Speaker 1: Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George
Speaker 1: Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe, Katty arm Strong
Speaker 1: and Katty and He Armstrong and Yetty.
Speaker 2: I'm not you know, I'm not trying to impress you.
Speaker 2: I'm just trying to impress upon you. I'm like you.
Speaker 2: I'm no better than you.
Speaker 1: I'm an idiot, I'm stupid. What you can't fit a
Speaker 1: man of ice cream?
Speaker 3: Stead If you heard the like longer version that Mark
Speaker 3: Halprin had to drag out of him, it's a fairly
Speaker 3: compelling story of a learning disability that he was able
Speaker 3: to overcome and become a sixesimul guy. But if you
Speaker 3: just sit in front of people and say, hey, you dumb,
Speaker 3: I'm dumb too. I can't even read, you know, if
Speaker 3: you present like that, it's not that handy.
Speaker 1: Yeah. A couple of great articles out in the last
Speaker 1: couple of days, one in the Wall Street Journal about
Speaker 1: it's hard to find somebody with the strength and the
Speaker 1: stamina and the smarts to run for president.
Speaker 4: It's extremely difficult.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's going to speak to that in a few
Speaker 3: minutes with another part of an interview.
Speaker 1: Right, And it's by a guy by the name of
Speaker 1: Kenneth Kachigian, and the he highlights AOC and Gavin and
Speaker 1: I wish we had time to get into the AOC thing.
Speaker 1: I'll just read you a very short bit of it
Speaker 1: for starters. AOC is public speaking is agonizingly amateurish. She
Speaker 1: reads speeches like a seventh grader. Her eyes start up
Speaker 1: and down in a manner that Betray wrote memorization, not scholarship,
Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera. And then he gets into Gavin
Speaker 1: Newsom in the poorer circuit, on the interview circuit with
Speaker 1: the book and the I'm like you, I'm no better
Speaker 1: than you, and he gets into how that was just terrible.
Speaker 1: We've covered that pretty thoroughly. But then he says, for
Speaker 1: the twenty two years since he became mayor of San Francisco,
Speaker 1: mister Newsom hasn't driven the freeways or pumped his own gasoline.
Speaker 4: It sad.
Speaker 1: Bodyguards protecting him in public California political media, with a
Speaker 1: few exceptions, have been friendly or neutral. His governance reflects
Speaker 1: a generational failure to dive into the substance of policy
Speaker 1: and study the political and cultural depths of the American people, etc.
Speaker 1: He just does not have the stuff, he says. And
Speaker 1: then in the Free Press, Newsom looks small in the
Speaker 1: face of a big war. He's tried to make himself
Speaker 1: a national figure and a figure who's into foreign policy.
Speaker 4: With the war, and let's see who is this.
Speaker 1: In the Free Press, Peter Savadnik writes was unsettling to
Speaker 1: watch California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday spouting off a
Speaker 1: rejiggered blood libel this week, and not simply because Democrats
Speaker 1: have mostly succumbed to fashionable jew eight quote. We have
Speaker 1: to reconcile our bombs were used or Israeli bombs were
Speaker 1: used to kill children, young girls at a school, and
Speaker 1: what the imminent threat was he said at a press
Speaker 1: conference meant to slam Donald Trump's war on Iran. Might
Speaker 1: sound Anna dyne, who could possibly be against saving little girls,
Speaker 1: But it's not. It's the old trope of the Jew
Speaker 1: as murderer of gentile children and more to the point,
Speaker 1: the asymmetrical anger when it comes to all things Jewish.
Speaker 1: Apologies Israel I'm sorry, I apologize Israeli never mind.
Speaker 4: Then he goes into the details of it, but he had.
Speaker 1: No harsh words at all, for the Mullahs had no
Speaker 1: harsh words for machine gunning the people of Iran in
Speaker 1: the streets.
Speaker 4: And then he's the final shot is right now?
Speaker 1: The most important thing is that the front runner for
Speaker 1: the twenty eight Democratic presidential nomination seems congenitally incapable of
Speaker 1: rising above his tribe and conceiving of the war as
Speaker 1: anything other than yet another opportunity for politicking, for taking
Speaker 1: a few shots and scoring some points.
Speaker 4: Is way too important for that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's interesting because it would have been so easy
Speaker 3: to come out and say, I'm glad the Ayatola is gone.
Speaker 3: There's a terrible regime. We're better off without it. But
Speaker 3: we got to do this smart. We all remember Iraq,
Speaker 3: you know that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, would it be easy to do. Yeah, he's really
Speaker 1: steered into the Israel's in apartheid state. Yeah, blah blah blah.
Speaker 4: Er shouldn't let them force us into war.
Speaker 3: I mean, the number of politicians that get drug into
Speaker 3: the Twitter conversation as if Twitter is America, it's practically everybody.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's one of.
Speaker 3: The things Trump understands better than a lot of other
Speaker 3: people that Twitter is not America.
Speaker 1: I've been saying for a while, like Gavy cannot hit
Speaker 1: major league pitching. He's the product of one party, very
Speaker 1: soft media state. He's never faced major league pitching and
Speaker 1: he can't hit it. But putting aside the specifics, you've
Speaker 1: got his record which is just unbelievably terrible and so
Speaker 1: easy to hang around his neck. A couple of recent
Speaker 1: interviews we thought were illustrative. Let's start with the clip
Speaker 1: sixty Michael. It's Katie Couric, who apparently is still podcasting
Speaker 1: or something with Gavin Newsom.
Speaker 5: It's poverty rate tied with Louisiana the highest unemployment, and
Speaker 5: as Nick Christoph of The New York Times recently wrote,
Speaker 5: Mississippi schools outperformed California schools, especially for poor kids. Now
Speaker 5: people see that or hear that or read that, and
Speaker 5: they're like, no thanks California, No thanks, Gavin Newsom, We're good.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, the poverty rate is you're talking about the supplemental
Speaker 2: poverty rate.
Speaker 4: Our cavity rates about average.
Speaker 2: And we're right up there with Florida and Louisiana and
Speaker 2: others with the supplemental poverty rate, which has been the
Speaker 2: case for forty years. And the original sin. There is housing,
Speaker 2: which has been a problem in California since Ronald Reagan
Speaker 2: left office as governor, and we simply have a supplied
Speaker 2: demand in balance, and we have zoning policies and nimbiism
Speaker 2: that have been legendary, and we've finally broken it. Was
Speaker 2: some of the most progressive housing reforms in US history.
Speaker 2: Our biggest critics, like Ezra Kleine, would even acknowledge that
Speaker 2: progress in that respect.
Speaker 1: Ezra Kline is not your biggest critic. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: that's hilarious. That's pretty funny.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that places record is abysmal.
Speaker 1: He is very skilled, though, at pointing to the problems
Speaker 1: that decades of democratic rule have brought California and saying
Speaker 1: this is a challenge we're taking on.
Speaker 4: We're taking it on boldly and innovatively.
Speaker 3: I understand why politicians don't bring people along for the ride.
Speaker 3: What's the supplemental poverty rate? I don't know what that is.
Speaker 3: Why wouldn't he explain it? Maybe because it hurts his argument.
Speaker 3: Maybe I don't know. I have no idea what it means.
Speaker 3: And then do you want to set up the clip
Speaker 3: with Mark Halpern. Yeah, this is not This is definitely
Speaker 3: not a bashion Gavin Newsom sort of clips. It's just
Speaker 3: a gives you an idea for one thing, what it's
Speaker 3: like to run for president. Gavin does present this as
Speaker 3: unique to him, but I guarant it's true for anybody
Speaker 3: who ever decides.
Speaker 4: To try to run for the biggest office in the world.
Speaker 6: So what would you say to all the people, including
Speaker 6: i'll say governor, some of your own advisors who contact
Speaker 6: me and say, Mark, you look like an idiot when
Speaker 6: you say got to do Some might not run or
Speaker 6: won't run.
Speaker 4: What would you say to all those people?
Speaker 2: Yeah, just that they're wrong and they should be cautious
Speaker 2: about that. That said, look, you got to have I've
Speaker 2: said this one hundred times.
Speaker 4: It's the niche set.
Speaker 2: You gotta have a big enough why to endure any how.
Speaker 2: You just describe the how, how the hell you endure
Speaker 2: the slings and arrows. These guys, look, I'm not They
Speaker 2: want to take me out. And you don't even know
Speaker 2: the half of it. You all think you know the
Speaker 2: half of it. Everybody you're writing, you don't know the
Speaker 2: half of what these guys are doing.
Speaker 4: The Trump administrations do it.
Speaker 2: You know what they're capable of doing, you know, intuitively
Speaker 2: what they're doing. I have a better sense of what
Speaker 2: they actually are doing.
Speaker 4: This. This is zero sum for them. They want to
Speaker 4: flatten me. I get it. So it's not that.
Speaker 2: But you know what, right now, the reason I'm leaning
Speaker 2: in is because I have a why and it's burning
Speaker 2: and I'm gonna stand up and I'm gonna draw a line.
Speaker 2: And we Drew Lawnes literally here with proposition fifty and
Speaker 2: I'm gonna push back, and I'm gonna push it and
Speaker 2: I'm gonna hit this bully back in the mouth. I
Speaker 2: don't like what's going on in this country. I don't period,
Speaker 2: full stop. I'm not counting it. And anyway, I don't
Speaker 2: like what's going on primetime Fox. I don't. I don't
Speaker 2: like the racism, the anti I don't like any of this.
Speaker 2: And so I'm gonna call it out. If I feel
Speaker 2: that way, You sure as hell better know that I
Speaker 2: will run for president as it relates to the future
Speaker 2: of this country. But you're right that has to be
Speaker 2: backed up with the family first, and I will not
Speaker 2: screw that up. So your answer is, yes, they all
Speaker 2: have a veto. Every single one of those kids have
Speaker 2: a veto.
Speaker 1: If you have a burning in your wy you probably
Speaker 1: need a shot of a penicillin. But yeah, your state
Speaker 1: mandates that parents not be told that little children are
Speaker 1: gender transitioning at school. Your state mandates that kids be
Speaker 1: caught taught critical queer theory and transgender theory.
Speaker 4: It's in the law.
Speaker 3: Nobody wants that to that stuff of You don't know
Speaker 3: the half they're trying to take me out. You don't
Speaker 3: know half of that what they're willing to do. And
Speaker 3: he's acting like it's the Trump people, Rama Manual's people, ah,
Speaker 3: what's her name? Are the vice president who just ran
Speaker 3: Kamala Harris's people, Josh Shapiro's people, They're gonna come at
Speaker 3: him just as hard or already. Are so pretending like
Speaker 3: it's just the Trump crowd that wants to lay him out.
Speaker 3: I know enough about I've read enough books about people
Speaker 3: who run for president. You got to get through your
Speaker 3: own party first, and that's where the fights are usually
Speaker 3: the nastiest. Right, So, but that is an interesting one.
Speaker 3: I don't know if I believe it. I think some
Speaker 3: people legit don't run for office because of what it
Speaker 3: would do for their family. I think he's he's wondering,
Speaker 3: what do they have, what do they not have?
Speaker 1: What do they know? What do they not know?
Speaker 3: And if it crosses a certain line, if it would
Speaker 3: be painful enough for him, he might He's not gonna run.
Speaker 3: But I don't think it's each kid gets a veto.
Speaker 3: And if one kid says, I don't.
Speaker 1: Want you to dad, I've got baseball season, I don't
Speaker 1: think that's Honestly, I wor you. Gavin was saying, I'm
Speaker 1: not willing to be that mean, but that was me
Speaker 1: iver attracted.
Speaker 4: I really do.
Speaker 3: I don't think he's gonna let that be the primary decision.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would agree, and you know, the lawlessness will
Speaker 1: be hung around his neck. California led the way in
Speaker 1: locking up even four dollars products. You just can't buy
Speaker 1: things at stores because there's so much crime, and that's
Speaker 1: going to be impossible to get through. But back to
Speaker 1: your point about the primary process, this sort of thing
Speaker 1: will come up, and I'll end with this thought. Mister
Speaker 1: Newsom's original sponsor and mentor California is legendary. Willie Brown
Speaker 1: told Politico that mister Newsom is formidable because he's quote
Speaker 1: a movie star. Politico then asked, quote, is it clear
Speaker 1: what Newsom actually believes? Brown answered quote, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I've never asked him. For fear, he doesn't for fear
Speaker 1: he doesn't know. Oh wow. And then this mister Kachigian
Speaker 1: who wrote this article said miss Ronald Reagan was an
Speaker 1: actual movie star, but he knew what he believed. Wow.
Speaker 1: Can you run on? You might be able to actually
Speaker 1: can you run on? Only? I oppose Trump. Trump is awful,
Speaker 1: thinks he can.
Speaker 3: I think it'd be harder for him to get the
Speaker 3: nomination than to become president. But I could be wrong.
Speaker 3: I just think they're good. The other Democrats are just
Speaker 3: gonna kill him. Rum Immanuel is going to subject him
Speaker 3: to such a beating. They're going to step in and
Speaker 3: stop the fight.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be like when that transgender fellas started punching
Speaker 1: the poor women in the Olympics. Everybody's going to react
Speaker 1: with how stop rom stop the last Jake Paul fight be.
Speaker 4: Like that exactly.
Speaker 1: I think it's interesting that Mark Alprin's still going with
Speaker 1: the I don't even think he's gonna run angle. I yeah,
Speaker 1: it's possible. I mean, for the love of God, it
Speaker 1: is March of twenty twenty six, as we speak these words,
Speaker 1: I think his missteps and mediocrity will just accumulate and
Speaker 1: accumulate to the point that no, the donors say, no.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 3: I think it'd be a pretty big void though, if
Speaker 3: he decided, if he announced he's not running, it's all
Speaker 3: of a sudden, really wide open.
Speaker 1: Then. Yeah, But as I was pointing out, by the
Speaker 1: day it, you know, could happen over the course of
Speaker 1: the next year, a year and a half, and other
Speaker 1: other folks will step to the four people will start
Speaker 1: announcing here in eight months, nine months, which is a
Speaker 1: long time, no doubt about that. I think I had
Speaker 1: one more thing I was going to say about this.
Speaker 1: I remember what I was givin hiss running for prison.
Speaker 1: Oh always.
Speaker 3: You remember clear back to two thousand and four, Al
Speaker 3: Gore came within like a you know, couple of votes
Speaker 3: of being President of the United States, that announced in
Speaker 3: two thousand and four. Everybody assumed he was going to
Speaker 3: run again, that he'd be the walk away nomine and
Speaker 3: then just announced I'm not running. So you never know
Speaker 3: what people have got going on in their lives. And
Speaker 3: then he this climate scam going. You can't believe how
Speaker 3: much money I'm making right, which might have been part
Speaker 3: of it. Okay, we got more on the way stare
Speaker 3: So the key to this here topical news joke from
Speaker 3: Jimmy Fallon.
Speaker 1: Here is the crowd reaction. Here we go. President Trump
Speaker 1: fired Christine nome kta just in case you didn't hear
Speaker 1: me out.
Speaker 2: Wow, yeah, Christine nom is out. In response, tome said,
Speaker 2: if my face could move, it would look really sad.
Speaker 4: Right now.
Speaker 1: That was quite the crowd react into that news.
Speaker 4: Well, she has no constituency left.
Speaker 3: How much of that is I don't like the way
Speaker 3: immigrants are being treated, and how much of that is
Speaker 3: just a blow against the Trump crowd.
Speaker 4: I think it's mostly the latter. Hm, I disagree.
Speaker 1: I think the I think that the craziness of Minneapolis
Speaker 1: turns so many people against DHS and ICE. I was
Speaker 1: just looking at the ASP. But she's got no Republican
Speaker 1: support either. She has just no supporters.
Speaker 4: I'm trying to.
Speaker 3: I've been trying to figure out this for a long time.
Speaker 3: If this is just flat misogynist to comment on her
Speaker 3: really really cares a lot about looking sexy as a
Speaker 3: government official, That just seems weird to me, is that wrong?
Speaker 3: And massages? I mean Pete Exit good looking guy. You know,
Speaker 3: he makes sure his hair looks cool and he wears
Speaker 3: really tight T shirts a lot to show off the
Speaker 3: how you know how Buffy is all the time?
Speaker 1: Is that exactly the same thing.
Speaker 3: But man her with their shiny lips in the wear
Speaker 3: it's in a at work is just it's most people.
Speaker 1: Most women aren't like that at work. Yeah. I don't
Speaker 1: think it's massages that word you used exactly, but you
Speaker 1: gotta be careful. There's a bigger gulf between a woman
Speaker 1: who looks very good in business like and somebody who's
Speaker 1: glammed up were dudes. It's there's really not a lot
Speaker 1: of difference. I dress to impress a woman. I look
Speaker 1: like I'm running for president. True, that's true. But I
Speaker 1: just saw the ads of her.
Speaker 3: The two hundred million dollar add by the lot of
Speaker 3: went to friends of hers, maybe rightly maybe wrongly that
Speaker 3: she blamed on Trump. And that's the real reason I
Speaker 3: think that she got fired because when she was questioned
Speaker 3: the other day, did Trump know about this?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 3: Absolutely, Trump apparently did not know about that. And don't
Speaker 3: you freaking hang me out on this?
Speaker 1: No, way.
Speaker 3: That's when that was a no, you're done. But I
Speaker 3: saw the ads of her on the horse and a
Speaker 3: cowboy hat, and they're looking like you look like you're
Speaker 3: running for Miss America. I mean, there's just no getting
Speaker 3: around it. You're super tight jeans and shirt. You look
Speaker 3: like you're running from Miss America or trying to be
Speaker 3: an influencer or something. I mean, I guess specifically you
Speaker 3: are trying to influence people or your policies about the border.
Speaker 1: But I don't know.
Speaker 3: A weird look for somebody that got a very serious job.
Speaker 4: And she's out now. So that's that.
Speaker 3: Harry Styles has a new album out, which I'm kind
Speaker 3: of excited about because I'm Harry Styles fan. The name
Speaker 3: of it is Funny Kiss All the Time Disco Occasionally.
Speaker 3: That's a funny name for an album, kind of like
Speaker 3: his music. But since I brought up celebrity stuff a
Speaker 3: friend of mine, we were talking yesterday about people who
Speaker 3: go out, we're out of time.
Speaker 1: Damn, it ran out of time before I got to
Speaker 1: the punchline. That's painful.
Speaker 3: We were talking yesterday about people who refer to the
Speaker 3: news and it's like TMZ more entertainment Tonight or whatever
Speaker 3: like that. That's what they call the news. I'll get
Speaker 3: to that a little bit later. Jack wants to talk
Speaker 3: about Harry Styles. I want to talk about assisted suicide
Speaker 3: in Canada.
Speaker 4: Something for everyone coming up. Oh I can stay too that.
Speaker 1: Oh my god.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if you've missed this, likeing, we get the podcast
Speaker 3: Armstrong and Getty on demand.
Speaker 1: Armstrong and Getty.
Speaker 7: We have a Fox News poll and it reveals a
Speaker 7: record thirty eight percent of voters think the US shifting
Speaker 7: toward socialism would be a good thing. It comes as
Speaker 7: voters are split on whether capitalism is working amid the
Speaker 7: affordability crisis.
Speaker 1: That's nice, and here they break it down a little bit.
Speaker 7: Says the ones that are backing socialism moving more towards
Speaker 7: socialism the very liberal voters at sixty six percent, Democrats
Speaker 7: under the age of forty five sixty six percent, and
Speaker 7: voters under the age of thirty fifty three percent. The
Speaker 7: biggest supporter graph of capitalism Republican men eighty seven percent.
Speaker 8: Yeah, and if you go deep, we're into it. The
Speaker 8: number of men over forty five seventy five percent say
Speaker 8: socialism is a bad thing. So middle aged men in
Speaker 8: America are going to save the country.
Speaker 1: You're welcome for that.
Speaker 4: So.
Speaker 1: Worth noting that.
Speaker 3: And it's not that I'm not worried that way too
Speaker 3: many people favor socialism two thirds of Democrats under forty
Speaker 3: five for first.
Speaker 1: Socialism or leaning socialism.
Speaker 3: But it is true that so many people now call
Speaker 3: themselves independent that if you use the number for Republicans
Speaker 3: or Democrats, both sides can use it to paint the
Speaker 3: other side is extreme because all the a lot of
Speaker 3: the normal people in both parties have now called themselves independents,
Speaker 3: because hardly anybody wants to be attached to either party
Speaker 3: at this point. So you can use a poll about
Speaker 3: Republicans or Democrats and say, look it out crazy there,
Speaker 3: But you're really only talking about a small a lot
Speaker 3: of the Republicans don't all themselves Republicans anymore.
Speaker 1: Same with Democrats. Interesting, I'm not sure this is a
Speaker 1: great example of that on the Republican side, just because
Speaker 1: to me, anybody who's against free markets is a lunatic.
Speaker 4: But I see your point. It's worth keeping in mind.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't doubt that two thirds of Democrats under
Speaker 3: forty five favorite socialism. I just think there's an awful
Speaker 3: lot of democrats under forty five, they don't call themselves
Speaker 3: democrats anymore. Right, probably vote Democrat a lot, but they
Speaker 3: don't call themselves democrats because they don't want to be
Speaker 3: attached to all the trans lunacy or Kamala Harris or
Speaker 3: a whole bunch of other stuff or the racism.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Uh, do you have you seen the rough numbers lately?
Speaker 1: Who identifies as Republican independent Democrat? Uh? Well, it's a
Speaker 1: Remember we had the number one and long ago.
Speaker 3: The smallest number of people call themselves democrats ever was
Speaker 3: on that. Yeah, so it's it's like a third of
Speaker 3: the whole countries, it's and most people aren't. You're either
Speaker 3: a Republican Democrat, you just don't want to be attached
Speaker 3: to that party. Right, Definitely one direction or the other
Speaker 3: in the way you vote.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: The enduring con job that is pushing socialism. The fact
Speaker 1: that that can't be killed it says, it's like a cockroach,
Speaker 1: is amazing to me. That is the most successful scam
Speaker 1: ever designed.
Speaker 3: Well, it doesn't take much explanation to educate somebody to
Speaker 3: why it doesn't work. But they ain't doing that in school.
Speaker 3: They're doing it my son's private school. But they aren't
Speaker 3: doing it in regular school. Nobody's taking the time to say,
Speaker 3: here's why socialism has failed everywhere it's ever worked. Do
Speaker 3: the whole grade thing that would be popular in class.
Speaker 3: How about if I did this? How about if I
Speaker 3: took all the a's and spread them out and we
Speaker 3: all got B minuses. Those of you who get a's
Speaker 3: you be happy with that. The people who get great
Speaker 3: grades would stop working hard. The people who get poor
Speaker 3: grades would definitely never work hard. Right, what does that
Speaker 3: do to the economy of grades?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean, isn't it. I'm done conversion completely right. It
Speaker 1: would take you roughly ten minutes if that long.
Speaker 3: That's a that's with a break for going to get
Speaker 3: a drink or peeing in your Folger's coffee can or
Speaker 3: whatever it is you do. If you don't know that story,
Speaker 3: oh boy, you should google it. It's troubling.
Speaker 1: Oh you know, I'm really not in the mood on
Speaker 1: a Friday to talk about the assisted suicide in Canada.
Speaker 1: I will tell you though, it reminds me at least
Speaker 1: somewhat of the socialism argument, in that the unintended consequences
Speaker 1: of what sounds like a reasonable idea just they cascade
Speaker 1: and they grow and the Hugh. It sounds great in theory,
Speaker 1: but if you know anything about how rotten human beings
Speaker 1: can be, it just quickly becomes far far uglier than
Speaker 1: you thought it could.
Speaker 4: And again, the fact that you have.
Speaker 1: To re argue that in terms of socialism is probably
Speaker 1: just because it's being taught as a wonderful thing in
Speaker 1: our schools by a bunch of neo Marxist teachers and teachers' unions,
Speaker 1: and I despise them to my bones.
Speaker 3: So it did come up a couple times this week,
Speaker 3: people who call Entertainment Tonight the news right or TMZ
Speaker 3: the news, which I think fits in a little with
Speaker 3: the Iran War in that most people as a listener
Speaker 3: to podcasts the other day, and a whole bunch of
Speaker 3: pundits are on there and they're saying the number one
Speaker 3: question they got from people about the Iran War was
Speaker 3: why did this happen? Because nobody was paying any attention
Speaker 3: to the fact that we were building up all this
Speaker 3: military might and warning them about the nuclear stuffing.
Speaker 1: Nobody's paying attention to that.
Speaker 3: I don't know if they're watching entertainment news or sports
Speaker 3: or whatever, but very few people were paying attention, and
Speaker 3: the President certainly did not go out of his way
Speaker 3: to alert us AnyWho got this text from a friend
Speaker 3: of mine, Joe was telling a story about his some
Speaker 3: of you cut your hair that referred to. All she
Speaker 3: talked about was celebrities stories. Oh, she's a physical therapist.
Speaker 3: Physical therapist, that's what it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was her only passion, and she had a
Speaker 1: really good bud. She she was a very fit young woman, yes, Michael,
Speaker 1: but her passion was celebrity notes yes, which I started
Speaker 1: watching Don't Look Up with my fourteen year old the movie,
Speaker 1: and one of the features of that is.
Speaker 3: The character played by Leonardo DiCaprio. He's a scientist who
Speaker 3: just discovered a comment is going to hit Earth and
Speaker 3: destroy all life, and he can't get anybody care pay
Speaker 3: attention to the modern world, and he's getting ready to
Speaker 3: go on like the Today Show, and they end up
Speaker 3: interviewing a young pop star played by Ariana Grande, which
Speaker 3: made it kind of funny. Who all they want to
Speaker 3: talk about is her celebrity breakup. We saw on Twitter
Speaker 3: that you and a different pop star broke up, and
Speaker 3: the crowd and then talk about the breakup of the celebrities,
Speaker 3: and he's like, why is nobody interested that the comedy.
Speaker 1: Is going to destroy her? Right?
Speaker 3: But that's pretty accurate, is to where we are? And
Speaker 3: we got this text. U Joe's story made me laugh.
Speaker 3: I worked with a nurse who was gorgeous, and she
Speaker 3: would routinely come in and say the craziest stuff. Did
Speaker 3: you watch the news last night? Always referring to entertainment tonight.
Speaker 3: She always complained that buying groceries for her kids was
Speaker 3: such a waste. They just ate it and it was gone.
Speaker 3: But if she bought designer jeans or the latest makeup,
Speaker 3: it really lasted.
Speaker 1: Does it give you an idea of.
Speaker 3: The intelligence of the sort of person that follows celebrity
Speaker 3: news versus real news? Wow, that's a good one. Buying
Speaker 3: food for the kids and such a waste. They just
Speaker 3: eat it and it's gone. But if I buy these jeans,
Speaker 3: I have them for a long time.
Speaker 4: It's a good point.
Speaker 1: She and her husband picked all their kids' names from
Speaker 1: soap operas. Wow. Wow, oh my god, I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm at the human Zoo watching a display on the right.
Speaker 4: Look how they live, honey.
Speaker 1: So that's a poll.
Speaker 3: I would like to know what percentage of people the
Speaker 3: news is Britney spears DUI as opposed to we've sent
Speaker 3: another aircraft carrier to the Middle East, so you couldn't,
Speaker 3: you know, force this by laws the first Amendment. But
Speaker 3: I wish the polling organizations would somehow like grade everybody
Speaker 3: on level of awareness, and there's no need to be demeaning,
Speaker 3: you know what, morons?
Speaker 1: All right, let's call the bottom group morons. I was
Speaker 1: that was that was an easy sell, and then the
Speaker 1: dimly aware, the paying attention, the acutely aware, and then
Speaker 1: maybe the expert class. And you'd eliminate the expert class
Speaker 1: probably and the morons from your polling or I don't know,
Speaker 1: but the idea of pulling a bunch of people who say,
Speaker 1: why are we attacking her? On about attacking Iran is
Speaker 1: the definition of uselessness, except I guess in terms of
Speaker 1: retail politics, because ignoramuses can vote to a practice I
Speaker 1: will stamp out when I am emperor.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I heard this number the other day, and I'd
Speaker 3: never heard of it before. I've been meaning to verify
Speaker 3: it. It came from a very credible source that only twenty
Speaker 3: nine percent of people follow politics real news, and only
Speaker 3: fourteen percent so roughly half of them.
Speaker 1: Follow it closely.
Speaker 3: So following closely enough to really understand what's going on
Speaker 3: is fourteen percent.
Speaker 1: That sounds about right to me.
Speaker 3: I mean, since in most elections prior to Trump, only
Speaker 3: about a half of people voted.
Speaker 1: Even in a presidential election. That other half is just man.
Speaker 8: I have.
Speaker 3: In recent months met more people that have decided that
Speaker 3: either maybe they've always been checked out or said, yeah,
Speaker 3: I just gave up, I checked out.
Speaker 1: I just I don't even pay attention anymore.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Part of it is, as our old producer Sean used
Speaker 3: to say, every story comes as a homework assignment. Everything
Speaker 3: you hear, you have to Okay, I guess I better
Speaker 3: try to figure out if this is completely true, completely false,
Speaker 3: or you know some portion of that. Right, Everything you hear,
Speaker 3: and it's tiring, it's exhausting. At some point, I could
Speaker 3: see how you decide that I just.
Speaker 1: Won't pay attention. Plus the fever pitch, plus the incredible
Speaker 1: size and complexity of the government, at this point, it's
Speaker 1: it's too much to ask, and that we need, we
Speaker 1: need an informed citizenry that would take four lifetimes I've
Speaker 1: heard different versions of this too.
Speaker 3: One person that recently decided a couple of different business things,
Speaker 3: divorced things, whatever had happened, and they just thought the
Speaker 3: injustice of the way it turned out was so awful
Speaker 3: that there's no consequences for anything. So I'm just not
Speaker 3: paying attention anymore. Nobody gets any consequences. You can rob
Speaker 3: people blind, you can commit crimes and get out over
Speaker 3: and over again.
Speaker 1: I just give up.
Speaker 3: So there's that crowd, right. And then I know a
Speaker 3: guy many many years ago. He was a little older,
Speaker 3: but he had been in Vietnam and he felt he
Speaker 3: had been so lied to by his government that he
Speaker 3: just completely checked out for the rest of his life
Speaker 3: on all politics. Seemed pretty happy. I can't fault him
Speaker 3: for that. He seemed pretty damned happy with that decision. Now, obviously,
Speaker 3: you can't run a democracy with people with everybody doing that.
Speaker 1: No, No, it's a problem. It's a serious problem. I'm
Speaker 1: somewhat reminded of some Van Jones clips we have talking
Speaker 1: about the Iran conflict and the way people are behaving politically,
Speaker 1: and he looks at both sides.
Speaker 4: It's pretty compelling. We'll squeeze that in if we can.
Speaker 3: Oh, quick question, because I just looked up the TV
Speaker 3: and saw the Paralympics are underway. The Paralympics that people
Speaker 3: who are handy capable. It's also in Italy though the
Speaker 3: Winter Paralympics. China is dominating the Winter Paralympics. Do you
Speaker 3: have any idea why that would be a guess, I don't.
Speaker 1: The cold warrior and me wants to take a shot
Speaker 1: at China, but just to sheer population, I'm guessing just
Speaker 1: plaining more people. But they have more people for the
Speaker 1: regular Olympics too, and they didn't dominate, maybe because they've
Speaker 1: crippled so many dissidents by beating them and torturing them.
Speaker 4: And they put them on skis. Out of there.
Speaker 1: I couldn't help myself, they could not. Then they put
Speaker 1: them on skis, is what he said. Okay, more on
Speaker 1: the waist they here. My oldest son turned sixteen tomorrow,
Speaker 1: and it is more shocking to me than I can
Speaker 1: possibly tell you. M Yeah, I know what you mean.
Speaker 1: Why does that happen? Just happens? I guess times just
Speaker 1: a concept man, accept it not? It keeps moving. So
Speaker 1: have you heard about these these prediction markets? You're like
Speaker 1: your polymarket and your Calshi.
Speaker 4: Isn't that a cereal? Is that cashy?
Speaker 1: I don't know what's a it's a betting site, what's
Speaker 1: a cereal? And what's a tea drink? For hipstercy I
Speaker 1: put a thousand dollars bet on Macha the other day
Speaker 1: saying that the US would end It's about Me campaign anyway,
Speaker 1: a bunch of headlines about those prediction markets. We mentioned
Speaker 1: very very briefly the other day that somebody had made
Speaker 1: a bet related to the death of the Ayatola, and
Speaker 1: Calshi is refusing to pay out winnings on a fifty
Speaker 1: four million dollar trade. Many betters have assumed they won
Speaker 1: big wagers that he would be out as Supreme Leader
Speaker 1: by Saturday. But Calcian American prediction market that allows users
Speaker 1: to bet on politics, sports, foreign affairs, and pop culture
Speaker 1: and all sorts of stuff, announced it would not be
Speaker 1: paying out any winnings on those wagers since its guidelines
Speaker 1: prohibit markets quote directly tied to death.
Speaker 4: Their users are outraged by this.
Speaker 1: You know, I got to get into this, but I
Speaker 1: haven't because I mean, I obviously followed the news like
Speaker 1: a maniac, and that puts you at a real advantage.
Speaker 3: Yeah, as at first against the idea of you can't
Speaker 3: bet on anything, we're death's involved. But I can see
Speaker 3: you don't want I mean, if you got pictures out
Speaker 3: there throwing the pitch straight into the ground to make
Speaker 3: sure they win a bet, you don't want anybody amp
Speaker 3: and up death to win a Sure.
Speaker 1: Is there somebody who would murder somebody else for a
Speaker 1: million dollars?
Speaker 4: Yes? Yeah, it's the probably two people out of every ten.
Speaker 1: You have a dark if. Oh, don't get me started. So,
Speaker 1: but I really ought to get into it. It's probably laziness. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm busy, this job is time consuming, and uh maybe
Speaker 1: I just I'm not desperate for money. I don't know,
Speaker 1: but it's clearly something I ought to be doing. I
Speaker 1: spend an hour a week on it.
Speaker 3: Right, I know we're about this then you know who's
Speaker 3: going to win a football game? I'm sure handicapping candidates
Speaker 3: and issues and bills and whatever. Anyway, moving along, there's
Speaker 3: a big.
Speaker 1: Article in the Wall Street Journal today about the these
Speaker 1: markets and it's let's see what does this start with?
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1: The mentions market tries to predict the unpredictable Trump's next words,
Speaker 1: so you can even predict whether Trump will use the
Speaker 1: word for instance, for instance, hottest in his address to
Speaker 1: the nation. Hunkered down in the dark room, Max Carroza
Speaker 1: watch riveted as President Trump gave a speech on the
Speaker 1: US economy. Hottest, Hottest, Come on, he pleaded to his screen.
Speaker 1: Then it came we have the hottest country in the world.
Speaker 1: The President declared, Yes, let's go. Corrosso whooped, pumping his fist.
Speaker 1: The twenty year old big box store manager in Westchester,
Speaker 1: Pennsylvania had just made sixty four dollars by correctly betting
Speaker 1: that Trump would say hottest. I think I would have
Speaker 1: made that bet.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So that's how mundane it can be.
Speaker 3: That's practically like you know, how long the national anthem
Speaker 3: is for the Super Bowl in terms of.
Speaker 1: Mundane. Right. But here's another interesting angle to it, and
Speaker 1: this especially applies to government officials. There are various people
Speaker 1: who made a crapload of money on when the US
Speaker 1: bombing campaign would start, even though it was secret.
Speaker 4: I would have been wrong in that one.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, but quite a few people were very, very right,
Speaker 1: to the point that it's like, uh, you're familiar.
Speaker 3: With Pentagon planning. You're close to the president. Well, it's
Speaker 3: the same way they caught these sports stars. You see
Speaker 3: a whole bunch of You see that they placed bets
Speaker 3: or had a bunch of activity betting various sites at
Speaker 3: the same time that they all of a sudden pulled
Speaker 3: up lame in the second quarter.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 1: So this other article in the journal from Like Today,
Speaker 1: I think is about a couple of things, including the
Speaker 1: fact that these markets are marketing themselves like crazy on
Speaker 1: college campuses. They are spending zillions of dollars to market
Speaker 1: themselves to college kids who think they're smart and have
Speaker 1: a little disposable income at all. And they mentioned that
Speaker 1: this fraternity at the University of Miami that attracts the
Speaker 1: children of the very wealthy, including the step son of
Speaker 1: Jeff Bezos.
Speaker 4: They were making.
Speaker 1: Predictions as to what celebrities would show up at the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, and the odds of Bezos attending were high,
Speaker 1: a potential jackpot for anyone who actually knew his weekend
Speaker 1: plans which did not involve a trip to Levi's stadium,
Speaker 1: and some fraternity brothers began placing bets that Bezos would
Speaker 1: not attend. Two people who bet said the original source
Speaker 1: of the information was the steps on himself, although neither
Speaker 1: heard it directly. Blah blah blah. So it's about a
Speaker 1: these these companies are.
Speaker 4: Like paying.
Speaker 1: Enormous amounts of money for a fraternity to have a
Speaker 1: giant blowout party in return for if you sign up
Speaker 1: fifty of your members as new Calshi or polymarket members.
Speaker 1: But then they go into the suspected insiders who made
Speaker 1: one point two million dollars wagering that the US would
Speaker 1: strike Iran last month. So this whole deal is getting
Speaker 1: murky and mobbed up. And man, I got to jump
Speaker 1: on these sites and see if there's any categories that
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm particularly knowledgeable about. Well, it's it'll lasts.
Speaker 1: I mean I should have like sold a haven new
Speaker 1: some short a couple of weeks ago before his embarrassing
Speaker 1: book tour.
Speaker 4: Well you knew it was coming.
Speaker 3: You were big on Joe Biden would not be the
Speaker 3: nominee for a very long time.
Speaker 4: Oh I could have made a mint. Yeah, just not
Speaker 4: greedy enough. That's one of my faults. I'll try to
Speaker 4: get greedy.
Speaker 1: One of your faults is you're not greedy enough. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a weakness, it's an interesting fault.
Speaker 4: So we either read a book.
Speaker 3: We do twenty hours of this every week. If you
Speaker 3: ever miss an hour or a segment of the podcast
Speaker 3: Armstrong and Getty on demand, we got another hour to
Speaker 3: go Armstrong and Getty