Democrats’ Religion Problem - Church Protests & Anti-Semitism

Summary

Ruthless Podcast Summary

Episode: Democrats’ Religion Problem — Church Protests & Anti-Semitism

Date: January 20, 2026
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook

---

Main Theme and Purpose

This episode of "Ruthless" centers on what the hosts perceive as the Democratic Party's increasing antagonism toward religious liberty, focusing particularly on recent progressive protests at churches, rising anti-Semitism linked to Democratic politics, and an in-depth discussion of recent gaffes and controversial behavior from politicians and the media. The hosts dissect current events with their trademark irreverent banter, covering the fallout from a church protest in Minnesota, scrutiny over Democratic VP vetting, and redistricting battles — all within their wider critique of left-wing activism and establishment media.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Minnesota Church Protest & Religious Tolerance

• Event Recap: Activist protesters disrupted a Sunday church service in Minnesota over an unsubstantiated claim that the pastor had ties to ICE. Don Lemon covered the event live.

• Hosts' Take:

  • The hosts highlight this as an example of the activist left having “no limits” and disrespecting sacred spaces.
  • They note the proximity to a church shooting months earlier in the same region, emphasizing a context of heightened tension.
  • There's outrage that protesters felt empowered to do this, and strong criticism of Don Lemon for amplifying the action.

• Notable Quote:
  “There's a million churches you could walk into where those people don't walk out... if you have people screaming and yelling and disrupting a prayer, you're not walking out of there.”
  —Josh Holmes (08:10)

• Constitutional Angle:

  • Ashbrook and Holmes argue the First Amendment protects peaceful worship, not disruptions.
  • Duncan: “The Second Amendment is there to protect the first.” (12:17)
  • Smug and Ashbrook allege the protests are professionally organized for media spectacle and financial incentive.

• Hosts’ Prescription: Swift legal consequences for protestors to prevent escalation or vigilante responses.

Timestamps:

• Recap & Outrage: 02:57–09:13
• Discussion of Don Lemon’s Role: 10:22–13:44
• First Amendment & Consequences Debate: 12:17–15:40

---

2. Democrats, Israel, and the “Religion Problem”

• Shapiro VP Vetting:

  • Discussion of Governor Josh Shapiro’s claim that, during VP vetting, Kamala Harris’s team asked if he was “an agent of the Israeli government,” which Shapiro found offensive and presumed to be asked because he's Jewish (29:32–31:03).
  • Kamala’s team denied religious discrimination, but the hosts frame this as confirming underlying anti-Semitic or anti-Israel sentiment in the Democratic Party.
  • The theme is extended to other marginalized groups, with the assertion that only "Islamic extremists" are truly “protected” by Democrats.

• Notable Quote:
  “The only people that I see protected, like, ultimately protected in the way that the First Amendment was designed to do is your Islamic extremists.”
  —Josh Holmes (32:42)

• Veep Satire:

  • The discussion lampoons the VP vetting process, painting it as an absurd, identity-driven spectacle (“How Jewy are you?” – 36:46).

Timestamps:

• Shapiro story introduction: 25:07
• Book excerpt & vetting process: 29:32–30:41
• Satirical discussion: 36:19–38:02

---

3. Media Critique: Don Lemon & Legacy Press

• Don Lemon’s presence at the Minnesota protest is characterized as an opportunistic ratings grab, made possible because “there’s no consequences for left wingers to run amok.”

• Hosts contrast the kid-glove treatment for left-wing activists and journalists with heavy-handed law enforcement against conservatives (“the Biden regime was hunting down moms attending school board meetings...” — 19:05).

• Notable Quote:
  “You take their title away and they’re like, yeah… that was holding me back. It was holding me back.”
  —John Ashbrook, on ex-corporate journalists becoming open activists (46:39)

---

4. Redistricting Wars and GOP Frustrations

• Detailed discussion of redistricting battles, specifically Virginia’s move to draw a 10:1 Democratic/Republican congressional map and Indiana Republicans’ refusal to redistrict to favor the GOP.

• The hosts decry Republican reluctance as naiveté, noting that Democrats have been aggressive in gerrymandering for generations, while GOP leaders hesitate for fear of appearances.

• Notable Quotes:
  “What do you think's gonna happen if we let them back in power? ...They've already tried to jail and kill us, man.”
  —John Ashbrook (54:46)

• Timestamps:

  • Virginia 10:1 news: 49:45–51:10
  • Host frustration & redistricting lessons: 53:24–58:23

---

5. Variety Segment: Ski Jumpers & Genital ‘Aerodynamics’

• The show shifts tone with a comedic deep dive into a bizarre news item: professional ski jumpers are reportedly inflating their crotch area to game measurement rules for competitive advantage.

• Hosts riff on the absurdity, injecting their signature banter and drawing hilariously anatomical analogies.

• Notable Quote:
  “So they pump up their hog in order to get a larger suit.”
  —Michael Duncan (64:33)

• Timestamps:

  • Ski suit story and reactions: 62:09–68:39

---

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “There's a million churches you could walk into where those people don't walk out.” —Josh Holmes (08:10)
• “There is nothing free about the speech that they were doing inside of that church.” —Smug (13:04)
• “The only people that I see protected ... is your Islamic extremists.” —Josh Holmes (32:42)
• “Have you ever been an agent of the Israeli government?” —Josh Holmes, quoting Shapiro being vetted (30:14)
• “What do you think's gonna happen if we let them back in power? ...They've already tried to jail and kill us, man.” —John Ashbrook (54:46)
• “So they pump up their hog in order to get a larger suit.” —Michael Duncan (64:33)

---

Segment Timestamps for Quick Reference

• Segment 1: Church Protest & Outrage: 02:57–09:13
• Don Lemon on Scene: 10:22–13:44
• Religious Liberty & Democrat Party Issues: 25:07–36:19
• Redistricting Rumbles: 49:45–58:23
• Wild Variety Segment — Ski Suits: 62:09–68:39

---

Engaging Takeaways

• Religious Liberty is a Flashpoint: Incidents like the Minnesota church protest are seen by the hosts as proof that the left, abetted by a complicit media, disregards sacred spaces and core American freedoms.
• Democrats’ Cold Shoulder to Jews: The vetting of Governor Shapiro and broader anti-Israel sentiment within Democratic primary politics is presented as evidence of a party sliding into identity politics to the exclusion of its Jewish constituency.
• Republican Disunity and Lost Opportunities: GOP reluctance to engage in “shirts and skins” redistricting, while Democrats play hardball, frustrates the panel, who see it as a dereliction of political duty and a strategic blunder.
• Absurdist Variety Keeps It Light: Even amidst heavy topics, the Ruthless crew’s comedic detours (like ski jumper “enhancements”) provide levity — encapsulating the show’s blend of serious analysis and irreverent fun.

---

Summary for Listeners

If you missed this episode, expect a rollicking journey through the culture and politics of religion and protest, the state of legacy media, reminders of intra-GOP chafing, and even a bawdy sports science tangent. All is served up in the sharp, biting tone familiar to Ruthless fans — part war room, part group chat, always with an eye toward exposing what they consider the hypocrisy and failings of progressive power.

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

Got a little bit of a religious tolerance problem.

[Michael Duncan]

But this has always been what the left has done. They take the pure, the sanctity of things and they make it profane.

[Josh Holmes]

Cause everything about what's happening in Minnesota and across the country is a activist left saying, we don't observe the law.

[John Ashbrook]

For a significant portion of the public. This isn't the time for strongly worded letters. This is the time for action.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like this religious tolerance type thing. Like you can raid a, a Sunday service on the left, but you're also like Jewish people. Like, I don't know. The only people that I see protected, like ultimately protected in the way that the First Amendment was designed to do is your Islamic extremists.

[John Ashbrook]

Pretty much.

[Josh Holmes]

That's it.

[Michael Duncan]

For decades, the rising cost of health insurance has been a contentious issue. One that affects every single American. Big health insurance companies, who have been paid trillions in US Taxpayer money, are raising health insurance prices historically high on Americans. At the same time, it was reported that major health insurance companies were funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund Gavin Newsom's redistricting effort in California designed to undermine President Trump and Congressional Republicans. Just the other day, President Trump announced something historic. He's going to haul in the heads of the largest US Health insurance companies with the goal of saving Americans money by lowering the outrageous price of health insurance. The President has been crystal clear. Big insurance companies have been, quote, ripping off the public for years. Now he's taking the bold step of holding those big insurance companies accountable. It's about time. And we should all thank President Trump. Learn [e-mail] America the best to ever do it.

[Built for America Announcer]

We landed on the moon and invented the microchip. Now, with China outspending us 2 to 1 in the race for fusion, we can't wait. Our jobs, our communities, and our national security depend on American energy. And when we go all in, we win. It's what we do. So tell President Trump and Congress to deliver a new era of American greatness. Fund Fusion. Make America first again. Paid for by Built for America.

[Event Announcer]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[John Ashbrook]

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

[Smug]

It's time for, for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Tuesday to you. We got the fellas coming off a three day weekend, so you're gonna have an extra amount of hype here. I can tell just by the pre show meeting, this is gonna be a wild one. I'm Josh Holmes along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook. Left to right, across Your radio dial. This could get. This could get sideways. I feel like.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, I mean, it's yet another weekend of the rest of the country enjoying time with their family and Democrats just running amok, doing their best to destroy the country. It turns out they don't take weekends off.

[Josh Holmes]

Got a little bit of a religious tolerance problem on several different fronts, of course. Something that we've known for quite some time and have talked about for quite some time on the Ruthless Friday program. We're gonna get into it. It was Minnesota as it pertains to ICE again, but it involves a perennial contender of hack madness, Don Lamond, which we're about to get into. There's also Governor of Pennsylvania, where if you listen to the Ruthless Variety program, we told you all the way back from when Joe Biden exited stage left that they couldn't choose him because they didn't like Jewish people. And turns out we called it. Turns out we were onto that. And then we've got some variety and we've got some redistricting. The variety you're gonna want to stick around for involves a ski suit.

[Smug]

Oh, man.

[Josh Holmes]

And this might be my favorite piece of variety that we've done in a long time. I mean, I'm talking years here. This is.

[John Ashbrook]

That's hype.

[Josh Holmes]

This is hype. So you want to stick around for that. But let's get right into the mix. So the setup for this is a story by Fox News. Anti ice mob storms a Minnesota church over pastors alleged ties to immigration enforcement. And none of this has been corroborated to the point where we know like a pastor and ICE and whatever. I mean, it may or may not, but here's the point. The point is that you have a group of individual protesters storming into a Sunday service, disrupting prayer in order to protest. And we're going to show you a couple of clips about this. But before I do, I just want to remind all of you that this is the same Twin Cities area that experienced a church shooting not but four months ago, where you had a clinically insane. What was it? Trans idiot shoot and kill kids and injure others by storming in around a Catholic church in downtown Minneapolis. Same area, right. These people come rolling up as though none of that shit ever happened. As if that's ever appropriate in any way. But they do. And then Don Lemon is in tow. I want to play clip one just to set the stage here.

[John Ashbrook]

They're doing the stupid hands up, don't shoot lie, which has been debunked hundreds of times. And to. This is so enraging to do this in a church.

[Josh Holmes]

Mmm. So was that was the hands up, don't shoot thing? Was that a Michael Brown?

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Smug]

St. Louis.

[John Ashbrook]

It was completely disproven that it never happened. And the funny thing is it was disproven by Obama's Department of Justice who clarified that. Like, that is not at all what happened. But like all things that the left believes in, it's based on lies. It never happened. It's make believe. And they're using that to take a very real and abhorrent action and ruin a church service that's being attended by families. I saw this image of a dad like comforting his son. And the police, the Department of Justice, everybody, you know, I'm not blackpilling, but you people need to do something and do something fast. Because like Holmes said, not only did you have that Insano shooter storm a church in the same town not too long ago, but the more and more regular, everyday people see their lives being disrupted by these left wing lunatics. They've been blocking highways while people are trying to get to work, now they're storming churches. There's basically no way to escape the mayhem that they're unleashing on this country. And if they do not start facing consequences, and I mean in a reasonable amount of time, I mean quickly, if we don't start seeing anything being done to people who do this.

[Josh Holmes]

Gotta go to jail.

[John Ashbrook]

Folks are gonna start taking this into their own hands.

[Josh Holmes]

Absolutely. Gotta go to jail.

[John Ashbrook]

Because the thing is that like, if the police do not do their duty of protecting people, like we saw Harmony, Dylan, you know, you know, people weighed in. Excuse me, but like, I think for a significant portion of the public, this isn't the time for strongly worded letters. This is the time for action. And it's. It's because people will take this into their own hands and no one's going to be happy seeing that.

[Josh Holmes]

No, not at all. I mean, there's a million churches you could walk into where those people don't walk out.

[John Ashbrook]

Yes. Like there's a lot of churches I know of that the people have defense covered.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. But I'm just saying if it's a Twin Cities area where you experienced incredible violence, tragic violence in the last four months in a very real way, and then these people come storming in as if that's just gonna be what it's gonna. I mean, they are very lucky that they walked out of there. I mean, I would say two thirds of the churches that I know of where you have people screaming and yelling and disrupting a prayer. You're not walking out of there.

[John Ashbrook]

Bingo.

[Josh Holmes]

You're not. I mean, that's gonna be a problem. And then, of course, the news story, if that was the kind of church, would be like, well, what did this congregation they respond to? No, you just don't fucking disrupt church. You just don't do it like it's. It's so far beyond the pale. But they have no limits.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, a bedrock of this country, part of the reason it was founded was folks escaped persecution so that they can have their churches and pray in peace.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And so if you're gonna go, that's an attack on the bedrock and the foundation of this country of what those lunatics did.

[Michael Duncan]

But this has always been what the left has done. They take the pure, the sanctity of things, and they make it profane.

[Josh Holmes]

Just like.

[Michael Duncan]

Like, you know, when they go to museums and they throw paint on works.

[Josh Holmes]

Of art, priceless works, you know, like irreplaceable works.

[Michael Duncan]

Always been their playbook.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep.

[Michael Duncan]

Which is disgusting.

[Josh Holmes]

It is. And you've heard me make the case over the last few weeks that I don't know what's going on here. But that's not like the Minnesota that I know, not the people that I know. I mean, you guys have met these guys that I grew up with. I mean, it's just. It's weird. It's kind of like a. I mean, maybe there is just an importation of Somali refugees because of the money circle, that all of a sudden you've got this just, like, exponential growth of insanity.

[John Ashbrook]

It's because no one has drawn a line in the sand. I think that's because there have not been consequences.

[Josh Holmes]

But there's also a huge shipment inside of what we're seeing in Minnesota, out externally to try to ramp things up. Case in point, Don Lamont.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

Right here's Don Lemon at that church in clip two.

[Don Lemon]

What do you think of this? I mean, this is unacceptable. It's shameful. It's shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship. But there were folks who will say, I have to take care of my flock. Listen, we live in a. There's a constitution in the First Amendment.

[Michael Duncan]

To freedom of speech and freedom of allowance.

[Don Lemon]

We're here to worship. We're here to worship Jesus because that's the hope of these cities, that's the hope of the world, is Jesus Christ. I'm gonna be very respectful. Please don't push me, though. We're here.

[Smug]

Don't push me. Please don't push me.

[Don Lemon]

Okay. That's why we're here. That's what we're about. Don't you think Jesus would be understanding?

[John Ashbrook]

Oh my God.

[Josh Holmes]

See, that thing really gets me.

[Don Lemon]

But did you try to talk to them? As a Christian, did you try to talk?

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay.

[Don Lemon]

I have to take care of my church and my family. So I asked this. You actually would also leave this building.

[Smug]

You don't want us to.

[Don Lemon]

Unless you're here to worsh.

[John Ashbrook]

Always worship.

[Don Lemon]

I'm a Christian. We're here to worship.

[John Ashbrook]

So this is another like left wing meme of like, I hate your religion and what you believe in. And I'm going to try to take what you believe in and say, no, Jesus would agree with me. Like, get out of here when he says that. Do you believe we have a First Amendment right? No. The First Amendment goes as far as as long as it doesn't infringe upon others. That church service is people exercising their First Amendment right of being able to assemble and pray. When you infringe upon that, you're actually infringing upon someone else's constitutional rights. They would be well within their rights, in my opinion, to do whatever violence is necessary to rectify that. But we do have laws in this country that are supposed to protect individuals in their church. I'd like to see those being used.

[Josh Holmes]

There's a long standing saying that the Second Amendment is there to protect the first.

[John Ashbrook]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

And in a lot of parts of this country, the Second Amendment would have been there to protect the first record. And that's what scares me because this thing gets like this is we're talking about all legal activity, right? We're talking about they're arresting pedophiles, they're arresting legal folks convicted of crimes. They're doing all this stuff and everything is illegal on that side of the ledger. They don't want that to happen for all the reasons we've discussed over the last couple of weeks. But that's like the level set here. And then you get into this situation where there. Is there no dignity? Is there no sanctity in anything anymore?

[John Ashbrook]

None.

[Josh Holmes]

Not with these people, no.

[Smug]

And let's also be honest about something. There is nothing free about the speech that they were doing inside of that church. We know that these people are being paid by left wing organizations. We know that there is absolute, there is organizing that's going on in Minnesota. And there is documented evidence. And nothing punctuates that better than Don Lemon. Left wing Superstar showing up at the church. He's there because the people who are being paid to stand up and create a scene, and then Don Lemon is there to broadcast it to everybody and to ask these stupid questions.

[John Ashbrook]

Can I tell you why Don Lemon is there is? Because he recognizes there's gonna be no consequences. He's seen what's been going on of people like breaking into FBI cars, pulling out their guns and their documents and broadcast. He sees there's no consequences for left wingers to run amok. So he's like, I'm gonna farm this for content. He's like, this is free ratings. This is easy. He sees for days now in Minnesota, you can be a left wing lunatic running amok and there's no consequences. So he's like, why would I not fly in? Cause he flew in, he shot that content. Have you been saying he's been doing the left wing podcast circuit after he went into that church and ruined that? After he went and did that, he's been doing the left wing podcast circuit as the victory lap because he knows he will not face consequences. And he just says, this is content, this is ratings. This is easy.

[Smug]

It's not like he just randomly showed up at a church on some Sunday and then that's what's happening at every single church in Minneapolis. No, this was a planned event. And these are people, people who were probably paid to be there. Just like in every other instance that we've seen in Minneapolis, people coming in from out of state. That woman who told Laura Ingraham she was being paid to be at that protest. I mean, there's a financial incentive for these people to disrupt American culture because there are forces at play who want to ruin our country. You know, it's just a. It's not like that place was packed out. You know, they're just regular people, like you guys were saying, walking into church on a Sunday, somebody with their kid, they're looking for a little bit of like, something better in their life. And then lunatics come in to try to make a scene for the Internet. And Don Lemon is lurching on, you know, leeching onto that. Like it's, it's, it's a terrible thing. The left is an absolute corrosive force on our society. And to your point, it needs to be stopped.

[Josh Holmes]

I also feel like it ties it kind of neatly into another thing that we love here on the ruthless variety program, which is just exposing what the corporate media has become in that, you know, we're like two years removed from cnn, straight facing this is a journalist. This is a Don Levitt. He is, you know, of course he deserves a primetime show. This is a serious journalist. He does. You know, this is. And then like you remove the reins, he gets fired from CNN and like, look what he's up to. Storming churches with black Lives Matter to disrupt Sunday services. Like what? I mean, it's so far out of your average, everyday left of center Democrat. Like we were talking about activist left. Like crazy left. I saw another clip. What was the other asshole that used to be the White House reporter for cnn, he's now like Jim Acosta. Yeah. Saw another thing over the weekend with him doing a whole bunch of left wing podcasts, talking about like this is the worst family in the history of the world with the Trumps and, and everything else. And it's like, dude, they just take their mask off. And that's what happens every time one of these people gets fired from every one of these corporate industry news organizations that they're like, oh yeah, well, turns out this is who I am. I'm a left wing psychopath.

[Michael Duncan]

What a coincidence.

[Josh Holmes]

So DOJ is gonna do something about this. You saw Hermeet Dillon get involved. She says that the. If you wanna put up graphic one, the civil rights and that's her division that she leads over at DOJ is investigating the potential violations the federal Face act by these people desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshipers. Tags Pam Bondi in it. I hope that's true. And like, look, I think Harmeet is totally committed to this stuff. I don't question her wherewithal to try to prosecute these sorts of things. But to Smug's point, they're going to have to take this stuff seriously because it is lawless behavior. We've gone far beyond. We have a difference of opinion on public policy. You're rampaging in houses of worship and pretending as though you can just do that. Where do you draw the line? Very clearly? The First Amendment situation. You have this asshole Don Lemon out there saying it's like, oh, it's freedom of speech. It's like, did you miss the first part of the fucking amendment, you dumb shit?

[John Ashbrook]

You know what I mean, right?

[Josh Holmes]

Like they have to have some accountability. I understand the left wants accountability for absolutely nothing. No, cuz everything about what's happening in Minnesota and across the country is a activist left saying we don't observe the law. And that's what it is. It's not. We have a difference of opinion on public policy and how it's executed by a particular administration. That's why they feel this way. But ultimately it's, we don't observe the law. We don't like the immigration law, so you shouldn't enforce it. We don't like you coming in and saying that we're not doing accounting practices fairly because we're just fraudulently ripping off the taxpayer. We don't like that you've blown the whistle on that. So we're pissed. So now your Sunday's fucked.

[John Ashbrook]

That's a key thing is so it's not like the left is necessarily against the law or the police. They just want themselves to be the law and the police they're against when President Trump and Republicans are in control of having any rules. But I think all conservatives should try to remember what it was like just a few years ago when the Biden regime was hunting down moms attending school board meetings and had the FBI consider them domestic terrorists when they were fanning out billions of dollars of worth of government resources and FBI agents to hunt down anyone who was within a 20 block radius of the Capitol on January 6th and throwing those people in solitary confinement. We had numerous of those individuals commit suicide after years of being put in solitary. So that's the difference is when Democrats like remember what it was like conservatives before Elon had Twitter, you're gonna get perma banned and probably have somebody show up to your house. Okay. And now that Republicans have control, it's like, look how the left's acting. They're not worried about any consequences?

[Josh Holmes]

No, none. None. Well, I mean, so they're saying they're gonna do this investigation. There's a lot of difficult police work and all these things trying to find out where the funding this one not so difficult because the organizer of the event, well helpfully put it on Facebook. All the attendees and the funders and the organizers that were involved. You want to put up graphic three friends. Here's a clip of our demonstration this morning at city's church in St. Paul. David Easterwood is a pastor at the church and the acting field director for an ICE office in St. Paul. That is not confirmed. Could, could not be true. We don't know. But it has not been confirmed at this time. It's time for judgment to begin and it will begin in the house of God. Thank you all for the activists who showed up and independent journalists. Georgia Fort Don Lemon Dowokee Farmer 2 I'm sure that is Dowokee Farmer. That's fantastic. Brixton Hughes. Special thanks to Monique Culler's Doty Chantille Allen, Santara Strong Allen needed a hyphen in there. I'm glad we finally got to it for co organizing this mission from Black Lives Matter Minnesota and Black Lives Matter Twin Cities Metro, along with the Racial Justice Network. Now fellas, I don't know, I had just assumed when Black Lives Matter went tits up for buying property in la properties in LA and being shown that they used all of the post George Floyd funding largesse to their personal benefit, that that whole organization was done. Even the mayor of D.C. took the name off of the 16th street in Washington D.C. which was prominently painted and repainted for four long years. Once they found out this was essentially a fraud ridden organization, they took it off. But it still exists apparently here in Minneapolis and it's organizing these things.

[Michael Duncan]

I've seen a lot of dumb criminals because I, I watched Cops a lot growing up. Great show. Very rare. Does someone tag on social media all the people involved in a criminal conspiracy? That's very rare.

[John Ashbrook]

That's a helpful thing. So for folks at the FBI, feel free to hit that up and you can just conveniently click the link, just have the names and there it is.

[Josh Holmes]

So we got more religious problems after this. We're gonna find out about Governor Josh Shapiro and what we've talked about all along here on the Ruthless Variety Program about why he wasn't the vice presidential selection for Kamala Harris, in his own words. But first, we're gonna be in Philadelphia, folks. We are gonna be there celebrating America. 250 in downtown Philadelphia.

[John Ashbrook]

It's gonna be huge.

[Josh Holmes]

The Ruthless Variety Program. We wanna kick it off early. It's January. We're gonna do one of these every month somewhere. We're just gonna. America is worth celebrating despite these psychopaths that show up at churches. It's the only way to drown this shit out is to try to do the opposite. So we're going to show up in Philadelphia to celebrate America's 250 on January 29th. Doors open at 6pm Tickets are free, food and beverage included.

[Smug]

Huh.

[Josh Holmes]

So if you go to a250philly.com ruthless you can get tickets if you're in the area. And they're gonna provide you once you register for it, they're gonna provide you the location and all of that. And I think it's gonna be a great time. It's gonna be with our friends from American prosperity. We're gonna have a lot of great guests celebrating America as one does.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, I'm gonna fix the crack in the Liberty Bell.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that's right.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, you're not gonna wanna miss that.

[Smug]

Finally he's bringing his toolkit, folks.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, I mean, it's gonna be a great show. We're friends there. Everyone's gonna be entertained. It's free. I try to be in the area for this. January 29th doors at 6pm I'm gonna try to get homes to wear all the Philadelphia Eagles gear.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh my God.

[John Ashbrook]

Celebrate his family's team.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, he just doesn't know when to quit. He's much like a liberal Democrat in that regard. Just keeps coming. So coming up, we're gonna get to the Josh Shapiro situation and a whole bunch more right after this.

[Built for America Announcer]

President Trump called for American energy dominance. Congress can deliver it by allowing year round E15. E15 lowers prices at the pump, strengthens rural economies and puts more money in the pockets of farm families. But political Gridlock is limiting E15's potential. Farmers, fuel, retailers and consumers want certainty. They need permanent year round E15. Let's Make America Energy success cure. Let's make rural America stronger. Congress, let's make year round E15 permanent.

[Josh Holmes]

So recall all the way back to when Joe Biden skated out the ruthless variety program pontificated upon who could potentially make Kamala Harris nationwide acceptable. And there was very few, they could ultimately do that. But one of the states that they absolutely had to win was Pennsylvania. And they happen to have a young Democratic governor, by far the most talented Democrat that they have in the entire roster in Pennsylvania with like a 75% approval rating at the time. And they apparently interviewed him.

[John Ashbrook]

What kind of questions would they ask him during this interview?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, you know, we know the end of the story. They ultimately settled on Tim Walls, like the absolute worst govern of the world and embarrass them throughout that entire campaign. But we said at the time, like at a minimum, this cat could get a mistake, that they have to win. The only pathway that they have to beating Donald Trump is taking Pennsylvania. And they were like you know, at the time, wow, there's a lot of different maps, a lot of different pathways. Pennsylvania's a foregone conclusion, yada yada yada. We pontificated that it was basically because Kamala Harris role at the end of the Biden campaign tenure, before he exited, was to try to re solidify this far left anti Israel, pro Hamas crowd. Remember how loud that was at the time? But that was her job. She was like the pro Hamas whisperer. And apparently our point of view was like, well, this clearly had something to do with it like, clearly they were more concerned about having a Jewish person on the ticket than they were about winning statewide. And, well, it turns out Josh Shapiro confirmed all of that. Now, you recall at the time this bubbled up, we weren't the only people. We're the only people to suggest that no matter what they were saying, this was absolutely true because everybody else just agreed with what the Harris campaign said. In a statement to the Jewish Telephonic Agency, an aide. And they always did it. Remember, we talked about this. They always did it through an aid. They would never put it in Kamala Harris mouth.

[John Ashbrook]

She could never make a statement without making an idiot for.

[Josh Holmes]

And not only that, but they never wanted to placate anybody on the Jewish side of the ledger with her voice.

[Smug]

Didn't want to be seen doing that.

[Josh Holmes]

They didn't want to be seen doing that.

[Michael Duncan]

She was the ambassador to Gaza.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it was a Michigan problem, as you recall. So an aide to Harris rejected the accusation that Shapiro's faith or stances on Israel was a consideration. Assertions that President. Or assertions that Vice President Harris did not select Governor Shapiro based on his religion or views on Israel's. Absolutely ridiculous. And offensive.

[Michael Duncan]

And offensive.

[Josh Holmes]

And offensive. Vice President Harris has an unwavering commitment to Israel's security, as she reaffirmed last night following the meeting in the Situation Room, where she and President Joe Biden joined a briefing about Iranian plans to attack Israel. The aide said she will always combat anti Semitism wherever and whenever she sees it.

[John Ashbrook]

What if it's in the mirror?

[Michael Duncan]

I. I do miss. She's like, ah, I do miss that time. I. I missed that time during the Biden administration where they kept trying to, like, airdrop Kamala into important situations and important rooms where they're trying to, like, burnish her credentials as a serious person, even though we all knew she was a joke. Yeah, well, she looked like in the Situation Room.

[Smug]

No, she was there, guys.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, Trust us.

[Michael Duncan]

Right?

[Josh Holmes]

And like, in a political context, she was like, basically the bozo, the clown sitting in the middle of people. You know, it's like, which one of these things doesn't. Well, so he's written a new memoir. Shapiro is the governor of Pennsylvania, where he suggests when Kamala Harris team vetted him to be the running mate, aides focused on Israel to an extent he found offensive. This is according to the New York Times. New York Times, as your point is.

[Smug]

Always smash, be on the front page.

[Josh Holmes]

But if you're gonna do damage to a Democrat, it's gotta be on behalf.

[John Ashbrook]

Of Another Democrat in the New York Times.

[Josh Holmes]

Another Democrat. So here we are in Shapiro's book, Where We Keep the Light. It's an interesting title.

[Michael Duncan]

Weird.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. I don't get it. The governor is measured in describing. Measured in describing his interactions with Misaras herself. But Shapiro's Jewish details a contentious vetting process in which Harris team focused intensely on the views on Israel. So much so that at one point he wrote he was asked if you've ever been an agent of the Israeli government.

[John Ashbrook]

Come on.

[Josh Holmes]

They legit asked him, hold on. This is it. Quote, had I been a double agent for Israel. This is the Governor of Pennsylvania, wrote Mr. Shapiro describing the incredulous response to a last minute question from the vetting team. He responded that the question was offensive. And he wrote and was told, well, we have to ask you.

[Michael Duncan]

Do.

[Josh Holmes]

Do you. Do you.

[John Ashbrook]

Is it a rule?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Have you ever communicated with an undercover agent of Israel? Unquote. The questioner, Dana Remus, a former White House counsel, continued, according to Shapiro, who recounted, if they were undercover, I responded, how the hell would I know?

[John Ashbrook]

Also, it's amazing that he. It's amazing he named names.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Like straight up. Oh, yeah. And when you, when you said that in the context of like, whenever the New York Times is letting something get printed that like, makes a Dem look bad, it's in service to another Dem. Shapiro is clearly going after Harris here because reports also popped up this past weekend that, like, Democrats in D.C. hate Kamala Harris.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

But they're scared because she's been on this, like, tour around the country and getting a lot of Democrats in, like, in her appearances. And so outside D.C. democrats are like, let's run her again. So Shapiro clearly is like, he's like, I wanna run.

[Josh Holmes]

Let me just tell you a little something about this. Remember, But Pettige had a similar response when her book said basically that they didn't pick him because he's afraid of the gays. She's afraid of the gays.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

She's like, I myself am a champion of the gays. I'm afraid the American people are not. Which is basically why.

[John Ashbrook]

And she says it to Rachel Maddow, no offense, we just can't have you people on the ticket. And Boot. And Boot is like, what the fuck.

[Josh Holmes]

Are you, what are you, Are you serious with this? And. And she had no response. They came at her six ways from Sunday on. The Boot situation. But now the Shapiro thing, Similar, very similar. But it connects to the first story in that it's like this religious tolerance type Thing like, you can raid a. A Sunday service on the left, but you're also, like, Jewish people. Like, I don't know. The only people that I see protected, like, ultimately protected in the way that the First Amendment was designed to do is your Islamic extremists.

[John Ashbrook]

Pretty much.

[Josh Holmes]

That's it.

[Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

They seem like they have a COD lock in the Democratic Party. Like, nope, you cannot. You cannot fool with those folks. They have. Let's just ship them money. I don't care if they're doing the job or not. We need to ship them cash. Let's make sure they're a part of the coalition. If you're, like, a Jewish person who has been involved in the democratic party for 80 years, you're fucking out.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

You're out.

[Smug]

Right?

[Josh Holmes]

Right. A gay person, like, the entire movement of the liberal left. Yep. You're gone.

[Michael Duncan]

Prayer mat. Prayer mat on an airplane. You know they got you.

[John Ashbrook]

There is one, like, during the VP Vetting process. Are they like, listen, so Gitmo's still open. Is there anyone in there we could interview?

[Josh Holmes]

He seems extremely committed to his point of view.

[Smug]

There's one question we'd like, that kind of conviction.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, I think he could win Michigan for us. Definitely win.

[Josh Holmes]

The Dearborn faithful are coming out.

[Smug]

There is one question that is not mentioned in this story that I wonder whether she asked Governor Shapiro, does Pennsylvania have a large community of Somalis who moves great quantities of cash and unmarked bills? Can they get the money to my campaign tootsuite?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, that's the thing, as it turns out, as they documented in this story, he was an outspoken critic of what he saw as anti Semitism in the Israel Hamas war, which I think would prevent him.

[John Ashbrook]

That was the deal breaker, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Yeah. Like, nah, it would prevent him from engaging in the largesse swap where you provide you, the taxpayer, your money in order for them to give it to people who don't do a job in order for them to give it back to them so they can be reelected for things that seems like that's the circle that they're trying to square with their whole election plan. So Shapiro didn't fit into that. At another point, he wrote, during the vetting process, I wondered whether these questions were being posed to just me, the only Jewish guy in the running, or if everyone who had not held federal office was being grilled about Israel in the same way.

[John Ashbrook]

Incredible. Incredible.

[Smug]

You think she asked Pete Buttigieg if he was an undercover operative for the gays?

[Josh Holmes]

Hey, Pete, are you gonna just do the gays? How willing are you to open the aperture on that? I mean, for real, dude, it reads comically. These people are probably the worst of the worst in terms of both vetting, understanding the political viability of who it was that they were choosing to do the job. But I almost don't blame them because they're indicative of this larger modern Democratic Party. This is who they are.

[John Ashbrook]

So the problem, they're just so screwed because there is this atrophied Democrat establishment which has complete control. Right? Like, there hasn't been anyone on their ticket in a generation who isn't a Clinton, Obama, or a Biden for an entire generation. And so they're stuck in this situation where they're like, okay, the jig is up. Like, Biden is gonna like, croak live on tv. We gotta do something about this. But we cannot have, by any means, an open primary. They learned with Bernie. They're like, it took all of us cutting deals. We had to put boot in the Department of Transportation to get him to drop out to stop Bernie. They're like, we don't wanna cut any of these deals. Let's just get Kamala. So they're stuck with the biggest idiot in the history of politics of all.

[Josh Holmes]

Of them, by idiots too.

[John Ashbrook]

And then they're like, okay, but here's the problem is we still have to deal with the grassroots. And the grassroots is radical Islamists.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[John Ashbrook]

So now we gotta ask the one Jewish guy if he's actually working.

[Michael Duncan]

Like.

[John Ashbrook]

The funniest episode of Veep ever.

[Josh Holmes]

Can you imagine? It is like an episode of Veep.

[John Ashbrook]

It's incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

Cuban going into this guy and be.

[John Ashbrook]

Like, so, like, so you work for Israel. He's like, you're asking me that cuz I'm a Jew. Like, actually, yes.

[Josh Holmes]

How Jewy are you?

[John Ashbrook]

Like, you know what I mean? Working for Israel, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

No, that's like, literally is what the conversation. I mean, like, real Jewish. Are we just kind of like Jewish? Because that's how we grew up. Are we? You like Israel?

[John Ashbrook]

Incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

And he's like, yeah. So the capstone of this, which has nothing to do with the Israel side, which I found completely hilarious, is that ultimately this process concluded at some point and he has to be connected with Harris to share the decision. Like, ultimately, if she was going to make a decision, he wanted to hear it from her. Not too much to ask is the governor of the state that. That they needed to win, other than California, the largest state that they needed to win in terms of electoral vote. And he wrote. But she says he was told the VP would not handle bad news well and that I shouldn't push.

[Smug]

She was in the Situation Room. She was too busy dealing with the affairs of the country. She can't make a phone call to the governor of Pennsylvania, a state she had to win if she had any prayer.

[Josh Holmes]

What a clown car.

[Smug]

Just an idiot, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

What a clown car.

[Smug]

She's the dumbest person, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

The fact that any of this stuff is close blows my mind. The fact that any of this. These are the people that are the opposite session.

[John Ashbrook]

That's the thing, is when we've been discussing our theory on why that idiot Walls ended up getting it and how the head of the dnc, currently Ken Martin's from Minnesota, and the previous head, Keith Allison's from Minnesota, the AG currently in Minnesota. Like, a lot of that money seems to slush around. They had to pay for like a million dollar call her daddy set. They're like, who's picking up the bill?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And this dumb white guy says, you know, I got my hands on some money.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. He's like, hey, here's the deal. You just sent it to the daycare store.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

You get back $0.40 on the dollar. It's fantastic.

[John Ashbrook]

And here's the beauty of it.

[Josh Holmes]

It all comes from taxpayers. You don't have to invest a dime, dude.

[John Ashbrook]

I guarantee there's conversations that have just.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, it seems like it. Even if it's unspoken, that's in practice close to what it is. That the reality is.

[John Ashbrook]

We played audio of Keith Ellison.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Straight up having conversation with the dude who got indicted.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. It's a full on Elliot Ness situ. Like bad, you know, shame of something happened to your house types of stuff. Unbelievable.

[Smug]

Speaking of, have you guys heard, like an outpouring of parents from the Minneapolis area about what they're doing now that all the daycares are closed? Like, have you heard anybody say that I don't have anywhere to send my kids?

[John Ashbrook]

That is a great point.

[Smug]

Nobody's talking about that.

[John Ashbrook]

Amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

It's amazing how they closed all those daycares and there is not a single child displaced.

[John Ashbrook]

That's what they're amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

That's amazing. You can eliminate $8 billion in funding all the transportation.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Smug]

No bus driver is saying, whoa, I don't have any kids to take anymore.

[John Ashbrook]

For real?

[Smug]

It's real.

[Josh Holmes]

Great question.

[Smug]

It's just your money stolen.

[John Ashbrook]

Stolen.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, there's gotta be consequences for all of this. Which leads to our question of the day. What should the consequences be for Don Lemon? I think Smug articulated the point here, the Ruthless Friday program, perfectly, when he said basically that there has to be a line drawn in the sand on this stuff. You can't just allow people to trample over American society under the guise of like, political resistance and not have some consequence. Lord knows, if this was happening off the right side of the ledger, everybody'd be in prison. They just, they already had.

[John Ashbrook]

That's why we have equal protection under the law.

[Josh Holmes]

Exactly.

[John Ashbrook]

If you had some conservatives storm a mosque, you better believe in Minneapolis and all places, you better believe Waltz would have those people hung up like within the hour. Lead to the news.

[Josh Holmes]

You storm a mosque, you know, saying like, hey, we don't appreciate you stealing $8 billion of our money. Those people will be leading the news. They'd be the biggest racists on the face of the planet. Be ostracized.

[John Ashbrook]

Dude, Mayor Fry would be like speaking in Somali, Beheading those people.

[Josh Holmes]

Dusk.

[John Ashbrook]

My God. Something needs to be done. True.

[Josh Holmes]

There's a lot I wanted to do with that that I didn't. I didn't.

[John Ashbrook]

And that's why we let our comment section do it.

[Josh Holmes]

There's a lot that I wanted to do with that. So coming up, your comments from last episode where we asked hilariously, who's the dumbest lib and why?

[John Ashbrook]

Great question.

[Josh Holmes]

You have great answers right after this.

[Event Announcer]

Energy is all around us. It's how we move, how we build and how we make every day a little easier. We're all around America's oil and natural gas supporting 11 million good paying American jobs across the country and powering our way of life. But energy demand is growing and fast. That's why we need to overhaul our broken permitting process to unleash America's abundant natural resources, strengthen national security and create a future where American energy leads the world. What America builds today will help secure a more affordable, more reliable future. With enough energy to go around for generations to come. Our country can't wait. We must pass permitting reform now to help secure American energy dollars dominance. Because when America builds, America wins. America's oil and natural gas paid for by the American Petroleum Institute.

[Josh Holmes]

When you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety program. We read all of your comments to the question of the day the very next episode. And in this case, we asked on Funtime Friday who's the dumbest lib and why? Your responses are fantastic. To do that, we always start with a voice.

[Smug]

Okay. First one comes from Jack's Truths and I absolutely love this one. He says he's right. Maisie Hirono okay, there's only one answer. There is only one answer. And one of her famous quotes, the filibuster, it's broken.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, I forgot.

[John Ashbrook]

So good.

[Smug]

Jack's Truths goes on to describe Maisie Hirono. He says even though she was quiet this week, her mere existence brings the collective intelligence of this nation down to a dangerous level. She's the goat of brain dead libs.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude, I 100% endorse and agree. Jack's Truths has, like a pulse. I mean. Cause you have to get deep lore.

[John Ashbrook]

That's the thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, you can't just go by who's in the news to have the Maisie Hirono poll. You need to study.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, he may be right. Like, statistically, she may be the dumbest lib ever.

[Josh Holmes]

There's no question in my mind that she is the dumbest lib ever. But in order to pull that to the forefront, because she makes. I don't think she's ever passed a law. You've never been in a protest. Jack's Truth. Very, very impressive. All right. Dunks, runks.

[Michael Duncan]

This comment is from Kyle Rogers. Kyle writes, jasmine Crockett jumps into the Texas Senate Dem primary, and this week, poll numbers are showing her getting blown out at beto levels against anyone the GOP matches her up against. The other Dem in the primary, had jumped 20 points from being down 10 to being over 10 if the few polls on RCP are any indicator. If this doesn't get her the title of dumbest M for this year, career ending ego trip, then her antics as she tries to claw back to relevancy in the race definitely will.

[Josh Holmes]

Mm. It's a good take. I mean, look, Jazzy Jazz is one of our absolute favorites. The content machine that she provides certainly qualifies her for these discussions. No question about it. We're gonna see how all that ends.

[Michael Duncan]

My favorite. Jasmine Crockett was the one. I think it was her who was like, yes, I have private security and we need to abolish the police. That's so cool.

[John Ashbrook]

Incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

That was awesome. Almost as good as Jeff Epstein. Jeff Epstein?

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

I didn't say that they're the same.

[Josh Holmes]

But you said he got a contribution from Jeff S. Epstein. No, it's not that Jeff Epstein. But all I said, because I'm a lawyer and I'm specific about these things.

[Michael Duncan]

Which is such a funny story.

[Josh Holmes]

It was like a licensed, normal dentist. He's like, pulling molars one day, and the next thing you know, he's like, the subject of national discussion.

[John Ashbrook]

It's just really funny that she just.

[Michael Duncan]

Like, refused to apologize for something that was obviously her fault. And she was like, no, it's okay because I'm a lawyer.

[Josh Holmes]

So good.

[Smug]

Poor guy.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, Smug. What do you got for comment 3?

[John Ashbrook]

Comment 3 is from Judge Fudge. Judge Fudge writes, the dumbest libs are the ones in the legacy media today. All they do is lie, manipulate the facts on any story to benefit Democrat politicians. But now that the media sources have emerged, these legacy libs have been caught red handed and are getting called out. Perfect example. Just watch Kayla and Levitt's daily press briefing and watch these libraries melt down. That is a thing. It has really exposed how stupid the legacy media really is. For so long, these people have had control over the narrative and what people would like to hear. And now you see it's like the emperor has no clothes.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, Holmes's whole point in the first segment, right? Don Lemon, Jim Acosta.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like they, they all of a sudden, you take their title away and they're like, yeah, that's.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm as crazy as you thought.

[Josh Holmes]

That was holding me back. It was holding me back. All right, when we come back, we got some variety for you. There's a senator in Virginia that is extremely funny about the redistricting fight. We're gonna do something larger on this at some point, but you ought to get a little update because it's gonna be a topic of conversation, a little Republican on Republican violence, which we're not allergic to here on the ruthless Friday program. Cause we like to sort of sort through what's the truth. But it's coming up along with some variety right after that.

[Smug]

Twenty days, one historic move, and an unbelievable journey. Melania from Amazon MGM Studios captures the one of a kind transition into the White House, showcasing the planning pressure and personal moments that come with stepping into the role of the first lady for a second time. From logistical complexities to decisions made behind closed doors, the film brings you closer to Mrs. Trump and her family as they return to the nation's capital. See what history looks like before the doors officially open. Melania arrives in theaters exclusively on January 30, 2026. 20 days, one historic move, and an unbelievable journey. Melania from Amazon MGM Studios captures the one of a kind transition into the White House, showcasing the planning pressure in personal moments that come with stepping into the role of the first lady for a second time. From logistical complexities to decisions made behind closed doors, the film brings you closer to Mrs. Trump and her family. As they return to the nation's capital, see what history looks like before the doors officially open. Melania arrives in theaters exclusively on January 30, 2026.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so you've been reading about the redistricting fight. This was an opening salvo that was fired by the Trump administration with Texas, which sort of slipped sideways and became a little bit problematic in that Gavin Newsom in California could do basically what no red state could, which is immediately turn it around, have a referendum and redistrict the hell out of their state, putting a whole bunch of Republican seats out, all Democrat seats in. So it's been a tit for tat across the country. Some states have done it, some states have not. The big one that was a stumbling block on the Republican side was Indiana, where they refused to redistrict despite the Trump administration urging them heavily to do so. And just this week, we got a reminder in that this is a shirts and skins exercise. And Virginia, of all places, which used to be a red state and then turned purple, now turned quite blue with a new Democratic governor. And a Democratic state legislature decided that they were going to try to ten one the.

[John Ashbrook]

They did it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

The state's like a 55, 45 to 60, 40 blue versus red state. And they've done it. They're gonna turn it into a 10 one.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep. For sure.

[Smug]

Hilariously, 10 Democrats representing in Congress, one Republican.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

Virginia is represented by two dyed in the wool Democrats. Most partisan guys you'll ever see in your life. But they like to speak to the middle.

[John Ashbrook]

They try to act like centrists.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

They try to act like centrists. So they've been wringing their hands in public about whether it's smart to do these partisan redistrictings. That, that and the other. Well, a leader within the state legislature, a Senator, Louise Lucas, had something to say. If we can put up graphic, too. I have the utmost respect for Senator Kaine and Senator Warner, but we do not need coaching on redistricting coming from a cuck chair in the corner. How about you all stay focused on the fascist in the White House and let us handle redistricting in Virginia? 10:1.

[John Ashbrook]

That's it.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, that's it.

[Michael Duncan]

It's very funny to say utmost respect and call people cucks.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And that's it. She did it. 10 1. What are they gonna do? What are they gonna do? Well, for so long, what we got is all these Republicans loved lecturing us of being like, oh, we can't do this, because if the Democrats get In power. They're gonna do it to us. They just did it anyways. Yeah, I mean, they did it anyway. So all the Republicans in Indiana, I want you to know, they just did it anyways. They did it anyways.

[Josh Holmes]

So of course this provoked the White House. And in this sense, J.D. vance in particular in graphic 2A, where he says, I'd like to thank Bray Roderick for not even trying to fight back against this extraordinary Democrat abuse of power. Now the votes of Indiana Republicans will matter far less than the votes of Virginia Democrats. We told you this would happen and you did nothing.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

So, I mean, look, that's a true story in terms of what happened. The Indiana Republicans decided, based on a handful of them, that they were not going to redistrict, which would have handed how many seats, like couple, two or three to Republicans. And then Democrats just kept pushing. And now the whole effort appears to be a net negative if this Virginia thing comes to fruition. So this has been obviously a huge component to the underlying midterms, which we now have a House of Representatives that has a one seat majority. And any edge one way or another when you're the party in power has profound significance. And in this case, you can't lose a seat from redistricting. You gotta try to net gain if you're gonna do redistricting. But here we are in a point where you've got an awful lot of seats that are vulnerable for a Democratic takeover of the House. And a Republican Party in a lot of these states that is seemingly unwilling to understand that this is a shirts and skins exercise. The wisdom of all of this, I think, provides a greater conversation we should probably have at some point, which is you kind of need to lock your shit down at the beginning if you're going to do, if you're going to. There is nothing you can do in politics where you shouldn't game out step two, step three and step four, because there's nothing that happens where you just broadside the other side and just stick it in their eye where they're not gonna be like, well, I'm gonna try to take this. I'll burn the fucking thing right down to the ground to try to get back at you. And that's what's happened.

[John Ashbrook]

And here's what's happened is I think a lot of Republicans have amnesia and they forgot that what the left has done over the past five years is they've tried to lock up Trump, they've tried to lock up Trump supporters, they've tried to throw Trump supporters into Solitary confinement. They tried to kill Trump. They killed Charlie Kirk, and they've run amok. They don't want any voter loss. The first thing Abigail Spamberger does is she basically lets. She signs an executive order that the state of Virginia will no longer cooperate with ICE because they want the illegals running amok. They're not going to count ballots by hand. Basically, what Democrats want is an open border. They want illegals to vote. They want to steal taxpayer money to give money to the illegals to support them. And Republicans are thinking, you know what? I'm kind of worried, you know, if we do this redistricting thing, boy, oh, boy, what will the Democrats do? They've already tried to jail and kill us, man. They've already tried to jail and kill us. What do you think's gonna happen if we let them back in power? What do you think's gonna happen if they win the House? They're gonna just investigate Trump, they're gonna impeach him. They're gonna do all of this. For the love of God, what's it gonna take for these people? Anyone who is not. I mean, this is not like, oh, boy, the center of the country won't like this. The center of the country is what we call the right. The left is for castrating children and throwing their political opponents in jail and storming churches. Wake up.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I mean, look, I don't disagree. I don't disagree with that. I do think there's a bit of strategic involved here that wasn't particularly well crafted throughout. There was an idea that you could unilaterally act to increase a Republican margin without the idea that Democrats, in their gerrymanding capabilities, have gone back generations. It's the only reason they're competitive in the first place. Place they've been willing to be. The most brazen gerrymandering, that's all a derivation of Democrats all the way from the mid century, last century. I mean, that's what they do. They have no qualms about all of that. So if you're gonna launch a war on that, you better make sure that you can execute upon it. And at this point, feels like a real open question about whether or not we're there. And I agree with your take. I mean, it's a shirt. There is no. It's a shirts and skins exercise. Everybody talks about redistricting and census apportionment and all of that. There should be, you know, courts or something that officially sort of designate bullshit. It's a partisan thing. It's been a Partisan thing from the very beginning. You can outsource it to people who hide their partisanship if you want, but ultimately it's gonna be a partisan thing. Just is like you could be someone who's a little less partisan than 10:1 in Virginia for sure, but it's gonna be a partisan thing. In likelihood, it's gonna be a partisan thing against you if you're a Republican because the establishment is a left leaning establishment and they want the plaudits of the mainstream media if they don't want the plaudits of the Democrat Party to begin with. And somehow we've gotten to a situation where we expect we're able to compete on a toe to toe level with a party that has done this for decades. Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

I would say like the Democrats have focused on redistricting and gerrymandering for generation, the same way that conservatives have fought for the Supreme Court. Like this has been their bread and butter for as long as I remember in politics. I mean, even like Barack Obama, Eric.

[John Ashbrook]

Holder, Eric Holder's bag man, that's his job. There's like one job right now.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

There's a fascinating story. When Barack Obama. Obama was coming on the scene, he actually redistricted his state senate seat to include more affluent white liberals so he could court them as donors before he ran statewide for U.S. senate.

[Josh Holmes]

Incredible.

[Michael Duncan]

Like that's the long game the left has played in redistricting their entire lives.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no, they know this stuff. It's great. Look, I don't fault people for trying to figure out how you can gain a little bit on the margins. I guess that my biggest concern about the entirety of what was 25 and now 26 redistricting is, you better make sure you're gonna fucking win it. Like you've gotta get all your ducks in a line right from the very beginning because you already know the other side is fine with their courts in those circuits, in those districts, they're gonna approve whatever the fuck they do. That's not an issue like they're gonna jam through a full state referendum in California funded by some of the corporate, Fortune 50 and Gavin Newsom just pounding that down their throats like they're gonna get it done. So you should know that going into it.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, that's part of what the give and take is of politics, is understanding the three dimensional nature and knowing what the response is. You can't just be a blunt force hammer. I am all for it, but you better make sure that you have to act. You can execute it if you're going to do it. And it just feels like, I don't know if we just redistrict ourselves out of a majority, because that's a hell of a thing. In the second two years, you already know what's going to happen. Trump's talked about it. Impeachment number three coming up. You know, it's coming if they get the House majority. And I'm not saying the House majority is gone, but it's certainly, like, not great. 101 would be real bad.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Smug]

No, I mean, historically speaking, this cycle should be bad for Republicans. I mean, you take the redistricting out of it every single time you have a party out of power, it's. It's usually bad at the ballot box in the midterm. And. And I think we're headed for rocky, rocky waters, not just in the House, but also in the Senate.

[Michael Duncan]

But more of this is in our control than we're making it seem here right now. I mean, redistricting is one thing, but, like, you know, we can sell the Trump agenda. We can sell the economic gains for the American people. There's a lot of things that Donald Trump and Republicans need to do to convince the American people they're better off than they were when Joe Biden was running the show.

[Josh Holmes]

Percent.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, I mean, like, we have a lot more control over this than we're.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, if you did a nationwide referendum where you had the exact same voter base of 2024, I think we'd win again. The problem is, is that every midterm since Donald Trump has walked down the Golden Escalator has not had that, not even anywhere close. We swapped out a base that voted at 78 for a base that voted at 57 during midterms, and it shows up each and every election cycle. Now, I understand knowing that why you would want to try to change the calculus a little bit and add some seats, but if that's not gonna work, boy, oh, boy, like, you're gonna need to sell. You're gonna need the president to be out there in a very real way trying to ensure that that same voter base shows up for the first time in his presidency when his name's not on the ballot.

[John Ashbrook]

This is just so disappointing for the Indiana Republicans who allowed this. And my advice, every Republican governor in this country, lock down those election laws hard. Now, we learned from 2020, the governors who did not act to lock down the vote suffered tremendously. Lock down those ballot boxes, the rules to vote.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, because the Dems look at this.

[John Ashbrook]

Don't be Worried about, oh, what if we do this, bro? Look at that mug shot of Donald Trump. Because that's the only thing that the Democrats want, okay? And it's gonna be all of us.

[Josh Holmes]

If they're stomping, if they're storming churches.

[John Ashbrook]

Bingo. You think these people care?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, anyway, we'll probably get into a little bit more of that and break down some numbers so you all understand the specifics of it. That was a broad outline, but I gotta get to this variety because it's my absolute favorite. It's a lesson in aerodynamics, fellas. Scientific in nature, where, you know, lift and air have a lot to do with many aspects of athletic feats. None more so than ski jumping, of course, where you could fly yourself off at 40 miles an hour into the great blue yonder, and you try to float upon air as far as you possibly can and stick it onto your skis.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay, so I've noticed this. Right, because they, like, lean into it as they jump.

[Josh Holmes]

Exactly.

[Michael Duncan]

That's about the aerodynamics. Right.

[Josh Holmes]

It's about the arrow.

[Michael Duncan]

You're, like, generating lift.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And if you notice there's a little bit of flap.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

That they have in their suits. Well, because of that, the suits very specifically tailored, where nobody can have an advantage in what they're wearing.

[Smug]

Okay?

[Josh Holmes]

So New York Post has dutifully reported on this, and it's a below the belt scandal. They say it's giving ski jumping an extra lift as some of the competitors in the winter sport are reportedly manipulating the size of their genitalia in order to gain an aerodynamic edge over their rivals.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Professional ski jumpers are artificially enlarging their genital area before official measurements by using substances such as hyaluronic acid, sometimes placed in a silicone. So that's what those kind of things are. A condom like sleeve, sometimes placed in a condom like sleeve to boost their crotch dimensions.

[Michael Duncan]

They're putting acid on their penises.

[Josh Holmes]

They are? Yeah. Well, they're trying to build their penis.

[Smug]

These guys want to win.

[Josh Holmes]

This is according to a German publication, Build. Yeah. No, I mean the commitment to victory. Listen, it's nothing like the Olympic experience, guys.

[John Ashbrook]

No, it sounds like it says here the sacrifice. They're putting, like a sleeve on that. They're carving using the acid, but then they're putting that over their junk.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like a cone or sometimes injecting it directly in the peen.

[John Ashbrook]

Does it? No way. Where does it say that?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, we'll get to it. So the enlarged genital area allows athletes to wear a slightly bigger ski jumping suit that generates more lift.

[Michael Duncan]

Ah, I see.

[Josh Holmes]

That improves the aerodynamics.

[Michael Duncan]

They want more slack in the suit. Yeah, so, so, so they generate more lift. Kind of like a flying squirrel.

[Josh Holmes]

It's exactly right. It's the flying squirrel type thing.

[Michael Duncan]

Got it.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, if you have a little bit more surface area that is in the suit, the wind gets under it. It's a basic aerodynamic situation. The skis act is a little bit of a flap in that regard and that it sort of generates lift. And. But your suit is primarily the leading edge of the wing.

[Smug]

So it's like an attached mantorette.

[Michael Duncan]

So they pump up their hog in order to get a larger suit.

[Josh Holmes]

It's important to have a big hog.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. No.

[Smug]

And so in that case, they win twice. Once at the podium and once in the Olympic village.

[Josh Holmes]

So the crotch measurements, and this is a specific part of it that I find so fascinating because I was like, well, isn't it just like height and weight and you just kind of got to jam whatever it is that you. You have into the height and weight like every other competition? Not. So in this, they.

[Michael Duncan]

They measure each like an inseam.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, well, it's more than an inseam. The crotch measurement is taken from the lowest point of the athlete's genitals. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Ed, if you manage to move that point downward, you automatically get more surface area in the suit.

[Michael Duncan]

Can we put up the suit? Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

There it is.

[Michael Duncan]

Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

So if you have a downward point beyond the inseam, you get a little bit more lift there.

[Smug]

Got it.

[Josh Holmes]

So if you've got like, you know, a John Holmes situation going on.

[Smug]

You'Re.

[Josh Holmes]

A better ski jumper in many situations. The extra fabric provides aerodynamic advantages which translate into longer jumps.

[Smug]

Wow. Okay. Makes sense.

[Josh Holmes]

There's a. They claim some ski jumpers have allegedly used this acid to temporarily enlarge their genital area ahead of the scan, sometimes by injecting the substance into a silicone condom like sheath worn inside the suit. Unclear if the condom. You know, I mean, you're injecting something that's on your panouse. Seems dangerous.

[Smug]

It's risky.

[Michael Duncan]

Snug's been awfully quiet this segment.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, I'm reading here he's trying to.

[Josh Holmes]

Learn is what he's saying.

[John Ashbrook]

So here's the thing is he made the claim that it was being injected. And there's a guy. This is Norwegian ski jumper Halvar Egnor Grenner said that, well, this Is such insanity said that while being warm during measurements can matter. So like what? The notion of injecting substances into the penis to gain advantage quote sounds extreme. It is not something he believes is happening.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, he's a contrarian in this article.

[John Ashbrook]

You think so? You think he's part of it?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I mean, it's, you know. Yeah, I do.

[Smug]

Well, maybe. Maybe Halvor has got nothing to worry about. So last week, maybe Halvor's playing ahead of the game. Naturally.

[John Ashbrook]

Here's the thing is. So. So then we go into this next point. He might be in on it. So it says last week 2 Norwegian ski jumping coaches and the team suit technician were suspended for 18 months. What does Norway do like. Well, it could be like a situation of they're by any means necessary trying to hold on to Greenland, all these people.

[Smug]

It could be it.

[Josh Holmes]

I just find it absolutely fascinating that you'd inject your peen to get a couple of meters out of a ski jump.

[Smug]

It does seem risky sacrifice.

[Josh Holmes]

And there is, I mean, you know, there's some natural advantages to people who have a little bit more to work with in that area, these people, which maybe is part of the recruiting process.

[Michael Duncan]

It's sort of counterintuitive because you would think, you know, those who are extremely well endowed would face more drag, you would think, you know, rather than lift, you would think.

[Josh Holmes]

And there is something to be said about all that going on. But it turns out that the. Just the pure surface area that allows to accommodate such a drag, it's really counterintuitive, is enough to maybe propel you upward and therefore further in the Olympic. So you think about that in a few weeks when we have the Winter Olympics, when you're watching ski jumping, about, you know, who's really performing there. Wow. Yeah. It's all about the bean.

[Michael Duncan]

Insightful.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

What a great segment.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, Bears fans, we have to shit on football for a little bit. Congratulations. Broncos are at least temporarily still in the playoffs.

[John Ashbrook]

Now that you have brutal, brutal finish to that game.

[Josh Holmes]

Starting quarterback, but it is a lot more than we can say. And it's the AFC championship, so hats off. We have to give it to you, Bears fans. Well, I think they went a step too far.

[John Ashbrook]

I like how they put in parentheses men, because this is the male Bears fans that are doing this.

[Josh Holmes]

So recall when Caleb Williams came to the NFL, he had a bunch of eccentricities involved, including painting his fingernails, doing a bunch of like, you know, stuff that you wouldn't imagine an NFL player doing. Well, when they went on this playoff run, there was a bunch of Bears fans that decided to adopt all of this. Clip three.

[John Ashbrook]

They're all. These are all the men at the nail salon painting their nails. All of them paint their toes. They're painting their toes. Jeez.

[Smug]

Oh, man.

[Josh Holmes]

Come on.

[John Ashbrook]

The important thing to remember is that these are the people who kicked the hell out of the Minnesota Vikings non stop.

[Josh Holmes]

All that's just not. It's just not true.

[John Ashbrook]

It's just they would beat them non stop.

[Josh Holmes]

Now they split the state.

[John Ashbrook]

Minnesota is. Is a shame. Football and humanity. This entire state. And they were getting smoked by these dudes who are. Who are busy getting their nails and toenails painted and then they got smoked in that game.

[Michael Duncan]

This can't be real though, right? Like, it would be like a fantasy football punishment.

[John Ashbrook]

No, no, no.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a real thing.

[John Ashbrook]

It's a real thing. And here's the thing is like, this is why the Bears keep failing, is they think that like this is why they would win. Like the days of like, remember on snl, they'd have like dubbed Chicago exactly like the Ditka kind of guys who were like, have a deep dish pizzas and beers. And now they've got dudes who drink matcha and get their hands in toenails and then they get smoked and they wonder why does this happen?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I will say there is an important lesson in this. Remember we began the season with the Minnesota Vikings introducing a new cheerleading unit, the Dude Cheerleader.

[John Ashbrook]

Which was like the pride of Minneapolis. And it didn't like they said that was the best thing ever. All the Minneapolis people were just all about this like, dude who's dancing around.

[Josh Holmes]

Is that what it was?

[John Ashbrook]

He's like, you know, other than that or Somali pirate. It's like, you know, take your poison.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, what. Unbelievable. I guess that. But there is a through line there into what constitutes a Super bowl appearing team. And neither one of them constitute a Super bowl appearing team. Thank you for all that.

[Smug]

I've.

[Josh Holmes]

Now that's gone backwards on me. A fun story that involves airline smug. You love airline stuff. Turns out the weight loss drugs like Ozempic. This is according to Yahoo Finance, on track to save US Airlines more than a half billion dollars in fuel costs this year. Not surprising if you think about the science of this. Weight loss drugs could save US Airlines millions in fuel costs this year, according to new report. The increased popularity of weight loss Drugs such as GLP1s mean airlines are carrying slimmer passengers, which in turn reduces fuel costs, Bloomberg reports, citing A report by the Wall Street Journal firm Jefferies. These drugs could save the airline industry up to $580 million this year alone.

[Smug]

That's almost Somali money.

[Josh Holmes]

Get rid of.

[John Ashbrook]

That's hilarious.

[Smug]

It's a lot.

[Josh Holmes]

So the fats also. Dude, can we talk about the inverse of that? The fats were costing the airline industry half billion dollars.

[John Ashbrook]

I don't care who's costing the airline industry's money. What we know is that they're not going to pass any of the savings onto us. You're still going to sit on the plane. You're probably not going to get a pre flight drink. You know, the stewardess is going to sit there and scroll their phone instead of getting my goddamn bourbon.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Now that all those people are skinny, can we bring back the peanuts?

[Josh Holmes]

Oh like they start demanding more.

[John Ashbrook]

The airlines are going to save this money. What was his name? The governor of New Hampshire. What was his name? The guy who. Sununu. Who's now just working for the airlines.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And he stands with this of them hoovering up all our money not giving us a pre flight drink. You can't let these airlines get away with this shit.

[Michael Duncan]

There's been a lot of of talk recently about the Nobel Prize, you know that I guess the in exile like presidential candidate gave to Trump or whatever.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Whoever created Ozempic should get the Nobel prize.

[Josh Holmes]

They should. You know, it seems like it's benefiting society. Feels like pretty, pretty great for society. I had no idea that the fats were. Were taking money out of your pocket in the travel industry. You know, we knew this about the healthcare industry for a long time but I had no idea that the fats were so heavy on the wallet.

[Michael Duncan]

Huh.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm just, I'm. I can't stand. The airlines are the worst. And I bet they just turned it into an airlines bomb. They wanted this to get out so that like people will go against each other. Instead of like when's the last time someone had a positive experience flying scheduled?

[Michael Duncan]

That's.

[John Ashbrook]

That isn't happen.

[Michael Duncan]

That is interesting. Smug. They're trying to divide us. That's the thing when we should have solidarity.

[Josh Holmes]

We should sit fats and skinnies shoulder to shoulder.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

No matter what, these airlines got to be like. I just, it just, it makes me so mad because they'll put this report out of how it saves them 580 million. Like I'm supposed to be happy for the airlines. No, I'm never happy for them. They're never happy for us. They never treat you well. Right. So I don't care if they. If I were. If you know, fat people get fatter. Get your money's worth, bro. If you're getting charged by the. If you're not getting charged by the pound, go for an extra hundred. Dude, make that plain, Sack.

[Josh Holmes]

What's a little heart disease, huh? Oh, my gosh. Well, remember, everybody, America 250 is upon us. You can join us in Downtown Philadelphia on January 29th. Doors open in at 6pm the tickets are free. Food and beverage is included. If you go to a250philly.com ruthless, you can get a ticket in the venue location after you sign up. It's brought to you with our partnership from Americans for Prosperity. We're gonna have a good time at this bad boy. You're gonna have a lot of interesting guests, fun stuff. And you get ruthless sort of uncut on the road, which, you know, I mean, look, you think we're crazy talking about. About ski suits here? Wait till you see us live and in person. It gets a little wild.

[Michael Duncan]

Food and beverage included.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes, and beverage. That's what we're talking.

[John Ashbrook]

And homes in an Eagles jersey.

[Josh Holmes]

It's not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen. So remember our question of the day. What should the consequences be for Don Lamont? I think you've got some good ideas. When you like. And subscribe to the Ruthless Variety program, We read all of this of your responses and get back to the very next episode. In this case, it's on Thursday. So like. And subscribe and get that thing in with that. Fellas, I think we did it.

[John Ashbrook]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, remember, Minions, go to the YouTube and hit that. Subscribe because it's more fun in video. So until next time, Minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you on Thursday. Stay ruthless.