Don't Take the Bait - How Libs Trap Conservatives in Pointless Arguments

Summary

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Ruthless Podcast — Episode Summary

Episode: "Don't Take the Bait – How Libs Trap Conservatives in Pointless Arguments"

Date: January 15, 2026 | Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook

Overview

This episode of the Ruthless Podcast delves deeply into contemporary political debate, emphasizing how, according to the hosts, liberals ("libs") engineer arguments that distract conservatives from substance by focusing on process, outrage, or emotional flashpoints rather than facts or policy outcomes. The show also reviews the latest controversies around sanctuary cities, ICE raids, Democratic strategies, and media coverage, accompanied by their trademark irreverent banter. An extended and candid interview with Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen highlights the influence of foreign money on American politics and the significance of state-level leadership.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. How the Left “Traps” Conservatives in Meaningless Arguments

Main Idea:
The hosts argue that liberals seldom defend their policies on substance, instead shifting arguments to “process” issues, emotional reactions, or historical analogies (often extreme), distracting from core problems like corruption or policy failures.

• Holmes: “You engage in a conversation on the pushback rather than a description of how hollow and vacant today's Democratic Party actually is when it comes to solving anybody's problems.” (00:00)
• Duncan: “The left is so intellectually bankrupt, their only identity at this point is opposing Trump. So for their supporters, they don't need to explain anything.” (00:12)

Tactics Attributed to the Left:

• Focusing on isolated incidents (e.g., ICE encounters) and ignoring broader policy debates
• Relying on “process arguments” to confuse the issues (09:18)
• Using charged labels like “fascist” or “Nazi” to shut down debate (10:22)

2. Media Coverage and Shifting the Overton Window

The hosts criticize mainstream media’s readiness to adopt left-leaning narratives about immigration enforcement and law and order, noting a rapid shift from supportive to antagonistic coverage of ICE:

• Duncan: “Mainstream media is so willing to accept the left's race to push the Overton window as far as possible... Ten years ago, CNN rode with ICE, now they platform the opposite.” (18:26)

3. Sanctuary Cities, ICE, and State v. Federal Power

A major theme is the federal response to sanctuary policies and funds being withheld from states refusing to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

• Trump’s Policy Highlighted: “Starting February 1, we're not making any payments to sanctuary cities… because they do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens.” (14:13)
• Discussion on State Resistance: The hosts express disbelief at Minnesota and Illinois lawsuits to ban ICE, seeing it as open insurrection and a sign of crumbling law and order:
  • Holmes: “When he says, ‘we’re at war with the federal government’... what are your options there?” (15:24)
  • Ashbrook: “It is just wild that Minnesota is like, federal law enforcement isn’t allowed here, but the pedophile murdering illegal aliens are.” (20:01)

4. Historical Analogies and Absurd Comparisons

A recurring thread is mocking the left’s and media’s penchant for extreme historical analogies—comparing contemporary law enforcement or conservatives to Nazis, fascists, or even Kristallnacht.

• Mockery of Left’s Comparisons:
  • Duncan: “They want their followers to just understand, Dog whistle, you're fighting the bad man.” (10:22)
  • Holmes: “Just like Archduke Ferdinand. I mean, they're all over the place.” (27:47)
  • Host/Moderator: “Do you hear the Karen sing singing the song of angry libs? It is the music of a party that will not be sane again.” (26:44)

5. Audience Engagement – “Question of the Day”

Listeners contributed answers about why Democrats were suddenly “anti-Hamas,” offering satirical, critical commentary on shifting political narratives. (29:25–32:13)

6. "King of the Hill" – Absurd Tweet Competition

The team played their recurring game, quoting extreme or deranged political tweets to compare who found the wildest example, with Steve Schmidt’s over-the-top "Jackie Robinson's grave" analogy emerging the champion. (32:49–37:42)

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Deep Dive Interview: Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (38:12–61:18)

Theme:
The importance of state-level officials standing against federal overreach, foreign influence (especially from China), and “asymmetric warfare” using left-wing nonprofit funding in US politics.

Highlights:

• Investigating Foreign Influence:
  • Knudsen: “There's a lot of foreign money—China is playing in America... When you start digging into a lot of these left wing organizations, you will find funding that leads to nefarious sources.” (39:57)
• Montana’s Climate Lawsuit:
  • Child plaintiffs, foreign-backed environmental litigation, and the use of courts to stymie traditional energy industries.
  • Knudsen: “Now we're in a situation where every building permit…it’s all being litigated because we didn’t adequately assess man-made global climate change. They want to kill the industry by a thousand cuts.” (46:43)
• TEMU and Slave Labor:
  • Knudsen: “TEMU is a shady operation… they're using slave labor.” (47:05)
• Second Amendment Advocacy:
  • Broad state coalition to protect gun rights against federal and Ninth Circuit judicial activism.
  • Knudsen: “We try really hard to stay on top of the Second Amendment stuff. Be a leader in that space.” (49:10)
• Personal Background:
  • Rural upbringing, accidental entry into politics, commitment to conservative values.

Notable Quotes:

• "I think if you got in a tangle with a mountain lion… maybe you jammed your fingers in his eyes… maybe you got side control, maybe a sleeper hold..." —Knudsen, on what animals he could defeat with his bare hands (54:27)
• “The Second Amendment is one that I don't just give lip service to. My wife and I are big shooters...” — Knudsen (48:04)
• “If you don’t pay attention, next thing you know you’re funding terror in Mogadishu.” —Holmes, on why state AG races matter (62:10)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• Holmes (on Left’s strategy): “You engage in a conversation on the pushback rather than a description of how hollow and vacant today's Democratic Party actually is...” (00:00)
• Duncan (on media): “Mainstream media is so willing to accept the left's race to push the Overton window as far as possible...” (18:26)
• Host/Moderator (satire): “Do you hear the Karen sing singing the song of angry libs? It is the music of a party that will not be sane again.” (26:44)
• Holmes (on public argument): “You gotta take time to make the right arguments… there’s a lot of people who agree with us who are not getting it and they're never gonna get it from the mainstream media.” (21:11)
• Knudsen (on foreign influence): “It’s absolutely asymmetric warfare from China… they're funding this kind of green left litigation.” (44:08)
• Michael Duncan (sarcastic): “He’s punching the time card when he gets done with this situation. I want you to know I did put my JJ McCarthy jersey out for my kids...” (63:48)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Main discussion on left's tactics, ICE, and sanctuary cities:
  00:00 – 21:11
• Media bias and Overton window:
  18:26 – 21:11
• Historical analogy mockery / "Question of the Day":
  26:20 – 32:13
• "King of the Hill" segment:
  32:49 – 37:42
• Interview with Montana AG Austin Knudsen:
  38:12 – 61:18
• Closing, sports banter, state politics matters:
  61:20 – end

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Tone and Style

The episode is brash, fast-paced, sarcastic, and full of inside jokes and sharp analogies, often laced with expletives and mocking humor. The approach is openly partisan, blending humor with pointed criticism of opposing politicians, media, and activists. Interview segments balance the banter with deeper policy content.

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Summary Takeaways

Ruthless Podcast’s January 15, 2026 episode is a vigorous takedown of what the hosts see as liberal rhetorical tactics—shifting debate away from policy, leaning on historical hyperbole, and avoidance of “the real conversation.” The team calls conservatives to focus arguments on substance over surface drama, highlights state-level political stakes, and skewers the media’s meta-narratives. The extended interview with AG Austin Knudsen underscores the seriousness of foreign influence and the importance of down-ballot races, providing a practical counterpoint to the broadly satirical discussion.

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Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

You engage in a conversation on the pushback rather than a description of how hollow and vacant today's Democratic Party actually is when it comes to solving anybody's problems.

[Michael Duncan]

The left is so intellectually bankrupt, their only identity at this point is opposing Trump. So for their supporters, they don't need to explain anything.

[Josh Holmes]

They don't need anything.

[Michael Duncan]

They just say, trump bad. Trump did this. Trump bad.

[Josh Holmes]

Trump bad. Orange man bad. That's it. When they send $8 billion to Minnesota to to fund seemingly thoughtful applications of underprivileged children and it all goes to Mogadishu and you know about it and he's willing to keep that train running, what are your options there? You don't have another option. This is not a controversial decision, is my point.

[John Ashbrook]

Washington politicians are always getting in your wallet. Now they're messing with your credit card. Your credit card and the security it offers are under attack. The Durbin Marshall credit card bill would change the nation's payment system to benefit corporate megastores like Walmart and Target at the expense of everyday Americans. Credit cards keep your payments secure and provide rewards that families use to help make everyday purchases more affordable. The Durbin Marshall mandates would let corporate megastores cut corners on credit card processing, routing transactions over cheaper, untested networks with weaker security and fewer protections. That means higher risk of fraud, greater chance of stolen personal data, and the loss of rewards programs, just so corporate megastores can pocket billions of dollars in higher profits. Tell Congress to guard your card. Visit guardyourcard.com to take action and learn more.

[Host/Moderator]

President Trump called for American energy dominance.

[John Ashbrook]

Congress can deliver it by allowing year round E15.

[Host/Moderator]

E15.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

E15 lowers prices at the pump, strengthens.

[Josh Holmes]

Rural economies and puts more money in the pockets of farm families.

[John Ashbrook]

But political Gridlock is limiting E15's potential.

[Josh Holmes]

Farmers fuel, retailers and consumers want certainty.

[Host/Moderator]

They need permanent year round E15.

[Josh Holmes]

Let's Make America Energy secure.

[Host/Moderator]

Let's make rural America stronger.

[John Ashbrook]

Congress, let's make year round E15 permanent. Paid for by Growth Energy. Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Michael Duncan]

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

[John Ashbrook]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Thursday to you. Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety Program. I am Josh Holmes along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook, left to right across your radio dial. As always, an awful lot of news going on. And it occurred to me this week as we're sitting around listening to the leftist psychopaths and watching President Trump do an economic speech in Detroit that we're currently fighting all the right battles in America, and we're not necessarily winning them. We're winning them in terms of the outcome because of President Trump and because of allies in Congress and everything else, but we're not necessarily, in a public opinion way winning any of them. I mean, there's been a lot of polling that suggests that, like, people want to eliminate ice, for example. What a ridiculously dumb fuck position to be in.

[John Ashbrook]

Crazy.

[Josh Holmes]

But it's a combination as what we talked about on Tuesday, which is a full consolidation of a Democratic Party, which by now, if you're not under the full understanding that they want nothing good for this country, I don't know, I can't help you. And that 10 to 12%, many of whom listen to this program, who are like, I just don't want any, I don't want any part of that. But it occurred to me that part of this issue is that we're going from incredibly important existential fight to incredibly important existential fight, point after point after point without ever really litigating why this is happening. And I look at something like Venezuela for a perfect example of that. I mean, that was one of the most daring, audacious and incredible concepts, let alone executions that I've seen of a military activity by our military, maybe ever. And it's something that for two decades, every Republican, every Democrat, every president of the United States has said it has to happen. And nobody did shit. They talked about the problem, nobody did anything about it. Trump dropped in, did something about it. But then the second after that, we are talking about ICE in Minnesota. We never got a chance to actually do the retrospective. And I think, look, Donald Trump, one I love, particularly in foreign policy, what he's doing is just the execution is flawless. And I think him, in terms of capturing a news cycle, has been completely flawless, always has been, since he went down the golden escalator. But if there's one flaw in the matrix for all of that, it's that we don't get the historical conversation right amongst the American people. I think the vast majority of people, if you look at the numbers of ice, you look at the numbers of Venezuela, if you look at the numbers of what is or is not going to happen in Iran, it all looks exactly the same as the presidential election approval rating because it's just a shirts and skins exercise. You've never allowed the American people to have an intellectual discussion about whether this is in our best interest or not. Because it's on to the next. It's on to the next. And I can appreciate the rapid fire pace of play, which I think is important, and it's a necessity at some level when you have this many threats to our way of life, Western way of life, American way of life, American exceptionalism. But you gotta litigate this stuff in public. You gotta have a conversation about it. We are having a conversation in Minnesota about whether or not it's appropriate to have ICE officers there. Why? Is it because of the shooting? We're having a conversation about. Yeah, an incredibly unfortunate event. No question about it. But why are we talking about the unfortunate event that someone brought on themselves by trying to obstruct federal law enforcement from doing their job, when the real question is why is federal law enforcement there in the first place? Well, we know why they're there because the governor of Minnesota, the mayor of Minneapolis, the state legislature, they're both of their senators in the United States Senate, and like Elon Omar in the Congress, decided that they would rip the American taxpayer off to the tune of $8 billion. They would pay, they would take all your money and instead of sending it to the places that you, I guess, passively were okay with poor and underprivileged and daycares and all this other stuff, they just put it in their pocket and shipped it to Mogadishu. That's why. And they weren't going to do a damn thing about it. So you got to do something about what is your choice as a President of the United States. Everybody's saying, like, is it, is it good that he's saying now that he's cutting off the funds to Minnesota, what's his choice? And that's the conversation that you need to have.

[Host/Moderator]

Well, and just to get down to brass tacks on the thing, cuz I think you're right, Holmes. You know, rather than litigating this, different video angles of this encounter makes no difference if it's the Zapruder film. Doesn't change the fact that that woman was obstructing lawful orders from law enforcement and was trying to stop them from arresting bad guys. And I would love more conversation about, like, all right, well, these people obstructed ICE from arresting this violent criminal. They obstructed ICE from arresting this pedophile. And then I think it might change the tenor of the debate here with whether ICE deserves to be enforcing the law or not, which it feels like that's how it sort of spiraled out of control.

[John Ashbrook]

Totally.

[Michael Duncan]

And that's the thing is, I think we touched on this a little bit before, of how the way the left wants to fight this is. They want to muddy the waters. They don't want the discussion to be about how Minnesota became basically their base of operations for corruption nationally. Possibly. They've had two DNC chairs from this state, the guy who got on the VP ticket, all of them clearly talentless. Is it because they've got access to cash? Is it because this was. And we had on audio one of the people who were caught up in this scandal of misappropriating taxpayer funds having a discussion with Keith Ellison. So we see that the Dems don't want to talk about clearly, the problem that they have with corruption and stealing from taxpayers. They want it to turn into all Americans. Please look at this video. And now, let's see. Was this rightful. Could he have done a backflip and shot the tires out? And like, they want everyone worried about that stupid stuff.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Host/Moderator]

They would have a process argument rather than dealing with the actual facts matter.

[Josh Holmes]

Because, you know, if you were a leftist, you know that the antidote to any real conversation about your failed policies, about your lawless ideology is to have a conversation about how people are rising up. And if there's a conflict, my God. If there's fires.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

If there's interaction between law enforcement and not, they hearken back to the same old shit that they created in the 1960s.

[Michael Duncan]

Yep. That's it.

[Josh Holmes]

Right. It's the Kent State. It's. All of our views are worthwhile and probably the majority, if you think about it, because there's evidence of pushback. And so they want you to focus on that pushback and thereby doing what they want overall by you neglecting. You engage in a conversation on the pushback rather than a description of how hollow and vacant today's Democratic Party actually is when it comes to solving anybody's problems.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the thing. And that's why they use the term fascist and Nazi. Like you'll see on these videos of vice officers, like, you're all Nazi soldiers. You know that, right? The reason they want to call Trump a fascist and a Nazis is because they want this. They want their followers to just understand, Dog whistle, you're fighting the bad man. Dog whistle, you're fighting the bad man. They don't want you to be like, so here's the thing. The state is not cooperating with federal law enforcement. So they're having to do raids, as opposed to Alabama, where you have a governor who worked with the administration, and they just. When the police would encounter an illegal, they'd take them to jail. And then ICE would come and pick them up. That would work.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, these are not extrajudicial things. These are statutes. They're federal law and law breaking. They're on the books. You can agree or disagree with them. But visit your member of Congress on all that, because once it's on the books, there is an obligation for an agency whose job it is to enforce that books to do those things. And so ultimately, what this conversation is about is whether or not you want to stand in front of a federal law enforcement agent trying to arrest a pedophile rapist or not. Does that make sense? There's nothing to do with anything else. They want to make it about. Gestapo. They want to make it about.

[Host/Moderator]

Oh, she's a legal observer.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, a legal observer. They want to change the definitions for why this is happening. You said it perfectly. If it was happening in Alabama, nobody would know. Nobody would know. It's not that there's no liberals in Alabama. The ones who would, if they were, if they had a situation like this, would be outrage. You'd have the same situation, same number, same situation. The difference is you have elected leadership who've decided they're not gonna follow the law. They're gonna raise all of the temperature all the way up. They're gonna invite all the third parties in to try to create chaos, to cover for their own crimes, by the way, and thereby not cooperate with a very easy thing. If I arrest someone who has raped an 8 year old and they happen to be illegal, I'm going to hand them over to ice. That's a very simple discussion. I don't understand why we're not having that discussion. Why isn't it that that's not what we're talking about in the evening? It takes effort to do that. And I'm not blaming the White House and the President. They've got obviously a lot of shit to go around. But that's the question for people like you who are listening, for the lawmakers who are listening that you need to talk about. It's a threshold issue. Do you believe in law and order? Do you believe in the things that you took the oath of office to do? Because if you do, that's what you should talk about. Shouldn't talk about the camera angle on the car. We already know that she was doing something that she shouldn't have been doing. That'll be litigated out one way or another. But from a political context, why are they there in the first place? Venezuela. Why is that important? I don't know. 25 years people made a pretty good case that we should get them out of. There was a threat to America, that we lost millions of Americans from drug importation into this country, that they were harboring China, Iran, Russia. They were funding terrorism abroad indirectly. All those things were happening. We made that case. We didn't make that case this time. So you see like this, 38, 40%, 42%. And don't blame the people. They don't know. They know it's controversial, so they're staying out of it. But until you have that conversation with people to understand why it is really important, you're not gonna win any of these debates. We're just on to the next.

[Michael Duncan]

And again, it harkens back to how the left is so intellectually bankrupt, their only identity at this point is opposing Trump. So for their supporters, they don't need to explain anything.

[Josh Holmes]

They don't need anything.

[Michael Duncan]

They just say, trump bad. Trump did this. Trump bad.

[Josh Holmes]

Trump bad. Orange man bad. That's it. So anyway, let's start with Trip with Trump here on the sanctuary city issue in clip one. Additionally, starting February 1st, we're not making any payments to sanctuary cities or states having sanctuary cities because they do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens, and it breeds fraud and crime and all of the other problems that come. So we're not making any payment to anybody that supports sanctuary.

[Michael Duncan]

Perfect.

[Josh Holmes]

So you can look at it through an ideological lens, which obviously we agree with. And I think most of you who are listening agree with it, too. You may ask, like, how does that work over time and whatever, but intellectually speaking, that makes sense. The question I have is, what other choice would you want a responsible person to make in his shoes?

[Michael Duncan]

That's the thing. This is the nice option. Yes. Because these states are essentially just an open insurrection. They're like, oh, we're not going to follow the law. Law, law, whatever you want. What are his options at that point? When Tim Walls makes the threat that I will, if need be, summon the National Guard to defend me from the federal authorities, what is he saying there?

[Josh Holmes]

When he says we're at war with the federal government, what is he saying there? What are the options when this guy, when they send $8 billion to Minnesota to fund seemingly thoughtful applications of underprivileged children and it all goes to Mogadishu and you know about it and he's willing to keep that train running? What are your options there? You don't have another option. This is not a controversial decision, is my point. But you were not it's like, oh, I mean, even, dude, I was doing news last night, and everybody's like, I don't know. It's a big call. No, it's not. If you're running a business and someone's like, yeah, I'm gonna steal every dollar that you send me. And you're like, well, guess I'm paying these invoices. Yeah, I just. Yeah. Here you go. Nobody would ever do that. That's his job. That's his fucking job.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

That's the job of the federal government and the President of the United States. All right. Clip 2. Instead of helping the law enforcement, Democrats wanted to fund ICE. This is their response to all of this. Clip 2 and so today I am glad to announce that the Congressional Progressive Caucus has adopted an official position to hold ICE accountable.

[John Ashbrook]

Whoa.

[Josh Holmes]

Pose all funding for immigration enforcement in.

[John Ashbrook]

Any appropriation bills until meaningful reforms are.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Enacted to end militarized policing practices.

[John Ashbrook]

Why is immigration enforcement the law that she cares so much about?

[Michael Duncan]

Exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

Question. Right.

[John Ashbrook]

Why? I mean, lives in Minnesota, not a.

[Josh Holmes]

Lot of people from Ontario pouring over the border.

[John Ashbrook]

Right. All kinds of questions about her connections to the Somalis who are in Minnesota, who are stealing money from taxpayers. Why is it immigration enforcement where she is drawing the line in the sand? This is a law on the books that was here before I got here. And I'm going to say that we're not going to enforce any law on America on immigration until I'm satisfied.

[Host/Moderator]

And here's another piece of advice as far as, like, litigating why we find ourselves here. How about Joe Biden Lending in 20 million people? I feel like I haven't heard that one in a while.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Host/Moderator]

You know, now it's all about the process of the internal enforcement of immigration law. And it's like, why are we in this crisis in this country? Well, maybe because people like Ilhan Omar hand waved as the President, United States Joe Biden Let in 20 million people.

[Josh Holmes]

There is no border crisis, they said, Right. They did it. They did it deliberately. And now you know why the dollars are out of your pocket.

[Michael Duncan]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

And, you know, look, it's not irrelevant that they also always want to raise your taxes. Why? More dollars, more availability to all of this, which we've come to find out is a finance circle that goes back and run the Democratic Party. Why aren't you having that conversation? You know, I mean, this is.

[Michael Duncan]

This is.

[Josh Holmes]

Can you imagine? Can you imagine, like, a. Any sane person?

[Michael Duncan]

And the wild thing is the way that the mainstream media is so willing to accept the left's race to push the Overton window as far as possible. Someone uploaded this clip on X recently of in early 2016, spring of 2016, CNN followed along ice for a day of enforcement in Chicago. And they're like, these people do the hard work. It's dangerous. They're finding criminals.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no, it was an amazing clip.

[Michael Duncan]

And then that's the story. And here we are less than 10 years later, barely 10 years, and the mainstream media is pushing this narrative that ICER get stopped and they're giving a platform to people like that.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm glad you mentioned that. I have a great demojournal game for you guys on Funtime Friday on that topic.

[Host/Moderator]

Good tease.

[Michael Duncan]

Good tease.

[Host/Moderator]

Solid tease.

[Josh Holmes]

I love that. All right, so most of what they're doing is complete make believe. Rarely does it get called out on cnn. Check out clip three. I've read both the Minnesota and Illinois lawsuits. They're really political diatribes masquerading as lawsuits. If you look at what both states are asking the courts to do, it's to kick ICE out of those states and cities and to bar ICE from carrying on federal law enforcement in Illinois and Minnesota. That's the top three thing both states asked to do. And they cite zero precedent for that. There is zero precedent for that. There is no way a judge can say, you federal law enforcement agency, you are not allowed to execute federal law in a certain state or city.

[John Ashbrook]

And it, dude, it is just wild that Minnesota is like federal law enforcement isn't allowed here, but the pedophile murdering illegal aliens are.

[Michael Duncan]

Can I say something?

[Josh Holmes]

Protect our neighbors.

[Host/Moderator]

Our neighbors just. Our neighbors just Tim Walsh says happens.

[Josh Holmes]

To be raping our 8 year olds.

[Host/Moderator]

The fucking gall of this guy to get there in front of a bank of video cameras and be like, well, people are just out there protecting their neighbors.

[Michael Duncan]

So two things. First, yes, it is shocking that CNN is willing to let someone on who's like, well, facts are this is a crazy case. How are you gonna sue the federal government for doing their job? But secondly, I think one of the reasons that Minnesota and a lot of these left wing states that do shit like this are so brazen is because we've seen this wave of insano activist judges, one of whom got arrested because they tried buying time and helped hide an illegal to escape out the back through their corridors in the courtroom.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no, they think that they're at least gonna get a due process that takes a year and a half.

[Michael Duncan]

So like they know that they have a bunch of these allies in the courts who are just straight up activists. So they're like, we can file whatever nonsense we have and roll the dice and try to shop for one of these judges. It's awful, it's unbelievable.

[Josh Holmes]

We're fighting the right fights. We gotta take time to make the right arguments. Cuz there's a lot of people who agree with us who are not getting it and they're never gonna get it from the mainstream media. We already know that. But you gotta take the time to make the argument. Can't be on to the next. Can't be on to the next. We gotta keep doing it. Coming up, you may have seen Trump has had some choice gestures. I would say just a greeting at a recent trip to Michigan. We got the clip and a whole lot more right after this.

[Host/Moderator]

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[Josh Holmes]

Okay, I think it was in, what was it, Top Gun, where they were keeping up foreign relations. Yeah, Nav did the inverted deal.

[John Ashbrook]

Great pool.

[Josh Holmes]

There were some domestic relations being done in Michigan this week. It's just some of the stuff I love the most about our president. Clip 4. There he is on a catwalk as union members and workers are below. He's walking along, someone starts screaming at him, gives a wave and then flicks them off. And you know what I love most about that? I mean, every once in a while you get that. I remember a George W. One where he flicks somebody off and whatever. But there's a human component to it that is it like you don't get in Europe where all their cloistered leaders are all, you know, whatever. I mean he's. Yeah, someone's like telling him to F off and he's like, yeah, fuck me. Fuck you. Love that.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Yeah, that's.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean that's great. If he couldn't have that Moment organically, you'd have to create it. Yeah, it's just. That's Trump in a nutshell. Former mayor of New York, this cat, get the sense that he's pretty excited about not having the job. Mayor Adams, clip five in the face.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

I would love if you punched me in the face.

[John Ashbrook]

Those days are over.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, good.

[John Ashbrook]

Thank God.

[Josh Holmes]

Damn. It's so first of all in a mask. Yeah, she's in a mask and she's heckling the former mayor where he says, I'm not mayor anymore. Go fuck yourself.

[Michael Duncan]

I do have to say one thing. The real tragedies, there was this interview where he had a while back, a couple months ago, where he was caught kind of off cuff. And there, you know, some journal sassers like, are you, Are you sad to be leaving? Or whatever. You know, the mayorship. And he was like, are you kidding? Hell no. He was like, I'm gonna go down to St. Barts. I'm gonna fly PJs. I'm never gonna see you people again. And I was happy for him when I heard that. But, like, now he's fine. Then you see him flying scheduled. Yeah, see, like with a pj, you're not paying for the luxury or the elegance. You're paying to get away from those people.

[Josh Holmes]

Didn't he get into some, like, crypto.

[Host/Moderator]

No, no, no, no, no, no. It was airline miles for Turkish Airlines.

[Michael Duncan]

He just recently announced some like, crypto coin.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no, I think he did that too. Listen, he's trying to do the St. Barts thing, but everybody's like, eh, I don't know.

[Michael Duncan]

I don't know if they want him in St. Bart's I don't know if we want.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't know if we're ready for that. So he's gotta deal with the masked psychopath.

[Host/Moderator]

Masked psychopath. What I noticed about that footage is that this altercation is happening on the jet bridge, which is a bold maneuver to, you know, verbally accost somebody when, you know they're on your flight. You know, this isn't at the airport bar.

[Josh Holmes]

No. It's like, oh, geez, sitting next to you.

[Michael Duncan]

Huh?

[Josh Holmes]

That's worse than getting an extra fat. I love it. All right, so ms, now, you know, we've talked a lot on this program about, like, false historical comparisons. And the left is so good. It's always Nazi. They're full of them, right? Everything is like, oh, my gosh, Gestapo. This one sort of took my breath away in some ways. Clip 6. They are out on the streets and they are calling dispatch units throughout the city to let people know where ice is operating.

[Host/Moderator]

So people are.

[Josh Holmes]

When Keith Ellison said Minnesotans are responding to this. It is incredibly organized. I don't want to use hyperbole, but it almost sounds like the kinds of things that you read in school about the French Resistance.

[Host/Moderator]

French Resistance.

[Josh Holmes]

Yup. Same, same, same, same. Just arresting pedophiles and making sure you blow the whistle in the French Resistance. That's the same thing. I see that.

[Host/Moderator]

Do you hear the Karen sing singing the song of angry libs? It is the music of a party that will not be sane again.

[Josh Holmes]

A song we sing. Dude, it's so good. It's so true. I mean, it leads us to our question of the day, which I think is a good one because there's been so many and they're happening now in real time every day. Usually you get like one, a quarter. They're like, this thing is like, you know, when a fucking meteor hit the Earth, or this one is the Nazis, or this one is whatever. They're coming every day, whether it's about Venezuela, whether it's about ice, whether it's Iran, what have you. So our question is, what's the most absurd historical comparison to be made by a journo?

[Michael Duncan]

That's a great question because they're doing it nonstop, non stop. That's just their go to now, like, oh, no, now we're. This is exactly. Just like Kristallnacht. Like they have really.

[Host/Moderator]

That was one.

[Michael Duncan]

Like they've been going off the handle.

[Josh Holmes]

Just like Archduke Ferdinand. I mean, they're all over the place. So when you like and subscribe to the ruthless Friday program, we read all of your comments and thank you very much for all of them that you've been leaving here the last couple of weeks.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Weeks.

[Josh Holmes]

We read all of them and we get back to you in the very next episode. In this case, Funtime Friday, which we'll have a laugh about if nothing else when we come back. Your comments from last episode on Tuesday, which is why are Democrats suddenly anti Hamas? I think we got answers and I think you do too, right after this.

[John Ashbrook]

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

[Host/Moderator]

We must pass permitting reform now to.

[John Ashbrook]

Help secure American energy dominance. Because when America builds, America wins. America's oil and natural gas, paid for by the American Petroleum Institute.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so you recall on Tuesday we were talking through how the Democrats had changed their talking points a touch. They went from being pro Hamas to very concerned about anti Semitism and a drop of an eye. Sure enough, within 24 hours there was like three corporate media pieces, New York Times and others that were directly confronting President Trump. As if he had any open area in this space to say what? Does anti Semitism have any place in maga? Like, it's been well established he's spoken of this. I mean, he has a Jewish daughter for Christ's sakes. Like what are we. What are we talking about here? But. But you can see the turn which is interesting to us. We asked you, listener, when you like and subscribe to the ruthless variety program, why do you think they are suddenly anti Hamas? Your comments to do that we always start with a voice.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, first one comes from rocket scientist. Rocket scientist writes Dems are denouncing anti Semitism because Iran's Islamist regime will fall, which will mean that sanctions will get lifted, money will start flowing into the U.S. iranian donors will get unlocked from a wealth standpoint and they want that money and want those votes. Pandering freaks belearing the poopole loophole continues. That's the rocket scientist.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, it's not all wrong there. I mean, if you were to take the infrastructure that's provided by Iranian proxies to the propaganda machine that is the pro Hamas constituency, that constituency fades. No question about it. Good, good question. Good comment. Dunks rungs.

[Host/Moderator]

This is from Aaron A. Aaron writes the Dems are preparing for the midterms. Mandani won by getting only 20% of registered voters in NYC. That math will not carry districts and statewide contests as an anti Israel Mamdani poster child party trying to head off the Mamdani stuff at the pass.

[Josh Holmes]

Interesting comment 3 smugs comment 3 is from Michael Ross.

[Michael Duncan]

Michael Ross writes the Dems are feigning not to be pro Hamas only because Hamas lost the fight. What it doesn't mean is that they are now pro Israel or pro Jewish. Their anti Semitism is merely hibernating and will merge with smug bears in the spring.

[Josh Holmes]

That is good. That is good. What a great comment.

[John Ashbrook]

Michael Ross Bear.

[Michael Duncan]

And if you see one of these bears, feel free to shoot it and send the pelt my way. Thank you so much. That was a good comment.

[Josh Holmes]

The belt, just like, it's a, like just a small thing.

[Host/Moderator]

I want that rug like it's a rapid foot.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, you need that rug.

[Josh Holmes]

They're like thirty thousand dollar taxidermy. Yeah, just send it over, send it, roll it up.

[Michael Duncan]

I'll appreciate that.

[Josh Holmes]

Send it up and I'll appreciate it. Listen, it's Thursday and when it's Thursday, we play our signature game here on the ruthless Friday program, King of the Hill. I believe I'm a back to back champion. I've had quite a run.

[Host/Moderator]

You're kind of on a heater.

[Josh Holmes]

I am a little bit.

[Host/Moderator]

And smug is our challenger.

[Michael Duncan]

I am. And I'm bringing Joe Scarborough.

[Josh Holmes]

Ooh, that's a tough matchup. I got Steve Schmidt, he's the reigning champ.

[Host/Moderator]

And I am Judgin Jerry, your bailiff.

[John Ashbrook]

Right? Sounds right.

[Host/Moderator]

Let's go ringside.

[John Ashbrook]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. It's time for King of the Hill. In the red corner, fighting from the.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Florida panhandle, Jotun Joe Scarborough. And now in the blue corner, fighting.

[John Ashbrook]

From a deck in Utah and current champion of the world, the old fat man, Steve Schmidt.

[Josh Holmes]

I want to keep winning just so I keep getting the old fat man.

[Host/Moderator]

It's good the first time. Every time.

[Josh Holmes]

It's good the first time.

[Host/Moderator]

That's what it feels like.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, so the champion goes first. I do have to warn you, this is a better one than has been played in a long time. Okay, I'm going to start out with a nuclear explosion. Exhibit seven, if you don't mind. Renee Goode lives an important life. She died an American death. Murdered in cold blood by Trump's gestapo. Attaching a photo of Jackie Robinson's grave.

[Michael Duncan]

What the hell?

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, my.

[Host/Moderator]

Was that photo really necessary?

[Josh Holmes]

Jackie.

[Host/Moderator]

Jackie Robinson.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude, Jackie Robinson. Just process this.

[Host/Moderator]

There's just nothing sacred to these people.

[John Ashbrook]

LinkedIn. Was there a link to the substack on that?

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah, no, he's got. He always links to the sub stack. He wants you to convert on all of that.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, I think I can actually easily beat that.

[Josh Holmes]

There's no way.

[Michael Duncan]

Scarborough. I warned Wolf early this week that Scarborough is really deranged and it's because of stuff like this. Exhibit 11, please. Joe Scarborough is here saying that Donald Trump said on Friday he will attack Iran if they start killing protesters. Should he not at least fire Kristi Noem for isis, killing of American protesters, including an image of the freedom fighters in Iran. It's incredible drawing the parallel.

[Josh Holmes]

I see it.

[Host/Moderator]

It's a powerful parallel. It's just not as powerful a parallel as Jackie Robinson.

[Josh Holmes]

Just apropos of nothing, Jackie Robinson and Renee Goode's saying, look, I don't want.

[Host/Moderator]

To give him money for his sub stack, but I'm really curious, like, how he worked that in, how he works those together.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, transitions aren't the easiest thing to write.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, same thing. You don't see the similarities, Michael?

[Host/Moderator]

No. Smug. Round two.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay, I will start with exhibit 10, please. This is Joe again, taking the side of the deranged lunatics in Minnesota, saying, we have whistles, they have guns.

[Josh Holmes]

Jesus, dude, it's Scarborough.

[Host/Moderator]

They also have Honda pilots. Oh, my God.

[John Ashbrook]

The judge. From the bench.

[Josh Holmes]

From the bench. Raising the gavel high.

[John Ashbrook]

Maybe.

[Host/Moderator]

Maybe disbarred for that.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm gonna go ahead and end this thing early. Why don't we toss up exhibit two, please? Goebbels explained to the world why the Nazis hated the Jews. It's a perfect window. That's a perfect window, fellas. Perfect window into why MAGA hates the Somalis and why JD Vance smeared Haitian immigrants in a peaceful Ohio town as, quote, eating pets, unquote, which was a pristine example of Nazi columny.

[John Ashbrook]

Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

Do you want me to even. Why don't I just leave it?

[Host/Moderator]

I mean, maybe J.D. vance was confused. Maybe he just thought they were eating something. Skyline chili.

[Michael Duncan]

And get some. Blazes insane.

[Host/Moderator]

You know, I'm starting to think we might have to retire as Jersey.

[Michael Duncan]

I know, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

He's gotten into the Sherry Masheri territory. Yeah.

[Host/Moderator]

Usually this was rarefied air. That was only Sherry Jacobus and Jen Rubin. And he somehow filled that vacuum to a T. I gotta give it to him. My hat's off. Two round knockout.

[Michael Duncan]

Wow. I mean, he's deranged anytime you start. Schmidt has lost a tweet with Goebbels.

[Host/Moderator]

Scarborough had good stuff, but once you move up to the heavyweight division.

[Josh Holmes]

What an absolute maniac. What an absolute maniac.

[Michael Duncan]

I can't.

[Josh Holmes]

I literally can't. I can't get enough of. Anyway, we move on. We'll keep defending our champions next week while you're here. From the old fat man again.

[John Ashbrook]

I did like the Scarborough play. I feel like he's probably been underused in this game. Yeah, it was a nice Republican congressman. Really good idea.

[Host/Moderator]

He just ran into the bus. Yeah, he did the most he could with it. I mean, it Was good content. In any normal environment, he'd be a winner nine times out of ten.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's true. It's true. What are you gonna do? Listen, we got a great interview you fellas did with the Montana Attorney General, Austin Knutson, good friend of the program. Yeah, let's get to it right now.

[Host/Moderator]

Well, here on the Ruthless Variety Program, we endeavor to bring you important people that are doing work here in Washington, D.C. but not only Washington, D.C. around the country. Which brings us to our next guest, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudson. How are you?

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

I'm great. Tickled to be here.

[Host/Moderator]

It's a big week.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

There's a lot going on. Yeah, yeah.

[Host/Moderator]

We got our arguments at the Supreme Court. You know, there's a lot of folks, attorneys general here in Washington, D.C. and you happen to be the chair of Raga.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

I am the chair of the Republican Attorneys General Association.

[Host/Moderator]

What's that like exactly? I assume there's a friendly competition amongst Republican Attorney General.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

It's usually who can duck it the fastest. Honestly. Yeah, it's a lot of work. I've been the vice chair a couple times. It's weird. I'm in my fifth year as the AG and now I'm kind of considered one of the old guys, so it was my turn. So 26 is a big year for us. We got 30 races. Yeah. Midterms are always tough. So I'm not so sure I know what I signed myself up for here, but a lot of work.

[Host/Moderator]

Well, you've been doing the job for a while, and you've developed kind of a track record here, both during the Biden administration and now in taking it to China in a variety of ways. The one I wanted to highlight first, we can get into the rest as well. The one that I found very interesting, because we've talked about it a lot on the show, is this nonprofit industrial complex that exists on the left, funded through these different apparatuses. You know, money getting passed between 501 C3s and C4s and then somehow ending up in an organization that has foreign ties. And, you know, you have called on the DOJ to investigate a couple of groups that you believe have ties to China, these radical environmentalist groups. Can you tell us about that?

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Yeah, absolutely. So in Montana, I mean, every state AG has got a little different authority. Kind of depends on state law. Right. But in Montana, I actually have authority over all. All nonprofits. I. I actually have pretty broad investigative authority to, you know, check on nonprofits, make sure they're doing what they're supposed to be doing, but we've started to see this quite a bit. I mean, there, I mean, you guys know, we've talked, you've talked about it a ton. There's a lot of foreign money China is playing in America and, and they're getting pretty sneaky about it. And when you start digging into a lot of these left wing organizations, you know, where are they getting their money? Sure, we talk about a handful of billionaires that everyone's familiar with whose name starts with S and ends with Oros.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

But I mean China is absolutely playing in this world as well. And so yeah, I had a bunch of my colleagues, we asked former State Attorney General Bondi and now U.S. attorney General Bondi to take a look into this because it doesn't take you long to start following those rabbit trails into a lot of these radical environmental groups. And you will find funding that leads to some pretty nefarious sources. And I don't think it gets much more necessary affairs than China.

[Host/Moderator]

Well, and also an effort to conceal, in reading some of the background on some of these groups. I know there was one that took a grant through the UK and that grant had initiated in a CCP linked Chinese organization and then that somehow then gets funneled to the group here in the United States.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Yeah, and they do this intentionally. It's very complex, very obfuscated. At first blush this looked like it was a grant, like you said, coming from a Brit, one of our quote unquote allies, hardcore leftist Brit over there in the UK who's, you know, supposedly funding climate litigation and openly funding climate litigation like the kind that we've seen in Montana a couple times now. But again, when you start following those breadcrumbs where he gets some of this funding and that's what brings you to Communist China.

[Host/Moderator]

And so the ultimate goal there is to get these organizations to have to register under Farah as basically foreign operations.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Well, they are foreign operations. I mean, this is an organization that's openly. Well, not, not so openly, but once you start digging into it, pretty clearly operating to maximize China's benefit.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

And we have the Foreign Agent Registration act in this country. When you're acting on behalf of a foreign government, you have to disclose that and you have to register that and they've never done it.

[Host/Moderator]

Boy, it makes you wonder that maybe China might benefit from us, you know, I don't know, killing off our own domestic energy sector here in America.

[John Ashbrook]

No, it's. And there's been so talk about foreign money flowing into American politics with everything on the Somali fraud in Minnesota, which I know you followed closely from your perch in Montana. But there is so much of this happening in our country and I think people are just sort of operating entirely unaware of how much foreign influence there is. And you know, that there's foreign money. I'm convinced there is foreign money that is spent in our country designed to just drive everybody apart. Because by and large, even if you're Republican, you're a Democrat, you're American, you just want to get along with your neighbors, you want to, you know, even if you disagree on politics, you're going to watch football, you're going to do things together. And yet this foreign money that's coming in is designed specifically to just tear at the fabric of our country. And I wonder if you could just talk about the impact that you're seeing in your own state of Montana of that influence on people, you know, around the corner from you.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Yeah, no, I think it's absolutely a thing. And what frustrates me is, I mean, I bring this up in Montana and you know, we're Montana, it's Mayberry, especially where I'm from. I'm from way, way rural, middle of nowhere northeastern Montana. You know, kindergarten, class of six. I mean, you start talking about these things that are happening in our state and the money that's coming in and most people honestly really don't believe it. You know, they think, ah, that's a D.C. thing or new York. And you start showing them like, well, no, actually the Soros boys were playing in our state secretary of state's race, you know, because they want to keep a stranglehold on elections. And. But a lot of these things.

[Michael Duncan]

I.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Look at it, I mean, it's absolutely asymmetric warfare from China. When you actually just do just a little bit of research into China on your own, it's not hard to find publicly available documents from the ccp, from the, from the PLA that the army like that they'll tell you what their intentions are. And China knows it can't beat us on the conventional battlefield. So they're engaged in asymmetric warfare. And part of that, to bring it home, they're absolutely funding this kind of green left litigation and to bring it right back to Montana, I mean, we had a huge kids climate lawsuit, A bunch of child plaintiffs sued the Montana legislature, sued the state, arguing that our energy policy, we're an energy state, we're coal, we're oil and gas, we have, we have the biggest reserves of low sulfur coal in the world in Montana. We're an energy state that funds our K through 12 education. It funds a huge chunk of our state government day to day operations, not.

[John Ashbrook]

To mention the people who work for those jobs.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, right.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Real employer, great paying union jobs, most the of of them. Yeah, yeah. A bunch of coal mines, I mean that's about the only mining that we're still doing in Montana. But this climate lawsuit, I mean it was a bunch of child plaintiffs that can't establish standing, they can't establish that they're harmed. It's all esoteric. You know my family's third vacation home, that big sky didn't have enough snow last year. So I'm pretty sure climate change is real. I feel it in my heart. And they got in front of a, you know, bleeding heart liberal judge. For whatever reason my predecessor waived jury trial.

[Host/Moderator]

Huh.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Yeah, that, that kind of put me in a bad position. But this was one of the few cases in the country where they had tried this and it actually worked in Montana. I mean actually they got a favorable ruling from our district judge and it went to our state supreme court and they upheld it. Now, now we're still not quite sure what the effects of this is because our state supreme court, I mean even they as left as they are, they recognize that they didn't have the authority to direct the legislature. You shall change the state energy policy. That wouldn't have gone well with the legislature, but they stopped just short of it. But now we're in a situation where every building permit, every gravel pit, subdivision, stormwater review, exactly what I said was going to happen is happening. We're now getting sued every time one of those permits is issued because we didn't adequately assess man made global climate change.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah, they want to kill the industry.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

By a thousand cuts.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

And that brings it right back to China. That's who we're pretty sure funded some of this litigation.

[Host/Moderator]

You're also investigating temu. I know about its business practices. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Well, aside from churning out, you know, second rate minority leaders here. Yeah.

[Host/Moderator]

Good call back. Yeah, good callback.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

I like it. I'm a regular. Yeah. Look Timu, TEMU is a shady operation. I mean they're using slave labor. Yeah, you know, it's, it's, it's religious genocide in China and you know, they're not doing good things. They're putting out garbage products in the US at cut rate and they're using slave labor to do it. So I don't know why we would give them the foothold in this country to bring those products in and compete with American companies that aren't doing that. So, yeah, we've investigated them in Montana. We're asking DOJ here to investigate them on a larger scale. Obviously, the President's been pretty hawkish on that stuff too, but this is a problem.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, I know you're also just to shift gears here. I know you're also doing a lot of work on second second amendment and protecting the rights of people in Montana. And really, you know, it starts in Montana, but it's really the rights of everybody in our country on the second Amendment. Wonder if you could talk a little bit about the stuff you're doing on second Amendment.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Yeah, well, that, that's one that means a lot to me. I mean, the second amendment is one that I don't just give lip service to. My wife and I are big shooters. We're competitive shooters. We're friends with competitive shooters. We, we hunt. We, I mean, I, I was. If anybody on your audience knows who Jerry Miculek is, if you're a shooter, you know who Jerry Miculik is. Is, Jerry's a good friend of mine. We hunt several times a year together and he comes to Montana. I mean, we, we're gun people. So this is one that really I keep a close eye on. I mean, especially in the Obama years. But then again during, during Joe Biden, I mean, good heavens, we couldn't go a week without the ATF under Joe Biden putting out some crazy rule that they had promised they weren't going to do. You know, whether it was on pistol braces or, I mean, go down the list. There was binary triggers. There was, there was a ton of them. Magazine cap, magazine capacity. I mean, we're, we're constantly fighting California, we're constantly fighting Hawaii in my office. And I get asked that a lot, you know, why, why are you, why are you leading an amicus brief effort in a cat in a case out of Hawaii? Well, we're in the ninth Circuit. I mean, the ninth Circuit's pretty terrible.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

You know, they've got, they got Judge Van Dyke on there, who's a gun guy and a former Montana solicitor general. And I, I, I know Judge Van Dyke and he's the real deal, but man, every time he and two others that they get lucky and issue a three judge opinion that's pro second amendment, I mean, you can almost set your watch, the ninth is gonna come in en banc and flip that over. So, I mean, we, in Montana, we try really hard to stay on top of the Second Amendment stuff. Be a leader in that space. Certainly there's a couple of my colleagues who are really great at that too. JB McCuskey out of West Virginia. He's. He's a. He's a newer ag, but he's doing great stuff on the Second Amendment.

[Host/Moderator]

We had him here on the program.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

JB's great. Brenna Bird out of Iowa. Brenna's fantastic farm girl. She. She and her husband are hunters, shooters.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah, we met her at the Iowa State Fair.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

She's awesome. She's a rock star. We got to get her reelected in Iowa. That's going to be one of our big, big target races for 26. But I'm glad to hear that. Yeah, I mean, the Second Amendment is one that we, we pay really close attention to. I'll. I'll be at shot show for most of the shot show. Been doing that for years and it's kind of fun now to not have to sneak in. I actually. They let me in. Yeah.

[Host/Moderator]

There you go.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Yeah, it's kind of cool, but so.

[Host/Moderator]

Obviously you're very passionate about the Second Amendment and, you know, you're working on a ton of stuff. I'm curious what got you interested in being involved in politics like this?

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Oh, man, that's a great question. Accident. I mean, I'm a farm and ranch kid from. I mean, I told you, middle of nowhere guys. I'm actually from probably closer to where Holmes is from than anywhere. I'm from extreme eastern Montana. I mean from our ranch. North Dakota was less than 10 miles away.

[John Ashbrook]

Wow.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

So, I mean, we used to go to Minneapolis quite a bit, but super rural. I mean, I didn't grow up talking about politics. We were talking cows and combines and getting the crop in and fixing fence.

[John Ashbrook]

Work to be done.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

I'm still not quite sure how. Probably college. I think I started off in the College of Agriculture and just was kind of bored with that and decided I'd try something some other stuff. And kind of found my first political science class and figured out pretty quickly I was a conservative because I agreed with nothing the professors were saying. And that led me to an internship. I just on a lark, did a summer internship out here for our former US Senator who's passed now Conrad Burns. And it's the law degree was a.

[Host/Moderator]

Big part of it.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

I mean, we. My friend, I worked on a couple of campaigns and helped out with a few things, but we weren't super political. Ended up getting my law degree. Was back home in our little itty bitty town practicing small town law. And somebody came up and like, oh, we have a Democrat legislator. You should run for the state house.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

And I was, I think I was 28 or 29 at the time. And I said no for a long time. And thinking somebody else would do it. Nobody else did. So that's, that's what got me in. I ran for state legislature. Yeah.

[Host/Moderator]

Oh, glad you did it. Look, we always ask three questions to every guest here on the Ruthless Variety program. As an avid listener, I'm sure you know what's coming next, but if you could plan your last meal on earth, what would it be?

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

This is an easy one. My answer hasn't changed from a couple years ago. There is a great bar about 30 miles south of Helena, Montana. Our state capital, Boulder, Montana. The Windsor Bar.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Best steak in Montana.

[John Ashbrook]

Really?

[Host/Moderator]

That's saying a lot.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Yep. Shout out to the Julio family if they're listening. They're the owners, mayor, all the things, but giant rib steak. Guys, I'm telling you, if I can ever get you up there, that's, that's where I'm taking. Yeah, I would love that. Yeah, I'm sure. It's so fresh, it's a hole in the wall bar. But it's local beef. They cook it right there on the bar in front of you. It's as big as your head and it's about an inch, inch and a half thick. I mean, it's fantastic. Rib steak. So that's the final meal.

[John Ashbrook]

That's good.

[Host/Moderator]

That's good. I like that. Well, if you didn't do everything that you've done in politics and now as ag. If you could blue sky the whole thing and pick a second profession, what would it be?

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

You know, I would probably at this point try to be in the firearms world somewhere. You know, I, I used to think maybe I'd like to try to be a competitive shooter. I pull a lot of triggers and that's. I decided that's probably a better hobby. But, yeah, I'd love to be in the firearms world somewhere. You know, whether that's on a board or trying to run a company, come up with something, manufacture something, I think that's just a really fascinating space. Got a lot of good friends in there. And. Yeah, that's, that's where I think I'd like to be.

[Host/Moderator]

So for the competitive shooting, what sort of, you know, handgun are you using? Is it like a plink? Like, is like a.22. What do you use for that?

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

I mean, it's, it's A toolbox, Michael. I put in whatever. No, I mean, I've got probably just about everything that's out there. I've at least tried. Yeah, I mean, I maybe don't own it at this point. Right now I'm running a CZ Shadow 2 for competitive shooting. That's a pretty high end 9 millimeter competition pistol. But, I mean, I've.

[Host/Moderator]

Well, that sets you back pretty bad.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

They're not giving away. Well, just say I bought it used. Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Hey, before you get to the third question, can I ask question 2A? This is a question we have not asked on the show for quite some time. But we got a guy from Montana.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

He's talked a lot about shooting.

[Host/Moderator]

Perfect.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm very interested in the biggest animal you feel like you could take with your bare hands.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

With my bare hands. I mean. Oh, wow. I've actually been around enough of those animals. I don't know if it could be done. I mean, I. I think if you got in a tangle with a mountain lion, like if you were really lucky that. Well, there was a guy in California that did it.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

He just was hiking. But I. I mean, I think if you got the right skinny, hungry mountain lion and jammed your fingers in his eyes and maybe you got. I don't know, got. Got side control.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

You know, hey, sleeper hold. I don't know.

[Host/Moderator]

You gotta work around the claws. That's tough.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

That'd be a tough one. Lot of. Lot of claws and teeth on them. Them critters. I don't. I don't think I could probably tangle with a badger, honestly, so.

[Host/Moderator]

Well, those are vicious.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

They're pretty vicious. We have a lot of those and I've seen them in action.

[John Ashbrook]

So mountain lion's pretty good. I mean, I feel like.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

I didn't say. I want to be really clear to your audience. I could not take them out in line. There's no way I'd shoot it before it ever got that close.

[Host/Moderator]

You know what I find is the people who grew up around animals tend to be more humble about who they are. You know what I mean? Because they're speaking from experience.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

I've been eaten by a few cows in my time.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah. So, last question. Obviously, very important philosophical question. You know, we think everyone in life is motivated by one of two things. The thrill of victory or agony of defeat. Michael Jordan, being the ultimate agony of defeat guy, he celebrates his victories for two seconds and he has to invent slights in order to motivate him to succeed. Carries it around like a backpack. The Optimist. The glass half full, you know, thrill of victories, like a Phil Mickelson. You know, he hits the 280 yard two iron over water because he can do it. Where on that sort of spectrum do you find yourself?

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

It's such a great question, guys. I, I think you definitely have to put me in the agony of defeat column. And, and I'll. I'll couch that just because. And we talked about this a couple years ago when I was on. I think my answer is the same. If, if you're involved in conservative politics, I mean, you're not just hitting dingers every day, right?

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

I mean, this, this is tough. And, and it feels like we got the weight of the world against us a lot of times. I mean, case in point, what's going on at the Supreme Court right now? You know, we're talking about transgender boys wanting to play sports against my 110 pound daughter.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

As a 14 year old, like, this is what we're talking about in America these days. This is insanity. But it's just that stuff all the time and we feel the left pushing and pushing and pushing. So just in my experience as a legislative leader, getting my teeth kicked in a bunch of times. But that tempers you, right? Like, you learn from that.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

You have to. And if anything, I think it's made me probably more aggressive as an attorney general just having those W's, the handful of W's, but you know, also a lot of losses in the, in the other column that have shaped who I am and kind of how I proceed at things. So. Yeah, I mean, I hate to say it, but yeah, I think it's an experienced agony defeat.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah. You got to carry those losses around and chip on your shoulder, we're Midwesterners, so, you know, we know all about that.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

I mean, the Montana State Bobcats won the fcs, but yeah, no big deal.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah, yeah, it's impressive. They're a hell of a team.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

It's an awesome game.

[John Ashbrook]

I do want to ask one more quick question. Given your position as the guy on Raga. You mentioned the Brenna Bird race in Iowa. I wonder if there are just two or three other AG races that are on the map in 2026 that everybody should be following closely.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Yeah. So for sure. I mean, so Iowa is a big one. I mean, it's easy for us as Republicans to think I was. Is a, is a. Is a lock. It's not. It's a super purple state. Brenna took out Tom Miller. He was the longest sitting Democrat Ag. In the. In the country at the time. The guy had been there for like 30 years. So she's up for reelection right now. That's. That's going to be a really tough one for us. I mean, just fun stuff. I think Minnesota's in play.

[Host/Moderator]

Nice.

[John Ashbrook]

I meant to hear that.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Keith Ellison, I think, is elbows deep in this fraud stuff. Yeah. And there's some recordings out there.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah. That audio.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Yeah. You guys played. I heard it on your show. I mean, incredible. That dude, I think, is neck deep in this stuff. I think he's vulnerable. So that's one that we've kind of moved over into our column that I think you. You can expect to see Raga playing there. I mean, Arizona, for sure. We'd love to get Arizona back. We. We lost General Brnovich a couple years ago, and that one's flipped over. We got. We got a couple of decent candidates down there that we're hoping we can get. One of them.

[John Ashbrook]

Great.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Kansas. Kris Kobach in Kansas. These are. These are former chair of Raga last year. I mean, Chris. Chris has got a fight.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Georgia. Georgia's always. Georgia's a tough one for us. Always. I mean, whether it's in the governor's race or the AG's race, that. That's one that we gotta. We gotta keep on our side of the ledger. So there's a handful, but I mean, the one. The wild card, I think the fun one, especially for you guys in your audience, is Minnesota. Oh, yeah. And we've got.

[Host/Moderator]

That'd be amazing.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

We've got a really, really good candidate up there. I think so. Yeah.

[Host/Moderator]

That's awesome. Well, from your lips to God's ears. I really hope we can get that one. That would be incredible. Thanks a lot for stopping by.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Happy to do it before. Before I duck out of here. I did come bearing gifts.

[Host/Moderator]

Oh, he brought tribute for the fellas.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Brought tribute. This is in a 1776 foundation backpack, I think. My chief of staff says, you can't have the backpack, it's his. But the stuff inside is the real nectar of the gods.

[Host/Moderator]

Look at this.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

That's the General's reserve. Oh, man. So that's from Willie's Distillery in Ennis, Montana.

[Host/Moderator]

Beautiful.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Willie's a former Special Forces guy. He hires nothing but veterans.

[Host/Moderator]

Oh, nice.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

One of our great brewmeisters in Montana. Great distillers. And I got a handful of the General's glasses for you fellas.

[Host/Moderator]

There we go.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Gotta keep you all liquored up on the show.

[Host/Moderator]

You know, I can tell you listen to the show because, you know, to bribe us with whiskey.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Bourbon. Got one for all the fellas. So check that out. Guys. Thanks for all you do. I mean you, you guys are crushing on the show.

[Host/Moderator]

Appreciate it.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Keep doing what you're doing. Keep, keep people informed.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah, well, keep us updated on what you're working on and we can have you back anytime if, hey, if people.

[John Ashbrook]

Want to learn more about what you're doing and want to, want to follow everything up to the minute, where do they go?

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

So our, our DOJ website in Montana is probably the easiest. It's dojmt.govdojmt.gov, my comms team does a great job keeping stuff up there. I mean, we're on social media obviously a lot of the other the X's, the Instagrams, those aren't huge in Montana. Facebook is probably still the best thing in Montana, but we're pretty active on all the social medias, so. Yeah. Keep track of us. Awesome there.

[Host/Moderator]

Well, thanks for stopping by.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Thanks for having me, guys. What a treat.

[John Ashbrook]

Thank you.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Appreciate it.

[John Ashbrook]

Look, he is such a good guy and what I cannot wait to do is take him up on his offer to go to Montana and have that gigantic ribeye steak at that place he was talking about and go shoot things out on that ranch.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, he makes a persuasive case.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, Montana seems like heaven. It does. Why wouldn't you want to spend all your time there?

[Josh Holmes]

I know, I know. Good guy. Another perfect example of just like an awesome state based like Republican bench, smart people, good people in it for the right reasons, doing important well and it's.

[Host/Moderator]

Important reminder to everybody who listens to this or watches this. You know, we talk a lot about D.C. but there's people out there in the states who are fighting every single day on stuff that really, really matters. Everything he was talking about with China and all this foreign influence and these radical environmental groups, like guys like him are getting to the bottom of it and like that's very valuable.

[Josh Holmes]

They are. And if you want a one to one example, look, the guy that's got the same job, Keith Ellison in Minnesota, it can go the other way. You don't pay attention to that stuff. He can go the other. Next thing you know you're like funding terror in Mogadishu. You couldn't, you wouldn't think that. Right? I mean, because they don't get all the publicity. But that is the real, real. And that's what he's talking about. He's a real bulwark in. In terms of protecting citizenry from dumbassery of the left. Love every second of that. Listen, I got one more clip. I wish I could say I. This one's from kids. Let's go. Huge let down. This was my Christmas present and I got a loss.

[Michael Duncan]

This is an Eagles fan.

[Josh Holmes]

This.

[Michael Duncan]

This kid after the game.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, probably. I'm feeling two of two things. A, I want A.J. brown packing his bags and I want him somewhere else that is not here.

[Michael Duncan]

I love you AJ but like you.

[Josh Holmes]

Can'T make those drops in that game. And I also want Kevin Patulo flipping.

[Michael Duncan]

Burgers at like the local McDonald's.

[Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen]

Why do you say that?

[Josh Holmes]

Whenever he's an offensive coordinator, it's like he's flipping burgers. One side he's cooking. One half he's cooking and the other half is completely raw.

[Michael Duncan]

And he got his wish. The kid got his wish. They got ripped.

[Host/Moderator]

He's a poet.

[Josh Holmes]

The kid is remarkably well spoken for a Philadelphia Eagles.

[Michael Duncan]

You think a 45 year old man in an 8 year old's body. It's incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally. He's punching the time card when he gets done with this situation. I want you to know I did put my JJ McCarthy jersey out for my kids that I got them for Christmas. I'm fighting an uphill battle. Has been well documented in the Ruthless Friday program. But after the Eagles loss, I just reminded them there's another way you can.

[Host/Moderator]

Come to the dark side. There's another way you can have more misery.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, you just tasted what a loss is like. How about it? Non stop.

[Host/Moderator]

You're like the clown and it in the sewer. Like, come on down here.

[Josh Holmes]

At least expectations are appropriate, you know? I don't know. That's all I got. Listen fellas. Hell of a show. Loved every second of it like and subscribe to the Ruthless Friday program. We read all of your comments to the question of the day. Today's question was what is the most absurd historical comparison that a journo has made about our current situation? You got a lot to choose from. Like and subscribe. And with that, I think we did it.

[Michael Duncan]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much, Montana AG Ozan Knudsen. And thank you to the list listeners. Remember, if you have not yet, go to the YouTube hit that subscribe because it's more fun in video. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you on Friday. Stay ruthless.