Why the Democrat Establishment is Collapsing

Summary

Ruthless Podcast Summary

Episode: Why the Democrat Establishment is Collapsing
Date: December 9, 2025
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug (Smug), Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook
Guest: Mary Katharine Ham

Episode Overview

This episode of the Ruthless Podcast delivers the signature blend of sharp, irreverent conservative commentary as the hosts dissect the crumbling state of Democratic Party establishment and the growing power of the far-left “lunatic” wing. The discussion weaves through recent primary shake-ups, questionable candidate selection strategies, the fallout from high-profile Democratic missteps (like the Minnesota Somali fraud scandal), and the general loss of leadership confidence in Chuck Schumer. Highlights include the hilariously unfiltered send-ups of current political events, a debate about college football playoff politics, and the usual banter about government inefficiency—peppered with fan questions and fun animal fight club videos.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. The Democratic Establishment Meltdown (00:00–19:29)

The Schumer Waning Era & Party Identity Crisis

• The hosts assert that the Democratic Party is in turmoil, with establishment figures like Chuck Schumer losing their grip to emboldened progressives.
  • Quote: “You’re not getting signs of life from Chuck Schumer. The guy’s like 900 years old.” (John Ashbrook, 00:11)
• Recent events, like internal party shutdown drama and contentious primaries, expose deep rifts.
• Long-term strategies focused on “centrist” coalition building—winning the middle—have been replaced by catering to ever-more radical base elements.

Progressive Takeovers and Candidate Chaos

• Explored how primary dynamics are flipping: moderates like Colin Allred in Texas are bailing in the face of pressure from farther-left challengers like Jasmine Crockett.
  • Quote: “They were really working on it, and…Jasmine Crockett, the craziest of the crazy within the Democratic Party, is like, no, I want it. And they’re like, okay, yeah, it’s yours.” (Josh Holmes, 07:09)
• The phenomenon isn’t isolated—examples in Maine (Plasket) and Virginia (Jay Jones) illustrate the pattern of radical candidates dominating primaries, even if their general election odds are dismal.

Democratic Fight Club & Schumer’s Diminished Authority

• “Democratic Fight Club” emerges in the Senate: figures like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren want the DSCC to stay out of contested primaries, effectively undercutting Schumer’s ability to manage candidate quality.
• Internal polling cited showing only 6% of senior Democrat staffers rate Schumer as an effective leader; over half prefer John Thune (the Republican!) among Congressional leaders.
  • Quote: “When you’re talking to Democrat staffers and they’re like, [Republicans] are steamrolling this guy. That’s a tough one.” (John Ashbrook, 16:46)

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2. Jasmine Crockett & the Problem of “Lunatic” Candidates (11:19–15:08)

• A segment on Jasmine Crockett’s bizarre accusation on the House floor, mistaking “a” Jeffrey Epstein for “the” Jeffrey Epstein, is played and mocked.
• The hosts argue this illustrates the unseriousness and radicalism now prioritized in Democratic candidate selection—something the establishment is powerless to stop.
  • Quote: “This lady’s not a serious person. So it goes to this larger conversation…if you are willing as a party leader…to let your entire agenda hinge on these candidates…” (Josh Holmes, 14:40)

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3. Minnesota Somali Fraud Scandal (27:10–37:34)

Mary Katharine Ham Joins – “Marginalized Fraud” and Political Cowardice

• Guest MK Ham and the hosts break down massive fraud in Minnesota’s PPP programs, largely perpetrated by members of the Somali community, with billions in losses.
• Decry the reluctance of state and federal officials to address the problem—either out of “slush fund” self-interest or fear of being called racist.
  • Quote: “They love the slush fund…And B, they’re afraid to say anything because this is marginalized fraud.” (Mary Katharine Ham, 30:10)
• Notable moment: outrage that mainstream media only now report these abuses, long after the fact. The panel laughs at officials dodging accountability on identity politics grounds.
• Hosts cite reports that extorted funds may be wired to terrorist-linked groups, further amplifying outrage.
  • Quote: “This is not only fraud from the American taxpayers, it’s actually American tax dollars going to fund a terrorist outfit...” (Duncan, 34:27)

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4. The Biden Family, Grift, and Greed (40:32–44:55)

• Old-school “Ruthless” riffing on Joe Biden’s declining stage presence (“Put him on a stage!” – Mary Katharine Ham, 40:38), family “greed”, and the sad spectacle of a president reduced to speaking at lesser-known activist events.
  • Quote: “The Biden family are a bunch of crooks...they spend the money faster than they get it.” (John Ashbrook, 41:06)
• Anecdotes include the infamous Biden dental bill swindle and questions around the future of the Biden Presidential Library—a running gag throughout.

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5. Pantone’s “White” Color of the Year Mocked (46:59–53:38)

• The hosts and Mary Katharine Ham roast viral outrage over Pantone’s selection of “Cloud Dancer” (a white) as color of the year, ridiculing woke overreach and the media’s earnest attempts to treat pigment as political.
  • Quote: “Choosing a white-based shade feels tone-deaf at best…deeply troubling.” (Michael Duncan, 51:54, reading NPR/NYT reaction)
• Playful back-and-forth as Duncan challenges MK to explain the difference between “eggshell” and “cream.”

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6. College Football Playoff Debates (57:00–61:32)

• Spirited debate about the expanded twelve-team college football playoff format, with Ashbrook and Duncan urging Notre Dame to finally “join a conference” if they want playoff respect.
  • Quote: “Just join the Big Ten. Notre Dame, I love you…but it seems obvious.” (Michael Duncan, 58:26)
• College football fandom segues into broad commentary about change, tradition, and the business of sports.

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7. Listener Mailbag, Government Inefficiency, and Gift Unboxing (23:54–26:34, 62:27–64:59)

• As always, witty responses to listener-submitted jokes and anecdotes—this time using the disastrous new USPS truck design as comedic fodder.
• MK Ham presents the hosts with custom “Rotten to the Core” postage stamps, commemorating their running feud with the post office.
• Touching on the camaraderie and inside jokes that keep longtime listeners engaged.

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8. Absurd Animal Fights & Cruise Ship Insanity (65:22–81:29)

33-Drink Cruise Catastrophe (65:22–76:29)

• The hosts react to a true-crime oddity: a man served 33 drinks on a Royal Caribbean cruise, who then died after attacking crew (and receiving sedative injections and pepper spray).
  • Numerous running gags about personal responsibility, bartender ethics, and life at sea: “If you can crack 33 [drinks], you get to drive the boat.” (John Ashbrook, 76:09)

China Zoo Bear Brawl (77:27–81:29)

• Hilariously narrated video breakdown: a black bear in a Chinese zoo attacks its keeper—other staff attempt rescue with a chair, stick, basketball hoop, and, bafflingly, a live parrot.
  • “This is why you subscribe to the YouTube.” (Ashbrook, 78:22)
• Panel posits if the crazy scene was staged for show; concludes the slapstick fight (“it’s the wildest thing”) is the best animal content to date.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“You're not getting signs of life from Chuck Schumer. The guy's like 900 years old.”
– John Ashbrook (00:11)

“Jasmine Crockett, the craziest of the crazy within the Democratic Party…no, I want it. And they're like, okay, yeah, it's yours.”
– Josh Holmes (07:09)

“It's like under pressure, dun, dun, dun. It's just an A Jeffrey Epstein.”
– Michael Duncan (14:06)

“They love the slush fund…and they're afraid to say anything because this is marginalized fraud.”
– Mary Katharine Ham (30:10)

“When you’re talking to Democrat staffers and they’re like, [Republicans] are steamrolling this guy. That’s a tough one.”
– John Ashbrook (16:46)

“If you can crack 33 [drinks], you get to drive the boat.”
– John Ashbrook (76:09)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–10:00 — Democratic Party collapse & Schumer’s predicament
• 10:00–15:00 — Case study: Jasmine Crockett and “lunatic” candidates
• 27:10–37:34 — Somali PPP fraud deep dive w/ Mary Katharine Ham
• 40:32–44:55 — Biden family 'crookery' and grift culture
• 46:59–53:38 — Pantone’s “white” color drama
• 57:00–61:32 — College Football playoff shakeup
• 65:22–76:29 — Cruise ship tragedy: 33 drinks and a homicide
• 77:27–81:29 — Bear vs. zookeeper: Animal fight club in China

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Episode Tone

• Cynically comedic, often veering into satire.
• Unfiltered and irreverent; hosts trade both smart analysis and bro-y, inside-joke-laden banter.
• Frequent mockery of political correctness, focus on absurdity in politics (left and right), and a “no prisoners” attitude toward hypocrisy.

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Final Thoughts

This episode solidifies Ruthless's place as a must-listen for conservatives who want political analysis sandwiched between comedy, viral video breakdowns, and a sense of community banter. The show excels at making the news not just digestible, but entertaining—even for listeners who may not agree with every take.

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For new listeners:
Start at 00:00 to understand the Democratic Party drama, drop in around 27:10 for Mary Katharine Ham’s unique perspective, and don’t miss the wild animal fight aftermath at 77:27 for an iconic Ruthless moment.

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

Now you're seeing just a massive shift in the Democratic Party. We've discussed quite a bit about the collapsing Democratic establishment.

[Michael Duncan]

Now all of those wounds in the Democratic Party have reopened.

[John Ashbrook]

You're not getting signs of life from Chuck Schumer. The guy's like 900 years old.

[Michael Duncan]

This is just the beginning.

[Josh Holmes]

It's gonna get so much worse. Chuck Schumer's days are numbered.

[John Ashbrook]

Brutal.

[Josh Holmes]

It's over.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, so have you heard of this thing called Democratic Fight Club?

[Josh Holmes]

I've worked at Coca Cola for 21 years.

[Michael Duncan]

We're delivering Dr. Pepper from our brand.

[Duncan]

New facility in Dallas, Texas.

[John Ashbrook]

We're really proud to still make Pepsi products in America. You don't need a college degree to.

[Josh Holmes]

Work here, but I put four kids through college by working here.

[Michael Duncan]

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

[John Ashbrook]

Grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, they all depend on us. We deliver great paying jobs.

[Michael Duncan]

We deliver beverages people love.

[John Ashbrook]

We deliver for our community.

[Announcer]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[John Ashbrook]

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

[Duncan]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Tuesday to you. Welcome back to the ruthless Variety program. We trust everybody is having a very happy holiday season here as we inch nearer and nearer to Christmas in the end of the year. I am Josh Holmes, along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook, left to right across your radio dial. As always, fellas, a lot to discuss here this week. One of the things that's jumped off the page, we've discussed quite a bit about the collapsing Democratic establishment and this emergence of this progressive left. That is just, just a wild.

[John Ashbrook]

I hope we get credit for calling this because like, two months ago, I'd say is when we really started picking up on this.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And congratulations to our listeners, viewers on YouTube.

[Josh Holmes]

You're ahead of it.

[John Ashbrook]

You are way ahead of the curve.

[Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

When you look at the prospects of what they hope for in these midterms, what they're really hoping for is obviously a takeover of Congress. They want the House of Representatives and they want to just sort of push, push the sky back up in terms of the Senate. Remake what that landscape looks like. See if you can steal a seat or two and get control of Congress. And we know what that looks like when it comes to a Trump administration because we experienced it.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

Right. 2018, you lose the House.

Impeachment.

[John Ashbrook]

Their one job becomes just impeachment. Impeachment. Impeachment.

[Josh Holmes]

Right. And so they've put an awful lot of stock into trying to formulate not only their message, but their Leadership and who their candidates ultimately are because all of their hope rests within taking over majorities to change the narrative, the dynamic within government itself, to investigate the hell out of the Trump.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, but some of those internal disagreements within the Democratic caucus were frozen in time there during the shutdown. I think again, a shutdown that was initiated by Chuck Schumer because his leadership position was already threatened. And so at that time, during the shutdown, over a month, you know, you didn't have as many of those discussions. But now that we're past those off year elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and the shutdown is over now, all of those wounds in the Democratic Party have reopened.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes, and, and obviously the election of Mamdani and the figure that is Mamdani within the Democratic Party gives the progressive left, which, you know, like I even hesitate to call it the progressive left, cause it's, it's the left, it's just the lunatic stuff.

[Duncan]

Right.

[John Ashbrook]

It's the radical left. And I mean when we say it's partly I'm dying, but also you don't even need to go that far. Just right here in the neck of the woods, you've got Jay Jones who's multiple times said he wants to kill Republicans and their children deserve to die. And Democrat voters, like, that's the guy from when he wins, he's elected attorney general.

[Josh Holmes]

So the message to the win at all costs portion of the Democratic Party is you gotta go placate that progressive left. I mean, for years and years in politics, both right and left was okay. Our furthest reaches on both sides don't have any other place to go. We need to win that 51% majority, making center right, center left coalition and then back off backwards to try to make sure our base is happy with it and they can turn out. And that's the way you won midterms. This changed in the Trump era, clearly with the Republican Party. But now you're seeing just a massive shift in the Democratic Party where they were used to looking at states like Texas and a state that's always been a pipe dream. We've talked about this a lot. Always a pipe dream for Democrats. They're like, well, demographics tell us. And they always come up short, but they always throw a gazillion dollars at it.

[Michael Duncan]

They launched Battleground Texas over a decade ago.

[John Ashbrook]

Hilarious.

[Michael Duncan]

Because they were going to turn it into a purple state. How's that going for you?

[Josh Holmes]

How's that going for you? Right. But then they fielded candidates like Beto o', Rourke, which captured the attention of this progressive left, but had the veneer of a member of Congress who could sort of satisfy that middle road Democrat and get a lot of money into that campaign to take on Ted Cruz. And lo and behold, he loses and then be clowns himself and comes and national joke. I think you had a part in that.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, I mean, well, he's a furry and people hold him accountable for that.

[Josh Holmes]

Right, exactly. But then they turn to somebody like Colin Allred, somebody who they sort of identify as somebody who portrays, at least to a center of the electorate, to be a normal human being. Somebody who's not a clinically insane individual in and of himself, even if he votes with the Democratic party all of the time. And that was sort of this new thing for Texas. Well, what happened on Monday is that this guy, Colin Allred, who is thought to be a formidable challenger for a Senate seat that is held by United States Senator John Cornyn in midst a big Republican primary, this was thought to be a problem, that somebody like Colin Allred could unite Democrats within the state of Texas and maybe make a play for this state. He announces Monday he's not going to any longer. He'd formed a campaign, raised money, been campaigning, doing all these things and had the support of Chuck Schumer and all of those folks.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, because he's the exact profile you'd want in a Democrat in Texas. You know, a guy who has a more moderate streak in his public Persona. He's a former NFL football player. Yeah. This is a guy who not could just, you know, unite Democrats in Texas, but also bleed into that center. Right. Part of the electorate. He's from the Dallas suburbs. If you're like a Highland park country club Republican, you could, you could see a situation in which some of those people who are uncomfortable in the Trump era might vote for a Democrat like Colin Allred.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep. Enter Jasmine Crockett.

[Duncan]

Born on a mountaintop of green money.

[Josh Holmes]

So Jasmine's one of our favorites on the program, as you well are acquainted, but she announces that her intent is to also seat the United States Senate. It was the thought of in some point as an aftermath by the Democratic establishment and all their stenographers in the mainstream media. Like, of course, somebody like Jasmine Crockett can't compete for the state of Texas. You can't win when you're in the center. How the hell are you going to be a left wing lunatic and do that? Well, turns out you can't win a primary in Democratic politics today for the same reason that that Plasket guy in Maine we did like three shows on this dude about just how clinical the Nazi tattoo that he, like, covered up. And he's got all this other shit going on. He's just a crate. Like a literally certifiably insane human being. That didn't knock him out. Chuck Schumer and his super PAC going after him. That didn't knock him out. Like, Democratic voters, primary voters in Maine are like, no, we still like that guy. And he's probably going to win that primary. He's going to get his doors blown off by Susan Collins, but they love him. Same now is true. In Texas, they thought they had a viable shot. They were really working on it. And all of a sudden, Jasmine Crockett, the craziest of the crazy within the Democratic Party, is like, no, I want it. And they're like, okay, yeah, it's yours.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, they still have James Tellarico, I think, as the other Democrat in that primary. And now that guy is like your moderate choice. This guy's a lunatic, too.

[Josh Holmes]

That was like the only fan connoisseur that we had discussed. But the point was with this situation is that Democrats in D.C. they're trying to set the table. We're basically of the conclusion, anybody but Jasmine Crockett gives us a shot. Maybe if the political winds blow, maybe if the Democrat, if the Republican primary produces a result that is offensive to some Texans, like this would be the majority making seat. This is how Chuck Schumer returns to the majority leader position in the United States Senate, which is their ultimate goal. Well, Jasmine Crockett shows up. She simply announces her candidate, and now it's over. The guy's gone. She's basically with James Tallarico. But it's not really a race. Democrats are going to vote for this guy. And it seems to us that if you're looking at this, it's indicative of this much larger picture that we're seeing, which is the grasp that Chuck Schumer has on the Democratic Party. And to the extent that there are any sort of like, middle of the road donor types, they have mortgaged, whatever their middle of the road sensibilities might be in taking the lessons out of Virginia and Jay Jones and mom Donnie and New York City, that we're gonna find the craziest fucking people we can find and we're gonna run them against you. And we are absolutely convinced that the center left is coming with us because they hate Trump, don't you think?

[John Ashbrook]

That's the thing is, so immediately, I'd say in like the 48 hours after the election where Trump won, you saw Democrats being like, whoa, maybe we did go a little bit far. Maybe we were a bit too crazy. We were like, yeah, we want trans people in libraries reading to kids and girls, bathrooms. They're like, okay, we went a bit far. They got out of that real fast. And then they saw these wins in blue states. They're like, oh, well, if Mamdani wins in New York City, then we can win in Texas with a Maidani candidate. Right? Like, their lesson went right in the opposite direction. They're not going for the center of the electorate. They're just trying to get. They sense that the energy is coming from. I wouldn't even call it grassroots. It's just lunatics. It's just absolute lunatics. It's unwell individuals. They see any signs of life from there. Because here's the problem is you're not getting signs of life from Chuck Schumer. The guy's like 900 years old. You know, when he shows up and he speaks at these events, when he's at the podium, there's no energy, there's no enthusiasm. The guy you can tell is just fighting for his job. He's like, I just want to have my office tomorrow total. You know, he has that sick desperation. And. And that's why they're able to drag him around.

[Josh Holmes]

It's 100% true. But, like, just to give you a little primer and a reminder of something we dealt with with Jasmine Crockett just last week. Recall this little clip. This is a different one than we've played last week, but this is her dealing with Lee Zeldin and some accusations that she made. This is how insane these people are.

[Interviewer]

CLIP 1 Congresswoman, it wouldn't be a conversation with us if I didn't quickly put you on the spot on something. You made a little bit of news last week when you mistakenly accused Lou Zelda and another Republican. I didn't get money from Jeffrey Epstein, but it was a different Jeffrey Epstein, according to the financial records. Do you want to. I don't want to give you the opportunity to amend that, and I have no amendments when I was on the floor. For those that don't know how it works, basically they decided to bring this privilege motion up and they decided that they wanted to kick Stacy off of her committees because Stacey had received Stacy Plaska. Stacy Plaska, because she had received. Received a donation from Jeffrey Epstein. I had maybe 20 minutes. We researched the FEC. And because I like to speak with specificity, that's kind of what comes with being an attorney. I made clear that there was a Jeffrey Epstein. They knew on the other side that I did not have time to actually.

[Michael Duncan]

Pull up their fault.

[Josh Holmes]

They know that their fault, especially since.

[Interviewer]

That particular one that Lee Zeldin got up in up or about was specifically out of the New York area. We know that he was out of that area.

[John Ashbrook]

So.

[Interviewer]

And this obviously was not done post Jeffrey Epstein's life. So I made sure that I said, a Jeffrey Epstein.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, that clears it all up.

[Interviewer]

Dixie absolutely was insinuating that it could be possible. That is true.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, my God, that is so awesome. Where she was like, also, as an attorney, what? You're irresponsible enough to just say lies. You're like, I had only 20 minutes to come up with some bullshit, so how dare you be mad at me. It's your fault.

[Michael Duncan]

She goes, I like to speak with specificity. Also, I don't regret saying the wrong Jeffrey Epstein.

Dude.

[Josh Holmes]

Just to be very clear, what happened was she went on the United States House of Representatives floor and accused Lee Zelda, the EPA administrator, of accepting contributions from Jeffrey Epstein. That's directly in the context of a debate about Jeffrey Epstein, the pedophile who killed himself in prison. That was the context of all of that. It wasn't like she just decided to throw Jeffrey Epstein. It was a debate about the Jeffrey Epstein files and about this Plaskett woman who had been texting back and forth and whether Republicans were gonna throw her off committees because she had this relationship trying to sink Trump because of her correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein. She shows up and says, yeah, well, Trump's own administration has taken money from Jeffrey Epstein.

[Michael Duncan]

And people are like, but it's a Jeffrey Epstein. It's like, it's like under pressure, dun, dun, dun. It's just an A Jeffrey Epstein.

[Josh Holmes]

But this is the point in that. You can't take that. Like, that's not for serious people. That's not a serious discussion.

[John Ashbrook]

I will say one thing. I like your indignation where you're like, she went on the House floor and said. It's like, dude, that's like a zoo, bro. This is not the Senate floor. There's no rules.

[Josh Holmes]

I tried my very best. I tried my very best to operate.

[Michael Duncan]

With decorum this august body.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, I take enough shit for shitting all over those guys. And I tried my very best and you still called me out on it. It's unbelievable. Listen, House folks, that's probably the best you're gonna get outta me, but it is what it is, right? And, like, this lady's not a serious person. And so it goes to this larger conversation that we've been having about if you are willing as a party leader, when you know the entirety of your agenda and that of your entire Democratic base rests on your success in midterm elections. Boy, oh, boy, do you work hard to make sure that you have candidates who can win them. And Chuck Schumer's done that over the years, tried to play in Republican primaries, tried to box out qualified Democratic progressive candidates because they wanted somebody who could appeal to the middle of the electorate. Now in Texas, he's in a situation where he's like, no, I'm going to have the biggest lunatic go because I don't have any power to stop it. So you take a look at this Punchbowl article that came out, and all of a sudden it starts to make more sense. It's not just the grassroots, folks, right? It's not the grassroots that is having problems with Chuck Schumer and Democratic establishment. If you look at this, just 6% punchbowl does this poll of staffers on Capitol Hill. Just 6% of senior Democratic staffers chose Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as the most effective leader.

[John Ashbrook]

That's insane.

[Josh Holmes]

In Congress. Hold on.

[Duncan]

Yeah, it gets better. It really gets better. You aren't going to believe who. Who they say is the best leader in Congress. Democrats. Democrat staffers.

[Josh Holmes]

When asked which of the big four, and this is only between the four leaders, the speaker of the House, majority leader of the Senate, minority leader of both bodies. Four people, 54% of senior Democratic aides chose Thune.

[Duncan]

Think about that.

[John Ashbrook]

That's brutal.

[Duncan]

I mean, what a rejection of Schumer.

[John Ashbrook]

That's the thing is, if Democrat aides are like, it's crystal clear to them that the Republican leaders are actually moving the ball and dunking on them. Like, that's brutal. That's brutal. That explains all these problems that we're talking about. Like, let alone like, Jasmine Crockett has zero respect for Chuck Schumer. That's obvious. The squad's got zero respect for Chuck Schumer. That's obvious. But when you're talking to Democrat staffers and they're like, he's getting run around the. Or the Republicans are steamrolling this guy. That's a tough one.

[Duncan]

I mean, dude, 13% of Democrats said Mike Johnson. So Mike Johnson got twice as much, twice as many Democrats as Chuck Schumer.

[Josh Holmes]

The most. The guy whose job it is to inflame them the most they're like, no, he's twice as good.

[Michael Duncan]

He's doing a good job.

[Josh Holmes]

He's twice as good. So. But what this does is, look, we've talked about inside the Beltway mentality. There is no better example of inside the Beltway mentality than Capitol Hill itself. And that is where the establishment resides within the legislative body. If those people are telling you Chuck Schumer's days are numbered, brutal, it's over.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, so have you heard of this thing called Democratic Fight Club? Have you heard of this thing?

[Duncan]

But what is that?

[Michael Duncan]

Okay, so Fight Club. This is hilarious. So you've got Tina Smith, you've got Chris Van Hollen, Chris Murphy.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, I have her.

[Michael Duncan]

Chris Murphy, obviously, because he wants Chuck Schumer's job.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep.

[Michael Duncan]

And then you've got, like, Bernie and Elizabeth Warren. This is their fight club in the United States Senate. And they're calling on the dscc, the Democratic Senatorial Committee, to not play in any Democratic primaries.

[Duncan]

Interesting.

[John Ashbrook]

Which.

[Michael Duncan]

Which is again, telling you another thing in this. In this larger discussion.

[John Ashbrook]

Wait, Bernie. Bernie's part of a group that's calling on. No fiddling in primaries.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, they don't want.

[John Ashbrook]

Because they want to support the, like, Looney Tunes, and they don't want Chuck Schumer super pac.

[Josh Holmes]

They want to raise. We have this in the Republican side, too. They want to raise millions of dollars from the outside to try to beat candidates that they deemed to be the establishment that are arguably the most electable amongst them. But they want to ensure that the committees can't fight back.

[Michael Duncan]

Which is. Yeah, right. They want Chuck Schumer and the Democratic establishment to unilaterally disarm in this fight, in these primaries. Right. And so, like I just say that to say this is just the beginning.

[Josh Holmes]

It's going to get so much worse.

[Michael Duncan]

All of these Democratic primaries, all these Senate candidates are going to be asked, should Chuck Schumer be leader of the party, should you win in the midterms? And they're going to have to answer that question. They're going to have to answer it all spring, all summer, and all fault.

[John Ashbrook]

You're right, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

The last piece that I will mention before we go to break, if you think that it's impossible for Jasmine Crockett to be a United States senator from Texas, you're fucking nuts. I'll just remind you of a guy named Doug Jones who is briefly a senator from the great state of Alabama. You didn't think it was possible to elect a Democrat in this day and age in Alabama, it Was in large part because the candidate selection process that Republicans went underneath in their own primary problems. Right. There is a primary between the sitting senator, John Cornyn, Wesley Hunt and Ken Paxton. Ken Paxton, Yeah. And that is already getting very, very ugly. This is a topic for another day here on the Ruthless Friday program. We're gonna break some of this down cuz it has a huge component of what ultimately becomes of the United States Senate. But, but just remember before you just laugh all of these things out the door.

[Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

It's not. Nothing's over until it's over. When we come back, we are going to get into a discussion about your questions of the day. We're going to leave you with one discussion of our own which is our question of the day in terms of Crockett.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

What's her campaign slogan going to be?

[Michael Duncan]

I can't wait.

[Josh Holmes]

Is it an absolute question? It's any Jeffrey Epstein.

Any Jeffrey will do. You tell us when you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety program. We read all of your responses. We get back to the very next episode. When we come back, we're gonna get to your comments from last week's episode right after this.

[Announcer]

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[Josh Holmes]

Why was the government shut down? Because big insurance greed knows no limits. The same insurance companies pocketing billions in profits were demanding billions more in taxpayer funded subsidies again putting millions of families at risk. Shutting down our government. Now unless they get their billions, the big insurance companies are threatening to raise your premiums even more. Putting greed and profit before patients. It's time to hold them accountable.

Okay, welcome back to the program. We're gonna get to your comments here in a minute. Wanna let you know it's an exciting time around the program where we get a little innovative with our episodes. And around the holidays we like to take questions. We always like to take questions. That's why we do a question of the day. But we're gonna open up the floor a little bit and we're gonna do at least one episode where we're just taking your questions. Politics, pop culture. You, Animal fighting.

[John Ashbrook]

Long requested because, like, folks have been like, when is the ruthless Q and A coming? And we're over 500 episodes at this point. Five years deep in this. People have been asking for years, finally we'll deliver well.

[Michael Duncan]

And people might have a lot of questions just about the show itself and like, why we're on camera with a blind guy every episode, Stuff like that.

[Josh Holmes]

Things like that.

[John Ashbrook]

And how I've overcome the challenge.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally. So. But make sure to put those things in there. We're going to be flagging them throughout the next week or so, and we're gonna answer as many as we can in the form of a full program. So give it some thought. Anything you ever wanna ask the fellas, we're gonna tackle and we're not gonna dodge tough questions. By the way, I'm looking forward to the hard ones. I want the harder the better. The shittier the better. Let's go.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

All right. So our question of the day from last Friday, Funtime Friday, was pertaining to the truck, which smug had some hard.

[John Ashbrook]

Opinions about the post office. They deserve it.

[Josh Holmes]

What drug was the designer of the new postal truck on when he designed that vehicle? Remember, that's what the vehicle looked like for our audio only listeners. It's like a Pope mobile, except on crack or a crystal meth.

[John Ashbrook]

It is.

[Josh Holmes]

It's unthinkable design and it's cost a.

Something like 618 billion or so.

[John Ashbrook]

It was $6 billion for. No, it was like $3 billion for 600. Essentially $5 million a truck. $5 million. You could have had a Rolls Royce drop off your packages, but that's what the USPS is giving us.

[Josh Holmes]

So it hasn't worked out real well. We want to read your comments on that. To start, we always start with a voice.

[Duncan]

Okay. First one comes from Sarah Rudolph, who writes, no drug needed. TDS is just that powerful all on its own.

[John Ashbrook]

Amazing.

[Duncan]

It impacts basic brain functioning to the point where good becomes evil, evil becomes good, and basic car design becomes offensive.

[John Ashbrook]

That's so good.

[Michael Duncan]

I like that.

[Josh Holmes]

What do we got, Dougs?

[Michael Duncan]

This is from Stixy67.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, no.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

That's for the kids to go crazy.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, yeah, the six, seven thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, boy.

[Michael Duncan]

They write the new postal vehicle design. Engineers thought they were taking 10 milligram edibles when they actually took 250. That's where they suddenly had the current design on PA after watching Pixar cars 1, 2 and 3.

[John Ashbrook]

That's good.

[Josh Holmes]

It's really good.

[Michael Duncan]

I like that.

[Josh Holmes]

Great comment. Smug. What do we got?

[John Ashbrook]

Comment 3 is from John Layton. And John writes, the new postal trucks are even funnier when you realize my rural post office in a northern, cold, snowy climate got one of these. Oh, he did get one. And I asked about it in the parking lot when I had to go in for a package. The workers just started laughing and told me that it was delivered to them but there was no way to charge it.

[Michael Duncan]

Dude, that is hilarious. What a scandal.

[John Ashbrook]

No plug in cables, no charging station, nothing. So it's just a parked lead weight in a parking lot to look stupid, like a platypus.

That's amazing.

[Michael Duncan]

It does look like a platypus.

[Josh Holmes]

It does. Wow, that is such a good description.

[Michael Duncan]

Great comment.

[John Ashbrook]

$5 million and all it can do is sit in the. That's like government at its best. Yeah, that's it.

[Josh Holmes]

Layton. What a fantastic comment. That's so good. All right, you're not going to want to go anywhere because when we come back, good friend of the program, Mary Kathryn Ham joins us next.

Well, we want to welcome one of our absolute favorites back to the program. You've seen her and you've loved her many, many times. You know her from Fox News and her podcast, Getting Hammered. Mary Katherine Hamm. How are you?

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Hello. How you doing?

[John Ashbrook]

We're great.

[Michael Duncan]

We're great.

[Josh Holmes]

It's been a couple of months.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

I haven't seen you guys since we became, like colleagues.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I know.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Look at us.

[John Ashbrook]

Has it been that long? Really? Since July. Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

It's been a while, man.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Or I haven't been on. I've seen you guys.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Well, you're doing a great job.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Thanks.

[Josh Holmes]

I always love your commentary.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

I appreciate it.

[Josh Holmes]

And occasionally we share a panel.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

We do.

[Josh Holmes]

We share a panel from time to time.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Yeah. Give the people what they want.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, well, it's hard cuz you got, you know, in those panels you got to try to find disagreement when you got MK on there. It's hard to find. It's hard to find. Well, listen, I want to get into a whole bunch of different things, but last week on the program, we covered in some great detail an issue that I know that you've talked about on Fox and elsewhere about this Somali fraud situation that we've got going on.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

It seems pretty bad.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, it seems pretty bad. There were a Million reasons to be disappointed with Minnesota. Minneapolis, I mean, it's unbelievable. Even the way that Holmes was talking about it last week where he was like, man, we lost our qb. Everything is miserable. Could things get worse in Minneapolis and then here we are.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it could. I will say.31 donut on the old Washington commandees helped the overall morale, but this sucker still stings. I mean, let's play clip two and then let's do a little analysis on that.

[News Reporter]

Fraud investigators are finding in Minnesota is growing by the day. Kelly Loeffler, who leads the Small Business Administration, says in the two days her agency has been investigating the state, they've uncovered at least $8 million in PPP fraud. Just two days in. Several of the whistleblowers in Minnesota have also told lawmakers they believe the total amount of fraud could total up to more than $8 billion. Governor Tim Walz, who is up for reelection, is under fire for all of this happening under his watch. But he says they have paused these programs. They've brought in outside auditors to get an idea of how far reaching this fraud was. They're taking steps to billion.

[John Ashbrook]

Is the number down?

[News Reporter]

He's defending his management of the state while also taking shots at Republicans and the President.

[Duncan]

Okay.

[News Reporter]

And in spite of the headwinds we're.

[Duncan]

Up against, Minnesota ranks economically, Economic growth.

[Josh Holmes]

Happiness, number of people insured, education levels.

[Duncan]

Near the very top.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't even.

[John Ashbrook]

That's an incredible answer.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

The economic growth from the fraud is equal to the GDP of a small country.

[Michael Duncan]

May also be related to the happiness quotient.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that's right. When you take $8 billion out of the pockets of taxpayers and put them into your. Your own pocket, it makes tends to make people pretty happy. What's your take on this whole thing?

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

It's how can people put up with this?

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

And how. Look, by the way, the New York Times reporting on it is like, thanks. This would have been great information to have in 2024.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

And I appreciate all of the alternate alternative media sources that did report on this. All the ones you are told by the New York Times are trash. They actually knew this and had this information. And there's no way that these public officials didn't know.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

At this level, there's absolutely no way. And the reason that they did nothing is A, because they love the slush fund.

[John Ashbrook]

Yep.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

And B, because they're afraid to say anything because this is marginalized fraud.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Marginalized community of fraud.

[Josh Holmes]

That's good.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

That's the problem.

[Josh Holmes]

It's A constituency. It's a core constituency for somebody like Governor Walz, who's just an absolutely horrible human being in my view. But Democrats have tried to defend this a little bit and this just happened on Sunday. You guys gotta see this clip.

[Interviewer]

Three of the 87 people charged, all but eight are of Somali descent. And that has added to the spotlight being put specifically on your community.

Why do you think this fraud was allowed to get so widespread?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I want to say, you know.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

This also has an impact on Somalis.

[Josh Holmes]

Because we are also taxpayers in Minnesota.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Incredible.

[John Ashbrook]

So first off, what's hilarious is when Margaret Brennan says on your community, is she referring to Somalis in Minnesota or she referring to fraudsters? Because seems to be, I mean there's still questions about how Ilhan Omar even got here, the pretenses of how she obtained her visa to begin with. But then to try to flip this and be like, oh, I think the real issue here is, you know, there's Somali taxpayers way to just try to dodge the issue. We're not talking about $8 billion, which like MK said, it's becoming increasingly a question of like, okay, so where are the officials in this state on this subject? Did they know? Are they allowing it? Did they feel it was politically expedient for them to be a part of this and allow it and see it was just like, well, essentially it's like a giant walk around money fund. It's like get reelected by giving this group of fraudsters money to pass around.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

It seems like an easy and good thing to say would be like, that's really bad.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, it's not difficult. Profile of courage, right?

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Don't love that.

[Michael Duncan]

When Enron happened and Arthur Anderson, it wasn't like people went on TV to be like, what about all the law abiding accountants out there?

[John Ashbrook]

That's good.

[Josh Holmes]

Great point.

[John Ashbrook]

That's good.

[Josh Holmes]

It totally is. But it's also indicative, I think, of this larger radicalization within the Democratic Party where you've got these folks like Tim Walls and the larger Democratic establishment that have basically sold out to what this is. Right? I mean you've got Elon Omar, you have the Michigan problem, you've got these sort of extremists off the left hand side where they just rather pretend like there's no problem here whatsoever than address any accountability. But like increasingly in the Trump years, you have this center left coalition that is like along for the ride. They're totally good with it. Like, can you imagine being in the state of Minnesota being a reasonably successful, illiterate human Being. And looking at this situation, being like, yeah, I mean, I think they're just doing the best they can. I mean, this is definitely a government that's representing my interests.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Right. It's embarrassing. It should be embarrassing.

[Josh Holmes]

It should be.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

It's not embarrassing. I assume that this was not the abundance the guys were talking about when they put forth that maybe it was. The idea was that government should work. Which I was like, oh, cool. I've thought that since I was 12.

Glad to have you. And now this is what you get. And they do make excuses for it. They go on national TV and they're like, well, what you gonna do? You know, Covid, that's not an excuse, right? It's not an excuse.

[Michael Duncan]

So we covered those usps, the new trucks, right? Billions of dollars appropriated for these new electric, you know, mail carrier vans, and they what, they made 600 of them?

[Josh Holmes]

618.

[Michael Duncan]

618.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Stacey Abrams opens a bank account with a hundred dollars, and suddenly she gets a mil. A billion dollars from the EPA to put in convection ovens in Section 8 housing. And you start to get the sense that, like, abundance isn't the plan, that.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Convections ovens are not expensive.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, right.

[Josh Holmes]

They're not a billion dollars when the.

[John Ashbrook]

Government has to pay for them. They sure are.

[Duncan]

You get the.

[Michael Duncan]

You get the idea that, like, they're actually totally fine with free fraud and graft. That actually fraud and graft is sort of central to their political project.

[Duncan]

And the fraud and graft is not the worst part. I mean, that article that came out two weeks ago, quoting law enforcement sources who credibly claim that this money is going back to Somalia through Al Shabaab. I mean, this is not only fraud from the American taxpayers, it's actually American tax dollars going to fund a terrorist outfit that wants to just murder all of us. I mean, that's terrifying. That takes Stacey Abrams, like ovens, to a next level.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Omar, notably, did not deny that flatly on Brennan. She was like, well, if it's happening, it'd be the FBI's fault for not catching it. I mean, basically, that's what she said.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that's the upshot. No responsibility.

[John Ashbrook]

The more cynical side of me thinks this is kind of like an extension of a failed strategy that the left has had for a while where they tried to basically, like, Balkanize the electorate, where they're like, these are black women voters. We want to juice the turnout there. We, you know, these are this group. They would break down basically, the United States by demographic and just play off of Demographics essentially just divide and conquer. And they had success with this for a number of years. And then we saw the greatest failure in their face when Trump got reelected, where all these groups who they had banked on, they're like, oh, Latinos will always support us. Black males will always support us. All these groups, they lost a tremendous amount of ground to Trump, but they're still trying to run back that playbook. And so you see this. To me, it strikes me as like, this is the same playbook as they felt like when you say the Michigan problem here in Minneapolis, you saw their mayor being like, I eat Ethiopian food, and I've learned to speak Ethiopian. Please vote for me. And he tried to, like, use the tribal warfare going on between various Somali groups as, like, a way to get elected. And it worked. Because the thing is, is that Democrats have essentially turned their game plan into divide and conquer among ethnicities and now even tribal lines in Somalia, that they want to allow this fraud to be like, listen, we will pay this group off to support us. And it's just the most cynical way to view politics.

[Michael Duncan]

And through all these institutions, it's like, not just PPP and this fraud program that's happening in Minnesota, but think about all of the manufactured outrage, you know, with Doge right in this NGO industrial complex.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. They were desperate. They were very afraid that somebody would.

[Michael Duncan]

Find an entire cottage industry built on taking a government money tax, taxpayer money, through the government and into these slush funds that. That were funding things that no one ever voted for.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Well, beyond just the stealing of taxpayer money, these libs who are supposed to care about this stuff. There were kids who were not fed because you're stealing the money for feeding the kids. There are kids who with autism who needed treatment and would have gotten things had you not stolen this money. There were homeless not being housed.

[Josh Holmes]

Right. Compassionate.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Very compassionate.

[Josh Holmes]

Very compassionate.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

And they're gonna point at me and be like, see, she's the mean one. Yeah, I didn't steal nothing from nobody.

[Josh Holmes]

We're the problem because we just want to do, like, the basic balance sheet deal on it.

[John Ashbrook]

And I mean, also, another thing that I've really noted about this situation is you have these newly transplanted Somalians who are put in Minneapolis, and whenever any questions were asked of them, even by, like, police or anything that say, this is extremely racist, like, they've already picked up on the left's buzzwords of like, here's the racism card. You can't ask me any questions. You have to leave me alone. I'm Right. Like I may have stolen things, I may have done wrong, but if I say racism, then you're supposed to get scared and leave me alone.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, that was the basis the New York Times article, which was there were some well meaning people, officials that were in charge of trying to grant this fraud grant basically, and were intimidated out of doing it in large part because the groups were like, well, we're just going to call you racist and we're going to do a bunch of earned media. And they were like, all right, I don't need all that.

[Duncan]

Well, I think it's interesting that the New York Times has reported on this in multiple occasions. And you know what we always say on the show that the New York Times and the mainstream media do not attack a Democrat unless another Democrat stands to benefit. And I don't believe for a second that the New York Times has all of a sudden fired all the Democrats who work there. And so what I think is that they are trying to push this, this sect of their party out ahead of 2020.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Really.

[Duncan]

They're trying to move their party back to the middle so that they can reclaim party part of the electorate they lost in droves in 2014.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Well, it's a bit of a twofer because they've done this one and the immigration story this week. And I was like, what's with the immigration story? Why are we telling the truth six years later, Five, four years later?

[Josh Holmes]

Also, information would have been helpful yesterday, right? I mean, it's gotta.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

So it turns out there was a crisis at the border. I don't know if you guys knew that.

[John Ashbrook]

When I saw them use that terminology, it really did strike me. I was like, wait a minute, I had to search New York Times crisis at the Border, where they're saying this is not a crisis at the board, but the fact that they have flipped on it. I think, Ashbrook, you're dead on it.

[Josh Holmes]

They were warned. So for those of you who didn't follow this story, there was a story in the New York Times this week about how the Biden administration was warned about the crisis that would ensue if they pursued the sort of border policies that they were attempting to pursue. And it was summarily ignored by the Biden administration. And there's, of course, documentation to this effect, all of which is fine and good. A full calendar year after Joe Biden has left office. What would have been sort of helpful is in the first couple of years before 25 million people got over that border, that somebody said something about it.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, and just the absolute gall that you do the switcheroo with Biden and Kamala, and then she's her first AD out the gate, if you recall, was how they had fought to secure the border. Right. And, like, where was the New York Times during all of that? With a fucking fact check. Nowhere.

[Josh Holmes]

Nowhere.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

It also turns out you didn't have to pass that Senate package. No, they told us about it.

[Josh Holmes]

Turns out.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

It turns out New York Times admits that in there. They're like, so the numbers did go down without passing the Senate.

[John Ashbrook]

It's incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

So, but speaking of Biden, we got just Anytime he shows up, we feel like a necessity, kind of.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

I always say, get that man behind a mic. You know, I look at him and I say, put him on a stage.

[Josh Holmes]

It's kind of a nostalgia play here at the Ruthless Variety program because, you know, we, like. We got stuff started during this era, and I think we probably led 500 shows with some form of what you're about to see here with clip four.

[John Ashbrook]

We just have to get up. As long as we keep the faith, summon hope, and get back up and remember who in the hell we are. We're the United States of America. That's who we are. We're the US.

[Duncan]

To stutter.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude, Just do it one more time. Here it is.

[John Ashbrook]

As long as we keep the faith, summon hope, and get back up and remember who in the hell we are. We're the United States of America. That's who we are. We're the US bro. So this is. This is the thing. So the Biden family are a bunch of crooks. And they're not irregular kind of crooks. They're greedy, greedy crooks because they spend the money faster than they get it. This has been a problem for that family for the longest time. There's this great book.

On the subject of what it takes about the 88 race.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

And the story that they tell about the Biden family, of how he left his own parents to go with his uncle because his uncle had more money and how he's just his whole life and it's in the blood, his greed. His kids got it, Hunter got it. They all got it.

[Michael Duncan]

You think with all that grafting, he'd get some new dentures?

[Josh Holmes]

Tubera got it, dude.

[John Ashbrook]

They got him. That's part of the story, too. So they all got their teeth done, and they didn't even pay the dentist the level of greed in these Bidens. They didn't pay the debt. You don't know this story. I didn't know that they offered him a settlement of half the money the dentist had to take it. Like these people are.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

That is white trash right there.

And I know of what I speak.

And it's so bad in your dentist.

[John Ashbrook]

Because, like, the amount of money these people cleared like that Hunter cleared. Like, the guy is on crack. He doesn't know what he's doing with an energy company, but he's on the board of one. But like, the amount of money selling those paintings, the people who bought those paintings knew what they were getting. It's the same thing Hunter was always selling his access to the vice president slash president. Right.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

You know, Hunter's looking at that 8 billion like, damn, should have shot there earlier.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. He was like, why didn't I start.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Some group of Minnesota. I can't believe they bested me.

[Josh Holmes]

I should have had the Somali autism group.

[John Ashbrook]

But, but, but the thing. The reason for. To explain all the greed of the buy ins is.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Sounds offensive, but it's just true.

[John Ashbrook]

It's true what it is.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

That part's just true.

[John Ashbrook]

The reason for this whole backstory and how greedy the Bidens is is they've spent all the money. They spent all that money, and now there's no way for them to keep it going. They thought they could keep this gravy train going. Well, everyone in the world saw that Biden is off his rocker. He couldn't even run for president again. So you would think that, okay, at this point, after a lifelong career in politics, this is when you go retire, you know, you fade. You spend your time with your grandkids and whatever. But he can't. He's the only way this family can make money. So they have to drag this guy out to events like this where. I mean, come on, dude, it's. I wouldn't want a guy who can barely finish words like that standing, let alone speaking at an event. I'd be like, in a seat, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, if you. That's why I wanted to replay the clip is because it's the LGT PQ plus Victory Institute. Right. I've never heard of this outfit. And I'm, you know, it is what it is. Maybe it's like it has money or whatever, but, like, think of the analog for a Republican president speaking at a group.

[Duncan]

Yep.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, what's the lgdt? P, Q, R, S, L, U, V, Institute, Victory, whatever analog of a Republican. Like, imagine George W. Bush standing there.

[John Ashbrook]

Dude, that's like, you just can't.

[Josh Holmes]

You can't do it. And the fact that this guy is now reduced to that I think underscores your whole point.

[John Ashbrook]

Did you see on this line. So like the left essentially, when earlier we went into Duncan was talking about how like Doge called out all these NGOs that essentially fund the left and they were getting taxpayer money. But the left is entirely funded by NGOs, whether they're Soros groups or they're overseas money like Hans Jorg Wis. And then you think about like, there's no analog of like groups like that for like a former Republican president to show up to. But speaking of former like candidates, did you see that Hillary Clinton was speaking at that Doha Qatar?

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, no, I didn't.

[John Ashbrook]

She was one of the speakers there. Like, this is just what they do.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

I would not be surprised if the Netflix checks stop coming if you don't see Barack Obama start showing up to these kind of things, you know, because this is essentially their, this is their like retirement plan is, well, someone's got to pay me millions of dollars.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Well. And every time they put him out there, it's a high. I mean, I guess it's not a high risk prospect because no one cares how he performs anymore.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

But you do get these clips.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

And it's like, it's never good. You might as well put Major Biden out there and see how it goes.

[Duncan]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

But poor.

[Josh Holmes]

Is that the dog?

[John Ashbrook]

That's the dog.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

The biting, the rehomed Major Biden. Joe betrayed by the Bidens just like.

[John Ashbrook]

The rest of us were. He needs the book deal.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

I want to know the dog to hear Major story.

[Michael Duncan]

But Joe Biden has to go out there and still, you know, sing for his supper. Yeah, to some extent. Because like Smug was saying, like, it's Biden Inc. Like, these people have to make money. But it does leave you wondering, like, where is the Biden Presidential Library? Is it just going to be a strip mall in Wilmington?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, I mean like, like who's out there giving money to.

[Josh Holmes]

Nobody's raising money for that. We're going to hear in like 2050. They're like, they've just broken ground on the Biden.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

It's actually just a cafe car. Only a seller.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

They should just be honest and just like be like, we're the cafe in the Obama library. It was all the four fifth tier people from the Obama campaign. Just like give them the be like the Joe Biden Presidential Librarian Cafe inside the Barack Obama library.

[Josh Holmes]

So normally here on the program we're a little nervy about getting into areas of misogyny because of the makeup of the panel. But we found something here because you're here.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Okay, here we go.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay. That, I think is a good jumping off point.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Might mess with your brand to even admit you guys are worried about it.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, you know, when I say worried, it doesn't mean that we don't do it.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

That's how winners play.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay.

Can we play clip five, please?

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Hey, Pantone, you're fired.

[John Ashbrook]

What?

[Interviewer]

You really chose white?

[Josh Holmes]

You chose white.

In these times?

[Michael Duncan]

In these times.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

You're fired.

This is Katie Rogers feng shui. I know the danger of that kind of messaging.

[Michael Duncan]

She's burning swatches. She's burning color swatches.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Really, really, really, really bad choice.

[Josh Holmes]

So hold on, I gotta contextualize this. Yeah. So what you were watching for our audio only listener is this liberal woman who is boycotting Pantone because they have chose Cloud Dancer, quote unquote, as their color of the year. Now, Cloud Dancer, I think probably is denoted by the name is in a white of some kind.

[John Ashbrook]

It says, quote, a lofty white neutral whose aerated presence acts as a whisper of calm and peace in a noisy world.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, which it was a bridge too.

[John Ashbrook]

Far for this lady. She's like, I'm going to show up to Home Depot. I'm going to grab these, like paint swatches, I'm going to set them on fire because this is me. It's time to go. Go big on. On TikTok with this incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

So MK your floor.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Well, God, this is embarrassing. Ladies, pull it together. Pull it together. Particularly. Cause she's got a southern accent. Like, my friend. I know you have some, you must have some girlfriends who can tell you not to do this.

It's just a color. It's science. Like, it's the absence. You know, it's like they just formulate a color. It's not a big deal. I don't think this personality type is about calm and peace. So perhaps that was the thing that set her off.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that could be.

[Michael Duncan]

I support this woman. I. I actually support her. You want to know why? I mean, a couple of things.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Number one, bringing back the suburban woman vote right now. Here we go.

[Michael Duncan]

Cloud Dancer sounds like a character from Dances with Wolves.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, you're anti Pantone? Is your.

[Michael Duncan]

I'm anti Pantone. If, if I, if a woman could explain to me the difference between eggshell and cream, I, I would be supportive of this. But you know what? I. I can't I down with Pantone because as every husband has experienced at one time in their domestic Life.

[John Ashbrook]

You're.

[Michael Duncan]

You're greeted with a color palette from your significant other and you look at two colors that are the exact same, exact same, and you're being told to pick one. And I can't pick no.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

This is a green gray and this is a blue gray.

[Josh Holmes]

If this was.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

This white has pink undertones and this one has blue undertones.

[Josh Holmes]

And also the white, you know, I mean, first of all, I thought it was a prohibition to get into the race talk when you say white. If you say white, you generally want to avoid the conversation.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

When you say white, like boss hog.

[John Ashbrook]

You need to not be on camera. Right?

[Michael Duncan]

It's the hard H. I never thought.

[Josh Holmes]

That you would get into any of this if you say white. But anyway, what they've done. So choosing this is some more color commentary on it. Choosing the color white during this social and political climate really says something. Jason Rhee, a designer and Creative at Refined Company, commented on the Instagram, per NPR. NPR's dutiful writing this up, right? They're like, ooh, that looks like racially divisive things.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Over spent on racially divisive color tones.

It's like, this is insane. There's a New York Times sort of roundup where they ask. They're very in touch with real things staff, how they feel about the picking of the white color. And it is like reading a satirical play. Someone should put it on stage.

[John Ashbrook]

Incredible.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Because they're just. Each one of them is just noodling about how this is very problematic.

[Duncan]

I'd honestly like to meet the writer who is locked in the basement of the Pantone Corporation, who described a white as lofty, white neutral, whose aerated presence acts as a whisper of calm and peace in a noisy world. That's a creative person.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I like that guy. But they. What he didn't, what he didn't do is go whisper.

If he said whisper, then it would just cats out the bag at that point. That's just full blown racism.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

I think he threw air rated in there for the boys. It's like reminds you of your lawn.

[John Ashbrook]

I heard airaid and I was like, well, I think that might be a better choice.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

You can exit the conversation immediately upon hearing aerated and be like, you know what? I forgot I got some grass I.

[Josh Holmes]

Gotta take care of.

[John Ashbrook]

I gotta do it twice a year.

[Josh Holmes]

This is. You got one more quote here that we gotta get to in a moment. When color is used to express culture.

[Michael Duncan]

Come on.

[Josh Holmes]

Diversity, emotion and innovation. Choosing a white based shade feels tone deaf at best. They continue at worst, it unintentionally lines with cultural and political symbolism that many of us find deeply troubling.

[John Ashbrook]

So weird.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Deeply troubling.

[John Ashbrook]

It's such a weird take. It's just extremely weird. It's like the same thing they did with Sydney Sweeney where they're like, you're talking about blue jeans in this moment. It's the same thing.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

They would argue this is a trend. That's what they would say. We've been violated in a trend.

[Josh Holmes]

It's all white supremacy.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Like, they can't get out of 2020. They can't.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a color. It's a color swatch. Like, if you go to your Home Depot or whatever, you're looking at a list of paints. The idea that one of these paints is racist, it's wild.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, that's.

And the problem they will continue to struggle with is that their demand for white supremacy far outstrips supply. And that's why we're stuck with these kind of stupid.

[Michael Duncan]

I still have to hold women in general and MK Particularly accountable for this. And that is. I still want to know, mk, what is the difference between eggshell and cream? Please explain.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

I would guess that cream is a little bit more of a. Has a movie tint, and eggshell is, I don't know, something akin to linen.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, okay.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

You know, there's all. I actually did pick white for my room. Room one time for a bedroom, and it was comical. Like, I had, like, 16 whites.

I just finally just, like, threw a dart at the board. Was like, that's fine.

[Josh Holmes]

It's amazing. It's like a superpower that she's got, though. It's like, all women are born with it.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

No, a bunch of women are gonna fact check me and be like, girl, that ain't like linen. Shut your ignorant mouth.

[Josh Holmes]

No, no, that's white.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Oh, that girl needs better girlfriends.

[Josh Holmes]

I know.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Tell her not to do that.

[Josh Holmes]

So, you know, we're regular consumers of your. All of your content.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Are you?

[Josh Holmes]

We are.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

I feel that I'm about to get Tim Russarded.

[Josh Holmes]

No, you're not gonna get Tim Russarded at all. But because we are regular consumers, couldn't help but notice your show out today had a clip that we took some interest in, clip 5a.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

So as a programming note, we will be doing one a week. And the wise folks over at Ruthless said to me, gave me some wisdom, and said, look, you got these people who listen to the podcast, and it feels like they're chatting with friends, and they like having you and Vic in their lives. And, like, don't give that up, you know? So we had a break, and we're not passing on it. So once a week, for now, we will do our best for y'. All.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it is. It is a delight to have such wise counsel, isn't it?

[John Ashbrook]

Thank you.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

I really did take that to heart. Cause you guys said you've built something. Don't walk away from it. Right. And you people enjoy this, and you enjoy the people listening. And so Vic and I are back with getting hammered for once a week. And there will be opportunities for you guys to. To listen and to help me out to keep this thing, keep this old train running.

[John Ashbrook]

Also, that title is inspired by you. Too good to let go for any reason. Getting hammered is like. You gotta keep that forever.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

I gotta get Duncan in the sweatshop working on some gear for me.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah. No, he can knit like nobody's business. But look, I think this is important. We talked a lot about this stuff, and all of us have sort of had made career decisions in the last year that are pursuing, you know, something like this. But it is something that we shared in common, is that, like, you generally enjoy interaction with the audience and understanding where they're at in life and politics. And maybe there's an escape component of having this conversation. And you just had that. You had that locked. And I'm so glad that you decided to get back and start doing this.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Thank you. I'm very excited. I mean, it's like, it's a pleasure to do this with work with your friends.

[Josh Holmes]

Right.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

I get to do normally with Carol Markowitz. Now I get to do getting hammered with Vic, and it's just like, a blast. And why would I. Why would I pass on that?

[Josh Holmes]

Why would you pass?

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

So I'm looking forward to building back up and get some gear out there, maybe some premium content and. And not that kind.

[John Ashbrook]

Guys.

[Duncan]

You're.

[Michael Duncan]

You're wearing some. Some great gear here.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Well, you know, I keep. I like to keep it subtle around playoff time.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

With my.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no, it's very subtle.

[Michael Duncan]

Your Georgia gear, you also had a.

[Josh Holmes]

Stocking cap that you came in in.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

There was nothing subtle about that. Bright red Georgia.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Nothing subtle about at all. You know what? I'm excited. I will say I have come. I come in here every December, and I'm not exactly sure why, but I always end up here in December. So I've been here after a couple heartbreakers.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

In the SEC championship, notably against Alabama. And I will like to say, because I have criticisms for other teams, I would like to say that I've been there. I have been hurt by the bama bias. And I believe I said on this show, this very show, I said, you know what, there might be a little Bama bias in 2023 when we were 13 and 1 and didn't get into the four team playoff. There might be a little recency bias, but you got to play the games in front of you and you got to win them in order to prove it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

There's always going to be cusp teams and they're always. Stop throwing tantrums.

[John Ashbrook]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

I feel like you're sort of like directing some of that at South Bend.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Yeah, I'm like shadow tweeting them.

No, I just think, like, I do think for the survival of college football, if I may get a little bit. Yeah, no, so foxy here, you need coaches who are interested and players who are interested in loving the game and playing the game. Yeah, I know. It's a business. I want it to be a business. They deserve to get paid. They're amazing. And also they needed to be developed. They need to play when they have the chance. You need people who like this sport.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Or else the sport just becomes the business.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. So obviously what MK's talking about is a college football playoff of which we follow very closely here at the ruthless variety program. And of course, they came out with their 12 team playoff and there was a big discussion about who deserves to be in, who deserves not to be in. There's a bunch of rules, some of which are esoteric about automatic qualifying and whatnot. And it turns out there were 10 teams that are sort of. Well, you've got conference winners of fcc, SEC and Big Ten, and then you've got basically eight left that are at large. And it came down to a big decision between Miami and Notre Dame. Notre dame had won 10 straight going in but had lost to Miami. They had the same record. Miami gets in, Notre Dame is out. It is the first time in my lifetime, old man, where Notre Dame has been on the outside looking in on anything dealing with college football.

[Michael Duncan]

I'm going to say something very controversial. Join a conference. Join a conference. I understand you have this many people are saying illustrious history and it, you know, dates back 100 years. But college football has changed and the playoff has changed it too. And I understand you got a TV contract with NBC and you, you guys control your destiny in a lot of ways. But I mean, like half the games and half of the rivalries you have are already with the Big Ten at this point. Like usc, Michigan State. Michigan, like Ohio State. Like just join the Big Ten. Yeah, just join the Big Ten. Notre Dame, I love you. I love your independence and I love the heritage of the whole thing. But it's, I just find it, the crying annoying and I know I'm going to get a lot of hate mail about that. I just don't care. I say this in love, this is somebody from Indiana. But just join the conference and I think you're going to be in a better situation as it relates to the new era of college football with the College Football Playoff. I mean it just, it seems obvious.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

I say it as somebody who's been burned the exact same way, but worse. You got to just.

[Duncan]

I don't disagree with you.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Play the game.

[Duncan]

I don't disagree with you. I think they should join a conference. But I think what Duke learned is that winning a conference isn't enough to get to the tournament. I think what Vanderbilt learned is being a part of a conference and having a winning record isn't enough to get to the tournament. You have teams like Tulane in the, in the final tournament. You're not having the best teams in the country in that tournament. I don't care if it's Texas or Vanderbilt or Notre Dame or maybe BYU or Utah. There are teams that are better than Tulane who didn't make it. And I think they've got to figure out a way to expand it. I think they've got to.

[Michael Duncan]

I don't think you can't expand it because we're talking about football, we're not talking about basketball.

[Duncan]

This is, well, maybe cancel the conference championships.

[Michael Duncan]

You're never going to do that. I mean people would love to, to, to have that as a hypothetical here. But like, let's look at the reality of college football. Like we used to determine this by computers and we used to determine it with a, you know, a four team playoff. And, and so, you know, there's a lot of fans who will see this as an improvement.

Vanderbilt has an argument but like at the end of the day you're part of a conference in which you were not the top three or four teams in that conference. They played really well, especially down the stretch. They won that game at Knoxville. I thought it was fantastic. If I had my druthers, Diego Pavia and that team would be in the college football playoffs because I think it's electric.

[Duncan]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

But the reality is, it's like, do you really have a, can you make a qualm with Being left out. And I just think in an expanded playoff that we have now, when you're the fourth or the fifth team in a conference, like, you can't really cry about not getting in. You just can't. And you had a lot of opportunities on the field to be like, if they won that game in overtime against Texas and Austin, yeah, they'd have an argument, but they would be in. Right.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Well, this is what the Vandy coach said. He was like, look, we had our opportunities and we didn't prove it. And there's always going to be a Cusp team.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Always going to be one.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

And they're always going to bitch, but. And the fan base is going to bitch, but you do have to just, like, excuse my language. Sack up and do play the football.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

So you like the Bulldogs chances here?

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Hey, I feel good. We're playing our best at all. Going in total to the playoff total.

[Duncan]

Looked real good on Saturday.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

There was a very funny Alabama fan account that said them dogs ain't ready before the game began, and then just retweeted himself with, they were ready.

[Michael Duncan]

I saw that. It's good content.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

The people I was watching with don't understand my trauma. So in the fourth quarter when they. I was like, oh, my God.

[Josh Holmes]

You're like, this is it.

[John Ashbrook]

We're going down.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Here it goes.

[Josh Holmes]

Two Ataglio Volos coming off the bench.

[Michael Duncan]

Yep.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Is there a backup quarterback?

[Josh Holmes]

Please say there isn't.

Totally. Oh, this is awesome. I love talking football and everything else with you. Mary Kathryn Ham. You can find her basically anywhere. Getting hammered back online and your other one.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Normal, normally. Normal normally. And getting hammered. Just listen. Show up. Like, subscribe.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Give us reviews.

[Josh Holmes]

And you can always.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

I mean, not bad ones.

[Josh Holmes]

You mentioned earlier that you come in here every December and I couldn't help but notice that you have something.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Yes, I do try to bring a gift for you guys. And the thing is, I. I keep having to try to outdo myself. And I don't think I can outdo the journo Advent calendar.

[Josh Holmes]

There's no way you can do that.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

That one all time.

[Josh Holmes]

It's still up in our office.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

I'm so glad. And you know, it's. It's. It can be used every year. That's the thing, so. But I did get you a present. I believe before that it was the brooch from the house.

[John Ashbrook]

Yes, right. That's exactly right.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Okay. So I do have one this time, which I cooked up this week for you guys. And I. Let me present It.

[Josh Holmes]

What do we have? What do we have here?

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

It's a beautiful frame.

[Josh Holmes]

Hold on. Oh, my goodness.

[Michael Duncan]

Look at this.

[John Ashbrook]

This is perfect.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

So these are some commemorative stamps that.

[John Ashbrook]

I had made just for Smug. This is in his love of the post office. This is so perfect. This is the most accurate depiction I've ever seen. For our audio only listeners, there's one that says US Postage. Rotten to the core. Accurate. The other one, which is the truth. Just use the kiosk. US Postage. That is the official slogan of the USPS at this point.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

One more thing I must share because I did make an extra one, which was. I believe you said monsters live there.

[John Ashbrook]

That is the story. The idea that they live at the post like Keebler elves.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

And there's one more that is so stupid because I asked ChatGPT to make the new. The new stupid vehicle.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

It couldn't do it.

[John Ashbrook]

It can't.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

It couldn't do it. It actually glitched out and told me, you're right. Because I was like, you're doing this wrong. It doesn't look anything like the thing. And he's like, yeah, it keeps normalizing it and it doesn't look the way it should. I was like, it needs to be much more guarded.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

And this was the best it came up with.

[Josh Holmes]

Look at that box. It's got like, it's all sideways.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

It was so bad that the chatgpt just glitched out and was like, nah, I can't do it.

[Josh Holmes]

And it looks like it. Like it came. The end result of what ChatGPT did is like one of those Chinese kids cartoons.

[Michael Duncan]

Right, Right.

[John Ashbrook]

With.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like the talking truck with the sideways front. I love that. That is so good.

[Duncan]

So.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I mean, it's a way to our heart. Of course. This guy's heart, he just hates.

[John Ashbrook]

Don't forget it, folks. Let him know when you go to the post office, if they tell you to use the kiosk, you let them know then. What's your job, buddy?

[Michael Duncan]

You think you gave us a gift and Smug's just going to take that home with him?

[John Ashbrook]

I know.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

It's office decor. Okay.

[John Ashbrook]

Monsters live there.

[Duncan]

Live there.

[John Ashbrook]

Like they all live in the.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

It was like the monsters live there.

[Josh Holmes]

I love that. Well, thank you so much. It's great to have you. And we've got a zookeeper and a bear that are going three rounds in China. And also a man who pounded 33 drinks on a carnival cruise.

[Duncan]

Oh, boy.

[Josh Holmes]

It's none of this stuff you're gonna Want to stick around and hear about it right after this.

Okay. Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety Program. I had promised some good ship and cruise information, and we're going to get to that. I do want to be very specific because integrity is important to us here on the program. Royal Caribbean, it wasn't a Carnival cruise.

[Michael Duncan]

I cannot. I can understand, though, why you might consider some of these things on a Carnival Cruise Line, given the nature of the story.

[Josh Holmes]

At times they do get.

[Michael Duncan]

They have a reputation.

[Josh Holmes]

At times they do at times. Well, this one. But you're going to want to be very specific about that kind of thing, which is why I corrected it when we get to this next story. A royal. And this is according to the New York Post, Royal Caribbean cruise Passenger was served 33 drinks before he died in custody lawsuit. My God.

[John Ashbrook]

So I don't want to laugh at someone dying, but it's just like, 33 drinks, bro, is going for gold. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, let me get to this story, though. I want your reaction. Don't hold back on this. I mean, we're going to pretend to be, you know, completely offended by a guy. 33 drinks and bad things happening. I don't want it here. Just open up the canister.

[John Ashbrook]

But that would end in badly. 33 drinks.

[Josh Holmes]

So the death of the Royal Caribbean passenger has been ruled a homicide after crew members allegedly served him nearly three dozen drinks at the ship's bar before he died, according to new lawsuit. Michael Virgil, 35, was served 33 drinks. I mean, I mean, that's a lot, dude. They itemized it. So it's not like, you know, it's one of those things where it's like, oh, man, I must have had 33 drinks. It's like, no, he actually did have 33 drinks anyway. @ one of the ship's bars on the day he died in December 2024, according to a wrongful death lawsuit that's recently been filed by his fiance and obtained by dmz. Virgil was detained during the drunken rage in which he. We'll get to the rage in a second. In which he allegedly attacked and threatened to kill crew members and.

[Duncan]

Passengers.

[Josh Holmes]

Jeez. But he died within hours of being restrained and taken into custody by the cruise ship security, according to the lawsuit with Virgil's family initially alleging that they injected him with his sedative, which killed him a year later. Family is still standing by that claim in their new lawsuit and said that Virgil's cause of death was changed to homicide, legal papers.

[Duncan]

Show. So they're saying it wasn't the Drinking. They gave him some sort of.

[Josh Holmes]

Injection. That's the allegation. Virgil had boarded a Mexican bound cruise with his fiance and 7 year old autistic son. When they were told their room wasn't ready. Such a tough situation, their fateful day, crew members directed them to a bar. That's just unbelievable. Like, first of all, it's a fucking cruise ship. Like, what do you mean your room's not ready? It's a cruise ship.

[Michael Duncan]

Right? Yeah. Are they all ready when you show.

[Josh Holmes]

Up? I thought when you showed up the rooms were ready. Like what is.

[John Ashbrook]

That? Like there's something to be said about.

[Michael Duncan]

That. Like, is it like boarding an airplane where like the passengers have to come off and then they have to clean.

[Josh Holmes]

The. I mean, how horrendous the whole.

[John Ashbrook]

Service. Like planes are never clean on time. If you go to a hotel and they tell you your rooms not ready, be like, so what, what is it you do around here? Because I'm the guy who shows up to stay in the room. It's your job to have the room ready. Like one of us did our job today. You got the money, didn't.

[Josh Holmes]

You? No, dude, I'm with you on this. And I'll take a hard line on the cruises that now you completely understand why you have like poop boats and norovirus and all that kind of shit if this all kind of thing's going on. Guy shows up, gets on his cruise with his wife and kid and they're like, your room's not ready, go to the bar. He was like, the.

[John Ashbrook]

Bar. I.

[Josh Holmes]

Will.

I will. So he directed him to the bar. But when their son grew restless, Virgil's wife took him to check on their.

[John Ashbrook]

Room. Usually when you're at the bar and you have 33 drinks, the kids start getting restless. They.

[Josh Holmes]

Do. I mean, Midway at least 15.

[John Ashbrook]

It'S like I pull up to the bar with my 7 year old and you know, I'm about 33 deep and he starts giving me a hard.

[Josh Holmes]

Time. I know, I know. My sons tend to get ticked off when I get between 12 and 14.

[John Ashbrook]

Right? Like that's a patient child. If you've cracked the 30s, you know, you got a patient kid. Yeah.

Dad, usually I let you have.

[Josh Holmes]

25. Hey, go walk the kid, go walk the kid. So she goes, it was during the time he didn't. He stayed right there though. He was.

[John Ashbrook]

Committed. It's just me and my boy, you.

[Josh Holmes]

Know. Yeah, it.

[John Ashbrook]

Was. If I'm going for 30, I want my kid to see. It.

[Josh Holmes]

Was. I don't want my kid to see dad the champion once I break 25. Nobody should see this. I don't remember.

[Michael Duncan]

Dad. Like, this was.

[Josh Holmes]

The. It was during that time that he was allegedly served the booze that he broke into a rage. Oh, hold on. Hold, wait, hold.

[Michael Duncan]

On. They had to pepper spray him.

[Josh Holmes]

But. But hold on. They're claiming that when the kid and the wife was there, that wasn't booze. Because if you read the way that that reads, it says, after the wife's. Virgil's wife took him to check out of the room while he remained at the bar. It was during that time he was allegedly served the booze. So it was after his wife left that he had 33.

[John Ashbrook]

Drinks. Wait, no, really? Is that the timeline? Is that the serious.

[Josh Holmes]

Timeline? That's what that's so says when.

[John Ashbrook]

Their son grew restless, Virgil's wife took him to check. And when they.

[Duncan]

Do. It could be a.

[John Ashbrook]

Paraphrase. Yeah, that's the.

[Josh Holmes]

Thing. Well, whatever it was, he broke into a rage when he left the bar extremely inebriated, and he couldn't find his room. Well, it wasn't awarded to him yet, so footage from the.

[John Ashbrook]

Cruise. Finding the door to the place after 33 is a fucking accomplishment. Let alone back to your.

[Josh Holmes]

Room. Dude, he was ready to go. And honestly, where is the staff to find his room at that point? Like, don't make the man look.

[Duncan]

Right. Take him to the.

[Josh Holmes]

Info. If you're.

[Duncan]

33.

[Josh Holmes]

No. Can you imagine, by the way, the bartender is like, yeah, sure.

[John Ashbrook]

Dude. Also, I'm not. I'm not a lawyer. I'm a former bouncer. All right? When I was in college, I was a bouncer at a bar, and we were told you have to be, like, a number of times in the hiring process and constantly reminded, like, you have to be extremely careful how much you serve people. Because if someone gets into a car accident or something, like, the police come looking for your ass after 33. Like, let's say after. Let's say after 25. Let's say, you know, I'm a standard bartender. I draw the line at 25 drinks. Like, how many have. Like, this guy's gotta be sitting on a mountain of glasses, you know? At what point are you, like, are you trying to, like, do them in yourself? Like, what is it? What is it? Like, I can't see over the mountain of empties over you. Are you sure? Like, who's ordering these drinks? This mountain of.

[Michael Duncan]

Empties? Okay, okay. So before we want to throw this all on the bartenders, we should point out the fact that footage from the cruise caught Virgil attempting to batter down a door after he'd allegedly attacked crew members and threatened to kill.

[Josh Holmes]

Passengers. Yeah, well, he had 33 drinks. What do you think is going to.

[Michael Duncan]

Happen? Okay, but don't we believe in personal responsibility in this.

[Josh Holmes]

Country? We do, but 33, I feel like, you know what's.

[John Ashbrook]

Happening. It should be a rule that if you can crack 33, you get to drive the boat.

That's a mission. That's a high number. Like, I've gotten up there maybe to 33 in my life. And, like, that's like Cal Ripken Jr. Iron man shit. 33.

[Josh Holmes]

Drinks. No, it is.

[Duncan]

Dude. Here. It goes on. It goes on. When he was eventually detained, his fiance alleges, quote, the excessive force and fatal actions taken by crew members, including security and medical personnel, who, quote, administered an injection of a sedative medication, Haloperidol, and used multiple cans of pepper spray. Close quote. Led to his death, according to the.

[Josh Holmes]

Lawsuit. Well, so, I mean, I can understand the pepper.

[John Ashbrook]

Spray. You empty it, you gotta be like, yo, grab another, dude.

Like, you're seasoning the guy.

He's got 33 beers and two cans of.

[Josh Holmes]

Pepper.

[John Ashbrook]

What? He just took the down. 33 drinks and two cans of pepper. He's pissed. Get the shot.

I think you got to use live rounds at that point, to be honest. You.

[Josh Holmes]

Know? You know, it's every man for himself. You got a mutiny on your.

[John Ashbrook]

Hands. This thing is going south. You know, this.

[Michael Duncan]

Reminds. This reminds me of. Of that famous story of Wade Boggs on that transatlantic.

[Duncan]

Light. That was.

[Michael Duncan]

52. I think 52.

[Josh Holmes]

Beers.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. And then he went three for five the next.

[Josh Holmes]

Day. Yeah, he just needed a bucket of chicken. He was all.

[John Ashbrook]

Set. And so that is a heroic story, because I remember hearing about that from a buddy. Buddy of mine, an Irishman, if anyone knows how to drink. These fucking Irish people. But he told me this Wade Box. He told me this Wade Box story when I was gonna be flying across the Atlantic. And I did my best. Like, I hunkered down. I ate a big meal before I got on there. And I put myself in the zone of, like, how much can I drink? And I knew I was gonna drink so much, I wouldn't remember where I was or anything. And I was like, you know the airplane bottle that they serve you, what an.

[Josh Holmes]

Aspiration. The way you sit down, you're like, you know what? Tonight is the night you're all gonna have a problem on your.

[John Ashbrook]

Hands. And the thing is, so, like, I documented this on Twitter because every airplane bottle I drank, I put it in my pocket. Cause, like, if you have them all on your tray in front of you, eventually this door dish is gonna cut you off. But, like, you know, if they keep bringing them, keep bringing them, keep bringing.

[Michael Duncan]

Them. And this is how the guy got to.

[John Ashbrook]

33. No. So I got to. I got to 23, and I didn't know where I was. 23 on a transatlantic. I think I did that in, like, six.

[Josh Holmes]

Hours. Right. Also in an airline, much worse. And so from air.

[Duncan]

Pressurization. Oh.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. I landed at jfk. I was so drunk, I forgot I had even been doing this. And so, like, I pull up to, like, customs, right? And they were like, all right, you gotta, like, empty your pockets. And then I put the photos up on Twitter from this. I put them out there. I've got handfuls of empties. And the guy's like, what the fuck happened to.

[Duncan]

You?

You're like.

[John Ashbrook]

What? I thought this was America. That's 23. And this dude hit 33. Is.

[Josh Holmes]

Unbelievable. Well, it didn't go well. It didn't go well. And so there's a lawsuit that's pending. Rest assured, ruthless listeners, we will stay on top of this story. We want to get to the bottom of this. Has this man been.

[John Ashbrook]

Murdered? Yeah. In your unprofessional opinion, all of us will go across the board. This is not legal advice. You think the guy is to blame or the people who shot him and peppered.

[Josh Holmes]

Him? The shot is. I want to take a look at.

[Duncan]

That. Yeah. That's what makes. I would want to read what the contraindications are of the haloperidol. And, I mean, Waffle.

[John Ashbrook]

House. This guy, he's, like, peppered and smothered some hash.

[Josh Holmes]

Browns. But I'm both. I'm torn here because I'm at one point, waffle housed.

[Michael Duncan]

Him. Smothered and covered.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude. I'm torn because there's a legal analysis, which I think that the shot plays a big role here. But I'm also like, you know, the spirit of the law type thing is that if you have 33 drinks and then you get up and start trying to kill people, and you go through two cans of pepper.

[Michael Duncan]

Spray.

[Duncan]

Allegedly. Supposed to.

[Josh Holmes]

Do.

[Michael Duncan]

Allegedly.

[Josh Holmes]

Allegedly. Like, if you're. If all those things are happening, like, what are your options as a crew member at that.

[Michael Duncan]

Point?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Like, it feels like your hands are sort of.

[John Ashbrook]

Tied. I feel like the reputation essentially on a cruise ship, it's like, you know, people are getting diseases. There's always brawls breaking. It's like. It's like there's no rules on this. So if you're like, in international waters at this point, it's just like a PVP server. Like, everyone's up for blood, so just comes with the.

[Josh Holmes]

Territory. It's a good question. Where's the lawsuit? It doesn't tell us where the lawsuit is being filed. Yeah, but that's a good question. International waters, like, there's no rules. I don't.

[John Ashbrook]

Know. People die. You throw them.

[Josh Holmes]

Overboard. I don't know where. That's why.

[Duncan]

We. That's what they.

[Michael Duncan]

Do. This.

[Josh Holmes]

Dark. Throw them over. I'm pretty sure you can't do.

[John Ashbrook]

That, given the bin Laden funeral out of.

[Josh Holmes]

Your.

Hey, where's my dad? I don't know. He had 33 drinks, which tossed him.

[John Ashbrook]

Starboard.

I mean.

[Josh Holmes]

Just. It's totally messed up. Crazy story. All right, animal. You guys want some animal.

[Duncan]

Fighting?

[Josh Holmes]

Always. So the animal, this. I know where this is headed before I even start, but apparently in China, they got a real problem with zookeepers. Clip seven.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Please.

[Michael Duncan]

Whoa. It's a black.

[Josh Holmes]

Bear. For our.

[John Ashbrook]

Audio.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude. He is going in on the.

[John Ashbrook]

Zookeeper.

[Josh Holmes]

Is. The black bear is taking down a zookeeper with people on looking, by the.

[John Ashbrook]

Way.

Wait a.

[Josh Holmes]

Second. There's a basketball hoop invole. There's a chair. He's got a stick to pounding on the.

[John Ashbrook]

Thing. It's now officially wwe. There's a.

[Duncan]

Hawk. No, it's a.

[John Ashbrook]

Parrot. He's got a parrot. No.

[Duncan]

Way. He was chewing the guy's arm.

[Josh Holmes]

Off. Dude, this is the best video I've ever.

[John Ashbrook]

Seen. I would pay my. Oh, he's going back at.

[Duncan]

It. Oh, the.

[Josh Holmes]

Guy. But he doesn't want out of it. The guy wants to be a part of.

[John Ashbrook]

It. Why would you be there and.

[Josh Holmes]

The fucking parents still.

[John Ashbrook]

Involved? Dude, that's it right.

[Duncan]

There.

[John Ashbrook]

That's. I mean, that's the best.

[Michael Duncan]

Video. It's the best clip we've ever.

[John Ashbrook]

Played. This is. This is why you subscribe to the.

[Duncan]

YouTube. We have to see that.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, what we have witnessed here on the Ruthless variety program that came in cold to the hosts is the single greatest animal fighting video that has ever been played on the Ruthless Variety program. There is a bear that is attacking a zookeeper. And fellow zookeepers come in with a basketball hoop, a chair, a long stick, and a.

[John Ashbrook]

Parrot. A parrot.

[Michael Duncan]

Dude. Well, that's what. That's. The thing that really surprises me here is you got a guy with a stick you got a guy with the basketball hoop and you've got a guy with a chair. And then the guy who's literally holding a giant parrot is like, let me get involved. Let's see how I can help. Like, what are you.

[Duncan]

Doing? But dude, it's not just a basketball hoop. It's a full like.

[John Ashbrook]

Backboard.

[Duncan]

Yeah. Oh, did they just tear the backboard.

[Michael Duncan]

Down? I don't.

[Duncan]

Know. What are they.

[Josh Holmes]

Thinking? I.

[Michael Duncan]

Don'T. It looked like one of those pool basketball hoops situations. I don't.

[Duncan]

Know. There was a whole. There was a pole. Looked like there.

[John Ashbrook]

Wasn'T. Look at.

[Josh Holmes]

It. No, it's a.

[John Ashbrook]

Pole. It's a pole. That's the whole.

[Josh Holmes]

Thing. Yeah, they've got, he's got a full. They look like they tore down a.

[Duncan]

Hoop. Where.

[Josh Holmes]

To? Just. And this guy's trying to use the rim of the hoop to get it around the.

[Michael Duncan]

Head. Where's a guy with the.

[John Ashbrook]

Trim? Honestly, not a bad idea. Yeah. And it's a built in.

[Josh Holmes]

Shoe. No, this guy light taps with the big bamboo cane. By the way, the guy on.

[Michael Duncan]

The cruise got two full faces full of pepper spray and this bear gets.

[Duncan]

Nothing. Let me tell you, we did not have that problem in America because Harambe was taken out the right.

[John Ashbrook]

Way. That's.

[Duncan]

100%. They didn't go after Harumbe with a stick and a parrot and a basketball.

[Josh Holmes]

Hoop.

[Michael Duncan]

Harambe. Why are you saying Harambe? It's.

[John Ashbrook]

Harambe.

[Duncan]

Harambe. Harambe. He was about to kill a four year old kid and they took.

[John Ashbrook]

100%. He deserved.

[Duncan]

It.

He was about to kill a kid and they took care of.

[Michael Duncan]

Him.

Where to.

[John Ashbrook]

Start? I.

[Josh Holmes]

Don'T. The parrots throw me off here. I mean, what is.

[John Ashbrook]

The. That's the thing. When the dude showed up with the chair, I was like, this is just like wwe. And then a parrot rolls.

[Josh Holmes]

Up. I was like, it's the w wildest thing. And then there are onlookers which by the way, play it. If you can see the fence that's separating the onlookers from the, the wild bear, the parrot and all these people. It, it's, it's, it's.

[John Ashbrook]

Jumpable. If I'm being honest, I would not leave. This is the show you always want to.

[Josh Holmes]

See. This is like, no, this is.

[John Ashbrook]

What show up to the zoo because.

[Michael Duncan]

Everyone. The bear's going in for a single leg takedown. By the way, this bear has incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

Technique. I also think that the guy who is like the, the main sort of victim of this, he was down on his back at one point. Gets off. They get him off of him. Watch him go right back in for the bear. Yeah, he goes right back in for the bear. Now he's going to grab him by the scruff of the neck. It's a fucking.

[Interviewer]

Bear.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. What are you doing? You're not picking up a.

[John Ashbrook]

Puppy. But look at the. I love the crowd is still just watching because that's what it's about. This is cinema. Like, I would pay double to go to a zoo if I'm guaranteed every 30 minutes they put a zookeeper out there to face.

[Duncan]

Off. You know, you raise smug, dude. I would. You raise an important point. Do we think there's a chance that there's like a kayfabe aspect to this? Because yes, we know in China they don't care about their.

[Michael Duncan]

People.

[Duncan]

No. They put them in danger just for the.

[Josh Holmes]

Money. I think the.

[John Ashbrook]

Best. This should be like a show like, you know, you put five zookeepers in, one of them is going to get like, you know, whatever. The yuan gets 100,000 yuan if you survive the bear. I would watch that game show.

[Josh Holmes]

Constantly. The best argument for your point of view of a kayfabe is the light touch with the bamboo pole that the guy's got on the bear. Like, you could do some damage with that bad boy. And he's just kind of stroking the back of it a little. Like, look at this guy. This guy right.

[John Ashbrook]

Here. And the one with the stool, like, what did you bring the stool for? You're not going on him with the.

[Josh Holmes]

Chair. And the guy's got to do the.

[John Ashbrook]

Parrot. The parrot is just.

[Duncan]

Incredible. Oh, you know what, dude? I don't think it's kayfabe. When he pulled his arm away, the sleeve was ripped and it looked pretty.

[John Ashbrook]

Red. Oh, did. Oh, my God, you're right, dude. The parrot's like, why did you bring me.

[Josh Holmes]

Here? Well, it's like Paulie just wanted a fucking.

[John Ashbrook]

Cracker.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. What am I doing in.

[Michael Duncan]

This? I want to know what precipitated all of this. Because typically, black bears aren't the aggressive.

[John Ashbrook]

Bears. Sure, they all. Yeah, they.

[Michael Duncan]

Are. And that looked like a cub. More than a fully grown black.

[Josh Holmes]

Bear. Maybe they thought they could handle.

[Michael Duncan]

It. I think that's what I'm.

[Josh Holmes]

Saying. And they.

[Michael Duncan]

Couldn'T. They.

[Josh Holmes]

Couldn'T. They could.

[John Ashbrook]

Not. Incredible video. Great.

[Mary Katherine Hamm]

Pull.

[Josh Holmes]

Great. Great ball. Remember, we're going to be hosting two Q&A episodes during this Christmas break. We want all of your questions start loading them in all now. In addition to your responses to the question of the day, which was, what is Jasmine Crockett's campaign slogan going to be? I know you're going to be creative on that, but load up some questions. Keep them coming. We're going to take the best stuff. We're not avoiding anything, so anything you got, we're going to take it on. When you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety Program, that's what you get. We read every single one of them. Remember our Christmas merch? Last public service announcement? The Christmas merch you were.

[John Ashbrook]

Adorned. And there it is. There's that small graphing paper that's like the number one.

[Michael Duncan]

Seller. I'm getting some for my family. I'm getting some for my family. But key important note for listeners and viewers of the Ruthless Variety Program. Order it by the 11th of December, because my carpal tunnel can't take it.

[Josh Holmes]

Anymore. Well, and more importantly, those post office trucks that we have talked about.

[Michael Duncan]

Now for three straight episodes, we want to ensure.

[John Ashbrook]

Delivery. They're looking for these packages and they're running a.

[Duncan]

Lot. Duncan, let me ask you this. If they order by the 11th, are you willing to wrap their gifts for them in the smug.

[Michael Duncan]

Paper? I will.

We'll get gift wrapped. You go to their house like they're at Macy's.

He's doing with the elaborate bow.

[Josh Holmes]

The big bow on top. Yeah, that's good. That's good. So anyway, that's what I got. Thank you for joining us. And with that, fellas, I think we did.

[John Ashbrook]

It. I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much, mk. And thank you to the Minions. Remember, if you have not yet, go to the YouTube 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 Thursday. Stay ruthless.