Trillbilly Worker's Party - Episode 166: The Last Temptation of Joe Biden

Episode Date: September 30, 2020

Coverage of the first 2020 presidential debate + Speak Your Piece for the week of September 30, 2020 Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Church, if you brought your Bibles this morning, turn with me, if you would, to the book of Matthew, chapter 4, verse 1. And the Bible says, Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Verse 2, And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward and hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Verse 4. But he answered and said, Verse 5, Verse 8, foot against a stone. And Jesus said unto him, It is written again,

Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Verse 8. Again the devil taketh him up into an exceedingly high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory thereof. And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt just fall down and worship me. Verse 10.

Verse 11 says, Please, let us pray please let us pray i had so i had tom read the opening scripture for this episode because um i feel like the debate last night and i told tom this um really as soon as i woke up and started reading the transcripts again because i watched it you read transcripts i read the transcripts i i was absolutely blown away by this spectacle i've never seen anything like this so in the history of if you have been in a middle school classroom, you have indeed seen someone. This was a ninth grader owning his teacher over and over and over and over and over and over.

Biden is a boomer and Trump is a zoomer. That's it. That's all there is. You are spot on. That was literally like watching a recalcitrant child just paw around. There's nothing smart about you, Joe. Yeah, don't you smart with me. You finished last in your class at Delaware State. You didn't even go to Delaware State.

Even Joe couldn't keep a straight face even he was laughing at the owns well it was it was so bizarre so i told tom this morning that reading the transcripts and watching this last night the impression i kept getting over and over again of the very first democratic of the very first presidential debate in 2020, was you had a guy who was interviewing for the job, and even more maybe sort of existentially, philosophically, or whatever, was interviewing for leadership of the world. And he was the protagonist. And you had on his shoulder at every minute some guy just poking holes in everything he believes about himself.

Like, you're not smart, Joe. You can't do this. You're not the person for the job. You can't do this. And it was Joe in his, like, haze, in his old, you know, senile brain was just like, I can do it. I'm the man for the job. You heard him say this multiple times. I can do the job. I man for the job you heard him say this multiple times i can do the job i can do the job would you just shut up it was like watching someone bat off their demons like

will you just shut up man i've got this this was the last temptation of joe biden it was the last temptation of biden and thankfully we get two more apparently before the election. I don't think they're going to do this anymore. Do you? Surely not. Yeah. Surely not. Even Wolf Blitzer whoever the dumbass is was like this very well might have been our first and last.

As soon as it went off. He said well that concludes our first and possibly last presidential debate. It was phenomenal. Both campaigns can't feel good about how, I mean, from their perspective, can't feel good about how they came out looking at this. You don't think Trump feels good about it?

Well, here's the thing. Here's the weird part about this. What I saw last night was actually Trump kind of on skates for the first time. A little bit. And the reason I say that is not necessarily because I think he sort of overplayed the bully tactic a little bit. And he also forgot that like his actual strength with biden like if you're just talking if like if we're just like three limp dick pundits on cnn talking about like scoring this like you know they score this like they do a boxing match or

something right right but if we were if we were just those types that were like scoring this just on points okay trump is way better served to let give give Biden the rope to hang himself because he's not like a very talented orator. You know what I mean? I mean, arguably through no fault of his own, you know, the stammering thing. And like part of that, too, is just like sundowning and him being unrepentant and his like wanting to speak to people and stuff in that. Wanting to speak to people and stuff in that. But, like, Trump actually sort of, I think, made an error in, like, making Joe Biden almost a sympathetic figure. But even then, that bar is very low because Biden also just looks, like, pretty weak in it. You know what I mean?

Yeah. But, like, Trump sort of, I think he just sort of overplayed the bully thing a little bit. Not that any of that really matters in the grand scheme of things, but again, if I'm just playing, you know, who's the guy? Paul, the Clinton dude that's always on CNN. If I'm just being Rob Emanuel or something, you know what I mean? Van Jones. I don't know I I don't really think I I think I might disagree I think that the bully thing so they were saying before the debate you

know you were saying like how they score this thing like a boxing match before the debate they were like traditionally an incumbent president never wins the first debate it's like you know judge something like that gauge something like that um but you know i mean like i don't think that so i was thinking about this like during the show during during as it unfolded itself but like trump's personality was honed in a in a social world where his role was to just be the person who roasted another person right yeah like he he gets he really thrives on being that person in a social setting the person who is just undressing somebody you know through words and insults right yeah yeah for sure whereas biden biden is a very similar archetype that i grew up

with and then i know biden is a guy who never could dominate a room on wit or cleverness or insults or everything he had to be the dude who like bowed up to the bully right like hey man you want to you want to talk shit like that you know what i mean like he would bow up to him yeah he's not very yeah he doesn't really have a good oratory or like a wit about him that's like magnet magnetic you know what i mean no not in the least what's funny is i saw people online being like he still got it though he still got some of that spark and i was like got what what are you talking about dude it was it's so fucking bizarre to see people try to like rationalize this or or make excuses for it it's just like this it was it was embarrassing it was uncomfortable

it was like watching an old person fall and hurt themselves it really was uncomfortable it's like he is so out of his element like he it was like watching somebody do something that they can't physically do you know what i mean and it was really watching somebody do something that they can't physically do you know what i mean and it was really hard to watch in my opinion i thought it was just sad yeah and i think that was probably trump's strategy it's like if i just badger him enough he'll get so lost in his thoughts that he'll just be like incoherent and like not very cogent which again he doesn't need much help on his own to achieve those results but i think trump was just like looked particularly uh petulant and childish and and and and biden

for that matter was not short on petulancy well one of my favorite parts when i did actually cackle when I did actually cackle instead of cry was when Biden said you've let 206,000 people die from this virus and Trump just goes you would have let 2 million die. Yeah.

Not based in anything. Absolutely. I mean who could come up with this shit like that he would just he just went nuclear every single time yeah i like i like i like one of my favorite similar moments is when trump said oh we forgot about h1n1 you lost 11 000 people far less deadly virus this turned into a debate about immunology and fucking viral two sundowning imbeciles i mean at one point uh biden even said know, we've got this many people dead.

How many of them survived? Something crazy like that. This is absolute. No, what he said, I think I have the exact quote right here, Tanya. It was, let's see if I can find it. It was essentially, of all the people who have died, how many have? Oh, he said, by the way, 200,000 people that have died on his watch. How many of those have survived?

Yeah. Absolute nonsense. He said at one point he said he's elected to the next election. Biden just mumbled that out. Like he was just mumbling stuff a lot. That was just like nonsensical I want to read I want to read his opening remarks because he's first off. I want to read a quote from Barack Obama from 2008 hey, that's all I kept thinking about Joe

You don't have to do this well dot dot dot you really don't oh My god, I kept thinking about that quote because at first when this election started i was like he said that because he didn't want this election to be a referendum on the affordable care act and on his legacy but the more i think about it but obama told him that because he did not want a doddering old man to go out there and shit himself on national television and just get the floor mopped with him by this bully yeah that's exactly what he was trying to avoid yeah i mean go ahead no no you go ahead i mean it's i don't think that trump overplayed his hand here i think that if anything it reified the notion that he's the only person coherent and collected enough to lead a fractured

country through something i'm not saying that like as an endorsement obviously because i fucking hate trump all i'm saying is that like he proved that he has more coherent cognitive function than the other person and that that may have re-inspired the people who were on the fence who were like well he did kind of kill 200,000 people and tank the economy so I might be you know entertaining the idea of voting for the democrat who I never vote for well they got a look at the democrat last night and they're like oh shit I mean that that's you know that's not gonna work like yeah and even uh he even a couple, he kept using the phrase greatest economy of all time. We're the biggest, greatest economy of all time.

Like, just, I mean, we know that he's always using these like huge, best, the best ever. Tremendous. Yeah. But it's just just i'll tell you what this is a less 2020 has just continued to be a lesson in uh in expectation because i you know i i assumed i i couldn't have possibly had a lower bar for this. You didn't meet all your expectations. It was even worse than I could have imagined. It was crazier than I could have imagined. No, I'm sorry.

Go ahead. I mean, that's all. It's just like just when we think things can't get any more bizarre they truly do yeah it's just a never-ending body it's just a never-ending new standard of how bizarre can get either the weird thing is i went into this thinking okay and even i even said it yesterday when we scrimmaged it was i said well this is gonna be museum worthy this is going to be museum-worthy. This is going to be a piece of performance art that's going to go down. And it really just didn't get there. Even as just sheer entertainment value of two doddering fools.

It was just like, ugh. It kind of got hard to watch. I disagree. I disagree. I think that this was, honestly, I think it was one of the milestones in the late sort of Republic. And plus, also. Well, I agree with that. I agree with that. I just meant like I was expecting like somebody is going to like bust out 10 pushups or something.

You know what I mean? Well, listen, Michelle got home last night while I was watching it. Oh, no, Michelle. I saw Michelle while I was watching it. Oh, no. I saw Michelle while we were watching. That's what I'm getting at. That's what I'm getting at. Michelle had to drop some equipment off at the Carter fold while Terrence was watching this. And Michelle was talking to Carrie about something totally unrelated to this election.

And she said that Terrence kept yelling. This is historic, people. This is crazy. Are you seeing this? Are you seeing this? Terrence's favorite phrase last night was, a Rubicon has been crossed. She said that he was just like yelling, this yelling nonsensical things. And she was just like, okay, man. Can't you see, Chandler?

There's no going back. Terrence, as Terrence yells to one of the guys picking up garbage out on the street. Turn your TVs on. Yeah, like Carrie and Michelle are talking in the background and Terrence is like, what's wrong with you people? Aren't you watching this? This is a historical moment, people. michella are talking in the background and parents it's like what's wrong with you people okay aren't you watching this this is a historical moment people well i if i can make my case let me plead my case okay it was the specific it was the specific combination of like several different things mainly the the plague the fucking pandemic because

none of the audience members can react so they all have to sit there in complete silence and so that means the only person that can mediate and feed off the energy in the room is chris wallace and so in the hillary debates the audience there was people in the audience on hillary's side and so it it and it lended itself to this kind of gladiatorial spectator match you know what i mean like this glad gladiatorial spectacle in which like hillary would say something people would be like oh damn and it would be really cringe and lame and then trump would say something and then the chuds would fucking lose their mind but in this case if you don't have an audience on your side you can't argue

with trump and so if biden would have had an audience that they could have fed off of what he was saying he might have done a little bit better but because the only person that could do it was chris wallace trump just talked over him the whole time and a really hilarious thing that kept happening was like chris wallace said at the beginning like he was going to try to commit himself to objectivity and fact checking and all this and so time after time after time chris wallace would try to hold biden's feet to the fire on something and trump would jump in and like uh you know uh you know like uh gang you know he'd like group jump him or something you know what i mean like he would group up with chris wallace on biden well because that's his nature right he's a bully he sees someone getting attacked he's like

oh i gotta go in for the kill i gotta get a piece of this exactly that's where tom is right that he overplayed the bully card a little bit yeah just i just i just i don't mean like in the court of public opinion i just mean in terms of like i'm you gotta understand i'm i'm scoring this on sheer entertainment man it just gets his whole like thing just kind of got annoying if like the whole you know what i mean they're just like constantly talking over everybody it's just like it became inaudible at certain points and it just wasn't fun to watch for me i'll tell you what it well yeah where when three men were talking over each other that felt like a panic attack oh it was so anxiety inducing yeah when when chris is yelling over him and he and at one point he's like well i guess i'm just debating you now and i was like yeah that's the

problem all right that's okay i'm used to it yeah i expected that but at some point last night or this morning i started to um fantasize i guess could be the word about how how trump prepped for this hey who do you think was the biden standing in the office probably Jr. I was watching, I guess by the time I was done, because I was switching back and forth between multiple streams because I would cut it off and then go back and couldn't find the one I was on. Anyway, by the end of it, it was like on CNN, I think.

And they cut to an interview with Trump Jr., which I realized I couldn't have picked that motherfucker out of a lineup hey he looks like every guy you see at tgi friday that's recently divorced yeah and he he was 100 coked out of his mind he talked so fast he never took one breath and they kept interrupting him to ask him other questions and he just kept going in so i wonder

if it was him i wonder you talking about debate prep i wonder what specific cocktail of drugs they gave the person who was acting as biden like they made him drink like motor oil and ether codeine yeah codeine and then a few amphetamines like to get the right simulation of joe biden what do you have to give someone well okay here's my question what do you think is the line i already have my answer this is why i want to know what y'all think what do you think was the line of the night that trump was most proud of ready like couldn't wait to use oh uh you want to talk about smart him him calling by he said did you use the word smart no there's nothing smart about you see i think that must have been i felt like that came off

um yeah off the cuff i didn't think that was planned. I guess it could have been. It's also funny, though, because, like, Trump graduated from Penn, and, like, what his people are always talking about, and it doesn't really matter because the guy also lives in a gold palace, and they still think he's, like, a man of the people. But, like, they're always talking about how, like, oh, the Democrats are elitist, elitist, elitist, and Joe Biden actually has a pretty comparatively modest like educational bank i think he went to like university of delaware and syracuse yeah you know what i mean

which are like not bad schools but like not like the harvard jails whatever whatever and like trump played the whole like oh i went to you know whatever pen or whatever you know ivy league and like usually that would be like something the democrats would be like right over the coast for it right yeah saying like i'm smarter than you but like i think trump's so transparently an imbecile that like just let him have it well and or go ahead sorry no you go ahead i want to know what y'all what y'all think his favorite line was that he was ready to pull out and use um he did really he kept needling on him on the manifesto like he kept calling the democratic

party platform the manifesto yeah and he kept yeah and then he made biden, I am the Democratic Party. I am the Democratic Party, which is a bananas fucking thing to say. He definitely worked him into a couple corners. Wasn't it hilarious when he said, oh, you're going to be sworn in with Bernie and Kamala Harris on the manifesto. But listen, you just lost the left. You just lost the left. Yeah, you just lost the left oh you just lost the left yeah you just lost the left right there this is what i mean this is what i mean by him this being the last temptation of biden because um donald trump joe you agreed with bernie sanders who's far left on the manifesto we call it and that gives you socialized medicine joe biden look hey donald trump are you saying you didn't agree joe biden i'm not going to listen to him the fact of the matter is i beat

bernie sanders donald trump not by much i beat him by a whole hell of a lot donald trump joe biden i'm here standing facing you old buddy buddy. It's just like, I'm telling you, it really was like a guy being like, no, I'm not going to listen to him. I earned my spot here. Listen, I deserve a chance to speak. Would you just hush? The devil on his shoulder being like, not by much, Joe. It's like imposter syndrome.

It's just like casting that doubt in his ear. And you know what was also funny, too? I mean, it wasn't funny. It's like, I guess just for a casual listener, like the idea of I've got more done in 47 months than you have in 47 years. That's it. Going back to that. That's the line that I think by that trump had practiced

and could not wait to drop oh yeah he was yeah you could tell as soon as he said it he felt so good about it when he said it i just bust out laughing i was like he had been holding on to that that was his silver bullet baby that was it well a reason that i another reason why i think it was sort of historic not just because of the singular weirdness of it because but also just because no like no synthesis or conclusions were ever reached on anything nobody was ever able to finish a thought it was just mostly dominated by trump joe was the protagonist but trump spoke the most and to me watching it last night i just had this very distinct feeling that it kind of embodied the impasse that america is at at this point to where like we have all drifted so far apart from each other we don't even have a common arena or common ground for discussion anymore.

The East Crisis. The East Crisis, exactly. And that's what it felt like. It felt like if this was going to be the last debate, that would be why. What's the common arena? What's the common ground we can even speak on anymore? We have such vastly different views on what the future would be that it feels like uh that's why i guess i was calling it a rubicon it felt like we had crossed uh something because like for the last i feel like for the last 150

years really since the civil war leading up to this point presidential elections have been this thing of decorum and everybody all participated in the debate with the same understanding that you give your interlocutor time to actually ask the questions and you give your opponent time to answer them. And then you have a civilized debate back and forth. The debates with Hillary were kind of that. They were kind of a mixture of several different things i don't know if trump really knew how much he could get away with or i think hillary honestly though hillary clinton has her brain left she can actually still spar even though it's cringe and and lame but this was just something entirely different this kind of felt like uh it was the death of that particular

kind of presidential election and um and that's again that's why it felt like a Rubicon just felt like there's really nothing after this what's left what's it yeah yeah it's I mean it's also been the theme of the whole Trump presidency I mean he's laid bare how paper thin all of our institutions and decorum and norms are or whatever. And this is like, like yet another example of him like tearing one of those down. Another thing I think, you know, we sort of got to talk about, too, is sort of the Charlottesville referendum here, where Trump sort of gives the wink and the nod to the proud boys and then and then on the opposite end perhaps surprisingly joe biden you know says well antifa is not like an organization it's a it's a state of or whatever an ideology or whatever a belief yeah which is i

think uh i didn't expect that out of Joe Biden. I don't think anybody expected that out of Joe Biden. It was a very rare moment of actual coherency. And honestly, honestly, honestly, I mean, this is not a Biden endorsement, but if we're talking about like people on the left staying safe, it kind of made you feel at least like if Biden gets in there, he's not going to drag the left into a towel room and shoot us in the head like Trump might. We'll absolutely go to jail for vandalism and other crimes, but I don't think that our business— We won't be designated a domestic terrorist group.

We won't go to Guantanamo, is what I'm saying. domestic terrorist group. We won't go to Guantanamo, is what I'm saying. And honestly, if you're going to punch one in, that might be something worth punching one in for. Oh, man. Voting for someone so you don't go to Guantanamo. So you don't rat.

Within eight months, we went from voting for Medicare for All and the possible Green New Deal to voting for Don't Kill Me. Yeah, Don't Kill Me, Don't Take Me to Guantanamo. Don't Torture Me in Guantanamo. I mean, much like we went from, you know, in a year's time on this podcast, we went from I Just Want to Die to Please, Please Help, We're Dying. The duality. Yeah, once you really get to facing death, it. We're dying. The duality.

Once you really get to facing death, it's not so fun. Not really cute up close. Oh, man. Will you shut up, man? I mean, it was so hard to watch. Just shut him up. Just shut up, man.

By the way, you can go inject some bleach in your arm. It's just like, even Trouble's like, oh, oh you know that was satire i've never heard him say that where it's like that was satire you know that was a sarcastic comment and the funny thing is is trump's like like his moral compass is so warped and i hate to use phrases like that but like like his like way of seeing the world is so warped. He thought that, and of course it was bullshit, he actually really, either he was having a bad day in sundowning that day,

or he actually as a moron thought there might be some sort of medicinal qualities to putting bleach in your system. But that definitely wasn't a sarcastic comment, and even if it was no even if it was like that like he just took the sociopath mask all the way off like you would never you like be sarcastic during a moment like that telling like it's not even a good excuse yeah a death warrant yeah like people are like dying by you know by the scores like during this point this is like the height right this is like when like new york was like getting fucked up by covid and

everything and he was gonna yeah he's gonna plead oh it's a sarcastic comment in that moment that's fucking like that's even worse than just like just admitting like tacitly you're a fucking idiot yeah it's disease and and even when chris wall like, well, our next question is about COVID, so let's try to be serious. This is very serious. It was just like, what in the hell's going on here? This is a presidential election for the leader of the free world. How fucking great was it when he just casually pulled that mask out of his jacket pocket? He was like, not against masks mask i got one right here in your questions of which ones you think he had

ready obviously he obviously had the mask ready to go yeah it was like like that scene in anchorman where he pulls the fucking flute out of his like shirt jacket. It's like, hey, what are you talking about? I got one right here. And he was making fun of Joe for wearing a mask too much and too big. His mask is huge. Yeah, he's got the biggest mask I've ever seen. He's talking to like seven people and he's standing 600 yards away, but he's still got a mask on.

He basically called him a sheep nobody goes to your rallies joe i did see someone say that they can't believe that biden didn't mention herman cain getting sick and dying because he went to trump's uh it's a mistake it's an unforced error. That is. That's a blown opportunity. You know, just to return to this idea,

and I don't want to get too bleak with it, but I walked away from this feeling very bleak. I walked away from this feeling that... And obviously it's so stupid to make pronouncements like this especially since it's literally late september and uh anything could happen but i walked away feeling very much like trump is gonna win again i really felt leading up to this that biden had it in the bag that how can you blow a 3-1 lead you know what i mean and and biden somehow did it and i'm the only reason i'm saying that is because i held on to this but there's a specific moment right after

rbg died we didn't talk about it but right after rbg died when they found when they caught trump you know i guess he was coming back from a rally or getting off air force one or something and elton john's tiny dancer was playing in the background and they asked him about rbg did you guys see that sounds familiar but no yeah i i remember hearing about this i didn't see it it was such a surreal thing i mean because you know the song that everybody knows and has these good, positive feelings towards, it's nostalgic in the good way. We associate it with maybe a movie like Almost Famous or, you know, with classic rock radio or whatever. by Trump giving this obviously an obvious attempt at sincerity over RBG's death but you know he's not sincere because he doesn't give a fuck because he knows it's an opportunity and there's just this moment after that where he turns away and he's walking back I guess to the White House or Air

Force One and there's all these lights behind him and you just see his silhouette and like his iconic hair and there. And there's, and there's Elton John, tiny dancer playing in the background. And I just, and I just remember thinking in that moment that who else could be the president right now? I mean, it's like America really has no soul or collective identity left.

And so it needs, and you know, and so as a result, people talk about about civil war they watch a debate like this and they're like a civil war is coming like there's the only logical conclusion but it's like you see something like that and it's like a civil war isn't coming what's coming is a more you know uh austere economic state welfare state what's coming is a more brutal police state um and i don't that's what i felt like watching last night what i felt like when i walked away from the debate last night that all of our attempts to stop this i have completely failed and like how are we going to get rid of a guy like this i mean how are we going to get rid of a guy like this? I mean, how are we going to get rid of a political movement like this? It's it's so deeply intertwined in America's identity at this point that it is fully embodied in Trump talking over, you know, the the interlocutor completely dominating the whole thing, you know, refusing to go away and just, you know, and it's just like we're not going to be able to get rid of this.

I don't feel like well i mean i know obviously we talk a lot about how this is you know really just the natural progression of conservatism and republicans and trump isn't the anomaly that he's made out to be but you don't lay some of this cultural situation at his feet? In what sense? I mean, like, saying about how America is right now, just like the total maniacal... I don't know. I think his fandom is a kind of bizarre thing. Yeah, I think, I mean, part of that,

I think what you might be getting at is is it's hard to overcome having a mass of mobilized people that have watched you and developed their own sort of parasocial relationship with you by tuning into your hit program the apprentice yeah every thursday night at seven o'clock over the course of 15 years. And then, like, yeah, I don't know. Yeah. I didn't articulate myself very well. I apologize.

I'm operating on not a lot of sleep. Terrence was out like Paul Revere in the streets of Weisberg last night. Historical Rubicon paradigm. He rode through the streets on horseback screaming, the Rubicon's been crossed. The Rubicon's been crossed. People were like hanging out their windows with lanterns, saying what was up.

We've jumped the Rubicon. I guess what I'm saying is that if Biden loses, it will be because there's nothing there to oppose this. Trump, in his movement, is a solid, coherent, internally consistent worldview, whereas Biden

is nothing. It is confusion. It's fog. It's the brain fog. It's the brain fog I have right now. Yeah. It's not sufficient to actually battle and combat this. And if they lose, that'll be why. Yeah. And it's really hard to watch in real time is what I'm saying.

It is reminiscent of the Nazis taking Poland where they show up in Panzer tanks and the Polish military shows up on horseback with sabers. You know what I mean? It's like we don't have a response that's adequate because we've never faced anything like this. You know what I'm saying? Well, even more, even— Yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry. I think you're going to say what I'm getting ready to say. Well, I was going to say that the adequate response would be Bernie. Right.

The fact that it can't be should tell you something about the political economy. What's happening right now? That's what I was about to say. Yeah, it's like it's, you know, at the fear of always sounding conspiratorial. I mean, that's just where we're at now. But it's hard not to consider that

the Democrats had no intention of winning this election. No interest in it. Because they know they would have won with Bernie. They have to know that. Well, I think it was a situation where they would rather lose with their guy than win and have to reorient everything about how they view the world, what their laws of governing and morality is and all that kind of stuff and they're just not willing to do that not under the current leadership not

as it's currently constituted and uh it's it's weird when you you know we say sometimes like they fetishize losing and i don't think it's that so much as they think that like history has this sort of ebb and flow where sometimes you pass the ball for a little bit but it'll always see saw back and self-correct and we're we're we're past the point of self-correction of this system you know what i mean yeah yeah well i think again to go back to this rubicon metaphor i think the metaphor i think what i'm driving in here is that it became painfully obvious last night that this is the conservatives' country. We live in a totalitarian system that they run.

And we have this sort of spectacle where we pretend that there is some sort of democratic challenge to it. And if that was the case, if we did still live in a country where you could democratically challenge that, Bernie would be the nominee. where you could democratically challenge that, Bernie would be the nominee. But because he's not, because we live in the Republican's country, in their world, the world that McConnell created, we can't mount any kind of large-scale,

mass political challenge to it. So you even see, like I was talking earlier this week, somebody was bringing up how crazy it is that they know apparently at least a handful of people who are voting for trump but said they would have voted for bernie and then being so like freaked out by that because they're so opposite politically but it's it's you know it's the common thread of anti-establishment and you see that you saw that last night when he's like i mean he used bernie to make fun of of joe but he really in a in a i mean he definitely was like oh you're you know you're bernie so left but he kind of like even i don't know it felt almost like he was saying

that he likes b better than Joe even. You know what I mean? Didn't it feel that way? I've noticed that multiple times, yeah. Yeah, it's like – What did he always say during the primary? They'll never let Bernie win. They'll never let Bernie win.

Yeah. I mean, I was thinking about this. There is an incredible clip. I mean, I've talked about this multiple times, but there's an incredible clip from the 2016 primaries in which it's a debate. And I think there's still like nine people in it because there was like 20 people running for the GOP primary. But, you know, who do you think should have been?

Who was who was the next Republican in line for this? I thought, you know, Jeb. A lot of people thought Jeb was going to be the guy. I think it, Jeb. A lot of people thought Jeb was going to be the guy. I think it was Jeb. But there's an amazing clip where Trump goes, he's at the debate and he's like, you know what the problem with America is right now? Any of these people on this stage,

their door is always open to me. I can go in and ask them whatever I want and I'll get it. And that's the problem. And I was thinking about that while I was watching the debate last night, is that it never even occurred to, I mean, we should have known that bernie would ever win when trump knew it because trump from his vantage point in the american political system knows who the country is for and who has a political voice in it and who can shape where it goes and so it was never even

trump you know it was never even a possibility that bernie could win win in trump's mind because he's right because the country is made for people like him yeah right right and he understands that yeah he understands it better than anybody they know in a way that the democrats just like the democrats are like people that are like actually bad people but constantly like are earnest and present themselves like they're like good people. Yeah on a moral high ground. But just cannot reckon with the fact that actually I might not be that

great of a person. They are sinister fucking just freaks. Yeah. Well it's gone back to what we said the last couple of weeks which is that the actual liberal in this race was Bernie. And if this country actually had a future in which it continued its global dominance economically and militarily, then that would have been the nominee.

Because it would have indicated that the country still had a future where it could, you know, you could implement some of those larger social programs. But now Trump and them, or Biden and them, they're not even liberals. They really are the lifestyle brands. What you're saying, Tanya, they are morally superior. They're virtuous. And that's the lifestyle. And that's what they're peddling. It's just, that's what was so disturbing about watching it in real time last night.

Watching that just run up against the reality of a person like Trump. Yeah. And now what we're left with is essentially a liquidation, right? Yeah. These guys don't really care about God and country or any of these things they purport to care about. What they care about is they're like, well, let's just take everything that we've got here and like good luck to everybody else and y'all can sort this out you know what i mean we're just going to take what's what's ours and uh the democrats thing is like well we're going to it's we're going to return to decency we're going

to return to decency and there's just no decency to begin with, really. No, nothing to return to. It's just a veneer. The impotence of that idea was fully embodied in every time Biden said, will you just shut up, man? Will you just hush? Will you just hush him? Just the ineffectiveness of that approach was embodied in that. When he immediately apologized for calling trump a clown because that was just something you can't say to the president of the united states like if you're

not going to respect the man you should at least respect the office something that i think joe biden earnestly believes yeah i did see i was cut out i didn't see that part that was one of when i time i had gave up on it but he called him a clown and then immediately apologized yeah then it just like immediately it's like oh i'm sorry that was just beyond the pale yeah oh my god i mean this is the same as the man who says uh you know i'm not trying to punish anyone that's the fucking problem bitch that's the literal fucking problem let me ask you all a question we know that like sort of once we get some distance for some things nostalgia kicks back in and people remember the times better than they even were during the time

you see this in music you know with you know synthesizer music and 80s goth band revival stuff kind of coming back in. Do you think at some point in the not-too-distant future there's going to be somebody that tries to come back out that maybe didn't really grow up on the West Wing but just founded on Hulu one day? And it's like, that's how you govern. That's it. that's that's how you govern that's it and then they try to run as just like like a um sort of like um you know just like a clintonite obama sort of democrat again at like long after like that shit has been useful or anything like that. That's what I started seeing is these trends. People are going to start running as certain

archetypes from presidential history from now on. So who's going to be our next Trump? Who's going to be our nostalgia Trump? I don't think there's anybody this again, this is what I was getting at with that thing about the Elton John RBG thing.

There's nobody like him. No. He is so singularly an embodiment of everything America is right now. And so it really wouldn't surprise me if he didn't ever leave office and if his whole family never left office. But also, even if they do, let's say even if they do, and that's like his politics are going to reign for a while, there's not going to be a chance to get any distance from it to have that nostalgia.

You know what I mean? It's like that's the thing. People are going to start throwing darts, using sort of like west wing archetypes or whatever the hell they can muster in their head you know somebody might come out and run as a fucking i don't know fucking yeah i don't know it's wild to think about the images of him you know writing for 100 years or whatever in in the like in the in the climate hell that's ensuing and only getting worse yeah you know like at what point is he like gonna be live streaming from a plane that's dumping

water on a forest fire you know like just like crazy shit yeah it was um i mean he he biden openly came out against the green new deal last night and um yeah also he kept saying obamacare like he really thinks whatever i mean he said the affordable care act multiple times but then he just like reverted back to saying obamacare it's just like you fucking dumb ass this is so you have my biden said that yeah biden yeah yeah i mean you know it's um and maybe there was some truth when he was yelling i am the democratic party and that was i thought that was interesting it was it was a response to trump calling him further left than he was right and and they are offended by that like that's the worst deeply offended deeply offended

oh yeah they would much they would much rather you know something interesting we didn't even talk about that i think trump did last night was and rightly not that he's got to fuck it like it's classic you know throwing stones on a glass house thing but calling out biden's shitty record on on race and civil rights i mean it was very cringe to see like three guys in their 70s like talking about the black community and all that kind of that kind of stuff i mean it's pretty disgusting but like how are you going to sit here like joe biden cannot take the high ground on that stuff because he has directly influenced legislation that has marginalized black people people's lives even to this day like generations yeah that is that's that's a lot worse than like

rhetoric you know so and he he he to this day will not stand on that i mean he was arguing with kamala harris about busing at the fucking last primary you remember he was denying that and she was like taking it reaming his ass for that and then comes out afterwards says oh that was a debate yeah she said oh it was a debate yeah like you made t-shirts with you as a little girl getting on a bus and that was a debate oh fuck that's right well before we sign off i'd like to uh kind of check the temperature of fletcher county and see what's going on out there in the world but before we go i just want to or before we switch over to speak your piece

which by the way There is an absolute masterpiece In Speak Your Peace this week There's a few good ones There's a few really good ones Tom do you have the most up to date edition? Yeah I guess I just wanted to point out a few things

Or just to sort of throw them out there But the first is that like i woke up this morning and you know it's really weird to watch people have to square the circle of not admitting that biden did terribly last night um you know i've watched a lot of liberals do this like they've basically said they've basically been mum about it. Some of them have absolutely melted down over it and been like, this is what you get when you choose a 78-year-old white man, etc. I've seen a lot of liberals melt down like that.

But I've seen a lot of them just try to pretend that it was fine, that Trump was a bully, and that he dominated the whole thing. But I really want to challenge anybody who thinks that way and who is not critical about this at all and still, you know, is trying to berate me and everybody else to voting, which I'm going to vote because I don't want to go to Guantanamo Bay, obviously. which I'm going to vote because I don't want to go to Guantanamo Bay, obviously. I really have to ask you, like, how much longer can you keep doing this? You know, I mean, how much longer can you keep denying what's right in front of your very eyes? You know, it's just like it's really hard to watch. It's really hard to pretend to watch people pretend like that wasn't just incredibly embarrassing and that we've mounted no meaningful challenge to

what has happened in the last four years. Um, but, uh, you know, I, I guess my challenge to you is, uh,

you know, if this is what we've been doing, maybe we need to reassess a little bit. Well, America's over. I mean, we've been on this tip, need to reassess a little bit. Well, America's over. I mean, we've been on this tip, but like America's done. America's an idea. It's over. It's canceled.

It's done. It's right. Yeah. It's time's up. Clock's over. It's done. Turkey's cooked. And I at least did see several people with that take last night.

Immediately, just like if there is no other if you if you can't accept any other sign like you know uh the sky's blood red air can't breathe if there are no other signs if some celestial cosmic sign doesn't do it for you then maybe this will maybe this will be will will be uh the scripture you need to admit that this nation is a sack of horse shit and it's all just been a big fucking failed experiment in performative arts performative misery yeah yeah well i mean and so um i don't know. It always sucks to have a show because you always arrive at the inevitable destination. America's over. Well, yes, that's the diagnosis.

But what's the prescription? Yeah, what do you actually tell people to go do? Drugs. Here's what I say. I say return to the land, plant a tomato, grow your own weed and tomatoes. I don't know. I think this is going to sound weird because I'm not necessarily a Maoist, I wouldn't say. But I always, when I have a problem, I always go to Chairman Mao

and see what he has to say on the subject. And I think what we have to do is just reconsider our notion of like how we can mount sort of an offensive to Trumpism or whatever, you know, whatever like it is that we're facing in the moment, whatever you want to call it. like it is that we're facing in the moment, whatever you want to call it. And sort of really think about historical precedents, if there is anything that even approximates this. But also, too, like being sure to throw out what doesn't work. And just, I mean, we've got to just like reconceptceptualize how we, like, face down stuff like this.

And I don't know what that is. But, I mean, I think that's my prescription is let's go back to the fucking, you know, the drawing board. Oh, yeah. Because this is not like, this is a unique animal. You know what I mean? And it's going to take something radically different and new to sort of face off against that. This is not like, this is a unique animal, you know what I mean? And it's going to take something radically different and new to sort of face off against that. Yeah, I just keep coming back to the anecdote that T kids who are doing their schoolwork off of free McDonald's Wi-Fi churches filled with people who need child care food and education

services we are seeing an unprecedented breakdown of the state the opportunities for helping people for helping one another have never been greater and more than that not just opportunity but the necessity yeah there are so many people falling through the cracks yeah and and so you have uh you have an obligation to help one another if else, this spectacle going on every night should show you that this is so far removed from our lives. It is so far removed from our lives. We have to take back our lives. We have to take back autonomy and help one another.

And that's going to be political. It's going to have to be politicized. Yeah, mutual aid is highly political. It is not just a cute, some cute thing. Do unto your neighbors as you'd want done unto you. It goes beyond that. Mutual aid is a theory of change. It is a fundamental theory of change.

And it's a vehicle toward liberation. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. And it ain't new it sure as fuck isn't some new thing we're doing to survive covid covid's just like are like we have to start seeing this i mean i still have people saying like when this is all over let's go do this trip it's like what's what's gonna be over what's over like yeah it's not gonna end it's not an end like there's not an ending to this we're gonna have to adapt our ability to care for one another our ability to survive together radically in a huge way yeah no i mean i i really can't stress this enough for me personally

you may think differently but i just do not see any more opportunities in the electoral realm. There are exceptions, maybe at the municipal level and maybe even at the sort of congressional level, but I don't know. But for me personally, I think it's so far beyond any hope. I mean, it just seems to me that things are moving so uh they're moving so drastically in one single direction and that direction is you know uh I don't want to call it collapse because it isn't collapse necessarily it's just brutality that's what it is yeah and and the only way you get through brutality is with other people is with one another yeah um and so you're right

tanya i mean like that that's uh it is a political practice in theory it's been used all throughout history because people have had no other other alternative i mean you think people in like serfs feudal and feudal europe were able to like vote their way out of this like it's it's become very clear at this point that the political situation we're looking at has no room for us it has no it offers nothing in fact it's moving the other direction they want to disenfranchise you and make sure that your voice is you know not heard in any way and that you'll just go the fuck away more than anything they want you to shut the fuck up and go away let me leave leave you with one little visual of electoralism and how it is useless uh in 2016 i was just talking to a friend about this

in 2016 here in eastern kentucky we had to go to the polls with our head here in trump country we had to go to the polls with our heads wrapped up because the smoke was so bad from forest fires you remember this yeah yeah yes yeah we had to cover our face we could not breathe here in 2020 we were being asked to go to the polls again for a better future with mask on and keeping this can't even like get around people in fewer locations just like all these things like even voting itself it's just like obviously the even the visual and like the actual practice of it is just so maniacal this theater it is and this is like the second this will be the second elect you know national

general election presidential election in a row where at least here in the mountains there it's just not even safe it's not even a safe thing to do. It just, like, makes no sense. It's not even a neutral, like, well, it's the simplest thing you can do. I mean, I don't even think that, I mean, you have to ask yourself, you think after watching that fucking spectacle last night, you think this country has enough social cohesion to actually implement a national health care plan a national climate plan no that's it doesn't exist we have to start over right it is

yeah like you know aep american electric power is trying to raise rates right now and like all this shit I don't want to get into that but like when when the when you know that it's like my media is like this is this shit needs to be nationalized this is just outrageous but then look at who we're who we're if when that's supposed to be our solution but we're turning it over to maniacal maniacs complete fucking sociopaths yeah well anyways um you know i hope that that wasn't too much of a bummer but i'm not i'm not really feeling that bummed i'm feeling pretty dark but at the same time i feel more clear-headed than i've ever been well it's also it's also i just think anytime you can conceptualize a way that's never been conceptualized to a way forward

i just think it's kind of you know it's scary but it's also exhilarating it's freeing yeah that's freedom to see something that you. To envision something and make steps toward it of something that you've not seen. Yeah. That's imagination. Like, that's art. That's beauty. That is just, like, joy to be able to manifest something. I know y'all don't like the word manifest, but to summon.

It takes me back to my Pentecostal days when they were just telling people to manifest yourself without cancer. Instead of, you know, seeking an oncologist or whatever. Anyway. Enjoy. I do want to plug our Patreon this week because I think it will be a fun trip into

a time machine, which you will want. We all want a time machine. a time machine which you will want we all want a time machine a time machine back to the world before the debate we all will wish in a few days you'll we'll all wish we could do that and our patreon will we'll we'll give you that we have a special gift for you in the patreon yeah go to the patreon you'll hear an episode we recorded right before the debate. Tom, give us a little bit of palate cleanser. Like I said, there's some great speaker pieces, but maybe pick out just like four or five. I'll give you a smattering here.

Let's kick it off with this. Satanic rituals. Is that what they're going to put the children through again on Halloween? You think this pleases God? Really, people? Celebrating a holiday that's dedicated to Satan? What's wrong with you people? This holiday needs to be stopped.

They need to set aside a fall day for celebration, but not Halloween. God bless our nation. God bless our children. And God bless President Trump. It's a different world now. Children don't need the candy. They have more than they should eat already. What the heck?

Some compelling arguments there. I never really knew that people were, you know, that opposed to Halloween. I didn't know Halloween was on the ballot. Yeah, same, same. Anyways, go ahead and sorry to all the people out there who i thought were friends with me and my son oh my god this turns quick it felt very much like a player haters ball like fuck you fuck you fuck you he's dying of cancer down in Florida. Not one time have any of you called me to ask anything about him or how I'm doing. I've really found out who my true friends are, and there are none.

He'll be all right. He will die in peace, and I will die hating every one of you. God. Honestly, this is so relatable. Because if I have a bad day and someone I love hasn't checked on me, I take it so personal. And it has nothing to do with me. So sick. I hope and pray to God that none of you ever need me.

I have been there for a lot of you all. I have loaned you money or let you drive my car when you didn't have anything to drive. I let you sleep at my house when you didn't have a place to stay. I've been watching some of Amy McGrath's political ads. In one, she said that during the 9-11 attack, she was sitting on the end of a runway waiting to be called to shoot down one of the hijacked planes. She was at Marimar Marine Corps Air Station.

For those who don't know Marimar Air Station, it is in San Diego, California. She expects us to believe they're going to call her to fly approximately 3,500 miles to shoot down an aircraft in an emergency when there's all kinds of jet fighters within minutes of Washington, D.C.? I don't think so. How dumb does she think we are? Thank you. I got two more here, and we'll close out.

If you believe that the mail-in votes are so safe and secure at the end of October, the 1st of November, take a $500 bill and mail it back to yourself. Dude, I've never heard that. Go for it. See how long it takes for you to get it back if you get it back at all. Absentee. Hold on a second.

A $500 bill. A $500 bill. A $500 bill bill do they even have those like if you if they do it's like a two dollar bill where you have to get like you know like a special like note from the treasury or the or go to a bank and get right that's so smart though too it sounds like you're gonna give somebody something big but then you'll be like oh those don't exist sucker right absentee voting is okay that is where you ask for a ballot and they send it to you the november third election will be so crazy that we probably won't know who has won for months well i mean some interesting perspective there here's close us out all right this one's the magnum opus i love this one to a certain man in a red jeep with www something written across the back end of it

you are www.ignorant running up and down the roads flipping those bright lights on and flipping your black your back light on that will scald a man's eyeballs out when you meet him in the morning. I'm going to have the law check on you, big boy. I'm going to see if you can't get some of that aftermarket stuff removed from your Jeep. Just pure player hater shit. Oh, my God. www.ignorant.

Wow. Incredible. Incredible. Well, thanks for listening this week, everybody. We hope that this was informational and educational and, more importantly, entertaining. If you'd like more, go visit us at patreon.com. www.patreon.com.

As Tanya said, you'll get a nice little time machine, time capsule. Back to the future. That's right. And you'll get about 120 other episodes as well. So if you like this content go there and you'll like more content so thanks for listening and any last words

I have a new pleasure podcast out check it out at my patreon alrighty thanks so much for listening everybody we'll talk to you next time