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Truth in the Barrel
Cask Us Anything | Truth In The Barrel w JoJoFromJerz
01:12:54
Amy went live with Joanne Carducci (@JoJoFromJerz) to talk about a range of topics beginning with Donald Trump’s amateur and downright embarrassing handling of Vladmir Putin this week. *This episode was recorded and aired on 08.19.25...
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- [00:00]
A
Whether you're into comedians roasting each other's life choices or turning yesterday's bad decisions into today's funny stories, Amazon Music's got the most ad free top podcasts included with Prime. Download the Amazon music app and get in on the joke or go to Amazon.com adfreecomedy that's Amazon.com adfreecomediDy to catch up on the latest episodes without out the ads. So.
- [00:41]
B
Hi, everyone.
- [00:42]
A
I'm Amy McGrath and it's Truth in the Barrel live show, and I'm here with my friend Joanne Carducci. Jojo from Jersey. Very excited to have you on. You're a political commentator, host of lots of different shows. If I get this wrong, you'll correct me. But Sanish, are you effing kidding me? I love that one. And you just launched the Siren Network last night, so welcome. Joe.
- [01:11]
B
Oh, my gosh. Thank you, Amy. I have long admired you from a semi safe distance, I promise. I don't know what you look like when you're asleep, but I've long admired you, your fun fight, the way you just, like, go out there and say it and go right at them like, I love it. And so I'm very, very, very honored to be here. Thank you so much for having me.
- [01:31]
A
Well, we have a lot to talk about. And, you know, I think you and I have actually a lot in common. You know, the same age. We're sort of suburban moms. We're pretty motivated, some would say maybe angry about the state of our nation right now. We both have some shows that, that we do. You know, this, this one's my only one, but we also, also both have kids the same age. Right. I think your kids are about 7th, 8th grade. Ish. Right?
- [02:01]
B
Yeah. My daughter is going in. Well, she's officially, as she will tell you, a seventh grader. We haven't gone back to school yet. Jersey. We go back a little later than a lot of states, so we're going back, I think, 27th. She's seventh grade. My son is sophomore in high school, which is just. I can't believe it.
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A
Oh, my gosh. Well, I have a. I have an eighth grader, a sixth grader, and a fourth grader. And I just got done literally like 20 minutes ago with sixth grade. Open house is where you meet all the teachers. So it was very fun. Really cool. But, you know, it's.
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B
This is.
- [02:33]
A
This is our life. And it's. And it's. It's great.
- [02:36]
B
Yeah, it's. It's real. I mean, it's that's the thing. It's like. I mean, I can't speak for you, but I would guess the part of your. Why is your kids? Like, my whole why is my kids? That was. I mean, I went to college and majored in politics, and I. And I never ended up pursuing it. But in 2016, you know, the way that election went for me, it was about. All of this has been about trying to right the wrong. That was Donald Trump's victory in that election. Because I put my kids to bed that night. I always take them to vote from when they're babies, you know, and I put them to bed that night and said, tomorrow morning you're gonna wake up and we'll have the first ever female president elect. And. Right. We'll prevailed. The good guy will have won. Like in the Marvel movies, right? So my son woke up in the morning, I was in the bathroom on the floor, had been crying all night, like so many of us. And he just asked me one question, which was like, how did this happen? You said the good guy would win. And as a mom, not having an answer, when everything would teach them to be and do and embody was, is the antithesis, is represented in that one reprehensible creature. You don't have an answer. And so when I didn't have an answer, I was like, I have to do something. I don't know what that looks like. I don't know what it sounds like. I don't know how it changes my life. I just have to do something. And I never stopped. I just never stopped.
- [03:47]
A
Well, you know, we're very similar in that way, because I was in the military and never expected to go into politics at all. But it was the whole 2016 election, and the idea that we would, as a country, elect somebody of. No, in my belief, very poor character and very poor integrity. And this whole concept of honesty and honor, which was so important to me as a United States Marine, I just couldn't believe I was worried for our country. And I figured, you know, I gotta. I gotta do something. I gotta defend our democracy. We've got to. I gotta stand up and be the leader that I want to see in this country. So it's similar. You just interviewed the California governor. Tell us about that.
- [04:37]
B
I mean. Well, first of all, I just want to sidebar. It's not. It's not a sidebar meaning to diminish it, but thank you for your service. I just want to sidebar on how important and near and dear to my heart that is my Brother was a Marine. He's no longer with us. He passed in 2020. I have siblings who served in the army and the Air Force and family who is active Air Force right now. So it's near and dear to my heart. And I, and I appreciate your service more than I can actually articulate. So I wanted to thank you for that. And one of the things about Donald Trump that has always pissed me off the most was his persistent degradation of the men and women of our armed forces. His insidious, demeaning attacks on them, on service in general, on their sacrifice. I mean, from suckers and losers to John McCain, to his desecration of Arlington National Cemetery, to attacking, you know, gold star families and military widows. It's, it's, it's always infuriated me. And I've never understood how anyone who has ever worn a uniform or wears one now can support that creature. I just, I'll never understand it. He's a five time draft dodger who disparages our military all the time, and they'll say that he supports our troops. And it pisses me off. Like, I just, just wanted to say that. So I don't know if you want to talk about that before I get into Newsome or, or if you want me to move on to today, because that was craz. I just say that because talking to you like, that's another reason why your content, your tweets and everything that you do speak so loudly to me, because he's spitting in your face too. And it, it really pisses me off.
- [06:15]
A
Well, it's, for me, it's the use of the military in so many ways that it wasn't designed to be used. And there clearly is in my mind a lack of respect. I mean, a lot of times you don't believe politicians when they say things, but when a guy like John Kelly, four star Marine Corps general, says that this man, Donald Trump, you know, didn't understand why people, you know, sacrifice so much on the battlefield, wouldn't go to their graves, didn't get it said. I don't want to have a wounded warrior standing next to me because it might make me look bad.
- [07:03]
B
Yeah.
- [07:04]
A
When a lot of times you hear these things and you're like, did that really happen? Did that really happen? And, and that's understandable to me when a guy like John Kelly says it happened, it happened, you know, and that, that's, it's just unforgivable in my mind. But, you know, I'm, I'm more worried about the state of our nation and what's happening right now and all of the things that are going on, and we'll. We'll get into that a little bit. Before we do, though, I want to make sure everybody who's out there on YouTube go ahead and tell us where you're watching from. Put your information in the chat. You know, you're going to be sending us questions, thoughts, concerns, all that stuff. This is live, so it's not scripted. So, you know, have at it. Now's your. Now's your chance. Okay, so, Joe, I got to ask you.
- [07:59]
B
Yeah.
- [08:01]
A
The big thing in my mind, and it isn't always the big thing on everybody's mind. Right. But it's just. What I see is the Trump, Zelensky, European leaders meeting in the White House, the disastrous meeting in Alaska with the war criminal Vladimir Putin, and all of that stuff. I'm wondering if, like, do you think average Americans get how bad this is? And, you know, I. I see it, but I'm just curious, in your belief.
- [08:36]
B
I. I don't know. I don't know. I usually try and use my friend group as sort of a. A barometer of what they're paying attention to, what's breaking through? Epstein broke through big time. Nome is breaking through. He really. He is like. He's breaking through my. So my friend groups who are not super engaged, but, like, stuff will just get through when they're scrolling, you know? Um, I. They haven't mentioned anything about Alaska or about what happened yesterday. About, like, you tweeted this, and it really hit me about the, you know, men and women of our armed forces being on their hands and knees, rolling out literal red carpet for someone who, on his best day, would wish them death. You know what I mean? On his best day, would seek to destroy American democracy. Right. Like, this is a genocidal war criminal, our foreign adversary, and he was hailed as the savior of the day. And watching that flyover made my stomach drop. It made me sick to my stomach. It was like a temu. North Korean military parade. And I don't mean to diminish the service of those airmen and women who flew that flyover, but to see them used as props in that way, it infuriates me for Vladimir Putin. And I wish, Amy, I wish that that kind of stuff broke through. I wish that my friends would have picked up on it. And I'm not blaming them, because it wasn't any algorithm. Right. And I wish that some of what we saw yesterday, which was this parade of what he needs he needs all the adulation. He needs belating. He needs the stroking of his ego. He needs to be told how amazing he is, how impactful he is. I mean, it was like watching one of his dear leader cabinet meetings, but these were world leaders, and. And I wish it was getting through. And by the way, I don't fault them either. I understand that they now. Right.
- [10:43]
A
They have to.
- [10:44]
B
And you got to play with this freak. He's so easily manipulated. He's an idiot who, like, he's a narcissist. You just stroke his ego till he feels like as important as the reflection in the mirror he sees. And I don't blame them. They've actually gotten some good things done, like getting him to agree to sell weapons to NATO so that NATO can give things like the Patriot to. To Ukraine. But it's. From where I'm sitting, this stuff is not breaking through in the way that other things have. Like I said, if this was coupled with something about the Epstein files. Yeah, yeah, I get that.
- [11:21]
A
And I think that some people may not understand the significance of some of these things. So. So when you use American troops to roll out, literally on their hands and knees to roll out the red carpet for a war criminal, a guy who would not even be allowed into, like, 130 nations around the world because they would arrest him.
- [11:43]
B
Right.
- [11:44]
A
It is a slap in the face to everyone that wears the uniform. And it's also a function of the inept leadership, political leadership within the Donald Trump administration. Why? Because in any other administration, Joe, you would have diplomats, you would have people on the White House staff who would say, no, no, no, you guys, get up, get up, get up, get up, get up. Don't do that. Like, you know, let, let some, Some, you know, civilian or somebody else do that. But not US Soldiers because of the, of the, The. The image that it sent. And you know who is retweeting that? Russia Today. Yeah, yeah. And. And also Russia Today is, Is. Is, you know, after the meeting with Putin, they're sending out tweets of armored personnel carriers in Russia attacking Ukrainians with a Russian flag on one side of their carrier and an American flag on the other. And it's just, you know, look, everybody wants peace. I get it. I want peace. I, you know, and I hear this from neighbors and people around, well, Donald Trump's trying to get peace. Isn't that great? He's trying to, you know, and I don't. I don't blame Trump for talking with Vladimir Putin. I blame him for the way that it happened. You didn't need to have a flyover. Flyovers. I did. Flyovers. Flyovers are celebrations. We ain't celebrating anything here. We ain't celebrating, okay? You don't do flyovers. Plus, it costs millions of dollars. You just don't do that for this type of thing. And do you know what? What bothers me a lot. Maybe not the most, but a lot is all these people saying, oh, only Trump could have pulled off this historic meeting in the White House with all these. Only Trump could have brought these heads of states together. Look at this grand picture. And seriously, those heads of state were there because they couldn't trust Trump in the White House with Zelensky. They couldn't trust that he would stand behind Ukraine. Couldn't trust that he would. That they, that, that. That Trump wouldn't give everything up. That's why they were there.
- [13:56]
B
Yeah.
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A
I mean, it's, It's. It's unbelievable.
- [14:00]
B
Yes. And I mean, God, all of that, right? Like, I have a sibling who flew flyovers, and. And one of them was. Was for a very prominent person's funeral. Right? Like, these are. These are. It's. It's about honor. It's about, like I said, celebration and honor. And Donald Trump turned it into a pissing contest. He turned it into, like, slapping his teeny mushroom member on a teeny tiny desk so that, like, Vladimir Putin was like, oh, look at big. He's, you know, his goal is so huge. It's. It was. It was at a very expensive cost, but also, again, for the optics for, For Putin and the people of Russia today to go. He won. He won. The second. There was even a red carpet of any kind. He won. You could say, see it when Vladimir Putin walks down the. Slides across the tarmac and is applauded. Like, Trump's like a freaking poodle in a dog show. Applauded. This is not a person you applaud. Right? That was. This is the. All of is. It is absolutely infuriating. And what, what, again, to your point about yesterday, all of those leaders have learned how to manipulate Donald Trump because he is very easy to manipulate. You nominate him for a Nobel Prize, you send him a giant envelope that says you love him. You know, you show up and, and tell the world how important and impactful he is, how only he could have done this. And then you say, oh, yes, of course, you ended six wars. Although it's like, what are you talking about? But he says it, and they're like, yeah, yeah, sure, sure. And you're right. Like, Anybody paying attention knows that they were there, because the last time Zelensky was in the Oval Office, we had JD Couch blanking vans saying, did you even say thank you? And even Zelensky knows that there's a game to be played here because he wore a suit, right? Like a suit. Not a suit. Like Donald Trump's. Like clowns looks like he slept in it. And it's the tie. Looks like a velvet leash chaining him to the ground. Like Zelensky wore a suit that reflects the fact that he's a president who is being invaded. Right. But that show yesterday, that display yesterday was, like you said, you can't trust Donald Trump on his own with some of the voices that are in his ear, like J.D. vance and Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon, et cetera, to make the right decisions when it comes to Ukraine. He's. He's one of those people. The last person in the room, right. The last person in the room is the one that impacts his decision making. And what that was was a whole bunch of power, global power, coming to assist Zelensky, but also babysit and Gatekeep, a crazy person who's basically a toddler at snack time, who's looking for his applesauce. You know what I mean? And I don't think a lot of people do understand that, but at the same time, like, the optics of it are one thing, but if they were able to accomplish what seemed like they were, a real substantive conversation about him not pulling out of NATO and not abandoning Ukraine whole hog, then I'm okay with the show. You know what I mean? That sucks. But this is the game that's being played right now.
- [17:07]
A
Yeah, yeah. And. And. And we should also be clear that so far in his administration, Donald Trump has been all over the place when it comes to Ukraine. I mean, they had no severe consequences for Vladimir Putin. There have been no more sanctions. There's no ceasefire. He said, oh, I'm gonna. We need a ceasefire. And then 24 hours later, he said, I don't think I need a. I don't think we need a ceasefire. The Russian attacks on Ukraine have actually gotten worse since Donald Trump has been in the White House. We've got one guy, Marco Rubio, goes on the Sunday show, says one things. You got Witkoff, the. The golf buddy that goes on the. On the Sunday shows and says something completely different. Now, you know, they're talking about security guarantees. That's good, except I don't think they know what they are.
- [17:59]
B
No. And.
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A
And in these security guarantees are Promises, you know, as you know, they're promises of protection from one country to another so that that country doesn't get invaded again. And the problem is they're all based on credibility.
- [18:15]
B
Yep.
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A
And so Ukraine doesn't believe Russia. So, you know, if. Because Russia and the United States and Ukraine made a security pact called the Budapest memorandum a long time ago, and guess what? Russia broke that pact.
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B
Right.
- [18:33]
A
And so, yeah, they gave up their nukes in exchange for, this is our territory. And Russia said, okay, we agree to that. And the United States said, okay, we agree to that. Russia broke it twice. First in 2014 in the invasion of Crimea, second in 2022 with the invasion of all of Ukraine. And so if you're the Ukrainians, you're like, I don't trust the Russians, so I need Western help. And, and of course, we have a president in the United States who doesn't really believe in NATO.
- [19:08]
B
Right.
- [19:08]
A
So, you know, it's just, gosh, you got to put yourselves in the Ukrainians position and, and recognize that this is their country. They're trying to save it. They don't know who to trust.
- [19:19]
B
And let's just, let's just be straight here. You said Marco Rubio, I call Marco Rubio the weathercocking weathercock of weathercocks in weathercocking history. Okay. Like, he makes Nikki Haley look firm in her positions on Donald Trump. And just, just a friendly reminder, Marco Rubio once said that Donald Trump, you know, was a con artist. And that, you know, Donald Trump basically, like Nikki Haley said, embodied, you know, every. All the worst things that we teach our children not to be. Said we should never trust Donald Trump. And also said we should never trust Vladimir Putin. That, that Vladimir Putin was a butcher and that Donald Trump was a con artist you couldn't trust. And I mean, on the Sunday shows out there, trying to sell some kind of BS agreement that they made related to a sovereign democratic nation that needs the protection that NATO would provide because they didn't have it. And Putin was like, I don't care. I'm going to invade you again. I don't care if what we signed. But with NATO backing them, it's a whole different ball game. Which is why, in part, Putin very much does not want Ukraine added to NATO, which is why. Right. Like, one of the things, if you've been listening, they've been very careful and parsing their words and saying NATO like, protections from Taco Donald Trump, when you say, trust me, I'm going to give you NATO like, protections, it's like A pinky swearing vibes like, you wouldn't take that deal from the shadiest grifter that you know, you wouldn't be like, yeah, he promised me, protect me. No, you want the protections that are written in Article 5. That's what you want and that's what, that's what Putin doesn't want. And you have heard them person after person, from Witkoff to Rubio, who knows better, by the way. Rubio also knows because he co authored, he co authored the report on Russian interference in 2016. He knows better and that man has long since sold his soul. But you see them parsing their words and being careful to say NATO like protections because they know they're not going to give Ukraine what they need, which, and Putin is not going to honor any NATO like protections. He is going to invade again. I mean, it's like, fool me once, right? I mean, honestly, at this point, you have to be an idiot to trust Putin or Trump, but to trust them both is madness. And Ukraine, thank God they have all those European leaders who have their backs right now who can talk some sense into this crazy person. But at the same time, I'm very fearful. I'm very, very fearful for what Trump and Putin and Rubio, etc. Are going to agree to when it comes to brokering peace. It's like, sorry, the last thing I'll say is this kills me. It's like their idea of peace is this, okay, you're in Maine and Canada decides, we want to take over Maine, we want to invade Maine. And they get all the way down to, I don't know, banger or something. And they've been fighting for Maine and they've been killing civilians and killing dogs and kidnapping children and taking them back to Canada and making them hate Mainers. And then somebody from, like, Mexico is two years later, three years later, they're like, you know what? Canada has fought for that land. So we want peace. If you want peace Maine, you just got to give it up, give them the land. Let's call it peace. Like, this is insane. It's a sovereign democracy that anybody thinks Putin's going to stop with Ukraine too. It's, it's an existential crisis and it's embarrassing. It's embarrassing. And I'm sorry, but I just, I think the idea that anyone should trust either one of those fools is madness.
- [23:05]
A
Well, it's interesting. You bring up a little bit of geography and you talk about Maine, the equivalent of what Russia has, has taken. And what they want is like, if you, if you compare it to the United States, it's as if somebody came in and said, I want Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, I'll take part of North Carolina, maybe some of Virginia. I mean, that, that's how much. So it's not just a little sliver. It's, it's a lot of Ukrainian territory, a lot of their natural resources and a lot of their people. And then, and it's also rewarding aggression. You know, but right now, Russia has no motive to stop because our president, backed by our Republicans in the House and in the Senate, have not put enough pressure on Russia. They have basically chickened out. All right? They're not increasing sanctions. There have been no consequences for the ramping up of constant attacks. The attacks are continuing on Ukraine. They, they haven't pressured folks to seize that, the Russian assets. They haven't given more military aid. At one point, our, our lovely Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, stopped intelligence sharing with Ukraine, stopped telling Trump to. Yeah, I mean, you know, we're not, this is not a recipe to help Ukrainians at all and to get Russia to the table to, in any meaningful way. So that, that's, that's my take on it.
- [24:45]
B
Can we just talk about the fecklessness of these Republicans, by the way? Who in private will tell you that they stand with Ukraine? Who in private will tell you that they understand what's at stake right now? In private? They're, they're, they're, you know, these are warriors, right? Keyboard warriors and text warriors who will say whatever it takes, we, we have to stand with Ukraine. But then you have someone like Lindsey Graham, okay? And Lindsey Graham was also out on the Sunday shows, which is ironic, right? Lindsey Graham, who said that the Republican Party would get destroyed if they nominated Donald Trump and that they would deserve it, is out there. I mean, two of the Republicans who chastised Trump, rightfully so. I mean, Donald Trump didn't know what the nuclear triad was in a debate with Marco Rubio, and he called them on it. They were on the Sunday shows. So what does Lindsey Graham do? Lindsey Grah, who has been to Ukraine many, many times, he has sat across the table from Zelensky and said, we're going to end Putin, you know, we're going to stop this Russian aggression. America stands with you, Congress stands with you. The United States Senate stands with you. And then what does Lindsey Graham do? He co authors some legislation that's like, well, you know, we're going to leave it up to Trump. Trump, Taco, Trump, Putin, lapdog, Donald Trump, we're gonna give him all this latitude, you know, if he feels like he wants to add secondary sanctions on, you know, countries that are trading with Russia and propping up their economy, we're going to leave it up to him. He knows what's best. Lindsey Graham knows that he supports Ukraine. Right. He also knows that he needs to bend over for Donald Trump. And so the fecklessness of these Republicans, and we saw it when they did suspend aid for a little while a couple of years ago. Right. Like, what was that after the midterms? Before the midterms, I can't remember. They did actually suspend. I think it was a, like a spending situation. I forget what it was.
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A
Oh, right. With the House.
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B
Yeah. So they did actually. Right. They temporarily did halt aid to Ukraine. And my, my congressman, hi, Tom Kane Jr. I see you, my congressman. Huge Ukraine hawk, like, I stand with Ukraine. I stand with Ukraine. I stand with Ukraine until. Oh, well, you know what? That's fine. They don't need the aid. And then the second they passed the aid, what did he do? He went to Ukraine and stood there for photo ops saying, we stand with you, Ukraine. That kind of helplessness, that kind of cowardice, that kind of self gelding that Republicans have been engaging in should embarrass all of us. I mean, this is, these are not people that stand on principle. They're, they're not even spying adjacent at this point.
- [27:20]
A
They're, they're afraid. And yeah, here's, here's the thing that almost, I've learned that almost everybody knows, whether you are, you know, far left or far right or everybody in between, everybody is realizing that these Republicans are cowards. That they cannot stand up to Donald Trump.
- [27:43]
B
Nope.
- [27:44]
A
That they won't do it. Principles are gone. They don't, they don't matter. And these guys are afraid. They are afraid of him. And that's why you see this happening. You know, you have some exceptions. Rand Paul, for example, has been able to say, all right, well, tariffs are not good. Tariffs are a tax. Thank you. You know, they are. He has also been, been able to say, hey, we shouldn't be using our military on the streets of America. Hey, thank you. That's, that's something. Thomas Massie, who, who's, who's my congressman here in Kentucky. He has been able to say, hey, you should release the Epstein files. I'm not going to go along with this. You know, you should. And at least, at least some have on very tiny issues. Not tiny, I should say, very specific issues. The Tariffs are very big. The Epstein is very big. The dc, you know, thing is very big. But the rest of them, 90, 95, 96% of them cowards.
- [28:50]
B
The thing is about Massey and Rand Paul, right? Like, it's, it's interesting because Rand Paul is going to be Rand Paul. Rand Paul's gonna. Rand Paul all day long. And Thomas Massie, Donald Trump doesn't like because Thomas Massie, terrible person, by the way, who poses for Christmas card pictures with, you know, rifles with his family holding, you know, AR15s in front of a Christmas tree. They're safe. They're safe. They know their voters are going to show up for them tomorrow, just like Marjorie Taylor Greene's voters are going to show up for tomorrow. Their districts are safe. So it's not exactly Profiles and Courage when they stand up to Donald Trump. And usually in cases like Adam Kinzinger or Cheney, etcetera, it's usually that they are, they are, they are sent out of their cast, out of their party, right, for just speaking out. So you have to be really safe. And Massey cracks me up because I don't know and I don't really care, frankly, because he's at least doing the right thing. If this is just because Donald Trump has targeted him because he won't vote with him, or if it's because he actually fundamentally has some kind of core moral structure, which I, I really hesitate to say that. But, but the rest of them, that you're right about the fear, look at Lisa Murkowski. Look at Lisa Murkowski. She actually named it, right? She said it out loud, I am afraid. And here's my question that I will ask until I die. What are you doing? What are you doing in a job that requires you to stand up and speak out and represent the people who put you in that job, the people who pay your salary, what are you doing there? If you're more afraid of some melted Oompa Loompa you know is out of his frickin mind who hates democracy and checks on his power, what are you doing there? Is it for the elevator? Is it for the pin? Is it for the, the restaurant reservations? What are you doing there? Because if you're not there to stand up for principles, to stand up for your voters, to stand up for checks and balances and American democracy, the democracy that put you in that seat, then get out. Go. Because there's 10,000 people, I guarantee you, who have integrity, who would take your seat tomorrow. And maybe they don't vote like you do, and maybe they don't represent the people in the same possible way. But I tell you what they do is they care about how what you're doing impacts them and how it impacts their friends and their neighbors and their children and their schools and their workplace safety and their water and their air and their truthful history. And that's what I'll never understand. Get out if you're afraid. Go away. Go be a greeter at Walmart. This is not the job for you.
- [31:36]
A
I mean, you know, you have a point. You definitely have a point there. I mean, I kind of feel like we should have term limits. I think some people are in there too long and then they get sort of sucked into the Washington D.C. mindset and that's a lot of our problems. I want to get to some questions from people because there's already been some that have come in and some comments, some are good and some are, you know, crazy.
- [32:05]
B
I get my trolls. I get my trolls. I know you do. Hi friends, thanks for the engagement.
- [32:10]
A
But, but there's one that says, you know, from Mr. Hillard and he hasn't really told us where he's from or she, I don't know, just. How would you handle Putin if you were the president? Okay, so, because that's fair, that's a fair question because there's a, I've been doing a lot of complaining, I guess you could say, about how Trump has handled this. And here's, here's what I think should be done. And it's not just based on Amy, it's based on like actual people, like, I don't know, Ambassador Michael McFall who is, you know, the ambassador, you know, people like Fiona Hill who is an expert in, I mean, I know we don't care about experts apparently anymore in our country, but like actual diplomats who have studied this and, and know, you know, how to, how to deal with these things. What you do is you give Ukraine more aid, you give them the weapons to defend themselves. That's number one. You continue to arm them so that they can defeat the second best army occupying Ukraine. Okay, which is Russia right now. Because the Russians are, are taking it. They have, they have been taking it and in it. And so that's, that's how you, you win this thing. You also use levers of economic diplomacy like sanctions. You can do secondary sanctions. You can go after the banking accounts in Russia. You can not coddle the, the Russian oligarchs and the people who, you know, make a ton of money. I mean, Russia is a one hit wonder when it comes to their economy, it's one hit. It's oil, okay? And oil and gas. And so you go after that as much as you can. And then the other thing you do is you get the European banks to seize Russian assets. All right, so use actual diplomats. I know the Trump administration doesn't care about that pretty much anymore, but you use actual diplomats to go and make those things happen. And you turn the screws on Vladimir Putin. You don't roll out the red carpets and present and basically give him everything he wants and say, oh, we're gonna, we're gonna come up with a peace deal. No, you gotta, you gotta make him come up, you gotta make him come to the table and give some concessions. That's not what Donald Trump's doing right now.
- [34:44]
B
Like, you're a mom. I'm a mom, Right. So you know that the worst thing you can do as a mom, and look, we're all guilty of this, believe me, I know, is to say, if you do that, I'm going to take your phone, your iPad, your PlayStation, I'm going to send you to your room, I'm going to exercise some kind of consequence on you, and if you do that again, this is what's coming. And then your child does it again and you're like, if you do it again. But if you do it again, then the consequence, right? So number one, one way you don't handle Putin is you don't say there's going to be consequences for what you're doing. I promise you, I'm going to give you a window of so many days. And then when that window expires, I'm going to give you another window, and then I'm, and then I'm going to roll out a red carpet for you and do a flyover, and then I'm going to have a supposed press conference with you where you speak in Russian and you don't take any questions and you spread a bunch of propaganda and I don't get to say anything. And then you fly away with no deal. That's what you don't do, right? Like, you don't do any of that. Because what Vladimir Putin, the, the, the, the currency that he needs more than anything right now that Donald Trump continues to accommodate is time. That's what he wants, that's what he needs. That is what Donald Trump repeatedly gives him by giving him these new windows. Now it's two weeks. There's a new two week window, right? So Putin, what is Putin doing in these two weeks?
- [36:11]
A
He's bombing More and more attack, attacking hospitals, attacking apartment homes, killing civilians.
- [36:17]
B
And what did Trump say in a moment of quasi clarity when he was like, that's, that's it. I'm letting NATO buy Patriot missiles, etc. Because I have a perfect phone call with him. I have a perfect phone call and then I get off the phone and Melania says, honey, he bombed another place. First of all, BS that Melania is that dialed into anything? And thank you, my Melania voice who gives a blank about Christmas and decorations. Okay, but, but, but still, here's what. You don't handle Putin like he is a good faith actor. You don't handle Putin like he's going to make good on promises or deadlines. What you do, like you said, Amy, is you get all of Europe, you get all of your allies, you get all of, all of them together and you walk lock step like they did and do with Zelensky and you say we are here to equal partners in this fight and we're the United States of America and we're going to give Ukraine whatever they need, aside from boots on the ground, which I don't agree with. Right. I do not want our men and women in harm's way in that, in that regard. But you give them everything they need and you show the world and Vladimir Putin that you're a united front and you're not going to kowtow to him and you're not going to bend over for him and you're not going to bend and you're not going to move the line and you're not going to give him all the time he wants and needs to attack and kill civilians and kidnap more children. You show him you're in the United States of America and you tell Lindsey Graham, I don't want the latitude to be able to decide what kind of secondary sanctions I want. You're a co equal branch of government, Lindsey Graham. You go out there and you say, I stand with Ukraine, the Senate stands with Ukraine and we are going to levy these people secondary sanctions on these other countries to put pressure on them to say no more to Vladimir Putin, no more to Russia. We don't make concessions. And so Donald Trump, the art of the deal once again lie. He is the world's worst negotiator ever in the history of time. That guy gets rolled more than a fricking pizza dough. He is as spineless and feckless as they come. And Vladimir Putin knows how to play him and has since day one. So you don't, you don't you don't handle Putin. You don't deal with Putin. You don't work with someone Marco Rubio correctly identified as someone you cannot and should not ever trust. You show up with force and might that he cannot defeat, and you push him out. That's it. Period.
- [38:45]
A
Yeah, yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you. All right, so what else do we got?
- [38:51]
B
I.
- [38:51]
A
It's hard for me to see, so you might be able to.
- [38:55]
B
There's a question from Wendy. I don't know where you're from, Wendy, but Wendy wants to know, and she's not talking to me. Are you running from a cone of seat next to you, Wendy?
- [39:06]
A
Oh, you'd have to pop that one in there, huh? I mean, geez, you know, I want to know. Yeah, you know, I mean, look, never say never, but right now I'm focused on talking about the news of the day, okay?
- [39:23]
B
I would be so here for that fight. I just want you to know.
- [39:27]
A
All right, what else we got?
- [39:29]
B
She's from Kentucky.
- [39:30]
A
Oh, very good.
- [39:31]
B
You know, I've never been.
- [39:32]
A
There's somebody else from Kentucky. You've never been to Kentucky.
- [39:35]
B
I know, and I think that's crazy, because I've been to Tennessee once. I've been to the South a million times, and I have never, shockingly, ever, ever, ever been to Kentucky. And I love your governor. I love. No, wait, your governor. Do. I love your governor. I love.
- [39:54]
A
Yeah, yeah. Andy Bashir. I met him.
- [39:57]
B
Such a lovely man. Also, I believe he could be president someday. But I've never been to Kentucky. No, I. I want you to come up.
- [40:04]
A
We've got good bourbon. We had this conversation down, I should say from Jersey. You got to come down.
- [40:10]
B
Yeah, from Jersey. It's down. It's not too far, though. I think, like, it'd probably be about maybe eight hours, nine tops.
- [40:17]
A
But, well, you know, you got a good governor candidate in Mikey Sherrill. She's my friend. She is badass. She's amazing. Naval Academy graduate, person of honor, character, everything that you would want in a leader. I mean, you got. You guys got lucky there, too.
- [40:35]
B
It's amazing. She is amazing. And again, because this is near and dear to my heart, I think that that military connection, that there's a. That there's a code, that there's a call to serving something bigger than oneself. That. That. That's what I look for in a leader. I look for someone who puts the. The benefits of the many ahead of. Of the benefits of the few of themselves, you know? And I think that again, our military, that is something that you know better than anybody. I didn't serve because God knows nobody needed that. My own family, my father, employee for 51 years, almost even, he said, you don't belong in the military, Joanne.
- [41:22]
A
Not for everybody.
- [41:23]
B
And, and, and I'm just not, I'm not good with authority. But I've been to a billion. I mean, I grew up basically on the military base where he worked, and I've been to all my family's promotions, etc, and again, it's near and dear to my heart, but I wasn't cut out for that. I'm too much of a spitfire and too independently minded and like, bratty is the word. But that's what I love about you. That's what I love about Mikey, Sheryl. That's what I love about so many that have served. Not Dan Crenshaw, which is sad to me. But there are those who, Joni Ernst, who have betrayed their oaths to this country, and Mikey is not one of them. And she's also, she's someone who's not afraid to stand for the issue itself and, and not necessarily for what the party may want in that moment. Sometimes these conversations, these fights, these disagreements, they're bigger than party affiliation. They're about what you fundamentally believe. And, and to have someone like that running for governor in my state is really, I'm really proud of that. And I really, really hope, and I'm trying to help in any way I can. I hope that, that she prevails, because New Jersey needs her.
- [42:39]
A
Yeah. Oh, well, I, I hope she prevails, too. And I'm going to do everything I can to, to help her. All right, here we go.
- [42:45]
B
Jersey, you got to come up here and then we, then we can talk about helping Mikey, Cheryl up here.
- [42:50]
A
You know, I should definitely try to do that. I've been in New Jersey many times. I, I, when I, I went to, graduated from the Naval Academy and I played soccer for Navy, so I played, I played varsity soccer. And we would, we were in the Patriot League. Yeah, and we were in the Patriot League. In the Patriot League, you go up and down kind of the Eastern seaboard. That's what you play. The, the colleges there. And so we played, you know, colleges in New Jersey, New York, Delaware, all that stuff. So, yeah, those back, back in the days when I had good knees. All right.
- [43:21]
B
I've been in the Naval Academy, by the way, many times because I had a sibling who lived in Annapolis and had a spouse that worked at the Naval Academy. And I Fetched. Fell in love.
- [43:32]
A
It's wonderful with Annapolis. Yeah, it was everything I wanted. I absolutely love it. And it's a great institution. All right, from. From inside here, let's see. Why are Republicans giving up power so willingly? Is a House Senate job so wonderful it's worth throwing away all your morals? That is a great question. I can't speak for them, you know, and this is. This is where I feel like Denver would be good, you know, to answer. Answer that question. What do you think, Joe? I mean, I can't imagine getting into a position like that and just kind of like, yeah, I don't really stand for anything anymore. I just like. I just like the cushy office job and the Russell Senate office building. I mean, like, I just. I don't give it.
- [44:22]
B
I don't. I mean, I mentioned this earlier. It'll be one of those questions that'll haunt me for the rest of my life because. And the reason you and I can't understand it and the reason that that person asked that question, I would guess, is because they can't understand it, because this is not who we are. We actually have a fundamental core, something that is, like I said, like, larger than ourselves, is a. An inner compass that guides what we do. And as moms, and I'm not saying this isn't true of dads or people who don't have children, but as moms, like, this is the thing that you try so hard at the end of the day to instill in your children. Because at some point after you've stopped, you know, the baby gates and the plug covers and the foam around the edges of the coffee table and all the stuff that you. The baby seats and all the stuff that you can protect them from, right? When they're little, all the dangers out there, at some point, you have to let them go a little bit at a time. And then seemingly all at once, like I said, my son is sophomore in high school, and that day is coming when all at once is right there. And so what? As a mom, I do what I. I would imagine every mom I know does, my friends do. Is your goal in those years, that space you have in between is you try to instill this moral code in your kids, this inner compass in your children that when push comes to shove and the difficult decisions are at hand, that that inner compass will guide them in the right direction, towards the safe thing, the right thing, the judicial thing, the empathetic thing, the kind thing, the inclusive thing, and the thing inside of them that says, I recognize that this is wrong and I'm not okay with that. And I'm not going to roll over and allow this wrong thing to happen and I'm not going to participate in it. And so as a mom, there's this fundamental question I have as to how these Republicans have abandoned themselves and those that fundamental inner compass to such an extent that they have allowed an adjudicated rapist convicted felon who not only bragged about sexual abuse but has been found liable, like I said, of sexual abuse, who mocked a child with a stutter, who mocked a disabled reporter, who said to someone like John Kelly, I don't want to see war wounded amputees because they make me look bad. Unless of course, it is for an ad for myself, that is Arlington National Cemetery, in which case I'm going to use them. I'm going to use their war wound to help myself look like I care when I don't. Right. So, Amy, I don't understand how these Republicans can in lockstep, like I call it self gelding, but like betray everything about themselves. They have children they have to go home to. At the end of the day, they have a legacy, maybe a reputation maybe that they worry about. But at this, but at the same time, when you look at what they've emboldened, enabled, empowered and allowed, they're hollowed out. They just let him strip health insurance, health coverage, access, Medicaid from tens of millions of people. They just helped him strip hungry children of nutrition assistance. They can pontificate all day long about how they love America and stand with the average American citizen and stand with our troops and back the blue and they can still stand with Donald Trump And I don't know how you carry those two things at the same time. I just don't. And I hope and I pray that someday the history books will record this moment in time and they will accurately portray this feckless, craven, pusillanimous party, so called party that is a cult of personality now. And they will say that this was the single greatest threat to American democracy that we have ever faced and that the Democrats and independents and others who stood on principle, stood in the breach and stood as the bulwark to that craven cowardice and said, not on my watch. And that's what you do. That's what Denver does. That's what I do. That's what our mutual friends like Mallory and Tara and Julie Michelle, that's what they do. And I can't answer for those cowards and I don't want to. But I will say that they fly in the face of everything that as a mom, I teach my kids to be.
- [49:18]
A
Yeah. I mean, it's almost like, well, two things. One, I think for many lifelong politicians, it's their tribe and they, they don't want to, they don't want to go sort of against their tribe because that's, that's their whole society. They don't really have any friends beyond that. I mean, I, I, I, I, I'm speculating here, but like, I've known enough now. Okay. And I think, you know, like, coming from the military, when I, when I went into politics, if, like, I, I lost all the Democratic politicians on my phone that I know tomorrow, I'm still the same person, a whole network of friends that I knew before going into politics, you know, that know me and, and, and, and I'm just, I feel like it's really hard. It's probably, it's probably, I can imagine it's really hard for these, like, lifelong politicians to go against their tribe because they might lose all of that, you know, and so the, the principles that they once kind of stood on, you know, now get, get thrown out the window. But there was something that happened just today that I wanted to get your take on, and it was the, the president attacking the Smithsonian. Did you hear about this? And saying that he has a list of grievances that he put out on Truth Social, I think, and said that, that, that the Smithsonian and the National Museum of African American History, they're focusing too much on slavery and that he doesn't like the fact that, that they, they said that slavery is bad. That's too woke, apparently. Have you seen this? Like, I mean, this is where we're at. And, and I feel like there's going to be a bunch of Republicans that are all going to fall in line with like, yeah, we want, we want to teach our kids that slavery was a. Okay now, you know, and then in this back, this is, this is behind another, another story that came out just in the past couple days that Pete Hegseth is now wanting these statues to go back up into the Arlington National Cemetery. For those of you who don't know about this, this is these statues that were put in the cemetery during the years of Jim Crow laws. They were put there, they were sort of pro slavery statues that, that idolize Confederate generals and, and showed slaves as being, you know, they were, they were taking care of their, their white children and all that, as if depicting slavery is not that big of a deal. And you know, Pete Hegseth is like, well, we're gonna, we're gonna put these statues back up because it's our history. And, and you know something he said, he said, and I'm quoting, we're gonna teach it and we're gonna fight for it. And I just keep thinking about the fact that, you know, these confederates were traitors. It's taken us over a hundred years to recognize that we should not be celebrating these people. They owned other human beings. They killed thousands of other human beings. This was something in American history that we shouldn't just whitewash over. And I, I just, you know, again, it's like, it's like not even front page news anymore. But to me, it's. I feel like this is a big deal.
- [53:05]
B
It's a huge deal. It's a huge deal because those who forget their history are doomed to repeating it. Right? So there's that part. There's that part. There's also what history does instruct and inform about how erasing the accurate truth and past of your own history is the authoritarian part of the authoritarian playbook. Right? There's so many layers to that because also there is this idea of, as you said, whitewashing, Right. So that the history books don't reflect accurately what our country is not done grappling with by any stretch of the imagination. Something Republicans and the evangelicals who support this very much would like us to erase, which is all the progress we've made over the last years, few, many decades in this country. And we are far from being done with. But I often, when you, when you bring that up, like in particular, as it relates to the Smithsonian, there is an attack on the truth. There is an attack on, on facts, on history, on science, on math. We've seen it from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics numbers to, you know, the Noah being defunded.
- [54:19]
A
Anti Vaxx stuff.
- [54:20]
B
Anti Vax stuff. The cdc. Exactly. And I come back to this quote a lot. And I, and I quote from this book a lot because even if people think it's hyperbolic, it ended up being sort of a roadmap for this moment. And it's 1984 by George Orwell. Here's the quote. Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed. Every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the party is always right. And that's the moment we're in this is again, as part of Project 2025, Donald Trump is not clever enough and or ambitious enough to give a you know what about what is happening at the Smithsonian. As long as it presents him as the greatest, biggest, candid president that ever lived, he doesn't really care.
- [55:17]
A
He cares about take away any references of his impeachment, which actually happened, which.
- [55:22]
B
They have now amended. So it took them down and now they've amended them and added the words allegedly. That's important, right? This thing from 1984, like this should scare us all. And I, and I, and I quote from that book a lot, which freaks me out. But Orwell understood some things and we are living those things right now. You know, when you can make two plus two equal five and tell everyone that math be, be gone, that you are the only source of truth, of valid information, everything falls apart underneath that. And we can't erase our history because if we do, we are not only doomed to repeat it, they are going to repeat it. And I don't care if you're a Republican, if you're a Democrat, if you're an Independent, if you're a Martian from outer space, I don't care. Right. Like you don't want to live in that world. You know, you don't want to live in the world with a account that is the Homeland Security Twitter account now looks like a white nationalist propaganda feed. Yeah, nobody wants to live in that world. And the thing is, Amy, that our country has been moving away from that world organically, like countries do, like nations do, like societies do. They evolve. And that is the existential crisis to Republicans who want this white male dominance that is unnatural to this moment in time to prevail for them to hold on to manufactured power that they force down our throats. Nobody wants to live in that world. But this attack on the Smithsonian, it should bother and upset us and scare us all. And it's not. It's not the big story that it should be. But the problem is, to Steve Bannon's point, they are flooding the zone. There's so much that people want to disengage. They want it, they can't handle it. So we have to have conversations like this that are real, that are conversations like you'd have with your girlfriends. Conversations like you'd have with the checkout clerk at the frickin grocery store.
- [57:32]
A
Well, can we just take a step back and talk about real briefly, how crazy is it that the White House, the President of the United States is even talking about the displays in The Smithsonian, the White House press secretary is talking about how wonderful it is to kick out homeless people. What the hell are they doing? This is the President of the United States, you know, and they. They're just like, I'm. I'm just, like, floored sometimes with the amount of. And then also the. The huge overreach. You know, these people that talked about, don't tread on me. Small government, you know, Small government. It was all. It was all. Because you have. You have a president backed by all these Republicans that are like, oh, yeah, we're going to use the National Guard from. From six different states to go into a city that doesn't even have, you know, the crime is actually on the way down.
- [58:43]
B
Yeah.
- [58:44]
A
You know, we're gonna. We're gonna do shit that the government is. The federal government is not supposed to do. The president of the United States is not supposed to reach with the big hand into all of these things. It's. It's. It's just. It's. It's unprecedented and wrong.
- [59:03]
B
I mean, there's this great cartoon that I saw from the New Yorker today, and I think it was supposed to be outside union station in D.C. and it was a car with, like, 60 tanks behind it.
- [59:14]
A
And the.
- [59:15]
B
The caption is, do you know why the National Guard pulled you over today? And I was laughing because you have to, but, like, yeah. This is the party of personal freedoms, right? This is the party that tells you. That will tell you every day of the week, the Democrats are coming for your freedoms. That they. Them. Those people are coming for your freedoms. Meanwhile, they want to decide what books you can read, what history you can learn, what medications you can take, who you can love, what gender you can be. You know, they want to decide how and when you have children. They want to decide if your kid can go to school starving or not. They want to decide and mandate, like I said, when you have a family, they want to make personal decisions. They want to check your genitals to make sure you can play in a sport. This is the party of personal freedom. This is the party that will tell you that the Democrats are coming for your personal freedoms because they're letting a drag queen read a book in a library, and it's all gaslighting bullshit. They are the ones who are overreaching, like you said, with that big hand. They are the ones that are all up in your personal business deciding how you parent your children. Think about that. Can you imagine if a Democrat was like, no, I'm not going to let your child Learn accurate American history. I'm not even going to let them have access to, to a book about Sonia Sotomayor because I don't like it because it looks woke. I'm not even gonna let him a dictionary or a book about worms because worms are asexual. And that sends the wrong message because, you know, as a mom, my kids were like, well, mom, if worms. No, that's not what happens, okay? They are coming for all of your freedoms. They are all up in your personal business all the time. I remember siblings who were like, your dishwasher is spying on you because of Obama. It's like, no. But now, like, they're literally in everything in your life. They have all your data, thanks to Elon Musk and Big Walls and Doge. They have everything Peter Thiel has access to. The last time you peed, friends, courtesy of the Republican Party, of personal freedoms. And it just kills me because the hypocrisy, it's all so unabashed and it's right there. But what they're better at is they're better at fear mongering, they're better at spinning, they're better at propagandizing, they're better at stoking division and hate. And so they, they win the messaging war. And I'm so tired of it. I'm so, so tired of it.
- [62:00]
A
We got to figure that out, Joe. I mean, and that's for another session, but we got to figure that out because, you know, the messaging is very important. And I'm not going to go down and just throw my hands up and say, I quit. You know, we have to protect this democracy. We have to protect our country. We have to protect it, you know, for our kids. And so we have to figure out how to message because you're right, the other side has a really good way of doing it. My personal belief is they're much, they don't mind lying.
- [62:36]
B
That part.
- [62:37]
A
And, and that's hard to get over. That's hard to get over.
- [62:40]
B
Goes back to that thing we teach our kids, right? It's that shamelessness, it's that abandonment of, of some kind of fundamental core. And I, and I think that forever the Democrats and independents are going to have to grapple with this because there is no bottom to their depravity. And unfortunately, like I, I've written about this, they keep moving the line, right? Like, so they've now moved the line on Epstein, they have moved the line on Putin. They, they moved the line, you know, when he bragged about sexual assault they moved the line when he mocked pow. They moved the line when he attacked the Gold Star family, when he demeaned the widow of a fallen soldier. They moved the line when John Kelly, who they know they should trust, said that Donald Trump called our fallen of war suckers and losers to keep moving that. They moved the line when he incited a deadly, violent attack against the citadel of this democracy to stay in an office he lost. They keep moving the line. And at some point, at some point, I pray, I really do, I pray to God that the American people wake up and see this for what it is. I think they're getting there because they're starting to feel the impact of a party that has abandoned them and a president who doesn't care about them and never will.
- [64:05]
A
Yeah, well, I agree with you. I mean, look, the economy is not looking good, and people feel that. They feel the tariffs, they feel the price hikes. People are going to be losing their healthcare. They're going to be losing the subsidies for Medicaid and Medicare. It's happening. I think people across the board, as I mentioned earlier, see the effectlessness and the cowardiceness of Republicans in the House and Senate to not be able to stand up to this man, even if they voted for him. You know, even if they voted. I think. I think Americans fundamentally do understand the checks and balances thing. And, you know, hopefully a lot of people will start waking up. I mean, that's what we're here for, to talk about these issues. I really appreciate you being on the show tonight.
- [64:52]
B
This is.
- [64:52]
A
This has been awesome. It's been wonderful to meet you and talk with you. And, you know, I just want to say thanks.
- [64:59]
B
Oh, well, thank you, Amy. And I just want to answer something that the same. I think, JP Asked about.
- [65:05]
A
Yeah.
- [65:05]
B
You know, I just. I know we have to go, but. About me being four murderers, assault and lawlessness in D.C. no, no, no. I'm not. By the way.
- [65:15]
A
Nobody. Nobody is.
- [65:17]
B
Nobody's. Nobody's. None of us are out here like, yeah, criminals, yeah. Rapists, no. But JB and anybody listening, if you really cared about lowering crime, if you really, really thought about how do we do that? You know how you do that? You give people opportunities. You know how you do that? You help them pull themselves up from their bootstraps. You know how you do that? You make sure they have access to nutrition assistance, to educational services, to public education, to Medicare, Medicaid, health insurance. You give them an opportunity so that they don't have to turn to crime. That's what you do. So what? Instead, we are seeing from forced births in red states that have banned abortion. We know from Roe. We know statistically that in the wake of Roe that crime rates went down because unwanted children were born into families that didn't want them without means to provide for them so that they grew up to commit crime, and then their parents committed crime as well. So if you actually cared about lowering the numbers of murders and assaults and lawlessness in D.C. you don't need to roll in the tanks and the National Guard. You need to take care of the people here so that they are not incentivized to commit crimes. And I just needed to say that because the Republican Party is gaslighting the American people into thinking that troops on our. On our American soil. Donald Trump did not deploy our military during his first term anywhere. And what does he do? He deploys them on our city streets, not because he cares about crime, because he cares about flexing, and he cares about authoritarianism. And if you actually wanted to lower crime and protect the American people and to build the society up from the bottom, you would take care of your constituents. And that is not what they're doing. And I just wanted to say that because I'm not for murders, I'm not for assault, I'm not for lawlessness. I'm not for any of that. I'm for a country where that is on the wane because we take care of our people.
- [67:22]
A
Yeah. And nobody is. And if you're, you know, if you're serious about tackling crime in Washington, D.C. you don't cut funding from the D.C. police Department, which is what the Republicans did. You don't do that. And here's. Here's something that I need to be on the record of saying. Soldiers should not be policing Americans in our own country. That's not what our military does. Look, nobody wants crime. Nobody is for the criminals. Nobody. I also don't want to live in a police state with martial law. Okay. And so. And we don't, you know, when you send into D.C. these National Guard units from West Virginia and South Carolina and Ohio, all these red states, sending these D.C. you know, because they all want to please these governors want to please Donald Trump. And, you know, what are they doing? They're going to, like, the safest places around Washington, D.C. and hanging out in front of the Lincoln Memorial. All right. I mean, it's. Come on, people. Everybody knows what's going on here.
- [68:25]
B
Yeah.
- [68:25]
A
And you know what? It's. What also isn't talked about enough is you're taking these, the people, these soldiers are part time warriors in the National Guard. They have jobs, they have families. You're taking them, you're sending them to missions that they know are bullshit missions. They know it. They know it so much that when, when you sent them to LA for the bullshit mission that was in LA for a month, the retention rates were about 21% for those units. Normally the retention rates in those units are about 60%. That's the amount of people that want to come back and reenlist. That tells you that they, they know, they don't, they don't want to be doing these missions. So if we're going to talk about crime, let's, let's have that conversation. But don't, don't, don't you dare tell people. Oh, because you were not for the National Guards going and sitting in front of the Lincoln Memorial that were somehow soft on crime. That's, and here's the other thing and we've got to get going but I really want to have a conversation about when are we going to start talking about the fact that anybody can go online and order these tactical uniforms and these vests, slap on a gosh darn patch from freaking Walmart, put on a mask, holster a weapon and run around rounding up people in the name of the federal government. This is, this is not America, folks. You don't have to be, you know, left, right or centered in to know there's something wrong here.
- [70:07]
B
And, and they, you know, first they came for. They're not going to stop with the pizza delivery guy, they're not going to stop with the gardener, they're not going to stop with the brown skinned father of Marines. They're not going to stop. First they came for, they're going to come for you too. And anybody who doesn't think that is a fool.
- [70:27]
A
Yeah. So, so we have to end. It was awesome. This live show is really great. Denver is, is out of town and I'm just so thankful that you could step in and be a part of this is great conversation. Thank you to everybody that's out there with your important comments, you know, even the trolls. Yeah, great. You know, you're used to that Jojo.
- [70:51]
B
So used to it. So used to it.
- [70:53]
A
And, and give us, give everybody another plug for your shows, could you?
- [70:57]
B
Oh my God. So thank you Amy. This was amazing. I could literally talk to you all night long. I'm really glad to have met you screen to screen and soon to be face to face, I hope. But yes, you can Find me. I have my Sanish podcast that's available everywhere. We have the. I've had it, ladies. On the latest episode, if you know them, they're from Oklahoma. They're killing it. They're freaking amazing. So Sanish is out there super proud of that. But I've also launched the Siren Network, which is a media network that is hopefully going to help sort of combat that right wing media, new media content creator ecosystem that they dominate. We need more voices on our side. We need more micro influencers and macro influencers. We need more perspectives. We need more oxygen in that room. And so the Siren Network exists to create that. Those. Those accounts to create that battlefield army. So I have the Siren Podcast, which today recorded an interview with Gavin Newsom. Oh, my God. It was myself. And the Siren Podcast is a panel show. We had Harry Sisson, Aaron Parnas, and Olivia Juliana and myself. And it was produced by Sam Schwartz, who is from the Gun violence Prevention space and my partner in the Siren Network. And guys, he broke news. Like, he literally. Amy broke news. And I'm just gonna leave some trolling that he might have done related to Governor Abbott that I'm just gonna say there was a twinkle in his rakish rogue eye that I was like, I know what you did there. So I'm just gonna leave it there. But. And my. Are you effing kidding me? Substack is my baby. That is what keeps the lights on at home. That is what keeps my kids clothed and housed and fed. And it is my absolute passion in all the world. So thank you for letting me say all that.
- [72:53]
A
Well, thank you for all that you do. Your voice matters. Your substack matters. We got to keep at it. And I appreciate it. You are a patriot. Thank you.
- [73:03]
B
Thank you. You are a patriot. And thank you for having me on. And thank you for this incredibly important conversation.
- [73:10]
A
Awesome. And everyone, have a great night and we'll see you next time on Truth in the Barrel.
- [73:15]
B
Bye, guys.
- [73:19]
A
All right.
- [73:20]
C
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