Lindsey Graham Dead

Summary

The Necessary Conversation

Episode: Lindsey Graham Dead
Release Date: July 12, 2026
Podcast Description: Family therapy through politics

---

Episode Overview

This episode blends political debate, family dynamics, and real-time ideological shifts in the wake of significant 2026 news: the death of Senator Lindsey Graham. Host Chad Kultgen is joined by his mother (Mary Lou), his outspoken, "anti-ICE" and anti-4th of July sister (Haley), and listener participation, all to dissect contentious American issues—including immigration, the war with Iran, race, and Trump-era policy—against a backdrop of personal transformation. Throughout, the hosts challenge each other's entrenched beliefs, with surprisingly genuine moments of reconsideration and empathy.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Lindsey Graham’s Death and His Legacy

• [01:02–09:05]
• Announcement of Lindsey Graham's sudden passing at 71, just after winning his primary for a fifth Senate term.
• Chad provides a comprehensive summary of Graham’s political career, highlighting his early anti-Trump stance and subsequent loyalty to Trump post-2016.
• Mother Mary Lou expresses sadness but credits Graham for his national defense policy and friendship with Trump:

  "I know he has flip-flopped...but at the end, I think he and Trump were great friends. He was very good for our country on...national defense." (09:32, Mary Lou)

• Haley firmly rejects the canonization of Graham:

  "No. He's still a piece of sh*t, just like Charlie Kirk...Lindsey Graham was like, hella homophobic...Being dead doesn't change that." (14:27, Haley)

• The family discusses the implications for Senate power balance and the political maneuvering likely to follow.
• Speculation surrounds Mitch McConnell’s own rumored health crisis—suggestions that his condition is being hidden for strategic reasons.
• Chad contextualizes the politics:

  "They’re trying to hold out until August…so they can have their regular election; otherwise, someone anti-Trump could get in." (11:58, Chad)

2. Haley’s Political Business & ‘Go Woke Go Broke’ Myth

• [02:27–07:19]
• Listener question from Jess (rural Illinois) asks Haley about integrating her political beliefs into her small bakery business.
• Haley’s answer:

  "Day f***ing one. My business is an extension of who I am. I've never not said what I feel." (02:30, Haley)

• Despite MAGA backlash over her anti-4th-of-July post, business is booming—a direct rebuttal to the "go woke, go broke" mantra.
• Mary Lou:

  “From day one, Dad and I always said, ‘Don’t mix your business with politics.’ I really thought it would be the downfall of your business, but it has not in any way.” (04:37, Mary Lou)

• Haley confirms she’ll make Trump-themed cakes for customers ("What I won't make is hate speech." 07:17, Haley), reinforcing a boundary between disagreement and discrimination.

3. Iran War Escalation & Assassination Claims

• [15:49–19:30]
• Trump escalates the ongoing war with Iran, breaking the ceasefire and vowing retribution if assassinated—based on Israeli-supplied (not US-intel) claims that Iran is actively plotting against him.
• Chad, referencing the mainstream media and skepticism regarding Israel’s motives:

  "Most people think that’s Netanyahu manipulating Trump…now it’s personal for Trump."

• Mary Lou is convinced by the reports and Trump's own rhetoric:

  "I do believe it…he has left instructions to bomb Iran at levels they've never seen before if he’s assassinated." (16:14, Mary Lou)

• The family debates the plausibility of Trump ending the war. Haley notes a military expert’s opinion that America rarely actually leaves countries it invades.

4. ICE Shooting & Change of Heart on Immigration Enforcement

• [22:34–29:27]
• The panel reviews the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a long-time undocumented resident, by ICE—an incident largely captured on video and widely condemned.
• Shockingly, Mary Lou’s position shifts after viewing the footage:

  “This makes me sick to my stomach…Yes, [it was murder].” (22:34–22:58, Mary Lou)

• Chad is openly surprised and emotional at his mother’s rare shift:

  “Oh my God. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to continue the show from here.” (23:07, Chad)

• Haley presses Mom to acknowledge the broader pattern, not just a one-off tragedy.
• Mary Lou recounts a hospital conversation with a Chinese immigrant, deepening her new empathy for legal and undocumented immigrants:

  “It was eye opening to me. Yes, good.” (26:26, Mary Lou)

• ICE’s “car-as-weapon” narrative is discussed as a repeated pattern of cover-up in fatal law enforcement incidents.

Notable Quote:

• “[ICE] are grabbing people that they shouldn’t be grabbing. And I don’t like it.” (29:02, Mary Lou)

5. The Nolan Wells Case & American Racism

• [30:20–36:51]
• The family covers the mysterious drowning of Black football player Nolan Wells alongside suspicious behavior from his white friends and deleted phone evidence.
• Mary Lou initially wants to wait for more facts, but recognizes the racial undercurrents:

  “Why aren’t those three white kids that was with him talking?” (31:49, Mary Lou)

• Haley is unequivocal:

  “This was 100% racist...Who does that? They tampered with f***ing evidence because they killed him.” (36:51, Haley)

• Segment discusses the environment of increased white nationalist violence and policy regression under Trump.

6. Elections, Manipulation and the End of Federal Safeguards

• [47:22–51:20]
• Trump fires the last Democratic and Republican members of the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission, leaving federal election oversight vacant.
• Mary Lou tries to rationalize the firings:

  “Because he didn’t think the way we're voting is correct.” (49:18, Mary Lou)

• Chad and Haley persist: this is deliberate sabotage making elections less secure and open to rigging.
• Haley:

  “If blue states do not remain blue after November, you know it’s been rigged, correct?” (50:19, Haley)

7. Environmental Rollbacks and Endangered Species

• [52:20–56:37]
• Trump narrows the definition of "harm" under the Endangered Species Act, opening crucial habitats to mining and development.
• Mary Lou, a monarch butterfly enthusiast, is nearly swayed into breaking from Trump:

  “If he wipes out that much of their environment, they’re dead…Bigger X, Donald Trump. Bigger.” (54:34, Mary Lou)

8. Press Freedom under Trump

• [56:37–59:48]
• DOJ subpoenas New York Times journalists for reporting factual info on Trump’s jet, signaling a direct attack on journalism.
• Chad:

  “We are now living in a country where the president can just subpoena a reporter who reports something he doesn’t like. You see how that’s a problem, right?” (58:46, Chad)

9. Home Life & Reality TV "Simmer Down"

• [41:51–46:47]
• The family discusses “Love Island” and their favorite reality shows as a reprieve from heavier topics, with humorous asides about escapist TV being a coping mechanism.
• Chad describes reality TV as “a sport” where fan engagement determines contestants’ future:

  “There’s no other sport in the world where the people watching…the sport determine how much money you make.” (45:36, Chad)

10. Mary Lou’s Anxiety & Personal Updates

• [63:03–66:15]
• The episode closes with personal updates, especially on the health of the patriarch Bob in the hospital.
• Mary Lou openly discusses anxiety and stress:

  “When I say on here, I'm fading. It's my anxiety…I have great anxiety. I don't have any, or I would meditate.” (65:51, Mary Lou)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “[ICE] are grabbing people that they shouldn’t be grabbing. And I don’t like it.” (29:02, Mary Lou)
• “Day f***ing one. My business is an extension of who I am. I’ve never not said what I feel.” (02:30, Haley)
• “I really thought it would be the downfall of your business, but it has not in any way.” (06:09, Mary Lou)
• “This was 100% racist...They tampered with f***ing evidence because they killed him.” (36:51, Haley)
• “There’s no other sport in the world where the people watching…the sport determine how much money you make.” (45:36, Chad)
• “We are now living in a country where the president can just subpoena a reporter who reports something he doesn’t like. You see how that’s a problem, right?” (58:46, Chad)

---

Timeline – Important Timestamps by Topic

| Timestamp | Topic/Segment | |------------|------------------------------------------------------| | 00:01 | Episode intro, cast introductions | | 01:02 | Lindsey Graham death and legacy | | 02:27 | Listener question—Haley’s politicized business | | 09:05 | Graham’s political legacy, Senate implications | | 15:49 | Iran war and alleged Trump assassination plot | | 22:34 | ICE killing / Mom’s shift in perspective | | 30:20 | Nolan Wells case / Racism in America | | 47:22 | Trump disables federal election oversight | | 52:20 | Trump redefines endangered species protections | | 56:37 | Trump subpoenas NYT reporters, press freedom | | 41:51 | “Simmer Down” / Reality TV and family moments | | 63:03 | Family health & anxiety updates |

---

Conclusion

This episode is a microcosm of American family divisions over politics—one that covers the national news cycle while wrestling with the lived experience of division, empathy, and, occasionally, surprising consensus. Notably, Haley’s unapologetic activism, Chad’s moderation and fact-focused pushes, and Mary Lou’s unexpected moment of clarity on ICE demonstrate that even in polarized times, engagement and direct experience can drive perspective shifts.

---

[Find more episodes and listener questions at: The Necessary Conversation YouTube ]

Transcript

[A]

In the Aftermath of the 2024 election, America is even more divided than before. Half the country fears the end of democracy, and the other half welcomes it. As America inches toward the brink of authoritarian rule. Now more than ever, we must force ourselves to have the necessary conversation. Welcome to the Necessary Conversation. I'm Chad Kolchen. With me is my sister blowing up the Internet with her anti ice cookies, her anti 4th of July sentiment. All of Maga hates her and her business is blowing up because of it. Go woke. Go broke. I don't think so. And my mother, Mary Lou Culchen, MAGA to the core, still supporting the orange one, despite all of his failings. Mom, before we begin today's episode, do you have any ditties?

[B]

Well, it's not a ditty, but it's a rip. I don't know if either one of you have heard that Lindsey Grant is

[A]

going to be our first topic.

[B]

Oh, it is. Oh, I didn't see that.

[A]

Yeah, I did it this morning. I woke up this morning and saw it and.

[B]

Yeah, Sympathy to the family. And he was a good Republican voice.

[C]

He was not. No, he was not.

[A]

We'll get to that.

[B]

Okay, that was my ditty.

[A]

Okay, that's it. Those are the only ditties.

[B]

Yes. And maybe at the very end. I'll update on that if. If we want to do that at the very end.

[A]

Okay. We do have a question from a listener. If you would like to send us a question, all you have to do is record it in a one minute or shorter video format, send it to the necessary conversation podmail.com with the subject line question. Thank you very much. Here is our question for this week.

[B]

Hey.

[D]

Hey, Coach and family. My name is Jess and I am from rural Illinois. And my question is for Haley. Hey, Haley. I have been planning this question for a few weeks now and kind of feels like an opportune time to ask it. So I was curious, at what point in your business did you decide that you were going to meld your political, personal beliefs into your business? And how did you find initially that was received by the rural community that you're in? Thank you very much for the podcast, guys. I have been listening twice a week for probably a year and really appreciate it. I hope Bob is doing well. Love to the family. Thank you,

[B]

sir.

[A]

We have a question for our famous member of the family.

[B]

Look at her face.

[C]

Thank you. Day fucking one. Since the day we opened, maybe I was born this way. I. My business is an extension of who I am. I've never not said what I feel. Anything that's happening in the world affects me. And, you know, I slowly started building this platform. I wanted 10,000 followers on some form of social media before I opened my brick and mortar. I wanted to have some kind of audience because I think, as we know, you cannot survive as a small business without a social media presence. That's just true.

[A]

I'll go you one further. Social media is the primary world, right?

[C]

So I knew going into this, like, I had to start with some kind of presence. I. I don't think twice before I post what I post. It's just inherently who I am. So when you open a business, I think it should be an extension of who you are. You should tell people who you are. It has. You know, today, like, I was at the grocery store and the young woman checking us out said, like, my whole family follows your business. We love what you do, who you are, and everything you stand for. We can't wait to patronize. And I just thought to myself, like, this is actually why I do this, because I would much rather that young woman sit in my bakery, you know, for two hours, chatting it up than some asshole who's wishing for my bakery to burn down. So in essence, like, you get what you put out. I have found my community, like minded people that I want to fucking hang out with. You know, I don't want to be sitting around with a bunch of mahja wishing for me to die. So, like, good riddance. I'm glad you don't want to patronize. So day one, I have always done this.

[A]

All right, there you go. Thank you very much for the question. Again, if you want to send us one, record it in a one minute or shorter video. Sorry, mom, you had something.

[B]

Can I say something? Yes. From day one, dad and I always said, don't mix your business with politics. Do you remember that?

[C]

Everybody does.

[B]

Yeah. We said, like, I guess I never did.

[A]

I never did.

[B]

That's so scary. But then I remember you asking your brother, should you do it? And he said, absolutely.

[C]

What?

[B]

Yes. I remember Chad saying it'd be fine.

[C]

I don't. I didn't ask that.

[B]

Do you remember Chad?

[A]

I don't remember specifically, but I do remember us having conversations about it on this very podcast. Because this kind of thing has happened to you. For those who don't know, Haley and I did a whole episode about this last Wednesday, but she posted a thing on 4th of July saying her and her bakery weren't gonna celebrate 4th of July because the country's in the etc. Etc. MAGA snowflakes got super pissed and this post, which was just a text post, got sucked up into mainstream. Right wing news. Libs of Tick tock took it and then it started getting propagated through all the left wing talking heads and it kind of blew up. But you've done similar things like this a bunch of different times.

[C]

Yeah, we've been open eight years. This is old fucking hat, dude. We've been doing this for a long

[A]

time, but I'm saying you've done it. It has happened multiple times since we've been doing this podcast and we've talked about it every time.

[C]

Right.

[A]

And mom and dad's position was always go woke, go broke. This is going to end your business, etc. Etc. And exactly the opposite is true. Every time it happens, your business explodes. It reaches another level of success.

[B]

I really thought it would. I really thought it would be the downfall of your business, but it has not in any way.

[C]

I just believe, I truly believe in like living authentically. Like, be your self. I don't know, like, there's a ton of people, you know, in our town that are like these performative Christians and it's all like a facade. And like, there's one place in particular that usually rides my coattails, you know, like, why aren't we making love go viral? You know, horseshit like that. And it's because I think people see through, like, this is really who I am. I have a question.

[B]

I have a question though. If a person walked through your bakery and said, would you make me a Donald Trump cake with red, white and blue, this is for my birthday, blah, blah, blah, would you do that?

[C]

We have done that. I just don't post it because I don't want to make those things we've made. I would say probably like three cakes that people asked for. They just wanted Donald Trump on it and like American flags and like, that was it. I'm down to make that. What I won't make is hate speech.

[B]

Perfect.

[C]

It's really that simple.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

All right, well, there you have it. Thanks for the question again. If you want to send us one one minute or shorter video format, send it to the necessaryconversationpod gmail.com. today our first topic is Lindsey Graham, dead. He died Saturday, July 11th at age 71, following a, quote, brief and sudden illness ending 23 years in the U.S. senate. Representing his home state of South Carolina. He served four terms since 2003 and had just won his June primary, expecting to cruise into a fifth term. In the lead up to Trump's first election in 2015, 2016, Graham called Trump a race baiting, xenophobic religious bigot and tweeted, if we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed and we will deserve it. Then, after Trump's 2016 win, Graham completely reversed his position, flip flopping to become one of Trump's biggest supporters in the Senate, saying things like, I have never been more proud of the President and, and suggesting Trump deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. Some of his most important votes include confirming Judges Sotomayor and KAGAN, A rare GOP crossover vote for him, the 2013 Gang of Eight immigration bill, 2017 tax cuts, shepherding Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett in 2018 and 2020, respectively, through that judiciary hearing process and acquitting Trump in both impeachments, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, a Republican, is going to appoint a replacement, restoring the 53 to 47 GOP lead in the. Though the caucus is already shorthanded. With Mitch McConnell hospitalized, dead, we don't know. A special primary is set for August 11, with Nancy May strongly considering a run and Trump saying he has someone in mind. The winner will face a Democrat, Annie Andrews in November. It's very likely going to stay Republican. Mom, what is, what are your thoughts on Lindsey Graham?

[B]

Well, when I first saw it, I thought, that is very sad. It was sudden sympathy to his family. I, I know he has flip flopped on different things, but at the end here, I think he and Trump were great friends. He was very good for our country on like foreign, foreign policies, national defense.

[A]

Can I ask you real quick just to take off those glasses?

[B]

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

[C]

They.

[B]

They kind of glow, don't they?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Look like the Buggles.

[B]

I mean, he was there for a reason and had been a senator that long because he was good at what he did.

[C]

No, that's not why people remain in office.

[B]

And at the end, Trump said he was one of the greatest people and senators that he had ever known.

[C]

Right from Donald Trump, a rapist, a convicted felon, one of the greatest people he's known.

[B]

That's from the President of our United States that did work with him.

[C]

And

[B]

yeah, I think it's sad. Sympathy to his family.

[A]

Why do you think he went from hating Trump to immediately doing whatever he asked

[B]

everybody? I mean, you can change your mind on things, you can change your mind which direction you're going in politics and the flow of the country has changed, I think.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Do you think this is going to. At Least in the short term, until this new person is installed, affect the Senate in any way now that Lindsey Graham is going to be gone here for a couple days, probably before a new person gets appointed and Mitch McConnell is likely dead.

[B]

That part we don't know yet. They would tell us, I would think. But, yes, it might change. It might change the tune of a few things here, but they're not like

[A]

with the Mitch McConnell thing. They're clearly not telling us the entire truth. His wife left and is in China. We've got these weird, cryptic things where Scott Jennings is like, I had a conversation with. For 17 minutes. I think that was like, he probably called Mitch McConnell and the phone call's duration was 17 minutes. But I don't think Mitch McConnell was talking to him.

[C]

There's also report. I. I don't know the validity of this, but I've read that, you know, neighbors in the vicinity were watching the paramedics, like, take him out of the house. And they said, like, his mouth was wide open, his body was limp, he was white as a sheet, and there was no urgency. Like, the paramedics were just kind of like, all right, let's get him in the truck. Alluding that he was already dead.

[B]

Why do you think that they're hiding that? They didn't hide Lindsey Graham's death. Why would they hide?

[C]

They're trying to hold out until, what is it, August 13th?

[A]

It's August 2nd or 3rd, I think when they. This is why Lindsey Graham's district, it doesn't matter if he is alive or dead. They are going to slot somebody else in who will be just like him. The Mitch McConnell seat is a little different. Thomas Massie is in that could be in that race. If they have to have a special election because Mitch McConnell dies before the actual election date. So they have to basically hold out for a month telling us that Mitch McConnell is still alive. Then they get to have their regular election there, which will include the Republican candidates that won their primaries. Massie did not. Massie is very anti Trump. He's been very vocal about the Epstein files and a bunch of other stuff that he doesn't think Trump is doing Right. And so Trump does not want him in that election because then he'll have a Republican senator sitting in the Senate who is against everything he wants to do. And he needs literally every person he can get in the Senate to support his.

[B]

I just don't believe they're lying.

[C]

I just don't believe it. So Even if Mitch McConnell isn't dead, he's clearly not fit.

[B]

Correct.

[C]

To do the job.

[B]

Yes. It's time to move on there. Yes.

[C]

So why aren't we doing that? He is. He is dead.

[A]

Time will tell. Yeah, that ain't no.

[C]

So if it goes all the way to August 3rd, or is that Haley froze up proof at all for you that they're lying?

[B]

What? Haley, what'd you say? You froze up.

[C]

If it goes all the way to August 3rd, is that proof for you that they're lying?

[B]

Could be.

[C]

Without giving you any information about the condition that he's in? Like, if we go all the way to fucking August, isn't that suspicious to you?

[B]

It would be. Yes. Yes.

[A]

But this is also the. The M.O. trump does this too. We don't know what's wrong with him. He just had another hospital visit, another physical. This is like his fourth in a year and a half, but he supposes on experimental.

[B]

We still see him in pictures and going places and things like that.

[A]

Okay, let me ask you this about Lindsey Graham. This tends to happen when a politician dies. They're canonized and, oh, my God, this person was so amazing, we have to remember them and blah, blah, blah. Does it change your opinion of Mall Haley about, like, what his politics were and what he actually did while he was in the Senate? Does his death exonerate him in any way from bad decisions he made?

[C]

No. He's still a piece of, just like Charlie Kirk. Still a piece of. He's just dead. It doesn't change anything.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

Lindsey Graham was, like, hella homophobic. Like, wants to pass legislation against the LGBTQ community every day, all day long. He was a piece of being dad. Doesn't change that.

[A]

All right, there you have it. Let's move on to our next topic. The ceasefire is over. We are now in week 20 of the war with Iran, which Trump said would be over in five weeks, when he started it without congressional consent in February. This week saw Iran attacking commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, Trump launching three rounds of retaliatory strikes. Then, at the NATO summit in Turkey, when Trump was awake, he declared the ceasefire over and called Iranian leadership scum and cuckoo. Also this week, the Wall Street Journal said that Israel shared intelligence indicating Iran was planning to assassinate Trump. The information was not confirmed or publicly verified by US Intelligence, who seems to think the report could be an Israeli effort to sway Trump toward escalation. Also this week, White House official Sebastian Gorka said Trump keeps a letter in the Resolute desk addressed to JD Vance with instructions should something happen to him, Trump suggested it contained standing orders for the military to destroy Iran if he were assassinated. He posted on Friday that the U.S. would decimate and destroy Iran with 1,000 missiles locked and loaded if they tried to kill him. And as a result of Trump escalating the war, as it always does, oil prices went up by 8%.

[D]

Mom,

[A]

do you think Iran is trying to assassinate Trump?

[B]

Yes, I do. And I had it on my iPad and I Googled it and I chat GPT it, but it's in the other room. I can't get it, so I kind of looked on my phone. Yes, he has left instructions to bomb Iran at levels that they have never seen before. If he is assassinated, I do believe it. And I do believe that our security intercepted information that they were going after him.

[A]

They didn't. Israel gave us that information. There was no intercept.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And so most people think that that's Netanyahu manipulating Trump as he has done for this entire war.

[B]

Why would he tell him that?

[A]

To keep the war going.

[B]

Huh?

[A]

Because now he's turned it personal. Trump is nothing else if not a fucking insane narcissist. So if Netanyahu can make the war literally about him, it's not even about us and Iran anymore. It's about Iran versus Trump. Iran is coming to kill you, Trump. Now it's a personal attack on him. And so he's got to stay engaged with it now. He's got to win this war.

[B]

What about these news sources that you guys say you love? It's the Wall Street Journal and also cnn. They're reporting it.

[A]

They're reporting the same thing. I just reported that Israel has told him Iran is coming to kill him.

[B]

So do you not believe that?

[A]

No, I don't. I think Netanyahu is making it up.

[B]

Hmm. I think it's real.

[A]

Okay, let me ask you this, Mom. Do you have any faith that Trump will actually end this war? In week 20, he had the talking points on the table for a ceasefire, for the end of this war. That's all gone. He literally said, that's all over now and we're going to blow the out.

[B]

I said that the other night when we were on bahala on that YouTube. I think it will end. It won't end during his presidency. I do believe that.

[C]

No, it won't.

[A]

Why do you believe that?

[B]

Because that's what he said.

[C]

But you heard everything that Nate told you.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

That, like, historically, when we invade these countries, like, we don't leave. We're still in Iraq.

[B]

I know. And Lindsay and that.

[C]

And that was coming from, like a. A seasoned military vet, an ex Green Beret, like, telling you he lived over there, he fought over there. He's telling you his personal experience and what he thinks is going to happen.

[B]

What was his exact answer? Did he think it would never end? I forgot.

[C]

Correct. Correct.

[B]

Yeah, I did like him.

[C]

That's a credible source. Like, that's someone who was in the thick of it.

[A]

And, mom, you're. You're saying you believe Trump, but literally this week, Trump just said, we are. The ceasefire is over. There's no end to the war in sight. He's not saying we're going to end the war quickly anymore. Now he's saying we're going to bomb them like they've never seen before. And if they kill me, there's a letter in my desk for J.D. vance to keep bombing them. All he's talking about is endless war now.

[C]

It's just insanity, right?

[B]

I believed him in the beginning when he said it would be quick, it would be five to six weeks. We know it has not now. I have a lot of doubt. A lot of doubt. I just feel. I feel sad for our soldiers. I feel sad for the military people that are all involved in this now, too.

[A]

Yeah, but imagine, like, if anyone else in your life, imagine if, like your horse people at the barn, they had Shiny in a. In his pen and. Or what do they call that, where he's fenced in, you know what I mean?

[C]

His pasture.

[A]

Pasture. And let's say, like, he's supposed to be taken out of there every once in a while.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And they don't do it. They don't do it for a week. We'll do it next week. They don't do it for two weeks. We'll do it next week. Don't do it for three. We'll do it next week. Don't do it for four, 20 weeks in a row. They don't do what they're going to. What they say they're going to do for Shiny. Would Shiny still be at that barn?

[B]

No, he would not.

[A]

Okay, but Trump is still your president.

[B]

That's kind of a weird little analogy, but I see where you're going.

[A]

No, it's somebody promising you something and lying 20 weeks in a row.

[B]

I know.

[C]

Kick his ass to the curb.

[B]

I'm. I'm getting close.

[C]

Exit strategy. He's just lying to us left and right.

[A]

Okay, let's move on to our next topic. ICE murders again on Tuesday. This week, ICE murdered Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. A 52 year old Mexican national and home builder who lived in the US for 35 years without a criminal record. Araujo was driving his construction crew through Houston when ICE agents shot him in his car. DHS said Salgado Araujo ignored commands, rammed an ICE vehicle and, quote, weaponized his vehicle to run over an officer who fired in self defense. But DHS is refusing to release the shooting officer's name and they claim none of the officers were wearing body cameras, conveniently which DHS blames on Democrats and the government. Shutdown borders are. Tom Homan said Friday that if officers acted outside policy or illegally, they'll be held accountable. The three passengers in the car say the ICE account is a lie, that an officer fired almost immediately. No agents were ever in front of the van, and shots came from the side of the car when an ICE officer reached into the car. Video shows the van briefly stopping, then reversing slowly as officers chase it. ICE director David Venturella confirmed that Araujo was not even the target of the ICE pursuit. The nor were any of the men in the van. Araujo was in the process of obtaining legal status. Mom. As you say, the right way. The DHS Inspector General and Harris County DA are investigating, though local officials say federal authorities are withholding key evidence and Mexico's President Sheinbaum is threatening legal action today. No charges or arrests have taken place in the cases of the executions of Alex Preddy or Renee Good at the hands of ICE agents. Mom. Do you believe ICE when they say Lorenzo Araujo was trying to ram them with his car?

[D]

No.

[A]

What?

[B]

This makes me sick to my stomach.

[A]

Hang on. So in every other case you've believed it. This one you're not.

[B]

I saw the clip.

[A]

Okay? Okay.

[B]

This time when I watched it and saw it made me sick to my stomach.

[A]

Fantastic. So do you believe this was murder?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Holy.

[C]

Okay, so you're a little bit anti ice, right?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Oh, my God. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to continue the show from here.

[B]

I've also had some happy medicine today. No, I'm teasing. Yeah. It made me sick to my stomach when I read it and saw it.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. And. And that. So what transpired is like the majority of this is what's happening. Like they are innocent people. That is the majority of what? Of who they're taking.

[B]

Of who they're from. But some are not. The criminals that do kill people here that shouldn't be here anyway that have been in and out of Jail so many times they need to go back.

[C]

Remember our discussion with Nate?

[B]

Yes.

[C]

Where he also concurred, the majority of immigrants that they're going after are just normal people. If they were going after the criminals, we would hear about cartels being taken down. We would hear about these trafficking rings being taken down. That's not what we're hearing about.

[B]

Right.

[C]

Left and right. It's like parents and their children trying to go to school. This guy has been here 35 years trying to get citizenship.

[B]

I would have liked to have got into that cartel stuff more with him. Maybe we can another day, but. And then something happened to me at the hospital today. I can't believe I did this. I just started interviewing a person. Okay. What? This lady was in Dad's room helping your father. Okay. I said, oh, hello. How long have you been doing this? She was an aide. She said, one year. I said, oh, what country are you from? She said, China. I said, oh. I said, are you a US Citizen? She said, no, ma'. Am. She said, I have a green card. I said, oh, that's good. She said, yes. She said, I had to get a student visa first, which was two or three years. Then the green card was for five or seven years. She said, during that time, I couldn't even apply for U.S. citizenship yet.

[A]

Right.

[B]

She said, and each one of those times when I had to renew with so much money, like 350, 750 up to thousand something, she goes, now I'm here, and I want my degree and I want my college, and I have to go in all the time and tell them where I am, what I'm doing, blah, blah, blah. She said, it will take me maybe six more years for citizenship.

[C]

Right.

[A]

And so. Right. We've been trying to explain that to you, I know, through the entire course of the show, but now I got

[B]

it right out of somebody's mouth.

[D]

Right.

[A]

Hospital, which generally is what is required, I think, to get you to kind of change your mind or see the other side of any of these conversations we're having is to meet somebody in that position or who represents whatever the issue is we may be discussing. So does that change your mind at all?

[B]

Yes, it did. And I can't believe I just sat there and kind of interviewed her. And, I mean, I didn't say anything about our podcast. I was just asking questions because I knew she didn't have citizenship.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And then at the very end, somebody else was starting to come in, and I turned and looked at her. I said, are you afraid? And she said a little and then she left.

[A]

There you go. And this woman is up there saving dad's life.

[B]

That was eye opening to me. Yes, good.

[A]

I'm glad that it was. And I'm glad that you're having this reaction to this ICE murder. I'm shocked by it, actually. I was fully prepared. I had a whole bunch of questions that I was going to ask you. Now they're all invalid.

[C]

So now maybe stop calling them illegal aliens. Maybe we just call them immigrants. Start using the right verbiage. Because that is also a large part of this. Like treating these people as other or like you're not like me is part of the danger that they're experiencing. It's, it's. They are just people. Like, she's just a person who came here, you know, to try to make a better life.

[B]

I thought I was going to take down just the bad people. I thought they were going to take down the people that had been in prison, had got out. Now they've raped someone or now they've done something bad again. I thought those people were going back. I did not think they would be going after people like this.

[A]

But Mom, I mean, I don't know how you're saying that. They literally murdered Renee Good and Alex Preddy. You saw a video of it. Neither of those people are a, they're, they're U.S. citizens.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And B, they weren't committing any crimes.

[C]

So do you feel differently about them as well?

[B]

A little bit now? Yes.

[A]

Okay. And now let me ask you the bigger question is do you feel differently about ice? Do you think, for example, they are telling the truth when you saw the video? You know, this guy did not try to ram them with his car. But that's what they're saying to try and justify the killing. And now they've said that about Renee Goode. They say it all the time. The same thing was true of that cop story that we did a couple of weeks ago where the cops killed a 1 year old baby in the backseat of a car and then said they were trying to ram us with the car. That now seems to be the party line for any law enforcement official who shoots somebody in a car. They say they were going to ram us. Do you believe them when they say that?

[B]

This last one I did not because I really zeroed in and watched it. And then there's a lot of people, a lot more people, too. Giving information about it made me sick. Sick to my stomach.

[A]

So what do you think should happen, mom, to the ICE agents that killed him?

[B]

Repercussions for sure. What?

[C]

Tried?

[B]

Yeah, tried.

[A]

Okay. Do you think they will be?

[B]

Probably not, 100% not. Yeah.

[A]

And that nobody has been tried. No charges have been brought for Alex Preddy or Renee Good.

[C]

And that's because of Donald Trump.

[B]

And so now in my mind, ice, when it first started, I thought, okay, they're going to get the people that have gotten right. Jail, prison, that shouldn't be gone. But now they've gone and they're grabbing people that they shouldn't be grabbing. And I don't like it. Makes me sick. I don't like it.

[C]

So you've changed your mind.

[B]

Yeah, I have a friend they grabbed.

[C]

So can I send you some fuck ice cookies?

[B]

Might eat one or two. Yeah.

[A]

Oh, you got to wait until next Sunday. I got to see that Trump has said nothing about this. Why do you think he doesn't have the same attitude you do?

[B]

Because he don't give a. Trump didn't say something.

[A]

But a guy below him, Tom Holman, the.

[B]

No, it wasn't Holman. I have it on my iPad. I should have brought it. Right.

[A]

But it's not Trump.

[B]

No, it was someone else, but they said that it was. It was not good and they didn't stand behind it. And, and that.

[A]

But not Trump. No, it's not going to say anything about this.

[C]

Yeah, just like they still haven't said anything about all the white supremacists in Washington on the Fourth of July.

[B]

And that's the one, too, that somebody else said something but not Trump about it. That was the one I was thinking about, too. It's on my iPad. Darn it. It's okay. All right.

[A]

Well, this is good. Progress being made. I'm pretty shocked by this. To our next topic, Nolan Wells. This week, more details emerged about the Nolan Wells case. Wells was an 18 year old Southwest Mississippi community college football player who vanished during a July 4th boat trip to Horn island, an underdeveloped. Sorry. An undeveloped island off the Mississippi coast. With no staff or communications. His friends returned without him, saying he chose to stay behind and plan to catch a ride with another group. He was last seen on the beach around 3pm his body was recovered on Monday. Sheriff John Ledbetter says authorities suspect drowning and have no evidence yet of foul play, though the investigation is ongoing. His mother tracked his phone while friends claimed he was still on the island. Her tracking app showed the phone back on the mainland at a friend's house, and she said it took convincing before the friends handed over the phone to her. When the Family examined it. Texts and Snapchat messages appeared deleted. Both accounts were empty, despite Snapchat retaining content for 24 hours. Sharpton also noted the friends didn't voluntarily tell authorities they had his phone and keys. As a video also emerged online showing an argument in which, per Wells family attorney Ben Crump, Wells can be heard saying, give me my freaking phone, Mom. Do you think Nolan Wells was murdered by his friends?

[B]

I can't answer that, but it sure seems like foul play or something. Why did the friends have the phone? Why does he show up in the water?

[C]

Why did they delete from his.

[B]

Why did they delete it now? I do. I did read the families doing their own autopsy, which is good. There's a lot of what ifs and none of it makes sense. And why aren't those three white kids that was with him talking?

[A]

Hang on a minute. Are you saying you are recognizing the racism that is present in this story?

[B]

Everyone is. His mother said it. I saw his mother on tv. I saw her when they asked her the question. She just kind of, you know, you could tell she didn't outright really say, but she raised her eyebrows like, no, of course.

[A]

I think everybody thinks that. I'm just. I'm shocked that you are kind of seeing this, I guess. Let me ask you, do you think seeing ICE do all these deportations, yanking people their houses now just like gunning a guy down in his car in broad daylight, all of these people not white. And primarily like the imagery we are seeing of ICE is them harassing, killing, now abusing there. How many people have died in ICE detention? We don't know, including kids, all of whom are not white. Do you think that story, that narrative that now exists all over the United States has any effect on things like this?

[B]

I. I never looked at it with ICE that way.

[C]

I really never have.

[A]

But it's all part of the same

[B]

ice, like non citizen or citizen.

[A]

Right.

[B]

But it seems like stories like this where if there are black or white and one has died and the others didn't. Why?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Do you think these his friends or whatever? I mean, friends at this point, I don't know if you want to call them that, but the people he was there with, do you think there's going to be any accountability? Do you think they will be tried?

[B]

There has to be. There has to be.

[C]

There has to be, like an independent investigation because, you know, Mississippi is notoriously racist. And I think, like, the police officers and involved are like, oh, yeah, no foul pay. We know this was a hate crime. Like the minute it dropped and you saw the photos, you know, this is racially fueled. It's 100%. It is. What?

[B]

Yes, it was four friends hanging out with their arms around each other.

[D]

Right.

[C]

But acknowledge the black kid did not come home. The three white kids did.

[B]

Right. Somebody needs to be held accountable and they need to get to the bottom of it. But when I looked at the photo, I just thought four kids hanging out.

[C]

But you don't now. But now you can acknowledge that there's some racism involved.

[B]

I'm not going to acknowledge that until we get the story from the three kids, the other kids that were with.

[A]

Right. But what I'm saying is, the question I'm asking is, do you think that there is going to be a valid investigation into this? Are we ever going to get those kids stored?

[B]

They have an attorney. There has to be.

[A]

No, there doesn't have to be. It's up to the, whoever the local law enforcement is, they're the ones who would bring this charge.

[B]

Well, there's an autopsy and they have a great attorney.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I watched his mom and dad.

[A]

Cops of this area have already said there's no foul play.

[C]

Right.

[B]

Brought me to tears. That was their son. That was their baby son.

[A]

Yeah. This is horrific. I mean, but like, this happens all the time in this country since Trump has, has gotten back into office. The, the crimes that are committed against people of color are through the roof.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

I think there are crimes both ways, too.

[C]

There are people of color and specifically trans people. They're being like, killed. They're being murdered.

[B]

I don't think they're being targeted the way that.

[C]

Yes, they are. They are 100%. We just saw four supremacists march in D.C. and our president said nothing. So to sit there and, and think that that has nothing to do with all of these stories is absurd. People of color being targeted everywhere and they're, they're trying to feed you with like Islamophobia as well, again, people of color traditionally. So it's like there's this air that's like we're living in a white nationalist society. That's what they're trying to build. They're trying to make you not like people because they're people of color, because their religion isn't Christianity. That's what they're trying to achieve. And all of these things that are happening just are part of that. This was 100 racist. This was racially fueled. He was the only black kid and they killed him. They deleted the. On his phone. Who does that? They tampered with fucking evidence because they killed him.

[B]

I want it to for sure. Let's have a trial. We need a trial. I feel sad for his mom and dad. I feel sad for him. It's just horrific, as we all do.

[A]

But I think you're missing, like, the bigger picture here is this isn't just an isolated event. This has to do with ice. This has to do. Do you remember when Trump first got into office the second time around, one of the first things they did get rid of dei, fire all of the non white people, all the women, roll back all the LGBTQ protections, any of their representation, and any kind of like, you know, public facing, like, placards that kind of. They're ripping all those down everywhere. So it comes from the administration, it comes from Project 2025, Stephen Miller, all that. They are actively trying to do this, and it's working. Because when you see something like this, this isn't ice, These aren't government officials. This is just US citizens out there living their lives. But that same kind of racist rhetoric is. It's now in the fabric of just like hanging out on the Fourth of July. This happened on the Fourth of July. This is how America is being celebrated.

[B]

But I hear what you guys are saying, but I have seen it the other way too. How about the girl that was on the train, that was an immigrant, the white beautiful girl where the black guy came from behind. And you know what?

[C]

That's not. That's not racism. That's just like a crime that was

[B]

committed and he called White B. He said White B and then killed her.

[A]

Yeah, I'm not. We're not condoning those crimes. Obviously, this is a different thing. This is clearly three white teenagers. Maybe there were others involved too. I don't know, colluding to. I'm not saying that they, like, murdered this dude in cold blood. We don't know. But certainly something happened that they are trying to cover up their participation in it, whatever that may be. Maybe it was an accidental thing. Who the hell knows? But they are now covering it up because of their involvement in it.

[B]

I pray for his family that they find the correct answers. I feel sad for his mom and dad. Terrible.

[A]

Of course, this is a horrifying thing.

[C]

Hot off the heels of that, there was a family that posted on their social media. It's like this family, I think maybe they travel or, I don't know, they just post, like, what they do. And it's two small children, a mom and a dad, and they were paddle boarding. I Don't know if it was the same. I saw this lake or whatever, but I feel like it's. It's relevant. They're paddle boarding, and she has, like, a GoPro facing her and her family. So you're seeing them paddle board, and you hear off in the distance, people making monkey noises and saying, just swim you. And then she pans over and you see a black kid in a life vest saying, I'm gonna die. I don't know how to swim. And then these white kids taunting him who are supposed to be his friends. So the mom takes it upon herself to go over there and, like, lets him grab onto her paddle board and said, we'll get you to shore, basically. But these things are happening, and it is 100% because that kid was black. The rest of the kids there were white. Why are you making monkey noises? Why are you doing that? That's racist. And that's what's happening. And so there needs to be some kind of education where thank God that mom helped and wasn't just, like, watching it. You know, like, you have to teach your kids to step in. You have to step in. And so anytime we talk about ice, when I say, like, I would be there for that person, that's your responsibility as a human to help other humans in danger. And so this idea that, like, I'm. I'm not gonna do anything or, like, just rolling a camera, I mean, rolling your phone, you know, you're documenting. But, like, you must help these people. You know, if somebody just would have stepped in for Noah Wells, maybe he'd still be alive. But we live in such a racist country that that shit's happening and people just look away.

[B]

It's evil. Our. Our world and. And country.

[C]

I mean, yes, racism is evil, but,

[A]

mom, when you're saying it's evil, you're saying our country is evil. Why? Who is leading that country?

[B]

We know who is right now.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

There's just people on both sides, and nobody's going to agree on things.

[A]

Bad people on both sides. Now you're trumping here. Bad people on both sides. But the guy at the top and everybody he surrounded himself with is. Is giving the identity to our country. That's how that works. Okay, all right, let's move on to our simmer down. Who do you think is going to win the Love island season finale tonight?

[C]

I love the simmer down is just like, pertains to you because you know that mom and I don't even watch Love island, but I do have a whole bakery full of people who watch it. And according to them, Brennan is going to take it home.

[A]

It's Tribenicity.

[B]

I was going to say Tiffany, Mary Louise, Jack. I don't even know anybody's name.

[A]

None of those are on the show.

[C]

Bryce and Trinity, Tribunicity, to my knowledge. They showed me photos. So it's basically just like a bunch of models.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

On an island, like, coupling up and

[A]

twerking all day long.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So Bryce and Trinity are models who got together and people like them because she's kind of like your, you know, American. She works at Home Depot or some shit.

[A]

They were a friends to lovers place.

[D]

Okay.

[C]

Oh, okay.

[A]

And he played a very for the right reasons game. They do a thing in the middle of the season called Casa Amore where they split. Everybody's coupled up, then they split them up. They send the guys to a separate location.

[C]

Right.

[A]

And a whole bunch of new women come in and, like, lap dance them and. And then a whole bunch of new guys come in for the women. And he played a very for the right reason sad boy game when he was in Casa. Like, oh, I miss Trinity. I can't be here.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And that got him a lot of favor with her. Now they are together. She is, I believe, third or second or third right now on the overall cumulative tick tock and Instagram follower count. She has crossed the 2 million mark, cumulative, which is fantastic. So, yes, I believe they'll win. You guys don't watch it. What are your favorite reality shows, each of you of all time?

[B]

Long time ago. Survivor.

[C]

I also. I also watched Survivor for about five years and then I stopped. I don't. It's been going on for what, season 50, 72 years or.

[A]

Yeah, started in 2001. It's been on for about 25 years.

[B]

I do remember Chad saying way back then, reality TV probably will never work. I remember.

[A]

I never said that.

[B]

Yeah, you did.

[A]

Absolutely didn't. I was enamored with it. From Real.

[C]

My favorite. My favorite ever is the OG probably seasons 1, 2, and 3 of Real World on MTV. There was something, like, pure about it back then.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

I don't think it was scripted.

[A]

The players were back then a little less polished now. There is a patina to all reality players. They understand how to, like, act for the cameras and stuff.

[C]

Well, I have that question for you. So, Brinity, is it all. So Bryce is Bryce. It's all fake.

[A]

Bryce is playing. I'm not saying that. No. This is something that everybody. When I say reality TV is a sport and people are playing the game to get Instagram followers and stuff. Everybody that I tell this to initially usually is like, well, so none of it's real. None of the love's real. They're just playing a game. The thing that makes it interesting is it's both. You have to be good at the game to make it to the end, but also you can really fall in love. People get married on these shows, have kids, et cetera, et cetera. That's what makes it more interesting to me than baseball or football is. It's not like it's all interwoven. You must be good at the navigation of, like, producer manipulation. How what we call the fourth audience is going to perceive you. That's us at home. There's no other sport in the world where the people watching the sport determine how much money you make. We are the ones who put that number next to your head on Instagram, which basically means how much money you're going to make for the next five years. No other sports like that. That's why.

[C]

Isn't it just like a masterclass and manipulation?

[A]

Yes.

[C]

I think, too, right now, it's all a farce. Like, those personalities could be completely made up. You just don't know.

[A]

That's rare. Harry Jowsey does that, and he's arguably the most successful male dating player of all time. But it's rare that you will see a completely fabricated character. More often than not, it's like pro wrestling. It's some character that's based on your actual Persona pushed a little bit this way or that way, but nobody. When they walk into a reality TV show and there's like, 20 cameras on you, nobody is themselves. And the edit you're seeing is not everything that happens. So the producers as well, are complicit in the, you know, production of, like, a false version of what you're seeing.

[C]

I mean, I know that this was

[B]

the longest simmer down ever, but. Sorry.

[A]

No.

[B]

I would like to say one thing about that. I think right now people's lives are so messed up that they do like to tune in and watch other people the way they live and, like. Yeah. And see how bad their lives are or how good their lives are.

[C]

Well, I hope it's up.

[A]

Love island is like, they all live in this neon Barbie house. It's very escapist. Their lives are not bad in any way. They're all like, 21, 22. They have millions of followers on Tick Tock now. They're gonna be just fine. Let's move on to Trump Rigging our elections. On Thursday night, Trump fired the two remaining Democratic commissioners on the U. S. Elections Assistance Commission, while Republican Christy McCormick resigned. Some reports say she was asked to. With the fourth seat already vacant since Republican Don Palmer left in April, the agency now has zero commissioners and cannot act. The EAC created after the it was created after the 2000 election. It distributes federal election funds, test certifies voting systems and maintains the national voter registration form. The White House said the president can remove people not totally aligned with the important task of securing America's elections, citing last month's Supreme Court decision allowing removal of independent agency officials. Notably, the commission had refused to change the national voter registration form to require proof of citizenship, as Trump demanded in a 2025 executive order that a judge blocked. With midterm planning underway, the only federal agency devoted solely to the election administration is now disabled. Democrats Senator Alex Padilla and Representative Joseph Morell called an attempt to take over elections with partisan loyalists and election deniers and voter advocacy groups called it reckless and irresponsible. Republicans have been largely quiet. The pushback so far has come almost entirely from Democrats, while the White House defends it as election security. Mom, why do you think Trump fired everybody who oversees federal elections?

[B]

Well, what I just read right now, which was also on my iPad, it says he cannot simply install replacement commissioners on his own. Commissioners must be nominated by the president but then confirmed by the Senate. And no more than two can come from the same party.

[C]

And now there are none.

[A]

There's zero. He doesn't have to nominate anybody.

[B]

No, he will. And then the Senate's going to approve it again, right?

[A]

He doesn't have to. There's no one to do that job now. He doesn't have to nominate anyone. But also if he does, it's going to be like people in positions everywhere else throughout the government, these weird loyalists to him who will do whatever the he says. And now he's still got control of the Senate. They will put that person through. That's what happens in every case. So my question is, why do you think he fired everyone who oversees federal elections?

[B]

Because he didn't think the way we're voting is correct.

[A]

Uh huh.

[C]

What's.

[A]

Why he won.

[B]

But that's it. What?

[A]

He won the election. Why does he think that?

[B]

Because in some of those states he should have won. He didn't.

[A]

Okay. You don't think he's trying to rig the election?

[B]

No.

[C]

Okay, so he can't be serious.

[A]

He's. Well, let me ask you this then. Do you Think firing the only people who have oversight over federal elections makes elections more or less secure?

[B]

Probably less.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay.

[D]

Right.

[C]

And they did that on purpose, so.

[A]

Yeah. Why would he want to make the election less secure?

[B]

I thought because they're going to reinstate.

[C]

He's not. He wants no one overseeing anything so they can steal ballots, do whatever. They could do whatever they want. There's no one to oversee it.

[B]

I swear. What I read is they're going to reinstate and then people vote on it.

[C]

If blue. If blue. States do not remain blue after November, you know it's been rigged, correct?

[B]

Not necessarily.

[A]

You could say, if California turns red, would you say it's rigged?

[B]

Probably. Okay. California will never be red.

[A]

I mean, not at least for the next. Probably 20 years or so. Who knows? Can flip flop, but. Okay, so you don't see this in any way problematic or that it's evidence that he's trying to rig the election?

[B]

No.

[A]

Okay. In conjunction with the. Having the FBI steal ballots from Georgia, continued investigations into the 2020 election, which has already been investigated multiple times and found no wrongdoing. The SAVE act, all kinds of stuff. You don't think all these things, these tamperings that he's trying to do with elections, the redistricting in all the red states, all that kind of stuff, you don't think any of that has anything to do with him trying to tilt the table in his favor?

[B]

No. The way that we vote has never been good. No one has ever liked it. It needs to be changed. What? Electoral College, all of that. No one's ever liked that.

[A]

No, that's fine. You're right. He's not trying to get rid of the Electoral College. That's a different thing, right?

[B]

Yeah, but.

[C]

But up until now, like, we've all just gone to the polls and voted. You could mail in your ballots. Like, we didn't have anybody questioning whether or not these votes were valid until Donald Trump. It all revolves around him. You see that, right?

[B]

I don't think any president has ever liked the way that we have voted. What?

[A]

Why do you think Trump doesn't like it? He's won the presidency twice.

[B]

Needs to be a better system.

[C]

They know that if we have free and fair elections come November, they're all. They know that they've actually said that.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Damn. Got a hardcore eye roll. Let's move on to what will be our last topic. Trump kills endangered animals. On Friday, Trump reversed decades of environmental law by narrowing the definition of harm under the 1973 Endangered Species act, which now claims that complete destruction of an animal's habitat no longer counts as harmony unless a protected animal is directly killed or injured. So now critical animal habitats are open for drilling, mining, and real estate development. Environmental groups note habitat loss is the number one cause of extinction. The center for Western Priorities called it, quote, one of the most horrific attempts to harm wildlife in American history and a gift to the oil barons. Species now at risk of being wiped out entirely because of Trump's new policies include the northern spotted owl, Florida manatee and panther wolverine, Atlantic salmon, and the monarch butterfly. Mom, why do you think Trump is letting oil companies and real estate development companies take over land that protects endangered species?

[B]

All about the money. I don't know why he would do that.

[C]

Because he's a greedy piece of. He cares about no one and no thing other than himself.

[B]

Huge ex.

[C]

It's okay for you to walk away now. You're most.

[B]

I'm getting away.

[C]

Just walk away.

[B]

I'm getting close.

[A]

What will you do, mom, if the monarchs go extinct because of Trump?

[B]

You can't say that because of Trump. It's got environmental issues and things.

[C]

No, they are protected right now. They are protected. He's taking away their protections. What happens is he. You have these protections in these areas so they can rebuild the population. Okay?

[B]

Correct.

[C]

You understand that they are protecting some of their sites?

[B]

Yes.

[C]

No. He's going to allow people to drill for oil and set up real estate on these protected lands. It will kill them all. Right now they're repopulating. That ends. They all die.

[B]

There are people planting milkweed to help them. But what I'm saying is. But more big X, Donald Trump. Bigger.

[A]

There are people like you who engage with the monarch butterflies as they migrate. You plant milkweed in your backyard, they come, they lay their babies. You help them become butterflies. You send them on their way. Right?

[B]

Tag them. Yeah.

[A]

How many of those do you do per year?

[B]

60 to 150.

[A]

Okay, so do you think 150 monarchs is going to repopulate the whole species?

[B]

If a lot of people help, it has helped some. But then if he wipes out that much of their environment, they're dead.

[A]

And that's what he has just done. He signed that basically saying that harm now does not constitute complete destruction of an animal's habitat.

[B]

I need to look exactly where he's ripping that up.

[C]

Does it matter?

[A]

Everywhere. It's everywhere. The law from 1973 says that you can't basically do harm to endangered species.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So he now got together with his cronies and they redefined what harm is. Now it is only killing or injuring an animal. So complete obliteration of their natural habitat is no longer harm legally. So you can do that, you can go in and bulldoze wherever these animals live. And as long as you don't kill an animal, an individual animal, but even if you do, it's just a fine, so no one gives a fuck. Now they're going to go in and bulldoze all of these animals habitats, they're going to fucking slaughter them all, pay their fine, build their buildings, drill their oil, and those animals are dead forever. Including probably your favorite animal other than horses, I would guess. Monarch butterfly.

[B]

I know. Getting close.

[C]

Just walk away. You've been so close now for weeks and weeks. Like what are we up to? 152x's you can just walk away. You can disagree with all this and say, I don't agree with any of this. We need a new president. Impeach.

[B]

Getting close.

[A]

Well, we have time for our one last topic. Maybe this will get you there. This week, Trump tried to end the freedom of the press. Four New York Times journalists, Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmidt, received subpoenas from federal agents. The subpoenas came from the Justice Department, issued by Southern District of New York U.S. attorney Jay Clayton, who Trump just nominated to be the Director of National Intelligence. The subpoenas were issued because the reporters reported factually correct information about Trump still using the old Air Force One because his new $400 million Qatari gifted jet lacked necessary security features. Trump has reportedly been throwing a temper tantrum over the reporting. The New York Times is fighting the subpoenas with its top lawyer, David McGraw, saying federal agents on reporters doorsteps should, quote, shock the conscience of any American. Mom, do you think reporters should be subpoenaed for reporting factual information about Trump?

[B]

Yeah. What is he trying to pull out of them? I don't understand this.

[A]

He's trying to scare the out of all journalists so they don't report negatively about him. This is, it's a very negative piece of information that came out. He accepted this Qatari jet.

[B]

Right.

[A]

We all know about that bribe essentially, but he's still flying around on the old Air Force One because of security measures. That jet cannot be. They said it was going to cost a billion dollars to retrofit and all that. They still haven't done that. They don't know what's on that jet. There could be listening device. There could be anything on that fucking jet. And so his security is not letting him get on it. New York Times just reports this. And by the way, it's fucking clear when you see the old Air Force One land on a Runway and he gets off of it, it's like we're seeing him use the old jet. It's not even like, you know, inside reporting or like leaks or anything.

[B]

Right. It's the truth. Right.

[A]

We can see you on the old jet, you dipshit.

[B]

It's the truth.

[A]

But now he's like anybody who even talks about this in the press subpoena. And so now those people are going to have to go before some panel talk about how they got their information. All this. It's just a measure to scare journalists. That's all this is.

[B]

Yeah. That's crazy. They won't stop talking. That's crazy.

[A]

But it's whether they do or don't. We are now living in a country where the president can just subpoena a reporter who reports something he doesn't like. You see how that's a problem, right?

[B]

Big yeah.

[A]

Do you think Trump still believes in freedom of speech? He says he does, but he's subpoenaing.

[B]

Subpoening, subpoena.

[A]

So I'll ask again. Do you think Trump supports freedom of speech?

[B]

I do.

[A]

So he tried to get Jimmy Kimmel fired. He has his FCC chair threatening to close down networks who don't do what he wants. He's now subpoenian ying subpoena New York Times reporters. How is any of that a supporter of freedom of speech?

[B]

Well, when they come forward and tell the truth,

[A]

how is any of what I just described representative of a person who supports freedom of speech?

[B]

None. So maybe he does not.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

He also got the fifi player back, right?

[C]

The soccer player, The Fifi, the Trump curse.

[A]

That was going to be a topic this week. Yeah. There was a guy who got red carded on the. On the USA team, which means he was going to be suspended for the next game. Trump called up the head of FIFA and was like, he needs to play. And they put him back on.

[B]

Back on.

[A]

Because FIFA is incredibly corrupt, as is Trump.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Maybe money exchange hands, I don't know. But then they lost. America got just erased in the very next game. And everybody's like, it's the Trump curse. Just like when he went to the basketball game.

[C]

Yeah, he's a piece of in New York lost. I don't really. I don't really sports ball, but I was rooting for Mexico. I was kind of sad to see them go. And then Norway. And then they lost. I heard that they donated whatever money they made, you know, from FIFA to Palestine.

[A]

Norway did.

[C]

It's what I've read.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[A]

Well, that wraps up our show. Progress was made here.

[C]

Well, just leave.

[A]

Bye.

[B]

I do go in a little bit.

[A]

No, I think you're. I don't know if it was because we went on Nate's show Valhalla, which I. I believe you can see. Our live thing is in our. If you click on our live shows. I think it's in our thing, if you want to see it. We went on the show Valhalla vft. Nate was gracious enough to host us and ask mom some questions and kind of, I think, reframe things we've talked about on this show a lot, but because it comes from me and Haley, you've dismiss it out of hand. But when he says it, you kind of listen. Same thing with Hasan Piker. And I think that was, like, incredibly helpful. And yeah, I'm. I. At least today I'm very shocked by your reaction to the Ice murder.

[C]

Fuck Ice.

[A]

Say it, Mom. Say Fuck Ice.

[C]

Fuck Ice.

[B]

Chad, I love you. Haley, I love you. Bob, I love you.

[C]

Can you say it? Just say it one time.

[B]

Fuck.

[C]

Ice. Just say it.

[B]

No. Yeah, because the last I do it.

[A]

Well, let her come to it in her time. She's gonna show up at some point on one of these episodes with, like, dyed blue hair, face tattoos. It's gonna be great.

[C]

I can say I have a shirt that says Ice. You want that one? Or Chingle Amigra?

[B]

No, I want a Nate hat. Wasn't Nate gonna send me a hat?

[A]

Well, we'll see. Thank you all for joining us. Haley, I love you. Thank you for doing this. Congratulations on all of your successes that libs of TikTok have heaped upon you this past week. Mom, I love you. Thank you for doing this. I know you've got a busy schedule, especially with dad, who I also love and hope that he is feeling better when he comes back home today.

[C]

Mom, I love you, Chad. I love you. Tell Dad I love him. To anybody watching, that follows. Hive Bakery. Our merch is tapped out. I've restocked. I've placed a giant order. I'll drop it on social media when it's in.

[B]

Try to save one thing if you have it by Saturday. For my friend's daughter. For Nancy's daughter coming in. If you can save one merch. Real quick update. Here's what's going on with Bob. Had one. UTI got that fixed. It came back reoccurring, took him back to the hospital, getting ready to come home. He was all fixed. They decided to do some type of a neuro zoom meeting along with an MRI of his spine. From there, they wouldn't dismiss us because they thought there were some vertebrae in the top of the necks that were pinching, maybe making his legs more. Not able to do stuff that he's not able to do. From there, they wouldn't dismiss. If I would have dismissed, I would have had to sign ourselves out. So then they wanted us to go to an evaluation at a bigger hospital that is interconnected to them. I said, sure, we've been there three days. The first lady that came through the door said, your operation will be. I said, excuse me? I said, we're supposed to have an eval. And she goes, oh, oh, that's right. After we had the eval with the doctor, we did a family group around and with the family members, with our primary care doctor, with a relative that has had this operation where they wanted to fuse almost five vertebrae. We and Bob decided no. So I'm going to bring him home and we're going to do rehab at home again. I just don't think he would have made it through a four hour operation. And neither does Haley or Chad. So at this point he's coming back home with the care we have at home. And I feel like I've been in hell. So that's our story.

[A]

Well, I'm glad he's coming back home and at least that decision has been made. So some anxiety has been alleviated hopefully.

[B]

Yep.

[D]

Yep.

[A]

With all that said, I will be here at 4pm PST doing a live show. I assume this will be solo.

[C]

No, I'll just do it. Six o' clock me. Right?

[A]

Don't seem so happy about it. Jesus Christ.

[C]

I'm just, I'm honestly like tired. I've gotten like three hours of sleep in the last week. You don't though, like physically working 13 hour shifts in a kitchen, like just train up and like I'm, I'm beat. But I'll be here at 6.

[B]

I'll be taking someone in, in the med bed, so I won't be able to do that.

[A]

And by the way, you don't know what I'm doing all night long. Turning pages in my magic the Gathering binder, looking at my cards. That shit's hard on my back.

[C]

You don't know what I'm doing watching Tristanity. Brennan, whatever you're doing, I gotta jump.

[A]

All right. Mom has to go.

[B]

One more thing. When I say on here, I'm fading. It's my anxiety. It's not that. I. I have great anxiety. I don't have any, or I would meditate.

[C]

Go get some. You literally have a medicinal card. Go get some.

[B]

I need something. Okay.

[C]

Indica.

[B]

All right, bye.

[A]

All right, bye.

[B]

Am I uploaded?