America Joined a War and VidCon Was Hell
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Rise and shine, fever dreamers. Look alive, my friends. I'm V Sphere. And I'm Sammy Sage. And this is American Fever Dream presented by Betches News. A show that does not have an intro joke to make today because we literally just joined a war. We did. And it's 6 a.m. here in L.A. It's also the start of a heat wave for most of the United States. So...

Yeah, it's very fever dreamy. Things are as fever dreamy as they get. We have been yearning for precedented times, which is why I guess it's not so bad that we're reliving 2003 right now. I mean, 2003 was a good year for me. I was in college.

I was ignorant to the ways of the world. My biggest concern was like, is there buffalo chicken in the dining room today? My biggest concern is still, are we having buffalo chicken today? So yeah, same. That's why you don't get into the news business.

No, I was in theater school. We were doing a Vita, which speaking of is that Rachel Ziegler is doing a Vita right now and she is killing it. She is outstanding. I heard it's really amazing. And that also for the iconic don't cry for me, Argentina, she goes out onto the balcony and sings to the outside, which I think is really cool. That is cool. Genius. That's very cool. I would love to see her. So yeah, 2003 is fully back for me. Although I,

The Rachel's Diggler version of Evita is probably better than the one we did in college. Well, because not just because of her, but also because of her Danny who accompanies her on that balcony, her bodyguard, um,

for when she sings that song and to did you see this thing about her danny no it's trending on tiktok right now no so rachel ziggler has this um he's like tattooed all over his neck but he's really clean cut looking bodyguard named danny and he accompanies her to her meet and greets at the stage door and i guess people were upset because they're like who's that guy he's gonna be in the background of all our pictures with you and she was like don't that's my danny don't disrespect my danny

Oh, it's like my Kevin. He's here to protect me. He's here to protect me. And he is in costume on the balcony with her when she sings. That's really wild. She has this bodyguard like during her performance. I want to know more. Yeah. Why on stage? What happened? Did you have a bodyguard at VidCon? I did. I did in fact have a bodyguard at VidCon. The thing that's weird about VidCon is in years past,

It was like, you know, 70,000 screaming fans, lots of TikTokers, tons of YouTubers, super, super fun. This year, that was not the experience.

What was it? It was tricky. So this year, Informa, which is a private equity company, purchased VidCon. And I think that they do a lot of like fan conventions for like anime and stuff. And so I don't think they fully understood like what VidCon is or at least was. And so I don't know if it's the way it was marketed. I don't know if it was the folks that they picked, but yeah.

The audience was predominantly children, genuine children, like people who were maybe like eight to 14. Oh, like middle school. Yes. Or younger. Question.

The company that acquired them is VidCon not still running VidCon or is it like they cleaned out the management? No, that was the hard part. The VidCon team who I have not one bad word to say about these are the hardest working, most wonderful, thoughtful people. They get it.

were all there and they were sort of struggling to put on what they know is VidCon because they're sort of dealing with this new management structure. And Informa, I guess, only bought it like maybe this year or something. So it just, it was a disjointed experience. Yeah, because last year it was run by VidCon. And Paramount was the presenting sponsor. Right, right. And the year before that, it was YouTube. And the year before that, it was TikTok. So it just, it was entertainment people. And now it's whatever this is. Money. So let me, let me give you the highs and lows. Yes. Yes.

The highs were this jacket, okay? - It's gorgeous. - This is maybe, let me give you a full, a little 360, okay?

Look, private equity, they're going to spring for the merch. If there's going to do one thing, they're going to spring for the merch. This is the best thing I've ever gotten from VidCon. Well, this was a really cool jacket. But the hotel we were at, which used to be like the Hyatt, which is super nice. It was it was called the Anaheim Hotel. Now that nobody's there, I'll tell you. And we will never go back there because it was basically like a travel lodge with a paint job.

There was not air conditioning in a lot of the rooms. It was extremely old. There was a lot of, I mean, it would like break. And then like in my friend Shannon, who was with me in his room, they were like, well, the air conditioning doesn't really work, but we brought you like an industrial fan. Okay. So stuff like that. Okay. Kathy Hilton. They could, they could not deal with, they could, they did not. I don't think this hotel knew like what was going on now. Here's the thing.

The Anaheim Hotel is perfect if you are a family with three children on a budget going to Walt Disney Land because it's right across the street from Disneyland. And I was like, if I had kids, this would be great because there's just like a pool and it's like it's whatever. But not necessarily for, I don't know, a conference and not necessarily for the people with the largest Internet followings on the planet Earth.

you want to like show off your hotel kind of because you know that they're going to be making videos and trying to make content there. You really couldn't because it was like, like the aesthetic wasn't there. The vibes were off. Okay.

So that was the thing with the hotel. Also, there were not as many presenting sponsors as there typically are. So like TikTok only had a small booth. There were not creator lounges the way that you're typical to see. It was really difficult to find food anywhere. And my key thing that I was like, oh, private equity took over is normally there's iced coffee bars everywhere because it's young people. I mean, the goal audience for TikTok is like people in their 20s pretty much. And they drink iced coffee and energy drinks. So

You know, you have Celsius and all these different people who are typically there. They were not there. There was no iced coffee. So there was just like conference rooms of like hot coffee. But they didn't have oat milk this year. They only had soy milk or half and half. And I was like, these people do not know. Wow. So that was like, I mean, that's like a stupid thing to complain about. But it was really like the most obvious example to me. That's how, you know, private equity was here. Only hot coffee.

And they were like, I was like, do you have bottled water? And they were like, we have cups of water. And it was like, okay. So stuff like that where, again, and it sounds stupid to complain about, but it was stuff that it was like, oh, this is really, they really just don't know what's going on. It changes the vibe. But tell us about the actual people there and the conference. What was up with that? So I did about five panels and

They, of course, because I did them, they were very thoughtfully put together and moderated panels. But when your audience is eight years old and their parents, it's a little bit difficult. So one of the panels I did was a digit. It was getting social justice digitally. Right. So folks who had been previously incarcerated and now they're big TikTok stars and how they're using their platform to change the system.

I had the founder of Death Row Records was one of the guests for this panel. Well, that's fantastic, except the people in the audience don't know who that is, right? They don't really get it. I feel like the parents of the kids would be your fans. Okay. Some of the parents of the kids did know who I was. So, and they kind of got it, but they're there. It's not like for them, but luckily that streamed. It's a wonderful panel. I'll try to get the video for you guys because it's a really thoughtful conversation. Yeah.

Next example is they invited the hawk to a girl. Oh, okay.

oh, I saw there was something with Whitney Cummings and people were yelling at Hawk Tua. Well, because Hawk Tua and Whitney Cummings are decidedly adult people. Yeah. They're like, they talk about sex and drugs. They're pretty vulgar even for women in their 40s. Okay, they're pretty on the edge. Hawk Tua's not in her 40s, but... No, but I'm saying like Whitney Cummings comedy, like people who will know her in their 30s and 40s and she's really, you know,

She has a particular tone. She does. And she's very funny girl, but she's also like super bag. I believe now she's a little bit mega ish, which is not honestly like, I don't think she's MAGA. I think what she actually is, is that she's aligned with sort of the Joe Rogan bros, like the Andrew Schultz is in the way that they think about things where it's like, they're sort of naturally leaning more progressive, but they, um,

really over index or just emphasize the like there's something they're not telling us. Do you remember for New Year's Eve? She did that whole thing. She's like, I bet you're not going to air these things. I think it's more like the distrust of the system and the Democrats really overwhelms rather than she like wants to be on the agenda. It's more like that kind of thing. And then everyone gets canceled.

Yeah, she wanted to tell blowjob jokes to eight-year-olds. So that's how that went. And it's not her fault because she was on one of the main stages. You can't see necessarily when you're on stage with all those lights who exactly is in your audience. You could probably see the first couple rows. But people were leaving. They were very upset. And it wasn't just middle schoolers and their parents that were there. It was middle schoolers dressed in anime cosplay. Yeah.

Listening to Hawk Tua. What were they talking about? What were they talking about? I had one at the same time upstairs. And this is where I was like, you know what? We're going to do our absolute best. I hosted what's called VidCon After Dark, which is kind of like a talent show where you have like a bunch of different acts. So singers, dancers, actors, all these different things, skits. And normally that's a main stage show. And this time it was in like a conference room in the Anaheim area.

Convention Center upstairs. So no lighting, no real... Well, it's after dark, so...

No microphones to speak of, whatever. But they had really huge performers like Enola Bedard, who is like a Gen Z Britney Spears type person, full dancers, really talented girl. CG5, huge, huge. Pete Monzigo, huge, huge. But it was it was these kids were so professional and put on such a great show for essentially like no support, no support. And it was really awkward. Yeah.

So, you know, stuff like that sucked. But the Hawk Tua thing, I could not believe that that had happened because like you have to know who you sold tickets to.

And I don't know why these kids would have gone to that, except they came to a lot of my stuff. And they were like, I don't know, we're just kind of walking around and stopping by anything that's on the big stages. And I was like, OK, well, what happened with Hawk Tua exactly? She started trying to do her podcast with Whitney Cummings. And of course, they were being Hawk Tua and Whitney Cummings and telling their jokes and doing stuff. And the parents were walking out and they were getting upset because they were talking about very adult things. And they're, you know,

Here's OK. And I only know because who came to my stuff and I'm a very wholesome education adjacent creator. So I had a panel that morning and I just kept picturing my kids at this panel. And I was like, I can't imagine. But that was what I could picture. So the panel I had in the morning was about being non-binary and discovering yourself and your and your sort of how to be yourself right online.

And the kids in this audience with their parents, really meaningful conversation, very sweet kids, extremely young though. And so I kept saying like, you know, your parents and I was talking to the parents and the other people on the panel were more realistically talking to the kids. These are bright eyed middle schoolers. Okay. Like I cannot imagine them in a Hawk Duo podcast. So yeah.

And some of them dressed in anime. There was so much cosplay at VidCon this year, which also makes it kind of fever dreamy because I was like, this is crazy. I've never seen this much anime. Can I ask, is it that different than us seeing Rent at age nine? No, no, except we knew we were going to see Rent. And I think they thought they were just going to see like

Because the parents don't know necessarily, but they don't know who she is, right? All they saw was comedy night or comedy podcast on the Spotify stage. And it may have said Haley Welch. It doesn't say Hawk Tua. It says Haley Welch and Whitney Cummings. And so when you're walking around the convention floor, you stop over there, you're watching the show, it's on the big stage and you're like, oh, this is going to be like a comedy podcast. But because most of the programming for VidCon can be adjusted for young people or is sort of wholesomy. Right. This was not that.

Well, that's what happens when you let private equity take over. So that's a lesson. I guess they wanted her to talk about crypto and how to do a rug pull and teach eight-year-olds dressed as vampires how to do that. You know, it is a good question. Like, why are we listening to her? But that's the fever dream, I guess. Yeah.

That's a fever dream. Then the other thing that happened was I don't really go to a lot of the after parties. And this was a great year for me because nobody hosted any. So I didn't have anything to say no to. Well, what are they going to do? It's bedtime for everyone who is attending, it sounds like. But the one thing I did go to was Meta hosted Disney Creator Night. And I had never been to Disneyland. So I was like, well, I'm going to go because I want to go to Disneyland.

And the buses took forever. We didn't get there till late. And then I get there and they, I will say Meta's party was good. They didn't have like hamburgers. They had like filet mignon sliders. They didn't have like,

Like, you know, everything was like very top shelf. So I was like, oh, they're really trying. What are they trying to sell me? Then I thought I was going to get to go to Disney. I did not. I got to sit through like an hour long presentation. It was like a timeshare presentation on Meta AI. And then they gave me the glasses. Oh, my God. I want to do glasses so bad. I've tried. Yeah. Hold on. I'll show you. Do you have to log into your Facebook?

Yes. Oh my God. What? That's not good. They were free? Yeah. Nothing's free, Sammy. There's no such thing as a free Meta Rayman. Okay, nothing's free, but look how cool they look. Look. They do look like regular glasses. But you could just have them in your glasses. Why do you need them? Okay, well, look, I'm going to tell you right now. I don't want them to see me. I wanted them so bad. They're not on. Oh, something just happened. It stopped the recording. See? I told you.

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Okay, Sammy, I'm sorry. That was scary. They're back in their case. They're like the Annabelle of the internet right now. Okay, we were just possessed by the glasses that stopped the recording. That was not cute. Look, I told you. I told you. It's like, look, they're not giving you anything for free, especially not AI glasses that are very high tech. Nothing is free. I think we've learned that from...

joining several social media sites. If something's free, you are the product. And I just, look, they already have the product in my hand. They already know everything about me. I don't need them to be on my face, but I bet at some point I'll wear them.

I don't like it. I don't want it. I think they're cool. My wife told me I'm not allowed to open the case in the house. She doesn't like that. She's like, you keep that at your office. She's like, that's a little toy for your for your office. And I was like, OK, and I do. I am treating them like a little toy for my office. There are people who were wearing them the entire time. It's cool in the way that like, um,

You could do fun content-y things. Like when I was doing my Hank Green interview, which we will, I believe, be able to drop here at some point or we'll put it somewhere for you guys to listen to. I was like, oh, I could have POV interviewed Hank Green, right? And you can live stream on Instagram. So like sometimes that's fun. Of course it's cool. Of course it's cool. It's not, obviously it's amazing. It's more to me about this feeling of like, what am I selling of myself? Right.

By, by engaging in this cool thing that it's not like I miss it. It's not like I feel like, wow, I wish I could make my eyes stream the person I'm looking at. No, I don't want that. So I'm going to tell you, yeah, I'm going somewhere where I think they're going to help me fit in.

I got invited to an AI conference in San Francisco and they were like, do you want to tack on a couple of days to your California trip to go to this AI conference in San Francisco? And I'm very AI skeptical. So I actually thought maybe it would be good for me to go.

so that I could like be in the room with the people that I'm kind of afraid of right now and see, yeah, what it's about and maybe learn more. And then I'll either be more scared or less scared. But the AI glasses are absolutely coming to the AI conference because I want to fit in, you know, if I'm going to be an interloper, I got to like wear the costume. Yeah, no, I agree with you. Let me just say two things. The problem is not AI.

The problem is never the thing itself. It is the way that people, humans and their bad intentions in some cases, many cases, and bad incentives from bad toxic systems basically create negative externalities and negative effects from things that could be really helpful. It's not that there aren't great noble uses of AI. I feel like we already have been using them.

It's about who uses them and then for what and who controls the consequences of those things. But there is one thing that I think might end up happening here. Remember how when iMessage, you know, synced to multiple people's devices and then people discovered that there were like affairs because they didn't realize that? Oh, I got caught at that. I got caught at that. Well, look at that. When I was young, I was talking to two girls and it showed up on my iPad that she was using all the texts from the other one.

I was young. I was awful. My theory, my prediction is that these glasses are going to show things and show blow up people's own spots. That array bands might be free, but privacy is priceless. Yeah. She was like, I'm not ending up.

in one of your live streams and I don't know it or something. So yeah, like I said, they're the Annabelle. They're the Annabelle of my tech accessories. They have to stay in their case. I'm with Natalie. Natalie and I tend to agree on some of these things. That's true. Okay, so the other thing that happened while I was at VidCon is we like, you know, bombed the shit out of Iran without telling Congress and people were genuinely actually quite scared. And so I spent a good amount of time trying to focus on that and make videos about that and...

you know, talk to eight to 14 year olds and their parents about what was happening. But I knew that he was going to pull the shit for weeks. Not that I knew. It's just like the way that he was moving is very much like, obviously he's going to do this, even though he says he's not going to. And I don't know that I expected that.

He he no, I did. I guess I did expect that he was going to do something that nobody wanted done. And then he was going to be like, well, I can't suffer any consequences for it's over. Why are you bitching about it? This is how he treats women. This is how he treats business partners. This is how he treats the contractors. He doesn't pay. This is not a person who cares about consent. Yeah, of course not. And it's.

I think that that wasn't even a major part of the conversation amongst the general public because it's become expected. It's become expected that he just does whatever he wants. So there's that on normalization. But for me, what was more concerning is that, okay, so let's take the one key issue that people would argue with, the question of the nuclear program. Okay.

Let's say it's as bad as they say. Let's just assume for the sake of this conversation, they're about to get nukes. They're not in on that quick of a timeline. Let's say that they could really set it back through this through this operation. Sure. The fact is that regardless of whether all of that is true, assuming let's even pretend that they say the Islamic Republic is

presents an immediate risk in the next two weeks. What use Donald Trump's favorite, even a week, there was no discussion with a single, you know, consulting consultative party. There wasn't even an info informing anyone other than Benjamin at Yahoo. And the problem is not just the doing of it, because I do think that there are parties, especially in the EU where,

That would say that aren't unhappy with the idea of getting rid of Iran's nuclear program. I do think that is something that is widely sort of desired. But the U.S. and Israel are behaving like rogue states.

And further isolating themselves on the world stage. And Israel, you know, the line that Iran and Russia and everyone really is pushing that Bibi...

Push Trump into do that, into doing his dirty work. Yes, this is all comes very anti. It all feels very anti-Semitic, but it also feels true. That's the thing. It's like he is confirming these things. And if Israel wants to get rid of this, this nuclear program, they're not.

considering the fact that if America just acts as its muscle and has no allies, no one else is going to be an ally of Israel, nor will this create a long enough term solution to get rid of the nuclear program. So what does this actually achieve other than just like

A very impulsive move that long term, I don't see how any of it benefits you from any angle. And that's what I just can't get my mind around. Like the idea that when you act like a rogue state, you're actually just screwing yourself more. And they and they could have done the legitimate performance, but they didn't.

They don't know how to. And also, like I said on threads, Pete Higgseth has a war boner. They cannot wait. These are impulsive people who are short term decision makers who who just have to do it right now because they want to do it right now because they really want to do it. But a lot of them didn't want to do it. J.D. Vance, Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Higgseth, even they were all saying, no, don't do it. The reasons that they're saying, no, don't do it.

are themselves questionable. But I think it's more, you know how we've talked about how Donald Trump has to like test something out. He has to throw it out. Oh, maybe I'll do the insurrection act. Maybe I won't, I won't, uh, affirm the, I won't accept the election results. He always has to throw stuff out there. And at some point he has to touch the stove.

It's like there's this piece inside him that's like, you're going to do it eventually. So just do it now. And he it's like a very addict. He has no discipline. No discipline. Yeah, please. And discipline is like just so even far, far from what it even close what it even is. But he and I think that like some of it is so momentary for him.

where he needed to have the show of strength. The military parade didn't work out. He doesn't have the 90 deals in 90 days. People are talking about what a joke some of the people in his administration are. He has to do it. And now everyone's talking about this and no one's talking about the fact that there's a lawsuit in Rockland County to recount the election results.

The other thing that's coming out today is that it wasn't that big a success, the bombings. It doesn't seem like it. You know, and we spent... So each one of those B-2 bombers, stealthy B-2 bombers, which we're not supposed to take out...

are $2 billion each. He put $4 billion worth of assets on the line. And I had said $100 million worth of bombs wasted. He dropped a lot more bombs than he originally reported. He said that they dropped six bunker busters. It was 14.

And those are four million each, not counting parts in labor, right? Not counting all the people to do it. Just the physical bomb to make is four million dollars. And the reason why you have to drop multiples, because like this one blows up this much under there, this one blows up this much under there. But I've seen Armageddon didn't work like the way that he wanted to claim it did.

Well, I think the jury is still out on what worked, what didn't work. Were they able to get the enriched uranium to a safe location? They say that they did. But the thing is, both parties are going to posture. Iran is going to say that they saved all their uranium. And Bibi, the last thing he had said was we have some intelligence on that, which I

I can only wonder, did they like, like, we'll see. Let's see what happened to it. But either way, Max, they, at the best case scenario, they've set it back a few years.

But had we just stayed in the JCPOA, we might have still been at that point because I've actually also read that this may have strengthened their resolve. And they're also, my guess, is they're going to put it underground. I don't mean physically underground, which it already is. I mean, they're not going to talk about it to anyone in the international community, let alone the United States. Right. At least there was like some access before. And they're obviously going to clean out the Mossad from their whole...

Eric, you know, I don't see how anyone is safer is ultimately and people in Israel like Bibi because he quote unquote keeps them safe. Okay. How safe are you on October 7th? It's like they like that. He'll be tough and he'll do the scary thing and he'll go after the nuclear program. And yeah, of course, when all your news is feeding you this and it's a very traumatized insular society that, um,

Feels like we need to be tough, but I don't see how ultimately in the long term this is good to behave like a rogue state when the state of Israel was created via international recognition largely. And the United States now just alone. What's the plan?

Who's helped us by this? Our EU partners are pissed, right? Because they couldn't get their people out of the embassies fast enough. Like the United States is not supposed to act so rogue that Italy is scared of what the US is doing, that France and Europe are like...

You know, you didn't even give us a heads up, man. Of course. Well, the thing is, the EU had tried to have a negotiation basically last week on Friday. And the Islamic regime was like, no, we're not going to even start negotiations until –

stops hitting. So it's not like the EU wasn't involved in trying to deescalate the situation. They were. I don't think that the U.S. and Israel want to or the leadership want to deescalate the situation because it gives them power. Their obsession with Israel, this administration, is also really weird, Sammy. Like it's so much to the point that even people in the Trump administration are like,

for being all America first. That one lady was like, oh, the United States of America is the greatest country. Tammy Bruce is U.S. is the greatest country in America. Well, second to Israel. She said that which is out loud, which is just insane. You are a United States official.

It doesn't matter. What are you saying? They are Christians first, and they are waiting for this rapture apocalypse friggin' thing to happen so that... This is... I wish if there was one thing I could get to the apocalypse, doomsday Christians. It's like...

You could be living heaven on earth if you stopped trying to fuck with everybody so that the apocalypse would come so you could go to some paradise that you believe exists only for you. Like maybe make this world a little bit more tolerable and nice and stop trying to blow it up so you can get to some paradise that I like. I really don't know. That's what I think God wants.

But since much of organized religion was created by man as a means of control, that's why they have these distorted beliefs, which seem just even on their face, very ungodly to me. Like, isn't that kind of the basis of all the religions of all spirituality treating people on Earth? Well, the way you want to be treated, I'm pretty sure that's the one thing that that works across all of the religions and faiths.

And isn't it kind of cheating to try and rush the rapture? I mean, God knows when he wants to do the rapture. You doing all this bombing and starting holy wars does not, to me, seem like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane accepting the fact that it was time to go. Last I checked, they're supposed to bring the rapture by being, like, really good. Like, you're supposed to bring the rapture by being godlike, not by being an asshole. But they think...

They can just strong arm everyone into being their version of God. Like then the rapture will come. And yeah, I'm just going to say as a Jew, it is really annoying to be so focused on in such a negative way from both sides. And anyone who does like you is really just exploiting you so that they can

convert you eventually. Well, now we've met our quota for talking about religion today. What's our next topic, Sammy? War, religion, VidCon. Yeah. Well, you know, growing up, I was told not to speak about religion, politics or money. And that's all I like to talk about now. So we made a career out of it. Here we are. Look, what else is there? There's a reason they don't want you to talk about those things. It's because you can

figure out all their inconsistencies and inequalities and all their dumb rules gotta keep sweet system is keep sweet sammy keep sweet

Welcome back, friends. You may notice I had to change my shirt because during the break, I stress sweat through the other one. And I just I can't be uncomfortable as we enter into whatever the fuck is going on with the United States and Iran. Iran now firing missiles at our military bases in the Middle East. Not great stuff. Lots happening. V, just speaking.

on the question of will we or won't we go to war with Iran? I think we know the question, the answer now. Did you see that Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz, whatever that was, it was...

What did you think? What was your favorite part? I thought it was really good. Now, remember, I often think that Tucker Carlson's purpose is not journalism, but his kink is politics and embarrassing people. And I think there was probably no greater high than the way he was able to turn on Ted Cruz and get Ted Cruz so worked up for so long. And then

double down on his pleasure by posting all of that on the internet and having people on the left who he has destroyed the lives of in many ways rooting for him. So I think this was probably peak climax for old Tucky. Honestly, I found it incredibly entertaining. It was fun. It was fun, but it also proves a few things. One is that he knows what he's doing the whole time. He knows that he is a propagandist mouthpiece for his channel and that

Okay. The fact that he exposed Ted Cruz for not knowing how many people live in Iran, a country which Ted Cruz has opined on many times in his career. How do you not know that sort of fundamental fact? How do you not know these things? It's not like we're asking you to talk about Burundi. We're asking you to talk about Iran. Yeah, Iran. And Tucker knows this. He knows this all the time. And-

Now they're all talking about how Fox is propaganda because they're pro-war and Tucker and company are isolationists-ish. So I don't know. But yet it was so entertaining. It was very entertaining. I like to see the downfall of Fox News. I mean, I don't know how many hosts they have left. All the hosts from Fox News are now in the cabinet at the Trump administration. So maybe they're down talent. Yeah.

Easy target. The old man Murdoch is not doing well. Right. And his son is in the powerhouse that he was. So Tucker probably thinks this is a good time to strike, to pull back that right wing audience that he really built over there on Fox. Like, why should Jesse Waters be the heir to the empire built by Tucker Carlson? I think this was a big power grab for media back to him and the Tucker Carlson network. But yeah,

At least he was open about it being propaganda and entertainment and not true. But I hope that this is the end of some Fox News-ish stuff. My favorite part, I think, was that was when he...

Ted Cruz is like, don't be so snarky. He's like, I know you're right. I'm sorry. He's an expert, like gaslighter. He's an expert at this. Like he knew that the Ted was giving him the chance there to be like, this is spiraling out of control. And then Tucker got to like reset the temperature so that he could continue to hammer him. I mean, it was, it was pretty smart. Here's the thing about Tucker Carlson. He's a coastal elite who couldn't hack it. And it's,

So he became that. But he knows how to play the game because that's really his origin. He is. He's one of those like Ivy League debate bro type people. Not like a Dean Withers is now, but I think he thinks that he's much more intelligent and like able to like control a conversation and whatnot. Well, apparently you don't have to be that intelligent to outwit Ted Cruz, which means you don't have to be that intelligent. You know, Princeton standards for...

Just not. I know. It's Princeton's going through right now. Yeah. With Hank Seth being alumni over there too. And then saying that college is for indoctrination and nothing else. That's the thing. They all want to go to school. They don't want you to go to school, but yeah,

This is going to be a tough week. There's going to be a lot of crazy news coming out. I appreciate you guys being here with us. We'll continue to do updates on our TikToks and Instagrams and threads and whatnot. The thing you need to know is as dumb as Donald Trump is, the military is an institution with layers and layers and layers of discipline and training. And so even though Trump is stupid...

there will be things done that protect our forces and there will be things done that make sure that our assets aren't captured or destroyed. So there's stuff happening behind the scenes with the actual rank and file folks in the military that gives me hope that

we don't see a massive loss of life or asset, even at the hands of people as fucking stupid as Hegsath and Tron. Hear, hear. But we'll see. It's going to be a weird week. Try to keep your shoulders loose. Try to take some deep breaths. Take breaks from the internet because people are going to be doing breaking news who don't know how to do breaking news. There's going to be people telling you they have special information that they don't understand. This is not something that you can...

that we're fast is best. This is something where you need to take some time because if you get yourself all spun up into a place of chaos, then you can't make good decisions. And we do, we are going to have to survive some difficult stuff in the coming days. So we need that resilience to actually survive the bad stuff that happens instead of wasting it on worrying about what bad stuff is going to happen. Also, you don't have to scroll the whole time, right? It's not going to help. It won't change what happens.

All right, go outside, look at a tree, talk to your friends and neighbors, and just stay steady. Literally put your feet in the grass. Do something for whimsy. I also went to Dave and Buster's last night. You could do a little thing. Go axe throwing. Go to the batting cages. Go play mini golf. Do something whimsical and just sort of fun and nostalgic.

For an hour. Take your mind off it. You know what I recommend? Top golf. You just whack it. Whack it balls. You don't need to like know how to you don't need to hit anything particular. You just just for rage rooms. Me and Natalie do the rage room all the time. We could just break the glass and stuff. Just do something. Blow off some steam. Just an hour or so. It's going to be OK. It's really going to help you to keep a calm head and and get through this.

It will be okay. This is what I try to remind myself. It's not necessarily that positive in general, but most people for most of history lived through much worse conditions than we are in now. All right. Until next time, I'm Bea Spear. I'm Sammy Sage. And this is American Fever Dream. Good night. Betches.