How the Obama/Biden FBI & CIA Conned the American People

Summary

Summary of "Ruthless Podcast - How the Obama/Biden FBI & CIA Conned the American People"

Release Date: July 10, 2025

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Overview

In this compelling episode of the Ruthless Podcast, hosts Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug (Smug), Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook delve deep into the alleged misconduct and politicization within the FBI and CIA during the Obama/Biden administrations. The discussion centers around figures like John Brennan and James Comey, exploring how their actions purportedly undermined American democratic processes. The episode also features an insightful interview with Alex Brushewitz, a pivotal figure in the conservative podcast movement, who shares his experiences and observations from international travels.

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1. Unveiling the Hidden Narrative

The episode begins with Smug highlighting how the mainstream narrative has suppressed alternative perspectives derived from insiders like John Brennan.

• Notable Quote:
  • Smug [00:00]: "The other side of the story never got told, basically, isn't being told until this podcast, because all of it was derived from John Brennan."

2. The Deep State and Election Manipulation

Duncan introduces the concept of the "deep state," pointing fingers at John Brennan and James Comey as key players manipulating electoral outcomes.

• Notable Quote:
  • Duncan [00:16]: "That's it... the Hunter Biden laptop. It bears all the hallmarks of Russian 51."
  • Smug [07:23]: "Cause we were involved in the game. Fox News reports the FBI launches criminal investigations of John Brennan DOJ's sources."

3. Allegations Against Intelligence Figures

Ashbrook and Smug discuss the alleged treasonous activities of intelligence officials, accusing them of using their positions to disrupt Donald Trump's presidency.

• Notable Quotes:
  • Ashbrook [06:29]: "They made careers, entire media careers off that lying to the American people and trying to destroy the reputation of President elect Donald Trump back in 2017."
  • Smug [14:06]: "A new CIA review exposed John Brennan's politicization... raising the possibility they may have misled Congress."

4. Impact on American Democracy

The hosts emphasize the profound impact these alleged actions have had on American institutions, fostering division and eroding trust among citizens.

• Notable Quotes:
  • Smug [37:33]: "This can collapse a government and our effectiveness in terms of safeguarding the American people and providing faith in institutions."
  • Ashbrook [16:40]: "He [Comey] has been a singular force poisoning American democracy on all sides."

5. King of the Hill: A Lighthearted Debate

Shifting gears, the podcast features the "King of the Hill" segment where the hosts playfully debate listener-submitted content, showcasing their camaraderie and wit.

• Notable Interaction:
  • Ashbrook [48:44]: "She's so incredibly desperate for attention and compliments. Is Lewandowski smacking her around?"
  • Duncan [59:57]: "If you like Trump, you go to hell."

6. Interview with Alex Brushewitz: The Global Podcast Revolution

The latter half of the episode features an in-depth interview with Alex Brushewitz, the so-called "godfather of the podcast revolution within conservative media." Alex shares his experiences traveling internationally and observing the growing influence of American conservative podcasts.

• Key Points:

  • International Impact: Alex discusses how American podcasts, including the Ruthless Podcast, have inspired similar movements worldwide, particularly in Europe and Asia.
  • Authenticity and Direct Communication: Emphasizes the importance of unfiltered, direct communication through podcasts, bypassing mainstream media biases.
  • Conservative Movements Abroad: Highlights how conservative leaders in other countries are keen to emulate the podcasting strategies that have bolstered American conservatism.

• Notable Quotes:

  • Alex Brushewitz [68:57]: "Conservatives in other countries are like, we got to do that [podcasting], too."
  • Alex Brushewitz [77:11]: "Trump was a force... it kind of just swallowed up the Republican Party."

7. The Path Forward: Accountability and Unity

The episode concludes with a call for accountability within American intelligence agencies and a plea for unity among conservatives to maintain momentum against perceived partisan assaults.

• Notable Quotes:
  • Smug [45:15]: "The investigation is going on means we're going to get information which I think is critically important to restoring some level of faith and trust in a government that we now know is incapable hands."
  • Duncan [41:40]: "This guy. There's got to be some ramifications for what he's done."

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Key Takeaways

• Alleged Misconduct: The podcast presents a narrative that key figures in the FBI and CIA, specifically John Brennan and James Comey, engaged in activities detrimental to President Donald Trump and, by extension, American democracy.

• Deep State Concerns: Emphasis on the concept of the "deep state" as a covert entity manipulating political outcomes and fostering division within the nation.

• International Influence: Through Alex Brushewitz's insights, the podcast highlights the global reach and influence of American conservative media, particularly podcasts, in shaping political discourse abroad.

• Call for Accountability: A strong stance advocating for the investigation and prosecution of intelligence officials to restore trust in American institutions.

• Unity Among Conservatives: Encourages unity and strategic communication within the conservative movement to counteract perceived systemic biases and partisan attacks.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

1. Smug [00:00]: "The other side of the story never got told, basically, isn't being told until this podcast, because all of it was derived from John Brennan."

2. Duncan [00:16]: "That's it... the Hunter Biden laptop. It bears all the hallmarks of Russian 51."

3. Ashbrook [06:29]: "They made careers, entire media careers off that lying to the American people and trying to destroy the reputation of President elect Donald Trump back in 2017."

4. Smug [14:06]: "A new CIA review exposed John Brennan's politicization... raising the possibility they may have misled Congress."

5. Smug [37:33]: "This can collapse a government and our effectiveness in terms of safeguarding the American people and providing faith in institutions."

6. Alex Brushewitz [68:57]: "Conservatives in other countries are like, we got to do that [podcasting], too."

7. Smug [45:15]: "The investigation is going on means we're going to get information which I think is critically important to restoring some level of faith and trust in a government that we now know is incapable hands."

8. Duncan [41:40]: "This guy. There's got to be some ramifications for what he's done."

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This detailed summary captures the essence of the episode, highlighting the main discussions, key points, and significant quotes. It provides a comprehensive overview for those who haven't listened to the episode while maintaining the depth and engagement essential for a long-form summary.

Transcript

[Smug]

The other side of the story never got told, basically, isn't being told until this podcast, because all of it was derived from John Brennan.

[Duncan]

You want to think about what the deep state is.

[Smug]

That's the guy.

[Ashbrook]

That's the guy.

[Duncan]

That's it. Oh, yes, the Hunter Biden laptop. It bears all the hallmarks of Russian 51.

[Smug]

51 intelligence agents that. You know their name.

[Duncan]

I mean, in my mind, I'm not a lawyer. In my mind, that's treasonous. Like, are you. You are trying to swing an election off of this being like, oh, yes, the laptop's not real. In about six months, we're all going to find out it is, but. But right now we're going to tell you it's not real because there's an election coming here. Like, these sick people. And it looks like they're going to be held accountable.

[E]

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[Wolf]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please.

[Duncan]

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

[Wolf]

It's time for our main event.

[Smug]

Good Thursday to you. Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety Program. I gotta tell you, fellas, I've been excited about this all week. We've got topics today that. First of all, you can stick a quarter in the old man's back.

[Wolf]

Oh, I can't wait.

[Smug]

And get him wound up to the point where he can't even recognize himself. And then there's a wind toy for the rest of us that we can deal with. You've seen it. It's gonna be an FBI investigation into Brennan and Comey. And my guess is that probably expands beyond that. We've been talking about that for four long years.

[Duncan]

A while.

[Ashbrook]

Yeah. When I hear Those names, I feel like Vince McMahon. And I'm running down, you know, to the ring, like I'm just ready to fight someone.

[Smug]

It's, it's just so good. And listen, recall we're gonna do three episodes this week and we may do it in perpetuity just because we had so much fun last week. We had so much fun at the end of last year. We're just going to keep this thing rolling. So there are other news, there's more news. We're going to talk about ice and the increasing violence on Friday's show, which I think is an important topic, but we're not going to get to it in this one. What we're going to talk about is the FBI probe, which is a long time coming. We're going to do a lightning round where we're going to talk about this testimony from Biden's doctor Unreal. Unreal. Unreal. Fantastic stuff. There's a Rubio clock moment for those of you who didn't see it.

[Wolf]

So good.

[Smug]

Just fantastic stuff. We're gonna play King of the Hill. Cuz it's Thursday. That's what we do on Thursdays. We do our thing. We let our friend do the ring announcement and we, we take it from there.

[Duncan]

Our audience is so lucky. I mean, this is gonna be a fantastic episode.

[Smug]

And then we have a special guest, our good friend Alex Brushewicz, who as you all know, is sort of the godfather of the podcast revolution within conservative media. You've heard him here three, four times. He probably deserves a jacket. We gotta get on those jackets, Wolf. Yeah, we gotta get on the ruthless jackets to start awarding properly. The people who have been on this many times. But he's been traveling internationally. Turns out the podcast revolution in America is something we've all become accustomed to. Everybody knows and understands that there's a million, million million people who got their news and information during the course of the 2024 election off of podcasts like this one. But it turns out the international community is not unaware and they are now tuning in in record numbers to American podcasts, trying to learn a little bit of something. He provides a good insight that I think is a revolutionary media tool in a lot of different ways. And he gives us some insight into the Trump administration and everything else. Because, look, he's the insider, he's got it. So we got all that coming for you and more. But we need to start with this FBI situation. Now, for Those of you OGs of the ruthless variety program, we've been on this for a While, yes, it's one of the things that animates us the most because we had to spend four long years before we even launched the podcast just getting nothing. But this filtered information that we knew because of what we did for our day jobs was coming directly from Brennan and Clapper and a bunch of people who either held the job as a CIA director or somebody who had security clearances that we saw in green rooms at CNN or, or, you know, various media places that would convince people that, well, I've seen evidence to suggest all of this is very credible.

[Ashbrook]

My sources in the intelligence community would lead me to believe. Now, I cannot confirm or deny the existence of this thing I'm going to tell you is true. They made careers, entire media careers off that lying to the American people and trying to destroy the reputation of President elect Donald Trump back in 2017.

[Smug]

Well, and prior to Donald Trump's reelection in 24, they all maintained those security clearances so they could still be privy to information you don't know.

[Duncan]

And famously, these were the clowns who in November, October of 2020, were like, happily talking to any journo in town and being like, oh, yes, the Hunter Biden last habit bears all the hallmarks.

[Smug]

Of Russian 51, 51 intelligence agents that, you know their name.

[Duncan]

I mean, in my mind, I'm not a lawyer. In my mind, that's treasonous. Like, are you. You are trying to swing an election off of this being like, oh, yes, the laptop's not real. In about six months, we're all gonna find out it is. But right now we're gonna tell you it's not real because there's an election coming here. Like, these sick people, and it looks like they're gonna be held accountable.

[Smug]

It does look like. I'm gonna give the overview of what the investigation is, but then we're gonna provide some added context that we lived. Like, you're not gonna get this thing anywhere else. Because we actually had lived experience where we knew the pace of play. Cause we were involved in the game. Fox News reports the FBI launches criminal investigations of John Brenn DOJ's sources. CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred Brennan for criminal investigation to the FBI. Sources told Fox News Digital. Former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are under a criminal investigation for potential wrongdoing related to the Trump Russia probe, including allegedly making false statements to Congress. It's not allegedly they did. I mean, it's allegedly because they haven't proven it in the court of law. But you know what's fact. And you know what their statements are. Right? So. And this is the thing that we've been talking about forever, about the selective prosecution of that very thing about false statements or a failure to. To comply with subpoenas or whatever. We knew that these guys did all of those things and never were held accountable. Well, it's changing now. The Trump Russia probe, including allegedly making false statements to Congress. Justice Department sources told Fox News Digital. CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred evidence of wrongdoing by Brennan to FBI Director Cash Patel for potential prosecution. DOJ sources told him. The sources said the referral was received and told Fox News Digital that a criminal investigation into Brennan was opened and underway. DOJ sources declined to provide further details. As one does when you're doing an investigation. You're not gonna open the kimono. It's unclear at this point if the investigation spans beyond the alleged false statements to Congress. Clearly, that's a criminal element that we're talking about. There's a statute of limitations on this. So, you know, like somebody like Clapper, who had made demonstrably false statements at one point beyond the statute of limitations. You're. You're asking why now? And the reason is because these things are pertinent to a statute of limitations, and so that's why they're moving forward. I think there's a lot of people, look, if you're not a Trump fan, you're gonna look at some of this stuff and say, okay, this is either sour grapes or it's a revenge motive. Let me just tell you. It's not. It's not. What these people perpetrated, whether they are charged or convicted, is one of the most damaging things you can do to this country.

[Ashbrook]

Yeah. I mean, talking about treason you were talking about earlier, smug. I mean, that's what it was. It was a treasonous operation by our own intelligence community against the President elected the United States, Donald J. Trump. And it started. Okay, well, this is what I always. You know, you probably heard this a thousand times if you listen to the show, but it all started at Trump Tower, when Donald Trump is President elect and Jim Comey comes into his office and is like, hey, congratulations, sir. Oh, yeah, I'm so. You know, I'll be glad to serve under you. Hey, by the way, did you piss on Russian prostitutes?

[Smug]

Yeah, we got. We have stuff. Just want to.

[Ashbrook]

I just want to let you know.

[Smug]

That I got paper on. Well, there's.

[Ashbrook]

This is. You know, it might end up being public. Of course, I'm not going to tell you that this all originated with Hillary Clinton's campaign. And this is an opposition research book that her team put together that we've laundered.

[Smug]

I'm not intelligence agency.

[Ashbrook]

I'm not going to tell you the provenance of any of this. I'm going to make blind accusations that you, President elect Donald Trump, a guy who made his entire career in real estate in New York dealing with mobsters who like to shake people down.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ashbrook]

And that's what Jim Comey did. And then what he'd go ahead and do, leak it to the fucking media and launch the entire Russiagate probe that tried to destroy Donald Trump's presidency. It all started with our own intelligence agencies. It's fucking treasonous.

[Duncan]

And also the effect that it had on this country. There is a significant portion of this country, I know for many of our listeners, it's hard to believe there's a significant portion of this country who thinks that, like, Donald Trump's like a KGB agent and like, works for Putin, like truly brain damage stuff. But the reason is because these people pushed this lie. They were willing to poison the brains of Americans. I mean, you'd be stunned at the number of Americans, like half this country. I mean, these libs, they believe that Donald Trump's like some Russian asset and they will never let go of it. It's like a culture like Kool Aid belief. No, of course he loves Russia. He works for Russia. And that was done to them by these people.

[Smug]

Okay.

[Ashbrook]

So I think the reason why that happened and it sort of broke containment outside of some sort of story in D.C. media or some, you know, intelligence agents with some cables being like, well, we were worried about Donald Trump's, you know, communications with Russia. Is that it? It became a PR operation of the Democratic Party beyond the intelligence community itself. It became a fundraising vehicle. We live, we lived all of this in the first Trump administration. I can't wait till we get to that whole part, cuz we can tell you some incredible stories.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Wolf]

But can I just say one thing? It did become a PR operation of the Democrats. And you might say, well, Republicans do PR operations too, but when Republicans line up surrogates to go on television, they're like, hey, Kevin Madden, can you go on cable and talk about this politics thing? Hey, maybe Newt Gingrich, would you be willing to go on TV and talk about this television tax cut? No. Democrats surrogates were official members of American intelligence.

[Smug]

Well, they created the talk that then they went out and talked about.

[Ashbrook]

And if you disagreed with them, then you were a Russian stooge. You were engaged in treason.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ashbrook]

It's your own country.

[Smug]

We're going to break that down. I want to get to the specifics of what it is that they're talking about here. This isn't just the news you may have seen. We didn't cover it here in the Ruthless Variety Program, but last week, a new CIA review exposed John Brennan's politicization.

[Ashbrook]

Tough word.

[Smug]

It's a tough word. Of intelligence tied to alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The CIA review may have also revealed that Brennan lied to Congress. A new report by the CIA. So Ratcliffe has been on this, and we're gonna get to this in the second section that he. They were on this all the way back in 2020, where we got information that's relevant to this. But a new report revealed by the CIA revealed that infirmities and failures with the US intelligence community's assessment of Russian influence in the 2016 election. Criticizing now former CIA Director John Brennan for his actions and raising the possibility they may have misled Congress. All right, so what they're talking about is a very specific piece that allows for the opening of an investigation which is misleading Congress. There's a statute of limitations. That's why we're talking about it now. It's an important piece. What we're going to get to after the break is the much more pernicious component to what it is that these people have done. We saw it with our own eyes. We lived it. It's stories that you have not heard anywhere else other than ruthless. Because we were in the middle of it and we had discussed it with people. We were trying to figure it out. We were responsible for the politics of Senate Republicans, and they were interested in picking up the Senate at that time, Democrats. And so they used a bunch of intelligence they laundered through John Brennan. And John Brennan was a purveyor of all this to try to make a case for the midterms in 2018. And we are uniquely the recipients of this information that you ought to know, because I think beyond whether he made false statements to Congress, which is in and of itself something that people should be prosecuted for, it goes much deeper. It's problematic in a very, very significant way. On the comey front, you'll flashback to 2019, where he leaked classified information. I mean, the comey front. Listen, I'm gonna get you spun up here after the break on this because there's just so much like he just can't. There's nothing that this guy touches that is not problematic. Like he's just a problem.

[Ashbrook]

I think he's been a singular force poisoning American democracy on all sides.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ashbrook]

And I think he's a malignant narcissist who somehow thinks people don't realize that. I don't know anybody who likes this guy. And if you look at his track record, he's been wrong about everything. You know, and he's made himself the center of the attention on everything. And all it's been is to the detriment of our political process. And he somehow thinks he's the hero. That's the most bizarre thing to me.

[Smug]

It's incredible. Now there's gonna be those critics who see all this as just punishing enemies and going at retribution campaign. But it's just not.

[Ashbrook]

It's not.

[Smug]

It's just not. And the way that we come at this is different fold. Right. Smug. Gotta give different take than Duncan, who's got a different take than Ashbrook, who has a different take than I Cuz we all come at this in different ways. But ultimately what this was is the reason why you have this unbelievable conspiracy campaign against a whole bunch of different things that exist online that you can't box up because nobody trusts what it is that they're saying. It all derives from people like John Brennan and Jim Comey. Like they created this. The reason that you have a problem with intelligence agencies is not that you didn't. We know the color of the tile in the seventh floor below ground in a nuclear development facility in Tehran that we just blew to smithereens. That's the way that I grew up with admiring intelligence agencies. Donald Trump is seeking to restore that. But in order to do that you need to point out the reason you don't trust that. Yep.

[Duncan]

Because it's not gonna be fixed until the people who went wrong are held accountable.

[Smug]

It's just not. It's just not.

[Duncan]

Like I got some when we were talking about Brennan. It says Brennan is currently a senior national security analyst for NBC. Until justice is served, the incentives are gonna be there for these people to be horrible. That's it.

[Smug]

And I sat in green rooms early in my post government career with these people. Or they give you the wink of the knob and like I've seen stuff you haven't seen. You don't know. I know. And I'm just telling you the Russian thing. There's stuff there. And then they go on TV and basically do it the same way. So they're informing millions of people of things that don't exist. It's really remarkable.

[Duncan]

I mean, you have to be a sick person.

[Smug]

Sick.

[Wolf]

And then I will tell you, dude, you take that whole mindset and then these guys basically set themselves up as junior researchers for the dnc. Like, these are people who work in the American intelligence apparatus and then they act as if they're 25 year olds sitting in a basement doing LEXIS research. And they provide the same sort of service for Democrats and Hillary Clinton in this case as your 25 year old doing LEXIS research does to their Republican candidate. I mean, it is very sad that our intelligence apparatus came to this at that point.

[Smug]

Well, it's why when you jump on X or Facebook or anything else, you see so many wild takes and assuming the worst of anybody who works in government, the same people who saved incredible amounts of lives with the Iranian 12, 15, 20 year project to ensure that we knew everything there was to know about the nuclear development that was happening there that allowed Donald Trump to pull the trigger on an incredible mission that our heroes executed. It's why we don't focus on that.

[Wolf]

Right.

[Smug]

It's why you see online there's a whole bunch. I don't know. I mean, was it really there? Like, I don't, I mean, you know, was the moon landing in Yuma? Yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's why you have that. It's because of this. So I would say, like, at some level, I think the intelligence agencies already understand this because Ratcliffe is sort of straightened things out. Right. But, but I do think there's probably an assumption, at least for those who work in the intelligence agency, that they, they think this might be an attack on them. This is what sets, this is what puts you in a place where the American people can trust the same way we did when we were kids in the 1980s. Right.

[Wolf]

It's like, I'll tell you, I think we're gonna get to the spying on the Senate Intel Committee five or six years ago.

[Smug]

Yeah, we're gonna get into all that.

[Wolf]

But at that moment, we'll get into this deeper. But at that moment when these guys insisted that that had to happen, there was a whole host of intel career people who were like, wait a minute, you're not supposed to be spying on Congress. There was an uprising internally in reaction to these guys steamrolling these people, saying, no, you have to go in, you have to get into the emails of the Saxby Chambliss staff and the Dianne Feinstein staff. And I think you're exactly right. I think that, like, until the light of day is shown on what these guys did, the lack of trust will continue to exist. And it doesn't necessarily need to because it, it shits all over all of the work that people did on Iran and everything else they're doing to keep us safe on a daily basis.

[Smug]

Totally right. We're going to get into the behind the scenes under the hood, our experience story right after this. America's beverage companies are investing in America. We're American companies making American products with American workers in America's hometowns. We're local bottlers and manufacturers operating in all 50 states employing more than 275,000Americans in good paying jobs delivering for the nation because we believe in the promise of America and the people who make it great. Learn [e-mail] paid for by the American Beverage Association. Okay, so we're talking about this Comey and Brennan situation. I think if you have even tangentially followed the news, you know that Comey situation. He almost a quarterly provides a step in moment that reminds you why he was totally unfit to serve as an FBI director.

[Ashbrook]

What was the thing he did recently with the shells on the 8647?

[Wolf]

86.

[Ashbrook]

47.

[Smug]

And he was like, oh, I thought it was a neat shell formation.

[Ashbrook]

Yeah, like, come on, dude.

[Smug]

Douche.

[Ashbrook]

He's such a douche.

[Smug]

It's just, it's, it's so bad. But look, we have an experience that goes far beyond what they're dealing with in terms of this investigation and criminal charges that goes, it dates back to 2016. And in 2016, we know from documents that were uncovered from investigations at that time that we're trying to allege Russian collusion with Donald Trump, that Brennan briefed the Hillary Clinton campaign about the existence of Russian interference. And we don't know what that contained because we're not privy to the specifics of it. But we do know that there were handwritten notes that were then furnished to the Senate Intelligence Committee that Brennan had taken that suggested that he acknowledged and understood that the Clinton campaign had gotten authorized by Hillary Clinton to inject this narrative into the final stages, the waning weeks of the 2016 campaign, that somehow Russia wanted Donald Trump to win. And why a CIA director was ever in a discussion with a campaign other than to brief them about the facts that they understood is unreal to me.

[Duncan]

That's insane.

[Smug]

It is. I mean, this is the most dangerous element that you can possibly imagine. We've talked a lot about criminal activity in the political arena. There is nothing, in my view, that supersedes the idea that an acting director of the CIA is having a campaign conversation, not an intel briefing. Yeah, but having a campaign conversation about what their tactics were going to be and their messages were going to.

[Duncan]

That's insane.

[Ashbrook]

I'm the director of the CIA and I'm here to help you coup democracy.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Duncan]

That is insane.

[Smug]

Yep. So anyway, he tells Clinton presumably about this at some point. Hillary signs off on injecting this into the later stages of the campaign. Meanwhile, Brennan goes about the business of trying to provide cover for her argument. Some kind of a validation, if you will. Easy sell with the Obama administration. He's part of it. Right. They're all on board. He then goes to Speaker Ryan, says Russia has done all these things. They're hacking emails. We've already seen the hacked dnc, the hacked Hillary Clinton stuff. What they didn't tell you is that they were also hacking Republicans. Yep. At the exact same rate. I know, cuz I was one of them at that point. I was helping to run Senate Republican efforts. I got hacked same way the DNC did, the same way that Hillary Clinton did. That happened in real time. We had some spooks call us from National Security Agency to tell us like this is a problem and you ought to do something about it and try to safeguard. We did our due diligence and, and followed whatever recommendations people made. But that was never public. People didn't know that. All they knew is that Russia hacked Hillary and Russia hacked the dnc. That was the public perception that they.

[Ashbrook]

Purveyed because it reinforced what ultimately their PR objective was, was that Russia wants Trump to be president because they only hit the Democrats.

[Smug]

Do you remember how surreal that was, by the way?

[Ashbrook]

Surreal.

[Smug]

Surreal because I asked you, I don't know shit about any of this stuff and you were like our Internet goofy.

[Ashbrook]

I had to talk to these guys.

[Smug]

Yeah. And I was like, I don't know what to do about this. Like I don't even know what this means. And like you took the call and talked to him and you're. Yeah. I mean, I think you pretty quickly surmised what it was that they were talking about. But it was a thing. It was scary as shit.

[Ashbrook]

Yeah. Basically had to send them like IP logs of sign ins that they could then validate that they were coming from the same, you know, organized ring of people who were hacking these emails that.

[Smug]

They could then trace back to whatever the same place was that did the DNC hacks, whatever they ultimately did. And like we Were there was a later on, like years later, some press became aware of it, never really printed many stories. I remember one journalist in particular was interested in talking about it, and I was like, I don't want to talk about this stuff. Right. This is. So you're getting it here first on the ruthless variety program.

[Duncan]

And I can say there were other Republican presidential campaigns that did get hacked by Russia, and they didn't make it public because they were told, don't make it public because that might encourage them or whatever. And they were told what to do, but that doesn't fit the narrative because they wanted it to be like, oh, they're targeting Hillary alone.

[Smug]

And they were playing in, well tilled soil. Because if you're a campaign, there's something you don't know what's all in your emails, you're proving stuff you're doing. I mean, it's like the frenetic motion of a campaign. You, you don't know what people are gonna take out of context or do whatever. You just don't want any part of it. Right. The last thing you want is NBC News or CNN running with your campaign emails one by one. And so they had an audience that was receptive to just keeping it cool. So they never purveyed that narrative. It was always a Democratic hack on behalf of Donald Trump's campaign. So then Brennan goes to Congress and he goes to Speaker Ryan and he goes to Leader McConnell, and they say, this is happening. We believe that Russia is attempting to sway the election on behalf of Donald Trump, and they provide all the things that we don't know about that's still classified in terms of evidence that they have for all of this. But we also know that part of the evidence that they're talking about is like Steele Dossier stuff. Stuff that's like laughably false. Right, that they got from the Hillary campaign. Yeah.

[Duncan]

Which is so insane to think about.

[Ashbrook]

A real Wag the Dog exercise.

[Smug]

But they were dealing with it as though it wasn't campaign research gone awry, that it was somehow first person CIA intel, like, obtained by the highest sources within the CIA. And fortunately, I don't know how many of you are going to believe this, but it was Mitch McConnell who said, Go fuck yourself. I mean, they wanted a letter from the Big four, they call it. It's the leader of the Senate, the leader of the House, speaker of the House, in the heads of both committees on intelligence, to basically verify that this is happening. And they're concerned about it because they thought that would provide the way they build it was supplementing evidence for the Obama administration to do something about it, that it's a bipartisan event because it's at the end of an election, presidential election cycle, and we all ought to be on board with foreign actors, that kind of thing. Except for the fact that it was an entirely partisan exercise. And anybody who'd been around or had any political astuteness whatsoever could see that it was an entirely partisan pitch, that they were trying to validate a Clinton campaign claim that somehow Russia, more than the American people, wanted Donald Trump to beat her. It's a hell of a pitch. McConnell tells them to go fuck themselves. So what happens the next nine months? Probably year and a half, really, they begin to label McConnell as Moscow.

[Duncan]

That's when the libs were like, oh, wow, he's paid off. He's Moscow Mitch.

[Ashbrook]

So I think the timeline is important here because it didn't happen initially, the Moscow Mitch thing. There were dribs and drabs of this whole thing. But I think the timing is important because it reinforces what I said, you know, before the break, about how this broke, the containment of this intelligence operation with the Hillary Clinton campaign into the wider pr, you know, work of the Democratic Party. Because what happened was the dribs and drabs of Russiagate, they proceed as a matter of course. They're trying to, you know, impeach Donald Trump and all of this sort of stuff. And then Robert Mueller's appointed and all of that. And then all the Democrats, you know, and their influencers online are like, TikTok, it's Mueller time. We got him. He's dead to rights. Then he goes at the end of this Russia gay probe to Congress and testifies, and the whole fucking thing falls apart. He can barely complete a sentence.

[Smug]

Yep.

[Ashbrook]

He doesn't know the evidence in which, you know, is in the documents in front of him. He's pretty much laughed out of the room. It's an embarrassing thing, really. A horrible way for that guy to end his career, frankly.

[Smug]

Who was at one point just an incredibly admirable law enforcement official.

[Ashbrook]

Right.

[Smug]

Unquestionable.

[Ashbrook]

But the left had turned him in, this folk hero who's going to take down Donald Trump. And it failed. And it failed dramatically the very next week after the whole Russiagate thing collapsed. And it was, you know, no obstruction, no collusion. That's really when they kicked the Moscow Mitch stuff up to another gear. Yeah, because at the time, it was all about the funding of the election. Remember, Covid is going on, and if Mitch McConnell doesn't provide all of these resources to the states. Well, wouldn't you know it, Russia's going to hack the election and steal it again.

[Smug]

He did it just like they stole it before. Did it before, he'll do it again.

[Ashbrook]

And it became a drumbeat all the way through to election day. Mitch McConnell's not providing enough funds for these, you know, states to secure their elections. This election is going to be fraudulent as Mitch McConnell steps up. But he's Moscow Mitch. He's not going to do it. Election day happens. Joe Biden wins. Most secure election in history. Yeah, most secure election. The idea, these people are such fucking frauds and liars.

[Smug]

Meanwhile, the idea of election security they were talking about was funding efforts to send ballots to addresses. Nobody lived at the Dropbox.

[Duncan]

Like, let's get rid of all voting rules whatsoever.

[Smug]

Rules that didn't exist.

[Ashbrook]

They use the intelligence, intelligence system to basically run a multi year extortion racket against Republicans and against the American people.

[Smug]

And I remember specifically, and I don't recall the reporter, but it's one of those that's like, what's her name? We talked about her on Megyn Kelly.

[Ashbrook]

Natasha Bertrand.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ashbrook]

I have a photographic memory when it comes to Russiagate. Yeah, These fucking people.

[Smug]

So she was the worst offender. She's always a guy at the Washington Post who is like the first gen version that was basically just a stenographer for whatever Brennan had to say. Sources within the intelligence community. And this is where this thing gets, in my view, totally criminal because they would provide them evidence and they would do a TikTok of all the evidence that they had and they would say that congressional leaders knew that Russia was doing all this and they refused to do anything about it. Obama wanted to, Obama wanted to take action, but he was fearful of politicizing the environment right before an election. So he needed bipartisan buy in. Unfortunately, they didn't provide that. They chose partisanship over the sanctity and security of American elections in 2016. And there was a big lamenting of all of this information, the TikTok that was involved, of what they provided Republican leaders along the way. And how dare they ever choose some kind of a partisan manifest of what it is that they wanted rather than the safety and security of the American people. And it was like, I read it at the time and I knew the story at the time, but like, obviously I was out of government, I didn't have a security clearance. So there's like not much you can say other than saying you're full of shit. But I knew it. And the other side of the story never got told, basically, isn't being told until this podcast, because all of it was derived from John Brennan. It's from John. Now, did he have deputies in this effort? Was it Clapper? Sure. Adam Schiff. I'm sure he had a host of partisan actors within the intelligence agencies that were feeding him nonsense they polluted the environment with, because Lord knows he is like the goat in terms of misinformation. But this is the thing, and if you can, I don't care what you think about Donald Trump. I don't care if you think that this administration is a success or whether you voted for them once, twice, or three times or never. This is the thing that can collapse a government and our effectiveness in terms of safeguarding the American people and providing faith in institutions. If you want to see every city in America look like a Gaza protest at Columbia University, you keep up what John Brennan is doing.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yep.

[Smug]

Because people will lose faith in everything. So in my mind, this has absolutely nothing to do with whether this guy made a false statement to Congress, which is what they're apparently investigating. It has everything to do with whether or not this guy's gonna be held accountable for all. Ultimately doing more, in my mind to undermine the American democracy than any individual that I have encountered in 25 years of doing this.

[Duncan]

100%, dude.

[Smug]

It's incredible. It's genuinely incredible. And you could see the partisanship on each and every turn.

[Wolf]

It's just Democrats pin everything on this. And here's the thing, it is no wonder why Democrats are losing elections lately. You know what I mean? Because it's all bullshit games. You know what I mean? Republicans, Donald Trump is like, I'm going to cut your taxes. Democrats are like, here's some bullshit. Donald Trump is like, I'm going to shut down the border and keep you safe. Democrats are like, no, no, no. Pay attention to this bullshit. Donald Trump is like, you know what? We really need to knock out the terrorists. Democrats are like, no, no, no. Bullshit. Bullshit. Russia bullshit. You wondering about why Democrats lose and it's because they try to spin a story to people straight out of Washington based on less than credible sources who've been proven wrong over and over and over again against a Republican message that is like, here is what I'm going to do for you.

[Duncan]

And you do it and you do it.

[Smug]

Which is what Donald Trump has done. But I think, look, they are used to having a full monopoly on the flow of information.

[Wolf]

They are.

[Smug]

Yep. They're used to a pre ruthless variety program. They're used to a pre Joe Rogan. They're not used to you being able to use your mind. You're force fed a list of information that only they provide. And that is John Brennan's world.

[Duncan]

Yep.

[Smug]

That is the world that he comes from. And as long as I can sort of masquerade as somebody who knows something more than you do. But I can't tell you, I can't tell you what a clown. He can get stenographers to go out and do the job for him, which is the way that they have operated. I think they've operated this way forever at some level. And it's probably not a partisan thing. I mean, I think probably Republican operatives have done. I mean look at the run up to the Iraq war and some of that like weapons of uranium. Yeah. The yellow cake thing. Like it's not a totally partisan thing. I'm just saying this guy's the worst actor because it wasn't about something that they thought would do something on behalf of this country. It was just simply about electing the next Democrat.

[Duncan]

He divided the country so he could get an NBC gig.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Duncan]

There's no jail good enough for this guy. Needs to have severe, severe punishment.

[Smug]

I just, I think so. And I am. My point of view. You guys know this. I hate the idea of prosecuting political enemies. It wasn't until what was so evident happening against Donald Trump that I realized what was happening overall. And the Democrats basically just weaponized the intelligence agencies, the Justice Department, everything else to try to eliminate political enemies. And it opens your aperture. Once you understand that it opens your aperture and then you do the rewind tape and you start to look back on the things that you've encountered. That 16, 17, 18, 19 that I just discussed to me like it makes me better than a hornet. Yep.

[Duncan]

I mean it goes beyond just how he poisoned the minds of all these Americans into thinking that like, oh, Donald Trump's a KGB asset. When you essentially sow division in this country and do everything you can to turn Americans on each other and put hate in Americans hearts, why do you think some idiot gets up on a building and tries to shoot President Trump?

[Smug]

That's it.

[Duncan]

This guy. There's got to be some ramifications for what he's done.

[Smug]

We're going to talk more about that Friday and the downstream effect and the violence and the lack of leadership and all of that. I hope you tune into that show because I think we've got a nice sort of continuation of what we're talking about here and how it actually gets effectuated on the ground with the Democratic grassroots. That is basically, like, mind polluted. I mean, these are. These are folks who don't live in the same world.

[Duncan]

It's horrific, it's sad.

[Ashbrook]

It's like that Clockwork Orange thing where the guy has his, like, eyes open, he's forced to watch Russia Gay for four years, and you're shocked. He, you know, wants to, like, I don't know, the president, or, you know, do crazy things like they poison the brains of these people.

[Smug]

Can I wind you up with one more thing?

[Ashbrook]

Yes, let's go.

[Smug]

Because I'd like you to respond to this. I know your hobby horse is Jim Comey. My hobby horse is John Brennan. I think that John. I think that Jim Comey's a clown. I don't think he's particularly good or smart or thoughtful or anything. I think he is just sort of where he is, by just virtue of everything, is about just sort of promoting himself once he gets to a position where he feels comfortable.

[Wolf]

Right. I think claim to fame was taking Martha Stewart out of the kitchen.

[Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Wolf]

That's his.

[Smug]

That's right.

[Wolf]

That's a feather in his cap.

[Smug]

I think John Brennan is like a DNC's version of Vladimir Putin.

[Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Smug]

I think this guy is evil to his core. And I think this dude is the key to the whole unraveling of the discussion about how we got to where we are today. With distrust in institutions, you want to.

[Duncan]

Think about what the deep state is.

[Smug]

That's the guy.

[Ashbrook]

That's the guy.

[Smug]

That's the guy.

[Ashbrook]

That's the guy. My counterpoint to that, though, is that I think people understand that's John Brennan. That, like, he is a hatchet man. And even when he, like, went on all these shows and all that sort of thing, people, like what Jim Cony Comey did was he, like, laundered his whole Boy Scout reputation.

[Smug]

Yeah, that's right.

[Ashbrook]

As a guy beyond reproach. Fair beyond reproach.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ashbrook]

And he threw it all away to be the center of attention. And that's why, uniquely, I find him offensive.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ashbrook]

Brendan offends me less because I always knew he's a fucking snake.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ashbrook]

I think Jim Comey's thing is more offensive because of that.

[Smug]

Ah, it's a decent point also.

[Ashbrook]

I mean, nobody was, like, clamoring for the Brennan book.

[Smug]

There's more names, by the way. I'm not gonna put them all out there today, but we have more names.

[Duncan]

One of the Names? Aspie Ashbrook. He's friends with all the journals.

[Smug]

Who did this.

[Ashbrook]

Yeah, yeah.

[Duncan]

They're all your buddies, Ashbrook.

[Smug]

We have more. We're gonna keep on this story and we're gonna watch this investigation. Anything that anybody gives us, we're going to talk about it because we feel really strongly about it. The question of the day is, will it result in convictions? This is an audacious deal. It's not been done. Do you hold somebody accountable? But I would say in. When you think about high level convictions over a criminal conspiracy for partisan purposes within the confines of the government, you look back to something like Watergate, for example. This. That is child's play compared to what it is that we're talking about here.

[Duncan]

Yeah.

[Smug]

This is actually using the entirety of our intelligence agencies and our law enforcement to focus on at a particular moment in time, an effort to prevent one man from becoming President of the United States.

[Ashbrook]

I know, I'm just not going to get my hopes up. I want it to be true. But like, actually finding people guilty of something like this in their official capacity with malice is a difficult thing to prove.

[Smug]

It is.

[Ashbrook]

It just is.

[Smug]

No, it's, it's, it's hard. I'm not saying that it's. And I don't, I don't begrudge.

[Ashbrook]

I want it.

[Smug]

I don't begrudge a prosecutor from getting to a point where they're like, look, I know this happened, but I can't prove it in front of a jury. Like, I get it.

[Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Smug]

The fact that the investigation is going on means we're going to get information which I think is critically important to restoring some level of faith and trust in a government that we now know is incapable hands. And how that goes for next generation. Next generation. Look, you're not gonna operate well if you don't have some faith and trust in people who are trying to keep you safe.

[Ashbrook]

At the very least, we're gonna learn a lot more, hopefully. And I think as the American public, that's all you can really hope for.

[Smug]

You tell us, what do you think? When you like and subscribe to the ruthless Friday program, we listen to every single word you have to say. We summarize it, we pick a couple of examples, and we're gonna read them for you on Friday. Our special third. Yeah, it's not even special anymore. We're just gonna do a third.

[Duncan]

Yeah, why not?

[Smug]

Yeah, we'll do Friday. So when we come back, we're gonna give you a lot more. Your comments from last episode and Then we're gonna give you king of the hill right after this. Hardworking Americans know when it's time to roll up our sleeves and get the job done. Now is the time to unleash our nation's energy, to create jobs, secure our future, and make life better, more affordable, and full of opportunity for all Americans. That's the power of America's oil and natural gas. Learn more at Lights and paid for by the American Petroleum Institute. Okay, your comments from Tuesday's show. The question was, what will happen to the America party? We had a long discussion about Elon and the idea of an America Party. We gave our thoughts and we asked for yours. You provided them when you liked and subscribed to the Ruthless Friday program. To do this, we always start with a voice.

[Wolf]

First one comes from Brad Wilkinson. And Brad writes, the American party is going to be a colossal fail. In all of the Elon undisputed success. He's never been cheered on like the Trump crowds cheered. He got drunk on those cheers. And it reminds me of Kamala in Texas in her rally where the people came to see Beyonce and Kamala thought the crowd was for her.

[Smug]

Dude, you know what?

[Duncan]

Accurate.

[Smug]

Brad totally captured what I was trying to capture on Tuesday with a specific example. That's exactly right.

[Duncan]

I mean, but accurate is probably what you can hope for most in life.

[Smug]

It's ruthless. It's ruthless. Mean, but accurate.

[Ashbrook]

What's the thing you always say from Big Lebowski Charter? Keep Bunny on the farm when he's seen Carl Hungas. Trump is Carl Hungas.

[Smug]

Yeah. Yeah. You can't keep Bunny on the farm once you've seen Carl Hungus. What else do we got?

[Ashbrook]

Docs this from Laura. I truly appreciate all Elon did and does as well as his brilliance. I think the America Party will just slide into the background and disappear quietly. It feels a bit like a tantrum. I hope that both he and Trump can put this all behind them and move forward together. But if not, he just needs to get back to his businesses and and do what he does best.

[Smug]

Yep, yep.

[Ashbrook]

Smart, rational.

[Smug]

Smart, rational. Those are the kind of advisory opinions that you solicit when you're a man in power. Smuggle. What have you got for comment 3.

[Duncan]

Comment 3's from up in Arms and they write, the America Party will definitely end in disaster. Because when you require all your campaign vehicles to be Teslas, campaign stops are limited to about 10 blue cities. People came through.

[Ashbrook]

Our listeners are the funniest.

[Smug]

That's so good. All right, so a quick lightning Round of some things that have happened. This one definitely caught our eye. Jamie Comer, good friend of the program. He obviously operated the oversight committee during the Biden years. Did a lot of investigation. The only reason really that we know anything about Hunter Biden laptop, his business dealings, whatever, is Jamie Comer. Yeah, I don't feel like he gets enough credit for that.

[Ashbrook]

He doesn't.

[Wolf]

No.

[Ashbrook]

I mean, think about the fact Joe Biden had to pardon his own son.

[Smug]

Yeah, but like, no, but nobody.

[Ashbrook]

Disgusting.

[Smug]

But nobody took a second be like, hey, dude. Yeah.

[Ashbrook]

Congratulations. Thank you for the.

[Smug]

Thank you for Jimmy Comer, if you're listening.

[Duncan]

Outstanding, dude.

[Smug]

Yeah, I mean, really good work.

[Duncan]

Good stuff.

[Smug]

Anyway, he is now onto the next and he's interviewing the White House doctor, who's now the ex White House doctor, which is incredible.

[Duncan]

Which is incredible.

[Smug]

This guy, Dr. Kevin O'. Connor. And he took the fifth.

[Wolf]

On what subject?

[Smug]

Well, on Wednesday, he took the fifth. He ducked out of a high profile congressional deposition on Wednesday rather than answer questions about former Joe Biden's cognitive decline.

[Wolf]

I think that's an answer.

[Smug]

And then he didn't have any comments, the press either. He pleaded the Fifth, according to Comer. I'm going to read. And then he said, I'm going to read the first two questions that were asked. This is. Dude, this guy's. He like enough over. You don't get it immediately. It's like a prosecutor. Like day one, you're doing public defense stuff or whatever, you kind of learn how to, how to do it, and then like, you get bigger and bigger. But like, what he did during the course of the Biden administration. This guy's a killer now. He's a killer now. So he's like, I'd like to read the things that you don't know about. Yeah. So were you told, were you ever told to lie about the President's health?

[Ashbrook]

He plead the fifth.

[Smug]

He pleaded the Fifth. Did you ever believe President Biden was unfit to execute his duties? The Fifth, bro.

[Duncan]

When your doctor is pleading the fifth, that's tough.

[Smug]

The Fifth.

[Duncan]

That is Fifth.

[Smug]

That's tough. It's not like he's doing the whole HIPAA thing. And like, I'm not gonna do it because there's obviously a way around it in congressional testimony, because what he provided was public. In a statement affirming his fitness for office, which is what this guy did. His question is about the statement, not about the examination. Right. It's so smart. It's so smart. And this guy's like, fifth. Yeah.

[Wolf]

And it's not like he's asking whether the guy was on a statin. You know what I mean? He's asking whether he could be the president. Whether he could.

[Duncan]

Like, that's an easy question. It'd be like, can you say his brain blew up? I gotta play the red on.

[Smug]

Like, that's tough.

[Ashbrook]

It's like, temperature, heart rate. Can he be president?

[Smug]

Yeah. Yeah. At that point, you're like, if you.

[Ashbrook]

Can'T tell us that, dude, what are you doing?

[Smug]

What's the purpose of a White House physician, Right? Like, what? Why do you call it a White House physician? They're like, I don't know. The guy's probably not cognitive. Seven, right? Seven hours.

[Duncan]

That is such a tough look.

[Smug]

And he's like, fifth, yeah, dude. There needs to be reform in this area, by the way. I'm just telling you, it has nothing to do with Biden, nothing to do with Trump advanced age. I don't have any concerns about Donald Trump, to be honest with you. But, like, if the American people, the.

[Duncan]

Next president, and going forward, every president should be required to wear a whoop that can transmit with their resting heart rate.

[Smug]

No, I don't want that. Nope, I don't want that. No, no, no. Because if you get that, all of a sudden, it spikes at 3am you're like, oh, shit.

[Duncan]

You. You know, like, shout out First Lady.

[Smug]

Not at all where I was headed. That is interesting. Monitoring the sex.

[Ashbrook]

Hell, 28 whole minutes, Mr. President.

[Duncan]

He's an animal.

[Smug]

What's left to be said?

[Duncan]

One more can we say.

[Smug]

Oh, man. Listen, the other thing we have to do is the clock. Yeah, Marco's clock. If you haven't seen this clip, you got to see this clip. Clip one, please.

[G]

It's really become quite a beautiful place. I don't want to tell this. Marco pointed it out. I was going to leave the clock. So as president, you have the power. If I go into the State Department or Department of Commerce or Treasury, if I see anything thing that I like, I'm allowed to take it. Do you believe this? So I'm in Marco's. I see this gorgeous clock, grandfather clock, and there it is. I said, marco. I had to read him the rule and regulation. I said, marco, I love this clock. Look at it, it's beautiful. He said, what clock?

[Smug]

I said.

[G]

I said, the clock that's in the other room is incredible and nobody gets to see it there. Marco. I tried to talk him into it first, and it sort of worked. And then I had to use a little more. I said, I'd love to take that clock out and put it in the Cabinet Room. He said, no, Are you serious? I said, marco, I have the right to do it.

[Smug]

Marco, what the hell?

[G]

That's his contribution to the Cabinet, know, But it's. By the way, you know, it's an important room, so you may see it again. Maybe we'll move it back.

[Smug]

He just flat out stole his clock. Trump. I find this the most fascinating about Donald Trump is he's walking into the office of the Secretary of State and he looks and he sees something nice.

[Duncan]

Have you been there? To the visiting room for secretary? It's a nice place.

[Smug]

Yeah, it is.

[Wolf]

It's very nice.

[Smug]

No, it's very nice, but.

[Duncan]

But, like, because, I mean, the Secretary of State's clearly seeing, like, foreign dignitaries.

[Smug]

But only Trump would notice a clock.

[Duncan]

The thing is, which is such great attention. There's never going to be so much.

[Ashbrook]

There's never going to be anyone like Donald now, like. Like, the way he's describing the story, it's commentator Trump. It's like he forgets that he is himself President of the United States currently. And he's like, did you know when you're president, you can just take stuff?

[Wolf]

And then he's like, Marco Rubio, his contribution to this room is that clock. He's a Secretary of State knocking things.

[Smug]

Out left and right.

[Wolf]

But he, Trump, I mean, stopped giving these guys shit.

[Smug]

It's just so great.

[Duncan]

Rubio has, like, nine jobs. Like, he's running, like, nine different places. He's like, totally.

[Ashbrook]

Do you know? He's like, he's the archivist.

[Smug]

Oh, yeah. He's got, like, an enormous amount of responsibility, but I could only imagine, like, he's got all this stuff going on in the Middle east and Ukraine and everything else, and the guy's like, hey, I want your clock. And he's like, are you serious? The best is.

[Duncan]

He's like, what clock? He's like, I literally just landed here from, like, Qatar over sink and shit.

[Smug]

Like, what?

[Duncan]

Shove. Whatever, dude. About to hop on a plane.

[Smug]

Again, the best is like, Trump sort of like, gave us the impression, but edged over the specifics where it was clear that, like, Marco didn't want him to take the clock.

[Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Smug]

And he was like, I'm taking the clock. It's just so good, dude.

[Duncan]

It's one of also, I love that. I tried to flex that. I've been invited by the Secretary of State. You're like, yeah, I've been there, too. That was tough, dude. That's a flex no, it's still no.

[Smug]

That's okay.

[Duncan]

Everyone's been in.

[Smug]

I mean, you're a big deal. You're a big flex. Everybody thinks you're a big deal. Smug. No question about it. Let's play king of the hill, fellas.

[Duncan]

Let's do it.

[Smug]

We've got. We got new stuff going on. Sounds like I'm a. I'm a challenger. And I will tell you that I went blast from the past on this one, fellas. Like real blast from the past. The guy that made me who I am.

[Ashbrook]

You had runs with this guy?

[Duncan]

He made me who I am. Oh, wow. Yeah.

[Smug]

He has not been seen or heard from in probably a calendar year, but he is now in Matthew Dowd. Wow.

[Wolf]

Okay.

[Duncan]

And I've got reigning champ Sherry Jacobus.

[Ashbrook]

And I'm bailiff Judge John Ashbrook. I think we should go ringside.

[Wolf]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. It's time for King of the hill. In the red corner, fighting from who knows where, Matthew Mail Pattern down. And now in the blue corner, and current champion of the world, Commie Cherry Jacobas.

[Smug]

I just like hearing Mel Pattern again.

[Wolf]

Yeah, it's been a while.

[Smug]

It has been.

[Duncan]

I mean, I mean, what a voice. The best voice in the biz.

[Ashbrook]

Is he balder now?

[Smug]

We don't know. We don't know cuz he's no longer visible.

[Wolf]

I mean, maybe he's been in Turkey.

[Smug]

Remember he wanted to be like an anchor. Oh, he could have gone to Turkey. Yeah, yeah, but remember he wanted to be like an anchor at abc, so he tried his bestest.

[Duncan]

That's tough.

[Ashbrook]

Tough?

[Smug]

Look, just a former Bush administration along the lines of Nicole Wallace. It just became a disaster.

[Ashbrook]

Yeah. So first off, we start with the champion is smug.

[Duncan]

I'm gonna go for just a quick two round knockout.

[Smug]

Oh, boy.

[Ashbrook]

Wow.

[Duncan]

Can I get exhibit three, please? Sherry Jacobus posts this illustration of a man in a MAGA hat appearing before God and God says, yes, he was the test. As if supporting Trump means you're going to hell.

[Wolf]

That's quite the take.

[Smug]

Pretty direct.

[Wolf]

It's pretty straightforward.

[Duncan]

Here's my take. If you like Trump, you go to hell. Okay.

[Smug]

In my mind, there is nothing worse than people who politicize. Obvious tragedy that everybody can relate to.

[Ashbrook]

Oh my God. Is it Texas flood content?

[Smug]

Oh, you bet.

[Duncan]

No way, dude. Really?

[Smug]

Matthew Dowd, right in the noon hour on July 8, says every time there is a tragedy which could have prevented or mitigated, the GOP offers thoughts and prayers and says now is not the time for finger Pointing. This is exactly the right time for finger pointing. Gun violence, effects of climate change, weakened infrastructure, all fixable.

[Duncan]

Yeah, that's not that great.

[Smug]

Now you're talking about July lukewarm shit, right? You're four days, they're still recovering bodies. This is a guy who immediately pivots. This is a former Republican immediately pivots to a point where it's exactly the right time for finger pointing. Now we're a few days removed from that take. Everyone understands the unique nature of all this, that none of the shit that he's taught. Climate change. Forget the out of here. But like, this is the mentality of a truly broken brained individual.

[Wolf]

Here's what I'll say. Cherry Jacobus, her take was a cartoon that was maybe drawn by her, but probably drawn by somebody else posted to her account. And it's the sort of thing she routinely posts hate overall Republicans who support President Trump. And it's offensive. But not only was Matthew Dowd a former Republican, but I think he lived in Texas. So now he's like hitting all these issues in the wake of this terrible tragedy to try to score some points online.

[Smug]

What a political leader.

[Wolf]

So for the reason of that specificity and that sort of just like soulless take on what was a terrible, terrible tragedy in that state, Matt Dowd.

[Smug]

Okay, wow. All right, I'm gonna take round one, I'm gonna put it in my pocket and I'm gonna give you a little change in genre here because I think what I'm dealing with here adds a wrinkle that the judge and jury is gonna find irresistible. You recall that Matthew Dowd, the only reason you know the name Matthew Dowd is because he was hired by Karl Ro. Rolf hired by Carl Ro. He was like one of those sort of like apologist Republicans. There was others, you know, McKinnon, others who, who you know, I mean, obviously Nicole Wallace and others.

[Duncan]

But weren't there rumors, didn't he work on Schwarzenegger's thing or I think of another.

[Smug]

No, he did.

[Ashbrook]

Yes.

[Smug]

No, I know folks, you can Google that.

[Ashbrook]

That's what I remember.

[Smug]

You can Google. I'm not going to talk about it, but salacious and, you know, salacious.

[Ashbrook]

Many people are saying.

[Smug]

Many people are saying, anyway, he was involved. Wow. So what he says in this next exhibit is Carl and the GOP's normal strategy is as follows. One, pass the bill. Two, lie about the bill and what's in it. Three, don't answer questions about the bill and revert back to the culture war. Four, continue to lie about the bill and its implementation.

[Ashbrook]

It's a picture of the guy who got him in the business.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ashbrook]

And he's attacking him.

[Smug]

That's what I find so fascinating about this personally.

[Duncan]

This is too insidery. Baseball and boring.

[Smug]

No, what I find so. So he's talking about the big, beautiful bill, obviously. But there's two assumptions that are baked in here that are completely hilarious to me. One is that somehow Karl Rove, of all people, is some Trump apologist who. I think Donald Trump himself finds him to be one of his chief antagonists.

[Ashbrook]

Right.

[Smug]

And two, that the guy who. Literally, the only reason there is a single person following his Blue sky account or whatever it is that he's got is because that guy hired him in the first place, and he's taking direct aim at him, despite the fact that Karl, for whatever you think of Karl Rove, has never really gone guns blazing on somebody like Matthew Dowd. If I was in Karl's position, I would have opened up the M60 on this cat. Carl's never done that. He's got some, like, a level of appreciation for people who worked on the 2004 campaign, evidently, but, like, he's never done anything to harm this guy. Strafing the shit out of him.

[Duncan]

So I don't know if this take's gonna win, but I was so offended that Ashbrook dismissed my wonderful first take. I'm gonna play this even though it's disgusting. Even though it's disgusting. Horrible take. I shouldn't see the light of day, but, you know, maybe this will lead to some litigation. Exhibit four, please. Sherry Jacoba says this is about Kristi Noem. She's so incredibly desperate for attention and compliments. Is Lewandowski smacking her around? He likes to do that to women. She posts photos. Kristi Noem.

[Ashbrook]

She's attacking another woman.

[Duncan]

I mean, that is. I'm not a lawyer, but that's like, litigation central right there.

[Smug]

That is smacking. Yeah, that is.

[Duncan]

And then she's like. She says it. Statement of fact. Like, he likes to do that to women.

[Wolf]

That is outrageous, and I find it just terribly offensive.

[Duncan]

Hopefully you stand with women and can.

[Wolf]

And in keeping with the way that Sherry Jacobus typically tweets. But if I could have the. Matt Dowd, as a father of multiple.

[Duncan]

Daughters, I hope you support me in this round.

[Wolf]

Well, listen, he's a fair judge.

[Ashbrook]

Counselors, please. The judge is rendering his verdict.

[Smug]

Thank you, bailiff.

[Wolf]

I would like to talk about this tweet from Matt Dowd because, as counsel pointed out he's directing it toward Karl Rove. And a lot of people remember Matt Dowd because Karl Rove brought him on the scene. But I remember Matt Dowd because he was the Republican who went so hard into the pain on behalf of Obamacare. And so I see, number one, pass the bill. Well, that's what Matt Dowd wanted to do with Obamacare. Number two, lie about the bill and what's in it. Exactly what he did with Obamacare while he was on abc. Number three, don't answer questions about the bill and revert back to the culture war. Once again, Matt Dowd's strategy on Obamacare. Number four, continue to lie about the bill and its implementation to a T. Yeah, this is exactly what Matt did on Obamacare in support of that horrible, horrible piece of legislation. So for that reason, Matt Dowd wins back on top.

[Smug]

First time in a year. Hats off to male pattern. Thank you, judge. I feel like that is not only well articulated.

[Ashbrook]

I was skeptical in the decision, but the reasoning is sound. Now that I've heard the explanation, I understand it. I. You know, at first blush, I would have said there's no way Smug is losing round two here.

[Duncan]

And Chris, you know, if you're listening to the out of.

[Smug]

Oh, my God, it's so true. What a disaster. Okay, so we gotta get to our interview. Our good friend Alex Bruschewitz. Well, listen, you've seen him here before. He's the godfather of podcasts as it pertains to political elections. He's a good friend of the program. Alex Brushewitz. How are you, sir?

[Alex Brushewitz]

I'm doing great. It's a pleasure to be back with you very fine people.

[Smug]

It's nice to have you, like, slot you in between your world travels.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yeah, I mean, I had to really make time for this. But we're here and we're excited to be here.

[Smug]

I follow you on Instagram and it strikes me as though the world needs to hear from Alex.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yes.

[Smug]

And so it seems.

[Alex Brushewitz]

That's what it seems like. And I'm available to talk with them and travel to their beautiful countries. And it's been a lot of fun making a lot of new friends. And it's amazing how much all these other countries admire America.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Alex Brushewitz]

And I didn't really spend a lot of time out of the country until the last couple of years.

[Smug]

Just a wisconnie guy, just hanging out. Midwest.

[Alex Brushewitz]

I wasn't on an airplane. I was on an airplane one time before I turned 18 years old.

[Smug]

Is that right?

[Alex Brushewitz]

One time. And boy, has that Changed. It's changed a lot. And now I'm in an airplane, like, you know, ten times a week. But it's fun to hear about how much people admire our country and we're the main characters of the world. Donald Trump is the main character of the world. And that's been the biggest takeaway as I travel from Europe to Asia to Latin America. Like, Donald Trump is what everybody wants to talk about.

[Smug]

It's kind of funny because, I mean, look, if you consume corporate media, sort of quote, unquote, mainstream, I don't even know how we're referring to them these days. But if you follow them, it's like, oh, everybody's worried, everybody's concerned. The world community doesn't know how to react to things. And then you get a guy who's literally spent the last six months of his life going to all these various countries and speaking to people. And it's not that.

[Alex Brushewitz]

No. And these aren't just random bystanders on the street that are coming up to me and talking about Trump. Like the biggest CEOs in some of the. In these countries, political leaders in these countries, they have great admiration for what the President has done and has accomplished. Obviously, they view his comeback as an act of God and just incredible. You know, they follow all aspects of American campaigning so closely as well. They were talking to me about podcasts and how smart it was for the President to engage with that. Or the McDonald's truck. I mean, I have people in Asia talking to me about President Trump in a going to McDonald's, and they think it's the most brilliant thing. Or the garbage truck. They have people talking about the garbage truck.

[Smug]

So it's like the minute details.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yes, they know all. Because, I mean, with all the respect to their other countries, their countries are so boring comparison. And so when I was in France a couple of weeks ago, there's a channel in France that spends three hours every night just focused on American news and like two hours just focused on Donald Trump.

[Smug]

Wow.

[Alex Brushewitz]

And like, I mean, Macron, it's not that exciting.

[Smug]

It sounds like a great channel, but.

[Alex Brushewitz]

It sounds like a great channel. I think they're a little. I think they're a little left leaning, but I mean, Donald Trump and America is the main focus, not just in our country, but everywhere. And it's been quite the experience to, you know, to learn that and to spend time in these countries.

[Smug]

Well, I mean, one of the things that we, obviously, this is what we do. Right. We have a podcast and we're fortunate enough to play a small role in the podcast election, one of which you were sort of an architect behind. But in your travels, it sounds to me like this is an element that basically the entire international community is beginning to understand in different hundred percent.

[Alex Brushewitz]

And all these different countries are now trying to replicate what they think we have built here. You know, I guess for some reason, maybe it's been the mainstream media coverage of the. Of the podcast. They think that Republican oligarchs, you know, gave money to Ruthless and gave money to.

[Smug]

I'd love to hear listening.

[Duncan]

Republican oligarchs.

[Alex Brushewitz]

But the coverage makes it seem like Republicans invested hundreds of millions of dollars in building up, you know, conservative voices and podcast voices, when in reality, it's like you guys just hit each other up on social media and say, hey, you want to do this? And you guys do it. But these other countries now, conservative movements in other countries, they're like, we got to do that too. And so they're like, trying to identify voices that they can put money behind or platform. And, you know, part of my discussions actually with, you know, some of these conservative leaders across the globe is encouraging them to use their platforms to build up the voices of the next generation.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Alex Brushewitz]

I think something that the President has done such an incredible job of is identifying people who are talented, sharing and letting them share the stage, bringing them up at a rally, retweeting their content, making sure that they have an opportunity to speak to the cameras if they're together. And by, you know, just like Trump has built up, you know, dozens and dozens of voices, if you look at Byron Donalds, if you look at, you know, J.D. vance, if you look at Senator Bernie Moreno or Jim Banks or Marjorie Taylor Greene, all of these people built their followings thanks to President Trump's movement, and he helped them. In my experience, now meeting some of these other conservative leaders across the globe is they have not done that. They want all of the attention on themselves, and they're focused on right here and now instead of what does the movement that they've built there look like 20 years from now?

[Duncan]

That's really interesting.

[Smug]

I mean, the other piece that we always talk about, which I know is key to why you sort of recommended a podcast strategy, is the authenticity quotient, which, of course, course, Donald Trump has had since he went down the Golden Escalator. Right. I mean, that's the one piece that he has held above any other politician, Republican or Democrat, in America, since the early days of his first campaign. But that is what the podcast, I mean, like, for us this is what we do, whether there's a microphone in front of us or not. Right. And I imagine like smug. And I talk about this all the time.

[Duncan]

I mean, it's really fascinating to me is the way that you describe how in your travels internationally you're seeing so many places people are excited about America, they see good things for America, they're fascinated with America. And for so long in this country you had the mainstream media basically telling everyone you should be like ashamed to be an American. You know, America is this country. Slavery still exists. Jim Crow, Jim Eagle. You know, you had the President of the United States saying that like, oh, America's kind of a horrible because you.

[Smug]

Had to show voter id.

[Duncan]

Yeah, I mean it's really strange, but I think the ideas are like intertwined in the sense that you saw the rise of podcasts because you had kind of like a direct to audience voice that wasn't being put through this filter of like, we all went to Columbia Journalism school and we were taught that like whiteness is a construct and that you need to identify yourself as privileged. And people are sick of that. You know, people especially. You see the successes that President Trump has had in six months could be the most successful six month start to any administration in American history. Right. And the world recognizes these Delbies. When he went, when Trump went with NATO, he was like, I'm doing backflips. Are you seeing how good things are going?

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Duncan]

And you see around the world it's being recognized. You know, Americans are waking up to that. But I think it's because podcasts didn't have to go through that filter to inform people. Because if you're listening to like cbs, you had that, you know, the debate with JD where you had Margaret Brennan, what's her name, from cbs, being like, you can't talk about that. You can't talk about that.

[Smug]

It's processing conflict. Yep. Right. Which is we're trying to get stories and personality and how you come to decision making and how you view the world and things like that.

[Alex Brushewitz]

100. And in some of these European countries, their media is actually worse than ours, believe it or not.

[Smug]

And oh, I can, I can.

[Alex Brushewitz]

And they have fewer options where, you know, in the UK for example, I mean the, it's horrifying. Just happened to BBC and I think Nigel started something and I think it's doing pretty well. But I mean they really just have state run media and we have a.

[Smug]

Huge listenership in the UK, by the way. Well, I think because of that reason.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yeah. I mean The UK is earning for Conservatives. They really want Conservative leadership. And I actually met with Kemi Badenak. She's the leader of the Conservative Party. You know, she has a. The Conservatives are actually the party that kind of screwed a lot of the, like, right wing voters. And so they now are finding homes in the Reform Party, which Nigel just started. And they, The Reform Party did the best in the local elections this last May, which surprised everybody throughout Europe. Kemi, to her defense, was not in charge of the Conservative Party up until just recently. I think she's trying to take it in a different direction. But now she has the threat of reform, which I think speaks to the people a little bit, you know, better.

[Smug]

So does that, does that. Having that experience in talking to these people, does that give you a perspective on, like, what Elon's talking about with America?

[Duncan]

Good question.

[Alex Brushewitz]

No, I think it's way different. I think, I think MAGA is actually the third party, I think, and MAGA was such a dominant force that it kind of just swallowed up the Republican Party. And I think that the MAGA had the third party spirit that Reform Party has now. And I think for Conservative and reform to be successful in the uk, I do think that they're eventually going to have to figure out how they can get on the same page. But I think the American.

[Smug]

But how do you do that without somebody like Donald J. Trump?

[Alex Brushewitz]

Well, you're going to need that leader that can, that can bring people together and you need to have a force. Right? And Trump was a force. And, you know, there was a lot of disagreements within the Republican Party, especially when he first came in. But, you know, by sheer willpower and, you know, just everybody else getting exhausted, Trump and the maga, you know, kind of took over the Republican Party. And I think that is what will happen ultimately in the uk.

[Wolf]

Is it right to assume that some of the issues that were driving so many regular Americans over here throughout the last four years are driving so many regular Europeans right now? I think of like, immigration, migration, huge, huge problem in America that has been solved by our great president. But it seems like that problem still exists in Europe.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yeah, that's been 100% my experience. I was actually in, when I was in London recently, I was having lunch with a Kuwaiti real estate developer. And, you know, he's Muslim and he moved to London legally about 12 years ago. And I was like, sensitive. Obviously I know about the immigration topics and most of them are coming from.

[Wolf]

Feel like I'm not going to be.

[Smug]

The first one to bring this up.

[Alex Brushewitz]

But it's coming from Middle Eastern nations. And the Kuwaiti guy sitting at lunch with me and goes, what you guys are doing with immigration in your country? So smart. We need to do that here. We have too many, like, he's talked about. We have too many Middle Easterns coming here. I'm like, dude.

[Smug]

But even, like, that's like, the Latino.

[Duncan]

Voters here in the US it's like.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Of course we hate the illegals, but. So it's. But the cultural issues are similar. The wokeness, the DEI stuff that also is playing. Many European countries, the attacks on religion. I mean, Europe's a very Christian. It was a very Christian continent, and these are very Christian countries. And there's been slowly. Actually, not slowly. There's been an attack on Christianity in Europe and also in traditions. You know, I was in Spain recently. One of their obvious traditions and their heritage is bull fighting. And one of the big components of the left's party there is. They want to get rid of bullfighting.

[Smug]

That's nonsense.

[Duncan]

And wait, they're trying to ban bullfighting in Spain?

[Alex Brushewitz]

They're trying to ban bull fighting in Spain.

[Smug]

It's like banning horse racing, baseball, Kentucky, or banning baseball here. Yeah, it's just not gonna work.

[Alex Brushewitz]

But, you know, or it's trying to take down a statue of Columbus in our country. Right. Yeah, but there's. It's. The left is trying to destroy all things that make your country great.

[Smug]

And so presidentage, culture, experience, Mao's playbook.

[Duncan]

Right there, that's the whole cultural revolution.

[Alex Brushewitz]

And so the President's Trump make America great again message is about protecting what made America great in the first place. Right. And these other countries are now having make Europe great again hats or make Croatia great again hats or make Spain great. Like, that message resonates with people who love their countries all over the world. And so I think that's. That mantra connects everybody.

[Smug]

And you're standing in front of these crowds. I presume much of what you're saying is being translated one way or another. And you're watching the reaction to this thing, and you're like, wow, I was reliably informed. They all hated us.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yeah, I was. I mean, Spain had a little bit of a testy interviewer.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Alex Brushewitz]

You know, she asked me questions like, you know, why'd you use podcasts to humanize Trump? I said, we didn't humanize Trump. We just showed him who he was as a human.

[Smug]

All we did is open the mic.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Right, right. But. And then I. She. Then I was asked about, you know, what can conservatives do to be successful in the future here in Spain? And I talked about, you gotta do three things. You gotta secure your borders, you gotta be a champion of the working class, and you gotta protect what makes your country great. And I said, here in Spain, what makes your country great are your traditions, including bullfighting. The whole place went nuts. Like, 7,000 Spaniards went nuts. People are chanting, viva la Spain. And, you know, so it's been a fun experience, but it's been great to learn how much America is respected.

[Duncan]

Can I ask you about London? So this is something that I'm personally worried about. Traveling there is that government has said on multiple occasions that they are willing to arrest and lock up and try to extradite Americans who post politically incorrect things on social networks. We've seen videos of, Jeez, yeah, yeah.

[Alex Brushewitz]

You'D be in prison. And maybe for the betterment of the world.

[Smug]

That would be.

[Duncan]

But, I mean, there's an argument. I mean, we've seen videos of. Of British police will go into just like some grandmother's home and she'll film. And they're like, yeah, we received a complaint. This post of yours talking about how this migrant committed this crime, you know, that's offensive to a lot of people. We're arresting you.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yeah. It's crazy, but it's important to remember that happened here four years ago.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Alex Brushewitz]

A guy named Douglas Mackey.

[Ashbrook]

Yes.

[Smug]

Just has been done.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yes. His case just got thrown out. His case was. His charges were thrown out.

[Smug]

Second Circuit or something.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yeah, Second Circuit. Said it was bs. He's now getting out of jail, but Biden arrested him for posting a meme. And, you know, so the UK saw that, oh, America can do it now we're going to do it too. And so maybe, hopefully they see that we're changing our ways and maybe they'll change theirs. But they don't believe in free speech there. They don't have a First Amendment there, and so they get away with a lot of that stuff. I think it's wrong. I know JD spoke out against that when he was in Europe recently, forcefully, but it's terrible. You would 100% go to jail there.

[Duncan]

My first call is gonna be to Alex. Alex, listen, I know you're the podcast guy. You helped make.

[Smug]

Maybe you know a.

[Duncan]

Few people, you know, some folks around here.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Well, the people I know there aren't in power. So you'd be. You'd be sitting there for a while.

[Duncan]

London's not on the list.

[Wolf]

Do you think there's a pathway for some of These traditionalists, some of the conservatives, Reform Party, you think there's a pathway back to power for them? I mean, given all the craziness that's happening?

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yeah. I mean, their biggest hurdle is regaining the trust of the voters because they were in power. They were the ones that opened the borders, they were the ones that ushered in a lot of these crazy things. And so they kind of have to have, you know, they just really need to rebrand themselves and reform stepped in and they kind of took the more populous lane, which is obviously very effective messaging. But. But, yeah, the Conservative Party kind of lost the trust of the voters, lost trust of the people and lost power. And the Tories, they got a lot of seats there and they, they, yeah, they're. They're in 100%, the driver's seat, but we'll see what happens.

[Smug]

Yeah. I mean, it does go to show, though, if you're, if you're not uniting conservatives at some level.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Right. You're going to put the other side of power 100%. I think that's a grace, Great case study to what we're seeing in our country. We have to stay unified, stay united. President Trump's getting win after win after win.

[Smug]

Focus on the things, right? I mean, look, President Trump's campaign was pretty obvious, right? You take care of people, you make sure that you have literal security.

[Duncan]

Yes, yeah.

[Smug]

Like literal security, whether that means closing the border or whether it means you're preventing international terrorist attacks or whether it's, you know, there's just a comprehensive view of that. And then it's economic security in terms of making sure that a, we have a growing economy, we're not spending it from a federal treasury and taxing you beyond belief. And, like, doing those things. Put him in the driver's seat for it. And it seems to me like that's a pretty damn good message.

[Alex Brushewitz]

It's a great message, you know, much better than what the left has to offer.

[Smug]

But there's a tendency, I think, on the conservative side, probably. I mean, the libs, look at them, they're a disaster. But there's a tendency to get sidetracked. Yeah.

[Alex Brushewitz]

I don't think it's just with politics. I think it's everything. Everybody has short attention span now, and so we had a win two weeks ago. They're like, what did you do for me today? And it's always the news of the day that people are wanting to talk about or focused on. And I think the administration's been doing a great job. I think President Trump's Assembled a fantastic team. I think Susie Wiles will go down probably as one of the greatest chief of staffs that we've ever had in our country. But, you know, it's. The President is getting win after win. Talking about his key promise was, I'm going to shut down the border. He did. We had zero border cross. Can you believe that? Zero.

[Duncan]

Like all his campaign ads are like, well, he did that in the first six months. I guess now it's house money, whatever he wants to do.

[Smug]

Well, they told us that that wasn't possible with.

[Duncan]

Isn't that amazing?

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yeah. They said if you didn't do a amnesty deal, you couldn't shut down the border. And he said, I'm not going to do that. And obviously, here we are. So the border shut down goes to show President manners. We have the lowest gas prices that we've had in four years.

[Duncan]

I saw Bergen with that chart the other day, see that? It was like down two and a half bucks since the summer two years ago.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Trump's got a ceasefire on way in Israel and Gaza, ceasefire in Iran and Israel, you know, obviously Russia and Ukraine.

[Smug]

That's a challenging dynamic. Not of his own making.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Right.

[Smug]

I mean, he's trying to solve somebody else's problem.

[Alex Brushewitz]

It's getting there. Many of his key promises, you know, another one is on day one, he pardoned the January 6th defendants. So, you know, he respects his base. He always wants to deliver for his base. I think he has delivered for his base, probably on everything that I can think of. But, you know, and I know the President is focused on always doing what's right for the American people.

[Smug]

It's pragmatic in that way. I mean, I talked a little bit last night, I was on Fox, and it was like, look, you got to understand the modus operandi at some level in that he puts out what the goal is and then is very pragmatic about what tactics it takes to get to the goal. Right, right. I mean, like the Russia, Ukraine thing, people are like, oh, he's doing this, oh, he's doing that. And it's a day to day reaction of, oh, he's gone this way, or oh, he's gone that way. No, his goal is peace. Yep, that's the thing. And if you're Vladimir Putin and you are an impediment to peace, then you're going to get what you got this week. If you are Zelensky and you are an impediment to peace, you're going to get what you saw in that Oval Office. Meeting with JD Great content. Great content. But I mean, that's the way I understand the foreign policy elites are like, oh, what is this? It's gotta be consistent all the time. But, I mean, his track record is pretty damn good.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yeah. No new wars. I mean, we had a 12 day war, but 12 day. We just won a war in 12 days. Pretty good.

[Smug]

Did it take that long? I didn't feel like it took that long.

[Alex Brushewitz]

It didn't take that long. But the President, I think one thing that he's showcasing right now is that he doesn't get pressured by the noise.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Alex Brushewitz]

And you know, there's hysterics on both sides or all sides and every issue. And they're constantly on tv, they're constantly on social media. They always think they know better than the President. United States or.

[Smug]

Imagine when you get your ear clipped by an ar.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yeah.

[Smug]

Your patience for everything else just fades.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yeah.

[Smug]

You're going to do what you're going to do.

[Alex Brushewitz]

He's focused on what he, what he set out to do. I mean, the tariffs was another thing. Like, there was so much noise in his ear on the tariffs. You can't do the tariffs. You can't do the tariffs. And, you know, everybody was pressuring him. He stuck with it. And now he's.

[Duncan]

Stock markets hit a record high.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yeah.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Alex Brushewitz]

And, you know, obviously Wall street tried to manipulate him a little bit with, you know, selling and shorting some stocks and during that first week, but they realized that they don't want to lose all their money, so they got back in. But, you know, he's not going to be. He's not going to be pressured or manipulated by pundits or special interest groups. And I think he shows that with every policy that he puts forth. So it's been a fun process. It's been six months. Not quite six months. Almost six months. But it's been an incredible six months for our country, getting win after win. And I think we need to stay focused on victory and we have to keep our party together on the big picture.

[Smug]

On the big picture and keep it together. Last thing I want to ask you about. Look, in addition to podcasting and sort of being an architect of. Of making that a cornerstone of how conservatives communicate, the other thing that you were pretty instrumental in is getting this pop culture infusion within the Republican Party that the likes of which I don't think we've experienced probably since like the heyday of Reagan, but, like maybe never.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yeah.

[Smug]

Which is you're dealing with people who are. They have Huge audiences. They're popular online. Right. They're not running on the CBS Evening News, but millions of people watch and are interested. I'm interested. As this whole thing has gone along, they had intense interest in the campaign. Many of them made decisions that were just mind blowing to me to support President Trump. When you. You thought that that wasn't possible, the interest, the continued interest in all of that, like, I wonder about. Right. I mean, because they go back to their day jobs, it's like everybody else. You take your kids to a softball game, you do whatever, and it's like, I'm not really focused on politics. Right. Like, I know you keep in touch.

[Alex Brushewitz]

With all these folks. Yeah. I don't know if there's much of an interest or focus on politics, but there's an interest and focus on Donald Trump. I think people of the celebrity class or that class are now learning to appreciate Donald Trump while we have him here. And he is a pop culture icon, and he was a pop culture icon long before, long before. But then when he ran for President in 2015, they decided to treat him a little bit differently. But he's reclaimed that image that he had his entire adult life, and now pop culture's icons want to engage with him. You know, we took Saquon Barkley. You know, Saquon Barkley is not like.

[Smug]

I saw you playing catch with some Saquon.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Yes, I did not catch. I got cooked on the Rose Garden lawn by. By Saquon on a go route, and Ivanka's son Theo threw a beautiful pass, and I look like an idiot. But.

[Duncan]

But it's Saquon Parkway.

[Alex Brushewitz]

But to my. To my defense, I was wearing dress shoes and he was wearing sneakers.

[Smug]

But.

[Alex Brushewitz]

But then again, he's also the offensive player of the year and the greatest running back in NFL, so. But, you know, we have elite athletes now wanting to come to the White House and hang out with the president. We had Cleveland Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson, who was dating Khloe Kardashian. He was at the White House hanging out with the crypto team. You know, like, we have, like, NBA players, NFL players, actors, musicians. Everybody wants to engage. Yeah.

[Duncan]

And it feels like the clouds have been lifted. Like, all the BS that the left had of being like, oh, this comes as bad. You're canceled. People are done with it. America is ready for good things.

[Alex Brushewitz]

They don't care. And everybody wants to go get that picture with the president because, you know, it's a pretty cool picture. So it's an exciting time. I hope Republicans can Kind of keep that momentum. I'm hopeful that it's not just a Trump trend because I think Republicans kind of need to keep that cool.

[Smug]

Yeah, we're young men.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Right? And you guys are doing. And by the way, you guys are doing a great job at that of keeping Republican politics cool and fun. That was a great daily Mail piece saying that.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Alex Brushewitz]

The young politically interested men are tuning into Ruthless podcast and you guys have become more MAGA over the years. So we. Like that.

[Duncan]

I swallowed the Republican Party, like you said.

[Alex Brushewitz]

I think it's all it took was one bar flip. It's an Ashbrook effect.

[Wolf]

That's right. Some of us have always been maga.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Ashbrook has rubbed off on you guys.

[Smug]

But just one casual bar fight and look where everybody's at. So we got it.

[Alex Brushewitz]

We gotta keep the. We gotta keep the cultural momentum going. I spend a lot of time in LA now trying to, you know, meet these people and just so they have somebody to talk to if they have a political question. I have, like, random rappers that I'm not gonna break their confidence now, but they'll hit me up and like, what did Trump mean by this? Or what? And. And this is what Dems are saying. I'm like, no, dude, like, that's not the facts. And, like, appreciate you.

[Smug]

It's the funniest thing in the world. By the way. It was a Scotty guy being like, hey, to the rappers, be like, okay, well, here's the. Here's, here's the deal. It's just such a great emissary. You are like a 10 to 10 dude. I can't thank you enough for coming in from your busy schedule to give us a little update on what you're up to. I hope that your world travels at some point. Recede to the point where we can get your services in an election context next year. We're going to need it.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Let's go.

[Smug]

Some guidance.

[Duncan]

And I'll be remiss if I didn't say congratulations on your engagement.

[Wolf]

Thank you.

[Alex Brushewitz]

Thank you to the haters and losers online who question.

[E]

I am marrying a woman.

[Smug]

I didn't even know that. That's so good, though. I love it. Listen, Alex, you're a good friend, bud. Thanks for coming back here.

[Wolf]

Always a great time. Whenever he comes around. And I mean, man, he is getting around all over the globe. He's meeting all kinds of people. It sounds like making speeches everywhere and spreading the good news that he delivered to America last year.

[Smug]

100%, man. I always learn something. Every time I talk to him. And this was no different. He's a visionary. I mean, he's understood sort of what it is that we hope to accomplish here on this podcast. And it's now all a different level. And he saw it coming, got the Trump campaign involved. Sounds like he's working on the international community.

[Duncan]

Yeah.

[Smug]

Really great stuff. I really appreciate him coming in. Remember, you gotta like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety program. And when you do Opine Away, what.

[Wolf]

Is it that you say, like and subscribe? Like and subscribe if you wish to opine.

[Smug]

That's exactly right. He came up with that all by himself. Check out your merch a little bit while you're there. And with that, fellas, I think we did it.

[Duncan]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thanks so much to Alex. Come back on the show anytime. And thank you so much to our listeners. Remember, if you have not yet, go to the YouTube, hit that subscribe button. 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 tomorrow. Stay ruthless.