IMPLOSION: Dems Anti-Trump Deportation Narrative Unravels

Summary

Ruthless Podcast – Episode Summary Title: IMPLOSION: Dems Anti-Trump Deportation Narrative Unravels
Release Date: April 24, 2025
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook

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Introduction

In this episode of the Ruthless Podcast, hosts Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook dissect the unraveling Democratic narrative against former President Donald Trump, particularly focusing on deportation policies. With Josh Holmes temporarily absent, the trio leverages DJ Nicky Spaghetti to maintain the show's dynamic energy. The discussion centers around the Democrats' communication strategies, their shift towards more extreme "Dark Woke" policies, and the ensuing disconnect with the American electorate.

Dark Woke: The Democrats' New Strategy

The primary focus of the episode is the Democrats' adoption of what the hosts term "Dark Woke" strategies. This term refers to the party's attempts to appear more provocative and edgy in their communications, believing that the inclusion of coarse language and aggressive stances will make them seem more authentic.

• Comfortably Smug (00:29): Highlights the Democrats' failure to communicate effectively, suggesting that their attempts at edginess are forced rather than genuine.

• John Ashbrook (02:15): Describes Dark Woke as an attempt to step outside political correctness by being crass within acceptable limits.

The hosts argue that instead of moderating their messages after the Democrats' loss in November, the party is doubling down on controversial issues like transgender rights and illegal immigration, reminiscent of a "revenge of the Sith."

• Michael Duncan (03:19): Compares the situation to "beating a dead horse," emphasizing that the Democrats are intensifying their efforts rather than reassessing their strategies.

Communication Failures and Inauthenticity

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around how the Democrats' new communication tactics are perceived as inauthentic and forced.

• Comfortably Smug (06:26): Asserts that failing to communicate ideas effectively is the real issue, not the merit of the ideas themselves.

• John Ashbrook (12:17): Points out that repeated use of forced language and cursing does not translate to genuine authenticity.

The hosts critique specific Democratic figures and instances where attempts at edgy communication backfired, undermining the Democrats' credibility.

• Michael Duncan (08:41): Criticizes Maxine Dexter's forced profanity as undermining her authenticity.

• Comfortably Smug (10:26): Commentates on Rep. Melanie Stansbury's ineffective use of strong language during committee hearings.

Impact on Voter Trust and Party Credibility

The hosts contend that these communication missteps have severely damaged the Democrats' credibility, making it difficult for the party to resonate with voters.

• Michael Duncan (14:47): Emphasizes that regardless of the communication style, if the message is weak or inconsistent, it fails to gain voter trust.

• Comfortably Smug (20:22): Blames systemic failures within the Democratic Party rather than external communication issues, indicating deeper-rooted problems.

Listener Engagement and Community Feedback

The episode includes segments where listeners' comments are addressed, reinforcing the show's interactive nature and community support.

• John Ashbrook (30:29): Introduces listener comments that discuss the Democrats' strategies on immigration and voter base.

Comments highlight voter frustrations with Democratic policies and advocate for continued strong actions against illegal immigration.

• Heath Van Hill (33:38): Criticizes news organizations for misleading the public and underscores the perceived moral bankruptcy of the Democratic Party.

Interview with Emily Seidel on the Reconciliation Bill

A significant portion of the episode features an interview with Emily Seidel from Americans for Prosperity (AFP), focusing on the importance of passing the Trump tax cuts through the reconciliation bill.

• Emily Seidel (45:18): Explains the critical nature of the reconciliation bill, titled "Renewing the American Dream Act," aimed at extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts to bolster the economy and support small businesses.

• John Ashbrook (46:53): Highlights the Republican agenda to maintain low tax rates and counter Democratic proposals that may increase taxes.

The interview delves into the potential outcomes of the reconciliation bill, emphasizing the need for a swift legislative process to avoid delays that could jeopardize economic benefits and Republican momentum ahead of the midterms.

• Comfortably Smug (54:33): Questions the effectiveness of previous tax cuts, stressing the importance of delivering tangible economic benefits to secure voter support.

Conclusions and Final Thoughts

In wrapping up the episode, the hosts reflect on the Democrats' ability—or inability—to course correct their strategies. They express skepticism about the party's willingness to adjust, fearing continued loss of voter trust and potential setbacks in upcoming elections.

• John Ashbrook (27:39): Voices doubt over the Democrats' capability to shift their approach effectively before the midterm elections.

• Comfortably Smug (27:45): Expresses hope that Democrats will continue to double down on their current strategies, further alienating their base.

The hosts reiterate the importance of passing the reconciliation bill swiftly to demonstrate Republican effectiveness, thereby strengthening their position in the midterms.

• Michael Duncan (52:54): Emphasizes the need for Republicans to capitalize on legislative successes to maintain voter confidence and support.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Michael Duncan (00:00): "The problem is the issues that they fight for suck. They're always on the 20 side of the 80 20."

• Comfortably Smug (02:27): "This Dark Woke thing, we're just going to drop some F bombs and, you know, say BS a bunch and stuff like that."

• John Ashbrook (07:23): "If you're trying to communicate bullshit... it's going to be bullshit no matter how you spin it."

• Comfortably Smug (08:56): "I have to fuck Trump."

• Michael Duncan (12:16): "They never see that the problem is the issues that they fight for suck. They're always on the 20 side of the 80 20."

• Emily Seidel (45:58): "Extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts is our number one priority."

• Comfortably Smug (25:17): "You gotta like and subscribe like and subscribe if you wish to opine."

Final Remarks

The episode concludes with a blend of serious political discourse and lighter segments, maintaining the show's signature balance. The hosts urge listeners to engage with the Republican agenda, emphasizing the need for continued vigilance and support to counteract Democratic policies that they argue are detrimental to American prosperity and security.

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Note: This summary excludes advertisements, introductory remarks, and non-content segments to focus solely on the core discussions and analyses presented in the episode.

Transcript

[Michael Duncan]

They never see that. The problem is the issues that they fight for suck. They're always on the 20 side of the 80 20. Like, no, this is a comms problem.

[Comfortably Smug]

Dude, that is 100% correct. They never think their ideas are actually a failure. It's just a failure to communicate them correctly. They really, truly believe this Dark Woke thing, we're just going to drop some F bombs and, you know, say BS a bunch and stuff like that. And that is going to make us seem more authentic rather than just being authentic.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

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[John Ashbrook]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Michael Duncan]

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

[John Ashbrook]

It's time for our main event.

[Comfortably Smug]

Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety Program. I'm Michael Duncan, joined with me Comfortably Smug and John Ashbrook. Josh Holmes is unfortunately out on assignment, but we got DJ Nicky Spaghetti's on the ones and twos, so I've got something on that. Right? You know, I was out in spring break last week and I met some fans of the Ruthless Variety Program. And, and one question I got. Was Nicky Spaghetti, is this guy real? Is he just like a guy that you pretend is there, like, you know, like a character that you've made up? And I want to assure every listener and viewer of the Ruthless Variety Program, Nicky Spaghetti is, is. Is real. Nicky, can you throw something down the line?

[Michael Duncan]

Amazing. Wait, did you plan that or is he like on the spot with it like that? I'm impressed.

[Comfortably Smug]

Nice.

[John Ashbrook]

I am too.

[Comfortably Smug]

He's. He's real, folks.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, he's just sitting back there with his chain and his T shirt and his leather jacket.

[Comfortably Smug]

He's very real and very Italian, folks. But we have a great show for you today. Dark Woke. Dark Woke. What? This is basically.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, yeah, yeah, it is.

[Comfortably Smug]

Thank you for giving us some board work. I like some early board work. But Dark Woke, that is the main theme of our show here today. Basically, after the election, when the Democrats lost in November, you had a lot of the party bosses, the Pooh boss, Grand Poo boss, being like, I don't know, maybe we should talk less about transgendered rights or maybe talk Less about open borders and how every illegal immigrant should be in this country. And that lasted, I think, through January. There was this sort of, you know, informal autopsy of what the Democrats failed to do in November. And now it seems like the opposite is happening. You know, the forces on the left, we were seeing a revenge of the Sith. The worst parts of their party are speaking up and doubling down.

[Michael Duncan]

It's hilarious. You called it an autopsy. It's like they're looking at the dead horse and like, no, we have to beat it more. We're gonna go with illegal deserve to be here. And transgender rights. We're gonna run with men and women's sports. They looked at the dead horse and like, no more beating.

[Comfortably Smug]

Beat it more.

[Michael Duncan]

That's what we're gonna do.

[Comfortably Smug]

And we've seen that with Abrego Garcia. We've seen it with Mahmoud Khalil and so many things. The. The thumbnail I would like to go through here at the top is. This is from the New York Times. What is dark woke. Democrats are trying. Yeah, Democrats are trying out a new attitude. It's provocative, edgy, and perilously. Perilously toeing the line of not being too offensive.

[Michael Duncan]

It's amazing.

[Comfortably Smug]

With Donald J. Trump back in the White House, the culture of dude heavy pop podcast programming, provocative insults, and so called masculine energy that helped him get there seems like the dominant one. And to some, the response from the left during the previous Trump era, defined by its earnest resistance to the president's agenda, appears outdated and cringe.

[Michael Duncan]

Can I stop one second? That segment right there encapsulates the problem in and of itself right there, which says the culture of dude heavy pop podcast. So first off, we're on the same thing of, like, the left has been trying to demonize men, especially young men, as much as possible. Let's see what that. We all saw where that got them. And they continue to say, provocative insults and so called masculine energy.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's like, yeah, it's like, we cracked the code. We know the playbook. We gotta be morons like you. You dudes who suck.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, yeah. Like they didn't learn from Tim Wallace and trying to fake it. They're like, no, we're gonna keep attacking, doubling down.

[John Ashbrook]

That's the problem. And the new version, you guys, walls put on the camo hat throughout the campaign. I haven't seen the camo hat since. You remember, he did that to say, oh, yeah, I'm a guy too. The new version of that. Mayor Pete, I don't know if you saw Mayor Pete was on a podcast and he is like, he's not shaving.

[Michael Duncan]

Are you for real?

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And like, somehow that's supposed to.

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, when I think masculine, I think Mayor Pete, that's for sure. More here from the article. It's an attempt to step outside the bounds of the political correctness that Republicans have accused Democrats of establishing. And it requires being crass, but discerning, rude, but only to a point. Online it has a name. Dark Woke. This is the New York Times.

[John Ashbrook]

Racist.

[Comfortably Smug]

This is the New York Times. Can you believe it?

[Michael Duncan]

Again, it's like we always say, like, they never see that the problem is the issues that they fight for suck. They're always on the 20 side of the 80 20. Like, no, this is a comms problem.

[Comfortably Smug]

Dude, that is 100% correct. They never think their ideas are actually a failure. It's just a failure to communicate them correctly. They really, truly believe. This Dark Woke thing, we're just gonna drop some F bombs and, you know, say BS a bunch and stuff like that. And that is gonna make us seem more authentic rather than just being authentic.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

You know, I mean, that's their whole problem.

[Michael Duncan]

It's another form of the camo hat. They're like, okay, the camo hat didn't work, so let's try occasionally cussing. But like they said right here, let's not be too, too, you know, offensive, not too real. We can't cross that line.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. So the. The end of this article. I love this kicker. It's not resonating with everyone. For some, the universal truism that it can be that. That it can never be cool to try so hard applies here.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, every once in a while, there's a true line written in the New York Times. But their problem is that not only are they far left, it's that they're being pulled even further to the left. Yeah, I know you got a bunch of clips here, but, like, I'm not complaining that they're. That they're sticking with these, like, woke positions because it's very good for Republicans because we know that their positions are. What is the problem.

[Michael Duncan]

Yep.

[John Ashbrook]

And it doesn't matter how they're communicating. If you're trying to communicate bullshit.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

It's going to be bullshit no matter how you spin it.

[Michael Duncan]

Bam.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. So the Dark Woke double down is what I'm calling it. It's insane. It's hilarious. You're going to love this. You're going to love these clips right after this. He's Donald Trump's number one Enemy in Congress, Chicago Senator Dick Durbin. And now Dick Durbin has a new scheme, a government takeover of your credit card. Today, consumers have thousands of choices in credit cards, all with equal strong security. But Durbin's plan is less competition and less security, and that means more risk for your credit and your identity. Tell Republicans in Congress, stop Dick Durbin's takeover of your credit card before it's too late. Okay, so trying too hard, that is the biggest problem of this. The. They're trying to figure out how to be authentic, and they think. They think the shortcut to being authentic is to just curse a lot. Like, we come about it naturally because this is who we are. You know, they're forcing it a little as a little. They're forcing it. Let's play clip number one. This is Maxine Dexter.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

I just. I've been told. I have 30 seconds. So I am going to tell you that we do have to. I don't swear in public very well, but we have to fuck Trump.

[Comfortably Smug]

Immediately. Undermining her own attempt at authenticity. Right. I don't swear a lot, but we.

[John Ashbrook]

Have to fuck Trump insanity. And this lady is the same person who saw what Chris Van Hollen did, drinking those margaritas with the terrorists down in El Salvador, and she thought, you know what? I'm gonna go down there, too. So she is, if not still down in El Salvador this week. She was down there trying her best to. I don't really know what she's hoping to accomplish other than get some publicity.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, I don't know how to react to what I can say, but that is just so amazing. I don't know how. What Donald Trump. It's like that meme of God, I see what you've done for Donald Trump. Want that for me. Every guy out there is like, how does it happen that he can be like, there's only one way to stop me. Women. There's only one way to stop me.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

My one weakness.

[Michael Duncan]

How did you know?

[Comfortably Smug]

Okay. It doesn't end there, though. It doesn't end there. This is Rep. Melanie Stansbury. Let's play that clip.

[Michael Duncan]

It's total bullshit, okay? Absolute bullshit.

[Comfortably Smug]

They are not making America safer again.

[Michael Duncan]

And what they are doing is terrorizing immigrant families.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay?

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, this is a committee hearing, I guess, on Capitol Hill.

[John Ashbrook]

That's what it looked like.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. We're just gonna say bullshit a bunch of times, and that's gonna make us edgy.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, totally.

[Comfortably Smug]

Like, that's how we're gonna win new voters back, right?

[John Ashbrook]

You. You say bullshit Bullshit. And then all of a sudden, everybody's comfortable with how having terrorists in the neighborhood.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, perfect.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, it's. I guess what it strikes me in watching these clips, cuz it seems so inauthentic. It's like in the first clip, it looked like a librarian using the F word.

[John Ashbrook]

Yes.

[Comfortably Smug]

You know, like it. It just doesn't actually match. It's like somebody, you know, like, you got a new girlfriend. She's hanging out with the fellas for the first time. And she tries to pretend like she understands sports. Oh, man, it's like it just doesn't track in any way, you know? But they're trying. They're really trying. God love them, they're trying. And they're still trying. Let's play clip number three. This is Jasmine Crockett. And to be clear, free speech is.

[Josh Holmes]

Not about whatever it is that y'all.

[Comfortably Smug]

Want somebody to say. And the idea that you want to shut down everybody that is not Fox News is bullshit. We need to stop playing because that's what y'all are doing in here. You don't want to hear the opinions of anybody else. And the Constitution says Congress shall make no law respecting or establishing of religion or prohibiting the free exercise. There, keep reading, honey.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

The gentlewoman's time has expired.

[Comfortably Smug]

Press.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

The gentlewoman's time has expired.

[John Ashbrook]

What do we make of that insanity? I mean, she acts like the broadcast networks don't exist. She acts like all the major newspapers don't exist. We open this show with an article from the New York Times.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And she's saying that they're getting rid of these outlets. It just. It's. There's a disconnect between what they're saying and reality. And it doesn't matter how many times they cuss or how many times they try to look cool or try to. They try too hard. As the Times put it. It's not gonna work.

[Michael Duncan]

And also for Jasmine Crockett, it's the perfect example of trying too hard. Because by now everyone has seen the video of her. She went to like a great private school. And when she got interviewed like four years ago, she has better addiction than Alfred from Batman. You know what I mean? Like, it sounds like Robin Leach. And then she's like, oh, no, we have to be authentic. So time for me to say bullshit? Yeah, get the hell out of here. No one's buying it.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's unbelievable. But it isn't just elected officials. You also have a new favorite here in the ruthless variety program. Show us your hog. David Hogg, who Did some sparring with Reince Priebus. Let's play that clip.

[John Ashbrook]

Got no message. They've got. They've got no movement. They've got no leader.

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, it doesn't get any worse than that.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, you're defending Harvard. You're traveling to El sal, ecuador, for Ms. 13 gang members. But here's the point. You're taking $20 million.

[Comfortably Smug]

If I'm looking at someone, my vice chair, the rnc, taking $20 million for.

[John Ashbrook]

Another effort, it's $20 million out of the dnc's pocket. You can't be on the board of the Fishing and Forest Company and on.

[Comfortably Smug]

Greenpeace at the same time.

[John Ashbrook]

There are places where the party accountable. I think it's right.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Let me. Let me push back against this. Was not an MS.13 gang member, and you damn well know that.

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh, come on.

[Michael Duncan]

He was not. The administration admitted this was wrong. In America, we have due process. And we are a land of law and order. We are a land of law and order. Ren's just walked him into that.

[John Ashbrook]

He did.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

It's incredible.

[John Ashbrook]

Crushed him. And this guy, David Hogg, famously. He's talking about, we have rules, we have systems. This guy, David Hogg, famously made it into Harvard over another guy from his school that actually had good grades.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, I mean, Kyle. I mean, everyone knows the story by now. Kyle had far better grades, far more credentialed, but he wasn't woke. And that's where that's the problem is. When you have a system, like the left does, of promoting the wokest, not the person who can do the job. That's what you end up like. That guy's like the vice chair of the dnc and Rents just walked him in, and he's like, don't you want to defend the known gang member? He's like, just because someone tattoos I'm a gang member doesn't mean they're a gang member. You're right.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's so funny. I mean, they really do believe if they just say bullshit and fucking damn and then have the exact same terrible ideology, that somehow they get on the other side of the 20% of the 8020 issue.

[John Ashbrook]

Right?

[Comfortably Smug]

And obviously that's wrong. It's not just the members of Congress. It's not just David Hogg, who apparently is now the vice chair of the Democratic Party, which is, like, on its own. So the most hilarious thing ever. You're still seeing this in the grassroots of their party as well. Let's play this clip of the pro Hamas activists. So this is a Jewish student being refused entry by a bunch of terrorist durag wearing liberals, all with a mask on.

[Michael Duncan]

This is a Yale.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, this is Yale this week.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

The guy's trying to go from A to B and they're like, no, you're not allowed on the sidewalk.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And that's supposed to be authentic. Yeah, that's supposed to be something that people in America can identify with.

[Comfortably Smug]

Some would say those terrorist sympathizers are illegally occupying land.

[Michael Duncan]

Beautiful. I mean, it's just really. It's so tiresome. Like, when I first saw that video and we're discussing today's show, I was like, is that, is that from now? This is not like, last follower. They're still doing this. And we saw how much, like, public opinion was sick of that kind of garbage. No, this was from right now. Yeah, they're still doing it. And this is happening at Yale, right When Harvard's having to learn the hard way what happens. You know, they're on the other side of the FAFO equation. Yells like, we want to be up next. Yeah, yeah, seize the endowment, dude.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's.

[Michael Duncan]

It's.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yes, thank you. Smug. Because here's the thing is like, you scratch a pro Palestine, and I put that in quotes for audio listeners. Pro Palestine College, you know, campus disruptor. And you're going to find a Hamas sympathizer immediately. Always. And this like, Mahmoud Khalil guy, you know, which again, has become another totem for the left of like, oh, my gosh, how could we possibly just, you know, displace this guy and put him in detention and maybe deport a guy, you know, who's just. He was just organizing, you know, free speech events on Columbia's campus. He held a rally where they were waving Hamas flags.

[Michael Duncan]

They invited a known terrorist, a known member of Hamas, to an event on that campus. That's it. You're providing material aid to a terror. This is like a state sponsored, like, get out of here.

[John Ashbrook]

And then they whine when the government says, you know what? We're not going to give you the funding, the taxpayer money that we've been giving you. We're going to give it to a different university. And they're like, oh, this is going to stop all this research. And it's like, hey, there are very smart people at state schools.

[Michael Duncan]

Bingo.

[John Ashbrook]

Who probably deserve this more and who are not attacking Jews on a sidewalk. Yeah, I mean, it's pretty simple.

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, because what these pro Palestine activists tried to say is like, well, you know, what we want is we just Want a recognition of the right of a Palestinian people to exist. And you're like, okay, sure, right? And they're like, okay, well, we also want you to divest from Israel. It's like, well, okay, why? Why? Why do we have to divest from Israel? Well, we also want you to acknowledge the genocide against Palestine and how, you know, Israel is illegally occupying this land. And it's like, well, you see what. There is this slippery slope, and at the end, it is that they just believe October 7th was justified. Right? They believe the same thing that the people who flew those. Those planes into the Twin Towers believe. They think civilians are fair game, and they believe that armed resistance against civilians in the west is justified. They believe that. That's what they believe. And I'm sorry, but if you are a guest in this country being educated at our universities, you are a fucking foreigner. You are not an American citizen. We should kick your ass out 100%. You're going to wave a Hamas flag.

[Michael Duncan]

On our campuses is like, how far things have fallen. That after September 11, do you think if at Columbia, a university in New York City, a student was. This is not debated. Hosted an event for a known member of a terror group. Think about that happening in October of 2001. Yeah, deportation will be the last of his problems, I'll tell you that right now.

[Comfortably Smug]

Extraordinary rendition in a waterboard business.

[Michael Duncan]

How does it happen that we're allowing these people who are in our country, using our resources, supposedly to get an education, but are holding events for no terrorists, and we're supposed to be like, well, let's just, you know, let's hear them out. Get him out, get him out. It's not difficult.

[John Ashbrook]

So, okay, so I want taking spots, by the way, from American kids like Kyle that you talked about. Worked his ass off all the way up, got good grades, and he's like, maybe I can go to this college. And they're like, no, sorry. We're giving it to people from the.

[Comfortably Smug]

So I love this for them, for the Democrats, that they are re harnessing this power of this fringe left that lost them in the election. All that. And I'm glad that these people are now in control and they think that they can somehow be more authentic by just saying some curse words in that. But, like, what do you guys think is behind that? My take on it, right, is it's a refusal to address the root problem of the party apparatus that they all covered for the lies of Joe Biden. For four years, a dementia patient, they pretended could be president again, that they Put up Kamala Harris, who they made fun of for three years and then decided was a Mensa.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

Applicant the second that she got the nomination and she failed as well. That the party is a failure. But instead of addressing the systemic failures of the party, they now want to, in a fit of rage, double down on a failed strategy. Why is that?

[John Ashbrook]

I think it's because that's where the money's at. You know what I mean? It's like the old Claude Rains line. Why did you rob banks? Because that's where the money's at. They are literally doing what George Soros and Hansberg Vice. Who are these foreigners who are sending money into the left of their party? They're doing what those organizations that are funded and have access to even more money want them to do.

[Michael Duncan]

I think you're 100% right. I mean, like, look at the innumerable policies that Democrats have championed that do nothing but like, enrich China. What, you think that's helping, like, the working class of this country?

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

No, no. Their party is just. Their party has basically become just an enrichment scheme for the clowns at the top. I mean, look at how I was just telling folks yesterday they could not believe they had not heard the news of how like 11 days before Joe Biden left office, like $2 billion gets wired to Stacey Abrams Group, which was formed like 17 days before this wire hits. They're just corrupt, greedy nihilists. They believe in nothing. Nothing but enriching themselves. They have no moral principles. That's why they have no shame when they're hypocrites. They believe in nothing.

[John Ashbrook]

You don't need to look any further than the structure they established with all of these NGOs that were also getting taxpayer money, but built on the backs of a left wing vision for the world that they're in charge. And then they are going to say what goes. The NGO system that we've seen in the federal government is very similar to how Democrats run their party.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And the non profits are in charge. And until they break that system, they will never be responsive to actual voters because they're only responsible or responsive to their big donors.

[Michael Duncan]

Yep.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. All right. So they are doubling down with this dark woke bullshit. We showed all those clips and everything. And this is their way of maybe shortcutting what they call, what is the New York Times is like this, like podcast manosphere, masculine energy and all this sort of thing. That's what they think they're doing. Well, I think we need to play one more clip. Okay. And this is a clip from Elizabeth Warren golden, who no one is going to accuse of trying to be cool or hip. And I want you to get a sense of when Democrats actually try to be authentic. Let's play that clip. Do you regret saying that President Biden.

[Michael Duncan]

Had a mental acuity?

[Comfortably Smug]

He had a sharpness to him.

[John Ashbrook]

You said that up until July of last year.

[Michael Duncan]

I said what I believe to be true.

[Comfortably Smug]

And you think he was as sharp as you?

[Michael Duncan]

I said I had not seen decline.

[John Ashbrook]

And I hadn't at that point. You did not see any decline from 2024?

[Michael Duncan]

Not when I said that.

[Comfortably Smug]

You know, the thing is he, look, he was sharp.

[John Ashbrook]

He was on his feet.

[Michael Duncan]

I saw a live event. I had meetings with him a couple of times.

[Comfortably Smug]

Senator, on his feet is not praise.

[John Ashbrook]

He can speak in sentences.

[Michael Duncan]

Is not praise.

[Comfortably Smug]

Fair enough. Fair enough.

[Michael Duncan]

Look, it is.

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh, my God.

[Michael Duncan]

The question is.

[Comfortably Smug]

This is so painful.

[Michael Duncan]

What are we gonna do now?

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

Okay.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, wow.

[John Ashbrook]

Wow. What they did with Joe Biden ruined their credibility for a very long time.

[Comfortably Smug]

It did.

[John Ashbrook]

Everybody could see it with their own eyes.

[Comfortably Smug]

And that's what they're trying to shortcut with all of this. That's we're gonna curse more and be more authentic. It's to hide under the rug that failure, that root failure of the Democratic Party. What I find so interesting about that clip, and smug's right. Like if audio only. You're missing absolute goal by seeing the.

[Michael Duncan]

Video because like when Elizabeth Warren is laughing at being called out when he was like, come on, you don't really believe who's all there. And she just like laughed, dude.

[Comfortably Smug]

She like full on convulses her shoulders because she knows she doesn't have an answer to it. It's not even an interview. It's a therapy session. It's an intervention. It is. Come on, man. Fucking admit it. Just admit it. Admit it what you know to be true. And that is he couldn't do the job. And they refused to admit it even still.

[John Ashbrook]

And they don't do that because they do not answer to voters. They don't care about voters. They're answering to a multibillionaire class around the world. I attributed this quote earlier to Claude Rains. It's actually was Willie Sutton who said, I robbed banks because that's where the money is.

[Michael Duncan]

I thought it was Nancy Pelosi, but.

[Comfortably Smug]

Hilarious. That is hilarious. Okay, we gotta show the graphic here. The moment that Elizabeth Warren was like, he was sharp, he was on his feet sharp. Put up the reaction to the host there. This is the Talk easy.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, podcast. That's it.

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, it's like the J.D. vance face, you know, like, are you kidding me?

[Michael Duncan]

And that's the thing.

[Comfortably Smug]

Are you fucking kidding me?

[Michael Duncan]

This is like the Democrats have a mouth full of cavities and they think maybe if I just get some grills, if I get some gold grills, I'm gonna be fine.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's like, no, just get rid of the cavities.

[Michael Duncan]

It's like, thing is, is that they, like Ashbrook said, their credibility with voters is shot, completely shot. Because they spent over a year, almost four years, three years, telling voters, hey, Joe Biden is doing backflips and filling out crossword puzzles all day long.

[Comfortably Smug]

You should see a Sudoku. It's the best Sudoku.

[Michael Duncan]

But that's just off camera, folks. You know, he gets. He gets shy. If anyone can see him, he's like an elf or something. You can't see him on camera.

[John Ashbrook]

It's just a stutter.

[Michael Duncan]

But until they come to grips with that lie, you know, like, you cannot be forgiven until you ask for an apology. And voters are in the back of their head, they're never going to trust them until they come to terms with that. I mean, in a certain way, Republicans had a similar moment when it comes to foreign policy, because so many Republicans were angry at what they saw. They didn't feel Iraq, Afghanistan were not what they signed up for, was not what they were told. And Donald Trump took a break from that. Like, Mitt Romney was unable to take a break on the foreign policy. And so you saw no change in terms of the electorate's sentiment towards Republicans until Democrats are willing to say, listen, this is a break from what we had and acknowledge what had happened. Yeah, voters won't trust you.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's absolutely true. The bar is so low to being normal and they refuse to clear it, which I find so interesting. Which brings me to the comment of the day, which is, will Democrats course correct?

[Michael Duncan]

Yep.

[Comfortably Smug]

Will they find a way out of this, or would they continue to double down on this insane rhetoric and lose the midterms? Who the hell knows?

[John Ashbrook]

I'm highly skeptical.

[Comfortably Smug]

I'm looking forward to either outcome, but I'm. I'm hoping they keep doubling down. Triple down, quadruple down.

[John Ashbrook]

I would love to see.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, to me, that's the big question is, are they going to course correct before the midterms? Because that's what it all comes down to.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. When we come back, we're going to read your comments from the last question. We also have an interview with AFP's Emily Seidel. We got, we got a golf brawl. We've got a goat. New goat of the week.

[Michael Duncan]

Action packed.

[Comfortably Smug]

Embarrassment of riches. Folks, you're absolutely going to love it. You did all the right things. You worked hard, you worked your way up and you invested your money in a 401k or other retirement plan. Your future is all set, right? Wrong. The retirement system as we know it is currently under attack from misguided policymakers in D.C. the Trump tax cuts are set to expire this year. Renewing them will be a big fight in Congress. Right now. The tax code protects 401ks IRAs and other plans that help you save. Some people want to change that. Your representatives in Congress must protect the tax advantages that more than 100 million Americans rely on to save for retirement. You deserve policies that build on the current retirement system to secure your financial future, not jeopardize it. If Americans know one thing, it's resilience. To stay resilient, we need immediate action from our leaders. Head to helpusretire.org to take action and reach out to your representatives in Congress. Today Help Us Retire is sponsored by the Investment Company Institute, representing asset managers, serving individual investors.

[Josh Holmes]

For too long, weak politicians have sold out America's steelworkers and allowed China to flood our country with cheap foreign steel. President Trump is fighting back for American manufacturing and American steel.

[Michael Duncan]

We're going to build our future with.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

American hands, with American heart, American steel. And we're going to build it with American pride, like we used to.

[Josh Holmes]

The U.S. steel and Nippon Steel Partnership advances Trump's agenda. This historic investment will pump billions into US Steel, modernize aging plants, protect steel workers jobs and empower our country to compete against China. The US Steel and Nippon Steel Partnership will ensure more steel is made in America, strengthening our economic and national security. President Trump is fighting for our steel industry and to create more manufacturing jobs. The U.S. steel and Nippon Steel Partnership puts America first. Learn more at americafirststeel.org, paid for by the America First Steel Alliance.

[Comfortably Smug]

Okay, so our comment from last episode was will Democrats be able to stop Trump? And for our first comment we always go to the voice.

[John Ashbrook]

So first comment comes from just Lena and just Lena writes the Dems fight for Garcia isn't rocket science. They're trying to let illegals know they shouldn't self deport that the Dems will fight for them to stay in the country because if the illegals don't stay, the blue states are going to lose what? 12, 13 congressional seats and electoral votes come 2030, the Dems see this as their survival.

[Michael Duncan]

Right on.

[John Ashbrook]

And I think this is a really good point from just Lena, but one addendum I would offer is that if you look at the Hispanic vote totals from 2024, Democrats hope in immigrants is completely misplaced, because so many of these Hispanic voters want what Republicans are calling for opportunity. Fewer taxes, less regulation. You live your life in America as Americans. And what Democrats thought was that they would just vote Democrat because we let them in. What do you think about that?

[Michael Duncan]

Well, I mean, I think the problem that Democrats are facing is that Americans don't like their policies. And their whole gambit feels like maybe if we can import a bunch of voters and promise them free stuff, like, they all raise their hands of like, yes, I'll give illegal immigrants free education, free housing, free everything. If their. Their bet is if we can essentially bribe an imported voter base, we can keep winning.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, but I said it on Will Kane. Dude, I think it's gonna switch. I think they look at the way that Hispanics are now voting for the Republican Party and they're gonna change their tune on border security real quick. I just do. Because they are just absolute sociopaths who don't believe in anything.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

You know?

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, I think there's something to that.

[Comfortably Smug]

Comment number 2. Smug. What do we got?

[Michael Duncan]

This comment comes from Chris Connor, and Chris writes, this illegal alien invasion was encouraged by the Democrats. So the Trump administration should highlight that every time they're questioned about deportations, the Republicans need to just keep their heads down and push through all the noise and complete the mission they were elected to do. Deportations, deportations. If someone tries to slow them down, do more deportations.

[John Ashbrook]

Hell yes.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yes.

[Michael Duncan]

Hell, yes. No matter what is said about it, elections have consequences. I could not agree more with Chris 100%. Just keep those planes rolling, no matter what.

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, and it's an important validation of Donald Trump's promise in this election, and he has said it now numerous times. And I know he's extremely frustrated by the courts and the system and all these issues that they're having with the deportations, he is laser focused on delivering for the electoral coalition that elected him. And that's what I love about what he's doing right now. Yep, absolutely. Okay. Comment number 3. This is from Heath Van Hill. It will have no effect on the rate of deportations whatsoever. It will, however, continue to show average Americans just how morally bankrupt the Democratic Party is and how they don't really care about Protecting America or Americans. I wish that news organizations were required to acknowledge when they intentionally mislead people with their stories. A Maryland man.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

What? Total bs. That's about as bad as, I don't know, flinging six unqualified idiots into space and calling them astronauts.

[Michael Duncan]

That's pretty good.

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, see what I love about this comment, these news organizations and political parties, this isn't even a partisan take. They underestimate the intelligence of the average voter. The American.

[Michael Duncan]

They do.

[Comfortably Smug]

They think like people are stupid. And the election of Donald Trump in 2016 should prove that. The American people. When we were talking about this the other day at lunch, Ashbrook, the American people have a great sense of a bullshit meter. They know when you're real. They know when you're fucking fake.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Comfortably Smug]

You know, and what they trusted with Donald Trump was the authenticity. And if our news media treated people like they had a brain, you know, their approval wouldn't be so low. Our podcast wouldn't be so successful.

[Michael Duncan]

Totally agree.

[John Ashbrook]

Right?

[Michael Duncan]

You know, like saying Marilyn man over and over just feels insulting.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's insulting.

[John Ashbrook]

Dude. They shit all over their readers and their audience all day. They've done it for decades. And it's the reason why people do not read their papers. They take every single Democrat talking point, hook, line and sinker and present it without question in their pages. One example, they talk about this Maryland man and they take the Democrat argument that they should not be sent to a country where they are not originally from because they're going to El Salvador and not going back to Venezuela. And wouldn't you just say like, well, they're not originally from America, so why is the answer that they go to a different country where they're not originally from, where we also have to pay for the benefits that they're just given by walking across the border?

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, absolutely. I have one more comment. One more comment. And this is based off the last episode we did. I got a lot of feedback. People were very happy that I was encouraging you to have children.

[John Ashbrook]

Smug.

[Comfortably Smug]

So any update?

[Michael Duncan]

I'm married and hopefully soon enough. And one thing I'll be happy. One thing I'll be happy, especially about is walking the walk.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Because I know a lot of parents out here, they're like, oh yeah, you know, I'm gonna raise my kids like I was raised. And they just throw the iPad in the kids hands. Well, that's not how I was raised. And there will be a sheriff in town, which is lacking when you see a lot of parents out in public these days.

[Comfortably Smug]

Okay. So when you do actually start, like actively trying, I have a tip for, for you. And we have a lot of young men, you know, 25 to 34. If you look at the demographic breakdown in Apple podcasts or, or whatever where we, we have this show, a lot of those young men. And I would like to offer you some advice and then some advice. You're a guy who loves technology. You know, the aura ring and you got all the apps and the things that track everything. Get your wife the, the app, the ovulation tracking. No, I'm serious. I'm serious. And I say this as someone from experience. When my wife and I started trying to have kids, like the first month, we were just like, yeah, we're doing it, you know, like we're gonna have.

[Michael Duncan]

And it's not even sponsored. We don't have. The app isn't sponsoring this.

[Comfortably Smug]

No, no, no, no. I'm being dead serious. Just because I love you and I. Listen, dude, we did it for the first month and we're like, yeah, I know, we're gonna try to have kids. And we didn't understand it'd sex ed back in middle school or whatever, right? And then you get like one of these ovulation tracking apps or whatever. I think the one we used was called Nurture or whatever. And it like, it's very accurate. Like it gives you a target where it's like, these are the days. These are the days you got to have sex, right? And you may think like, you know, talking to you young man out there, listening or watching on YouTube or you smug. You may think like, I am, I am a next gen F35 bomber. You know, like, I got targeted homing missiles and I'm going to like have a child. That's not how it works, pal.

[John Ashbrook]

Seven trillion possibilities every shot.

[Comfortably Smug]

Like is the thing is, is like us as men, we're more like like an A10 warthog. Like, we are close air support, you know, like what you need to do is like, look at that ovulation tracking app. And it'll give you about four and a half days. And you got to strafe the target. You got to strafe the target over those four and a half days and you got to be on top of it. And if you are, I guarantee success.

[Michael Duncan]

That's an incredible advice and segment. We gotta clip that one. Let's go straight to Instagram.

[Comfortably Smug]

I just. Dude, I want this for you so badly and I'll give you all the advice possible.

[Michael Duncan]

Outstanding.

[Comfortably Smug]

Okay, so when we come back we got a lot of variety. We got a lot of variety here. We got a golf brawl we've got to go to the week. You're not going to want to miss.

[Josh Holmes]

It for too long. Weak politicians have sold out America's steelworkers and allowed China to to flood our country with cheap foreign steel. President Trump is fighting back for American manufacturing and American steel.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

We're going to build our future with American hands, with American heart, American steel. And we're going to build it with American pride, like we used to.

[Josh Holmes]

The U.S. steel and Nippon Steel Partnership advances Trump's agenda. This historic investment will pump billions into US Steel, modernize aging plants, protect steel workers jobs and empower our country to compete against China. The US Steel and Nippon Steel Partnership will ensure more steel is made in America, strengthening our economic and national security. President Trump is fighting for our steel industry and to create more manufacturing jobs. The U.S. steel and Nippon Steel Partnership puts America first. Learn more at americafirststeel.org, paid for by the America First Steel Alliance.

[John Ashbrook]

Hard working 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.

[Comfortably Smug]

Okay, for a lighter fare, if ovulation and procreation wasn't enough for you, we have a golf brawl. This is, this one happened up in Canada. Let's just play the clip. These guys are fighting. A shirt is off.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

You can step in, Justin.

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh man. Knocked out, Knocked out.

[Michael Duncan]

De escalate. He's landing.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

This is crazy. Hun.

[Comfortably Smug]

They keep calling it crazy but they're not intervening. I mean that's unbelievable. So that was about seven guys, seven guys fighting. I assume it was probably a, you know, two groups of golfers.

[John Ashbrook]

What was the issue?

[Comfortably Smug]

I think the, the group behind maybe hid in to the group in front, which is a.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, slow play is a problem.

[Comfortably Smug]

It is a problem.

[John Ashbrook]

It's endemic on every course. Like if people are slow hole in and hole out, you gotta send a message.

[Comfortably Smug]

I think I've seen a lot of issue surveys with the American people that it's like the economy, illegal immigration, foreign policy. Slow play is issue number four.

[John Ashbrook]

You know, our great president plays golf very hard. He does. He would never put up so much.

[Comfortably Smug]

So he'll even put a card on the green, you know, just to make sure he can putt out as quickly as possible.

[Michael Duncan]

But was the guy with the blue polo and the white hat, was he in, in the second group or was he in the first? Because like he was just landing.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right. It's unclear. It's unclear what I will say from having watched that video now. And I'll describe it for our audio only listeners here. I'm seeing a lot of terrible form, fighting form.

[Michael Duncan]

The guy, something like this guy in the, in the, in the blue polo in the white hat. Even when he's on his back foot, he's landing those rights. And they're connected.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yes.

[Michael Duncan]

Like right there. He's, he's walking back. He's not like putting into the what he's doing.

[Comfortably Smug]

What he's doing is my number one recommendation in a fight. And this is what I see a lot of people do when they swing wild. And everybody thinks you throw a hook in a haymaker. No, the reality is you throw a straight, you know, you throw a jab, it's the closest distance between two points and nobody ever sees it coming.

[John Ashbrook]

You put your hip into it.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. Everybody's expecting some big over the top haymaker. And that doesn't land.

[John Ashbrook]

It starts, it starts with your leg.

[Comfortably Smug]

Starts with your leg. And then right through. Right.

[Michael Duncan]

That guy was just like, chin, chin. Just hitting those rights.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. He looked like Floyd Mayweather.

[Michael Duncan]

Good for him.

[Comfortably Smug]

Just peppering them up. Just peppering them up. And I, I, I heard the guy broke his jaw.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, did he really? Yeah, well, that's what happens when you play so slow. You know, it's not, it's not about, it's not about the game, it's about respect.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

One of the things our great president does, he's like I was saying earlier, let's see it. He Trump plays fast. Not because it's about him, it's because it's about who's behind him.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's right.

[John Ashbrook]

He does not want anybody behind him to be like, man, why is that guy just still standing on the green? You know what I mean? You have to think about other people.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

And that's trying to do like, you see that left backhand fist? Like, what are you doing out here?

[Comfortably Smug]

Terrible, terrible form. I hate it. All right, so that brings us to Go to the Week, and this is an important Go to the Week. Natalie Winters, who had been a guest here on the Ruthless variety program. We talked about how she was disrupting the mainstream media. Now she spent a lot of time in the White House. Correspondent's room. She was the feature of a. A series of. Of things in the mainstream media about, you know, changing culture and in that room. And it produced a fantastic clip here. Let's play that to the people. And I'm sure you see this online every single day who say you don't deserve to be here because you're not a real journalist. What's your response to them?

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

Well, I'm pretty sure the group of people in there spent, what was it, four years covering for someone who was essentially dead. And that's being charitable in my description of him, a president by the name of Joe Biden. So to all those people who are apoplectic over having new media voices, you guys failed. And that's why we're here.

[Comfortably Smug]

What a done deal is the best. I mean, Natalie Winters to their face, to cnn right there is like, you're the reason I'm here, because you suck.

[John Ashbrook]

She just bodied that. She took away his pot of gold.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

You know what I mean? This Irishman who's up there like, hey, you don't belong. She doesn't belong. You're Irish. Get out of here. You're here at the pleasure of the American people.

[Comfortably Smug]

I'm at. You're right.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, that's just. And right there, I mean, again, we go back to the whole credibility issue with Democrats. The media has the same culpability. For four years they covered for Joe Biden. And what did they think that credential that they claim to have is worth now?

[Comfortably Smug]

Right?

[Michael Duncan]

Beautifully done.

[Comfortably Smug]

The emperor has no clothes.

[Michael Duncan]

Goat of the week. Absolute goat.

[Comfortably Smug]

Absolute goat. All right, we gotta get to this interview. AFP's Emily Sydal. Let's go to it. I wanna welcome to the program a great friend of the Ruthie Sobriety Program. You've heard from her many times. Emily Seidel from afp. How are you?

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

I'm doing great. How are you?

[Comfortably Smug]

I'm good and I'm good. And I'm glad we're having this conversation right now. Cause, you know, Congress isn't here. That doesn't mean the work stops. And that's what I love about AFP.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

Yes, that is right. We just held 60 events in 30 states across the country on tax day.

[Comfortably Smug]

Nice.

[John Ashbrook]

Wow.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

Yeah. Work does not stop.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, it's perfect timing. And like every. We knew. We knew that after the election and the millions of doors you hit and the millions of phone contacts you made, we knew that it didn't stop on election day when President Trump won. We knew you would continue into the new year, but 60 events timed for tax Day. That's. I mean, you can't get better timing than that.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

It was a lot of fun, too.

[Comfortably Smug]

All right, so you're here to talk about the reconciliation bill. This is a big deal. A really, really big deal. This is like how Donald Trump makes his agenda that he campaigned on in the election season and that elected him, how he actually makes that promise to the American people. So lay it out for us.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

Yeah. Well, I think it's make or break for the Republicans in Washington, D.C. honestly, I don't know if you saw the news this morning that the House's working title for this bill is Renewing the American Dream act, which I love, because at afp, we've been out there talking about reigniting the American Dream and unleashing freedom and opportunity for people so that they can pursue their American dream. And we made extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts our number one priority, priority as an organization because we felt like it was the most important thing to do to give people a shot at the American dream. And so I loved the title of the House bill. I hope that they keep it and moves from being a working title to the actual title, because it really is what I think the number one priority of Congress needs to be as well.

[John Ashbrook]

So you had 60 events on tax day. I got to imagine a lot of people agreed with what you're saying.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

Yes. So over 90% of Americans want to keep their current tax rates. This is a bipartisan issue. 90% of Americans. And if you look at the opportunity, you know, in 2024, voters sent a Republican trifecta to Washington, D.C. to solve big problems in our country. And number one on that list was the economy. Four years of the Biden failed economic agenda caused real harm. And so they're looking for this Congress and this administration to start chipping away at that problem and put some better solutions in place. A1A is not making the situation worse by allowing the tax rates to go back up, which is what would happen if the Tax Cuts and Jobs act is not extended at some point this year.

[John Ashbrook]

Unthinkable.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. And it's a problem that doesn't get solved overnight. We saw that with TCGA back in 2017. It takes a while for the American people to see the value of the good work that's done in a tax cut that impacts, you know, every bracket for the American people. I saw a truth that Donald Trump put out, which I think illuminate. Illuminates this issue in the political context. Can we put that up. So Trump wrote, newt is quite possibly right on this. George Bush said, read my lips, no new taxes, then proceeded to give a rather small tax increase and was obliterated. I love the idea of a small tax increase. The Democrats would probably use it against us and we would be like Bush, helpless to do anything about it. I love this because he gets the political ramifications of this and why it's important. Deliver that certainty in those low tax rates to the American people ahead of the midterms.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

Yeah, look, I've been talking about this as. First, we've got to seize the opportunity to do as much good as possible on this bill. There's a big upside, but there are also three potential outcomes that are significant downsides. The first one is obvious. Right. No bill at all. If Congress somehow fails to get this done, I think there's a low likelihood of that, but it's got to be on the table. You can't, you can't just assume it'll get done. But the other two are really where that sort of a statement comes into play. It's, you could also have a bad bill, and I mean that from a policy perspective and also a political perspective, or you could have a late bill. And Speaker Johnson was just at our office down on Capitol Hill. We call it the Freedom Embassy.

[Comfortably Smug]

I love it. It's beautiful building.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

It's a great. It's a great spot. He was just down there a couple of weeks ago where he warned about the dangers of a late bill. And he looked back at the 2017 passage of the original tax cuts and said, you know, they came on the heels of the disaster of the failure of repeal and replace, and then there was a lot of infighting amongst Republicans what should be in or out of the tax bill. So by the time it passed, it was too late in the cycle for Americans to really understand the value of what had just happened. They didn't get to see. See the economic impacts before they started to make decisions about who they were going to vote for in the 2018 elections. And what happened. House Republicans lost 41 seats. I think the speaker is smart to be harping on the dangers of a late bill because he doesn't have. Yeah, he doesn't have that big of a margin to be able to lose.

[John Ashbrook]

This, but he does have a margin. Republicans are not only in charge of the White House, but in charge of both houses of Congress. And when Republicans are in charge, they do what they do, not raise taxes on people. If Democrats were in charge, that's what Democrats would be pushing to do so. I'm not really sure where this idea that we should raise taxes on people is coming from, but it seems to me that before we start talking about taking more money away from people that they earn, we should talk about doing things like changing some of those special provisions that Biden wrote during his four years in that, like inflation reduction act, so called.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

Yeah, well, and so this speaks to the ideas that could spark the second of the bad outcomes, which is the bad bill outcome. So if there are new lines of revenue or if they do choose to allow some people's taxes to go back up, they're going to face a lot of backlash from those constituencies, the business community. You're not going to see all of the economic benefits that you could see from a full extension of the entirety of the tax reform from 2017. But you know, there are other ways that this could be a bad bill. It could, you could have bad pay fors, you could have poison pills that start to cleave off significant members of the conference. We see this stuff all of the time in the legislative fights. We don't have the luxury of, you know, dilly dallying around those fights right now. We've got to just stay focused on getting the most pro growth tax package possible in this reconciliation bill and get it done quickly so that the American people can feel the certainty to know that their taxes are not going to go up. And so that business owners across the country, especially small business owners, know that they can rely on the rates that they have today. As a grassroots organization, one of the privileges that we have is to be able to hear from thousands of people across the country every day and they share incredible stories of what the 2017 tax bill enabled them to do. Small business owners in particular, it doesn't really matter who you talk to in which industry, you know, whether it's a jeweler or a grocer, whatever, they all have the same story. They either did one or both of the following things. They invested in their people through higher wages or bonuses. We just had a small business owner at an event the other week share that. In 2017, after the bill passed, he gave every single one of his employees a $6,000 bonus. So investing in their people or investing in growing their business, adding new locations, adding better equipment, whatever it is, the.

[Comfortably Smug]

Full expensing, that sort of stuff, having.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

That kind of certainty to continue that kind of investment in our people and in our economy is critical at this moment as we're trying to recover from four years under biden yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

So I have one question on that thing. Third component, late bill, bill that comes too late. How do we stop that from happening?

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

Well, you've got to look at the timeline that we face over the next couple of months and, and have a sense of urgency about it. There's a lot happening in Washington, D.C. right now, and you got to cut through the noise and just focus on getting this done. And so if you look at, you know, the, the speaker, I think, as we mentioned, has been laying out a very aggressive timeline this whole, whole year on this package. Right now he's saying he'd like to get it to the President's desk by Memorial Day. I think most people assume that's a tad optimistic, but I like laying it out right. Let's push as fast as possible. When Congress comes back next week, they're going to have, I think, four weeks to try to push to get that done as quickly as possible. After that, you've got another three weeks of legislative session or so until you get to the 4th of July recess. I think that that is a probably more risk realistic and aggressive timeline still to try to get it done. If you get past the 4th of July, you have another three weeks or so until the August recess. And that's, that's where I see sort of the final urgent push to get this done. Because if Congress goes home for the August recess without this reconciliation package getting done, then I think we are getting into the territory when this bill is going to be too late to achieve what it needs to achieve, heading towards the midterms.

[Comfortably Smug]

But then we get to yell at them at town halls.

[Michael Duncan]

Good point, good point.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

Yeah, they'll come back motivated to get it done.

[John Ashbrook]

But, but the possibility is that people do more than just yell at them at town halls. If they don't get something done, I mean, Republicans will lose the majority in.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

The house, oh, 100%. So, I mean, we shared the numbers earlier about what happened in 2018. Republicans lost 41 seats. The party of the president loses, on average, 28 seats in a midterm election. And so Republicans in the House in particular have a huge task in front of them to buck the historic norm. And the only way that they're going to do that is by passing a, a popular bill soon enough that people can start to act on it, that drive that consumer confidence, drive that business investment and have that economy roaring back so that people head into the midterms with that, with that, with realizing that the people that they sent to Washington in the last election got the Job done. That's what really matters.

[Comfortably Smug]

Is there anything else you think we did wrong after 2017 with that tax cut? And I know, you know, Speaker Johnson would say, you know, too late, and, and everything like that didn't break through to the American people from a strategy perspective or just as someone who talks to so many activists across the country, what else do we need to do in selling this? Let's say we get it to the finish line. What else do we got to do to make sure people know in the midterms, you know, that this majority actually delivered on what they asked?

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

Well, I think it's. First of all, Republicans in general don't always do the greatest job of messaging.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

And so we've got to get better at doing that and connecting with people. And I think that's where the real stories of the impact of this type of legislation really resonates. The other side does a good job of pulling out one person and using them as an example of. And for the argument in the opposite direction, we have a ton of amazing stories of what freedom and opportunity give people in terms of a path to prosperity. And so we just need to tell those stories better. We give these sort of intellectual arguments that don't cut through the noise and really resonate with the majority of Americans. And so I think we need to do better at talking about the benefits of the bill, and then we need people to run on the benefits of the bill and focus on these issues. And then the third thing I would say is don't give up the fight. You know, not everything is going to be solved by one bill. We've had four years of really bad policy coming out of Washington, D.C. and so after this is part of the benefit of moving this bill quickly, it'll be a springboard for momentum for a ton of other legislative packages in Washington, whether it's more rescissions, packages like the one that's coming up in about two weeks, or, you know, work on the appropriations bills, another reconciliation package. There's so much more that we can do. And so getting this done quickly allows us to build momentum for those other things. The inverse is also true. If it drags out, if there's a lot of infighting, you're going to lose a ton of that momentum. And then there's really not going to be as much on the resumes of these, of these members heading into the midterms that they can crow about.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, it's hard. Tax reform is hard.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

It is hard.

[Comfortably Smug]

You know, I mean, I don't, you know, for especially, like, our younger listeners, you know, and whatnot. We had, like, the Bush tax cuts, I think that was.01 or whatever. And then like, three. Oh, three. And then before that, you'd have to look back to, like, Ronald Reagan for serious tax reform. And Donald Trump has the opportunity to do it twice. That's pretty incredible.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

It is incredible.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's important, I think, for people to take a step back and realize, like, that is. That's some big boy stuff right there.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

Yeah. And there's a ton of enthusiasm for it in the grassroots, too. So, I mean, you don't get people organizing 60 events on one day across the country without having people behind the president on this.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. Because they know that these opportunities do not come around every day. And you have to capitalize on them when they're available. You can't be like, Democrats and raise people's taxes, you know, because that's. If they win again, that's what they're going to do. So if we want to just, like, send our economy into the stratosphere, which is possible with something like you're talking about, we have to act now.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. So how do people get involved?

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

Well, you can always go to americansforprosperity.org that's our main website, and you can click to sign up there. You can also go to afpvolunteer.com and get right into the mix.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yes, volunteer, get involved. Write your congressman, call them, make sure we get this done. Emily Seidel, thank you so much.

[DJ Nicky Spaghetti]

Thank you.

[John Ashbrook]

You know, they're always doing so much all around the country. You knew they weren't going to stop at the election, that they were going to keep going through reconciliation and every other fight that's ahead of con Congress right now. Really glad to have her on the show.

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, this is the important part that comes next, Right. Like what Donald Trump did in his first hundred days. Fantastic. The EOs were fantastic. You know, stopping illegal immigration, all of these things, fantastic. But, like, getting through this reconciliation and, and tax cuts and all of that is how Donald Trump delivers on the promise of his election. So I'm thrilled. Thrilled. We have it, guys. This has been a great episode.

[Michael Duncan]

It really has.

[Comfortably Smug]

It was a lot of fun. We got to offer some parenting advice and procreation advice.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

And all of that. Again, our question of the day, can the Democrats course correct. Are they going to figure it out? Are they going to continue to double down, triple down, quadruple down on Dark Woke, whatever the hell that is? You got to like and subscribe like and subscribe if you wish to opine. We always say it. We invented that. We did Start segment and I think I always see in the comments. How does this not have a million subscribers? You guys are the best. Which I appreciate.

[Michael Duncan]

Share it with friends.

[Comfortably Smug]

Honestly, we love it. But that means you got to share it with friends. They gotta like, they gotta subscribe. Please do that folks. I think we did it.

[Michael Duncan]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much, Emily Seidel. And thank you so much to the minions. Remember, if you have not yet hop to the YouTube, hit that subscribe button. It's more fun and video. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you Tuesday. Stay ruthless.

[Comfortably Smug]

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[John Ashbrook]

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[Comfortably Smug]

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[John Ashbrook]

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[Comfortably Smug]

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