Maduro Arrested: What's Next?

Summary

Ruthless Podcast Summary

Episode: Maduro Arrested: What's Next?
Date: January 6, 2026
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook

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Overview

In this lively installment of the Ruthless Podcast, the hosts break down the seismic capture and extradition of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, the U.S. military operation that made it happen, and the subsequent meltdown and hypocrisy within Democratic Party circles. The crew also skewers the ongoing Minnesota daycare fraud scandal, lampoons opposition reactions, and delivers trademark variety content involving rogue USPS drivers and rampaging monkeys. The tone remains sharp, irreverent, and unmistakably "Ruthless."

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Main Theme

The episode centers on the dramatic U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, analyzing its geopolitical significance, blowback from the American left, and what it means for US foreign policy and domestic politics. The show also delivers satirical segments on domestic fraud scandals and internet absurdities, with an eye towards exposing hypocrisy and incompetence in political leadership.

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Key Discussion Points

1. The Venezuela Operation: How It Went Down

• Military Execution and Precision

  • The hosts express awe at the sophistication of the operation.
    • "The level of sophistication and precision and audacity of this mission is incredible." — Michael Duncan [00:06, 07:03]
    • "Land within three minutes, kick down his door, grab him, put him in handcuffs, read him his rights, put him in a helicopter and leave the country without losing any American or any American assets. That's not an easy mission." — Marco Rubio [06:38]

• Messaging To Adversaries

  • Smug emphasizes the global message sent:
    • "The way they executed this mission, it had to send a message to China, to Russia, to all of our enemies abroad, that America can do things that you cannot." [00:29, 15:58]
  • The hosts highlight the defeat of Russian, Iranian, and Chinese assets stationed in Venezuela.
    • "They had Chinese anti-aircraft radars, Russian missile batteries, and Iranian suicide drones… all that could do nothing against our military." — Michael Duncan [07:40]

• Legal and Moral Justification

  • The legal foundation comes from precedent (Noriega case) and prior indictments on drug trafficking (Barr, 2020).
  • "Is it legal to do this without Congress? Yes, it is." — Josh Holmes [13:48]

2. Context: Why Venezuela and Why Now?

• Resource & Regional Importance

  • Heavy focus on Venezuela's massive natural resources and proximity to the US:
    • "You cannot have a failed state in your backyard...They have more gold in their ground than any state in Africa." — Holmes & Duncan [10:45]
  • Rubio explains US interests:
    • “What we're not going to allow is for the oil industry in Venezuela to be controlled by adversaries of the United States... We want to see the oil proceeds of that country benefit the people of Venezuela.” — Marco Rubio [08:19]

• Maduro’s Illegitimacy

  • The hosts underscore Maduro’s status as an unelected dictator.
    • “President of that country who was not duly elected, lost the election, and then just assumed his post, as he has been for the last 25 years.” — Josh Holmes [10:49]

3. The Democratic Party’s Shift: From Demanding Action to Accusing Lawlessness

• Past Demagoguery

  • Democrats previously hammered Trump for not acting on Maduro.
    • “Every single Democrat...has ever said Venezuela without saying Maduro has to go.” — Josh Holmes [10:49]
  • Quoting past statements (e.g., Schumer and Chris Murphy) to demonstrate hypocrisy.

• Current Outrage

  • Schumer pivots from demanding action to calling the mission “lawlessness”:
    • “You don’t treat lawlessness with other lawlessness. The American people...are scratching their heads in wonderment and in fear.” — Chuck Schumer [26:00]
  • Chris Murphy pivots to denying Venezuelan threat and alleging oil profiteering.
    • “Venezuela is not a security threat to the United States...This seems to be mostly about oil and natural resources." — Chris Murphy [31:25]

• Hosts’ Analysis

  • The hosts lampoon the transparent flip-flop, highlighting Democrats’ reflexive opposition.
    • "They don't have the wherewithal to do fuck all about anything." — Holmes [29:16]
    • "They are a debate society." — Smug [29:16]
  • Prediction that the American left’s only true organizing principle is being anti-Trump and, by extension, anti-American interests.

4. International Repercussions and Ally Losses

• Foreign Networks
  • Cuban nationals made up Maduro’s security detail; 32 Cubans killed in the raid.
    • “Why would it be that the President of Venezuela had a security team made up by Cuban nationals?” — Holmes [18:55]
  • The operation’s broader impact on adversaries: China, Russia, Cuba, Iran; the lack of vocal outrage from Beijing seen as telling.

5. Domestic Political Parallels: Minnesota Daycare Fraud

• Democratic Machine Corruption

  • In-depth takedown of the massive fraud scandal in Minnesota (Somali daycare fraud), the fall of Governor Tim Walz, and the internal Democratic shuffle to preserve the "machine."
    • “Tim Walz is not a unique, corrupt actor...he’s a convenient fall guy.” — Holmes [53:40]

• Media and Party Priorities

  • The team ridicules both the national media for ignoring scandals until internecine politics requires it and the local party for prioritizing electability above principle.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Mission’s Brilliance

  • “They took the time to read Maduro his rights. Dude, like, every second you’re in this hostile nation...and they took the time.” — Michael Duncan [27:22]

• On Democrat Hypocrisy

  • “What you’re electing is a think tank debate society. They don't have the wherewithal to do fuck all about anything.” — Holmes [29:16]
  • “Chris Murphy is balls deep pregnant.” — Holmes [35:15]

• On Venezuela as an Adversary Hub

  • “Essentially just providing a safe haven in the western hemisphere for everyone who hates us.” — Michael Duncan [22:10]

• On Protests and Activism

  • “I loved just picturing these people taking down the Palestinian flag and running up the Venezuela like it’s Iwo Jima.” — Holmes [44:30]
  • “The only thing that they care about is opposition to the thing. That’s it.” — Holmes [41:08]

• Satirical Variety Segment: Rogue USPS Driver

  • “This guy went postal. Because everyone knows that. For years it's been known that these guys are nuts.” — Duncan [66:15]
  • “He ran him down.” — Holmes [67:19]

• Monkey on the Loose

  • “I loved just picturing these people taking down the Palestinian flag and running up the Venezuela like it’s Iwo Jima.” — Holmes [44:30]
  • “Part of the deal in Memphis. But the macaques run loose in Tennessee nevertheless.” — Holmes [73:09]

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Timestamps: Important Segments

• Opening Take on the Mission: [00:00] - [01:50]
• Setting Up the Maduro Context: [02:00] - [05:00]
• Marco Rubio Breakdown: [06:07] - [09:14]
• Why Venezuela Matters: [10:45] - [13:21]
• Democrat Double-Talk Montage: [24:45] - [33:02]
• Discussion on Minnesota Fraud & Democratic Party Machine: [51:02] - [62:00]
• Variety - USPS Vigilante Justice: [65:00] - [68:53]
• Variety - Rampaging Monkey in Tennessee: [69:43] - [73:09]

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Conclusion

The episode delivers a raucous breakdown of the Maduro takedown—praising military supremacy, denouncing political hypocrisy, and highlighting both international and domestic ramifications. It underscores the Ruthless cast’s view of a broken Democratic Party, unable to act on its own rhetoric or confront corruption within its own ranks. The tone remains unserious and unapologetically partisan, spiced with punchy one-liners and irreverent asides.

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Additional Notes

• Listener Engagement Call:
  • The hosts encourage listeners to submit examples of Democratic hypocrisy regarding Venezuela (see: “when you like and subscribe…put that stuff in our chat.” [49:50])
• Look Ahead:
  • Tease more coverage on protest groups and party dynamics in upcoming episodes.

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Stay Ruthless.

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

We've learned all that with the events of Venezuela. We're going to contextualize all of that.

[Michael Duncan]

The level of sophistication and precision and audacity of this mission is incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

I didn't think it was possible, honestly.

[John Ashbrook]

I think we should take some of that oil because we need that Venezuelan oil in order to afford all these Somali daycares.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah, that's true. It's true. You can't have a fake in your backyard.

[Smug]

The way they executed this mission, it had to send a message to China, to Russia, to all of our enemies abroad, that America can do things that you cannot.

[American Petroleum Institute Announcer]

Energy is all around us. It's how we move, how we build, and how we make every day a little easier. We're all around America's oil and natural gas, supporting 11 million good paying American jobs across the country, powering our way of life. But energy demand is growing and fast. That's why we need to overhaul our broken permitting process to unleash America's abundant natural resources, strengthen national security and create a future where American energy leads the world. What America builds today will help secure a more affordable, more reliable future with enough energy to go around for generations to come. Our country can't wait. We must pass permitting reform now to help secure American energy dominance. Because when America builds, America wins. America's oil and natural gas paid for by the American Petroleum Institute. Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Michael Duncan]

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

[Smug]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Tuesday to you. Welcome back at 2026. We're gonna hit very, very hard right off the top with the Ruthless Variety Program. Thank you for joining us. I am Josh Holmes along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook, left to right across your radio dial, as we always are here on the Ruthless Friday program. A lot of news you may have noticed.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, right.

[Josh Holmes]

Turns out you can just remove tyrants and they're in your hemisphere. You can just fly and take them and fly them back out. They're in the New York City prison cell in no time. We've learned all that with the events of Venezuela. We're going to contextualize all of that and give your hot takes here from the Ruthless Variety Program. Also, walls. That guy's out. I can't help but think we had a little part in that, don't you think?

[Smug]

Yeah, the guy's a complete loser. And I think that Democrats had a little part in that too. And I mean, we talked about it with the New York Times writing a story about The Somali fraudsters and not wanting walls to be on the top of the ticket in 2028 and everything else. But we'll get to that later on in the show.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally. We also have some Variety you're gonna want to stick around for because this is all good stuff. A lot of it hits in your dials.

[Democratic Critic]

It's.

[Michael Duncan]

I saw the Variety that was put together and I was like, this is gonna be a phenomenal episode. Like, I'm so excited for our listeners. Congrats. This is, this is gonna be a five star.

[John Ashbrook]

You know, I gotta say, personally, sometimes when I start seeing clips from the Variety as the show productions put together.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

I purposely don't read on.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Almost like when somebody's telling you the plot to like a really interesting movie and you're like, shut up, don't tell me anymore.

[Michael Duncan]

I don't wanna know.

[John Ashbrook]

Cause I wanna go in cold.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. So you're gonna experience it with us, many of us, for the very first time here in the back half of the program. But let's start with the Venezuela situation. I find this to be absolutely hilarious from so many reasons it is important. It was good. It's incredible work by the Armed Forces of the United States of America, once again proving that they are the most formidable outfit in the entire world, time and time again, generation after generation. And that is like the. Where you enter the conversation. The secondary point of this is you ought to know a little bit of background about how all of this came to be, why it is that we're interested in Venezuela, who Maduro is. We're not gonna get into like gritty details, but we're gonna do it in a program way. We're gonna have some laughs and then more than anything, just appreciate what is the vacancy of today's Democratic Party and what is a total lack of understanding. You already know that there's domestic policy. They're like, yeah, we see everybody in cylinders. And despite the fact that our whole domestic policy is to try to keep everybody who's poor from becoming rich, that we're against the rich. And then you look at their foreign policy, which has always been a little bit of a hodgepodge. But Trump has a way of slicing right through that with things like Venezuela, things like the Iran nuclear bombing, where it becomes very clear that there are a whole bunch of people who sit around think tanks and talk about problems, but also have problems. If you ever do anything about the problems they say are grave existential threats to our country, we're gonna get into that. But I think the best place to start is where it always is. It's a perennial contender. Did she win?

[Michael Duncan]

I think she took the crown last year.

[Josh Holmes]

She took the crown. It's Margaret Brennan at cbs and I understand there's a whole bunch of things happening at cbs. We'll get into that at a later date. But she's still there and she's still doing what she does. And she had Marco Rubio, our Secretary of state, on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday. He does a better job than anybody at explaining all of this. Clip 1 I'm confused. Are they still wanted by the United States? Why didn't you arrest them? If you are taking out the narco terrorist regime, you're confused.

[Marco Rubio]

I don't know why that's confusing to you.

[Josh Holmes]

They're still in trouble.

[Marco Rubio]

It's very simple. You're not going to go in and wrap up. You're going to. But yeah, but you can't go. You're going to go in and suck up five people. They're already complaining about this one operation. Imagine the howls we would have from everybody else if we actually had to go and stay there four days to capture four other people. We got the top priority. The number one person on the list was the guy who claimed to be the president of the country that he was not. And he was arrested along with his wife who was also indicted. And that was a pretty sophisticated and frankly complicated operation.

[Michael Duncan]

It was.

[Marco Rubio]

It is not easy to to land helicopters in the middle of the largest military base in the country. The guy lived on a military base. Land within three minutes, kick down his door, grab him, put him in handcuffs, read him his rights, put him in a helicopter and leave the country without losing any American or any American assets. That's not an easy mission. And you're asking me why didn't we do that in five other places at the same time? I mean that's absurd.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the thing is and Secretary Rubio really tried to break it down in a way that even Margaret could understand. The level of sophistication and precision and audacity of this mission is incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

I didn't think it was possible, honestly, until I, until I saw it and then read about sort of the TikTok in the way that they had gone about executing this mission. I actually didn't. Venezuela is not like Kenya. I mean that's a real country. And the idea that you can just swoop, grab the head of state, swoop.

[Michael Duncan]

Out Chinese anti aircraft radars, right? They had Russian anti aircraft missile Batteries. And they had Iranian suicide drones in the stockpile already trying to protect all the assets within that country. And all that could do nothing against our military.

[John Ashbrook]

Nothing.

[Josh Holmes]

Nothing. It was an incredible deal. He goes on to explain, you're going to want to see clip two, and then we'll get into the crux of this.

[Michael Duncan]

The question is, I guess, if the.

[Josh Holmes]

Purpose of the operation was to capture Maduro and bring him to justice, why.

[Michael Duncan]

Does the United States need to take.

[Josh Holmes]

Over the Venezuelan oil industry?

[Marco Rubio]

Well, we don't need to. First let me go back up. We don't need Venezuela's oil. We have plenty of oil in the United States. What we're not going to allow is for the oil industry in Venezuela to be controlled by adversaries of the United States. You have to understand, why does China need their oil? Why does Russia need their oil? Why does Iran need their oil? They're not even in this continent. This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live. We're not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries. Competitors and rivals of the United States.

[Josh Holmes]

Have specific oil companies.

[Marco Rubio]

We also want to see that oil and the proceeds from it. Hold on. We want to see the oil proceeds of that country benefit the people of Venezuela. Why have 8 million people left Venezuela? 8 million. The single largest mass migration probably in modern history left Venezuela in 2014 because all the wealth of that country was stolen to the benefit of Maduro and his cronies in the regime, but not to the benefit of people of Venezuela. You know how destabilizing 8 million migrants is there.

[Michael Duncan]

It is like such a great job. He breaks it down so concise in a way that makes sense. And like so many people have pointed out, they're like the left, essentially, instead of trying to have a debate, just acts like they don't understand. Like they're confused about basic. That's why there's no point in actually trying to have a discussion with the left, because I don't understand. Why are you stealing oil? They're not talking about the fact that the average per capita GDP in Venezuela over the past 10 years went from north of 18,000 per citizen of Venezuela to it's now sitting around 5,000. Two thirds of their wealth has essentially been stolen by Maduro and his cronies. And that is a destabilizing force. Exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

And where does it go?

[John Ashbrook]

I do have to disagree on one point. I think we should take some of that oil because we need that Venezuelan oil in order to afford all these Somali daycares.

[Josh Holmes]

It's true. I mean, that's a good point, Michael.

[John Ashbrook]

We need to be made whole.

[Josh Holmes]

We simply do need to make that money back one way or another. But look, what they're getting at here is a pretty simple. What used to be universally bipartisan, accepted set of circumstances, which is you can't have a failed state in your backyard. You cannot have a place that is simultaneously the most resource rich. And we're not just talking about oil, talking about like all kinds of minerals and resources and all kinds of things.

[Michael Duncan]

They have more gold in their ground than any state in Africa. Think about that.

[Josh Holmes]

Think about that. Right? Except for the fact that you have a president of that country who was not duly elected, lost the election, and then just assumed his post, as he has been for the last 25 years. And there wasn't a single Democrat, not one, not one breathing air or talking in public who is ever an. I challenge you to Google and prove me wrong on this. Who's ever said that the word Venezuela without saying Maduro has to go. And it used to be an attack line on Donald Trump. And we're gonna get into an awful lot of this, but it used to be an attack line where why isn't he doing anything about Maduro? This is in our own backyard. We ought to be handling this kind of thing. Every single Democrat. And then you back it off and you just think about it existentially and you realize, okay, you've got a significant country with huge amount of resources that is being run by somebody who is not a duly elected person, who's basically a dictator with military behind them that is only operating because the people who are legit enemies or adversaries of the United States are propping them up. Who am I talking about? Iran, Cuba, in the sense that they are only a proxy to everybody else that we're talking about in the communist side of the ledger. Russia, China, any adversary that America has globally is now put themselves in a position where they are propping up somebody that they know can't win a democratic election in his own country, but his removal makes them not have dictation over where the resources of that country goes. And you might wonder why it is that Iran, for example, is importing oil from Venezuela. I thought Iran had a lot of oil. I thought that's what they had. They can't refine it. They can't refine it, so they send the crude, the raw crude to Venezuela. Venezuela sends the refined oil back, which they send to Russia, which they send to China. It is a commerce stationary, Commerce department for the Western Hemisphere, whose executives essentially are the people who want everything to do with the destruction of the United States of America. Now, if you think about it that way, it's amazing that for 25 years we've put up with this.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the thing. It was basically the hub in the Western Hemisphere for everyone who hates America. And it's funny because that feels like a summation of the Democrats reaction is their policies are essentially gone. In believing anything to they just will do the opposite of anything. They take the opposite side of Trump to now. It's just like anything that's against America. That's why they're having an issue with this.

[Josh Holmes]

That is where their foreign policy has landed, which is objectively anti American. It's definitely anti Trump. But like, you know, you take a step back on all of this stuff and you look at it now, you get to the drug trafficking. There is a reason why the ruthless Variety Program brought Bill Barr on in December. And I understand our audience has mixed reactions to Bill Barr. Barr 2020 caused a lot of friction within everybody about their opinions of Bill Barr. The indictment for which the Trump administration hooked the execution of that mission was levied by Bill Barr in March of 2020. It was drug trafficking and they had him dead to rights and his wife dead to rights. So what the Department of Justice did in a Covid era situation in March of 2020 is what is being operated upon in terms of the American justification for removal from him as a head of state. It's also how we get into this discussion about whether or not what the Trump administration was legally doing. Is it legal to do this without Congress? Yes, it is. And what Bill Barr explained to you three weeks ago on the Variety Program, what you got nowhere else in America was the legal justification that used to remove Manuel Noriega Panama, which is the exact same thing that we're doing right now in Venezuela. See, look, we aim to try to provide you with an advanced notice for how things are going to go down. And I can't think of a time where it is more cut and dry than that interview. And what you saw last weekend in terms of the full justification, legal justification, for what the Trump administration did, that's in my mind after sitting through that interview and seeing what played out over the weekend, I wasn't surprised at all.

[Smug]

Yeah. No. If information is what you're after, dear listener, call the bar interview an early Christmas present. And if information is what you're after, I gotta think that you spent the weekend the exact same way we spent the weekend just consuming details of this operation and little bits and pieces. Some of them were confirmed, some of them were not confirmed. One aspect of the mission that really caught my attention was how they flew the jets low over Caracas to create like this sonic interference so nobody could hear the helicopters flying in underneath. I mean, they thought of every single detail. And the way they executed this mission, it had to send a message to China, to Russia, to all of our enemies abroad, that America can do things that you cannot. And so it's gotta frighten them, it's gotta set them on their heels, it's gotta put them on defense in a way that Joe Biden never could, especially after the debacle in Afghanistan.

[John Ashbrook]

I thought that was one of the coolest aspects of this whole thing is that Maduro welcomes in the whole Chinese delegation into Caracas, you know, for a nice little meeting, that morning meeting. And then the next day we're renditioning him and his wife out of the country to a New York jail cell.

[Josh Holmes]

Wouldn't you love to know the TikTok on that?

[Michael Duncan]

Heads up.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Hey, Beijing might want to call it an early night tonight.

[John Ashbrook]

Maybe room service tonight.

[Josh Holmes]

Maybe a thing that you want to, but they mean they had to deal with that kind of thing. And the noticeable lack of outrage out of Beijing tells you that they check boxes in a very significant. This is not an insignificant deal to the Chinese, to the Russians, to the Iranians. To the Iranians, it's deadly. To Cuba, deadly. You might ask yourself why it is that they all got hooked up together. Well, consider the fact that a report out of the AP Cuba says 32 Cuban officers were killed in the US Operation Venezuela. Let me read you a couple of paragraphs and we can react to it. An American military operation in Venezuela killed 32 Cuban officers over the weekend, the Cuban government said Sunday. In the first official death count provided by the American strikes in the South American nation, Cuban military and police officers were on a mission at the request of Venezuela's government, according to a statement read on Cuban TV Sunday night. Now, I'm going to ask you to use your imagination just a touch. This is a head of state again of one of the most resource rich countries in the entire world. Well established nation. It's not like Venezuela popped up overnight. Why was it that the security team for the President of the United States was made up of Cuban nationals?

[John Ashbrook]

President of Venezuela. Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Why would it be. Why would it be that the President of Venezuela had a security team made up by Cuban nationals. Well, there's a couple of theories of the case. The first would be he's not a duly elected representative of Venezuela. They voted his ass out and he just installed himself anyway. So he can't really trust Venezuelans. They've already rendered their verdict. Or the Cubans are basically the piece of the puzzle that all of American adversaries use, as they have since the Bay of Pigs, in anti American subservience within Central America, Caribbean nations in South America, where they basically go and do by proxy.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

What Russia, Iran, China, other nefarious actors want them to do. So he has insulated himself only by Cubans. We had to go through Cubans, we didn't have to go through Venezuelans. We didn't see any Venezuelans that were reporting pain and suffering. We have to go through Cubans to get a Venezuelan president out of the country. Macy asked some questions, right?

[Smug]

It sure does. And I mean, as close as Venezuela seems, I mean, relative to the other countries on the opposite side of the planet, Cuba is an hour from Key West. And so just to think about what may be going on in Cuba, just so close to our own border, you shudder to think. But it also just opens your eyes to the connections between people like Maduro and his allies who hate our country and the people who may be helping him who are living in Cuba right now.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, but it goes to show, this guy was disconnected from Venezuela in and of itself. Everyone with a security clearance knows this. Everyone for the last 10 years with a security clearance knows this. It had nothing to do with Venice. He was a puppet on behalf of American adversaries, where he was more than happy to usher in Iranian drone building, Russian anti aircraft and worse systems, all kinds of different things. Not to mention a huge drug trade that they basically propped up their own administration with because they wanted to go against America. And it happens to be pretty damn close to America. And like every administration dating back to the Bush administration had talked about this as a existential threat, something that we need to pay attention to. But because it doesn't make a lot of headlines, you know, people are like, oh, what are we doing in Venezuela? There's arguably no greater imminent threat. Drug trade and the harboring of folks who wish us no good, no matter what.

[Michael Duncan]

Essentially just providing a safe haven in the western hemisphere for everyone who hates us.

[Josh Holmes]

Exactly.

[Michael Duncan]

It's basically like, hey, we're gonna turn our country into a clubhouse for everyone who wants Americans dead.

[Josh Holmes]

Come hang out. Yep, that's it. So like everyone talked about it and Everyone, Republican, Democrat, independent, wherever, who had security clearance was like, this is the biggest threat that we have in our hemisphere and nobody did anything. You know, it reminds me a lot of all the people that talked about Iran. Oh, we can't let them have nuclear weapons. All the way back. Like the Bush administration did something with that Stuxnet thing when they set them back 10 years and the Obama administration, it came in and tried to bribe them with pallets of cash, right? The Trump administration starved them by taking, bankrupted that country all of their banking away. And then the Biden administration gets in and tries to reconstitute the Obama policy where they're like, no, no, no, they don't mean they take all their money and they just fund Hamas, which October 7, by the way, is a byproduct of in Israel. And then all of a sudden we get to a point now where everybody's like, oh, it is a failure of the Trump administration for not doing something about this.

[Smug]

Absolutely insane.

[Josh Holmes]

And then you do something about it and they're like, why? Why did you do something?

[Smug]

Right, right.

[Josh Holmes]

It's incredible. When you come, when we come back, you're going to get to these reactions. You're not going to believe. The hypocrisy leads us to the question of like, what do these guys believe in? I mean, what do Democrats believe in? I don't think they believe in anything other than what the opposite of what Donald Trump believes. But we'll get to it right after this. I've worked at Coca Cola for 21 years.

[John Ashbrook]

We're delivering Dr. Pepper from our brand.

[Smug]

New facility in Dallas, Texas.

[Michael Duncan]

We're really proud to still make Pepsi products in America. You don't need a college degree to work here, but I put four kids.

[Josh Holmes]

Through college while working here.

[John Ashbrook]

This is a great place to work with great people and great American brands.

[Michael Duncan]

Grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, they all depend on us. We deliver great paying jobs.

[John Ashbrook]

We deliver beverages people love.

[Josh Holmes]

We deliver for our community. Okay, so in the first segment, we outlined what happened in Venezuela. Now you're going to get to the opposition and if you've had your ears on anytime in the last 72 hours, you've heard howls from Democrats who are talking about the unconstitutionality. They don't even know what it means. And they're trying to get you to believe that this is now something that they've never suggested. Like, no, no, nobody should ever deal with Venezuela and Maduro. Like, how dare Donald Trump.

[Smug]

Have a.

[Josh Holmes]

Look at these clips. Cuz you're actually not Going to believe your eyes. Clip 3.

[Chuck Schumer]

He brags about all these things he wants to do, or is doing. Schumer in 2020, his words. Maybe the best metaphor was his claim to bring democracy to Venezuela. There was a big policy there. It flopped. If the policy was working, Juan Guaido wouldn't be in the balcony here, he'd be in Venezuela. He'd be sitting in the President's palace or at least waging a fight to win. He's here and the President brags about his Venezuela policy. Give us a break. He hasn't brought an end to the Maduro regime. The Maduro regime is more powerful today and more entrenched today than it was when the president began.

[Smug]

Okay, okay, all right. So he cared about Maduro, steadfast, very concerned.

[Michael Duncan]

So then he's got to be thrilled, right?

[Josh Holmes]

He's read his briefing. He understands the threat of Maduro gets the. You don't want that in the hemisphere. So how did he react? Obviously, he's gotta be elated. Clip 4.

[Chuck Schumer]

Look, Maduro's a horrible, horrible person. But you don't treat lawlessness with other lawlessness. The American people this morning, George, are scratching their heads in wonderment and in fear.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, of what?

[Chuck Schumer]

And his proposed the United States will run Venezuela. We have learned through the years when America tries to do regime change and nation building in this way, the American people pay the price in both blood and in dollars.

[Josh Holmes]

You heard Secretary Rubio that he says the United States has the authority to do what they're doing.

[Chuck Schumer]

They do not. They do not.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, amazing.

[Democratic Critic]

Why not?

[Chuck Schumer]

He couldn't even answer your question. There is no authority to go. They did not just do ships off the water. They went inside Venezuela bombed civilian as well as military places, and it's a violation of the law.

[Michael Duncan]

It was literally inside a military base.

[Chuck Schumer]

Without getting the authorization of Congress.

[Michael Duncan]

So that's the thing, is, it's hilarious how he tries to be like, you cannot fight lawlessness with lawlessness. The operators, the Delta Force that was sent to grab Maduro's ass, first off, I heard they were in that building for three minutes or less. So they scooped him up fast. They cleaned up, what was it, 25 Cubans in three minutes? That's, like, faster than Domino's how they delivered this guy's ass. But anyways, they took the time to read Maduro his rights. Dude, like, every second you're in this hostile nation of people trying to kill you, and they took the time to read him his Miranda rights. So I don't want to hear anything about lawlessness.

[Smug]

This.

[Michael Duncan]

And also as an aside, I heard some military guys talking and they were like, I guess the reason that they sent, you know, the Army Delta Force SFODD guys is because they didn't want a bunch of Navy Seals podcasting about this raid.

[Josh Holmes]

It has been a bit of a thing. Navy seals have a hot bunch of podcasts. If you send in Delta for no, no record, there's no podcasting. Podcasting. Yeah. No, it's fair. It's a fair point.

[Smug]

Smug.

[John Ashbrook]

I think the thing the I find particularly interesting about this, we've talked about this on the show with domestic policy, and that is, you know, the knee jerk reaction of every Democrat is to be in opposition to Donald Trump. But they also, they always have to find some sort of nuanced reason why, like the, the wrong TPS report was filed in this situation. Like lawlessness with lawless. Like, give me a break. Like, the guy just seized power after he lost a Democratic election.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I thought that they were against.

[John Ashbrook]

I thought they were against that. Like, I think we had all these protests that were called no kings, but apparently they're okay with a few kings as long as they're outside the United States. It makes no fucking sense.

[Josh Holmes]

No, it makes no sense, particularly in that. I mean, look, that's the tip of the iceberg. You could find 100 pages of speeches by Chuck Schumer and all of his colleagues about the danger of Maduro. And why is it that nobody's doing anything about Maduro. Maduro, Maduro. We have to get him out at all costs. There was a huge bipartisan effort four or five years ago where people were like, this guy needs to go. We need to do everything we can possibly do to do it. And they were criticizing Trump, some were criticizing Biden. Like, this is very bipartisan about this until you actually do it. Which gives you a little insight into what it is that Democrats think they are. A debate society.

[Smug]

That's exactly right, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

These people don't actually. You elect them if you vote Democrat. What you're electing is a think tank debate society. They don't have the wherewithal to do fuck all about anything.

[Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

They don't give a shit about actually putting skin in the game to do something that they say that they're going to do. I mean, you should know that by their domestic policy. Oh, we're gonna rise people out of poverty. Oh, we're gonna raise wages. Oh, we're gonna do a affordability.

[Michael Duncan]

Mom.

[Josh Holmes]

Donnie shows up. They raised rates on the trains, I mean, they don't give a shit about anything. It's all talking points. Because when ultimately push comes to shove, what you saw during the Obama administration, what you saw during the Biden administration is they all recognize the problem in the same way that Donald Trump did. The only difference is he fucking does something about it. And that, I think, in and of itself, is enough to sort of frame an election and frame an argument about the two parties in today's America.

[Smug]

Oh, that's true. And also, as Smug pointed out, Trump and the Trump administration are going above and beyond to do it the right way. They went in there, they read him his rights, they brought him back here to stand trial under any circumstances. Do any of you guys believe that if the situation were reversed, if the Venezuelans came in after the 2020 election and, and took Joe Biden out of office after a questionable results from the 2020 election, would they have read him his rights or would they have just shot him? Like, under no circumstances is anybody else going to treat America the way that we treat the rest of the world. And I think it just shows that not only are we the military authority, but we're also still the moral authority on, on the planet.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a good point, but it's not limited to Chuck Schumer. He's the hack of the hack. But the guy who wants his job is also at it. This guy's probably the most brazen of anybody. Chris Murphy.

[Democratic Critic]

Venezuela is not a security threat to the United States. They're not threatening to invade. There's no terrorist group like Al Qaeda operating there that has plans to attack the United States. To the extent that you care about the drug trade, yes, they produce drugs, but those drugs go to Europe.

[Josh Holmes]

Europe.

[Democratic Critic]

Fentanyl is the drug that's killing Americans. That's not coming from Venezuela. Venezuela lies. Cocaine may have it is coming to the United States. This seems to be mostly about oil and natural resources. Donald Trump's entire foreign policy is corrupt. Russia, the Middle east, and now Venezuela is all about making money for his friends and Wall street, the oil industry, they can make a lot of money off of Venezuela if they run it. You saw within hours of the invasion, the announcement of a group of Wall street investors, energy industry investors, planning a trip to Venezuela to make money off of this invasion, off of this ouster. So unfortunately, once again, you're seeing that this president's foreign policy, the invasion of, of Venezuela, the ouster of Maduro, is about making his crowd filthy rich. It has nothing to do with, with American national security.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, it's very interesting. It's a hot take. Why don't we go to graphic one? This is him in 2019. If Trump cared about consistency, he would make the realest case for intervention in Venezuela. Getting rid of Maduro is good for the United States rather than trying to pretend his administration all of a sudden cares about toppling anti democratic regimes. Oh, it feels like that is an actual one to one refutation of Chris Murphy in 2026.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, Chris Murphy. You should talk to Chris Murphy.

[John Ashbrook]

This is the thing, it's always about filing the wrong TPS report. You know, whenever Donald Trump does something, the Democrats find some asterisks. It's the reason why his motives are wrong. Even though I agree with what he did, he didn't do it correctly. That's always the way. Like he takes something super popular and actually does it. Something they didn't have the will to do for a decade. And when he does it, he's done it the wrong way.

[Michael Duncan]

And also, I mean it's so true, it's so true. The like stupid argument he tries making of like, well, you see the drugs that they, they make a lot of illegal drugs, right? But they send them to Europe. So those drug boats were like about to coast the Atlantic. They're about to sail across the Atlantic. Fishing trips like, get out of here, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

They're all long lining for tuna. I don't know if you knew that.

[Smug]

But from, from a political practitioner standpoint, they, why can't they just take the pitch here, you know what I mean? Like they're incapable of it. You don't just look at what's in the news and Trump is doing it and think, oh, I automatically have to take the other side of that. Despite like everything that you've said, everything we've said here about Democrats history on this issue. Why in the world can't they just be like, yeah, great and move on to the next thing and find something else to talk about? Like under what circumstances would you be like, yes, this is the ground I am going to fight on. Even though it's the opposite of what I've been saying for.

[John Ashbrook]

I don't understand this whole thing that Chris Murphy got into there about like there's a consortium of companies now that are going to benefit from this Venezuelan oil. And it's like, well, I hope they are. You know what, you know what America first is? I don't know, Americans getting rich off of this. Like it's better than Iran getting rich off this oil. Like what Exactly. Is your foreign policy if you think America's adversaries should be awash in cash from Venezuelan oil that is controlled by a dictator that is a puppet of the Cuban regime that is somehow better than Donald Trump taking that guy out and the Venezuelan people getting to benefit from the oil. Oh, wait, we're supposed to support the nationalization of foreign companies in these countries? I don't exactly understand his argument. Doesn't make any sense.

[Josh Holmes]

But it's rank and file. It's up and down. I urge you to Google search Venezuela and your representative Democrat, if you're unfortunate enough to live in that district or state. And Maduro, they have a lot to say, and it goes back decades, and it's irrefutable. I mean, Chris Murphy is balls deep pregnant. He is balls deep pregnant.

[John Ashbrook]

You can be balls deep pregnant in this Democratic Party.

[Smug]

Quadruplets.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, he's. It's consistent that he's looking for an abortion, because what he's got here is he would make the realest case for intervention in Venezuela. Parentheses, getting rid of Maduro is good for the United States. End of parentheses, intervention, getting rid of Maduro. Intervention, getting rid of Maduro. We intervened, got rid of Maduro. Not good, right?

[Smug]

And, like, they're leaving nothing. It's like a trip hammer. Trump did something on Saturday in Venezuela. I gotta get on the Sunday shows. Schumer. I gotta go talk to a Democrat press secretary and look down every three seconds when I'm trying to come up with an excuse for why I'm changing my position that I held for 10 years. It makes no sense from a political standpoint. Like, what are they doing? They're torching their brand even more than they already have.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, I just made an interesting observation. We're seeing all these Democrats jumping in here, making themselves look like hypocrites, making themselves look like idiots. Like, I mean, even Mamdani weighed in. He's a mayor. Like, we'll get to that. What is he doing? But the point I want to make is, what's interesting to me is that Gavin Newsom hasn't weighed in. I mean, we all know he's got presidential aspirations. That's clear. He may be wily enough to understand that you just make yourself look like a complete idiot trying to jump in on this when it's just an absolute W for the US well, you can't.

[Josh Holmes]

Do the full face shot. Like, you can't. If you want to be a serious national candidate, you can't say, why aren't you just rolling into Venezuela guns blazing and getting this guy out of here. And then when you do, being like, I can't believe you did that. But that's where every single Democratic in congressional leadership finds themselves today. I mean, not only that, look at the standard bearer, the previous president. This is Joe Biden. This is Joe Biden. Trump talks tough on Venezuela. This is from 2020, but admires thugs and dictators like Nicolas Maduro. As president, I will stand with the Venezuelan people and for democracy. Liar.

[John Ashbrook]

Good board work.

[Josh Holmes]

Good board work. Yeah, but I mean, how can you say something like that and then turn around and be like, I can't believe you did something about that. It defies existence. It goes right back to the three generation problem the American people had with Iran developing nuclear weapons. And everybody with any sort of international wherewithal had a consensus, I don't care if you're liberal, you're conservative, that this would be bad for the world. We should not allow these people to have nuclear capability. Different administrations went through it in different ways as we just covered. Trump decided like, why are we talking about this? Why don't we just do something about it? He does it. And immediately every Democrat's like, I can't believe he did something about it. Like, that is the difference in the two parties. And I would posit it's not just an international policy, this is a domestic policy too. This is the same thing. Democrats will talk to you until they're blue in the face about affordability and then they'll have like rent control and all these things that force everybody to not be able to upkeep. And then they'll talk about the squalor that people live in because you can't afford to keep something up. And then like all the death spiral of socialism that, by the way, is what Venezuela is comes to visit and they'll be like, well, you didn't do enough. And it's a debate society. Yep, it's a debate society. None of them do anything about any of it.

[Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

It's truly, it's remarkable. A couple of hilarious bits over this. Yeah. So the protest groups, I think you flagged this one, Duncan. Maybe our buddy Steve Guest, good friend of the program, good friend of the program, had this. So as you know, Northern Virginia, it's sort of a hub of paid activism.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Because it's proximity towards DC and they think that they're going to catch influential people in and out of like the main arteries that go out of D.C. and so they always hang signs and they have protests.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, and One of their most famous ones here recently. And most of this, like you were saying, is basically just retired liberal boomers who are collecting a government pension. And so they have all of this free time to sit at the corner of busy intersections waving, you know, Trump is a pedophile signs or like, release the Epstein files. Like, whatever the MSNBC talking point du jour is, they have it out there and assigned within 24 hours.

[Josh Holmes]

Right. So now they've changed it.

[John Ashbrook]

They've changed it. They updated the Epstein 1 graphic 3, please.

[Josh Holmes]

So what you're looking at is that liberals have now hung over a main artery going into Northern Virginia.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, I believe this is over 66 the highway.

[Democratic Critic]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

A sign that used to just talk about Epstein, because that was a thing.

[John Ashbrook]

Right, For a little while.

[Josh Holmes]

Now it reads Epstein's Whaler.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Which is a perfect vignette into what is today's modern left.

[Michael Duncan]

It isn't. It's just. It's. It's mental illness.

[Josh Holmes]

You care about nothing. The only thing that they care about is opposition to the thing. That's it. They thought Epstein was going to be the thing. I mean, we talked about this for months about how this is the dumbest thing on the face of the planet. I can't believe there are Republicans that are engaging this, let alone like a full conglomerate of the Democratic Party, where like, oh, yeah, no, Epstein's going to be the thing that takes down Donald Trump despite the fact that he was indicted 47 times and they were sitting on all the information and somehow just fucking missed it.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, they missed it.

[Josh Holmes]

Right?

[John Ashbrook]

That happens.

[Josh Holmes]

And then he does something in Venezuela that all of them said needed to happen. Now, that's the thing.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, it's part of the conspiracy.

[Josh Holmes]

Can't do it, Epstein. And you saw it like, look, we went through from Mexican flags at the beginning of the administration, Mexican flags in every major city across this country protesting, you know, immigration policies, whatever, Hamas flags, Palestinian flags all over every American city protesting whatever, you know, anti Israel. And like, I can't believe it. Ukrainian flags have been replete for whatever. I mean, they've been here for a long time. They keep changing. And now it's Venezuelan flags. Right now they're like, no, the murderous dictator who installed himself despite a Democratic election and ships Fentanyl and poison to our children. That also is buddies and takes, like, basically direction from Iran, Russia and China. That guy's good. We are the bad ones. Just think about this. This is what we've boiled it down to. I remember back when I was A kid. Reagan made it very, very clear. And this lasted. I think, you know, 911 context did a lot to clarify all of this too. There is one party that's sort of the adult party. It's sort of the father in the family who was like, no, no, when you have a problem, you deal with it. And then there's another party. This is a debate society that try, oh, we got problems. Oh, what do we do about it? Maybe if we just give them something. Maybe if we just do. It's all. It's all carrot. Yeah, it's all.

[Michael Duncan]

And that's the thing. It's the central tenet of the Democrat Party is essentially, America is bad.

[Josh Holmes]

Bad, right.

[Michael Duncan]

America is bad. America is founding. Since that day we've been an evil country. And that America needs to be broken down and turned into a socialist country. That's the beating heart of the Democrat Party.

[Smug]

That's exactly right. And to your point about how there are all these flags that just seem to pop up at the right moment within hours of a news event, I think later in this week we're going to sort of get into the background behind some of these groups. There's been some reporting about like how within hours of the Maduro news, all of these groups in all these different cities had the exact same signs with the exact same font magically. And there are a few, a few reporters out there who have identified this communist aligned billionaire who has been funding these left wing efforts.

[Josh Holmes]

Johnny, you mean it's not organic? Well, people didn't just have Venezuela flags hanging out.

[Smug]

The Venezuelans are cheering and then all the, all the boomer white libs are holding the signs.

[Josh Holmes]

I loved just picturing these people taking down the Palestinian flag and running up the Venezuela like it's Iwo Jima.

[Smug]

It's exactly what they do.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, that's what they do. There was a couple of hilarious other things I think one of you two had flagged about this French guy.

[Smug]

Oh yeah. So this is. Yeah, this was my favorite tweet over the weekend. I just thought it was so funny. Twitter is such a funny place. This is a French guy who tweeted, I'm devastated by this illegal capture of an elected head of state by Trump. I live in constant fear of my beloved leader Macron, who lives at 55 Rue de Faubourg, Saint Honore, Paris share the same fate. He's usually home with Brigitte by 9pm.

[John Ashbrook]

It's a very, very good bit.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a very, very good bit. So you guys mentioned Mamdani I want to get into this because I do think it's hilarious. This guy's been mayor for a cup of coffee. Yeah, it's like been 10 minutes, but he's sworn himself in. My God, he's a world leader now. Fellas. Graphic five, please. He has got a statement about this Venezuela situation, but in particular, he says, I was briefed this morning on the US Military capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, as well as their planned imprisonment in federal custody here in New York City. Unilaterally attacking a sovereign nation is an act of war and a violation of federal and international law. He goes on to say that he is. Will continue to monitor the situation.

[John Ashbrook]

He actually said it.

[Josh Holmes]

And issue the relevant guidance.

[Michael Duncan]

Hilarious. It's hilarious. This guy is number one. He's such a clown. But to be like, I am actively monitoring this situation the way in as necessary. Like, dude, no one cares what you think. Dude, no one gives a shit. Like, why are you trying to weigh in? The one interesting wrinkle to this whole situation, a question that I have, and I'd love for someone in the administration to straighten this out, is, so they flew Maduro into New York City, and he's sitting in a prison there, and he's been indicted in that. I think it's in the Southern District of New York City. Right. Why would they not indict his ass in, like, Miami, in Florida, you know, you have like, I don't know. Santa is the governor there. It's a red state.

[Josh Holmes]

The Southern District thing, though, and I don't. We'll have to have somebody on to explain it, because I do think the Southern. Southern district of New York is a.

[Michael Duncan]

Thing, because are you gonna get in New York City a jury of people who might all just be like, viva Maduro.

[John Ashbrook]

I think when it comes to federal cases, it's like the first among peers sort of thing that they try all of these in the Southern District. I mean, all those terrorist cases that we brought in to charge under federal laws, we did in the Southern District.

[Michael Duncan]

And you would think that might be wise to bring in the terrorists who did 911 and charge them there. But now, you know, it's been, what, 25 years since 911 they elected Mamdani. So I don't know about.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, I do love the idea that he's like, in the Situation Room with a headset on in City Hall. Like, who the hell do you think you are? Seriously?

[Smug]

That's why I can't get over the first line where he was Briefed.

[John Ashbrook]

He's briefed by who?

[Michael Duncan]

By who?

[Josh Holmes]

Some snot nosed socialist who like, you know, pulled his putt out of his paw and sweatpants and was like, hey, they did the thing. I just read X. Yeah, exactly. And on Blue sky, they hate it.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm briefed.

[Josh Holmes]

So I'm briefed.

[Smug]

And then his last sentence. I'm gonna monitor the situation and issue relevant guidance.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, like he's gonna tell me. What is he gonna. What guidance do you have here? Me?

[Josh Holmes]

Guidance?

[Smug]

Mayor, New York City, Parks and Rec. You need to be on the lookout because we are arresting every Republican in response to what we've done in Venezuela.

[Josh Holmes]

We used to joke early on when I was young in communications on Capitol Hill, that that was like the funniest component to serious situations where, like, you're not on a committee of jurisdiction, but it's a huge national event. We're monitoring the situation closely. Like that. That is basically like you're communicating some relevance to a situation that you have absolutely no relevance in whatsoever.

[Smug]

I've been. I've been in touch with the FBI. You know, I've called this authority. I've called that authority. I've been in touch. We've been on the phone. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

If the comms guy's like, oh, who else? Like, is there another acronym we can throw in? Is there something else that we can do to sound more official? Because you know damn well you're not doing a damn thing. Like, there's nothing that Mamdani is talking. This is an action of international significance.

[John Ashbrook]

And the whole thing's gonna be prosecuted in federal court. You don't have any jurisdiction. What the hell are you talking about?

[Josh Holmes]

She has nothing.

[John Ashbrook]

He was briefed the same way we were briefed by refreshing X all week. Makes no sense, right?

[Smug]

I do. I do love how they did the slow drive all the way through Manhattan and then down to Brooklyn. It's just like, Mandani. You can't do anything about it. Trump is in charge here.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

And you have no authority.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. So our question of the day is which Democrat embarrassed themselves the most?

[Michael Duncan]

This is this whole thing. Tough question because so many of them are competing for this.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Because here's the thing, we just covered the top. But you all have seen the statements over a series of years of your own representatives. I guarantee you there is like 8,000 different statements over the last 10 years of people being like, until you're serious about Maduro, you're not serious about foreign policy. And they're like, I can't believe you did something about Maduro like that. That is basically what we're looking at. So I want you to, when you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety program, to put that stuff in our chat. And. And I'd like to, like, as we always do, read them all and then get back to the very next program, because I guarantee we missed a lot of good stuff. Yeah, a lot of good stuff. When we come back, a seismic shift in the home of 10,000 lakes. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. Not a lot of good things coming out of Minnesota lately. This one is. We're gonna get to all that right after this. Okay, so my home state of Minnesota's been through it.

[Michael Duncan]

Not through it. They've been causing it. What's a menace state?

[Josh Holmes]

Look, it's been a tough. It's been a tough few months. A lot of fraud Somalis.

[Michael Duncan]

The capital of Minnesota is not Minneapolis. It's Mogadishu.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, you're not breaking any new. That's very quick and funny. But it has not been good, right? I mean, the Vikings aren't in the playoffs. We did rattle off five straight, which does us no good because now we have a lower draft position. But this whole fraud thing came up, and thanks to Nick Shirley, put a fine point on it in that he showed up in the actual daycares that were purporting to get all these millions of dollars and found no children. And so the press that had been dutifully sweeping all of this under the rug decided to have. They had to work a little harder to sweep it under the rug of which they tried, and they are still trying. But this is a bigger problem for the governor, Tim Walz, former vice presidential nominee, thought to be sort of an untouchable political figure in the great state of Minnesota. It's become water that is too difficult to carry for the Democratic Party. Because in Minnesota, like so many blue states, Democratic rule is more important than any one individual. It's more important that the corruption train keeps going than it is that somebody who ignited as the next prince of the thing collects their dignity.

[Smug]

Oh, that's right.

[Josh Holmes]

So there was news. And this guy, Bloys Olson, who I've known for decades in Minnesota, broke a story Monday night, Sunday night, saying that Walsh was shockingly going to reconsider his bid for reelection for a third term. And he cited a meeting that he had with Amy Klobuchar. Well, lo and behold, the next morning that happened, he decided that he was. Interesting timing. According to politico Minnesota Governor Tim Walz dropped out of the Minnesota governor's race on Monday, and Senate Amory Klobuchar is considering jumping in the race to replace him. Waltz's decision to not seek a historic third term upends the race and shocked the Minnesota political world. Waltz acknowledged that the scandal played a role in his choice. Quote, every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be admitted. I can't spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, because he's been doing everything he can to go after the people who prey upon the generosity.

[Josh Holmes]

This.

[Michael Duncan]

Get out of here.

[Josh Holmes]

This fucking clown. I want everybody to understand something very, very clearly. Tim Walls is not a unique, corrupt actor. He is not a leader. This is not somebody who has decided to chart a course that Minnesota Democrats are dutifully following, and it led him in the wrong direction, so they decided smartly not to follow him any longer. This is the course that they've all set for him, that he's been following, and now he's a convenient fall guy.

[Michael Duncan]

Huge. So what Holmes said is immensely important, it's immensely important to understand that is that Tim Walls is not some, like, corruption kingpin that, like, oh, Tim Walls conceived of this plan to just give money to. To various groups to ensure that Democrats collect votes. And essentially, they're just robbing taxpayers to. To get elected. This is the modern Democrat Party.

[Josh Holmes]

This is what they do.

[Michael Duncan]

It's because you had Nick Shirley make a video of how blatant and open the corruption is, and on a scale that blows the minds of everyone who pays taxes in this country of how much you are getting robbed. And it's not a uniquely Minneapolis thing. It's not a uniquely Minnesota thing. This is the gears of the Democrat Party. This is the patronage system. This is. They believe in nothing except getting elected and getting those votes by basically robbing the taxpayer and paying it to the various groups that they can get together in this corrupt system.

[John Ashbrook]

Frankly, I think I have more confidence in regime change in Venezuela than in Minnesota.

[Josh Holmes]

100%. You should. There's more signs of hope. Yeah, there's more signs of hope. I mean, look, the person who advocated most vociferously for state and local funding and Covid funds that gave rise to all this fraud, Amy Klobuchar. She's the one that's standing up. She just got somebody else to foot the bill on the whole situation. He's the one that's taking it to the face and she's like, oh, isn't it a shame?

[Smug]

Yeah, no. And that's exactly right. And it fits the bill with something that we always say here on the ruthless variety program. When one Democrat is criticized by the mainstream press, Tim Walz, they're only criticized because another Democrat benefits Amy Klobuchar. And we all know, and we, we've talked about this over and over again on the program in the past, that Democrats nationally do not want Tim Walz to return to the main stage. And so that's why the scandal pops up and he is out of the state faster than Coy Perich, the all American safety for the golden gopher.

[Josh Holmes]

It's unbelievable. You just use that. God bless him.

[Michael Duncan]

Also, the thing is, Democrats want this to happen because they're hoping they can be like, okay, get rid of that guy. And then it's out of the news, blah, blah, blah. Can we just keep the system going? This is working out for us. This group of people who we've imported to this country that we're giving all this taxpayer money to, they're gonna keep voting for us. They're like, can we just change the subject now? Is that enough? Can we get that done? And apparently he had called Amy Klobuchar. Yeah, they had a meeting and had a discussion.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

So, but this is the way it works in line.

[Josh Holmes]

This is the way the Minnesota DFL works. And I imagine a lot of Democrat only states operate, which is we just have to keep the gravy train rolling.

[Smug]

Bingo. Right.

[Josh Holmes]

It doesn't really matter if somebody's water becomes too heavy to carry. We simply throw them in their water overboard and we continue to carry it. It doesn't mean we change a damn thing. Notice there was nobody that was like, I'm going to run to root out the corruption. No. In fact, quite the alternative. There's a Minnesota Democrat who's quoted heroically on background who says about Wallace, many Democrats don't want him to run, including me. One senior Minnesota Democratic lawmaker granted anonymity. To speak candidly, he's certainly not corrupt. Certainly not. Because what we're seeing with $8 billion walking out the back door has nothing to do with corruption. But he has not handled the fraud problem well. And we worry about his electability.

[Michael Duncan]

Bingo.

[Chuck Schumer]

Boom.

[Michael Duncan]

They don't care about the fraud. They care about the electability.

[Josh Holmes]

They are not concerned in the least about the fact that poor people didn't get money. They're not concerned about underserved communities, autistic communities, learning centers didn't get money. They're not concerned about wasting your taxpayer dollars. They're worried about their electability.

[John Ashbrook]

They weren't concerned about Joe Biden's fitness to be president.

[Josh Holmes]

Exactly.

[John Ashbrook]

You know it. Only when it became a liability on a debate stage did they think about getting rid of them.

[Josh Holmes]

But again, just tie it back to the first segment we just did. You can't have foreign policy without getting rid of Maduro. Then you get rid of Maduro. How dare you get rid of Maduro.

[John Ashbrook]

Right?

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, we're all concerned about this fraud thing. Maybe you can take the fall for it so we can continue the fraud thing like it's all the same. The vacancy that is today's Democratic Party cannot be overstated.

[Smug]

Dude, it's exactly right. And if you're out there wondering why it is that you haven't heard from a Democrat politician who is imaginative, who is saying things that are a little bit controversial. I mean, yeah, they say that. They say fuck, they say shit. But they don't say anything on the edge. They never do. And the reason why is because they want to preserve their ability to get elected by whoever in the middle or whoever on the left is voting and not upset the apple cart for what is underneath all of it. It's all about preserving the machine. It's all about preserving the grift and the government largesse going from place to place. And so no Democrat is going to give you their authentic self until that's broken.

[Michael Duncan]

And here's the thing is, I think it is still critical for the Justice Department to get charges on Tim Walls and lock him up. Because here's the thing is, yeah, all these Somalis were scamming, right? It's because they were told, if you come here, we're going to hand you this. We're going to hand you this. There's hard working Americans who have to, who go to work and then out of their paycheck they pay taxes. And out of their paycheck they pay for childcare. And out of their paycheck they have to pay for groceries. But the Democrats told these Somalis, if you come here, we'll cover your groceries, we'll cover your childcare. Hell, you can say that you're taking care of your sister's kids and we'll pay for you as a daycare, we'll give you money, but we're not gonna do that for US Citizens, we're not gonna do that for Americans. And it's the Democrats who are enablers to this. Until elected officials get put in jail the system continues. I don't want just the Somalis locked up and deported. I want the government officials who aided embedded this scale of fraud to get locked up. Because if there start being consequences for Democrats essentially robbing Americans, if there's not consequences for Democrats taking part in this fraud to elect themselves, this system that they've built, it's gonna keep going.

[Josh Holmes]

I agree with that. I also just think it fundamentally underscores the misunderstanding that today's Democrats have about the American people in and of itself, forever. They've relied on the New York Times, the Washington Post, the abc, cbs, NBC to sort of brainwash the American people. Right. And you can hear that in Tim Walls tone as he answered questions about the fraud, like, well, the media says is all overblown and I welcome more Somalis I'm here to protect. Like, he didn't understand it. And then you could tell in the way that he resigned, it was like the Trump administration is attacking me and attacking the Somali populate. No, no, no. This has nothing to do with Donald Trump. Donald Trump. And they've done a lot to highlight the issue. No question about it. We've had people on the program talking about what they're doing through the agencies and everything else, but it didn't require Donald Trump's voice. It required Nick Shirley's reporting. And once the American people and the people of Minnesota saw what it is that they were spending billions of dollars to do, which was nothing, that became the problem. And so his view, the lens that he views this through is, well, Donald Trump has made the issue and the Democratic Party views it as, look, Trump does one thing well and it's destroy people. So let's get out from underneath that. If your target, your former vice presidential nominee is eliminated from the scene, well, all this will go away. Because it's a Trump issue. It's not a Trump issue. It's a fraud issue.

[Michael Duncan]

Bingo.

[Josh Holmes]

And it's the fact that you look the other way for 10 long years as he defrauded the American people. And these people are just going to try to run it back. They're just going to try to run it back. And let me just say this before closing this segment. I worked in Minnesota a long time ago, grew up there. I don't know what it is about the Republican infrastructure that cannot nominate a person like the people I grew up, up with, who had the ability to relate to their neighbors, to care about stuff, to not be fucking weird, to not have weird, nuanced conspiracy theory views of all kinds of different things. Just be a normal human fucking being. Because the bar of which is set for success in this election is are you defrauding the people of Minnesota out of $8 billion or not? You don't have to be super charismatic to make that case. So I would urge everybody, you're gonna have two senate races, it appears, and you're gonna have a governor's race. Look inward, folks. Look inward. Look at your friends, look at your neighbors. I don't care if they're a millionaire or not. Look at somebody who can relate to a human being. Cuz I haven't seen a lot of it out of Minnesota.

[John Ashbrook]

Maybe we just find some really normal Republican accountant. He just shows up with the green visor and he's like, I've gone through the numbers.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, dude, just anyone with a breath and a pulse in somebody who like sends Christmas cards, you know, like just a normal human being. Because that's the bar of which the Minnesota electorate is looking for. They're not looking for some like wild conspiracy theorist. Just start not. I can promise you success is on the horizon. Look at Wisconsin. When I was growing up, North Dakota and South Dakota were all blue. Iowa was all blue. You're surrounded by states that were all blue that have turned all red. And all you have to do is find a candidate that can relate to human beings. That's it. I don't care what it is that you're like, hang up. Is work through it, work through the process. But you gotta defeat this message because it is a problem and it's not getting any better.

[Smug]

Very well said, buddy.

[Josh Holmes]

When we come back, we're going to do some variety.

[John Ashbrook]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

And this is in Smug's just absolute wheelhouse. There's a case of mistaken identity. It involves a postman.

[Michael Duncan]

Usps.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Gotta be held accountable.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that and we've got some stories of macaque right after this. Okay, there's a story out of lawandcrime.com and we have a clip. Maybe the best part is to start with the clip and then we'll react to it. But it happens to involve a United States Postal Service driver.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a stressful time for the post office. They're delivering a lot of packages.

[Michael Duncan]

It's a stressful time they're having, you know, fun losing everyone's package and not delivering by Christmas.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, well this guy may have been a little overzealous about the package integrity. Let's go to the clip.

[News Reporter]

In Escambia County, Florida, a postal carrier accused of trying to hit a 10 year old with his USPS vehicle. And that's according to state troopers tonight. William White facing charges including aggravated assault. FHP says White dropped off a package at the wrong home on Kingfisher Way Saturday. We're told a child whose family owns the home realized it was the wrong address and took the package, putting it on a scooter and was going to take it to the right home. Investigators say White thought the child was stealing the package and drove his USPS vehicle toward the child running over his scooter.

[Michael Duncan]

Amazing. Dude. This is what. This is what? When you got your package a week late, if it even arrived, that someone sent you for Christmas. I want you to know that this is what the USPS was busy doing.

[John Ashbrook]

Vigilante justice.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. They're trying to play Grand Theft auto on running over kids scooters. Like what is happen? There needs to be an investigation of usps. This is, this is not like there's the reason. There's the saying going postal. This guy went postal. Because everyone knows that. For years it's been known that these guys are nuts. They don't want to do their job, show up at a post. The number of people in the comments who are like I don't know what happened to my post office. They never want to do shit except tell me go to the kiosk. I guess half the reason to use the kiosk is for your own personal safety at this point.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I kind of, I kind of appreciate his commitment to the delivery in that he thought he had delivered it to the right home and he saw. What he saw was a 10 year old boy. Now what he didn't know is that the woman identified the package as being their neighbor. So she gave it to the 10 year old boy saying can you bring this to the neighbor's house? They misdelivered. So he got on his scooter and the postal service guys was like how dare you rob my package. And he ran him down.

[Michael Duncan]

Like running over a kid's scooter is so out of pocket. It's so insane. Like there's no justification whatsoever. This is just like an insane behavior. But this is like so common. This is just the postal service at it again.

[John Ashbrook]

Here's the one thing I would say in his defense is if he just mis. Delivered it to the wrong house on the street, why did you have to get on the scooter to redeliver it?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, a kid was trying to have a little fun over the holidays.

[John Ashbrook]

No, I get it.

[Michael Duncan]

But we're going to question the 10 year old put it on the scooter. Other than the dude driving the vehicle.

[John Ashbrook]

Into it, I guess I'm going to say I'm just credible take. I'm just saying it would look suspicious to get on the scooter and, you know, whisk away the package.

[Michael Duncan]

You know what an easy.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm not saying he's right. I'm just saying I get it.

[Michael Duncan]

You know what's an easier approach than using a vehicle to run down a 10 year old kid is to hop out of your little jeep and be like, hey kid, what are you doing? Wild approach. I know. Is to just ask the. Hey kid, what are you doing? Oh, you see, you got the number wrong. It was the wrong house. Oh, cool. No, you're gonna be like, not on my watch, amigo. And try to run this kid over. Duncan thinks that's the normal approach.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like the Elliot Ness of USPS delivery. They're not gonna have froggies.

[Michael Duncan]

Not on my watch.

[Josh Holmes]

No. Not gonna have it. Oh, it's fine. Well, the poor kid was fine. His scooter is not. So he is being held and he was released on a $5,500 bond. He's waiting his court. Next court date left on set was whether or not he was in a Jetson car as he did it.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, the new Jeeps. I actually saw one of the new. The 5 million a pop postal vehicles that we talk about. It's the most ridiculous car you've seen in your life.

[Josh Holmes]

You came in close contact with one.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, I saw one of them. I sent a picture of the fellas and had already gone for barbecue when Holmes text back to. He was like, dude, take a selfie with it. I was like such a lost opportunity. I really should have.

[Smug]

Was the vehicle working or just sitting idle on the side of the road?

[Michael Duncan]

It was just parked, so I didn't see it actually doing anything. But that's standard usps. They don't really do much.

[Josh Holmes]

They live there.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, that's where they live. They live in those monsters.

[John Ashbrook]

You yourself have said that these people are mentally unstable and yet you continue to attack them. I can't understand why.

[Josh Holmes]

I know.

[Michael Duncan]

It's called justice. It's called caring about this country.

[Smug]

Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

Very consistent. Yeah, very consistent. Okay. Do you want to hear about macaque?

[Smug]

Yeah, let's do it.

[John Ashbrook]

Somebody clipped that.

[Josh Holmes]

Some of our funniest stuff. So there's a loose monkey and it's in Tennessee. I can't help but recognize the fact that every time we do a Macaque story. It has something to do with the south. And I think it's probably four out of five in Tennessee. I don't know what the macaque situation is in Tennessee.

[Michael Duncan]

That's a good point.

[Josh Holmes]

It seems like it's just over indexed in macaque problems.

[Smug]

Yeah, I think they've got loose animal laws.

[John Ashbrook]

They must like, you know, like Florida is where the tiger king was. Yeah, maybe Tennessee is where they have all.

[Smug]

They let the animal kingdom flourish.

[Josh Holmes]

They just let the macaque roll. You know, it's like, oh, I like this.

[Michael Duncan]

There was a note from, from Lean here. Macaque is not on the loose. But a cinnamon capuchin monkey, that's a type.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay.

[John Ashbrook]

It's not actually a macaque.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I'm not sure. We'll have to go to the tape clip seven. Well, Animal control is searching for a monkey that damaged a Morristown business.

[News Reporter]

Yes, you heard.

[Josh Holmes]

Morristown Police department received round eight this morning saying that a monkey had entered the Trade center on South Cumberland street and damaged some of the instruments in there. Animal control was called but was unable to capture that animal. Police continue to assist Animal control in searching for that primate.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, that's pretty sick. He's got like a Fender Strat there. Maybe he's just trying to jam a little bit. That shot of the monkey is incredible, by the way.

[Josh Holmes]

Can we get that back up? Let's, let's just take a shot of the macaque.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, like, look at this thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, it's.

[Smug]

It's pissed, angry.

[Josh Holmes]

It's just hanging out.

[John Ashbrook]

I can't help but notice. I feel like whenever a human does a. A crime, we get some grainy CCTV footage.

[Smug]

Right.

[John Ashbrook]

And now we have a monkey.

[Michael Duncan]

Release the tape. Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And it's.

[Michael Duncan]

I want to see this thing in a guitar center going here.

[John Ashbrook]

It's in 4K in all color.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, is that all we. We got there? I, I would love to know what the monkey was doing there all that time.

[Smug]

I mean, why did they just let it go ham in the music store? Why didn't they put an end to it? It's so small.

[Josh Holmes]

Was it playing stuff?

[Michael Duncan]

I think it's just.

[Smug]

Good question.

[Michael Duncan]

I think it's just monkeying around. Am I right, guys?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Wish I had an old macaque down in the Tennessee hills.

[John Ashbrook]

It is important though that we qualify that it is a cinnamon capuchin because I don't know if you read through any of the comments. After we did the Chinese zoo segment, people were Very angry that we kept calling it a bear and not a sun bear.

[Smug]

Interesting.

[John Ashbrook]

I didn't know we had so many zoologists. And in our viewership, well, we deduced.

[Josh Holmes]

That that sun bear was just a black bear that used chopsticks.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. It was not a sun bear.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, God. We're gonna get more comments.

[Smug]

You'd like to think if there's anywhere in this country that could handle a cinnamon capuchin, it's east Tennessee. You know what I mean? Like, why didn't they just end this thing?

[Michael Duncan]

Where was this town they said it was?

[Smug]

It's Morristown, Tennessee. This is in east Tennessee. I've been there several times.

[Josh Holmes]

Have you?

[Smug]

I have.

[Josh Holmes]

Did you encounter a macaque?

[Smug]

I did not, fortunately. But, you know, I just have a strong suspicion that if many of the locals were aware that this thing was running rampant on one of their music stores, they would have.

[Michael Duncan]

It's closer to Nashville than Memphis.

[Smug]

No, no, no, no. It's closer to Knoxville than Nashville.

[Michael Duncan]

I was like, if it was in Memphis, it would get shot the fuck up.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, that's west, west Tennessee.

[Josh Holmes]

They know better.

[Michael Duncan]

Everybody gets shot in Memphis. Yeah, be a capuchin, you're still getting shot.

[Josh Holmes]

Just part of the. The deal in Memphis. But the macaques run loose in Tennessee nevertheless. Fellas, listen, I think we've done enough here. I think we've covered the waterfront. It's a nice Tuesday. A lot of news. We're going to do some more in depth stuff on some of the protests and the more insanity of the Democratic Party. I hope you join us for all of it because this week is only getting crazier. You can already tell Congress is just coming back. You can only imagine what we're gonna see when you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety program. We read all of your comments. Get back to the very next episode. When you do that on this one, we're gonna talk to you a lot about this ridiculous democratic situation with foreign policy and just lay it in. Give us the worst of the worst in terms of the whole flip flop on Maduro and everything else. We'll read all of them, get back to you on Thursday. We look forward to good week. I think we did it.

[Michael Duncan]

Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much to the Minions. Remember, if you have not yet go to YouTube. Hit that. Subscribe because it's more fun in video. So until next time, Minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you on Thursday. Stay ruthless.