Chapo Trap House - 868 - Caddy-Shook feat. Ben Clarkson & Matt Bors (9/16/24)

Episode Date: September 17, 2024

Ben & Matt of the JUSTICE WARRIORS comic series join us this week. We look at the SECOND Trump assassination attempt in about as many months, Trump’s increasingly intimate relationship with Laura Loomer, and just his insane personal and political arc over the last few months. Then, more seriously, the continued blatant demagoguery around immigration stirred up by Republicans that Democrats and the Harris campaign seems unequipped to respond to. Finally, a few stories that seem to have crossed from the pages of Justice Warriors into reality. Find Justice Wariors Vol. 2: VOTE HARDER here, out now: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Justice-Warriors-Vol-2/Matt-Bors/JUSTICE-WARRIORS/9781952090325 Watch Ben’s kick ass trailer for the book here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPClsOwhPuE&ab_channel=BenClarkson

All I'm gonna make is hip chocolate All I'm gonna make is hip chocolate Hello, boys and girls. It's Monday, September 16th, and we are back at it again. And joining Felix and I today, we are pleased to welcome back to the program the Justice Warriors. That's right folks it's Ben Clarkson and Matt Bors authors of the comic book many people are proclaiming to be a masterpiece of documentary cartooning. It's the Justice Warriors, Ben Clarkson, Matt Bors joining Felix and I today to talk about, you know, another hell of a week in the presidential election.

Ben and I were just talking before we started recording. And I think it's safe to say this presidential election, it's back, baby. After months of lead up of what I was assuming was going to be one of the most boring and dispiriting spectacles in American history. Just new amazing things are happening every week and you know just at the top of the list a second assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump. And I don't know like at this point if another couple attempts on his life, I think he should get a free lunch at the Langley cafeteria when his like, you know,

card gets punched that many times. But man, oh man, before we talk about the specifics of this, you know, rather shabby assassination attempt if I, the caddyshack of assassination. I'm all right. Don't nobody worry about me. But before we get there, I just Felix, you were writing a little earlier this week before this latest assassination attempt. And you said something that I think really crystallized this election season, which is like, could you try to describe like, when you consider

the arc that Donald Trump's life and career has taken over just last the last nine weeks of where he was nine weeks ago to where he is now, it really it puts things into stark. Yeah, I was thinking of it. Yeah, we were talking about this before. Another hilarious attempt on his life, but okay. So you know, you're Donald Trump, you are president for four years in that four years. You were so despised that it galvanizes culture in a way that frankly has never really happened before where literally the focus of everything, everything from like the

Academy Awards to like the biggest sports events of the year, it's all kind of about how much everyone fucking hates you more or less to the point that like even your allies are like, okay, we get it. Everyone thinks he's socks like real original, original, culminating in one of the most farcical events in modern American histories where your supporters storm the Capitol, fart on Nancy Pelosi's desk and die. This is so, so grave of an action. Everyone who already hates you is like, well, you like can't have like Facebook anymore. And you is like, well you can't have Facebook anymore. And you're like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

And they're like, not good enough, dumbass. And they kick you off. So in the wilderness, the guy who beat you, the oldest and most shambolic man who has ever achieved the presidency, eventually people hate him. And they really fucking hate him and they might even hate him more than they hated you, which is astounding to think about. But right about the time he pulls out of Afghanistan, something strange happens, something that really has never happened to you in your entire life, either as a celebrity or a politician, it becomes kind of cool to like you

that the cultural forces are aligning in such a way that there is sort of like a vague anti-establishment quality to supporting you and not supporting Joe Biden to the point that like when you go on like, let's say DJ academics is a Twitter or Instagram page. And it's a story of vaguely related politics. There are just tons of people who you are not paying, not just totally organically are like, I want Trump back. Trump was cool.

This guy sucks. You are achieving a level of cultural acceptance that you could only dream about when you were president and you know, you cruise through the nomination. of cultural acceptance that you could only dream about when you were president. And, you know, you cruise through the nomination. Your only resistance is Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley. It only makes you look better. You achieve the nomination. Could things get any better?

Well, apparently, yeah, because your opponent says, Havudububu, and his eyes fall out during the debate. Is that not good enough? You survive an assassination attempt like Ronnie. You're like, oh my god, you got up, you did the fist, it looked amazing, you're probably gonna win the fucking popular vote, oh my god. But no, this is the beginning of the end. When you nearly get your head blown off, amazing you're probably gonna win the fucking popular vote oh my god but no this is the beginning of the end when you nearly get your head blown off this

is when a fever breaks and everyone in the country sort of goes at the same time wait a minute we hate this guy and furthermore getting assassinated getting nearly killed yeah that sounds like the sort of annoying thing you would do. That's the sort of annoying shit you're always up to. It is your sort of hollow cultural popularity, it begins to unravel. You're the most perfect opponent you could have ever imagined. Democrats panic so much in the wake of this assassination attempt that mostly just annoyed everyone that they are scared into a baseline of competence, which is terribly enough enough to kind of beat you. And now everyone's

back to hating you. Every time someone tries to stick up for you in DJ academics' Instagram comments, they get screamed at like it's 2017 again and now you almost get killed again long after everyone has forgotten the date of the first assassination time any of your supporters are like everything changed the day they almost killed it never crystallized into a month and a number yeah never never they're like that's the're like, I remember when that was three years ago. Wait, was he president? But this attempt, even more hilarious,

everyone loves the man with music in his heart and a twinkle in his eyes, who made a very stupid attempt to try to kill you. But this will, you just know this one's going to do nothing. You're going to complain about it. You're going to go, why does this keep happening? But everyone is mostly like, yeah, you're the annoying guy. Of course the annoying thing happens to you. You're a big drama queen. Someone not kill him already. He's still alive.

I'm just stuck on this image that I keep coming back to. Also, it's great to be on guys. We love you. Hi. What tricked him? Yeah, we got a John Hinckley shirt in the video on Matt. He's one of my favorite folk artists that I follow on Twitter. One of my favorite guys on film Twitter too.

Yeah. I don't know what else he's done, but I like his work. Well, John Hinkley, by failing to date a 13-year-old, that would actually elevate him to being one of the most moral neofoak artists. Yeah, the thing that gave away the shooter was that the rifle and the scope came through the fence and I just keep getting stuck on a Looney Tunes slide whistle of the rifle coming out. The Secret Service should have gone up and bent it back around on them. Got him. and like bent it back around. But like again like and we talked about this last

week I think almost the before the second assassination attempt I think like the perfect capstone to this incredible just like cycle of events for Donald Trump going from like almost is insured, assured, reconquista of the United States government. Everyone was so sure everyone was always going to win the election. Now he's just eating shit over and over again. Dude, random random like Maggie people were just replying to like, Jeff Tiedrich on Twitter and like you have six months.

Kill you. When the first assassination attempt happened, like that evening, I was like, it's over. Trump is going to win. There's the obvious post assassination, uh, poll bounces coming from this. There was the photo. And then after like 24, 48 hours, everyone was just like, nobody gave a shit. Everybody. The biggest result, the biggest consequence of Trump getting shot at is that

tenacious D's tour was canceled by Jack Black and Kyle lost out on a year's worth of revenue. Do you know what I'm saying? To your friendship is rare. My dearie heir, when you find out much later that they don't really care. Well, it's like, OK, so like his assured reconquest of government to the opponent that he was planning to run against drops out and is replaced by, as Felix said, a party acting with a modicum of self preservation and basic competence. And then this culminates not so much with his disastrous performance at the debate last week, but to me, the perfect capstone to it was him being romantically linked to one of the most busted women on the planet. Oh, yeah.

I forgot about that. Literally before the assassination attempt, it's like everyone's like, oh, is he fucking Alana Habba? Barbera, Donna Barbera? Is he what, you know, will Donald Trump knock up Taylor Swift after he wins the popular vote this time? He was back on the sexual marketplace. Yet after, after he is nearly killed,

when everyone's reminded of how much they hate him, it kind of reminds me of when the cruel thing that high schoolers do, where you just randomly pick out like the two grossest kids in class, you're like, like, they're fucking except it's really maybe happening. He really may be getting loomer on a daily basis.

And you saw the face of death and he liked it. Well, Felix, like, OK, when these rumors I mean, because I was thinking back to that article we did about the reading series we did about like Laura Lumer, where she's like desperately Cajoling this reporter to be like, oh no Donald Trump's really my friend. He has my phone number Look, I'll call him right now. And once again, I have to give credit to Loomer for like if you will it It is no dream. She manifested this and like look I thought like you said Felix I thought this was just like a mean girl thing people were doing to be like, ha ha ha

Isn't it funny to imagine Trump having sex with this gargoyle? But then his response to it, I was like, yeah, is this like I think this might be real. What did he say? He said, Laura has been a supporter of mine, just like a lot of people are supporters. And she's been a supporter of mine. She speaks very positively of the campaign. She speaks very positively of the campaign. She speaks very positively of the campaign. I'm not sure why you asked that question, but Laura is a supporter.

I don't control Laura. Laura has to say what she wants. She's a free spirit. Well, I don't know. I mean, look, I can't tell Laura what to do. Laura's a supporter. I have a lot of supporters. But I'm so I don't know what exactly you're referring to. Laura says what she wants. She's a free spirit. Dude, she's a free spirit.

She's a free spirit is like. She's a free spirit is exactly. Summer fling. It's exactly what a guy like that who is embarrassed to be fucking a specific person says. When it happens. When you're like a big rich guy and you're fucking like the

weirdest person in the world, you're like, she's a free spirit. She brings it. She brings a spirit to us that a lot of people have. We have very spirited people. That's what I was like. Okay, there is a more than likely chance that this is real and look, take it with a a great assault because of the source. But when it comes to county gossip like this in the conservative media sphere, I believe Milo and Milo says that Laura's been telling every one of her friends that she's been slobbing him off and giving him, quote, in his words, the best blowjob I've ever got in my life.

That's what made it real to me. That's what made it real, because it's's what made it real because it's like, look, not to be gross, but no. This whole thing is very gross. Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, it is literally one of the most disgusting things ever, and I actually attribute a lot of recent weight loss to this event, but regardless of that,

regardless of that, not to be gross, but okay, a person like Loomer, let's say, let's be generous and not say what that means. Their redeeming qualities in the, this is not me saying, I would never say this. Their redeeming qualities in the eyes of someone like Donald Trump would be, well, she gives great sloppy top, even though she looks bizarre. You don't have to look at her while she's giving you sloppy top.

He can be imagining the popular vote while he does it. Yeah, that's a good question. What do you think he does imagine? Well, up until yesterday, I would say his golf game, but he's not going to be thinking of that shit. And when this happened, because like, you know, the thing is like, as far as targets for assassination goes, he presents one of the softness of any major world leader, because he loves being in public. And he

loves being outside playing golf on these, you know, huge open golf courses. And I'm just thinking if the Secret Service is like, Mr. Trump, you can't play golf anymore. He may just die because I think golf is really the only thing in his life that gives him pleasure. And to have that taken from him or the fact that like every time he's teeing off, he's looking down the fairway and just looking for the glint of a fucking telescope or something like that. It makes me sad for him. But I do want to talk about, there is this huge Olivia Nuzzi profile of Donald Trump that was written once again before this latest assassination attempt, but after the first

one. And it's about like, you know, has this changed him? Has this not changed him? You know, like, this is it's's called like the afterlife. Eight thousand words. Yeah, it's, there's so much, there's so much in there, but I just want to talk about this one thing that I think a lot of people have shared. But like, this speaks to like, if you want to believe that this assassination attempt has rattled him, that he has lost something ineffable as a result of this and maybe as a result of this second one. I point to this example.

Olivia Nuzzi writes, I asked him about an early nickname for Harris, Lion Kamala. It was the same one he used before, most insistently against Ted Cruz or Lion Ted during the 2016 primary cycle. It worked with the Texas Senator because it had the benefit of both seeming and being true.

I didn't get a chance to formulate a question about why he would recycle material so closely associated with another politician before Trump interjected with a prideful bulletin. Well, I have a name. You saw the new name? I had not seen it. Kamabla, he said. His communications director is Steven Shung, who had said almost nothing for 57 minutes,

piped up to say it too. Kamabla, Trump nodded. He gave me an expectant look but I was confused. He repeated again. Kamabla! What did it mean? Just a mixed up pile of words. Like she is, Trump said. I tried to pronounce it myself. Kamabla! I was still struggling. She is. She is. Trump stopped what he was saying and stared at me with a look of grave concern and disappointment Well, he said you have to see it to really understand. This was perhaps a nickname meant for cyber bullying not for conversation There are those that think it's good. He said a bit uneasily You like it he said it's a good troll Chung said.

I asked Trump if he had come up with this one. He laughed a deflated kind of laugh as if to minimize the importance of the answer. Yeah. He said, I come up with a lot of things. The name was soon retired. That is just not the mark of a confident performer. No, it's not. No, it's not. No, you lost the juice. Laughing

Kamala. That is so sad how he like, the moment he says it. And of course, like, I have never heard of this Chung, is that the guy's name? Stephen Chung. Yeah, Stephen Chung. I've never heard of him. Laura Loomer, let's just take any romantic relationship out of it. She has taken over the Hope Hicks role on the campaign, which I said marks the degeneration of Trump world. Like everyone, it used to be everyone on Trump world, you would go, these are like the weirdest people mixed with some, you know, GOP politics, uh, old faithfuls. But, um, the people are to internet. He's keeping them on the fringes.

They're not really working with the campaign. Now it's all internet people. And this Chung guy is just, he got there because no one else would do this job of telling Trump that Kamabla is awesome. Like it is pathetic. Yeah, I agree with you like 100% Felix. This campaign I feel like is the deflated balloon version of 2016. It's like when you deflate a bouncy castle and it looks like a Kronenberg version of itself.

This is the Kronenberg collection. Hope Hicks becomes Laura Loomer. I'm sorry. That's like a six point drop. Laura Loomer is like the product of generations of a controlled breeding program by 4chan to produce the conservative Quistats Haderach, which is probably coming next year. January 6th.

Big things coming. New date. Yeah. Okay. Little Loomer. The dogs and cats thing is sort of like the perfect example because this is like something you would see on the internet side of the Trump campaign, but not the Trump campaign, like Trump online surrogates would do this in 2016, right?

And like maybe Trump would say one thing at a rally where it's sort of like oblique and it's like... I've heard them saying they're eating the cats. I don't know if it's true. Not even, not even that. Not even that. He would say something like, remember Beethoven? Couldn't have them nowadays. You know, and then, and then like it would, it would become like a whole mini news cycle where the libs are like,

Oh, he said the Beethoven thing. He's referencing this famous right wing meme, and then no one knows what they're talking about. So they look crazy, even if they're right. And it, you know, it, it overall, it overall, you know, advantages him and he, he doesn't get the sheen of internetness rub off on him as much, but now all those people are like deeply involved in the campaign. The same disease that affects shows like The Boys in its latest season and many failed political campaigns before it, the disease of hypercurrentness, the worst cultural disease in America, where

it always has to be the latest thing that's on the internet. They're always scrambling to do that. And so all these things that he would have had proper distance from in 2016, they are now front and center. And the result is, you know, like a nearly 80-year-old man explaining his favorite memes to you. And that is just disgusting to people. People hate that. Yeah, I wonder if it will work. I honestly, because I did the eating shit at the debate. We're not going to know for a while until that plays out in the polls or that really changed anyone's mind. Yeah, the dogs and cats thing is a real

escalation. The assassination thing is a real escalation. The assassination thing is a real escalation. Maybe this is just how things go now is that it's just horrible from now on. I like that there's a good chance. The assassins are all so politically incoherent. Oh my god. Oh my God. Everyone gets to project what they are. So like with this new guy, Ryan Ruth, he's like intensely pro Ukraine, pro Palestinian, voted for Trump, supporter of Ramoswami and. Vivek is going to save the Republic. He was a Vivek, Nikki Haley supporter.

He supported Bernie Sanders, Vivek Ramoswami, Nikki Haley, Beto O'Rourke. Like every he's an American. He's got he's got a really American dope. Yeah. Ever, ever born. He doesn't have concrete worldviews. He responds to memes, gets obsessed with things to the point where he has to kill for them, but is incompetent.

And then once it happens, there's like a race to prove that he's a Trump guy or a liberal. So it's like, people are like, this guy donated to act blue in 2015. I saw someone I know this morning just going on about how this guy's a right winger, a Trump supporter, and then, you know, conservatives are like, he's a pro-Ukraine lib. Matt, he's, he, Matt, he's, I think the only guy of his type where he's pro-Ukraine but thinks COVID was a conspiracy. Yeah. I've never encountered such a great American. No, he's the kind of guy that Directly at Bono to be like we need to do a song that will inspire the world's children for peace

And then he wrote a book about his experiences in Ukraine by the way He's also the self-appointed only member of the Taiwan Foreign Legion So it'd be like, Bono, we need a song featuring the world's children that will bring about world peace. And then in his book about his experiences doing, Christ knows what in Ukraine, but it certainly wasn't fighting this war. He's like, yeah, we should start a nuclear war with Russia. He's a Manchurian undecided voter. Yes! Oh my, yes, Matt! That is exactly... You show him a deck of cards and he's like, you know, I think a lot of you, I think all these, I think the king and the queen, they

both have a lot to offer. Exactly. I was joking with some friends the other day that his activation phrase was AUKUS. And that's why Biden was coming around to it so much. Hassan did point this out. Hassan pointed out, this is the sole AUKUS voter in the entire world. Well, once they're activated, they're like activated by a meme and they just get in a car and drive to wherever he is and try to get off shots. Matt, Matt, Matt, I was, I was talking about this with, uh, with my sister today.

And she said, she brought up something that really made me laugh where she goes, we have to do something about undecided voters. How many of them tried to kill Trump? Like 20%, 50%. And I was, I was talking about it with her and it's like, I think what's literally happening is that undecided voters are seeing the phrase undecided voters in the news and they're like, wait, that's me.

Am I fighting? Am I running against Trump? Wait, I'll never beat him. I should kill him. The undecideds are being radicalized. I mean, it's another another like sort of novel feature of the times are currently living in that like, you know That then stands apart from like previous eras of American political violence or civil unrest Is that when someone takes a shot at the president or the former president?

The first thing you do is desperately search. Is he following me on Twitter? Twitter. Yes. Oh my God. Am I following him on Twitter? Did I leave Jakey Vance? Well, thankfully, I've been spared that. But before Twitter suspended his account, I mean, the free speech app, sure. Come on. But like he left a treasure trove of posts and just a few of them here. These are a couple of his posts to Sean Penn. This one is in all caps. Sean Penn, add Sean Penn. I am here in Kiev. Let's go get the jets from Poland and the Patriot missile defense systems at the border now. Let's go. And then, this is two days earlier, Sean Penn, not in all caps. Add Sean Penn. You and I must purchase the MIG jets from Poland.

I'm in Kiev. I spoke to them. Let's go. Then we need to go borrow the Patriot systems at the border. How can we say no? How can they say no to you? I'm an independent square daily. Let's change this war.

Is that my MIG in there? You and you, you and I, let's go buy the MIGs in the Patriot defense system. When the guy with no money says let's buy wings I think this may be the only man in America besides us of course who read Sean Penn's novel Bob Honey who do stuff. Yep a seminal piece of Trump era art and look at what it's done to his mind Yeah, he did not survive contact with Sean Penn's novel. This is, I would say, maybe perhaps a complete list, but of what we know and we're able to find, here is a list of all of the musicians this guy directly added on Twitter, asking

them to help out with a Ukraine tribute song They include Bob Geldof Jack Johnson Kings of Leon sting the Dave Matthews band Elton John Bono Bruno Mars and five for fighting Well, he forgot he forgot to message my favorite musician of all time John Hinckley. I Would like it like like, you know, he's deleting all the posts where he asked Dave Grohl for help on the Ukraine song because he's very disappointed. He's very disappointed. Dave's got his hands full.

But I was talking to a friend of the show and a blowback host, Brendan James, who should be on the show very shortly. We were talking about this guy on his Twitter post last night and Brendan made the joke that like he acts all of these celebrities with the same sort of unnerving enthusiasm that fans of adult film stars will reply to them on Twitter. So you just be like, when's the DP scene for Brothers coming out? Please understand. I do not know. coming out, please understand, I do not know. He's adding Zelinsky like, we're the Migs, let's get these Migs done right now. Outside the air base.

I like the, this is a recurring theme with him when he adds musicians where he's talking about the song that will save the world. The greatest song of all time that will never get made unfortunately, but he always goes, children of the world should sing the chorus, which is such like that is such a like late 80s, early 90s, um, relic of liberalism where it's like, listen, the most cynical guy in the world cannot deny the voice of children singing. This, this is frankly a thing in Europe though, like Kids United, which is like a

giant global French thing, has like a building. They all dress up like that guy is smoking, drinking a rum and coke. Serge Gainsbourg. Serge Gainsbourg. He's just crying in the corner. You need to do that to Trump. Yes. Yes. Confront him. Confront him in the corner. You need to do that to Trump. Yes. Yes. Confront him.

Confront him with the children. I mean, I think like, I think like the most popular accounts in Germany are probably like baby pics daily. I'm not saying it's a sexual thing. I'm just saying they're really into infants through toddlers in that part of the world. And I mean, I think like the most relevant detail about this guy's life and career is all of the insane Ukraine stuff and how like I can't help but like imagine this rather sad assassination attempt as some kind of blowback from like how how much these

Absolute dopes and lunatics like this guy have been encouraged and like promoted by the government of this country It was like about a year ago. He was featured in a New York Times profile Yes, him like some sort of serious activist where he was talking about bringing Afghan soldiers soldiers from Afghanistan after the American pullout. He wanted to like import them into Ukraine by buying fake passports for them from Pakistan. And then in his tweets, there's a whole saga where he was like, I've tried to give them hundreds of Afghan soldiers willing to fight, but Ukraine just isn't interested. Sorry.

We have big boss at home. He got rejected from their foreign legion. Yeah, yeah. He was just like hanging out in Ukraine. And it says, this is a Washington Post article about him. It says here, the blog said that Routh was coordinating international volunteers and it helped send 120 drones to the front lines. Wow! The page had collected pledges totaling 1,865 out of a goal of 2,500, which Schaeffer said the posting would go down for paying towards flags, tactical gear, hostel lodging, and other supplies for volunteers. Then it says, public records also show Routh, originally from North Carolina, faced federal criminal charges for two separate incidents in 2002 for possession of a weapon of mass destruction.

And it says he said he pled guilty to that. But like, I would like further follow up on that. What does that mean? And why was he? It was a machine gun. Okay. Oh, come on. We know where the weapons of mass destruction are.

They're in and around Ryan Ruth, north, south, east and west of there. The yellow cake is in the basement. I wanted to say something about the Afghan soldiers. Can they have a year off fighting? They've been in wars for like 50 years straight. The life expectancy is like 37. And this guy wants to ship them off

to fight another fucking war after they pulled out when the Taliban took over. Freedom fighters never sleep, man. Get them fake passports and send them to Cabo or something. They fucking put in their time, man. This is going to sound a little crazy, but do you guys think that the that leading debate question is what really triggered this guy of like, do you want the Ukrainians to win the war? I like for me, that's a clear trigger word.

Yeah, well, it's like the only answer Trump gave. And I was like, yeah, good for him for saying he was like, I want the war to end. But you know, yes. So I mean, good for him for that. But I guess that's why he's so that's why he's so dangerous that this dickhead camped out on a golf course just waiting for that. But I guess that's why he's so that's why he's so dangerous that this dickhead camped out on a golf course just waiting for 12 hours. By the way, does this guy know? Does this guy know that you can

just go to Mar-a-Lago and buy a membership and get inside and then go meet Trump and he'll just he'll show you documents and selfies with you. Then you pull out the ratchet. Up it on him. But yeah, I just I mean, I guess it's like, also sort of a stand in for like how grim the war in Ukraine has gotten and by by I mean, grim for the country of Ukraine unimaginably. So but grim for the like, rubbernecking Western supporters of this atrocity. You know, like this guy is just like he keeps he keeps hyping this war keeps trying to like encourage Bono to start World War Three with Russia. He goes there doesn't even do any fighting just hangs out and like tries to raise money and then comes home and he's like I have to kill the Putin's new Hitler Donald Trump. I have more respect for that though, than the people who are like,

like the other people who are like, yeah, like rubber-nacking it. And then when it became clear that like, for like most of the, most of the, we'll call them weekend warriors, when it became clear that like, they probably weren't gonna win this war and it was gonna be a lot more difficult

than they may have imagined in, early, mid 2022. Uh, they, you know, onto the next storyline, right? Yeah. For this guy, at least he kind of like stood with his principles and was like, no, I still think this is a struggle for humanity and I'm going to kill. I'm going to try to kill the guy I think is responsible for the direction the war is going in. Yeah, I mean, I wasn't going to hang up that NAFO badge just yet.

I mean, I don't know if he is associated with NAFO, but I mean, he's got more heart than those guys. I'll put it that way. But I think we can all agree that this guy is extremely cool. And he's likely... Yes, based. I can't wait to read his next book. But yeah, like, just every detail about this is just so perfect. I think at this point, so a lot of the popular liberal conspiracy theories that Trump arranges

for all of these assassinations to happen. It's wildly popular amongst people I know, my family, friends. Well, the first one didn't work. Let's try it. Let's try it. Double down. Maybe we'll get some sympathy this time. It's all a photo op. Nothing happens. We don't live in a country with a ton of kooks and guns. It's all arranged by Trump, the mastermind as we know. And so, but I think at this point, Trump is going to get so upset that he's not getting the pole bounce, not getting the sympathy that he might, he may actually arrange the next one and be like, I need hit. I need hit. Do it leg only, please. We need blood. And then, and then it will be obvious that he,

it will be so obvious that he did it I'm hearing I'm being shot for the very first time. Yeah Well, I mean here's the thing cuz like, you know as we began this show to talk about like this bizarre moment We're nearly being killed did not just not engender sympathy and support. But in fact quite the opposite I was wondering look the deck has been shuffled Four or five times in this election What if this is the thing that just upends the table yet again, and it actually does work for Trump He's back on top people like him and he's being romantically linked to Margot Robbie and not Laura Loomer Whatever whatever just becomes a cool player again and like every everyone who just won an Emmy, all the hot Hollywood celebs, they're all linked.

They've all been linked and seen canoodling with him. Maybe he really will regain the mandate of heaven after this particularly buffoonish attempt on his life. If he bags Barbie and gets hit with a bullet. Yeah, he wins Pennsylvania and Michigan. Just that's it. I mean, like's the funny thing. It's like I also want to talk about like his vice president and the continued fallout from the Springfield, Ohio, Pet Shop massacre. He's like, you know, obviously, like as we're talking about with David Roth, this all seems so so fucking low

rent and stupid. But can anyone say with any certain confidence that this won't work? And here's the thing about my cousin JD Vance. We're nefs from different uncles, me and JD. So he goes on the Sunday talk shows and when is sort of tried to, when the host attempt to bring him to task for this, he says, well, you know, he says some version of like, well, the fact that people did believe it shows you how bad the problem is. And he's like, well, look, I'm just like, I'm telling stories that point to a larger issue here. You know,

it's like, it's the posters gambit, the oldest in the book. And I gotta say two things about this. It's like, one, if you are a fan of this kind of, you know, racist demagoguery, does it inspire confidence when the vessel for it immediately is just like, well, it points to a larger emotional truth? But also, the way in which like the news media has glommed onto this to be like, they have crossed the line, they're outright creating blood libel to like incite violence against a, you know, endangered population of people for hateful, stupid reasons. They're like, we all, we can all see and agree that this is the worst kind of political rhetoric and it's dangerous,

blah, blah, blah. These are all the same assholes that let Biden off the hook when he's like, Yeah, I saw the babies. They cut them out. They were eating them. They put them in a sandwich shack like it is like months and months and months of like not just similar, but in fact, like categorically even worse and more evil blood libel's against Palestinians. That's just all par for the course.

But, you know, like saying this about Haitian people, they're like, okay, he's crossed the line. Well, and they're still covering it too, as though it's, as though it's a story other than just like, racist, griper posts about Haitians. That is now a national news story. Something that I saw on Twitter the other day was that there's literally like a line of cheap robotic cat litters that are actually killing cats that have been dropped into the United States on mass. Like those like the robotic like cat litter things, you don't have to like clean it out. So cats are going there and just getting mangled by the cheap internal machinery of it. The cheap sensor sort of screws up when the cat is in the cat litter and when it's not and then it strangles the cat.

Jesus. Oh my God. And so that's actually something that is happening, right? There is cheap drop shippers who are not taking responsibility for the shitty good that they've brought into the country that has been mass produced and dumped for low cost through Amazon. That is leading to dead cats everywhere. But that's not a new story. So there is something to be said about why they're covering this set of dead cats.

Well, because the president and the vice president are talking about it. It's insanely vile what they're doing. And they're probably, you know, they had to close the school the other day because they're getting bomb threats. It's horrible. The only thing that's really, I guess, is different is that they're, they're saying the shit openly, and then admitting that they're, they're lying. You want it to blow back on them. But like, we're past that era, like, it doesn't matter. Like it, the emotional truth they're speaking to is just people's delusions that well, they're, they might not be eating our cats today, but I mean, you know, you get enough Haitians in my town. I mean, I'm, I'm worried about my geese. Well, this is something I was saying to Matt is

there's no even modicum of left-wingedness in this election. And so all of the emotional turmoil of what it is to live in America now, what it means to be squeezed from every angle and be told that your job is going to go away, is this racial animus, which is getting whipped up by JD Vance. JD Vance is like the weird nubbin that got cut off when the populism window was closed. We have no other recourse. We're not offered another recourse other than just hysteria in the public sphere. Well, and everyone's politics are like Ryan Routh's, right? Yes.

Like they're just like people are like, you know, pro-Haitian immigrant, anti-Chinese because they deployed the bio weapon COVID, pro-Uaitian immigrant, anti-Chinese because they deployed the bioweapon COVID, pro-Ukraine. They just have schizophrenic political beliefs. Yeah, I'm a pro-chemical environmentalist. Yeah. So people don't respond to this stuff in the way that they may be used to. It may seem like that the only response to this, you know, horrifying racial invective that will probably get people killed

is, you know, just kind of pointing at it like Kamala did and going talk about extreme may seem like that. But rest is short. Congress is in session. They are addressing this. There are now 10 bills concerning anti-Semitism at Ivy League universities. Yeah. So the real problems are getting taken care of. Yes. Right. Like I know you saw I know you saw Richie Torres, you know, every time I bring up Richie Torres, I have to stress that he is the

congressional representative from, if not the, then certainly the top five poorest congressional districts in America. Per capita income is like slightly over, the per capita income in his district is like about half of what the national average is. Little over half. Like, you know, yeah, representing the South Bronx. And every time I see him, and he has had some new video out today where he's like, I'm urging Congress to like pass

like one of like, there's like nine different bills, like you said, Felix, that are all basically based around the idea of what's known as the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. And we've spoken about this before, but essentially, now that the school year has begun and we're seeing reports from many of these universities are spending the tuition money to purchase things like assault rifles and Pinkerton security consultants to deal with the you know political opinions of their fucking students and The attitude here is that like the university is a free and open place for the

exchange of ideas and dialogue, even about controversial political issues. Save for this one specific political issue, which everybody cares about and is mad about right now, you can't talk about it, you can't discuss it in any way, shape, or form, or you will literally be arrested or expelled. And the teeth behind these new strictures is based in this fraudulent definition of anti-Semitism, the author of which has since declaimed and said that in no way shape or form was it ever meant to be applied in the circumstances in which it is being applied now. But basically what it states is that any critique of Zionism, a political ideology of a nation

state is de facto textbook anti-Semitism. The people may remember this. This was a controversy inside the Labour Party in the UK. They kind of used this to browbeat Jeremy Corbyn in 2018. Come on, Felix. Remember the mural? Remember the mural? Yeah.

Yeah. But, um, there are a lot of like really shitty like Zionist congressional reps, like famously the guy who lost his legs and volunteered in the IDF, like donkey work division, who is being Jewish. Um, Brian Mast. Yeah, there are a ton of shitheads, but like Taurus might be the most offensive just because of like how little this actually has to do with like the very pressing concerns of people in this district.

You know, most of the most of the like a lot of the worst fucking most insane Zionist reps, they are representing places like, you know, Raytheon Acres or fucking a small underground part. Like Rich Kisphix and Long Island in New Jersey. Yeah, a small underground part of the Upper East Side. That is a tunnel system that is named after Menachem Begin. And it's like, okay, you know, you guys are into that. But with Torres, it's like, what the fuck?

He's just a cheap seat, right? Like, it would be easy to get him in that seat. He's got the right vibe to get elected, and he's probably cheap to basically bribe, to be an attack dog for Israel. You know who got him in? I can I love this fact. Sean McElwain is.

Oh, my God. Crypto. Nice. So that's what you have to crypto Sean. Well, Sean did this before the Great Downfall. And he there actually is a kind of a weird people who keep track of political donations did notice some weird patterns of Sean's political giving and that of his firm to Torres. But that's another story for another day.

You know, I've said this before about Torres, and I think it bears repeating now is like I think it's because he represents a district that does not matter that he does that he is the way he is yes you know what I mean like if he had to actually respond to voters who mattered he would probably have to at least pretend to be a normal congressman every once in a while instead of just literally the representative from Tel Aviv who happens to have his office in the South Bronx of New York City there's probably not a constituency that's organized or equipped enough to challenge

him with even just a modicum of that APAC money. Yeah. Americans that are poor enough are, they're like the pod humans in the matrix. They are acceptable enough to be replaced by an equivalent amount of voters in Israel who Richie Torres represents. Yeah, but what I mean is about like this, the fact that like the complete cleaving of like our representatives from like the material realities of day-to-day life, be it in Springfield, Ohio or the South Bronx, I think what like what connects these things and like the racism that these elected representatives are engendering and what they're counting on,

is this idea that like, and Felix, it speaks to your point about like, when the Democrats try to talk about it, they're like, can you believe how bad this is? He's repeating lies that neo-Nazis invented or just like pointing at it and being like, this is Hitler. Leaving aside, you know, the actual Hitler stuff that our own government is doing in Palestine right now but the point is it's like unless you can speak to this in a way that like not just like Defends the lives and personhood of immigrants but like speaks to this idea that like That they have no response to like the pressures and fears that people have in their daily life Like what you said about how there is like the left and any kind of populism has been drained entirely out of our politics. So what's left is like racism is the way in which people like find a way because like look, I was I

saw these responses to like the the Haitian immigrant story. And by the way, these are all legal immigrants. These are not illegal immigrants from hate. These are legal jobs. They're buying apartments on local economy. And like, you know, I'm sure like, are, you know, as good an American citizen or neighbor as anyone would want to have. But the response from like, I don't know, like, like angry, nativist white people is this idea that they're like, these Haitians are, are they're being given the right to health care and housing that is the birthright of all Americans? And it's just sort of like in what country was this happened before we had immigration?

And it's this idea that like, that like, oh, it's these people, like, because everyone looks around and nobody has the things that like would make your life bearable or worth living or one which you can hold down a job, raise a family, become a productive contributing member of our society and a citizen of our democracy. All of that has been steadily drained away from people and communities all over the country. So what we're left is this idea that like, oh, well, obviously all Americans have a right to free health care and housing. Well, you look around the fact that nobody has any of those things must mean that someone else is taking them from us. Yes. And the people taking them from us are not our fucking politicians or the wealthy.

It's these Haitians who are just like coming to this country and working in a factory. Yeah. And the Democrats have no answer for that, right? Yeah, none. None. They don't want you to bring it up like the most uncomfortable during the bait was when Trump brought up Medicare for all and said oh you want to give everyone government health insurance And she's like oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no But JD Vance is the only person who's actually addressing these things but from like the nightmare realm. He's like He escaped the crystal and now he's going on stage and saying like, yes, I hear your

pain. He's doing the Bill Clinton line, but then saying for you to chase your neighbor with a bat. This is one of the results of not having a primary too. I mean, I'm glad that Biden stepped down and I don't, you know, I'm, I'm fine with Kamala given the, the other option was Biden, but, uh, you know, typically you would actually have a primary where someone from the left would have to raise some issues that the centrist that inevitably won

would at least try to incorporate into some of the rhetoric that just hasn't happened this time at all. Well, and this is a thing that I'm wondering, and maybe it's stupid for me to say, but did they, did they stumble upon a playbook here of just making sure that there are no primaries anymore? That's maybe me being a little paranoid, but like they definitely side skirted, uh, ever having to even toss a nugget to the left wing in this, in your country. I don't care. I'm a Canadian.

They used to do that. You know, it's only they've only had primaries for like, 40 years or so. Yeah. So I mean, I'm not saying we should go back to the smoke filled rooms, but it's just a reversion to how they used to do things. And I like, you know, I think with like the hate the Haitians thing, I think there's like a, like a sense of like, like, when race people imagine these communities are like, oh, they're all doing voodoo. And like, you know, sacrificing people and stuff like that. When in reality,

they are behaving in a way that is like, down the line, everything good that we tell ourselves about the history of this country and our immigrant grandparents, is that like they fled dangerous or like, you know, unstable circumstances to come to like, work in this country, follow the law, start a family. They're all Catholics. Yeah, they're all, yeah, they're just family oriented hard workers. And you know, like, the fact that they're being like, you know, like, there's always this like pitting the new against the old. But I think when you talk about the old or like the old people are getting so mad about this, it's's like I think they recognize some deficit in their

own culture and personal lives that they feel is being robbed from them by better hardworking people, you know? Well, and one of the reasons that so many Haitians are in Springfield is because they have family ties already. When they get to the US, they're like, Oh, my uncle is there, my cousin is there, I can go there and I can have families. They don't have a cousin deficit. We have a cousin deficit. Yeah.

It's just me and JD. We're the only cousins left in America. The only white cousins left in America. But yeah, it's just, I don't know. I mean, like, like I said, I have, I can say with zero confidence that this won't work, and this kind of like openly naked, ugly, racist, invective won't work, when so many people in this country feel like their lives are totally out of their control and are looking for someone to blame. And in the absence of like blame being assigned

by like a leader who has a moral vision for the lives of people in this country. This is what you're going to get. Whether JD Vance can sell it or not. I don't know. He seems rather, I mean, to me, he seems like an embarrassed fascist. Like his portrayal on the Sun, the Sunday shows was like a guy who like really knows what he's saying is like he doesn't, he's just like, he feels slightly ashamed of it, but he's still going to try to like play the role. And I don't know if that's forceful enough to work. I think it's the vessel, not the message.

The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I start talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do, Dana, because you guys are completely letting Kamala Harris coast. But it may very may well work. I don't know. You know, Ohio is not even in play, though, right? They're not doing this to to stir up Ohioans to tip the victory. Ohio is already going to win Ohio. Yeah, you know, but if you talk to the average man, I mean, if you talk to people, I'm from Ohio. Uh, if you talk, if you ever talk to an American, uh, not just a conservative one, especially if you're just around white people, people will start mouthing off about all types

of shit they think poor people get and the benefits of being poor liberals do this. I mean, everybody does this really. I mean, they, they, they think, cause everybody is struggling and pissed off and resentful about their lot in life. And, you know, most people have worked a lot and don't have a ton for it. And there's like, there's still a persistent myth that you, you just. Live on the dole. You have kids, you get your snap benefits and like, it's fucking good, but, you know, they're not rushing to, uh, to live like that. Yeah. It's, it's fucking good. But you know, they're not rushing to to live like

that. Yeah, it's it's a sort of projection. I mean, what's contained in laments like that is like a shame and wanting to receive those similar benefits, but also a frustration in the fact of what little help you were given to like, as I said, have a job, raise a family, be a good person, be a productive citizen. Yeah. I'm from Ohio. So I've just dealt with these people like my whole life, man. I remember like in the early two thousands, you remember all those documentaries that came out on DVDs that were like anti-bush, anti-corporate shit. That was just like, yeah, yeah. Loose change for horsemen. Yeah. One was like the corporation, the corporation,

the corporation. One was the, I forget his name, but the guy, he came out with one of them every year. He came out with the, uh, anti Walmart one and like me and my girlfriend got woke on it and we're just like ranching about it to everyone, you know? And I remember this discussion with, uh, her mom who was just like this typical centrist Midwestern Ohio white woman. And we were just talking about Walmart, how they, you know, vacuumed up small businesses and blah, blah, blah. And, and she was getting so defensive and so mad. And then she just blurted out, I'm so sick of hearing about poor black people, which was not the topic or ever mentioned in this

like 30 minute argument. And it just like, you know, and then of course it was an explosive argument between my, my girlfriend at the time and her, her mom. But the point was is that there's, this is like seething resentment for the other underneath the surface of a, of a lot of people that because they, they don't have anywhere to direct their, their rage or they don't have anything to channel it into. They don't have class consciousness and they just develop these just vile ideologies of just hating people that don't even get anything. Bubble City, the world's first perfect city. Under its Enviro dome is an island of safety free of all crime. But outside is the uninhabited zone. An endless slum packed with restless mutants. And there's a storm coming.

Freeze! Bubble City Police! Okay, you're- you're busted! Bubble City police We wrap things up for here today, I did want you Bring it back around to Justice Warriors The the project that both Matt and Ben are the authors and artists the creator of an amazing comic series the second volume of which is will soon to drop this week or is it already out it came out last week it's not last week justice came out on 9-eleven 9-eleven big day smash smashing into stores on 9-eleven this is a story that I thought like that you would appreciate just just in terms of like how much of a Justice Warriors

style reality we're living in. Like something that happened here in New York City over the weekend, and I knew we were having you on a Monday, so I had to bring this up on the show. But this was something that happened in the subway system of New York over the weekend in which the NYPD shot four people, including a cop, in a hail of bullets fired at someone for jumping a turnstile. Yes, this is literally the opening scene to the first volume of Justice Warriors. And it's like there's a guy in the hospital in critical condition, a strap hanger whose head was coat grazed by a bullet, which is like, you know, they sort of like a hard boiled

John Woo style shootout in the very closed confines of a subway station to stop a guy from evading like a three dollar of metro card swipe. But then like on top of that, we have the mayor of New York right now, Eric Adams. We haven't checked in him with him in a minute. But it bears checking in on because like he is in Henry Hill mode right now. I mean, he is looking he's looking for helicopters everywhere. His police commissioner at his phone seized by the feds. Now the head of the at the fire department is fucking indicted. Yeah, like everyone around him is going down. And believe me, like they're not they're not solid. They are telling right now. So I don't know what's going on with Eric Adams. but I had to share this story about Eric Adams' son

who spent 9-Eleven in the stew. He was in his self-made stew at Gracie Mansion laying down some tracks. He lives at Gracie Mansion. Isn't he like 31? Yes. So this is still in the New York Post. NYC Mayor Eric Adams' rapper son spent 9-11 recording music in Gracie Mansion. And I love this to the New York Post, so they're just going to like really stick it to him on this. It says, bereaved families, local and national dignitaries and first responders gathered

in Lower Manhattan last week to mark the 23rd anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attack. But his honor's son had different plans. Standing in a room drenched in red and blue lighting, Jordan Coleman, the 29-year-old son of Eric Adams, who released his debut rap album last year under the moniker J.O., commemorated the day by recording music inside Gracie Mansion. The mayor's son attended the rapper Jeezy's concert

with the radio host OG Money, according to an Instagram post made by the push effect on Taste Radio One host. And there is a photo from his Instagram feed where his back is turned to the camera. There is indeed red and blue lighting and he has changed a room in Gracie Manchin into a recording studio and then he just writes over the Instagram post 9-11 real session. Nice. He doesn't even remember 9-11. But yeah, Felix you're right, he's 29 years old. He's dropping, making beats at Gracie Mansion? This is 100%. These are plot lines from our comic book.

Everything we talked about today is just the past two. This is why I called it a work of documentary cartooning. Yes, like double assassination attempts, we called it. Eating shit at the debate, pop star mayor, son. This is ridiculous. Yeah. We have, we have three assassination attempts in the book. Uh, I won't say how many are successful, but there's at least three attempts

so soon to be outpaced by, uh, by this election by reality. Yeah. But unless someone tries to carve their face on the sun with a laser, they're not going to top, they're not going to top the book. Though I could see Trump reading it and being like, we should do it. Good ideas. But yeah, like Eric Adams is under pressure right now. His son seems to be really enjoying himself.

And what I did like about the tone of that New York Post article is that like they were clearly like being like, oh, he's doing this on 9-11. How disrespectful to the memory of, you know,, he's doing this on 9-11. How disrespectful to the memory. He's recording rap music on 9-11. But out of all the things you can attack Eric Adams and his family for, who cares? What the fuck do you expect him to do on 9-11? You had those concert tickets from months ago. It's not even a round number. Does he have bars? Is he good? There's no way he's good.

There's absolutely no way. There There's no way he's good. There's absolutely no way. There's no fucking way he's good. Bill de Blasio has better bars than fucking Eric Adam's son. Yeah, yeah. Is he building with Inspector Deck? I just think, yeah, this is like... Building Inspector Deck. The New York Post is creating this false precedent where shitty rappers have to take a day off

on 9-11, and that's never been true. We've never enforced that rule. In fact, that's probably the best day to be a shitty rapper. Or Shannon Sharp, for that matter. Yeah, yeah. Oh, by the way, one more update on the Shannon Sharp's audio sex tape release. The best clip to come out of it was when that night he did his podcast with Chad Ocho-Sinko, and he's

lamenting he's like, man, on this day of all days have this happened to me. Man. And you see Chad Ocho-Sinko is agreeing with him and then like it gets to the end of him talking he goes, what day? It's Wednesday. Shout out to the sharp, the absolute goat. And 9-11 is when we incite pogroms against our neighbors for things that they didn't do.

That's literally deep. Yeah. That's the reason for the season. All right, gang, let's wrap it up for today. I want to thank Ben Clarkson and Matt Bors, the virtuoso artists and writers behind the phenomenal comic series Justice Warriors, volume two Vote Harder. Please check it out. Fine comic books are sold.

Thanks. Yeah. Links will be available in the show description. That does it for today's show. Till next time, everybody. Bye bye.