Shownotes Transcript
They never see that the problem is the issues that they fight for suck. They're always on the 20 side of the 80/20. Like, "No, this is a comms problem."
- Let's call it dark woke. - Dude, that is 100% correct. They never think their ideas are actually a failure. It's just a failure to communicate them correctly. They really truly believe this dark woke thing. We're just gonna drop some F bombs and say BS a bunch and stuff like that. And that is gonna make us seem more authentic rather than just being authentic. - Yeah.
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Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety Program. I'm Michael Duncan. Joined with me, Comfortably Smug and John Ashbrook. Josh Holmes is unfortunately out on assignment, but we got DJ Nicky Spaghetti's on the ones and twos. So I've got something on that, right? You know, I was out in spring break last week and I met some fans of the Ruthless Variety Program. And one question I got was Nicky Spaghetti. Is this guy real?
Is he just like a guy that you pretend is there? Like, you know, like a character that you've made up. And I want to assure every listener and viewer of the Ruthless Variety program, Nicky Spaghetti is real. Nicky, can you throw something down the line?
Amazing. Wait, did you plan that? Or is he like on the spot with you like that? I'm impressed. Nice. I am too. He's real, folks. Yeah, he's just sitting back there with his chain and his t-shirt and his leather jacket. He's very real and very Italian, folks.
But we have a great show for you today. Dark Woke. Dark Woke. What this is basically... Oh. Yeah. Yeah, it is. Thank you for giving us some board work. I like some early board work. But Dark Woke, that is the main theme of our show here today.
Basically after the election when the Democrats lost in November. You had a lot of the party bosses, the poo boss, grand poo boss, being like, I don't know, maybe we should talk less about transgendered rights or maybe talk less about open borders and how every illegal immigrant should be in this country. And that lasted, I think, through January. There was this sort of informal autopsy of what the Democrats failed to do in November.
And now it seems like the opposite is happening. You know, the forces on the left, we were seeing a revenge of the Sith. The worst parts of their party are speaking up and doubling down. It's hilarious. You called it an autopsy. It's like they're looking at the dead horse.
And like, no, we have to beat it more. We're going to go with illegal, deserve to be here and transgender rights. We're going to run with men and women's sports. They looked at the dead horse and like, no, more beating. Beat it more. That's what we're going to do. And we've seen that with Abrego Garcia. We've seen it with Mahmoud Khalil and so many things. The thumbnail I would like to go through here at the top is this is from the New York Times. What is dark woke? Democrats are trying. Yeah.
Democrats are trying out a new attitude. It's provocative, edgy, and perilously toeing the line of not being too offensive. It's amazing. With Donald J. Trump back in the White House, the culture of dude-heavy pop podcast programming, provocative insults, and so-called masculine energy that helped him get there—
Seems like the dominant one. And to some, the response from the left during the previous Trump era, defined by its earnest resistance to the president's agenda, appears outdated and cringe. Can I stop one second? That segment right there encapsulates the problem in and of itself right there. It says the culture of dude heavy pop podcast. So first off, we're on the same thing.
Of like, the left has been trying to demonize men, especially young men, as much as possible. Let's see what that... We all saw where that got them. And they continue to say...
provocative insults and so-called masculine energy. It's like, yeah, it's like we cracked the code. We knew, we know the playbook. We got to be morons like you, you dudes who suck. Yeah. Yeah. They, like they didn't learn from Tim Walls trying to fake it. They're like, no, we're going to keep attacking doubling down. And the, the new version, you guys remember Tim Walls put on the, the camo hat throughout the campaign. I haven't seen the camo hat since.
you remember he did that to say, oh, yeah, I'm a guy, too. The new version of that, Mayor Pete. I don't know if you saw Mayor Pete was on a podcast and he is like he's not shaving. He's real. Yeah. And like somehow that's supposed to. Well, when I think masculine, I think Mayor Pete. That's for sure. More here from the article. It's an attempt to step outside the bounds of the political correctness that Republicans have accused Democrats of establishing.
And it requires being crass, but discerning, rude, but only to a point. Online, it has a name. Dark Woke.
This is the New York Times. This is the New York Times. Can you believe it? Again, it's like we always say, like, they never see that the problem is the issues that they fight for suck. They're always on the 20 side of the 80-20. Like, no, this is a comms problem. Dude, that is 100% correct. They never think their ideas are actually a failure. It's just a failure to communicate them correctly. They really, truly believe.
this dark woke thing. We're just going to drop some F-bombs and say BS a bunch and stuff like that. And that is going to make us seem more authentic. Rather than just being authentic. I mean, that's their whole problem. It's another form of the camel hat. They're like, okay, the camel hat didn't work, so let's try occasionally cussing. But like they said right here, let's not be too offensive. Not too real. We can't cross that line. Yeah, so the end of this article, I love this kicker.
It's not resonating with everyone. For some, the universal truism that it can never be cool to try so hard applies here. Well, every once in a while, there's a true line written in the New York Times. But their problem is that not only are they far left, it's that they're being pulled even further to the left. I know you got a bunch of clips here, but like...
I'm not complaining that they're sticking with these woke positions. No, it's fantastic. Because it's very good for Republicans because we know that their positions are what is the problem. Yep. And it doesn't matter how they're communicating. If you're trying to communicate bullshit, it's going to be bullshit no matter how you spin it. Yeah. So the dark, woke, double down is what I'm calling it. It's insane. It's hilarious. Yeah.
You're going to love this. You're going to love these clips right after this.
And that means more risk for your credit and your identity. Tell Republicans in Congress, stop Dick Durbin's takeover of your credit card before it's too late. Okay, so trying too hard. That is the biggest problem of this. They're trying to figure out how to be authentic. And they think the shortcut to being authentic is to just curse a lot. Like we come about it naturally because this is who we are, you know?
They're forcing it a little as a little they're forcing it. Let's play clip number one. This is Maxine Dexter. I just I've been told I have 30 seconds. So I am going to tell you that we do have to. I don't swear in public very well, but we have to fuck Trump. I immediately undermining her own attempted authenticity. Right. I don't swear a lot, but we have to fuck Trump.
Insanity. And this lady is the same person who saw what Chris Van Hollen did drinking those margaritas with the terrorists down in El Salvador, and she thought...
you know what, I'm going to go down there too. So she is, if not still down in El Salvador, this week she was down there trying her best to, I don't really know what she's hoping to accomplish other than get some publicity. I mean, I don't know how to react to what I can say, but that is just so amazing. I don't know how...
What Donald Trump? It's like that meme of, God, I see what you've done for Donald Trump. Not for me. Every guy out there is like, how does it happen that he can be like, there's only one way to stop me, women. There's only one way to stop me. My one weakness, how did you know? Okay. It doesn't end there, though. It doesn't end there. This is Rep. Melanie Stansbury. Let's play that clip.
It's total bullshit. Absolute bullshit. They are not making America safer again. And what they are doing is terrorizing immigrant families. Okay.
I mean, this is a committee hearing, I guess, on Capitol Hill. That's what it looked like. Yeah. We're just going to say bullshit a bunch of times, and that's going to make us edgy. Yeah, totally. Like, rats out, we're going to win new voters back. Right. You say bullshit, bullshit, and then all of a sudden everybody's comfortable with having terrorists in the building. Yeah. Perfect. Perfect.
Yeah, I guess what it strikes me in watching these clips, because it seems so inauthentic, it's like in the first clip, it looked like a librarian using the F word. You know, like it just doesn't actually match. It's like somebody...
You know, like you got a new girlfriend. She's hanging out with the fellas for the first time and she tries to pretend like she understands sports. It's like it just doesn't track in any way, you know, and they're trying. They're really trying. God love them. They're trying. They're trying. And they're still trying. Let's play clip number three. This is Jasmine Crockett.
And to be clear, free speech is not about whatever it is that y'all want somebody to say. And the idea that you want to shut down everybody that is not Fox News is bullshit. We need to stop playing because that's what y'all are doing in here. You don't want to hear the opinions of anybody else. And the Constitution says Congress shall make no law respecting or establishing—
of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the free or oppressed. The gentlewoman's time has expired. What do we make of that? Insanity. I mean, she acts like the broadcast networks don't exist. She acts like all the major newspapers don't exist. We opened this show with an article from the New York Times. And she's saying that they're getting rid of these outlets. It just, it's...
There's a disconnect between what they're saying and reality, and it doesn't matter how many times they cuss or how many times they try to look cool or try to—they try too hard, as the times put it.
it's not going to work. Also, for Jasmine Crockett, it's the perfect example of trying too hard because by now everyone has seen the video. She went to a great private school, and when she got interviewed four years ago, she has a better diction than Alfred from Batman. You know what I mean? It sounds like Robin Leach. And then she's like, oh no, we have to be authentic, so time for me to say bullshit. Get the hell out of here. No one's buying it. It's unbelievable. But it isn't just elected officials. You also have...
A new favorite here in the Ruthless Variety program. Show us your hog, David Hogg, who did some sparring with Reince Priebus. Let's play that clip.
Got no message. They've got no movement. They've got no leader. I mean, it doesn't get any worse than that. I mean, you're defending Harvard. You're traveling to El Salvador for MS-13 gang members. But here's the point. You're taking $20 million. If I'm looking at someone, my vice chair at the RNC, taking $20 million for another effort, it's $20 million out of
the DNC's pocket. You can't be on the board of the fishing and forest company and on Greenpeace at the same time. There are places for groups to hold the party accountable. I think it's right. Let me push back against that. This was not an MS-13 gang member, and you damn well know that.
We are a land of law and order.
Russ just walked him into that. He did? It was incredible. He crushed him. And this guy, David Hogg, famously, he's talking about we have rules, we have systems. This guy, David Hogg, famously made it into Harvard over another guy from his school that actually had good grades. Yeah, I mean, Kyle, I mean, everyone knows the story by now. Kyle had far better grades, far more credentialed, but he wasn't woke. And that's where, that's the problem is when you have a system like the left does, you
of promoting the wokest, not the person who can do the job. That's what you end up like. That guy's like the vice chair of the DNC, and Renz just walked him in, and he's like, don't you want to defend the known gang member? He's like, just because someone tattoos I'm a gang member doesn't mean they're a gang member.
No, dude, you're right. It's so funny. I mean, they really do believe if they just say bullshit and fuck and damn and then have the exact same terrible ideology that somehow they get on the other side of the 20 percent of the 80-20 issue. Right. And obviously that's wrong. It's not just the members of Congress. It's not just David Hogg, who apparently is now the vice chair of the Democratic Party, which is like –
on its own so awesome the most hilarious thing ever you're still seeing this in in the grassroots of their party as well let's play this uh clip of the pro-hamas activists so this is a jewish student being refused entry by a bunch of uh
uh, terrorist do rag wearing, uh, liberals all with a mask on. Yeah. This is Yale this week. Yeah. The guy's trying to go from a to B and they're like, no, you're not allowed on the sidewalk. Yeah.
And that's supposed to be authentic. Yeah. That's supposed to be something that people in America can identify with. Some would say those terrorist sympathizers are illegally occupying land. Beautiful. I mean, it's just really it's so tiresome. Like when I first saw that video and we're discussing today's show, I was like, is that is that from now? This is not like last fall. They're still doing this. And we saw how much like public opinion was sick of that kind of garbage.
No, this was from right now. They're still doing it. And this is happening at Yale. Right when Harvard's having to learn the hard way what happens, you know, they're on the other side of the FAFO equation. Yale's like, we want to be up next. Seize the endowment. Dude, it's crazy. Yes, thank you, Smug. Because here's the thing. It's like you scratch a
pro-Palestine, and I put that in quotes for our audio listeners, pro-Palestine college, you know, campus disruptor, and you're going to find a Hamas sympathizer immediately, always. And this, like, Mahmoud Khalil guy, you know, which, again, has become another totem for the left of, like, oh my gosh, how could we possibly, you know, displace this guy and put him in detention and maybe deport
a guy who was just organizing free speech events on Columbia's campus. He held a rally where they were waving Hamas flags. They invited a known terrorist, a known member of Hamas, to an event on that campus. Right.
That's it. You're providing material aid to a terrorist. This is like a state sponsor. Get out of here. And then they whine when the government says, you know what? We're not going to give you the funding, the taxpayer money that we've been giving you. We're going to give it to a different university. And they're like, oh, this is going to stop all this research. And it's like, hey, there are very smart people at state schools who probably deserve this more and who are not
attacking Jews on a sidewalk. Yeah. I mean, it's pretty simple. Well, because what these pro-Palestine activists tried to say is like, well, you know, what we want is we just want a recognition of the right of Palestinian people to exist. And you're like, okay, sure. Right? And they're like, okay, well, we also want you to divest from Israel. It's like, well, okay, why?
Why do we have to divest from Israel? Well, we also want you to acknowledge the genocide against Palestine and how, you know, Israel is illegally occupying this land. And it's like, well, you see what there is this slippery slope. And at the end, it is that they just believe October 7th was justified. Right. They believe the same thing that the people who flew those planes.
those planes into the twin towers believe they think civilians are fair game and they believe that armed resistance against civilians in the west is justified they believe that that's what they believe and i'm sorry but if you are a guest in this country being educated at our universities you are a fucking foreigner you are not an american citizen we should kick your ass out you're gonna wave a hamas flag on our campuses it's like how far things have fallen
that after September 11th, do you think if at Columbia, a university in New York City, a student was, this is not debated, hosted an event for a known member of a terror group,
Think about that happening in October of 2001. Deportation will be the last of his problems, I'll tell you that right now. Extraordinary rendition in a waterboard visit. How does it happen that we're allowing these people who are in our country, using our resources supposedly to get an education, but are holding events for known terrorists, and we're supposed to be like, well, let's just, you know, let's hear them out. Get them out. Get them out.
Get them out. It's not difficult. So, okay. Taking spots, by the way, from American kids like Kyle that you talked about. Exactly. Worked his ass off all the way up, got good grades, and he's like, hmm, maybe I can go to this college. And they're like, no, sorry, we're giving it to people from the – So I love this for them.
For the Democrats, that they are re-harnessing this power of this fringe left that lost them in the election, all that. And I'm glad that these people are now in control and they think that they can somehow be more authentic by just saying some curse words and that. But like, what do you guys think is behind that? My take on it, right, is it's a refusal to address the root problem of the party apparatus. Mm-hmm.
that they all covered for the lies of Joe Biden for four years, a dementia patient they pretended could be president again, that they put up Kamala Harris, who they made fun of for three years and then decided was a Mensa applicant the second that she got the nomination, and she failed as well, that the party is a failure. But instead of addressing the systemic failures of the party, they now want to, in a fit of rage, double down on a failed strategy. Why is that?
I think it's because that's where the money's at. You know what I mean? It's like the old Claude Rains line. Why did you rob banks? Because that's where the money's at. They are literally doing what George Soros and Hansborg Weiss, who are these foreigners who are sending money into the left of their party, they're doing what those organizations that are funded and have access to even more money want them to do. I think it's as simple as that. You're 100% right. I mean, like, look at...
the innumerable policies that Democrats have championed that do nothing but enrich China.
What, you think that's helping the working class of this country? Yeah. No. No. Their party has basically become just an enrichment scheme for the clowns at the top. I mean, look at how—I was just telling folks yesterday, they could not believe, they had not heard the news of how like 11 days before Joe Biden left office, like $2 billion gets wired to Stacey Abrams' group, which was formed like 17 days before this wire hits.
They're just corrupt, greedy nihilists. They believe in nothing, nothing but enriching themselves. They have no moral principles. That's why they have no shame when they're hypocrites. They believe in nothing. You don't need to look any further than the structure they established with all of these NGOs that were also getting taxpayer money but built on the backs of a left-wing –
vision for the world that like they're in charge and that they are going to say what goes like it is the NGO system that we've seen in the federal government is very similar to how Democrats run their party. Yeah. And the nonprofits are in charge. And until they break that system, they will never be responsive to actual voters because they're only responsible or responsive to their big donors. Yep.
Yeah. All right. So they are doubling down with this dark woke bullshit. We showed all those clips and everything. And this is their way of maybe short cutting what they call what is the New York Times is like this like podcast manosphere, masculine energy and all this sort of thing. That's what they think they're doing. Well, I think we need to play one more clip. And this is a clip from Elizabeth Warren, who no one is going to accuse of trying to be cool or hip.
And I want you to get a sense of when Democrats actually try to be authentic. Let's play that clip. Do you regret saying that President Biden had a mental acuity? He had a sharpness to him. You said that up until July of last year. I said what I believe to be true. You think he was as sharp as you? I said I had not seen decline. And I hadn't at that point. You did not see any decline from 2024 Joe Biden to 2021 Joe Biden. I really should see this video.
Not when I said that. You know, the thing is, he, look, he was sharp. He was on his feet. I saw him live event. I had meetings with him a couple of times. Senator, on his feet is not praise. He can speak in sentences, is not praise. Fair enough. Fair enough. Look,
It is. Oh, my God. The question is so painful. What are we going to do now? OK. Oh, wow. Wow. What they did with Joe Biden is.
ruin their credibility for a very long time. It did. Everybody could see it with their own eyes. And that's what they're trying to shortcut with all of this. That's exactly it. We're going to curse more and be more authentic. It's to hide under the rug that failure, that root failure of the Democratic Party. What I find so interesting about that clip, and Smug's right, if you are audio only, you're missing absolute gold by seeing the video. Because when Elizabeth Warren is laughing at being called out, when he was like,
Come on, you don't really believe who's all there. And she just like laughs. Dude, she like full on convulses her shoulders because she knows she doesn't have an answer to it. It's not even an interview. It's a therapy session. It's an intervention. It is. Come on, man. Fucking admit it. Just admit it. Admit it what you know to be true. And that is he couldn't do the job. And they refused to admit it even still.
And they don't do that because they do not answer to voters. They don't care about voters. They're answering to a multibillionaire class around the world. I attributed this quote earlier to Claude Rains. It actually was Willie Sutton who said, I rob banks because that's where the money is. I thought it was Nancy Pelosi, but— Well, yeah.
Hilarious. That is hilarious. Okay, we got to show the graphic here. The moment that Elizabeth Warren was like, he was sharp. He was on his feet. Sharp. Put up the reaction to the host there. This is the Talk Easy podcast. I mean, that's it. That's it. I mean, it's like the J.D. Vance face. You know, like, are you kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me? This is like...
The Democrats have a mouth full of cavities and they think maybe if I just get some grills, if I get some gold grills, I'm going to be fine. It's like, no. Just get rid of the cavities. It's like that. The thing is, is that they like like Ashbrook said, their credibility with voters is shot, completely shot because they spent over a year, almost four or three years telling voters, hey,
Joe Biden is doing backflips and filling out crossword puzzles all day long. You should see a Sudoku. It's the best Sudoku. That's just off-camera, folks. He gets shy if anyone can see him. He's like an elf or something. You can't see him on camera. It's just a stutter.
But until they come to grips with that lie, you know, like you cannot be forgiven until you ask for an apology. And voters are in the back of their head. They're never going to trust them until they come to terms with that. I mean, in a certain way, Republicans had a similar moment when it comes to foreign policy because so many Republicans were angry at what they saw happening.
They didn't feel Iraq, Afghanistan were not what they signed up for, was not what they were told. And Donald Trump took a break from that. Mitt Romney was unable to take a break on the foreign policy. And so you saw no change in terms of the electorate's sentiment towards Republicans.
Until Democrats are willing to say, listen, this is a break from what we had and acknowledge what had happened. Yeah. Voters won't trust you. It's absolutely true. The bar is so low to being normal and they refuse to clear it, which I find so interesting, which brings me to the comment of the day.
which is will Democrats course correct? Yep. Will they find a way out of this or will they continue to double down on this insane rhetoric and lose the midterms? Who the hell knows? I'm highly skeptical. I'm looking forward to either outcome, but I'm hoping they keep doubling down, triple down, quadruple down. I would love to see it. I mean, to me, that's the big question is, are they going to course correct before the midterms? Because that's what it all comes down to. Yeah.
When we come back, we're going to read your comments from the last question. We also have an interview with AFP's Emily Seidel. We got a golf brawl. We've got a new goat of the week. It's action-packed. Embarrassment of riches, folks. You're absolutely going to love it. You did all the right things. You worked hard. You worked your way up. And you invested your money in a 401k or other retirement plan. Your future is all set, right? Wrong.
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President Trump is fighting for our steel industry and to create more manufacturing jobs. The U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel Partnership puts America first. Learn more at AmericaFirstSteel.org, paid for by the America First Steel Alliance. Okay, so our comment from last episode was, will Democrats be able to stop Trump? And for our first comment, we always go to the voice.
So first comment comes from Just Lena, and Just Lena writes, the Dems fight for Garcia isn't rocket science. They're trying to let illegals know they shouldn't self-deport, that the Dems will fight for them to stay in the country. Because if the illegals don't stay, the blue states are going to lose, what, 12, 13 congressional seats? Mm-hmm.
And electoral votes come 2030. The Dems see this as their survival. Right on. And I think this is a really good point from Justlina.
But one addendum I would offer is that if you look at the Hispanic vote totals from 2024, Democrats' hope in immigrants is completely misplaced because so many of these Hispanic voters want what Republicans are calling for, opportunity, fewer taxes, less regulation. You live your life in America as Americans.
And what Democrats thought was that they would just vote Democrat because we let them in. What do you think about that? Well, I mean, I think the problem that Democrats are facing is that Americans don't like their policies and their whole gambit feels like maybe if we can import a bunch of voters and promise them free stuff like they all raise their hands of like, yes, I'll give illegal immigrants free education, free housing for everything.
Their bet is if we can essentially bribe an imported voter base, we can keep winning. Yeah. But I said it on Will Kane, dude. I think it's going to switch. I think they look at the way that Hispanics are now voting for the Republican Party, and they're going to change their tune on border security real quick. I just do because they are just absolute sociopaths who don't believe in anything. Yeah. You know?
Yeah, I think there's something to that. Comment number two, Smug, what do we got? This comment comes from Chris Connor, and Chris writes,
The Republicans need to just keep their heads down and push through all the noise and complete the mission they were elected to do. Deportations, deportations. If someone tries to slow them down, do more deportations. Hell yes. Hell yes. No matter what is said about it. Elections have consequences. I could not agree more with Chris. 100%. Just keep those planes rolling no matter what. And it's an important validation of Donald Trump's promise in this election. And he has said it now numerous times. And I know he's extremely frustrated by the courts and the system and all these things.
that they're having with the deportations. He is laser focused on delivering for the electoral coalition that elected him. And that's what I love about what he's doing right now. Yep. Absolutely. Okay, comment number three. This is from Heath Van Hill.
It will have no effect on the rate of deportations whatsoever. It will, however, continue to show average Americans just how morally bankrupt the Democratic Party is and how they don't really care about protecting America or Americans.
I wish that news organizations were required to acknowledge when they intentionally mislead people with their stories. A Maryland man? Yeah. What total BS. That's about as bad as, I don't know, flinging six unqualified idiots into space and calling them astronauts. That's pretty good. Well, see, what I love about this comment is,
These news organizations and political parties, this isn't even a partisan take. They underestimate the intelligence of the average voter, the American. They do. They think like people are stupid. And the election of Donald Trump in 2016 should prove that the American people, when we were talking about this the other day at lunch, Ashbrook, the American people have a great
of a bullshit meter. They know when you're real. They know when you're fucking fake. And what they trusted with Donald Trump was the authenticity. And if our news media treated people like they had a brain...
you know, their approval wouldn't be so low. Our podcast wouldn't be so successful. Totally agree. Right. You know, like saying Maryland man over and over just feels insulting. It's insulting. Dude, they shit all over their readers and their audience all day. They've done it for decades. And it's the reason why people do not read their papers. They take every single Democrat talking point, hook, line and sinker and present it without question in their pages. One example,
they talk about this Maryland man and they take the Democrat argument that they should not be sent to a country where they are not originally from because they're going to El Salvador and not going back to Venezuela. And wouldn't you just say like, well, they're not originally from America, so why is the answer that they go to a different country where they're not originally from where we also have to pay for the benefits that
they're just given by walking across the border. Yeah, absolutely. I have one more comment. One more comment. And this is based off the last episode we did. I got a lot of feedback. People were very happy that I was encouraging you to have children. Yeah. So any update? I'm married and hopefully soon enough. Did you get on it? And one thing I'll be happy...
One thing I'll be happy especially about is walking the walk. Yeah. Because I know a lot of parents out here, they're like, oh, yeah, you know, I'm going to raise my kids like I was raised and they just throw the iPad in the kids' hands. Well...
That's not how I was raised. And there will be a sheriff in town, which is lacking when you see a lot of parents out in public these days. OK, so so when you do actually start like actively trying, I have I have a tip for you. And we have a lot of young men, you know, 25 to 34. If you look at the demographic breakdown in Apple podcasts or whatever, where we we have this show, a lot of those young men. And I would like to offer you some advice and then some advice.
You're a guy who loves technology. You know, the Aura Ring, and you got all the apps and the things that track everything. Get your wife the app, the ovulation tracking app. Oh, my God. No, I'm serious. I'm serious. And I say this as someone from experience. When my wife and I started trying to have kids, like...
The first month, we were just like, yeah, we're doing it. You know, like we're going to have kids. And it's not even sponsored. We don't have, the app isn't sponsoring this. No, no, no, no. I'm being dead serious just because I love you. And I, listen, dude, we did it like for the first month and we're like, yeah, no, we're going to try to have kids. And like, we didn't understand. It'd been a long time since sex ed back in middle school or whatever. Right. And then you get like one of these ovulation tracking apps or whatever. I think the one we used was called Nurture or whatever. Right.
And it's very accurate. It gives you a target where it's like, these are the days. These are the days you got to have sex. And you may think, talking to you, young man out there listening or watching on YouTube, or you, Smug, you may think, I am...
I am a next-gen F-35 bomber. You know, like, I got targeted homing missiles, and I'm going to, like, have a child. That's not how it works, pal. Seven trillion possibilities every shot. Like, the thing is, is, like, us as men, we're more like an A-10 warthog. Like, we are close air support. Yeah.
You know, like what you need to do is like look at that ovulation tracking app and it'll give you about four and a half days. You got to strafe the target. You got to strafe the target over those four and a half days and you got to be on top of it. And if you are, I guarantee success.
That's an incredible advice and segment. We got to clip that one. It's going straight to Instagram. I just, dude, I want this for you so badly and I'll give you all the advice possible. Outstanding. Okay. So when we come back, we've got a lot of variety. We got a lot of variety here. We've got a golf brawl. We've got to go to the week. You're not going to want to miss it. For too long, weak politicians have sold out America's steel workers and allowed China to flood our country with cheap foreign steel.
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Okay, for our lighter fare, if ovulation and procreation wasn't enough for you, we have a golf brawl. This one happened up in Canada. Let's just play the clip. These guys are fighting. A shirt is off. You can step in, Justin.
Oh man, knocked out. Knocked out. Did he escalate? This is crazy. This is crazy, hun.
They keep calling it crazy, but they're not intervening. I mean, that's unbelievable. So that was about seven guys. Seven guys fighting. I assume it was probably two groups of golfers. What was the issue? I think the group behind maybe hit in to the group in front, which is a... Well, slow play is a problem. It is a problem. It's endemic on every course. Like, if people are slow...
hole in and hole out, you've got to send a message. I think I've seen a lot of issue surveys with the American people that it's like the economy, illegal immigration, foreign policy, slow play is issue number four. You know, our great president plays golf very fast. He does. He would never put up with that. So much so, he'll even put a card on the green, you know, just to make sure he can put out as quickly as possible. Was the guy with the blue polo and the white hat
Was he in the second group or was he in the first? Because he was just landing right. It's unclear. It's unclear. What I will say from having watched that video now, and I'll describe it for our audio only listeners here, I'm seeing a lot of terrible form, fighting form.
The guy like this guy in the in the blue polo in the way out even when he's on his back foot He's landing those rights and they're connected. Yes, so like right there. He's walking back. He's not like running into the what he's doing landing What he's doing is my number one recommendation in a fight And this is what I see a lot of people do when they swing wild and everybody thinks you throw a hook in a haymaker No, the reality is you throw a straight. Oh You know you throw a jab. It's the closest distance between two points. I
And nobody ever sees it coming. You put your hip into it? Yeah. Everybody's expecting some big over-the-top haymaker. And that doesn't land. It starts with your leg. Starts with your leg and then right through. Right through to the face. That guy was just like chin, chin, just hitting those rights. Yeah. He looked like Floyd Mayweather. Good for him. Just peppering him up. Just peppering him up. Yeah.
And I heard the guy broke his jaw. Oh, did he really? Yeah. Well, that's what happens when you play so slow. You know, it's not about the game. It's about respect. Yeah. One of the things our great president does, like I was saying earlier. Let's see it.
Trump plays fast not because it's about him. It's because it's about who's behind him. That's right. He does not want anybody behind him to be like, man, why is that guy just still standing on the green? You know what I mean? You have to think about other people. Yeah. And that's what a real man does. What was that big dude trying to do? Did you see that left backhand fist? Like, what are you doing out here? Terrible. Terrible form. I hate it. All right. So that brings us to Go To The Week.
And this is an important go to the week. Natalie Winters, who had been a guest here on the Ruthless Variety program, we talked about how she was disrupting the mainstream media. Now, if you spend a lot of time in the White House Correspondents Room, she was the feature of a series of things in the mainstream media about, you know, changing culture and in that room. And it produced a fantastic clip here. Let's play that.
To the people, and I'm sure you see this online every single day, who say you don't deserve to be here because you're not a real journalist. What's your response to them? Well, I'm pretty sure the group of people in there spent what was it, four years covering for someone who was essentially dead, and that's being charitable in my description of him, a president by the name of Joe Biden. So to all those people who are apoplectic over having new media voices, you guys failed.
And that's why we're here. What a great response. It's the best. I mean, Natalie Winters, to their face. To CNN, right there. Is like, you're the reason I'm here. Because you suck. She just bodied that. She took away his pot of gold. Yeah. You know what I mean? This Irishman who's up there like, hey, you don't belong. She doesn't belong. You're Irish. Get out of here. You're here at the pleasure of the American people. I'm at order. You're at order. Right.
I mean, that's just and right there. I mean, again, we go back to the whole credibility issue with Democrats. The media has the same culpability for four years. They covered for Joe Biden. And what did they think that credential that they claim to have is worth now? Right. Beautifully. The emperor has no clothes. Goat of the week. Absolute goat. Absolute goat. All right. We got to get to this interview. AFP's Emily Seidel. Let's go to it.
I want to welcome to the program a great friend of the Ruthless Variety Program. You've heard from her many times, Emily Seidel from AFP. How are you? I'm doing great. How are you? I'm good. And I'm good. And I'm glad we're having this conversation right now because, you know, Congress isn't here. That doesn't mean the work stops. And that's what I love about AFP. Yes.
That is right. We just held 60 events in 30 states across the country on tax day. Nice. Wow. Yeah. Work does not stop. Yeah, it's perfect timing. And like every we knew we knew that after the election and the millions of doors you hit and the millions of phone contacts you made, we knew that it didn't stop on Election Day when President Trump won. We knew you would continue into the new year. But 60 events timed for tax day. That's I mean, you can't get better timing than that.
It was a lot of fun, too. All right. So you're here to talk about the reconciliation bill. This is a big deal. Yeah. A really, really big deal. This is like how Donald Trump makes his agenda that he campaigned on in the election season and that elected him, how he actually makes that promise to the American people.
So lay it out for us. Yeah, well, I think it's make or break for the Republicans in Washington, D.C., honestly. I don't know if you saw the news this morning that the House's working title for this bill is Renewing the American Dream Act, which I love because at AFP we've been out there talking about reigniting the American dream and unleashing freedom and opportunity for people so that they can pursue their American dream and work.
We made extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts our number one priority as an organization because we felt like it was the most important thing to do to give people a shot at the American dream. And so I loved the title of the House bill. I hope that they keep it and it moves from being a working title to the actual title because it really is.
what I think the number one priority of Congress needs to be as well. So you had 60 events on tax day. I got to imagine a lot of people agreed with what you're saying. Yes. So,
Over 90 percent of Americans want to keep their current tax rates. This is a bipartisan issue. 90 percent of Americans. And if you look at the opportunity, you know, in 2024, voters sent a Republican trifecta to Washington, D.C., to solve big problems in our country and number one on that list.
was the economy. Four years of the Biden failed economic agenda caused real harm. And so they're looking for this Congress and this administration to start
chipping away at that problem and put some better solutions in place. A1A is not making the situation worse by allowing the tax rates to go back up, which is what would happen if the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is not extended at some point this year. Unthinkable. Yeah. And it's a problem that doesn't get solved overnight. We saw that with
TCGA back in 2017. It takes a while for the American people to see the value of the good work that's done in a tax cut that impacts every bracket for the American people. I saw a truth that Donald Trump put out, which I think illuminates this issue in the political context. Can we put that up?
So Trump wrote, Newt is quite possibly right on this. George Bush said, read my lips, no new taxes, then proceeded to give a rather small tax increase and was obliterated.
I love the idea of a small tax increase. The Democrats would probably use it against us. And we would be, like Bush, helpless to do anything about it. I love this because he gets the political ramifications of this and why it's important to deliver that certainty in those low tax rates to the American people ahead of the midterms. Yeah. Look, I've been talking about this as...
First, we've got to seize the opportunity to do as much good as possible on this bill. There's a big upside. But there are also three potential outcomes that are significant downsides. The first one is obvious, right? No bill at all if Congress somehow fails to get this done. I think there's a low likelihood of that. But it's got to be on the table. You can't just assume it'll get done.
But the other two are really where that sort of a statement comes into play. You could also have a bad bill. And I mean that from a policy perspective and also a political perspective. Or you could have a late bill.
And Speaker Johnson was just at our office down on Capitol Hill. We call it the Freedom Embassy. I love it. It's a beautiful building. It's a great spot. He was just down there a couple of weeks ago where he warned about the dangers of a late bill. And he looked back at the 2017 passage of the original tax cuts and said...
They came on the heels of the disaster of the failure of repeal and replace, and then there was a lot of infighting amongst Republicans what should be in or out of the tax bill. So by the time it passed, it was too late in the cycle for Americans to really understand the value of what had just happened. They didn't get to see the economic impacts before they started to make decisions about who they were going to vote for in the 2018 elections and what happened. House Republicans lost 41 seats.
I think the speaker is smart to be harping on the dangers of a late bill because he doesn't have that big of a margin to be able to lose this. But he does have a margin. Republicans are not only in charge of the White House but in charge of both houses of Congress. And when Republicans are in charge, they do what? They do not raise taxes on people. If Democrats were in charge, that's what Democrats would be pushing to do. Right.
I'm not really sure where this idea that we should raise taxes on people is coming from, but it seems to me that before we start talking about taking more money away from people that they earn, we should talk about doing things like changing some of the special provisions that Biden wrote during his four years in that like Inflation Reduction Act, so-called. Yeah.
Well, and so this speaks to the ideas that could spark the second of the bad outcomes, which is the bad bill outcome. So if there are new lines of revenue or if they do choose to allow some people's taxes to go back up,
they're going to face a lot of backlash from those constituencies, the business community. You're not going to see all of the economic benefits that you could see from a full extension of the entirety of the tax reform from 2017. But again,
You know, there are other ways that this could be a bad bill. It could you could have bad pay for us. You could have poison pills that start to cleave off significant members of the conference. We see this stuff all of the time in the legislative fights. We don't have the luxury of dilly dallying around those fights right now. We've got to just stay focused on getting the most pro growth tax package possible and
in this reconciliation bill and get it done quickly so that the American people can feel the certainty to know that their taxes are not going to go up. And so that business owners across the country, especially small business owners,
know that they can rely on the rates that they have today. As a grassroots organization, one of the privileges that we have is to be able to hear from thousands of people across the country every day. And they share incredible stories of what the 2017 tax bill enabled them to do, small business owners in particular,
It doesn't really matter who you talk to in which industry, whether it's a jeweler or a grocer, whatever. They all have the same story. They either did one or both of the following things. They invested in their people through higher wages or bonuses. We just had a small business owner at an event.
The other week shared that in 2017, after the bill passed, he gave every single one of his employees a $6,000 bonus. So investing in their people or investing in growing their business, adding new locations, adding better equipment, whatever it is. The full expensing, all that sort of stuff. Having that kind of certainty to continue that kind of investment in our people and in our economy is critical at this moment as we're trying to recover from four years under Biden. Yeah. So I have one question on that third component, late bill.
Bill that comes too late. How do we stop that from happening? Well, you've got to look at the timeline that we face over the next couple of months and have a sense of urgency about it. There's a lot happening in Washington, D.C. right now. And you've got to cut through the noise and just focus on getting this done. And so if you look at the speaker, I think, as we mentioned, has been laying out a very aggressive timeline this whole year on this package.
Right now he's saying he'd like to get it to the president's desk by Memorial Day. I think most people assume that's a tad optimistic. But I like laying it out, right? Let's push as fast as possible. When Congress comes back next week, they're going to have, I think –
four weeks to try to push to get that done as quickly as possible. After that, you've got another three weeks of legislative session or so until you get to the 4th of July recess. I think that that is a probably more realistic and aggressive timeline still to try to get it done. If you get past the 4th of July, you have another three weeks or so until the August recess. And
And that's where I see sort of the final urgent push to get this done, because if Congress goes home for the August recess without this reconciliation package getting done, then I think we are getting into the territory when this bill is going to be too late to achieve what it needs to achieve heading towards the midterms. But then we get to yell at them at town halls. Good point. Good point. Yeah, they'll come back motivated to get it done. Yeah.
But the possibility is that people do more than just yell at them at town halls. If they don't get something done, I mean, Republicans will lose the majority in the House. Oh, 100%. At a minimum. So, I mean, we shared the numbers earlier about what happened in 2018. Republicans lost 41 seats. The party of the president loses, on average, 28 seats in a midterm election. And so...
Republicans in the House in particular have a huge task in front of them to buck the historic norm. And the only way that they're going to do that is by passing a
a popular bill soon enough that people can start to act on it, that drive that consumer confidence, drive that business investment, and have that economy roaring back so that people head into the midterms with realizing that the people that they sent to Washington in the last election got the job done. That's what really matters. Is there anything else you think we did wrong?
after 2017 with that tax cut? And I know, you know, Speaker Johnson would say, you know, too late and everything like that. Didn't break through to the American people. From a strategy perspective, or just as someone who talks to so many activists across the country, what else do we need to do in selling this? Let's say we get it to the finish line. What else do we got to do to make sure people know in the midterms, you know, that this majority actually delivered on what they asked? Well, I think it's,
First of all, Republicans in general don't always do the greatest job of messaging. Yeah. And so we've got to get better at doing that and connecting with people. And I think that's where the real stories of the impact of this type of legislation really resonates. The other side does a good job of pulling out one person and using them as an example of and as and for the argument in the opposite direction.
We have a ton of amazing stories of what freedom and opportunity give people in terms of a path to prosperity. And so we just need to tell those stories better. We give these sort of intellectual arguments that don't cut through the noise and really resonate with the majority of Americans. And so I think we need to do better at talking about the benefits of the bill. And then we need people to run on opportunity.
the benefits of the bill and focus on these issues. And then the third thing I would say is don't give up the fight. You know, not everything is going to be solved by one bill. We've had four years of really bad policy coming out of Washington, D.C. And so after that, this is part of the benefit of moving this bill quickly. It'll be a springboard for momentum for a ton of other legislative parties
in Washington, whether it's more rescissions packages like the one that's coming up in about two weeks or work on the appropriations bills, another reconciliation package. There's so much more that we can do. And so getting this done quickly allows us to build momentum for those other things. The inverse is also true. If it drags out, if there's a lot of infighting, you're going to lose a ton of that momentum. And then there's really not going to be as much on the resumes of these people
of these members heading into the midterms that they can grow about. Yeah. It's hard. Tax reform is hard. It is hard. You know, I mean, I don't think, you know, for especially like our younger listeners, you know, and whatnot, we had like the Bush tax cuts. I think that was 01 or whatever. And then like 03. And then before that, you'd have to look back to like Ronald Reagan for serious tax reform. And,
And Donald Trump has the opportunity to do it twice. That's pretty incredible. It is incredible. It's important, I think, for people to take a step back and realize like that is that's some big boy stuff right there. Yeah. And there's a ton of enthusiasm for it in the grassroots. So, I mean, you don't get people organizing 60 events on one day across the country without having people behind the president on this. Yeah, because they know that these opportunities do not come around every day.
And you have to capitalize on them when they're available. You can't be like Democrats and raise people's taxes, you know, because that's what they win again. That's what they're going to do. So we want to just like send our economy into the stratosphere, which is possible with something like you're talking about. We have to act now. Yeah. So how do people get involved?
Well, you can always go to americansforprosperity.org. That's our main website. And you can click to sign up there. You can also go to afpvolunteer.com and get right into the mix. Yes. Volunteer. Get involved. Write your congressman. Call them. Make sure we get this done. Emily Seidel, thank you so much. Thank you.
You know, they're always doing so much all around the country. You knew they weren't going to stop at the election, that they were going to keep going through reconciliation and every other fight that's ahead of Congress right now. Really glad to have her on the show. I mean, this is the important part that comes next, right? Like what Donald Trump did in his first hundred days. Fantastic. The EOs were fantastic.
you know, stopping illegal immigration, all of these things. Fantastic. But like getting through this reconciliation and tax cuts and all of that is how Donald Trump delivers on the promise of his election. So I'm thrilled, thrilled we have it. Guys, this has been a great episode. It really has. It was a lot of fun. We got to offer some parenting advice and procreation advice. Yeah. And all of that. Again, our question of the day, can the Democrats course correct?
Are they going to figure it out? Are they going to continue to double down, triple down, quadruple down on Dark Woke? Whatever the hell that is. You got to like and subscribe. Like and subscribe if you wish to opine. We always say it. We invented that. We did. We did. And I think I always see in the comments, how does this not have a million subscribers? You guys are the best, which I appreciate. Share it with friends. Honestly, we love it. But that means you got to share it with friends. They got to like. They got to subscribe. Please do that.
Folks, I think we did it. I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much, Emily Seidel. And thank you so much to the Minions. Remember, if you have not yet, hop to the YouTube, hit that subscribe button. It's more fun and video. So until next time, Minions, keep the faith, hold the line, and own the libs. We'll see you Tuesday. Stay ruthless.
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