What Is Driving Trump’s Historically High Approval Rating?

Summary

Ruthless Podcast Episode Summary: "What Is Driving Trump’s Historically High Approval Rating?"

Release Date: February 11, 2025

The latest episode of the Ruthless Podcast, hosted by Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug (Smug), Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook, delves deep into the factors contributing to former President Donald Trump's unprecedented approval ratings. The discussion navigates through Trump's policy implementations, the effectiveness of his administration, the obstacles posed by Democrats, and insights from special guest Austin Bishop, CEO of the New American Industrial Alliance.

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1. Introduction to Trump's High Approval Ratings

The episode kicks off with Smug highlighting the stark contrast between the chaotic policies of the previous administration and Trump's methodical approach:

[00:00] Smug: "Americans saw what happens when the left, when the media decides for four years what the policy in this country is going to be like. And it was absolute chaos."

Josh Holmes echoes this sentiment, emphasizing Trump's commitment to his campaign promises:

[00:21] Josh Holmes: "And the only people in all of the world that seem to not understand that when you talk about something and then you go do it, that that's just like part of what you do here are Democrats."

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2. Trump's Approval Ratings: A Statistical Overview

Josh Holmes presents recent polling data illustrating Trump's surge in approval:

[07:16] Josh Holmes: "President Trump's early approval ratings show he's settled into office in a better spot than 2017... 53% of Americans approve of Trump so far, according to a newly released CBS News."

Smug adds depth by discussing demographic shifts, notably among younger voters:

[08:32] Smug: "Among like 18 to 29 year olds, Trump's up 10% plus 10."

This significant increase challenges the long-held belief that Democrats dominated younger demographics.

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3. Policy Execution and Promises Kept

Central to Trump's high approval is his unwavering commitment to executing campaign promises. Josh Holmes underscores this point:

[09:11] Josh Holmes: "People heard the campaign message and they understood the campaign message... Democrats are like, 'yeah, well, he's actually doing all the things that got him elected.' What an outrage."

Smug reiterates the public's satisfaction with Trump's actions:

[09:54] Smug: "Americans. This is a politician who actually followed through on what he promised. Aren't you mad?"

Key policies discussed include border security, economic management, and innovative measures like the penny ban. Josh Holmes humorously critiques the opposition from industry groups:

[03:07] Smug: "Yeah, did you guys see he banned the penny? ... But my favorite part in the initial write-ups of the penny were like industry association groups, like Big Penny..."

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4. Democratic Opposition and Judicial Challenges

The hosts critique Democratic strategies to counter Trump's policies, focusing on litigation and judicial opposition. Josh Holmes explains the systematic efforts by Democrats to impede Trump's agenda:

[04:01] Smug: "It's unbelievable. ... Democrats have basically tried to fashion their opposition... They don't know what the hell they're doing."

John Ashbrook emphasizes the uphill battle Democrats face in the courts:

[07:55] John Ashbrook: "Couldn’t have come at a better time... President Trump is just rolling through things left and right and the culture is shifting."

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5. Specific Policy Highlights: Banning the Penny

One notable policy achievement discussed is the banning of the penny. Smug explains the rationale and opposition faced:

[03:09] Josh Holmes: "Did you guys see he banned the penny?"

The hosts mock the resistance from industry groups, highlighting the absurdity of opposing cost-effective measures:

[04:28] Smug: "Like, hah, I didn't even realize that cost $0.02 to make. $0.01 seems like a good idea. And now they have to take the other side."

---

6. Comedic Relief: The Big Balls Segment

Injecting humor into the discussion, the hosts introduce a comedic segment about Big Balls, a fictional (or possibly real) individual working under Elon Musk within the supposed Department of Government Efficiency:

[52:50] Smug: "And Big Balls in charge of American air traffic control... He's like cutting waste."

The segment satirizes media distractions and the often absurd nature of political reporting, offering listeners a light-hearted break from the intense political discourse.

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7. Guest Interview: Austin Bishop on Reindustrialization

A pivotal part of the episode features an in-depth interview with Austin Bishop, CEO of the New American Industrial Alliance. Bishop discusses the critical need for reindustrialization in America, emphasizing sovereignty over supply chains and bipartisan support for revitalizing manufacturing:

[60:03] Austin Bishop: "We're building really a coalition of leaders across companies, capital, and government who care about one thing, which is reindustrializing the U.S."

Bishop outlines the organization's focus areas:

• Education and Advocacy: Promoting smart trade and industrial policies.
• Deregulation: Reducing bureaucratic hurdles that hinder manufacturing growth.
• Workforce Development: Enhancing skills to meet modern industrial demands.
• Leveling the Playing Field: Ensuring American companies compete fairly without excessive regulatory burdens.

John Ashbrook relates Bishop's efforts to personal experiences in Ohio's manufacturing sector:

[60:00] John Ashbrook: "My father is in manufacturing, low tech. My grandfather was in manufacturing..."

Bishop highlights successful initiatives and the transformative impact of COVID-19 on public perception of supply chain vulnerabilities:

[66:12] Smug: "It really opened a lot of people's eyes of how much we rely on China for stuff that we could be making here in America."

The conversation underscores the alignment between Trump's policies and the goals of organizations like the New American Industrial Alliance, portraying a unified front towards economic revitalization.

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8. Conclusion and Future Outlook

As the episode wraps up, the hosts reflect on the implications of Trump's effective policies and the diminishing efficacy of Democratic opposition:

[47:23] Josh Holmes: "The grift is falling apart. ... All Trump is doing is just following the letter of the law."

They also announce a significant milestone for the podcast, celebrating the upcoming 500th episode with plans for a live event, further engaging their growing audience.

The episode concludes with a Question of the Day, encouraging listeners to humorously speculate on what Vice President Kamala Harris would be doing if she had won the election instead of Trump. This interactive segment aims to foster listener engagement and inject additional levity into the political discourse.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Smug: "[00:00] Americans saw what happens when the left, when the media decides for four years what the policy in this country is going to be like. And it was absolute chaos."

• Josh Holmes: "[00:21] And the only people in all of the world that seem to not understand that when you talk about something and then you go do it, that that's just like part of what you do here are Democrats."

• Smug: "[09:54] Americans. This is a politician who actually followed through on what he promised. Aren't you mad?"

• Austin Bishop: "[60:03] We're building really a coalition of leaders across companies, capital, and government who care about one thing, which is reindustrializing the U.S."

• Josh Holmes: "[07:16] President Trump's early approval ratings show he's settled into office in a better spot than 2017... 53% of Americans approve of Trump so far, according to a newly released CBS News."

• Smug: "[08:32] Among like 18 to 29 year olds, Trump's up 10% plus 10."

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Key Takeaways

1. Policy Execution Drives Approval: Trump's consistent delivery on campaign promises has significantly boosted his approval ratings across various demographics, including younger voters.

2. Effective Administration Management: Compared to the previous administration's perceived chaos, Trump's focused approach to border security, economy, and regulatory reforms resonates positively with Americans.

3. Democratic Challenges: Efforts by Democrats to obstruct Trump's policies through litigation and judicial opposition have largely failed, highlighting a shift in political dynamics.

4. Reindustrialization Efforts: Organizations like the New American Industrial Alliance play a crucial role in advocating for the revitalization of America's manufacturing base, aligning with Trump's economic strategies.

5. Engaged and Growing Audience: The Ruthless Podcast continues to garner substantial support, nearing significant milestones and fostering active listener participation.

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This episode of the Ruthless Podcast offers a comprehensive analysis of the factors behind Donald Trump's soaring approval ratings, the strategic execution of his administration's policies, and the broader implications for American politics and industry. Through insightful discussion and engaging segments, the hosts provide listeners with a nuanced understanding of the current political landscape.

Transcript

[Smug]

Americans saw what happens when the left, when the media decides for four years what the policy in this country is going to be like. And it was absolute chaos. And so now Americans are very aware of what happens when you don't have President Trump watching the border, watching the economy, keeping Americans safe. And they're resoundingly like, these are incredible numbers.

[Josh Holmes]

And the only people in all of the world that seem to not understand that when you talk about something and then you go do it, that that's just like part of what you do here are Democrats. Like, they're like, oh, yeah, well, he's actually doing all the things that got him elected. What an outrage.

[Smug]

Americans this is. A politician actually followed through on what he promised. Aren't you mad?

[Josh Holmes]

It's like, no, we finally beat Medicare. He's right. He did beat Medicaid. Beat it to death.

[Austin Bishop]

Joe Biden's legacy for seniors. He raided Medicare, made premiums skyrocket, and drove up drug costs. Worse, the Biden pill penalty is already slashing the development of affordable drugs, forcing.

[Josh Holmes]

Seniors to pay the price of Biden's failed policy.

[Austin Bishop]

Biden broke Medicare, but President Trump can fix it. Call Congress and urge them to end the Biden pill penalty.

[John Ashbrook]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Smug]

Just to catch it straight over here.

[Josh Holmes]

You're in for a hell of a show.

[Smug]

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

[John Ashbrook]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Tuesday to you and welcome back to the ruthless variety program. Josh Holmes, comfortably smug missing old man Michael Duncan out on assignment. And our White House correspondent, John Ashbrook there at the end. How are you, sir?

[John Ashbrook]

Wonderful to be here once again tonight.

[Josh Holmes]

Terrific. Everybody doing well in this post football part of our year?

[Smug]

Yeah. Had a great time at a friend's super bowl party. The good news continues over the weekend. It's like it never stops with the Trump administration.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

Ready to get this rolling?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. I mean, it just feels like there's many things out there that would lead you to believe that we're just back and we get new news every day. I've told a friend at a Super bowl party was like Trump had kept a list of my grievances over the last 10 years and was just systematically checking each box over the first 20 days of his presidency. Cuz, like, all this stuff leads you to believe you're back, but then, you know, you see like the pregame show and everything leading to the super bowl and the cultural shift. Yeah. That is remarkably evident to anybody who watches. It's hard not to see, like, it.

[John Ashbrook]

Couldn'T have come at a better time, because this time of year, especially post super bowl, before spring training gets started, I mean, you get the Daytona 500, but there really isn't a lot to consume from a sports fan standpoint now that President Trump is just, like, rolling through things left and right and the culture is shifting, is a lot to watch.

[Smug]

Yeah, you got a good team to cheer for. It's America.

[Josh Holmes]

Did you guys see he banned the penny?

[Smug]

Yes. That's what I'm talking about.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a funny.

[Smug]

It just makes sense.

[Josh Holmes]

But my favorite part in the initial write ups of the penny were like industry association groups, like Big Penny, essentially, they were like, well, now the nickel's gonna cost more.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And like big nickels, like, no, no, no, no, we're all good. There is this. It gives you a good idea and all of the Doge stuff. We're gonna get into some of this stuff during the course of this conversation here today. But, like, you understand very clearly why it is that it's so difficult to do things in Washington, because every single thing, regardless of how meritless it is to the American taxpayer, has an industry association group that is hell bent on ensuring that you don't make a move. Enter Big Penny.

[Smug]

It's unbelievable. And like, you look at this from a very simplistic point of view, it's such a problem for Democrats and like, entrenched groups like that, because you can have something that is so logical, you're like, huh, I didn't even realize that cost $0.02 to make. $0.01 seems like a good idea. And now they have to take the other side. Cuz they just want to oppose Trump on everything. They're like, it's like the USAID thing all over again, where it's like 90% of people can see the logic of this and you're gonna take the opposite side.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it turns out it's not just happening in a vacuum, which is gratifying because it feels like, for those of us who follow this along closely and tell you, dear listener and viewer, exactly what it is that we're hearing and thinking and getting people in here to sort of validate what it is that we're talking about, you worry at some point the people vote in elections and you just kind of like, you know, you tune out. Not the case. No, no, not the case. As it turns out, there's a bunch of different stuff. We're gonna get into this in one second about Trump's approval rating and everything else sky high. They're Seeing this, people are actually consuming all of this. And like, you know, I mean, we went through that era in the first Trump four years where media ratings and publication sales and all those went through the moon because of the interest in Donald Trump. Now they thought of it as a, well, we're just gonna castigate the guy. And that's what the audience wants. And they did build an audience as a result of that, but a very narrow audience as a result. Now they're all paying the price. They're laying people off, but the audience remains. And it's not just a negative audience, as we will soon find out. When we talk to you about this, we're also gonna talk to you about how Democrats have basically tried to fashion their opposition. We talked last week about the USAID thing and like they don't know what the hell they're doing. But now they've got judges and they're trying to like do this through the legal way. Just basically stop Trump at all sides. Some familiar faces. We're gonna talk about that. We got some variety for you.

[Smug]

It'll be fun.

[Josh Holmes]

We got a mystery clip involved. Wolf has cooked up a little something.

[John Ashbrook]

Can't wait to see that.

[Josh Holmes]

Which he assures me is very funny, but he won't tell me what it is.

[Smug]

Well, we'll be the judge of that.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, we're going to check that out. And then we got a great guest, Austin Bishop. He's the CEO of the New American Industrial Alliance. This is a topic of conversation that is happening in D.C. you probably don't know who Austin is. Very interesting guy. Somebody who was sort of foisted into an advocacy role in large part because government just didn't get it for a lot of different years. Well, you know, in the Trump administration now there's new opportunity to talk about new industrial America in a lot of different ways. So he joins us on the program as well. Should we get right into it, fellas?

[Smug]

Let's get it rolling.

[Josh Holmes]

Let's get right into it.

[Austin Bishop]

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[Josh Holmes]

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[Austin Bishop]

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[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so I don't know if you all saw it. Let's put up graphic one. This is from this YouGov poll. And Axios writes, President Trump's early approval ratings show he's settled into office in a better spot than 2017. Trump left office in 2021 with the lowest approval ratings of his White House tenure. But in the early days of Trump 2.0, they have ranked amongst the highest ratings of his political career. I mean, no surprise, 53% of Americans approve of Trump so far, according to a newly released CBS News. You know, they hate to print that.

[John Ashbrook]

They, I mean, in the worst way. And, you know, something you said a minute ago made me think that this Trump start is so different in one big way that we haven't really talked about. It's that he is controlling the conversation. Remember at the beginning of his first term, the media was controlling the conversation, all about stupid Russiagate and all of these dumb hoaxes that Democrats were driving, that the media was driving. And now he is driving absolutely everything in the conversation very different. And it's just another way that he learned how to do the job in the intervening years.

[Smug]

Plus, you know, he has an advantage in that Americans saw what happens when the left, when the media decides for four years what the policy in this country is gonna be like. And it was absolute chaos. And so now Americans are very aware of what happens when you don't have President Trump watching the border, watching the economy, keeping Americans safe. And they're resounding like, these are incredible numbers. To me, when you break it down, the most impressive fact was among like 18 to 29 year olds, Trump's up 10% plus 10.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, I thought Democrats controlled the youths.

[Smug]

That's the thing. Like, wow, Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

A lot of it goes back to what we were talking about with Alex Bruschowitz last week. You know, this new demographic of voter that's interested in politics and interested in President Trump. And like, the thing that's so gratifying about this is, and there was a bunch of things in the cross tabs that would tell you about it that we'll get to. But like, people heard the campaign message and they understood the campaign message. And the only people in all of the world that seem to not understand that when you talk about something and then you go do it, that that's just like part of what you do here are Democrats. They're like, yeah, well, he's actually doing all the things that got him elected. What an outrage.

[Smug]

Americans. This is a politician who actually followed through on what he promised. Aren't you mad?

[John Ashbrook]

It's like, no.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my gosh. He's securing the border. Holy smokes.

[Smug]

I mean, they have a very heavy lift, because it is exactly that. And when you specifically talk about the young demographic. Right. They'd been told for years under the Biden administration that, like, set the bar lower, you probably will never own a house. You have to accept that, you know, sometimes prices just go up on things. Just deal with it, you know, like, set your standards lower, you'll probably never be able to afford a house, or it's too expensive to get married and start a family. And then there you have someone who comes along and says, no, no, the economy doesn't have to be terrible. You should be allowed to realize whatever dreams you want in this country. And it resounds with them.

[Josh Holmes]

It's happening. And we're gonna talk a lot more about this poll and a whole bunch of pieces of it that fit into why it is that President Trump is not only at the highest approval rating of his career, but the mandate continues. And that, you know, the tough decisions that Democrats had hoped would sort of recede the waterline of support for President Trump have done nothing but gone up and become, like, he can keep taking bigger bites at this apple, which is good news for those of us who've wanted him to have, like, as much of a reach as he possibly can. So we're going to get into all of that. But we do have a very important announcement.

[Smug]

Huge announcement.

[Josh Holmes]

A very important announcement. And this is, you know, look, we like to pump our own tires here a little bit. The Ruthless Variety pro. Turns out we're going to have our 500th Ruthless variety program right. Right around the corner February 19th.

[John Ashbrook]

Man, it's a lot of variety. Every single week, twice a week. And number 500 in Washington, D.C. yeah.

[Smug]

And we should do something for it.

[Josh Holmes]

We should do something. So we've thought about this a little bit. You know, Spaghetti and Wolf put their heads together, and we're like, you know, it's got. It's got to be a blend of things that have been a part of the culture in the making of the Ruthless Variety program, because we're not, you know, look, we're part of your families, and you're part of ours, so it's got to. We got to keep people along the way. One of the things that we did very early on, our first live show was at Pearl street warehouse in D.C.

[John Ashbrook]

That was just one of the best shows we've ever done.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. And it sold out in, like, one second. We had the time of our lives. Like, sequins, jackets, and you were in a tuxedo if I'm not.

[Smug]

Yeah, I just want to wear something comfortable.

[Josh Holmes]

So we thought we'd, like, run it back and have a bunch of guests who have played a meaningful role for us in the first 500 episodes and, you know, give people an opportunity to sort of see what they've been a part of over the years. And we're going to do it live. We're going to do it on the 19th at Pearl Street. You can get your tickets and listen, where do we get the tickets? Well, do we know where we're getting the. The tickets? Can you put it on Ruthless Podcast.com? if you go to RuthlessPodcast.com event, you can go there and you get your tickets. I can promise you, if you're listening to this early in the morning, get on this.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Is going to be gone extremely quickly. The first one was gone in seven minutes. I'd be surprised if this made it more than two, to be honest.

[John Ashbrook]

I think that's right.

[Josh Holmes]

So get on that. Buy your tickets on the 19th. The night of the 19th, we're gonna have a lot of special guests. It's gonna be a lot of fun. So get on that. And when we come back, we're gonna be talking about Trump firing on all cylinders, a little bit more about this historic rise in the polls. We're gonna get to it right after this. I don't have to tell you, Americans are ready for what's next. Moving beyond the hardships of inflation and economic anxiety towards building a future, a better future for our families. Ensuring greater access to more affordable energy that powers daily lives. Reliable energy that fuels innovation and economic growth, and the abundant energy that keeps our nation safer and more secure. It's all within our grasp. We'll do this together, Building a brighter future for us, powered by America's oil and natural gas resources. You can learn more about all of [e-mail] all right, so let's get back to this poll for a minute, because I do. I mean, you can only imagine the consternation over at CBS hq.

[Smug]

Yeah, poor Margaret Brennan having to deal.

[Josh Holmes]

With some of this stuff. I mean, 70% of Americans believe that President Trump is following through on his campaign promises.

[Smug]

I've never seen a number like that.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, like the New York Post breaks this out. Of course, this is not what CBS is gonna do.

[Smug]

No, no, no.

[Josh Holmes]

But this is the crux of why it is that he is where he is. You know, I mean, they've tried to create chaos around all the decision. Usaid Doge Securing the border, you know, kicking illegal immigrant criminals out of our country. Like, they've tried to create a lot. Like, it's like, it is. They're trying to make it controversial, but it turns out the American people are like, no, we got it.

[Smug]

And that's the thing. It's like leading up to President Trump taking office, they tried printing all these stories of, like, it's going to be terrifying getting these illegal immigrants out of here. It's gonna scare the shit out of you. And then you actually see what's happening. And it's like this guy, like this morning I saw in the paper, they catch this illegal immigrant who has been accused of murdering a guy who owned a sandwich shop. Beat him to death, right? DHS catches this guy because the local police, it was a sanctuary city. The local police have to let this guy go. DHS catches him, he's on his way out. That's what it looks like.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

It doesn't look like, oh, my gosh, everyone's gonna be crying in the streets. No. All of a sudden, that street's a lot safer.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. We don't need to do a lot of hand wringing about this. We just thought this was like what you did.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

At the Department of Homeland Security. But, like, they didn't, and now they are, and people are like, great.

[Smug]

And 70% are like, yeah, it looks like promises made. Promises.

[Josh Holmes]

That's great. So 70%, you're doing what you told us you would do. And I feel pretty good about 70.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

That's a remarkable.

[John Ashbrook]

You said last week. It's like Trump kept a list of everything that pissed people off over the last four years. And day by day, he's just sort of ticking through it and saying, yeah, I'm going to undo that. I'm going to undo that. I can't remember the specific thing that you were talking about. And that sort.

[Smug]

Well, that's the thing is because, like, it's a list.

[John Ashbrook]

It's unreal how much is going on. And you think about his day, like when he was flying back from the super bowl and he had that sign that the Gulf of America sign with his signature on the proclamation right next to it. It's just like every single day there's something new and exciting.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. It makes you feel good.

[Smug]

That's the thing.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, how about the Super Bowl Sunday out of that cat, wake up stretchy old limbs, you know, check the email, see what Doge is up to. You know, stretch your back. Maybe a little breakfast 18 with Tiger Woods.

[John Ashbrook]

It doesn't it doesn't get better. Then you get on a plane and you fly to the super bowl and then you, you, you're like yucking it up with everybody at the Super Bowl. You know, he got huge cheers when they showed his face on the screen. He gets back on the plane, heads to Washington and some reporters are like getting in his face and he starts dunking on him and then he rolls out. The Gulf of America thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, this is, this is the SV date.

[Smug]

Yeah, right.

[Josh Holmes]

The pool reporter. We're not sure exactly how this works, but the White House Correspondents association, you know, the people. I'm surprised you're not a member.

[Smug]

You should join.

[Josh Holmes]

Brooke, you should probably join this outfit now that you're a White House correspondent.

[John Ashbrook]

We'll see. They might, they may not allow me in.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, one of the members of this association, evidently is this guy, S.V. dante, who used to send like five paragraph emails about, you know, to all of us. Like the most left wing stuff you've ever heard in your entire life. Like, clearly not an objective correspondent. He works for an outfit, the Huffington Post, and he is the correspondent that does the pool report for the Super Bowl.

[John Ashbrook]

And if you read through the pool reports that he submitted, they were like three sentences each and every single, every single report was just retelling what you already knew was going to happen based on the schedule. President is leaving. You know, there was no color. It was like he saw Trump shaking hands with people and everybody loving him. And he's like, nope, can't put that in there.

[Smug]

And that's the thing is, so svdate is an idiot for sure. He shows up in my replies crying. He's like, you're enabling fascism. So we all know he's an idiot, but if you look at the reason why he's doing that is because of numbers like this. When you see that 70% of Americans believe if he gives color and he's like, everyone on the plane seems to be having a good time. All the policies that Trump are putting in place are incredibly popular. Everyone seems to be like, loving the Trump presidency. He can't talk about that.

[John Ashbrook]

And for folks who may not know, a lot of you do know. But the purpose of a pool reporter is so that. Because there can only be so many reporters around the president at any one.

[Josh Holmes]

Time and so can't get everybody into the Super Bowl.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. So they designate one person that's based on a rotation and that person writes up what's happening so that everybody else has a little bit of color on what the President was up to. And I'm telling you, these were the least colorful submissions I've ever read.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, here's the thing. Like, first of all, I think the whole press office has just been fantastic. Obviously, I think Carolyn Levitt is a.

[Smug]

Superstar, just knocking out of the park a superstar.

[Josh Holmes]

But there's a whole bunch of things that you inherit that it takes time to change. The idea that SV Dante is in a Super bowl mix to, like, do pool reports for, like, what, like, they gotta do.

[Smug]

I mean, tell me Astra couldn't do that job.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, he could definitely do that job. Well, first of all, you'd learn a little something about the hands he was shaking. You'd learn a little something about the weather outside.

[Smug]

And I mean, like, Trump.

[John Ashbrook]

Trump is entertaining every single second of his life, he's entertaining. Capture some of that. Let people see. That's the whole point of the job.

[Smug]

And here's another example of how, like, X is the media now, where, if I want to call it on this, I saw videos people have put up on X of like, oh, President Trump's talking to so and so. The crowd's going wild. He got put on the screen. Everyone's booing. Taylor Swift, she got put on the screen.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, like, meanwhile, SV day is like, president leaving. Yeah, President coming. They're just.

[Smug]

It's because, like, when we have these numbers in front of us, it says, when asked to Describe, describe Trump, 69% said, tough, nice. 63% selected, energetic. 60% called them focused. Like, the media does not want people to know this.

[Josh Holmes]

They hate that so much. Also, 59% approve of the deportation efforts. 59%. Right. They tried to make this, like, oh, it's the most inhumane thing of all time. Do you know how hard it is to get 59% of the American people to agree on something?

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, people are fed up, right? They're like, no, he said he was going to do it. That's what he's doing. I'm all on board. I mean, that is, you know, we're Talking about a good 8, 9% more people than voted for him, right? That are like, yeah, yeah, it.

[John Ashbrook]

It has to happen. I mean, every. Everybody saw the trends over the last four years, and everybody see, like, when Tom Homan. I don't know about you guys. I am like, one of the biggest. Tom Homan exists because he is. He is unequivocal when he makes a statement. He doesn't care if he gets flack from the reporters. He's just telling you what he's doing because he has a job and it's very important.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Well, look, all of this brings us to our question of the day. And remember, you got to like and subscribe. We are dangerously close to 100,000, by the way.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

If. If you haven't done that, you need to get on board. Also send it to your friends and have them like and subscribe, because as soon as we get to 100,000, we'll throw another party for ourselves. And I feel like the plaque you get, you're going to pray.

[Smug]

So you got to do it. I think we're less than 3k away.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. So we got. We got it. We have to do this. So you gotta like and subscribe and all of that. But when you do that, you can also comment in a way on our question of the day. And this one is so good, because I think, like, the basics of our first segment that we just did are the reason the guy's popular is because he's doing precisely what it is that he said he was going to do that enabled this whole new coalition of voters to be like, yes, we want to do that. And he's done it. So the question is, like, if this thing went the other way and Kamala had won the election, what would she be doing?

[John Ashbrook]

I love this question so much because, you know, she would be doing something like demanding only trans men in women's sports.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

I mean, like, it is.

[Josh Holmes]

It really.

[Smug]

It'll be like the Twilight Zone. I want to see the answers to this so badly, because the thing is, is she would make such awful decisions. I mean, her campaign shows she's terrible at making decisions. Right. We got that clear from the campaign. But, like, if she was the one who was following through on campaign promises, this would be a whole different world.

[Josh Holmes]

Do you think she'd be a champion of small businesses?

[Smug]

Oh, yeah. She was like, I have a lot of experience with small businesses. Never worked in the private sector.

[Josh Holmes]

She's like, as such a champion of small businesses, I am saying they should be taxed somewhere around 65%. Does that make sense?

[Smug]

It'd be a nightmare. But I really want to see the replies because, I mean, we can only imagine the horrors America would be experiencing right now.

[John Ashbrook]

She'd go through the Middle east and say, who do you have left in your prisons that you could resettle in our country?

[Josh Holmes]

Would hostages be coming home? Would we have ever heard of the Panama Canal situation? Greenland would certainly be arming against us.

[Smug]

You think there'd be any cuts in government spending? No, I mean, God, there's a million things that should be screwing up.

[Josh Holmes]

It's just. So, anyway, curious to get your thoughts and be comical about it. Like, we need some levity here. We're not all serious all the time time. But this is a perfect opportunity for our people, who are very funny, to stretch their comedic legs a little bit.

[John Ashbrook]

It's a great opportunity.

[Josh Holmes]

What would Kamala be doing if she was president? Because we know what Trump is doing, and we love it. When we come back, we're gonna have your comments from last episode. And that question was, by the way, who is worse than Schumer because he distinguished himself last week as, like, you know, the worst.

[Smug]

Trying to get people to chant while he looks like the Crypt Keeper.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, just the way. So is there anybody worse than him? We've got your comments to all of that right after this.

[John Ashbrook]

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[Josh Holmes]

Question of the day that you responded to last Thursday was, is there anybody worse than Chuck Schumer to be the face of the Democrats? And I think the answer is no. But your comments are noteworthy. And to do that, we always start with a voice.

[John Ashbrook]

I just love this one. This is a good one. It comes from David Peel. David writes, I think Jerry Nadler is being underutilized. The guy is charismatic, natural born leader.

[Josh Holmes]

So for those of you who aren't like, political junkies or you're not from New York, Jerry Nadler is as wide as he is tall.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Smug]

His suspenders are the hardest working person in politics.

[Josh Holmes]

And he's probably the most uncharismatic human being that's ever walked the face of the planet. Takes himself very seriously, though. And he was kind of like, remember, he was the initial face of the impeachment hearings the first time around.

[Smug]

And they're like, that's not the face.

[Josh Holmes]

Even Democrats who are like, still putting Chuck Schumer out front thinking, like, that's gonna do the sale. Even Democrats are like, we can't have it. It's so good. Do yourself a favor and, like, just Google Jerry Nadler if you don't, and just get yourself a laugh on it.

[John Ashbrook]

Guy never missed a cold cut.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, cold cut. Like he would. He'd weigh a fraction of what he weighs if he just ate cold cuts. Guy's like devouring apple pie. Morning. All right, Smug, what do we got for number two?

[Smug]

This is from Jim Doc usa. And Jim writes, Schumer is a tough act to follow. And the dynamic duo of him at the podium with Maxine Waters makes his appearance all the more special. But I think Rashida Taleb brings every bit of Schumer's left wing crazy with a large splash of anti Semitism and is automatically detestable the minute she starts speaking. That is a. Oh, oh, it continues.

[Josh Holmes]

You got more.

[Smug]

And when she is asked about the horrors of what happened in Israel on October 7th and she says nothing, it is almost worse. Her terribleness is perfect. Whether she speaks or remains silent, that is a unique feat. I would guess that Schumer finds her disgusting as well. She is like nails on a chalkboard. Like, that is something else.

[Josh Holmes]

Did you see the thing over the weekend? I think maybe it happened Friday when Maxine Waters led a delegation of fucking dingbats over to the Doge hq. And we're, like, demanding entry into this joint.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And there's just, like, a security guard. He's just doing his job. It's like, no, you can't come in. And they're, like, raising all hell. Did you see this?

[Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

She. He was. She was like, show me your id. Show me your id. And he's like, I just showed you my id. She's like, somebody else asked him. So he has to show you that.

[Smug]

His thing is, like, right now working a job. Their whole thing is because she had someone on, like, her social media team pull their phone out and start recording. She. The Democrats are just focused on trying to, like, make this a media event. They're not about results. This guy's out there protecting the building. And it's just like, I saw this great montage on X of people who are just of guys who are just, like, tired of dealing with their shit. You know, like at hearings, you had. What's her name, Gillibrand from New York, just, like, screaming like, that is the American people who for years have had to put up with people shit. We're done with it.

[Josh Holmes]

You're done with it.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, and. And it would. It was a media event, and it would be a bigger Deal. If it, if X was not a thing.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

You know, if, if the Washington Post controlled everything that you read.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, they, they, they would report it as like a very moving and stirring rally out in front of Doge HQ as members of Congress re authoritated their oversight of the spending decisions in America.

[John Ashbrook]

And the Trump administration would have banged their fists and said, this is terrible. We're against what the Democrats are doing. And the Washington Post would say, you know what, we'll help you. We'll write a story. And it would say, republicans pounce on meaningful event. You know what I mean? Like, but now everybody can just see the video of what a lunatic she is.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And everybody can see it for what it is. You know, like, this is what everyone suspected was going on in Washington all along and they just never had a chance to.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it makes our job easier.

[John Ashbrook]

Makes it a lot more fun too.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it makes it a lot more fun. All right. The third comment from Anthony Byrne on the question of the day, who will be on the Dem bench is worse mouthpiece than Chuck Schumer. The answer is Jasmine Crockett, the honorable representative from Dallas, Texas. Her recent white supremacy comments, as well as her statements on white tears, quote unquote, are a perfect example of how tone deaf Dems continue to be. Frankly, I hope they prop her up as the next leader of the liberal party. Everything is on video these days. To your point, to the point that you just made. Everything's on video these days. And her hubris, along with many other progressives, will fill ruthless content well for years on end. Yeah, he's 100% right, Anthony. I mean, that's right. She's been crazy.

[Smug]

And this is also part of the vibe shift is I think the Trump election, Trump taking office is the bookend on the Obama era neoliberal bullshit of where Americans were getting canceled. You couldn't say obvious truth. You couldn't say, hey, this is a dude trying to play women's sports. Like, they for so long held this grip on the culture, on the media, on the government, where they scared Americans from telling the truth of, like, what's right in front of their eyes and we're done with this. So when this crazy lady, because she is nuts, when she gets out there and says this shit, everyone's done with it and no one pays attention.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I mean, the point that she was making was the DEI offended mediocre white men. I think what she said and inferring somehow that these people couldn't get a job and so they blamed it on DEI efforts when like anybody with two eyes and some ears, you don't have to have great hearing, can tell what it is that they were trying to do with this program over the years. Well, it was basically just like a one sided deal.

[Smug]

The Wall Street Journal had that statistic, I think about two months ago where they said few amongst S&P 500 companies. Right. 90% of the jobs were going to non white men. White men were getting fewer than 10% of jobs.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Despite being what, like 35% of the population or something like that. Like it's. Look, it's obvious and everybody knows it. Everybody. And to be honest with you, if you're like at all comfortable in your own sort of identity and place in the world and your ability to work hard and make a living in this country, you've come to grips with the fact that if given an even playing field, you can work things through. And America still has the American dream and the American promise. But as soon as you start weighing things down to who you can hire and quotas and you know, who gets to go to college because who's accepted and who's not, like that's problematic. And you can quickly see how it can be problematic for you.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

It's not just one race and class and gender. It's going to be problematic anytime everyone in your sort of characteristic becomes successful in this country because you're the next target.

[John Ashbrook]

I, you know, and if you're a Democrat listening out there, I would encourage you to not give up this fight that you have waged to deliver a neoliberal utopia is something you put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into. And you can't just let it go away like that. If you don't make. Jasmine Crockett, the response to President Trump's address to Congress in March. You're weak.

[Josh Holmes]

Racist too.

[John Ashbrook]

They're giving up.

[Josh Holmes]

Racist.

[Smug]

Oh, that's so good.

[John Ashbrook]

Absolutely racist, man.

[Smug]

They should have her do the response.

[John Ashbrook]

She has to do the response.

[Josh Holmes]

It's racist and sex that have sexist. If she is not the responder.

[John Ashbrook]

It's, it's, and it's a disappointment.

[Josh Holmes]

You know what they're going to do, though? I guarantee you they're going to find like the whitest white. This is like, you think they're going.

[Smug]

To give it a no?

[Josh Holmes]

It's like the Tim Walls decision, Right. They're going to be like, well, our problem because they can't get out of the identity box. Right. They're like, well, we're having a huge problem with white men, granted, all of our policies and what we outwardly state say that they're like second class citizens in this country from birth all the way through. But if we have a white man representing that message.

[Smug]

That's an interesting theory.

[Josh Holmes]

It will surely change because course everyone looks at their prospects for their future success based on what the guy who's delivering the message looks like. Right, like dramatically underestimating the intelligence of your average voter. Yeah, but that's the way they live, therefore.

[Smug]

And then at the same time, it's like if you're like a Josh Stein or something, do you want to be the guy who has to step out there and be like, I'm arguing against what, 70% of the American public?

[Josh Holmes]

No way.

[John Ashbrook]

No, he wouldn't. But you know who would? Adam Kinzinger.

[Josh Holmes]

That's a great point. They might think of that.

[John Ashbrook]

He might do it. Can you imagine if a King of the Hill contestant is doing the response?

[Josh Holmes]

Like a, like a Lincoln project? If they ran the world would do.

[John Ashbrook]

Exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

It would be like Kinzinger or Cheney or somebody like that. Anyway, great comments, Liz.

[John Ashbrook]

Cheney, the response. That might happen.

[Josh Holmes]

I could, right?

[John Ashbrook]

That could happen.

[Josh Holmes]

This is a good bet. Future question of the day. We'll talk about this. Future question of the day. I think that's, I think those things are real. Anyway, as the Trump agenda goes forward and has had so much success and we've talked a lot about how well crafted these executive orders are and how they're just sort of cutting through a lot of the bullshit that got everybody bogged down in 17. It hasn't stopped Democrats and Democrats are suing, you know, everybody's suing over everything. They're trying to get things. And you got some activist judges out there that are trying to bog this thing down. Yep, we're gonna talk a little bit about that and a whole bunch more right after this.

[John Ashbrook]

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[Josh Holmes]

So there was a piece in the Washington Times that caught my attention because as we've covered here on the Variety program, the Trump administration has been much more efficient at getting these executive orders rolling, knowing that there is a cottage industry that's basically funded by, you know, billionaire leftists, coastal and sometimes often even overseas.

[Smug]

Yeah. Hans, Eric Vis and Soros, as we know.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. But there's like a cottage industry of people who just sue, hoping to get like the right judge in the right venue to stop all these various things. And they've not had the same kind of success that they did in 2017, in large part because Trump and his team, Stephen Miller and others, they've thought about this stuff and they've crafted this, but it doesn't stop their efforts. So this piece in the Washington Times actually caught my attention. Trump is willing to go toe to toe with activist judges. What to do about the judges. President Trump emerged victorious in a courtroom in the District of Columbia when a judge shot down the American Civil Liberties Union's attempt to restart a Biden era parole program for unauthorized migrants.

[Smug]

First of all, just exactly like the ACLU didn't they used to be about free speech. Like, we know they've given up on that and now want to like silence free speech. But now why are they like fighting court battles to let dangerous illegal immigrants have parole programs? Like, what are we doing here?

[John Ashbrook]

They're probably getting paid by USAID too.

[Smug]

Yeah, right.

[Josh Holmes]

So, but like, this was a win. Obviously they've had some setbacks and some challenges because they've, you know, look, Democrats are court shopping. They're smart at this stuff and they've figured out, you know, despite all the Successes of the 2017 through 2020, 2021 Reshaping of a federal judiciary, there's still some spots where you can go in and you can get some decisions that are just anti American, you know, judges that are just basically long time, like either Obama appointees or even all the way back to like Bill Clinton appointees that give them what they want. And so Trump, as this story says, Trump hasn't won in court even once since taking office. Said democracy docket, a left leaning legal tip sheet. Well, I mean, it was like demonstrably untrue. That quote's untrue by the lead of the story. But this is what these people do.

[Smug]

You gotta tell your donors that keep the money rolling.

[Josh Holmes]

This is how they raise money. And just so you guys know, like what they do is they sue a whole bunch of times. They'll get one victory out of 100 and they'll talk about their huge success at stopping the Trump agenda. And if you send, you know, it's like that Sarah McLaughlin song.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, we'll show some dying puppies.

[Smug]

And like, you know, come on billionaires and some more money.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it's just for, for just $5 a day, we can make all of your illegal progressive dreams come true.

[John Ashbrook]

And continue to fund democracy. That's right, democracy docket. What a perfectly left wing name for us.

[Josh Holmes]

So a couple of these things are a preliminary injunction that halting the President's attempt to limit birthright citizenship. We remember, we talked about this several weeks ago. We thought that this was going to be the one that they targeted and you know, would get a judge at some point to do it. But they've got, you know, a block of releasing the names of FBI agents involved in pursuing cases against the JN6 stuff. Again, that's like, I'm not sure I completely understand it. The way that the left frames that, I think is different than what's happening in reality. But this is the way frame that up a freeze on plans to put on leave the entire workforce of a US Agency. This is the USAID thing. Like they've got people to weigh in on that. But again, Trump is picking these fights with the ability of the Democrats to try to block it in court. Meanwhile, the American people are like, no, do it, do it. So all of these things, they're smarter than just a court battle. Like, it illuminates and elevates a conversation the American people have been wanting to have for a very long time where Trump is safely on like a 70% footing.

[Smug]

That's the thing. I mean, these are all extremely common sense measures across the board. And the fact that what Trump is doing here is showing that the opposition that you've got these liberal judges who have been put into place trying to fight him, they are actually fighting the will of the American people. People. So he has that going for him this time around.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it illuminates this stuff, right? You wouldn't know that these people are as crazy as they're being unless they try. Like, listen to this one On Sunday, a federal judge in New Mexico blocked the administration from sending three Venezuelans, a Venezuelan gang member to Guantanamo Bay. Remember, he says could do that.

[Smug]

And he did.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Judge Ken Gonzalez and Obama appointee, well, surprise, surprise, surprise. Granted the temporary order after a brief hearing, calling it a short term ruling. So then why make the rule?

[Smug]

That's the thing. That's the thing is they know they're eventually, when a higher court's like, yeah, I guess the murderer should probably. Illegal murder should probably be sent out of the country. They just want to get those points because they're liberal activists.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, so, you know, Musk and everybody else jumps down this person's neck because, honestly, what we were talking about is three very violent Venezuelan gang members and what Trump was talking about, who he sends to Guantanamo. Like, these are like unredeemable criminals.

[Smug]

Yeah. This isn't someone who just snuck across the border, broke the law there. They're like, while they're here, they're a member of a gang committing violent crimes and they gotta go.

[Josh Holmes]

And Ken Gonzalez is like, well, hold on. Yeah, let me think about that for a second. Okay, Ken. Like, you do what you got to do with your leftist agenda, but, I mean, this stuff is now getting highlighted and Musk and everybody else are talking about it Monday of yesterday. And, like, people are gonna see it and people are gonna understand that this is the government. Like, it's why it's so hard to change stuff. Because believe it or not, there is a constituency for violent Venezuelan gang members.

[Smug]

And again, like, for years, actually on this show, we've been warning our listeners about how much these left wing dark money groups have been buying up prosecutors, been buying up judges, getting them in place to do garbage like this. Where Americans for years and in this past election have made it clear we're done with crime, we're done with illegal aliens in our country. And these judges are like, uh, my paymaster said I need to stand in the way. I know a higher court is gonna be like, it's pretty cut and dry, clear that this is legal. But I need to make them know that, hey, when you got me this gig, I'm gonna do what you paid me for.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. And we wouldn't know any of this if Trump wasn't shaking things up. Like, the perfect example was yesterday on the USAID issue. Trump is shaking things up. And all of a sudden we learn that a guy like Bill Haggerty from Tennessee sent letters to Anthony Blinken under the Biden administration, asking him to assure the Senate that USAID was not funding terrorists through subsidiary groups and subsidiary groups. And they wouldn't confirm that.

[Smug]

That's.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, and nobody like. And like, you know, you know, we worked on the Hill. We know how these. You know, the office puts a letter together, the senators, like, you got to be kidding me. This is even a thing to consider.

[Josh Holmes]

Seems like a threshold question that you could probably answer.

[John Ashbrook]

Pretty quickly, he fires it off to the State Department. He's like, surely, yeah, they're gonna say, no, we don't. We don't allow anybody who funds terrorist groups.

[Smug]

They're like, well, and coming from Hagerty, which is like, this is not someone just like pie in the sky. Like, when he was ambassador to Japan, him and Trump have both spoken on how they partnered to get Japan to start buying oil from America, cutting off Iran. And when Iran didn't have money, they don't have money to fund Hamas. Like, this is the guy who knows what he's talking about. So when he sends over this letter and he's like, can you just assure me that taxpayer money is not going to terrorism? And then Biden's administration is like, no, we can't do that. Think about how. Nothing.

[John Ashbrook]

Think about that.

[Josh Holmes]

So.

[John Ashbrook]

But again, the opposite of the Bush Doctrine.

[Josh Holmes]

This highlights the importance of the first four years, and I think the major accomplishment of the first Trump administration, which is the judges issue. Now, you're never gonna get to 100% of federal judges at any, you know, one time, but you can make a substantial impact of which they did. The ones that are blocking all of these things are Obama and Biden appointed judges. Now, we've made a lot of progress, but we got to continue to do that. And they got it. Once they get through Cabinet nominees and everything else, they got to reprimand.

[Smug]

Let's get the judge machine going. Burg.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, we got to get that thing going. We got to get that thing going, because this. All this stuff is. You know, the only good news is the. The judge that's handling the USAID thing is a. Is going to be a Trump appointee.

[Smug]

Oh, okay.

[Josh Holmes]

So somebody who follows the law, but like, what? The case that they're making on the Democratic side in court and all these ridiculous press conferences is somehow that they're following the law, they're following the Constitution, and Trump is some sort of extraordinarily just pontificating on things and making things happen that don't exist in law, in statute, in the Constitution. Constitution. Okay, well, first of all, it's complete bullshit. Second of all, let's just remind you of Graphic two. Can we throw this up, please? This is President Biden on his way out, affirming what I have long believed in, what 3/4 of states have ratified, the 28th amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law, regardless of their sex. So what he's talking about is a very, very controversial ERA amendment that was proposed, what, 40 years ago?

[Smug]

Yeah. It doesn't actually exist, but he just said, like, I am now saying that this is in the Constitution.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

That's because they respect the rule of law.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

These are the folks that are like, well, if we just follow the law, and then you got a President of the United States on his way out who pardons his whole family, everybody involved in his corrupt administration, and then it's like, oh, by the way, there's a 28th Amendment. And, like, just go with that.

[Smug]

And that's the thing is it's. I think it's starting to fall apart. The whole Democrat grift, the whole Democrat argument of how for years they tried to be like, Trump is a constitutional crisis personified. You know, like, Trump is a clear and present danger. That's all falling apart because they tried running a campaign where they're like, Trump is the most dangerous threat to this country. Now we're, what, only like, three weeks in, and it turns out all Trump is doing is just following the letter of the law. He is the Constitution personified. We're actually following law in this country again. It's crazy.

[Josh Holmes]

And they're like, holy shit. We don't have all the institutions to bully people into believing what we believe anymore.

[Smug]

That's the thing. The grift is falling apart.

[Josh Holmes]

It's falling apart. So you might say, like, okay, well, I mean, the guy wants to cut spending. It seems like a relatively straightforward type of thing. You know, they administer the spending, and so they want to take a look at where stuff is going. Like, what Democrat would find a constitutional crisis in that? Well, for that, we play you. Clip one. Yeah. I mean, what we are witnessing is a constitutional crisis. We are seeing an executive branch that has decided that they are no longer going to abide by the Constitution in honoring Congress's role in the creation of the agencies, in their role in deciding where money is allocated. Plus, she's reliably told that there are Jewish people in Trump's family, and so she's gonna hate that. But, I mean, this is the craziest of the left, and they're like it's a constitutional crazy.

[Smug]

Am I crazy? So you're talking about Ilhan Omer or Margaret Brennan? There's two in that clip.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, imagine even platforming somebody like that to talk about in a serious way about what's happening in Washington D.C. they're like, oh, I know. Let's hear from Elon Omar. Yeah. She's got her hands wrapped around the Constitution. Not the Somalian constitution, the American Constitution.

[Smug]

I mean, I've seen this clip pop up on X a few times recently where she was at a campaign rally in Minnesota, your home state.

[Josh Holmes]

Thanks.

[Smug]

And it was some Somali organization. And they translated exactly what was being said by the speaker with Ilhan on stage. And he said it's important everyone here knows Ilhan is not a representative for the United States. Ilhan is a representative for Somalia. And if you want to make sure that we fund Somalia, you have to vote and donate. He said, straight up, you have to donate right now to Ilhan Omar.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

And so this is who's lecturing us on the Constitution.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, this is the person who's giving us a constitutional lesson. And you're like, all right, so that one doesn't make a lot of sense. So Doge in general, that's just ruffled feathers, thank God. So who like, could you think of to be a voice that would go against Doge? Oh, okay. Let's take a look at clip two, please. If you don't mind spaghetti. In the past week, Letitia James, ladies.

[Austin Bishop]

And gentlemen, the so called Department of Government Efficiency have access the personal private.

[Josh Holmes]

Information of tens of millions of Americans and sensitive data about public and private entities.

[Austin Bishop]

Social Security numbers, addresses, tax returns and.

[Josh Holmes]

More, all of which is complete nonsense. This woman dedicated her entirety straight from the campaign.

[Smug]

Yeah, she ran on. She was like, I will prosecute. Okay, so that sounds like you're just politicizing the justice system in this country.

[Josh Holmes]

Right off the bat, which she did and like for all the world to see to the point where her prosecution in no small part was responsible for the comeback of Donald Trump. Because people looked at it and were like, my God, like, how out of touch. Well, she hasn't stopped at all. Here she is like weighing in on. Now she's saying that your Social Security numbers and your bank accounts and all of those things are being compromised by doge, which is just a laughable proposition on its face.

[John Ashbrook]

She is the face of this like multi state, multi blue state initiative from Dems who are working as attorney generals to try to stop the government from cutting spending and that's all it is.

[Smug]

I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up the fact that we now know for a fact that the Chinese government has hacked opm, the Office of Personal Management, multiple times.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

And they have the data on everyone who's ever worked in the government. Beyond that, we've been told that the Chinese government has hacked every single phone company in the United States and has the personal data of every single American in the United States. They have now a profile on every single 300 million plus United States citizens. And then in the last days of the Biden administration, we get photos that were like, oh, turns out it is true. Joe Biden and Hunter Biden are here shaking hands with Xi in China. Right. So like, where's the crisis there? Where's the crisis there?

[Josh Holmes]

It's just so bizarre. But like to run out. Letitia James, you know, where's Fanny or whatever her name was. Georgia Fanny. Well, is she busy?

[Smug]

She probably is giving her boyfriend some more money.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, like, could you find worse surrogates? And like, it partially answers the question of the day from last week, like, who's worse than Schumer? I don't know. These two look like they might be worse.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Incredible. All right, so Wolf and Spaghett's cooked a little something up here for the fellas.

[Smug]

Better be good.

[Josh Holmes]

It better be good.

[Smug]

It better be really good.

[Josh Holmes]

It better be really good. Because I mean, this is. We don't do mystery. Yeah, a lot. You know, we sing, we dance, we entertain, but we don't do mystery a lot here in the program. He says, like you're going to want to talk about this. So, you know, without further ado, here is clip number three, please. Thanks for joining us. We begin tonight with Musk and Big Balls. Big Balls who work for Elon Musk, so called Department of Government Efficiency Doge.

[Smug]

In the one case of the Big.

[Josh Holmes]

Balls kid, a literal teenager. Big Balls online Big Balls here that Katie's talking about in 19. 18 year old that goes by the username Big Balls.

[Austin Bishop]

So that would be one way that.

[Josh Holmes]

We could refer to him. Young computer whizzers. Whizzes.

[Austin Bishop]

The aforementioned Big Balls.

[Josh Holmes]

Because who among us doesn't feel better about Big balls? Big Balls. Big Balls in charge of American air traffic control.

[John Ashbrook]

If you did before mentioned Big Balls.

[Smug]

What's her name on msnbc? Yeah, she's not a fan of Big Balls. Who'd have guessed that? But also, what a victory for that guy, right? Cause I was on cloud nine When Caroline Levitt was like one of the hosts of Ruthless, comfortably Smug, I was like, victory lap on that. But for Big Balls to get everyone to call him Big Balls, Big Balls, I would never come down from that high.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, if you didn't have him, you'd have to make him up just to see if they would actually cover it. It would be the best troll in the world if Big Balls didn't actually cover.

[Smug]

It'd be like Kaiser Soze.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, like the 19 year old big Balls. I could see Musk making that up, by the way, and then having everybody sort of like scrambling to find out who Big Balls actually is. The fact that they have to do this on primetime television and Democratic HQ is hilarious to me.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Smug]

If, if my one suggestion to Elon Musk, if you have not yet, please make sure there is like a placard or like on his office door that says Big Balls for him while he's like hard at work. He's like cutting waste and that. Like you have to check in at the front desk and be like, I'd like to see big balls. Okay, 36, four, for those of you.

[Josh Holmes]

Who are not familiar with the story. So Elon has brought in a bunch of non governmental types. These are like extremely gifted, talented, data mining individuals who have the ability to go through reams of information in five pertinent items that Doge is interesting interested in in terms of cost cutting and everything else.

[Smug]

Yeah, like if they came parallel Park a rocket, I think they're probably the folks that you want going through the data figuring out.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, right. But these are not the guys that you like put through a confirmation hearing. These are guys like Big Balls. And Big Balls evidently has his name Big Balls because on somewhere on a LinkedIn profile or whatever, he identifies himself as Big Balls. And this is how they've tracked this cat down. Like, I don't know, all the doxing involved how we got to Big Balls. But the fact that it ended at Big Balls, I think is only representative of how just how a genius this guy actually is. He has now forced the entire Democratic glitterati across the country to have commentary throughout the prime time of their broadcasts on an individual named Big Balls.

[Smug]

What a move. What empowerment.

[John Ashbrook]

And Democrats have gone at this guy full force. I mean, it wasn't just prime time. The Washington Post is writing about him. They were trying everything they could to get him fired.

[Josh Holmes]

They were. Well, and they were briefly successful.

[Smug]

Wait, was it, was it Big Balls? I don't know if it was Big Balls who Got fired and then reinstated. Was it?

[Josh Holmes]

No, I think it was.

[Smug]

Was it?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, so here I think we have a clip, actually, that would sort of clarify some of this. Didn't know we were going to have to use this. Going to talk about Big Balls in a different context, but Big balls. Clip four, please.

[John Ashbrook]

Cutting effort.

[Smug]

One of the Doge engineers was fired.

[John Ashbrook]

For some inappropriate posts. The vice president says bring him back. What do you say?

[Smug]

Well, I don't know about the particular.

[Josh Holmes]

Thing, but if the vice president said that.

[Smug]

Did you say that?

[Josh Holmes]

I'm with the vice president. Thank you, Peter. Go ahead, please.

[Smug]

That is so cool. When I saw that, I mean, like, I was so happy. Like, I can't describe the feeling because, like, number one, that's a team right there. Yeah, that's a team. When he's like, you got his back, I got your back. Let's go. I'm with him on that.

[Josh Holmes]

How do I feel about big balls? I don't know. You've spoken on Big Balls. He's like, I have spoken on Big Balls, and I'm with him on Big Balls.

[John Ashbrook]

So cool.

[Josh Holmes]

That is so good. Meanwhile, like, Letitia James is of the world are just, like, putting their self through.

[Smug]

They're just, like, seething. And for him to just be like. It's like he hits up his boys. Like, you say that. All right, I'm with him.

[Josh Holmes]

Let's go, let's go, let's go. So Big Balls continues to do his thing. Last reported, I think yesterday, Big Balls was, like, somewhere buried in the State Department or something else.

[Smug]

Oh, that's right. Like, reporters are mad that he's been given an email address.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Which I like. How do they. I don't know how they know all this stuff, but they're, like, infatuated with Big Balls. That's why it would be so great if he didn't actually exist.

[Smug]

Please be like, big [e-mail]. oh, I'm gonna shoot an email there and just be like, big Balls. Come on the show.

[Josh Holmes]

Big duck balls.

[Smug]

I'm gonna shoot.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm gonna shoot an email, and I.

[Smug]

Hope I don't get a bounce back.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, God, you gotta love it. All right, so listen, that's our Big Ball segment.

[Smug]

Great.

[John Ashbrook]

What a great mystery clip.

[Smug]

Credit to Wolf. That one worked. That one worked.

[Josh Holmes]

That was good. That was. Maybe we'll do that sometime in the future, because that certainly did work. We want to get to our guest, who I think is really, really interesting guy, and, you know, you hear from lawmakers, policymakers, the Regulators. You hear from the president, the vice president, all that stuff here on the Ruthless variety program. You don't always hear from people at the leading edge of industry advocacy and how they got there and why it's so important. This guy.

[Smug]

Listen, if I could just add one little bit about this. This is a very important discussion to be happening in our country right now. The aim of this group is to create jobs for Americans to increase the salary of Americans. And like Chris Power, one of the folks working with this group, I've talked about his company Hadrian before, where they're like, line his elevator speeches. We find the guys who work at Home Depot, and in like six weeks, we train them up to start making aerospace parts and like, quadruple their salary. And that's what these people are doing. That's what Austin, he's gonna tell us right now.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, let's get to Austin Bishop. One of the things you love about the program is that we give candy and then we get vegetables. And then, you know, occasionally you get candy and vegetables all at the same time. So you like. It tastes like candy, but there's a little bit of vegetables involved and you learn something. Things that taste sweet but are good for you, Josh.

[John Ashbrook]

Exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

And that's what we've got here today. That's what we've got. Austin Bishop, he's the CEO of the new American Industrial Alliance. You're like, what is that? Well, that's part of the reason he's here, is to tell you about it. I'm telling you, this is one of the most exciting new groups that I've heard about in a long time with an opportunity based on everything that we know to sort of remake American industrial, you know, strength across the globe. Awesome. Welcome, pal.

[Austin Bishop]

Thanks for having me. I don't know if I'm more of the candy or the vegetables.

[Josh Holmes]

No, we're candy and vegetables. So you kind of got to be a little bit.

[Austin Bishop]

That's part of the pyramid. 100%.

[Josh Holmes]

So tell us about what you're doing.

[Austin Bishop]

Yeah, look, I mean, four or five months ago, I think if you told me I was running a trade organization, I'd probably first ask you, what's a trade organization? But, you know. Yeah, we're building really a coalition of leaders across companies, capital, and government who care about one thing, which is re industrializing the U.S. the kind of overarching theme is we need to have sovereignty over our supply chains. And this is something that's bipartisan. Everyone can get behind high tech, low tech, old industry, new industry. We've sort of run this experiment of decades of de industrialization hasn't worked out very well for many different reasons. And we think there's this massive opportunity and also just realignment that's going on in D.C. and across the country where everyone's realizing we have to be able to make stuff again.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, it's so important. Austin, I know you're an Ohio guy, I'm an Ohio.

[Josh Holmes]

Here we go. This is part of the deal.

[Austin Bishop]

We should have said next year. You know, that's where they put us apart.

[John Ashbrook]

So we're very familiar with manufacturing. And I grew up in a manufacturing family in Hamilton, Ohio. My father is in manufacturing, low tech. My grandfather was in manufacturing. My uncle's in manufacturing. My whole family is in manufacturing. And what you're working on, I think, I mean, just personally saying, is like the most important project that we have in this country today, where people can actually make things and they can get them to market start to finish in America with American labor, with American parts. And I mean, you've seen Ohio change over the last decade or several decades in a way that, you know, it's hard to recognize. I mean, when we were kids, it was the backbone of everything. And now all of a sudden it's like, how do we, how do we get that back? So I'm wondering, what are some of the things that you guys are doing now to sort of reignite that manufacturing base in our country 100%?

[Austin Bishop]

I mean, like you said, where I'm from, Cleveland used to be one of the richest cities in the whole world. This is way before I was born. This is in like 1900, but you don't look too far from there. Detroit, St. Louis, Binghamton, where IBM was headquartered. A lot of people don't know that, you know, the, the idea that our sort of technological and innovation capital needs to just be on the coast is just, you know, it's more of a, a mistake of history that that's, that's just where it is now. But it's not something that's a given. And I don't think that it's a recipe for a healthy country. Like, we need to be able to have good, good jobs for people that, that allow you to be upwardly economically mobile that don't require PhD in AI and working in Silicon Valley. Yeah, but technology is a huge part of this too, don't get me wrong. So one of the things that we're really focused on, we're education, advocacy and lobbying, and we're really encouraged by the incoming admin I mean really narrowly. Things from like the de minimis loophole and the sovereign wealth fund stuff is one of the things that we've been advocating for for a while now.

[Josh Holmes]

Big win this week on that sucker.

[Austin Bishop]

You can't take too much credit but our co founder Julius Kryn has been talking about this, this stuff through American affairs for years and years and years. But our main things are look, it's, it's pretty common sense. It's, it's, it's smart trade and industrial policy. It's deregulation across the board where you know, nowadays we have lawyers making hundreds of millions of dollars just servicing, you know, when you want to pour concrete due to, due to regulation like nepa. And don't get me wrong, I'm, I'm from a city that's most famous recently for its rivers catching up fire.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm not going to bring that up die everything.

[Austin Bishop]

There's something in between your rivers catching on fire and you know, being unable to pour any concrete because you know, because of NEPA and other regulations. Workforce development's a huge thing for us. And then really just leveling the playing field for American companies. We are American found American companies don't need handouts. They, they need a level playing field. They have this huge regulatory burden. And even on the procurement side we want to see a world where USG or DOD incentivize automation and innovation a lot more than they currently are.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, this is one of the things that I love most about this because typically you get, listen in decades past you'll get an organization that labels itself as like we're going to re industrialize, we're going to build back the manufacturing base and what they're building better. Right. But what they're talking about is like figuring out how to reopen and subsidize the buggy whip factory 100%, you know, and, and what you're talking about with your members, I mean Palantir, like all the, the members that you're talking about is truly innovation here in bringing America back to leading the world in manufacturing that may look entirely different than it has up to this point.

[Austin Bishop]

Yeah, I mean to be clear, technology is a huge part about a huge part of this. But we're not behind China right now because they have some space age tech that we don't have. They've really won because we've offshored due to really a labor arb that Wall Street's really incentivized these businesses to move them overseas. And so while tech is a really important part. And you mentioned Palantir and Joby and so many of these great companies and even I think this building is represented by jll. They're a big backer of ours as well. Because you have to actually, you know, the industrial real estate's a huge part of this, but so are the old industry builders that are actually still going to be the guys who are going to be producing the most of this stuff. So, you know, while it's great to have the really high tech stuff, we need Procter and Gamble and Heiko and Danaher and all of these guys in the same rooms as the cut is as the guys who are tech companies and all these businesses are, are cutting edge. They're, they're, they're just not thought of necessarily and they're not in the same conversations together.

[Josh Holmes]

So when do you think that this inflection point started? Because like my thought is Covid kind of changed everybody's viewpoint when it comes to global supply chains and you know.

[Smug]

Industrial might of America. Like, it really opened a lot of.

[Josh Holmes]

People'S eyes of how much we rely on China for stuff that we could be making here in America. And I'm curious, like, you feel like you got your wind on, you know.

[Smug]

Your back on all this, obviously with.

[Josh Holmes]

Donald Trump, you know, in the White House and you know, he cares a lot about this stuff, but also the.

[Austin Bishop]

Environment has fundamentally changed totally. Well, so President Trump's been on this since at least the 80s. There's this famous New York Times article ad that he bought in 87 and he's been basically saying the same stuff for years and calling this out, which why we're so heartened by, you know, having him as the president right now. And so many of our friends who are in the admin that are fairly aligned on a lot of this stuff. But you know, Robert Lighthizer has been writing about this for years, for example. But to your point, you know, you can try to win in the marketplace of ideas, but the marketplace ideas has nothing on the actual marketplace. And during COVID I mean, moms in the Midwest couldn't get baby formula because the Suez Canal was blocked. And that that is going to convince way more people than a million white papers from, you know, a bunch of think tanks.

[Josh Holmes]

We've seen it with diapers, we've seen it with everything all the way to your oil and gas supply.

[Austin Bishop]

So, so people, I think usually when they think of manufacturing or industrials writ large because we're not just the manufacturing or even just the onshoring Guys, it's, it's re industrialized energy, supply chain, logistics, aerospace, defense, all these, all these things are impacted by the same regulation. And a lot of people, when they think about this, they might think of like auto manufacturing, but to your point, diapers and paper towels stuff's all downstream of political, of policy decisions that were made that led to economic realities, that led to incentives for these businesses to offshore.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I think that's an important point to think about because I look a lot of reason why there's been a ton of angst on the conservative side over corporate decision making, a lot of reasons and the whole woke thing over the last three or four years. But what we keep telling people is like, look, these guys don't actually care about anything other than shareholder accountability, making sure they've got a product to sell and a marketplace to sell it. And what you're saying is we can change all of that domestically to give ourselves the best advantage, not only for the companies involved, but the consumer?

[Austin Bishop]

Yes. Yeah, 100%. I mean, look, you know, central planning is. I'm not a big fan of central planning at all. So this is not what we're advocating.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm glad to hear that, Austin. That's a breath of fresh air.

[Austin Bishop]

But on the other hand, you know, we do need durable institutions, especially in D.C. that are aligned with longer term visions for the country, especially with the sort of two and four year cadence that we have, which I think is brilliant. We need. But when you kind of think about who's around in town, that is really aligned with, you know, what we're talking about here. There's a lot of, there's a lot of great organizations that, you know, piecemeal care about this stuff. But what you said about, especially during COVID I mean, it's just been like, I remember fundraising for my first company. We're trying to use AI to automate a big chunk of manufacturing. Before COVID nobody want to talk to us. They thought we were the crazy guys talking about onshoring. And after the supply chain crisis hit.

[Josh Holmes]

What's your number again?

[Austin Bishop]

Yeah, it was like night and day. And I think that that sort of is waking a lot of folks up and it's, you know, we're building on the shoulders of giants who've been thinking about this way longer than I've been alive, to be sure. But as we kind of go forward, like we have a real opportunity to build a really strong coalition of, as I said, companies and investors. Because one of the things that people don't think about is the US has, we're the envy of the world when it comes to our capital markets or the ability for our private sector to invest in things. They just know that there's a risk adjusted return on the other end. They're not running charities. And so the more that we can incentivize investment in these types of companies, whether that's removing the regulatory burden, there's a number of other ways that can really make our own capital markets want to invest in this stuff. I think if you unleash the capital markets across these industries, you're going to, you're going to see an absolute revolution.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, yeah, dude, I love, I love what you're saying about regulations because the Democrats who are the most powerful Democrats who are in charge, he's running a trade association buddy.

[Josh Holmes]

He's got C6 guy. Are you going to walk him into that question?

[John Ashbrook]

They do not, they absolutely do not understand where things come from. Today's Democrats think things just come from the store. It's very different from our grandfather's Democrats who understood labor and who fought for the little guy. Today's Democrats just do not do that.

[Josh Holmes]

I also think though, I also think to your point, and I agree with it 100%, but I think to your point, there are also historically institutions within D.C. places like the U.S. chamber of Commerce, right. That if they did their job, Austin's outfit wouldn't be necessary. They would be looking around the corner and saying like this is the future of American industry.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

And I think too many of them have gotten offshore. They've taken the viewpoint that many corporations have over the years and been seduced by the idea of cheaper labor and cheaper goods and insource, you know, all this stuff that ultimately inhibits growth. But now we're at a point where they've so marginalized themselves and it's included in a big Democratic party that is, you know, little less than half the country.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

That have forced folks like you to get into an advocacy business when I'm sure you'd prefer to just be in the making stuff business.

[Austin Bishop]

100% what? And you know, we don't want to hate on the Chamber of Commerce. They recently reached out and want to, want to.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, I'm sure.

[Austin Bishop]

You'Re like, how do.

[Josh Holmes]

We get on board with the back stand out.

[Austin Bishop]

But 100% and we're not, you know, finger pointing here. I mean, look, this stuff started in some ways long before anyone who's alive, you know, is around even talk about it. And we just want to, we Just want to fix things and that's it. And I come from the builder world and the investor world. Yeah, we're seeing what's happening when you apply sort of a, an action oriented framework. I mean look at what Doge is doing. Totally what like four or five wild, you know, really motivated young guys and gals can do like we're gonna, we're applying the same thing on this industrial side.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, also just exciting stuff. I mean your member companies are involved in some of the most exciting, innovative things that, you know, we don't. Average mayor. We don't think about. Yeah, on like even. Because it doesn't exist.

[Austin Bishop]

Well, I mean, yeah, it's, it's a lot more exciting to get out of bed when you're not selling an enterprise SaaS tool or advocating on behalf of insurance businesses. Like these are very charismatic businesses. Things that go fast, things that explode, you know, risk robots, you know, nuclear companies, supply chain and logistics stuff. I mean, maybe I'm a bit of a nerd with this stuff, but people building in the physical world is just, it's so, it's so cool. It's so American and there's a broader movement going on. I mean, I talked to you guys earlier. We had this re industrialized summit that really kicked off the founding of nia. And that summit was. We held in Detroit. And it was really just supposed to be 50 or 60 of our friends who we've all been having these same conversations around the need for policy change and sort of cultural change. And so we thought let's get a bunch of our friends from the coast, make them come to Detroit, put them in really the breadbasket in some ways the city that saved, that allowed us to win World War II. That ended up going viral on Twitter. And we had 500 people attendees, very senior folks across admin, government companies, and we had 2,000 people on a waitlist.

[Josh Holmes]

They want to be a part of it.

[Austin Bishop]

They want to be a part of it. And it really felt like a revival. And so we're going to run that summit every year. We're really excited. We're going to announce another couple weeks. Well, let us know the next location.

[Josh Holmes]

We'd love to be a part of it.

[Austin Bishop]

We'd love to tell you about it. But you're right, there's this revival behind this. This isn't. And again, Julius aside, he loves the wonky really policy stuff and look, we have to get policy done. But this is, this is. We're not aiming to compete with other think tanks just for the same sort of donor dollars. We're aiming to get things done. And that, and that's really what kind of wish.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, look at 15 minutes of conversation. I get the sense that you wish you didn't have to run. You know, it's like it's better to be able to do our thing and, and. But unfortunately, in today's world, it's necessary.

[Austin Bishop]

Yeah, it's. Look, it's. I think it's like a patriotic duty. It's a lot of fun to do. I wouldn't do it if it, if, if I didn't wake up feeling really energized to do it. But it definitely wasn't on sort of my, my career path. I didn't even know what a C3 or C6 was until, you know, we talked to our lawyers, you know, getting, getting this formed like five or six months ago. But this, I think this is the time to do this and really grateful to have guys like you bring us on, help spread the, spread the word, and really grateful that there's so many brilliant people who want to build and invest in the space.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, listen, Austin, you're doing a hell of a job. You let us know how we can help because we are extremely on board with all of this stuff going forward. Good luck to you.

[Austin Bishop]

Thank you.

[Josh Holmes]

And keep us updated, will you?

[Austin Bishop]

I will. I will.

[Josh Holmes]

Austin Bishop, everybody.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, this guy has a lot on the ball, not the least of which he's from Ohio.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, here we go.

[John Ashbrook]

But he.

[Smug]

I didn't know that, and now I know.

[John Ashbrook]

But I mean, he has a topic that is near and dear to a lot of our hearts, and I just hope that we can continue conversation with him because what they're doing is very meaningful in Rust Belt states. I'm telling you, things have changed over the last 20 years, and everybody knows that or they've read it. But if you don't live there and you haven't seen complete towns like, basically wiped out, you don't really know the devastation and what he's talking about. Reindustrializing our country is music to the ears of people who live in the Midwest.

[Smug]

And like, right after Trump took office, you had an event in Ohio. Palmer Lucky Trey Stevens from Anduro have opened up a factory there that's going to create tons and tons of jobs. Like, this is what it's about. This is how you make America great.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. When Democrats talk about reindustrialization, they're talking about buggy whips, they're talking about stuff. They want to make stuff here in the United States that we have long aged out of and that they don't have a material value to workers and to families that live in the communities that are dedicated to produce it. What he's talking about is stuff of real value, next generation stuff that increase wages, that increase living, you know, and like, I just, I love that we're having that conversation again. Austin's doing a great job. Can't wait to keep in touch with him. So listen, you got to remember our question of the day because it's a good one and it's an opportunity for you to put on your best Shane Gillis impersonation and be very, very funny. If Kamala had won in contrast to what Trump is doing right now, what would she be doing right now? What would Kamala be doing?

[John Ashbrook]

I can't wait for these answers.

[Josh Holmes]

I can't wait for him. This is your opportunity. Weigh in. Gotta like and subscribe. Like and subscribe on the YouTube. Put that down. We're gonna read all of them. Put the best ones up on Thursday with that. Fellows. I think we did it.

[Smug]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much, Austin Bishop, and thank you so much to listeners. Remember, we're just a hair away from 100,000, so hit that subscribe button yet if you have not. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line, and own the lids. We'll see you on Thursday. Stay ruthless.

[Josh Holmes]

Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now, and it's great.

[Smug]

You love the host.

[Josh Holmes]

You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working.

[Smug]

Out, cooking, even going to the bathroom.

[Josh Holmes]

Podcasts are a pretty close companion.

[Smug]

And this is a podcast ad.

[Josh Holmes]

Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads.

[Smug]

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[Josh Holmes]

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