The Philip DeFranco Show - Flock's Joe Rogan Problem Changes Everything

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

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Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 And then there's more we gotta dive into in just a minute, but first let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, August is a great time for a reset before fall gets chaotic and my closet, it could use some adult supervision. That's where today's sponsor, Quince comes in. Quince makes fewer better pieces from premium materials the things you'll reach for constantly. And I really like their staples like organic cotton teas
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Starting point is 00:01:33 senators launched investigations. You've got the internet divided around this school bus scandal where a mom broke a bus window to get her son who was locked inside. And RFK Jr. just accused Josh Shapiro of fabricating measles deaths. Meanwhile, RFK himself is facing accusations that he blatantly lied to Congress. We're talking about all of that and even more. On today's brand new Philip DeFranco show, you daily dive into the news, starting with this. We need to talk about flock, right? Flock cameras.
Starting point is 00:01:55 Because we've been talking about them and all the backlash for a decent while now, But you also just got a major update on that front with Senator Josh Hawley launching an investigation into Flock and the data that its cameras have collected, with Holly writing a letter to the CEO saying, In a few short years, Flock has assembled an unprecedented national surveillance network. Your company boasts more than 120,000 cameras across 49 states and more than 20 billion vehicle scans every month. And adding the overwhelming majority of the Americans captured in those records did nothing wrong. The American people want to know who has access to their personal data and how this investigation will seek those answers. Right, because just a surface level refresher here,
Starting point is 00:02:27 Flock cameras are AI-powered, automated license plate readers that capture vehicle details as they travel on public streets. Right, and once a car is logged by a flock camera, it goes into a massive system that can be searched by law enforcement all over the country. And you have many Americans that think this goes beyond public safety and violates our right to privacy, arguing that these are tools of a surveillance state, right for abuse. And you had Holly, pointing to the many situations where law enforcement officers misuse these cameras often to stock X's and added. Congress never authorized a network your industry has built. Your company's internal policies are in practice the only safeguards were hundreds of millions of Americans. So you've got Holly asking Flock to turn over all documents related to its policies on law enforcement access and data handling as well as a list of any known or suspect misuse of its systems and files on the camera's accuracy. With this, Flock's representatives say that the company actually supports legislative guardrails and looks forward to sharing information with Holly.
Starting point is 00:03:13 But if Holly doesn't get everything that he asked for, he could seek his subpoena to force the release. And he probably wouldn't have a hard time getting his Democratic colleagues to back him on the issue. Because while yes, we've seen more Republican politicians in support of this, this has become a very bipartisan issue. And you've had people from both parties making very vocal condemnations of these cameras, but then also in recent days. And it might be because they were realizing they were being seen as being on the wrong side of this issue. We've seen a lot of pushback specifically from Republicans. And you have many reports noting that Holly's investigation is the most concrete action national lawmakers are taken on the issue so far. And you've had others back in this call.
Starting point is 00:03:42 Yesterday you had Florida governor Ron DeSanta saying that he understands why the general public is so upset with these cameras and even calling for legislation. These cameras, the license plate readers, I think it's out of control. I'm all about having law enforcement have tools to be able to hold criminals accountable. But I don't want to have this become a surveillance state. I don't want to be in a situation where these tech companies, a handful of tech companies, know everything about you and know where you're going. And I know they collect a lot as it is, but I think it's going to get a lot worse unless we have some protections for the people in Florida.
Starting point is 00:04:20 And so it's going to need to be, but the only way it could be done, dealt with is legislatively. Right, and DeSantis' take here is interesting because we also saw a crazy story where law enforcement used a fake decoy flock camera to trick and arrest someone there. Right, because like we talked about it, as part of this massive backlash against flock, people are popping out of the comments section. You see in a ton of Americans either, vandalizing, destroying, or removing these cameras to stop their surveillance. And at least in one town outside of Orlando, there's been a string of flock camera theft. Right, and last week, a mass guy carrying pruning shear saw what he thought was a flock camera and he allegedly started batting it down
Starting point is 00:04:49 and smashing it all while police were watching and waiting. Right, but it wasn't actually a It was decoy bait that had been set by local law enforcement to catch potential vandals. So now, that guy's facing three felony charges, including damaging computer equipment, resulting in the endangerment of human life, which carries up to 30 years prison time. In that situation, it stands out for a number of reasons, because it's also sparked this massive debate about the tactics that police use. You had the city's mayor telling the New York Times that she doesn't think that it legally counts as entrapment, but publicly writing that she was speechless to learn of this stunt from
Starting point is 00:05:16 the cops in her city. And of course, even that's just one part of it. In recent days, even more towns and cities have decided to end their contracts with flock in response to the outrage from their residents. And you've also got big names and voices like Joe Rogan speaking out about this with him saying on a recent episode of his show. I'm worried. I don't like this flock camera thing.
Starting point is 00:05:31 It freaks me out. There's people that have had access to these things that probably shouldn't have access to. And they're getting arrested. So it's like, how long was this going on? What has happened? How many lives have been altered forever because someone had access to this and some cop who wasn't supposed to when it did something to someone that he wouldn't have been able to to do. You can't just spy on us and just be a corporation and have access to all the license
Starting point is 00:05:59 plates and all the cars. And now they can track you through GPS and the unique characteristics of your phone. And then also a few days ago, there was a lot of backlash because the CEO of Flock, he appeared on Fox News where he suggested that privacy involves compromise. I value my privacy. My family violence in their privacy. My employees value their privacy. But what we're talking about is safety as well. And so I think when people talk about just one of these, privacy or safety, they're prioritizing the wrong thing. What we have to prioritize as a country is compromise. How do we have our safety and how do we balance privacy?
Starting point is 00:06:30 He then saw a number of lawmakers slamming this, saying things like you can't compromise the Constitution and our founding fathers are rolling in their graves at the suggestion. Just yesterday you had Bernie Sanders saying that he plans in introducing legislation to stop flock and AI mass surveillance writing. Do we want to live in an America where AI companies like flock can work with the government to track our every movement? Do we want to live in an America where our privacy rights and civil liberties enshrined and the Constitution are traded away so that AI oligarchs can collect more information and increase
Starting point is 00:06:56 their profits even more. And so in the meantime, we're going to, one, have to see what actually happens, and also two, with the midterms in mind, see which side capitalizes the most right now. Because the outrage, the backlash, the concern around all this, that is bipartisan. And as far as my opinion, I don't think it's a secret. My mindset is fuck flock. It seems primed for abuse. We have seen instances of abuse. They say that it is not a big brother state because, what, it's a private company. So it is a big brother state just with an extra step and some other people also making money off of it. So yeah, my personal take right now is that I really do not like it or trust it. And then more specifically, the more I see from the CEO of flock, the more I'm like
Starting point is 00:07:30 red, flags, left and right. But then jumping from that to other news, we should talk about this locked bus scandal that's just blown up online. And depending on where you go on the internet, there are a lot of people saying that this mom who will explain why she's a mid-school bus lunge in a second is in the wrong and others saying she's actually in the right, she's a hero. But I'll let you be the judge, right? Because this whole situation, it took place in Calaveras County, California this week. And you have this school bus, it's full of kids on the way home, totally normal stuff. But then you have the school bus driver pulling off onto the side of Highway 49 and locking the bus down after a student wiggle their way out of the window. And you had kids telling reporters
Starting point is 00:08:01 afterwards that after that everyone was getting wound up, but the driver said that no one was getting getting off the bus until the police showed up. And so that was the way that it stayed for roughly an hour in the hot California sun as kids started calling their parents. And when these parents then started rolling up, the driver reportedly stuck to his guns. No kid was getting through the door of that bus until the police showed up. But then what you saw is that some of the parents were just not having it, including one mom who broke the window and then climbed in to get her son. And while that was the most extreme response that you saw, and thus has been kind of the focal point of this story and that mom actually reportedly got charged with vandalism, several other
Starting point is 00:08:30 parents also gave their kids the okay to climb out of the window and the driver still refused. And you're going to have me my child when he calls me and he's scared, you know, like I said, second time he's ever ridden the bus. I went right to the door and I was like, dude, open the door, let me have my kid. And he's like, I'm not doing that. Then I gave my child permission to now hop out the window. That was also not the universal response here. You also had another mom on the scene, Rebecca Glover, telling her kids to stay seated and listen to the bus driver.
Starting point is 00:08:50 I told my kids stay seated and just wait it out because there was not just one child they had to think of. They had to think of every single child on that bus. Parents think that they can just take matters into their own hands like that. And so as the clips of, you know, the mom climbing in and the kids climbing out gain traction online, we saw the debate around this explode. We saw a lot of people agreeing with the parents who demanded that their kids be released saying things like. So basically, the bus driver held her child captive in a bus, so for the protection of her child, she busted a window out to allow her child an escape, saying, I side with a parent who wasn't stupid enough to put their child's well-being in the sole hands of a nobody bus driver. And I'm sorry, but the bus driver does not have a right to hold my child locked on a bus,
Starting point is 00:09:31 especially when I, the parent, am there to collect them. The moment that I show up to collect my child is the moment that my child needs to exit the bus into my custody. Anything short of that, we're going to have problems. Also others were quick to come to the bus driver's defense. They don't know which kid belongs to who and who. who's allowed to pick up which kid or really anything, saying that in this case, the bus driver was just doing
Starting point is 00:09:50 what he was supposed to, keeping all the kids safe until the police arrive. And also, there's another layer to this, right? There's a conversation around parenting in general that we're seeing. Right, Rebecca, the mom who told her kids to wait out the chaos on the bus, told reporters that this is an example of parents letting their kids run wild with no consequences. I think parents are now sending their children to school to be parented
Starting point is 00:10:07 instead of parenting their children at home. And that is a concern. And that was something that was echoed in conversations online with people saying things like, basically these parents are enablers. Their kids were so rowdy the bus driver had to pull over and call LE, saying, I blame the parents and their unruly kids, the whole, but my little Johnny is a good kid. And so in part, the situation, it brings up the question of, is it just a crazy outlier thing, or is that an extension of what's been happening at schools? Or because reportedly, student behavior issues in the classroom and in school spaces, that has been on the rise in the last few years. According to an Edweek Research Center survey, for example, more than 70% of teachers say that their students have been misbehaving either a little or a lot more since the fall of 2019.
Starting point is 00:10:43 Which then can also naturally have an impact on the actual education. And with that, you had a 20-21 study finding that nearly a third a teacher has said that student misbehavior, it interferes with the actual teaching. That's as you have students performing at some of the worst levels in years. Now, obviously, that's gonna be due to a combination of reasons, and I will say this is kind of a secondary thing that just is kind of tugging at my brain here. But to bring it back to the bus, I really would love to know what are your thoughts here? Right? Is the mom who busted onto the bus in the wrong? Or the parents that told their kids to get off the bus?
Starting point is 00:11:10 Are they in the wrong? Are they enablers, like some have said? Or do you think they were the best? the ones in the right that the bus driver was in the wrong here. What do you think and why? I'd love to hear from you in those comments down below, because again, depending on where you go on the internet, drastically different takes. And then from that, we've gotta dive into the R of K Junior
Starting point is 00:11:23 Josh Shapiro situation as well as the Mike Collins situation, but first two things. One, if you like this show, but you want it to be ad free and or you wanna help support it, you should go sign up at PhilipdeFranco.com. There's a free subscription as a free subscription, free gives you email updates when the show is out, as well as a daily morning newsletter.
Starting point is 00:11:39 And paid gives you the show with no ads. And then two, I'll be right back after a quick break from our sponsor. For those of us still working on something for over a year and you still don't have a website, I need you to ask yourself this. Are you actually closer to launching than you were six months ago? And that's not a knock, that's a genuine question, right? Because that's just what happened when the build feels harder than the idea.
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Starting point is 00:12:39 Ready to take your investing knowledge to pro level? This is Fidelity Connects, your daily edge in the markets. Get deep insights on real-time market topics that may impact your investment portfolio. Listen to Fidelity Connects on Spotify today and power your next move tomorrow. Then, Devin, right back into the news, you've got RFK Jr. now claiming that Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro may have made up two measles-related deaths in the state to score political points. Right, and you have that going down as newly revealed documents indicate that RFK Jr. knowingly lied to Congress.
Starting point is 00:13:08 Happy Thursday. Okay, so here we go. So earlier this week, the state's health department confirmed. two measles associated deaths in the state. That marked the first measles related deaths in the U.S. this year and the first in Pennsylvania in 35 years. And actually something that's been underreported here is that the department has now confirmed that one of the two people who died was an infant. And of course, all of this, it's coming as the U.S. is experiencing a record-setting year for measles. And even though it's only August, there have been more cases reported in 2026 than in any other
Starting point is 00:13:31 year since the virus was declared eliminated in 2000. In fact, you have some outlets reporting that it's the highest number of cases since a large flare-up in 1991. While there have been other outbreaks all over the country, Pennsylvania has become the epicenter of the most recent one. And according to the state's online dashboard as yesterday, there have been 424 total cases and 73 hospitalization so far this year. But also a key thing is, of those reported cases, 94 have been reported just in the last seven days alone. So that means that roughly one in five cases this year have happened just in the last week. And that's as you have many experts saying, the number is actually a lot higher. But this latest outbreak is largely centralized in Lancaster
Starting point is 00:14:02 County, which is home to large men of night and Amish communities that usually avoid traditional health care. And with all this, in a press conference addressing the deaths, you had Governor Shapiro sharply criticizing RFK Jr. and Trump. We're saying that Secretary Kennedy had called him and offered to send staff to help and controlling the outbreak, but he declined, arguing that the state could manage an adding. I was very, very blunt with him, and I made very clear that his actions and the rhetoric that's coming from this administration are having a negative impact on communities across American, particularly right here in Pennsylvania, that there's real life consequences to spreading
Starting point is 00:14:41 misinformation. There's real life consequences to scaring people and not relying on actual doctors and actual medical professionals to provide unbiased information to parents so that we can make reasonable decisions for our kids. Right. Well, RFK has fostered this community of anti-vaxxers and vaccine skeptics, that sentiment, it was something that a lot of people shared. RFK Jr. has repeatedly spread conspiracy theories about vaccines, particularly the measles vaccine encouraging, unproven treatments, promoting skepticism, and just generally sharing anti-vax talking points. And while more recently, he's finally stepped up to some degree and encouraged families to get their kids vaccinated, it only goes so far after years of misinformation and mixed messaging.
Starting point is 00:15:23 I mean, we're talking about the man who literally visited a farm in Lancaster County back in 2021, where he told the Amish community that health authorities wanted them to get vaccinations because, quote, they cannot stand the fact that you are healthy. Again, our now secretary of health and human services went to this community and said they cannot stand the fact that you are healthy. That's why they want you to get vaccination. Also, hey, it's not just RFK Jr. Just earlier this month, he would trump himself making this wild and totally unsubstantiated claim about the commonly used combination shot for measles, mumps, and rubella, known as MMR. You have the MMR. We wanted in three separate vaccinations, given it separate times.
Starting point is 00:15:58 together there could be a possibility. They're quite lethal. And separately, it looks like they are not at all lethal, but just very effective. But you have experts widely agreeing, that's just not true. And even Trump, he appeared to admit that there was no evidence for his claim.
Starting point is 00:16:13 Mr. President, I think I heard you say that the MMR vaccine for Mrs. Monson-Mobile is quite lethal. Is there any evidence of that? No. What I've heard is that there are some people that say it is that way. and I say, well, let's say there's a 5% chance of it. Let's split it up. Let's split it up.
Starting point is 00:16:36 But then with all this, unsurprisingly, RFK, he gets pissed off about Shapiro's accusation that he spread misinformation. And so he responded by hitting back in a Twitter post where he literally just spread more misinformation, writing. Josh Shapiro accused me of promoting conspiracy theories because I told him during an earlier telephone conversation that some Americans had religious objections to the MMR vaccine because it contained fetal tissue.
Starting point is 00:16:55 There is no fetal tissue in the MMR, he told me. And then going into claim that the inventor of the MMR vaccine admitted to butchering 76 supported normally developing fetuses in a videotaped deposition. And then falsely stating that there is an unspecified amount of human cellular debris in each dose of the shot. And so of course, there are a few things to unpack here. First of all, this is not the first time that RFK Jr. has made this claim about the MMR vaccine carrying fetal debris. And, most importantly, it has been strongly debunked. The American Academy of Pediatrix even has had to make a whole webpage about it, explicitly stating that vaccines do not contain fetal cells in explaining, some vaccines involve growing viruses in human cell cultures originally developed from two aborted fetuses in the 1960s.
Starting point is 00:17:31 But noting that the cell lines are still going, so, quote, no new aborted fetuses are ever needed, and adding that the purification processes filter the vaccine during production and no fetal tissue remains. Right, and that ended up essentially being the overall thesis of Shapiro's response on Twitter, where he noted that Kennedy's claims about fetal remains and vaccines have been debunked repeatedly by actual scientists and doctors and provided extensive evidence. And then you led Shapiro painting a very different picture about what went down on this phone call that the two shared. Writing, I told him what would be most helpful is if he would join me in encouraging people to get vaccinated and stop spreading misinformation, saying he then launched into a tirade talking about fetal tissue and blaming the previous administration for this problem. He even told me it would be better if we went back to natural measles.
Starting point is 00:18:08 With him then going on to argue that Kennedy has directly contributed to the outbreaks that we're seeing now through his efforts to dismantle public health agencies and undermine vetted medical guidance. Right, noting that before he took office, measles was virtually eliminated in the United States and pointing to the decline in vaccination rates that have happened on his watch, adding, the correlation is clear. Secretary Kennedy has stoked confusion among parents and others, and the result has been less protection for measles and more cases. But then you had RFK responding to that, seeming to escalate the situation, implying that Shapiro or his office may have totally fabricated the two measles-related deaths. We are, we're trying to get information about those two casualties. According to a statement that was released by the Lancaster County Commissioner today, they cannot find. any measles deaths in Lancaster County. And they complain that the governor will not give them that information.
Starting point is 00:19:03 CDC tried to get that information from the governor yesterday, and the state is refusing to cooperate. With him then also repeating those claims in a post on Twitter, writing, the announcement appears to have been premature, and the deaths may have even been altogether fabricated by one of the governor's hopeful staffers. And what Kennedy appears to be referencing there is a post from Josh Parsons, the Republican Lancaster County Commissioner.
Starting point is 00:19:22 Right, because he claimed that the county coroner's office told him that it currently has zero reported cases where measles is the immediate cause of death and added. They have one case where a person died with measles, but not from measles. Measles was definitely not the cause of death in that case. With him also going on to say in a later post that it was unclear if the state was counting the person who had died with measles, claiming that he has not gotten a response from Shapiro or the State Department of Helm. But in a statement to Politico, the department confirmed that they had indeed counted the person Parsons noted as one of the two measles associated
Starting point is 00:19:48 deaths. Saying the person in question was an infant who had tested positive for measles. But the agency also added that it defines measles associated deaths as anyone who tested positive for measles at their time of death, even if a medical certifier does not determine the disease, quote, to be the immediate cause of death. So that could help explain the discrepancy with the coroner's reporting for one of the deaths, right? It could just be a matter of semantics. And then while that might be the case for the first death, we also still haven't gotten any more information about the second. But very notably here, the county coroner himself told local outlets that the infant had tested positive for measles but died shortly after birth of a ruptured spleen.
Starting point is 00:20:19 And while he said that a pathologist did not feel it was related to measles. Some experts have said that warrants more information because measles can cause a spleen to enlarge and rupture at birth. Beyond that, the coroner also noted that there could be several reasons for the discrepancies between him and Shapiro. Noting that the patients may have been treated at specialized facilities outside of the county or the office may not yet have received information about the deaths. Right, and to that point, you had Pennsylvania's health secretary Deborah Bogan issuing a statement reaffirming Shapiro's initial comments saying, as a pediatrician with more than 30 years of caring for children, I have thoroughly reviewed the case investigation information and sadly can confirm that there were two recent measles association deaths in Lancaster County. With they're also seemingly contradicting RFK Jr.'s claim that the state is refusing to cooperate with the CDC,
Starting point is 00:20:57 saying that the deaths were reported to the agency and health department staff are having regular meetings with the federal officials. And while state officials have repeatedly said that the lack of additional details is due to privacy concerns for the people who died, you have many folks calling for increased transparency, especially because many others have started running with the narrative that RFK Jr. Claiming that the measles related deaths are fake and that the government is hiding the truth. So obviously, this whole situation is just a fucking huge mess. And honestly, while all of this is still an ongoing investigation, and I'm sure that there are protocols in place, the lack of transparency from Shapiro's administration and the health department, that's not going to help the situation. But then regardless, you have many people
Starting point is 00:21:29 accusing RFK Jr. are running with this narrative that the measles associated deaths were made up before we have all the information and really glossing over the nuance of the situation. So obviously we're going to have to keep an eye on how all this plays out, what information do we get. But in the meantime, again, all of this, it comes as RFK Jr. is also in the news because a new documents obtained by the Associated Press and the Guardian that seemed to prove that he lied to Congress during his confirmation hearings. Because during those hearings, lawmakers grilled candidates. about his visit to Samoa in 2019, right before a deadly measles outbreak when he was working for children's health defense, which is a well-established anti-vax group. And repeatedly,
Starting point is 00:21:59 he told members that his trip had, quote, nothing to do with vaccines. You don't have these outlets publishing a letter that he sent to the Samoan Prime Minister ahead of his visit, and in it, he explicitly requested to investigate the nation's MMR vaccines. Wherewith them noting, that two young children had died after being given a tainted MMR shot, writing, for most of the world, investigation of adverse health events associated with vaccines or any pharmaceutical for that matter is both difficult and time-consuming. And adding, I would propose my team conduct detailed health informatics assessments in Samoa of what happened with your MMR vaccines. And a month later, you're the prime minister responding with his own letter,
Starting point is 00:22:28 writing that Samoa could benefit from assessment of MMR vaccines by RFK's team and adding. I would welcome with much anticipation your team's proposed visit to our island. Beyond that, you had the outlets also reporting that RFK Jr. met with anti-vaccine activists while in Samoa, including one who helped arrange the trip with a U.S. embassy employee. Right, you had public health officials saying their efforts to address the eventual measles outbreak were hampered by anti-vaccine activists, including some that they claimed were emboldened by Kennedy's visit. And all of that, it ends up being very notable because intentionally lying to Congress, that's a crime that carries a possible prison sentence. But despite what we've now seen
Starting point is 00:22:59 with our own eyes, you had the Department of Health and Human Services insisting, again, that the trip was unrelated to vaccines. And doubting that any insinuation that Kennedy lied under oath is not only false, but outright defamatory. But then, next up from that, we actually have some wild news in my home state of Georgia. And that's because, thanks to this new report, it's been revealed that yet another former staffer for Georgia Senate candidate Mike Collins appears to be a racist asshole. With Collins apparently having such a rigorous hiring process that there's like a new negative headline about his staffers is roughly every 30 seconds. And this time the ex-staffer in question is Preston Parra, a 24-year-old self-described twink fascist who posted a swastika and an image of himself in KKK
Starting point is 00:23:32 robes on Twitter. You also have the Daily Mail reporting that he shared a photo of himself with the caption racist. While Parra says that, you know, he's not a white supremacist because it, quote, goes against his religion and he has a Colombian father. Right after saying that he added, I do think that the white race contributes more to the world. So do with that, what you will. And his Twitter account was apparently set to private when he worked for the Congress. And with this, you had him joking to the post, what? Is there supposed to be some kind of CIA background check? Also, with this, you now have a lot of people asking, you know, where did this guy come from? And while there, Parra is a conservative political operative who works with influencers to boost Republican candidates.
Starting point is 00:24:04 Right, he describes himself as a political prodigy, as a culture warrior. Parra reportedly interned for Collins for a few months in 2024. And then later worked as a fundraising consulting contractor for overhaul pack, a leading PAC supporting Collins. And as far as his explanations for the content, Paras says that his work is satirical and says he considers himself a His website even features a quote from Collins praising the quality of his product, saying you can grade it by the amount of people that are watching it and pushing it back out. And then as far as reactions, you had Collins' opponent, John Assov, quick to respond to the Washington Post report in a press conference this morning. Disgraceful and disqualifying. Yet another week, yet another scandal for the bigot congressman Mike Collins and his collapsing Senate campaign. Mike Collins needs to hold a press conference this afternoon. And resign.
Starting point is 00:24:56 And he needs to release all of the communications that he continues to hide between his office and these white supremacists. Right now would also stop pointing out there that this new finding about the staffer, yes, it's horrific, but it is also just the latest example of latent racism and anti-Semitic behavior in the Collins camp. And if you're like, what is he talking about? No worries. Here's a brief recap. In July, Collins had to replace his chief of staff, Kip Talley, after Talley's group chat with white supremacist, Nick Fuentes and Richard Spencer, came to light. Also in July, CNN reported that Collins' own son-in-law, David Allen Shear the second, had shared Nazi imagery online.
Starting point is 00:25:29 Shear also apparently asked his followers to vote on whether he should make a video titled Why Gen Z doesn't hate Hitler. While Collins made an initial statement saying that his son-in-law has no role in the campaign and that he's, quote, always condemned racism and anti-Semitism regardless of the source, he also seems to get really squirmy when the situation's brought up. Yesterday, when pressed by reporters, including our own Doug Richards, about his son's online reported activity, the congressman refused to answer the questions. Listen here. You know, we fully addressed that. Do you address his question, please, sir? But John Ossoff refuses to disavow these Democrat socialist movements in our country. You don't want to talk about your son-in-law at all? Do you embrace him in the family? Share his views?
Starting point is 00:26:11 The Q&A portion of that news conference was less than three minutes. Also, another thing that Collins probably doesn't want to talk about is another one of his ex-staffers, William Paul, reportedly went up to Representative Mike Lawler at a bar and made anti-Semitic comments to him. Which is also interesting because Lawler is not even Jewish. But yeah, then in addition to all of these controversies, there's this ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations that Collins' congressional office used taxpayer dollars to hire and pay, quote, a district intern who had a pre-existing personal romantic relationship with the chief of staff
Starting point is 00:26:40 who did not perform duties commensurate with her compensation. With the Office of Congressional Conduct, noting in its report that Collins refused to cooperate and they recommended the House Ethics Committee subpoena him. And while Asoff in recent weeks, he's gotten a lot of attention because he was talking about Trump and Natalie flying on a plane, he's also been very vocal about this situation and he said in a press conference,
Starting point is 00:26:56 Congressman Collins must cooperate with this investigation. He must commit to testifying, and he must explain to the public and the press why he has refused to cooperate, why he has obstructed, and why he has stonewalled this investigation to date. And the thing is, it's not just A-Suff. You have a lot of people in Collins' own party
Starting point is 00:27:17 kind of just haven't enough of his bullshit. You've had multiple Georgia Republicans telling the post that they have had concerns about a pattern of troubling associations and behavior. You had Tea Party organizer Debbie Dooley saying, in the South, we have a saying, you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas. Well, Mike Collins has got a lot of fleas on it.
Starting point is 00:27:31 And so all this drama for Collins, not great because he's already just behind Ossoff in the polls. And that matters in one of the most closely watched Senate races that you're gonna have this year in Georgia, of course, being a key purple state that Trump won last time. Also, it's actually the only Senate Democrat defending a seat in a state where President Trump won in 2024. And with Collins, you know, I guess to use an old Trump saying, they're not sending their best and brightest. But hey, that's my personal take.
Starting point is 00:27:52 But that, my friends, you beautiful bastards, is the end of your Thursday show, though. One, if you haven't already, check out today's earlier video. I gave you a bonus 20 minute piece. It is a wild ride. So two, if you're in or near Boston and Philadelphia, I hope that I see you this Friday and Saturday. That's where I'll be with the crashing out live tour this weekend. And then I've got eight more dates across the country in the coming weeks. Hey, no matter what you do, my name's been Philip DeFranco.
Starting point is 00:28:12 You've just been filled in. And I'll see you right back here next time.

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