What Are We Doing In Venezuela?

Summary

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The Find Out Podcast

Episode: "What Are We Doing In Venezuela?"

Date: January 6, 2026
Hosts: A, B, C, D (left-wing commentators, first names not specified; informal group discussion)

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Episode Overview

This episode opens 2026 by digging into the recent U.S. intervention in Venezuela — specifically, President Trump’s late-night order to detain Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, now in American custody. The panel untangles the motives, incoherence, and implications of Trump’s action, explores the wider right-wing response, draws historical parallels, and discusses how such interventions play into both global politics and U.S. domestic narratives. The conversation covers the roles of Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth, oil interests, MAGA reaction, and what this means for American democracy, while also reflecting on broader issues like democratic socialism, government PR, and the ever-present threat of right-wing misinformation.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s Surprise Venezuela Operation

• [00:16-01:54] Trump ordered the "arrest or kidnapping" (depending on perspective) of President Maduro and his wife, who are now allegedly in New York.

• The move sets off international shock and speculation, with Trump also making new threats against other countries and reviving "the ridiculous Greenland stuff."

• Joke speculation: Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth to "run Venezuela," with Rubio’s surprise visible at the announcement.

  “What is going on? What was the goal? ... Is Marco Rubio the new president of Venezuela?”
  — B, [01:09]

2. Incoherence and Absurdity in Trump’s Foreign Policy

• [01:54-04:00] The panel underscores the strange break from Trump’s past anti-interventionist branding.

• Only outlier GOP critics are mentioned (Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tom Massey).

• Trump’s approach is painted as improvisational and contradictory, favoring transparency over strategic cunning.

  “Trump got so much popularity on the right for going against this old neocon, ‘we’re going to regime change’—and all of a sudden, he’s like, no, fuck that, we’re going.”
  — A, [03:47]

3. Double Standards and Pardons

• [04:29-08:22] Recent Trump pardons (notably the former Honduran president convicted for high-volume cocaine trafficking) reveal contradictions: Trump claims ignorance but grants clemency when “good people around me told me he was wronged.”

• Comparison draws out hypocrisy: Drugs are the cited cause for detaining Maduro, but ignored for allies.

  “It’s never 3D chess or 4D chess or whatever they call it.”
  — D, [06:53]

4. The Oil and Oligarch Factor

• [08:41-10:21] Trump’s transparency is noted: admitting to consulting oil companies about the Venezuela operation, but not Congress.
• The hosts highlight how oil is explicitly prioritized (“He said oil 21 times during that press conference. He said democracy zero.” — C, [10:10]), and question whether oil is even the real goal, given the poor quality of Venezuelan crude and the lack of industry interest in returning.

5. Wider Threats and the ‘Monroe Doctrine’ Throwback

• [11:55-12:19] Trump threatened six countries in 30 minutes, brought up Cuba, and revived Greenland acquisition plans (appointing the Louisiana governor as “special envoy to Greenland”).
• U.S. foreign policy looks increasingly arbitrary and aggressive.

6. Is It About More Than Oil? Minerals and China

• [12:19-12:56] Discussion that Venezuela’s minerals — and not just oil — may motivate Trump, as a gambit to offset disastrous tariffs with China.
• Dubbed a "better plan" than actual administration policy.

7. Military, Regime Change, and No-Win Scenarios

• [13:31-14:31] History lesson: Venezuela’s power is maintained by its military and police, not figureheads. Removing Maduro creates chaos — “behead the beast, but then six other beasts pop up."
• Full invasion or nation-building would be farfetched and reminiscent of U.S. failures elsewhere.

8. Multiple Layers of Irony and Confusion

• [14:31-16:27] Trump’s move paradoxically props up Venezuela’s socialist vice president over the exiled right-winger (who once dedicated a Nobel Prize to Trump).
• “It’s like a kidnapping. So it’s a ransom.” — D, [16:17]

9. The MAGA and Public Reaction

• [16:36-19:08] Panelists disassemble online pro-Trump discourse: most just support the action as “owning the libs," displaying little principle or consistency.

• Death tolls (initially “40,” later “80,” including civilians and possibly military) and collateral damage acknowledged as underreported.

  "There is no logical justification other than 'Trump is the best, and everything he does is great, and you just need to trust the process.' Well, that’s their answer. And shut up liberal."
  — B, [18:16]

• [21:21-22:29] Polling suggests most Americans — including Republicans — don’t want U.S. control of Venezuela; 91% of GOP respondents agreed Venezuelans should decide their leadership.

10. Migration Crisis and Domestic Militarization

• [22:48-24:14] Destabilization of Venezuela triggered mass migration, which Trump and advisor Stephen Miller might exploit domestically to justify further ICE militarization and anti-immigrant action.
• Stephen Miller’s original plan allegedly targeted Mexico’s cartels — even more dangerous but “same playbook.”

11. Echoes of Past U.S. Interventions

• [19:58-22:16] Hosts draw parallels with Panama (Noriega), Afghanistan (Bin Laden), Iraq (leading to ISIS), and Kosovo (a rare "successful" intervention noted, under Clinton). They caution Republicans “conveniently forget that these incursions never actually work out.”

12. Socialism, Collectivism, and U.S. Political Rhetoric

• [27:31-36:25] Long digression about domestic debates: “democratic socialism” vs. “statism,” the myth of “rugged individualism,” and the effectiveness of collectivist policies like social security and Medicare.

• Hosts opine that American life would improve (citing Norway, Sweden, Denmark) with more “collectivist” systems and universal healthcare.

• Strong economic argument: Universal healthcare benefits business as well as individuals; “If you want a small business boom in America, pass universal healthcare.”

  "Medicare and Medicaid have about a 2–3% overhead. Insurance companies, 20–25% overhead. The government is far more efficient at delivering healthcare than these insurance companies."
  — B, [36:25]

13. Democratic Messaging & Missed Opportunities

• [38:43-40:21] Panelists argue Democrats should pitch universal healthcare as a business win, not just a human right, to attract independents and Republicans, suggesting Trump — were he not so vindictive — could implement such policies with enough rebranding.

14. Endgames, Power, and Political Fight

• [41:22-44:19] Looking ahead: As Trump loses power post-midterms, will he lash out at GOP rivals or cut deals with Democrats for legacy? Panels shares doubts and speculates on congressional makeups after '26.

15. Right-Wing Misinformation and Democratic Accountability

• [49:15-53:16] Switches to a local controversy: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz opting not to seek re-election, after being targeted by a right-wing “fraud” narrative and personal harassment campaigns.
• Decries the lack of a robust, progressive counter-media apparatus, and outlines the panel’s commitment to building one.

16. Collectivism, Disinformation, and Grassroots Organizing

• [53:16–end] The group riffs on right-wing attacks around “collectivism” and ends with a plug for their merch and fundraising to build progressive infrastructure and fight the info war.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "None of those words together make sense contextually together.... we have the right to ask that and to fixate on it." — D, on Rubio’s press answers [03:01]
• "Speaking of which. Oh, Elon posted a nice picture of him and the presidential couple, I guess... He’s the one who fucking kicked this shit off with the Epstein files tweet." — C/B, on Elon Musk’s hypocrisy [08:41]
• "He said oil 21 times during that press conference. He said democracy zero." — C, on Trump’s priorities [10:10]
• "It’s a landmark pivot. It’s pretty exciting." — D [05:37]
• "We just went in there and we fucking got him.... 80 people did die... originally, this was projected as a smash and grab, right? Oh, no big deal." — B, on MAGA reactions and casualties [18:17]
• "There’s always libs. Like, it’s just... There’s nothing to justify. Right. No, he did one thing here." — B [17:56]
• "If you want a small business boom in America, pass universal healthcare." — B [36:25]
• "Rugged individualism is what built this country. First of all, no, it’s not. That is a Republican myth... It was built off of cheap Chinese labor, slavery..." — B [31:13]
• "Statism is generally bad. Authoritarianism is what we’re talking about, is generally bad." — D [30:43]
• "He will give a shit about nothing except someone coming in and trying to be number 48." — C, on Trump’s likely post-term priorities [41:30]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:16 — Episode open, context: Venezuela operation
• 01:54 — Rubio & Hegseth: Trump’s presidential appointments for Venezuela
• 03:47 — Trump’s contradictory interventionist stance
• 04:29 — Double standards on pardons and narco-trafficking
• 08:41 — Elon Musk, AI, and oil companies’ role in U.S. foreign policy
• 10:10–10:18 — Trump’s press conference: "Oil" vs "Democracy"
• 13:31 — Power structures in Venezuela (military & police)
• 16:27 — U.S. policy as "kidnapping" and "[giving] a list of demands"
• 17:56–18:24 — MAGA Base justification and death toll
• 19:58–22:16 — U.S. intervention history and failures
• 22:48 — Migration crisis as both effect and political lever
• 27:31 — Socialism discourse, democratic socialism vs. statism
• 36:25 — Universal healthcare as pro-business
• 41:22-44:19 — Future scenarios: Trump, Congress, and shifting power
• 49:15–53:16 — Right-wing media, Tim Walz, and building progressive counter-power

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Conclusion

This episode delivers the Find Out Podcast’s trademark blend of irreverence, wonkery, and real talk. Through sharp analysis and dark humor, they poke holes in Trump’s Venezuela gambit, highlight the MAGA world’s contradictions, raise alarms about right-wing media power, and make the case for smarter left messaging, especially around socialist policies. The hosts blend cynicism with hope, reminding listeners that good outcomes require not just righteous ideas, but skilled, organized counter-narratives — and they want to build that megaphone.

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For more:

• Check out their live YouTube discussions
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• Subscribe to their Substack for updates on new projects

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Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

Hey, everybody, and welcome to 2026. It is five days old. We hope you got some rest, you know, got some time with your loved ones because the news certainly didn't stop and lots of crazy stuff happened since the new year, which we're going to just dive into because it's going to take a long time to get through. So I think we got to start with Venezuela, of course. So over the weekend at like 2:00am, 1:00am Eastern Time, Trump ordered the, well, depending on who you're talking to, the arrest or the kidnapping of the Venezuelan President Maduro and his wife, who are now in New York with me, I guess actually in Brooklyn. Some actually I know where they are. Not in my house. I am not, I am not storing any narco terrorists.

[C]

He's calling check his basement.

[D]

I know.

[B]

Well, I guess, I guess he, he would call me a socialist, so maybe that in their minds I would try to free him, I guess, I don't know. But anyways, I do not like him. So this is set off a wave of shock across the country and the world. And Trump has also been threatening. I think it's up to, I think it's six other countries as well since he has done this and the ridiculous Greenland stuff has come back. So we talked a little bit. We had a live the other night when this happened on Saturday, if you want to check it out on our YouTube channel with some, some experts. But we're going to, we're going to wing it here. What is going on? What, what was the goal? What are we doing? Is, is Marco Rubio the new president of Venezuela? Like, what the hell is going on?

[C]

Pete Hegseth is co president with Rubio. So. Yeah, because Donald Trump during the press conference announced that it was those two were going to be running Venezuela, which if you look at Rubio's poker face, which is not great, you can see that Rubio was very surprised by that idea.

[D]

President Rubio is Presidente Rubio. How would they say El Presidente? You know, you knew that the question was coming when he's, they sent him to meet the press to talk about this and he, he had to have known the question was coming 24 hours after Trump says we're going to run Venezuela and he's the Secretary of State and, and this, and this has been like his pet. Cause it's important to Florida. He should have been able to see this question coming and should have had a very well rehearsed response to it when he was asked by Kristen Welker what that meant that we were going to run Venezuela. His. The first words out of his mouth were, yeah, I mean, I keep people fixating on that.

[B]

Which. What?

[A]

None of those, that's coherent.

[D]

None of those words together make sense contextually together. They're also like. I know he's trying to say people keep fixating on that. I'm like, well, the president did say it right after, after kidnapping a president, like a sitting. So we have the right to ask that and to fixate on it. But yeah, I mean, keep. Yeah, I mean, I keep people fixating on that. And then after that he says, we would love to see changes in Venezuela. Changes, long term, short term. We'd love to see all kinds of changes. I'm like, you guys really thought through this.

[B]

The most non committal thing of all time.

[D]

Yeah, I would love to see change. Changes in my diet. Like, yeah, long term and short term. All kinds of changes.

[A]

I mean the crazy part to me is like Trump got so much popularity on the right for like going against this old like neocon. We're going to regime change and all of a sudden he's like, no, fuck that.

[C]

We're going.

[D]

We're all in Monroe.

[A]

It's the most incoherent shift I've ever seen. I don't understand it at all.

[C]

And only Marjorie Taylor Greene apparently has a problem with it. She is the only Republican who's been like speaking out about the Tom Massey not say anything.

[B]

Was he all about this?

[C]

Well, no, you're right, you're right. Tom Massey was also like, well, you know, if, if these were, if this was legitimate, like they wouldn't be coming up with gun charges in New York, which are not relevant in Venezuela.

[B]

Yeah, well, one of my favorite, cocaine. He wouldn't have fucking pardoned the Honduran president. Well, that's what I was just going to bring up was that a few weeks ago, Donald Trump pardoned the former president of Honduras for essentially the exact same charges.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

That they are now putting in front of Maduro. So like, it's obviously not about the drugs guys.

[A]

No, no.

[B]

Gonna be less so.

[D]

Right.

[C]

What happens if, like there's a, a big campaign like there is for Luigi about jury. Jury nullification, where like people get onto the jury who just refuse to convict. What, what happens if Maduro doesn't get convicted?

[B]

Right.

[C]

What, what the fuck does Trump do then? Because he just, he just fucking kidnapped somebody.

[A]

Sudan. I guess that's what he's done with everybody else.

[C]

Yep. Kidnap someone from their country and deport them somewhere else.

[A]

He's done it like.

[B]

Well, yeah, I mean, that's. Isn't that all policy now? Immigration policy come to this country and then we just spin a wheel and whatever country lands on is where you go.

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

The place is right wheel, right. Or the wheel of fortune, I guess is maybe.

[D]

I don't, I don't know if we've taken someone from another country and sent them to another, though. This is, this is a, this is a landmark pivot. It's, it's pretty exciting. I mean, what the, the, the comparison with, with the Honduran Hernandez JOH I think is his initials from, from Honduras. I mean, it's truly shocking. This dude was, like, proven in an American court to have been part of, of smuggling or of trafficking 400 tons, I heard, 500 tons of cocaine from Honduras into the United States. He was getting paid the entire time while Honduras was collecting American tax dollars in aid for anti narcotics campaigns in Honduras. So he. Honduras during Trump's first term. I looked it up, got over $100 million in aid for anti narcotics campaigns and for security and military aid for Hernandez. This is all during 2017-2021. It was Biden's Justice Department that, that, that got it done. They got him convicted and then of course, Trump lets him off because they. What, they don't even have oil. Like, what is in it for? He's just, it's like, it's never 3D chess or 4D chess or whatever they call it. It's always just like, oh, he has grievances. Like me. Well, so. And he was nice to me once, so I'm going to like, sure, I'm going to pardon him.

[B]

It wasn't even that with this one. They asked him about it and he was like, I have no idea who he is. I don't know what it was. People that very good people around me told me that he was wrong, which, by the way, wronged means that an American jury screwed him, right? And he's like, oh, no, this was wrong. And they were like, but like, you didn't, you don't know him. But it goes back to like, we have seen reports that pardons are being sold for like $1 million a pop.

[C]

And that like Trump and everyone in Trump world keeps making a big deal about Biden and the auto pen. And oh, my God, if, if Trump just figured out what an auto pen is in 2024, 2025, like, clearly some shit's been getting signed without him, because that has been happening. And, and B, like, if you don't know who you're pardoning, which is like one of the, the most exclusive powers of the presidency. Like, is anything that you're signing legitimate if you don't know what you're signing? If you're, if you're freeing narco. Narco terrorists with big air quotes? Yeah. Is anything that you're signing legit? Because I think the argument about the auto pen is, is idiotic when you, you are signing the documents, but you don't know what the fuck they are or you don't know what they mean.

[A]

We also hearing is this whole strategy.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Everything they're doing is just pure incoherence. And I just, I, I, it used to be you could follow a thread of, like, why they're doing. And now I'm just like, what, what is happening? Like, it's such an, it's like they're flooding the airwaves with just to be like, well, don't talk about the upstream files. Like, that's probably the.

[B]

Speaking of which. Speaking of which. Oh, Elon posted a nice picture of him and the presidential couple, I guess with a. We had a nice dinner at Mar a Lago together. Which is so, like, fucking ridiculous to me because he posted that whole thing.

[C]

He's the one who fucking kicked this shit off with the Epstein files tweet.

[B]

Like, so you're just cool with him being a pedophile then? Like, if that's the truth, he doesn't care. It's fucking crazy. No, because he's getting what he wants from Trump. Right, Right. All of this AI, you know, these data centers that are being built across the country with basically no oversight whatsoever and are one of the things that are actually, you know, sort of, I don't want to say artificially boosting the economy because it is boosting it, but, like, it's a temporary thing as they're.

[A]

Being crash the economy eventually.

[B]

Well, it will, because it makes it seem like it's better than it is. And so, yeah, these guys are all a marriage of convenience. Right. It's just they don't like each other. They just like, they need things from each other. And, you know, I mean, a good example is on. They asked Trump, you know, did he notify Congress about the raid before it happened? And the answer was no. But when they asked him if he asked the oil companies before the raid, he said yes, which is, which is oligarch shit. Right.

[A]

It's the only thing I look at and I'm like, you know what? This is like, he's so transparent that it's actually, it's the one thing where, like, he's not doing it on purpose, but, like, he's just saying the quiet part out loud and be like, yes, for oil. I mean, it's not like, Whereas Bush, where it's like, let's just fucking pretend all this other shit is important.

[C]

It's actually like, he said oil 21 times during that press conference. He said democracy zero.

[A]

Like, exactly right.

[C]

Very, very clear where his head was at.

[D]

Rubio was asked if they're going to have elections, and he was like, elections?

[A]

Yeah. I don't know.

[D]

Like, is this the first time someone in the room regarding Venezuela in four months has talked about who's going to lead the country after that?

[A]

No, this is, I, I, I want Mr. Global on because I don't fucking understand the oil implications. Like, that's the part where I'm like.

[D]

I get it, the verse is refined.

[B]

So he.

[D]

Light crude and all that.

[B]

Well, but yeah, he, he's done a few videos that I saw, came across my feedback. And by the way, he is a good friend of the show. And essentially it's baffling to him, too, because all of the, they have been asking the American oil companies if you could go back into Venezuela, do you want to? And all of them, all of them have said no. So now could Trump make it so that, like, basically the American taxpayer is covering all of the, you know, the construction and repairs of the, of the oil facilities that they have in Venezuela? Sure. But, like, no one has been clamoring to go down there, so. And Mr. Global actually said the Venezuelan oil is some of the lowest quality in the, in the world. So it's, I don't know if Donald Trump's just like, he had a dream and that he was back in the 80s and it was, like, cool to, like, invade Latin American countries like we used to do all the time or what? But, like, you know, the other thing that's scary, though, is that he's also. Luke. You were. How many countries did he threaten since. 6 and 30 seconds. 6 and 13. 30 minutes. So he said Cuba better watch out or something like that.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

He brought the Greenland thing back up, which he's also appointed the governor of Louisiana to be the special envoy to Greenland because he has some sort of experience with Nordic countries.

[A]

Yeah, it fits.

[B]

Yeah. Or not. And, but he is from a state that has a lot of oil and gas stuff. But, you know, this is, he's threatening all kinds of people. And what happened to no new wars.

[A]

Right. The whole thing is just, I, I was thinking about it the other day. The only thing I can think of that makes any sense is that Venezuela also has a tremendous amount of other natural resources like minerals. And that is where we're getting fucked by China because of his dog shit tariff policies and his terrible deals that he's made with China. So maybe this is all just him trying to fucking go around that awful set of circumstances he built in China and go, all right, I'll just take over this other country that has a tremendous amount of minerals. And there we go. And I just make it seem like it's about oil, but actually it's about minerals. I don't know, it seems like a plausible outcome.

[C]

You're, you're giving him too much of the benefit of the doubt.

[D]

This is already a better plan than anything they've discussed. Like Zach, maybe they'll steal it. In 45 seconds. Zach came up with better foreign policy. Like, at least Amer, like half of Americans would be like, okay, okay, I'm, I'm, I'm trying crack into this. They would have said that. They would have said something true. What they're going to find out is, and I was just reading this morning, like there's the, essentially the leader of the national police and the leader of the military are the two people who, since, who was the famous dictator who left the socialist dictator from, from Venezuela in like 2012 or 13.

[A]

Oh, the famous one, the predecessor to.

[D]

Right, right, right. I'm completely blanking. Listeners can shame me for this in the comments. Oh, they will, they will. I mean, I'm still just an idiot. I remind people of this daily, but you got to set the bar super low. But it's the military and the police that have, that have protected power and maintained power the whole time. The people who are like in charge, you know, they, they are either serving or being served by the military. It's always hand in hand. And I think what Trump is going to find out is what everyone else has found out is like, yeah, you can go into a developing nation or a place with a military dictatorship, you can like behead the beast. But then, you know, six other beasts pop up. And so if he's got a plan to what, invade and dismantle their military and the police, like then we're talking about a full on war invasion and nation building. And obviously that's not going to happen because they can't even, like, they can't even do this part of it, let alone that part of it. And that would look a lot worse.

[C]

There are so many layers of irony here that it's hard to pick just one. Like Trump went in and arrested a man who stole an election. And, and he is supporting the socialist government, the socialist government that was run by that socialist Maduro. So he's supporting the vice president who stole an election and is a socialist and he's giving the cold shoulder to the, the right wing person who apparently did win the last election, who's living in exile, who, who dedicated her Nobel Peace Prize to Donald Trump to try to get his attention and support. So instead of supporting the far right government and installing that, not saying that's a good idea, he's supporting a socialist government.

[D]

Well, I actually read Is the, is the president like she, she.

[B]

Well, right.

[C]

Well.

[B]

And what I heard, and I don't know if this is true or not, but was that one of the reasons that Trump soured on her is because she won the Nobel Peace Prize and he hasn't because otherwise it doesn't make any sense. Right. Why would you. I mean, I guess that, I guess the logic is that they found, and this is, this was in the Times this weekend, I think, but was that they, they felt that the vice president was more willing to play ball with them than Maduro. And look, I think everybody here agrees that Maduro is a terrible, terrible human being and like should not be in power anywhere. That's not what we're discussing. But like also I heard this morning that I don't know if it's Rubio or Hegseth or somebody that said, well, we're not actually going to run the country. We're going to give them a list of things which is, you know, demands that they must do to. So that they don't get bombed, I think was the term.

[D]

So it's like a kidnapping. So it's a ransom.

[B]

Yeah. Hey vp, you, you are in charge as long as you do these things, right? And that is the, that's the plan.

[D]

Like drop the duffel bag full of cash in the dumpster by the YMCA at 2am and you'll get Maduro back. No, Hugo Chavez, by the way.

[A]

Hugo Chavez, yes, that's what it was. So here's my question because I'm not embedded in any of this shit. You guys might know better than I do. I mean you're not embedded this either, but you probably might know the reaction. What is the MAGA reaction to like obviously they're going to try to support what the fuck he's doing? No, matter what he does. So what are they latching on to and going, oh, no, he's right, we should do this. Like, I. I can't imagine. I mean, I'm sure there's something. But, like, what are they hanging on to here? Because it seems like really out of the realm of what he pitched.

[B]

So I did a video that was. I will. I won't lie, was a bit antagonistic on Facebook, which is now got. Got 400,000 views. So I guess I did it right. Yeah. See, I can. I can do it. I can ramp it up every once in a while. I can't. I don't have the same batting average. Rookie numbers.

[C]

Pump them up.

[B]

Okay, well, everybody go follow me on Facebook on my. Yeah, the blue. This my wheelhouse.

[D]

Right?

[B]

So. But the, The. The comments, obviously, it's like a war back and forth. You kind of like light the match and, like, leave it, and then it, like the thing takes off. But the, the cognizant, the dissonance is real. Right? They're just saying, like, well, it was very easy to go get him, so why wouldn't we do it? And then you say, well, what about the Honduran president? And then they're like, there you go again. There's always libs. Like, like, it's just. They don't. It's a. It's a. They're not just. Because there's nothing to justify. Right. No, he did one thing here.

[A]

Are they excited about, like, do they see the benefit? Like, is there a benefit to them?

[B]

Oh, they're pretending. They're pretending that. That they care about the Venezuelans because the Venezuelans rightly were cheering in the street for him. Gone. Like, I understand that. That totally makes sense, but they don't. Like, they just see it as Trump. Wow. We just went in there and we fucking got him. And like, yeah, I mean, yeah, we got.

[C]

With the M60s.

[B]

Yeah. Like, even though 40 people did die, which this has all been sort of.

[C]

That.

[B]

That number's 80 now, Tim. Oh, it's 80. So, like, we.

[A]

Is it like citizens or is it just military personnel?

[B]

I don't. I've seen both. I mean, probably both. Right. Like, I mean, there. There were explosions that we saw. Like, I mean, I don't know, but like, this originally, this was projected as a smash and grab, right? Oh, no big deal. We just win it. But 80 people did die and, like, you know, I. I mean, look, there's going to be collateral damage and conflicts if this guy really was posing a threat, which he wasn't like that's a different scenario, right? Like I, you know, but, but yeah, no, so there, there is no logical justification other than Trump is the best and everything he does is great, and you just need to trust the process. Well, that's their answer and shut up live tard.

[C]

You know, they've also been asking like, where was I? Because I've been posting about this. They're like, where were you during Operation Just Cause? First of all, that in 1989 I was four.

[B]

And oh, you talk about Panama.

[C]

And second of all, you still had a beard though. Facebook didn't exist, right? So I'm sorry if I couldn't, you know, take my contemporaneous notes and, and translate them to learning the Alphabet. It, it's, it's so the, the mental gymnastics that these people go through to be like, oh, this is consistent with what we've done in the past. And this is why it's not just legal, but it was the smart thing to do as it's like, dude, I, I, I participated in one of those easy wars three years after it was supposed to be right. Like, I know how this shit goes, right?

[B]

It's not good.

[C]

There is no shortcut to, to fix.

[B]

It as, as the one person in this group that was old enough to probably barely remember 89, I was 11, 10. And I remember watching it and like, it was, you know, I was like 10. I'd probably watch Die Hard. It was like, oh, wow, we're going in and getting this guy. But, but Manuel Noriega was our friend until he wasn't, right? Like, this is the problem with interventionist is like, the second that somebody is no longer useful to the United States, we, we pull our resources, which is exactly what we did with Osama bin laden in the 80s when he was, he was a very helpful, dangerous person, keeping the Soviets at the time to bog down in Afghanistan and basically using up all their resources so they couldn't go other places. You would have thought we would have learned from that, but, like, I guess not. Then we pulled our, then we pulled all of our funding and our arms to him, and then shit happened. Some pretty bad shit happened 10 years later. And like, especially Republicans seem to conveniently forget that these incursions never actually work out.

[A]

No, it doesn't.

[B]

Never.

[A]

And like, I mean, think about it.

[B]

I've got one example.

[A]

Well, the best example is we went to Iraq, right? It's the best one to one example. ISIS is what happened because of Iraq. Like, ISIS was created because of the power vacuum that we left in Iraq where we didn't solve. Like, if you would like more isis, keep on going down that path, you know. But I got so stupid.

[B]

I got one. There is one successful one of these that I can point to, and it wasn't a Republican. It was Yugoslavia and Kosovo during the Clinton administration, which you guys probably. Well, some of you were not alive for the Clinton administration, not me, where we told Slobodan Milosevic to stop or we were going to bomb the shit out of them. And so we did bomb the shit out of them. We got him out of Kosovo. Kosovo is now an independent country. Milosevic eventually got caught and Radovan Karavich or whatever his name was also caught. We actually. And we did that without losing a single life.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And we did bring democracy. But it was Bill Clinton. It wasn't a Bush. Neither Bush.

[A]

No.

[B]

Or Trump or Reagan, the patron saint who invaded Grenada for whatever reason. And, you know, like, so there is one. But it was a Democrat.

[D]

Yeah, I think. But it's.

[A]

What's the value? Like, that's the. In the end.

[D]

Right.

[A]

What do we give a. If Kosovo's a democracy or not? Well, like, same thing with. Even if it was Iraq, what the. Do we care? It's not our country. Like, you know, unless they're out there doing like Kim Jong Un, I don't care. Like, let's focus on home, where it's tragically terrible right now.

[C]

I think that's so one of the things that, that they are kicking off right now.

[A]

Now.

[C]

Now, Maduro's rule over Venezuela had already created a migration crisis. Venezuela has lost millions of citizens because of the conditions that that country is in. If that continues to deteriorate, that destabilizes not just Venezuela, but the entire region. So what does that do? That creates more migration, not just from Venezuela, but all of the surrounding company countries that get destabilized by this power vacuum, they come north. Now Trump has this invasion army, you know, at the, at the gates, you know, down in the southern border. And that gives him the political capital in the minds of all these MAGA folks to turn ice, which now has larger budget than the Marine Corps, into an even more militarized force. So the things that they are doing with. With foreign policy. I, I think Donald Trump doesn't have a strategic bone in his body, but Stephen Miller does. And I think that Stephen Miller understands that. And first of all, he wanted to do this to Mexico, Right? Not. Not just Venezuela. But I think Stephen Miller understands that if he creates enough Crises or worsens crises enough in Latin America, it's going to make them, it's going to give him an opportunity to further militarize policing in the United States.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I think it's worth repeating that Stephen Miller's this was reported again this week. And also that his original plan was he wanted to do this to the cartels in Mexico because as we know, we've talked about on the show several times, if you're talking about drugs coming into the United States, especially fentanyl, which is our biggest problem right now, it all comes from Mexico with an assist from China. So like he wanted to go into there, but I guess the brain trust was at least had enough brain capacity to look and go, well that's a terrible idea. But maybe we can achieve some of these goals, mostly PR related, if we go snatch Maduro in Venezuela, which let's be honest, like those guys are bozos and like clearly like we just kind of rolled in and snatched him and they kind of went like, they didn't, you know, these were not the best and brightest that we were dealing with.

[A]

Right.

[B]

But it's terrifying to think like that there are discussions in this administration about attacking cartels inside Mexico, which is a.

[A]

Without Mexico being without them, without them on track. Right, right, right. Because part of it, I'd be like, fuck it, different idea, let's do that. But yeah, no, without Mexico to it, we're just treating their sovereignty. It's crazy.

[D]

Zach, I want to go back because your, your question, like, how is MAGA responding? Washington Post, they did publish an article this morning that was we texted a thousand Americans about U.S. actions in Venezuela and then they published the results. And it's the top line stuff is probably about what you'd expect. 42% disapprove of the Maduro action. Specifically, 40% approve, 18% are unsure. So it's like, yeah, it's kind of split, which is, I think that's, that's okay. Maduro is a piece of shit. Like, yeah, if you're a little torn, like, well sure we want him gone, but like there's 150 things above the list, you know, above him on the list of things that matter to me as an American right now before we get to Maduro. But then when you start getting, are.

[B]

You saying that you're America first? I mean, I think that's what I'm getting here.

[D]

Yeah. I mean if you're going to push me to say it, I will say it. But then when you get down in the survey, it gets significantly more fascinating and worth noting. Independents were eight points against the Maduro thing. And so, you know, so it's, it's still not best case scenario, it's not looking good. But then once you get, you get down into it and you look at, okay, well what about like Venezuela as a whole? Republicans, and I'm trying to find the number, most people are saying no, it's a bad idea. 45% oppose United States taking control of Venezuela. Only 24% support. So three out of four people don't want us to have anything to do with the future of Venezuela. And then, and then when you get down even further into like who should decide the future leadership of Venezuela, 94 of people said Venezuelan people and 6% said the United States, including like 91 of Republicans said the Venezuelan people should decide the future of Venezuela. So, so this is.

[B]

Well, it doesn't work otherwise.

[D]

Understand that this is a bad idea. It's just the bad idea hasn't become reality just yet. And so everybody's kind of like waiting around for their opinion to solidify.

[A]

Yeah, I mean the other piece of this too that I'm thinking about now and I'm again probably giving them too much credit, but like they're also facing a Democratic party that's shifting more towards democratic socialism. So attacking stuff even though this Venezuela is in no way, shape or form reminiscent of what democratic socialism is. The word socialism is in both. And having that sort of PR approach of like we're dismantling socialist countries. Do you really want to bring it here to America?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it gets strengthened by this kind of shit too. So there's like all these levers they're pulling that are like. I don't know if they're doing it on purpose, but they could use it to their advantage.

[B]

Well, I will tell you, as the person that now lives in Mamdanistan, you know, I have already, I have already been instructed on how to do my morning prayers.

[D]

Did you a rug or did you have to buy the rug yourself?

[B]

Oh, that what socialism. They give it to you. So that's the benefit. You get that?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then we have mandatory Quran learning sessions in the afternoon. And then of course we are all under what we call, you know, shawarma law here because some idiot said that online and meant to say Sharia, but no, guess what guys? He's been mayor for, for five days. I still buy things, right? Like I'm not no one's hand, no one's mail got given me anything free Like, I, you know, and honestly, what is actually interesting is that, you know, I'm curious what you guys think. There were a lot of people who were very upset with Democrats over the weekend because they felt that their response was sort of, eh. And it was actually Mamdani who went out and like, was like, I actually called the President to voice my displeasure on this and.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I mean, these are performative acts, but like, in a, in a world in which Democrats hold no power, formative acts are sort of, you know, raising hell about it and making people understand is the best thing. And you know, this guy who is apparently in the minds of maga, the same type of socialist as Maduro. Well, I guess he was defending him not being arrested, so maybe I'm making a bad argument, but, you know, he was actually taking action. No, I mean, it's ridiculous. No, but like, they're, they're not even remotely the same. If you can't tell the difference between democratic socialism and socialism, then I don't, I don't really have. I don't tell you, like, pick up a book.

[D]

This is what, this is a goddamn book. This is what, like, you can, you can look this up and people, if you're, if you're rabbit holing on political science, you can find these, these charts, but it's not left versus right. There's a lot of, There are many dimensions to this, and the most notable is less left versus right or right versus left. I don't know how my screen is going to show up, but left versus Right on the political spectrum. But then you've also got, you know, anarchy to statism on the vertical axis. And so, you know, people like Maduro, they are statists who are on the left. Trump is a statist who is on the right. Hernandez and Honduras is a statist who is on the right. Statism is generally bad. Authoritarianism is what we're talking about, is generally bad. If you're on the left, but you're more, you know, in the middle to maybe even a little more on the sort of the anarchy, the free market, like, freedom side of things, I think that's where the United States needs to land. And that's where you look at Bernie Sanders and you look at Zoran Mamdani. Like, their ideas are not statist. They generally want to use tax dollars to fund private businesses and private organizations to do the things that need to be done, not take over the organizations and then make us all go work for them, like under fear of imprisonment, which is like true communism. That that we just. Nobody even wants that here, let alone like is arguing.

[B]

Well, did you see the one thing that Memdani said in his inaugural address that freaked out the right was that he, we. I'm going to get the quote wrong, but basically it was like we are going to get rid of the rugged individuality and more towards collectivism. And people lost their fucking minds. They were like rugged individualism is what built this country, first of all. No, it's not. It's not like that is a Republican myth that they have talked about forever. It was built off of cheap Chinese labor, slavery, like all like, you know, all of these things that are not good. It wasn't pulling people up by their bootstraps. It was giving white people really cheap resources to build wealth. I mean if you really want to like talk about every. Who said some about that, never gets to drive on another road, never gets to call the police.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Firefighters don't come to your house if it burns down. Don't go to a hospital.

[C]

Goddamn thing.

[D]

Go drink the water in Flint.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[D]

I mean Flint's water might be good, but like 20 years ago, you know, or 10 years ago, like I don't, I don't know. I don't want to discourage Flint.

[C]

Friend of the show, Joe Walsh is the dumbest I've ever seen Republicans who, who was like collectivism. And you know, I, I like Joe, but he's friend of the show, but.

[B]

Not friend of Luke. Well, well look, he.

[D]

And legally enforced collectivism is one thing. Collectivism as a system of things that you can benefit from, like Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security. That's collectivism, disability, the Clean Water act, The voting, the 40 hour work week, every single one of these things, OSHA, these are all, this is all collectivism. Likewise. So real clear about that.

[C]

I think of, of collectivism versus individualism in, in kind of. I had a transformative experience in, in basic training. Now I joined the army when the slogan was army of One, which was the dumbest and most harmful slogan that the military has, has ever used. At least the army growing up, it was be all you. All you. That was, that was like the, the GI Joe, like be all you can be.

[A]

Right.

[C]

But the army of One idea created this, this myth that anyone joins the army and this, this is like a myth that I subscribe to that anyone joins the army and you're just like, you're, you're there to be the toughest and the greatest, but not a member of a team. But the, in practice, when you Join the military, everything. It is a fucking team sport. Like that is why the. The most elite forces, they call each other team guys because they are expert team players. The rugged individualism idea, it. It is. It is so misinformed. Like, like Tim said, it. It's slavery. It's cheap labor out of China. That's the kind of rugged individualism that makes people successful. It's. It's taking advantage of other people. What I think that Mamdani meant is, is not collectivism in the government sense, but collectivism as an ideology that is not government enforced. It's simply looking out for your neighbor the way that the Bible says that you should.

[A]

I mean, it's not an all or nothing thing to like, I think that people look at this issue so black and white, where it's like, it's socialism or it's capitalism. It's like you can do both. There's elements of both you can use at the same time. Like you can build out all these healthcare systems like Medicaid and Medicare and still be individuals who start businesses and thrive in a capitalist culture. Like they're not mutually exclusive concepts at all.

[D]

And people are developed world.

[B]

Well, well, where is the. When you look at the happiest countries on earth, which I would argue is the metric that is the most important. Right. In our lives. Like, if we don't need to get existential, but like, you know, you should like the. The goal is to be happy in your life. Right. They're all democratic socialist countries or socialist countries. Norway, Denmark, Sweden.

[A]

And they.

[B]

I mean, they're smaller and. And Norway has oil. So there's some benefits like that that, you know, they have a sovereign wealth fund that's massive. But.

[A]

Right.

[D]

You still have to pay for it.

[B]

We still have to pay for it.

[D]

You still have to work and pay. Yeah.

[B]

And they're not. And they're not like perfect. They have immigration issues, like all these things and. But like those. All the countries who do what Mandani is talking about are the ones that are where the high. Where there is the highest quality of life.

[A]

Yes. And here's the other element that people never consider. It's such an important element is those countries don't have like very consumerist culture. Like we do. Like, we're very focused on consumerism in America.

[C]

And if.

[A]

But that's a good thing because in the end all the money that stays in the pockets of people here, that they're not paying for health care and those other things will go into the economy and bolster the Companies that are afraid they're going to lose money. Like the upper 1% will fudgeing make money off of universal health care. They won't lose it. Like on the surface you would think, oh taxes. And they're going to have a payroll tax of 7%.

[B]

Whatever.

[A]

It's going to lose money.

[D]

Wrong.

[A]

They're going to fucking make money. I don't even have to pay for people's fucking health insurance. But their company will make more money because more people have more money to spend. It's not the same in Norway. They don't have the same culture here. It would be a benefit.

[B]

And also the thing that keeps getting missed is that Medicare and Medicaid have about a 2 to 3% overhead and insurance companies have a, what is it, 20 to 25% overhead. Like the government is. I know it's gonna blow everyone's minds. Every Ronald Reagan myth. But like the government is far more efficient at delivering healthcare than these insurance companies. So what? Why, why are we doing this? Also, if you want a small business boom in America, pass universal healthcare. Because then that allows people to quit their jobs and start new businesses. I've talked about this before. I wouldn't have been able to start my company without the fact that my wife had insurance. And I ended up hiring five people. Now magnify that across 50 states and 340 million people. Like it's, it is a no brainer. But the insurance industry sure loves themselves. Some Republicans and Democrats, some Democrats and many Democrats too.

[D]

You know, I, so I looked this up because I was like, wait, it's not just us that would be saving money. Employers cover. And this is the most recent number I found. 74%.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Of health insurance premiums in the United States. I think it was something like 600 to $800 billion that employers paid out every year just in the premiums, not including all of the other shit the, the medications they're covering and all of that shit. It came to something like an estimated 1.5 to $2 trillion in annual expenses between employers and individuals that would be just taken off. These are the payments for the services. These aren't like the services would still be there. It's just who is paying for it. And so you take the cost off of the individual, you take the cost off of the employers. Every business that has a large workforce with benefits is going to see their margins go up by like 3 to 5, 10%, possibly changing nothing else. And then you add in the fact that people can come and go and you can Change jobs more easily and people are just happier because you're not working. Scared for your health insurance. You're able to just work because you love. I got, I got myself started. I was gonna say don't get me started. I got myself started. But this is not just a socialist win for people who don't want to work or whatever. This is a massive win.

[B]

Right.

[D]

For business owners.

[A]

Right. But that's the part.

[D]

And shareholders.

[A]

But I. Sarah, go ahead.

[B]

Oh, I was just gonna say. But I think that, I think Democrats have been going all about it wrong. I mean, yes, I agree with what they've been saying. No, no, but like that, like this is good for people. A human right. And all these things. But like we are not converting any independents and Republicans. Yeah, but that, but. And we should tell Democrats that stuff. But like we should be telling like selling independents and right leaning independents or moderate Republicans. This is a business.

[A]

It literally like the investment in private sector business in America. That's.

[B]

Why haven't we said that?

[A]

Because we're stupid. Because we don't know how to sell anything.

[C]

Very, very, very bad.

[D]

Are bigger than our brains.

[A]

Right. That's the thing.

[D]

Health, the right narrative.

[A]

It's like it, it's, it's great. Congratulations. It's also a gigantic boon for the upper 1%. It's an incredible value because like I, I did this, I did a video on this stuff that you're talking about Rich. And it was like I did the math on. Yeah, they'll have a payroll tax that'll cover all this stuff. So they're going to, you know, in the end they'll have.

[B]

Yeah, there's some shifting.

[A]

There's shifting. But the payroll tax is less than it currently costs them to cover these costs out of pocket by far. Like it, it will save them money. So like yes, there is a cut. But it's really, in the end it comes down to a central thing. Well, two central things. One is, you know, people lobbying to keep it the same way. But it's also fear. People are just afraid of a change where it's this systemic and you know, it's very hard to be the person who takes that risk. But somebody's got to because it's just a better fucking system. There's no question.

[B]

Yeah. You know who actually could probably do it but won't?

[A]

Donald Trump.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Yes. I literally had that thought.

[B]

He won't.

[A]

Fucking guy.

[B]

He won't because he's garbage. But like, yeah, there is enough of MAGA that if he just, if he Called it something else, just made up a name. I bet, I bet the majority of them be like, yeah man, yeah, Trump care. Like, yeah, that's. So this is the repeal and replace. And like he could probably do it and like he could sell.

[D]

I would support it, configure it correctly. Which like that's a, that's a, that's a big, big if. But.

[B]

Well here's an interesting, here's an interesting scenario. So we are now, thank God, one year almost through this administration. So after the midterms there is going to be. Because we're already talking about J.D. vance running and Marco Rubio's trying to position himself with all this shit too. Is there a world in which if all the Republicans ignore Donald Trump, that Donald Trump all of a sudden starts to try to make deals with Democrats at the end, do you think that's at all possible? I mean I'm kind of like people are probably like Tim, have you been drinking today? Which I have not. But you know, if he loses the attention, does like, is there a world that.

[C]

I think he's going to spend the last two years of his presidency knocking the out of any Republican who tries to run for president.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

I think that is all his attention. Like the country could be in shambles. We could have another like Covid level pandemic that shuts the country. He will give a. About nothing except someone coming in and trying to be number 48. Yep. That's, that's the one thing he'll care about for two years.

[B]

I, I agree smack around in the midterms.

[C]

He'll be worried about impeachment too.

[D]

Yeah, he'll, he'll, he'll be fighting. I mean the government shutdowns, the impeachment, the like what kinds of bills. I mean it all depends on the margins. But if we see a 30 to 40 seat swing like we, like we should and I, I think probably will in the House if we can. I mean I refuse to accept that the Senate is out of reach. If Klobuchar has to go in Minnesota, which we haven't even talked about this yet. Yeah, hopefully those are all easily saved seats and we don't have to spend a bunch of money. But if we can get the Senate and all of, in all of Congress can be against him, we won't have a veto proof majority. I don't think. We certainly won't have filibuster proof majority. That's not even like possible. I think. No, we can, we can send him all sorts of things that we'll just, he'll have to either not sign and explain or he'll have to sign and make deals because a whole bunch of impeachment hearings and just ruining the last two years of his, of his term. He'll get real pissed about that and post a lot about on True Social. But after a couple of months of that, I think he'll start to be like I want to have a better legacy than this.

[B]

Think of, think of. I mean I think that the ceiling for Democrats is probably 52.

[D]

52.

[B]

And that would be, that would be ridiculous. And that's Susan Collins is gone. That's even Iowa maybe like that's a.

[D]

Bunch of, I mean, sucks. Let's go take that seat.

[B]

Well, I mean I'm all for it but, but you know that that state has not been treating us well lately. But like if Democrats are at 52, I bet they could find eight to eight Republicans to go along with stuff. I mean, you know, the Cassidy's of the world and Lisa Murkowski and Bill Morin brought maybe in Kansas maybe. And by the way, these are not good people. I'm just saying people that would maybe continue to vote with Trump.

[D]

I just want their vote. I don't care about the House where.

[B]

I think 30 to 40 seats is, is entirely doable.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so we could have a 30 seat majority which means we can pass a bunch of progressive and not make arbor moderates vote for them and protect them. It opens up a lot of opportunities. If Donald Trump is feeling vengeful, which is the only emotion that he has and he's going to hate being not the most important person in the Republican Party, which will be over three years from January 20th.

[D]

I mean it's, it's already, it's already true. He's just fighting it. You know, he's trying to stay as relevant as possible. He's constantly moving the camera, moving the microphone. He's, he's doing every single thing he can to keep people from recognizing what we've talked about, you know, many times, is that he's a lame duck president and he's never going to be on the ballot again. And so everybody who's running for election in 26 and 28, they're going to have to do this on their own. They're going to have to win on their own records. And it's a lot different when there's not somebody on the top of the ballot that you're really excited to vote for. And Instead you've got J.D. vance or Marco Rubio. Like Ted Cruz say these things with a straight face. Ted Cruz.

[C]

Raphael Cruz.

[B]

Tim.

[D]

Oh yes, Canadian Canada's own James Donald Bowman or, or Raphael Cruz are the two, you know, the two names on the palate. Then you're, then you're like well now vote for all the state senators and the representatives underneath that. No, it just doesn't, it just doesn't get it done and they're all going to have to come to grips with that. So, so we're going to see a lot of people start to distancing distance themselves from all of this here.

[C]

I think regardless of if the, if the Democrats take the House and, or the Senate, they, someone needs to bite the bullet and just be the person who just constantly harasses Trump and tries to include as a rider on every bill that they're going to rename the, the ballroom at, at the White House the Epstein Trump Ball. Every single bill, every piece of legislation must pass leg legislations. Veteran veterans health care benefits. When when the VA I'm for it gets, gets reauthorized with the defense budget. Trump class boats are going to be the Trump. The Epstein Trump because Trump's name has to come second. That's more. The Trump class boats need to be named the Epstein Trump class.

[B]

Well Chris, now you've got the next question for any members of Congress to come on. If they are willing to do that. I could think, think Ted Lou would be a good choice. Eric Swalwell would probably love to do it. There's a, I think we could find some people or some freshmen or sophomore members that want to get a name for themselves. They could toss that stuff in there. But I, I think it's great because it's time to start with them the way they do with us.

[D]

I mean just, just get Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna to co sign that edition for every single thing. I mean they're the ones discharge petition for everything. Let's go.

[C]

I mean the powers of Congress are, are, are pretty great if they want to flex it. I don't think that there's anything to stop them from passing a law that everywhere that the word Trump appears on a government document, Epstein needs to come before they can do that. Trump has the new, the Trump Gold Card Visa. It should be the Epstein Trump Visa because Trump comes second just like after he finishes with Bubba. Did you guys know Bubba's a horse by the way?

[B]

Yeah, he's either what either Bill Clinton or it's a horse. So wait, like are you.

[C]

So the Epstein estate, I believe Clarified that Bubba is a horse. So interesting. Just so you know.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

Okay.

[B]

I thought you were.

[C]

But anyway, back to harassing Trump which I think is extremely important for, for Democratic strategy. It absolutely every single thing. Like he, he is creating these new visas. The Trump gold gold card, the million.

[B]

Dollar one or whatever.

[C]

Yeah, it needs to be the Epstein and he's got his face on. Put Epstein's face right there.

[B]

So I like the silhouettes like one over like kind of one over the other one and Epstein's in the front.

[C]

Jumps or make it like remember in the 90s, those hologram cards like on.

[B]

Everything Fleer baseball cards, I think billion of them.

[C]

Oh yeah. Just have those hologram cards. Everywhere that Trump's image exists, he's on the Department of Labor. He's got those like communist style banners of his face. Would Congress needs to pass a law that everywhere that his face is on the Department of Labor we got a giant fucking holographic sign that turns him.

[B]

Into, you know, you know, what presidential candidate that's, I mean he's going to run that would do that. Gavin Newsom.

[C]

I think I know a guy who has a line to that office.

[B]

Yeah, I don't know who that would be. I don't know, you know.

[D]

So question for you guys. I want to see honestly votes. Would you support putting Trump on the $100 bill if they also changed it to say in Epstein we trust across the top of it? Yes.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

100.

[B]

Yes.

[D]

Well, easy.

[B]

Yeah, I have no problem with that.

[D]

We've been accused of questions.

[B]

Not the 100 bill.

[C]

We should bring back the penny because the, the destruction of the penny without any warning, without any plan was act was actually very dumb. So we should bring back the penny. So our lowest denomination is the Trump Epstein penny.

[B]

Or maybe could we get Mexico to do it on the peso because that's worth even less.

[D]

Right.

[B]

We could just like find everybody, just mock him wherever.

[A]

Rico.

[B]

Well, we, we only have a few minutes left, but I want to get to some real, real quick because it's also about what we do. But we, we just got the news today that Tim Wallace has decided to not run for a third term for a few reasons. One, I think that. Well, I personally believe governors probably shouldn't run for more than two terms because it is a grueling job. But there were some sagging poll numbers. And then obviously this completely. And this is the part I want to talk about this Nick, whatever his name is, Shirley video, which is all bullshit, has blown up on the right Wing. And I think yet again, it shows how the right has a very sophisticated, strong, obnoxious, but strong communications apparatus, digital communications, press, whatever. And essentially we're able to make this a thing to the point where mainstream media was, Is talking about his discoveries of fraud, which is not true. And so, guys, this is why we are doing what we are doing. But we need more people on our side because this is what happens when there isn't enough pushback on blatant lies. It becomes truth or partial truths. And, you know, I think Tim Walls is a good guy, but resigning probably ends his chances at running for president or any other office. And by all accounts is a great person and has been investigating this since 2019. So this isn't like he didn't know it was going on, but it's just a frustrating.

[D]

Yeah, I, I mean, so. And let's be real clear, he's not resigning.

[B]

He's not resigning. I just. Not running. Sorry.

[D]

No, no. And I don't, I don't even remember if you said that, but I was even thinking that myself. He still has a year left, so he's not, he's not resigning from, you know, as governor. He's just not running for reelection. He's so he can focus on, you know, getting this, I think, behind him, getting everything back in order. Personally, though, like, I might rate, I, I'm fucking irate. This is like the most democratic thing, like, where we hold ourselves to different standards. If, if, if, if he was negligent in this, sure. If, if he, like, hired a bunch of people who were administering fraud, sure. These are all conversations we can have. But when you are the one who is overseeing, trying to make the community better and then some pieces of take advantage of it in the process, and then your people are also the ones who figure it out and are prosecuting it. Like, nobody said that with the right governor, the right president, you just don't have crime anymore. People are shitty. People are fucking losers, man. There's like 0.1% of people or maybe even like 4% of people who are just pieces of shit and they just commit fraud. They take money when it's in front of them, if they get, if they're given a chance. Trump knows a lot of these people, it turns out, and that's not going to stop regardless of who's the governor. So I think I would have wanted to see him throw some punches, reclaim the narrative by pointing out that he's the one who's driving the investigation. He's the one who's seeing through the convictions and getting restitution. I think that would have been a much better angle.

[C]

Now I, I, I'm speaking out of ignorance here. I, I haven't gotten to read the, the coverage of his decision not to run, but I feel like it would him choosing to drop out now over this story that is like three days old. I don't buy that that is that made this decision for him. I think what is much more likely is that his family has paid a real serious cost.

[B]

I think that's true.

[C]

I think that like I, I haven't, you know, had the opportunity to speak to to walls in many years at this point, but from the way that I knew him as a member of Congress, I think that his family is the reason that he's leaving. His family has been getting harassed relentlessly since, since he was, you know, got the VP nomination. And my suspicion is that this, this Minnesota, you know, racist conspiracy theory thing has nothing to do with his decision at all.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yep.

[B]

Well, Hope, Hope Wallace's daughter has posted videos talking about how it sucks because by the way, if people didn't know, Republicans and MAGA folks have been driving by the governor's mansion in Minnesota screaming the R word out their car window as they drive by because these guys are all 12. And it is one of the most pathetic, sad things that I'm seeing like grown ass men taking their families to go do this. Like I cannot think of much of a lower, stupid, immature thing to do also un American thing to do than to go yell a Slurpee at first of all, at a building. You know, it's not like Tim's in there like listening to all of it. This is who they are though. And this is, this is why we are doing what we are doing and you know, why we have big plans for this year and here comes my transition. You know, we are building a media company here to help fight back. We can't talk about it all yet. We are planning and January is going to be very busy for us, but we're going to be announcing a lot of big things here in the next few weeks, which we will need your help in growing. But the intention is to make sure that there is a megaphone surrounding us and making sure that the right information is getting out and we are pushing back against these ridiculous lies that seem to be getting worse and worse as MAGA gets more desperate as Donald Trump's numbers plummet. Now, before I get into the findout stuff specifically, I want to turn it over to Luke who Has quite a lovely we do sweatshirt. I don't recognize what. What do we got here, Luke?

[C]

Very cozy.

[B]

Yeah, it is quite cozy. Do you want to move your. You got to move your strings.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

It has a little bit of a catchphrase on there. What's that?

[C]

Read that out for me.

[D]

Get F star, you bastard.

[B]

It says get.

[D]

Oh, for charity.

[B]

It says for charity. Now tell us what that is, Luke. All of the get for charity stuff on the Find out podcast store goes directly to Feeding Americans by way of feeding America.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And it's awesome.

[C]

So, folks, folks will notice if you pay attention to the price of things, that the price of all the get merchandise is exactly $10 more than everything else. We do not make any money on merch right now. We're losing money. We hope not to stay down.

[B]

We should probably change that.

[C]

Yeah. We believe in our values. We are are using a union print shop. Everything is made in the U.S. right? That's important to us. And one day, people will buy enough shirts that we're not still in. In the red. But we have made the math very easy. For every single item that says get that you buy, $10 will go towards feeding hungry families.

[B]

Yep. Yep. So love it. You can get [e-mail]. no. Jesus. Find out podcast.com find out podcast.com I know, I know. Someday we're gonna have to switch. And I think one day we should have a wheel and see who actually has to moderate. And then we can see how this goes when somebody else is in charge.

[A]

This would not.

[D]

I would just put a sticky note right on the side of my monitor.

[B]

I also should probably have a list of things that I should remember in front of me, but I do not. Right. Right now. But anyways. Yes. So the get shirts, which do have an asterisk, so you're not actually swearing in public.

[C]

Everyone you buy feeds 100 people.

[B]

Is that right? That's it.

[C]

Wow.

[B]

So there you go.

[A]

Like that, man.

[B]

You can go to find out podcast.com and order those today. And then also all of our other lovely merch, which I've got. I think I've got the five faces on right now. This is a lovely gift. You know, Christmas did just end, but what a. What a surprise if you gave someone a gift in January.

[D]

Right? No one hates the January.

[B]

True. No one hates a January gift. And also, you can to really help us go subscribe to our substack. It's $6 a month. It's probably going to go up with the announcements we have, but you're going to get a lot more value out of it. So if you want it now, go to find out podcast.substack.com and help us keep the lights on because this stuff's not cheap. And like I said, we are trying to build a big, big, big, big megaphone here to help Democrats in 26 and then really, really help Democrats in 2028. So do all those things and we will love you forever. So until then, go buy some merchandise, become a member. Go tell your friends about. Find out. Subscribe to our YouTube too. By the way. Like, the YouTube is actually probably our most important social channel outside of Substack. So please go subscribe to that because when you watch stuff on there, we get paid, but it doesn't cost you anything unless you get a membership there too. So I'm just hawking all kinds of shit today. But anyways, now that we're back and we have gotten past the holidays, we are back to our regularly scheduled programming. Which means Wednesday night at 8:30pm or 8:45, 8:45pm we will do our live on YouTube. So that'll be good to subscribe to the YouTube so you get notifications for that. And we'll be back with our next episode Thursday morning. So until then, have a lovely week. Everybody, welcome back from the break and we'll talk to you soon.