The Left’s “Theater Kid” Problem + Midterms Outlook w/ NRCC Chair Richard Hudson

Summary

Ruthless Podcast Summary

Episode: The Left’s “Theater Kid” Problem + Midterms Outlook w/ NRCC Chair Richard Hudson
Date: February 3, 2026
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook
Special Guest: Congressman Richard Hudson (NRCC Chair)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, the Ruthless crew dives into what they call the left’s “theater kid” problem—a culture of performative activism and virtue signaling supposedly running rampant through progressive circles and on social media. The hosts examine how this behavior impacts protests, political discourse, and even celebrity culture, using fresh examples from the Grammys and recent left-wing events. The team also provides their signature, humorous “variety” content, and sits down with NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson for a comprehensive look at the 2026 midterms: the battlefield, candidate recruitment, fundraising, and the GOP’s turnout challenges.

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Key Discussion Segments

1. The Left’s “Theater Kid” Problem

[00:00]-[15:29]; [31:29]-[33:06]

Main Points:

• The hosts argue the left, particularly its activist wing, is dominated by people whose main motivation is performative “theater,” rather than substantive policy goals.
• Social media is called out as having created a culture where the “stage is everything”—with activists motivated mainly by likes and positive feedback from their circles.
• Josh Holmes: “Yes, the theater. There’s no stage like the theater. And the left, as you saw with the Grammys over the weekend and all these things, like, they're just theater kids at heart…” [03:22]
• Examples cited include protesters dramatically recreating historic moments (e.g., Iwo Jima with the Minnesota flag), and viral videos of emotionally charged protests deemed “overacting” by the hosts.
• The group suggests foreign money and NGO support are incentivizing some of these antics, referencing media reports on foreign funding of protest activities.
• Michael Duncan: "What they want to do is destroy it from within. And what they do is they find these useful idiots like this and they fund these groups whose entire purpose is to destroy this country..." [20:29]

Notable Quotes:

• Michael Duncan: "Their incentive structure is 100% for the attention, for the likes, for everyone on social media. When they send that Instagram post out to be like, oh, I'm gonna give this a like, and I'm gonna say, you're so brave, you're out there fighting fascism." [00:01]
• Josh Holmes: "They see this as like their ability to perform and act as though this is a struggle for mankind." [00:13, echoed at 07:04 & 03:22]
• John Ashbrook: "[The left] want it to get ugly so they can get more clicks, so they can get more money. Money from the Chinese or whoever sending them the money." [00:28, 20:15]

Comic Banter:

• Extended riffs on “no one is illegal on stolen land” slogan (referencing Grammys) and “abolish ICE” protests—their form, their impact, and the performative nature.
• Segment recalling the “abolish ICE” human demonstration as recycled: “They’re trying to pretend like it’s a unique moment.” [13:38]
• The hosts lampoon performative protesters, with Duncan suggesting, tongue-in-cheek, “Should we allow women on social media?” [10:39] (delivered in their trademark irreverent tone).
• Ongoing running joke about “liberal white women” and performative social media activism.

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2. The Impact of Social Media and Performative Activism

[04:20]-[15:50]

• The hosts blame platforms like TikTok and Instagram for shaping a generation of activists who “main character” their political outrage and prioritize online clout over real action.
• Michael Duncan discusses the theory that Chinese bots “botted” likes and views on left-wing protest content: “It’s the Chinese were botting views and likes where they're like, 'Oh, you have something that says America sucks. We're gonna make it look like you've got a ton of views and followers...'” [22:19]
• The team claims left-wing media (e.g., Teen Vogue) “radicalizes” women, making them susceptible to social media activism.
• Satirical take: “Teen Vogue is essentially just like the communist handbook.” – Michael Duncan [12:12]

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3. Protest Escalation—Anti-ICE Protests and Manufactured Conflict

[16:28]-[24:01]

• Stories of anti-ICE activists in Minneapolis setting up roadblocks and “checkpoints,” requiring “proof” that drivers aren’t with ICE.
• The group mocks the irony, calling it “anti-fascist” behavior that actually mirrors real fascism:
  • Josh Holmes: “What they’re doing is creating checkpoints to check people...where they have empowered themselves, in fact, to be the fascists.” [17:43]
• Jokes about “East and West Germany,” “build a wall in Minneapolis,” and (satirically) airstrikes as solutions.
• Discussion returns to foreign funding, the incentive for drama and escalation, and the lack of law enforcement intervention.
• Michael Duncan: “No country can do that. But what they're trying to do is destroy it from within. And what they do is they find these useful idiots like this...” [20:29]

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4. The Grammys and Political Celebrity Culture

[23:37]-[28:46]

• Dissection of a Grammy Awards protest, including a viral moment with Billie Eilish and celebrities nodding along to “No one is illegal on stolen land,” culminating in “F*** ICE” being broadcast (then bleeped).
• Michael Duncan: “Well, if there's no border, then I think Christopher Columbus has as much of a right to be here as anyone else.” [24:25]
• General critique that celebrities (especially left-wing) are out of their depth when pontificating on policy.
• Segment on Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson appearing as a Grammy nominee in Audiobooks and her theatrical inclinations (acting in a Broadway play while serving as a justice).
• Michael Duncan: “She’s not there for her thoughts, you know, like I was talking about the Hollywood types. We all know what he's known for, but he's got one job.” [45:04]

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5. Variety Segment: Bar Fights, Dick Bigger Jr. & Animal Antics

[38:08]-[48:56]

Highlights:

• Australian Strip Club Bar Fight: Hilarious recounting of two men being thrown out, with one accidentally hitting his friend in the head with a chair [39:40+].
• Illinois Senate Race and the “endorsement” of Chair Dick Bigger Jr.: Hosts riff on the name, imagining his campaign slogans and political legacy [42:27+].
• Florida Iguana Roundup: Discussion of cold-stunned invasive iguanas in Florida, and speculation about what locals do with them (“make boots out of these guys”) [46:13+].

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6. Midterms Outlook: Interview with NRCC Chair Richard Hudson

[49:12]-[68:50]

Key Insights:

National Landscape - 2026 Midterms

• Hudson: “This ain’t your usual president in a midterm...if you look at the battleground...the majority of them are Republican seats held by Democrats.” [50:29]
• Differences from 2018: Only 7 Republicans in seats carried by Kamala Harris; Democrats have 13 Trump districts and 21 more seats Trump lost narrowly.
• GOP legislative record (working families tax cut, “big beautiful bill”) is a central but complex message—communicating specifics is challenging.
• Getting Trump voters to turn out in a midterm without Trump on the ballot is the biggest hurdle.

Key House Races to Watch

• ME-2: Paul LePage (GOP) expected to flip it with the incumbent (Golden) retiring [54:51]
• OH-9: Marcy Kaptur barely held on; GOP sees top-tier pickup opportunity.
• TX-34, TX-28: Rio Grande Valley battlegrounds with strong GOP candidates.
• CA-13: Prominent Republican (Kevin Lincoln) running in a diverse, Democratic district.

Democratic Civil War & Candidate Recruitment

• More Democratic primaries pulled sharply to the left, potentially hurting general election turnout and opening opportunities for GOP.
• Host John Ashbrook: “They're fighting to see who can be the most, like Che Guevara or something...whoever they nominate is going to be almost unelectable.” [59:51]

Redistricting Update

• GOP sees opportunities in Texas, North Carolina, and Florida (“fastest growing states in the country”), and potential for a second Republican seat in Maryland pending legal fights [61:53+].

Fundraising

• Hudson: “We raised $100 million, the fastest any NRCC has ever raised it. We outraised the DCCC for the first time in 10 years...” [65:03]
• GOP organizational fundraising advantages are notable, with President Trump’s operation raising significant amounts for the midterms ($2 billion cited).

The Trump Factor

• Trump is actively engaged with the NRCC, possesses detailed knowledge of House races, and is “committed” to helping maximize turnout.
• Possibility floated of a “midterm convention” to boost enthusiasm.

How to Get Involved

• Hudson: “nrcc.org all right. We’d love to have you part of our team.” [67:55]

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “The theater is everything.” – Josh Holmes [15:05]
• On the Left’s Protest Culture:
  • Michael Duncan: “Imagine two hours of trying to clean up the city...Instead, they want a picture...they don’t actually want to put in the work to make any positive change.” [14:17]
• On Social Media Radicalization:
  • Michael Duncan: “Teen Vogue is essentially just like the communist handbook.” [12:12]
• On TikTok Bots and Protest Hype:
  • Michael Duncan: “Chinese were botting views and likes...turns out they were all just made up Chinese bots, which is influencing the reason why they act like theater kids in the first place.” [22:19]
• On the Grammys & Celebrity Protests:
  • Josh Holmes: “Well, a house that resides on stolen land...I’m sure she’d be more than happy to relinquish the $14.5 million estate...” [26:03]
• On Democratic Civil War and Midterms:
  • John Ashbrook: “...Dem civil war is something that we haven't seen in this country in quite some time. And they're fighting it out in the open.” [59:51]
• On NRCC Fundraising:
  • Hudson: “We raised $100 million, the fastest any NRCC has ever raised it.” [65:03]

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Time-Stamped Important Segments

• 00:00–15:29: Deep dive into “theater kid” culture, protest performativity, and social media incentives
• 16:28–24:01: Anti-ICE protests in Minnesota, protest escalation, and foreign influence
• 23:37–28:46: The Grammys, Billie Eilish, celebrity wokeness, Ketanji Brown Jackson at Grammys
• 38:08–48:56: Variety segment—bar fight, Dick Bigger Jr., Florida iguanas
• 49:12–68:50: Interview with NRCC Chair Richard Hudson — midterm analysis, races to watch, turnout, fundraising

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Tone & Style

The Ruthless podcast maintains a sardonic, irreverent, and self-aware tone throughout, blending substantive political commentary with over-the-top banter, running gags, and pop-culture references. No topic is too sacred for a punchline, and the hosts lean hard into their “variety program” identity while anchoring segments in current Republican talking points and midterm strategy.

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For New Listeners

If you missed this episode, you’ll walk away with:

• A satirical, but pointed, critique of performative activism on the left—including examples from protests and pop culture.
• Insights into the GOP’s view of the 2026 midterms straight from the NRCC chair, with specifics on key races, turnout strategies, and GOP organizational strength.
• Classic Ruthless “variety” segments: oddball news stories, political name gags (Dick Bigger Jr.), and cultural zingers.
• The distinctive Ruthless blend: conservative analysis, gleeful trolling, sharp media criticism, and a healthy dose of inside-baseball from the right’s most boisterous political variety show.

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Question of the Day:
What is driving the left's theater kid problem—social media, psychological factors, or something else?
(Submit your answer via YouTube or the show’s social channels for a chance to be featured on the next episode.)

Next Episode: More listener responses and continued midterm updates.

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

But let's start with the theater kid stuff.

[Michael Duncan]

Their incentive structure is 100% for the attention for the likes, for everyone on social media. When they send that Instagram post out to be like, oh, I'm gonna give this a like, and I'm gonna say, you're so brave, you're out there fighting fascism.

[Josh Holmes]

They see this as like their ability to perform and act as though this is a struggle for mankind.

[Michael Duncan]

And what they do is they find these useful idiots like this and they fund these groups whose entire purpose is to destroy this country.

[John Ashbrook]

They want it to get ugly so they can get more clicks, so they can get more money. Money from the Chinese or whoever sending them the money.

[Michael Duncan]

You're not wrong.

[Unnamed Co-host]

The reason why they act like theater kids in the first place.

[Josh Holmes]

There you go.

[Unnamed Co-host]

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[Announcer/Reporter]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Michael Duncan]

Keep the fate hold the line and own the lids.

[Announcer/Reporter]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Tuesday to you. Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety Program. I'm Josh Holmes along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook. Left to right, across your radio dial. Lot's been going on. We've been all over the place, fellas. We were in Philadelphia last week.

[Michael Duncan]

Great show, Great folks out there.

[Josh Holmes]

Nice little America 250 event out there. Good showing.

[John Ashbrook]

Ron Jaworski. I mean, what a great guy.

[Michael Duncan]

Awesome guy.

[Josh Holmes]

Jaws. But while we were out there, an awful lot has happened. It turns out like one of the things that has sort of popped out to us is this basic theater kid problem that the left has. Yes, the theater. There's no stage like the theater. And the left, as you saw with the Grammys over the weekend and all these things, like, they're just theater kids at heart, basically every single protestation, whether it's about an issue or just a concept, like these kids, it's like an act of lay miss.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the thing is there's almost like a fundamental divorce in their minds between reality and performance where they're willing to sacrifice this country, our resources, our tax dollars, our safety. For them to be like, I need to put up an Instagram story showing that I'm out here fighting fascism.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Yeah, yeah, well, and that's the problem, right, is in the social media era, the stage really is everything, you know, and so they've learned this performatively on the Internet by getting likes and retweets and shares. And now they've sort of applied it broader to their life everywhere.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. It doesn't need to make any sense to anybody, provided that they service the community that follows them and they can put on a show.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

For one way or another. So we're going to get into all of that. We've also got a continuation, our midterm update that we started last week with the house side with the chairman of the nrcc, Chairman Hudson, with a great interview at the back of this interview. And then we've got like a lot of variety. I mean, there's some stuff in here.

[Unnamed Co-host]

A lot of yucks.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, we're going to get a little racy.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Because there's one endorsement in particular I think is gonna. Well, it's gonna elicit some laughs. But let's start with the theater kid stuff. So a racial equity educator in Friends decided. Well, they of course, were same. Same with the heroes of yesteryear and decided to do the following in this clip.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Come on.

[Michael Duncan]

This is so acting. IWO Jima with the Somali flag. Or wait, that's. That's your Minnesota flag.

[John Ashbrook]

No, that's Somalia.

[Michael Duncan]

No, no, no, that's Minnesota.

[Josh Holmes]

Minnesota, sure. Yeah. No, it's basically the same, though, Minnesota and Somalia. So Somalia has got the. It's a one tone, light blue with the star, and the Minnesota one is now a two tone with the star.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, my goodness. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, it tells you a lot. But, I mean, these people, what a perfect example, right? They act as though this is Iwa Jean.

[Michael Duncan]

And the best part is they can't even do it right. You see the guy at the end just, like, trying to be part of the group, even though he's not even.

[Josh Holmes]

Holding the flag, can't even get a part of it.

[Michael Duncan]

It's like you fail at even performing, being performative. Like, how pathetic are these idiots?

[Josh Holmes]

This was Anton Truer and friends that they're recreating the Iwo Jima flag. Just recall. I mean, this whole thing is about whether or not pedophiles, rapists, and murderers are arrested.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Yeah. I mean, that's what our Marines were fighting over there. Open borders here, Endless fraud.

[Josh Holmes]

Freedom.

[Unnamed Co-host]

That's just the freedom they were fighting for. I mean, the freedom to set up a fake daycare.

[Josh Holmes]

If you can't laugh about this, I don't know what you're laughing about. That's where the mentality is. We saw in the Grammys. We're getting to a clip about that. But, like, writ large, you're talking about a leftist who.

[John Ashbrook]

I don't know.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, basically, they see this as, like, their ability to perform and act as though this is a struggle for mankind. Never mind the fact the backdrop of this is the Democratic presidents. Barack Obama, foremost amongst them, within the last 10 years, deported more people than President Trump did and did it with ice the exact same way. And there wasn't even a peep out of these people. And now they're showing up acting as though their little protests are Iwo Jima.

[Michael Duncan]

And I think that's critical. What you just pointed out is because this is not about the principle. These people were always like, deportation is wrong. That's a recent change in the Democratic Party. So it's not about actual beliefs. Again, their incentive structure is 100% for the attention, for the likes, for everyone on social media. When they send that Instagram post out to be like, oh, I'm gonna give this a like, and I'm gonna say, you're so brave. You're out there fighting fascism.

[Unnamed Co-host]

I have to say, I am a Little surprised. I mean, I guess I shouldn't be. Right. But like, I kind of thought this was Trump first term behavior. Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, the resist nonsense. Yeah.

[Unnamed Co-host]

And that.

[Josh Holmes]

But that's where they're at right now.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Oh, no, 100%. But I thought they all got it out of their system. And then when they lost everything, they lost, you know, the electoral college, the popular vote, the House, the Senate, all to Republicans and President Donald Trump, that there was a recalibration that we were going to witness where they didn't lose their minds every two seconds, but they're right back to their old tricks. I'm just surprised it's happening this fast.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, I think that you're. I'm also surprised it's happening this fast, but I'm not surprised it's happening this fast because I think that there is more at play than just likes and clicks. I think that they're being paid.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

I think there is so much money flowing around these left wing NGOs. Everything we learned at the beginning of this Trump 2.0 term about how much cash is just moving around this system and everything that Astronomani at Fox News and other people have reported about the foreign money that's flowing into our country to disrupt everything that we do on a daily basis. I think so many of these people are getting paid and I think it's only going to get worse.

[Josh Holmes]

Look, it's election season and you got to go to where the money is, where the energy is on the Democratic side, despite the fact that they know beyond a shadow of a doubt why it is that they lost in 2024 with this insanity. They gotta go. They gotta go there. And it's happening all over the country. Arizona, of all places. Watch the overacting involved in this little doozy in clip two.

[Unnamed Co-host]

I mean, that's clearly a woman who knows she's being filmed, right?

[Announcer/Reporter]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

She's like, look how passionate I am. Send that check.

[Michael Duncan]

Look at this. Dude, look at this.

[Josh Holmes]

If you're not on YouTube, like, and subscribe if you are, but if you're not on YouTube, you should check this thing out because this lady, it's just.

[Michael Duncan]

You feel disgusting seeing this of like, man, I'm secondhand embarrassed.

[Unnamed Co-host]

I know, I know. It's like she thinks she's the main character in a movie about her life, you know?

[John Ashbrook]

Totally.

[Josh Holmes]

But that's what I mean, listen, there's an outward discussion about the impact of social. Wait, hold on, stop.

[Michael Duncan]

No, I'm not going to say it publicly.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Say it.

[Michael Duncan]

You can't announce that.

[Unnamed Co-host]

You got to say it. That's the rule in the Variety program.

[Josh Holmes]

Say it, dude. Say it.

[Michael Duncan]

Should we allow women on social media? I think that woman just made the case from. No, it's gone too far. There is a.

[Josh Holmes]

There's an argument.

[Unnamed Co-host]

I have noticed that a little.

[Josh Holmes]

There's an argument.

[Unnamed Co-host]

It seems like the fair sex is more prone to this sort of overacting behavior on social media.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Well.

[Unnamed Co-host]

And I think most women would agree with that statement.

[Josh Holmes]

The liberal white women are a problem. And we know that it's well documented here in the ruthless Variety program. But it seems like, particularly on the left, seems like it's a. This is a repetitive.

[Michael Duncan]

And I mean, it's not just like cringe inducing behavior like this. It's also a lot of it is actually just like. I mean, I remember after Charlie was murdered, you saw like all these nurses and teachers that were women out there celebrating. It's like, I guess it's good that they're on video there for like the FBI to go out and start kicking indoors. But it's like something about, again, this incentive structure in their minds of like, if I do this, I'm a hero and people are gonna give me likes. And it just like reinforces this insane behavior.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it's something that we talked about, like with Jamie Franklin, who started the conservative fashion magazine or whatever. But for decades, largely under the radar of politics in general, you had the entirety of a woman's complex media organization basically radicalizing people.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Yeah, no, I know, because my wife would send me the stuff that she would see, like on reels or whatever.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. I was like, is this real?

[Michael Duncan]

And like, Teen Vogue is essentially just like the communist handbook. It's like, here's how you conduct guerrilla warfare in the United States. I wish that this season's best Molotovs, you know what I mean? What are you doing here?

[Josh Holmes]

When they had that whole thing about how to.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, there's a lot of very inappropriate things.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Shocking.

[Josh Holmes]

Like nothing to do.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Tranny sex, man.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, yeah, that's for teens, too.

[Unnamed Co-host]

It's like Teen Vogue and like on the COVID some guy who chopped his dick off.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Co-host]

You know how brave he is.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. But this is flown past the radar, so we're not. I don't think you can be surprised when all this stuff bubbles up, how these people act. One of the great places for the origin of all this is in San Francisco. Graphic 1. If we can pop this thing up. So it's an Ocean beach protest and They've got Abolish Ice, Right. They put this in people that are around and it's like, wow, that's super creative and super. You know, if you're just seeing this or whatever, you'd be like, wow, that, you know, takes some organization. Well, they didn't count on our producer here, Wolf, who has been around for a while. He knows a thing or two about a thing or two.

[Michael Duncan]

He hangs out in San Francisco a bunch, this guy, Right?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. So this is back in 2007. Graphic 2. So it turns out this thing, it's like there's the time and tested versions of protest, which are basically the exact same, but they're trying to pretend like it's a unique moment.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Oh, yeah, yeah. It's totally organic.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, A unique moment in time. Totally organic. Now is the time that we need to show up and show our Abolish Ice stuff. It turns out it was the same thing in Peach Bush.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Did they make any human signs, you think between the years of, I don't know, 2021-2024, were they fighting the man?

[Josh Holmes]

During the Biden administration, the man was left to be in an old folks home at that point. They left him largely alone.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Can we get that image of the abolish up there again?

[Josh Holmes]

Let's pop up graphic two, if you don't mind.

[Michael Duncan]

So here's the thing is that is a considerable number of people.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Now imagine if instead of trying to do a performer thing, like everyone stand here so we can get a photo of the word abolish there. Or for say, abolish ice. Mission accomplished. If you had those people go, maybe, I don't know, pick up some trash. Because that took what it had to have taken a couple hours to get everyone lined up. And imagine two hours of trying to clean up that city. And you know, San Francisco can be cleaned whenever President XI visits. I mean, that place is spicy. Span.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Yeah, Take all these activists to the Tenderloin and clean up the shit in the ground.

[Michael Duncan]

How about that, folks? If you actually wanted to make a difference. But that's the thing is they don't want to make a difference. They want a picture. They want to put that up on their Instagram. Be like, I was there. I was in the exclamation point. Look at what I've done. I'm a brave hero. They don't actually want to put in the work to make any positive change.

[Josh Holmes]

The theater, that's it.

[Michael Duncan]

It's the theater, kid.

[Josh Holmes]

The theater is everything. Well, we're coming up when we come back, we've got anti ICE protesters and they've taken to manufactured drama on a whole new level both in Minneapolis and everywhere else. We've got a lot more like we had in our first segment right after this.

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[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so welcome back in Minneapolis. You're all very well aware of the unrest that the left has created over simply enforcing the law. But this, I think, goes to a different level than we've, particularly than we've seen almost anywhere outside of Seattle. What was it post George Floyd, where they created the chop thing. Yeah, like that zone or whatever that they did. Well, they're doing this in Minnesota and they're putting up roadblocks for everyday citizens, like everyday people trying to get from one place to another. And apparently they have a database where they can see whether or not there are cars that are registered to like rental cars or whatever that are. They deem to be ICE vehicles versus everybody else. Clip 3 All right, so here, if you're, if you're audio only, what you're seeing is that people put up like crates and here's like just a person trying to drive their suv and they've stopped them using these crates.

[Michael Duncan]

They essentially have roadblocks where they're like, can I see your papers? Can you prove to me that you're not with ice?

[Unnamed Co-host]

They're like shipping pallets.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, they're like shipping pallets, but like all the name of anti fascist behavior. What they're doing is creating checkpoints to check people trying to go to work, people trying to take their kids to a basketball game where they have empowered themselves, in fact, be the fascists.

[Unnamed Co-host]

I've got an idea. Maybe we could like have like some sort of wall between the side of Minneapolis that wants to live in America.

[John Ashbrook]

There you go.

[Unnamed Co-host]

And the other side of the wall could be, like a communist part.

[Josh Holmes]

East West Germany.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Maybe like East West Germany.

[Josh Holmes]

A full Berlin Wall.

[Unnamed Co-host]

I think a Berlin Wall.

[Michael Duncan]

I'm against that. We should not give an inch to these communists. I think what Minneapolis needs is what's needed from the beginning. That's airstrikes. You can eat the airstrikes. There's one cure for Minneapolis. Air strikes in Minneapolis. Yep, that's it. They had their chance. We tried peace. Peace wasn't an option.

[Unnamed Co-host]

I mean, smug is what is right in one regard. We were talking about this in the production meeting. You know, seeing that video, it doesn't make you want to help them.

[Michael Duncan]

No.

[Unnamed Co-host]

You know, because, like, where is. Where are the cops? Like, now we have vigilantes out there taking down people's license plates. These people aren't law enforcement. They're just intimidating and harassing their neighbors. Like, if I'm in my car on the way to work in the morning, just enjoying a nice cup of coffee, and somebody stops me being like, hi, I'm an anti ice protester. Here's my shipping crate. You gotta stop your car so I can write down your license plate. There's gonna be an altercation.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, for sure.

[Unnamed Co-host]

You know?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Co-host]

What are these people doing?

[John Ashbrook]

There was one. I saw one of these checkpoints that had a sign said, please no honking. And if I rolled up to that checkpoint, I'm laying on my horn for as long as I'm sitting at that checkpoint, and then I'm taking a can of orange soup. Like, the lefties put on these works of art and just throw in the orange soup on them and honking my horn at the same time.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude, it's a minor miracle there haven't been more vigilante justice in this circumstance. Like, I know my people.

[Michael Duncan]

No, you don't. Do you?

[Unnamed Co-host]

The ones who got run over, who.

[Michael Duncan]

Are being ruled, they laid down. Oh, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

I think you'd be surprised.

[Michael Duncan]

I really. I am surprised. I'm surprised. They got rolled. And the state is run by Tim Walter.

[Josh Holmes]

They go out to some of those western burbs, certainly outstate.

[Michael Duncan]

And you're going to Ilhan Omar also, just running that state.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, if you're showing up in 100% airstrikes, Cedar Riverside, you got one thing. I mean, I don't know. I just, you know, like, don't blame people if this thing gets ugly when people are doing stuff like that. That's what I'm saying.

[John Ashbrook]

But that's what they want. They want it to get ugly. So they can get more clicks, and so they can get more money from the Chinese or whoever's sending them the money.

[Michael Duncan]

You're not wrong.

[Josh Holmes]

But if you're a government, I'm just.

[John Ashbrook]

Going to say this is a whole. They're trying to, like, bait people into reacting.

[Michael Duncan]

And you're right. And here's the thing is, like, Fox is reporting on all this money coming in from overseas that's been funding these groups of how they have, like, hats and signs all ready to go with the, like, logos for the. For the outfit that has been getting all this money overseas. And what they want to do is. It's pretty much obvious now to every country on earth, you can't take America by force. Good luck. Like, every country on earth combined could try to make it onto the US and it's number one, they'll never take West Virginia, period. Okay? No country can do that. But what they're trying to do is destroy it from within. And what they do is they find these useful idiots like this, and they fund these groups whose entire purpose is to destroy this country, destroy the rule of law, destroy any sense of normalcy or semblance of, like, we aren't even gonna allow people to go to work in the morning. We. We're gonna set up roadblocks. And then to make it in their minds, the thought that, hey, I'm actually a freedom fighter, I'm out here, I'm gonna take a photo of this, I'm gonna put it on social media, and everyone's gonna think I'm a hero.

[John Ashbrook]

It's pathetic, right? And that's where law enforcement is supposed to come in. I'm assuming it's against the law to stand in the middle of a roadway.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, it hundred percent is.

[John Ashbrook]

So rather than allowing this to happen and driving people to the point where they react naturally, and then the Chinese get their picture and they spread it around the Internet to try to draw Americans apart. Like, how about the cops go in and enforce the law? That's already on the books. You're standing in the middle of the road up, you're arrested.

[Michael Duncan]

That reminds me. You know what's really fascinating is, so TikTok in the United States has been taken over by an American entity. American entity now controls TikTok in the United States. And a lot of libs have been complaining. They're like, my anti ice videos aren't putting up the numbers like they did two weeks ago.

[John Ashbrook]

That's very interesting.

[Michael Duncan]

And I've been talking to a lot of computers, computer scientists, and folks who study this stuff and they're like, it's not necessarily an algorithmic change. It's the Chinese were botting views and likes where they're like, oh, you have something that says America sucks. We're gonna make it look like you've got a ton of views and followers to be like, why am I making YouTube videos? I'm gonna go on TikTok because I get way more views and have way more subscribers there. Turns out they were all just made.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Up Chinese bots, which is influencing the reason why they act like theater kids in the first place.

[Josh Holmes]

There you go.

[Michael Duncan]

Bingo.

[Josh Holmes]

No question.

[Unnamed Co-host]

They're like, this gets a ton of attention.

[Michael Duncan]

Think about that. That's insane.

[Josh Holmes]

There also needs to be external motivation, right? I mean if you were convinced that the entirety of law enforcement and everything else was against you or the Hollywood elite, you would probably be more reticent to go try to stop the roads. But you have Tim Walls out saying we're at war with the federal government. You've got a mayor of Minneapolis who's basically told him to get the F out time and time again. There's problems at the leadership front and then in pop culture at the Grammys you get something like this in clip 4. No one is illegal on stolen land.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean you can't make it up.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Oh, so good head bob Sabrina Carpenter. Oh yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Head nodding along.

[Josh Holmes]

Thank you, Billie E. And what's illegal? It's still like dam really hard to know what to say and what to do right now.

[John Ashbrook]

And I just.

[Michael Duncan]

It's probably because it's not your strong sweet feel like we just need to keep thinking is not what you're here for.

[Josh Holmes]

Speaking up and protesting and our, our voices really do matter and the people matter.

[Michael Duncan]

And so, so here's the thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, there she goes, she says, so she says and. And the reason why it. There's a 10 second dump where you.

[John Ashbrook]

Didn'T hear her say, oh, broadcast television.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's cause it's broadcast television. But she then says puts a finer point on what she's talking about. Fuck ice.

[Michael Duncan]

So she's like, I don't know what to say. Cause thinking is not her strong suit when she says that no one's illegal on stolen land. Well if there's no border, then I think Christopher Columbus has as much of a right to be here as anyone else. What are you talking about, stolen land?

[Unnamed Co-host]

That's the thing that's the funniest about the logic of the no one's illegal on stolen land. So you don't care about borders, but you care about the borders of what, the Iroquois Confederacy?

[Michael Duncan]

You know what I mean?

[Josh Holmes]

Only some people's borders matter. As long as they're not the United States of America, those borders matter.

[Michael Duncan]

Conveniently, these Hollywood people, they're not thinkers. Here's the thing is, they're not philosophers. They're not good at anything other than, okay, the mic's on. Sing into that. All right. But in terms of your original thoughts, that's not what you're here for. There's a reason you're not a policymaker. You're the gal on the screen who just sings when she's told to sing.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay?

[Michael Duncan]

And when you go outside, it's like, you know, no one's asking me to do brain surgery because that's not what I do, okay? Like, everybody knows this. So you think she walks in, she probably thinks she could do brain surgery. Like, the amount of attention going to these people needlessly has turned them into thinking, you know what? Everyone needs to hear my stupid ideas. And, like, who still watches the Grammys to begin with?

[Josh Holmes]

I didn't know it existed until all these clips bubbled up on Monday.

[Michael Duncan]

Like, the only way I know they had an award show is there's a compilation of people making themselves look like idiots the following morning. You know, that's the only reason that they exist anymore, I think.

[John Ashbrook]

Like, you know how they do these tours out at Beverly Hills where you can ride around in a bus and see the stars homes. I think what she just did was invite everybody into her house. You could stay as long as you want.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, a house that resides on stolen land. Yeah, a house that resides, by the way, on stolen land. Land. As she. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to relinquish the $14.5 million estate that she resides on if Cherokee decided to just lay claim to it.

[Michael Duncan]

Is that legit? She's got a 15 mil house.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, dude. She's a big star. I mean, that's what these people are. But you have to. You have to think about this both.

[Michael Duncan]

In terms of my Marxist brother, Stormer house. Take it back. $15 million house. Take it brick by brick.

[John Ashbrook]

You're not illegal.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Stolen land. Stolen land.

[Michael Duncan]

Stolen land. $15 million house. Take that house from her.

[Josh Holmes]

It's stolen land. So you look around the crowd, not a lot of political types at the Grammys. You know, there's leftists in terms of actors and producers. It's a leftist town, and leftists do what they do out there. But, like, not A lot of political folks. Whoa, hold on. We noticed one. Clip 5 I just want to say congratulations.

[Unnamed Co-host]

This is a special one to first time Grammy nominee.

[Josh Holmes]

Who's in the house here? Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

[Unnamed Co-host]

That's right.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Come on.

[Josh Holmes]

She was nominated in the audiobook category. Of course she was.

[John Ashbrook]

Category.

[Josh Holmes]

What that means for the first time.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Ever, if you lose a Grammy, you.

[Josh Holmes]

Can appeal directly to the Supreme Court. Dude. I mean, look, we went through a whole, I guess it was two weeks ago when we were talking about all those arguments before the cerebral court, like men and women's bathrooms and all that stuff and how she just didn't understand anything.

[Michael Duncan]

I was like, what's her audiobook titled? I Just don't understand spoken word album. Just like three hours of I Don't Understand.

[Josh Holmes]

What a classic example of what modern Hollywood has become. When you're in a situation where you're like, yep, Kentanji Brown Jackson has got the audiobook of the year.

[Unnamed Co-host]

I mean, it's just a banger.

[Michael Duncan]

What I think it says a lot about the Supreme Court. I think it says a lot that Ketanji Brown Jackson is a Supreme Court justice. My faith in that institution, it's like, what are we doing here? Who's picking these judges? Who's allowing this? Like, you know what I mean? Like, Ketanji Brown Jackson is a Supreme Court justice chuckling it up at the Grammys. And day after day it's like we will have some city council judge being like, I don't think the president can do this. Putting a stay on that order. It's unbelievable what happened to this country. Essentially it's just like some communist city councilman judge.

[Josh Holmes]

This is like the most intentionally deceptive, outrageous argument.

[Michael Duncan]

Wow, someone's standing up for it. Well, I mean, the truth, that kind of thing.

[Josh Holmes]

There is a problem with local judges and Soros prosecutors and Soros judges anywhere jails can't solve. But we do have six, three on the Supreme Court. Turns out she's not in a majority.

[Michael Duncan]

And then it takes, first off, it takes like six months for one of these city council judge cases where they'll put a stay on something like, like this illegal, murdered and raped 47 people. And then the city council judge is like, nope, no deportation. Bring them back. It's a Maryland man I love brought back. It's going to be six months if we're lucky that it gets to Supreme Court.

[Unnamed Co-host]

I love that he created a new part of the federal judiciary called city council judge.

[Michael Duncan]

It's a Mickey Mouse jud some Mickey Mouse judge. Like the district judge from Beverly Hills says, you're not allowed to send this illegal rapist. And if we're lucky, within a year it makes it to the Supreme Court. Probably doesn't. But then the guy's left back in the country and it's just like, we have to deal with this. Enough's enough.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Well, we don't have to deport him now. We can just put him up in Billie Eilish's house.

[Josh Holmes]

No, no, it's all good, Solani.

[Michael Duncan]

Not out of support, but just in.

[Josh Holmes]

Case you thought Ketanji Brown Jackson was only there at the Grammys just because of her delightful nomination. Well, it turns out she's got a little bit of a history with the theater. Clip 5A Ah, yay.

[Michael Duncan]

There she is, acting. Oh my God. I think what I like about it is that I am having a very.

[Josh Holmes]

Strongly negative reaction to it.

[Michael Duncan]

Like, I hate it, which makes me.

[Josh Holmes]

Think it must be brilliant.

[Michael Duncan]

I hate that so much.

[Josh Holmes]

That was her in a Broadway comedy, Juliet in 2024. Like, lest you think for a that this was pre Supreme Court, she decided as a Supreme Court justice to go get on a Broadway play.

[Michael Duncan]

And it's important to note that the Senate confirms these people. I'm sure it was a good one. The Senate in its infinite wisdom was like, you know what? She's the right material for the Supreme Court and they voted her in.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't think any one of our people voted for her.

[Michael Duncan]

That's unbelievable. Something that's gotta be done about the Senate too. You know, it's one thing to allow this kind of thing to happen. Did you see that clip? I hate that, like liberal kind of like reddity, you know what I mean? Where she was like, well, that's the thing is, I think I'm kind of against this. It's like, how old are you, lady? How old are you, lady? You're trying to talk like some like 20 year old with a mental disorder. And then they later on the Supreme.

[Josh Holmes]

Court, the mental disorders are starting to present themselves here in the realist variety program. I agree with your take on her. I think she was a partisan confirmation. I'm virtually certain of it.

[Michael Duncan]

We gotta get rid of the filibuster, honestly.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, that's the opposite of that. And SAVE Act.

[Michael Duncan]

Let's pass the SAVE act.

[Josh Holmes]

Take care of all that. Well, anyway, that's. I mean, look, dude, the theater thing is a problem and you see it play out in like communities around you where there's all these liberal folk they have no idea what it is that they're arguing for or against. They just know that they're angry and they have to be flamboyant about it.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, I genuinely hope that now that the Chinese aren't in control of TikTok America, that kind of like carrot that was out there for this behavior starts getting dulled a little bit.

[John Ashbrook]

At the very least, dude, I think that just frees up their money for another avenue.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And I think that every single one of these protesters is like, well, yahtzee, there's a chance for even more money than we ever imagined because they're not paying for this way. They're going to pay for it another way. And I feel like it's only going to get worse.

[Michael Duncan]

That's horrific.

[Josh Holmes]

But do you think it is? I mean, who watches that? And they're like, oh, that's inspiration.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Co-host]

It's not exactly persuasive.

[Josh Holmes]

Right.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Although I guess, you know, to black pill for a second, like, this is what they did in 2020 and it all worked out for them, man.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, well, they had to change all the voting rules and everything.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

To make it work out for them.

[Unnamed Co-host]

But they got a dementia patient elected president, United States.

[Josh Holmes]

That's true.

[Unnamed Co-host]

And they did it through doing a lot of the stuff that they're doing now.

[Josh Holmes]

They did. And they're counting on an ambivalence amongst the sane people in this country who critically think that. They think somehow, well, everything's fine and we're not worried about it. So we don't really need to get engaged and go out to vote and do all these things.

[Michael Duncan]

You're not wrong, dude.

[John Ashbrook]

No vote is illegal on stolen land.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the next step.

[Unnamed Co-host]

That's coming next.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the next step.

[Josh Holmes]

Well said. So question of the day, when you like and subscribe to the ruthless variety program, we ask you a question, we get back to you with your responses in the very next episode. This particular question is, what is driving the left's theater kid problem? Is it the social media thing? Might be. Is it just like a screw loose? I mean, it could be that too. Mass scale mental problems, combination of screws not fitting with whatever and social media. I don't know, it could be a whole bunch of things. And when we come back, we're going to get to your comments from last episode where we asked, how are you celebrating America 250. That was from Philadelphia. Great time with Jaws and the crew in Philly. Thank you for everybody for coming out. But we asked you how are you going to celebrate? We got some ideas and I know you do. Right after this. It is the 250th birthday of this great country in the United States of America. And we asked you in our question of the day, how are you celebrating your answers? We read every single one. When you like and subscribe. And to do that, we always start with a voice.

[John Ashbrook]

First one comes from Soapy, who writes, I'm using my wonderful experience as an 11 year old in 1976 during the bicentennial to educate those in my hometown newspaper and also online about the miracle that is the founding of America.

[Announcer/Reporter]

That's awesome.

[Josh Holmes]

So be well done. Absolutely right.

[Michael Duncan]

What were you doing during the bicentennial? Acting.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, I wasn't alive during the bicentennial.

[Michael Duncan]

First grandchildren celebrating. First grandchild.

[John Ashbrook]

I do have an aunt. I do have an aunt who wrote a poem about the bicentennial. She wrote the bicentennial is my centennial and yours.

[Michael Duncan]

That's really it.

[Josh Holmes]

He was minting the quarters.

[John Ashbrook]

That's right.

[Michael Duncan]

That's right.

[John Ashbrook]

That's why I'm so wealthy and I'm sitting on the stage with you guys.

[Josh Holmes]

Comment2Dunks.

[Unnamed Co-host]

This is from Sam Kalos. Sam writes, how am I going to celebrate America 250? By doing all of the things that my Papua did. Both Greek immigrants who came in the mid early 1900s.

[John Ashbrook]

Wow.

[Unnamed Co-host]

I'm going to love every minute of this year. Thanking God that I get to be alive in this day and in this time. I am grateful to the heroes that have kept us free and those like you guys who are teaching a nation of grateful conservatives. God bless America.

[Michael Duncan]

I like.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Very nice.

[Michael Duncan]

That's very kind.

[Josh Holmes]

And you notice how Sam threw in like you guys, so smug. Couldn't come. Come back at the Greeks.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, the Greeks are actually pretty great people.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't have any problems with Greeks.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, their food is pretty terrific.

[Unnamed Co-host]

I love how he mentions it like it was up in the air.

[Michael Duncan]

Many people are asking questions about these Greeks. Terrific dining.

[John Ashbrook]

The Greeks get no respect.

[Michael Duncan]

They really don't. They get super underrated.

[John Ashbrook]

There's a giant movie coming out this summer. I don't know if you guys saw it.

[Unnamed Co-host]

The Odyssey.

[John Ashbrook]

The Odyssey.

[Michael Duncan]

I think it's going to be woke. I'm terrified.

[John Ashbrook]

Dude, there's not a single Greek cast in the entire movie.

[Josh Holmes]

What?

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Can you believe that?

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. The Greeks, they have like a Zendaya, but it's like we can't find a Greek guy. Go to astoria. There's like 50 guys. You can get for that movie in 10 minutes.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, our boy Harry is going to be delighted to see the smugs come down on the side of the Greeks.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Shout out to Harry, yeah, seriously, Opa.

[Josh Holmes]

Nothing but olive.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, their food is terrific.

[John Ashbrook]

They make a great salad.

[Michael Duncan]

It's a great place to visit. There's a stark difference because lots of people, people are like, what's the difference between a Greek and an Italian? Well, one cares about their culture. You go to Athens, they got museum after museum. If you want to learn about the history of the Greeks, you go to Rome, they're like, no. You see, a bunch of Italians stole all the shit. We have nothing. Okay, Who'd expected Italians were criminals, right? I was just as surprised.

[Unnamed Co-host]

I think Harry was like, if you want to find all the marble from the Colosseum Coliseum, you have to go to all the houses around the area.

[Michael Duncan]

That's not a joke. Yeah, that's true. That's crazy.

[Josh Holmes]

It's wild. All right, Spock. Comment 3.

[Michael Duncan]

Comment 3 comes from Andrew Turner. Andrew writes, what I'm doing for America's 250 is loving the American way. Gonna buy more ammo, hold the line, and own the lids.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, Andrew, there it is. That's a base deal.

[John Ashbrook]

I love that.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, so listen, we're gonna get to some variety after this. And I gotta brace you just for a minute.

[Michael Duncan]

It's a bit out of control.

[Josh Holmes]

There's some good stuff in here, the kind of stuff that gets the fellas going. If you're at a point in the program where the kids are still in the car, perhaps you want to listen to this after you've dropped them off. Right after this. Okay, so this is the variety that I'd warned you about. I will say that during the break, Wolf had protestations about what he felt like was artistic authorship of a tease into this that I felt the need to warn children. He did not.

[Michael Duncan]

So I think it's always wild when the guys behind the camera try telling the ones in front how to do their job.

[Josh Holmes]

But I feel now compelled.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Now let's read the tease.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. An errant chair takes out a man just trying to have a good time. Can a big, bold new leader in the Democratic party help erect a winning coalition ahead of the midterms? And Florida is at it again. We have the clips right after this.

[Unnamed Co-host]

It's a good tease.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, Very well written.

[Michael Duncan]

I pick Holmes's.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, no, it's not. It's well. But here's the thing. You can't take that tease Back after you hear the context to which we're talking about erecting and we're talking about just trying to have a good time and things like that.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Are you implying that erecting was a double entendre?

[Josh Holmes]

A double entendre?

[Unnamed Co-host]

It was too subtle.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, well, I'm just telling you about what we're going to get into.

[Unnamed Co-host]

You needed a harder teeth. What?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Okay, that's it. Harder, harder. Sturdier. Ds, something that lasted a little longer.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Oh, God.

[Josh Holmes]

Anyway, so in the first one. This is about a bar fight. First of all, if you get into a bar fight in Australia, look out. These people are not to be trifled with. They kick the shit out of kangaroos.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, we've seen it with our own eyes.

[John Ashbrook]

It's a pretty colony, for crying out.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, they're the offspring of criminal.

[Josh Holmes]

Exactly.

[Michael Duncan]

Maybe even more so than Italians.

[Josh Holmes]

This. But you really have to level up your game when you're talking about a strip club fight. And that's what we have here in clip 6. When you've got two friends who have gotten tossed out of a strip club in Melbourne.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Melbourne, yeah, sure.

[Josh Holmes]

It doesn't go well.

[Michael Duncan]

Clip six, A chair thrown outside hits.

[Announcer/Reporter]

A man in the head and he goes down hard. It happened here around 9:20.

[Michael Duncan]

The wild thing is the bouncer laughs in the city. Did you see that?

[Josh Holmes]

I could find out why the man.

[Announcer/Reporter]

And a mate had been inside but were thrown out.

[Michael Duncan]

One of them grabbed a chair from.

[Announcer/Reporter]

A restaurant next door despite staff and customers there trying to stop him. And it's suspected he was trying to throw it at security at the front door. It hit his mate in the head. He recovered reasonably quickly, got up and walked away. It's understood no one rang police or an ambulance. We'll have full details.

[Michael Duncan]

Is that another ability Australians have is they can't get concussions like the Irish? I heard the Irish can't get concussions. But it's also like. Because, like, I would be concerned. That looks like a medical situation. You see that chair hit that dude Attack.

[Josh Holmes]

He bounced right back. He bounced right back. So, I mean, if you couldn't tell from the broadcast, what happened is that these two guys who are basically in uniform, khakis, in a light blue shirt. Yeah, button up. You know, they were like, we're gonna go in uniform tonight to the strip club. Well, they got tossed out for, you know, who knows what some kind of a nefarious.

[Michael Duncan]

Did it seem like it was still light out? Is this like a 3pm visit to.

[Josh Holmes]

This or it could be well lit. We don't know the circumstances. But what we do know is that they both. They both got. They both got tossed out. And one gentleman was particularly incensed by that. Grabbed a chair and tried to throw it at the people who threw him out. Ended up knocking his buddy out entirely, although he seemed to bounce back.

[Michael Duncan]

No concussion again. I guess it's Australians and the Irish can't get concussions.

[Josh Holmes]

They didn't ring the authorities.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Well, if you think, jeez, that just.

[Michael Duncan]

Was so much force.

[Announcer/Reporter]

That is serious.

[John Ashbrook]

Right into the occipital lobe. The guy should be blind.

[Unnamed Co-host]

If you think the buddy regrets throwing the chair into his friend, think about when their wives see this on television.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, man, you're probably throwing more than that around inside the club. Which is probably why they got injected in the first place. Well, anyway, so that's what's happening in Australia. Moving on. This is right here in the United States of America, in the great state of Illinois, where there is a Senate race that's happening. And, well, one of the candidates. What's this guy's name?

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, my God, look at the endorsement.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Raja Morthy.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, He's a member of the House, right?

[Unnamed Co-host]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

So he's running to replace Dick Durbin. Quite a contentious Democratic primary. And so he decides he wants to put out the county chairs of his great campaign. And he puts up on axe a slate cart. Right. These are the people who endorse me. Have a look at this bad boy. Graphic three. Jim Eason.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

All right. Shawna Ryder. And that makes sense. Betty Murphy. Henry. That's fine. Chair Dick Bigger Jr. Of Henderson County.

[Michael Duncan]

Son of Dick Bigger.

[John Ashbrook]

Right. There's two of them now, and there better be three. I hope to God that guy names his son iii.

[Josh Holmes]

We have to break this down in.

[Michael Duncan]

Several ways of Dick Biggers, but. So he's running against who? He's running against Durbin.

[Josh Holmes]

No, no, this was in Durban's vacant. He's retired.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Open seat.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's an open seat.

[Michael Duncan]

It's like highlighter. There can be only one Dick. It's either Durban or Bigger.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Apparently. There could be multiple.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Dick gets Dick bigger.

[Josh Holmes]

He gets bigger and bigger.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Well, I also.

[Josh Holmes]

Generations go on.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Well, I like Bigger Junior because it's sort of like an oxymoron. Like a jumbo shrimp.

[Michael Duncan]

Like a Whopper.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Like a Whopper Jr.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Bigger chicken.

[Josh Holmes]

But his son is going to be bigger the third, you know, so then it goes back the other way.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Oh, it goes back.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. It's like incredible. 3x the dick bigger. But can you imagine putting like unironically.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Can't just put Richard.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, sure, but what I want to know is what was that kid's experience like going through school? Because it might be like the Chad Wolf thing where everyone's like, whoa, this guy's. He means business, you know, this is a Dick Bigger guy.

[Announcer/Reporter]

It's a hard name.

[Michael Duncan]

He's not the guy you mess around with around here.

[Josh Holmes]

You don't want to fuck around with Dick Bing.

[Michael Duncan]

He's, like, known for one thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Everyone knows what Dick Big.

[Michael Duncan]

They literally named him.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, but I think he deserved. In the end, I think he deserved his own slate card. If you're going to announce an endorsement from a guy named Dick Bigger Jr.

[Michael Duncan]

The Junior, he needs to.

[Josh Holmes]

He can't be buried.

[Michael Duncan]

He should have stepped up. He should be running for the seat.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Can you imagine if I were the dad, I'd be like, so you didn't think you had it in you? You're out here endorsing people. I gave you that name. You bout to none.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that's the second part that is worth conversation that we had. We first saw this, which is like, hats off to Dick Bigger sr.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, you passing that down the chain, he should run for Senate. You think anyone sees that name on the ballot and doesn't vote for it? Like, Landslide.

[Josh Holmes]

Wait, hold on, you guys. We have clips from Dick Bigger Jr. Outtakes.

[Michael Duncan]

No way.

[Josh Holmes]

I didn't even know we had this. Clip 7. Susanna Mendoza.

[Michael Duncan]

Come on, dude, that is him.

[Josh Holmes]

This tiny lady. This tiny lady got rid. This tiny lady got rid of Illinois's huge unpaid backlog.

[John Ashbrook]

Come on.

[Josh Holmes]

Backlogs, Backlog.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean.

[Michael Duncan]

All right, well, so the blood's not flowing to his skull, right? You don't get a name like that. Like, he's not there for his thoughts, you know, like I was talking about the Hollywood types. We all know what he's known for, but he's got one job. He's got a blood pressure issue going north.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Co-host]

You don't have to be smooth or have charisma when your name's Dick Bigger.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. Hold on.

[Josh Holmes]

Pop this thing back up. I gotta see it one more time. I gotta see this cat one more time.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, is that.

[Josh Holmes]

Is he in overalls?

[Michael Duncan]

This is one.

[Josh Holmes]

Hell yes, he is.

[Michael Duncan]

You gotta see this in video, folks. This Tiny Lee, this is the guy. Why would he not run? Vote for the Bigger Dick. Like, this is the easiest thing to do.

[Josh Holmes]

Get rid of Illinois, Huge unpaid backlog.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. These are their first thoughts.

[Josh Holmes]

And you imagine him with just a pure voiceover. Dick Bigger.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, that's the other thing. It's like, you know, he's coasting off his dad's work, like.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, the patriarch bigger Dick, who handed everything to him, and now he won't even run for the seat himself.

[Josh Holmes]

It's outrageous.

[Michael Duncan]

Outrageous. A real waste of a name.

[Josh Holmes]

Waste. A waste of a name. All right, so you guys want some animal news?

[Michael Duncan]

Always.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, so you can apparently collect iguanas. They're a bit of an invasive species in the great state of Florida. Yeah, I don't know if it's gotten to the point where it's like those pythons or whatever.

[Michael Duncan]

Santa said you can kill those on site.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

You'll pay cash for those pythons.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Iguanas and New Yorkers.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, the three invasive spaces. I like that. That's fair.

[Josh Holmes]

And there's sort of an eastern coastal issue when it comes to the latter. But anyway, it turns out it's been pretty cold in Florida. Unseasonably cold in Florida. And now they've got these things cold, stunned. Clip eight this morning, guys.

[Michael Duncan]

I'm cold, stunned myself.

[Josh Holmes]

Look at this. Right now. We just saw a couple more groups of people, handfuls of everyone. I can't even count how many iguanas are right there. This is Florida's like another.

[Michael Duncan]

Truly another country.

[Josh Holmes]

You know what I mean? To help remove invasive.

[Michael Duncan]

Just tossing them, too. Just pile them up, bro.

[Josh Holmes]

People showing up here at this.

[Michael Duncan]

You can make boots out of these, guys, can't you? That's what I'm saying.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Throwing them away.

[Josh Holmes]

Look at that.

[Michael Duncan]

Just bins full of these dudes, if you will.

[Josh Holmes]

This is a me today.

[Michael Duncan]

I love this, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

Cold snap. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

[Michael Duncan]

Says people, they look like dinosaurs, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

Live stunned iguanas from their properties once upside down.

[Michael Duncan]

It's an amazing place. It really is.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, so I'm assuming people get, like, a pretty penny for those things.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, I would think so. I would think so. So they're knocked out, or is it just, like, dunzo, like.

[Unnamed Co-host]

No, they're just equals.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Duds.

[Unnamed Co-host]

They're just stunned. They're stunned because, I mean, they're cold.

[Michael Duncan]

They were, like, knocked out. Like, he was tossing them around the bin and they're still not moving.

[John Ashbrook]

What do you think they do with them boots? Collect, I think.

[Michael Duncan]

Boots.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Hopefully. Boots.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm hoping they're boots. Probably not good eating.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Probably not good eating.

[Josh Holmes]

No, not only that, but you don't want somebody putting them in an aquarium or something and then re releasing them.

[Michael Duncan]

That's why I'm always against that nonsense.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, it's always weird when you.

[Josh Holmes]

See people that are like collector. Collectors of reptiles.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, well, that's it. But also I always oppose catch and release, like in all the flash. Well, especially fishing. Like if I caught the damn thing, it's going home with me. Like, period. Like, I hate these laws of places that they're like, oh, no. See, the fun part is putting them back in. No, it's not. Dude, I had to wait hours to catch this guy. He's gone. I lie to him, I lie to him, I throw him in the cooler.

[Unnamed Co-host]

We're gonna have fish and game wardens up our ass.

[Josh Holmes]

Our resident angling king got the.

[Michael Duncan]

We learned over four years what happens to catch and release. We don't need the fish and game wardens to do that.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I don't know what our next guest did to deserve all of this, but he's going to give us a good sense of where the midterms are on the House side, which will complete the federal side of the midterms. Chairman Hudson.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Well, I want to welcome to the program a guy who's a great friend of the program and now is going to be serving as a two time chairman of the nrcc. Congressman from the great state of North Carolina, Richard Hudson. How are you?

[Announcer/Reporter]

Hey, doing great. Great to be back with you.

[Michael Duncan]

This is great.

[Unnamed Co-host]

And you brought us tribute. We don't have it on currently, but some great Peter Millar golf shirts. We always appreciate that sort of thing around here.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Well, my congressional district has not only Fort Bragg, the largest army base in the world, but also has Pinehurst, the cradle of American golf. And so I brought you a Pinehurst US Open. So I hope you'll think of us finally.

[John Ashbrook]

It was very kind of you.

[Unnamed Co-host]

I didn't see an invite to play in there, but I guess that's coming.

[Announcer/Reporter]

We'll see how the program goes.

[Unnamed Co-host]

So, I mean, you got a tough task here. A midterm where history shows it's difficult for the party in power. But you've done this job now twice. And we're sort of chatting before the show. Everybody looks back to 2018 and the fear being obviously that the House would flip to Democrat. But the atmospherics have sort of changed this midterm compared to then. Can you kind of explain that to folks?

[Announcer/Reporter]

Sure. And 2018 was Donald Trump's first midterm. And typically in the first midterm the president has or the party has the White House loses a lot of seats in the legislature. A lot of that's, I think, electric, getting to know the new person and who knows? But, you know, this ain't your usual president in a midterm. I mean, this is Donald Trump. Everybody knows Donald Trump. I think everybody's made up their mind whether they like him or don't like him. And I think, you know, if you look at how he came back to power, it was pretty unique in American history. You know, you had four years of Donald Trump followed by four years of Joe Biden. So completely different philosophy, completely different set of policies, took the country in a completely different direction. And then we had a referendum election where the American people got to choose. Which one of the two do you want for the next four years?

[Unnamed Co-host]

Right.

[Announcer/Reporter]

I don't know if we've ever had that kind of situation. And, you know, 77 million Americans said, we want Donald Trump back. And by the way, he ran on some pretty specific policies. And so I think there's a mandate there. And I think the fact that the Congress delivered almost its entire domestic agenda in the working families tax cut, the reconciliation bill, I think gives us an opportunity to go back to the voters and say, hey, look, you asked us to do this. Here's what we've delivered. Give us another two years. And so I think that's unique then. I think if you look at the battleground, as it were, for the midterms, this is not like 2018. In 2018, you had 25 Republicans sitting in seats that were carried by Hillary Clinton. This case, there's only seven Republicans in seats that Kamala Harris carried, Whereas Democrats have 13 seats that Donald Trump carried that are currently held by Democrat in Congress. And then another 21 seats that Donald Trump barely lost by 5,000 votes or less. So as you look at the seats that are up for grabs, the majority of them are Republican seats held by Democrats.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Yeah, the map has certainly shifted in that regard. But a struggle that we've had in those midterms in the Trump years is getting the Donald Trump base out to vote in a midterm. You talked about the working families tax cut and delivering on the president's promises. You look at any poll, agree or disagree with the president, they believe he has fulfilled build the agenda that he set out to do in that election. How do we take that message to those Trump voters and get them to turn out in this midterm?

[Announcer/Reporter]

Well, it's a challenge. What we're finding is that bill had so much in it that it's hard to talk about it. When you ask in a poll, do you like the big beautiful bill? Most people don't know what's in it and you don't get good numbers. But if you talk about increasing the child tax credit, making it permanent, that's very popular. You talk about the Trump accounts that are being, you know, they've got a big event today talking about those. Very popular. If you talk about, you know, even things like fully funding, updating our air traffic control system, that was in the bill. Very popular. So our challenge is communicating to the American people what we actually did. And I think you put your finger on it, Our biggest challenge for holding the House majority is turnout. You know, midterm. Our voters typically don't turn out. Our voters are lower propensity than the Democrats base voters. And as you mentioned, when Donald Trump's not on the ballot, it's hard to get those Trump voters out. And look, I don't need all of them, but I need some of them. So that is our biggest challenge. But I think the fact that we know that going in, and again, our biggest secret weapon is Donald Trump. He understands the importance of this midterm to have another two years, to have a full four years to enact his agenda. He knows that if we lose the House majority, a Speaker, Hakeem Jeffries or whoever socialist they anoint, in that case, they're going to impeach the president. They're going to impeach his cabinet the whole time. They're going to tie up his agenda in knots. And so the president is very committed to being successful in helping us. And I think he will be critical for us getting our message out and for getting those voters to turn out.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, I don't disagree with that at all. And I mean, I'm really encouraged to hear how closely you're working with the President, President to try to turn out these lower propensity Trump voters. I think that's going to be key. You mentioned battleground districts. And I know there are so many out there and people who are watching trying to figure out what's, what are the, what are the ones that we need to watch? Where, where is it going to be close? Where's the, where are the good races? What's interesting? So I wonder if you could just walk us through a couple of, couple of races that everybody in the audience should be paying attention to.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Sure. Well, one we're really excited about is Maine, too. That's most of the state of Maine. This is a district that President Trump has carried historically. The incumbent, though, is Jared Golden, Democrat. He's one of these guys that drives a pickup truck at home and talks the talk and then comes to Washington votes with the AOCs.

[John Ashbrook]

I don't have a whole lot of patience.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Yeah. But he snuck by last time, even though Trump won the district by 10 points. But we now have the former Governor Paul LePage, who's a very popular two term governor, as our nominee. And after three straight polls showing Governor LePage beating Jared Golden, Jared Goldin all of a sudden surprised, decided not to run for reelection.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Announcer/Reporter]

So we wish him well in whatever his future endeavors are, I think, which will be a recurring theme. I think it was also important to note that he got a challenge in the primary from the left and we're seeing a lot of that. I mean, the Democrats are in an absolute civil war right now. But, but Maine too, with Paul LePage in an open seat. We feel really good about it. Marcy captor, Ohio 9. This is another one. It's been tough, you know, and Donald Trump carried that district by 10 points. But Marcy barely won. She was, but we got her below 50% and the margin of her victory was about the same as the Libertarian candidate got so very, very close call last time. We have a, we have four credible candidates in a primary now. I think any one of those we can win. So that's one to definitely keep an eye on. In Texas, we got a couple districts down the rio Grande Valley, Texas 34, the incumbents of Cinte Gonzalez. This is another seat that, you know, in the old, old lines, before Texas redrew, Trump won by five. In the new district, he would win by 11. And we have one of the most exciting candidates in America. And Eric Flores, He's a former U.S. attorney, made a name for himself by going after the cartels, which I think is a great counterbalance to Gonzalez. But he's been endorsed by the president, so we feel really good about him picking up that seat. Then right, right next door, you've got Texas 28, Henry Cuellar. There's been a little talk about Henry. The old map, Trump won that district by six. In the new map, he'd win about 11. And we've got a great candidate with Tano Tiarina, who's a former major league baseball player. He's county judge. And folks who don't know a lot about Texas government, county judge is a big deal. It's kind of like the county manager, the chairman of the county commission, a whole bunch of things wrapped into one.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Playing Ball and making law.

[Michael Duncan]

Wow.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Oh, there we go. We got, we got our bumper sticker.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Yeah, take that one back to the district.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Write that down. But Tono's. Tono's a lifelong Democrat, but because of what he's seen with the border and other things, he switched parties and now runs a Republican.

[John Ashbrook]

Interesting.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Yeah, he's a handsome guy.

[Unnamed Co-host]

It doesn't hurt.

[Announcer/Reporter]

That doesn't hurt. So that's one we're really excited about. And the last one I'd throw at you is California 13. This is Adam Gray, Democrat, incumbent. This district changed a little bit, but our, our candidate, Kevin Lincoln is a former Republican mayor of Stockton, which is the major city in this district. He's again, Democrat city. He was a very popular Republican mayor. He's African American, Hispanic. He's a Marine. He's got a beautiful family. Kevin Lincoln's a great candidate for us, and we feel like that's an opportunity for us. You know, California thinks they took five. I think we hold two incumbents and we pick up 13. Wow.

[Unnamed Co-host]

That'd be huge. Do you expect more, do you expect more Democratic retirements as we kind of get further along in the calendar year here? I mean. Cause you've mentioned a couple of these folks who either barely squeaked by in a Trump district or, you know, there's been redistricting in a lot of these places where maybe they look at the writing on the wall and they retire.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Yeah, it's very possible. And if you look at, there's been a lot of retirements, but given historic numbers, not really that high.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Yeah.

[Announcer/Reporter]

The good news for us is the Republican retirements have all been pretty much safe seats. We've got a couple Don Bacon seat in Nebraska. It's one of the three seats that Kamala Harris carried before all the redistricting. But, you know, that, that's one is tough. John James running for governor of Michigan. His district, it's a Trump district, but it's, you know, it's not a slam dunk district for us. So it's one we're going to have to go fight. But we've got really good candidates in both. Whereas on the Democrat side, you know, a lot of their open seats are causing them real problems. Yeah. And, and I would just add, going back to what I said before, they're in a civil war in their party, fighting to see who can be the craziest left. And a lot of these seats, like Gabe Evans in Colorado, eight great Republican freshmen, very tough district, swing district, northern suburbs of Denver. But their Democrat primary is like a clown car of socialists. I mean, they're fighting to see who can be the most, like Che Guevara or something. I don't, I mean, and so whoever they nominate is going to be almost unelectable.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, I think it's really important that you mention that because Dem civil war is something that we haven't seen in this country in quite some time. And they're fighting it out in the open. And like you say, they're fighting to try to be who's the most, most socialist, who's the most communist. And it's really an X factor for this midterm that hasn't quite been tested yet. They didn't have the same Civil war dynamic in 2018 as much as we tried to push it and talk about how, oh, okay, there are primaries on the Democratic side. Nobody would ever write it. And it's not that people are writing it, the Washington reporters who are all Democrats. It's not that they're writing it now. It's that it's actually real. It's actually they're having fist fights on their side. And, and it seems like, you know, we talk about turnout on our side, but those kinds of fistfights are probably going to drain turnout on their side if, if half of their party isn't happy with who was dominated.

[Announcer/Reporter]

That's right. Yeah, I think that's definitely true. And, you know, another seat where that's true is in Washington state. You know, the blues camp Perez, you know, she's left, is very mad at her right now, very mad at her. And so how enthusiastic are they going to be turning out? And that's another seat that Donald Trump wins. You know, we've, we're still soaring down our primary, but I think we'll have a good candidate. And you know, that, that's one where I think their, their split in their party is going to really hurt them.

[John Ashbrook]

I want to ask you, just, just turning a little bit toward redistricting. I know there's been a lot of talk about that, a lot of stories written about Texas or California or Indiana or Virginia. Where do, where do we stand on redistricting as of now? Because people have seen these disparate stories written about individual states, but I don't think they quite have a full understanding of what it means for the map as a whole. You know, rumors about Maryland, rumors about Virginia, and there's some court cases down there. Wonder if you could just set the table for everybody on where we are Today, January of 2026, after a year of redistricting fight.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Yeah, it's, I'll start by saying what my idea, nobody asked my opinion and I had no role in any of the redistricting. But you look at California, you know, they, they tried to draw five new Democrat seats. I think at best they'll net two or three. But I think we've got a real opportunity there to, to hold two and pick up one. Texas, we picked up five seats. North Carolina, we picked up a seat. You know, we've got, there's, there's a. Ohio, you know, we made a couple of those seats better, including Ohio, nine got a little bit better for us. You know, Maryland is kind of up in the air, but the Senate president's been pretty, He's a Democrat strong. He's a Democrat. And he has said the map that they're considering today is unconstitutional. I mean, he's not minced words. And so, you know, even if the Maryland House kind of caves under the pressure from Hakeem Jeffries, I don't see the Senate doing that. I don't know how they walk it back. And the interesting thing about Maryland is, you know, they tried this two years ago and we beat them in the Democrat Maryland Supreme Court. And the arguments that the justice used for why they turned down their map, you could apply to the current map. And so if they open this can of worms, I'm going to file a countersuit and see if we can get a second seat in Maryland, because I think their current map by their Democrat justice own test is unconstitutional as well. So if they want to, they want to play, we're going to come right back at them. But we'll see in Virginia, we won a great court case this week. You know, what the Virginia Democrats were trying to do didn't pass the laugh test. Their Constitution says an intervening election has to occur between a map being produced and a map going into. And they, the Democrats in Virginia were trying to claim that this, there was a special session two, three years ago that apparently never got gaveled out. So they were claiming, oh, this is part of that special session. And, and the judge kind of left him out of court.

[Unnamed Co-host]

I gotta appreciate that. That's sort of novel.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Yeah. Like it was a novel argument, but, but not a, not a legal argument.

[John Ashbrook]

There's a chance in Florida.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Right. So Florida. I, I've been reading the governor. I haven't never had a conversation with Governor Santis, but he, he's indicated that they're going to redraw their lines, which makes sense. I mean, if you Think about the fastest growing states in the country. North Carolina, Texas, Florida. You know, a lot of people have. A lot of the demographics have shifted, so it makes sense to take a look and make sure you've got the congressional map actually lining up with where the people are. So, you know, Florida, I think, presents an opportunity just because so many Republicans have moved to the state.

[Unnamed Co-host]

So one other thing I wanted to address here, unlike 2018, we'd mentioned some other things in the districts, but in 2018, we had a huge, massive deficit on the fundraising side. You know, all these candidates coming out of nowhere on the Democratic side and raising millions and millions a quarter. And it really feels like this time, you know, y' all are leading the way in, you know, overcoming that fundraising deficit we had back in 2018.

[Announcer/Reporter]

I appreciate you bringing that up. I should have led with that, actually. You know, we've. We've had a fantastic fundraising success, and I think it's just a tribute to our speaker and our team. The members of the Republican delegation in Congress have been working hard, and we raised $100 million, the fastest any NRCC has ever raised it. We outraised the DCCC for the first time in 10 years, for the first three quarters of last year. We're eagerly waiting to see how the fourth quarter went, but. But, you know, we are killing it at the committee. And then you look at the RNC, I think their cash is seven or eight times more than the DNC. And then President Trump, I mean, he's raised like $2 billion since the election. And so. And he's indicated that he'll use some of that to help turn out voters.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Well, and we alluded to it a little bit earlier, but Susie Wiles is chief of staff and the President himself, they seem to have, like, a more aggressive posture this time around and impacting the midterm and getting out in front of the voters to make that message about the Trump agenda to low propensity Trump voters. I've heard a lot about this idea of a midterm convention. We think we're gonna get that. Is that gonna happen?

[Announcer/Reporter]

I hope so. I think it's a great idea. The President, he's got a flair for putting on. He gets that. And, and, and he's, he's exactly right. Let's create some excitement. Let's come together and have a midterm convention. I think it's. I think it's a fantastic idea. And I would say he's been an incredibly good partner for me. You know, he, he knows these districts you know, that was the. He and I meet regularly and kind of run through the races and, you know, compare notes. And, you know, the first time I did this with him, I don't know, it's been three years ago now. I was shocked that he. The. The amount of knowledge he has about the details of these districts. He'll say, well, didn't so and so run there two years before? I'm like, yeah, how do you know that? Like, I didn't remember that. Like, you know, and he knows. He knows the candidates. He knows the battlefield. He. He really has a deep political knowledge and really good instincts. And so he's been a fantastic partner throughout this process. I think the endorsements he's made have been really smart and very helpful to the team. And again, he. He understands that, that. That we have to hold the House so that he can have a successful four years. And. And he's really leaning in, and I appreciate that. I think that'll be the difference maker.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. I don't know if he said the location of this potential convention, but I can't think of a better place to hold it than Pinehurst.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Hey, we're. We're up for it. We might need to bust people in. We do have some. That would be a beautiful location.

[John Ashbrook]

It would.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Hope the president's listening today.

[John Ashbrook]

Make these candidates putt for their support.

[Michael Duncan]

I love that.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Well, so people want to help. Where do they go? Donate. Get involved. Volunteer.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Nrcc.org all right. We'd love to have you part of our team. You know, we're the key. Look, Kevin McCarthy was a great leader for us and great speaker, and he laid out the formula. You go out and recruit the best candidates that fit their district, and then you go build campaigns around them and you raise the money to get the message out. And that's. That's the formula for success, and that's what we continue to do. And we've got fantastic candidates, and we've. We've already opened. We call them battle stations, but field offices in about a dozen places where we're already doing voter contact and. And building really strong campaigns. And we just got to keep the dollars flowing so that we can fund it and get the message out. And. And with Donald Trump's help, we'll turn them out and hold this House.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Fantastic. And if you have any candidates, you know, that we should have on in here to the studio just so they can get to know our listeners and viewers. Keep an open look.

[Announcer/Reporter]

I've got a list. I'll pass it through.

[Michael Duncan]

I'M sure you do.

[Unnamed Co-host]

Chairman, thank you so much for joining us.

[Announcer/Reporter]

Always a pleasure. Thank you.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, obviously a lot of very interesting races to keep an eye on this year and hopefully he'll come back and talk a little bit more about of the guys raising an awful lot of money. We saw over the weekend that they are just outpacing Democrats left and right on the committee level. And there's a big reason for that. It's because guys like Hudson are out there really working it hard.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, for sure. And a good guy like him a lot here in the Variety program. He's been a part of what we've been doing here right from the very beginning. Home state guy.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Awesome guy. Great guy from North Carolina. Everyone in North Carolina loves him. He does a ton of tremendous work. And this midterm is so important. So important. He's been raising a ton of money. President Trump, it just came out this past weekend, has raised half a billion dollars towards the midterm races because they know how important it is.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Yeah. It's gonna be something to keep an eye on. We'll keep you updated along the way, as we promised we would here on the Ruthless Variety Program. Remember our question of the day when you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety Program, we read all of your answers and get back to the very next episode. In this case, it's gonna be on Thursday. Today's question is what's driving the left's theater kid problem? Got a lot of theories about it. I'm sure you do, too. So, like, subscribe, leave your answer, read all of them and get back to the very next episode with that. Fellas, I believe we've done it.

[Michael Duncan]

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