Why Republicans LOVE Cowboy hats | TMT 160

Summary

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Episode Overview

Podcast: Too Many Tabs with Pearlmania500
Episode: #160 – "Why Do Republicans Like Cowboy Hats?"
Date: January 18, 2026

Husband and wife comedic duo, Pearlmania500, deep-dive into the history and mythology of the cowboy hat (especially the iconic Stetson), unraveling its unexpected Philadelphia origins, its transformation into a symbol of rugged American individualism, and how it ironically represents values and histories at odds with its contemporary pop culture usage by right-wing politicians. The episode is equal parts irreverent humor, meticulous research, and satirical political commentary, contextualizing the hat’s journey from utilitarian garb to cultural prop.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins & Appropriation of the Cowboy Hat

• Mrs. Pearlmania ("B") opens with an observation: "All of the worst people on the news are wearing cowboy hats." ([01:42])
• The Stetson Surprise:
  • The iconic cowboy hat was invented not in the West, but in Philadelphia by John B. Stetson—a New Jersey native ([03:15], [04:07]).
  • Roots in gentrified sombrero: Stetson's inspiration came from hats worn by Mexican immigrants and Black agricultural workers, adapting and marketing the style for white consumers ([15:09], [16:02]).
  • Quote: "This is very much just cultural appropriation and gentrification." – B ([15:39])
• Legend has it, Stetson made his first wide-brim felt hat as a personal experiment; its practicality led to high demand and quick adoption ([07:47]-[12:28]).

2. Lore and Marketing: From Utilitarian to Myth

• The "Boss of the Plains" hat was Stetson’s first big seller ([18:13]).
• The hat offered practical features: waterproof beaver felt, insulation for temperature, and could even double as a water bowl for horses ([10:18]-[11:12], [23:14]).
• Marketing genius: Sent sample hats to merchants with demand for bulk minimum orders ([23:31]).
• Within a decade, "Stetson" became synonymous with "hat" ([24:26]).

3. Labor Relations & Socialism in a Cowboy Hat

• Stetson as a proto-tech-bro employer:
  • Paid above scale, annual bonuses, on-site hospital and healthcare for $1/quarter (or free if needed), cheap mortgages via the Stetson Building and Loan Association ([27:54]-[28:40]).
  • Created an entire "Google campus" vibe: cafeteria, orchestra concerts, gym, library, chapel, kindergarten, recreational fields, classes for immigrants, generous apprenticeships ([29:28]-[31:28]).
  • Quote: "Stetson hats were Google. Because what you're describing is every tech company in the late 90s, early 2000s..." – A ([29:43])
  • Main motivation: Keep unions out and attract/keep skilled labor, akin to strategies used by Big Tech ([33:07]-[34:05]).

4. Mad as a Hatter: Mercury Poisoning & Working Hazards

• The phrase "mad as a hatter" comes from mercury poisoning among hatmakers, leading to mental illness and dementia ([37:14]-[38:59]).
• Broader discussion on mercury’s history and toxicity, stretching from Chinese emperors' death-defying (and ultimately maddening) attempts at immortality ([39:00]-[40:14]).

5. Hat Customization and Fashion Evolution

• Cowboys personalized hats with creases and bends (some became trademark ranch/family/team styles, later mass-produced as fashion) ([41:24]-[45:09]).
• Quote: "Boys love peacocking with their hat." – B ([43:14])

6. The Hat as American Myth & Political Prop

• Hollywood and cigarette advertising (e.g., Marlboro Man) created and amplified the rugged, white, male cowboy image.
• Notable figures who wore (or posed with) Stetsons: Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, Lone Ranger, Reagan, LBJ, G.W. Bush—many of whom were "performative," not real, cowboys ([51:06]-[53:40]).
  • On Reagan/Bush: "Put on a cowboy hat, pretend to be a real man. ...George W. Bush is a third generation Nepo baby." – A ([53:40])
• The hat as a symbol is deeply tied to Republican identity performance, even while its history contradicts the narrative.
  • Quote: "The cowboy hat is the ultimate symbol of performative male." – A ([54:38])

7. Women, Labor, & Progressive Legacy

• The Stetson factory was a major employer of women—contrasting with current politicians in cowboy hats pushing policies hostile to women ([61:20]-[63:54]).
• Stetson’s philanthropy: Helped launch Temple University, Stetson University (FL), the Philly House homeless shelter, and the YMCA ([63:58]-[65:53]).
• Quote: "There's so much that's separated from this mythology of the hat itself." – B ([63:20])

8. AI’s Take on Republicans and Cowboy Hats [The Grand Finale]

• Mrs. Pearlmania closes by sharing an AI-generated answer to "Why do Republicans like cowboy hats?" which notes the reality:
  • The cowboy era was mainly low-paid work done by immigrants and Black Americans; the myth promotes individualism while the reality was dependence on government handouts ([67:41]-[68:20]).
  • Quote: "The modern political use of the symbol often prioritizes the myth over historical details." – AI-generated, B ([68:20])
  • The hosts agree: "America is either a collection of MLMs stacked on each other or a series of cultural appropriations that have been remarketed by white dudes." – A ([49:13])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “All of the worst people on the news are wearing cowboy hats.” – B ([01:42])
• “The cowboy hat was invented in Philadelphia by a man from New Jersey.” – Instagram reel, cited by Mrs. Pearlmania ([03:15])
• “It’s cultural appropriation and gentrification. He gentrified hats.” – B ([15:39])
• “Stetson hats were Google. ...That’s every tech company.” – A ([29:43])
• “Mad as a hatter” and erethism from mercury poisoning explained ([37:16]-[38:59])
• “Boys love peacocking with their hats.” – B ([43:14])
• “If you see somebody wearing a cowboy hat and they don’t have a horse... you’re a performative male. You have no dick print in gray sweatpants.” – A ([54:51])
• “The hat’s become a powerful piece of political pop—or prop—culture that helps project a specific image.” – B ([55:22])
• “America is either a collection of MLMs... or a series of cultural appropriations remarketed by white dudes.” – A ([49:13])
• AI-generated answer: “While the aesthetic is used to conjure a politics of self sufficiency, the historical reality of the cowboy era involved low paid agricultural jobs held often by Mexican immigrants and African Americans... The modern political use of the symbol often prioritizes the myth over historical details.” ([67:41]-[68:20])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening banter and intro to hat obsession: [01:36]
• Cowboy hat invented in Philadelphia / Stetson history: [03:15]-[05:41]
• Legend of first hat, beaver felts, and early sales: [07:47]-[14:01]
• Cultural appropriation and sombrero influence: [15:09]-[16:02]
• The “Boss of the Plains” and marketing innovation: [18:13]-[23:48]
• Stetson’s labor practices, proto-socialism: [27:54]-[31:28]
• Health hazards—“Mad as a Hatter:” [37:14]-[38:59]
• Hat customization and peacocking: [41:24]-[45:09]
• Hollywood, politics, and the hat as pop prop: [51:06]-[56:14]
• Women workers and factory closure: [61:20]-[63:54]
• Stetson philanthropy: [63:58]-[65:53]
• Why do Republicans like cowboy hats?—AI summary and closing satire: [67:41]-[68:20]

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Overall Tone & Style

• Warm, irreverent, and heavily laced with sarcasm, as well as plenty of Philadelphia pride and politically left-leaning critique.
• Frequent asides, pop culture references (e.g., John Wayne, Brokeback Mountain, Orville Peck), and playful interspousal teasing create a loose, engaging atmosphere.
• Rich with historical trivia, many “wait, what?!” revelations, and sharp, comedic edge.

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Summary Conclusion

This episode unpacks how the cowboy hat, today a cliché for right-wing masculinity and “American” values, was conceived as a Philly curiosity by a sickly, possibly socialist hatter who borrowed liberally from Mexican laborers. Its history is knotted with workers’ rights, chemical poisoning, and clever marketing as much as rugged utility. Ultimately, the Stetson is both a global fashion artifact and a symbol of America’s legacy of mythologizing itself—where the truth underneath is as bizarre, complicated, and multicultural as the country itself.

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For listeners: This episode offers a blend of genuine history, critical media analysis, and comedic relief, perfect if you want to understand America’s myth-making—one hat at a time.

Transcript

[A]

Everyone deserves to be connected. That's why T Mobile and US Cellular are joining forces. Switch to T Mobile and save up to 20% versus Verizon by getting built in benefits they leave out. Check the math@t mobile.com switch and now T mobile is in US cellular stores. Savings versus Comparable Verizon plans plus the cost of optional benefits plan features in Texas and fees vary. Savings with three plus lines include third line free via monthly bill credits. Credit stop if you cancel any lines. Qualifying credit required. New year same extra value meals at McDonald's. So now get two snack wraps plus fries and a medium soft drink for just $8 for a limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California. And for delivery, well, wee boys and girls, it's a rootin tootin new season and episode of Too many tabs. And Mrs. Pearlmania here did her research on why Republicans like to be such performative males wearing their propaganda cowboy ha. Do these rugged individuals show the actual history of the Stetson B. John Capitol hat company? We're gonna find out today on Too Many Tabs. Remember to smile. Welcome to Too Many Tabs, a podcast where a husband and wife duo sit next to each other at a table. And today, Mrs. P. Did her research.

[B]

I absolutely did. I got deep into the Internet while we were on a little vacay, a.

[A]

Little bit of a breakdown, a little break.

[C]

And.

[B]

And I learned a lot of things. And I'm so excited to tell you and everybody else.

[A]

Okay, well, what did you learn about this?

[B]

Cowboy hats.

[A]

Cowboy hats.

[B]

Yeah. So here's what happened. I watched the news.

[A]

Big mistake.

[B]

Big mistake.

[A]

Huge mistake.

[B]

Okay, so I'm watching the news and I'm noticing that all of the worst people on the news are wearing cowboy hats.

[A]

Can you. Okay. When you say things like the worst people.

[B]

Kristi Noem.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Kristi Noem.

[B]

She wears a hat to hide her bad hair extensions.

[A]

She wears a hat to hide a lot of bad things. Yes.

[B]

Okay, so she's wearing this hat and. And then I saw that picture of the Make a Wish child, Donald Trump wearing a cowboy hat as well.

[A]

That was a terrifying one, too. And he was surrounded by the. Actually in that picture of him hunched over the desk wearing a cowboy hat, he's surrounded by the miracle on ice 1980 US Olympic team.

[B]

That's really weird.

[A]

They all brought him. They brought him a white cowboy hat because they wanted to pretend he's the good guy.

[B]

So that's the thing is I was like, why do you. These People that are terrible wear cowboy hats to project this, like, idea of, like, I'm a cowboy. So then I was like, why? I need to know why. So I started doing research. And then here's what also happened. Another thing happened. It was a little Venn diagram of how I got here.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I saw an Instagram reel.

[A]

Oh, all right.

[B]

Okay. So I saw it.

[A]

You know we're in a bad place when you're like, I saw an Instagram reel. Instead of. I was. I. This TikTok came up. You're like, no, no, no, TikTok's done.

[B]

TikTok is like. That algorithm is weird.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

It's about to get a lot worse.

[B]

So weird.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So it's actually better to be on Instagram reels, I guess. I don't know.

[A]

I don't know. None of them are good. But. Okay, we're just going to go with the sentence you saw on Instagram reel.

[B]

But I saw it from someone I like.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay. And I want to play for you real quick because I was like, wait a minute. This changes everything.

[C]

The cowboy hat was invented in Philadelphia by a man from New Jersey. For more than 100 years, the company Stetson, who made hats like this, made their hats in Philadelphia. At the intersection of Germantown and Montgomery Avenue, here's a Stetson hat box with some cool Philadelphia landmarks on it.

[A]

Hey, I know that person. I know that shop that's in.

[C]

Yeah, you do.

[A]

That's a four foot prune in Old City in Philadelphia. Yeah.

[B]

One of our favorite shops.

[A]

It's a great shop. I go there. Anytime I'm in that neighborhood, I always stop in there. And there's a comic book shop around the corner. I go there, too.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Brave New World's comic shop. Shout out to those guys. And yeah.

[B]

Has a lot of Muppets.

[A]

They have a lot of Muppet stuff. It's a vintage shop. Every time I go in there, it also feels if I don't buy anything, I at least feel like I went to a museum. It's a really great place.

[D]

But.

[A]

But they said a really, really cool thing in there.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Which is that I didn't know that Stetson hats, which is the cowboy hat. The cowboy hat that is from Philadelphia.

[B]

Philly, baby.

[A]

That's incredible.

[B]

So. So again, here's me. I'm like, why are the worst people in the world wearing cowboy hats? Trying to tell me they're cool?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then. Wait, cowboy hats are from Philadelphia?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I need to know more. Okay, so classic cowboy hats, right? They're like this idea of, like, rugged American individualism.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But when I found the history of them, they really are kind of about socialism, immigrants and women's rights.

[A]

Oh, really?

[B]

Yeah. It got really weird and I'm so excited.

[A]

Is this one of those weird ones where, like, John Wayne and Ronald Reagan came and flipped everything on its head and war is actually peace?

[B]

No, but I will talk about Ronald Reagan later. Okay. So John B. Stetson.

[A]

John B. Stetson.

[B]

John B. Stetson, the guy himself was born May 5, 1830. Taurus.

[A]

All right.

[B]

We love a Taurus in New Jersey. No, it's okay. It's okay. Jersey.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

He was one of 12 children.

[A]

Well, that's a lot of kids.

[B]

His dad, Stephen, was a hatter and taught him the trade.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So he's been in the hats.

[A]

Yeah. It's crazy that back in the day, like, that you said, now it's like, what do you do? Well, actually, like, I'm a. I'm an assistant executive. Social media.

[B]

Marketing. Marketing, yeah.

[A]

And back in the day, what do you use to do?

[E]

Hatter.

[A]

Patter.

[B]

Make hats.

[A]

Make hats.

[B]

So he never attended school, but was taught to read and write by his mom. And in the late 1850s. So, like, in his 20s.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

He was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Oh, and the doctor. Go ahead.

[A]

No, no, I was just going to make a joke. You know, now we. Now everybody gets diagnosed with other things, and back then they just walk around like tb, tuberculosis. You got the tb.

[B]

So his doctor is like, you have tuberculosis.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And you only have a little. A short time to live.

[A]

That's crazy.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

He's like, this is bad. Tuberculosis.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

And everything is tuberculosis.

[A]

Everything is tuberculosis. And John Green wasn't around to. To try to stop it.

[B]

So I love this part. John Stetson says, I only got a little bit of time to live. What am I going to do?

[A]

What's he going to do?

[B]

I'm going to go west and explore the west and maybe try to find.

[A]

I love this. Yeah. I love. Can I tell you. I mean, right now, let me tell you something. If I only had a little bit to live, going west would not be on my bucket list.

[B]

No, you don't want to see Gav Newsom.

[A]

I got. I got very specific things that I would do if they told me I had a very little.

[B]

We can't repeat them on this podcast. No, can't say them.

[A]

Can't say them. Well, let me tell you, though, I have gone west, though.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

When I was a young man, and I think about his age right.

[B]

Yeah. 20s.

[A]

Yeah. He was in his 20s. Late 20s. I went west.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I went. And, like, I saw Colorado, I saw those. Everything. I fell in love with the West. I went out there, New Mexico, West Texas. I got to those areas. There's something when you're out there in. The land is just so different, you know? And so I can only. I could only imagine being in the 1850s in the. In South Jersey.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Philadelphia. Right. And then traveling out to, like, just being, like, on a. On a train in Nebraska. Being like, what the. It's empty.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So he heads out west.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And while he's out west, he is inspired by the people he sees working out there. And the thing is, he creates this rugged hat for himself. He's out there, he's. He's doing all this stuff, and he knows how to make hats. So he's grabbing stuff, and he actually gets a bunch of beaver felt. Thick beaver felt while panning for gold in Colorado.

[A]

Got it.

[B]

Now, this is according to legend. This might be marketing.

[A]

This is apocryphal.

[B]

Yeah. This is. This is according to legend.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Stetson invented the hat, a hat. While on a hunting trip, while showing his companions how he could make cloth out of fur without tanning the fur. Felt hats were lighter and they maintain their shape and they withstand weather better because it's beaver. It's beaver.

[A]

Yeah. Beaver. This is that. A lot of people don't understand, like, what a game changer beaver was.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And not just in, like, you will change the world. Guys, I want you to know something about Ben Franklin, friend of the pod, Ben Franklin, when he traveled to, he took a lot of beaver with him to France.

[B]

Loved beaver.

[A]

And he. And he brought beaver with him. And he got beaver when he was over there. Hey. Oh, but like, beaver is now when we have waterproof clothing, right. Like a raincoat, okay. That has a chemical sprayed on it to wick the water off it. Yeah. They didn't have those chemicals back then. They hadn't done the study into it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So what they did was they looked around, they said, well, what is already. What's already waterproof?

[B]

Hey, that little critter is not wet. He's in the water.

[A]

That's crazy. Look at him. He just pop right out. Oh, why don't we kill thousands of them?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And that's what they did.

[B]

Those things are building dams for free. Better get rid of it.

[A]

The French and the British fought wars. They fought a world war over beaver.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Beaver is, like, one of the most it was actually one of the most important early resources.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's why Canada exists.

[B]

So Stetson makes this unusually large hat from the felt, looking like Norm MacDonald.

[A]

Looking like Burt Reynolds.

[B]

Now he was wearing it as a joke too, that he made a big hat.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And he's like, look at my big hat. And everybody's like, ah, this guy's crazy.

[A]

He's walking around like, ah, look at me. But call me, call me Mr. Big Hat. Yeah, look at me, I got my.

[B]

Big thing is like he really started to like the hat.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

He was like, no, but this has really cool.

[A]

That's how we ended up in this place in time. Yeah, it was. A lot of people said, ah, I'm doing a bit. And now their bid is their whole personality.

[B]

Shanghalis was like, yeah, he's funny though.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's real funny, guys. And that's how you end up fat and mad in a mask in Minnesota. Yeah, that's why I'm wearing plaid, by the way.

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

You want to show people your shirt?

[B]

Oh yeah, my shirt's cool.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Send it to our P.O. box for us. Yeah, no joke on Snake.

[A]

Yeah, no joke on Snake.

[B]

Yeah, it's cool.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So he makes this hat that he's wearing as a joke, but the thing is he falls in love with it because it has a really wide brim. It's got a high crown area.

[C]

Right.

[B]

The top of it's really big.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And it's creating an insulated pocket of air on the head because you know that all your warmth you lose for your. Your head.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So like it's creating a little pocket of hot air.

[A]

Oh. So you know what? Real fast to demonstrate, we'll put an image up or a video up. We'll find it. Somewhere out there there is a woman. Remember this one?

[B]

No.

[A]

It's like a tick tock. There was like a woman who was. I think she's like menopausal.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And she's at a football game and she has. And she's bald and you can see the steam leave her head, which is why like you want that pocket. So you catch it and it like fills up. So basically, so he's walking around with a wide brim and a reservoir tip.

[B]

Exactly. Okay.

[A]

Am I right? Yeah, I think I'm right.

[B]

Also, sometimes when they need it, he needed to. He would take the hat off and fill it up. Fill it up with water to carry water around. Because again, it's a water.

[A]

Because of the beaver.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's beaver. It's beaver. Okay, you got that wet beaver.

[B]

So as they're, they're travel, his traveling continues. Now this again, this is lore. I don't know if this actually happened.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But it is said that a cowboy, having seen JB Stetson riding along in his unusual hat, went up to him and asked to try on the hat himself. And then paid Stetson a five dollar gold plate piece and rode away with the hat on his head.

[A]

I'm going to tell you something right now. I'm, I actually, I'm going to believe that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because first thing, I've read a lot of like older things from like back in the day and there's a lot about unusual hats. Yeah, there's something. Back in the day we used to wear a ton of hats.

[B]

People loved people.

[A]

It was a big thing. You need to cover your head because of God. You also needed to cover your head because of sun exposure.

[B]

Is God super mad right now? Because we're not all wearing hats?

[A]

That might be what it is, a hat on right now, but not a red one. But anyway, the, the whole thing was everyone wore hats because also we didn't have, we didn't have cars. You were out in the sun more often. The hat was also utilitarian device like you were saying about water and other different things. And so like having something that was different. Yeah. That's also a form of peacocking.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so if you had a cowboy who's out there and he looks over, he goes, oh, that's something different.

[B]

Look at that. That's nice.

[A]

That's, that's different.

[B]

That's nice.

[A]

Hey bud, that's a really cool hat. Can I try it on? Oh man, I really love to have a hat like that. Well, you know, I can always make another one. I can sell it to you right here. Right here. And it's one of a kind. One of a kind.

[B]

He said no.

[A]

Now maybe a five dollar gold piece because I don't know how much a $5 gold piece in those that was days would be worth. That might be, that might be a pretty penny.

[B]

I have pretty penny that because I.

[A]

Mean like 50, let's go ahead with like 50 bucks. Let's just say it would be like 50, maybe even $75. That's a crazy amount.

[B]

You are currently on an adventure because you know you're not going to live long.

[A]

No, I'm not.

[B]

Yeah. Oh, you're saying somebody hands you some cash and you're like, you know what.

[A]

Let'S go you know what?

[B]

Okay, let's go.

[A]

Thank you for reframing it. Because I keep forgetting that he's supposed to be dying.

[B]

Dying.

[A]

I keep forgetting. Oh, that's the only thing, too. With tb, the reason why a lot of people actually went west is because of tuberculosis, because of cleaner air.

[B]

Yeah, we talked about this before.

[A]

We've talked about before. But I still feel it's important to come back and touch on a lot of cities. So you had places like in London in England and in the United States, especially on the east coast, that was the. The soot and the smog and the coal and all that different stuff was so thick that people would die faster. And so people would. They wanted you to go west. They wanted to go to areas where there wasn't industry. So that way you get the clean air, and they thought the clean air might heal you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

In reality, it wasn't so much healing you as. As in, like, you just. It wasn't the equivalent of smoking four packs of cigarettes a day while having tuberculosis.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know What I mean?

[B]

$5 from 1850 is worth approximately $207.77, I'm saying.

[A]

And you know, but here's the thing going back to the reframing it, right? Because you're like, John Stetson. It's John Stetson.

[B]

John Stetson, Yeah.

[A]

John B. Stetson. He's dying. He's got a big hat on that he made. He's actually. It was a stupid bit, but I like it now then some guy likes that. I like that hat. How much? That $200. Well, shit, I really like.

[B]

Okay. Okay. So ready? Is it Larry the Cable Guy?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Does his bit. The. Get her done. That's him.

[A]

Get her done.

[B]

He's. He's like, I'm going to do this bit as long as I can get her done to make this joke.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Then he decides, you know what? I'm going to let it go. I'm going to try to pivot to other comedy. And then ring, ring, ring. Disney calls.

[A]

Yeah, Disney, Pixar.

[B]

We're going to give you $207.77 to just say get her done for the rest of your life as a tow truck. And he says, but no, he said.

[A]

You know what he says? He says, get her done. That's really how. Yeah, no, this is completely right. Imagine if Larry the Cable Guy had tuberculosis.

[B]

No.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Don't do that.

[A]

No. Our son would be so upset.

[B]

So mad.

[A]

So mad.

[B]

So here's the thing, okay? Here. He made a modified sombrero the west was full of low paid agricultural jobs held by Mexican immigrants and African Americans.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And he was seeing them in the hats and he just replicated through his perspective and how he made hats. Sombrero.

[A]

Yeah. Because. Okay, so if you look at the image of the hat you're describing.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Which, which we have right up here. And then you put a sombrero next to it, like the traditional sombrero. It's the same hat.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

The traditional sombrero, though, is traditional. Like most of us view it as being made of straw, which is waterproof in a different way, versus being made in beaver felt.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

This is very much. This is very much just cultural appropriation and gentrification.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. It's gentrifying hats.

[A]

He gentrified hats.

[B]

So since he's gentrifying, he says, let's go to Philadelphia.

[A]

What?

[B]

So on his return east, he decides, he's like, I'm done out here in the West. I've made a great hat. I sold it for $200.

[A]

Yeah. I coughed that thing out.

[B]

Yeah. I got. Got it out my lungs.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so he's like, I'm going to go to Philadelphia. Where he founded the John B. Stetson Co. And created this hat. He started remaking the hat.

[A]

Can I say something? I miss? One thing I missed from the 1800s.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

People used to just straight up name a company after itself.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. Like, they would just be like, what is it? Well, it's the John B. Stetson.

[B]

We saw our podcast after you Originally.

[A]

Originally, originally was Permania 500. Now it's called. And then, and then somebody pointed out, SEO wise search engine optimization. That is actually difficult because then people try to look up your podcast and they actually end up finding you. And then your podcast actually doesn't reach as many. I was like, okay, whatever. Yeah, but it was fine. But back in the day, like, let's just real fast, real fast, you would go like, this is the reason why. I wish, I wish our billionaires actually were Lex Luthor.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. Because in Lex Luthor everything is Luther Corp. Yep. And now instead, if you have a fascist billionaire, he's like, actually it's called Starlink. Actually it's called Tesla. Actually it's called X.

[B]

Well, that actual guy names them pretty on the nose.

[A]

No, no, you're thinking Peter Thiel.

[B]

Yeah, he names him on the nose.

[A]

No, because he's actually stealing things from Lord of the Rings.

[B]

That's what I mean. But he's always stealing the bad guy stuff from.

[A]

No, he's also spilling. Also, all the billionaires are stealing the good guy stuff too. Like Palantir is a bad guy thing, but sometimes they named another company and a rule or whatever.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

There's just certain things that they pick and you're like, God damn. But if they called it, Listen, if it was called the Peter Thiel Company, you'd be like, oh, evil. Yeah. Oh, evil. The guy whose boyfriend mysteriously died. Evil. The guy who funded Hulk Hogan. Evil. The guy who are that guy. Evil. But instead, if you call it Palantir or then you can always switch the name, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Or Blackwater becomes Z or whatever it is. Like all these different things. But if you just call it if. It was called the. If every time you try to log into Twitter, you actually had to go to Elon Musk tax dot com. You wouldn't.

[B]

You wouldn't go there if we stopped.

[A]

Calling it Twitter or X and just started calling it like Musk Book.

[B]

Musk Book.

[A]

Musk Book.

[B]

That sounds like something awful.

[A]

It sounds like something that is what you would make a beaver out of. Beaver pelt.

[B]

Okay. So he does. He makes this hat and he names it. He calls it the Boss of the Planes.

[A]

The Boss of the Planes.

[B]

So Jersey is the Boss from Jersey. The Boss of the Planes.

[A]

The Boss of the plan.

[B]

That's what he names it.

[A]

Because cowboys like us, baby, we were born to run. Castella. I'm wearing plaid for Bruce Springsteen. Minneapolis. Bruce Springsteen. Whatever. I outlib politics. Get over it.

[B]

Yeah. So the western hat would become the cornerstone of the Stetson hat business.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And is still in production today.

[A]

It actually have one.

[B]

You have one? You don't have a Boss of the.

[A]

I don't have. I don't think I have the one you have. This is one I got at the Willie Nelson Museum.

[B]

Wow. I bought that.

[A]

I bought at the Willie Nelson Museum in 2000.

[B]

Comically small it is.

[A]

Okay, either the hat shrunk or my head got bigger.

[B]

Well, your hair is bigger.

[A]

My hair is bigger. I also have a much larger ego.

[C]

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50% off regular price for new customers. Upfront payment required $45 for three months, $90 for six months or $180 for 12 month plan taxes and fees. Extra speeds may slow after 50 gigabytes per month when network is busy. See terms. So let me get back to this hat.

[A]

Okay. Get back to that.

[B]

Not the one you're wearing.

[A]

Not. Okay, I'll take this one off because that's distracting.

[B]

Yeah, it is very distracting.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So the hat's durable, lightweight. It included a sweatband. This is a new technology sweatband aligning to protect the hat. And it also was. What's the word? It's like, it's waterproof, it's insulated, it's got this wide rim. These things we already discussed. So this is like, this is the elite hat right now. Okay. And for years, Stetson worried about the waterproofing and, and he decided that he was really going to invest in beaver, like you're saying.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it took 42 Beaver Bellies to produce one hat.

[A]

That's a lot of beaver.

[B]

That's a lot of beaver bellies. Because we're not using the whole beaver.

[A]

Beaver, just the belly.

[B]

Beaver bellies. So that wasn't really sustainable.

[A]

Okay, hold on. Let's just, just, let's just take a second here.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Because I don't think people understand what happened with the industrialization of how we did hunting, fur trapping and all these different things. Like, there's so many images of, I think it was buffalo or bison. The stacks of skulls.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like people used to do shootings off the sides of trains. And we think about that because a big reason they were taken out was so that way Native Americans didn't have the option to be able to get them for food. So then they would have to trust and they'd have to trade with white settlers at trading posts.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it was a whole thing.

[B]

We would just starve them to death.

[A]

Or to starve them death. All these different things. It was to force them into the system.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Instead of being able to live off the land. But it's the same exact thing with the beaver house we're talking about for a hat. Hold on, I want to hold. I want to hold this hat up. This is a hat.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

42 beaver. Because you have to do a strip. A strip, a strip, a strip. And put it together into felt.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Also that way some guy's head wouldn't get wet.

[B]

Yeah, pretty much.

[A]

You had to kill 42.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

42 be. That's crazy.

[B]

Obviously that's not sustainable. But in the beginning, that's like what he was creating these hats out of.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So.

[A]

Well, now 242 beavers. It's $200. Yeah. It still seems cheap, actually.

[B]

So the, the cowboy hat also had like this marketing idea behind it in the lore. Again, he's building the lore around this hat.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Which is that you could also use it as a canteen, cuz it's waterproof. And so there are early images from sets in marketing where the. A cowboy is giving his horse water out of the hat. Right.

[A]

So he's holding it like this.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And he's eating.

[B]

Because again, it's this idea of you could drink water out of your hat. You could. So again, we're really feeding into the standard that the hat is part of your gear.

[A]

Yes, yes, yes. But that's. And actually also it's really good marketing because if the inside, if it can hold water, then it can keep it out.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

It's like putting a bowl on your head.

[B]

I. Yeah, a bowl. Yeah, I had one. So Stetson's marketing plan, other than like creating this imagery. Right.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

He sent a sample hat to merchants throughout the Southwest with a letter asking for a minimum order of a dozen Boss of the Plains hats. So he sent them one for free.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And he was like, if you want some more of these, you got to buy at least a dozen.

[A]

Yeah. The minimum order is 12.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's smart. That is a smart. That is a smart move.

[B]

That's business.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So the hat is an immediate success. In less than a year, Stetson set up a new factory on the outskirts of Philadelphia to handle the growing business. Because I guess originally he was like more in downtown central, and then he goes to an area in Philly called Germantown.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So he goes to Germantown and he buys a bigger area.

[A]

You guys won't believe who lived in Germantown. You'll never believe who lived there.

[B]

We wait to hear about Fishtown.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So. So he sets up the new factory and within a decade, the name Stetson had become synonymous with the word hat.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So it became that like Kleenex Q tip situation, Band Aid, where it's like if you're saying hat, you're saying Stetson.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know what I mean?

[A]

Go you. If you Google something, most people don't say, oh, search it on the Internet. Yeah, go Google.

[B]

You don't say bing it.

[A]

Nobody asking Jeeves. Nobody bings it. I, I don't think they got rid of the Jeeves part. I think that just turned into asking. No one ever Yahoo'd anything. No, all those different things, all the search. But now. And now it's chat. GPT.

[B]

Oh, God.

[A]

But I'm saying, But saying even in the AI world, nobody clauds anything. They always. Oh, go. I threw it into Chad GPT. Even if they're meaning Gemini or they're even meaning llama.

[B]

What the heck is llama?

[A]

It's the meta one.

[B]

Oh, man.

[A]

Yeah, I know. They're all evil.

[B]

So becomes the most popular hat in the world, basically. And by 1886, Stetson Hat Company is the largest hat company globally.

[A]

I love that he Columbus sombreros. Yeah, like the second you said, I was like, oh my God, this very much. This feels very. Dominoes.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Where it's like a guy came in and just takes a cultural item and goes, they haven't, they didn't fucking production line this well and then starts production lining it and then goes, well, how was. Why I just do that? So basically I'm here to tell you guys, if you take anything from this podcast, if you see somebody doing something, steal the idea, tweak it, and then figure out how to drop ship it. That's it.

[B]

That's called capitalism.

[A]

And then join our patreon romania500.net so because you owe us now.

[B]

Yeah. We gave you, we gave you a.

[A]

Good business plan that we stole from.

[B]

John B. Stetson because he stole from Mexican Americans.

[A]

Yes. 100. So the actually that point, I think they actually might have. Mexican. Mexican, yeah.

[B]

Because.

[A]

Because of. There's part of the war and wherever the lines were and everything. So you don't even know.

[B]

So the John B. Stetson Co. Is largest hat company in the world. The plant in Philadelphia covered Over five acres of land.

[A]

Five acres.

[B]

Huge.

[A]

That's massive. And it's in a city. Yes, it's five acres in a city.

[B]

In a city.

[A]

That's. Yeah, okay, I got it. Got it.

[B]

So Stetson Hats won numerous awards. And as his company grew, he faced, quote, challenges on developing a reliable labor force.

[A]

Okay, I can think of a couple challenges off the first thing we're talking about Hatters. Second thing, we're talking about time. This is all pre prohibition. So everybody. Whoo. And it's Philly.

[B]

Yeah, and it's Philly.

[A]

God forbid, what if somebody won a baseball championship? They won't show up for a week.

[B]

So the he said, quote, people working in the hat trade at the time tended to drift from employer to employerism was rampant.

[A]

I wonder why.

[B]

Now Stetson, who was quote, guided by Baptist religious principles, believe that providing for his employees, they would. He would lend stability to their lives and attract a higher caliber employee.

[A]

That's not how that works. Okay, now hold on, hold on, hold on. What you're describing there, that sounds a little socialism and me. No, that sounds a little too much. Okay, first thing, the best way to get the best employees is to make all of them independent contractors. Okay? Then the best thing to do is to make sure that you suppress all their wages. Then the best thing to do is to make sure that you take away their health care care. Then the best thing to do is to pour poison into all of their rivers. Yeah, Then the best thing to do is to send masked men into their streets and to terrorize their communities. Yeah, that's how you do it here in 2026. How did he do it back then in the 1860s, 70s.

[B]

So Stetson was what we would describe in relation to the time, a generous employer. His wages were above scale.

[A]

Above.

[B]

That means higher than, higher than the minimum. Okay, he provided yearly bonuses, which was an early form of profit sharing bonuses. He provided an on site hospital at his factory and had prepaid health plan with all the health care needs for employees met. It cost them $1 every three months from their paycheck. Now if you didn't have the $1, it would be free if necessary.

[A]

What the fuck is he talking about?

[B]

Okay, he provided below market rate mortgages to employees through his John B. Stetson Building and Loan Association.

[A]

So let me get this straight, sir. You're helping them with housing and healthcare. You're helping them with all these other fun things. Where is the probability market? Why aren't you getting them addicted to FanDuel? Okay, this is how you work your employees.

[B]

So he did provide entertainment. Not fanduel, but he provided weekly orchestra concerts. Educational events were held nightly at his 5,500 person capacity auditorium, the largest auditorium in Philadelphia when it was built in 1906. There were sports fields on his campus, a gymnasium, a library, a chapel, a Sunday school, a kindergarten, and an inexpensive cafeteria.

[A]

I don't think you guys understand how much this is Google. Stetson hats were Google. Because what you're describing is every tech company in the late 90s, early 2000s, during the big tech boom.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Whenever you would see like 60 Minutes would go and they'd be like, we're here, we're here at Google. We're here at Yahoo, we're here at Facebook. They're like, here's our ping pong, here's our game room. Yeah, here's our ping pong room. We have snacks. We have snacks every day. Like that was one of the things from like, especially right before 2020 when they would show it, like in office stuff. Like every day we have our free breakfast. We have these things. Because again, the big thing with the hatters that we've been leaving out is hatting was skilled labor.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

This is. Being a hatter is the same as being a coder before AI.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Like, this is, you had to, you had. It was a very specific trade. So these are specialty employees. You can't just get anybody off the street. So you need to treat them a little bit better. And so because of that, he is, he is sprinkling in all of these benefits, Benny's, all of these bonuses. But the health care is the big one. But the other side of it is all this extra stuff is how you get the younger idiots. Yeah, right. Oh, no, we got, we got free concerts. Literally. Google used to do free concerts.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Do you know that?

[B]

Yes, I do. Because I have a friend, you know this person. They were a professional chef here in Philadelphia.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

They ran an incredible restaurant.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then they gave it all up because they got hired at Google to go be like a chef for Google.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

To provide hot meals to the staff that were like, really good.

[A]

No, they used to do like weekly concerts at Google and at Apple as well and all these other different places. Apple figured out like, oh, we can also repost these, like, we can put these on Apple music. But like I remember like watching like Google, like Google concerts where it's like a guy in like a little auditorium that was also used for like corporate presentations.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Doing stand up.

[B]

I was done, by the way.

[A]

What?

[B]

I wasn't done.

[A]

There's more benefits he provided.

[B]

Classes for immigrants, generous apprenticeship programs. An apprenticeship, by the way, is a paid internship. You pay for the internship. He also had a mummers company.

[A]

Okay, you need to explain as fast as possible. Okay, yeah, as fast as possible. What a mummer is, because I guarantee you. Okay, maybe some of our European listeners, they have an idea of what a mummer is, but they don't know about froggy car.

[B]

Listen. Okay, I'm going to. How quickly Mummer. Every New Year's Day in Philadelphia, we have a Mummer's Day parade, which is a parade of drunk men dressed in sparkly dresses.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

The. The original Mummers parade was a protest, a union protest of men that would put on their wives dresses to be like, you're not going to pay us. We should just be like our wives. So the misogyny is there, but now it's just a drunken, weird Philadelphia centric thing. Now there is also a sidebar of it, which is like the string band, which is we have. They get really dressed up in big feather costumes and they play banjos and they dance, and it's a whole thing. It's really just a very specific niche element of Philadelphia culture.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so the fact that the Stetsons had the Stetson Mummer Company, I mean, incredible.

[A]

Yeah, it makes sense. It does make sense for the time and also just for Philadelphia in general, which is this is going to be our side thing because again, bread and circus markets.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

This is insane.

[B]

Yeah. So he believed in a happy, healthy worker, was a better worker, and he also wanted to keep the unions out of his shop.

[A]

Oh, there it is. There it is. Yeah, there it is. Which is why unionization is good, because he was actually that. What he's doing is basically union negotiations at the same time he's sprinkling. It's the same thing. When you look at how many. Again, let's look at coders. Let's look at code. Like people who write code and engineers and all that different stuff. Before AI showed up, how many of they were like, oh, we can bend over these companies over backwards. Look at us. They're putting a ping pong table in every single break room, baby. And now, now if you look at stack overflow and all these other different things, because of AI, these companies don't feel like they have to pay you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so these people are all suddenly out of work. And it was the same thing back then of. With the Hatters again, it was such. It was such a Specific trade.

[B]

So here's the thing. He did manage to keep the unions out of his shop.

[A]

Oh, did he?

[B]

Yeah, he did. Because again, he's providing so much at this point that people weren't unhappy.

[A]

Yeah. So if you're union organizer and you show up and you go there the evil. The evil rich bourgeoisie like John B. Stetson, like the guy who funds our mummer's company. That guy gave me health care for a dollar. It's four dollars a year. Yeah, it's four. I want to point that out. It's four dollars a year, y'.

[C]

All.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Just so you know, for us to cover us, it is $990 a month now.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's to cover us in a baby. Yeah. So through the marketplace. So that's great.

[B]

Let's take a quick break on that note.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

When we come back, I want to talk about what Ronald Reagan and mercury poisoning.

[A]

What.

[F]

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[A]

Woohoo, boys and girls. It's a cowboy roundup here and we're still learning about these ding dong dare hats.

[B]

I don't know how to respond to that.

[A]

You know how to respond with information. Because we're in the middle of an information war. Everybody.

[B]

Let me talk to you specifically about neurological damage, okay? That might be what's happening here. From the stress of the world.

[A]

It's called brain rot. Not feel great.

[B]

So like you were saying, being a hatter is a specialty, like skill set, right?

[A]

Yeah. Skilled worker.

[B]

The thing is, there was also a big hazard of this trade which was mercury fruit. Mercury fumes.

[A]

Mercury fumes.

[B]

Which is why they used to say things like mad as a hatter.

[A]

Oh, yeah, because the Mad Hatter from. I got to drop the voice. Yeah, Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.

[B]

Yeah. Well, historically, it was common among felt hat makers in England who had long term exposure to the vapors from mercury to start to get sick. And these people were then described as being mad as a hatter. And the character in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland is an example of someone that's mad as a hatter. The disease itself is actually called earthism. Eurthism. I don't know how to say it. It's E R E T H I S M. I'm gonna go with erethism. Erethism. Okay. So erethism is characterized by behavioral changes such as irritability, low self confidence, depression, apathy, shyness, and being timid. However, if you get even more exposure past that and it's more prolonged, you actually get delirium, memory and memory loss.

[A]

So it's. So you get. You get dementia. Yeah, you basically get like a extreme form of dementia. Okay.

[B]

From making hats.

[A]

For making hats.

[B]

Now here's the thing.

[A]

Because the mercury. So. So one thing you need to know, actually, there's. We have a long history of mercury in this country. Not in this country, actually, across the world. The first emperor of China, he thought, and he was told by doctors that mercury pills.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Would make him live forever. Because once he conquered everything, he was like, I'm the emperor of the world because that's the only area he knew. And he was. I control everything. The only Thing I don't control is death.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

So he went to these doctors and they gave him mercury pills, and it drove him irrevocably insane.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

To the point where at one point, I can't remember correctly if it was the ocean or a river. He fought it.

[B]

What do you mean?

[A]

He pulled out a sword and he was like, I will conquer you, river spirits. And, like, attacked a river. And it's been made fun of a lot. But also, when they found his tomb.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

There were all these rumors for a very long time that there was rivers of mercury inside of his tomb, which is the reason why. So you know the. You know the soldiers. The terracotta warriors.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. So when they found the terracotta warriors, they knew that those were protecting the tomb of the first emperor of China.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

All right. At the same time, when they found that, they then started testing the land around it, and there's all this mercury. Because they had rivers of mercury floating around. Because mercury is such a weird thing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, I remember when I was younger, there was these people that actually found mercury. Like, they found, like, someplace, and they're playing with it because it, like, rolls across your skin in this very weird way. It has this very. Mercury has these very insane properties.

[B]

Yeah. It's alien.

[A]

It's very alien.

[B]

Makes you feel like it's an alien.

[A]

It does. It feels like if you ever see, like, T1000 or one of those. I like the abyss or any of those things that kind of rolls around. But touching, you know, it absorbs through your skin and it makes you, like. It can cause all the liver issues. It can cause all these different issues. And the fumes melt your brain.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

To the point where you think, you know, you have memory loss. So you forget that everything we're going through right now we went through in June of 2020. You start being irritable. You start becoming very paranoid about a bunch of different stuff. You start seeing things where things aren't.

[B]

You want to take that hat off? I'm starting to put some things together myself. Thanks so much. So you know what that reminds me of when you're just describing the. The. His tomb.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Is Mother God and the colloidal Silver.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Remember when we did the episode. Episode about Mother God? Check it out.

[A]

Very long. It's very long.

[B]

This podcast for four years.

[A]

It's been a long time. Oh, my God. When we started this, not only were we so young, we were so young. We were in our late 30s. We didn't have a child. Oh, my God. So the fascism wasn't on the march.

[B]

This is an episode about hat.

[A]

Oh, okay. Hats.

[B]

Okay. The straight sided, round cornered, flat, brimmed, original boss of the plains design dominated for 20 years.

[A]

20 years?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Fake sombreros for 20 years.

[B]

Now, most of the 19th century photographs show the hat without an intentional crease. However, through use, abuse, and customization by individual wearers, hats were modified from their original appearance. In particular, the crown would become dented at first inadvertently, and then by a deliberate choice by individual owners. The brim was often rolled up or curved in ornamental styles. And sometimes the different creases and brim shapes were made on purpose to reflect a particular hat owner's live life or work. And in some cases, certain cowboys on different individual ranches would be identified by the creases in their hat.

[A]

This makes total sense. Yeah. So when you were describing, when I was holding up the hat and I was showing, like the different curves and the dent in the existing straw hat, I have here my straw Stetson. But at the same exact time, it makes complete and total sense. So one thing I think about a lot of the time is tri corner hats.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. So tri corner hats. The reason why they're tri corners, because originally, again, they were flat. They were like sombreros. And then things started getting pinned up because they're like, oh, this is kind of in the way the bends. If you think about baseball hats. Right. There was such a dichotomy between dudes who get a baseball hat and immediately bend and crush the rim of it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Versus the dudes who need to keep them flat. They need to keep them flat. Like, just like they just got them.

[B]

From the sticker still on it.

[A]

With the sticker still on it. Just like they got it from lids. We've been doing this. We keep pretending like we've changed. We just do it with slightly different things over time.

[B]

Boys love peacocking with their hat.

[A]

We love a hat.

[B]

Boys love peacocking with hats.

[A]

But the thing is, is. So when you're describing this, though, if you look at, like the Yosemite Sam hat, right, that's the. That's a flat boss of the plains hat. Or the boss of the prairie or planes.

[B]

Boss of the planes, yeah.

[A]

With it folded up in the front, Right. Then you go and you have some. Where they just do the one side. The cowboy hat that everybody wears now, they roll up both sides because they didn't need to have shade on their right and left. They needed it in the front and on the back to protect their neck.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Over time, like this is where you pinch, where you grab, how you touch. All these different things are coming in slowly over time. They're customizing everything. This is the same as like, I went to this specific brewery and I like an IPA that's hoppy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Well, I like a pilsner. That's all we're talking about at the end of the day. It's all beer. It's all beer.

[B]

The first popular modification was a long crease. Crease from in the back. So it was like a little butt crack in the back. And that was called the Carlsbad crease because there was people from Carlsbad, New Mexico that would wear it like that.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And so the Stetson factory started making that crease in the hats on purpose.

[A]

They started pre creasing them.

[B]

Pre creasing.

[A]

Oh, like, like pre ripped jeans.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's fashion.

[A]

Or pre faded shirts.

[B]

Another design derived from the pointed top top of a Mexican Somprero that worked its way north. It had four dents on top. And the four dents were from putting your hands on it, like to grab it.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

So it would create four dents and then that was called the Montana peak.

[A]

Got it. Even though it was from Mexico.

[B]

Yeah. They were like Montana Peak.

[A]

Well, and part of that is going to be because you have Mexican day laborers. Yep. Well, that ranch hands and others who made it all the way to Montana or guys who went from Montana, learn the trade down there and then brought again that cultural assimilation across. That's crazy.

[B]

So in addition to western hats, Stetson also in historically has produced trucker hats, fragrance, apparel, footwear, eyewear, belts, bourbon, and many other products that evoke the historic American West.

[A]

Yeah. Because the same thing as you were talking about at the beginning with the lore and this like, like this myth about the creation of the hat, they've been doing that from the very get go.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Even as the Wild west was happening, they were already mythologizing it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It was already like, as it was happening, they were already figuring out ways of like, how do we sell this?

[B]

Yeah. From Jersey, in Philly, selling a western dream. Yeah, it's. It's all marketing.

[A]

Yeah. Well, the thing is too is the western dream also has always come from Philly.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's the thing people don't understand. Everyone who rode west rode in a thing called the Conestoga wagon. Conestoga wagons are from Conestoga, Pennsylvania.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Okay. Like if you go like I went to Portland, Oregon. Right. When I went to Portland, they Had a con, like. And they were like, here's the Oregon Museum. And it was full of Conestoga wagons. I went to Texas. They're like, here's the story of Texas full of Conestoga. I was walking around, I'm like, all y' all are jet. Stepping in the footsteps of Philadelphia. Okay. But this is just like that story all over the different place, too. And it's also, again, they're bringing it back. They go out west, they see a bunch of things, they do some market research.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Then they go back to civilization where there's infrastructure, and then they start building things.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

That's exactly what they're doing.

[B]

Also, my boyfriend in high school were Stetson cologne. And I hated it. Oh, it was so. It's so gross.

[A]

You know?

[B]

And if I smell it because you. The older men still wear it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I think that must have been, like, his dad's cologne that he just, like, found in the bathroom or whatever. Was like, I'll wear his cologne.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And, like, I smell it sometimes, and.

[A]

I'm like, oh, God, I only wear. The only clone I ever wear is stuff that you say smells handsome.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because I don't care.

[B]

You have a wonderful collection of handsome smells.

[A]

I don't care for scents. I don't like colognes myself. But if I want you to like me. Yeah. I get whatever. The last bottle you gave me that you said, mm, this smells nice. And I go squirt, squirt, squirt. And then you're not mad at me anymore.

[B]

Yeah, exactly.

[A]

And, fellas, that's a secret. That's a secret. Let your girl pick a cologne for you, and then when she's mad at you, put it on. Put it on. Because scent is memory. And she'll remember a time when she liked you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And that will help you get back to that moment.

[B]

Wait a minute.

[A]

What?

[B]

I've been getting tricked.

[A]

You have? I mean, listen, I've been getting tricked through Burberry, y'.

[C]

All.

[A]

Let me tell you something right now. This is now a manipulator podcast. How do we manipulate Alpha, bro? No, no, no. We're not doing Al. We're not doing.

[B]

Oh, we're not doing.

[A]

No, we're not going to do Alpha.

[B]

Oh, we were about to make so much money on gambling app ads.

[A]

No, I'm sorry, babe. I know that your dream is prize picks and fanduel ads.

[B]

That's not true.

[A]

I know that's your dream.

[B]

That's not true.

[A]

Everyone's out here being like, oh, my.

[B]

God, I don't like gambling.

[A]

We don't even have ads on this episode. No, because we took a break. They're like, we're putting them all on hold.

[B]

So now let's go. Let's talk about Texans. You brought them up.

[A]

Texas.

[B]

Texans were known for their preference for the, quote, 10 gallon model. The 10 gallon hat.

[A]

You're talking about this. Okay, so when I look at a hat, right? They're always like, 10 gallon. And I know what a gallon of milk looks like, Right? I know, like a. Like the plastic jug or a gallon of water.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I don't see, like, how do you fit 10 gallons of water in there?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So what is the 10 gallon? The.

[B]

The 10 gallon is not actually a reference to the hat's liquid capacity. It actually derives from the Spanish word gallon. Galo. I don't know how to say it, guys. I'm sorry, but it means braid. It's a Spanish word for braid.

[A]

So you mean this thing that I have hanging on this right here?

[B]

10 indicating the number of braids used as a hat band. It's 10 gallon. It's the braids.

[A]

Shut the up. This whole entire time, we were talking about their little braided hats.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And not how much water they could carry in it to. So their. Their thirsty horse could drink while they're on the trail.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

But they let us think it was about the thirsty horse.

[B]

Yes, absolutely.

[A]

This is fucking insane. It's. America is either a collection of MLM stacked on each top of each other or a series of cultural appropriations that have been remarketed by white dudes.

[B]

I need to tell you it's both. And that's why Utah is the center of America.

[A]

Oh, so you know, I'm really in a debate. Yeah, I'm in a debate. Do I. Do I convert to Catholicism if The Pope excommunicates J.D. vance, or do I convert to Mormonism for safety? That's where I'm at right now.

[B]

If we do Mormonism, we have to go get veneers. They're not gonna let us in with our teeth.

[A]

Oh, with our teeth.

[B]

We gotta go get the veneers or they're not gonna let us in.

[A]

Yeah, I might need to go.

[B]

But also, I don't think I can give up coffee. The Catholics would never demand I gave up coffee.

[A]

Yeah, they would demand you give up your rights. Actually give up your rights in both of them.

[B]

Yeah, whatever.

[A]

I don't know. Hey, guys, get in the comments and tell us, should we become Mormons or Catholics?

[B]

I was Born Catholic. I'm already there.

[A]

Yeah, I know, but that's. That's one of the reasons why I've seen what I did to you, and I'm concerned of what it would do to our son. I also know we have a lot of ex Mormons. We have a lot of ex Mormon viewers.

[B]

And when it comes to deconstructing. This is the podcast, baby.

[A]

But also when it comes to deconstructing Mormons, like, when a Mormon is like. Like, oh, everything I believe is a lie, they also start looking around, they go, oh, it's everything, isn't it?

[B]

Everything.

[A]

Oh, no.

[B]

They're like, we're gonna make some coffee.

[A]

Scientologists would never. So it's funny how nobody ever wants to convert to Scientology.

[B]

No, you got to get trapped in that one.

[A]

Yeah, that's a trick trap.

[B]

You gotta. You gotta get bear claw. Yeah, that guy.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So the Stetson Hat Company.

[A]

Oh, this is about hats.

[B]

This is about hats. So the Cesson hat was a symbol of the highest quality. Western icons such as Buffalo Bill, Calamity Jane, Will Rogers, Annie Oakley, and the Lone Ranger all wore Stetson.

[A]

So you actually described real fast, you described people who were vaudeville acts going into early movies.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

I just wanted to be that clear to the listeners, because they might not.

[B]

Clock that they were not real cowboys.

[A]

Well, some of them were. Some of them, like specifically Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane, those two were, quote, cowboys and were around in the old west, but they were vaudeville acts.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

They would then cartoon it up.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

When they went back East. All right. Annie Oakley. All these different people, like, they could shoot guns, they could do. They knew how to wrestle, they knew how to do those different things. But at the end of the day, they were basically pro wrestlers. Yes. When it came back. And then when you get the characters like the Lone Ranger and who's the other one that you said?

[B]

I don't remember. Hold on.

[A]

You had it written there. Will Rogers. Will Rogers was a TV cowboy.

[B]

Is he related to Roy Rogers of the Cheeseburger Magnet?

[A]

I don't think so.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So the Stetson comp. The. Sorry. The company also started making hats for the Texas Rangers, which became the first law enforcement agency to incorporate the cowboy hat into their uniform.

[A]

That's because it's. Texas Rangers were actually riding horses back then, and they were fascist then, too.

[B]

So the Stetson Western style hats were worn by employees of the National Park Service, US Cavalry soldiers, and then also US Presidents like Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

[A]

Yep. So LBJ wore one because he was from Texas. Ronald Reagan wore one because he starred in westerns. And he knew that people were obsessed with westerns, especially in the 80s, and they felt like they were losing their masculinity. So everybody had a really big midlife crisis and started pretending like they were all big, manly he men and barbarians. And remembering things like the cowboy movies from the 40s, 50s, and 60s made them feel strong in a world that was scaring them. Also, real fast, Ronald Reagan. No dick print and gate and gray sweatpants.

[B]

Sorry.

[A]

What is recently an image? We're gonna throw it up on the screen right here. That's an image of Ronald Reagan. No dick print in gray sweatpants. Yeah. Anyway, he was a big, manly cowboy, but he was mainly a Hollywood actor. And then George W. Bush proved that you could be from New England like his daddy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You could be from New Nantucket.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And then just move to Texas, put on a fake accent and a hat, and then suddenly everyone's like, that's a real American right there. Because George W. Bush is the third generation Nepo baby. A Nepo baby.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

His. His grandfather tried to overthrow the United States government through the business plot. His father was the CIA director, a vice president, and. And President of the United States. And then George W. Bush moved to Texas. Pretend to be really into cowboy shit. Look at me. I'm a real man, even though I'm completely sober because I drank so goddamn much. I got a DUI in the 70s, and then I had to go join AA and become a fake Christian.

[D]

Then.

[A]

Then let me tell you all what I did. Put on a cowboy hat. And people told people they want to have a beer with me. I want you to have a beer with me. You should have a beer with me. I even pretend to be a airman. I pretend to be a Vietnam soldier even though I was a draft dodger. That's what I did. It's called Swift Bow, everybody.

[B]

Do you think that Nancy. That Ronald Reagan was Nancy Reagan's retirement?

[A]

Yes. Also, I just realized the cowboy hat is the ultimate symbol of performative male.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

This is hard. This is bigger than Matcha Labu Boo. This is bigger than big pants. This is bigger than tote. If you see somebody wearing a cowboy hat and they don't have a horse.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I want you to put go. You're a performative male. You're a fake man. You have no dick printing, gray sweatpants. He's gonna YouTube short the. Out of that one. Mr. Third's gonna YouTube short the. Out of that one.

[B]

Now, Republicans often embrace the cowboy hat as a cultural symbol of values the party wants to align itself with.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Such as rugged individualism, self reliance and a nostalgic view of white American history.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

The hat has become a powerful piece of political pop culture. I wrote pop, but I think it's prop culture that helps project a specific image.

[A]

Yeah. Well. And that was built by Hollywood and that was built by advertisers, specifically cigarette advertisers. With the Marlboro Man. A very difficult cigarette to say. But I was never into Marlboro's myself. I was always more of an American spirits or a parliament light or Camels.

[B]

That was another one, baby.

[A]

All of those really got me real good. But the Marble man in particular was always this guy. He was this cowboy. He was always doing rugged cowboy. And the other good thing that the Marlboro people realized is they could cover his face with the brim of the hat.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So that way if the Marlboro man dies, you could just put another one up there. It's not like they had to worry about going and creating an AI version.

[B]

The Marlboro Company would have loved AI. Oh, they wouldn't model anymore. You don't need a model.

[A]

They don't need a. Oh, yeah. Make them look young and pretty. Who cares?

[B]

Yassify? The Marble man.

[A]

Anyway. The. The Marble Man. That one. John Wayne.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is another one. Randolph Scott.

[B]

Who's that?

[A]

Randolph Scott was a cowboy actor. Very rugged.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

Very. He did all these different movies and was always about coming into a town. A lot of them were like seven samurai style movies or these type of things where they come into a town, they're gonna fight back against the local baddies. Right. And do these different things. They're always. It was always just a lone man who comes into a town and gets together a posse and gets everybody together and the town backs him and does all these different things. Randolph Scott is actually referenced in Blazing Saddles.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

There's a moot with the black sheriff. Asked the town to help him with, like, fighting back against the railroad.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

They're like, no, that idea is stupid. He's like, you would let Randolph Scott do it. And the whole people go, randolph Scott. Randolph Scott was a gay man from Virginia. He was Cary Grant's live in boyfriend. Cary Grant was also gay. All of Hollywood was gay. It's always been gay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The cowboys were gay. Brokeback Mountain is only shocking because they dropped a little bit of pretense. Do you understand what I'm Talking about every. If you sit there and you think rugged individualism, I want you to think of the following. Okay? That's an actual quote from Brokeback Mountain. That was the most shocking moment of that movie to me. I was like, damn, in a tent. What a heated rivalry.

[B]

Listen.

[A]

Yeah. You know what?

[B]

He just reminded me of the Orville Peck song he did with Willie Nelson.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

That cowboys are frequently secretly fond of each other.

[A]

Can I tell you? Save a horse, Ride a cowboy, boy. Right. Toby Keith, you dead. Listen, I want to tell you, I was recently down. I was hanging out with the producer from Crashing out.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[A]

And we. He was. I was a big fan of Orville Peck. We put it on. We're in the car, and they went. You know, I didn't realize this guy was gay. And I. At that moment, I. I took. I paused and I was like, how did you never.

[B]

Wait a minute.

[A]

He. He made a cover of Fancy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

By Reba McIntyre.

[B]

Okay, I need you to listen to lyrics of these songs, guys.

[A]

And I want to just go ahead and say something real fast just to Orville Pack, just in case this does get made into a short. We do love you, Orville Peck. Okay. And I've. I said it online. I'm. Orville, I'm going to ignore the Street Fighter thing, okay? I know it's your first movie. We're big fans. You're stuck in that movie with a ton of people like Andrew Scholz and a few others that I'm like, I don't love them. Okay? So everything I say about the Street Fighter movie, Orville, is not about you.

[B]

Never.

[A]

Okay, get your bag, King. Get your bag. Get. You're not getting an Oscar. But get Nickelodeon award, maybe.

[B]

I don't. I don't think Nickelodeon's gonna give him an award.

[A]

You don't think Nickelodeon. Oh, not. Yeah, that's right, because Nickelodeon's now owned by fascists, okay? So they're not gonna be propping up a gay cowboy. You're right. You're right. You know what? Let's get back to breaks right after this.

[C]

This.

[A]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. This new year, don't forget about the little ones in the family. Now through January 27th, shop in store and online and save $10 when you buy two or more of your favorite baby care items. Shop for items like Happy Baby Formula, Pampers, Pure Diapers, Pampers Baby wipes, Pampers, Swaddlers, Diapers, Pampers Cruisers Diapers, and Similac Powder formulas and save $10 when you buy two participating products. Offer ends January 27th. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details. I keep forgetting that this episode's about hats.

[B]

This is an episode about hats.

[A]

I keep taking. I've taken some crazy asides as we gotten late into this guy.

[B]

Stetson decided to change their business strategy in the early 1970s.

[A]

Okay. Because John B. Stetson's dead by the 1970s.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, for sure.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

And they. The thing they do is they close the Philadelphia factory in 1971.

[A]

1971. They pull out of Philadelphia.

[B]

Yeah. They moved to Texas.

[A]

Don't love that. Hold on.

[B]

I want to show you this video of when the plant closed down.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I have it from the news.

[A]

Okay. This archival footage of the. The plant closing.

[E]

For more than a century, the company had made hats at its main plant in Philadelphia. Before World War II, hat sales were high. Stetson then employed a huge workforce that produced 60,000 hats a day. After the war, hat sales began dropping as more people abandoned them for a freer, casual look. During the 1960s, longer hairstyles reinforced the trend to hatlessness. The company tried to fight back with new styles and fabrics. Although the Western style remained a big seller, the public just wasn't buying enough. Two years ago, employees had approved a contract with no wage increase. They had hoped it would somehow delay the main plant's closing. I've been working here for over 35 years. At the beginning, I thought they'd always There. The Stetson name will probably appear on hats made elsewhere. But for the hundreds of men and women employed here, when this factory closes, it will mean the end of a way of life and work.

[A]

Seem like they hired a lot of women.

[B]

They did hire a lot of women. They. It was like if there was 5,000 people working in the plant, there was about approximately a thousand women working.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[B]

So a great employer of women.

[A]

Yeah. And some of them said that they've been working there for 35 years.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So they were holding up whole communities.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And then they completely pulled out. And then they moved down to Texas.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Got it.

[B]

Well, because there's a lot of factors that played into it.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

You know, people stopped wearing hats.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

It was like. It.

[A]

It was.

[B]

It was a lot of things that.

[A]

Played a big part of it. And. And the big part of the reason why people stop wearing hats is because of cars.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

A lot of people actually keep forgetting that. It's because when you get into a car, most cars have low Ceilings and a cowboy hat or a top hat or any of those things. You brush your hat. So you had to take it off constantly.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And if it's a big hat, unlike a baseball hat or other things, you would have to put it on a seat. And so you start running out of room. And you need to have like hat hooks. All this different stuff. I mean, if you saw it, when we opened this up, we had a Stetson hat box.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is what our friend from four foot prune was holding up. And so, like, you needed boxes. Like, we have this. This house that we bought is a very old house. And it weirdly came with hat hangers, like old school old lady hat hangers. So this actually sits in a closet door inside of a hat, like hanger that's there. That's not a hook on the back. It's like a bridge to hold the front. It's weird. It was a whole. There was a whole different lifestyle around hats that vanished.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Between the 1940s and today, I think.

[B]

We bring back hats. Anyway, the reason I wanted to show you this was specifically about how Stetson was a big employer of women.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because there's so many people in political power that put on these fucking hats and want to take jobs away from women. They're doing everything they can to make it so hard for women to keep a job. But the Stetson hat factory was a huge employer of women. It's like there's so much that's like separated from this mythology of the hat itself.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. The same people who are putting on cowboy hats right now are the same people who are shutting down daycares across this country, which means that women are going to be the first ones to get pulled from their jobs.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

The same ones who are putting on cowboy hats right now and pretending that they're Texas Rangers are the same ones who want to cross state lines like slave catchers and drag women back to anti abortion states.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

The same people who were doing this. And like, it's just. It's so fudgeing nuts. It's just so fudgeing nuts that this symbol, which was also a symbol of women that could then actually sustain their families and give their whole community a leg up.

[B]

Yes. Let me talk to you about John Stetson's philanthropy.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay. He helped fund the starting of Temple University.

[C]

Really?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

He started.

[B]

He was one of the original funders. So a group of people got together. But he is one of the original funders of Temple University.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

He also helped fund Stetson University which is in Florida.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

As well as a Philadelphia ymca. He almost completely funded the building of a ymca along with a homeless shelter and soup kitchen, which was called the Sunday Breakfast Association. It's now called the Philly House. It still exists. It's right on the edges of Chinatown in Philly.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But I did like, look, I know what the Philly House is. But then I was like, well, let me look it up.

[C]

Up.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Like, tell me about how he funded this. And this is what was very interesting to me. There were three main men who put their money behind starting this homeless shelter, soup kitchen for men in Philadelphia. And it was John Wanamaker.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Of the Wanamaker store.

[A]

Yeah. Who eventually. Yeah, that was the.

[B]

Which eventually became a Macy's.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Okay. John Stetson.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And Washington at Lee Burpee.

[A]

What? Burpee. Like that. Like the jump up, push up guy. Okay.

[B]

Burpee is Burpee Seeds.

[A]

That means nothing to me.

[B]

Burpee Seeds are like the number. It's like the number one seed company in the world, I think. And I had no idea that they were in Philadelphia or that they were financially backing anything in Philadelphia. It's like Burpee Seeds are. When you go to Lowe's or you go to a store, like. Like the first seed you're gonna see most likely is Burpee Seeds.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

It's a huge, huge thing.

[A]

So these three massive magnates came together and they created the Sunday House.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And what is the Sunday House?

[B]

The Sunday Breakfast Association. What it was originally called.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Was basically a place where you could go get a hot meal before church. And then it was like a meeting. So, like, you would sit in a group. The first time they ever did it, 250 men attended the first meeting.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And so it was a hot meal. You stayed for church. And then there was probably just, like, some discussions afterwards about, like, getting your life together. Eventually, it became a homeless shelter along with a rehabilitation center. It's grown to be so much more.

[A]

No, but see, the thing is, this is wrong, okay? Because Jesus didn't say to feed the hungry and the poor. Jesus said to put a mask on and to go into a community and ask where anyone who doesn't look like you lives. That's what Jesus Christ is king. Okay? I just want to point that out. That's where we are at 26. Okay? You're talking. You're talking about an old mess over here about. We've gotten updates on all these different things. You're talking about empathy. That's A sin. Okay. Empathy is a sin, folks. Empathy's a sin. Brought to you by DraftKings.

[B]

Okay, can I tell you something really funny?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

So this whole episode started because I was like, why are they always wearing cowboy hats?

[A]

Yeah. And also why did Donald Trump look like that? No cowboy hat?

[B]

Well, because he is not. Well, yeah, he was like, probably himself, honestly. But so they're all wearing these cowboy hats and I'm like, why? And then also I'm like, the cowboy hats are from Philadelphia. That's crazy.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

This is how I start this. There was a certain point where I literally just put into Google like we were talking about you Google. I went into Google and I typed, why do Republicans like cowboy hats?

[A]

That's the exact.

[B]

Was like, why do Republicans like cowboy hats?

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And you know how when you Google now because of AI, it gives you an AI summary?

[A]

Yeah. Immediately. And it immediately gives you an even when you don't fucking ask.

[B]

I don't want it, but I got it. And so I read it because I'm like scrolling, I'm like going down. And I, I copy pasted it because it made me laugh out loud, this AI summary.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So I want to, I want to close this episode with the AI summary to the. The answer to the question, why do Republicans like cowboy hats? Per AI. Right. While the aesthetic is used to conjure a politics of self sufficiency, the historical reality of the cowboy era involved low paid agricultural jobs held often by Mexican immigrants and African Americans. And many ranching operations were actually dependent on government subsidies, land giveaways and federal water projects. The modern political use of the symbol often prioritizes the myth over historical details.

[A]

Yep. God damn.

[B]

They got coming for your ass. They got smoke.

[A]

They got smoked by Google. Gemini. That's incredible. Also, I didn't even think about. Yeah, there's a huge part in there we didn't even touch on. Well, land giveaways.

[B]

We talk about land giveaways in our Redramen episode.

[A]

Redrawing episode I know we've talked about before, but saying in this episode.

[B]

No, I'm just trying to listen. My job as a podcaster is getting listen to more podcast.

[A]

I understand. Okay. No, you're right, you're right, you're right, you're right, you're right. Okay, calm down, calm down.

[B]

Federal water projects. We talk about that in the lake episode.

[A]

Yeah. And redlining.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Redlining in general. But also also keep in mind that we had completely open borders until 1924. So if someone was like, my family came here legally, your family came here early. That's it. That's all legal. Meant until 1924. You could just walk in if you were white. But anyway, that's, that's our show about hats. This was about hats. But also, just so you know, that Google question you asked at the end, I think you just nailed what the episode is going to be titled. Yeah, why do Republicans like Cowboy Hats? Guys, thank you so much. Give us five stars wherever you are. Listening to us, watching us, like, comment, subscribe, all the fun things. Promania500.net for ad free listening. We'll see you next week. Too many frauds and too many scammers that we wish weren't real. Too many cons and too many spammers. And worst off, starting to feel like we've got too many tabs. Open it too many times. Remember to smile.