Will The DNC Spend MILLIONS To Tank 'Ineffective' Democrats?

Summary

Ruthless Podcast Episode Summary

Title: "Will The DNC Spend MILLIONS To Tank 'Ineffective' Democrats?"
Release Date: April 17, 2025
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook
Description: The Ruthless Podcast elevates next-generation conservative talk by offering incisive and often provocative analyses of daily news and political developments.

---

Introduction to Democratic Disarray

The episode opens with Comfortably Smug (00:00) expressing frustration over the internal conflicts within the Democratic Party. He critiques the party's shift towards the left, attributing the recent electoral losses to the dominance of extreme factions:

"The Dems allowed these kids who are like rioting on college campuses and essentially just like push their platform so far to the left that they got creamed in this election that Trump just won."
(00:00, Smug)

The Ruthless Host echoes similar sentiments, highlighting ineffective Democratic strategies and their detachment from mainstream voters (00:24):

"Look the economy a little tumultuous with trying to work out some fair trade deals. Democrats spent like six minutes on that and they were like, mmm, let's go to El Salvador."
(00:24, Ruthless Host)

David Hogg and Democratic Primaries

A significant portion of the discussion centers around David Hogg, the DNC Vice Chair, and his controversial role within the party. Comfortably Smug criticizes Hogg for misrepresenting himself and misusing DNC funds to target incumbent Democrats:

"David Hogg, a controversial Democratic National Committee vice chair, is pledging to upend Democratic primaries by funding candidates who will challenge, quote, ineffective, asleep at the wheel Democrats."
(09:40, Ruthless Host)

The hosts dissect Hogg's background, questioning his authenticity and effectiveness in rallying the younger Democratic base. They portray him as more interested in personal agendas than party unity:

"The only authentic thing the guy's ever done is be a college student and trying to pick chicks up on Instagram."
(04:36, Ruthless Host)

Grover Norquist Interview

A highlight of the episode is the interview with Grover Norquist, a prominent conservative political figure known for his Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Grover discusses the importance of tax policy in shaping economic growth and limiting government intervention:

"If you looked at what it was, the outflow was that you paid the federal government for absolutely nothing."
(07:13, Grover Norquist)

Grover Norquist emphasizes the success of Republican-controlled tax policies since 1994, arguing that the Taxpayer Protection Pledge has been pivotal in maintaining fiscal responsibility within the party:

"Since 1994, there hasn't been a tax increase that Republicans supported."
(55:48, Grover Norquist)

He criticizes current Democratic efforts to raise taxes, labeling them as harmful to small businesses and the economy:

"The price of the company goes down and everybody who's saving for their retirement gets screwed."
(65:21, Grover Norquist)

Listener Comments: Media Responsibility for Political Violence

The hosts engage with listener feedback on the previous episode’s question: "Does the media bear any responsibility for political violence?" Two notable comments are highlighted:

1. Stacey Oswalt (30:20):

   "The Democrats and their, quote, leadership, whoever that may be, are 100% responsible for the violence... Chaos was yesterday's word."
   (30:20, Smug)

2. Rob Anderson (31:02):

   "The mainstream media is the glue that holds it. Without it, a fair and unbiased media would have ended all of this."
   (31:03, Ruthless Host)

These comments reinforce the podcast's stance that biased media perpetuates Democratic infighting and violence.

Chris Van Hollen's El Salvador Mission

Comfortably Smug (05:52) and the Ruthless Host (06:07) discuss Senator Chris Van Hollen from Maryland, who is traveling to El Salvador to advocate for the release of Albergo Garcia, a convicted MS-13 gang member. The hosts criticize Van Hollen for prioritizing partisan goals over national security:

"He has a history of violence... He's an MS-13 gang member, as has been described by not one, but two courts."
(37:07, Smug & Ruthless Host)

They argue that Van Hollen's actions exemplify Democratic hypocrisy and lack of commitment to law enforcement.

Pharmaceutical Pollution and Salmon Behavior

Transitioning to lighter content, the hosts discuss a study revealing that Clobazam, a common medication, is altering salmon behavior by making them swim faster through hydropower dams. Comfortably Smug mocks the situation humorously:

"If there's already that much sleeping pills in the water, next time I go fly fishing, dude, I'm just gonna throw some in the water."
(49:45, Smug)

This segment serves as a satirical take on environmental policies, indirectly criticizing government inaction.

Tax Policy and Republican Success

Returning to the interview with Grover Norquist, the discussion delves deeper into the Republican Party's tax policies and their economic implications. Grover outlines how maintaining low tax rates has been central to the party’s success:

"Republicans win both houses 60% of the time. Democrats have won both houses for six years, since 2019."
(57:25, Grover Norquist)

He advocates for further reducing corporate tax rates to remain competitive globally, specifically targeting alignment below European and Chinese tax rates:

"President Trump is going to win against his staff. I really do."
(75:35, Grover Norquist)

Conclusion and Closing Remarks

The episode concludes with the hosts reiterating their support for Grover Norquist and the Republican tax agenda. Comfortably Smug and the Ruthless Host emphasize the importance of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and its role in preventing tax increases:

"Grover isn't a household name as he was in the 2000s because everybody's given up on trying to attack his effectiveness."
(77:57, Ruthless Host)

They encourage listeners to subscribe, like, and engage with their content, promising more incisive discussions in future episodes.

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Notable Quotes with Attributions

• Comfortably Smug (00:00): "The Dems allowed these kids who are like rioting on college campuses and essentially just like push their platform so far to the left that they got creamed in this election that Trump just won."
• Ruthless Host (00:24): "Look the economy a little tumultuous with trying to work out some fair trade deals. Democrats spent like six minutes on that and they were like, mmm, let's go to El Salvador."
• Grover Norquist (07:13): "If you looked at what it was, the outflow was that you paid the federal government for absolutely nothing."
• Grover Norquist (55:48): "Since 1994, there hasn't been a tax increase that Republicans supported."
• Rob Anderson (31:02): "Without it, a fair and unbiased media would have ended all of this."

---

Key Takeaways

1. Democratic Internal Struggles: The episode underscores significant infighting within the Democratic Party, attributing electoral setbacks to extreme factions and ineffective leadership.
2. David Hogg's Controversial Role: David Hogg's appointment as DNC Vice Chair is portrayed as a misstep, with the hosts criticizing his methods and questioning his impact on the party.
3. Tax Policy Advocacy: Grover Norquist's interview serves as a centerpiece, highlighting Republican tax policies' success and advocating for further reductions to stimulate economic growth.
4. Media Critique: Listener comments emphasize the role of biased media in exacerbating political violence and Democratic disarray.
5. Satirical Environmental Commentary: Discussions on pharmaceutical pollution and its impact on salmon add a lighter, humorous dimension to the episode's otherwise politically charged content.

---

This comprehensive summary captures the essence of the April 17, 2025, episode of the Ruthless Podcast, reflecting the hosts' critical stance on Democratic strategies, their advocacy for Republican tax policies, and their broader commentary on media influence and political integrity.

Transcript

[Smug]

This is such a great Dems in disarray situation. Dems infighting, Dems civil war. The Dems allowed these kids who are like rioting on college campuses and essentially just like push their platform so far to the left that they got creamed in this election that Trump just won. They're like, well, let's maybe let one of them be the vice chair. And this is what you get.

[Ruthless Host]

There are political attacks that work. There are some that don't, you know, look the economy a little tumultuous with trying to work out some fair trade deals. Democrats spent like six minutes on that and they were like, mmm, let's go to El Salvador.

[Smug]

Yep.

[Ruthless Host]

And let's talk about primary old people. We will unleash the power of American innovation.

[Smug]

We will soon be on the verge.

[Ruthless Host]

Of finding the cures to cancer, Alzheimer's.

[Grover Norquist]

Disease and many other diseases.

[Ruthless Host]

The cure for cancer is closer than ever.

[Smug]

But the Biden pill penalty is forcing.

[Ruthless Host]

Researchers to abandon breakthroughs that could save millions of lives. Only President Trump can fix it. He'll ignite a golden age of innovation to defeat cancer once and for all. Tell Congress, end the Biden pill penalty. Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Smug]

Keep the faith, hold the line and own the lids. It's time for our main event.

[Ruthless Host]

A very special Thursday for you, for you OG listeners to the Ruthless Variety Program. It's the way it started. Yeah, it's the way it started.

[Smug]

Lean and mean.

[Ruthless Host]

The OG Smugglesworth and me giving it to you fresh and hot here on the Ruthless Variety Program, our co hosts on Assignment as one does. It's a busy time of year. Everybody's doing different stuff. Love them to death and welcome them back next week. But they're out for this one. So, you know, as we started four years ago, here we are. I think it's been a while since we've done this, by the way.

[Smug]

I think it has been a while. It's definitely been years. But we are, we are truly blessed with perhaps the best content we've had.

[Ruthless Host]

In a while, which is so good.

[Smug]

We're talking like all the hits.

[Ruthless Host]

All the hits.

[Smug]

Biden, his brain is cooked. We've got Dems in disarray and we've got Dems being like, but won't you help the poor illegals? Will someone not speak for the criminals?

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah. And also show me your hog, which for you OGs, you'll definitely appreciate that. Cuz that's kind of how we start. We a little racy here on the right.

[Smug]

So good.

[Ruthless Host]

But show me Your hog refers to the DNC co Chair.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ruthless Host]

A controversial choice. David Hogg. His name.

[Smug]

That's the one.

[Ruthless Host]

David Hogg. This. This is the cat that's just like this left wing lunatic who like hooked his initial fame to gun violence and then went to Harvard and sort of, I guess self promoted himself to like a speaker of young people.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ruthless Host]

Which if you. If the exit polls of the last election or any indication, not totally not.

[Smug]

Listen to him at all.

[Ruthless Host]

Ye. Yeah. And they had like a couple others, one of whom was not US Citizens, it turns out, and was like knocking up all kinds of different.

[Smug]

So that's the thing is if the Democrats had turned to one of the, like, young influencers, it's a shame that they turned to Hogg rather than that dude who was just like, what was that guy's name? I can't remember. The Biden influencer who just used his TikTok fame to just DM girls.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah. He was like, I am going to. He got paid by the DNC to just promote the Biden brand. He was like, I'm a young person. Young. It's important that we stay liberal and Biden or whatever. And then you find out after the election that he was like one, like, not even a U.S. citizen.

[Smug]

So he was a citizen. He was born in Singapore and like, somehow during that time he'd gotten citizenship. But the hilarity of him being this, like. Because he was like, this election is about women. And when Kamala lost, he was like, I want to apologize to all the women of America because of the election. Not because, like, weeks later you find out he was just using his entire platform to just DM women all day, which is like, I'm. Dude, I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that. I'm not okay with you trying to like, bring Joe, like, Kamala Harris to the White House.

[Ruthless Host]

The only authentic thing the guy's ever done is be a college student and trying to pick chicks up on Instagram.

[Smug]

That's the only authentic thing he's ever done.

[Ruthless Host]

But he was like, you know, he was sorting through the DMs and he was, like, thrown out the I respect all women stuff. And they kind of gravitated towards that.

[Smug]

Except for in his DMs.

[Ruthless Host]

Then he's like, show me your nudes.

[Smug]

Yeah. That literally was like, yeah, his job. But sadly, the DNC chose to go with David Hogg instead of him.

[Ruthless Host]

Show me your hog. Which is what we're doing here today. We've got that. We've Got Chris Van Hollen, a senator from Maryland who has long been amongst the most partisan Democrats in all of Congress, who has decided to draw a hard line. Not a single peep out of his mouth about the killing of Lake and Riley, or, like, the mayhem that's gone on in cities across this country, the raping and pillaging of Americans based on, like, organized criminals coming over the border, illegal aliens into these communities, and, like, horrifying everything. Not a single peep. But he has taken a hard stand. He is going to travel to El Salvador and he has done so. And we've got some stuff for you on that. He wants to free a guy who is the poor ms.13 guy.

[Smug]

Won't someone please look out for the gangs?

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, the illegal criminal gangs, very underrepresented. And so he's going to provide his representational taste. We've got some variety. There's some salmon news.

[Smug]

It's really good.

[Ruthless Host]

You're going to love all of that. And then we've got a great guest.

[Smug]

Huge.

[Ruthless Host]

Honestly, if you're unfamiliar with Grover Norquist, you need to become familiar because he's one of the most significant political players in all of politics. That's not just Republican politics or Democratic politics. He's redefined the game. And how he's done it is focused exclusively on tax policy and what that does for the economy, what it does for a big government party versus a smaller government party, an efficient party. The kind of discussions we're having around DOGE is the other side of the ledger. How much do they charge you, the American taxpayer, for the goods and services that they do not provide?

[Smug]

And I was lucky enough to sit in on this interview. And the magic of Grover is he takes a subject which sounds like such a snooze fest, like tax policy and makes it so entertaining, but also like, like everyone listening to this. April 15th is probably the worst day of the year. So I am so happy. In the wake of that, we bring in Grover, who tells you exactly why you deserve to keep the money that you have earned with your hands and it should not be sent.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah.

[Grover Norquist]

If you.

[Ruthless Host]

If you looked at what it was, the outflow was that you paid the federal government for absolutely nothing.

[Smug]

Yeah. In the wake of that rage, here's Grover Norquist because you want to hear from him.

[Ruthless Host]

I loved it. We all. We kind of went.

[Smug]

We had a great time.

[Ruthless Host]

It was a great time. Good interview. But we're gonna start with show me your Hog.

[Smug]

This is awesome.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah. So David Hogg, the dnc, Vice Chair, very esteemed role. I have absolutely no idea what it is that you do as a DNC vice chair, but apparently he's redefined this. In some ways, Democrats are known for their top down sort of dictation to what they do to their voters. They're basically like, you have to have a senile old man who can't find his way out of the bathroom in the morning as your next because we said so. And there, you know, many people within the Democratic Party are like, yes, no problem. Yep, show me your. Hog is not buying all of that concept. He wants to go in a different direction. This is news that, I mean, for your perspective at home, you're like, okay, I get it. Like, they don't want a bunch of senile old people telling the rest of their base, like, who it is that they should support for candidacies in dc. This story is revolutionary.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ruthless Host]

Like, this is a wild story that has shaken up the Democratic Party and all the press that follows it in a very, very big way. Because typically speaking, if you're working at the Democratic National Committee, you can't color outside the lines.

[Smug]

No, you're part of the, you're a coggin machine.

[Ruthless Host]

You're the Pelosi, Biden, Obama. Like, you just go down the line, you just follow the orders and you kind of do it. Well. This cat, he's a younger dude, an absolutely insane individual, by the way. If you've heard anything he has to say, it's like horribly offensive for one. But two, he has no ability to relate to either young people or anyone across this country. But he's absolutely confident in what it is that he's saying. So what he's done has gotten printed up by Politico. Big story. The story reads as such. David Hogg, a controversial Democratic National Committee vice chair, is pledging to upend Democratic primaries by funding candidates who will challenge, quote, ineffective, asleep at the wheel Democrats.

[Smug]

He's going after incumbents.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah, that's what that means.

[Smug]

He's using DNC's money to go after incumbent elected Democrats, which is awesome.

[Ruthless Host]

So let me explain to you why that matters. Right? So every political party, it doesn't matter where you're state based, local based, or federally, the national level, the first goal is to ensure that you don't spend the hard earned dollars of your donors on inter party warfare. You want to win general elections. So the whole goal is to try to figure this thing out before you start having primaries because you don't want to spend all of your war chest Electing people that you know, ultimately are not electable in a general election. We've had problems with this in the Republican Party. It's been a constant tug and pull, I will say, under the Trump years. And I had sort of a formative role in the first Trump term. Donald Trump played this exactly perfectly and got aligned with everybody very early. Where we didn't have a lot of this stuff.

[Smug]

No shooting inside the tent. We only go after Dems.

[Ruthless Host]

It gets much more difficult when you're the party out of power because the energy and you see this based on the Bernie rallies with AOC and everything else, the energy and the funding of a lot of the low dollar stuff is in this left wing lunacy, which.

[Smug]

Is a huge point because they just reported FEC numbers. I think AOC rates 10 million in one quarter in an off year, which is.

[Ruthless Host]

She's a rank and file representative, which.

[Smug]

Is to be interpreted as nothing else than a direct shot at Schumer. Yeah, that like. Well, we want you to primary Schumer. And this plays right into that.

[Ruthless Host]

So yeah, so it plays right into a whole bunch of anxieties that Democrats currently have. It also incentivizes them to act even crazier.

[Smug]

Get crazier, get crazier Dems, which ties.

[Ruthless Host]

Into our second story. So you're going to love the transition on this. Anyway, this cat says the move puts Hogg, now a 25 year old, first gained national stature as an outspoken survivor of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. That's where you got to know him. He went to high school at that tragic shooting. And then it was like immediately parlayed that in Begonia and CNN and MSNBC every day talk about how all guns in America need to be banned. Right. There were other people that had different perspectives on that and continue to do so, but this guy is the guy the media followed.

[Smug]

And also to make a quick comparison, folks know Kyle, who is also a survivor of that horrific shooting, became known as like the conservative. Yeah, outspoken person from that had better grades than Hogg, better academic record than Hogg. But Hogg's the one who got into Harvard.

[Ruthless Host]

He got into Harvard because of. So you can kind of see the tie into the larger discussion that we've had. But anyway, leaders we deserve is an outfit. It's one of these like super PAC type things which Hogg co founded in 2023, announced plans on Tuesday. Mind you, he is the vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He has an outside group. Your job as a vice chairman or a chairman or anybody who has any affiliation with a national party committee is to raise money for that building. Not David. Not him, no. Show me your hug. He says that he's got a plan to spend $20 million on Safe Blue Democratic primaries against sitting House members by supporting younger opponents. So he's like run right into the canyon of the Democratic establishment and said, okay, I just want young people. And young is like, okay, a young Democrats, like 80. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if it's young or not. It's crazy. I know that.

[Smug]

Yep.

[Ruthless Host]

Right. Anyway, so he's gonna do all of this. It is met with absolute like, people are panicked on the Democratic side. I want us to win the majority. He says, nor will it target members solely based on age.

[Smug]

It's also hilarious that that was a huge concern for the Dems. Like, wait, is he going after old people? Because that's all of us.

[Ruthless Host]

I mean, it's so true. It's like, I don't know if a place for mom is the target, but it certainly is a part of the conversation. And like the Pelosi's and the Hoyers and the Clyburns and all the people who've run the Democratic Party in the House forever have to be shuddering about this. But ultimately what he's getting at is an ideologically leftist point of view that has literally no capability of relating to the Senate of this country whatsoever.

[Smug]

This is such a great Dems in disarray situation. Dems infighting, Dem civil war. The Dems allowed these kids who are like rioting on college campuses and essentially just like push their platform so far to the left that they got creamed in this election that Trump just won. They're like, well, let's maybe let one of them be the vice chair. And this is what you get.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah, I mean, you're talking about a whole bunch of people who are.

[Smug]

Vocal.

[Ruthless Host]

Supporters of like a MeToo movement that just started arbitrarily attacking young men as if they didn't have any rights in this country whatsoever. And they were like all fully behind it, the George Floyd movement, burning down our cities and everything else. No attention to the actual fact pattern of any of this stuff. They just were like, yes, we should do that. And by the way, double mask at home, make sure your 3 year old is in a double mask. But if you're rioting and if you're burning down police buildings, it's maybe a cure.

[Smug]

Yeah, might be a cure too.

[Ruthless Host]

It might be a cure.

[Smug]

You can't get sick if you're rioting.

[Ruthless Host]

Right. So that's like the perspective this guy brings. And now he's saying that he's going to primary incumbent Democrats. That gives you a good foundation for why, why it is that you're seeing Democrats lose their mind over completely insane stuff. Right. There are political attacks that work. There are some that don't, you know, look, the economy a little tumultuous with trying to work out some fair trade deals. Democrats spent like six minutes on that and they were like, let's go to El Salvador.

[Smug]

Yep.

[Ruthless Host]

And let's talk about primary old people. It's incredible, you know, because that's where the energy is.

[Smug]

That is it.

[Ruthless Host]

And David Hogg. Show me your hog. Is, is the guy who's behind all of this. I expect to have many, many updates.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ruthless Host]

On this because he's gonna get involved and I can't wait to see how it plays out. It's gonna get ugly, real ugly. When we come back, Biden is back.

[Smug]

Huge.

[Ruthless Host]

If you guys didn't see this on Tuesday, we got a treat for you.

[Smug]

It's amazing.

[Ruthless Host]

Joe Biden, I can't believe that he doesn't just go away.

[Smug]

Just go away.

[Ruthless Host]

He's old. Right. I mean, the reason he got run off stage is because he can't actually perform in any way, but certainly not under like a modern day appealing vision for the country. That doesn't stop this cat. We've got that. When you come back, you're not going to believe the audio and video we have on this right after this. He's Donald Trump's number one enemy in Congress. Chicago Senator Dick Durbin. And now Dick Durbin has a new a government takeover of your credit card. Today, consumers have thousands of choices in credit cards, all with equal strong security. But Durbin's plan is less competition and less security and that means more risk for your credit and your identity. Tell Republicans in Congress, stop Dick Durbin's takeover of your credit card before it's too late. All right, so when presidents leave office, there's one of two ways to handle it. You can kind of handle it like George H.W. bush handled it, Ronald Reagan handled it, Richard Nixon handled it, or you can handle it like Barack Obama handled it, where he's like, gotta be a part of the conversation. You know, like the country has moved on, we're in a different place, or you just sort of like have to self promote. Joe Biden has chosen the last of these two. And it's amazing. I mean, we're not even a hundred days in and this old bastard's gotten himself back in the headlines because he gave a speech. And if I'm getting this right, it was basically about the protection of Social Security, which I find so completely hilarious. Because if there's one criticism that conservatives have about the way that the Trump administration has approached our finances, they love Doge. They love the tax stuff. If there's one criticism, it's like, you know, Trump ran his first ad saying, I'm gonna protect Social Security and Medicare, Medicaid and all those things, like the entitlement program. And, like, for those of us who are, you know, a little skeptical about whether or not the next generation is ever gonna see any of that, if we're on the same trajectory, it's tough. But it's one thing you can't accuse Donald Trump of being a problem with is Social Security. And, like, his entire speech was like, oh, they're threatening Social Security again. It's like a 1994 playbook for how it is that you beat an otherwise popular Republicans. Like, they're gonna take away your Social Security.

[Smug]

And also, the Biden folks had hyped the hell out of this appearance where they were like, biden's back, baby. Biden's back. He's gonna give this speech. And, like, for the past couple months, there's been this drama between, like, the Biden camp and the Obama camp and the Kamala camp where Biden's people after the election were like, you know, Biden could have won. We got pushed out by these Dems and Kamala and. And Obama, and they pushed us out, but we could have won. We could have done it. And so this was basically his first appearance after all these stories.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah, exactly right? This is how he started. Clip 1. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Can't even hear him. Music's playing, he's speaking. He's literally giving a speech. Who deserve help. Paid for most of it, you know.

[Smug]

So for our audio only listeners, that's not on us, they were playing, like, the Bruce Springsteen, who's an absolute lib. They're playing like, this Bruce Springsteen. We take care of our own walkout music for Joe Biden. And he just, like, you know, like, zombie walks up to the podium and.

[Ruthless Host]

Then starts and it's running the teleprompter.

[Smug]

You know, like, as any normal person would do is, you know, you, like, wave and you give thumbs up until the music stops. And then you're like, and now I begin my speech. Biden just, like, Zombie walks up while the music's Playing, gets the mic. He's like, thank you for being here. Here's what's like, he just instantly begins on the teleprompter, just like right off the bat.

[Ruthless Host]

And then when the music cuts, he's like three quarters of the way through his first sentence. I mean, it's just like, it's so. It's perfect.

[Smug]

He is that cook.

[Ruthless Host]

It's absolutely perfect. But he had other rhetorical.

[Smug]

He had a lot of things to talk about.

[Ruthless Host]

You'll appreciate this one in clip two. And I had never seen, I'd never seen hardly any black people in Scranton at the time. And I was only going in fourth grade. And I remember seeing the kids going by at the time called Colored kids.

[Smug]

On a bus going by Uncle Joe dropping the hits.

[Ruthless Host]

He's got the hit. I mean, look, the one critique above all else is that he was from another time and place. You know what I mean? Like, how many Americans can relate to that statement? And he talks about it as though it's like a point of pride. It's like, I grew up where we called them colored.

[Smug]

Here's the thing, folks, I remember seeing the colored kids on the bus. I mean, dude.

[Ruthless Host]

I'm not kidding. If you're not born before 1960, like, all of that stuff, you look at it, you're like, what? Like, what are you, what are you? Who are you relating to?

[Smug]

What is all these dead son? I'm like, tell him, Joe, let's hear this. Someone encourage this. And of course, this is hyped up. This is like comeback speech. Like all his folks have been pushing. This is like, this is going to be musty tv. Like, MSNBC goes to this live. They're like, here we go. We're going to hit Trump. Like, the amount of ink this was getting, you're getting news alerts on this of being like, Joe Biden for the first time since the election is going to speak and he's gonna hammer Donald Trump. And then he comes out and this is what you get.

[Ruthless Host]

He's talking about like just post reconstruction era of America.

[Smug]

I mean, it is amazing that this guy, his team made the argument that they're like, he's not too old. He's not like, you know, just a slice of 1950 that we're trying to just microwave and put in front of the American people again, man, they're in a tough place.

[Ruthless Host]

The funny thing about parts of this that, that I find, like, super interesting when you get into the ethos because, like, there's no political professional. I don't care where you are on the ideological spectrum that will look at that and be like, wow, super relatable. You know what I mean? But, like, what I find so interesting is, like, Democrats basically can't conceptualize what make America great means. Right. It was part of the whole attack on Donald Trump in the first campaign and to a certain extent in the second and in the third. But. But I. It was basically like, what he means is a racist America. Right. Where all cultures and genders are not accepted. That's what he means. Of course that's not what he meant. And what he has outlined in Technicolor is a time and place when all Americans were in it together and you had a government that was working on behalf of America and America only. And it's like, a pretty easy concept to grasp. I understand why they pervert that for political purposes, because you can convince the, you know, 40% of, like, hardened Democrats of absolutely anything under the sun. And this is like the easiest, the lowest hanging of the fruit to do it. But when you see something like that, it's like, it's not that they chose that because it's the easiest, lowest hanging of fruit. They actually think that today's electorate is like, they want 1950. Literally. They don't get the concept of America together. One, fighting forward, trying to do the best for every American in this country. What they see is like, no, what were the conditions? What were the worst conditions of that era of time? And we need to speak to it.

[Smug]

And, you know, I feel like the Democrats quickly, just to put a wrap on this idea, they're stuck in this, like, Obama core idea of, like, let's just hit the playbook of you have the candidate walk out to Bruce Springsteen, get in front of the podium, call Republicans racist, say Democrats are in this for the working class, and get off the stage. Because that worked for them for a while.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah, it did.

[Smug]

And then the American people saw that. Wait a minute. The Democrat Party is essentially just like Hollywood and billionaires.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah.

[Smug]

And you've screwed this country. And that. That's why the playbook doesn't work. And so when you try to, like, it looks so out of touch and weird and cringe and strange because America has so clearly moved past that stupidity. Like, this past election was such a rebuke of that era of garbage that just doesn't work. And they're just so. They're so lost. Like, let's just try playing it again. Let's see if it works.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah, totally. So look, if you combine those Two segments. You'll see that Hogg has a constituency. You know, there are many people in the base of the progressive left who are like, show me your Hogg. And he's more than happy to do that.

[Smug]

He's the one.

[Ruthless Host]

And you can see, based on the establishment, that he's sort of trying to rebuke here in their standard bearer, Joe Biden. Like, why that has a constituency? Because if you have two highs and two heres.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ruthless Host]

You look at that and you listen to it and you're like, my God, that couldn't possibly reflect this century of politics. But what he's doing is trying to drive this even further off the left than Kamala Harris was able to. The champion of small business issues.

[Smug]

Oh, yeah, totally.

[Ruthless Host]

You know, like, he's trying to. Trying to drive us into oblivion. Well, this guy is like, no, not far enough. And we're going to do a generational divide, too. So our question is. Our question of the day. If you think about it, like, who should he primary?

[Smug]

Who should. Who should David Hogg target?

[Ruthless Host]

Who should.

[Smug]

Great question.

[Ruthless Host]

Who should David Hogg primary? It seems to me like there's a lot of options out there, many of whom were parts of leadership. Remember, Nancy Pelosi is still here.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ruthless Host]

Folks, like, everybody thought she kind of retired a few years ago and then she reemerged when she was kicking old Joe out.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ruthless Host]

And, like, played a seminal role in that. But, like, she's still a voting member of Congress, of which I love the press corps being like, oh, geez, the sage.

[Smug]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ruthless Host]

Nancy Pelosi have to say, is she a target? Is she a target?

[Smug]

I mean, they tried primaring her a cycle or two ago.

[Ruthless Host]

It seems to me like she. Primer.

[Smug]

Could it be Schumer? Who. Who should I go after? I mean, this is a great question.

[Ruthless Host]

AOC could run against Schumer.

[Smug]

That's the thing.

[Ruthless Host]

And she's got the money to do it. You just don't know. Anyway, that's our question of the day. When we come back, we're going to read your comments from last episode. That question was, does the media bear any responsibility for their biased reporting and fueling political bias? I think that's obviously, yes. You have a lot of comments we're going to get to right after this. For too long, weak politicians have sold out America's steel workers and allowed China to flood our country with cheap foreign steel. President Trump is fighting back for American manufacturing and American steel. We're going to build our future with American hands, with American heart American steel.

[Grover Norquist]

And we're going to build it with.

[Ruthless Host]

American pride like we used to. The U.S. steel and Nippon Steel Partnership advances Trump's agenda. This historic investment will pump billions into US Steel, modernize aging plants, protect steel workers jobs and empower our country to compete against China. The US Steel and Nippon Steel Partnership will ensure more steel is made in America, strengthening our economic and national security. President Trump is fighting for our steel industry and to create more manufacturing jobs. The U.S. steel and Nippon Steel Partnership puts America first. Learn [e-mail] paid for by the America First Steel Alliance. Hardworking Americans know when it's time to roll up our sleeves and get the job done. Now is the time to unleash our nation's energy to create jobs, secure our future and make life better, more affordable and full of opportunity for all Americans. That's the power of America's oil and natural gas. Learn [e-mail] paid for by the American Petroleum Institute. Okay, so your comments, always very important to us, help guide us on the show. You gotta like and subscribe. And when you do, we read all of it and we go through everything that you have to say. Our question from last week is, does the media bear any responsibility for political violence? We had a pretty clear takeaway from that, but interested to hear what you all think and consumers of all this. And to do that, we usually start with the voice. Voice not here. So we're gonna have to start with you, Smugglesworth.

[Smug]

Comment one comes from Stacey Oswalt. And Stacey writes, the Democrats and their, quote, leadership, whoever that may be, are 100% responsible for the violence. They know their stenographers and the media will parrot whatever narrative they assign every morning. Chaos was yesterday's word. They know the media will lie and cover for them at every turn by framing stories a certain way or omitting key facts. The quote, journalists are too dumb to do this on their own. Bingo.

[Ruthless Host]

That's it.

[Smug]

That's a bullseye.

[Ruthless Host]

I mean, our people are very smart.

[Smug]

They are.

[Ruthless Host]

They're very smart. Rob Anderson has Comment number 2. That's a much deeper and darker question than I feel some people think. I kind of agree with that opening statement.

[Smug]

It is pretty sad.

[Ruthless Host]

Like, it's hard to actually wrap your mind around, but I think it's true. After following how mainstream media has operated over the last decade, I have thought long and hard on this topic. To keep this short, I'll sum it up like this. Where would the progressive left be today without a corrupt Dude's digging deep. Would they have a kind of influence over the amount of people that they do? Would they be empowered and bold? Absolutely not. There are many factors that are to blame for radicalizing the violence of a left wing base, but the mainstream media is the glue that holds it. All of those factors together, it would have fallen apart long ago. Without it, a fair and unbiased media would have ended all of this. No matter how much you loathe the mainstream media, you do not loathe them enough.

[Smug]

That was brilliant. That was really good. That was really good. That's an all star reply, Rob.

[Ruthless Host]

Hats off to not only that, but like a concise packaging of it. And those questions that he asks are the right questions to. I mean, when you understand from polling and from election results, even if you don't believe polling, election results will tell you. When you understand that there's like literally less than 20% of the American people who believe the crazy shit that these people are talking about on a day to day basis, and yet they have the share of voice that they do.

[Smug]

It's insane.

[Ruthless Host]

Fair question.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ruthless Host]

Like, would they, would they have the kind of impact, would they be able to. I mean, this. You're talking like people you could fit in David Koresh's compound if not for the amplification of it. It's good stuff. Why is a United States senator traveling to another country on behalf of an illegal alien, you might ask? You probably saw this story about the deportation of an alleged MSF 13 member in the wake of a bunch of deportations that went to an El Salvadorian prison. Well, there's a United States senator that has taken upon himself to travel down there and provide his freedom, wants to bring him back. We got a lot on that right after this. Did you know original Medicare loses billions of taxpayer dollars each year to waste fraud and abuse? In fact, improper payments to hospitals and doctors are twice as likely in original Medicare than in Medicare Advantage. Alternatively, Medicare Advantage offers seniors more benefits at lower costs, promotes better health outcomes, and saves taxpayers $144 billion over 10 years through coordinated care.

[Grover Norquist]

It's time to protect Medicare Advantage and.

[Smug]

Ensure seniors get the best care while.

[Ruthless Host]

Protecting your hard earned tax dollars. All right, so Chris Van Hollen, he's a senator from Maryland. And there was a illegal alien residing in Maryland who found himself, much like hundreds of other Ms. Thirteen gang members, violent, convicted felons in this country who had been let out and allowed to stay in the United States, deported by the Trump administration. Now there's a court battle Trump administration took a big win on their ability to dictate what constitutes national security. There was a piece of it that had to do with due process. The Democrats response to this was not to say that violent gang members in the United States are a bad thing. And they have some quibbles with the process by which they've deported them, which would have been an argument that, you know, the high minded amongst us would have. They were like, no, bring him back. Yeah, yeah, bring him back. And Chris Van Hollen has actually embarked on a journey. Clip four Please. I'm here at the airport. I'm about to board my flight for San Salvador. The goal of this mission is to let the Trump administration to let the government of El Salvador know that we are going to keep fighting to bring Albergo Garcia home until he returns to his family. I hope to meet with representatives of the government. I hope to have the chance to actually see Kilmar and see what his condition is. But we are going to keep fighting because this is a miscarriage of justice. Okay, hold on, hold on. Let me set the record straight. Kilmar, who he's talking about here, is not a legal resident of the United States. Nobody has disputed that. That is not in discussion. He is an illegal alien resident of the United States only in the fact that the law hadn't been enforced for decades. Right. The Trump administration decided, based on a campaign promise, they're going all in to try to get these people out of here. Now he also has a criminal record here while his Chris Van Hollen's plane was in flight.

[Smug]

Some breaking news.

[Ruthless Host]

Was some breaking news about Kilmar Albergo Garcia. He had a history of violence and was not the upstanding, quote unquote, Maryland man that the media has portrayed him to be. You'll notice based on the coverage of this, they talk about him as a.

[Smug]

Maryland man, which is such a disgusting lie. And I hate the media so much more for doing this. When you have a guy who is number one here illegally, number two had a violent criminal history, as this breaking note from DHS describes, and a previous course, a previous court rather, had established that he's a member of Ms. 13.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah.

[Smug]

So this is who Democrat senators are fighting for.

[Ruthless Host]

Two previous courts. And if you're not familiar with Ms. 13, the initiation is you've got to kill someone.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ruthless Host]

So it's not the Cub Scouts, folks. It certainly is not the Cub Scouts. According court filings, Garcia's wife sought domestic violence restraining orders against him, claiming he punched, scratched, ripped off her shirt. Among other harm. He's an MS.13 gang member, as has been described by not one, but two courts.

[Smug]

And the Maryland center is like, this is my guy. I'm boarding a plane to bring him back.

[Ruthless Host]

Referred to him as a constituent.

[Smug]

It's insane.

[Ruthless Host]

He talked about bringing him home. Home to where can I say?

[Smug]

I want to say a little bit, though, so I can see where the senator from Maryland is confused when he's like, this guy's a constituent. Because here's the thing, part of Maryland is Baltimore, right? And folks, we've all seen the Wire. So if you think about just like violent and dangerous people, you know, like murdering folks and this gang situation, you think about Baltimore. So it's kind of like a nice fit in a way. It's like, well, maybe he's just like a standard Baltimore dude out here killing people and shit. So he could be confused.

[Ruthless Host]

To be clear, there are no allegations of him killing people.

[Smug]

To be clear, everyone in Baltimore is dangerous.

[Ruthless Host]

But the point remains. Listen. So this Democratic senator, he went down to show solidarity, which is insane, with this dude. Now, again, you're looking at a guy in Chris Van Hollen who has been amongst the most partisan Democrat representatives and now senators that this Congress holds. He has run the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. He is just a run of the mill, hardline Democrat. Now, when you put that sort of like political ambition up against the first two stories that we talked about where the power within the Democratic Party is off the left hand side of the map. There are primaries being threatened. There is a road tour by Bernie Sanders and aoc. They're gathering tens of thousands of people, which are basically the only people left in the base of the Democratic Party. Like, typically what happens when you get your ass kicked in an election is like the middle of the road. People who are like, open minded, they're like, I don't know if this is gonna work for us. And you're left with this small sliver of American society where like, no, the problem was you didn't go far enough. That when Kamala Harris went on the debate stage and said, I'm a champion of small business, that was the problem.

[Smug]

Yeah, like, hell no.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah. No, the problem was that you said you didn't say you weren't gonna socialize the American economy. Problem was that you departed from a 2019 promise on a debate stage in the primary where they all raised their.

[Smug]

Hands of like, yes, every illegal, free health care, free college, free everything.

[Ruthless Host]

Open your border. Right? That's what they see the problem Is. So enter Chris Van Hill Holland into this discussion. Now, did he say anything about Lake and Riley?

[Smug]

No.

[Ruthless Host]

Did he vote for the Lake and Riley Act?

[Smug]

Mm.

[Grover Norquist]

Mm.

[Ruthless Host]

Did he spend any time visiting cities that have been ravaged by the criminal elements that illegal immigration brought to this country?

[Smug]

Buildings being taken over in Colorado?

[Ruthless Host]

No. Didn't speak word one to it. But he can get on a plane to El Salvador.

[Smug]

It's insane. And this is just. This all creates this perfect storm of a level of Dems and disarray and Democrat civil war and infighting. Like, not just that we haven't seen our lifetimes, but this could be ever. I cannot believe that after getting shellacked so hard in November, they're just like, no, not crazy enough. And we're gonna see this insane cycle of Democrats going after Democrats, a Democrat civil war, and Demson disarray. I mean, no one has ever seen before. That's where we're headed. That's what this says to me.

[Ruthless Host]

It's totally true. And there's another element that we've talked about a lot at the Variety program in the Democrats actually don't believe anything.

[Smug]

Yeah. Nothing.

[Ruthless Host]

I think Chris Van Hollen, if you were to just give him Truth Zero, we'd be like, yeah, the guy should.

[Smug]

Be out of this country. It's obvious.

[Ruthless Host]

You know what I mean? But he also knows where the power structure is within the Democratic Party, so he's willing to ruin your community in order to achieve that power.

[Smug]

Isn't that disgusting? That's so insidious. That's the most cynical, disgusting part of all of this.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah, I don't think I'm overstating it.

[Smug]

No, no, that's the truth.

[Ruthless Host]

I think that is what it is. I mean, he sent a letter to the Honorable Malena Mayorga at the embassy of El Salvador, where he wrote with an urgent request for a meeting with the president of El Salvador to discuss the illegal detention of, quote, unquote, my constituent. Kilmer, Abrego, Garcia. Now, in order to be a constituent of Van Hollen, you need to be a United States citizen. That much has never been disputed. He is not a resident of the United States. Never has been, never will be. But yet, a constituent is how he is framed. So you're going through all of this. This is a 7030 issue if you've ever seen one, in terms of how people in the United States feel about illegal aliens, even tangentially connected with violent gangs and the human trafficking, the drugs, the. The crime, the. The murders, the abductions, like all of the things that come around, that it's a 70, 30 issue. He understands all of that. And yet.

[Smug]

And still.

[Ruthless Host]

Show me your hog.

[Smug]

It's insane.

[Ruthless Host]

Show me your hog. Right.

[Smug]

That's it.

[Ruthless Host]

That. That's basically what it is. So. But who, you know, who lets the top off of all this to tell you exactly where the theater is? Why don't we go to the House Minority Leader Jeffries to see a little clip of that in clip three, what.

[Smug]

If any, power for people who are watching at home do you have? What power do you have in other Democratic members to compel, Push the government to bring him home? Well, we have the power to shape public sentiment, and at the end of the day, making sure that public sentiment in this case understands that the treatment.

[Grover Norquist]

Of Mr. Abrego Garcia, you know, is.

[Smug]

Unconscionable, unacceptable, and un American. And if it can happen here, it can happen anywhere. And it's going to be incredibly important.

[Grover Norquist]

For every member of Congress.

[Smug]

Certainly, we plan to do this on the Democratic side, both in the House and in the Senate, to intensify the pressure on the Trump administration. So this is such a, like, full circle of everything we've covered in this episode, which is a gold mine in there. Number one, how crooked is media that has, like, Jen Psaki, like the Biden spokesperson, as the news person interviewing Hakeem Jeffries, who openly admits, the only thing we can do is, you know, try to shape public sentiment. So they have no real power in any of this. Which explains why you've got Chris Van Hollen making this, like, TikTok video that, you know, folks who are subscribed to our YouTube, you should subscribe. Saw him just being like, it's the TikTok video of where he's talking, like, I'm gonna go to El Salvador, and I hope they'll meet with, like, the words going on the screen. They see this as just like some TikTok joke, just theatrical joke of theater. That's what this is.

[Ruthless Host]

It's tricking that leftist, progressive, socialist base that's showing up for AOC and Bernie. To think that the whitest of white bread in Chris Van Hollen, it's like Coachella, Bernie Bros.

[Smug]

This is the most cynical and, you.

[Ruthless Host]

Know, like, having spent an awful lot of time on Capitol Hill, like, every United States Senator looks in the mirror and they see the next president. They think, like, every single one, you know for a fact, the senior staff over there is like, this is our ticket to ride.

[Smug]

Here's how we can do it.

[Ruthless Host]

20, 28, bitch, we're all over this.

[Smug]

We just got to support illegal Ms. 13 guys who beat their wife.

[Ruthless Host]

It's a small price to pay, you know, Right. It's not our kids that are getting killed by these maniacs.

[Smug]

That's it.

[Ruthless Host]

You know, but, but if you listen closely, alliteration aside, hats off. Jeffries.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ruthless Host]

Terrific use of the U throughout that interview. But what he said was there's nothing we can do. He literally said all of this. The intent of it is not to produce any result whatsoever. So, like, I don't know if I'm somebody who is an elected politician and I'm like, like, it's a 30, 70 issue, this doesn't seem like a great place to engage. I would have to believe firmly that I could do something about it. That's not what they're doing.

[Smug]

No.

[Ruthless Host]

He's trying to produce TikTok video.

[Smug]

He's like, let's do it for the clicks.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah. Do it for the cliques, which is. Folks, I just want you to listen to this very. That's your modern day Democratic Party.

[Smug]

It's amazing.

[Ruthless Host]

That's what it is. They believe in absolutely nothing. The only thing is. Don't show me your hug.

[Smug]

I'm so excited for this civil war. They're going to kill each other. It's insane.

[Ruthless Host]

So good. So when we come back, we've got some variety for you. Salmon. You know how we like animal content? Fish content. We haven't done that in a while. We've got all of that right after this.

[Smug]

You've all seen it. Kids walking around puffing these watermelon and bubblegum flavored vapes with light up video games on the side. What's in them? Unknown. The dirty secret about this is that they're banned in China, but they're smuggled into America and sold illegally to kids. This is literally just another front in China's war on America and it's targeting our kids. Biden's FDA did nothing to stop this, but President Trump is different and his FDA has a real opportunity to shut this down and protect our kids. And we all hope his FDA does take action. Paid for by a better tomorrow in America.

[Ruthless Host]

Smugs. I love this story.

[Smug]

Yes.

[Ruthless Host]

I love this story. So salmon, you know, I mean, it's like everybody likes a delightful salmon.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ruthless Host]

Some preparation or another, you know, these are good things. Well, they're swimming faster and people are trying to figure out why. Well, there's a, there's an interesting article on this that salmon are swimming faster due to painkillers. That are dumped in the rivers. According to a study. Wild salmon are swimming quicker due to painkillers and other drugs dumped into rivers and seas. Reveals new research. Traces of a sleeping pill shortened the time it took for juvenile salmon to navigate their way through two hydropower dams along their regular migration route. That usually slow up the journey. Scientists say levels of Clobzam.

[Smug]

Clobazam.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah, I guess that's a thing. It's a medication that's often prescribed for sleep disorders. Also increase the river to sea migration success of juvenile salmon in the wild. According to findings sleeping pills being performed.

[Smug]

Enhancing drugs is the first. Never heard of that one before.

[Ruthless Host]

There's so much to that. They go on to talk about how basically the salmon have changed and part of the reason that this. I don't see a lot of explanation as to why we have a heightened level of sleeping pills in the water. Like that's a. That's maybe subject for a further investigation. I don't know. We should send Smash out there and just like do some investigation.

[Smug]

I'll do it. Fly fishing areas. Yeah, just. I mean it's for the job.

[Ruthless Host]

But they're quick. The chances of you catching one are very rare.

[Smug]

That's the thing is I wish, I wish the fish I'm trying to catch fly fishing were on sleeping pills because they just, they love hitting the hook and bouncing, dude, it makes me so mad.

[Ruthless Host]

But they're swimming quicker. I mean so like for starters a sleeping pill is somehow making the salmon quicker. It's the opposite thing that they've got going on. So you know, apparently it has a different reaction amongst fish. But we've dumped so many of these sleeping pills in the water that it's fundamentally changed the entire species. But it kind of goes back to our whole thing which is like it's enhanced game, you know, and like, I don't know if you get faster, stronger fish. Do we, do we care about this?

[Smug]

I mean here's the thing. If there's already that much sleeping pills in the water, next time I go fly fishing, dude, I'm just gonna. I'm throwing some in the water. It's like I'm out there for hours. I'm out there for hours. No, but you gotta hit the hook and they'll leave.

[Ruthless Host]

But if they have the opposite, if clobazam.

[Smug]

I think like maybe it calms them down to them. Like it says that they navigate through like hydroelectric dams easier.

[Ruthless Host]

Oh they're more focused.

[Smug]

So maybe. I think, yeah, maybe. I think maybe salmon on like the regular Level are like super high strung and just like confused and panicked. Yeah. Just like always in a state of panic that like they literally take a chill pill and they're able to just like, you know, navigate.

[Ruthless Host]

Maybe this has like an Adderall like effect.

[Smug]

Yeah, I think it might let them focus or something. Yeah, but I just want him like so dosed up that I can actually get him. Cause like, man, no one has fun if it's a full day out there and you don't catch anything. That's my takeaway pillamore pill.

[Ruthless Host]

The more. And you know, feel free to dump other drugs in to see what happens. Right. I mean, if sleeping pills make these things go faster, let's see what cocaine does. You know, maybe that slows it down too. I don't know.

[Smug]

Go, go, go fishing in the Florida Keys.

[Ruthless Host]

You do.

[Smug]

You do deep sea fishing?

[Ruthless Host]

I love fish. I love fishing. And every. Anybody who grows up in Minnesota, if they're not a fisherman at some level, it's like being like not being a Vikings fan. Like, you immediately have distrust involved. Love to fish. I have not done it with the benefit of sleeping pills or like dynamite, which I think would be another thing to deal with. But, but like, you know, the drug impact. I think we need to find out more. Well, yeah, we need.

[Smug]

This is a wild story. It's a wild story.

[Ruthless Host]

This is a really wild story. I think we need to find out how sleeping pills got in the way because they just sort of accept this.

[Smug]

Yeah, that's a baseline. Like, well, you know how they're. Sleeping pills and water. It's like, are there coming back up?

[Ruthless Host]

Like, it's so true.

[Smug]

That's a problem. They blow through.

[Ruthless Host]

They're like, because of all the sleeping pills, you know, all the sleeping pills in the water, they're quicker and they're more focused.

[Smug]

Hey, if you're listening, forget the fish aspect of this.

[Ruthless Host]

We need to focus on why the pills are in the water anyway. It's pharmaceutical pollution, they say. But, you know, I mean, it's worth looking into. That's rough variety. Listen, prefacing, our next guest and I cover this in the top of the interview. But like, you need to focus on this stuff. If you're all worried about finances and you're worried about the state of the global economy, the American economy, how it affects your economic outlook. There's literally one guy who's just like nailed this stuff down in terms of what you can absolutely control with your federal government. And he's done in a lot of states with Your state government taxes. We talk about all of it with Grover Norquist. Well, taxes are a big deal these days. We're obviously facing what will hopefully be a successful reauthorization of 2017. Tax cuts with some additions to it. You also just paid.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Ruthless Host]

Your taxes.

[Smug]

This is the ideal guess for the mindset. A lot of folks are after having to pay those taxes, and there is.

[Ruthless Host]

Only one guy, and I mean this sincerely. I'm looking at you directly in the camera. There is only one person on all of the planet that I absolutely trust on the issue of taxes, because he's been doing it for decades, successfully. Grover Norquist. How are you, sir?

[Grover Norquist]

I'm doing well. Good to be with you.

[Ruthless Host]

It's so good to be with you. Listen, you're the author of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. You started this whole movement. You showed me a remarkable graphic of what has happened to the success of Republicans versus Democrats in a period since. This pledge has sort of been instituted as kind of the basics of being a Republican. It's all right there.

[Grover Norquist]

From 1932 to 1994, 62 years, the Republicans won control of Congress twice. Once under Truman, once under Eisenhower. Republicans were the Washington generals. They were playing against the Harlem Globetrotters. And they were allowed to pretend to be on the field, but they weren't okay. And, yeah, we'd elect a president, but presidents can veto things, so they can slow down big government, but otherwise they start wars and have scandals. There's not much else for them to do. So Congress runs the country over time, over time Congress runs the country. 62 years, one party state. In 1994, in the reaction to George Herbert Walker Bush winning the primary over Dole, I take pledge Dole. You won't. All the candidates except Dole signed the pledge never to raise taxes. And then he was 14 points behind Dukakis. You may not remember him, but before I emigrate to the United States, I used to live in Massachusetts. So he was the governor there. And so I do.

[Ruthless Host]

And I remember the helmet.

[Grover Norquist]

The helmet. He was 14 points ahead of the sitting vice president. And then Bush said, read my lips. No new taxes. Actually, what he really said was, the Democrats will come and want me to raise taxes. I'll say no. The Democrats will come back and ask me again to raise taxes. I'll say no. And then they'll ask again, and I'll say, read my lips. No new taxes. He understood that Democrats and taxes are like a young boy on a prom date. They keep asking the same thing different ways.

[Smug]

Amazing.

[Grover Norquist]

And they Keep coming back and you have to say no, no, no, no, no. Yes doesn't work. Okay. And he made the mistake of saying yes at the end of the day. And instead of being remembered as the guy who won the Cold War and kicked Iraq out of Kuwait without sticking around for 45 years, instead he's the liar who raised taxes. Okay? Because he raised taxes because the Republican Party had become the party that wasn't going to tolerate that. So in 94, 96% of all the Republicans House and Senate running signed the pledge never to raise taxes. Since then, there hasn't been a tax increase. If the Republicans had the House or the Senate, there's been no tax increase that Republicans supported. And Republicans win both houses 60% of the time. Democrats have won both houses for six years, since 19.

[Ruthless Host]

I mean, it's just right there.

[Smug]

Yeah. That graphic is the most compelling evidence I can see for what happens when your message is basically a promise to the American people. I believe you are a better judge of how to spend your own money than a government bureaucrat. That's what it comes down to.

[Ruthless Host]

It's amazing. And I also, look in a previous life, had to deal with you and your organization an awful lot as we dealt with tax implications in all kinds of different varieties of different ways. But you've always had a clarity about it and that it's not just sort of a stagnant taxpayer protection pledge. It's actually looking underneath into the details, figuring out what is a net reduction for the American people, figuring out what's pro growth over time. I mean, you've had a dynamic view of all of this, provided that when you're in power as a Republican, you are going to reduce taxes in one form or fashion. Incredible success. Right. I think of 0103, the prevention of a lot of tax increases. That's a big one too, which is just huge. Any time getting killed. Yeah, right. With the Obama years or the last four with Biden, obviously, the 17 work by President Trump and his team and Congress incredibly instrumental into the growth of the economy. And now here we are, we find ourselves in a situation with a Republican House, Senate and a Republican president under President Trump. And we have this opportunity provided for us. Again. What are your thoughts on where we're at?

[Grover Norquist]

Well, the president campaigned and said, I want to take the tax cut that I got passed with the Republican House and Senate in 2017 and make it permanent out into the future indefinitely. Not just 10 years, all the way out. And he said that over and over again. He said, I Cut tax rates for every single American who pays taxes, and I'm going to cut them for every American. He said that again during his State of the State address. He's made it clear he wants to have all the rates go down back to where? To 2017. And this is a very important promise he made. He was running against in 2024, just five, six months ago, against Kamala Harris. She had one thing she was clear on about taxes. She was going to let that top tax rate jump back up again. So here we are. President wins the election.

[Ruthless Host]

Being a champion of small business, as she told us all.

[Grover Norquist]

Well, here she is. She wins, he wins the election. Trump wins the election. And now there's a handful of people inside the White House, anonymous staffers telling the left wing press, oh, we're going to go and have a tax increase just like Kamala Harris wanted. Right? Trump won the election, but we're going to go with Kamala Harris. Tax policy.

[Smug]

That's insane.

[Grover Norquist]

Who are these jerks sitting in the White House telling the press about this? And establishment press loves to hear Republicans saying they're going to raise taxes. And this is a huge problem.

[Ruthless Host]

Lunacy.

[Grover Norquist]

The American people are hearing this. They're undermining the president's promise. He said this again and again and again, that we should have cut taxes all across the board and for all people. He said, we're going to have an upper class, a middle class, a lower class. Everybody's going to get the tax cut. And then all of a sudden, his staff's going, no, the president's a liar. Okay? They did this to Bush. This is what Dick Darman did to Bush. Destroyed his career, destroyed his place in history. And we've got some bozos in the White House doing this again. The president should find them, have a nice talk to them and toss them out the window.

[Ruthless Host]

I totally agree. The thing that strikes me is just so absurd about that. There's so many different areas where people try to pervert a populist America first agenda. Best I can tell, they're just like liberal Democrats that try to take pieces of the populism to try to extrapolate out Democratic policy. But at its core, one party believes that the government is too big as it is, that the American people send too much money and they spend it on stuff that doesn't particularly perform well on their behalf. And then there's another party that thinks you ought to send all of your money and they should just be able to control it. That dividing line, as you've talked about with the Taxpayer protection Pledge and everything contributes more to the electoral success of the Republican Party than anything else that we have ever done.

[Grover Norquist]

The Republican Party branded itself nationally. And then later, state by state, we lost Colorado and we lost Virginia because those Republican parties did not brand themselves as anti tax. But Ohio and Florida and some of the other taxes clearly did and went from Ohio and Florida being toss up states to. To being very strong red states. And nationally, the modern Republican Party is the party that will not raise your taxes. We branded it the way Coca Cola branded Coca Cola. So you can go into the store, pick up a Coke. You don't have to read the ingredients.

[Ruthless Host]

You know what it is.

[Grover Norquist]

You don't have to. Could I have a taste of this, Mr. Proprietor, before I take it home? You take it home. You go halfway through your bottle of Coke, you look down, there's a rat head in what's left of the Coke bottle. You say to yourself, you know, I may not finish all the rest of this bottle of Coke tonight.

[Ruthless Host]

This looks different.

[Grover Norquist]

And then you go on popular on your iPhone and you show all your neighbors, okay, Instagram, Instagram. I'm sorry, I have kids. I don't have Instagram. Sure. You go on Instagram and you show everybody the rat head in your, in your Coke bottle. And now Coke has a problem.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah.

[Grover Norquist]

Because they didn't have quality control.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah.

[Grover Norquist]

Republican who vote for or support tax increases are rat heads in a Coke bottle. They damage the brand for everyone else.

[Ruthless Host]

I totally agree.

[Grover Norquist]

This group of kids in the White House who are telling the press that the President's going to betray the American people and that the President didn't mean it when he said he was going to cut everybody's taxes. They're damaging the brand for others, for everyone, not just themselves.

[Smug]

And I think it's kind of like Holmes said, it's not. They can't do this under the banner of trying to be like populist or helping the working class because. And Trump ran on this and brought it up numerous times during his campaign, which I think helped him tremendously, is the result of his 2017 tax cut. The vast majority of gains were among the working class. The highest gains, wages in wages, everything.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah.

[Smug]

Was among the working class Americans who benefited.

[Grover Norquist]

And if you take the top individual rate up, because we're only hitting rich people with it. Right. That's their theory. They don't know anything. Okay. There's a letter, 90 different trade associations sent in saying, please be aware, please remember that that rate is what small businesses pay that's what pass throughs or subchapter S businesses pay. Brick Industry Association. These are MAGA businesses here. Heating, air conditioning and refrigeration distributors, the roofing contractors, the beer wholesalers. This is an entire list. This is Main Street. You drive down Main street of a town. These are the businesses you see and these are the businesses that raising that top rate would hit. These are the people whose jobs they would destroy.

[Ruthless Host]

Absolutely right.

[Smug]

Explained. It's. If you have businesses like that, let's say the H Vac industry.

[Grover Norquist]

Yes.

[Smug]

And they get to keep more of their own money. They don't get taxed, they don't. You don't raise their taxes. They're like, well, if we're able to make more money, we need to do more of it. We need to hire more people. You know, if we can make more money doing this, let's expand, let's hire more people to do this, let's get more business going. But if you start trying to rob those people, well, it looks like we'll have layoffs.

[Ruthless Host]

The thing is, what's so particularly galling about this is in its acceptance of a false democratic narrative that they have used against Republicans since the beginning.

[Grover Norquist]

They've internalized it.

[Ruthless Host]

Yes. And the idea that we have. Anybody on our team who accepts the notion that like for zero sum game, it's one, a zero sum game or two, that the tax code is static, that you're. When you lower taxes, you have a lower revenue number. Well, in history it's never frickin happened. Right. Every time you have pro growth policies where you're lowering taxes, your revenue number goes up. And it was the same in 17. You just keep going through all of them. That's what happens. How do you misunderstand that?

[Grover Norquist]

Well, there's a second particularly dangerous idea that's been out there and that is that we should get rid of B salt Business, state and local tax deductibility. These are when a company, whether a corporation or a pass through.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah, this is like they call the sea salt or the.

[Grover Norquist]

Yeah, sea salt. Sea salt. But B salt because to make it clear that also covers all businesses, not just incorporated businesses. And they want to get rid of. So if you pay property taxes, sales taxes, business taxes at the state and local level, individuals can leave New York. If you're an airline, what do you leave? If you're a railroad, what do you leave? If you're drilling for oil, how do you leave? Okay, this to get rid of basalt or sea salt would be about a 2% increase in the corporate rate, which would kill jobs. Yeah.

[Ruthless Host]

And which is the Hallmark of the 2017 act, which was lowering the corporate rate and all the growth that came along with it.

[Grover Norquist]

The two lies that the Democrats tell us. We're not going to tax anybody except corporations. Taxes on businesses are not paid by Mr. General Motors, okay? There is no Mr. General Motors.

[Smug]

John. Motors is not paid Johnny Motors.

[Grover Norquist]

It's paid by consumers at higher prices, workers in lower wages, and that's about 70% of who pays that tax. Fewer jobs, lower wages, and then if you do enough damage, the price of the company goes down and everybody who's saving for their retirement gets screwed. And rich people. This is something Elon Musk pointed out. If you're taxing somebody who's very wealthy and he's got a lot of money, he's already got two houses, okay? If you take a million dollars from him, what have you taken that of out of his stock portfolio? You don't say, this is the thing.

[Ruthless Host]

And you'll have to pardon the expression, but for me it's dumb fuckery. Is no better way to explain what we're talking about. When you talk about taxing the rich. Other than actors and athletes, do you know anybody who's filling out the W2 for the Ultra wealthy in this country?

[Grover Norquist]

Well, all the President's friends in football and baseball and all the sports. Okay? Somebody needs those staffers who think they're doing the President a favor when he goes to go out to have dinner with his friends. They can all be growling at him. Excuse me, that was me.

[Ruthless Host]

My point is, it's like all investment income, right? I mean, that's how the ultra wealthy are making the vast majority of their money. The idea that you take a marginal rate and apply it and think even for one second that who you're directing that tax increase on is the wealthiest of the Americans. You are, like, you literally don't know basic math.

[Grover Norquist]

Yeah. No, no, no. You're hitting people who are trying to create wealth for their families, for themselves, for their businesses. As in, the capital gains tax is not a tax on rich people. It's a tax on people trying to get rich, trying to get due advantage. And both of these suggested tax increases. I mean, there's a lot of savings we could do in terms of spending. But most important, we just need to take the President's tax plan and do what he told the American people. He was going to do what he wants to do. And his staff evidently doesn't listen to his speeches and just take it out and make it permanent. That level of certainty would be very helpful to the economy. He's doing some tough negotiating around the world on tariffs and so on. That's very bouncy for the stock market and things like that. Give the market and the American people and employers and employees some certainty. What's my tax rate going to be? What do depreciation rates look like? Can I have expensing? What's my marginal tax rate? Let's fix all those things as the President wants to. And I'm just livid that just as we had Dick Darman submarine the President, we have some people at the White House who are having fun, thinking they're masters of the universe. Nobody elected them to anything.

[Smug]

And it's so simple because you don't need to run into the kitchen and be like, okay, we have to come up with a recipe. When you look at what President Trump did with 2017, 2018, 2019, this country's economy is on a rocket ship. I mean, it felt amazing. Every day you woke up, it was like, all I'm hearing in the news is that hiring has gone up, unemployment has gone down. Americans are able to buy whatever they want. Everything was just rocking, rolling on cruise control. And to do that in a moment like this, where then it would give America such strong footing to negotiate with the world of like, look, we're solid, we're looking good.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah. I mean, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Right. And then that is a solution in search of a problem.

[Grover Norquist]

Why use left wing rhetoric when that's.

[Ruthless Host]

The thing that bothers me the most?

[Grover Norquist]

Yeah.

[Ruthless Host]

Like, I literally just get incensed by this. Like, the adoption of, like, the New York Times editorial page in a Republican context is like an, they lost, we won, Trump won.

[Grover Norquist]

Stop talking like Kamala Harris.

[Smug]

It was like three months ago. It was conventional wisdom. Everyone was like, well, it sounds like the Democrats and their ideas are dead. And not to be like, so let's give them a shot.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah, maybe a tax increase. What do you guys think?

[Smug]

I just, I can't understand.

[Ruthless Host]

Blows my mind. But I mean, look, one of the beauties of what you have created over decades with Americans for Tax Reform and the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and what you have done, just sort of being a part of the center part of this conversation for years, is create a problem for people who don't see the world that way.

[Grover Norquist]

Well, and it makes it. It gives voters an opportunity to see what's going on. Do I have one minute to explain this fun map? Yes. In the 50 states or 57, one of those two. In the 50 states. There are eight states that have no income tax at all. Texas, Florida, Tennessee. And there are 15 states that have a flat rate single rate tax. And the good news about a single rate tax is it's very difficult to raise. I offer as proof of that, Illinois, left wing Democrat, Bolshevik, plenty of people.

[Ruthless Host]

Who would be interested in your taxes.

[Grover Norquist]

Their top rates under 5%.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah.

[Grover Norquist]

That's because by Constitution they can only have a single rate. So if they want to raise taxes, they have to look at everybody in the state at once and say, I'm going to steal all your money for my project. And they'd look and all the little.

[Ruthless Host]

Sisters of the poor are on the hook.

[Grover Norquist]

And yeah. And they're going, we're not having this. And so the tax is less than 5%. It's not up there at 13, 14 with California or 11 in New York and so on. But also a flat rate tax is easy to reduce.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah.

[Grover Norquist]

And this is what 12 states are doing now. They're moving to a single rate tax and then to zero. Because once you get to five, four, three, two or one flat rate to say we're now going to go from three to two.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah.

[Grover Norquist]

And if a Democrat gets up or one of those guys at the White House is trying to subvert, the President says, wait a minute, what about the billionaires? They say, well, we're all going from 3 to 2 billion or 2. Oh, we take envy out of the equation.

[Ruthless Host]

Yes.

[Grover Norquist]

Okay. Envy is not a political program, it's a sin. And so that's really good.

[Smug]

I need that on the shirt.

[Grover Norquist]

This is where we have a real opportunity and we're going to be in a, in a state in a year, two years where more than half of the states have a flat rate tax. So we can begin to think about a single rate tax at the national level. So these kids in the basement over at the White House are trying to undermine the President by saying, let's have a raise the top rate. They think there's a desire for graduated progressive. Karl Marx thought the idea of a progressive income tax was a bad idea. One of his bad ideas. He had several. He had a bunch. And you know, in point of fact, America is moving towards single rate taxes across the board.

[Ruthless Host]

Well, as evidenced by the state chart.

[Grover Norquist]

I mean everybody, seven of those yellow states are in the last five years.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah.

[Grover Norquist]

So it's not just like we've had them for a long time and they never got rid of them. We are Moving to single rate taxes, by the way, Kansas just voted to go to a single rate tax, 2/3, both houses, to override the Democrat governor's veto. South Carolina isn't listed yet, but they're in the process of going to a single rate tax and then to zero. Did a press conference with the governor, the Senate leader, the House leader, and the two regular, two committee leaders, and they all spoke and said, we're all going to zero, we're going to flat, and then we're going to zero. And my job was to say, I've been in a lot of these press conferences where I'm there with one guy who's a backbencher going, we'd kind of like to go to flat, or maybe a committee chair.

[Ruthless Host]

Now you got the, or maybe just.

[Grover Norquist]

The governor, but nobody else. But this time, everybody in the state is there and they're on the way.

[Ruthless Host]

I mean, the secret's out. I mean, it's just, it's how, how many pieces of evidence do you need? Whether it's electoral success, economic success, wages. I mean, like, literally every single component of lower taxes makes sense to everybody except for this progressive left that has taken hold of the Democratic Party for generations. But you know why we're flirting with this? I don't know. Let me ask you this. Where ideally, and I think you just sort of outlined that as you look forward, hopefully we get 17 done. We get some certainty here.

[Grover Norquist]

Yes.

[Ruthless Host]

And we get this in the rearview mirror next, does it look a little bit more like the state laboratories? Because, you know, I grew up in an era of Republican politics where when we had all three, we were taking big shots. Right. I mean, rates are coming. It wasn't a discussion about whether we keep rates. We never had a discussion about, like, whether the status quo is what we're feeling. It was always like, how far can we get this thing down? And it seems to me like what you're saying is the states are a good laboratory for this and you're flattening things out, gradually lowering, taking some of this envy argument away, but also producing the kind of economic growth that justifies it.

[Grover Norquist]

Yes. And the states have also learned something from what President Trump did in focusing on the corporate rate down. It's amazing that under Reagan and Bush, we understood to cut personal income taxes, but we didn't cut the corporate rate as much as we could have. When we did some, we took it down to 50 and then to 30, down to 34, which then was taken up to 35 by Clinton. Thank you. But then all the other countries in the world, Europe went underneath us. China's at 25, we were at 35. China's at 25, we Were at 35. The European average is way is under 25. So stupider than France is not where you want to be, but it's where we were so taking. And it was Trump who said, let's take 35 down to 15, and he couldn't convince the House and the Senate to make it fit. So we got to 21, which is a huge step forward. And he has said that he always wants to go to 15, which I think is a great idea and I think would be a great thing to do during his second term to get down to 15. Then we'd be really competitive and we'd be under China and under all the Europeans in terms of cost. We want to compete on lower tax rates, lower energy costs, fewer regulations, less expensive government, not lower wages.

[Ruthless Host]

Right, right.

[Smug]

Point.

[Ruthless Host]

Listen. And also dovetail super well with what we're talking about, with trade imbalances and everything else.

[Grover Norquist]

I think the President's going to win against his staff. I really do. I think the staff is not going to be able to snooker him.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah, well, I've been gratified to see just about every member of Congress that's grabbed a microphone say, I'm not interested in raising taxes on absolutely anything. Listen, Grover, keep up the good work. You are a good friend of the program, but I really mean it. We owe as a conservative movement an awful lot to this gentleman because he has crystallized and clarified an economic agenda that has not only works, but politically it's super effective.

[Grover Norquist]

Well, thank you very much.

[Ruthless Host]

You got it. Thanks for your time.

[Grover Norquist]

We got more to do.

[Ruthless Host]

The next phase of our plan is to pass tax cuts for everybody. President Trump. Trump won on a promise to cut taxes to keep American businesses competitive. So why are some Republicans pushing to raise taxes? Our tax rate is already higher than Communist China. The current basalt plan is a tax hike on American business.

[Smug]

And when business taxes go up, workers and families pay.

[Ruthless Host]

Tell Congress, make the Trump tax cuts permanent. Stop the basalt assault. I'm just a massive admirer of Grover. When I started in politics, there were basically like just a couple of boxes that you have to check, but they're very important boxes. His was one of them. Taxpayer protection given.

[Smug]

You have to.

[Ruthless Host]

Right. You cannot be a Republican running for office without making a pledge that you are not going to raise the taxes on the people who just elected you. Simple proposition.

[Smug]

I never worked on a campaign where the candidate didn't sign that. It's a must.

[Ruthless Host]

It's literally the first thing you gotta do it. Right. And he's pushed this for years. And then we went through a period of time during the early 2000s where they made him like the, like. If you think about today what the left does in terms of just shorthanding Elon Musk. That's what Grover was, the OG Elon in terms of like, if you don't think you can actually make an inroad by attacking the president, you just. Grover Narquist. Them and talk about how this like perverse sort of.

[Smug]

It's because they sell. They know that chart. It's when Republicans run on cutting taxes, they win. And that's like the worst thing for Democrats.

[Ruthless Host]

Yeah. So they attacked him for years now.

[Smug]

Because they don't want to lose and they want your money. He's at the crux of everything they hate.

[Ruthless Host]

And part of the reason why he's not a household name as he was in the 2000s is because everybody's given up on trying to attack his effectiveness. He's been so effective for so many years at not only getting Republicans to sign this pledge, the electoral success that accompanies it, the economic growth that accompanies it, that we've all sort of understood innately that if you are a Republican, you believe in supply side economics, you believe in economic growth, and you believe in not taxing the shit out of the American people for products and services that they never receive anyway. This is the way.

[Smug]

This is the way.

[Ruthless Host]

And I don't think there's anyone over the test of time. And there's been a lot of great champions on this. Who has done more to try to iron that in now you heard he's concerned. Yep, he's concerned. It's important that you all understand this and comprehend that. Like, you know the language of the left. Unacceptable when it comes to how much money the federal government takes out of your paycheck.

[Smug]

Yep.

[Ruthless Host]

And you may think that there is a. It's not at you. You may think like you, oh, it's a millionaire's tax. Okay, well, you know, here's the thing. People who make tens of millions of dollars a year have hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank. They're not filing W2 tax.

[Smug]

Yeah. They don't care about marginal tax rates. They have investment income.

[Ruthless Host]

They don't care about it. It's all red herring to open the argument and concede the argument to a left who wants to protect and expand an entitlement state and make small businesses first. You and everyone you know. Second into making basically a socialist country. It is for real. I'm not being hyperbolic. No.

[Smug]

And he did a perfect job of explaining. It is a huge treat for all our listeners to have him on.

[Ruthless Host]

Totally love it to death. Smug. We covered a lot.

[Smug]

I think so.

[Ruthless Host]

Show me your hog.

[Smug]

Absolute banger of an episode. Holmes. And thank you so much to our listeners. Thank you so much. Grover Norquist. Wonderful interview and thank you so much to our listeners. Remember, subscribe and like the YouTube if you have. Not yet. So until next time, minions. Keep the faith. Hold on the lids. We'll see you Tuesday. Stay ruthless.

[Ruthless Host]

Shopify helps you sell at every stage of your business.

[Grover Norquist]

Like that.

[Ruthless Host]

Let's put it online and see what happens.

[Smug]

Stage and the site is live that.

[Ruthless Host]

We opened a store and need a fast checkout. Stage thanks. You're all set that count it up and ship it around the globe Stage this one's going to Thailand. And that. Wait.

[Smug]

Did we just hit a million orders?

[Ruthless Host]

Stage Whatever your Stage Businesses that grow grow with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 a month [e-mail] Listen hi, I'm Chris Gethard and I'm very excited to tell you about Beautiful Anonymous, a podcast where I talk to random people on the phone.

[Grover Norquist]

I tweet out a phone number. Thousands of people try to call. Talk to one of them.

[Ruthless Host]

They stay anonymous.

[Grover Norquist]

I can't hang up.

[Ruthless Host]

That's all the rules. I never know what's going to happen. We get serious ones. I've talked with meth dealers on their way to prison. I've talked to people who survived mass shootings.

[Grover Norquist]

Crazy funny ones.

[Ruthless Host]

I talked to a guy with a goose slap. Somebody who dresses up as a pirate on the weekends. I never know what's going to happen. It's a great show. Subscribe today. Beautiful Anonymous.