Nutty Democrats Crank the Crazy

Summary

Ruthless Podcast – "Nutty Democrats Crank the Crazy"

Episode Summary: October 16, 2025
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook

Overview:

This episode of the Ruthless Podcast brings the signature irreverent, sharp-tongued conservative analysis to what the hosts call the “diagnosable clinical insanity of the Democratic Party.” Against the backdrop of the ongoing government shutdown, the fellas rip into what they see as the latest self-inflicted wounds of Democrats, touching on everything from healthcare policy to performative outrage, luxury getaways in the middle of crises, and more. Interviews with Amber Duke and Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer add depth to the show, and the ever-popular “King of the Hill” round, listener comments, and variety segments provide laughs and biting commentary throughout.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Opening Salvo: Democrat “Insanity” and Healthcare Policy (00:00–06:30)

• The hosts set the tone by labeling current Democratic actions as “clinical insanity”, with a focus on the disconnect between Democratic policy rhetoric and their actual decisions during the government shutdown.
• Quote:
  • Josh Holmes (A): “It's just such an unmasking of the entire ideology because… they broke the market, they broke the marketplace. So everything skyrocketed, as Republicans said it would all the way back in 2010. And their answer for that is throw taxpayer dollars at it.” [04:52]
• Healthcare debates are framed as a circular problem of Democrats trying to remedy their own failed policies by throwing more money—especially by subsidizing insurance companies and expanding benefits to illegal immigrants.

2. Shutdown Shenanigans: Blame, Budget, and Napa Valley (06:32–13:41)

• The hosts mock Democratic efforts to blame Republicans for a shutdown, arguing Dems are refusing to fund a budget they’d already previously approved.
• Sharp contrast is drawn between Republicans trying to “keep the lights on” and Senate Democrats holding a retreat at a luxury Napa Valley hotel ($1,100/night at Hotel Yountville), near the infamous French Laundry.
  • Quote:
    • Holmes (A): “While Trump is solving world peace and… Senate Republicans are holding votes… these guys are in Napa at Hotel Yountville.” [06:40]
• They poke fun at Democrats’ apparent lack of shame, referencing Instagrammable moments at the retreat while troops and staffers go unpaid.

3. Performative Outrage and the Progressive Base (13:43–16:36)

• The hosts flag the shift from accountability to outright shamelessness, referencing historic Democratic figures and current progressive activism.
• Example: AOC’s “Tax the Rich” dress at the Met Gala is highlighted alongside open support for luxury and privilege within progressive circles.
• They highlight the routine use of accusations of racism and white supremacy as a last-ditch excuse:
  • Quote:
    • Holmes (A): “And then Yvette shows up with Sharpton... to say what is happening here and why the government is shut down… frankly, is white supremacy.” [14:59]

4. House Stunts and Shutdown Disinformation (16:36–20:26)

• The podcast details a liberal media stunt where Democrats, led by female House members, demand swearing in of a new member while the House is out of session, turning it into press spectacle.
• The narrative is increasingly unhinged: one viral leftist theory links the shutdown to Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy and a governmental cover-up.
  • Quote:
    • Holmes (A): “So what they are alleging is the government shutdown, I don't know, somehow tied into... covering up... [the] crimes [of] a deceased pedophile whose crimes were committed 22 years ago...” [19:19]

5. Media Coverage: The Shutdown That ‘Disappeared’ (20:26–33:42)

• The conversation pivots to the media’s refusal to cover the shutdown as responsibility shifted onto Democrats, citing front pages of the New York Times and Washington Post devoid of shutdown news.
• Mainstream bias is critiqued as not just “how” issues are covered, but “what” gets covered at all.
• Guest Amber Duke, Daily Caller:
  • Discusses the media’s unwillingness to focus on stories that might make Democrats look bad; plugs her “Unfit to Print” newsletter as a countermeasure.

6. Interview: Amber Duke on Federal Bureaucracy, Political Violence, and the Devolution of Civil Debate (23:02–45:59)

• Amber Duke offers historical perspective on government layoffs under Clinton vs. modern bureaucratic bloat.
• Quote:
  • Amber Duke (F): “Everybody used to agree that the government should be more efficient and smaller. And now there is a party that is… dedicated to actually growing government, and they view government as a jobs program. Like, every person who… doesn't have any skills—they go to work at the federal government, right?” [26:05]
• Discussion turns to Supreme Court’s Chevron decision—more bureaucracy versus democratic oversight.
• Amber details the left’s willingness to justify political violence, referencing shocking polling and the lack of Democratic condemnation for such behavior:
  • “Polling on this, it's very clear. Leftists are so more willing to justify political violence against their political opponents than the right. It's an order of like 25% to 4% in pretty much every poll.” [35:11]
• The hosts and Amber discuss how language and “systemic violence” are used by the left as justification for real-world violence.

7. Transgender Issues, Virginia Politics, and ‘Radical’ Candidates (42:23–47:04)

• Virginia’s gubernatorial race becomes a focal point for debates about the trans movement, with particular ridicule for Democratic candidates’ avoidance of clear stances.
• The infamous “Dick Cox” case is mocked for both the name and the absurdity the hosts see in trans policy debates.
  • Quote:
    • Holmes (A): “You're like, maybe we shouldn't have naked pedophiles in showers and perhaps wishing the death upon your political opponent.” [48:01]

8. King of the Hill: Conway vs. Kristol, Social Media Meltdown (56:32–68:41)

• Signature segment where tweets from George Conway and Bill Kristol are pitted against each other for peak self-importance and absurdity.
• Memorable Moment:
  • Smug slams George Conway’s projection: “If he could understand a woman's body language, he wouldn't be divorced.” [61:48]
• The back-and-forth highlights the melodrama and self-righteousness that the hosts see in never-Trump Republican commentary.
• Winning Tweet: Conway’s complaint about lack of scrutiny on Trump’s health:
  • “Is it just me, or does it seem the press is actually and completely terrified to report about real Donald Trump's physical and mental health? The way. The way. Again, again, terrible writing. It would have. If anyone else were president.” [66:49]

9. Zoo Gorilla Attack Segment: The Parable of Denny the Gorilla (70:26–75:35)

• The hosts riff on viral news of a gorilla breaking glass at the San Diego Zoo, comparing it to audience misbehavior and lamenting social decay (e.g., staring at phones instead of animals).
• Quote:
  • Comfortably Smug (B): “I think Denny's a hero. Check out the humans in their natural environment, glued to their phones, eating popcorn and letting their children run wild.” [72:30]

10. Interview: Faryar Shirzad, Coinbase Chief Policy Officer – Crypto, Regulations, and the Trump Administration (76:00–94:17)

• Segment Begins [76:00]
• Shirzad credits the Trump administration's crypto policy with ending a "war on crypto" and bringing jobs back to the US, as opposed to pushing innovation offshore (as under Biden).
• Discusses legislation like the Genius Act and Clarity Act, bipartisan support for crypto, and the fight against big banks trying to block stablecoin rewards.
• Quote:
  • Shirzad (E): “We're fighting a fight… because the banks were able to get a ban on stablecoin issuers being able to share some interest in you with their customers… But you can be a foreign issuer… lighter regulatory touch… banks win, the Trump admin loses.” [83:35]
• Explains how crypto is a natural evolution of the internet, allows instant transfer of value, and empowers individuals over “legacy” finance.
• Mentions Daily Caller’s role in covering under-served news and explains how “standwithcrypto.org” can get listeners involved politically.

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• Holmes on luxury while troops go unpaid:
  • “While Trump is solving world peace... these guys are in Napa at Hotel Yountville.” [06:40]
• Amber Duke on government work:
  • “Everybody used to agree that the government should be more efficient and smaller. And now… they view government as a jobs program.” [26:05]
• Smug on the left and violence:
  • “Polling… shows… leftists are so more willing to justify political violence… than the right. It's an order of 25% to 4%.” [35:11]
• Holmes on Democratic talking points:
  • “What's the worst Democratic talking point on the shutdown we've covered? It's that there's white supremacy. It's Epstein. There's… the No Kings rally.” [49:44]
• Smug—Gorilla at the zoo as parable:
  • “I think Denny's a hero. Check out the humans in their natural environment, glued to their phones, eating popcorn and letting their ch. Children run wild.” [72:30]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening Rant & Healthcare Policy: 00:00–06:30
• Napa Valley, Democratic Retreat: 06:32–13:41
• Media, Outrage, and Pelosiisms: 13:43–16:36
• House Staging & Epstein Theory: 16:36–20:26
• Amber Duke Interview (Shutdown, Bureaucracy): 23:02–45:59
• King of the Hill: 56:32–68:41
• Zoo Gorilla Segment: 70:26–75:35
• Faryar Shirzad (Coinbase) Interview: 76:00–94:17

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Tone and Language

The tone remains biting, comedic, and unfiltered throughout. Hosts use strong language at times, are quick to drop pop culture references, and are unsparing in their criticism of both Democrats and the more earnest elements of never-Trump Republican resistance.

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Conclusion

This episode is ruthlessly on-brand: barbed takedowns of the Democrats' latest maneuvers, derision for left-wing groupthink and media priorities, and a heavy dose of inside-conservative snark about political and pop culture absurdities. The guest interviews add substance amid the chaos, delivering perspectives on the bureaucratic state and the future of crypto legislation. If you missed the show, this summary brings together the recurring themes: progressive shamelessness, bureaucracy run wild, conservative exasperation (and glee), and a keen sense for the most darkly comic moments in American politics.

Transcript

[A]

And it's just such an unmasking of the entire ideology because, like, at its core, if you want to get into the nuts and bolts of what they're talking about with healthcare is that they broke the market. Today we're gonna be talking a little bit about the diagnosable clinical insanity of the Democratic Party. You can't wait to see what it is that we get into.

[B]

It doesn't work. It's not working.

[A]

It gets even more brain dead, borderline, like schizophrenic type crazy.

[C]

Our nation is standing up for American.

[D]

Workers, restoring the pride of making products here at home.

[E]

That's what we do every day.

[D]

We're America's beverage companies, making American products.

[A]

With American workers in America's hometowns, delivering.

[E]

Brands that have been enjoyed for generations.

[A]

Creating good paying jobs, the kind that require only a strong work ethic.

[C]

Because we believe in the promise of.

[A]

America and the people who make it great.

[D]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[B]

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

[D]

It's time for our main event.

[A]

Good Thursday to you. Welcome back to the ruthless variety program. Today we're going to be talking a little bit about the diagnosable clinical insanity of the Democratic Party. You can't wait to see what it is that we get into. You're gonna laugh your tails off. I'm Josh Holmes along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook. Left to right, across your radio dial, folks. I can't. There are moments, I mean, look, they're always a little bit crazy.

[D]

Always.

[A]

And certainly in the era of Trump, like he's pushed them into a point where they are unrelatable in many ways. But there comes certain moments where what they're doing and saying in, like, the information chamber that they reside in is so far removed from reality that you just gotta see it and you gotta have some yucks over it, don't you? I mean, this is one of those.

[D]

Times, without a doubt. Yeah.

[C]

The one that really strikes me is like, Donald Trump is literally bringing peace to the Middle east, right?

[A]

He's got this on fricking Tuesday.

[D]

Tuesday on the heel of like seven other peace deals, right?

[C]

Right. And then you've got these Democrats who are like tweeting like, yeah, Donny Trump, let's see you solve this shutdown now.

[B]

How about that?

[C]

It's like, bro, he's on the COVID of every newspaper in the English speaking world and on every television celebrating peace. And you're like, oh, I got you now, body bag.

[A]

Yeah, body bag. 3,000 years of conflict. He's like making a meaningful difference. And they're like, yeah, well I'm gonna shut down the government. You can do about that.

[B]

Yeah, you can do about that. Yeah.

[A]

And it's just so divorced from reality and the experiences that the American people are having on a day to day basis. The shutdown thing in particular is completely hilarious. Cuz there's a lot of us up here who have gone through this, some with shoes on in the legislative branch who, you know, I mean, these things kind of go through machinations of negotiation. Sometimes people have different components that didn't at the start happen here. Because we're just talking about the continuation of a budget all Democrats voted for like six months ago. So it's not like Republicans want anything from them other than just like doing the basics of your job and keeping the lights on.

[C]

Just changing the date. Just change the date on the thing.

[D]

On the Biden budget.

[A]

Yeah, just do that. But it's gotten so bad that they tried immediately to say, well we didn't do it, Republicans did it. And you're like, but we all voted to keep it open and you didn't. And it's not like we're asking you to do something that you haven't already voted for five fucking times, you idiots.

[D]

Right?

[A]

And they're like, yeah, but we want healthcare. And they're like, well what about the healthcare? Like, well it's too expensive. And it's like, well you guys remember when you built the healthcare system over the objections of every single Republican in Congress? And they're like, yeah, but you know, it's just become too expensive. And like clearly that's a problem. You're like, yeah, well. And then you remember when you just provided taxpayer subsidy, like you threw a bunch of tax taxpayer money at insurance companies expecting that that just wouldn't increase the price even more. And they're like, yeah, no, I remember we said it was temporary. And you're like, so it wasn't.

[B]

But that's. But also like, don't forget, they're like, and we want to give it to illegals. The whole reason we lost the election of Americans wanting to secure the border, we want to go back and revisit that. And we're on the side of the illegals.

[C]

We want health care for illegal immigrants and also a billion bailout for insurance companies. Yeah, like that's how we're fighting for the American people. Think about that.

[A]

And it's just such an unmasking of the entire ideology because like at its core, if you want to get into the nuts and bolts of what they're talking about with healthcare is that they broke the market, they broke the marketplace. So everything skyrocketed, as Republicans said it would all the way back in 2010. And their answer for that is throw taxpayer dollars at it. As if insurance companies are going to make the necessary adjustments at that point and be like, you're. We're going to go back down the other way now that you've given us more money to provide the exact same thing. And then you think about it in terms of like, the Inflation Reduction Act. Same fucking thing.

[D]

Yeah, right.

[A]

It's like we've got to. We're going to call something the Inflation Reduction act. We understand it's 13% over year over year and none of you can afford your groceries. So what we're going to do is take billions and trillions of your dollars flooded into the marketplace in terms of our priorities of green energy. And I am certain that that will do the trick.

[D]

They're insane, dude. And all when you were talking about health care and Obamacare and everything else, all I could hear was Nancy Pelosi saying, well, you gotta pass it to find out what's in it. Now we know what's in it, right? Totally. Now we know what's in it. It's terrible.

[A]

So amongst all of this, they are so concerned about all of it. Well, not that concerned after all, because what is it that Senate Democrats were up to this week? Literally? We're not making this shit up. This is literally what they did this week. Can we put up graphic one? So this is a promotional material for Senate Democrats retreat Napa Valley at Hotel Yuntville. Yeah, it's a mere blocks from French Laundry.

[B]

Dude, what is it with Democrats and always running to, like, a vineyard when there's disaster? I mean, who put this together?

[A]

So while Trump is solving world peace and like, soon and Senate Republicans are holding votes on the reg to try to get them to just vote for what they'd already voted for several times before, to pay our troops. Seems like a kind of important thing. These guys are in Napa at Hotel Yountville. That's like, if you're thinking about it, jurisdictionally within Napa, right across the street basically from French Laundry. That's what I'm saying.

[B]

Like, you know, they've got the governor right there. He's like, it's a great part of town, folks. Yeah, I highly recommend.

[C]

I gotta apologize for my naivete because we talked about this at the beginning of the shutdown and I Flagged this retreat and thought to myself, there's just no way.

[B]

There's no way they're gonna go out.

[C]

And they're gonna do the Napa retreat, and then they're like, leroy Jenkins, we'll do it.

[A]

But that's what we're getting at. Why we topped the show the way we did is because we're now in an era of democratic politics where they're to be just a touch of shame and a touch of understanding that the American people would probably not see the thing. And now it's jumped into, like, underpants gnome logic and we're gonna do whatever the fuck we want and just like, tell this increasingly violent Democratic base that the other people are doing all of it and, like, that's enough for the base that they care about. That helps many of these people get reelected. So that's like it. That's the only thing that they need to do. So we got a clip on this. Remember, this is the troops are not being followed.

[F]

Oh.

[C]

This is the promotional material from this wonderful hotel.

[A]

Can we take a look at what they've been up to this week? Oh, there it is.

[C]

Very nice video.

[A]

Cozy. Hey, look. Complimentary robe. Terry cloth. Terry cloth, yeah.

[B]

This looks like a massage. Very solid accommodation.

[C]

I think that was an espresso martini.

[D]

Oh, the bikes.

[B]

Oh, they've got bikes.

[D]

Of course they've got bikes. Yeah.

[C]

Oh, the vineyard. Yeah. Looks delightful.

[B]

I mean, I think that is the best contrast is. Remember Schumer said, this is great for us, and that's why. Yeah, that is great for them. You know, I'll tell you what, this is great.

[D]

The audio. Really great for audio of this show is wonderful. You really need to see it in video so you can understand exactly what sort of luxury the Democrats are experiencing right now as you're listening to this show. Because those pictures are exquisite. It's like, who wouldn't want to go there? Yeah, every Democrat. I'm assuming all the rooms are booked, right?

[A]

Well, it's eleven hundred dollars a night.

[D]

It.

[A]

But there is quite a demand for that kind of thing. Can we play it one more time? Just because I think that there's a. There's a couple of moments here worth.

[D]

One I'd like to pause on.

[A]

Yeah. Is it the yoga scene I wanted.

[D]

To pause on the one where the guy is looking out the window and the girl is over his shoulder right there.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That looks nice.

[C]

He's got one or two buttons unbuttoned. That shouldn't be unbuttoned.

[B]

It's a bit much. Dude.

[A]

Do you think he's thinking about his military paycheck?

[D]

I think you think there you have two Dem members of the House who are.

[B]

No, these are senators. Do they want this place with common House numbers?

[A]

Yeah, no, this is definitely an upper in August body.

[B]

Yeah, this is dscc, dude. They're not going to let House people.

[A]

No question. Although there will be no Democrats that are nearly attractive as that young woman. I want to keep that going. I got an. I got a thing, too. All right, so here's where I want to stop it right now. Oh, we just missed. Looked like a yoga thing.

[D]

The yoga. Right.

[A]

Also, like, to the untrained eye, and I can't imagine that this right there on the screen, it looked like the woman in white is just taking her shirt off.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Excellent flagging. I bet that would go down at a Senate Democrat retreat. You know, shout out Al Franken. You know, there's a few of them who've had to deal with these kind of things.

[A]

You just never know what you're going to find in Napa Valley at a Democratic retreat. What a luxurious place. Anyway, I'm glad that they've enjoyed themselves. They certainly weren't worried a lick about anybody else.

[B]

I mean, this is just. I mean, it is a slap in the face to all Americans where you have Chuck Schumer say, this is going great for us. And they're out there in Napa Valley, 1100 a night, living it up. Troops, vets, they don't give a lick.

[A]

No, I mean, it's almost comedy at this point. I mean, it's like, imagine making that decision. You're like, oh, yeah, no, no. None of those people are gonna. My own staff, by the way. Their own staff. Right? The people who are, like, sitting there answering the angry calls from, like, all the vets.

[C]

They don't get invited.

[A]

Like, they're watching this Napa Valley. Their own people that they have that are, like, jotting down the schedule.

[B]

I mean, there's this weird Democrat thing that they've accepted in their minds that they're, like, elected Democrats are my betters, and I deserve my punishment. So, like, when they see AOC wear like a eat the rich dress or tax the rich or whatever that she's wearing. Going to some, like, Vogue ball.

[C]

That was the Met Gala.

[B]

Met Gala. I mean, those.

[C]

Those tickets cost tens of thousands of dollars.

[B]

They accept that and they're like, yes, this is good. It's fine that these Democrat senators are going to a vineyard paying 1100 a night, and Celebrating while I live in squalor. I deserve this.

[D]

Which I think is a really important point, because, you know, AOC's campaign is raising money. And so every single person who's getting no paycheck in Chuck Schumer's field office is reconsidering those job offers from the AOC campaign for Senate. I really think that they're, like, looking at that, and they're like, are they really doing this? And I'm not getting paid. I'm gonna work for aoc.

[B]

Yeah, wait till she primaries and kicks his ass out of the Senate. I do think she'll be at 1500 a night place.

[C]

I do think it's funny, the whole construct, that smug just laid out there where it's like they're all in one room, and they're like, all right, solidarity, comrade. Like, we're all in this together. I just got to, like, I got to go to the Met gala real quick.

[B]

Keep it brothers. Brb, you know, go make some Molotovs.

[A]

I need a couple of, like, $400 bottles of cab, and then I'm all set. But if it sounds familiar, like, any time a Democrat wants to obfuscate any responsibility whatsoever, this is sort of the. Remember graphic two? That was Gavin Newsom during COVID when he was arresting people for going to the beach and saying that you couldn't go outside your own home. Where did he go? French Laundry. Right. That's just a hop, skip at a jump from this. Yountville Hotel. Yountville.

[C]

I've got a new motto for French Laundry. I think this would work in all their promotional materials. A restaurant so good, you'd ruin your career for it.

[D]

That's good.

[A]

But if you're a Democrat, they let you do it.

[B]

They let you do it.

[C]

They do it in secret.

[D]

They do. They get away with it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So then you gotta go look back at the pauper Democrats, right? The ones that, like, can't go to Napa. And they're just there to try to find out what their next sort of angle at any sort of publicity is whatsoever. Got a favorite here in clip two with Yvette Clark. Let's take a look at this lady. There is no doubt that there's so many from our community who have built their talents and their expertise around giving service to our communities through our federal enterprise. And to see this administration target them, essentially, you know, it reaffirms what we know about this administration, unfortunately. And we're dealing with white supremacism and every dog whistle, every excuse that they can to target our communities. So if you're following along, what has happened here is the Republican House of Representatives has passed the bill that Democrats themselves have voted for four times. It's simply a continual resolution and just an extension of the current government went to the Senate. All of the Republicans there, I think sans Rand Paul voted to do the same.

[D]

Right.

[A]

And then the Senate Democrats led by Chuck Schumer decided, no, we're not, we're gonna shut the government down because I'm in political peril. And then Yvette shows up with Sharpton. I mean, the high comedy of this to say what is happening here and why the government is shut down, frankly, is white supremacy.

[B]

No supremacism. You heard that, right? Yeah, it's a new form. It's far more insidious. It's mutated.

[C]

They're not sending their best.

[B]

It's a new four.

[A]

The brain damage involved in like. That's what I'm talking about.

[B]

Well, that's the thing is they're just playing the hits. They're playing the hits. And I'll give them credit, for well over a decade, it worked. This bullshit. They used to cook with it like it used to actually work. They'd be like, this here, that's white supremacy, folks. This is racism. I'm gonna say my opponents are racist and everyone's gonna be scared and they're gonna do what I want because I'll say, if you don't, then it's racist.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

And you get a bunch of Republicans who be like, oh, gosh, we don't wanna be racist.

[B]

You find the squeamish people, you go after and you keep doing that. And eventually people realize they're like, actually, that seems like a lot of bullshit, you know, And I think this election, if anything in 2024 has signified people are done with it. They're done with it. You can't tell voters, listen, you're racist, you're evil, you're a bad person, you're a colonist, you've done horrible things. They're done with it. Everyone just wants to have a nice, normal life. And now they're gonna go to Napa and then they're gonna send a vet to Al Sharpton's show to be like, this is white supremacism, folks. It doesn't work. It's not working.

[A]

It gets even more brain dead. Borderline, like schizophrenic type crazy shit. Check out clip three. So these are a bunch of Democrats in the House of Representatives who are women who are marching to the Speaker's office. Never mind the fact that the speaker is not in his office.

[F]

Right.

[A]

And government, by the way, is still closed. Right. This is a government shutdown. They're holding signs that say swear her in. And they're demanding to get into the Speaker's office to swear in this newly elected woman, Grisalza.

[B]

I heard about. You know what the story is here, folks? These disgusting people, they did this. They showed up, they got the press and the camera crews and their little comms directors with their little iPhones out, and they did that when they knew that Speaker Johnson was at the event that President Trump was hosting for Charlie Kirk. For Charlie Kirk.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

So they, they are trying to be like, hey, look, let's make a little press event out of this. We know for a fact that Speaker Johnson's gonna be here commemorating Charlie Work, Charlie Kirk's life. But let's make it about us.

[C]

We'll make it look like he's not working. He's not working.

[B]

He's not even here.

[C]

And they all have their iPhones out. Because that's what this really is. It's all about getting content.

[B]

That's what it is.

[A]

So. But what this raised is a hilarious wrinkle in all of this, which is what they're talking about. Swear her in. Is this newly elected woman in New Mexico or Arizona. Arizona.

[C]

Grijalva.

[A]

Grijalva, which by the way, is the daughter of the former congressman swearing the Nepo baby, folks.

[C]

Real meritocracy.

[A]

Perfectly comfortable with that, but duly elected and she should be sworn in. Problem is the House of Representatives already did its job in the government shutdown, and so it's out of session. You don't negotiate against yourself once you've done your job. The Senate is the point that has not done its job. And so they're still there and these women are marching and Swear her in. Under the guise that it would do something about this current situation. There is nothing the House can do at all to open the government up. It is a Senate issue. But then you go a layer deeper.

[C]

This is where it gets good.

[A]

And I. Last night, I swear to God, this is the first time. Cuz I like, I don't traffic in a lot of these like fever swamps to the left anymore. I kind of used to. Cuz you had to for a job, but like, it's just, it. It does brain damage.

[B]

These have to be really bad swamps.

[A]

It's like blue sky.

[B]

You don't want to go down there.

[A]

No, I mean, it's ugly down there. But I'm sitting on a set with Brett Baron. He plays a clip of these people saying, like, what this is all about is the speaker of the House covering up for Jeffrey Epsom. Swear to God.

[C]

Are you for real?

[A]

No. Swear to God. So what they are alleging is the government shutdown, I don't know, somehow tied into the fact that a woman who has not been sworn in from Arizona because the House has been out of session because it's already done their job, is somehow relevant to a deceased pedophile whose crimes were committed 22 years ago and the covering up of those said crimes. Yeah, and never mind the fact that veterans and your frontline soldiers deployed across the world trying to protect America are next week not getting a paycheck. Well, it's the Epstein.

[C]

It's a conspiracy to protect a dead pedophile from 20 years ago.

[A]

That's what this is about.

[C]

Not about the veterans or the military.

[D]

They got it.

[A]

Folks just stopped and think about the clinical insanity that would lead you to that logical conclusion about what's going on. They shut the government down. There's just no question. Even the media at this point is like, yeah, yeah, they did shut down.

[B]

I mean, I feel like that's why it's kind of fallen off the front page of newspapers. 100% is that Democrats realize the. And polling has shown the American public realizes it's the Democrats fault. So the press is like, listen, why would we be covering this if it's making the Democrats look bad? And remind everyone, hey, folks, day 19 of Democrats shutting down the government. Hey, folks, vets aren't getting paid because remember, Democrats shut down the government. The press is like, take it off the front page. Let's not talk about that.

[C]

No, you're 100% right, dude. 100%.

[A]

It genuinely is. It's unbelievable. So when we come back, we got a great interview with Amber Duke. She's the senior editor at the Daily Caller. She's gonna march us through not only the shutdown, some of the things you've talked about with federal employees and whatn, but also several other issues that we just love to talk about here on the program. And she's like the expert on it. You're going to love it right after this.

[D]

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[A]

To Fight Chronic Disease. I want to welcome the program. Some of them we've been a big fan of over the years. She is the senior editor at the Daily Caller. Amber Duke, welcome to the program.

[F]

Hey, thanks so much for having me.

[A]

Listen, you've been writing a lot of smart things lately.

[F]

Thank you.

[A]

We consume them here on the Variety program. We have some eat them up. Yeah, we agree with with just about everything. But we have questions.

[F]

Well, what do you not agree on.

[A]

That'S actually trouble now, actually. Well, let's get to that. I don't know that there is anything, but I think for the benefit of the audience we ought to explore some of it. Listen, the first thing that you wrote, which is particularly apt at this moment in time that we're now what day 15 into a government shutdown is about this whole federal purge and a lot of talk obviously out of the administration OMB rasvat about eliminating a whole bunch of federal jobs now that Congress has completely abrogated its responsibility in this area. He gets the keys to the car, so he gets to do all of that. You have what I found to be an incredible amount of historical perspective on how this is not like a new thing and definitely something that can happen.

[F]

That's right. So I mean, to be fair, there are more civil service protections now, but there's been this overarching debate that apparently the courts have to settle about whether or not the executive can fire people in the executive branch. Like it's truly insane.

[A]

Bizarre.

[F]

But the reductions in forces, the rifts that Vote wants to do. And he's apparently fired at least, least 4,000 people already since the shutdown started, which is good, but, you know, let's pump those numbers up a little bit, right? Like, those are rookie numbers, but the rifts, historically, one of the biggest times they were used was under Bill Clinton. He had.

[A]

Fascinating, right? I didn't know this until you reported.

[F]

So Bill Clinton basically wanted to make the government more efficient, huh? Sounds familiar, right? Does that sound like Doge? So he actually used rifts to fire 400,000 people over a period of seven years. But at the time, the federal government only had about a million fewer employees than we have now. So I think Trump's target should be at least 800,000 for the rest of his term. And so far, I believe he's fired about 400,000 himself.

[A]

So halfway home.

[F]

He's halfway home. So he has one fewer term, and a federal government that's twice the size of Bill Clinton. So let's just use those numbers, extrapolate a little bit, and then we have our goal.

[C]

Isn't it sort of fascinating? And obviously, you know, today is different than then, but, like, a guy like Bill Clinton can announce that the era of big government is over and fire all these federal workers. And, like, there wasn't the outrage that there is today for Donald Trump and Elon Musk trying to do a similar sort of thing. It's like, it strikes me that basically the Democratic Party has a major constituency that is basically just the growth of government and the federal workforce, everything from USAID to all these other programs. And I feel like it's, like, so much more entrenched than it probably was during the time of Bill Clinton.

[F]

And what's amazing about that specific point is we've had so many value shifts in our country. You know, people can't even agree that, like, celebrating murder is bad, that crime is bad, and we should have more police to stop crime. But also, everybody used to agree that the government should be more efficient and smaller. And now there is a party that is exactly that dedicated to actually growing government, and they view government as a jobs program. Like, every person who is terrible at working has no. No knowledge, doesn't have any skills. Like, they go to work at the federal government, right? Like, that's what it is. And if you talk to administration officials, as I'm sure you all do all the time, they will tell you these insane stories of the people that work there and somehow still have a job even under the Trump administration. Like, people who list on their resume that they are fluent in JavaScript, right? And they work as engineers for the federal government. And you ask them a basic Question about Java. And they're like, well, I don't know. I just, I asked my co worker how to do that. Like, what are we talking about? They all need to go.

[A]

It's like the old office space stuff.

[C]

Right?

[A]

I'm a people person. God damn it.

[C]

What is it you'd say you do here?

[F]

Absolutely nothing is the answer for probably 90% of federal employees.

[A]

And look, to my knowledge, there wasn't a lot of pushback, at least publicly, when Bill Clinton was doing all this.

[F]

No, people loved it. And even still, polls show that the majority of people think government should be more efficient. But of course, the media and the left trot out these sob stories. Well, it's the single mother who has to take the bus eight hours to work each day. And if she can't work in the irs, you know, it department or filing department, then she literally won't be able to feed her kids. Like those are the types of things that get trotted out. And it's emotional blackmail, really, which is. Well, if you support cutting government jobs, then you actually just want single mothers to starve.

[D]

Which I think is one of the reasons why it is so important that you're doing what you're doing. Because if you look at cbs, abc, NBC, they tell the story that the bureaucracy, the entrenched bureaucracy in power wants them to tell. And we've noticed there's actually, this is just our own opinion here at the show that it's almost like the powerful bureaucracy outstrips even elected Democrats in terms of power and influencing these major broadcast legacy networks. And if nobody is out there to tell the other side of the story like you do, people just would be completely in the dark.

[F]

Yeah. And that's why the Chevron decision from the Supreme Court was so important. Which, you know, it sounds legalistic and it might be difficult to explain to people, but the basic idea is that Democrats believe people who work in the federal government are all, quote, unquote, experts. And so they should get to make rules in areas where legislation is vague. But the reality is the case that was brought before the Supreme Court to overturn Chevron was about this insane rule related to fishing boats where fishermen who have four generations before them of people who worked on fishing boats off the coast of Maine, they have to have some like 23 year old who took a two week training class sit on their boat and tell them when they've been fishing too much.

[D]

It's insane.

[F]

It is.

[C]

This is people's livelihood.

[F]

Right.

[C]

And this bureaucrat is 23 who took a class knows better than that.

[F]

He's like, I haven't seen a fish in 10 minutes. So I think you guys are done.

[A]

I think we're done. Could you pass the bond please?

[F]

And they had to pay for the person to travel on their boat. They had to pay their salary.

[A]

Very important, very important that we pay the the way of somebody like that. So it turns out like, look, this shutdown I've contended is like one of the biggest cell phones in history. From a Democratic perspective, they went into it because of Chuck Schumer's political position, not necessarily for a strategy for success at all. And you see the end game, they don't have one. And I think what's happened here over the last couple of weeks is this thing has matured that is now becoming even despite the media's best efforts to try to change all of that. It is, it's becoming a liability. So how does the mainstream media react to that liability? Well, they don't talk about it. Can we put up graphic three? So that's the New York Times today. If you'll notice, there's not a story about the fact that the American people's government is shut, same as the Washington Post. Anything else we could find, they just stopped covering it, which I find remarkable. But I think from your expertise as somebody who's at the Daily Caller and monitoring what's important to your readership, this has got to be pretty jarring.

[F]

It's bizarre. I mean, we've been covering the shutdown every day and we're not The Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal. We have maybe 1/100 of the amount of reporters and resources that they do. But you're so right. Chuck Schumer did not shut down the government because he's worried about health care. He shut down the government because he doesn't want to get primaried by aoc. And, and what happened was I'm sure the Democrats had a bunch of pollsters who went out and they asked Americans what issues they cared about. Cuz he was trying to find some justification for shutting the government down. And they came back and they were like, well people are really worried about health care. Yeah, but what he didn't do, as any good political tactician would do, is go the step further and say, okay, well what is the Democrats plan on healthcare? So they shut the government down, they start arguing about healthcare and then it's like, oh wait, you're talking about healthcare for illegal immigrants. And also reverting to you're mad about reverting to pre 2021obamacare subsidies, which actually underscores how the bill that you champion made healthcare significantly more affordable for people that it was actually supposed to help.

[A]

The funniest part to all of us in watching this is that, like, underpants gnome logic where you get to a point where you're like, yeah, no, the problem, definitely healthcare. And like, look, premiums are too high. No question about it. Be like, all right, well, like, who put that system into play? Oh, damn, it was Democrats.

[F]

Meme of the person putting the stick in their own bike. They're like, why would you do this to my health care?

[A]

Totally. And then, you know, we have a pandemic. It's a politically vulnerable time. They ask taxpayers to subsidize insurance companies to try to fix a broken marketplace that they broke intentionally over the objections of every single Republican in Washington, D.C. and then here we are under the guise that it was gonna be temporary. And then here we are at the end of it, even if you take it at face value that that's their argument. What a shitty argument.

[F]

Yeah, well, it's a political dirty trick. Nothing is ever temporary with the Democrats.

[E]

Never.

[A]

You know, you're truly right.

[D]

You know, could we pull that graphic back up one more second? Because I would really like, Amber, your take on this, because I'm looking at the old gray lady here. And this is for our audio only listeners. This is the front page of the New York Times print edition. Establishment of Winston publication. And they're not writing about the government shutdown, but I thought it was interesting what they're fronting instead. This is a paper that once wrote about VJ Day and VE Day and other historic moments.

[C]

It's a good wind up.

[D]

But today they chose a story about the abortion fight in the UK on the left and a press release about a Democrat who's running for Senate in Maine in the middle. And so I wonder, Amber, you know, why are you not covering the abortion fight in the uk and why did you not write a press release for some Democrat from there?

[F]

That's right. That's right. No, it's a really great point. People talk about media bias all the time. It's not just how they're covering things, but what they choose to cover.

[C]

Right.

[F]

This is a great example of that. And you'll notice in the top left corner that their slogan, their tagline, is all the news that's fit to print. And I'm gonna give a shameless plug here because I named my newsletter after this slogan and it's called unfit to print. It's all of the things they don't think are worthy of public attention that are actually way more important to the American people than whatever's on the front page of the Times at any given moment.

[A]

Well, it's provided an incredible opportunity for people like you and publications like the Daily Caller because you just simply can't get what you're interested in on that. You can't, like the amount of Americans that Woke up, the 340 million Americans that woke up and were like, I wonder what the abortion policy is in the uk.

[C]

Top of mind.

[F]

Which is. It's actually kind of incredible that they would even turn the lens on that, because most countries have more restrictions, more pro life, actually in the uk So I wonder how they actually handled that contradiction.

[A]

They're like, watch this jujitsu. We're gonna figure this out.

[F]

Another cell phone.

[A]

Exactly. All right, so another thing that you covered that we have been talked a lot about in the last, obviously, month, as we all have violent rhetoric in your piece in the Daily Callers. Violent rhetoric is a feature, not a bug, of the modern left. We wholeheartedly agree with that. Give us a little synopsis of that.

[F]

Well, I just. The polls are so clear, right, that leftists are so more willing to justify political violence against their political opponents than the right. It's an order of like 25% to 4% in pretty much every poll. I think YouGov had those exact numbers, but there's been several others that were able to repeat it. And it's evident in the way that the left has responded to the Jay Jones scandal. I mean, not only first they tried to write it off as a joke, but he obviously doubled and then tripled down on the said joke, and then went a step further and talked about wanting to watch his political opponent's children die in their mother's arms. Not a single Democrat has unendorsed him. Not a single Democrat has called for him to drop out of the race. Virginia Democrats on camera have refused to even talk about it. And Abigail Spanberger, at this very moment, after equivocating during the debate or staring blankly ahead like a freak, which is weird. Very weird. Like psychotic looking on her campaign website, she still is selling T shirts and political signs that have J. Jones name prominently displayed beneath her own.

[A]

Yeah, of course, of course. And what I find so amazing about it is the proximity of things, obviously, the tragedy of Charlie Kirk. And yesterday we. We celebrated the Presidential Medal of Freedom for Charlie. Well, well deserved on that. But you would Think that moments of national conscience like that would get somebody to, like, I don't know, reconsider a little bit when it comes to their own leadership position, like, but they can't though.

[C]

I mean, I think the issue really, Holmes, is that this all comes down from academia on high, through the activists of the far left. And that is they have sold them all this idea that everything is systemic violence. Capitalism is violence against you as a person or, you know, whatever. And if you accept that as true, then actual violence is justified. And like, that is their politics. Everything is systemic violence against me or a minority or somebody or a trans person. And if I accept that as being actual violence. Words are violence, all these things are violence, then violence is justified in some way.

[F]

It's even a step further than that. They think speech is violence. They think that speech that offends actually causes physical harm to the listener. So responding to speech that they don't like with violence is self defense. And there is a professor, Mark Gray, who was at Dartmouth for a long time, now he's at Rutgers. He apparently recently fled the US to Spain because he's worried about his physical safety. But he wrote the antifa handbook, the anti fascist handbook. And in it he explicitly states this axiom that political violence is justified in response to offensive rhetoric or policies that they don't like because they're merely taking up arms in self defense. And he was all over CNN just a few years ago talking about this in the cnn. The hosts that interviewed him hardly pushed back at all.

[D]

It's kind of weird that CNN interviewed him because I was told by CNN that antifa doesn't exist. It's a little bit weird to me that they interviewed somebody who wrote the antifa handbook.

[E]

Yeah.

[D]

And yet why would there be a.

[A]

Handbook that doesn't exist?

[D]

It's a great question. It's a great question.

[A]

Schrodinger's cat, right? Maybe you should dig into that over, over the Daily Caller. But look, I think you can see this playing out in a multitude of ways. Obviously the tragedy, the attempted assassination of President Trump, you see the myriad of like trans killings and all these things that are happening around the country, the ICE stuff, all these protests in Portland and Chicago, like, where does it go? I mean, from your standpoint, is this just what the modern left is?

[F]

I feel that their unwillingness to denounce it suggests that at least, least to some degree they agree with it. I mean, that's the only thing that I can see because we had in the aftermath of Charlie's assassination There was an attack at a country club in New Hampshire from someone who was yelling Free Palestine. There was this Dallas ICE attack with the guy with the rifle on the roof. There was an attempted bombing of a local Fox News affiliate van. There was the arson attack at Josh Shapiro's house from someone who was apparently a Free Palestine crazy. And then another undercovered recent event was in Washington D.C. there was a mass for Supreme Court justices at a Catholic church. And there was a man outside, he had 200 handmade explosive devices and handed over apparently some manifesto where he expressed anti SCOTUS and anti ICE views. So, yeah, thank God nothing happened. But then the guy who wanted to assassinate Brett Kavanaugh gets like the lightest prison sentence ever because he identifies as.

[A]

Transgender, which is wild.

[F]

It's insane.

[A]

Yeah.

[F]

So when you have that type of systemic response to left wing violence where people who commit it get slaps on the wrist, they don't get condemned by Democratic Party leaders. What other conclusion are we supposed to reach besides they kind of like this stuff?

[A]

Yeah. Well, it's also just this political cowardice. Right. That is born in some ways out of just a lack of control and power. And you see Chuck Schumer perched atop of the Democratic hierarchy right now, and he shuts down the government not for anything other than the fact he wants to keep his job. And so they have no connection at some level with the base. There is no leadership of the Democratic Party, much less people who are willing to confront it. You see, you mentioned Abigail Spanberger. What a perfect example. She's three weeks away from her own election in a blue state of Virginia. She likes where her poll numbers are at. Jay Jones says some of the most reprehensible things that you could ever even imagine. And like, rather than taking a risk, she's just like, nah, we're good with it. That's political cowardice at its core. And that contributes to this whole thing, doesn't it?

[F]

Yeah, I think they are terrified of their base. There's a recent poll in Virginia that found I think 96% of Democrats, Democrats had no problem with what J. Jones said. And there is a family group out of Virginia that did a text campaign and a paid ad campaign where they sent voters the screenshots of the text messages. And they included in that group soft liberals. Right. People who are Democrats but vote across party lines occasionally. And they got dozens of replies from these so called moderate Democrats, soft liberals saying, yes, more Republicans need to die. MAGA equals Nazi. We love Jay Jones. He should kill more of you. I mean, if that's the moderate wing of the party, I'm terrified of what the radical progressive wing is saying.

[A]

Yeah. And they have no way of hemming themselves in. There's nobody that provides a counterbalance to it.

[C]

Well, and you were saying earlier, Holmes, about, you know, Spamberger could easily distance herself from Jay Jones and all of this and do fine in the election and everything. And that makes smart political sense. But it's not just the issue of political violence and these text messages from Jay Jones. It's also the transgender issue in Virginia that's now percolated in the race. And I watched that debate with Winsome Sears and like, she didn't even have an answer on that. And I mean, if you look at the polling on this, it's very clear.

[A]

Also, it's a three year debate and you feel like it's new.

[C]

And you look at that scandal at the Loudoun County. Yeah. In the swimming pool where there's this man who identifies as a woman and is basically, I think, a pedophile.

[F]

He's a registered sex lawyer. Yeah.

[A]

Richard Cox.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

And he's just. I mean, I mean, come on, the name Dick Cox, I know, it's a.

[F]

Little on the nose.

[C]

Yeah. It's like, no, I'm a woman.

[A]

So Dick Cox says he's a woman and he's coming into the locker room. Everybody cool with that?

[B]

No problem.

[F]

Sounds good.

[C]

But to not even to have the moral courage, not even the political courage, to just, like, admit what this is on that debate tells you everything you need to know about the bind that the Democrats find themselves in and entirely scared of their base.

[F]

Yeah, I think that's exactly right. And I read a study a few years ago, and I'm not sure if it's still the case, but the study found that the state with the highest per capita existence of trans people was, in fact, Virginia.

[B]

Really?

[F]

Yeah. Interesting, interesting. So if that's still the case, then that would explain perhaps why she's taking that position. But she's so mealy mouthed about it. Like, just say you want Richard Cox in the locker room, but instead she goes, well, you know, I have daughter, so I understand. But also. So it's a local policy, and so the locals are gonna do what the locals do. Like, no, you're running actually to be the governor. Right. Like, you get to control politics.

[A]

In fact, the last election was decided in some part on that issue.

[F]

The fact that they didn't learn anything from the Youngkin election is incredible. And I also think what you're seeing in Virginia and New Jersey is the Democratic conceit of when they believe they've turned a state blue. They put up the least battle tested, most unimpressive candidates. Right. Like, they're just really bad candidates, that they're not quality. And they just assume that they can just run roughshod into the governor's mansion. But when these people are actually put under the microscope and forced to defend their positions, all of a sudden Republicans have a huge opportunity.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

How do you think that plays out? I mean, look, these issues are all kind of combined. It reminds me in some ways, at the end of the Youngkin election where that was thought to be a Terry McAuliffe win, probably close to double digits in the last eight weeks of that campaign, everything that had to do with COVID and education and trans issues and all these things collided to a point where Virginians were like, no, enough. We need something new. And Youngkin got in. It feels it's not quite to that level. The J. Jones stuff is for sure, but it feels like that's gonna be an awful lot more competitive than people initially believed it to be.

[F]

Well, Sears was down double digits just a month or two ago, and now the race within two to five points, depending on which poll you look at. And the AG's race was always close. Right. That was pretty much effectively tied. I don't see any world in which J. Jones wins at this point unless the culture's just way worse than I realized, which is possible. Like, the people who are texting this family group are probably my neighbors, which is disturbing, scary. But I do wonder if Spanberger's team looked back at that debate with Glenn Youngkin and saw that Terry McAuliffe moment where he said, I don't think parents should be telling teachers what they should teach. And we're like, just keep your damn mouth shut. Yeah, don't say anything.

[A]

Instead, she does.

[C]

Yeah, Nothing is better than that.

[A]

Just a frozen stone. I mean, she had nothing. It was incredible. Listen, we follow everything you do. You're absolutely terrific. You provide so much insight and color, your story selection. It all kind of jibes with what it is that we're talking about. Thank you for doing what you're doing. You're welcome back anytime. And go check out Daily Caller and your newsletter.

[C]

Yes.

[F]

Unfit to print.

[A]

Unfit to print. Amber Duke, thank you for joining us.

[F]

Thank you all.

[D]

Listen, fellas, Amber Duke is a treasure. Her publication, the Daily Caller, is a must read on a daily basis. I mean, I go there every single day. Because you're gonna get good information. But there was one thing that we covered in that conversation that I would really just sort of like to throw open for discussion. Do we think that Dick Cox has to sign like a waiver to go into the girls locker room? Because most parents, you know, when you do like a field trip, there's like a training involved and there's like a waiver. Does, does Dick Cox have to sign a waiver? I think it's a fair question. Do you think, do you think he has to sign a waiver? Duncan?

[C]

No. I remember my, my wife had to chaperone some field trip event and she had to like take a class and sign a waiver.

[A]

Four hours of training to ensure that you're gonna take care of kids in order you show up at the swimming pool. Dick Cox is sitting there for the hard on in the shower and not, not just Dick.

[C]

Not just Dick Cox. I mean, this guy is a registered pedophile.

[A]

Sex opinion.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

By the way, I mean, as his aside on it, do you think anybody is more regretful for their given name?

[B]

No. I bet. I mean, he's clearly a very sick man, right? We all know this. I bet he relishes in that.

[A]

He's like, yeah, Colin, you know what?

[B]

And I think this is another thing is like, you know, if we end up having Jay Jones get elected, not only is that guy gonna be waiting in the shower, but if anyone tries to tell him different, you're gonna get texts from Jay Jones threatening years and your kids lives of being like, no, it's actually good for your kids.

[A]

Yeah, they should be in there staring.

[B]

At this guy's hard on.

[A]

I mean, the state of shit.

[E]

No, it's true.

[A]

I mean, but look, I think what we've represented all the way through here is they've lost their damn mind. And that like, that ordinarily would be so hyperbolic. Like we'd all laugh our asses off, but what's the difference? Is there a single Democratic leader anywhere in the country that is willing to stand up and say, ah, maybe we shouldn't have naked pedophiles in showers and perhaps wishing the death upon your political opponent.

[B]

They've already lost kids. They've already lost so much support. They lost in the general election. They lost the White House. They lost the House, the Senate. Like, they can't back away from the constituency. They have remaining criminal pedophiles. Yeah, they're like, dude, that's probably 10% of our voters at this point, folks. I can't let that out. The door.

[D]

I still can't get over his name.

[A]

Dick Cox.

[D]

It's like a race car driver named, like, Speedster McEngine. You know what I mean?

[B]

It's like, my name is my job. What a freaking.

[C]

How is that real?

[D]

How is it even? And you saw the picture of the guy? Yeah. I mean, the picture.

[A]

He looks like a Dick Cox. Yeah. No, it's true. But it's the brazen nature of today's left, which is like, you can say, I'm a woman. I have male pattern baldness.

[B]

Right.

[A]

I'm a convicted sex offender, and you need to let me in the women's locker room because that's how I identify.

[D]

Welcome to the ymca. Right this way, sir.

[A]

And there's a reason we're talking about it, is because it's not only debatable, under Democratic governance, it's allowed.

[B]

It's celebrated. Dude, you had these people on the White House lawn under Biden. I mean, he didn't know what he was doing, but they certainly were just.

[D]

Like, there's no common sense.

[A]

This is the world we're living in. It's just unbelievable. Anyway, leads us to our question of the day, which is, what's the worst Democratic talking point on the shutdown we've covered? It's that there's white supremacy. It's Epstein. There's illusions to. Just like, they want the no Kings rally. Oh, yeah.

[C]

They're fighting fascism.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

On Saturday. They want that before they. Because they can't. I mean, again, you can't stare down your base, especially when they're out the back door. You wouldn't want that.

[C]

No.

[A]

But you tell us you let. When you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety program. We read every single one of them. We get back to the very next episode with a summary of your comments. And you guys are good at this, as evidenced by your answers from the last episode. When we come back, we're gonna get to your comments, which is, what would the world look like if Khan Mueller was president? You did not disappoint. After this.

[D]

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

[A]

Okay, when you like and subscribe to the ruthless variety program and leave your comments, reread them all. And we're gonna get to that. On the question of what would the world look like if Kamala was elected president? We're gonna start this with a clip just to kind of like refresh everybody's point of view. It's a little table setter. Uh, let's play that.

[F]

They'll figure it out who you are soon enough.

[B]

Kamala Harris, you are a right wing war criminal.

[F]

You committed genocide 461 days. Nancy Rocheb was shot 355 times during your administration. You lost the election.

[B]

You lost the election.

[A]

How is that real?

[D]

You are a right wing war criminal.

[B]

Hell yeah.

[A]

That's today's left. Yeah, that's it. She's a right wing war criminal.

[B]

I'm jealous of her, dude. If I could hit a stage and there's someone there who would scream smug. You're a right wing war criminal, bro. I'd be like, give me my crown and robe. Yeah, but you'd have feel so good. You would have earned it.

[A]

She was trying to sidle up to those people and call it a Michigan problem.

[B]

Yeah, right.

[D]

Exactly.

[B]

Because you're a right wing war criminal is the funniest shit ever.

[A]

Oh, God. So great. All right. To read our comments, we always start.

[D]

With a voice first one comes from AMG0077 with an idea directly from my generation. Smug. I thank God we didn't end up with the timeline where Kamala was elected. It would be worse than George Bailey finding his hometown. Turned to Pottersfield. Of course. A reference to one of the great Christmas movies of all time in Black and white. AMG0077 continues. Worse than Marty McFly going back to the future where Biff got a hold of the almanac to truly grasp the horror. Think more kids melting on the fence in Terminator 2.

[B]

It's a lot.

[C]

A lot of a lot of good movie references.

[D]

That's exactly right.

[C]

I kind of thought Ashbrook was more like the Charlie Chaplin.

[B]

Yeah, no.

[E]

Silence.

[D]

Oh, silent.

[A]

More of the silent talkies. Well, I Mean, is it talkies?

[B]

I don't know when they first got sound. That was him motion.

[D]

But it was a full progression from the American Film Institute.

[A]

Very well.

[B]

Very nicely done.

[C]

Very well done.

[A]

Very well done. All right, Dunks, what do we got?

[C]

Okay, before I get to this though, I have one comment, and that is thank you, listeners and viewers, for all of your comments. Holding Smug accountable in that last episode for his terrible hockey taste.

[A]

Thank you.

[C]

There were multiple people on there that put the comment on about how wrong he is. And thank you for holding me accountable. I really appreciate it.

[A]

Yeah, no, that's well done. Well done.

[C]

All right, so comment two. This is from Second Charter. Second Charter writes, if Kamala won, we'd have such memorable lectures from the ovals, such as this banger on the economy. Quote, look, the economy, it's about, you know, the vibes of the people, the heartbeat of communities where we come together in the moment unburdened by what has been, to envision what can be. Oh, my God. It's the energy, the collective spirit lifting up prosperity through shared aspirational vibes.

[D]

Right?

[C]

When we talk about economic growth, it's not just numbers. It's the feeling, the momentum.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[C]

The joy of working together in this space, in this time to make the economy, you know, vibey and vibrant for all. Vibey is this.

[B]

That's real.

[C]

This might be the speech writer.

[B]

That's so good.

[A]

I'm so glad that Second Charter put that in to refresh the memory. Because you forget when we're not doing this on a day to day basis, covering what it is, just how bad.

[C]

It was, and not just the word salad, but the sort of staccato of her speech.

[B]

It really is good.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

You know what I mean? Yeah.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. All right, Smug, what do we got?

[D]

Comment 3.

[B]

Comment 3 is from HC Glick. HC Glick writes, if Kamala had won in 24, America would look like a combination of the movies Mad Max and Idiocracy, with a sprinkling of Walking Dead from everyone being forced to get weekly Covid shots. Also, I would bet money that Joe gave her a fake cell phone number. That is funny.

[D]

That is very funny.

[B]

Cause like, you know, on our previous episode, we talked about how Kamala tried calling, admitted in an interview she tried calling Joe Biden and she only can get his answering machine. Like, he does not pick up. If he gave her a fake. I believe that would be true.

[C]

I think the next time she's gonna call, she's gonna call the Number and it's gonna go dun, dun, dun, dun.

[B]

Dude, that's funny.

[A]

This number is disconnected.

[B]

Gave her a fake number.

[A]

That is incredible. Great comments as always. Thank you for your good humor. It always gives us a little love. Remember to comment on today's question of the day. And when we come back, it is game day here on the ruthless variety program for our signature game, King of the Hill, right after this. Okay, it's time for King of the Hill. I think I'm a two time champion here and I've got Bill Crystal who's been on a little bit of a heater. Who am I facing?

[C]

Yeah, I'm the challenger and I'm bringing George Conway.

[B]

And the judge is John Ashbrook. And I'll be bailiff.

[D]

You're a great bailiff and a good judge. Thank you.

[A]

He's buttering up for his return.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, let's go ringside.

[D]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. It's time for. For King of the Hill. In the red corner, fighting from the Lincoln Project, clean shaven and on the market, George Conway. And now in the blue corner, hiding from Pierre Omadier's checkbook and current champion of the world, Bill War. Now War forever. Crystal.

[B]

Best in the business at that. Best in the business.

[A]

I love it. All right, so I'm the champion. I will start. And I find this one to be a nice one to kick things off. Exhibit five, if you don't mind. What he's doing is retweeting an Aaron Rupar tweet, because that's what conservatives do. And it's a clip of him of Tom Emmer talking to Maria Bartiromo where he, he says in the no Kings rally that it's basically like people who hate America. His response to that is politicians who accuse their critics of hating America hate America.

[B]

My God.

[A]

Which in and of itself is very funny, but when you consider the fact that he spent four long years talking about how Donald Trump's allegiance was to Vladimir Putin, not the United States of America, it is just, just plain gold. This dude is literally who he's talking about. It's just fantastic. I love it.

[C]

Okay, I'm gonna play on. On genre here with the no Kings stuff. Can I get exhibit number seven, please? So this is from George Conway. He's been intimately involved in the promotion of this no Kings Protest on Saturday, October 18th. He puts up the video or the graphic of the rally they've been promoting. And he writes, authoritarianism is a cancer and it's growing, metastasizing in America now, you are the cure. Do your part and join us on Saturday. Do it for your country, for the Constitution, and for your freedoms while you still can. And I mean, the melodrama of that aside, I also must point out a misuse of the Internet, and that is in this video that they put up promoting this no Kings protest. They have a QR code in their social media ad, which you're watching it on your phone. You can't scan a QR code while you're watching the video on your phone.

[B]

They're like, so what you do is you get a buddy who's got a phone and then you hold up the QR code.

[C]

I understand that there maybe is 1000 liberal boomers who are watching this, this on their smart TV in the X app or like on their computer, who, like, between.

[A]

They're not surfing X.

[C]

They're not, they're not. And they're not able to scan a QR code on the phone. They're already on.

[A]

Very funny. And it's just the best.

[D]

Listen, I, I, I thought for sure when I heard War Now, War Forever's take, dunking on the notoriously knuckle dragging, mouth breathing guy from Minnesota, Tom Emmer.

[B]

I mean, get out of here.

[C]

What a radical.

[D]

I thought, I thought for sure that was going to be the winner. However, you know, for a long time, Democrats and the libs were the theater kids in this country. But now former Republicans are too, as perfectly exhibited in that first offering from George Conway. And for that reason, George Conway wins round one.

[C]

There we go.

[B]

All right, let's see a two rounder. Dude, let's see a two rounders.

[D]

Okay.

[A]

I'm gonna go.

[C]

This just a personal favorite. I don't know. We'll see. Exhibit number 12, please. This is a photo, you know, of the prime minister of Italy. Maloney.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And Trump. And they're just shaking hands and looking at each other. And George Conway decides to tweet. She's plainly repulsed by him. Understandably so. Has George Conway looked at George Conway? Dude, I mean, look, look, I don't love attacking somebody's physical appearance, but given that's what he provided, he might be one of the most repulsive looking people in all of politics. One of the ugliest people possible.

[B]

And so the idea, like, if he could understand a woman's body language, he wouldn't be divorced.

[C]

Whoa, high heat from the bailiff.

[A]

Whoa, the bailiff.

[B]

I just can't stand him, dude. I'm like really sick of his shit. You know, like your time's up, Dude, I hope you save the money. Get out of here.

[A]

A little ex parte right there. Just.

[C]

I liked it.

[A]

Getting part of it.

[C]

Thank you for the amicus.

[B]

I mean, I couldn't let that one fly.

[D]

Okay.

[A]

Okay.

[D]

Champion.

[A]

All right, so Exhibit 3 is where Kristol comes in. He's tweeting out yet another article that is Trump by guilt by association law enforcement. Like he's got a problem with enforcing the law, evidently. So I'm oddly cheerful. Could the inflatables carry the day against ice? Could the Pope prevail over the President? Could young people save the country from their elders? Here's hoping, dude. I find it. First of all, I don't know what the inflatables is, which I find completely hilarious.

[C]

I think it might be.

[B]

Remember with the fart spray?

[C]

The fart spray.

[D]

Is that.

[A]

So this was my question.

[D]

Is it.

[A]

Are we actually talking about the protesters that showed up in the inflatable costumes?

[C]

I think so.

[A]

That makes it so much better. And like that is where. That's why he's oddly cheerful. Cuz maybe these people who have decided they're not gonna like, take their kids to softball practice, they're not gonna go do a job, they're gonna show up in an inflatable fucking costume and fight ice. That they're one of his hopes that he's oddly cheerful about. The Pope beat the President. Where's the Pope? How does the Pope catch astray here from Kristol? Like, how does the Pope even a part of this conversation? But apparently he's got hope for that kind of thing. And then the young people from their elders.

[D]

Here's my thought on round two. George Conway's projection on that image of Trump and Maloney is ridiculous. But can we put that crystal play back up, please?

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Can I ask, why do you think it's in quotation? Why do you think he surrounded it by quotes?

[A]

Well, because he's written.

[D]

Written it and he wants to convey to the audience that this is somehow different than a typical tweet that you also write.

[A]

Yes, he does this quite often and it depends on whether he links to his own piece or another. I actually find when he links to other pieces to be more funny in the quotation because he's saying what it is that he wants to say. But in this very case, this is. So he's quoting himself.

[C]

But there is something uniquely pompous and arrogant to offer quotes in a tweet of yourself. It's almost like in the third person. And I Understand, this is arguing against myself, but I think that is magic.

[A]

That's. That was the case that I was prepared to make. I'm glad you've conceded it in a.

[D]

In a magnanimous move by the challenger. If we could just put that up one more time, because I want to look at it and anybody watching on YouTube just read those words again and think about Bill Kristol drinking a cocktail at night and envisioning himself as the modern day Walt Whitman. That he is now telling the story that Whitman once told during the American Civil War. And for that reason, Bill Kristol wins round two just because of the delusion vision of this man.

[A]

Yeah, I'm going to make this dance right. That's what it. That's what it is.

[D]

Nathaniel Hawthorne. Yeah. He's telling the stories.

[A]

I'm glad we covered. I'm glad we covered that component of his genre because it is a frequent one and one I'm now prepared to play on the other side of it, where he has highlighted another piece of work that is not his own. But I find it to be absolutely mesmerizing. What he's pulled up in Exhibit 14, he has pulled out a piece by, I think it's Jay Nordlinger, somebody like that. We may have played him before.

[E]

But.

[A]

What he has quoted starts with culture. The National Symphony Orchestra will kick off every Show in its 2025, 26 season with the National Anthem. That seems to me something other than patriotism. If you want to be patriotic, abide by national traditions such as respect for the rule of law. Dude, okay, like, maybe I'm old fashioned and too Midwestern for this kind of thing, but, like, is it. He's like a New England effete intellectualist who doesn't apparently appreciate the National Anthem. In my house, when you play a good national anthem before a ball game, you cry pretty happy about it. That's just the way it works, right? And this guy is suggesting the National Symphony Orchestra has no business playing the national Anthem before they get going because that is not patriotic. In fact, it is.

[D]

The alternate challenger.

[C]

Absolute banger, exhibit number eight. Please bear in mind that George Conway and his ilk in the Never Trump movement spent the four years of the Biden administration covering up for the fact that the President had applesauce for brains. But now that Donald Trump is president yet again, he suddenly wants to be brave and he tweets, is it just me, or does it seem the press is actually and completely terrified to report about real Donald Trump's physical and mental health? The way. The way. Again, again, terrible writing. It would have. If anyone else were president.

[B]

Amazing. Wow. Amazing take, dude. Like, it is so nuts that they really think that, like Old Trump, you know, the press is all his friends, they're gonna cover for him, I guess.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

I love.

[B]

18 months removed from like, historically horrible situation.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. No, it's absolutely incredible. It's incredible.

[D]

Here's the thing, guys. You know, I still. I can't get over Walt Whitman invoking the National Symphony Orchestra having the temerity to play the National Anthem. But what George Conway wrote there is just. It's unthinkable, you know.

[A]

It is actually.

[B]

Let me.

[A]

Let me just prepare you for. And support your. I was.

[B]

I think the judge was speaking.

[A]

I was prepared to win here. Let me just say that's a fucking banger.

[C]

Thank you, dude.

[B]

Also, he's got the little frog emoji in his username now after the frog dude that got the spray. Yeah, Frog inflatable. Like, he's now standing in solidarity with the frog dude in an inflatable that got sprayed.

[A]

Let me, let me let you finish your thought.

[D]

So all I will simply say is there he is, George Conway, clean shaven on the market, and the brand new champion, King of the Hill.

[E]

Amazing.

[B]

On the market.

[A]

Jesus, that's a lot. Yeah, I'm not even sure Dick Cox would be into that situation.

[C]

What a collegial game of King of the Hill.

[A]

It was one of our more. But I didn't see that one coming. And like the presentation of it, it's fucking amazing. Like, to one suggest that people aren't examining Donald Trump. Okay, that's one. But as any other president, that last clause line that he has in that is the most amazing, amazing, like goldfish brain. Like, it has to be gaslighting, right? It can't.

[B]

It's 100% gaslighting.

[A]

Like, it can't. She's just looking for the RT.

[C]

Well, I mean, during the first Trump administration, CNN used to carry wall to wall. These psychoanalysts who would be evaluating the body language of Donald Trump and whether he was mentally, mentally fit to be president. United States. I mean, they did this these entire first four years back to Smug's whole point on. On all of this other stuff. It's like the American people sort of woke up to all this was bullshit. Right. So they can't do it anymore. It's not from a lack of trying.

[A]

You know, also to present that on a week where he was in Israel, right?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

In Saudi Arabia.

[D]

Egypt.

[A]

Egypt and Then fly back for a Charlie Kirk Memorial. He did a press event before that one.

[B]

Every one of these days he'll like, tell the press, like, roll up, you've got 90 minutes. Let's do this every day.

[D]

That's exactly right. All I have to say is, good game, gentlemen.

[E]

Good game. Good game.

[A]

A new champion. A new champion. All right, so we got a little variety. You ready for some variety?

[C]

Yes.

[D]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

This is about zoo goers. They're in danger. Zoo goers are in danger. Everybody likes a good zoo, right?

[D]

You need a waiver to go to the zoo.

[A]

Well, you do if you go here.

[C]

Not to be a pedophile in a women's locker room, but.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. No Dick Cox can get in there without any sort of admission whatsoever. But if you're a zoo goer, gotta be careful. Gotta be careful. Cause there's a murderous gorilla. And we've seen this kind of thing before. We know how to deal with them in Cincinnati, apparently, but. Clip five, please.

[F]

We begin as a gorilla at the San Diego Zoo charged into the glass that separates the gorillas from guests. Over this weekend, the force broke a.

[B]

Layer of the glass and shocked families.

[F]

Who were there to witness it all in slow motion.

[A]

This cell phone video captured by a.

[B]

Witness shows a 10 year old gorilla named Denny at the San Diego Zoo charging the glass. The impact startling people who saw it happen. But no one was more shocked than Katya Sutil.

[A]

We were actually looking down at our cell phones, so we didn't notice that.

[F]

He had like taken a running start.

[A]

Jumped and then launched into the glass. And he hit it with like his elbow or his forearm, like right into the glass directly in front of my face. I was so jolted, I fell back a few feet. And then when I looked up to see what had happened, I just saw.

[F]

The gorilla staring directly at me, like.

[A]

Making eye contact with me. And then this giant crack.

[F]

And I mean, this crack propagated probably six feet. It was pretty big.

[A]

Denny was pissed.

[B]

Dude, that is the. That's my whole hockey argument. That's why you go to the game. You hope one of the gorillas gets knocked against the glass and you can.

[C]

Have a good time.

[A]

It's the same thing.

[B]

It's just a zoo, right? I like the boxing thing. Cause they cut all the bullshit. You don't have to sit for three hours to see one goal. You get to see the gorilla go ham. Right? And that's what these people signed up for. So don't act like you're startled. But her being like I was looking down at my phone. What a great admission. Scrolling TikTok at the zoo. Why'd you even show up?

[C]

I think Denny's a hero. I think Denny's a hero in this.

[A]

It's like, pay attention to my cap here.

[C]

He should be mad. It's like putting on a show and you're staring at your phones. Wild thing to admit. I showed up to a zoo, I paid money to come here, and I'm gonna stare at my phone instead of looking at the majesty of nature.

[B]

No, bro, it's the irony of the zoo. It's Denny. He's there watching a bunch of these wildebeests staring at their phone. 200 pounds, scarfing down the popcorn. This is just so I don't have to watch my kids let him run amok.

[A]

Hold on. If I think of.

[B]

If I disagree, the kid wasn't pissing off the monkey. That's. I guarantee it was a kid who was pissing off the monkey.

[A]

That was gorilla. But the thing that we're talking about here, what you're suggesting, if I'm deciphering this right, is that Denny may be the zoo goer, not the zoo goer.

[B]

The show is for him.

[D]

Oh, it's the other one.

[B]

I mean, look at the people who frequent these places. I mean, when's the last time one of you guys have been unfortunate enough to have to go to a zoo?

[D]

Oh, dude, I've been there.

[B]

And unfortunately, it's the right term. Right? They're going to sell you a $20 pretzel, and then people are going to let their kids just run amok. Because the real animals in the zoo are the kids that these parents don't want to raise. And while the parent can scroll their tik tok.

[C]

Yeah, it's like, Denny, check out the humans in their natural environment, glued to their phones, eating popcorn and letting their ch. Children run wild.

[D]

That's it.

[B]

That's it.

[D]

Danny had it.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

It's a shame he didn't get through the glass. Then we'd have some good footage.

[C]

Well, he saw what happened to Haram.

[A]

That's what I'm saying.

[D]

And he went on Justice.

[B]

And I'm not just taking the side of the animal because, I mean, I think the gorillas should fight for sport. Like, that would be something I actually would attend. But if you just want to see it hanging out by some, like, concrete cave. Real enthralling shit there.

[C]

What?

[B]

Who wants to go to a zoo? It's a waste of time.

[A]

Denny got to a point where He.

[B]

I was rooting for him to get through. That would have been some good footage. Oh, my gosh, that would have been some fun times.

[A]

He would have gotten two to the chest at that point. I mean, Denny would have not had a good. It would have been Harambe Mike in that regard. But you're saying, like, Denny gets ripped out of the Amazon. Right. They're raising. They're throwing milk bottles in this guy's mouth. He's doing his whole thing. He's got his song and dance or.

[D]

Whatever, learning sign language.

[A]

Yeah, right. He's got a way to communicate with his captors.

[C]

Yeah. Just like Congo.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

He's doing all this stuff.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Amy.

[A]

Amy. What was that woman's name? Jane Goodall. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

Rip.

[D]

She started it.

[A]

You're saying that like he's just sitting on the road.

[B]

Well, she knew. She said they should all be killed, the ones in captivity.

[A]

Well, he's like, today's the day. Today is the day.

[D]

I. I don't know. The gorillas.

[B]

It'S like the gorilla, he was sick of the concrete cave. He wanted to give him a reason to shoot him.

[A]

The gorilla version of taking a leap off the Empire State.

[B]

He wanted to go. He wanted to go. It's like I live in a concrete cave. I know this is fake. You think you can, you know, you put some, like, conifer or some shit from the plant store here.

[D]

Conifer.

[B]

I'm back home in the Amazon.

[F]

That's not gonna work.

[A]

I'm taking it out of here.

[B]

He knows it's fake. He wants to die.

[A]

TikTok brought.

[B]

I mean, it would have been great.

[C]

You're telling me this is like the animal version of suicide by cops?

[A]

Exactly what I'm saying.

[D]

Interesting.

[B]

100%.

[A]

That's exactly what I'm saying. It could be.

[D]

Wow.

[C]

Depressing.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

That's why we should let them fight to the death.

[A]

And that's the news on the Ruthless Variety Program. We got a great interview for you. You guys conducted this one very, very impressive and important conversation. A lot of people talking about crypto or whatever. You brought in the Coinbase Chief Policy Officer and, I mean, it was an awesome conversation.

[B]

It was me and our resident crypto baron, John Ashbrook. We should get right to it. All right, folks, well, we have a very exciting interview brought to you in partnership with Coinbase. We have the chief policy officer of Coinbase, Faryar Shirzad. Thank you so much for joining us.

[E]

Thanks for having me on. I'm very excited to be here.

[B]

So right off the Bat I think it's clear to everyone that President Trump and this administration have been the most crypto friendly administration that we've ever had, and a stark contrast to the Biden administration. What are some of the differences?

[E]

Well, it's really interesting. We thought, you know, we thought a couple of things would happen with President Trump coming to office. One thing we thought would happen is that the war on crypto and all the 50 million Americans who own crypto would end. Sort of this incredible hostility for the government would come to an end. And then we thought they would sort of begin the work of providing clarity for how the crypto markets operate. They've done those two things extraordinarily well, with speed and kind of comprehensiveness. The thing that we didn't expect is that there's a big kind of global agenda that they put into motion to try to tokenize traditional financial markets. And I can talk about what that means, but it's an unbelievable development. We've got the imf, World bank meetings going on this week. Every finance minister, every central bank governor, every regulator wants to know what the Trump administration is up to because it's not just a crypto issue now, it's a broader financial sector issue.

[B]

And that's the thing. So we'd heard, heard plenty of times from President Trump that he wants America to be the crypto capital of the world. And it seems like we're headed in that direction you just mentioned. So now you're seeing globally people trying to play catch up in that field.

[E]

Well, we were the ones who were playing catch up. The rest of world was moving pretty aggressively. Some jurisdictions like Singapore, even the European Union, the Gulf Arabs, some of the South Americans were all well ahead of us under Biden.

[B]

We were, we were behind, even way behind.

[E]

In fact, there was data that was looking at like open source code, software developer. In terms of the amount of activity occurring in the US Rest of the relatives, the rest of the world, there was a significant diminution, which was crazy, at a time when the U.S. is trying to bring emerging technology back to the U.S. the Biden administration was pushing it offshore, which was insane. But what has happened since the President's come in is all of that has flipped. And when the President says he wants to make the US the crypto capital of the world, what he's saying is not that we need legislation so crypto can grow. He's saying we need legislation because we need crypto to come back home. And so if you think about the crypto agenda, a lot of it for the Trump administration and all the folks that work for the President is how do we bring these markets back? And the genius act, you know, the stablecoin bill was a big part of that. And then the market structure bill is going to be similarly in that vein. It's a competitiveness thing. Can we make the US the destination of choice? And there's a pitch battle going on and. And Coinbase wants to be a part of the US Winning that race.

[D]

Yeah. One of the things I think is so interesting is there's just so much unknown about crypto. You know, in our audience, there are 100%. We have people who are fully invested in crypto. We have people who are crypto curious. We have people who don't even really know how it works. But you're a guy. You worked in the Bush administration, you worked at Goldman, you worked at the highest level on Wall street, and now you're leading the way in policy at Coinbase. And so I think that you are better positioned to talk about crypto and the future of crypto than probably anybody else we've ever had on the show.

[B]

Other than Senator Lummis. Maybe she knows her stuff for sure.

[D]

But I think that, you know, for the people in our audience who maybe aren't familiar with how it works or maybe a little bit skeptical, or maybe they have one dogecoin or they have like a fourth of a dogecoin or something like that, can you just talk about where we go from here and why it's such an important part of anybody's investment strategy?

[E]

Yeah, it's a really great question. It's my favorite question that I get when I get interviews. I think the problem with crypto is it's almost like people know too much rather than they don't know enough, because people sometimes gloss over what the foundational account kind of value proposition of crypto is. When the Internet was created, what the Internet is is basically a protocol, a decentralized protocol loosely governed by a coalition of developers and NGOs and others that allows you and I to transfer data. And initially that was an email, eventually was we could transfer more complex data packets with photos and audio. And so. So live streaming, like we're doing now, is a product of that evolution of the Internet. What crypto, what the. What the Internet couldn't let you do, is move a unique digital token, move anything of value. And so that's the breakthrough of crypto. That's why crypto matters. So anything that we do right now that involves transfer of value up until Crypto came along, you couldn't do that digitally. You had to rely on analog systems to move value. The first unique digital token that was created was bitcoin. People have now adopted it and it's become an investment asset that hundreds of millions of people around the world have bought into. So crypto has emerged as an investing asset. But what the real sort of breakthrough is that it allows you to transfer data, transfer value digitally. And that's why you're seeing now with the genius act that people are investing in crypto. But people are now using building crypto applications to make payments faster, cheaper, safer, more resilient. So cross border transfers that were taken like 3 days, 4 days, 5 days to execute now can be done in 5 minutes or 1 minute or what have you. It's a gigantic breakthrough. But you have to think of it as like an iteration of the Internet.

[D]

It's safer. Can I, can I just before. Go ahead, can I drill down on one thing that you said? Safer?

[E]

That's right.

[D]

And it's all built on something called blockchain, which a lot of people really don't understand, but there it is. An algorithm that is built by the smartest mathematicians and carried out by the best computing power that the world has to offer.

[E]

Yeah.

[D]

And so the safety of crypto is something that I don't think people really comprehend. In a lot of ways it's much safer than just than Venmo. It's much safer than wiring money from one person to another other because it's protected by algorithms that nobody on this planet could ever hack.

[E]

100% because you had to figure out a way, how do you create that digital token. And so you have to create the blockchain, which is where that token gets recorded. But you talked about safety as a, as a micro thing. I actually think the way to think about it is our entire financial system. Like if you think about capital markets like derivatives tradings or what have you, the typical derivatives transactions takes a day, two days, three days to settle. You have hundreds of billions of dollars of risk outstanding. So if you and I trade a derivative position, it'll, you and I, as the traders think we've concluded the deal, but they're folks on the operations side of, of our, of the banks and the brokers who take a day, two days, three days to settle that out. That period before the actual transaction fully settles out is a period of huge risk. So at any given moment we've got like a multi hundred billion dollar dollar risk cloud sitting over our economy. And that's what all financial regulation or most financial regulation is trying to mitigate the risks of that. They set up clearinghouses, they set up reporting requirements. This, that and the other crypto allows value to be moved instantaneously. So it solves the micro risk issue, but it also solves this giant risk cloud that's hanging over us. And that's a huge deal which most people have no reason to kind of understand hangs out there, there and that's a big deal.

[D]

But a lot of the big banks see that as competition 100% they see.

[E]

It as a, they get paid. The big banks get paid something like almost $200 billion in payment fees for activity that shouldn't cost $200 billion. Execute $200 billion. And so we're fighting a fight on, on, on the market structure build that we're trying to get done because somehow the banks were able to get a ban on stablecoin issuers being able to share some interest in you with their customers. But what the Congress didn't do was to ban normal customer acquisition rewards programs like you get frequent flyer points or what have you. And now the banks are trying to kill that in the wait.

[B]

So the banks are trying to kill you guys from being able to have reward points when every one of their cards is like based around having 100%. That's incredible.

[E]

And you know, it's really interesting and you guys would appreciate this more than anyone. I think this is the first time we've had any industry group take the Trump administration on head on, on a, on a lobbying issue. Because as I said, this whole crypto agenda the President has is a competitiveness agenda. How do we bring the industry back onshore? It's about $300 billion of stablecoins that are in circulation. 200 plus billion of that is US US dollar stablecoins that are issued outside the United States. And so what the administration's trying to do is bring that the issuance of dollar US dollar stablecoins into the US A way to make sure that doesn't happen is for the banks to win to ban rewards. You can be a foreign issuer, you get a lighter regulatory touch, you provide some increment of rewards. Customers adopt the foreign issued stablecoin not the American stablecoin banks when the Trump administration loses. And I think this is a really bold bet by the banks given how much they have at stake with this administration and we'll see if they pull it off.

[D]

I don't think they, I had no idea it was.

[B]

I mean this is an American jobs issue right there is that if you want to go with what the Trump administration said, that they want to make America the center of the crypto universe, why are you allowing banks to essentially just put up walls around the country and be like, no, we want to keep the issuance and everything offshore. That makes zero sense. But if it's them just trying to protect their own business at the cost of American jobs, that's shocking. So Ashbrook's like our residents president, crypto baron. He's done phenomenally well. You wouldn't have expected. And I've always been hesitant to dip my toes in because every year when you go to do your taxes, the first two questions ask is, do you do business with North Korea or Iran? And the second question is, do you have any crypto you've transacted? And I was like, how the hell is it those two questions, like, are you working with foreign terrorists? And do you have crypto? It's insane that they try to, like, put that level of fear in you right off the bat, where it's like, am I. I'm worried that, like, is the IRS going to come after me because I try to buy, you know, a hundredth of a bitcoin or something like that? Or how have we gotten to a point that those are the first two questions the IRS would ask you and try to almost terrify people from taking part in this.

[E]

Yeah, I mean, there are two answers. A benign answer is there's a lot about the tax treatment of crypto that's unresolved. So there's been. And you guys know treasury, the Treasury Tax office will issue, you know, interpretive guidance or what have you, clarifying how you treat unrealized capital gains, for example, just to pick one example. They have not done that for crypto. The Biden administration wanted to keep the uncertainty because they were trying to kill the industry and drive it offshore. The Trump administration is trying to get on it, but there's a bipartisan coalition in Congress that wants to pass legislation basically clarifying the tax treatment of crypto and providing parity between traditional financial assets and crypto assets. So it's a big positive. The less benign answer is that there's just this. This inbuilt framework of hostility to crypto that the Biden administration integrated deep into every corner of the financial system and our regulatory system that the Trump team is sort of unpacking bit by bit, and that's a legacy piece that they haven't gotten to yet.

[D]

You mentioned legislation that's moving right Now, I think that's the Clarity Act. Right. And so I'm just wondering what the outlook is on, on that from your perspective. I mean, obviously things move through Congress at a glacial pace, but everybody saw the value of the Genius act and they understood that this is something that America needs to get on top of. I'm wondering if you could talk about, like, where we go from here on the Clarity Act.

[E]

Well, the first thing I would say is we are the most bipartisan issue in Washington right now. It's extraordinary. So the, the Clarity. I passed the House with every Republican and 78 Democrats, I think. Unbelievable. I mean, think about it. In this day and age, on a big, major, you know, consequential issue, you have that kind of bipartisanship. The bill is in the Senate. It's a bit complicated because it has to go through the Banking Committee and the Ag Committee. And so coordinating committees is hard. But Chairman Boseman, Chairman Scott, Leader Thune, Leader Schumer, there's a pretty strong bipartisan coalition. Almost every Republican signed on to get it done. There's a coalition of 12 Democrats who are at the table trying to get the bill done. There's back and forth happening on some elements of it, but we feel pretty good that it's going to happen. We'd rather it happen this calendar year than spilling into next year. But it's a huge thing. And basically what it does is it clears the regulatory treatment and says, hey, the SEC should oversee this, the CFTC should oversee that. If you're developer out there, these are the rules that you need to follow. If you're a consumer, these are the protections you're entitled to. So it's kind of common sense stuff, and it's a great kind of opportunity to show that the two parties can work together.

[B]

And I would imagine there'd be a lot more bipartisan support after, you know, the election results were resoundingly pro crypto. You saw a ton of legislators who are being anti crypto. They're gone. You know, I think Sherrod Brown's one of them in Ohio. I think he's running again. Maybe he's learned his lesson on crypto. But it's very. You'd mentioned there's 50 million Americans, Republicans, who already take part in crypto. They made their voices heard in this recent election. Do you think that, like, legislators now have gotten the message? What do you think that looks going to be for the next election in terms of the crypto vote?

[E]

I think we feel very good about where crypto stands. You Know, we got a lot of headlines that for the, the, the. The amount of money that the industry put into funding Fair Shake, which is a big super super pac. I think by the time election day came around, they had about $175 million that they were able to spend over the course of the 24 cycle. The part that's underreported, which I actually think is as important as Fair Shake, maybe over time more important, is that Stan, with crypto, which we helped stand up, but now is an independent 501c4 organization, went into election day last year with 1.75 million advocates signed up and, and with a very sophisticated GOTV strategy that went into election Day. So in five swing states, they were able to identify voters in these battleground states and do about seven touches, which is, I think you guys know about good hygiene. There's a voter portal with scoring of the candidates that got about. I think it's on the order of about 700,000 touches going into election day. So meaning people went in to find out where their voting precinct in, what the score was for a particular candidate. You know, find out when the primary is, when the general election is. So 1.75 million advocates on election Day. Stanford crypto is now at 2.75, but 100,000 of those are overseas, which is actually a really interesting globalization of the movement. But 2.75 million advocates, and we have said coinbase, that we're going to support standard crypto with the goal of getting to 4 million advocates by election day. So big superbac that a bunch of us are fully committed to that did a really strong job in the 24 cycle and then 2.75 million on the way to 4 million advocates, a very sophisticated TV strategy and a really motivated grassroots, you know, support base. So really exciting stuff, which is just.

[D]

Incredible to me that you've got got almost 3 million people who are regular people out there who care about this issue, who are activated to move against Congress on this issue. It's probably why the Clarity act has bipartisan support in a way that like the CR to fund the government doesn't even have. I mean, this is astounding to me, the amount of support that you guys have been able to generate. And I wonder if you could just tell our listeners the website so that if they're out there and they want to get involved, where can they go?

[E]

So it's called standwithcrypto.org it's an independent organization. If you go on there, it's really easy to sign up, you put in your regular data and these, these, these 2.75 million folks are all, you know, verified folks with IDs and the whole deal. So it's very easy to sign up and there's a really great interface and the organization's doing community building. So there are state captains across the country that are doing community events. There was a whole sort of series of concerts that were put on in the lead up to the election day. It's a really, it's a really cool community. And I know myself and others have been continuously surprised at the upside. So a group of industry folks started this coalition to Defend the Rewards program. You know, the one that we were just talking about a moment ago. In the five or six days that it went live, 300,000 people, more people signed up with Stanford Crypto. 300,000. And then at the same time, about 300,000 emails went into the Senate on this issue. You know, the two numbers aren't, you know, coincident that they're the same number, but it just shows you how active this community is. People are fired up about this and candidates are beginning to fully understand that.

[D]

You know, the thing that stands out to me, I remember something that George H.W. bush always used to say, which is, the American people are pretty smart.

[E]

Yeah.

[D]

They can see the future even better than their government can see it in a lot of ways. And I feel like your movement, everything that you're doing is that to a T, you have regular Americans who are activated, who are like, this is where everything is headed. And I want to make sure that we're a part of this.

[E]

People feel, people understand that crypto is ultimately an empowering technology. It allows you to open, hold your own assets. You don't have to pay anyone to hold your assets. And now that we have dollar stablecoins, you have dollar. You know, we'll have, we'll have tokenized stock, you know, bonds, you know, whatever. And people can hold it on their own. They don't have to pay somebody. The barriers to wealth creation that the legacy system has sort of choked everybody with or can be taken away with the new technology, people understand that potential in a way. The politicians are sort of been slower in understanding. Senator Lummis understands it, others understand it. But I think the main line of politicians are slowly coming around to getting that this is the future and now they want to be a part of it.

[B]

Well, that sounds awesome and exciting. Maybe it's time for me to dip my toes in. You got to dip in. Thank you so much for Coming and giving us that idea.

[E]

Oh, thanks for having me on. It's been great.

[A]

Okay. I mean, just a really. Look, I find that every time you bring somebody that's that smart and sort of understand, I learn a little something about this because it's not an area of natural interest for me. Right.

[D]

And what I thought was most interesting about the guy is because you hear crypto and you think, oh, this is a bro. This is like a 20 something who just got ridiculously wealthy because he made a bet on something. Now, this guy actually has had a legitimate career through multiple administrations and at Goldman and like this. This is a very smart person.

[B]

And I think that's like he was saying of how President Trump said America needs to be the crypto capital of the world and that they are essentially, they want to professionalize it, they want to make it accessible, and they want to make it safe for everyone. And that's basically what we need the crypto market to go to.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, no question about it. Very, very interesting interview. Every once in a while we do something where you learn. Learn a little something. We had two interviews in here where you learned a little something. So congratulations to you, the viewer and listener. Fellas, it's been a good Thursday. We're coming back to you on Friday with fun time Friday tomorrow. It's gonna be a fun time. If this is any indication, it's gonna get real fun with that. I think we did it.

[B]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much to Amberduke, and thank you so much to Fariar Shirzad for that info. So until next time, minions, remember, keep the faith, hold the line, and own the libs. We'll see you on Friday. Stay ruthless.