← Truth in the Barrel
Truth in the Barrel
This Week Unfiltered | 07.31.25
01:02:39
Today we’re taking an UNFILTERED look at the continuation of President Trump’s tariff madness. New deals have been made, but did America benefit from them at all? Then we try to determine just how much Pete Hegseth’s...
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- [00:00]
Amy
Today we're taking an unfiltered look at the continuation of President Trump's tariff madness. New deals have been made, but did America benefit from any of them at all? Then we try to determine just how much Pete Hegseth's insecurity is driving DoD policy. Spoiler alert. It's a lot. Plus, FEMA's in need of emergency management right now. Trump picks a fight with Beyonce, healthcare costs are going up. Kristi Noem goes horseback riding, and a mega loving school superintendent shows porn during a board of education meeting. This is truth in the barrel, a different kind of Whiskey Rebellion. A little programming note. We know that everyone wants to talk about Trump and Epstein, but whenever one story totally dominates the news cycle, I think it's worth taking a couple steps back and looking at what isn't getting talked about enough. So today we're going to devote this show to topics other than Epstein. But I'll tell you what, if you do want to hear what we have to say on the Trump Epstein scandal, please go back and check our live show from earlier this week and the one from a couple weeks ago. Because, because those shows are really important. Denver explains what's going on and why this is important. The Epstein case. And you know, honestly, he convinced me of its importance. I was kind of skeptical. So go back, find the video on YouTube, on our YouTube channel and the audio on any of your podcast platforms. Okay. Because it's really important.
- [01:45]
Denver
I'm sort of glad we're not talking about Epstein today, Amy. We've talked about it so much. Everybody is. But, you know, Trump can't help himself. You saw what happened yesterday or the day before, and he said that Rick and Epstein was stealing women from his, you know, from Mar a Lago. So it's just, it's going to be never ending with this guy. So I think it's good we're talking about all the other crazy that's going on in the world right now.
- [02:07]
Amy
Yeah. More to come on Epstein. But now, Denver, are you ready to once again talk about a topic that, you know, maybe it should have been an audience question back in, I don't know, 1925 or night or maybe 1825 instead of 2025. And you know what I'm talking about here? We're talking about these tariffs. I know. So just to bring everybody up to speed because I think if you're working hard and you're sort of just seeing the headlines, you might walk away thinking. And also the rhetoric from Republican lawmakers and Donald Trump, you might Walk away thinking, oh, we got a deal. Did we got a deal from Japan a couple weeks ago. Now we got a deal with the EU. Isn't this wonderful, Denver?
- [02:54]
Denver
What was it, $550 billion Japan was going to somehow give to us, which is what it seemed like in his press release. Amy, Japan's like, what are you talking about? What do you mean? It's just everything out of this administration is just. It's just.
- [03:08]
Amy
Just to remind people, before the Trump administration, we had some tariffs in this country. They were usually, on average, what, 1 to 2%? Okay. And Donald Trump comes in, decides we're going to slap tariffs on everyone for no apparent reason except, well, we're going to bring manufacturing back. Okay, that's not really going to happen. Oh, we need to pay down the national debt. Okay, that's not really going to happen. I mean, none of the stuff of what he said or the reason for these tariffs is actually the reason for these things. We still don't really know. And so here, this past week, he comes in with this great deal, deal of the century with the eu, which is still at the end of the day, giving us 15% tariffs on the European Union. So we're still supposed to believe that 15% tariffs is a good thing. And what do we get out of this? Like, what do we get out of this?
- [04:12]
Denver
Oh, I'm sorry, Amy. We do get higher taxes, we do get higher costs, you know, so I was talking to a. A business, I would say it's a lobbyist. So I'm trying to do a nice word for him, but it's for massive Asian corporation, does all the business operations there, you know, and their job is to go up there and say, hey, you know, let's fight back on the tariffs. They have to look at all the regulatory issues that the US Doing right now. What is going on? How do they actually respond to it? So he told me, and this was an individual Republican, I just wanna let you know, Amy, very Republican down the line. And when he tells me that there's no way to navigate this, that there's no way out, that this is a religious issue, that's a quote. This is a religious issue for Trump, regardless of the economic circumstances or what those downflow effects are, it really struck me. And I know we're talking about this again, and I think this is so important because at what point does the madness end where every decision in this administration, Amy, seems like it's a religious decision or it's an ideological decision, it's a stupid decision.
- [05:25]
Amy
It's stupid.
- [05:26]
Denver
I was trying not to go right to stupid, ignorant and dumb. But you know, I'm trying to be much more specific in my language.
- [05:34]
Amy
Well, I'm going to push back on some of the things that you hear from the right and what you hear from Republican lawmakers, what you might hear from the right wing talking heads. Okay, so some of the things that I've heard is, oh, we're getting billions of dollars in investments from the Japan and the European Union. So when the Japanese deal came out, it was a vague promise of investments. That's, that's what the Trump team said. Okay. The Japanese would invest billions and billions of dollars into the United States. And then the press, yeah, our press went and asked the Japanese about these investments and the Japanese basically said, eh, it's more like loans. It's more like loans. I mean, here's what's going on. Donald Trump is like shooting us in the foot and then putting a band aid on it and saying, look at me, I fixed things, I made it better, I healed us. After shooting us in the foot, I.
- [06:44]
Denver
Successfully put a tourniquet on myself. When I shot myself, I did it. Everybody should love me. It's a self tourniquet foreign policy ideology.
- [06:55]
Amy
The Europeans and the Japanese are looking at Donald Trump and they're less like, okay, we don't want to get stuck with a huge 30, 50% tariffs, so let's just go with 15%. Okay, we'll, we'll slap Trump's name on it. We'll say that we're going to invest in the United States. We're not going to do any more than what we had already planned on doing before. Okay, exactly. We'll call it a deal. And Donald Trump walks away and says, look at me, I'm the greatest deal maker ever. And the American people, I mean, they're kind of being fed a lot of shit right now. They don't, and a lot of people don't really understand it. They got Republican lawmakers saying he's a great deal maker. We're not getting anything out of this.
- [07:38]
Denver
The gop, there's nothing there. The GOP has somehow fooled their constituency into saying that is chocolate. And they're just feeding it to them. And they're just, there's just brown stuff smeared all over everybody's faces as they're gobbling this down. And I think that's, that' what's happening right now. And there's always a downstream effect. I was reading earlier about front ended loading for buying based on tariffs that are coming downstream and that's what's happening right now. So when they're even looking at any of these economic indicators, Amy, there's a lot of, there's a lot of front loaded buying that's going on right now and that's because they gotta get their inventories up before tariffs hit. There's always a downstream effect for higher taxes and tariffs. It always happens. There's no way around it. It's an economic certainty regardless of the numbers that are even being reported by government. And Amy, here's the other thing I want to ask you too, and I know we, we have a lot to go over, is that for years the Republicans said that the deep state and the Democrats were fudging the numbers for job numbers and not presenting a fair picture of what's happening in the economy. You have to remember that every accusation is a confession. I don't even know if we can trust the economic numbers coming out of this administration right now. And so for me, it's what is happening in the local micro economies around and what are you saying? And right now you are seeing a cooled off economy. We looking at job starts are cooling down. It will stop if we're having retractions in gdp. We're having a cooling off period and tariffs haven't even hit completely yet. My fear is in the next economic quarter we're going to see not only job starts going down, but literally starting to that creeping rise in unemployment that'll start to hit the 4.3, 4.4, 4.5 as we go to the end of the year.
- [09:24]
Amy
Trump could have done nothing and we'd be in better shape. He could have had no deal. He could have literally not said the word tariff at all and we'd be in way better shape. These deals are making it worse for our country. I'm just telling you that the lower tariffs, they put lower tariffs on Japanese made cars and European made cars than they do on American made cars that have to import Canadian parts. We talked about this a couple of weeks ago. He, Trump is literally working against American manufacturing. That's just one example. And, and he knows, Trump knows that these tariffs are hurting lots of Americans are going to. So he's actually floated this idea that he provides rebate checks.
- [10:25]
Denver
Dang it.
- [10:26]
Amy
Rebate checks for.
- [10:29]
Denver
Yeah.
- [10:30]
Amy
If the tariffs were paid by the Europeans and Japanese and all these other countries that are stealing from us and being unfair, then why, why do people need rebate checks?
- [10:43]
Denver
Well, that's, that's not the spin though, Amy. Right. The Reason that they're getting rebate. Rebate checks is because they've gotten so much back on the tariffs. Remember, they're putting out 150 billion collected. Have you seen the memes that are coming out on far right media? And there's coordinated messaging. I don't know if you've seen that. The influencers, the rnc, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the executive branch are all messaging exactly the same over all the social media platforms because they have to somehow put out cover. But you gotta remember, Amy, these rebate checks are because the tariffs are so great for us, right? That's how the GOP is spinning it. And, you know, I just, I, you know, and I'm thinking, is it us, Amy? Right. Maybe it's me and you, right? Maybe it's those who are actually paying attention, who are the almost extinct species when it comes to looking at how policy affects Americans downstream. And I think that's what scares me. And lastly, Trump only makes decisions that benefit himself. So this, you know, if you're looking at these tariffs or it's helping buddies, it's somehow these tariffs, right? The reciprocity either from people that have given to his campaign or the fact that money is being made on the flip on these terrorists for specific industries and helping his friends and the people that support him are really the reason that these terrors are being enacted.
- [12:06]
Amy
I don't know. I don't know what's in his head. I don't know. I can't. I mean, the mega Republicans that are, that. I just, they, they really have to do pretzels to try to figure this out. Here's, here's the bottom line on how crazy this is when you think about, like, these rebate checks, okay, you are literally taxing Americans, okay, Only to send a check back to Americans, Mm. For the same amount with Trump's signature on it.
- [12:46]
Denver
What was it, 600?
- [12:47]
Amy
That is the biggest scam in the world. And if the American people fall for that, I mean, I don't know what to tell you.
- [12:57]
Denver
They already have.
- [12:58]
Amy
We're going to. We're going to give. We're going to. We're going to. We're going to be taxed, okay? And then turn around, pay for it, right? In rising costs. And tariffs are taxed. I mean, even Rand Paul said that, you know, and, and then turn around and get a rebate check from the government with Donald Trump's picture and signature on it. We have just been scammed like you wouldn't believe. We just shot ourselves in the Foot. He shot us in the foot, put a bandaid on it, and we're in. And he bandages it up and says, success.
- [13:36]
Denver
Well, 77 million Americans shot us in the foot, okay? So let's just be brutal. When I talked about, you know, certain types of individuals and extinct species or the I am legend of the Richard Matheson book, right? Where it's, the last guy is not a vampire sitting in jail. Like, hey, I'm the odd guy. I can actually go out in the sunlight, right? I'm the last of my species. I feel like sort of reality insanity, you know, is on this downward trajectory, you know, across the United States. But, Amy, this already happened, right? There were 77 million people who voted for this guy. I can blame the voters. I know. We can talk about disinformation. We can talk about flooding the Zone with shit like Steve Bannon said. We can talk about years of manipulation. We can talk about individuals who believe that the supernatural talks directly to them or they listen to their prophets or whatever you want to talk about. But what it comes down to is 77 million Americans are at fault. The voters are at fault. And it's starting to get very difficult for me not to have a little bit of bitterness in that, you know? And I do have people who push back, right? And they're like, Denver, well, that's. That's less than a third of the population. Great. However, when you look at the 340 million people in the US and I look at people under 18, and I look at, you know, the number of people that vote and the people who don't care, we still have even less than that. Voted for Kamala Harris, you know, and so. And that's. And that's what I tell people, like, okay, that's great. But less than that. Voted for Harris. So where are we? What is. What does that mean, right, for our republic if we don't even have everybody voting and the people that do can't seem to see the forest for the trees, or they picked, you know, fantasy over fact, right? Where truth is something that's so elusive to them that they can't even get their arms around it?
- [15:26]
Amy
Well, it means we have a lot of work to do still. To me. To me, that's what it means. But, hey, you know, while President Trump is busy creating economic insecurity for us all, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who, you know, I love, he's your favorite guy, I heard. Yeah, he's. He's struggling with a much more personal type of. I'll call it masculine insecurity. Right. Just this past week, the Department of Defense came down and basically said it's not allowing its employees, including members of the military, officers in the military, to participate in certain events. So he doesn't want them going to think tanks. He doesn't want them participating in events dealing with higher education. He has put out polygraph tests to try to catch people who I guess are disloyal to him.
- [16:24]
Denver
Polygraph?
- [16:26]
Amy
Yeah, it's crazy.
- [16:28]
Denver
Polygraphs are just a tool of intimidation. I, I, you know, I've told people that too. They're like, Denver, you know, how have you passed so many polygraphs? Well, like, well, I know they don't work. I mean, it, it, I, and I, not that I'm lying. I'm not telling people I'm a pathological guy. Right. I don't really care. But polygraphs are just a tool of intimidation. We know that in the intelligence business. They, they're absolutely don't work. And I'm not trying to tell people, go ahead and be a criminal and lie. That's not cool. Because evidence, facts and data will eventually bite you, hopefully. But yeah, I just find it amazing that we have loyalty test from a guy like Pete Hedseth. I mean, this is a guy who drinks his own bath water. I mean he, right, he's drunk on it and you know, not trying to make a play on troubles, but he is drunk on his own bath water.
- [17:19]
Amy
Well, I want to explain a little bit about why this matters from somebody that was in the military for 24 years. Okay. So part of what we do in the military, certainly at the higher ranks, the mid, mid grade ranks, and I was, this was one of the things that I did while I was in the Pentagon was to help the Marine Corps. I was a Marine, right. To help the Marine Corps integrate better with other agencies of government. Okay. That was my job. And why is that important? It was really important because a lot of times, the first time we ever met people of the US Government that had important roles to play was in a combat zone and we didn't work well. We didn't train with the CIA or USAID or some of the State Department folks. And guess what? We're all on the same team. We all have an important role. And so one of the things that we have to do in the military is get out of our little shell. Get out of our little, you know, we're just the military and all we do is military stuff. Why? Because we don't just do all military stuff. We work with other people, we work with other agencies. And the other thing that, that closing down these programs for the military to go out. The military sends officers out to places like business to learn about business practices. We'll send a military officer to Amazon for a year or to some other, to Ford or to GM or something to understand business. And that does a couple of things. It brings knowledge and information back to the Department of Defense about how best business practices and how we can make things better. And it also brings military knowledge, which is also important to American businesses. When you do that, you're cutting off a primary way that the United States military goes out and sort of sells itself. And when people say to me, I don't understand why the military can't take on this role and that role, well, part of it is there's a big divide between what people understand about the military and what it can and can't do. And to bridge that divide, you go to places like the Council of Foreign Relations, the Center for Strategic and International Studies. You do send military officers out to these think tanks, to academia. It makes sense. And to shut this down is just dumb.
- [20:03]
Denver
It's dumb. It's dumb that you're not letting military officers or military individuals cross pollinate with think tanks. And one tell you a little story. You know, I was raised very religious. And when I was reading this, right, we were going to talk about this, Amy, and I had this thought that hit me. And I remember I went to something called seminary every morning. I was, I was raised Mormon. So before high school, 5am we had to show up for church. So not only did I go on church on Sundays, I had youth group on Wednesday night, I had priesthood meetings on Sunday. We had Bishop's warehouse on Saturday. Every morning at 5am I would go to church. I mean, this is literally called indoctrination. But they, they taught me something. And I want to run this by you, Amy, just what you said. They said, listen, the only thing that really matters is learning this gospel, this specific set of scripture and the whatever intellectual worth is in the words on this page that's obviously, you know, been directly, you know, injected into the frontal lobe of the prophets and on paper. But they said something that you just said. They said, but if you run into any other thing that's diametrically opposed to this, that's against this, that looks like it's apostate material, that is a think tank or it's reading other books, right? That is against what you should be doing. You're not, you should not do that. You, as a real good Mormon, you should not be actually doing that. This is all you need. And I feel like in the military with head tests, there's the same thing, right? Why have any. I would say expansion of opinion, different perspectives, maybe real thought facts and data that's not based on sort of this religious belief system and loyalty tests that are going on in our military today. I think what you just outlined, Amy, is the most frightening thing I've heard so far is insulating the military from any outside influences for a specific programmatic way of doing things that's outside free thought. And I think it's just the way they're raised. I think Hegseth, you know, listen, nobody chosen in any position in the United States government at this time under the Trump administration is competent. And most of them, you know, are outwardly displaying their religious symbology as, you know, with his tattoos, they look very white nationalists. They definitely have that slant. I think you're looking at a Christian nationalist way of thought that's determining how the United States is run. And I think that puts us on a path that's very frightening.
- [22:38]
Amy
It is frightening. Here's what the Pentagon said. Quote, they made the move to avoid lending the department's name to organizations and events that run counter to Trump's values. Seriously.
- [22:49]
Denver
Counter to Trump's values.
- [22:51]
Amy
Trump's values. So this is so. It's so wrong. And here's the other thing is you're pulling the military from doing international security forums, folks. That's where you get to know your allies. That's where you talk to your partners, the people that you're going to solve problems with, the people that you're going to maybe go to war with eventually, hopefully not. And if you're smart, you'll work with them to help stem it before it actually happens. It is ridiculous. And doing, taking away our military's ability to go to these events, it, it's a, it's a two way street. So not only are. And this is what Hegsthat's worried about, right? He's worried about anyone in the military going anywhere, hearing from anyone, you know, that thinks differently or that may have a different view on things. Okay, he can't stand that, so. But it's also a way for these outside entities, academia, business, our allies and partners, international folks, think tanks, all of these, these places, to hear and understand better the operational needs and concerns and structure and values of our military.
- [24:16]
Denver
What are Trump's values, Amy? So are we instantiating sexual abuse, fraud? Are we instantiating felonies. I mean, instead of salutes, is everybody going to go around and grope each other's crotch? I mean, is that the. Is that the values that we're actually instilling in the United States military? Hey, man, we grab them by the nether regions, you know, everybody. That's. Is that what we're doing? Is that Trump's values? What are Trump's value? Trump has no values. So what you're. What we're saying is we have a military that's aligning with an individual, not with the American Constitution, right. Who likes to ride on buses, talk about women and grabbing in another region, sexual abuse, saying how much he loves young women, hanging around with Epstein, right? Being convicted of felonies. This is the worst human being on the planet, or damn close to it. So how about we don't align with Trump's values? How about we align with the US Constitution, what we should be as human beings? Because I don't think grabbing people by the crotch is really the way to go in normal human behavior.
- [25:20]
Amy
But take away all that value stuff, which is important. This is an operational need. It is a strategic need. It makes sense to go to these places, to have the United States military out there talking about what we can do, what the military can do, and also gaining information and knowledge from places of success outside the military. It just makes sense.
- [25:49]
Denver
Well, I mean, you know, Hegseth's in charge, right? And I mean, I'm sort of. I'm not really surprised, you know, that a guy like Hegseth would put stock, incredibly apologize or talk about Trump's values. You know, this junk science of polygraphy, right? Mismanagement from values that don't exist. But, you know, but those. Those specialties that, that mindset have now come to fema, Amy. It's come to fema. And, you know, when you see people resigning right, from fema, you start to think maybe there's an issue there, too. Right?
- [26:21]
Amy
Yeah. So FEMA has lost a lot of its leadership, the leadership of that agency that actually has expertise. Most recently in the last week or so, the FEMA search and rescue chief resigned after frustration due to the response to the Texas floods. So, as you know, it took more than 72 hours after the flooding for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to authorize the deployment of FEMA's Search and Rescue network. And apparently, that was the tipping point that led to this longtime public servant, this leader. That is what led to his voluntary departure. He had months of frustration with the Trump administration trying to Dismantle the agency that he was a part of. And so that was the end of it. And he resigned. And he's one of dozens of high ranking officials that have left FEMA since Trump took office. And you know, look, the agency itself faces plummeting morale. It faces a brain drain of people who actually know what they're doing leaving these longtime leaders leaving. Right now, 20 different states, Denver are suing FEMA to restore a grant program that was aimed at helping local governments prevent damage from natural disasters. To do what's necessary to have resiliency. He the Trump administration ended this program. Okay. And the Trump administration called this program wasteful and fraudulent spending.
- [28:18]
Denver
You know, you're seeing this weird alignment, Amy, of fema, things that actually work being cut based on fantasy or ideology while we're seeing this rise in catastrophic weather events. And a lot of these happen in red states. And I'm having a really tough time that these individuals in red states, like, you know, what's happened in Texas, it's just been absolutely awful. And if you go down even in your home state of Kentucky, right. The things that have happened in Kentucky and even here in Virginia. Right. And, but I find it amazing and I know that this is, and I know we're the things. I don't know if people are listening in a way. I know a lot of people are listening to us. Our podcast exploding. It's great. But how do we get to those to say you're voting for somebody who's cutting the very aid to rebuild the communities right. That you have. Right right now and you voted for him. It is one of the, it's, it's one of the weirdest things. I, I can't get my mind around how we, how we reach them, how we identify with them, how we say stop. Look at the facts, look at the data. You have a president cutting the very aid to rebuild your communities from natural disasters.
- [29:43]
Amy
How about, how about a concrete example in red parts of North Carolina? Okay. Hillsboro, North Carolina was planning to use a six million dollar grant to build a wastewater pumping station. They to rebuild after washed out roads and bridges. They had damaged utilities after the, you know, the devastating flooding that they had there that devastated homes and businesses. And Trump got rid of it. No more gone. Pollocksville, North Carolina is another example. These preventative measures are much more cost effective. Okay. And he's saying, you know, this stuff is, this stuff is wasteful and fraudulent and no, it's not. Ask the mayor of these towns. They need this stuff. And then, and then the other pushback you hear from the, from the Republicans and the right wing is. And because, you know, they, they follow whatever Trump is. And, and it's Donald Trump who's, who said, well, we should leave all this emergency management stuff to the states. Just like we don't, we don't need the federal government to do that. We just shut off funding to female and let the local and state states and their agencies do this. Right, Deborah, why should we not do that? That makes sense, right? Let the local folks do it.
- [31:13]
Denver
You know, when it comes to infrastructure, and I don't know, people need to probably also read the Constitution about what the federal government is responsible for. When you look at fema, it's a direct offshoot of infrastructure protection, right? And that's one of the things that the founding fathers were also very worried about is how do we actually not only build infrastructure, but maintain infrastructure and improve infrastructure. So there's, there's so many layers to this as we go down. Why you just wouldn't leave it to the states. There's a mobilization issue, there's a resource issue, but there's a reason that we have this thing called federal taxes, right? There's these pulling of monies for the greater good. And I know that people are like, well, rugged individualism. You go back to Reagan and people say, well, we need to go back to Roosevelt and Truman. Well, let's even go back further to Teddy Roosevelt, the National park system, you know, a progressive Republican. And we can just keep going back and looking at. There needs to be a public trust, regardless if we're free. If you think we're a democracy or a public or people argue about definitions. What it comes down to in the United States is that we do have a public trust. And the federal government has the public trust to enact. Right. Or to utilize those funds in a way that benefit everybody in those states. And let me just say this. There's so much hypocrisy here. So we talk about leaving these decisions to the states that the federal government are passing laws where the states can't even regulate their own technologies. There's so many ironic things here, but there's so much hypocrisy. There's so much lying, there's so much gaslighting and shading. This is a public trust. And the fact is the states at times can't mobilize. But here's the states that are really in danger. You ready for this, Amy? Red states, red states, they're poor. If you look at the top 10 top 20 states. Tell me what's red and what's blue. Hit me. Let's do a fact and data track check. Hit me. Tell me how it's going for you. Because right now it's federal funds. Even if you're looking at Medicaid, you're looking at everything downstream. It's federal funds that prop up the poorest regions in our country. And we still feel like it's a responsibility as Americans to take care of them. And the majority of those areas are red. So I just find it amazing that they would cut off their nose to spite their face.
- [33:32]
Amy
Well, one, you have that I follow the Constitution bumper sticker on your, on your car, on your truck there. Okay, the preamble. Go back to the preamble of the U.S. constitution, you know, in order to provide for what, you know, the welfare, general welfare. So there are things that the federal government should be doing. Okay?
- [33:57]
Denver
Absolutely.
- [33:57]
Amy
One, number two, there's a practical part of this. So when I hear all, just leave it to the states, okay? The states and local governments, a lot of times, especially as you just mentioned, do not have the capacity. They do not have the capacity. In fact, researchers surveyed thousands just in the last year because this has been an issue, right. Since, since Trump has said this. Researchers surveyed thousands of state and local emergency management directors across the country. And guess what they said, Denver, when, when they were asked, you know, hey, should, should we just defund what you get from FEMA and you guys take over everything. They basically, 100% of them said, no, don't do that. We're already overworked. We're already underpaid. We're understaffed, we're underappreciated. Their work is already hamstrung by lack of funding. They don't have enough funding. So cutting their funding even more is dumb. They already have staffing shortages. They have. There's this widespread misunderstanding of the role of emergency management and government. So they're already fighting that. And so there's a capacity issue. We're not paying these folks even enough to do their jobs. And so to sort of dump it on the states and local governments. They're just, they're not gonna be able to do it.
- [35:29]
Denver
I feel like there's, that's the facts. Don't you feel like there's going to be doge exhaustion at some point or this, this federal cut exhaustion that just sort of starts to seep in to some of these areas? And here's the thing is we're coming up on midterms. In 2026. Amy, I, I would hope, if we're talking about the things that we've talked about before with Epstein and sexual abuses used by the Democrats as a literally a million pound shithammer, right, as they go into the midterms. But the other thing too is this. They better be using the FEMA cuts, catastrophes. They need to politicize. The fact that they've been politicized. They need to, you know, it's interesting. I was like, oh, you know, you got to wait a while to do this. I get it. You know, there's, there's. When you have a natural disaster, you don't want to immediately go, oh, you know, is this, is this Trump's Katrina? Right. When you see all this stuff happening, you need to give people time to really to recover. Right? Not only mentally, but spiritually. Right. When you have something like that happen, however, if people, not if people that are running against the incumbents in these areas who are voting against their very constituencies aren't bringing this up in the midterms, it is a massive foul. It's something so egregious if the political establishment going against those voting against their constituency doesn't have the guts or the fortitude or the intelligence to attack on every level simultaneously and just rip them limb from limb politically. I mean, that, that's what needs to happen, and I hope I see it.
- [37:02]
Amy
Well, it's one thing when there's a natural disaster and government is doing all it can to expertly and efficiently help. And we're all Americans and we all want to help. That's why we want to have an agency of government that is there to help during that time. What frustrates me is when you're actively undermining that agency, making it not work, defunding it, firing all the people that know what they're doing. I mean, the current head of FEMA under Trump doesn't have any experience in emergency management. Denver, like that. That's the kind of thing that really frustrates me. It's the stupidity of it. But I think it's time because we talked a lot already and I think I need a little bit of whiskey here.
- [37:58]
Denver
Well, I was sitting, like I just did something really stupid. And you're gonna be like, dan, not you, not you, you whiskey expert. So I'm sitting here. So I was getting ready, right? And I grabbed some glen turret. So I'm sitting here working the cork while you. Well, that's okay. I was pretty funny. Well, either you're gonna say, Dan, there's no way you did this. This has already been. You know what I did? I ripped the cork in half.
- [38:26]
Amy
Oh, that's not good.
- [38:28]
Denver
You know, that's a foul.
- [38:29]
Amy
Yeah.
- [38:30]
Denver
I think that's the first time I've done that on a bottle of scotch because I was trying to work it real easy, back and forth, you know what I'm saying? Like this, right? And I'm like, oh, my God, I just ripped off the goddamn. Ripped my cork in half. You know, it's what's happening to me. Literally what's happening to me.
- [38:45]
Amy
It's, you know, you can't do two things at once. Denver. That's the bottom line.
- [38:50]
Denver
I've been told that for 36 years. Amy.
- [38:53]
Amy
Yeah. One thing at a time. I'll tell you. While you're pouring yourself some, I'll tell everybody what I'm drinking. You know, and the funny part is, because we're. We're going to go into a segment where we're going to talk a little bit about the country, Argentina. I. I tried. I have. We have a collection here because my husband flies all over the place, and so he brings back, you know, whiskey or bourbon from wherever, really. Around. Around the country, around the world. And that's kind of cool. And so I was looking at all of our bourbon, and we don't have our whiskey and we don't have anything from Argentina. So. And you'll know why I. I care about that later. But I couldn't find anything, so I. I picked up this one. This is American. It's called. I'm sure you know about it. It's called Whistle Pig. Piggyback.
- [39:41]
Denver
Very well.
- [39:42]
Amy
Rye whiskey.
- [39:44]
Denver
Had it? No. Well, it's.
- [39:45]
Amy
They. They claim that it's built for cocktails. It's interesting because it's 100% rye. Okay.
- [39:53]
Denver
You know, when everybody. Somebody says, listen, I love Whistle Pig. I don't like that very much. I'm gonna tell you why. And I love whistle. But here's the thing. Whenever anybody says, this is a whiskey built for cocktails, that means they don't want you to drink it straight. No, I shouldn't say.
- [40:07]
Amy
Well, I have that same question. But it is old.
- [40:11]
Denver
No, you make a whiskey to drink.
- [40:13]
Amy
It's distilled in Vermont, which I didn't know, but the rye mash comes from Canada.
- [40:21]
Denver
Really?
- [40:21]
Amy
Yeah.
- [40:22]
Denver
Oh, my God. Our. Our enemy to the north. I mean, you know. Well, cheers. Well, can I, Can I. Can I brag a little bit, though? Yeah. So. And there's a, you know, Doug and Everybody's watching us right now. The people who help us, the incredible people, and make this happen. You gotta make. You know, it's impressive, right? And I just want to show people this when I have right under here, because I know me and Amy are doing this, that I always have a backup shot, right? So the fact that I broke the cork, right?
- [40:53]
Amy
Five bottles.
- [40:53]
Denver
That's five, right? So I had the glen turret, right? So I always have to have a backup. So. So I think you gotta give me a little bit of props that, yeah, I ripped the cork off the Glen Turp, but I immediately had a backup gun, right? So if you saw I was doing this, right, I'm like, oh, shit, I broke the. Oh, I just. I broke the court. I'm like, oh, my God, I gotta go to number two. So I picked up my wife's reserve, right? And I'm like, okay. Oh, this is great. I got a batch six. Batch six, One New Orleans. I also have our rye whiskey, which is our special batch rye right here if I need it. And I also have one that I was gonna open for you later, right, which was b. Won the first Christine reserve ever, which was something I wanted to actually gift you at some point, by the way, Amy. And of course I was. But whenever I'm really feeling like it's time to party, I bring out the honey rye, which I also have. So I just want people to know that I got a five shooter here and that there's never a time that I can't go to another gun if I run out of bullets. So cheers. Cheers to you. Cheers to you. This is amazing. This is amazing.
- [41:58]
Amy
Good. It is very spicy. It is very bold, if you like that. It's a good one for you.
- [42:04]
Denver
It's a good one. All right, so we got the whiskey poured. So I know there's some good stuff coming out with some quick shots, right? And I guess it's some crazy here, right?
- [42:14]
Amy
Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of crazy stuff going on. The first thing is, though, is, I think, very important that everybody have a sense of what's going on. Health care costs, folks are going to go up. And, you know, we haven't seen this, this in the last couple years, but there's going to be big price hikes for businesses and people buying health insurance next year. Premiums are going to go up, up, up. And, you know, we know this because each spring and summer, the health insurers submit rate filings to state regulators to justify the premium changes. And so we know that these Premiums are going to go up. And when asked why Denver insurance companies were asked, hey, why are you going to raise your costs? They cited skyrocketing pharmacy costs. And a lot of this is because of the tax credits that are going away thanks to Republicans that those tax credits that were driving coverage to be more affordable. Thank you Republicans for making health care costs go up and thank you Republicans for your really great tariffs that are making pharmacy costs go up because of higher, you know, more expensive drugs, more expensive medical equipment, more expensive medical supplies that come from overseas. Yeah, thanks.
- [43:41]
Denver
I feel like I'm on the Simpsons.
- [43:43]
Amy
Yay.
- [43:45]
Denver
You know, yay. Because it's so ridiculous. And so, you know, I have an AI company, right, that does health tech, right? Insuretech and health tech. And you know, we do some risk intelligence too. But I'm really proud we're about to come up with our first product, soft launch, end of August, October 1st hard launch where we're help, we're using AI to help verify insurance and adjudicate claims. So I got a call from about CMS and that there's going to be this new headhunting contracts and here, let me explain really quick why it's going to go up further because of fraud, waste and abuse in Doge. Do you know that contractors that are adjudicating claims are going to get paid on denials only? So they're going to get a cut of their denials based on fraud which incentivize them to automatically deny and then wait for somebody to fight it. So CMS you're talking about, our health services are changing the way instead of just paying people for processing, they're only going to pay people if they deny claims. That is happening. I saw the contract. I'm going to do an op ed on it. So I won't let people know. They should see that that's coming. But I've had enough, right? We're seeing this AI on AI war where you're going to have this Doge specific Trump administration fantasy thing, right, where they're going to just pay on denials and you're going to have small providers, even corporate providers are going to have to actually get AI to go back and forth to fight whatever they define as fraud. Obviously there is fraud, waste and abuse. Don't get me wrong. But if you incentivize companies to be paid only on denials with no other payment system, they're going to deny, deny, deny. So it's going to get worse before it gets better. And that's because the big health care lobbies own Congress.
- [45:25]
Amy
Well, and it's because the actions of this bill that was just passed and the constant trying to undermine health care in America that, no offense, Republicans and Trump are continually trying to do, it's now driving up out of pocket premium payments for next year by over 75%. I mean, that's what, that's what's.
- [45:51]
Denver
It's what happens. The downstream effects of stupid is terminal. Yeah, they're terminal. They are terminal.
- [45:57]
Amy
On a more lighter note. A lighter note, more fun, I guess, but also really freaking crazy. And maybe Doug can put a picture of this up when we, we do our show. But I think Trump tweeted this out, so we have to find the tweet. But he basically lied about Beyonce saying that. Beyonce. He calls for Beyonce, you know, the singer to be prosecuted, having, by saying this false claim that somehow Beyonce took money from Kamala Harris. $11 million apparently from Kamala Harris to endorse Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. So she should be prosecuted for that. First of all, let me just say that all of that is total, completely false. It's a flat out lie. But the President of the United States is saying this, and he says so much stuff that we just don't even, you know, it goes in one ear and out the other for most of us anyway. But, but the funny part about this to me is how Beyonce responded. She basically said, hey, Trump, on my last tour, I raked in $500 million, so why would I need 11 million more?
- [47:14]
Denver
Which, so rich. She's so talented, right? There's just probably looking at Trump like, you freaking just, you know, you cottage cheese looking human, right? You know, get out of here. You know, and I think I, you know, I think that's what that's where we're at right now is there's so many lies in the ecosystem. And I know I said this before. I know I keep coming back to it. Amy, I'm telling you, sanity and critical thinking, right, could become extinct if we don't watch out. It is insane. Anybody would believe it. But I will tell you, I know you said goes one ear, not the other, but maga, they have this little junk drawer in their head where if you tell them, hey, the earth revolves around the sun and it's round, they will reject that because in their junk drawer, they have already cataloged in some ways that it's a flat earth and there's an ice wall and they've cataloged that Beyonce must have been paid by the deep state Right. For Kamala. That's already in here. They have to say that Obama. Right, And Obamagate, right. Went after Trump. Right. And set him up in Russiagate was a scam. They have to believe that Epstein and Trump didn't hang out for 15 years and Epstein took girls from Mar A Lago and that was the breeding ground for Mar A Lago. They have to believe that the January 6th election was stolen. They have to believe that. Also. They have to believe that Obama killed SEAL Team six because Donald Trump said so. They have to believe that. Also, they have to believe that Trump University was legitimate because Trump said he was being attacked. They have to believe Trump wasn't a felon because it was a deep state op. They have to believe that he didn't sexually abuse E. Jean Carroll because she's a liar and it was a deep state op. So all that stuff they keep.
- [48:57]
Amy
How does the everyday person who may have voted for Trump, how do they square with the fact that he lies so easily? That we know our lies? I just don't. I don't understand. To me, it's just really hard to look at somebody like that and. And then say, how can you ever take anything, even when he tells the truth about things? How. How do you. How do you believe it's the truth.
- [49:26]
Denver
When you ran as a Democrat? I'm sorry, anything you say is a globalist and deep state conspiracy theory to those who vote against you. All right, I'm not even joking. I. I try to tell.
- [49:39]
Amy
Let's get to try to tell people.
- [49:41]
Denver
So we're getting Argentine. So what happened in Argentina? I do know, as, you know, you.
- [49:47]
Amy
Tell us, because, you know, I know you were following this closely.
- [49:50]
Denver
Oh. Know, it made me so angry. I lost my mind, as, you know, like, literally lost my mind. And. Because I'm watching Christy Noem in Argentina. In Argentina.
- [50:00]
Amy
The.
- [50:01]
Denver
The great land of Canadia near Argentina.
- [50:04]
Amy
Yeah.
- [50:06]
Denver
In Argentina, riding a horse, saying there's nothing like riding my Argentinian steed as I'm going through the fields of South America with my friend Corey. My friend Corey, who, you know, we really like to be together.
- [50:21]
Amy
Tell everybody what this is all about here.
- [50:23]
Denver
So this is. So Christy, she. She's. She put out a video that looked like it came from Yellowstone or it was a music video.
- [50:29]
Amy
This is our Department of Homeland Security, of course.
- [50:31]
Denver
Yeah. Our DHS lead. The person who runs, you know, our mass police force, you know, is in South America riding horses and making cosplaying videos. You know, these narcissistic, sociopathic videos. That somehow she's a movie star with her hair extensions flying in the window. And I think we're to a point that it's so ridiculous and so narcissistic, but every time I see it, you know, it's the bonanza thing. But also when we were. The other thing that I was thinking about is like she ran calling wildfire. She ran calling wild.
- [51:04]
Amy
I forgot you were gonna sing again. Okay. Yeah. There we go. Thanks, Doug. Thanks. With the images of the horses. Thank you.
- [51:12]
Denver
I just.
- [51:14]
Amy
Let's just take a step back and remind everybody how incredible, incredibly, insanely crazy this is to have a cabinet secretary who, you know, he's using official, official social media accounts to put her, I don't know, personal propaganda. It's just bizarro.
- [51:39]
Denver
Well, she's going to run for president in 28. So this is what you're saying is she's, she's building up for a presidential run in 28.
- [51:45]
Amy
Okay. No, I hadn't thought about that.
- [51:48]
Denver
Yeah. And I think also other thing I think she's thinking about, you know, based on the fact that she's dhs, if there is a second term for Republican and she isn't, I think she wants to go somewhere else. Right. And maybe sec State or something like that if Rubio moves up. Because I think what you're going to see maybe is advanced Rubio ticket. But I think Gnome thinks he has an outside chance also. You know, Trump's been very critical in some ways of Vance and, and it's sort of a, like this, like ah, you know, he's a good guy with his little hipster beard. Right. He can get stove. I just don't think Trump thinks Vance is the natural progress aggression. I think it's one of his sons. And I also think people need to. The dark horse here is Ivanka. And I think people need to make sure. I've met Ivanka. She's, she's 10 times smarter than her brothers. She knows when to be quiet. She knows how to sort of stay, you know, beneath the noise. But when she pops up, she's, she's, she's, she's talented as far as the way that she can actually communicate in some ways. So I think people need to watch out. I think you, I think you have a lot of people positioning for president. But the reason you see Gnome doing this call to personality thing is to, to run for POTUS or to get a better in the next administration.
- [52:55]
Amy
Okay, I believe you. All right, far right, Oklahoma superintendent, school superintendent, mega guy. Far right, Christian you know, conservative. He was caught with porn videos on his computer.
- [53:13]
Denver
Just own up to it, man.
- [53:15]
Amy
Like a. Like a school board meeting.
- [53:18]
Denver
I mean, Denver, that's love and life right there.
- [53:21]
Amy
Family values, then.
- [53:23]
Denver
So. So, okay. So, okay.
- [53:25]
Amy
You can't make this shit up.
- [53:26]
Denver
So there I was, Amy. A big Republican fundraiser asked me to come to Texas because he wanted to show me this new way of building housing for the underprivileged. And we go in there and there's about eight or nine people working for him. The guy's in his late 70s. He's probably between 78 and 80. He's been doing this a long time. He has these. These. These rounded huts that are like weatherproof, that are like 250 to 300 square feet for one to two people. It was bizarre, by the way there. I knew the guy was clinically insane, but, you know, he had pictures of Jesus and crosses everywhere. And I'm like, oh, it looks like a fairly religious guy who thinks he's helping people, but this looks like something from Dune, you know? This is the craziest shit I've ever seen. So we go in there and they're setting up everything. And I'm sitting there with my consultant, and I'm waiting, and they had this huge screen. Amy. It's got to be one of those, you know, projector screens. It's probably an 80 inch screen. This is 2019. So I'm sitting there like, oh, this is interesting. And he goes, okay, we're gonna get it going here. And the screen pops up and it's hardcore porn happening in front of me. There's people in that. There's like 20 people there. And I'm just sitting there looking at it. And I look over at my buddy and I said, well, that's interesting housing. And we start cr. Like, I got the giggles, right, because they can't get it off. I mean, the moaning and the noises were so loud. It was reverberating through this weird structure. This dome structure had great acoustics, you know, I'm like hearing screaming and weird bodily noises and functions, you know, and they can't turn it off. I got to laughing so hard. Here I am, a congressman, right? And I'm crying because I'm like, hey, why don't you guys just unplug it? The porn's not going to go off. And the guy's like, somebody plated porn on my computer. And there was no male employees. He had seven employees. All these very attractive young girls under 30, right, that work for him. And they're looking in absolute at us, sitting there like, oh, well, this is interesting. I've never seen how the breast was won. You know, this is interesting. So, I mean, so I just want to let you know. And by the way, here's the thing with Ryan Walters, right? I think. I don't think he understands how to defend himself. Here's what you do if you get caught, and I think this will help everybody out there, and I hope they're listening. Amy, you rail against people. How dare you say that I have a porn addiction? It's just a hobby, right?
- [55:53]
Amy
I don't know how he's defending himself right now. I think he's. Reports are saying that he's saying that it was planted and all this stuff, but I mean, come on, seriously.
- [56:03]
Denver
Oh, it's not you. Listen, if Amy, if I jump on this, right, and all of a sudden porn starts to play off my laptop, I'm going to tell, like, hey, Amy, the first thing you do is you blame your wife, right? Like, my wife must see, Ryan doesn't understand, right? How to actually deflect quickly, right? Oh, my God, my kid has a porn addiction. Now, your kid might be four years old. He's not going to know, right? Because he's four. He's not going to remember that he had a porn addiction at 4 years old. So you can blame your kid, you can blame your wife, always blame it on a hobby. Or you could say you're doing research on your opponent who was a porn addict and they had sent it to you and you couldn't believe it was sent to you, and you had actually sent it to the FBI. Then you go back and you try to back date. You call the FBI.
- [56:46]
Amy
Like, you know a lot about this Denver, I don't know. I'm not, I'm just gonna sit and listen, okay?
- [56:51]
Denver
I'm not.
- [56:52]
Amy
I'm not gonna go there, but.
- [56:53]
Denver
Well, Amy, if you ever call with porn, give me a call and I'll help you out. I'll help you out of any mix. I'll help you out, right? I'll do the.
- [57:01]
Amy
I'm not gonna comment on that. So. But here on. On a more serious note, and this I just, just sort of want to talk about a little bit before we end. I. I want to say one thing about the preliminary report and the public hearings that are happening right now over the horrific midair collision, the crash that happened back in January in Washington, D.C. over the Potomac river where you had an Army Blackhawk helicopter collided with a passenger, regional passenger Jet. Okay, the testimony and the preliminary report are happening right now. The preliminary report is out and the hearings are showing that the Black Hawk altimeters could have easily been over 100ft off of reality in terms of their altitude. So what does that mean, folks? That actually is a big factor and it could explain why the helicopter may have actually been flying high and in the flight path of the jets. And those of you who are pilots, you know, you believe your instruments and if you're, but if your instruments are telling you bad information, you don't necessarily, you can't tell. The human eye cannot tell, oh, I'm 50ft off. That's what your instruments tell you.
- [58:29]
Denver
You can't, God help you if you're 100ft off.
- [58:31]
Amy
I mean, you know, unless you're like the Blue Angels flying very, very close to another aircraft. There's no, you can't even tell what like 50ft is when you're, you know, 500ft in the air. It's, it's, it's, it's just hard. Okay, and, and here's what I want to say about this. After that mishap happened, there were a lot of people out in the United States who accused the female army pilot, one, one of the pilots was female, of being at fault for this. Immediately you had the President of the United States, the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of Defense, all of these people jumping to conclusions, blaming DEI because that was their, you know, that's their way of saying it's the woman's fault. Right? Say dei and it's all bullshit.
- [59:29]
Denver
That's exactly what they mean.
- [59:30]
Amy
And that pilot's family had to live through that crap.
- [59:34]
Denver
Horrific.
- [59:34]
Amy
And here we are finding out that you know what this altimeter thing, if it proves, and we won't know until the, the full investigation, Denver comes out probably at the beginning of next year. But from what I can tell right now, this could have happened to anyone. It could have happened to any pilot out there. And the pilots out there know this. They know this, of course. So you know, so I'm just saying it's a travesty of what our so called leaders have done in this immediate aftermath. It's not going to make the headlines, I don't think the same way that the original labeling of what could have happened. But it's important to me to make sure that people know what the preliminary reports are saying.
- [60:28]
Denver
Amy, well done. And everybody knows the Trump administration, they do not let facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory. Cheers.
- [60:36]
Amy
Yeah, cheers. Well, it's important to wrap up on a positive note.
- [60:41]
Denver
All right, let's do this.
- [60:42]
Amy
I want to do another. Cheers to this time to the Medicaid ruling recently that this big, beautiful bill, call it the big beautiful betrayal. That's what I call it, that the Republicans jammed through. They tried to cut funding for all of Planned Parenthood in that bill because they're angry that certain clinics of Planned Parenthood give reproductive care to women in the form of abortions when needed. And so the Republicans tried to cut all the funding for Planned Parenthood, and the judge in this case said, you can't do that. So cheers to the judge.
- [61:27]
Denver
Cheers to the judge. And let me tell you, if it wasn't for Planned Parenthood, when we lost our first two kids, I don't know what we would have done. So there you go. Yeah. What a show. What a show. You know, Amy, we only hit probably 7 to 10% of everything we could have done today, and we still hit an amazing amount of topics. It was incredible. And I think we are helping. And I think if people want to hear what we have to say. You need to subscribe, right? They have to subscribe. Please download us on your favorite podcast, but follow us on socials. There's a lot of cool stuff that comes out, and I'm not just talking about our truth in the barrel socials. You need to follow Amy on X. You need to follow Amy on Blue Sky. Right. If you want to follow me, great. I'm a little bit more reverent. Amy's a little bit more specific and directed. So. But no. So please do. We just try to make sure that always on the side of facts and truth. And cheers, Amy, another great show.
- [62:28]
Amy
See you next week, Denver.
- [62:29]
Denver
Yep. And I'll see you. Bye, everyone.
- [62:30]
Amy
Thanks for being with us.
- [62:32]
Denver
Bye.