The Catastrophic Collapse of Eric Swalwell w/ Ben Domenech

Summary

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Ruthless Podcast: "The Catastrophic Collapse of Eric Swalwell" w/ Ben Domenech

Date: April 14, 2026
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook (Smug out on assignment)
Guest: Ben Domenech

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Episode Overview

This episode of the Ruthless Podcast dives into the dramatic unraveling of Eric Swalwell's political career amidst scandal, with a sharp and often irreverent analysis of the media’s role, Democratic infighting, and broader implications for American politics. Ben Domenech, now of the Daily Wire, joins the panel to unpack not only Swalwell’s collapse but also what it reveals about Democratic Party power struggles, the rise of progressive extremism, and the ongoing drift of the American left. Sprinkled throughout are segments on California politics, national energy issues, media hypocrisy, and a signature Ruthless foray into animal kingdom parallels.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Ben Domenech's New Role at Daily Wire

• [03:48–06:16]
  • Ben shares excitement about leading Daily Wire’s opinion division, aiming to foster genuinely diverse conservative debate and challenge the monolithic nature of today's opinion journalism.
  • "We are interested in becoming...the best opinion section online that you can find." —Ben Domenech [04:28]
  • Discussion of the conservative future in a post-Trump era, emphasizing the need to host real argument about the path forward.

2. Collapse of Eric Swalwell: Scandal and Power Dynamics

• [06:16–24:50]
  • The panel recounts the scope and speed of Swalwell’s downfall, his prior untouchable status under Nancy Pelosi, and the sudden loss of that "protection racket".
  • Media coverage is scrutinized, especially its timing and motivations—suggesting attacks on one Democrat often happen to uplift another, reflecting intra-party scheming in California’s high-stakes governor race.
  • "The media is attacking a Democrat. It's only in service of another Democrat." —Michael Duncan [08:08]
  • Pelosi’s waning influence and California’s "backdoor" impact on national policy becomes a focus, highlighting regulatory dominance beyond state borders.
  • The hypocrisy of media silence in the past contrasted with the feeding frenzy once Pelosi’s shield disappears.

3. Media Complicity and Double Standards

• [11:54–14:26]
  • Swalwell’s coverage compared to historical Democratic scandals; media only acts when it serves progressive goals.
  • "If you knew he was hotboxing sex workers or whatever, why wouldn't you run with that story?" —Ben Domenech [07:15]
  • Bret Stephens-style lament about media’s reluctance to break damaging stories about their own side.

4. Eric Swalwell’s Withdrawal and Theories on Motivation

• [14:26–17:43]
  • Was his withdrawal self-preservation, hoping for a soft landing via insider connections?
  • John Ashbrook references “The Jinx” and “they got me”—comparing Swalwell’s predicament to documentary crime confessions.
  • Intricacies of California’s jungle primary system, fear of splitting the Democratic vote, and timing of the scandal leak.

5. Young Men & the Democratic Party’s Identity Crisis

• [12:32–13:51]
  • Discussion about the absence of "young, masculine energy" in the current Democratic field and why that’s alienating young male voters.
  • Obama's attempt at recapturing masculine appeal; why it fizzled for the party’s current generation.

6. Pattern of Behavior & Party Knowledge

• [32:03–39:02]
  • Alleged corroborating video surfacing of Swalwell and a sex worker during his presidential run.
  • Widespread rumors among D.C. insiders about his conduct, with the press taking pride in "breaking" a story they long ignored.
  • "If Eric Swalwell were a Republican, they’d be getting to whose Nikes were those, whose beard was that..." —Michael Duncan [35:36]

7. Democratic Party’s Shift Left & Influence of Extremes

• [25:54–30:27, 61:45–74:28]
  • With Pelosi fading and moderates absent, the field is yielding to ever more radical voices—AOC’s influence and progressive pressure noted.
  • Parallels to leftist figures being mainstreamed by party media (e.g., Hasan Piker), and “no such thing as a moderate Democrat” refrain.
  • "They are going to go hard left." —Ben Domenech [26:27]
  • Discussion of the “unearned confidence of a moron” in progressive youth politics, spoofed through viral intern resignation statements.

8. California Politics & the Exodus

• [22:00–24:12]
  • Debate over whether California can ever shift politically right; consensus that those motivated to leave have already done so.
  • Crime, regulatory strangulation, and tax flight cited as intractable problems.
  • Anecdote: $600 million L.A. bridge rendered unusable after all its lightbulbs were stolen (the state of decline).
  • "Does it get so bad at some point that they actually change direction or are we doomed to have this beautiful state..." —Ben Domenech [22:12]

9. Global Energy Politics & the Strait of Hormuz

• [40:15–51:11]
  • Analysis of Trump administration’s hard line on Iran, the naval blockade, and complex chess of international energy markets.
  • American energy independence’s role in blunting Iranian blackmail; China’s recourse to U.S. LNG.
  • "If you think for a second there's not going to be a price to pay for those who didn't throw something in on here, you're crazy." —Josh Holmes [44:46]
  • Comparison of current U.S. leverage to Barbary pirates era—history lesson on America's long involvement in global energy security.
  • Critique of Democrats blocking domestic energy expansion, hinting at potential foreign (Chinese, Russian) influence via NGOs.

10. Kamala Harris 2028 & Democratic Base Issues

• [52:55–56:28]
  • Kamala Harris signals openness to running in 2028, receives tepid but notable applause at an Al Sharpton event.
  • Panel snarks about her lack of subtlety and the absence of enthusiasm among Democrat voters for their leading names.
  • "I might, I might [run again]." —Kamala Harris [clip at 53:16]

11. The Hasan Piker/Pod Save America Segment: The Left’s Radicalization Problem

• [56:28–74:52]
  • Ruthless spotlights the mainstreaming of far-left figures like Hasan Piker, whose open support for Hamas and equating Republicans with terrorists underscores the chasm between Democrats and middle America.
  • "I would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time." —Hasan Piker [57:38]
  • Detailed breakdown of the danger in granting legitimacy to such extremism in “house organ” party media.
  • Discussion of how the Democratic coalition has been captured by the loudest, most radical voices; everyday priorities are ignored in pursuit of ideological purity.
  • "To know politics is to know the self-import of a 21 year old progressive in D.C." —Josh Holmes [24:39]

12. Chimpanzee Civil War – Animal Kingdom Politics Analogy

• [75:04–80:09]
  • A lighter, characteristically "variety program" segment explores a scientific study of chimpanzees in Uganda whose large community split and descended into violence after the deaths of key leaders.
  • Parallels drawn between chimp dynamics and Democratic infighting.
  • "Bad times create strong chimps. Strong chimps create good times. Good times create weak chimps. Weak chimps create bad times." —John Ashbrook [79:54]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On party protection and abrupt falls:
  • "He was a made man in the Pelosi world ... for him to have this happen to him and have it happen so rapidly, it's like that got ripped away." —Ben Domenech [19:19]
• On the mechanics of Democratic self-policing:
  • "The media is attacking a Democrat. It's only in service of another Democrat." —Michael Duncan [08:08]
• On young male appeal:
  • "What's the appeal of being a Democrat if you are a young man?" —Ben Domenech [13:24]
• On viral intern drama:
  • "You are basically as valuable and useful as a stapler and not much more." —Ben Domenech, on political interns [30:22]
• On Democrat base radicalization:
  • "This is the Democratic House organ. This is what is going on in the Democratic Party. This is what they are literally saying..." —Josh Holmes, after Hasan Piker's Hamas statement [58:50]
• On political tribalism and decline:
  • "To know politics is to know the self-import of a 21-year-old progressive in Washington D.C." —Josh Holmes [24:39]
• On the chimpanzee civil war:
  • "Bad times create strong chimps. Strong chimps create good times. Good times create weak chimps. Weak chimps create bad times." —John Ashbrook [79:54]

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Important Timestamps

• Ben Domenech joins & discusses Daily Wire: [02:38–06:16]
• Turning to Eric Swalwell's scandal: [06:16–24:50]
• California politics & exodus: [22:00–24:12]
• Pattern of behavior/media complicity: [32:03–39:02]
• Democrats' radical shift/Hasan Piker segment: [56:28–74:52]
• Chimpanzee civil war analogy: [75:04–80:09]

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Tone & Style

The "Ruthless" style blends sharp political analysis with irreverent, sometimes dark humor, targeting hypocrisy on both sides but especially the media and Democratic establishment. The hosts are combative, quick-witted, and use pop culture and animal kingdom metaphors to lampoon political absurdities.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This episode is essential listening if you want a real-time, unfiltered conservative take on the unraveling Swalwell saga, the left’s struggle with internal extremism, and how these episodic news events are accelerated—or suppressed—by media and party alliances. The show’s trademark banter and ability to connect D.C. drama to larger cycles, from California’s malaise to civil wars among chimps, guarantees both insight and entertainment.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Ben Domenech]

Let's talk about your future. Eric Swag.

[Michael Duncan]

He is looking toward the future and he's thinking to himself, I can't win this governor's race. They've got me. If I back out now, then Nancy or somebody else is going to help me get a high paying job doing something so I have ability to make money in the future.

[Ben Domenech]

He was a made man in the Pelosi world, okay? And so for him to have this happen to him and have it happen so rapidly, it's like that got ripped away.

[Michael Duncan]

The media is attacking a Democrat, but it's only in service of another Democrat.

[Ben Domenech]

Welcome to unlucky island Population youth.

[Josh Holmes]

America leads the world in medicine development. It matters we get new medicines first. Nearly three years faster. Five million Americans go to work because we make medicines here at home. And not relying on other countries keeps us safe.

[Michael Duncan]

But China is racing to overtake us.

[Josh Holmes]

Will we let them or will we choose to stay ahead When America leads, America cures.

[John Ashbrook]

Let's tell Washington to keep us in the lead.

[Josh Holmes]

Congress must not take away parents control over their kids personal information. The App Store Accountability act forces you

[Ben Domenech]

to upload your child's sensitive documents like

[Josh Holmes]

a birth certificate and it would share

[Guest/Caller]

that information too broadly.

[Michael Duncan]

A calculator doesn't need to know how

[Ben Domenech]

old your child is.

[Josh Holmes]

A better approach puts parents in control

[John Ashbrook]

while keeping kids safe online.

[Josh Holmes]

Parents should decide what of their children's

[John Ashbrook]

information is shared with an app developer.

[Michael Duncan]

Tell Congress prioritize parents and keep them in control.

[Josh Holmes]

There are better solutions to keep kids safe online.

[John Ashbrook]

This is America. Parents should be in control of what's

[Ben Domenech]

best for our children.

[John Ashbrook]

NetChoice is dedicated to making the Internet

[Josh Holmes]

safe for free expression and free enterprise. Learn [e-mail] keepappstores safe.

[Michael Duncan]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Josh Holmes]

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

[Michael Duncan]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Tuesday to you. Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety program. I am Josh Holmes along with Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook. I smug is out on assignment here today, but we filled him in admirably. Fellas, we brought someone that everybody's gonna recognize. Ben Domino. Ben Domenech. How are you, sir?

[Ben Domenech]

I'm doing great and it's great to be with you. It's been too long. Yeah, yeah, it's been a minute. Is this a pro Rory or an anti Rory podcast? I should probably ask that.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm generally just a good old US of A.

[Ben Domenech]

So yeah, there were way too many shots of drunken Irish teenagers. You know would have rather you Know, I gotta say, I was rooting for Scotty.

[John Ashbrook]

If I had, if I had to cheer for one Euro, it'd probably be Rory.

[Ben Domenech]

That's okay.

[John Ashbrook]

Just because all the background with the live PGA thing and watching it on full swing, I mean, you know, he tried to keep the whole thing together and so I gotta tip my hat to him on that.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, there's something about him that's a little bit likable, but I was hoping for a six way playoff because I

[Ben Domenech]

thought for a second there it looked like it was, we were gonna get some. Something awesome. But no, I mean, you said you would wear the azalea hat.

[John Ashbrook]

I'd wear the azalea hat.

[Ben Domenech]

You said no dice.

[Michael Duncan]

I just go for the old school.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Guest/Caller]

What's your choice?

[Josh Holmes]

I'm just the green.

[Ben Domenech]

You're just the green?

[Josh Holmes]

Just the green and the yellow Masters logo. Yeah, that's kind of my thing.

[Ben Domenech]

I think I'd do the Pimento.

[Josh Holmes]

Because you're flashy like that. I love it. Well, so you know him and love him from Fox News. And you got a new gig now.

[Ben Domenech]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

You're at the Daily Wire.

[Ben Domenech]

Yes. You know, I mean, it's a, it's an interesting time for the Daily Wire. The, you know, obviously it's a place that has gone through some different meanderings and now it's at a point where they have the resources and they have the reach and they have the audience. I think to be really incredible in terms of things going forward. The opinion side of things is something that our friend Brent Scher asked me to come and lead. So I've been there a month and it's great. I mean, I love what we're doing and I think that we're only going to grow and I encourage people to check it out because we're, we are interested in becoming. And I'm, I'm dedicated to this. The best opinion section online that you can find.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Ben Domenech]

The best opinions, conservatives arguing about the future, where the conversation is happening. And, and it's great to be part of the team.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it feels like we're not getting a full breadth of that intellectual discussion as of current. And so I think there is a space.

[Ben Domenech]

Yeah, I think there is. And I also think that you. We have to be honest about the fact that Donald Trump is here, he's president right now, there's a future beyond him. And what that future looks like could take on a ton of different characteristics when it comes to the right. And I care a lot about that. I know you guys do, too. And so that's the kind of argument that I want to host and that we are currently building up at the Daily Wire.

[Josh Holmes]

I love it. I mean, one of the things we've always appreciated about Ben is that you have the intellectual heft, but also the cultural relevance in this space that it seems like in the current iteration of opinion writing and everything else, you have one or the other.

[Ben Domenech]

Yeah. And I. Well, I think that there's. I appreciate that. That. Very kind. The thing that I think is really happening is that there's this shift going on, and we should not pretend that it isn't happening, that there's a lot of different voices out there that are advocating a lot of things online that may or may not be representative of what Americans actually think.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Ben Domenech]

And I want to be a place that is about the opinions of concern conservative Americans as we're duking it out over all sorts of things. And, yeah, we're still going to run some pieces about how terrible Abigail Spanberger is, and we're still going to run some pieces about, you know, the things that we normally focus on when it comes to covering things that Fox. But I also want to be a place where this debate about the future happens.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's great. It's great stuff, which is a great transition to Eric Swalwell.

[Ben Domenech]

Yeah. Let's talk about Eric Swalwell. Let's talk about your future Eric Swalwell.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, look, I feel I was a little jealous, by the way of you fellas being able to have Fun time Friday without me last week, because the whole Swalwell thing, we've been covering swallows, sugar swallows, as I call them, for, I mean, years, about how this whole undercurrent, and there's a lot more to be seen about what it is that Eric Swalwell is and how the whole Democratic Party establishment, starting with former Speaker Pelosi and everybody else, just sort of wrapped their arms around this guy as a formidable spokesman. He ran for president for crying.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Ben Domenech]

Yeah. Can we. Can we point out, for a. Everybody's attitude is like, this was known. I hate when I hear things like that. Like, this was known. Okay. You knew it in the industry.

[Josh Holmes]

Known to whom?

[Ben Domenech]

Known to whom? You know, it's like. I mean, frankly, some people were saying that about, like, the Rossini variable thing. And I'm like, you knew this. I wanted to know this information. I could have used, you know, that kind of thing. But. But the point is that, like, with Swalwell, I mean, if you knew he was hotboxing sex workers or whatever, the thing that he was doing. Why wouldn't you run with that story?

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, you would think so, but I mean, part of that is protecting the access that some of these people had. Right? I mean, the last president of the United States was brain dead and he managed to be President of the United States for a pretty long time before people had to acknowledge reality. And they only acknowledged reality when they thought they'd face political consequences.

[Josh Holmes]

And the only thing that I could think about last week as you guys recovered and this whole thing was breaking down, is the old maxim that our good friend Smash has about this, which

[Michael Duncan]

is the media is attacking a Democrat. It's only in service of another Democrat. You can be sure about that. It works every single time. And in this case, is it Katie Porter running for governor of California? Is it this guy Mahan who's running for governor?

[Josh Holmes]

Tom Steyer.

[Michael Duncan]

Tom Steyer. Is it somebody else? You can be sure that it is a Democrat who they want in charge of California because this is the biggest revenue stream, the most important revenue stream for the left wing grift of all the states out there.

[Ben Domenech]

Well, the other thing is, and the other thing is, and I want to, I want to be clear about this for your audience because I think they probably understand this already. California is the backdoor way for Democrats to run the country.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Ben Domenech]

Okay. If you actually look, people talk online about the initiatification of things.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Ben Domenech]

Okay. If you look at the reason why the dishwasher that you buy uses less water than the old dishwasher and is less effective at cleaning things, it's because of California. Okay. If you look at all the different rules that are in place about cars, about products, about all of this different stuff, it's because these manufacturers basically have to make a product that can pass muster with the California regulatory process or they're writing off that market. And so it's a way for all of these insane people to exercise massive control over the rest of the country. And so it matters a lot who the governor is. And I mean, instead of small world, we're going to get some lady who's so crazy she like dumped hot mashed potatoes on somebody or, or this loony tech guy who, I mean, Steyer is just like, I don't, I don't get it. Like, I mean, I just do not get the appeal. But, but to me, this is a testament to the fact that Nancy Pelosi no longer exercises power over this party, which we saw happen basically when she stepped away from the speakership but now I think it's. I mean, she's going to be gone in eight months. Whatever.

[Michael Duncan]

You're saying that because Swalwell sort of fell underneath her protection racket.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Ben Domenech]

So the point is that, like, and I've said this to a couple of folks, but like, it's as if he was a made man in the Pelosi world.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Ben Domenech]

Okay. And so for him to have this happen to him and have it happen so rapidly, it's like that got ripped away. And I still, I mean, I'm curious who called in the code red? I don't know, but, but like, it is.

[Josh Holmes]

But it was definitely in service.

[Ben Domenech]

It was in service of another Democrat, so.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Which is why we see all this stuff. And I think I do. Look, look, I am so exhausted by the whole Poxon of their houses argument. The argument that, like, oh, it's this congressional temperament. It's all endemic of this larger abusive power or whatever. I mean, I was up there for 25 years, I never encountered anything like it. Right, Never, never encountered. I mean, there were members during that period of time who had profound issues, no question about it. But I personally wasn't what we're learning about. Eric Swalwell, who was a key piece of that Pelosi power dynamic, who led impeachment discussions of President Trump in the first round, who led Russiagate discussions on behalf of the leadership of the Democratic Party, who ultimately ran for president for the Democratic Party nomination, is, is that somehow he was just out going ass grabbing with interns and all kinds of people around and everybody was like, ah, just. It's good, it's good, right? Like, as long as he's providing the lip service that we need.

[Ben Domenech]

Yeah. I just think, and again, this is one of those areas where, you know, you, you see the hypocrisy on the leftist media side of things. But I also think that one of the things that we can appreciate in this moment is that the Democratic Party is really bereft of younger men who have a capacity to strive for high office. Well, I mean, yeah, you could put it that way. I don't know. I think, I mean, Westmore seems like a nice guy, even though he lies, apparently about every aspect of his life. And military service, which is.

[Josh Holmes]

Might be a prerequisite for today's Democratic

[Ben Domenech]

Party, you know, I mean, the point is just that there was a, there was a moment where the left was trying to argue that, like, Obama's retaking, like, masculinity for the Democratic side and they even tried it With Tim Waltz where they're like, oh, yeah, he's this, he's this dad energy guy. Because he wears camo coach. Exactly, exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

Right, everybody, hello.

[Ben Domenech]

Started talking jazz hands. But, but the thing that is, it's really astonishing in a way, and it makes you kind of understand why, you know, we've seen these different, like, gender gaps and things like that, you know, happen and over the years, but man, is it bad for them. And it's one of these situations where I just don't know how they're going to get young male voters back in their party. What's the appeal of being a Democrat if you are a young man?

[Michael Duncan]

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[Josh Holmes]

Well, they're either faking it entirely or they are being covered up for just a recap of the news. He obviously suspended his California governor's campaign and.

[Ben Domenech]

Okay, so you're the consultant here. I said he shouldn't have done that.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, he's still leading.

[Ben Domenech]

He's still leading that. Like. Like, I mean, it wouldn't have held, but like, what is the. In this Democratic Party? Like, what is the consequence if he just says, no, I'm staying, I'm fighting it. You know, they're trying to Kavanaugh me or something like that. You know, sometime in some sort of.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it would help if you weren't the guy who did the cabin off.

[Ben Domenech]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Michael Duncan]

I have a theory on this and it's not about the party. It's about himself. And he is looking toward the future. And he's thinking to himself, I can't win this governor's race. They've got me. If I back out now, then Nancy or somebody else is going to help me get a high paying job doing something, so I have a ability to make money in the future. I think it's personal.

[Josh Holmes]

What is that line from the. That's it.

[John Ashbrook]

That's it. You're caught. You're caught from the jinx. That's a great, great true crime for listeners and viewers. The jinx. That's a good pull. Check that out. I think it's something else, though, too, and that is the backdrop of this jungle primary that's happening in California. There's a lot of consternation among Democrats that somehow two Republicans would end up at the top of this jungle primary, and then Democrats are on the outside looking in for that runoff. And so I think, obviously, this story was timed to hurt his campaign at that moment in which Democrats are ready to jump ship already because they're so nervous about that fact. So, like, I don't think it could have held for Swalwell even if he tried to pull the they're trying to Kavanaugh me thing. I think all those Democrats are well aware of that might be an issue, and that. That's obviously what's going on.

[Michael Duncan]

The way the media works, you could see the following scenario occurring. Democrats somehow win the White house again in 2028, and all of a sudden, Eric Swalwell plays a key role in some position in. Nobody in the press presses him on this. What we're talking about today, they're going to be like, oh, well, been there. We talked about that. He sort of worked it, went to rehab. You know, he did his thing. And then all of a sudden he's back. And they don't press him. They don't. They don't attack him because he's no longer in the pathway for the goal.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, can we put up the graphic, though? Because I have one comment on it that I think is very funny. So Eric Swalwell puts out the comment about suspending his campaign for governor. What I found most interesting about this was that he says here, and I quote, I will fight the serious false allegations that have been made, but that's my fight, not the campaign's. So in your withdrawal tweet, you still say they're false allegations.

[Josh Holmes]

He's going to fight the false allegations. Not necessarily all because he popped the thing back up. It starts with, I'm deeply sorry for mistakes and judgment that I've made.

[John Ashbrook]

Right. So there is perhaps little bit of calm. A little bit of calm.

[Josh Holmes]

B.

[Ben Domenech]

I mean, exactly how many saved Snapchats are we talking about? Basically, the thing said dick pics, just

[Josh Holmes]

not that dick pic.

[Ben Domenech]

That was false. That would never. I would never meet my standards. I am the Picasso of this guy.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, right. I'm only an upshot guy.

[Ben Domenech]

Everybody knows I'm an upshot

[Josh Holmes]

dude. I did get a kick out of that, though. There was this Democratic staffer that came out and was like, hey, I went in to interview.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

I was like, hey, I needed a job on Capitol Hill. I was very interested in politics. A young star. I went in and met Eric Swalwell. He agreed that, like, he would interview me for all this stuff, and somehow she gets his number. He gets curs. And she's supposed to go in for an interview, and like, a couple of days later. Crankshot. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Ben Domenech]

She's surprised.

[John Ashbrook]

Poor woman thought she was interviewing to work on Capitol Hill, and she finds herself on Weinstein's casting coat. You want to be a star, don't you?

[Josh Holmes]

What are all those cameras doing on this couch? I mean, what are the four guys standing behind me?

[Ben Domenech]

I just think that. I mean, this guy is a loser. He had loser energy. It just always has been around him. But the hubris of some of these media types to be like, they're taking credit. Stelter is like, taking credit for the CNN report.

[Josh Holmes]

This is a perfect example of excellent investigative reporting.

[Ben Domenech]

What bs. I mean, this is you guys. If you guys knew this, then you should have said it any of the, like, many times that you could have said it before.

[Michael Duncan]

And instead.

[Ben Domenech]

Instead, no. We're just going to wait until he's actually a threat, you know? A threat.

[Josh Holmes]

A threat to the Democratic Party.

[Ben Domenech]

Then we have to get rid of him because, you know, he did things that are frankly, a lot less bad than what Bill Clinton did. But Bill Clinton is somehow like, you know, he's immune to all this stuff. Well, imagine he still gets to hit on Nancy Mace, for crying out loud. Even in, like, deposition. I mean, you know, you lose your teeth, but not your hunger.

[Josh Holmes]

Somehow Bill Clinton made you feel good about it, though.

[John Ashbrook]

Wow, that's a bold take.

[Ben Domenech]

He made you feel well, because you

[Josh Holmes]

knew he was a liar.

[Ben Domenech]

You knew it, and he knew that you knew it. Yeah, but he made it somehow entertaining and, like, kind of like an in joke, like, wink, wink. You do this, too if you were married to her. The thing is just with Swalwell, it's like this was all. I mean, it's the least surprising kind of.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, you can't say, look, you can't do stuff like this. Clip 1.

[Guest/Caller]

What are the chances that three or four women, independently, who never met each other would have similar experiences with one person. So either Ari, this person committed these horrific acts or he is the single unluckiest person in the world for these people to conspire and make up lies against him. But it's a very hard the case to make.

[Josh Holmes]

Right.

[Guest/Caller]

The more allegations that come in and

[John Ashbrook]

even the counter example.

[Ben Domenech]

Welcome to unlucky island population. I have not seen that clip before. That is bad. Like, I mean, come on, dude, you know, have some self respect.

[Josh Holmes]

Hey, there's four people who said stuff, it's got to be true or else you're the most unlucky person. And then he's like,

[John Ashbrook]

that's always my favorite is when a Democrat that gets into an investigation and invariably they have some old tweet about Donald Trump where it's like, if you have nothing to hide, why would you obstruct an investigation?

[Ben Domenech]

Yeah, yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And I mean, during the Cavanaugh stuff, he was like, to the point you were making earlier, Holmes, it wasn't just this guy was any rank and file Democrat. He was the tip of the spear on cable news every single night attacking President Trump, attacking Kavanaugh during that confirmation process. So I mean, the tape's a mile long.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, well. And you would think if you made yourself in and the Democratic leadership in Congress made you that high profile in terms of being the head to head with an administration that somebody would do,

[John Ashbrook]

there'd be a little vetting.

[Ben Domenech]

Yeah. So do we have any hope for California?

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, you tell me.

[Michael Duncan]

I am.

[Ben Domenech]

I mean, come on, can we. Let's make California Nixon land again. Come on. Like, come on. They're so bad. They're so bad. And I mean, I've heard the whole, I mean, Hilton runs through all the different statistics of how, you know, they're, they're like the worst state when it comes to business and they've got all these ridiculous taxes, they can't build a train. They, you know, I mean, it's just, it's nuts. Does it get so bad at some point that they actually change direction or are we doomed to have this like beautiful state?

[Michael Duncan]

I think the people most, the people most likely to support a direction change have already left the state. Yeah, they moved to Texas. They moved.

[Ben Domenech]

Covid made it worse.

[John Ashbrook]

It's like Tehran, Iran after the massacre.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, I feel bad, I feel bad saying that for like the reasonable Californians that are out there. And I think Steve Hilton has done it.

[Ben Domenech]

There's a ton of them. I mean, I mean Trump got a massive amount of votes from California you know, even, even though they knew they were voting in a hopeless situation.

[John Ashbrook]

But I do worry that in the age of Trump, because there is so much visceral knee jerk opposition to, you know, in the Trump era of Republicanism. I'm just, I don't know, like off.

[Josh Holmes]

Your Chicago mayor election is a perfect example for me.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Is that when you have something just progressive broke, when something is just so obviously troublesome, when the population is being ravaged by crime, by poverty, by hunger.

[Ben Domenech]

So you're saying three years from now I can have some hope for Virginia again.

[Josh Holmes]

No, no. But my point is in Chicago, like people took a look at that and they were like, yeah, let's double down on it.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And I feel like in California it, the death spiral doesn't seem like there is an elevation.

[Ben Domenech]

I mean this, this, this tax that they're, that they're looking at, it's amazing. Is an, is absolutely incredible. Especially because it's basically a union bailout when you look at it. And it's. But it's like they are going to drive every innovative person who can make money from their ideas out of their state for good.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. And well, they've already driven a third of them out.

[Ben Domenech]

I know. Just by proposing and, but like it's going to get a worse.

[Michael Duncan]

And it's not just the taxes. I mean the crime problem in California every single day. I read the story over the weekend that in Los Angeles they built a $600 million bridge that nobody can cross right now because somebody stole every single light bulb from the bridge.

[Ben Domenech]

So there's no light shout out to you, man. I mean, you know, the things you can do when you're motivated, it's just. That's insane. That's great.

[Josh Holmes]

A lot of energy there. Well, listen, to know politics and the Swalwell thing is a good encapsulation in this. But to know politics is to know the self import of a 21 year old progressive.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

In Washington D.C. because in many ways you've got an entire Democratic party that's led around by the dink on the ideas of the 21 year old progressive. It doesn't take anything historical insight or thoughtful application or you know, just sort of the observations of the world around you to come up with the ideas that they do. It's how you feel.

[Ben Domenech]

Yeah. And that's what, that's why, you know, we've got this great raft of Soros Jr. You know, pushing all these people who are like, yeah, it's great to have illegal immigrants on everybody's street just murdering randos. Going back to Clinton for a second, what Clinton understood was that you always had to. If you were going to be in favor of these different things, you also had to have a hard line on the other stuff that people cared about that affect the American middle class in negative ways. So, you know, welfare reform is obviously the one that's the most common example. But his attitude towards immigration would be unacceptable in today's Democratic.

[Michael Duncan]

Remember his campaign rally for Kamala or Biden at the time Lake and Riley, he was like, man, that was a terrible situation. I can't believe anybody allowed.

[Josh Holmes]

They're like, how dare Bill Clinton?

[Ben Domenech]

Yes. How dare he? How dare he? No, no, it's just that was something that he understood and this Democratic Party doesn't understand. And it's why I look, you see the same things that I'm seeing. I don't think that there is a functional moderate within the Democratic Party who has a single.

[Josh Holmes]

No such thing as a moderate Democrat.

[Ben Domenech]

They are going to go hard left. They are going to go. And I think. I mean, I don't know what. You guys don't need to read me your polymarket Kalshee books or whatever. I will just say that I think that AOC is a little underrated when it comes to the likelihood here. It's just they are so much further left than I think the broader American populace understands, like the non politically attuned. And I think it's to the point where the New York Times is basically going to be just like they were with Zoran. They're going to be begging them not to do it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Ben Domenech]

And then they're going to end up doing it anyway. You saw that pivot point that happened where all, like, all the Conde Nast publications went from being like, this Zoran guy is really crazy and stuff like that to like, we hung out with Zoran at the US Open.

[John Ashbrook]

He was so cool.

[Ben Domenech]

Everyone came up to him. They all wanted selfies. Look at this guy. They did a dynamically bono t with Zoran Mamdani saying, Zoran Mamdani makes the case for New York hand food. They did this. BO never died. It's like they just en masse. They're like, okay, we're all gonna line up behind this freaking crazy socialist a hole who's gonna just like, if he gets anything that he. The only good part there obviously is he's not getting anything that he wants.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Ben Domenech]

But the point is that, like, when you do that with the president, they get stuff that they want.

[Josh Holmes]

But on that Score of the. And I think you flagged this first dunk stand on the. What do you call it? It's like the. Something about the hubris of the moron.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, yeah. The unearned confidence of a moron.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. We got this in. There was a rash of statements out of Swalwell.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. So, okay, so Swalwell, the whole scandal breaks, and then there's other people in the progressive movement who are like, you know, if you have the courage to resign, don't worry. We're going to find you places to work. And the rest of the progressive movement. And then there's a rash of rec. You know, resignations from various members of the campaign staff and all that sort of stuff, which. And then you find the funniest one, and this really is. Let's put up that graphic. So this is from an intern. Not the political director, not the grassroots director, you know, not a consultant on the campaign, not somebody on the official staff. A lowly intern. Pedro Mayero. How do you say that? Maya. Maya.

[Josh Holmes]

I asked Dominic. She gets it.

[Ben Domenech]

Pedro Ibarra. Maia.

[Josh Holmes]

There it goes, right? He almost did it. Like the Poriemblo when you were in grade school. It was like Dos Mundos.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. A rich.

[Ben Domenech]

My Catalan family would be judging.

[John Ashbrook]

So I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna read the whole thing, but it, you know, it's. It's like a politician statement. I have always been a proud Democrat who put the United States in California. Intern, not an individual. After hearing the troubling allegations against my candidate for California governor, Eric Swal, I am disheartened by the situation.

[Michael Duncan]

Disheartened.

[John Ashbrook]

In light of this. In light of this, I will be stepping down from my role as an intern. I can't get enough of it.

[Ben Domenech]

No more frappuccinos for you. I'm sorry. That image. Did he make that image of the sad California bear? Did he do that himself?

[Josh Holmes]

I don't know.

[Ben Domenech]

That's amazing. He did. Yes, he did.

[John Ashbrook]

He did that.

[Ben Domenech]

He did.

[John Ashbrook]

God love him, though.

[Ben Domenech]

Such a sad bear.

[John Ashbrook]

Just advice. Advice for young kids out there who are thinking about a career in politics. If you're an intern, you could just delete this from your LinkedIn, you know, and you just be quiet, and then you go and you do something else that you're proud of. Nobody is going to ask you in 10 years. Hey, were you an intern? Intern On Swalwell's campaign?

[Ben Domenech]

Look, I was. I was an intern for the George W. Bush White House. And let me say this to you. You are Basically as valuable and useful as a stapler and not much more. Okay, so where's the intern? Just like stick the papers together.

[Michael Duncan]

That's it.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, man. The unearned confidence of a moron. In a nutshell. Listen, buddy, thank you for stopping by.

[Ben Domenech]

Hey, it's a pleasure. And as always, you know, you guys, you're doing great work out there. Really, really appreciate it. And check out the Daily Wire, everybody. Check out Daily Wire opinion and, and I hope that you'll listen if you got a chance to my podcast, which only is once a week and is not as good as Ruthless, but isn't very good.

[Josh Holmes]

It's very good. It's very good. Now, we appreciate your insights across the board and catch you in Fox News, Daily Wire and a whole lot else. You're the man. Thank you for stopping on by. When we come back, we're gonna get to a little bit more on Swalwell Orang, a whole bunch of different things right after this. Okay, we're not quite done with Sugar swallows quite yet. There's a couple of other things that have come to the fore. One of them was this video that was being passed around, and I don't know if it's been authenticated or not, but it alleges him on the bed with what was described in an initial post. I think it was Martin Shkreli, of all people, who put the thing up first with a sex worker of some kind in the range of when he was a married man, alleging when he

[Michael Duncan]

was running for president.

[Josh Holmes]

Is that right?

[Michael Duncan]

I think so. 2019.

[Josh Holmes]

So when it was being put together, it further corroborated the stories of now numerous Democratic staffers and hangers on revealed

[John Ashbrook]

a pattern of behavior.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, a pattern of behavior. And what I thought was interesting about that is that it dovetails with this whole narrative that the Democratic Party in and of itself has known about his pattern of behavior for quite some time. But he was a useful idiot in a lot of different ways. So no sense in blowing the whistle. He was under the protection racket. Then Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who utilized him for Russiagate and for impeachment hearings, and Kavanaugh and all kinds of different things and protected him from any backlash on that. And there was a bunch of stories.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, can I get to something before you get in? I don't want to hold you up from getting into this. There's so much to talk about. But you mentioned pattern of behavior. And of course you're referring to Eric Swalwell's pattern of behavior, but I Couldn't help but notice the media's pattern of behavior as related to that video. And of course, we here in the ruthless variety program, we're only going based on what we've read about authentication. Maybe it isn't authentic. Maybe it is, maybe it's not. There were other people in that video, okay? There's someone with a beard. There's someone with Nike shoes. And if it was taken in 2019

[Josh Holmes]

on the same bed.

[Michael Duncan]

On the same bed. If it was taken in 2019 during his presidential run, there's another guy who he's been in contact with who was sort of like the chairman of his campaign in 2019 to send a United States senator. His name is Ruben Gallego. Okay? We have no way of knowing whether Ruben Gallego was in that video. He might not have been. My point is there's enough questions. Nobody in the press has asked a single question about who else is there?

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, has Swalwell even denied the authenticity?

[Josh Holmes]

I've seen no denial of the authenticity to date. It doesn't mean that it's authentic, but it does mean that they've just sort of. It's like kicking a dead dog. At some level, he's copped to making mistakes and errors of which he feels like he's aggrieved his family and others. But he has made no statement that I know of about these.

[Michael Duncan]

But I think this video is a very important object lesson in how the media operates. If Eric Swalwell were a Republican, they would be getting to the. Would be, you know, like, they talk.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, first of all, Pelosi would be on the hook. I mean, if he was a Republican and there was a Republican leader who had surrounded this individual as a point man on a number of things that they were trying to accomplish. The question would obviously be, if everyone knew about this, when did you know? I mean, this is part of what brought down in the mid-2000s Republican leadership, of which we found out then. Speaker Denny Haster was part of the problem in and of himself. And it was indicative of this larger issue, which is why it's a fair question, is what do these people know about all of this stuff and the people who surround them, if they currently have an enormous amount of power within a political party, what's their culpability?

[Michael Duncan]

Right? The media would be asking, whose Nikes were those whose beard was that? Who else is in the video with him? They'd be getting to the bottom of the entire thing. But what exposes their interest? And I'm talking about the media what exposes their interest is their lack of questions on who else is in that video. Because if it was a Republican, they would be asking the questions. Because it's not, you know, that their entire motivation for reporting on Eric Swalwell starts and finishes with the California Democrat governor's primary. That's the only point for them.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, they weren't done with just all of that. Like they have slaughtered their problem in Eric Swalwell, but they had more ammo and so they just decided to dump it all. And this guy's nanny got into the mix of it. I don't know if you guys saw this report. It's from the New York Post. DHS launches a probe into Eric Swalwell or allegations he illegally hired a Brazilian nanny. The Department of Homeland Security is investigating allegations an embattled lefty California, Eric Swalwell illegally employed a Brazilian nanny. Let's just pop her up for. There you go. So you can just. It's important to have visual context for what it is that we're talking about. And for audio only listeners, this may be a point where you want to jump on over to the YouTube.

[John Ashbrook]

Like and subscribe.

[Josh Holmes]

Like and subscribe while you're there. But just, you know, demarcate in where the moment is so you can just see the context of what we're talking about. Amanda Barbosa was her name.

[Michael Duncan]

No indication whether she's related to the famous Pirate Captain Hector Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean. Maybe a great great granddaughter there.

[Josh Holmes]

No. No indications of piracy to date.

[Michael Duncan]

Got it.

[Josh Holmes]

DHS is now investigating, as I said, and they referred to the case to USCIS who's looking into all this. But the point is, is. And there's a bunch of like details about why they're investigating and like, you know, where she had visas that expired and whatnot. But all of that is to say to the point that Ben Domenech raised. This was a very well coordinated hit. It wasn't just a one, two. It was like, let's get. We have four people on record alleging everything from rape to creepiness. And then just in case he just decides to stick in there through that. We also have the illegal immigration component. I mean, it's like they just emptied the barrel on this guy.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, it's like that end sequence in Mortal Kombat when scorpion rips your heart out. Yeah. Flawless victory.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, incredible amount of stuff, right? I don't know.

[Michael Duncan]

It sure is. And I. Listen, dude, I keep coming back to this. Who were the other people in that video? Because we have heard over and over again from journos that, you know, I. There were all these rumors about Swalwell, and I couldn't report on that because I wasn't a police. Well, some of it wasn't a women's report.

[Josh Holmes]

It's themselves saying I knew all of these things, but it wasn't my beat.

[Michael Duncan]

And I can't help but think that Eric Swalwell is not the only Democrat doing what Eric Swalwell was doing.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

No chance.

[Josh Holmes]

No chance. And for those closest to them, I mean, perhaps it's not Ruben Gallego in the video. The Afro might not mentioned video, of course, but this is somebody who chaired a campaign who is supposedly his best friend in Congress. What did he know? He's now a rousing star. He is now where Swalwell was in the hierarchy of the Democratic Party attack dogs, the leading voice when it comes to government shutdowns of dhs. When it came to the government shutdown all the way back in October, he was the leading voice on all that. They put him out, out in front of the cat. He's now playing the role that Swalwell once played. They just so happen to be best friends. What did he know? Seems like something that might yield some valuable information. I don't know. We're just asking.

[Michael Duncan]

Nobody, but nobody in the press is asking. They're just taking out the Democrat who makes it easier for other Democrats.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep. It's just part of the deal.

[Michael Duncan]

All right.

[Josh Holmes]

You want a little Iran update?

[Michael Duncan]

Sure.

[Josh Holmes]

So this thing has gotten a little bit difficult to sort of sift through the noise because there's just a lot of different things happening over the last few weeks. There was this big discussion of which the vice President was involved in a peace talk that obviously fell apart. Iran had a whole bunch of demands that, like the previous 20 years of Iranian demands, wholly didn't meet the moment in any regard. And as if they had any leverage to speak of to begin with. And so. So the vice president, J.D. vance, wisely walked out of those, concluding that they are not ready for any sort of deal. But in the interim, the big discussion is about the Strait of Hormuz, which, of course, is a huge component to the flow of energy resources in and out to places like China, the rest of the world, as a major global economic impact, interestingly, not a ton of impact on the United States. Now we're seeing that as an impact somewhat on the global marketplace. So we're not insulated from it in terms of price hikes and things like that. But I think we get a relatively low percentage of our fuel right from this area.

[John Ashbrook]

In fact, it was last week that China admitted that they were taking in imports of liquid natural gas from the United States of all places.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, well, I actually want to skip to that one if we can do clip two first to illustrate what Duncan just said. A ship tracking firm reports 121 empty oil tankers are making their way to the United states of America. 68 of those 121 vessels are very

[Ben Domenech]

large crude carriers capable of carrying 2 million barrels apiece. President Trump has urged countries squeezed by Iran's disruption of the administrative Hormuz to turn to American energy supplies instead.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, it would appear perhaps they are obliging him.

[Josh Holmes]

They are listening to Trump. The president told Fox, quote, china can send their ships to the U.S. china

[John Ashbrook]

can send their ships to Venezuela, while also saying that empty oil carrying ships from many nations are all headed to

[Ben Domenech]

the US to load up that from

[Josh Holmes]

the president of the United States. Well, it's interesting, right? I mean, as we said from the very beginning with the Iranian conflict, this is so multifaceted, it's ridiculous. I mean, if you are concerned at all about the war in Ukraine has a major impact on Russia's ability to continue to do that because they get an inordinate amount of fuel from this area. China, from the beginning of the Trump administration has been the core of the trade deficit discussion. Huge talks about tariffs, tariffs implemented, what that does to the marketplace. Democrats, of course, decry any sort of price increase as it relates to any of that. And they don't really care about the jobs being shipped overseas, at least not at the current moment in time. But then refuse to acknowledge the multidimensional game of chess that's being done here and that you have Chinese ships that are now buying American fuel rather than Iranian oil in a lot of different ways as a result of all of this. Which brings us back to the Strait of Hormuz in and of itself. In that Trump, I think very wisely decided that America, in and of itself, it's not our job to secure safe passage for the rest of the world free of charge of their lifeblood of energy for their economy. So he started talking about a whole bunch of different things. It kind of like verges into the NATO talk and all this with our NATO allies saying that they're not interested in sort of helping out in the Iranian side, but yet like well do something right? And so now he's kind of, he's got both hands on the wheel and that he is doing something. And if you think for a second there's not going to be a price to pay for those who didn't throw something in on here, you're crazy. So Fox News reports Trump issued a naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz beginning Monday. Yesterday, peace talks collapsed, obviously, but this blockade is intended to attempt at any way of getting safe passage in and out of the Strait of Hormuz. So really, the whole world is now, in some ways, hoping for the success of the mission that Donald Trump is attempting to do, because the United States has the littlest, smallest, slim sliver of skin in the game in terms of whether or not the Strait of Hormuz is open, other than its overall global impact.

[Guest/Caller]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

I guess what I love about it is Iran thought they could use the Strait of Hormuz as leverage in these negotiations. And Donald Trump's like, oh, you're gonna do a blockade? Well, I'll blockade your blockade, you know. And also, when this cease fire was announced and the Strait of Hormuz did not open immediately to full traffic and free navigation in the world's economy, a lot of the anti Trump forces and media were like, quick to raise a flag and be like, I don't know, you know, look at this leverage that Iran has over the United States of America despite. Despite the fact their entire navy has sunk into the bottom of the Persian

[Michael Duncan]

Gulf, 55 ships, right?

[John Ashbrook]

Everybody rooting for the failure of Donald Trump is like, oh, Iran really has him over a barrel here. And then we just walk out of the negotiations because they won't do what they obviously need to do, and that is give up their nuclear program. Right. And so Donald Trump's like, all right, well, I'm not only gonna leave the negotiations, I'm gonna take away your leverage. And that's what I love about the way he negotiates. Like you were saying earlier, home's about like, he goes to the whole. The NATO countries and he's like, would you help us out? No.

[Josh Holmes]

No.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, well, now this is happening.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, well, now I might. I might carry a Feach boat in and out, since I'm the one that's protecting it.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Maybe another source of income would be nice, which he has suggested. I also found that the whole collapse of the ceasefire deal completely hilarious and that it validated the Trump administration's position in a way that, of course, the mainstream media was not going to report whatsoever. And the Iranians were incredibly upset. Upset that Israel had broken the terms of a Ceasefire by firing back on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

They had not fired into Iran, which is that. But all of a sudden, Iran, huge investment in a bunch of terrorists in Lebanon.

[John Ashbrook]

It's so funny because they just tell on themselves.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. They're like, no, that's how we act. Those are our guys.

[John Ashbrook]

Those are our guys. We are, in fact, doing the terrorism

[Josh Holmes]

in Lebanon for 47 long years, doing the terror to Israel from right next door. I'm sorry, that's us. And you can't hurt them either. So the whole thing is. It's sort of coming apart. And I find it fascinating, the people who don't see the larger game in this, and I understand the isolationist libertarian component, like, oh, this is all somebody else's problem. But you can't simultaneously be concerned about that and then concern. Concerned about things like prices or things like domestic energy or things like trade imbalances or. You can't simultaneously be for Trump with tariffs and then not see the benefit of solidifying national security from a global perspective.

[Michael Duncan]

That's a good point.

[Josh Holmes]

You can't. They're one of the. If you think that one of those things is a problem, then they're all a problem. But you can't deny the existence of inflationary, potentially inflationary policies like tariffs and then say there's nothing that we should do to countries who are terrorizing the world and controlling the world supply of energy.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, and those who think we can. I would remind you this has been an issue in the United States for literally hundreds of years. Go all the way back to the early days of the American Republic and the Barbary pirates kidnapping American sailors.

[Josh Holmes]

Great point. It's a great point, but it's just everything has been so dumb. I think Donald Trump's greatest asset is he can make super complicated topics seem super simple, bumper sticker, absolutely everything, and have a way of communicating to the American people what he's trying to get done. I think the downside of all of that, when you get into a very complicated situation like this one, one is that the opposition thinks that they can do the same. And when they're doing that, the intellectual grounding of an argument against what he's doing in Iran doesn't exist. It simply doesn't exist. They are simultaneously saying tariff policy and what we're doing through economic means around the world is increasing prices. Than the American people.

[John Ashbrook]

People.

[Josh Holmes]

At the same time, they're saying we should do absolutely nothing about things that increase the price on the American people. It's incompatible. You either have a global marketplace or you don't. And they are divorcing all intellectual capacity from what's happening both in the Middle east and globally. And we'll see like in May, mid May, they rescheduled those talks with China. Strikes me that it's a touch of a leverage hand for this administration to enter into those talks after you had a third of their supply of energy be cut off from their marketplace.

[Michael Duncan]

No, it certainly seems that way, especially if America is all of a sudden selling energy to China at a level that we haven't in a very long time.

[Josh Holmes]

Time also kind of maybe evens out that trade imbalance. Weird, right? It's almost like he knows what he's doing.

[John Ashbrook]

It's almost like this all started with the Venezuela situation too.

[Josh Holmes]

It's crazy.

[John Ashbrook]

Like there's this whole parallel economy that funds America's enemies that we're taking off one at a time.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, you think that Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, Russia and the beneficiaries of China almost there's a plan. You think you all. I mean, you. Look, I don't expect all of you listening to be able to do the math on that overnight. But for those of us who've been involved for a long time, you have common enemies over a period of time and there's all lifeblood for it and it's all economic in nature ultimately. But the things that this administration is doing in regards to Venezuela, Iran and everything else has profound national security impact and economic growth impact over a period of time.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, here's the other thing, man. You're talking about the common enemies and the common enemies around one particular issue and that's energy. If you think about the last 20 years of Democrat politics and their unifying force is opposition to increased American energy production, whether that's because of climate change or whether that's because of some other thing that they're bureaucrats at the EPA wanted Democrats and their allies in these left wing NGOs have done their level best to stop Americans from producing the energy that this land offers. And you have to wonder, is the same party that Today benefits from NGOs funded by foreign entities like the Neville Singmans, who Astronomani at Fox has written a lot about the, the George Soros's, maybe others funded by Chinese influence that's laundered through NGOs you have to wonder if that same Democrat party today, who is operating at the behest of these foreign influences, if for the last 20 years they've been doing the same thing. And every single time you heard a Democrat say that. Oh, I'm sorry, we're not actually allowed to find clean natural gas in America because of climate change. Was that funded by a foreign entity that was trying to stop us from achieving dominance on that issue? Because that's the issue that matters in the world right now.

[Josh Holmes]

No, it's well said. It's well said. Let's lighten it up a little bit. There's no better way to do that than Kamala Harris.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, it's great.

[Josh Holmes]

It's just feels like an old guitar.

[John Ashbrook]

She's back, baby.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, you just pull out that old just so she shows up and gives her. This is, according to Politico, clearest signal. She's mounting a 2028 presidential bid.

[Michael Duncan]

I hope that's right.

[Josh Holmes]

Everyone hopes that's right. Clip 3 so are you going to run again in 20? So listen, I might, I might.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm thinking about it. Wow.

[Michael Duncan]

We're thinking about it too.

[John Ashbrook]

And that was at Al Sharpton's National Action Network event or whatever.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, there were some wild. Yeah, we don't have time to play all the clips, but there was some wild.

[John Ashbrook]

I wish we did. I think that is actually the wildest, though. And that is like typically seasoned politician. I don't think she's really that seasoned, if I'm being quite honest, but are a little more coy about their future ambitions.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[John Ashbrook]

Particularly ones who've eaten shit like she has. I mean, this was really revealing.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

That she's seriously considering it. I mean, obviously name ID and the fact that she was the candidate. She's top of the polls for most 2028 early polls of who the Democrats would want. But to respond to that by saying we're thinking about it, I might. That's more than most candidates say until the moment they're ready to launch.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, most candidates who are asked that question on a national stage such as that are sought after. So she cannot answer that question like a sought after candidate. She has to answer it like somebody who wants to run and wants to make sure that she remains on the radar. No, she can't be.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, Politico dutifully. You know, let me just put a counterpoint. Politico dutifully reported that Harris was received with the most enthusiasm from the audience compared to any Democrats who spoke earlier this week, including Josh Shapiro, JB Pritzker and Ro Khanna. Just a real murderous row of excitement, enthusiasm that they threw up there at this conference. And Kamala, by comparison, much more enthusiastic.

[Michael Duncan]

Call me cynical, but this is not an audience. This is not like a random audience from Topeka. Like, she probably had staff there starting the clapping and getting people wrapped up.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I think, look, this dovetails with our next segment here because what it strikes me as your observation there is exactly right in that Democrats are increasingly speaking to a narrow and narrower cylinder of the Democratic electorate. And you notice that by what they're doing with government shutdowns, DHS shutdowns and all of that stuff, like vast majority. I mean, all of us have spent a week outside of the political. We turned our phones off and we did whatever. And the thing that was striking to me, I'm sure it was to you guys, is like, nobody gives a shit

[Michael Duncan]

about any of this.

[Josh Holmes]

Like none of.

[Michael Duncan]

You know you're right, like none of it.

[Josh Holmes]

And they act like it is a threat world war, like it's the beaches of Normandy each and every day because they're listening to this tiny, tiny segment of the electorate that is just revolting over the idea that anybody would do anything to keep a government running that is operated under Donald Trump in many ways. So enter in Pod Save the Pod

[John Ashbrook]

bros. Yeah, they're gonna right the ship for the Democrats, who are like the

[Josh Holmes]

establishment House organization for the Democratic Party. And they, having some political acumen, have quickly determined what we have said all along, there's no such thing as a moderate Democrat, have decided, well, we need to give airtime to the craziest amongst us because that's the way that the party is headed. They had on Hasan Piker, who made a real deep run, I might add, in hack madness. In hack madness. He did, did very, very well. Much larger than I thought he would do given his relatively low name id. But this guy shows up on the Pod save guys, I don't think this is kind of what they wanted to communicate, but.

[Guest/Caller]

Clip 4 so my question is, when you say Hamas is a thousand times better, do you actually mean that or is that a rhetorical move or like a solidarity signal? Like what? What I mean, it's all of the above. I do mean it. I think it's a rhetorical move because it frustrates a lot of people. I've also said I'm a harm reduction voter. I'm a lesser evil voter, and therefore I would vote vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh my.

[John Ashbrook]

You know what I love about this clip is Jon Favreau, the Pod Save America host who's hosting Hasan Piker is like trying to set it up in a way that Hasan can sanitize his previous rhetoric and. And you know, basically their goal in all of this, I can assume, is to basically mainstream Hasan Piker so that, like Senate candidates in Michigan and stuff don't catch so much backlash for having him on, you know, a stage with them.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, that's a smart guy.

[John Ashbrook]

He's a smart guy, right? And so here comes Pod Save America, like you said, the dutiful house organ of the Democratic Party. And they're going to do the hard work, and that is they're going to rehabilitate the image of Hassan Piker. And then Hasan comes on and he's like, no, that's what I meant. The people who did October 7th are 100 times better than Israel.

[Josh Holmes]

No, but the best part. Play the clip one more time. Watch his face.

[Guest/Caller]

So my question is, when you say sincerity or do you actually mean that, or is that a rhetorical move or like a solidarity signal, like, please give the right answer. It's all of the above. I mean it. I think it's a rhetorical move because it frustrates a lot of people. I've also said I'm a harm reduction voter. Harm reduction. Therefore I would vote for Hamas, Israel, every single time.

[Josh Holmes]

Harm reduction. So this is where this thing gets like. So I don't give a shit what your position is on any of this stuff. I really. You don't. But I'm a harm reduction voter. So therefore Hamas, I'm for the terrorists. I'm for the terrorists. I'm for the people responsible for killing thousands of people, innocent people, for kidnapping women, children, grandparents. I'm for those people. Because I'm a harm reduction voter. Like, at some point, isn't this just ridiculous? Yeah, like what? This is the Democratic House organ. This is what is going on in the Democratic Party. This is what they are literally saying that the people who have dedicated, they have said themselves, the elimination of every Jewish people, every Jewish person on the face of the planet is their mission statement. Genocide. That is their mission statement, that you should support them because you're a harm reduction voter.

[Michael Duncan]

It does make me wonder. I mean, of course, the Pod Save guys got their start drafting speeches that were summarily redlined by Barack Obama. It does make me wonder if their first draft to him was, you might be able to keep some of your doctors if you like them. And he was like, no, no, no, no, no. If you like your doctor, you can keep it. I don't care if it's a lot. You know, they might have presented him with something that just sort of didn't get him. You know, out there, the way that he was, you never know. You know, maybe, maybe that's giving him more credit than it's due.

[Josh Holmes]

But you just have to, at moments like this, you just have to stop and like, I don't care what your politics is. Like, I don't, I don't. Look, it doesn't matter ultimately, if you're for the war in Iran, if you're not for the war in Iran, if you're for, if you're an isolationist, if you're an internationalist. When someone says, I'm for Hamas. And they are a welcomed guest in the house, organ of the Democratic Party, and they show up with Senate Democratic candidates everywhere and Politico has to do a magazine piece because you're the new most powerful voice in Democratic politics. You have to stop and just recognize it like, this is happening, this is a thing. And if you think that that is like, at all logical, like, what part of this could possibly make sense? I am a harm reduction voter, therefore Al Qaeda.

[Michael Duncan]

You're right, dude. It makes sense.

[Guest/Caller]

You know what I mean?

[Josh Holmes]

Like, what are you talking about? Like, Yes, I think 911 was great and it's because I want this to save lives.

[Michael Duncan]

But this is the problem their party has. It's not just a Dearborn issue. It is a nationwide brand issue for their party. And they tried to do their level best to fix it in the podcast. It's unfixable for them.

[Josh Holmes]

It's unfixable, but it's far beyond this issue. He's trying to sort of leverage the Democratic Party in a way that we saw in the early 2000 and tens. There were elements of a Tea Party that were successful with the Republican Party. I think it's smarter than he looks on a lot of this stuff. And then he's trying to get a greater progressive wedge into the Democratic Party. Nevermind the fact that they're doing exactly what it is that he wants them to do.

[John Ashbrook]

Not doing enough.

[Josh Holmes]

Here's what he says in clip five.

[Guest/Caller]

You said you wouldn't vote for Gavin Newsom against J.D. vance in 2028. You go third party. I mean, I don't even think that's gonna be a problem. But like, a lot of people, including people who share a lot of your critiques of the Democratic Party, hear that and think, like, this is the problem. You know, when the stakes are concrete, like advance presidency, another four years of what we're living through. You know, the people who say they're building a movement would, you know, like, rather preserve their own power than, you know, do what winning requires and, you know, hold your nose and vote for what you believe would be the lesser of two evils. Like, how do you respond to that? I want the Democratic Party to treat me like a Never Trumper. I want the Democratic Party to treat me like a triple Trump voter. Okay. Cuz it turns out that's all they're tuned into. So if that, if what it takes for the Democrats to turn around and be like, wait a minute, we're losing this guy, we have to win him over again or whatever, Instead of just like taking my vote for granted as they've done, done so over and over again for the left flank, then, you know, I'm going to say things that may or may not end up being true, but it doesn't matter. We're so far out from the election anyway that it's like, I'm just saying, look, now is your opportunity to find a good candidate.

[Josh Holmes]

Instead, I say things that may or may not be true.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Because I, I'm trying to get their attention on all of these various things.

[John Ashbrook]

And I. Yeah, my five, my five year old does that.

[Ben Domenech]

That.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's an infant thing. It's an infant thing. But also I just couldn't help but notice it. It's like, well, they're paying all of this attention to try to win over the triple Trump voter.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Where the fuck is the evidence of that?

[Michael Duncan]

There's no evidence. Have you seen any evidence of that whatsoever?

[Josh Holmes]

Like, what about shutting down the government for the fucking record amount of time and then turning around and shutting down the Department of Homeland Security at a time of war is trying to win back a Trump voter.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, I'll defend him in one regard. He might be talking about recent history in the 2024 election with Kamala Harris. Because in that sense he kind of has a point.

[Josh Holmes]

When she was like, I'm a champion of small business.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, when she went on that whole roadshow with Liz Cheney, you know. Right. Like there was a lot of sort of triangulation for the, you know, the people that write for the New York

[Josh Holmes]

Times in the context of a campaign, the last campaign that was run. Yeah, I do see maybe some complaints

[Michael Duncan]

in that regard, but present day, this

[John Ashbrook]

party is off its rocker just pulling

[Josh Holmes]

Chuck Schumer around by the dink everywhere he goes.

[Michael Duncan]

I haven't seen a single thing they have done to win over Trump voters except allow John Fetterman to continue to do television. That is the only thing Democrats have done, period, to try to get to Trump voters who are maybe party agnostic, they literally haven't done a single thing. They're going the other direction. And Fetterman is really their only guy who seems to get what these independent minded voters who maybe they voted for Clinton, maybe they voted for Bush once, maybe they voted for Obama the first time but not the second time and then they voted for Trump multiple times. Like Fetterman is the only one who seems to be interested in what is on the mind of that voter.

[Josh Holmes]

I think that's right.

[Michael Duncan]

There's nobody else on their part.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, they're just not. They're never talking about, about the anxieties of your average American.

[Michael Duncan]

They just don't.

[Josh Holmes]

They don't. But like Hasan Piker's not done

[Michael Duncan]

and

[Josh Holmes]

I hope they take his advice all the way through because so far 10 out of 10 they're right on board with this guy all the way through.

[Guest/Caller]

Clip 6 But you see as we head into these that like after what we've lived through these last years, the stakes and the stark difference between even a Democrat who you and I might find not up to par to say the least, versus Vance or whoever the fuck they put up. Of course, I mean I hate Republicans. I oppose them. I say that all the time. I think that the Republicans are far more damaging. The biggest terrorists, the biggest domestic terrorists in this country, the biggest terrorist internationally is the Republican Party. And not only that, but it's just like thoughts?

[Michael Duncan]

Well, he already said he likes Hamas and that he that they're right, Republicans are wrong. I mean at any level, Republicans contributed 77 million votes in the 2024 election. So what he is saying is that 77 million people who voted in 2024 are bigger terrorists than Hamas. Yeah, this guy is not on the level.

[John Ashbrook]

This guy is a lunatic. I'd say that's putting it politely. I mean if you're going to call the Republican Party the greatest terrorist organization in the world, what is it? I just love to hear Hasan articulate this. What would being on your side look like?

[Michael Duncan]

I think we do. I think we do. And the Freedom Tower is what it looks like. I mean a brand new building in the place of the two that stood where it once stands. Like this is what this guy wants, right? This guy wants terrorism in our country. He wants unmitigated migration from fighting aged 18 to 22 year old men from the other side of the planet who have ill intent toward what Americans want, which is a regular job, a regular family, a chance to have their kids play sports, a chance to maybe one day retire. And you know what? There are immigrants from the Middle east who want that. There are immigrants from Asia who want that. What he wants are people who do not want that.

[Ben Domenech]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

This is corrosive for Democrats. If you talk to normal Democrats, what they say is the thing they hate about Trump and the thing they hate about the rise of Trumpism in the Republican Party party is that they can't talk to a Republican anymore. They used to 20 years ago. You go after work, you disagree, you go, you have a drink, you settle your differences, you come to some sort of a conclusion, and you'd move forward as a country and like, as Republicans, you know, conservatives, you hear that, you're like, well, we don't want all that compromise either.

[Josh Holmes]

I remember the same fucking thing when we were in.

[Michael Duncan]

However they say the same thing. Let me just finish, finish this. What I am telling you is that the ability to talk to one another civilly is a very American thing. What he is pushing and what the Chinese money behind all of the left wing protests in this country and what the other foreign money behind all the protests in this country are pushing is to pull us apart. Yeah. And I know that, like, we don't agree with Democrats. We're not, you know, like, like it's not going to be the same as it once was. But like, what he is saying is in opposition to civility.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

And if we can't do that, well,

[John Ashbrook]

he's a fucking joker who lives on a live stream. Like, that's the thing. There are plenty of Democrats, Republicans who get along and they're ready to. It would be weird and it would

[Josh Holmes]

be not worth covering if it wasn't actually where the Democrats are headed.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

That's the reason we're talking about that. Like, he didn't just pick out some left wing podcaster to be like, oh, yeah, look at this guy. Like, we could do that all day. There's a million of them. This guy has a foothold, real foothold in the direction of the Democratic Party that we've been warning you about for like two years.

[Michael Duncan]

So much so that there is a liberal mayor in North Carolina who will not permit a mural of Irina Zadruska to be painted on the side of a building. He says, that's bad for us. This is a woman who was murdered. We have to get back as a society to the point where it's okay to put a murderer in jail. And the left is uncomfortable with that. This is not a question of whether somebody with a marijuana possession charge is trumped up and their life is ruined. No, these are killers who all of a sudden are out on the street like. Like this is their problem as a party. They cannot come to grips with the fact that normal people are uncomfortable with the lack of safety their party provides.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, I think that the other part of this is what he's trying to do here in terms of his shape of the Democratic Party and the willingness of a very weak Democratic. Like, we have Harry Entn polls come on this program once a week. This shows the Democratic Party at 18%, 17%. Like, people fucking hate Democrats. Democrats hate Democrats. So it's a uniquely opportune time for someone like Hasan Piker, who speaks authoritatively about things that do not exist, to sort of lead them in a direction that is corrosive not only to the Democratic Party, but the country as a whole. Because as you've seen Democrats, they're willing to go along with it because they have a few cheerleaders if they were to just try to do the right thing. They have no cheerleaders whatsoever because everybody hates them.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, and they're susceptible to this, I think, from Hasan, because of the psychological scar of 2024.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Kamala eating shit. Now they have to pick up the pieces and like. Like, it is still in pieces. But Hasan wants to be king of the ashes.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I mean, that's. Dude, it's happening. And for those of you who think that we're being hyperbolic about this, dude, go back and check the tape. We've talked about this for, like, two and a half years. This is the direction that this thing is headed. It is unmistakable. There is no other way. You get guys like Josh Shapiro who are by all accounts, pretty well adjusted human beings, whether you agree with their politics or not, showing up at Al Sharpton's thing and following a speaker who talks about how we have an avowed racist who's committed to eliminating black people from the face of the planet in the White House. That is a ridiculous, absurd statement. Statement. But Josh Shapiro walking up on the stage afterwards is like, thanks for the warm welcome. Let me answer some questions that would never and could never be done in a Republican Party in mainstream politics because you have an active media that is going to educate people on just how corrosive and ridiculous the overall message of a conference is with somebody who is aspiring to be president, United States attending. They couldn't do it. We couldn't do it. Like, Donald Trump condemned white supremacy over and over and over and over and over again. Individual names Movements, groups. Like, every time he was asked, he's like, no, that's not what we're running on. And they're still like, I don't know. He's cozying up. He's cozying up. Meanwhile, you get people, like, showing up at a conference were the speaker before him is, like, alleging the worst things about not only our country, but the President of the United States. And they're like, hey, hello. Well, it's a nice candidate forum, isn't it? Everybody enjoy. What a fun opportunity to look at the next generation of Democrats.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And that's what you're dealing with because there's no real accountability there. So they can get fringier. Infringer, infringer. Till the house organ of the Democratic Party invites on a guy who thinks Hamas. Hamas is the good guys, and the Republican Party is the greatest sponsor of terrorism in the world.

[Michael Duncan]

It's insanity.

[Josh Holmes]

Full stop, dog. Like, that's it. That's where they're at. It's really incredible. You guys want some? Want stories about macaque?

[John Ashbrook]

Well, it's chimpanzees, not macaques.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, they're not macaques.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, it's a deadly civil war that has torn apart a group of chimpanzees in Uganda. This is from the Wall Street Journal.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay.

[John Ashbrook]

A rare and deadly civil war has broken out between two factions of chimps in Africa. According to new research, the dispute. The dispute erupted in what was once once a cohesive group of about 200 chimps whose ties stretched back two decades.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, geez.

[Michael Duncan]

Brother against brother.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

It took just three years for them to turn on each other. Sort of like the Democratic Party.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, that. Dude, it's unbelievable.

[John Ashbrook]

According to a new study in the journal Science. So this is. This is real science that's going on here.

[Josh Holmes]

It sounds like it's real science. It's not, is it? Maybe A study finds. No, it's not. No, no.

[John Ashbrook]

This is the journal Science. Science with a capital S. Oh, so

[Josh Holmes]

they've done real reporting.

[John Ashbrook]

August publication.

[Michael Duncan]

The.

[John Ashbrook]

The quote here from Prime.

[Josh Holmes]

It's not. It's not big peanuts pushing their agenda again. If.

[John Ashbrook]

If Smug was here, he would say it's the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences or something.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Big penis.

[John Ashbrook]

Big penis.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

But this from a primatologist John Matani says we've known for a long time that chip in chimpanzees will attack and kill their neighbors. It turns out they will do this even when those neighbors are former friends and allies.

[Michael Duncan]

What was the Fort Sumter of this situation, old man, what was the first shot? Did one side throw a banana at the other?

[John Ashbrook]

Well here, let me get into it here.

[Josh Holmes]

A failed banana pooling.

[John Ashbrook]

For 20 years, the Ngogo chimps of Uganda's Kibale national park were living the good life life by being together.

[Michael Duncan]

Mitani said Matani is sort of the Nathaniel Hawthorne of this.

[John Ashbrook]

He really is civil war. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. They helped one another dominating and killed apes from neighboring groups, expanded their territory and boosted their babies chances of survival. But in 2015 the group started splitting into two clusters. Several male chimps who had bridged clicked within the larger group died from disease, weakening social ties. Around the same time a new alpha male rose to dominance. Changes in the dominance hierarchy can fuel more aggression. So the whole thing sort of fell apart.

[Josh Holmes]

It fell apart because the leaders of the two groups essentially passed away. And so the rest of them took it upon themselves.

[Michael Duncan]

They don't have a name for the new alpha male who rose to dominance, but it might be Chimpanzee Lee.

[Josh Holmes]

What?

[Michael Duncan]

Robert E. Lee. The version of the Robert E. Lee chimp sticking up for states rights.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a territorial squabble if you will, property rights issue. But findings have long been debated because of the most observations were in the area of humans and who regularly fed chimps. And this all went back to Jane Goodall.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, of course, Jane Goodall, you know,

[Josh Holmes]

she had interactions with these things.

[Michael Duncan]

She started this.

[Josh Holmes]

Now, now what they've seen is that this is, this is in fact someone happens amongst people who've never interacted or monkeys who've never interacted with humans whatsoever and it just simply seems to be innate. I'd be interested from your perspective as our no noted animal observer, John Ashbrook. Is there a solution to this kind of civil war?

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. How do we arm the moderate chimps on the ground?

[Michael Duncan]

Well, I can't tell you that. I can only quote Shelby Foote who talked about our own civil war as though it defined us, you know, as a nation good and bad things and it showed us what we could become. And in Africa where they have this civil war between chimps, I think showing these chimps what they can become, whether it's what Jane Goodall had in mind, that they can too speak through talking devices to lunatics out there funded by nonprofits or that they'll just simply continue to eat bananas in the woods. I'm assuming that's what this is. This fight is over.

[John Ashbrook]

I think it's a cycle. I think it's a cycle over. I don't know where he was going with that. I'm still having shots.

[Josh Holmes]

Let me get to the poetry of the harmonious living of the chimpanzee.

[John Ashbrook]

I think it's a psych. Oldest time. As true with men as it is with chimps.

[Josh Holmes]

Struggle.

[John Ashbrook]

And that is bad times create strong chimps. Strong chimps create good times. Good times create weak chimps. Weak chimps create bad times. Oh, I think that's right.

[Michael Duncan]

I think that's. I think. Michael Duncan, you said it.

[Josh Holmes]

Well said, old man. You've solved the animal kingdom. Let's see. Listen when you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety program and leave us your comments. We read absolutely all of them. Get back to the very next episode. We encourage you to get back on this, on whether it's sugar swols or Iran or the chimps or the variety of stories that we've covered here today. Leave us your comments. We'll read them and we'll get back to the very next episode. Do not forget to like and subscribe, though. It's the only way that everybody else is able to see what it is that you're seeing here. So go ahead ahead and do all of that. And with that, fellas, I think we might have done it.

[John Ashbrook]

I think we did it. But with no smug here to join us in our fun today, I think it's only appropriate we go to Hollywood hen

[Josh Holmes]

another banger of an episode, folks. So until next time, minions, keep the

[Michael Duncan]

faith, hold the line and own the libs.

[Josh Holmes]

Stay ruthless.

[Michael Duncan]

Sam.