Senate Majority Leader John Thune Reveals Trump's Tax Wins, Spending Cuts & NIL Reforms

Summary

Podcast Summary: Ruthless Podcast – "Senate Majority Leader John Thune Reveals Trump's Tax Wins, Spending Cuts & NIL Reforms"

Release Date: July 24, 2025
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook
Guest: Senate Majority Leader John Thune

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1. Introduction

In this episode of the Ruthless Podcast, hosts Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook engage in a comprehensive discussion with Senate Majority Leader John Thune. The conversation centers around the recent legislative achievements, tax reforms, spending cuts, and the evolving landscape of college sports, particularly Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) reforms.

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2. Legislative Achievements and Tax Reforms

John Thune discusses the passage of significant legislation by July 4th, highlighting its comprehensive nature and bipartisan support.

• Comprehensive Legislation Passed by July 4th:

  • Topics Covered: National security, border security, energy dominance, permanent tax relief, entitlement reform, and school choice.
  • Quote:
    "[03:21] John Thune: It really was generational. ... the first entitlement reform, really since I've been here."

• Tax Reforms and Economic Certainty:

  • Key Points:
    • Avoidance of a projected $4 trillion tax increase.
    • Introduction of permanent tax breaks such as no tax on tips and overtime, increased deductions for seniors on Social Security, and enhancements for small businesses.
    • Increased economic certainty has positively impacted the stock market and small business expansion.
  • Quote:
    "[05:20] John Thune: ... an incredibly comprehensive piece of legislation and most comprehensive and consequential legislation I've dealt with ... Tax relief made permanent in a lot of cases."

• Market Reaction:

  • Impact on Businesses: Small businesses now plan for growth rather than mere survival due to the permanence of tax provisions.
  • Quote:
    "[06:05] Michael Duncan: Did you happen to get any podcaster deductions in there."

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3. Spending Cuts and Rescissions Package

John Thune elaborates on efforts to bend the spending curve down, addressing both mandatory and discretionary spending.

• Rescissions Bill:

  • Challenges: Navigating Senate rules and opposition from Democrats aiming to delay spending cuts.
  • Quote:
    "[07:14] Josh Holmes: ... trying to squeeze every ounce of energy to turn around and get that thing done too."

• Debt Concerns:

  • National Debt: Current debt stands at approximately $36–37 trillion.
  • Economic Strategy: Implementing pro-growth policies to stimulate the economy while reducing overall spending.
  • Quote:
    "[07:14] John Thune: ... we are 36, $37 trillion in debt and we want pro growth policies in the economy to get the economy growing..."

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4. Nomination Process and Senate Dynamics

The discussion shifts to the Senate's role in confirming presidential nominees amidst heightened partisan tensions.

• Obstruction by Democrats:

  • Current Scenario: Democrats are actively delaying and obstructing the confirmation of even non-controversial nominees.
  • Quote:
    "[08:18] John Thune: ... for bipartisan noms that are non controversial. ... We're getting none of that."

• Historical Context:

  • Comparison to Past Presidencies:
    "[13:23] Josh Holmes: ... it's like a no win situation."

• Government Funding Vote:

  • Upcoming Vote: Scheduled for September, with high stakes to prevent a government shutdown.
  • Quote:
    "[15:36] John Thune: ... it's our duty now to stop ice."

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5. Government Funding and Potential Shutdown

John Thune addresses the critical upcoming vote on government funding and the potential consequences of a shutdown.

• Preparation and Strategy:

  • Senate Republicans prepared extensively to keep the government funded, shifting potential blame onto Senate Democrats if a shutdown occurs.
  • Quote:
    "[16:03] John Thune: ... keeping the government up and funded. And then if Chuck Schumer, ... what that means is it's just harder and harder."

• Political Pressure:

  • Impact on Leadership: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer faces immense pressure from his Democratic base to block funding despite the national interest.
  • Quote:
    "[17:51] John Thune: ... it's going to be a no win situation."

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6. NIL Reforms and the Future of College Sports

The conversation transitions to the evolving landscape of college sports, focusing on NIL reforms and their impact.

• Current Challenges:

  • State Laws: Multiple states are enacting their own NIL laws, creating a fragmented regulatory environment.
  • Quote:
    "[24:18] Josh Holmes: And we had all the commissioners, SEC, Big 10 ACC, Big 12 in here. We were talking about NIL rules..."

• Senate Consideration:

  • Federal Solution: Potential for federal legislation to create uniformity and transparency in NIL agreements.
  • Quote:
    "[27:13] John Thune: ... it's going to be a no win situation."

• Detriments of Current NIL Practices:

  • Agents and Intermediaries: Concerns about the opacity of NIL deals and the exploitation by agents.
  • Quote:
    "[28:26] Michael Duncan: ... So there's a sweet spot there, I think, and I'm hoping..."

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7. Tulsi Gabbard and Russiagate Revelations

A substantial segment of the episode delves into Tulsi Gabbard’s revelations about the Russiagate scandal, with hosts critically analyzing the politicization of intelligence.

• Gabbard's Report:

  • Allegations: Claims that Russiagate was a fabricated narrative masterminded by the Obama administration and intelligence agencies to undermine Trump's presidency.
  • Quote:
    "[39:05] John Ashbrook: ... the host was talking about the formation of Russiagate..."

• Critique of Democratic Strategies:

  • Media and Intelligence Collaboration: Accusations that intelligence agencies worked with the media to perpetuate the Russiagate narrative.
  • Quote:
    "[42:34] Michael Duncan: ... they knowingly and willingly ... They accused us of what they're actually doing."

• Impact on Public Perception:

  • Divisiveness: The scandal allegedly created deep divisions and mistrust among Americans.
  • Quote:
    "[55:08] John Ashbrook: ... you're frustrated about what Democrats have done to America."

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8. Satire and Humor: King of the Hill Game

The hosts introduce a humorous segment titled "King of the Hill," where they engage in a mock debate featuring exaggerated claims and satirical attacks.

• Participants:

  • John Ashbrook as the Champion.
  • Michael Duncan as the Challenger.

• Highlights:

  • Exaggerated Claims: Participants make hyperbolic statements mocking political figures and policies.
  • Humorous Interaction: The segment serves to lighten the intense political discussions with comedic relief.
  • Notable Quote:
    "[72:36] Josh Holmes: ... That's a garbage. ... Smug is the judge, runs a very tough court."

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9. Interview with Daniel Basale: One Small Step Campaign

The episode concludes with an inspiring interview with Daniel Basale from AFP, discussing the "One Small Step" campaign aimed at rekindling American pride and civic engagement.

• Campaign Overview:

  • Objective: To inspire Americans to celebrate their heritage and take active roles in their communities.
  • Quote:
    "[82:23] F: ... we want to establish that what makes this country special is our principles..."

• Call to Action:

  • Engagement: Encouraging listeners to participate in grassroots activities such as meeting neighbors, signing petitions, and volunteering.
  • Impact: Aims to address declining national pride and foster a sense of unity.
  • Quote:
    "[84:08] F: ... 250,000 steps for freedom for every single state chapter between now and July 4th of 2026."

• Statistics on National Pride:

  • Public Sentiment: Highlighting a Gallup poll showing declining pride in being American, especially among younger generations.
  • Quote:
    "[84:27] F: ... Gallup poll found that 58% of Americans say that they're proud to be in America. ... young people, that number is in the low 40s."

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10. Conclusion

The hosts wrap up the episode by reiterating their commitment to various initiatives, promoting listener engagement, and celebrating the contributions of their guest, Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

• Final Remarks:
  • Appreciation: Gratitude expressed towards John Thune and Daniel Basale for their participation.
  • Engagement: Encouragement for listeners to provide feedback and suggestions for future content.
  • Quote:
    "[91:14] F: ... Take one small step. Dot com. Appreciate you guys having me on the show. Big fan, big honor to be here."

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• "It really was generational... the first entitlement reform, really since I've been here."
  — John Thune [03:21]

• "An incredibly comprehensive piece of legislation and most comprehensive and consequential legislation I've dealt with."
  — John Thune [07:14]

• "We are 36, $37 trillion in debt and we want pro growth policies in the economy to get the economy growing..."
  — John Thune [07:14]

• "They knowingly and willingly... They accused us of what they're actually doing."
  — Michael Duncan [42:34]

• "250,000 steps for freedom for every single state chapter between now and July 4th of 2026."
  — Daniel Basale [84:08]

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Key Takeaways

• Legislative Successes: The Senate, under John Thune's leadership, has passed significant legislation affecting taxes, spending, and national security.

• Economic Impact: Permanent tax reforms have provided economic stability and encouraged business growth.

• Political Challenges: Increased obstruction in the Senate has made the nomination process sluggish, reflecting deep partisan divides.

• National Unity: Initiatives like the "One Small Step" campaign aim to restore national pride and foster community engagement amidst growing societal divisions.

• Critical Analysis: The podcast offers a critical perspective on Democratic strategies and media collaboration, particularly concerning the Russiagate narrative.

• Humor and Engagement: Incorporating humorous segments like "King of the Hill" provides balance to the intense political discussions.

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This episode of the Ruthless Podcast offers a thorough examination of current political dynamics, legislative achievements, and societal challenges, all while maintaining an engaging and critical tone. Whether you're keeping up with Senate proceedings or interested in grassroots movements to restore American pride, this episode provides valuable insights and perspectives.

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

The Senate Majority Leader, John Toon.

[John Thune]

Well, I always tell people that you can't always equate in Washington D.C. activity with productivity. You know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of very busy people, but sometimes not a lot getting done. But, but we have been getting a lot done.

[Josh Holmes]

You're not dealing with much margin for error.

[John Thune]

I know, I know, I know.

[Josh Holmes]

And, and these all night things over and over and over again. It's like you're, you're checking and you've got like the in house doc working an IV in some of the office.

[John Thune]

You, you, you're only this, this far away from being one heart. One heart to maybe, maybe lay off all the backflips.

[Michael Duncan]

I saw you doing some backflips.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, well, yeah, you know, I mean.

[Michael Duncan]

I heard, I heard here before we were doing this interview, you were suggesting, your team was suggesting maybe you would do a backflip. Here on the Ruthless Variety Program, he's.

[John Thune]

Donald Trump's number one enemy in Congress.

[Josh Holmes]

Chicago Senator Dick Durbin.

[John Thune]

And now Dick Durbin has a new.

[Josh Holmes]

Scheme, a government takeover of your credit card. Today, consumers have thousands of choices in.

[John Thune]

Credit cards, all with equal strong security.

[Josh Holmes]

But Durbin's plan is less competition and less security. And that means more risk for your.

[Michael Duncan]

Credit and your identity.

[John Thune]

Tell Republicans in Congress, stop Dick Durbin's.

[Josh Holmes]

Takeover of your credit card before it's too late.

[John Ashbrook]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Comfortably Smug]

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

[John Ashbrook]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Thursday to you. Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety Program. Very big show here. I'm Josh Holmes along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook, left to right, across your radio dial. We're joined here with a very special guest, as we say in the upper Midwest, John Toon. That is correct, the Senate Majority Leader. John Toon. How are you, sir?

[John Thune]

Oh, good, Josh, thank you and thanks for asking. It's been an interesting few weeks as we grind it out, but not everybody.

[Josh Holmes]

Checking in on your day to day mental health.

[John Thune]

No, no.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[John Thune]

Any recommendations? I know I can talk to.

[Josh Holmes]

No, I don't. There's a reason why we're behind microphones.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, I mean, I'd be taking victory laps. I mean that's a big deal. Huge.

[Josh Holmes]

There's a lot of big deals that have been going on. As we well know. Having worked in an office that you now reside in. It's sort of a thankless job in a lot of ways in that the big accomplishments are basically taken as an assumption. Right. It's kind of true and you just kind of grind on it. But it is the job that you well knew and you signed up for, but really unparalleled success in a lot of different ways. All of us were talking about the big beauty as it was being formulated, and we personally thought there was absolutely no way that a big, beautiful bill would be signed into law by July 4th just because of how difficult the Senate is with all your various rule berg rules and reconciliation processes, things falling out, getting patched back together, trying to reconcile that with the House product. Somehow you figured it out.

[John Thune]

We did, shockingly, yeah. July 4th was challenging. It was an incredibly comprehensive piece of legislation and most comprehensive and consequential legislation I've dealt with in my time in either the House or the Senate. It really was generational. I mean, you talk about a piece of legislation that encompasses national security, border security, energy dominance, tax relief made permanent in a lot of cases, and frankly, the first entitlement reform, really since I've been here, and then a whole bunch of other things that were accomplished in there, things that we've been on our agenda for a long time, like school choice. And there was just some really, really pieces of that legislation that I felt like this is historic and the fact that we were able to wrap it up by July 4th. Now, we had a good plan in place and we were systematic in how we went after it from a timing standpoint. But there are always hiccups along the way, as you guys all know, and dealing with the Byrd rule, which is a unique feature to the Senate and the role the parliamentarian has in. And she really is like a referee and, you know, she's just calling, trying to sort it all out. But we had to make, you know, countless arguments in front of her on individual pieces of it. And then if she throws something out, we come back with a counter argument, a contingency plan. And so it was incredibly time consuming and exhausting process, but great to get across the finish line. And frankly, again, I just. In all the time I've been here, if I don't do anything else, this was to me, kind of what you. This is why you do this job.

[Josh Holmes]

That's why you sign up. No question about it. I mean, the basis of this, and this is the most difficult part about politics, is not being able to unprove a negative. Right. Where the basis of it is the American taxpayer is not going to have a dramatic tax increase next year. Right. If they had one, of course there'd be a Huge political reaction to that. But preventing it.

[John Thune]

I know you don't get the benefit. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Is more difficult.

[John Thune]

It is. Right, right. And I think the, the tax piece of this, not only did we avoid the $4 trillion tax increase at the end of the year, but there were other pieces added to it. No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, an increased deduction for seniors on Social Security. But for example, in the business space, a lot of what we did is made this stuff permanent. And I think one of the reactions you're seeing in the market right now is in response to the fact that there is now economic certainty around the tax code. Instead of having to come back and do this in six or eight years. So you take bonus depreciation or interest deduct, or R and D expensing, or the 199A deduction that small businesses take advantage of, and then there's an additional expensing thing in there now for small businesses.

[Michael Duncan]

Did you happen to get any podcaster deductions in there.

[Comfortably Smug]

Asking the real questions?

[John Thune]

Yes, we were. The way you guys are raking in the cash down here, we should have probably had some sort of a podcast or penalty. But anyway, the questions just changed. You are the quintessential small business. We are four small businesses.

[Comfortably Smug]

But I mean, that's the thing, is the market has absolutely reacted to the passage of that bill. You've seen the stock markets now back to hitting record highs. Talking to small business owners that I know. I mean, they were, they were in a tough spot leading into passage of that bill. They were worried about, okay, if this doesn't get done, I don't know if I've got the margins in place to be able to survive. So just having that certainty for small business owners across this country, and now they're not just worried about, oh, now I can survive, but now they're like, okay, well, I guess I can expand. This is looking great. Our future is looking like we can actually start planning again.

[John Thune]

Right. And if you're looking at, I mean, if you're somebody who has, you're looking at making a big capital expenditure, capital investment, you want to know what the rules of the game are going to be.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally.

[John Thune]

And that's why I think the certainty around the tax code, which is something that we fought really hard for, I mean, most of those provisions in the House pass version of it expired in four or five years. And we made all of that permanent in addition to, you know, the. All the individual stuff with some exceptions, but mostly made permanent. I think those are huge features of our tax code that we haven't had a long time because generally speaking, you have an expiration date and you got to come back and start all over again. And I think couple that with the fact that for the first time in a long time, we actually did something to bend the spending curve down. And you know, not only in the entitlement side, the mandatory side, but last week with the rescissions bill, discretionary side, I think it's sending a message to the markets. Okay, we get it. Yes, we got a problem. We're 36, $37 trillion in debt and we want pro growth policies in the economy to get the economy growing, expanding, creating better paying jobs, higher wages, all that. But we also have got to start, we've got to start bending that spending curve down. And I think the markets hopefully at least are reacting to that and hope there's more to come.

[Josh Holmes]

Let's take a second on the rescissions package because of course, the big argument internally within Republican circles, May and June, before you got this whole thing done, was a whole bunch of sort of elon led discussion about whether or not they're actually going to cut spending. What I found so interesting about the cadence, the pace of play, and we had Speaker Johnson in here that spoke to this, is that you were going to turn this thing around immediately and address the other side of the ledger, which, you know, for those of us who've worked in your office that you're at now, the idea that you can just run the RPM level all the way to the top of the scale for something like the big beauty and then turn around and do something hugely consequential within a matter of weeks is easier said than done. Like you got to understand the cadence of D.C. the cadence of the members, like the energy that's involved. But you really figured out how to squeeze every ounce of energy to turn around and get that thing done too.

[John Thune]

We did. And I think part of it, Josh, and you know, this is there is when you sustain that intensity level for that period of time, really hard to come back and start it up again. And the challenge with rescissions is they're subject to the same rules as budget reconciliation. In other words, a voterama. And if the Democrats want to and they did, they drug that thing out again.

[Josh Holmes]

So you're voting all night long.

[John Thune]

Yes, we're voting all night long. But you know, it's hard, but it's time for us to do hard things. Are you like, unfortunately, people are strapping it on, doing it.

[Josh Holmes]

Are you like packing some of the older members in bubble wrap at this point because you're not dealing with much margin for error.

[John Thune]

I know, I know, I know.

[Josh Holmes]

And, and these all night things over and over and over again. It's like you're, you're checking and you've got like the in house doc working an IV in some of the office.

[John Thune]

You, you, you're only this, this far away from being in the minority. You know, I mean, it's like one heart, one heart to maybe, maybe lay.

[Michael Duncan]

Off all the backflips. I saw you doing some backflips.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, well, yeah, you know, I, I.

[Michael Duncan]

Mean, I, I heard, I heard here before we were doing this interview, you were suggesting, your team was suggesting maybe you would do a backflip flip here on the Ruthless variety program.

[Josh Holmes]

We were like, no, thank you.

[Michael Duncan]

I, I don't, I don't want that.

[Comfortably Smug]

No.

[John Thune]

How high is your desk here? I need a lot of room to get around, let me put it that way. It's not as tight as it used to be.

[Josh Holmes]

Let's just say that that's what we were saying. It's like, I think the ceilings are a little bit low on this. Your guy was like, well, he keeps it pretty tight.

[Comfortably Smug]

Not that tight.

[Josh Holmes]

No. It's an incredible bunch of accomplishments. Of course, the discussion has now moved into the nomination front, but you guys have put together, I think people need to understand a pretty unrivaled cadence of confirming nominations. Of course, the Senate, unlike the House, is in the personnel business.

[John Thune]

We are.

[Josh Holmes]

And so any person, confirmable person within an administration needs at some point to run through you. And the goal of a minority, the Democrats and Chuck Schumer at this point is to burn as much clock as they can to prevent you from enacting an agenda. Right. And they usually do that in the noms space. So they make you try to vote on everything, draw a clock, all this. But despite all of that, you guys are well ahead of pace. Let's just look at graphic five, just for a minute. This is the total votes that you've taken per year. You're already what this is. Matched up against the gray lines are the leaders in the clubhouse from all the previous Congresses, all the previous Senates, in terms of total year.

[John Thune]

For the entire year.

[Josh Holmes]

For the entire year.

[John Ashbrook]

Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

This is where you are at at 4:17 as of the beginning of this week, just through six months.

[John Thune]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Feels that, feels like you guys are doing your work.

[Comfortably Smug]

I think you can get the record. You can do it.

[Josh Holmes]

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[John Thune]

Well, I always tell people that you can't always equate in Washington, D.C. activity with productivity. You know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of very busy people, but sometimes not a lot getting done. But we have been getting a lot done. And even on bipartisan stuff, the President signed two bills last week. He signed the Genius act, which was the stablecoin legislation, big Digital Assets Bill, and then he signed the Halt Fentanyl act into law at the White House too, which is something we worked on earlier this year. You add that Lake and Riley, you the Take It Down Act. There's a whole bunch of stuff that we've done on a bipartisan basis. At the same time, we've been doing reconciliation and noms. Now, I will tell you, and you said it, but the coin of the realm in the Senate is floor time. There's a finite amount of it. The Dems know that they're going to burn as much as they can on noms. So you look at the nominees and we're about twice where the president was in 2017 in terms of noms across the finish line, but with zero Democrat cooperation. I mean, they are blocking and obstructing and delaying at every turn. The Trump derangement syndrome is at an all time high right now in the Senate. But what that means is it's just harder and harder. You have to file cloture on every nom. Then you got to invoke cloture by having a vote. Then you've got intervening time periods and all this. And then before you get to a final vote. And these are for bipartisan noms that are non controversial. I mean, they're doing it on everything. And I remind people that Trump is the first president in history that hasn't had one of his noms by this point of his presidency, confirmed either by unanimous consent or voice. Yeah, you know, usually that's kind of what you do when you've got non controversial noms. You figure out a way to work and you kind of get them through the process. We're getting none of that.

[Comfortably Smug]

To me, that's the strangest thing, is that given the results of the election where President Trump won not only the Electoral College, but he won the popular vote, there were like, 72 hours where the dens were like, wow, we really messed up. When you start tacking back towards the center, it's very clear that the American people want President Trump's agenda. And then you see them, as soon as they get to D.C. they're doing everything they can to obstruct. They just did not get the message right.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, they're inventing new reasons every day.

[John Thune]

Well, they are. And you can watch. I mean, you know, this New York mayoral election probably is the best indicator of how far left they've drifted. I mean, they're nominating a guy who's just taking these incredibly radical, extreme positions. And that's where the energy is, that's where the money is, that's where the volunteers and the activists in Democrat politics these days, which creates a huge problem for somebody like a Chuck Schumer, who in the United States Senate realizes to get anything done, you know, particularly funding the government at the end of the fiscal year, which comes up on September 30, take 60 votes.

[John Ashbrook]

You mentioned funding the government. One of the things we do like to do here at the Variety program is look around the corner. And that government fund funding vote is coming up in September. And we know over the last few decades, Democrats have done everything they could to act to shut the government down while working with their allies in the mainstream media to blame Republicans. And I just wonder if you think they're going to try anything different this time.

[John Thune]

Well, you know, you mentioned that, John. What we saw, because, you know, they didn't fund the government last year.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[John Thune]

So we carried a blood into this year, and we had that October or October, April 14 deadline. And what I tried to do at the time was if we get the House to move on a bill and then have all Republican senators on board with it, have the president endorsing it, and basically put the Senate Democrats as the, you know, if the government's going to shut down, it's going to be on them. Now, we typically, as you all know, don't win government shutdown fights. But I really felt like in that circumstance, we had everything we had done everything we could to keep the government open, and then it was going to be up to Schumer. So Schumer, you know, they find the requisite number of votes to keep the government up and running. And he got just blown up for it.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah, totally.

[John Thune]

You know, by his base. And so I think they're going to be under an enormous amount of pressure come fall, which is why, again, we need to do everything we can, House Republicans, Senate Republicans, President Trump and his team to, you know, set it up for success, to keep the government up and funded. And then if Chuck Schumer, you know, what's he going to do? Is he going to bow to the Democrat base or do the responsible thing and keep the government? Yeah, I mean, that's a decision.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's also tough for sure. I mean, he lives in Brooklyn, so if he speaks out against Bondani, he doesn't get like a grocery coupon.

[Josh Holmes]

But look, you have to work with this guy. So I'm not going to make you put it in your words, but I think you laid out exactly what the dilemma is for Chuck Schumer and Senate Democratic leadership, which is they did the right thing earlier this year in finding the requisite votes to actually do the basic functions of government. It wasn't any like, massive conservative reform. It was about keeping the lights on in the Capitol, making sure people get Social Security checks and our soldiers get in, veterans get their benefits and everything else. They did it. He gets absolutely crushed. He's nothing if not a self preservationist. Right. And then you see the Mandami thing and then you see all of these riots across the country. He knows what it takes to sort of sit on top of this teetering coalition that is the left, which gives us the concern, I imagine everybody in your office, is he going to do the right thing?

[John Thune]

That is the concern. And I think that to your point, the pressure is going to be enormous from that, you know, the left wing of the party and increasingly you are seeing the tail wagging the dog and Senate. So, you know, it's Elizabeth Warren, it's Bernie Sanders, it's Cory Booker, Chris Murphy, you know, kind of the left of the left in the, in the Senate is, and he's got, you know, and so Schumer's sitting there trying to decide, okay, do I do the responsible thing? Which, and we've been in that position when we've been in the, you know, the situation he's in right now. And it's, it's hard, but at some point, you know, you've got to, you got to keep the, you got to keep the lights on. So I'll be interested to see that as well, how he handles it. But we're going to give him every opportunity. You know, I think along and part is if we can just stay united and keep our team together, we can really force them to make what will be probably a hard decision, but based on where the, you know, the, like I said, the energy the Democratic Party is right now, it's going to be.

[Josh Holmes]

A. Yeah, it seems like a real problem.

[John Thune]

Yeah, it's a no win situation.

[Josh Holmes]

Did I read the other day, what is it, Shatz? Somebody's holding all the defense. The DOD nominees.

[John Thune]

Yeah. I mean, it's just they good time for that, right? Yeah. I mean, it is pretty shocking really, if you look at just historically again and you know, having been on both sides, majority and minority in the past with Democrat and Republican presidents, you get a chance to see over time kind of the arc of how all this works. But these guys are taking this to a whole new level. And you know, and particularly when you're talking about sensitive positions like that that are national security oriented, you know, they were, they tried to hold up. We were going into the Easter break and, you know, Elizabeth Warren was holding up the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and again, somebody who came out of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I want to say, 24 to 3 or something like that, and she decides to block it on the floor. And so I was like, okay, we're staying here. So we had to recess, come back in at midnight to get to the next day under the rules. And then we had to wait an hour because you can't do business until you've been in for an hour. And so we finally started voting on Chairman cain at like 2 or 3 in the morning. But that's, I mean, that's the length they were going to, to block. And here you're going into a period where Congress isn't going to be in session and you got a vacancy and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, somebody nominated for that, who came out of the committee with a huge bipartisan margin. And then they were willing to. Yeah, they were willing to shut the Senate down.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, in fairness, her and Bernie are used to running the entire domestic agenda over the last four years.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

I think we found out who was running the White House at some level.

[John Thune]

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

[Josh Holmes]

Now they got a lot of pent up energy.

[John Thune]

They do indeed.

[Josh Holmes]

Two quick things that I want to hit on. One is just pure politics. One of the roles that you have as Majority leader, you've got to run the whole agenda. And a huge part of that agenda affects the environment, in which candidates run in a midterm. Got a decent, I would say, map of opportunity for holding and maybe even increasing seats, depending on how that day goes in the midterms where do you feel like everything sits today?

[John Thune]

I'm pretty, pretty good. I mean, obviously we've got a couple of states where it will clarify over time. We think we have a great opportunity in the state of Georgia. And you know, clearly there was an attempt made by many of us to get the governor, Brian Kemp, to run. He opted not to. And so you still keep him on speed dialing. Well, you know, I believe in repetition. I need to hear it more than once just because I'm not sure if I heard it right the first time. So anyway, you make follow ups, but I think obviously Maine and North Carolina now with Tillis retirement, those are really the Democrats will target those. Clearly they're going to try and make hay out of the situation in Texas. But I think that that over time will clarify. But in meeting with the President and his team, I feel good about our incumbents in most cases who are running for reelection, with the exception of Maine and North Carolina, are generally in where Trump had done well and where, you know, the Republican numbers and there's been a real shift there. So you take a state, even for example, like Iowa and I think, you know, West Virginia, we've got people running Louisiana, there could be some primaries there. But in the end, I think we're going to be in good shape.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Because so much of this is about alignment. It is when you're in power. Right. And look, President Trump had an enormous amount of success in working with Senate Republicans during his first four years and ensuring that you had the best possible team on the field. When it came to midterms, clearly the agenda is A1A which you've been focused on. That's another piece of this. Right. Is the alignment. And you've been having conversations with President Trump and his team to make sure that we're in a situation where we've got nominees that can win these general elections regardless of what the environment is.

[John Thune]

Yeah. And I just, just, just came from a meeting in the White House where we were kind of going through the map and talking about some of these states. And you know, obviously there is an alignment there. And I think his team is working closely with ours, with NRSE and Tim Scott, the chairman over there and all of our allies out there to ensure that we have a good outcome in November of 2026. And you can't take anything for granted, you can't leave anything to chance. But to me, the best thing you can do in any election is have a record of accomplishment to run on. And I think once our members get out and Start talking about all the various components and pieces of the one big beautiful bill. There are a ton of campaign ads there and you guys can appreciate that. But there's a real message to be delivered. You got to have the resources deliver it, which means we've got to do our job raising the money and then obviously candidate quality matters for sure. And then you've got to have, have a good ground game in a midterm especially it's about who can get their voters out. So. And I think everybody's very focused on all those.

[Josh Holmes]

That's great. So the one thing about the Variety program is as into politics as we are, perhaps more into sports, as is the Senate majority leader.

[John Thune]

Yes, indeed. We all need an outlet.

[Josh Holmes]

And your beloved jackrabbits.

[John Thune]

Yes indeed.

[Josh Holmes]

And we had all the commissioners, SEC, Big 10 ACC, Big 12 in here. We were talking about NIL rules and we were talking about the transfer portal and they're, they're suggesting some major changes. Couldn't help but notice that the, the jackrabbits, for all the success that they have year in, year out, they've now got people offering all the best players, all kinds of cash to go play in different places and can't feel great about this.

[John Thune]

No, no. You know, and those power, Power four now I guess it is schools keeps sniffing around trying to recruit people and yeah, the transfer portal on the name, image and likeness nil have really transformed college sports. And honestly I think we're going to need a solution on nil because every state now is putting their own. And you got states like the sec that spans 11 states and every state's passing laws, their state of competitive advantage.

[Josh Holmes]

Just to benefit their school.

[John Thune]

Exactly, yeah. Individual schools. And so North Carolina, if you're listening.

[Comfortably Smug]

All that nil payment should be tax deductible. I stand with that. State legislature.

[John Thune]

Dream on. Smug.

[Josh Holmes]

That's right. Fastest way to get something hotline.

[John Thune]

You might have bipartisan support on that one, but I do think that you look at what's happening in a lot of these mid major universities and South Dakota State's a good example. There are a ton of these kids that are going in the draft now. Yeah, I mean the tight ends for the, for the Philadelphia Eagles, for the Green Bay Packers, Tucker Kraft and Dallas Goddard, both SDSU grads. And you know we had a tackle that went to the, he started last year for the Steelers and Mason McCormick. So every year there's more corn fed fellas. Well, and they, and they, and, and the, and the power conferences are starting to recruit them and pay them. So, you know, it's working. But as I mentioned earlier, one of our college presidents thought it'd be a good idea to start creating a developmental fee that these schools pay for when you get the, you know, the schools that develop them ought to get compensated.

[Josh Holmes]

Just a little something for the effort.

[John Thune]

A little something.

[Josh Holmes]

In all honesty though, do you think, because there is a drive from even the big four, as you mentioned, of conferences, to try to get some framework of a federal solution here we don't have 50 state rules and like, is that something? I understand it's not ripe. Maybe at this point now you got to take care of the American people's pocketbooks and safety and security. But at some point is this something you could see the Senate considering?

[John Thune]

I actually do. I think the challenge you have here's the fault line really. So Democrats in the relevant, on the relevant committees in position to do something about this in most cases want to unionize that. So they want an employer employee relationship to be created. And that works maybe for the, again for the power conferences, for the big schools.

[Josh Holmes]

So they can get people to pay dues, to vote against their interests. Exactly right.

[John Thune]

And in some cases, even with some of the mid majors, you could argue they could take care of football, maybe basketball there. But what about the Olympic sports? You know, what about the title nine sports? And I think there's a huge argument, you know, discussion to be held in this country over, you know, what is the future of college athletics. And I do think there's an argument because so many states are enacting their own laws. State of Missouri now you can start paying kids in high school. Yeah, it's crazy. If they go to a college or university in the state of Missouri. I think there's an argument for Congress to act, but I hope we can find a way to land this thing that doesn't entail a unionization and creating this sort of a new business model. I think one thing you could do for sure is just create, to create transparency is have a standard form, standard uniform contract that athletes, you know, schools, parents, everybody knows what the deal is because right now there's no. It's like the NFL without a contract. You know, they, they go from one year to the next year and they just go to whoever's going to pay them the most.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Thune]

And so I think everybody sort of know on what the deal is. So this isn't in the opaque.

[Michael Duncan]

I think that's so important because so much of this nil stuff happens through intermediaries and These agents and stuff. And because it's sort of opaque, nobody really knows what their bargaining position is or how this contract's actually going to be written. And it not only is bad for the kid, it's bad for their family. It's also bad for the school because you end up in a situation where nobody feels like they, they're getting out of it what they thought they, they would. And then you end up with kids who end up in the portal the next year. Right.

[John Thune]

Yeah. And the, and the agents are making bank.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[John Thune]

I mean they're, the ones are coming out on, you know, well, on this. And in some cases they'll go to these kids and offer them, tell them, I'll, you know, go to the portal, I'll get you an nil deal on the back end. And it doesn't materialize. In fact, they tell me that about half of them. That's true.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. They come up with nothing.

[John Thune]

But the agents always come out ahead. So there's a, there is a, there is a sweet spot there, I think, and I'm hoping. And it is, it's not like there are a lot of other things, defense authorization and funding the government and maybe Russia sanctions and a lot of stuff coming at us that we're going to have to deal with. But I think if the relevant committees can sit down, start working through this, I'd certainly be open when we get a window to do it, to put something on the floor that would create at least some clarity around this and certainty about what the deal is.

[Josh Holmes]

It's smart. Well, listen, if you're a sports fan or just a fan of America.

[John Thune]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

You ought to be very happy that the Senate Majority Leader is sitting exactly where he is. John Thune, can't thank you enough for joining us.

[John Thune]

Thanks, Josh. Great to be with you.

[Comfortably Smug]

Thanks so much.

[Michael Duncan]

Thank you.

[Josh Holmes]

America's beverage companies are investing in America. We're American companies making American products with American workers in America's hometowns. We're local bottlers and manufacturers. Manufacturers operating in all 50 states, employing more than 275,000Americans in good paying jobs, delivering for the nation because we believe in the promise of America and the people who make it great. Learn [e-mail] paid for by the American Beverage Association. Well, hell of an interview. It's always nice to have the Senate Majority Leader in. You may be wondering why it is that we are. Well, we've changed our war. You look like a million bucks, fellas.

[Michael Duncan]

Thank you. Continuity error. I look for those in movies. So we got to acknowledge it.

[Josh Holmes]

A continuity error, no doubt.

[Michael Duncan]

But we had thune on the day before, so.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, there was good. There was news that he. That we wanted to. To break and like, the nil stuff that he was talking about is relevant because yesterday there was supposed to be a hearing in the House that was moving on some of that stuff, but nobody had ever heard from the Senate before.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's a big deal.

[Josh Holmes]

It was a very big deal. And, and for those of you don't know what it was that was news is the fact that the Senate majority leader himself is inclined to move some kind of legislation dealing with college sports. That's the, that's the first of its kind of thing you get here in the Ruthless variety program. Yeah, but that's why we're. Yeah, we may look a little different than we did just a few moments ago. But listen, we also wanted to celebrate our new partnership with fox. I really appreciate everybody's comments and suggestions and all of these things. One of the things that we wanted to do is because you, the listener, are the only reason why any of this was possible. And we're able to get a larger platform and do more stuff. So we want to do a little give back to the listeners. And what we wanted to do is provide you a little something. It's not a lot, but we're not rich men yet, you know, hopefully check back in a few years and we figured this part out, but this is what we can do right now. We wanted to send you a bumper sticker. So if you head to store. Ruthlesspodcast.com to claim yours, we will send you that bumper sticker right now. You can do whatever you want. Put it in your fridge, put it in your car, put it, whatever you want. But you guys have been with us since the very beginning. We wanted to. It's a small token, admittedly, but it's something that hopefully you can enjoy.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, and I'm glad we're doing this because we used to have a small sticker that we offered in the store.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

And then I think it disappeared at one point. And I've seen in a lot of the comments like, hey, where are those stickers? We'd love to get those stickers. Or people show up at live events and they get a sticker and they want more of them or whatever. Now you're getting a big old bumper sticker.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, real free. Yeah, a real one for free. So go to store. Ruthlesspodcast.com to claim yours before they're gone. We're going to try to get as many of those things out, so. So go do all that. Our question of the day relates to this whole thing, which is, as you might imagine, the fellas here who have learned to sing and dance and entertain over the last four years now have this new availability platform. And there's no shortage of ideas from the fellows about things we can do. Fun we can have with you, the listener out throughout the country, here wherever, interviews. So the open question is to you. What do you want to see? What do you want to see? A lot of people talking about a sports show, by the way. Yeah, I've gotten a lot of. Lot of messages about that, how they want, like a sports component in football season. We're going to take that under advisement because a lot of people have been.

[Comfortably Smug]

Saying that sadly, you can't get it on ESPN anymore. So.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, right.

[Michael Duncan]

Like, totally.

[Josh Holmes]

Please. Yeah. You got big noon kickoff, and then you're, you know, you're relying on Fox News and Fox Sports to carry the day without getting into the lefty stuff, which of course, we're allergic to here on the ruthless variety program. But there are other ideas out there, too. So that's our question of the day. Go out there and give us your thoughts and your ideas, interviews, whatever. Open floor. We read them all. We want to get to your comments from last episode, which was we had a debut NBA flavor on Tuesday because they were wearing those ridiculous shirts.

[Comfortably Smug]

Pay us with what you owe us.

[Josh Holmes]

You lose $40 million.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And then they're like, no, pay us. It's like, okay, well, here's the bill.

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, good for the. You know what? Critical bear. Just one man can lose 40 mil. It takes an entire squad.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

To lose 40 mil a league.

[Josh Holmes]

So it takes a league.

[Comfortably Smug]

Good for them generally.

[Josh Holmes]

So that was our question. And to do that when you likened the. Subscribe and add your comments. We read them all back and we start with the voice.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay. First comment comes from old chief. And old chief says, pay us what we deserve. Okay. Since you lost $50 million last year, each of the 144 active WNBA players owe $347,222. Will that be cash or chat?

[Comfortably Smug]

That's outstanding.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, what I appreciate about our listeners is that guy actually took the.

[Josh Holmes]

Time to do the math, looked up the rosters, legit.

[Comfortably Smug]

Best. Best listeners.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Yeah. That's Fantastic. All right. Comment 2 Dougs.

[Michael Duncan]

This is from Sarah Joy Brown. Sarah writes, the ladies of the WNBA should be paying us. It is so painful to watch their attempt to play a, quote, professional sport that the audience should be earning money just for watching them. That's. That's ruthless.

[Josh Holmes]

Very, very good. I love it. All right. Comment three.

[Comfortably Smug]

Comment three is from B. Foster. B. Foster writes, WNBA players should be paid like waitresses. Start them out on a modest lease and add to their pay for points scored, rebounds and assists, but deduct for shots missed and turnovers. Rebounding your own shot after a missed layup is net neutral. Looking at you, Angel Reese. I mean, I've seen videos of that where, I mean, she's just like, patting her stats like that.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, she doesn't call them rebounds. She calls them me bounds amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, me bounds amazing.

[Comfortably Smug]

Maybe then we'll start to see teams score more than 12 points per game.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my God. But it's just a savage. A savage comment. Oh, my God. Okay, well, I think we got a good flavor for your point of view.

[John Ashbrook]

Beat Foster out of all of that.

[Josh Holmes]

Coming up, the big news of this week was, of course, Tulsi Gabbard putting out some information as it related to the whole Russiagate scandal, the origin of it all. Donald Trump did a press conference midweek where he essentially accused former President Obama of treason. There were some shots back and forth. Obama came back on that. We're going to get into that. That we're going to get into that. You know, we have opinions about all of that. Plus we got some variety in the game right after this. America is back thanks to President Trump and Leader John Th's working family. Tax cuts, no tax on tips or overtime. Real relief for every American up early and home late. And they protected Medicaid for Americans, not illegals. Senate Republicans got President Trump's conservative agenda. Double securing the border, finishing the wall, bringing manufacturing jobs back home, making America great again. Thank leader John Thune and Senate Republicans for delivering President Trump's agenda. Okay, so you've all followed the big news about DNI and Tulsi Gabbard releasing information about. Well, sort of what they're alleging is cooked up intelligence that happened at the end of the 2016 presidential campaign that carried all the way through four years of President Trump's first administration. We all know we've talked about this a lot, about the sequence of events that I think have been well established at this point. But she's providing a finer point. And this week, the president himself weighed in on it. Can we see clip one, please? It wasn't lots of people all over the place. It was them, too. But the leader of the Gang was President Obama, Barack Hussein Obama. Have you heard of him? And except for the fact that he gets shielded by the press for his entire life. That's the one. They look, he's guilty. It's not a question. You know, I like to say, let's give it time. It's there. He's guilty. They this was treason. This was every word you can think of. Okay, all right.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's so good.

[Josh Holmes]

Pulling zero punches.

[John Ashbrook]

Zero punches. Because as we all know, treason is a very, very serious charge and it comes with a very, very serious set of consequences.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't think it's been Prosecuted since like 1952 in this country, and hence.

[Comfortably Smug]

The rise of the Democrat Party. Here's the thing, here's the thing I gotta say about this. We all know what these people did. And here's the thing. It was treason. It was a crime against this country. They divided this country on lies, on absolute lies. They were willing. Half this country is essentially brain damaged believing that Donald Trump is some KGB asset. They turned families against each other. You see, there's an article in the New York magazine this week. We spoke last week about one that was in the New York Times, an op ed by this guy being like, hey, you know my brother in law's maga, but I still hang out with him.

[Michael Duncan]

Him.

[Comfortably Smug]

There was one in New York magazine saying that stop hanging out with your MAGA family members. This nonsense divided a country. And they did this knowingly.

[Michael Duncan]

They did it knowingly. They did knowingly and willingly. And they did that thing that the left always does, and that is they accuse us of what they're actually doing. They called it Russian collusion. Russia, Russia, Russia. For years. And the reality was it was collusion. But the collusion was between Barack Obama's administration, the intel agencies, and the media.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, look, we've covered this at great depth. For those of you who listen, we're not going to go through all of it again, but I don't think the facts are unclear here and that you had a Clinton campaign that came into possession because they contracted it out for the Steele dossier and all kinds of things that they then filtered into the Justice Department, made its way into the CIA and our intelligence agencies, and they began opening investigations internally. At the same time, Brennan, under the guise of briefing both campaigns about national security threats, was interacting with the Clinton campaign. So much so that there were some handwritten notes that were In October of 2016, in a meeting that he was in, where he understood this was divulged by the Senate Intelligence Committee years afterwards, where he understood that they were going to weaponize this information, that the waning weeks of the 2016 campaign by Hillary Clinton were going to be used, trying to suggest that Donald Trump and his campaign were assets of Russia and that Russia was putting a thumb in its scale trying to change the outcome of the election on Donald Trump's behalf. Now, at the time, I think it's pretty clear that they still thought they were going to win that election, but when they lost all, the campaign never stopped. Yep, it never stopped. And so all these guys that were out of a job, Brennan, Clapper, Comey, everybody else, were all signed into contributorships. We're all sort of first sources for media at the time and began pushing this narrative that it was an illegitimate election, it was an illegitimate presidency, that a hostile foreign power was somehow responsible for the outcome. So much so that the biggest companies in this country were forced to change business rule, the tech community was forced to change their business model to basically alleviate the made up concern of the Democratic Party that somehow Russia had infiltrated their ranks and changed the outcome of the election.

[Michael Duncan]

So what I think this report reveals to me, my opinion is that these folks knew they were going to get caught red handed eventually. And so I think the Russia hoax really was them muddying the water for everything they were guilty of that fall of 2016. Like I really do believe that is they just felt like if they could muddy the water for enough time, because I agree with you, Holmes, I don't think they ever thought they would lose this election. And then Donald Trump actually won in 2016. They're like, oh, now we're, we got to double down on this Russia thing, otherwise Donald Trump's going to figure out what we did.

[Josh Holmes]

And there are signs of that. Right. So contemporaneously, Brennan pens this biography as all good lib technocrats do. Everybody wants to read about their exciting lives. Absolutely. The least charismatic human on the face of the planet. But. But put them on tv by all means. Anyway, this cat pens a book where he talks about how he was aghast that McConnell in particular. But Congressional Republicans didn't just take at face value his suggestion that Russia was tipping the scales to Donald Trump in the fall of 2016. Horror. Right. And he's writing that in the backdrop of this media firestorm that they created, that everyone believed there was an element of truth to it. Everyone not being folks like us, but like in the country, even fair minded people who voted for Donald Trump were like, whoa, what's all this about. Because we'd not had it at any point in our history where there's a political party and an intelligence agency and a law enforcement agency that were basically saying, like, believe us or not, but we're the CIA, we're the FBI, and this is happening. People are trained in my generation and generations before it to believe them.

[John Ashbrook]

And listen, man, thank God for Tulsi Gabbard, for this report that is revealing what was written and submitted to the Brennans of the world, the Obamas of the world at the time, saying that there is no credible evidence that this is existing. And this is written by the Deep State people. This is not written by Republican staffers. This is written by kids, career employees. And I just remember over and over again, at the time, Michael Duncan was talking about the facts on the ground, which were that somehow we're supposed to believe that because $100,000 was spent on Facebook. Yeah, that is the Russians influencing the elections. You said it over and over and over at the time. And you could see it because you were doing so much digital. Digital campaign work, and you were like, this doesn't make any sense.

[Josh Holmes]

It doesn't make sense in that by Wednesday of each week and all the campaigns that we're running in all the.

[Michael Duncan]

Campaigns, not to mention the fact that Donald Trump spending, like, $100 million on the platform himself, and so is Hillary Clinton. The idea that Donald Trump would have to outsource $100,000 Facebook buy to the fucking Kremlin is just patently absurd. And the idea that Cambridge Analytica had this, like, secret model of psychographic analysis that was gonna somehow trick all these.

[Josh Holmes]

Americans, we already knew that was bullshit.

[Michael Duncan]

We knew it was snake oil.

[Josh Holmes]

We already knew it was bullshit.

[Michael Duncan]

We knew it was bullshit. So when you would read all these articles about how this was a conspiracy and how they laundered all this data, which was all bullshit. And first of all, it cut two.

[Josh Holmes]

Ways, though, by the way, unlike the Cambridge Analytica thing, and that there was an awful lot of people who were involved in the Trump campaign who were invested in Cambridge Analytica. So they didn't want to admit that it was all snake oil.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, but the media knew better.

[Josh Holmes]

They did.

[Michael Duncan]

They knew better. Because Obama.

[Josh Holmes]

There was a little foothold, is my point of like. Well, they say it's. They say that their stuff is real, and we're like, dude, it's not real. Like, none of this stuff is real. But it had to be treated as real when it was entirely made up.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, not only was it made up, but the media should have known better because they wrote all the stories in 2012 about the innovative, sophisticated strategy of the Obama campaign. And one of the key components of that was developing a third party app on Facebook that scraped all of the data out of the platform and then allowed you to send messages on Facebook to all your friends about how you voted for Obama. They wrote books about Sasha Eisenberg, wrote Victory Lab, about the entire operation that Obama did. And all these reporters were aware of that fact. But then they wrote about this thing from Cambridge Analytica like it was somehow novel. And it was not only novel, it was insidious. They made. Netflix, made a whole fucking documentary about this. I mean, I thought I was. I thought I had a stroke when I read some of this stuff. I was like, it made no sense.

[Josh Holmes]

No sense. But I mean, the point being, and I think you raise a good point about how they wanted to get out from underneath this, because they certainly doubled down and tried to pretend like all of this stuff was not only on the up and up, but then as we've talked, they would go on all the cables. It was not even just the background of the reporters. The reporters, like, what's her name, Natasha Bertrand, whatever, they were single sourcing this nonsense for years, but they would go themselves on MSNBC and cnn, give you a wink, and you know, look, I've been privy to a lot, a lot of intelligence, and I can just say that this is concerning, right? And it leaves you as the viewer to think like, well, they know more than I do and they can't tell me because of course, they're highly classified intelligence briefings that I'm not privy to. But it leaves some inference there that is official, right? And this is a compounding problem that then gets into specific. I mean, we did the Mueller investigation, and the Mueller investigation finds out at long last, after $50 million and like brainwashing every lib in the country that there was nothing to see there. But it ruined multiple years of the Trump presidency.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's the thing. And it divided the country. And I want to say this is very important, folks. As you've already seen, President Obama's response to this is acting like so aghast and disgusted and stunned that this. How could this be allowed to happen, to accuse me of such a thing? Folks, they want you to forget what happened last year. What happened last year was you were told over and over, no one's above the law. You saw President Trump charged with God knows how many trumped up, made up fake charges, putting supposed misdemeanors as felonies. He was put. You saw his mugshot. You saw the left doing an end zone dance on a former president being booked. They were celebrating as much as you could possibly imagine, thinking, yes, we're gonna jail our political opponents. Thank God. This is what we've always wanted. And now to see Obama come out and be like, I am stunned and disgusted. No one's above the law. I was told no one's above the law. Lock him up.

[Josh Holmes]

Reliably.

[Comfortably Smug]

Lock him up. Lock him up. Send Obama to jail.

[John Ashbrook]

You know what, buddy? I'm really glad you brought that up, because the only person on the record is somebody from the former President Obama office. President Obama himself has not gone on record to say that he disputes the facts as they are laid out in official government documents as presented by Tulsi Gabbard. He has not disputed any of that.

[Josh Holmes]

Lock him up.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay, so. But brass tacks. I agree that he committed treason, but he's not gonna get locked up because of a certain Supreme Court case that was.

[Josh Holmes]

Thank you.

[Michael Duncan]

Scotus against Donald Trump.

[Josh Holmes]

This is what I wanted to interject in this conversation.

[Michael Duncan]

Because of the immunity.

[Josh Holmes]

So, I mean, the irony of it is that there was a Supreme Court case that Donald Trump won last summer that had everything to do with presidential powers and immunity. He won it. He won it. It was important to win it because they were trying to throw him in jail for nonsense. But it was a. It was a thing. And that sets the bar for prosecuting former presidents in an impossible place. So, like, look, I think we've learned, like, setting expectations for the justice system about what it can and cannot do in this country is a foolish game. Yeah, it is.

[Comfortably Smug]

So if you're sitting Trump mugshots out there, they divided this country. They inspired multiple insane people to try to assassinate President Trump, lock Obama up. Lock Michelle up for the horrible podcast she puts out.

[Michael Duncan]

She should be in jail for that.

[Josh Holmes]

If there is a crime, that's that. It's that. But I. Look, I think it's important in terms of expectations. Here's my view of this, which is you're not going to prosecute a foreign prison. We already know where the bar is on all of that. And so, like, we can talk about it. I'm not saying it's not deserved. I'm just saying it is what it is.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

I think that John Brennan and Jim Comey need to be drug here in a very, very serious way. I don't know what the criminal process is. I'm not a Prosecutor, I don't know. But, but the investigations at a minimum need to go forward and we need absolute sunlight because I can't think, I mean, dude, I've been around this town for 25 years. I can't think of a single example, not even weapons of mass destruction, that undermined our, our law enforcement and our intelligence apparatus. Things that Americans used to hold sacred more than this episode right here.

[Michael Duncan]

So I have one, I think common sense reform to this thing, and we talked about it at lunch.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Is that if you hold a top secret clearance and you go on television to talk about intel related matters, I just think they should pull your clearance.

[John Thune]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And that's essentially what Trump has done.

[Michael Duncan]

Which just removes that thing we always talk about the wink and the nod about. I can't tell you, but I've seen stuff you can't see. And I'm telling everybody on television, you gotta believe me. It's funny because I think it's wrong.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's essentially monetizing, which is disgusting.

[Michael Duncan]

It's undemocratic is what it is.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it's funny. And I don't think I would be so sensitive to this point if I didn't actually experience it and that I came out as McConnell's chief of staff and started doing a little bit of cable tv and it wasn't quite in this era yet, but there were issues, national security issues, where people would. Hosts would essentially walk me into a situation, be like, I know you can't talk about this. I didn't even have a clearance at the time. But they'd walk me into this inference position where I would.

[Michael Duncan]

Where you could so choose.

[Josh Holmes]

I could choose to make it seem like I knew more than I could let on to the viewer. Of course, I didn't know shit. So I never like masqueraded as such. But people who actually held clearances could do that very easily and that it's misleading the American people. That's the least of the charges. But it's a very significant one that we ought to be pursuing here. Reforms like that are really good, but I think these guys need to be held accountable. John Brennan in particular needs to be held accountable. I mean, there are handwritten notes that the Senate Intelligence Committee unearthed that suggested that he understood that the Clinton campaign was going to politicize what he was manufacturing internally at the CIA. That came out at the basis of the Steele dossier that came from the Clinton campaign. Like a full circle. Right. And they were going to put it into use at the same time he was Going to congressional leadership, urging them to sign on. And as soon as they didn't, they called them Russian assets. Right. Democratic Party then. Then spent the better part of a year calling was a Moscow Mitch or whatever because he didn't sign on to the Brennan letter. Like, all of a sudden he's a Russian asset. And they just went through multiple years of anybody in the Republican Party was actually saying, like, wait, none of this adds up. You're a Russian asset.

[Comfortably Smug]

And this is the thing. The only factor that affects behavior is consequences. There must be consequences.

[Josh Holmes]

Consequences, dude, I agree, I agree. I just think we ought to be very clear eyed about whose consequences most likely and most important to all of this. And those guys need to be held accountable in their attaches. And the people who conjured up this plan, Like, I don't think people are still acting as though this is like there's something yet to be proven.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, that. I mean, it is.

[Josh Holmes]

There's nothing left to be proven. Like, we know. I know. She said like Gabbard and God bless her. I hope we have Tulsi on the program at some point so she can talk a little bit more detail than we even know about what it is that she's seeing here. But none of this information that is sort of spilled out are things that we haven't talked about on this program. About the concerted effort that they made to politicize the intelligence in the Justice Department on behalf of the Democratic Party. First it was Hillary Clinton. Clinton. And then it was anybody else to try to beat Republicans and Donald Trump and render that first four years completely rudderless. That's what they were trying to do. And they did it. And they changed culture, they changed business. It wasn't just about the political thing. Like you said, 50% of this country to this date have irreparable brain damage.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's tragic, it's sad. And it was willful that they did it.

[Josh Holmes]

They still talk about it. You still see it online. They're like, oh, Russia. I mean, we play King of the Hill.

[Michael Duncan]

It comes up pretty frequently, pretty frequently.

[Josh Holmes]

Where the King of the Hill contestant is like, oh, yes, once again, the Putin's dude. And it's like, dude, there was less than zero evidence from the very beginning. And they knew it.

[Comfortably Smug]

They knew it.

[Josh Holmes]

It was willful. And yet they were willing to perpetuate the narrative because they thought it helped them politically.

[Comfortably Smug]

The consequences have to be so bad that behavior changes because these, these monsters is what they are. What they've done to Americans. It's unbelievable. There has to be consequences.

[Josh Holmes]

There has to be. There just simply has to be. But I don't think the base is going to allow it, because if you look at some of this other stuff we got in Variety here, it just only perpetuates bad behavior. I mean, so for no reason at all. For no reason at all. All. The New Yorker re upped this week an article that they had written in 2017 that asked the question. I'm not making this up. Asked the question whether or not it was a good idea for us to start a revolution against the British monarchy in 1776.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's literally the tweet. Was the American Revolution such a good idea? And the articles, we could have been Canada.

[Michael Duncan]

So they wrote.

[Josh Holmes]

They wrote this thing in 2017, and this week they decided this is relevant again. Let's put it back out there, Reclick. Like, get it back out there on social media. But this is what we're dealing with.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, I mean, I think it's actually an improvement over their previous position on land acknowledgements and how we don't deserve to be here. At least they're letting us be Canada.

[Comfortably Smug]

A proposed enough thing. This was a tweet that was put up by Tripp Gabriel. He was talking about this guy.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude, it's so funny. I wanted to put this in the show, and I did, because I didn't know if you saw it or not. I didn't put it in the show.

[Comfortably Smug]

My jaw dropped. So he said, was it Porter? Eduardo. An opinion writer leaving the Washington Post because, quote, jeff Bezos is taking the paper down a path I cannot follow, directed towards relentless promotion of free markets, unflinching and patriotism and optimism about the US.

[Josh Holmes]

Fuck. Nobody wants to hear that.

[John Ashbrook]

It sounds like satire.

[Josh Holmes]

No, it does sound like satire. If it wasn't their mentality, he was.

[Comfortably Smug]

Like, whoa, I'm sorry. This guy's kind of optimistic about America. This is where I check out.

[Michael Duncan]

Have we ever considered that maybe these people are just depressed?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

Like, I mean, they're definitely a problem.

[Michael Duncan]

These are people that just look for something to be sad about.

[John Ashbrook]

They're not happy unless they're mad.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it's funny because. So this thing caught my eye too, and I was like, dude, I gotta. I gotta. I gotta find out more about this dude. I've never heard of him before, but because the. The bowels of the Washington Post editorial page, like, you never get a real clean insight into, like, Hugh Hewitt does us a big favor a year ago when he was like, I can get the Fuck out of here. And gave us a little bit of insight into what it is that he had to deal with on a day in, day out basis. So I was like, I'm gonna go back and look at some of the columns that this guy has worked on. It is unbelievable.

[Comfortably Smug]

One of the top replies to this, someone actually went through and took a screenshot of his, like, last four articles.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, nice.

[Michael Duncan]

Yes.

[Comfortably Smug]

As America goes rogue, China eyes an open. Another one. The US is not Venezuela, but Trump is closing the distance.

[Michael Duncan]

And the US.

[Comfortably Smug]

Is devolving into authoritarianism, perhaps because of what it lacks. He's just. This is. He's getting paid by Bezos to write this trash. Bezos is like, I don't know, man. Maybe see a doctor about that. And I think we should try to provide some optimism that the US is getting in a great place. He's like, no, no optimism. Nothing about free markets. I oppose free markets.

[John Ashbrook]

I hate it. I hate America.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's unreal.

[Josh Holmes]

When you get done laughing at these people, if you got a neighbor like this, like, I don't know, maybe try to give him a beer and, like, have him touch grass, just invite him to the barbecue. But like. But it shouldn't just. Unless it's like, all hopped up on ss.

[Comfortably Smug]

We used to know what to do with communism in this country. Country.

[Josh Holmes]

That's what this is. Old Joe McCarthy had it right.

[Comfortably Smug]

He knew what he was doing.

[Josh Holmes]

No, but, but seriously, like, you wonder how. What does an echo chamber have to look like? What does your information flow have to look like for this to be the takeaway of this country?

[John Ashbrook]

Not good.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, you can't have any joy.

[Comfortably Smug]

None. That's the thing, is these are joyless people. And. And what. What unites them is not anything ideological because we know the Democratic Party has no ideology. They're just nihilists who want power. What unites them is essentially just a massive therapy of, like, wow, we keep losing. I guess our ideas are unpopular, but it's gotta be because everyone's a fascist but us, right, guys?

[Josh Holmes]

It's well said. There's one other piece that I think the old man here, Duncan, flagged that I find to be amongst my favorites in terms of left wing lunacy. This was in the Hollywood Reporter. Luigi Mangione, the guy that shot and killed a United CEO, father of young kids in cold blood in the middle of the street in New York. There's a musical about him. Yeah. And there's a Hollywood Reporter reports Luigi Mangione, musical eyes. More cities after sold out San Francisco runs. Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, it's literally called Luigi the Musical. You know, just some light musical content.

[Josh Holmes]

Do you think there's any chance that people thought they were gonna go see Mario Bros. No.

[Michael Duncan]

In San Francisco? No, they're excited about this. Oh, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a mia, but it's not. It's a musical that was in San Francisco and it satirizes the real life circumstances of Mangione, who was accused of killing the. I mean, we saw it with our. I mean, the video, but, yeah, it's video. But let's be. Let's be honest about it, I guess, being housed in the same Brooklyn jail as Diddy and Bankman Fried. And like, the whole thing is about him, Luigi, and then being with Bankman Fried. Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

So their rationale for this whole production, which seems like they're just. This is like the fig leaf. So that they can openly celebrate a murderer and an assassin.

[Comfortably Smug]

Which is what they want to do.

[Michael Duncan]

Which is what I think they want to do. Their fig leaf here is like, these are the institutions that have failed us in society. Health care, you know, Hollywood justifying it. And finance. And finance. And so these will be three pillars of the failure of those institutions. But, you know, I think they give it away, really, in the name itself. Right. Like, it's called Luigi the Musical. It's not called, you know, the terrible institutions destroying this country sort of thing. It's not. It's not really a common.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, there's a good argument to be made about that.

[Michael Duncan]

Sure.

[Josh Holmes]

In terms of those three individuals. Yeah, but. But not celebrating a murder it's trying to cover.

[Comfortably Smug]

Again, it's like, oh, it's institutions. It's not Italians. It's like, okay.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, no.

[Comfortably Smug]

How many times do Italians have to shoot people in broad daylight? We had, like. It was not far away from me. I mean, the Valentine's Day massacre happened, what, maybe like 10, 15 blocks away? Like, how many times do Italians have to gun people down before we actually talk about. No, it's not the Italians, it's the institution.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, no.

[Michael Duncan]

So. So the. The author of this story clearly, clearly sensitive to the fact that you're basically writing a promo for an assassin's musical production.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Puts this graph in which I think is illuminating. While Mangioni does get title treatment, the creators say they're not intending to take a position on his alleged actions. Rather, the show is meant to reflect the different views among attendees.

[John Ashbrook]

But here's the. To reflect they're not taking a position on his actions. He killed a person.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, like, can't they just. Couldn't they at least say in the billing that, like, we're against the murder, but they can't.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, they're not even doing that, bro.

[Michael Duncan]

If you have to put that in the building, then you probably shouldn't make it.

[Josh Holmes]

Do you think that the title track is like. Yes.

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, that's the thing is, like, they can't come out and say it because their side is currently in the process of shooting border patrol agents.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

And demanding that illegal kids trafficked in this country grow their weed.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

The governor of California is like, stop taking the kids. We have farming our weed.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Dude. We're not hyperbole.

[Comfortably Smug]

They create the content.

[Josh Holmes]

This is not. But we're not like, crazy people.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's the thing is, like, we're not.

[Josh Holmes]

Making this stuff up to try to, like, gin you up to be angry about things. We're just simply reading the news.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's insane.

[Michael Duncan]

We're literally just holding up a mirror to what the left is doing.

[Josh Holmes]

This is what's happening in city after city. You have ICE agents being shot. You have cities being burned. You have Jewish people who are at a fundraiser being gunned down in the middle of the capital of this country.

[Michael Duncan]

Governor of Pennsylvania getting his house firebombed.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, it's time after time. And, like, I don't know, man.

[Michael Duncan]

Like, doesn't feel great.

[Josh Holmes]

It doesn't feel great.

[Comfortably Smug]

Consequences, lots of consequences, but this is not.

[Josh Holmes]

And then you've got a Democratic Party that provides zero leadership on top of it. If anything, they want to try to, like, avoid the confrontation with this base. Who wants this kind of thing? We saw the Politico article that you cited the other day. There was, like, in a poll where they want blood, they want to get shot for our views, and they're like, oh, man, can you believe that? But then none of them go out. And, like, how many Democrats have you seen this week that have taken a podium and said, we're really disturbed about attacks on law enforcement.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

This is not. There are ways to change the system.

[John Ashbrook]

None of them.

[Josh Holmes]

But this is not one of them. Not one of them. Not one of them. Right. Instead, they're like, loading up on Epstein shit that they think for 12 years that they were in power that they weren't the least bit interested in whatsoever because they think there's a vulnerability within the Republican Party because there are some Republicans that are angry about it.

[Comfortably Smug]

They want to.

[Josh Holmes]

But that's what they're. That's Their norm thing. Like, it's not about what they don't believe in shit.

[Comfortably Smug]

Nothing matters.

[John Ashbrook]

Meanwhile, you have regular working Americans who are doing their level best for ice. Turn it in a pay stub, all of that stuff. They're paying the consequences. And you know who never pays the consequences? The Brennans, the Comeys, the Obamas of the world. They never pay the consequences. It's regular Americans who are paying the consequences for all of their bullshit.

[Josh Holmes]

But also start holding. We know the press isn't gonna hold them accountable. You, social media and everything else hold these assholes accountable. Just because nobody in the press is asking Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries why it is that they're not out there trying to diffuse this situation about their political base, the people who they count on their votes. Not to attack law enforcement, not to try to kill people in this country, set fire to things, celebrate people who are wearing Hamas pins under the United States.

[Comfortably Smug]

No. Team Jeffries is about to kiss the ring for the guy who wants to globalize Intifada.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, right. I mean, you ask that. We're gonna keep asking that, but, like, I ask all of our listeners, like, get involved in this shit, because it's not. It will become for them untenable when we make it untenable.

[Comfortably Smug]

Bingo.

[Josh Holmes]

Bingo. Because as Smug says, they believe in absolutely nothing. They give no shit about whether they have to support Hamas or the state of Israel. Israel. It's just about what they think gets them to 51%. That's it. That's it. For a long time, they were absolutely convinced 51% was steadfast support for Israel. That changed over the last few years. So now it's like, I don't know, let's. Well, let's pay Hamas off. Let's see if we can figure out how to build a pier that sinks in five days. Spend a couple of billion dollars doing all that. And then, like, take I gotta go.

[Comfortably Smug]

To the Luigi musical tonight.

[Josh Holmes]

And then. And then when they refer to, like, they're a complete abandonment of the Jewish population in America, they refer to it as a quote, unquote, Michigan problem. Right? That tells you everything that you need to know about the state of the Democratic Party. It is rudderless. It believes in nothing. They have no opinion other than to try to wedge you, the listener and the voter against the Republican Party. It's the only thing that they work on. That's it. And, like, the sooner we all grapple with that, the clearer the mandate is on what we have to do. Right? It's not like convincing people to be rational. It's not like, you know, saying, oh, you know, maybe we can have a better message. It's like just understanding who the today's Democratic Party is, is really an important part of being a center right person in this country. Because your friends and neighbors, when they hear that truth and they're left of center, they're gonna be pretty uncomfortable about it. But it's objective truth. It just is. There's very few, like Fetterman might be one of the only ones that I've ever heard that actually stands in this.

[Comfortably Smug]

I don't buy that.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, maybe not. But, like, he says the right thing, he's courageous enough to say things the rest of them won't. Chuck Schumer won't say it. Keem Jeffries won't say it. I don't know. I just don't think it exists anymore. I think the Democratic Party is all but finished in terms of their ability.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, they've seen what. They've seen what their base is willing to do. They've all seen Mangione in action, and they are afraid.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Yeah. All right, let's lighten it up and play game.

[John Thune]

Let's play a game.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, it's Thursday, and that can only mean one thing. King of the Hill.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I'm a bailiff here. I think I've just rotated out.

[Comfortably Smug]

I'm the judge today.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, you're the judge. Smug is the judge, runs a very tough court.

[Michael Duncan]

And I'm the challenger, and I'm bringing Ron Filipowski.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay.

[John Ashbrook]

And our champion, Joe Walsh.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, smoking.

[Michael Duncan]

Let's go ringside.

[John Ashbrook]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please. It's time for King of the Hill. In the red corner, fighting from who knows where, Ron. Philippa. Philippa. How do you say it? Anyway, Philipowski. And now, in the blue corner, fighting from his own Twitter account, and current champion of the world, smoking Joe Walsh.

[Josh Holmes]

Good.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's in the business.

[Josh Holmes]

Best in the business. The best was we had people talk to us about this pod. And. And they were like, you know, you probably can't use, you know, copyrighted material. We're like, what are you talking about? We don't use any copyrighted material. Like. Well, like, for. For instance, like the introductions to the.

[Comfortably Smug]

King of the Hill that was Michael Buff.

[Josh Holmes]

We're like that. So some people thought it was Jimmy Lennon or Jimmy Lennon, and some people thought it was Michael Buffer, but they definitely thought it was a professional, which is amazing.

[John Ashbrook]

Just some guy from Hamilton, Ohio.

[Josh Holmes]

There it is. There it is. All right, let's get things started. I will direct the champion to provide his first exhibit. Please.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay. The champion, Smoking Joe Walsh will begin with a nuclear weapon. Exhibit 2. Walsh writes, Fuck you, Trump. Fuck you, ICE.

[Comfortably Smug]

Cowards.

[John Ashbrook]

All this must not be who we are. We must not allow it. So it's our duty now to stop ice.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my God.

[John Ashbrook]

It's our duty now as free citizens to peacefully obstruct and interfere with Trump's and ICE's lawless thuggery. It's time for real civil disobedience. Former Republican Tea Party Congressman Joe Walsh.

[Comfortably Smug]

So bizarre.

[Josh Holmes]

Certainly a nice backdrop of actual assaults and attempted murder upon ICE people.

[Comfortably Smug]

And his profile photo is. No kings.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, oh, my God.

[Comfortably Smug]

I thought that lasted for like, 30 seconds.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I didn't think.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's already over, Joe.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Okay.

[John Ashbrook]

Czar Bomba.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, normally and strategically, I would save what I'm about to play, but I want to go strength against strength here.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, I like. I like the posture.

[Michael Duncan]

Iron sharpens iron.

[Comfortably Smug]

I like Good proverbs.

[Michael Duncan]

Exhibit number 11, please. Ron Filipowski. Right?

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my God.

[Michael Duncan]

The House Republican caucus is a pedophile protection rack.

[Josh Holmes]

My. Wow. My God.

[John Ashbrook]

I didn't think mine could be topped.

[Comfortably Smug]

Fuck.

[Josh Holmes]

ICE is strong, but that's amazing.

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, that's just. I'm aghast.

[Josh Holmes]

The judge. The judge is speechless.

[John Ashbrook]

What more can be said?

[F]

Oh, my God.

[John Ashbrook]

I thought I had a nuclear weapon unlike the world had ever seen.

[Comfortably Smug]

Is this the first time Filipowski's been on?

[Josh Holmes]

No. He was on once before and he had a win.

[Comfortably Smug]

Did he?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. No, He's a diamond in the rough that Duncan found at some point, and he's come in and he's performing. Garbage guy.

[Michael Duncan]

To quote Donald Trump. To quote Donald Trump in his. His tweet about North Korea. You may have a nuclear weapon, but my button works.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

All right, round two, challenger.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay, let's make this a. A two round knockout philosophy.

[Comfortably Smug]

Unreal.

[Josh Holmes]

Just an absolute garbage.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's a garbage.

[Michael Duncan]

Let's play exhibit number seven, please. Ron Filipowski writes no Obama indictment. Coke hasn't switched from corn syrup to sugar. Washington and Cleveland haven't changed their team names. No new trade deals. The woman catching the snake in the video he posted is AI. And he's still stonewalling on Epstein. But these will distract some cultists. And what he's doing is he's, quote, tweeting Trump's truth about Obama and the Russia, Russia, Russia stuff.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, oh, okay. So he's just suggesting that there's a distraction.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, yeah, he's.

[Josh Holmes]

All of these are distractions.

[Michael Duncan]

Right, right. And he tweeted this out. I would just like to point out on the 21st moments before, like, the Japan. So this is the funniest thing, is it be. It immediately becomes one of those tweets that you could. You could tag on old takes exposed.

[Comfortably Smug]

So good.

[Josh Holmes]

Where.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, the coke switching from corn syrup to sugar cane. I mean, like, that is something that.

[Comfortably Smug]

They also announced that's happening.

[Michael Duncan]

They're right, right, right. And there is obviously a ton of trade deals that Donald Trump has announced in the subsequent days. And so this tweet aged like fucking milk. Amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

So bad. Ashbrook, the champion.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, well, while the challenger is playing policy, the former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh, in exhibit number six, is making graphics for the judge's pleasure. And in this graphic, he writes, he's an insurrectionist. He's a psychopath. He's a pathological liar. He's an authoritarian. He's a criminal. He's a con man. He's a felon. He's an idiot. He's been a sexual predator his whole life. And now it looks like he's a pedophile, too.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my God.

[John Ashbrook]

Well done, America. Well done. Signed Joe Walsh in a different color font.

[Michael Duncan]

It feels like an Occupy Democrats Facebook.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. Just feels sort of weird, which is.

[John Ashbrook]

A little bit odd coming from a former quote, unquote, Tea Party Republican.

[Comfortably Smug]

For our new viewers, that's the beauty of King of the Hills. These are all ostensibly former Republicans.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

He didn't just type. He made a graphic.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, he didn't make that graphic.

[Comfortably Smug]

I don't know.

[Josh Holmes]

Do you think people work for Joe Walsh? You want to know somebody more pathetic than Joe Walsh? It's somebody who cashes a paycheck from Joe Walsh. Can you imagine what that's like?

[Comfortably Smug]

It just.

[Josh Holmes]

Is there a human who breathes clean air who does something like that?

[Michael Duncan]

Imagine Joe Walsh, like, working Photoshop or Canva.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

No way.

[Josh Holmes]

No, because it's easier to imagine than somebody who's taking that job.

[John Ashbrook]

He calls Donald Trump a pedophile and then attacks America.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. It feels very dated and tired. Like, that's. That's like Trump first admin kind of stuff, you know? Man, this is shocking. I can't believe. I think Duncan got that two rounds.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, if Sean Polsky comes off the bat, the question in weeks coming is whether he has the staying power, because he's already proven when he comes off the bench, he does a lot of pinch hits.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[F]

Yeah, a lot of pinch hits.

[Comfortably Smug]

Is this guy, you know, can he.

[Josh Holmes]

Be a regular starter?

[Comfortably Smug]

Is he a starter? Or is he just like, you know, your situational guy? But we'll find out. Well played, Duncan.

[Josh Holmes]

Well played, fellas. Well played.

[John Ashbrook]

I got to bring marginal tax rates for this judge next time he wants policy papers.

[Josh Holmes]

Policy papers. All right, we got to get to an interview. Daniel Basale with af. Afp. A lot of good stuff. You weren't about to hear from him right now, one of our favorite guys here in the Ruthless Variety program is a gentleman by the name of Daniel Basale. Been a good friend. One of the better guys in this town. You know, you take note.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Somebody who, you know, does things the right way. This guy certainly does. He's working with AFP on a one small step campaign that I want to get to in a minute. Daniel, how are you, sir?

[F]

Doing well. It's an honor to be here. I'm a big fan. Thanks for having me.

[Josh Holmes]

Listen, it's an absolute pleasure. I couldn't help but notice that you've brought some orange cans here.

[F]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And other assorted packs. What's the story behind this beer?

[F]

Yeah, so this is from the brewing project with a K, by the way, from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It's run by a guy by the name of Will Glass. We partnered with Will. His story is unbelievable. You guys are going to get a kick out of this. So, Will. Yeah, let's open them up.

[Josh Holmes]

Let's do it.

[F]

So Will and his wife had a bar in Eau Claire. Really popular, local small business.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah, yeah. No, no, we like to.

[F]

There we go.

[Michael Duncan]

Hell, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. The messier the better here on the program.

[F]

Let's have some fun.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, that's good. That is very good.

[F]

Yeah, it really is. So Will and his wife had a bar in Eau Claire, and they wanted to open up a brewery.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Scotty people, right? A brewery that's like, you basically either make cheese or you brew beer.

[F]

Yeah, it's just good people from Wisconsin.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[F]

So you would think the state of Wisconsin would have this downright. But the alcohol distribution laws there were antiquated, really. A kind of classic case of crony capitalism right there. Just really against the little guy. So get this. Because they had the bar, they couldn't open up the brewery according to the law. And a state official actually recommended to Will that he divorce his wife and disown his kids.

[Josh Holmes]

Come on.

[F]

In order to open up the brewery.

[John Ashbrook]

That's crazy.

[F]

He ended up not doing that, thankfully. Good job, Will. But he actually had to.

[Josh Holmes]

Morality aside, that sounds expensive.

[F]

He actually had to act as a volunteer. He gave his dad the brewery to operate. They were losing hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. He had to just eat that just to keep this standing up. We heard the story through Senator Ron Johnson. Eric bought out in Wisconsin, got involved with Will, and we rallied the breweries in Wisconsin and their customers. And you can imagine that's quite a lot of people.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[F]

Yeah. So we built a movement. We changed the law. The brewery's doing great now, and we get to enjoy some of the spoils from that.

[Josh Holmes]

And you guys got a beer drinking coalition in Wisconsin now?

[F]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't know.

[John Thune]

Powerful base.

[Josh Holmes]

That's incredible.

[John Thune]

Well, thank you.

[Josh Holmes]

What's it called again? It's the.

[F]

The Brewing project with a K. And by the way, the flavors. I'm not gonna lie, guys. I was really nervous about bringing this to y' all because they gave me carrot cake.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Which I was skeptical of. I gotta tell you, it's delicious.

[F]

It's really good. I guess it's called a pastry ale. I've never heard about that before, but, yeah, it's not bad.

[Josh Holmes]

It's delicious.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. This is a German chocolate stout. Outstanding dessert beer.

[F]

A new category.

[Josh Holmes]

You should have about 12 of those and see what happens.

[F]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Stick around, folks.

[F]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Listen, I want to get to what you're. You're actually working on in your day job, beyond making people drinking in the afternoon. Yeah. This one small step campaign. Yeah. Give me the gist. It's. It's surrounded by America. 250. I know a big part of what you all do is trying to ensure that through you, your volunteer base, everybody affiliated through AFP around the country has an adequate opportunity to express they're feeling this country is a great country. And there's so much of it we've covered in this episode raining down from the left that is attempting to try to, you know, I think in your words, try to convince us that we're ordinary or substandard in some possible way. You're fighting it back against all of that. Tell me what y' all are up to.

[F]

Yeah. It's pretty incredible that we actually have to make the case that America is a good country, that we have done great things in this world, and that our 250th anniversary is something called to celebrate. But we are AFP. We do believe in taking action. We don't want to just use the 250th anniversary as a time to celebrate with fireworks and with franks and with, you know, flyovers. That's all great stuff. We should do all that. But this is really a key inflection point for our country to really define who we are and where we're going next. And that's what this campaign is about. We want to establish that what makes this country special is our principles, those founding principles, as we found in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and our people. Because that pioneering spirit that we've had, that we've shown for 250 years, we want to carry that forward. And the risk is, if people don't believe that those things are special, our principles are our people. They're not going to be willing to fight for it. And that's a warning for us, because if they're not willing to fight for it, we might lose the very thing that makes us special.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, totally. And what I love about what you guys are doing is that, look, you do a ton of stuff in elections, you do a ton of stuff on the policy front, making sure people understand how things affect their family. Get volunteers to go talk to their friends. Do it at a very local level, which is extremely unique. And then you do it ongoing. You know, it never stops. This particular one really sings to me because I think you're right in that if you don't get the point. Building block, right? The cornerstone of a belief within this country for the next generation that you are a part of something special. All of it is just sort of decoration on an otherwise shitty cake.

[F]

Yeah. And you were talking, you said next generation, and it reminded me of a lot of your zoomer talk over here. But, like, the reality is, Gallup poll found that 58% of Americans say that they're proud to be in America. American, that's at an all time low. And it's, you know, it fluctuates with politics, of course, and who's in power, but it's been steadily declining for two decades.

[Josh Holmes]

Can't have it.

[F]

No. And, you know, with young people, that number is in the low 40s. So it's getting even worse and worse. And, you know, to us, if we can educate Americans about those founding principles, inspire them to take action on those principles and mobilize them for a movement for freedom. Build that movement from the ground up. That's our objective, with one small step. And it starts here a year out from the 250th anniversary.

[Josh Holmes]

I love it.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, it's so smart. And I'm so glad you're. You're doing this because the knowledge of American history is just lacking among the younger generations. And, you know, a lot of people blame schools, and I think they probably bear a large part of the reason why. But we did a special program on July 4th, and we. We walk through some of our favorite memories from American history. George W. Bush at the wreckage after 911 and leading this country back. Trump saying, fight, fight, fight. A lot of people were talking about Jesse Owens. We were talking about the first in flight. We're talking about man on the moon. I wonder if you have a favorite moment from American history that you're like, man, people need to know about this because it really gets you pumped up.

[F]

Well, I always like to. And you guys brought this up, even though I don't think it made it into the top 10. George W. Bush's first pitch at the world.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah.

[F]

Oh, my gosh. Goosebumps every time. I love watching it. I love the way that this country rallied around ourselves and our identity.

[Josh Holmes]

You get 80% of people in the stands in New York that did not cast a ballot for the guy. Right. But you're 30 days removed from the biggest terrorist attack on American soil. And everybody was like, fuck that. We're all in this is this country, and we're all on the same team. Like, that kind of mentality is perfect for not only what you said, but what goes into the work you're doing now for America 250.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, and it's so important because so much of the left only talks about American history as an opportunity to talk about America. Right. Like, nobody. These people on the left, they don't talk about the history as the history or the great accomplishments or like, what we've inherited from our forefathers. It's only an opportunity to criticize America today.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. What have we done wrong?

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. What do we. What is this debt that we have that we carry around with us that we have to make good on?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Yeah.

[F]

And, you know, guys, the. The really fun thing that I think we're trying to do with this is show Americans that it doesn't take some hero figure to make a meaningful difference in their community in the country. When you look at all those examples that you guys were sharing, oftentimes as we think about historical figures, they feel larger than life, that they were always that big, that extraordinary person who met the moment and reached that significant accomplishment. But the truth is, you know, I know you guys are talked about Neil Armstrong, suburb from kid from the suburbs of Ohio. I mean, he just played with model airplanes. He Then became a pilot by the age of 16, then became the astronaut that he is today. The whole history of America, as you look back at every single one of these transformative figures. Thomas Edison was considered to be too dumb to actually go to school. He was homeschooled, invented the light bulb. The Wright brothers before Neil Armstrong, bike shop owners, they then had this crazy idea.

[Josh Holmes]

North Carolina or Ohio?

[John Thune]

Yes.

[F]

Oh, I'm going to give it to North Carolina.

[John Ashbrook]

Let's go.

[F]

It's where it happened. They got the credit for it.

[Josh Holmes]

Daniel gets it.

[John Ashbrook]

They designed it in Ohio.

[F]

But it was only 66 years later that Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, that's crazy.

[F]

That's an only in America story that we could actually pioneer, from first flight 59 seconds long to actually stepping on the moon 66 years later. And that's what our campaign is really inspired by. Because those small steps, they happen because of the system of governance that we have, the freedoms and the opportunities that were afforded in this country thanks to those founding principles. So we want to inspire Americans with some of those stories, and then also the stories of people like Will, like others who decided to step up, take on some of that crony rules, take on big government overreach, and really expand freedom for their community.

[Michael Duncan]

Wait, that's crazy. You're telling me there wasn't some sort of government commissar that told the Wright brothers, we want you to fly an airplane? That's crazy.

[Josh Holmes]

A flight czar.

[F]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. No, I mean, listen, this is really important work, and I mean this sincerely, because, I mean, you just know. You look at. I hope we're turning the tide on education as you were talking about. Ashbrook. But it's a long project. Right. But it really comes neighbor to neighbor, neighborhood to neighborhood, community to community, state to state, in underpinning how great this country has been and how great we can be. And that's the work that you guys are doing.

[F]

That's our bread and butter grassroots, bottom up. And so that's how we're structuring this campaign as well. We're starting with. This is just the start of our campaign. A challenge for every single state chapter. 250,000 steps for freedom for every single state chapter between now and July 4th of 2026. And those steps could be anything. We're talking about meeting, meeting your neighbors, having conversations, signing up petitions to lawmakers, knocking on people's doors, phone banking, attending a rally, being active. Our. Our entire system is dependent on an active citizenry.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[F]

That we have civic duty and that's what gives people the power, not the government.

[Josh Holmes]

It's so good. We were talking about this earlier in the show because we were lamenting where the modern left is at this point and saying, like, look, you can't be afraid to go out and talk to your lib neighbor just because they're gonna be crazy today. But like, if you take them out and have a beer, tell them to touch grass every once in a while, you might make an incredible difference in your community.

[F]

Maybe one of these carrot cake beers.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, maybe one of these. But that's what you guys do. So where do they. Where does everybody go if they want to be a part of this?

[F]

Yeah. So you can go to takeonesmallstep.com we have stories of people getting involved. We're also launching a 250 stories for freedom initiative. So as people are getting involved, taking steps in the community, we're going to be highlighting that. Like stories like Will's and others.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, listen, incredible project. Keep us updated on that. Come share some more stories. This one's great.

[F]

Oh, yeah, we've got a bunch of them.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a pretty good beer.

[Michael Duncan]

If every story comes with alcohol, we'll.

[F]

Definitely have you back raising the bar, but I'll see what we can do.

[Josh Holmes]

Listen, there's 50 states to choose from. I'm just saying, you know, there's lots of entrepreneurialism out there. You are the best. Daniel Boseli, thank you so much for everything you and AFP are doing. Takeonesmallstep.com yes, that's right.

[F]

Take one small step. Dot com. Appreciate you guys having me on the show. Big fan, big honor to be here.

[Josh Holmes]

Thanks, bud.

[Michael Duncan]

Thank you.

[John Ashbrook]

Thank you, man. Basali, obviously such a great guy. He's got his hand in an awful lot of things and we're really glad.

[Josh Holmes]

He does like to celebrate the country too. Wasn't that nice?

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

What a nice juxtaposition to the stories we're gonna cover in this episode. Oy. Absolutely. Love it. Love what they're doing over there. Remember, when you like and subscribe, you have an opportunity to weigh in on our question of the day, which today's was. What else do you want to see from the Ruthless variety program as we spread our wings and get into all kinds of different stuff? Floor is open. Anything is acceptable. We will read them all, gather them, and then give them back to you on Friday for our now just regular Friday thing, which I love, by the way. Love that we're doing that. Check out some merch while you're there, very fun stuff. And we're going to keep adding some items and go to that store link that I had before to sign up for your free bumper sticker store. Ruthlesspodcast.com it's our little, little way of saying thank you for everything that you have done as a listener to put us in a position to reach more people. So thanks a bunch for that. With that, fellas. Thanks to Majority Leader Thune. I think we did it.

[Comfortably Smug]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, again, thank you so much, Majority Leader Thune. Thank you so much, Daniel Basale. And thank you to listeners. Like Holmes said, if you have not yet go to the YouTube hit the subscribe, it's more fun in video. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you Friday. Stay ruthless.