Trillbilly Worker's Party - Episode 182: Pillow Fascism

Episode Date: January 22, 2021

We talk about how we think fascism will look when it comes to this country, and the Biden inauguration.

Oh, my God. Well, boys, it's quite literally a new day in America. Day three of the Biden presidency, technically. The best day so far. The days just keep getting better, really, when you think about it. I got a question. On Inauguration Day, Trump can make all those decisions like right up to the bell right like as soon as biden takes that oath he's out though right i think so yeah is that how it

works terrence don't ask me man i'm just i think it's um noon i believe it's noon on election day or inauguration day trump has no powers after that okay so basically they share about it trump works about a half day on his last day he gets to go home early ah well yes godspeed yeah djt oh i it's um it's weird it's i don't know i don't even know how to really talk about the last couple of days um i guess we can start at the inauguration yeah um in the news coverage of the inauguration. Wednesday was a weird day for me, just in general. I've had a very strange last couple days.

I mean, after getting that diagnosis, I'm sure it was difficult. Processed reality, though, yeah. That's right. Your new normal. Yeah, it's been a weird couple, had a very weird Wednesday. Suffice it to say that after Wednesday, I have never been more assured,

I've never been more confident in saying that something resembling a militarized cross-class fascistic force will come to america sooner or later i am completely confident in saying this oh yeah for sure um mostly because of conversations I had around town, people I talked to. For example, my plumber. My plumber came over, had to fix some things in my house. I wish your plumber was Joe the Plumber. It was literally Joe the Plumber. We checked in on that bastard in the last 12 years.

Fuck you, that's it. We checked in on that bastard in the last 12 years. Fuck you, L2. He really wanted to talk politics, which I thought was pretty fascinating. I was telling Tom this the other day. I think that would have been completely out of place. You don't talk to strangers about politics just casually. Just as recently as 10 years ago. out of place like you you don't talk to strangers about politics just casually just it's just as recently as 10 years ago you know like i feel like there's things you just don't talk to strangers

about at least in my small town where i live but i think this is the case in most of america up until very recently that's been considered gauche until very recently wasn't yeah isn't there that a whole thing where you don't talk sports, politics, religion? Well, that's at work, but I feel generally speaking people try not to poke around in that shit that might offend people. But everything is so polarized now, it's all anybody can talk about.

Well, I mean, a lot of people have held this idea, too, about post-bus syndrome, but I won't live in the shadows anymore myself. I won't bravely confront the stigma. Terrence, I too have been diagnosed with that. You don't have to shoulder that alone. Hell yeah.

We should start a support group. I'm here for you boys. Can you imagine getting more and more worked up and stressed out after you bust, though? Like, immediately getting... Yeah. I can, actually.

Okay, this bit doesn't have legs. But, okay, so yeah, that's a thing. You know, don't talk religion and politics with your coworkers. But there's exceptions that can be made. I feel like, though, across the board, generally speaking, you don't want to talk to strangers about politics and religion. But I've been in so many conversations recently with strangers about politics. Dude.

Are they, like, mad? I went into... Yeah. Oh, shit. Bro, they like mad? I went into. Yeah. Oh shit. Bro they are mad as hell. Dude. My. This plumber wanted.

It's like he told me this. Like he just needed to get it off his chest. I don't even know how we were talking about this. Cause I know his boss. Or I know who his boss is in the community. And so I was talking about him. And he was like man. He's like I don't know what your politics are, but he's like, man, I hate bosses.

I've got too many bosses. I hate these corporations. I hate every single politician in D.C., but I'll tell you what. Donald Trump was the best president we ever had. And I was like, damn, dude. You're with him like every step of the way. And then all you got in the end is damn that's wild oh that's crazy damn that's crazy

i mean it it just goes to show you though that like people feel disaffected they feel uh left out trampled upon trump wasn't actually going to do anything for any of these people but weirdly enough he gave lip service to it like he actually acknowledged you know when democrats say we hear you trump actually did that for the chuds or at least in their minds he did he didn't actually because he doesn't care about anybody but himself but there's this uh maya angelo quote that I heard from a friend of the show, Matt and Sam, from Know Your Enemy. And the Maya Angelou quote is something like,

people won't remember what you said, they won't remember what you did, but they'll remember how you made them feel. And, like, you know, Trump was their god king, man. Yeah. He made them feel... Go ahead. He made him feel held when he held that flag when he hit when he ensconced that flag he ensconced 72 million americans and now they feel left out by body shivering at the cold

out on the porch when it's raining knocking on the door let me in oh man there's peter's out for burning there's a lot of feelings about it what are they saying well i was i shared that article you shared with me earlier about political maybe we'll get into that i don't know yeah i wanted to yeah but uh one of them said um is this a true story tom i said yes sadly so i thought i was finding some common ground with them then right out of the gate right fuck bernie whoa another one chimed in said we're all bernie bros in here mike he said god damn it you damn it, you're right. You're fucking right. Bernie brings out the best in all of us. And then another one said, God bless Joe's senile heart.

Fuck Bernie. God damn it. Fuck. And I can't spell. The educational system let me down. And then it devolved into a conversation about Letcher County schools and how one of their daughters wants to move back to Letcher County because the school's so much easier there. I don't doubt that. So a lot of feelings floating around

out there in the community. Well, I'll say this. The reason why I think an actual fascist movement is probably inevitable is because I read something the other day. I don't know, dude. The entire day of Wednesday was a very dark day. So on one hand, you have the inauguration itself, right? You've got these... The spectacle.

Yeah, the spectacle. You've got the empty platitudes to democracy. The fashion statements. The fashion statements. Garth sliding in just fucking... Yeah. No, I mean, you've got, yeah, the spectacle, you've got the, I don't know,

it was just these empty platitudes towards democracy, the Lady Gaga thing where the sun opened, you know, came out of the clouds and like parted the sky and like lit up the American flag. It was like a ritual, man. It was very ritualistic. Yeah. I wonder if there's anything

on the Vigilant Citizen website about the symbolism of any of that. When's the last time y'all checked in with the Vigilant Citizen? What is the Vigilant Citizen? The Vigilant Citizen points out symbols in our society oh god it tells us the significance of them they they don't they haven't they usually just stay to the realm of pop culture but i'm curious

if he said anything about the inauguration the tire of lady g. He's keyed on Lady Gaga for the better part of 10 years now. Well, a lot of these people, they look for symbolism in, like, Beyonce's videos, Lady Gaga's videos. I mean, like, it's weird. What used to be known as the Illuminati has

now been morphed into the global child pedophile cabal. You know what i'm saying like yeah the whole new world order illuminati stuff was the seedbed for q anon you know what i'm saying yeah yeah yeah well the vigilant citizen stopped it their latest article is caught is called army hammer cannibalism, and the Sickness of the Elite. So, they didn't get to the inauguration yet, I guess. Not yet.

No, it was weird. You had, like, people treating this guy who has literal pudding between his ears as if he's fidel goddamn castro like it was just everything was out of sync like i mean like there were people on my timeline like tom sent me this one photo of this guy who posted a photo of his child reaching up towards the TV as Biden spoke his inauguration speech. Oh, my fucking God. And the caption says, the audacity of hope.

Jesus fucking Christ. Y'all, let me tell y'all something. If we're down to Joe Biden to be the expression of the audacity of our hope, y'all long road to hope, boys. It's, it's, well, yeah, go ahead, Terry. Go ahead, Aaron. No, no, no, go ahead. Nah, I was thinking too, man.

Like, at one point, David Axelrod said on CNN, he was like, there's hunger for unity. And, like, Joe Biden is like, you know, that symbol of unity. And I was like, motherfucker like motherfucker like people want checks they want health care like they have this conception that like this is a moment that you know that with a country you know arises above its divisiveness and republicans and democrats come together and it's like a tradition you know what i mean this transfer of power but like nobody i don't know maybe i'm just being cynical i mean my mom was into it but i feel like most people like are not like watching it or if they're watching it they're not they

don't have those same like kind of you know sentimental feelings and values about this you know what i mean i think i think a lot of the two is just people just ready for donald trump to to be gone and it's just that sort of like feeling of our collective too, is just people just ready for Donald Trump to be gone. And it's just that sort of feeling of, oh, our collective national nightmare is over. And I don't want to have to be confronted with the reality of this broken system and the loneliness and everything that's pervasive in this society to keep us from, to keep us emigrated. Everybody just kind of wants a brief respite from that. And I get that in a way but I'm not the guy to provide it I'm not the guy that's going to step on your head

while you're drowning it's like a negative it's like a negative feeling of elation not in a positive way because people are excited about Joe Biden but yeah Tom it's because Trump is gone right yeah

for sure yeah i was watching the coverage i was watching as biden came in it was like on nbc and as biden was like walking in to get ready to do his speech like one of the commentators is like there's there's the president-elect and his first lady, and look at him. He's just looking around. I wonder what's going through his mind right now. He looks upon this like hallowed.

Yeah. Dog, I love it. No, I'll tell you. I love it. I'll tell you what's going through his mind. He's like, wow, cloud, cloud, sun, chair, wife. Wife or sister. Wife, definitely wife.

Well, here's the thing. Here's the thing, man. Here's the thing about it. My favorite part of the whole spectacle that morning, I was tweeting about the other day, is how they treat it like they're commentating a golf tournament, like the morning of the inauguration. They get that low, hushed, reverent tone, and it's like. Ball commentating a golf tournament like the morning of the inauguration they get that low hushed reverent tone and it's like ball me 70 degrees just walking

down the lane yeah yeah that's right that's shit it's like they're talking about biden like he's some sort of prize winning like fucking irish wolfhounds and shit you know what i mean he's got a nice gate there's a lot of elegance as he goes from end to end it's so fucking weird man and then it's just like but they really say shit like uh you know because they always show them in church that morning because they have to show them in church yeah right it's always like this is a man that will govern with conviction and faith and uh America into, you know, past these troubled times, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And my man's in there just thinking, I'm the man now,

is all he's thinking in his head. You know what I mean? Yeah. You know, in his, like, brief moment of sentience, you know. There was, that night when they did that well you know rock the usa thing for democracy i couldn't watch that shit starring tom hanks tom hanks yeah there was a topic yeah they uh there was this quote on cnn I guess David Chalian. I don't know the fucking dude's name.

CNN political director. He said, those lights that are shooting out from the Lincoln Memorial along the reflecting pool are almost like extensions of Joe Biden's arms embracing America. What the fuck is wrong with this? Man, there's adults that say things like this. It's incredible. Robert Reich said, I am weeping. I wonder, like, I just wonder, like,

how much longer, because again, I don't think that, I mean, this one, apparently more people watched it than watched Trump's inauguration, but I just don't think

that people, like, share these warm, like, you know, sentimental, like, even like flowery, like, sort of feelings and descriptions of the inauguration that, like, these libs do. So I wonder, like, these warm like you know sentimental like even like flowery like sort of feelings and descriptions of the inauguration that like these libs do so i wonder like how much longer they're

going to keep this up while people just like languish you know in poverty and are not even paying attention anymore and if they're still going to have this whole like you know, like, sanctimonious sort of, like, this praise. Like, you know? Yeah, I mean, that night. So, I mean, you know, I really did think, and maybe this is how big of a rube I am, I was like, surely they're not going to get into office and really run with this unity thing, right? Like, they aren't that stupid. But I am a fucking idiot so i you know uh imagine how shocked i was to see this tweet going around spotted at the white house

ron clain the white house chief of staff sporting a unity mask on one side it's blue and on the other side it's red jesus dude there was another one that was talking about how Biden decorated the Oval Office. On one side, there's a portrait of Jefferson. On one side, there's a portrait of Hamilton. It's in order to illustrate the benefits that come from differing views. That's what the Biden people said. This is literally the Obama playbook. Like, it's the whole cabinet of rivals shit.

I hate this shit. Dude, what's really dark about it is it goes even further than the Obama stuff. Because as that Politico article shows, the one I shared today, as it shows, Obama would not work with McConnell. As soon as he realized that McConnell was out to get him and was like, fuck him, Obama was like, no, fuck this guy. I'm not going to work with this guy.

And so he sent Biden to do it. Biden is the one who negotiated the continuation of the Bush-era tax cuts. Savvy move, Joey. Savvy move. And you know, Joe Biden came back from those talks so fucking proud of himself literally no he was fucking pumped like you accomplished something yo it's like man i finally made a deal barry um i i can just read from this a little bit if you guys want it's in Politico it's called Enemies a Love Story inside the 36 year

Biden and McConnell relationship the first time Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell faced off Biden blinked first imagine that imagine that Joe fucking Scranton Joe crumbling under questioning he probably fell asleep for a minute yeah Imagine that. Joe fucking, Scranton Joe crumbling under questioning.

He probably fell asleep for a minute, yeah. He blinked first and didn't open his eyes for 30 minutes. It was the winter of 2012. Then, as now, Democrats had just won a presidential election, had a narrow Senate majority, and Biden was earnestly proclaiming that the election would break the Republican fever of opposing the Democratic agenda.

The first test came immediately. A cascade of deadlines on December 31, 2012 set up a world economy-level battle known as the Fiscal Cliff. Without any action by Congress, the next year would bring about $700 billion in combined tax hikes and budget cuts. Extreme austerity measures that could cripple the recovering economy. The Democratic Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, was willing to go over the cliff if McConnell didn't agree to tax increases for the highest earners, one of Democrats' signature campaign promises. Reid reasoned that if taxes were to rise automatically mcconnell would have to negotiate from a weakened position oh biden and but obama and biden however feared an adverse reaction from the markets so uh interesting like you know i didn't really pay that much attention

to harry reid when he was in the senate but he really was one of the only people of recent memory who actually knew how to negotiate with mcconnell and that like you don't give a fucking inch right um in a move that angered reed biden took over the negotiations with obama's blessing the outcome a continuation of bush era tax cuts with a relatively modest hike of 1.8 percent weighted toward higher earners was the kind of deal both negotiators could celebrate oh my god this is your president mcconnell did mcconnell did mcconnell did celebrate crowing to his fellow republicans that in a government controlled two-thirds by the democrats we got permanency for 99 of the Bush tax cuts. Yo. This is like, it's like somebody needs to tell Biden.

This is classic. You know, like, the fake friends that your real friends would come say, man, like, he ain't your real friend. Like, he talks shit about you behind your back. Like, Joe just refuses to believe that Mitch would say a bad word about him behind his back. It's like, this is the guy who is now in charge of, like, an economy in freefall and the COVID, like, crisis.

So it's like this bumbling, like, fucking fool who thinks that he's accomplishing something with the Republicans when he's really just getting, like, fucked over. Crumbs. Nothing. How do you reach the age of like 70 something years old and still like i don't understand that's that's insane yeah um the uh the portrait portrayed in this piece makes biden look like legitimately the biggest fucking mark in american politics at one point mcconnell literally called the white house because mcconnell could not get a deal with reed you know reed harry reed was like no fuck you man like um we're gonna start from where i

want to start and so mccon McConnell basically took the ball and went home. And what he did was he called the White House. This is what he said. He reached out to Biden. He got his voicemail. Is there anyone over there who knows how to make a deal? McConnell said. Obama agreed to have Biden take over the negotiations.

With Reid seething in the wings, Biden and McConnell began crafting a compromise. A compromise. No, you're the Senate to personally explain the fiscal cliff deal to Democratic senators. He wasn't going to sell a deal he didn't believe in. Asked by reporters at the time what he told his former colleagues, Biden responded, I said, this is Joe Biden and I'm your buddy. It was a telling comment. Biden's willingness to go the extra mile for a compromise that many senators distrusted, some Obama aides said, was evidence of both his political adroitness and his desire

to move the ball forward even a few inches in the face of backlash from his own party oh my god what the um so yeah the compromise they got was uh the outcome it was it was like i said it was literally a continuation of 99% of the Bush era tax cuts. The Democrats basically got nothing. But Biden was immensely proud of himself. Well, they didn't get nothing. They got something to run on for the next 10 to 12 years. True.

And they have, and they will continue to do nothing about their own folly because they will continue to need something to run on going forward, especially now. Yeah. What is your play if you're the democrats after biden i mean it's also just like you know this idea of like working across the aisle and like the fact that like you know we need unity now like the republicans would never do this like they would never do this and instead of looking at that as, like, you know, like, you know, an expression of, like, wielding power,

like, knowing how to wield power, like, the Democrats are like, oh, they're being divisive. Oh, they're being this. Oh, they're being that. Oh, we have to give them what the what. We have to give an inch, right? We have to give more. We have to give more. And it's like, dude, no. That's what Harry Reid understood, I guess, right?

Like, no, fuck you, McConnell. Yeah, I mean, reed was by no means a radical leftist but he did understand he understood the basic the basic precepts of negotiation is uh exactly yeah that's why that's why mcconnell called the white house and that's why his exact words were, does anybody know how to make a deal? What he meant was, is anybody dumb enough over there to come down here and do what I say? Is anyone dumb enough to over there to come down here and get conned by me? And sure enough, fucking Scranton Joe was.

Scranton Joseph. By God, I'll answer the bell. It is like, I've posted this little thing. When you sent me that chance, it was this episode of King of the hill where hank goes to the to the car dealer that he's been dealing with for like 30 years and his wife has this like you know new good deal for a car and then he just

says no honey don't you step out here and let me and tom finish this negotiation and then he shows them proudly that he that he paid sticker price and not a penny more that's joe biden that's joe biden because joe biden joe biden more than anything else joe biden wants to be thought of as a swell guy and this statesman and a guy that like you can you can deal with by the republicans But what he's too fucking stupid to understand is that the Republicans are not going to make a deal unless the Democrats are taking the worst of it.

Yeah. Right. Because they too understand the basic precepts of negotiation. I mean, I'm really fascinated with the unity thing i think the thing that fascinates me most of all about the unity thing is how half-assed it is like how hollow it is i mean they're not trying to persuade you to come together they're at the same time they're not forcing any of us to come together they're not even trying to understand the nature of the rift they're literally just

walking in on a burning building you know like a massive conflagration and just saying stop come together stop in a monotone voice. You know what I'm saying? Just, hey, just come together. Just stop it. It's just like... They also have no understanding of how far the proverbial Overton window has shifted to the right. These are not the Joe the Plumbers of yesteryear. These are not like the disaffected Reaganites.

These are not like moderate Republicans that they believe were like a strong voting bloc. Like, a lot of people that they think they can bring to their side are people that are not even dealing in reality. And the Democrats aren't dealing in reality either by thinking that they still live in a world where like people are just more or less moderate on the right well i think like people dude it's i think they think too that like because like you know they're despite what happened at the capitol you know the fact that biden won and you know there was this like transfer of power i think they think in their minds because they they have such in such high esteem, they think that everybody else does. And suddenly all of these like crazy motherfuckers like who were storming the Capitol or like wanted to or agreeing with it suddenly are like, OK, well, I guess like, you know, the game is over.

Right. Like Joe Biden is president. Like because like we had this whole inauguration, we had this whole ceremony. He said a few nice words. And I don't think they realize that that pisses those people off even more. Yeah, I mean, my Facebook feed right now is quite literally people saying, just wait. Just trust God's plan. Just trust the process. The storm's coming. Yes, they're literally saying the storm's still coming. Storm delayed, but still coming.

saying the storm's still coming but still coming i mean i think that like i'm not i'm not you know i've i don't know if i've ever talked about this on the show but there's something to be said for that like you know part of i think the right wing worldview is and maybe people disagree with this i'm not even sure if i'm fully wedded to it but it does feel like they have a better sense of long-term objectives than the left does. For example, I mean, there's all kinds of different reasons for why Ossoff and Warnock won in Georgia. And it could have been because of higher voter turnout. It could have been because more Republicans set it out because Loeffler and purdue weren't sufficiently pro-trump but you can't argue that it wasn't insane that republicans were taking out ads and billboards and radio ads against loeffler and purdue like can you imagine trying to convince a room full of leftists to sit out an election that important like you would get shouted out of the fucking room and the reason is is because these right-wingers they they have a dedication to a

longer term project they have a long-term ideological goal yeah yeah they really do and they can send out a few bad administrations if that means that the the you know that the storm comes a little bit later i don't know why this this is. My own sort of pet theory for it is that most of them are Christians, they're religious, and so they've already been waiting the past couple decades for the rapture, and so they can sit through a couple of bad things.

Yeah, like the rapture drills were the preparation for the storm coming. Yeah. Yes, exactly. I mean, i don't know if this is like it's something i've thought for a while um i don't know if this is like controversial but i think that the right they're just better materialists right like in the sense where they can like survey like you know like the future of their political party right like this white identitarian minoritarian a liberal party and they can see that And see changing demographics

And see like you know the country Or at least people possibly becoming like If not more like left wing Like demanding more of government Government to be used to do something And like for that they plan for the long term You know And I don't know it's uh

Yeah it's troubling I mean the abortion fight Is the best example of that. I mean, dude, these people, when was the Summer of Mercy or whatever that fucking shit was called? That was like 1992. You know what I mean? And they're still just as like fervent. I mean, it's like the passion they have around the abortion cause is fascinating because it's literally like if people were still that passionate about the era the equal rights amendment both of

them are about the same age you know what i mean yeah i don't know i i i don't know i mean i guess my point is that um yeah, I don't know. There's been a lot of speculation as to what the GOP, the right wing, is going to look like in the coming years, whether their cause is, you know, kaput, you know, whether they finally exhausted all of their electoral viability or ability to mobilize people but um i do think fundamentally that they're not going to have that much trouble uh mobilizing people and the reason why is because i think in the coming years it'll be more explicit that republicans represent cops in extractive jobs in extraction and industries and democrats represent hollywood silicon valley non-profits and media jobs you know what i mean like those are the fucking battle lines that's what that in a pot in politics have to conform to that well that's what that whole fucking uh that that night in america thing you know like with tom hanks headlining it

and all these people that like it's just like are the are the democrats like so oblivious that like i mean i'm not saying they should not do this shit anyway they're gonna do it anyway right but like are they are they so oblivious where they don't see how it's like they're taunting like all these like crazy q anon people like they're literally like fucking like you know what i'm saying like in their faces you know and then you know you get i'm you know i'm in georgia so you get folks like marjorie taylor green and lauren bobert and i think that's what they're gonna have to like deal with like in very short you know frame of time like i don't think it's going to be like a couple years it might just be an election cycle you know like in two years you're gonna see like

more people like marjorie taylor green and you know bobert pop up and i mean the democrats are still not gonna wake up listen man hey say what you want about marjorie taylor green she's got some bold ideas for government they're fresh and uh you know and she hits the ground running with them you know she doesn't wait for them to take shape over decades you know so i i mean i made this comparison on twitter it's not a one-to-one um but i mean historically efforts to unify have generally not ended well um generally the the political space the dynamic that you create when you try to unify is very fraught and tenuous and usually just loads more dynamite onto the powder keg or whatever the idiom is that well don'tom is. Aaron just said it.

You have a senator, a congressperson from Georgia that filed articles of impeachment on day one. On day one. She drafted those shits at least like a week before.

She had that way. That was like her big move, you know. And this is a woman that way that was like her big her big move you know and this is a woman that that said that uh sandy hook was a false flag uh parkland shooting was a false flag i mean it's you know we don't talk enough about like the infiltration of government by like actual psychos you know what i mean yeah and the right is able to do that like i mean i guess on the left like the only like example is like aoc cory bush like the squad but like i just don't see that replicating at like a fast you know as fast a pace as like all these right-wing psychos coming in like in the house you know well they and i said this recently i was on the bad faith podcast

just last week with cory robin and tony from minion death cult we talked about the future of the right but the thing is that the right has greater institutional capacity. The right has clubs. They have biker clubs. The right has the Southern Baptist Convention, a massive institution that can mobilize tens of thousands of people at the drop of a dime. Golf. The left has nothing even remotely similar. Yeah, what the fuck do we have?

Do what? Well, I made this comparison. Go ahead, Terrence. I made this comparison on Twitter,, Terrence. I made this comparison on Twitter. But honestly, the Unity stuff, it very much seems like, I mean, the comparison, because I'm re-listening to the Mike Duncan series on the French Revolution.

It feels very much like the situation in 1791 where you finally have the ascension of like the liberal no it's it's in this it's in this like period of tumult and violence and you know chaos in the streets and and and so then you have the ascension of the sort of liberal nobles like lafayette you know the guys that fought in the american revolution and everybody pats themselves in the back and they're smug and they're like we've finally done it we finally put the nation together like we've finally been able to bridge all these gaps and you know uh put put our whole fingers in the dike so that it doesn't explode all over all of us or whatever and it's just like and then just like within a a couple of months the entire fucking system just completely in rambles and fall apart this is like historically

efforts to unify just don't really work because like what is the what is the what is the argument for unification like again i think that they really do think that okay like this is what happens we have a transfer we had an election we have a peaceful transfer of power and now i'm president and now we have a new administration and now you have to like you know you at least have to like meet us halfway and it's like no man like these people like believe don't believe that you were like legitimately like elected you know what i'm saying and then you're gonna turn around and work with this party who's like people like ted cruz you know josh hawley you know even mitch mccottle who apparently like you know after it was the whole six thing like kind of started going hard

on trump but it's like, these people just were saying that you're an illegitimate president and you want to turn around and work with them? And welcome, you want to be a president with them. You need to look no further than the motherfucking Civil War to see how unification efforts, the post-Reconstruction period, to see how that shakes out.

Like, look. Yeah, I mean, it... No, no, no. It's just like, know it's this country makes everything is fucking punitive in this country except for like the few things that should actually be punitive like hanging people like nathan bedford forest for example instead of erecting statues to them yeah it makes me wonder if they'll really continue forward with the impeachment shit. I mean, these are the same people who in 2008 said, we're looking forward, not behind us.

I mean, if you're talking about unity, I can't see how going forward with the impeachment thing is bringing everybody together. They are stupid enough to, I mean mean they're completely out of touch and that's another reason why it's so surreal and ridiculous so maybe they will keep going forward with it but i could see them abandoning it just because like i said it's it's not good for the brand yeah yeah they i mean it's also just like they like their base i think like duh they do want these people to be held accountable you know like like just throw them some fucking red meat you know what i mean like go forward with this impeachment but again like you know these elected officials these dems like no it'll be it'll be

you know it'll be too uh it's too much right we should we should come together now like that's in the past i mean they were even saying that shit about mike pence yesterday like um the fact that he came to the inauguration you know and it's like dude right mitch mcconnell mitch mcconnell and i'm like motherfucking like up until a week ago you know what i'm saying like two weeks ago like these brothers they were they were calling everybody in kentucky trailer trash for electing this guy again oh my god and and also we find out that what that uh that well i mean this is from a little while ago but biden fucking even reached out to mitch said mitch we want we want you back yeah and they purposely didn't run anybody like of any of any substance against him for a number of years because they thought he could be reasoned with. They liked the crook they knew, I guess,

is what the rationale was. It's just like not having object permanence or something. That's the only way I can think of to describe it. It's like they just keep running for the fucking football, and getting it yanked away, and just keep doing it over and over and over again. Well, I think that they're in an advanced state of denial

about what has become of this country. That's so bleak. When the people in power can't see the burning house, that is like They're inside of it and they're like

No this is fine And they're locking the doors when you're trying to escape In the windows and they're like no it's fine Like No it's fine You don't need to look any further than the fact that On the day that they stormed The capitol building

Biden came out and was like, now everybody just needs to calm down and go home and let the process pay out. And it's just like, dude, you could not be more out of touch. Like, that's incredible to me. It's terrifying. And that's what makes it so surreal and hard to deal with is because, like, you've got the media spectacle

and all of them saying, like, we're on the hallowed grounds of the space that was so vilely defiled last week blah blah blah and you've got the spectacle of their um you know worshiping at the altar of democracy and then you look out at the vast expanse of this country you know with thousands of people dying a day um you know these political factions that make no sense and they're at each other's throats at all times. I mean, it's just like there's just such a massive gap. I've never seen it this massive before between what the elite thinks is happening

and what is actually happening. Yeah. I don't know. No, that makes perfect sense, man it's like again i really do think that like who is this inauguration for like again i know people are watching it right but i'm just thinking of like the the tens of millions of like working people out there you know what i mean or people that are like stressed about out about being kicked out of their homes or like just like waiting on this like check,

you know, hopefully a monthly check. And how do those people feel when they watch this? I mean, yeah, maybe like Tom said, people are relieved because more than like disliking Trump, they just don't want to deal with like having to see his face every fucking day. You know what I mean? But it's like, who is this inauguration for? Like it by like it just seemed really it's just performative you know it's just for all these people to get together it feels like a red carpet type of event that's what it feels like when you're watching it oh yeah absolutely i mean it kind of makes sense because in their minds in their minds like politics is entertainment now obviously like this was proven with obama and everything but trump is the bad expression of that and if you could just take it back and

make it the hollywood's got to change the channel make it more yeah make it marvel movies which they were the move the music they were playing was like literally music out of a marvel movie man you're right it's so bad and then like, like, everybody's, like, commenting on, like, who's the designer of everybody's dress. It's like an award show or something. Yeah. Dude, yeah, I have never been more convinced. I've never been more convinced watching this thing

that, like, the future in 20 years is gonna be just extreme ecological collapse and catastrophe cops just roided out cops wandering the streets as judge, jury and executioner working three jobs at nine cents an hour but being able to vote

for whichever entertainer you think is closer to your own values and virtues while you wait to get shipped like an asteroid mod or some shit like that yo you're gonna ask gonna end up on the fucking moon like fucking digging for rare earth rare moon minerals to fucking power elon musk's new fucking colony on mars nah yeah this is like, I mean, I don't know, man. I think that's, like, watching

it the whole day, I just felt extremely grim. Like, I felt really grim. And, you know, there was that part where that girl came on through a poem, you know? You know, I don't know what it is. It was fucking horrible. It's a horrible poem. I don't like,

it reminds me when i used to try to do a slam poetry like back in new york when i like thought i could do that shit it's just how everybody talks like this and you have to give up the certain affectation and it's just like it was fucking garbage it was a stupid poem but it really was grim as fuck because here's this like beautiful young girl you know who's like full of hope and promise and she's reading this poem on this day where we're all supposed to accept like, okay,

our long national nightmare is over. And I just imagine like, you know, taping this and watching it 20 years later. And like, you know, like some fucking slum and just being like with cops outside. Like you said,

Terrence broided roaming around and beat the shit out of motherfuckers. And I'm just watching this and looking at it. Like, yeah, that's where, that's where, that's where we started, man. Bro bro let me tell y'all something this is going to sound a little harsh to the ears of the uninitiated but there will come a day that we all wish that whoever was in charge would have sent him because they're i mean they're it's it's

too far it's too far gone man yeah. Do you know what I'm saying? Like the horse is out of the barn with the cop thing. Yeah. Dude, this is why I was in such a dark place on Wednesday. Like all of these things sort of swirled together and combined into this really dark sort of composite image of everything. Like I said, I talked to my plumber, and he's articulating actual material

uh you know demands uh and identifying real material enemies but only being able to identify this only ally in that fight as like someone who wants to incite you know ethnic uh genocide and all this other stuff. I mean, that's pretty dark. But then, like, so in my own hometown in New Mexico, the sheriff's office is insane. In Lee County, New Mexico, the sheriff's department is fucking nuts. Like, when the governor there tried to pass, like, a lockdown order again

a few months ago, they were literally going around trying to tell small business owners how they could break that rule basically how they could not lock their restaurants down um and then i saw this thing from them on wednesday that just blew my fucking mind man they put out a press release for immediate release wednesday night january 20th 2021 on january 13th 2021 a driver in the area of eva street and grimes street alert shout out to grimes baby uh i'm from grimes born and raised baby um alerted a lee county sheriff's deputy about a white suv driving recklessly northbound on grimes uh deputy located the

vehicle turning east blah blah blah um the deputy stopped the vehicle and noticed two people on inside man and a woman the deputy noticed tears on the face of the female passenger dude this is in a press release i'm gonna keep going so if you're easily triggered by this shit tune out but this is pretty fucking insane deputy noticed tears on the face of the female passenger the deputy separated the two to investigate further lee county sheriff's investigators responded and interviewed the victim and smith this is the dude the victim stated smith became angry at her so okay but just right now they haven't named the victim which is good you should not name the any of the people in this but

they have named the dude the dude has not been found guilty of anything granted after reading this i'm pretty sure he probably beat her or something this is probably a domestic violence situation but they go on to detail everything about this guy where he lives his how many kids he has where his house is at what he did in this situation like uh smith threw a box of beer bottles at her landing near her feet he threatened to drag her with the car if she did not get in the car with the kids like none of this says allegedly you know what i'm saying like none of it leaves it open to any bit of legal uh interpretation it is written this isn't a public press release i don't know how this is legal but it's to me it's kind of like how cops and newspapers can publish you know like lineup shots and stuff like that they were doing that all over the news and fucking

like and i mean people probably gonna be like well these people tried to storm the capital but they were doing that shit all over the news on CNN. Like name these people, man. And I don't know, dude, like it just makes me feel like another thing. I don't know how to really like I don't really know how to like phrase this properly. So but I didn't like like the whole I guess people call it classism. You know what I mean? But yet again, these people were like, you know, fucking jet ski retailers and shit like that. And, you know, they weren't like, you know, working class people. Maybe it was cross class. Right.

But it seemed like like racialized in a way, like these descriptions. Right. When I say racialized, I guess like an othering that really made me feel uncomfortable, like as a black person. And when I see that shit on the news of like all of these, like, well, this is the person that did this and this person did this. It's like, yeah, man, they stormed the Capitol with that shit. But I could easily imagine like as a black leftist, you know, I mean, they do this shit. They actually do do these things to the left. So it's like it makes me uncomfortable. It's like, you know, the omen of a police state, like a true like hardcore police state.

Truly, I mean, this is the thing it's like in their minds the mentality has become in the media and among the cops themselves i mean the idea of you know innocent until proven guilty has just been completely jettisoned we've completely lost Like, cops basically have their own rules. Or judge, jury, execution. Literally. That is exactly what they are. I mean, I think that this is really what fucking freaks me out. Like, these people have become so inured to the idea at this point. They've become so, I guess, they've become so used to the idea that the buck stops at them.

That they are, yes, judge, jury, and executioner. And that once you come under the purview or the cross-eye or whatever of a cop, you are already guilty. You have no say otherwise. I think this is, you know know this is obviously why they just fucking kill people in the streets um but it's just like these people are the future i mean like in in it's like tom was saying like we've gone too far at this point like this is why to me the only real profound powerful political demand i've seen come out of the streets in the last 10 years is to fund the police because it's the only one that's streamlined makes sense and actually

attacks a lot of these antagonizes who needs to be antagonized man and i and i think that too i think that we if we do not cultivate the mindset and quick that we need to have an antagonistic relationship with the police and every community in this country that there's no coming back from this because in 20 years you're talking about the the the fucking harvest of just decades and decades and decades of cop culture and the lionization of cops and everything it's just going to come to a head and all and the lionization of cops and everything, it's just going to come to a head. And all these fuckers that aided and abetted it aren't going to be able to do anything about it.

Like, cops are the strongest, most powerful. You have basically a taxpayer-funded paramilitary arm that's paid to harass us and keep us in line. And held accountable by no one, not even, like, local executive officials. Like, Mayor de Blasio. I think it was like over the summer. Apparently, like his daughter had went to one of these BLM protests and the NYPD or members of the NYPD had doxxed her, like said horrible, racist things about her.

And then fucking de Blasio turns around and says like, oh, you know, the cops are doing their job, you know, or they've had a hard time. And it's like, dude, like these people, people these fucking animals literally can y'all hear me i lost you for a second oh no i was saying you said mayor de blasio his daughter over yeah the blasio's daughter over the summer was involved like the blm protests and um cops like targeted her um dox her like you know uh said like horrible racist things about her, like violent things about her. And de Blasio, like, I don't know if it was a couple weeks later or whatever, but not even referenced this event. I don't even think he talked about it publicly. Like he says, oh, yeah, the cops are doing a great job, you know. Thank you to the NYPD, right, for maintaining the peace this summer.

It's just like, even the fucking politicians are scared of these people, yo. They're terrified, man. Even the fucking politicians are scared of these people, yo. They're terrified, man. And it's also the other thing, too, is like even with the Capitol siege, for all this fucking hand-wringing about our sacred democracy was defiled and all this stuff, we got fed all these cops all but given, some of these cops all but given these people massage.

Like the guy that walked in there and was like, hey, could you guys just, you know, this is the most sacred place. Could y'all just like kind of take that somewhere else you know y'all need anything you need yeah and then ask the guy if he needed medical attention but but yeah but this is where it's weird too because like there were cops like there were cops there like you know off-duty cops there and then like cops like letting them in and you know then they have like some folk like the guy who apparently like led that black dude

who's like he was at the inauguration too who like led these people around like and got him like and so it's like there's like and who and who for his and who got the honor of escorting joe biden to his inauguration exactly oh my god are you serious yes yes i didn't know that he's a hero now like he's a hero i mean like you know like fucking like white libs are just like like you know oh this is this black guy who saved democracy you know what i mean who saved the country yo it's like really fucking cringe it's cringe it's cringe is out. Remember when they were all over Sully's nuts, Captain Sully's nuts? For just marginally wrecking an airplane on a river. Doing his fucking job, not killing people.

Yeah. Dude, this is really why I was in such a dark place. This is why, this is really why I was in such a dark place. Because, like, people seem to have this idea that fascism is going to come, you know, there's that famous book, like, It Could Happen Here. Whatever that fucking book is that people like to quote. It's just, like, they think that it's going to come, like, looking like Hitler. That some, like, charismatic leader is going to come and trick the masses and brainwash them and get them involved in this movement and they're going to be misled and i'm you know they unfortunately they can be misled and and before we know it we'll have a nazi party and a third reich and all this and it's like

maybe the more realistic way to look at this is that if you're trying to build a movement these people have everything they need they have a paramilitary arm that agrees with them on basically everything they might be a little pissy with them right now because the capital stuff and they challenge their authority but they'll get over it because they have the same they're largely sympathetic and and then yeah and it's just put on a pedestal by society. Exactly. Yeah. And then you have, on the other hand, a cross-class force of plumbers, workers, see-do dealership owners, people who are vaguely pissed off about the way the establishment works and how it's not working for them either

culturally geographically or whatever economically i mean it's just like everything they need and that's why athletes entertainers yeah yeah that's why i think like the next fascist leader will be like a roided out like bone dumb grunt from like the houston pd narcotics unit or something someone who can like you know what i mean like they think that like ho unit or something. Someone who can like, you know what I mean? They think that like Holly or Cruz are going to be the ones to tame this beast. Are you kidding me? Dude, like Holly and Cruz are going to

rub the red carpet thinking they're going to get to be the leader and then this dude's just going to shoot them in the head on live TV. Oh dude, they'll be absolutely, they'll be devoured. Stop this fuck up. And that's what—and that's what the stakes are. And it's why, like, last week when people are like,

oh, you guys weren't taking the siege seriously and blah, blah, blah, and I was like, well, what do you want me to say? Well, what I want to say to you is that those are the stakes. What are you going to do about it? Are you going to let all the people in your community just, like, slide into this way of looking at the world and thinking about the world because the democrats have nothing to fucking offer them we need to figure something out and fucking quick yeah because like this is what's happening this is i no i'm just gonna say think about fascism

too man that's such a great point is like even on the left sometimes like where people think like it's gonna arrive in this particular way and it's like yo like it's a process it's a development like it's already happening and we can see it happening and it's not fascism until it's fascism you know what i'm saying so it's like i don't know what the fuck to think about what happened on like the 6th either right like i'm not clowning it was like absurd and it was menacing but it's also just like dude it's it's it's something that hasn't taken a final form yet but i can kind of see it you know what i mean and we need some we need some like yeah we need some resistance to that man i don't know what trump is apparently going to start a third political party this is what i'm hearing it's called the patriot party

by the way so that's uh he actually did that and i think, when he ran in 2004. Whenever he ran, he ran in the Constitutional Party. Yeah, the Constitutional Party. I think. Jesus, man. No, I... I could see a world where that would be a coup for the left, but the dangerous part about that is I could also see a world that, like...

I don't know, man man that's scary to think I don't want to say like where I could see like a third like constitutional type whatever kind of Trump party taking over but that wouldn't be no Ross Perot fucking you know what's your old Johnson the old governor of New Mexico?

It wouldn't be that type of shit. It would be like a serious challenge to the right. That's the thing. Most people are disaffected with both parties. They hate every fucking politician. I mean, I don't know, man. I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Because I think the left seems to – well, A, it's wedded to a very historical view of what fascism traditionally looks like.

And so it's like, oh, it has to look exactly like it unfolded in 1930s, 20s, 30s Germany or whatever. And it's like you're exactly right, Aaron. It's a process dialectical process um and so it's not going to look the same but another part of that is that leftists think that like oh well we only really have a couple of options there's really only a couple of things we can do one of which is to put out candidates like the squad and like bernie and people because of their material interest, because of the way the things that they need will automatically gravitate to

those policies and that in those persons. And I just have to say that, no, that's not, that is not the way it works. Mostly because this is a lesson I had to learn a long time ago as an organizer. Anytime you're asking somebody

for something anytime you're uh basically trying to use them for your own political project without guaranteeing them anything in return with no underlying trust built up basically just saying hey trust me vote for me and i'll give you x y Y, and Z. With no underlying trust there, people aren't going to get on board. People are not stupid. And this is another point I need to make. People are not stupid. Most people are smart. They look around them.

They take an inventory of their material conditions and their opportunities for advancement or change. And in their minds, they make that calculus and say well it's not going to happen right now so i'm just going to do what i can to save my family and to save myself because there's no other out right now there's no other way out and uh and i don't know i once again i leftists really need to stop treating people like they're fucking infants like i don't know. It's like if the right, you know, you mentioned this before, Terrence. If the right has like community, you know, it has these bonds that are, you know, that are not like tenuous, you know, like there are bonds that are like, I mean, this is why people show up to shit, you know.

And if they have all of that and then also like this, this aggrieved like feeling right of like having lost something. Right. And the left like doesn't like, you know, doesn't create doesn't create those like similar bonds and like, you know, feelings of community and whatnot. It's like, yeah, you're right. Like people are like not going to want to like participate or be a part of anything. You know, you're not making people feel like they're part of something bigger than themselves you know you're just like entrusting them you know you're just saying hey like i if i vote for you you'll do it and like it doesn't really like work like that and the right realizes that it doesn't work like that that's why they form bonds community like long lasting like partnerships you know what i mean that develop over time and like i don't know how like quickly we can like replicate that on the left before you know i don't know i mean i i don't

know you're exactly right i i think that um there's this idea that the that people are just sort of like infants and you dangle something in front of them and they'll be like, yeah, I'll take that because that's what I need. It's just like we've done none of the necessary work to build up trust in any of these communities. I mean, there are a few exceptions for sure. There are like, you know, organizations that have worked in communities a long ass time, but they're pockets. You know, there's no like larger national interstate institutions that can bridge that you know no unions or anything anymore and so it's it's that's that's why it's like the only thing that we can do right now is to really try to do that you know to try to build up fucking

trust and bonds with each other i mean i, I don't have any other answers. I mean, it's good to, like, vote for the squad and people and stuff like that. It's not enough. Yeah, it's not enough. I mean, I don't know. I don't want to. Never mind. I was going to say something about the poorest to vote thing.

I don't even get into that. But, like, it's just, like, this idea that, like, these people like Bernie or the squad. I mean, sure, they might have the institutional power to like you know the to do parliamentarian tricks you know what i mean but essentially like they have to rely on like people and they have to rely on like a wide popular base of support and like something that's extra political right something that's parallel that's counter hegemonic to just their like you know power within congress and government so it's like how much do you want them to fucking do man that's why like i don't even fucking get mad at him i'm just like dude whatever they're like bernie's uh fucking

senator he's not a bolshevik you know what i mean like we need to be doing that work you know what i'm saying i've been laughing about approaching like a blue collar worker in my community and like did you hear the good news brother senator bernie sanders is going to be on the senate budget committee just like that's how bleak i mean come on man i don't know know. It's just... We got to figure out something quick, man. I... Yeah. I reserve the right to be bleak this week. I've had a terrible goddamn week, so...

I get to be fucking... You got your bleak password. Yeah, no messages about bleakness this week, okay? You can resume next week. What would you say, Tom? Like, we just call it balls and strikes, right? That's it. It's the umpires, right? That's it. Now we enter Moloch.

Let's go. Well, anything else? The only other thing I had on my list of things to discuss was Mike Lindell, my pillow CEO, having a secret Relationship with What? What's her name from 30 Rock? No Did you not see this Aaron? Um

Yeah Mike Lindell Yeah the MyPillow guy Yeah he is He is He is one of the biggest advocates of stop the steel um jane krakowski from uh 30 rocks she denied his uh so i don't know second wife left him because uh he was boring that's what that's what she said and she ruined he ruined the past two years of her life so i would deny it too probably no that's does she yeah she um does she deny she she denied it yeah

she uh mike lindell i guess, like, all of these companies decided to stop carrying his, like, Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl's and stuff. Like, they're no longer carrying my pillow. Oh. But, and so this has, like, completely sent the conservatives into a frenzy. And I don't know about you guys. I don't know if you have any like conservative friends but they started using the word cancel in the same way that like i don't want to be canceled and i i'm not gonna be canceled and they're trying to cancel me like

they've they've they've adopted the word cancel as like equivalent to like i'm gonna be killed or put into a labor camp like they're trying to cancel me and i don't want them to cancel me you know i don't know if you guys have noticed this yeah it's a it's a fight somehow worse than death um i think that's partially why because like guys like mike lindell can no longer sell their pillows at Bed Bath & Beyond. I mean, it's just like consequences. That's what it is. That's basically what they say.

I have to face consequences for bad shit that I did. Bro. Right. You knew good and goddamn well before you even put your hat in politics when you come on the national scene as the MyPillow guy. There was going to be consequences and repercussions for that. Even if you had the best politics ever like come on yeah man yo what if like mike lindell is the one that becomes the main benefactor of our next uh fascist deer leader pillow fascism mike lindell's q oh fuck

pillow fascism oh fuck pillow fascism that's a good title oh shit alright fellas well let's let's wrap this up and

get going sorry that this episode is a day late. That's what happens. That's the way it goes sometimes. That's what happens. You can find us on Patreon. P-A-T-R-E-O-N dot com

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episode, too. Yeah, you know what? We get to have a bad episode. We put out the Dollywood episode, and that shit rocked. You know what? Let us to have a bad episode. We put out the Dollywood episode, and that shit rocked. So, you know what? Let us live, man. Let us live. All right, well, thanks for listening, everybody.

We'll see you next time. Bye-bye.