I've Had It - Fascism, But Stupid

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

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Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 All right, listen, patriots, gay, triots, they triots, black triots, brown triots, aka I hipsters, aka I've had it listeners. John Favreau, co-host of Pod Save America, joins us on today's episode. And I'm just here to tell you, it is an amazing episode where we discuss all of the maga fuckery. But each week on their podcast over at Pod Save America, former Obama AIDS, John Favro, Tommy Vitor, John Levitt and Dan Pfeiffer deliver no bullshit takes on the news with just enough humor to keep us all sane. You'll hear an honest, in-depth conversation with major voices in politics, media, and culture. We have had three out of the four on the podcast on, I've had it here,
Starting point is 00:00:49 and we will not stop until we get the fourth. Dan Pfeiffer, we're coming for you. New episodes drop every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday. Watch on YouTube or listen. you get your podcasts. So are we supposed to start the podcast? Ready, one, two, three. Patriots, gay, triots, they treatets, black triots, brown triots, and the people that are mean to those people can do wet pumps. That's right.
Starting point is 00:01:20 Okay, listen, it's a big day. Finally, okay, you guys have heard of Pod Save America, and we've had two of the three hosts on. and we're finally our white whale we're finally we've finally got the one that was hard to get that's for last john favro welcome to i've had it thanks for having me it's america's top dey i'm i'm aware i enjoy it very much we're all in new york city listener and so it was just like a last minute podcast for democracy yeah just uh you know good two hours from JFK in traffic. Yeah, that sucks. I live in Los Angeles. I got to say, this city,
Starting point is 00:02:03 the traffic is nothing in Los Angeles compared to this. We took the subway here from my apartment. It was 11 minutes. I know. Eleven minutes. Well, just wait all the free buses. I know. Exactly. All right, what we'd like to do is go around the table and everybody share what they've had it with. And I feel like yours are going to be political. So we're going to start with pumps first. We'll end with you. So pumps, what have you had it with? Not political. Not political. John's can be political. What I've had it with is when you go to a restaurant and they say it's family style. It's like I want my own food.
Starting point is 00:02:36 If somebody else wants a bite, that's fine. But I don't want to have to share. I want to order what I want to order. I don't want everybody to have to agree because when everybody has to agree, it takes forever. And it's just why are we insisting on family style for everything? I think sharing is so overrated. I hate sharing. Democracy, good for a government, bad for a restaurant.
Starting point is 00:02:57 What are your thoughts on that? Do you like a family style, John? Like if the, it just takes extra time because then everyone is like, all right, what do we all want to share that? Right. And then someone doesn't want this. And then you're like, okay, well, you two want this and you three want that. It's just a lot of it's a pain in the ass.
Starting point is 00:03:12 Makes it harder. It makes it take longer. I like to dine and dash that that doesn't do well for me. Okay. I don't know if mine is a grievance, but I've been dying to talk to somebody about this. I haven't told you yet. And I want to talk about it on the pod. So over Thanksgiving break, went home to Oklahoma City, went home to Oklahoma City,
Starting point is 00:03:26 went to an Oklahoma City Thunder game having a great time our team is fucking awesome love them so we're like sitting in the lower bowl it's my husband my two sons and me it's like family bondorama right we're winning she gilligis alexander shooting threes and then all of a sudden this german guy on our team gets in a fight what's his name the german um oh heartenstein Hartinstein. He gets into a push match with Rudy Gobert. Rudy Gobert is from France. And about two rows behind us, a guy says, Germany stopped you in World War II, France.
Starting point is 00:04:09 And I was sitting there for a second. And I was like, okay, Hartenstein, Germany, Rudy Gobert, they climbed the Eiffel Tower. Holy shit, this guy's a neo-Nazi. So then I turn and look at my family, and I'm sitting on the end. And my son that's in law school goes, did you hear that? Mom's like a fucking neo-Nazi. And I'm like, oh, that's what I thought. But it was so shocking.
Starting point is 00:04:31 And it took me a second to kind of process the whole thing. Like, does he know what he's talking about? I just need to discuss this with somebody. It was traumatizing to hear that reference. I feel like taunts at sporting events. Sometimes people dig like a little too deep. Yeah. you know for the like we're going back to to history of wars between countries we're making
Starting point is 00:04:53 heartenstein be the Nazi yeah that's a tough one that was unfair we were I went to um college with the Holy Cross in Worcester Massachusetts and we didn't have great sports teams but when we I remember we would um we were playing Harvard and football and our chant was gods on our side and their chant was safety school for us which was a fair chance they won that one right this is why it's not you can't you can't really get into the trash talking I love trash talking at sports it was just the kind of it was so shocking I to hear it and I was like and I asked Dylan I was like do you think the guy's a groy bird like what do you think is going on because my son knows all about that kind of niche internet culture because he's right listens to Hassan piker so he knows all about
Starting point is 00:05:45 That niche stuff, like when I'm trying to figure stuff out about internet culture that I don't know, I call my son. And he's like, okay, here's the deal with the Gory Version mom. And he explains it all to me, explain to me what Twitch was, you know, all of these things. But have you seen those hats that are like back-to-back World War champs for like the USA head? Like those are, I think that's kind of fun. If it's in that spirit, where we're just talking about old kind of gravaries. I just think when you mentioned Germany, particularly World War II, it's very specific. Those Germans were really fucked up.
Starting point is 00:06:17 I mean, they really were bad. Yeah. Yeah. And France did get their ass kicked. They did. They did. I mean, just a bunch of post boys. So it was accurate, accurate trash talking, but.
Starting point is 00:06:28 Kind of neo-Nazzi-esque. Little Nazi-ish. A little Groyper-esque. Well, I mean, you were in Oklahoma, the heart of Maca country. I was. I was. It was just, it was so shocking. And I've been wanting to tell you about it.
Starting point is 00:06:38 But we were all just, and it's one of the things you hear it. It takes a second. Right. You digest. Germany. Oh, yeah, that was, yeah, we know that. We remember that. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of other things happened as well. I want to, before we get to your grievance, I want to know about this, the school you went to. Is it Catholic school? So it's as Catholic as, it's Jesuit, but it's as Catholic as like Georgetown. Okay. It's Holy Cross. It makes everyone think it's much more religious. And I did, and I was raised Catholic, but I did not go there because of that. I got, you know, it's close to home. I grew up just north of Boston. And I got a like a half scholarship to go there. So it was that or BC or Bowden. Okay.
Starting point is 00:07:17 And we went up to Bowden, which is in Maine, in the middle of a snowstorm. Yeah. And I was like, nah, can't do that. And that's it. That's how I made my decision. My son that's in law school. BC was cool, but, you know. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:28 That was it. My son that's in law school now, he went to his undergrad at Newhouse at Syracuse. Oh, yeah. Oh, my cousin went there. Snow. He would FaceTime me, and it was like he was John Snow at the North Wall. I mean, he would be walking across campus. It's unbelievable.
Starting point is 00:07:42 We drove there for. her graduation, I remember, and it was, yeah, that's up there. Yeah, it really is. Okay. John Favre, what have you had it with? Well, speaking of Germany and Nazis, I know you're good friends with Stephen Miller as well. Oh, yeah, his wife's really mad at me. I have had it with Stephen Miller and J.D. Vance telling us that America is defined by
Starting point is 00:08:11 blood and soil nationalism, which is what they have been doing lately. And I think we're all used to, you know, we've had 10 years of Donald Trump. He is a cult of personality. He is leaving the scene soon in 2028. And what comes next, I worry, is going to be much worse. And so far, the only movement in the party that has gained any traction is this, they call it national conservatism. And, but, you know, We just had that horrible shooting of the national, two National Guard troops in D.C. And then, of course, the administration moved to close down migration from not just Afghanistan, but all kinds of other countries that they have deemed unworthy. And Stephen Miller tweeted during this, this isn't about something to the effect of this isn't about when you import individuals. Because when you bring in people into this country, you're bringing in entire societies.
Starting point is 00:09:11 Yeah, their culture, they're culture. And when you bring in entire societies of immigrants and their descendants, they bring with them the brokenness of their society and the terror of that society, just like very blatantly saying that people from other countries and their children cannot ever assimilate and be part of America. And this is obviously he has a direct line to Trump. He writes a lot of these Trump tweets, truths, whatever the fuck they are. J.D. Vance has also been giving speeches like this. I'm obsessed with a speech he gave at Claremont in out in California this July, where he talked about how America as an idea should not be what defines this country. And that just believing in the principles in the Declaration of Independence is both over-inclusive and under-inclusive.
Starting point is 00:10:07 over-inclusive because that means if anyone around the world believes in the principles and the Declaration, then they can be American and under-inclusive because if you don't believe in the principles in the declaration, then but your ancestors fought in the Civil War, meaning confederates, then you have just as right, you have a claim on this country, more so than the people who believe that you don't have a claim on this country. And it didn't get a ton of attention, but like, Miller, Vance, these are like deeply radical, dangerous ideas. And I am just waiting for Democrats and hopefully a 2028 Democratic contender to like go at that argument head on because I don't think we can just avoid it and just like do our thing
Starting point is 00:11:02 where we talk about, you know, have to focus on the economy, have to focus on affordability, all that is correct, have to focus on individual issues, a ton of issues that are important. But there is like a bigger thing at stake here, and that is how we define what this country is and who gets to be American. And I feel like that is at the heart of what we've been arguing about for the last 10 years. And certainly the people that want to succeed Trump want to continue on having that argument. And they'll be more organized. They'll be smarter.
Starting point is 00:11:34 They won't have the cult of personality, though. That's the only thing we can know. Right. So electorally, we might be better off because I think it's much more unpopular, but it's much more dangerous. You bring up a really good point that I think Democrats struggle with. And I call it assumption politics. They assume that people are going to do the right thing.
Starting point is 00:11:52 They assume that people will see that J.D. Vance has no Riz as a washed up old failed drag queen who can't even stand up for his wife and kids. Stephen Miller's a short little twerk, Nazi. His wife is just absolutely as despicable as he's. in a very shocking turn of events that they're both equally can out, you know, cruel each other. She's got a very popular podcast, though.
Starting point is 00:12:15 But I think that your point that if they don't address it, if the Democrats don't address this head-on, this cruelty and how they wrap it up in Christianity and call out the evangelical spiritual warfare component of this that draws in the rubs all over red America, they assume that it's not going to get any traction. And this assumption politics
Starting point is 00:12:42 is at its worst when you see what happened. We all saw January 6th. And if I would have asked you on January 7th, is Trump's political career over? You would have said 100% over. It's done. And the most important political appointment of our lifetime was Joe Biden appointing an attorney general. And he played integrity politics because he felt bad that Mitch McConnell dicked over Merrick Garland. And Merrick Garland is milk toast. We needed pit bull. We needed, I mean, just the meanest motherfucker imaginable. I mean, just somebody that would walk into court and just like, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you. I mean, just a shark. And he didn't appoint that because everybody assumes in the Democratic Party that people are going to do the right thing because
Starting point is 00:13:25 they do the right thing. And the Trump administration even admits all the time, you're shocked about how easy this has been. During the transition, they're like, yeah, they're totally working with us on everything. Yeah. It's just, that's the part about Democrats where they just, they assume the good in people. And I'm like, these people are fucked up. They have no good. Like really, really fucked up. Need to be in padded cells and straight jackets when it comes to like J.D. Vance. And Stephen Miller. Stephen Miller. Patriots, gay treats, they treatets, black triots, brown triots, and all of the maga assholes can do what pops? off. I'm Jennifer. I'm in New York City right now. I'm Angie. I'm in Oklahoma City right now,
Starting point is 00:14:11 but coming very soon, we're going to be together in none other than Atlanta, Georgia, our very first live show within Atlanta. So January 31st, we reunite on stage at center stage in Atlanta. Please come join us. We are going to have a matinee because we've had it with things starting too late at night. So this will start at 2 p.m. You can get all liquored up, go home and pass out. And guess what? You'll get so much sleep you won't even be hung over the next day
Starting point is 00:14:42 and you're fighting for democracy. Please join us. It's going to be so much fun. And as much as we're excited to see each other, we're excited to see you guys. Hope to see you there. Click the link below and the show notes to get your tickets. We hope they sell out fast.
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Starting point is 00:17:09 Every pet deserves a wish come true. Send your pet's wish to chewy.com slash chewy clause and it might become a reality. Plus, your wish means chewy will donate five meals to pets in need. You know, there's been sort of an interminable debate. over the last several years about, like, we shouldn't be talking about democracy because democracy doesn't really mean anything to people. It's just like a sort of a vague concept.
Starting point is 00:17:39 And we should talk about things that tangibly improve people's lives. And I get that. I know all the polling, to an extent I really agree with it. But part of the challenge is, I think that we have all grown up and lived in a world in a country where we have not had to make an argument for democracy, like a real full-throat argument
Starting point is 00:17:59 of like, why is. Why is the system of government good for you in the way that some of the polling is telling us we should talk about things that matter to people's lives, right? Like, okay, if we think democracy is important and we think that they're threatening democracy, that Donald Trump's been threatening democracy, then why is it a better system? And I don't think we've made, and why is that more American according to the founding principles of this country than what they're offering? Here's the thing. I think that that is so earnest that we have to make this argument to the American people, and I like it in principle. It's not going to fucking work. We have to go full-blown pit bull and really demonize the characters and the system of theirs. We need to go on attack and prove that they are screwed up. That's what the right has done. And where we are with the digital age and just how angry everybody is post-COVID, the impatience that every. has, I think the Democrats, instead of making this case, because the attention span of the average American is one Instagram slide. Right. So it is ridiculing and piling on the biggest dorks imaginable. It is a layup. It is a layup to bring these people down. And then after you get
Starting point is 00:19:14 them hooked in, then you can get into more nuanced conversations. But to get the masses in, I think we need to go on full attack of them and then bring the arguments. for our cause as a secondary thing. I agree with that to an extent. I think you have to make people vote and to the extent they pay attention to politics, which most people in the country sadly do not, it is how does it affect my life? And I think now we have seen their system of government and their ideology and action. And I think instead of talking about vague concepts like democracy, you can talk about
Starting point is 00:19:56 masked men in the streets, grabbing people, disappearing them, kidnapping them. And I think if you tell someone, so like most people, they probably don't like Donald Trump in this country, even the people who voted for him. A lot of them don't like them. Most people probably think Stephen Miller's a fucking twerp. The JD-Avance has the charisma of, you know, my shoe. But they don't necessarily, like if you went off and started saying, well, he's an asshole and he's a fascist and this, people, a normal person who doesn't pay much attention to politics, would say, well, why? Like, why do you not like him? I'll tell you what the next argument is. So, we lived in Oklahoma City for, I'm 51. So for 50 years, just recently moved to New York City. And the
Starting point is 00:20:38 argument that Democrats have failed to make is, number one, they abandoned a 50 state strategy. So places like Oklahoma have become more radical and more horrific. But if you look at the data of what red state super majorities get you, when we had a governor in 2011 named Brad Henry, who's a Democrat, our education system was 17th in the country. We are now 50th, and we had a superintendent, Ryan Walters, who sits and talks about trans. So if you say not only are these people horrible people, but Republican supermajorities have harmed you. And furthermore, Republicans are liars. They've lied to you. And do you remember when Trump said the Democrats have taken the black vote for granted? There was a little bit of truth to that. A lot of truth
Starting point is 00:21:21 to that. What's even more true is the Republican Party has taking the working class and rural voters vote for granted. So horrifically, and the data shows all of that. And if you go from Oklahoma, Texas, and just swing all the way through the Bible Belt, those are the bottom 10 states. And now Oklahoma is 50th in education. This is a Republican supermajority. So anybody in Oklahoma, if you don't like your life, the people you blame are the Republicans. They've had everything. the worst state. Number one, worst state for women to live. Worse. And there's more, you know, by a percentage, more women voters than male. And so those are the arguments I think we make, first off, is attacking their policy and attacking the personalities behind the policies.
Starting point is 00:22:07 Totally agree with that. But we go attack versus here's what we're going to teach you about the world. No, I definitely don't think we should teach people anything about the world. Or politics. No one is interested in being educated about politics, right? right now. They're barely having time. But I do think it is, to that example, like, has your life really improved under Republican rule, total Republican rule for the last several years? It's fine if you still want to be a Republican, but wouldn't you like to try something new? Right. Wouldn't you like to maybe have a government that actually fights for you and does something
Starting point is 00:22:40 for you and actually delivers for you? Right. Now, I think the challenge is that most people have gotten so used to neither Republicans nor Democrats doing anything that has improved their lives, that they sometimes default to Republicans because Republicans were like, okay, well, yeah, maybe you know that we're kind of lying when we're going to tell you that we're going to make you richer. But we're going to hurt those other people that are hurting you. The cruelty. Well, and the Democrats abandoning a 50 state strategy has allowed Republican propaganda to penetrate in a very cult-like religious way. So in Oklahoma and all
Starting point is 00:23:17 through the Bible Belt South, people believe in spiritual warfare as being very real, a real thing like devils and angels. I was an atheist, grew up an atheist in the Bible Belt. So I have a very kind of clear-eyed perspective about, because all of my friends were these crazy Bible thumpers. And the way the Republican Party uses language about good versus evil, it very much mirrors that evangelical Christianity. And in rural towns, the only sense of culture they have are any sort of socializing is in their church. It's where they go to bingo, they go to dances. And in these churches, I remember growing up, John, in Oklahoma City, and George W. Bush was running the dumb one. And that on the marquee outside the church was they vote for George Bush today.
Starting point is 00:24:02 And it's everywhere. And so they have demonized Democrats to such a point that so many people are willing to vote for a Republican, even if they think that person is a piece of shit, like Like, you know, remember when Trump famously endorsed Roy Moore the first time we knew he didn't have a problem with pedophiles? You remember that? I do remember the Alabama. The Roy Moore race. That was wild, right? But so many people will just go ahead and vote for that. And so the Democrats have got to go back in and have, even though we still have the stupid electoral college, I think abandoning a 50 state strategy has really harmed the Democratic Party. For sure. I remember Obama used to talk about this when, um, He was a senator in Illinois, state senator, too. And he said, you know, I would travel to, like, southern Illinois, which gets, you know, pretty southern. And then later when he would go to Iowa and he would meet, you know, more conservative voters in person and they would say, oh, you're, you're totally different than the caricature of you. Totally. On Fox News, because back in the day it was just Fox.
Starting point is 00:25:16 And the challenge now is, like, most Democratic politicians don't have the opportunity to go visit people in all of these states, in all of these areas, because politics is nationalized, because the Democratic Party in Oklahoma and other places, to your point about the 50th state strategy is non-existent in a lot of places. And so they never get visits from Democratic politicians. They don't see Democrats in real life and realize that we're just people like them who want similar things that they do. And so you have this view of the other party as a bunch of demons because that's what you're taught in church. They do. They believe it. And that's what I think we have to figure out, right? Is how do you like pierce the caricature that the MAGA tries to paint of us? And I think that's challenging.
Starting point is 00:26:07 Here's what I think we do. We use, Andy Bershear did this very brilliantly in Kentucky. He uses religion. And this is another failure I think the Democratic Party has done. All the Heritage Foundation, all of these crazy white nationalist groups, far, they go way further back than Trump, like back to Reagan. And these guys have been prepping and grooming and, you know, machinating for a long time. And I think that you have to go and use your religion. We need like good Christian politicians.
Starting point is 00:26:38 It's nauseating for me personally when politicians talk about religion, whether they're Muslim, whether they're Jewish, whether they're Christian, enough. I don't want to hear it. but we live in a very religious country. And so I think you have to have these choir boys or choir girls like Andy Bershear go in or Tala Rico. Yeah. The porn, which I kind of like that. I kind of dug it. Yeah, I was kind of into it.
Starting point is 00:27:01 But anyway. Poor guy. I know. He's so nice. Just people following him on Instagram. He's being nice. He's saying he's accepting the follow. I know.
Starting point is 00:27:08 She's hot. I mean, he's a guy. But anyway, I think that if you can go because my point is Republicans brought religion into politics. and the Democrats have never responded to it. We say, oh, we're secular. It's, you know, we're not going to attack people's faith. And they need to use this form of Christianity and say, this doesn't seem very Christ-like to me. This doesn't seem very Jesus-y to me to really get them to critically think a touch.
Starting point is 00:27:33 And when you see Tala Rico do that, and when you see Bershear do that, it has an impact. And neither one has had to throw trans people under the bus. In fact, Andy Bershear refused to do so. And Kentucky is every bit as ass back. is Oklahoma. And he's got two terms. Yeah. And I think there's something to that to addressing the, you know, elephant in the room head on. They have weaponized your faith against you and taken your vote for granted. And I think Democrats need to start speaking, very plain spoken to them about the lies, the manipulation, and the exploitation by the Republican Party to all of these
Starting point is 00:28:10 working class Americans, because it is so devastating. What is happening to people's lives in red states under Republican supermajorities is devastating. We have friends in Oklahoma that have a trans child and now their refugees going to blue states. Every gay person I know that's under the age of 30 in Oklahoma is moving because they've been bullied by their parents. They've been bullied by their churches. Now they're being bullied by their governments. Their schools, it's institutionalized. And it's just really harming people. The cruelty of Republican supermajorities has got to be exposed and I think we need some like good Christian people to come out and do it because nobody's going to think I have any credibility regarding it an atheist I mean I was I was raised
Starting point is 00:28:54 Catholic in a suburb of Boston and we weren't in especially religious family we go to church you know I did you know CCD I was confirmed we went to mass on like you know Christmas and Easter that kind of family and then when I went to Holy Cross Holy Cross is Jesuit and the Jesuits are like the real lefty Catholics like social justice, liberation theology. These are like the South American sort of like lefty movements. This is where the Jesuits come from. Pope Francis was Jesuit. And my political sort of awakening, like my parents were Democrats, so I was like a Democrat growing up, but I didn't really know why. But my political awakening was because of the Jesuits of Holy Cross who believed that you go out
Starting point is 00:29:37 into the community and you do good works and that Jesus was, you know, someone who was always caring about the least of these and the stranger and feeding the hungry. And if someone needed something, you know, you never turn them away. And when you think about, like, whether you're religious or not, the core of every major religion has some version of the Golden Rule. Right. It is in, you got the New Testament, it's in Islam, it's Buddhism. Like, Judaism, you can go through all the major religions and it is somewhere there, which tells you that it's almost independent of any specific religion, and then it is, it can also be humanist, like people who are atheists, people who are agnostic, can still believe that. And I do think that having some kind of
Starting point is 00:30:23 organizing moral principle, whether you are part of organized religion, whether you're not, whether you're just spiritual, whether you're not, is really important. And I think what you're talking about with Democrats is, like, we're very good at talking about policy. We're good talking about politics, but like we don't talk as much about morality and values. And we like to, we like to say that, and I think rightly so, that Republicans are hypocritical about it and they are, but that leaves open the question, well, then what do you believe? How do you think people should be treated? Right.
Starting point is 00:30:56 And I think that's an important part of it. I think it's really, really important. And I think it's good to note here because we've noticed, like I remember we went, we were in New York, No, we were in Oklahoma City and we interviewed Kathy Hokel via Zoom for our podcast. We thought we were hot shit for doing it. You were a baby podcasters and the governor of New York is on. And then like a week later, we came up here. We were talking to some people.
Starting point is 00:31:19 And they're like, well, who have you had on lately? And we're like, we had on governor, Kathy Hokel. And these New Yorkers are like, oh, she sucks. And I looked at Pops and I go, what a fucking luxury. Right. What a luxury to be a liberal in a blue state and be irritated with your Democratic governor. And I think there is a disconnect in the people and the Democratic Party that do the focus groups and that do the polling. And they don't understand the components of America that are disconnected from large cities.
Starting point is 00:31:51 And Oklahoma City is a city of a million people. And demographically, it broke down exactly the way the nation did. Oklahoma City is perfectly purple. And I think it went like 49, Trump, 48 Kamala. So it's like a microcosm of the electorate at large. I have a ton of progressive friends in Oklahoma. I have some, you know, Bible thumper friends that are, you know, kind of arm's length. But I understand how somebody can be so rational about so many things, like a physician,
Starting point is 00:32:20 you can talk to them. And they're rational, rational, rational, rational. And then, like, evolution comes up. And I'm like, well, no, I totally believe in creation. You're like, how are you a physician? Like, how is it possible that evolution is the bedrock of biology? and you graduated from medical school. And it's like something snaps in them.
Starting point is 00:32:39 And the indoctrination in these megachurches and that kind of newvo-Christianity culture has been so rapid. And it has grown in tandem with the Republican movement. And it has metastasized into this megaculture. And I think a lot of these people fall prey to the cult so easily because Donald Trump is exactly like a megachurch pastor. he's you know slapping his secretary on the ass he's a grifter he's putting on a show he has the hair yeah it just reminds me he reminds me so much and so i can see why they feel so comfortable with
Starting point is 00:33:16 that abuser because the abuser that they've had previously in their life are the or their pastors well and it's also people i think it's like a fundamental human longing to belong to be part of a community right to be part of something and so when it's people When it's your neighbors, your family that you've been around, you want to be part of that. And I think it's hard if you're raised that way to then be like, oh, everything that I have known and grown up with and been taught is completely wrong and bad. That seems it's much easier to say, no, no, the people who are telling me that they're the bad ones. They're crazy. So I do think it's like really, it's difficult.
Starting point is 00:33:58 I mean, like, we can say like, oh, you're not rational. they think we're not rational. Right. So then... Tell him your story. Okay, so I raised super evangelical. And so I was approaching a family member who would tell you that they believe every single bit of the Bible is true word for word. They believe Jesus helped the sick, fed the poor, did all the things.
Starting point is 00:34:24 Then I said, then how do you feel about... It was around the alligator, Alcatraz where everybody's wearing merch and... snakes and alligators. And I said, so what do you think Jesus would do about, you know, people just being sent to these places where they can be eaten by alligators? Oh, I think he'd be all for it. It was so shocking. Show me where.
Starting point is 00:34:46 Is that that way just like, show me where in the New Testament? There's a Republican movement now in tandem with this where now it is the anti-emathy movement. Right. Have you seen this? Because they know that Jesus is a problem. Elon Musk has been, I first heard him say that, the empathy was really dangerous. Yeah, toxic empathy. It's toxic empathy. Yeah. They're very mad at this Pope. They didn't like the last Pope. This Pope is now. They don't like this Pope either. And because the Jesus thing is a
Starting point is 00:35:12 problem. It's a radical, compassionate empath. And when you hear, for me, like when I heard hear Bernie Sanders speak, the atheist Jew, he sounds more, I mean, he's cranky as I'll get out. But what he's messaging is, seems more Christ-like than all. of the Christians that I grew up around in Oklahoma City because their lack of empathy towards poor people. And that is something they have messaged to demonize the poor. And it is a part of their core values. And it's interesting because I feel like old Republicans, the previous iteration of the Republican Party, it would be, you know what, it's awful that there are poor people. And we should have charity. We should give compassion and compassion, conservatism. And also like, of course we want
Starting point is 00:36:02 to help everyone. You can't help everyone all the time. Let's privatize it. Right. Like, yeah, someone's like that. But like life. So it's a little like, yes, this is a bad thing and we want to help, but we just, we can't get around to it kind of thing. Right. And we don't want to pay more taxes, right? And we don't trust government to fix it. Right. So fine. I disagree with all that, but it's like an argument. Now it is they are undeserving. Right. And they are undeserving because it is something in their culture, if they're an immigrant, or it is, you know, it is learned behavior and it is whatever excuses they come up with to try to convince themselves that what they are doing, the neglect and the cruelty is warranted because these people aren't, Jesus is a problem
Starting point is 00:36:43 for them. Yep. And so is the Declaration. Right. Right? Like the whole like we believe all, everyone's created equal. We don't. Endowed with inalienable rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Like, this is a problem for J.D. Vance and for the guy from Missouri, the senator there, Schmidt, Eric Schmidt, he gave a big speech on this for Stephen Miller. And I think that is a, I mean, there's a bright spot there for Democrats, which is, like, if the other party sees the Declaration of Independence and Jesus is an obstacle to their political agenda, maybe we have a case to make.
Starting point is 00:37:23 Maybe. I don't know. Someone's going to make it though. Yes. On top of the fact that these people are so unmarketable. I mean, just because I think what we're seeing now with Trump is the curtains are closing. He's a lame duck. The dementia is objectively true. He's definitely sleepy. He's yeah. He's very tired. Sleepy Donald. Sleepy Don. Yeah. And so I mean, biology is going to catch up to him or 2028 is going to catch up to him. There's several concerns I have with that. Number one, I think they've committed. so many crimes so many crimes that they are going to do something really dramatic and radical to prevent midterms and or 2028 because look at what they did in on january 6th and i just don't believe anything coming out of this administration nothing i don't think you can i i don't think any document that comes out i think every single document that comes out you should question the veracity in them for sure um so that's a problem but as he is as the cult starts to fall apart you see all of these fissures for me. And you see the Heritage Foundation and Tucker Carlson making room for
Starting point is 00:38:28 a larger tent with Nick Fuentes. And Katie Miller, I'm sure you saw she mentioned me on CNN. She's really mad at me. But Abby Phillips asked her the question about should Tucker Carlson be platforming Nick Fuentes? And my, if I would have been on that night, I would have said, my problem is I'm shocked that you're shocked, Abby. Of course Tucker Carlson is platforming Nick Fuentes. Donald Trump dined with Nick Fuentes. Everybody is welcome. The only problem with Nick Fuentes for the hard right Zionists in that party that have for somehow they think they're going to get safety in the right wing, the Zionist, is that he hates all the same people they hate. They hate. They're like, great, great, great, great, great. But then he also hates the Jews. So that's
Starting point is 00:39:15 their problem with Nick Fuentes. And so Tucker has a major problem with Israel as well. So to me, that's like a match made in heaven because then he's on Pierce Morgan calling gay people the F slur. Right. You know, I mean, these people, it's not shocking to me that they are entertaining Nick Fuentes's base. And I'm shocked that the mainstream media is shocked at that. They, and it's a political necessity for them, too, to keep the coalition together. Manhattan Institute just did a poll.
Starting point is 00:39:45 I just saw them tweet out results today of just like the Republican Coalition. and they basically classify like, you know, 60, 65% of the coalition as sort of Republicans who voted for Trump, but also voted for Republicans back as far as, like, 2012. And then they have around 30% are like the new entrance to the party. And those, that 30% happens to be much more anti-Semitic, openly racist. And crucially, that segment of the party is also not certain that they will vote for Republican in 20, or 28 because what they want is they're attached to Trump and they're attached to the Trumpy part of the party, but they are not attached to the Republican Party and they want someone like
Starting point is 00:40:30 a Stephen Miller or even worse than Nick Fuentes, right? And so if you are someone like J.D. Vance or Marco Rubio or any of them, you're looking at the numbers in your coalition and thinking whether I believe it or not, like how am I going to win without at least being open to these people in the party. And that's why it's so very dangerous. We know J.D. Vance will whore himself. I mean, he's changed his name three fucking times. As an adult.
Starting point is 00:40:58 Religion's three times. Pro-immigrant, anti-immigrant. Trump's America's Hitler. Now he's his vice president. He doesn't give a fuck. J.D. Vance is a prostitute. He is. He is a total prostitute.
Starting point is 00:41:09 I have had this conversation with a friend recently, which is like, does J.D. Vance really believe this. Is this version of J.D. Vance where he is. has landed, or does he do it? But I think I at least hold open the possibility that he has been radicalized. And that is not to like just take away his agency. Like it's still bad either way. But I think that when I think it's hard to wake up every morning and say like, oh, I believe
Starting point is 00:41:38 these evil, terrible things today. And I'm excited to go do them. Like I think that J.D. Vance over the last several years has made a number of justifications to himself for what he believes and is intellectual enough. that he has now looked for the intellectual justification for all this stuff, which is why, you know, some of these people are just, it's just like gut instinct, racism, anti-Semitism.
Starting point is 00:41:58 J.D. Vance is like seeking out the Curtis Jarvins, the Peter Thiel's, like the scholarship around why democracy is unfortunate and why we should have post-liberal societies because liberalism is bad, small ill liberalism. And I think he has somehow intellectualized himself that actually this is the right, this is the right way to go. We talk about this all the time.
Starting point is 00:42:19 I think not only J.D. Vance and he's probably, because he's, he's smart and he has probably intellectualized it, but everybody in Trump's orbit from somebody who sits right next to him, you know, whether it's Howard Nettlich or any of those people, to people that we know personally in our personal lives. When you voted for him once, something maybe kind of broke a little bit. You heard the ground by the pussy tape, blah, blah, blah. You voted for him the second time. I think these people broke a little bit more.
Starting point is 00:42:48 And then the third time, I think it has created this mass brokenness of the electorate from people right in the oval all the way down to your neighbor next door. And each time you capitulate to this moral depravity and the cruelty that is always on display, it has really broken so many parts of our culture. Now, the Republican Party had, you know, prime the soil and set the psychological soil for a lot of people to fall prey to that. But there is just something about the triple trumping, I think that when you tripled down on that, it has broken from J.D. Vance all the way down to, you know, your crazy uncle. I always remember this anecdote from, I think Sarah Longwell in one of her focus groups heard this, but it was a person who hadn't voted for Trump and was thinking of voting for Trump in 24. and the moderator asked, so like, what's the deal? He's like, well, I can't stand him. I think he says horrible things.
Starting point is 00:43:52 But you know what? If I vote for him, I'll just turn off the TV. I won't pay attention. And I'll just sit back and enjoy the Trump economy for four years. Right. So there is a little like, because I don't think the actual base of people who are believers and who like this has grown over the last. I think it's probably even.
Starting point is 00:44:12 and shrunk some. I think that's right. And I think that something whoever the Arab parent is has to deal with that Trump got people to the polls, like Obama got people to the polls. He got first-time voters and rural American that never showed up to vote. And he had the reverse Obama effect. Obama had people show up that had never voted before. And Trump had the same thing on the opposite end of the spectrum.
Starting point is 00:44:34 So that's something. But I agree that I think the cult's probably smaller. But there is something outside of the cult that we have to talk about. And it's the country club Republican. And these are the people that, you know, when we lived in Oklahoma that we hung out with, these are white upper middle class, upper class people that know better. And in certain social circles, like if they were up here for the weekend, and we all went to dinner and there were some other personalities, they would never admit, they would say they were moderates. And they would say that, you know, oh, we voted for a gay politician before and we voted for black politicians before. we're very moderate, you know, but these people, and I was a high-end interior designer,
Starting point is 00:45:16 still am and happened for a long time. I'd go out to drinks with some of my clients sometimes, and then the foxification came out after a couple drinks. They don't believe in climate change. They thought Obama was a Muslim, and they think Trump is, I don't, you know, I don't agree with the way he says it, but he says exactly how I feel. And it comes out. So there is like active Trumpism that is the cult, but there is a passive Trumpism.
Starting point is 00:45:41 in white circles that exists in America that country club Republicans adhere to, but they're smart enough in certain social circles. They don't admit it because they know how depraved it is. And that to me is even more insidious than the cultists. For sure. And I encounter these people. And I think because a lot of them, you know, it's through social circles, you know, family, friends, family, family.
Starting point is 00:46:06 And they'll know what I do. And so they'll say, oh, you work for Obama. he he gave some good speeches he spoke well and when they start that way i'm like oh this is i'm talking to the wrong person and i don't you know i get into it with people because it's like you're going to like yell at someone and have a debate but you can always tell it is that like you can always tell i'm going to be very polite nice and everything but like you know these this this these liberals they're they're they're the devil another thing you said you've had it with is tech oligarchs who told us that social media would usher in a global utopia and now calling anyone's
Starting point is 00:46:45 who wants to regulate AI the Antichrist. And that is my absolute favorite thing about Peter Thiel, that he's a billionaire. But as a side hustle, he gives lectures on the Antichrist. Yeah, literally people who are just thinking that maybe we should take a look at this humanity transforming technology, artificial intelligence. and perhaps put some rules in place, some regulations. He thinks that they are the, he said the legionnaires of the Antichrist. He also said the Pope was the Antichrist the other day.
Starting point is 00:47:20 Yeah, he's very, but these fucking tech guys, like we just went through this where they made all these big promises, they have left all kinds of damage in their wake. Oh, yeah. And whether it's like mental health problems with young people, loneliness epidemic, like political violence, all of it. Russian trolls, propagandizing, yeah. And now, AI is an even more powerful technology. And they are just telling it.
Starting point is 00:47:49 First of all, it's like, you know, a handful of people, the richest people in the world, they are now all friends of Donald Trump hanging out at the White House. When they had the Saudis for a state dinner, they were all taking pictures, Elon Musk and Sam all the rest of them, they're all having a great time. They're getting anything that they want. And they're even saying now, at least in the last time around, they were like, oh, it's going to be great. It's going to be. Elon Musk is like, yeah, at some point, humans won't need to do jobs.
Starting point is 00:48:20 There'll be nothing for humans to do. Bill Gates said, oh, I think that eventually you won't need humans. Even the guy that is the CEO of Anthropic, one of the AI companies, was like, estimate maybe half of entry-level jobs will go away. So that's in the job front. They're building these data centers, which are making electricity costs go up. They're also just like building them all. I mean, Sam Altman was like, yeah, I think at some point the data centers will cover the globe. So that's happening.
Starting point is 00:48:50 They also believe that potentially, you know, AI could develop a bioweapon or some kind of weapon and mass destruction. So there's the whole kill us all scenario. And they know all the people that are developing this technology know all this, talk about all this. And yet, they are full speed ahead. They don't want anyone to stop them. They've got a president who doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about with AI. He calls it like the AI, you know, he has no idea, no idea what he's talking about. But they can do whatever they want.
Starting point is 00:49:22 Yeah. And they're going to get rich from it. And the rest of the country, the rest of the world, if there's some kind of weapon to mass destruction or hells unleashed or even if it's a better scenario where it's just, you know, half, planet unemployed, they're going to be fine. They'll build their bunkers. But like, what are the rest of us going to do? Think about it. Like, J.D. Vance, still, the immigrants are taking your job. Stephen Miller, you know, we're going to deport a bunch of people so you don't have to wait in line in the ER. It was never immigrants taking jobs. It's always going to be the oligarchs and their robots. That was the plan all along. And these guys are such prostitutes. They kicked
Starting point is 00:50:01 off Donald Trump, rightfully so, from all of their platforms. And, I had, I was on Kara Swisher's podcast a week ago or so, and she said, you know, these guys, if Kamala would have won, they would have been they, them, and had pronouns, they just follow whatever. There's no principle. And that's what I think is so upsetting. And we can, we can talk about, this kind of goes back to what the Democrats attacking Republicans. We can talk about the oligarchs and, you know, how unlikable Peter Thiel is, how I'm absolutely deranged and demented. Elon Musk is.
Starting point is 00:50:36 isn't all over all these petri dishes, having all these kids that he's not raising, partnering with the family values, doing Sig Heiles, all this shit. But we, and that's fun to do because I love to shit talk. But it's also the system. And we have to address the system of unregulated capitalism. I think Democrats need to address Republicans and a very good job labeling regulations is harmful to people's pocketbook. And we have to get rid of that label. And we have to get rid of that label and start calling them consumer protections and explain how these corporations like the Sackler family and the opioid epidemic. My husband's in recovery from that. Pumps is in recovery from that. My nephew's in recovery from that. It was, it just raped and pillaged so many lives, so many
Starting point is 00:51:22 fabulous people got addicted to drugs because they went to the doctor and they had pain. And they end up, you know, dead or with these horrible addictions and then the economic spin-off from that. Democrats need to do a better job addressing that because that has gone unaddressed for a very long time. You can have a conversation with any of these country club Republicans. I'm talking about like, well, you know, the Democrats and all those regulations, you know, just help get just prevent our bottom line. I can't hire people. And it's just ubiquitous in the country club Republican crowd. And I think we need to do a better job messaging how important consumer protections are. And I think with this AI stuff, Kara Swisher was telling me about these kids that have like committed
Starting point is 00:52:04 suicide because they have relationships with the with the AI chat bot and that's and that's the terrifying that's the the worst case scenario for kids and um but like the better case scenario is that their AI chatbot is their friend yeah which means that they're not meeting other friends and the other and what's worse about the AI chat bots versus social media even is they are obsequious they flatter you they tell you everything you want. They take away the friction in life. So it's all pleasure, no pain. And all you get is a kid is like, someone's telling you you're great. They're giving you all the information you need. They're telling, they're giving you everything you think you need. But everything except real
Starting point is 00:52:50 human connection. And so it's like once again, a technology like social media was was sold as this is going to connect people and bring people closer together. But what it gave us was the illusion of connection. Right. And it didn't actually, and now we have a bunch of people who feel disconnected, divided, and lonelier. And I do think that this is an issue, yes, Democrats should talk about it. And this is an issue where you can win over some folks who are more conservative because I think that these big, I think that like there is an opening for someone in 28. And I think that we'll see Republican candidates do this too. Someone will, like someone out of the blue like a Marjorie Taylor Greener's type, you know, run against the AI companies and the tech overlords
Starting point is 00:53:37 because there are privacy concerns, there are loneliness concerns, there are like sort of spiritual emptiness concerns. We feel it. Yes. Red people, blue people, moderate people, apolitical people, you feel, if you've spent too much time on Instagram or on TikTok, you feel it. You feel it like a hangover. You know like, oh, God, this isn't good.
Starting point is 00:53:59 Yep. And you have to talk about a country where we actually have community again, where we're actually making connections, being together, like, forging friendships and relationships that are more than, like, sitting on our phone all day. Marjorie Taylor Green ends up outflanking the Democratic Party on this fucking issue because she's already doing it on Israel. And she's a total anti-Semite. And it fucking pisses me off because she's outflanking. and she's messaging very well, very simple things because she's hanging out with Steve Bannon, who is a maniacal evil genius when it comes to political strategy. Yeah, and he gets this, for sure. And this eat the rich thing,
Starting point is 00:54:41 this sentiment that is now consuming both left-wing politics, moderate politics, and right-wing politics. We all feel like, you know, Trump's like, affordability is a scam. Nobody knows what groceries are. Yeah. So he's so out of touch.
Starting point is 00:54:55 And I'm building an arch and I'm building the ballroom. And I just had to fire my- And the big version of the arch, yeah. Yeah. And so I think that his, the juxtaposition of his overt capitalism and the gold and it's so like 1980s, you know, cocaine high. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:55:13 Mixed with like Palace of Versailles shit. Total. Like bad taste. It's really cheap. Okay. All right. John, we have to play our game. Okay.
Starting point is 00:55:20 Had it or hit it. Oh, great. All right. And I also, I want to, I have a fuck Mary kill for you at the end of this episode. Okay. Good. I love fact Mary kills. Okay.
Starting point is 00:55:27 Oh my God. Welcome to had it or hit it. I would hit it. I would hit it. I'd hit it every day, sometimes twice a day. Had it or hit it, Gretchen Whitmer. I have to say there was a political story today. I'm going to say had it.
Starting point is 00:55:44 Okay. Because, and I like her personally, I think she's been a great, fantastic governor of Michigan. As a potential 28 candidate, I'm going to say had it. Because there's this Politico story today about how she's Trump's favorite potential 2028 contender. And we all know the story of when she went into the Oval Office. Yeah, and she has the, yeah, right, she has the folder up. So apparently there's an interesting detail in the story where she comes back to the White House for another visit. And some White House staffer showed her a newspaper with the picture of her with the folder.
Starting point is 00:56:16 And she signed it for Trump as a present. And two White House officials also said, yes, she's the only one who has never said anything negative to Trump to his face, to the bottom. boss to his face. And it's like, look, I get that you as a governor, you want to make sure that the people of your state are not hurt by the federal government when you have like an authoritarian regime trying to like threaten states, right? So I get that. Mamdani goes to the White House and, you know, he didn't sit there and like scream at Donald Trump. He also didn't suck up to him. It's a tough balance. So I get that the balance is difficult. But I think that Whitmer, and I think there's some other 28 contenders like this too, are sort of the ones who are
Starting point is 00:57:03 like using this time to just lay low and not ruffle any feathers and not really criticize Trump that much and just assume that once the primary gets going in 27, then they'll start talking and they're not fighting now. I just, I don't have a lot of patience for that because I think like you've got to be out there and you've got to be not just fighting Trump because I think that's important, but also looking beyond Trump and talking about, like, a vision for the country, also the vision that J.D. Vance and Stephen Miller, the rest of them want to continue after Trump and talk about the choice and be out there. And I just think that now, if she decides not to run for president, great. Sorry, fine, you're a great governor. Right. But like the 28 contender,
Starting point is 00:57:47 if you're thinking of running in 2028, you should be out there now. I agree. A hundred percent. I totally agree. You've got Pritzker, Gavin Newsome. They're out there. They're out there. Just out there a little bit, Andy. Andy. I was getting to our name. We're on Oklahoma City.
Starting point is 00:58:01 And I was like, it's Andy. It's Andy. Don't call him Randy. And I called him Randy. She was like, so great to see you, Randy. I was calling him Steve for a while because I forgot that his dad was governor. And I was like, oh, yeah, Andy Beshear. Didn't he do the Medicaid expansion when we were in the White House for Obama?
Starting point is 00:58:14 And they're like, no, that was his dad. I was like, oh, wow. Bashir's everywhere. This ad is brought to you by Vive Health Care, the Makers of Appertude. You never skip your SPF. And you never skip your SPF. you carry hand sanitizer like an accessory, but what are you doing for HIV prevention? One way to help protect yourself from HIV is Appritude. A prescription medicine used to reduce
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Starting point is 01:02:25 Hit it for sure. I love Ms. Rachel. I think she's an angel. I think she's one of the kindest people we have in public life. I got really angry this week because the fucking anti-Semitism website, which is like, I hate that it's even named that because it's not about anti-Semitism. It's just like a right-wing slop. I started attacking. They had like the contenders for anti-Semite of the year.
Starting point is 01:02:48 And they have like Tucker Carlson and then Miss Rachel right next to Tucker Carlson. And they didn't even have Nick Fuentes on. And they say, oh, that's because they're like, well, he's like a, I guess he's like a Hall of Famer, so they don't have to put him on every year. But I was like, Miss Rachel, all she has done is stand up and preach love and dignity and safety for all children everywhere, regardless of race, religion, nationality, wherever you may be. She is just a kind person who is trying to teach our kids to be kind human beings. And now you're calling her an anti-Semite. Unfucking believable. She's great.
Starting point is 01:03:21 I love Ms. Rachel. I love her. And I think this is something that the Democrats are going to have to address to because the base has evolved so much on this. Like, I'm going to tell you a couple of years ago, I didn't really quite know what a Zionist was. When you live in a red state, you're very focused on the erosion of civil liberties with the red state government. And so you don't really, your mind doesn't wonder to foreign policy very much. And I remember we went to the DNC pumps in me.
Starting point is 01:03:50 We're so excited. It's a big deal, right? And so we would go every day diligently and who are we going to interview. And we had the best time. It was very surreal to do it. We'd walk through the protesters that were protesting and then would walk back out. And I remember thinking, God, they should really be, you know, why are they doing this? And I see I was slightly kind of irritated by it, but everybody was polite, peacefully protesting.
Starting point is 01:04:14 And since then, you know, you see the imagery coming out of Gaza and you see what Benjamin Daniela, whose government has done. And you cannot look away. And you, because we've all studied World War II and you know, what were the people doing? Why didn't anybody help? Why didn't anybody say anything? And you have those moments where you realize, oh, this is that moment. And I just, I think it's interesting.
Starting point is 01:04:38 I read in the news before we came here that Hillary Clinton was issues on some, someplace today. Yes. Speaking about this issue saying that the problem is TikTok. And then you have, I think, a fellow coworker of yours during the Obama. administration talking about how difficult it is to address the issue through a wall of dead children. And there's just such a moral disconnect. And at the same time, this weaponization of anti-Semitism, like in me even saying this right now, some people are going to hear it and say, oh, Jennifer is an anti-Semite. Nothing could be further from the truth with that, because I connect
Starting point is 01:05:13 all human rights together, you know, homophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, sexism, et cetera. And so I just think there's a lot of weaponization of that going on right now. And I'm very terrified that a grifter like Marjorie Taylor Green or Tucker Carlson is going to use a very simple tribal-like message. We have to quit sending them money because they get free health care and they have free college. That's going to really hit hard in America. That kind of messaging hits really hard. It's attached on their end with a lot of real anti-Semitism is the court. of that because I'd be like Marjorie, okay, now do trans kids. All right, now do, you know, gay marriage.
Starting point is 01:05:56 She wouldn't be able to do it. I mean, another day, she was just tweeting about, like, arresting Fauci. I mean, she's still every bit as crazy. So I'm just, I'm really worried about the Democrats not leading with this and not having moral clarity on this. This goes back to what I was saying about needing a moral core to our progressivism, liberalism, whatever you want to call it these days, which is like, it's a simple question. believe that the life of an Israeli child is worth is is is as valuable as the life of a Palestinian child is as valuable as the life of a Ukrainian child as a Russian child as a Sudanese child right like there are this horrible slaughter going on all over the
Starting point is 01:06:39 world there are powerful people oppressing less of powerful people there are people who want to set up instead of democratic governments authoritarian regimes where they oppress people and harm them. And the question is, what do you believe? Because if you believe in the dignity of every human being and every child, then that would lead you to say that October 7th was like sickening beyond belief. And like I remember when that happened and, you know, I'm a father now and it's like the worst, worst things you can ever do to someone.
Starting point is 01:07:15 And it made me sick. as when I saw what happened in Gaza in the subsequent two years made me sick as I do when I see images from Ukraine as we're all you know talk about Trump's talking about Putin and like hey let's bring them into the fold and we can all do economic deals together and you know J.D. Vance Tell and Zelenskyy like you should thank us more and it's like there's like missing 10,000 Ukrainian children like yeah it's like how where are your values and are they universal and can you apply your principles and values no matter what the situation is, as opposed to just where it feels right and then you have a different value set somewhere else when it's another
Starting point is 01:07:55 conflict. So I completely agree with that. Do you think Democrats are going, Democratic politicians that take A-PAC money are going to face an uphill battle? Do you think they're in touch with how much the base has moved on this and how much more educated the base is on this now? I don't think a lot of them are. I don't think a lot of them understand it, but they should get it. And it's also, it's like, Look, foreign aid is always tough. It's always been a tough. You pull foreign aid for decades. Everyone thinks we give more foreign aid than we actually do.
Starting point is 01:08:24 They don't love it. But foreign aid to a country like Israel that is very rich, very powerful, has a great military, like a very strong military. And led by a war criminal. And has an authoritarian regime. So it's like at some point you look around the world and you're like, okay, what? maybe if we're going to give foreign aid and we're going to tell the American people, hey, we want to give some of your tax dollars to foreign aid, perhaps it should be to defend our allies, and we've done that with Israel in the past,
Starting point is 01:08:56 and to help people who are, like, starving and sick and in war-torn countries throughout the world. But, like, does the Israeli military really need U.S. dollars at this point? Maybe they did a couple decades ago. And morally, do we want to give it? it to Benjamin Netanyahu when he gave APEC, gave over $200 million to Trump, they wanted him to win. They did not prefer Kamala, and then they also control our opposition, Hakeem and Chuckles. You know, they will not have moral clarity on this issue. They would not. I went to the Zoron Mamdani victory party in New York. It was so cool, John. I mean, it's right after him.
Starting point is 01:09:36 I saw you and Hassan. I saw the picture. It looked great there. It looked so much fun. I had the best time, right? And I'm standing there and I thought, what a miss. What a miss that Hakeem and Chuckles are not there. It's wild. Hand in hand, riding the coat house of this affordability message of universal human rights. And it's because of their support for Israel who doesn't want Democrats to win. Israel does not want Democrats to win. Now, there are a lot of punked us when Obama was in the White House so many times goes to Congress to speak to our Congress without an invite from Barack Obama.
Starting point is 01:10:14 that's before he got really bad. Right. But they don't, he's never cared about like he cares about himself. Yeah. He's literally in it for himself. Like he's just trying to stay out of jail. And to do that,
Starting point is 01:10:25 he has kept, he's kept this war and these atrocities going. Yeah. And a lot of people say that he funded Hamas, you know, up to October 7. So it gets even dicier and diceer and it fucking pisses me off
Starting point is 01:10:38 that there are members of the Democratic Party that should be clear-eyed and have moral clarity on this. And they think, that we're stupid. Well, no, they'll say like, well, you're ignoring the fact that there really is anti-Semitism out there. It's like, no, I'm not.
Starting point is 01:10:52 Like, of course there's anti-Semitism. It's getting worse. Hateful, virulent anti-Semitism. And like, yes, it has come from some people who have protested, right? But like, that does not mean, just because that exists doesn't mean that there aren't also atrocities that have happened over the last several years. And knock, knock, knock, the majority of the anti-Semites are under the magotent. you think evangelicals, they have an apocalyptic nightmare dream for all of the Jews. Get to Israel
Starting point is 01:11:20 so Jesus can come send you to hell. I mean, the most anti-Semitic people I've ever met in my life are evangelical Christians. All of the tropes, all of the things, but also Donald Trump has from, you know, 2016, from Charlottesville all the way to now. And then, you know, at January 6th, a man had on a shirt that said, what is it? Camp Auschwitz. Camp Auschwitz. And you see the Nazi flags at January 6th. And it's the real heart of all of that are the people that the hard right Zionists have gone to seek safety with those people. And I'm like, oh, good luck.
Starting point is 01:11:57 I've been around these types of people in my whole life. Good luck with that because they will fuck you so fast. It'll make your head spin. I mean, right after they get their coalition. Okay. I just felt like we need to talk about that. Okay, this is a great one. Had it or hit it Trump's cabinet meetings.
Starting point is 01:12:13 I want to say hit it only because it is such great content. It is. It's great content. It's just, it slaps every time. Totally. It just really. And then you get that they're all, they're all, you know, glazing them the whole time. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:12:34 And they just, it's just like tuning in to hear how ridiculous it gets. Now, I would not want to be sitting there for all four hours of, you know, know, his Castro-like meetings there, but it is, it is something to behold. And it's fun, too, like today, watching Marco Rubio, like, try to talk to him while he's falling asleep. Yeah. That was satisfying to me. He is like, and you see the, like, the stroke residue.
Starting point is 01:13:00 I'm not a doctor, but I do think he's had a stroke. That's my professional opinion that I've never been to mescal. And he's just a sleep. And he's like, he was up all night with 7,000 texts. And if I close my eyes, what are they going to do to me? Okay. Had it or hit it the war on Christmas. Oh, had it. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. What war on Christmas? Who's Christmas wins every year. Every year. Christmas wins. I am an atheist and I have two Christmas trees. I have stockings. I love to go do Christmas things. I take joy in listening to Christmas carols and wrapping presents. As my mother would say, my atheist mother, well, you know, darling, it was really a pagan holiday before it was the Christmas. Christian holiday. And so we've always kind of culturally, you know, people are going to be
Starting point is 01:13:46 culturally Jewish. My family's kind of culturally Christian. But I think it's hilarious. And I love to tell like my Christian friends in Oklahoma, they're like, yeah, you know, we get to say Merry Christmas again. So that's so weird. I've been saying Merry Christmas forever. And I'm a total atheist. I'm always Merry Christmas. And then like, sometimes I'll say Happy Holidays. And like, that's not a, that doesn't, it's not put out by saying happy holidays to someone. It's such bullshit. You know what I call it? It's just buzzword politics.
Starting point is 01:14:15 Fox News is just all buzzword politics. Fascism. Communism. Feminism. Socialism. And they just throw out these scary words, a war on Christmas or Judeo-Christian values. I just want to go, shut the fuck.
Starting point is 01:14:31 I mean, those, that, oh my God. Most people don't want to hear it. Most people don't, aren't into their cultural worship. You know what drives me crazy about these women on Fox News? Oh, we get into it. that they are talking about women needing to marry and stay at home with their children. And these bitches are sitting up there working full time as they're sending that message. And I don't know if the average Fox viewer is so goddamn them.
Starting point is 01:14:54 They don't realize, hold up, sis, you're working. So what, why are you special? It's just, I don't, I don't, I guess there's so much cognitive dissonance in that world. Yeah. I haven't heard the, the women should stay home stuff from the Fox hosts recently. I feel like that's like a, you got to get into the. deep right-wing podcast. Sean Duffy's wife.
Starting point is 01:15:13 Oh, oh. She's been on there lately and she was talking about, just know that when you hear, now just know, when you hear the word feminism, that just means communism. We need to get back to our Christian roots. You know, Fox is now going to be introducing more Christian messaging in their news channel because that's what Fox viewers need. That is what they need. That is what they need.
Starting point is 01:15:36 We're trying to get rid of that radical empathy from Jesus. Okay. empathy dangerous all right last one had it or hit it the united states of america oh absolutely hit it love the united states of america and like i was saying earlier like i i believe that the democrat uh who's going to win in 2028 is going to be someone who reclaims patriotism defined as what this country was founded on the principles that it was founded on a revolutionary idea that had never been tried, which is we're going to organize a country around an idea that everyone is created equal.
Starting point is 01:16:15 And we're a bunch of slave owners and landowners who are not going to allow women to vote for many years. But now that we've put the idea out there, successive generations are going to fight and say, well, that's what it says. And so we're going to make the country a little better and we're going to make the country a little more inclusive and make the country a little richer for everyone involved. And that's what America is. and what is courageous and patriotic is to be self-critical of the country. Yes, right.
Starting point is 01:16:42 And to be confident that you don't have to fluff the country all the time and say, America's perfect and everything's wonderful and you can't criticize it. No, like real patriotism is saying, I love this country, I want to make it better. And what we have set up here in this democratic government is that we can come together, work together, and make this place a little bit better for ourselves and for our children. And then hopefully they can take up the mantle and they can do the same thing. And that's real patriotism. And the bullshit that they are spouting is just like airbrushed patriotism.
Starting point is 01:17:12 And where, you know, the president of the United States right now and his party are just sitting there like grabbing whatever they can for themselves, all the power they can, all the money they can. That's not patriotic. That's not America. That's not all men are created equal. That's bullshit. That's what we've had. That's what we had in this world before America came to be. where you had kings and you had dictators and you had people oppressing other people.
Starting point is 01:17:36 That's all of human history. America was the idea that tried to change all of that. Maybe we don't need to have a system where you just have a few powerful people oppressing everyone else. Maybe we can have a system where everyone gets a say and everyone can succeed. And that you don't have to tell people like for my group to do well, your group has to do bad. Maybe we can all do well. I bet for it. Okay.
Starting point is 01:18:01 I love that. I agree. We have to keep hitting America. Although, listener, I know sometimes we all feel like we've had it. And then we have to fight for it and hit it. And I'm going to do something really diabolical right now. I've been thinking about it all day. This is we're going to end it on this. Okay, pups. Fuck, Mary Kill. Can I say what you're going to say? John Fawr. John gave one or Tommy. Okay. I knew that was it. I knew that was it. Sorry. The three crooked media guys. I knew it was. Okay. First of all, obviously, love it. I have to marry. He's so funny. okay he's so much fun i'm asexual he's gay that's perfect match okay okay so that's kind of awkward
Starting point is 01:18:41 with john faber's hidden yeah i know but here's i know but you got i think he'd be more fun than tommy you're killing to me you think he'd be better in the sex i do because Tommy's pretty straight laced i feel like i told you it was diabolical Tommy definitely gives off a straight laced five he's probably not but sometimes those are the those are the ones that are yes sometimes those Maybe, John, you're the back. I would love you to marry Lovett and then just get back to me in like two years. He's so much fun, though. He is a lot of fun.
Starting point is 01:19:11 Is that not the greatest factor? Yeah. I knew that's what you were going to say. I knew. When we moved to L.A. in 2014, Lovett lived directly across the street from my now wife and I. And so he was basically living with us for two years. And it was hilarious and a lot.
Starting point is 01:19:28 Yeah, a lot. That is Lovett. It's hilarious. and wonderful and a lot. And he lives in L.A. And I don't. See, that's perfect. See, there you go.
Starting point is 01:19:35 It was perfect. Perfect marriage. Did he get married recently? Not yet. Not yet. Engaged. 2026. Oh, exciting.
Starting point is 01:19:41 It's coming. Yeah. Ari's wonderful. Yeah. Just tell you, when we had Lovett on, it was the day that the survivor came out that he got cut on. Literally the funniest thing that's ever happened. Finding out that Lovett was. I love it.
Starting point is 01:19:59 All right. Listener, thank you for. John, we hope we collab with you. Absolutely. Many more times. And I just want to say on a personal note, you've really kept the cruelty that the Trump administration is doing to immigrants. And I see it in my feed all the time.
Starting point is 01:20:15 And your compassion and humanizing those people, it's just so important. And I just as a person to person, I appreciate that content so much. Keeps me up at night. I hope it does something. All right, listener. We'll see you next Tuesday and Thursday. I'll tell you what I've had it with. I've had it with that.
Starting point is 01:20:36 Listen up, patriots, gaitriots, and natriots. We have a new podcast that has dropped. It's called IHIP News. It's Monday through Friday, every day, 15 to 20-minute hot takes on the political landscape of the United States of America always served with a side of petty grievances. We are on all the available platforms, Apple, Spotify, Google, whatever. get your podcast and YouTube. Please go rate, subscribe, and reviews so that we will chart upwards with America's greatest legal mind, pumps.
Starting point is 01:21:10 And pumps, what does an eagle say? Ciccaw! A little bit more enthusiasm. Caca! That's it. That's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's the patriotism that this country means right there.

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