Deep State Strikes Back

Summary

Ruthless Podcast – Episode Summary: "Deep State Strikes Back" (January 30, 2025)

Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook

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Introduction

In the January 30, 2025, episode of the "Ruthless Podcast," hosts Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook dive deep into the escalating political tensions surrounding the "deep state" and the recent federal funding freeze initiated by the Trump administration. The episode, titled "Deep State Strikes Back," navigates through the complexities of federal grant reviews, Democratic backlash, media dynamics, and significant policy changes, all framed within the hosts' conservative viewpoints.

Federal Funding Freeze and Deep State Dynamics

Josh Holmes kicks off the discussion by highlighting a major conflict of the week:

"Deep state strikes back in some ways in that there was a big argument this week..." [00:00]

The core issue revolves around the Trump administration's decision to freeze federal grants to review their allocations and effectiveness. Michael Duncan elaborates on the administration's intentions:

"The Trump administration was saying is that we would like to review them and make sure that they actually are doing what they're supposed to be doing." [00:21]

In contrast, John Ashbrook criticizes the Democratic response:

"We can convince people that they should be spending their money on our insane, frivolous shit." [00:38]

The hosts argue that this freeze is a pivotal move to curb government waste and increase accountability, positioning it as a direct challenge to entrenched bureaucratic interests.

Democratic Backlash and Legal Challenges

The episode delves into the vehement opposition from Democrats, who perceive the funding freeze as a threat to their established programs. Josh Holmes summarizes the Democrats' reaction:

"The left is like, no, no, no there can't be any review of this." [06:18]

John Ashbrook emphasizes the unprecedented nature of the administration's move:

"I think it's the first time in our lifetime, maybe ever, that administration came in and they said, we want to review where every penny of your money is going to your taxpayers." [06:32]

This section also covers the rapid legal responses, including lawsuits filed to block the freeze, highlighting a constitutional crisis as perceived by the hosts:

"It's a constitutional crisis that he's reviewed where taxpayer money is going." [07:58]

Impact on Federal Workers and Bureaucracy Reform

A significant portion of the discussion focuses on the Trump administration's strategy to reduce the federal workforce. Josh Holmes outlines the administration's approach:

"He offered... pay federal workers who don't want to return to the office by September 30th their full wages." [44:26]

John Ashbrook adds critical insights into the nature of federal employment, suggesting widespread inefficiency:

"People in the private sector are like, oh, get a job. That's what you gotta do." [45:10]

The hosts praise this initiative as a bold step toward dismantling what they term a "bloated mess" within federal agencies.

Tax Cuts and Economic Policies

Michael Duncan announces a major campaign by Americans for Prosperity:

"They've just launched a massive $20 million campaign to protect your hard-earned money." [26:26]

The discussion underscores the importance of renewing Trump-era tax cuts to foster economic growth and alleviate financial burdens on families:

"Join the fight. Visit ProtectProsperity.com to demand Congress renews and strengthens the Trump tax cut." [26:26]

Immigration Reforms and the Lake and Riley Act

A focal point of the episode is the signing of the Lake and Riley Act by President Trump, which targets illegal immigration and enhances border security. John Ashbrook lauds the legislation:

"President Trump, Lake and Riley act are putting that to an end." [34:32]

Comfortably Smug highlights the legal empowerment provided to states:

"This is the long tail of this legislation which is going to be super helpful." [35:23]

The hosts view this act as a monumental effort to protect American communities from illegal immigrants and associated criminal activities.

Media Critique and CNN’s Jim Acosta Departure

The podcast critiques media figures, particularly focusing on Jim Acosta's departure from CNN. Josh Holmes remarks:

"This is the embodiment of the end of that [adversarial] relationship." [50:01]

The hosts express disappointment over Acosta's exit, viewing it as a loss in the struggle against what they perceive as biased media coverage.

Interactive Segments and Satire

To maintain engagement, the hosts incorporate playful segments like "King of the Hill," where they humorously debate and critique political figures’ statements. This segment features mock trials and satirical commentary, adding a layer of entertainment while reinforcing their political narratives.

Notable Quotes

• Josh Holmes [00:00]: "Deep state strikes back in some ways in that there was a big argument this week..."
• Michael Duncan [00:21]: "The Trump administration was saying is that we would like to review them and make sure that they actually are doing what they're supposed to be doing."
• John Ashbrook [00:38]: "We can convince people that they should be spending their money on our insane, frivolous shit."
• John Ashbrook [34:32]: "President Trump, Lake and Riley act are putting that to an end."
• Comfortably Smug [35:23]: "This is the long tail of this legislation which is going to be super helpful."
• Josh Holmes [50:01]: "This is the embodiment of the end of that [adversarial] relationship."

Conclusion

The "Deep State Strikes Back" episode presents a fervent critique of Democratic policies and entrenched federal bureaucracy, championing the Trump administration's efforts to enforce fiscal responsibility and border security. Through a blend of serious discourse and satirical segments, the hosts aim to inform and engage their audience, advocating for conservative values and systemic reform.

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Note: This summary excludes non-content sections such as advertisements, intros, and outros, as per the provided guidelines.

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

Deep state strikes back in some ways in that there was a big argument this week and we're going to get you up to date on exactly what it is that's happening on this freeze. They seized upon the federal freeze of grants, taxpayer grants. It's like here is the outrage thing.

[Michael Duncan]

The Trump administration was saying is that we would like to review them.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

And make sure that they actually are doing what they're supposed to be doing. And the left is like, no, no.

[Josh Holmes]

The response was like, we've got them now. We've got them now.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, no. We can convince people that they should be spending their money on our insane, frivolous.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't have to tell you, Americans are ready for what's next. Moving beyond the hardships of inflation and economic anxiety towards building a future, a better future for our families. Ensuring greater access to more affordable energy that powers daily lives. Reliable energy that fuels innovation and economic growth, and the abundant energy that keeps our nation safer and more secure. It's all within our grasp. We'll do this together, building a brighter future for us. Powered by America's oil and natural gas resources. You can learn more about all of [e-mail].

[Michael Duncan]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Comfortably Smug]

Just a catching strays over here.

[Josh Holmes]

If you're in for a hell of a show, keep the faith, hold the.

[John Ashbrook]

Line and own the libs.

[Michael Duncan]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Thursday to everybody. Welcome to the Ruthless Variety Program. I'm Josh Holmes along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan. John Ashbrook, left to right across your radio dial as always. Should we just go gate antics here, fellas? Should we just get right into like whatever you want to talk about or you want to get to the news? What should we do?

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, there's so much to cover. I say we get right into it.

[Josh Holmes]

Are you sure? I mean, you don't want to like kibitz?

[John Ashbrook]

You look at what all this administration's been already getting done. We got, we got an action packed show, but smug.

[Josh Holmes]

I was told reliably that you just wanted the kibits at the top of this.

[John Ashbrook]

I, so I, I, I was, I came into the office, I came and. No, no, I said I could not be more thrilled because I kind of hinted at it in the last episode, but it's really hinting me of how like you don't have to worry that government's gonna, government and everything's gonna be a slog. Yeah, this administration is, it's, it hits.

[Josh Holmes]

Different, it's doing stuff.

[John Ashbrook]

It's actually happening.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. And they're all having to respond to it. We're gonna get into all of that deep state strikes back in some ways in that there was a big argument this week and we're gonna get you up to date on exactly what it is that's happening on this freeze, federal spending freeze that was announced by the White House. Democrats got their panties all in a huge bunch and convince themselves that this is the road back, which is mostly. I can't wait to get into the meat of this because that just. It's unbelievable. Meanwhile, Trump is continuing to lay things out. The federal workers being offered a severance to just go home.

[John Ashbrook]

So great.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like, hey, man, you haven't come to the office or done much of anything for the last four years. I'll pay you to September to beat it.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, I saw the number. Was it. This is 2 million. 2 million.

[Michael Duncan]

And the instructions. Just type the word resign into the subject and click send.

[John Ashbrook]

They make it so easy to say.

[Josh Holmes]

That, you know, we don't need a lot. There doesn't need to be a lot of paperwork here. Just resign, send it on back, and you can be on your way. Go get another job. They were like, you don't have to hold out and you certainly don't have to do anything more. You've done enough.

[Comfortably Smug]

God forbid, don't come into the office. Don't get a banker's box. Just reply to this email.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. And then get the hell out of here. Anyway, we got something on that. Then we got variety. Kick of the Hill back again today as we do on Thursdays. And then there's a. Another fat. So that we need to.

[John Ashbrook]

Is there. Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Hold them accountable. Oh, I saw this. This is great. Variety.

[Josh Holmes]

So we got all of that. So we'll start with the top of the news, which I'm gonna reorder a little bit. So, you know, like Spaghett's. Pay attention to me here for a minute because what I just talked about in terms of Democrats, for those of you who don't know, like, obviously you watch the news and, you know, they're off their moorings. They're not sure how to handle all these things. There's so much coming at them fast and furious. The deep in their bones, they hate. They don't know what to attack. And they know they need to attack because their progressive base wants it. But then also the smarter ones amongst them know that they just got their doors blown off in an election. And the policy that this administration is pursuing is like 50 or above on Almost everything.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. I saw polling came out just yesterday saying that approval rating for Republicans, all time high, all time high that they've ever recorded. Was it like 54% or something? And Democrats were in the 30s.

[Josh Holmes]

All time low.

[Michael Duncan]

Quinnipiac poll.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. An all time low in the history of the Quinnipiac poll. So, like, you know, listen, if you've been around long enough, you've seen these things on both sides. I remember 09 after the Barack Obama victory, Republicans were a very dark place and you had to kind of search to figure out where you could get footing. Started with a stimulus, led to Obamacare, led to his big Republican revolutionary. So it's not, you know, when you're down bad, you can find your way back. I don't think they're down bad. I don't think it's what they're doing. Yeah. That's the thing, though. You see all this nonsense in these confirmation hearings, none of it looks particularly persuasive to me. But they seized upon the federal freeze of grants, taxpayer grants, is like, here's the outrage, which is outrage.

[Michael Duncan]

The only thing the Trump administration was saying is that we would like to review them.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

And make sure that they actually are doing what they're supposed to be doing. And the left is like, no, no, no, there can't be any review of this.

[John Ashbrook]

Thing is, I think it's the first time in our lifetime, maybe ever, that administration came in and they said, we want to review where every penny of your money is going to your taxpayers.

[Josh Holmes]

And just think about, like how it.

[Michael Duncan]

Shouldn'T be a revolutionary thought.

[John Ashbrook]

That's the thing.

[Josh Holmes]

That's the whole concept of what they're talking about is exactly what you just said. And the response was like, we've got them now, we've got them out.

[John Ashbrook]

No, we can convince people that they should be spending their money on our insane, frivolous shit.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, right. And so immediately they file all kinds of lawsuits. As a federal judge that temporarily blocked the funding freeze, which in and of itself is hysterical. There's a federal judge that put themselves in the middle of all this that said the administration that is administering the money that Congress appropriated in this wide. The way it works is Congress gives you money to do stuff and the administration has these agencies that then decide what merits qualification, what's a wise expenditure within the confines that they gave them this money. Now you can understand how Joe Biden's administration may have some different priorities than that of Donald Trump and may have some priorities like we saw, we talked about on this show shoveling money out the door during the lame duck to try to make sure all their buddies were paid.

[Michael Duncan]

That's it.

[John Ashbrook]

This was basically like, okay, fellas, like, you know, the water's turning off. Let's just get as much out of the bank heist as we can and hand it to our buddies.

[Josh Holmes]

And they're like, no, no, no, no, no.

[Comfortably Smug]

Fill the bathtub.

[John Ashbrook]

That's what it was.

[Josh Holmes]

This is a constitutional crisis that he's reviewed where taxpayer money is going. I want you, Schumer, who I think perfectly, perfectly lays out exactly where Democrats are on all this. We can go to clip one, please. People are aroused. I haven't seen people so aroused in a very, very long time in terms of going, trying to get this done. So, yes, I think democracy will have an effect and we are going to keep at it. We're going to keep at it legally, we're going to keep at it legislatively, but we're also going to keep at it in terms of the grassroots. Thank you, everybody.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, he has a point when he was like, aroused. I mean, there are a lot of people who, I imagine taxpayers, when they were told that we're going to take a look at where your money is being spent, make sure it's not being wasted. There are some people who probably had to call a doctor after a few hours.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, I wish we could just pop the clip back up just to see the pit. Aroused and Chuck Schirmer and Patty Murray in the same frame is not something typically that you go to.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

When using that particular vocabulary word. But this is. He's being gen. They're like aroused.

[John Ashbrook]

That was good.

[Josh Holmes]

People are aroused. People are aroused. No, but it also tells you everything that you need to know about the way that Democrats see the world. Now, if you live in Washington, D.C. or if you're anywhere around the Beltway, chances are you encounter people who make a living on federal grants in one form or fashion. And when you do, they get pretty outraged if you shut those things off.

[John Ashbrook]

The worst people.

[Josh Holmes]

Right. You get pretty outraged. And I'm not saying everybody's hell. We probably have some. A lot of listeners that, that are in this category. And there are plenty of things. I got friends. There are plenty of things where they have a partnership with the federal government, where they do things. And these are people with integrity and whatever. And when you're dealing with the federal government, it's big and it's whatever, but it's those people that provide insulation for all of the bullshit that gets tucked Underneath it, that's the thing.

[John Ashbrook]

There is a professional class. And you saw this lady on Twitter who was losing her mind. She's the CEO of like the nonprofit organization of people who get grants from the government, crying. She was going crazy about this. And her replies were awesome. Because essentially we were like, wait a minute, this is our money. Why do you think you're guaranteed to get this? And clearly these, these people, some of these organizations getting grants have enough money to pay you as a CEO of an organization to advocate for them getting even more money. Like what?

[Comfortably Smug]

You know, it's not exactly a reliable narrator, I guess. Oh yeah, it'd be like, it'd be like, you know, Congress passes a tax cut and you're like, all right, let's see what the IRS press release says.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I mean it's, listen, it's ridiculous. Now they rolled it out and there was some confusion. Like you saw people like Governor Glenn Youngkin, who's extremely supportive of President Trump's ability to go in and review, like needed some clarification on what it was that he was turning the spigots off on. And so they provided that all through the day on Tuesday and Wednesday about what things were coming down. And you saw Stephen Miller go out to say this doesn't affect Medicaid, it doesn't affect Meals on Wheels and all the like individual programs that the federal government has a partnership with that are their direct beneficiaries. He said basically what they are is a response to the, the executive orders. And he's find yourself within the confines of these executives. Like a DEI program, for example, you're gonna shut that off.

[John Ashbrook]

And Alex Pfeiffer was also out there. Cuz he's, I guess the White House has a great rapid response operation. Like within seconds Alex Pfeiffer and the rapid response operation were putting out information that like these necessary programs are unaffected folks. Because the Democrats instantly seized on trying to be like Trump's trying to starve senior citizens.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, they straight up told people exactly. And nothing shows you the power of these left wing, multi billion dollar NGOs quite like how quickly they snapped the mainstre to their talking points and forced the White House to basically debunk all of the lies that they were telling. It's just like you said, Josh, these programs that people want to ask questions about elected a new leader to ask questions about millions, hundreds of millions of dollars going to open our borders to bring in all of these migrants. People are like, well wait a minute, why are we spending all that Money. And they're like, no, no, no, no, you're going to lose your program because I'm going to lose mine. That's just not the case. Very dishonest.

[Comfortably Smug]

They're acting like it's, you know, this great program to clean up the watershed or it's like a Meals on Wheels to senior citizens. And it's like they're making that argument because they're trying to run cover for what is this non profit industrial complex.

[John Ashbrook]

Bingo.

[Comfortably Smug]

That controls the swamp in so many ways through this grant making program. And it's not just DEI or some of these green initiatives that the Biden administration was shoveling cash out the door at the last minute to try to fund. It's also like millions and millions of dollars that have been paid to nonprofits to resettle all these illegal immigrants across the country.

[Josh Holmes]

How do you think we've been flying them across the country? Right. It's these things.

[John Ashbrook]

And that's the thing. It's like we are currently having a crackdown by the grace of God, President Trump and Tom Homan on capturing these illegal aliens. And at the same time, taxpayer money is going to resettle house and fly these people across the country.

[Josh Holmes]

No, it's inconsistent. But I think like the broader point is if you're actually interested in reducing the footprint of government, if you're interested in some kind of fiscal responsibility, I mean, oh, by the way, we're $35 trillion in debt. Not good by any stretch of the imagination. But if you're interested in doing something about that, at least on the margins. And you can't actually stop or freeze federal grant programs. I'm not talking about entitlements. Yeah, you can't like around the. We're talking about less than 10% of the budget is awful. It's unconstitutional, as they say, to stop it and look to make sure it's going to the correct recipients. If you can't do that in the first week of a new administration with different priorities, when can you do it? And I think that answers the question of why Democrats have been so successful over the years of expanding the size and the scope of government. Because they have made it. It's prohibitive to ever look. If you even stop. It makes Chuck Schumer aroused. He's aroused, folks.

[Comfortably Smug]

This is.

[Josh Holmes]

You've never seen a more aroused Chuck Schumer.

[John Ashbrook]

It's like you describe him like Duncan scrub. This is just like they don't want any light to be shined on this NGO government grant money industrial complex in the darkness they're like growing like a fungus, right? And they spread far and wide. And they've gotten used to just like sucking taxpayer money and sucking taxpayer money. They don't want any attention on this. And they've gotten to the point where, I mean, you've seen they've built out this Soros judge and prosecutor network across the country. So of course they can find a D.C. judge to be like, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's unconstitutional. Stop the money going to this swamp complex.

[Michael Duncan]

That's exactly right. In the speed with which they all like activated on this betrays where their budget is going. It's not going to the people who need it. It's going to advertising and press secretaries and marketing companies, public affairs operations. It is going to protect the protection of these left wing NGOs.

[Josh Holmes]

That's it.

[Michael Duncan]

And so I think that there's a very fair question that can be asked by the President who was popularly elected by the American people, maybe we should reconsider.

[Josh Holmes]

Is it not his responsibility?

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Because look, their argument, the reason they claim it's unconstitutional, is that Congress technically appropriates money to go to certain things and it's not in the remit of the Executive. I'm getting technical. This is more technical than I usually get here in the variety program. But you ought to know this. It's not in the remit of the executive to say we're not spending it. They don't have that. They can figure out how to spend it wisely and they can choose amongst a range of options on how to deliver the money. But once the money is appropriated by Congress, technically that's the constitutional lineup. Now, Congress completely fucked itself about 15 years ago where because of a lot of scandal or whatever, they banned what they called earmarks. Earmarks erased all of these issues in that you didn't leave it up to an administration to actually decide where the money goes. What you did was very specifically write into each appropriations bill exactly where the money goes. Now, they became unpopular in conservative circles. My guess is it's going to become a lot more popular now because it actually is a way of saving money and you have direct accountability to that member of Congress.

[Comfortably Smug]

Sure, that is true. However, I would note back in the day when these earmarks got crazy, there was more accountability. Technically, some people wouldn't claim their earmarks and that became a huge problem, the appropriations process. And then also like sometimes they were funding some like donor's pet project to some congressman and it was even more bullshit.

[Josh Holmes]

But I think that kind of raises My point, right, which is we'd find out about this and then people would. I mean, in. So in at least one case, a congressman was prosecuted for doing exactly that. So there was direct accountability. Now you just allot $50 billion to some nameless agency and some fucking dweebs who you've never met a day in your life, right? They're gonna sort of decide for the rest of us where their money goes. Where does it go? Where does it go? Where it goes is these left wing organizations, whatever cause celeb of the President Elect, you know, all this kind of stuff. And so now you found yourself where the only tool that a President Trump might have when he walks into office, you say, pause, we're going to look at all this stuff.

[Comfortably Smug]

Do they have grant requests, forms we could fill out for, like, I don't know, a startup new media company that wants to provide alternative ways of people to be informed in this country?

[Josh Holmes]

You laugh, but I remember in the Obama years, there were people in the political world who made political ads that got monster contracts from hhs.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Holmes]

To put ads together to promote the usage of Obamacare.

[Michael Duncan]

Dude, it still exists. There are 30 second broadcast television ads informing people that healthcare.gov is a website.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

I am not kidding you. This is money that our government spent.

[Josh Holmes]

That tens of billions of dollars. It shows up. You guys probably seen them. Like football broadcasts. Yeah. You know, you watch Box or CBS Football. Like, it's on. Like, they'll have like, go to cms.gov and you're like, find out your Medicare or whatever. And it's like, no, fuck out. Like, can't you mail something to somebody? Do we have to spend $20 million on that? But this is the kind of stuff that arouses Chuck Schumer to fight for, right? That is unconstitutional for a president to do. I cannot think of a better ground to fight on. It's one of Trump's superpowers, right? He does something like, I bet 80% of people agree with freezing funding to look at, see where it goes. And like, ultimately draws out Democrats in a pure panic. And they're absolutely convinced it's their way back to the White House in four years, that they fight over this ground.

[Michael Duncan]

To your point, if it wasn't for Trump, you listening to this show would never know that your tax dollars, which were collected last April 15, were spent to the tune of $50 million buying condoms for people in Gaza.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, not according to Glenn Kessler at the Washington Post. I know, I know how highly esteemed you Think his work is smug.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, the guy is literally a criminal. His family's been criminals, too. His family tree documented.

[Comfortably Smug]

Are we saying literally here?

[John Ashbrook]

Well, I mean, his family. This is a known fact. I can be fact checked. And it's why, as litigious as he could want to be, he cannot disprove the fact that his family owned factories that did things for the Nazis, literally.

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh, my God.

[John Ashbrook]

I swear to God. Look it up. No, seriously, I'm being dead serious.

[Comfortably Smug]

This isn't a bit.

[John Ashbrook]

This is not a bit.

[Comfortably Smug]

But how does that make him a criminal?

[John Ashbrook]

It's in his blood.

[Comfortably Smug]

Okay, okay.

[Josh Holmes]

We're laughing, we're joking. It's a parody.

[Michael Duncan]

But the point remains. A lot of money is wasted out there. And if you don't have Donald Trump in the office.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, take what you know. I mean, they spent billions of dollars building a pier, right, that was never meant to be borne out into the ocean, that promptly collapsed in Gaza, drowning all kinds of shit with it. Billions of dollars worth of aid.

[Michael Duncan]

Right?

[Josh Holmes]

Like, you know that. Do you think maybe if you knew something about that. We don't know what the next one is, but I bet the Trump administration does now. Do you think it's worth putting pause on it?

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, exactly. You work your ass off 52 weeks a year. Every time you get a paycheck, you see money come out of it to the federal government. Goes from you to the federal government to a bullshit peer in Gaza.

[Comfortably Smug]

But that arouses. Chuck Schumer.

[Josh Holmes]

Really arouses. And you look at Patty's eye, it looked like she had a little arousal there.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, the timing could not be better because, I mean, I know a lot of folks. I got the email from my accountant being like, the IRS is now accepting filing. It's like, now you want to tell taxpayers pairs that, no, no, no, no. We want to take your money and spend it however we want.

[Josh Holmes]

And they're like, no, don't. Stop it. Don't. Don't you dare stop it. So anyway, what happens is the Trump administration has to go put out several clarifications about what exactly they're targeting. The way the AP writes this up is that they've rescinded the order. They've rescinded the order, which, you know, got my attention because I was like, no way. I can't believe they actually backed down on this. Well, again, turns out the Associated Press not correct. Carolyn Levitt, who did a great job this week, by the way, on her first awesome start. Great, great job. Yesterday, she puts Out. This is not a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo. And it was a memo that went out initially saying, like, full freeze. Why? To end any confusion created by the courts injunction. So they're working through the court injunction on this. The president's EO on federal funding remains in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

So there you go. They're not backing down and they're going to make a court talk about it. But more importantly, what they're doing is making Democrats talk about it. These are the fights worth having. And this is the thing that Trump gets instinctively. It's like, it may be uncomfortable to get into some of these fights to begin with, but once you're on the playing field and you look at it, you got Chuck Schumer sitting there aroused by the idea that someone could ever take away billions of dollars of boondoggles, that we have absolutely no idea where they go. People are aroused.

[Comfortably Smug]

We got to get that in the board. We got to bring the old board back.

[Michael Duncan]

Lee. Lee, Wolf has a solution.

[Josh Holmes]

Wolf's working on the board? Yeah, he's working for the board. When you guys get the board, if you're a new listener, you don't know how good you're going to be about to have it for your old schoolers. The board was like, that was the. That was a thing with the program.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. I mean, we're basically like. We're like David Guetta with that thing, you know, racist. Just doing remixes all day.

[John Ashbrook]

Imagine Ashbrook has that thing. Chuck Schumer. People are aroused. Kamala, do not come. President Trump. I'm gonna come.

[Comfortably Smug]

Boom, boom, boom.

[Josh Holmes]

No. And he played it like a fiddle. It was fantastic. So anyway, that's what we've got going on. On. On the federal funding freeze. We're going to monitor this closely because it's a fight worth having and one that is very important when it comes up in the context of tax reform and everything else that the President is going to be trying to do here over the next few months. But coming up, mainstream media is also doing their part to sabotage Trump. No surprise. No surprise. We'll tell you about their latest fake outrage, which is truly remarkable right after this.

[Michael Duncan]

So we just got some big news from Americans for Prosperity, the most effective grassroots organization in the country. They've just launched a massive $20 million campaign to protect your hard earned money. Here's the deal. If Congress doesn't act, the Trump tax cuts will exp that means families could pay 1500 more in taxes next year. We all remember the benefits of those tax cuts. More money in your pocket, higher wages, and thriving mom and pop businesses across the country. But Bidenomics has taken us backward. Record inflation and rising costs mean families are paying over $13,000 more per year just to make ends meet. Now is not the time for higher taxes. That's why AFP is unleashing its grassroots army to protect the tax cuts. With hundreds of local events, millions of voter contacts, and direct pressure on lawmakers. Join the fight. Visit ProtectProsperity.com to demand Congress renews and strengthens the Trump tax cut so we can reignite the American dream. That's protect prosperity.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so, yeah, you know, there was a period of time where you. You felt like there was at least a segment of the media that was like, oh, boy, we really are going to have to eat crow on some of this stuff. Like, maybe we should rethink the way we present information now, knowing the majority of Americans think we're fucking dog shit.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And then it was like, no, no, we're back to business as usual. My favorite thing that came out this week, and it was an attempt, I think, to try to, like, undermine Carolyn Levitt.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

There are different ways of what they're doing. One is just to be an asshole, and they just do whatever. But somebody like Carolyn Levitt, who is incredibly talented, new to the scene, there are people within the media complex that look at her and they're like, as quickly as we can undermine her credibility, the better it is for all of us. Yeah, right. Like, make. Make her the. You know, what. What they made of Spicer in the first two months.

[Comfortably Smug]

The White House press corps can be the absolute worst. It's like animals at a zoo testing the electric fencing. You know, they're, like, looking for weaknesses from her. And, I mean, it was a really good performance up there at the podium.

[Josh Holmes]

She did a great job. But this is hilarious coming out of Axios. All undocumented immigrants are criminals. Trump administration says, just insane. Right? And so. And if you watch the press conference, which we did, she confirmed that immigrant groups, they fear being treated as criminals. And she noted the obvious, which is, it's against the law to come into our country illegally.

[John Ashbrook]

Breaking news.

[Josh Holmes]

It would not be illegal if it wasn't in the statute. Right. And so they go through this whole thing and they're like, well, they're clearly insinuating, Trying to insinuate that by. What she means by criminals is that, like, every single Person who's ever come into this country is like a rapist and a drug distributor and whatever. Which is clearly not what she said. What she said was, yeah, if you're. If your action to get into this country is illegal, then you are, in fact a criminal.

[John Ashbrook]

Guess what? Illegal immigrants have broken the law.

[Josh Holmes]

Right, right.

[John Ashbrook]

That's what the word illegal means.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. So. Because it all formulated itself in a question was asked by a reporter. How many of the 3,500 immigrants arrested since Trump took office have criminal records? Levitt said, all of them because they illegally broke our nation's laws.

[John Ashbrook]

And this is the thing. Correct.

[Josh Holmes]

It's exactly a correct statement.

[John Ashbrook]

Media and left wing groups have done this, like, business of trying to make everything confusing and create these, like, gray areas because they purposely changed the words used to describe them from illegals and illegal immigrants, which were, like, we said that for decades they tried to say undocumented, you know, to try to create this fake gray area because they didn't want people to connect instantly. Illegal means illegal.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, it's like undocumented. Like they arrived, you know, through a portal somewhere and they forgot their wallet, you know.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's just, they've used.

[Josh Holmes]

It's just a clumsy misunderstanding.

[Comfortably Smug]

You know, I goofed. I forgot it.

[Josh Holmes]

I was. I was documented, and I'm not. I left it in the cab in Kabul.

[John Ashbrook]

I know where I got it, you.

[Comfortably Smug]

Know, but I mean, they've done that with language for forever. The left is. They're masters of this. And the media, just, just, of course.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, because they're the gatekeepers of conversation. At least they have been until the podcast revolution.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

And, you know, in New York, they decide there is an NGO that has a left wing tilt that's funded by your tax dollars to change the way people are defined in one way or another. And that is carried by all the broadcast networks that are licensed, responsible, ostensibly to you, the taxpayer who holds the license.

[John Ashbrook]

And that's the thing is for legal U.S. citizens. Think about this. If you tried on April 15, saying, well, I'm an undocumented taxpayer, I just didn't fill out the paperwork and send the money.

[Josh Holmes]

I forgot my wallet.

[John Ashbrook]

It's just undocument. I guarantee Dems will go after you for that. They don't believe in undocumented for the US Citizens in that case. But if you're here illegally and they're trying to turn you into a voter, all of a sudden you're undocumented.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Well, if you can pay. If you can actually pay the tax if you can't pay the taxes, you're somebody to be protected. If you can pay, then you're a criminal.

[John Ashbrook]

It's unbelievable.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no, it's, it's. Listen, this whole thing, their voice of God. This is the reality check. I'm not kidding you. This is what they said. This is Axios, this thing. Reality check. There's no law making it a crime to live in the US as an undocumented immigrant.

[Michael Duncan]

What?

[Josh Holmes]

Instead, the law treats it as a civil violation. The law treats it as a. It's against the law. It's against the law. The law treat. It's a civil violation. It's like. I mean, what.

[John Ashbrook]

I can't believe that is.

[Michael Duncan]

That is the libs doing the disinformation.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, deadbeat dadding your kid is also a civil liability, rather, by the way. I mean, I don't know if people, like, if you want to get into.

[John Ashbrook]

The specifics, that might explain a lot of these general problems.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, there's a lot of. It's law. They made a law. Also the crossing. I, I, listen, I'm not a lawyer, but I, I'm pretty sure, like, how you get here is also. There's legal implications in that too. They're talking about the. Just semantics, splitting hairs, you know, But I mean, either way, it's against the law. But this is what they've hang on their hat. Well, she's a liar. She's a liar because she says they're criminals. I mean, what a. Nods. Nobody's listening to shit.

[John Ashbrook]

Nope, they're not podcast or ascendant.

[Josh Holmes]

I was gratified, and I know you guys were too. I think most of us got a chance to watch it. The first signing ceremony that President Trump yesterday participated in, which was the signing of the Lake and Riley Act. This is a topic that we've covered a great deal here on the variety program. Obviously has a lot to do with illegal immigration and the failure to prosecute and detain illegal, illegal immigrants in this country. Soros, prosecutors, State of New York, all kinds of things led to the death of this incredibly beautiful young woman. A tragedy unlike, you know, you just never want to hear about. But it happens in more communities than you'd like to think, and it happens with great frequency. Well, they've done something about it. Katie Britt, Senator from Alabama, authored a bill where they just teed this whole thing up and got it rolling to a point where it was through committee and now onto the President's desk and.

[John Ashbrook]

And also credit to Second week front of the program, Rep. Mike Collins, who.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, Mike Collins was the other.

[John Ashbrook]

Was the other guy going hard in the paint for it.

[Josh Holmes]

And Collins, being from Georgia, obviously had a huge investment for it and pushed this all the way through. I'm sorry, I failed to mention Mike because he'd had a ton to do with this, but the ceremony itself, gosh, I didn't realize how much I missed that. Like something right. And just.

[John Ashbrook]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

Happening with the President of the United States standing behind it formally in the White House with people able to testify about the importance that this means to them in honoring Lakin and what she meant to their family. Like, powerful stuff, don't you think, fellas?

[John Ashbrook]

It's a tribute because like you said, it's a horrible tragedy and one that you've seen so many times across many communities in this country. And Americans got so fed up with it, they did something about it. They elected President Trump. And it's absolutely tragic that Lakin lost her life needlessly, but her legacy is going to be saving so many lives, protecting American communities from illegal immigrants and criminals who were allowed to run amok for years in this country. President Trump, Lake and Riley act are putting that to an end.

[Comfortably Smug]

And there's a lot in here, obviously, that empowers ICE to detain.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Because this is somebody who was arrested.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Arrested.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

As an illegal immigrant for a crime. Not being illegal immigrant. Just arrested for a crime here and was not detained.

[Comfortably Smug]

But the, the other component to this, and we've talked about it previously on the show, and this is my favorite part of this new law, is it gives people the ability, these states to sue DHS for crimes like this that happen, you know, so, like, this is the long tail of this legislation which is going to be super helpful, you know, next time a Democrats in the White House and decides they don't want to enforce our nation's immig, makes them liable, there's a recourse. And that ultimately is the thing is, like, this was such a ridiculous situation that this criminal wasn't deported, let alone just put behind bars.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

And if you don't have a recourse like that, where somebody's going to be liable for letting a criminal out to murder an American, then what are we doing?

[Josh Holmes]

What are we doing? What's the point of your government at all? Yeah, yeah, I completely agree. And listen, it was a great deal. It's a very good law. I'm glad it's. It's passed. I'm really glad it's like the first off the decks because it sets the tone in a very important way. But as we do with President Trump, it's not enough to just do a good thing in and of itself. You gotta add a little gusto. There's always a secret little nugget in there, a little panache, you know, so he's, you know, he's on stage. Everybody expects the bill signing. What do you not expect? Something that's gonna, you know, a little dessert. It's gonna agitate. Agitate all the right people and make all of us extraordinarily happy. Can we play clip three, please? Spaghetts. Today I'm also signing an executive order to instruct the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000 person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay. Most people don't even know about it. We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people. Some of them are so bad, we don't even trust the countries to hold them because we don't want them coming back. So we're going to send them out to Guantanamo. Yes.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. Yes, yes.

[John Ashbrook]

I want to add something specific about this because I think it was last week we were on the Megyn Kelly show, and I said, well, these illegals don't understand the Bill of Rights doesn't apply to them. And Megan, beyond being terrific at letting people know the truth, is also an extremely capable lawyer, an attorney. And she corrected me. She's like, no, no, no. Actually, if they're here, if they're here, the Bill of Rights does. She corrected me.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, where they don't.

[John Ashbrook]

President Trump is like, I know a place where the Bill of Rights doesn't.

[Josh Holmes]

I bet even old Dick Cheney was like, word. I mean, like, that's right.

[John Ashbrook]

That's the way. Because all of a sudden you can give them, you know, a nice little drink of water and. And they're no longer covered under the Bill of Rights as you send them to this magical place.

[Comfortably Smug]

How do we get in touch with somebody that can make comfortably smug? Warden of Gitmo.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

Select.

[John Ashbrook]

And I would serve.

[Josh Holmes]

I need to know you don't have.

[Comfortably Smug]

To be confirmed by the Senate. So you might have shot.

[Josh Holmes]

I can see him. He, you know, he'd be like walking around in one of those Beats beige outfits with the cap, but this like metals and like the shoulder.

[John Ashbrook]

I would want, I would want Tom home and holding the Bible, swear me. And I'd be like, I'm going to do it.

[Comfortably Smug]

I think, I think he'd need some of those, like polarized reflective aviators.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, like that. Like, like an old school Omar Gaddafi. Yeah, right.

[John Ashbrook]

Like I would run that place like clockwork. I'll tell you right now. I mean, it would be an absolute pleasure. I open another 30,000 beds for the journos.

[Josh Holmes]

Crossing that border would have been the worst idea. They were like, you get that guy, he's gonna be like the Joe Arpaio.

[Comfortably Smug]

No, I was gonna say he's gonna make Joe Arpaio look like Mary Poppins.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. People like in Arizona, like, yeah, don't do anything too bad. Cause if you end up with Arpaio, it's a problem. Don't.

[John Ashbrook]

They'll be in pink jumpsuits.

[Josh Holmes]

Maybe he was smug in Guantanamo. And the journo thing.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. Oh, we'd open a huge, beautiful facility for all the giornos.

[Josh Holmes]

You realize you say this stuff out loud, it sort of comes to fruition.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, that's the thing is, like, we are now free to just express that's all your greatest hopes, because Trump is making them happen, man.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, so the question of the day is, I mean, we watched like 5,000 people a day get shipped out of here with the Trump administration finally doing the job that the federal government is supposed to do. And like, you look at Homan, he's deadly serious about making this happen. You know, we're told there's a 30 million cap on how many people technically, like, are illegal here. There's 1 to 2 million criminal elements, which is obviously the low hanging fruit that they're going to take care of first. But our question of the day, how many you think in the first hundred days they're going to get through? Like, this is, we did this with the pardons, and it radically exceeded our expectations.

[John Ashbrook]

Hoping for the same effect here.

[Josh Holmes]

We're hoping for the same effect. If you get it like you did on the pardons, folks, we're gonna give you some merch. We're gonna give you some merch. We'll send that stuff out and you're gonna love every minute of it. So remember, get a like and subscribe to. Do it like and subscribe. Like and subscribe. If your friends are watching this, they're not liking and subscribing, like, put them in a headlock.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Tell them you'll send them to Gitmo. I want to talk about Lumen. Lumen is a great sponsor of the show. Obviously the first handheld metabolic device. I know, smug. You're a big fan of this operation.

[John Ashbrook]

That's right. It could not be easier. There it is right there. As you get your lumen and you wake up in the morning, the first thing you do is you pop the cap off of it. You breathe in, you breathe out, and it measures everything that's going on in your body. This wonderful, amazing little device here.

[Josh Holmes]

Have you seen the weight loss, by the way? Let's pan out. Look at this guy. Look at the two guys in the middle.

[John Ashbrook]

You gotta make America healthy again. And this is a great part of it tells you the information, and it doesn't tell you stuff that you don't understand. Like, you know, I got a whoop band, I got an oura ring, and they'll tell you, oh, your current HRV is this and stuff. And I'm like, I don't know what that means. I still to this day don't know what it means. I've tried Googling it. I have no idea. Lumen, on the other hand, tells you your body is currently burning fat or currently burning carbohydrates. Here's what you should think about for the rest of the day. What you chef for breakfast, how you should eat. It just tells you what to do.

[Michael Duncan]

And sometimes you wonder about the data that you're getting from these devices or from other sources on the Internet. You know that lumens numbers were developed by PhD scientists so that their data that they're giving you is backed by science.

[John Ashbrook]

That's right. Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, when people want to get in shape, a lot of people don't realize, like, it's 90% diet. It's 90% what you put in your body. And like, the nutrition industry is.

[Josh Holmes]

I wish we had a before and after on Duncan right now.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's true, it's true.

[Michael Duncan]

It's like, I think we can make that happen.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's like, I say that to say, like, the nutrition industry is a lot like politics. Everybody's trying to sell you on some sort of shortcut. You know, there's some special thing you could do that's going to solve all of your problems. And that's not reality. It's a math problem to be solved. Right. And that's why a metabolic device like Lumen is so important, because so many people don't understand what calories are, what you should be eating. And that's what it is. It's like, how much you consume and how much you burn every single day determines how much you weigh and how healthy you are. And so, like, a device like this is a cheat sheet to do that.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, look, your metabolism is your body's engine. And just like your car, if the check oil light comes on, you know you need some oil, right? Gas light comes on, you know you need some gas, the tube comes loose, you know, you need to reconnect it. This thing is doing that for your body, telling you what your intake, what you should do it anyway to take the next steps in improving your health. You got to go to Lumen Me ruthless and get 15% off your lumen. That's L U M E N me Ruthless for 15 off your purchase. Thank you so much to for Lumen sponsoring this episode.

[John Ashbrook]

All right.

[Josh Holmes]

We mentioned the federal workers. This is, this is so good. So like, I mean, look, everybody just obviously knows that this is vast bureaucracy in the United States federal government. It exists. And they have public employee unions and all kinds of things. Like they make it impossible to fire anyone. Call them career staffers. Career staffers. Right. And like the left makes this argument like, well, the federal government would never work with a changing political thing unless you have these people who are just dedicated to doing their jobs, which may be true of like, I don't know, a handful of people, you know, like, you want the people to still sell send checks out for Social Security, like those people. Yep, I understand, I get it. But like, there's hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people who like, don't have a critical role, but they sit there and then since COVID they haven't come back to work. They all work remote. And so like the accountability not really there. And you just kind of don't know what's happening. So Trump seeing all this and knowing because he had his first four years, the difficulty it was in getting rid of the federal bureaucracy. And it's not just the deep state that we're talking about. We're just talking about bloated mess.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, these people aren't trying to sabotage. They couldn't think their way out of a wet paper bag. But like, those folks aren't going anywhere because the paycheck keeps showing up. And all I have to do is jump on a five minute zoom at 9am, give a thumbs up and out they go.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

So what he has done is truly innovative here. He offered in a memo that was sent out Tuesday afternoon to pay federal workers who don't want to return to the office by September 30th their full wages, like, you know, through the rest of the year. Like they can. He'll pay them from tomorrow through the rest of the year. They don't have to work, but they can't come back.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And that's the end of it. Right. You want to reduce the federal workforce. What a great incentive.

[John Ashbrook]

And here's the thing is, I know for the vast majority of our listeners, you hear something like that and you're like, this is, this is, this is free money because you just go get another job and you're still getting.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, but you're used to getting a job.

[John Ashbrook]

That's the thing. People in the private sector are like, oh, get a job. Right. That's what you gotta do. For so many of these government workers, they're like, I don't want a job. That's why I work for the government.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Like Cheryl in printing is like, well, I walk in and I push power on the printer and then I, you know, I take my full federal bennies and then the, and then I'll get program and the pension and all of those things. And like, next thing you know, she's living up on a lake with a Valhalla boat with a quad engine on the back of it. And like, all she's ever done is show up and make a few copies.

[John Ashbrook]

Can I tell you another controversy that I see the media is trying to gin up about? This is talking about the opm, the Office of Personnel Management. There are these hit piece stories that I think Axios and a couple of them were putting out where they're like, Elon and some other tech bros are behind this push to try to get rid of a lot of these government bureaucrats and try to trim the fat in terms of all these workers. And they're like, these are people who have worked in the tech industry who are now coming and trying to look at the budget and tell these people to lay off government workers. What right do they have? It's like this just gives away the game. They're like, no, we should trust these government bureaucrats who have gotten the government more and more bloated, taking more and more taxpayer money over people who are giving up careers making money in tech. They're showing up, they're giving up that paycheck to show up and do a government job where their role is to try to trim the fat as much as possible. And you're trying to make them the bad guys.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, unreal.

[Michael Duncan]

It's such a good point. And the outrages are endless. There is the category of federal worker who just doesn't do anything all day. There is also the category that fits right in the deep state that is insidiously pushing back against what the voters want. And the perfect example of this happened at the Department of Defense, where Trump says, no more dei. We're done with dei. And then somebody at Defense is like, oh, you know what that means? That means we're never talking about the Tuskegee Airmen ever again. Which is just ridiculous. Of course. Nobody ever said that. And that's the opposite of what he's talking about. So when Pete Hegseth got in at dod, he went down and said that this, of course, you're going to be talking about the Tuskegee Airmen. You can't do this. So there is this insidious strain of opposition to what voters are demanding, and voters are paying for it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. And, like, I don't have a lot of information about this, but you remember, like, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they come out with a report that informs economic projections every month, number of jobs created or whatever. But, like, it was very weird to me how during the Biden administration seemed to have some numbers early, seem to be shaped differently, to be like, oh, they're like, oh, good news, there's 220,000 jobs. And then you find out the next month they're like, revised down 180,000, which would have been, like, classified as a fucking depression.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

If it would have been noted at the time.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

But, like, it's little things like that that make a big, big difference.

[Michael Duncan]

The bureaucracy does not understand that they operate at the consent of the governed. And if Donald Trump isn't able to get that through their thick skulls, nobody can.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep.

[Michael Duncan]

No question, he is on it, and I just couldn't be more thankful.

[Josh Holmes]

A lot of good news going on in the world of media as they respond to this golden era. One of them is, again, I feel like it cuts two ways, because one, it's good. But on the second, like, for the variety program, I say, like, we're going to take our knocks with this. How are we going to field a team for March Hack Madness?

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, it's going to be an insane bracket.

[Josh Holmes]

So Acosta's out at cnn, right? I mean, you all probably saw this by now, but Jim Acosta was the lead, number one antagonist of Donald Trump in the first administration, to the point where he would, like, get up and grandstand and have, like, real verbal altercations with the President of the United States in press conferences that were meant for, you know, the world.

[Comfortably Smug]

My favorite is when he said, we are real news, Mr. President. We are real news.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

You have fake news just completely.

[Josh Holmes]

But he's like, the embodiment of the end of that. Right. It used to be that you could make a name for yourself by sort of grandstanding and being just this disgusting human being. Like, David Gregory did this at one point during the end of the Bush administration. Got himself a Meet the Press slot.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

And so journalists have always thought that, like, this is the thing. I need to go be the biggest asshole in the White House press briefing room, and I will do it. So this is what Acosta was following. It's like a 2000s model. And Trump, it just completely eviscerated all of this to the point where now he's leaving CNN and he has this, like, bizarre epitaph to this whole thing. And then. But he's like, in the upcoming days, the fight continues, and I will tell you where you can find me. Announcement shortly. I will not quit now. It's been shortly. And then, like, that night, like, not even three hours later, he's like, I'm on Substack. Congratulations on all your success.

[Comfortably Smug]

He had to build the drama for the substack reveal.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like, oh, so you went to the place that's publicly available for any in the world to put their writings on. I'm on.

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh, I'm on LiveJournal. Oh, that's check me out on MySpace.

[Josh Holmes]

Terrific word.

[Comfortably Smug]

And I have nothing against Substack. Substack's a great platform.

[Josh Holmes]

It provides a great platform for people who have audiences.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Who can get subscribers to those audiences. It's an innovative product. I don't think Jim's one of them.

[Comfortably Smug]

CNN doesn't think so either. Obviously, they tried to put him in the. In the graveyard slot at midnight.

[Josh Holmes]

I just think it's. It literally is akin to being like, I've opened up an X account. See me here on my ex account. You know, it's like, yeah, well, it's available to anybody, right? Yeah. He's like, but I was on CNN once. I had an exchange with the President of the United States. Get out of here. Get out of here. This one caught your eye?

[John Ashbrook]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

And I think you had almost, like, an emotional reaction to it. There was an important executive order yesterday.

[John Ashbrook]

So the other night, President Trump signed an executive order restricting, quote, chemical and surgical sex change procedures for minors. And I was telling the guys before we recorded, like, I didn't anticipate, like, as soon as I saw that and I'm watching this on tv, the coverage, I didn't know it would have such an impact on me because I told the guys I was very disturbed. The Other week, seeing video on X of those nonverbal special needs child in a wheelchair that had just had. Nonverbal. We're talking that the child can't communicate that had just had a double mastectomy performed on it. Right. And I saw the video of that and I. It's hard for me to think of times where I'd been so enraged and disgusted and horrified that someone had done this to a child. And this had been happening nationwide on a massive scale during the Biden administration. And to see President Trump right off the bat put an end to this horrific, barbaric, nightmarish practice. It just, you know, whenever a new administration comes, a new Republican administration, you know, you're like, okay, but always temper expectations and your hopes because the way government works is eventually, you know, there's a swamp morass and things grind to a halt and, you know, you just hope for more good than bad. But like, this really just, it opened up the aperture that it is okay to just be fully optimistic and have hope. Because one of the first things he did is to take the segment of our society that is, you know, the most at risk because these are kids, you know, and it's our job to protect these people. And right off the bat, President Trump follows through on a promise to protect these people. It was just. I could not be more thrilled and happy.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally listen, totally agree. I don't know if it's more newsworthy that he did it or that you have feelings.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, right. I was like, I thought I was the most cynical person ever, but it's, it's.

[Comfortably Smug]

To your point, smug. It's like, you know, you work in politics long enough and you want every Republican administration to do great things, but very rarely so quickly does something happen that, you know, it's going to have a direct impact on the people who need it the most in our society, which is children. And the rest of the world recognizes that this is a barbaric practice. And, like, the UK has banned it. And, you know, I don't know if you guys noticed this, but over the last six months or so, like, the media has started to push back on some of this and revealing in these investigations how some of these, you know, studies were actually showing.

[John Ashbrook]

Correct.

[Comfortably Smug]

They made the, you know, the mental health of people worse after they had the procedure and all of these sorts of things.

[John Ashbrook]

There was a medical study released showing that this actually letting these procedures happen actually has an adverse effect on the mental health of the people who have this performed on it. And the doctor behind this study Said, do not publish this publicly. Let's keep a lid on this.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. I mean, horrific.

[Josh Holmes]

All stuff that we've talked about in the Variety program. And no, you know, you're listening to this in your car like you've known this forever. And we're just, we're going to look.

[Comfortably Smug]

Back on this in the way that we look at like lobotomy.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally. I mean just an absolutely horrific moment in time where a extremely dangerous segment of society got a hold of our social value system and pushed it all the way through to the White House. And it is, it's unconscionable. It's unconscionable. That was actually all sort of implemented with President Biden, an old like washed up politician from Delaware who, you know, I'm going to give him some grace in saying like in, in his heyday, would have known better. Would have known better, but couldn't have. But because it's just like it was all a puppeteer.

[Comfortably Smug]

I.

[Josh Holmes]

It's why they wanted him run for reelection.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep. They wanted. Because they could do that. Let the lunatics run this.

[Josh Holmes]

That's it. Yeah, that's it. It's sad. It's. I'm so glad that you brought that up. It's. It's really important. But you know what? After everything, when we get serious for a minute, we gotta lighten it up. So let's play a game, fellas.

[John Ashbrook]

Let's play a game.

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, it's King of the Hill. It's Thursday. Who's our defending champion? Is it?

[John Ashbrook]

That'd be me.

[Comfortably Smug]

Smug. And who do you have?

[John Ashbrook]

I have crying Kinzinger.

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh, yeah, Kinzinger.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh my gosh, I forgot that I'm.

[Comfortably Smug]

Judge and Ashbrook is bailiff. And our challenger, Josh, who do you have?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it's the first time since the election that she has been played, so. Sharon Macheri. Wow.

[Comfortably Smug]

Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

It's coming on.

[Comfortably Smug]

Heavyweight returns.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

To the ring. Let's go ringside.

[Michael Duncan]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. It's time for King of the Hip. In the blue corner, fighting from her apartment somewhere out there for a chance to reclaim her crown, Commie Cherry Jacoba. And now in the red corner, fighting from his own Twitter account, the Crying Man, Adam Cook.

[Josh Holmes]

Cook. Cook.

[Michael Duncan]

K Zinger.

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh, it may be our best nom de.

[Josh Holmes]

It's good, it's good.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's really something.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

Okay, our champion has to go first.

[Michael Duncan]

Truth is, I have no idea where Cherry is fighting from.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, I'm going to go blue sky.

[John Ashbrook]

Straight to some fire. Could I get exhibit number 12, please. This is Kinzinger. He's reacting to Nancy Mace asking if they can livestream the deportations. Let's see a good question. I'd watch. And Kinzinger says cruelty is the point. Very Christian. You can support border control without celebrating it. This is like right when the Lake and Riley act is being signed. He's trying to tell people, why aren't you be more charitable and Christian. Shouldn't you allow people to illegal enter our country and kill people? Like, this whole line of attack really grinds my gears of people being like, wow, that's not very Christian of you. It's like, dude, you are trying to use someone's value system as blackmail against them when you in no way believe any of that value system. Adam Kinzinger now believes in nothing but trying to get money and tv.

[Josh Holmes]

That's the beauty of King of the Hill.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. And it's what you're never Trump movement. Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Because like they now believe in nothing. They believe in see that throughout the.

[Comfortably Smug]

Course of this game and when they were Republicans, these sorts of people wanted preemptive surrender. And the most horrific thing to them was the idea of Republican victory and that we could actually accomplish the policy objectives that they proclaim to have. And they don't actually have it.

[John Ashbrook]

Bingo.

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh, God, that is good.

[Michael Duncan]

Can I. Your Honor, can I ask Spaghett's to put that.

[Comfortably Smug]

But of course.

[Michael Duncan]

Back up. I'd like counsel to read the full name of. For Adam Kinzinger.

[John Ashbrook]

It's Adam Kinzinger, Parentheses Slava Ukraine.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, he really hasn't graduated out of that one. Still working on that.

[Comfortably Smug]

Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay. Well, as this court knows, I've got a lot of respect for the original, the OG Judge and jury.

[Comfortably Smug]

Butter in my biscuits.

[Josh Holmes]

The way we played it for two long years with this judge and jury. And I had a good feel for what made his gears grind. For that, I will give you Exhibit 1. Sherry Jacobus. Apropos of absolutely nothing. People will die, including maggots. And that's her. This is a euphemism that is unique in some ways to her. It's caught on a little bit on the left. It's maga. And then she adds the ts. So it's maggots, basically. That's what she's trying to say. Fox and other media won't report it. What she's talking about is unclear. We won't get accurate information from the government. This was always the Trump Putin plan.

[Michael Duncan]

Wow.

[Comfortably Smug]

Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

Still on the hobby horse. Oh, shit. It didn't work for eight years. Let's keep on driving that shit. It's the Trump Putin plan, guys.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's a. It's like an inkblot tweet. You know, there's Trump, Putin is in there, Maggots is in there, Fox is in there. It's like a whole mad libs thing.

[Josh Holmes]

But also no clarity about what she's taught. People will die and they won't report it. It, like, what it is it. She's talking. There's no quote tweet, by the way. That's what you're looking at.

[Comfortably Smug]

I have to imagine it's something about the deportations. Like, I have to think in the context of the news cycle. That has to be the thing.

[Josh Holmes]

But isn't it better that it's apropos of nothing?

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, I think even better that it's apropos of nothing is that like, she starts it with her concern for the human condition and then proceeds immediately afterwards calling her opponents maggots. And for that reason, that dichotomy, it speaks to me as judge and jury. And you win round one.

[Josh Holmes]

It's only, it's only because I would have perhaps played something differently. I just know that that one in particular is just stuck in the craw for eight long years.

[Comfortably Smug]

In the words of Chuck Schumer, you know what gets me aroused?

[Josh Holmes]

Never seen so many people aroused. Okay, so round two. Yeah, I have to start with this one. I think I've got a good. I've got a healthy amount of choices. So it's difficult with Sherry, as you all have played her before. Like, you look around, it's like any one of these gold. But let's do this because I like it. And we didn't talk about it enough. Exhibit two, please. Spaghetti. The people insisting Elon didn't give a Nazi salute twice are almost as disgusting as Elon forgiving the Nazi salute twice. Nice. I love it for so many reasons. First of all, like, we didn't cover it on the program cuz we thought it was too dumb. But the idea that there was actually a segment of this, like, never Trump Republican universe that for like three long days after the inauguration, tried to proclaim that Elon Musk, literally one of the happiest people to be an American that we know is somehow a secret Nazi who's just like, operating from within because he had a hand gesture that sort of resembled in form. And they paused when he literally says.

[John Ashbrook]

I give you all my heart, and then goes like, give you all my heart.

[Josh Holmes]

Reaching out to the Audience and they're like, no, it's a Nazi salute. And, like, completely. What was most absurd about that whole thing was the fact that they carried it a day like that. Immediately got enough interaction where they're like, yeah, let's do it again.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And she was like, nah, fuck it. Let's run up flagpole for week two.

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh, man.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, I'm ready for this one. So can I get exhibit number eight? This is gold. So there's this loser Tristan Snell on.

[Josh Holmes]

X. I love that intro.

[Comfortably Smug]

He.

[John Ashbrook]

So this is during the whole Columbia situation, and Tristan Snell's like, guess what, guys? Essentially his tweet saying, Columbia said no deportations on military cargo planes. Trump got owned. Where? I mean, they didn't wait five minutes for the reversal of that. Adam Kinzinger jumped on it and he was like, honest to God, guys, Trump is so weak. He really just lost and declared victory. MAGA is jazzed and the rest of the world is laughing. Well, they didn't wait about 30 seconds until Columbia, their president, surrenders, and he's like, I'll even send my plane for the deportations. Please don't hit us with these tariffs. But the really beautiful part of this. Can I get Exhibit 8 back? Not only did he say, yeah, Trump's so weak, he turns off replies. So I saw this big tough guy.

[Comfortably Smug]

I saw this tweet, and you're really. You're playing my music smug as judge and jury. You know, a misuse of the Internet is attractive to me. I might even be aroused.

[Josh Holmes]

He might be aroused, as they say.

[Comfortably Smug]

And I do appreciate this sort of tweet because. And we talked about this previously on the show. This is the new tactic for all of these former Republican, never Trump people is this sort of mocking tone where they're like, actually, this guy who, you know, won all the swing states and won the popular vote and took a bullet to the ear, he's actually the weak guy. We owned you. And for that reason, smuggler, you win round.

[John Ashbrook]

All right, tie game.

[Comfortably Smug]

Tie game. It goes back to the defending champion for round three.

[John Ashbrook]

Let's try to put this to bed with exhibit 11, please. So this is Adam Kinzinger. He's reacting. Jennifer Griffin from Fox saying that Trump reinstates 8,000 service members with back pay were forced out of the military for refusing COVID vaccine. And Adam Kinzinger's response to this is, so the, quote, no government handouts party is going to give, in some cases under 300k, one big check to people who didn't do anything.

[Josh Holmes]

Cool. Really? Pretty good.

[Comfortably Smug]

Wait, so what was the tweet again that he was quoting?

[Josh Holmes]

It was the reinstating of the people who refused the COVID Yeah, it's to.

[John Ashbrook]

Reinstate military service members.

[Comfortably Smug]

Military service members? Isn't he a veteran?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. And he said it's. It's like a handout.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. He's like, no, these are government handouts.

[Comfortably Smug]

If you notice, he locked replies on that one, too.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

This is a bad take, guys. I'm sending this out with no reply.

[Comfortably Smug]

Unbelievable. All right, Holmes, what you got?

[Josh Holmes]

I. You know, I've got, like. I. Honestly, this is the hardest thing with Sherry. I've got. I literally have four.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's an embarrassment of riches.

[Josh Holmes]

I have four. And I'm trying to just gauge the mood here for a minute because that's a strong take. I'll say it. It's a strong take. I have brevity. I've got intellectualism.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Or lack thereof.

[Comfortably Smug]

Bailiff, I'm gonna need a clock here.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, he's instructing the bailiff. Okay, well, I'm just going to go. I think I'm going to do. I think. I think I'm going to do the intellectualism just because I think that this particular judge and jury appreciates all of this. Exhibit three, please. Today, when I heard Trump imposed retaliatory psycho tariffs, I stopped and bought a ton of coffee for sale to stockpile. I've done that with a number of items I don't care to go without or overpay for because of him.

[Michael Duncan]

What is she. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Retweeting Bill, Kristen thing. It's. It's basically about coffee. And, like, the reason I chose this one is because all of this was over in a matter of six hours.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right?

[Josh Holmes]

Six hours. Colombia said they weren't going to take our illegal immigrants. We said, okay, we'll tear off your shit. And they were like, fine, we'll send our planes. Like, that's literally the whole thing. But in that interim, six hours, she had decided she was going to turn her house into a warehouse for Colombian coffee because of the inevitable ruinous economy that this administration would bring by their negotiations with foreign countries.

[Comfortably Smug]

So round three is a difficult round because you've got Kinzinger, who is a veteran, who's now talking about.

[John Ashbrook]

He's calling veterans welfare.

[Comfortably Smug]

How these. Yeah. How these veterans are taking handouts because they get to be reinstated into the military and, like, fight for our country because they didn't want to take the COVID vaccine, which is just, like a Disgraceful thing for him to do. However, and this is what I respect about Sherry's game. I've said it before. I'll say it again. She's just the best poster in the game. She's so absolutely committed to the bit. And in this one in particular, she took it irl. She went away from keyboard. She went and she put the keys in the car and she drove and bought coffee so she could tweet about.

[Josh Holmes]

It in real life.

[Comfortably Smug]

And that requires that request. Like, that requires such dedication to the game. And that makes her a singular force in this game. And for that reason, she wins good round.

[John Ashbrook]

And I just want to add, with Sherry's craziness, you also get this, like, mental image for longtime listeners. You know her, she, like, does weird. She's like, it's cold outside. I'm bringing more cats inside. And, like, what was the name of.

[Josh Holmes]

The old guy in, like, the 1990s commercials of the guy who sold Colombian coffee?

[John Ashbrook]

Juan Valdez.

[Comfortably Smug]

Juan Baldette.

[John Ashbrook]

That's the guy.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, you can picture her and Juan sitting outside.

[John Ashbrook]

I imagine her house now stockpiled with, like, kitty litter, tins of cat food like it's a bunker. And then just now, bags of coffee. And while that does just, like, hauling more in from the van, it's her.

[Josh Holmes]

Juan Valdez in a nutty hoarder who.

[John Ashbrook]

Pulls open the phone and drops, takes like.

[Josh Holmes]

Can I ask you a question?

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

The other one that I thought about playing was just her saying, the raping and pillaging has begun.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, my God, dude.

[Comfortably Smug]

Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

Better or worse?

[Comfortably Smug]

I think you played the best one.

[Josh Holmes]

I think I did.

[Comfortably Smug]

I think you really did.

[Josh Holmes]

But it's hardcore, right?

[Comfortably Smug]

It's hardcore. And that's incredible. But, like, just the pageantry of that other tweet is just.

[John Ashbrook]

I think it was. It was a good pick. Good, strong.

[Josh Holmes]

I had to think through it because, like, it's hard to ignore raping and pillaging.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

We got one more bit of variety for you guys, and you're gonna love every minute of it. You know, we got onto the fats last last week.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. I mean, this. This is a unique.

[John Ashbrook]

This is next big way, he says.

[Josh Holmes]

So according to New York Post. I don't want to get this wrong, A plus sized rapper. Now, I have been unable to independently verify that this person is, in fact, a rapper.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh. I saw a video someone posted to confirm.

[Josh Holmes]

So, like, does somebody have to listen to your apps in order to be a rapper?

[John Ashbrook]

No.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay.

[John Ashbrook]

I guess you just have to do it.

[Josh Holmes]

You can just put it on the Internet. Self declare and put it on the Internet. Okay, so that's, that's fair then I will finished the headline. A plus size rapper who calls herself a BBW sues Lyft after driver said she couldn't fit into the car. Let me read. Let's throw that graphic up, will you? There's the young lady. Well, she is.

[Comfortably Smug]

And this is the thing. We, we talked at the top of the show about how the language of the left has ruined this country when it comes to illegal immigration. Yeah, I feel like we've done this a little bit.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no, it's just like you have to be proud. Just.

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, plus size rapper. We need another word because this is not 50 pounds. This is not being overweight. Like.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, they do have. There's a phrase for it, morbidly obese. Called morbidly obese.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that's what that is.

[Comfortably Smug]

We just need.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, she's 550, evidently. And anyway, anyways, is she a big VB dad stands for big beautiful woman. And that's apparently, you know, that's shorthand now, but she's suing Lyft after one of the company's drivers allegedly told her she was too large to ride in his car. Dank DeMoss, who previously disclosed that she was nearly 489 pounds and that she's also disclosed that she was well over 500, claims the rejection unfolded earlier this month in Detroit when the Lyft driver rolled up in a Mercedes Benz sedan, immediately locked his doors. She said, I can fit into this car.

[John Ashbrook]

So I, I reviewed video because she's like live streaming. She was filming video of this while she was like, this guy's saying I won't fit in his car. So she rolls over to the backseat and could see her reflection. And I'm being honest, she would not fit in that. Like, the guy could fold the seats forward and she still wouldn't.

[Josh Holmes]

Hold on. Can I, can I get to the dialogue of it? Because the dialogue I think tells, tells a story. She says, I can fit in this car. He shoots back, believe me, you can't. The driver shot back, adding later there was no room in the back and his tires wouldn't be able to handle the weight.

[John Ashbrook]

So I mean, he tires and from the video, the guy was being, the guy was being like out of his way, extremely polite. He was like, I am so sorry my car can't fit in like his car. I mean, you can't defy the laws of physics.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, he was being incredibly apologetic According to the. And you said you've reviewed, viewed the tape.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, the guy was like, I am so sorry. She like moves her camera over to the back seat. She's like, I can fit this car. And like, I, I don't know if she. The door absolutely would not fit her.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, he suggested that she. She order an xl.

[Comfortably Smug]

She knows that. You know, she knows that, like, this is the thing. This, this woman is an influencer trying to get attention on the Internet. In basketball, we would call this, you know, taking the charge.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

You know, she, she's this, she's doing this on purpose. And I think she's aware that she's the size of a refrigerator. And then she's going to ruin. This guy's bigger than.

[John Ashbrook]

She's bigger than a fridge, dude.

[Comfortably Smug]

You know, I mean, she's.

[Josh Holmes]

She's chopped it out at 5, 5, 4.

[John Ashbrook]

And she posted it herself a half ton. And here's the thing is, like, you know, folks brought up this point. It makes a lot of sense is that like, the left has done a lot of work and trying to, like when they say this is plus size discrimination stuff is they're trying to remove responsibility from the individual and put it on everyone else. Yeah, everyone else. This is the fault of the driver of Lyft. And I'm gonna sue everyone else because I'm not taking responsibility and I'm not taking control where I can over. Over me. Everyone else should have to take responsibility for the choices that I have made. And so that's why this really grinds my gears, is like, this turns into a lawsuit.

[Josh Holmes]

Now I just want to see this guy's face because I'm glad you reviewed the tape. I'd like to review it as well. She goes onto the Instagram handle of paid fat queen.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

P H A T. Play on words. Interesting deal there. Anyway, she slapped Lyft with a lawsuit this week. You know, I mean, it's very important that they. She collapsed a Mercedes Benz. I mean, Jesus. Anyway, she's later updated her fans that she only weighs a mere 489.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay.

[Michael Duncan]

So bringing it down, bringing it down.

[Josh Holmes]

It's important.

[Comfortably Smug]

Little ways to go, but you know.

[Josh Holmes]

Listen, rfk, if you're listening, if you're listening. Do you want to play this? Should we play that one clip from rfk?

[Michael Duncan]

Was this the Bernie clip?

[Josh Holmes]

We should play one clip. We were. We. So we. We're not going to get into the confirmation stuff because there's going to be a lot that's happening over the next couple of days. And we want to like and run all of that. We'll see how it all plays out. But Bernie Sanders.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, this is.

[Josh Holmes]

And our girl Megan, unintentionally. Megan, have a moment here during the RFK confirmation hearing. Can we please play clip for. Are you supportive of these onesies? I'm supportive of vaccines. Are you supportive of the good Megan, this clothing which is militantly anti vaccine. I am supportive of vaccines. I will. I want good science and I want to protect. But you will not tell.

[John Ashbrook]

Do you support these onesies?

[Josh Holmes]

Do you support these onesies? And like, Megan's losing it in the back, which by the way, I think is a great strategy for all confirmation hearings. Like, get a relatively well adjusted, like, sort of funny, somebody you can relate to to sit behind and actually do like the extemporaneous reaction to some dumb ass questions like, do you support these onesies? It's like, of course you gotta laugh your ass off. So when she's laughing, it's like relatable.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

Because he can't laugh.

[Comfortably Smug]

I just can't believe. I don't know who staffs Bernie Sanders. God love you, but like, you couldn't find something more ridiculous, like less ridiculous to make the same point like you. You did the onesie.

[Josh Holmes]

Do you support these onesies?

[Michael Duncan]

The onesies. So crazy.

[Josh Holmes]

Are you supportive of these onesies? That's your United States Senate.

[John Ashbrook]

To be a little more serious, there's something to be said about how Bernie Sanders, like 10 years ago was the vanguard of this kind of like, like populist working class movement when he primaries Hillary Clinton and a lot of Americans are like, I get it. Because that guy's talking about how like Hillary and her rich friends and these people, the establishment, are against us. And now he gave up that entire movement of populism and working class people to Donald Trump, who has captured the working class vote and has become the voice of the working class in this country. And now he's the old guy complaining about, do you support this onesie? Like, this is the establishment. That's the thing. And that's why he doesn't say, you know, I'm gonna hold millionaires accountable anymore. Because he is one. Because he is now it's like, I'm gonna hold billionaires accountable because he's got.

[Josh Holmes]

Stuff and he wants to protect it.

[John Ashbrook]

Bingo.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, I mean, it's so sad.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

What's become of old. Burn these onesies, you son of a. With the onesies.

[Comfortably Smug]

You're really, really good at that.

[Michael Duncan]

It's uncanny.

[Comfortably Smug]

That is talent.

[Josh Holmes]

I just can't. It's just so funny how you can get all worked up about that. Anyway, go visit some merch. We got some good stuff. I've been begging. I'm begging on my knees. These hats, they were the OG hat. Can we get them back out there? I mean, this is. This is. Listen, Duncan takes a rash because he hand sews them. But he doesn't order the material. Drew does.

[Comfortably Smug]

The people demand it. We're not De Beers. We can't create scarcity in the market. We need to supply the market with the hats that people want.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, there's no red rope around here. Anybody who wants one, you can get one. Yeah, you're a voice of the people. Gosh darn it. Anyway, thanks for listening to the Ruthless Variety Program. I think we did it.

[John Ashbrook]

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

[Josh Holmes]

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[Comfortably Smug]

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[Josh Holmes]

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[Comfortably Smug]

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[Josh Holmes]

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[Josh Holmes]

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[E]

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