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Ruthless Podcast
How the Liberal 'Hot Take' Economy Got Iran Completely Wrong - It's All Fake
01:19:44
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- [00:00]
A
It's all fake. Yep, the entire take economy is fraudulent right now and that is the second that Donald Trump started this conflict with Iran. In their minds, he'd already lost.
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B
They are never going to be satisfied with any outcome whatsoever, good, bad or something in between, because all they care about is kicking mud onto Trump's tires.
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C
They're all chasing that money. They have no core beliefs, they don't have any kind of policy positions that they want to further. It's all just get rich. Whether it's with an ngo, whether it's with taxpayer money, whether it's Piero Medire, whether it's George Soros.
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A
Donald Trump could lay out every objective and hit that objective and people would still say he failed.
- [00:44]
B
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B
Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.
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C
Keep the fate, hold the line and own the lids.
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B
It's time for our main event.
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A
Welcome back back to the Ruthless Variety program. I am Michael Duncan along with Comfortably Smug and John Ashbrook. Josh Holmes is out on assignment today, but we soldier on. And we have a great show for you. A tenuous ceasefire between the United States and Iran. A lot of moving parts. We're going to get to that first. But we also got a lot of other great stuff here in the show. We got some Swalwell abuse allegations.
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B
Interesting. Very interesting.
- [03:19]
A
There's a Dem primary out there in California and sometimes you get the best content when Dems go to war with themselves. We also have some 2028 prospective presidential candidates who are starting to run away from their 2020 record, which is great reading. We're going to get to that and a lot more. But first, the ceasefire. And before we get into all, like, the specifics of what the ceasefire entails and all this sort of stuff, which I know, you know, the bullets may have stopped flying, but the takes are flying.
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C
Yeah.
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A
You know, because I think those two things are sort of inversely proportionate, you know. You know, so I was reading Twitter after the ceasefire was announced and I, I sort of. From the sheer volume of, you know, people commenting or Democrats out there, I noticed something and that seems as like it's all fake.
- [04:15]
C
Yep.
- [04:16]
A
The entire take economy is fraudulent right now. And that is the second that Donald Trump started this conflict with Iran. In their minds, he'd already lost. Right. Because what they need is for this ceasefire or any ultimate peace deal to do is confirm the priors before the war began in the first place.
- [04:36]
C
That's it.
- [04:37]
A
And I think that unites Democrat politicians and also sort of like your libertarianish right in that Democrat politicians for the last 40 years have said we must do something about Iran, but they're of course not comfortable with the way Donald Trump is now engaging in this conflict.
- [04:56]
B
Right. And if you thought that any Democrat on the planet was going to be comfortable with any outcome whatsoever, I submit to you their reaction to Venezuela. Trump went in, took out Maduro. Everybody left, right and center said Maduro is a bad guy. Trump goes in, he pulls him out, brings him back to America to face justice. And everybody in the libertarian right, and also all across the spectrum on the Dem side is like, no, it's not enough. This is bad. We need to call George Soros to make sure that eight hours later we have demonstrations that are paid, bought and paid for across the country, like they are never going to be satisfied with any outcome whatsoever. Good, bad or something in between, because all they care about is kicking mud onto Trump's tires. The only thing they care about, I
- [05:49]
C
think that's, you know, Ashbrook, you Make a really good point. The fact that a lot of people may have forgotten because it seems so stupid and pointless at the time, but that you had the left activate all the left wing dark money groups, activate these protesters. Maduro gets wrapped up and locked up here in the US they're protesting for Maduro. Like, these people genuinely don't believe in anything. All they believe in is trying to attack Trump and undermine Trump. There's no ideological center or ground that the left has. They're just like anti Trump. So anything he accomplishes, anything he says, they have to be on the other side of it. No matter how ridiculous that may be.
- [06:31]
A
It isn't to say that getting our objectives completed in Iran aren't important.
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C
Right.
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A
I mean, I saw the press conference that General Kaine did. He's the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, talking about how we've decimated the military industrial base of Iran, how we've decimated their ballistic missiles, how we are pursuing their nuclear capacity that decimated a lot of their drones.
- [06:58]
C
80% of their missile launchers are gone, 90% of their Navy is gone.
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A
Like the navy is underwater. Right. Like, these are military objectives that we sought out in this conflict that we have completed. And the contours of exactly what happens here with the ceasefire. Who knows if it will hold? I mean, there's a lot of talk about whether the strait will finally be open. Iran is saying, oh, well, the deal might be off because Israel attacked some Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. We don't know all of that. But what we do know, 100%, Donald Trump could lay out every objective and hit that objective and people would still say he failed.
- [07:35]
B
Exactly right. In the next time you have a Democrat who you come in contact with at work or some Democrat who, you know, who tells you, I don't like the way Trump tweeted about Iran. I don't like what he said about this country who's wished death on America. I understand they're against us, but what he said was a little too harsh. He's against the norms of how things have been done historically in America. Just remind that Democrat of how Democrats reacted while our nation is at war, looking to try to, like, hit our president, while he is trying to, like, solve a problem that has existed for 50 years in this country, a problem
- [08:16]
A
that they all acknowledge and said they were going to do something about and never did anything about. And Donald Trump has the will to try to do something about it. And they're all just, you know, taking potshots from the sidelines. That part I understand that's partisan politics, especially in the age of Donald Trump. They're never gonna give him any credit for anything. The libertarian right side of the equation is a little more of a quandary. And that is, I mean, they're obviously concerned and for good reason, I might add. Like, are we gonna put boots on the ground? Will this be another Iraq? Is this gonna be a quagmire for the next decade of an endless war in Iran? Which I don't think was ever really on the table in the first place. Of course Donald Trump's never gonna take anything off the table. Cuz he's always constantly negotiating and so everyone always pressing him, oh, we do this. Puts on the ground, puts on the ground. And he anything out. Because that's not how Donald Trump. Have you seen Donald Trump for the last 10 years? But for those people on the libertarian right, what are you not happy about? We still don't have boots on the ground. We've accomplished a lot of the military objectives that we want to accomplish, but for them, this war could end tomorrow. And they would say, well, this has done nothing but empowered the regime further. And it's like, well, what do you want? Do you want us to put boots on the ground? Do people have to have purple thumbs in Tehran, like in Baghdad, in order for him to fulfill a fake objective that you made up?
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C
That's the thing is, I think first off for those folks, they're in a vacuum of information. Willfully, where we just described the fact that General Kane describes 8% of the missile launchers are gone. Ayatollah, his whole squad, all of them are gone. 90% of the Navy is gone. Iran's military capability decimated. They're like, oh, none of that happened, right? None of that happened, right? Imagine If America lost 90% of our Navy. We lost like 1% of Pearl Harbor. And we're like, it's time to roll Japan up. Like, think about that, put that into perspective. For a country to lose 90% of its navy, that's unbelievable. That's a tremendous accomplishment. What's already been done. I think what really needs to be discussed is how much of the left is just completely. They believe in absolutely nothing. They took both sides of this argument as soon as the word of the ceasefire broke. They're talking on the other side of what they just tweeted about 10 minutes early. It's shameless.
- [10:36]
A
Yeah. So I want to get to some of these graphics because I think the ceasefire illustrates this point that we've been discussing. Here. And that is like the bifurcation between what they were saying before the ceasefire and what they were saying after. Let's go to Chris Murphy, Democrat Senator, the first graphic. Graphic 8. Okay, so this is after Donald Trump puts out his bombastic tweet about a civilization might end if Iran doesn't come to the table. Chris Murphy writes, trump is calling reporters today to tell them he is going to commit mass war crimes next week. GOP leaders need to stop him. Nevermind that blowing up bridges and power plants and killing innocent Iranians won't open the strait. And then he's got a whole thread. It's also clearly a war crime.
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C
Amazing.
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A
So that's him before.
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B
And just in case you don't remember, Chris Murphy is Chuck Schumer in waiting. He's looking at Chuck Schumer's office. He's thinking about how he'll change the drapes and what desk he'll move in. He is the guy who is trying to be the next leader of Democrats in the Senate.
- [11:48]
A
So of course, none of that happens. No war crimes, in his words, are committed. And Trump announces a ceasefire. Well, how does Chris Murphy react to this news? You'd assume he'd be pretty happy about that sort of thing. No. Murphy writes, this is an account close to the Iranian leadership. I also love that. It's like, I want to make sure we get the terrorist state's opinion of this whole thing.
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B
It's amazing.
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C
He's like, so this is in high likelihood, propaganda.
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A
Let's read their propaganda for my instant take. He goes on. We are now seeing the shape of why Iran agreed so enthusiastically to this, quote, ceasefire. They will control and toll the strait for the first time. They keep their nuclear program, they keep their missiles.
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C
What a disaster. It's amazing.
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A
Like, more of a disaster than the things he called war crimes.
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B
They keep their missiles. You know, the military said that they struck 13,000 targets inside of Iran. There's a lot of missiles that were blown up in that process.
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A
Well, yeah, and not just that, like what he's saying there is. He's accepting the Iranian propaganda of their terms of a ceasefire, not the terms that the President and the Pentagon and J.D. vance and Wyckoff and Kushner are trying to negotiate now over this two week period. He's accepting, being willfully obtuse, accepting what Iran's demands will be in the ceasefire, not what they've actually agreed to. So he's, he's declared, he's preemptively declaring defeat.
- [13:23]
C
And also it's Important to note, you know what Carolyn Leather brought up during the press conference the other day where she was, like, reminding reporters, when you're looking at, like, Iranian propaganda accounts, please keep in mind that what they're saying publicly is extremely different than what they're saying privately. Of, like, tells you, please don't bomb us.
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A
It doesn't.
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C
And then public, like, we won't.
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A
It tells you everything about what we started the show with. And that is the take economy that's out there for engagement. And it's all these accounts that are either linked to Iran or generate AI content that are flooding your newsfeed every single day with legitimate propaganda. Yeah, but our democratic leadership creates a lot of their own. Here's AOC before the ceasefire.
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B
Okay, I can't wait for this one.
- [14:14]
A
This is a threat of genocide and merits removal from office. The president's mental faculties are collapsing and cannot be trusted. Again, she's responding to the tweet that Trump put out, threatening that he would attack Iran again, he doesn't attack Iran. And announces a cease fire. What is her reaction? Let's put up that graphic. This statement changes nothing. The president has threatened a genocide against the Iranian people, is continuing to leverage that threat. It's all fake.
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C
Exactly. She's like, this action changes nothing. My take has not changed. She said nothing when the Iranian government was actually committing an atrocity, killing tens of thousands of their own citizens. There's no concern for genocide at that moment because there's no take on the left to drop to try to further your left opinion. Now she cares about it. She's like, oh, no, no, no. Even though it didn't happen, he should still be tried for war crimes. It's unbelievable.
- [15:11]
A
I mean, was AOC, was Chris Murphy going on Twitter to live tweet October 7th about taking all of those innocent people hostage in Gaza? Or maybe flying those paracopters into a music festival and calling that war crimes.
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C
No, you definitely don't want to know what AOC's actual reaction in private was to that.
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A
Yeah, I'm sure she was pretty happy.
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C
She's with the squad.
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B
They're probably celebrating another Chuck Schumer stalking horse. Yeah, of course.
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C
That's why he's terrified, is because she is in position with her fundraising to challenge him in the Senate.
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A
But it wasn't just the liberal left. No, of course. Opposition to Trump unites many disparate parts of a coalition, including Bill Kristol, wartime war forever. Bill Kristol, neocon extraordinaire. What does he say? Before the ceasefire. Let's put up that graphic to conservatives who object when some of us have suggested Trump is a fascist and who complain when we point out much of a real, existing American conservatism has devolved into fascism. If you're silent about Trump's threat of genocide, you're proving the point you've objected to.
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C
Amazing.
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A
And this is a guy who has on numerous occasions in his prior life, before he was taking money from Pierre Omadiar, talked about the threat of Iran.
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B
Right.
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A
He's changed his tune endlessly. You wonder whether those two things are linked. What did he say after the ceasefire? The mother of all tacos.
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C
That's the thing. That's the thing is because these people have no ideological center, they believe in nothing. They're completely hollow individuals. The check is coming from Pierre Omidair. That's your direction. You have no North Star of beliefs or any sort of a core. You want to be out there able to say, well, Trump is going to commit a genocide when he doesn't, wow, Trump didn't do the genocide. What a coward. That's the thing, is they have no belief because the left has shown they can't win. First off, they can't win elections because the voters in this country know they couldn't be trusted with power. They all saw that Biden was a puppet. Kamala's an idiot. There's nothing that the left is going for him. So they lose elections. They now see the way to power is their takes. All of them have their little startups, their companies. You saw that Midas Touch just got an investment from George Soros this weekend. They're all chasing that money. They have no core belief, they don't have any kind of policy positions that they want to further. It's all just get rich, whether it's with an ngo, whether it's with taxpayer money, whether it's Piero Medire, whether it's George Soros.
- [17:54]
A
Well, I mean, what doesn't get RTS is saying, you know, we gotta wait and see how this all turns out. I'm rooting for the United States of America, and hopefully we come to a good resolution that diminishes the ability of the Iranians to attack us. That sort of nuance doesn't get a million RTs, but it doesn't get an investment from George Soros.
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B
Right, but it's also like the basic take that your average American would have under these circumstances. This is why so many people are turning, turning away from guys like this.
- [18:24]
A
So enough from all those Fucking losers. Let's put up the statement from President Trump. He writes, the United States will work closely with Iran, which we have determined has gone through what would be a very productive regime change. There will be no enrichment of uranium and the United States will, working with Iran, dig up and remove all of the deeply buried nuclear dust. It is now and has been under very exacting satellite surveillance. Nothing has been touched from the date of attack. We are and will be talking tariff and sanction relief for Iran. Many of the 15 points. Again, he has 15 points. All of the Democrats being willfully obtuse and citing Iranian propaganda, are looking from a different list on purpose so that they can own Trump.
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B
Great point.
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A
But he goes on to say many of the 15 points have already been agreed to. Thank you for your attention in this matter. President Donald J. Trump, huh? Well, it sounds like he's meeting all of the objectives for the reasons we went into this war in the first place. Of course, that doesn't make any of the take economy happy.
- [19:32]
B
Right, right. They're not going to get paid by George Soros for saying, hey, you know what, seems like Trump has met his objectives. And I kind of disagree with the way he's done it, but, you know, we'll settle that in the next election. It doesn't, that doesn't get George Soros money.
- [19:47]
A
There may be things you don't like about this. There may be things you're waiting to see about this. There may be things you agree with. My point to everybody listening and watching this is don't get demoralized by the people who entered this conflict with like, a political predeterminism that regardless of what happened, they were going to declare defeat for Donald Trump. Because none of that is helpful. It's just a demoralization campaign against the president and against our own country.
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B
Right, right. And there was a time in American history when Democrats and even journals actually cared about America and actually wanted America to ahead and they just had a different way of coming at things and it's just not the case today. All they care about is taking shots at Trump so that they can build their following or so they can get money. I mean, we've said it seven or eight times already on this show, but the reality is that their party is sick. Their party has a fever.
- [20:49]
A
That's the Al Gore line. The planet has a fever. That's a good one, Smash. Showing your age.
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B
It's okay. Al Gore might be their nominee. We haven't gotten to the 2028 section yet.
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A
That's Right.
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B
It's coming back.
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A
We need a little palate cleanser here, I think. And I saw this great clip of JD Vance, our vice president, floating around from a conference he was at recently about the perils of black pilling as a political activist. So let's play that clip. Civilization was not built overnight. It's not going to be saved overnight. And so what I'd encourage you to do is stay involved, be patient, and don't let disappointment turn to checking out of the system entirely. There's way too much of that, I would say, in the Anglo system and the American system. There's way too much. You know, I didn't like this thing that the vice President said, or I didn't like this thing that the President did, and I'm going to completely check out. We call that black pilling in the United States of America. And blackpilling is how you give power to the forces that are trying to destroy what our ancestors built. We need to take power back from those people and build the kind of institutions that can actually save our societies. It will not happen overnight. It will not happen in the term of one prime minister or one president. But it will happen so long as we keep our faith in God and we work hard, hard to achieve it. That's what we have to do. Amen, brother.
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C
That's it.
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B
And this is the guy, of course, Carolyn Levitt announced at her press conference yesterday that JD Vance is leading a team of negotiators this coming weekend in Islamabad, Pakistan, to sort of lock in this ceasefire, negotiation and agreement. You know, hopefully. Hopefully that holds from now until the weekend, but we're all going to find out together.
- [22:37]
A
Yeah. Well, that brings us to our question of the day. When you like and subscribe, you get the chance to opine. And our question today, is this conflict over or is this a temporary pause? What is the ultimate resolution of this, both the ceasefire and the war. We want to read all your comments. We get our best material from you, the listener and the viewer. Go to YouTube, like and subscribe. Leave your comment. When we come back, Eric Swalwell might be in some real trouble. Shocking allegations against the California gubernatorial candidate right after this.
- [23:16]
B
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- [24:18]
A
Okay, this story's been percolating for a while and it sort of started through Twitter or Instagram or TikTok or whatever. These people with accounts who work in Democrat politics starting to surface some allegations against now gubernatorial candidate Eric Swalwell. The first comes from this Bhavik Latia, who is a Harris Walls Battleground Mobilization director.
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C
I think that's real quick. Critical to this situation is these are coming from Dems. Yeah, this is not like, you know, Fox News or New York Post or these are Democrat operatives.
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B
So.
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A
Well, but as Ashbrook always says, you only learn these things about Democrats when it might benefit another Democrat. That's why Democrat primaries are the best for content. So this Latvia and a quote Mrs. Frazzled. I guess that's an account have laid out the situation. Graphic 6 yeah. Hey, I just got off the phone with a trusted friend. This is real. Take it seriously. Eric Swalwell cannot be our nominee again. Our nominee. There's going to be a lot more coming out soon. I can't say more right now, but stay tuned.
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C
And then the account that he is quoting right there said, every day since I've posted that Eric Swalwell is accused of rampant sexual harassment. More and more women have come forward on. I know it's frustrating to see vague posts, but I cannot tell you how important this waiting period has been to send everyone through the proper channels.
- [25:57]
A
So, I mean, they're kind of hiding the ball a little bit here. And I have no idea if any of these allegations are true. But they're not the only ones. Graphic seven, please. This is from Cheyenne Hunt, who's apparently the executive director of a left wing group called Gen Z for Change. They claiming to be building a list of Swalwell accusers. Yeah, Cheyenne writes the number of credible women who have come forward since I posted my video is pretty shocking. And connecting them with the investigative reporting teams who have been working on breaking this for years has greatly expedited this process. I'm confident this story will break soon.
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B
So here's what we don't know. Okay? And I know we have some more details to get to. And of course, you know, in the same way that many of us heard rumors about Kristi Noem's husband, there are rumors floating around about Eric Swalwell. There have been for years. It just hasn't been printed. And now that he's locked in a primary for the governor of California, all of the other Democrat contenders for that nomination are out in force. So what we don't know is whether Eric Swalwell has circulated a 10 point petition for a two week ceasefire with Katie Porter and all of the other Democrats running in California. I mean, he's claiming like, you know, if we go to graphic 11, he's got an ally out there, Ruben Gallego, who is a hard lefty.
- [27:32]
C
The senator in Arizona.
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B
The senator from Arizona who is dogging someone who is, you know, letting you.
- [27:39]
C
One of the accounts that's putting in the.
- [27:41]
A
That's shocking. I thought we were supposed to believe all women, right? And now when one of their own is targeted, suddenly we need to vet these accusations. I find that surprising but smug. You surfaced something I thought was interesting.
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C
Well, that's the thing is. So as Ashprik was saying. Can you pull that graphic up again? Ruben Gallego says this person started to posting for the first time three days ago to try to dismiss.
- [28:04]
A
Yeah.
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C
The allegations. And of course, you know, along the believe all women people replying to Rubin with like tweets from Eric Swallow being like believe all women. But the one that really caught my eye is this graphic 12. This is from a fun account. Buzzfeed. Buzzfeed reporter. It's like an. A non fun account. But they said as someone who left his pregnant wife just before birth unsure, you're the best person to comment on this. Like that is brutal. And then Ruben didn't tweet about that shit again.
- [28:34]
A
Um, all right, so more from the New York Post because obviously people want to ask Swallow about this as all of this is percolating out online. Uh, the headline is Rep. Eric Swalwell breaks silence on alleged misconduct with female staff. False. Um, he has said it's not only false, said, there's never been an allegation and there has never been a settlement. When pressed by reporters on whether he had ever had a sexual relationship with a staffer or intern, Swalwell responded, no, no, no, no. What do we make of that?
- [29:08]
C
So what to me is very interesting is that none of his opponents in this race have jumped out and said anything about this, which to me gives the allegations more credence because if they know that this is legit, this information is legit, that it's going to see the light of day, that it's going to come out and that it's going to ruin him. It's kind of like Sun Tzu is like when your opponent's making a mistake, do nothing, let that happen. I feel like that's what the Katie Porter, the other devs run against him are like. Let him get that. Let him say that like all this is not true. And then when it comes to light, it's going to bury him.
- [29:51]
A
But the Katie Porter thing is interesting because she's imploded her campaign. You know these videos that came out months ago about how horrible she is, she has just cratered in the polls. She is quoted in this story, which I found fascinating. Democratic rivals in the governor's race called attention to quote, very troubling allegations. That's from Katie Porter, which I thought was very interesting considering I think she's in the single digits now and like a ten man race.
- [30:22]
C
And again, that's the smart way to play is don't be like, he needs to get out of the race for something. Be like they're troubling. Let the thing simmer, let it come on its own. I think for one of the first times in her life she's making the right decision.
- [30:35]
B
Yeah. What we don't know is which Democrat is driving this storyline. You don't know. Maybe it's Tom Steyer, maybe it's one of these other Democrats whose name nobody can remember. But what we do know is that Katie Porter has a volcanic temper. Okay. We know that from her history in politics. We know that from the filing of her interactions with her ex husband where she dumped the steaming mashed potatoes and gravy on his head, where she came after him with a broken coffee pot just because she was mad about something going wrong with her day. This is a woman and you know you.
- [31:10]
C
Didn't she eat like a salad with a comb?
- [31:13]
B
No, that was Klobuchar.
- [31:15]
C
That's Klobuchar. That's Klobuchar.
- [31:16]
B
Different Democrat. But this is one who has just a well documented.
- [31:21]
C
And that video of her like shouting at a staffer for showing up in the back of her shop. And then the staffer was like, I was just pointing out exactly what you asked me to do.
- [31:29]
B
Right. And then losing her mind on some local journal. The local journal is like, so tell me about why you want to run for office. And she's like, how dare you ask Me such a question. She has a terrible, terrible temper. And so it would follow that if she is way down in the polls, she'd be losing her mind and thinking, eric Swalwell if I'm not going to get it, Eric Swalwell's not sure as hell not going to get it. So she might go. The motivation would exist for her to go after that guy.
- [31:58]
C
That's the thing. She's the one.
- [31:59]
B
But she's in this story.
- [32:01]
C
I can understand, you know, because you don't want to. So the. The really weird thing when it comes to allegations like this is the Democrat establishment, and I bet this is as a result of. Of like the Bill Clinton years is. Is the entrenched Democrat establishment is so funny about dealing with like, sexual harassment and stuff like that, where they don't like when their own party's been. Someone's been caught with it and it's coming out. They don't like other Democrats pointing it out. They really get mad and upset. We've seen that a number of times. Look at how much they came after Gillibrand. Gillibrand has like. The ceiling of her career was set in place when she came after. What was his name? Al Franken in Minnesota for sexual.
- [32:49]
A
It's wild. Yeah.
- [32:50]
C
Yeah, it's wild. They're like. They punish Gillibrand for getting out and being like, franken needs to go, dude.
- [32:56]
B
I think it goes back to something that you have said over and over and over again, and you talked about it earlier in this, that they have no North Star. They have no. There's no ideology. I think they do have a North Star. I think they do have an ideology. And that is power. All they care about is power. And they know that their party has to have some brand. And their brand needs to comport with what some pollster is telling them it needs to do. And they need to look right in its story. Otherwise they're not gonna rise above. It's all they think about. They are completely consumed with the pursuit of power. Like governor of California is president of the planet.
- [33:39]
C
So to them it might be because we've now started seeing these numbers of the sheer scope of fraud that happens in California. It's essentially, you thought Minnesota was bad. California's like the piggy bank for the left. All this hospice fraud, all of that money. The reason that these frauds are allowed to continue in operation and expand is because the Democrats see that as a source of income.
- [34:10]
A
It's a good point.
- [34:11]
C
It's a patronage system.
- [34:11]
A
It's a good Point smug. Because on paper, it looks to be maybe the worst job on the planet. Yeah. You know, they're drowning in red ink. Nothing works. They spend like a hundred billion dollars
- [34:22]
C
on a train for a quarter mile of track.
- [34:25]
A
Lay no track.
- [34:26]
C
Right.
- [34:26]
A
And so who would, of their own accord, decide that's a job for me? I can walk into that. But in that context, that is a patronage system and a piggy bank for every left wing radical. That's a pretty plum assignment.
- [34:40]
C
That's the thing, is it is not. You know, you see Republicans, when they get into office as a governor, they see it as like, okay, my job is to reform, cut taxes and manage the state and create jobs. Right. Famous example I'll give real quick. Yesterday morning, Abigail Spamberger releases this, like, this sheet of talkers and has a news conference being like, I have created, like, with 7,000 jobs, have agreed to move and billions of dollars are coming to Virginia. Every single one of those was put in place by Governor Youngkin. Like someone posts side by side of Youngkin when he got that done last year. But Abigail Spamberger has a press conference trying to steal credit for it, because all that she's accomplished, the reason that historically no governor of Virginia has as low an approval rating as spamberger after like 90 days, none. Because everyone sees she's a Trojan horse. She ran as a moderate, came in, went to the left of AOC and is running that state in the ground. She's not working with ICE. Something like 70% of murders are now being in Virginia, now being committed by illegal aliens. Since she decided as soon as she got into office the police in Virginia will no longer cooperate with ice, the results of her taking office has been catastrophic. That's what happens when Democrats are governors because their interest is not at all in helping the state, helping create jobs, helping create opportunity, helping create business. Because the more individual Americans thrive, the less power they have. The less Americans are dependent on left wing operatives paying them to show up to hospice. Do this for us. If you have a system of dependency, which is what California's become.
- [36:22]
A
Yeah.
- [36:23]
C
There was a statistic where, like, their budget has doubled while their population has grown by 4% in like 25 years. It's a big scheme of fraud. So Democrats go into office as a governor, they want to be in charge of doling out the patronage. That's like, Gavin has turned that into such a patronage system. He's hoping it could propel him into the White House.
- [36:46]
B
And if you wonder why Democrats can't elect an outsider it's because they want someone who they trust to keep that patronage system going. It's why they think Gavin Newsom is the right candidate and why, if you talk to a Dem consultant, they're like, oh, Stephen A. Smith never has a chance in the primary because Stephen A.
- [37:06]
C
Is not a patronage. He built a career off of his own skill and talent. He's not going up through the ranks paying people on the way on the left. He's not paying these idiots that are running, like, Somali daycares. He's not paying these idiots who are running California hospices. He's not spreading the money around. He's not a part of that system. That's why they're skeptical of him.
- [37:25]
B
Yeah, I think that's exactly right.
- [37:27]
A
Well, the stakes are high in California. We're gonna stay on that story, obviously. But, you know, 2028's coming around the bend. And when we come back, Democrats eyeing the 2028 presidential candidacy are running from their radical positions they took in 2020. We have the before and after right after this. And we're back. And I love these stories.
- [37:50]
C
Yes.
- [37:51]
A
I love the sort of beltway publication stories where they lay out this process of how these candidates are coming to the big decision of whether they're going to run on the democratic side in 2028. It's fascinating because I think it's a good look inside to the Democratic Party that we typically don't get, and people are a little more open with their opinions on things. Here's the headline from axios, Dems weighing 2028 campaigns run from 2020 positions. Oh, would you look at that? Woke is dead. Woke is dead. Apparently more here from the article. Democrats weighing runs for the White House want to forget many of the positions they took in 2020, and they're hoping voters will, too.
- [38:40]
C
It's amazing.
- [38:41]
A
It's an interesting strategy in the age of the Internet. I'm not sure that's gonna work for them. Why it matters. Leaders and would be leaders in the party have shifted their views on border security, DEI crime, climate change, Covid era lockdowns, and more, all with an eye on this year's midterms and the 2028 presidential election.
- [39:00]
C
I want to stop you there.
- [39:01]
A
Yeah.
- [39:02]
C
As we said, Democrats believe in nothing. They're like, it seems like these candidates have shifted their beliefs on everything they said. That was like, live or die.
- [39:12]
A
What's left?
- [39:12]
C
They were like, if we don't have dei, everyone's going to die. If we do not have our criminal justice reform, everyone's going to die if we don't enact these lunatic climate change laws, everyone will die. Everything they've been telling you for a decade is like live or die. They're moving away from which shows they believe in nothing.
- [39:33]
B
And don't hear what smug just said as an indication that Democrats aren't actually going to do woke DEI bullshit when they get if, when and if they get back into office. Case in point, Abigail Spamberger.
- [39:47]
A
Right?
- [39:47]
B
These Democrats are taking a page out of her playbook. Pretend like you're a moderate, say that you're doing things toward the center, and then the second you win, say that you're going to raise taxes, say that you're going to stop cooperating with federal deportation authorities. Say that you're going to let criminals out of jail if they don't feel good on a certain day. You know, like it is. It is what they are going to do. It's their game plan for 2028. They literally want to trick people into thinking that they're normal. However, I think that as we go through this, we will see that every single one of these candidates is also behind the scenes making the case that they are the most capable of continuing the patronage system that has been billions and billions of dollars to Democrat coffers.
- [40:37]
A
Well, and the idea of rebranding themselves as some sort of pragmatic moderate on all of these cultural issues is just preposterous for all these people who've been in the national, you know, news cycle for years. And look at Gavin Newsom. Gavin Newsom in here says he's been. They've been telling audiences, reporters, that Democrats need to be more, quote, culturally normal. Culturally normal. Last year, Newsom said that, quote, no one person in my office ever used the word Latinx. We covered this on the Ruthless Variety program. Of course, he used it multiple times over many years. So he's obviously a liar. Then you've got Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania governor, who would have been vice president, a candidate under Kamala Harris, if he didn't happen to be Jewish, and their whole party is controlled by Hamas. But he writes here in his recent book that Democrats, quote, got the masking and vaccine mandates wrong during COVID 19, and he would have handled the state's response differently if he had been governor then. Interesting.
- [41:41]
C
And that's the thing. It says Shapiro, however, was the state attorney general at the time and didn't express such feelings until he ran for governor in 2020. That's the thing is all of these people, all these Dems, the Reason Abigail Spamberger succeeded is because she took their new playbook. Run as a moderate, lie through your teeth, get in there, go as far left as you can. Because that's the game is when they're running in a swing state or they are running nationally, all of a sudden they're like, oh, you know, I was never with that woke stuff. I'm just a centrist. That's the difference is they're being pulled from on one side where the votes are, because the American people don't want that lunatic shit. And on the other side, they're being pulled by where the money Is, all the NGOs, all these fraud hospices and all these grifts that are going on the left. That's where the money is. Those people donate to the left, and then when a Democrat gets into office, they get the money back. You know, it's how it works is you scratch my back, I scratch your back.
- [42:47]
B
That's a. That's exactly right, dude. And when you look at the list, a lot of these lib journos put together lists of the top 10 Democrats most likely to win the nomination in 2028. At the top of that list is always Gavin Newsom. And you might ask yourself why. You might be like, well, California looks like a shithole. Why in the world would I want the rest of our country to look like California? You really just need to dig only deep enough to find the patronage that we've been talking about. I mean, when you think of Gavin Newsom and you flip over the back of his baseball card, the top line should be the number of how many billions of dollars have gone into these Democrat leaning NGO programs. That is. And that's the primary motivating force behind Democrats who want to keep that system going. I mean, we are just days away from April 15th. Okay? Everybody listening to this show is giving half of their money to the government, hoping that it's spent wisely. And you know, it's not going to be. But Democrats are looking at that date in a little bit of a different way than you are.
- [43:51]
C
That's hated.
- [43:52]
A
Yeah, I mean, that's the patronage system. And then there's also the activist groups that smug alluded to. And if you remember, in the 2024 election, there was that great ad that the Trump campaign put out about Kamala Harris wanted to give convicted criminals transition surgeries paid for by the government. You know where that came from? It was from a, like, scorecard or a. Some sort of, like, sheet from some activist group that I don't know why they filled it out of, like, what they would do about, you know, transgender rights or whatever, but it sunk her entire campaign because they're entirely captured by those activists.
- [44:32]
B
I'll tell you why they filled it out. It's because they wanted to signal to that group that they were with them.
- [44:36]
C
That's the thing. And I think it's important to point out Kamala Harris specifically because she isn't getting as much buzz as, like, Gavin Newsom, who's doing everything he can to capture attention and act like he's the front runner when polling still shows. Kamala Harris has an incredible base of support among the Democrats. And you might be wondering how. I thought everyone saw everyone with their own eyes. She's an absolute moron, doesn't know what she's doing. No chance in hell. But again, it goes back to, why do the Democrats, like, elect their leaders who are just morons? It's because of the patronage system. Kamala Harris raised over a billion dollars and all of it got spent. She went into debt. That campaign went into debt. But you hear these stories. They're like, wait, Oprah's production company was getting you money. Wait, all these people were getting paid money? Wait, they paid a million dollars to build a set for call her debt. The reason they loved when she ran is because she was giving out the money. She had the walk around money for every left wing cause. And those people love that money and they want more of it. And they're like, well, if Kamala doesn't have 100 days to run, if she's got 365 to run, imagine all the money we're gonna get. That's why she's continued to pull.
- [45:53]
A
So we gotta get to One of Kamala's 2020 primary opponents, Pete Buttigieg. Pete, you know, he's got a way for the future of the Democratic Party. He speaks so well. In his McKinsey talk from the Axios piece, former Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg said last year that when Democrats talk about diversity, it can seem like they're making people sit through a training. That looks like something out of Portlandia.
- [46:23]
C
Huh?
- [46:24]
A
That was interesting because I think Pete Buttigieg is one of the greatest purveyors of this sort of like, empty headed pablum that means nothing. In fact, I think most of his career is that is this sort of Portlandia talk, right? In fact, we found a clip of that. Here's Pete Buttigieg on Trevor Noah's show back in 2020. One of the things about privilege, especially things like white privilege or male privilege, is that you don't think about it very much. You know, it's being in an out
- [46:54]
C
group where you are constantly, constantly reminded of it.
- [46:58]
A
It's not when you're in a majority or a privileged group. And so I try to check myself and make sure. I try to understand the factors that help explain why things are going well. And I do think it's simply harder
- [47:08]
C
for candidates of color or for female candidates. And I'm very mindful of that.
- [47:13]
A
The only thing I know how to do about that from where I'm sitting, is to try to be true to a message and a vision that's meaningful and to be as respectful as I
- [47:21]
C
can of the others.
- [47:22]
A
I'd. I don't view myself as having opponents, but competitors. Come on.
- [47:25]
B
Oh, my God.
- [47:27]
A
It's the most patronizing bullshit you'll ever hear.
- [47:33]
C
I'm really gonna enjoy seeing Pete run because he is like a lab grown hollow monster. Like, a lot of people on the left have accused him of being like a secret CIA. This is a guy who, when he worked for McKinsey, they were like fixing bread prices in Canada to turn a profit. Like, he genuinely believes in nothing. Like actual total sociopath of a guy. And these two clips, they illustrate completely who he is, which is someone who is willing to say directly into camera anything he believes will trick people into supporting him. I'm going to love seeing. Because the Democrats are going to go after him so hard. They're gonna go after him so hard, he polls so low. I think his support among black voters is like 0%. I think he's the only candidate they had who pulled out 0% among Democrat black voters. He is gonna get hit so hard with the most vicious ads. Kamal is gonna go after his ass, and all they need to do is just show him his. Like, this is Woke Pete in 2020.
- [48:38]
A
Yeah.
- [48:39]
C
And then this is Pete being like, we gotta cut it with the Portlandia shit. He is. I mean, among a party of completely hollow people who believe in nothing, he's at the top. Absolutely. Zero beliefs, zero core.
- [48:51]
A
My recommendation for the Democrats in that primary is to bring back the John Kerry windsurfer ad. You remember that? 100% from 2004. And you just do. Woke Pete. Not woke Pete.
- [49:02]
B
Right, Dude.
- [49:03]
C
Any way the wind blows. That's where Pete goes. Like, truly believes in nothing, has zero message. Like when he was transportation secretary, I think folks famously remember this situation where he's like, you know, have my press guy take a photo of me riding a bicycle to work as soon as the photo's up on Twitter, throws the bike down, jumps in the Suburban like, this guy believes in absolutely nothing. Nothing.
- [49:29]
A
He's the best, you know. But it isn't just this sort of woke talk. It's also the defund the police stuff. Remember when the Democrats were, were saying they were going to do all that? More from the article. Top Democrats are criticizing the Trump administration's dismantling of DEI across the private and public sectors. Few are calling for such programs to be restored or expanded. And then this is the important part. Zoramdani spent months walking past back his past calls to defund a city police and department that he had said was racist, anti queer and American. Major threat to public safety. Imagine calling the police department a major threat to public safety and now trying to walk that back.
- [50:11]
B
Insanity.
- [50:12]
C
Well, also, it's important that term safety. The Democrats captured that term safety as just an overarching blanket over everything. Where they were like, when essentially the left had captured and controlled Twitter before Elon bought it, they were like, ooh, I don't know. You're misgendering. That affects people's safety. That's harmful. Words are actually violence. Because they want to classify anything that opposes their ideology as unsafe. Because they say this is safe, this is not safe. Immediately. They want people to recoil from it and be like, oh, well, that's wrong. That could hurt me. That's dangerous. So when they say that, like, well, you see, the police are actually a danger to safety. Any sane person with two brain cells is like, what are you talking about? The police are who provides the safety. You know, like, they show up when people need help. But to separate that, to have this insanity that the left pushed the defund, the police are like, no, you see, actually we need community policing. We need to hire, you know, we need to send a psychiatrist. If a guy is in the subway just setting people on fire and stabbing them in the neck, you want to send a psychiatrist because police actually harm safety.
- [51:22]
A
Right.
- [51:22]
B
Well, and why do they want to send a psychiatrist? Because the psychiatrists are connected to a nonprofit that is funded by, by the government that it's just money changing hands.
- [51:32]
C
And when they were in college and they wrote their thesis on how, like, you know, children need transgender issues, that study was actually funded by like a left wing think tank and they got a grant from another left wing organization. This is the long game that the left has had. It's all just made up, fake, paid for shit.
- [51:49]
B
Yeah. When they talk about Safety. It goes safety, safety, safety. Right up to the point where you're like, well, what about Irina Ditruska?
- [51:57]
A
Yeah?
- [51:57]
B
And they're like, no, no, no, it doesn't count for that sort of a situation, which should, should enrage you. It's like they have no common sense. They never have any common sense. It's like, well, people just don't want to get killed.
- [52:09]
A
That's what I have to wonder about here is like, is this, what's the point of this in the age of the Internet? We've all seen the clips. They did fricking debates in 2020, you know, I mean, we've seen all of their opinions on these things. They can't put that genie back in the bottle. I remember that moment in 2016 when Trump and Hillary were on the debate stage and she was launching into one of her typical stem winders about how broken Washington D.C. is. And some bullshit that some pollster told them tested well to a live studio audience. And then all Trump said is, Hillary, why didn't you fix it? You've been there your whole life. You were the first lady of the United States. You were a United States senator from New York. And none of this changed. And it's like, how are they gonna change, right? Like, like, how is this ever gonna work?
- [52:59]
C
And they are so entrenched in this machine, this, this payola that has built all this. Even, even Zoran, they tried being like Zora Mumdani. You know, he's an outsider. No, everyone who works for him was like, part of the, like, Elizabeth Warren, far left think tank pipeline, where they spread all the lunatics all across government. All his people who are like, well, actually, private property is violence, and we're going to seize that too. This is all part of the machine. And so we're already seeing the results very quickly. You've seen when Zoram Hamdani during a blizzard was like, I have instructed the police not to. The policy in New York City is when there's a blizzard, police would go out, they'd find homeless people on the street and they'd be like, do you want me to call somebody? Should we get a truck? Should we get a van and take you right now to a homeless center where you can be inside? Yeah, you can get a meal. Right? That used to be the policy. Zurmamdani was like, it's actually unsafe and, you know, it's actually attacking the homeless people if they see a police officer. So I've instructed them to leave the homeless alone. Dozens of homeless People died.
- [54:12]
A
Yeah, they crossed.
- [54:12]
C
They got frozen to death. So this is what happens, is their policies lead to chaos. They will never make you more safe, but they will present it as well. You see, this is a safety issue. You see, like brown and black and transgender communities are constantly under threat from the police. They have to try to delude individuals into believing an absolute lie. That's how their entire system is predicated on working.
- [54:38]
A
A tiger cannot change its stripes. And that brings us to our next story here. More news from California. Gavin Newsom's wife. Did you see, guys?
- [54:47]
C
See, this is insane.
- [54:48]
A
This is insane. Talking about her going to a prison and doing a little.
- [54:54]
C
What could she discuss there?
- [54:55]
A
Yeah, a little discussion in prison. Let's play that clip.
- [54:58]
C
Matt had to be very raw.
- [55:00]
B
When we interviewed the young men who were juvenile offenders in San Quentin. I told them about my own loss,
- [55:07]
C
where
- [55:10]
B
I lost my older sister a few days before my seventh birthday. And I blamed myself for her death. And I share that because they ultimately were accused of committing these violent crimes and sentenced for life. And I think it shocked them that this blonde lady who was the interviewing them had a similar story, was perhaps in the wrong place at the wrong time, but wasn't punished the way they
- [55:41]
C
were because clearly it was an accident.
- [55:43]
B
But theirs was probably an accident, too.
- [55:46]
A
What?
- [55:46]
C
What?
- [55:47]
B
So anyway, I share that just because it. I guess, you know, I quite enjoy spending time with people and being real and unmasking and showing them that it's safe to unmask themselves.
- [56:02]
C
Beautiful.
- [56:02]
A
Beautiful. It's certainly an unmasking. I'll give her that. She's right about that. This is an unmasking. Most murderers are probably there because of an accident.
- [56:13]
C
So that is.
- [56:14]
A
That is insane on its face.
- [56:15]
C
That's the embodiment of. There's been a lot of discussion about, like, suicidal empathy. That is it right there.
- [56:21]
A
Yeah.
- [56:22]
C
Suicidal empathy. These are people who, you know, have already had trials. A jury of their peers in California has been like, well, this guy's guilty of murder. Put him away. The public is better served if this person is put away. And she's like, you know what? Maybe it was an accident. Maybe this guy, you know, this guy's out there just shooting people in the head. Probably an accident. Probably an accident. And for her. So here's the thing is it's tragic. It has to be a horrible experience. But she takes something like that and is like, I'm gonna make this a girl boss story. Yes, I killed my sister, and I'm a blonde lady.
- [56:59]
A
So a little Background on that from the New York Post, because I want to know what she was referencing there. But apparently her golf cart accidentally ran over her older sister more than four decades ago, leaving her feeling pressure to be perfect and make the loss up to her parents. So she ran over her sister in a golf cart. And that's the same as during a
- [57:25]
C
family vacation in Hawaii in 1981. And she did what a lot of these left wing wine moms does. And you make the tragedy about yourself. Yeah, it's not about, I lost my sister. And that's a horrific experience. And maybe everyone here in San Quentin, you pray to God for forgiveness, and we hope God can forgive you for your sins of what you've done. No, her story is, you know, you guys have killed people. We got that in common.
- [57:52]
A
Right?
- [57:52]
C
We're both killers.
- [57:53]
A
We're both killers. It probably accidents. It's amazing, like, what it takes. And it's sort of. I think it's sort of unique to like a certain class of very wealthy, white liberal women who have this suicidal empathy about things. And it's.
- [58:09]
C
It.
- [58:09]
A
It's just like what Pete Buttigieg was saying about checking his white privilege. It's like they conflate things that have nothing to do with each other in order to put themselves in that oppression Olympics with these convicted murderers. We're the same. You're as innocent as I.
- [58:27]
C
And I think what's important to do here is whenever you have a lunatic, a lefty like this espousing some ridiculous thing where you're like, oh, man, can you believe how stupid this person is? Can you believe how stupid this lefty is? Here's the thing is try to expound upon what would happen if this individual's beliefs were put into policy where she goes into a prison with convicted murderers and says, you know what? I had this traumatic experience. And I bet all of you murderers are probably here because of an accident. Maybe we got to let you out. What happens, We've seen this story before when you let hardened criminals out, why they go out and they do it again. Right. Studies have shown that you can lock up 3% of the population who's responsible for 95% of the crimes.
- [59:19]
A
If we just stop the recidivism problem, we could stop most of the crime in this country.
- [59:23]
C
And that's the thing, is her experience of this tragic event is like, you know what? Maybe we let all you murderers out and there could be more tragedies out there, and it'd make me feel better about myself. Cause then I could Put a little line on my website saying that, like, I accomplished criminal justice reform. Yes, it resulted in tremendous amount of families losing loved ones because all the murders I let out are killing them. But it makes me feel better about myself because that's it. It's all just selfishness. It's suicidal empathy.
- [59:52]
A
That's California for you folks. Crazy place. On Tuesday, there was a special election down in Georgia. You may recall this gentleman, Clayton Fuller, who I think we showed a part of his ad on the Ruthless Variety program a few months ago that had Ruthless on it. He was endorsed by Donald Trump. He won an election on Tuesday night. In that special, he won 55.9 to 44.1. There's the graphic there on your screen. Congratulations to Clayton Fuller. However, I mean, this was a Trump +37 district. Historically, in the Trump era, the Republican Party is a tough time in special elections and off your midterm elections and getting out the base and all that sort of stuff. So warning signs for the midterms. What do we think?
- [60:43]
B
Right. And he certainly, if you followed his candidacy and the campaign that he ran, he certainly seems like the kind of guy who has an upward trajectory, a great career ahead of him, somebody who is going to win this seat by Trump like margins in subsequent cycles. However, I think what we should take away from this special election is that the Trump voters don't always turn out when Trump is not on the ballot. It's just, it is a stark reminder that every single Republican needs to do every single thing they can to pull all of the 2024 Trump voters out to vote for Republicans this time. And I know that, you know, we've talked about this, about how so many of the committees and the RNC and everybody is trying to solve for this problem. The President's talking about a bunch of rallies in the fall and maybe a convention over the summer to try to make sure that people know that his agenda is on the ballot and they should turn out and vote for him. But I mean, as much as anything else, this is a reminder that the stakes are real, that, that 2024 Trump voters do not always turn out.
- [61:53]
A
Yeah, it's true. It's true. The stakes are high and you gotta think about what you listener and viewer can do. Can you get involved? Is there, you know, state party, county party, that you can go and help knock doors, make phone calls, put out yard signs, things like that, talk to your friends and neighbors, you know, other Trump voters, you know how important it is to turn out for this midterm. So it's from the president on down. Everybody has to put their shoulder to the wheel. We have some variety. But before we get to that, there's a very important election, some might say many people are saying the most important election in America happening right now on comfortably Smugs X feed. And that is the final of Hack Madness.
- [62:34]
C
That's right. We're at the championship, folks. There it is right there on the screen. This is the championship match. It is number one seeded Don Lemon versus number one seeded Stephen Colbert.
- [62:49]
A
It's a clash of titans, dude. I mean, I don't think we could have drawn it up any better. I mean, there was a lot of upsets earlier on in the bracket, but at the end of the day, the cream rises to the top.
- [63:00]
B
No, I think that's exactly right. You know, it's Clown v. Clown Bozo v. Pennywise. And what we will find out is who actually wins. What I'm curious about is whether Stephen Colbert comes out in second place. Will he sue the committee if Don Lemon is found by the courts not to be a journalist?
- [63:21]
A
Ah, yeah. Technicality there. Wow. We've never had that before.
- [63:25]
B
Never had it before, but this could be the year.
- [63:27]
C
I mean, this really is a great show of how good judgment the voters have had so far, because these two, it is a clash of the titans. These two have been, like, menaces for a year. This is not like, oh, someone, you know, hit a hot streak right there at the end, day in, day out. These have been hacks all the time, consistently. Don Lemon's willing to go to jail to show how much of a hack he's willing to put in that work. You know, like, there's no limit to how far of a hack he's willing to be. I also want to say that, like, it's a tremendous victory to beat Hasan Piker, who has been like.
- [64:08]
A
And in the news, in the news
- [64:10]
C
out there campaigning with mainstream Democrat candidates across the country, like, he put in the work. But at the end, it is coming down to Don Lemon and Stephen Colbert. And, folks, as you're hearing this, as you're watching this on YouTube, voting is underway. Go to xmfortably smug. MyAccount. The voting is happening. I have pinned it right there. This is for all the marbles.
- [64:32]
A
It's for all the marble championships. And on Funtime Friday, we're going to crown the champion of Hack madness.
- [64:38]
C
Huge.
- [64:39]
A
And we'll also go through the predictions bracket. We had over 1500 people submit brackets, and we're going to find out who the Champion is there among you, listener and viewer community. In fact, there's going to be a little bit of merch out there for the champion. So you'll get your flowers as well.
- [64:56]
B
Big day.
- [64:59]
A
You guys ready for some variety?
- [65:00]
C
Always.
- [65:01]
A
Well, we got a great one. You may have seen it on the Internet on X. A lot of people talking about this one. We had to give you our. Take this from the Wall Street Journal. Inside a corporate retreat that went very badly wrong, senior executives at the tech company Plex were eager to treat their 120 fully remote staffers to a week long corporate getaway in a tropical paradise. You know what you're thinking? Well, they're all working remote. You need to build that camaraderie. So we're going to bring everybody together. We're going to spare no expense. I get that you're a tech company. You got some coin to throw around.
- [65:35]
C
Yeah. When you hear about that, you're thinking, okay, I'm going to be on a beach sipping drinks out of coconuts. Great.
- [65:41]
A
It didn't turn out that way. The plan for the Honduras trip was simple. Company meetings and team building by powdery soft beaches during the day and island fun at night at a cost of roughly $500,000 to the company. Spare no expense on this thing. It's going to be good. They build the trip around a Survivor theme. Turn down that was true to theme with teams and challenges. But it'd be fun, not too physically grueling. The CEO of Plex free streaming platform would play a role similar to the Survivor host, Jeff Probst. Okay, so it didn't go that way.
- [66:19]
C
Right off the bat, this seems like a terrible idea. This seems like, how are you going to do team building, especially if you're the CEO of a company of being like, I want everyone here to suffer. I'm the host of the show. I'm not going to do any of the work. I want to see all my employees suffer. Off the bat seems like a bad idea.
- [66:35]
B
It's like the first day they get there, all of the people who are like, you know what, maybe a pizza party would have been good enough.
- [66:43]
A
Or like, why pick Honduras? You couldn't have went to the Bahamas. Seriously, you know, maybe just go down to the Keys and fish for a little bit.
- [66:52]
B
Yeah, you know, Florida's a nice place.
- [66:53]
A
No going to Honduras. Okay, more from the article. Perhaps the executive should have taken it as a sign that just as the first bus of staffers pulled up to the resort, chief executive was already in his hotel bathroom. Experiencing the initial waves of a violent stomach infection. What followed was a comedy of errors, including military drills that outpaced anything. This group of office workers had in mind. A rogue porcupine, stranded airplanes, and one syringe to the butt of an employee. This is great. This is from the CEO of Plex. This guy, Keith Valerie, God love him, Keith goes. He's talking about the food. Everything there is fry. Basically, people are telling me, don't eat the vegetables. Don't eat the vegetables. I was like, I've got to have a salad. Just one little salad. So I got E. Coli, which is maybe the worst thing you could get.
- [67:48]
C
So this is like a pro tip for folks who travel, who may not travel as much. Whenever you are traveling, only fried stuff. If it is fried, it's safe. Think of that. It is going to hit, like, 10,000 degrees. Any germs are going to get vaporized. I learned the hard way when I was going through that Charlotte airport and had turkey and water. I was like, oh, it's a barbecue place. I was like, let's get some pulled pork. I pull up to the. To the place in the airport. Like, we're at a pulled pork, but we got turkey. I take a look. It's just like turkey sitting in water. I'm starving, losing my mind. Starving. I've been flying all day. All right, let's give it a shot. Turkey and water. What's the worst that can happen? Worst food poisoning of my life. I do not wish that. Like people say. I don't wish that. I'm like, anyway. I truly don't. It is actual food poisoning. Everyone's like, oh, you know, my stomach hurt. Must have been food poisoning. No, true food poisoning is violent. The worst.
- [68:40]
A
Yeah, it's absolutely violent.
- [68:42]
C
Violent.
- [68:42]
A
It's your body raging against the machine.
- [68:44]
C
It wants to die.
- [68:44]
A
It wants to die. It's trying to. It's trying to get it out as quickly as possible. The turkey in the water was a bad omen. You should have known only have fried foods. There were some bad omens here from some of the guests. This is from Sean. About three weeks before we arrived in Honduras, I got an email from the hotel's general manager that said, I will be departing. I wish you the best with your retreat. I knew something was off. Three days later, another email. The head chef was no longer going to be at the hotel. Hmm. So they're dropping like flies before you even get there. It goes on here. Scott, who's a chief product officer at Plex and a co founder he said, we get there, we've got to take a bus from the airport. Dirt roads, you start getting closer and there are guard towers around the property, people with machine guns and stuff. A lot of people were like, where are we going? Yeah, it didn't end there. Go. Go ahead. There are a couple of things that
- [69:41]
B
really stick out to me and they honestly give me an idea here, but I want to read that somebody said this is not a super fit group in general. Okay. This is Doreen from Accounts Payable. And this guy Keith says, one of our biggest mistakes was hiring a former Navy SEAL to pump up the team. As I'm in the room dying, I could hear them out there doing all their drills and yelling. So I'm here thinking, this is terrible, but it sounds terrible out there, too. And a guy, Scott goes on, this is the guy who said it's not a super fit group. He said the ex Navy SEAL is like, we could tone it down. No problem.
- [70:18]
A
We can get up there.
- [70:19]
B
It's hot and humid and people are passing out. I don't think he's ever seen quite such an unfit group. We ended up on, I guess, what's probably a golf course. This gives me an idea, guys, okay? Because the fitness is not a problem that plagues the ruthless production team. You know, these guys are United States Marine Corps. These are very fit men. These are guys who will, you know, do anything to get ahead. Yeah, right? These are winners. So I think we should set up a contest, Okay. I think we should have them race, you know, across some country, maybe Tanzania. You know, the first guy across to run from the western side of Tanzania to the east coast and then swim to Zanzibar gets a Cadillac El Dorado.
- [71:09]
A
There's a weakness in your plan.
- [71:10]
B
What is it?
- [71:12]
A
If Eddie P. And Wolf are doing the swimming, who's doing the videotaping?
- [71:16]
C
It's a great point.
- [71:17]
B
We can fight somebody.
- [71:19]
A
We gotta get a stringer crew. We do.
- [71:21]
B
Maybe Jared.
- [71:22]
A
We need a crew to film the crew.
- [71:23]
B
Mustache Jared.
- [71:24]
A
We can get Mustache Jared on it.
- [71:25]
B
But Mustache Jared might want to compete.
- [71:27]
A
He might.
- [71:28]
B
You know, that guy seems like he
- [71:29]
A
does some push ups with a mustache like that. We hear more color from Greta, who was doing the training with the Navy seals. She's doing the training and she lands on a fire ant hill. I was wearing shorts, okay? I jumped up and had hives and bumps from the bites. It was horrifying. It was so itchy. The medical area didn't have any regular antihistamines. Oh, we can shoot some into your butt cheek. So she gets shot with antihistamines in her ass because she's surrounded by fire ants. Unbelievable.
- [72:03]
B
This is crazy, dude. I just. I can't even. I wish there was video of this.
- [72:07]
C
Yeah, I don't know why they do this shit. I don't believe in any of this. Like, let's do team building exercises where we're running obstacle courses. And they're like, well, the big lesson here is that, you know, you can rely on each. Just do the goddamn job. Just do the job. Like that's, you know, you think about all the great companies in the history of this country. You think we're rocking out Model T Fords because, you know, everyone's at a retreat falling into each other's arms. I don't know where this ridiculousness comes from.
- [72:36]
A
Well, smug, I got to disagree with you. And it's because of the culture of remote work, because I think this proves. And you get to the end of the article and they actually have a really good appreciation for this. They're sort of, as the kids would say, trauma bonded through the whole thing. There's a quote from Keith, says you really get close bonds on these trips. It's like a life sustaining force at the company. It's sort of like going through pledgeship, getting hazed. And in remote work, we don't have that anymore. So what you need is a trip like this every year or two to keep the employees on their toes.
- [73:08]
B
Tanzania.
- [73:09]
A
Tanzania.
- [73:12]
B
We should do it.
- [73:13]
A
I think it's a gem.
- [73:15]
B
Think about the content.
- [73:16]
A
Look, I think it's a great idea. We're going to have to go ahead and scope out the cost. That sounds pretty ambitious, Ashbrook, but I appreciate it.
- [73:24]
B
I'm sure we can find a partner.
- [73:28]
A
I'm sure we can. So again, our question of the day is, is this over? Is the war in Iran over? Will the ceasefire stick? What's important to you? What do we have to get out of this deal to make it all worth it? We want to read your comments. So go to YouTube like and subscribe. Leave your comments. We read every one. And we'll get back to you on fun time Friday. We're also going to have again the champion of hack madness. You're not going to want to miss it.
- [74:00]
B
Big show.
- [74:01]
A
It's going to be nothing but yucks. A great time had by all. And with that, I think we did it.
- [74:07]
C
I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, remember, go to X, go to my feed at ComfortablySmug. Vote for the hacked madness. Championship. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you on Friday. Stay ruthless.