The Rise & Fall of Graham Platner

Summary

Ruthless Podcast Summary

Episode: The Rise & Fall of Graham Platner
Date: July 9, 2026
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook

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Overview

This episode dissects the political implosion of Graham Platner, a once-rising, now-fallen Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from Maine. The hosts deliver their signature blend of biting humor and sharp conservative analysis, exposing how Democratic insiders and the media enabled, defended, and then hurried to distance themselves from Platner, despite his controversial past. They also unpack what Platner’s collapse means for the Democrats' broader 2026 Senate hopes, the patterns of establishment vs. progressive dysfunction within the party, and the complicity and failures of major media in covering the story.

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Key Discussion Points

1. The Platner Scandal: How Did We Get Here?

• The hosts recount warning for months (since Platner emerged) that his candidacy would end badly ([00:06], [04:23]).
• Democrats, desperate for a nominee, allowed primaries to proceed and were ultimately "over a barrel" by Platner’s win ([03:01]).
• Platner’s baggage: Nazi tattoo, racist/sexist Reddit posts, alleged sexual assault, and bizarre behavior (e.g., public masturbation)—all recounted with incredulity and dark humor ([04:30], [06:04], [06:21]).
• Media and Democratic leaders repeatedly downplayed or whitewashed allegations, claiming Platner was an appealing "white working-class" outsider ([07:12]-[08:55]).
• Notable Quote:
  • "They tried to pretend as though an alleged rapist with a Nazi tattoo was a suitable candidate for United States Senate."
    — Josh Holmes ([00:09])

2. Media Complicity and Democratic Rationalization

• The New York Times and other outlets profiled Platner as an “oyster farmer, pistol shooter, regular guy,” downplaying his controversial online history and accusations ([09:47], [24:59]).
• Hosts ridicule the shallow vetting process and the establishment’s naive or willful ignorance ([13:02], [14:02]).
• Notable Quote:
  • "They were defending Nazi tattoos, defending all the scandals that have come out over the many weeks."
    — John Ashbrook ([05:10])
• The press ignored or diminished serious accusations until it was too late, underlining partisan priorities over public accountability ([23:22], [28:26]).

3. The Democratic Civil War: Establishment vs. DSA Left

• The rise of Platner illustrates how progressives (DSA types) and establishment Democrats are locked in a dysfunctional power struggle, mirrored in other states ([12:28], [45:24]).
• Platner became the “compromise” candidate that pleased no one: a faux-working-class image with deep liabilities ([14:18]).
• Defensive talking points from both Obama-era “Pod Bros” and Sanders-inspired progressives reveal a party adrift ([15:56], [17:22]).
• Notable Quote:
  • "This is what happens when the vetting for the Democratic Party is left to soy boy Beta Cucks who larp as working class by wearing Carhartt."
    — John Ashbrook ([14:02])

4. Behind the Scenes: The Endgame Negotiations

• With Platner refusing to quit immediately, Democratic leaders scramble to get him off the ballot before deadlines using a mix of public pressure and back-channel threats ([34:08], [36:52]).
• Allegations that Maine’s Democratic administration is using potential legal action against Platner’s wife as leverage to force a withdrawal ([36:52]).
• Platner’s leverage: He controls the nomination, can make demands for his exit, and could be “bought off” or have a say in his replacement ([39:37]).
• Notable Quotes:
  • "There's basically gonna be three things, right? One is wife's not going to jail. Two, he is going to have a say in who it is that they back... Third, they're gonna have to find something for this guy to do."
    — Josh Holmes ([00:31] and [38:45])

5. The Aftermath: What’s Next for Maine & the Democrats?

• Without Maine, Democrats have no realistic path to Senate control in 2026 ([32:42]).
• The party’s likely solution is a backroom, undemocratic selection of a new candidate, excluding the voters from the process—ironically, the very thing that led to Platner in the first place ([42:22], [43:43]).
• Notable Quote:
  • "The transparent, open and inclusive process that they've discussed does not include you voting for them."
    — Josh Holmes ([42:36])

6. Broader Implications: National Patterns & Media Critique

• Similar patterns are appearing in other states (e.g., Michigan, Nebraska)—progressives running as “independents” to bypass toxic Democratic branding ([45:24], [45:58]).
• The complicity, hypocrisy, or outright incompetence of political media is a recurring theme, with pointed mockery of The Bulwark and the New York Times ([19:25], [22:49]).
• Notable Quote:
  • "They gloss up the Democrat in hopes for the Democrat to win. This is why nobody reads their stupid newspapers anymore."
    — Show Announcer ([28:26])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Media Whitewashing:
  "He wins this primary in large part because he just drove Janet Mills, the old bag, out of the race who wasn't going to beat Susan Collins anyway..." — Josh Holmes ([09:45])
• On Democratic Establishment Pretenses:
  “But they're like, well, he put on some overalls. I guess he's working class now. His mom asks him to catch a fish sometimes he says, Oysterman. Oysterman wearing Carhartt. He's just like us, you know, he's a hipster.” — Michael Duncan ([14:18])
• On Platner’s Leverage:
  "Who would have thought a communist would use this as an opportunity to seize the means of nomination?" — John Ashbrook ([37:58])
• On Voter Exclusion:
  "If you allow people to vote. Well, you get this messy situation." — Josh Holmes ([42:36])

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Important Timestamps

• Democrats over a barrel; media whitewashing: [03:01] – [07:14]
• The circus of Platner’s record: [06:04] – [08:44]
• The "Oysterman" media narrative & fake working-class credentials: [09:47] – [14:53]
• Pod Bros and DSA tension: [12:28] – [15:56]
• National Dem power brokers & The Bulwark’s role: [19:23] – [20:34]
• NYT “not classic MeToo” minimization: [22:49] – [24:22]
• Portland Press Herald & local coverage: [27:43] – [28:24]
• DSCC and PACs pulling support/leverage for Platner exit: [34:47] – [35:31]
• Negotiations + Legal threats against Platner’s wife: [36:52] – [39:45]
• Democratic Party’s closed-door replacement process: [41:16] – [42:22]
• Pattern of left-wing candidates running as 'independents' in red states: [45:24] – [47:02]

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Additional Segments & Tone

• Humor and Satire: The hosts mock the insider club of Democratic elites, media sycophancy, and the hilarious gap between the "oysterman" image and Platner’s reality, all in a biting, conversational tone.
• Reflections on Elizabeth Warren & Endorsements: As Platner's collapse grows, the hosts ridicule Warren’s political instincts and chronicle her string of failed endorsements ([48:51] – [52:36]).
• Games and Listener Interactions: Aside from the main scandal, the show intersperses their traditional games (e.g., King of the Hill), listener feedback, and a humorous mini-feud with Will Cain over soccer ([55:10] – end).

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Takeaway

This episode is a clinic in how political parties and media can jointly create, ignore, and then try to erase scandal in service of short-term electoral goals. The rise and fall of Graham Platner is used as a case study for broader themes: elite disconnect, progressive/establishment infighting, media hypocrisy, and the inevitable blowback when voters are ignored or manipulated. The tone is relentlessly joking but incisive—a must-listen for conservatives tracking Democratic Party drama in 2026.

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

They're willing to go out and tell everybody. You are misunderstanding. Graham Platner.

[Michael Duncan]

I want to pat us all on the back. We knew this is going to end very badly.

[Josh Holmes]

They tried to pretend as though an alleged rapist with a Nazi tattoo was a suitable candidate for United States Senate.

[John Ashbrook]

And so now they're all on the record defending this guy. And, oh, another scandal.

[Josh Holmes]

You have a bunch of Democrats who are saying he has no leverage. He's done. There's nothing he can do.

[Maine Democratic Party Spokesperson]

Nope.

[Josh Holmes]

There's basically gonna be three things, right? One is wife's not going to jail. Two, he is going to have a say in who it is that they back going forward. Third, they're gonna have to find something for this guy to do.

[Michael Duncan]

There's gonna be some insane information you're gonna get in this episode that you will not get anywhere else. The value add on this episode is gonna be off the charts.

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[Show Announcer]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Michael Duncan]

This program has become one of the

[Josh Holmes]

most influential podcasts in America.

[Michael Duncan]

I love the personality. You guys are killing it. I just saw your number one, so congratulations.

[John Ashbrook]

Thank you.

[Josh Holmes]

It's an honor and a pleasure to welcome the great Sean Hannity. Guys, I love you. Congratulations on all your success.

[Michael Duncan]

This is why you listen to the Ruthless Podcast, because nobody else would ask that question. The only political podcast worth listening to is the Ruthless Podcast.

[Show Announcer]

It's time for our main event, the Ruthless Podcast.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Thursday 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. Listen. About the only thing that anybody's talking about in Washington, D.C. today, yesterday and the day before is how Graham Platner has Democrats over a barrel, but not in a gay way, as he's assured us.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Not in a gay way. He has created an awful lot of problems for this party. And you know, shoot, let me tell you.

[John Ashbrook]

You hate to see it.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, you hate to see it, don't you?

[Michael Duncan]

I woke up today, I jumped out of bed ready for today's episode. I was like, this is going to be an Alzheimer.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, what had happened was Democrats accidentally allowed their voters to determine who their nominee was going to be. Something a practice that they are unaccustomed to.

[Michael Duncan]

Over the last. They tried a new thing and it really didn't work out.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it did not work. They have become comfortable with the idea that there's just a smoke filled room that sort of determines who they're going to run, that does an Abigail Spamberger routine because they can lie with certitude about what it is they intend to do. And Bernie has fucked it all up for him and Elizabeth Warren and everybody else. Democratic Socialist mom Donnie. Where you actually have to tell the people what it is that you intend to do. And so they recruited a whole bunch of candidates all over the place and they're running against all the Democratic establishment. And we've seen this time and time again. But like Platner was the one I think we were on to first.

[Michael Duncan]

Right on. Right. Like from the beginning. I want to pat us all on the back. We knew this is gonna end very badly.

[Josh Holmes]

Like seven months ago, the guy rolls in with a Nazi tattoo and we're like, you know, I don't know. But I don't have a lot of friends with those. And I would suspect there's a lot of people who have never encountered someone with a Nazi tattoo and been like, you know what? Great with the kids.

[Michael Duncan]

And you never have a situation where it's like means the best. You know, this guy, every Sunday morning he's at church. You know, he's, he's a stand up guy. He volunteers, great family man. He got Nazi tattoo once. Everything else, it's never like the one problem.

[John Ashbrook]

What I love about this main Senate race is it's all of these unique situations coming to a head for the Democratic Party, dude. Yeah. You know, it's the historic weakness of the Democratic establishment and him steamrolling that establishment forced all of those luminaries and mouthpieces for the DSCC and Senate majority back in the Schumer office and the pod bros to, you know, e crow and basically endorse this guy, but clown themselves in the process, defend Nazi tattoos, defend all of the scandals that have come out over the many weeks since he basically had the field cleared because Janet Mills couldn't raise two nickels. And so now they're all on the record defending this guy and. Oh, another scandal.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, well, I mean, just to rewind the tape, and you've heard it all here on the ruthless Friday program. We started with the Nazi tattoo. We. Then we had the Reddit posts which were racist, racist, sexist, misogynistic, anti police, like difficult statewide comments in any form.

[John Ashbrook]

And then there was the weird stuff like jerking off in the porta potty.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, jerking off the porta potty. Which, you know, again, I don't know, you just take a step back, you're like, that's interesting.

[Michael Duncan]

But also attacking military people, calling them

[Josh Holmes]

like idiots and losers and genuine heroes, American heroes.

[Michael Duncan]

People who were out. Like the instance specifically of where you had a service member taking bullets to protect the rest of his folks there. And Platner being like, this guy sucks. He's always been a piece of garbage.

[Josh Holmes]

And then it turns out, like the, the media, who is complicit in all of this, and I know Johnny wants to talk about that, just shorthanded him like, it would be like, Graham Platner, comma, oyster farmer.

[Show Announcer]

Exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

Which we found out, like, is all bullshit. He launched a Senate website before he launched his oyster farm. And he had one and only CL Happened to be his mother.

[Michael Duncan]

Think about that. That's kind of embarrassing.

[Josh Holmes]

He makes no money off an oyster farm, nor has any sort of backdrop.

[Michael Duncan]

His mommy's a little fisherman. Yeah, go out there, catch me an oyster. Son, we already bought you a house.

[Josh Holmes]

Mommy's little fisherman is right. So you find out about all of that. And then there was the infidelity, which was the sexting of the women while he was married or engaged. And every single person in the Democratic Party was brushing this shit aside one way, or they just could. No, this is what it looks like when we have a guy who can appeal to real people. Because this is what we think white, rural, working class men are like. We think that they are this. They are Graham Platner. And meanwhile everybody else is like, jesus, this doesn't. This doesn't sound good to any of us. And then you had a Republican, a woman who was associated with Republican politics, make allegations about him. Basically kidnapping. I mean, I think under statute it could be classified that way. Allegedly. But holding her against her will and physically harming her. And it came out in the New York Times and what we've covered over and over again about sort of a whitewashing of her experience and then not bringing in corroborating witnesses and other people who had.

[Michael Duncan]

They turned it into just like a catch and kill of trying to. They took her story and they didn't post any of the corroborating info. They wanted to just gloss over it and be like, nah, actually we investigate this and everything's cool.

[Josh Holmes]

Which ironically gave the impetus behind one of the women who was a part of that story and did not appear to say, like, yeah, I told the New York Times all about how the fact that Graham Platner raped me. And again, these are alleged. It's like, there's no legal action. But that seems like an important part of the story.

[Michael Duncan]

When a victim had to go to CNN and Politico because the New York Times was unwilling to try and harm a Democrat.

[Josh Holmes]

And she told the same story, apparently straight up. Yeah. And so at that point, bad day

[Michael Duncan]

for Ashbrook's friends at the New York Times. He loves that place.

[Show Announcer]

We're going to get into that because part of their problem is that they were protecting the initial press release they wrote in the form of a profile about the guy last August.

[Josh Holmes]

Oyster farmer. Heavy oyster farmer.

[Show Announcer]

Exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

But so he wins this primary in large part because he just drove Janet Mills, the old bag, out of the race who wasn't going to beat Susan Collins anyway, but was the preferred candidate against her from Chuck Schumer and the Democratic establishment. And he wins the primary, and then they take a look at the calendar and realize they have still have a shot. If they completely disqualify this guy and push him over the edge to get him to quit, they can do what they always wanted to do, which is have no Democrat vote actually count in their primary and just appoint somebody to run against Susan Collins. So that's why. And that is the only reason why you know about any of this.

[Michael Duncan]

Yup.

[Josh Holmes]

Other than the ruthless variety program talking about it each and every day, it seems like in terms of the mainstream media and the political conversation going on around the main Senate race, the only reason that this has come to a crescendo now is because they have 1, 2, 3 now, 4 days remaining for him to quit and for somebody else to get on the ballot. Now, as we're taping this, he hasn't quit yet, but he's got a bunch of cars in his driveway. We can report. We've seen it live.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm surprised, actually, that it was cars. I would have thought it would be lime scooters and, you know, monocycles or whatever all these hipsters drive.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's environmentally unfriendly if you think about it. But so, you know, maybe by the time you're listening to this, he has put out a video saying he's done, but there are a bunch of implications that go into that that we're going to discuss in this very episode. And some under the hood stuff that you probably don't know you're not going to get in the media, even conservative media, because we've done this for a living and we've tried to figure out

[Michael Duncan]

exactly what the insane information you're going to get in this episode that you will not get anywhere else. And after it gets out here, I bet a lot of people start talking about it. The value add on this episode is going to be off the charts.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, you're going to love every second of it. But we want to start with all people who were made men in the establishment party. Made men and women. They're establishment Democrat. They are the go along to get along white bread. Like, we just try to surf the wave of whatever we think our base is doing. And it starts with the pod bros in a lot of different ways. Because these guys were like, you know, they're like Obama. What do you say?

[Michael Duncan]

They're speechwriters and van drivers.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, but.

[John Ashbrook]

But like 4 mediocre. Mediocre white guys who take credit for the first black president.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, that's. That's a good one.

[Josh Holmes]

That's it. But they saw the writing on the wall in large part because they do this for a living. And they know that the base of the Democratic Party has turned progressive left in a DSA way in a way that is unrecognizable from the party that they worked in politics in. So they want to get all ahead

[Michael Duncan]

of that because, like, let's be clear, the Obama alum are strictly corporate Democrats. Like, his actual spokesperson has gone to, like, Amazon and McDonald's. Like, they are the, like, the truest form of corporate Democrats has ever existed, bro.

[John Ashbrook]

He left the Oval Office and took a deal with Netflix. You know, it's not like he's building houses like Jimmy Carter.

[Josh Holmes]

This is not a grassroots group. But they do have bills to pay.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the thing.

[Josh Holmes]

So you got to get ahead of this kind of thing.

[Michael Duncan]

Favreau's got a house in architectural digestion. Every time he's got a. He's got to get the money going.

[Josh Holmes]

So let's check out Clip three Primary

[John Ashbrook]

she'll be taking on oysterman Graham Platner, regular guy who came out of nowhere. A ton of fans, including many hair crooked.

[Josh Holmes]

Just okay, okay, so. And they went on to explain why it was that not only was he an unconventional smart choice for Democrats because they had to repair all of the things that were broken in the 2024 election with White working class America, men in particular, rural folks in particular. Again, it's a rich liberal's view of what a working class American looks like. He's the guy.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. I mean, what an indictment.

[John Ashbrook]

This is what happens when the vetting for the Democratic Party is left to soy boy Beta Cucks who larp is working class by wearing Carhartt. These people look like they could be backup singers from Mumford and Sons, but they've never worked an honest day in their lives.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, that's the thing, is these are people like. And that's, I think part of the reason why they picked Platner is because he's not actually. He's just like a fake guy. Like all of them. He went to Hotchkiss, he goes to his mommy, sends him to a boarding school that costs more than most Americans make in an entire year. But they're like, well, he put on some overalls. I guess he's working class now. His mom asks him to catch a fish sometimes he says, Oysterman. Oysterman wearing Carhartt. He's just like us, you know, he's a hipster.

[Josh Holmes]

Tommy's little angler.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, that's him.

[Josh Holmes]

And it's worth. Look, I want to level set for a second. The reason why this is such a big deal is there is nothing more that the Democratic Party needs than then to take over the United States Senate. It controls nominations, it controls the pace of play on absolutely everything at the federal government. They need this more than they need oxygen. And more than importantly, they need to convince their donors that they have an answer to all of their failures in 2024. And so Intergram Platner to that discussion. This is. You will not win the United States Senate if you were a Democrat without the state of Maine. It is a one a the cornerstone of the plan. That's why this is such a massive deal for this party and why they're freaking out. But Favreau continues Graphic 7A Graham Platner isn't just our best and only chance to beat Susan Collins. He's a good and decent man who struggled and grown and is always trying to do better. I hope everyone with reservations takes a Little time to get to know the real life version of him.

[Show Announcer]

Well, we sure did.

[Josh Holmes]

Not with what the algorithm throws in our faces.

[Show Announcer]

Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

Clearly that's what so many people in Maine have done from all different walks of life and political persuasion.

[Michael Duncan]

Can we keep that up there for a second? What you're seeing is this guy Favreau who is one of the Obama lackeys, who's trying to make all his money off of that and has been dining out for years on that. When he says that from all different walks of life and political persuasions. That was the whole pitch of on this Platner bullshit is they saw in 2024, they're like, wow. So we've spent the past like decade telling white working class men that they all suck, that they should all learn to code, that we don't care about them, that they're all racist rapists. Like, you know, like white working class men are the problem with America and it's mediocre white working class men who have led to all our problems. So they spent like well over a decade insulting this group of people. And 2024, they're like, wow, I guess this hasn't worked out well for us. Let's take a swift U turn. What do we think a white working class voter would like? How about a drunk Nazi guy who assaults people? Like that is such an insult and such a condescending view to have towards these people. And I hope to God they get punished like hell for it.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally. But what they're trying to do is get a little piece of the pie in terms of the audience that now is the progressive left from people like this. Clip 3B. I don't care about the personal character of Graham Platner. I don't care about the things that he's done unless it's like literally irredeemable. I think he's done irredeemable shit in service. And even then I'm willing to overlook

[John Ashbrook]

the irredeemable, possibly irredeemable things he's done in service.

[Michael Duncan]

That's Hasan Piker, who is now like the mouthpiece, it's a spokesperson for the

[Josh Holmes]

Democratic Party because he goes out there

[Michael Duncan]

and he, and he, he campaigns with these people, campaigned with Bondani, campaigned with the maniac in Michigan. Like this is his thing.

[Josh Holmes]

But make no mistake, what the Pablo's are trying to do is get a little piece of the pie that Hassan Pico.

[Michael Duncan]

That's exactly it.

[Josh Holmes]

They see what's around the curve owns, right? And so they're willing to go out and tell everybody you are misunderstanding Graham Platner. What looks like an alleged rape or looks like an alleged assault or is a Nazi tattoo or all of these things. It doesn't understand it because he's actually with us on the issues. And by the way, have you checked out the polling? He's winning. And they think that that is the way of getting around the edge and binding the two. The thing that the establishment Democrat cares about the most, which is winning, and the thing that the seemingly DSA cares about the most, which is being a fucking psychopath.

[Michael Duncan]

Bingo.

[Josh Holmes]

And they've got the two in Graham Platner. So they're happy as hogs, pigs and shit over this whole thing. The whole thing starts to turn a little bit at some point, but not until the Bulwark gets involved. Because it's not enough to win a Senate race for the Bulwark. This is the most contemptible publication in

[Michael Duncan]

all of American literature.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, there is not an English word written or spoken that I find worse than the Bulwark. Because it's basically a whole bunch of people who are just apologizing for previous stances that are center right. They're not even conservative. And then taking just a dogmatic establishment Democratic position. It's just, it's a party organ. It is no different than a press release at the dn. There's no thought that gets put into that. They come out with these like, oh, we did a bunch of focus groups and it turns out people don't like Donald Trump. Oh, and then they do a bunch of media over it. It's nonsense. But here was their take just a few months ago. Graphic 7 Platner 2028. It gives you a good sense of where the head was of an establishment Democrat who is attempting to ingratiate themselves with a progressive movement. In some ways be acceptable and get the clicks and the likes and the favor.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, it's the overcompensating that a former Republican now has the zeal of the convert. Now they're Democrats. It's like, it's not enough to defend the Nazi tattoo. Like what happened there with the Pablo's. It's not enough to defend Graham Platner after the New York Times story drops. If you're in like Hassan Piker, did you have to one up those guys and be like, no, he should be president.

[Michael Duncan]

Right? He should be.

[John Ashbrook]

You're supposed to be the former Republican, the thoughtful person who has joined the Democrats reluctantly, just, you know, for principle, for democracy. Right?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, right.

[John Ashbrook]

That's JV last Country over party, right? And now it's, no, we want that guy to be president.

[Michael Duncan]

JV Last is like, one of the worst take machines of all time. He's like an actual piece of garbage. Like, he consistently puts out the worst takes. And for him, that's who wrote this, by the way, folks. And he's blocked me on Twitter because he's an angry guy. But the funny thing about the Bulwark is it's basically like a consortium of never Trumpers from failed publications. And they're like, what if we found, like, Democrat billionaires will just pay us to be horrible people? And that's a business model for them now.

[John Ashbrook]

Hell, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

But this kicks off.

[Show Announcer]

Well, I was just gonna say, it is weird hearing them say the same thing as, like, Elizabeth Warren. Remember when she was talking about Platner after everything?

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

That's my kind of man.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, it sure is.

[Michael Duncan]

Great addition to the soundboard.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, you got a different kind of man there in the reservation.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm sure she won't regret that.

[Josh Holmes]

No, I'm sure not. I mean, she spent a full week trying to just eat every single last drop of those words. But now, they didn't have zero help from the outside. They had, in fact, had an incredible amount of help from the outside. And this kicks off the Ashbrook component of the discussion on the media, which is what they did to handle all of this. We just discussed the New York Times piece. One of the reporters on such a piece had an interesting clip. This is a person whose backdrop is like the Me Too movement and covering with breathless certainty every single allegation that every woman had made against every man in public parole. Some correct, some incorrect, but unquestioned. Until now. Clip 4.

[Michael Duncan]

The accusations against Graham Platner are not classic MeToo accusations. They're not about a boss and a young female employee being subjected to sexual advances. They were mostly made in the context of consensual relationships. There are these, like, very sensational texts about sex. There are allegations from former girlfriends that are not the way my colleagues reported them, were not, like, classic abuse allegations.

[Josh Holmes]

Not classic abuse.

[Michael Duncan]

Amazing. By the way, the New York Times, where she works, had gotten all this information. And what they chose to do with that information is to bury it and try to make Graham Platner look like, oh, he did nothing wrong. And for a reporter to get out there and do that is so slimy to be like, I just want everyone listening to know that, you know, this is not like a me too kind of a thing, trying to just, like, Brush away. All because don't, you know, don't be mistaken. They already had all this information.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

This individual who just came out with the rape information about Planner, they already had that. She still came out and said that.

[John Ashbrook]

It is very funny that you could read all of those texts or read the New York Times piece and be like, well, you got to remember there was no power imbalance here. And so therefore. So therefore it's not like a me, too. Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Because you can't be raped unless they're your boss.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

That you. That's important to remember. It's important to remember that it's only in a professional setting.

[American Petroleum Institute Announcer]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

That you could possibly suffer sexual assault allegations.

[Show Announcer]

But, you know, this wasn't the first time the New York Times talked about or dismissed or shined Graham Platner. Oh, none of us ever heard the guy's name until last August, and he was introduced to the world by none other than the New York Times, Annie Carney. And so I thought it would be fun to take a little trip down memory lane for that first story that they wrote about Graham Platner. This comes from the New York Times on August 19, 2025, the headline, in Maine, a political novice makes a long shot bid to oust Collins.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, it's ins. Interesting.

[Show Announcer]

She called him an oyster farmer with a working man's pitch.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, working man's pitch.

[Show Announcer]

A competitive pistol shooter who worked as a bartender.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, he's got all of the things.

[Show Announcer]

Mr. Blattner said he'd been approached in the past to run for local office and had always turned it down.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Michael Duncan]

Reluctant.

[Josh Holmes]

A reluctant servant.

[Show Announcer]

She went on to write, Mr. Platner, whose light social media footprint indicates.

[Michael Duncan]

Dude.

[Show Announcer]

Wow. That sentence is literally in the New York Times.

[John Ashbrook]

We have since found out he has a plethora.

[Josh Holmes]

Have you heard of P. Hustle? That's a thing.

[Show Announcer]

But it's. I love this graph so much because it does so many things. You just wait till you hear this. Mr. Blattner, whose light social media footprint indicates that he has supported Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, said he didn't define himself as a progressive or a centrist, but he laughed at the idea that he would have any challenge in connecting with supporters of President Trump. Why? Half of his friends and colleagues at the dock.

[Josh Holmes]

At the dock, which we now know

[Show Announcer]

doesn't really exist, voted for Mr. Trump. He said so. They're trying to. They're trying to.

[Michael Duncan]

At the dock, trying to catch a fish for mommy.

[John Ashbrook]

He's a fake harbor master.

[Michael Duncan]

This is all fake.

[Show Announcer]

They're trying to cover over his Bernie Sanders connection because the assumption is, well, maybe that'll be difficult for centrist main voters.

[Michael Duncan]

You don't understand.

[Josh Holmes]

The boys are doc. You don't understand.

[Michael Duncan]

Platner says,

[Show Announcer]

I'm a waterman who works in the ocean with his hands. And then the New York Times supplied a picture helpfully with the caption. There it is, right there, from the New York Times. The caption, graham Platner shucking oysters at the farm.

[Josh Holmes]

In fairness, he does work with his hands.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Holmes]

That is. That has been proven true.

[Show Announcer]

But you wonder, how do they treat the Republican in this race, in this very story. There's another photo. I don't know if we have it in the system, but it's of Susan Collins in the United States Capitol with a caption that reads, senator Susan Collins of Maine is facing record low polling. Okay, the paper of record New York lady. But not to be outdone. Not to be outdone.

[John Ashbrook]

He gets his entire cv. She gets a reference to polling.

[Show Announcer]

Exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

Fake CV without any research done. The light footprint. This guy's got more Reddit posts than most people have. Like anything.

[Show Announcer]

Bill's in the kitchen, right? Mr. Reddit himself didn't type on the website as frequently as Graham Blattner. The Portland Press Herald. Fellas, followed up the next week,

[Michael Duncan]

quite

[Show Announcer]

the entrance by Graham Platner, a refreshing newcomer, a community organizer, oyster farmer, veteran, and competitive pistol shooter. Within hours of his announcement, the Internet was alight with enthusiasm.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, but I thought it was a light footprint.

[Michael Duncan]

And do you see, the superlatives that they give him is because in the mind of people, they want to connect these various ideas. When they say community organizer, they want you to think of Obama.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

When they say competitive pistol shooter, he. He knows a gun. So he must be, you know, one of these guys. Yeah, he's a gun guy.

[Show Announcer]

Mm. And the Portland Press Herald concluded their editorial on that day with. Are we skeptical? Not at all.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, my.

[Show Announcer]

We're intrigued.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my God.

[American Petroleum Institute Announcer]

This is what.

[Show Announcer]

This is what the media does. They gloss up the Democrat in hopes for the Democrat to win. This is why nobody reads their stupid newspapers anymore, because it is an advocacy army of a political party. It's not a place where you get information you can rely on.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, they all look like fucking shit. And that's the point of this episode.

[Show Announcer]

They do.

[Josh Holmes]

These people have done a disservice not only to their readership, but their own integrity and everything else where they tried to pretend as though an alleged rapist with a Nazi tattoo was a suitable candidate for United States Senate. They were trying to put the people of Maine in a place to have to vote for somebody who you wouldn't, you wouldn't hire to mow your lawn, much less shuck an oyster, which I also understand he doesn't do unless you're his mom.

[Michael Duncan]

That's my kind of man.

[Josh Holmes]

That's my kind of man. But this is, this is. But the Democratic Party and the media house organ and people like the Pod Bros all sort of pigeonhole this in where it's like, this is going to be a serious race and they try to wag the dog on the whole thing. They knew all of it. And there was a bunch, by the way, you guys see that from a couple of months ago where they had the opposition researchers that were on, that were recruited, Graham Platner, they're like, yeah, I don't know, we knew some of this stuff, but we didn't know the

[Show Announcer]

guy with the glottal fry. The Aaron Zeitner from the Wall Street Journal interviewed these guys. Every time it shows up in my feed, I have to watch it because it's like a train wreck. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

He's like, but that in my soyboy beta cucks.

[Michael Duncan]

Exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally. But that in my view is basically a cover your ass scenario. They needed somebody to hold the bag on this. They've known it forever. You mean to tell me that the DSCC and Chuck Schumer and the rest of them, when they were reluctant to get on board with the guy, didn't know about all these allegations? You mean to tell me that all these journalists who interact with all of those people on a day to day basis every single fucking day in the Ohio clock corridor never mentioned that they were working on a story about something like this? Of course they did.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Of course they did. And they were perfectly happy to go along for the ride. And when Graham Platner came up here after the allegations that were made by a Republican, they were more than happy to say he's our guy. We were with Graham Platner, no problem. What happened in the interim? Three polls. Three polls that show that he was lagging Democrats by 10 plus points. He was now losing to Susan Collins. The people came to the reluctant conclusion that he may not be fit for office in Maine.

[John Ashbrook]

Also doing worse with white working class voters in Maine than Sarah Gideon did.

[Josh Holmes]

Exactly. That's when they looked at the calendar and tried to figure out, hmm, maybe there's something else we can do that's

[Michael Duncan]

Such a critical component, and I hope everyone caught what was just said is that. But they were along for the ride as long as they thought. The polling said that this loser's gonna win. Turns out the loser was losing and it's magically, oh, wow. Turns out now I have great start finding out all this shit.

[Josh Holmes]

We have grave concerns and all of a sudden everybody is available for on camera comment.

[Michael Duncan]

You know what Duncan said is like, once they saw that he's actually polling worse among white working class voters, they're like, wait a minute, that was a whole theory of the case.

[Show Announcer]

And they're all deleting their tweets now. Chris Murphy, did you see this?

[Josh Holmes]

Deleting his scumbag. It's unbelievable. We're going to get to the second half of this, which I think lifts the hood in a way that nobody else is going to do because we've been in this line of work and we know what the next moves are. But we're going to get to all of that right after this.

[Show Announcer]

Who helps America go farther, fly higher and dream even bigger? People do. Since 1879, our people have been more than a source of energy. They've been a source of progress. Today, that same progress is helping deliver record US Energy production, fueling the workers, the makers, the boundary pushers and risk takers who spark the breakthroughs that move America forward. Learn more about what our people [e-mail] USA250

[Josh Holmes]

okay, so where does Graham Platner and his situation leave election 2026? We have discussed about. There is no pathway realistically for Democrats to recapture the United States Senate, which is their gold bar here. It's the one thing that they want more than anything. There is no pathway without the state of Maine. And this has put a serious, serious problem into it. You found out about all of this and amazingly, all of these people are available on camera four days before they can do something about it. Because they've now put Graham Platner in a position where they've said they're not going to support him. All of his biggest support, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pod Bros, the rank and file, the Democrat super PACs, Chuck Schumer, everybody else who has been like, yeah, we love him. Even after all the allegations, the Nazi tattoo and all those things, they're now like, we're pulling our support in the hopes that Graham Platner takes a look at this race and says, well, I can't win with nobody's help, so I gotta step away and do something about it. But does he and what has ultimately happened. And look, we're recording this. He could drop a tape at any moment to say that he's out. And I suspect he might because it is impossible to win a Senate race with zero funding.

[Michael Duncan]

But honestly, like, I bet this time is heavy negotiations underway, because he's got him.

[John Ashbrook]

He's got the leverage. He won the primary. Right. And in the old days of the Democratic Party, some staffer trying to negotiate an exit here for some sort of leverage will get a call from Rahm Emanuel and be like, I'm gonna cut off your head and down your throat. Right, right. But these people that work for Graham Platner are like the joker.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, they don't care.

[John Ashbrook]

They don't care about the Democratic Party. And so there's nothing they can threaten these staffers to be like, get your guy out of this fucking race right now.

[Josh Holmes]

So the traditional play is what Ashbrook.

[Michael Duncan]

They're totally joker fied. Excellent. Excellent. It is.

[Josh Holmes]

The traditional play is what Ashbrook mentioned on our last episode. He said, one thing to watch here is what Senate Majority pac, the arm of Senate Democrats who have committed to tens of millions of dollars of spending on behalf of Graham Platner. What they do, because if they pull their funding, then that's just the. They've gone all in on the leverage. Senate Majority PAC has been spending millions on attack ads against Susan Collins. They've just announced that they are pulling resources from the race. Senate Majority PAC is redirecting resources away from Maine Senate race in light of the latest allegations against Graham Platner. They go on and they talk about how it's winnable, but not as long as he's on the ballot.

[Michael Duncan]

Smash.

[Show Announcer]

Well, there are all sorts of negotiations going on behind the scenes. I mean, the media only prints what they think helps Democrats get ahead. They're not going to print the back and forth while it's occurring, even though all of their sources are participating in it. And what you can bet is that Graham Platner, who has all of the leverage in this conversation because his name is on the ballot, what you can bet is that everything that you've read about him making demands of the establishment, I want to pick the candidate or I want this or I want that, that. You can bet he's doing something like that. And you can bet that the establishment is turning up the heat beyond this DCCC or, I'm sorry, this DSCC release and Senate Majority PAC release. And there is a story. And I'm not saying this is happening. I'm not Saying it's not happening.

[Josh Holmes]

But we might as well because we've known. We've known about all this stuff beforehand and we have allowed the process to take its place. We're not going to do that now. We're just going to tell you what the story.

[Show Announcer]

We might as well talk about it because some people, Hugh Hewitt, for example, smug, and I both talked to him this week and he's like, well, are they going to buy him off? Can they just pay him? Which you're not supposed to. No, not supposed to do that. But we've always suspected Democrats might do stuff like that. There is a story that came out of mainwire just this afternoon. This guy named Steve Robinson.

[John Ashbrook]

He's been doing great work.

[Show Announcer]

Yes, just by the way, you got to follow this guy. This story emerged that the state of Maine welfare fraud investigators have been quietly looking into the wife of disgraced progressive icon and alleged rapist Graham Platner for defrauding the Medicaid program. So what that suggests is that Democrats who run the state of Maine, a la Janet Mills, and Democrats who run the AG's office in that state are playing hardball in a very real way, basically coming to him, drop out or

[Josh Holmes]

I send your wife to jail.

[Show Announcer]

Exactly.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Show Announcer]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

It'll be amazing how they come up with no evidence after he drops out.

[Michael Duncan]

And here's the thing is, I wonder if Platner is like, yeah, send her to jail,

[Josh Holmes]

then I can get back on kick, get my text machine back out, you know? No, I mean, it's a very good point, but again, when you're talking about the leverage here, make no mistake, you have a bunch of Democrats who are saying he has no leverage. He's done. There's nothing he can do. No, there's everything. He is all of the leverage, 100% of the.

[John Ashbrook]

He has all the leverage. Who would have thought a communist would use this as an opportunity to seize the means of nomination?

[Josh Holmes]

And also, it's important, do not proletariat play.

[Michael Duncan]

Ralph Northam in Virginia after he had his scandal, every Democrat sent out their statement of being like, I urge him to drop out. It's over. He kept running. He kept running. He stuck in it. He won it. Like, listen, Grant Plattner, like Duncan said, he's surrounded by joker fied maniacs.

[Maine Democratic Party Spokesperson]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

There's no guarantee he drops out. Unless he could. Like the fact that they screw themselves the damn so hard and are letting this guy be in a position to be like a kingmaker and a power broker.

[John Ashbrook]

He's gonna negotiate the Terms he's gonna get.

[Josh Holmes]

The point is he's gonna get what he wants.

[John Ashbrook]

I think, I think at this point he is gonna drop out, but he's gonna get what he wants.

[Josh Holmes]

There's basically gonna be three things, right? One is wife's not going to jail, although maybe a little probation period would be nice to free up the old online activity, you know, something like that. Two, he is going to have a say in who it is that they back going forward. And that is in large part because the dsa, the progressive left, the Bernie Sanders campaign apparatus, which has been wildly successful this campaign cycle, is certainly not going to give ground to the establishment now after they've won a nomination. Why should you? There was more people in Maine that backed Graham Platner than anybody else. They forced the other gal out of the race before the primary even happened. I'll be damned if they're going to just have some white bread establishment Democrat come out. They just won't show up. So you got to have the, you have to be the same type of crazy as Graham Platner is in order to be the next. That's two.

[Show Announcer]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

And then I think third, they're gonna have to find something for this guy to do and they may not talk about it. He's certainly not gonna be part of a government organization or anything else. But I'd be wildly surprised if there wasn't some like amazing oyster contract.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, right. There's gotta be some Democrat who owns a restaurant other than his mom who will buy oysters from this guy.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. It's just gonna happen. He's got his mom as a client. You're like, I don't know, maybe we can just throw a couple million at this guy for oysters.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, he's Red Lobster.

[Michael Duncan]

If he does.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, if he does it or he doesn't, big deal, you know. But those three things are going to, they're going, they're happening right now.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

As you're listening to this, they may have already happened, but they are happening. And there will be zero follow up reporting on it.

[Show Announcer]

There will be zero follow up reporting on that. And on another aspect that we just talked, this fraud thing, I don't know if you guys caught this, but, but Democrats number one candidate who was their anti establishment guy, who came out of nowhere, his wife is in on the allegedly in on the fraud game.

[Michael Duncan]

That's such.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, that's why he likes her.

[Show Announcer]

Like Minnesota, California, Maine, fraud is rampant. Democrats are protecting these people doing the fraud. And I don't think it's any wonder why.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, maybe that's why he was so reluctant to run in the first place.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, maybe. Maybe. No, I mean, it is what it is. But the main Democrat Party. Well, this is what they've come up with. CLIP 1 hi everyone.

[Maine Democratic Party Spokesperson]

I wanted to provide you all an update on the US Senate race here in Maine. As you know, the Maine Democratic Party has been working around the clock to develop a process to replace our U.S. senate nominee that is open, inclusive, transparent, and fair. The integrity of this process is just as important as the outcome, and we are committed to ensuring that Democrats across our state can have confidence in both. Unfortunately, Graham Platner's team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner's team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the US Senate, nor in determining what this process looks like. We have also reiterated that Graham Platner must drop out of this race so that Democrats in Maine can focus on defeating Susan Collins.

[John Ashbrook]

They forget, that's the first part.

[Maine Democratic Party Spokesperson]

We look forward to making this process public as soon as Graham Platner formally withdraws from this race.

[John Ashbrook]

He has nothing to do with this process. Once he drops out of this process.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the funniest thing, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

And we can't reveal that process unless he does the thing. It's hilarious. But he has nothing to with do with it. And by the way, the transparent, open and inclusive process that they've discussed does not include you voting for them.

[Show Announcer]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Which is a hallmark of today's Democratic Party. If you allow people to vote. Well, you get this messy situation.

[John Ashbrook]

Can't have that.

[Josh Holmes]

Can't have that. We got to go the Kamala route or the Joe Biden 2020 route or the Hillary Clinton 2016 route. I mean, this is a pattern. And I can guarantee you one thing. I don't know how this whole thing's going to end. I don't know who they're going to ultimately select. What I can guarantee is that Biscuit's not choosing anybody.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the funniest thing, is like putting out that video like you're going to have any part of this process. Like, what a joke. And also I'd love to get like a demographics update. What is she talking about, inclusive? Is Maine just like a multi ethnic cultural place? Like, if I had to guess, probably not. What are you talking about, ladies? I got this white lady coming out and telling me that we're going to make it extremely inclusive. We know the guy's got a Nazi tattoo. We were cool with that. It was a very inclusive Nazi tattoo. That was an inclusive.

[Josh Holmes]

Shut up, lady tattoo.

[Show Announcer]

No, I mean.

[Josh Holmes]

But that's the thing is all this is a game. So if you're reduced to not listening to the ruthless Variety program, which is a sin, by the way, if you want to know, you ought to listen to every word of this because it's the only truth that's out there. But if you're reduced to just what everybody's putting out, it looks like the charade way. Well, men, the main Democratic Party, they're playing hardball with Graham Blattner. And like, oh, the Democrats, they say they're not. They're giving up on Maine. No, they're fucking not. They're not giving.

[Michael Duncan]

They're used.

[Josh Holmes]

This is all leverage to try to get what they want, which is something close to a piece of Wonder Bread that they can put a D in front of their name and get as close to Susan Collins in a rigged system that they built a couple of years ago as they possibly can. That's. That is literally what they're trying to do. But they've got a real problem in that they have a massive liability in looking at all these people in their face, taking away what it is that they have already won and replacing it with something that they never wanted in the first place and then hoping they have the same intensity to go out and vote in November that they did a month or two ago for Graham Platner. That's a sticky wicket. That is a tough thing to do. These guys are screwed. And by the way, Susan Collins is not an easy out in Maine. This lady has, like, paved driveways with the skulls of her political opponents for as long as we can remember. Everybody underestimates her, but she's, like, crushing everyone.

[Show Announcer]

Every other name of every other potential candidate is the exact same profile of the type of person who's lost to her every time. The only type of candidate she's never run against as a Grant Platner.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no, I, I look, I think that's right. So one other wrinkle, in case you think that this is just hemmed in to Maine. And we've talked about Michigan, we've talked about what happened in Colorado. It's all around the country, same operatives doing the same things. But we also mentioned a couple of episodes ago, Ashbrooke, I think you brought this up, that they are because they know the Democratic Party brand is so shitty in the middle of this country that they've started running independents that are entirely staffed by these left wing lunatics. They're not Democrats.

[Show Announcer]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

They are progressive socialists and there's a perfect example of that that's happening in Nebraska. Clip 2 so he has also recruited other candidates around the country to run or doing some other things really like well, there are a few independents, there are a few Democrats. This is not really anti publicly based on he, he recruited Griff Platner.

[Show Announcer]

She whispered it.

[Josh Holmes]

He's in the news a lot. After last election he started a program to working class candidates to run. Who are the others? There is like there's a website out here point I don't have the name off of my head whatsoever. Working class heroes.

[Show Announcer]

Come a little bit closer because I want to tell you a secret.

[John Ashbrook]

Speak into the flower of my lapel.

[Josh Holmes]

So that is a staffer for Nebraska Senate candidate Dan Osborne who claimed that Osborne played an integral role in recruiting Graham Platner.

[John Ashbrook]

That's impossible because Dan Osborne is independent of the party system.

[Josh Holmes]

I've been reliably assured that he is an independent, the fair minded person that rejects party politics.

[Show Announcer]

I mean I was led to believe by the nature of his signs that it was Tom Osborne, not Dan Osborne.

[Josh Holmes]

No, you would love people to think that. But anyway, going all through everywhere, it shows up on a Democratic ballot where they win primaries, an independent ballot where they know the Democratic Party banner is out. Absolutely worthless. These people are trying to literally ruin our country and they're trying to get democratic socialist agenda and I they're communists. Let's just be honest. They're Marxists. They're, they're communists. They're socialists is actually like too nice of a word for what it is that these people are. They're anti Western civilization is what they are. But now this guy's running as a middle of the road guy in Nebraska. So you know, keep your head on a swivel out there. It's happening. Leads us to our question of the day. When you like and subscribe to the ruthless variety program. We read all your comments and get back to the very next episode. Our question today is will Platner drop out and if he does, what's going to happen? What's going to happen? Are Republicans going to hold on there or are they able to just reinvent a new reality and if he drops

[John Ashbrook]

out, you know, before this episode goes live, just make fun of him in a comment. We'll read those too.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, we'll read all of them. If they're funny.

[Show Announcer]

Really?

[Josh Holmes]

Because it's Funtime Friday. Yeah, that. We'll talk about it. So one footnote to the whole Platner component is the political acumen of Elizabeth Warren.

[Michael Duncan]

Or like, they're my kind of man. Exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

And, you know, I mean, both parties deal with this where somebody who doesn't know from Shinola decides that they are like a king maker and they amplify the online, you know, folks, and they're like, no, this is what we ought to do. And it's like, super weird. Well, she is, I think. I think more so than Bernie, who does have more of a grassroots touch. I mean, built the movement. She just sort of like pirates some of that.

[Show Announcer]

Well, she's done it before. Remember the treaty that she signed with Joe Biden ahead of 2020, you staff your administration with my people and do what I say, and I drop out of this race.

[Josh Holmes]

I really thought that was gonna be an Indian joke.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, it is in some sense.

[Show Announcer]

They signed a treaty,

[Josh Holmes]

they smoked up

[Michael Duncan]

peace pipe, and now she's not that great at her endorsements. This cycle has really shown it.

[Josh Holmes]

This is a thing that Dave weigel put up. Graphic 1. If you just want to take a look at this rough cycle for Warren endorsed Katie Porter, a protege. She had to. Protege in that she, like, what? Got beat her husband about the head and face with like, chicken or something like that.

[Show Announcer]

Boiling mashed potatoes.

[Josh Holmes]

Boiling mashed potatoes. And like, pop that back up. I still gotta see it. Mallory McMurrow, which last week she dropped out. Dropped out. Right. Zach Walls. I don't even know who that is.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, he lost in Iowa, I think.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay. And a way too memorable. My kind of man. My kind of man. Be a good time for that. That thing there.

[Michael Duncan]

That's my kind of man.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, there it is.

[Show Announcer]

But she's not. Let's just go back again. You mentioned Katie Porter. Elizabeth Warren for the last decade hasn't been without influence where mainstream media is concerned. Because that Katie Porter divorce record was available when she first ran and nobody would write it. She first ran in a Dem primary. Guys, I don't know if you remember this. For the House guy she ran against pushed that divorce record to every reporter in the English speaking world, hoping surely someone would write it. Nobody would because of Elizabeth Warren.

[Josh Holmes]

She's like the living embodiment of everything that's wrong with this country in a lot of different ways. Not just the Democratic Party, like just the. The whole country. I mean, we've talked forever about what would happen when the perversion of higher academia in a systematic 20 year project to turn that into a left wing lunacy machine would happen, would have on the American electorate once that graduated out. Right. Where you had multiple generations of Americans that were productions of that machine. And like, she is on top of that, right? She is. That is her language. That is basically what she has been professing her entire life. And I, it's hard for me to believe that a lot of these coastal municipalities and these weird anti American, anti Western civilization, anti Semitic views that are now inhabiting the Democratic Party aren't a direct byproduct of Elizabeth Warren and her colleagues in higher education. You guys disagree with that?

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, I don't disagree with it, but if it provides you any comfort, she is ideologically aligned with Bernie Sanders, clearly. And she has the political muscle to staff Biden's administration. But she's never going to be president.

[Michael Duncan]

No.

[John Ashbrook]

Because she lacks that human touch as a candidate to ever win.

[Michael Duncan]

The whole Trump post where he put up that clip when she was running for president of Elizabeth Warren is supposed to be like at home drinking a beer with her husband. She's like, I want to thank my husband for being here. And Trump's like, why is she thanking him for being there? Where else is he gonna be? And also him labeling her Pocahontas, like,

[Josh Holmes]

it's over, it's over, it's over, it's over. But, you know, as long as she's in there destroying the Democratic Party, I have no problem.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

So, Elizabeth Warren, good work, Good work this cycle. Let's get your comments.

[Michael Duncan]

My kind of man.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it sure is. All right, let's get your comments from last episode, which is what your Highlight was from America 250. When you like and subscribe, we read all of them. Get back to you with a little sampling and do that. We always start with the voice first

[Show Announcer]

one from Sue Lee. Sue writes, my highlight of celebrating America's 250 was being able to take our grandkids to Camp Lejeune where my husband served as a Navy chaplain to the Marines during Afghanistan and Iraq.

[John Ashbrook]

Wow.

[Show Announcer]

They willingly listened to stories about the heroes my husband served and how the Marines kept us safe on base after 9 11. That is America.

[John Ashbrook]

Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. That's really, really good. I love every second of that. All right, comment two dunks.

[John Ashbrook]

Comment two is from Living Invalescently. They write, My highlight of America 250 is the group of young people who put together the Relay for America carrying a US flag from California to arrive in D.C. on July 4, their goal was to bring together. Bring people together. And they succeeded. My grandson and I watched waving our flags as the flag ran by my house in rural Ohio. You must see the videos of the journey and the crowd supporting them as they pass through their towns. Truly emotional and amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

That's great. Great. Comment Comment 3, Smuggles.

[Michael Duncan]

Comment 3 from Deb Fazee. Deb writes, my highlight was happening in Illinois. Our politicians didn't want to participate, so the people did. Everything was a giant block party.

[John Ashbrook]

Nice.

[Michael Duncan]

Phenomenal.

[Josh Holmes]

I love it. I love every second of it. All right, I suppose we got to play a game. By the way, I gotta say, in last Funtime Friday, we played DeMerojournal for the first time in a long time. We need to keep mixing stuff like that in because I had a lot of fun with that.

[Michael Duncan]

Demer Journal is a classic.

[Josh Holmes]

Good audience feedback, too. People love that game. We got to get our other games back in. But our signature game is still our signature game. King of the hill. I think I'm judge this week.

[John Ashbrook]

You are judge. I'm bailiff.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay.

[John Ashbrook]

Our defending champion is Smug. And Smug has Joe Walsh.

[Michael Duncan]

Correct.

[John Ashbrook]

Smoke and Joe Walsh. And Ashbrook is challenger. Who are you bringing to the table here?

[Show Announcer]

Bill Crystal.

[John Ashbrook]

Bill Crystal. I want to go ringside.

[Show Announcer]

Ladies and gentlemen, your. Your attention, please. It's time for King of the Hip. In the red corner, fighting from Pierre Omadia's checkbook, Bill. War now. War forever. Crystal. And now, in the blue corner, fighting from an empty campaign office in Illinois, and current champion of the world, Smoking Joe. Oh, nice.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, so the champ is smug.

[Michael Duncan]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

So you go first.

[Michael Duncan]

Happy to.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, I'm going to start. I've seen enough. It's over, Ash Brook. You win.

[Show Announcer]

It's.

[Josh Holmes]

It's done.

[John Ashbrook]

Wait, wait, wait.

[Show Announcer]

Fair, your honor. Very fair.

[Josh Holmes]

I just feel like the preponderance of evidence before this court has shown that John Ashbrook has a heavier intellect in this particular game, and one that, if

[John Ashbrook]

I can, I'll never argue with the court.

[Michael Duncan]

I always stand with a very fair and just court that we have here. I'm not going to attack the integrity of this court, and I will always stand by its rulings because I believe in the rule of law.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I appreciate that. That's. It's good.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, if I would appreciate a heads up in your chambers before we get to open court here.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it is not the job.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm flummoxed.

[Josh Holmes]

It is not the job to consult with others to provide a verdict. I have provided one And I'm very comfortable with.

[John Ashbrook]

Unbelievable.

[Michael Duncan]

The best, the best part of this is like the exhibits for Joe Walsh were so trash. There was zero chance I was going to win. I'm actually, I'm relieved because like the embarrassment of having to play the like trash that he pulled out. This was like the worst week for Joe Walsh content of all time. It was completely. But you didn't even.

[John Ashbrook]

You didn't even get to fight. It's so. It's just over like that. What are the fans going to think?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I suspect that they're probably going to remember what was it two weeks ago when this court so vehemently perverted justice that retribution was in order. And I have found it in order. Could we.

[Michael Duncan]

Could we. I think this is such a cool twist. Like, this is so unprecedented and exciting.

[John Ashbrook]

Can I file an amicus brief? Amicus.

[Josh Holmes]

I'll hear it. I'll hear it.

[John Ashbrook]

Can we at least get Ashbrook to play one tweet from Bill Kristol so he feels like he earned it?

[Michael Duncan]

The best one. The best one.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, play the best one.

[Show Announcer]

One. If it please the court. Exhibit nine, please. Bill Crystal, isn't it an empirical fact that net net immigrants are makers, Native born Americans are takers?

[Michael Duncan]

Unbelievable.

[John Ashbrook]

Dude.

[Michael Duncan]

That's an insane take.

[John Ashbrook]

Dude.

[Michael Duncan]

That is.

[John Ashbrook]

Dude. Believable.

[Show Announcer]

The guy has lost his mind.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, W is earned. That's an insane take.

[Josh Holmes]

Some say that the judge is clairvoyant because he has seen this coming.

[Michael Duncan]

That's a nuke of nukes.

[Josh Holmes]

That is unbelievable. Also using net net is just completely hilarious.

[Michael Duncan]

Can we get that back on the screen? Did he not get ratioed to hell? Holy shit. His audience is so brain dead. He didn't get ratioed off that?

[Josh Holmes]

No.

[Michael Duncan]

That's pathetic.

[Josh Holmes]

Not super well trafficked either. You know, I mean, he's just kind of doing his thing.

[John Ashbrook]

Holmes is right though. It's very funny that he put net net in there like the guy's a quant at Goldman Sachs.

[Michael Duncan]

Like what?

[Josh Holmes]

Do you know what that means?

[John Ashbrook]

Net Net.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, net Net.

[American Petroleum Institute Announcer]

That.

[Josh Holmes]

That dude's in a think tank for his entire life being paid by left wing lunatics.

[Show Announcer]

Your Honor, if it. If it please the court, I'd also like to read exhibit 11.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay.

[Show Announcer]

Coming from Bill Kristol, you just have to hear this. This links to an article in the Bulwark. NATO has been a distinctive American contribution to world peace as well as an instrument of American greatness. We'll be able to watch and listen to Zelensky who embodies the principles of NATO and really of the U.S. better than our president. Of the U.S. zelensky for president.

[Michael Duncan]

Bill Kristal says Joe Walsh was not winning this week.

[Josh Holmes]

No, no. I just cut to the chase. I just cut to the chase. To the chase. And a deserving champion. Indeed.

[John Ashbrook]

What a curveball.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, if we got to fill some things out here, I think we've got a couple of other things, don't we? We think we got a couple other.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, we have a. We have a great piece. You were attacked, Holmes.

[Josh Holmes]

I was attacked. I. I'm told by Will Kane. I haven't seen it.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, this came up on X. This is after the U.S. men's National Team lost that game against Belgium. Yes, Will, let's play that clip.

[Michael Duncan]

As we are all as a country suffering together through what amounted to an embarrassing loss, as described by Alexi Lawless and Carly Lloyd as a disappointing exit. This is how it went down on X. The way too cool. Josh Holmes of Ruthless announced to the American public. Look at it this way, we can all go back to hating soccer tomorrow. To which. Good take. Speak for yourself. Great take, finally. Exactly.

[American Petroleum Institute Announcer]

Emily.

[Michael Duncan]

Speak for yourself, curmudgeon. Speak for yourself, Pat. Actually, a great take from Holmes. Well.

[Josh Holmes]

And tinfoil Pat, it sounds like had the right idea.

[Show Announcer]

Fellow traveler there.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. I briefly entertained. I would say I was curious about soccer.

[Michael Duncan]

Nope.

[Josh Holmes]

And I have now turned back the lens on all of that and realize that in fact, we do have four American sports. And I will focus my attention. Well, as.

[John Ashbrook]

As this avid soccer fan here on the Ruthless variety program, our listeners and viewers might expect me to defend Will Kane, but when you come for one of us, you come for all of us.

[Michael Duncan]

I love that.

[John Ashbrook]

What a disgusting attack. And after that disgusting performance by the U.S. men's National Team, when you concede a goal from your goalie at midfield, it's embarrassing. It's like rec soccer. That is not supposed to happen in the World Cup. So, I mean, of course people went on X to dunk on the thing. And also, Will Cain's violating the number one rule of the Internet. He got mad first. Yeah, can't do that.

[Michael Duncan]

Can I say one last thing about Will Kane? This is like a pattern with this guy, is. You know, I thought Fox is supposed to be a family. So you're seeing this ESPN guy, Will Kane, firing shots inside the tent like. Like yet again, which has become kind of his thing is he attacks Fox people non stop. You know, Rupert Laughlin, I hope you're seeing this. I think it's Pretty obvious problem here

[Josh Holmes]

is Will way too cool. Well, cooler than you, Will. We love you though. Thanks for the name drop and it's a good discussion. We look forward to a fulsome discussion. We have those on Thursdays on Will's show.

[John Ashbrook]

So we'll, we'll see them and I'm

[Josh Holmes]

sure that this will come up.

[Show Announcer]

It's going to be real good.

[Josh Holmes]

Appreciate that. Also, by the way, your governor down in Texas, I just did his radio show. He was subbing in for Hannity. Yeah, he invited the Ruthless variety program to go do do our show from the Mansion. So I don't know. It's your backyard. There we are. There we are. Anyway, listen, it's been a hell of a show. We have Funtime Friday in front of us. A lot of good times to come there. Probably a plantner update at some point. We have a lot, and I mean a lot of fun things to announce here in the next couple of weeks, one of which could happen as soon as Funtime Friday that we're talking about in the very near future. That'll be great. And opportunities to come see the Ruthless Friday program in a variety of different places. So thank you for listening with that, fellas. I think we did it.

[Michael Duncan]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much to our listeners. And remember, if you have not yet, go to the YouTube and hit that subscribe because it's more fun in video. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own woods. We'll see you Friday. Stab Ripley,

[Josh Holmes]

Sam.