What’s driving the Democrat civil war? + Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll Joins the Progrum!

Summary

Ruthless Podcast Episode Summary

Episode Title: What’s driving the Democrat civil war? + Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll Joins the Progrum!
Date: October 23, 2025
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook
Special Guest: Dan Driscoll, Secretary of the Army

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into what the hosts dub the “Democrat civil war,” skewering the dynamics between establishment Democrats and the activist Bernie-aligned left, especially in the context of the ongoing government shutdown and chaotic primary races (notably in Maine). The hosts punctuate their analysis with signature irreverent humor, while bringing in Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll for a genuinely substantive and candid conversation about transforming the military, recruiting, and bureaucratic insanity. The show also features their recurring "King of the Hill" game, listener questions, and a viral sports clip.

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Key Sections & Timestamps

• Democratic “Civil War” & Government Shutdown — 01:32–16:49
• Maine Democratic Senate Primary: Establishment vs. Bernie Bro (Nazi Tattoo Saga) — 18:28–38:45
• Listener Mailbag: No Kings Early Voting & GOTV Analysis — 40:53–44:37
• King of the Hill Game: Conway vs. Longwell — 44:49–56:03
• Viral Sports Clip: The Suffering Jets Fan — 56:03–58:19
• Interview: Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll — 59:06–85:44
• Debrief and Closing Remarks — 85:44–end

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Detailed Breakdown & Insights

1. Democratic Civil War & Government Shutdown Analysis

[01:32–16:49]

• The hosts mock the internal strife between Democratic Party leaders and their activist base, noting that a government shutdown is providing a stage for “open mic night” among congressional oddballs (02:09).
• Michael Duncan notes:

  “The grassroots...wants someone who’s going to fight authoritarianism and give us communism.” (00:10)

• They highlight a Hill article where anonymous Democratic senators admit, “We would have enough votes to reopen the government if people were not terrified of getting the guillotine” (07:06), a reference to the radical rhetoric ("kings get guillotines") at “No Kings” activist protests.
  • Duncan: “Their grassroots is now essentially deranged and violent. That’s a fact you can’t debate.” (07:21)
• Hosts argue that party leaders publicly put on a show of resistance while privately recognizing the base is out of control, making compromise impossible—even over funding their own budget (08:58).
• They ridicule Senator Merkley’s marathon speech and the disconnect between performative Senate activism and real governance needs (09:59–12:42).
• The segment ends with a skewer of Rep. Kathleen Clark’s explicit use of government workers’ suffering as “leverage”:

  “Families are going to suffer...but it is one of the few leveraged times we have.” (13:43)

Quip of the Segment:
Smug: “I’m very sorry, American people, that I’m making your life demonstrably worse. But you have to understand, you’re a really good hostage right now, dude.” (14:26)

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2. Maine Senate Primary: Establishment vs. Bernie Bro & Nazi Tattoo Scandal

[18:28–38:45]

• Focus shifts to the Maine Democratic Senate primary, where establishment favorite Janet Mills (framed as “a mid-septuagenarian...maybe six years before she’s incapacitated” – 21:51) battles Bernie-aligned Graham Platner.
• The hosts lampoon the now-familiar Dem strategy: “anoint these candidates who raise $100 million and then eat shit and lose by 20 points” (22:35).
• Platner, the progressive challenger, is revealed to have serious baggage: he’s called himself a communist, “antifa super soldier,” and is discovered to have a Nazi “Totenkopf” tattoo.
• The debacle escalates as Platner unveils covering the Nazi symbol with another Norse-myth tattoo (still “Nazi adjacent”):

  Duncan: “We might be going back to the Democrats’ roots...I’m gonna need you to undress for the endorsement.” (32:15)

  • They riff on the absurdity of candidates scrambling to change their bodies, not just their campaign message, to stay viable:
    “I have not seen...somebody willing to tattoo their fucking chest...to just be acceptable as a candidate in a Democratic primary.” (33:34)
• The hosts drive home how the ideological and generational divides in the Democratic Party are both “equally fraudulent”:

  Holmes: “There’s an ideological battle internally, and there’s also a generational battle...but when it comes to external consumption...they’re equally fraudulent.” (37:34)

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3. Listener Mailbag: No Kings Early Voting GOTV Analysis

[40:53–44:37]

• Listener questions center on whether the "No Kings" protest/early-vote strategy will actually work for Dems in New Jersey/Virginia.
  • Noted responses:
    • “Their base is indoctrinated kids and scared seniors...both...live in a bubble. GOP needs Trump energy to get out the vote.” (41:48)
    • “The left only has emotion and the only emotions they have are fear, rage and hate.” (42:17)
• Data is cited to warn Republicans not to assume easy wins in blue states during off-year elections; registration advantages for Dems are substantial.

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4. King of the Hill: Conway vs. Longwell (Lib Twitter Wars)

[44:49–56:03]

• Signature segment where hosts pit high-profile #resistance Twitter personalities against each other for most outlandish take; this week, George Conway is dethroned by Sarah Longwell in a war of cringe/liberal self-parody.
• Memorable exchanges:
  • Smug, on Conway: “My corgi, Clyde, is coming to no Kings.” (47:04)
  • Longwell tries to fact-check a Trump nominee over Nazi allegations, Ashbrook counters:

    “Which is in stark contrast to Bernie Bros and the frickin’ tattoo guy, the Nazi oysterman.” (50:51)

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5. Memorable Moments: The Suffering Jets Fan

[56:03–58:19]

• The hosts play a viral sports clip of a young Jets fan lamenting his team’s losing streak:

  "I hate this team. I was born into this...I'm always a Jets fan, but I just...I hate this team." (56:10)

  • Hosted riff on sports fandom and generational misery; “The twin pillars of NFL fandom are loyalty and misery.” (57:25)

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6. Interview: Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll

[59:06–85:44]

• Personal background:
  Driscoll is a third-generation soldier, former Army Ranger, J.D. Yale Law graduate, and a friend of JD Vance.
• Military Reform Focus:
  • On Army innovation and bureaucracy:

    "The first couple of months, I described myself as the mixture of a Southern Baptist preacher and a jihadist who was just going to tear the temple down on our head." (63:52)

  • Describes aggressively cutting $48 billion in waste and pivoting to commercially-available, adaptable equipment (e.g., GM-built infantry vehicles), especially for drone/AI warfare.
  • On Pentagon inefficiency:

    "We are the number one buyer or top five buyer of chicken...we pay two times more. You just have to find a blind guy to the army." (71:02)

  • Vivid explanations of how sclerotic procurement and rules meant to help (“Randolph Sheppard Act”) are wildly abused to enrich clever contractors.
• On Recruitment & Retention:
  • Recruitment numbers are up, but even more important is retention:

    “Our 12-month retention goals [were] hit six months into the year...” (73:11)

• Ranger School Reflections:
  • Driscoll tells a moving story about teamwork and humility from Ranger School:

    "...you look back on in life and you can pinpoint two lessons. One, everyone breaks at some point...and two, you just can’t do life alone..." (74:54)

• On Leadership & Bureaucracy:
  • Highlights how risk aversion stifles reform:

    "There’s really only one way that you could hurt your career ...do a thing and have it go wrong. ...do nothing, you’re fine...the greater threat is doing nothing." (76:30)

  • Credits President Trump and Sec. Hegseth with “air cover” for disrupting entrenched interests in favor of soldier-focused innovation.
• DC National Guard on the Streets:
  • Hosts praise the Trump Admin’s National Guard deployment for transforming DC’s safety; Driscoll slams media fear-mongering compared to residents’ and city leaders’ gratitude.
  • Duncan: "What you and President Trump and what the National Guard have done out there has been incredible. Lives are being saved." (82:40)

Notable Quotes:

• Driscoll: "If now, now is the time to do it. [Trump] is saying, I’m going to find a way to keep [soldiers] getting paid because ...he cares so deeply about our American soldier..." (81:04)
• Smug: "The twin pillars of NFL fandom are loyalty and misery." (57:25)

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7. Final Debrief & Closing

[85:44–end]

• Hosts emphasize how transformative and refreshing it is to hear from someone as candid and reform-minded as Driscoll, contrasting Republican and Democrat philosophies on military leadership
• Ashbrook:

  "Democrats over the last decade or so have started prioritizing contractors over war fighters...What Pete Hegseth, President Trump, Dan Driscoll are doing is prioritizing war fighters..." (88:16)

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Episode Takeaways

• The episode skewers the Democratic party’s internal chaos in both comical and serious tones, highlighting how activist overreach creates a “civil war” that paralyzes the party on even basic governance.
• Through the saga of Maine’s Nazi-tattooed candidate, the hosts illustrate how performative politics and manufactured authenticity are now endemic on the left.
• The live interview with Secretary Driscoll offers a rare inside look at Pentagon reform, waste-fighting, and the personal stakes of leadership for the all-volunteer force.
• Behind the jokes and games lies serious critique: performative partisanship is hollow, only real accountability and authenticity can restore trust—whether in politics, the military, or beyond.

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “We would have enough votes to reopen the government if people were not terrified of getting the guillotine.” – Democratic senator (07:06)
• “Their grassroots is now essentially deranged and violent.” – Michael Duncan (07:21)
• “I have not seen...somebody willing to tattoo their fucking chest...just to be acceptable as a candidate in a Democratic primary.” – Josh Holmes (33:34)
• “That’s how these people see the American people—as a hostage for them to take, which is disgusting.” – Michael Duncan (15:49)
• “You just can’t do life alone...what the Army does uniquely well is it builds these teams where you start to rely on each other for everything.” – Dan Driscoll (74:54)
• “The twin pillars of NFL fandom are loyalty and misery.” – Smug (57:25)
• “What Pete Hegseth, President Trump, Dan Driscoll are doing is prioritizing war fighters over contractors.” – John Ashbrook (88:16)

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For Listeners New to Ruthless

Expect a rapid-fire mix of ruthless political satire, inside-baseball analysis, and surprising depth—especially in interviews—interwoven with bizarre headlines, internet culture references, and dark humor. If you’ve heard more about a candidate’s tattoos than their policies, or if you wonder why so much in DC never changes, this episode will be cathartic and clarifying in equal measure.

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

These people have lost their minds. You're dealing with serious people, like the people who are supposed to be leading the Democratic Party, who are like, that's our guy.

[Michael Duncan]

You've got this situation where it's a Democrat civil war, where the grassroots, the Bernie, you could say inspired. Grassroots is the group that's like, we want to fight. We want, you know, we want someone in there who's going to fight authoritarianism and give us communism, which is. But they have the grassroots. Chin up.

[John Ashbrook]

To believe.

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[John Ashbrook]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Michael Duncan]

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

[John Ashbrook]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Thursday to you. Welcome back to the Ruthless Friday program. We got a very big show for you today. I am Josh Holmes along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook. Left to right, across your radio dial. Well, as always, there's a bit of a democratic civil war going on. They still have the government shut down and there's just an incredible amount of hilarious content. Fellas, it's gonna be a real pleasure, don't you think?

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, that's the thing. We kind of got into this when we were making fun of the AOC Bernie Sanders town hall of like, they need to reopen the government because idle hands are the tool of the devil and if the government is shut down, they're just gonna fight each other. Yeah, that's what's happening here.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that is what's happening here. And unfortunately, when the government is shut down and nobody has anything to do, they start passing the mic around like open mic night. And there are a Few Democratic members of Congress, I would say more than a few, they shouldn't have a microphone.

[John Ashbrook]

You know, during the real Civil War for America, the correspondence would say, sit on a hill overlooking the battlefield. And they would report in great detail every last thing that happened. And that is precisely what the Ruthless Variety program is going to do for you with this current.

[Smug]

I like that.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, we've got that. That is a very good lay of the land.

[Smug]

Thank you, Ken Burns.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that is a little Ken Burns, isn't it? Yeah. Play some backdrop music to all of that.

[John Ashbrook]

Civil war was fought in 10,000 places.

[Smug]

Shokan farewell.

[Michael Duncan]

There you go. That's the song. That's it. That's it.

[Josh Holmes]

So we've got. Look, we're going to cover this about what's going on on the Hill and everything else. And then we're going to get into this main situation with this Senate candidate and the establishment versus the Bernie crowd. And it's so good. I mean, literally, it's worth your time just to stick around and laugh. Remember to like and subscribe on the YouTube because some of the stuff you, you have to see to believe. And I know a lot of you listen, but you're gonna wanna click when you get to the office to see this thing because there's some stuff that's incredible. We also have the Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll on this episode. And for those of you unfamiliar with Dan Driscoll, he's a hell of a guy. I mean, this dude's great. They're doing really important things at the army under his leadership. But he's also just a super relatable human being. We have some yucks. And he talks about what he's up to. You're not gonna wanna miss that. Of the back half. Then we play a game. Play. It's King of the Hill day, so we do that too. And there's some great stuff out there. So just strap in and enjoy. Let's start with the Civil War here.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so if you put up graphic one, if you don't mind, this is an article in the Hill where the text reads, people are going to get hammered. And this is a Democrat talking about the position that they're in, knowing that there was no strategy to get out of a government shutdown and no real tangible thing that could be given for them to do something other than what it is that they're doing. So people are going to get hammered if they vote for the House passed bill to reopen the government and keep it funded through November 21, said one Democratic senator. So we're not talking about some staff members. It's like going outside the lines like this is a senator who requested anonymity. They want anonymity so they could talk candidly about their party, real profile and currency.

[Michael Duncan]

Seriously.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, that's the way you do it in the Democratic Party these days. A second person familiar with the political dynamics within Senate Democratic Caucus who spoke to the Hill ahead of the no Kings protest last weekend, said that centrist senators are fearful of breaking with leaders while party activists are planning anti Trump rallies. So like you recall, a couple of months ago, maybe a month ago, Speaker Johnson got wind of the whole no Kings plan. He was like, look, they're not gonna do anything until they do that. Cuz they don't wanna like have any capitulation before that big rally.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And then our own very own Smash White House correspondent, Smash Smasherson, I think really intellectually broke down something that nobody was talking about. Now everybody's talking about it.

[Michael Duncan]

No one's picked it up.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, I did an interview on your hypothesis today on Fox about how they were closing the government in large part to try to goose turnout in Virginia to win these off year elections, which is something in last episode that that Smash went into great detail about. And I think it's probably right.

[John Ashbrook]

No, it's exactly right in the idea that the no Kings rally was all about celebrating the leftists and their big ideas and their signs and everything. Democrats use that as GEOTV all weekend long. That was their entire point.

[Josh Holmes]

It wasn't just about George Conway and transing his dog.

[John Ashbrook]

That's what they wanted you to think. Okay. Meanwhile, they're stealing elections.

[Josh Holmes]

So here's the quote. We would have enough votes to reopen the government if people were not terrified of getting the guillotine. That unquote.

[Michael Duncan]

That's an incredible line. I want to reread that. Folks, this is concerning, this shutdown direct quote you heard right here in the Hill. We would have enough votes if people were not terrified of getting the guillotine.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Michael Duncan]

We have seen time and time again the Democrats have done this to themselves. Their grassroots is now essentially deranged and violent. That's just become an absolute fact that can't be debated. That's a fact to the point where they're saying we can't reopen the government, we're scared of getting guillotined.

[Smug]

Yeah, yeah. And we saw this months ago in the political piece, in the Politico piece. It's the same thing they Looked at all of the polling there and it was our voters. This is Democrat insiders talking. Our voters are demanding blood, get arrested. You know, like what they wanted is the Democrats to push back. What I find fascinating in all of this, even beyond the rhetoric itself, and it's not just here in the Hill or in the Politico piece, but like at those no Kings protests, you saw the signs. That was kings get guillotines.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Smug]

You know, like, like this isn't actually rhetorical. Like they actually mean what they say in all of this. But how fascinating in this Hill piece. You read the earlier part of it and it's a House passed bill to fund the government through November 21st with no changes a month away. If Democratic leaders in the House and the Senate came together and they were like, yeah, I think we're kind of running out of time here. This fund, even if we open the government, it only lasts another month. They can't even do that. They couldn't be like, hey, maybe we'll figure it out in a month. No, that would be an unholy capitulation to Donald Trump, the fascist dictator, if they just fund the government for another month to buy them time to negotiate.

[Josh Holmes]

If you missed a few episodes where we talked about this, recall that we're talking about this. It's continuing resolution. But what you're saying is entirely true in that it's just changing the current budget for a period of time until they can get these other changes to be approved. This is a budget that was written by Democrats and passed by Democrats and voted on as late as last March and approved almost unanimously by Democrats. Like, this is not something that. This is not some like right wing agenda. This is their fucking budget, right. That they're like, no, we're going to shut the government down. Which makes the point that you were making even more stark and that it's like talk about the modest situation that they can't wrap because you gotta fight. Oh, you gotta show all this fight. Oh, if I'm showing all this. Okay, Fabe. Oh, if I'm showing all this fight. Let's show all this fight to the grassroots and we're gonna be all set.

[John Ashbrook]

Right?

[Josh Holmes]

So there is an element that unlike the senators who can speak with anonymity, the ones that choose to speak out in the open have to go through the whole theatrical routine, right? Like they're the leaders or they have some kind of a leading edge of the fight that they're bringing to Washington. This is a hysterical clip. Clip one of maybe the Dumbest senator. I don't probably second to Maisie become a tough contest, but this guy has long been one of the dumbest senators that has ever graced the body. Senator Merkley in whatever it is that he's up to on the Senate floor in clip one. President Trump is shredding our Constitution. We will work with you, but you've got to fix.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, his guy is falling asleep. His staff are fallen asleep during the speech.

[Josh Holmes]

So compelling the situation we are in, the threat to our republic to send in the National Guard whenever the President wants.

[Michael Duncan]

And just straight yawning. Dude.

[Josh Holmes]

He's threatened from time to time in America. Just to provide a couple of examples, bro. The early Senate dude, if you're not. This is why I said you gotta be on video at some level. Because what we. That it was like, I don't know how long did he ultimately go? It was like 17 plus hours.

[Michael Duncan]

15 aside.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, 15 plus whatever it is that.

[John Ashbrook]

He does all night.

[Josh Holmes]

But this is like what they do. You saw Cory Booker do this and everybody else for no point whatsoever, but they decide, wow, I'm gonna speak for hours on end about the injustices that are acr. A continued resolution. The same thing that you're living under for another 30 days. Oh, my God, we couldn't possibly do it. So he gets on the floor, he does this for 15 plus hours. His staff member in the clip that we just played couldn't take it. He couldn't take it. It looked like he had narcolepsy. I mean, this cat was. And first of all, his voice Merkley in and of itself. He can make nothing interesting.

[Smug]

No, it's like taking an Ambien listening to him.

[John Ashbrook]

And one of the best things you have to put yourself inside of that office in the Merkley office. The delusions of grandeur. When he took the floor, all he saw was, you know what? I am Charles Lindbergh in The Spirit of St. Louis, flying over the Atlantic. And tonight is my night. And he could. Dude, nobody would. Nobody watched. Not even the reporters who were paid to watch. They didn't watch.

[Josh Holmes]

They didn't watch. They didn't watch. So Daily Wire put that clip together, which is just fantastic. You can see their own staff falling asleep and not believing a lick of any of it, right? So you're like, okay, Democrats at one level under anonymity are saying, like, dude, we just wanna open this thing up, but the base is crazy and we don't wanna deal with this thing. And then you get the. On the record, like, oh, we are here to take the fight to God knows what. They don't even know what, but they're just gonna speak about all of that. And then occasionally what you get is somebody who just says the truth out loud. And Schumer did it a few weeks ago when he said, this is going great for us. Like, he's depriving the federal government and everybody.

[Michael Duncan]

Military, makes a living.

[Josh Holmes]

Military, everything, all of their paychecks and whatever. He's like, no, this is great for us. Well, what happened next was the. Is she the whip?

[Smug]

She is, yeah. House whip.

[Josh Holmes]

She's a whip. This is Kathleen Clark in 1A. I mean, shutdowns are terrible. And of course, there will be, you know, families that are going to suffer. We take that responsibility very seriously. But it is one of the few leveraged times we have.

[Michael Duncan]

Bro. To say that, like, yeah, families are going to suffer, but we'll use suffering families as leverage is, first off, something no American should accept and operate under. But to be a publicly elected official and to believe that is, like, resign. You're in the wrong job.

[Smug]

It's like, I'm very sorry, American people, that I'm making your life demonstrably worse. But you have to understand, you're a really good hostage right now, dude.

[Michael Duncan]

That is it.

[Josh Holmes]

I feel like we've heard that before. Where have we heard that?

[Smug]

Leverich.

[Josh Holmes]

And there it was.

[Smug]

Yeah. Sheldon Whitehouse, leverage.

[John Ashbrook]

Fellow Northeasterner. Apparently, she hasn't learned how to pronounce it quite as well as leverage.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude. My favorite part about his pronunciation, it's not just the hard E thing, which is like, it's demonstrably not the way that you in our language say that word. He adds at the end. It's not an age. It's like a, A, T, C, H. Listen to it carefully.

[Smug]

Leverage, Leverage.

[Josh Holmes]

Leverage.

[Smug]

Rich.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, he just made up a word. It's leverage.

[Michael Duncan]

I think there's a term for it, though, like the North Atlantic affectation. Like, John Kerry was famous for having it. I think a lot of the, you know, Georgetown cocktail, McLean set y' all hang with and probably talk like that, too.

[Josh Holmes]

He also has an incredibly unfortunate speech impediment. Yeah, I mean, if you've watched it over the years, it's. It's. There's a. I don't know if you would qualify it as a lateral lisp or if it's just your run of the mill lisp, but it's a lisp nevertheless.

[Michael Duncan]

And the thing is, is that, like, the way these people when they're talking about Leverage or like leverage? I think Duncan perfectly describes it. They essentially see the American people as a hostage for them to take, which is disgusting. Which is if any American should think that's horrid, let alone someone who's been elected to public office, they should all be ashamed of themselves.

[Josh Holmes]

I think you're short selling leverage. I think that's what it is. I mean, I don't know, dude. The whole thing gets crazier from here. The shutdown is only one front, by the way, of this whole Democratic civil war. We just showed you both sides of that. This Maine Senate primary for the right to get your ass kicked by Susan Collins, who has like a string of skulls of people that she has summarily defeated in the great state of Maine is unbelievable. And yet there are some showed up.

[Michael Duncan]

With their own skull, but it wasn't the way you'd want. Yeah, it's a good tease.

[Josh Holmes]

It was a little different. We're going to get to all that right after this.

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[Josh Holmes]

All right, so another front of the Democratic civil war is a particularly fun one in that the great state of Maine, somewhere that has been blue for quite some time, has had but one really significant problem for Democrats and that they can't seem to unseat someone who perfectly represents their constituency in Susan Collins, who's been a Republican senator for quite some time now. Not every Republican agrees with her day in and day out. But there's a reason for that, is because she represents the great people of Maine and perfectly represents the great people of Maine.

[John Ashbrook]

Sometimes to the Republicans, detriment, sometimes to Democrat. It is, it is Maine first. Everything else.

[Josh Holmes]

It totally, it totally is.

[John Ashbrook]

So.

[Josh Holmes]

But they've, they've spun themselves into circles trying to figure out who's the best candidate to take this woman on, because they all have. It all has to be some sort of made up genre narrative that doesn't exist because she literally is hitting like straight down the middle in terms of representation of that state. And so they've run young people, they've run olds. Not surprisingly, Chuck Schumer, he's chosen an old. Let's play clip two and who he wants. You mentioned Maine at the top. There's obviously an important Senate race happening there. Are you supporting Governor Janet Mills in the primary? And do you consider Graham Platner's recently unearthed comments disqualifying? Look, I'll let the people of Maine decide the second. We think that Janet Mills is the best candidate to retire Susan Collins. She's a tested two term governor and the people of Maine have an enormous amount of affection and respect for her. Yes. All right, so Janet mills is like 175 years old. Like this lady is unrelatable to anybody who's under 50.

[Michael Duncan]

No, under 80. Dude, for real.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, she.

[Dan Driscoll]

Dude.

[Josh Holmes]

There are some politicians that act old that aren't, and then there's some politicians that are just plain old. Janet Mills is the just plain old.

[John Ashbrook]

But you knew she was the establishment favorite when the New York Times led their paper with an article about her instead of the shutdown.

[Josh Holmes]

Exactly right. I mean, you could tell, honestly, it really is. And this is a part of what they do on the undercard. It's kind of like when we talked about late night comedy shows and their bookings of just like random common card Democrats. They're always sort of strategic to try to emphasize certain people that have absolutely no significance on your life whatsoever. And they're not funny, but they just kind of put them out there. New York Times has done this for a decade or more where they'll highlight a totally insignificant political figure and tell the story. The great significance of Janet Mills, a mid septuagenarian who's going to enter as a freshman senator if she wins and serve like maybe six years before she's incapacitated.

[Smug]

But there's been a playbook that the Democratic establishment has used in the Trump era. To roll out a lot of these like B and C tier statewide candidates for United States Senate. Like, you know, it's not like Chuck Schumer's exactly batting a thousand here. Let's just be honest, you know, I mean, you look at like Beto O', Rourke, Jamie Harrison, Amy McGrath, and then you look at like, you know, even go back to like Phil Bredesen or like Evan by right or Ted Strickland in Ohio. Like, for a long time, the Democratic establishment has muscled out the grassroots Bernie Bros of their party to anoint these candidates who raise $100 million and then eat shit and lose by 20 points. I mean, like, it is just, it's like.

[Michael Duncan]

And so that's what's making this situation so incredible. And it was hinted at in that clip is Schumer has his establishment candidate, Democrat running in that. But they're getting primaried by Bernie's pick.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep.

[Michael Duncan]

So you've got this situation where it's a Democrat civil war, where the grassroots, the Bernie, you could say inspired grassroots is the group that's like, we want to fight. We want to, you know, we want someone in there who's going to fight authoritarianism and give us communism, which is. But they have the grassroots chin up to believe. And apparently they've got a candidate.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, to which there is a article by Jonathan Martin in Politico that covers some of this entitled Democrats Keep Falling for Political Fantasies. When will they learn? Democrats keep falling for charismatic newcomers and viral candidates and it keeps costing them in elections. Plantner is the person that you're talking about here, the Bernie bro. And we're about to get into this in a very significant way. So if you don't know who he is, we're about to expound upon all of that. It's the latest example, a military veteran turned oysterman who looked the hirsute part. The Mainer's populist candidacy seemed to be an immaculate conception. The contributions piled up, the profiles were published, and then suddenly there was a disruption to the formula. Or maybe there was an acceleration once his Democratic rival, Maine Governor Janet Mills, entered the race. And that's the Schumer situation. Platner was hit with a nor' easter of oppo research that had added value of being his own damning words, rationalizing political violence, calling himself a communist, referring to all police as bastards, and calling himself a, quote, antifa super soldier. Platner's paper trail was the stuff of Senator Susan Collins dreams. And that was before Platner tried to get ahead of, of the next hit by revealing the apparent Nazi tattoo that he had tattooed on his naked torso. I mean, first of all, hats off, J Mart. Like, the writing is fantastic.

[Smug]

I love the nor'. Easter.

[Josh Holmes]

The nor'.

[Michael Duncan]

Easter.

[Smug]

Good color.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's good color. So what happened, and this is kind of the way that Democrats are now trying to get ahead of some of this stuff, is that, you know, if. If you're, like, a progressive Bernie bro left guy who's got a bunch of shit coming up, be like, yeah, dude, I'm definitely molested kids. But, like, I need to get around that. I gotta go show up at some, like, credentialed outfit. And the funniest transformation of the POD Bros is that they went from the ultimate establishment in being Barack Obama's people to, like, pretending to be a progressive leftist. Remember, they reclaimed their whole pro Israel stance and all of a sudden started to be like, free Palestine.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, well, that's what they had to do. So one of them was on Architectural Digest because he bought this massive house in the Hollywood Hills. Cause they got all that money. You know, they get VC money. They've gotten money from what's his name?

[Smug]

George Soros.

[Dan Driscoll]

George Soros.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. Soros has 10% of that company. So that money was put to use getting them these massive mansions in Los Angeles. But once that came out in Architectural Digest, they're like, oh, wait, wait, wait. Our employees are trying to unionize. Like, word is out. We've got money. We've gotta act like we're one of you. And so they've tried to take this, like, Bernie leftward hilt.

[Smug]

I think that's part of it, dude. But I think the other thing is generational. Well, they defended to the hilt Biden until it proved untenable that they couldn't defend it. And then it was, Kamala's the best candidate. And then she ate shit.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

And so now they're sort of the only way they can get right with both their employees. And the grassroots of the Democratic Party that wants guillotines and calls for blood is to now reinvent themselves as this opposition.

[John Ashbrook]

That's exactly. And so they are supporting this lunatic. And Schumer on the other side is like, no, no, no. The governor, she may be old, but assisted living is still living. So she's our candidate.

[Josh Holmes]

A place for mom is right here in the United States Senate. So you put a quarter in these fellas back, and they'll tell you anything you want to hear. And so Graham Platner decides to show up to preview Oppo that's coming out on him. He wants to frame this in a way that he can control, like, shout.

[Michael Duncan]

Out to the people working on his campaign, like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna get ahead of the Nazi tattoo, and we're gonna tell everyone about it.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude, hey, bud, they've heard of the Nazi tattoo.

[Michael Duncan]

We got a playbook for the Nazi tattoo. What you do is you tell everyone.

[Josh Holmes]

About the tattoo Pot bros. You just have to put a quarter in their back. They'll say anything. So that's what happens in clip 2A.

[Dan Driscoll]

In kind of a non traditional campaign move. Your team actually shared some opposition research on you with me.

[Smug]

It's a video from, I believe, a decade ago.

[Dan Driscoll]

Let's just watch an excerpt and then we should talk about it.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, so. Jeez. What they were referring to. Do we have an image straight up of it?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it's just. That's our image is the video of.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, yeah. So for the folks who are only audio we have now on YouTube, go to YouTube, subscribe, because you get this stuff. We have frozen the frame of him dancing without a shirt because on his chest is a Nazi tattoo for the Totenkopf ss. That skull and crossbones, it's not your regular. This is not like your. I like pirate skull and crossbones. This is the insignia of an SS division, which. Which he's like, listen, I want to come clean about something. I've got a Nazi tattoo. And the foxy of guys are like, absolutely normal.

[John Ashbrook]

Where do they find these people?

[Josh Holmes]

I know. Where do they find these? Think about this. Like, you're like, oh, Nazi tattoo.

[Michael Duncan]

Also, I love that.

[Josh Holmes]

I can't run for office with that.

[Michael Duncan]

It's got the crooked. Their media company's logo in the top right next to a guy with a Nazi tattoo on his shirt. And they're like, we're gonna side with the guy with the Nazi tattoo.

[Smug]

Yeah. It's just very funny, dude, that you've got libs on Twitter being like, donald Trump is destroying the White House and democracy by building a ballroom. He's a fascist and a Nazi. And they're like, well, I mean, who hasn't got a regrettable tattoo?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it wasn't even that. It was like he and Bernie was doing the. He was deployed in very dangerous situations, and you get all kinds of tattoos. Wolf, you were deployed in pretty serious situations, pal. Was it a part of your platoon's practice to go get Nazi tattoos? Fuck no.

[John Ashbrook]

That's a heavy no Also, you know, can we put that picture back up one more time? You know, I, I, he's not oyster farming here in this picture. But I only see one tattoo. It's not like it's a sleeve on each other.

[Josh Holmes]

There's another one on the arm.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, maybe.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, Maybe he's got another arm.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

But I mean, it is front and center.

[John Ashbrook]

Front and center.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's right on the chest.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Where he's got that tattoo. And it's a Nazi tattoo. And so, like, you wouldn't just miss that for a decade and not understand that you don't have a Nazi tattoo. What do you got?

[Michael Duncan]

So, so his rollout of this attempt to, like, get right with people. Like, listen, here's what you do when you have a Nazi tattoo. You go on pod save and you tell everyone, and then they'll forgive you. That didn't work out. People were like, I haven't seen this until now, and it is way worse than what I had read. He announces. Can I get Graphic 2? Main Senate candidate Graham Platner tells AP he got a new tattoo to cover one scene as a Nazi symbol. It gets better, folks. Can I get graphic three of. So this is for folks not familiar. This is for Norse mythology enthusiasts. This is Fenrir, which was also used as Nazi symbology.

[Smug]

Well, in fairness, it's just very Nazi adjacent.

[Josh Holmes]

But, dude, but, dude, let's just set that aside, right? The whole mythology, all the stuff of the appropriating that the Nazis did of Norse mythology and all of that. Just set that aside for a second. We have entered a new realm of American politics where you can just be some fucking schmo, and you're like, hey, I'm gonna run for office. And all of a sudden you have, like, Bernie showing up, being like, yeah, that's our guy. We like this guy. He's great. And you're like, all right, I got, I got it. And they're like, you have a Nazi tattoo. And he's like, yeah, well, you're gonna have to change that shit.

[Michael Duncan]

You know what? We might be actually, we might be going back. This might be. The Democrats are going back to their roots of, like, when you interview someone to see if you want to endorse them, it's going back to the Ted Kennedy method of like, I'm gonna need you to undress.

[Josh Holmes]

I gotta see your ass.

[Michael Duncan]

Gotta make sure.

[Josh Holmes]

I gotta see your ass. But. But think of an era of Democratic candidates where they're literally willing to put pen to body for irretrievable. Changes to body art that they put like literally on their front, on their chest in order to be somehow acceptable to one segment of the party. Like, I don't think I. I mean, I've seen people do 180s. I've seen people reinvent themselves. I have seen people lie. Bald faced, like Kamala working at the McDonald's, right? I've seen all of that. That is a time as old a tale as old as time. What I have not seen is somebody like willing to tattoo their fucking chest in order to, to just be acceptable as a candidate in a Democratic primary.

[Michael Duncan]

And also it is new. It didn't occur to you in the past, like what, 10 years, that maybe if this, if you truly believe this is a bad decision, regrettable to get a Nazi tattoo, why did you wait until you're running for office? Because then becomes like, your motivation isn't to do the right thing. Your motivation is to hope to get enough votes.

[John Ashbrook]

And then why, why are you, why is he replacing it with like some ancient Norse?

[Michael Duncan]

He's like, listen, I just like getting Nazi, Nazi adjacent tattoos, bro.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, I'm sorry, that's what I want.

[John Ashbrook]

Isn't he like a, like a Patriots fan or anything? Like, how about like mom or something?

[Josh Holmes]

But also, dude, I know. Has it not occurred to anybody? He's not running as a billboard? Like, he's running as a, like, you want to trust his judgment? Well, the judgment led him to put a Nazi tattoo in the middle of his chest. The billboard component is like, yeah, you can change the Nazi tattoo to whatever the fuck that is. What is it called?

[Michael Duncan]

Fenrir the wolf. The Norse wolf.

[Josh Holmes]

Fenrir the Norse wolf.

[Michael Duncan]

It would have been worse if like his campaign staff's like, so did you get the tattoo inked over? And he's like, yeah. So I saw this movie, American History, Accident tattoo.

[Josh Holmes]

And they're like, yeah, great idea, Good plot. I thought it had a lot going for it. Very good acting by Edward Norton. Really bulked up for that film.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, dude.

[Dan Driscoll]

Shredding.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

But that's what we're dealing. This is the insanity. This is why we have led the show with this for the last like three weeks. These people have lost their minds. You're dealing with serious people, like the people who are supposed to be leading the Democratic party who are like, that's our guy. And they're like, ah, shit, he's got a Nazi tattoo. Can we just get like a Norse mythology or something?

[Michael Duncan]

Listen, we're not okay with the Direct Nazi, but Nazi adjacent.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, Jason is fine. We can defend adjacent.

[Michael Duncan]

Amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

And then he does it and they're like, see, it's fine. He decided he was going to change his body yesterday after he produced the entirety of the dancing, which was, by, by the way, Miley Cyrus, Wrecking Ball that he's dancing around in a. In a bar with his shirt off to. Again, maybe disqualifying, but that's neither here nor there. I don't know Maine all that well. But all of this is not how he would do. Not his judgment, not how you would consider things. Because socialist is what it is, right?

[Michael Duncan]

Communist. He said straight up communist and called himself an antifa super soldier Communist. Like antifa's not an idea. Right?

[John Ashbrook]

But the best part is that Schumer is like, see, this guy is a problem. That's why you need to elect someone on an oxygen machine.

[Michael Duncan]

And the choices are the Crypt Keeper or the dude who's getting multiple Nazi Nazi agencies.

[Josh Holmes]

You have to trust my judgment. I know what I'm talking about.

[Smug]

I think people, worst case scenario, if it doesn't work out for him in Maine, he could always run again in Dearborn.

[John Ashbrook]

Holy shit.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, there is a Michigan problem. There is a. And they like to see Nazi adjacent stuff, don't they? They certainly do. All right, so Jonathan Martin's article concludes. And this is a perfect capstone is. And this is where we get close to the bone. It's not as though outsider candidates are emerging from thin air. Who do you think is crafting those viral videos? If he thinks it's an oysterman in their spare time, or Amy McGrath's former flight crew and not another set of consultants. I've got a lobster roll for under $10 to sell you.

[John Ashbrook]

It's good writing.

[Josh Holmes]

If you think a former Blackwater employee who tended bar at the Tune in notable Capitol Hill bar and attended George Washington University right here in D.C. is a total outsider. I've got a $5 one to sell you. Good writing.

[John Ashbrook]

Very good writing.

[Josh Holmes]

Good writing, very good writing. But that is, I think, cutting to the core of what is today's Democratic Party. There is an ideological battle internally, and there's also a generational battle that's happening internally. But when it comes to the external consumption of both, they're equally fraudulent.

[Smug]

Both of them are alive at the.

[Michael Duncan]

End of the day, are part of this Democrat machine.

[Josh Holmes]

They're both lie.

[Michael Duncan]

That's why they lack an authenticity. That's why they can't connect to voters. That's why Trump won the Popular vote and the electoral vote is because it's all consultanted out, you know, poll tested. Consultant slop. That's what they serve.

[Smug]

The DNC is still paying off Kamala Harris, dude, debt a year later, and they don't even know how much there is still remaining. It's like Enron was her accountant. It's unbelievable.

[John Ashbrook]

How could she have debt a billion and a half?

[Michael Duncan]

Someone like Oprah and Beyonce and everyone to show up?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I mean, dude, they couldn't figure.

[Michael Duncan]

Out how to get voters to show up, but they got them to show up.

[Josh Holmes]

It's just unbelievable. It genuinely is. But this is what. This is the world that we're dealing with. So that leads us to our question of the day.

[Michael Duncan]

One of the best I think we could have ever had.

[Josh Holmes]

If a progressive leftist has to get a tattoo for their political career to launch, what would it be?

[Michael Duncan]

I wanna see some good ones.

[Josh Holmes]

I want to see some good ones. The more descriptive, the better.

[Smug]

Please just be creative.

[Josh Holmes]

Use your best.

[Michael Duncan]

This'll be good.

[Josh Holmes]

It's gonna be fantastic. I can think about a dozen that I would go with, but our people always find out 100 more. So come at us with all of that when you like and subscribe to the Ruthless variety program. We read every single one of them. We get back to you the very next episode with a summary of the absolute best. And we're gonna do that on that. When we come back, we're gonna get to your comments from last episode when we ask, will the no will the Dems no king strategy early vote that Ashbrook articulated work right after this?

[John Ashbrook]

Only 58% of Americans today say they're proud to be American, the lowest number ever recorded. That's not just sad, it is very dangerous. Because if we forget what makes America special, we risk losing it. That's why Americans for Prosperity is launching the One Small Step Campaign, a bold nationwide initiative to reconnect Americans with our founding principles that sparked unparalleled innovation and prosperity. It's not just a celebration. It's a call to action. Through the 250,000 Steps for Freedom challenge, AFP is partnering with the grassroots in all 50 states to take meaningful steps that defend freedom and advance opportunity. Call your representative, attend a local event, knock on a door, talk to your neighbors. Every single step counts. And every step moves us closer to a more perfect Union. Go to takeonesmallstep.com to learn more. Then join the [e-mail].

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so your question of the day from Tuesday was Will the Dems know King's early vote strategy work? You heard a lot about that from Smash. He articulated the theory of the case, which I think is a very good one. You came up with some great answers and we always start with a voice first.

[John Ashbrook]

One from Lisa Jo Elsis. Lisa Jo writes, asking if the no King strategy will work is the same as asking if Marie Antoinette's subjects enjoyed the cake. Their back ass word strategy is doomed to fail. Lisa Jo, I sure hope you're right.

[Michael Duncan]

Here's hoping.

[Josh Holmes]

Sure hope you're right. All right, comment two, Duncan.

[Smug]

This is from David Schwartz. David writes, the plan to shut down the government will not work to save the Virginia New Jersey elections because hundreds of thousands of Democrat voters have been deported. Very funny.

[Josh Holmes]

Very, very good. All right, comment three.

[Michael Duncan]

Smug comment three is from jr. JR writes, will the Dem strategy of using the protest to gin up votes work? Unfortunately, yes. The left only has emotion and the only emotions they have are fear, rage and hate. Kind of agree with that. It relies on lies and gullible voters, but their base is indoctrinated kids and scared seniors, both of whom live in a bubble. GOP needs Trump energy to get out the vote because unlike the left, we have lives in politics falls by the wayside and off year elections. Mm, that's a point.

[Smug]

That's a good point.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a point, man. And I just have to say, like following up on the analysis that we did on Tuesday and we're gonna do a little bit more, we're gonna have some Virginia officials in here and we're gonna talk a lot about New Jersey and Virginia to try to contextualize all of that before election day in November. But they have had a huge advantage in off year elections. They just have. Now we're talking about two blue states. I mean these aren't states that Trump has ever won. And other than the Youngkin election in 21, which is a huge rejection of COVID policies and Joe Biden and the Democratic left and all of that. Terry McAuliffe, the ultimate establishment Democrat. Like it's few and far between.

[Smug]

Like you gotta go back to 2009.

[Josh Holmes]

You gotta go back to 09 with Christie and McDonnell before you ever get into a point where Republicans had any success at all.

[John Ashbrook]

You mentioned that the President came up short in those states. Look no further than the registration advantage Democrats have in New Jersey, which is 850,000 more Democrats in New Jersey are registered in the state of Virginia. It's 1.3 million more Democrats than Republicans.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, look, it's a big, it's a big number. What I look for is not necessarily top of the ticket situations in Virginia. Miarres is obviously somebody. We gotta try to win that situation. I really want us to beat Abigail Spamberger, no question. But like, it's a blue state in an off year election where Republicans just won. I mean, all of the historical stuff are going against you. But I look at total turnout and if it follows the 2018, 2022 model of Republicans underperforming in a significant way, it raises concerns for me. And that's not necessarily what the head to head is. It's whether or not people get out or not. And that's kind of what we're going to be watching, but we're going to get into a lot more of all of that in the days to come and give you a good idea of what you can expect on election day in November for those two specials. When we come back, we've got King of the Hill.

[Smug]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a big game day here on the Ruthless Friday program right after this.

[Smug]

Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

Our signature game here on the Ruthless variety program, it's King of the Hill. I lost last week. And so who's our champion?

[Smug]

Conway. George Conway.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my gosh. He's had a heater too. He's really had a heater.

[Smug]

Yeah, I mean, he's, he's bringing good content. He had some great no Kings content.

[Josh Holmes]

And don't forget the trans dog.

[Smug]

Yeah, well, yeah, I don't want to get cocky here, but I feel pretty good.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay.

[John Ashbrook]

And Ashbrook, he's gonna be hard to beat, but this week I've got Sarah Longwell.

[Josh Holmes]

Interesting.

[John Ashbrook]

Doing her best to keep up with George Connor.

[Josh Holmes]

Not her first time, but she's a lightly used competitor here on King of the Hill.

[Michael Duncan]

Wolf just died.

[Smug]

That's good.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, let's go ringside.

[John Ashbrook]

Ladies and gentlemen, your.

[Josh Holmes]

Your attention please.

[John Ashbrook]

It's time for King of the Hill. In the red corner, fighting from her own publication, Sarah Long.

[Josh Holmes]

Not well.

[John Ashbrook]

And now in the blue corner, fighting formally from the Lincoln Project, clean shaven and on the market, current champion of the world, George Conway. Clean on the market.

[Josh Holmes]

The best part is that the intro changes over time. We do the show long enough, we get each iteration of life. Yeah, this guy ought to just have. He should get there. Should be like a. Like a mixtape.

[Michael Duncan]

I tried telling Conway, man, just apologize to your wife and go home.

[Dan Driscoll]

Cause it's a mess.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, you gave him. It's like you're a corporate lawyer dog.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, go Back to work, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, well, I guess I'm the bailiff, you're the judge smuggles. And so.

[Michael Duncan]

And we will suffer no fools. We're running a tight court this week.

[Smug]

I appreciate that, judge. And apt. I think from the bailiff, we're witnessing history with George. You know, we've seen so many iterations of him as an operative, and I think we need to start with exhibit number seven. My corgi, Clyde.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, Jesus.

[Smug]

Dude is coming to no Kings. You can preview his outfit here. This is a link to a video where he's. I guess he's snuggling and kissing his corgi. You can join us everywhere. And he has a URL to a map of no Kings protests. While we're at it, how much money do you think I should stuff into the kava bag? In the video, he's alluding to the fact that George Soros is funding all these protests and he's trying to be ironic about it. Yeah, yeah, he's kind of trying to.

[Josh Holmes]

Be a little tone as if he's not paid by those people.

[Smug]

Yeah, right.

[Michael Duncan]

Wait, okay, okay. Let's see what Sarah Longwell has.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay. Former Republican Sarah Longwell quote tweeting Matt Iglesias in exhibit number 13, as most Republicans typically do on a regular bas quote tweet. Matt Iglesias to say. And one, buddy, she says this is true. Trump's poll numbers are down. The number of people protesting are up, and the people who are protesting are the kind of people who show up in a midterm election. And now, what I would like to point out in this tweet specifically, maybe not quite as funny as what George Conway said. However, it's on genre and she is letting the game up at that. In that last sentence. Yep. The people who show up in a midterm election. She is part of the GOTV effort that was masqueraded as no King.

[Michael Duncan]

I think she's just a bad pollster. So this is strong because I think. I think Ashbrook connected the dots first. Yeah, you're going to see it. Start seeing it on the news. You're going to start seeing elected officials talk about it. But Ashbrook connected the dots first. That this no Kings is tied to specifically as a GOTV event. And then for you to specifically bring that idea out during King of the Hill, Huge points for that. First round goes to Ashbrook.

[Josh Holmes]

Ooh, ooh, boy. An upset. Okay, round two. Longwell has to come back at it.

[John Ashbrook]

Exhibit number 12, please. As she tries to dunk on Matt Walsh. And Matt's tweeting something here and she says on top of him, to be fair, people simply motivated on to another. I'm sorry, people simply moved on to another story of a Trumper talking about how he has a quote, Nazi streak in a group chat. But this time the person is Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel and she's trying to put a guy in a body bag by way of Matt Walsh.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, if the court, if it would please the court as a of fact matter bailiff and neutral arbiter, which he's referring to as a nominee that Donald Trump had put up, that the. During the course of ferreting out the nomination process, there were some disturbing rhetoric that had sort of Nazi ties. The Majority Leader John Thune called for that nomination to be withdrawn. That is in stark contrast, obviously to what we've seen from Abigail Spanberger with this J. Jones. J. Jones situation and with all the Bernie Bros and everything else with the frickin tattoo guy, the Nazi oysterman.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Which is just like a fact of life now, dude. Like there's just some Nazi.

[Josh Holmes]

What's up with that?

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, it's crazy.

[Josh Holmes]

How are we talking about this?

[Michael Duncan]

That's what I'm saying.

[Josh Holmes]

But it does. My point is that the contextualizing of what it is that she's saying misses what has happened. So I just felt the need to provide that.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, good context.

[Smug]

Exhibit number three, please. George Conway is quote, tweeting Peter Baker just by way of background. Every like lib media personality has been been chomping at the bit for Trump's peace deal in the Middle east to fail.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Michael Duncan]

Which is nuts.

[Smug]

Yeah, we know. It's obviously a complicated region where there's violence typically all the time.

[Josh Holmes]

Free, free Palestine. Unless it's a Trump win, in which case continue bombing, please.

[Smug]

Right, Please end the genocide. But please, no, no, no, Trump, you're not allowed to end the genocide.

[Josh Holmes]

Continue the genocide.

[Smug]

Yeah, right.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

And so, you know, Peter Baker, just to sort of vaguely describe it, is talking about, you know, how there's new strikes that are happening in Gaza after the peace deal. And it's quote tweeted by George Conway and he says this all makes sense. I mean, how could it be otherwise that Donald Trump would try to win a Nobel Peace Prize with a fake peace agreement.

[Michael Duncan]

What a piece of garbage, dude. And that's just a straight up W. Yeah. Conway. Conway gets that round.

[Smug]

Let's go.

[Michael Duncan]

This is going to three hits.

[Josh Holmes]

So that is good.

[Smug]

It's A real war of attrition here.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Round three. Boy, oh, boy. The champion has the floor.

[Smug]

Okay, exhibit number two. This is a, quote, tweet of a New York Times breaking news alert that Donald Trump might sue the Justice Department for all the miscarriage of justice.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

You know, when he was a candidate.

[Josh Holmes]

For the first time for the hundreds of millions of dollars of legal fees.

[Smug]

That he had to pay numerous jurisdictions.

[Josh Holmes]

And ultimately charges that were dropped.

[Smug]

And George Conway, quote, tweets it and says, the man should be in prison, but, sure, let's pay him a quarter of a billion for being a criminal.

[Michael Duncan]

It's incredible that this guy's an attorney and, like, understands the law and is at this point. The grift is sad because, like, he's just straight up lying to get those Soros bucks.

[Smug]

Dude, these Democrats got elected promising to put Donald Trump in prison.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the craziest thing.

[Smug]

And Donald Trump's the bad guy because he had to spend. And Eric Trump was in here telling us about all of the hundreds of millions of dollars they had to spend, how they, like, combed through all of his records of the Trump Organization. He's like, bro, I wasn't involved in any of this.

[Josh Holmes]

Protect their freedom.

[Smug]

Meanwhile, you've got the president, United States son, who's on the bored of burisma and doing deals with China and taking all of this money. And Eric Trump has, you know, his entire life combed through. They had to spend all this money on lawyers, and George Conway says they're the bad people.

[Michael Duncan]

Unreal.

[Josh Holmes]

Amazing.

[John Ashbrook]

Ashbrook, exhibit 17, please. Sarah Longwell is, quote, tweeting a friend of the program guy named Logan Dobson, who many of you know very well, who is simply providing a view on Dem protests and what they hope to achieve. Sarah Longwell writes, this is so willfully obtuse. People want Trump to stop abusing his power and acting corruptly. Americans have never seen corruption and executive overreach scale, and many think it's bad. Conservatives with an ounce of integrity wouldn't act blind to this fact.

[Josh Holmes]

Going after that.

[John Ashbrook]

First of all, she went after the nicest guy in Republicans.

[Josh Holmes]

It's very funny that it's Logan Dobson that she's responding to is an ounce of integrity. Like, I mean, this is, like, the least offensive dude.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

But also to be like, Americans have never seen this kind of overreach. And, like, we just saw Joe Biden essentially being a puppet for his aides and his son getting paid. Like, are you. That's being woefully obtuse.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, not only that, I mean, you've also got all of these indictments that we're talking about with like Comey and everybody else. That is just an administration of justice. There are federal grand juries that indicted these people, all because the Biden administration just chose not to pursue. Bolton's another one. They shut down those cases because, well, they were on their side. They're on cable news and.

[Michael Duncan]

And for that, new champion.

[Josh Holmes]

New champion.

[Smug]

Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

Long live.

[Michael Duncan]

Long.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, yeah, I'm hoping she takes that as a challenge to up her game this week.

[Josh Holmes]

It might be her first W. This.

[Smug]

This is like umbc, like a. The Retrievers win in the. It is NCAA tournament.

[Josh Holmes]

It is like the Retrievers win in the ncaa, beating George Conway at the height of his game.

[Smug]

That's incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no, that's something. You guys want a little sports? So I think there's a young jets fan. This was on AX barstool, tweeted it out. But a young jets fan. The team's 0 and 7.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

We know a lot of jets fans, and in some ways I can sympathize with it. My team has never been as bad as the jets on any year. Like, they are just perennially and awful franchise. But the sentiment that this young man expresses is something frankly I can identify with.

[Smug]

I think everyone can.

[Josh Holmes]

I imagine many can. Can we play? Clip three, please. I'll see if I get your thoughts on the game.

[Michael Duncan]

I hate this team. I was born into this and I. I'm not gonna ever. I'm always a Jets fan, but, like, I just. I hate this poor kid. That is so great. Like when he says, I was born into this. Yeah. Like, that hit because, like, I grew up as a Denver Broncos fan, which was a tough, tough thing to do. It was a very long time until we got Elway to win those back to back and then Peyton to win it. It was a lot of years of just an awful team. But, like, that kid's dad should be so proud because one of the things is, like, as a family coming back, the family tradition of, like, win or lose, you support the team. You know what I mean? So you always have to be proud of your sons that like my sons love my team.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Like, that has to mean a lot. Even if you have a bad team like the Vikings.

[Josh Holmes]

It's unbelievable.

[Michael Duncan]

You're coming at me with this to love it.

[Josh Holmes]

It's unbelievable. You have no idea. Breaking my fucking heart at this point. I can't get my kids to support my team. Frankly, I think they've got a better life.

[Michael Duncan]

They're great sons.

[Josh Holmes]

They got a better life.

[Michael Duncan]

One's a touchdown machine. And they love the Eagles.

[Josh Holmes]

They weren't born into this. They were born into the.

[Smug]

The twin pillars of NFL fandom are loyalty and misery.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, dude, that is really. Can we play the clip one more time? Because I want you to see his face right after he says, I was born into this.

[Michael Duncan]

So real.

[Josh Holmes]

And. And the reality, the authenticity of it, all of us and everyone who watches football with a team that just hasn't gotten it done can identify with this. Just play it one more time. I'll see if I can get your thoughts on the game. Watch his face.

[Michael Duncan]

I hate this team. I was born into this.

[Josh Holmes]

Watch right here.

[Michael Duncan]

I'm not gonna ever. I'm always a Jets fan, but, like, right there, I just. I hate this team.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like he. He was struggling. He was like, I'm always gonna be here, but I hate this team.

[Michael Duncan]

So good, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a perfect encapsulation of what we all feel.

[John Ashbrook]

Right there with you.

[Josh Holmes]

That kid has got 10 of 10. Yeah, Bengis.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh.

[John Ashbrook]

All I could hear was Ailey Smith, Kajana Carter.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Holmes]

Peter Warren.

[John Ashbrook]

The 90s were difficult.

[Josh Holmes]

Big daddy Dan Wilkinson. Yeah, you had a lot of them. Listen, we got a great interview ahead of us. Dan Driscoll, you're gonna want to hear this. He's a very, very good guy, entertaining and doing important work. Well, I want to welcome to the program somebody we've been a big fan of for a number of years. He's a good guy. We got a lot of mutual friends, including the Vice President of the United States. But now he's a really big deal. And this guy is someone you want to hear from for a whole range of issues. The Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll. How are you, sir?

[Dan Driscoll]

I'm so excited to be here.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, this is great.

[John Ashbrook]

It.

[Josh Holmes]

We've been trying to organize. Turns out you have a busy schedule.

[Dan Driscoll]

Well, we wanted to take you out, I think, to shoot stuff and get on helicopters at some point. We're gonna do it. We're gonna do it. We're gonna do it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, but you. Now, you've got a very big job. But for those of you who don't know what it is, that Dan is in his biography, pretty impressive. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?

[Dan Driscoll]

Grew up in the mountains of North Carolina. Met my now wife. Then girlfriend asked her out summer after eighth grade.

[Josh Holmes]

Did she say no?

[Dan Driscoll]

So she couldn't date till 16. We started dating when 15. But I've made it pure. I've made it pure. I tell her dad often. And so grew up there, went to Chapel Hill, graduated early, joined the army. We were at war. Yeah. Did all the schools. Finished Ranger school, went to 10th Mountain Division, deployed to Iraq, came back, went to law school up at Yale where I met the.

[Josh Holmes]

Just this little school up met the.

[Dan Driscoll]

Future Vice President of the United States. I like to say two people have done the best with their bets. One is ushavants and the second is Dan Driscoll. That's pretty good. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

If you're gonna befriend somebody, if you're.

[Dan Driscoll]

Gonna spend time making a friend, JD was a very good friend because there's.

[Josh Holmes]

A lot of douches to sort through.

[Ad Voice 2]

Yeah.

[Dan Driscoll]

There were not a lot of veterans though. And so JD Was a Marine veteran. He was a year in front of me. And one of the things that happens, I think, to a lot of veterans when you go to schools like that is you're super self conscious. Like you've been out of school for a while. I wasn't that smart to begin with. And you get there and like you're just so terrified of looking like a dumbass.

[Josh Holmes]

So you like sidle up to one another.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Dan Driscoll]

Well, so he actually took us out. He. There was a thing, the Yale Veterans association or Yale All Veterans association. And there were like seven of us among the three classes.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Driscoll]

And he took the new ones out for pizza the day before school started. And he was like, hey man, you guys are going to be super self conscious. You'll be fine. You belong here. Just make it a couple of months and like all of a sudden you'll see through the. And you'll realize that nobody's any different. Like you're going to do just fine. And so that advice turned out to be exactly accurate. But got out financed and investment banking, worked at some VC fund, worked in some private. Private equity backed companies and then ran for Congress in 2020. Got my ass absolutely crushed.

[Josh Holmes]

I was told not to bring that.

[Dan Driscoll]

No, that's fair game. It's fair game. I outraged the field. I think like 2 or 3x the rest of the field and came in 6 out of 12. So pretty poor showing.

[Michael Duncan]

But honestly, congratulations on not being in the house.

[Dan Driscoll]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Worked out pretty well.

[Dan Driscoll]

That was a very lucky turn of events. And then went on the campaign with the Vice president last year, traveled around. I remember when he went and did your podcast.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. When we did the fishing trip in.

[Dan Driscoll]

Michigan I was so jealous. Although it seemed cold as shit. So happy to sleep.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, you should have come down there. You could have seen a lot of cheating. Smug was packing frozen fish. The fish was just cold.

[Michael Duncan]

It was a very cold lunch.

[Josh Holmes]

We had a blast. But we knew we were going to get along famously with the descriptions of you, so it's nice to finally put a face with a name. You're like a third generation soldier though.

[Dan Driscoll]

I am so. My granddad was a Dakota in World War II. My dad was an infantryman in Vietnam. I was in my. We hope my son and daughter join. My nephew actually just saw him a couple weeks ago out in Korea. My son's son is out there, so. Excuse me, my brother's son.

[Michael Duncan]

Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

I imagine it's incredibly rewarding giving your family history and your own history to be able to sit where you're sitting now and view a lot of this through the lens of your life and your family's history.

[Dan Driscoll]

I think it, honestly, it just kind of like pisses you off more. I think that I have enough touch points and enough friends are in. My daughter, my 7 year old is named after one of the guys who was my platoon sergeant. His daughter at the time when my wife and I were just, just dating, we met her and we just fell in love with this little three year old named Lila. And we were like, man, if we ever get married and have a kid, we're naming her Lila. And so like that family lives in army housing and my buddies are still deploying and my nephew's in. And it's just all this stupid shit from the bureaucracy. You actually see how it impacts the soldiers who are the army. And you realize that things like the Pentagon and this like bloated, calcified, decision making body, they just see, stop. They stopped thinking about them like 30 or 40 years ago. And there's just all these like offensive outcomes that actually harm so many people in their families. And so the first couple of months, I describe myself as the mixture of like a Southern Baptist preacher and a jihadist who was just going to tear the temple down on our head. I told a lot of senators that they didn't like it.

[Josh Holmes]

They're like, let's do without the Islamic Jihad references.

[Dan Driscoll]

I actually used that reference at a panel in, In Abu Dhabi. Oh, Jesus.

[Josh Holmes]

And the jihadist remarks.

[Dan Driscoll]

I can let you know it did not go over well.

[Josh Holmes]

There's a couple of guys that just kind of get out and slink out the room. That is incredible. Well, look, not for nothing though, you're the first one. And this administration is the first administration that is actually doing something about what it is that you're talking about and actually trying to make this army, the armed forces in general, entire defense of our country work for us again, as was initially envisioned. I want to play a clip off the top. It just gives a little summary of what we're talking about and we'll get into a larger discussion. Clip 7, please.

[Ad Voice]

Irene is an infantry squad vehicle or ISV, built by General Motors for the US army and retrofitted with commercial self driving tech by startup Applied Intuition.

[Michael Duncan]

Wow.

[Ad Voice]

The vehicle is one of 40 new technologies being tested in western Louisiana by the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division.

[Josh Holmes]

It's great to hear that you guys love it.

[Dan Driscoll]

I come out here to hear what you don't love about it.

[Josh Holmes]

Go back and change it.

[Ad Voice]

This transformation and contact. Brigade one of just four is the army's most modern. Equipped with AI platforms and nearly 400 drones. The unit tests new technologies and companies embed engineers and executives like GM Defense President Steve Dumont to help troubleshoot.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay, that's the coolest shit ever.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally. I mean, for so many of us who've had friends, were enlisted and you know, have had a vantage point to look into the Pentagon and whatnot, it has felt like in recent years, if you can get beyond the woke stuff and everything else, like you're dealing with yesterday's situation in many regards and then you're just not thinking about today's soldier. And also like the Booz Allen $400 million contract to audit the books. That never really audits the books. But like, this is a perfect example of the kind of thing that you.

[Dan Driscoll]

Guys are up to 100%. And I just want to start by, I think this oftentimes sounds sycophantic, but it's not intended to be. None of this could happen without President Trump and Secretary of War Hexet's air cover because they are willing to basically say we will absolutely absorb the outside forces and pressure on you as you try to innovate. Because if you look at our budget, it's $185 billion. Everyone thinks they have access to one of those dollars. And so when we did this, Army Transformation Initiative Chief And I, our general Randy George, who's incredible, we did it eight weeks after I got there and we cut $48 billion in expected spending over the next five years. And every one of those dollars, some, but some lobbyists thought it was was going to work for some congressman like it always go to their district, and they brought down the normal pressure. And President Trump and Secretary Secretary Hexath didn't bring a single complaint to us. They instead said, if it's good for the soldier, go do it. And so what you just saw is we have over 100,000 Humvees, 104,000. And any of your buddies that have ridden in them, they were good machines. They served a purpose. They could get you down paved roads. And when an ID blast went off, they were reasonably good at protecting you. They are not built for drone warfare. They're not built for speed. They cannot get you to the places you need to do to fight in the modern war. And so it's not that we don't need any Humvees. We just need a rebalanced amount of that type of vehicle. And so the ISV you just saw is made by gm. It is built off the Chevy Colorado and the Silverado. 80% of the parts are commercially available. And so it's incredible. And so you're taking a thing that happens, has millions of miles of use, you're converting it for military purposes, which has all sorts of amazing benefits that we could talk about. If you actually went into, like, war in the Indo Pacific, you could just go to a Chevy store and pick up a lot of parts, or they're giving us 3D secrets and so you can print them. Yeah, but then you don't have to.

[Michael Duncan]

Go to Lockheed Martin and pay $3 million for a screw.

[Dan Driscoll]

You don't have to. I don't know.

[Josh Holmes]

I was reliably told that was the only way to do that.

[Dan Driscoll]

No, there's a. There's a better way. And actually, the private sector has solved for this already.

[Smug]

It's interesting, though, and I'm curious. I don't know how much you can actually tell us about this, but in looking at this innovation that you're doing, you look at, like, the theater of war with Ukraine and Russia, and it seems to me that we are now entering a new age of modern warfare in so many ways with technology and drones and things that you've alluded to. You look at a theater like that, and. And how much does what is happening right now in Ukraine and Russia, you know, impact what the future of the army and our armed forces looks like?

[Dan Driscoll]

So we're calling it the Silicon Valley of War. And so every nation. And we have now met with a lot of ministers of defense and chiefs of staff of the different armies. Every nation is paying attention, and every leader would basically agree. I think we are at an inflection point for how humans commit violence against each other. And what the new era of violence will look like at scale is humans mixed with machines, mixed with things like generative AI in the decision making loop and just allowing the scale of actions to be at a scale never before seen by human beings. And so what that practically means is if you're defending against a drone swarm with a thousand drones coming your way, and you're in a congestion area near an airport, the interceptors that you're going to use and how you're going to process that risk and react to it is more. It's at the cognitive load no individual brain can do and no human can do it fast enough. And so you must have a data layer. You must have your people and your things and your sensors all sharing things in near real time and layering in machine learning to help you do that as a human being. And this is different. And it is hard. And every single army across the world is having to deal with it.

[Josh Holmes]

Can I ask you just. I mean, look, you showed up, you talked about your frustration with everything that is that you saw. But on that score, you know, I mean, clearly people are doing innovation over time and observing warfare or whatever. How much of that first sort of quarter or two quarters on the job was about ensuring that you prioritized? We're talking about here.

[Dan Driscoll]

I think that that first period, honestly was just rage. I was just. You're fucking furious when you start to realize the bad, insane outcome. So when we build things on our basis, on average it's 68.5% more expensive than right on the other side of the fence line when we, we are the number one buyer or top five buyer of chicken. So you think economies of scale, right, we should be getting less expensive of chicken than the rest of the world. We pay two times more. And it all goes back to the Randolph Shepard act of like the 1930s, where basically they wanted to give blind vendors this advantage to sell some things, some trinkets in our cafeterias or defects. And it's been interpreted over the years to basically mean we have to prioritize blind people when we go out for our chicken contracts. And so what practically ends up happening is you start an LLC with your blind grandma, you put 51% in her name.

[Josh Holmes]

Wait, come on.

[Dan Driscoll]

Yeah, you put those shares into an irrevocable trust coming back to you. And then when we.

[Josh Holmes]

So you just have to find a blind guy to the army.

[Dan Driscoll]

Yep, that's exactly. And then you have to prioritize it so we're smug.

[Josh Holmes]

You're in luck. I'm writing down, we're ready.

[Dan Driscoll]

You guys are perfect. What do you guys think? We'll start a company. This is gonna be the best. And this is the best part. We don't even have to raise chickens. The army will buy from you. And then you go find a chicken farmer who actually does the chicken farming. Right up there.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Dan Driscoll]

And take that one anecdote, apply it to every single thing we as an army do, and you start to see why soldiers equipment is 30 and 40 years old. We were with a 28 year old who was using programming equipment from the. It's using the original code from the 90s for our air missile defense.

[Josh Holmes]

Did they even have code?

[Dan Driscoll]

The laptop was, was probably like, it's like Diklopedia Britannicas.

[Ad Voice 2]

Why?

[Michael Duncan]

Amazing.

[John Ashbrook]

You know, you know what's, what's interesting to me is that I have so I've got family who served, cousins, you know, family was airborne, family was enlisted. You know, our great producer Lee Wolf served. And I just want to ask you about recruitment because you know, I think about all these guys who I respect. Obviously you have a great career in the 10th Mountain Division, one of the manliest names division anybody could ever come up with. Our vice president served. And one of my great regrets in life is that I didn't do it. And I think that there is a new generation of people who seem like they're like, hell yeah, I want to be a part of what you're doing. And I wonder if you could just tell us a little bit about recruitment because we hear so much of the stats and everybody's like rah, rah. Oh yeah, recovery. Recruitment's up. But is that, is that really happening? Are people really signing up now in numbers that they hadn't been in a while?

[Dan Driscoll]

So that we look at it kind of two ways. So recruitment is kind of, I would say, a leading indicator of a successful organization or army. And so for our recruitment numbers on new people joining, we hit our 12 month goal in seven months.

[John Ashbrook]

Wow.

[Dan Driscoll]

And when you go to basic training and you talk to these recruits, they're incredible. They're brilliant, they're smart, they're, they're, they are tech savvy in a way that just comes from that generation and we need them. But the number that I actually look to that I find almost equal or more important is our retention number. And so these are the soldiers that get to see through the bullshit. They get to see, are you the type of organization are you guys the type of leaders that I am willing to spend my time on this earth being a part of. And that number is on fire. So we hit our 12 month retention goals six months into the year, which I take as a sign that our Sergeant Major of the army, our Chief of Staff of the army, our leaders throughout our formations are actually doing the kinds of leadership that make men and women want to continue to serve. And that to me is I. I'm incredibly excited about that. Trailing indicator of a healthy organization.

[John Ashbrook]

Man, that's great to hear.

[Michael Duncan]

And also you mentioned that you'd gone to Ranger school. What was that experience like? So I saw the Shawn Ryan interview. So this is an awesome story, everyone. It's on me.

[Dan Driscoll]

So it's like, it's just by far the hardest thing. Like, I grew up a middle class kid in the mountains of North Carolina. My wife has said many times, even before this job, she would never have married me if I hadn't done the Army.

[Josh Holmes]

My wife says the same thing.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Dan Driscoll]

So it's like it has nothing to.

[Michael Duncan]

Do with the army.

[Josh Holmes]

It's just me.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, I get it.

[Dan Driscoll]

I'm not judging. You seem amazing. You seem amazing. But Ranger school is just spectacularly hard. So it kind of pushes you to this place where most people, I think on average lose 25 or 30 pounds, 62 days. You're kind of, you're cold, you're hungry, you're suffering, and it actually just breaks you. At least for me.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Driscoll]

Like there is a moment where you say, I just, I cannot physically do it. I remember climbing up a hill. You're carrying a big weapon in. I slipped down. I couldn't stand up. There was nothing I could do in that moment. It was like, oh my God, like I am at the end of what I'm capable of. Dudes grabbed the weapon and then I remember, I, I'll just like, they hugged me and for 10 minutes they're holding me because I'm shaking so much, because it's so cold. And they like calm me down and like, we keep, keep on going. And it's just this moment. You look back on in life and you can pinpoint kind of two lessons there. One, everyone breaks at some point, so maybe give them some grace and just help them along. And then two, you just kind of can't do life alone. Like, it's a pretty difficult thing. And what the army does uniquely well, I think is it builds these teams where you start to rely on each other for, for everything. And it kind of, you lose your own Personal identity in a lot of ways. But you get in exchange for that this kind of unbelievable teamwork mentality that has forever altered how I look at war, working with other people.

[Josh Holmes]

Ah, it's such a good point. What a great story. I mean, look, that's why we have a four man deal.

[Dan Driscoll]

Yeah, I'm jealous of you guys.

[Josh Holmes]

If any one of us had to do this three days a week by ourselves, we wouldn't do it. It's that whole teamwork component that makes you a little bit better, makes it drives you a little bit further. And you guys have taken this from the army standpoint to also reinforce it with a whole bunch of things that you're doing underneath it, from an administrative standpoint that makes people believe that you're trying to be more efficient, more effective, more for the people who are enlisted in doing the job.

[Dan Driscoll]

I think one of the things that bureaucracy rewards so much, and this is across probably every bureaucracy, but certainly our federal government and definitely the army, there's really only one way that you could hurt your career in the last 30 years. Do a thing and have it go wrong. And so the other the two ways you can succeed from avoiding that consequence is do a thing and have it go right. But just as equally successful for your career is do nothing. So we've trained an entire class of bureaucrat that for an entire 30 year career, if you do nothing, you're fine, you're gonna make it to the end of the race. And it's this like kind of catastrophic existence that exists that people have just gotten to this mentality that they know everything and they don't realize that the greater threat is actually not doing a thing and having it go wrong. The greater threat is doing nothing. Because right now our soldiers are being failed in so many ways.

[Josh Holmes]

What a great point. I mean, I think that's a Washington disease.

[Dan Driscoll]

I agree.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, I think that's not just how we've dealt with the Pentagon and everything else. It's cascading across politics, politics itself. We always used to say it about political consultants where it's like, you know, you hear the same drivel out of every candidate, right, left and center. It's like, well, this is what we say, because this doesn't fail. But there's no authenticity and no risk.

[Dan Driscoll]

Yeah. And I think from my experience on the campaign, watching the Vice President and when the overlap would occur, and obviously we watched the President a lot, they're authentic. Like, if you look at the number of interactions, I actually said this on record the other Day. And I would guess that if you compare the number of minutes that President Trump is speaking to a live camera feed with people asking questions that he is not planting, I would guess it's 50x his predecessor. I remember when the Vice President was going into his debate and we were looking at the number of questions, like they call them hostages, but it's really just a question. You don't know what's coming that he had done compared to Tim Walls. And I think it was like 850 to like 18. And it's like, that's good government. It's actually this. What the American people want totally is the transparency and the authenticness with which the President and the Vice President interact with the world.

[Michael Duncan]

And also actually just getting out there and do like I see images online like, you know, on X of whether it's you, whether Secretary Hegseth getting out there.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Michael Duncan]

Going to the bases, you know, doing exercises with them, running the same courses as them. What's that experience been like?

[Dan Driscoll]

It's incredible. And it's actually where you learn. And it spending time, it's a same coin, two sides of it. One side of the coin is spending time with soldiers. Fills you up. I mean, it is truly the joy of a lifetime. I've told my kids that there are many things I can give them in life. I can't give them what a lot of these men and women who have chosen to dedicate their entire lives to service can give them, like the impact on shaping my kids at this age. I'm so grateful that they get to experience that. The flip side of the coin is you see all the places where we've failed them and you see all the brokenness. And by not reading it into PowerPoint, by not sitting in the Pentagon on a leather chair and letting people just brief you about how good everything is because you. It's become a very performative system over the last 30 years because we haven't faced an existential threat. When you get out there with soldiers and you go see the broken equipment and you see that it is a six dollar part that is taking down a Blackhawk, and then you see that the provider of that $6 button won't replace the button, but they're making US buy a $40,000 replacement for the entire screen, you are so mad. Like, it takes you from like a 6 to a 47 on the 1 to 10 scale.

[Josh Holmes]

Is that what has driven your sense of urgency? Because, I mean, look, not a lot of people in your position, as you said, people, if you if you fail to come up with a new idea, nobody punishes you. If you'd have a new idea that not everybody loves, like that's the punishment point. But you walked in for this full transformational journey within the army. Very aggressively you guys are pursuing that. I imagine that that urgency comes from what you just described.

[Dan Driscoll]

I think there's some part of it is the risk right now with China. And we actually as a nation are facing a threat from a peer that we have not faced in a long time. Like my kids and their kids, they will have to pay the price if we don't get ourselves ready or they may have to. I think the second thing is because these are my friends.

[John Ashbrook]

Friends.

[Dan Driscoll]

It is my friends that are feeling it. It is my own nephew that is. These are the people I care about and I love. And we're at my wedding and I will be at theirs and our life events. This is for them. And then the third one is back to President Trump. He is if now, now is the time to do it. He is saying, and even just look at what he's doing for soldiers during the shutdown. He is saying, I'm going to find a way to keep them getting paid because he cares so deeply about our American soldier and he is empowering us to act in a way that I don't think any other administration has done in a very long time. And so I owe a duty to try to take advantage of that.

[Josh Holmes]

That's really well said.

[Michael Duncan]

Last thing I want to say along those lines of how President Trump has acted. One of them has been engaging the National Guard here in Washington, D.C. and I just want. I've talked about this a million times at this point, maybe tiring, but I'm just so grateful for that because just mere blocks from here, you know where there's. They play hockey and basketball. A guy got murdered at like five in the afternoon a few months ago, shot in the face. That was just like another day a block away. Open air, drug market, all that is gone. All of it is gone. This city is. It used to be a year ago in winter. I remember it was three in the afternoon on a Sunday in Georgetown. Someone got robbed at gunpoint for their jacket. Like it was lawlessness. And what you and President Trump and what the National Guard have done out there has been incredible. Lives are being saved. And for folks Who Live or D.C. whenever you see someone from the National Guard out there, you thank them. I thank them every time because they are saving lives. And it is incredible.

[Smug]

It's unbelievable.

[Michael Duncan]

The transformation this city has had.

[Dan Driscoll]

Well and I think if you, if you look at that, this to me highlights why traditional media seems to be struggling so much with the average American viewer. Everything has become slippery slope argument and everything is clickbait. And I understand the incentive structure and no doubt you make more money than more views of here but like of people watching this. But everyone has basically said the President was sending them in for some, many traditional media sources. The President was sending them in for some sort of militaristic. When they looked at the Army 250 parade, it was going to be tanks were gonna destroy the streets. Oh no, this was like they were doing a drive run for like actually like taking over D.C. we ended up having $850 worth of damage. We had 140 million plus viewers. Our recruiting skyrocketed. And so if you look at the National Guard deployment and this slippery slope argument, what I have tried to point out to the media is they keep telling us the scary bad thing that could happen. And then when the President comes in and does the thing he said he was going to do and it actually leads to the things he said. When you talk to, to D.C. leaders behind closed doors and I meet with them all the time at the White House, they're so excited. Their police are so excited because they're actually, they want to fix their community, they want to fix their city. And what's amazing about the National Guard is it serves these dual purposes that the active duty just typically doesn't. And the active duty is purpose built for us to send them out to either from our border face out or to go deploy somewhere in the world to defend us. The National Guard has this dual use where they can be used in their own cities and their own states and their own communities and they can make where they grow their kids grow up and where they go to church better. And so when you talk to the soldiers here, they love it when you go on runs. I do it every weekend. I go on a long run. And there are so many selfies being taken with our Guard soldiers. And what I have tried to tell everyone is if you are falling for this narrative that it is is bad before you believe what the media is telling you, go talk to people, walk around the neighborhoods, talk to the neighbors in the community, talk to the soldiers, talk to the police on the Metro police who are so thrilled at what's happening because I totally agree.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, look, that's important stuff. Here's what I appreciate. We'll wrap it with this. You've Got a serious mission. You talked about how angry you were at how you found everything. You guys have been incredibly aggressive with a sense of urgency about changing things on the dime for the American soldier. And yet you got a good sense of humor, which is like, look, I think it's kind of.

[Dan Driscoll]

Can you tell my wife?

[Josh Holmes]

I think it's kind of a hallmark.

[Dan Driscoll]

And you forgot to say good looking. Oh, yeah, I forgot to say good looking.

[Josh Holmes]

Handsome as the day is long. Dan.

[John Ashbrook]

Thank you.

[Josh Holmes]

But that, like, just keep it at it because it makes it so much easier for the average person to consume. When they get a guy like you, you telling them what it is that you're doing than somebody who's just like barking at them about the way things used to be and how it can never change. So thank you for everything that you're doing. Let's keep in touch with. Go shoot some stuff later.

[Dan Driscoll]

It's going to be awesome. I'm grateful for you all. Thank you for having me on.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, you got.

[Dan Driscoll]

Thank you.

[Josh Holmes]

Great stuff.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. I mean, just an A personality. You can see why JD Vance is friends with the guy because he is very, very easy to talk to. Plain spoken and funny as the day is long.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. And also I think it's like an undercard component. The very serious work that they're doing to try to make our military.

[John Ashbrook]

Relevant.

[Josh Holmes]

In this day and age.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Dan Driscoll]

Yeah.

[Smug]

More responsive to like warfare in this century.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. And that protects our soldiers. Like, that's the thing that I like Democrats, first of all. I mean, look, I grew up in a day and age where there was two parties, one that believed in the military, one that doesn't. I still believe that to be true. The difference is that the Democrats always view this as like a, you know, march to the front line, civil war type. You pull your rifle out six yards ahead of the other guy and shoot. And they're like, oh, what do we do to do, you know, we got to take care of them after. After they do that kind of thing. And when Republicans are in charge, in particular Donald Trump, they rethink that. And they look at conflicts that are going on in Ukraine. They look at what's happening, what's happened in the Middle East. They look at the challenge of China and they try to retrofit their force and their power to a point where you can protect Americans in the same way that Ronald Reagan talked about.

[Michael Duncan]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

In the 1980s, peace through strength. And that goes a long way for me knowing that we've got a guy who is Interested and persistent in doing it. Because change in the Pentagon is about as difficult as anything you can imagine. There are institutions are like, well, we've always done it this way. That's why we're gonna do it. Our contracts are the same. We just anticipate this. And then you get a whole bunch of people who throw at oppo and you get the Kandelanians of the world and everybody else who are like, oh, they're changing things and they're making us weak. And like, no, if you listen to that guy in his interview for two minutes, his whole point is to try to protect the American people and protect the American soldier to ensure that they can fight a next generation war if necessary. And they hope it's not necessary.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. Democrats over the last decade or so have started prioritizing contractors over war fighters. And why do they do that? Because they want the money and the campaign contributions that come from the contractors. What Pete Hegseth, what President Trump, what Dan Driscoll are doing is prioritizing war fighters over contractors. And so that upsets the apple cart of official Washington. It upsets the apple cart of what Democrats have worked for over the past decade. And it's natural. It's natural, but it's also the right thing to do. War fighters, the soldiers, they're the reason that, you know, that's what people. When people pay their taxes to the federal government for men and women to defend them, they envision. I'm paying my taxes is to cover a guy or a woman's paycheck, not to cover.

[Josh Holmes]

You don't think it's a Booz Allen contract?

[Michael Duncan]

Right, Right.

[John Ashbrook]

They're not like, I need to. I need to cover the third garage on somebody's house in Great Falls.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

You know what I mean?

[Josh Holmes]

Like, they 100%.

[John Ashbrook]

They're paying for people to help them out.

[Josh Holmes]

He's a hell of a guy. And we're going to do more, more stuff with Driscoll because he's just. I couldn't get it out. I wish we could have hung out with him for a couple hours. He was fantastic. So remember, our question of the day is if a progressive leftist has to get a tattoo for their political career, what would it be? You're gonna have some great ideas on that. When you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety program, We read every single one and get back to you the very next episode. This is absolutely a fantastic week to be alive here for Ruthless. This is what we do for a living. Oh, God, I just love every minute you got Funtime Friday coming up next. With that, fellas, I think we did it.

[Michael Duncan]

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