WEBVTT - Listen Up, Butt Pirates! 0:00:11.210 --> 0:00:15.080 Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio at the 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:20.140 George Washington Broadcast Center. Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty. Armstrong 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:20.880 and Getty. 0:00:21.060 --> 0:00:26.720 And now, here's Armstrong and Getty. 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:35.290 You know, he has been effective. He was effective at 0:00:35.670 --> 0:00:40.880 killing 200 school children. He was effective at bombing... fishing 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:43.479 boats that may or may not have had people who 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:47.300 were guilty of smuggling drugs. He's been effective at waging 0:00:47.970 --> 0:00:54.310 an unconstitutional kidnapping in Venezuela. The president himself brags that 0:00:54.350 --> 0:00:57.550 they have captured this oil and that our companies, our 0:00:57.590 --> 0:01:00.330 corporations are getting rich from the oil that they've captured, 0:01:00.350 --> 0:01:04.200 that Pete Hegseth helped to capture. I mean, in some aspect, 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:06.620 he has been effective, and that's what we're impeaching him for, 0:01:06.970 --> 0:01:10.010 his effectiveness in breaking the law and violating the Constitution. 0:01:10.050 --> 0:01:19.450 That's Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massey, who is half a kook. 0:01:19.470 --> 0:01:24.490 I don't see a consistent through line on his attitudes 0:01:24.550 --> 0:01:25.509 about various things. 0:01:26.010 --> 0:01:30.250 Sometimes I think, wow, you nailed it, Tom. Sometimes I think, 0:01:31.209 --> 0:01:32.809 what are you talking about? And it doesn't always all 0:01:32.850 --> 0:01:35.650 fit together. I think he just hates Pete for some reason. 0:01:36.780 --> 0:01:39.350 Uh, or I don't know what's going on there, but anyway, 0:01:39.430 --> 0:01:45.630 he's introducing articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth. The current 0:01:45.890 --> 0:01:48.390 secretary of defense calls himself secretary of war. 0:01:49.030 --> 0:01:51.110 Now, are we going to play the other Massey clip? 0:01:51.170 --> 0:01:53.010 I didn't know we were planning, but we can too. 0:01:53.250 --> 0:01:57.740 Very important. But I, I, uh, I didn't know. I 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:00.820 honestly didn't know you could impeach a secretary of defense 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:05.920 until last week. Um, I'd only heard that word thrown 0:02:05.950 --> 0:02:06.840 around with presidents. 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:08.780 Yeah, you can impeach anybody. 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:11.840 Can you impeach a Supreme Court justice? 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:13.900 Oh, wow. 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:15.109 I don't think you can, can you? 0:02:15.220 --> 0:02:17.880 No, you can impeach other judges, but I don't think 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:18.639 the Supes. 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:21.400 I don't actually know that. Katie, can you look that up? 0:02:21.660 --> 0:02:24.639 Thank you. Here is the other Thomas Massey. You think 0:02:24.700 --> 0:02:25.480 I would know that, huh? 0:02:26.300 --> 0:02:29.200 I hope he addresses the eight articles and doesn't get 0:02:29.300 --> 0:02:33.350 up and misquote the Bible in Quentin Tarantino fashion and 0:02:33.370 --> 0:02:38.070 do some pull-ups and call everybody fat and gay for 0:02:38.169 --> 0:02:41.690 being for this impeachment. I may have just given you 0:02:41.730 --> 0:02:42.850 half his speech. I don't know. 0:02:42.889 --> 0:02:44.570 Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, no. 0:02:44.850 --> 0:02:47.850 He calls some people fat and others gay. If you're 0:02:47.930 --> 0:02:51.760 fat and gay, he'll call you fat and gay. And 0:02:51.820 --> 0:02:52.859 beardos as well. 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:53.299 Yes. 0:02:54.820 --> 0:02:57.050 So you can impeach a Supreme Court justice. Yes, you can. 0:02:57.110 --> 0:03:00.130 So that's the interesting thing about Congress, the the Article 0:03:00.430 --> 0:03:02.829 one constitutional. 0:03:03.410 --> 0:03:03.810 Branch. 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:11.570 And Nixon got going back during his impeachment. This idea 0:03:11.610 --> 0:03:14.710 of co-equal branches. He he he got that phrase out 0:03:14.770 --> 0:03:17.830 there into the bloodstream of politics and people use it 0:03:17.870 --> 0:03:20.590 all the time. But it's not true. They are not co-equal. 0:03:21.070 --> 0:03:24.940 The the Congress is more powerful. Congress can do all 0:03:25.070 --> 0:03:28.260 kinds of crap. That's supposed to be more powerful that 0:03:28.540 --> 0:03:31.480 the executive branch and the branch can't do. So as 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:34.540 we just learned, they can remove anybody. The Supreme Court 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:39.030 can't remove a house member, a lowly house member. The 0:03:39.070 --> 0:03:41.190 president of the United States is powerful. The president of 0:03:41.210 --> 0:03:44.710 the United States has basically no power over a lowly 0:03:44.750 --> 0:03:47.900 House member. But the House can remove any of those 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:51.120 people if they decide to. And yet, with them being 0:03:51.140 --> 0:03:54.740 the most powerful branch of government, they do nothing in 0:03:54.780 --> 0:03:58.460 our current iteration of the way we run our democracy. 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:02.020 Well, they buy and sell stocks and employ their relatives. 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:02.930 And tweet. 0:04:02.940 --> 0:04:03.320 Be kind. 0:04:03.430 --> 0:04:07.530 They tweet a lot. Oh, how they then gram. The Graham. 0:04:07.850 --> 0:04:09.390 Oh, that reminds me a little later on. We got 0:04:09.410 --> 0:04:12.270 to get to Pete. But, you know, there are a 0:04:12.290 --> 0:04:16.120 lot of districts around the country where there's there's like 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:21.619 no point in running a Democrat. Where they just threw 0:04:21.660 --> 0:04:25.460 a child up or a felon or whatever, some bomb 0:04:25.500 --> 0:04:28.420 laying in the gutter and they won some of those 0:04:28.540 --> 0:04:30.100 stories later on. 0:04:30.770 --> 0:04:33.420 So that was Massey coming out with what an awful 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:35.180 person Pete is and how he needs to be impeached. 0:04:35.220 --> 0:04:38.420 And he's introducing articles. And will there be a majority 0:04:38.460 --> 0:04:41.839 of the House? Because that's all it takes to start 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:45.480 the actual trial going in the Senate. I assume all 0:04:45.500 --> 0:04:47.960 the Democrats will be on board. The Republicans only have, what, 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:52.170 a five-person advantage. So you don't have to get a 0:04:52.190 --> 0:04:54.430 whole bunch of Republicans on board. I don't know where 0:04:54.490 --> 0:04:56.830 they are currently with J.D. Vance, the way he turned 0:04:56.850 --> 0:04:59.289 against the war in Iran and everything last week. And 0:04:59.310 --> 0:05:02.170 a bunch of Republicans aren't even showing up to D.C. 0:05:02.190 --> 0:05:04.490 because they lost the races. So they're staying home. So 0:05:04.510 --> 0:05:06.300 it's the majority of the people that are there. It 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:12.220 doesn't have to be all 435. Correct. Wow. They could 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.200 actually get this going then. There's no chance you get 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:18.760 67 senators. I don't think there's any chance you get. 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:19.260 Oh, no. 0:05:19.260 --> 0:05:23.820 17 republican senators to go along or 16 or however 0:05:23.850 --> 0:05:25.110 many you need much. 0:05:24.990 --> 0:05:27.850 Like the concept of impeaching a supreme court justice i 0:05:27.910 --> 0:05:30.850 think even the uh chuck schumer's of the world would 0:05:30.890 --> 0:05:34.909 realize if we start this this is going to be 0:05:34.950 --> 0:05:38.830 a bloodbath for the next 30 years impeaching each other's 0:05:38.850 --> 0:05:42.080 cabinet secretaries because we're mad at the big guys uh 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:44.200 policies Well, we're. 0:05:44.100 --> 0:05:46.760 Getting deep into the weeds here. But so this topic 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:52.670 came up over the several shows, the impeachment of Donald 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:56.510 Trump the second time and the political book that was 0:05:56.589 --> 0:06:00.130 written about it. Political reporter in a Washington Post reporter, 0:06:00.589 --> 0:06:05.960 Nancy Pelosi crafted the article of impeachment the way she 0:06:06.060 --> 0:06:09.630 did because she was worried that that the impeachment would 0:06:09.670 --> 0:06:12.170 turn into what you were just talking. It turns into 0:06:12.210 --> 0:06:15.540 a big giant news suck, takes up a lot of time, 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:18.860 and it would go into Joe Biden's first term and 0:06:19.140 --> 0:06:20.520 he wouldn't be able to get anything done. They wouldn't 0:06:20.540 --> 0:06:22.580 make anything to done. It would be all about impeachment. 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.880 That's what Politico and the Washington Post believe. So you 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:29.180 might be right that Chuck Schumer would think this about 0:06:29.420 --> 0:06:32.170 and maybe Hakeem Jeffries about this impeachment. Is this what 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:35.470 we want to be doing when we swear everybody in? 0:06:36.589 --> 0:06:39.350 In January, if it lasts that long, and it certainly could. 0:06:40.490 --> 0:06:42.990 So Pete got up there and defended himself, and he 0:06:43.110 --> 0:06:43.730 started it here. 0:06:44.350 --> 0:06:45.080 I'll get right to it. 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:51.359 What one disgruntled and defeated congressman is attempting is not oversight, 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:56.500 and it's not accountability. It's a political spectacle, a personal 0:06:56.540 --> 0:07:01.590 manifesto driven by ego and resentment. Time for one man's 0:07:01.810 --> 0:07:04.450 final days in Congress to try to do damage to 0:07:04.490 --> 0:07:09.440 this president and this country, and most irresponsibly, the warriors 0:07:10.020 --> 0:07:10.570 who defend it. 0:07:11.500 --> 0:07:16.490 It's a farce, and it's a stunt, and everybody knows it. 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:18.080 It's a funt, for sure. 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:22.240 It's a cunning stunt, yes. I thought he made a 0:07:22.260 --> 0:07:22.880 good point here. 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:28.610 In the 250 years of our American republic, no Secretary 0:07:28.630 --> 0:07:32.140 of War, or Secretary of Defense, has ever been impeached 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:36.520 for carrying out lawful military operations. 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.880 And in our case, successful ones at that. 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:42.560 Not once. 0:07:43.100 --> 0:07:46.640 War powers resolution or not. Not under Reagan in Lebanon. 0:07:47.100 --> 0:07:50.660 Not under Clinton in Kosovo. Not under Obama in Iraq 0:07:50.700 --> 0:07:55.530 and Syria. Not under Biden in Iraq and Syria. That's 0:07:55.570 --> 0:07:59.470 the standard. The history is clear and it's very straightforward. 0:08:00.390 --> 0:08:06.110 And one disgruntled congressman wants to shred it over policy disagreements. 0:08:07.110 --> 0:08:09.170 I thought that was a really good point. Everything that 0:08:09.190 --> 0:08:13.100 happened in the Vietnam War over all those years, and 0:08:13.130 --> 0:08:14.840 then all the examples he laid out there. 0:08:14.860 --> 0:08:15.700 The utter dishonesty. 0:08:15.980 --> 0:08:23.440 Lebanon, Kosovo, the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Libya. And Pete must, 0:08:23.580 --> 0:08:28.080 I mean, he clearly, this wasn't an accident. He's not saying... 0:08:28.390 --> 0:08:30.450 I did what the president told me to do. He's 0:08:30.490 --> 0:08:34.010 the commander in chief. He hasn't said that out loud 0:08:34.870 --> 0:08:40.830 for whatever reason. But that's the, that's the, that's why we, 0:08:40.929 --> 0:08:43.579 that's why there haven't been impeachments of sect deaths. They don't, 0:08:44.250 --> 0:08:47.960 one hasn't gone rogue yet and attacked, you know, Vietnam 0:08:48.059 --> 0:08:53.540 or Lebanon without the president ordering it. Two points. Oh, 0:08:53.580 --> 0:08:55.280 speaking of Trump, were you going to, did you have 0:08:55.300 --> 0:08:57.410 more clips you wanted to play? Probably at some point, but. 0:08:57.910 --> 0:09:03.490 People tune in to hear you opine. Except for clip 57. 0:09:03.490 --> 0:09:07.429 History will judge the Iran war quite differently than conventional 0:09:07.460 --> 0:09:11.150 wisdom right now. We didn't start this war. Iran did 0:09:11.150 --> 0:09:14.560 47 years ago. But President Trump is willing to do 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:20.240 what no other president would. He did the tough right thing, 0:09:20.300 --> 0:09:23.960 not for politics, but for the safety and the security 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:25.120 of the American people. 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:26.640 That's leadership. 0:09:27.740 --> 0:09:31.320 He did not kick the can. He kicked their teeth in. 0:09:31.340 --> 0:09:35.500 Man, that brushes up against the... You like that? Wait, 0:09:35.740 --> 0:09:38.709 you gotta take a minute. You gotta leave a minute 0:09:38.730 --> 0:09:40.110 for applause. He didn't kick the can, he kicked their 0:09:40.150 --> 0:09:40.530 teeth in. 0:09:40.530 --> 0:09:40.600 Huh? 0:09:41.110 --> 0:09:43.850 Yeah, that is so Pete. Okay, what were you going 0:09:43.870 --> 0:09:50.110 to say? That is Pete. That brushes up against the 0:09:50.170 --> 0:09:52.089 original sin of this entire war, which has been the 0:09:52.130 --> 0:09:56.390 whole problem. Trump not getting up there and laying out 0:09:56.490 --> 0:09:59.970 in prime time with the flags behind him for everybody. 0:10:00.050 --> 0:10:05.360 to see hey oran declared war on us 50 years 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:08.160 ago we've been at war with this country for 50 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:13.640 years they've killed more u.s citizens than any other regime 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:16.420 in the world you know laying out that whole thing 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:21.370 right and he never did that You know, Pete and. 0:10:21.330 --> 0:10:23.890 Marco behind him, you know, right. Powerful message. 0:10:24.090 --> 0:10:24.350 Sure. 0:10:24.570 --> 0:10:26.570 And to say, I know this is going to be 0:10:26.630 --> 0:10:30.469 politically unpopular. I'm not doing this because this is going 0:10:30.490 --> 0:10:32.910 to be popular. This is going to hurt. I'm going 0:10:32.950 --> 0:10:34.950 to spend a lot of political capital on this. Gas 0:10:35.010 --> 0:10:39.000 prices will probably go up because of this war. I know, 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:41.770 but I'm willing to take that risk because they can't 0:10:41.790 --> 0:10:43.479 have a nuclear weapon, blah, blah, blah. But he never 0:10:43.540 --> 0:10:45.340 did that. I don't know why he didn't do that. 0:10:45.860 --> 0:10:49.959 But he's astounding incompetence. Absolutely. But the idea that I 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:51.420 can't get the big guy, so I'm going to go 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:55.469 after Hegseth is just it's ridiculous to me. One more 0:10:55.530 --> 0:10:57.550 point to make after a word from our friends at 0:10:57.610 --> 0:11:01.370 Omaha Steaks, the perfect gift and whether for yourself or 0:11:01.390 --> 0:11:04.200 somebody you care about, like my dad, I give Omaha 0:11:04.220 --> 0:11:05.000 Steaks to my dad. 0:11:05.630 --> 0:11:06.130 Every year. 0:11:06.470 --> 0:11:09.710 Because, A, he loves them. He, unlike Jack, enjoys grilling. 0:11:10.929 --> 0:11:14.010 And just, he doesn't need stuff. And he just loves 0:11:14.030 --> 0:11:17.130 the Omaha Steaks. I do, too. We get a package ourselves. 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:21.020 It's so good, too. And, look, Jack and I are 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:23.320 no jokers when it comes to steaks. I will not 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:24.000 eat a bad steak. 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:27.459 Why would I? Omaha Steaks, so good. Ordered on your terms, 0:11:27.500 --> 0:11:29.920 delivered straight to your door without the grocery run or 0:11:29.940 --> 0:11:32.960 the meal planning spiral. Dinner is handled, no catch. And 0:11:33.100 --> 0:11:37.050 their ability to ship this meat around, and the apple 0:11:37.070 --> 0:11:38.950 tartlets and the potatoes and stuff, but to ship this 0:11:38.990 --> 0:11:41.230 stuff around the country and keep it cold and fresh 0:11:41.270 --> 0:11:43.209 and get to you fast is really, really good. 0:11:43.230 --> 0:11:47.030 Oh, yeah, good point. Friends, the side dishes. Do not 0:11:47.190 --> 0:11:48.930 snooze on the side dishes. 0:11:49.130 --> 0:11:49.670 Oh, so good. 0:11:50.150 --> 0:11:51.990 Your next great holiday dinner is just one click away 0:11:52.030 --> 0:11:54.730 with Omaha Steaks. Packages start at just $ 79 right now 0:11:54.790 --> 0:11:59.530 at OmahaSteaks.com. Use that code Armstrong at checkout. OmahaSteaks.com. Terms apply. 0:11:59.550 --> 0:12:04.740 See site for details. OmahaSteaks.com. Use that code Armstrong, please. 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:08.120 So here's one thing, and I know this is hard 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:14.210 for people to internalize because we're a superpower. The government, 0:12:14.250 --> 0:12:17.020 the federal government has way too much power. It is 0:12:17.420 --> 0:12:23.660 an enormously powerful entity. It's also ginormous and incomprehensible and 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:26.760 wasteful and expensive and ugly and stupid. 0:12:26.780 --> 0:12:31.490 Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Washington, D.C. is a big 0:12:31.650 --> 0:12:32.290 high school. 0:12:33.370 --> 0:12:37.030 I know those my description and that don't fit together, 0:12:37.450 --> 0:12:38.570 but it's true. 0:12:39.070 --> 0:12:43.429 It's smallish. And it's the social dynamics are a lot 0:12:43.470 --> 0:12:44.050 like high school. 0:12:44.550 --> 0:12:50.210 Pete Hegzeth has enormous support among the fighting men and 0:12:50.250 --> 0:12:53.170 women of the United States Armed Forces. He's done some 0:12:53.410 --> 0:12:58.470 fabulous stuff about making the procurement process more efficient, about 0:12:58.650 --> 0:13:03.520 changing technologies, about embracing the rapid dronification of warfare, studying 0:13:03.540 --> 0:13:06.240 what Ukraine is doing. I think he's got an A 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:08.870 + + in a lot of those topics. But the 0:13:08.950 --> 0:13:14.700 dude is grating as hell. He just is. For I 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:17.520 don't need to tell you why. He just comes off as, oh, 0:13:17.540 --> 0:13:20.140 my God, I like to joke that when he's ordering 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:23.619 a couple of eggs and bacon, he barks orders and 0:13:23.700 --> 0:13:27.760 is brusque and dismissive and manly and mixing a couple 0:13:27.780 --> 0:13:29.170 of pull-ups and the rest of it. 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:35.950 Listen up, butt pirates. Right, exactly. Beardos, weirdos. He's grating 0:13:36.170 --> 0:13:40.640 as hell. He is that great student in high school. 0:13:40.660 --> 0:13:42.480 He's a good athlete, too. 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:46.450 But he just is so off-putting. He annoys everybody. 0:13:47.090 --> 0:13:52.010 That is, and again, this seems insane. He's the Secretary 0:13:52.030 --> 0:13:53.150 of Defense slash war. 0:13:53.890 --> 0:13:57.420 He just pisses people off. That's part of the reason 0:13:57.460 --> 0:13:58.140 this is happening. 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:02.120 He did not kick the canth. He kicked their teeth in. 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:03.260 All right. 0:14:03.710 --> 0:14:06.170 You don't have to throw that sort of thing in, 0:14:06.290 --> 0:14:08.910 people are thinking. But he loves it. The question is, 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:12.220 are the leaders in the Democratic Party going to decide 0:14:12.260 --> 0:14:15.400 this does us more harm than good? So don't. Because 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:18.160 if they don't weigh in on that, it's going to 0:14:18.220 --> 0:14:21.450 get the majority of the House and move to the 0:14:21.490 --> 0:14:23.630 next level and just eat up a lot of energy 0:14:23.670 --> 0:14:25.970 and time and political capital and all that sort of stuff. 0:14:26.230 --> 0:14:29.090 I hope they do it. Our honeypot's coming for the 0:14:29.130 --> 0:14:31.800 corporate world. Apparently they are, among other things, on the way. 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:32.220 Stay tuned. 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:46.190 Armstrong and Getty. The Armstrong and Getty Show. 0:14:46.230 --> 0:14:56.110 It's pretty interesting, this idea of now, instead of people 0:14:56.170 --> 0:15:00.140 that have had security clearances and have powerful secrets with 0:15:00.180 --> 0:15:04.180 governments and, you know, chosen carefully to be in positions 0:15:04.220 --> 0:15:07.040 of such power, the most powerful people in the world 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:09.920 may be the people that run these big tech companies. 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:12.979 And he can send spies at them or hot chicks 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.840 or whatever. They don't have security clearances. They weren't carefully 0:15:16.900 --> 0:15:20.500 selected to be the powerful masters of the universe, but 0:15:20.540 --> 0:15:22.180 they are. All right. 0:15:22.250 --> 0:15:24.870 And who are they accountable to exactly? Yeah, really interesting. 0:15:24.890 --> 0:15:27.750 Plus a congresswoman with a story about being targeted by 0:15:27.810 --> 0:15:30.770 Chinese spies. All of that coming up. First, we've mentioned 0:15:30.790 --> 0:15:32.870 a couple of times that beef prices are high. I'm 0:15:32.910 --> 0:15:35.570 sure you've noticed it and likely to remain high. 0:15:36.210 --> 0:15:37.910 I remember when I was— it must have been the 70s 0:15:37.970 --> 0:15:39.890 when I was a kid, the idea of steaks. Steaks 0:15:39.910 --> 0:15:42.320 were expensive. That was a special treat to have steaks 0:15:42.380 --> 0:15:44.900 and that sort of stuff. Then I got— I don't know, 0:15:44.940 --> 0:15:46.520 beef got cheap enough. I didn't really think of it 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:50.740 that way. But now, whoo-wee! Yeah, yeah. 0:15:50.900 --> 0:15:53.920 In fact, to get a really nice steak at a 0:15:53.980 --> 0:15:56.200 decent butcher, you will pay what you used to pay 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:58.600 for a white tablecloth and a guy in a tuxedo 0:15:58.660 --> 0:15:59.110 serving you. 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:00.140 I mean, it's crazy. 0:16:00.570 --> 0:16:05.380 And it's not likely to go down anytime soon, but— And, heck, 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:07.420 we ought to get your dad online about this. Jack's 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:09.340 dad was in the cattle business for a long time. 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:11.800 But Wall Street Journal is reporting on a bunch of 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:17.140 processing plants, packing plants, closing down Tyson, Cargill, and others, 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:20.260 including this one Utah plant that was only five years 0:16:20.350 --> 0:16:24.750 old and cost $ 300 million. But they're shutting it down. 0:16:25.730 --> 0:16:29.590 Long and short, after years of economic turmoil and droughts, 0:16:30.180 --> 0:16:33.400 The U.S. cattle herd has shrunk to its smallest level 0:16:33.540 --> 0:16:34.840 in 75 years. 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:35.360 Wow. 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:39.560 And they point out that it could last well into 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:42.210 the next decade, given how long it takes to replenish 0:16:42.370 --> 0:16:44.890 a herd. And I've got to admit, I thought it 0:16:44.910 --> 0:16:47.650 would be, well, just ramp up production of calves. I mean, 0:16:47.850 --> 0:16:50.170 but I don't know if you know how calves are made. 0:16:50.250 --> 0:16:54.310 Put on some sexy music. Put a bull in the 0:16:54.350 --> 0:16:58.090 pen and let him get after it. It takes a minute, yeah, yeah. 0:16:58.510 --> 0:17:01.650 Said Brad Peek, whose family's run one of the largest 0:17:01.690 --> 0:17:04.850 livestock auctions west of the Rockies for decades, quote, the 0:17:04.910 --> 0:17:07.390 common public probably thinks you can turn around in four months. 0:17:07.410 --> 0:17:10.130 We'll be lucky to start gaining cattle in four years. 0:17:10.930 --> 0:17:16.810 And here's the problem. The shortage is costing meat packers, 0:17:16.890 --> 0:17:19.710 the processors, billions of dollars in losses because the packers 0:17:19.780 --> 0:17:23.680 can't fully pass on their higher costs to supermarkets and restaurants. 0:17:24.540 --> 0:17:28.090 People would just not buy meat. So that means they're 0:17:28.250 --> 0:17:32.890 closing all these plants. Well, the plants bid for the 0:17:32.970 --> 0:17:36.969 beef from the producers. And if you have fewer people 0:17:37.050 --> 0:17:41.510 bidding and more concentration, you get lower prices paid to 0:17:41.590 --> 0:17:46.070 the cattlemen, the actual farmers, the cattle farmers. And they're saying, dudes, 0:17:46.330 --> 0:17:48.050 I'm not going to raise cattle. 0:17:48.090 --> 0:17:49.430 It's a risky business. 0:17:49.790 --> 0:17:51.830 I'm not going to bother for the prices y'all are 0:17:51.850 --> 0:17:54.710 paying me now that there's so little competition between the 0:17:54.730 --> 0:17:59.500 different packers and processors. So where do we go from here? 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:02.140 I wonder if those giant feedlots I used to work 0:18:02.180 --> 0:18:05.760 in in high school in western Kansas have much, much 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:07.740 fewer cattle. If I get a chance to drive by 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:11.459 one over Thanksgiving break, I'll check it out. Quick summary. 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:15.600 Interviews with ranchers, meatpackers, and policymakers reveals a fractured supply 0:18:16.380 --> 0:18:19.680 chain with few good answers. Ranchers, once the big winners, 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:22.460 now fear cheap imported beef will undercut their product. Fewer 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:25.700 processing plants will reduce competition or the value of their cattle. 0:18:26.070 --> 0:18:28.669 The uncertainty is preventing them from rebuilding their herds. 0:18:28.690 --> 0:18:32.680 Come on, bulls, get to it. Now's your time. Huh? 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:37.320 Honeypots for corporations. Stay tuned. 0:18:37.900 --> 0:18:51.170 Armstrong and Getty. The Armstrong and Getty Show. 0:18:51.230 --> 0:18:55.290 The woman in question, Alice Wong. 0:18:55.780 --> 0:18:59.000 An executive at a Singaporean data center company called Megaspeed, 0:18:59.340 --> 0:19:03.119 a major NVIDIA customer in Southeast Asia. Questions swirling as 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:06.379 to what, if any, Intel Alice Wong fed back to Beijing. 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:10.450 Alice Wong's company, Megaspeed, had already been suspected of smuggling 0:19:10.490 --> 0:19:14.090 advanced NVIDIA chips into China, something it and NVIDIA have 0:19:14.130 --> 0:19:18.670 previously denied. NVIDIA's board now launching an investigation, but say 0:19:18.730 --> 0:19:20.850 Jensen Wong will continue to lead the company. 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:24.350 Jensen totally denies that. I asked him today, because I 0:19:24.369 --> 0:19:26.070 did speak to him today, just to see if he's 0:19:26.130 --> 0:19:28.470 feeling all right, how you're doing. And I asked him 0:19:28.550 --> 0:19:33.149 about that. And he said he had absolutely no idea 0:19:33.710 --> 0:19:37.210 that the person in question was a spy. I asked 0:19:37.250 --> 0:19:38.929 him that question. Did you have any idea that she 0:19:38.970 --> 0:19:41.109 was a spy? He said, I had no idea that 0:19:41.130 --> 0:19:42.990 she was a spy. And I really believe him. 0:19:43.090 --> 0:19:45.450 That's such classic Trump. I kind of thought she was, yeah. 0:19:45.970 --> 0:19:49.350 That's such classic Trump. Like, that puts the whole question 0:19:49.410 --> 0:19:51.500 to bed. He says he had no idea, and I 0:19:51.540 --> 0:19:55.440 believe him. Well, yeah, that's the whole spy game. If 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:57.280 he answered, oh, I knew she was a spy the 0:19:57.300 --> 0:19:58.939 whole time, that'd be kind of weird. Yeah, but she's 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:01.060 so hot, man. She's a real goer. You know, Donnie? 0:20:01.300 --> 0:20:01.440 Yeah. 0:20:01.859 --> 0:20:02.179 Wow. 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:05.560 I would make him a spy. There's a lot around this. 0:20:08.490 --> 0:20:12.570 Ian Bremmer has been writing, tweeting, talking a lot for 0:20:12.609 --> 0:20:16.010 years about how we now have people in charge of 0:20:16.030 --> 0:20:19.490 corporations that are every bit as powerful as heads of 0:20:19.570 --> 0:20:23.100 state for the first time in world history. And in 0:20:23.170 --> 0:20:26.340 all kinds of ways, it's interesting. Like I was reading 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:31.340 the other day about Elon's incredible security apparatus that he 0:20:31.380 --> 0:20:34.500 has to have now for himself and all of his kids. 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:35.760 Oh, boy. 0:20:35.780 --> 0:20:40.010 Yeah. Like, you know, like he's the president of the 0:20:40.050 --> 0:20:42.870 United States level security for him and his entire family, because, 0:20:42.910 --> 0:20:46.030 you know, he did the unpardonable thing of being on 0:20:46.070 --> 0:20:48.330 the side of the Republicans and wanting to cut the 0:20:48.369 --> 0:20:52.790 size of government. But the power all these guys have, 0:20:52.810 --> 0:20:56.290 you know, the story with Elon and the Starlink and 0:20:56.310 --> 0:20:58.129 all that sort of stuff. And did he shut it down? 0:20:58.190 --> 0:21:01.359 And if Elon doesn't like your policies and war, he 0:21:01.380 --> 0:21:02.639 can have an effect on a war. 0:21:02.660 --> 0:21:02.730 And. 0:21:04.650 --> 0:21:06.970 Um, I was reading in the free press about Jensen 0:21:06.990 --> 0:21:10.470 Wong and NVIDIA, which at the time that this honey 0:21:10.790 --> 0:21:12.990 pot thing was going on was the most viable company 0:21:13.020 --> 0:21:15.800 in the world. It's now slipped to second. Apple is 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:20.560 once again, the most viable company in the world, but, um, 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:28.290 these companies have the power and the wealth of states 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:31.990 now in the way that, like, generally, the old saying, like, 0:21:32.030 --> 0:21:34.430 when I was a kid was, as goes General Motors, 0:21:34.530 --> 0:21:36.270 as goes the U.S. economy, it was such a big deal, 0:21:36.290 --> 0:21:40.250 but the leader of General Motors wasn't, like, powerful like 0:21:40.290 --> 0:21:44.050 a head of state in terms of influencing the world. 0:21:45.270 --> 0:21:47.910 There are a whole different set of checks and balances, too. 0:21:48.109 --> 0:21:50.430 One of the more interesting things about NVIDIA is that 0:21:50.830 --> 0:21:54.409 Their board has no president, and Huang and his kids 0:21:54.470 --> 0:21:56.930 more or less run the place, and he's not super 0:21:56.970 --> 0:22:02.610 accountable to anybody. And it's an enormously powerful company, which is. 0:22:02.570 --> 0:22:06.950 Why China was sending its hottest of spies his way. 0:22:08.920 --> 0:22:11.840 Did he fall for her emotionally? 0:22:13.380 --> 0:22:17.260 I'll bet, because I'm pretty well schooled in this, having 0:22:17.300 --> 0:22:18.340 watched The Americans. 0:22:19.730 --> 0:22:21.410 And other spy thrillers throughout the years. 0:22:21.710 --> 0:22:27.170