Hulk Hogan Tribute: Iconic Moments, Wrestling Legacy & Politics

Summary

Ruthless Podcast - "Hulk Hogan Tribute: Iconic Moments, Wrestling Legacy & Politics"

Release Date: July 25, 2025

Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug (Michael Duncan), John Ashbrook, Lee Wolf

The "Ruthless Podcast" dedicated its July 25, 2025 episode to a heartfelt tribute to wrestling legend Hulk Hogan. Hosted by Josh Holmes, Michael Duncan (Comfortably Smug), John Ashbrook, and Lee Wolf, the episode delved into Hogan's extensive legacy in American culture, his symbolic representation of American resilience, and the intricate ties between professional wrestling and politics.

---

Hulk Hogan's Cultural Impact

The episode opened with the hosts reflecting on the passing of Hulk Hogan, a figure they describe as monumental not just in the realm of wrestling but as an embodiment of American identity. Josh Holmes emphasized Hogan's role as "the depiction of the American comeback" and "the greatest country in the world," highlighting how Hogan represented Reagan-era optimism and embodied the spirit of American heroism (02:07).

Michael Duncan echoed this sentiment, stating, "He transcended wrestling. He was an American icon. You couldn't live in American culture in the 80s and 90s without knowing who Hulk was" (03:45). The conversation underscored that Hogan's influence extended beyond the ring, making him a household name and a cultural staple.

Personal Anecdotes and Legacy

John Ashbrook shared a personal anecdote from his childhood, recalling the awe-inspiring presence of Hulk Hogan when he appeared live in Clearwater. He described the collective admiration of the crowd, stating, "The aura this guy had was like a real-life superhero" (04:34). This story highlighted Hogan's ability to connect with fans on a profound level, making him a larger-than-life figure.

Josh Holmes reminisced about the nostalgia Hogan invoked, mentioning nostalgic relics like Wrestle Buddies and their impact on shaping their generation's cultural landscape (06:37). Michael Duncan added, "You just followed it culturally," emphasizing the pervasive influence of wrestling in their upbringing (07:14).

Wrestling as Political Storytelling

A significant portion of the discussion focused on the intersection between professional wrestling and politics. The hosts discussed the Vince McMahon documentary on Netflix, suggesting that understanding pro wrestling is key to comprehending contemporary American politics. Josh Holmes remarked, "If you want to understand how we got to this era in American politics, watch that documentary" (09:32).

They drew parallels between wrestling's storytelling techniques and political narratives, noting how figures like Donald Trump utilized similar strategies to captivate and mobilize audiences. John Ashbrook likened Trump to a WWE hall of famer, suggesting that Trump's appearance at the Republican National Convention alongside Hogan symbolized a fusion of pop culture and political momentum (13:00).

Hogan at the RNC Convention

The podcast highlighted Hulk Hogan's impactful appearance at the recent Republican National Convention. Josh Holmes recounted being "fortunate enough to stand feet away from him as he was delivering that iconic speech," observing the electrifying atmosphere when Hogan took the stage (11:00). Michael Duncan noted, "You could feel in the crowd there was something different when he took the stage" (13:21).

They discussed Hogan's support for Trump, encapsulating it with Holmes' memorable phrase, "let trumpamania run wild, brother" (12:33), illustrating the deep-seated cultural resonance Hogan holds within the Republican base.

Audience Interaction and Listener Comments

The episode also featured interactions with listeners, who shared their most iconic Hulk Hogan moments. Carol Clemens praised the hosts' "on the road adventures" like the Iowa State Fair and fishing trips, indicating the broad appeal and multifaceted nature of the podcast's content (21:22).

Hulk Hogan's Enduring Influence

Throughout the episode, the hosts reiterated Hulk Hogan's enduring significance as a cultural icon. They celebrated his contributions to wrestling and his symbolic role in American optimism while also critiquing political adversaries and media portrayals that undermined his legacy.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Josh Holmes (02:07): "He was the very depiction of the American comeback. The greatest country in the world."
• Michael Duncan (03:45): "He transcended wrestling. He was an American icon. You couldn't live in American culture in the 80s and 90s without knowing who Hulk was."
• John Ashbrook (04:34): "The aura this guy had was like a real-life superhero."
• Josh Holmes (09:32): "If you want to understand how we got to this era in American politics, watch that documentary."
• Josh Holmes (12:33): "Let trumpamania run wild, brother."

---

Conclusion

In conclusion, the "Ruthless Podcast" episode provided a comprehensive and affectionate tribute to Hulk Hogan, celebrating his multifaceted legacy while deftly intertwining discussions of politics and cultural influence. Through personal anecdotes, critical analysis, and listener engagement, the hosts painted a vivid picture of Hogan's unparalleled impact on both the wrestling world and the broader American zeitgeist.

Overall, the episode served as both a nostalgic homage and a critical examination of Hulk Hogan's place in the intersection of pop culture and politics, offering listeners a rich and engaging exploration of his enduring legacy.

---

Timestamps Reference

• 02:07: Josh Holmes discusses Hogan as the depiction of American comeback.
• 03:45: Michael Duncan on Hogan transcending wrestling.
• 04:34: John Ashbrook shares childhood experience with Hogan.
• 06:37: Josh Holmes reminisces about Wrestle Buddies.
• 07:14: Michael Duncan on cultural influence of wrestling.
• 09:32: Josh Holmes on Vince McMahon documentary.
• 11:00: Josh Holmes about Hogan at RNC Convention.
• 12:33: Josh Holmes on "trumpamania run wild."
• 13:00: John Ashbrook likens Trump to WWE hall of famer.
• 13:21: Michael Duncan on crowd's reaction at RNC.
• 21:22: Listener comment from Carol Clemens.

Stay Connected

For those who missed the episode, subscribing to the "Ruthless Podcast" ensures you won't miss out on future in-depth discussions, tributes, and critical analyses of cultural and political phenomena.

---

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

And I said, let Trump Omania run wild, brother.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, my first thought watching that live was there's no way you're gonna beat Donald Trump. I totally agree. Like if he has now captured this cultural moment beyond politics after that assassination attempt at Butler. Yeah, that you've got Hulk Hogan, the childhood hero of millions of Americans right there on the stage ripping his shirt off.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Kamala Harris, you just lost. I think it's actually interesting. You can learn a lot about politics by understanding wrestling 100%.

[Josh Holmes]

That was my one takeaway from the Netflix Vince McMahon. Thing is, if you want to understand how we got to this era in American politics, watch that documentary.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, like, look no further than WWE hall of Famer Donald J. Trump.

[Lee Wolf]

Right, exactly right.

[John Ashbrook]

America is back. Thanks to President Trump and leader John Thune's working family tax cuts. We stopped the biggest tax hike in history. But that's only the beginning. The big beautiful bill also cuts taxes on tips and overtime, secures the border, finishes the wall, and protects Medicaid for Americans, not illegals. Leader Thune and Senate Republicans got President Trump's conservative agenda done, providing real relief for every hard working American that's up early and home late. We're bringing manufacturing jobs back home and making America great again. Tell leader John Thune and Senate Republicans thank you for delivering President Trump's agenda. Learn more at One NationAmerica. Org.

[Unknown]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[John Ashbrook]

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

[Lee Wolf]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

It is fun time Friday with the ruthless variety program. Welcome back. I am Josh Holmes along with comfortably smuggler, Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook. Left right across your radio dial. As always, it's been a hell of a week. One in which here at the end comes with a sadness in the passing with Hulk Hogan who We're going to talk about this for a minute because to be honest with you, from my standpoint, some child of the 80s. Tough week for the children of the 80s, by the way. Ozzy Osbourne, Theo Huxtable and Hulk Hogan. This is a guy who is not only an American icon, people who associate him with just wrestling don't understand what this guy meant to an era, to an entire generation of Americans. This guy was the very depiction of the American comeback. The greatest country in the world. You're coming off the sort of Reagan era optimism that we were dealing with in this country. He became the physical figure that demonstrated that in a lot of ways. Right. Showed up in Rocky movies, did the basically invented WrestleMania. I know it's a Vince McMahon production, and he deserves an enormous amount of credit for all that. But he's also smart enough to know that this was the central figure that drew people in who he was just larger than life. Not only through his personalities, physical, however, but then draping himself in the flag and becoming Americana himself, and then Transitioning through the 90s and becoming a dark hero in the battle between the two wrestling leagues that stood up in that era and then eventually coming back and like, reemerging. This guy spent his entire adult life being a centerpoint of cultural significance. And I don't care whether or not you were like a WWF fan or WCW fan or a wrestling fan at all. You knew who the hell Hulk Hogan was.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, because he transcended wrestling. Right. He was, like you said, this American icon. You couldn't live in American culture in the 80s and 90s without knowing who Hulk was. Yeah, it was more than that. It was. He was the Hulkster. It was Hulkamania. Right. Like, it was part of the American identity.

[John Ashbrook]

It's so. I actually, I didn't remember this until today when I. Or when I heard of the news was passing. But when I was a kid, years ago, we went to. My family was in Clearwater, and we saw Hulk out in no way, really, at a plaza. And I know for a fact my jaw just like dropped. He walked like. I'm talking, like a foot away from me, and he saw me, he walked by, I looked around, and every dude present was too frozen and shocked to be like, can I take a photo with you? Can I get it?

[Josh Holmes]

Dude, it's so true.

[John Ashbrook]

Like, it's. He's gigantic, first off. Yeah, Gigantic, huge dude, coolest guy.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, you don't get the stage name Hulk without being huge.

[John Ashbrook]

The aura this guy had was like a real life superhero. And I looked and every single dude was frozen in their tracks. Just like he's. It's like he's real.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

You know.

[Josh Holmes]

No, I mean, you think about it in terms of people of a certain generation. There are only a handful of people you can run into on the street and not A, immediately know who they are, but B, just be like, I don't know what to do here. Right. Donnie JT is probably one of them. Hulk Hogan was. Michael Jordan would be another one. But there's not a long list of people that if you see in the wild that you're like, holy cats.

[John Ashbrook]

It's like, wow, he's real.

[Josh Holmes]

Imagine my good fortune.

[Lee Wolf]

I saw him one time wrestle, and this Is.

[Josh Holmes]

Wait, in person?

[Lee Wolf]

In person.

[Josh Holmes]

No, I didn't know that.

[Lee Wolf]

Dayton's Hera Arena.

[John Ashbrook]

Hell, yeah.

[Lee Wolf]

And this was a WCW Monday Nitro. And he was, of course, a part of the NWO at the time.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Lee Wolf]

And he came out and the crowd just went absolutely nuts. And, you know, every one of these wrestlers, in their own way, is a showman. But that guy absolutely stopped everything. And people just loved him.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, became something else. Right. He became something else. It was culturally endemic to an era that when you're talking about, like, make America great again and things like that, it's the same sort of nostalgia that he perfectly embodied, which is, like, this inherent optimism. Right. American heroism. It just embodied something that, you know, I. I don't know if women feel the same way as we do as men. When we grew up with all this stuff. And you mentioned, like, growing up with the Stuffies.

[Michael Duncan]

No, the. Yeah, Wrestle buddies. Yeah, Wrestle Buddies. You would have a. It was almost like a pillow. Right. But it was basically formed as like, a little mini Hulk Hogan.

[Josh Holmes]

I remember.

[Michael Duncan]

And so as a kid, like, you'd have that Hulk Hogan or, like, the Ultimate Warrior. Russell. Wrestle, buddy. And you'd, like, suplex the thing in your bed at night.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

You know.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. And, like, I was never. I mean, you were a wrestler. I was never, like, into wrestling in any regard. But I adored the pageantry. Loved it. And it became more and more and more. And, like, I don't think I ever really recognized success. Kind of like a baseball, football guy. I like basketball. I mean, I liked all sports, but I do. I think looking back, I didn't even recognize how much of a part of that era wrestling was, if only for one guy. You just followed it culturally. And I remember getting into college. Remember, I don't even remember what the system was. Maybe it was like a Nintendo, like an Xbox, first iteration of an Xbox or something. They would come out with those wrestling games.

[John Ashbrook]

Hell, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And my buddies, we'd all sit around throwing huge horses.

[John Ashbrook]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, maybe have, like, a lot to drink and then just spend hours picking our wrestlers.

[John Ashbrook]

Was it on 64th, like WCW?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that's it.

[John Ashbrook]

NWO.

[Lee Wolf]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

That was it.

[John Ashbrook]

Classic.

[Josh Holmes]

It was a classic. Right.

[Lee Wolf]

And.

[Josh Holmes]

But we all just sort of rallied around it. And then every once in a while, you. You'd like. You know, you'd try to make a play for the Hogan character and everybody be like, oh, you can't, dude. You can't be.

[Michael Duncan]

It's like, pick an odd job in GoldenEye.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like, you can't be good. Yeah. But it was, like, observed within a certain generation of people that I grew up with, where this is the icon, this is the guy. And he just was so much more than wrestling. It was like a commentary on our entire generation.

[Lee Wolf]

He was. And he broke outside of the ring. Remember, he was in Rocky 3, and he was the guy who held the Italians accountable. He was the guy who body slammed Rocky Balboa Thunder Lips. And that was a great moment. You know, he was breaking out. He was huge, huge iconic figure. I don't know if you guys have seen. I know you watched it, Josh, but I don't know if you guys have seen the Vince McMahon documentary on Netflix.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Lee Wolf]

You get so much information about what these guys were doing behind the scenes. These guys. Fundamentally, pro wrestling is about storytelling. It's about very, very good storytelling. And it started in the early days. And Vince McMahon is a fucking genius. The guy really was. And you were talking about the Reagan era, when America was coming back, and he set up these fights between Hulk Hogan and the Iron Sheet.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Lee Wolf]

And then you remember in the 90s, when Sergeant Slaughter turned on Americ, he was throwing in with the Iraqis. Yeah. And then Hulk Hogan took care of him. Remember Andre the Giant? We were talking about this earlier.

[Michael Duncan]

I think it's actually interesting. You can learn a lot about politics by understanding 100%.

[Josh Holmes]

That was my one takeaway from the Netflix Vince McMahon thing is, if you want to understand how we got to this era in American politics, watch that documentary.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, look no further than WWE hall of Famer Donald J. Trump.

[Michael Duncan]

Exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

Right. I mean, he was in on it from the beginning.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, his appearances on. On. On wrestling are like. Like best ratings in the history.

[Josh Holmes]

Instinctively understood what they were trying to do.

[Michael Duncan]

Exactly. And I mean, like, there is definitely a lot of similarities between wrestling and politics, because, like, wrestling, politics is about storytelling. And also, there is a considerable amount in politics of kayfabe.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Of people playing a role.

[Lee Wolf]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

And, like, part of trying to suss out what's really happening in politics is being able to break the kayfabe of what you're seeing on television.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. You know, 100%. Like, you watch Democrats roll out, and they're, like, all of a sudden very concerned about Epstein. Yeah, right, right. Twelve years of being like, oh, no, there's no.

[Michael Duncan]

No, they really.

[Josh Holmes]

And it's like a full heel turn where they're now like, oh, yeah. Oh, we've been concerned about the children all along. And I mean, that is this era of politics. And it's an extension of a popular culture and a news and information flow that they built. They literally. Vince McMahon built it. But he was always smart enough and you watch this to understand who the main character was. He was always Hulk Hogan. And you talked about Ashbrook. It extends well off what he was doing on screen. Like, he was a good dude.

[Lee Wolf]

He was. I mean, as big of a character as he was on screen. He had that big of a heart. And one of my favorite videos that I've ever seen on the Internet is this guy who's basically our age as a dad. He's walking into an autograph signing with Hulk Hogan, and he's there with his son, who's maybe 6 years old. The kid is dressed up and he's, like, flexing, and he's like, hulkster, I'm taking you on. And Hulk Hogan just jumps up right into character like, he's gonna take the kid on. And you could just see this guy, the dad, and you can identify with him because that guy grew up every Saturday morning watching Hulk Hogan. And then on Monday nights when everything switched to wcw, you guarantee he was watching that? He was transfixed by the storytelling. And just to see your own kid walk into an autograph signing, and then your hero is like, yeah, I am. I am going right back with your son. I mean, Hulk Hogan is a legend. You never see anybody like that.

[Josh Holmes]

He just got it. He got a genre he got. He understood who he was. Never strayed from that, as evidenced by the RNC convention, which we were fortunate enough to, like, stand feet away from him as he was delivering that iconic speech last year. He obviously has a relationship with the president and wanted to support him or whatnot. But you could feel in the crowd there was something different when he took the stage. Like, look it. Great speakers. Everyone had their own message. Really, really good stuff. The place turned into a ball of fire when Hulk Hogan broke.

[John Ashbrook]

We should. We got a clip of that, don't we?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, let's throw. Let's throw up. Clip 1. But what happened last week when they took a shot at my hero and they tried to kill the next President of the United States? Enough was enough. And I said, let trumpamania run wild, brother. Let trumpamania rule again. Let Trumpamania make America great again. So. So, like, the video. And as you're sitting at home and watching, that does not do justice to what was happening in that crowd. I mean, people lost their minds.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, my first thought watching that live was, there's no way you're Gonna beat Donald Trump. I totally agree. Like, if he has now captured this cultural moment beyond politics after that assassination attempt at Butler.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

That you've got Hulk Hogan, the childhood shirt hero of millions of Americans there on the stage ripping his shirt off.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Kamala Harris, you just lost with an.

[Josh Holmes]

Entire generation that was Trump skeptical in Gen X. Right, Right. Which he sort of suffered with a little bit in previous elections at least were even Steven, if not a little bit less. And then all of a sudden you see this. You're like. Like, I know what I feel and I know who I grew up with, and I know what they think of this dude. And the fact that he's ripping shirts off. Not that like one surrogate changes your mind about politics and. But it spoke to a moment, and that's what he did his entire career. He spoke to a moment in time. Whether it was the Iron Sheik or whether it was Sergeant Slaughter during the first Iraq war or whether it was all these things, like, he perfectly reflected culture back to you in a way that resonated with people in our generation.

[John Ashbrook]

And also, we'd be remiss if we didn't bring up. He's also a patriot in that he destroyed Gawker as left wing, horrible, quote, news organization. It was just. It was like the. The real beginning of the openly, like, left wing activist media.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And he just stomped that rat's nest into dust. Yeah. Gone. And it was such a wonderful day. I remember when they had to go bankrupt. It was such a wonderful day.

[Michael Duncan]

And Amanda from our, you know, team reminded me that not just Gawker Media, but Gawker Media also was the holding company for terrible red spin.

[Josh Holmes]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

Deadspin, Jezebel. Some of the worst places on the Internet.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. No, I mean, what a patriot. What a patriot.

[Michael Duncan]

Patriot.

[Lee Wolf]

And you guys, you. You got to see it in person. Think about that. I mean, this is like you. Nobody's ever going to see that again.

[Josh Holmes]

I know.

[Lee Wolf]

You know what I mean? What a very, very special moment to live. Live and see in person.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a cultural icon that is lost on much of the left. Right. Because we just endemically know it. But people who are trying to apologize for America, people are trying to, like, disassociate themselves with American culture and the greatness that is this country. Like, they go out of their way to try to ignore all of that. Right. And downplay what the significance that we just talked about that convention speech, but it lives within us. And it's very few times does somebody embody that moment. And this is the guy who did rip Hulk Hogan. Well done, pal. Thanks for everything. Let's take a quick break, and we've got a bunch of stuff in the lightning round that we just want to puzzle. It's Funtime Friday, so let's have some yucks.

[Michael Duncan]

We'll have some yucks.

[Josh Holmes]

All right. Right after this.

[Lee Wolf]

Only 58% of Americans today say they're proud to be American, the lowest number ever recorded. That's not just sad, it is very dangerous. Because if we forget what makes America special, we risk losing it. That's why Americans for Prosperity is launching the One Small Step Campaign, a bold nationwide initiative to reconnect Americans with our founding principles that sparked unparalleled innovation and prosperity. It's not just a celebration. It's a call to action. Through the 250,000 Steps for Freedom challenge, AFP is partnering with the grassroots in all 50 states to take meaningful steps that defend freedom and advance opportunity. Call your representative, attend a local event, knock on a door, talk to your neighbors. Every single step counts. And every step moves us closer to a more perfect Union. Go to takeonesmallstep.com to learn more. Then join the [e-mail].

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so we just talked an awful lot about Hulk Hogan. What he means to us, what he means to American culture. Listen, I think a good question of the day revolves around Hulk. We ought to honor him here this week. This guy's a big deal. And the question is, what is the most iconic Hulk Hogan moment to you? People of a certain generation will have all kinds of different points of view. And for those of you who are younger, like, it all stems from the convention of last week. And then, you know, look, he's still been around. He's still a part of whether it was the Deadspin thing, right?

[Michael Duncan]

You know, the reality show?

[Josh Holmes]

The reality show.

[Michael Duncan]

For me, it's the heel turn. Like in the mid-90s.

[Lee Wolf]

Oh, going to NWO.

[Michael Duncan]

NWO.

[John Ashbrook]

But what's so crazy is, like, Hul going to NWO made NWO popular. Everyone got NWO, dude.

[Michael Duncan]

Not only that, it revitalized all of professional wrestling 100%.

[Josh Holmes]

100%. So that's our question of the day. You weigh in when you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety program. We read all of your stuff. And then we repurpose, summarize, and give it to you back in the very next episode, which in this case is Tuesday. Which, by the way, next week. Do not miss.

[John Ashbrook]

You don't wanna miss it.

[Josh Holmes]

Do not miss. We got some unbelievable stuff in the works for next week, so get on that. What we've got coming up is your comments from our last episode, which we threw open the floor, if you recall.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Obviously we had this big announcement with Fox and gives us an opportunity to spread our wings a little bit. But we wanted to ask you, the listener, how you would go about doing that. Like, what are the things you want to see more of? And I thought it was really instructive.

[Michael Duncan]

Honestly, the best producers in all of media are our audience.

[Josh Holmes]

It's 100% true. So we asked you, what do you want to see more of? And when we read these back, we always start with a voice.

[Lee Wolf]

Okay. First comment comes from Tony Batinger. And Tony writes, question of the day. Would love to see you all on Gutfeld. I couldn't agree more. Tony.

[Josh Holmes]

It's great. We've talked to him about it. You know, I mean, the thing is, first of all, Gutfeld show crushing.

[John Ashbrook]

It's the number one show. He's the number one guy in late night crushing.

[Josh Holmes]

We find it endlessly entertaining. Love the stuff. We haven't had the opportunity to do it in large part because it's New York and we got to get up and down. They count on us to sort of hold it down here in D.C. in a lot of different ways. But I know we're going to have another opportunity to do it and we'll talk to them about it. That's a great idea.

[Lee Wolf]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, I love it.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, what else do we got?

[Michael Duncan]

Dunks comment to hear from John Richie. John writes y' all should do some live in person game show type events. Let subscribers apply to participate in some Demer Journal games. Get five in a row, right. Get a thousand dollars. Run some king of the hill cage matches. Eight people competing in a bracket style playoff judged by the fellas audience is tiebreaker. He's really thought this all.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, this is really good.

[Michael Duncan]

It's summer in dc. It's hot. It sucks. Agree with that. Let every everyone else go outside and protest while we're drinking and watching the Ruthless games live.

[Lee Wolf]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Well done, John Richie.

[John Ashbrook]

I think we have a new producer, John Richie.

[Michael Duncan]

Do you think we could put smug in the dunk tank for this great idea? I think we could raise a lot of money.

[Lee Wolf]

Oh yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

I do anything for charity. I'll say that. I'm well known for this.

[Josh Holmes]

Everybody says that.

[Michael Duncan]

I think Ruby would be lined up with a lot of baseballs.

[John Ashbrook]

My ninth job pitcher.

[Josh Holmes]

We'd have to put a Fence in front of Smug. He'd want to go high and tight. Want to go a little high and tight with a lot of that. I love it. All right, Smug, what do we got for comment 3?

[John Ashbrook]

Comment 3 comes from Carol Clemens, and Carol writes. Besides the hilarity of the regular episodes, I've really enjoyed the location podcast, like the Iowa State Fair, the Republican Convention, fishing with JD Etc. I hope we can have more of on the Road adventures in the future, Carol. 100% right. Those were some of the most fun times you've also had doing this show. I mean, it was every single one of those examples like fishing with JD that's like a pinnacle lifetime memory, the amount of fun we had there. And I have a feeling you'll be seeing a lot of cool stuff like that soon enough.

[Josh Holmes]

I totally agree. That's where we get to meet an awful lot of you, which, believe it or not, is one of the highlights of what we do, is getting to see you all in person. I will say, last night, Johnny and I, we went to Chicago.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, the concert.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, concert Chicago. Which, you know, it's a little bit of a flyer, right? I mean, we're by probably 15 years under the median age of a Chicago. We enjoy Chicago music. By the way, good Republican band. Yeah, they're like. They're Republicans. Like Peter Cetera. I think he was a Huckabee guy.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, he was, but an older audience.

[Josh Holmes]

But it's definitely an older audience.

[Michael Duncan]

What's. What's on. What's on tap at a Chicago concert? Is it Metamucil Fresco?

[Josh Holmes]

Whoa.

[Michael Duncan]

Easy, Sanka.

[Lee Wolf]

Good times.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a good question. I mean, look, there's painkillers involved. No question. I saw a lot of hobbling on the way in.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, no.

[Josh Holmes]

But I will say, like, very nice people. Everybody was great, I'm sure. And a few people came up to us. I saw several people that are fans of the show, but one of them in particular stuck out. Stuck out. This guy walks up to me, goes, josh, like, out of nowhere. And I'm like, hey, yeah, how are you? Kind of reached out my hand, and he's like, titsman.

[Lee Wolf]

Titzer.

[John Ashbrook]

Titzer, yeah, Titzer.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm sorry. Titzer. Titzer. If you recall, we've read two comments from the comics.

[Lee Wolf]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And our conversation was like, if you can make it out of high school with a name like that, like, you really got it made. Titzer was at the concert last night and, like, just recognized by voice.

[John Ashbrook]

Amazing.

[Michael Duncan]

Did you talk to Titzer?

[Lee Wolf]

I tried to at the intermission, I walked down and I saw where Josh was talking to David Titzer. And I was like, I gotta meet this guy. I really wanna meet him. And he. I think he was maybe going back up to the sessions.

[Michael Duncan]

Did he talk about his high school experience with that last name?

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, we mentioned it, but he didn't go into grave detail. We only had a minute. Cause I was trying to find everybody that was in the middle of it, and it was. Was a little bit chaotic, but I was just blown away. I was so happy to meet him. Just a terrific guy.

[Lee Wolf]

The first thing he said when he walked up, he was, like, dying laughing. He was like, you will not believe who I just met. And I was like, what do you mean? Who's here? He's like, david Titzer? I was like, no way.

[Josh Holmes]

No.

[Lee Wolf]

The guy's a legend. He is an absolute legend in the program lore. Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

The other observation is one that Ashbrook made pretty early on in this concert, which is, you know, Chicago was legendarily head by Peter Cetera, one of one voice iconic. Right? Just for those of you who've listened to that kind of music, there's, like, one guy. You can do it. They found a really talented guy that sort of stood in for him. Cetera said he was like, so much so, he didn't even show up at the Rock and Roll hall of Fame induction. Like, I don't know what's all going on, but he's got to be pissed about it at some level because they've got this new frontman, and you can hear this dude singing Satara songs. So your observation?

[Lee Wolf]

I just think that if you are Peter Cetera and you are an artist, and you have just made these songs iconic because of the sound of your voice, when you hear another guy sing it, no matter how good his voice might be, you're offended at the way that he has ruined your art. Because this guy Cetera, like. Like anybody who's familiar with Chicago songs, you know, his voice in your ear, you can just hear it. And I just couldn't help but think of the old man, you know, like, somebody coming to you.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, this is a goof on me.

[Lee Wolf]

Somebody coming to you and saying, hey, here's my idea for how I'm gonna structure this digital campaign. And you're just like, an offense to my art, very offensive to my artwork. It's like somebody. It's like somebody printing off a da Vinci on a dot matrix printer and saying, yeah, this. This does it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Well, it was, I think, the best analogy Was, it's like watching your wife's new husband raise your kids.

[Michael Duncan]

My God, that'd be rough.

[Lee Wolf]

That's exactly right.

[Michael Duncan]

Right. Somebody giving you advice on the Sistine Chapel.

[Lee Wolf]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

And we kept picturing how angry he must be about it. And it got funnier and funnier as we were going through and watching this guy who sets admirable effort very, very close to the real McCoy. Not quite in the showmanship of a Peter Cetera. It simply can't be rivaled. And so we had this, like, bit going while we're doing. We got hushed by people around us because we were laughing so hard about it. But like, like the idea that, you know, I'm sorry, you know, and then all of a sudden that, like, that song comes on and this guy's singing. I'm guarantee if Sotera had a window into that, I'd be like, oh, you motherfucker.

[Lee Wolf]

A hundred percent. It's like looking at the Instagram pictures of some other guy raising your children, you know, as offensive as it gets. And I would.

[Josh Holmes]

Happy birthday to your 8 year old. Look what I'm doing to raise them.

[John Ashbrook]

Can I say something about going to concerts where the median age of the audience is like, let's say 50 plus is the best treat.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, it's great.

[John Ashbrook]

I've been to, I mean, I. Countless, countless live shows. But like, when I was in college, I was. I was at like a live show weekly. I mean, you name the outfit, I've seen them live. The best concert I've been to, most likely the best. I saw Fleetwood Mac at Madison Square Garden.

[Lee Wolf]

Oh, yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

This is the last tour they did before they all decided they actually genuinely finally hate each other so much they never will speak again. Just sue each other. And it was the last time they were all together. The living members.

[Michael Duncan]

That was the first concert I ever went to, was the Fleetwood Mac, the Madison Square, the.

[Josh Holmes]

The.

[Michael Duncan]

When they. They they got back together.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And no way.

[Michael Duncan]

That was the first one with my kids or, I'm sorry, with my parents.

[John Ashbrook]

Gotcha.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. This is like when I was eight years old.

[John Ashbrook]

This. This series was. I want to say it was like five, six years ago. It was the last tour that they did.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, I'm talking about the first tour where they got all back together when Stevie Nick sort of buried the hat.

[John Ashbrook]

This was the.

[Josh Holmes]

This is the final one.

[John Ashbrook]

It was after this that they all really started just being like, I hate you. I'm suing you. And then they started dying. But that concert was so wonderful because when the Audience is that age, number one. And most importantly, there's a seat for everyone.

[Josh Holmes]

No riff raff whatsoever, by the way.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. I mean, no one is standing.

[Josh Holmes]

That's what you're talking about. Right?

[John Ashbrook]

So that bothers me. First off is, like, I want to sit, and I want to enjoy the show. I don't want to stand. I don't want to stand.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't want to take you done with that.

[John Ashbrook]

I've gotten over that point in my life where it's cool to, like, I'm gonna stand for four straight hours.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, the next step in what you're talking about is just having a cafe.

[John Ashbrook]

Here's the thing. So the drinks were served in real glass. Yeah, I'm having bourbons neat in real glass. Because they know no one here is gonna be, like, throwing glasses and starting any trouble. Everyone here is trying to sit down, enjoy Fleetwood Mac.

[Michael Duncan]

How did this segment become this?

[Josh Holmes]

No, just because you knew you could draw this kind of thing.

[John Ashbrook]

But it's true. It's so true. And I love concerts like that. You know, there's no riff raff. You get to have a nice seat. You get to enjoy the music, and you're surrounded by people who. Who know how to be civilized.

[Lee Wolf]

It's also, the clock is ticking on talent like that, too. You know, these Chicago guys are not going to be around forever. Fleetwood Mac not going to be around forever. The Beach Boys, as evidenced by what happened in the last couple of months. Brian Wilson, God rest his soul. Not around forever. You have to take. Take your opportunity when those moments arise. Hulk Hogan ripping his shirt. Saw it in person.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep.

[Lee Wolf]

Not around forever.

[Josh Holmes]

Now. It's a good point. And that's also the genesis of an awful lot of music, whether or not it sounds like it or not, because people were raised on what they were doing. I will say, as an aside, trumpet player looks exactly like how Ash Brook's gonna look when he's, like, 75 years old. Every time he came on screen, I erupted into laughter. It was like Ash Brook's face and Ash Brook's, like, stance and a full horseshoe, like, hairline.

[John Ashbrook]

Amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, dude, it was so good.

[Lee Wolf]

If I could play the trumpet like that, I would gladly accept the characterization, because what Chicago has done is shown everybody that the brass instruments can do more than just play. When the Saints Go Marching In. You know, there's actually something. There's music behind music.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And, you know, you're saying that, like, you know, you gotta catch these acts while you can. And another great example is Ozzy had his farewell concert, what, like, two weeks ago?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

It was like the all star of all star lineups, where it was basically like every rock and metal outfit of the past, like, 30 years, paying tribute to Ozzy and, you know, that's awesome. He got to see that and, you know, basically all these bands paying homage.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. I mean, I saw Petty's last tour. Did you really? Forever, man.

[John Ashbrook]

I wish I could have seen him live.

[Josh Holmes]

It was so good. I mean, I'll never forget it.

[Lee Wolf]

We saw Gordon Lightfoot when He was, like, 95 years old.

[Josh Holmes]

We saw Kristofferson.

[Lee Wolf]

Yep. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And Lightfoot, I mean, it gives you a little insight of the fellow. It's like, look, we like the new stuff and we like whatever, but we also like the.

[John Ashbrook]

I don't like any of the new.

[Josh Holmes]

Stuff of these things in many ways. And, like, if you don't like Kris Kristofferson or what Gordon Lightfoot did and its influence on an entire generation of music, like, you don't know music.

[Lee Wolf]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

You just don't know it. Those are legends.

[John Ashbrook]

What's a. What's a live act that you wish you could have seen or haven't seen?

[Josh Holmes]

Whan. Yeah, I would have loved to have seen Whan live. That. That. I would have killed to see that. The guy was a showman, just awesome. And didn't get a chance to do, like, the whole highway man thing. And to me is like the greatest compilation of musical artists on one stage ever. And the fact that they did it kind of without ego, just because they wanted to, because they were friends for a period of time.

[Lee Wolf]

Oh, yes. So, yeah, for me, I was. For me, it's a. It's one modification on Wayland. It's a whole highwayman. I mean, I would give anything to be able to see those guys in person.

[Michael Duncan]

Duncan, Velvet Underground.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, that's good.

[John Ashbrook]

Great answer.

[Josh Holmes]

That's a really good answer. Yeah. I mean, if you don't know Velvet Underground, they basically were the inspiration to the entire generation of alternative rock in the 60s, 70s. And then you heard it show back up in the 90s and, you know, with Nirvana and things like that, like, that was. That would. This was the band that not everyone had heard of, but was the inspiration to everybody who was critically involved in music. That's a really good answer.

[John Ashbrook]

So they're back together. I'd love to see Oasis and, like, apparently, their live shows. Oh, yeah, I heard because, like, the brothers hate each other and, like, you know, serious folks, folks who work at serious. You probably could get me Tickets.

[Josh Holmes]

I do have a lot of friends who are like, hey, do you have a line in on Oasis ticks?

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, they're playing Chicago. So serious. You know, you could just send love.

[Unknown]

You're.

[Josh Holmes]

You're like fully shut down. They could down someone we don't work with.

[Michael Duncan]

He does that, like every episode. It's completely shake down.

[John Ashbrook]

Just think dreams coming true. It's great for everybody.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, I love it. Well, one thing that we wanted to do for you, we mentioned in the last episode and there are thousands of you who signed up for this, we wanted to send a little something to our listeners after this deal to thank you for everything that you've done for us and helping to spread the word about Ruthless. And it was a bumper sticker. And if you go to store. Ruthlesspodcast.com you sign up for it, we're going to send you one of these bad boys free of charge. This is a thank you. We understand it's a small gesture, but a gesture nonetheless. We want to make acknowledgement of that next. So you know how we get trolled by members of Congress every once in a while?

[John Ashbrook]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

And like, they think it's fun to goof on us because we goof on them.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And they come in here every once in a while, like, drop by, just sort of like to.

[Michael Duncan]

To goof.

[Josh Holmes]

To goof. We had maybe the best one we've ever had today because it wasn't directed at any of the fellas. It was directed at Wolf.

[Lee Wolf]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

Congressman Pat Harrigan showed up with this cake.

[John Ashbrook]

Now, many people know him as like the best member of Congress from the North Carolina delegation. Lots of folks are saying that.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, you're going to offend the rest of our fans. Congressman Hudson, if you're listening, you're also. We love you. We love you. No, but like this cake, first of all, you see it, right?

[John Ashbrook]

Let's get a close up on that. There we go.

[Lee Wolf]

So what's the story?

[Josh Holmes]

I do remember this along with this, and it says Josh, Michael, John, and smug. Congrats on your deal with Fox and becoming the number one podcast in American politics. I know that your success is really due to staff behind the scenes. And I'm sending this crayon cake that should prove to be an irresistible temptation for some who may have served under the quasi venerable Navy subservice. Wow.

[Michael Duncan]

A direct shot at the Marines.

[Josh Holmes]

And Lee Wolf, right, says, keep up the great work. Psychological. I asked for a Crayola cake and they basically gave us a pride cake. It's D.C. you get it? Very respectfully, Pat Harrison.

[Lee Wolf]

What a legend.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm not sure that there is anything you could do to clear cut Wolf worse than this situation.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And they had, for those of you who know the backstory, when he came in here, we had a great conversation. We all got along immediately. But then we introduced him to Wolf, obviously. This is our resident Marine, the guy that keeps us on schedule and did a few tours in Afghanistan, kept everything all set. Thought they might have something to bond about. Immediately they got into a fight about what branch of service that they were involved.

[John Ashbrook]

Harrigan was with the Special forces in the U.S. army.

[Josh Holmes]

He's like a Delta guy, Wolf. And he had a couple of conversations and he felt it incumbent upon himself to try to enact dominance.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And that's what we have here in this various K. Wolf, how do we feel about this? Not good, Josh.

[Michael Duncan]

You know my favorite part of this? My favorite part of this is they didn't like send a courier or someone from the cake shop to drop this off with a note. They sent staff.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

With smiles on their faces.

[Josh Holmes]

They couldn't wait. They couldn't wait. Well, he tried to hand deliver it the day before yesterday coming back from the White House.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And we were off doing one of our things, like one of our media hits or whatever. And so he was like, no, make sure to this that. Make sure that this goes directly in all of their hands because we want them to all see it. Wolf, you just got drug, buddy. You got drug.

[John Ashbrook]

Harrigan is the best. Like for folks who may have missed it. Go back and see that interview and you'll get it. I mean, that guy is something.

[Josh Holmes]

All star, 10 of 10 guy. 10 of 10 guy. As we found out with so many of these people who you get. They get charactered in American politics and we don't really know them beyond what the quote is and something. And then we have them in here and you get a chance to talk to them, you hear the life story, hear why they're doing what they're doing. It was like two minutes into that interview, and I was like, oh, this is one of our guys.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep, yep, this is one of us. Just an incredible dude. Can't say enough nice things about him. That was hilarious.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's very funny. And if you can direct your trolling, this is to the members of Congress who are listening. If you can direct them at Lee, Much appreciated.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Lee Wolf]

Michael Duncan is also a possible target.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, he's been a target. A1A Kennedy just absolutely loves it.

[Lee Wolf]

Oh, he just loves.

[Michael Duncan]

All I'm gonna say is, like, our President, I like to counterpunch, so beware.

[Josh Holmes]

You're very good at counterpunching on everybody I've seen, except for Kennedy, who delivered.

[Michael Duncan]

I was going to embarrass him on our show.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm not sure you could have. He's very quick.

[John Ashbrook]

I don't know, man.

[Josh Holmes]

Senator Kennedy, I mean, he opened up with, like, talking about your first sexual experience. I don't think we ever could have recovered from that. It was not good.

[Lee Wolf]

I'm just saying his delivery was exquisite. Cool.

[Michael Duncan]

All right, so next segment.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, hold on. We're going to go to a break. And we come back, we've got a whole list of things that we want to get to, including the Pod Bros. Coming back off what Hunter Biden was saying. I can't get enough of the Hunter Biden stuff. If I could play his clips the whole time, I would. And then we've got just a bunch of other stuff that you're gonna absolutely love 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 [e-mail] paid for by the American Petroleum Institute. Okay, so, you know, we were all over the Hunter Biden interview with whatever that Channel 5 Edward R. Murrow routine that that guy was doing with him. And, like, we can't get enough of it. I. I mean, I could watch it just over and over and over again. He's, by the way, the most effective Democratic spokesperson. I don't care what anybody says.

[John Ashbrook]

It's the truth.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, endorsement of crack aside, I feel like he's certainly more clear than most Democrats.

[Michael Duncan]

He was pretty clear on the crack as well.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, no, he's very clear. I just said I don't feel like that fits within the 50s. I don't know. We'll see. Anyway, one of the victims, because he was burning every bridge in the Democratic establishment, taking everybody down to the knees. Just.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

Love it. Need it was the Pod Bros. And of course, the Pod Pro Bros rose to prominence because they were kind of the first people out of the Obama.

[Lee Wolf]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

They were like assistants to the president.

[Michael Duncan]

God save America.

[Lee Wolf]

Four white guys taking credit for the first black president.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that's right. That's basically what.

[John Ashbrook]

And Hunter Said these. He said these fff. Junior writers for Obama. Fff. They're millionaires from Beverly Hills and they f. F f. Think they know what they're talking about.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. They've been dining out on Obama's name.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Dining out.

[Michael Duncan]

What he said.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, good. He's not wrong.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, funny might be a little hypocritical.

[Josh Holmes]

There were some things. Oh, yeah, yeah. You think? Just a touch. But that's what makes it so delicious. Anyway, it did not escape the Pod Bros attention.

[John Ashbrook]

No.

[Josh Holmes]

So they felt the need to respond to all this. Can we play clip 3?

[Unknown]

But mostly it is 3 hours of.

[Josh Holmes]

Hunter playing the victim.

[Unknown]

And he, like, rages at us and he rages at Axelrod and Clooney.

[Josh Holmes]

But the problem was the voters.

[Unknown]

I know. And they never addressed that. The voters thought Joe Biden was too old.

[Michael Duncan]

And when.

[Unknown]

When it comes to the attacks on Hunter himself, Like, okay, let's just. What if we just stipulate for the hypothetical.

[Lee Wolf]

Like.

[John Ashbrook]

Yes. Okay.

[Unknown]

All your business dealings were above board and legal. All your paintings were purchased by art lovers who loved the product and didn't know your name. Trump is worse. You were on the board of Burisma because of who your dad is. That is what people hate about Washington.

[Josh Holmes]

And it was part of the problem. Whoa, I thought, boy, those were a bunch of issues that were discussed at long length during that period of time.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. And we were told, hey, hey, stop talking about that.

[Michael Duncan]

Nothing to see here.

[John Ashbrook]

Why would you bring that up? And now they're like, hold on, guys, who's on the board of Burisma? This may shock you because the, like, media sources that you probably listen to have never talked about this.

[Michael Duncan]

They're like, the problem was the voters smug. You might recall. All of that has the hallmarks of Russian disinformation.

[Josh Holmes]

Exactly right.

[Michael Duncan]

From a bogus laptop.

[Josh Holmes]

That's exactly right.

[John Ashbrook]

Very good point. Very true.

[Josh Holmes]

We listen closely to what the Pod Bros have to say, and they've told us reliably none of that was an issue with the campaign. They have more. Clip 4.

[Unknown]

Look at what's happening in this country right now. Like, I know you're angry personally, but.

[Lee Wolf]

You'Re not the fucking victim here. We're all living with what happened in.

[Unknown]

This election and you got a pardon. You're fine.

[Josh Holmes]

It's just utter lack of self awareness. It's the shamelessness that really. That really gets you in the end. Oh, it is, isn't it?

[Michael Duncan]

Okay, can I make a comment?

[Lee Wolf]

Yes.

[John Ashbrook]

Yes.

[Michael Duncan]

Just want to say it's like, you know, former crack addict, son of a former president who had to get a pardon, attacked me with a string of F bombs. I might bring a little more energy to my response, you know, dude, it's so true.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like, I don't know. The dude literally has a bastard child with a hooker. Yeah, a stripper. A stripper. I'm sorry.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, she's an entertainer.

[Josh Holmes]

I guess we don't know that she was paid for. Yeah, no, that was too strong. I apologize.

[Michael Duncan]

Wait, no, the proper nomenclature now is sex worker. Okay, I'm offended at both of you.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, well, you know what? I retract all of that. All I will say is it took two years for the former president to acknowledge that this event even happened. Right, right. Talking about all his various grandchildren, bastard child notwithstanding, all seem like things that would be something you would want to talk about if you were considering, you know, as these people deeply concern themselves with their electability of preserving democracy. For God's sakes, it's about democracy. Certainly you wouldn't want to paper over things like all of that. But I didn't hear a lot of talk about Burisma before now. I didn't hear a lot of talk about.

[Lee Wolf]

Are you sure? Are you sure that this isn't something they've been talking about for a long time? Are you sure they haven't been, like, going after. They didn't go after Biden?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, you know what's funny is because one of the things that popped up that they say here in this next clip is that everybody knew about the age problem. Everybody, including the New York Times. Clip five, please.

[Unknown]

Like the New York Times poll in February, 61% of Biden 2020 voters said he was too old to be effective. And that concern cut across generations, gender, race, education. Hunter does a whole thing in here about like, you know, we didn't know what the black voters of South Carolina. It was everyone who thought he was too fucking old. 20% of Biden 2020 voters in that poll said he was no longer capable of handling the job. This 20% of his own voters. In a poll in February on the eve of the debate, 86% of Americans said Biden's age was a major or moderate concern. That was before the debate, 86%.

[Josh Holmes]

While you heard it there from favs, they were well aware of the polling. They were extremely concerned about this finding that the gray lady paper of record had come stumbling across in 2024, much to the amazement of the liberal left. But these folks were all over it. That Joe Biden was in fact perceived. Perceived to be too old.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. They're like there's this polling that was so clear that in February of 2024 that Biden, his own voters thought he was too old to run. He wouldn't be effective.

[Josh Holmes]

So of course all of us talked about that at long length and made sure that all of the primary voters across the Democratic universe when they were canceling all of the primaries because they didn't want any race against Joe Biden, were well aware of the folly that they were about to undertake. Let's just go back to the exact Same time period, February 2024 when the poll came out.

[Lee Wolf]

Oh, that's a good idea.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. Let's see what the politics.

[Josh Holmes]

Let's just see what they had to say.

[Unknown]

Clip 6 Keep in mind that the memory issues were around what year something happened. Years of vice presidency year that Beau died. And as he did in the press conference, he said because Beau died around Memorial Day. And he said every Memorial Day we I remember going to the cemetery. So of course he rem. It's around Memorial Day. His son served. He knows the date. The report says that he forgot the year. How many times like do you guys remember exactly when we started Crooked media What year? What year? I guess. Yeah, like how long have we been doing like years are tough. Yours are not to like excuse the whole thing, but again, I don't think, I personally do not think Biden's problems are that he is forgetting things. Right. Like everyone around him says he's super sharp. Everyone around him says that like he's, he's totally with it. I've had that experience in the last couple years.

[John Ashbrook]

He has had that experience.

[Unknown]

He said, I get it. The problem is we keep hearing this from people who know him and have worked with him. Even Republicans are saying that he's still sharp. Right. Kevin. There's a quote from Kevin McCarthy saying everyone's saying that but then also came up from television. They're seeing something different. So it's up to him to close that gap.

[Michael Duncan]

Yes. I think this report is not how.

[Josh Holmes]

We found out that Joe Biden has a memory problem. This report feeds into a perception. That perception could cost us our democracy. And it's a.

[Unknown]

But it's a super weaponized perception.

[Lee Wolf]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

This Robert her is using the imprimatur.

[Unknown]

Of the Department of Justice to put his own subjective characterizations of a man's memory and age into this non charging documentary.

[Lee Wolf]

No outrageous thing to do.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's an outrageous thing.

[John Ashbrook]

It was a Weaponized characterization.

[Josh Holmes]

So of course what they were talking about is the report that was issued by Robert her when he decided not to prosecute Joe Biden because he rightly found that the old man didn't know what the hell he was talking about. And you can't charge somebody with a crime if there's not an intent. And the intent couldn't be found or at least prosecuted upon because he had no frickin idea what he was doing. He didn't remember key dates in his life. He didn't remember what he was doing or how he was doing it. We've all found all this out, right? And they just savage the hell out of Robert her, tried to destroy the guy's reputation. But this critical poll that the New York Times found was at the same exact time when they're talking about how my experience with President Biden is, he's quite sharp.

[John Ashbrook]

It's the shamelessness that gets him in the air.

[Michael Duncan]

So they were.

[John Ashbrook]

In February of 2024, they're telling everyone, no, Biden is sharp as a tack. He's good to go. And then a year later, after Hunter Biden rolls up and owns them all publicly, they're like, no, we were warning everybody. Hunter just likes to trade on his association with an elected official to make money. Don't look at me in my house in Beverly Hills that I got up and telling everyone I'm Obama's dude.

[Josh Holmes]

Which I don't know if it's true or not, but they clearly had some behind the scenes effort with the Clooney 100%.

[John Ashbrook]

It's extremely. I've talked to so many people, believe it or not. I talk to a lot of Democrats, whether they're, I can't. They worked in a previous administration. They love, they love dishing on each other, especially during primaries because they know I can attack them and they'll be like, oh look, the Republicans are being it. But anyways, I've heard yourself, I've heard from like, I'm happy to do it, I'll do it always. And they love, they love me knife and Dems. But anyways, they've told me that Biden world and Obama world hate each other so very much. This has been just a long standing feud. It's because Michelle is like best friends with Hunter's ex wife who he like cheated on multiple times, you know, drug through hell and whatever. And that that's always bothered, bothered Michelle Obama, who of course, as any husband knows, if your wife's bothered by something, she's going to bother you about it. So he's probably like, oh, God, I'm over this shit too.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, and then Obama passed over Joe Biden for Hillary Clinton, 27. And he's never forgotten about that. That was the whole chip on the shoulder.

[Josh Holmes]

He's pissed right from the jump. Yeah, he's pissed about the whole thing. But I think it raises a larger point, which is these guys were more than happy to go along with the establishment line as long as it got him a little further down the road. We talked about this last episode. None of them believe in a goddamn thing.

[John Ashbrook]

They are quite literally funded by Soros. They got a massive investment round from George Soros. Right. That's 100%.

[Michael Duncan]

Yes.

[John Ashbrook]

Massive amounts of money. Right. And they've been happy to be Obama's hatchet man, because then they can use that to bring in more money and help perpetuate that. Like, oh, yeah, you know what? We still talk to Obama. Obama doesn't give a shit, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

You know what the best irony of all this is? So you remember, what's that goofball Tim Miller, he's become a psychopath too. He does some bull work. Pocket bull work or whatever. He is who, you know, like, is one of the worst Republican operatives in history and that he lost like basically everything he touched his entire career. Well, as soon as he lost like his last one, which I think was like Jon Huntsman or something like that, he threw in with those cats.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And they were like, oh yeah, maybe we'll have like a apologist Republican to come in and tell us how dumb we are.

[John Ashbrook]

They. They gave that guy a segment called the Cuck Zone and he took it.

[Josh Holmes]

He took it. It was called the Cuck Zone and he took it. And it lasted right up until the point where he was working for an organization that was attacking George Soros. Because George Soros, of course, was their benefactor, as we've come to find out. But the best reason is that it showed up in the New York Times obviously, as it does, as he was attacking George Soros. And they all feared it was anti Semitic.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, they didn't actually. It was a made up thing, of course.

[Josh Holmes]

But fast forward 10 years. Who do you think is bankrolling the Palestinian uprisings on campus?

[Michael Duncan]

George Soros.

[Josh Holmes]

George Soros.

[John Ashbrook]

The DA's that led to the crime waves across the country.

[Josh Holmes]

This is what, when we unpack our brains for you all, like, it sometimes gets cluttered because there's so much of this stuff that we've been surrounded by that we can't get it all to you at the same time, but this is one of those moments where there were people who lost their jobs and their livelihoods for attacking George Soros because it was deemed to be anti Semitic by the New York Times. And if you fast forward at the time, but fast forward 10 years later, this is a guy whose organization was. Is literally funding anti Semitism across the country. They're literally funding it, they're encouraging it. They're trying to sort of embrace the Hamas caucus, the Michigan problem that Democrats have. This is how murky this democratic world gets into. And these pod bros, God bless them, are trying to like sit on top of that and maintain popularity. So they just kind of go along for the ride till they get attacked. And they're like, okay, well, everybody knows.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, I don't know if they can maintain popularity because we beat them on the charts, but they're trying to maintain their gravy train of money and relevance. And this is the kind of stuff they have to defend themselves because as you were saying, so like Tim Miller, the New York Times is like, this guy's anti Semitic. They kick him off the show because they're like, oh, yes, after a great reflection, we've decided Tim Miller is actually anti Semitic. And Tim Miller comes crawling back years later.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, he's still there. I mean, it says a lot more about Tim Miller than does anything else. But I mean, the point remained that that happened. That was a moment in time. And then I fast forward to that conversation we had about like Colbert and late night shows and like, you know, pop culture and how the left is just sort of like turned it into an entire advocacy apparatus. Like these fucking schmoes who've been lying to their audience forever had an HBO show they were on late night television with. I don't know, I think they did Colbert. I know they did like Seth Meyers and stuff like that. Like that's. This is what we're talking about. Like it used to be Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt and now it's these guys who are like deputy speechwriters for the Obama administration. You know what I mean? Like, it's a whole cultural phenomenon that you need to wrap your head around to understand just how deep the problem is and just how important it is that Trump is breaking this.

[Lee Wolf]

You know, and the one thing that I keep hearing over and over again from Dem consultants who I talk to is that rank and file Democrats out there in America are demoralized. They're like, what are we supposed to do? And I've always been sort of reluctant to believe it. I've sort of thought that they're, oh, they're just playing the expectations game. But they insist Democrats are demoralized. After watching these guys for 35 seconds, I understand why they're demoralized.

[Josh Holmes]

Because they're like. Because these people have no idea what they're doing.

[John Ashbrook]

It's funny they have to respond like that because I mentioned on X I was tagging them in the videos of Hunter owning them and they're like, oh, no, all these minions. God bless all the minions. They went after them. Tommy blocked me because he's a coward too. And like, they were in such a tough spot.

[Josh Holmes]

Stanley follows you, though, I think.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, so here's the funny thing is, so when you see that, like, clip of them trying to respond at the end, they're like, we proudly have our employees as union members of, like, Communication Workers America. They had to accept the union terms because the main guy, Jon Favreau, had his house featured in Architectural Digest of this, like, palace that he's bought off of Obama's name. Right? And then the employees are like, what the hell? This guy got this palace.

[Josh Holmes]

And so, like, what can they do collective bargaining here?

[John Ashbrook]

That happened so quick. These clowns. It's so funny to me.

[Josh Holmes]

So anyway, we look forward to the continued interaction with the POD Bros. I think they've got more to say and so do we, but we have a few other things we gotta get to. Slotkin. Oh, man, the new senator from Michigan. Yeah, this lady, so, like, you know, she kind of fancies herself. The Midwestern gal understands, like the. The dude component that many of the Democrats. And she's talked about it before, they just don't understand Midwestern men.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Let's see how well she understands it. Clip seven Please. For God's sakes, people, the Detroit Lions are going to win the national championship and the super bowl and they were in the toilet for years.

[Lee Wolf]

Dude, I was laughing so hard when I saw this. I mean, it is, it's. She's just the latest in a long line of Democrats trying to act like they know anything about sports. Remember Tim Walls?

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Lee Wolf]

The pick six.

[Josh Holmes]

Doing the pick six. Yeah, yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

The national championship.

[Josh Holmes]

The national championship Play Michigan. Yeah, that. Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Penn State doesn't have much of a.

[Josh Holmes]

Clue how that works, does it? A good little window into the minds of Democrats. Time 100. So the time magazine, which, by the way, isn't a magazine anymore, I don't think.

[Lee Wolf]

No.

[Josh Holmes]

Did he still print something?

[Lee Wolf]

No. The last time I was at Jiffy Lube. I didn't see it on the table.

[Michael Duncan]

It's sort of. I think it's sort of a zombie publication that basically just aggregates stuff and makes lists.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a little bit like a Newsweek.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, kind of.

[Josh Holmes]

So anyway, they put together. This was absolutely hilarious. The only reason we're bringing this up is because, like, thousands of minions tagged us in this thing for us to goof on. And so we decided we needed to cover it at some level. So Time magazine put together 100 most influential podcasts. But they also. It was also like. It was more than that. It was like, of all time.

[Michael Duncan]

Of all time.

[Josh Holmes]

And then said, like, the. Change the genre.

[Michael Duncan]

This is the creme de la creme.

[Josh Holmes]

Right. So like, a podcast, you would imagine, like, Joe Rogan has been number one for about five years would have something to do with. No, no, no. Ruthless, rowdy program who has been number one in news and politics. Surely that would be Manchu. That's. No, no, no, no, no. Megan Kelly. No, no, no.

[Michael Duncan]

Shout Out Megyn Kelly. You did her show yesterday.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, we did do her show yesterday, but she didn't make the time, unfortunately. What did. Let's put up graphic, too.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

So everything is alive.

[Michael Duncan]

Ashbrook and I had a lot of fun with this because we were looking through this whole list and we were just trying to make sense. Sense of it. We were trying to understand the author's intent and, like, what is their info flow on a daily basis that makes them pick this 100 podcast?

[Josh Holmes]

Because most. I would say, like, 92 or 93 out of the 100 I'd never heard of before. I'd only really listened to two or three.

[Michael Duncan]

I saw.

[Josh Holmes]

I saw True crime.

[Michael Duncan]

I saw some true crime ones. I saw Dan Carlin's Hardcore History on the list, which is a great Pod Revolutions, which is done by the other Mike Duncan.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep.

[Michael Duncan]

It's fantastic. The Russian Revolution series he does is fantastic. So there were some good picks on there, but then there were some real stinkers.

[Josh Holmes]

But, like, when you're talking about good picks, you're talking about, like, six out of a hundred.

[Michael Duncan]

Right, Right.

[Josh Holmes]

So then stinker category, you found at least a couple that we wanted to hide. This one in particular was one that you. You thought was amazing.

[Michael Duncan]

It's called Everything is Alive. Interviews with Inanimate Objects.

[John Ashbrook]

How does this happen?

[Josh Holmes]

Change the genre, Michael, I don't know what the hell your problem is.

[Lee Wolf]

Joe Rogan interviews Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, and they pick the interviews with inanimate objects.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Lee Wolf]

Over that.

[Michael Duncan]

Ashbrook, can you read the write up on this esteemed podcast?

[Lee Wolf]

In the quirky Radiotopia gem Everything is Alive, which ran from 2018 to 2023 from a podcasting vet from. Wait, wait, don't tell me. Which is an NPR show. They interviewed inanimate objects voiced by improvisers. They brought deadpan delivery. And the interview show, depending on the episode, could be hilarious, shocking, informative, and even profound. In one episode, a grain of sand explains that he would use the pronoun we.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my God, I just can't get enough of it. It's so good. Oh, God, just absolute brain damage.

[Michael Duncan]

There's more.

[Lee Wolf]

He used the pronoun we because he's part of a larger collective and argues that if humans adopted a similar philosophy, they'd be much kinder to one another.

[John Ashbrook]

It always is that if only communism. Yeah, it always goes back to that with these people.

[Michael Duncan]

Top 100 most influential podcasts.

[Josh Holmes]

All time.

[Michael Duncan]

All time.

[Josh Holmes]

Change the genre, they say.

[Lee Wolf]

But you know what? When I read this, I was like, man, I've forgotten that Time magazine exists. We talked about this a second ago. But you read it and you're like, this really is a throwback, you know, like, this is what the media tried to do before independent media took over. This is what the legacy media, they tried to shape.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. They tried to put you into a category that you should be interested in.

[Lee Wolf]

They tried to shape what everybody is allowed to listen to. And it's really like looking at the last page of the Sears Roebuck catalog where they list websites you should go to. But. But they don't include Amazon, they don't include Walmart, because they know, dude, you're right. They know that everybody's looking and listening to those things.

[Josh Holmes]

It's true.

[John Ashbrook]

That's a good point.

[Michael Duncan]

I also think it's a window into their worldview about news and politics. Right. Like, so in this 100 best podcast list, I think there's like three, maybe four political or news podcasts. And one of them is Ezra Klein, you know, his abundance agenda thing. And it's like, if you really, like, go into any of the things that really are news in this list, it's all this sort of like failed neoliberal worldview of, like, if we just understood and did the right things and read the right pie charts, we'd figure out how to fix democracy. And what I love about that worldview is it's so divorced to the way that most Americans consume politics or want to discuss politics.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Michael Duncan]

Like, the people who Made this list are the type of people who liked homework in high school.

[Lee Wolf]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, and they're like, no, you don't understand. I understand this podcast isn't informative or inform entertaining, but that's the charm of it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

It's a slog to get through 2.

[Josh Holmes]

59 and 45 seconds before the bell rings. They're like, teacher, I'd have one more thing that I'd like to say.

[Michael Duncan]

It's like. It's like the hipster who's like, you just don't understand it. Yeah, it's actually good.

[Josh Holmes]

It's actually good.

[Michael Duncan]

We talk to Sand.

[Lee Wolf]

It shows. It shows two things. One, it shows that libs hate audience. They. They want to tell their audience what they're supposed to think. They think they're better than everybody out there who's trying to consume things for entertainment or to get a little bit more information.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Lee Wolf]

And the second thing it tells you is that all they want to do is control the way you think.

[Michael Duncan]

Yes.

[Lee Wolf]

It's all. It's. They think that they're so much smarter and so much better than everybody else because they grew up in Brooklyn. And if you grew up in Topeka, you know nothing, because I'm from Brooklyn. So therefore, listen to my podcast where I interview inanimate objects if you want to get smart.

[Josh Holmes]

So good. It's so good. Got a couple other things for you. Apologies to our good friend Hugh Hewitt. He's a die hard Cleveland Browns fan. I know how difficult that must be. I'm a Viking fan. Zero titles for us, but at least we make the playoffs every once in a while. This poor cat. They. They have to settle for things like helmet revealings.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, no.

[Josh Holmes]

Let's go to clip eight. There's the. The new helmet of the Cleveland Browns. We're filming it. Oh, no. Oh, no. A guy social media manager for the Cleveland Browns is there to get a close up of the new helmet. He falls off a barge directly into the water.

[Lee Wolf]

You know, I hate to say it, but it's par for the course for the city of England, who has had. Or city, excuse me, city of Cleveland, who has had such a difficult time with water around their city. Not only has it started on fire, but you remember the big balloon release?

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, man.

[Lee Wolf]

Where all the balloons went into the water and killed the fish and stopped the air traffic. Cleveland has a terrible track record.

[John Ashbrook]

Didn't they have like a river catch fire or something like that?

[Michael Duncan]

They did, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, man. I mean, you could tell there's some Cincinnati come up that's going on here.

[Lee Wolf]

If you grow up in Cincinnati, you're conditioned to hate the city of Cleveland. It's just the way it is. Sam Weiss, in his famous speech to the Cincinnati Bengals fans when they're throwing beer bottles on the field, he was like, you don't live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati. Get your act together.

[Josh Holmes]

It's funny.

[Lee Wolf]

I do love Hugh.

[Josh Holmes]

There's one more angle on this, if we could play. Clip 9. This is courtesy of NFL.

[Michael Duncan]

This is the perspective.

[Josh Holmes]

So here. Oh, there it is. Right into the drink.

[Michael Duncan]

Right into it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, there it is. Nothing but. Nothing but water. Sorry, Hugh. It just had to be done.

[Michael Duncan]

He's a Browns fan.

[Josh Holmes]

He.

[Michael Duncan]

He knew what he signed up for.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Clip 10. We got the Savannah Banana performer who. I think I love the Savannah Bananas, by the way. I think it's like terrific entertainment. They've like redefined entertainment sports in many ways. Can we play Cliptown? Oh, Jesus. That. That what you just saw there is.

[John Ashbrook]

A brand new twist on America's favorite pastime.

[Lee Wolf]

Oh, my.

[Josh Holmes]

So if it's perfect that it happens on cnn.

[Lee Wolf]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

So this guy comes out, he tries to do a backflip to kick off a segment about the. The. That looks Savannah Bananas. He doesn't get all the way around. He goes right onto his face. The microphone pops off and then it flashes to. The CNN guys are like, well, that didn't go well. Kind of goes in concert with everything else we do here.

[John Ashbrook]

Lucky he's got his teeth.

[Lee Wolf]

After that, you know what I'm willing to consider the Savannah Bananas are such great showmen and they understand media spread so much that I'm willing to believe that that guy did it on purpose so that people would see the clip.

[Josh Holmes]

I feel like that could sacrifice.

[Michael Duncan]

What a tough transition, though. I got to say that co host there just kind of went on soldiering.

[Josh Holmes]

Kate Baldwin was. Was there with her hands over her face, just looking at him. John Berman did its very best to try to recover the segment. Oh, man. All right. So this is one that I particularly put in here because I think it is. It goes to like the heart of what we talk about here on this show, which are there some of us who listen to shows like this who surround ourselves with normal people who are well adjusted, patriotic Americans. And we view kind of the world the same way. We don't always view it through a partisan lens one way or another. We just understand and appreciate our country, want it to be better, period. This gets convoluted in the entertainment industry where you've got a whole segment of reporters and everybody else who's trying to wedge things one way to get their partisan advantage or another. Coach John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens does, in my view, one of the most masterful jobs that I've seen anyone do in anything like politics, entertainment, sports, at taking a question and just absolutely making the questioner look like the dumbest person on the face of the planet without insulting him for one minute. Let's check out clip 10 past Donald.

[Michael Duncan]

Trump has said denigrating things about Baltimore, including no one live there, as a.

[Josh Holmes]

Prominent representative of colocal.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, how do you frame that question? I would frame the question like you got a chance to go visit with the president. What was that experience like?

[Josh Holmes]

It was amazing. It was awesome.

[Michael Duncan]

And I promise you, I root for our president. You know, I want our president to be successful, just like I want. I want my quarterback to be successful.

[Josh Holmes]

And I want my team to be successful.

[Michael Duncan]

And it was an amazing experience.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, it's not often you get.

[Michael Duncan]

Invited and you get a chance to do something like that as a family.

[John Ashbrook]

That's it. That's how it's done, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

It's great. He goes on to talk about, you know, how he's visited the White House on multiple occasions, how it's always important to root for your country, and that his brother and his family have also had that opportunity. And it just makes them look so small.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Lee Wolf]

Right. He said he was in with President Obama twice.

[Josh Holmes]

It just, it makes it look so small. Like you're asking me how to wedge myself on the first day of training camp when all the questions should be about the team, about the excitement of the NFL season, about how do you feel about things? And they're like, how do you feel as a representative of Baltimore, going to see somebody who we all object to here in Baltimore? And he just lightheartedly reflects it back. You know what it is? It's leadership.

[Michael Duncan]

How about a question about how the offensive line's looking?

[Lee Wolf]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Nope. Don't care. Let's see if we can figure out how to wedge our politics into sports.

[John Ashbrook]

Such a class act handled perfectly.

[Josh Holmes]

Perfectly. Just. It's how you do it. Tons of respect to the Harbaugh family, by the way. Incredible family. They do things the right way. There's a reason they win everything all the time.

[Lee Wolf]

And it's their father.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it stems from it, for sure. But the whole family, if you meet them, they're just absolutely incredible people. All right, so remember our question of the day. What's the most iconic Hulk Hogan moment in your time. I want to hear what you guys have to say. We all have our opinions. We laid some of it out. Subscribe and like to our YouTube channel. We'll read them all and get them back to you on Tuesday. While you're there, check out some merch. Make sure you go to the store and sign up for your free bumper sticker if you haven't already. We've sent thousands of them out but we really want to make sure that we get to you if you want one. All of that with that, fellas, it's been a hell of a week. I think we did it.

[John Ashbrook]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode, gentlemen. Like Holmes said, remember if you have not yet like and subscribe to the YouTube. It's more fun in video. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you on Tuesday. Stay ruthless.