Why Left Wing Organizations are Collapsing - Dems' Money Problem + Sen. Schmitt Joins the Progrum

Summary

Ruthless Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Why Left Wing Organizations are Collapsing – Dems' Money Problem + Sen. Schmitt Joins the Progrum
Date: June 12, 2026
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John/Duncan Ashbrook
Special Guest: Senator Eric Schmitt

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Overview

This energetic "Fun Time Friday" edition delves into why major left-wing organizations are facing crisis, focusing on Democratic fundraising (specifically the ActBlue platform), the Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) tactics, and broader issues within liberal groups. The hosts dissect recent Congressional hearings exposing these groups’ practices and discuss the deeper problems threatening the left’s political infrastructure. The episode also features U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt, who made headlines for an athletic catch at the congressional baseball game, and they explore lighter topics such as European tourists’ reactions to American culture and beer innovations.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. ActBlue Scandal and Hearings

Timestamp: [05:41]–[13:41]

• The hosts examine a Congressional hearing where Regina Wallace Jones, head of ActBlue, took the Fifth Amendment 22 times, refusing to answer questions about foreign donations and fraud detection standards.

  • Smug: “If it’s a fake donor, just take the money. It’s the beating heart of the left wing cash nexus.” [00:00]/[07:06]
  • Josh Holmes: “The primary payment processor for Democrats at all levels ... has come under scrutiny ... about whether they were doing anything to prevent foreign contributions.” [07:11]–[07:29]

• The team draws parallels to patterns of corruption in failed companies and describes the culture inside ActBlue as so relaxed with impropriety that overt guidance (“just take the money”) exists in training manuals ([08:08]–[08:49]).

• The group speculates on why obscure Democratic candidates raise millions and whether these donations are legitimate or laundered through systems like ActBlue.

  • Michael: “No name Democrats … wouldn’t give five bucks to at a lemonade stand raising $10 million a quarter.” [09:05]–[09:23]

• House Republicans are credited for finally investigating these issues:

  • Smug: “House Republicans are on it. I wanna see people in handcuffs … this is the time to do it. This is why Democrats are so scared. This is the beating heart of their machine. The cash. That's what it's all about.” [12:42]–[13:41]

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2. Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in the Hot Seat

Timestamp: [14:21]–[18:39]

• The hosts cover a second Congressional hearing on SPLC, arguing the organization now exists to label mainstream conservatives as "white supremacists" and silence or "debank" right-of-center voices.

  • Holmes: “Just a cudgel of the left to silence conservative speech.” [14:21]–[14:24]
  • Smug: “They can tar and feather that person publicly. They can get a person fired … debank them … this was how the left operates.” [14:34]–[15:23]

• Replay of Rep. Brandon Gill’s grilling of SPLC president about the logic behind SPLC’s claims that pro-lifers are white supremacists and the SPLC’s inability to defend its rhetoric ([15:49]–[17:19]).

  • Gill: “Calling somebody a white supremacist is a pretty serious charge, isn’t it? ... does your organization just hurl around epithets like that without any justification?” [16:53]–[17:19]
  • Michael: “It’s just great to see somebody like Brandon Gill come to the mat.” [17:56]

• Hosts praise the takedown as overdue and expose how SPLC and similar groups become sources for the mainstream media to discredit conservatives ([17:56]–[18:33]).

  • Smug: “A protection racket. The left essentially had a cod lock on the media and on social media.” [18:51]

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3. The Left’s Network: ActBlue, SPLC, and Enforcement

Timestamp: [20:13]–[22:35]

• The team further explores how the left uses the combination of ActBlue (funding) and SPLC (messaging) to attack and even try to destroy conservative businesses by pressuring financial and tech companies to cut off services to “targeted” organizations.
  • Smug: “They would activate this whole thing, the tar and feather, that company … They get them cut off and they’d go to Visa and they’d be like, the SPLC has said that this website… is actually a white supremacist organization. Are you going to let them process transactions?” [21:03]

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4. SPLC and Accountability Evasion

Timestamp: [22:35]–[25:15]

• The hosts play clips of SPLC leadership dodging direct questions about funding or encouraging “hate rallies” and then pivoting the narrative to suggest "racism" had now migrated into government.
• Smug points out SPLC’s incentives to exaggerate racism for fundraising:
  • Smug: “The demand for racism far outstrips the supply. So we just decided to fund the supply.” [25:05]

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5. Democrats’ Lack of Internal Scrutiny

Timestamp: [25:15]–[26:18]

• The hosts highlight the silence of Congressional Democrats at the ActBlue hearing—despite serious accusations—concluding Democratic legislators don’t care about fraud within their own party financing apparatus.
  • Holmes: “If that was true, I would, on behalf of my donors, if nothing else, ask some pretty pointy questions about the people who are running the operation. They don't care. They don't care.” [26:05]

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6. Ron Klain’s Defense of Nazi Tattoo Controversy

Timestamp: [29:53]–[37:46]

• The program revisits the controversy over a top Biden official's Nazi tattoo and Ron Klain's bizarre public defense, including his claim that the tattoo was a tribute to fallen comrades.
  • Smug: “If you’re Airbnb, you have to fire him … Why is Ron Klain their chief legal officer when he says that a Nazi SS tattoo honors American soldiers?” [36:16]

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7. Cultural Lighter Side: Europeans Visit America

Timestamp: [38:04]–[44:39]

• The hosts revel in the wholesome social media documentation of European football (soccer) fans discovering uniquely American features—Buc-ee’s gas stations, abundant AC, barbecues, and ranch dressing.
  • Michael: “As a Euro walking in a place like this … must be like, you know, in the Soviet Union when they saw American grocery stores for the first time.” [39:23]–[39:40]
  • Josh Holmes: “Give her the ranch. Whatever she asks.” [42:20]
• A clip of a New York Democratic debate is dissected, with ridicule of a candidate’s answer that she’s cheering for “Team CDC” in the World Cup.
  • Michael: “Well, number one, because the left doesn't know ball. But number two, she is like the totem of like radical lib. Brainworm feminism.” [44:11]

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8. The Congressional Baseball Game & Senator Eric Schmitt

Timestamp: [52:09]–[61:22]

• Senator Schmitt joins to recount his viral diving catch at the Congressional Baseball Game—a highlight that brought him joy as both a politician and lifelong baseball fan.
  • Schmitt: “I wanted to be in a major league outfield in front of 35,000 people ... to be on SportsCenter, top 10 plays.” [53:01], [53:58]
  • Schmitt describes the camaraderie and tradition of the game, passion for sports, and using the event to bond with House and Senate colleagues ([54:55]–[57:35]).

Notable Memorable Quotes:

• Schmitt: “No, I didn't even know that. And fluer, they all, you know, came out and ... 'your nose is bleeding.' And I was like, oh. Then I just started wiping it on my pants. Let's go. Let's just keep going.” [53:15]

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9. College Sports Reform

Timestamp: [61:22]–[69:30]

• Schmitt—passionate about reforms—describes his bipartisan Senate effort to address chaos in college athletics, balancing fair compensation (NIL), transfer rules, and preserving non-revenue sports.

  • Schmitt: “If you would have asked me a couple years ago, does Congress have a role in any of this, I would have been very skeptical. Right. But I've been convinced that, that the only entity ... that can do something about it ... is Congress.” [61:22]

• Discussion covers revenue sharing, conference TV rights, and athlete protections.

  • Michael: “Is that an argument you guys are making to the Big Ten in the SEC about this deal? … they are the 800 pound gorilla at this moment.” [64:02]

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10. Senate & Election Season Outlook

Timestamp: [69:30]–[76:38]

• Schmitt predicts Republicans will hold the Senate, as public skepticism of Democrat policies is high—a strong message about border security and economic issues will be key.

  • Schmitt: “They want to raise your taxes to pay for health care benefits of illegal immigrants, those are their positions … And they don't poll very well.” [69:47]–[71:06]

• Critique of Democratic candidates’ lack of authenticity (notably in Maine and Texas):

  • Schmitt: “He’s a rich kid who ... cosplaying as some tough guy, you know, who's authentic. But he's a liar.” [71:48]
  • Schmitt: “Talarico guy ... he believes in 100 genders and he's got a vegan campaign in Texas ... you can't be anti meat in Texas.” [72:12]–[72:41]

• On the current challenge for Republicans: “We have to make it binary ... Republicans against what the Democrats stand for ... We don’t have to guess.” [73:21]

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps & Speaker Attribution)

• Smug: “If it’s a fake donor, just take the money. It’s the beating heart of the left wing cash nexus.” [00:00]
• Michael: “No name Democrats ... you wouldn’t give five bucks to at a lemonade stand raising $10 million a quarter.” [09:05]
• Holmes: “The only political podcast worth listening to is the Ruthless Podcast.” [02:42]
• Comfortably Smug: “The demand for racism far outstrips the supply. So we just decided to fund the supply.” [25:05]
• Schmitt: “I wanted to be in a major league outfield ... to be on SportsCenter, top 10 plays.” [53:58]

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• ActBlue Hearings Analysis: [05:41]–[13:41]
• SPLC Congressional Grilling: [14:21]–[18:39]
• Ron Klain Nazi Tattoo Defense: [29:53]–[37:46]
• Cultural Comedy: Euros Visit America: [38:04]–[44:39]
• Sen. Schmitt Baseball Catch & Interview: [52:09]–[61:22]
• College Sports Reform with Schmitt: [61:22]–[69:30]
• Senate Battleground/Election Analysis: [69:30]–[76:38]

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Memorable Moments

• Regina Wallace Jones pleading the Fifth 22 times – “Wouldn’t answer a single thing.” [12:30]
• SPLC President unable to defend labeling pro-lifers as white supremacists, flustered by pointed questions. [16:49]
• Iconic: Senator Schmitt’s bloody-nosed, diving catch at the congressional baseball game, causing his daughters to finally be impressed. [53:01]/[59:51]
• Ron Klain’s bizarre defense of a Nazi tattoo as a tribute to American soldiers, while now serving as Airbnb’s chief legal officer. [32:35]–[36:16]
• New York Democrat answers “Team CDC” as her World Cup team. [43:49]
• Extended riff: “The demand for racism outstrips the supply ... so we decided to fund the supply.” [25:05]

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Tone & Style

• Language: Candid, irreverent, and pointedly sarcastic/conservative.

• Atmosphere: High-energy, with savage humor and inside jokes. Frequent roasting of the left, and bro-ish camaraderie among the hosts.

• Interview Segments: Affable, personal (baseball), then pivot to policy substance (college athletics, campaign outlook).

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Summary for New Listeners

This episode breaks down how major left-wing groups face scandal and institutional decline, focusing on foreign money and activist overreach. Congressional hearings expose weak accountability at ActBlue and SPLC, linking unchecked money flow with smear campaigns. The show alternates serious critique with comic relief—roasting Democrats’ cultural tone-deafness, marveling at Americans’ hospitality seen through European visitors’ eyes, and celebrating Senator Eric Schmitt’s viral baseball achievement before gleaning his sports/political insights. Listeners get both the "lighter side" of politics and sharp analysis of Democratic infrastructure and conservative media tactics.

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Next Up: Tuesday’s episode—send in your comments and subscribe to keep up with the news, fun, and relentless takedowns.

Transcript

[Comfortably Smug]

Show up to work at ActBlue. It says if, if it's a fake donor, just take the money. It's the beating heart of the left wing cash nexus. And now we finally see the dots are getting connected. Yeah, it turns out that like America doesn't just love giving to Democrats, they just act blue. Is like, oh, your name is John Doe. This call is coming from Xinjiang, China. And you'd like to send $10,000 to a candidate no one's ever heard of? Let's do it. We've been talking about it for years. Folks online have been talking about it for years of the Democrat cash problem.

[Michael]

They like the crime. The only problem for them is getting caught.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

I've worked at Coca Cola for 21 years. We're delivering Dr. Pepper from our brand

[Duncan Ashbrook]

new facility in Dallas, Texas.

[Comfortably Smug]

We're really proud to still make Pepsi products in America. You don't need a college degree to work here, but I put four kids

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

through college by working here.

[Michael]

This is a great place to work with great people and great American brands.

[Comfortably Smug]

Grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, restaurants, they

[Michael]

all depend on us.

[Comfortably Smug]

We deliver great paying jobs.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

We deliver beverages. People love.

[Comfortably Smug]

We deliver for our community. Learn [e-mail] Fox News recently reported that

[Michael]

the 340B federal health care program designed to provide discounted drugs to low income patients at hospitals is facing, quote, allegations of widespread health care fraud and abuse. According to reports, the program has morphed into a windfall for hospitals and outpatient clinics, leaving behind those who can least afford it. A federal judge blocked a North Dakota law that sought to exploit 340B to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from drug makers to hospitals and pharmacies, noting that the program is being abused to provide a windfall for hospitals. The Wall Street Journal editorial board weighed in, calling abuse of 340B grift and and a scam to taxpayers. According to an economic consultancy, the abuse of 340B raises the cost of other major healthcare programs like Medicare, Medicaid, which lost a combined $20 billion last year due to lost rebates in this program. Learn [e-mail]

[Announcer]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Comfortably Smug]

This program has become one of the

[Josh Holmes]

most influential podcasts in America.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

I love the personality.

[Comfortably Smug]

You gu are killing it.

[Michael]

I just saw your number one.

[Comfortably Smug]

So congratulations.

[Josh Holmes]

It's an honor and a pleasure to welcome the great Sean Manity.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Guys, I love you. Congratulations on all your success. This is why you listen to the

[Comfortably Smug]

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

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

It's time for our main event, the

[Josh Holmes]

Ruthless Podcast Fun Time Friday. Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety Program. I'm Josh Holmes along with Comfortably Smug and Michael. Duncan Ashbrook will join us a little bit later. He's got some assignments that he's got to take care of. Couldn't help but notice your get up.

[Michael]

What, my World cup get up?

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Michael]

USA plays tonight. It's a great moment for America. I love this country.

[Josh Holmes]

I feel like you're overdoing it a little.

[Comfortably Smug]

I think it's a bit much, but it's a little much. It's a little much.

[Michael]

What, Loving your country? No, I think liking sports, you wouldn't understand those things. Smug.

[Comfortably Smug]

I get it. It's America 250. The only football I celebrate is the NFL. Not like football, you know, around the world.

[Michael]

Well, it's not around the world. It's in our country. This year for America's 250, the World cup is here in the United States of America.

[Josh Holmes]

Football.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, that's right. That's how he celebrates, this guy. All right, I mean, we can drop it. I mean, honestly, liking soccer as an American is a bridge too far. It's a bit much. It's like, if your kids play, okay, my daughter plays soccer, that's great. I support that. But if you're a grown adult and you're like, I'm watching the soccer game.

[Michael]

Smug. Also didn't root crazy. Didn't root for the USA hockey team in the Olympics.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

So they were.

[Michael]

I mean, his. His opinion means nothing.

[Comfortably Smug]

I think a lot of the Olympians were woke, and I think that we did a good job holding the line and holding them accountable, and that's why the U.S. olympic team won.

[Michael]

Well, I'm excited. I'm excited for the World Cup. I'm excited for the summer. It's going to be great weekend watching soccer.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, well, we've got a little something about that in the show. It turns out a lot of Euros have visited the United States of America for the first time. Are frankly shocked at what they found.

[Michael]

Civilization. They love America more than smug, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

The X stuff has been off the charts, and we've got plenty of it in this show. We also, there was a big congressional baseball game this week. We covered a little bit on Thursday's program. Well, it turns out Republicans, not surprisingly, have dominated six straight years, and they won again this week. 11 to 2 or something like that. And the big star from the game who made a diving Catch in left field, which was actually pretty sick.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Eric Schmidt, amazing play. Yeah, amazing play. Senator Eric Schmidt, he is going to be on the program today. So we've got a bunch of fun stuff, but there's also some hearings that happen on Capitol Hill. So much news going on, it's, it's hard to keep up with all of it. But these are things that we've talked about for like years on the Variety program that are now getting a little bit of accountability on Capitol Hill thanks to the House of Representatives Republicans that are looking into this. And one of these things is Act Blue.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

The other one was the Southern Poverty Law center, the place that was going to fight racism by creating it.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, that's one approach.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. So there was two hearings this week, the first one on ActBlue. Regina Wallace Jones, she's apparently the head Honcho over at ActBlue. And there was a fair amount of concern, we read about this in the New York Times, that she misled Congress in her last testimony about the veracity of ActBlue and what they do to prevent foreign donations and things like that. So she got all lawyered up before this thing. All lawyered up. And you'll see what we mean here in a minute. Let's start with clip two. I want to take a moment to highlight a section of an ActBlue employee training document. Your company's memo states, and I quote, if an otherwise legitimate donor uses a fake name, we would want to accept their donation end quotes. Can you confirm whether this is the advice that you give to your employees? On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer the question pursuant to my Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution. Okay. So if you didn't catch that, there was apparently a memo that said it

[Comfortably Smug]

was a training manual.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's like day one, you show up to work at ActBlue, it says if it's a fake donor, just take the money.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. For those of you who are new listeners to the program, we've covered ActBlue a lot because it is the primary payment processor for Democrats at all levels, federal, state, local, nonprofit, world.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's become, it's the beating heart of the left wing cash nexus.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes. It's why they have cash advantages on a candidate level and have for a decade. And it has come under some scrutiny obviously because there was a fair amount of concern, a lot of smoke about whether or not they were doing anything to prevent foreign contributions that get into Democratic candidates hands. That doesn't help because what the CEO of the outfit decided to do is take a fifth amendment on a pretty simple question in a training manual about whether they're instructed to process a payment over under a fake name or not. Seems pretty straightforward.

[Comfortably Smug]

Also, this is very much opinion, but if you look at this kind of behavior in, you know, a lot of fraudulent companies, like you hear about these big scandals of these, of these major companies that go bankrupt, and when it gets to a point where they're putting the illegal stuff in print, it means that like, the rot and corruption has been going on for such a while, they forgot that there's like no hesitancy to be like, just put the crime on paper. You know what I mean? It's not like your first day committing crimes that you're like, in the training manual, you say, just take the money, do the crime.

[Michael]

Yeah. Do the.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's not day one. That's like year 11. Things have gotten so lax. Like, it's been so easy scamming and doing illegal shit that you're like, I don't care. Just write on the paper, go do the crime. You know what I mean? Like, this is not like, well, oh, you caught the first infraction here.

[Michael]

And then you combine that fact, smug with no name, Democrats with zero personality who, like, you wouldn't give five bucks to it, a lemonade stand raising $10 million a quarter, and you start to wonder the provenance of some of these donations.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally. I mean, that's the thing that's I've always found just in politics, written art, everything sort of balances out at some point. When you see a totally uninterested blob of white bread and they somehow become an Internet sensation in terms of online giving, you're like, well, I don't.

[Michael]

Yeah, I don't get it.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't get it. Like, why is it that, like, Tal Rico is a pretty good example.

[Comfortably Smug]

Great example. Right?

[Josh Holmes]

We're like, very hard to get excited about somebody like Talarico, but he, I mean, generating millions upon millions. And it's all kind of because of Act Blue and the Democrat party's usage of it. So it's worth looking at fraud standards because it doesn't make sense. And she's got another opportunity in clip three.

[Chairman Jordan]

Let me just do one more. Did you weaken your fraud standards to help Democrats?

[Comfortably Smug]

On the advice of counsel, I respectfully

[Josh Holmes]

decline to answer the question pursuant to my fifth amendment rights under the Constitution. Well, that's a pretty tough question, right? Did you weaken your fraud standards to help Democrats? Can't answer it. That seems like a Pretty straightforward deal. Yes or no.

[Comfortably Smug]

And that's the thing is why today's episode is so enjoyable and why it absolutely is a Funtime Friday episode is like Holmes said, we've been saying all these separate disparate ideas and problems that we see and have bringing up for years and now we finally see the dots are getting connected. It turns out that like America doesn't just love giving to Democrats, they just Act Blue is like, oh, your name is John Doe. This call is coming from Xinjiang, China. And you'd like to send $10,000 to a candidate no one's ever heard of. Let's do it.

[Michael]

Democrats. Democrats would have you believe that this left wing ecosystem that funds their party to the hilt using foreign donations. Hansiorg Vice and Soros network and Singham, who's funding this China bullshit on AI

[Comfortably Smug]

dude, that is gonna be drop that

[Michael]

all this nonprofit foreign spending, doing things like putting ballot initiatives at the, at the states ahead of the election to see if they can drive liberal turnout that Act Blue is entirely impervious to this network that exists of foreign donation, money laundering into the United States. Act Blue is above board, but they want to answer a single question. In fact, she pled the fifth 22 times during this hearing.

[Josh Holmes]

22 times. That's an interesting thing. I wonder if there was any questions that she would answer. Let's check out clip one.

[SPLC President]

So I do have a series of

[Michael]

questions for you, but I want to

[SPLC President]

make sure I'm respectful.

[Michael]

Is it Ms. Jones or Ms. Wallace

[Josh Holmes]

Jones, on the advice of counsel,

[Comfortably Smug]

pursuant

[Josh Holmes]

to my fifth amendment rights under the Constitution.

[Michael]

Okay, wow. Okay. Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

And there you have it. Not a single thing. Wouldn't answer a single thing. That's amazing.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, seems totally legal. Totally fine.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm sure there's nothing to hide.

[Michael]

She seems smart and qualified for her job.

[Comfortably Smug]

And I do want to say again, a lot of credit to House Republicans. We've been talking about it for years. Folks online have been talking about it for years of the Democrat cash problem. When we say like there's all this smoke around, like you'd hear a news story like two years ago of there's an 80 year old grandmother like in New Hampshire who the FEC reports has like 240 transactions of donating to a Democrat candidate on a single day. And she's like, I'm a Russian Republican and I haven't given to them once. How is this happening? Yeah, all these weird little points of data are starting to get put together. House Republicans are on it. I wanna see people in Handcuffs. This is the time to do it. This is why Democrats are so scared. This is the beating heart of their machine. The cash. That's what it's all about. The cash and the power. They can't have one without the other. And we gotta go after it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's true. Well, Regina Wallace Jones isn't going to give it up herself. We're gonna have to do some more investigating because this lady 22 times declined to answer any questions in front of the committee. That wasn't the only hearing. The Southern Poverty Law center took their turn in the barrel. Yep. Recall a couple of months, maybe a month ago there was a story that broke about the SPLC which has long been. This just sort of turned into a crazy left wing partisan outfit. Originally established to fight racism but it just basically been naming people like Charlie Kirk as a white supremacist.

[Michael]

Just a cudgel of the left to silence conservative speech.

[Josh Holmes]

Anybody who is sort of making inroads in the body politic of America on the right hand side was immediately flagged by the SPLC as a racist.

[Comfortably Smug]

Again it became a part of the left wing machine in the sense that they can launder making anyone to the right of Bernie an enemy of the people by being like. The New York Times is reporting that this conservative organization Turning Point USA according to the SPLC has been designated a white supremacist organization. So they do that. They label anyone to the right of Bernie. The SPLC does as a white supremacist or a terrorist or a danger or they're spreading racist misinformation online and then every left wing journal can go out there and publish it and they can tar and feather that person publicly. They can get a person fired. They can make sure that a person's nonprofit gets no more money. They can cut them off. They could debank them. Like this was how the left operates.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Well then there was a story about how they were funding the Klan.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, they're like vertical integration.

[Josh Holmes]

We create the racism and then we fight it.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's it. And we collect all the money. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Which I think that's, that's a business model there. Anyway, our business, our man Brandon Gill and you heard him last Friday on the program, he's just a miracle worker. Well he's at it again in clip

[Brandon Gill]

for your organization said that restricting and banning abortion is a tool of the far. That the far right uses to maintain white supremacy. Do you believe that that pro lifers are white supremacists?

[SPLC President]

I believe that reproductive liberty is no

[Brandon Gill]

do you believe that pro lifers are white supremacists?

[SPLC President]

I will tell you what I believe

[Brandon Gill]

if you're asking yes or no.

[SPLC President]

I can't answer that question. Yes or no.

[Brandon Gill]

I don't think that pro lifers are white supremacists. Do you?

[Comfortably Smug]

This is why he's so good. Yes.

[SPLC President]

The thing is that reproductive liberty is a right that every woman should enjoy.

[Brandon Gill]

How many babies in the United States that are aborted or black? About 40% of abortions nationwide are of black babies. Blacks represent about 13% of the population. Does that sound like something a white supremacist would oppose?

[Comfortably Smug]

That's right.

[SPLC President]

What I would say again is that supports reproductive.

[Brandon Gill]

Calling somebody a white supremacist is a pretty serious charge, isn't it? I mean, I would be able to defend that if your organization says that. You clearly seem unable to.

[SPLC President]

Mr. Gill, I'm not sure why you would think I'm able to do anything.

[Brandon Gill]

You're the president of the splc, which labels pro lifers as racists. Well, does your organization just hurl around epithets like that without any justification?

[Comfortably Smug]

This is so strong. That is so. Dude, that's how it's done. That is. That is exactly what you want done. He executes it so perfectly because he doesn't like when the guy tries to wiggle out and be like, I believe in reproductive. It was a yes or no question. Like, stick to it. He's so succinct. He sticks to the script. He always brings questioning. That is all just extreme logic. None of this is being colored with opinion or any bullshit or trying to be cutesy. He's using it straight up. Question, answer, question, answer. Because all this left wing just falls apart in the face of basic reason.

[Michael]

And it's masterful and it's also overdue because not just the splc, there's a whole constellation of these left wing nonprofits, good government groups and all sorts of things that basically, to Smug's point earlier, are a works cited page for the New York Times to point to, to point, to peddle their bullshit and be like, well, you know, nonpartisan good government groups say, disgusting lie about Republicans, disgusting accusation about conservatives. They have an entire constellation of these bullshit artists. And so it's just great to see somebody like Brandon Gill calm to the mat.

[Josh Holmes]

It is so great. And I can say like firsthand that is 100% true. If you're ever making any inroads into where the left likes to live and a threat to their power structure in any way, they unleash A number of these SPLC type operators.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's the thing is it was a protection racket. The left essentially had a cod lock on the media and on social media, where on Twitter, if you said anything to the right of like, people forget. It was right before Elon bought the place where I remember I didn't even when the Hunter Biden computer stuff started coming out, I had a screenshot that was zoomed in on a stuffed animal. Just a photo of a stuffed animal from one of the Hunter Biden photos. And I got banned from Twitter because they had that lock on Twitter of where they were. Like we had a left wing good governance group say that this could be Russian disinformation and this is actually an attack on American sovereignty. Because you're sharing this.

[Michael]

Because Democrats attack these companies like Twitter back in the day.

[Comfortably Smug]

Bingo.

[Michael]

And they get them to use the SPLC and these other groups as part of their rules enforcement. So then they have policies and standards. People who work at these companies who get emails all day from left wing groups masquerading as good government groups or people who care about white supremacy. And the reality is they're a fucking cudgel of the Democrats. To silence speech online and not just silent speech, literally destroy the economy of. Right. Right wing media. I mean, they debank people. They make it so people can't run ads on their websites. This has been a hu problem in media forever.

[Comfortably Smug]

It.

[Josh Holmes]

It has. Well, I remember as a young chief of staff when I got my feet underneath me and was starting to make some progress and it became obvious that I was sort of making some progress on. On very various issues, they started filing just ethics complaints every week against me. It's so insidious, totally without any sort of merit.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

But the ethics committee has to like look at it. So I get calls all the time. My emails were like.

[Michael]

Let me guess, was it crew?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Michael]

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government or some whatever it is in Washington.

[Josh Holmes]

A Schumer staffer.

[Michael]

Yeah, right.

[Josh Holmes]

Was, was. And they would just file every week something against me that I'd have to deal with, hoping that they would slow me down from doing what it was that I was doing.

[Michael]

Because they work like the mafia.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

And that's the thing is again, all of this that you've just seen is connected. The act blew money. They round the money up, they distribute it to groups like this, to the SPLC to then tar and feather their enemies, maintain control. And like Duncan said, this is not just limited to like candidates, activists Folks working as Republicans, they go after the companies because they want to completely cut off the right wing ecosystem. That was such a joke for like 10 years is Democrats and libs online would be like, if you don't like it, go build your own. Because what they loved is as soon as someone would start a company, they would activate this whole thing, the tar and feather, that company that go to Google and they'd be like, did you know that the SPLC has labeled this as a white nationalist organization? Are you going to let Google Ads be run on that website? They get them cut off and they'd go to Visa and they'd be like, the SPLC has said that this website is actually a white supremacist organization. Are you going to let them process transactions and they get cut off from Visa? This is what they did for over a decade. And what they want to do ruthlessly again, they want to relentlessly destroy the right in any way possible. And it starts with going after your ability to speak. It goes after your ability to have any kind of monetary transactions. And this is why you need members like Brandon Gill going after the organizations, why you need these hearings that Chairman Jordan is doing to take down the money Machine. Act Blue. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Wonderful news. Well, they're not ready to give it up quite yet. Take a look at clip five.

[Chairman Jordan]

Mr. Ferrier. If you're trying to stop hate, why would you encourage people to attend a hate rally?

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, that's a good question.

[SPLC President]

The SPLC doesn't encourage people to attend hate rallies, Chairman Jordan. And if you're referring to any allegations in the indictment.

[Chairman Jordan]

Well, I just, I'm not assigned in general, I'm not saying it's one thing you've said you've had informants, you had field sources. If you have informants and field sources there, that's one thing. But the indictment says that these informants and field sources were encouraging other people to attend these hate rallies. And I'm saying, okay, so you don't have to answer that specifically, but is that a good thing in general?

[SPLC President]

Again, all the allegations in the indictment, Chairman Jordan, will be addressed.

[Chairman Jordan]

Do you wish you hadn't done the program? You said the program was successful, helpful, but now you're stopping it.

[SPLC President]

We stopped the program because we believe hate and extremism has migrated significantly online and into government agencies.

[Comfortably Smug]

Amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

That's big.

[Chairman Jordan]

That makes no sense.

[Michael]

What a fucking joke.

[Josh Holmes]

So just in case you weren't following along, they basically stopped a program that they say is designed to sort of fight racism. Because as this Gentleman. Alleges the racism is coming from the government.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And therefore Chairman Jordan is by inference.

[Comfortably Smug]

Can I tell you, the problem that SPLC guy is facing is the tightrope that he's walking is number one. He cannot be honest and be like, yeah, you know, it is. Our vertically integrated business model is that the demand for racism far outstrips the supply. So we just decided to fund the supply. Yeah, we decreased, actually increase the donation. So in a sense, it's a very profitable business model. I can't. I can't say that out loud because it's a success for me and I'm proud of this fact. But what he also has to do is not discourage donations. This is the whole cash cow is that he's got libs thinking that, like, racism is jumping out from every corner. So he can't be like, yeah, well, we canceled the program because it's pretty obvious the clan exists because we're paying for the clan. So he has to be like, actually, the racism is now in the government. You know what I mean?

[Josh Holmes]

Totally.

[Comfortably Smug]

And every dumb lib who's been giving to these people is like that. That's right. It's coming from Trump. You know, he has to keep the cash cow rolling.

[Josh Holmes]

It's embarrassing, but you can see in both of these hearings, they're absolutely ill accustomed to being held accountable for any of it. Right. So much so that the. I didn't watch all of the hearings, but I'm told that in the ACT Blue hearing, zero Democrats asked about the veracity of act.

[Comfortably Smug]

Incredible. Zero.

[Josh Holmes]

Now, I don't know, but if I was a Republican in Congress and there was a New York Times story that alleged that the operation that I have put my trust into as a candidate for office was doing illegal things and that their lawyers all quit because they saw the illegal things and warned them not to do the illegal things.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's a critical part of the story, is you never want all your lawyers to quit. Generally not. Not a good statement on the veracity.

[Josh Holmes]

But if that was true, I would, on behalf of my donors, if nothing else, ask some pretty pointy questions about the people who are running the operation. They don't care. They don't care.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's an incredible point. Every single Democrat member of Congress at that hearing is on ActBlue and they don't have any questions.

[Michael]

Just like they don't care about the fraud at the daycares in Minnesota.

[Josh Holmes]

Right.

[Michael]

Or the hospice facilities in California, or you, you know, the usaid. Usaid, yeah. They like the crime the only problem for them is getting caught.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's true. It's just unbelievable. Well, it leads us to our question of the day and when you like and subscribe to the rivers, this is

[Comfortably Smug]

a good fun time Friday.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, we read all of your comments and get back to the very next episode. In this case, it'll be on Tuesday. Our question is what question would make you plead the fifth? And I think by writing the answer that you sort of wave the point of the fifth. But, but it's a fun fun and

[Comfortably Smug]

you can say in general what question do you think people would have? The fifth point.

[Josh Holmes]

Like what, what do you think? It's so you don't incriminate yourself.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's why you never want to incriminate yourself when you're playing the fifth.

[Josh Holmes]

So like and subscribe and do all that. And when we come back, the latest insane excuse for Platinum's Nazi tattoo from a top Biden official. This is for OGs on the Ruthless variety program. We got a little treat for you. A real throwback with Ron Klain. Little Klain to fame. Action Plus Europeans discovering America a whole bunch more. And Eric Schmidt. Ready for this.

[Michael]

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[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so for the OGs, a real reward for you here in the ruthless variety program. Back when we were audio only, we played. We had a bunch of bumper music for the games that we played. And one of those games was Clane to fame. Do you remember exactly how we played? Oh, you had to distinguish what were words out of Ron Klain's mouth, I think which tweet was versus Jennifer Rubin, who is then a columnist at the Washington Post, because it became so obvious to everybody at D.C. that she just wrote whatever it is that he told her when he was Biden's chief of staff.

[Comfortably Smug]

Totally.

[Josh Holmes]

That we played a game to see if you could tell the difference. Yeah, it was awesome.

[Michael]

I think she just read his Twitter feed and then wrote her article once a week. Yeah, I think easiest job in Washington.

[Josh Holmes]

But we found the old music. We gotta play it before we get into this next story. Audio 1.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Don't you know who I am?

[Josh Holmes]

Ollie Wood.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

End Remember my name Clayne Brain worm takes forever man she has pipes I feel engagement forever Broken brain takes with no shame Hot takes up to 11 saving Joe Biden from blame Clay. It's gonna live forever, Ronnie. Remember my name.

[Michael]

Remember, remember, remember, remember. That's pretty creative.

[Comfortably Smug]

I wrote the lyrics to that.

[Michael]

Oh, you did?

[Comfortably Smug]

Swear I did. It's true.

[Michael]

I remember you putting your back into that.

[Josh Holmes]

No, I do.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, the emails still exist.

[Michael]

Not true.

[Comfortably Smug]

Chairman Jordan subpoena them.

[Josh Holmes]

So that was a fun game. And I honestly forgot about Ron Klain, but he popped back up last year. He was in the news once because Biden put him on the board of the Holocaust Museum. Very important thing. But he again demonstrated such unbelievable partisanship over the years. The Trump administration was like, nah, you're not in that. And there was all kinds of consternation from the libs about that.

[Comfortably Smug]

And we're about to find out why the Trump administration was vindicated in that choice. Right.

[Josh Holmes]

So Ron Klain shows back up and what does he do? Well, he wants to weigh into Graham Platner's Nazi tattoo, of course, as somebody who represents the Jewish community enough to be regarded as a board member at the Holocaust Museum. Why wouldn't you start hand waving away Nazi tattoos.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Right.

[Comfortably Smug]

There's no way he hand waved it away, did he?

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, he certainly. He certainly did. This was after he was responding to the rjc, the Republican Jewish Coalition. Klain, in a comment on the RJC's Instagram post, declared, this is just a partisan attack. The tattoo was a skull and crossbones to remember his fallen comrades from service in Afghanistan.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's. First of all, the most insane.

[Josh Holmes]

First of all, Platinum was in Iraq. He wasn't in Afghanistan.

[Michael]

So I'm glad he's up on the facts.

[Comfortably Smug]

But, like, that's just such a despicable level of insanity.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

Because the thing is, is that, like, it's. It's layers of offensive because it's like you are not just besmirching what happened in the Holocaust, but you're saying that, like, we, we honor fallen American troops with ss.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, Totenkov, which, by the way, we know that Graham Platner called it his Totenkoff. This is not an in dispute any longer. There's not even your furthest reaches of left wing lunacy are like, yeah, he got it. He, he's changed his life. He suffered all kinds of things and was an alcoholic and all kinds of things, but now it's different. So he's changed the Totenkoff. They don't disp Dispute the fact that the Totenkopf exists.

[Michael]

I mean, this might be the most morally bankrupt. That's the defense of Graham Platner I've heard yet.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Michael]

I mean, to say it's.

[Comfortably Smug]

He.

[Michael]

He got it to remember his fallen soldiers. Well, then why did he cover it up?

[Josh Holmes]

Right?

[Michael]

He. He was embarrassed by the fact he had a Nazi tattoo and covered it up. So are you saying Ron, he has now gotten rid of the tattoo that was there to honor those people?

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, is that what it is, that they covered it up?

[Michael]

It's just not so bacon. It makes no. And here's the other thing. You could just take the pitch, like, you don't have to break that comment. No one is asking Ron Klain to weigh in on this thing. The guy who, like, ate shit with Joe Biden and is not really in the game anymore. Why did he feel that it was necessary to do this? I mean, this is the state of the Democratic Party.

[Comfortably Smug]

Dude, I'm glad you said that, because I was like, what could be the motivation to do this? Is it, like. Because I know a lot of Biden people, after he got wrecked, had to. Had to fall out of the campaign. They Couldn't find work. I was like, is Ron Klain. Like, does he just need the money? Like, is he trying to get out there? He's like, ron Klain's still out here. You know, like, give me a call, wire me some money. No, actually, he's now the chief legal officer at Airbnb.

[Michael]

You're kidding me.

[Comfortably Smug]

Think about that.

[Josh Holmes]

Wait, what?

[Comfortably Smug]

Think about that. He's the chief legal officer at Airbnb. And so when I saw this, was

[Josh Holmes]

that just because they need somebody to evict Republicans.

[Comfortably Smug]

And that's the thing.

[Josh Holmes]

What's the point of having him do that?

[Comfortably Smug]

This was such a, like, old Silicon Valley thing.

[Michael]

Yeah, the Obama era.

[Comfortably Smug]

The Obama era, where they were like, first off, when Obama won in 2012, we had to suffer through everything. Publication being like, the Obama tech geniuses. Oh, yeah, totally crack the code on how every human works. And Coca Cola will now hire them because maybe the same way that they could get voters in Iowa to show up, they can get you to buy a Coca Cola. You know what I mean? Like, the Obama people ate good and got rich off of snake oiling the shit out of that.

[Josh Holmes]

It was like a Fortune 50. Who's who of Fortune 50. You just go in for a few.

[Comfortably Smug]

They're like, oh, you work for Obama. You fetch coffees.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Come on.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Comfortably Smug]

Join the C Suite.

[Michael]

It wasn't that Obama was like a once in a generation campaigner. It was the most.

[Josh Holmes]

It was their brilliance. Yeah, I didn't know he was at Airbnb.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's the thing. So, like, Silicon Valley companies for a while were like, I guess you just have to, like, hire anyone who worked for a Democrat in the White House. And then, like, of all people to hire Biden's people. Because, like, I mean, they got. They got destroyed and they didn't know what they were doing. But to me, it's extra offensive because this guy comes out and says, no, it's not a Nazi tattoo. This is to honor fallen American soldiers. If your Airbnb, you have to fire him. You have to get rid of him. You don't want to be associated with people like that. And as I mentioned in our first segment, there was a time when left wing organizations would just attack and try to destroy anyone on the right for any reason. I think this is actually a valid reason. And I encourage everyone to shoot an email to contact PressBnB and ask, why is Ron Klain their chief legal officer when he says that a Nazi SS tattoo honors American soldiers? I think that's a good question.

[Michael]

Dude, he's not just defending Platner's campaign.

[Josh Holmes]

This is from the Jewish Insider article.

[Michael]

He's advising Platner's campaign. How does that happen? Apparently Mamdani too and a bunch of other left wing lunatics while being chief legal officer at Airbnb.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't get it.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's interesting.

[Josh Holmes]

The only thing I can think of is that like, the left is trying to shut down Airbnb. I like, I like Airbnb because they've made all the right enemies. Why you have Ron Klain.

[Comfortably Smug]

Huge mistake.

[Josh Holmes]

Battling is crazy, but he's moonlighting in the furthest reaches of the left wing.

[Comfortably Smug]

And that's the thing, is this is an easy fire. It's like, wait a minute, you're our chief legal officer. Why are you like out here? Rookie campaigns.

[Josh Holmes]

Schlossberg.

[Michael]

Yeah, Schlossberg. He's advising Schlossberg.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude, you can't imagine what his coldness looks like in the afternoon. Holy cats. Well, that's something. That's something. Anyway, do with that what you will. All right, so the Euros. We have enjoyed all week on X watching Euros come to America for the World cup and travel the country and see things that they just can't comprehend. America, because it's just so fantastic. And I've actually been gratified by the response that they, they're like, holy cats, I can't believe how cool this is. And you're like, yeah, dude, I mean, it's America.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

It's America.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's good stuff.

[Josh Holmes]

Like we have air conditioning and everything. It's unbelievable. Anyway, graphic one, if you pop this up, dude, M l, M a o. This is a gas station. And what he, what he's obviously reacting to here is Buc Ees, which is a truck stop where they have, you

[Comfortably Smug]

know, it's like a gas station and it's an everything store.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

But it's also got like 25 gas fill up pump pumps.

[Michael]

Buc EE's has 25 fill up stations and I mean, enough cured meats and beef jerkies for an army. As a Euro walking in a place like this, you. It must be like, you know in the Soviet Union when they saw American grocery stores for the first time.

[Josh Holmes]

No way.

[Michael]

This is incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

People can live like this.

[Michael]

You can get everything in abundance, exactly what you want. It's a foreign concept to them.

[Comfortably Smug]

This was like two months ago. It was wonderful content on X where it was like people in Japan discovered how awesome American barbecue is and we're just. Everyone loved this because it was just like, positive content. Whereas, like every day the left on Twitter is just like, america sucks and I hope it falls apart. And we need communism.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally.

[Comfortably Smug]

And then you see other people from the world see America, and they're like, wow, the barbecues are awesome. And now you have European people visiting here for the World cup. And they're like, holy shit. Air conditioning in abundance.

[Josh Holmes]

It's been super funny. Clip 8. They'll fly over at a stadium.

[Brandon Gill]

Amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

And this dude is absolutely thrilled. First time experiencing this flyover. Americans do before big sporting events. And I have to say, this goes kind of hard. I mean, it's just. It's stuff that we take for granted.

[Michael]

Absolutely.

[Josh Holmes]

They're like, oh, my gosh, no way.

[Michael]

Well, especially like the college football culture and stadiums, they don't really have that in Europe. I mean, they've got obviously European soccer and stuff. But like, I saw a clip from Jordan Hare, the Auburn Stadium.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Of all these Euros packed in and the bald eagles. Fly eagles, and they're doing the war eagle. And these people are just. Just losing their minds. It's. It's an incredible contrast because, like, the modern American left doesn't want to have kids here because climate change.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right, Right.

[Michael]

And you got Euros over here just to watch a sport. And they're like, I love America. I want to move here.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's totally true. Here's another one. Elsa. Another visitor who posts graphic to. She's got a sandwich and some fries there.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Whoa.

[Josh Holmes]

Why? Wait a second, that. Is that real?

[Comfortably Smug]

Was this sent by Ashbrook and did he fall for AI?

[Josh Holmes]

I feel like that's gotta be AI.

[Michael]

No. Well, she's taking pictures. I don't know if that's what she looks like. She looks like a supermodel.

[Comfortably Smug]

Our producer's been one shot by AI.

[Josh Holmes]

Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. Well, if you're telling me that you have. This is a real lady who has come to our country.

[Comfortably Smug]

This is.

[Josh Holmes]

Where is she imported from?

[Michael]

Young men, if you see this woman in Indiana, you need to talk to her.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I got an inroad too, because she says, why did no one tell me Ranch sauce is like crack Europe. We need ranch asap. So what I would advise is give her the ranch.

[Comfortably Smug]

Give her the ranch.

[Josh Holmes]

Give her the ranch. Whatever she asks.

[Michael]

I saw some of her content she was going across.

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh, did you?

[Michael]

Indiana.

[Comfortably Smug]

That was my second guest. This is either AI or this is an of model who, like, they throw this kind of like bait content out there. They're like, I am from Europe. Oh, my God. Wrench is so amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

It works.

[Comfortably Smug]

And that's why it probably works. They get suckers like this production team over here who will get one, or Ash Brock who get one shot by AI or that bait Grock.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Is this real?

[Comfortably Smug]

Grok? Is this real?

[Michael]

Our poor friend.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my gosh. All right, so Democrats again, great contrast with the Euros they're coming in. But there's this New York 12 congressional race that I think, Duncan, you may have flagged where it's a democratic debate. This is the one with Schlossberg in it.

[Michael]

Schlossberg's in it. He might not actually be the craziest person in the whole.

[Josh Holmes]

Which is a wild.

[Michael]

It's a real Star wars bar. You got George Conway.

[Comfortably Smug]

George Conway is in this.

[Michael]

And they asked them during their debate, who you rooting for? For the World Cup.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Also hilarious question. Only in a place like New York would it like. The answer is obviously America in most places across the United States. But in New York, you gotta ask.

[Josh Holmes]

Gotta ask.

[Michael]

And this chick, Nina Schwalb. Schwalbe.

[Josh Holmes]

Schwalbe.

[Michael]

Schwalbe.

[Josh Holmes]

Schwalbe.

[Michael]

I don't want to ruin the clip.

[Josh Holmes]

Clip 9.

[Comfortably Smug]

What team are you supporting in the World Cup?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Team cdc. Good answer.

[Michael]

How is that a good answer? I saw this clip on social media and I was like, what the hell is that? Wait, Team cdc.

[Josh Holmes]

Is she talking about the Centers for Disease Control?

[Comfortably Smug]

Correct.

[Josh Holmes]

And why is she talking about the Centers for Disease Control?

[Michael]

Well, number one, because the left doesn't know ball. But number two, she is like the totem of like radical lib. Brainworm feminism. She worked for the Biden administration. Apparently something with fucking Covid in Africa funded through usaid. So now she's running for Congress and this has become her entire personality.

[Comfortably Smug]

That is awful.

[Josh Holmes]

Wait, she has six years after Covid, a time when most Americans are like, please don't bring that up again. She's like.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's like her and Taylor Lorenz. That's like the Taylor Lorenz back. She's like the two people who believe we. We still need lockdowns. It's insane.

[Josh Holmes]

Cdc. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. No, no, no. Okay, there is a little bit. She all went global vax, Globe vax. And all of government effort to accelerate US Vaccine delivery and assistance around the world. Schwalbe, who also co chaired who.

[Comfortably Smug]

UNESCO Research Network. Yeah, there it is.

[Michael]

It reminds me, this is.

[Comfortably Smug]

This is.

[Michael]

This is sort of like an artifact of the dumbest period in American history, which was Trump Trump 1.0 and then like Covid and lockdowns where the libs really lost their minds. And it reminded me of an old tweet. Do you remember Brian Krasenstein? He was one of those Russiagate truther guys.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael]

He built his whole following on like. Like Trump in Russia colluded, you know, yada, yada, yada. Just bullshit for years. Just getting millions of likes and retweets. Do you remember the Super bowl in 2019? He tweeted, while many of you are likely yelling, go Patriots or go Rams, I'm yelling, go Robert Mueller and the rule of law.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my God, these people are such nerds. Remember that.

[Comfortably Smug]

That is such a sad artifact. And it's crazy that this tells you about the state of New York City that, like, you have the entire spectrum of insanity from the left in one. You've got George Conway there, you've got Schlossberg there. He's like, oh, I'm related to the Kennedys and I'm Instagram and I'm criminally insane. You know, like, you've got that there too. No, it's true.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like if they weren't running for Congress, you would think it's a lineup of people who are gonna be institutionalized.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, 100%.

[Josh Holmes]

You're like, these are unwell folks. But this is. Sued the.

[Michael]

This is the Democrat.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's them.

[Josh Holmes]

This is what they did too, right there in New York. Okay, boys, we got a new variety section, but first we're doing a line change. Oh, yeah, kind of a shift change.

[Comfortably Smug]

Hashbrooks tapped in. Yeah. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And all of a sudden, we promised that you'd show.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

And here you are.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

I'm here, aren't I?

[Josh Holmes]

But we. We made an even deal. We sent the old man packing to bring. To bring you back in. Well, there's a couple things you need to be aware of. This one caught our eye. Coors. You know, they had a tall boy, now they have a taller boy that they have just announced and launched. That's the graphic right there. It's a limited edition 18 inch tall Taller Boy canister that holds and insulates three stacked 12 ounce cans of beer.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

Gigantic.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

So you can get that. It's part of their FIFA World cup themed campaign, where, of course. What?

[Comfortably Smug]

You know, I think this is the only good FIFA related thing that's ever happened, in my opinion.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, if one beer is good, three is much better.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, I mean, I don't. So, you know, everyone, please drink responsibly. I Personally, I love Coors.

[Josh Holmes]

Do you?

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, it's great. And it's. It's a Colorado beer. You know what I mean? And Coors Light is among the best beers to drink a lot of in one sitting. And, you know, college age me sees this and I'm just shotgunning. That's my first response is. And, and, and also, Duncan is, like, expert when it comes to shotgunning.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, he is.

[Comfortably Smug]

He's got to do this 100. I mean, it's a three. It's three beers.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, we still open up all of our live shows with him shotgunning a beer. And it seems like we need a taller boy now to see how that works.

[Comfortably Smug]

100%. Yeah. Production team, let's get some of those.

[Josh Holmes]

Let's get some taller boys in here and let's see if the old man can.

[Comfortably Smug]

I guarantee he can.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

Yeah, he just. He just opens up and it's like you can pour it out just as fast as he can drink it.

[Josh Holmes]

I love it. All right, we got to get to your comments when you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety Program. We read all of them and get back to you the very next episode, which is what we're doing right here on the Ruthless Variety program. And we asked on Thursday what would a Dem candidate have to do to get dropped by the party? Platner's putting it to the chat.

[Comfortably Smug]

He's trying to figure it out.

[Josh Holmes]

He's trying to get there. But we opened it up to ask you and do that. We always start with a voice.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

Okay, first one. From a great American listener to the Variety program, Scott Sloan. Scott writes, what can a Democrat do to get dropped from a ticket? Agree with Trump.

[Josh Holmes]

That pretty much sums it. Up. Sums it up. Good work, Scott. All right, coming to smuggles.

[Comfortably Smug]

Comment two is from LeBeau Sabre. They say for question of the day, a Dem would be run out of town if they said this. The Ruthless podcast with the upstanding gentleman of comfortably smug John Ashbrook, Josh Holmes. With Michael Duncan in a small supporting role. Duncan needs to catch Stray knows how to have a lot of fun. While discussing the week's political news in a thoughtful, nuanced, and common sense way, the Democrat party really needs to take a hard look and ask ourselves what makes them so popular. I think that's the best possible take.

[Josh Holmes]

That is. I think they'd get thrown out for that.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, that should do it.

[Josh Holmes]

I think that might be right. All right, comment three, this is Uncle Paul persists the question of the day. Apparently the only prerequisite For a Democrat candidate to be dropped from a race is to be the incumbent President of the United States. Not even answering all the questions in a debate will save you a good old fashioned blasts at Biden. Yeah, I miss those.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

I do too.

[Josh Holmes]

Fantastic, Uncle Paul. I love every second of it. I know. The World cup is kicking off, which means you gotta have some Zbiotics around for those of you who are enjoying or if you're having a taller boy, that's right, you need your Zebiotics because it is a game changing pre alcohol drink that we use right here on the Ruthless variety program. Don't we, Smuggles?

[Comfortably Smug]

We do. And a simple reason why is because it works. You see, lots of people, people think that if you're going to have a big night out when you get home after having a few, you have to chug a Gatorade or you have to drink four glasses of water and none of that works. And you always feel terrible the next day because it's not that you're dehydrated. What happens is that when you have some alcohol, your stomach breaks it down. There's these toxic byproducts. That's what's making you feel bad. But Zbiotics knocks it right out.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yup.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

Developed by PhD scientists. You gotta give it a try. You won't be disappointed because we always say there's no tomorrow without Zbiotics today.

[Josh Holmes]

Exactly right, Johnny. Exactly right. You gotta go to zbiotics.com ruthless to learn more. And you get 15% off of your first order when you do. When you use Ruthless at the checkout, Zebiotics is backed by a 100% money back guarantee. So if you're unsatisfied for any reason, they'll refund your money, no questions asked. Remember, head to zebiotics.com ruthless and use the code ruthless at the checkout for 15% off. All right, fellas, well, I think it's time for an interview. Want to welcome back one of our absolute favorites. He's in line for a jacket here at some point, without a doubt, three or four times. But he is absolutely one of our favorites. He's a real hero this week.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

Sure is.

[Josh Holmes]

Real hero. Very pleased to welcome Eric Schmidt. How are you, sir?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

I'm great. It's great to be back with the fellas.

[Josh Holmes]

You had a big week.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, yeah, I'm here. I'm a little, I'm a little scarred up and bloodied up. That's my first media appearance with whatever this is on my nose from the game. But what a Blast, man.

[Josh Holmes]

So for those of you who did not catch the news on this, and you can either be a sports fan or a politics fan and have consumed this. So I feel like it's everywhere. Let's. Let's play this. Clip. Clip six. Really a prime June night.

[Announcer]

That one struck to look left field.

[Michael]

And what a dive.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yes.

[Michael]

Whoa. What a. Unbelievable.

[Josh Holmes]

Amazing catch down.

[Comfortably Smug]

Unbelievable. A diving grab.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Oh, man. Well, I didn't even know I was. My nose was bleeding and I didn't even know that. And fluer, they all, you know, they came out and, you know, to give me a high five and like, your nose is bleeding. And I was like, oh. Then I just started wiping it on my pants. Let's go. Let's just keep going, you know?

[Josh Holmes]

Absolutely. The ball player move.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

I didn't. I mean, I didn't. I didn't know I was going to get to it. Interestingly, he was a lefty, and his first swing, he looked a little late. There was something about it. And I moved over just a couple of steps.

[Michael]

Did you really?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

And maybe that was the difference. But.

[Josh Holmes]

But, yeah, interesting.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

No, but it was cool. It was. And also, like, I don't hear anything out there. You just, like, locked in and focused. And after I caught it, I just happened to hear somebody. No way. He caught that. So that's why I stood up and held the glove up like. No, I caught that.

[Josh Holmes]

I got.

[Michael]

Now I got to ask you, though, as a politician, what. What it's like to be viral for something that's not politics.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

It's awesome. Well, I mean, as I think I've told you guys, this is what I love. This is what I really wanted to do with my life, okay? Like, I wanted to be in a major league outfield in front of 35,000 people. So it is awesome to be on Sports center, you know, top 10 plays.

[Josh Holmes]

Can we talk about that for a second? I mean, those days you thought were past to be Sports center top 10.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Well, speak for yourself.

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, evidently, you're right.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

No, no, no. I would not have put that on the, like, the old bucket list. You know, it was outside the realm. But, I mean, look, you guys, I'm a huge baseball fan, so to have, like, Tony LaRusso texting me this morning that, I mean. And I will be sending that to Pooh Holson Edmonds.

[Michael]

Rolling.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, I will be. But yeah, it's gotten, like. It's gone outside. Just the political. Yeah. Broken payment, so. Which. There are worse things to have your 15 minutes, I guess for. Right. 100.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, the congressional baseball game has become a tradition, obviously. Six years in a row.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Republicans have won. I feel like there's no threat to that anytime soon.

[Michael]

Mercy rule, maybe. We need. We may need to look at that.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

No. Yeah, I want. And when to share comes on board. I want to win. 100 to nothing. Okay. But no, like, it's a bit. It's a bit of a dynasty now. I mean, I think the teams are relatively set. I don't think they've recruited, you know.

[Josh Holmes]

You don't think Del Rico's gonna put the battle. I hope he doesn't get there, but even if he did, I don't think he's gonna help.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

A lot of fun, actually to watch, but I don't think they have anyone on the horizon. And we have to share a. Coming with a good core already, so. And that's fun. Honestly, for me, I didn't expect the camaraderie you get in the practices. And it's very early those practices in the morning. You had Fluger on. I'm sure he's talking about it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

And for me in the Senate, I think people, a lot of people think we interact all the time. We do not. Like, you're kind of in your own world. And so to be there with a lot of House members in the morning, just getting to know people and then

[Josh Holmes]

you remind them that they're House members,

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

you know, a little bit when my driver drops me off, there's a little subtle reminder. No, no, I love. I love our house partners.

[Josh Holmes]

So. Good.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

No, but it's fun. And then, you know, and then to have those moments, you know, like the first year having the bases loaded triple and then Flugers play last year in this and you're in the dugout and you're just being, you know, teammates. And that's fun.

[Josh Holmes]

Playing in an MLB stadium and with a real crowd.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, that's dreams come true.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

And you brought the glove with you.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Oh, yeah.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

This does not look like a brand new glove, this glove. I'm thinking of my Wilson a 2000 sitting in my closet.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

That I had for a long time.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

The old rolling six finger here. And I've had this for a long time. In fact, when I was a. It was the summer after my freshman year in high school. I mowed lawns all summer to save up to buy this glove. And I remember it was like a Rawlings outlet store in Branson, Missouri. We were like on vacation.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yes.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

And I bought this glove and had it in high school. And College. And then when I started, you know, this thing, I got it restrung, it played again sports for, oh, yeah, 40 bucks or whatever it was. Yeah. And. And so, yeah, I've had the glove for a long time, and it's.

[Josh Holmes]

It's amazing.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

You never thought it would be a web gem?

[Comfortably Smug]

No.

[Josh Holmes]

That glove's a famous club now.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah. 30 years ago, I had dreams of that, but I did not think getting it restrung, it played against sports that somehow would be a highlight on SportsCenter.

[Josh Holmes]

Did Cooperstown ask for that bad boy?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

You know, we're still waiting for that call, but when it comes, we'll send it along with the uniform and all the blood and the dirt all over it. We'll send it there.

[Josh Holmes]

There should be. We have, like, its own thing.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Authentication number. Yeah, all of that.

[Josh Holmes]

I love that. Well, on behalf of the Ruthless Variety Program, we'd like to sign our very first nil deal, so.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Well, we appreciate this. And by the way, after a tough night, please drink Celsius. He's a pitch man. Can we reach out to Celsius? What else do we have in this room? Rawlings. Rawlings is based in St. Louis.

[Michael]

What's going on?

[SPLC President]

1.

[Josh Holmes]

And remember, there's no tomorrow without zbiotics today.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

I was gonna say we should have some bush light.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Well, I will show you that.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, there we go.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

There we go.

[Josh Holmes]

There we go.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

I may or may not have crushed several bush lights after that.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. So what do you guys do? I mean, it's got to be a celebration because you guys put a lot of work into. It's months.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Oh, yeah. Well, every. Everybody does something a little bit different. We actually turn it into a big office thing. So my. My wife and my daughters flew in. So they come in. We had the. The red shirts, the. The. The class that I came in, we had them seated with all of us. So Katie Britt was there and Pete Ricketts and Ted Bud. And then our. Our. Our state team comes in.

[Josh Holmes]

Awesome.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

And so we do kind of like an office sort of retreat. And then afterwards we rent out a place and. And have fun. Yeah. Honestly, just trying to be myself at this point.

[Josh Holmes]

You're, like, mending wounds, though, right?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, I know. That was a little, you know. Yeah.

[Michael]

Did you get checked out by the medical staff for maybe?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

No, I came in and it was like a triage situation. They were, like, checking my nose to make sure I didn't break it. They were putting antiseptic or whatever on my elbow.

[Josh Holmes]

What's the name of the old senate doctor. I forget the guy's name, but he's probably out there like, oh, boy. Like, we gotta put piece this guy.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Well, then I had. And then I had a couple, and I think it was Luttrell. He's like, don't take that blood off his face. Don't take that off his face. Oh, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Latrell's like, yes.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

He's like, he wants those photos. I'm like, I don't know. Maybe my wife will think this is kind of hot. I'm just keep.

[Josh Holmes]

She's like, no, just wipe that off.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, just. That's kind of gross. So. But you get.

[Comfortably Smug]

You.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

You want them to work fast because you got to get back out.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

You got to get back out there

[Josh Holmes]

and close that thing out.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

That's right. But it's funny because my. My daughters are there, my teenage daughters, and they're not, you know, impressed with much of any of this that I do.

[Josh Holmes]

Anything that you.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

But the MVP thing, they. They actually thought that was kind of cool.

[Josh Holmes]

Is that right?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

So it was all worth it. That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, so, yeah, you have so many, so few opportunities at that. That stage in development to impress a daughter.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah. I mean, they're not coming home and asking about, hey, how's the road to housing bill coming along, dad, they don't ask that. Oh, the rescissions package. That's great, dad. Tell us more. No, they don't do any of that.

[Josh Holmes]

Saw you on tv.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Boring.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I know.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, I'll. I literally go to, like, the studio. I'll be in the basement, or I'll go to Studio in St. Louis and come home and. And Jamie will be like, hey, dad was just on. And they're like, oh, yeah, that's great.

[Comfortably Smug]

You know, so they're not.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

They're not watching it on replay. Promise?

[Josh Holmes]

Absolutely. Love it. Well, listen, we follow everything that you do, and you're one of our absolute favorites. One of the reasons why he's our absolute favorite is that when you became a senator, you obviously, first and foremost represent everything Missouri, which you've never lost, and you've never lost sight of any of that. And then secondarily, you find things that you are acutely interested in, like college athletics.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, right.

[Josh Holmes]

And you're like, tell me more about that.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

That.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, right. And so we watched first as an AG Deal with everything that you dealt with. So we were like, this guy's got some horsepower. Like, he's got stuff. But then you get here, and obviously college athletics is in a Complete mess. And you're like, well, let me learn, Let me take a year to learn everything that there is to learn about this. And now you've started to come up with solutions.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, well, if you would have asked me. So I think college sports, I mean, you guys like sports. I think it's one of the few things actually that still brings us together. We need more of that.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

And so it's pretty special in, in college athletics, college football. I mean, these are American institutions. They're very uniquely American. And so what you see now is this landscape has shifted and it's, it's very chaotic and it's on the brink of having a situation where when college football previously had sort of subsidized all the other non revenue sports, the women's sports, Olympic sports, that's at risk. Because if you're losing money in your college football program or all of your money is going to your college football program, you're just not going to have all those other sports and they're going to become club sports and they're not going to be scholarships. And so you have half a million student athletes in this country. Those opportunities will go away for many of them. Not all, but many. And so we're at a point now that if you would have asked me a couple years ago, does Congress have a role in any of this, I would have been very skeptical. Right. But I've been convinced that, that the only entity on the planet that can do something about it and grant antitrust exemption status to the NCAA or some other governing body is Congress. And that's what needs to happen on two fronts. You've got sort of the governance piece, which is like unlimited transfers, there's no eligibility. I mean, the NCAA can't even say to this Texas Tech quarterback, you gambled and you can't play. Right. And so that's a problem.

[Josh Holmes]

No enforcement, nothing.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

You can't enforce anything through the course of the last decade in litigation. They're essentially toothless. So it would say you get, you get lawsuit protection or liability protection to go do that. And so you get to transfer once for free. You can still make money, but you have five years of eligibility from your 19 or graduate from high school. So that kind of structure is important. And then on the revenue side, look, the NBA has half the audience of college football and twice the revenue.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

In 1961, the sports broadcasting act came along to give protection to those leagues to negotiate, which would otherwise be considered collusion. They can collectively negotiate. And so what we're saying Is college football can do that to the conferences, can voluntarily do it. I look, I'm a Mizzou guy, love SEC football. That is what I watch on Saturdays for the most part. And 67% of the eyeballs are on the SEC and Big Ten. So those conferences have a different view of some of this. But I, if they're going to pool, I want it to be voluntary. Right. But you can at least create a pathway to say you get that same protection if you guys want to pool your media rights. And I think that would help grow the pie. So if college football is 4 billion all in now and the NBA's 8 billion, well, you know, I don't know. Is it 8, is it 7, is it 10? But it's more than what it is now. And that money, that revenue can help subsidize those women's sports Olympics.

[Michael]

Is that an argument you guys are making to the Big Ten in the SEC about this deal? Because they got their own TV deals. Obviously they're very proud of them, lots of revenue, but they are the 800 pound gorilla at this moment.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, I've talked to both of them and, and Greg Sankey just because of Missouri. Right. We talk all the time. And, and I don't want Good guy, by the way. Yeah. I have a great relationship with them. I don't want them to feel like they're being forced anything. Which is why this isn't mandatory. There were some ideas previous. It was like everybody's got to be in this thing. I don't think that's the right way to approach it. So. And if it's going to work ultimately the way it should, those two conferences need to be a part of it. So there has to be a reason for them to do it. And look, the SEC for example, they're going to blow out the next deal, the next TV contract they get if, if nothing changes. Right. Is going to be massive. And so in order for them to join this, they have to feel like it's going to be at least as good as what they would get on their own. And I think there is a way to do that and that's really what we're working on. So. But a lot of the attention has not been on the revenue side as much as the governance side. But I do think those two issues are kind of inextricably linked.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

What about some of the other things like you hear a lot of people complaining about transfer portal is open all the time, all year long. Do you think there's a way to address that in legislation or some of these other issues. Yeah, because coach is talking about.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Right. Because right now the portal opens up on December 1st. And think about that.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

It's before the playoff, really.

[Michael]

Bo Prabula left Penn State to go to Mizzou right before their. Their run into the College Football Playoff. You know, and it's like, that's sort of a tough way of doing it.

[Josh Holmes]

The timing is ridiculous.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

No. And then, you know, so I think that lining up that calendar is something we're aiming to get at, too, where the football season would end. I think in the legislation, January 8, that's also a starting point then, for coaches. So the. What's been referred to as kind of the Lane Kiffin rule, coaches wouldn't be able to leave until after the end of the season, too, to kind of get it somewhat close to what the NFL does. Right. So you have a season for everything. And. And I think that can work. I think that you. You maximize scheduling under the legislation. If you had a unified right seal, that would be a potential outcome, too. But. But I think the most tangible benefit in the short term is this portal issue. You talk to these coaches, and I talked to Coach Drink and others. They got these guys for, like, six months.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Brandon Gill]

Totally.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Even. And there's. I've heard stories. This is not Mizzou. I've heard stories that, like, you know, the going rate for an SEC cornerback is, you know, 250 grand. About that was last year. That, you know, if a player blows through that and says, I'm not getting on the plane unless I get another 50 grand, there's nothing.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

Nothing.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

It's just the Wild West. So there's no contracts. And there's a lot of agents that are kind of nefarious actors here, too.

[Michael]

Very opaque system.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yes. And they're profiting off this churning. And it's not really the best situation for the student athletes either. I also think it's important to have in here, which we do, protections for student athletes, too. You can't lose your scholarship because of an injury. You have healthcare while you're in school and for five years after. Right. Those kind of things, I think, help make this beneficial for everybody. And so I'm hopeful that we can get it done. I've worked very closely with Maria Cantwell, Ted Cruz, of course. Yeah. Chris Coons is on board, and we're trying to expand that out. We had a committee hearing a couple of weeks ago, and.

[Josh Holmes]

Bipartisan shift.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Bipartisan.

[Josh Holmes]

How about that?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

And also working with, you know, our. Our Partners in the House on this, too, because ultimately, to get this done, we want to craft something that, that, you know, people can get behind. And the President's supportive of it. I've talked to him. He's glad we're working on it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I saw him tweet about it.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah. So I think that's all positive, and I do think there, there should be. And I think there is a sense of urgency now. I freely admit, like, I've been much more engaged to your point earlier. Holmes is like. Like, when I get involved in something, like, you know, I'm all in. Because I, I'm not just. I, I'm not that into just saying, oh, I filed this bill or whatever, or co. Signed on this bill. Like, if I get behind something I'm passionate about, I want to try to work it and, and include people to figure it out. So that's kind of where we're at because we've been very involved, and I think now it's expanding the committee and into the broader Senate and just having these kind of conversations that we're having today, I think is really important.

[Michael]

Yeah, yeah.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

There's so much movement in conferences, and I know you're a big Mizzou guy, but you're also rooting for the St. Louis Billikens. There's a lot of rumors that they might be headed to the Big East. Is that something you can see happening? Is that something you're, you're pushing?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

I'm actively working on that.

[Comfortably Smug]

Is that right?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's so funny.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

No, no, I, I've been in communication with the Big east commissioner now. Now she's moving. So they're, they're, they're. They've got to search for a new commissioner. But, you know, look, these conferences, like the Big east, which is kind of unique, the A10 is kind of like, it's kind of a unique conference in that it's a basketball centric confere with a lot of Catholic institutions. Georgetown, Marquette, Xavier. St. Louis University fits very. St. John's Villanova. So SLU is a Jesuit institution. It has the fourth largest endowment of any Catholic institution in the country. If they move to the Big east, they'd be in the top third in nil. They'd be in the top third in facilities. St. Louis is a big market for them. They're already at Creighton, which is further west than St. Louis, so kind of fits their footprint. So we're making these arguments.

[Josh Holmes]

He's got his talking points.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah. No, no, I'm all In, in. You know, I went to law school there and it's a. I love St. Louis and it's where I'm from, but I mean, just shape. It's arena rocking with Georgetown coming in and Marquette and they've got a program builder in with Josh Shirts. So they're kind of, they're on the rise. They had a fun run in the tournament. I mean, they lost to Michigan. I think they gave Michigan the best game they had in the tournament and they won the national title. So it's a program on the rise and I think it's rightful places in the Big East. So again, that's something that I'm also working on.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's awesome. Can we talk politics for a sec?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

So look, a lot going on. Midterms are particularly challenging for a party who is in power. Both the House and the Senate and the administration. You look at, at the map, what do you see?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

I think we're going to hold the Senate, but, you know, it's an environment right now where we're going to have to earn it. I think that the good news is, is when you break out the issues, let's say on the working families tax cut or on immigration, when, when money starts getting deployed, when people are really paying attention, I think we can move those move numbers and that's the good thing. And, and Republicans, I think, are in a better position financially to do that than the Democrats. There is a saving grace, the polling on that. You guys know this there. I mean, I mean, they are incredibly unpopular. Right. To say the least. And when you, when you say things like, like, hey, they want to raise your taxes to pay for health care benefits of illegal immigrants, that's, those are their positions. And they don't poll very well. Surprisingly overthink that. Right. Like, you know, I think sometimes, and I get it, like in the bubble here, there's a, there's, there's a lot of pearl clutching I've found. But when you get, like in the real world, like when I'm home and you're talking to people, they want to, they, they care about, obviously they care about the pocketbook issues, they ask about the college stuff, they ask about aliens, there's no doubt. We, I get a lot of questions, especially from my family, about what do I know about aliens. So I tell her, I can't. We're not in a skiff, Dad. I can't talk to you about that. Just anyway, but, but just keep a lookout.

[Josh Holmes]

That's all I'm saying.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

I'm Saying you see something, say something. Okay, but no, but I think that a lot of it, again, is disconnected here. And I think. And it's obviously state dependent, but. But look at Maine. I mean. I mean, good lord. I mean, can we just pause for a moment and talk about this guy? I mean, first of all, if the Nazi tattoo wasn't enough for you, or the whatever he's doing in porta Potties or. Or the allegations against women, he's a total phony. I mean, totally. I feel like I'm not great at everything, but I can kind of size up a phony pretty quickly. This dude is. He's a rich kid who. Who's, you know, cosplaying as some tough guy, you know, who's authentic.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

But he's a liar. And you can't be authentic if you're faking all of that. So anyway, I think that that's a race that obviously people are very focused on and they should be, but I think we're. I think we're going to win that race. There's some that are other challenging. We're going to win Ohio. I mean, there's. So anyway. But we got to do the work and we got to raise the money and we got to get the message, right?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. I mean, you got proximity to Texas. What do you think about that situation? Tell Rico.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

I think we'll be fine. I think we're going to win Texas. This guy, I mean. I mean, I can't believe it's Texas. Like, this guy's running. He's not running in Oregon. This Talarico guy, Right. Like, he believes in 100 genders and he's got a vegan campaign in Texas. Okay. Like, Missouri's the best barbecue state in the country. Oh, boy. Okay. Texas is good thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Smug's not here.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Texas is two or three. I don't know. All the Carolinas in Texas argue over that. But I don't think you can be like, anti meat.

[Josh Holmes]

No.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

In Texas.

[Comfortably Smug]

No.

[Josh Holmes]

He.

[Michael]

He makes Beto o' Rourke look like GI Joe.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah. But I think he's like. He's like. It's like that he came of like some woke lab.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Like, they think, they figure, like, this is what people. He's a pastor, you know, Or Platinum's like, he's a oyster guy, you know, like, this is like, you know, and so they. They. It's. They keep coming up with, like, a shtick.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's a shtick.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

And what people really. I think what people really want in politics is they they just want authenticity. Just be yourself, a woman or a

[Josh Holmes]

guy who's just the person that you look at and they're your neighbor or

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

who might have blood on his nose and a baseball game.

[Michael]

There you go.

[Josh Holmes]

Just, you know, featured on SportsCenter.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

But no, but I think there's a lot of truth. And I just, So I, I just think when you look at the, actually matchup by matchup, I can't speak to the House side, but on the Senate side, I think we're going to be fine. Yeah, but it is, look, it's a, it's a midterm election, and the challenge with midterms is it, it doesn't feel as binary as a presidential. And we have to make it binary. It has to be Republicans against what the Democrats stand for. And we don't have to guess. Like, they want to pack the courts and they want to, to add states to the union, and they think there's no end to the number of illegal immigrants that should come in this country who get to vote and, you know, spend time in our ers and, you know, and just. So I think we're good on the issues. We're right on. We just have to make sure we're out there.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. I mean, it seems to me part of the challenge. You guys are working on all kinds of different things, but, I mean, over the last six months, you have Democrats that have basically come to the conclusion that they don't want to fund border security. Right, Right. And a little of the edge is sanded down by the fact that President Trump solved the problem that Joe Biden created at the border. But it doesn't make it any less significant of an issue. And you can't just have a defunded border security situation. But they just didn't do it.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

They were just more than happy to not do it for a period of months. And I think one of the frustrations that I've had, I imagine you do, too, but I'd like to get your thoughts on it is we weren't really talking about that. Right. It didn't, it wasn't that binary choice that you were talking about.

[Comfortably Smug]

Like.

[Josh Holmes]

No, really, These guys refused to provide a single vote to secure America's southern border. But we're talking about all kinds of things that divide us. And it's, it's like, what are we doing here?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Well, think about this. Last year alone, 18,000 criminal illegal aliens were released from prison. Prison in sanctuary jurisdictions. Because they did not want to inform ICE about that. Yeah. So one of the things that I fought for in this most recent reconciliation bill was $350 million for ICE to go get those people and have them deported. And those are, like, tangible things that people don't want that in their communities. They don't want criminals released into their. But the, the Democrats have gone down this road.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

It's sort of this, this kind of, of, you know, toxic or suicidal empathy. Like, they can't draw the line on sovereignty of, like, who can be here and how long and when they have to leave because it offends some sort of sense of kindness or something. Like, it's crazy.

[Josh Holmes]

It's crazy.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

And, and most normal people think that's crazy. Yeah, but. But they can't get off the dime. And so they make it all about Trump, and it's this Trump derangement syndrome. So they're playing that game. And we just have to remind people that, like, look, there's a lot at stake in this country. Do you really want to go back to a place where. Where 15 million people came from, we don't even know who they are. Came into this country. And if you don't think that had an inflationary impact, of course it did, on rents, on housing prices, on medical bills, all the things that, that are being paid for by people who are here illegally. So I just think you get to more of the binary position, and that's what campaigns are all about, is a compare and contrast. You talk about your recording, you let people know who the other guy guy is and what they're all about. You know, I, I think that we have reasons to be optimistic.

[Josh Holmes]

It's almost like he does this for a living. I thought he was a baseball player.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

I wanted to be. I wanted to be.

[Josh Holmes]

Listen, man, you are the absolute best. We follow everything you're doing because like that you mentioned the, the funding that you got. It's critically important stuff that doesn't make the national conversation, but it's happening. Thanks to good work from you and your colleagues and finally getting that over the finish line. So let us know how this college sports thing. Yeah, I mean, if we can play any role in coming to a solution on some of this, you let us know.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, for sure.

[Josh Holmes]

We are big sports fans. Love the fact that you guys are working on it. So, Eric Schmidt, thank you so much for joining us.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Good to be back, guys. Appreciate it. Good to see you.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

I mean, great timing to have Schmidt here, the man of the hour. That catch was incredible. I mean, I've seen it replaying all over we talked about it a lot with him. But very, very good timing here for the Ruthless Variety program. And he's got an awful lot to say about college sports in the future there.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no question. Plus, he kind of paid the price on that catch. Yeah, he was dedicated.

[Comfortably Smug]

He was dedicated. Yeah.

[Duncan Ashbrook]

It's a lot of blood.

[Josh Holmes]

It's fantastic. Well, it's been a really good week. Thank you, gentlemen. This has been fun. I think we did it.

[Comfortably Smug]

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

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Sam.