Wishlist For Santa Trump

Summary

Ruthless Podcast Episode Summary: "Wishlist For Santa Trump"

Release Date: December 26, 2024

Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook

In the December 26, 2024, episode of the Ruthless Podcast, hosts Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook delve into a blend of holiday anecdotes and a fervent discussion on their political aspirations for former President Donald Trump. Titled "Wishlist For Santa Trump," the episode merges humor with serious policy discussions, reflecting the hosts' commitment to advancing their conservative agenda.

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1. Holiday Anecdotes: The Traveling Brooch

The episode kicks off with light-hearted storytelling. John Ashbrook shares a humorous tale about his experience as a congressional staffer struggling with last-minute Christmas shopping. His attempt to purchase meaningful gifts from the House of Representatives gift shop resulted in a fleece jacket, a blanket, and a rather unimpressive brooch adorned with an elephant—a symbol of the Republican Party. The brooch, described as "plastic painted gold with plastic ruby eyes," inadvertently elicited tears from his wife, not out of joy but in frustration at the lackluster gifts.

Notable Quote:

John Ashbrook [02:43]: "And a brooch that had... it was like, plastic painted gold with, like, plastic ruby eyes on the elephant. It was an elephant. And it was... she cried when I gave it to her."

The hosts use this story to introduce the concept of the "traveling brooch," a gag gift idea aiming to provide congressional staffers with a humorous gift option for their colleagues.

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2. Wishlist for Santa Trump: Political Aspirations

Transitioning from holiday stories, the hosts outline their comprehensive "wishlist" for Donald Trump in his potential future term(s). This segment is the core of the episode, where each host presents key policy areas they believe Trump should focus on to advance the conservative movement and rectify what they perceive as the mistakes of the Biden administration.

a. Border Wall and Immigration Reform

The hosts emphasize the completion of the U.S.-Mexico border wall and comprehensive immigration reform. They criticize the Biden administration for halting construction and repurposing materials meant for the wall, viewing it as a failure to fulfill campaign promises.

Notable Quotes:

Michael Duncan [10:56]: "I mean, number one, it's finished. The wall."

John Ashbrook [12:30]: "President Trump could do anything this next term... he needs to be very smart about it because these, these people are extremely entrenched."

b. Eliminating EV Mandates and Promoting American Energy

The discussion turns to the opposition of electric vehicle (EV) mandates. The hosts argue that such policies are economically detrimental, relying heavily on foreign (particularly Chinese) resources and undermining American energy independence. They criticize the government's investment in charging infrastructure as wasteful.

Notable Quotes:

Josh Holmes [14:43]: "The first thing that I would love for him to do is eliminate the EV mandates."

Comfortably Smug [16:10]: "A complete scam to me."

c. Tax Reforms to Stimulate Economic Growth

Advocating for tax reductions, especially for middle-class workers and small business owners, the hosts argue that high tax rates stifle entrepreneurship and economic mobility. They push for policies that incentivize individual success and business growth by easing the tax burden.

Notable Quotes:

Josh Holmes [20:29]: "The economic engine in this country comes from these people who take risks because it is the only way."

Michael Duncan [20:34]: "The mom and pop shops that take the risk of going into business, and then they end up getting slammed with taxes."

d. Dismantling the Deep State and Reducing Regulatory Overreach

The hosts call for an end to what they term the "deep state," advocating for the removal of entrenched bureaucratic regulations that they believe hinder business operations and economic growth. They argue that unelected officials impose regulations that are out of touch with everyday Americans.

Notable Quotes:

John Ashbrook [23:22]: "I really want Trump this time to actually dismantle the deep state."

Michael Duncan [25:29]: "The regs thing is a really good point and sort of related to the tax thing as well."

e. Justice System Reforms and Releasing Political Prisoners

The hosts advocate for reforming the justice system by releasing individuals they consider political prisoners—those they believe were unjustly incarcerated by the Biden administration. They criticize the current system as being influenced by political biases.

Notable Quotes:

John Ashbrook [12:30]: "President Trump could do anything this next term... he needs to be very smart about it because these, these people are extremely entrenched."

Michael Duncan [13:06]: "Extremely valid... how many jails across this country are full of the people who set fire to cities?"

f. Critique of Media and George Soros Influence

A significant portion of the discussion targets media influence and the involvement of George Soros and his network in shaping Democratic agendas. The hosts assert that Soros-funded organizations manipulate political outcomes and support left-wing policies detrimental to America.

Notable Quotes:

Michael Duncan [41:09]: "Alex Soros is the son of George Soros, and he spent the past couple months... what the Soros network has done to this country is disgusting."

Josh Holmes [43:03]: "The way to get it done is you actually have legal culpability in funding crime."

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3. Lightning Round: Terrible Persons to Guantanamo Bay

In a spirited lightning round, the hosts each nominate individuals they consider significant threats to American democracy to be sent to Guantanamo Bay. James Comey emerges as a unanimous choice, portrayed as a villain who undermined Trump's presidency.

Notable Quotes:

Comfortably Smug [32:58]: "If Santa Trump could deliver one terrible person to Guantanamo Bay, it would be James Comey."

Michael Duncan [41:49]: "Anyways, it's been really long."

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4. Humorous Segments: Elon Musk as Ambassador to Space

Injecting humor into the episode, the hosts playfully discuss appointing Elon Musk as America's ambassador to space. They highlight his multifaceted roles and envision him as a "supreme warlord of space," capable of advancing America's extraterrestrial ambitions.

Notable Quotes:

Michael Duncan [46:26]: "I think we make him like Permanent ambassador to space."

Comfortably Smug [50:22]: "It's the most Trump thing I've ever heard. Nuking Mars."

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5. Optimism for 2025 and Future Plans

Concluding the episode, the hosts express optimism for the future, anticipating a resurgence of American greatness under Trump’s continued leadership. They emphasize plans for engaging content, including games and interactive segments, aimed at energizing their listener base and promoting their conservative vision.

Notable Quotes:

Josh Holmes [53:41]: "We promise you have not seen anything yet. Like, this is going to be a fun ride."

Michael Duncan [54:21]: "We're back, baby."

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Conclusion

Throughout "Wishlist For Santa Trump," the Ruthless Podcast hosts seamlessly blend personal anecdotes with passionate political discourse. Their "wishlist" encapsulates a desire for comprehensive policy reforms aimed at revitalizing American economic strength, regulatory efficiency, and national security. Coupled with humor and engaging segments, the episode serves both as entertainment and a rallying call for listeners aligned with their conservative values.

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Note: All timestamps correspond to the provided transcript and highlight significant moments within the episode.

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

I'm interested from all of you fellas, like, what does he need to do this time? Because we know, like the usual laundry list of things that Santa Trump were to do. But outside of that, given the election, what do we got?

[Michael Duncan]

Trump gets Cash Patel in there and there are multiple new sheriffs in town and there's going to be people held accountable. We need that.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

One of the things that President Trump could do as a wish this Christmas is let innocent political victims of the Biden administration out of prison.

[Michael Duncan]

But you have to, you, you have to do the right thing the night before inauguration. You have to leave a Big Mac and fries and Diet Coke by the.

[Comfortably Smug]

Chimney because he's been keeping a list and he's checking it twice.

[Josh Holmes]

He is checking it twice.

[Comfortably Smug]

And if you're here and you're a criminal, illegal alien, he's going to deport your ass.

[Josh Holmes]

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[John Ashbrook]

This breakthrough technology helps enable us to safely produce oil and natural gas at.

[Josh Holmes]

Greater pressures, setting a new industry benchmark. Anchor is pivotal in our goal to.

[John Ashbrook]

Produce 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2026 in the U.S. gulf of Mexico, home to some of our lowest carbon intensity producing assets. That's energy in progress. Visit chevron.com anchor to learn more. Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Comfortably Smug]

Just a catching strays over here.

[Josh Holmes]

You're in for a hell of a show.

[Michael Duncan]

Keep the faith, hold the line and own lips.

[John Ashbrook]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Thursday to you. No time off. No time off here for the ruthless Friday program. Lots to do. We're gonna talk about all that. I'm Josh Holmes. Comfortably smug Michael Duncan. John Ashbrook left it right across your radio dial. We trust that you had a wonderful Christmas holiday and you got exactly what you wanted. The one thing. And I'm gonna go off script right off the bat. Let's do it like just moment one. There's been talk for your OG listeners. You remember the story of the traveling brooch. The story of the traveling brooch was our good friend John Ashbrook. There on the end was once a fledgling congressional staffer with a wonderful young family. And he spent an inordinate amount of time at his desk. And because of that, maybe a day or two before Christmas, you decided then was the time to purchase a gift.

[John Ashbrook]

I think it was December 23rd.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, he was right there in Congress. So he traveled down to the.

[John Ashbrook]

Was it the House, House of Representatives gift shop? And I bought my wife, God bless her, I bought My wife. A fleece jacket with a house symbol on it.

[Josh Holmes]

Because what woman wouldn't want one of those, right?

[John Ashbrook]

A blanket with a house symbol on it.

[Josh Holmes]

Important to represent the people's house.

[John Ashbrook]

And a brooch that had. It was like, plastic painted gold with, like, plastic ruby eyes on the elephant. It was an elephant. And it was. She cried when I gave it to her.

[Comfortably Smug]

Those weren't tears of joy.

[Josh Holmes]

They were not tears of joy. She was not overwhelmed.

[Michael Duncan]

No.

[John Ashbrook]

She was like, how in the world did I end up with him?

[Comfortably Smug]

He'd be, like, the equivalent of us now, like, filling the stocking for our wives with ruthless gear. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

No, it would be. It would be.

[Comfortably Smug]

Here's a bunch of shit for my work, right?

[Josh Holmes]

Just crouching around the back office to see if what hats are available.

[Comfortably Smug]

Here's some golf balls. You think about taking up golf.

[John Ashbrook]

The absolute worst husbanding anybody's ever heard of.

[Josh Holmes]

It was so bad. So we made up this whole bit about the traveling brooch, and it should be passed on to congressional staffers who find themselves similarly young, married, without any sort of perspective on how important their significant other is at that particular time. And then you should just deliver the brooch to that person that you know will be out of a gift. Like, they don't have any gift ideas at the last minute, and they can give said traveling approach, and it can go year to year.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

So brutal.

[John Ashbrook]

And we tried to find it, and I looked all over our house, and.

[Josh Holmes]

There'S no way it made it past.

[John Ashbrook]

Funny enough, nowhere to be found.

[Comfortably Smug]

I think we'll find Jimmy Hoffa before we find him.

[Josh Holmes]

100%. That thing's been in a landfill since December 26th of the year that you've.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, dude, that's exactly right. But you know what's funny is that Mary Katherine Ham, great friend of the program, and Ben Dominic's little sister Emily, got together and they brought me a brooch. And they were like, here you go. Just as sort of like a gag thing. Very funny. They're very, very funny women. So we. So we have something. I mean, I think.

[Josh Holmes]

I think we should maybe send. Send that out, like, at some point. We obviously can't do it this year, but, like, next year, we should just notify congressional staffers before the holidays that, like, look, if you're at wit's end and we want a story, we'll gift you the brooch.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, but we're gonna need proof that you're at your desk in the Capitol on December 23rd.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's the only Way to qualify.

[Josh Holmes]

That's the only way to qualify. And know that you are desperately out of options. But you know, I mean, you really stepped up your game. Ashbrook, I understand you bought a refrigerator and a dishwasher this year.

[John Ashbrook]

This is. It was a pure middle aged Christmas. We bought it for each other. There were no tears this time around because it was something we badly needed.

[Comfortably Smug]

You left one. You left one out. He also got a treadmill.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh.

[John Ashbrook]

But every, everybody, everybody in our house needs to use it, including yours truly.

[Josh Holmes]

It's just so good.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, I think that's like something that ends up happening is once you get to a certain age. Like I would be asked by family members and such ahead of this Christmas, like, oh, what do you want? It's like nothing.

[Josh Holmes]

Nothing. Please don't buy me. I don't have any room to put stuff.

[Michael Duncan]

I have all the things I need or want.

[Josh Holmes]

Please.

[Michael Duncan]

Like socks are probably great.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Because, yeah, sure. I mean, I absolutely always need socks, but it's like I just don't want anything anymore.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, it's funny that you should mention that because I know it's a day after Christmas. I have presents for you guys. I do. A very good friend of mine started a fashion company some years ago and she sent these in for you. So they're not from me, they're from her. Her name is Grey.

[Michael Duncan]

I got you guys gifts. This is what someone sent.

[Josh Holmes]

Immediately I felt inadequate and then it's. Now it's resolved.

[John Ashbrook]

Her name is Gray hall and she sent you guys. In the moment of euphoria following the Trump victory.

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh my gosh.

[John Ashbrook]

She sent you guys pocket squares. Oh, so smug.

[Michael Duncan]

No kidding.

[John Ashbrook]

Smug. Mentioned his socks. Pocket squares is something everybody can always use. And look at these smokes. These totally American.

[Michael Duncan]

Those are pretty cool.

[John Ashbrook]

Great design. And you know, she outfits people on Fox. She outfits people everywhere. Greyhall design.com that is very cool. Has taken very, very good care of the fellas at the ruthless variety program.

[Josh Holmes]

Greyhall.com greyhall design.com greyhall design.com yeah, these are unbelievable.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, that's getting put to use.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. And you guys are always on tv. A very important set of people here on this stage. You're always on tv. So you' looking for a pocket square to throw in that jacket. This is perfect for you because it's American colors.

[Josh Holmes]

A new year and a new pocket square. That is the. That is what I aim to do.

[Michael Duncan]

That.

[Josh Holmes]

Thank you very much. That's very kind. And I mean, those are terrific.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, they look great.

[Josh Holmes]

Design is amazing. Thank you to all of you listeners. I, I hope everybody had everything that they wanted for Christmas. We're going to talk a little bit about what Santa Trump. Trump has in store.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, Santa Trump, he comes a month later.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, right.

[Josh Holmes]

You get to Christmas on the 25th, the 20th of January, Santa Trump.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Gets here and, you know, we want to talk a little bit about, like, what's the wish list look like?

[John Ashbrook]

All right, so I just gotta point out that my friends at Americans for Prosperity made a huge difference this year. AFP volunteers made millions of voter contacts, which is absolutely mind blowing. They are the largest, most effective ground game operation in the country to defend and advance the conservative movement. But now that the election is behind us, the hard work of turning electoral victory into policy wins begins. And the grassroots army with Americans for Prosperity will again be in the thick of it. We have an incredible opportunity next year to get the country back on track. But it means we're all going to have to roll up our sleeves and get to work. If you're ready to join a winning team making a difference across the country, check out my friends at AFP and you can learn more at americansforprosperity.org.

[Michael Duncan]

You have to do the right thing. The night before inauguration, you have to leave a Big Mac and fries and Diet Coke by the chimney because he's.

[Comfortably Smug]

Been keeping a list and he's checking it twice.

[Josh Holmes]

He is checking it twice.

[Comfortably Smug]

And if you're here and you're a criminal, illegal alien, he's going to deport your ass.

[Josh Holmes]

So, I mean, look, we all, we've covered each one of you. You've been with us on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we've talked about all the important issues that not only surrounded this election, but ultimately what cleaved away huge numbers of people who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 that ultimately supported Donald Trump. We know what issues kind of did that. I think that kind of formulates in some ways what you would like to happen. I mean, remember, there's first, in 2017, the first year of his first term, I think there was like something like 80 executive orders. Much of the executive orders from each administration are done to counteract what the previous administration has done. Right. And it's just like resetting the dial, like new sheriff in charge. And they're done kind of all the time. But there are issue sets here that Trump tackled that not only did Democrats reverse, but they made the country a whole lot worse in the process. And I'm interested from all of you fellas, like, what does he need to do this time? Because we know, like the usual laundry list of things that Santa Trump were to do. But outside of that, given the election, what do we got, Duncan, what do you think?

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, number one, it's finished. The wall.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

You know, I mean, I saw that story about how the Biden administration here, you know, in the waning days is selling off pieces of the wall that they let sit on the ground and rust for the last few years when they stopped construction of the border wall, which is unconscionable. And I'm going to absolutely love it when the liberal media and Democrats in Congress complain about the cost of building the thing after they let all of this bollard steel rust on the fucking ground.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Oh, it's just a great talking, great talk. Insulation.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right. So I think, you know, that is step one, deliver on the campaign promise that made you president.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that's right, Smash.

[John Ashbrook]

You know, it's very difficult to think of what my number one wish would be because Joe Biden and Democrats have ruined this country. And thank God Donald Trump was elected to fix the problems they created. And I could say something on tax.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, you're gonna. This is what he does. This is what he does.

[Comfortably Smug]

So he's the Grinch who steals all the new.

[Josh Holmes]

If you're new to the program, when you ask an open ended question, and this is my mistake, fellas, I do apologize. This is actually a moderator's problem. It's not your problem. But what happens is when you give him an open ended, he actually gives the answers to all of them and then sort of settles on something pretending.

[Michael Duncan]

So when it's your turn or my turn. He's already listed.

[Josh Holmes]

He's already listed.

[Comfortably Smug]

He hoards it. You get coal.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, okay. I'll stick with one thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, thank you.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

There are way too many people who are simply walking around the capitol building on January 6th, and they were not violent. They, they were doing something they thought they were allowed to do part. And they have been sitting in prison rotting for year after year after year. And I think one of the things that President Trump could do as a wish this Christmas is let innocent political victims of the Biden administration out of prison.

[Josh Holmes]

Interesting. Okay, I didn't see that coming from you, but I think that's a valid, very valid point.

[Michael Duncan]

Extremely valid. I mean, like, think about this. How many jails across this country are full of the people who set fire to cities?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. No, there was a Kamala bail fund for all that. Yeah. No, I mean, they didn't. They didn't. Just didn't go. Yeah, I agree, Smuggles.

[Michael Duncan]

I would say actual justice in this country. You know, it's almost like I just mentioned that if you were a friend of the Dems or backed one of their causes, you've had four years of lawlessness where you're allowed to do whatever you want. In New York, specifically after the summer of 2020 riots, there was a blanket pardon issued to anyone who had taken part in those riots that result. I mean, there are people in this country who were killed. There were police officers who were killed in that summer of 2020 assaults that were committed. People's livelihood, businesses burned to the ground. But it goes beyond that. It's not just that is essentially, to me, the Democrat grassroots is the people who are out doing violence on the streets, but the actual people at the top. We had gone into how ActBlue had been accepting foreign gift cards for donations, and it's been going on unpunished. How we had those stories of grandmas who would. Journalists would be like, did you donate 30,000 times to these Democrat candidates in the past three weeks? They're like, no, of course not. This level, you want to get to.

[Josh Holmes]

The bottom of that. Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Lawlessness and corruption. So, you know, Trump gets Cash Patel in there, and there are multiple new sheriffs in town, and there's gonna be people held accountable. We need that.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Yeah, I think that's good. That one's really good. Smart's a little bit more specific. But I think it goes to a much larger issue in that I've watched every time a Democratic administration gets ahold of something, not only do they push this false narrative about what it is that they're trying to solve for, but then they just reward their political allies in the process. Right. The first thing that I would love for him to do is eliminate the EV mandates. And I'll tell you why. It's not because I just hate electric cars. I don't. I mean, I don't have an opinion on electric cars. I've never driven one. Probably won't, as long as they don't make me. But I hate the idea that they created a marketplace where they convinced environmentalists that somehow it was environmentally friendly to have all of the transportation in this country aligned on Chinese resources.

[John Ashbrook]

Great point.

[Josh Holmes]

And all of the things that separate us from the world and the reason that. Why we have such economic security and an abundance of energy here, like, throw that all away, and it's like a foreign policy and a national security point to me as much as it is like just a domestic convenience issue. Like I kind of don't care what people drive. I hate the fact they spent $8 billion and built six charging stations.

[Comfortably Smug]

A complete scam to me that this.

[Josh Holmes]

Is like the pinnacle of government waste. But it embodies everything about liberalism and the modern progressive left in that you just, you convince somebody that something is not. It's. First of all you got to recharge these things. Where the hell is that energy coming from?

[John Ashbrook]

Right?

[Josh Holmes]

They're not self recharging that energy that comes from like coal, natural gas, oil, you know, whatever. But they're trying to do away with all of that. Take away our ability to, you know, export any of it and then pretend like the rest of the world is following suit in the name of environmentalism.

[John Ashbrook]

Right?

[Josh Holmes]

And like if there's one thing you can do to just hatch it off the head of that snake, it's like take the EV thing and just throw it in the garbage.

[Michael Duncan]

And here's the thing is it's had dire consequences for the us. Like you mentioned, this kind of progressivism. They've tried to force this EV type of mandate on American companies. You see Ford, gm, these companies got on board when the government was like, here's what we're going to set emissions standards for this percentage of vehicles have to be electric. And they're like, okay, I guess we got to go with this. What happens now? Their lots are full of electric cars that they can't sell.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, they're losing billions on it.

[Michael Duncan]

What's the fastest depreciating car on the market? Yeah, EV models. No one is buying that like EV Hummer that they released. That's sitting on lots. No one is buying the F150s that are EV, those are sitting on lots. So now it's companies in America that are suffering. Companies are having to do layoffs because of these.

[John Ashbrook]

And the money that the government uses to build this non existent marketplace doesn't come from nowhere. Regular people who are listening to this show earn that money.

[Michael Duncan]

That's right.

[John Ashbrook]

And they're forced at gunpoint every April 15th to turn it over and hope to God that it's spent responsibly. What did the Biden administration do? They blew through that money. They spent trillions of dollars on Green New Deal and on all kinds of bullshit that not only wasted taxpayer dollars but also drove up prices on everything else from eggs to milk. And ultimately it has really set this country back economically in a way that the Mainstream media will never recognize that's the truth.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally. So now I just. We did our number ones. I just kind of spitball a few others because, look, there's a lot of issue areas out there, and, like, the tax thing needs to get done. Yeah, right. I mean, it's vitally important on not only just our economy and our country and how we operate, but how President Trump is ultimately judged in the second term will largely be upon whether or not your life is better or is not better than it was before. And he did that terrifically the first term. They passed a really important tax bill in 2017 that did a lot of that, a huge economic growth or whatever. They're obviously going to add that you heard a lot on the campaign trail. No tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, like, all kinds of different things that he was talking about. All that stuff I think is important. But they got to get this done. And, like, that's not a day one thing. That's not like a Santa Trump thing. But I really want to see shoulder to the wheel stuff on it. And what I want them to do in the process is dismantle this argument that liberals have built over the years that it's like the rich is basically a W2 owner or like a LLC or somebody who, you know, like the best ladder in this country. To go from lower class through the middle class to ultimately something big is not like inventing the wheel. It's building something that people like that you can perform over a period of time. But when you're taxed at like a 52% rate all the way through, like, your incentive structure is gone, you might as well go work for a big corporation, rise your way up. Use that same ambition to go rise your way up through that, because you're going to be rewarded monetarily much better than you were if you were trying to do it on your own.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, it's the mom and pop shops that take the risk of going into business, and then they end up getting slammed with taxes.

[Josh Holmes]

That's the argument that I really want him to make because it's so authentic to who he is and who he's talking to, and that industrial Midwest and all the people who are former Democrats or former, you know, labor union people or current labor union people that understand this uniquely, that if you're going to take the risk to go do something, your government can't sit up there and be talk about taxing the rich and then they raise taxes on a W2 filer. And what I mean by W2, I mean, I'm sure you all know, but when I'm talking about some, you're just filing individual taxes and then you like pay no attention to any other way that anybody else makes money.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

And like, that's the great game that Democrats have played for years and years. It's how they get billionaires at being left wing lunatics because they know they'll never touch their investment income. I'm not talking about raising taxes, clearly. I'm talking about recognizing the fact that the economic engine in this country comes from these people who take risks because it is the only way. It's the reason why our country has such a capacity to move from poor to too rich in one generation.

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, and, and innovate. Right. Because it's all of these companies, it's the creation of companies, it's the LLCs that push markets to be better, to innovate, to change, to do better for consumers. So, you know, the net effect beyond that single individual doing well is it makes all of us get better things. Yeah, it's like that's how an economy works. And when you create a system, like to your point, like, oh gosh, it'd be easier to just join some mega corporation and take a paycheck from there and maybe I'll rise up the ranks. The economy is by definition less innovative as a result of that incentive. And that's why the thing is so messed up, let me tell you.

[Michael Duncan]

That's why you don't see any startups in Europe.

[John Ashbrook]

That's why Europe, fundamentally such a great point.

[Michael Duncan]

Europe's a giant museum. There's no innovators, there's no risk.

[Josh Holmes]

Why it's essentially a caste system. Like you're born into what you're born into and your ability to rise through America's always been different on that. Democrats have fundamentally broken this argument, argument. And if you listen to what they talk about, and they'll do it again when they bring up the tax bill, they'll talk about tax cuts for the rich. And they're talking only about somebody who has a. They want to put a prohibition, a taxable prohibition on people to take a risk, to actually do it on their own. Because they're not like, they're fundamentally just not interested in taxing their core constituency, which is now like multimillionaire coastal elites.

[Michael Duncan]

It's why, you see, Bernie Sanders has gone from going after millionaires to saying it's the billionaire's fault. Because now Bernie Sanders is a millionaire.

[Comfortably Smug]

Millionaires and billionaires, and then it Just became billionaires.

[Josh Holmes]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

I'm not the part of the problem. I'm just a millionaire.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, so here is another one from me, from Santa Trump, and I have multiple. But in the interest of not triggering you guys, I'm only gonna say one. And it follows on what Josh was saying. I really want Trump this time to actually dismantle the deep state. There are bureaucrats in our government who misunderstand what their role is. They think they're in charge, not the voters. And so if you wonder, where do all these regulations come from that seem so out of touch with normal people, especially the types who are trying to build a company and to grow that company and employ people or people who are just trying to, like, rise up in this country. If you wonder where those insane regulations come from, it comes from unelected bureaucrats who think that they're in charge. And so if Trump could do anything this next term, and it's going to take a while, maybe it's going to take two more terms. I'm, of course, for that. Not everybody. I'm for a third Trump term.

[Michael Duncan]

He won three times. He deserves it.

[John Ashbrook]

I think as long as it takes. He needs to be very smart about it because these, these people are extremely entrenched.

[Comfortably Smug]

And the regs thing is a really good point and sort of related to the tax thing as well. It's like the two things Donald Trump can do that will light, you know, a fire under this economy, like, immediately is reversing those regs. And when he did the Rogan interview in the run up to the election, it's one of those things he says, whenever I talk to business people, they always say, we love what you do with the taxes. But just getting rid of these terrible regulations that Biden put in or Obama put in immediately made their lives so much easier, and it made it so much easier for them to invest in companies that are already working. It's like, all you have to do is, you know, take the knee off the throat. Stop being ideological of the American economy.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. It's so good.

[Michael Duncan]

And the precedence is there. After the Chevron decision, the Supreme Court said that some unelected bureaucrat can't tell a small business what to do.

[Josh Holmes]

It's totally right.

[Michael Duncan]

We get there.

[Josh Holmes]

We got a lot more ideas. There's just a few. It's just a few. We got a lot more coming for you right after this. I don't have to tell you, Americans are ready for what's next. Moving beyond the hardships of inflation and economic anxiety towards Building a future, a better future for our families. Ensuring greater access to more affordable energy that powers daily lives. Reliable energy that fuels innovation and economic growth, and the abundant energy that keeps our nation safer and more secure. It's all within our grasp. We'll do this together. Building a brighter future for us, powered by America's oil and natural gas resources. You can learn more about all of [e-mail] all right, so look, we covered a little border wall. A lot more to do with immigration, though.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And I forget what the number was. It was like 17 different executive orders that the Biden administration put in place rolling back everything that Trump had done on immigration. We saw the result of that.

[John Ashbrook]

They hate safety.

[Michael Duncan]

They do.

[Josh Holmes]

They just hate the country. And the fact that they're like selling pieces of the border wall right now, I mean, it just tells you, look, this is. It was done intentionally non deliberate and that there's components to it. They're important. Like the remain in Mexico piece of it, which fundamentally disassociated the intent of people to get to here. Because they couldn't get to here. They had to sit in a place that's arguably worse than they were at in order to, like, process asylum claims. And then they, they for the first time have to bear the burden of the weight of the asylum system rather than the rest of us in the country having to fund everything that deals with people while we process claims and kind of like that, those kind of things. Like the immigration piece, I think is super important beyond just what we're doing with a border wall. Right.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, there's a, there's a lot of component parts to this thing that we call, you know, immigration or securing the border and all of that sort of stuff. It also means, you know, streamlining that asylum judge situation, you know, getting the funding in that we really need so that they can properly vet these claims and the people who are abusing this entire system so that they can get into this country through a loophole and make sure the ones who don't have legitimate claims get kicked out immediately. We don't give them a, you know, a piece of paper and say, well, we'll adjudicate this in five years, you know, in the.

[Josh Holmes]

On your honor system.

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, Unbelievable.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I mean, I. Look, I think there's probably 17 more.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Things that you can do on the immigration front that need to be done because the American people ask for it, frankly. Ask for it. I love, by the way, that, like, what was it a few weeks ago with JD Vance invited, what's his name, the New York guy.

[Comfortably Smug]

Daniel Penny.

[Josh Holmes]

Daniel Penny to the Army Navy game. It's what it used to be seen as. Like, that's a troll, right? Because the left and BLM or whatever think that this guy should be in prison. Whatever. That's not what it is anymore, Right. What it is is a reflection of what people value.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

They value a hero.

[Michael Duncan]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

Who took care of his fellow person within a subway, who is unjustly prosecuted. They value that. And like that, that thing just in and of itself.

[John Ashbrook]

What a gift.

[Josh Holmes]

What a gift. In that case, it's like Santa. Santa J. Yeah, that's right. You know, what a gift. It's a value change. It's highlighting things, you know, you all remember, like every time something happens, like gun violence or whatever, you get Democrats that are like basically posed to make it seem like everybody who owns a firearm in this country is somehow a criminal. Just reversing all of that is in and of itself.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, there's sometimes that they are not anti gun and that's when it's used to murder someone that they see as an opponent. Like, you know, all these guys think Luigi's a hero, but they aren't talking about how well gun control could have prevented this situation. No go Luigi. Because they believe in nothing. They're just nihilists who want their political opponents to be killed.

[John Ashbrook]

That's right. All they care about is power. That's it. And this is something like, you know, you stop and think like, wait a minute, why is the left pushing all of these divisions in our society? And why do they care so much about what George Soros thinks? And why do they care about Luigi and everything else smug in the first year of this show, you put it as well as anybody I've ever heard, is that the left cares about only power. And they will do anything to regular people, you know, your interest be damned. They hate you. And we have to recognize that and we have to act.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, you're an obstacle, right? Hate would imply they think about you.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, that's a good point.

[Josh Holmes]

They. They don't. They don't. I mean, you're just an obstacle to it. If they can like treat you like a maroon, you know, where they just roll over you in the path to power. Terrific.

[Michael Duncan]

They want you to be demoralized, independent. That's it. They want. Look at New York City. They're like, no, you sit on that subway train while a maniac is threatening people's lives and you take it. You be Demoralized. Don't do anything. You see something, do nothing. They want you demoralized because a demoralized population is easier to control. And they want you dependent. You just sit and you wait for your government handout. You don't try to start a business. You don't try to make it on your own. You have no chance because of the color of your skin, or some billionaire has ruined your life already, or some. Some CEO has ruined your life. You have no chance. You're dependent on the government. That's what they want.

[Josh Holmes]

What they hate is all of you put ruthless T shirts on and said, I voted early.

[Michael Duncan]

That's right. That's what they weren't counting on. That.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Because that all of a sudden, it's like all of a sudden tens of thousands of people showing up, doing. Doing the thing they counted on that wouldn't work out for us so well. And then all of a sudden they're like, oh, no, we hate that. We hate that. They hate anything that's an obstacle to their power for sure. So, like, you know, I mean, you mentioned some FBI stuff, justice stuff, all these things. Look, there's a lot of people, honestly, that I think there should be an investigation to the people who spent $8 billion and built six things.

[John Ashbrook]

Right. Where's the money?

[Josh Holmes]

There should be an investigation into people who are trying to sell pieces of the wall in the waning days of this deal. There should be an investigation as to why it is that it took four long years to get any answers as to whether there was, like, intelligence assets or FBI assets in the January 6th crowd. Like, people weight these things differently, but the politics of it cannot be ignored.

[Michael Duncan]

Yep. It always goes one way.

[Josh Holmes]

It always goes one way. So, like, just the transparency of it to me is so important.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. I think, like, quick lightning round here. This will be more of a fun one. Well, fun for us, especially for me. But, like, if Santa Trump could deliver one terrible person to Guantanamo Bay, who. Who would it be? I think you guys know who mine would be. And it's the person I talk about constantly as being a villain. And that should be written as a villain in all of our history books. And that's James Comey.

[Josh Holmes]

I knew you were gonna do it. You're very consistent.

[Comfortably Smug]

I'm very. I'm never going to forget what a horrible person he is. I think what he did was one of the most dangerous things for our democracy in my lifetime. He tried to entrap the President Elect of the United States. Like, that's what he did at Trump Tower with.

[John Ashbrook]

With bullshit.

[Comfortably Smug]

With bullshit opposition research from Hillary Clinton. I mean, it is incredible to me that he became a hero of the left, wrote a fucking bestselling book and was booked on television constantly. And people actually think of him as like a person with moral clarity.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, what he did was so deceptive. And he did it to the President elect. I mean, he did that against our country.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

You got one.

[Michael Duncan]

Gosh, that's so tough because there's.

[Josh Holmes]

I got one on the tip of my tongue.

[Michael Duncan]

Go first, Brennan. Oh, yeah, Right along the same line.

[Josh Holmes]

So it's in the same lines, but I think that that's the guy that cooked it up.

[Comfortably Smug]

Really.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, I can't prove it, but he was a CIA director. Right. Somebody who authorized assets to go talk to people to sort of build this case. And they help. They also had a total capacity of debunking the whole dossier situation.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. Act like they couldn't. They knew it was bullshit. They knew it was a bullshit before the election because they told Christopher Steele, we'll give you like a million dollars if you can prove this. And he couldn't.

[Josh Holmes]

And he couldn't. And so, like they had all the capability in the world. But recall he went to Congress in August of 2016, where he then persuade, tried to persuade then a Republican Congress, House and Senate that Russia had infiltrated the election and it was not specific about how, but that they had. And that we needed a full throated discussion from then speaker ryan, then leader McConnell about condemning this whole process and that they were basically trying to elect Trump. And like you recall, McConnell at the time was like, you're full of shit. I haven't seen intel on that.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And we're not doing that. And then they went through like eight months of castigating McConnell for that discussion, but that like he is the one who invited Russia basically to come do it. And then like that kind of faded away. And then you trace back the steps. They were meeting with the Clintons, they were talking through a closing argument that had something to do with a foreign power, foreign adversary sort of stealing this election from the American people. And this was like part of their closing argument. What it became after they lost in the election was an excuse.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

And how it is that they lost, it was all just political bullshit and why it was an illegitimate election.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

So then he takes to the cable airwaves and pretends as though like he's got this top secret clearance. So he's seen information that you and I have not Right.

[Comfortably Smug]

He can't give you the particulars. He's seen the documents.

[Josh Holmes]

I can tell you with assurance.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

That this whole thing has happened. This guy was one of the worst. If the CIA and all of our intel assets have to be completely restructured, which I think they should, if that is the case. It's because of him. Yes, it's because of this guy.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

He did it. And we never would have had this, like, huge distrust in institutions.

[Michael Duncan]

He divided his countries and everything. He did all that.

[Josh Holmes]

He did it.

[Comfortably Smug]

Can I add one more? So everything that they did, sort of clandestinely in 2016, in the fall, where they went to, you know, speaker Ryan and McConnell were like, we need to condemn this Russia thing. We need a united front. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. We're trying to win an election. Everything they did, they did it out in the open in. In 2020. Just to, you know, rewind the tape to that for all of our listeners. You know, they said that he was a Russian asset. They did this whole Mueller investigation, and Mueller actually goes and testifies before Congress at the end of this thing. And everyone's like, holy shit, the emperor has no clothes.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

This guy has nothing. And it isn't true. Trump is not an asset. They didn't collude with Russia the very next day. And you'll remember this because, you know, McConnell was in cycle at that time. It started. Moscow Mitch. Oh, yeah, Moscow Mitch started because they. They couldn't say Donald Trump was a stooge of Russia anymore. So now they needed a new target because they had to raise money. They had to gin it up. They needed an argument for election day. And then all summer, the drumbeat was, well, he's not giving enough money to election security. Russia's going to steal the election again. Yeah, that's what they said.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

No, he's not. Not enough. They're going to hack into all these computers because Mitch McConnell's holding up some fucking bill.

[Josh Holmes]

And then bullshit and that. And then after the election goes to the election denial thing, he had both sides of the car. They're playing through the public mania. It's unbelievable.

[Comfortably Smug]

They're like, this election is going to be unsecure because of Moscow, Mitch McConnell. And then election day happens. They win. And they're like, most secure election in American history. I mean, they are such fucking liars. They are like. It makes me actually mad.

[Josh Holmes]

I know, I know. Like, this is the kind of thing that. I mean, first of all, then they broke the Internet.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

All kinds of.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, they were, like, trying To.

[Michael Duncan]

They're forcing companies to censor people like Hunters Laptops. A Russian disinformation operation.

[John Ashbrook]

Right, right. And so they won an election in 2018. They won an election in 2020. And what did they do with it? That gets to my Gitmo candidate, which is actually thousands of people. The terrorists, the fighting age men from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan who somehow found themselves walking across the Mexican border. They need to go to Gitmo so that I hope to God our intelligence sources in American military, American military, it's the best in the world, can get information out of them to stop their fucking networks that are operating inside of this country. Because if we don't do that, there's going to be hell to pay. And so now that we have a new president, now that our security is. Is thankfully able to, like, be normal and be strong again, those guys need to be in Gitmos so that they can dismantle their networks. I mean, like, I can't think of anything more pressing than that.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

You know what they ought to do is for fun. You remember that story about, like, why Mika and Joe.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Went down? Because, like, their whole spin on why they went down to meet Trump, first of all, just conniving. And that's the reason why they went down there. We all know that. But the spin out of MSNBC was that they went down there because they were actually afraid they might be in, like, danger from President Trump.

[Michael Duncan]

Of being sent to Gitmo.

[Josh Holmes]

Of being sent to Gitmo. Right. I'm not saying that she actually sent him to Gitno. It'd be very funny if he had, like, Cash Patel knock on one of their doors one morning and be like, hey, you need to come with me. They would lose it.

[John Ashbrook]

No, just kidding. Candid Camera.

[Josh Holmes]

And then just like. Yeah, film it and then just hit party music. And they're like.

[Michael Duncan]

I've had a couple minutes to think about, and I think I know who I would love to see sent to get moaned. This might be a surprise. Alex Soros. So a lot of our listeners may not know who Alex Soros is, or a lot may. And it's because I'd say in the past. So Alex Soros is the son of George Soros, and he spent the past couple months leading into the election of basically parading around Democrat politicians like trophies on Twitter. He'll have, like, walls come to his pocket.

[Josh Holmes]

It was like a Topps trading card.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, this is my politician. Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

I own him. So, like, he'd invite them to his, like, massive opulent. Penthouse in Manhattan, and then make them stand next to the window that has a view of the whole city of being like, today I'm bringing out my pet, Gretchen Whitmer, and he'd post a photo of them. And the thing is, what the Soros network has done to this country is disgusting. So folks have heard about the Soros prosecutors. What they've done is they're like, well, Republicans have gotten a lot of judges. Let's circumvent that.

[Josh Holmes]

We're gonna find prosecutors that don't prosecute.

[Michael Duncan]

Crimes, that don't even press charges.

[Josh Holmes]

We're gonna outlaw crime.

[Comfortably Smug]

Which is why all those dumb shit journalists who are like, well, actually I looked at the statistics and crime is down, you know, and it's like, well, if they don't prosecute the crimes, we don't know, should also go about the crimes.

[Josh Holmes]

They should also got to get, yeah. Anybody who wrote this sentence, actually, crime is down.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

You're also going, yeah, so.

[Michael Duncan]

And even outside, we're going to pump.

[Comfortably Smug]

Those statistics up with your ass.

[Michael Duncan]

And then outside of even the, like, direct political action that the Soros network and their left money, darkwing groups or left wing dark money groups, like, you know, Arabella Network, beyond all of that, they're starting to put money towards media, buying a bunch of radio stations across this country right before the election. They just announced. Well, they've already invested in Pod Safe in crooked media, and they just announced that they purchased. You folks seen that show Hot Ones where you get the wings and they interview.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, they bought that.

[Michael Duncan]

They bought that. They bought them from buzzfeed.

[Comfortably Smug]

From buzzfeed.

[John Ashbrook]

So they want more money from a Hungarian who short sold the European markets and then spent it all on America for the worst.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, smug.

[Michael Duncan]

They got the. They got the memo of like, oh, well, it was the podcast election. Let's just start.

[Josh Holmes]

I got the. I got the way. I got the way to get it done.

[Comfortably Smug]

Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

The way to get it done is you actually have legal culpability in funding crime.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah. Like all the Hamas protests.

[Josh Holmes]

So if you are a funder of people who, I don't know, defaced Union station, who started fires all in every campus across America, or if you pushed.

[Michael Duncan]

A Minnesota bail fund that resulted in the death of a police officer.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right, right. We need some ags to do some RICO statutes, funding. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Because that's, I'll be honest, that's what crime is. Crime is not like the guy who hits the lighter. It's the person who asked the guy to do the thing and then funded the operation. It's about damn time. The left has some culpability in that. If you did the math on that. That cat's got problems. That cat's got problems because he's involved in all. Great one.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

That's really, really good.

[Comfortably Smug]

Smart.

[Josh Holmes]

I love that. Okay, all right, so listen, I think we've covered an awful lot of it. We talked a little bit about Canada. Yeah, all that. We're gonna get to all of that about, like, annexing stuff. We'll get to it right after this.

[John Ashbrook]

This holiday season, millions of families across America will rely on credit card rewards to visit their loved ones. So why are D.C. politicians trying to pass a bill that would end credit card rewards, making it more expensive for families to be together? The Durbin Marshall credit card bill is a big government handout to corporate mega stores that makes them more money, but eliminates travel rewards for. You tell Congress to guard your card because Americans lose when politicians choose. Learn [e-mail].

[Josh Holmes]

All right, so those are a few of the items that we've discussed that we'd like to see happening. But you'd be an idiot if you didn't notice the world around us sort of beginning to accommodate Donald Trump. Yes. Part of that is, frankly, because President Biden has not been been president for quite some time. Like, nobody really. He shows up these GG6 things or whatever, and, like, stumbles around. And so I guess he's like a cocktail party president. But it's not like he's doing anything. No, they're gonna do whatever the hell they want. Well, now they know that Trump is showing up, they're not going to do what what they want. And they want to get some insight into all of that. And part of that is, like, you know, you saw the Canadian Prime Minister. Trudeau rolls down to Mar a Lago, has a meeting. Immediately Trump starts trolling as the governor of the 51st state, which was hilarious. So maybe we take Canada the first term. We talked a lot about Greenland.

[John Ashbrook]

That'd be great. I think both, but, like, why not think bigger?

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, okay.

[Josh Holmes]

You got Elon, right? You know, I mean, Duncan, like, what do we think?

[Comfortably Smug]

Like, I think, you know, Elon doesn't have much going on. You know, he's got the boring company. He's got Tesla, he's got X. You know, he's got Doge now, you know, the Department of Government Efficiency. So he's got a lot of free time on his hands. I think we make him like Permanent ambassador to space. And he's just in charge of it. And it's America's now.

[Josh Holmes]

Can we make it like stronger than an ambassador? Because those aspire. I think this is Viceroy, Emperor of space.

[Michael Duncan]

Supreme warlord.

[Comfortably Smug]

Supreme warlord. Warlord of space.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

And I mean, dude, he's got the satellites and everything too. Can you think of a person better to have that role than him?

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, we should take all the planets while we can. Yeah, but nobody's claimed.

[John Ashbrook]

No, that's exactly right. I mean, the moon has belonged to America since the 60s when the alarm strong put the flag right there. So that's ours. Mars should be ours. I mean, just, is there anything.

[Michael Duncan]

Maybe we give.

[John Ashbrook]

Maybe we give Pluto to Democrats because, you know, it's not really a planet.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it's not a declass.

[Michael Duncan]

It's a real planet.

[Josh Holmes]

Is it?

[Michael Duncan]

It belongs to us.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, you're a big Pluto guy.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, belongs to us.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, so we're not going to give him.

[Michael Duncan]

It was Obama.

[Josh Holmes]

Here's the clip of what this guy's up to. You're telling me we can't annex space?

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, the guy. It's not enough to parallel park a car. He does it with a rocket, bro.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it comes on in and then. And they've got like the grippies. They go in and they give it a grip.

[Michael Duncan]

So I don't know, you may have seen this, Duncan, there's. I invite everyone to go on YouTube early on this year, Elon, to demonstrate how you could livestream on X to show the effectiveness of it. He livestreamed while he was playing Diablo. He's currently the number one ranked Diablo player on Earth.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, wow.

[Michael Duncan]

It's like him. There's like three Chinese players. He's beating China in any way already.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, we're already winning the tech race over China.

[Michael Duncan]

So he's live streaming, playing Diablo on top of running all these companies. Number one ranked player on Earth. And then while he's livestreaming, he's talking to people about like all the decision making that goes into like landing a rocket in reverse. He was like, we have to use ceramic materials on the outside because of the heat expansion. The guy's like, he's got like four.

[Josh Holmes]

Sets of brains going.

[Michael Duncan]

And then his kid comes in, he's taking care of a child, going over rocket science, playing Diablo and running three companies at the same time.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's incredible.

[Michael Duncan]

It's incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

Just love it.

[Comfortably Smug]

Have you ever heard him do his whole thing about how we would restart Mars because this is wild terraforming it. Yeah. So in order to terraform Mars, we would need to like restart its, its magnetic field and the only way to.

[Josh Holmes]

For gravity purposes.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah, well, also it would create more of an environment and so it would, it would protect the surface from solar radiation. Just in general. If like you didn't have that, that, that magnetic field around Earth, we would be hit with so much more.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

In order to do that, you would need to put nukes, nuclear weapons at the poles of Mars and explode them and then.

[Josh Holmes]

And that would create an atmosphere.

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, yeah, it would restart that. The electric, you know, the electric, you know, the field will nuke Mars. Well, he's, he's the emperor of space now, so he can do it.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude, this is the most Trump thing I've ever heard.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

Nuking Mars.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

And while he was doing this live stream, he went over every step of what it's going to take and the timeline of colonizing Mars, like how starship's going to go and how much time it takes. He was like, we'd have to first build a lunar base. Right. Because like it's, it's. In his words, it's pretty easy to get from here to the moon, then from the moon to Mars. It's a tougher journey because not only you need starship to carry enough supplies, but it's not like you can be like, it's not Amazon of like, oh.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, shoot, we need, what do we do here?

[Michael Duncan]

It takes like six months.

[Comfortably Smug]

How cool is that that you can make the moon your, your turn off from the turnpike for the rest stop.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, it's so good. It's so good.

[Michael Duncan]

And he was talking about part of the reason he's building like Starlink infrastructure is because to be able to relay and have Internet on Mars. He was like, we can get to the point where it'd probably be about like three to four minutes that you to of a delay between like if you hit send on an email from Mars.

[Josh Holmes]

Shut up.

[Michael Duncan]

On Earth, like, this dude's doing big things.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, he's thinking big.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

This is what I'm talking about.

[Michael Duncan]

This is the coolest stuff.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, I'd like to take a look at Jupiter.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

But if we started as possible, it's all possible. Trump and Elon can make all this possible because they don't have Joe Biden unelected bureaucrats standing in the way of America. In Italy.

[Josh Holmes]

This is the difference. I think you just like settled on it. What you just said is exactly it. You can have these discussions.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

This is America being great. Yes. You know, we're not all huddled around talking about why 4 fucking like flying objects are over my house and nobody can give me answers. Like they are in New Jersey.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, like, it just stuns me that. Think of that in a Trump administration, if there are a month long of unidentified flying objects over a state in this country, after what we talked about with the balloon flying, Chinese balloon flying, like, do you think for a second he's not going to just hot light those things? They're going to be missiled out of the air within one second.

[Comfortably Smug]

Elon could like create some sort of net gun to capture and retrieve these things. I'm sure. You know, like he, this guy just invents everything. Like, I cannot wait for, for January 20th.

[Josh Holmes]

But like that's, but it's, it's, it's, it's the feeling.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

It returns us. And like, this is. The Democrats are going to take this the wrong way, but like how you felt in the 80s.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, like America's stronger, better. We're better at everything. We're good, we're secure, there's more opportunity. We love where we're going.

[Comfortably Smug]

I can just, I can just hear Push it to the Limit playing right now.

[Michael Duncan]

Completely.

[Comfortably Smug]

The cash machines rolling, you know, take it to the limit.

[Michael Duncan]

And I think that's the thing is like, for so long, Democrats have tried to divide this country, whether it's based on race, this DEI nonsense, this equity of politics of envy and hating each other, dividing, conquering.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

It's so small. It tells people, you're not capable of this. You can't do this. This dream of yours is impossible. The exact opposite of that is the truth. It's what built this country. And we can unleash that spirit again.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

God, it's so true.

[John Ashbrook]

Exciting.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, when you say, look, we don't often do this kind of pod, but it's a holiday, so we're gonna do what we're gonna do. And it's like free form and just kind of talking about. But the more you talk about it, the more you're like, man, we've been forced into just shutting off creativity, neighbor to neighbor, like community stuff. We've been forced to shut all that off because Democrats have been successful at just siloing people.

[Comfortably Smug]

America will dream big again.

[Josh Holmes]

We will.

[Michael Duncan]

And that's the thing is like, think of how much they try to demoralize Americans when they'd say that, like, America is a racist country. Michelle Obama's like, I wake up in a house built by slaves. Like, America is this horrible, horrific nightmare. We're that beacon on a hill. America is where dreams come true and anything is possible. And they've taken that from the American psyche. Yeah, it's back.

[Josh Holmes]

It's back.

[Comfortably Smug]

We're back, baby.

[Josh Holmes]

It's back.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

So look, I mean, I think one of these things that I think we needed to talk to the audience about, we're gonna do another. We're not missing a day. No, we're not missing a day.

[Michael Duncan]

No days off.

[Josh Holmes]

And we're gonna give you a little preview of where we're going. We're gonna put some meat on this bone. But you gotta understand, you gotta trust process here. Like Bill Belichick used to say, you gotta trust the process. Like, there's a whole bunch of executive orders and all these things that are gonna outrage the left, which is just like gold for us. And we'll talk about all of that, but that happens immediately. And then there's a legislative process that's not gonna happen immediately. There's gonna be a lot of left and right and whatever point is, like, get on board for the big win. Because this is the stuff that changes our country. That gets us to a point where we can think and have the same optimism.

[Michael Duncan]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

That we used to have. And we grew up with it. Yes, we grew up with it. Like, a generation is. Is not that far. I mean, we're not like old people. But it feels so distant now.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, when you. When you look at the polling, it's heartbreaking where zoomers think that they will never be able to afford a house to be successful.

[Josh Holmes]

So sad.

[Michael Duncan]

They've been. This country's been diminished under so many years of Democrat control. We're back. All the dreams in America are going to be possible.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

So we're going to be playing a lot of games. I want to thank all of you for tuning into this program. It has been our pleasure to do this now four years. This year has obviously been a line of demarcation where a lot more of you have been exposed to. To this a lot. Credit goes to Lee Wolf and Spaghetts over there, who have helped produce a program that looks a lot different from when we put USB mics into the side of the computer and had a few bourbons and bet on horse racing and then just talked a little bit about it. But we've had now, you know, tens of millions of you that have joined us day in, day out through the entirety of all of it can't thank you enough for doing it. I promise you, you have not seen anything yet. Like, this is going to be a fun ride. We got games. We're dreaming up new games. We sing, we dance, we entertain. Fellas, it's a variety program. You're gonna love what you got in store for 2025. I've loved doing this. Thank you to you fellas. This has been an absolute pleasure to do for as long as we've done. It's certainly been a lot of fun this year. And with that, I think we did it.

[Michael Duncan]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, again, thank you so much to our listeners and subscribers who've been sharing with friends. Remember, like and subscribe if you have not yet. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line, and own the libs. We'll see you on Tuesday. Stay ruthless.

[Unknown]

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[Comfortably Smug]

Today.