Libs New Strategy to Fight Trump, Plus Guy Benson Joins the Progrum!

Summary

Ruthless Podcast Episode Summary Title: Libs New Strategy to Fight Trump, Plus Guy Benson Joins the Progrum!
Release Date: August 5, 2025
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook
Guest: Guy Benson, Fox News

---

1. Introduction and Recap of Previous Interviews

The episode opens with Josh Holmes criticizing a controversial video from Gaza, questioning the authenticity of claims about hunger and highlighting perceived corruption and evil within the region (00:00). Michael Duncan quickly transitions to discussing Ted Cruz's supportive actions during a press conference ([00:29]-[00:38]). The hosts express satisfaction with their recent interview with JD Vance, highlighting its relatability and contrasting it with the left's struggles to connect with the public ([01:31]-[02:26]).

Notable Quote:
"It's amazing what happens when you have some semi well adjusted human beings that talk to well adjusted human beings. You actually get some content that you can relate to." – Michael Duncan (01:54)

---

2. Introduction of Guest: Guy Benson

Guy Benson joins the program, celebrated as a recurring and favorite guest ([02:26]-[03:03]). The hosts set the stage for the episode, mentioning upcoming segments including insights from Benson and a game called "Hard Pivot" ([03:03]-[03:39]).

---

3. Analysis of New York Times Article on Presidential Fitness Test

The hosts delve into a New York Times article criticizing Trump's reinstatement of the Presidential Fitness Test, reminiscing about their own experiences and disputing the negative portrayal. They argue that physical fitness is essential, especially for young boys, and criticize the left for prioritizing emotional comfort over societal needs ([04:12]-[10:44]).

Notable Quote:
"Anything worth doing requires a process of struggle and trial and learning and growing. And if you try to remove that, you don't have a life worth living." – Kumperly Smug (08:16)

---

4. Discussion on Democratic Fundraising Strategies

John Ashbrook introduces an exclusive report on Democrat Senator Martin Heinrich's fundraiser in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. The hosts criticize Heinrich's stance on border policies and his choice of fundraiser location, labeling it hypocritical given his voting record on border security ([15:56]-[18:10]).

Notable Quote:
"He's not tough on the border... this guy's record on the border is about as bad as they come." – John Ashbrook (17:07)

---

5. Democratic Use of Content Creators and Social Media

The group critiques Democrats' initiatives to fund content creators to influence voter trends, describing it as an attempt to undermine mainstream media credibility. They mock the specific numbers and strategies outlined in Democratic campaign slides, suggesting it’s a ploy to manipulate online narratives ([18:22]-[24:03]).

Notable Quote:
"The DCCC looks to raise 10 million for social media and content creation, 20 million for accountability work." – Michael Duncan (20:21)

---

6. Guest Segment: Guy Benson on "Hard Pivot" Game

Guy Benson introduces the "Hard Pivot" game, where guests simulate political evasions and unrelated responses to questions. Josh Holmes and John Ashbrook engage in the game, showcasing the challenges of maintaining focus during political discourse. The segment is both humorous and illustrative of the hosts' frustrations with political maneuvering ([57:58]-[84:57]).

Notable Quote:
"What's driving this trend?" – Guy Benson, followed by a humorous hard pivot by Josh Holmes (61:59)

---

7. Foreign Policy Commentary: Iran Strikes and Hamas

Josh Holmes and Michael Duncan praise Trump's decisive action against Iran's nuclear program, contrasting it with previous administrations' ineffective strategies. They commend Trump's foreign policy moves, including the strikes that crippled Iran's capabilities, framing them as necessary and effective ([55:12]-[57:19]).

Notable Quote:
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden sent the Iranians wave after wave of negotiators and pallets of cash, Donald Trump sent them bunker buster bombs that crippled their program." – Josh Holmes (55:18)

---

8. Critical Analysis of Media Coverage on Gaza and Hamas

The hosts express frustration with how media outlets like the New York Times portray the Gaza situation, accusing them of collusion with Hamas by uncritically presenting Hamas' narratives. They highlight inconsistencies and perceived misinformation in media reporting, emphasizing the humanitarian issues while condemning Hamas' actions ([37:02]-[43:04]).

Notable Quote:
"They are a genocidal group and then they twist the word genocide to use against Israel, which is like such a sick thing." – Josh Holmes (38:04)

---

9. WNBA Ad Controversy and Social Media Betting

The discussion shifts to a bizarre WNBA incident where green dildos were thrown onto the court, leading to online betting on the colors of the next dildo. The hosts mock the absurdity of the situation and criticize the WNBA players for their actions, linking it to broader cultural and societal issues ([75:11]-[84:57]).

Notable Quote:
"What is this guy, a dog walker? Who's had it? Yeah, I got 23 dogs." – Kumperly Smug (80:41)

---

10. Closing Remarks and Future Segments

The episode concludes with the hosts reflecting on Trump's unpredictable and impactful actions, anticipating more dramatic developments in August. They reiterate their commitment to providing content that challenges mainstream narratives and engage listeners with upcoming games and interactive segments ([84:38]-[85:42]).

Notable Quote:
"Stay ruthless, keep the faith, hold the line, and own the libs." – Kumperly Smug (85:42)

---

Conclusion

This episode of the Ruthless Podcast covers a wide range of political topics from criticizing Democratic strategies and media portrayals to praising Trump's foreign policy actions. The inclusion of guest Guy Benson adds a dynamic element through the "Hard Pivot" game, highlighting the challenges of political discourse. Throughout the episode, the hosts maintain a strong conservative viewpoint, emphasizing themes of strength, resilience, and skepticism towards Democratic motives and actions.

---

Note: Timestamps correspond to the podcast transcript provided and are included to reference the specific parts of the discussion where notable quotes were made.

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

There's this guy like selfie videoing with the, with the parachutes landing with food, saying they're treating us like dogs. This is not how you deliver food when people are hungry. This guy, with all respect to him, probably wears like a double D bra. He is so big. I'm like, sir, you have not missed any meals, obviously. So if in fact there are really hungry kids and there are in Gaza, how does that explain you? Honestly? And the answer is fair point. Unbelievable corruption and evil.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, what the goes well, there's Ted.

[John Ashbrook]

Cruz going to help her up.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, look at Teddy Ballgame gets on now. He's the first to the scene.

[Kumperly Smug]

Boy, when it's time to help a dem. Did you see that guy?

[Michael Duncan]

What? Hard working Americans know when it's time to roll up our sleeves and get the job done. Now is the time to unleash our nation's energy to create jobs, secure our future and make life better, more affordable and full of opportunity for Americans. That's the power of America's oil and natural gas. Learn [e-mail] paid for by the American Petroleum Institute. Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Kumperly Smug]

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

[John Ashbrook]

It's time for our main event.

[Michael Duncan]

Good Tuesday to you. Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety Program. Thanks to all of you. Tuned in for our JD Vance interview last Friday. That was a big hit and a lot of fun, wasn't it fellas?

[Kumperly Smug]

It's awesome. I love seeing the comments because they were like, this is the most relatable guy I have ever seen in my life. And you love having that. As opposed to the left struggling to have any relevance or way to connect to the public.

[Michael Duncan]

It's amazing what happens when you have some semi well adjusted human beings that talk to well adjusted human beings. You actually get some content that you can relate to. Solid movement from time to time. And in the Indian Treaty Room, no less.

[Kumperly Smug]

Yeah. In honor of me. Thank you so much.

[Michael Duncan]

Vice, Were you able to sign the desk?

[Kumperly Smug]

That was, I mean that was number one. So, so awesome for the Vice President to do because his schedule is insanely busy and it was just like a factory for gems. All weekend I saw clips of it articles popping up top talking about it. Just wonderful stuff.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, it was like there was a whole new population that understood for the first time what it is we do here on the Ruthless Variety Program. So we thank you very much. Welcome on board. We've got a good Tuesday. I'm Josh Holmes along with kumperly smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook, left to right across your radio dial. You're gonna have some laughs on this one. We also have Guy Benson, Fox News's Guy Benson. He's a good friend of the program. He's been on. I think this is like his fourth time. So he's like one shy of a gold jacket here on the program, and we'll get to that eventually, but he's gonna share some insights. We get serious for a little bit, but then we play a game. Hard pivot is the game of the day.

[Guy Benson]

I can't think of anybody better to have on the show to play hard pivot.

[Michael Duncan]

He's like the goat of hard pivot.

[Guy Benson]

He's really good at it.

[John Ashbrook]

He's so good.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. And so you'll have to stick around for that. But we have some things that we've taken note of over the last few days. That one of it, the first one, stems from a press conference that you attended, and I think you made yourself clear about where you stood on the sports commission press conference and the questions that were offered to the President of the United States.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah, I also. I read the comments on all of that, and people, they stand with me.

[Michael Duncan]

They stand with you 100%.

[John Ashbrook]

I had a journo text me to say that he stood with you.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, yeah.

[Kumperly Smug]

Well, no, it was courage of a nameless journo.

[Michael Duncan]

God bless that. It was right, though. And you were right in the gist of that. If you didn't catch the episode, you go back and watch it anyway, because it's an absolute golden take. But what it was was basically, like, amazing. You can do this big sports commission with, like, massive rollouts of news, and like, all the journos are like, Epstein or oh, trade deals. And it's like, no, dude, you got, like, the foremost athletes of their generation standing up there making a serious announcement with the President of the United States, and nobody's wondering about sports.

[Kumperly Smug]

Yeah, Nothing.

[Michael Duncan]

So part of one of the things that nobody asked about was the idea that we come back with presidential fitness tests.

[Kumperly Smug]

That was the whole point. These journalists had one job, which looks.

[Michael Duncan]

I don't know when this stopped. Do you guys know when this stopped?

[Guy Benson]

No, I remember it when I was a kid, but I remember when it.

[Kumperly Smug]

Was a kid, I think it was Obama.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, Obama stopped it.

[Michael Duncan]

Obama stopped. Of course Obama stopped it. Of course Obama stopped. Yeah. Why would you want to measure results? So what happens for most of us when we're kids is that you get into the presidential. You know, it's like a. What is it 5. I think we've got that. It's a one mile run, pull ups and push ups, sit ups, shuttle run. Sit and reach. Yeah, sit and reach was something you were just absolutely terrific at, old man.

[Guy Benson]

I was good at all of them, actually.

[Michael Duncan]

But to this day, you're a good V sit.

[Guy Benson]

I do. I can go palms down, you know, on the leg stretch.

[Michael Duncan]

Mostly because you spend that time in the shower every morning doing it. Yeah. Really working the hammies.

[Guy Benson]

Well, people don't understand. It's like when you get to advanced age, just stretching is very important.

[Michael Duncan]

It's amazing. You have two children. If your wife has to walk into that situation in the morning. But listen, what happened was the New York Times made some observations and it is exactly what you think it is. Wow. Exactly what I think it is. For some Return of Presidential Fitness test revives painful memories. Oh, my God. Generations of Americans who struggled to compete in a pull up in front of their classmates winced as President Trump announced that he was reinstating the annual assessment.

[Kumperly Smug]

This is, to me real quick. I mean, this is the central problem right now with the influence that the left has had on this country is if you've got one person who has like, oh, this hurt my feelings or it makes me feel bad, all of society should be shifted to make sure I don't feel bad.

[Guy Benson]

Right.

[Kumperly Smug]

We've gone through almost a decade of a guy wants to start dressing as a woman. He's like, I identify as a woman, and if you don't start calling me miss, I'm gonna make sure you lose your job. I'm gonna call you like, how, as a society, have we put up with this?

[Guy Benson]

Yeah, this is like a thousand words on why I was picked last in dodgeball.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, that's exactly what it is.

[Kumperly Smug]

No child should be told that, you know, physical fitness is critical.

[Michael Duncan]

So it's full replete with testimonials on how terrible this was for Ivory Burnett, 41, does not have fond memories of taking the Presidential Fitness Test. Come on. Goes on to say, doing that pull up in front of everybody, that was the worst, said Ms. Burnett, a freelance writer who described herself as a taller and, quote, a little chubbier than her classmates.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, the other thing that caught my attention is that Burnett said she had an issue with the sit and reach. And she was one of two people in this article who complained about the sit and reach. Like, what, you just sit down and reach out for your toes? That's not physically demanding.

[Michael Duncan]

But also, if you couldn't get it done like, there's yucks involved in that, too.

[Guy Benson]

Well, okay. Okay. So first of all, I don't know about you guys, but I remember going through this whole thing, and you basically had stations that were running the whole thing.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Kumperly Smug]

This was so fun.

[Michael Duncan]

I remember the coach's face at each station.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah. But it wasn't like the whole class would stand there and point and laugh at you when you couldn't do it.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, you were segmented out in group of five.

[Kumperly Smug]

Right.

[Guy Benson]

And I remember the shuttle runs. We did it, like, in this hallway, and they had, like, erasers that you picked up for the shuttle run down that whole. And it was fun. It was like a fun day. Cause, like, this is what we got to do today.

[Michael Duncan]

Yes.

[Guy Benson]

You know, like, I don't remember any kids, like, feeling ostracized by the whole thing. No, but, like, apparently some people really internalized this whole process.

[Kumperly Smug]

That's the thing is, I think you're 100% right. They internalized. This is someone with the voices in their head telling them something and turn it into some kind of, like, trauma. That they want to be a struggle session for everybody. But it's like, this is why you're a freelance writer and not, like, contributing to society.

[John Ashbrook]

Right. It's the kind of person who would call the New York Times Within 24 hours of this announcement.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, to be critical, you would see it. Ms. Burnett said her classmates would feel body shamed if they didn't perform as well. It was survive or fail.

[Guy Benson]

She said, survive or fail.

[Michael Duncan]

It was Darwinist.

[Guy Benson]

Come on.

[John Ashbrook]

It's just ridiculous. There was somebody else in the article who said there was this hanging on a bar. We weren't built to learn how to hang on a bar.

[Michael Duncan]

Come on, just hold on. She clearly wasn't.

[Kumperly Smug]

And another thing, we got into this for a couple seconds right before we started recording. This is another example, like, how this fitness and pe, all of this physical activity has been taken away, especially from grade schools because they have parents who are like, oh, my child may feel ostracized or whatever. That stuff is critical, especially for, like, young boys. Like, like, the only way you get a young boy to, like, start paying attention is he needs to have some recess. He's got to run around before school. He's got to have some time during the day to be able to run around or else what happens? Oh, well, you know, the girls are able to pay attention. The guys are like, why are you acting up? Maybe this kid's got some kind of an attention problem. Off to the nurse. You go off to the, you know, the pharmacist, you go, and it's like, you know what? You gotta let kid boys wind down. You gotta let them get some activity.

[Michael Duncan]

Second grade isis.

[Kumperly Smug]

I mean, like, this is such fundamental stuff. And it's been transformed into like, no, because one child who grows up to become a freelance writer might feel bad because they were the last pick during dodgeball. Everyone suffers.

[Michael Duncan]

What's the worst thing that's gonna happen, right? I mean, like, look, I grew up with like, you know, my boys, for many all these guys are like six, three and above. They're all jacked up. I wasn't exactly going toe to toe with them on all the presidential fitness stuff. So, like, if you don't win those things, because you're obviously not going to be like, bench pressing what they can bench press. You got to figure out how another way to make value, right? I figured out I talk about stuff, right? You know what I mean? Like this, this is the thing that.

[Guy Benson]

Kids learn, our talents.

[Michael Duncan]

What's the worst that's going to happen? That they're in a little better shape than they would ordinarily be. Like, I'm so sorry about that.

[Kumperly Smug]

And this whole thinking of, like, is it stronger for some? Return of Presidential Fitness test revives painful memories. Anything worth doing requires a process of struggle and trial and learning and growing. And if you try to remove that, you don't have a life worth living.

[John Ashbrook]

And the left is against all of that. It's not just physical fitness. Remember when they said math was racist? Remember when they said English was racist? And like, at some level, people are supposed to do the basic things in society. You can't just attack them mercilessly.

[Guy Benson]

I think smug really brings up a good point here. And that is this is just a microcosm of a larger problem, I think, in our society, and that is from a young age, we are now taught to protect our children from trauma, from adversity, from all these things that might be difficult. When, of course, it's all of those things that build the character that you need to survive in this world. It's the reason why, like, you've got people who are 25, 28 years old talking about their life is this traumatic journey rather than living their life and seeing the adversity as something that builds the character of their life.

[Michael Duncan]

If you haven't failed at some point early in your life and learned how to deal with that, I don't even know what the trauma would look like later in life.

[Kumperly Smug]

Seriously.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, it's gotta be just absolutely devastating. It's a part of life. But also, what's the worst that's gonna happen?

[Kumperly Smug]

That's the thing.

[Michael Duncan]

Your kid's gonna be in a little better shape.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Like, I don't know, maybe they should figure out how to do a pull up, for Christ's sake.

[Guy Benson]

And you know what?

[Michael Duncan]

Like, it's not like being a feeder system for diabetes is working out great for this country.

[Kumperly Smug]

Bingo.

[Guy Benson]

Point out Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. Turned out okay for him.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, it's right. You know, you know, and he became like the, just the agony defeat guy that he was.

[Guy Benson]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

It's true. Speaking of physical fitness, did you guys check this out on the Senate floor the other day?

[Kumperly Smug]

I didn't see this clip.

[Guy Benson]

Yes, I've seen.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay, Elizabeth Warren's down there and well, it's, it doesn't go well. Let's play clip one. There she is, she's got her blue teal.

[Kumperly Smug]

Senator's voting in the affirmative, waving, checking.

[Michael Duncan]

People out, decides to hang out.

[John Ashbrook]

She goes, well, there's Ted Cruz going to help her up.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, look at Teddy Ballgame gets on that. He's the first to the scene.

[Kumperly Smug]

Boy, when it's time to help a Dem. Did you see that guy?

[Michael Duncan]

What, what an obstacle.

[Kumperly Smug]

Look at Ted racing to the rescue.

[Guy Benson]

Unbelievable blast.

[Michael Duncan]

What's like the, what's like the conservative response to that?

[Kumperly Smug]

I want, I want my, I want senators from Texas to be the type to jump off a desk and elbow.

[Michael Duncan]

Drop.

[Kumperly Smug]

Like Reddit state in the Union we take no prisoners.

[Michael Duncan]

I thought it was kind of a kind gesture over there to help her out, but boy, you know, I mean, Pocahontas. Yeah, it's a tough deal. You notice with though when a Dem like you have, I guarantee the first time you ever seen that is here. Like when a Dem does something like that, it just doesn't show up anywhere.

[Kumperly Smug]

I'll tell the opposite. Yeah, that's a perfect thing. It's like, okay, imagine the tables returned and it's Ted Cruz falls. It would be on every show.

[Michael Duncan]

Yep.

[Kumperly Smug]

Colbert would make it his 60 minute special.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Kumperly Smug]

And Elizabeth Warren would send out a little tweet of being like, boy, Ted Cruz doesn't stand up for Texas. He can't stand up in the Senate either.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. It would be something dumb.

[Kumperly Smug]

And meanwhile he goes running over to hell. Hell no, Ted. No more.

[Michael Duncan]

I thought it was a nice thing.

[Guy Benson]

I thought it was a nice thing. I'm just sort of surprised that the senator from Massachusetts Pocahontas would decide to sit on the. I figured she'd be sitting Indian style.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, oh, crisscross applesauce, as they say.

[Guy Benson]

In the youth in the parlance of our times.

[Michael Duncan]

Listen, when we come back, we have some original reporting from the Ruthless Variety program that you cannot miss. Documents provided exclusively to us reveal, well, where Democrats are doing a little bit of their own hanging out. That is, well, exactly where you would think we're going to get to all of that and a whole bunch more laughs right after this.

[Kumperly Smug]

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

[Michael Duncan]

Okay, so if you've tuned in the last couple of weeks, you know that there's an awful lot of reporting that we do here on the Ruthless Variety program, international news from time to time that you're not going to get anywhere else. And we've just stumbled across a little something, a little something special that I don't think anybody else has even thought was a possibility in this day and age. But Johnny, what do we have going on?

[John Ashbrook]

Well, Josh, as you know, 2024 was a very big year for Republican wins. But there were a few Democrat senators who won reelection. And you might ask yourself, how are they going to celebrate the one year anniversary of their reelection from last November? Well, Martin Heinrich, the senator from New Mexico, who you've never heard of him, you have not heard of him before, but his fundraiser sent out an email encouraging people to come and celebrate his reelection in a place of paradise and a place where Democrats think is so much more important to them than anything in America. Lee, will you please put up that graphic? And of course, we blacked out the name and the contact info. His fundraiser says, I wanted to make sure you received an invitation for retreat to Playa del Carmen in Mexico from November 7th to November 9th in 2025. Please see the flyer below for additional information. Now this is very interesting because as Michael pointed out to me earlier, Martin Heinrich has a history when it comes to Mexico when it comes to our border, and that history is not very good.

[Michael Duncan]

He's not tough on the border.

[Guy Benson]

No. You know, it turns out he voted against the remain in Mexico policy twice.

[Michael Duncan]

Interesting. That's interesting.

[Guy Benson]

So. So Mexico is not good enough for the illegal immigrants crossing our southern border, but it's perfect for a junket for the senator from New Mexico. I. I noticed also that the senator from New Mexico is not having this party in New Mexico.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, no, no, it's not just New Mexico. It's just old Mexico. Maybe there's some kind of reciprocity we're unaware of here in the United States about new and old Mexico, at least within the Democratic Party.

[John Ashbrook]

You know, Martin Heinrich also voted against funding for the border wall, and he called borders offensive and wasteful. Okay. He voted against Kate's Law. He voted against the Lake and Riley Act. So this guy's record on the border is about as bad as they come. And he's celebrating his. Real.

[Kumperly Smug]

Might as well have your fundraisers there. Jesus, that's ridiculous.

[Michael Duncan]

That's pretty incredible news. All right, so Senator Martin Heinrich fundraising in old Mexico.

[Guy Benson]

All right, can I admit.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, Mexico.

[Guy Benson]

Can I admit something?

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Guy Benson]

I assume I shared this with most of the listeners and the viewers of the ruthless variety program. I don't think I could pick this guy out of a lineup.

[Michael Duncan]

No, no.

[Guy Benson]

He has not left an indelible mark on the United States Senate.

[Michael Duncan]

Funniest part about guys like this is he's been around a lot longer than you think. Right. I mean, this is not somebody who just showed up yesterday.

[Guy Benson]

You could tell me 20 years or two minutes and I would have no idea.

[Michael Duncan]

But he falls into that category of Democratic senators who have done absolutely nothing. Right. It's just basically a proxy vote for whatever the Democratic establishment wants. They've done nothing notable. They've never been controversial because nobody's ever really asked where they stand on anything.

[Kumperly Smug]

I mean, this is horrible from a public servant, but it's pretty good as a business of being like, basically, I don't show up to work. No one really knows who I am. Couldn't pick me out of a lineup. I just go to Mexico. I go to a resort from time to time. And that also helps cause, like, you don't want the cartels and people to be able to pick you up. You know, if you're just like, nondescript dude who just flies into town, hits the resort, and just keeps this going as a grift, that's not a bad setup.

[Michael Duncan]

No, I Mean, he's kind of.

[Kumperly Smug]

I mean, it's horrible if you're a senator, not bad. If it's a way to make money.

[Michael Duncan]

I imagine he's kind of like, don't hate the player, hate the game.

[Kumperly Smug]

Yeah. Don't hate the playa. Hate the game.

[Michael Duncan]

Don't hate the playa. Don't hate the playa.

[Guy Benson]

That's funny.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, it's so good. I love that. All right, so they're raising a bunch of money, and there's been a bunch of stories that have come out about how much money Democrats are raising, which is like, look, it's. As long as I've been in politics, this is part of the deal to get out of power. They just throw dollars, throw dollars at national parties and candidates and whatnot. So there's like a reasonable question of how are they spending it? I mean, this happened with Kamala. Right. You spent a billion dollars in 107 days. And. And we saw how that worked out for him. So what are they doing now? Breitbart is an interesting exclusive on what Democrats intend to do, entitled exclusive Democrats plan to spend tens of millions of dollars to fund hundreds of content creators. Interesting.

[John Ashbrook]

You might think this is a new thing for Democrats, but I would argue they've been doing this with the mainstream media for generations.

[Kumperly Smug]

100%.

[John Ashbrook]

It's just a little bit of a different place to spend their money.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, they figured out that, like, the mainstream is not actually. It doesn't have an audience. Right. So they need to go now, pay different people.

[Guy Benson]

Well, they had an audience, but then they just destroyed their whole credibility with Democrats posting all of this Democratic content. Right. So, like, this is the thing. It's like, for all these content creators who are signing up for this, you might as well just give them the keys to destroy the audience and the platform you've created, because they're going to do to you what they did to the mainstream media 100%.

[Michael Duncan]

So you recall the story that we did a couple of months ago about how they were going to spend, what was it, $20 million learning how to talk to men.

[Kumperly Smug]

They all went to, like, five star hotels.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Kumperly Smug]

They're sitting up there getting room service and they're like, so we have to relate to young men somehow.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Kumperly Smug]

Amazing.

[Michael Duncan]

So they're up in the ante here. 110.5 million to spin narratives on social media media, according to images of slides from a Democratic congressional campaign committee. Oh, the D triple D trip at a donor event obtained by Breitbart News under the heading of quote, urgent off year fundraising needs, unquote. On one slide, it states, the DCCC looks to raise 10 million for social media and content creation, 20 million for accountability work.

[Kumperly Smug]

Quote, accountability work. That sounds like walk around money to me.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, dude, this is all street money. Yeah, this is all street money, right? They're gonna do 15 million for voter registration, 5 million for recruitment and quote, unquote, primary engagement. Hmm, that's interesting.

[Guy Benson]

You think that's Hamas caucus.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, 100%. Yeah, 100% in $2 million for, quote, unquote research and rapid response infrastructure. That's good because you can't spend $40,000 to make somebody in charge of that. You got to go 2 mil to mil deep. One goal is to enlist at least 667. That is brilliant.

[Guy Benson]

I love that.

[Michael Duncan]

This is the best. I didn't see it till this very minute, and I am absolutely. I apologize. This is a brilliant. This is a brilliant boondoggle. Hats off to the D trip for figuring out how to fleece your. Your donors in such a respectable way. 667 is. If there is a mathematical equation that has just landed them somewhere between, I don't know, like, 650, 675. 667 is the right number.

[Guy Benson]

Josh, you don't understand. What 667 tells us is that there has been a lot of thought into how you reach critical mass in the content creator universe. And so the number 667 being that specific is the perfect number to put on a grant request. Yes, because what you're telling these billionaires is we did our due diligence and we know the exact. We're down to the person, not 660. No, that would be 270.

[Michael Duncan]

Too light now. It's too heavy.

[Guy Benson]

You haven't even been thinking. 670, stupid. 660, stupid. 667. We know what we're doing.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, Michael, it's really good that you raised this, because 83 million Americans, they're hoping to do it, drawing 6.6 million engagements. That's the number that's necessary to win elections.

[Guy Benson]

They know the quotient.

[John Ashbrook]

I also think there's a possibility that Democrats wanted 666, but they didn't want.

[Kumperly Smug]

To be obvious about who they said.

[John Ashbrook]

Some consultant was like, no, we can't say what we want.

[Kumperly Smug]

We can't be obvious. We can't be obvious.

[Michael Duncan]

And, like, everybody in the room's like, quiet. What's that mean?

[Kumperly Smug]

We want to give a shout out.

[Michael Duncan]

To the big guy who actually Runs.

[Kumperly Smug]

The show around here.

[Guy Benson]

We want to do the devil's work on earth, but we can't do 666.

[Michael Duncan]

They're like, oh, there's a number there. What does that mean? So the program aims to engage at least 167 of those. 667.

[Kumperly Smug]

Can I see this graphic number three? I mean, like, look at this presentation. I see that and I'm like. Like I'm about to hear the worst opinion I've heard in a while. So like, when you see that on your screen, it's like, here we go. I'm about to hear the worst shit I've ever heard.

[Michael Duncan]

There's some Democratic donor out there with priapism when this thing, right? They look at and they're like, yes. Yeah, it's what we need. I need four people who have no fucking idea what they're talking about to try to influence.

[Kumperly Smug]

This is like Reed Hastings all over it. He's the guy, remember he got caught funding the like the fake Russian operation in Alabama. I remember being like, oh, yes, these.

[Guy Benson]

Are bots that he paid Reid from LinkedIn.

[John Ashbrook]

Hoffman.

[Michael Duncan]

Hoffman.

[Kumperly Smug]

Read Hoffman. My mistake. Yeah, but Reid Hoffman ends up just like sponsoring this boondoggle of like a bunch of bots online, which Dems told us is horrible. And trying to be like, wow, look, it's Republicans hiring or Republicans working with Russians. And it turns out it's this guy Reid Hoffman behind it. He apologizes for it, but still, fun shit like that. To this day, I guarantee they're gonna fleece his ass on him.

[John Ashbrook]

Smug. You'll be interested to hear that it's not necessary. Maybe Reid Hoffman the money behind it. But it's not just Reid Hoffman. Listen to who is involved. Zinc Collective super PAC is listed on the slide. Zinc Collective lists. Robbie Mook, campaign manager for Hillary Clinton's failed 2016 presidential campaign, is a key advisor.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, if anybody understands pop culture, it's that guy. Who?

[Guy Benson]

The man behind Pokemon Go to the polls. I actually want to play some of the content from these quote vetted creators. This, there's one I think we have from the psych doctor, M.D. this is about an election anxiety. Can we put up that video?

[Kumperly Smug]

Eight things you can do for election anxiety. 1. Limit news consumption to be selective about social media.

[Guy Benson]

Stay informed but balanced. Use deep breathing for anxiety. Share concerns with others. Prioritize sleep, take action if. Oh my God, I can't even.

[Michael Duncan]

Therapeutic was. Oh my God.

[John Ashbrook]

Of course, none of that says think for yourself.

[Josh Holmes]

No, it's.

[Michael Duncan]

But it's also just so Funny and ridiculous. Like, you got a, I don't know, relatively attractive young woman pointing to things on her screen.

[Guy Benson]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

To deal with post traumatic stress, dude.

[Guy Benson]

To these people, is therapy.

[Michael Duncan]

But this is what they're like, yes, we need this.

[Guy Benson]

Right?

[Kumperly Smug]

This is what happens when you're like, I can't do presidential fitness because it'll give me trauma. You grow up and being like, I can't handle an election day, please. I'm on TikTok looking for eight steps not to lose my mind.

[Guy Benson]

A young guy looks at that and they're like, I think I'm just going to go to the gym. You know, Like, I, you know, I'm.

[Michael Duncan]

Going to slide in that chick's DMS first and see if I can provide some therapeutic. Right. I mean, the thing that strikes me is so amazing that gets lost in the shuffle with Democratic operatives. And there have been Republican operatives who've done this in the past, too. You come up short and you start doing the nuts and bolts diagnostic of why it is that you've lost. And they clearly understand it was a podcast election, new media election, huge advantage for Trump and whatever. But, like, ultimately, it doesn't matter what era you're running an election. There's one side that feels pretty much like, I don't know if everybody heard our story. I like our right. And then there is another side. There is, like, we have to be super specific and cryptic and try to figure out how the right silos we can couple together into a winning coalition. And like, that's the latter is where Democrats find themselves. Right? Because they have no argument whatsoever. Like, that woman is doing the pointing and the therapeutic and the whatever. Like, at no point in the seven things was there a discussion about what it is that could benefit you from voting Democrat. Yep.

[Kumperly Smug]

Dude, that is because we've discussed this at length. Of the biggest challenge for Dems is they cannot admit that their policies are hated by the public and they think everything's a communication problem. They're like, so it's clear that Americans want a secure border. They want to get rid of these criminals, these illegal immigrants. They want to make cities safe. They want to make this country safe again. We're not going to address any of that shit.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Kumperly Smug]

We're going to be like, here's how we're going to get influencers to be like, you need therapy because it's an election day.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah. Well, I think fundamentally their problem is they stop trying to win the argument. Right. Like, Kamala announces, you know, she's replacing Joe Biden and what was. It was Brad Summer. Yeah, it was Vibes. They didn't actually have to, like, convince the electorate that she was right. And the same media who said she was, like, terrible for the first three years, the Biden administration turns around and they're writing glowing profiles of her. It was like the most superficial presidential campaign in history. And that's what this strategy is. It's. It isn't actually trying to win any of the arguments, any of the 80, 20 issues. It's just, we're going to do more therapy and we're going to talk about Vibes, and that's somehow how we're going to be Republicans.

[Michael Duncan]

It just reminds me, I mean, remember after the 2012 election when the Obama system basically convinced everybody in the outside world that they had new magic? Oh, yeah. That was, like, all about digital, just targeting. And they figured out how to put algorithms associated with social media to target individual voters and the panhandle. And they were going to do all these things, and they wrote books about it and everything else. And then there was a crew whose job was to raise money from major donors who had to take the component that was being sold to a mainstream media and go to a major donor audience because they were receptive to what was in the New York Times. And, like, that era of Republican politics has long since been, that'll never happen again.

[John Ashbrook]

Right?

[Michael Duncan]

Because there's none of our major donors really, like, whatever the New York Times says is what we need to do. But Democrats are relying on that shit, right? So, like, somebody reads in the New York Times that it's like a podcast influencer election, and Trump does better than they do. And our boy Alex Bruschowitz, who's come on and talked about all of that, like, they'll take a quote from him, and rather than understand what he's saying, they'll put it in the 17th paragraph, and then they'll ship it off to the DCCC, who will be like, see? This is what they did better than us.

[Guy Benson]

Give me money.

[Michael Duncan]

So, like, it makes no difference that we bankrupt our country, the next generation, we allow all these illegal immigrants in. We make us demonstrably less safe. You can't live in our cities or anything else. The problem is we don't have enough TikTok stars, right? And they're like, I'm gonna fund that. Right? That's where Democrats are.

[Guy Benson]

But they've always been there. To your point, after that 2012 election of Barack Obama, it's all whiz, bang. They had this whiz bang blueprint. Remember they were gonna do battleground Texas? Oh, yeah. Remember that was the next big thing.

[Kumperly Smug]

100%.

[Guy Benson]

And now Texas is redder than ever.

[Michael Duncan]

Yes.

[Guy Benson]

More red than it was after that election.

[Michael Duncan]

Yes.

[Guy Benson]

And they did the same thing, remember, in Israel. They. They took those Obama consultants over to Israel and they were like, oh, well, we're gonna beat Netanyahu. They've tried to export the Obama strategy without actually understanding why Obama won and thought that, like, they could just do this whiz bang and win every election. And demographics is destiny. And they ate shit in election after election.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, hats off to the crew of billionaires who are stroking big checks for this sucker. It's gonna end up.

[John Ashbrook]

Keep doing it.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. It's gonna end up very, very much like the previous. So our question of the day, I want to mold those first two topics.

[Guy Benson]

Okay.

[Michael Duncan]

Right. So the Heinrich Mexico thing and then the pitch that the major donors are getting. I want you to come up, you, the listener for a question of the day, come up with your pitch on the destination of where it is that you would hold this pitch and what would it be to your average billionaire Democratic donor? Like, what does that sound like?

[John Ashbrook]

For example, you might hold the pitch meeting in Uganda, and the pitch might be for a native of Uganda to run for mayor of New York City.

[Michael Duncan]

That would work.

[John Ashbrook]

Just an idea, dude.

[Kumperly Smug]

I bet billionaires in New York are dumb enough to vote for someone like that.

[Guy Benson]

Maybe. Maybe a live podcast for Gavin Newsom at French Laundry.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, yeah, that'd be something like that. But whatever you come up with good stuff. So you're gonna go do that. Be funny if you're funny. We'll get you back on as long as you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Friday program and you have a hot take. We'll read it back to you on Thursday. We look forward to reading all of your responses. Another issue that we've been dealing with, the Texas Dem thing. We just talked about Texas in some ways, but it all is a little bit of the same. There's like a biannual tradition in Democrat circles in Texas in that every time that they are going to lose a vote that they think has part of a national import, they just get on a plane and leave town.

[Kumperly Smug]

It's so ridiculous. It's already. This keeps happening.

[Michael Duncan]

It keeps happening over and over again. So this time it's about redistricting. Also about flood relief, by the way. Same thing. It's the same session that was called by Governor Abbott to deal with the flood relief. Obviously, we're all well aware of the tragedy that was the Texas floods. But also they have a redistricting plan. They're fearful that they're going to lose a couple of seats, Congressional seats. So they get on a plane and go to like see J.B. fett, J.B. pritzker in Illinois, which also seems like Illinois is like a real destination haven for Democrats trying to get out of their day jobs in state legislatures.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah. It's like a non extradition country for libs.

[Michael Duncan]

And I found everybody in Texas have a huge appreciation for fat billionaire progressives. Right. Don't they just love them? They love them. They do extremely like they do. It resonates.

[Guy Benson]

It's just funny that they went to one of the most gerrymandered states in the union to protest gerrymandering Texas.

[John Ashbrook]

I remember the last time they did this, I think was a couple years ago, and they were raising money to support them. They were like, literally democrats came to D.C. and they were like, please give money so that they can have food and they can have a place to stay.

[Michael Duncan]

I do remember that.

[John Ashbrook]

Like they were this downtrodden group of people.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And I cannot wait to get Guy Benson's take on. On this. Texas.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

No, we're going to ask him all about it, but it turns out the end of this story is Abbott is basically not fooling around. And he is said that they're going to observe a legal opinion that basically like vacates their seat if they don't show up, which is going to be a showdown at some point here. They're supposed to be reconvening yesterday, essentially. We'll see how that all plays out.

[Guy Benson]

I. I will not be satisfied until a Texas Ranger on a horse.

[Kumperly Smug]

Yep.

[Guy Benson]

Goes through the streets of Chicago and wrestles up some dad, hog ties them and drags them back to Texas.

[Michael Duncan]

I love it.

[John Ashbrook]

Maybe we could get Walker, Texas Ranger to do that.

[Guy Benson]

Now we're talking.

[Michael Duncan]

That sounds good. That sounds good. Everybody likes that. All right, we gotta get the Guy Benson, one of our absolute favorites here at the Ruthless Variety Program. He's usually our live guy. Like anytime we need some yucks, call.

[Guy Benson]

Him the big guns.

[Michael Duncan]

You need somebody who's like, you know, quick on their feet, recognizable figure.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Also fits with the culture of the program. Him, Guy Benson. How are you, sir?

[Josh Holmes]

I'm great. I missed the we're all going golfing attire memo coming in here. So I feel a bit foolish in this jacket, but I'll survive.

[Michael Duncan]

We needed to update it. I think we. What we Sent him was the professorial. Which is what you sort of an expertise.

[Josh Holmes]

I did forget my monocle at home.

[Michael Duncan]

Which I apologize for.

[Josh Holmes]

And of course it is also shaded in smug's honor.

[Michael Duncan]

A shaded monocle.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Michael Duncan]

That's good. We should maybe sell them shaded monocle. So how are you, pal? I mean you're look, you're working. You're everywhere these days.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep. Busy fox. Welcome to the family. Keeps me busy in town hall. I was. So I got a little. A bird told me that this was happening like weeks in advance and it was one of those secrets that you wanted to tell everyone that you knew. But I knew that could like maybe get me fired. So I didn't want to tell it that badly.

[Michael Duncan]

So are you telling us man, when.

[Josh Holmes]

You finally let it fly as.

[Michael Duncan]

As long. Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

It was meant to be.

[Michael Duncan]

It felt like, you know when you pick up the wedding ring but you haven't proposed.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

And you're just holding onto that sucker.

[Guy Benson]

It's like a live grenade.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, it's like a live grenade. That's what it felt like for several weeks. No, it's great to be here and it's great to be working with you. You've been a long time friend of the program.

[Josh Holmes]

That's right. And you've been on my show many, many times. We finally got smug on there on the Guy Benson show.

[Michael Duncan]

That's what I hear. And he didn't embarrass any of us.

[Josh Holmes]

For the most part, I would say. Yeah, that's right. So we'll have to. We'll have to continue the clean sweep at some point and just get the rotation through here because you're kind enough to have me back.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. I don't know these fellas. Light embarrassment maybe, but that's for the most part, I think they can take care of me without much of a problem. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, couple of serious things and then I want to play games and have a bunch of fun.

[Josh Holmes]

Great.

[Michael Duncan]

But over the weekend, I hadn't seen this until you had your ex post about this Hamas terrorist leader. This guy, what is it? Ghazi Hamad or something like that. Hamas leader who was doing some television as one does in Hamas. You gotta get out there and really spread the word.

[Josh Holmes]

Get your message out. If the Europeans and the Democrats aren't doing it enough for you. And I say that actually with sadness because like it's so scary to see how this is happening. But occasionally they have to like directly deliver their propaganda. So this is what he was doing.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. You don't like to do it all the time, mostly through surrogates. But this time this guy goes out there and I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but basically he was saying like a silver lining, like part of the good that came. And again, I'm paraphrasing of October 7th was the fact that the world has sort of been ignited and understands the plight of the Palestinian people. And of course now we can get closer to a two state solution, since we just murdered and abducted people at random on October 7th. And I forget exactly what you said, but it resonated. It was like, well, you just told on yourself, right? Like this was the plan all along of what these people intend to do and how they hijack public discourse. It is not a constitutional convention. It is a terrorist attack. And that's what's happened.

[Josh Holmes]

This guy, Ghazi Hamad, he was the same one who gave an interview a few weeks after October 7th. So back in 2023, where he just said straight up and. Cause I use the word propaganda, One thing that's somewhat useful about guys like this is that they do simply say out loud what they actually believe, right? They put up a bunch of fake statistics and accusations all the time, but when they're giving Arab language interviews, they are just saying what they actually think. So right after October 7, he said, oh yeah, we will keep doing these massacres until the Jews are dead and Israel is gone. Like we're gonna keep doing it over and over again until they're annihilated. It's not some conspiracy theory that we're projecting onto them. This is their stated goal. They are a genocidal group and then they twist the word genocide to use against Israel, which is like such a sick thing. So here's the same guy coming out saying new useful things in the sense that they are true. Saying one of the fruits, he said there were three fruits of October 7th. That was the fruits of October 7th. And a big one is like, oh, it showed how vulnerable the Israelis are. It has rallied the world against Israel. Like our murderous massacre of their women and children was such a great thing for us because the world rallied to us. And then the other one was, they're gonna give us a state. Now they don't want a two state solution. They want a one state solution with all the Jews gone and dead. But he feels like they are closer to that thanks to. He was basically blowing kisses and throwing bouquets at these European leaders and Carney up in Canada saying, look, we kill a bunch of Jews and It's amazing. Look at our luck. They're. The world is doing exactly what they want them to.

[Michael Duncan]

It's just.

[Josh Holmes]

It makes you sick.

[John Ashbrook]

It totally makes you sick. It does. And you were saying earlier, this guy didn't exactly take a vow of poverty. Isn't he one of the wealthiest guys in the Middle East?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. If you look at some of the top leaders of Hamas, those who have not been liquidated by the Israelis, the ones who have been harbored in Qatar, they're worth billions.

[John Ashbrook]

It's not because it's.

[Josh Holmes]

Which I feel like, couldn't they fix some alleged starving with billions? Oh, you think of dollars? I mean, but that's the other thing. Thing. The more the Israelis try to bring food into the Gaza Strip through various ways, the more Hamas says, no, not good enough. Not that way. Can't be that way. Can't be that way. Has to be the only way that we approve of. And then the United nations and the Europeans and a lot of democrats all line up and say, yes, only the thing that Hamas approves us is what we say.

[Michael Duncan]

It will definitely get to its intended target. No question the good people are gonna receive that when the billionaire is swiping it at the pork well.

[Josh Holmes]

And you see. So there's a few things on the starvation point because I don't want to downplay a very serious humanitarian issue. I think an acute problem that does exist in Gaza. You also see the fact that they've been telling us, Hamas and their mouthpieces around the world that there's been famine and starvation in Gaza for two years. Like, it started October 8th. Oh, the Israelis are starving us. So it's a boy who cried wolf syndrome to. Now you finally get to something approaching that reality, and they've already been lying to us for two years about it. Then they also make claims like, oh, disproportionately children are starving. Like, how does that work? How is it disproportionately children unless adults are making a choice to eat the food and not give it to the kids?

[Michael Duncan]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

There was a clip of a guy, because they've been airdropping food into Gaza. And of course, Hamas hates that as well. There was this guy selfie videoing with the parachutes landing with food, saying they're treating us like dogs, that this is not how you deliver food when people are hungry. This guy, with all respect to him, probably wears, like, a double D bra. He is so big. I'm like, sir, you have not missed any meals, obviously. So if in fact There are really hungry kids and there are in Gaza. How does that explain you? Honestly, the answer is fair point. Unbelievable corruption and evil.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And it's all. Well, it's all Hamas. And sometimes the world will be like, ooh, that video of the actually starving Israeli hostage being forced to dig his own grave on camera. We don't like that, Hamas, you should surrender and release the hostages anyway, what we're doing. Oh, right. Back to attacking, berating, pressuring, threatening Israel. On and on it goes. And basically Hamas is out there being like, hey world, this is working. Thanks.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, this is working.

[Guy Benson]

And the media being willful in its collusion with a terrorist regime. I feel like every single week, like my opinion of them gets lower and lower. There was that New York Times piece with this child who had this like crippling congenital disease or something that had become basically the face of the starvation in Gaza. Of course, when they put out the original article, they made no mention of the fact, you know. No.

[Michael Duncan]

That they had to apologize for a week about.

[Josh Holmes]

And I think they stealth edited. They had a story that claimed that he was born fully healthy, which is not true. Stealth edited that away. Had to put out a tweet days later being like, oops are bad. They cropped out the not starving sibling in the photo that was front page of the New York Times.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, I mean, it's willful. And I think like Semaphore did a follow up on this. I think like this morning, maybe yesterday, that it was like, well, New York Times and other publications are calibrating how it is that they cover this kind of thing because as we all know, the youth in America has very, very strong opinion opinions of being pro Palestinian. And I'm thinking to myself, like, first of all, fuck you, it's not true. But second of all, how is it that you collectively, as a media and even in coverage of the way media is doing, the medias is saying that there's a special calibration that's happening. And then of course, what they used is the Nelk boys interview with Netanyahu to say all of their young listeners became irate. And. And they had to apologize for all of that. They did. My sense is that you don't tune into the Nelk boys when you're trying to get like what's happening in Gaza. So I'm guessing this is just some cross pollinization, but they've used it as this whole argument to suggest there's not a binary moral choice here. The young are just pro Palestinian and the media is gonna have to recognize this important fact without actually giving anybody any of the facts. And it's super frustrating from our standpoint. We have a younger audience. You have a younger audience. I don't get the sense at all that people are confused about what's happening. I do think that there is a segment of activism in the progressive community that has pushed this narrative, but I just don't see it being that true, do you?

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, some of the polling suggests that there's been a pretty significant turn definitely among the young left. Yeah, right, right. The young left has definitely gone like pretty hardcore anti Israel. And it's like this weird chicken and egg thing at the New York. We've got to calibrate because. Why do you think they become so pro Palestine? Maybe because of a bunch of bullshit that they're being fed constantly and it's your job to tell the truth and they refuse to do it because of this phenomenon that's being fed by propaganda all the time. Like, there are fair critiques of Israel and of Netanyahu, that's fine. But it is breathtaking to me the extent to which really any powerful criticism of Israel is rooted in lies. Right? Like absolute lies and. Or ignorance. And I think a lot of it is ignorance. Right. The activists, the hardcore people know what they're doing. They know exactly what they're doing. They're doing it for all sorts of different reasons. Some of it is just straight up anti Semitism, of course, bigotry. Some of it is just anti Western civilization mentality. Israel being an outpost of civilization in a tough neighborhood. Although isn't it interesting that Israel's standing is actually improving in their neighborhood while it's falling in the West.

[Michael Duncan]

Yes, yes.

[Josh Holmes]

That's also another weird thing here.

[Michael Duncan]

But we talk about this all the time. I mean, it's basically because the rooted. The left is rooted in this intersectionality nonsense. Where it has. It has. Is literally just taking leave of their senses and it's basically become an advocacy organization for anything.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it's also just like the thing du jour. So like Israel, they have. The activist class has decided that Israel and Gaza is the thing for the better part of two years. But they often. A lot of the ignorance is just people who are like, oh, my friends who post performatively about whatever, whatever. The good thing is they're really into the Gaza thing. So I guess so am I right? I think a lot of it doesn't come from any place of understanding or principle or conviction. It's sort of like, oh, this is what we do.

[Guy Benson]

Well, I think also it's sort of moved beyond political news, like a political news story that you might read in the New York Times or see on CNN and prime time. It's now. I mean, I remember just watching Good Morning America this morning and it was like the lead story about this crisis in Gaza. And of course, the source for all this information on this starvation is the Hamas led Gaza Ministry of Health. Right. And it says that real small there, you know, in the infographic. But it's like that's not part of the package that they produce. They just, you know, show the devastation.

[Josh Holmes]

When Donald Trump says something that might even be somewhat debatable. Every headline in Chiron is Trump, comma, without evidence, comma, blah, blah, blah. But Hamas says anything. They're like, like, put that out there, right?

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, it's totally right. Trump says something. It's like he's an idiot. Critics maintain, you know what I mean, where it's like Hamas is just a gold standard of information. You know, it's kind of like Guinness Book of World Records. You just can't doubt it. It's right there in print. That's what they say. Yeah, it's depressing. But I did want to get your take on that. We also covered this Texas Dem situation and the redistricting and the flood relief and all that. And they somehow get on a plane and head out of Texas. Feels like we've seen this movie. Like it's almost a biannual tradition.

[Guy Benson]

They do it frequently in Texas.

[Michael Duncan]

That's like the thing, right?

[Guy Benson]

Yeah. Leaving town.

[Michael Duncan]

It's like, yeah, yeah. When we have to vote on something.

[Josh Holmes]

They did in Wisconsin too, right. With the Act 10 or whatever that was under Walker. They call them the fleabaggers. They went to Illinois. They always go to Illinois. That's the destination, it seems it's the.

[Guy Benson]

Only in migration to the state, those fleeing Democrats.

[Michael Duncan]

But like, what do you make of all that?

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, I'm not surprised. They're of course dressing this up as a crusade for democracy, as is everything that they do in their own mind. You know, I've seen some people saying, oh, careful, two can play at this game. I'm like, yeah, they have been. They have been.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And I think it was Aaron Blake at the Washington Post noted earlier today, he's like, yeah, he's like, if this becomes an arms race, the Republicans have much bigger and better arms on this one because the Democrats have exhausted their gerrymandering most places. Although a guy, John Fleischman in California said there is a scenario where Newsom could come in, lead a thing to change the Constitution in California and literally draw every Republican out.

[John Ashbrook]

Boom.

[Josh Holmes]

Every Republican out of California, all nine of them. But then you'd have massive nuclear response in other red states. I mean, I mean, so if they wanna light the match, which they sort of have in places like Maryland and Illinois, and then try to stop the Republicans from doing like, even if the Republicans succeed with this entire plan in Texas, and there's potential risks of it, cuz if you kind of dilute the redness of a district, if you're trying to, then there's a lot more swingy districts that can go in a wave here the other way. But if the Republicans do this and get exactly their way and create five new seats for themselves, Texas will still be less gerrymander.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, totally.

[Josh Holmes]

Than California, which has an independent Commission. Right. That's 52 seats, nine of which are Republicans. It's like 17% of the House seats in California are Republican compared to 40% of the vote that goes Republican in Illinois. It's like a similar number.

[Michael Duncan]

Illinois is unbelievable. If you look at those districts, like if you just pull up a congressional district map of Illinois, it is the wildest gerrymandering site. You'll have a district that.

[Josh Holmes]

And that's where they've gone.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And that's where they protest the gerrymandering. We must go to Illinois where this.

[Michael Duncan]

Is where law and order can be respectful.

[John Ashbrook]

Of course, the Garden of Eden for Democrat corruption right out of Chicago.

[Michael Duncan]

You could hit a five iron across the district at one point when it's just thin.

[Guy Benson]

Oh yeah. They're like snakes.

[Kumperly Smug]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

And then just connect the east side to the west side. It's just, it's wild.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep.

[Michael Duncan]

So listen, I, I think the world at politics, what I think that you do better than anybody else. Just take a step back. We're what, eight months, eight months into the administration. You know, I think a lot of people were optimistic that President Trump could accomplish some of the things that he had set out to accomplish in 2024. I think a lot of us feel like that happened very, very quickly. And he's been banking campaign promises pretty much bi weekly ever since. And so there's an awful lot of momentum. Where do you think? Just politics right now? I mean, it just feel like Trump people, you're all, if you voted for them, you feel great about it. Democrats obviously, scattered all over the place. But like, what's your sense of the country?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I mean, that's about it, right? I would say so. Trump, if you think about big ticket items and promises and what he's delivered on the big beautiful bill now, big beautiful law, that was the whole big economic thrust of his campaign. And now. So that wasn't something he'd do on his own. Right. That had to be Congress as well. They collectively got that done by the deadline he imposed, which I think is borderline miraculous and hugely important for the economy. He did promise tariffs. I've never been a fan of them. I've been at least very skeptical of them. I'm still a little bit worried about how this might go. I hope these trade deals get sort of done and we can move past, but I think there's some concern there. But it's not like he sprung that on people. He said he was gonna do it, he's done. I wouldn't call it an achievement, but it's not something you can say, hey, like, where did this come from? He is the only president who actually enforced every single presidential red line going back to the existence of the Iranian regime to make sure they can't have nuclear weapons. He had the chance, thanks to the Israelis, to cripple the program and he had a lot of chatter not to do it. And he did it like full fledged, huge, A plus commander in chiefing there for them totally. And all the false claims and sky is falling. World War 3 stuff just totally petered out. Big, huge win for him. The border, of course. Right. I mean that's a total victory. At least stopping the flow. Now they're fighting him tooth and nail on returning a lot of the illegal immigrants back to their countries of origin. But that has been so much progress that the issue is now falling in terms of importance to people because it's fixed basically, right? So that's a double edged sword, but you can't scoff at that. So look, he'll do things like I did not like the firing the labor statistics woman because he didn't like the statistics. Like that's, I think that's not your favorite. I think it's a bad look. I think it could backfire in a lot of ways. And I've said so. And I just, I think it's destabilizing a lot of things and then, and I absolutely still believe that. But then he'll put out a truth social that says like, hey, if you want to end the misery in Gaza, release the hostages and surrender Hamas. And he's like the only world leader saying things like this on a regular basis. The only Ones on a major scale who's passing the test over and over again. I'm like, well, I can't stay too mad at this thing because at least he's not pro Hamas. That was a low bar. But like he's clearing it and that actually means a lot.

[Michael Duncan]

That's a fair point. I mean, one of the great surprises of this administration is, you know, in the first four years you just didn't really get a good flavor until the end with the Abraham Accords and everything else. You really didn't get a good flavor of what is Trump foreign policy. Right. You knew you had this very abrasive relationship with NATO countries, you knew about all of the trade back and forth.

[Josh Holmes]

But NATO, talk about another achievement.

[Michael Duncan]

But that's what I'm getting to is like this time now, in eight short months, he's sitting at NATO and they're like, thank God for Donald Trump. And I'm like, wow, this is incredible. That is an amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

Do you say 2%? We meant 5%. What?

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

No, I mean that's huge. You can't, I think, downplay some of that. And by the. On the Iran strikes, it actually part of the reason I had written a piece before they happened, basically saying this would very much be in line with Donald Trump's worldview. It is not World War III warmongering. He is perfectly comfortable with aggressive, decisive use of American military power, whether it's enforcing Obama's red line in Syria, whether it's absolutely crushing isis, whether it's ending the life of Soleimani. Right. He was willing to do it if he felt like it would send a message, be successful and not put American lives at undue risk and not be some sort of giant open ended project of nation building. So Fordeau, in my mind was exactly the type of thing that was like perfectly America first Trumpian foreign policy.

[Michael Duncan]

I totally agree.

[Josh Holmes]

And then he did it and all the people said, oh my God, look what's. And they've been proven wrong. He's been proven right.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. I do think it's one of the great achievements in this administration. Cuz it does send a message to.

[Josh Holmes]

It's one of the great achievements of the last 50 years.

[Michael Duncan]

I totally agree. I totally agree.

[Josh Holmes]

And it bothered me a little bit. You know, I've never been a big Trump guy. Like, I'm very open about that. I try to take each decision and tweet as they come. Right. It did bother me a little bit that all of these living presidents who all said the same exact words about Iran. Not a single one came out in support, even a statement supporting what Trump did, enforcing all of their unanimous foreign policy declarations.

[Michael Duncan]

That's such a good point. I mean, we talk about this sometimes.

[Josh Holmes]

Matt Continenti made the point. I just want to give him credit. And I was like, oh, yeah, Bush, Bush, in fairness to W, he never says anything about politics.

[Michael Duncan]

Sort of had his hands full in the region.

[Josh Holmes]

But the other one. Exactly.

[Michael Duncan]

Not for nothing, he might be like.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm just gonna take a seat on this. But these Democrats, you know, Clinton's out there, Obama's spouting off, Biden's giving, you know, speeches, stuff like you guys are willing to wade in. And then here's the thing where technically this was your policy that he enforced. Crickets.

[Michael Duncan]

It's so true. We talk about this all the time. When you think about Trump's foreign policy, it's like, okay, everybody has established that having a nuclear weapon in Tehran is something that would not be good for this world, right? Everybody, for generations has said, we got to do everything we can do to stop that. Everybody has talked about all of the different sort of things that you can do, whether there's sanctions or embargoes or economic inhibitors, and none of it sort of comes to fruition. And now you get to a point where they're actually going to have it. And that question comes in front of you like, is this an existential problem? If the answer is yes, as everybody has agreed, you'd only have one choice, right? And like, Donald Trump is like, I think the only one in my lifetime who sees the binary choice. Okay, there it is.

[Josh Holmes]

Barack Obama and Joe Biden sent the Iranians wave after wave of negotiators and pallets of cash, Right. Donald Trump sent them bunker buster bombs that crippled their program. I'm like, you know what? I'm for that.

[Michael Duncan]

I like that.

[Josh Holmes]

I like that one better.

[Michael Duncan]

Alright, so we gotta play a game with you.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Michael Duncan]

Hard pivot. You were a reigning champion on this.

[Josh Holmes]

Thank you.

[Michael Duncan]

And for those of you who didn't see in Milwaukee, you should go back and check this out, because this is a difficult game that you can explain in a minute, Duncan, but it requires a certain deftness. Quick on your feet. And, you know, I knew, I appreciated that about Guy, but I didn't know how badly he just absolutely crushed us in in Milwaukee.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah, he's a pro. He's a pro. Pro's pro. So the way we play hard pivot is I'm going to be asking the, the questions here. I think you're going to be the judge, Holmes.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay.

[Guy Benson]

And the way that it works is, you know, our fascination with, you know, political media is when a politician has to ask a question. You know, they have some comms director in the ear being like, sir, you know, I know they're going to ask you about X, but really need to. To focus on why, like, you need to get to the jobs report or you need to get to your policy on rural agriculture or whatever it is. So you find these fascinating clips where a politician pivots to this other thing that is not germane to the question.

[Michael Duncan]

And you wonder how it is that they were talking about that. Right, right.

[Guy Benson]

So I'm going to ask you a question. You're going to have a pivot that you have to take the question to.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay.

[Guy Benson]

And then as sort of a bonus point, we also have plugs.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay.

[Guy Benson]

You know, a book, a podcast, something for you to wedge in there.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Guy Benson]

And then, you know, Holmes judges who.

[Michael Duncan]

It's guy against Ashbrook on this one.

[Guy Benson]

That's correct.

[Josh Holmes]

Can I just quickly say, I have a story I have to tell you.

[Michael Duncan]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

This was a. An organic hard pivot experience in the wild.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

That happened yesterday. So I was on Fox News Sunday. I was on the panel with Shannon Breen and one of the members of the panel, someone I'm not gonna like, turn him on blast. He seemed like a nice guy, but a younger guy. He had worked in the Biden administration. I'm not sure if he'd been on the show before, but he was sort of the Democrat on the panel. And we got two topics or two segments, and this guy hard pivoted twice. It was a spectacle. I was just like, oh, wow. So the first, I believe, actual topic was Biden's age thing and the COVID up there. And then the Russiagate stuff, that was the topic. And his answer, he didn't even pivot. He just came out of the gate with infrastructure projects that Joe Biden was responsible for. And I was just like, my God, he didn't even pivot. It's like the question wasn't asked. So that was one. So then we, like stepped out of the studio and came back for our second panel and the topic was Sydney Sweeney jeans. And he goes, this is a right wing distraction from Trump firing the labor statistics woman.

[Michael Duncan]

And I was like, the American eagle's in on it.

[Josh Holmes]

Wow. And I said, this was. And I actually said on air. I'm like, what a truly insidious distraction that it started a week before Trump did the Thing that was the distraction. That is really quite something. It's good planning, really. So it was wild to watch and almost inspiring, actually, because here I am.

[Michael Duncan]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

I can't compete with that. I'm gonna try.

[Michael Duncan]

That is. I'm so glad you raised that, because sometimes you just need an example of what it is that we're talking about. That sounds like an absolutely perfect way. So are we gonna tell him, like, basically who he is?

[Guy Benson]

Yeah. All right. So your character. And you're perfect here in the blazer.

[Michael Duncan]

He's taking shots at your blazer right away.

[Guy Benson]

Prominent political science professor at an Ivy League university who regularly advises Democrats on voter trends.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, that's so good.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, I'm going. I'm at. I'm at Brown.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, there you go. There you go. Okay. All right.

[Guy Benson]

And regardless of what the question is, what you have to pivot to is condemning the American Eagle jeans ad as Nazi propaganda and white supremacy.

[Josh Holmes]

Voter trends. I'm an expert on voter trends.

[John Ashbrook]

And.

[Josh Holmes]

And we got to condemn to the Nazi.

[Guy Benson]

And here is your plot.

[Michael Duncan]

And then you can take a look at that, right?

[Josh Holmes]

Can I look now?

[Michael Duncan]

You can look right now at that. And then he's going to give you the question. Voter trends. Okay. I think. Boy, it's a lot to keep track of in this game.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's a lot of moving parts, fellas, right?

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, this is. You got to be an a gamer to be able to handle this.

[Guy Benson]

Again, the pivot is condemning the American Eagle Gene's ad as Nazi propaganda. Yeah. Here's your question. Thanks for joining us. Polling shows Democrats are the least popular they've been as a party in decades. What is driving this trend?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I regret to say I don't really believe the data or the polls. I think that we've seen the President of the United States firing people when he doesn't like data. And I wish, frankly, I could do the same with a lot of these pollsters. I don't believe that the Democrats are as unpopular as you say they are. I mean, my goodness, look at what the right wing is up to these days. Abject Nazism. They are promoting eugenics, which, frankly, we sometimes support, but not in this case. Not this way. The blonde hair, the blue eyes. My physical reaction to it, which I was ashamed of, deeply ashamed of how my body reacted. Deeply ashamed. Nazism on parade. And it must be condemned. And I'm sure you will all join me in doing so. And if I may, in this entire endeavor, I want to condemn a book that is currently Being published by a dear friend of mine who's running for mayor in New York City because I don't think he thought through the title. I fully support him and his campaign, but the title is they Will not See Us Coming. Good. So far. Building a National Socialist Movement in America, which on the surface seems wonderful, but National Socialism does have a connotation that unfortunately is a bit Sydney Sweeney esque, if you will. And so I think I'm condemning the title of the book until they tweak it, which I think he can maybe do by executive order when he is mayor of New York.

[Michael Duncan]

Well done, sir. Well done.

[Guy Benson]

I love how he, he, he saved the Sydney Sweeney to the very end.

[Michael Duncan]

Swooped her up, referenced, and then swooped her up in the end. That's pro stuff. Pro stuff.

[John Ashbrook]

This is going to be hard to compete with.

[Guy Benson]

I feel like the.

[John Ashbrook]

I feel like the throwaway wrestler who they put up against Hulk Hogan at the beginning of the match.

[Michael Duncan]

The heel.

[Guy Benson]

Okay, Ashbrook, you are the spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom. Your pivot, sir, is promoting the governor's enthusiastic support for the Texas Democrats who have fled the state to shut down business in the Texas house. Okay, here is your plug.

[John Ashbrook]

Let me see this. So, Gavin Newsom, Spocks.

[Michael Duncan]

Yep.

[John Ashbrook]

And I need to. To praise the Texas Dems. And this is my plug.

[Michael Duncan]

Let me just.

[John Ashbrook]

This is just so good.

[Michael Duncan]

I'm actually jealous. I mean, this is, this is the way that it works for you, the listener, for you, the viewer. This is, this is basically it. I mean, your, your boss goes out, they're going to do an interview. This is it.

[Josh Holmes]

Hey, don't forget, don't forget. We really got to stay on message.

[Michael Duncan]

Here's the plug. Yeah. Okay.

[Guy Benson]

John, there's growing concern that the $100 million raised by fire aid for the victims of the Palisades fire may never make it to those in need. Many victims say they haven't seen a dime. All these months later, what is the governor's office doing to make sure this massive sum of money is actually reaching its intended beneficiaries?

[John Ashbrook]

You know the problem with you right wing MAGA journalists? You kids who come in here with your hats on backwards and your golf shirts. I'm not even going to ask you where you were on January, because by the look of you, I know exactly where you were. How dare you ask a question like that about our good governor? And I would suggest to you, sir, if you want to understand reality, if you want to stop with your misinformation, you need to tune in to my boss's new podcast entitled, get that How Democrat Donkeys Can Dominate the Midterms. Because anytime you spread your misinformation, you are literally lying to voters. Voters who will turn out and defend this democracy. Unlike you MAGA people. Unlike you MAGA people who are trying to take the state of Texas from the democratically elected leaders who are serving their constituents to the best of their ability. And that's why they're in Illinois. That's why if they want to come to California and show our people exactly what courage looks like, we will be happy to have them. And I tell you, it was discussed on a right wing podcast earlier today that California might change its district lines. And I promise you that will be the case. There will not be a single Republican left in the state of California because we believe in the message of Texas and we oppose your right wing MAGA message. You stupid reporter, you.

[Kumperly Smug]

Wow.

[Michael Duncan]

That was a lot. That was a lot. I mean, so part of the problem with trying to be a jurist for this particular game is that it's very subjective.

[Josh Holmes]

It is.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, there's. There's subjectivity in all of it. And let me just say, I loved where Smash was on the. The opener. Just coming right at you.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah. Both barrels. And.

[Michael Duncan]

And also just talk. Talking through your outfit. Yeah, that's just a plus stuff. And he got right to this stuff about a paragraph longer than I like.

[Guy Benson]

But it was like a scalpel versus a blunt object.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, that's right. That's right. And then we got guy over here who managed to just. It was like a crochet of all of the pieces, just putting one little knit into another, weaving it in, and then hammering at the very end, the Sydney Sweeney. The Sydney Sweeney piece, which I thought I was gonna have to deduct because he didn't.

[Guy Benson]

He was missing it. Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Like, I knew what he was referring to. But I thought, you know, there's gonna be a deduction if the word Sweeney doesn't come out the guy's mouth. But he did it.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

And for that reason, I gotta give you the returning champion. Yes. He's hard to beat.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm just so, so proud of this whole team. You know, we're out there, we fought really hard, and it's great to come out on top again, but that's like mad respect. Of course. It was a tight one out there.

[Michael Duncan]

Well done, sir. You're still the reigning champion. We're going to start. We're going to get more people involved in this.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Because at some Point. I think we should do like a playoff bracket.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, this guy's definitely a one seat on that deal.

[Guy Benson]

Oh, for sure.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, you guys have a pretty popular bracket thing already, right?

[Michael Duncan]

We do. Well, we do. Yeah. Hack madness.

[Guy Benson]

Every March.

[Josh Holmes]

Madness. So maybe, like, maybe six months away from March to start getting the excitement building. You can do a hard pivot.

[Michael Duncan]

Hard pivot. A bracket. That's a good idea. Listen, I can't thank you enough. You got a very popular radio show. We love going on it. Your podcast, by the way, which you can get anywhere.

[Josh Holmes]

Absolutely. Awesome show dot com. Or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Michael Duncan]

Yep. You're still doing the town hall.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah, Right in there.

[Michael Duncan]

You've got great stuff there. We enjoy everything. We really have fun every time you come in here. The guy. Thanks a bunch.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, I just love him. And I feel like the best man won that competition. That guy is so smooth, so funny, and just a delight to have, I have to say.

[Guy Benson]

I think you did a great job, too.

[Michael Duncan]

I was ready. I was prepared to award you, particularly when you came in hard on J6.

[Guy Benson]

And attacked us personally. I liked that, too.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, I liked that, too. I just felt like his rope in at the end of Sweeney.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

When I was prepared to dock him.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

And he, like, just rescued it at the end. I thought that was. I thought that was enough for the victim. I think he's undefeated in that game.

[John Ashbrook]

He is. He's going to be tough to knock out, too, if we have that tournament he was talking about. Yeah, very tough to knock out.

[Michael Duncan]

He's going to be tough to knock out. All right, so there's other couple things that we're dealing with. Trump's now weighed in on Sydney Sweeney.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

We dealt with this with J.D. vance, and I think that was the first time that the White House had weighed in any substantive way about this ongoing controversy about whether a hot woman can sell jeans means in this country anymore. And variety.

[Kumperly Smug]

When you write about us, feel free to mention us at site credit. Ruthless podcast within the first 42 paragraphs.

[Michael Duncan]

Feel. Feel free. Feel free. You know, it's up to you. You. You go ahead and do it anyway. Trump is on this clip 3.

[Kumperly Smug]

She's like a very hot actress right now.

[Michael Duncan]

She's a registered Republican. Republican. Oh, now I love her aunt. Is that right? You'd be surprised at how many people are Republicans. That's what I wouldn't have known. But I'm glad you told me that. If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is Fantastic. Okay, thank you very much.

[John Ashbrook]

What a legend.

[Michael Duncan]

It's so good. He went on to amplify his own after he'd given it some more thought there on Marine One and put out a truth social, if you don't mind. On graphic five, in part, Sidney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the hottest ad out there. It's for American Eagle, and the jeans are flying off the shelves. Go get him, Sidney. On the other side of the ledger, Jaguar did a stupid seriously Woke advertisement. This is a total disaster. All captivity. The CEO just resigned in disgrace, and the company's in absolute turmoil.

[Kumperly Smug]

All this is right.

[Guy Benson]

He's right about it.

[Michael Duncan]

Who wants to buy a Jaguar after looking at that disgraceful ad? Should they have learned a lesson from Bud Light, which went woke and essentially destroyed in a short campaign, the company, the market cap of destruction has been unprecedented, with billions of dollars foolishly lost. Or just look at woke still singer Taylor swimming. I love that he just wedges that one. It's almost like a. What do you call it?

[Guy Benson]

Mad Libs.

[Michael Duncan]

Like the code that you look for in digital algorithms.

[Guy Benson]

He's keyword stuffing.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, he's just working them all in there. Ever since I alerted the world as to what she was saying, untruth, that I can't stand her hate, exclamation point. She was booed out of the super bowl and became no longer hot. The tide is seriously turned big. Woke is for losers. Being a Republican is what you want to be. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

[John Ashbrook]

Dude, we'll never have another one like him. We just will never, ever have another one like him.

[Guy Benson]

Okay, so my first thought on all of this, and having seen, you know, Trump before, he's boarding many helicopters or airplanes, doing, you know, a few minutes with the press. This is my second favorite to the RBG one, where he was like, oh, I didn't know. You're telling me this is my second favorite.

[Kumperly Smug]

Tiny Dancer starts playing man.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah, it's just the best, I think, like, what I love about Trump, and we talked about this when he went to that G7 summit where he has something on his mind, and then he gets on an airplane and he's like, now I have time to think.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, I'm gonna really.

[Guy Benson]

I'm gonna put out the truth. That's when you get the best bangers from Donald Trump.

[Michael Duncan]

It's the freebase version, right? He's gonna give you a little taste.

[Guy Benson]

He's like, I got some free time.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, no, it'. Here's a little taste of the only.

[Guy Benson]

Donald Trump could talk about how Sydney Sweeney has all caps, hottest ad out there, and then talk about Taylor Swift and Jaguar. But in between all of that, bro, he hit him with the market cap. He's like, light and funny. Light and funny. Light and funny. Your market cap has been destroyed.

[Michael Duncan]

By the way. Buy American. You know what I mean? I'm surprised it didn't work in there.

[Guy Benson]

It's just artistry.

[Michael Duncan]

It really. Dude, it is so funny, the whole thing. And you know what? Here's the thing. We've said this for a lot of weeks. I don't know what to expect, but if the last nine years are any indication, we're gonna get some wild stuff in August we've always gotten with President Trump. I'm not saying that to be hyperbolic. I'm not trying to be. Be like a doomsdayer. I'm just saying.

[Guy Benson]

Are you panicking?

[Michael Duncan]

I don't like. At this point, I'm not. Quite the opposite.

[Kumperly Smug]

We're in the content business.

[Michael Duncan]

We're in the content. In a previous life, I'd be like, oh, what's coming next?

[Guy Benson]

Don't you go panicking.

[Michael Duncan]

No panicking. But now I'm like, I can't wait to see what it is. Because every August that President Trump has been on the political scene, there's a moment where you're like, no way.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, no way.

[Michael Duncan]

Right? Because he's in. He gets in. It's a little different. Everybody's out of D.C. he's, you know, he goes to, like, Bedminster or whatever. He's got staff around. He's obviously working around the clock no matter what. But there's a different information flow because you're not surrounded by all that. It always brings something you don't expect. It always does.

[Guy Benson]

Maybe we'll finally invade Greenland.

[Michael Duncan]

You just never know.

[John Ashbrook]

One can hope.

[Michael Duncan]

We got a couple other real bangers going on. Let's put up this headline in graphic 7. I can't believe this. Denmark zoo asks public to donate unwanted small pets or horses to feed captive predators. Smug. I think you came up with this one.

[Kumperly Smug]

This is a terrific story. This is like. You really hope to find stories like this in the news? It says a zoo in Denmark is asking. This is from CBS News. A zoo in Denmark is asking for the public for donations of unwanted small pets or horses to feed its captive predators. In zoos, we have responsibility to imitate the natural food chain of the animals in terms of both animal welfare and professional integrity. Alborg Zoo said in a post on social media that's the name of the zoo. The zoo in northern Denmark said that chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs were an important part of its diet, of its predators, which we need the whole prey. Reminiscent of what they would hunt in the wild. If you have a healthy animal, this is the best.

[Michael Duncan]

Can we pause on this for a minute? This is the best part of the pitch because the stress in the headline, unwanted animals. And like, obviously you're like, okay, like if you have an animal, it's a pet, right? It's unwanted. Like you could. There's various things that you can do with that. Their suggestion, they want to make sure that you understand the unwanted is not that it's like gonna die, you know, or you. This is, this is not a euthanasia project. What this is, is if you have a healthy animal that has to leave here for various reasons.

[Kumperly Smug]

Various reasons.

[John Ashbrook]

Like a dog that refuses to sit.

[Kumperly Smug]

That's the thing, man. Like when you're at home and if your dog starts acting up, be like, you look like a tax deductible gift right now, bro. Keep it up. Tax compensation, I mean, it's a donation to the. I'm count to three and you're a write off. It's up to you. Balls in your court, you know, Like, I'm not gonna put up with that. So like anyone is jumping on me, I'll take your dog and I'll donate that shit.

[Michael Duncan]

The animals are gently euthanized.

[Kumperly Smug]

So this is the part that I don't agree with.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah, I don't agree with this either.

[Kumperly Smug]

It says here, first off, it says the Zeus says it accepts donated rabbits, guinea pig chickens on weekdays between 10 and 1 10am and 1pm him. But no more than four at a time, which is like, that'd be so sketchy.

[Michael Duncan]

You can't wait to come with your own zoo.

[Kumperly Smug]

What is this guy, a dog walker? Who's had it? Yeah, I got 23 dogs. Here's the thing, I want them all now.

[Michael Duncan]

Guy shows up with all those leashes.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, you have a bad day as a dog talker, the maze of leashes.

[Guy Benson]

Here's the thing, I don't understand.

[Michael Duncan]

You can't just dump them into the lines here.

[Guy Benson]

Yeah, here's the quote. In zoos, we have a responsibility to imitate the natural, natural food chain of the animals. What I don't understand is like, so you're gonna have all these donated pets, you're gonna euthanize them and then just what, throw a carcass in there?

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, seriously, that's what they're saying, to.

[Guy Benson]

Quote Jurassic park, the T. Rex doesn't want to be fed. The T. Rex wants to hunt. If you have these predators, you're trying to imitate their natural environment.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Guy Benson]

Put Fido in there and give them a chance to run away.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Kumperly Smug]

And that's the thing is so as if the audience. The audience doesn't want to be like, and now someone's cat is being thrown into the pit. Okay, cool. I get to watch, like, a polar bear roll up and just give it a swat. No, that's not what we want to see.

[John Ashbrook]

Here's the other.

[Kumperly Smug]

I want to see you throw the horse in there. Let's see the bear versus.

[Michael Duncan]

Dude, this is where this thing goes kind of off the rails. And I want to get to what you. You're going to say in a minute. But I have to make the observation. We're talking, they said, or horses. Like, it's like a guinea pig, a rabbit, like a gerbil or a horse.

[Kumperly Smug]

That's the main event right there. Yeah, but bear versus horse, buddy.

[John Ashbrook]

You got to think about it from a health perspective. You're gonna load these things with synthetic drugs before you feed them to the animals. That's not maha.

[Michael Duncan]

No, no.

[John Ashbrook]

That's not consistent with healthy eating for these predators in the zoo.

[Michael Duncan]

Has to be very concerning. Like, they are gonna ingest whatever chemical just took out that thing.

[John Ashbrook]

Exactly.

[Guy Benson]

I have a funny story from when I had a guinea pig that I think you guys will appreciate.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, my God.

[Guy Benson]

Because I saw guinea pigs were one.

[Kumperly Smug]

They're disgusting things.

[Guy Benson]

Suggested donation. When I was young, I had a guinea pig. He was white in the middle, and he was brown on the top, on the bottom. We called him S'. More. S' more was a great guinea pig. But S' more got sick. We were on a family vacation, and right before the family vacation, my mom took S' more to the vet.

[Michael Duncan]

Get the long needle.

[Guy Benson]

Well, I'll never forget this. They didn't tell me at the time, but my parents told me later. But, like, my mom got a call from the vet, like, two days into the vacation, being like, I mean, s' mores riddled with tumors. Like, s' mores not gonna make it. And they had S' more all, like, hooked up, I'm. I'm assuming to some guinea pig pig style IV or some sort of situation. But my mom tells my dad this, and my dad is just dumbfounded.

[Michael Duncan]

Like. Like the fact. Because there was a choice involved about.

[Guy Benson]

Whether or not that we are somehow preserving this guinea pig's life. And my dad says to my mom, karen, it's a guinea pig. Put it in the tr. So, so, so when I got back from vacation, I didn't have a guinea pig.

[Michael Duncan]

Did they come up with a story?

[Guy Benson]

I'm sure they lied to me, but I ran away. No, I, I, I think he, he went peacefully in the night at the vet.

[Michael Duncan]

He had to come up with something.

[Kumperly Smug]

He is so right. Awesome. 100 correct opinion, Dale Duncan.

[Michael Duncan]

Yet again, yet again, yet again. Guinea pig.

[Kumperly Smug]

Put it in the trash.

[Michael Duncan]

But now you could just go to the zoo.

[Kumperly Smug]

And you know what?

[Michael Duncan]

That fucking end of the line, then.

[Kumperly Smug]

You know, this could be, this is a great example. This is a teachable moment for the kids in a multiple, multiple ways. If the dog's too old, be like, here's what happens, guys. You know, there's a circle of life. Fido, off you go.

[Michael Duncan]

Over the wall, son. Throw the dog in with the tigers.

[Kumperly Smug]

You know what I mean? And, you know, it's kind of like a Viking funeral. Like, you want to see the family dog go out in a blaze of glory? Does he want to be, like, laid out on a vet's bed waiting for you to make the call of, like, hey, we're done with him. The bills are too high.

[Guy Benson]

People are so mad.

[Kumperly Smug]

Do you want Fido to, like, roll into Valhalla? You know, like, make his, his woven ancestors proud? Like, Fido wasn't laid out for three weeks on a machine in the vet's office. He made a run of it, but the tiger got his ass.

[Michael Duncan]

He makes a run of it, roll into Valhalla. I can't. We're getting so much hate mail. Well, thank you for highlighting that uplifting story. We're all going to look at our pets this evening a little differently. I don't know if you guys have noticed. It's a hard transition.

[John Ashbrook]

More ways than one.

[Michael Duncan]

It turns out the wnba, it's been making a lot of news lately. And one thing in particular has caught the eye here in the variety program. It turns out that they're throwing dildos of a particular color onto the court. They're green dildos, which are appearing over and over and over again. And it's become so problematic that you now have WNBA players that are taking to social media. Please urge fans not to throw green dildos onto the court. I guess my question to you guys is, like, they're still making news, right? I mean, it seems like.

[Kumperly Smug]

So that's what I love. The angle that this story took is, like, now there are sports Books that are letting you bet on what color the next one that's going to be thrown on the floor of a WNBA game.

[Michael Duncan]

Dude. So, all right, so this was Clay Travis's take, right? Can we pull up the graphic? All right, so, so he. Clay Travis highlights that there is a bet online app that is literally taking wagers on the color of the dildo.

[Guy Benson]

Of the next dildo.

[Josh Holmes]

Black.

[Guy Benson]

Black or brown is at plus 200. Rainbow at 200. White. Caucasian. I mean, come on. Plus 250. Pink. Plus 300. Purple. 325. Blue. Plus 140.

[John Ashbrook]

I think 14. What this says to me is you gotta find a blue one, bet big on blue, and throw a blue one out on.

[Kumperly Smug]

That's what I'm saying is like my. The second I saw that, I was like, is it a felony? Is there like some. Some. Some charges that you could be brought up on if you throw one on the court? If not. Dude, this is easy money. Size and cost. How much does the WNBA ticket? $9. $10.

[Guy Benson]

Gotta weigh around this. I have a way around this. You make sure that the game is in a sanctuary city.

[Michael Duncan]

You.

[Guy Benson]

You pay an illegal immigrant to throw said dildo, they don't get arrested. He'll just be shuffled out the back door of the police department.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Guy Benson]

And then you.

[Michael Duncan]

You can capitalize.

[Guy Benson]

You can capitalize without being connected to said dildo throwing event.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, the funniest part is that this application is not taking a green bet. Oh, you can't. It has to be the color of the third WNBA dildo, if not green.

[Guy Benson]

I have a question. If Angel Reese catches the dildo, does that count as a rebound for her?

[Kumperly Smug]

Amazing. Great take.

[Michael Duncan]

It'll certainly be heralded as one of the great NBA players of all time. No question about that. Oh, God, what a program, huh?

[Guy Benson]

Apologies to Mrs. Duncan for that.

[Michael Duncan]

You know what? I'm sorry, Mrs. Duncan, I feel like your son is.

[Kumperly Smug]

You think that's why I killed his guinea pig?

[Michael Duncan]

That's why.

[Guy Benson]

Poor S'.

[Michael Duncan]

More.

[Guy Benson]

I loved S'. More.

[Michael Duncan]

What a show. What a show.

[John Ashbrook]

Life giving, life enhancing brotherhood right here on the Ruthless Variety Program.

[Michael Duncan]

No question about it. You gotta like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety Program. And when you do, you leave your comments. Today's question is about the Democratic fundraising techniques and where they go about doing it. When you tell us us the locale that you think that should host such a fundraiser, then give us a little bit more detail about what you think the pitch is to separate Democratic billionaires from some of their largesse. And I have a feeling people are going to come up with good stuff. Yeah, I think it's. I think it's really good. I like this question more than most. So, like. And subscribe. Check out some merch while you're there. We're going to have another hell of a week. You think we're just getting started, Garden fellas, this has been just banger after banger. Stay tuned. We're gonna get even crazier than this. I think we did it.

[Kumperly Smug]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much, Guy Benson. And thank you so much, our listeners. Remember, if you have not yet go to the YouTube hit the subscribe. It's even more fun in video. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line, and own the libs. We'll see you Thursday. Stay ruthless.