Dems Shutdown DHS, Terrorism Skyrockets + Sean Hannity Joins The Progrum

Summary

Ruthless Podcast - Episode Summary

Podcast: Ruthless
Episode Title: Dems Shutdown DHS, Terrorism Skyrockets + Sean Hannity Joins The Progrum
Date: March 13, 2026
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook
Special Guest: Sean Hannity

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Main Theme

This episode delves into the fallout from the Democratic shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), recent upticks in terrorist activity inside the U.S., political drama in California, and features an expansive, candid conversation with media legend Sean Hannity. As always, the fellas provide their signature mix of sharp conservative commentary interlaced with humor, pop culture jabs, and listener engagement.

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Key Segments & Insights

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1. Terror Attacks and the DHS Shutdown

(00:13 - 12:31)

• DHS Funding Crisis: The guys open with the immediate context that Democrats have blocked funding to DHS, resulting in a shutdown amid rising domestic terrorist threats.
  • “Democrats have defunded DHS at a time when we are dealing with the number one terrorist country on earth.” – Smug (00:24)
• Terror Attack at Old Dominion: The hosts highlight a recent terrorist attack at Old Dominion University, committed by a naturalized US citizen and former National Guardsman, Muhammad Jalo, who had previously served 11 years for providing material support to ISIS.
  • “How do you get parole for terrorism?” – Comfortably Smug (08:06)
  • The attacker was stopped by a heroic ROTC student, which the panel lauds as a bright spot.
  • “You walk into an ROTC class...and you want to do terrorism, you’re going to get fucked up.” – Josh Holmes (09:13)
• Critique of Leniency Toward Terrorists: The conversation moves to frustration with current systems that allow convicted terrorists back into society.
  • “If you listen to these left wing judges, they talk about it like it's some kind of trumped up marijuana charge.” – Smug (08:24)
  • The group places direct blame on Democratic lawmakers for paralyzing homeland security efforts and describes it as an abdication of basic government responsibility.

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2. Democrat Accountability & Media Criticism

(12:32 - 15:00)

• Hosts criticize Democratic leadership (with direct shots at Chuck Schumer and Ro Khanna) for their handling of terror threats and the DHS shutdown.
• “Schumer should feel ashamed of himself for leading a party that wants to allow terrorists to run amok.” – Comfortably Smug (10:46)
• Media accused of enabling this leniency by not holding Democrats to account.

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3. Iranian Leadership Meme War

(13:38 - 18:35)

• The conversation lightens up, mockingly referencing Iran’s leadership turmoil and the “cardboard cutout” memes emerging after attacks killed successive Iranian leaders.
  • “They got him on a cardboard cutout... They’re kissing the cardboard. He really kissed it. Are you kidding me?” – Smug & Smug (15:02)
  • Meme culture is hailed as a source of comic relief and political commentary.

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4. California Political Circus: Swalwell's Residency Scandal

(22:05 - 33:23)

• Focus turns to California’s gubernatorial race where Eric Swalwell is exposed for not actually living in the state.
  • “Even the guy running for governor moved out of California.” – Comfortably Smug (24:22)
• Discussion of political strategy, online virality, and press avoidance of Democratic scandals.
• The fellas enjoy the Dem-on-Dem attacks, especially as candidates dig up dirt on each other.
• Mockery of Swalwell’s historic D.C. lifestyle and the “Fang Fang” controversy.
  • “Fang Fang was a thing and he basically just ran at it and was like, ‘How dare you’... How dare you question the fact that I was banging a Chinese spy.” – Josh Holmes (30:00)
• Reflect on the media's double-standard when scandals involve Democrats.

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5. Listener Mailbag: Best/Worst Democrat Excuses

(33:23 - 37:52)

• The hosts prompt listeners to submit their favorite “worst excuses” from Democrats caught in scandals.
• Classic references: Bill Clinton, Anthony Weiner, Bob Menendez, etc.
  • “Depends on what the definition of is, is.” – Josh Holmes quoting Clinton (34:00)
• Side-debate about former presidents, contrasting the quiet example of George W. Bush with the ongoing political activity of Obama and Clinton.

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6. Viral & Meme Variety: Italians, Wrestling, & Boomer Debate

(39:49 - 58:58)

• Baseball: America’s loss to Italy in baseball sparks playful jingoism, complaints about Americans playing for Team Italy, and espresso jokes.
• Wrestling Clip: Wild acrobatics in wrestling get both admiration and mockery (with some not-so-family-friendly visual analysis!).
• Heartwarming Story: A youth hockey player overcomes family tragedy to deliver a winning goal, reminding the audience (and hosts) that good can overcome darkness.
• Generational Tensions: Spirited debate erupts over a viral X/Twitter thread about boomers selling their house and millennials/gen z feeling entitled to inheritance.
  • Strong opinions on both sympathy for boomers’ hard work and criticism of generational entitlement.
  • “Nobody owes you a fucking thing. If you understand what the American dream is all about, it’s on you to try to figure it out.” – Josh Holmes (53:00)
  • “If you are a patriot like the boomers were... they should be cherished, not demonized.” – Comfortably Smug (57:28)

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7. Special Guest: Sean Hannity Interview

(60:02 - 86:17)

• Opening Banter & Invite: Sean reflects on meeting the Ruthless crew previously and dishes out a live invitation to record in his Florida studio.
  • “Come down to Palm Beach. Sit down with me. We’ll have a great time. I do make drinks for guests.” – Sean Hannity (63:08)
• Podcasting Philosophy: Sean celebrates podcasting’s informal, long-form format and his mission to provide “real” conversations, not chasing trends or outrage for clicks.
  • “I’m not going to come on angry and pissed off... I’m just going to do real.” (72:58)
• Media Legacy: Hannity shares lessons from radio, TV, and how conservative media has evolved; credits Rush Limbaugh for paving the way.
  • “All of us in conservative talk, we all owe a debt of gratitude to Rush.” (78:14)
• Success Advice: Sean reflects on work ethic and gratitude:
  • “I’m not going to be outworked, period. And if you really care about your craft, you want to be successful, you gotta work hard.” (85:11)
• Show Chemistry: The crew and Hannity trade barbs and self-deprecating jokes about podcast tropes, reading habits, and media routines.

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8. Final Variety Bits

(87:27 - End)

• Viral clip: Cincinnati guy eats a cigarette live on TV. The panel offers affectionate regional ribbing and lighter banter to close the show.

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Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

On the DHS shutdown & terror threats:

• “If you listen to these left wing judges, they talk about it like it's some kind of trumped up marijuana charge. You know what I mean? Like, terrorism is a very serious thing in this country and I don't know when the left is going to take it seriously.”
  – Smug (00:39 / 08:24)

• “You walk into an ROTC class... and you want to do terrorism, you're going to get fucked up.”
  – Josh Holmes (09:13)

On Dem-on-Dem attacks:

• “Even the guy running for governor moved out of California.”
  – Comfortably Smug (24:22)

• “Depends on what the definition of is, is.”
  – Josh Holmes quoting Bill Clinton (34:00)

On Podcasting & Authenticity:

• “I’m not chasing clicks, I’m not going to be chasing algorithms. I’m just going to do real.”
  – Sean Hannity (72:58)

• “All of us in conservative talk, we all owe a debt of gratitude to Rush.”
  – Sean Hannity (78:14)

• “If you really care about your craft and you want to be successful, you gotta work hard. And that part is easy for me.”
  – Sean Hannity (85:11)

On Generational Wars & Entitlement:

• “Nobody owes you a fucking thing. If you understand what the American dream is all about, it’s on you to try to figure it out.”
  – Josh Holmes (53:00)

• “If you are a patriot like the boomers were... they should be cherished, not demonized.”
  – Comfortably Smug (57:28)

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Timestamps for Critical Segments

• Terror attack/DHS Shutdown: 00:13 – 12:31
• Ro Khanna/Left Accountability: 12:46 – 15:00
• Iranian Memes/Ayatollah: 13:38 – 18:35
• CA Gov Race/Swalwell: 22:05 – 33:23
• Listener Comments/Democrat Excuses: 33:23 – 37:52
• Variety Bits (Italians, Wrestling, Heartwarming Hockey): 39:49 – 58:58
• Sean Hannity Interview: 60:02 – 86:17
• Outro/Farewell: 86:17 – End

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Tone & Style

The tone remains characteristically Ruthless: irreverent, rapid, full of biting humor, and deeply skeptical of liberal political strategies. With Hannity, the episode gains reflective depth about media authenticity, conservative movement history, and personal drive, while never straying far from friendly ribbing and lighthearted in-jokes.

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Summary

This episode provides a mix of serious conservative commentary about national security failures, the perils of political gamesmanship at the expense of safety, and sharp mockery of Democratic foibles—wrapped in entertaining banter and online meme culture. The extended discussion with Sean Hannity offers listeners both an inside look at conservative media greatness and a blueprint for authenticity in political conversation. Whether engaged in heated generational debates or marinating in internet absurdities, the Ruthless crew delivers a packed, variegated “progrum” that stays true to its unfiltered, next-gen conservatism.

Transcript

[John Ashbrook]

He was sentenced to 11 years for providing material support for ISIS. He traveled over and tried to join ISIS. He gets out and now he's allegedly the perpetrator of this terrorist attack at

[Smug]

Old Dominion 28 days ago. Democrats objected to funding the Department of Homeland Security and has been shut down ever since.

[Comfortably Smug]

The Democrats have defunded DHS at a time when we are dealing with the number one terrorist country on earth. And I don't want to be right, but we warned that something like this could happen.

[Smug]

If you listen to these left wing judges, they talk about it like it's some kind of trumped up marijuana charge. You know what I mean? Like terrorism is a very serious thing in this country and I don't know when the left is going to take it seriously.

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[Comfortably Smug]

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[Sponsor/Announcer]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Comfortably Smug]

Keep the faith, hold the line and own the.

[Smug]

It's time for our main event,

[Comfortably Smug]

Fun

[Josh Holmes]

Time Friday welcome back to the Riftless variety program. I am Josh Holmes, along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook. Left, right across your radio dial, we got a very fun show for you. We have a great Sean Hannity in the house today. We're going to be talking to him about a whole range of things, including his new podcast. We have to start with the thing that's not the fun time, and then we'll get into the fun time. Migo, you okay with that?

[John Ashbrook]

Yes.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. Unfortunately, we have to.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. So you'll recall the show that we did yesterday where we said, hey, everyone, turns out there's some big boy shit going on here. Knock, knock. Maybe not the time for influencer world or dumb. Like, there's some serious stuff going on here. And Iran, you know, the global conflicts that involve all that. We've got economic stuff that we're dealing with, but there's some real stuff. It's not. This isn't. We don't have the luxury in this particular moment in time of just talking about stupid shit. And. Well, today you find out that yesterday a couple of big things happened. One, that there was an attack on a synagogue in Michigan. Details as of us taping this are not apparently obvious, so we're going to refrain from commentary on what happened. What we do know is there was a attack in progress that was stopped by security outside of a synagogue that was lethal in nature, which should not come as a surprise to anybody who has been listening to the show, in particular yesterday's episode.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's one of those unfortunate times where you hate to be right, of how for a number of years we've been warning individuals about. There's certainly a problem of the Michigan problem that Democrats have called it. And then specifically we've been discussing how the Democrats have defunded DHS at a time when we are dealing with the number one terrorist country on earth. And I don't want to be right, but we warned that something like this could happen.

[Smug]

Right. And just to put some specificity on what you were just saying. Smug28 8 days ago, Democrats objected to funding the Department of Homeland Security and has been shut down ever since. Now, we've said this time and time again, but just as a reminder, the Department of Homeland Security was created in response to the most unthinkable terrorist act that happened on American soil on September 11th in the hopes to prevent that from ever happening again. Democrats have seven times now objected to different types of funding efforts. You know, two weeks, just, you know, a little bit of time.

[Sean Hannity]

Let it.

[Smug]

Let it reopen. Let. Let the people.

[Josh Holmes]

There are components of Department of Homeland Security.

[Smug]

Right, right.

[Josh Holmes]

Whether it's TSA or terrorist prevention, like they, they want none of it.

[Smug]

Yeah, that's right. The Coast Guard. I mean, these people are working without paychecks right now. The reality is under what, like it shouldn't be a political issue. Democrats, Republicans, this is not a partisan football. This is about protecting everybody of all political stripes who live inside of this country. And I just somehow we gotta get them to see reason on this and let it reopen.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, and just in case you thought it was a one off. Old Dominion University in Virginia, Gummman ID'd as a former National Guardsman convicted of plotting an attack to support isis, was also involved in an incident. The madman opened fire. This is, according to the New York Post, opened fire at Old Dominion University on Thursday, killing a retired military officer during an ROTC class. And he's been identified as an ex National Guard soldier convicted of trying to support ISIS.

[John Ashbrook]

He was convicted of trying to support ISIS in 2016. He's a naturalized American citizen from Sierra Leone, I believe.

[Josh Holmes]

Do you think he was from. Do you. He wasn't from like Indianapolis?

[John Ashbrook]

No.

[Josh Holmes]

What is his name? Like John?

[John Ashbrook]

No, it's Muhammad Jalo.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, weird.

[John Ashbrook]

And what's really strange to me is that he was sentenced to 11 years for providing material support for ISIS. He traveled over and tried to join ISIS. He gets out and now he's allegedly the perpetrator of this terrorist attack at Old Dominion.

[Josh Holmes]

How do you get out?

[Comfortably Smug]

How do you get parole for terrorism? How do you.

[John Ashbrook]

How do you, how do you not get denaturalized and sent somewhere else? How about Guantanamo Bay? I don't know. Anywhere.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, for real though.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

That's not hyperbolic.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, bro. I got to check on parole officer. I did terrorism.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, man, I was just trying to kill the western universe.

[Smug]

If you listen to these left wing judges, they talk about it like it's some kind of trumped up marijuana charge. You know what I mean? Like, terrorism is a very serious thing in this country and I don't know when the left is going to take it seriously.

[Josh Holmes]

Can I put a silver lining bow on this? Because we're not going to do the whole show. We're going to have fun times.

[Smug]

This gets us worked up for sure.

[Josh Holmes]

But a heroic ROTC student jumped into action before more damage was done, stabbing Jalo to death after the crazed suspect gunned down the class instructor. We still got it, boys. You know, you walk into an rotc class on a college campus and you want to do terrorism, you're going to get fucked up.

[Comfortably Smug]

Whoever that is. Like, I hope we get in touch with that person. You are welcome on the show. I will lay out the red carpet.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally hero.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

An absolute hero. Because who knows, I mean, it could have been a whole classroom full of folks. This person took it in their own hands. Heroically. Obviously, when a guy's holding a weapon, physically engaging someone is a. You're putting your life in God's hands right at that point.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

This person did that. Subdued. Ultimately killed this guy, thank goodness. But he was sentenced to 11 plus years in prison, five years supervised release for attempting to provide material support to ISIS and ISIL. According to the U.S. department of justice, he was released in December of 2024, right at the end of the Biden administration.

[Smug]

Geez, dude, what are you releasing? I don't even. I don't even know what to say to that. You know, it's like, why on earth would you think that supervised release for somebody who is aligned.

[Josh Holmes]

There is no release for somebody like this.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

There is no release.

[Comfortably Smug]

It shouldn't even be a denaturalized release. It's got to be. Your new home is Gitmo. Goodbye.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, you're getting the. You're getting.

[Comfortably Smug]

You're going to get mo.

[Josh Holmes]

You're getting the sailors farewell. In my point of view, you drive them out in the middle of the Atlantic, you tip them over.

[Comfortably Smug]

And again, you have to go back to Democrats. Democrats have defunded dhs. This is on them. This is on them. They are putting our country, our citizens at peril over them. It's crystal clear. They do not want to have our country safe. They don't want to make sure that illegals are out of here, that our country does not have to deal with their crime, does not have to deal with illegals trying to vote. This is who their party has become is because they don't have a platform that citizens of America can support. So they have to go with this and they need to be held accountable. Schumer should feel ashamed of himself for leading a party that wants to allow terrorists to run amok. This is on. Schumer needs to be held to account for this.

[Sean Hannity]

Unbelievable.

[Josh Holmes]

So I think that that's a great point. Smug. And before we get into the fun time, the last thing that I will say about this is if I can make a plea to President Trump, the Trump administration, Republican leadership in the House of Senate. I know we got a lot going on. This is what you need to be

[Comfortably Smug]

talking about, please, is that for the

[Josh Holmes]

love of God, for the safety and security of the American people, where the politics come down on this, so be it. But in terms of what the most important responsibility of an elected government is, at one level is ensuring that people like Chuck Schumer that want to play a hand of roulette with your life are held to account.

[Smug]

Yeah, it's so much more important than politics.

[Sean Hannity]

So much more.

[Smug]

It really is.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's the basics. It's job number one.

[Josh Holmes]

Talk about nothing else. Just get on this.

[Sean Hannity]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

My sense is the politics probably work out and it's fine from a political standpoint. I understand we're in election year, but most important thing is the safety and security of this country. And they feel no pressure. They don't. Look at them.

[John Ashbrook]

You had.

[Josh Holmes]

What's his name? Who's the asshole from California?

[Comfortably Smug]

Ro Khanna. As these attacks are going on, this clown, Ro Khanna is like, oh, yeah, I stand with. What's the name of that Nazi?

[John Ashbrook]

Platner.

[Comfortably Smug]

Platner. Platner. He's like, I stand with Hasan, who has said that America deserves 9 11.

[Josh Holmes]

As this is happening, this synagogue attack is going on.

[Comfortably Smug]

As the synagogue attack is going down, Ro Khanna, the clown out of California, this piece of garbage is like, I stand with that Nazi. I stand with Hasan, who has said that America deserves 9 11. He shouldn't be in the House. He should be in jail. And it's pathetic that Democrats are allowed to get away with this. The media allows them to get away with this. But as Republicans, it's on us. This is the point of pressure. And DHS must be reopened, and Democrats must be held to account for allowing these kind of terrorist attacks putting American citizens in peril.

[Josh Holmes]

Well said. Well said. All right, so a few bits of news that start kind of in our dark place and that involves the Iranian conflict, but we would be remiss if we didn't find some humor in some of this. You know, we killed the ayatollah and then the number two. Well, he took a meeting with a bunch of people that didn't go well for any of those people. They also met their demise, and so they've settled on another person. But they caught a little bit of a lesson from the second meeting and that they were just going to deal with him, not in person. Yeah, essentially.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Can we play clip one? There's a picture. Right. So at this party event, electing a new Ayatollah, Supreme Leader of Iran, instead of the person speaking to the masses that are there to elect him. They brought a picture of this. Well, they sparked what I think is the greatest part of the Internet, which is a bunch of fun. And there was a ton of fun being done. Clip two is a pretty good example.

[Smug]

They got him on a cardboard cutout. Some of you have seen that.

[Comfortably Smug]

This already.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, they're kissing it.

[Smug]

Kiss. He. Oh, he's kissing the cardboard. He really kissed it. Are you kidding me?

[Comfortably Smug]

It's funny because, like, this is what these cowards are reduced to is. Is the. They know. They know for fact that the people of this country hate them and. And their lives have gotten materially worse for decades as a result of it. If you have to hide out in tunnels and in caves because your own country hates you, maybe that's a sign. It's a wrap.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a wrap.

[Comfortably Smug]

Steal what money you have and run off to whatever country. Get out of there.

[Josh Holmes]

But it was an inspiration to everyone online. And there's so many funny people out there. It's like you've got all of a sudden access to a hundred thousand comedians.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Particularly in the written word and in the meme world, like, people are inspired. And one of the greatest things that we've enjoyed over the last, like six months is all the Marco memes.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. Whenever there's a job opening and you know, our government or now, now foreign government, somebody memes in that picture of Marco Rubio on the couch, sort of looking despondent, like he's getting another assignment. I love it.

[Josh Holmes]

So here's graphic one,

[Smug]

The cardboard cutout.

[John Ashbrook]

Rubio has to do it.

[Josh Holmes]

So that is the meme that you're all familiar with on the couch in the Oval Office that has been used so many times. But it's now Marco, for our audio only listeners, as a cardboard cutout.

[John Ashbrook]

Do you know the. The old Life cereal commercial?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Like, give it to Mikey.

[Comfortably Smug]

He'll eat anything.

[John Ashbrook]

This is like, Marco, give it to Marco. He'll do anything.

[Comfortably Smug]

He'll do anything.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, it's so good.

[Comfortably Smug]

The Dolphins got rid of their head coach, right?

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, yeah. Have they picked Mike McDaniel?

[Comfortably Smug]

Have they gotten new? Dude, that's another job for Marco. Yeah. Like this guy.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, he's been memed as that.

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, the thing is, is that, like, he's earned this reputation of, like, every job he's been given.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, the first, doing, like, the first three months. I mean, the reason this is a meme is the first three months is they were restructuring under Doge, a whole bunch of different departments. And every time there was an opening, because they had to fire everybody, they'd be like, well, Marco will do it

[Comfortably Smug]

and he's done a good job. That's the thing is, like, it's like a victim of success. It's like, well, I mean, like, we could just give it to Marco. We know that's going to work out.

[Josh Holmes]

It's one of the best Internet memes out there. Yeah. And what I'm sure they don't shy away from because you're right, it's good for.

[Comfortably Smug]

But I mean, it's a lot more work. It can't be easy because a lot more stress. But, like, if you're doing the job well, it's like one of the downsides of success is if you're really good at things, people want you to do more.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, 100%. So, like, look, the update on the Ayatollah may be one of the reasons why he was a cardboard cutout or just a picture at that thing, is that there are reports, the sun reports that he's in a tough spot. Killer in a coma. Iran's impotent new ayatollah, in more ways than one, apparently, is in a coma and it lost at least one leg as his rogue regime plunges the world into chaos. So what they're reporting. I think you guys did this when I was out, about his impotency.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's very funny.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Smug]

We're pretty sure it wasn't the third leg because as Michael Duncan pointed out, the guy was pilloried online for his inability.

[Comfortably Smug]

He got to the UK because he needed treatment for impotence, but now he's like, quite literally. I mean, if you're hiding in the cave and you're the leader of a country, you're quite literally impotent in more ways than one now at this point. But he's also lost a leg.

[Josh Holmes]

I caught your story on this and it was. He was impotent and he sought treatment. And in Iran, they don't have a little blue pill. Like, he had to go travel to UK to get. I don't know. Do you get the Weinstein?

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, who knows what. How they diagnose you in Iran. Like, you can't get out with her off the roof. You go like, you know, I mean, like, their medicine might be a little different.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, you, like. You can't let the nuclear scientists know that you can't get a. Yeah, that

[John Ashbrook]

could be a problem.

[Josh Holmes]

A rocket.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Like, you have to. You have to make, you know, obtain some sort of appreciation amongst your colleagues.

[John Ashbrook]

Apparently my favorite part of the whole story is none of this was apparently public knowledge. Like our own intelligence leaked this information. Like imagine you're at the NSA and they announced the new Ayatollah and you're like, all right, let's pull up the oppo book. Guy can't get boners.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, that's next level. Yeah, they're wondering how it is that we get into their living room with a Tomahawk. Meanwhile, we know what their subscription prescription plan is. Yeah, I mean, well, it turns out the Ayatollah is not the only one making make believe. Dem on Dem violence is revealed and a leading candidate for the California governor doesn't actually live in the state that was somewhat of a dem on Dem violence, which is there are a few things here in the variety program that we appreciate more than that. All of that right after this.

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[NetChoice Announcer]

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[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so look, I think this next story, all of us were flagged to it at some level by our Good friend Smash Masterton, who had a viral tweet on this kind of thing, and it involves Eric Swalwell, one of our absolute favorites. And it turns out one of his opponents, Tom Steyer, had run an advertising. An advertisement, somewhat of a political advertisement, highlighting a fact that was previously unreported that Swalwell didn't, in fact, live in California, despite the fact that he's running for the governor of California. What was your take on that?

[Smug]

Well, let me just. Before I get to that, I actually think this is a smart move by Swalwell because everybody in California is moving away from California. So if he is trying to, like, channel the thoughts in prayer of people living in that state, you move out of the state, okay? You understand why people are moving out of the state. So you can.

[John Ashbrook]

He understands the plight.

[Smug]

You can. You can get to it. And I just.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a mindset that you can't. You can't simply do with political rhetoric, right? You have to live it.

[Smug]

This is. This is what's happened. It's a terrible state, okay? Their taxes are through the roof. The housing prices are affordable. Gavin Newsom's terrible. The whole place is terrible. Everybody's waiting on the San Andreas to shake, send them into the Pacific Ocean. It is a terrible, terrible place to live. And I don't blame Swalwell for leaving California like everybody else, but I simply pointed out that a candidate for governor is living outside of the state like every other person.

[Comfortably Smug]

So now I can give the real story. So here's what happened is Ashbrooke texts me. He texted all of us this story that the New York Post had. The New York Post is like, california governor candidate Eric Swalwell rents a room in a family of three's home to claim he lives in California. And I said, ashbrooke, tweet out. I said. I gave the direct. I said, quote, retweet it, and say, even the guy running for governor moved out of California. Because sometimes you got to help this guy out. He's an older guy. He doesn't know how the Internet works.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

So I, like, fire this one out. Bro has cracked, like, a thousand retweets on this, and he's been on cloud nine all day. Wait, he's the king of the world.

[Josh Holmes]

That did? No idea.

[Comfortably Smug]

So that's what happened. I was like, but, But. But when he tries to come up, like a subject matter expert, it's one thing to, like, give your boy an assist, but when he shows up and, like, is holding the trophy up like I've done this. You got to kind of, you know, level set and out of honesty to our audience. So I sent him that. And It's. It's like 1300 retweets. And the truth is, that's what I want for him. And he makes. And it was a good point to be made. It's hilarious that Swalwell has done this. And the point of the matter is I just wanted the tension to be on the thing I think the most remarkable. I wanted the attention to be on the thing.

[John Ashbrook]

You just talked for two minutes taking credit, and you just wanted to make sure we've got the attention on the tweet.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Make sure you know that I did it. But the attention needs to be on the subject.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's the whole thing.

[Josh Holmes]

That's important.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's how it's done.

[Smug]

I.

[Josh Holmes]

The sequence event is. Is not unimportant here. And I think maybe one of the most miraculous parts about it, Smug, is that somebody, which was you in this case, came up with what was a pretty good line. You have to do it, but you didn't confiscate it. And in fact, it was your own

[Comfortably Smug]

talks about Jordan's dunks, but his assists, you know, you've got to bring the team with you.

[John Ashbrook]

That's right.

[Comfortably Smug]

Like, that's what separates LeBron and Jordan.

[John Ashbrook]

That's what I say about every show in the ruthless variety program. Like, Smug puts up a triple double every game.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's a rock.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. Not just scoring.

[Smug]

What was that rollicking podcast? Let me get a little more volume on that one.

[Josh Holmes]

Was that Brit?

[Smug]

Yeah, it's. It's priceless.

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, that's what. I mean. It's like, that's Ashbrook's best bro, but,

[John Ashbrook]

like, he never hits the soundboard. But he managed to hit the soundboard while I was talking mid sentence.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's the thing. You gotta help him out.

[Smug]

It's a rollicking podcast.

[Comfortably Smug]

There it is. There he is. The point of the whole thing is the fact that Swalwell is renting a room in a family of three's home to try to claim residency in California is number one pathetic. No one pathetic. But also, is he an actual resident of D.C. or has he just been the complete honest and he's just a Beijing dude? Like, he's gone. We all know where his loyalties lie, right? Is he honestly just like a Beijing dude?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, so about 10 years ago, when I think he was a freshman congressman, you'll have to remind me when he was first elected, but I actually knew a young lady who had been an acquaintance of Swalwell. This is before he was married. Right. So I'm not alleging anything here, but

[Comfortably Smug]

this is like golden. Please continue.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, she. He was a permanent resident of D.C. to the point where he was a frequenter of kind of the pickup joints around town. And he went on a quote unquote date with some gal that I knew through a friend and took her, took her home and, you know, I don't know a lot of detail, but I can imagine. You know, let your imagination run wild. And then he, like, ordered order to. What's, the, like, lowest version of Uber?

[Comfortably Smug]

No way.

[Josh Holmes]

What's the lower?

[Comfortably Smug]

The Uber X. It's like, you know, some dude in a Miata.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's like. It's like some guy shows up in, like, a Mazda.

[John Ashbrook]

So. So with like, this mutual friend of a friend, though, that went on the date with Wall. Well, was she asking about the climb rate of an F35?

[Josh Holmes]

She had a huge Asian fetish.

[Comfortably Smug]

That dude. That is hilarious.

[Smug]

No, Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, so anyway, that whole thing went down. He sent her home in like an Uber economy or something like that, and that's the way that whole thing went down. And I knew at that point, this is long before he was married, before he ran for president, before he became like the premier sort of committee chirper on the Trump administration thing. We all knew all of this. It is nice to see a candidate on the Democratic side who sort of highlighted the first of what I imagine is going to be a fair amount of exploration into this guy's lifestyle.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's the thing. Can't tell you what I love the most about Democrat primaries is not only that, I'll be honest. Anytime there's a major Democrat primary, they all DM me oppo on each other because I'll put it out. And they can be like, look, evil Republicans. They're attacking me. Or there's no fingerprints. They're like, oh, it's the Republicans who are responsible for this. But what I really love is it's the first time the public becomes aware of all these horrible things that they've done. Because the press protects Democrats when it's a Democrat versus Republican thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

But when Democrats are fighting each other, that's when the dirt comes out.

[John Ashbrook]

It's like what Ashbrook always says. If you see a negative story about

[Smug]

a Democrat, there's always another Democrat who stands to benefit. And it doesn't matter if they're going on dates because they found A place where they like the moo goo gai Pan. It doesn't matter if they don't live in the state they're running to represent.

[Josh Holmes]

She may have liked the Mugu guy. Pan.

[Smug]

She maybe did.

[Josh Holmes]

It's possible, I don't know. But either way, Swalwell doesn't care for criticism.

[Smug]

Everyone.

[Josh Holmes]

Fang Fang was a thing and he basically just ran at it and was like, how dare you. Yeah, you know, like, how dare. How dare you question the fact that I was banging a. A Chinese spy.

[John Ashbrook]

Is that allegedly or do we actually know if he.

[Josh Holmes]

He never confirmed the fact that he had sexual intercourse with her, but he also ever never denied it, which of course, if you didn't do it in that circumstance. Yeah, you would vehemently deny.

[Comfortably Smug]

So this is actually news. I didn't know.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, this is what we're about to do.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's. Did you know that this whole thing of like, I didn't know he had kids. I thought he's just out and about. Well, this is a shocking thing. You'd never guess from the way this guy behaves.

[Smug]

You could be excused for confusing the situation.

[Josh Holmes]

He does seem out and about.

[Smug]

You're right.

[Josh Holmes]

So graphic too. If you want to put this bad boy up, this is the way that he has responded. I receive hundreds of death threats every year. My children are not allowed in the yard. That's why my address is private. And now Tom Steyer has not only put my life at risk, but my family's by releasing the address. And the California Post and Daily Mail took the bait and are harassing my neighbors. Now, recall what we said at the onset about the ad that was against him is that he, Eric Swalwell, Congressman, as we know, it's a pretty lucrative gig in this day and age. Seems like all of a sudden every Democrat, particularly in California, if you take Nancy Pelosi advice, you figure out how to compound your wealth in a very significant way. Well, this cat was renting one room in a three bedroom house that he doesn't own. None of this adds up in California and He lives in D.C. yeah. If you want to lock the box on this on Steyer, find out where he lives in D.C. is it possible

[John Ashbrook]

that what he's alleging there. I would assume he's implying that that address that's listed is a address he used to file. And then maybe perhaps he has a different residence in California.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, no, because he's complaining that they've basically doxxed him.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh yeah, because if he doesn't actually live there it wouldn't technically be doxing.

[Josh Holmes]

Why would the safety of his children be of concern if what he's running an advertising.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Campaign against was somewhere that he didn't live?

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't know, but I'd find out a lot more about it if I was Tom Steyer.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's the thing is I think we have not heard the end.

[Josh Holmes]

And that crazy. What is her name? Katie Porter. Oh, can you imagine? The staff is just getting raked on this other.

[Smug]

Getting crushed.

[Josh Holmes]

The idea that, like, Steyer beat her to the punch. Oh, you sons of.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, she's throwing forks at them.

[Josh Holmes]

You stupid.

[Comfortably Smug]

They're catching it.

[Josh Holmes]

I can't believe you didn't. Why aren't we first to the flame on this?

[Comfortably Smug]

I'm so excited about this California primary because all the worst people and they're in, like, a cage match. It's the best other.

[Josh Holmes]

It is literally the best. And you look at some of the polls and, like, Republicans are not going to win this situation because it's California governor. But if you look at some of the polls, if you didn't follow this for a living, you'd be confused as to think, like, it might be possible because they're eating each other alive out there.

[Comfortably Smug]

They really are.

[John Ashbrook]

For our enjoyment.

[Josh Holmes]

All for our enjoyment. So we're gonna keep up on it. So our question of the day, when you like and subscribe to the ruthless variety program. We read all of your comments and get back to the very next episode. In this case, it'll be on Tuesday. So you gotta like and subscribe. And here's your question. What's the worst excuse you've heard from a Democrat who's been caught?

[Comfortably Smug]

These are so good because there have been so many of these. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

You can go back to, like, the wiener stuff. Willie Brown, Hillary Clinton. Willie Brown is a million.

[Comfortably Smug]

Even Bill Clinton. I didn't inhale like. This is a long story tradition of excuses from these people.

[Josh Holmes]

Depends on what the definition of is.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

I did not have sexual relations with that woman. Ms. Lewinsky. That woman is so awesome.

[Josh Holmes]

There's a ton of Bob Menendez ones out there. You know, Remember Richard Jefferson with the freezer situation?

[NetChoice Announcer]

Oh, yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Vince Foster. Left handed.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my gosh. Just toss that in.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, that one's not real.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay.

[John Ashbrook]

It might be.

[Josh Holmes]

Who knows?

[John Ashbrook]

You never know.

[Josh Holmes]

Who are we to say?

[John Ashbrook]

I don't know.

[Josh Holmes]

Who are we to say we never had a case file.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. Parody. Parody. We're laughing.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, so listen, your question of the day on Thursday, which I think Was a good, important episode. You got a lot of really good information. But the point that was just like we wanted to open floor this deal was our question of what do you think of Obama? You know, because like in retrospect, you look at a bunch of post presidency whatever you thought, if you hated George W. Bush. Post presidency, he's done all the right things, stayed out of the limelight. He helps where he can. He certainly doesn't critique President Trump, you know what I mean? Like, he's just post presidency, in my view, is sort of the model of

[Comfortably Smug]

how you're supposed to do.

[Josh Holmes]

That's what you're supposed to do. That's like what George Washington envisioned when he self imposed a two term limit.

[Comfortably Smug]

That was the spirit of it.

[Josh Holmes]

That was the spirit of it. And he's like living that out. And then you see Obama's the exact opposite. It seems to be a partisan divide. By the way, Jimmy Carter, no breath of fresh air on that situation for many years.

[Comfortably Smug]

You're right. That is it.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, although I will say Bill Clinton, he showed up just at like DNC events once a year.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. He could still swing a hot bat.

[Comfortably Smug]

I kind of feel like Hillary pulled him into it. But I mean, I know I kind of. It's kind of hard to say no to her. Be like, you want to wake up with a gun in your left hand.

[Physician Guest]

Parody.

[Comfortably Smug]

Parody.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Honey, what is this in my left ear?

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my God.

[Smug]

Don't worry about it, Bill.

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Holmes]

Campaign I will do. Anyway, what do you think about Obama? And to do that, we always start with voice.

[Smug]

Okay. First comment on what do you think about Obama? Comes from Rivka. Rivka writes Obama's speeches were so inspiring, even the problems felt motivated to stay. That is good writing.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's good writing.

[Smug]

That is very good writing.

[Josh Holmes]

You've got a. A columnist's future. That is a twist of phrase.

[Smug]

She's got a real pen.

[Josh Holmes]

I love that. All right, Dunk.

[John Ashbrook]

This is from Kenneth Dantuano. Kenneth writes Obama amazingly worse as an ex president than he was as president.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

I think that's our thing, actually.

[Josh Holmes]

I think that's right. I think that's right.

[Sean Hannity]

All right.

[Smug]

Debatable.

[Josh Holmes]

It's debatable.

[Smug]

But pretty bad president.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. I don't know. Have you seen that library?

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, the city of Chicago may never recover.

[Comfortably Smug]

Never. And they've been through a lot.

[Josh Holmes]

They have been through a lot. It was like, it's like a Soviet style 1950s cruise chef era.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's like after so much. Really, you're gonna give us this?

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, man, it's so bad. I haven't seen it.

[Smug]

Rather have one terrible building in Chicago than no border wall.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Smug]

In between Mexico and Texas.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, always the practical cynic amongst us. John Ashbrook has fired that one off Coverly smug. What do we have?

[Comfortably Smug]

Comment 3 is from Nancy Rain. Nancy writes Obama is to the US As Megan Markle is to the royal family. It's actually a great diagnosis.

[John Ashbrook]

That cuts deep.

[Smug]

Sure does.

[Josh Holmes]

That's real so many ways because it's all theatrical. And by the way, they both work for Netflix.

[Comfortably Smug]

Netflix, I mean, nailed it.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Geez, that's good.

[John Ashbrook]

Both bad actors.

[Smug]

Nance.

[Josh Holmes]

Nance bringing the heat. Yeah, I love that. All right, so listen, if you're like me and you've had the Thursday that I had and I think all of us collectively had, where he just had immense frustration on the idiocy that was surrounded by us. You're driven to drink every once in a while. But when I do, I take Zbiotics and I'll tell you, it works. We've all tried it out. It is a pre alcohol drink. If you make it your first drink of the night, you're not going to regret it because it is backed by science. It's going to help out.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's the thing is it works. So many people think that, oh, listen, if I'm going to have a couple of drinks, if I'm having a night out, I'll just chug a bunch of Gatorade or I'm going to drink three glasses of water when I get home because it's dehydration. But that, that's not the problem. See the thing is, when you have some alcohol, your stomach breaks it down and there's these toxic byproducts. That's what's making you feel terrible the next day. Zbiotics knocks it right out.

[John Ashbrook]

You got to stock up with some Zbiotics. You know, in your house if you got a bar cart or maybe you've got a wet bar or something like that. We have it not only at our homes, but here at the office quite frequently as we read the news the day and don't feel so great about it. Sometimes you need a cocktail.

[Smug]

Yeah. And we stock up on it on our own because we know there's no tomorrow without Zbiotics today.

[Josh Holmes]

That's exactly right, John. So if you go to ZBiotics.com Ruthless you can learn more and get 15 off your first order. When you use Ruthless at the checkout ZBiotics is back with 100 money back guarantee. So if you're unsatisfied for any reason at all, the refund your money, no questions asked. Remember, head to zebiotics.com ruthless and use the code ruthless at the checkout for 15 off. All right, so for all of you who've just been enjoying your Friday alongside of us, just recall we're gonna have Sean Hannity here in a minute, and we'll. This is exciting.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's a good one.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a good one. We've gotten to know him a little bit since we've been brothers in arms at Fox News. You're gonna love this. And we're gonna get to that in a second. But we have to do some variety. The Italians, unfortunately, made an incursion here in the United States that none of us are particularly happy about in that they beat the United States American baseball team. Now, turns out our manager didn't know that losing that game would put his team at risk for not making the finals. That's. That's on us. That's on us. But so we started, you know, kind of a hodgepodge of our players, and it seems like we didn't play to win until, like, the sixth inning or so. But once we did, we kind of came back from 80 to 8 6, and, well, it just didn't get home. But what they had going on in the dugout, I think is the real story and something we ought to get smug on.

[Smug]

Clip three, take a shot of that espresso.

[Comfortably Smug]

Wow, that is strong right there. That's pathetic. It's unacceptable.

[Josh Holmes]

The Italians have.

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, this isn't like a new thing. Like, the Italian menace has been an issue America's been dealing with for over 100 years at this point. What's it going to take? Is it like. You know what I mean?

[Smug]

You could say it started in 1492.

[Comfortably Smug]

Like, the thing is, is, like, how is there?

[Josh Holmes]

Columbus crossed the ocean blue, I heard.

[Comfortably Smug]

Like, I haven't been following this very closely, but I've heard a lot of stories of, like, there have been a lot of, like, American Italians who've, like, jumped over and are playing for Italy. Like, what's the name of that Chinese?

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, Eileen Goo.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. Like, that's unacceptable. That is a hundred percent unacceptable. If you're an American, you have to play for America, and if you don't, then that's very suspect and there should be consequences to it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

You know what I mean? Like, if I heard Jason Giambi's playing for the Italian team. Like, we need. We need DHS reopened. I mean, if all of a sudden

[Josh Holmes]

Don Mattingly wearing this.

[Smug]

Joe Garagiola, he's in the dugout.

[Comfortably Smug]

But that's the thing is, like, Donnie baseball wouldn't have done something like this. You know what I mean? Like, there's a level of, like, patriotism that gets called into question.

[John Ashbrook]

One thing I have to highlight from that video. One thing I have to highlight from that video. Can we play it one more time, please, and listen closely.

[Smug]

Take a shot at that espresso. I know.

[Comfortably Smug]

Wow, that is strong right there.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay. They may have won the game, but we won the war. Because I don't know if you heard.

[Josh Holmes]

Espresso.

[John Ashbrook]

Espresso, yeah. The announcer saying it wrong.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

There's nothing an Italian hates more than you mispronouncing their words. You know, like somebody who's like, really into being Italian and go to an Italian restaurant, the way that they over pronounce the words on the menu 100%, they absolutely hate when you say it wrong.

[Sean Hannity]

Wrong.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Parmesan.

[Comfortably Smug]

The thing in Italian hates the most.

[John Ashbrook]

Mozzarella.

[Josh Holmes]

Can I get an espresso, please?

[John Ashbrook]

I love it.

[Comfortably Smug]

You know what that is?

[Josh Holmes]

A war winner.

[Comfortably Smug]

The thing in Italian hates the worst to hear is it's time to get to work because it's a no show job in waste management. They thought they were gonna have a tan in front of the Satriale or whatever. Nope, brother, you got to get to work. And if any of them are playing for team Italy and you live in the US you should be ashamed of yourself and probably jailed.

[Smug]

Outrageous.

[John Ashbrook]

Outrageous.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, so the next clip I haven't seen myself, but I'm told that I'm gonna get a kick out of it. Clip four, it's a wrestler for our audio only, and he's wrestling some other guy. Oh, my God. He jumps up over top of him. He jumps up over top of him. Lock. Locks him up.

[John Ashbrook]

And

[Comfortably Smug]

so. That's amazing. Yeah, that's incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so there's athleticism, undoubtedly. Can we just play. Can we play it without the sound here? Because I want to get Duncan's reaction to something specific here, which is that this is not a homosexual activity.

[John Ashbrook]

I don't. I don't think. No, I think it's an incredible homosexual

[Comfortably Smug]

activity that's actually incredibly straight to go from, like, it looks like a front flip into, like a. A suplex. A side suplex.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. So this is freestyle wrestling. And he was down 8 to 5 there. And so this was sort of a desperation move. It's one of the most athletic things I've seen on a wrestler.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, I will. I will concede that that was an incredibly athletic move. I wondered whether the intent of, you know, you. You deploy a move and you know your opponent has something to say about it.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And it seems like the opponent was trying to fight this thing off at some level. Was the intent of the move to put his grundle on his nose or was it to actually like that?

[John Ashbrook]

I'm glad you asked. This is a high risk, high reward maneuver. It's called the flying squirrel.

[Josh Holmes]

It usually is when you're dealing with

[John Ashbrook]

that kind of thing, you know, I mean, you may find. You may find that sort of thing gay. However, I would point out there is nothing.

[Josh Holmes]

There's a still shot. That's. That's where I think he.

[Smug]

Wait, wait, it's a Frenchman.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. Well, not really, but this is where

[Josh Holmes]

I think he intended to go with it. And the guy kind of fought him off. So he.

[John Ashbrook]

No, that's.

[Josh Holmes]

But look at that. Look at. Is the lower hand his own? Is it a.

[Smug]

Well, that's an important question to ask.

[Josh Holmes]

Who is that?

[John Ashbrook]

Well, I mean, in the process of wrestling and grappling, hands go places.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, they do. There's no question.

[Comfortably Smug]

So this is. The move is like within like a split second.

[Josh Holmes]

Smog is taking this on because, like, here's the thing.

[Comfortably Smug]

Here's the thing, like, thing. It's like, insane. Oh, upper arm strength.

[John Ashbrook]

I just don't think there's anything like a second. There's nothing more masculine than humiliating a dude. The way that that goes down, that is something that. It should not be possible in a professional sports setting to do a move like that. It'd be like doing a windmill dunk on a kitty basketball hoop.

[Comfortably Smug]

Like.

[John Ashbrook]

Like that should not happen in professional sports.

[Smug]

You obviously never watched Rey Mysterio jump from the top of the ropes.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, that's.

[Comfortably Smug]

That is just.

[John Ashbrook]

That is disrespectful to wrestling on, like, a whole nother level. And I know you're doing it on purpose.

[Josh Holmes]

I was just wondering whether the intent in the intended landing spot was where it was or whether it was just like a full 69.

[Smug]

Never happened on Monday night Nitro.

[Josh Holmes]

Look, when. When a quarterback, WCW guy, when a

[John Ashbrook]

quarterback puts his hands on the grundle of the center on every single play of every single NFL snap, do you think he feels gay now?

[Josh Holmes]

It's football. It's different.

[John Ashbrook]

I believe I'M correct.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay. All right. Well, another clip. Dude, this. So this is a heart warmer. Not funny, is it?

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, it's not funny.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude. Hold on. This. This is. This is not funny.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's like Heartbreak Friday, not fun time Friday.

[Josh Holmes]

You gotta highlight these kind of things in a week like this, where you've got so much tragedy and so much, like, very heavy stuff weighing upon us. Life is good, folks. Life is good. Karma is real. And things tend to work out in one way or another, sometimes more quickly than you think. Colin Dorgan, he won the hockey game in overtime to send his team to a championship just weeks after. And you'll recall the horrific shooting that happened in a ice rink. Ice rink. As they were playing a game where his mom. A sibling, maybe his grandfather, I think. Yeah. Was. Was killed by his father who became a transsexual or something like that. Right? You all recall the story. What you don't know is how this story has ended. Here's the clip. Clip five. It was overtime.

[Comfortably Smug]

I got caught on offense a little

[Josh Holmes]

bit there, and my good buddy Cam just fed me a puck. And I just hear the crowd. Oh, dude,

[Smug]

That's the winning goal.

[Josh Holmes]

Just weeks removed from his family being murdered. Greatest moment of my life in the stands. And this kid catches a breakaway pass, makes a move, wins an OT thriller, advances his team to stay playoffs. Like, God bless him.

[Smug]

Yeah, good for that guy.

[Josh Holmes]

God bless him. You know, gives you a little faith in humanity. You need stories like that every once in a while. Smug, what was this online debate that you wanted to get to?

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh, I wanted to keep things light after that. Like, insane. O heartball. Heartbreaking moment.

[Josh Holmes]

It's not heartbreaking.

[Comfortably Smug]

Like, it's uplifting. Everyone's been brought down. I'll try to, like, you know, bring you guys back up. There was a debate that was trending on X. Can we get the screenshot of it up for audio listeners? This is a post on X. It says, a friend's boomer parents bought their home for $67,000 in 1993. Today it's worth 1.2 million. And he's their only son, so he thought he'd be a millionaire when they die, but they just sold a house last week to enjoy their retirement. This has ignited a huge online debate. We're talking about, like, tens of thousands of years.

[John Ashbrook]

Like, a generational debate.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yep. And so I thought it'd be fun to bring up in front of everybody.

[Josh Holmes]

This is the uplifting. This is Smug's version of uplifting.

[Comfortably Smug]

I think it is because so here's the thing is, I've been making people

[John Ashbrook]

fight is his version of uplifting.

[Comfortably Smug]

So I've gotten flat from you guys and a lot of people online because I feel I've rightfully called the, the boomers the greatest generation. They are the backbone of this country. All our prosperity is built off the work they've done. And it's crazy to see the way that they've. It's the truth. And it's crazy to see the way they've been demonized. And people are like, no, you don't understand all your hard work that you've, you've done your entire life. You're not supposed to enjoy your retirement. You're supposed to just give me your money. Like, the sense of entitlement is insane.

[John Ashbrook]

So I'd like to agree in part and disagree in part. Like, if this was the Supreme Court, I would support part of the decision.

[Josh Holmes]

There is a. Yeah, a consensus on one component.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, I mean, the greatest generation. No, the greatest generation.

[Comfortably Smug]

They are the greatest generation.

[John Ashbrook]

Greatest generation is a generation that fought us out of World War II.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay. And I'm sure that most boomers would agree with that. They'd be embarrassed by the fact that

[Smug]

you would call them the greatest.

[Comfortably Smug]

They would do they all the. I'm telling you, like, if they're their,

[John Ashbrook]

their fathers, their fathers freed Europe from, from tyranny.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep.

[John Ashbrook]

They're the greatest generation.

[Josh Holmes]

Without asking for a bringing down the

[Comfortably Smug]

Berlin Wall, creating America as the sole superpower on earth. Is all of the boomers watch the.

[John Ashbrook]

You already did your old thing. Yeah, my, my complaint sometimes with the boomer generation is, is when they complain about the younger generations, like, oh, they don't want to work hard, they don't want to do this, this and the other it. And I feel like that is misplaced and I think it's wrong. I mean, I do think the boomers had it easier relative to some of the economic conditions that the current generation finds themselves in. What I do not have tolerance for, though, is the youngest generation thinking they deserve something from the boomers given to them. I just think it has to be a two way street here. Younger generation, you have to acknowledge you gotta earn it yourself. And you can't make excuses for why you can't. Boomer generation, a little bit of sympathy for that. The economy has changed in a fundamental way. That makes things more difficult than when

[Josh Holmes]

you were buying a house for a nail thing.

[NetChoice Announcer]

Michael.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, but that doesn't mean the younger generation is owed that from the boomers. Enjoy your retirement.

[Smug]

Dude, I could not disagree with you more. And the reason why I wrote those talking points, that smug read is because the boomer generation and people like this family, they earned that house.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's right.

[Smug]

They earned the right to retire. Do you know what this is? Do you know what this retirement is for them? This retirement for them is a gift to their children. Their children don't have to support them. They earned a position and they are using the resources that they earned to fund their own retirement. Not asking their.

[John Ashbrook]

Listen to me.

[Josh Holmes]

I feel like we're having three disconnected conversations.

[John Ashbrook]

I think he's just trying to spin me up.

[Josh Holmes]

I, I, look, I understand the angst, particularly for like a Gen Alpha or not necessarily millennials, because I think you've now sort of figured it out.

[Comfortably Smug]

Millennials are the new boomers.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, sort of.

[Comfortably Smug]

Sort of.

[Josh Holmes]

But like, you know, Gen Z, Gen Alpha. When they look at, and I remember being this way when I was, you know, my late 20s, I had a good job. You know, I was, by 30 years old, I was the chief of staff of the Senate leader. I mean, I was like, this is as good as it gets. There's no chance I could have afforded a home. And I thought about that, like, wow, what a difference a generation makes in terms of where my lot in life is in comparison to my job and what I can afford from the previous generation. And that was frustrating. But at no point, at no point, because I'm a well adjusted human being did I turn and think like, well, they owe it to me to give me their shit. Yeah, like that is where I think, and frankly, this is a Tucker Carlson crowd problem that I have a deep problem with, is that this idea that your government owes you something or generations owe you something, nobody owes you a fucking thing. If you understand what it is that the American dream is all about, it's on you to try to figure it out. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The only time you really fail is when you quit. That's it.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's what, that's what really bugs me about because a lot of this is just like actually extremely vicious hatred towards boomers. And the heart of all of it is entitlement. It's not like, oh my God, I didn't. Because the truth of it is, the boomers had it extremely difficult.

[Josh Holmes]

Now you're overdoing. Now you're, no, now you're, Please listen to me.

[Comfortably Smug]

I want all of you to tell your children what your interest rate was when you bought your first house, because it's probably four to five times the current rate. They're buying houses at interest rates that seemed like insane. If you saw today, you'd be like, we have a global crisis. Yeah, but they did it. They did it because all they believed in was, I'd wake up, I go to work and I get it done. And they raised their kids.

[Josh Holmes]

What was the interest rate on an Indian head? Penny and a box of Jacks?

[Comfortably Smug]

Dude, they were buying houses at like 25%.

[Josh Holmes]

I get it, dude, I get it.

[Comfortably Smug]

Insanity. And they didn't complain, they didn't cry, and they didn't feel entitled that someone should die and give them their wealth.

[Josh Holmes]

They do now, though. They feel very entitled. And that's my problem. That's where I break from your point of view. And I think this is where Duncan was going, is that I am. This particular situation is insane that anybody thinks that they should just. What do they think they should just walk into their parents home? They work their entire lives to get it.

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, no, we're in agreement on that. We're in agreement.

[Josh Holmes]

No, no, I know. But on the other side of it, you also, as a person later in life need to look at the world around you and be like, does it make a lot of sense for me to just advocate for like, more Social Security, more Medicare, more benefits, more this, more that we've spent my entire career in politics has been defined by a singular generation convincing a governing majority in politics to do more for a single generation. At no point and since I arrived in Washington in 2002 has anyone stopped and said, like, maybe there's more generations than the boomer generation. Because every single piece of legislation, starting from everything post 911 to the Medicare prescription drug plan, to everything that we did to preserve retirements with the TARP program, to everything through the Obama era to now. What we're talking about with Trump, Trump's first ad buy was making sure that we don't do anything with Social Security. Nevermind the fact that the next generation, the Gen Xers are not going to get it because it all expires in 2032. Like, at no point has any generation

[Comfortably Smug]

ever been a discussion, no, that's wrong. I feel this is very hateful. The reason we have this country and any of these programs is because the boomers put in the work to do. So many of the baby boomers got their jobs, not because, oh, you know, you just go to a college and a job is handed to you as it was in the early 2000s. The easiest thing in this country was be able to graduate from school, get a job job. You're going to have the whole track laid out for you. In the 70s and in the 80s, you had to earn your keep. And they funded this entire country through all the tumult that we had to go through.

[Smug]

Amen.

[Josh Holmes]

Smash, kiddos.

[Comfortably Smug]

And here's the promise of this country is if you are a patriot like the boomers were, and you work hard through your entire lifetime and the fruits of your labor are you get to have a house, you get to have a retirement. And they did all these things and to now be like, like, turns out you're the bad guy.

[Smug]

What?

[Comfortably Smug]

What? You live the American dream because you put in the work. The burmer should be perished, not demonized.

[John Ashbrook]

I have, I've changed my mind. We do have to nuke the filibuster. This is ridiculous. You know, Defund the boomer.

[Comfortably Smug]

Thank a Boomer.

[Smug]

Defund the boomer. Thank a Boomer.

[Comfortably Smug]

We have the shirts.

[Smug]

Go to the Ruthless store. Get a thank

[Comfortably Smug]

a Boomer. They sold out one time. I hope we can get him back. Thank a boomer.

[Josh Holmes]

We got a real divided panel.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's what this country needs to do.

[Josh Holmes]

A real divided panel. What I didn't know is that Smash chirps on this.

[John Ashbrook]

And when I graduated college during the financial crisis that was super huge, everything was laid out in front of me as Smug lays it out. And I'm sure Gen Alpha and Gen Z, who are, you know, have those college diplomas that are worthless, feel just like him, but they've had the ruins.

[Smug]

2008 was so much more difficult into Vietnam era.

[Comfortably Smug]

Seriously.

[Smug]

And I do understand it's like your plight.

[Comfortably Smug]

Imagine the Vietnam war and then 25% interest rates to buy a house, and then savings and loans are all failing. Oh, yeah, that was a. That was a cake.

[John Ashbrook]

I would, I would point out.

[Comfortably Smug]

And they did it. And they raised your kids so well. They were the one, the best parent.

[John Ashbrook]

I would point out to my friend John Ashbrook, who's also a boomer.

[Smug]

Okay, well, thank you for that compliment, my friend.

[John Ashbrook]

That five times, five times as many millennials fought. Fought in the war on terror than boomers fought in Vietnam.

[Smug]

And they were celebrated when they came

[John Ashbrook]

home, including our producer, Lee Wolf.

[Josh Holmes]

Don't forget Eddie P. In there too. I know. Yeah. Well, we're not going to agree on this one, fellas, but it's a good debate. I'm glad you threw that landmine in the middle of this. Might as well give somebody some fun time Friday, everybody. Over the weekends, be like, hey, another thing I heard on the Ruthless Variety Program, you sons of stole our. Oh, it's so good. Well, to continue the fun times, we have to get to the great Sean Hannity, good friend of the program. You're really going to enjoy this.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

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[Josh Holmes]

well, it's an honor and a pleasure to welcome the great Sean Hannity to the Ruthless Variety Program. How are you, sir?

[Sean Hannity]

Guys, I love you. Do you guys remember, I think we were at the Patriot Awards. You guys were doing a live show at. Good. In comes Hannity. Shut his mouth. That's part of my problem, I guess. I've. I've taken a disorder and turned it in a way, a good way to make a living. First, congratulations on all your success. Second, thank you for having me. I love podcasting. I've now been doing it for a couple of weeks. We delayed the launch because of the war. We didn't think it was appropriate. But we officially, you know, launched our first episode today. Thank you for. For having me on for that. And more importantly, just hanging out with you guys.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Well, listen, it's a pleasure. We love the Patriot Awards experience. That was awesome. Hanging out with. That was the last time we hang out. We couldn't help but notice. So, Sean, hang out. We're helping you launch here with hang out. We're not hanging out with you. I saw Stephen got the invitation.

[Sean Hannity]

You know why? Who? I don't know who said that, by the way, homes. Oh, okay. So I'm just saying, you the swamp creature that you won't work here.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

We.

[Josh Holmes]

Here we go.

[Sean Hannity]

I've now got to take this from you. Listen, I have an attitude. Anybody doesn't like me, want to hang out with me, I don't give an Adam shift. I curse on my podcast. I don't know if you guys curse on your.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, we do. Yeah.

[Sean Hannity]

Okay. I don't give a shit. There you go. I don't care.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Sean Hannity]

And you know what? There are too many people that I. I respect, care about, like, get along with.

[Josh Holmes]

With.

[Sean Hannity]

It's like, I can't handle stupid.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Sean Hannity]

If you can't figure out that Iran. And I'm bringing Steve Witkoff on TV again because I'm so pissed off. People don't understand, you know, how close? Well, first of all, he was involved in the negotiations as the Mideast envoy for President Trump, and they offered low grade, low enriched uranium for civilian purposes for free, in perpetuity. The Iranians said, no, we maintain the right to build out our own uranium, enrich our own uranium and build out a bomb. Okay? They offered it for free and in perpetuity. Then they stupidly acknowledged that they had, you know, a ton. Enough to make 11 nuclear weapons of 60% enriched uranium. You can enrich 60% to weapons grade at 90%. You can do that in record time, probably a matter of weeks, not even months.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

Well, hey, listen, you know, all due respect, we can get to politics in a minute, but I couldn't help but notice, you got a pool table, you got a bar, you got a dart board, and yet we're doing this over zoom. Covid was over five years ago.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, maybe we could do it in person.

[Smug]

What.

[Comfortably Smug]

What do we.

[John Ashbrook]

What do we got to do to get the invite, Sean?

[Sean Hannity]

How about. How about this? How about we make a deal? You guys want to escape the. The crappy weather that you. I've been writing all my friends. It's the worst day, you know, 22 inches of snow.

[Smug]

Terrible.

[Sean Hannity]

Sending me pictures, and I'm like, sending the pictures of the ocean in Palm Beach. 70. It's only 72 today. It's a little cold, a little chilly here. And, you know, my friends hate me, but here's my promise. Come down to Palm Beach. Sit down with me. We'll have a great time. I do make drinks for guests.

[Josh Holmes]

I love that.

[Sean Hannity]

If you want to light up a cigar, I know comfortably smug Will.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's me.

[Sean Hannity]

Light it up and fire it up on the set. And it's very. It's just different from what I do every day, which is why I love it so much. And you guys already know this because you all have such a good rapport. I really do love your podcast. And I'm not being. I'm not flattering you. It's really so well done, you all. You all play a real. You interact perfectly together. You all have your different roles, and it just works well, which is why it's been so successful. So if I could be half as successful as you over time, I'd be. I'd be grateful.

[Josh Holmes]

That's an amazing thing to hear. I can't even input that he's a legend.

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, I mean, as a podcast, you're off to a good start. I saw the Stephen A episode. You learned the.

[Sean Hannity]

Did you watch it?

[Josh Holmes]

It was ye.

[Comfortably Smug]

It was a great episode. What was the drink you made for Stephen? A. If you're making drinks down there.

[Sean Hannity]

Oh, yeah. He. He had a Hennessy and Coke. I've got a problem. So, you know, sometimes I'll tape it between radio and tv. If I start drinking during the podcast, that's fine. I can screw up on the podcast. Yeah. I can't screw up on live tv.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right.

[Sean Hannity]

Hannity drinking before a TV show is not going to lend itself to great. Well, actually, maybe the best television.

[Josh Holmes]

I have no idea.

[Comfortably Smug]

Maybe the best.

[Sean Hannity]

Welcome to Hannity. Three cheers for President Trump. That'd be pretty fun. That'd be pretty wild.

[Smug]

Yeah. But I mean, you know, you started your career way back in the day as a bartender. And what we know is that bartenders are often the best conversationalists because you're interacting with people all the time. That had to go a long way in your career in media.

[Sean Hannity]

You know, I learned so much about people. You know, I started. My first job was eight, delivering papers. Then at 12, I was washing dishes by hand at a pretty busy restaurant. Restaurant. And I became a cook, a busboy, and then I was a bartender. I loved bartending, and I worked at a really. I worked at two places ultimately. But when I started, I worked at a really busy pub. It had three dining rooms. They were known for their frozen drinks. Back then, you didn't have a machine to make a margarita. You had to make it by hand. You had to make pina coladas by hand. Banana daiquiri, strawberry daiquiris, all by hand. And I make, by the way, I make. Make the best you've ever had. If you like that stuff, you know, I'm assuming comfortably smug.

[Comfortably Smug]

Like, yeah, in Palm Beach. This sounds really good.

[Josh Holmes]

He loves anything with an umbrella.

[Sean Hannity]

Beta side of him.

[Physician Guest]

Really?

[Sean Hannity]

Like Cosmopolitans. Yeah.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

If it's pink and it has an umbrella in it, he's gonna punch me

[Sean Hannity]

in the face, so. But you know what? I. I really do love people. And this is the craziest thing. When I first got behind a radio, microphone, phone, it was like, you guys weren't even born. 1987 was the first year, and I don't know, that light went on. Boom. Changed my life. Love it. And this. This is what I love about the podcast though. I do a hard hitting news driven, you know, fast paced radio show with people calling in from around the country. We're now on 760 stations, SiriusXM and we do this, this. I'm proud of the show Hannity. We do every single night. We own our time slot. Thank God. Thanks to all your viewers that are watching us. And then, but this is different because, you know, there's other things in life that I'm interested in and finding out about people. If you watch the Stephen A. Podcast and I've learned this when I was doing a cast for Nation, Fox Nation and I pulled out of him the story. Had written about it in his book. Book. And I was going through his book before the podcast and I remembered I want to talk to him about this. He was held back in the third grade. It breaks my heart because he's one of my closest friends. I love him.

[Smug]

He.

[Sean Hannity]

And we don't agree on politics. Yep, I got a couple of really cool admissions out of him. You did, you definitely did. And, but he, he got held back in the third grade, was able to go to summer school, make it to the fourth grade. Fourth grade. He got held back.

[Josh Holmes]

Back.

[Sean Hannity]

And he got held back. And he's sitting outside and he hears his father talking to his mother. And his father's saying he's just not smart. He's just not going to be successful. And you see the motivation that caused, that drove him in his life and that his father then began to respect his deep knowledge and communication skills with sports. Turns out he just had dyslexia. We didn't have a name for it back then. He didn't have a name for it. Jillian Michaels, who I love, she, she is an amazing, you know, person, human being, health, wellness, fitness, nutrition. She's in that space. She does a great podcast too. And she's telling me, she was like, she's 5 foot 2, weighed like 105, 70, 80 pounds. Crazy. And or Tony Robbins. I interviewed Tony Robbins was grew up poor. A family came, offered his family Thanksgiving dinner and his father got pissed off, slammed the door shut on the guy trying to help out their family, knowing they didn't have enough money for, you know, a meal that day. Yep. So you see behind a lot of successful people out of Stephen A. Who's driven to unbelievable, you know, lengths in his career. In the case of Tony Robbins, he now is going to feed over a billion people. Jillian Michaels is the health, wellness, fitness, nutrition guru. Guru. Every time I put a nicotine pouch in my mouth because I know she pisses her off all over me about it, but my lover to death, but. So you learn about people. I'm into faith, I'm into fitness, I'm into martial arts. You want to talk about bartending, I can tell you stories. But it did teach me how to communicate with people and I learned I love people.

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, you get. You gave those examples about Stephen A. And Tony Robbins. What was it that did it for you? That. I mean, how do you stay so driven? You've dominated your time slot. You've got a radio show that also dominates now you're going to have a podcast. What keeps you going after you've already seemingly hit the summit?

[Sean Hannity]

You know, I really, guys, I can't really explain it except to go back to when I first started and the light went on, my life changed. And when I started it and I got fired and 40 hours from a college station, by the way, deservedly so. And I was terrible at it. But I. But once they took the mic away, that's all I wanted to do. I put it. I put in Radio and Records at the time, a trade publication. I put in an ad about who I was. I got hired over the phone, I got in my contractor van, drove cross country to Huntsville, Alabama, landed there, was made fun of a lot because I was Sean New York.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, right.

[Sean Hannity]

Radio Sean, how you doing? Welcome to Huntsville. I'm like, you talk funny. I'm like, I talk funny. But. And you know, I start. I didn't even know if I could do a two or three hour radio show every day. And I left there doing three hours in the afternoon, three hours in the morning, and a Saturday show. That's how much I love being on the air. And I didn't get paid much. I got paid 19 grand a year. I never thought it'd be guys. I never thought I'd be successful. To this day, I don't think that I'm successful. It may sound insane, it does sound insane, but.

[Josh Holmes]

But I get it. I mean, it's a mentality for sure. I think one of the things that excites us the most about this new project that you've got going on is, you know, our experience over the last four or five years in like you, we like people, we like the people in the news, getting to know them and what makes them tick a little bit more than what you're able to do on television. And you can sit down and ask more probing stuff and kind of have this like normal human emotion. I mean, you can tell right away when some. We get some politician that sits down with us who's just kind of like giving you talking points. Our audience is like, get that guy the hell out of here.

[Sean Hannity]

They're full of.

[Josh Holmes]

Right.

[Sean Hannity]

And, you know, I also love that part because, you know, right now, this is how I dress. Either a blue or black shirt, you know, and jeans. If you want me to stand up, I'll prove it to you.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally fine.

[Sean Hannity]

You're good. We're gonna do it. I don't know. I won't have. I will study everything about you guys before the podcast, but it doesn't mean I'm gonna stick to this. There's no script.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Sean Hannity]

And it's just different. And I love long form, and some go on for two hours and some are an hour and a half. And sometimes I'm. I'm on a clock clock a little bit, for whatever reason. But we will go wherever the conversation takes us, which, to me, mirrors life. Yeah, totally. News is important. I love what I do on radio, love what I do on TV every night. I never want to stop doing it, ever. And they're gonna have to drag me out one day and, you know, put you guys in

[Comfortably Smug]

Dougs.

[John Ashbrook]

Sean. So you've seen, obviously, everything when it comes to media, radio, television, the rise of Fox. And, you know, it's also charted the path, I think, of the conservative movement in a lot of ways. And so I'm curious, in starting this new venture and doing the podcast, what are you trying to add to that conversation as you look out to the ecosystem of a lot of people, these online influencers, all this sort of stuff, where do you see yourself and what you're trying to accomplish here in that ecosystem?

[Sean Hannity]

You're asking a great question. And especially in this environment, I can tell you there's a lot that I see that I don't like.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, me too.

[Sean Hannity]

To. I'm not going to come on angry and pissed off and be in this little myopic world. I'm not chasing clicks. I'm not going to be chasing algorithms. You know, I've been more successful beyond my comprehension by my wildest dream or comprehension. And I'm just going to do real. And what real is is me having real conversations with real people like you. You. One of the things that really works for you guys, in my opinion, is you all, in your own way, like each other, but you're all different in your own way. And, you know, except for Smug. I mean, he's so. I think smug is we're Gonna be

[Comfortably Smug]

hanging on this adjective.

[Sean Hannity]

Don't hate me. I love you. But, you know, you guys also have fun, you all, you've shown that. That you can have real serious discussions. Disagreement, debate. Conversation. That's real. And get. And you don't have to agree all the time like Stephen A. Gives me. I said, okay, who do you want for president? Well, first I knew he was full of shit when he went on CBS mornings, and I wrote him right after, and I said, I call bullshit. You're not running for president. You need to stop playing this game. You're like. He's like, up and down and in and out, out. And then I finally said to him in the beginning of the podcast, you run, I run, you run.

[Comfortably Smug]

That was great.

[Sean Hannity]

I'm gonna stand right next to you and we're gonna debate together.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Sean Hannity]

Because nobody can handle him. Yeah, he's tough.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, he's tough.

[Sean Hannity]

So I said, you run iron. Fine, we're in. And then we got a little deeper in the conversation, and he was being blunt and honest, and he said, I'm not giving up my money and what I love to do, you know, to run for something that the odds are very high against me that I. That I'd ever win. Although he's. He is, I will say, confident. I give him a lot of credit for that. He does have a high degree of confidence and he would love to run. And. But then the most interesting answer I think he gave, short of his personal life and his ability to overcome obstacles, was when he gave his list. He said, wes Moore, Josh Shapiro, two Democrats he support. I said, okay, who's third on the list? Marco Rubio.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. That's wild, right?

[Sean Hannity]

That was pretty cool. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And he put meat on the bone on that, too. I mean, it wasn't just like, he just threw that name out there. I mean, he gave some thought to that answer. Clearly, he had rattled that around a little bit.

[Sean Hannity]

It's interesting. When Stephen A. Is going to do something political on his show, he purposefully will say something provocative to me on text, knowing that I'm not going to be able to control myself. And I'm like, Alka Seltzer and water and I bubble and fizz. And I'll give him a long winded answer why he's wrong. So he already knows the argument on the other side. As he goes on, I'm like, I fall for it every single time.

[Josh Holmes]

You're the reason he's so good at it. I had no idea. Sean, this is. You've given him background on everything, every argument he makes. He is exactly extraordinary and very authentic.

[Sean Hannity]

And I think again, you guys, I mean that, I think that's what's missing. But you. We were talking a little bit about the space. There's a lot of anger out there.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Sean Hannity]

Space. A lot of conspiracy theories out there, a lot of fake news out there and a lot of people chasing clicks algorithms. Clicks. Algorithms equal money in the podcast world. I'm not chasing clicks algorithms. I'm, I'm, I'm comfortable enough to say I've made enough money. I've been blessed beyond on my wildest dreams. If I was going to write two books, one would be an undeserved life and I really believe that. I believe, God bless me, I think you need God in your life. The second would be everything I was gonna wanted to tell you but knew would get me fired. Not really much because I don't hold back. That is.

[Smug]

I'm gonna pre buy that one.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no kidding. When you put pen to put a

[Sean Hannity]

pre buy that one.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, A couple things.

[Sean Hannity]

It'd be like three pages long because

[Josh Holmes]

I'm pretty sure, I mean Johnny and I always talk about this in that we grew up in conservative talk radio. Duncan 2 and smug and learned a lot from the early years of what you were doing and then clearly the early years of cable and putting all that together. And so our view of what it is that we do and what makes a successful podcast is that we have a long form capability of doing a lot of the things that you rush and you know, some of the sort of Mount Rushmore of conservative talk had put down in place for decades before we ever started this stuff.

[Sean Hannity]

And like in the end, basically what that means is Hannity, you're old as shit. But we did learn a lot from you when you were younger.

[Josh Holmes]

No, it's, it's, it's more than that. It's, it's that what you just said about not chasing algorithms and not chasing clicks. The product is the only thing that matters. Like we quit this thing tomorrow if we thought we had to go chase an algorithm on conspiracy theories, you know.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, I mean, let us return the favor, Sean.

[Sean Hannity]

Let us know what they are and we know who they are. Yeah, I've chosen to just like I don't have anything to prove to anybody. I went through the intramural era in my career where I cared about what other people were doing and saying, I'll tell you something, I learned from the best in radio and I'll mention names, Rush, Howard, Don, Imus Yeah. And the three things that. Well, first of all, all of us in conservative talk, we all owe a debt of gratitude to Rush. He forged the path that made it so much easier. Year not only for talk radio, which when he started, there were only 200 national stations, or, I'm sorry, talk stations or news talk stations. He had, you know, well over 600. There are now thousands of talk radio stations, mostly now moved over to fm, where younger people listen. More of my stations are on FM than AM now, or they're a combination of both, and. But Rush paid a pen heavy personal price for doing it. He often got the crap beat out of him. And I can give you chapter and verse on it, but I'm very grateful to him. But there's nobody else like him. When he passed away five years ago, I said, nobody can replace this guy. Don't look to me to replace him because, nope, I'm not that talented. I'm not that smart, I'm not that witty, I'm not that funny. But I did appreciate, and this is what I learned from him and those three people, Howard and Imus. I liked Imus. I don't know what the hell's happened. The worst thing that happened to Howard is he's gone woke. Yeah, I know friends that grew up listening to him no recognize the guy anymore, but all of them had one shared characteristic. They were their unique self.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Sean Hannity]

And if I have any advice, you guys don't need my help, you don't need my advice. But for anybody in our industry, whatever you're doing, just be yourself. And I try not to watch a lot of other TV shows. I try not to listen to a lot of talk radio shows. I tried not to watch a lot of podcasts. I have to keep my hand in things, be aware what. What's going on, what people are saying and doing. And I am. I know what I don't want to be, and I'm not going to be that. And I know I'm at this stage of my life. I know who I am. And having intelligent, adult, fun conversations and, you know, being real with people is what this podcast is about. That's what makes it different from radio, TV, what I do every day.

[John Ashbrook]

I think that's 100% right. I mean, the way I like to talk about podcasting is it's sort of like a golf swing. It's like you don't get better at it by trying harder.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right?

[Sean Hannity]

You keep swing easy, swing easy.

[John Ashbrook]

You can't. You can't force yourself to be tiger woods out there.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

You got to play within yourself. Do what you know how to do. That authenticity, the not chasing the algorithms, all that sort of stuff. Stuff is going to make a better product. Like try less and you will do more.

[Josh Holmes]

And then partner up with the biggest blind Indian that you can. That's the other thing that we've done here.

[Comfortably Smug]

I'm telling you, after your, after this

[Sean Hannity]

show, have great chemistry. I'm not getting involved.

[Comfortably Smug]

We get a Hannity and Smoke show. I think that'd be a great spin off.

[Sean Hannity]

Maybe, I don't know.

[Comfortably Smug]

You're not broadcasting all 24 hours. I, I feel like that's your eventual actual goal. You want all 24 hours that you got to show on the air.

[Sean Hannity]

We can make that happen. It's funny because it actually fits perfectly into my day. I start my day, I do my workout, I eat, and I, my producer hands me a pile this high of research and, you know, that's how my day starts. Then I read. I actually still like to read a hard newspaper because I grew up delivering them. And, you know, usually the New York Post, at least sometimes the Wall Street Journal. But I, I, then I get into the pile. I'm a speed reader. I comprehend things fast. I have a great memory. So I remember stuff. I put things in the piles. These are my topics of the day. And then in the course of the radio show, I have, you know, mile long stack of stuff as Rush used to call it. And I pull from that pile. I'll go to that. This is what I wanted to say on this. Then I pick up that pile, that pile, that pile. Keep the show moving. Very news oriented. I try to keep it fast paced, try to get callers into, because I want to hear what people have to say. And you guys do the same thing. And I love it. And then when I'm finished with radio, I'm like, all right, I did most of my research. I'll make sure there's no breaking news. And I'm like, oh, I can do a podcast in between. I'm like, this works out perfectly.

[Josh Holmes]

No rest for the weary.

[Sean Hannity]

A couple of days a week. I don't know how many, how many shows do you guys drop a week?

[Comfortably Smug]

We switched to three. I know you're at two right now, right?

[Sean Hannity]

Yeah, I could see myself going to three.

[Comfortably Smug]

Stick to two, stick to two. It seems like it'd be half as much, much work, but it piles up.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a lot of work.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

It's interesting that you're drawing the contrast with Smoke he doesn't read at all.

[Comfortably Smug]

I don't want to be influenced by other things, so I don't read. I don't watch any show.

[Josh Holmes]

Listen, you are the absolute best, and anything that we can do on ours. I encourage everybody who's listening to go check out Sean Hannity's new podcast because it's fantastic.

[Sean Hannity]

Classic. Get a date on the calendar, Come down, get some warm weather. Look, you still have crappy days of March, and even May, you can have. You know, it used to be April showers brings May flowers. No, it's May showers brings June flowers if you're lucky. And the odds are 60, 40 that it's going to rain like hell all Memorial Day weekend, and all your plans are going to be ruined in Palm beach is what I tell all my friends that I left behind in New York. York. I'm now in my third year in Florida.

[Josh Holmes]

Can you believe it?

[Sean Hannity]

I love it down here.

[Josh Holmes]

I feel like you're just stunting on us.

[Comfortably Smug]

He's like, yeah, I got it pretty good.

[Sean Hannity]

Why do you guys choose the Swamp? You get to choose where you live in life. You get to make choices.

[Josh Holmes]

Believe me, all of this is making a lot more sense. These are questions we entertain all the time.

[Sean Hannity]

Well, it does give you access to power and guests if you want them. But you guys have your souls. You don't really need guests. You guys are great.

[Josh Holmes]

It's very, very kind of you. Listen, hang out with Sean Hannity. It's coming out next week, right? I mean, isn't that the big debut, or is it this?

[Sean Hannity]

Oh, he debuted first episode this morning.

[Josh Holmes]

The first episode was this morning. Okay. I didn't know if that was a teaser because the Stephen A. Was just an absolute rock deal.

[Sean Hannity]

We have great guests coming. I. I sit down with. I used to affectionately refer to him as Comrade Bill de Blasio. You.

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh, yeah, I saw that. He's gonna be on.

[Sean Hannity]

So we ready to take that one? He's coming. It was really good. Good podcast. John Federman.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Sean Hannity]

Great. Do you guys like hockey?

[Josh Holmes]

I love hockey. Love it.

[Sean Hannity]

Okay. Matthew Kachuk.

[Josh Holmes]

Nice.

[Sean Hannity]

My governor DeSantis, Glenn Youngin. He's been in. I mean, and then I'm gonna just get. One day, I'm just gonna open up, look at the camera, and start telling people, you know, going off on something. But it'll be different. Like, my first rant. I think in my mind, where I want to go with it is people ask me all the time, how do you become successful? I'm gonna. I'm gonna Give a rap if anyone's interested, how I became success and what you need to do to be more successful. And I say this all the time. I said it to Matthew Kachuk the other night. I said, you know, I will tell you, I've always known I'm not, not the smartest, not the funniest, not the wittiest, not the best looking for sure. And, but I'm not going to be outworked, period. And if you really care about your craft and you want to be successful, you got to work hard. And that part is easy for me. I learned that from my parents. I learned that from my grandparents. So I love doing it.

[Josh Holmes]

Sage advice from the great Sean Hannity. Thank you so much for joining us today. And, and be careful with that invitation. If it's sincere year, we're going to

[Sean Hannity]

take you up on this year.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay?

[Sean Hannity]

Whoever helped you set up this podcast, set up the date, get it on the calendar, come down in warm weather, and I'll take you out for steaks after.

[Josh Holmes]

We love it. We love it. Sean Hannity, everybody.

[Sean Hannity]

All right, guys, God bless you.

[Smug]

I mean, what a treasure. That guy is so much fun, and I cannot wait to get there to Florida to do it in person on his show with, with the pool table and the doorboard and everything else. Great, dude.

[John Ashbrook]

That was the most important thing we did in this entire interview is we secured the invitation 100%.

[Josh Holmes]

I love that we were all on board. Everybody kind of went at it in their own way. At first he wasn't picking it up, and then he was like, oh, I see what's going on.

[Comfortably Smug]

No, we want to hang out your place.

[Josh Holmes]

But he's such a gracious guy that he felt the need to be like, oh, of course, you guys are more than welcome to come. But we did like two or three times, and I'm sure he was like, oh, boy.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm just looking at my calendar, Sean. How about this weekend?

[Josh Holmes]

The last thing I need is these clouds in my house.

[Comfortably Smug]

Like, no, we want it recorded. You're inviting us to hang out in your house? Cuz we hear it's cool.

[Josh Holmes]

We show up and we play like one game of pool. Anley's like, out, out. Get them out of here. All right, so I got one little bit of cold variety before we go.

[Smug]

Okay.

[Comfortably Smug]

Clip six, please.

[Josh Holmes]

A prescription manufacturer here in Cincinnati, Ohio. Local news broadcast. Here's a gentleman coming up, seeing a

[Smug]

lot of the people here clearing out. True talent, true talent. That's going to be an Olympic Sport in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, Cincinnati.

[John Ashbrook]

The guy just ate a cigarette on live television. I bet it tasted better than skylines.

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh, really?

[Smug]

Sticking it to the city, sticking it to us. That is talent, buddy. Not everybody can do that sort of thing.

[Josh Holmes]

The guy just guts a heater right in front of everybody. Yeah, like, oh, welcome to Cincinnati.

[Smug]

He's a showman. He wants people to enjoy what they're watching. He knows it gets clicks.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my gosh.

[Smug]

Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, that was good stuff. Just remember our question of the day when you like and subscribe to the ruthless Friday program. We get give you absolutely all the reads that you can handle and more. And we get back to the very next episode. Our question of the day is what's the worst excuse you've heard from a Democrat who's been caught?

[Sean Hannity]

Great question.

[Josh Holmes]

Red handed. In a real problem, there's a lot of things to choose from but there's many that we are forgetting that undoubtedly you all have remembered. So put that in the comments like and subscribe. Check out a little merch while you're up there. We're going to be updating some of this in the near future. So if you don't see what you like, well, keep coming back. We've got more for you. You with that, fellas? I think we did it.

[Comfortably Smug]

I think so. Episode. Banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much to Sean Hannity and thank you to listeners. Remember, if you have not yet go to the YouTube and hit that subscribe because it's more fun in video. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you Tuesday. Stairs.

[Sean Hannity]

Sam.