is that, like, everyone used to always dunk on him and be like, you're in Indonesia, dude. Like, why do you care about American politics so much? And then after this comes out, it turns out he's actually based in the United Arab Emirates.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, how did that happen?

[Josh Holmes]

Weird.

[Michael Duncan]

Which, like, it's not like you Find out that, like, oh, actually he's in New York City. Super cares about the. But it's like another layer to it. It's like, I don't even care about Indonesia, bro.

[John Ashbrook]

He's like, ladies and gentlemen, I'm very concerned about the government of Bibi Netanyahu.

[Josh Holmes]

So look.

[Unnamed Male Host]

It'S also kind of weird that he's not in America because, I mean, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is in America. So why didn't Ye and Miles Chong come to America? Like, why aren't these.

[Michael Duncan]

I think he gets better tax treatment from the Elon bucks for in the uae.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Because if all these terrible people are able to be here, why can't like your typical.

[Michael Duncan]

I think if you're like engagement farming for the Elon bucks, you try to find the most preferential tax treatment. Maybe Indonesia is going to tax them more than. Because I think the uae, they have, like, if you're an expat or whatever, you don't pay taxes in the uae. So he's got that going for him.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, look, can we go there?

[Michael Duncan]

Michael Duncan, based in uae would be the lit most funny outcome of this shit, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, the thing that you find out is that on social media, the great cause celeb was in 2016, where the Clinton campaign claimed that they lost because of this foreign social media influence that amounted to about $100,000 of Facebook ads. All of which was nonsense. But. But this wasn't an Elon thing, but what was happening on Twitter, which is increasingly in that era becoming the fulsome distribution of political news in America and where people were sucking in sentiment to see what it is that the quote unquote base of both parties was talking about. They were like, no, this is what the base is talking. They have a million followers and they are avowed progressives or avowed maga.

[Brent Gardner]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And these are the base of both parties. So we're not gonna like, quote these things, but we're getting nice sentiment to understand where the base of both parties are. And then the mainstream media would turn around and suck in that information and then report out. There's troubling signs in the Republican Party. Of course, it was never the Democratic Party. Right. Democratic Party was always about a Michigan problem or some other thing within the Republican Party. It was like troubling signs of anti Semitism, troubling problems of, you know, this, that and the other thing. And these accounts that were driving a lot of that discussion were entirely based out of foreign countries. And this is like the first moment that we've gotten it. And the reason that it's important, imperative for you to know is not because of, like, you're not a discerning person who now at this point, has the opportunity to click on something that you find interesting and find out where that person is from. You can do that. The problem is, for the last, like, seven or eight years, you've got a platform that is deriving a sentiment analysis of the mainstream media about where both parties are.

[Michael Duncan]

And a critical thing to do with that is part of the problem here is modern journalists think whatever X shows me when I scroll through my algorithm, that must be what's happening in the world. You know what I mean? Like, a lot of journalists have forgotten how to actually go out there and build sources and report on what's actually happening, because they don't want to do on the ground reporting. They want to stay in their Brooklyn apartment. They want to order their doordash. They want to scroll through X and be like, I'll write 500 words on this and call it a day. You know, like, that's what they think. Yeah. So they think that's their life. This is kind of hilarious, though. This part. This is the. Yeah. Fox News article where it says a similar account under the name Times of Gaza has nearly 1 million followers. It claims to provide, quote, the latest news updates and top stories from occupied Palestine. The accountant is based in East Asia, in the Pacific. You've got some dude in just like Hong Kong being like, another tough day, getting bombed about all sides. It's like, what the fuck? Yeah, this is what's happening.

[Josh Holmes]

Meanwhile, the guy's not beach villa. I mean, but this is real because it has very much. We've watched it with our own plain eyes, affected the sentiment analysis that the mainstream media uses to extrapolate out trends in both parties. And so you can also understand, and TikTok is a whole nother beast when it comes to what it is that they've been serving up the youth of America. But you can all of a sudden understand when they're like, well, there's a huge rise of anti Semitism. Okay. Yeah. A bunch of people who've declared war on the Jews since the beginning of time are operating accounts with millions of.

[John Ashbrook]

These America First Muslims in Indonesia are very much against the Jews.

[Michael Duncan]

You know what I mean?

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, honestly, that's what it is.

[Michael Duncan]

That's what it is.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Such a good. That's a good point. Because if you're wondering where it's coming from, all of a sudden everybody's talking about this. Everybody's so concerned about this. Look no further than the money that has spread internationally to influence American thinking.

[Josh Holmes]

And I'm not gonna pick a fight on this. But I will say there's also the dregs of the line of work that we're in, that look at social media traction, and they see what people are talking about and they try to speak into it to try to grow their audience, they say things and do things to try to play off of what it is that we're talking about with this foreign media, the amount of retweets.

[John Ashbrook]

We're just asking questions, just asking a.

[Josh Holmes]

Lot of questions, Right? And, you know, look, I'd be surprised if you weren't sitting at home at some point in the last couple of months, looking around, being like, what the fuck just happened? What are we talking about here? Like, all of a sudden you have a Democratic Party that is, it used to be entirely representative of Jewish people on the east coast, at least of this country that just abandoned them all together. And it's like, yes, gays for Gaza.

[Michael Duncan]

You know what I mean?

[Unnamed Male Host]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

And then you saw over the last month a whole bunch of conservatives who were like, yeah, well, maybe Gaza's not getting a fair shake. Maybe Israel's the problem. Just ask yourself whether or not any of those accounts may contribute to it, because I can tell you firsthand, there's an awful lot, and I'm not saying all, and I'm not pointing fingers, and these are legitimate questions for people to grapple with. But there's an awful lot of nefarious actors in the online space that look at online trends and try to say, how do we surf that wave?

[Unnamed Male Host]

Yeah. And what you're talking about is a real problem. These nefarious actors are corrosive to normal people. And this move by Twitter, by Elon, by X. I think is goes a long way to shine a light on who is pushing what so people can. People can learn for themselves. You know, I mean, social media is something that is. Has been around for at least a decade or more and will continue to be around and continue to grow. And so many people, you walk through the grocery store, people are pulling up groceries, but they're looking at their phones. Social media is not going away. It is only going to continue to be a huge part of everybody's lives. And the more transparency that you have about who is posting, what helps you understand who is your actually your neighbor thinking something that you may disagree with, and who is some rando in Bangladesh being Paid by some Muslim who hates America. Yeah. You know what I mean?

[Josh Holmes]

Fair enough.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Like, how about we try to come together as a country, even though we disagree with things rather than. And listen to the foreigners? Hell, yeah, the foreigners. The foreigners hate you.

[John Ashbrook]

Beware, foreign influence.

[Unnamed Male Host]

They want. Dude, they want what you have and they want to take it from you and they want to tear it down.

[John Ashbrook]

I know, man. I feel like fucking Bill the Butcher.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes, dude, I will eat the Five Points.

[Unnamed Male Host]

But here's the thing. It's not Bill the Butcher, because the Five Points was a society where everybody killed each other in the streets. We grew up in a society where we played baseball on weekends. Our parents grew up in a society where they played baseball on the weekends because their parents earned that for them. The greatest generation. And because of that, we do not live in a build a butcher type society. We do not want to import that either digitally or physically. And America.

[John Ashbrook]

American hero, John Ashbrook.

[Josh Holmes]

Let's.

[Michael Duncan]

That's true.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Dude, you are. It's right.

[John Ashbrook]

You're right, you're right.

[Unnamed Male Host]

It has nothing to do with the way people look. It has to do with people who think that what we have together as a country is worse than, like, okay, he loves pounding. I'm pounding on the table.

[Michael Duncan]

He's pounding on the table.

[Josh Holmes]

He's a pounder.

[Michael Duncan]

He's a pounder.

[Unnamed Male Host]

It's important to keep this place together.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. You gotta pound sometimes. You do gotta pound sometimes. I'll just say this. If you've seen something over the last six months that you're like, what the fuck is that? Like, I've never heard anybody say that. Well, have a look, right?

[John Ashbrook]

See something, say something.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Take a click.

[Josh Holmes]

Have. Just have a look and wonder whether or not your favorite host has decided to surf the wave. Mm. That's all I'm saying.

[Unnamed Male Host]

And I will put a fine. I will put a finer point on it. If they are offering their opinion from a foreign country, their opinion doesn't matter. Yeah, finer point.

[John Ashbrook]

America first.

[Unnamed Male Host]

America first.

[Josh Holmes]

Remember our question of the day? Our question of the day is what feature would make social media even better?

[Unnamed Male Host]

Yep. Right.

[Josh Holmes]

So our question is like, look, I.

[Michael Duncan]

Think this is a great first step.

[Josh Holmes]

This is a first step. What would make it better? Like, do you have to. If you're some left wing dude living in, you know, la, masquerading as a MAGA conservative, trying to push every MAGA discussion into the absurd, and you build a following out of doing that. Like, is there a. Is that a problem? I don't know. I'm a Pretty like clear cut free speech guy. So I'm conflicted.

[Michael Duncan]

So I have a simple solution. This is just my idea.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, I'd love to hear yours.

[Michael Duncan]

And I bet Elon wouldn't do this because it would probably drive down engagement numbers and average time spent on app. But it's a simple and very elegant solution. It's get rid of the algorithm, make it all chronological like when Twitter used to be. And it was an absolute meritocracy. Accounts that had something funny to say, something witty to say, they get retweeted and everyone would see it and you never had to deal with worrying about, well, people can try to. This tweet is engagement farming and it's been farmed. Yeah, it's perfected to do one thing which is engagement farm. And like when the algorithm was like, oh well, videos will easily rise to the top, you saw all these people posting just like AI slop videos and then it just became inundated with that. So it's like instead of trying to figure out an algorithm to keep people glued to it as much as possible, especially now that X has been purchased by XAI and is essentially just like a training data set for AI, so you aren't really motivated to try to glue people to it as much as possible. Make it all just chronologically based like it used to be.

[Josh Holmes]

I love it. My favorite era of Twitter. Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

You've already stopped all the shadow bands and you've brought back all the conservatives who are unfairly banned from Twitter. That was what needed to be done. If you go back to just timeline based on chronology instead of algorithm, it'd be incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it would be. No question about it. All right, so listen, speaking of good ideas.

[Brent Gardner]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

It's Thanksgiving weekend, we've celebrated the holiday, but as we all know, we're at the end of it and we're just gonna let it fly. You need to have some zbiotics.

[Michael Duncan]

That's right.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Great point.

[Josh Holmes]

You need to have some zebiotics. I gotta tell you about a game changing product we all use before we go out and have a good time. It's a pre alcohol drinks buck.

[Michael Duncan]

That's right. So this is, it's right here. This is Zbiotics. And what it is is a lot of people think that when you have a drink that you get dehydrated and that's why here it is right there on the screen for you, that you get dehydrated and that's what makes you feel awful the day after. Well, it's not that because you can be pounding your Gatorade and doing whatever, and you still might feel awful. The real reason is when you have alcohol, you know, your stomach breaks it down. There's these toxic byproducts. That's what's making you feel awful. And Zebiotics knocks it right out. But you have it right before you start drinking. That's the secret.

[John Ashbrook]

And I was skeptical, honestly, when we started doing this. And then we all learned how valuable it was. And I'm sure there were many minions out there who for the first time took it and they thought to themselves, oh, this, this isn't going to work. And then it did.

[Michael Duncan]

Then they wake up the following day, they're like, wow, it actually did.

[John Ashbrook]

And, and, and recently I had to point point out a tweet we got from Brandon, who was at the Grove.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[John Ashbrook]

And he said, I survived the Grove. So spreading the quote. Or at Zebiotics gospel at the boulevard with SMU with college friends and fellow minions en route to a pony victory, all thanks to the Ruthless fellas.

[Michael Duncan]

Yes. And that's the thing is, like, everyone. So I like bringing it when we're on the road, when we do shows because I like getting the credit from people who've been on the following day. Like, wow, it worked. Thank you for it. So that's why I like always having it with me.

[Brent Gardner]

Totally.

[Josh Holmes]

So if you go to zbiotics.com ruthless you can learn more and get 15% off your first order. When you use Ruthless at the checkout, Zebiotics is back with 100% money back guarantee. So if you're unsatisfied for any reason, reason at all, they'll refund your money, no questions asked. Let me just tell you, you're not going to want a refund. It's Fantastic. Go to ZBiotics.com Ruthless and use Ruthless at the checkout for 15% off. Fellas, how about a little variety?

[Michael Duncan]

Yes, this is some unhinged variety.

[John Ashbrook]

Unhinged.

[Josh Holmes]

Can we get the graphic first? Okay, here's this cat.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, right.

[Josh Holmes]

What do you think of that guy's cat?

[Michael Duncan]

What his name is not what you'd expect. I know his name.

[Josh Holmes]

He's a Nambian politician.

[Michael Duncan]

Namibian. Namibian.

[Josh Holmes]

Namibian. Okay.

[Unnamed Male Host]

I don't know what's.

[John Ashbrook]

You don't have to know.

[Josh Holmes]

It's Nambia.

[Michael Duncan]

Not American.

[Josh Holmes]

Nambia? No, it's just certainly not from here. It's from Africa or something. He's a politician there. This cat's name is Adolf Hitler, you know.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Wait, you're kidding.

[John Ashbrook]

His Name's Adolf.

[Josh Holmes]

No. So politician.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Wait, the middle name Hitler.

[John Ashbrook]

No.

[Michael Duncan]

First name Adolf. Middle name Hitler, last name. You know, the politician is.

[Josh Holmes]

According to the Daily Mail, a politician named after Adolf Hitler is running for a reelection. He's already won once with that name in Nambia.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, that's something. So this guy must have a hell of a platform to first overcome that name.

[John Ashbrook]

Dude, I don't think it's that. I.

[Michael Duncan]

Think letter id.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, no, I think it was a German colony at some point.

[Unnamed Male Host]

It says here in the article, Namibia is a former German colony in southern Africa, which is still home to a small German speaking community. Wow.

[Michael Duncan]

Blaming it on the German names.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. So I think his dad called him Adolf.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Yep.

[John Ashbrook]

And he says. He says that he doesn't think his dad knew.

[Brent Gardner]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

It says here. This is from a Daily Mail article. It says, quote, my father named me after this man. He probably didn't understand what Adolf really stood for.

[Brent Gardner]

Really?

[Michael Duncan]

As a child, I saw it as a totally normal name. Come on. Only as I grew up did I understand that this man wanted to conquer the whole world.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, that's.

[Michael Duncan]

It's a tough name, because the man wanted to conquer the world.

[Josh Holmes]

It's not just that. It's not. He's like, oh, he wanted to conquer the whole world. And, And.

[Michael Duncan]

And what about the other stuff? Dude, if I'm Kanye, I'm like, I want to correct my song. It was not about the German guy. It was actually about a Namibian guy. It was a Namibian GEOTV song. He said.

[Josh Holmes]

He said that he usually goes by adolescent.

[John Ashbrook]

Come on.

[Josh Holmes]

But that it would be too late to change his name officially on the ballot. So he's just gonna go with Hitler. The fact. The fact is, I have a name that does not mean I want to conquer Oceania. He said, referring to the region that he won in the 2020 election. It doesn't mean that I'm striving for world domination. Does it mean that you want to kill every Jew on the planet, though?

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, he didn't address that. Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay. He didn't address that.

[John Ashbrook]

I don't want to defend a guy named Adolf. Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, but you're going to.

[Michael Duncan]

Not just Adolf. My name is straight up Adolf Hitler, you know, now. No, he's just like, this poor guy's.

[John Ashbrook]

Like, running for a local office.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, but he's.

[John Ashbrook]

He's leaving a little something out of the description. I know.

[Michael Duncan]

No, no, no, no. Here's the thing is. Here's the thing is, I think. I think there's something to be said about this fact, it says Adolf Hitler. Yanna won 1196 votes in the 2020 election, compared to 213 for his opponent. This guy is killing it. Like, he's absolutely crushing it. You cannot take that away from him.

[John Ashbrook]

Are you saying that Hitler's crushing it?

[Michael Duncan]

Is that you're about to say into a podcast right now? No, I'm not saying that. I was not gonna say that. I was gonna read this exact line. And I was like, listen, the guy is already having to deal with that name. That's a tough name to have to run on. He must have had the wildest platform.

[Josh Holmes]

Super charismatic.

[Michael Duncan]

Is this the first. Yeah, super charismatic. Dude. Is this the first election he's run on? Because, like, he's.

[Josh Holmes]

No, he's a reelection.

[John Ashbrook]

He won in 2020, so he's delivering.

[Michael Duncan]

Results for the people.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Yeah. Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

I find that horrifying.

[John Ashbrook]

That's horrifying.

[Josh Holmes]

Also, it's completely hilarious how the name Adolf evaporated from the face of the planet.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Except for this situation where the guy's like, no, Adolf Hitler, you know, and that's my name. Vote for me. I.

[Unnamed Male Host]

When I was.

[Josh Holmes]

Agenda unclear.

[Michael Duncan]

Also, that's like a wild last name. Like, could he integrate that into the campaign? Be like, you've known a Hitler before and he did great things for you my previous term. It was very beneficial as a city council.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my God.

[Michael Duncan]

So you gotta re elect this dude.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

You're digging deeper. And they did this guy wondered six to one. I mean, like, that's a w. Let.

[Josh Holmes]

Me just say for the record that I don't know what the name of his opponent is, but I will say affirmatively that if Adolf Hitler shows up on my ballot, I'm going to vote the other guy.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, that's the thing, is, like, his opponent must have had, like, a really terrible platform.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

How do you not beat Hitler? How do you not beat Hitler?

[Josh Holmes]

He's like Pol Pot, scrimony.

[Michael Duncan]

It was just an all Axis election, dude. You had Adolf Hitler in Italian, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

Joseph Stalin, spaghetti.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, I mean, I don't know.

[John Ashbrook]

How do you lose?

[Josh Holmes]

Boy, oh, boy, it's not looking good. Wherever they're from, that's a tough deal. Namibia, I guess. Tough, tough bunch of stuff.

[Brent Gardner]

All right.

[Josh Holmes]

There's a penis protester in Alabama.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Oh, boy.

[Josh Holmes]

Did you guys see this? So one of the things and I loyal listener who flagged this for us. You can get away with a lot, awful lot around this country in south Alabama. You better keep it in between the 40s. So there's a full body cam footage of a cop that rolls up on a 61 year old woman dressed as a giant penis in south Alabama. They weren't having it. Let's check out this clip. Serious heart attack. I'm not gonna sit here and argue with you. If my kids had to come by and see this.

[John Ashbrook]

That's a giant kid.

[Unnamed Male Host]

How would you explain.

[Josh Holmes]

Explain it to them.

[Michael Duncan]

Are you recording?

[Josh Holmes]

I am recording.

[Unnamed Male Host]

I'm recording right here. I am telling you right now, if.

[Josh Holmes]

My kids had to come by and see this, I would like to hear.

[Michael Duncan]

How you would explain to my children what you're supposed to be, what a pine is.

[Unnamed Male Host]

I.

[John Ashbrook]

No, I want.

[Michael Duncan]

Let me get another unit over there.

[John Ashbrook]

A pine.

[Michael Duncan]

They're taking the penis. Put the penis away. I need you to get back, okay?

[John Ashbrook]

I need you to get back. Lock that dick up.

[Michael Duncan]

Scoot back in.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Scoot back in.

[Michael Duncan]

Scoot back in.

[Josh Holmes]

I am trying.

[Michael Duncan]

He's gonna help you. Officer is gonna help you.

[Josh Holmes]

Trying to jam that big dick in.

[Michael Duncan]

How is that real?

[Josh Holmes]

2Bookoo.

[Unnamed Male Host]

What is wrong with that generation, dude?

[Michael Duncan]

Let me just say, it should not be put on that generation, all right?

[Unnamed Male Host]

Oh, you don't think so?

[Michael Duncan]

The boomers died. The boomers are the greatest generation.

[John Ashbrook]

Not these boomers.

[Michael Duncan]

But that's the problem is it's these bad apples. And you're trying to blame it all on these bad apples. But we're on the right. We're on the right trail right here. You need to lock them up. That's the thing. And you heard her start crying and it's like, wow, Consequences. Consequences are the only thing that's gonna change behavior. So you get these looney tunes out here at these no Kings protests, and you lock them up and you put them in jail and you keep them in jail. And then you start making the country great again. It's not that difficult.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, a giant penis is watching that thing, by the way, not taking it out of the suit.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, right.

[John Ashbrook]

Just before they go in the back.

[Josh Holmes]

Seat, just throwing the penis in there.

[John Ashbrook]

You know what? I support that.

[Josh Holmes]

I do, too.

[John Ashbrook]

Make it as horrible as possible.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. You keep him in the thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, Yeah. I love it.

[Unnamed Male Host]

You think that's what they did for the mug shot?

[Josh Holmes]

Just took a picture in the penis.

[Unnamed Male Host]

That in the side.

[Michael Duncan]

Amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

Acting like a huge dick. No question about that. Okay, so next there's a rogue ambulance. It takes out a horse race.

[John Ashbrook]

I can't believe that.

[Josh Holmes]

It's very close to the hearts here at the Ruthless Variety program. Can't wait to take a look at that right after this. Why was the government shut down? Because big insurance greed knows no limits. The same insurance companies pocketing billions in profits were demanding billions more in taxpayer funded subsidies, again, putting millions of families at risk. Shutting down our government now, unless they get their billions, the big insurance companies are threatening to raise your premiums even more. Putting greed and profit before patients. It's time to hold them accountable.

[John Ashbrook]

Paid for by Americans for Open Government.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so an ambulance. As you guys know, they have ambulances on the track when you have a horse race, just in case something horrible happens to a horse. They like the transport jockey or jockey. They transport them. It's a health concern. Well, this one didn't go exactly the way that they wanted it to. Clip Free, please. So horses are off and they're running. Looks like they've got.

[John Ashbrook]

Looks normal.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, there's a. Oh, no.

[Michael Duncan]

No way, dude. Oh, no.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Whoa, whoa. What?

[Josh Holmes]

Can we see that one more time?

[Unnamed Male Host]

Time.

[John Ashbrook]

Let's watch that again.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so they're off and they're running, and here they are. And then all of a sudden.

[Brent Gardner]

Ambulance.

[John Ashbrook]

Ambulance.

[Michael Duncan]

On the inside track.

[Josh Holmes]

On the track. On the track.

[John Ashbrook]

Usually it's in the infield.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[John Ashbrook]

You know, prepared in case, you know, a horse breaks their leg or whatever.

[Josh Holmes]

That almost broke that thing. Almost broke every leg in the race.

[Michael Duncan]

That could have caused a lot of problems. It was on the inside track too, like. Oh, this is a great angle.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, here it is. Yeah, this is the alternative angle. Which right down the straight.

[Michael Duncan]

Insane.

[Josh Holmes]

They're hugging the rail, they're trying to get ahead, and then all of a.

[Michael Duncan]

Sudden, no way he saw it.

[John Ashbrook]

No way.

[Michael Duncan]

So first off, that's incredible work by the jockey dodging it, but it sucks for him. Did they, like. Let's read it. Did they cancel that? Because there's no way that's legit anymore.

[Unnamed Male Host]

They have to.

[Michael Duncan]

The dude was like, in second and then he gave up inside trash and fell to the back so his horse wouldn't get hit by the truck.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm not sure that they ran. I'm not sure that they reran it.

[Michael Duncan]

I'm outraged. This is unbelievable. This is taking place. It says Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, Louisiana.

[John Ashbrook]

We have to shut down this track till we can figure out what's going on.

[Michael Duncan]

Can we get Senator Cassidy? Yeah, can we get him to talk? Because this is unbelievable. If they didn't cancel the results of.

[Josh Holmes]

That race, needs to answer for it.

[Michael Duncan]

This is unbelievable.

[Josh Holmes]

No question about it.

[Michael Duncan]

That's crazy. I mean, that horse could have been cooked, like, right there on the track.

[Josh Holmes]

Could have been cooked. Could have been cooked.

[Michael Duncan]

That's insane.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Right?

[Michael Duncan]

That's insane. Video.

[Unnamed Male Host]

We're always looking out for the welfare of animals on this podcast.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. You know, that alternative angle was insane, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

Everybody says that in slow mo.

[Michael Duncan]

Like, he'd have been dead, too. Forget the horse.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

That's why you get a life.

[Michael Duncan]

It's a bit much.

[Josh Holmes]

So you can see that kind of thing.

[Brent Gardner]

Terrible.

[John Ashbrook]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

You're not going to see it anywhere else. Right. Right here on the Ruthless Friday program. Listen, Brett Gardner is a guy that we asked to come give the lay of the land on where everything sits politically on the Hill and everywhere else right now.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, when we get to the end of the year and so much undone on the congressional calendar, it's important to see where the priorities are. And I can think of nobody better to come in here and explain to us what's going to happen between now and the end of the year than our good buddy from afp, Brent Gardner. How are. How are you?

[Brent Gardner]

I'm great, guys. How are you doing?

[John Ashbrook]

Good.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Pretty good, pal.

[Brent Gardner]

Good.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Yeah. It's great to see you again. Of course, the government has reopened and sort of in the way that you laid out.

[Brent Gardner]

Miracles abound. Right. It turns out if you get it done, then, you know, we find ourselves in this spot where there's some time left on the clock, even though Democrats were able to run five weeks off of the Republican clock on this. You know, there's. We're back at it, back in action.

[Michael Duncan]

We got work to do.

[Unnamed Male Host]

But it's a sprint to the finish here between now just ahead of Thanksgiving and then to the end of the year. And I'm wondering if you could just sort of lay out for everybody what to expect in these coming weeks.

[Brent Gardner]

Yeah. So look, I mean, we saw the message come out of the shutdown about the. In the elections as well. Affordability is definitely something that Americans care about, and that's no surprise to us who know after years of bad Biden economy and bad Biden nomics, that we'd be in this position where Americans were looking for some relief. And I think this administration has got a good focus and the right opportunities out there to solve the problem, not just today, but really in the long term. And so there's a couple of things left out there. I think Energy permitting has been a major issue. Permitting in general, permitting reform has been a major focus that this administration and Congress have talked about and there's a lot of good legislation out there. And I think the effort in general is just a good place to get started. We've talked about health care. Health care has been something the President's come out there and talked about a lot. And so there's some opportunities to look at some of those proposals because we didn't address in entirety the shutdown, we kicked the can down the road. So we're going to have some more opportunities to be able to deal with how the government's funded moving forward.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned energy permitting because energy is such a huge issue in our country. And of course, when Biden was in charge, when Democrats are in charge, they just really crimped down on America's ability to produce anything. And so now that we have Republicans in charge, we can open things up. And obviously America has a lot to offer in terms of natural resources. I wonder if you could just tell us a little bit about like how energy permitting might be opened up in the, in the next month or, you know, what sort of steps they might take on that.

[Brent Gardner]

Yeah, I mean, look, the process is going to have to start now. This is going to be a long term challenge that we have to be able to solve. But, but you look at things like nepa, which continuously slow things down from our perspective.

[Unnamed Male Host]

And that's the federal.

[Brent Gardner]

It is, it's the federal environmental policy that requires a lot of the type of long term stuff that we know we've got to have addressed. Sorry, guys.

[Michael Duncan]

That we've got to be able to.

[Brent Gardner]

Have addressed for us to be able to ensure that when we have a project in place that we can actually get it done. And so addressing those challenges is critically important. That's one step. The other thing is, you know, the attitudes during the past administration towards some of the resources that we have in this country just shut down the opportunity for us to even go out there and do it. And we've seen where foreign countries and adversaries in many instances have restricted our ability to be able to do, you know, to reclaim some of these things that are resources available here in this country. We have to be able to address that.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. So in the shutdown, the Democrats were trying to basically hold the government hostage on dealing with these Obamacare enhanced subsidies, subsidies that were passed during the COVID era. You know, there is talk of some sort of bipartisan agreement on an extension of those subsidies, maybe with reforms or something like that. I know also, you know, Senator Cassidy has been talking about maybe shifting some of Those resources to a HSA account that's controlled by people rather than sent to insurance companies. Where do you think ultimately this. This debate, you know, ends up?

[Brent Gardner]

Yeah, I'd love to hear great ideas come out of Congress.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, right.

[Brent Gardner]

I think. I think the HSA stuff is something that AFP and most Americans have supported for a really long time. The number One supporter of HSAs are suburban women and who've been such an important player in elections. Look, I think there's gonna have to be a solution like that. It's not just Senator Cassidy. I mean, certainly the president has been very specific about things. Just this week, he put out some social media talking about the fact that. That ultimately the opportunity to extend subsidies isn't something Congress should waste their time on. He's not interested in it. But there is an opportunity to give people directly those dollars so they can act as educated consumers, so that way they can focus those dollars not at big insurance companies, but at the healthcare that they need.

[John Ashbrook]

It's funny you say that though, dude, because when you said there's suburban women who this issue is important to. And I think about the way my home runs, my wife's in charge of all those things.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Yeah, right.

[Brent Gardner]

And like, my suburban wife would tell you the same thing. You know, she'd say that how critically important it is to ensure that we get healthcare right and help empower people who understand what they need.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, and she's the one going to the pharmacy, picking up the prescriptions when the kids have, you know, some infection and things like. So, like, they are very price conscious and would love to make more decisions for our family on how our healthcare is paid for. Right?

[Brent Gardner]

Yeah, absolutely. And look, I think the question of the personal nature of healthcare is so critically important. That's why we created the personal option. The idea that we're going to continue to drive health care policy that gets further and further away from patients and doctors and the people making those choices. That's always been a bad idea. It's been a bad idea since Obama and before that. And so solutions that try and move those dollars closer to the control of the patient and give them the opportunity to do it, that's not just good economic sense. It's really where people want it to be. It's good political sense. I do think that that's going to happen have to be part of the solution.

[Unnamed Male Host]

We talk about this a lot on our show and every time you come on. But one of the great strengths of AFP is the fact that you have thousands of people out knocking doors, not just when there's an election in a month, but every single day of the year. And I'm guessing that healthcare is a topic that they're hearing about.

[Brent Gardner]

Yeah, I think healthcare, affordability, all these topics that wind up national issues we hear about every day. Because the folks who are out there that are the energy of the grassroots having conversations in driveways, at doorsteps, and also with those of us that work at afp, is how critically important this is to solve, not because it's the opportunity to win on a political issue, but because this makes a difference for American families. And so I think, yeah, this is definitely going to be the kind of thing that energizes them going forward.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Yeah. And on the energy subject, obviously energy is critically important to people from an affordability standpoint. Energy prices seem to be going up because Democrats, when they were in charge for four years, crushed America's natural resources and limited everybody's ability to have sort of an all of the above approach to energy. And so it's crimping pricing not just for consumers, but for industry as well. And before you got on, we were talking about this push for an AI, this AI push that the President is talking about that's maybe like bubbling up in Congress. And there's an energy component to that as well.

[Brent Gardner]

Yeah, these things are all connected. You know, things certainly accelerated for the four years under Joe Biden. But Democrats for a long time have created distortions in the energy marketplace. That's created a significant challenge. It's dealing with international competitiveness. And when we look at the tie in around, you know, around AI, the focus right now on creating a federal preemption to ensure that we don't have 50 different laws governing AI. You know, it's intended, because AI is, as everyone believes, to be one of the next really big economic drivers, one of the big technological drivers that's going to impact national security. One of the challenges that we face, whether it's AI or if you are someone who cares about the electrification of the surface transportation fleet, or if you are President Trump who wants to see a re industrialization of America, the challenge is we've fallen behind our international competitors because we've tied both hands behind our back at this point. And so, you know, the opportunity to be able to have a moratorium on states doing that for a period of time so that we can get AI right, so that the US can be the national lead, the international leader around AI. It's so critically important that we don't smother an Industry that we should, by every right and reason lead.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, and Trump's whole point on this, and I think it is the right point, is like, the only way we lose this tech race vis a vis China or whatever is like we beat ourselves right like that. We somehow stop ourselves from winning this, this, this race. But there has been arguments on the issue of regulation of AI, you know, from, from conservatives, from Republicans in, in Congress, in, in the House and the Senate. You know, how is that ultimately abated? Do you think this is something that would actually happen this year?

[Brent Gardner]

Yeah, I think it could. I think the. The NDAA is probably the best vehicle for it. You know, we're hearing from folks in Congress that they want to see it. We're hearing from leadership in Congress that they're ready to move it. And AFP is going to be really active and engaged on this. We were engaged in it during the one big, beautiful bill. It was successful in the House even under the reconciliation rules, and got stripped out by the parliamentarian and the Senate. You know, the opportunity to move this forward is a big one. It's the kind of shot in the arm that American AI companies need to be able to continue to drive that kind of. Of leadership. So I do think there's an opportunity to do it. NDAA is likely to pass before the end of the year, and I think it's a great opportunity for us to get something done.

[John Ashbrook]

Amazing. Seems like there's a lot going on here towards the end of the year.

[Brent Gardner]

I think there is. I think it's important. You know, Republicans, you know, they have been consistent in their messaging during the shutdown. They've had an aggressive agenda. Taking five weeks off the clock is something that I think has left them wanting to do more. The opportunities here, and I think the American, American people are calling for it.

[Unnamed Male Host]

Awesome.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, Brent, thank you so much for coming in. Always an education. We learned so much. And thanks for everything that AFP is doing.

[Brent Gardner]

Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

[Michael Duncan]

Thank you.

[John Ashbrook]

That was great. And I like that he came in here to give us, like, a lay of the land of how things are going to transpire here over the next six weeks, ending the year. It's a time in which, coming back from the government shutdown, we're trying to figure out what's going to happen in Congress.

[Brent Gardner]

And so.

[John Ashbrook]

So having him come in is very helpful.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, he knows an awful lot. Nice to have a little something under the dome from time to time.

[John Ashbrook]

We like that.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. No spin here on the ruthless variety program. Listen, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know we did. And we're going to be back at it next week with a full lineup of incredible guests and commentary as we get to the end of the year, which I. I think it's got some fireworks.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Male Host]

So a lot of good stuff coming up.

[Josh Holmes]

Lot of good stuff. Good, bad and the ugly all coming at you at the Ruthless Variety Program. With that, fellas, I think we did it.

[Michael Duncan]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thanks so much to Brent Gardiner and thank you to the listeners. Remember, if you have not yet, go to the YouTube hit that subscribe because it's more fun in video. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line, and own the wig clips. We'll see you on Tuesday. Stay Ruthless.