Weekly Skews - Weekly Skews 12/20/22 - Origin Stories

Episode Date: December 21, 2022

Happy Holidays, Skewers! Due to me and Smart Mark both being currently removed to the holler, I've pre-recorded a special episode of Skews for yuns on this fine holiday Skewsday. Hopefully everything beyond that is self-explanatory.Support the show

What's up, everybody. Welcome back and happy Skews Day to you. It is December 20th, 20th, 23. I'm Trey Crowder and no Mark. That ain't Mark. Oh, wrong shoulder. That sure ain't Mark. There's some poor dead buck bastard back there. No, I know everything else is different about this. For one thing, not live, just so y'all are aware. This is pre-recorded. Hopefully when you click the link you were aware it was pre-recorded. It's pre-recorded in two segments. Here's what we've done. So, as you may have ascertained, I'm deep in the woods right now, back in the boonies, as it were, at my in-laws. I'm in-laws' basement. Katie's parents' basement, hence the camouflage decor back there. That buck actually used to have an airbrushed Panama City, Florida

trucker hat on its head. So, you know, they've actually gussed it up a little bit in in that hatch removal for whatever reason. But anyway, I'm here, and I just, and Mark is deep in the woods of Virginia right now because it's Christmas week. I alluded to all this in the run-up to our big trip, and we do not think that we have the technological or high-speed internet wherewith-all to do a typical skews episode, and it being live, you know, if we tried it, everything fell completely apart, then what were we going to do?

So I decided I'd do something different this week. And so here's what I've done is the first thing I did was this past Saturday. I recorded an interview with Chief Georgia correspondent, Corey Ryan Forrester. It's part of a larger series of interviews I'm doing right now, primarily for Patreon, where I talk to people like me, which by that I mean rural slash southern liberals. and get their sort of origin stories, how they came up, how they came to feel the way they do

about all these political situations out here and how they came to be more left-leaning than is generally seen in our communities, right? And so I've got one of those with Smart Mark, right? We did one of those interviews. That will be on Patreon later this week. I did one with my wife, Katie, but that on Patreon yesterday.

But the one with Corey is about to start playing here in just a few more minutes after I get done rambling about this right here. I did that because I thought it would make for some interesting content. And also, I'm not going to lie, I did not expect anything majorly newsworthy to happen this close to Christmas. I feel like generally this country mostly shuts down around these parts of the year. So I wasn't really anticipating any bombshell headlines. or whatnot, so I thought the interview with Corrie would make a nice placeholder, and it's sort of a, you know, a special episode, a holiday edition. But then, of course, yesterday, December 19th, the January 6th committee referred Donald Trump for criminal charges to the Department of Justice, right? And when that happened, I thought, well, shit, I guess I should at least address that in some fashion.

So that's what I'm doing here. We're going to talk about that just briefly, give you my stance on it such that it exists. Then we'll get into an interview with Corey that hopefully y'all enjoy or at least somewhat enjoy, and then we'll call it a day. Then after that, next week the 27th, as I keep reminding y'all, there will be no episode of skews for the same reasons that this weird one is happening now. And after that, we hopefully will be back on track. Anyway, so the first thing I did, y'all aren't going to be surprised to hear this at all, when I heard about the January 6th committee news was I texted Smart Mark and producer Matt and I said, tell me how to feel about this, Mark, because that's what we do here. But that's pretty much the purpose of the show is so Smart Mark can tell me how I should feel about things that happen in this country. And I've, you know, I've openly admitted that for a lot for some time now.

I didn't just ask him to tell me how to feel. I told him how my immediate read on it, which is another version of the same thing I've been saying this whole time, which is it's like, okay, that sounds good. That almost sounds like a thing is happening, but at the same time, I don't think that really counts yet as a thing happening. And until the thing actually happens, I'm not going to get too overly excited about none of this. and by a thing happening, I mean, Donald Trump actually being put in handcuffed or perp walked or put behind bars or any of that, just arrested or even actually charged, right? Because that's not what this is, which we all know. It's nice. It's better than them not doing it, but they don't have the capacity to file the charges.

They're just recommending that the Department of Justice do so. So I basically texted Mark and I said, that's what I'm thinking. and does that sound about right? And he said, well, it's both. It's both completely unprecedented. And it's also nothing at the same time. So, yeah, there you go. You know, Mark said puts political pressure on the DOJ or whatnot.

But, yeah, it's not the same thing as actual charges being filed yet. So now it's in Merrick Garland's court. And we've got to see, you know, what ends up happening. But there are four charges, an obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement, an inciting, assisting, or aiding slash comforting, an insurrection. Now, last one, that sounds like a big deal to me. It sounds like the type of thing you couldn't just do and get away with.

I mean, inciting slash aiding and abetting and insurrection, you'd think there'd be some repercussions for that. But it still remains to be seen whether that actually happens or not, which is sort of the whole thing here. Producer Matt, for the record, weighed in and said that he thought the tax returns would end up being a bigger deal. And I guess that is supposed to maybe come to pass today. But I don't know if I mentioned it. It's 12, 22 p.m. Central time right now.

This is when I had to do this. Because, see, I have to come down here in the basement and do this, and I've got to shut the whole house down. There's like a slew of little kids upstairs, cousins and stuff. And I've had to ask everybody to give me. you know, at least some measure of quiet while I record this. So I couldn't just wait around and see what happens with the tax returns. But anyway, Matt said he thought that might be the bigger deal. He said Democrats have made it out like the progressive media thinks it's going to be some huge bombshell,

but perhaps they've overplayed their hand. Mark said he thinks all it's going to be is that Trump is embarrassed about how little money he's actually made over those years, which I think would be perfectly on brand. and incredibly appropriate for Donald Trump. And Matt was saying, you know, there could be implications with major fraud and things of that nature. And I told him, honestly, I'd be way more surprised if that wasn't the case. Like, that's the type of thing that, you know, I'm going to be like, well, yeah, if that happens. But with all this stuff, I just, I feel the same way now that I felt at the very beginning of all this,

which is that like, like I said earlier, yeah, it's great, but it ain't, you know, It ain't really the thing yet, like the thing we're all waiting for. Like that still hasn't happened and gunned to my head. Do I expect that to happen? No, I do not still to this day. I will, frankly, I will be stunned, stunned beyond belief, if Donald Trump actually ends up facing serious legal repercussions for his actions. But obviously, I hope he does.

It would be a wonderful Christmas present for this. wounded and in need of healing nation that we have. But yeah, I believe it when I say it. That's pretty much how I feel about that right now. I did see some people point some other things out, which is that, you know, Donald Trump is the first president to ever be referred for criminal charges to the Justice Department. He's also the first president to ever be impeached twice.

He's, you know, had a pretty unprecedented string of, you know, presidential atrocities or embarrassments, stains upon our nation and the office itself, and yet he got to, you know, he appointed literally hundreds of judges, putting three on the Supreme Court, you know, still got a very lasting legacy, the sort of authoritarian fascism brigade that he's installed in key parts all around our country's, you know, justice system and governmental infrastructure, and that is a wee bit terrifying. so yeah it's you know it's better than them not doing anything but we still ain't out of the woods yet and i know because i'm deep in the woods right now for the record fun little fun fact

before we get to cori's interview here wang county where my wife's from where i currently sit is statistically like by percentage the reddest county in the deep deep ruby red state of Tennessee. So that's fun. Now her family's cool. It is, it is fun. I enjoy it. It's nice. It's quiet holiday time. It's sweet. I'm going to do some bacon. Y'all already know. I'm thinking about trying a Yule log. Who doesn't love a Yule log, you know, rolling up some cake. I've locked myself into having to make gingerbread houses every year because I did it last year and now the children demand it. The problem is now they all want their own gingerbread house. Like I just I just make the pieces and glue them together because that's the whole point.

The kids decorate them. But last year I just made two gingerbread houses for five kids. But now, of course, they're all demanding their own. So, you know, I might have to make a shitload of gingerbread houses later. But, you know, it's fun. I need to get an apron. That's why I'm at home is in the kitchen. You know what I mean?

Like a real man. I mean that sincerely. I don't give a shit. All right. Happy holidays, y'all coming up now. is a, uh, I'm calling them origin stories. It's an origin stories interview with chief Georgia correspondent, Corey Ryan Forrester. Slight housekeeping again.

Uh, I go to tracrouter.com. Check out my tour date to come and save me. We just had shows at Zanis. They were incredible, as they always are. B, uh, if you like this origin story shit or if you like the sound of it, or if you just want to support the show or you just want to get some more skews in your life, any or some more Trey Crowder in your life any and all of the above you should sign up on patreon go on patreon look me up you could see and like i said uh we got this is a whole series i'm

doing of sorts right now on patreon so there's all kinds of bonus skews episodes interviews with mark in this same fashion interviews my wife a lot of uh i overshare on there all the time so if you're into that or just want to support me slash the show get on patreon uh and everybody have a wonderful holiday we will be off completely next week the 27th and after that the intent is to get back at least relatively to normal all right enjoy this interview with the show himself cori rime forester and happy holidays love you like chicken i'll see you soon hidy y'all welcome back and happy skews day to you we are coming to you from the past where you are i meant to look at this before i started and then i didn't do it is this an episode of skews it is

Where you are, it is December 20th, 2020, but everything else about this episode, as you can see, is quite different. I'm Trey. That's not smart, Mark. That's Chief Georgia correspondent, Corey Ryan Forrester. Hey, everybody. And we are coming to you from the past as we are recording this. It's Saturday, December 17th at about 430, Nashville time.

It's a home for the holidays episode of Skew, so obviously we're not live. Producer Matt is not with us. We won't be doing any of that because Mark is deep in the wilds of red-ass Virginia. right now and is unavailable and i'm in wang county even deeper redder wilder country not hitting no not hitting a lot of pie and shit like that and having a good time but you know generally off the grid so i thought i'd have the georgia correspondent show do this ahead of time with me so what we're going to do because it's a very skews-ish but like i said it's a special episode we want to talk about mainly two things chow so i feel like i think maybe the

two questions that I get asked the most, and I'm sure you do too, but especially around this time of year, is A, people want to know, like, how do you deal with your conservative family at the holidays? Like, how do you deal with that? And B, people always want to know, like, what my origin story is for being a liberal redneck or like a blue sheep or whatever. And I've talked about them both a lot, but just to quickly recap for me, because I want to talk to you about all that is for me, basically, I almost feel guilty when people ask me how to deal with that because I don't actually have to, which is related to my answer to the second question, because I was actually raised in like a family of Southern Democrats, basically, with a gay

uncle and we didn't go to church, and they're not, they're not conservative. So, like, I'm pretty much just the way I was raised to be, the way most Americans are. I'd like to think I would have turned out the same way either way. but you know I can never know and at Christmas time I don't really have to deal with that type of lunacy but on the Patreon page I talked to a smart Mark

about that in a bonus skews and on my Patreon I'm going to get these same answers from my wife Katie Crowder so we're filled building a little portfolio here of origin stories in the MC skew it's a holiday origin story

extravaganza in the extended skew universe so You're from Chickamauga, Georgia, rural north Georgia. Yeah, civil war town. You can take those questions in any order you want. If you want to start with how you turned out the way you did and then get to the holidays or vice versa, I don't care. Well, with the holidays for me, when I was a very tiny child, my family was pretty big. This was before my grandmother had become, what's the term from when you don't, estranged from our family.

And so there was her, there was my aunts and uncles. And once, like, we had a really big falling out. This episode is not long enough for me to get into all that. But when that happened, basically, she took the whole family on her side against my family. You know what's wild? And I'm going to make it a point to ask her this for that Patreon episode. But Katie has a very similar scenario in her family. She has a grandma that they literally call evil granny.

Yeah. Because she sort of like split the family. We just call ours a bitch. Right. Yeah. But she did that years. ago and they ain't had nothing to do with her or hers ever since. And I don't really know the full story on that one either, but that's a wild coincidence. Yeah, right. And so because of that,

like, I feel like the larger the family, the more the chances are going to be that there's some political discourse at the holidays just because of a numbers game. Like, you get enough people, especially in the South together. Somebody's going to be on some Q and on shit. And my uncle definitely would have 100%. Like, dude, I remember. Rest in peace. Yeah, rest in peace. But he died doing what he love, Trey, sitting in his chair holding a gun, right? You know what I mean? I think I sent y'all this a couple of years ago. My uncle was just wild in the things that he hated. Like, I remember a couple years ago on the Super Bowl, he sent me a text message that says, I don't give a fuck what no one says. Fuck Bruno Mars, that skinny little bitch. I fucking, like, it just

was going in on Bruno Mars. And I have to assume that the only reason that he didn't hit for him is because he was a different color and performing at the halftime of the Super Bowl. Sure. So you take away all those people. They just don't like Hawaiians? Yeah, I guess. Is he Hawaiian?

He's from Hawaii, I'm pretty sure. I don't know, like, what his ethnicity. I'm not a big Bruno guy. Respect, not like your uncle. Yeah, right. Got no problem with him. I just ain't up on my Bruno background. He's wonderful.

But so my grandmother, so now that our family's smaller, it's basically just my mom and my dad, neither of whom, my dad doesn't have siblings, period, and my mom didn't have siblings that she was talking to. So it's just my mom, my dad, my sister, me, both my grandfathers and one of my other grandmothers died when I was very young because, you know, my granny's actually my great-granding, all that shit. So there's only five of us.

My granny left school in sixth grade to work the fields. She was a very Christian woman, but me and you've talked about this a lot. Really before NAFTA, so many people we knew were apolitical. Like completely, like, of course, they had you know they voted but it was very private nobody talked about it and the line between democrat and republican wasn't how it is today my dad my mom was a republican because of christianity my dad was a republican i have no idea why because of money maybe but like because he like

owns his own business and all that probably that but like it's funny because so did his dad like his dad owned his own business a construction business but he was a hardcore democrat and like it was the complete opposite of a father-son relationship that you normally see like my papal used to rib my dad for being a conservative when it's normally the complete flip but the thing is is that even though my dad was a conservative he definitely wasn't in anybody's face about it nor did I really think that he cared who one or lost just like well this is my guy but whatever so nobody really ever talked about politics my entire life it never got brought up and I remember both of my parents, even though they were

conservative, I remember them getting mad that the pastor was bringing politics to the pulpit. Even though it was their politics, I remember them being like, this ain't what this supposed to be. Because you know more about this than me, I think. Like, that used to be like the standard.

Like that didn't happen. That didn't happen until like the whole the Reagan and the Christian right movement. The Southern Baptist Convention and all that where they basically determined. that, hey, we God now. Republican is the official party of the Lord. And then they

became intrinsically connected and they had been ever since. But before that happened, it wasn't like that. There was plenty of Southern Democrats. You know, and I mean, obviously the Democratic Party today doesn't look like what it did back when they were referred to as like the Dixiecrats or whatever. It was. They was

super racist. Yeah, I was about that's what I always tell people about, because I say I come from a family with Southern Democrats, but I'm like, but like not that kind. Like the time that actually like genuinely sort of evolved with the party i guess because they weren't like they were just like they made like it was a union thing and the union like my and i remember i told you yesterday we were just talking like i've got this crystal clear memory in my head you mentioned after nafta my whole family was democrats they're big clinton people and all that and i can remember

sometime around mid 90s 96 97 something like that post nafta the factory in salina left we're in my dad's video store and i can like see my grandpa walking in and like slamming down a newspaper it had some story about the factory and after something on it, slamming it down and going, I swear to God, I'll never vote for another Democrat as long as I live. Right. Fuck them. Had nothing to do with the Lord, though. And then, no, not at all. They felt betrayed.

Exactly. You know, and like, and I, you know, hell, I get that. Of course. And then I think he probably voted for W. Bush, and then he died before the next election happened. But my dad, though, he just couldn't do it. I'm sure he agreed with some of that, but he just like, Lord God, he hated George Bush

so much. Like, he, He kept that way. Daddy Bush? No, I mean W. I'm saying, I think my grandpa voted for W because he felt betrayed by the Democrats. But his son, my dad, I know, did not because he fucking hated George Bush. He would just rather not voted. No, I think he voted for, you know, Gore was a Tennessee guy.

Yeah, right. And my dad was definitely like... Did Gore win Tennessee? No, he didn't. It was a huge story. But he did, he did win Clay County. Because he actually gave Clay County a shout out after all, after all the dust settled. He won a few Tennessee County.

counties, but Clay County was one of the only rural counties that he won. And I remember he gave us a shout out, you know, saying he appreciated it because it really stung to lose it. Because that's another thing, like used to, it's wild now, because I don't feel like you'd ever expect that. But used to in politics, like you were expected to win your home state. Of course. Whatever color the state was and whatever party affiliation you had. If you didn't win that, you really suck. Right. You were going to win. And that was the whole thing with Gore. You were going to win your home state now that no one would ever assume. No. Like, you Hell no. If it's a Democrat running who happens to be from Tennessee, no one is going to expect them to win Tennessee.

No. They'll get stomp in Tennessee. Yeah, for sure. Because again, like we said, the lines used to be blurred a little bit more. But so when I was a kid, like, nobody talked about politics. It wasn't really that big of a deal. Now, granted, like, we were living a very comfortable life, so there wasn't as many hot button issues. Now, my family, they have grown up. And, you know, they're Fox News people. Well, they don't sit there and watch Fox News all day but like when they do come across some Fox News stuff they'll be like see look you know do you feel like that whole thing has played a big part in like pulling them further without question to all that shit without question like just becomes like a sort of feedback loop

of like I believe this don't hit because of that and then this confirms to me that that don't hit the only time they've ever heard about it not hitting was from them telling them that it don't hit like they didn't get any just biased like here's here's the thing that happened okay, how do I feel about that? No, these people will tell me how I feel about that because that's what I've always said

like the difference between Republicans and Democrats in terms of the people that belong to either party hating the person of the other party. Republicans, the thing that they hate about Democrats is always this completely fictionalized buggy man that like they go, no, no, no, of course they what they really want to do is get in in secret and then start socialism.

It's always made up. stuff that no Democrat actually does whereas the stuff that I hate about Republicans is the shit that actually comes out of their mouth like I don't have to get the CNN spin I just watch them talk I just watch Brian Kemp talk and I go that doesn't hit

for me right but then they hear a Democrat talk and then they go here's where they actually make right I don't need any of the spin like I can just watch Brian Kemp watch Donald Trump and go I don't like the shit that's coming out of their mouth but it's not the same for them so again, it didn't really get brought up a lot. Now that we're adults, it kind of does, but we're still a small enough family. And because by virtue of what I do for a living, my parents know one thing, even though they think that I'm like, by virtue of them thinking Democrats are dumb, they must also think that everything I believe in is wrong. However, both of them are smart enough to know, well, here's the deal though. Corey may be wrong, but his wrongness is rooted in more research and information than we have. So we actually can't, argue with him. You know what I mean? Like, they don't. It's like, we know if we start

to argue with Corey, he's just going to start bringing up facts and all this shit and it's going to become a whole thing. So we just let him be dumb and wrong without have to listen to all his facts he has about stuff. Yeah, because every time they bring, every time they bring up something, I'll just ask a follow-up question. I'm like, so what do you actually know about that bill? And they're like, huh? Well, it don't hit. And I'm like, right, let's not do this. So like, it really, it really has gotten a lot better. And then when I got married to Amber and obviously now I do have a big family because I inherited her family.

And they are, you know, middle class hardworking people from Iowa. And now I was not the South, but it's rural Iowa. So the first time I went out there for pretty red generally, right? Yeah. And here's what's funny. I remember when me and Emma first started dating, I asked her, I go, hey, so before I go out here for Christmas and Thanksgiving and stuff, like, I was like, I don't, I don't care.

It's not going to affect me either way. But like, are your family, are they like Republicans or Democrats? And Amber genuinely had no idea. She's like, oh, I don't, I actually don't know. And I'm like, what do you mean you don't know? And she's like, I don't know. They don't really ever talk about that. I was like, okay.

So we go out to her Papal Jansons, who he's the first name of my son, Jansen, Papal Jansson. Fourthcoming son. Congratulations are in order, but yeah. Yeah, right. He's a fetus named Jansen by him. That's true, a fetus name. I don't want people hear that and be like, wait, hold up. What? Oh, no. He got a son? Hey, I'm totally fine if Amber wanted to kill it right now. They kill her to and me. That's fine. Yeah, murder us all. Yeah, killing fetuses is what's up. It rules. So. But yeah, no. So anyways. The namesake of the baby. We're going out there to the farm, the corn farm in Iowa. And I'm like, I just. I just have to assume that this is how this is going to go. So we get there. And of course, sweet people, and a lot of people think, oh, well, all Republicans are evil. They, do you know when you watch a movie and they're showing, like, hardcore conservatives, they exclusively show the ones that are foaming at the mouth, burning across,

but never what the more realistic thing is, is a bunch of super sweet, friendly people who then, once you ask him what their opinions are, they're like, slavery wasn't that big of a deal. But, like, on the outside, they look like nice enough people. Like, most of the time, super racist fool you by being like, no, they were sweet. What are you talking about? That's so true. So they're all sweet looking at how I'm like, here we go.

And we're sitting down and we're flipping through the channel to get to some college basketball. Because Papua was a big college basketball fan. And he stopped on Fox News and Trump was talking. He just goes, oh, that guy. And I'm thinking like, oh, God, here we go. And he goes, I tell you what. is just about one of the most obscene garbage people I have ever met and he doesn't cuss he's from Iowa gee golly gosh darn it you know whatever and I'm sitting and I'm like wait what and he goes

I don't like this if you listen if you like him that's totally fine I go I hate him and they go yeah we hate him too and so I found out that like at least that side of Amher's family he was a postal worker he was a union guy you know what I mean he drove the school bus for the for the county school and like so he was not in any way a Trump person and then the rest of the people on the other side of the family they're not super pro-democrat they literally hate all of them and I was like dude I can get with that was the South

I feel like that used to be very like the predominant fuck them all stance I feel like when I was a kid in the South was generally they're all full of shit none up to hell with all of them which I agree with except for you do have to pick and one of them is less bad than the other and that if you especially now if you genuinely can look me in the face

and tell me that one party is not worse than the other you have no sense but I can get down dude the people who say fuck them all you want to party with those folks those are fun people to be around so they're all like that so now we spend our whole Thanksgiving out there

where I swear to you politics literally doesn't get brought up one single time in any of the family things so since you've said this right because in the Smart Mark episode of this series which is on a Patreon on weekly shoes.com slash more

he brought up he was like honestly this question almost doesn't even compute to me because like my whole lot this is Mark saying this he's like my whole life like people were not really

talking about politics and also you think about like that's a classic that's a classic role don't discuss religion or politics whatever and it's like unless you're French the French do it

we found that out on putting on airs our sister podcast which you should also watch getting all the plugs in anyway but I told him I was like I hear you because so a similar thing, relatively early in me and Katie's relationship.

I mean, we've probably been together four or five years at this point, but she's got some pretty hardcore conservative people in her extended family. And they're also big, they were back then, huge Duck Dynasty fans. Yeah. And do you remember when the Duck Dynasty papal, the patriarch of the Duck Dynasty family started talking shit about the gays and stuff publicly? That was gross. Led to that Bill Burb, what did you think he thought?

Yeah. When that was all happening, it was like, leading into the holidays. Yeah, that ain't good. I told Katie, I was like, I was like, Katie, I'm going to tell you right now. I was like, if they bring that up and they start like trashing gays or whatever, I was like, I'm not going to be able to just sit through that. I was like, I'm going to say something if that happens. And it may end up causing a scene.

And she was like, you know, she was like, no, that's fine, but I don't think they will. And then she was right. They didn't. And so, like, they just didn't bring that up. Thankfully. But I was so worried. I was like, you know, fucking shadow. boxing in the bathroom getting ready for it or whatever but like so that's also been my experience

and marks and yours but it you know it happens to people all the time because it's almost like a cliche it's like everybody got that one uncle at the holidays and people ask me again they ask me about it all the time so I know they're dealing with it so it's like it's weird it's like the people I talk to are all like yeah that don't really happen but then I hear from other people all the time that make it seem like it's incessantly happening well when I would go to Thanksgiving with my sister's in-laws because we would do that every now and then because again we don't have a big family this before I married Amber they would do that like their whole thing was what they would do there was like 30 of them all of them had the same beliefs and I didn't and they would

gang up on me whether it would be like a premeditated thing or not something would get brought up and every single one of them would look at me like those are your people you know and then I would sit there and take it until it got to some like when they if they brought up gay people or something. I'm like, I can't, I can bite my tongue during all the tax shit. I mean, not that I don't believe that morally trying to, like, we should be given poor people. I can, I can live with them saying that. But then if they say something about gay people or bathrooms or whatever, I told my sisters, I'm like, I'll let them say anything they won't. But if they come after that, and then what would happen is they'd all be talking about it, ganging up on me, then I would

get on a soapbox and give a stump speech. And then everyone there will be like, he's always got to bring up politics and I'm like no I didn't I was defending myself y'all brought up politics it's just that you all agreed with those politics and that's what people meet people when people say you shouldn't talk about politics at the dinner table what they mean is if they're different than everybody's age if we all believe the same shit exclusively right and that happens on both sides too like if you got if you get a room full of all democrats they're going to talk about some liberal queer shit but if it's a divided room maybe we'd be like, let's just, you know, let's just have a good evening.

Well, see, so I think, I feel like a lot of times with people that are asking this, I think are people that are constantly find themselves in the situation you just described. Yeah, ganged up on. They're the token liberal at whatever this gathering is, and then that happens, and they feel ganged up on, and it's like, so they're asking, I don't know what to do in that scenario. So, and you just said what you do, but it don't necessarily work out. You take it until you can't anymore. Exactly.

Then you end up blowing up, and then they all blame you for ruin. dinner or whatever. The literal only other option you have is to bite your tongue on something you consider morally abhorrent, knowing that like my, me saying something isn't going to matter anyways. So like, and that's true. Like literally in that situation, when you're 30 to 1, they believe this thing. You're not going to all of a sudden make a point coming from that space that's going to make them go, oh, we've all done. So if you can't win, then, but at the same time you go, yes but this is how they go on being because nobody ever says anything because that's what always happens so yeah they just take it for granted that they represent everybody that everybody's like

them and they get right right so you need to push back yeah it's a lot of conflicting emotions at play so my point and there's almost no way to win there's no way to win so like you either have to just ignore it or you have to know that thanksgiving's going to suck a little bit you know but like i get lucky because like it just doesn't get brought up at any of my my stuff anymore because we don't go I'm sure it does my sister who is a like closet liberal you know she just has she just sits there and takes it right because like you know she damn sure as a woman ain't gonna in the south gonna stand up and make some big point because dude she'll tell me and like her my sister's uh mother and father-in-law are not the type of people that

would do this I genuinely love them but in her mind she's always coming out from a place of like listen, I've got their granddaughter and I'm thinking about her and I'm thinking about this experience for her and so like what am I, you know, like I'm just trying to shuck and jive do my thing. But yeah, I mean, luckily for me it just doesn't get brought up. But if it does, I just go, you know, what can you live with? And that's basically everything until it gets to the point of you dehumanizing someone else. And then I have to step in and go, okay, God damn it, y'all lost me there. My origin story is sort of the reason that I became a liberal person, even though I grew up there, was because of the church, like 100% because of the church.

Right. See, I've always, like, I said I get asked these questions like, you're often with me when we both get asked this question. And so, like, I've always said, I was like, I think the biggest thing for me is that I didn't grow up in the church. So I didn't get indoctrinated in that way. And I missed all that, which is a big part of my whole thing. But you and Drew were both like, yeah, well, we super. grew up in the church and we feel like that is why we are

the way we are because it like pushed you in the other direction. Yeah, I mean I didn't really know what Democrat or Republican was when I was a kid like why would I have? You know, I didn't know any of that stuff. All I knew was I went to this church and I have cousins like all

the cousins that I have, all my first cousins are black, every single one of them. My aunt had twins and then another boy and they, the two girls have since had like triplets and twins like a lot of black cousins and that's my mom's sister we were close with them we haven't been in years past just because of the grandmother situation and we all live in different states but regardless we were close when we were younger

and you know they would come to our church sometimes and when i was super young we would just all be playing together at church and i didn't really notice you're not noticing but when i got a little bit older and started paying attention stuff i could visibly sound like they are being treated different. Well, see, that's what happened to me with gay. My dad explained to me that Uncle Tim was gay when I was probably 9 or 10. And I didn't go to church often, but I did every now and then with, like, members of my mom's family and stuff like that. And I'm assuming it was always there, but I just didn't pick up on it. But after that, as I started getting older, I started noticing and understanding all of that, like, you know, homophobic shit, gayser, elimination, burning, hell,

it's against its sin and whatever, that type of thing. and you know super didn't I hit for me like I started picking up on it and I was like I don't think this shit is cool and I feel like it's like any one single thread

when it comes to religion if it's like bugging you start pulling on that one thread and the whole thing just unwarrows because you start thinking about you're like what about all the people in other countries that are never introduced

to the Bible to this God do they burn in hell do they get a free pass how does that work also like all the Jewish people in the world are just they're going to hell

no matter how good of a person they are or whatever. And no matter how bad of a person you are if you accept the Lord. Like a 99-year-old Adolf Hitler that lived could have accepted the Lord on his deathbed and went to the same heaven as my grandma who never did a goddamn thing.

So you just start thinking about all that and in all the classic stories like you're thinking about the arc and all that stuff. You're like, wait, I don't. That didn't happen. That can't have happened. And you just start asking all these questions in your head.

Inevitably, to me, that's why it don't happen when people ask questions. No, they don't want you to. to me, you land on like, well, this is all bullshit then. One of the most popular church signs. But I cut you off. You said

that you started noticing that your black cousins were clearly being treated different at the church. Very clearly. To go back on what you were saying, one of the most popular church, you know, they put different quotes on the church sign. One of the most popular ones from where I'm from is don't let your mind be so open that your brain falls out.

Which is so all the nose, stupid. Right. But anyways, like, yeah, A couple of examples would be that I remember one year at Christmas, they made my black cousins leave because, or not Christmas, Halloween. They made my black cousins leave the trunk or treat because their costumes were too scary, even though, and now they, listen, they did have a rule that like we don't want any, like, demonic costumes or whatever, but there were other white kids that were dressed up in the same stuff

and nothing was said to them because, well, they go here and they're, like, and so it was just little tiny things like that. And you would just see like the parents, some parents not wanting them to sit with us, you know, or whatever. And then the final straw, and this was the last day that we ever went to that church. And I don't know if it would have happened like this had my black cousins not been there with us. Maybe nobody would have noticed. I'd like to think that my parents would have. We're sitting there and it's right after, I know I've told you this story, but I haven't told it on here.

It's right after 9-11 and the preacher was showing a video to the church. about what 9-11 did and what the after-effects were going to be for humanity and especially to children that had to witness this traumatic event. And there were all these, like, scholars up there talking about, like, you know, how people are going to be indoctrinated and, like, they were talking about, like, the terrorist groups and how, like, we're forming a new one right now. And in church, it was very weird. But, like, this one lady, all I remember about her was that she was, like, a Harvard professor

or something happened to be a black woman. she goes up there and she's on the screen and she's okay so she's on the video of the video yeah no she's not physically at the church no that would be even more wild she's up there on the screen just talking about the long-term effect she's predicting these things for for the september 11th attack and the preacher pauses in it looks at the congregation i shit you not i will never forget these words as long as i live he said now that woman even though she was black i agree with every word she said he said that and when that happened i remember perking up my My cousins luckily really weren't paying attention, but my aunt was there.

My mom and dad, they both looked around, looked at my aunt, and then my mom and dad graduated us and go, hey, guys, we're out of here. And we walked out and we never went back to that church again. These are my conservative parents for the record. My conservative parents were like, no, we're not having any of this. So when that happened, I started thinking about all the other characteristics of the people at that church. And like, why does it seem like Christians have this. hate because that's the opposite of what I was taught. And then I didn't, like I said, I didn't know what Republican or Democrat was,

but when I grew up a little bit more and realized that the GOP was the party of Christianity, the thing for me is I go, I'm the opposite of that. And I didn't know what liberal or Democrat men. I just went, I'm not that. That's not what I am. The fact that the two got intrinsically linked like we talked about earlier for me, that was the thing that pushed you left politically. So religion came way before politics for you.

Oh, yeah. And you found that when you heard about politics being a thing, you heard, well, this side, this is the side of the church side. And you're like, well, then I'm on the other side then. Yeah, because, I mean, yeah, makes sense. I'm not proud of this. Way to go. God. But I have grown as a person, like, there was definitely things about 18 to 20 year old me that were probably way, that insanely more conservative than I am now. But I still didn't consider myself a conservative because that was the God people. you know it's kind of like what I have people I have buddies who like all of their ideas are liberal but

absolutely but they're conservative because they just are the gay side right or like me and you were talking about that off mic recently like I've also known so many dudes like I know them I know them well I've hung out with them so much and it's like and they're conservative they're raised conservative they're still vote conservative they identify as conservative but I'm like dude you're not really though like I know you don't I can tell you don't you don't actually believe by end you just like you've just never

you're like no we're conservatives that's what I'm conservative so I vote conservative but like if you talk to this person you know they're not well I was that shit drives me crazy I was that but the opposite I probably had a lot of conservative beliefs in terms of like you know taxes and money and

and you know but but like but I was like yeah but though I'm not the God person so I and then I slowly evolved and became more left like once I woke up like dude when I was in my early 20s like I used to to not understand feminism at all.

Because, and I would do the equivalent, I would do the equivalent of all lives matters, but with, like, people would be talking about female rights, and I would go, well, all people should have equal rights, not understanding that they're like, yeah, but men already have them. I would do that shit. I'm not just trying to continuously plug the Patreon, but on a recent Patreon video, I brought this same thing up,

and I was the same way as you. I've chalked it up to, like, I was never abusive or nothing crazy like that. I just wasn't, I wasn't great about women. Me either. I'm still not as good as I should be. But for me, I know it's like I had pretty serious mom issues. Of course. My mom wasn't around when I was a kid.

I had serious anger problems and issues with my mom that were unresolved. And that bled into other, and to just women in general. I just didn't have a lot of trust or respect for them, which I'm not proud of. Me either. And I met my wife and she's, you know, brought me along. and arguably I'm kind of back on the train No she brought me along And I'm ashamed of all that now

It was actually But I was very much I wasn't full red pill And I was never an in sale Or nothing like that At all I just when I look back on How I felt about like feminism and stuff

Like you just said I'm definitely pretty ashamed Oh I wasn't an in cell I wasn't an in cell in the sense of like Because in sales don't get no ass I know well that It was like a subtle Yeah

You know bro I was getting mine. No, but I was very disrespectful and I was very misogynistic. And again, like, I'm not going to sit here and act like it's kind of like how, you know, they'll say things today like with everyone, no matter how good of a person you are, you have racist things about you that you don't even know. And the reason that you do is because when racism is as systemic as it is, you're participating in and don't even realize that it's that.

Well, I think misogyny is the exact same way. like I think that in your mind you can believe no women are equal but you participate in things that make them not equal like there's been plenty of times in stand up where I should have stood up more for female comedians and I didn't and there was times in my life where I should have you know stood up more for the things that were bothering my girlfriends and I didn't just because I was like whatever but I was like super like I didn't hit women I didn't do but like no nothing like that but they I did not like I didn't consider their feelings it was just like I was just super like I didn't hit women I didn't do but like they I didn't consider their feelings it was just Like, no, we have sex and hang out and then you leave and then I, you know what I mean? Like, and I'm not proud of any of that stuff, but I'm also not going to act like that it didn't happen. Right. Because I think that's a thing that happens in this world too is like, people can't have grown. I know. You know what I mean?

Like, I was that. Like, and that's what, like, I was not always the liberal little pussy. And again, I still have a long way to go. But like, I hate to admit those things about myself, but I always will because I think it paints a better picture of a person than like, oh, you might. I've been a good person my whole life. Like, that's not realistic. Well, dude, you know, I was always the, like, liberal or weirdo or the queer or any of that stuff, like in high school and shit in Salina.

But I still was in Salina. Right. So, like, I had a lot of ignorance about a lot of things. Like, even considering I was, like, progressive for that area. But, like, that compared to me now, yeah, bro. Like, I've said so many times. Like, I'm so glad YouTube and social media and stuff wasn't around back then. because, like, for one thing, you'll be a whole lot of DMX covers from a chubby white trailer baby around that time.

And, you know, I wouldn't have been censoring the man's work. You know what I'm saying? But just as one example. So, I mean, yeah, I've always felt the exact same way. Like, people do grow. It's especially, you've got to think about somebody's background where they're coming from, where they were versus where they are now. Some people get worse, you know, that happens too. Oh, yeah, for sure.

Some people devolve, and that's a shame. I know some of those. Like, no one is really the same, I don't think, you know, in their mid to late 30s as they are, fucking 18, 19. And also, I feel like, I personally feel like, if you're not looking back on like 20-year-old you, cringing, then something's probably wrong right now. Like, you should, you, I think most people should probably be at least a little bit ashamed of how they were when they were 20 because that's indicative of growth. Right. There's, of course, outliers, like, you know, like, let's say you're David Hogs and your stuff like that. But literally, that big thing had to happen to them maybe before that. But, like, yeah, there's some people that maybe they got it right the whole time. But, like, for the most part, especially where we're coming from, it's almost impossible to have done that. And the only thing you can do is cut your losses and be like, all right, it's time to cut bait. Like, fuck that this ain't it. I'm going to grow as a person. I can't do any. Like, I was this way about women. I felt this way about women.

I do not feel that way anymore. I can only, you know. I'm not to it and apologize and all that. And make sure that. Be contrite. And make sure that my son don't make those same mistakes. Like, I know so many things to tell my son now. And I wouldn't have known to tell him these things if I was always a good person.

Like, I know from experience, like, you were, you did these wrong things and your son is going to grow up to respect women early, you know. And he still could be a piece of shit. I mean, dude, we know plenty of people with good parents. fucking suck. I don't want to talk about it. I don't either because it worries me. That shit scares the bit about it. Yeah, I know.

And I got jealous of the fact that you've got your son didn't even born yet and you've already got that bit. It's like, that is one of those terrifying things about being a parent, I think. I'm glad we brought that up. You hear those stories. And I've know people personally. Yeah, me too. Plenty.

For whom that applies and that shit scares the fuck. Because I was just about saying, you were like, my son won't be like this. And I was going to say, yeah, well, you know, my sons have a fantastic mother who's omnipresent in their life or whatever. So that goes a long way. But then before I could even say that, you said, you were like, you know, you can have good parents will still be a piece of shit. I know plenty of them.

That shit, bro, I'd lose sleep over that. Yeah. Well, I think most kids, they're good and kind and all that. Most pieces of shit. You just never know what they're going to turn into. That's true, but most pieces of shit that I know were already showing signs in the late elementary to middle school. It's like, you know, they were like fucking the Sid from Toy Story.

Right. Yeah. But like their parents would be super sweet. Like, their parents were just in a perpetual state of looking like this. Like, I don't know what we fucking tried. We're all just like, Miss Betty, we know you have. We use always good to us. And so, yeah, I don't know.

It's terrifying. But all you can do is like, you know, all you can do is coach the team. You know, if they fumble, that's not a coaching mistake. That's all I know to do is coach the team. Right on. Well, on that note, listen, as you guys can probably tell, the sun is setting in lovely Nashville, Tennessee. We're about to head over to Zanis and do some hard-rocking shows.

I bet some of y'all probably will have been at these Saturday shows. And so you'll know if they were tremendous or drunken messes. We won't be drunken messes. No, perhaps people in audience could be. We hope not. But we'll see how that goes. We're having a good time. I hope you've enjoyed this special holiday edition origin stories of weekly skews

with Chief Georgia correspondent Corey Ryan Forrester. As a reminder, reminding y'all again, there will be no skews next week the 27th as we do every year we're taking that week off and the plan is the next tuesday next tuesday january 3rd will be back with your regularly scheduled program like i said if you want to hear smart mark's origin story my wife or mine any of that stuff holler at to patreon it is christmas time support the show or not either way thanks for being here be back to regular skews soon enjoy your holidays try not to lose it too much try not to you know get walked all over either all the best to you sorry we don't have all the answers

see you love you bye skew