The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 2: The Middle Seat of Middle Seats (feat. Senator Mark Kelly)

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

"I flew on a rocket ship built by the lowest bidder." Is it couth to pee on the floor of an airplane bathroom? Is it reasonable for the help to park your car too far from your private jet? Is George Clooney a little too happy about the Louvre heist? Additionally, Senator Mark Kelly is here to discuss the government shutdown and the Arizona Cardinals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The tequila. That invented tequila. Broximo.com. Please drink responsibly. Quervo. This is the Dan Levator show with the Stucats podcast. We will get back to our regularly scheduled hijinks and lighter fare here in a moment involving Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, Mark Schlarith being dirty, and George Clooney talking about the heist. But before we go any further, I did want to stop for a moment.

Our audience is usually very helpful in times of crisis. And if you haven't been watching what is approaching and in Jamaica over the last couple of days, a storm unlike any other as, you know, poor people are disproportionately affected by climate change. There are streets in Haiti and the Dominican that warned of this because they've become rivers. and the storm that has presently hit Jamaica has no precedent in Jamaica and has very little precedent in the history of storms. You're talking about in Hurricane Melissa a storm so strong that the hurricane tracking plane couldn't even go into it to measure the strength of it. So when they say 175 and 185 miles per hour, those are guesses and it's probably a lot worse than that because the water around there is so hot and so, deep that it's an endless fuel. So what you have presently happening in Jamaica is a real horror and about to get worse because the flooding afterward is something that is killing more

people when these kinds of storms happen than even the wind itself. So we will put up on the screen here some ways that you can help. Non-perishable foods are needed. Hygiene kits, generators, tarps, clothes, baby clothes, diapers, non-perishable baby food. You could go to American Friends of Jamaica, theafj.org, or you can go to global empowerment mission.org slash mission slash hurricane Melissa, because we're just beginning to see the catastrophic horrors of this.

This island is not equipped for this. Most places in the world are not equipped for this, Jamaica specifically is not equipped for the endless fuel in the warm water around its island. Just I want to say something that's not helpless and hopeless, heart, you know, thoughts and prayers seems really insufficient. But if it's in your heart to help, there are going to be people here over the next coming days, months, and years that are going to have a great deal of recovery problems from them. because just this storm is too strong. It's a ridiculous number. When Hurricane Andrew was 150 miles an hour

and people in Kendall from 30 years ago still talk about how it destroyed that community. And again, the plane couldn't even... There's not a precedent for a plane not... These planes are built to be able to go in and track how strong these storms are. So what's being reported is not even going to be accurate in terms of the strength of this storm

because of how hot the water is around Jamaica. So just really think about these people, and if you have it in your heart to help, this is a good cause to help as people obviously need help. Now, I don't have a proper segue to go after that particular footage where you just see everything blowing apart, but we will continue to try to do some of the silliness that we do around here every day the way that we do it.

So I know that Zazlo came in today, And Mark Schlerith is endlessly good content because we've been making fun of him for about 10 years around here because he is simply stronger and tougher than the rest of us are and a little bit dirtier as well. He is somebody. And I was just reminded of this. I saw that the Draft King's people are here. Our great partners will be with us tomorrow night at the Miller Light Watch Party in Kendall. And I noticed that we greeted them with a whole bunch of people who don't know how to use the toilets in here by just

urinating on the floor in there because there is just droplets of urine in there because people don't know how to use the bathroom around here. Well, yeah, we've got a bunch of untrained wolverines who live here. You've seen this, right? You guys, surely you guys have seen this. I've done it a number of times where I'm throwing napkins on the floor and cleaning it up with my feet because people around here don't know how to use the bathroom. But Mark Schlerth says he does this on purpose.

Can you give us some context, Azel, from the sound that we're about to hear here? because it delights you that Mark Schlaereth is dirty on purpose. Well, it delights me because I like Schlaerth, and he's always been good to me. He comes on my podcast often enough. I like Mark. What podcast is that? Saslo Show 2.0.

Please subscribe, do all that good stuff. I love you a long time. So I like stink, all right? And he was on my pal Nick Costos's show yesterday, and Nick asked him, what is something that bothers you when it comes to travel? Look, I travel every weekend, and there are people who are disgusting

with traveling. I try and be really courteous when I travel, you know? I wear pants. I wear sneakers. I try I don't bring smelly food. I try to be really courteous to other people on the plane. And here's Mark Schlereth

talking about what really bothers him about dirty people on airplanes. I will say one thing that irritates me. Now, see, now I'm telling on myself, people that don't know how to travel. Like, nobody wants to see your feet in flip-flops on a plane. Not one person. Nobody wants to see you in a tank top with your armpits hanging out. That drives me insane.

Have some coooth about you. Should the people in flip-flops on airplanes? Should they be executed? Well, I don't know about that, but I always pee on the floor to make sure. I've seen people walk in the socks in the bathroom. I always pee on the floor to make sure if you walk in and socks, you're getting urine on your feet. Yeah. That's what you do. Yeah. I got to tell you. I think he's on point. Absolutely. How else they go learn? 100%. There's no other way to teach him.

Walking around in socks? I mean, I know he's speaking for a lot of us. Yeah. That'll stop you. Yep. I think it's also exfoliating. Who's walking into a bathroom with socks? Is that a thing? We try to make sure they don't. The uncouth. Yeah. By pissing on that floor. That's what we do. Dan, have you never done that? I don't take my shoes off on an airplane and I don't purposely, I don't purposely pee on the floor.

How the hell else are they going to walk into the bathroom with their socks? Got to get him to stop. What else are you supposed to do? Yeah, you have to pee on that floor. Even when I have shoes on, I want to feel like ice capes. Like, I was just going to slip like a 1920s vaudeville show. It's a good core workout, actually. Put it on the poll, please, juju, at Levitard show.

worst airplane crime taking your shoes off or eating fish on an airplane which is the worst airplane crime if you guys could only choose one because i i got stuck on a flight from china that's a long flight next to somebody who kept bringing out some fried fish product uh and this was in a crowded cramped coach class flight i was in the middle and and there was just fried fish being eaten next to me the entire flight. It is the worst of the airplane crimes that I have been a victim. Why were you in the middle?

That's just, that's the, that's the flight that I got. Now, were you in the absolute worst seat, which is the middle seat of the middle seats? It was, yes, it was the middle seat, and it was like a big, it was a big plane, so it was like seven or eight seats, you know, it was a lot of seats. Two aisles, right? Yeah, yeah. Two aisles and you were in the

middle, middle, middle, middle, seat? Yeah. Oh, that's a long flight. You don't get off that plane. Somebody who just keeps reaching into a bag and grabbing something. It wasn't even like, it wasn't even normal fish. It was like an exotic fish that smelled really bad. Was it like the golden

child where they offered you some? Oh, hmm. And some other language. And you just kind of like had to put on your earphones. It was the worst victim airplane situation that I have had. Like, you guys complain sometimes about somebody putting

a seat back or some of the other airplane. It doesn't bother me. It doesn't bother you. It bothers a lot of people, especially in a tight space, but the taking of the shoes off is a complaint I hear a lot, but to me, having experienced it, the worst one is

somebody with stinky food. You just can't do that on an airplane in a flying tube that traps both air and smell. But speaking of airplanes, Stephen Ross, the owner of the dolphins, we have some footage here

of Stephen Ross. I have not seen this. Can you Can you tell me, Zaslow, who, where is this coming from that Stephen Ross is getting off his airplane? And he is mad that his car is, and now this is an 80 plus year old billionaire, he's mad that he's got to walk how much further to his car than he would like to. Because he wants, does he want the car to be right near the wheels, the way that Bougchambi flies where he's got so many miles, almost as many as a mean, where a Porsche just picks up Bougchambi near the wheels of the airplane? oh wow this was 20 extra yards that he did not want to walk I think it was less than that it seemed like the car was total from the plane 30 yards he got about 15 yards and was like what the hell are we doing here you can see

his arms waving like what is this you guys sound like a bunch of pores that's how the ultra elite and wealthy do man like just walking down he's like what is this what is this right here right here why we parked all the over there what this is like this like zaz taking his American Airlines bus Acting like it's blocks away, he has to walk. You guys sound like people who sit in the middle of middle seats. Oh, my God. Getting offered fried fish, exotic fried fish.

I love that. There is no audio on this. He could not be complaining about anything we're saying. No, no, it seems pretty obvious, though. No, we could have this wrong. He could just be like, I'm mad. I got to go to this meeting right now. He could be complaining about anything.

Guys, if you want to be fair to him. If we run it back, I think I know what he's complaining about. Apparently someone was walking around with socks because Mark Clearest peed everywhere. Like, what is this? What is all this pee here? Now. Everyone does this. It's not, I'm sad that Mark gave that away. Now, does this make Stephen Ross a good NFL owner or a bad NFL owner?

It's a huge puddle of P right there in the middle of the tarmac. There's nothing else he could possibly be motioning about other than the car, right? Or P. Do you think that one guy that just handed him his jacket is just his jacket holder? Like, that's just what he does. You say his whole job is to jacket? I mean, hand him the jacket, sorry. The championship four are locked in.

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I went in the margins. I'm like, I'm like, you're a moneyball of sex? I'm basically Scott Hatterberg for fucking. Stugats. A lot of walks, but I'm on base. When it comes to sex with Scott Hattberg. Other dudes, they can be Giambi. You know your role you play well?

I know my role. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats. George Clooney has chimed in on this heist that we've been talking about because there is no greater connection point other than 90s baseball than the people around here at Metal Arc Media have when it comes to engaging in community conversation than just interest in a heist or a heist movie. George Clooney has weighed in on the heist at the Louvre that ended up with people taking crown jewels. that have not yet been recovered, right? They have not, nobody has found who's trying to sell these, where they're being sold. I do not think that there is a black market that would make it an ability that anyone would have to be able to actually sell this. You steal it and you're going to have to hold on to do it for a while.

And when you do try to sell it, I believe you're going to get caught trying to sell it. Dan, when you do a heist, you don't just do it blind. You already have the fence lined up. That's the way you do. It's the planning. It's part of the planning. I'm the guy, the stick-up guy. He's the guy who's going to case the joint.

These are the guys who are actually going to go. One is a demolitions expert. The other one knows how to pick locks. And then what we're going to do is we take it to our fence contact, who usually is in Vienna or Zurich, one of those cities. It's never like in the city you're in. And he's already giving you a price. But what ends up happening is he double-crosses you.

Oh, no. And I think that's what happened because, you know, they got caught, right? I did not know that. I did not know that. Spoiler, a couple of them. Okay, I was not aware of that. Let's hear what Clooney had to say on the subject. Yeah, I mean, it is pretty funny because it really was like in the middle of broad daylight.

Crazy. All the two. I wonder if they're going to catch these guys. I mean, they seem to have done a pretty good job of getting away with it. Seven minutes. I know. I watched the film of them coming down to. And you said you should be in the back.

You should be in the bucket, yeah. It was cool, though. I mean, yeah, cool. I mean, it's terrible. But. If you're a professional thief like I am, I was very proud of those guys. He's kind of got the reaction all of us have. Yeah, terrible to steal, but also pretty cool to be around a heist

and to hear about a modern day heist. He's like a little too proud, right? Like to where it makes you a little bit suspicious that he's a part of it? Like it would be the perfect crime. George Clooney, part of all the Oceans movies. Oh, yeah. I mean, pretty cool, right? Like, it's amazing that those guys got a broad daylight.

I wonder how they did it. It's pretty good. I mean, you know, terrible. But. Jeremy this is how it goes He does a media tour Because he becomes the expert kind of people like go to him Ask questions about like oh no it's really

Dada da da and then he kind of laughs like Back in my day And then he gets in the limo And the camera pans over to the other side of limo And it's the thieves The heisters are right there And say you're done getting your publicity He's like settle down

He's the fence that's who it is George Cooney is now escalated He was a heist guy Now he's the fence. He's the guy that comes. And that's why he double crosses him because, you know, once a thief, always a thief. Well, and that's why there's still one person on the loose. Like they have, you know, caught a couple of people.

But reportedly, there are still people who are out there who were involved in it. And you wonder, could that be Clooney? Could there be another masked vigilante who's a part of this? I really have no idea. The guy on the loose, this is what happened. They all left. They scattered. And then they had the rendezvous point.

And they're like, okay, let's go to Clutie now. guy on the list said, no, I don't trust that MFer, man. I don't trust him. I don't trust him. He's going to sell us out. I'm not going down with you guys. Like, come on, man. The money's there. Let's just get out of here and go to Mexico. Like, no, man, you guys are on your own. And then he takes his share of the jewels and he books it.

And then he's watching the news. And he's like, son of a bitch, I knew it. And I really thought Clooney was like a great actor, right? But if he's involved in it, I mean, the amount of pride that's in his voice. And when he goes, you know, it's terrible. Makes a face like, we all know it's not terrible. I don't think it's terrible for real, but I know I have to say it's terrible.

He doesn't believe that at all, Dan. Is it terrible? Look, look, in a world full of crimes against humanity. It's illegal. That's my gimmick. It's illegal. It's illegal. Is it terrible?

Oh, the crown jewels, who cares? This does not impact anybody's life. Look at that face. That is not the face of someone who actually believes something is terrible. He's proud. Why don't we put Suggots up there? We're going to play another rousing rendition of real or fake podcast. But before we do that, I just, because Inter Miami is up 1-0 in their playoff series after being extinguished.

They ever going to finish that series? In the first round, there's a week between game one and game two. Welcome, everybody. There's a week between league games. That's how they do it in soccer. And because we had Andres Cantor on South Beach Sessions and we're hoping to make him a part of our buildup to World Cup coverage because we want to cover the World Cup well. I have seen recently here that Trump is now threatening World Cup host cities and is making cities that are not as dangerous as he says they are. He continues to make liberal cities more dangerous than they actually.

are what do you make of him now threatening? No, no way. Donald Trump would do that? Him? The reality show host? Now he is threatening World Cup cities with taking away their games and if he can do this all of a sudden Miami's going to have

a lot more games than Miami was going to have before. I'm not sure, I'm not sure that's great for Miami. It's great and the ideal is great for Miami. But the last time we hosted one of these games, we didn't quite have the, not one of these games, but again, like it. We didn't quite have the security for it and what ended up happening is you just had

a bunch of brown people climbing through air conditioning ducts at Hard Rock Stadium. Yeah, Chris Cody's ticket never got scammed. I just walked in. I had a ticket and I was like anyone? But that was Gombie Ball and since Enfifah did organize some games over the summer with the Club World Cup and those went without incident and Trump has decided that Miami is not one of these democratically led cities that bother him. So perhaps Miami stands to gain from what was a threat that felt empty a couple of months ago when he threatened to take World Cup games away from Chicago, which if you have ran at Google, you'd know Chicago doesn't have any, but he threatened to take World Cup games away from a city that didn't have it. And now his

latest threat, as he showed. And FIFA kind of just stayed quiet on that front. I guess, like, this is the latest thing that he's obsessed with and we'll just move on. But he brought it back when he was asked about the mayoral election happening in New York. And the final, is going to be a MetLife Stadium. Then he threatened to perhaps move the final away from New York if he felt like these cities were a little too dangerous. Again, MetLife Stadium, not in New York. It's actually in New Jersey.

But I do think the notable thing here is Johnny Infantino or Johnny Soccer, as Donald Trump has called him before. He has actually said, no, this is something that can happen. Now, you'd imagine this would be a logistical nightmare as people have already been planning their trips over to the United States for the World Cup. You don't really see venue changes on such short notice. And yes, a year out for something like the World Cup final is short notice.

Could be an empty threat. Could be something legitimate, though, because the head of FIFA just said, no, it's something that we can do. So we will wait to see if he actually threatens to take games away from cities that actually are hosting FIFA World Cup events. Johnny Infantino is a great name for somebody who's doing criminal or immoral things. For sure. Just really solid as a name.

I would convict Johnny Infantino of just about anything that you were accusing him of, just based on having the name Johnny Infantino. By the way, shout out to FIFA because he succeeded set bladder, which is also a name that sounds like I'm into all types of criminal activity. Yeah, look, it's really unfair to levy that kind of stereotype against a head of FIFA. Dog, do you understand what kind of rigmarole you got to do? for your name to be Joseph and he said, my nickname isn't Joe or Joey, it's SEP. Shit, that's gangster. Put it on the poll at Lebitard Show. Name that you're more likely to associate with criminal activity.

Sep Blatter or Johnny Infantino, just as a name. Go ahead and play the sep bladder sound of him celebrating the fact that sep bladder gets to be once and for all, forever more, the president of everything. So I'm the president of everybody. There is no retains. That's just president of the whole FIFA. Voila.

Walla. Let's play a rousing rendition here of real or fake podcast to conclude our two here. Time to think fast. Is this a real or fake podcast? It's been a while since we've done this, so I've been in the lab.

I'm trying to trick you guys. That's what I try to do with this. The game is simple. You guys make guesses on a podcast that I say out loud, and you try to guess whether or not it is real or fake. First one up. Closed on Sunday with Patrick Sertan. I'm going to fake.

If it was with bolster tans, I'd believe you. I wish it was real. That's an awesome name for a podcast with Patrick Sartan specifically, but I'm going to say fake. We all think it's fake. I'll say real. That is a real podcast. What?

Oh, snuck in there. We all apologies. Next up, serving it up with Lance Lynn. Who would listen to that? That's such a good poll of a name. Would Cardinals fans even listen to that? Fake. I mean, serving it up means he's allowing home run.

Right. Right. Why? No, that can't be right. Oh, we place for those Cardinals. That is a real podcast for the outspoken Lance Lynn. Co-host Nate McLeave. Holiday.

Michael Holly. No, no way. That's real. My man, Michael Holly is not a hack, man. It's real. I don't know. I like that name. I'm going to say that that's not, that's hosted by Matt Holliday. Holliday, hosted by Michael Holly, is fake. I told you. Michael Holley is a journalist, man. Next one. Flutie Flake cast with Doug Flutie. No way. Do they still make Fudy Flakes? If they do, then yes, it's real.

If they don't, then know. Flutie Flakes cast. I forgot an ass. Flutie Flakes cast. No, it's all fake. Everything is fake. Including Nugent. It makes me a little more convinced.

If it was Flutie Nugentics cast, would you believe it? Flutie Flake's cast is a real podcast. What? Hosted by Doug Flutie. No. Lastly, trade and paint with Bobby Allison. That's real. That's real.

That's on Sirius XM NASCAR radio. Hey, real. Bobby Allison died in 2024. But he had a podcast. So real or fake? No, he was in his 80s. It's a fake podcast. And boom goes the dynamite.

That's annoying. What? You're a muffler. You don't hear it? Oh, I don't even notice it. I usually drown it out with the radio. How's this? Oh, yeah.

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We're going to win. They're annoying. What an old reference. This is the Dan Lebatar show with the Stugats. He looks like you're all set for Halloween. What gives you that impression, Senator? I saw a witch in the corner and there's a skull. Thankful when Mark Kelly makes time for our program.

He's a former U.S. Navy combat pilot, an astronaut. He's the senator from Arizona and we are in the center of, I'm going to call it, government crisis shutdown, but we'll see what he calls it. Thank you again for making the time for a senator. Last time you came on with us, you believed in the Arizona Cardinals and Kyler Murray. You should not. Has your faith been shaken since you were on with us?

They're now two and five. The two and five and loss to the Tennessee Titans, I think, right, a week or two ago? An impossible loss. A truly impossible loss. Even in your history in Arizona sports, there's never been a loss like that one. Yeah, of course you're going to win some, you're going to lose some, but you shouldn't lose to the Titans, especially this season. So I am concerned. I'm hopeful about Kyler Murray coming back. And we'll get back on track here. We've got a lot of season left in front of us. You shouldn't be hopeful. You should not be hopeful.

You will not get back on track. It's okay. I don't want to argue with you right now. There are enough problems in the country, and it's not the reason that we had you on. So as it relates to the government shutdown, what concerns you most here? Well, it's all the folks out there that health care is going to, you know,

rise rapidly for them to pay for health insurance. It's live right now on health care.gov. People are logging on. They're going to see what their premiums. they're going to look like. And the folks that I speak to in Arizona, it's unaffordable for so many people. And that means millions of people across the country are not going to be able to afford their health insurance. So they're going to, they're often going to drop it. And then they're going to be one accident or illness away from a bankruptcy. This is not good. Also not good is that

thousands of federal employees and members of the military, I think this Friday, right, is when missed paychecks start? Well, for members of the military, it's going to be up. to what Donald Trump does next, we're looking at ways to make sure people get paid. Members of the military should not miss paychecks. I spent 25 years in the Navy. I understand, especially for young service members, what they're dealing with, with not getting a check to pay their rent or buy groceries. But I think it's important for people to remember that this could be easily fixed. I mean, the president took off on a trip to Asia. He needs to get back here and sit down with Democrats and Republicans and just sort this thing out.

The president said that he is not in favor of these premiums going up to a point where it's unaffordable. But he hasn't been talking to us about it. And that is a big problem. He spent, by the way, Dan, he has spent more time on that ridiculous ballroom than he has on the price of people's health care. Also a problem is food stamps. 40 million Americans are going to lose access here to supplemental nutrition. Is that going to happen? Like, do you, is there any way of warding that one off?

Very simple for that not to happen. There was a contingency fund made explicitly for this purpose so that in the case of a government shutdown, there is money available to pay for SNAP benefits for food stamps so people don't go hungry. But here's the problem. Donald Trump said, He's not going to use that contingency fund because he would rather just have people go hungry instead of deal with the problem and deal with the system that we set up to address this. Is this going to be something that we can ward off, Senator?

Like, how do you see this going? Well, this is easily fixed. Just come to Congress or folks will go to the White House to talk to him. He's got to get back from this trip. He left in the middle of a government shutdown. He left when people were facing these rising health care. costs. He left when there are issues with paying air traffic controllers and others. And he left with this looming crisis of people not being able to get the money for the food assistance they

need. In my state, that's almost a million people. Across the country, it's 40 million people. So this is ridiculous that this has gotten to this point. But unfortunately, for Congress to solve anything because of how beholden Republicans in the House and the Senate are to the president and what he thinks and what he says. He's the guy who has to solve this problem at this point. I asked you a form of this question before, but I will ask it more directly this time. Do you believe that the game plan here when you keep saying this is easily fixed is to break the government? We don't want to break the government. I mean, I serve as the United States senator I spent 25 years in the Navy and at NASA we that that is not the intention

here by myself or any of my colleagues there are some folks I think that serve that fundamentally do not believe in government what we want is to get them to the table to solve the crisis that people like my constituents like Brent in Mesa who has lupus who can't afford his health insurance or Emily who's married to a who get their, they get their health insurance for her, her husband, the pastor, the kids through the Affordable Care Act, they're not going to be able to afford it either. I've got story after story of people that are going to be in a horrible situation on November 1st. And they're going to

have to start making decisions about, you know, do they pay their rent this month or their premium on their health care? Do they put groceries on the table? And Dan, I think it's really important for people to recognize, how did we get here? The reason why we are here is that this president and Republicans in the House and the Senate wanted to give a giant tax cut to billionaires and it's partially paid for. There's still a lot of debt associated with this $4 trillion, but it's partially paid for by kicking people off of Medicaid and raising and raising their premiums if they get their health care from the Affordable Care Act. That was to pay partially for the tax cut.

You are somebody who believes in the ideals of this country. Have you, and you don't do hopeless and you don't do helpless, but have you ever felt as close to hopeless and helpless as you do right now when you see the amount of crises that you're surrounded by? Dan, I'm an eternal optimist. I am a guy who flew on a rocket ship built by the lowest bidder. You got to be an optimist. So I think we can get through this.

We can sort this out this week if we could just get them engaged on it. If we can get the president engaged on this problem. It is something that you're answering that way because you're an eternal optimist, but I really am asking you if you've ever seen this number of things at your doorstep that, while uncomplicated, do seem to be adversely affecting the poor more than just about anything and anyone else. Working class and poor folks in our country have been screwed over by the government for decades. We have rising disparities in not only income and net worth.

And it's happened and people's wages have not risen unless you're a CEO or the CFO of a company. The system has been rigged against working class people. and that's what you're seeing here. You look at the situation with our neighbors to the south of Jamaica going through a Category 5 hurricane right now. What is the process of delivering humanitarian aid to them? Well, we had one. I'm not so sure that process exists anymore because Donald Trump got rid of USAID. So we don't have the professionals.

We don't have the funding anymore. We don't have the programs available to a CISAID. countries when they have catastrophic things happen. And it wasn't a lot of money. When people argue we shouldn't be giving money to these other countries, it is in our self-interest to support other nations. As the United States of America, the richest country, most powerful country on the planet,

we have benefited by helping countries like Jamaica if it goes through a catastrophic category five storm. I'm not so sure we have the ability to do that right now. Certainly the Department of Defense could step in and do some things, but we do not have the capacity to deal with things like this as we did 10 months ago. Do you have one thing above all others that is more likely to make you go home and test the eternal optimist in you by saying like this is the greatest of the problems facing us right now as a country, as a government? Well, you know, folks, when they can't buy groceries and put food on the table, they tend to be focused just on that and their safety. And I get that. I do worry about our democracy and the attack on institutions and the way the Justice Department is now being used by the president to go after his perceived enemies.

That is an erosion of all of those things that kind of bind us together as a nation and we're really divided. And I worry about that division and the politicization of everything and polarization. We're one nation. We've got to stick together. We've got a lot of adversaries in the world, a lot of countries that want to push us down, set us aside that are threatening to us, threatening to our safety. We've got incredible challenges, not just here at home, but around the world. We're best able to meet those challenges if we stick together. And I think this president uses every single opportunity to try to divide us as a people.

And that is very concerning to me. Senator, is going to space fun. It is the best. It is like, I mean, climbing into a rocket ship, strapping into that sea. turning all the stuff on. You're laying on your back. Countdown clock gets to zero. Seven and a half million pounds of thrust on your back, accelerating from zero to 17,500 miles an hour and eight and a half minutes. It is the most crazy and incredible ride anybody could experience. I highly recommend it for you guys. Hell yeah. You spent how many days in space? More than 50, right? You spent how many?

Yeah, I did four missions of the space station. I was the pilot and the commander of the space shuttle a couple times each i was the last commander of space shuttle endeavor i went to the space station four times i have 56 i think 56 days in space i can't go i get vertigo my brother has a lot more he spent a year on the space station and six months the time before that uh scary or not scary to you because you're saying it's the best i mean you're concerned i mean you know what the risk is there's a a reasonable probability that you're going to die, but it's also in furtherance of, you know, exploration and science, and it's really good for our country to do these kind of things. So you do, you do look at the risk, reward proposition, and it's not just the reward, you know,

to me personally. It's like, what does this do for our country? You know, that's why, you know, I'm still a big supporter and will continue to be a support. supporter of our space program, you know, trying to get Americans back to the surface of the moon before the Chinese do this, do it a different way where we can build an economy on the moon, kind of like we built an economy in lower orbit with commercialization and private partners. I want to make sure we do this before the Chinese do it. What kind of message would it send to the rest of the world if you got Chinese cosmonauts walking around on the surface of the moon, planting their flag,

talking about how they are the leaders in science and technology and exploration, and we're struggling to catch up. We don't want to be in that situation. Yeah, it's like being the Cardinals. You're always behind. Just this season, Dan, just this season. Not just the season. Senator, grateful for your time and grateful for your work.

Thank you, sir. Thank you for having me on. And Josiah, I heard you say Department of Defense. I don't know if you got the memo, but it's- I will always say that we have not. change the name. There is no memo that matters. You're going to treat it like Twitter. Congress gets to decide.

Amen. If anybody says Department of War to you guys, you tell them that's not the name. Yeah. All right. Hell yeah. You could tell them, I said so. Seems like the name. Hoorrah. Now's a good time to remember where tequila's story truly began. In 1795, Cuervo

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