The Death Rattle of Woke

Summary

Ruthless Podcast

Episode: The Death Rattle of Woke

Release Date: September 5, 2025
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook
Special Guest: Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau

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Episode Overview

This episode of the Ruthless Podcast is a "Fun Time Friday" variety show that delivers the hosts’ trademark blend of irreverent conservative commentary, lighthearted banter, and sharp critiques aimed at progressive politics and media. The hosts dissect recent political absurdities, roast prominent Democrats, tackle news stories they find particularly ridiculous, and welcome Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau for a substantial interview on foreign policy, immigration, and the transformation of U.S. diplomatic priorities. Discussion topics include the effects of “woke” culture, faux accent “code switching” by Democrats, left-wing conspiracy theories, media bias, urban policy absurdities, and more.

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Main Segments & Key Insights

1. Woke Politics and State-Level Lunacy

[00:10–08:59]

• The "Death Rattle of Woke": The hosts declare that "woke garbage" (John Ashbrook, 00:12) promotes stupidity and has led to dire consequences, particularly in Democratic-run states.
• Wisconsin's Immigration Debate: The panel mocks Governor Tony Evers for openly supporting high numbers of undocumented workers as an economic necessity, arguing he is effectively admitting his state’s economy relies on illegal labor—a point the hosts find both staggering and emblematic.
  • Quote: “He’s like, in my watch, a staggering number of illegals, way higher than you could imagine.” — John Ashbrook (04:15)
• Midwestern Political Contradictions: The hosts observe the swing between electing Republicans like Trump and then “left-wing lunatics” (Smug, 05:02), chalking it up to powerful Democratic political machines at the state level.
• Ground Game & Machines: They discuss the Democrats’ strong organizational infrastructure, especially in special elections, and recount past attempts (and failures) by the GOP to replicate this, particularly in Wisconsin Supreme Court races.

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2. Code Switching and Authenticity in Democratic Politics

[09:00–14:22]

• Jasmine Crockett’s “Multiple Personalities”: Using a supercut of Congressman Jasmine Crockett, the hosts mock her shift in accent and style, suggesting she alters her persona to fit political audiences and likening her to Hillary Clinton’s infamous episodes of affected speech.
  • Quote: “This is someone who went to St. Louis Country Day School for high school… and now all of a sudden she’s pretending to be someone who didn’t go to that.” — Michael Duncan (10:07)
  • “I mean, that’s beyond patronizing. … it’s talking down to people.” — John Ashbrook (11:37)
• Broader Pattern: The hosts draw a parallel to Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton “code switching” and argue that Democrats lack authenticity, using the concept as a ploy rather than genuine adaptation.
• Rejection of Code Switching: Ashbrook flatly rejects academic justifications:
  • Quote: “All this woke garbage has allowed nothing but stupidity to flourish.” — John Ashbrook (13:12)
  • “You have to, like, not allow a single inch to any of this stupidity.” — John Ashbrook (13:13)

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3. Where Rights Come From: US vs. Theocratic Regimes

[14:25–18:58]

• Sen. Tim Kaine’s Take on Natural Rights: The hosts are incredulous over Sen. Kaine likening the Declaration of Independence’s assertion that rights come from the Creator to Iranian theocracy.
  • Quote: “This is basic 101 stuff. Like elementary kids in this country understand that concept that a US Senator is struggling with. It’s pathetic.” — John Ashbrook (15:55)
• Throwback to JFK: As a counterpoint, they play John F. Kennedy’s iconic line: “The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.” — JFK (17:00), noting how different the party used to be.

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4. Liberal Media, Conspiracy Theories, and the “Cuck Todd” Roast

[18:59–25:53]

• Chuck Todd vs. Ruthless Minions: The panel recounts a recent Twitter exchange with Chuck Todd, emphasizing how Todd responded to their criticism of left-wing conspiracy-mongering by reflexively “whatabouting” Trump.
  • Quote: “He got 20 to 1 ratio... I called him out. … There’s a reason you don’t have a TV show anymore. … our audience right now, the minions are way bigger than any audience you’ve ever had before.” — John Ashbrook (20:00)
• Supercut of Chuck Todd's Bias: They play clips highlighting Todd’s alleged partisanship, mocking his assertions of “fact-based” neutrality and lamenting the decline of TV journalism from Tim Russert’s era.
  • Quote: “Our bias is facts.” — Chuck Todd (24:11, quoting)

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5. Urban Policy Absurdities & Animal Kingdom Wars

[31:06–34:56]

• Curtis Sliwa's Rat Problem Solution: The panel debates Sliwa’s proposal to use feral cats to control NYC’s rat population; Ashbrook argues for a bounty system incentivizing the homeless to hunt rats instead.
  • Quote: “Put a bounty on—you use the real natural resource that there’s plenty of in New York City, the homeless.” — John Ashbrook (34:11)
• Animal Kingdom Socialism: Smug jokes that cats are the “ultimate socialists” for refusing to solve the rat problem.

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6. Sports, Media, and Corporate Cluelessness

[34:56–39:36]

• ESPN’s Ruination of NFL RedZone: The hosts blast ESPN for introducing commercial breaks into the RedZone channel, which previously ran commercial-free and is revered by NFL fans.

  • Quote: “If you ruin RedZone, we riot. Like, we will make J6 look like a tea party.” — Josh Holmes (36:00)
  • “They disrespect their audience.” — Smug (37:29)

• Brotherhood Parlay: The group’s NFL season tradition of a multi-team betting parlay unites their sports fandom and tempers group chat toxicity.

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7. In-Depth Interview: Deputy Secretary Chris Landau

[41:26–63:37]

• Macro Topics:

  • Border Security as Fundamental Sovereignty: Landau stresses the importance of controlling borders for national sovereignty, decries recent bipartisanship evaporations, and calls the open border stance “shocking.”
    • Quote: “A country is not a country unless it has a border and can control its border.” — Chris Landau (43:01)
  • Mexico & Global Migration: Migration through Mexico is international, not bilateral, and has become a 21st-century challenge. Europeans too are dealing with changes due to open borders, often without popular support.
  • Trump’s Foreign Policy Doctrine: Landau applauds Trump’s “business-like” pragmatism, focus on leverage, and prioritization of American interests over “playing Mother Teresa,” arguing establishment foreign policy had become disconnected from the national good.
    • Quote: “Trump is a business guy, right. So he understands the concept of leverage.” — Chris Landau (49:57)
    • “Power is economic. … You can’t have a sustained military power if you don’t have the economic base to support it.” — Chris Landau (50:09)
  • Global Reception to Trump: Non-Western capitals appreciate a transactional, direct approach. Landau argues Western Europe holds less global sway than U.S. elites admit.
    • Quote: “All of these people have dealt with the Biden administration … They’re accustomed to predictability. And all of a sudden, Trump administration shows up with leverage for the first time.” — Josh Holmes (52:52)
    • “He is the alpha male on the world stage.” — Chris Landau (57:19)
  • Russia and China: Landau is cautiously optimistic about U.S.–Russia relations, attributes the Ukraine war to Biden’s perceived weakness, and insists on seeking “mutually beneficial relationships” with rivals like China.

• Landau’s Relationship to the Ruthless Audience: Landau credits his own son Nat as a listener and cherishes reconnecting with the audience. He emphasizes the need for foreign policy officials to stay accountable and transparent with the American public.

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8. Running Gags, Listener Engagement, and Closing

[26:06, 26:57, and ongoing]

• Discussion Questions: The hosts invite listeners to contribute their favorite examples of “code switching” and leftist conspiracy theories.
• Audience Shoutouts: They read several listener comments, keeping the tone fun and interactive.
• Sponsors: ZBiotics ad read, but with their own humor and personal anecdotes.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• "All this woke garbage has allowed nothing but stupidity to flourish. And, like, we need to get rid of all of it. You have to, like, not allow a single inch to any of this stupidity. A nation isn’t just built, it’s powered."
  — John Ashbrook (00:12–00:29)
• “If you ruin RedZone, we riot. Like, we will make J6 look like a tea party.”
  — Josh Holmes (36:00)
• “He is the alpha male on the world stage.”
  — Chris Landau (57:19)
• “Put a bounty on—you use the real natural resource that there’s plenty of in New York City, the homeless.”
  — John Ashbrook (34:11)
• “Divide and conquer is how they’ve really, you know, built a coalition of how you can get queers for Palestine, because everyone with a brain knows it makes sense.”
  — John Ashbrook (13:54)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:10 — Woke stupidity & border talk
• 02:46 — Wisconsin, Tony Evers, and illegal immigrants
• 05:56 — Hypothesis: State-level machines determine Midwest outcomes
• 09:00 — Jasmine Crockett "code switching" segment
• 12:03 — Biden/Clinton code switching; academic justifications critiqued
• 14:25 — Sen. Tim Kaine & “rights from God” debate
• 18:59 — Chuck Todd online fight & media bias supercut
• 25:53 — Closing of Chuck Todd discussion
• 31:06 — NYC rats, feral cats, and bounties
• 34:56 — ESPN and NFL Redzone changes
• 39:36 — Brotherhood Parlay explained
• 41:26–63:37 — Chris Landau interview
• 64:30 — Reflections after the interview, closing remarks

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Tone & Language

The episode retains a sarcastic, bantering, at times intentionally abrasive and irreverent tone, with in-group jokes (“minions”), running gags (Smug and Ashbrook feuding for comedic effect, “cuck Todd” nickname), and a mix of current events punditry with personal storytelling and sports metaphors. The language is colloquial and occasionally profane.

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Summary for the Uninitiated

This “Fun Time Friday” is quintessential Ruthless: high-energy, no-holds-barred conservative punditry, mixing comedy, policy digs, and media takedowns. The episode’s highlight—the Landau interview—grounds the humor in serious foreign policy critique, contrasting the current administration’s approach with their caricatured view of liberal orthodoxy. Regular listeners and newcomers alike are invited to participate, poke fun at the absurdities of politics and media, and feel part of a raucous insider club (“the minions”). If you’re seeking unfiltered conservative banter mixed with a measure of policy substance, this is a representative entry.

Transcript

[Smug]

They gonna, they gonna.

[Duncan]

The guys from Delaware. They gonna Scranton. Are you kidding me? Like, they think, like, they've gotten away with it.

[Josh Holmes]

They have.

[Duncan]

They always get away with it.

[John Ashbrook]

All this woke garbage has allowed nothing but stupidity to flourish.

[Duncan]

Yeah, they get.

[John Ashbrook]

And like, we need to get rid of all of it. You have to, like, not allow a single inch to any of this stupidity. A nation isn't just built, it's powered.

[Smug]

By people like us.

[Chris Landau]

Last year, Chevron increased U.S. production by.

[Josh Holmes]

Nearly 20% to help keep energy reliable. And since 2022, we've spent $44 billion with local suppliers supporting good jobs across all 50 states.

[Chris Landau]

But we're not done yet.

[Josh Holmes]

Now we're investing $9 billion in American energy projects to help build the future.

[Chris Landau]

Right here at home.

[Smug]

We put in the work because America depends on it.

[Chris Landau]

Learn more about the hands at work powering America.

[Josh Holmes]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[John Ashbrook]

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

[Duncan]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Fun Time Friday. Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety Program. I'm Josh Holmes along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook. Left, right across your radio dial, fellas, as we have come to expect on Fridays, a lot of yucks. A recap of the insanity that Democrats primarily contribute to over the course of a week. And we're gonna have a lot of fun here. We've got a great interview. Secretary. Deputy Secretary Chris Landau is with us. You've heard him here once before when he was the ambassador to Mexico several years ago. He's now got obviously an enhanced role as a Deputy Secretary of state. And he can talk to us a lot about everything that's happening in the foreign policy. Great guy. Yeah, Smart guy.

[Smug]

And his son's a big fan of the show.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah. Which is nice.

[Smug]

Love to see it.

[Josh Holmes]

You love to see it. So we might as well just get right into it.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, Fun Time Friday. This is a good one. There's a lot of good stuff here.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it really. So one of the things that caught our eye, and there are several different avenues in which we explore the stories that we talk about on Funtime Friday. One of them is like, if you haven't seen this anywhere else, but we just like belly laughed about it internally. This falls into that category. The Wisconsin governor, this guy Tony Ebers. I mean, this dude, first of all, he's a left wing lunatic, but because he's from Wisconsin, like, he doesn't sound. It was like the whole theory behind Tim Walls, right?

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

It doesn't sound like a Left wing lunatic. So like, maybe dudes will buy it. He's weighed in on the immigration debate. It is. Wait till you hear this clip. One, please. I believe that in Wisconsin, our ability to keep our undocumented people working like they are now at a really high numbers in the state of Wisconsin. High numbers. If he takes us to a improper end, our economy will be gone.

[John Ashbrook]

Take an incredible take. It's like when Holmes is saying, so we're gonna see him weigh in on illegal immigration, where he comes out on the side of illegal immigration. And he really did. He really. He just was like, so here's the thing, you know, we've got these illegal immigrants and guess what? Our economy needs them or else we're done.

[Josh Holmes]

But it's multifaceted. The first part that he kind of glosses through is if this is just accept accepted fact that we've all worked through, is that we have a high number of undocumented workers in our state.

[John Ashbrook]

Number.

[Duncan]

Really?

[Smug]

Those numbers?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, Many of they're all at work.

[Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And that's important for us that all of it. Like he's like glossing through the. The main objection that the American people have to illegal immigration, the fact that you've just like imported at basic slave labor.

[John Ashbrook]

That's 100%. And he was like, this is actually a good thing, folks.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no, he's like, in my watch.

[John Ashbrook]

Like a staggering number of illegals in my watch, way higher than you could imagine.

[Duncan]

You're gonna get no more cheese unless we can have illegal aliens in our state.

[Josh Holmes]

And then he wraps it up by saying, basically the entire state of Wisconsin will be belly up. The economy is gone. It'll have to be a rescue program if we actually export the illegal immigrants who are propping up his shitty economy. What an amazing take from a governor of a sovereign state. Like, that is incredible at so many reasons. I wonder, like, you know, football season is upon, like, what do packers fans think about that? Is that what's going on there?

[Smug]

It's a weird thing about places like Wisconsin or Michigan that they have sort of like voter schizophrenia in that Donald Trump will win both of those states and then they elect left wing lunatics to run the place.

[Josh Holmes]

Isn't it weird? I find it so fascinating because, you know, most states, they have a proclivity.

[Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

One way or another. And there's certain things that they collectively believe in, at least on the margins. It's like a 53, 47. It could be a split debate and a personality or a persuasiveness one way or another, or the environment, one way or the other can swing it in one direction or another because you've got kind of a split delegation. But they go from a guy who's like a cadaver, hey, first of all, he's 1,000 years old. But second of all, he's like, no, like on my watch, what we've done is created a sanctuary state where there are more than you think.

[John Ashbrook]

So my theory is it's the state level machines, yeah, state level machines that get the governors elected. The nut jobs that you see in their state assembly, state senates, where you can get super majorities of Dems in these Midwest states, but at the, you know, at the top of the ticket, it has less effect, you know, because like.

[Josh Holmes]

Cause everybody's coming out.

[John Ashbrook]

Totally.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

But that's how you end up with these nut jobs. I just, I cannot believe this guy is like the number of illegals boggles the mind folks. But it's a good thing.

[Josh Holmes]

You have no idea what trouble we'd be in if these people had to leave. And it's, you know, there's an argument to be had about a state like Wisconsin where everything is a, an action and it promotes a reaction, right? Where you've got a guy like Tony Evers who's like, yeah, let all the illegals in, have them take all of our jobs. That's great. And then there's reaction where they're like, no, we want Donald Trump because we gotta clean up the mess that this guy made. Except for the fact that that's not entirely true. The state of Wisconsin, right, In that you also had a Supreme Court race which I mean, you had a left wing lunatic running against like a pretty mainstream conservative person. I think three out of the last four years there's been a debate about those elections and they're going off the left hand side of the map, which I do think the machine actually promotes your point of view on it in that a state level machine that they've got when it comes to off year, maybe midterm elections is what flips the balance.

[John Ashbrook]

And special like the machine, it's huge. The ground game that a machine will have in place, a party system with patronage and all of that, it makes a big difference, especially in special elections because they'll have a set group of people that can activate and go knock on doors and get that done.

[Duncan]

And smug, you know this firsthand because you were one of the three Republicans working in the state of New York who got rocked cycle after cycle by the Democrats.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean well, that's a thing that you learn in New York is. So we won a lot of ground by taking back Staten island and Queens. I mean, you've won these cake races, so you wouldn't really know what it's like.

[Josh Holmes]

That's right.

[Smug]

Got his ass. Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

But I mean, look, we exported. The Trump sort of apparatus was exported post election to go do a Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Right. Elon funded, like Pressler and all those guys, all the success that they'd had in places like Pennsylvania.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

They tried to replicate at some level, and it ran into a buzzsaw where we got blown out by 14 points, the same number that we were blown out before the Republican apparatus existed in the first place. So, like, that's a thing that you need to think about as we get into midterms and we're gonna do a lot more coverage at the end of the year and then into next about campaigns and elections, which I know you'll get into it. We're having a tough time, like, getting to the point where we're excited about elections because we feel like you just keep victory lapping here for a little while. But, like, that's a thing. Yeah, that's definitely a thing. All right, Second thing, we gotta talk about Jasmine Crockett, who is one of our faves.

[Smug]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

We just love it. She's just the spokesperson for today's Democratic Party. Well, it turns out, like, much like Hillary Clinton before her, she has multiple personalities. Fellas. Like, it's changed. The presentation, shall we say, has changed a little bit over the years. Let's just take a look at clip two.

[Jasmine Crockett]

First of all, it's good to see you in the new year. You know, no one could have told me that when I went down to Austin. Now looks like a little bit over a year ago that I would be running for Congress, baby. Cause these people, they are crazy. Cause they always talk about how Christian they is. Yeah. I don't know how many of them on that side are getting divorced. Cause they getting caught up sleeping with their co workers, staffers, interns, all the things. Yeah, you ain't gotta believe me. Just go Google. You'll find some of it, I'm telling you. And the wives is being messy and petty.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay.

[John Ashbrook]

So there's a slight difference.

[Josh Holmes]

You may have noticed.

[John Ashbrook]

You have to strain to try to, you know, see if you can tell.

[Josh Holmes]

You may have noticed just a touch of difference of presentation.

[Duncan]

Just to add a little context here. This is someone who went to St. Louis Country Day School for high school. This is a high school that cost maybe 40 or 50,000 thousand dollars a year to attend.

[Smug]

Really?

[Duncan]

And now all of a sudden she's pretending to be someone who didn't go to that.

[Josh Holmes]

So you're telling me like the wealthiest people in all of St. Louis send their kids to the school that she went to?

[Duncan]

That's exactly right. The creme de la creme.

[Josh Holmes]

Which explains the first presentation. But now that she's a Democratic superstar, fellas, it's a very different look.

[Duncan]

Yeah, no, she, she, she must have taken theater if that's good.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, first class acting. I mean, honestly, Oscar worthy if you think about it.

[John Ashbrook]

It's incredible. I mean, it just, you know, when you hear over and over again how Democrats have a problem because they struggle with authenticity. I mean, like, there it is. There it is right there. Like they think they're, they're, their supporters are such suckers that they're like, well, you know, if I just, if I try to emulate the way that they speak, maybe I can just convince these people.

[Josh Holmes]

There's also like this hilarious inversion of like nouns and verbs and adjectives and like, you know, it's like an intentional, like I can't imagine anything more demeaning at some level than attempting to sound uneducated to placate to an audience that you think is your new political base. Right, right. I mean, like, isn't the whole point.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, that's beyond patronizing. You know what I mean? It's, it's essentially, it's talking down to people.

[Duncan]

It's, it's her.

[John Ashbrook]

It's unbelievable. What are you doing here?

[Duncan]

It's a well worn path for Democrats in this country and I think she was doing her best to emulate one of her heroes. I don't know if you remember Hillary Clinton.

[John Ashbrook]

I don't feel no ways tired.

[Smug]

No ways tired.

[Duncan]

Remember that?

[John Ashbrook]

I remember that.

[Josh Holmes]

Are you kidding me? I forgot.

[John Ashbrook]

Remember that?

[Josh Holmes]

That was, that was. And it was, There was one. Was it Biden or is Hillary like, they go put you back in chains.

[John Ashbrook]

It was Biden who said that. Yeah, it's going to put him back.

[Smug]

They gonna, they gonna.

[Duncan]

The guys from Delaware. They gonna Scranton. Are you kidding me? Like, they, they think like they've gotten away with it.

[Josh Holmes]

They have.

[Duncan]

They always get away with it.

[John Ashbrook]

And I just want to say this whole thing that like Dems try to call it like code switching. That's bullshit. Get the hell out of here. Shut up about code switching.

[Josh Holmes]

What's code switching?

[John Ashbrook]

So they say that like, well, here's the thing is, you know, when you deal with different demographics and ethnicities, you can have different codes that you feel more comfortable. Shut up. Shut up. It's called the English language.

[Josh Holmes]

Wait, wait, hold on.

[John Ashbrook]

Be serious.

[Josh Holmes]

Is the whole premise that you can only speak to certain people Exactly. In the dialect? Yes.

[John Ashbrook]

And that, like, a person, due to their demographics or they're like, you know, whatever background may feel more comfortable speaking in one code with one group and then another. They call it, like, code switching. All this woke garbage has allowed nothing but stupidity to flourish.

[Duncan]

Yeah, they give it.

[John Ashbrook]

And, like, we need to get rid of all of it. You have to, like, not allow a single inch to any of this stupidity.

[Duncan]

They give it an official sounding term in, like, an effort to, like, justify their code switching.

[John Ashbrook]

That's it. It's the same thing.

[Josh Holmes]

You taught me something here today.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. It all comes from the stoned academics. All these professors in the Northeast, they get stoned, they come up with these theories, like, oh, yes, code switching. That's what we'll.

[Josh Holmes]

But it does. If you think about it, it actually does track a little bit with the democratic ethos of how you deal with different constituencies. They silo everybody, that's the thing. And there's no authenticity whatsoever. You just have to pretend in each silo that you're with somebody, and then you don't do anything for any of the silos.

[John Ashbrook]

That's the way to do it.

[Josh Holmes]

It's just all about getting them to vote for you so you have the power.

[John Ashbrook]

Divide and conquer is how they've really, you know, built a coalition of how you can get queers for Palestine, because everyone with a brain knows it makes sense.

[Smug]

You remember when Biden was like, I feel like a Puerto Rican American or whatever?

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Smug]

Like, you just straight like that?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Or like the 711 blast on the Indians. Remember that?

[Chris Landau]

I do.

[Josh Holmes]

They do.

[Smug]

They just get away with it.

[John Ashbrook]

Get away with it.

[Smug]

It's a loophole.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a loop.

[Duncan]

They have a lot of those.

[Josh Holmes]

So anyway, just in the same vein of Democrats just not acting basically how they used to, there's a big discussion this week about that we took out those narco terrorists or whatever. Tim Kaine, Senator from Virginia. You might remember him as the vice presidential nominee for Hillary Clinton. Nobody else remembers it, but we do here in the Ruthless Variety program. Clip four, please. The notion that rights don't come from laws and don't come from the government, but come from the creator. That's what the Iranian government believes.

[Smug]

It's a theocratic regime that bases its.

[Josh Holmes]

Rule on Shia law and targets Sunnis, Baha', Is, Jews, Christians and other religious minorities. And they do it because they believe that they understand what natural rights are from their creator. So the statement that our rights do not come from our laws or our governments is extremely troubling. What, what an amazing take do we have, Senator? Constitution itself wasn't written.

[Smug]

We hold these truths to be self evident. What do you think that means?

[Josh Holmes]

And like, I don't know if you noticed all the under God talk.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Where we founded this country, but it was pretty out there.

[John Ashbrook]

Right, right.

[Josh Holmes]

We did talk about it.

[Duncan]

No, we borrowed what we write on our coins from Iran. That's, that's what, that's what Republicans don't seem to understand.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean this really, honestly, it speaks to what's become of the Senate. Dude, it's a clown show that you got senators now who don't even know this stuff. That's like Thomas Jefferson. This is basic 101 stuff. Like elementary kids in this country understand that concept that a US Senator is struggling with. It's pathetic.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a good bellwether though. And like you've heard it from us ad nauseam for as long as you've been listening about the change in the Democratic Party and how it's become this crazy kind of lunatic bin where they all. We have to, you know, the media and everybody else treats them as though they're having an honest conversation. But like that's not how they used to be. That's not how we grew up with Democrats. Disagreed on policy matters, but it was always around the edges. Like we accepted certain facts and knew that like God does give you inalienable rights that we've tried to codify as a country which has made America better than every other country in the world. Well, how did like JFK, for example, deal with such a question? Clip 5 the belief that the rights.

[Chris Landau]

Of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, it's pretty much on point.

[Duncan]

And he was a Republican, right?

[Josh Holmes]

Noted Republican.

[John Ashbrook]

Wait, did you vote for him?

[Josh Holmes]

Served in his cabinet.

[Duncan]

You know what, if the shooter was as accurate as Arch Manning, I might have had a chance. Amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

I will say it, that, that just little component you see time after time, it's not just in big things like does God grant you rights? Or is it like the city councilman like we're talking about here? It's, it's on everything that they do and it's, it's been, it's a wild thing to watch. We have fun with it here on the Ruthless Friday program. I think we're the only ones that do. And everybody else takes these things extraordinarily seriously. Like, if you listen to any of the, you know, CNN's or MSNBC, if they cover that discussion at all, it's going to be.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, it's just. It's telling of where they're full soft. There's no longer like a real philosophical divide. They're now telling on themselves where they're like, everything you have is due to the hand of a bureaucrat. It's a bureaucrat is who controls your.

[Duncan]

I don't know, fellas.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a godless heathen.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Duncan]

I think they're just simply making the point that the Pilgr were fleeing a society so they could have more of what the Ayatollah had in mind. When they came to the new World, they were just trying to recreate what the Ayatollah has.

[Josh Holmes]

They had to clean up that unpleasantness that was the Revolutionary War just simply to follow the Ayatollah's lead. That's right.

[Duncan]

That's all they wanted to do.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I think that's fair.

[Duncan]

Very simple.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, so you may have noticed we did a little special YouTube thing and then we did a show yesterday that was terrific. But one of the things that we've covered here, you know, last couple of weeks, is just how the embrace of just pure schizophrenic, like conspiracy theories and everything else have. Have become emblematic of today's Democratic Party. And they're just running wild with this stuff. So we did a little clip. It was out there on the X, and lo and behold, Chuck Todd. Chuck Todd, former host of Meet the Press, decided to show up in the Menches. Big mistake.

[Smug]

Yeah, he. He replied. He replied. And he did the thing that every liberal hack journalist does. He replies. And he basically is like, what about Donald Trump and his conspiracy followers? Yeah, but what about Trump?

[John Ashbrook]

What about him?

[Josh Holmes]

You know, smug, puts it between his leg legs, three 60s from the free throw line and just jams it down this guy's neck. The next thing you know, the minions are all over this thing.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, he got 20 to 1 ratio. I mean, and I just went after him. I called him out. I was like, listen, you've got a serious problem. If you think that it's normal that the left spent the past weekend claiming that Donald Trump had passed away. If you think that's normal, you have a. You know, and trying to make it the what About Trump thing.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

I was like. And also, it was a bad idea. I called him Cuck Todd because that's what he is, right? So I said, cuck Todd, this is a bad idea. Minions are gonna come get your ass. And sure enough, they did. I mean, he got nuked to, like, the moon. And I told him, I think the most important thing is, you know, a lot of these media types, they don't have people who are willing to tell them the truth. And I said to Cuck Todd, I was like, there's a reason you don't have a TV show anymore. And our audience right now, the minions are way bigger than any audience you've ever had before. Like, this is why. Dude, this is why you've lost. This is why you're a loser. And he hasn't come back. But one thing that I also noticed is, like, I cooked him. And, like, Duncan retweeted me. And, like, Ashbrooke was nowhere to be seen.

[Josh Holmes]

Wow.

[John Ashbrook]

Cause he. My guess is he was texting Cucktot. He's like, hey, it's me, Ashbrooke. We are still buddies, right? My journal buddy.

[Duncan]

How do you respond, Ash, bro, the guy's just roasting. Well, your friend does have a day job. He isn't always able to retweet everything that you send out. I'll retweet it right now.

[John Ashbrook]

No, no, no, no, no.

[Duncan]

But I will tell you, I know.

[John Ashbrook]

You'Ve already texted him. You're like, listen, if I have to retweet him, I'm just giving me a hard time. I will still be journal buddies. I'll see you at the next Georgetown cocktail party.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Smash is a big hit at the cocktail party. No, that's what.

[Duncan]

That's what they all say.

[Josh Holmes]

But we think thought it was incumbent upon us to not only just take this at face value from a contemporary standpoint and push back, as you did, but just revisit some recent highlights of what, in your, in your vernacular, had to do. So let's check out the supercut.

[Chuck Todd]

This gets at something, Dean, that my executive producer likes to say is, hey, voters want to be lied to sometimes. They don't always love being told hard truths. I'm a journalist. I have to deal in facts. I deal in facts. There's a lot of scientific research out there that says gender is a spectrum. Was it a decades long assault on science and objective facts, particularly by some on the right? Are you confident that you know that gender is as binary as you're describing? It you have one party on that has disputed, decided that the second amendment is almost a religious tenet. If you're upset about extra IRS agents, stop cheating on your taxes.

[Duncan]

Congressman.

[Chuck Todd]

A lot Republicans in the last three weeks have suddenly found themselves deciding. Hey, party over country. Republicans try to keep focus.

[Josh Holmes]

My God.

[Chuck Todd]

On a border emergency. In some ways they've sabotaged our immigration policy and this is why we're here.

[Josh Holmes]

Wow.

[Duncan]

Just a Democrat.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean like that is so pathetic that Russert. Listen, Russert was a great guy. He deserved the hosting of Meet the Press. You know, he knew the job, he understood assignment. And then for eventually to fall into the hands of Cuck Todd who like ran it into the ground. That bro, they don't even let him on TV anymore. I can't believe he's got a substat.

[Smug]

I can't believe Ashbrook's friends with him.

[John Ashbrook]

He is great friends.

[Smug]

Unbelievable.

[John Ashbrook]

Tremendous friends.

[Josh Holmes]

Tremendous friends.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

But wait, there's more.

[John Ashbrook]

There's more.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes, we got another set of clips from Cuck Tap. Maybe that'll teach him to show up in our mensches. Next one.

[Chuck Todd]

Mark Bray, you are writing this book, the anti Fascist Handbook. Fascism has only been defeated with violence, Right? I assume that's the argument you'd make. Joe Biden believes he's eternally optimistic. He's not cynical. He is the better angel president. There really a lot of people who believe this is a rigged court. Republicans are abuzz with cultural warfare, Trump style grievances and really passing laws to deal with mythological problems. Meaning they don't exist. They were just created in primetime on propaganda cable tv. There is no editorial point of view here on any of these newstalks on MSNBC in the daytime. We shouldn't have accepted the premise that there was liberal bias. Our bias is facts. You know, I hear the attacks on fact checkers where they fact check Republicans six times more than they fact check Democrats.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Chuck Todd]

Perhaps the Republicans are being factually incorrect more often.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh my God.

[Josh Holmes]

Wow.

[John Ashbrook]

That's the guy who Ashbrook hangs out with.

[Smug]

Shout out. Shout out to Media Research center for putting together those super cuts. They do a bang up job of following the liberal media.

[Josh Holmes]

They really do. And it's a one stop shop for folks like us because we encountered this this morning and like we just institutionally memorize every one of these things and we're like, yeah, it's very difficult to go get you get. The Media Research center has already put together this super cut of it and you're like, oh, there it is.

[Smug]

Oh, A fellow traveler. I appreciate that, dude.

[John Ashbrook]

They took away his TV show and this is all he has left.

[Smug]

Yeah. Arguing in our replies.

[Josh Holmes]

I just can't. It's just an amazing commentary on where we're at in the state of the media.

[Smug]

Yeah, Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

Right. I mean, Chuck started out doing the hotline, which the hotline was the initial sort of breakdown, and gathered news from across the country and state and local newspapers about Senate races and House races. And it tried to aggregate before there was just a national media. Everything that people were saying about all these races. Try to ballpark out for people what was happening across the country. It was really objective stuff. We interacted with him a lot. It was like he just did a job and then all of a sudden you drop him into that fucking culture at NBC and he comes out the other end after getting fired from it and it's unrecognizable nonsense, dude.

[John Ashbrook]

And that's. He was the top dog at NBC. They gave him Meet the Press and now some dude in shades on a podcast fucking buries him.

[Josh Holmes]

Yikes, dude, you're done. Yikes, yikes.

[John Ashbrook]

Hang it up, dude. It's over.

[Josh Holmes]

So that leads us to our question of the day. We want to get back to the accent component because I think that Crockett sort of led the way in terms of you had the Hillary Clinton one, you've heard the Joe Biden one, you've heard the jasmine crockett1. AOC's got a pretty good one, I might add, where she gets much more Hispanic at times.

[John Ashbrook]

Amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

And it's what. What did you call it?

[John Ashbrook]

Code switching.

[Josh Holmes]

Code switching, yeah, that's what they call it. So who's the best code switcher? Who's got the worst fake accent? That's a good party. And because you all probably have some local ones too that we don't even know about that I'd love to hear about. So when you like and subscribe to the ruthless variety program, you drop it in the comments. We read every single one of them. We're going to get back to you next Tuesday with the best of the best on that front. We're going to get to you your comments from last episode. But before we do, we're going to talk to you a little bit about ZBiotics.

[Smug]

Yes. I'm so excited. This sponsor is back. This is one of our favorite sponsors of all time.

[Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

You'll recall back from the convention in 2024. The fellows all here, I think, subscribed individually and collectively to the idea that we would not have survived that experience.

[John Ashbrook]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

If not for Z. Yeah.

[Smug]

We overindulged. As one does when one has some social engagements and some fun amongst friends.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a pre alcohol drink.

[Smug]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

That if you make it your first drink of the night, drink responsibly, quote unquote, you're gonna feel your best tomorrow. We are firsthand experiencers in this particular situation.

[Duncan]

Exactly right. We're firm believers in the idea that there's no tomorrow without Zbiotics today.

[Josh Holmes]

And we mean this like there are, you know, I mean, you listen to a lot of different shows, you see a lot of different stuff of people reading you. Like, we believe in this thing. We actually do believe in this thing. ZBiotics saved us. Yeah.

[Smug]

And people think, you know, that alcohol, if you're dehydrated, that's the reason why you have a hangover the next day. But the reality is that alcohol becomes this toxic byproduct in your gut and it's neutralized by ZBiotics. It smooths out the edges of the day after. And that's very important when you got busy schedules like we do and we're.

[Josh Holmes]

Entering the fall and that means football season is here and we all know how we like to enjoy that, tailgates and whatnot. And if you're watching Sunday's NFL action, you decide to have yourself a good time. Don't forget ZBiotics. It's a new prebiotic alcohol, pre alcohol drink. When you go to zbiotics.com ruthless, you can learn more and get 15% off of your order at the Ruthless at the checkout. Yeah, when you, when you get all that, remember you got to have Ruthless in there. Yeah, very, very important because that's how you get your 15% off. Z. Bionics is backed by 100% money back guarantee. So if you're unsatisfied for any reason, they're going to refund your money, no questions asked. So you got to go to that [e-mail] ruthless to learn more. Okay, fellas, listen, the question of the day from Thursday was what was your favorite left wing conspiracy? Which is what prompted Cuck Todd. And you all have some thoughts on that? And to do it, we start with the voice.

[Duncan]

The first comment comes from unworn owl and unworn writes. Personally, my favorite lib conspiracy was Joyless Reid's theory that President Trump did not have the top part of his ear vaporized by a 55 grain pill of lead and copper. I suppose the ketchup that covered his face was just that.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. Did you guys hear about that? Like Joy Reid being like that couldn't have happened. His ear just regrew like what?

[Josh Holmes]

Dude? It's wild.

[Smug]

It's just wild.

[Josh Holmes]

It's just wild. In the same way that you kind of have social media posts that two years after the fact are hacked.

[John Ashbrook]

It's exactly her.

[Smug]

Time traveling hacker.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, Time traveling hacker changed her blog and regrow ears. That's what they do. All right, coming to Duncan.

[Smug]

This is from Drunk Engineer. I love it already. You guys may not have seen this one, but the latest scuttlebutt on left wing forums is that Michael Duncan is in fact dead. And that what we are seeing now is actually an Android manufactured in Russia. That was good production team. Thank you. Thank you. Drunk Engineer Wolf coming through.

[Josh Holmes]

We got our own drunk engineer back there.

[Smug]

I like it.

[John Ashbrook]

That's good.

[Josh Holmes]

Comment 3.

[John Ashbrook]

Smug comment 3 comes from Liz Lang. Liz writes, we red voters in Maryland have been conspiring about the beverage Chris Van Hollen was drinking on his first visit to the Maryland man in El Salvador. Was it really water? Did AI convert it to a margarita? Was it a shot of Don Julio? We demand a commission to be enacted to get to the bottom of this troubling event.

[Smug]

Nice. I love it.

[Josh Holmes]

It's so good. All right, so a couple of things that we need to hit here in a variety segment, Curtis Sliwa, he's running for mayor of New York along with a host of psychopaths on the Democratic side. And you can all make your decisions about who to vote for and that if you live in New York, like it. We're a mixed view. Some of us think that the socialists ought to win just so you can see what the bottom of the barrel looks like.

[Smug]

Yeah, I think smug. And I subscribe to the accelerationist theory of this. And that is make it a socialist hellhole so that people finally revolt against the socialist.

[Josh Holmes]

They finally see with their own very eyes what we've been trying to tell them for quite some time.

[Smug]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, anyway, there's a difference of opinion on that. But Sliwa has got a very innovative idea. They have a rap problem in New York.

[John Ashbrook]

They do.

[Josh Holmes]

One that you are well aware of. And we, being the foremost animal fighting podcast that's anywhere in this world, sympathize with the plight of anyone who's under attack by the animal kingdom, and that includes New Yorkers, even if they're voting for a socialist communist from Uganda. But in this case, Sliwa's got An innovative idea. And I'd be interested to hear Ashbrook, for example, who often comes up with the solutions on how we deal with it and what he thinks about this. That is posted in the New York Post from Sliwa saying that a feral cat colony would be perhaps the best way to claw back at New York City rat problem. Caped crusaders at night.

[Duncan]

He says, I think it's creative. I think you use nature against nature. We all know that the animal menace is rising up against humanity. And everybody thinks that China or Russia or the like jihadist Islamic, like, sentiment is what's going to take us down. Eventually the animals are going to rise up. So we have to start acting now. And if we can build an ally in the cats in New York to stop the rats, I think it's brilliant. I think it takes a Republican in New York. It takes Republican leadership. You know, Republicans haven't won in New York very frequently. As Smug knows, it's important to show that leadership if you want to win. And I think Curtis Lee was onto something.

[Josh Holmes]

So his whole idea is you just unleash feral cats to the streets of New York and they'll take care of the rat problem. It's innovative.

[Smug]

Yeah, but if they do too well, then you're going to have a cat problem.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. And then you got to get like dogs. Yeah, right.

[Duncan]

You can do that. You can do that.

[Smug]

Cats don't pull their weight. Like, this is the thing. Like, cats are the ultimate socialists when it comes to the animal kingdom. And I do appreciate the ingenuity of using the animal kingdom against itself. So I. That's a plus one in the positive column. But in the negative column, I mean, cats are like a free rider problem in society.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, they're a sociopathic group, too.

[John Ashbrook]

Here's the thing is also like, you know, it's good for Curtis to think this would work, but it doesn't because cats don't hurt or cats don't hunt rats.

[Smug]

Oh, really?

[John Ashbrook]

They just want. They go for mice, but they're scared of rats.

[Josh Holmes]

Is that right?

[John Ashbrook]

That's the truth. So here's the actual solution.

[Josh Holmes]

Banana pool.

[John Ashbrook]

No, put a bounty on you. Use the real natural resource that there's plenty of in New York City, the homeless.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my God.

[John Ashbrook]

You get five bucks a rat. You show up to a police station, every rat, you have five bucks.

[Smug]

You know, I actually love that. Just like a bounty system. Just like the Wild West.

[Josh Holmes]

You know what they do?

[John Ashbrook]

A million dead rats, $5 million.

[Josh Holmes]

Done.

[John Ashbrook]

Dude.

[Duncan]

They do something similar in. In Florida.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Duncan]

With the pythons.

[John Ashbrook]

With the pythons. So just seems to work. You have the homeless running through the tunnels, dude. Just cleaning out rats. Do you have the greatest use of their natural resource?

[Josh Holmes]

Do you have an infestation problem? You come right here on Ruthless Friday program in 30 seconds or less, we're going to diagnose and provide a solution that is both achievable and practical.

[Duncan]

And a jobs program.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a jobs program. It's an economic boost. Okay. The other thing we had at Red Zone, so all of us, I think, in some form or fashion have contributed on X to the idea that ESPN and the NFL came to a deal in which the NFL Network was going to become a part of espn. And the natural question at that point was like, the Red Zone channel. And that's the channel, if you're not an NFL viewer. It's the one that cuts between all of the games all day long to the best, like, as it's happening, action. So if somebody's inside, they call it the red zone. Because if you're inside the 20, you're about to score, you flip to that game. Sometimes they got a four box going. It's riveting.

[Smug]

Riveting.

[Josh Holmes]

People love it. And if you're an NFL fan like us, you've lived on this for a long period of time. If you're not. If your team is not playing in the hour block, whether it's the one, it's just red zone. Like, that's all it is. And there's nothing that gets you more hyped than Hanson coming on and being like seven hours.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

A straight football.

[John Ashbrook]

And like, you know, it's a commercial.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a promise.

[John Ashbrook]

We used to have it so good.

[Smug]

When you get to the end of that one o' clock schedule of games and everything's in the fourth quarter and it's going bang, bang, boom around to a lot of games that are decided by touchdowns or field goals.

[Josh Holmes]

Calls it the witching hour.

[Smug]

It is incredible. He calls it the witching hour content.

[Josh Holmes]

Where it's at the end of those games and everybody's just riveted. Well, it turns out, like we all expressed concern about ESPN's acquisition and said, if you ruin Red Zone, we riot. Like, we will make J6 look like a tea party. I mean, that. You cannot do this. They just introduced this week that they're going to have full advertising breaks.

[Duncan]

I can't believe it. I really can't believe it.

[John Ashbrook]

ESPN is the devil, bro. They ruin everything.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, why?

[John Ashbrook]

Why would you do this because they're horrible people.

[Josh Holmes]

But also just think of a lack of marketing ingenuity here. All you have to do is get one sponsor on the Chiron to say red zone brought to you by, and then take the entire revenue that you hope to garner during the course of an hour at four or five breaks and make them pay that. If you can't sell that, I'll this afternoon sell that. Like I could sell that tomorrow.

[John Ashbrook]

They don't care. They don't care. ESPN management does not care about quality or else the state of that network.

[Smug]

I think what it says is that ESPN doesn't care about their audience.

[John Ashbrook]

Nope, they don't.

[Smug]

And they don't really even know their audience. I remember half of the shit that they have on there wouldn't have a show because it's unlistenable, it's unwatchable. And then they get the golden goose. Yes, red zone.

[Josh Holmes]

Red zone.

[Smug]

And they ruin it. It tells you everything you need to know about the corporate leadership over there at ESPN that they disrespect the audience.

[Josh Holmes]

But like, I don't care. Does it cost? You know, I don't know what the spots are going for, but if in the course of an hour, you know, you hope to. To get in peak NFL season, maybe a couple million bucks out of it. You mean to tell me that any given Sunday, somebody's not going to spend a couple of million bucks to put their brand.

[John Ashbrook]

They don't care if. If they cared about actually being profitable and running a business. Well, their network won't be the state that it is. They're. They're run by complete morons. We talked about like a week ago where they put that ad out of like, it's 14 WNBA players and like not even the top golf. No, there's like no one but WNBA players. They're just pushing an agenda and they're locked to it. And they're stupid people. They're very stupid people.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, smug. We're gonna have a lot more to say. I want to experience it so I can get my full. Because I got a Monday nighter with the Vikes, so I'll be able to fly on Sunday.

[Smug]

You're gonna be our red zone tracker.

[Josh Holmes]

And I want my. I'm just gonna let that blood pressure build and I'm gonna give you it all on Tuesday.

[Smug]

Good.

[Duncan]

And speaking of Monday night fikes, that's the anchor leg of our brotherhood parlay.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Duncan]

For those who are unfamiliar with the.

[Josh Holmes]

Ruthless brotherhood parlay, and you're new to this Program. What happens during NFL season is I'm a Vikings fan. Smug here is a Broncos fan, Duncan's a Colts fan. And the guy in the corner, I don't think you have any question at this point because he talks about it every seven seconds, but he's a Bengals fan. And Ashbrook. So if you put these all together in a parlay, which of course is one bet that counts on the money line, meaning that each one of these teams win on a Sunday, you put them together, you get better odds and a better payout. So, like, you put a buck down, you probably get like five bucks back. Whereas if you're just betting on one team individually, you get like, make something short of a dollar back because of the odds.

[Smug]

Yeah. Very early in the show, it became prerequisite for enjoying my Sunday because the group chat that we have during NFL season is very toxic.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

Without this, it used to be like.

[John Ashbrook]

Attacking each other, but if you're in.

[Smug]

It together right now, it forces us all to have good decorum in our group chat.

[Josh Holmes]

It does, because we have to. Actually, you only have to bet like.

[Smug]

5 bucks, 10 bucks, you know, I mean, like, don't go broke on this thing.

[Josh Holmes]

And then the thing is, is if it hits. If you put a decent.

[John Ashbrook]

It hits. Crazy.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it hits like once or twice a year.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

But when it does, it pays for the rest of your year.

[Smug]

The odds this weekend are like plus 500.

[Josh Holmes]

So, like, that's what we do. If you want to get in on that, you let us know. A lot of people participated over the years. Fun. And if you're like a gaming provider, come talk to us. Like, we're happy to talk about what the platform is that we should all be betting on. We all probably use different things, but does the bet. But notwithstanding, like, it's a good one. Yeah, it's a good one. We have a lot of fun with it. So we want to get to our interview. Chris Landau, he's a deputy Secretary of State. I don't have to tell you, like, there's a lot going on in the world, and this president has decided that he, more than anyone else, really is going to get involved and try to create world peace, which is inadvertable.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, he did it before.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, he did it before. But one of the people that is in charge of that mission is Chris Landau. As I mentioned at the top of the show, we talked to him when he was the ambassador to Mexico. Did a bang up job there. You're gonna love this guy. He's Great. So listen, we have favorites, and when it comes to foreign policy, this guy has been fantastic for so long. You've heard him here before. He's now the Deputy Secretary of State. I mean, just a big deal. Chris Landau. How are you, sir?

[Chris Landau]

I am so happy to be back with you guys. You guys hosted me during my years of exile, so it feels particularly nice and fitting and appropriate to be back with you guys. And there's not a bunch of folks I'm happier to spend time with.

[Josh Holmes]

That's great. So last time you met with us, you were a former ambassador to Mexico, which, you know, obviously there was a fair amount in your jurisdiction in the first four years of the Trump administration. I think you've laid all of that out. I know you still have perspective on that. Before we get into your new job, give us a little flavor for your new perch and how you see Mexico, immigration, all of the discussions now that we have tried to reverse the ills of four years, the Biden administration.

[Duncan]

Sure.

[Chris Landau]

Well, you know, I'm still the former ambassador to Mexico. Didn't lose that one.

[John Ashbrook]

Once a former, always a former, as they say.

[Chris Landau]

And so, you know, happy to talk about it. Look, it's a very important foreign relationship. And to be honest with you, you know, my desire going into this administration, if I was going to get a government job, was to go back to Mexico and finish the work that I had embarked upon during the first Trump administration. And so I would have been absolutely delighted and honored to do that. But events took a different course. But, you know, I'm still a believer that the relationship with Mexico is one of our, probably our most important foreign relationship in the world in the sense that it impacts the lives, the prosperity and the security of the American people more directly than any other foreign relationship. I mean, you think of our 2000 mile border, think of migration, you think of drugs. Many of the challenges we face in this country have their roots along that border. And so I'm a big believer that for way too long the US has been focused on the Middle east and Europe and kind of far flung places and has not focused enough on our own border. In fact, I thought one of the priorities from a foreign policy perspective of this administration has to be to reassert American sovereignty. And that first and foremost consists of establishing control over our own borders. I mean, the president has said this a lot. But, you know, a country is not a country unless it has a border and can control its border. That's the most essential element of sovereignty of any country, is to Say, this is, you know, as far as our jurisdiction goes, and this is who gets to come in, and this is, you know, the conditions under which they can come in. If you lose control of that, you've kind of lost everything. And it was frankly, you know, shocking to me as an American that that became a partisan issue and that we actually wound up with a government in charge of our federal government who basically was devoted to bringing in people across our border in defiance of the laws enacted by Congress. I mean, just shocking. I mean, we've had many disagreements. You can disagree about minimum wage or lots of things, but to talk about, you know, controlling the border, who comes in our country just was mind boggling to me. And frankly, that's never been a partisan divide before. Just go look at the debates of the Clinton years. You know, you have Chuck Schumer talking about the need for, you know, a secure border. I don't know. You know, people seem to have lost their mind in the last four years. I just can't explain it.

[Duncan]

It's wild to me because you look at the way that the Biden administration handled Mexico, and they just seemed to placate the cartels and seemed to placate those in Mexico who were coddling the cartels. And I know that you guys and our president have taken a very, very different approach.

[Chris Landau]

Yeah, I mean, look, you want to disincentivize illegal migration to our country, and it's from Mexico, but it's from all over the world nowadays. I mean, this is one point, I think I always try to emphasize that a lot of people still think the migration issue is a US Mexico, bilateral issue. It is not. You know, Mexicans were actually the minority of people streaming over our border over the Mexico, U.S. border. People were coming from all over the world, from China, from Bangladesh, from Congo, from Cuba, Venezuela, Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan. I mean, it was like reading the UN roster every day. And so, you know, that actually gives us common ground to work with the Mexicans because they don't have any interest in being a doormat for the entire world trying to come into the United States illegally. Right. And so, you know, I think there's. This is going to be one of the big issues of kind of world policy in the 21st century, these migratory challenges. I mean, look at Europe. It's unrecognizable now. And this is not a inevitable development. I mean, this is. This is something that the current governments in Europe really, driven by the EU are pushing this kind of open borders policy that all of a sudden there's you know, migrants from Iraq and Syria, Afghanistan. It's just changed the face of these European countries. And I think what I read today, that 40% plus of the students in primary school in Austria are Islamic now. I mean, that's just going to change the demographics of Austria profoundly. It's no longer going to be what we recognize as Austria. And again, they have a right to make that decision. But what's kind of crazy is I'm not aware of any country whose people have democratically voted for open borders. I mean, so these people in Europe keep voting for parties, whether, you know, on the conservative end of the spectrum, the more liberal end, no matter what, they wind up just getting more and more open borders. And, you know, I just think this is going to be one of the major issues on the international scene in our lifetime.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it definitely seems that, listen, you got a big, broad portfolio, you're Deputy Secretary of State. We've maintained on this program that this administration, by its own choice, has become one of the most consequential foreign policy administrations in my lifetime because of.

[John Ashbrook]

How.

[Josh Holmes]

You'Ve dealt with the world, the problems that you're willing to, to take on. You know, I mean, look, there's no domestic political constituency in trying to solve Ukraine, for example, trying to solve problems between Israel and Hamas. And yet this president has jumped into it because he's rightly recognized that America is the leader of the free world. Tell me about just the full panoply of issues that you've had to deal with and try to clean up from the Biden administration.

[Chris Landau]

I think you're right. As a general matter, in the first place, to talk about how consequential this administration is in foreign policy. And I think that is attributable to one thing, and that is the president. This president is the first chief executive we have had in our lifetimes who has actually fulfilled his role as chief executive with the vigor the founders expected and has not just basically allowed the bureaucracy to proceed on autopilot. We are following at the State Department Donald Trump's foreign policy. Right. We are not following a State Department foreign policy that is independent of the White House. It is crazy. You know, somebody who's a constitutional lawyer by training to even think that that should be something that is kind of unusual. But this is what we have gotten used to in the government, that the bureaucracy, you know, the non elected, constant bureaucracy, has just become, you know, our permanent government. And so that you'll have presidents of different parties come and go and they basically leave only you Know, small footprints that are quickly washed away with the next tide. Donald Trump has really seized the reins of executive power in a way that we have not seen in our life lifetime.

[Smug]

So I think, I think the thing that I find most interesting about the way Donald Trump views foreign policy is he doesn't view it in this monolithic way that so much of our foreign policy establishment does. He uses all of the tools at his disposal to sort of shape the outcome he's trying to get to, whether it's, you know, with Israel, Hamas, or it's the peace he's been brokering in places like India and Pakistan, the tariffs and all this sort of. But can you explain to our audience how different that is versus the philosophy of the old guard establishment of foreign policy?

[Chris Landau]

Yeah, I mean, Trump is a business guy, right. So he understands the concept of leverage. Right. And so he is very focused on, you know, the United States should no longer act like the strong guy who has to play with one hand tied behind his back. Right. I mean, to fight with one hand tied behind his back. Like we are using all the levers of American power. I mean, for a lot of countries we've been getting ripped off for years where, you know, we allow all these countries to sell into our market, which is, you know, such a vast domestic market. We may not have the biggest population in the world, but our people have the biggest buying power. And the American consumer is the market every country in the world wants to reach. Right. That's the gold standard. And so we've been basically allowing in all these other countries to sell their goods here and meanwhile they've been blocking us. I mean, countries like India, Brazil, you know, that's the kind, China, obviously, that's the kind of, you know, non reciprocity that drives the President crazy. And you know, I think he doesn't lose sight of the fact that ultimately power is economic. I mean, yes, power is also military, but you can't have a sustained military power if you don't have the economic base to support it. Look at the Soviet Union, you know, and so ultimately then you become a paper tiger. And so I think he understands that, you know, we, when you're dealing in foreign relations, you know, you just have to figure out what are your points of leverage with the country and how do you best exert them for the well being of the American people? I mean, again, I think he has identified the object of our foreign policy as being advancing the well being and the interests of the American people. Right. He doesn't think, think he's there to be Mother Teresa and to take care of all the world's bills. I mean, if people want to give their money to charity, they are absolutely free to do that. But our tax system, which, you know, is forced collection from the people, should not be used for charity. Right. It should be used to promote the interests of our country. Right. And sometimes that may involve, you know, some degree of assistance, if you can tie that assistance to some specific goal that is going to improve our, you know, safety, security and prosperity. But you have to have that link. Ultimately, that's the point that was lost on the foreign policy establishment, that they were pursuing goals that were different than the America first goals of, you know, making the world safer, more secure and more prosperous for the American people.

[Josh Holmes]

Tell me about how. And you interact with a fair amount of heads of state, foreign leaders in every regard to. Tell me about the receptivity. Right. Because, I mean, all of these people have dealt with the Biden administration very much by the book, old guard, establishment type stuff. They've known him for 30 years because they've worked in minorities and majorities of the United States Senate. They have those relationships. They're accustomed to predictability. And all of a sudden, Trump administration shows up with leverage for the first time.

[Chris Landau]

Respect, 100% respect. And, you know, I think it's important to separate Western Europe from the rest of the world. I think, you know, to establishment people in our foreign policy community, I'd say this is probably true both of Democrats and Republicans. The foreign policy world kind of revolves around, you know, Berlin, Paris and London. And if something is well received in those capitals, then it becomes a brilliant foreign policy. Those countries are basically becoming an ever smaller percentage of the world population, world economic activity. And it's a big world out there. And, you know, if you have a foreign policy geared to making friends in those countries, it's going to look very different than. And I really do think when you see things in the New York Times saying, oh, you know, foreign capitals are very worried about this, they're reporting from the Standard, you know, Berlin, Paris, London. Right. I mean, they're not reporting from, you know, Buenos Aires. They're not reporting from Lagos or from Pretoria or Delhi. You know, it's a big world out there. And I just think the American foreign policy establishment is still very, you know, caught up in the rut of traditional thinking, you know, thinking inside the box. Oh, no, you know, we can't do that. That would be mean. Or that wouldn't look right. Or, you know, I mean, this is Trump just doesn't think in those terms. Trump thinks what is good for the American people and how have we been getting screwed over the years. And, you know, again, I think everybody knows that he is the first person to kind of call out China for ripping us off over many years. And again, I think, you know, as you pointed out, the president wants peace. I mean, the president, you know, he wants the. He promotes the interest of the United States, but I think he recognizes that, you know, peace is in the interest of the United States. Global conflicts generally are not good for anybody.

[Josh Holmes]

Let me use that as a jumping off point. Last question. Bullish or bearish on where we're at with Ukraine, Russia.

[Chris Landau]

That's a complicated one. You know, obviously, I mean, I think bullish, but it's not going to happen all at once. I mean, I think, you know, he is. He is putting a lot of pressure on both sides of that. And again, I think he is respected by people on both sides of that. I mean, you know, I think if.

[Josh Holmes]

You look the only one that could make the conversation 100%.

[Chris Landau]

Well, again, as he is fond of saying, and this is indubitably true, that this would have never happened on his watch because people respect him and nobody would have messed with him. I mean, this is all a result of Biden's calamitous withdrawal from Afghanistan, which made our country look, you know, at its weakest point since we were, you know, off the rooftop in Saigon back when I was a kid. And, you know, so, you know, I think it is tough when a war is three years in to try to change that. But, you know, Biden people were basically having this as a proxy war against Russia. You know, the United States and Russia should not be enemies. I mean, I think hopefully we'll try to find a way that we can lay a foundation for, you know, a mutually beneficial relationship so we don't have to, you know, those of us who grew up in the Cold War, remember, you know, like, the Soviet Union is our enemy. And, you know, it seems to me that I don't know how the heck we got to this place where, you know, after the fall of the Soviet Union and, you know, the emergence of many countries from what used to be the Soviet Union that we wound up bollocksing our relations with Russia so bad that, you know, now we're trying to, you know, we're kind of repeating that, you know, role where the Russians are our enemies and, you know, let's try to have a world where that's not the Case because that's gonna be a better world for all of us, right? I mean, you're not going to bungle into World War Three over, you know, Ukraine. So, you know, I think that, you know, this is a tough, a tough one. But, you know, the President's very focused on this and I think again, that he is somebody that can talk to Putin and has the respect of both Putin and Zelensky. I mean, people don't mess with President Trump. And I can't tell you guys, I mean, how many presidents, you know, just want to come to the United States and have their picture taken with Trump. I mean, he's kind of the alpha male on the world stage. And you know, for those people, it's just politically something that they really want. You know, they come in, say, just please, just, you know, a 30 second photo with the President and China this fall. We will see. I mean, again, that's another tricky relationship. Again, I think the President wants to have a constructive relationship with China. You know, I think China, frankly, has evaded the rules for so long, but yet we're not looking for permanent enemies. I mean, I think, you know, China is, is a.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes, that working relations.

[Chris Landau]

I mean, let's, you know, I think he's looking for strategic stability with China. And you know, again, I don't think Americans, you know, should, you know, it's one thing to say, you know, China has been ripping us off. We've got to get that relationship on a kind of reciprocal, mutually beneficial back on, on that kind of a basis, right. That we can't go with these, you know, you know, billions and billions, hundreds of billions of dollars deficits. You know, every year we gotta kind of, you know, have, you know, a much more normal and reciprocal relationship. We deal with student visas, intellectual property protection, lots of issues with China. But at the end of the day, you know, I don't think again, we want to make it inevitable that we, we become enemies with China. I mean, we don't want to teach our children like this. People are our enemies.

[Josh Holmes]

Not good for anybody.

[Chris Landau]

Not good for anybody, right? And I just think like, the American people are not looking for enemies in the world. This is one of the things I think that concerns me, that we have this big national security footprint, right, that was created after World War II. Right after Pearl harbor, we ginned up a big thing. We built the Pentagon in a matter of months. And then before you know it, we, we have bases all over the world. We have a big, you know, foreign policy establishment, have embassies all over the world, you know, big military standing military, which we'd never had, you know, for, you know, decades in peacetime, traditionally. And, you know, I just worry that basically, this big, you know, let's call it the deep state, because that's really what it is, that they always need an enemy to justify their existence. And I just think those of us who come in on the political leadership just need to be skeptical and ask hard questions like, why do we have to fall into these patterns of constantly having enemies everywhere in the world? And again, not to be naive about the world. I mean, there's a lot of bad people out there. And, you know, we, you know, but.

[Josh Holmes]

Deal with it at face value, correct?

[Chris Landau]

I mean, yeah, I think that's right. And just. Just, again, like, grasp opportunities for peace. Don't look for ways to defeat those opportunities. And again, that may not come easy, but, you know, let's try to make the basis for our relationship with the world mutually beneficial commercial relations. I mean, if you go back to our founders, you know, what did they think about foreign policy? You go back and you read, you know, some of our papers and George Washington's farewell address. I mean, they really wanted to have, you know, mutually beneficial relationships that increase the prosperity of our country so we could have trading relationships. We'd have markets abroad. You know, we've kind of lost that in recent decades when all we want to do is have, you know, military alliances. And, you know, I just think that that is not healthy. We've kind of lost the script on this.

[Josh Holmes]

Listen, if I got myself in trouble internationally and I needed a guy to come speak on my behalf, Chris Landau is the guy, without a doubt. Chris is the guy, without a doubt.

[Chris Landau]

And I, folks, just listeners, I did not pass him a C note for that. Completely unprompted, I promise you, Unprompted.

[Josh Holmes]

Thank you for being a good friend of the program, you and your family.

[Chris Landau]

By the way, yes, my son Nat is a big fan. And let me tell you, folks, I got out of this interview a signed ruthless baseball cap.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah.

[Chris Landau]

Which I think will be under the Christmas tree for Nat this year. He's 24 years old, so, you know, we'll have to see if he's a good boy or not.

[Josh Holmes]

That's good.

[Chris Landau]

That's good.

[Josh Holmes]

No, hold his feet to the fire on that deal.

[Chris Landau]

I will.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, he's welcoming.

[Chris Landau]

He's a very loyal listener. And, you know, let me tell you, my estimation, in his eyes as a dad, just went over the moon when he knew I was coming Back on your podcast. He loves you guys. And so here's a shout out to Nat.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, he is the next generation. That's our guys. That's our guys. Appreciate your time. Thank you for everything you're doing. Keep us updated. If there's ever anything we can do, you know where to find us.

[Chris Landau]

Well, love what you guys are doing. I think it's so important for our country and I think it's really important for you guys to hold our feet to the fire. I mean, I think one of the problems that we have had with the foreign policy establishments has become very disconnected from the people and doesn't, it doesn't feel a need to really explain its thinking process to the American people. I mean, we are the servants of the American people. And I think it's a big part of my job to come on and explain our thinking. I think I owe that to the American people. So I appreciate an opportunity like this to come and, you know, just kind of talk about, you know, my views and what I, you know, how I see myself fulfilling the President's mandate and the Secretary's mandate and, you know, just what we're doing. And again, I hope that, you know, I like to read social media and I like to get feedback from people and you know, whether it's on visa policy or, you know, involvement in this conflict or that conflict or non involvement, I mean, again, I think it's really important for the American people to recognize that ultimately foreign policy is all about them and their welfare. And frankly, I think their common sense goes a heck of a lot further than a lot of these so called experts.

[Josh Holmes]

Ah, very well said. Chris Landau, thank you so much for joining us. My pleasure, Appreciate it.

[Chris Landau]

Thank you.

[Josh Holmes]

So he's great. You know, the one hallmark it seems to me of the Trump administration in terms of how he's, that he's put together. This second term team are a bunch of people who don't really need to be in the middle of contentious debates. Right. This guy was like captain of industry in terms of an attorney partner in a major law firm. Like he could have gone and lived in an island somewhere, but he felt like he had something to give and actually cared and wanted to be a part of it. Believed in America for a solution, believe. And you can tell based on that interview, he's just dogmatically committed to try to make our relations with the rest of the world a better place for Americans. And it's great to see.

[John Ashbrook]

And the results speak for themselves. I think you want those kind of.

[Josh Holmes]

People there you really do. He's done a hell of a job. So remember our question of the day. What's the worst fake accent? What do we call it?

[John Ashbrook]

Code switching.

[Josh Holmes]

Code switching. The code switching the Democrats. Do you like and subscribe and you leave it in there and that's terrific because we're going to get it back to you on Tuesday about all of that. Don't forget to order your ZBiotics, by the way, this weekend. Got to get on that.

[John Ashbrook]

You need it.

[Josh Holmes]

Very, very, very important. We're going to get. We've now for the first time in some time have our own supply again. So I can't wait to feel like a million bucks. Perfect to give you. Just hot fire there. We're gonna get back to it next week. So thanks for joining us. It's been a big week. Really appreciate [e-mail] Ruthless go to our YouTube channel. Leave your comments with that. Fellows. I think we did it.

[John Ashbrook]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much to the minions. Remember, if you have not yet hit the subscribe button on the YouTube, it's more fun in video. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you on Tuesday. Stay ruthless.