Episode Overview

Title: Ep. 1704 - The Strange Tradition That The Left Is Using To Undermine Republicans
Date: December 9, 2025
Host: Matt Walsh (The Daily Wire)

In this episode, Matt Walsh explores deep-rooted political traditions that, he argues, are being used to undermine Republican effectiveness in Congress, with a spotlight on the "blue slip" tradition and its partisan entrenchment. Beyond procedural politics, Walsh critiques Republican inertia, skewers recent political advertising (notably Jasmine Crockett's Senate campaign launch), and laments the cultural shallowness he sees infecting both politics and advertising. Walsh wraps with reflections on Santa Claus and modern parenting, all delivered in his characteristic sardonic tone.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Republican Inaction & the Mystery of Ineffectiveness

• Opening Theme: Republicans have held power for a year in Congress but "accomplished almost nothing" ([00:00]).
• Walsh seeks to answer why elected Republicans, once in power, appear paralyzed or unwilling to fulfill campaign promises.

2. The Revolting "Conservative" Judiciary & The Blue Slip Tradition

• Highlight: At least "four" Reagan-appointed federal judges are openly criticizing Trump and adopting anti-GOP positions ([00:59]).
• Quotes Judges: “Our rule of law and our democracy will be doomed unless Trump is stopped.” - Judge Mark Wolf ([01:38]).
• Walsh's Thesis: The real reason for the judiciary's betrayal isn't Trump or Reagan's darkness, but a little-known tradition—the blue slip process ([03:03]).

What is the Blue Slip?:

• Began in early 1900s to let home-state senators block federal judicial and U.S. attorney nominees ([05:28]).
• By the 1960s, mainly used by southern segregationists to block pro-civil rights judges ([06:05]).
• Now, a single senator can veto a nominee from their state, regardless of presidential electoral mandate ([06:27]).
• Critique: "There's no law, there's no article in the Constitution about the blue slip process. It's totally arbitrary." ([07:18])

Contextual Example:

• Reagan had to get Ted Kennedy and John Kerry's blue slips to appoint judges in Massachusetts, leading to liberal appointees ([07:43]).
• Trump complains, “If I put up George Washington and Abraham Lincoln... Democrat senators... will not approve them.” ([04:33])

GOP Perpetuates Its Own Obstacle:

• Republicans suspended blue slips for circuit judges (e.g., Eric Miller in 2019), but inexplicably retained it for district judges and U.S. attorneys ([08:45]).
• "The only people that you can get by are Democrats, because they will put a hold on it." – Trump ([04:38])
• Matt ridicules Sen. Chuck Grassley’s defense of the status quo as “nonsense.” He mocks Grassley’s logic that because Republicans used blue slips to block Biden nominees, fairness requires allowing Democrats to do the same to Republicans. ([10:50])

Memorable Quote:

• “Only a political movement that’s bent on its own suicide — as well as the suicide of the entire country — would push total nonsense like this.” ([12:11])

3. Republican Accomplishments (Or Lack Thereof)

Walsh lists the GOP’s modest legislative record since taking control:

• Funded ICE and border security
• Passed minor tax cuts and welfare changes
• Enacted the "Lake and Riley Act" on detaining criminal illegal aliens ([13:36])
• But: No progress on national gender-care bans, national voter ID, illegal alien driver’s licenses, Obamacare repeal, or cost-of-living reforms ([13:54])

Quote:

• “They haven’t done anything else. And it’s been a year.” ([14:53])

4. GOP's Tone-Deaf Outreach & Weakness in Messaging

John Curtis Example:

• Senator John Curtis (Utah) appears on CNN, focuses on “making immigrants feel more welcome” ([15:13]).
• Matt lambasts this, asserting: “We are not the ones who should be spending our time fretting about foreigners... The obligation is on them.” ([16:10])

Quote:

• “No Republican politician will ever say that.” ([17:07])

5. Jasmine Crockett’s Senate Campaign Ad — A Masterclass in Bad Messaging

Ad Analysis:

• Jasmine Crockett’s first ad is just Trump calling her “low IQ” and “stupid” — and that’s it ([22:15]).
• Walsh: “That’s her opening argument to be in the Senate is that the president thinks she’s stupid. That’s it.” ([23:15])

Why It’s “The Worst Ad Ever”:

• The ad lacks a rebuttal or evidence to dispel the criticism; Walsh jokes he agrees with every word ([22:15-25:00]).
• “It’s like a highlight video of an athlete where... it just ends. That’s it. That’s the end of it.” ([27:00])

Cultural Trend:

• Walsh argues Crockett, and many contemporary politicians, only want “attention” and to be “influencers,” not actually to achieve legislative results ([33:01]).
• Laments: “We are rapidly approaching a point where that’s all we have are people like that.” ([35:41])

Memorable Moment:

• Crockett’s campaign launch includes a “bad rap song” that Walsh harshly critiques for failing even basic rhyme ([29:32-32:08]).

6. The AI War on Art: McDonald’s AI-Generated Christmas Ad

• McDonald’s releases a fully AI-generated Christmas commercial ([38:09]).
• Walsh declares it soulless: “…witless, charmless, lifeless, artless. It sucks. It’s awful. I hate it.” ([42:15])
• He critiques modern marketing generally: “No one in marketing has any idea what they’re doing… they’re just scam artists.” ([46:11])
• Critique of Message: Commercial’s “It’s the most terrible time of the year” angle is anti-Christmas, anti-Christian, and poor marketing ([44:08])

Quote:

• “Nobody hates Christmas. Who do you think — no one hates Christmas. I hate everything. I don’t hate Christmas.” ([44:08])

7. Asylum, Immigration, and Violent Crime

Disturbing Story:

• UK case: Two Afghan “asylum seekers,” age 15, convicted of raping a 15-year-old girl ([50:49]).
• Walsh uses this to demand the West abolish asylum, calling it a “scam” that imports “the worst, most degenerate filth” ([53:26]).

Quote:

• “They’re claiming asylum not from persecution, not from oppression, but from their own dysfunction.” ([54:48])

• “No, I don't [have sympathy for the plight of foreigners]. I have sympathy for my own people and my own country.” ([55:31])

• Extended analogy: Compares mass asylum requests to a stranger barging into one's home demanding food; asks why Western states must bear the entire burden ([59:09-62:44]).

8. Annual Santa Debate — Is Telling Kids About Santa “Lying”?

• Walsh pushes back on claims that “doing Santa” with your kids is a breach of parental trust ([65:12]).
• Defense: Young children live in a "fantastical" reality — magic, monsters, Santa — so it's not "lying," it's "playing a game" ([69:19]).
• Children naturally age out of Santa belief; it’s part of growing up.
• Walsh’s personal anecdote: Upon learning Santa isn’t real, his kids responded, “Yeah, dad, we know” ([70:25]).

Memorable Quote:

• “Going out of your way to kill this kind of magical thinking on a five year old is ridiculous to me. Let them live in that world, they’re children. Why take it from them?” ([69:12])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the blue slip:

  • “It’s just made up, and it’s long outlived any usefulness that it might have had.” ([07:18])

• On Chuck Grassley:

  • “He’s permanently posting mid-aneurysm, it seems.” ([09:55])

• On Jasmine Crockett’s campaign:

  • “Her whole pitch for why she should be in the Senate is that Trump doesn’t like her.” ([29:09])

• On AI commercials:

  • “If you gave me the same AI program that McDonald’s used, I could create this exact thing.” ([40:37])

• On immigration:

  • “Why is it our job, why is it the job of the west to provide asylum to the misfits and outcasts from other countries?” ([56:47])

• On Santa:

  • “Your four year old is not watching a cartoon show. Your four year old is watching, like, the real-life adventures live… Paw Patrol is cops.” ([66:07])

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:59] – The blue slip tradition and Reagan appointees’ anti-Trump revolt
• [05:28] – How the blue slip process works and its historical use
• [10:50] – Chuck Grassley’s defense and Walsh’s critique
• [13:54] – GOP’s limited legislative achievements in 2025
• [15:13] – John Curtis on CNN and Walsh’s rebuttal of GOP outreach
• [22:15] – Jasmine Crockett’s Senate campaign ad and Walsh’s analysis
• [29:32] – Crockett’s campaign rap and criticism of “influencer politicians”
• [38:09] – McDonald’s AI Christmas ad: A new low in advertising
• [50:49] – Afghan asylum-seeker rape case and asylum as a “scam”
• [65:12] – Santa Claus, children, and the myth of “lying” to kids
• [70:25] – “Growing out” of Santa and family anecdotes

Episode Tone

Matt Walsh's tone is biting, acerbic, and unfiltered, interspersed with sardonic humor (“He’s permanently posting mid-aneurysm, it seems”), exasperation at GOP ineffectiveness and cultural decay, and at times, deeply personal when discussing family and parental values. He frequently addresses the audience directly, employing analogies and personal anecdote to stress his cultural critiques.

This summary covers the episode’s primary content and rhetorical highlights while omitting advertisements and standard podcast outros.