Has Donald Trump Ever Cried?

Summary

The Find Out Podcast – Episode Summary Episode: Has Donald Trump Ever Cried?
Date: March 5, 2026
Cast: Luke, Tim, Rich, Zach (no guest)

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Episode Overview

This episode is a classic, freewheeling Find Out Podcast discussion focused on recent political events and cultural absurdities during Trump’s second term. The main themes:

• Launch of Find Out Media and a slate of affiliated shows
• The Texas Democratic Senate primary (Talarico vs. Crockett), election shenanigans, and the implications for Texas politics
• The ongoing (and escalating) war in Iran, the human toll, and the administration’s incomprehensible foreign policy
• Gas price hikes, public apathy, and the “holy war” narrative in the military
• Ends with existential musings on Donald Trump’s capacity for emotion

The tone is irreverent, candid, and strongly left-leaning—with equal parts outrage and humor.

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Launch of Find Out Media (00:33–06:10)

• Announcement: The hosts launch Find Out Media, a parent company with six shows in development and more on the way.
• Mission: Empower left-wing creators with more visibility in long-form media, aiming for diversity and creative freedom (no “authoritarian route”).
• Notable Quote:
  • Luke: “No echo chambers. No bullshit. Just real talk.” (00:33)
  • Rich: “They own their stuff, let’s put it that way…unless they say something horrendous.” (03:54)
• Shows Announced:
  • Get Angry with Luke & Brian Andrews
  • Brad and Corey Show (Brad Doggett & CFH Unfiltered)
  • American Power (Mr. Global, Chad Scott, comedian host)
  • Dr. Nola Haynes on national security
  • Amanda’s Mild Takes (history, launching in April)
  • Partnership with The Siren for trivia night with Jojo from Jurors
• Creative Control: Explicit assurance hosts retain ownership and creative independence (03:54).
• “Left Curious” Merch Bit:
  • Luke: “Should we make a left curious T-shirt?” (06:32)
  • Ongoing riff about the need for leftist content that’s entertaining, not just vegetables but “sweets time.” (06:06)

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Texas Democratic Senate Primary & Republican Election Tactics (10:00–25:50)

• Election Recap: James Talarico narrowly defeats Jasmine Crockett; Crockett concedes graciously.
• Republican Tactics:
  • Confusing polling locations (after Republicans scrapped centralized voting), making it harder in primarily Black Dallas districts
  • Ken Paxton and the Texas Supreme Court intervened to invalidate late votes
  • Rich: “This is what Republicans do when they’re in charge of elections. And this is 1000% a dry run.” (00:15/13:25)
  • Both hosts and Rich’s wife echo that this is a test for November (13:08)
  • Luke: “This was also in Dallas in the primarily black majority districts. So it’s no secret what they were doing.” (14:01)
• Democratic Unity & The Stakes:
  • Calls for unity, comparison to Clinton-Obama 2008 rivalry (15:47)
  • Unique opportunity for Texas Dems due to Paxton’s huge vulnerabilities: impeached by GOP, under FBI investigation, unpopular even among Republicans.
  • Zach: “This is a once in a generation potential shift in Texas.” (20:43)
• Vote Numbers:
  • Dem primary: ~2.2 million votes
  • GOP: ~2 million—Democrats overperformed
  • Noted huge Republican spending and upcoming ugly Cornyn/Paxton runoff
• National Effects: Potential “trickle down” effect if Dems win—state House, Congressional races could pick up (20:34)

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The Iran War: Escalation, Human Impact, and Administration Response (25:50–44:00)

• Latest Developments:
  • Six US troops killed, three F-15s shot down by Kuwaitis; Iran war “boots on the ground” seems imminent (26:18)
  • Senator Blumenthal (D-CT) comes out of closed-door Senate briefing deeply alarmed about possible ground war.
  • Zach: “I have never been more concerned that we are putting boots on the ground in Iran than I am after coming out of that hearing.” (26:17)
• Humanizing the Loss: Rich refuses to let this become abstract; reads short bios of fallen soldiers (27:41–28:52)
  • “She served for 20 years and this was going to be her last year… she wanted to spend more time with her 9-year-old daughter.” (28:52, Rich)
• Trump’s Response:
  • Tim: “You know what the Orange Man had to say about that? ‘It’s just the way it is.'” (29:21)
  • Zach: “Is that a direct quote?”
  • Tim: “It’s a direct quote.” (29:28)
  • Rich: “War is bad, and that’s what happens in war. That’s why they signed.” (29:31)
  • Trump pivots to “cool statues in the Rose Garden” and “building a ballroom” right after. (29:35–29:54)
• Cynicism About Leadership:
  • Tim: “I bet my left nut he doesn’t make it to a single one of the dignified returns.” (30:02)
  • Luke connects the human cost to class issues—that it’s always working-class enlisted who die for unclear objectives
• Foreign Policy & “Holy War” Narrative:
  • Tim: “There are military commanders telling their subordinates that we are in a holy war for Jesus in Iran.” (41:36)
  • Rich on the “holy war for Jesus” rhetoric and rapture obsession among some in military leadership (41:57)
  • Luke: “Are we getting raptured? Because I didn’t get that memo.” (42:35)
• Comparisons to History:
  • Recap of U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and historical repetition—hosts stress Americans’ lack of historical knowledge (34:46–36:40)
  • Rich: “Iran is larger, wealthier, more populated, and more complex and more difficult to navigate. And we couldn’t do it in either Iraq or Afghanistan.” (39:09)
• Gas Prices and Public Apathy:
  • Gas prices spike 30–40 cents, cited as a tangible effect Americans will care about (41:07)
  • Tim says this war is being justified as a religious crusade, not resource protection (41:36)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Trump and Empathy (direct discussion)

• Zach: “Do you think Trump—as an adult—has ever cried?” (49:02)
• Luke: “I just can’t imagine him crying.” (49:08)
• Rich: “People who… don’t know how to process emotions… everything gets converted into anger.” (49:30)
• Tim: “He buried his ex-wife under his golf course. For tax reasons.” (50:27)

Existential Absurdity

• Luke: “Maybe that should be the title of our show: Has Donald Trump Ever Cried?” (51:11)
• Rich (on military leadership): “Literal human adults… going to work and who just think, ‘well, the rapture is almost here, guys.’” (42:40)
• Tim: “The world would be such a better place if these fucks would get raptured.” (42:53)

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Other Key Segments & Timestamps

• Preview of Six Shows (01:43–03:54)
• Pitch for Support/Substack Launch (02:53, 06:03)
• Gas Price Spike & Public Attitudes (41:07–41:36)
• Not-so-subtle digs at Charlie Kirk, Trump, and MAGA media ecosystem throughout

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Final Thoughts & Wrap-Up (50:59–52:20)

• The crew wraps up with a darkly comic existential riff: “Thank you for bearing with us as we talked about whether Donald Trump has cried or not.”
• Luke: “Hopefully everybody has a weekend where we don’t start another war…” (52:06)
• Rich, deadpan: “It’s a low bar.” (52:20)

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Summary in a Nutshell:
A raucous, insightful—but heartfelt—look at the state of American politics under Trump’s second term. The episode is packed with sharp commentary, gallows humor, and genuine outrage about the human cost of current events—from Texas election meddling to war in Iran. It asks big questions about political leadership, public apathy, and, ultimately, whether Donald Trump is even capable of basic human emotion.

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For new listeners:

• Read the Substack and support the new network at findoutmedia.substack.com
• If you’re “left curious,” you’ll find a rare mix of real talk, banter, and illuminating breakdowns—even if the world feels like it’s in freefall.

Transcript

[Tim]

Thanks for flowing half staff for a goddamn racist podcaster. They haven't dropped him for this.

[Luke]

These people.

[Tim]

Where's the national day of mourning?

[Luke]

Charlie Kirk was attacking trans people. And these. While he was shot, these people were. They were just listening to orders.

[Rich]

This is what Republicans do when they're in charge of elections, and this is 1000% a dry run. Oh, they're just testing to see what they can get away with before November. We're all seeing it. This is what Republicans want to.

[Luke]

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Find out podcast. Everybody's laughing because Rich was typing right up to the absolute second and then stopped. So it's trolling.

[Rich]

I'm a professional. I would never.

[Luke]

I'm always so set up for success when I launch into these things because there's always something going on right before. Anyways, guys, no guests today, but we have a big show. We're going to talk about the Texas Senate race that was on the Democratic side decided last night. We're going to talk about everyone's favorite topic, the war in Iran and this. This discussion of potentially having ground troops and also everybody's gas prices going through the roof. But to start, we have a little bit of news of our own, which is we officially launched the parent company of the Findout podcast called Find Out Media this week. So if you are interested in what that is, we have a launch video up, which you can go check out on our substack. We. Which we have a. A new substack called findout media.substack.com which will have all of our shows on it. But I want to turn to Zach, who is our show master.

[Zach]

Show master.

[Luke]

Show master.

[Tim]

Show master.

[Luke]

To talk about what. We have six shows, guys. Six shows in development.

[Zach]

We have a ton. It's kind of nice.

[Luke]

And I think you're going to know a lot of the hosts.

[Tim]

So.

[Luke]

Zach.

[Zach]

I will. I will. I'm not going to give up at what any of the shows are, but I will tell you who's doing them. So our.

[Rich]

And you can guess, all right, our

[Zach]

young friend here, Luke, is one of the hosts of one of the shows with Brian Andrews. So they're going to have a great show together, which we're calling Get Angry. I think you could figure out why it's.

[Tim]

I think that one's pretty easy.

[Luke]

That's the country artist. For those of you who don't know, Brian Andrews. Yep.

[Zach]

Yes. Then we have the Brad and Corey show with Brad and Corey. Brad and Corey being Brad Doggett and cfh Unfiltered that's going to be a super fun show. Then we have American Power, which is going to have Mr. Global and it's going to have Chad Scott and we're going to have a comedian who's going to moderate their discussion, which is going to be pretty cool. Then we're going to have, we have Dr. Nola Haynes, who is a wonderful professor at Georgetown, Natural security expert. We're going to have her having a show. And we have Amanda Nelson from Amanda's Mild Takes. With a show launching in April, it's going to be all about history. We have a partnership with the Siren doing a live trivia night with Jojo from Jurors. That's going to be launching in a couple weeks. So we have an insane amount of stuff going on and it's all going to be great. I promise as the showmaster, I promise it'll all be great.

[Luke]

I mean, I'm super excited. And for those of you who, who would like to help, you know, you can get a membership on the Find Out Media substack page that will help us fund these shows and develop more shows. But the whole goal is to get creators on our side more visibility into the long form space. And no one else was stepping up to do it. So we were like, we're doing it, so fuck it. After next month, we're going to have seven shows on the Find Out Media

[Rich]

Network question on behalf of our, of our listeners. So this is going to be one of those things, right, where you bring in a bunch of people with diverse voices and then you make them all sign a contract and an NDA and then they all say the same thing and then we exactly, and we describe

[Tim]

exactly what they're talking about.

[Luke]

It's all.

[Tim]

They get no creative control.

[Luke]

Correct.

[Rich]

Right. Okay. I just wanted to iron that out because we've seen this show before with people trying to do better things and that's usually the first misstep is they take like an authoritarian route. We went to Poland.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Tim]

That is not the case in this correctly.

[Luke]

Not.

[Zach]

We share there. They own their stuff, let's put it that way. Like we, we have no control over what they say unless they say something absolutely horrendous. And you know, they, they own, they own their masters, so to speak. So we're very, very cognizant of all the errors that have been made prior to us getting here.

[Rich]

So they're not going to be doing like a, like a Corey's version of the same podcast episodes in like 10 years?

[Luke]

No, we are giving them a lot of creative freedom because they are big and they are popular because of how they talk and how they act. And so why. Who are we to tell?

[Tim]

Why would we try?

[Luke]

Yeah, we're not trying to prescribe, you know, a particular point of view. We actually don't care as long as it's, like, reasonable and doesn't hurt anybody. Like, have at it. And we think diverse for voices is the way to victory because different people like different things. So let's give people things that they want.

[Tim]

So Tim's not writing my fucking scripts.

[Luke]

I should do that one time just to see.

[Zach]

That was funny.

[Tim]

I think you should try one.

[Luke]

It's the hey everybody segment with Luke.

[Tim]

Oh, Christ.

[Zach]

To imagine Luke doing the hey, everybody to open it up. That'd be so good.

[Luke]

Maybe hey, everybody, maybe on April Fools, I do a get fucked and you do a hey everybody, Maybe on April

[Tim]

Fools, I'm going to tell everybody that I saw the light. And then I just don't understand why people hate President Trump so much.

[Zach]

That's.

[Tim]

And I'll get all the way to the end and I'll drop it. Drop it. Get fucked. Real tough.

[Luke]

I. You might have to get some security if you put that out, but. Because then you'll have everybody. But. But no, we're really excited. We. We had a launch last week at D.C. with some friends, which was great. Talk to a lot of folks how excited they are. And we know when we. We pushed out the video the other day, we got a lot of great comments from you also. Thank you for that. So, yeah, this isn't just a podcast anymore, guys. We're building a real media. Let's call it an empire. Why not?

[Rich]

Pre empire, but we're getting authoritarian at all.

[Zach]

I like that. An empire from the rebel perspective.

[Luke]

That's an empire from the rebel perspective. That's exactly.

[Rich]

We should get someone from the DNC to help us workshop the vision statement. So it's like a 47 word. Like, it's a diversified network of grassroots.

[Luke]

7,500 bullet points.

[Rich]

You're like, like, anyway, protect democracy.

[Luke]

And guys, we picked people who are fun and entertaining to listen to. This is not just, you know, this is not vegetable time. This is like sweets time. So. And you learn something and it will also hopefully help you when you communicate with, let's say, left curious folks. You know, hopefully we'll give you some different.

[Zach]

I like that.

[Luke]

Can I say that?

[Zach]

Left curious.

[Rich]

I love that.

[Luke]

Yeah. Left curious. Okay.

[Rich]

I love a T shirt.

[Luke]

Should we make a left curious T shirt.

[Zach]

That's actually interesting.

[Luke]

I was gonna say kiss me, but there's too much essay connected to that. But, like, you know, we're not on Tik Tok.

[Tim]

You can say it, Tim.

[Luke]

If you're left. If you're left curious, you know, you

[Rich]

might get unalived if you wear that. It says kiss me.

[Luke]

Well, if you. Maybe we'll just sell them in the cities. No, no rural. Rural. No rural deliveries for this one.

[Rich]

No rural kissing.

[Luke]

Just kidding. Yeah, go ahead, Rich.

[Rich]

No, I love that. I think that's a great idea. And I was. I was gonna say, like, if you look at the. It's not an accident that the most popular people on the left are also entertaining and funny. And that was one of the things that we went into is like, if you look at Jon Stewart and. And who else is funny? I go blank. I blank as soon as I have to. It's like, name. It's like, name five. Name five Snickers bar or name five candy bars. You know, there's a reason why the funniest people are also on the left, and there's a reason why the most successful people on the left are also funny.

[Zach]

Right.

[Luke]

Well, that's why we're where we are. Right. Because we are all hysterical.

[Tim]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke]

That's what everybody tells me about my content there. You're so funny.

[Zach]

We're here for the comedy.

[Luke]

No one. No one has ever done that. No one's ever done that.

[Rich]

Although I think we play off of you really well.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Rich]

Because I'm just a foil.

[Luke]

I'm just like.

[Rich]

Yeah, your oldness and lack of funniness works.

[Tim]

I didn't even say at that time, it wasn't even me.

[Rich]

Works really well.

[Luke]

Rich is not that much younger than I am and didn't.

[Rich]

How much younger am I than you?

[Zach]

Like, five years.

[Luke]

Five years.

[Rich]

I feel. Are you 32 years younger than you?

[Luke]

You feel 32 years younger than me?

[Rich]

Yeah, but that's because I'm, like, 14.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Zach]

I was going to say you'd be like an early.

[Luke]

Okay, I get that. That checks out. Yeah. Okay. Well, I'm 47.

[Rich]

40, 42, 43. So four years. And I'm.

[Luke]

And I'm.

[Rich]

And I'm getting close to. To 44, so I feel young. I'm going to say my birthday, but, yeah, no, we're like three and a half years apart.

[Zach]

I'm not going to name drop who said this, but one of the people came up to me was like, tim has incredible hair.

[Tim]

I also heard this I know who said that.

[Luke]

I think it's one of.

[Rich]

It was Tim's wife.

[Luke]

Yeah, she was there.

[Rich]

No, he, like, it's the last reason I asked.

[Luke]

Defending me. No, it was one of our hosts and it was a man.

[Zach]

So actually this was. The person I'm referring to is not

[Tim]

one of our hosts. Yeah, the one I heard was not a man.

[Zach]

So you got a bunch of admirers. Oh, look at that.

[Luke]

Oh, did, did, did Hillary maybe say it in her closed door testimony? And our chain has better hair. But all joking aside, like we, these people like this show. Like we've told you before, like we, when we're off camera, this is exactly how it goes too. It's just like. And we have partnered with people who are like this too. And we partner with people who don't take their. I mean, some of this is serious, don't get me wrong. But like, everyone has a sense of humor and no, there's no like, fiefdom elements. Like, everybody wants to work together. Everybody wants this country to be a better place. So if you want to help us. And then we'll move into our other topics. If you want to help us, you know, we're asking for $10 a month for access to seven shows and behind the scenes content. The shows themselves will always be free because we do not want to gatekeep the actual content. But there are other things that we will be doing. And also, just 10 bucks a month helps us keep the lights on because media is not cheap. So we would, we would very much appreciate that. But from there we are going to pivot to last night. Last night's Texas primary in which James Talarico, the state senator, beat Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett by about five points. There's still some votes out, but she has conceded and I think a very gracious way today. And you know, I think the process of bringing these two camps together, because if you're not a terminally or permanently online person like us, there was a fair amount of heat between the two parties. Not the, not the candidates, no two campaigns or the two, like their supporters, the camps. And yeah, I think it caught a lot of us off guard. None of us are from Texas, so like, we don't know a lot about it and we're not going to pretend we do. But I'm hoping now that, you know, the party can come together and, you know, focus on defeating whether it's John Cornyn or Ken Paxton, because they, they went to a runoff last night and Paxton's got to be feeling Pretty good. And that guy is a total psychopath. Like actually got impeached by the Texas House, which is, which is Republican led. That's how terrible this guy is.

[Tim]

He's horrendous.

[Luke]

So we have a huge opportunity for a seat pickup. Also a huge opportunity to get some of those gerrymander seats that they think. But anyways, guys, what are your thoughts on James Talrico being the Democratic nominee in Texas?

[Rich]

I want to jump in first because of how it happened last night. I'm trying to get the most current version so I don't accidentally say something that is incorrect. But what we know is that there were issues in collecting in, in voting in Dallas, which is where Crockett is from. And where it came from is so insanely important because Republicans in Texas got rid of the centralized vote center system for, for primary elections. They made Democrats go to separate locations from Republicans to vote and also made Democrats go to different locations from where they have voted in the past. And so there was a lot of confusion. People were going all over the place, especially in cities where people get off work late and you've got to get to the poll a certain time. This obviously, this obviously creates a lot of, a lot of problems that maybe aren't as relevant in little rural towns where there's like two places to vote. If you got to drive an hour or half an hour away, then that's a huge headache and potentially makes it so that you can't vote. So then the, the. A local judge extended the primary to make sure that people could get to where they needed to go. And because stupid fucking Ken Paxton is the Texas Attorney General, he, and he was also running on the Republican side and wanted it to be as chaotic as possible for Democrats. He immediately challenged the ruling, saying that he hadn't been given proper notice, which. Who gives a fuck what the primary candidate on the Republican side has or doesn't have. Who. It doesn't matter. This is a primary. On the Democrat side, the Supreme Court, of course, stepped in and immediately halted of Texas halted the extension and said like temporarily and said that any votes cast after 7pm have to be separated from the rest. And it sounds like they still haven't figured out like, what they're doing with those votes. I don't think it's enough to make a difference. And Crockett already conceded. But. And that's not the point. The point is that this is what Republicans do when they're in charge of elections. And this is 1000% a dry run. I was telling My wife about it last night, giving the quick update, and she said, oh, they're just testing to see what they can get away with before November. And, like, before I even got to that sort of point. So we're. We're all seeing it. This is what Republicans want to do. Please vote for Talarico is the very short version of this, because it wasn't Talarico who did any of these things. That was Republicans.

[Luke]

What I think it's an important note here, and there's a distinction, like, a lot of people online are saying, like, Republicans try to steal the election or there's some sort of manipulation of the votes. I think what is more likely is exactly, Rich, what you were talking about is, like, changing locations of voting, like, not informing people about these changes or the times are different or whatever. I mean, Texas is a very early 7pm Polls close. I mean, a lot of people work till 6, 6:30 at night. Like, and if all of a sudden you're like, I have 15 minutes to get there, and you go to the normal place and then go, whoops, it's theirs.

[Rich]

Especially if you're working three jobs to survive Trump's economy.

[Tim]

Right.

[Luke]

And this is, of course, in Dallas in the primarily black majority districts. So it's no secret what they were doing. And they didn't do this in Austin, which is a. A, you know, they were more closely tied in Austin, but Dallas they did. And I think these are the things that people have to pay attention to in November across the country, if you're, you know, even if it's just your Secretary of state that's a Republican. This was actually Ken Paxton, my understanding, who had a heavy hand in doing this stuff. You're right, because I don't think Texas has a secretary of state. But, yeah, we all have to be vigilant, and it's a good flag, and it's really shitty and terrible. But I thought Crockett was incredibly gracious this morning in her concession as she threw her full support behind him, which

[Tim]

is absolutely no surprise.

[Zach]

No, right.

[Luke]

No.

[Tim]

Because she's amazing gracious, and she's great. Awesome, awesome person.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Luke]

Yeah. I think people just. This thing kind of spiraled out of control online and, like, we all stayed out of it because, like, I think both of them are great, and I would have campaigned my heart out for both of them and helped them raise money and have them. Both are welcome on the Find out podcast and our six other shows if they choose. But, you know, like, this was also for Texans, too, to. To decide And I think there was a lot of outside groups, which obviously, like, Texas is kind of like my home state of Maine, which doesn't like any outside interference. So I understand the concerns there, but I'm hoping now, you know, there's what, eight months until the election. Like, there's plenty of time, I think, you know, hopefully we can bring everybody together, but, you know, I think we will.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Luke]

I look like I. I went through the Hillary and Obama stuff in 2008, and that was vicious. Like, that was. I mean, there wasn't as much social media, so there wasn't as much, like, online chatter.

[Zach]

Right.

[Luke]

Like, Twitter existed, but, like, wasn't really used very much. There were no threads, nothing. Instagram didn't exist. Like, you know, and so. But, like, that was very vicious. And there was a time when it was like, I don't know how these groups are going to come together. And now we don't even talk about it because they, like, of course, the candidates were the adults, and they got together, and he offered Hillary Secretary of State, which is probably the best position in the federal government if you're a politician, and then said, you hire whoever you want. And they got over it. But, like, there was. There was bad shit between the campaigns. So, like, it's. It's going to happen. Right. But it is competitive. You put your heart out out there, and then, like, you lose. It's all of a sudden, like, it just stops on a dime. Right. So it's like, you have to process.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's true. I mean, I'm like, despite all that, I'm very excited for Telo. I think he's going to actually stand a unique chance to win. Like, I've. I often times in the past, you hear over and over again, we can win Texas this time. Like, no, you can't. Come on. This is the first time. Like, maybe you can. Like, that's actually kind of cool. Like, you know, Paxton is so shitty. Like, and. And Talico is so good. If that's the matchup, I. I really think there's an opportunity here and all, you know, for a variety of reasons. Paxton being, like, accused by seven different people of corruption from his own party and investigated by the FBI. Not good. Also going through a divorce where he cheated on his wife also.

[Luke]

Oh, yeah, Mr. Ten Command.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Zach]

I kind of fucks it up a little bit. And then, you know, Talarico has a special knack for talking to people in the middle, despite being progressive. And, like, that is a very unique trait. So I feel like there is a weird set of circumstances where holy shit, Texas might actually be.

[Rich]

And if you actually look at the raw numbers, because I'm always looking like Texas is like, it's a red state. Right. More people say, you know, it's a non voter state than a red state. Talarico and Crockett together combined for 2.2. A little over 2.2 million million votes. The. We don't always have a competitive primary on both sides where we can do a direct comparison, but in this case we did. We had two incredible candidates on the left, we had three Republicans on the right, including a fucking sitting senator which like we haven't given any attention to this powerful one. John Cornyn is a powerful sitting senator running for reelection, which should be a cakewalk. And in. Ken Paxton is a, is a prominent Republican in Texas. And then Wesley Hunt came in out of nowhere and challenged, you know, I think kind of both of them to the right of even Ken Paxton. And together they got about 1 point, about, about 2 million votes total between the three of them. So Democrats outperformed by 200,000 votes. When, wow, when you've got, what did they spend, 100. I think they said they spent 140 million on the Republican side alone. And now they're going to go to, I think it's a six week runoff between Cornyn and Paxton, which is going to be disgusting by the way.

[Zach]

It will be, I can't wait.

[Rich]

The most vile maga incest infighting. It'll be like a trailer park fight in, in Arkansas and it'll be delicious to watch it. It does raise the stakes for the Democrats, but it's why it's so important. Like if we win this seat, it'll probably be by a couple of points and so we get, we need every single person to get out and take advantage of this opportunity.

[Luke]

Well, they're the, the perfect storm is forming, right?

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Luke]

And that's, that's the thing. And in Texas, I mean across the country, a perfect storm is forming, warming for some of the other things we'll talk about later as well. But like in Texas, if Paxton pulls that off, there are a lot of Republicans in Texas who hate his fucking guts.

[Zach]

Right.

[Luke]

Because he is a tremendous piece of shit.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Luke]

And like, I mean again, he's off. When was the last time a party impeached one of their own?

[Zach]

Yeah, I mean he, yeah, it was.

[Rich]

Right.

[Zach]

I don't know.

[Luke]

In a place with like, they don't have, do they have a super majority because of the gerrymandering Thing. So I'm not 100.

[Tim]

Sure.

[Luke]

But anyways, I think it is because that's why the Dems do the walkouts, the votes. But yes, they have everything the state and they still impeach this guy.

[Zach]

No, it's nuts.

[Luke]

They should have. He's awful and he's full of corruption. So like, you know, if there's the perfect storm of Trump being at 35 or maybe below and then Paxton being the winner and then Talarico's got a six week advantage because that's true. They can't raise for the general until they get through this right primary and they, it's neck and neck. So like he's going to be out there just going everywhere and like being his, you know, happy self and whatever. And you know that. I mean if he wins, it's a one. Like you said, Rich, it's a one or two point win. Probably just because of the demographics that if, but if he wins that, that will have trickle down. This is a case where trickle down actually works. A trickle down effect on congressional races.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Luke]

On state House races, definitely, all of that. So there is a, there's, I would say this is a once in a generation potential shift in Tex.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Luke]

If things continue to go the way they're going.

[Zach]

I agree with that. I think if I'm the Republicans, I'm spending every single dollar I have to have Ken Paxton lose. Like that's, that's really, like that'd be my only strategy now at this point. I mean they did the, like, they tried to pump a bunch of money into Jasmine Crockett's campaign. Abbott did not. I think, I think it was just Abbott's people. But like they play that game. They knew that she would be potentially easier to beat in Texas. So they were just trying to throw cash. They're going to do the same thing here. They're going to throw a pile of cash against Kent Paxton. Which, you know, I don't think it's going to work. They like him. You know, they like the slimy mega shit.

[Luke]

You know who else likes him?

[Zach]

Donald Trump, of course he didn't endorse.

[Luke]

He didn't endorse.

[Tim]

Fuckwads stick together.

[Luke]

He, he didn't endorse. I mean Cornyn's the number two in the Republican.

[Zach]

That's right.

[Luke]

Or the whatever. Like, and he's been there for a long time. And Trump didn't like the fact that he didn't endorse the sitting Senate candidate because I'm sure he likes Paxton because Paxton does whatever Trump asks. Hegseth and Gnome and all these idiots.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah, that's what he likes.

[Luke]

But, like, so those Wesley Hunt voters are not corny voters?

[Zach]

No, definitely.

[Rich]

No, no, no. I was looking for some numbers to, like, wrap my head around. Like, what's our baseline with. With if It's Paxton in 2018, the last time Trump was in office and we had a midterms, he was more popular. Trump was more popular than he is now. And then he will be in November. Paxton beat Justin Nelson, who I like. He's probably. I'm sure he's amazing. I've never heard of him. He beat Justin Nelson by 3.6 points in 2018 to win the election. That's just for Attorney General, which, like, crime stuff, and it tends to favor Republicans, but he won 50.6 to 47 in 2018, and this is a less friendly environment. And Talarico, like I said, I'm sure Justin Nelson's amazing, but Talarico is a household brand name now on the, on the left, and he's going to, I think, perform better than Justin Nelson in 2018. So, yes, I am rooting for Paxton. It feels gross and weird to say those words out loud, but Cornyn's got the name recognition. If Paxton's there and people are trying to go vote for Paxton, without Trump's name on the ballot, there's no coattails. It's just Paxton at the top of the ticket and fucking Greg Abbot. That's a, That's a. Like you said, a perfect story.

[Luke]

But here's the other thing. In 2018, that was when Beto O' Rourke ran against Ted Cruz. Everyone's most hated member of the Senate, though, used to be. There's a whole bunch of them.

[Tim]

He might be a Supreme Court guy.

[Luke]

Nobody likes him. Oh, God. But like, so Beto had these huge rallies. We were super excited about him. Again, it was a favorable Democratic climate, but not as favorable as is now. And Beto lost by two points, two and a half points. So. But that was 2018, 2016 complete. Or 2026 is completely different. And I think, like, the economy is worse. Like, and Paston is not like, Cruz is not liked either. But, like, I, I think there's a real opportunity here. And Talarico doesn't have a, A, A congressional record to run again. Have to run against either, which is the other part of this.

[Tim]

And you've got the FCC to thank for making him a household name.

[Zach]

That's true.

[Luke]

What a dumb move on.

[Tim]

What a dumb move. They really Must have skipped the day before they taught you about the Streisand effect.

[Luke]

So for those of you who don't know, but I think you probably do. But the FCC leaned on. The FCC leaned on Barry Weiss at cbs, who then leaned on the Late show with Stephen Colbert to yank the James Talarico interview. That was happening one night. All in the means. All in the words of, like, the fairness and equal time time.

[Zach]

Right.

[Luke]

Which Jasmine Crockett had also been on the show twice.

[Zach]

Right.

[Luke]

And also no president has ever enforced equal time. And then all of a sudden, it

[Rich]

comes up, especially within the primary race for the opposing. The opposing party.

[Luke]

The late. The Late show gets what, like one and a half, maybe 2 million people watch every night. The video itself on their YouTube, which they put up. Because also Stephen Colbert said, go yourself. I'm gonna put it on the YouTube channel. Well over 4 million. It doubled. Like, and that's dedicated. Dedicated watchers. It's not just the people who stay up to watch the.

[Rich]

Right.

[Luke]

The model. Right.

[Rich]

Yep. That's Trump's whole strategy. And they didn't know that it applied to other people, too. Like, all press is good press. Like, they.

[Tim]

Right.

[Rich]

They made a. They made a big fucking mess out of it. And then everybody's like, oh, I wasn't like, I. I watch a lot of these things, but I don't watch everything. There's, you know, it's stump speeches and they like, you know, they make a couple of jokes and that's great. I know what Talarico stands for and I will vote for him if I ever get the chance to vote for him. But. And so, like, it wasn't going to be a big thing and they made it a big thing. And it was like, oh, now I'm suddenly interested even though I don't live in Texas.

[Luke]

A bunch of us looked at that and said, oh, he just won that primary.

[Rich]

Right.

[Luke]

Because he made himself enemy number one to Trump.

[Tim]

Yep.

[Luke]

Which a whole bunch of voters were like, that guy.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Luke]

You don't want him to win, so you did this. I mean, I don't know how they will ever be able to measure that, data wise. But, like, I think, like, like, I think that's probably a thing.

[Tim]

So. Yeah.

[Luke]

Now, worst transition ever. Speaking of a thing, the war in Iran.

[Tim]

Oh, that is a bad transition.

[Luke]

There was no good. Like, it's not unless you, Unless somebody.

[Zach]

What candidate, like, speaking of, like, strategies that are failing. Yeah.

[Luke]

Speaking of things Trump sucks at, that's what I should have done. The war in Iran is now a week old, no, five days old. We're recording on Wednesday.

[Rich]

Yeah.

[Luke]

I think the thing that's the most so first of all, I think six American troops have died now. We've lost three F15 fighters that were shot down by our friends the Kuwaitis, which on the last episode we talked about. No one could figure out why that happened. And now there was this closed door hearing in the Senate, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, maybe that yesterday that Senator Blumenthal from Connecticut, it came out pretty stone faced, I mean, he's kind of a stone faced guy anyways. But like, was like, I have never been more concerned that we are putting boots on the ground in Iran than I am after coming out of that hearing. That's terrifying.

[Zach]

That is terrifying. I mean, he said out loud some semblance of, I'm paraphrasing, but like it sounds like that's what the Trump administration wants to do. It's like, oh, yeah, that's because it's, I mean, why, what, what the fuck are they going to do there? Like, that's the thing that I want to understand at that point is it goes back to our last episode, which is like, like, what's the actual fucking objective in Iran and what do you need troops on the ground for? Like, it's not an effective strategy. Like I, you know, some of these Republicans in my life that I've talked to, about, talked about in the show in the past, I've talked to them about this and they all say the exact same thing. If there's no American casualties or very limited ones, we don't put troops on the ground. I'm cool with the Iran more, but if those conditions change, this is, this worst mistake he could have made. I'm like, yep, well, there you go. I mean, I don't know what he's doing.

[Luke]

Go ahead, Rich.

[Rich]

Sorry. Well, before we get too far into it, because yes, six Americans have died, but when I, when I saw their, their profiles like on New York Times, wrote up a little, a little update on who they were, it just, it's, it hits so much harder when you, when you see these real people. So let's just say their names real quick. So I don't know how to pronounce his last name, but it's Noah. I think it's, it's either Tejens or, I think it's probably Tejans. He's, he was 42, sergeant first class. He was going to open and if I get emotional, forgive me, he was going to open a martial arts Studio with his family. Cody Cork was 35. He knew he wanted to serve his country as a kid, as a little kid. And he was a multiple launch rocket system slash fire direction specialist in the National Guard in 2009 and has been serving ever since. Nicole Amer, or Amore, was 39. She, she served for 20 years and this was going to be her last year because she wanted to spend more.

[Zach]

Jesus, that's crazy.

[Rich]

More time with her nine year old daughter. And the last one that they wrote up was. 20 years old. Declan Cody, who was a, an IT specialist at Drake University in Des Moines in college.

[Tim]

He was a reservist too, wasn't he? Yeah. Yep. And you know, you know what the, the Orange man had to say about that?

[Zach]

What?

[Tim]

It's just the way it is.

[Rich]

And that's what happens.

[Zach]

That's like. Is that a direct quote?

[Tim]

It's direct quote.

[Rich]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Luke]

There's just.

[Rich]

It was empathy. Yep. War is bad. And that's what happens in war. That's why they signed.

[Tim]

Oh, and then, and then it was, oh, and look at these cool statues in the Rose Garden. We just got new cool ones.

[Zach]

That's what he pivoted to. Like, it's like, watch this. Oh my God.

[Rich]

It was. We're celebrating people who lost their lives in this beautiful room. And we're making it even more beautiful. And look at all the gold. And we're. And we're building a ballroom.

[Tim]

Look at these cool statues.

[Rich]

Yeah, maybe we'll celebrate the rest of the dead soldiers in the, the ballroom when it's done in, you know, 2032 or whatever.

[Tim]

I bet my left nut that he doesn't, he doesn't make it to a single one of the dignified returns.

[Luke]

Of course, guys, no way.

[Tim]

Not a single one.

[Luke]

He doesn't care. He doesn't care. And I think that's the thing that gets me. And I've known plenty of people who have served, both enlisted and officers. And always, it's always the enlisted people that die because they're always the ones up front. And the people who are the enlisted people tend to be from poor and working class families who are just trying to get out of a bad situation. And then these politicians in D.C. send them to a place of which we have no idea why we are there. We have no idea what the outcome is. And now six families have to bury their loved ones for what? What, like, you know, I heard yesterday Rubio said, oh, well, they were going to Iran was going to. Or Israel was going to attack Iran. And Then Iran was going to attack us, so we had to do it. What?

[Tim]

Preemptive defense doesn't exist. Yes. That's not how that works.

[Rich]

What did George Carlin say? It's like, for virginity.

[Tim]

Yep.

[Luke]

Well, and also, like, we've shot down most of their rockets, so what are we talking about here? Also, and also, if they did launch attacks on our bases, the American public probably would have been with them.

[Zach]

Yeah, sure.

[Luke]

So, like, not to say that you should let somebody attack us. That's not what I mean. But like, there's no evidence of that. That. No, because Trump was like, oh, this is regime change. Because regime change is not the same thing as preemptively stopping one of our allies.

[Zach]

Right.

[Luke]

Then we joined with on this mission to stop the Iranians from bombing us.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Luke]

And now a 9 year old doesn't have a mom. A 20 year old doesn't, like, get to actually have their life. And there's those four other cases, like, and now. And Trump's like, well, there's going to be more tough guys. That's what happens in war. But like, why?

[Zach]

Right?

[Luke]

Why? Like, what is six? Like, we ask. I ask. One of my favorite questions in an interview with someone is what would success look like to you? When I. If I'm being interviewed by somebody, what would you. To get a sense. Yeah, I want to know from Donald Trump, what does success look like? Or Pete Hegseth. Mr. Like, we didn't know.

[Tim]

Every time. Every time Hegseth talks, it sounds like slam poetry about killing people. Gets off on it. I swear to God, it's like a whole video. Maximum lethality. Well, all militaries are lethal, dumb fuck.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Luke]

There's a reason why one in 25. One in, one in four. Excuse me, I'm doing the percentages. One in four Americans support what Donald Trump is doing. One in four.

[Tim]

The thing that infuriates me is the flags are flown. Half staff for a goddamn racist podcaster and they never fucking. They haven't dropped him for this.

[Luke]

Yeah, where's that?

[Tim]

Where's that?

[Luke]

These people.

[Tim]

Where's the national day of mourning?

[Luke]

Not fucking exist. Charlie Kirk was attacking trans people and these while he was shot, Right? He was making some horrific statement. Again, not, not condoning that, but he was making. He was attacking people. These people were, you know, they were just listening to orders. That's it.

[Zach]

Yep.

[Luke]

And now they're gone.

[Rich]

And something that occurred to me this morning was, I was thinking back, you know, all of three weeks ago when Stephen Miller was out there talking about the Monroe Doctrine and the Don Row Doctrine and, And Western. Western Hemisphere dominance. So first, what. What happened with the Western Hemisphere thing being like, our playground? Like, I mean, they. They scooted on from that real quick when they got shut down in Greenland. But at the exact same time, the whole thing of the Monroe Doctrine, which we've eviscerated before on the show, but from the Monroe Doctrine, which was like 150 years ago or whatever, was the west coast does their own shit, or the West Hemisphere, Western Hemisphere does their own shit, and in exchange, the Eastern Hemisphere gets to do their own shit. And so it's very much possible by saying, like, we're gonna. We're pulling out of everywhere, we're gonna be less invested in. In Europe and the Middle East. Israel and Iran both got in their own heads thinking, oh, well, that means that the United States is going to let us do whatever we want. And so then whether it was a preemptive preemptive strike against Iran and they were going to attack first or whether Israel was going to attack, that's perfectly in accordance with the Monroe Doctrine approach. So they either did this to themselves because they're morons, or they did this to themselves because they gave Iran and Israel permission to do whatever they wanted. And then we go, oh, whoops, let's learn what we learned 100 years ago, which is when we back out and we stop protecting our allies. Bad people do bad.

[Tim]

It.

[Rich]

That's the best case scenario is that we just learned a lesson that we should have remembered since, you know, every other war from the last century and

[Luke]

a half, that's like, when everybody says we need more math and more science. And I, I don't disagree with that. But, like, we need more history in school because, like, this is. This just happens over and over again. I mean, it was only 25 years ago. I know one of us doesn't remember, but, like, you know, like, it's not that long ago that we launched into a war in which we were like, the. Afghanistan was one thing, but Iraq was a lie and they sold it. And then a million Iraqis died. 30, 40,000Americans died, and ISIS was born. Well, I mean, Iran is a more sophisticated society than Iraq was, but they have their own elements. And now I'm hearing we're arming the Kurds in the north, trying to, like, give all these, like, quote unquote freedom fighters, which maybe some of them are. I mean, the Kurds have been our friends for a long time, but, like, like, are we arming insurrections or are we going into like, you know, and the incoherent. It doesn't make any sense.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's, it's, it's really, it's an incoherent. The whole thing is incoherent. I mean, like, even, like, you know, I do remember that era of, you know, 2001 to 2003, kind of, you know, kickoff.

[Luke]

That's when I was born.

[Zach]

Yeah, exactly.

[Luke]

You don't remember,

[Zach]

but I remember the vibe. The vibe back then is this is the only thing anybody in America gave a.

[Rich]

About. About.

[Zach]

Because back then, institutions were solid and stable, the leadership was solid and stable. America felt solid state. When you've had George Bush, like, that's, you know, this day and age, that sounds fine. You know, it's not. It's comparatively, it's, it's ridiculous. Now. The vibe is so different with this kind of war. Like, I, I know we're talking about and we give a shit, but a lot of people just don't give a. Because they're just like, life feels so unstable in America. What's another thing? Who cares? Like, it's, it's fine. So that, to me is one of the most troubling parts of it where it's just like, like we're literally inflaming a very dangerous situation and doing it very badly. And the average person's like, eh, you know, all of it's bad.

[Tim]

You know, George Carlin's clock was, was right. You know, every 20 years we got to get into a major war and here we go.

[Luke]

Yeah, right.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Luke]

I guess it only took 20 years

[Rich]

for the last one to end.

[Luke]

Well, I know we just got out of Afghanistan.

[Tim]

Just got done with that one.

[Luke]

Well, and also, so this is another thing that's been happening in the Middle east is that like, you know, obviously the withdrawal from a, from Afghanistan was a disaster. I don't think we can pretend that it wasn't. But it was Donald Trump's peace plan that Biden was forced into implementing. Yeah, we got 100, I believe, 150,000Americans out of Afghanistan in the region. You know what they've said to Americans in the Middle east during this?

[Tim]

You're on your own.

[Luke]

Good luck.

[Zach]

Yeah, I mean, that's. I, I don't know. The Afghanistan patrol, I don't think it was as bad as people think. Like, that's fucking impossible to get out. Like, like the fact that only, like, what, eight.

[Rich]

It was a lie to lose by the time we got.

[Luke]

Well, yeah, I mean, so fucked.

[Zach]

Like, so to me, I Look at it. And you know, at least they did it here. It's like that now they're just like, we can't, we're not going to try. Like, okay, great, good job.

[Luke]

Well, it is true. I mean, we lost three, 13American troops in that suicide bombing. But.

[Zach]

Right.

[Luke]

I mean, and that is horrific. But if you look at the amount of people that America was losing every year in Afghanistan we've saved, I mean, it's again, awful and like nothing positive but like more people survived by us leaving than staying. I mean, Americans, I can't speak to Afghanis, but, but, yeah, I, but, but now we're not, we're not helping anybody. We're like, oh yeah, don't go to these embassies. Like, you should probably not be in

[Tim]

any, don't go to the embassies. By the way, you should leave after all of the airports are closed.

[Rich]

Right.

[Tim]

And you, you're on your own.

[Zach]

Yep. Good luck.

[Luke]

Well, and the Iranian regime has now said we're just going to drag it out. Yep. Because we know that you have no tolerance for a long term excursion. And like, they don't. I mean, they can't fight us one to one.

[Zach]

No, they can't.

[Luke]

Can't.

[Rich]

Right.

[Luke]

So they have to, you know, and we did. We have gotten a lot of their leadership, but their leadership structure is massive. And like, you know, yes, we got Khomeini and we got Ahmedajad, which I screw his name up every time, but, you know, and those guys. But like, it didn't actually topple the regime in any sense.

[Zach]

No, that's the problem.

[Tim]

At least now we've got the Navy escorting oil tankers through the strait.

[Luke]

Oh, did you say they were going to force insurance companies to cover the tankers?

[Tim]

It's like, yeah, that'll work for sure.

[Luke]

Well, first of all, how is that for like, no regulations? Oh, regulations are bad. That's a fucking regulation. Yeah.

[Tim]

And if they won't cover them, it's backed by the Treasury. Right.

[Luke]

Yeah. So then who pays for it?

[Tim]

Us.

[Rich]

You know, the, the scale of Iran in every possible way is what I, I don't think the average American understands. We just think, oh yeah, it's like Iraq, it's Iran. It's like Syria and Afghanistan, Pakistan. Iran is larger than Afghanistan and Iraq combined in geographic area. It's got just as much terrain to cover as Afghanistan. There are caves and tunnel systems everywhere and there are what, 90 million people. I think their GDP is something like 400 billion in every fathomable facet. Iran is larger, wealthier, more populated, and more complex and more difficult to navigate. And we didn't. We. And we couldn't do it in either Iraq or Afghanistan. Our government in Afghanistan lasted, I think, 72 hours. 70. 70 something. 72 hours after we withdrew because they, in 20 years, you know, it was an unwinnable war. And they realized that. And Biden was the only one who had the stones to, to just rip off the Band Aid, frankly. And Iraq is not a fan of Iran. And they're like, we don't want to be involved in this because of how dicey it still is in Iraq right now. So not only is this a horrific mistake that could take, you know, years to, to, to resolve, it could also contribute to the further undoing of the instability of the other governments that we've done tried to prop up over the last 25 years to the tune of like $2.5 trillion in total spending, all of which is debt. That's it.

[Zach]

It all makes sense.

[Rich]

Other than that, I think this will work out really pretty well.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke]

Well, and then the other thing, you know, I think Zach's right that a lot of people are not paying attention, but what people will pay attention is to the gas prices. And, you know, we have already seen. I. My mom actually called me the other day. She's like, do you want to know how much gas went up overnight where I live? 40 cents.

[Rich]

Why?

[Luke]

40? Now I've heard people say 38, 42.

[Zach]

I'm looking at the AAA numbers right now from a month ago. He's up about 30 cents a gallon nationally.

[Luke]

And this is all 25. This is all, this is all greed because the, the oil is here and this speculation on it. So like, yay, again for no regulations. Like they were just letting these people gouge Americans so that they can keep their profits.

[Tim]

Well, you all saw that we're in a holy war, right? Like, that's what this is.

[Luke]

Yeah, tell people what that is.

[Tim]

I'm starting to think that maybe the white supremacist crusades tattoo that our Secretary of War proudly rocks isn't for fucking show. Yeah, because apparently there are military commanders telling their subordinates that we are in a holy war for Jesus in Iran and that's why we're there. And that's not a joke.

[Rich]

Somebody said that, that a commander said that this is part of the holy war for Jesus. And a bunch of the troops were Muslim, one was Jewish, and then there were some that were not, that were non disclosed in this commander's control. And he said it was also because they. This is of course like fourth party information, but allegedly said that it was because God wanted the United wanted Christians to light a match. Armageddon so that he could see the signal and begin the process of Armageddon. And so Iran burning.

[Luke]

Wait, are we getting Raptured is the worst thing, right?

[Tim]

There's a big war over there. And then that's what.

[Luke]

I didn't get that memo.

[Rich]

I can't even finish these sentences straight because I'm like, who the. There are literal human adults walking around like going to work and who just think like, well, the Rapture is almost here, guys.

[Tim]

So the world would be such a better place if these would get raptured.

[Luke]

I have an idea.

[Rich]

I have an idea. I have a selective rapture.

[Luke]

Let's get Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth and whoever else we're going to take them to. You know, Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade. They go and they find. They look for the Holy Grail.

[Zach]

Right.

[Luke]

The goblet's gone now. But they don't have to know that. Let's take them in and they can try to drink from. Because it's in the same region. You know, let's. That's as, that is as plausible as the Rapture is coming and we need to kill a bunch of. Is it Shia. Shia Muslims.

[Zach]

I don't know. I don't know which one you're on.

[Luke]

Which. We've. We've killed a bunch of the other ones and now we're going to kill these ones.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Luke]

Like whole.

[Rich]

But don't worry, we're going to. The CIA is in there arming Kurdish rebels to overthrow the government of, of of Iran. So that'll work out great. I was actually, I was thinking of how funny it is because Luke, you remember the Iran Contra scandal?

[Tim]

Oh yeah. Like the back of my mind. I mean it's expression top of head.

[Rich]

It's. It's. It's just like the most Republican full circle thing ever because in the 80s, Ronald Reagan's administration. And I'm going to be fuzzy on the details on purpose because I don't know.

[Zach]

I know them because they're American, Dad. There's a great episode.

[Rich]

Right, exactly. So. So we sold. We illegally. Ronald Reagan illegally sold weapons to Iran so that he could covertly fund revolutionaries in. Was it Nicaragua? Yeah, in Nicaragua. So it was like, man, we should sell weapons to Venezuela to fund the Kurdish uprising in, in Iran. And it'll be like a full circle Republican snake eating itself by the tail situation.

[Luke]

What's going on in Venezuela? Are we still there?

[Zach]

I don't know.

[Luke]

Is that over?

[Rich]

Never.

[Tim]

I thought we started something in Ecuador today. What? Yeah, yeah, Ecuador. Stuff going on today.

[Luke]

Jesus Christ, this is like the 80s all over. Nobody wants the 80s.

[Rich]

I know, right?

[Tim]

There's good music in the 80s and movies.

[Zach]

US launches military operations in Ecuador. What the what?

[Rich]

Yeah, that's just like low key.

[Zach]

Against designated terrorist organizations inside the country. The military, at least. No details on the operations.

[Rich]

It was in coordination with the Ecuadorian government, which, like, that's. That's better. Slightly better.

[Zach]

Yeah, that's okay. That's better. I'm fine. Like, I've said that before. Like, if. If you actually want to team up with the country you're going into and plan it together, that's fine. Fine, go ahead.

[Rich]

Doing from the beginning.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, you could do that in Mexico. You could do it all over the place. Just don't just jump in and be like, hey, we're here. Don't care about you. We're just gonna do it our way. Like, that's not how it works.

[Rich]

At least, at least Ecuador is logically consistent with the Monroe Doctrine. So we're back on that thread.

[Tim]

We're back in the Western Hemisphere.

[Luke]

I mean, what is the saying? A broken clock is right twice a day.

[Rich]

Right? Exactly.

[Luke]

Oh, God. Well, I mean, Trump is a man of the 80s, so I guess we got to do. I mean, like, that's true.

[Tim]

Well, he's slipping, right? So he's. He's going back to times in his.

[Luke]

In his life that he was in the 80s. That's true. I gotta call the New York Post under my assumed name.

[Zach]

He did that.

[Luke]

I know, that's why.

[Tim]

No, like recently, like last week, that

[Luke]

they said it wasn't true.

[Zach]

I don't know.

[Tim]

I saw it on air.

[Zach]

Yeah, I saw it on C Span. It was on C Span.

[Luke]

I know, but I think C Span said the caller came from, like Texas or something.

[Rich]

I was gonna say comedian.

[Luke]

The US Government. I'm sure they can figure how to send a pretty sure phone call.

[Zach]

Put a phone VPN on or whatever the it is. I don't know, but like, if I

[Rich]

were calling, if I were a comedian, I would also do that. So.

[Zach]

Yeah, that's true.

[Rich]

You never know.

[Zach]

It sounded insanely like him pretending not to not be him, though. Like that. It did feel like that.

[Luke]

Can we talk about how weird it is that, like, when he does interviews, he. Excuse me. He calls and doesn't do video. It's always a Phone call. Like an analog phone call. It's like Donald Trump is on the phone now.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Luke]

Well, They claimed that it's because of a cream that he is using.

[Rich]

Yeah, an anti shingles cream. No, dude, that looked like shingles. Black.

[Luke]

Like, the whole thing. None of it falling apart. None of it looked good.

[Rich]

Maybe he drank the. Maybe he drank from the chalice in Indiana Jones and it's just taking longer.

[Tim]

Just a sip before he dies.

[Luke]

Oh, my God. Yeah, I. Did you see the photos of him in the fake skiff that they created at Mar A Lago? Because, by the way, we're launching this war from Mar A Lago.

[Tim]

Mar A Lago.

[Rich]

The whole time. Yeah.

[Luke]

But in Margot. The whole time. And, like, they show these photos and it's supposed to be like, Trump and control. And I'm like, the dude has, like, they're kicking more and more.

[Zach]

Like, oh, yeah.

[Tim]

Oh, he looks like he's actively shitting his pants. He is so desperate to have a picture like Obama has.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Tim]

In the war.

[Luke]

Oh, that Bin Laden.

[Tim]

Yeah, it's famous.

[Zach]

Such a good.

[Tim]

He will never have a picture.

[Luke]

Like, it's not going to happen because Obama was in his 40s and Donald Trump's, like, half dead.

[Tim]

Right.

[Rich]

But Obama had a resolve in his

[Zach]

face, and the gravity of the moment

[Rich]

was never bin Laden.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, I saw.

[Tim]

I saw an Instagram post yesterday of, like, saddest pictures from each. From people's presidencies, and it's like Lyndon B. Johnson when some people died, and there's a whole list and like, JFK telling Jackie that their infant son died.

[Luke]

I've seen.

[Tim]

Yeah, there's like, Obama writing his post, writing his speech after Sandy Hook. You know, who wasn't in there?

[Zach]

I wonder.

[Tim]

I. I don't think there's a single time that there's been a picture captured of him that he was expressing a genuine care about another human being.

[Zach]

He's not capable of it. Even.

[Tim]

Even when his best friend, Charlie Kirk got his shit blown off, he just got mad.

[Rich]

It's a rally.

[Tim]

He didn't even get mad. He didn't even get mad. He immediately was talking about the goddamn ballroom, like, within 12 seconds.

[Rich]

Yeah, it was. I remember he.

[Zach]

He.

[Rich]

He, like, tweeted outrage about it. You know, TEMU tweeted outrage about it. And then three minutes later or something, he was like, tweeting about his ballroom or about the Federal Reserve interviewed.

[Tim]

They were like, how do you feel about Charlie?

[Luke]

He doesn't have any friends. No. Everybody. He, in his life is a Transaction.

[Rich]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Luke]

Like, what is that person gonna. There is no. Like, like, oh, I'm gonna do a nice thing. Do you think he's ever done, like, oh, no. Like, I'm gonna. Like, here's a question.

[Rich]

Transactional. Yeah.

[Zach]

Do you think Trump. I mean, not as a child, but as an adult, do you think he's ever cried?

[Luke]

I just can't imagine him crying.

[Zach]

Like, any kind of, like, real emotion. I just feel like he's just physically incapable of it.

[Luke]

I could see him getting so angry because apparently he gets very angry. Gets tears, but, like, crying. Do you think he'd cry?

[Rich]

Not sadness.

[Luke]

Well, here's. Here's a scenario. Know if one of his kids died, do you think he'd cry? Nope. No.

[Rich]

No.

[Zach]

He.

[Rich]

People who are. Who have no regulation over their emotions, they. They don't know how to process emotions. And so when they feel strong emotions, everything gets converted into anger and usually outward expression. Like, they. They hate feeling sad because it. It hurts. And sitting with sadness is how you cry. They don't want to do that. That they have. They want to get rid of it immediately. And that's why they turn to either, like, addiction or. Or outward expressions of violence and fighting. They. They either bury it or they try to get rid of it, offload it as fast as possible. And like, screaming is the. When. When. When Trump gets sad or angry, he immediately turns it into one of those videos where he's, like, saying fire and fury or, like, where he's just, like, freaking out and he looks like he's, like, having an aneurysm, because that's how. That's how hard it is for him. Him to sit with any unpleasant emotions.

[Luke]

Only he bought. He buried his ex wife under his golf course.

[Tim]

For tax reasons.

[Luke]

Who does this?

[Zach]

I don't know. Yeah, for tax reasons.

[Luke]

All of a sudden, it was just like, oh, there she is. You're like, what?

[Zach]

The only one is maybe Ivanka. Maybe. Maybe that would make him hurt. I don't know. But like, his sons, I think he'd be like, what can you do? Life started and they ended.

[Luke]

And now I don't have to worry about an inheritance.

[Rich]

I'll update as exactly.

[Luke]

They're probably not in it.

[Rich]

Like, let's move on from this subject. It makes me uncomfortable.

[Luke]

I think that's all we've got. I was like, are we gonna fix what's next? I think we're done.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Zach]

You know, perfect way to end it.

[Luke]

Thank you, everybody, for bearing with us as we talked about whether Donald Trump has cried or not. Maybe that should be the title of our show. Has Donald Trump ever Cried? I like that.

[Zach]

I like it.

[Luke]

That might actually work, actually. But. But anyways, thank you. And everybody, we're just like, we're really excited that we've got, you know, the announcement out of Find Out Media and the shows that are coming. I think you're going to like them all. We'll obviously be talking a lot more about it. If you're not subscribed to our Find Out Media substack, please go do that atfindout media substack.com if you can't afford a membership, we would greatly appreciate it because like I said, this stuff is not cheap. We have our wonderful merchandise, which I've got. I've got the. The black. I can't do it. Well, the black. The original shirt with our logo on it today, which you can get@findout podcast.com and, you know, I think that's it. That's all we got. I have no idea what we're gonna talk about next week.

[Rich]

Vote Talarico.

[Luke]

Thank you, Jasmine, for running and congrats to James Talico. Let's go flip that seat. Until then, hopefully everybody has a weekend where we don't start another war and it'll be better than last week.

[Zach]

Sounds good.

[Luke]

So with that, bye, everybody.

[Rich]

It's a low bar.