How the Left Took the Democrat Party Hostage

Summary

Ruthless Podcast: How the Left Took the Democrat Party Hostage

Date: October 17, 2025
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook
Main Guest: Rodney Scott (Former Director of Customs and Border Protection)

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Episode Overview

This episode of the Ruthless Podcast dives into the internal dynamics of the Democratic Party, focusing on how the party’s progressive wing—epitomized by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and Bernie Sanders—has steered the party’s agenda and messaging. The hosts analyze recent interviews, highlight policy contradictions, and critique Democrats’ media tactics, especially during a government shutdown. The show also features a detailed interview with Rodney Scott, offering an insider’s look into U.S. border security, contrasting the Trump and Biden administrations’ approaches, and exposing realities about smuggling and cartels.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. AOC as the New Democratic Power Center

• The hosts discuss AOC’s rising influence and speculate about her political future, including potential runs for president or a Senate primary against Chuck Schumer.
• Michael Duncan (00:00): “AOC has taken on a new role in the Dem party. She's now the leader. She is the heir apparent to the Dem nomination for president.”

2. Progressive Base and Party Dysfunction

• The “insane, deranged progressive base” dominates, rendering party elders and establishment figures ineffective.
• Smug (01:11): “Their talent is essentially just like brain dead tiktokers...the old loonies in the party just...let it happen. Because no one can get these people under control. Schumer can't get her under control. What's crazy Bernie gonna do?”

3. Media Performances and Policy Hypocrisy

• The crew dissects CNN town hall clips with AOC and Bernie Sanders, focusing on AOC dodging direct questions about healthcare for undocumented immigrants.
• AOC’s Evading (05:27): “I believe in a single payer health care system...if you go in and you need a doctor, you can get the medical attention that you need.”
• Commentary (05:47):
  • Smug: “She's just trying so hard...leadership told her we can't say the whole we want to give health care to illegals thing. But I kind of want to say it.”
  • Josh Holmes: “She just, like, previewed that with drinkable air.” (09:22)
• Hosts note that the progressive base presses AOC not to compromise, which pushes her into awkward hedges and evasions.

4. Polling and Shifting Rhetoric

• Discussion of Democrats’ recent attempts to moderate positions in response to poor polling and electoral losses tied to issues like healthcare for undocumented immigrants.
• John Ashbrook (07:15): “What does it tell you about how conservatives are winning on this issue? ...In the 2020 Democratic primary, they all raise their hands...now you have the young progressive future leader...can’t answer.”
• Smug (07:53): “They have been clearly getting hammered. They see the polling, and if they didn’t see the polling, they saw election night. They got destroyed.”

5. Media Echo Chambers and CNN’s “Reality Check”

• Hosts enjoy CNN polling analyst Harry Enten’s on-air honesty about Democrats’ weak position on key issues:
  • Harry Enten (20:56): “At this particular point, the Democrats are the New Orleans Saints of political parties...Republicans are running with the ball on the top issues: economy, immigration, and crime.”
• They mock CNN staff’s discomfort when forced to acknowledge non-progressive narratives.
• Smug (23:23): “There’s an understanding for CNN and MSNBC that we’re here to be like a safe space for Democrats and libs to lose their mind and be like, it's okay, you're crazy...When they have this, like, moment of clarity...they’ll change the channel.”

6. Intra-Party Power Struggles: AOC vs Schumer

• The crew speculates openly about an internal Democratic party battle and the significance of AOC’s platform as signaling her intention to challenge Schumer, leveraging her activist support and the fear it provokes in party leadership.
• Josh Holmes (11:14): “She is actually the power center of the Democratic Party, and...Chuck Schumer wouldn’t be doing...what he’s doing if it wasn’t for the presence of this woman and her connection with the Democratic base that they fear, just fear, because they’re violent, for one.”

7. Fetterman as a Wild Card & Party Enforcer Culture

• John Fetterman’s frankness about Democratic responsibility for the government shutdown results in talk of his potential ouster—a reflection, the hosts argue, of the party’s intolerance for open dissent.
• Fetterman Clip (25:04) & Discussion:
  • Smug (28:49): “The instant reaction from Democrats was, it’s time to get rid of him...Creating a system where there becomes, like, an incentive to lie and go along with the bullshit. That’s what the Democrats [do].”
  • Josh Holmes (29:36): “It’s also like an intellectual honesty that has become the coin of the realm within politics in and of itself...Fetterman looks at an intellectually dishonest argument...and he’s like, no, they shut the government down. Everyone knows this.”

8. Democratic Messaging: The Party of Projection

• Listener comments reinforce the hosts’ perspective that the Democratic Party relies on projection rather than progression, using psychological coping mechanisms and media spin to distract or mislead.
• Listener "Minanking" (39:03): “The Democrat party, as their arguments show, are not the party for progression, but the party of projection.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Drinkable air.” (03:04 & throughout)—The hosts mock an AOC clip where "air that's drinkable" is referenced, using it as a running joke to highlight what they see as progressive inanity.
• “Say pardon.” (05:41, 07:53)—AOC's tactic of feigned confusion ("pardon?") when asked a tough question becomes a bit for the hosts.
• “If only they could trick people, everybody would want to be communist just like them.”
  —Michael Duncan (29:04), lampooning the notion that leftwing ideas fail because of communication rather than content.
• “Not the party for progression, but the party of projection.”
  —Listener Comment (39:03), endorsed enthusiastically by Smug.

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Main Guest: Rodney Scott Interview

[47:00 – 71:02]

Scott’s Background

• Grew up in Nogales, Arizona, saw the border up close, joined Border Patrol in 1992 when it was focused mainly on narcotics.
• 9/11 fundamentally changed U.S. border strategy, uniting the issues of drugs, migrant flows, and terrorism.

Border Security Under Biden vs Trump

• Biden Era:

  • Record numbers of migrants from 180+ countries, often inadequately vetted, released due to lack of consequences.
  • Scott (53:09): “The Biden administration very intentionally created a system to basically catch and release...”
  • Agents felt morale collapse, became demoralized by being turned into facilitators, not enforcers.

• Trump Era/Current:

  • Restored consequences—deportable upon court order, border became much more controllable.
  • Change in administration led to rapid improvement ("sparkle in their eye" has returned to agents).
  • Scott (70:13): “I had probably one of the easiest jobs in government. All we had to do is say go.”

Cartels, Human Smuggling, and Drug Flows

• The same cartels control both drug and human smuggling; they use migrant flows to overwhelm enforcement (“renewable resource”) so high-value “second wave” crossers—terrorists, criminals—can enter undetected.
• Cartels stronger than ever, using military drones and violence against Mexican authorities.

Media & Policy Disconnect

• Scott criticizes the media for finding "experts" to fit a narrative, ignoring career field expertise.
• He details the operational realities: the impossibility of separating narcotics, illegal immigration, and security threats at the border.

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Additional Segments

J.B. Pritzker’s Gambling Winnings

(40:00–46:40)

• Pritzker reported $1.4 million in gambling income on his taxes—revealed to be from Las Vegas blackjack.
• Hosts mock hypocrisy: “He’s out there making a million and a half at the casino...people in Illinois, nah, you can’t bet five bucks on a Ruthless parlay.”
  —Smug (42:39)
• Discussion on the logistics and optics of a sitting governor betting huge sums at a casino.

Listener Commentary & Question of the Day

(37:01–39:36)

• Comments focus on Democratic messaging tactics, performative outrage, and “projection.”
• Question of the Day: What will happen to Fetterman? (36:11)

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STRUCTURED LIST OF IMPORTANT TIMESTAMPS

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |--------------|-------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | AOC’s new role: Dem leader, heir apparent | | 01:12 | Media clips of Democrats (AOC, Bernie, government crisis) | | 05:27 | AOC dodges direct questions on healthcare for immigrants | | 07:15 | Democratic backtracking and polling consequences | | 09:09 | Politicians hedging: AOC’s “pardon” evasion | | 11:14 | Fear of AOC among Dem leadership, squad’s influence | | 13:32 | Dems avoid confronting tough questions, speculate on Schumer primary | | 18:02 | Bernie and Schumer media performance critique | | 20:56 | CNN’s Harry Enten – reality check on Dem polling | | 25:04 | Fetterman speaks frankly, angers Dem leadership | | 29:36 | Fetterman’s honesty vs party orthodoxy | | 33:05 | Speculation: Fetterman Primary, Dem Party’s intolerance of dissent | | 39:03 | Listener comment: party of projection | | 40:00 | Pritzker $1.4M gambling story | | 47:00 | Rodney Scott interview begins | | 53:09 | Biden’s border policy: “catch and release” | | 61:53 | Cartels run both immigration, narco-trafficking | | 66:43 | How quick change occurred under new admin | | 70:37 | Rodney Scott signs off; praise for front-line agents |

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Conclusion

This episode provides a “ruthless” (pun intended) conservative analysis of current Democratic Party dynamics, highlighting infighting, strategic backtracking, and the party’s navigation between a progressive base and electoral realities. The hosts make heavy use of media clips for satirical effect, using repeated bits like "drinkable air" and "pardon." They emphasize the disconnect between leftist political theater and operational realities, especially regarding border security and the media. The in-depth interview with Rodney Scott grounds the episode in expert insight, exposing real-world consequences of shifting immigration policies and offering rare clarity on border operations and cartel activities.

Memorable sign-off:
“Keep the faith, hold the line, and own the libs. We'll see you Tuesday. Stay ruthless.” (72:08)

Transcript

[Michael Duncan]

You know, AOC has taken on a new role in the Dem party. She's now the leader. She is the heir apparent to the Dem nomination for president. She might run against Chuck Schumer for Senate. She has some kind of future in mind. And so naturally, when you have that sort of road laid out in front of you, you bring on consultants.

[Smug]

They have this insane, deranged progressive base.

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[Josh Holmes]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Smug]

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

[Michael Duncan]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Fun Time Friday. Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety Program. I'm Josh Holmes, along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook. Left, right across cross your radio dial as always, fellas. You know, it's an embarrassment of riches at some level for what we do for a living in that we've had a number of Fun Time Fridays in a row where we're just playing clips basically of Democrats beclowning themselves. And there's something about a government shutdown, I guess, that does that kind of thing where they have just some special sauce.

[Michael Duncan]

That's exactly right, Josh. They are the gift that Kesan giving. But I'm glad you mentioned the shutdown because the government is shut down. But the Ruthless Variety program continues to roll along.

[Josh Holmes]

That is exactly right. We roll along and the work continues. I don't know if you guys caught this. No real reason to tune in to this particular program on cnn, I guess. I mean, a couple hundred thousand nationwide probably tune into it. But they had AOC and Bernie on this bad boy. They were, you know, just sort of encapsulating what it is, the heartbeat of the Democratic Party.

[Smug]

Incredibly old, stupid and left wing as all hell, right?

[Rodney Scott]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Then the aoc, like kind of doing her thing. And there's just some things that we need to get to because it tells you these are the people who are driving the Democratic Party. And how is it based on Thursday's show that you can try to connect a whole bunch of incongruent thoughts to try to formulate an argument that makes no sense logically? Well, I think this provides a Little bit of insight into all of that. We're gonna start with aoc, Everybody's favorite.

[Michael Duncan]

Very good place to start.

[CNN Interviewer]

Instead of talking about having air that's drinkable.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, okay, all right. No, that's good. We eat air that's drinkable. Fellas, that's. That's part of the deal.

[Smug]

I mean, right off the bat, like, this is the thing is they're in such a bad place. Not just because their talent is essentially just like brain dead tiktokers. That's basically the Democrats. Whether it's Jasmine Crockett, whether it's AOC and then the old loonies in the party just standing there and watching and letting it happen. Because no one can get these people under control. Schumer can't get her under control. What's crazy Bernie gonna do?

[Michael Duncan]

Smug. Is she brain dead or is she just getting to the bottom of high humidity?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that's it.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, she's not brain dead. She's a learned scientist, just an expert in condensation.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that's exactly right. Drinkable air.

[Rodney Scott]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Which. Maybe it's the next gen type thing. Well, I mean, look, we've heard an awful lot about how when Democrats said, no, no, no, we're not shutting down the government just because we're idiots. We're doing it because we want health care. And Republicans were like, yeah, with the proposal that you sent us, it has. Remember, JD did the thing. He's like, it's for illegal immigrants. Which we ran an election on that, and people had a pretty definitive opinion about what we wanted. And they were like, no. Lies, lies. We don't. Nobody in the Democratic. That was said multiple times. Nobody in the Democratic Party is talking about health care for illegals. Clip 2 Please, can I ask you.

[CNN Interviewer]

On this to follow up, because you said that it is federal law that people, undocumented immigrants can't get Medicare, Medicaid, the Obamacare subsidies. Do you believe that should be the law, though, or do you think undocumented immigrants should have access to federally supported health care? I believe personally that health care is a human right. I believe that every person should be able to go to the doctor. But I believe that right now, federal law is the federal law. And that. And that absolutely, you know, that. That US citizens and people who pay into our programs deserve to be covered by these programs. And I mean, once again, I do believe that the federal laws that we have on the books are appropriate. But if the right ones do, do you believe that that should be changed? Pardon? If you could Choose. Do you believe that the federal law should be changed? I don't. I believe in a single payer health care system where if you go in and you need a doctor, you can get the medical attention that you need.

[John Ashbrook]

So yes. So yes.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay.

[Smug]

That was awesome to see.

[Josh Holmes]

I love pardon.

[John Ashbrook]

I love pardon. I love pardon. Like she somehow didn't understand the question.

[Smug]

You know, like they're on a stage.

[Josh Holmes]

With high fidelity microphones.

[John Ashbrook]

Right?

[Josh Holmes]

I'm sorry, what?

[John Ashbrook]

Excuse me? Pardon?

[Unknown Politician]

What?

[John Ashbrook]

You mean the thing I artfully dodged the first time?

[Smug]

Like, she's just trying so hard to be like, uh, but, but, you know, I've been told by leadership, we can't say the whole we want to give health care to legals thing. But I kind of want to say it.

[Josh Holmes]

I believe it's for everybody. But I also think that there are laws on the books and that's appropriate. And they're like, so do you believe it? She's like, pardon, what?

[Michael Duncan]

You know, AOC has taken on a new role in the Dem party. She's now the leader. She is the heir apparent to the Dem nomination for president. She might run against Chuck Schumer for Senate. She has some kind of future in mind. And so naturally, when you have that sort of road laid out in front of you, you bring on consultants. And when you bring on Democrat consultants, they pull back to history and they give you advice on how to answer a question. And in this case, I would suspect, I don't know for sure, but I would suspect that a consultant looked at her and said, you know what, Think about this issue like abortion, okay? You should just say that I personally have personal views on this. However, there are laws on the books that disagree with my personal views. This is how Democrats handled the abortion question for years and years and years. And so I wonder if she has brought an older consultant into her fold who gave her a shriek.

[Smug]

And then if that got out, that would 100% be like, well, it's clear, here comes a primary against Schumer.

[John Ashbrook]

But what does it tell you about how conservatives are winning on this issue? That in the 2020 Democratic primary, they all raise their hands. They criminalize border crossings, right? Free health care for illegal immigrants when they cross the border. And now you have the young progressive future leader of the Democratic Party. The left wing leader of the Democratic Party can't answer.

[Rodney Scott]

Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

No, you're entirely right. I think that's the most eye opening component about that. But I also wonder if those aged and learned consultants that she's brought on, I Consulted her into. And if they follow up on that, just go, what?

[Smug]

Say pardon, Dude, I think that's the best. That didn't even occur to me. Just what Duncan said, I think is the whole. That's a huge story right there, is that they have been clearly getting hammered. They see the polling, and if they didn't see the polling, they saw election night. They got destroyed on this. Americans coast to coast spoke loudly and they said that, we're done with this. We don't want this. And when you saw that video again and again of every Democrat in the primary raising their hand, being like, yes, we would give health care, we'd give free college, we'd give everything to illegals. Clearly a lesson has been learned. But I think, you know, seeing the way she's trying to hedge and he. And ha. She doesn't know what side she's on on the issue is because they have this insane, deranged progressive base, which is like, no compromise on.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, she's about to catch it.

[Rodney Scott]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

You know what I mean? You start venturing in that category and you start giving that.

[Smug]

I mean, she could do an appearance and then she'll end up with someone in the audience shouting, you're a right wing war criminal.

[Rodney Scott]

AC.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, I never would have thought I would hear AOC this like rebel progressives, you know, Democratic socialists, mind you, talk about how. Well, you know, I may disagree, but I like to follow the law in the books.

[Smug]

That is wild.

[John Ashbrook]

That is a wild pivot.

[Michael Duncan]

I think it's the surest sign she's running for president. She is trying to. Or against Chuck or against Schumer. She's doing something.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay. She. This is why she's, like, walking away from.

[Josh Holmes]

Although let's not get out over her skis to make it sound like she's all strategery. I mean, she just, like, previewed that with drinkable air.

[John Ashbrook]

Pardon.

[Josh Holmes]

You know what I mean? It's not like we're dealing with Mike Mansfield over here. This is fair.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, that's true.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, this is like she's just kind of feeling it out as she goes. But I do agree. I mean, she's sitting next to Bernie Sanders. They all agree that illegals ought to have health care. And the fact that she had to do the pardon thing, it does tell you a little something about the state of play. There's a lot more. A lot more where this came from from Bernie and AOC and their plans to sort of expand power in the Democratic Party. Wait till you see the juxtaposition of a whole bunch of things we're about to lay out right after this.

[Smug]

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[Rodney Scott]

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[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so continuing on in this journey that Ocasio Cortez took us on on cnn, I mean, the reason that we're belaboring this, honestly is what you alluded to Ashbrook in the previous segment, which is she is actually the power center of the Democratic Party, and there's a whole bunch of folks under the dome that are like, no, we cover leadership and this is Democratic. But like Chuck Schumer wouldn't be doing, our government wouldn't be shut down if it wasn't for the presence of this woman and her connection with the Democratic base that they fear, just fear, because they're violent, for one. They're committed. They show up and vote, and they're now behind her. So everything that is that she says, they take note of. And so cnn, to their credit, tried to put a little bit of a finer point on this with Chuck Schumer.

[CNN Interviewer]

In clip three of his leadership. But are you saying that Senator Schumer should not be worried about a primary challenge from you?

[Michael Duncan]

I mean.

[Rodney Scott]

All right, no, let me jump in on this one.

[Josh Holmes]

This is what we're talking about. That's exactly what we're talking about falling apart.

[Harry Entnon]

We are.

[Rodney Scott]

A House housing crisis, a health care.

[Harry Entnon]

Crisis, an education crisis, massive income and.

[Rodney Scott]

Wealth inequality, a corrupt campaign finance system.

[Harry Entnon]

And the media says nobody cares.

[Josh Holmes]

So one more.

[Smug]

It's so amazing because not only are they both immediately super nervous and start going crazy talking over each Other. And also she doesn't like, give up the mic to Bernie. She's like, I'm the captain of this ship now. I'm the king of the coast.

[Rodney Scott]

Let me take this.

[Josh Holmes]

She's like, ah, no, no, no, no.

[Smug]

And then they try to do this, like song and dance. He's instantly like, let's go back to talking points. What's everything that the Democrats have broken in the past 20 years I can say is a crisis. There's an education crisis of Biden handing out taxpayer money for student loan forgiveness. There's a health care cost crisis. Thank you, Obamacare. Like, all the problems that they keep being like, there's a crisis. It's all because they broke it. And then even further for her to be like, no one cares. What's. At any point did you hear her say, I absolutely am not going to primary Chuck Schumer? My focus is on the job?

[Josh Holmes]

That of course not. And also, great point. No one would have either of them on CNN if they didn't capture the center of today's Democratic Party and the political ambitions of aoc. That's the news.

[John Ashbrook]

That's the thing. And that's the most offensive, offensive thing of the entire thing is playing coy about that fact. Like, if you're having a town hall with Bernie Sanders, like an octogenarian with no power, leadership. Right. And a rank and file for, for all energy she brings to the grassroots, a rank and file member of the House of Representatives. We heard that from Nancy Pelosi. The like, what is a tenured professor of the, of the majority. Like, she's not negotiating anything. Like, put her in her place. The only reason you're on that stage is the political implications of you challenging Chuck Schumer like that. Let's just say it for what it is. Like, CNN doesn't have you in this town hall at this moment when you're not in leadership unless you represent something politically for the party that changes things.

[Josh Holmes]

Entirely unrelated to the situation at hand.

[Rodney Scott]

Right?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, Absolutely. Nothing to do with the government shutdown the House of Representatives over the objections of AOC and all of her squad comrades passed the thing and sent it over to the Senate. Like, presumably Bernie has something to say about that, but you all know where he comes down.

[John Ashbrook]

One more thing, though. Doesn't it also, like, reveal the toothlessness of the progressive movement in the Democratic Party that you get on that stage and you're not going to have a conversation about the political implications of you saying all these crises are happening? Bernie Sanders. Well, what the hell are you going to do about it? What are you doing to go shout at clouds for another 40 fucking years and do nothing?

[Josh Holmes]

Right.

[John Ashbrook]

You know what I'm saying?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Like, politics is about power at a very basic level. So if you're not willing to engage in that part of the process, then what the hell are you even on stage for?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, and that's the thing that. The trick that Bernie Sanders is pulling.

[John Ashbrook]

Exactly, dude, exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

Which is I'm going to go capture the hearts and minds of a Democratic base, but then I'm gonna pretend to play nicely in the sandbox with people, provided that they execute my agenda. Right. Which is what he's done. Except now they've taken it to a different level because you've got aoc, Right. Somebody who has captured, generationally, a more appropriate electoral base, shall we say, for what it is that they're trying to accomplish. But even in that, they can't say, like, yeah, if this doesn't go right, if we don't get what we're going to get, maybe she will run against Chuck Schumer, maybe she will run for, like, it's just missing something to that. They're just like, kind of.

[Smug]

I mean, the thing is, I'm so shocked that they were in that level of disarray. This is theoretically the ideological beating heart of the Democrat Party.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

And they have no idea, no idea what they're doing. They've tried this strategy with the shutdown of trying to blame it be like, oh, you know, why won't Speaker Johnson. Dude, the House already passed it. And every American at this point knows it's all about the Senate. So that hasn't worked. What I think would work to reopen the government is to let these idiots keep this up. Because at some point the Democrats will be like, shit, do this. Idle hands are the tool of the devil. This is not looking good for the Dems. Like, if it gets out, the whole story is now becoming.

[Josh Holmes]

Not.

[Smug]

Not that the government shut down is. Everyone's talking about, when's AOC gonna announce against Schumer? That's not helpful.

[Josh Holmes]

Which we all know is the reason for all of this in the first place.

[Smug]

Bingo.

[Josh Holmes]

Right. But I do think it's interesting when you deconstruct what all of us had to say about this, about how Bernie in large part captured the left, in part because of this ideological. Calls himself a socialist. An ideological alignment with this kind of fringe element that happens to be the Democratic base today, and he made it the Democratic base. But in order to get to where they need to go. They need to co opt a part of the Democratic establishment in some way, and that means by co opting some of the Democratic argument. I'm interested to see how this goes because in clip four, he's trying to. To do the Chuck Schumer routine doesn't go that hot. Clip 4. How do you think this shutdown reflects on Chuck Schumer's leadership?

[Rodney Scott]

Well, I think it reflects more on Mike Johnson's leadership and president.

[John Ashbrook]

What does he have to do with Trump's leadership?

[Michael Duncan]

Pass the bill.

[Rodney Scott]

This is a leadership which said it's okay to give a trip. Well, how do you feel? You tell me. Think it's a good idea to give a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the richest people in the country and then make massive cuts to health care for working class people?

[Josh Holmes]

I think Chuck Schumer has voted for continuing resolutions 13 times in the last four years. And he has the opportunity to vote for one again, but he's refusing to come to the table.

[Michael Duncan]

Talk about a backfire. That guy came with receipts.

[Smug]

Why would you.

[Michael Duncan]

This is Bernie's like, no, this audience was supposed to be vetted. Cnn, what are you doing to me?

[Smug]

Like, offering, if you're at a town hall, you're an elected official offering an open mic to someone to be like, so what do you think is an.

[John Ashbrook]

Insanely risky move, especially when the first question asked is adversarial. The idea that you would then open it back up for that, you know what? You go have another shot at me.

[Smug]

Reframe.

[John Ashbrook]

This is like Politics 101.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

You know, but it's CNN.

[Josh Holmes]

So they expect that somebody's gonna be like, well, I think he's great and I think you guys are great. Republicans suck. And that was basically what he was expecting. Which gives you a little window and a little insight into how Democrats, whether they're socialist or establishment of Chuck Schumer, view the media. Like, this is all just kind of like an open mic night, right, where we can all share our collective.

[Smug]

I mean, that's the thing. That's a great point, because I feel like they thought it was. There's an understood deal in place. They're like, we show up to cnn, we do a town hall. This is supposed to be essentially just like a press conference and an event for the Democrats. You know what I mean? Like, this is supposed to be a rally that you agree to televise in prime time to your five viewers.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, they probably walked off stage afterwards. And Bernie's like, caitlin, I know you worked at Daily Caller. I guess it didn't fall.

[Josh Holmes]

He's like one of those 1980s Toro mowers that don't ever kind of turn over.

[John Ashbrook]

Spark plug never work to mess with the choke a lot. Hit that primer, Hit the primer, hit the bulb.

[Josh Holmes]

It's so bad. But look, it's not working for them because I understand that they want to go find a friendly audience for a bullshit argument. I get it. When you got no argument, you gotta find somebody who buys it. They ran into one. Even in the friendliest confines, that wasn't gonna work. So CNF follows up. This guy. This guy, Harry Entnon is someone who, you know, he analyzes polling. He's a numbers guy, but he's, like, doing the thing. I'll be interested to see how long he lasts at cnn, because, like, at least once a month we play some clip of his where he's like, hey, earth to fucking dumb asses who are watching this shit all day. Like, it's not actually working. Clip 5.

[Smug]

What do you think?

[Harry Entnon]

Yeah. What are we seeing? You know, Donald Trump being underwater. Democrats and all. This guarantees us we're going to fly high in the midterms. Let me tell you. This guarantees you nothing. Nothing. Because at this particular point, the Democrats are the New Orleans Saints of political parties.

[Josh Holmes]

What are we talking about?

[Harry Entnon]

More on the economy. Who leads on the economy? Republicans by 7. Immigration, Republicans by 13. How about crime? A big issue for Donald Trump and the Republicans. Look at that. Lead by 22 points. So the bottom line is this. At this particular point, the ball may be on the ground, but the Democrats have not picked up the ball and running with it. If anything, at this particular point, it's the Republicans who are running with the ball on the top issues. The economy, immigration and crime.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude. The producer sitting behind, like, oh, yeah, God, we loaded those slates.

[John Ashbrook]

What the hell are we doing? He serves a useful purpose for cnn. He's sort of like CNN sodium pentothal. Oh, my God, you.

[Josh Holmes]

Lie detector.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. I also liked his, like, little Heisman pose he did there.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. You know, showmanship.

[John Ashbrook]

I respect it.

[Smug]

Also, like, whenever they have Harry Anton do one of these things, like a. A reality check. I love seeing the anchor.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah.

[Smug]

Who's doing CNN at that. Because when they have the camera on both of them, after he drops that, the anchor's usually pissed off. They're like, wait a minute, this is cnn. You're not allowed to say this.

[Josh Holmes]

They're frantically trying to figure out how it is they recover the segment in a way that, like, not every single one of the 200,000 people turned the channel.

[Smug]

That's the thing is, like, that's a sad thing about a lot of establishment media and why they've lost so many viewers is they're chasing it. Exactly. There's an understanding for CNN and MSNBC that we're here to be like, a safe space for Democrats and libs to lose their mind and be like, it's okay, you're crazy, but that's okay. We're crazy with you. And when they have this, like, moment of clarity, they're like, what? They don't like that they'll change the channel?

[John Ashbrook]

Realistically, they can't change the channel because it's only on in airports.

[Josh Holmes]

It's how they get all 200,000 now. It's true. But it got us. It's a broader component of this that got us to thinking, because you're right. In that the media ecosystem and what AOC and what Bernie expected to get and didn't totally receive in that town hall, it's just an echo chamber for insanity. And we covered on Thursday just how insane it's gotten. Right. They. They did it. We didn't do it. They're like, well, you vote. You're the ones that are voting to do it. Yeah, but that, that's because they didn't seat somebody. Like, well, the House already passed it, so the House has nothing to. To do with it. Like, okay, well, it's about healthcare. And it's like, well, but you wrote the health care. And they're like, it's Jeffrey Epstein.

[Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

And like, that's literally a step by step logic into why your government is closed. Like, we're not being hyperbolic. No, that's what it is.

[John Ashbrook]

That's what they told us.

[Michael Duncan]

Right. If you're wondering how does this happen, what you just said hit the nail on that.

[Josh Holmes]

And like, they're expecting even cnn. Like, even the most like, progressive, dogmatic, partisan amongst us is like. Like, step two, three, four, and five didn't totally land for me. And so they ask a serious question about it, and it's. They're incredulous that they have to deal with it. So a guy like John Fetterman, who has a 96% record of voting with Democrats against President Trump, it's about as partisan as it gets when it comes to the United States Senate. But he is fine to say, like, hey, Hamas is terrorists. Right? Like, they're terrorists.

[Rodney Scott]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And like, I don't know, a huge part of Our economy is energy. And they hate that. They hate him. And so when you see what he has to say, you're like, wow, that's super refreshing. We don't see that anywhere else. Clip six, please.

[Unknown Politician]

That's why, that's why shutting the government is. Is really what the Democratic Party wants to do. And I follow country, then party, and it's the wrong thing for the country. In a period of chaos, I refuse to vote to shut our government down. I absolutely would love to have. I would love to have a conversation about extending the tax cut credits for health care. Absolutely. But I would remind everybody, too, this was designed by the Democratic Party to expire at the end of the year. This is not something taken from. By, for, by. By the Republicans.

[Michael Duncan]

That's.

[Unknown Politician]

They were designed to expire. Now let's have a conversation to extend it and not shut our government down.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, I mean, truth.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, he could be the fifth seat on the ruthless version.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, dude, this is what our whole show was about the last two weeks. Basically. He just explained it. Democrats want to shut this thing down. To the extent that they say it's about health care. Well, they kind of designed the thing and they designed it to expire. And so, like, yeah, we should have that conversation. I'm concerned about it as a Democrat, but like, open up the government. How do you think Democrats reacted to that? The very. This was like 8 o'.

[Michael Duncan]

Clock.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm sure they, you know, they were normal about it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah. Eight o' clock on Wednesday. Do we have a graphic of this bad boy the very next morning? Okay, first thing out of the box, Axios scoop. Big scoop.

[John Ashbrook]

Nice.

[Josh Holmes]

Dems plot Fetterman ouster.

[Rodney Scott]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Of course you're not allowed to say the truth if you're a Democrat. You're supposed to say what we want you to say.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, dude, that's it. So top Democrats in Pennsylvania are maneuvering to run against John fetterman in a 2028 primary contest threatening to tear apart the party in the biggest battleground state in the nation. That's according to Axios. Okay, so look, 96% we're used to. In the Republican Party, you know, there's like, let's take Thomas Massie, who's probably the most sort of embattled Republican when it comes to party line and primary challenges and all those kinds of things. I'd be shocked if it was more than 60% of the time that he voted with Republicans. Like, he never votes with him on foreign policy, never votes for him on any sort of spending a tax bill. Never votes for him with, like. I mean, there's a broad range of things, and it's ideological. And he explains himself. I mean, he's being intellectually honest about it, but that's where he is. And it's not as though 96% of the time he's with the party that this guy's with them 96% of the time, but he has the audacity to say true things. And that, my friends, is the real threat to today's Democratic Party.

[Smug]

So I'm honestly really torn on this one being completely genuine because. And I almost, like, had a wince when I was watching that video of Fetterman telling the truth as it is. This is on the Dems. It's them that did it. Because on one hand, yes, he votes with Democrats 96% of the time, and I would much rather have a Republican senator in that seat. I mean, look how great we have McCormick there in Pennsylvania. Let's get them both. But at the same time, the fact that the instant reaction from Democrats was, it's time to get rid of him. He's got to go. Creating a system where there becomes, like, an incentive to lie and go along with the bullshit. That's what the Democrats.

[Josh Holmes]

That's what it is.

[Michael Duncan]

You're exactly right. And there are a lot of things wrong with the Democrat Party, but one of them is that they have this belief that if only they could trick people, everybody would want to be communist just like them.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

If all they have to do is have the right communication strategy, all they have to do is have all the delivery mechanisms controlled underneath their party infrastructure structure. And then they trick people, and people are like, you know what? We want to be communist, just like you. It's bullshit. Nobody actually wants that. But they actually believe they can trick people. If all of them say the same.

[John Ashbrook]

Thing, what does it tell you about the value of their ideas? That the best communicator of them is the guy who had a stroke.

[Michael Duncan]

True.

[Josh Holmes]

He literally couldn't speak two years ago.

[John Ashbrook]

You know, like, he's the best communicator they have.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. But it's also like an intellectual honesty that has become the coin of the realm within politics in and of itself. You can agree or disagree. It's what Bernie used to have on the left, frankly, up until in recent weeks. Really? Which is like, yeah, I'm a socialist. This is what I want. And people are like, oh, well, at least he's being honest about it. It's what Trump has. It's the rise to power of Trump, Trumpism, and everything that America first has encompassed is. He'll tell you exactly what it is that he's thinking. Fetterman looks at an intellectually dishonest argument that we've covered over the last three days, and he's like, no, they did. They shut the government down. Everyone knows this. This is not a discussion point. This is not a process argument. It's not a he said, she said deal. There are a unanimous amount of Republicans who voted to keep it open and a unanimous amount of Democrats that voted to keep it closed. This is not a discussion about who did it. This is a discussion about why. And then he goes into why. He's like, if we're being honest about that, we designed the goddamn thing, you know, and they were never on board with that. So the idea that in an all Republican controlled government that they're just gonna hand that over in order for us to keep the lights on in the Capitol is crazy. But I wanna have that discussion because I think they do care about people's healthcare premiums. I'm summarizing. But that's basically what it is that Fetterman said that is a absolute heresy in the Democratic Party. That is the kind of government that like the founding Fathers envisioned about a debate with integrity and character and bringing real facts rather than just like abject lies. And then you see stuff like from Cory Booker or from. My favorite is this fricking Hakeem Jeffries where they just straight face, they're like.

[Rodney Scott]

Today Republicans shut the government down, right? Today they shut it down.

[John Ashbrook]

Or the tweets that are like, republicans control the White House, control the Senate, they control the House. This shutdown is on them. Of course the filibuster exists, but that's not our fault. You know, I mean, it's just brain dead stuff.

[Josh Holmes]

It's so intellectually dishonest, but it's also so, like, it offends my creativity.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, it's not even creative. Not even good liars.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, for years, I mean, this is what we did. You'd figure out what you did, want to do, what you didn't want to do, and you'd come up with an intellectually honest way to frame it for the American people, where people could have choices of what side they fail one way or another. But you always framed it in a way that wasn't just like flat dishonest. And that's what has become of the Democratic Party. When you look at, like the AOC stuff, the Bernie stuff, even the most intellectually honest amongst them. Run up against like a Fetterman and.

[Michael Duncan]

They can't have it, Right?

[Josh Holmes]

They can't have it.

[Michael Duncan]

It's wild.

[Josh Holmes]

It is a bit, dude. It's a wild situation. So anyway, this guy's going to get a primary, right? Congratulations, Fetterman. I mean, good lord. I misjudged that situation, by the way.

[Michael Duncan]

I did too.

[Josh Holmes]

I missed.

[Michael Duncan]

I had no, I had no idea.

[Josh Holmes]

I thought he was a left wing lunatic.

[Smug]

I mean, at the end of the day, congratulations to him. I hope a Republican gets that seat.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I mean, I don't, I do not disagree with that. And by the way, if they primary him to the left, that is what's going to happen. That is what's going to happen.

[John Ashbrook]

Or just become a Republican.

[Rodney Scott]

The water's warm.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep. Or do that. All right, well, listen, while you're having a good time here on Funtime Friday, we got to talk to you a little bit about ZBiotics. It is our favorite pre alcohol drink. And let me just tell you a little something about this. Last week we went to had some fanfare with some friends and colleagues and people were skeptical about whether or not this worked. And I think Smug brought a whole bunch of them along.

[Smug]

That's right. So here's the thing is, if you know you're gonna be going out, hanging out with a bunch of other folks, don't just have the Z biotics for yourself, bring them for your friends.

[John Ashbrook]

Because Smug was like a door to door sales guy.

[Smug]

Here's the thing, because what I love more, I mean, because here's the things, you drink zbiotics before you have a drink, before you have a fun night out. And what happens is it makes it so that in the morning you don't feel terrible. Because feeling awful is not due to being dehydrated. It's due to the toxic byproducts of alcohol getting broken down your stomach. Zebiotics handles that. So what I love to do, and this is what happened when we were at the convention last year, is we bring a bunch of these, we hand them out to folks, we're like, have a great time. Let's chat in the morning.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. And they always come back, always come.

[Smug]

Back fresh as daisies in the morning. Like, it really does work. And that's it, folks. It really does work.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it's the world's first genetically engineered probiotic, which I know is what you always get into.

[Rodney Scott]

Dunks.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, yeah, and Smug was alluding to it earlier, but everybody thinks the dehydration that Makes you feel bad after a big night. But it's that toxic, toxic byproduct in your gut that makes you not feel so great. And ZBiotics knocks that right out. I have a funny aside, and that is, you know, my. My mom and my dad were in town last week and they went to like, a sports bar to watch the Colts game last Sunday. And there was a commercial for Zbiotics or something, and there was a table next to them that was like, oh, I should get that. And my mom, being a big listener to the Ruthless variety program, was like, put Ruthless at checkout cause you'll get a discount.

[Rodney Scott]

That's awesome.

[John Ashbrook]

And the guy was like, what? He's like, trust me. Put Ruthless at checkout and you're gonna get that discount. And he's like, well, I just saved.

[Rodney Scott]

A bunch of money.

[Smug]

Thank you so much.

[Josh Holmes]

It turns out 15% off. When you go to ZBionics.com ruthless you learn a lot more. You get 15% off of your first order when you use the Ruthless name at checkout. Trust me, you're gonna want to do this. I've had so many text messages from friends saying, like, dude, I didn't really buy it, but like, I actually do think it works. It works well.

[Smug]

It does.

[Josh Holmes]

It's really good. So you gotta head to zebiotics.com ruthless and use code ruthless at checkout for 15% off. You're gonna thank me and all of us for that. Zebiotics, baby. That's a good one. All right, so it leads us. The whole Fetterman section got us thinking, what will happen to Fetterman? Like, are they really going to run this guy out?

[Smug]

I mean, that's a great question. Is he going to get Primaried? Is a Republican going to win? Is his Devil wife going to return?

[John Ashbrook]

Does he become a Republican? Who knows?

[Smug]

There's a lot I'm betting on Devil Wife's return. Dude, she's been missing. She needs attention. She's going to come. Problem.

[John Ashbrook]

How is that an ending?

[Michael Duncan]

You think she's going to primary him?

[Smug]

Maybe. The Devil Wife returns.

[Josh Holmes]

The Devil Wife.

[John Ashbrook]

Remember her?

[Smug]

Didn't she, like, escape to Canada or something? We haven't seen her. She's been missing from the plot. You know, it's true. She'll be back.

[Josh Holmes]

Since she's been missing, he's been a lot more reasonable.

[Smug]

Double wife. Not on her watch.

[Josh Holmes]

She's gotta be back. All right, so that's our question of the day and for our last question of the day that we talked about, On Tuesday. What is the Democrats worst talking point on the shutdown? There's a ton of them. We went through a whole bunch of. On Thursday. I guess it was. And to do that we always start with a voice.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay. First one comes from the dashing adventurer. And the dashing adventurer writes, I think the most fascinating thing the Dems have done in the shutdown has been to try and distract with their performative outrage over ice arresting criminals in Chicago. Plutocrat Nepo baby. Governor Pritzker.

[Josh Holmes]

Jesus.

[Michael Duncan]

Co playing as a war correspondent on Jimmy Kimmel wearing an flc likely a full king sized candy bar.

[Josh Holmes]

The dashing adventurer.

[Michael Duncan]

Well done, Governor Pritzker. The fat man.

[Josh Holmes]

I love it. All right, comment two, dunks, runs.

[John Ashbrook]

This is from Eric McManus. Eric writes, Democrats have lost their minds.

[Smug]

No, no, no, haven't.

[John Ashbrook]

Haven't lost their minds. They know exactly what they're doing. It's a narco tyranny. They know the American people don't want their communist policies, so they instead move to creating life so horrible for their constituents that they just surrender for fear of making things even worse.

[Smug]

That pretty much is what they've been doing.

[Josh Holmes]

I get why you come to that conclusion.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, if you think about Obamacare in and of itself in this discussion that we're talking about here, like, you don't have to be all that cynical to figure out that they created a system that included the private sector to get out from underneath the private, you know, the full single payer healthcare, which Americans would never have allowed them to do, but they designed a system that would fail.

[Smug]

Ultimately, they're just boiling the frog. They're trying to get you closer and closer and closer to it.

[Josh Holmes]

But that, that's what's happened, right? They destroyed the marketplace for health insurance. And then they turn around, they're like, well, you're gonna have to subsidize that. And sooner or later might be cheaper just to do it out of the irs. What do you think, folks?

[Smug]

I mean, that's it.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Right?

[Michael Duncan]

Mm.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, That's a good take. All right, smug. What do we got coming?

[Smug]

3 Comment 3 is from Minanking, maybe Minion King, but that says Minn King. The Democrat party, as their arguments show, are not the party for progression, but the party of projection. That's a dude. That's a good line. I'm gonna steal that one. Professionally and neurotically skilled at using this psychological coping mechanism to stay relevant in their own mind and psyche. I'm gonna steal that line.

[Josh Holmes]

That's pretty good.

[Smug]

They're not the party for progression. They're the party of projection. I'm using that.

[Josh Holmes]

It's true.

[Smug]

Yeah, Dead on.

[Josh Holmes]

It's projection, which we've covered. It also is just like, whatever they think will get them a little further down the road at this point. You know what I mean?

[Smug]

Lies to kick the can down the road. That's their M.O. it's just.

[Josh Holmes]

It's incredible. Great comments, as always. We're gonna get back to you next Tuesday with your comments to today's question. When we come back, the old fat man, J.B. pritzker, turns out he's made some cash at the casinos. You gotta hear about this right after this. Okay, so this fat guy from Chicago, J.B. pritzker.

[Smug]

All right, that narrowed it. The J.B. pritzker part.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. I mean, he's all over the news, and it's just disgusting. It's just, like, just a mess. And he's got nothing valuable to say on the news or in terms of government. He does have things of value, however. And what that might be is some tips, maybe some picks for gambling. Because it was revealed on his tax returns, this cat is. According to the Chicago sun times, he made $1.4 million in gambling last year.

[Michael Duncan]

Wow, that's a lot of money.

[Smug]

I mean, that's a ton of money.

[Josh Holmes]

That's a big. That's a big number for gambling. That's a really big number. So last year brought good fortune, according to Chicago Sun Time for JB Pritzker in his investment portfolio and at the casino, too, According to the 2024 Income Tax Returns released by his campaign. On Wednesday, in his joint filing with First Lady M.K. pritzker, the billionaire Democratic governor reported an adjusted gross income of $10.7 million.

[Rodney Scott]

This is good.

[Josh Holmes]

More than tripling the roughly 2.8 million that reported last year. But included in that was the latest windfall that was boosted by a $1.425 million in gambling winnings, the federal filing shows. Now, I. I looked into this a little bit. They provided zero in terms of what he was playing, other than to say it was from a Las Vegas casino.

[Smug]

So there's a lot of reasons to be mad at this guy. So many. I mean, there's so many hungry people in Chicago, and he's eating all the food among them. Maybe you'd think that's the first reason to hate them. But this guy's a fat hypocrite. Literally. Like, he's a big fat hypocrite. And I'm gonna tell you why? So everyone in Illinois, one of the things you know is Pritzker has made one of his missions pretty much impossible and as difficult as possible for anyone to place any sports bets. This guy's out there making a million and a half at the casino, living it up, and he's like, oh, well, that's just for me, you see. But people in Illinois, nah, you can't bet five bucks on a Ruthless parlay.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, right.

[Smug]

You can't try to have fun with your buddies and be like, well, of course I'm going to bet on who the Bengals are playing. You know, listen, Pritzker, $1.4 million.

[Michael Duncan]

Listen, buddy. I think both of you made very good points. Josh. First by mentioning the fact that they would not say which game he played and at which casino. Smug. You made a great point talking about how much he likes to eat. And at the Ruthless Variety Program, we like to get to the bottom of things. And so I have a theory that I think the Minions should chase down. Okay. In Las Vegas, there are all kinds of games, and I'm not sure if listeners are familiar with a movie called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory where the kids open up candy bars and they eat as many as they can in hopes to find the golden ticket. Well, I think J.B. pritzker found himself the golden ticket.

[Smug]

I was like, this is a wind up. But it ended perfectly.

[John Ashbrook]

It ended perfectly. So there was actually a follow up from a local NBC affiliate that got a statement out of the spokesperson today. So this is more breaking news here on the Ruthless Variety Program, but they're saying it's from Blackjack winnings, which makes it all. But I don't believe that makes it all the more interesting, right? Because. Way more interesting, because blackjack is a, is a, you know, a table game which at best you're doubling your bet that you're putting out there, right? It's not like you went and you put a $5 into the slot machine, you hit the jackpot and you're like, I made $1.6 million. Right? So like, you got to have at.

[Josh Holmes]

Least 300 grand in the till in order to make that kind of money, right?

[Michael Duncan]

And the old man is. Can I just tell the listeners, the old man is a very good blackjack player.

[Josh Holmes]

He is very, very good.

[Smug]

And poker.

[John Ashbrook]

So like, you know, at most in like a session of blackjack, maybe you like, could 4x5x your money.

[Josh Holmes]

Sure.

[John Ashbrook]

Right. And you're going to be sitting there probably with like a, like a 20x stack of what Your average bet is, right?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And so if you do the math there, he's betting $16,000 a hand, dude. You know, and I understand, I understand he's extremely, extremely wealthy, and so all of that means nothing to him. But you're talking about the governor of a sitting state betting more than $10,000 a hand, a blackjack. I mean, all of this is conjecture. I don't know. Exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

No, but more importantly, what he's doing is telling Donald Trump and Republicans as well as his own constituents that he knows what the poor need in the city of Chicago in terms of law enforcement, in terms of city services, much better than they do. And then he strolls over to the casino and drops 15 grand on a hand of blackjack.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, and just, I mean, like, this is reported on his taxes, right? And if, even if you're using perfect strategy and you're at a high roller table, maybe you're playing like a, like a short shoe, like a one, one deck, you know, shoe or something like that. And so maybe you can get some better strategic odds against that.

[Smug]

Well, you found like the.

[John Ashbrook]

But you're talking, you're talking at Most like a 4, like a 53, 47 advantage over the house if you're very lucky.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

You're cool as ever if you're like a card counter.

[Smug]

Right?

[Michael Duncan]

So.

[John Ashbrook]

So I guess what I'm suggesting otherwise is in order to clear $1.6 million.

[Smug]

425.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, whatever.

[Rodney Scott]

Whatever.

[John Ashbrook]

What, what you would have to wager over time because of just the law of averages for all of that in order to clear that amount of money is an insane millions and millions of dollars. And so the idea that the sitting governor of a state has the amount of time in order to like sit at a blackjack table and grind out that much of a victory would require like millions and millions of dollars to be wagered over time. Unless you just mathematically.

[Josh Holmes]

Unless he just walked up to the table and put 700K.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, that's. That's totally possible. But, but, but if that's.

[Josh Holmes]

That is that if that is the.

[John Ashbrook]

Case, that is a story in and of itself.

[Smug]

Wait, wait, here's the other thing you have to consider is like, imagine you're the pit boss at the casino. And you know how it is when you're, when you're gambling. Like, if someone is super hot, if they're on a streak, you want to be like, can I get you a sweet? Can I get it? Can I get you a ticket to the buffet? But then you're gonna lose way more. I mean, he was stuck in a rock and a hard place. This Guy's gonna eat 1.5 mil.

[John Ashbrook]

Gonna be at a lobster.

[Josh Holmes]

It's gonna take 1.4 from the table or 1.5 from the Buffett. Yeah, that's a real rock and a hard place situation. Anyway, that's the old fat man. That's J.B. pritzker. We got a great interview for you guys. Listen, I think that this thing is super important.

[Smug]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

Rodney Scott, we've talked for three long years about border protection and all this stuff. This is the guy that runs the joint. Incredible accomplishment in the first few months of the Trump administration. You're going to hear from him about all of that. Well, it's always nice on the program when you can talk about success and somebody who's been doing a job for you, the taxpayer that they said they would do and did it extraordinarily quickly. I can't think of anyone who better embodies that whole concept then the Director of Customs and Border Protection, Rodney Scott. How are you, sir?

[Rodney Scott]

Very good. Thank you for having me on today.

[Josh Holmes]

Listen, what we found out about you is that, you know, you went to high school in a border town, Nogales, Arizona, which for my friends who are listening in Arizona State, we know a little something about that. It's, well, it's not the nicest town, in the world, shall we say. But that, that at some level had to have given you a view of border protection that ultimately fueled what, 30 years that you worked on the border or in around border protection.

[Rodney Scott]

That's 100% accurate. Seeing it on a day in and day out basis, just the different dynamics. And to be honest, in high school, you're not thinking about like national security, right? You're looking at what do I want, why you went to Nogal, what do I want to do the rest of my life? And just seeing the, the what border patrol did there, how it did matter, literally trying to figure out who and what's coming into our home and taking that role. So the mission piece was important to me. But they had cool toys, they had a bunch of four buys. They were out running around the areas I hiked and hunted. And I'm like, I think I could do that job right there.

[Josh Holmes]

Because you were a Midwestern guy growing up, you were Indiana.

[Rodney Scott]

I was an Indiana farm kid. Got transplanted to Arizona when I was 16, basically. So kind of a vacuum. Just left everything I knew from rural Indiana. You gotta be pretty by the way they speak English In Indiana and got dropped in Nogales, Arizona.

[Josh Holmes]

Gotta be pretty good at making friends if you go from rural Indiana to Nogales.

[Rodney Scott]

In high school, I wasn't the least popular with some of the girls, but I was not real popular with many of their cousins, aunts, uncles.

[Josh Holmes]

So look, you get this background where you can see it up close and you know, the difference of what a secure border looks like and what it doesn't. Those are different days. Back then, I mean, we were talking, you could kind of like walk across and do whatever. But you get into this line of work, you know, relatively quickly and it interests you and you know, how you can make a difference. I assume that is sort of the catalyst to much of your career.

[Rodney Scott]

That really was. And then to put it into perspective, when I joined the border patrol in 1992, it was all about narcotics. So I'd never really been even in Nogales. I'd never really been exposed to this concept of illegal immigration. That just wasn't what we were dealing with there at the time or what you saw, at least from the public's perspective. It was all about narcotic smuggling. That was a main corridor. You know, I don't know, maybe ASU is a client. There was a lot that highway that goes straight, straight north out of Nogales. So the mission was there, but honestly. So we focus on that. You've always got the mission. But 911 changed everything, I think for the country, but really for border security specifically. That was the first time in, I think anybody really acknowledged all the threats merged together, whether it's the narcotics, whether it's the quote unquote migrants coming across, or whether it's terrorists trying to sneak into the country. It literally came down to, do we know and can we control who and what is in our home or not? And that was a whole other level of seriousness that came onto the mission. But it was still in the mountains, it was still rural, still lots of toys. So you still had the fun aspect as well.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, well, I mean, Ashbrook talks about this.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. And I do have a question, since you have been so focused on this for so long. Obviously the four years under Joe Biden were very, very frustrating to most Americans who were just watching so many people flow over the border. And they weren't strictly from South America. Guatemalan's coming up, you know, like they had in years past. All of a sudden you saw these 22 year old guys from China and from Uzbekistan and from North Africa, somehow made it into Mexico and somehow were making it across the border. And I'm guessing that the same decrease in South American flow from across our border, you've also seen a similar decrease from people who are coming from other continents and magically in Mexico coming across our border. I mean, is that. Is that true?

[Rodney Scott]

No, that is accurate. And thank you for raising that as well. Over my career, we've always caught people from every different country. You know, if you watch most mainstream media or if you watch anything about the border that has any, you know, comic aspect to it, they always only talk about Mexico. But throughout my entire career, we've caught people from around the entire world. During the Biden, Even before the Biden administration, but especially during the Biden administration, I think Border Patrol caught people from over 180 different countries. There's only like 192 we acknowledge exist around the world. Right. But the difference was those numbers kept increasing as a percentage of the whole. Because they were being released. There was no consequence. Everybody that talks about the vetting, yes, we fingerprinted them and photographed them, and then we ran them off of US Databases. There's no such thing as a global criminal database. We really had no idea who these were, who these people were. And that's probably one of the worst things about the last four years. All the agents knew that that data was bouncing off of basically an empty. Off of nothing, off of thin air. But they were hearing on the news, oh, we're vetting them before we release them. We're making sure we know who they are. It was a total lie. All the agents knew it, so it was devastating their morale, but there was nothing they could do about it. The Biden administration very intentionally created a system to basically catch and release those. And it wasn't about Mexico or South America. It was literally just about having an open border.

[Josh Holmes]

What's so amazing? There's two aspects of it. One is, like, you just made an allusion towards it with the honor system, essentially, like, border patrol will catch somebody. And then there's like, no process. They're like, yeah, you got a court date and wherever. We'll see you in three months.

[Rodney Scott]

Great.

[Josh Holmes]

Or three years, I'm sure. Like, if you're capable of crossing the border illegally, chances are you following the full judicial process is probably not super high. And I got to imagine from a. From a Border Patrol standpoint, that's demoralizing at some level.

[Rodney Scott]

It's very demoralizing. But let me make it a little worse for you. So there's always like, partial truths throughout this entire process. So you'll hear from some people, let's just use left and right on the left. That most of the aliens show up at their hearings. Well, they do at the first or second hearing because they want an employment authorization card. So they would show up and claim, hey, it's my court case isn't going to be for two or three years. I needed something, I need a job.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Rodney Scott]

So they would get that benefit and some of them would even keep going to it. But here's the catch, especially under the Biden administration and the Trump administration is fixing this when you ship. When that alien showed up for their last hearing in court and the judge said, you have no right to be here in the United States, I'm ordering you deported. They went home.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Rodney Scott]

There was no ICE allowed. ICE was forbidden from being in the courtroom. So. So no one took custody of them like a normal judiciary process.

[Josh Holmes]

So you could get a judge that looked at somebody who came here illegally and said, you need to go home, this is not going to work. And they're like, great, thanks. Grabbed their employment card, walked out the door and went like four blocks away to their own apartment or.

[Rodney Scott]

And moved quickly. So Because ICE had the last address, you know, they just moved to another apartment. But the point is there was no closure.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Rodney Scott]

So literally. And then now, just from a manpower perspective, instead of standing there in the courtroom, taking them into custody, deported them. Now ICE had to spend God only is how many thousands of hours tracking these people down, trying to figure out where they're at, grabbing them and then actually deporting them. So the border, we've done a lot, and we'll come back to this, but we've done a lot on the border to actually secure the border, but closing that loophole so that people didn't think that they didn't know with a high level of confidence that if they spent some money on a smuggler and got into the US that there would be a 90% chance they get to see day. Trump administration ended that as well. So everything we've done on the border, critically important. But having that consequence that you are going to be arrested and deported, like if you're ordered deported by a judge, we don't really care about everything else. That's a judicial process. We are going to complete it by removing you from the country. That sent a message globally, that slowed down the flow that we're dealing with, that we were dealing with as the board as well. It's a package deal.

[John Ashbrook]

What's it like now to feel empowered to Fulfill the mission of Border Patrol. When, you know, during the four years of the Biden administration, it was just demonization. And I have to imagine that impacted morale. I think back to the story of, you know, the press secretary, you know, in the White House, you know, talking about border patrol whipping people. A totally fabricated story that they made up to demonize Border Patrol just doing their jobs. Can you describe some of that experience?

[Rodney Scott]

Yeah. So the morale today is higher than it's ever been. I think they are getting, especially on the ice side, some of our guys in Chicago, Louisiana. Portland, helping out with that, what we call the operation at large mission set. They're still getting very frustrated because they're hearing these politicians still villainize them. And a lot of the media depends on where you sit. But the ability to literally just do the job they were hired to do, enforce the laws that were enacted and passed by Congress that we're supposed to do, they're excited. I just met this morning with some of the union leadership talking to them. That was a question I asked, how's the morale? How's, how are things going? And the questions were back to what I was used to when I was the chief of the Border Patrol. When do we get more vehicles? When do we get this? When do we get this? But it was a little bit of a gleam in their eye and there was hope again. I talked to a lot of those guys when I was retired, when I was on my little hiatus for, for a few years between the administrations, and there was no sparkle in their eye. They really almost completely lost hope. We hemorrhaged and we're working on this too. But our border security agencies hemorrhage so much wisdom during the last four years because agents, especially seasoned agents that had other opportunities, they just couldn't tolerate it. They couldn't. They couldn't get their head around being part of the smuggling network, finishing the process, as opposed to keeping people out of the country. So we're trying to find ways to rehire some of those guys and bring them back now and, and re. Tap into that wisdom now that they can do their job again.

[Smug]

So, I mean, I'm sure a lot of folks who are listening have seen movies like Traffic, Sicario, and it seems like that border is the most terrifying fucking place, right? Like, just like endless horrors, scariest shit ever. How accurate of a depiction is that?

[Rodney Scott]

So in any movie, you're going to have a little bit of extra added for entertainment value, right? But they're all based off of some type of foundational truth So I equate it to. Let's just talk about Chicago. There's parts of Chicago that you don't want to go to. Right. They're, they're horrible. There's other parts that are just fine. So there's a lot of tourists, I know, that go into Mexico and they will tell you, rightfully so from their experience. They went to this nice little town, they hung out, they had a good experience crossing back and forth, crossing the border, everything was safe. But in the words of a Mexican general, actually that I was talking to one day, having this conversation, he's like, Mexico is super, super safe until it's not. But that's the catch. It can flip so quickly that human trafficking is real. We had a case recently where literally like worst case it was, I won't say where. I think it's still open case. But Mexico City close to the border. A Mexican city close to the border where somebody was literally killing new mothers and. Or about expectant mothers about to deliver, taking the babies and then sell them on the black market like that. Does that happen every day in every city? No, but that actually happened recently and that is happening. The whole other fiasco the Biden administration created with this open border was the unaccompanied juveniles, the unaccompanied kids, where parents sometimes in the US or they thought they were doing the right thing or maybe not, basically hand over their kids to these smugglers and then trust them to bring them into the US not understanding that they are going to owe so much money for so long, they're never going to be able to pay it back. They basically become an indentured servant. Some of them get carved out immediately, go into sex trade, others get forced to be factory workers. But no, it is real. And then right now, and it's not getting enough attention, the cartels in Mexico are military grade infighting between each other and with the Mexican military.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, interesting.

[Rodney Scott]

Just think about this. The cartel literally went into a Mexican prison and broke people out. Yeah. When I was the chief of the San Diego sector, they shot down a helicopter in Tijuana. These things in the US would make national news.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Rodney Scott]

But in Mexico, there's this other unspoken rule that if you report on the cartels, you disappear. So there's a lot going on that people don't know about. But they're using weaponized drones to literally do systematic attacks against police and military.

[Smug]

I saw this morning that a courthouse or a judge.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Smug]

Got hit by. By an armed drone.

[Rodney Scott]

Yes.

[Smug]

Blew up.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Rodney Scott]

And that is Literally just south of us and across the Rio Grande river right into Mexico. Our agents hear the automatic weapons fire all the time. Because you talked about safety and the threats that we're looking at. We, the more we lock down the border, the flip side of this, and we've seen pockets of this before, that cuts into the cartel's bottom line. Yeah, they're going to get started, they're going to get frustrated. And there's a reason we've been pushing heavy to work with the Department of War and make sure that we're positioned on that southwest border to be able to respond to the threats we're seeing just south of us if they turn north. This is not about your maid. This is about protecting our country. It's a national security threat.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, you mentioned the deterrent in Mexico to remain reporting on these sorts of things. And I immediately think about our own legacy media. And one of the things that frustrates me the most about them is when they say, experts say, and they find somebody who they claim is an expert that basically says the talking point they want and they ignore the actual experts. They ignore people who will tell them, no, no, no, no, no. I've been working in this issue for 30 years. There is a direct connection to the human smuggling and the drug trade. These cartels are so powerful. And I wonder if you could just tell the audience exactly how that works and how much money these cartels are making connecting both of those things and ruining our country at the same time.

[Rodney Scott]

Thank you for bringing that up. So the only place you can separate out like illegal immigration from narcotics trafficking or even trade violations with ports of entry is in like Congress or in the media. But you got to stop and think about it. At the border. If you're at a port of entry, we have Customs and Border Protection officers inspecting people and things coming into the United States through that confined area, through that pre designated front door, I call them. We have 328 of them across the country. In between, you either know in between the ports of entry. We either know and control who and what enters or we don't. The agents don't know until after they make the arrests. They don't get the luxury of having conversations like in an air conditioned room somewhere about, hey, what should we do with illegal immigration? What should we do with smuggling?

[Josh Holmes]

What is your objective here?

[Rodney Scott]

Yeah, and in my world, in law enforcement world, especially border security, we have what we call plaza bosses or plazas. Think of it as a gang or probably not as polite way to say it. Think of it as like a bridge troll. Basically these local landowners or people that they basically own sections of land. Higher level cartel can kind of shift. But those people know the terrain, they know the area. They control every single thing that crosses through there.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Rodney Scott]

So you can't separate it. It's the same cartels that control the illegal immigration, the narcotics and everything else. And it's more than narcotics. But let me explain on a real quickly, a tactical level. The cartels need the illegal aliens. They're a renewable resource. That's a kind of a bad way to say it. It makes it dehumanizing. But that's the way they see it. That's the way they see it. But especially when the Biden administration is just releasing them. They didn't have to spend any money on marketing to get illegal aliens to come to them.

[John Ashbrook]

Yes.

[Rodney Scott]

The Biden administration did it for them. Why do they need them? The first reason they need them is not to make money, is to literally overwhelm law enforcement. So they control the crossings of the illegal aliens by location and by volume because they have scouts watching how many border patrol agents are deployed, how many local sheriffs are out patrolling. They have a better intel system than we do because they don't have any rules. Right. And then they'll flood the zone with however many illegally aliens I think it is to wipe out all the law enforcement. And then the higher value commodity comes next. What is that? That's anybody willing to pay the cartel more money to not be fingerprinted. Think that through for a minute. It's not just narcotics. It's nation state actors. It's known terrorists. It's anybody that thinks we might know who they are, they just pay a little bit more money to be in the second wave.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, man. That is.

[Rodney Scott]

The Biden administration basically gave the cartel so many illegal aliens, it completely wiped out border security for about four years. We have no idea.

[Josh Holmes]

Second wave, third wave. No idea.

[Rodney Scott]

We have no idea. And that was every day they had aliens waiting 24 to 48 hours to surrender to border patrol agents because they knew that if they surrendered, they'd get an employment authorization card and they'd ultimately get released. Released.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Rodney Scott]

So all they had to do was keep that flow going. That wiped out all the border patrol. All the CBP officers. They did the same thing, by the way, at the ports. They created that CBP1 app where they could pre register an appointment that was wiping out over a hundred CBP officers in most ports of entry every day to process these illegal aliens. That took them away from inspecting cargo, that took them away from inspecting containers or vehicles. It's all tied together.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Rodney Scott]

You can't separate it out in real life like they do on the Hill or in most media contexts.

[Josh Holmes]

That's incredible. So I wonder, you know, look, you've spent decades in this line of work and all of us collectively knew the scope of the problem because it is the first time, I think an election had bled from a center right issue into the center and center left. And like everyone was concerned about the 20, 30 million people who came during the, the Biden administration. But I wonder, like, how quickly you actually succeeded here shocked all of us. Going from the level of the problem a year ago at this time to where it is now is sort of incomprehensible. And they told us a story about how you would need all these things and you guys just did the job. How much of this do you think is related? It's probably a combo, but how much is related to an administration that basically communicated to the world we're not really serious about enforcing the border. And how much of it is just actually enforcing the border? Because as you, you're talking about this with waves. I mean, part of it is just getting the pure number of people to try to be incentivized to meet that. And it seems like the Biden administration in and of itself, by communicating to the outside world that they're not actually going to do their job is like two thirds of the problem is that. Am I right on that?

[Rodney Scott]

Yeah. Now I'll talk Biden administration and Trump administration because I'm one of the few people that work for both. Yeah, not necessarily by choice, but yeah, that's a career. I work for this administration by choice, I'll tell you that. So over my 30 year career, we saw ebbs and flows and we experimented with infrastructure on the border consequences, meaning prosecution. So there was a whole wealth of knowledge, and I'll go back to Trump 45. There was a whole wealth of knowledge that legacy customs, legacy, border Patrol, legacy ins had kind of built the theories of what we could do to control the border and we would have different levels of support. I would argue we were always getting better and better, regardless whether it was a Republican or a Democrat. There were different ways we were getting better. But Trump 45 was really the first president that came in and really focused on border security and came to the border Patrol, came to Customs and Border Protection, came to ICE and said, hey, what do we need to do? And then I had some personal Debates with him out in San Diego when they came out for the border wall prototypes. And I gave him a spiel about my experience, what we tried, and he didn't agree. I thought this was actually kind of cool.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Rodney Scott]

He didn't agree with some of the things I was telling him, and he actually challenged me on him in a way I wasn't used to. What I saw then as a politician, if you will, having that depth of knowledge and being able to have that deep of a conversation. But everything I told him, he asked me two or three more questions. Yeah. But at the end of the conversation, I'll never forget, he was like, I would have never thought of A, B and C. That makes sense to me. We're going to do this. And what I mean by that was the Bollard wall system was a specific conversation. Then he bought into it because it made sense and we had evidence to show how we had built this design over the years. Then he brought in corporate America to make it better, and we improved the design, but he actually listened to the experts. And then I would argue that that's really what happened now with Trump. 47. So without getting way in the weeds, and just so your listeners know what they do does matter and where they chime in does matter, some donors came forward and basically provided an opportunity just in case any America first person was the nominee. So this was before the actual election cycle and said, hey, if we ever get a chance, how would you secure the border? Go find a bunch of people that actually have experience. What worked, what didn't work. So this whole, like, plan started being developed and it was very much border security experts, not really politically driven, just, hey, this is your mission. Know and control who and what's entering our home. Yeah, it's not that complicated. How you do. It's complicated, but the concept isn't, we built all that, but it was because. And then when Trump actually won, they said, hey, put some meat and bones on that. So on day one, we can actually start taking that shot.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Rodney Scott]

And then the Trump administration again went out and sought experts that actually had done the job before to plug into the transition teams and then to be like the landing on January 20th to start taking action. And then I do want to give a shout out to both ICE and CBP in a way that I can't say for all government agencies. But you hear a lot about this deep state type stuff. And I listen to the talk shows too. Right. You don't have that in CBP and ice. They're focused on securing America and the mission and they always have been. It doesn't really matter if it's an R or D. They signed up to enforce the law. They believe in secure in America. And they understand just instinctively and based on experience how all this stuff ties together. And literally, if you want to prevent another 9, 11, we need to know and control what's coming into our home.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, yeah.

[Rodney Scott]

So all we really had to do, I had to probably one of the easiest jobs in the government. All we had to do is say go.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

They're like, yes.

[Rodney Scott]

Yeah. Where he gave you the boundaries, you have the training, now you have the top cover. And literally go.

[Josh Holmes]

That's, that's awesome. Well, you guys have done a hell of a job a lot quicker than anyone would have imagined. The director of the cbp, Rodney Scott, can't thank you enough for joining us. Anything we can do here, pal.

[John Ashbrook]

Thank you.

[Rodney Scott]

Thank you for helping keep the message out there. And seriously, last but not least, just again, shout out to you guys for keeping the message, but shout out to all the CBP officers.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Rodney Scott]

Border patrol agents, ICE officers and agents. They're out there fighting the fight every single day. Even despite you have people like Chicago, Portland and others still carrying a false message.

[Smug]

Yeah, that's right.

[Josh Holmes]

Well done.

[Michael Duncan]

With a lot of information in that interview. I mean, he told us things that I don't think I've, I've heard before. And it's really nice to hear from an actual expert in his field.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. First class guy. And nice to know that somebody who's running that joint has decades of experience doing it. They didn't just show up with an ideological mission like the Biden crew. You know, like this guy actually knows the nuts and bolts and you get the feeling that that or whole organization is all pulling in the same direction to try to keep this country safe. Thanks a bunch to Rodney Scott for all of that. Appreciate you stopping on by. Remember our question of the day? What will happen to Fetterman? What will happen?

[Smug]

Excellent question.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, what's going to happen to that guy? You got to go to zbiotics.com ruthless and get 15% off of your checkout at Ruthless. Trust me on this, you're going to want to do it. Go and like and subscribe to the YouTube channel if you're not already there. Check out some merch while you're there. It's always fun. Thank you so much for joining us. We've had an incredible week with that, fellows. I think we did it.

[Smug]

I think so. Absolute banger. Of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much, Rodney Scott, for that helpful rundown what CBP is up to. And thank you to the Minions. Remember, just like Holmes said, go to YouTube. Hit that. Subscribe if you have. Not yet, 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. Stay ruthless.