Danger of Podcast Drama - Candace Owens Attacks TPUSA + Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Summary

---

Ruthless Podcast Episode Summary

Episode Title: Danger of Podcast Drama - Candace Owens Attacks TPUSA + Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders
Air Date: December 18, 2025
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook
Special Guest: Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders

---

Overview

In this episode, the Ruthless crew delivers their unfiltered, often hilarious take on conservative news, media, and emerging political soap operas. The show kicks off with a sharp critique of recent podcast drama within conservative circles, namely the fallout from Candace Owens’ public criticisms involving TPUSA and the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's assassination. The hosts argue for avoiding gossip and remaining grounded, before analyzing the left’s response to terrorism, the dangers of algorithm-driven media, and the challenge of confronting real policy issues. The episode features an in-depth, candid interview with Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Arkansas politics, national security, and the state of the GOP.

---

The Dangers of Influencer Drama & “Just Asking Questions”

Timestamps: 00:00-18:03

• Candace Owens/Charlie Kirk Drama:

  • The hosts express disdain for the ongoing conservative influencer drama, noting the click-driven soap opera emerging after Charlie Kirk's assassination.
  • Michael Duncan observes:

    "The reason why I didn’t really want to engage in it was it didn’t feel like our place...I wanted to give the people that did know him well...every opportunity to talk about it in their own accord." (04:24)

  • Josh Holmes adds:

    "The mere idea of taking advantage of that situation, either for clicks or for clout...is a part of our movement we have a real problem with." (05:59)

• Algorithm and Conspiracies:

  • The crew slams the incentives of media algorithms that drive people to invent or platform wild conspiracy theories, especially regarding Kirk's murder.
  • Michael Duncan warns:

    "There is quite obviously today some incentive structure around inventing madness... It has real human life consequences." (11:12)

• Respect for the Audience:

  • The hosts stress respect for their listeners, rejecting drama and “pretend” for substantive, real-world discussion.
  • Smug:

    “When you bring up things that you heard on our show...we don’t want to embarrass you. We don’t want them to be like, so you listen to some crazy shit.” (12:48)

• Fighting Fake Narratives:
  John Ashbrook:

  "Read the actual facts and come to their own conclusion...I would just encourage everybody to do that in every situation..." (13:11)

---

Main News Segment: Left’s Responses to Terrorism & Political Evasion

Timestamps: 20:16-35:45

• Recap of Terror & Security Failures:

  • Recent events: National Guard shooting in D.C., Brown University shooting suspect allegedly shouting “Allahu Akbar,” Paris canceling New Year’s Eve over Islamic terrorism fears.
  • Hosts mock progressive pivots to “gun control” rather than confronting the roots of radicalism or immigration failures.

• Democrat & Progressive “Hard Pivots”:

  • Clips of politicians dodging questions about Islamic terrorism, refocusing blame toward Trump or America itself.
  • Josh Holmes:

    "I’m blown away that there hasn’t been 100 Jonestowns. ... The first thing that we’re talking about is who people are listening to. Like, the Kool Aid is around the corner." (23:47)

• Political Cowardice:

  • Paris cancels its celebration but won’t reconsider open immigration; Ashbrook and Duncan argue Western leaders are too weak to protect their own citizens.
  • Michael Duncan:

    "They're engaged in the suicide of the West...the values that founded this country." (26:36)

• Failure to Address Islamic Extremism Globally:

  • The show mocks the “deer in the headlights” non-response of Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister regarding radical clerics.
  • Smug:

    "Bro, that's like you're running for student council in first grade. I'm gonna put the good laws to do the good things." (33:57)

---

Question of the Day: What Will Wake Up Liberals on Terrorism?

Timestamps: 36:58-38:52

• Josh Holmes poses:

  "What's it going to take? How do we get liberals on board with solving the problems of radical Islamic terrorism?" (36:58)

• Consensus: Either elect honest leaders or wait for another tragedy on par with 9/11.

---

Listeners’ Q&A: The Needs of the American Worker

Timestamps: 39:25-42:37

• Comments highlight economic frustration, instability, and overregulation as top issues:
  • Affordable Economy:

    "I'm a 25 year old male in trade, debt free. ...a house, some land, and a financially stable family just does not seem feasible." (40:20)

  • Stability:

    "The American worker needs to know that he can count on the trajectory of today being the same day tomorrow." (40:41)

  • Consistency and Fewer Regulations:

    "As a business owner in construction. ...consistency and fewer regulations." (42:04)

---

King of the Hill: Political Twitter Craziness

Timestamps: 43:45-55:38

• Weekly competition between outrageously cringe former Republicans/anti-Trumpers' social media posts:
  • This week: Steve Schmidt (the "old fat man") vs. Adam Kinzinger.
  • Kinzinger wins a round for an inexplicable Flat Earth meme, but Schmidt secures overall victory with bizarre, overwrought political analogies and YouTube grifts.
  • Josh Holmes:

    “Crown above my head. My many followers and appreciation.” (55:22)

---

Variety Break: Viral Clips

Timestamps: 55:42-56:44

• Ja Rule accidentally smokes a photographer with a golf drive at the Derek Jeter Invitational. Amid rowdy reactions:
  • Josh Holmes:

    “It was like he was intentionally trying to kill the dude straight off the heel of the driver...” (56:20)

---

Featured Interview: Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Timestamps: 56:46-78:04

• Arkansas’ Success & Migration:

  • Number one state for people moving in two years running. Focus on low taxes, education, public safety.
  • Sarah Sanders:

    “We focused on things that actually matter. Lowering taxes, investing in education, public safety. And people are taking notice.” (58:28)

• On the National Guard & DC Security:

  • Sanders visits about 100 Arkansas Guard troops deployed to DC, praises their morale.
  • Sanders:

    “Seeing Guard troops around the city, just the presence...gives people a greater sense of safety and security.” (60:13)

• Challenges Facing Arkansas Farmers:

  • Massive losses in state agriculture, need for stabilized trade, end of federal COVID-era “free” programs.
  • Sanders:

    “Arkansas alone, just in our row crops, will lose about 1 billion and a half dollars...and it's our number one industry.” (65:28)

• Insight on Washington:

  • Recalls mix of nostalgia and relief returning to the White House.
  • Sanders:

    “There are other parts that feel so vastly and wildly different...it was kind of surreal to walk around for a few minutes.” (63:33)

• Political Advice & Midterm Forecast:

  • Importance of Republicans owning the economic narrative; need for Trump to campaign hard.
  • Sanders:

    “...one of the most important pieces...for this cycle is the president going out and selling and telling his story. Nobody does it better.” (69:41)

• The Need for Moral Courage:

  • On terror attacks: calls for public affirmation of American values and faith, not cowering in fear.
  • Sanders:

    “This is a season where we are supposed to be celebrating our faith, not hiding it away. ... Evil wins out when good people don't stand up and fight back.” (73:50)

• Christmas Plans:

  • Spending the holiday in Israel with family—combining faith, history, and togetherness.

---

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Josh Holmes:

  “We’re allergic to pretend. ...This isn’t some Gossip Girl show. This is real life shit. We like to laugh and have fun.” (11:12, 12:30)

• Smug:

  “When you bring up things that you heard on our show...we don’t want to embarrass you.” (12:48)

• Sarah Huckabee Sanders (on good governance):

  “A country that is dependent on another country for food can certainly not be free, can certainly not be secure.” (66:18)

---

Key Takeaways

• Rejecting Conservative Podcast Drama:
  Ruthless purposefully avoids amplifying "commentary on commentary" and conspiracies, criticizing those who use tragedy as a content farm.
• Algorithmic Incentives Are Dangerous:
  The show highlights how content-for-clicks encourages fiction, noting this can radicalize and mislead audiences.
• Media and Political Distractions:
  Left-leaning politicians avoid real discussions about terrorism or root causes, focusing instead on gun control or pivoting to anti-Trump rhetoric.
• Sound Conservative Governance:
  Governor Sanders champions basic priorities (taxes, education, public safety)—an adult-in-the-room approach contrasted to the current chaos.
• The American Worker Needs Stability:
  Repeated listener comments stress the need for economic predictability and less red tape, a theme echoed across the spectrum.
• Call for Moral Leadership:
  Both the hosts and Sanders argue that only honesty and courage—rather than pandering or political cowardice—will secure the country and the movement.

---

“Evil wins out over good when good people don’t stand up and fight back.”
— Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (73:50)

---

For more real talk and lighter moments, tune in Fridays for Funtime episodes, and always—keep the faith, hold the line, and own the libs!

---

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

The Candace Owens, Erica Kirk, to a certain extent, Tucker's involved. We were sitting on a show with Megyn Kelly yesterday where this was a big topic.

[Michael Duncan]

Don't confuse people, just asking questions for people who are fighting for you, you know, because those are not always the same thing.

[John Ashbrook]

Read the charging documents, read the evidence in black and white. Understand the chain of custody of how this information came to be written in, in the way that the court is going to interpret it and do your thinking for yourself.

[Michael Duncan]

So if you want to question the investigative resources, the FBI or any of these things, in this case, I have no problem. God bless you.

[Josh Holmes]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, but that is far removed from an international conspiracy involving Egyptian planes in multiple countries and all of this sort, you know what I mean?

[John Ashbrook]

In America, parents call the shots for their families, not bureaucrats.

[Michael Duncan]

But the so called App Store Accountability act puts your child at risk. This bill requires app stores to collect children's sensitive personal data while taking away.

[John Ashbrook]

Power from parents over how their child's data is handled by tech companies. Parents should get to decide if their.

[Michael Duncan]

Child'S age is shared with apps, not politicians. Parents should attest to their kids ages.

[John Ashbrook]

Not turn over birth certificates to tech companies. Congress don't put kids at greater risk online and box parents out of making decisions for their families. Tell your lawmaker to put parents first.

[Michael Duncan]

There are better ways to keep kids safe. NetChoice is dedicated to making the Internet.

[John Ashbrook]

Safe for free expression and free enterprise.

[Michael Duncan]

Learn [e-mail] keep app stores safe.

[John Ashbrook]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Smug]

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

[John Ashbrook]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Thursday to you. Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety program. Holy do we need a Christmas vacation around? My good God, there is a lot of crazy going on. I am Josh Holmes along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook, left to right, across your radio dial. Fellas. Am I alone on that?

[John Ashbrook]

Not at all, buddy. I was feeling that all week long. I mean, please, Christmas come.

[Josh Holmes]

So, I mean, look, you're in the conservative universe, so you wouldn't be listening to this particular program unless you just wanted the facts and news and updates that are relevant to, I don't know, the world. But you know, generally speaking, they consider us on the conservative side. And the conservative discussion has been dominated lately in a conversation between influencers essentially.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Which, you know, look, I think is a threshold issue here. On the Ruthless Variety program, we try to not make our job commenting on other commentators.

[Smug]

Yeah, that's something that I have felt very Strongly about we've discussed very thoroughly is purpose. Like what is it you do around here? Are you offering insight and commentary on what's happening and bringing in interesting people who are part of making the people making things happen, people from the administration and you're letting them speak to the audience and the audience connect with them or are you commentating on the commentating because that's. I'm like, what are we doing here?

[Josh Holmes]

Cause it ain't real. Right. And like, first of all, we have two issues and of course what we're talking about is the Candace Owens, Erica Kirk, to a certain extent, Tucker's involved. We were sitting on show with Megyn Kelly yesterday where this was a big topic of whom we love. Right. I mean, we love Megyn, but this whole thing has boiled over to a point. We've heard your comments about it too. What's your take on all of this nonsense that's going on? And we've resisted it for precisely what you said. Smug. Is it like, I don't know, we kind of want to just bring you the news and like, you know what's happening in our take on real life things.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. I think it's sort of a shame that out of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, conservative influencers have been begun this like soap opera. Yeah. Sort of self fulfilling content machine, which I think the re at least me personally, the reason why I didn't really want to engage in it was it didn't feel like our place. You know, I didn't know Charlie well and. And wanted to give the people that did know him well, including his wife and his co workers at tpusa, every opportunity to. To talk about it in their own accord. That felt like the responsible and immature thing to do. It's like, what's a normal thing?

[Josh Holmes]

Well adjusted.

[Michael Duncan]

Like not farming the misery of others for views and likes and retweets.

[Smug]

Because even to this day, even thinking about that horrible, horrible day still makes me feel sick to my stomach totally of how everyone witnessed this wonderful person murdered.

[Josh Holmes]

Mm.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Smug]

And for people to be like, I guess this is gonna be my like content farm.

[Josh Holmes]

This is my big opportunity.

[Smug]

You're not only a ghoul, there's adjectives that I don't even wanna say of my thoughts on someone like that. And that's why I was like, well, there's nothing to say because it'd just be a string of expletives. I know my mother watches this show and I love her dearly. So I don't want my poor mother to Hear me scream a string of expletives over people trying to exploit the murder of a wonderful man?

[Josh Holmes]

Totally, totally. And you know, look, as you said, we knew Charlie a little bit. I've never met Erica. I don't know, Candace. Erica strikes me as a incredibly bright, intellectual, like, kind woman who has suffered unspeakable tragedy over the last three months where she's dealing with a very young family. The kind of thing that you have a hard time conceptualizing. And the mere idea of taking advantage of that situation, either for clicks or for clout, or trying to insert yourself into a story where you don't belong, rather than just trying to take care of somebody like that is a part of our movement we have a real problem with. And so then it opens up this larger discussion is like, why is this happening?

[Smug]

Right?

[Josh Holmes]

Is this just like, do you have this amoral ecosystem that is just trying to exploit, like, people, like, trying to drive themselves to cable televisions, talk about how close they were to Charlie in order to get their name out there, or do podcasts exclusively related to, like, conspiracy theories about a murderer or whatever? Is that because it appears to be amoral? On the other side of it, you have a question of, like, whether or not we're in a situation from a media consumption standpoint of whether this is like the modern day soap opera, whether this is. Everybody's sort of in on the joke, the consumer is in on the joke, and that this is somehow the days of our lives or the young and the restless of a digital age. I have a hard time with that. It doesn't feel right.

[John Ashbrook]

It's awfully shitty because it involves real people's lives, real people's tragedy, things that everybody who's been dealing with it hasn't even had a chance to come to grips with. And yet there are others taking advantage of it. Yeah, totally. It's an absolutely shitty turn in digital media in the brand new, you know, ecosystem that everybody's a part of.

[Josh Holmes]

But it's also what's happened. And look, we're in this line of work, so we notice it, is that people trying to take advantage of the algorithm to get involved with this sort of thing and offer new thoughts, which of course are all, I would imagine, incredibly hurtful to somebody like the Kirk.

[John Ashbrook]

Family.

[Josh Holmes]

And sort of impossible to defend as at some level, unless you are like entirely encapsulated by reliving the horrible, most horrible moment of their lives. And so it's become this mini drama that is not, it's not real. It's Just, it has nothing to do with what Donald Trump is doing. It has nothing to do with War and Peace. It has nothing to do with your financial situation. It has nothing to do with the myriad of guests and perspectives that we're trying to provide you on a day to day basis. It has no impact on your life whatsoever. So are you consuming it just for entertainment value? Like, I don't know, maybe it's that I'm a dude and that we're dudes and that, like the gossip culture isn't particularly alluring.

[John Ashbrook]

No, I think there's probably something to that.

[Josh Holmes]

Maybe it's that I'm. I speak for myself, that I'm turning into my father, who is absolutely continues to this day to be allergic to pretend.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

He's allergic to pretend. And I'll be honest, this is something I wish I was better at. I got kids, you know, when they were really young, you'd like to just do the pretend thing when they're in the pretend when I can't do it. It's why my 8 year old has a like biblical encyclopedic memory of every sports player in the world. Cause this is what we do together. Cause I can't play house.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, right, Right. Yeah. But turning into your father, there is an awfully long tradition of guys who grow up and turn into their father. I think that's.

[Smug]

And he's also a good dude to hang out with on a boat.

[John Ashbrook]

That's right.

[Smug]

We had a great time.

[Michael Duncan]

But just, just think of what an own goal this horrible tragedy turned into for the conservative movement. Because what we had very early on here was a furry trans loving leftist psychopath with his fingerprints on the gun and the bolt and the trigger and the bullet that assassinated Charlie Kirk in Utah. And that has somehow spiraled, if you listen to what Candace and others have done in this space, into a global conspiracy involving multiple governments, our own government, and a conspiracy within tpusa and maybe including Erica Kirk herself into the death of Charlie Kirk. And it's under the guise of just asking questions. Right. And that is the seductive nature of digital media in that don't confuse people. Just asking questions for people who are fighting for you, you know, because those are not always the same thing.

[Josh Holmes]

They're not. And I'll just say, look, those of you, I think we know our audience, I think you know us and you know what you come here for, but there's an awful lot of crossover. You listen to other podcasts, you listen to a lot of other stuff, and there's gonna be many things that happen in our time together where there are different voices doing different things. And some things are more enticing in terms of what it is that they're trying to say. But there is quite obviously today some incentive structure around inventing madness. And there are those around you who are looking for content that may not have as good a grip on reality as you do. And they're going to fall into a situation where you listen to something like this and it's dangerous, dude. It's dangerous. It has real human life consequences. It has the capacity of radicalizing, making people believe things that just flat aren't true. And that's like, one thing that we've prided ourselves on here at the Ruthless Variety Program right from the very beginning. One of the reasons why we're allergic to this whole story is that, like, we don't talk about pretend. We don't do pretend here. This isn't some Gossip Girl show. This is real life shit. We like to laugh and have fun.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

But we're not, like, wringing our hands, you know, we're not. We're not discussing what people think.

[Smug]

And above all else, we have tremendous respect for you, the listener, the viewers, the people who tune in. We hold you in such high esteem where we think you deserve the best.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Smug]

And when you bring up things that you heard on our show with your friends, or if you tell your friend, hey, you should listen to these folks when they tune in, we don't want to embarrass you. We don't want them to be like, so you listen to some crazy shit.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Smug]

No. When you chat about what you heard or what you saw here, everyone's like, oh, how did you figure that out? Because we respect our audience to want to bring you the best.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. And think about the way that you approach the mainstream media. I think one of the best things that people in our audience and the conservative consumers of media have done done in response to lies in the legacy media is looking at primary source documents for themselves. They read the actual facts and come to their own conclusion because they don't need to be told what to think. And I would just encourage everybody to do that in every situation. And in this case of the murder of Charlie Kirk, read the charging documents, read the evidence in black and white, understand the chain of custody of how this information came to be written in the way that the court is going to interpret it, and do your thinking for yourself.

[Josh Holmes]

And you're gonna see it, by the way. It's gonna play in A court of law.

[Michael Duncan]

And that is the problem, Right. Because that there is a system of justice in this country in which investigations happen and the full facts of the case and the truth of the matter do not come out until you're in a court of law.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

And that there is testimony provided and there's gonna be a prosecutor making the case in which the evidence is presented. Because we live in the United States of America. And in that vacuum, people are provided an opportunity to pontificate and just ask questions and all of that sort of stuff. And the thing that really bothers me about all this, outside of the Candace thing is I saw Tucker do this as well. And this is what I really dislike, because I just. I think it lacks a clarity. And that is a moat Bailey argument of the thing where instead of defending the conspiracy in which Candace has proposed here, instead, you know, the Bailey that is, and defending instead the moat and saying, well, when did we start believing the FBI? Don't we.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Don't we want to question what these investigative services are doing? I have no problem with that. You know, if you want to investigate what they did, let's remember, we only really caught this guy because his parents turned him in.

[Josh Holmes]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

Like that is a fact.

[Josh Holmes]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

And so if you want to question the investigative resources, the FBI, or any of the things in this case, I have no problem. God bless you.

[Josh Holmes]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, but that is far removed from an international conspiracy involving Egyptian planes in multiple countries and all of this sort. You know what I mean? And so first lady of France, from my understanding, it feels like a cowardice to sort of paper over that and be like, well, we're just supposed to be asking questions, right? And that feels like dishonest and, like, smug. Said, and he nailed. The point is, I don't want to do that. Nobody here wants to do that because we respect you. And I think, you know, the truth is one thing that we obviously care about. But as much as we care about the truth, we also care about respecting you as a listener and a viewer. And that relationship with you is more important than chasing some algorithm for a soap opera conversation. When we've got real fucking problems in this country that actually matter to you, and that's going to impact your wallet and your family. Family. And the grocery store that you're going to have to go to to buy everything for Christmas or, I don't know, the midterms next year. And all that feels way more important than some. Some fight between people with microphones.

[Josh Holmes]

Boom. Yeah, dude, that's It.

[John Ashbrook]

That's it.

[Josh Holmes]

And like, and subscribe. If you're interested in a trip that will take you to a point where your family is checking you into a mental institution is a hell, hell of a pitch. Not one that we're interested in making here on the Ruthless Variety program. Look, we felt the need to address it because, like, we've been laughing about it for too long. But then you see it start to seep in and you start to see real people start to have this enter the mainstream and you just gotta, you gotta deal. If we have a role here, it's telling you the truth. And it's saying, like, dude, you should pay more attention to what's going on in Venezuela or what the situation is with your health care and whatever and Trump. And we're not, look, we're nobody's bitch. Like, we're gonna give you the truth about stuff. We can express concerns about tariffs in the economy. We're gonna tell you what it is that we think. We're not gonna just entertain insanity with, like the, you know, the, what do you think? The thing with the Internet deal where we're just like, oh, they're outraged and hope that you click on it. We're hoping to provide some value. If we didn't think we were providing value, we'd quit. We wouldn't do this. If I had to do that thing about, like, just asking questions, thing with.

[John Ashbrook]

A dance, I would quit, right?

[Josh Holmes]

It'd be over tomorrow and all of us would shake hands and be like, well, that was fun. Yeah, that was a lot of fun. But we're not gonna do that. We're not quitting anytime soon. But damn, it is time for Christmas vacation. It is, I will tell you that. Listen, meanwhile, we've got libs that are very. They're struggling. They're struggling. Cause there's been a lot of really bad news. Islamic terrorists, all kinds of different stuff. The absurd messaging, it's all too familiar. And we're going to look at all of that. We've got some variety. We have the great governor of Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders on this program. You're going to want to hear all of that. We're going to get to it right after this.

[John Ashbrook]

America's demand for energy is rising rapidly and at a time when American families can least afford an energy shortage. But for decades, critical energy projects have been blocked, limiting our access to reliable, affordable American energy and putting America's energy dominance at risk. The solution is obvious. Overhaul the broken energy permitting process, make it faster and simpler innovation, a strong workforce, abundant oil and gas. We have it all right here in the usa. Let's put America first and political agendas last. We can power our own country, create thousands of good paying American jobs and unleash American energy to be bigger and better than ever before.

[Michael Duncan]

Because when America builds, America wins.

[John Ashbrook]

Read API's plan to secure America's future at permitting. Reformnow.org paid for by the American Petroleum Institute.

[Michael Duncan]

President Trump blocked Joe Biden's open banking rule because it put consumers at risk and handed too much power to fintech data brokers. Trump's CFPB has the chance to get it right. A new rule can put privacy first, strengthen protections and let free markets work without government handouts. This is an opportunity to deliver innovation without compromising on safety for consumers. Learn more at DataExposure CSLF US paid for by Common Sense Leadership Fund.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so just a quick recap. You had the national guard shooting in D.C. abhorrent. You had the Brown University shooting suspect alleged to have shouted Alu Akbar, although no officials.

[Michael Duncan]

Are we, are we sure he didn't yell Merry Christmas?

[John Ashbrook]

I think he maybe yelled two state solutions. Yeah, that's what I've heard.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

We may never know his true intentions.

[Josh Holmes]

Peace in our time.

[John Ashbrook]

That's what he yelled.

[Josh Holmes]

He had the Bondi beach massacre over the weekend. You've got a pro Palestinian terror cell that was arrested by the FBI in California. Paris canceled their New Year's Eve celebration over fears of Islamic terrorism. Like folks, so that's the past week. Yeah, that's a week of content. And like everybody's pretending is that they're like, oh, I don't have nothing to say. Maybe we should ban guns, guys.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, right.

[Josh Holmes]

It's gun control.

[John Ashbrook]

That's the conclusion.

[Josh Holmes]

That's the issue. No, you got a much bigger problem than that.

[John Ashbrook]

Eliminate your ability to protect yourselves, America.

[Josh Holmes]

But you know, we think often that the most powerful weapon that you can use against people who just won't get it are leading everyone in the wrong direction is to laugh at them. And boy, oh boy, do we have some content. We talked last week about Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who we all thought retired long time ago. Yeah, well, she's made a reappearance two weeks in a row on the ruthless Friday program. I think that's a record anyway. Clip 1.

[Smug]

What is the bigger threat to America right now?

[Josh Holmes]

American values?

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

American life?

[Smug]

Islamophobia or jihad?

[Michael Duncan]

I think we have to focus, quite.

[Josh Holmes]

Frankly on if we're worried about the.

[Michael Duncan]

Threat to American values on the person.

[Josh Holmes]

Who'S in the White House.

[John Ashbrook]

Come on.

[Josh Holmes]

Come on.

[John Ashbrook]

Really?

[Josh Holmes]

Dude? Even he did come on there because we have a president who has completely.

[Smug]

Undermined our democracy, who has run the election. You don't see jihad? You don't see this is a problem?

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

What I don't see is it as a single lens problem.

[Josh Holmes]

We have a president who has been determined to undermine double back edge principles, to degrade our democracy, to divide instead of unite us the responsibility. I have to say, Congressman, you know.

[Smug]

How much I admire you, and I.

[Josh Holmes]

And I always appreciate you being willing to come on and discuss things, but we booked you to talk about anti.

[Smug]

Semitism and Islamophobia in America.

[Josh Holmes]

So I'm asking.

[Smug]

That's amazing that he was like. You were booked.

[John Ashbrook]

Leland Vitter.

[Josh Holmes]

He's just, like, not having it.

[John Ashbrook]

No, I mean.

[Smug]

Cause there is. I mean, we even made a game out of hard pivot. And like, yes, you know, politicians are gonna pivot. That's just like when the anchor's like, come on. Like, you've broken the fourth wall of where everyone's like, dude, really?

[Michael Duncan]

Really?

[Smug]

You're gonna be like, yeah, you know, these terrorists have killed people. But here's the thing, folks. Trump subverting democracy. What, bro? Like, it's a year ago that he won the election and the popular vote. Like, what are you talking about?

[Michael Duncan]

Just imagine in the backdrop of the.

[Josh Holmes]

Five things we just said.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, right. The five things we just said. And all of that being in your head and in the news of the day. In being so morally vacant.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Michael Duncan]

That you can somehow pivot to talking about how Orange man is bad.

[Josh Holmes]

I'll be honest. Like, we've talked about this a little bit. The combination of our first segment and then that. I'm blown away that there hasn't been 100 Jonestowns.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, if this is who we're electing.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

In that. In whatever. The first thing that we're talking about is who people are listening to. Like, the Kool Aid is around the corner.

[John Ashbrook]

The terrifying thing in that answer the most terrifying thing. And you expect her to be partisan, but you'd like to think that somebody in a position of authority in our government would at least say, yeah, I'm a little bit concerned about this rise in terrorism we're seeing breakout around the world.

[Josh Holmes]

Or presumably, as a Jewish American, she would have some concern about the targeting of Jewish people all over the world in the last 72 hours.

[John Ashbrook]

Before she does, the interviewment mentioned on our list, the MIT professor killed there was A guy just walking. A Jewish guy walking down the street the other night, Tuesday night, stabbed. Like, this is a big, big problem in, not just around the world, but in our own country. And you'd like to think that they would. That somebody like her would at least say, yes, this is a problem. We're trying to get to the bottom of it. We're at least doing a study or we're at least investigating from Congress. No Congress, nothing. It's just like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, Trump. You know, it's nothing. They have nothing. And this is the biggest problem in our country right now is that the concerns about violent terrorism are only coming from one side. And someday Democrats are gonna start noticing how terrifying this threat is and how real it is. But I'm afraid it's not gonna be until it's too late.

[Michael Duncan]

I don't think they're ever gonna realize it. And let's point to the thing you mentioned earlier about Paris canceling their Christmas Eve.

[Josh Holmes]

New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve, New Year's in Paris. It's not a small thing. It's like New York City.

[Michael Duncan]

You think they're going to stop unfettered immigration from the Middle East? No, not for a second.

[Josh Holmes]

They're like, oh, the Islamic Jihad has descended upon Paris, and so we can no longer celebrate New Year's in a public space.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, I guess we just won't have it.

[Josh Holmes]

But we just won't have it.

[Michael Duncan]

We couldn't possibly chain.

[Josh Holmes]

Couldn't do anything.

[Michael Duncan]

Change unfettered immigration from places that hate our values and don't believe in democracy and want women to be wearing, you know, cloths over their entire body. We couldn't possibly change any of that thing. You know what we'll do? We'll change. It appears we'll change our entire society for that. And I think that's the answer to your question. Ashbrook. They're never gonna fucking learn because these people are engaged in the suicide of the West.

[Smug]

I agree with Duncan.

[Michael Duncan]

They're engaged in the suicide of the values that founded this country.

[Josh Holmes]

It's out of weakness. Here's the thing. Like, I don't know. I don't think. And maybe I'm wrong about this, maybe it's naive, but I don't think that they are complicit. I think they are too weak because they refer to things like the Michigan problem. It's a political problem to them because it's a demographic that they're interested in having vote for them in a democracy. It's the same situation in France. It's a demographic. It's not like they're just trying to get jihad bombed, but they're too weak to stand up and say, I'm going to do what is necessary to ensure that people can celebrate New Year's in the same way that the Democratic Party in the United States can't say, hey, I'm not really comfortable with a part of our coalition wanting to take down the next Trade Center.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

They're not comfortable with it. They call it a Michigan problem.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

And like that is the common underlying thematic that you see of the modern left in this country and around the world.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And it's playing out time after time. I mean, look, we move this thing to the Brown shooting, which by the way, we could do a whole show on the Brown shooting. What a disaster this thing is. Local officials just complete fuck nuts idiots.

[Smug]

It's unreal.

[Josh Holmes]

They have no clue what they're doing. By the way, we're reminded yesterday on Megan's show that it was the deputy attorney general is the one that showed us the world in the Flanagan. Yeah, Flanagan.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Smug]

They liquored up Flanagan in Rhode island. In Providence. Who'd have guessed getting in the back.

[Josh Holmes]

Of a cop car would have made an only fans?

[Michael Duncan]

Meghan didn't really appreciate your Irish blast on that now, which is very sad.

[Smug]

Providence is like, yep, it's the Irish at it again.

[Michael Duncan]

Put him in the paddy wagon.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, Senator Murphy close by. He's got some thoughts on it.

[Michael Duncan]

Clip 2 Not shocking because over the last year, President Trump has been engaged in a dizzying campaign to increase violence in this he's restoring gun rights to felons and people who have lost their ability to buy guns. He eliminated the White House Office of Gun Violence Protection and he has stopped funding mental health grants and community anti gun violence grants that Republicans. Get out of here. Get out of here, Bill.

[John Ashbrook]

Get out of here.

[Michael Duncan]

He has been engaged in a pretty deliberate campaign to try to make violence more likely in this country. And I think you're unfortunately going to see the results of that on the streets of America.

[Josh Holmes]

That's a pretty big statement. He's in a campaign to make violence more likely, of course.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, he's, he's knowingly restrained.

[Smug]

CNN is like, are you for real, bro?

[Michael Duncan]

He is cutting off grants that has, that have bipartisan support to try to interrupt violence in our cities or to try to get necessary mental health resources to families and children in need. The evidence tells you that when you stop funding Mental health. When you stop funding community anti gun violence programs, when you give gun rights back to dangerous people, you are going to have an increase in violence that is knowable and that is foreseeable.

[Smug]

Okay, so first off, he's basically just said that, like, if you stop giving government money to left wing NGOs, we're going to have the Biden administration, I mean, they straight up wired like a billion dollars to Stacey Abrams ngo. That was started like three days earlier. The Biden administration was shoveling cash out the door to these left wing NGOs, and violence skyrocketed.

[John Ashbrook]

The Stacey Abrams NGO wasn't about guns. The idea swapping out stoves, $2 billion to swap stoves, that's gonna keep us safe. Thanks, Murphy.

[Michael Duncan]

The idea that Mr. Alwa Akbar would be stopped by a community violence program.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Excuse me, sir.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Have you considered your options? Have you considered a vocational school? Fuck you. I mean, this is a. Dude. There was a time in my lifetime where you had a Democratic Party that was responsive to community emergencies, to national disasters, to violence, to things that you can all kind of circle the flag.

[John Ashbrook]

It wasn't political.

[Josh Holmes]

It wasn't particularly political. But like this guy Murphy, the reason you're hearing so much about him is because he wants Chuck Schumer's job, right? He's doing everything he can do. He wants to be the leader of the Democratic Party. And the way that he sees his best path to become the leader of today's Democratic Party is to suggest that a Brown shooter, who has yet to be apprehended, who is alleged to have said Alu Akbar before opening fire on students at Brown University, would have been better served by a president who ensured that NGOs, nonprofits and counseling sessions, not to mention banning all guns, and would not have committed such a crime. You can say that with a straight face. You are a fucking sociopath. That is crazy behavior.

[John Ashbrook]

If banning guns works, why did the ISIS guy in Australia get guns to be able to shoot people. Australia has the strictest gun laws on the planet, and yet somehow the terrorists still got the guns.

[Smug]

Well, it's not just an American problem.

[Josh Holmes]

It's not just an American problem. Next clip. This is from Australia. Do you feel like there needs to be and should there be a greater.

[John Ashbrook]

Emphasis on hate speech from Muslim clerics.

[Josh Holmes]

In the western part of Sydney?

[Michael Duncan]

I think. Look, I think, as I said earlier, what we've done is criminalise more forms of hate speech. And, you know, we criminalise the Nazi salute. Obviously, that's in its own Context and. But we need to be looking at all of this.

[Smug]

Wow.

[Michael Duncan]

And it is really important that we have.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

So should there be a greater emphasis.

[John Ashbrook]

On this hate speech from Muslim clerics, then?

[Michael Duncan]

I don't want to.

[Smug]

What.

[Michael Duncan]

We will go through all of this.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, why is this a special case?

[Michael Duncan]

Why is that done more in terms of criminalising hate speech than we have seen from any other government? But we need to look at all of this and we need to make sure that we've got the right laws in place and that we are doing everything we can to keep safe the vibrant, multicultural society that we have in.

[Smug]

Oh, God, dude, that is a real profile. Encourage. He was like, first off, he just stammers for a good 90 seconds, which is like, wait, this is the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia who cannot give you a straight answer and who straight up looks like a deer in headlights when they're asked. So these radical Muslim clerics who are out here inspiring these attacks, do you think we should tell him to calm it down a little? And he's like, so we don't like the Nazis?

[Josh Holmes]

What. What does that have to do with that? What are you talking about?

[Smug]

And, like, I feel so bad.

[Josh Holmes]

We can all get on board with that, right?

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

No Nazis.

[Smug]

And the fact that he is beyond coward when he's like, we need to look at the things and make sure the good laws happen. Are you for real? Like, your answer to him being like, so what about the radical Muslim clerics is we need a good law, do good things.

[Michael Duncan]

It'd be like.

[Smug]

Bro, that's like, you're running for student council in first grade. I'm gonna put the good laws to do the good things.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay.

[John Ashbrook]

Coke machine in the.

[Michael Duncan]

It'd be like an interview about the blind shake. And the person being interviewed is like, I really think we need to focus on Timothy McVeigh.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, it's the same thing.

[Michael Duncan]

It's the same thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, do we not have any more adults?

[Michael Duncan]

No, we don't.

[Josh Holmes]

Are there not any, like, sophisticated adults.

[Smug]

Left in the moderate kangaroos? It's time to rise up and take your cow like you're the last line of defense. This is pathetic. People voted for this. My heart breaks. It's horrible to see that happen.

[Josh Holmes]

But the sad. The sad component and the reason why it's, like, affecting you is like, I don't give a shit what these do in Australia. Honestly, I really don't. But they're about a half step ahead of us in terms of what the. The liberal left would like to do to modern, like, G6 countries.

[Michael Duncan]

Isn't that why we have to care?

[Josh Holmes]

Like, that's why we have to care.

[Michael Duncan]

I hear what you're saying, but, like, we do have to care.

[Smug]

That's what he said. That's why you have to care.

[Josh Holmes]

That's why you have to care.

[Smug]

They'll be like, Australia grabbed all the guns and everything's great there.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Smug]

What?

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, you seem like it. You look at France, right? That's what the left wants.

[Smug]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

They want to like their answer to radical Islam. You heard that he's going to New Year's Eve.

[Smug]

Well, we want rich multiculturalism. Like, that's your takeaway is that this is an example of rich multiculturalism, People getting massacred. That doesn't sound great.

[Josh Holmes]

To be clear, I mean, he had like more stutters than Joe Biden on a 5 o' clock after happy hour. I mean, it was like he had no idea. But then what he comes up with is complete nonsense. But it's the kind of nonsense that you heard out of Debbie Wasserman Schultz in that first answer to Leland Vitter. It's the same thing. Ironically, she was more well spoken than he was.

[John Ashbrook]

Incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

Which I didn't think was possible.

[Smug]

She's got ramen for hair, bro.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, she's like a fucking chia pet. And she can figure out how to spray it out. If we get into a different situation where the chia pet doesn't even work, my God, you have to water her head.

[Michael Duncan]

Cha cha cha chia.

[Josh Holmes]

So that you can see our concern. And also the whole Hitler thing, you know, he's like, oh, yeah, will we ban the Nazi deal? As if it has any relevance. Hey, memo to you, fuckface. And every one of you that are dancing around what Islamic extremism is, it is fucking the Nazis. They just don't have the wherewithal to do what Hitler did. They want the same fucking thing. And like how with American history and global history over the last 30 years that you haven't ascertained that point is such an obvious intellectual deception.

[Michael Duncan]

You don't understand when they say death to America, it's really just. It's a political slogan.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, they don't actually mean that they haven't written a ton of books about how they want to murder all of us. You know, if only we could learn what they want to do.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my gosh. All right, so our question of the day is, what's it going to take? How do we get liberals on board with solving the problems of radical Islamic terrorism.

[Smug]

Good question.

[Josh Holmes]

How do we do it?

[John Ashbrook]

I think they're going to have to listen to John Fetterman.

[Josh Holmes]

I hate dude. I hope that's right and I hope there are more John Fetterman's. But the reason you know of John Fetterman is because he stands alone, right?

[Michael Duncan]

Because he's the aberration, you know.

[Smug]

All right, so we're all black pilled now. Thanks for that.

[Josh Holmes]

But honestly, it's either you elect a government that is honest and open about the challenges from a national security perspective that your country faces or you get another 9 11.

[John Ashbrook]

No, it's true.

[Josh Holmes]

There's only two.

[John Ashbrook]

There's only two ways is absolutely true.

[Josh Holmes]

There's only two ways that you get everybody on the same page. You either start electing responsible human beings or you deal with tragedy. And that's it. That's it. So that's our question of the day. When you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Friday program, we read all of them. Get back to the very next episode. It's gonna be Funtime Friday. When we get to that. When we come back we'll get to your question from Tuesday's episode and then we're going to play a game and get to a great interview with Sarah Sanders right after this. Some things stand the test of time, like America's farmers and they deserve high quality, built to last machines with technology that reduces inputs and saves them money and time. That's why John Deere is investing billions in American factories and launching new tools to help customers repair their machines to keep building for their future, empowering our customers, building America because our nation counts on our farmers and John Deere is proud. They can count on us. Paid for by John Deere.

[Michael Duncan]

President Trump blocked Joe Biden's open banking rule because it put consumers at risk and handed too much power to fintech data brokers. Now Trump's CFPB has the chance, chance to get it right. A new rule can put privacy first, strengthen protections and let free markets work without government handouts. This is an opportunity to deliver innovation without compromising on safety for consumers. Learn more at dataexposure.cslf US paid for by Common Sense Leadership Fund.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, when you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Sobriety program, we read all of your comments to the Question of the Day and our Question of the Day on Tuesday. What does the American worker need the most? We had the labor secretary on. She provided an awful lot. We also had some incredible interview about innovation within the government.

[Smug]

The tech force. Scott Cooper came and talked about that.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Which I thought was a good primer for this question. But to get to your answers, we always start with a voice.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay. First comment comes from Samuel Kontik. And Samuel writes, the American worker needs an affordable economy more than anything. I'm a 25 year old male in trade, debt free. And no matter how much I'm saving, planning for my future, trying to make the right moves, it feels like my money is going nowhere, regardless of financial progress. A house, some land, and a financially stable family just does not seem feasible. That's a bleak picture from.

[Smug]

And I think that's the story of the midterms. That's. We need to focus on. On that issue, like almost single mindedly.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Smug]

I mean, that's it.

[Josh Holmes]

He's right. Samuel's right.

[Michael Duncan]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

It's the core of the concerns.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Smug]

It's the American. That's the American dream.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep. That's exactly right. All right, Dunks, what do we got?

[Michael Duncan]

This is from Jeremy Kincaid. Jeremy writes, stability. The American worker needs to know that he can count on the trajectory of today being the same day tomorrow. As you said, things are on an upward trend. Let's keep a nice, even upward pace. A person can have small bumps, but the last six years were full of some real shitty potholes. We need stability.

[Josh Holmes]

So good. It's so good. And you hear that time and again from everybody up and down the economic ladder. Make sure I know what it is that my taxes are, my regulatory situation is, what my job prospects are, what my community will look like. Are you gonna stop enforcing crime? Are you gonna be more interested in my school board than you are about the fucking looters that are sitting in the middle of the drugstore that I always go? You know what I mean? It's like that kind of thing.

[Michael Duncan]

And then also I think there's a sensitivity in people coming out of COVID Yeah. You know that they've. They've seen the worst case scenario.

[Josh Holmes]

Upheaval.

[Michael Duncan]

Upheaval. So if you're like a small business owner, you know, you're looking at the environment and you're like, I need to be able to plan for what the future looks like. I've seen the worst.

[Josh Holmes]

Tell me the rules and I can win.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

That's the American view. It always has been. Great comment, comment 3.

[Smug]

Smug comment 3 comes from Brian Hedrick. Brian writes, as a business owner in construction. I think the things the American worker need most are consistent consistency and fewer regulations. Just like you were saying.

[Michael Duncan]

There it is again.

[Josh Holmes]

Boom.

[Smug]

That's it.

[Michael Duncan]

We've been saying this.

[Josh Holmes]

We've been saying it, and that is a lot of commentary that you get again up and down the economic ladder. Everybody kind of feels the same way about that. I love it. When we come back, we have our signature game here on the ruthless variety program King of the Hill returns right after this.

[John Ashbrook]

Only 58% of Americans today say they're proud to be American, the lowest number ever recorded. That's not just sad. It is very dangerous. Because if we forget what makes America special, we risk losing it. That's why Americans for Prosperity is launching the One Small Step Campaign, a bold nationwide initiative to reconnect Americans with our founding principles that sparked unparalleled innovation and prosperity. It's not just a celebration. It's a call to action. Through the 250,000 Steps for Freedom challenge, AFP is partnering with the grassroots in all 50 states to take meaningful steps that defend freedom and advance opportunity. Call your representative, attend a local event. Knock on a door, talk to your neighbors. Every single step counts, and every step moves us closer to a more perfect Union. Go to takeonesmallstep.com to learn more. Then join the challenge at afpvolunteer.com okay.

[Josh Holmes]

Our king of the Hill. I believe I'm the champion. My rightful place crown firmly affixed on top of my head with the old fat man, Steve Schmidt.

[Michael Duncan]

Really covering yourself in glory there, huh?

[Josh Holmes]

Well.

[Smug]

And our challenger is Duncan. Who you got Duncan.

[Michael Duncan]

I got Adam Kinzinger.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, okay.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, wait.

[Michael Duncan]

And so smug are you, judge?

[John Ashbrook]

Nope.

[Smug]

I am the bailiff, and I'm gonna run a tight ship around here.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, I believe that.

[Smug]

Let's go ringside.

[John Ashbrook]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please. It's time for King of the Hill. In the red corner, fighting somewhere in Illinois, Adam King Zinger. And now, in the blue corner, hiding from his own Twitter account, and current champion of the world, the old fat man, Steve Schmidt.

[Michael Duncan]

He really gave you something extra there.

[Josh Holmes]

I feel like it gave me nice trajectory to get into this. So the champion reigns. And I'll remind all of you that Steve Schmidt was once. I would say the preeminent contestants have.

[Smug]

30 seconds to start or I'm gonna ask the camera operator to cut the mic.

[Michael Duncan]

Thank you, bailiff.

[Josh Holmes]

Thank you, bailiff. In Republican politics, he's changed his tune. And now, according to exhibit four, he's got merch. No way he's selling sweaters. Last chance. Order your the warning merchandise before it's too late for Christmas. Find a whole assortment of items from tees to sweatshirts to mugs to posters. For the person on your list who wants to make a statement, visit. The warning here includes his website. And the graphic is a sweater entitled Wreck the halls with a picture of Donald Trump Christmas lights adorned.

[Smug]

Pathetic.

[Josh Holmes]

We've fallen a long way for old Steve Schmidt.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay, it looks like a worse version of our sweater. I survived the war on Christmas. Yeah, it's.

[Smug]

What.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, Challenger.

[Michael Duncan]

Hmm. I think I can see the brain damage and raise you clinical CTE. Can I get exhibit number 313 please? I don't know what this was in reference to.

[Josh Holmes]

Just a graphic.

[Michael Duncan]

Adam Kinzinger posts a graphic. I assume he stole this from Reddit or something. But it says this is how Japan attacked Pearl harbor according to Flat Earthers. And then it's got Pearl harbor and then a line down, you know, South America around the Cape of New, of. Of Hope or whatever. Yeah, yeah, around to Japan. I don't. I don't know why that's hilarious. But he. He has posted this and I. One other thing I just want to note for our. Our judge and jure is I've noticed that in his posts on Blue sky, his handle is adamkinzinger.substack.com.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, so it's. It's at his.

[Michael Duncan]

It's promotional. Promotional for his substack.

[Josh Holmes]

Substack. Is it. Is it Flat Earthers? I assume that's us.

[Michael Duncan]

I have no idea. I didn't even know this was a topic of discourse.

[Josh Holmes]

I didn't either.

[Smug]

I don't know. It's not like anyone is really talking about it. No, he just decided to go out.

[Michael Duncan]

There for Apropos of Nothing.

[Smug]

What's your thinking on here, Judge?

[John Ashbrook]

Well, so the first play from Steve Schmidt really caught my attention because he's selling merch, all different kinds of merch. But if you look at the shirt, it really appears sort of to be like a pair of British knights that you get if you come in third place on Nickelodeon.

[Michael Duncan]

That's fun, dude. Oh my God.

[John Ashbrook]

And as devastating unlocked it.

[Smug]

I forgot about that.

[John Ashbrook]

As devastating as that might be, the insanity from Adam Kinzinger from nowhere with a picture of Flat Earth society. I mean, what even is that? Losing his mind. Adam Kinzinger takes round one. Wow.

[Smug]

That's a surprise.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Thank you, judge.

[Josh Holmes]

It's all right. I'll battle on.

[Michael Duncan]

Well adjudicated.

[John Ashbrook]

Round two.

[Smug]

You got 30 seconds.

[Michael Duncan]

I need exhibit.

[John Ashbrook]

The guy's a stickler.

[Michael Duncan]

Exhibit number 12, please. Adam Kingzinger never trump Adam Kinzinger who never Once commented about the mental capacity of Joe Biden has thoughts about Donald Trump. He says Trump is dozing off in meetings. He's wandering during ceremonies. His rants are more unhinged, his temper shorter, and he's suddenly getting MRIs. The White House can't explain something is wrong and they're hiding.

[Smug]

Incredible.

[Michael Duncan]

Linked to his substack, which is incredible. It's incredible because it feels like the boy who cried wolf. I mean, how many times during the first Trump administration we have to hear about, like how Donald Trump's at death's door and there's some conspiracy being hidden from his. About his health in the White House. It feels like they run this record back every six weeks or so. And that's my submission challenger.

[John Ashbrook]

I do have a question. If we could put that submission back up because I'm curious what he is quote. What is that picture of the presidential files? Oh, well, that's.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the substack. That's the link to his substack. He wants to make sure he's got. He's unfurled the image so that you'll click his link to his substack. I hope you'll subscribe.

[John Ashbrook]

Did he make, did he make that clip art on his computer?

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure he did. He probably has a gift, a free subscription.

[Smug]

I mean, he's got time on his hands.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, yeah. It's not. Expert.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, thank you.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, Champion. Okay, I'm gonna battle back here. This is just a. It's in my mind. A nuke. Exhibit one, please. Bari Weiss interviewed Erica Kirk on CBS and didn't ask a single critical question. I dissect how Weissenkirk sanitize extremism and radicalization behind Maga's propaganda. Then he links to his YouTube page and that link is entitled Propaganda is violence. Now he should be in jail. Now you are talking about wild thing.

[Michael Duncan]

To say to a widow.

[Josh Holmes]

Widow of someone who was assassinated by left wing violence but 90 days ago. Oh, my God, that is horrific.

[Michael Duncan]

It's just garbage. Human behavior. I just want to do the magnanimous thing and I'm going to concede that's what.

[John Ashbrook]

Actually, I'm glad you did. And let me tell you why I'm ruling. I would have ruled in favor of Steve Schmidt in this round anyway. Can we put that Steve Schmidt clip back up? I pointed out the clip art that Adam Kinzinger made that he tweeted on top of. What I want to point to your attention here is the uniform that Steve Schmidt is wearing the green shirt and the green shirt over it, like he's some kind of, like, South American warlord.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, like he's Fidel Castro.

[John Ashbrook]

Like, he's so strong. He's getting to the bottom of it, and he's leading things to the left.

[Michael Duncan]

It also looks like maybe he's reduced opacity on his image.

[Smug]

Dude, he looks like a Jedi ghost.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, he looks like a scary apparition you see right before you die.

[John Ashbrook]

And it's almost like he's trying to adopt some of the things that Bannon wears, because he's like, oh, I want to be strong. Bannon seems strong. I'd be strong like Bannon. You know what I mean? Like, it's just so weird. I've never in my life seen Steve Schmidt wear anything other than like, a. A suit and a tie or something that somebody wears out in Utah.

[Smug]

That's the old fat man for you these days.

[Michael Duncan]

Bizarre. Round three.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, on the clock. All right, I'm up. All right, so I'm going to go with exhibit three here. Schmidt's got thoughts on the economy.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

Donald doesn't care. But more importantly, he can't help himself, though he is the political cancer that will kill the MAGA majority, his narcissism means that he believes he is the chemotherapy.

[Smug]

What?

[Josh Holmes]

Like, first of all, if you dissect that, that is a perfect logic of Steve Schmidt, and that there's a lot of words there, and it's supposed to be sort of poetic, and it doesn't fucking mean anything. He's the cancer, and he thinks he's the chemotherapy.

[Smug]

I feel bad for the donors who fell for this shit.

[Josh Holmes]

They can repeatedly do. But then he's linking to his own. I think it's a YouTube substack. It's a substack, yeah. Where he's talking about the A economy, of course, entirely out of the context for which it was given. But jump on all of that, Steve, and tell us about how cancer and chemo and aga and. I don't.

[Smug]

I almost missed the Steve Schmidt. He used to sell PlayStations.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, we just sell some more stuff.

[Smug]

Oh, geez. Will, remember when we caught him doing that? That was the weirdest shit.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep. They have a purple finger. They must have voted.

[Michael Duncan]

All right, good News.

[Smug]

We got 30 seconds on the clock.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay, Good news in Iraq, and that's a perfect segue into my next play here. Let's put up exhibit number 14, please. So this is a tweet about Russia and the war in Ukraine.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay.

[Michael Duncan]

To Those thinking Russia is winning in Ukraine. Imagine if when we invaded Iraq. No. We were almost four years into it, only occupied 20% and lost a million men. Not a soul would call that winning. And it's like, here's the thing. I'm not a neocon. I don't understand the way that they're brain.

[Smug]

I don't know. You kind of are a neocon, bro.

[Michael Duncan]

No, I'm really not.

[Josh Holmes]

But it's pretty soft on. Think about things.

[Michael Duncan]

Think about wanting to sell continued American involvement in the war in Ukraine. And your best proof point for that. Iraq is Iraq, bro.

[Smug]

That is a tough.

[Michael Duncan]

A world class quagmire that cost trillions of dollars in American blood and treasure.

[Josh Holmes]

Pretty amazing. He got elected and he's like, here's.

[Michael Duncan]

The best proof point for the war in Ukraine.

[Josh Holmes]

Iraq. Not nearly as bad as Iraq.

[John Ashbrook]

This is a very difficult decision because you make such a persuasive case. And that tweet is so unhinged. It's really hard to imagine that I would rule in favor of Steve Schmidt here, but I have to. What? And the reason why.

[Michael Duncan]

Outrageous.

[John Ashbrook]

The reason why the Faulkner esque reach in the chemotherapy and the maga and blah, blah, blah. Everything, Everything. Is a wise decision.

[Michael Duncan]

Robbed. Smug. This is why we have to impeach judges in this country.

[Smug]

No. I think so.

[Josh Holmes]

A jurist. Enough.

[Michael Duncan]

Impeach Ashbrook.

[Smug]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

Beyond the passions of the day. A lot.

[Smug]

The game is over. Time.

[John Ashbrook]

Impeach me if you like, but I will certainly never impeach the next judge. He's so fair. So handsome, too.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, the crown I will bestow upon my head for one more week.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

Take it into the Christmas holidays. Enjoy a new year.

[Michael Duncan]

Try not to dislocate your shoulder patting yourself on the back.

[Josh Holmes]

Crown above my head. My many followers and appreciation.

[Smug]

Unbelievable.

[Michael Duncan]

He's still going. Bailiff.

[Josh Holmes]

The game's over. He said he has no more jurisdiction. Now I can do whatever the fuck I want.

[Michael Duncan]

I love it.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so you guys want a little bit of variety and then we'll get the hell out of here.

[John Ashbrook]

Sure.

[Josh Holmes]

All right. So in clip 4, Ja Rule smokes a photographer with an errand drive at the Derek Jeter Invitational.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, boy.

[Josh Holmes]

You gotta see this. Clip 4.

[John Ashbrook]

I gotta ignore y' all right?

[Michael Duncan]

Now I gotta put this thing up.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, no. Oh, come on.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh. Oh.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my God. Oh, no. Oh.

[Smug]

Can we run that back?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, dude, you gotta see it again. You gotta see this again. Ja Rule teeing something up with a gallery around him.

[Smug]

It was like he was intentionally trying.

[Josh Holmes]

To kill the dude straight off the heel of the driver into what I imagine was the shins, there would not.

[Smug]

Even be time to jump away. No.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, God, no. No.

[John Ashbrook]

People are gonna think twice before joining that gallery. Next time it's on.

[Michael Duncan]

That is.

[Josh Holmes]

Yikes. That's pretty bad. That is pretty bad. All right, so I just want to leave it at that. Let's get to our interview. I don't think you can improve upon.

[John Ashbrook]

The variety of things.

[Smug]

What more can be said?

[Josh Holmes]

That's like as good as it gets. Let's go to Sarah Sanders. Want to welcome back to the program a good friend of ours. She's the governor of Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. How are you?

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

I am doing wonderful and glad to be with you guys in person.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. It's been a minute since we've seen you.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Yeah, I mean, I have this day job that sort of keeps me busy. I never know what kind of things y' all are going to ask and say, and I'm hoping for, like, long term future.

[Michael Duncan]

I think. I think last time was the convention.

[Josh Holmes]

Was it?

[Michael Duncan]

Good Lord.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I mean, we follow along. It seems like you're doing a will of a job.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Thanks. We're. We're trying.

[Josh Holmes]

I saw something. What was it like last week or the week before that? Arkansas was like the number one place was like Atlas movie moving vans or something that people were relocating to.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Yeah. For the second year in a row, we're the number one state in the country that people are moving into.

[Josh Holmes]

So back to back, Atlas champs.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Yeah.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

See, this is why we have to have more governors on, so they can all compete with each other.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Oh, it's obviously our specialty.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, Right.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

It's really what we're best at. If you've ever been to like an RGA or NGA panel, it's really just which governor can.

[Josh Holmes]

One up the other and it can get nasty.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Yeah, but all with a smile on our face. Exactly. Yeah. We're all friends, but we're also gonna, you know, take your state down in the process.

[Josh Holmes]

I remember that Youngkin and Kemp had a real thing going on one of our shows. But listen, you do it not only with a smile on your face. Seems like everything's going well. You started hot and you've been building upon your agenda. I think, you know, we talk to governors and people around the country all the time that look to what you're doing is sort of a model in many ways. It's got to feel good.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

As. As President Trump would say, we're the Hottest state in the country. Yeah, yeah, everyone. I mean, our state is doing really well. We focused on things that actually matter. Lowering taxes, investing in education, public safety. And people are taking notice. We've broken tourism records every month. Last year welcomed 50 million visitors to our state. And when they come, they like what they see. And a lot of them are then making it a permanent home. And so really excited and proud about the things that are happening in Arkansas and just trying to keep that momentum moving and keep it going.

[Josh Holmes]

So you're up in D.C. i understand you were visiting with National Guard folks.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

I did. We've got about 100 Arkansas Guard troops that are on the ground here helping with the President's request. And this morning got to stop by, Senator Cotton was with me and thank them in person for the great work they're doing. We told them not to rat us out to Pete Hegseth because we brought donuts and coffee. And we're like, we won't tell. But then we took like 9,000 pictures of everybody eating donuts and drinking coffee.

[Josh Holmes]

You're gonna end up in a pull up contest.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

I know. I'm hoping I can like sub in one of them and like, you know, pick my fighter. Because if it's me, it's not. It's going well. I'm not going to win. Let me just say this will be a competition. I can say on the front end, I'm definitely going to lose.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it's great. I'm glad you're doing that. Obviously, with the tragic events up here, it takes more of an importance and for governors to come up here and visit with folks. It's greatly appreciated for those of us who are in D.C. because we've seen the real difference that they've made. I mean, this place is wildly different.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Even just being here for 24 hours, you can feel the difference on the ground. And seeing Guard troops around the city, just the presence, I think gives people a greater sense of safety and security. And I think the President was right to do that. I mean, our capital city should not be a place that people who live here are in fear or the millions of people that come and visit. This should be a place, Place and a symbol of hope and something where whether you're an American or coming to visit from somewhere else in the world, that you sense something that is different than anywhere else you've been. And you don't have that if you're afraid. Just walking through the streets and seeing the sights or, you know, taking your family in and out of a restaurant. And so I'm very thankful for the willingness of our Arkansas Guard. Every single one of the members that are here volunteered to be here and they're doing remarkable work and we're really proud of what they're doing and the way that they represent our state.

[John Ashbrook]

It's just an incredible amount of bravery that they show on a daily basis. And everybody sort of forgets about how much bravery is required until. Until we saw that terrible, tragic event just a couple of weeks ago. And I wonder if that came up in your conversations with any of these Guard folks who are here and whether they have heightened awareness that they maybe didn't have three weeks ago.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Our crew came in just a couple days after that happened. And so we didn't discuss it this morning. When I saw them, they were in great spirits and seem very energized and proud of the work they're doing. But I did go and see them right before they left as they were loading onto buses and getting ready to fly up here. Went to kind of the send off ceremony. And you could sense that there, I mean, it was literally just a couple days after the West Virginia Guard members devastating incident. And you could feel it then. But to see where they are now after being on the ground three weeks later, there was not a sense of, of nervousness or anxiety, but really a true sense of pride in what they're doing. And you can see that in the conversation and makes me really privileged and honored that I get to be the governor and lead that incredible group of people.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that's great. Did you stop by that big white house down in the corner to see any old friends while you're up here?

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

I did. I got to pop in over there yesterday. You know, they said still let me in when I worked there. I was worried my badge wouldn't swipe. Now I feel like I, I had days where I wasn't sure. I checked Twitter before I came in.

[Josh Holmes]

Any given day you could get the X, but.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

But now I, you know, got to, to walk in and, and see some friends and they're doing amazing work in a short amount of time. And so it was great to be back over there. There's part of it. Some of it feels exactly the same. And then at this, there are other parts that feel so vastly and wildly different that it was kind of surreal to walk around for a few minutes.

[Michael Duncan]

Did you run into any reporters used to mix it up with in the briefing room?

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

You know, I really didn't definitely try to avoid that. Like stepped up a notch just when I got to lower press and I decided not to step through and make it all the way to the briefing room.

[Josh Holmes]

So it's like ptsd.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

It was enough just to be, like, in the vicinity that I decided to keep my spirits high. It's the Christmas season, after all, so I didn't go in.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, right. You're looking at decoration. Like, Mr. President, what happened to the east wind? I think, Boy, last time I was here, this sure looked different.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

I think that it is very needed.

[Michael Duncan]

Totally, totally.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

I mean, it's crazy that there isn't a space for the hundreds of events that take place. And, you know, he's going to take a lot of heat, but he's also, by the time it's finished, I mean, it will be very close to the end of his term. So he's really doing this.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like the most altruistic thing ever.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Yeah, I was like, this is not something that is going to be finished in the next couple of months and he will be able to enjoy. But so I think it's a needed project. And he's probably the only person, one, that could raise the money and two, that could stand the pressure of just bulldozing through and saying, I'm doing it.

[Michael Duncan]

He's also been talking about this since the Obama administration. You know, I mean, like, way before he ran for president. United States. I'm convinced the only, like, lobbying operation, opposition to this are, like, event companies with tent space.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, that's probably right.

[Michael Duncan]

I think that's probably right.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, so tell us about what you're working on. I know ag stuff is really big in your state, and I know you've had a focus on that a lot, lot of discussion throughout the country as it relates to trade and where farmers are at. Big announcement by the administration, I guess, What, a week, 10 days ago? Your thoughts?

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

I mean, right now is certainly one of the toughest times that we've experienced in Arkansas for our ag community. And so the announcement last week is incredibly helpful. So desperately needed. Arkansas alone, just in our row, crops will lose about 1 billion and a half dollars, and it's our number one industry. So it is a huge difficulty in what is taking place. And you can see a sense of anxiety among our farmers. Everywhere you go, everybody you talk to, they don't know if they can make it through to the next farming season. And so this is a big boost, a huge help. But I think the other part that really is going to make a difference in one of the areas where President Trump is right to Focus on is what does that look like long term? This is great in the immediate and certainly incredibly high, helpful and desperately needed. But what are we doing to really fix things for three years, four years, five years from now? We have to open up new markets, we have to get better trade back and forth going. And he's leaning into that space, as you know, really heavily. That I think is going to be what gives a lot more long term sustainability for our ag community. And I think it is one of the things that has been so ignored during the Biden administration. They didn't have a single new trade deal and we're feeling the impact of that. After four years of zero increases, our farmers are taking all of that on their shoulders. And a country that is dependent on another country for food can certainly not be free, can certainly not be secure. And that's what scares me the most, is that people are not including, including the national security piece in this conversation. If we aren't focused on protecting our food source and we find ourselves dependent, certainly if we become dependent on our adversaries, we're in real trouble. I'm thankful that we're leaning into this space. We're going to continue to focus on it heavily in our state and keep working with the administration to secure our food source for a long term.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, you're talking about competition among governors and I feel like Arkansas's got a pretty good edge in one aspect, that there's only one governor in the country who worked on the inside and has an advocate for their state in a way that you totally understand how to navigate Trump world. Nobody, I mean, 49 other states are kind of looking up at that. And I mean, your phone has to be ringing off the hook from people in the state who are like, yeah, you know what you're supposed to do, you know, these people help.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Yeah. Sometimes it's a blessing and a curse. Everybody expects you just can snap your fingers and make magic happen. Which, as you know, is.

[Josh Holmes]

Meanwhile, the White House is like, not her again.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Yeah, didn't we block her number already? Like, I thought we were done here, but, you know, so there, there's certainly the, the pros and cons of that situation. But I'm proud and thankful of the good relationship not just with the president, but a lot of his team around him. Several of the senior staff that were there in the first administration and then a lot of the cabinet have had a chance to either work with in the past or get to know during the campaign and in the first several months of the administration and so we're, we're working closely with them, and they're, I know, probably tired of getting lots of covers, some more than others.

[Josh Holmes]

We won't know.

[John Ashbrook]

That's all right.

[Josh Holmes]

You're doing your job. You know, you wouldn't be doing your job if you weren't.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

But the difference is in this administration versus the last one, they actually take our calls.

[Josh Holmes]

So that's exactly. It's kind of nice to hear. All right, so look, economically, it's obviously a huge focus. Midterms are almost always determined at some level and people how they feel about the economy. And amazingly, Democrats woke up in the month of October, four years after engaging in just a ruinous economic policy. And they're like, wow, things cost a lot. It's like, yeah, yeah, you did it. You know, we're trying to undo it. Affordability, costs, health care. How do you see not only just the economy as it relates to Arkansas, but the political landscape? Because you're really good at that part, too.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

And I'm up this cycle, and so I'm on the ballot in 26, and so paying very close attention to what that looks like. But I think you're right. The economy is going to play a very pivotal role in what the next 11 months look like for Republicans. I think that once the impact of one big, beautiful bill goes into effect and you start to see more Americans getting money back as gas prices continue to lower, I think things like that are going to help. And I think that one of the most important pieces of the puzzle for this cycle is the president going out and selling and telling his story. Nobody does it better. Nobody has more influence or a bigger microphone and a better ability to energize our base. And so him going out and engaging in the midterms, I think is going to make a big difference on whether or not we win or lose some key races. And so I'm hopeful and I hear that that is the plan, and I hope that he does that. One, I think he likes it. Two, he's really good at it. And three, it's going to be desperately needed for us to close the gap and we really push voter turnout that we're going to need from a lot of those Trump specific voters to show up and push people over the line.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, you certainly can't allow Democrats to come up with a narrative about the economy at this point. I mean, it's just a wild proposition that we're even having discussion. They build Obamacare and complain about health.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Care and then tell us how expensive it is. It's like, wait a minute, don't you remember us saying this for like a decade? But the. This was going to happen and it was going to be really expensive.

[Michael Duncan]

Then they pumped trillions of dollars into the economy and they're like, boy, this inflation going on with all that, what.

[Josh Holmes]

Are you Trump people doing about that?

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Or, I don't know. When you pay people so much money to sit at home and do nothing and then can't figure out why people aren't working right.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like, obviously they're also surprised to find out there was a touch of fraud involved.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Just a smidge.

[Josh Holmes]

Just a smidge. I can't imagine you all are dealing with any of that, but I know a lot of governors are. I mean, all those, like, state and local funds and all of that.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

All of those things. And, and that's the.

[Josh Holmes]

You hear about that from colleagues so.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Much onto the shoulders of the states that a lot of times there can be a disconnect between what's happening in Washington and then who actually has to implement and carry out the policies up there. It's like, hey, guys, hold on just a second. We've got some thoughts here.

[Josh Holmes]

Especially in that case Covid era, where all of a sudden you had $4 trillion slushing around. They're like, oh, you're. By the way, this is all your stuff. You're like, what?

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

And then, you know, they fund a lot of these groups and organizations and then it stops. And then they all look to you and say, hey, we, we're now kind of used to getting this money. Now what are we supposed to do? Right. What were you doing before? We may need you to go back to that. But it all then falls on the governors to navigate and figure that out. I mean, we've been dealing with that a lot over the last several months of. As this funding rolls back and as it goes away, what are the programs that are really effective, that are working, that we should continue to support and invest in, and what are the ones that probably shouldn't have existed in the first place, and how do we move away from that? But the titles of them sound really good. And you take a lot of heat when you're getting rid of something that sounds good on paper but may not actually be doing what it's supposed to?

[Josh Holmes]

It's a gift of liberal governance.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

It's the always have to be the bad guy.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

And it's hard to compete with free.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

And the other side's like, we'll give you everything and we'll do it all for free. And you're like, oh, we've got the.

[Michael Duncan]

Rainbows and free puppies.

[Josh Holmes]

Turns out it's not free free. So we've been talking this week, obviously, the horrific attacks over the weekend and the Bondi beach one we did a show on Tuesday about. And I know that you've weighed in on this. Just global thoughts.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

You know, I think now more than ever, we cannot be dictated or guided by fear. And this is a time where we have to stand up and talk about what we believe in and why we believe it. And, you know, one of the biggest concerns I have is that people retreat instead of stepping up to the front lines and being really public about sharing our faith. This is a season where we are supposed to be celebrating our faith, not hiding it away. And so I don't ever want us to see evil went out over good. And that happens when good people don't stand up and fight back. And so I'm very hopeful that this ignites a spirit of celebration and of public affirmation of what we believe in and why we believe it.

[Josh Holmes]

So well said. A perfect message for this time of year because it is easy for folks to look around and say, I don't want any part of this. It's a dangerous world. What's my role in that? But you're right. If you don't say something, you don't stand up for your faith, particularly at moments like this.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

What are we doing here exactly? And I'm, you know, hopeful, as I've had the chance to visit some of the smaller communities around our state, even was on a college campus a few weeks ago, to see young people that are energized by. By what is happening and wanting in a way that maybe we haven't seen them engage in recent years. So it is. It gives you hope for the future to know that that next generation of students and people are willing to step up even when it's hard and continue to fight for the values that our country was founded on and do that in a way that is unapologetic and unafraid. And so I encourage and am hopeful that we'll see more and more of that.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it's great. Listen, I gotta imagine Christmas is a pretty big deal around the Sanders household, particularly with kids in their particular age brackets. What are you guys gonna do? You gonna blow it out?

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

You know, we try to keep it kind of cool at Christmas. Please don't obligate me to anything bigger.

[Josh Holmes]

Than what I had the ambassador's on his way.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Hey dad. We are actually going to spend some time with my parents in Israel over Christmas which is going to be pretty special and amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

That's neat.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

And a historic thing for us to get through. Our kids have not been there before and so to do that and celebrate there with my parents while he is serving in this capacity I think will be pretty remarkable.

[Josh Holmes]

That is going to be very. Just to talk about a once in a lifetime opportunity. That's fun.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Well, listen, so they may not get as much under the tree too.

[Josh Holmes]

So yeah, you gotta hedge expectations, children, if you're listening.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Actually, just to be clear. Love you guys, but I hope my kids are not listening. Based off of some of the things I have heard previously and some of the commentary. I think that's for the.

[Josh Holmes]

Everybody's got to grow up sometime. Just have a helping hand with all of that.

[John Ashbrook]

She's saying. Not today. Not today.

[Josh Holmes]

You are the absolute best. Thank you so much for stopping in. We always appreciate the visit and you let us know how we can be helpful. You mentioned you're on the ballot. Where can people find what you're up to?

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Yeah. Well, first, as you noted, everybody's moving to Arkansas. It's the cool popular thing to do. So we encourage everybody to go ahead and move. Many people are saying they're going to vote for me, then do that before November because we'd really love your support. But they can go to our website and engage and sign up to be part of what we're doing, be part of our effort. Sarah sanders.com and would love anybody that is interested and willing to be supportive to do so.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Excellent. I hope you go do that because she is one of the best, one of the bright young stars we have in the Republican Party across the this country. So thanks for stopping in.

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]

Yeah. Thank you guys. Merry Christmas.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. Merry Christmas.

[Josh Holmes]

Merry Christmas.

[John Ashbrook]

Love it when she comes by. I mean she's obviously got an incredible future. She's doing really big things in Arkansas and I just, I can't wait to hear more from her.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I mean she's just, she's incredibly good. She's generationally appropriate and that she can talk to everybody about real life things that the center of this electorate is dealing with and she's doing the stuff right. She's not out there like self promoting everything. People in Arkansas love her and we, we welcome her back anytime. Great, great Governor, very good person. Appreciate her coming on in. Remember our question of the day, what's it going to take? How do we get Democrats on board with solving the problem of radical Islamic terrorism. What is it going to take, folks, when you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety program, We read all of your comments, get back to you the very next episode. In this case, it's going to be fun time Friday. And we're going to have a fun time on Friday. It's getting close to the holidays, so there's that. With that, fellas, I think we did it.

[Smug]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much to Governor Sanders and thank you to listeners. Like Holmes said, 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 lids. We'll see you on Friday. Stay ruthless.