Lib Sabotage of Trump Justice + OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap

Summary

---

Ruthless Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Lib Sabotage of Trump Justice + OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap
Date: April 2, 2026
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, John Ashbrook (Michael Duncan out)
Special Guest: Brad Lightcap, COO of OpenAI

---

Overview

In this lively episode, the Ruthless crew (minus Duncan) dig into the week's most headline-grabbing legal and political drama, with a focus on what they describe as the performative antics of the political left and the mainstream media’s cluelessness around recent high-profile court decisions involving Donald Trump. They also feature an exclusive in-depth interview with OpenAI's COO, Brad Lightcap, exploring AI innovation, the tech rivalry with China, and how American jobs and industry could be transformed by the race for global dominance in AI.

---

Episode Highlights

I. The “Performative” Nature of Modern Liberalism and Trump Court Drama

(02:45–14:13)

• The crew repeatedly rails against what they frame as the left’s obsession with symbolic victories, arguing that liberal legal actions and media coverage are more performative than practical.

• On the NPR/PBS Funding Ruling:

  • The panel ridicule an NPR-driven lawsuit over Trump’s executive order to defund public broadcasting, which had already been rendered moot by subsequent Congressional action.
  • Smug: “This is a meaningless exercise for nothing. But they have to perform. Put out that statement. This Catherine Maher, liberal activist, CEO for npr of being like, we won a tremendous victory. Did you get the money? No, because Congress took it away. So what was the point? There isn’t.” (12:57)
  • Josh Holmes: “It’s just all performative, all act. You have a judge for some reason that wanted to pontificate upon a hypothetical question that no longer exists.” (13:44)

• On Media Coverage:

  • Holmes states: “Journalists have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about when it comes to interpreting how courts come down on certain issues.” (06:30)

---

II. The White House Ballroom Project – Outrage and Irony

(15:15–18:30)

• The hosts discuss the controversy over Trump’s new White House ballroom—a project under judicial pause—calling it one of Trump’s most selfless projects, since future presidents would benefit, not Trump himself.
• Smug: “You tried doing the nice thing. You tried following all the rules and making it helpful for every president to come... They’re gonna cry about everything. So go do the crazy shit.” (17:38)
• The crew jokes about the design, contrasting its classical style (“imaginative symmetrical Shit”) with media critics’ takes.

---

III. Satire, Gossip, and Supreme Court Lampooning

(20:08–32:26)

• The show veers into satirical territory discussing wacky tech (mirrors in space to shine sunlight on Trump properties).
• The bulk of this segment is fiery criticism of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s line of questioning about birthright citizenship.
  • Holmes, Smug, and Ashbrook joke about the “mind-bending” pretzel logic on citizenship, focusing on a hypothetical about stealing a wallet in Japan.
  • Smug: “That’s the most insane... just took a bong rip and was like, you know what this is like if I stole a wallet in Japan, bro. Dude, like, everyone would be like, what dude? He’s an idiot.” (26:20)
  • Holmes on Jackson: “That human being who has just rendered a viewpoint that if you break a law in a foreign land that you are therefore a citizen because you are allied with the law of that land... This is bonkers shit.” (30:41)

---

IV. The Case for Impeaching Judges?

(33:13–38:38)

• Comfortably Smug floats the idea of impeaching activist judges and reducing the number of Supreme Court justices, citing how often lower courts block presidential actions.
• Ashbrook: Argues the appellate process provides a check on bad rulings, but acknowledges a “very troubling” trend of judges letting repeat offenders off easy.
• Holmes: “What separates conservatives from liberals in a lot of different ways is an interpretation of the Constitution and the law as it’s written. Activist judges rule based on outcome, not law.” (35:23)

---

V. The Kristi Noem/Brian Gnome Scandal

(39:23–51:40)

• The panel tackles the bizarre, tabloid-worthy revelations about Kristi Noem’s husband, Brian, discovering that he had an online crossdressing persona.
• Smug: “My take... they’ve got like two daughters and son... for the son who’s 23, this is such a terrible, this is terror.” (44:01)
• Holmes expresses skepticism that the family was truly “blindsided,” referencing Kristi Noem’s earlier veto of a South Dakota bill barring men from women’s sports: “That’s why it matters… You should know that, and don’t expect me to be terribly sympathetic when we do.” (50:09)
• The crew debates the personal vs. political fallout, noting Republicans should hold their own to standards regardless of loyalty or personality.

---

VI. Hack Madness Update & Don Lemon’s “Presidential” Delusion

(52:36–56:19)

• A discussion of their annual “Hack Madness” tournament of worst mainstream journalists (Don Lemon leading). Lemon’s viral clip prompts laughter:
  • Don Lemon: “I think I could be President of the United States. I could definitely run this country better than Donald Trump. As an Independent, though, there would be a hard time for me to run for anything because the way the system is set up...” (53:05)
• Smug: “I think this is part of the left wing disorder—they’ve been in their silo for so long, they really think that all their insane ideas are the only way.” (54:09)

---

VII. Eric Swalwell, Fang Fang & FBI Files

(57:52–60:34)

• Swalwell’s complaint about the possibility of FBI files on his links to Chinese spy Fang Fang being released is ridiculed:
  • Smug: “He was like, this would be the worst political prosecution…never mind the fact that he’s not actually an opponent of Donald Trump.” (58:52)
  • Holmes points out that Democrats are the ones pushing for the release to undermine Swalwell's own race for governor.

---

VIII. Interview: Brad Lightcap, COO of OpenAI

(60:49–78:18)

AI’s Promise and Perception

• Brad Lightcap: “I don’t think technology served people particularly well so far...But I would say one of the interesting things about AI is I think it’s incredibly empowering… You’ve got people that can start businesses as a single person…You’ve got examples of this happening not just in Silicon Valley, but across the entire country.” (62:25)

• Smug shares a Girl Scout cookies story to illustrate that AI isn’t just “search,” but helps with ideation and execution.

• Lightcap: “The next progression of this is AI that can do things for you... It can code a website for you, it can give you advice on how to run your business, it can go do searches on the Internet.” (65:56)

U.S.–China AI Rivalry and the Electrification Question

• The discussion turns to the energy needs for AI, public-private partnerships, and the stakes of “the new space race” against China.
• Lightcap: “We’re going to need massive energy investment here...as what really should be kind of a national project…Anyone in the country should be able to immediately access great AI systems and be able to benefit from investment.” (68:53, paraphrased)

Positive Effects: American Jobs and Industrial Revival

• Lightcap: “If we get this right, it’s going to be one of the most important things to happen to the country ever...bring high-skill, high-paying jobs here back to the United States...” (72:52)

Congressional Role and Positive Partnerships

• Lightcap: “I think obviously AI can’t be a bipartisan issue. It impacts everyone. The more it becomes a partisan issue, the harder it is to have real conversations about the types of things we need to be able to do right.” (72:59)

Notable Quote & Reflection

• Lightcap (on missed opportunities): “Not investing earlier in helping people understand the level of excitement and optimism that exists here…is something that, you know, I wish we had done better.” (77:55)

---

IX. Closing Thoughts

(78:18–end)

• The hosts praise the importance of fostering American innovation over “negativity” and urge the country to double down on the AI race with China.
• Holmes: “There’s an awful lot of questions I don’t have answers to that people like Lightcap do. Great interview, Smug.” (79:18)
• Merch plugs, reminders to subscribe, and the “question of the day” on impeaching judges conclude the show.

---

Memorable Quotes

• Josh Holmes (on performative liberalism): “It’s just all performative, all act.” (13:44)
• Comfortably Smug (on the left): “They have a grassroots of theater kids who everything the left does now, none of it matters...it is to make your life better. None of it is to cut fraud. All it is is performative bullshit.” (12:57)
• Brad Lightcap (OpenAI): “AI is empowering people. It’s encoded in our mission... You’ve got people that can start businesses as a single person.” (62:25)
• On Don Lemon:
  • Lemon: “I think I could be President…” (53:05)
  • Smug: “I think this is part of the left wing disorder...” (54:09)
• On Ketanji Brown Jackson:
  • Smug: “That’s the most insane... just took a bong rip and was like, you know what this is like if I stole a wallet in Japan, bro.” (26:20)
• On judicial activism:
  • Holmes: “Activist judges rule based on outcome, not law.” (35:23)
• Brad Lightcap (optimism):
  • “If we get this right, it’s going to be one of the most important things to happen to the country ever.” (72:44)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:45 – Riff on delayed Iran update and news media cluelessness
• 06:00 – Supreme Court, Trump, and the NPR/PBS “victory” dissected
• 15:15 – White House Ballroom (feat. criticism of judicial halt)
• 20:08 – “Sunlight from satellites” Satire, Supreme Court critiques
• 33:13 – Should judges be impeached? The right’s “civil war” on the judiciary
• 39:23 – Kristi Noem & Brian Gnome scandal breakdown
• 52:36 – Don Lemon's “I could be President” clip, Hack Madness
• 57:52 – Swalwell, Fang Fang, and FBI files
• 60:49 – Interview with OpenAI’s Brad Lightcap
• 78:21 – Hosts reflect on AI, American innovation, plug merch, show close

---

Tone and Style

• Sarcastic, irreverent, and opinionated—characteristic Ruthless banter
• Heavy emphasis on conservative and anti-establishment critique
• Equal mix of policy analysis, political hot takes, and cultural lampooning
• Regular inside jokes, pop culture references, and mockery of mainstream media and “the left”
• The interview segment was notably more earnest and solutions-oriented

---

For Listeners

If you missed this episode, expect an energetic blend of ruthless mockery directed at liberal performativeness, a thorough lampooning of performative legal decisions, a headline-grabbing scandal dissected with a mix of amusement and schadenfreude, plus a surprisingly serious take on the future of American AI innovation versus China—straight from the C-suite of OpenAI.

---

Question of the Day:
Is it time to start impeaching judges?
(The hosts are split; contribute your view via comments.)

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

Just all performative, all act. You have a judge for some reason that wanted to pontificate upon a hypothetical question that no longer exists. You render a verdict so you can get Trump loses in the headline and it matters not.

[Comfortably Smug]

You tried following all the rules and making it helpful for every president to come forward and they're going to cry about it. They will cry about everything.

[Josh Holmes]

And what we're about to tell you about the rest of these court decisions that have showed up in headlines across your inboxes over the last couple of days will only reaffirm that journalists have absolutely no idea what they're talking about.

[Comfortably Smug]

The judge should be impeached.

[John Ashbrook]

Washington politicians are always getting in your wallet. Now they're messing with your credit card. Your credit card and the security it offers are under attack. The Durbin Marshall credit card bill would change the nation's payment system to benefit corporate megastores like Walmart and Target at the expense of everyday Americans. Credit cards keep your payments secure and provide rewards that families use to help make everyday purchases more affordable. The Durbin Marshall mandates would let corporate megastores cut corners on credit card processing, routing transactions over cheaper, untested networks with weaker security and fewer protections. That means higher risk of fraud, greater chance of stolen personal data, and the loss of rewards programs just so corporate megastores can pocket billions of dollars in higher profits. Tell Congress to guard your card. Visit guardyourcard.com to take action and learn more.

[NetChoice Representative]

In America, parents call the shots for their families, not bureaucrats. But the so called App Store Accountability act puts your child at risk. This bill requires app stores to collect children's sensitive personal data while taking away power from parents over how their child's data is handled by tech companies. Parents should get to decide if their child's age is shared with apps, not politicians. Parents should attest to their kids ages, not turn over birth certificates to tech companies. Congress don't put kids at greater risk online and box parents out of making decisions for their families. Tell your lawmaker to put parents first. There are better ways to keep kids safe. NetChoice is dedicated to making the Internet safe for free expression and free enterprise. Learn [e-mail] keepappstores safe

[American Petroleum Institute Announcer]

ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Comfortably Smug]

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

[John Ashbrook]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Thursday to you. Welcome back to the Ruthless Friday Program. I'm Josh Holmes along with Comfortably Smug and John Ashbrook, Michael Duncan. Out today on assignment, there's a lot to talk about. First, let Me just say we're recording this before the President gives a Tuesday night, late night, Wednesday night, I'm sorry, Wednesday night late night, nine o' clock Iran update. So we don't have anything for you on that. They've been very tight lipped about it. We've been trying to prod and pry as one does in this line of work. We don't know what he's going to say but I'm guessing by the time you're listening to this you're probably up to date on all of it.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, often a sign of health in an administration if they won't share details of a very important, it's always nice national security related address before they make it.

[Josh Holmes]

It's always nice when there's national security matters involved, when you keep a secret.

[Comfortably Smug]

But I mean it's also tough, I mean it's tough for us from like content perspective because we, I mean we're recording this before that has happened. So we don't know. He could be like, we've got photos of Mitajba and he's wearing fake jugs and pink hot pants. Machadba or you know, the new Maney is wearing fake jugs in hot pants. We don't know that yet.

[Josh Holmes]

His last known whereabouts are with Brian Gnome.

[Comfortably Smug]

We wouldn't know because it hasn't happened.

[Brad Lightcap]

We don't know.

[Comfortably Smug]

So if you're like, oh, how are you not discussing Machadpa wearing the jugs?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that's why that, that's why I'm glad you raised that. If you think we're not going to talk about that. By the way, I don't hear Burp the Bandit, the whole Brian Gnome Jugs thing, it was tough. We'll get to it. Trust me, you're gonna wanna stick around for it. We have some thoughts on all of that, the reaction to it and everything else. I know you've been waiting for Ruthless to weigh in. It's kind of like what we do, right? I mean that kind of story is custom made for people like us. But it turns out there's also like a lot of very consequential things that are happening even with Congress out, Supreme Court, federal courts, bunch of decisions hearing. You saw President Trump went to the Supreme Court yesterday, sat in on the hearing of birthright citizenship and I saw Fox did its level best to try to cover that conversation. Obviously extremely noteworthy and newsworthy but if you like me sat through any portion of that, it was almost, almost like Greek. I mean we're talking about like ancient precedents Roman law, French law. I mean, there was a lot. You have to actually have the legal acumen of a Supreme Court justice. Aside from Ketanji.

[Comfortably Smug]

Aside from Ketanji, I was going to say. Yeah, and we'll get to that, too.

[Josh Holmes]

We'll get to that, too. But like, it's hard to decipher. Anyway, they had the arguments, first time at least in documented history that a president of the United States has attended one of those. So you know how much it means to this administration. We'll see how it goes. Of course, like the liberal, you know, write up of it all is like, well, President Trump had to sit from a very, very skeptical court as they were asking. Skeptical. And I was like, you don't know shit.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right?

[Josh Holmes]

You're a juror. And what we're about to tell you about the rest of these court decisions that have showed up in headlines across your inboxes over the last couple of days will only reaffirm that journos have absolutely no idea what they're talk talking about when it comes to interpreting how courts come down on certain issues. The first one that like, I mean, it just hit me like a ball peen hammer. Yesterday I'm sitting at my desk and federal judge finds that Trump violated free speech by ordering NPR defunded.

[Comfortably Smug]

Also funny. Who's the source on this? Why, it's npr.

[Josh Holmes]

So the case was filed by NPR and by PBS against an executive order that President Trump early on in his administration administered, tried to defund an operation that his administration rightly flagged as a misuse of taxpayer dollars in large part because of some of the content that they had come up with and it was thought to be sort of controversial and that, you know, Congress had acted in the previous year to try to appropriate funds in many ways. So anyway, what happens is they file the case. Superseding event happens. The big beauty, big beautiful bill shows up. They defunded NPR and pbs. So I lost sight of this whole case altogether because as one would do

[Comfortably Smug]

when Congress has decided their jobs, make the laws, the laws are made.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. And power of the purse is not in question. And just by simply being funded doesn't mean that you have a constitutional right to continue to be funded regardless of what your case might be. If an act of Congress reverses that like it is what it is, like you're out of luck. Well, anyway, this case continued. I can't believe this judge continued. There was no reason for it because the whole point of it was they wanted to restore funding that was negated over an executive order by the Trump administration. Well, that had been negated by Congress subsequently a couple months later. And so the whole executive order was moot. If you're a legal scholar. Moot. You know what that means? Anyway, they kept it going. And this is how NPR phrased the their lead. A federal judge has knocked down the core of President Trump's executive order barring federal funding for NPR and pbs, saying it violated a broadcaster's First Amendment rights. On its face. On its face. Right. And then they go on, they're quoting out of the ruling and whatnot, but they're framing this whole thing around this gigantic victory for the First Amendment and how it's a gigantic victory for NPR and pbs. Well, the quote from this lady, this lady, this NPR CEO, I don't know, we've done so many segments on her,

[Comfortably Smug]

Catherine Marr, who has said, like, well, we don't necessarily need facts. It's about getting to a consensus.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. The truth is subjective.

[Comfortably Smug]

Insane line.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. So her quote was, the court made clear that the government cannot use funding as a lever. A lever to quote Sheldon Whitehouse, a lever to influence or penalize the press, whether as a national news service or a local newsroom. She said this is a hilarious quote for so many reasons. And the reason why I started looking into this yesterday, because I was like, I thought this whole thing was superseded by. Oh, it turns out it is. It's a meaningless ruling. It makes no difference. Congress defunded it. Nothing in this decision affects the decision that Congress made to defund NPR and pbs. It's already done. It's done. This was just simply a statement. But this is, I think, the calling card of the liberal left at this point, which is everything is statement based. There is no practical impact on what it is that they're doing one way or the other. But she's trying to frame it as though local newsrooms and national news services are now freed from the administration's thumb on the scale, as if their funding privately is somehow controlled by the federal government.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, I think your observation about what this says about the left is the right one. But before you guys start teeing off on that, I just want to make one additional point. I think she's saying that because you have to ask yourself, who's paying for this? Okay, Congress has defunded npr, so taxpayers aren't paying for the NPR legal defense in this case, although taxpayers are paying for the federal court that has to hear this nonsense. Complete waste of time.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, and the prosecution that has to

[John Ashbrook]

defend himself, who is paying for this? Well, it's viewers like you. All of these member stations that we're told are hard up, they can't make it. How are you gonna get the weather if you don't have the NPR member stations out there? And there's NPR certainly can't cut their cost to carry such important shows like Morning Edition and wait, wait, don't tell me. Things that people could never do without out there in America from these member stations if they only weren't paying npr. These guys are making so much money and they have taken so much money from viewers like you and taxpayers like you for so many years. Like I can't even begin to describe how terrible they are.

[Josh Holmes]

I guess the whole point is it's irrelevant.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's. So when you brought this up before we recorded and it was brilliant how you wrapped all this up because it goes so much with our unifying theory of what liberals are now, which is purely performative. This Congress already took their money away.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Comfortably Smug]

So it doesn't matter what the executive order is.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Comfortably Smug]

That money's never come back to npr. But they were like, you know what? We're going to, we're going to send out these statements and we're gonna perform like this is us getting a W over the Trump administration. They're not getting the money. Congress took it away. Congress controls part of the purse. This is a meaningless exercise for nothing. But they have to perform. Put out that statement. This Catherine Maher, liberal activist, CEO for npr of being like, we won a tremendous victory. Did you get the money? No, because Congress took it away. So what was the point? There isn't. But we have a grassroots of theater kids who everything the left does now, none of it matters. None of it is to make your life better. None of it is to cut fraud. All it is is performative bullshit because they've got a brain damaged base of theater kids. Yeah, that's what this is.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that's what this is. And that's the sum and substance of all of it, is that it's just all performative, all act. You have a judge for some reason that wanted to pontificate upon a hypothetical question that no longer exists. You render a verdict so you can get Trump loses in the headline and it matters not, right? I mean, none of it.

[Comfortably Smug]

It was a district judge from D.C.

[American Petroleum Institute Announcer]

american Energy is growing with a renewed focus on American oil and natural gas. We're rebuilding our industrial strength and driving investment. Energy demand is rising and the United States has the resources to meet it. Here's the if we can't build the infrastructure to move that energy pipelines, transmission lines, and power plants, Americans won't feel the benefits. And while projects stall, China moves faster. Not because America lacks energy, but because Washington's permitting system is outdated and broken. Energy affordability depends on getting energy where it's needed, when it's needed. Yet critical projects remain stuck for years in delays and endless litigation. We have the energy. We have the workforce. Now it's time to build. Let's secure American energy leadership for generations to come. When America builds, America wins. Pass permitting reform now. Learn more@ permittingreformnow.org paid for by the American Petroleum Institute.

[Josh Holmes]

So it is what it is. But then you go. And the way that the journos packaged this was like a trio of horrible decisions for the Trump administration, once again losing left and right in federal court. And they move on to this federal judge who orders a halt to Trump. White House ballroom project. DOJ is appealing the decision. This is according to Fox News. Can we get the photo of the ballroom renderings while we're just sort of. Okay, so that's what it's gonna look. Construction is well underway. Anybody who lives in Washington, D.C. or has visited Washington D.C. can see the big crane out. Working on all of this as we speak.

[Comfortably Smug]

This whole project is. It's so like almost like a Greek tragedy of like, this is the most selfless shit Trump has probably ever done because he will never get to experience or enjoy the ballroom. But every future president will no longer have to have, like, some shitty tent thrown up while you're having, like, world leaders. I mean, look at these images. Yeah, okay.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, oh, no.

[Comfortably Smug]

Like, oh, no. Would that be the White House no longer. Does, like, Secret Service have to be like, we have to also spend money to have, like, counter drones and tents and like, all this personnel and army tanks and shit like that. Because within the White House, there will now be a large hall to host all these, like, heads of state and everything. And it'll be a secure location and Trump will never get to enjoy it himself. It's the most. It's his gift to all future presidents.

[Josh Holmes]

It's wild.

[John Ashbrook]

Can we put. Can we put that main picture back up of what it will look like? And this is the one. Yeah, yeah, this is the one that the left wing media was trying to dunk on. Right. They were just bitching about, oh, look at the way it looks from the top. This is too big. This is too that. It looks just like the treasury building.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's the most imaginative symmetrical Shit ever. It looks the thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

Cause I was like, wait, is this the rendering or is this the treasury on the other side?

[Josh Holmes]

I'm not sure that to a trained eye, you would think it looks anything different than everything else in Washington D.C. exactly.

[John Ashbrook]

And I think they're just. That Trump isn't building a glass enclosed skyscraper that says Trump on the top. And they can complain about. They're gonna bitch. No matter what it is that happens.

[Comfortably Smug]

Everyone in the White House listens to the show. And I have a little bit of advice. Take this as a lesson of when you try to do things the right way, when you try to be selfless, when you try to be like, I want to make this look like it's always been part of the White House and I want to do this. And. And it's not like President Trump will ever get to enjoy. This is for all future presidents. He should have made that shit. Just like a crystal glass spire that says trump in size 5000 font, neon lights go against it. Like, what's the law in DC? Like, the top can be only like 8 stories or something 50 stories tall. Make that shit visible from space with like a laser going around all night long. That says Trump. That's what he should have done. Because you tried doing the nice thing. You tried following all the rules and making it helpful for every president to come forward. And they're gonna cry about it. They will cry about everything. So go do the crazy shit.

[Josh Holmes]

I feel like they may have taken your advice on.

[Comfortably Smug]

They should. They should.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, did you see the renderings of the library?

[Comfortably Smug]

I was so thrilled that. I was so happy. Especially when you look at Obama's ugly ass library.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, totally.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, it's like it looks like just a stone.

[Comfortably Smug]

It like, it like. It's like there was a monument in Soviet Russia.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. And then Trump puts out a skyscraper

[Comfortably Smug]

that's 747 in the lobby with the golden escalator.

[John Ashbrook]

The only thing that would make that Trump library more brilliant is if he. They subscribed. Have you guys seen this thing on the Internet where you can dial up an app and it will. It will redirect the satellite to shine sunlight on any place on the planet. Have you seen this?

[Comfortably Smug]

Dude, what are you talking about?

[John Ashbrook]

Have you not seen this?

[Josh Holmes]

Wait, hold on.

[John Ashbrook]

You've not seen this? This is brand new.

[Comfortably Smug]

All right? He's making this show brand new on the Internet. Grandpa Ashbrook. Grandpa Ashbrook saw some AI video and now he believed it.

[Josh Holmes]

I'd like to dive into this. Johnny Explain to us.

[Comfortably Smug]

Technical team, can we get some search going on? This is some.

[John Ashbrook]

So there is a guy out there who's selling a brand new technology, and he is claiming that he has a network of satellites that will redirect sunlight to any point on the planet. This is what this guy is claiming. Have you seen this? Have you not seen this?

[Josh Holmes]

I've not seen this.

[Comfortably Smug]

For the Ashbrook family, Like, sometimes you get to a difficult point where it's like, grandpa can't drive anymore. We got to take the keys. And he. Hasbrook has a lovely family.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm guessing you have seen this smug.

[Comfortably Smug]

Don't let him wire money to this man who's.

[John Ashbrook]

You don't believe it.

[Comfortably Smug]

I can make sunshine with the app.

[Josh Holmes]

How do we get here? And then what is your understanding of the efficacy of what it is that

[John Ashbrook]

you're claiming is at any point, 24 hours a day, there should be sunlight shining on the Trump library.

[Josh Holmes]

So you're telling me. Okay, I understand now. The Nexus.

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, I'm happy this conversation was a conduit to Ashbrook's family, getting him the help that he needs. You gotta take his car keys. Gotta make sure he's not wiring money to some dude.

[Josh Holmes]

There's somebody who is now affirmatively saying they control daylight.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's fake.

[Josh Holmes]

Where they can shine daylight, no matter

[Comfortably Smug]

hold up an app that says a

[Josh Holmes]

place they can put it in.

[John Ashbrook]

The United States Marine Corps has informed me that this is called reflection, and they are promising sunlight after dark. Of course, it won't work if there's cloud cover. Okay. Won't work if there's cloud cover because all it's simply doing is reflecting the light of the sun, which is, of course, shining on a different part of the planet at night when it. When it's night here.

[Josh Holmes]

So they're bouncing it off.

[John Ashbrook]

They're bouncing it off of giant mirrors in space, and it shines down where you want to be.

[Josh Holmes]

Can I get. Hey, Wolf.

[John Ashbrook]

And it's expensive. It's like a thousand bucks an hour.

[Comfortably Smug]

For our listeners and viewers, Question of the day. Should Ashbrook's family make the tough decision? Take his keys.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm telling you.

[Comfortably Smug]

Have you seen this before? I have. You have. I'm not sure if it's real, but I've seen the videos and the promos and all that.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, it might be. It might be.

[Comfortably Smug]

This is the first time as Brook didn't go. Grok, is this real?

[John Ashbrook]

It might be.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's usually. That's his, like, first step. Grok, is this real?

[John Ashbrook]

It might be snake oil, but if it's not, they should shine a light on the Trump library.

[Josh Holmes]

This is. This is an amazing thing, Doug. I did not know that we had technology for sale that allowed sunlight 24 hours. And with the on demand with an app.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, a lot of innovation here in the 21st century.

[Josh Holmes]

Anyway, let me wrap up the ballroom thing by saying, like, look, I think that this is a pretty limited order and the judge has a history of being not the left wing psychopath that we're dealing with and like, you know, these other decisions or whatever, but somebody who's looking for simple answers. And I think what they're trying to do is prevent at a federal court level somebody from showing up, say, Mamdani and building a fricking mosque at the White House instead of the actual White House. And whether or not the federal government has any power to stop that. I think that's what this is. And I think what the suggestion was is there has to be some kind of congressional input or something.

[Comfortably Smug]

Can I offer my 2 cents real quick? Yeah. Thinking is the judge should be impeached. And here's why. Is because if a judge is like, well, I have to say this in case there may down the road be like a mum don who's going to come build down the road. Exactly. If the judge feels that the Constitution and their ability as a judge doesn't allow them to see a gradient where they're like, no, this is the same as if Mamdani built. Get out of your job. And you know what? We can help you get out of your job. We can impeach you.

[Josh Holmes]

And it's that we're have a question of the day on all of that, but we're going to get to that in a minute. I do feel like you've got a very civil war aspect to your legal analysis on almost everything, but I appreciate it.

[Comfortably Smug]

There are many good points. During the War of the States, War of Northern Aggression, you know,

[Josh Holmes]

I want it notated that I, Josh Holmes did not say that. John Ashbrook there on the end also did not say that. That's you.

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, it's a states rights kind of thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay.

[Comfortably Smug]

All right. We're just gonna leave.

[Josh Holmes]

We're gonna leave all that right there. I wanna get to what it is that Trump had to sit through because there was a decision earlier this week on the. It was basically transing your kids.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Situation. Which is like, you know, can we trans your kids or not? And it was 8:1. I mean, it was a. It was A no brainer, right? I mean this is something that it

[Comfortably Smug]

was a no brainer and that's why you got the one.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. So the one is Kentanji Brown Jackson. I saw some legal analysis to be like, look, if you get a decision, decision where it is Sota Mayor and Jackson, it's crazy. If you get Kagan Sotomayor and Jackson, it's partisan. If you just get Jackson, oh, it's going to be the mo, the craziest descent of all time. And, and that's played out over time. But she still gets the floor in all this stuff. So Donald Trump has to go to the Supreme Court and listen to an argument. Wait till you hear one of the things he had to sit through.

[Supreme Court Clip Speaker]

Clip 3 and I was thinking, you know, I'm, I'm, I US citizen am visiting Japan. And what it means is that, you know, if I steal someone's wallet in Japan, the, the Japanese authorities can't arrest me and prosecute me. It's a lens allegiance meaning can they control you as a matter of law? I can also rely on them if my wallet is stolen to, you know, under Japanese law, go and prosecute the person who has stolen it. So there's this relationship based on even though I'm a temporary traveler, I'm just on vacation in Japan, I'm still locally owing allegiance in that sense. Is that the right way to think about it? And if so, doesn't that explain why both temporary residents and undocumented people would have that kind of quote unquote allegiance just by virtue of being in the United States?

[Comfortably Smug]

That's the most insane. Like not even like a first year law school student, like a freshman underground undergrad in college, just took a bong grip and was like, you know what this is like if I stole a wallet in Japan, bro, dude, like, everyone would be like, what dude? He's an idiot.

[John Ashbrook]

Comes from upbringing.

[American Petroleum Institute Announcer]

Parents are probably idiots too.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

There so of course is the birthright citizenship case in which allegiance is a technical legal term that they're talking about in terms of somebody's presence within the United States and they're talking about a domicile. A whole bunch of legal jargon that is has dealt with the core of the issue about whether or not somebody who's here temporarily with no wherewithal of staying here at all, has a child, can just simply become an American citizen. And as we've talked about on the program for the last couple of years, there's a huge industry involved. I mean, Asia has got like a multi Hundred million dollar industry where people have a, what they call birthright, tourism specifically.

[Comfortably Smug]

And President Trump raised this. There are a number of Chinese nationals, especially extremely wealthy Chinese nationals who will either fly in when they're pregnant or are using surrogates to have their children in America. Then they get flown back to China. But they are U.S. citizens and there's all these statistics and it's not for

[Josh Holmes]

the medical care to be clear.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's not because they want the kids to be born. It's because they want that citizenship and they get shuttled back to China and there's this is not like, oh, you know, like 10 or 12. There's a significant now I've heard estimates of over 500,000 such Chinese children are turning 18 in the next year. Yeah, that would, if they were all to be just like flown back here as US Citizens in any congressional district in this country could win an election.

[Josh Holmes]

So a big part of this, and I'm not a constitutional attorney, but a big part of the argument one way or another is allegiance. And it's a technical term. And they're talking about whether or not you have allegiance to this country and whether you intend to remain here and be allied as a part of an American citizenry one way or another. And that goes back 14th amendment, all kinds of different stuff that is involved in this case. What she is suggesting is that simply being subjected to the law in the place where you're standing indicates an allegiance to the country and therefore a standing for citizenship in this country. Meaning it's unbelievable if I walked into Ireland tomorrow and shot someone in the head, shot somebody in the face and had a kid that my I would clearly be subjected to Irish law, but my kid therefore is an Irishman.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's such insane things.

[Josh Holmes]

Think about that. Like this is what the take is on the. And this is the best they had to Supreme Court. The left had like worked for decades to try to figure out what the finest legal minds of progressive viewpoints are so that if they ever got the opportunity that they would jam them into the court system and make sure that they have a progressive majority best they possibly could. Thwarted along the way, obviously by Donald Trump, McConnell and others. But she was the cream of the crop, the first choice. And this is the kind of legalistic pretzel making that they come up with.

[John Ashbrook]

It's insane to me it sounded like she was suggesting that if we were to go to Japan and not steal from somebody that we have allegiance to Japan and therefore we should be Japanese citizens. So does that mean that the Japanese would grant U.S. citizenship. Is that like, is it as simple as that? To get dual citizenship in Japan?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. All you have to do is go there and break a law. Evidently. Because then your allegiance is to the law of the land.

[John Ashbrook]

Surely the Japanese do that too.

[Comfortably Smug]

It'd be funny if it wasn't like a Supreme Court justice.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes. A person makes decisions that affect all of you. Every piece of legislation that crosses the Congress that signed into law, that human being who has just rendered a viewpoint that if you break a law in a foreign land that you are therefore a citizen because you are allied with the law of that land is the way it should go. Like, this is bonkers shit. I mean, bonkers. I'm not even sure how you can.

[Comfortably Smug]

This doesn't come from a place of any interpretation of law, which is what you know, the job description is when you're a Supreme Court justice. This is a hundred percent just like. Well, it's an embodiment of the left. It's vibes. They don't believe in any rules. Vibes. And you know what?

[Josh Holmes]

You know what I saw though? I knew what I saw though. Jazzy Jazz, who's like off the scene, but she tweeted this thing out.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh man.

[Josh Holmes]

You know she lost that Texas primary, so she's kind of off. But she tweeted out like this. The attacks of Kentanji Brown Jackson perfectly illustrate the racism.

[Comfortably Smug]

No way, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, because. Because as a, as a black Supreme Court justice, she needs to be 10 times better than everybody else or to avoid scrutiny or whatever. And I was like, did you listen to the argument? Like what? But it's the playbook of the left.

[John Ashbrook]

Also, I don't remember her ever sticking up for Clarence Thomas.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh no.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean that guy has faced so much adversity in his life and I've never heard her say word one about how that guy has.

[Josh Holmes]

It's just injecting racist race, racism, all that into it. Otherwise just completely incomprehensible decision making process.

[Brad Lightcap]

Right.

[John Ashbrook]

Because for the left, and Smaug has always said this for the left, it's about power. Has nothing to do with logic. Never principle.

[Comfortably Smug]

And to further illustrate how 100% it has zero to do with racism, but actually the contents of this individual's character. Wolf, can we get that video of Katanji, that highlight clip I sent?

[Supreme Court Clip Speaker]

So I don't understand. Can I just understand? And I don't understand. And so what I don't understand. I don't understand. I don't understand your argument. I'M just trying to understand your answer.

[Comfortably Smug]

God bless the unnamed individual who sent me this compilation they made.

[Supreme Court Clip Speaker]

I don't understand.

[Comfortably Smug]

This is all Ketanji Brown Jackson from Supreme Court Records. Just doesn't understand. Your job is to understand. You should understand.

[Josh Holmes]

It's okay. Yeah, you should understand. Well, it brings us to our question of the day. When you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety Program, we ask you to respond to our question of the day. We read absolutely all of them and get back to the very next episode. And I realize that we've done a lot. Lot of hack madness stuff, but this is some substantive stuff. It actually affects your life in a lot of different ways. And so we have a bit of a disagreement here on the Ruthless Variety Program panel. Smug says, is it time to start impeaching judges?

[Comfortably Smug]

I wanted this question.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, he did. He did.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's a bit much. It's gotten to be a bit much when you've got district judges. It's essentially just like a city council judge being like, yeah, you know what? I'm gonna pause this action that the United States President has done. And how many times have we gone through this? Maryland man. Oh, no. You know, some city council judge says, maryland man's gotta be brought back. You gotta pause the military plane carrying him. Oh, some city council judge says that the president can't build a hall for all future presidents, that he will never get to use himself. Some city council judge says this, and then you've got a judge. I mean, 8 to 1 is like, Clarence Thomas and Sotomayor are looking at her like, huh, really? You're that dumb?

[John Ashbrook]

I think the counterpoint to what you're suggesting is the appellate process that leads to eight to one. That, like, when you have a Supreme Court that has the makeup that it does, it beats down what the lower courts rule, and then that's it.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And look, I'm not opposed to getting into the conversation about whether people are entirely politically motivated and unfit for the bench and therefore impeachable in a variety of different ways. I'm not opposed to that. But I do think what separates conservatives from liberals in a lot of different ways is an interpretation of the Constitution and the law as it's written. And what we've known about activist judges since the beginning of time is that they rule based on an outcome, not based on what the law is as it's written. They're not contradicted, confined to the facts of the case. They're not confined by law. And I think that puts a Citizenry in a very uncomfortable place in that you operate on the rules of the road and then you run into a judge that says, well those rules don't matter. The outcome is more important to me than whatever it is that you're want to have happen here. So I understand that you could be legally up to the this point that you've stood before this courtroom. Fine. But I'm going to find it illegal in some ways and I have always been troubled by that. I think it is a fundamental undermining of the judiciary, the branch and everything it was set out for from the very beginning. And I think conservatives strict interpretation of the law, whether or not you actually agree with it. And this is I think where we have two different views on this smug in that like I think you'd be totally happy with five, six justices who are just like give me an outcome.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, I'm not happy with that anymore. I've given it some thought. Yeah, we tried the whole nine thing and you hear the libs be like we got to pack the court, they want to increase the number. I think we gave nine a shot. I think we have one. I think we have like supreme justiciar Thomas and he's the one. And that's it. We tried asking nine people grand poobah, just that's it. You know, run it past him, let him rule.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

Because I think he's done a good job of it. Everyone knows he's, he's highly respected, very trusted. We tried the nine thing and we end up, when we try the ninth thing, we end up with these people like Katanji.

[John Ashbrook]

Well there is, we don't have time for that. There's another trend among judges that's very troubling. I mean we've been talking about high minded constitutional questions that face federal courts. But there are lower court judges all across the country who have let repeat violent offenders skate time and time and time and time again. And there are a lot of people on X right now who are saying, wait a minute, if you are a bartender in some states and you serve somebody too much and that person goes out and he gets in, you know, gets into an accident, that the bartender is legally liable.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yep.

[John Ashbrook]

And if a bartender can be legally liable for letting somebody leave the bar and go out and hurt somebody else.

[Comfortably Smug]

Get argument.

[John Ashbrook]

Should a judge then be legally liable for letting a violent person who's killed and raped and somebody questions over and over and over again. I mean, is there liability to be faced by some of these?

[Josh Holmes]

That is such a good question. Or a prosecutor that refuses to implement a maximum sentence on somebody.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Somebody who decides to like. I mean, Virginia's full of them. I mean, I've heard stories.

[Comfortably Smug]

This is what happens when people stop caring about their duty as a justice or a judge or a prosecutor of prosecuting the law and become purely ideological.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I mean, good.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's the cons.

[Josh Holmes]

Bunch of food for thought. Weigh in and get angry. Yeah, I want. I want everything you got on this because I. I think this is one of the issues of our time when it comes to shaping a branch that is only shaped by an administration, you know, every four years. And it can be liberal, it can be conservative. So get in on it. Coming up, one of the most insane stories we've heard in a long time. You thought we weren't going to weigh in on this. You're nuts. Of course we're going to talk about Brian Gnome. Of course we are. The big boobs and all right. After this. Okay, so you thought we weren't going to raise it. We're definitely going to raise it. How can we not talk about Graphic three? Let's just throw this up.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's a lot.

[Josh Holmes]

There he is. That is Brian Gnome. And of course, you're already familiar with the story. Chris, you know her husband, the former Secretary of Homeland Security.

[Comfortably Smug]

You can take that off the screen, for God's sake.

[Josh Holmes]

No, just keep it up there. Oh, he's got more. He's got more. Look at that. He's got. Wait, do we have another one?

[Comfortably Smug]

They censor it. Look at that. Oh, it's a bit much. Wolf was so thrilled. I've never seen Wolf so interested in anything.

[Josh Holmes]

Wolf was thrilled by it.

[Comfortably Smug]

He couldn't stop talking about it. He was always sharing photos of it.

[Josh Holmes]

Office. So look, the reason this thing is interesting, obviously, she was the head of the Department of Homeland Security. She was the governor of South Dakota. She's been a public figure for an awful lot of years. Everyone knew this situation. Everyone knew. I didn't know about the boobs. And I know.

[Comfortably Smug]

Wait, you knew the thing that he has got. He has a thing happening here.

[Josh Holmes]

I knew that there was no connection between. Wow. Kristi Noman.

[John Ashbrook]

I heard rumors that he wasn't interested in her or her kind.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, but. But it's like it's an open. I mean, you just converse with anyone and everyone knows the situation. And of course, the Lewandowski stuff, that gets in the middle of that. The long rumored relationship between them one way or another. Look, I'm not here to judge One way or another. But my suggestion is, is that if all of that is all copacetic and everybody knows what the headlines look like and everybody's good with it, it probably means that we're doing something that we don't fully have a vision for. And it turns out this week, the Daily Mail decided to say, yeah, we have the goods on that. And so they publish the.

[Comfortably Smug]

This is even more shocking now because I'm just like a simple dude from north. I guess everyone. The swamp knew. It is absolutely everyone hanging out at the Georgetown. I. Dude, I genuinely. I had no clue glue of any of this. That's why when, like, we were like, oh, we're gonna discuss this, and I was, like, horrified and shocked. And you guys like, yeah, it's just another day in the swamp. There was people like, Africa rolled up in here. And he was like, yeah, you know, we're at the Georgetown cocktail parties and we're always talking. Like. I was like, what?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I mean, the people. So listen, I'm not saying that you. You marry a cross dresser and it disqualifies you from all kinds of different things, but it does race some questions. And, like, you know, I think, what was it, like, four or five weeks ago? We're dealing with the Minneapolis stuff. And I suggested, like, look, this is not great. Like, the Department of Homeland Security. It's not. I caught some flack on the comments from people being like, oh, we love Kristi. No. And I understand why people like Kristy Nome. She's been a loyal Trump soldier throughout, no question about it, as has Lewandowski. But, like, there's just too much out there that distracts you from the core mission. And that was unmasked by our good friend Senator Kennedy in those hearings when he asked a whole series of questions that were, like, very uncomfortable that President Trump saw that. He was like, all right, we're going to make a change. And he put Mark Wayne Mullen in. So where this all leads us to is a situation where this whole thing comes out. Can we put the picture back up?

[Comfortably Smug]

My God. It's a bit much. It's a little bit much. You know, that's a bit much.

[John Ashbrook]

No.

[Josh Holmes]

Have you guys ever known anybody like this?

[Comfortably Smug]

So here's the thing is when. When this whole thing comes out. Look at his face. It's a bit much. It's so. Look at the seriousness of his. Wolf was thrilled with this whole situation. Let me tell you. Like, Wolf loves it. He's the one who's putting these images up. I think He's a bit excited about him.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Any p seems reticent.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. That's the thing is he's like. And he was like not excited about this situation. Ye wolf's like, no, I want these.

[John Ashbrook]

Here's the thing. Daily Mail has done Yeoman's work digging all this up, but has anybody talked to the guy's chiropractor, for crying out loud? I mean, he must have a bump sciatic or something. You know, you don't just carry that around and you've, you have no back problem.

[Comfortably Smug]

My take is on all of this is so Noam put out that statement saying that we're. Where is it that essentially that she was shocked and the family's been blindsided by this.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

And my family was blindsided by this.

[Comfortably Smug]

Here's my take on all this is one of the things, like I think they've got like two daughters and son. Yes. Because I honestly believe for the son who's 23, this is such a terrible, this is terror.

[John Ashbrook]

It's bad.

[Josh Holmes]

Hold on.

[Comfortably Smug]

This is horrible.

[Josh Holmes]

No, no, no.

[Comfortably Smug]

I feel terrible for that.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't feel bad for anybody. You mean to tell me as a 23 year old, can somebody google how long were these people married?

[John Ashbrook]

I don't know the answer.

[Josh Holmes]

More than two decades. You mean to tell me that your spouse, as you're listening to this right now, if you've been married for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years, that if they had a thing for cross dressing and going online and swapping pics and whatnot, you'd have no idea.

[Comfortably Smug]

What about the kid is what I'm saying. You think he's like, hey son, come upstairs and look at what I'm doing here with the, with the door locked.

[Josh Holmes]

You don't think that there was any indications?

[Comfortably Smug]

I don't think the sun would have any clue. Are you kidding? If you're, if he's doing this with like the sun chilling, this is not like a winning sign and he's rolling up jugged out in his kitchen.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, exactly.

[Comfortably Smug]

No, that's what I'm saying, like definitely not, dude. I don't think the sun in any way would have 23 year old kid. How the hell would he know this? How the hell would he know? Because clearly this is a guy like when you're got images like this, you're not doing that in public. You're trying to hide that. That's why how it got so crazy.

[John Ashbrook]

I do feel bad.

[Comfortably Smug]

This is a thing you're hiding from the world. That's why it's so, like, demented.

[Josh Holmes]

It's not in the material that I have.

[Comfortably Smug]

You do not get demented shit if it's in the public's eye.

[Josh Holmes]

My understanding is that there were thousands upon thousands of images. Yeah, just. Just swapping messages back and forth over a period of years of which Mr. Noem did not dispute. And you're telling me that somebody that you live in a household with that you wouldn't have any idea. Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

They've been married since 1992.

[Comfortably Smug]

Fucking.

[Josh Holmes]

It is impossible. It is literally beyond impossible that you could get to a point where you just don't know that a huge component of your spouse's life is not.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, no, that's fundamentally

[Comfortably Smug]

that you're interested in is you love these podcasts about people getting murdered and trying to find the murderer. Right, I do like that. And how many of those are like, like the, the, the wife or husband had no clue that their spouse was a crazy ass murderer who'd killed 20 people? Bro, they're hiding bodies of people that they've killed and chopped up.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I think.

[Comfortably Smug]

And they're hiding. The police don't know who's chopping these people up.

[Josh Holmes]

You're telling, you're telling me.

[Comfortably Smug]

I think it's. Dude, if it's something like, you tell

[Josh Holmes]

me that the governor of South Dakota.

[Comfortably Smug]

Part of the reason it gets this

[Josh Holmes]

in the governor's mansion.

[Comfortably Smug]

Dude, part of the reason it gets this twisted is because they're hiding it from the world. You don't do twisted shit like this in public. Do you think it would be. I think it's so twisted because you're hiding it would.

[Josh Holmes]

Do you think it would be possible for either your wife or anybody you know's wife or husband to have something like this going on and for you not to be. For them not to be like, hey, this is happening.

[Comfortably Smug]

If there were like, what was it that the, the, that Joker kid who was on the COVID of Rolling Stone. Remember, his family, like his uncle, like, called on the people, turn them in. If you. The, the Boston bomber kid who's on Rolling Stone, he's like, turn him in. The family had no idea that this kid's like a terrorist. I think it's possible if people are doing some sick demanded shit, to hide it so much that you end up with stuff like this. I think that happens. That's how you have these mass murderers. Because it's like if, if everyone would

[Josh Holmes]

have told him about a 17 year old kid, he had like, what, five years of like being Able to tie shoes. This guy we're talking about 30 years of marriage.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. He's got a lot of time to figure out how to be a scary guy.

[Josh Holmes]

I just don't. I just don't buy any of it. I think it explains a lot about her social life. I think it explains a lot about all the headlines that we've seen. I think everybody has known this thing

[Comfortably Smug]

that may be the case. I'm not just meeting that necessarily. I'm just. I just feel awful for the kids. Kids. Because, like, everyone feels awful for the kids. You don't.

[Josh Holmes]

Nobody.

[Comfortably Smug]

You don't. Come on, you guys don't.

[John Ashbrook]

It.

[Comfortably Smug]

It.

[Interviewer]

You.

[Comfortably Smug]

Ash was like, girl, kids deserve this. I was at the Georgetown cocktail party with the Journals and we also. The kids deserve this.

[American Petroleum Institute Announcer]

That.

[John Ashbrook]

I feel bad for the kids.

[Josh Holmes]

No, I feel bad for the family, clearly. But the idea what offended me, what offended me was the statement was the family was blindsided by this. There's no chance that the former secretary of Homeland Security was blindsided by this? No chance. Absolutely zero chance. I'm just saying, like, so, you know, look, I think. Is it possible to be good at your job and have a whole wreck of a homeland home situation going on? Sure it is. Absolutely. We all, you know, we all have shit going on. I don't think anybody's wearing boobs that I know of. But like, we all have shit. But the idea that you just sort of like. Let me give you an example of why it offends me. I think it was four or five years ago when she was governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem vetoed a men in women's sports bill that came through the legislature. It came as a great shock to a lot of conservatives because she was a rock rib maga. Ride or die.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, I forgot about that person. I forgot about that.

[Josh Holmes]

Right. And everybody was like, what, what is that? Like, this is a complete reversal from where we thought she would be on all this stuff. And she went on some talk shows. She talked about it. She did, you know, she was like, well, it was a. There was a technical thing that was like, didn't quite work. And I never understood the argument whatsoever.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's.

[John Ashbrook]

That's an interesting point. I completely forgot about that.

[Josh Holmes]

Right. So again, like, that's why it matters. That's why it matters.

[Comfortably Smug]

Damn, that's tough.

[Josh Holmes]

And I'm not telling. We don't need all of our public officials to be transparent about stuff. And I don't need to know about their home lives and things that they're dealing with or whatever, but I do need this kind of thing to not come out when we are damn homes full of goods.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude, if you are.

[Comfortably Smug]

If that's what you get listening to those true crime podcasts. This dude's like Columbo over here. You just connected those dots.

[John Ashbrook]

I have never heard.

[Comfortably Smug]

I didn't hear anybody put that shit together.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I don't know if everyone in the conservative movement is hauling bales of hay, and all of a sudden you can't figure out why it is that somebody that's the most reliable is not hauling the bale of hay. And then five years later, you find out this kind of thing. Like, you should know that. You should know that. And don't expect me to be terribly sympathetic when we do. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. And plus, I am in no mood to be accommodating to somebody because they are like a MAGA loyalist. Like, fine, you know what? That's great. I voted for the President. I love the President. I like what the President's doing. I wish the President and the administration all the best of luck. But if somebody fucks up, I'm going to say it. I'm just going to say it. And, like, that's the best you can hope for to the ruthless Friday program or anybody else. Like, that's the thing. So look, put that picture back up. Is that what you voted for?

[Comfortably Smug]

I will say one thing. I thought it was odd when Wolf was like, you guys have never done this. And I was like, no. And he was like, oh, never mind. Oh, my God. And he was like, never mind. I'm not gonna forget poor Wolves just

[John Ashbrook]

back there working his fingers to the bone, catching strays.

[Josh Holmes]

This thing's gonna go dark in a minute.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's a crazy thing to say, Wolf.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, so coming up, we got a lightning round and a former CNN thinker anchor. He's also a. We tend not to put a thumb on the scale, but we might hear a little bit. And then Don Lemon gave us something that we can't actually ignore. Swalwell is involved in something else with Fang Fang, and, well, the Muslims are mad at Alyssa Slotkin. All right, after this. So the number one overall seed in hack madness, which I should do as an aside, we are getting down. We're in the final four right this month.

[Comfortably Smug]

We are. We are.

[Josh Holmes]

And they can vote on your X account.

[Comfortably Smug]

You go to go on X at Comfortably Smug. I have it pinned right at the top Top.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay. All right, so remember, these are the journalists who. The worst hacks in all of politics. And we do 64. We break it down March Madness style to a champion. But the number one overall see was Don Lemon, who just yesterday decided to make a push for the championship.

[John Ashbrook]

Flip 1 if I wanted to.

[Don Lemon]

I know people are going to think I'm crazy. This is going to be the headline and people are going to laugh about it. I think I could be President of the United States. I could definitely run this country better than Donald Trump. As an independent, though, there would be a hard time for me to run for anything because the way the system is set up, I'd have to choose a side and so I probably would have to become a Democrat.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, probably have to.

[Don Lemon]

Why can't I think about running for office? Why can't I think about being President of the United States when. Look at what we have. When anybody did anybody think Barack Obama, as he says, this guy with a funny name is from a mixed background, but anybody ever think president. I do think that I could run this country a lot better than Donald Trump. You know what else I think that I could run better than most people. I could come in and fix the bulk of their problems and lickety split in no time flat.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's just an incredible take.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't even know how to react to that.

[Comfortably Smug]

Here's the thing is so at face value. I mean, of course it's Don Lemon, he sounds incredibly stupid and you're like, there's no chance.

[Josh Holmes]

But the ego.

[Comfortably Smug]

I think this is part of the left wing disorder is they've been in their silo for so long, they really think that like all their insane ideas are, are the only way. And they're like, no, it's easy. It's easy. You just do the full communism and stupid shit. They really think they're like, no, everything would work because for so long they've been pushing the whole like, you know, you always see these like hair brained takes from them where they're like, what would you do? There was this like famous thread on Twitter where people posting screenshots of these idiots being like, what would you do if like, you know, full communism came to America and all these like idiot lefties were like, oh, well, you know, I'd be like a full time artist and I'd be, I'd be creating art which like depicts like the importance of why we celebrate, like transfer. It's like, dude, no, like they put you against the wall and shoot you. You either go out and you farm the fields or you get shot in the head. Like, that's the thing is they're all like, don Lemon. Where? In their head. They're like, no, I have brilliant ideas, and I could easily do this shit when that guy couldn't even keep his job at cnn.

[Josh Holmes]

He can't do it. He can't barely sustain a substack. I mean, this is.

[Comfortably Smug]

He can't keep himself out of jail. He's probably had it in prison.

[Josh Holmes]

It. It occurs to me by your whole windup on that. I had a. A. A beer with my favorite bartender in town, Johnny, and we're just shooting about a whole range of stuff. We talk about family, we talk about sports, we talk about all kinds of different stuff. And he was talking about, like, this con. Not Lemon in particular, but just the progressive left. And, like, what it's become. And he was like, man, it's just like, none of these people actually understand what it is, what it would mean to somebody like me if their view of the world actually took hold. Like, if I was governed by what they think, I wouldn't have a job. If I did, I would be like in a food stamp line. And I was like, you know, it occurred to me that liberalism is sort of a gift that happens to people who haven't been a victim of it.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, if you're not a victim of liberalism, it's an entertaining idea. Everybody gets stuff. Everybody is afforded opportunity through, you know, government means to go do things. Everybody lives nicely, and it's like a utopian society until liberalism descends upon you, in which case you find out that that means that if you're tending bar, a criminal comes in, puts a gun to your head and robs the register and then walks up the next day and does it on Tuesday.

[Comfortably Smug]

The whole defund the police is a prime example.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's all college professors and these idiots who are like, no, defund the police. And then you go to communities that have high crime. They're like, please don't.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, right.

[Comfortably Smug]

You don't have to deal with the consequences of your stupid ideas. But we do do.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, exactly. Or like, I don't know. The building that he works in, it's owned by somebody. They have tenants for it. Do you think that building will be built if you took two thirds of what they had every day and that they could afford the opportunity to put a restaurant in there? Or you could pay the staff to do the restaurant, or you could do. No, of course not. So it really is. It's. It's like he defines in many ways, Don Lemon. The, the, the problem here.

[Comfortably Smug]

Exactly.

[Brad Lightcap]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, he probably won't run, but if he did, there's such a great opportunity for a 1. Buy a lemon, America.

[Josh Holmes]

Buy a lemon. Buy a lemon. I absolutely love it. All right, Swal Wells back in the news. Swalwell clip 2 meant to try and

[Brad Lightcap]

smear a political opponent. It's just absurd. It's absolutely absurd. But is my lawyer, one of our lawyers, lawyers told me today, and this really kind of stops you right in your tracks. He said if they do this, it'll be the greatest abuse of power by an FBI director since J. Edgar Hoover. And so those are the stakes that we would allow the FBI to just go after the president's political enemies.

[Comfortably Smug]

Okay.

[John Ashbrook]

Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

What. So what he's talking about is the release of the investigative files on Eric Swalwell's relationship with Fang Fang, a known Chinese espionage agent.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

And his take is if you were to tell the American public about what it is that I've done, that would be akin to the gravest problem since J. Edgar Hoover in terms of he

[Comfortably Smug]

was like, this would be the worst political prosecution by the FBI of a political candidate.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, never mind the fact that he's not actually an opponent of Donald Trump. Like he's one of a minority of Democrats in the House. Like he doesn't give a shit about Eric Swalwell, but he's running for governor. And so like that may come out and if it comes out, it's going to be the gravest injustice in the history of our republic.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, he's running for governor against other people. Shouldn't you know that Democrats, it's Democrats who are pushing this stuff against him. Cuz they want to, they want to be the Democrat who, who's their nominee. I mean, if you actually cared about national security flaws, wouldn't you want everybody to know that this is the situation? This woman came up to me, she asked me for the climb rate of the F35, whatever it is. She asked him, whatever the proposition, wouldn't you want the tactics to be out there so people could be on guard in Washington like Eric Swalwell Jr. Is walking around the Hill.

[Josh Holmes]

I saw a clip from Victor David Davis Hansen, who in the same time frame was a huge critic of China. And he said he was visited by Fang Fang himself.

[John Ashbrook]

Victor Davis. You're kidding.

[Josh Holmes]

And he said, I'm paraphrasing. But what he said was based on her varying accents and like weird disposition of the case that she was making. You would have to be a stone cold old idiot not to know what she was up to.

[John Ashbrook]

Amazing, right?

[Josh Holmes]

And this guy's like, allegedly hit the rack.

[Comfortably Smug]

Incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

You didn't want it out there.

[Comfortably Smug]

Incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

Incredible, right? Incredible. All right, so listen, smug, I know you've got a big interview. This is one of many that you were planning to do. I think it's. It's a hugely valuable component for our audience.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's right. So, you know, funny that you bring up the whole Chinese foreign interference kind of a situation, because I wanted to do a series this American Innovators1 in partnership with our friends at Build American AI, specifically about AI, because it feels like so much of the negativity in America towards AI, towards innovation, feels like it's from overseas. It's like there's almost an incentive for China to want to win the AI race. And so I wanted to highlight as many of the American innovators and why we need America. As President Trump has said he wants, America should be the global leader on AI. And that's why I did this interview with OpenAI's COO, Brad Lightcap. Huge get. Huge get for the show, sir.

[Interviewer]

I want to welcome to the program a key speaker here at Hill Valley, the COO of OpenAI, Brad Lightcap. How are you?

[John Ashbrook]

I'm good.

[Brad Lightcap]

Thanks for having me.

[Interviewer]

Well, I'm glad you came here because, look, there's a lot of esoteric conversations when it comes to the future of AI and data centers and all this sort of stuff. I understand you're the coo, so that means you must be the people person, right?

[Brad Lightcap]

I do a lot of the external world engagement for OpenAI.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, that's a way of putting it. So I'm hoping you can help our audience understand in these conversations about the future of AI, the tech race with China, the building of data centers, all of these sort of things. How does all of this innovation impact them? What should they be excited about?

[Brad Lightcap]

Yeah, you know, I think AI is kind of this entirely new wave of technology. And, you know, I'll be honest, I don't think technology served people particularly well so far. And so I totally understand when people are like, hey, I've got this skepticism about whether AI is going to be a net positive thing for any of us. I totally understand where that comes from. But I would say one of the interesting things about AI is I think it's incredibly empowering of people. And that's kind of what OpenAI as a company, I think, really stands for is how do you create These tools that let anyone do anything. And it's kind of encoded in our mission as a company. But in practice, what we're actually seeing are things that are kind of amazing. They're kind of these everyday miracles in some sense of you've got people that can start businesses as a single person. A single person entrepreneur can start a meaningful business using AI because they can have tools like Codex, basically code any app or any website or anything for them. It can help them with marketing, it can help them with sales. And you've got examples of this happening not just in Silicon Valley, but across the entire country. Interestingly, similarly, in health, one of the biggest use cases for ChatGPT is people being able to take more control of their healthcare, better understanding what they're paying for, better understanding how to manage care for others, that they're managing care, you know, that they have to manage care for better understanding their own health. Consumers in healthcare were incredibly disempowered for years and years. And it seems like now we actually have a chance to maybe make a breakthrough where people can actually be empowered to live healthier and longer lives. And last, I'd say, is probably in science. I think we haven't seen yet the kind of meaningful breakthrough impacts there. It's early. I think the models are still progressing and getting better. But I expect over the next few years we'll start to see this avalanche of things that start to happen in our scientific communities where new discoveries are being made every day. We're accelerating time to market for new drugs and therapies, even just understanding fundamental things like physics and other things that enhance our understanding of the world and the universe, all of that. Now you're starting to see the signs of, and I'm personally incredibly excited for that.

[Comfortably Smug]

One of the things that really motivated me to have us do this interview series is Edelman had a report where they said something like 37% of Americans feel comfortable with AI, while 82% of the Chinese feel comfortable with AI. And I think part of it is not enough. People have actually gotten a chance to use AI and interface with it in a meaningful way. Like so many people I think feel AI is like a search engine. Like, you ask it a question where it's actually kind of like a forced multiplier. Like you can come up with the ideas and the AI can help you execute on it. The example I give is I had a friend who was helping his daughter sell Girl Scout cookies, and instead of being like, what's the best place to sell Girl Scout cookies? Is he asked ChatGPT, what are the three best places for me to try to sell Girl Scout cookies with my daughter's troop? When are the best times and how could I test this in a way that would give me actual data? He spent two weeks and they went to three different places after work hours, on the weekends, and they sold their entire stock of cookies outside of a Home Depot on a weekend because it was recommended to them. So it's not like this is just a question and answer session. It helps you formulate the whole idea and execute it. And that's incredibly powerful for individuals.

[Brad Lightcap]

Yeah, that's the biggest change that's happening right now with AI is you're going. It's going from this kind of dialogue based, chat based format where, you know, everyone's tried or used a chatbot before, like chatgpt. We've got, I think, almost a billion people now that are using ChatGPT fairly regularly. That's become a fairly routine use case. But what you're getting at is something important, which is the next progression of this is AI that can do things for you. It can code a website for you, it can give you advice on how to run your business, it can go do searches on the Internet and use a computer to try and solve problems for you.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

So OpenAI, you're rolling out this new tool, Codex, right? So that's a little bit what you're talking about, right?

[Brad Lightcap]

Yes. So Codex is a good example. It's a software engineering agent, basically. It's almost like having a software engineer that works for you. It costs a lot less, it can kind of just write, it can write code, it can build websites, it can navigate to the computer, it can perform tasks.

[NetChoice Representative]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

I mean, as somebody who has had a lot of developers over the years build a lot of websites, I can appreciate something like this. Because what you're doing is you're lowering the barriers to entry into the marketplace. If you have an idea, you can create it. It used to be like, well, I got to hire a Madison Avenue firm to advertise this thing. I got to hire a developer who knows WordPress or Drupal or whatever to build the whole thing out. Maybe I gotta wait three, six months. A lot of people who have expertise that I don't. But now if you have an idea, you can use a tool like Codex to bring it to fruition.

[Brad Lightcap]

Yeah, that's right. And you get stories like this every day that we hear. I mean, I was leaving a conference a few months ago and a guy was driving me to the airport. And I asked him what he. He was doing when he wasn't, you know, doing that. And he said, I run a small business that basically brings medical supplies to underserved hospitals in my community. Like, that sounds great. And. And he's like, you know, one of the biggest things that is a limitation for me is I don't. I'm one person, you know, it's. It's kind of me and my wife that run this business, but I have no, like, I don't have resources to like. It's really hard for me to find software developers. It's really hard for me to find content marketers. It's really hard for me to create visual assets that can explain my business to my customers. And with AI, it kind of now is easy, but there was a while where I didn't know if my business was going to survive. And that's an extreme story, but is representative of the types of things you hear every day, where all of a sudden now it's this empowerment of small businesses, individuals, creatives, to just do more with these types of systems.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

So last week, the White House released the AI Framework, and it outlines a number of concerns that Americans have had about AI, Specifically things like electricity rates going up, and now they have the electricity Rate protection pledge in place. What are the biggest misconceptions you feel you guys have to tackle that people still hold onto when it comes to AI?

[Brad Lightcap]

Yeah, I think there's a few things. I think one is, obviously we're going to need massive energy investment here and infrastructure investment to be able to stay competitive in the United States and also to be able to scale this. It is a resource intensive, significant undertaking as what really should be kind of a national project. And I think Americans are right to ask what is going to be the collateral impact of that type of investment and that type of resource consumption? I think things like the ratepayer protection pledge are important steps. I think companies like us, working with the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, being able to get this right so that people are not feeling the effects of this every day is absolutely critical. We're committed to that. I hope other labs are too. But I think the idea that this should be positive for some Americans in one area and then be kind of negative in other areas of their life. I think we can't have that. We've got to be able to control for the things that would present as risks and be thoughtful ahead of time about those and then also enable people to reap the benefits of it. Regardless of where they are. You don't have to be in Silicon Valley, you don't have to be in Washington D.C. anyone in the country should be able to immediately access great AI systems and be able to benefit from investment in their learning and enablement to use them.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. So this AI revolution to me feels like our generation's space race. And instead of battling the Russians to get to the moon, we're battling China to see whose vision of the Internet and the future of AI wins out for the globe. And I know you talked about how resource heavy some of this stuff can be and how important the supply chains are. What is the thing that people aren't talking enough about when it comes to the build out of AI and the data centers and the resource allocations that isn't getting enough attention in the media?

[Brad Lightcap]

Well, you know, I think obviously the investment, if you kind of think of it as a real kind of a national project, I think is something that AOP can obviously be highly job creating. I think there's something that's kind of important industrially about that, that we're able to do that here in the United States and build out that infrastructure end to end. And I think that I see that as an exciting opportunity.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, so do I.

[Brad Lightcap]

Because.

[Interviewer]

Because it feels like in all this conversation the discourse is so negative about our aging energy grid and all this sort of stuff. And I feel like we haven't really even noticed, but we needed to do this for 30 years. But America sort of deindustrialized at the same time, so no one really paid attention to it. But now we have an opportunity here in the United States to build the economy of the future and re industrialize through things like these AI data centers. And it's exciting to me too. It feels like a huge opportunity, not just for like white collar workers and people in the tech sector or people here in Washington D.C. but for blue collar workers, you know, to work on these projects. Whether you're in a electrical electrician's like

[Comfortably Smug]

the number one job in the country, right? Totally.

[Brad Lightcap]

Yeah. No, I mean these are, and these are, these are high skill, high paying jobs. I think being able to bring those kind of here back to the United States and also just being able to build again, I think that's absolutely critical to the national agenda. It's critical to our long term competitiveness. And if AI can be kind of a catalyst in that process. To your point. Yeah, you get the benefit of remaining competitive as a country in this, what is this really important initiative, but also being able to kind of help revitalize parts of the country that had maybe started to fall behind or felt aged or whatever it is that are going to be important in the future. And I think that also then spurs the innovation cycle. It spurs new technology, it inspires investment, it spurs, you know, opportunities to bring the technology into parts of the country that have been, you know, not super well served over the last few years. So I see it as opportunity. I see it as if we get this right, it's going to be one of the most important things to happen to the country ever.

[Josh Holmes]

Wow.

[Comfortably Smug]

So it's clear this administration has made AI and the build out of infrastructure in America priority. They put the framework out. How can Congress be a good partner in helping make sure America leads the way in AI?

[Brad Lightcap]

Yeah. No, I think obviously AI can't be a bipartisan issue. I think it's got to be something that we're able to bring both sides of the aisle together on. It is something that impacts everyone. And so I think the more it becomes a partisan issue, the harder it is to have real conversations about the types of things we need to be able to do right and correctly to be competitive. So that would be thing number one. I think thing number two is the administration having an engagement and a touch point with, with the private sector is going to be important. I think we've seen a lot of engagement from the current administration that's been really positive and productive, have been really receptive to hearing our concerns and input on things that are limiting our ability to innovate and invest. And I think that there's no version of this that goes well, is an ultimately kind of public and private partnership.

[NetChoice Representative]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Has that been sort of a breath of fresh air? Because typically when people come from Silicon Valley here to Washington D.C. and they like, we want to do a public private partnership, or they're in congressional testimony being grilled by some senator about what their technology does. Does the atmosphere right now feel like sort of a breath of fresh air when it comes to conversations you're having in D.C. because typically when people come to Silicon Valley, from Silicon Valley to Washington, they're getting grilled on Capitol Hill or people are attacking their company. Does it feel like the tenor has changed?

[Brad Lightcap]

Yeah, I think it does. I straddle kind of the old wave of software and this new wave of software. I didn't do as much kind of policy facing work or government facing work kind of in that old wave here. Obviously it's become much more front and center. But I think the desire for there to be a dialogue between the Hill and the Valley. I think forums like this are absolutely critical. And I think the willingness and openness that the members of Congress, that the administration have to trying to understand what it is that American companies need to be successful in driving this innovation cycle has been, honestly, it's been impressive and it's been enabling for us to, I said it on stage, is to have visibility. I think that's the biggest thing that we need is we need to understand that if we're going to make investments, there's going to be a path for that investment being 5, 10 years to pay off, that there's certainty that we've got the administration, the government behind us. And I think that that gives us confidence to invest, to create jobs, to continue to do the work that we do, and then also creates, like I said, opportunity for us to work with the other side, with, with both government and then, and also, you know, the private sector to figure out how this is ultimately going to impact everyone. And I think that is going to be the big thing over the next few years. And like I said, I see it as substantially positive. But there's not going to be a version of this that works that is in a public private partnership, you know, all the way down.

[Comfortably Smug]

So this is going to be a tough question. Feel free to take a second to think about it. I asked ChatGPT, if you're interviewing Brad Lightcap, what question would you ask him to get to know him best? And replied, here's a question. What's a decision you made that felt right in the moment, but looking back, you'd handle differently? And what did that experience change about how you lead today?

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, man, that is a tough one.

[Comfortably Smug]

Ask good questions.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, I do need to think about that for a minute.

[Brad Lightcap]

Decision that felt right in the moment that I would change today? You know, every decision I've made has been. Has been right. I think. No, I think one is. You mentioned earlier that the perception of AI kind of in the United States relative to places like China is dragging a little bit. And that bothers me. I think where we sit in kind of the heart of the valley, there's this kind of infinite optimism about what the technology is able to do. I think the level of creative vision and investment that's happening in the valley around this technology is like nothing I've ever seen. And I don't know that it was a single decision that I or we or anyone made. But I think not investing earlier in helping people understand the level of excitement and optimism that exists here and why and how that's ultimately going to translate to not only competitiveness for the United States in a kind of, you know, on a strategic and geopolitical perspective, but just the future that is possible, I think, like, you know, between I mentioned scientific discovery and the enablement of people and, you know, acceleration of growth and business, you know, here in the United States, like, I just. There's so many opportunities for things to go well. And I think being able to kind of tell that story and share that story and share examples of that story that exist just here and now today is something that, you know, I wish we had done better. So.

[Don Lemon]

Yeah.

[Brad Lightcap]

Opportunity to do more of it. And I think, you know, it is exciting when you kind of dig in. There's like all these really cool examples and things that people are building, but doing more of that is going to be important.

[Interviewer]

Well, and that's the power of AI. A great question. See, I was going to ask you about Duke basketball because I know you went to Duke.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Brad Lightcap]

Get it in my bracket.

[Interviewer]

Well, Brad, thank you so much for joining us.

[Brad Lightcap]

Thanks for having me.

[Comfortably Smug]

It. Thank you.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, Smug. Very, very interesting conversation. And it just makes me so happy that you are pushing this new series because there's so much information out there that people can get right here on the Ruthless podcast that they wouldn't get anywhere else.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's huge. And so we filmed. I was with Duncan out at Hill and Valley when they had that conference here in D.C. huge. Get. First off, off, you know, thank you so much to Lightcap for agreeing to sit down with us for that. But this is a very important discussion and there is so much like, you're hearing about, like, Bernie being like, we need to seize all the means of production. Like, that's number one, a huge tell. But the opportunities for America to capitalize on this is tremendous and one that I want to make sure American we take advantage of because it's huge. President Trump's been. His administration's been huge, laying out the framework. We gotta win this race.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. No, I mean, listen, I'm somebody who does this for a living, and there's an awful lot of questions that I don't have answers to that people like Lightcap do. Great interview. Smug. I'm glad you did it. Remember our question of the day when you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Friday program? We read absolutely all of them. Our question that is this time to start impeaching judges. You got a mixed panel here on an awful lot of that. So I'D be interested to hear your point of view. Leave us a comment. We read absolutely all of them. Get back to the very next episode. We got some merch up there. Yeah, boys.

[Comfortably Smug]

The America 250 stuff.

[Josh Holmes]

And the America 250 while you're on. Like, check all this stuff out.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's the 250 right there.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's really good.

[Comfortably Smug]

There's a Rushmore. I love the Rushmore.

[Josh Holmes]

I ordered that. Oh, yeah, that's. That's solid. That's solid. So check out the store while you're there. Thanks for listening. Appreciate everything you're doing. We're going to find find you back here on Fun Time Friday.

[John Ashbrook]

Be so good.

[Josh Holmes]

And with that, I think we did it.

[Comfortably Smug]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much to Brad Light Cap and thank you to the listeners. Remember, if you have not yet, go to the YouTube and hit that subscribe because it's more fun in video. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you on Friday. Stay ruthless,

[Josh Holmes]

Sam.