How to Test Negative for Stupid w/ Sen. Kennedy

Summary

Ruthless Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title: How to Test Negative for Stupid w/ Sen. Kennedy
Air Date: October 10, 2025
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook
Featured Guest: Senator John Kennedy (R-LA)

---

Episode Overview

This Fun Time Friday episode of the Ruthless Podcast delivers the typical high-energy blend of “next-generation conservative talk” and sharp-edged humor, with a strong focus on recent political news. The team welcomes repeat guest Senator John Kennedy, celebrated for his witty Southernisms and no-nonsense commentary, to discuss the government shutdown drama, Senate intrigue, overreaches by the DOJ and FBI, the state of Obamacare, and his new book, How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington Never Will. In classic Ruthless fashion, the group rounds out the episode with spirited takes on budget airlines, political protestors, and questions of the day—from “who’s testing positive for stupid?” to listener shout-outs.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Washington, the Shutdown, and Schumer’s Dilemma

• Senate as High School: Senator Kennedy colorfully describes the Senate as “high school, but no one ever graduates,” poking fun at career politicians who refuse to leave.
  • [02:04, Sen. Kennedy] “We've got some guys have been in the 10th grade for 37 years.”
• Shutdown Showdown: The conversation examines the government shutdown's political theater. Kennedy accuses Senate Majority Leader Schumer of caving to his party’s “loon wing,” namely AOC and progressives.
  • [03:01, Sen. Kennedy] “The Democrats have done a pretty good job of muddying the water to make it look deep, but it's very simple… Schumer came to us and said, here's the deal. We're going to vote to shut down unless you give us $1.5 trillion and we're going to tell you how to spend it.”
  • On Schumer’s motives: “Senator Schumer is nervous as a pregnant nun…”
• AOC’s Future: The hosts and Kennedy riff on rumors of AOC’s potential challenge to Schumer, invoking his signature biting humor.
  • [05:11, Sen. Kennedy] “The congresswoman is single handedly trying to put an end to dumb blonde jokes… our secret plan is Operation Let Her Speak.”

2. GOP Unity & Obamacare Subsidies

• Republican Cohesion: Kennedy says the GOP is largely united but wary of President Biden cutting a side deal.
  • [06:43, Sen. Kennedy] “We're, for the most part, united. We understand the stakes.”
• Obamacare Critique: Kennedy rails against ongoing, expanded Obamacare subsidies—even to households making up to $600,000/year.
  • [07:43, Kennedy → Holmes]: “And they get the subsidy.”
  • On the exchanges: [08:03, Kennedy] “Obamacare exchanges are broken. They were supposed to make insurance cheaper and more accessible. It's done neither.”

3. Political Leverage and Senate Language Wars

• Democrat Tactics: Kennedy and the hosts mock the notion that shutdowns give Democrats “leverage” over Republicans.
  • [10:48, Kennedy] “Okay, Comrade Bernie.”
  • [14:11, Kennedy] “Your leverage sounds a lot like cleavage… I love Sheldon [Whitehouse]. It's a nice suit. I remember when it was in… back in 1978.”
  • Regional quips about how “leverage” would play back home.

4. FBI/DOJ Overreaches & Congressional Oversight

• Latest FBI/DOJ Revelations: The team discusses reports that Special Counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed 8 sitting Senators’ phone records—a breach of basic Constitutional boundaries.
  • [17:29, Kennedy]: “We're going to have to get some new conspiracy theories, because all the old ones turned out to be true.”
  • [17:45, Kennedy]: “He [Jack Smith] went and basically got the phone records for eight sitting United States Senators. And… the telephone companies… have a lot of civil liability.”
  • Kennedy urges speed and direct oversight, calling for subpoenas for Jack Smith, AG Garland, and possibly FBI Director Wray.
  • [19:46, Kennedy]: “I've listened to them talk about the president… destroying democracy and weaponizing. Give me a break. Gag me with a spoon, man. These guys started it.”
• Larger Pattern of Abuse: Holmes cites the Lois Lerner IRS scandal, Obama admin’s seizure of AP phone records, and the weaponization of government across cycles.
  • [23:38, Kennedy]: “No, it's got to be stopped… my charge [to the AG] … you need to go and get rid of the bad people and lift up the good people…there were a bunch of folks over there that were total ass clowns.”
  • [24:30, Duncan]: “All of those people test positive for stupid.”
  • [24:38, Kennedy]: “Yes, they do.”

5. Sen. Kennedy’s Book: “How to Test Negative for Stupid”

• A Book Born in the Kitchen: Kennedy discusses his new book—part story, part satire, all true anecdotes from his Senate tenure.
  • [24:52, Duncan]: “You just wrote a book about how to test negative for stupid and why Washington never will.”
  • [25:23, Kennedy]: “It's not a policy book per se, it's a storybook. I use stories to make my points… to explain to them why in Washington, D.C. normal is a setting on the clothes dryer.”
  • [26:19, Kennedy]: “I tried to speak very plainly in, in, in basic English. You know, no Sanskrit.”
• Classic Kennedy Storytelling: Anecdotes about McConnell and Senate life, including this gem:
  • [27:26, Kennedy]: “America was founded by geniuses, but it's being run by idiots. And I also said… I don't know how some people in leadership made it through the birth canal.”
  • On McConnell’s comeback: “John, I had no trouble making it to the birth canal.”

6. Audience Engagement & Ruthless Listener Stories

• Listener Feedback: The team reads and riffs on five-star Apple Podcast reviews, including a fan whose relationship began with a Ruthless conversation.
• [41:49, Ashbrook]: Reading praise from listeners across age and geography, reinforcing the show's broad cultural reach.
• [41:55, Unidentified Co-host]: “I even learn things. Thanks so much for standing up and speaking truth.”

7. The State of Air Travel: Budget Airlines Edition

• Spirit & Frontier Airlines Pandemonium:
  • [49:18, Co-host]: “It's the Greyhound in the sky.”
  • The hosts mock the chaos unique to ultra-budget air travel, with tales of aisle-blocking parents on Spirit and drunken brawls on Frontier.
  • [53:23, Ashbrook]: “There’s no winner here. There's no one in the wrong, there's no one in the right. This is just the morass you find yourselves in… you're surrounded by other monsters like yourself.”
  • Calls for unruly passengers to be sent to “Guantanamo Bay” or black sites becomes an extended tongue-in-cheek riff.

8. Boomers, Protest Fetishism & Liberal Hypocrisy

• Footage of aging protestors sparks a debate on “liberal boomers,” entitlement culture, and generational divides.
  • [46:36, Unidentified Co-host]: “A liberal boomer is the most selfish person that's existed on the face of this planet.”
• The difference between “the greatest generation” and the “liberal boomer protest crowd” is lampooned.

9. Question of the Day: Who’s Testing Positive for Stupid?

• The team encourages listeners to submit nominations for the “stupidest” politician, public figure, or even neighbor of the week—tying into Kennedy’s book theme.

---

Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• Sen. Kennedy’s signature zinger:
  • “[The Senate] is like high school, but no one ever graduates.” [02:04]
• On Schumer’s political predicament:
  • “Senator Schumer is nervous as a pregnant nun because the loon wing, the socialist wing of his party does not like him.” [03:46]
• On government spending demands:
  • "We're going to vote to shut down unless you give us $1.5 trillion and we're going to tell you how to spend it." [03:19]
• AOC as foil:
  • "She's single handedly trying to put an end to dumb blonde jokes." [05:12]
• Obamacare critique:
  • "Obamacare exchanges are broken… they were supposed to make insurance cheaper and more accessible. It's done neither." [08:03]
• Leverage as cleavage:
  • "Your leverage sounds a lot like cleavage… Leverage, Sheldon." [14:11]
• On government weaponization:
  • "Gag me with a spoon, man. These guys started it." [19:46]
• On Senate staffers:
  • "There were a bunch of folks over there that were total ass clowns." [24:29]
• On his book’s style:
  • "It's not a policy book per se, it's a storybook." [25:23]
  • "Normal is a setting on the clothes dryer." [25:44]
• Classic McConnell story:
  • "I don't know how some people in leadership made it through the birth canal." [27:05]
  • “John, I had no trouble making it to the birth canal.” [27:29]
• On unruly airline experiences:
  • "It's a zoo in the sky and all the other animals are there with you." [54:01]

---

Segment Timestamps

• Opening & shutdown discussion: 00:00–15:49
• FBI/DOJ scandal & oversight: 16:56–24:29
• Kennedy’s book interview: 24:45–29:49
• Listener feedback & audience interactions: 39:27–41:49
• Boomers & protest culture: 45:00–48:48
• Budget airline rants: 49:16–55:27
• Question of the day/closing: 62:45–end

---

Tone, Style, and Takeaways

The episode’s tone is as irreverent and fast-talking as ever—equal parts banter, pointed analysis, and gallows humor about DC dysfunction. Senator Kennedy matches the Ruthless wit with punchlines and sharp analogies, offering an insider’s perspective on current GOP strategy, Democratic infighting, and ongoing fights over healthcare and government overreach. His folksy metaphors and candid anecdotes make for genuinely memorable radio.

Bottom Line:
This episode is a robust engagement with the intersection of news and comedy, painting a vivid (if acerbic) picture of Washington gamesmanship and the cultural absurdity of American politics. If you enjoy a blend of cutting satire, practical wisdom, and outright mockery of both institutional and social dysfunction, this episode is a must-listen.

---

Additional Resources

• Sen. John Kennedy’s “How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington Never Will” is available wherever books are sold.
• For more on government shutdowns and advocacy: MakeGovernmentWork.com
• Submit your “Who’s testing positive for stupid?” entries for next week’s show!

---

Keep the faith, hold the line, and own the libs!

Transcript

[Senator John Kennedy]

You've heard me say this. My mama did not raise a fool. And if she did, it was one of my brothers and my colleagues felt the same way. Here's how I predict Schumer's gonna get out of it. I could be wrong, but I think we're not gonna budge. And he's gonna be forced to go to six or eight of his Democratic Senate colleagues and say, look, I need a favor. Vote to get me out of this shutdown.

[Josh Holmes]

Alzheimer's doesn't start when the memory fades. It can begin decades earlier, quietly, in the brain. Science is advancing to better fight this disease. New tools can help doctors detect Alzheimer's early when we have the best chance to slow it down. Early detection means more time, more birthdays, more anniversaries, more moments that matter. Let's act sooner, not later. Learn [e-mail] paid for by the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease.

[Michael Duncan]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please.

[John Ashbrook]

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

[Michael Duncan]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Fun Time Friday. Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety Program. I'm Josh Holmes, along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook left right across your radio dial. When we do Funtime Friday, you have something to expect, and it's always got to be a fun time. And we've thought long and hard about how we can continue to improve the product. I can't think of a more fun way to improve the product. With our guest, Senator John Kennedy. How are you, sir?

[Senator John Kennedy]

I am walking on sunshine. Happy to be here.

[Josh Holmes]

Always walking on sunshine. Despite your surroundings, which, yeah, it's a little, like. It's a little glum around D.C. these days.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, you know what it's like. I mean, the Senate is like high school, but no one ever graduates.

[Josh Holmes]

They just stick.

[Senator John Kennedy]

They just stick around. You know, we've got some guys have been in the 10th grade for 37.

[Josh Holmes]

Years, so we want to ask you a couple serious questions that it gets into a larger, funnier conversation, which is like, look, the government shut down the House, did their job. They passed a continuing resolution. But, you know, like, I've been around a little while, and when that happens, it's a clean cr, as they say, which is basically just continuing what you're doing. There's nothing really to negotiate against, unless, of course, you're in a perilous political standing and you happen to be a majority leader from the state of New York who's up and you have a young upstart with initials as her name. And it turns Out. You almost lost your job as majority leader six months ago because you did the clean CR and they wanted you to fight and things. Is that kind of your takeaway, Chuck Schumer? Is this just like a political vanity project?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah, it's. Look, the Democrats have done a pretty good job of muddying the water to make it look deep, but it's very simple. Tuesday, a week ago, the country was rocking along, minding its own business. Our budget ran out at midnight, but we had been talking to the Democrats about just continuing the current budget, no strings attached, for six or eight weeks till we could negotiate a new one. And at the last minute, Schumer came to us and said, here's the deal. We're going to vote to shut down unless you give us $1.5 trillion and we're going to tell you how to spend it. And we, yeah, we looked at each other and, you know, you've heard me say this. My mama did not raise a fool. And if she did, it was one of my brothers and my colleagues felt the same way. Yeah, obviously, this really was such an unserious offer. It's not about policy. It's about politics. Senator Schumer is nervous as a pregnant nun because the loon wing, the socialist wing of his party does not like him. He wants them to like him. And so he's trying to ingratiate himself to the loon wing of his party and its leader, Congresswoman Ocasio Cortez. Yeah, and that's what's going on.

[Josh Holmes]

And I don't think it escaped your attention. Certainly didn't escape ours in that three weeks prior to all of this that she made sort of an announcement on background, by the way, somebody else was speaking for. She couldn't do this herself, but that she's actively exploring either a run for the presidency or a primary challenge to Chuck Schumer. She hasn't decided yet. I imagine that the majority or minority leader had some attention paid to that kind of thing.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, look, you know, this is America, guys. You're entitled to your opinion, I'm entitled to mine. How can I put this? I think that the congresswoman is single handedly trying to put an end to dumb blonde jokes. And our attitude is, you've heard me say before, our secret plan is Operation Let Her Speak. And Chuck, because he can't get. He sees what we see, but he can't. He can't seem to figure out how to defeat it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Now, and look, don't misunderstand me. I like Chuck. He's a friend, but he could start if he'd stop all the spastic arm movement. You know, he goes, I believe strongly in this. And you go, chuck, just loosen up, man.

[Unidentified Co-host]

But do you feel good about where we are at as a Republican conference? Because I do worry about this sometimes when the. Things like this, when we enter a period where you have a shutdown and there's microphones in front of the face of every senator, every single day, that you start to get this instinct to almost negotiate against yourself in some way.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Co-host]

And. And, you know, I know you have conversations with the president and stuff like that. You do feel like the Republican Party is united.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I do.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Okay.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Now, we do have to worry. I mean, let's be be frank. The president likes to make deals.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And we have to watch the Democrats slipping in and making a deal with the president. But he's been great about. About sticking. We're, for the most part, united. We understand the stakes. There are 24 million people on Obamacare who are receiving the sub. The extra subsidy. The Democrats started these emergency. Yeah. They said it was for the pandemic. Well, the pandemic ended two years ago.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And of the 24 people on the Obamacare exchanges, 1.6 are getting the extra subsidies. And what Biden did was take the cap off. Used to be you only qualified for the exchanges. Obamacares if. If you were family. For making no more than 130,000 a year. Well, now we've got families making $600,000 a year.

[Josh Holmes]

They get the subsidy.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And they get the subsidy.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. It's almost like the Affordable Care act is not affordable.

[Senator John Kennedy]

No, it's. It's. That's. Josh, you nailed it.

[John Ashbrook]

That.

[Senator John Kennedy]

That's the real issue. The subsidies. Don't misunderstand issue. But the real point from 35,000ft is Obamacare exchanges are broken.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I mean, they were supposed to make insurance cheaper and more accessible. It's done in either.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And it's so bad that people will not buy the exchanges unless the federal government pays them to. It was just like electric cars. I never could understand. They said electric cars are swell. And I'd always think, well, if electric cars are so swell, how come you have to pay people to buy them? And Obamacare is the same way. It sucks so much that people say, we will not buy it unless you give us the money.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, look, you're a smart guy. You've got more degrees than a thermometer.

[Senator John Kennedy]

It's a good one.

[Josh Holmes]

I appreciate that coming from you. I really appreciate that. But you don't have to be an economist to know that if you create a program that somehow doesn't work from a market standpoint, and your solution to it is to throw more dollars at it. I don't know, something like student loans, for example, maybe a housing crisis, maybe things like that, that things just continue to be more expensive. Right. And yet it continues to be. Maybe it's just economic illiteracy, which I have long prosecuted the Democratic Party from, but it seems like there's just not a total misunderstanding of where this leads. What are you gonna do in five years?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yep.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, what are you gonna do in 10 years?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yep. It's just gonna get worse.

[Josh Holmes]

Way worse.

[Senator John Kennedy]

We tried to fix it. Senator McConnell, when he was majority leader, led our charge. He came within one vote. Yeah, one vote. I'll never forget that night. Neither will he. Yeah, neither will Mitch. And. And look, Mitch is still in there pitching, you know, when we. When we all are about, when, when the Republican senators, half of them have stopped taking their meds and everybody's all jumping around, we, God bless him, we've still got Mitch to stand up and say, okay, boys, settle down here a little bit. And it really has been an immense help. And I know that. That Senator Thune relies a lot on Mitch. But. But we came close to changing, but sooner or later, we're going to have to fight this battle.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's sooner or later, no question about it. But here's how the Democrats, I believe that Schumer just mocks right into the box canyon here, like, he didn't have a plan for what it was that they could achieve. He had no idea what winning looks like from his perspective. But once you're there, you got to invent things. So he's got a bunch of his colleagues that I want to hear your reaction to that are sort of like trying to figure out a way to justify all of this. Clip one, if you don't mind. They have had months to negotiate, and.

[Senator John Kennedy]

You reopen the government and we lose our leverage. And they say, well, you know, we want this, we want that. No, there has to be an agreement right now. That's what this whole shutdown is about. Okay, Comrade Bernie.

[Josh Holmes]

So that. I don't doubt that that's his. His view. But the idea that you open up the government in order to give them exactly what they want is the craziest thing on the face of the planet. And you keep hearing this thing, leverage, leverage, but the leverage is just entirely against the American people right there. They are the leverage that the Democrats are using.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Here's how I predict Schumer is going to get out of it. I could be wrong, but I think we're not going to budge. And he's going to be forced to go to six or eight of his Democratic Senate colleagues and say, look, I need a favor vote to get me out of this shutdown. He said now. He's gonna tell him, now, look, I gotta vote no and I gotta dog cuss you a little bit. We gotta make it. We gotta have some play acting and make this look good. And then, and then we come out of the shutdown. But Bernie, you know, he's tough, but the danger. Bernie, I'm serious. What he's gotta watch. He doesn't want to look like he's had a mutiny. Cause then he's weaker than when he went in.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, right.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And he wasn't strong then.

[Josh Holmes]

No.

[Senator John Kennedy]

So he's in a really, really difficult spot. And even with the legacy media trying to do the best they can, if he just stopped trying to tell jokes, you know.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Yeah, that's your job.

[Senator John Kennedy]

That's my job, man. And, but, but that's probably, in my opinion, how we'll get out.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, it sounds like a real big favor that he's asking of these members and I'm sure they're going to come.

[Senator John Kennedy]

But, but he's got some. You're right. You, you're, you're right. But he's got some that are up for reelection. Gene Shaheen. I shouldn't single out anybody, but Jean's not up.

[Josh Holmes]

Peters.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Peters. Gary's not up. He's got some other folks not up and who are going to continue as senators, but they're in safe seats. Brian Schatz will help him out because.

[Josh Holmes]

Because he wants his job.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Because you said that.

[John Ashbrook]

I did.

[Senator John Kennedy]

So there will be the votes there to bail him out, but we're all going to be able to know what's going on.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

So getting back to this leverage thing, you're somewhat of an artist when it comes to language linguistics.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I don't get nearly enough credit for things. I don't say.

[Josh Holmes]

Regional dialects or something. That is core competency.

[Senator John Kennedy]

That means that my, my voice scares small children. He said. Holmes is so polite. What he really means that my voice sets off car alarm.

[Josh Holmes]

I didn't say that.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I'm, I'm self aware.

[Josh Holmes]

But, but I will say you're going to have a reaction to your colleague Sheldon Whitehouse. We talked about it on the program earlier this week. You gotta, you Gotta. Leverage is a big thing. Let's hear from Sheldon. The way he sort of articulates this.

[Senator John Kennedy]

But we'd rather negotiate with you after you've given away your leverage. Do it in a couple of days or a couple of weeks when we've.

[Josh Holmes]

Given up our negotiating leverage.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Your leverage sounds a lot like cleavage. So. Leverage. Sheldon. I love Sheldon. It's a nice suit. I remember when it was in. Back in 1978. Now I gotta speak to the boy. You just can't take him anywhere. Leverage.

[Josh Holmes]

If ever there was a New England of feat, it is leverage.

[John Ashbrook]

That feels like a New England boarding school affectation right there.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Leverage.

[Josh Holmes]

Is that gonna play where you're from?

[Senator John Kennedy]

That's not gonna play around. I'm just telling you, if you go.

[Josh Holmes]

Down there and you're like, hey, you guys don't understand. We have to work on the leverage.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

What do your people say to you?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah, they, they, they go. They say, what. What planet did you parachute?

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, it's just so bad.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I haven't seen that clip. I can't wait to see White House.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, God. You got to talk to him about it.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Show me your leverage.

[Josh Holmes]

If you do that, you need to report back.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I will.

[Josh Holmes]

So just call right in and give us the whole rundown. So when we return, we want to talk to you a little bit about this oversight hearing you had the other day with the Attorney General. We noticed you had an active role on that, on the FBI. Turns out they were basically spying on your colleagues, which was happening, and you obviously had a reaction to that. We're going to get to that. And your new book, Good.

[John Ashbrook]

After this.

[Josh Holmes]

Good.

[Michael Duncan]

America's demand for energy is rising rapidly and at a time when American families can least afford an energy shortage. But for decades, critical energy projects have been blocked, limiting our access to reliable, affordable American energy and putting America's energy dominance at risk. The solution is obvious. Overhaul the broken energy permitting process. Make it faster and simpler. Innovation, a strong workforce, abundant oil and gas. We have it all right here in the usa. Let's put America first and political agendas last. We can power our own country, create thousands of good paying American jobs, and unleash American energy to be bigger and better than ever before. Because when America builds, America wins. Read API's plan to secure America's future at permitting. Reformnow.org paid for by the American Petroleum Institute.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, so the setup to all of this is the revelation a couple of days ago that the FBI and the Department of Justice found out that Jack Smith was Basically spying on your fellow colleagues. They were trying to obtain phone and data records for eight of your colleagues. Huge constitutional problems. Article one, Article two, like this is. You don't need to be a constitutional lawyer to figure that out. But you got a hold of this in the oversight hearing. You're pretty animated about it.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, there have been rumors about this for a while. Chuck Todd and others kept saying it's just a conspiracy theory. Well, guys, we're going to have to get some new conspiracy theories, because all the old ones turned out to be true. I mean, conspiracy theories are up like 37 to nothing. I mean, when I first heard about it, really, I thought it was satire. But basically, Mr. Jack Smith, I thought he was smarter than this. I've got rocks in my driveway that are smarter than what he did. I mean, he basically. I guess he thought he wouldn't get caught because he's not stupid. He went and basically got the phone records for eight sitting United States Senators. And we haven't figured out how he did it. Some kind of subpoena. I can tell you this, that the telephone company, if he did serve them with a subpoena, the telephone companies that did not challenge that subpoena, that didn't try to quash it, that just handed it over, just vomited forth the information. They have a lot of civil liability, but we're going to have to get. And we asked the Attorney General about it, and I think she just found out about it. And there's going to be an investigation, but I don't want to see it. I don't want it to be one of these investigations that. Well, we're working on it, and we'll be back to you in two years and seven months. Yep, yep. That's what we worry about.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. I mean, your questions were right to that. You basically are like, all right, well, what are the answers here and how quickly can we get.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Frankly, I want to do a separate hearing. I don't want to interfere with the investigation, but I would subpoena Mr. Smith.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

If it appears that the Attorney General was aware of it, I'd subpoena Attorney General Garland. We may have to subpoena Director Wray. I'm told. I don't know if it's true, but that many of the FBI agents that were involved in securing the subpoenas or are checking ZipRecruiter right about now, they're no longer gainfully employed. But I mean, this is serious.

[Josh Holmes]

It is serious.

[Senator John Kennedy]

This is very serious. And I've listened to them talk about the president, President Trump being, you know, destroying democracy and, and weaponizing. Give me a break. Gag me with a spoon, man. These guys started it.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Yes.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And I knew. I mean, all the attorney general did. Of the United States, Garland, Garland, he, for the first time, he sued a former president. And the former president that he tried to criminally prosecute just happened to be Merrick Garland's boss's opponent. Now, that's the only. Convenient. Very convenient. This happens in some countries, but their powerball jackpot is 287 chickens and a goat. It doesn't happen in America. And when. When they did this at Justice, I said, you know, they have unleashed spirits they can't control.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And that's. We've got a serious problem.

[Michael Duncan]

And, you know, none of these processes, I don't need to tell you, none of these processes move quickly. But if you were to subpoena those others, as you mentioned, I mean, is it possible to. That the subpoenas could go out and they could be before your committee as soon as this fall?

[Senator John Kennedy]

I hope so. I'm pushing for it sooner.

[John Ashbrook]

Nice.

[Josh Holmes]

Wow. That's right.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And look, this is the danger. There are a lot of ambitious prosecutors out there at the federal level, but also state level.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And I can see some Republican prosecutors, for example, angry at this abuse of the rule of law going, well, you know what? If they're going to do this, yeah, maybe I'll indict, under state law, all of the people around President Biden that. That hid his neurodegenerative disease from us under state law, maybe I'll just indict them. And then it's off to the races.

[Josh Holmes]

Old banana republic style.

[Senator John Kennedy]

It's off to the races and we've got to fight.

[Josh Holmes]

Here's what I get concerned about, because this is just the latest installation. I mean, we were around when the Obama IRS and Lois Lerner decided shortly after the Citizens United and everything that allowed nonprofits to interact basically with the political process, it became problematic for President Obama. And shortly thereafter, the IRS decided that every conservative nonprofit was now under an audit. Right. Not every, but I mean, a lot. And it was only conservative. It wasn't anything liberal. And that kind of like, went away.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

And then we got to a point where the press became problematic for President Obama in 2016 and 2017 because he wasn't doing a good job. The country kind of turned against him. And this was before the President Trump election. And so all of a sudden, the Associated Press and, oh, freedom of press. I thought that was a sacrosanct thing amongst your liberal colleagues. But all of a sudden you find out the Obama administration was unbeknownst to the Associated Press subpoenaing and obtaining phone records from editors and reporters of people reporting stories out against them. And then you get all the stuff with Trump. Right. And then you get all this stuff that just was revealed this week. And then we hear stories that was reported in the New York Times this week about Hunter Biden and all the nonsense. And it's like, I understand what political hay is. And you and your colleagues make a good amount of that when these guys step in shit. But we're now into a point where it's like, this is a very intentional, deeply problematic. And historically, you can set your watch to it. Every time these guys get in power, they do the same damn thing. Am I wrong about that?

[Senator John Kennedy]

No, it's got to be stopped. And when Attorney General Bondi was, before Judiciary for confirmation, we talked about it. But. But it's. It's difficult because my charge to her, our charge to her, I said, general, you need to go over there and get rid of the bad people and lift up the good people.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And that's easy to say, but when you're getting rid of the bad people, their friends and supporters go, oh, political weaponization. No, we're getting rid of bad people. But that's why it's a delicate exercise, but it has to be done. There's some really good people at justice and there's some really good people at the FBI, but there were a bunch of folks over there that were total ass clowns.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, you.

[Senator John Kennedy]

You total.

[Michael Duncan]

You talk about those people that ask clowns. Josh was talking about the journalists. All of those people test positive for stupid.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yes, they do. And you wrote a book, among other things.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

Which brings us to our next discussion.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Exactly.

[Michael Duncan]

You just wrote a book about how to test negative for stupid and why Washington never will.

[Josh Holmes]

Greatest title.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, I'll tell you, I sat down, I wrote most of it in a hand with a handheld Dictaphone in my kitchen table.

[Michael Duncan]

That's going to. That is. That makes it a must read.

[Senator John Kennedy]

We went through edit after edit. I had an editor at Harper Collins, HarperCollins, who's very good, but I did most of the editing. And so you give birth to this thing and you don't know how people are going to react. It's not a policy book per se, it's a storybook. I use stories to make my points.

[Josh Holmes]

As you always have, sir. As you always have.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Many of the Stories are funny. Some of them are really bizarre, deeply weird. But. But all of them are true. And, and I try to use these stories to make people understand what the Senate's really like, to explain to them why in Washington, D.C. normal is a setting on the clothes dryer.

[John Ashbrook]

Yes.

[Senator John Kennedy]

That's how we got. And, but also to try to explain, look, it doesn't have to be this way.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Did you do that deliberately? Because I, you know, when we started this podcast, I thought that was one of the driving motivations of doing this show, is we wanted to make politics more accessible to, like, normal people. Sure. You know, where we talk normally about politics and it's not some esoteric thing with every single episode. When you wrote this book, was that sort of your intentional thing as well, where you're like, I want to explain to you how it works, but I'm, I'm not going to talk about cloture or this, you know, these. We're going to talk about politics like life.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. I tried to speak very plainly in, in, in basic English.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Right.

[Senator John Kennedy]

You know, no Sanskrit.

[John Ashbrook]

Although you probably.

[Josh Holmes]

Could if you wanted.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah, well, who'd know the difference? And, and, and I didn't. There were stories, obviously I left out, but I really wanted to put names on things. I thought that was important. And I was. Tried to be very careful. All these stories are true, you know, look it. I don't know. We're number one on, on Amazon, so.

[Unidentified Co-host]

I'm very proud of that.

[Michael Duncan]

There you go. I'm not surprised.

[Senator John Kennedy]

But if people will give it a chance, it'll, it'll. It may make you think. It'll probably make you laugh. Good. Possibility. Possibility. It'll make you day. Drink. I didn't pull any punches.

[Josh Holmes]

All the things we're qualified for here.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Absolutely, absolutely. But anyway, I told some good McConnell stories.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm sure there's some beauties in there.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And Mitch is still mad at me from the time when he was majority leader. I was having a bad day and the press asked me how things were going and I said, america was founded by geniuses, but it's being run by idiots. And I probably told you this, but I went into lunch and I also said, oh, yeah, I added to it. I said, I don't know how some people in leadership made it through the birth canal. So I go in the lunch and there's Mitch and he said, john, I had no trouble making it to the birth canal. That is a true story.

[John Ashbrook]

That is so good.

[Josh Holmes]

It's so good. You gotta buy this.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And Then he said, I'm moving your office to Richmond.

[Josh Holmes]

The Dirksen basement looks fine.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yes, absolutely. I deserve it.

[Josh Holmes]

Listen, how to Test Negative for Stupid and why Washington Never Will. You gotta go buy this book. I assume we can get it anywhere.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah, yeah. Amazon Books.

[Josh Holmes]

Anywhere you buy books.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Anywhere you buy books.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Smug is. There are no big words.

[John Ashbrook]

I was gonna ask if there's an audiobook that you read. Cause I'd buy that.

[Senator John Kennedy]

We have a health club, as you know. There's a naked picture of Schumer in the shower. It'll. It'll make. It'll trigger your gaggly. No, I'm just kidding. That's not true, folks.

[Josh Holmes]

But you gotta buy it to find out. Listen, so good to have you. Always a pleasure having you in here. You just keep doing a great job.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Y' all have been so kind to me for having me. I love your show. Thanks for. For giving so much to our country. I mean, that y'. All. Y' all help a lot of people understand a very crazy, crazy process.

[John Ashbrook]

Thank you so much, Senator.

[Josh Holmes]

Thank you, sir. So Kenny's just 10 of 10.

[John Ashbrook]

Isn't he always?

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, he's just so good. I think we owe him a jacket. He's been on here like four or five times now.

[Michael Duncan]

He's just the funniest guy on the planet.

[Unidentified Co-host]

It's a highlight reel.

[Michael Duncan]

You cannot have a bad time with that guy.

[Josh Holmes]

You can't. He's just laughing in it. And he's just fantastic. And he's doing good work, obviously. So, look, you all know by now Jack Smith, the special prosecutor that was in charge of basically prosecuting the political enemy of Joe Biden and Donald Trump was up to all kinds of nefarious things. And that's been litigated over the last couple of years. And now we know that he had subpoenaed phone records for eight sitting Republican United States Senators. What was also a part of that conversation, frankly, that shouldn't be sort of brushed by is the efforts to conceal what it is that they've done. This is as clear cut a constitutional. It's like you got articles in the Constitution, Article 1, Article 2. Like this used to be a very bipartisan understanding that the executive doesn't investigate the congressional, doesn't investigate the Supreme Court. Like this is just clear cut. It's like 101. If you've ever gone to law school for like a day, you don't even need to go to law school. Just read a fucking book and you understand that this is completely ridiculous. What they did, because they know that is try to conceal all of that.

[Michael Duncan]

Right. And remember how long it took for them to investigate and get to the bottom of Bob Menendez, like a famous United States Senator who was crookeder than the day is long. It took them 10 years to get to the bottom of that simply because of the protections that you're talking about.

[Josh Holmes]

Exactly. I remember Richard Jefferson with the. He had like 10 grand in his freezer that they found. He was a member of Congress back in the mid 2000s, LA guy. But then the Bush administration attempted to send, after they found the cash, attempted to send agents into the House of Representatives and then a Republican speaker of the House who would love to knock off Richard Jefferson or William Jefferson, whatever the hell his name was. He was a fucking crook and he went to jail anyway. He said no because it's a clear cut constitutional problem. And I, as Speaker of the House cannot allow the executive to just march in Congressional buildings and serve out subpoena. So this is obvious to everybody. Cash walks through cash. Patel, Director of the FBI walks through the lengths to which Jack Smith and his team went to try to conceal that, presumably from an incoming administration. But almost anybody who would look at it, who had any fidelity to the law whatsoever, right here in clip two. It in a lockbox. Put that lockbox in a vault and then put that vault in a cyber place where no one can see or search these files. They're called restricted access and prohibited access. Restricted access means some people get to see it. Prohibited access, you put it in there when you want to hide it from the world. And that takes the authorization of the Attorney General and the Director of the FBI. So not only did they weaponize this law enforcement, but when we got in there and when I got in as the FBI director, from my experience as Russiagate, I knew where to look and what rooms to open and what doors to kick down. And that's what we did. We found this information to expose the politicization by Jack Smith and the prior Department of Justice. I mean, just think about it. Eight sitting United States Senators, phone records were gathered and subpoenaed through the grand jury process and it was buried and wormholed. It was the hope that no one would find him. So we're just scratching the surface here, but accountability is coming.

[John Ashbrook]

That's the thing. That's the thing. And I was so happy that Senator Kennedy got into this and specifically about the speed with which he wants this to be dealt with, because I think we walk through the entire history of the number of times that Democrats have used and abused their power to spy on Republicans. And every time they get away with it, they get more and more brazen. And so to hear first off, Senator Kennedy be like, we're going to deal with this immediately, because I think so many Americans are sick and tired of Democrats getting away with this nonsense. We had a senator say they're done with it, and then Cash describes, they know what they're doing. They're trying to cover the trail.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Yeah, they're trying to cover the trail. I would say the reason why it's so difficult is the threshold you have to reach reach to indict and prosecute somebody who's working in, quote, unquote, their official capacity. Right. If they're in the FBI or DOJ or whatever.

[Josh Holmes]

One of the reasons why none of the charges stuck in the January 6th stuff in a court threw it out is that particular thing. It gets even more distinct when you're talking about two different branches of government. And I'm not going to do a constitutional law professing here, but it's obvious to anybody who has ever worked in one or studied law in any form or fashion, this is deeply problematic.

[Unidentified Co-host]

And what we have different here, though, is. And where I think it crosses that threshold, beyond the, well, I'm just doing my job sort of stuff, is the effort to conceal.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, like, there it is.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Effort to conceal takes it outside of the realm of like, I was just doing my job in my official capacity and I'm going trying to find justice wherever it leads. Hiding it.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yep.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Hiding it makes it totally different.

[Michael Duncan]

Right. And I think Senator Kennedy actually made some news right here on the Variety program when he talked about the speed with which he is going to get to the bottom of this. He also mentioned the civil liability that some of these telephone companies may face for participating at the drop.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I've done a little reporting on that front. Turns out they papered it. DOJ papered it. Meaning it's like, remember the whole Internet companies thing? Like, if you get served a legal court, you got to adhere to it or you're going to jail. And so I don't think that the telephone companies are the ones that are in jeopardy here. It's just the hot water of the people who created this and decided to get a judge to pursue the subpoena.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the type of news and analysis you get on the hottest, most influential podcast.

[Unidentified Co-host]

There you go. There you go, pal.

[Josh Holmes]

One of the things we talked about, however, was this entire thing with government shutdowns. And from our perspective, I think it was a couple of weeks ago, we brought in Brent Gardner at AFP who kind of gave us the full rundown of how they view and what they're talking to people about around the country about government shutdowns. And they're obviously against government shutdowns. Like, we have a nuanced view here about who feels political pain in a lot of ways, but these people actually, you know, they talk to people who actually feel the impact on a day to day basis. So not surprisingly they're like, this isn't good, we can't do this. And they have people stretched out all across this country that are talking about it. And I think that they've got something here in some ways in that they've got this website, makegovernmentwork.com I think that's like a principle that all of us can sort of wrap our minds around in a lot of ways, regardless of where you are in the politics of it.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, I think it's really interesting coming from them because, you know, you always think about door knockers in the campaign season in like October of an even year. AFP is knocking doors all year round every single year. And so the stuff that they come up with is informed entirely by the conversations that they're having with regular people at the doors that's fed back into their organization and make government work is something that they've come up with because people are like, what is wrong with all this?

[Unidentified Co-host]

Yeah. And it's, it's interesting being here in Washington D.C. and everybody gets sort of like bogged down on the specifics of this thing and what are we going to do with this? Er, and you know, whatever. But like your average voter out there across the country, they're like, what's wrong with you people? They just want the government to work.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Co-host]

You know, they want, they want it to be figured out. They don't want a government that's run crisis to crisis, you know, where these Democrats run roughshod over what we're trying to accomplish here because they have some demand. Right, right. Where they, they want you to hold you hostage for some unaffordable care act instead of addressing that policy separate from funding the government and changing the date on the continuing resolution.

[John Ashbrook]

You know what I mean?

[Josh Holmes]

Totally. Right.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Like that's the thing. It's like Americans don't think about their government that way. They're just like, all right, can we just like solve problems?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, and that's what makegovernment work.com is all about. And again, Brent Gardner, the chief government affairs officer at afp, love the guy, has been at the head of that and we bring him in anytime we have to look around the corner and try to figure out what's happening on the Hill because he knows better than anybody anyway. Go to that website if you're interested because I do think there's a lot of value to that. Given that and like make government work and what we heard from Kennedy, I think it's only appropriate to come up with sort of a adaptation of the book title that Kennedy's got, which is our Question of the Day. Our question of the day to all of you is who's testing positive for stupid?

[John Ashbrook]

Great question. Excellent question.

[Josh Holmes]

There's a lot to choose from. There's a lot to choose from. But provide a little explanation, get a little flare in there. You throw a yuck our way.

[Unidentified Co-host]

A little panache goes a long way.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, you too can show up next week with a comment here on the Variety program.

[Michael Duncan]

It doesn't have to be only Democrats. It could be journos too.

[Josh Holmes]

That's exactly right. That is exactly right. And so look, we're going to take this a little bit a different direction here in Funtime Friday in that we always read your question of the day. We're going to hold Thursdays until next Tuesday, but we haven't done five stars in a while.

[Unidentified Co-host]

We've spent a long time on the audio side.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. For the, for those of you who are listening to this on the audio side, you've been neglected. You've been neglected and I feel like we owe you a little something. So we picked out the five star comments and we're going to give them to all of you if you leave five stars. Believe me, we read them, we just don't always talk about them. I think we're going to start mixing this in more. We always start with a voice first.

[Michael Duncan]

One comes from Toof Doof and he he titles his my new favorite. He writes, I discovered this show a few weeks ago and I love it. To me the commentary is spot on. The humorous approach makes it so fun to listen to.

[Josh Holmes]

That is what we endeavor to do. To do. And your name says it all. I love it.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Comment 2harunx this comes from Jed Stir. The title is Wedding brought to you by Ruthless.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh boy.

[Unidentified Co-host]

I am an OG minion and a Day one listener. I've shared a lot of laughs with you guys from punting the turkey smug, saying he could fight a horse bare handed in countless King of The Hill battles between Reuben and Dowd back in the day. I'm writing this because I'm getting married November. For first, congratulations.

[John Ashbrook]

Congrats.

[Unidentified Co-host]

And we actually met over a conversation about Ruthless three years ago.

[Senator John Kennedy]

No. Wow.

[Unidentified Co-host]

One conversation turned into 20, which turned into years of listening on road trips and laughing at Duncan's tirades.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, hilarious.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Wanted to thank you guys for all you do and for playing a hand in me finding the love of my life. Keep bringing the laughs and owning the libs.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Awesome to hear that.

[Unidentified Co-host]

And if you need any advice on child rearing, I can provide that as well.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, smug does his best too. Yeah, there's a secondary component. When you get Ruthless, you also get a guy that doesn't have kids that will tell you all about how to raise them. Yeah, that is extremely nice.

[Unidentified Co-host]

It's very nice.

[John Ashbrook]

Makes you feel good to hear it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I love those kind of stories. All right, comment 3 smuggs comment 3.

[John Ashbrook]

From Cali girl in a West Virginia World. Charrettes love you guys. My 25 year old son told me about the podcast months ago, so I gave a listen. Yes, I may even be older than the old man, but I really enjoy your group dynamic. You make me laugh and I even learn things. Thanks so much for standing up and speaking truth. Keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. Love it. Thank you so much. Cali Girl, West Virginia world.

[Josh Holmes]

So good.

[Unidentified Co-host]

I love that sometimes when I'll meet somebody.

[Josh Holmes]

Why are you not old?

[Unidentified Co-host]

They recognize my voice. Yeah, like I'll be at an airport bar or something and somebody will be like, you're from Ruthless. I thought you would be so much older in spirit.

[Josh Holmes]

You're like, you haven't heard me bitch about this bartender yet.

[Unidentified Co-host]

You know what really grinds my gears?

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, that's great. All right, so you've heard us talk a lot about zebiotics and zbiotics. To us is the absolutely essential material for a pre alcohol drink that you have to bring with you when you're gonna have a big weekend. We do it. We do it all the time and it has worked for us every time. What is the saying? How do we work that thing?

[Michael Duncan]

There's no tomorrow without zebiotics today.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's true. And it's, to be clear, not their slogan. It's ours.

[Unidentified Co-host]

We created that for them.

[Josh Holmes]

But that's what we say when we get a box of this stuff. Which, by the way, I'm gonna watch your fingers on this stuff. Smug.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, because it's kept from me. They always Want to go and grab a drink after we're done recording? And then there's none left for me. But I'm going to take all of this. It's all mine. This is all you see right here. I'm taking it with me, okay? And that's because it works, folks. I don't care if you're going to have one drink, if you're going to have four or five drinks, if it's a big night out, if it's just having a bourbon watching the fireplace because it's fall, if you're going to have a sip of anything to drink, you should have this first. Because let me tell you, so many people think that, oh, I feel bad after I had alcohol because I'm dehydrated. That's not the case, folks. When you have alcohol, your body breaks it down and then it has these, like, toxic byproducts in your gut. That's what feels bad the day after. But if you have ZBiotics first, that doesn't happen, folks. You feel like a million bucks in the morning.

[Josh Holmes]

Developed by PhDs.

[Unidentified Co-host]

PhD. You know, you gotta trust the science here. And I don't have to trust the science. I can trust our results.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I can.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

I can trust our own behavior the next day, which is fantastic. So you gotta go to zbiotics.com ruthless to learn more and get 15% off your first order. When you use Ruthless at the checkout, ZBiotics is backed by 100% money back guarantee. So if you're unsatisfied for any reason, they'll refund your money, no questions asked. Remember to head to ZBiotics.com Ruthless and use Ruthless at the checkout for 15% off. I was just with a guy last weekend. He heard me talk about it. He was like, I'm all over this. He ordered it on the spot.

[Michael Duncan]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

And I heard back. He likes to drink. Goodbye. Like Tuesday. He's like, holy shit.

[Senator John Kennedy]

It works.

[John Ashbrook]

It does work.

[Josh Holmes]

It works.

[Michael Duncan]

And that's why Smug just filched all of it. I don't know if you caught this.

[John Ashbrook]

But I deserve it.

[Josh Holmes]

Is that what's happening? No, I'm still trying to do my job.

[John Ashbrook]

He has it in his hands. I'm doing my job. He has it in his hands because if it's taken from me. Unbelievable.

[Josh Holmes]

This is an outrage.

[John Ashbrook]

I know. I've had to go without it for so long.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Unbelievable.

[Michael Duncan]

Right in the pocket. He's holding it like Saquon Barkley holding.

[John Ashbrook]

A football because it's always taken from Me, Wolf, always taken from Wolf.

[Josh Holmes]

One of the unfortunate jobs that you're now gonna have to assume is fishing that out of his pocket. Anyway, we got some variety.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

Interested in some of this stuff.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Always. Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

All right. We. You know how we love singing? Like singing libs, always. We got one clip four. Look at these people. If those people walked into the villages, they'd be like, no, the assisted living is around the corner.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

That's the oldest group of libs I've ever seen in life. But they're still strominant. It's like it's 1964.

[John Ashbrook]

That's the thing is that group of geriatric hippies never gave it up. They never gave it up. And they are fine with singing and being like, this land is your land, because they don't have to live with the consequences of voting for open borders, of voting to have the country fall apart, of voting to elect people. And what was that? Portland in Portland didn't have to deal with the consequences because they've got their nice houses, they're in their gated communities, they're in the nice part of town so they can strum their music safely on the streets and not have to deal with antifa rioters and illegals running amok. They never have to deal with the consequences of their own actions. So they're always happy playing their little YouTube game.

[Michael Duncan]

I thought you were saying they don't have to deal with the consequences because they're so old and they're close to the end.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I'm like, well, that could be.

[John Ashbrook]

They're about to face some consequences for what they're doing.

[Josh Holmes]

You know how they like to take it all down for them. Like, they're happy to take it all down to the end, like light civilizations.

[John Ashbrook]

Because judgment will appear very soon for all of them for what they've done.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Well, I think a liberal boomer is the most selfish person that's existed on the face of this planet. Yes, they do believe that the entire world begins and ends with them.

[John Ashbrook]

They give boomers writ large a bad name.

[Unidentified Co-host]

They really, really, really do.

[John Ashbrook]

Those libs that are the bad ones.

[Josh Holmes]

The rest of them simultaneously complain about a lack of work ethic from a younger generation and at the same time discuss about how every entitlement in this country is owed to them for what it is that they've done. Like, that is a liberal mindset in and of itself. But these progressive liberal boomers take it to a new level.

[Michael Duncan]

And just to be clear. I'm sorry to interrupt. Just to be clear, I wanted to just clear something up here. We have a great T shirt. We have a great campaign here at the Ruthless Friday thank you program. Thank a boomer.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

And when we're thanking boomers, those are not the boomers.

[John Ashbrook]

No, we're thanking the greatest generation. The heroic people who with their hands built this wonderful country, who made America great. And now the ones who went and voted for president literally, literally just stole.

[Josh Holmes]

The greatest generation from the great. From the greatest generation in that discussion.

[John Ashbrook]

Interesting.

[Unidentified Co-host]

I think liberal boomers have turned protest into fetish in a way. Here, if you go back, you know, in that clip, what you'll see. First of all, they're playing the ukulele. Ukulele, which is like the most low effort instrument possible, you know, and they think they're Woody Guthrie out here writing a protest song. It's fucking embarrassing. But then, you know, this whole thing is about, I guess, their opposition to ICE or National Guard coming to Portland or whatever it could be. There's a random. There's a random Ukraine flag in there. You know, it's like the one thing becomes the whole thing. And they're just, they're. They're addicted to attention, and it's just fascinating.

[Josh Holmes]

It's so true. And that is what today's Democratic Party is. It's like a Ukraine flag. We're upset about ice. And then someone walks out and is like, we hate the Jews.

[Unidentified Co-host]

And they're like, but gay rights in Gaza. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, it's just terrible. But that's what they are. And they singing and dancing and entertaining.

[Unidentified Co-host]

I hate them so much.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I know.

[Josh Holmes]

I do, too. I do, too. You guys want some airline stuff?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Always.

[Josh Holmes]

We got quality airline stuff. Smug. I want to wind you up like a toy.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, I'm ready for this quarter in.

[Josh Holmes]

Your back and let you just sort of like work your way down. So this one caught my eye. This is about Spirit Airlines and let me just say Spirit. Anytime you say spirit, particularly on this program, conjures up a certain level of.

[Unidentified Co-host]

It's the Greyhound in the sky.

[Josh Holmes]

It is.

[Senator John Kennedy]

It's just.

[Josh Holmes]

It's just not great. It's not great. Like, everybody's had to try to find a flight somewhere at the last minute and like, you end up on that. You know exactly what it is that I'm talking about. But when you combine that with Baltimore, you've really got something going. That's what we have here in clip 5.

[Unidentified Co-host]

What is wrong with you?

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Holmes]

For our audio only, listen, you're seeing.

[John Ashbrook]

A Woman.

[Josh Holmes]

Who is blocking the aisle, not allowing people to get through until her daughter, who is sitting in the last row, has the opportunity to pass every one of them in the row.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Until she can get up here. That's fine.

[Michael Duncan]

They're trying to come from the back.

[Josh Holmes]

Of the plane and get off first. Why did you come from the back of the plane?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Ask what row she was in.

[Michael Duncan]

What a nightmare for everyone.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Why they can't let her pay. You haven't been on this plane walking out your business.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, there we go. Yeah, there we go.

[Josh Holmes]

All right. So, yeah, so what is happening there is that that woman who is sitting halfway from the front and the back stood up, you know, and you exit a plane, everybody kind of goes row by row. Her daughter, for whatever reason, was seated in the back of the plane.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Not for whatever reason, though.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I don't know. For whatever reason. I mean, they're not. They're not together is the point.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Well, my point is she was fine with that. She was fine with that. But now that they're going to exit the airplane, now the child has to be escorted from the back of the plane by the toilet to up to where you are. You were totally fine with the child not being next to you the entire plane ride. In fact, I'm sure you enjoyed it. You didn't have to be a parent. And now it's suddenly everybody else's responsibility to clear a way for your child to come meet you. They can't meet you on the jet bridge.

[Josh Holmes]

Also insane. Yeah, I feel. I feel remiss if I didn't mention there's no evidence here that she was a child. It was a daughter.

[John Ashbrook]

That's it.

[Josh Holmes]

And I don't know what the circumstances were, but you're right, the facts are the daughter was not sitting with the mom.

[Unidentified Co-host]

I have one more bone to pick with you, Josh. Is that you called it Baltimore. It is not Baltimore. It is Baltimore.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Is that it?

[Unidentified Co-host]

It is Baltimore.

[Josh Holmes]

Baltimore.

[Unidentified Co-host]

That's how they talk. They say Balmore. Yeah, they got their own language there. It's indigenous to Merlin. Okay.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Co-host]

They don't say Baltimore.

[Josh Holmes]

I guess my only point was that we all go through struggles and sometimes we find ourselves in less desirable situations. Where it really becomes problematic is when there's a confluence of problematic situations. And that confluence in this particular case is spirit and Baltimore.

[John Ashbrook]

You know what?

[Michael Duncan]

For the audio only listeners, one thing I wanted to ask smug about is, you know, those seats didn't look very comfortable, did they?

[Josh Holmes]

What do you think about those?

[John Ashbrook]

No, I think everyone There is getting what they paid for, which is misery. That's what you get. You signed up for it. You're flying Spirit Airlines. Scheduled itself is a nightmare.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Now.

[John Ashbrook]

It'S the fault of so many people. It's over time accepting this kind of absurdity. You used to have some manner, some class and care about your fellow human. When you got onto a plane together, that's out the window that's scheduled is now essentially just like unarmed combat in the sky.

[Josh Holmes]

So hold on, let me put a finer point on that. So the people who are trapped behind this woman, who wanted to.

[John Ashbrook]

They deserve it.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay?

[John Ashbrook]

They deserve it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

You signed up for Spirit Airlines, and the reason that you signed up, this was inevitable. You were so excited to sign up for Spirit Airlines as you're like, this is the cheapest possible way for me to be put in a metal tube and fly hundreds of miles an hour.

[Unidentified Co-host]

I have to say, though, what a fantastic chirp. At the beginning of that video, a woman calls out to the woman in front who's blocking and is like, I feel bad that your daughter has to go home with you.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't.

[Unidentified Co-host]

What a fantastic chirp.

[John Ashbrook]

I don't.

[Josh Holmes]

They're all.

[John Ashbrook]

They're all. They're all the same. That's the thing, is there's no winner here. There's no good person here. There's no one in the wrong. There's no one in the right. This is just the morass you find yourselves in. You're like, I want to spend $3 and be allowed to be put on an airplane. And that's what you get. You're surrounded by other monsters like yourself. So you don't think this is gonna happen. You think you're gonna be able to get on a plane and pay $3 and everyone is gonna have some class and dignity. No, it doesn't pay for that.

[Senator John Kennedy]

It doesn't actually.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Doesn't even pay for the gas.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, you pay for that. You have to pay for dignity. You have to be paid. You have to pay to be treated like a human because that's all been stripped away from us all. Now when you're flying schedule, that's the dignity. Now it's stripped away from you. We're flying scheduled. You're going to have schedule. You're going to be treated like an animal.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Hold on. So are you calling for every American to take a private jet?

[John Ashbrook]

I'm saying that so much of this has spread. It used to be, oh, yes, airfare costs more. But along with that, you've got people who are like, you know what? This is a special occasion. I'm going to sit on the plane and I am going to treat people how I want to be treated.

[Josh Holmes]

Coat, pants and closed toed shoes.

[John Ashbrook]

It wasn't that long ago that it used to be like that, but now everyone feels like they are entitled to get an airplane ticket to go on any vacation. Families, you know, used to have a station wagon. Used to have a station wagon and go on vacation. Now it's like, no, we want to pay $3 and go anywhere in the country. And there is a way to do that. It's called Spirit Airlines. But what you're not paying for is human rights. You're gonna be treated like an animal because it's a zoo in the sky and all the other animals are there with you. You're among your own kind. You're all animals, isn't it?

[Josh Holmes]

Together?

[John Ashbrook]

And so of course you're gonna end up with some irrational crazy person who's like, everyone stand here until my daughter walks up here. Of course it doesn't make sense, but it doesn't make sense to think that you should be treated like a person paying $3 to fly across the country. They all deserve it. I see these videos and I'm amused by them. They all deserve it.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude, what a take.

[John Ashbrook]

They all deserve it.

[Josh Holmes]

What a take. It's been a while since we wound that plate toy and we. I mean, I'm. We're gonna have to let more air out of the balloon more often.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Because this. You got a lot of pent up stuff there. We're not done with airlines.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, boy.

[Josh Holmes]

And I haven't seen this one yet, but Frontier Airlines apparently. Again, same kind of genre, same thing.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Budget airline.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, Airline workers. Very cutting insult to a sunburned Karen booted off plane for being drunk alongside sister.

[Unidentified Co-host]

This is.

[Josh Holmes]

According to the Daily Mail, an airline worker used the weight of two sisters to identify the pair to police after they allegedly assaulted the crew member while being hauled off a flight. Apparently, that was an identifying characteristic. We're about to find that out. Which, you know, we got a real blind spot for that kind of thing here in the variety program.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Anyway.

[Josh Holmes]

Kira Lyons, 22, and her older sister Marla Lyons, 31, were traveling from Orlando to New Jersey.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, boy, There it is.

[Josh Holmes]

Where they were said to have drunkenly shoved a Frontier gate agent. According to the case and according to the Daily Mail, when asked by the office to describe the sisters of the perpetration, the agent identified Kira as young and thin while describing Mara as being chubby and older.

[John Ashbrook]

Amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, you can understand why that created quite a mess for Mara and whoever encountered Maura. So the court records now seen by the Daily Mail indicate that Kira was hit with a charge of battery in the first degree. So she kind of took up for the chubbier one. Maura. But we're gonna see. Clip. Clip six.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I can't. I can't, I can't.

[Josh Holmes]

Is that Kira?

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

I have anxiety.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Anxiety.

[Michael Duncan]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

That guy pushed her. There's the chubbier one.

[Senator John Kennedy]

She had to use the bathroom.

[John Ashbrook]

They're all the chubby, which is a non chubby one.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Race.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Come on. Medical attention.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, wait a minute.

[Michael Duncan]

Jeez.

[John Ashbrook]

This is the. This is the one that they attacked.

[Michael Duncan]

Allegedly.

[Josh Holmes]

This is the. The victim. And then the sister came up and shoved me again.

[Unidentified Co-host]

The short, skinny one first, that pushed me, and then.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, I guess everything's relative here.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Her sister.

[Josh Holmes]

I walked in the bathroom and they. And they pushed me.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And I was like, okay, I'm going.

[Unidentified Co-host]

To go to the bathroom, and you.

[Michael Duncan]

Want this to my boob? Sorry, sorry, sorry.

[Josh Holmes]

I didn't push.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Managed to fall in the jet br.

[Josh Holmes]

No, the flight attendant.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Flight attendant. How did she fall?

[Josh Holmes]

I don't remember.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Her phone.

[Josh Holmes]

No, she's shifting.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Yes.

[Senator John Kennedy]

No, I need a kin.

[Josh Holmes]

I need a kana pin. No way.

[John Ashbrook]

Hell yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

After Jose pushed her, the other girl.

[John Ashbrook]

Fell and she's like, oh, I got her.

[Josh Holmes]

The other flight attendant.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I didn't get her name, but I.

[Josh Holmes]

Was like, are you kidding me?

[Senator John Kennedy]

I washed your face and fall down. Like, oh, my wrist.

[Michael Duncan]

He's good.

[Josh Holmes]

So he was like, they got great tat sleeves, by the way.

[Michael Duncan]

Right now.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, no, she's on the run. Oh, they've got her apprehended.

[Michael Duncan]

Bad boys.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. I'm kind of with you on that. Smug. I'm not sure how I can tell these folks apart.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, I'm shocked. It was a tattooed person wearing the leisure wear outside. That's workout clothing. You wear that to the gym. You don't show up in public with that. Everything's hanging out of everything. Get out of here. And you're tattooed. And now there's a problem, and everyone walking around you is not surprised. Oh, boy. It's the hysterical women wearing workout clothing. Everything hanging out, their gut hanging out, everything sticking out, looking like Twinkies coming out of their back tattooed. I could have never guessed the problems were coming from here. Yeah, who would expect these people to.

[Josh Holmes]

Get drunk and start problems in walking off a frontier?

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, well, of course you don't want to be in the same terminal as Frontier to begin with.

[Unidentified Co-host]

I guess my thought that I had in listening to that entire thing, the endless prattle from. From all of these drunk people talking about how they were aggrieved. I thought to myself, Frontier should run one route, and that is to Guantanamo Bay.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, this is. And when you find out that it was in New Jersey, it's like, oh.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Oh.

[John Ashbrook]

Again, I am surprised. The dregs of society in a state that's famous for being a giant trash can.

[Josh Holmes]

Now we're attacking New Jersey.

[Unidentified Co-host]

We're gonna get so many emails.

[Josh Holmes]

Wait, why are you tight? Just because of New Jersey.

[John Ashbrook]

It smells like trash everywhere you go.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Come on.

[John Ashbrook]

No, it's faint. I think per capita they have more.

[Unidentified Co-host]

It's the Garden State, which is again the biggest lie.

[John Ashbrook]

It's a psy up to call that place the Garden State.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a beautiful part of the city.

[John Ashbrook]

I think per capita more than any other state, they have surface area that's actual dumps. So, so much of it just reeks. And that's why like every Italian meet there. They work in waste management.

[Unidentified Co-host]

But that's why.

[John Ashbrook]

That's why. That's why they use as an excuse because, oh well, there's millions of dumps where the state's a dump.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude, the amount of mail we're going to get on this is just going to be astronomical.

[John Ashbrook]

And I mean, you know what? I don't understand why the cops are so patient with it either. If there was ever a time to just hit the tasers in the handcuffs, like, why are you letting these people talk?

[Unidentified Co-host]

I'm with smug on this. We have a violent crime epidemic in this country.

[Josh Holmes]

We don't let it breed.

[Unidentified Co-host]

We've got awesome officers having to deal with this bullshit.

[John Ashbrook]

You've got the Gitmo, the airline employee on the ground who is positively identified who attacked them. You've got probable cause. Throw them in a car, but don't give them 20 minutes to be like, I'd like a Klonopin, please, while I create a scene in the entire terminal.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, why do.

[John Ashbrook]

Like, allowing that to go on is.

[Josh Holmes]

Part of the problem I'm still stuck on there. Must be like, this must have been part of the story. But her description was that one of those ladies that we just saw was young and thin and the other was chubby and older. And I just watched 45 seconds of the video, not sure which one was.

[John Ashbrook]

That's the problem.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Can I make sure One other recommendation is that Police officers should not have to go to airports anymore. We should just have the CIA extraordinarily rendition anybody who acts up this way to a black site.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. If you're fucking around on an airplane or a gate or if you, like, can't get along with other people in a tight space, you should just be immediately imprisoned somewhere where you can't get out.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Bag over the head.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Co-host]

And we're gonna.

[Josh Holmes]

Hey, maybe that's a good idea for Alcatraz.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, Trump's been looking for one.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

That could be one.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

Unruly airline. Unruly airline passengers from, like, flights like Frontier.

[Unidentified Co-host]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

In spirit.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, it's easy. You just get a database for everyone who's flown it. All of them deserve it.

[Michael Duncan]

Easy.

[John Ashbrook]

Very simple.

[Josh Holmes]

Easy.

[John Ashbrook]

So many problems fixed.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, remember our question of the day. I hope you enjoyed that. Jesus, we're gonna get a ton of mail. The Italians are gonna come for you again, by the way, Smug.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm being honest, you know, they're not gonna be mad about it. They know it's true.

[Josh Holmes]

No, they're up. They're gonna be upset.

[John Ashbrook]

They'll know. Every Italian knows.

[Josh Holmes]

They get upset. Our question of the day is, who's testing positive for stupid? There's a lot to work with there. A lot to work with. And it doesn't have to be confined to politics. By the way, if you just want to call out your neighbor, let's hear it.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Let'S hear what you've got. Don't forget, you got to go to ZBiotics today at ZBiotics.com Ruthless. Use code Ruthless at the checkout for 15% off. Trust me, you're gonna want the 15% off. They don't give this stuff away, but it is absolutely certain, at least from our experience, to work. So you gotta get involved in this kind of thing if you're interested and it fits your lifestyle. Anyway, subscribe. Like, do your thing. Give us some comments. And now for our audio only, folks, make sure you give a five star or two, because we're gonna start working that thing yet. We're still working that.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Cause I liked it.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, that was incredible. We haven't done that in a long time. Those stories were incredible. The guy got married because of us.

[John Ashbrook]

Love to hear it.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Whew.

[Josh Holmes]

I feel like we have an obligation to send somebody to the wedding.

[Unidentified Co-host]

We do.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, congratulations, Wolf. Another job. Once you fish that zbiotics out of Smug's pocket, you can head to the wedding with that. Fellows, I think we did it.

[John Ashbrook]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen. Thank you so much, Senator Kennedy. And thank you so much to the Minions. Remember, just like Holmes said, if you have not yet go to the YouTube, hit the subscribe because it's more fun in video. So until next time, Minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you Tuesday. Stay ruthless.