What a Heinous Crime Tells Us About Democrats

Summary

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Ruthless Podcast Episode Summary

Episode Title: What a Heinous Crime Tells Us About Democrats
Date: September 9, 2025
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook
Feature Interview: Mike Summers, President & CEO, API (American Petroleum Institute)

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Episode Overview

This episode of the Ruthless Podcast centers around rising urban crime, media narratives, and Democratic policy failures in American cities, with pointed discussion of a recent shocking murder in Charlotte. The hosts analyze how crime is handled politically by Democrats, media selectivity in covering crime, the chilling effect on ordinary citizens, and tie it all to broader themes of governance and public safety. They then pivot to an in-depth conversation on American energy policy with API’s Mike Summers, focusing on permitting reform, energy independence, and the political landscape.

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Main Discussion: Urban Crime, Media Silence, and Political Accountability

The Trump "DC Crime" Narrative

• Discussion Kick-off: The hosts open with effusive praise for Trump’s intervention in DC, claiming his actions reduced crime and forced Democratic mayors to confront the issue ([00:00]–[02:43]).
  • Duncan states: “There is a palpable difference in DC. What he's done is he saved the city. There are lives that would have been lost.” ([00:00])
  • Holmes: “Our nation is standing up for American.” ([00:37])

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Case Study: The Charlotte, NC Train Stabbing

Incident Details

• Crime Recap: Surveillance footage shows Ukrainian refugee Irina Zarutska stabbed multiple times on Charlotte public transport by a repeat violent offender—Decarlos Brown—who had 13+ arrests and multiple prison stints ([04:58]–[06:54]).
  • Todd Pirro (clip): “She was boarding the train ... the suspect pulls out a knife and just begins stabbing ... arrested shortly after ... lengthy history of convictions...” ([04:58])
  • Holmes connects this to "catch and release" criminal justice policies in Democratic-run cities.

Critique of Democrat & Media Response

• Duncan: "How many times does a criminal have to act and be locked up and be arrested before we realize this person needs to be off the streets?" ([06:54])
• Ashbrook: "Refuse to just lock these people up ... if we did, we could reduce crime by 80% in all of these cities. It is so simple." ([08:22])
• Hosts blame “Soros prosecutors,” lenient Democratic governors (esp. NC's Roy Cooper), and activist judges for fishbone failures ([06:04], [27:41]).

Societal Impact & Chilling Effect

• Smug: "The media has done to push down the social response of regular men in this country ... Why would you ever get involved?" ([09:33])
• Daniel Penny cited as an example of citizen intervention being punished ([10:17])
• Duncan: “The American spirit is being crushed, of being forced to accept crime ... if you live in a city, accept it.” ([10:37])
• Holmes: “Trump has shown he can waive a want and he can fix it. Decline is a choice.” ([11:23])

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Media Coverage: Selectivity and Narrative Management

The New York Times Test

• Holmes: "Victim of this heinous crime in Charlotte ... do a search on New York Times. Zero results." ([17:35])
• For Daniel Penny—citizen tried for subway intervention—over 100 results ([18:25]).
• Smug: “Most ... have already made ... if they're looking for information ... they do not type in newyorktimes.com ..." ([18:32])

Host Analysis of Media Bias

• Holmes: "You have major trusted news sources that have decided a narrative doesn’t fit their worldview, therefore they won’t cover it." ([19:11])
• Describes a playbook—if the victim or weapon does not fit left policy aims (e.g., not a gun, not a police killing a minority), there’s near-total silence ([19:11]–[21:29]).
• Duncan: “It's not that the violence is the problem, it's that we noticed it.” ([25:39])
• Multiple hosts denounce Democratic and media response as evidence of misplaced compassion and narrative-crafting ([26:18]–[28:55]).

Notable Quote

• Ashbrook (re: Ukrainian victim): “This woman flees Ukraine with the war. And the, the less safe place than the fucking war torn country is the United States of America. We should be fucking embarrassed.” ([25:50])

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The “Grift” Theory: Monetizing Crime & Misery

• Ashbrook and Duncan argue the left has established a "cottage industry" of NGOs, public defenders, non-profits, and government programs—monetizing homelessness and recidivist crime ([07:31], [39:01]).
• Duncan: "Their business is monetizing American misery." ([40:50])
• Duncan: “Every dead raccoon is a W for humanity.” (On government incompetence and misplaced priorities; [49:51])

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Policy Solutions & Conservative Approach

• Consistent calls for tougher sentencing (three-strike laws, "lock them up forever"), more police, less compassion for chronic offenders.
• Duncan calls for a return to the death penalty with "a vengeance" ([32:15]).
• Holmes: “If you break the law, you're going to pay the price ... That is the only thing that matters.” ([36:02])
• Under Trump, "simply locking up criminals" is credited with causing DC crime to "collapse" ([34:31]).

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Segment Timestamps

• 00:00–01:21: DC crime drop, Trump vs. blue city mayors
• 03:09–05:56: Story of Charlotte train stabbing
• 09:33–10:37: Societal chilling effect; Daniel Penny; bystander inaction
• 11:23–14:21: Trump breaks media narratives
• 16:23–17:44: Media silence—NYT, AP, Daniel Penny contrast
• 26:18–28:55: Policy failures in North Carolina; Roy Cooper
• 30:47–33:27: Charlotte mayor’s "homelessness" statement
• 36:01–40:50: Conservative solutions; leftist grift theory

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Memorable Quotes

• "You have major trusted news sources that have decided a narrative doesn’t fit their worldview, therefore they won’t cover it." — Josh Holmes [19:11]
• "The American spirit is being crushed, being forced to accept crime." — Michael Duncan [10:37]
• "It's not that the violence is the problem, it's that we noticed it." — John Ashbrook [25:39]

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Interview: Mike Summers, API – American Energy Policy Hot Seat

Timestamps: [55:03]–[74:58]

Focus Areas

• Trump-era Recovery: Summers credits Trump for record oil & gas production, celebrating deregulation and the fulfillment of 4 of 5 API policy asks ([55:56]).
• Permitting Reform: The current bottleneck and a key gateway for further progress ([56:47]). Keystone XL case cited as an example of broken federal processes ([58:00]).
• Energy & Politics: Explains how high energy costs are shaping electoral politics (NJ, VA), and why permitting is a bipartisan imperative ([57:05], [59:51]).
• China/AI/National Security: Ties permitting to the global competition over AI and manufacturing energy, citing data centers as massive new demand ([60:29], [65:44]).
• Real World Consequences: Anecdote about Louisiana natural gas illustrating how local government buy-in trumps all for major energy projects ([64:23]).

Memorable Quotes

• “If America builds, America wins. It's simple as that.” — Mike Summers [71:52]
• "If we don't win this race, China is." — Mike Summers [65:44]
• “Remember that affordability is the most important thing for American consumers, and let's get this done.” — Mike Summers [70:34]

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Closing Variety & Listener Engagement

Offbeat Segments

• Wild Boar Police Video: Cops roping a boar in Florida; hosts joke about AR-15s and policing ([44:03]–[47:48]).
• Raccoon CPR in Kentucky: A nurse revives a raccoon using CPR. Hosts use this as a metaphor for misplaced bureaucratic compassion ([48:03]).
• Ohio Scented Candle: Candle promoted as "unscented" and made in Indiana—playful jabs at Ohio and football ([51:54]–[54:14]).

Listener Comments

• Reader submissions on "code switching" in politics, generally received with humor ([42:32]–[43:39]).

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Conclusion: The Big Question

• Holmes to Listeners: “If dozens of murders in the major cities around where you live doesn't make a difference, and where the video of what we saw in Charlotte doesn't make a difference, ... What will it take for Democrats to finally get serious about crime?” ([40:58])

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Takeaways

• The episode delivers a pointed right-wing critique of Democratic policies on crime, connecting tragic case studies, media bias, and broader cultural shifts.
• Hosts position themselves as truth-tellers exposing media and policy failures.
• The Summers interview reframes energy policy as an essential, bipartisan concern, predicting more electoral focus given rising costs.
• Frequent calls for audience participation via comments and “likes,” emphasizing the community of conservative listeners.

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Transcript

[Michael Duncan]

There is a palpable difference in DC From Trump saving this. What he's done is he saved the city. There are lives that would have been lost. There are people living who would have been dead if it wasn't for Trump taking this action.

[Josh Holmes]

These big city mayors are not doing anything about it, but they, in conjunction with a corporate media, are basically not trying to talk about it.

[John Ashbrook]

There is a shocking amount of crime committed by a shockingly low amount of people. The recidivism rates in, in some of these large blue cities is incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

Our nation is standing up for American.

[API Representative]

Workers, restoring the pride of making products here at home.

[Josh Holmes]

That's what we do every day.

[API Representative]

We're America's beverage companies, making American products with American workers in America's hometowns, delivering.

[Josh Holmes]

Brands that have been enjoyed for generations, creating good paying jobs, the kind that require only a strong work ethic. Because we believe in the promise of America and the people who make it great.

[API Representative]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Michael Duncan]

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

[Comfortably Smug]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Tuesday to you. Welcome back to the Ruthless Friday program. My name is Josh Holmes, along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook, Left to right, across your radio dial. Crime and Punishment, it turns out, is a, well, it's a discussion. And I can't believe it's a discussion, but it's a discussion nevertheless.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, and that's the thing is, you know, we were talking about how critical I think this is and what a winning issue it is is because unlike a lot of, you know, ideas and issues that politicians throw around. Oh, you know, we're going to fix health care, we're going to create jobs. It's transparent, it's black and white. You can see it, it's palpable. And I think President Trump's huge win with DC has made it crystal clear across the country, decline's a choice, crime can be solved.

[John Ashbrook]

And what an incredible win for Donald Trump that he continues to have this situation where he's fighting with blue city mayors on whether they want their cities to be. Yeah, like what an easy win for him. And he's doing a very good job. I've noticed this over the last few weeks where he's sort of dragging it out a little bit. So he continues the conversation. It's smart because it's making all of these local mayors have to answer these questions on every weekend. Hey, how many people were shot this weekend?

[Michael Duncan]

Yep.

[John Ashbrook]

Why can't Trump do his job?

[Comfortably Smug]

And from a political standpoint, like you Say it's very smart from a practical standpoint. It is very smart, simple. The people who are considering crime know because Trump is actually doing something about it, these people know that there's a consequence. And when they know there's a consequence, they're less likely to do it.

[Mike Summers]

That's it.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, the obvious backdrop to this is President Trump coming in uninvited to the District of Columbia where he had terrible crime problems, and in the matter of three weeks, cleaning it up to the point where you have the mayor, who is no friend of any conservative, let alone President Trump, saying like, yep, this worked. Thank you. Please stay. Let's keep doing this thing because it's making a tangible difference. On the other side, you got people like Pritzker, the old fat, fat man in Illinois, where he's saying, like, stay out, we don't want you here. Despite the fact that he's got, you know, 75 people shot over the weekend.

[Michael Duncan]

He'S like, oh, well, we should talk about Trump. Let's not talk about the shootings. Unbelievable.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. And we covered this last week, but there continues to be significant evidence just anecdotally and in a one by one area where it's not only that these big city mayors are not doing anything about it, but they, in conjunction with a corporate media, are basically not trying to talk about it. Right. They don't want anything escaping their news bubble and they're trying to pretend as though everything is like law and order situation. They don't need any help from President Trump or anybody else. And if you look at what happened in Charlotte, nice home state you got there. But.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, the prime example, this is what happens when you have these blue cities that put into practice these policies that allow criminals to get out again and again and again.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, so we're gonna go to Fox with Todd Pirro for clip one.

[Todd Pirro]

Please, the most horrific video, or at least one of the, that I think we've seen on this program. Surveillance video obtained by NewsNation shows 23 year old Irina Zarutska. She, she was boarding the train in Charlotte, North Carolina last month. She took a seat right in front of the alleged suspect. But around four minutes later, the suspect pulls out a knife and just begins stabbing the victim three times, including once in her neck. The suspect later wandered through the train before exiting at the next stop. He was arrested shortly after the stabbing, hospitalized thereafter before being arrested on a charge of first degree murder. Records obtained by the New York Post shows he has a lengthy history of convictions dating back more than a decade. Including felony larceny, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and communicating threats. He served five years for a 2014 robbery and was released in 2020, but was arrested just five months later for assaulting his sister.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, well, this kind of goes to the point that we've all been talking about, which is this catch and release program.

[Michael Duncan]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

That inner city mayors, judges elected by Soros governors. In this case. Yep. What's this guy's name?

[Michael Duncan]

Troy Cooper. And he was Attorney General of North Carolina, then he was governor of North Carolina during this animal's entire reign of terror as a criminal. That's what you get. This is what happens.

[Josh Holmes]

So to put a finer point on what Todd Pirro was talking about, his rap sheet is, according to the Daily Mail, dates back to 2011. Includes felony larceny, robbery, and dangerous weapon and communicating threats. According to court records obtained by the Post, he even served five years in prison for armed robbery, only to be arrested again for assaulting his sister just months after he was released in September of 2020. Now, this is a cat, and there's his.

[Michael Duncan]

Look at that. I mean, look at those mug shots. It's like, how many times does a criminal have to act and be locked up and be arrested before we realize this person needs to be off the streets? Like, all this, the left wing just obfuscation of crime. It's not crime, it's poverty. It's not crime, it's racism.

[John Ashbrook]

I think it's worse than obfuscation, though. Smug. Like, you know, I hate to say it, I hate to take the black pill on this whole thing when it comes to crime, but I think that crime is a cottage industry.

[Michael Duncan]

I don't think you're wrong, man.

[John Ashbrook]

I think between, you know, the NGOs, the nonprofits, and all these people who are trying to solve things of crime, and, you know, soup kitchens, all these sorts of things. I think that there is an entire cottage industry of catch and release that benefits from this sort of thing.

[Michael Duncan]

And you think about. It's like, not only that, you've got the public defender who has to be paid to do this, the billable hours. Billable hours, like all these attorneys on every step of the way, the guards that have to be paid, the judges, the number of the amount of taxpayer dollars that is spent on this one animal. I saw someone do just back of the envelope math of like, you're talking about over a million to $2 million in taxpayer money being spent on each one of these repeat criminal.

[John Ashbrook]

There is a shocking amount of crime committed by a shockingly Low amount of people. The recidivism rates in some of these large blue cities is incredible. And refuse to just lock these people up. I. It's insane to me. You look at D.C. i mean, we've talked about D.C. and what. Donald Trump's done an incredible job of reducing the crime in this city. It isn't just that there's tons of criminals in Washington D.C. or in North Carolina or any of these places. It's that there are people who. Repeat offenders who we allow back into our streets. We refuse to lock up. And if we did, we could reduce crime by 80% in all of these cities. It is so simple.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the thing. It's like in New York City, you know, they were talking about all these stores that have to like lock everything up, lock and key. Even if you go into a drugstore and want to buy deodorants, like locked up. It's because they had 85% of the larceny cases, had fewer than 50 people who were just getting arrested again and again, multiple times a day, again and again and again and again, and then released again and again and released.

[John Ashbrook]

Bring back three strike laws. Seriously, three strikes, life in prison. Put you in fucking prison forever.

[Michael Duncan]

Yep.

[Comfortably Smug]

You guys are talking a lot about the official response. And I saw that video and for the first time I actually saw the sort of the zoomed out version every over the weekend. I saw a lot of pictures of what this guy was doing standing over this girl. But it looked to me like there were other men sitting there on the public transport kind of close by to where this whole thing happened. And so the official response is one thing, but what the media has done to push down the social response of regular men in this country.

[John Ashbrook]

Why would you ever get involved? Why would you ever look up from your.

[Michael Duncan]

Daniel Penny is a perfect example.

[John Ashbrook]

Daniel Penny, right. Why would you ever look up from your phone?

[Comfortably Smug]

But I mean, if this guy stabbed her 30 times and there are other men sitting there, can't some guy stand up and just tackle him?

[John Ashbrook]

No. Grab him. He'd go to prison.

[Michael Duncan]

He'd go to prison and then he. Half the country would say that he's a racist, he's a racist, he's a bigot.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

And then they dox him and they'd harass him and they'd demand he be like tried and then he would get charged by one of these source persons. That's. So this is a whole over lying issue here is what the left has done to this country. The derangement that they've put out there and what it's done to Americans. Of, like, the American spirit is being crushed, of being forced to accept crime. Of like, if you live in a city, accept it. You could be robbed at any moment when you're outside. This is just normal. Accept that crime can happen at any time, that an intern could be murdered right here on the streets of D.C. and there's nothing you can do about it. You just have to accept that this is crime because, oh, you know, it's just poverty or, you know, it's just racism or what's been done to this country. And Donald Trump has shown he can waive a want and he can fix it. Decline is a choice.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, no, listen, that's well said. Why don't we hear from Donald Trump? Because part of this story is the lack of conversation about it. One of Donald Trump's great gifts that he has provided the American people is to break media narratives, to force people to have conversations that the media doesn't want them to have. Clip 2 Please there was also a.

[Unknown News Reporter]

Horrible killing recently in Charlotte where I talked about and so many others. And we will we're going to get to the end of it. And you know, when you have horrible killings, you have to take horrible actions. And the actions that we take are nothing. This cashless bail started a wave in our country where a killer kills somebody and is out on the street by the afternoon, in many cases going out and killing again, cashless bail. And you try and reason with people like in Chicago with the governor and the mayor, you try and reason with them, and it's like you're talking to a wall. It's just doesn't I assume it's just a political ideology. They're not stupid people. Must be an ideology that's just buried in their head and you can't do a damn thing about it.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, it kind of puts a fine point on it, right? I mean, look, you don't have to be smart. You're a public servant. You would like to think that most of these people got into the line of work because they wanted to protect their people in one form or fashion or they thought they could do something to enhance the lives of the people that they represent. And, you know, increasingly that has been in question, particularly when it comes to the left. But you look at somebody like J.B. pritzker, where he does that interview that we covered last Friday, where he is like, oh, well, you're gonna get crime in big cities. And that's just kind of the thing you know, we'll manage through it as best as we possibly can. And Trump is saying, like, no, like, we actually have the power to do something about all of this. The question is whether or not you choose to one way or another. And in this case, this is somebody who has been.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, we're gonna get into 14 times arrested. 14 times arrested. And at some point, these Democratic mayors are terrorizing their own citizens. And like, you know, I mean, at some point, it's a violation of the constitutional rights of an American citizen, and it's the requirement of Donald Trump to step up and do their job for them. I hate it. I hate it because these people do not deserve this. And, and, and Donald Trump is going to have to do something about it. And it's a shame because they don't want it. And Donald Trump would not. How do they not?

[Josh Holmes]

They would not.

[Michael Duncan]

It's so nuts.

[John Ashbrook]

No, the people want it, but, like, it's, it's not that Donald Trump's gonna get credit for solving the problem. That's what pisses me off.

[Josh Holmes]

He's not even interested in that. Like, he's only, he's only interested. And getting these people to recognize that it's a tangible benefit to protect. How is this citizenry from murder?

[John Ashbrook]

It shouldn't be hard.

[Josh Holmes]

It really shouldn't be. So listen, we're gonna get to a lot more about this in the ongoing debate, and then we're have some yucks. We've got a great interview coming up with Summers, our boy. He's the president and CEO of API. You're gonna hear a lot about energy and where we're going both globally and domestically in terms of all of that. But when we come back, we're going to get to where the media and the Democratic Party are in terms of news of this horrific crime.

[John Ashbrook]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

And the statistics that you're seeing out of Chicago and everything else in terms of crime, like, where are they as it sweeps the nation? We're going to have the answers to that right after this.

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[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so you, as an American consumer of news, have been well accustomed to local criminal issues becoming part of your daily lexicon. Right? George Floyd.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Perfect example. Captivated riots all over this country. There was a fight on a. On like a boat in Mississippi not too long ago. Alabama, Mississippi, one of the two.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, I know what you're talking about.

[Josh Holmes]

That became whatever. And it just became part of the conversation. This particular situation is alarming to me because it suggests that there is a selective victim that becomes a part of a narrative. Now, we've all known this at some level. We've talked about this in the ruthless variety program for some time. But let's just take a look. For example, from the New York Times. Graphic one, please. How many people the victim of this heinous crime in Charlotte, a stabbing to the neck of a Ukrainian refugee in, like, city limits.

[Michael Duncan]

Do a search on New York Times.

[Josh Holmes]

Can't do it for her name.

[Michael Duncan]

How many results? Zero. How about for the murderer, decarlos Brown? You do a search on New York Times.

[John Ashbrook]

Zero results.

[Michael Duncan]

Interesting.

[Josh Holmes]

It's interesting. Right? So meanwhile, you know, we just kind of took a look at that and Daniel Penney is a perfect example of somebody who was on a train much like this where he intervened in a situation where somebody was having a manic attack and was going to kill people and was immediately prosecuted. Now ultimately exonerated as a result of all of that. But because of who he is and who the perpetrator was, well, there was a little bit more of an attention. So let's take a look at Graphic two, please.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, boy.

[Michael Duncan]

If you search for Daniel Penny at the New York Times. 100 results.

[Josh Holmes]

Interesting. Right.

[Comfortably Smug]

Fellas, I think this validates a decision that most of our listeners and millions of others across this country have already made, that if they're looking for information about what's happening in their country, they do not type in newyorktimes.com seriously, they literally are not interested in going to that newspaper because they know that if they go to the liberal media, they're going to get propaganda from the left from some sort of like, globalist mind view. That is not. Yeah, but it doesn't fit what our world is actually experiencing here in America.

[Josh Holmes]

It's true. But to me it's much more concerning in that the higher level of concern that I have about the continued ability to govern this country is that you have major trusted news sources that have decided a narrative doesn't fit their worldview, and so therefore they won't cover it. Right. At some level, you have a, you know, a George Floyd episode or a, you know, a cop that kills somebody in Ohio, for example, or the Daniel Penney episode or whatever that we've now seen from statistics are like, very, very minimal in terms of the violence that we see in either police interactions or person to person interactions that are amplified to a national discussion. This is a situation where you've got this woman who's a Ukrainian refugee, and there are three major problems. Yeah, there are three major problems with this. The first is she's a pretty white girl that's on a train that sits down and is just sort of minding her own business. The second is who the perpetrator is, which undermines everything the left has ever talked about in terms of the criminal justice system, that you ought to have compassion and bail and all these things. Person has been in and out of prison 12, 13 times for violent offenses. The third is the weapon involved. We're talking about a knife. Do you think for a second if there was a gun involved, that we wouldn't be talking about this? Of course we would, because it would be a method by which the left could use to talk about gun control, which is the ultimate deal. So if you don't have any of those things, if the victim's not right, if the perpetrator doesn't fit your narrative, and if the weapon involved doesn't hit your narrative, it doesn't get covered. Think about that like that. It's crazy.

[Michael Duncan]

That's incredible.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, so I think there's something actually worse than all of that. All of that is terrible, Holmes. But I think the thing that's worse about this is that that guy walked around that light rail car and blood was dripping in the middle of the car. He stabbed that woman 30 times and nobody did anything three times.

[Josh Holmes]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

It wasn't 30, it was three. I think it was three.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't know. However many times. Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

I guess my point is, is that, like, back to the Daniel Penny situation is like, I worry about a lot of good citizen citizens, like, opting out of society.

[Comfortably Smug]

I agree with you. This is. This is a great. This is a huge problem in our society.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

Huge, huge problem that people are like, whoa, the New York Times might say I'm a bad guy because I'm stopping a killer.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, it's more than that. So it's not just that the New York Times will say that you're a bad guy. It's that then you and your entire family are going to have to go through. You're going to be the one who's prosecuted. They're actually gonna put the full weight of the criminal justice system against you like they did for Daniel Penny. They'll try to bankrupt you because you tried to go against their narrative. Because they've built, like Duncan said, this cottage industry, this woke DEI BLM nexus of like, oh, no, you see, it's not crime, it's racism. Or no, he's not a criminal, he's homeless. And we even saw the Charlotte mayor say, no, you see, the problem here is that we didn't have enough room resources for the homeless. We have over the past decade that California did the same thing. The amount of billions of dollars that have gone towards, oh, well, let's do a. Let's coddle the homeless and let's spend towards nos that tackle homeless when we could have spent enough to buy houses for every homeless person.

[John Ashbrook]

We have not.

[Michael Duncan]

We, we.

[John Ashbrook]

We seriously have not, as a society fully recognized how much the left has monetized human misery.

[Michael Duncan]

Yep, it's a moneymaker for them.

[Josh Holmes]

I totally agree with that. And we're going to get to the statement from the mayor shortly, which is alarming, but there are a couple other things. So none of the mainstream media covered this at all right up until Axios. I mean, it's just Axios covered it. And in graphic three, if you don't mind putting that up, Wolf, what they say is grizzly Charlotte stabbing video fuels maga's crime mess.

[John Ashbrook]

Also. Go fuck yourself.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right?

[John Ashbrook]

Go fuck yourself.

[Michael Duncan]

That's unreal.

[John Ashbrook]

Unbelievable.

[Michael Duncan]

That's just a disgusting take.

[John Ashbrook]

Disgusting.

[Josh Holmes]

They're not done. Graphic 3A, please. So they have another tweet out that summarizes a portion of what it is that they're talking about in their deal. And it says, the gruesome video of the fetal knife attack on Irana Zuratzka. Right. I'm sorry if I'm pronouncing her name wrong. God bless her and her family. I can't believe they have to go through this. But they're on a light rail car in Charlotte is drawing attention from MAGA influencers seeking to elevate the issue of violent urban crime and accuse mainstream media of undercovering shocking cases. They don't need to accuse anybody of anything. They actually did the research and people came up with the one Search at the New York Times where everything that fit their narrative was covered to the hundredth degree in terms of coverage. This thing, which is legitimately terrible and a perfect example of the kind of problem that you have when you don't enforce crime of a 13 time violent offender in a city in this country where they just ignore it all entirely.

[Michael Duncan]

It's incredible. Like the problem here is Republicans pounce. The problem here isn't that like this guy's got a rap sheet longer than a CVS receipt and he's allowed out again and again. And the problem here is Republicans have pounced. It's unreal that they have this.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. The problem isn't the violence, is that we noticed it.

[Michael Duncan]

Bingo.

[John Ashbrook]

And I'd point out this crime happened two weeks ago. It happened two weeks ago, Josh.

[Michael Duncan]

This happened two weeks ago.

[John Ashbrook]

This happened two weeks ago.

[Josh Holmes]

And you're just hearing about it.

[John Ashbrook]

You're just hearing about it now. And that tells you everything you need to know. They're fucking telling on themselves. It's not maggot influencers who are making this a story. The fact that you didn't cover it for two weeks. And also insane to me that you know, this woman flees Ukraine with the war. And the, the less safe place than the fucking war torn country is the United States of America. We should be fucking embarrassed.

[Comfortably Smug]

This happened two weeks ago. Our media is fucking irredeemable. The mainstream press is irredeemable. Never in your life watch a broadcast newscast again. Never open a Washington Post, the New York Times again. If you think that you're looking for actual news. If this was two weeks ago, fuck them.

[John Ashbrook]

Yes, it was. This was August 26th.

[Michael Duncan]

The Associated Press people did a search. They searched for her name on the Associated Press. Zero results. George Floyd. 75,000 hits.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, and the thing is, it's not. It's about the narrative.

[Michael Duncan]

Yep.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's all they care about. That's all they care about is their stupid narrative. They don't actually care about informing people. They don't actually care about helping victims. They only care about their politics. This is what has corrupted mainstream media. It's why nobody watches them. It's why every single one of their fucking stupid asses are going bankrupt. And they should.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, 100%. So if you read a little bit about this, to Carlos Brown Jr. A dangerous career criminal. And this is according to our candidate, Michael Watley, who's the previous RNC chair, who's running against Roy Cooper, who's the governor of this state, who's ushered in this Kind of narrative building.

[Comfortably Smug]

Fucking sucks. Yeah, this guy sucks. Worst governor in America. And they're like, he's a moderate. Roy Cooper, he's really gonna try to get to the right of Whatley. Roy Cooper sucks.

[Michael Duncan]

He was attorney general and he was governor during this guy's whole criminal career.

[Comfortably Smug]

He let this guy out over and over again and he let every terrible thing happen to that state during the hurricane. The guy sucks and has to be defeated. If we can't beat him, we don't.

[Josh Holmes]

Even belong here, he said so. His opponent Roy Cooper's lenient 2020 executive order kept him on the streets, endangering communities. In June 2020, Cooper signed a soft on crime executive order. Just three months later, Brown was released from prison.

[John Ashbrook]

Disgusting.

[Josh Holmes]

Since then, Brown has been arrested and released three additional times between 21 and 25, taking full advantage of Cooper's weak policies. Cooper bears direct responsibility for this heinous act and must answer to the public and why he prioritizes criminals over public safety.

[Comfortably Smug]

Thanks, Roy. Great, Governor. Well, moderate Watley's right about it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, Watley's right about all that. But I think the larger issue in terms of what we cover here in the Ruthless Variety program is this is endemic to a narrative building situation. One of the reasons we exist here on the Ruthless Variety program in that the New York Times, the Associated Press, all the places that we're charged with and took it as a responsibility of informing the American people about what's happening versus crime versus immigration, foreign policy, everything else, has decided to selectively choose which stories that they grab onto. And it's had a tangible result in the Internet economy where you have a George Floyd situation or all of the various cop shootings that have been proven to not be what you thought they were immediately.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, I'll say that the whole cops wearing body camps has been the biggest own goal for the left ever.

[Josh Holmes]

Ever.

[Michael Duncan]

Because all we're seeing now is every one of these police actions has been justified. And it turns out this whole racism bullshit was all made up and used to just terrorize this country and burn our cities down for a summer.

[Josh Holmes]

It's been. It's been so bad. So you might think to yourself, like, okay, all right. Purveyors of news, leftists, psychopaths, who knows, what are the actual public officials think like in that state who are charged with looking the eye of the families that are involved in that? Like, what do they think? Well, the Democratic mayor of Charlotte, Vi riles Lyles, releases a statement blaming the tragedy on a lack of Resources for the homeless.

[Comfortably Smug]

My God.

[Josh Holmes]

Can't believe, right?

[Comfortably Smug]

What a piece of shit.

[Michael Duncan]

She's the worst.

[Josh Holmes]

This is all she said about the victim. First and foremost, my thoughts and prayers go out to the young woman's family.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, really?

[Josh Holmes]

Friends, Right. I thought that there was a huge, like, yuckster component online. When it involves a gun, right? No, no.

[Comfortably Smug]

Democrats are against thoughts and prayers.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, they didn't like thoughts and prayers. We heard from the Minneapolis or the. Yeah, the Minneapolis mayor, right. About how thoughts and prayers were never enough. Well, apparently when a knife is involved, you certainly can have thoughts and prayers. The statement continued. I want to be clear that I'm not villainizing those who struggle with their mental health.

[John Ashbrook]

Come on.

[Josh Holmes]

No, I'm not kidding. This is what. Or those who are unhoused.

[Michael Duncan]

Unhoused. Well, you don't want to say anything that could be construed as mean. Calling them.

[John Ashbrook]

I think we should unhouse them into a prison. Yeah, how about that?

[Josh Holmes]

Mental health disease is just that. A disease like any other that needs to be treated with the same compassion. And compassion.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the thing. This is such insanity. This is what I'm talking about, like, obfuscating. The issue here is a woman was murdered by a criminal, right? And all this the mayor is saying is, why are we not compassionate to the criminal? This is the whole heart of the Democrat parties. They want compassion for the criminal, not for the victim. It's the most twisted, messed up thing.

[Comfortably Smug]

Like, how about let's put more cops in public transportation so that these regular people aren't murdered by lunatics.

[Michael Duncan]

And let's throw these lunatics in jail forever and forget even throwing them in jail. We just need to bring back the death penalty with a vengeance. We don't need to spend any more money. You do not get free housing and health care for the rest of your life for terrorizing and murdering Americans. You get put to death and it's over. When we had the death penalty in full effect, it worked. And now we're dealing with this. Our cities have this cloud of crime hanging over them, of regular, normal citizens. Go to the drugstore, you want to buy toothpaste, and it's like you're in jail. Everything's locked up. The criminals are the ones who should be locked up, not the rest of society.

[Josh Holmes]

I want to hear. I want you to hear the rest of the sentence because it truly is even more remarkable.

[John Ashbrook]

The shit fucking depresses me.

[Michael Duncan]

It makes me so mad.

[Josh Holmes]

The same compassion, diligence and commitment as cancer.

[John Ashbrook]

Come on.

[Josh Holmes]

Or Heart disease.

[John Ashbrook]

Come on.

[Josh Holmes]

Our community must work to address the underlying issue of access to mental health.

[Michael Duncan]

And so again, it goes back to, like Duncan said, this is the money grift.

[John Ashbrook]

This is.

[Michael Duncan]

This is the money. They're like, we want more taxpayer money for our mental health care. It's not mental health care. It's a jail. It's called a jail. You have to lock up the criminals. When you lock up the criminals, everyone is safe.

[Josh Holmes]

The last time I checked, if you were diagnosed with cancer, you don't try to stab some innocent bystander on a train. Or if you have heart disease, you're not trying to shoot up a school. But there are signs of people who are willing to do those other systematic events and to pretend like it's a lack of resources that are involved in terms of diagnostics and working with them and making. I could care less about whether this lives a full, meaningful life. What I care a lot about is the full meaning meaningful life that he ended. And that to me is the difference between the conservative and liberal philosophy as it relates to crime. Like, they somehow, day in and day out, manage to come to the side of the criminal.

[Michael Duncan]

Always.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's very worse over the victim.

[Michael Duncan]

And here's the thing, and this is what's really become a political problem for the Democrats, is you look at Washington, D.C. did Trump decide to just like open up the treasury and flood all these left wing NGOs with money for mental health care? Or did he just send out a bunch of cops in the National Guard to get the criminals? What made crime end in D.C. he just put. He just locked them up. You just send out the cops, you send out the National Guard and you let criminals know you commit the crime. You're gonna do the time. It's that simple. When crime ended, who would have guessed?

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, if you're riding around in a BMX with a 9 millimeter in your back pocket, you're gonna go to jail. That's the end of the day. I'm sorry. If you've grown up in a society that has taught you that that's okay. It's not okay in our society.

[Michael Duncan]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

It's just not. So I don't give a fuck what it is that you've grown up with, or what hardships that you've had, or what elements have led you to the decision to spray bullets into innocent people's cars, and in this case, a stabbing on a train. I don't care. Like, it doesn't matter to me at all what Matters to me a lot is that we, at some point, teach a lesson. Maybe not to this generation of, like, thugs who've grown up with Soros, prosecutors, and everything else, but to the next generation that, buddy, you're gonna get it. Yep, you're gonna get it.

[Michael Duncan]

That's right, dude. That is right.

[Josh Holmes]

And that is the only thing that matters. And if you can't understand why it is that that's a deterrent, I got nothing for you. I really don't. This is the biggest dividing line, it seems to me, in terms of progressive politics and conservative politics that we see we all want good things for people. At some level, they think the government ought to control it. We think you ought to have your own point of view. And that's like a great ideological debate, and there are intermediary components to it. But when it comes to your safety and security, that's not an ideological debate. You either have it or you don't. And we've already shown that under their point of view, we don't have it. Look at Chicago, right? Look at D.C. before Trump got involved. Look what's happening in Charlotte. If you have any interest in keeping people safe, which, by the way, allows them to, like, pursue their dreams.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Allows them to do real things because they're not actually concerned about their physical safety, then you want to ask for help.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, a prime example is, like, the congressional intern in D.C. who was murdered, Right? And just this past weekend, the perpetrators of that, Jeanine Pirro, has rounded them up three, I think the four. There's only one left on the limb. These people are gonna be held responsible for killing that young man. And I saw his mother was on Twitter this past weekend, replying to a reporter with the story of how they'd caught some of them. And she was like, my son was the most. He was the light of my life, the most wonderful kid, and he loved D.C. and he was looking forward to having a full career here. And for everyone to realize there is a palpable difference in DC From Trump saving the. What he's done is he saved the city. There are lives that would have been lost. There are people living who would have been dead if it wasn't for Trump taking this action. And every one of those people is a story just like this woman's boy. Those are the people that are being saved. And for the left and the media to turn their back on them, it's unconscionable.

[Josh Holmes]

It's unbelievable. I just don't. I don't remember a greater dividing Line. Yeah, I just don't like. Duncan, can you think of. Can you think of something where it affects everybody, man, woman, child, in every community across this country where one side is like, if you break the law, you're going to pay the price, and the other side is like, well, we should have sympathy for the people who break the law and why they broke the law.

[John Ashbrook]

No, I don't think there's any issue that comes close other than maybe like, it's sort of the pathological insanity of, of like, I don't know, like giving hormones to 5 year olds to change their genders.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, like it becomes ideological.

[John Ashbrook]

It's ideological. Right, right. And I said it earlier because it's.

[Josh Holmes]

No longer in a logical discussion at all, at all.

[John Ashbrook]

It becomes almost theological. Like they just choose to believe this thing and that's the way that it is. But, you know, I would love to have somebody in who's an expert on crime who could explain this more. But I think Smug and I are onto something with the grift that exists within the left wing movement for, like, NGOs to come in and talk about mental health and drugs and, you know, unhoused people, and that there are billions of dollars that flow into these blue cities on managing the decline of America rather than solving the problem of taking criminals off the street. The recidivism in this country is absurd.

[Michael Duncan]

It's unreal.

[John Ashbrook]

It's absurd. It is. There are criminals in this country and then there are people who do all the crimes. And it is like 5% of the criminals. And if you just put them in fucking prison, we could solve the problem in this country, but we don't. And the reason, I think, is money.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, there was this guy who put together this wonderful video of Gavin Newsom, because since he was like the mayor of San Francisco to being the governor of California, every year he's given these speeches where he references, I'm gonna put more funding into fighting homelessness, which is.

[John Ashbrook]

The biggest grift in the entire United States, is ending homelessness in la.

[Michael Duncan]

We're talking about billions and billions of dollars every year. He could have bought a house for every homeless person. But it's going to these NGOs, it's going to these left wing groups who can then hire their activists who are then available to be protesters on demand. It's their moneymaker and it's misery. Their business is monetizing.

[John Ashbrook]

It's monetizing American misery is what they're doing. And they're doing it on purpose for themselves. And all of us bear the brunt.

[Josh Holmes]

If dozens of murders in the major cities around where you live doesn't make a difference, and where the video of what we saw in Charlotte doesn't make a difference. Our question of the day to all of you is, what will it take for Democrats to finally get serious about crime?

[Michael Duncan]

Great question.

[Josh Holmes]

It might not be anything, but when you like and subscribe to the ruthless variety program, we read all of your responses, and we get back to you the absolute next day. And I can say I'm looking forward to it, because you all have different perspectives on what has brought leadership in major cities around you to the position they have. I think you guys might be onto something. And if that's true, it's very depressing.

[John Ashbrook]

Fucking depressing.

[Josh Holmes]

It's very depressing. Our last question of the day is, we had a lot of fun. Cause it was fun time Friday. Yeah, fun time Friday. We have a lot of fun with it. And remember, we were doing the accents, and what we saw was a bunch of Democratic officials code switching. Jasmine Crockett and Smug taught us something about code switching.

[John Ashbrook]

We learned so much.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Where they speak differently to different audiences and they sound not a lick.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, I remember when that was just called being a hypocrite. But now they call it code switching.

[Josh Holmes]

Now you call it code switching. So when you liked and subscribed, we read every single one of them and we get them back to. To start with that, we deal with the voice.

[Comfortably Smug]

Okay, first comment comes from Kay Borgeson. 16K writes, My absolute favorite code switch is when Kamala Harris randomly burst into a Jamaican accent. Oh, on the Late show with that twit Colbert. Lmao. Even he was shocked at the random accent and tried to save it.

[Josh Holmes]

So good. I forgot we didn't even include her.

[Michael Duncan]

She. She is so weird.

[John Ashbrook]

She's done a lot of them.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It changes a lot.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

All right. Comment to Grunks.

[John Ashbrook]

This is one. This one's from Kurt Balk. Kurt writes, I remember when code switching was called pandering.

[Michael Duncan]

Perfect. That's it.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

There it is.

[John Ashbrook]

That's it. That's a smug take. Is that your burner?

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, It's a good take. I gotta say. It's a great take.

[John Ashbrook]

It's a great take.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, Comment three. Smug.

[Michael Duncan]

Comment three is from Sarah Randolph or Rudolph. I'm sorry? Sarah writes, does it count as code switching when Biden fluctuates between alive and dead?

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, man, that's great. That's a good. That's A great take. Those are great take.

[Josh Holmes]

Those are really good takes. Are you guys ready for some variety?

[Michael Duncan]

Always.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, so we got a clip to start this off. It deals with a wild boar rampaging through Lehigh Acres, Florida, and attacks police before. Can we play this clip? Right.

[Michael Duncan]

Busting through the back door for. Just advise Aggie. And it's.

[Josh Holmes]

Hey. It's like that thing is just sitting there.

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh, my gosh.

[Michael Duncan]

It'S moving. Uhoh.

[Josh Holmes]

Easy.

[Michael Duncan]

You better.

[Josh Holmes]

Whoa.

[Comfortably Smug]

Nasty animal.

[Josh Holmes]

Hey, bring me that rope, bro.

[Michael Duncan]

That is.

[John Ashbrook]

That's pretty bold.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, he's gonna try to rope. Oh, is this the cop? I'm guessing this is the body cam.

[Josh Holmes]

Whoa.

[Mike Summers]

Oh.

[Michael Duncan]

He is trying to lasso it.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, going to the front.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's going east towards the woods.

[Josh Holmes]

Did they not. Did they get it? I don't know.

[Michael Duncan]

So. So here it said. Yeah, attacks, please, before escaping. So here's my take. Here's my take is I think there's way too many, like, rules of engagement and whatever for police. I know, like, opening fire in residential areas. Dude, there's a reason, like, I remember maybe, like, 10, 12 years ago at this point on Twitter, where some guy in Texas was like, this is why you need an AR.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, right. This is why God invented the AR15.

[Michael Duncan]

Because you have, like, 20 to 30 wild boar that can roll up while your kids are playing out in the yard. And everyone on Twitter is, like, mocking.

[John Ashbrook]

And ridiculing, like, oh, they have no idea.

[Michael Duncan]

That's just one, dude. That's just one. This cop should have been allowed to open fire.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I can't believe that.

[Michael Duncan]

Go to your patrol car, grab the shotty, blow that thing to pieces.

[Comfortably Smug]

But if you're worried about the spread, can't you just tase it, then cut the throat and then grill it?

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, that's a lot of work, bro.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, may it have blue insides.

[Michael Duncan]

You don't want to grill it. You never know.

[John Ashbrook]

Methylene blue?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, you never know.

[John Ashbrook]

Maybe it's in the brain.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it could.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, the thing about a bore that's interesting is they're very aggressive.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

But. But they have this quick twitch of almost like a Tariq Hill.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, okay.

[John Ashbrook]

You know?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Like, they come at you direct.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

You know, and that is why the ar, I think, is the best tool in your arsenal, because you can get a quick shot off.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, you got to get in maybe several.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, maybe.

[Comfortably Smug]

But you could miss it with a rifled shot. You probably.

[John Ashbrook]

You're not missing with an arm. Yeah, no, no. It's the easiest gun in the world to shoot.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, that is just a wild.

[Michael Duncan]

Video the cops should be allowed to shoot. I know there's, like, rules of engagement and opening fire when you're in residential areas. We got to relax that. We got to.

[John Ashbrook]

Here's what I don't understand. The. The boar already violated the rules by entering the home.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

It's a B and E at that point.

[Michael Duncan]

And also, also, Florida is a standard ground state. Florida's got to stand your ground.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, right?

[Michael Duncan]

Stand your ground, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

No man or beast, they should have.

[Josh Holmes]

No greater right than a human for sure.

[John Ashbrook]

Right?

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, Smash would agree.

[John Ashbrook]

I don't understand how we started that video with the boar just hanging out in the kitchen.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't know.

[Michael Duncan]

Can I ask you an honest question, Duncan? If the boar's in your house, do you open fire?

[Josh Holmes]

100%.

[Michael Duncan]

Your wife has taken the boys outside, so now it's just you and the boar and your guns in the house. Are you open fire in the house?

[John Ashbrook]

223? Yeah. Yeah. I'm throwing that right in him. Right, right. Right ahead of the.

[Comfortably Smug]

While he's standing still.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, yeah. Right. Right behind the shoulder. I'm gonna get the heart, and it's gonna be dead immediately.

[Josh Holmes]

Definitely doesn't want to damage the furniture. So he's gotta hear, wild board doesn't.

[Michael Duncan]

Taste good, though, is the problem. Right.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, you mix it up with some other pork and you're okay. You throw in a little bit of cheddar and a little bit of jalapeno, it's great. It's great breakfast sausage, but it is gamey. It's not. It's not the best meat.

[Michael Duncan]

Not great if you live.

[Comfortably Smug]

If you live in Florida, who cares how it tastes? Throw it in the creek and it'll be eaten by an alligator.

[John Ashbrook]

Now he's talking. Now he's talking.

[Josh Holmes]

Fair enough. All right, so on the other side of the coin, okay, we have some people who are trying to save animals. Now, we did a whole episode last week where we talked about raccoons.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Real problem. Real problem.

[John Ashbrook]

Disgusting animals.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, Real problems.

[Michael Duncan]

Their hands look like people. It's disgusting.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, in Kentucky, they treat them a little.

[Michael Duncan]

Have you seen them? It's disgusting. It's a horrific little thing.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, no, it's true.

[Michael Duncan]

When you see them, it just creeps you out.

[Josh Holmes]

No, it's true, actually. So in Kentucky, they treat these things a little bit differently. This is according to the independent Nurse Saves Raccoon's Life with CPR after it got drunk on fermented peaches. Do we have video of this clip.

[Michael Duncan]

For the way we do cpr?

[Josh Holmes]

No. This woman is doing CPR on a raccoon. It's down and it's out. Come on, baby.

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh.

[Unknown News Reporter]

Oh, no.

[Josh Holmes]

She seemed. She seems intent on reviving this.

[Michael Duncan]

Wait, is it just. She's not gonna do mouth to mouth.

[Josh Holmes]

Just wait. We'll see how works.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay. Yeah. She just did, like, a heart palpitation.

[Josh Holmes]

She. She revived it, and then she let it out.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, it been great if she did all that reviving in that crate and then just dumped it in water.

[Mike Summers]

If you wonder.

[Comfortably Smug]

If you wonder why we have so many problems as a society, look no further than that video.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Mike Summers]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

Because if a guy was standing right there and the raccoon was down and dead, he would have taken the tail and thrown it as far as he could possibly throw it, and the dogs would have gone it. Yeah, I mean, the dogs would have gotten it.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, I mean, miss this revisiting your raccoon adventure.

[John Ashbrook]

Yes.

[Michael Duncan]

You had mercy and you turned in the living raccoons to animal control.

[Josh Holmes]

He's trying.

[Michael Duncan]

I would have never let him go alive, dude. Never. Every dead raccoon is a W for humanity.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. So I caught two raccoons in my attic.

[Michael Duncan]

And you didn't end them.

[John Ashbrook]

I did not end them. I turned them over to animal control because I was concerned about the diseases they might carry, and I thought maybe they'd do a good job. It was a good lesson.

[Michael Duncan]

Bullets on the ground.

[Josh Holmes]

I think you were also concerned about your local neighborhood ordinances that would have.

[John Ashbrook]

Correct.

[Josh Holmes]

Basically accused you of some kind of a crime.

[Michael Duncan]

That's why you could have drowned him.

[John Ashbrook]

But honestly, kind of radicalized me because when I called animal control, instead of saying, oh, my gosh, you know, I'll take these filthy, disgusting animals off your hands. They asked me, did they look diseased? And my response to them was, well, they could be dead.

[Michael Duncan]

You said, straight up. Yeah, dude, that's like a Clint Eastwood answer, bro.

[Josh Holmes]

That's hard as hell.

[John Ashbrook]

And that tells you everything. That tells you everything you need to know about catch and release in liberal.

[Michael Duncan]

Places, dude, that's all right.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I will say this is not a liberal place in Letcher county, but.

[John Ashbrook]

This is the county letters.

[Josh Holmes]

Up there in the holler is the county health department person, Misty Combs, who said her motherly instincts kicked in after.

[Michael Duncan]

Always compassion for the criminals, dude. You know what I mean? Like, I wrote upon that, and I'm like, is he done yet? Who Wants this one dude. Who wants to end this.

[John Ashbrook]

I can never imagine saving a raccoon. No. Fucking.

[Michael Duncan]

They're the worst. And like, dude, she's like, it's a baby or something, bro.

[Josh Holmes]

No, bro, bro.

[John Ashbrook]

Do raccoons have the best PR in the world?

[Michael Duncan]

Because they do.

[John Ashbrook]

I see it on Twitter all the time, 100%, but. Oh, cuddly raccoons. Having caught raccoons. They're disgusting and they're disease ridden.

[Comfortably Smug]

They are disease away from them and.

[John Ashbrook]

They are disgusting and they're destructive.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, dude, they are.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm with you. All right. One more piece of variety. There's a candle that came on behalf of our attention. I think there's horse senses sent it over.

[John Ashbrook]

Yes. This is an important story.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. If we can put that there it is. This is a candle that a candle company has put out called Ohio.

[John Ashbrook]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

And the description is. Not much to see, not much to drink. Do. Welcome to Ohio. The unscented candle.

[John Ashbrook]

Accurate, accurate, accurate.

[Michael Duncan]

It gets even more violent because. Can we get that image again?

[John Ashbrook]

Look where it was made in Indiana.

[Michael Duncan]

It was Indiana and Ohio violence, bro.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah. Tri state violence.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. What do you have to say for yourself, John?

[Comfortably Smug]

I think, look, I'm not going to cast aspersions on the state of Indiana. Candle making is their number one industry.

[Mike Summers]

It's not.

[Comfortably Smug]

There are thousands and thousands of people every day who take a rope and they dip it into wax from nine to five and then they go home to their families. And that is what they do in Indiana. And you know, they sell it by.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, they're getting.

[Michael Duncan]

They're starting to get electricity. They're starting to get electricity in places in Indiana. But the candles remain an integral, you know, in between stair step until they finally get electricity.

[Comfortably Smug]

And in fairness, in fairness, the state of Indiana has a lot of things Ohio doesn't have. You have perfect north slopes, which is a big ski slope. You have Brookville Lake. You got Tom Raper rv. We don't have those sorts of things in Ohio. So your state is better than ours by evidence of that.

[Michael Duncan]

Can't say something about the state. Ohio. That was the worst football game I've had to sit here, bro. Can we jump in on this?

[Josh Holmes]

Because, like, look, God, I can't believe.

[Michael Duncan]

That was an action.

[Josh Holmes]

Having to watch because of virtue of the ruthless parlay we had to sit through the. The battle of Ohio. We had the Browns and the. And the Bengals and like, this should have been a no brainer combined.

[Michael Duncan]

They can't field a single decent NFL team It was unreal.

[Josh Holmes]

So, like, I. I worry. Here's what it brought me to, fellas. It was less about the production of the candle, which we focused in on is they say it's on unscented. If it scented anything like the football game I saw on Sunday, it's gonna be hot trash.

[Michael Duncan]

Garbage. Hot trash.

[Josh Holmes]

Hot trash.

[Michael Duncan]

The raccoon special.

[John Ashbrook]

Burning rubber.

[Michael Duncan]

Brutal.

[John Ashbrook]

Brutal.

[Josh Holmes]

It's gonna smell like Cleveland's rivers.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Not good.

[John Ashbrook]

Disgusting.

[Michael Duncan]

They actually caught fire. That really happened.

[Josh Holmes]

That happened. It's not good.

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, I hope for your sake, JJ McCarthy plays well tonight.

[Josh Holmes]

We'll deal with that. We'll deal with that. By the time you're listening, you'll know how that went down. And believe me, if it goes the right way, I'm gonna have a lot to say. Anyway, we've got a terrific interview. One of our absolute favorites, Mike Summers. We're gonna welcome the dean of advocacy. This is the guy who. I think basically anybody who aspires to advocate on any cause in this particular era is wondering what Mike Summers is going to do. And I mean that sincerely. I'm not. I'm not saying that hyperbolically. It's actually the case in Washington, D.C.

[Comfortably Smug]

It'S been that way for years.

[Josh Holmes]

He's the president and CEO of API. How are you, sir?

[Mike Summers]

It's great to be with you. I think this is my fourth time on the show. I know.

[Josh Holmes]

You got a jacket we need to get. We gotta get a jacket.

[Mike Summers]

It's an SNL thing here going right.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, we're working on a jacket. We do have something for you that you're going to enjoy. But look, you've gotten yourself. Not only is your industry thriving, and this administration's policies obviously are a huge benefit to unleashing the power of American energy. And we talked previously about it's not only a economic issue, it's a national security issue. This, that and the other thing. But you guys are working forward not just in terms of taking the handcuffs off, but making sure that all Americans can actually appreciate the economic activity and the energy independence and everything else going forward.

[Mike Summers]

Absolutely. And I will say that this president has done so much for the oil and gas industry. And by way of that, the American consumer over the course of the first six months of this presidency, it's been incredible. We put out a five point policy roadmap last June. Yeah, They've already fulfilled four of what we requested in that roadmap. And what's the consequence? We have record production of oil, we have record production of natural Gas. We see a position now where we are deregulating this industry so that we're going to be able to produce more for the American people and it couldn't happen at a more important time. That last point, that fifth point in the five point API policy roadmap is permitting reform. And to me, this is now a gateway issue. It is one of these issues that every politician in America needs to get behind quickly.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, and I'm glad you brought this up because, you know, you think first you say permitting and then, you know, most people are like, feels like a county zoning situation or something that you just don't pay attention to. But this is actually what makes the other four work.

[Mike Summers]

That's exactly right. And I said it's a political imperative. And it's about to be. We're already starting to see it show up in races all across the country. Let me give you an example. Energy prices right now are a huge issue in the New Jersey governor's race. You have the Democrat, for example, who's advocating building a nuclear plant in New Jersey. This is. It's because energy prices are rising in the Northeast. I expect that it's going to be a big, big question in the Virginia governor's race because Virginia is the home of more data centers than anywhere else in the free world. So energy prices are going to be a big issue. And so if we accept the fact that this is going to be a political imperative because energy prices are going up even with everything that President Trump is doing, this issue is going to be on the ballot and we're seeing it over and over and over again.

[Josh Holmes]

So tell me exactly what you're talking about. Right. I assume when we're talking about permitting, we're talking about the ability to harvest American energy at some level.

[Mike Summers]

That's exactly right. So when you think about it, any energy project has to get some level of permitting, whether it's a local, state or federal level. What we're talking about here is the federal permitting process, which is completely broken. And if we are going to unleash American energy, if we're going to be able to power the future, we have to be able to build things. We have to be able to build pipelines. Let me give you an example. We all have heard of the Keystone XL pipeline. This was a pipeline that was supposed to carry crude oil from Canada into the United States, be refined in American refineries by American workers to be used by Americans. The Biden administration put a stop to that. But what you don't know is that Project actually started in 2008.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Mike Summers]

And it was because of a broken permitting process at the federal level that it never actually got built.

[Josh Holmes]

It would never have been able to be reversed by a Biden administration had you had permitting in the first place.

[Mike Summers]

That's exactly right. And now let's another example. The Mountain Valley Pipeline. This is a pipeline that actually got built recently. It took only took a few months to complete this pipeline once they got something done at the federal level. But what did they have to get done? It took an act of Congress, they had to slip it into a bill to say that for this pipeline that it has to be built, that we're going to waive all of the federal permitting rules that otherwise would have to take place. It took an act of Congress to build a pipeline in this country.

[Josh Holmes]

That's crazy.

[Mike Summers]

That is insane. So we need to reform this system. Otherwise there's really just two choices. We could do one of two things. The first thing we could do is we could tell the American people that they just need to use less energy. We should tell them that, you know, we're going to lose the race to China on AI. That's the first option. Even if you're left leaning, that's not an abundance. Agenda number two is we can build more, we can produce more, and we can win that race with China. Those are the only two options. I think most people would agree that the second option is a better option.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, Mike. And the second option is. Is really the only option. You mentioned the data centers. There is such a demand for electricity in this country. You know, we graduated from the same college, but the guys who I know who are making the most money right now are the guys who are electricians who are building these data centers and working on outfitting the infrastructure. The two projects you mentioned are pipelines that were envisioned years and years and years ago. What we need is even more than what we have right now. And I wonder if you could just talk a little bit about how we get from where we are today to where we need to be tomorrow. And I know that permitting is a big part of that, but it's not the only thing.

[Mike Summers]

Well, let me first say the President is doing everything he can at the administrative level to get these permits moving, but there are just only so many things that you can do. And if we're going to have durable, real reform that's going to last whoever the next President of the United States is, Congress has to take action. And we think the time is now, because I think this is Actually, one issue where Congress can prove that they can work on a bipartisan basis to get things done. Because permitting reform isn't just about oil and gas, though. That's an important component. It's about other kinds of energy. It's also about building bridges and building roads. So this should be something that both sides of the aisle should come to the table for. But you said something, Ashbrook, that I think is really, really important. You know, I remember just a few years ago, everybody said that people had to be computer programmers, Right. That was the next thing. And then I came for the computer programmers. What they didn't come for is for the electricians and the plumbers. These are the kinds of people that we're going to need to build these data centers going forward and to build the projects that we envision actually happening if we get permitting reform done and done. Right?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah. That's the next gen, no question about it. I do find it completely hilarious at some level that you've got a progressive left that is long viewed. Any sort of energy production domestically is like the enemy. Right. But then you look internationally in every major conflict that we've either been involved in or have to somehow be involved in, and it's all a derivation of the same thing. Right. I mean, we saw Russian natural gas. Russian, yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Russia buying from India, their oil.

[Josh Holmes]

Stopped. All the major trade deals that haven't been accomplished thus far is who is deriving the energy supply at some level. And so when you think about your whole portfolio of issues, I guess what you're saying is in order to actually reinstate the United States as the predominant supplier of energy around the world, and we now know the international implications of that. If you don't, it's like, look up Ukraine and Russia and do the math on that. Permitting reform gets us home.

[Mike Summers]

That's exactly right. And you think about the position that we were in when Russia invaded Ukraine, where most of the natural gas came from Russia to Europe. We're at the point now where most of the natural gas used in Europe is coming from the United States. In August, just this last month, we exported more liquefied natural gas than this country ever has. Again, only because the Trump administration came in to four. If you think about this, right. The year before Biden left office, they put a pause on permitting new liquefied natural gas.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I've heard Johnson, Speaker Johnson talk about this.

[Mike Summers]

He has.

[Josh Holmes]

He was talking to Biden at one point and he's like, hey, why'd you stop the permitting of whatever? And he's like, I didn't do that.

[John Ashbrook]

He had no idea. Because Elizabeth Warren was running.

[Josh Holmes]

Do you want a picture of it? It's in my backyard.

[Mike Summers]

So, fortunately, we now have an administration that's actually focused on energy development again. And what you're seeing, and I'd love to take you down there at some point, is these big, beautiful natural gas plants that are converting natural gas into liquefied natural gas for export into the export market. These things are beautiful. They employ thousands of people in the Louisiana coast, in the Texas coast. And it is a sign of manufacturing progress that we can make if we get the permitting process right. Louisiana and Texas have figured it out. We need to figure it out at the federal level. I'll tell you a great anecdote. I visited one of these great LNG terminals with the CEO of the company a couple of years ago, and I asked him the question, why here? Why are you building here? And he goes, well, first of all, there are no native species here. Like, I don't have to worry about the environmental concerns about building a plan here.

[Josh Holmes]

They didn't find some kind of a beetle.

[Mike Summers]

They didn't. Right. Fortunately, we're talking about the swamp.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Mike Summers]

The bayou, as they call it down there. He said, too, there are no native peoples down here, so I don't have to worry about that. No one wanted to be here.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Mike Summers]

And he said, but third and most important, and this is what hit me, most important wasn't even access to the resource, which is vast in the state of Louisiana. It was a government that wants us here. So more important than the environmental issues, more important than, you know, native peoples that may have been there a thousand years ago, more important than access to the resource was a government that wanted them there.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Mike Summers]

And that's what permitting reform is all about. We expect energy demand to go up between 35 and 40% in the next 10 years.

[Comfortably Smug]

Mind boggling.

[Mike Summers]

Where's it going to come from? And how are we going to move it? That's what this debate is all about. And if politicians don't understand this now, they're going to understand it when their constituents say, why are my energy prices going up 40% right now? And the key to that, we have the resource here, the key to that is how to get permitting done at the federal level.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Mike Summers]

It's so funny.

[John Ashbrook]

It's interesting because so many people think of, like, oil and gas as sort of an old technology and this sort of thing, but when you think about the AI revolution and the battle we're in, With China vis a vis AI and the future of the Internet and all this sort of stuff, it's like, you know, everyone always says energy security is national security really is now in a whole different sort of way. Right?

[Mike Summers]

That's completely right. If we don't win this race, China is, and it is all about energy. At the core of the AI revolution is how are you going to power this revolution going forward? You don't have to go far from here to Northern Virginia to Loudoun county to see the data center capital of the world. Energy prices in Virginia have gone up as a consequence of that. And it's because they don't have access to the resources and they're starting to rely too much on intermittent resources like wind and solar. We're going to need a lot of natural gas to power this future.

[Josh Holmes]

Do you think? I mean, look, this, this whole debate has been far too ideological for far too long. Right? I mean, you get this environmental left that, you know, they want all the innovation and the convenience, but they actually think Bauer just comes out of the socket and it like just is. And the right has always had a little bit more of a comprehensive understanding. Maybe it's because some of the jobs in the production that are in red states or whatnot. But I got to imagine to the debate that you are surfacing, Duncan, when you look at the future of this country and the world and you understand the consequence of the United States not being the leader, both from a values perspective and from a, a economic perspective, like, are you getting, do you feel like there's a little bit more bipartisan buy in, into, hey, we're, we're going to actually need this stuff.

[John Ashbrook]

Stakes are pretty high.

[Mike Summers]

Stakes are high.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Mike Summers]

So here's what I'll say. I remember at the beginning of the Biden administration, we actually invited Secretary Jennifer Granholm to an API board meeting. She couldn't make it.

[Josh Holmes]

She asked for a share, like a little share wallet. Cause that would have been a great way to get her down there if she has like a quarter steak.

[Mike Summers]

Rather than coming a quarter mile down the road. She decides to zoom into this meeting and the first thing that she tells the API board of directors is that you need to change or you'll be like Kodak.

[Comfortably Smug]

What?

[Mike Summers]

A year later, when energy prices are spiking as a consequence of conflicts in the world and energy prices spiking.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right.

[Mike Summers]

As a consequence of their actions, she comes to another industry meeting and asks us to turn on the pump.

[John Ashbrook]

Turn on the pump.

[Mike Summers]

Turn on the pump.

[John Ashbrook]

What are you Doing right. You're like, lady, shut them down, press the bump.

[Mike Summers]

Actions have consequences. Yes, right. And we saw it. I do think that there are lessons learned on both sides of the aisle now that this is an essential industry, it's essential for American security. But I think the most important part of this is that affordability is the most important part of all of this. And what we're seeing right now is not gasoline prices spiking. We're seeing energy prices spiking, and voters are going to hold people to account for their energy prices spiking.

[Josh Holmes]

No question.

[Mike Summers]

So as a consequence of that, there's really, again, one choice here. We have to get this process to a rational place where we can actually build things again, because we have the resources here. And that's why the proposal that we're putting forward today, which is a comprehensive plan to fix permitting, to put shot clocks in place to make sure that litigation doesn't go on forever, that because if we can get those things done, we can actually move things in this country.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, it goes to your whole point of, like, why build in the Bayou? And it's like, well, there's a government that actually wants us to be here. And it's like, if you have some clarity on some of this sort of stuff, massive companies who have to invest millions and millions of dollars in infrastructure to do this sort of stuff feel confident they can actually spend that money knowing they're going to get a return. It can't be like Granholm who's like, hey, push the button. We need decided. We need more oil.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, plug it into the wall, Jennifer.

[Mike Summers]

Well, but that's the key. And there's evidence for this as well. So the states, by the way, that have the lowest energy costs are the ones that have a deregulatory approach. It won't surprise you, right? The states that have a regulatory approach think the Northeast or California have high energy prices, high gasoline prices, high energy prices. It's incredible when you see strange overlap.

[Josh Holmes]

With the crime map, by the way, I'm not saying it's causal. It's just a coincidence.

[Mike Summers]

Well, part of it is we can't build a pipeline in the state of New York to connect the Northeast to the most prolific natural gas field in the world in Pennsylvania.

[Josh Holmes]

Imagine that. So they have like the high frequency traders. You got all this stuff going, you're like, just like, wean that off. I'm sure everything will be fine. Right.

[Mike Summers]

It's just incredible. So they actually, in the Northeast, have to import liquefied natural gas. Because they can't build a pipeline in the state of New York. It's incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

It really is.

[Mike Summers]

So let's get back to rational thinking about this. Remember that affordability is the most important thing for American consumers, and let's get this done.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. I mean, look, one, your friend, we've known you for a number of years and have worked with, you know, how good you are at this stuff. But two, like, look, you've been ahead of this organization in good times and in bad. Right? I mean, Covid was no cupcake in terms of demand cratering. Like a black swan event, really, for your entire. And then you providing guidance to an administration of what you would need to do in a perfect world. And, you know, basically everything you said came true. I mean, it was, it was part of how we've had this renaissance. And with the Trump administration, they've been able to take advantage of it. So if you're telling me that at this point, you unleash the shackles, you try to incentivize American independence of energy and all these other things, and permitting is the last piece of a five point plan, like I buy it. I mean, that is the thing. How's the receptivity in the administration in Capitol Hill?

[Mike Summers]

It's been incredible so far. In fact, Bruce Westerman is gonna start moving a bill in the United States House of Representatives that is very much in line with what we are pursuing.

[Josh Holmes]

He's a big House guy, too, by the way.

[Mike Summers]

We'll hold it against you. I'm converting. But it's an exciting moment. And it's a bipartisan bill, by the way. It should be sponsored by Jared golden of Maine as well, who's suffering from very high energy prices as a consequence of backwards energy policy. And what we're saying is that if America builds, America wins. It's simple as that. And we know that we have a receptive administration who wants to get this done. We also know that there's a lot of traffic this fall. There's a lot that has to get done, but there's a lot of partisanship. This could be one glimmer of bipartisan victory for both sides of the aisle that's not going to give one person a big win or another person a big win that they can take home. But it's going to have significant consequences for American consumers because affordability is the most important thing that we can focus on going forward.

[Josh Holmes]

Last question is a little bit technical. You may not have an answer for it, but one of the things that's popped up on our radar in these trade deals, particularly with the EU is a whole bunch of environmental sort of. I mean we think of the Greta Thunberg of the world. Right. And they've basically governed much of Germany and EU thinking on which is how he got into this mess in the first place. But now there's an effort to try to undo some of that stuff with the tariff discussions and trying to modernize and at least ensure that Europe is not casting their environmental view on the United States and companies here. Are you your radar on that?

[Mike Summers]

Yeah, big time. So Europe has imposed all sorts of terrible regulations, particularly on API member companies like Exxon and Chevron, that even if you have some kind of small presence in Europe, you have to comply with these terrible new.

[Josh Holmes]

They want you to put them out kimono, the whole.

[Michael Duncan]

The whole thing.

[Mike Summers]

That's exactly right. It's called the CS Triple D guidance.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. I mean only a bunch of euros.

[Michael Duncan]

Can come up and sell it.

[John Ashbrook]

Triple D. That sounds right.

[Mike Summers]

So as part of the trade deal that they announced with Europe, Europe has committed to dial a number of these regulations and that should be welcome news to again, American consumers as well should be enter European consumers.

[Josh Holmes]

And if you work in the energy, your job.

[Mike Summers]

Yeah. Well, communities think about the fact that we've had one of the most prolific oil finds in history in the North Sea by one of our member companies, Equinor. They're doing fantastic work in the North Sea. But if these regulations were to go forward, it's unlikely that they would be able to continue to pursue this kind of historic exploration.

[Josh Holmes]

Ignorance in that. Yeah. Well, I'm glad you're tuned in because this has actually splashed up on our radar a couple of times. Of course he's on top of it. Listen, Mike Summers, thank you for everything you do. Thank you for the guidance that not only you're providing. It's just huge, huge critical part of the our economy, but also just the whole. The whole town. Like you don't know how much love you get around here.

[Mike Summers]

Oh, you're very kind. Well, I brought you guys some love. I brought you some. A new API product that came out right around the inaugural. The API hat. Inaugural hat with an oil derrick. Plus a beautiful American flag, Old Glory.

[Josh Holmes]

Right there on top. I love it.

[John Ashbrook]

It's a nice touch.

[Josh Holmes]

Good.

[John Ashbrook]

It's like the Oilers, only American.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, that's right.

[Mike Summers]

You could wear that like bum Phillips, man.

[Josh Holmes]

Thanks for joining us.

[Mike Summers]

Really appreciate you.

[Comfortably Smug]

Man. That guy is so smart. And every single person in Washington D.C. who's been around for more than a minute, understands what he is capable of doing and respects him for his abilities.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, like, you're so right. It's been multi decades in the making. We worked with him and we saw what it was that he was very instrumental in a Republican comeback when Democrats just took over Washington, D.C. and he was smart, he was thoughtful, easy to get along with, like persuaded different people. But you see at this stage in his career what he's advocating on behalf of an industry that is absolutely critical to America's success. Ups, downs, whatever. He's got a game plan and he managed to make it work and people just want to be a part of it. And then you look at the larger advocacy universe. I don't care if you are selling paper towels or if you're selling oil and gas as he is, you're going to look to him at how to do it, which is critically important. And like, from the ruthless variety program standpoint, this is a guy who was with us from day one who understood the value. He understood first of all, that every single person who was listening in the early days, long before this thing blew up, long before Fox or anything else, that it was the congressman, the senator, their chiefs of staff, their legislative director, their comms director, they were listening on either the way back home after a long week or on the commutes back and forth to work. And he understood uniquely how information was being conveyed and he believed in us.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, I mean, I think about it beyond like API and Mike. And Mike is a great advocate for the oil and gas industry. But I think about it like, you know, for my Uncle James, my Aunt Jamie and all, you know, my wife's family that lives out in Midland and like, this is their life. Yep, this is their life. And they have a guy like Mike out here fighting for him. And like, I feel good about the oil and gas industry in the future of America with a guy like Mike fighting for them.

[Josh Holmes]

Country is a lot better place with a guy doing what he's just talked about. So thanks again, Mike, for coming on. Listen, remember our question of the day? What will it take for Democrats to finally get serious about crime? We mean that sincerely. When you like and subscribe. We read every single one. And we'll get back to you on Thursday about all of that. You got to get in on that YouTube channel. Yeah, I understand everybody. Like, there's a lot of people that are listen only. That's great. Do it. But there's going to be a segment or two. Like that raccoon thing. Yeah, where you just want to get on there when you get to work and click on there like and subscribe. You got to see. You got to see all that stuff. So get involved in that. Leave us a comment. We read everything back to you. Check out a little bit of merch while we're starting to spread our wings. Look at this stuff, right?

[Michael Duncan]

Look at that selection.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

We got a fall line coming out.

[John Ashbrook]

We got some samples. You know, we're dipping our toe in. Yeah, I can only sew so fast.

[Mike Summers]

With that.

[Josh Holmes]

Fellas, I think we did it.

[Michael Duncan]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, remember, just like Holmes said, go to the YouTube. Hit that. Subscribe because it's more fun and video. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line, and own the libs. We'll see you on Thursday. Stay ruthless.